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jumpywhumpywriter · 22 days

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The Wolfen Shapeshifter - Whumper's Collection of Supernatural Beasts part 1

Warnings: captive Whumpee (in the form of a wolf shapeshifter), blood, bullet wounds, near-death, muzzled, chains

This one's not my favorite story I've written, but it's still pretty entertaining, so I decided to post it anyway. Any feedback is much appreciated!

Caretaker met up with Whumper early in the morning for her next set of tasks. She had a unique set of skills: caring for literal monsters. That was the exact reason Whumper had hired her. He was a collector of unusual beasts and creatures thought to have gone extinct; he had a whole living collection of odd specimens, and it was Caretaker's job to make sure they all stayed alive. Feeding them, refilling water trays, cleaning cages, tending to sick beasts... Caretaker was in charge of it all.

She and Whumper worked closely together. Caretaker felt nothing for the captive creatures in his possession, after all they were just mindless beasts he put on display for entertainment. Occasionally he'd invite friends or fans over to get an exclusive and up-close encounter with the specimens in his private collection... for the right price, of course. His freak show was a huge source of revenue on top of bringing him a lot of attention and fame.

But today there was a different energy in the air. Caretaker came in to Whumper’s office like usual to receive her list of duties for the day, but Whumper looked a bit distressed, pacing when she arrived.

"Is everything all right, Sir?" She asked politely as she poked her head in.

Whumper jumped in surprise. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd arrive!"

"Right on time as always," Caretaker teased.

Whumper smiled broadly at that. "You always have been my top employee. So reliable. Today I have a particularly difficult and unruly beast for you to look after. A new addition to my collection." He brushed past her and gestured urgently for her to follow. And if Caretaker was reading his body language right, he seemed... excited? But not the typical excitement.

She trotted to keep up with his brisk pace as they headed down to the viewing area where all the animals were kept, which was where she usually worked. Whumper barged in, and Caretaker spotted five people already gathered at the far end of the hall. On either side, dozens of cells and cages and glass displays lined the walls, full of every kind of mutated creature imaginable. A cat with five legs, a deer with a single horn like a unicorn... and so much more.

Whumper usually liked to take his sweet time strolling past his collection, but today he breezed right past them all, heading straight for the group of strangers in professional gear. Two of them wore white clothes like doctors.

"I've brought the expert!" He announced when he approached, and every set of eyes swiveled to stare at Caretaker, making her self-conscious.

"She's your caretaker?!" One man sputtered in disbelief, but was silenced by a fierce glare from Whumper.

"She is. And you will treat her with respect," he snapped. "Now move aside."

The group parted and Whumper led Caretaker to the cell in back -- and what Caretaker saw stole her breath away.

There, she spotted a truly massive wolf, almost the size of a small horse, and would probably stand shoulder-high on her if she had to guess. It was by far the largest canine she'd ever seen.

It was curled up on the floor with a heavy duty muzzle and chains attached to metal cuffs on its legs and neck bolting it to the floor with limited space to move around.

"I'll pay you triple the usual rate if you can save its life," Whumper said hoarsely.

"Sorry, what?" Caretaker sputtered. That's when she noticed the blood on the floor of the glass cell holding the wolf.

"My hunters injured it pretty badly when they were trying to catch it," Whumper explained hastily. "It's a male. The animal put up a good fight, destroyed half of the group I sent to pursue it. I strictly told them not to kill it, but some idiot panicked and pulled out their gun and shot the beast." He scowled angrily.

"This is a one-of-a-kind discovery, it's too valuable to lose. Do you think you can fix it?" His voice had a hint of desperation in it. The wolf would be useless to him if it died.

"I-I'll see what I can do," Caretaker said.

Whumper unlocked the cage door for her, and she cautiously approached the deadly animal. Even restrained it felt unsafe to be so close.

Caretaker dropped to a knee and crouched down next to the wolf, and ran a hand through its soft black fur in wonder, marveling at it. She's never seen a monster like this one before. But she could see the pain and sadness in its golden eyes, both surprisingly human-like emotions. Then the wolf's eyes flicked to Whumper, and it let out a weak growl.

"What kind of creature is this?" Caretaker breathed in amazement.

"A wolfen shapeshifter, we think," Whumper answered. "But there's something wrong with it. It can't shift to a human form. All the more spectacular a sight for my display, though." He let out a delighted laugh, and Caretaker joined in, but there was something unsettling about the way the wolf stared at her, like it could see straight into her soul. There was an uncanny intelligence to its eyes she couldn't explain.

One of the doctors scuttled forward and set a big basket of medical supplies next to Caretaker, before quickly retreating to safety outside the cell.

"I'll leave you to your work," Whumper said with a pat on her back. "Good luck. I hope you can save this one..." He dismissed himself and left, along with the group that had been hovering at the doorway, leaving Caretaker alone with the monstrous animal.

Caretaker wasted no time rummaging through the medical kit, bringing out several rolls of white gauze and a suture kit. "Okay... let's see how bad it is..." she mumbled to herself, and reached out to the wolf.

The large animal tensed with a warning growl through the cage-like muzzle, baring its teeth slightly in fear. But it was too weak to be of any threat, and Caretaker knew it.

"Come now, don't be like that," she added with a smile. "I'm here to help." She often liked talking to the creatures under her care while she worked, even knowing they could never understand her. She reached over and located the source of the bleeding, a vicious gash ripped along its flank along with several bullet wounds slowly oozing blood with every heartbeat.

"Yikes, these are some bad ones, huh?" Looks like you had one intense battle..."

The wolf snorted and she could have sworn she saw it roll its eyes -- if that was even possible for a wolf to do.

She snapped on some latex gloves and the wolf flinched as she started to stitch up the long gash on its flank, letting out a high whine as she brought the needle to its skin again and again.

"I know it hurts... I'm almost finished..." Caretaker murmured soothingly as the wolf whined and twitched under her skilled hands, whimpering pitifully. She was a professional at her work, and in no time she had moved on from the deep laceration to the lesser bullet wounds, closing them up one at a time.

The floor was slick with blood, the same blood that streaked black fur, but finally Caretaker was finished, and gently wrapped gauze around the injured leg and bullet holes she'd stitched up.

The beast twitched at every small movement, growling and whimpering at regular intervals to express its displeasure.

Caretaker let out a soft sigh as she bandaged the last wound, leaning back to examine her work. She'd done it. The poor animal would live to see another day in captivity. Mission complete. Her gaze drifted to the side and she looked into the wolf's golden eyes, and the wolf stared right back at her with that same unusually perceptive look, like it was trying to read her emotions. She shuddered uneasily, picking up the care chart that had been left for her to review.

"Subject 32, eh?" She read aloud, raising an eyebrow. "That's not a very fitting name for such a magnificent creature. How about I call you... Eclipse? Because your fur is black, just like how day turns to night during an eclipse." She always enjoyed coming up with cute names and nicknames for each of the monsters under her care.

The wolf let out a tired breath of hot air, closing its eyes.

"Eclipse it is!" Caretaker chuckled, and began cleaning up the mess of blood on the floor along with the remaining medical supplies.

Eclipse didn't even crack an eye to look at her again as she worked around his prone form, too injured and exhausted to care.

Caretaker quietly retreated from the cage once she was finished to leave him alone to rest. Tomorrow would certainly be an interesting day.

Next ⏩️

Masterlist

@scoundrelwithboba @lumpofsand @isikedmyself878 @iamheretohurt @fleur-a-whump

@ay5ksal @otterfrost @sausages-things @i-don't-know-sal

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lmkobsessedmoth · 4 months

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Top five favorites animals aside from moth and cats!

I'm taking my revenge!!!!

Not counting cat and moths

1- bunnies

2- birds

3- foxes

4- fire flies

5- snakes

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life-series-school-blog · 8 months

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thanks pearl, so do you guys any pets, aside from the creatures that live in the cave i have a black cat named Luna and a baby slime Named Squish

Pearl: I have five hundred dogs! But my favorite is Tilly!

Rancher: I have my pandas at the sanctuary, my cat jellie, some goats at the farm, and other farm animals. there was this one time jellie jumped on top of my fridge and when she got down she had a mouse in her mouth! But it was still alive.. and then-

Claw: I have a wolf

Emerald: no pets here.

#pearlescentmoon #rancher #gtwscar #claw #rendog #emerald #martyn inthelittlewood #trafficblr #asks

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j1mmyr · 2 years

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Oop I seem to have gained some new people! Sorry I’ve not been too active lately XD

UH…a small “get to know me” though I guess!

- My IRL name is Jonny so you may see close people using it but my online name/art name/alter ego is Jimmy sometimes stylized as J!MMY and it comes from a long story inside joke! Sometimes I tack on my last initial (R) depending on the situation

- I’m a guy, my pronouns are he/him/his!

- I’m trans and have been out since 2013! I’m 5-6 years on T (I honestly forget the exact year off the top of my head) and am almost two years post-op! I don’t label myself as a “trans guy” exactly though and usually just say “guy” because frankly trans or cis doesn’t matter because I AM A GUY lol

- I’m an artist first and foremost and draw…well, kink and nsfw mostly XD I have an original comic about two fat BDSM gimps in a cyberpunk world that fall in love…sort of :U It’s complicated. They’re names are Scream and Candy and they’re my main OCs. You can see more of them and my art at my art blog @electropuz or send them asks at @spandexspaceman though that blog isn’t exactly ready yet!

- Other hobbies include writing, RPing, and cosplaying! And sometimes making said cosplay though my skills aren’t great so I usually end up buying cheap cosplay and fixing it up lmao. I also like gaming sometimes and wanna stream myself playing them or do “let’s plays” as a side thing for fun!

- Possible trigger warnings! I am mostly “spiritual” but openly identify as an atheistic Satanist! I also am a heavy drinker and a stoner so it’s hard for me to always tag things like drugs and alcohol! I’m also pro-kink BUT within limits!! I DO NOT support pedophila, incest, and other such things! Just keep all this in mind before following and minors DO NOT INTERACT at all! Btw if you’re a minor and I interact with you first out of accident first just tell me and I will quit right away!

- Otherwise I have three (technically five…long story) awesome cats that I love very much and put before all else! They’re names are Cirice (black, female, we pronounce it Cirrus due to a Ghost video we watched early in the fandom years ago), Dewdrop (cream/light orange, male, named after the unofficial name for Ghost’s lead guitarist), and Mochi (sphynx/hairless, male, named because he looks like he has rice ball skin lmao). The other two cats mentioned are cats I had when I lived with my grandpa and had to leave behind when I moved out! I still visit them frequently and make sure they’re well cared for though! They’re names are Wade (fluffy gray and white, male, named after Deadpool because he’s my hero) and Bruce (white, male, named after Batman to match Wade being Deadpool). All are spayed/neutered and three are shelter rescues!

- My personal triggers are cat deaths, harm, etc. so please tag them if we become mutuals! It’s not that other forms of animal death/abuse aren’t important (they bother me too), they’re just not a full blown trigger. Cats specifically send me into episodes of severe anxiety and depression

- My “just talking” tag is “the rest is all bullshit” so feel free to blacklist that if you’re just here for cats or memes or something!

ANYTHING ELSE?? I guess just ask me! I love to talk and my favorite things are currently the band Ghost, Walt Disney World, Ghostface (both Scream and DBD), and talking about my OCs! Also aside from Ghost my big fandoms are OFF, TF2, Rick and Morty, and MHA! There’s also a handful of nostalgic fandoms (like Homestuck) and various characters I adore, it’s just hard to list them all right now XD

OKAY I THINK THAT’S FINALLY IT!! Welcome to my blog!

#the rest is all bullshit

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tootiredmotel · 3 years

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Electricity

Inspired by @ledzeppelinmixtape 's emoji prompt: ⛈

Read on ao3 or below / 2.3k words

It's 11pm and storming biblically when Dean and Cas's apartment goes dark.

"Great," Dean mutters under his breath. "Fan-freaking-tastic."

From somewhere else in the apartment, his roommate asks "did the power go out?"

"What do you think, sunshine?" Dean replies sarcastically.

He has a half-written essay in front of him, but he knows his old-ass computer won't last long unplugged, so he saves the document before shutting it off. He leans back in his chair, stretching for the first time in an hour and running a hand down his face. He actually needed a break from the screen, he realizes, feeling his eyes relax as he rubs them.

The steady rain and strong winds outside make an overwhelming white noise track, interrupted only by thunder that goes from faint and distant to deafening in volume. If Dean wasn't stressed out of his mind and completely exhausted right now, he might actually find this kind of nice.

"It's raining cats and mice out there," he hears Cas say, his voice now in the room.

Dean smiles, still rubbing his eyes with the backs of both his hands. "Cats and dogs, Cas."

"Right. Cats and dogs."

It’s really no use correcting him; the entire animal kingdom could be falling from the sky right now and there wouldn't be much of a difference. The winds are definitely knocking things over, and the streets will certainly be flooded come morning. Dean wonders for how long the university will cancel classes after this (if at all, the heartless bloodsuckers).

A particularly loud clap of thunder startles Dean. He drops his hands from his face and opens his eyes, expecting to see pitch black nothingness, but the room is faintly lit by the flashlight Cas is holding as he rummages through their kitchen drawers. He approaches a minute later and sets a candle down on the small table.

"Smart."

"Thank you, Dean," Cas says, sitting down opposite him. Dean smiles again, this time shaking his head.

If anyone ever asked him to mention one thing he likes about Cas, just one, he'd probably say how genuine Cas is, how he takes everything to heart and speaks from it as well. Dean said just one word, smart, a simple comment on the fact that it occurred to Cas to light a candle instead of wasting the battery of their one flashlight, and Cas genuinely thanked him for the compliment. He's just ridiculously cute in his earnestness.

Cas is trying to light the candle now, but their lighter is tricky. Despite living together in that apartment for a year and a half now Cas has never really gotten the hang of it.

"Here, let me."

Dean means to take the lighter from Cas and do it himself, he really does. That is 100% his intention as he reaches across the table. Except he sees an opportunity, and Dean Michael Winchester is nothing if not smooth.

He wraps his hand around Cas's, gently guiding his fingers until they’re placed just right, and the lighter clicks on with ease. Cas meets his eyes, smiling, and Dean can feel the slightest brush of Cas’s thumb against his hand. It’s a small gesture, but clearly deliberate, and it sends Dean’s heart into overdrive. Cas leans away, puts the lighter aside, and starts leafing through a book he brought. Dean’s heart is still racing as he watches him.

Scratch that first thing. If anyone ever asked him what’s one thing he likes about Cas? His hands. God. Neat nails, slightly calloused palms, and overall larger hands than you’d expect. Cas is an environmental science major and he wants to get a Ph.D. in botany, so of course, there’s a small garden on their fire escape. He tends to those plants every day with more gentleness and care than Dean has ever seen, and Dean loves to watch him, even though he has no idea what Cas is doing with them half the time. He just knows that not a single one of their plants have died under Cas’s care. He names them too.

His attentiveness. That’s another thing Dean might say if anyone ever asked. Cas left to visit his sister Anna last winter break. He left Dean in charge of the plants, three of which died inside the week. (For Dean’s birthday a couple of months later, Cas got him a book. How Not to Kill Your Houseplant. Dean keeps it on his nightstand.) Dean went out and bought new ones, but he knew Cas would notice the difference, and he did. He wasn’t mad at Dean though, and he appreciated the effort, and as Dean apologized profusely over and over again, Cas looked at him in the eyes oh-so-softly and told him he was forgiven.

How could Dean possibly forget? If anyone ever asked, he’d say that Cas’s eyes are one of his favorite things about him. One of his favorite things, period. Dean is absolutely mesmerized whenever Cas looks him in the eye, and the guy loves making eye contact, which means that Dean lives in a perpetual smitten daze. He has never seen that shade of blue anywhere else on this earth. Or maybe he just hasn’t been looking, content to get his fill of that blue by staring into Cas’s eyes as much as he gets to on a daily basis.

“Are you alright, Dean?”

Dean blinks himself back to reality. “Hm?”

“You seem… spaced.”

Dean is staring. He’s been staring this whole time. Shit. Crap.

“Yeah, um. Just tired.”

Mr. Smooth, everybody.

“Maybe you should go get some rest. I doubt the power will be back anytime soon.”

Castiel Milton, always looking out for you. It makes Dean melt.

“Yeah, maybe.” I wanna stay here with you, though, he thinks. Instead, because he’s pathetic, he asks “what’re you reading?”

Cas shows him the cover. How Not to Kill Your Houseplant. Dean breaks out in laughter.

“So you’re going into my room and stealing my shit now?”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t touch your Vonneguts.” Cas puts the book aside, an easy smile on his face. “Just wanted something light to pass the time.”

“You done with your homework?”

A soft yawn escapes Cas. “For now.”

“Dude, why not just go to sleep? You look exhausted.”

“Look who’s talking.”

Dean tries to deadpan him. He fails, because around Cas, it’s near impossible for him to not smile.

“Besides, I might be done but you weren’t.”

“And you wanted to keep me company.”

Cas shrugs as if to say I guess, but he does it with a knowing smile. The smile doesn’t falter as he meets Dean’s eyes, and he doesn’t look away when silence settles between them, the only sound being the stormy white noise.

Dean is sure he could drown in that blue and die happy.

Before that train of thought gets away from him again, Dean tears his gaze away and stretches. “We should really go to bed though, I’m not getting any more done tonight,” he says as he stands.

“Of course,” Cas says, but he grabs the book again.

“You not going?”

“I want to finish this chapter.”

The seriousness in his tone makes Dean smile. Again.

“Well, g’night, Cas.”

“Good night, Dean.”

Dean thinks he detects a bit of shakiness in Cas’s voice but decides that he’s probably just tired.

He gets to his room and changes into something comfortable, the first t-shirt and sweatpants he finds as he rummages in the dark. He goes to set his phone on his nightstand and crawl into bed, but in place of the book he keeps there and puts his phone on top of– the book Cas has at the moment– he finds something else.

It’s paper. It’s folded into the form of a book, like one of those youtube craft tutorials with bad music, and it's no bigger than his own palm. The cover is handwritten, and Dean immediately recognizes it as Cas's. He smiles, expecting a prank or joke of some sort, Cas knows how stressed Dean can get with the start of the semester. However, his smile falters as he reads the cover:

How to tell your best friend you’re in love with him.

With a shaky hand, Dean opens the small book. The first page is the only one with any more writing on it, and it reads:

You leave him a note and hope it’s enough.

Dean is storming out of his bedroom (no pun intended) before he knows it. He barely even feels his feet moving, too focused on the pounding in his ears and the dryness in his mouth. He doesn’t go into the living room, not yet; his feet stop at the end of the short hallway and he braces himself against the wall. The room is spinning and he can barely breathe.

“Cas?” He chokes out.

Cas puts the book back down on the table in front of him and interlocks his fingers in front of him. He doesn’t look at Dean– Cas, who makes too much eye contact – and takes a deep breath before saying “yes?”

He’s nervous.

Dean takes a step forward, still keeping one hand on the wall just in case, and holds up the note. “What is this?” he asks, because his brain is just not there with him yet.

Cas stands, still not facing Dean. “Dean, do you know what day it is?”

He’s asking this now???

“September firs–”

Oh. Oh shit.

“Cas isn’t today the–”

“The night we met. Two years ago.”

Dean feels his brain catching up now as the memory starts coming back to him. Cas helps, starting to recount that night.

“Two years ago tonight, I was leaving my night course at the university, and it was raining. Not as bad as this,” –Cas looks out the window and lightning strikes, as if on cue– “but pretty badly, and I was an inexperienced freshman without an umbrella.”

Dean remembers. He was walking Charlie to her dorm when it started drizzling, and it was pouring by the time he made it back to his car. Dean had a night shift at the gas station and was about to head there.

“Two years ago tonight,” Cas continues, “you invited me into your car to shelter me from the rain.”

Dean saw this guy running in the direction of the men’s dorms, which were on the other side of campus. He felt bad, and he had a car, so he opened the passenger door and let him in.

Turned out to be the most gorgeous guy he’d ever laid eyes on. He was a bit awkward, but he had no filter, which made him weirdly funny. He asked about the music playing in the car and listened intently to Dean's rambling. He laughed at his jokes too.

At the end of the five-minute drive, he said his name was Castiel, and Dean asked for his number and saved it as Cas with a thunderstorm emoji. Because even if he didn’t know it yet, Dean was already whipped.

“Two years ago,” Cas says, finally looking up at Dean. His eyes are wide and vulnerable and he looks terrified and Dean can barely stand it. “Two years ago tonight, I started to fall in love with you.”

Dean can’t breathe. His ears are hot and he can’t stop fidgeting with the note in his hand and he can’t breathe.

But his feet start moving again, out of their own volition. They move toward Cas.

“If you don’t feel–” Cas starts, but Dean swallows his words.

Again, Dean’s brain isn’t all there yet, and he doesn’t realize what he’s doing until he’s already in it. He’s grabbing Cas’s face, digging his fingertips into the back of his hair, and the note is forgotten on the table, and thunder rumbles not that far away. He’s darting out his tongue, begging to explore Cas’s mouth as he’s wanted to do since forever, and Cas lets him. He tastes like toothpaste and coffee and honey and Dean never wants to taste anyone else ever again.

Cas is wrapping his arms around Dean’s waist and pressing his entire body against him. It’s making Dean weak in the knees but it’s okay because Cas is almost holding him upright at this point. There’s another clap of thunder, much closer this time, and the lightning probably illuminated the apartment, but it wasn’t enough to make them part. They’re moving and grasping and exploring frantically, and Dean is afraid Cas is going to disappear, or that he’s going to wake up and this will all have been another dream. But no, it’s real, and they’re playing catchup on two years worth of desire and longing and love.

They eventually pull away, breathless and giddy. The only sounds are the rain and the wind. Dean opens his eyes first, needing to see Cas and make sure this is completely, definitely, unequivocally real. Cas is smiling and taking deep breaths, and a weight seems to be lifted off his shoulders. He opens his eyes a second later, and even in the darkness, even with just the faint candlelight, the blue in them seems to shine. And even though there's no power, it feels as if there's electricity crackling in the air around them. It might be the storm.

No. It's the moment. This moment with Cas is what feels electric.

“Come to bed?” Dean asks, feeling brave and going out on a limb. The only way Cas responds is by interlocking his hand into Dean’s and kissing him again.

And after tonight, for the rest of his life, if anyone ever asks him “what’s one thing you love about Cas?” Dean won’t be able to narrow down an answer.

He’ll just say: “Everything.”

#gen.fics #spncreatorsdaily #creativecaviar #userjennmish #userdorksinlove #userstarry #tuserari #plantdadcas #offbeattraxx #slipper007 #thisisapaige #lyntracks #deancas #destiel #college au #fic #spn #gen creates

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yurtletheturtlehenderson · 3 years

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COSMIC - S1:E5; Chapter Five, The Flea and The Acrobat - [Pt. 1]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘔𝘳. 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.

|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

His heart racing, Hopper could hear the blood pumping in his ears as he ran through the twisted corridors of the Lab. Beads of sweat dripped down his face as he swiftly maneuvered the facility be had just broken into in search of the missing boy.

"Will?" His desperate calls echoed off of the cold tile walls.

"Will?"

In the midst of his frantic haste, he had gotten turned around. The chilling corridors all seemed the same and a new wave of panic flooded him. Taking a deep breath, the chief tried his best to recompose himself. He came across a crossroads, it resembled a four-way intersection that one may find on an ominous back road in the country. He stared ahead and sighed.

Each corridor was identical to the next. Cold and unwelcoming.

"You gotta be shittin' me." He growled under his breath.

Grabbing his bearings, the man kept straight and hoped for the best.

The hallway stretched for what felt like miles, when finally, after a few turns, it came to a dead end. He looked around and noticed this was quite different than the others.

The chief's instincts that had earned him the title in the first place suggested to him that the small corner of the facility had been long forgotten. This particular area had been neglected the upkeep that was evident in the rest of the laboratory. Ahead of him lay two doors; an old broom closet, labeled as such, and a rather ominous looking door, with an accompanying window with a glimpse inside an untidy room.

This particular room piqued his interest. The door was closed, though the handle seemed to be broken, the room ajar. Hopper cautiously stepped toward the door, reaching his arm out and slowly pushed it open.

Hopper stepped inside the cluttered room, his heart racing, not knowing what to expect. It was clear that the room was designed to have a greater purpose, but had been hastily abandoned and eventually forgotten. It seemed that just about every item in the room, much like the rest of the facility, was made of steel. From the counters to the filing cabinets with half-opened drawers. His eyebrows furrowed in curiosity as he stepped inside and around the steel table to the cabinet on the opposite end of the room.

Knowing he had little time, he shone his flashlight into the drawer and he quickly rifled through the filing cabinet waiting for something that might catch his eye. Hopper sighed in disappointment when he found nothing useful. He began to shut the filing cabinet in defeat when he caught a small glimpse of a peculiar label shoved all the way to the back, almost like it was meant to be forgotten.

Tilting his head in curiosity, Hop pulled the drawer out as far as it would go and even then, the man had to reach for the file. It a wonder he caught it in the first place. He pulled it from the drawer and examined the front with haste.

The label on the edge of the manilla folder had been scratched out and written over many times that it was now indistinguishable. The front cover was all blank, except for a few words that had been scribbled in black ink.

SUBJECT 009; THE MISSING EXPERIMENT

The familiar words sparked something in Hopper. With no time to waste he shoved the file into his jacket and closed the cabinet, making a run for the door.

Fortunately, Hopper was able to retrace his steps back to the where he had gotten lost, this time making a right turn down the hallway. He continued his calls for Will when suddenly, he found himself in a room, not that different from the strange room he found himself in earlier. Only this room, contained a bed.

And a security camera, which happened to be the first thing Hopper noticed when he entered.

He stepped closer to the bed, the light of the flashlight landing on a small stuffed animal, that was placed neatly at the top of the bed near the pillow. Frowning, Hopper moved his flashlight to the wall above the bed, a small piece of printer paper had been taped to the wall.

It was a drawing, clearly done by a child.

There were two people depicted in the drawing, in the form of stick figures. What appeared to be a tall man standing next to a smaller stick figure who he could only assume to be artist. The child wore a frown, and they faced a table that appeared to have a cat on it. Hopper almost didn't notice the words above each stick figure.

Above the child, was the number eleven. And above the man, written in messy handwriting was a single word.

Papa.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

The five of us were scattered around Mike's basement. El was curled up on the couch, most likely physically exhausted from contacting Will. Mike was sitting at the opposite end of the couch by El's feet, concentration etched in his features. Lucas occupied the lounge chair deep in thought while Dustin resides at the bottom of the stairs.

"What was Will saying?" Mike wondered.

He began reciting Will's words from earlier in an attempt to recall the only clue we might have that he might be alive.

"Like home... Like home... but dark?" He stood up from the couch, hands still in his jacket pockets as he began pacing the room.

"And empty." Lucas pressed his intertwined fingers against his forehead, his eyes closed deep in thought.

My leg bounced up and down at an alarming rate, a nervous habit I picked up at a young age as I spoke up, my eyes still focused on one random corner of the room.

"And cold."

Dustin sighed.

"Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" He looked around the room, seeming to second guess himself.

"I don't know, I think? The stupid radio kept going in and out." Lucas sighed.

"He did. He said cold." I muttered, unable to shake the haunting voice of my friend's terrified cries for help.

"Like home." Mike repeated once more. "Like his house?"

"Or maybe like Hawkins." Lucas offered eagerly.

"Upside Down." El muttered.

"What'd she say?" Lucas asked.

"Upside Down." Mike said, a hint of astonishment in his voice as something seemed to have clicked.

"What?" Lucas repeated.

Mike walked over to the table I sat at and looked at the overturned game board. It was then, I recalled what El had been telling us the other night, with Will's game piece.

My mouth fell into a silent gasp as everything began falling into place. I turned myself back around in the chair and looked at the board.

"Upside down." I breathed.

Mike had taken a seat across from me, both hands on the game board while the other boys got up and joined us at the table.

Mike began flipping the board over multiple times as he explained.

"When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down. Dark. Empty. Cold." He finished, locking eyes with me as he said the last word.

"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked me and Dustin.

We replied simultaneously.

"Yes."

"No."

We both looked at each other with confusion and a hint of annoyance for a split second before dismissing the thought.

"Come on guys, think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?" I offered, gesturing all around me as I spoke.

Lucas shrugged.

"Yeah. And he wasn't there."

"But what if he was there?" I offered, eyebrows raised as I looked between my brother and Lucas. "What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?"

The boys, aside from Mike, of course, seemed to consider this. Mike jumped back in as he flipped the board right side up once more.

"What if this is Hawkins and..." he flipped it back. "This is where Will is? The Upside Down."

Dustin seemed to perk up as he connected his own dots.

"Like the Vale of Shadows."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Dustin slammed Mike's collection of Dungeons and Dragons guides and spell books on the table and began flipping through the various guidebooks. After a few moments he stopped on the page he had been looking for and began to read aloud.

"The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters."

As he read the next sentence, Mike, Lucas and I all shared the same, unsettled look, and a chill ran down my spine.

"It is right next to you, and you don't even see it." Dustin finished, and looked up, sharing our looks of concern.

Mike spoke up.

"An alternate dimension."

It seemed I was not the only one who was having difficulty handling the information.

"But... how... how do we get there?" Lucas asked worriedly.

"We cast Shadow Walk." Dustin said.

"In real life, dummy." Lucas deadpanned.

"We can't shadow walk, but... maybe she can." Dustin offered.

We all look to a drowsy looking El.

"Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?" Mike asked her gently.

She shook her head softly and we all felt the heavy ache of disappointment. Some of us were better at hiding it.

"Oh, my God!" Lucas sighed dramatically.

I tuned out the bickering that began between the boys when I gestured for the handbook and Dustin complied, sliding it over to me.

Maybe, just maybe, there must be something in one of these books that could help us or even give us an idea. I began flipping through the spell book and found myself lingering on my characters class, the Druid. More specifically, the Druid spell pages, getting lost in thought.

My eyes scanned the pages, my hope and curiosity had bubbled down to desperation and boredom as I read the all too familiar page. This time, with a new lense.

I recognized the many spells I had used in previous campaigns; Produce Flame had gotten me out of a pinch with a mimic once, I smiled at the memory. And of course, Plant Growth - one of my personal favorites - Will would always tease me about my love for plants carried on into my character.

I soon found myself unable to tear my attention away from one of the lower class spells I always used, Cure Wounds. Something in the back of my mind kept gnawing at me. I bore my eyes into the page as I reread the words over and over again.

"You or a creature you touch regains a number of Hit Points equal to 1d8 + your Spellcasting ability modifier. This spell has no effect on Undead or constructs."

It dawned on me. That night we saw "Will". It was just moments before we heard the sirens, I realized my cut had mysteriously vanished. I had immediately gotten distracted when we heard the sirens and then everything happened one after the other that I had forgotten.

'How could I possibly have forgotten something like that?'

I thought about El. A week ago I never believed it possible to move things with your mind, but yet El could. It made me wonder.

I shook my head, clearly, I was grasping at straws.

'Remember what mom said?' I asked myself, some part of me desperate to bury the ridiculous notion growing in the back of my mind. 'My body has always been faster than most medicines.'

I broke myself out of my thoughts to see Dustin and Lucas packing up. Suddenly realizing how tired I was, I happily joined in and grabbed my jacket from the chair and we said our goodbyes.

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kobedivision · 2 years

Text

“If you were mine, if you were only mine, I'd bring you so much further down and twist your mind until the end of time.”

Introduction

Kaiji Sano, also known as Jinx in rap battles, is a famous cosplayer with an insanely massive following. An active crossdresser, little people aside from his friends and family know that he’s actually a male. He joined the DRB to simply be with his friends and to boost his follower count but like his teammates, he has the ulterior motive to find his “soulmate”.

Kaiji is a young man in his very early 20s despite looking like he should be starting high school. He’s shorter than most average males and has a petite, almost feminine frame. He has pale, paper white skin and frosty blue eyes, on top of his head is pure snow white hair that reaches his cheeks. Oftentimes he wears hair extensions whenever he crossdresses.

Kaiji wears Boy Lolita and Harajuku styled clothing. He wears a white ruffled button up long sleeve shirt with a white upper body harness with black bows on it, he wears black shorts that stop right at his thighs, on his legs are black knee-high socks with garters that wrap around above his knees. For footwear, he wears black boots with heels. For accessories he wears earrings and a black headband with a rose pinned onto it.

Kaiji wears the same style as stated above when he crossdreses too, but his favorite outfit is a black and white long sleeved gothic Lolita dress with black and white flowers, black stockings with a white fishnet pattern and black strap on heels with white bows on the front. For accessories, he wears a black choker and a white headband with gold spikes on top, a rose is tucked behind his ear.

Name Meanings

Kaiji (快治) - pleasant cure

Sano (佐野) - small meadow

Aliases

Kai - Ren

Snow Leopard - Max

JinxCosplay - Username

“The Boy Lolita”

Pretty, Cutie, Radiant, etc.

“The She Who’s Actually A He”

Biographical Info

Gender - Male

Age - 21

Birthday - October 27th

Ethnicity - French-Japanese

Hair Color - Snow White

Eye Color - Icy Blue

Height - 160cm / 5’3 | 165cm / 5’5 (In Heels)

Weight - 47kg / 105lbs

Star Sign - Scorpio

Piercings - Lobe, Helix

Markings - Self-harm scars on wrists and arms

Family - Father

Mother

Eldest Brother

Older Brother

Younger Brother

Younger twin sisters

Voiced By - LOLUET (Rapping)

Fun Facts

MC Name - Jinx

Occupation - Professional Cosplayer

Division - Kobe

Team - Lovesick

Position - 3rd Member

Favorite Food - Macarons

Least Favorite Food - Anything Bitter

Likes - Cosplaying, Crossdressing, Cute clothes, Anime, Video games, Sweets, Blood

Dislikes - Anything bitter, Ugly clothes, Old people, Overly masculine guys

Hypnosis Microphone

Kaiji’s Microphone is a headset mic in the form of a headband with a crown of roses going across his head, the cord connecting the mouthpiece to the headset is black in color and the mouthpiece resting near his mouth is red in color

His Speaker takes the form of five plushies; a white cat, a brown bear, a pink bunny, a yellow dog, and a green lizard, all being hung by their necks in chains. The plushies all look like somebody had tortured them, one of their eyes are missing, their mid-sections cut open to reveal the stuffing inside, or missing limbs except their arms which are holding speakers. The chain that the plushies are hanging from all connect together and are wrapped around the stem of a rose that’s floating above the hanged plushies and gives off a glowing red aura.

His rap ability, Hysteria, makes his opponent hallucinate their greatest fears, scaring them and rendering them useless and open to attacks.

Kaiji’s rap centers around how cute he is and how people love him all while verbally abusing his opponents, he also makes references to well known anime and video games. He also raps about how he really wants to find his soulmate and all the fun they could have together as they slaughter anyone who gets in between them, getting more and more vicious if the battle continues.

Personality

In public and on social media, Kaiji is all happiness and smiles, he lives to please and entertain his fans with his beautifully detailed and very accurate cosplays. He’s very playful and teasing, especially to those he considers “easy targets”, his cutesy and somewhat innocent personality often has people on his side as they adore the effeminate looking man. Kaiji is also a massive flirt and a hopeless romantic, he yearns for his soulmate whoever it may be and often daydreams about them and the fun they could have together, he flirts and chats up people in an attempt to find that “spark” he’s heard so much of but no luck so far.

In private and among people he can be comfortable with, Kaiji’s personality does a 180. He’s more “mature” in a sense, he loses the cutesy persona and speaks like an actual human being, he’s more crass and tends to swear a lot, not afraid to speak what’s on his mind and definitely not afraid to verbally cut someone down, even finding pleasure in doing so. He’s also…quite perverted, often making lewd remarks and telling scandalous jokes that always flies over Max’s head and makes Ren groan in exasperation.

Kaiji’s a masterclass actor, literally no one but his family and Ren and Max knows about his sadistic tendencies, he takes a great deal of pleasure in people’s suffering, oftentimes it’s him that’s the cause of it. It’s been like that since as long as he can remember but he’s always been encouraged to feed into his dark side by his family so he sees nothing wrong with his behavior. He’s smart, incredibly perceptive, and actually a lot stronger than he looks, because of his appearance and demeanor, people always underestimate him which he uses to his advantage and gets a sick kick out of people’s shock and sometimes horror as he proves he’s not some helpless pretty boy.

Background

Coming Soon.

Trivia

Apart from his job as a professional cosplayer, Kaiji also does modeling. As a result, he’s quite close with the top models such as Lola Takahashi, Evelyn Rose, and Yeong Hajoon.

He likes to mess with people by saying the most raunchy and perverted stuff in French but lies and say it’s something wholesome.

As of February 2024, Kaiji has been in a relationship with Touya Kisaragi of Katsushika.

He loves making people question their sexuality with his crossdressing.

Kaiji makes his own cosplays, he’s quite skilled at making clothes and props, having been taught by Ramuda Amemura himself.

Kaiji suffers from a condition where he produces more estrogen then testosterone, hence his feminine appearance, while he despised it during his younger years, he’s come to love his body in present day and it’s to the point where he’s developed small breasts that he’s planning on making bigger.

He used to be a drug addict in his teen years but later got better after being put through rehab.

#hypmic oc #hypnosis mic oc #hypmic #hypnosis mic #hypnosis microphone #kaiji sano #kobe division #lovesick #character bio

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hauntedbythefanficsofmypast · 4 years

Text

The Betrothal Pt. 1

• Sabine Cheng grew up in the League of Assassins. She left when she was 17 after meeting Tom on a mission in Paris. In order to leave she beat Talia in a fight.

• Talia and Sabine are best friends, and though Talia is pretty heartless she has a soft spot for Sabine's family and holds them in high regards. The last time they saw each other in person before their children's birth was Sabine's wedding.

• When Marinette is born Talia visits and is named her Godmother, she stays until they open the bakery in celebration of her birth.

• When Damian is born Sabine and Marinette visit Infinity Island to see him. Sabine is named Godmother, and Talia proposes the idea of them being betrothed.

• Sabine agrees however she does not want her daughter or godson stuck in a loveless marriage. She and Talia agree on conditions.

1. Every summer they spend it with each other starting when they turn four. Alternating between Infinity Island and Paris.

2. They will be told of the betrothal the summer of their ninth birthday.

3. If either one of them is not in love with the other the betrothal will be broken.

• When they turn four Marinette spends her frist summer with Damian on Infinity Island. They summer consists heavily of training from sun up till four in the afternoon, at which time Talia allows them to be kids. Talia deems that Marinette would fight best with a style similar to the first Robin's. She immediately brings two teaches to the island in order to teach Marinette Gymnastics and ariel arts. Marinette and Damian get along quickly, Talia is pleased to see her usually serious son smile and laugh with her goddaughter. They both have small parties for their birthdays, they turn five.

• When summer is over Marinette and Damian are sad to say goodbye to each other. Talia assures both of them they will see each other next year in Paris. Marinette's gymnastic and ariel arts teachers follow her back and forth between Paris and the Island.

• The next year Talia drops Damian of in Paris. Their summer still consists of training, however Sabine focuses more on letting them have fun. She does take their training seriously she just shortens their sessions and gives them every Friday off. Marinette develops a love for drawing over the summer and drags Damian into it with her. Their birthdays are a bigger celebration this year and they have a joint party when Sabine and Tom take them to Disneyland Paris, they turn six. This time when they part Marinette is crying and Damian refuses to stop hugging her until she stops. Talia promises to visit for Christmas and New Year to cheer Marinette up.

• Talia decides to stay with the family for the holidays and catch up more with Sabine. She even helps out in the bakery during the holiday rush. Everyone that comes to the bakery leaves talking about the beautiful women that comands your attention without saying anything. When leaving Talia agrees to spend the Christmas and New years with them again next year.

• When the next summer comes Marinette and Damian spend their free time exploring Infinity Island. During one of their explanations Marinette stumbles upon Ra. At first Ra wants to get rid of the Mari, deeming her a brat, but he quickly realizes that she was Sabine's child. Instead he decides to indulge their curiosity to learn more of his best students child and his grandson. The next day he shows up and takes over their training session. Talia is worried and panicking even though she is calm on the outside, she is relieved when she sees her father pulling his punches during their spars.

• By the end of the summer Talia and Ra trade off the days they train the kids. Talia's sessions focus on them fighting by themselves, while Ra makes them the perfect duo. Ra even attends their small birthday party giving them both sketch books and pencils. Then he gives Marinette a beautiful necklace.

• And gives Damian a a leather band bracelet with a matching gem fastened on it. They turn eight.

• Ra is there with Talia and Damian when Sabine arrives to pick up Marinette. Sabine is surprised when Marinette extendes andmn invite to Ra to spend the holidays with them. And is shocked when Ra agrees to come.

• That Christmas Talia and Damian stay with the Dupain-Chengs while Ra stays at Le Grand Paris. He decides to begin teaching Marinette and Damian other languages. By the next year it is clear they are fast learners when they are already having shaky conversations together in English. Ra finds it amusing that the bakery's regulars find both him and his daughter to be charming. When Damian, Talia, and Ra are leaving Marinette promises Ra that the next time they meet she'll be speaking to him in English without an accent.

• Before the end of the school year the school conducts a IQ test and are surprised when Marinette's score is 187. The teachers are surprised they knew Marinette was smart, she was the top student in the school and never scored below 100. They gain permission for more tests and discover that Marinette has eidetic memory. After discovering this the school tries to convince Sabine and Tom to let Marinette skip grades. They refuse wanting to keep her with her age group, but agree to allow the school to give her more advanced work compared to the other students.

• When Damian arrives in Paris Talia and Sabine pull them aside and tell them of the betrothal. At first Damian and Marinette are upset and refuse to talk to their mothers, instead they retreat up to Marinette's room curled together on her chase chair. After half an hour Damian breaks the silence teasing her about her room still being almost entirely pink. Marinette pushes him of the chase huffing, claiming pink was her scond favorite color and that none of the paints matched his eyes. They burst into laughter smiling at each other, before deciding that being betrothed wasnt so bad because whats better than marrying your best friend.

• They spend the summer heavily training, Sabine training them more than she usually does out of slight worry. She Talia and Ra have agreed to announce Marinette and Damian's betrothal to the League of Assassins. While she know it is unlike Marinette will become a target she does not want to take any precautions. This year for their birthday they have a small celebration because Tom and Sabine have a big catering order. Ra sends them two engagement rings with a letter say this will do for now until they buy the rings themselves.

• Marinette puts it on her necklace and grabs a necklace chain so that Damian can do that same.

• When the end of summer comes they are sad to part ways and spend their last day together playing video games in Mari's room.

• After that summer Talia takes Damian to make his first kill. Slowly escalating till he is taking missions on his own. He is also told more about his father. When Marinette find out about him killing she isnt happy but she accepts it as long as Damian promises not to kill innocents. She is more upset to see how he becomes obsessed with the fact that he is the blood son of Batman. She is angry with Talia and Ra who are making him see himself as more important, because of it. Marinette spends the school year excelling in class and pulling pranks on Chloe never getting caught once.

• When the next summer arrives Marinette and Damian are excited to see each other. Marinette makes it clear that she doesnt want him to go on any missions while shes there and Damian agrees. They spend the summer learning more about Bruce Wayne together. Marinette panics slightly when Damian closes in on himself becoming angry when he realizes his father adopted three sons and two girls. At first he is insistent that he want to kill them, but Marinette quickly stops that idea pointing out how upset Bruce would be if he did. At the end of the summer Ra holds a meeting calling back almost every Assassin. He announces the betrothal of his heir Damian and Marinette, after this everyone in th League begins to refer to Marinette as Princess or Mistress much to her annoyance. Ra finds it amusing and for their tenth birthday gifts them both crowns.

• Once Marinette returns to Paris Talia announces that Damian is going to Gotham to learn from his father. Marinette is excited for him and encourages him to try to get to know his brothers and sisters as well. His first meeting does not go well when Tim makes a comment about Bruce already having sons. Causing a fight that quickly gets physical. This causes more distance between Damian amd his family. After a month with no changes except for Dick, Damian is considering leaving and joining Mari in Paris. Mari and her parents are more than happy to let him stay in his room at their house but encourage him to stay a little while longer. Damian starts spending more time with Dick, knowing the eldest was actually trying to know him. He grows closer to Dick actually enjoying his company, and the small gymnastics lessons he teaches Damian. He also talks to Dick about killing and although he still believes some people deserve to die he understands most of the family's standings.

• Damian attempts to get closer to his father but he can pretty much feel the wall that Bruce is putting between them. He only admits to Marinette how much it hurts to see his father hug and smile at his siblings, but not him.

• One morning Tim overnhears the conversation, at first he is curious on who Damian was talking to, but then he actually listens to the conversation. He felt bad for the comment he made when they first met. Tim goes to Dick in order to learn more about Damian, then he begins to pay more attention to Damian. He notices Damian has a hidden love for animals. With Alfred's help they find a fiesty little black and white cat for Damian. Alfred convinces Tim to give the cat to Damian, he does it at breakfast infront of the family. Damian is a little hostile at first until the cat swipes at him. He takes the cat nodding at Tim in thanks not able to bring himself to say it.

• The family is shocked to see Tim do something nice for Damian, and even more shocked when Damian softens just holding the cat. Dick snorts when Damian announces the cats name is Alfred. Slowly Tim and Damian become closer, they acknowledge each other more, Damian begins calling him Tim and Tim stops calling him Demon spawn.

• Damian grows closer with Cass both able to easily read each others body language. They prefer to sit in the library together, either reading or Cass watching Damian draw.

• Jason decides to bond with Damian by teaching him how to shoot with Alfred. He is a little jealous at how fast Damian picks it up, he then convinces Damian to spar with him.

• Damian and Stephenie have and unspoken prank war going on. Neither truely acknowledges it, and no one in the family knows, but they both know whos attacking who.

• The only person Damian hasnt bonded with is Bruce.

• One night Damian is sent an emergency message from Talia demanding his presence at the docks immediately. Damian pulls on a hoodie pulling the hood up and puts a mask on sneaking out of the manor. In his haste he accidentally triggers an alarm. Unknown to him he now has the Batfamily following him. His mother is easy to spot on the docks the moment he land he launches into her arms hugging her demanding to know whats wrong.

• Talia frowns softly pulling back looking at his face. She gently takes his mask off brushing his bangs back. She stares at him for a while looking lost, causing Damian to panic.

• "Little Prince, your grandfather is dead, and I am afraid the pits wont bring him back this time."

• Damian is shocked he pulls his arm to his chest rubbing the bracelet his grandfather got him, thinking about the silly crown his grandfather got him, now knowing that its the last present he'll ever receive from him. As Talia explained that she and his Aunt are taking over the League. Damian nods thinking to himself before voicing his thoughts.

• "Mother-Mom" he corrected himself softly signifying that he wanted to speak to the softer side of his mother. "I wish to remain here in Gotham. While father and I arent close I have gotten closer to my new siblings. I also-" Damian stops hesitant to voice what he wants. "Mom, I don't want to kill. I know Im supposed to be the prince of the League and the perfect assassin, but I don't want to kill."

�� Talia grabs his face stroking his cheeks gently and kisses his forehead. When their eyes meet the tension in Damian's posture disappears as he melts into his mom's embrace.

• " You will still be the Prince, Beloved. That is a title that I will never let be taken from you. However I will allow you to stay here and no longer kill. Just as father and I did for Sabine all those years ago."

• Damiam nods before asking if Marinette and Sabine know about grandfathers passing. Talia hugs her son tightly telling him that his Aunt is on her way to tell them now. She runs her fingers through Damian's hair as she makes eye contact with Batman her eyes hardening as she glares at him. Her eyes soften when she meets the rests eyes nodding to them, in her own way of thanks. She releases him straightening out pushing her soft side down once again. Telling Damian to return to the manor, before he leaves she reminds him that he'll always have a place on the Island.

• Once he was gone she turned her glare on Batman demanding that he act like a father. Before turning and leaving to the boat where her men were waiting.

• When the family gets home Bruce decides to have a heart to heart with Damian. He knocks on the door before opening it to find Damian laying on his bed Alfred the cat on his chest.

• Bruce sits down on the edge of the bed and apologizes. Promising to actually try to get to know him instead of ignoring him. He even agrees to train with him, and think about bringing him into the loop. A few days later Bruce comes home with a great dane. Dick smiles and tells the story of Ace the first Bat-Hound.

• That stops a month later when Darkseid kills Bruce. After a few weeks with no Batman, Gotham is being over run, so Dick takes up the cowl. He talks to Tim who is convinced that Bruce is still alive, while Dick doesnt believe he decides to support Tim in his research. He also asks him to allow Damian to become Robin.

• When Tim tries to fight him Dick quickly puts and end to it explaining his reasoning to Tim.

• "Tim, Im not doing this because I dont think your good enough. Tim I see you as my equal, yes Batman and Robin are supposed to be partners. However their roles are also as mentor and protégé. Since Damian has been here I took him as my protégé, I want to give him the chance Tim. Just like Bruce gave Jason, you, and me. Not only that, Timmy your ready to step out of the shadow, you've been ready for a while. I didnt want to say anything because I wanted you to realize on your own. I see now that I have to give you a little push, Its time to leave the nest and fly Tim."

• Tim is silent for a while before agreeing to find his own hero persona, and pass Robin on to another. Damian is ecstatic when Tim gives him the mantle, and it makes Tim feel better when he sees Damian actually brighten up. A few weeks later the dynamic duo hits the streets. While people can tell its not the first Batman, they quickly realize he is just as good if not better than the old.

• Stephanie helps Tim in his research both of them switch to online schooling as Tim and Dick take over as Co-Ceos of Wayne Enterprises. Dick is sad when he puts in his resignation to the police chief but he knows he has too. After a while the family moves from the manor to the Wayne penthouse, everyone unable to be there without Bruce.

• On their first big mission Batman and Robin take a cow from a slaughter house that they believe may have been poisoned. It is clear to everyone in the family that Damian has become incredibly attached to the cow. Dick lets him keep it and Damian, he names her Batcow.

• One night the family walks down into their current 'cave' at the hotel, and find the original Justice Leaguers sans Batman yelling at Dick for taking up the mantel. They demand to hold a funeral for Batman and have his title put away for good.

• Dick refuses, he refuses to let them do that and he refuses to give up the cowl.

• "I know my father didnt want me to take up the cowl!! But I will not let Gotham fall while he is gone, and I will not let Batman!! Gotham needs Batman and I will make sure this city has him. No matter what you say, this isn't your city. It mine now and I am keeping the same rules. No metas in Gotham, leave. Now."

• After they leave Dick bursts into tears as Alfred pulls him into a hug comforting him as he accepts the fact that he just got into a huge fight with people he considered family.

• The rest of the night his siblings make sure there isnt a moment of silence, knowing that Dick misses being able to chatter on and on, but wont because he took up Batman.

• Dick slowly changes some rules in the family and Gotham. Everyone now has one night off each week that is mandatory. They also have mandatory family nights once a week before patrol. Dick also allows a few metas into the city, under the condition that they only fight if asked to. He is not surprised when he finds Connor encouraging Tim out of his bedroom to eat breakfast. Instead of staying in the city Kori visits every other day before returning to the Titans.

• The family decides together to announce Jasons return and use a cover up story that in the explosion he lost his memory and only got it back a few months ago. Together the family is taking Gotham over, all of them earning the Titles of Gotham's new Princes and Princesses. Dick and Tim are the faces of Wayne Enterprises, opening new devisions and building and hiring more people. Jason begins working to help street kids opening and sponsoring multiple Orphanages. He makes sure only the best people are working at them, and that no kids are used as meal tickets. Tim focuses heavily on Wayne Enterprises and merges Drake Industries into the company, every news article is about how incrediblly smart he is at 17. Stephanie is working as Tim amd Dick's 'secretary' and organizes all of the Wayne families charities, become the face of their Charity organizations. Cass organizes charities for children and teens with disabilities and for hospitals within three months Gotham's hospitals have beeter tech, more works and programs where heros visit every week. Damian is already all over the news since he is Bruce's blood son but now they are talking about his work towards helping animals and the environment. He opens a few parks and animal sanctuaries in Gotham. And even dedicates one to Poison Ivy stating that while she is radical, she wasnt always and the person she was before that deserved acknowledgment.

• When the summer arrives the family find Damian in his room packing his bags, and they panic thinking that he is leaving and returning to his mother. Stephanie bursts into tears in the door way surprising the family as she rushes in hugging Damian. Begging him not to leave him and saying she'll stop the prank war that she just wants him to stay. Soon Dick is crying and hugging them to begging Damian not to leave them. Soon everyone is in the hug even Alfred and Cass. Talia finds the family like this ten minutes later after she arrives, she is heavily amused and makes sure to comment startling everyone that didnt notice her.

• "Honestly all these tears? He'll be back at the end of the summer, you all were always so emotional, especially you Richard."

• Dick sniffs not meeting her eyes as Tim questions Talia. She quickly realizes that she forgot to tell the family about the summer agreement. Damian notices his mother's shift and tells the family of his trips between Paris and Infinity Island every summer. The family is surprised to find out that Damian is engaged. They all want to meet Marinette but Damian refuses saying they'll meet her when she comes to Gotham next summer. Before Talia leaves Dick asks for permission to adopt Damian, telling her how he had began to think of him as a son, and that he is worried that if Bruce really is dead that CPS will try and take him. Talia gives him her blessing as she fixes his tie looking him in the eye.

• "Although he didn't want you to take up the cowl, Bruce would be incredibly proud of you. As Batman and as Richard Grayson-Wayne."

• Marinette was sad that Damian and Talia didnt come to Paris for Christmas but she understands why. She is there for Damian supporting his in his distress of his fathers passing and in his distress of starting to see Richard as a father. When he becomes Robin she starts training harder determined to join him one day. She also discovers a love for fashion and begins teaching herself how to sew and make clothes.

• When the school years ends Marinette is ecstatic for Damian's arrival. She can't wait to spend the entire summer with him. His arrival is emotional for the two, they stand together hugging for thirty minutes only letting go when Talia announces that she is leaving.

• Damian spends the summer teaching Marinette everything he has learned from Dick. Marinette is slightly jealous that Damian is learning from the hero that her entire style is based off of. He is more than happy to tell Marinette about Dick. He also becomes Marinette's mannequin and model, he smiles watching Mari quickly excel he clothes coming out better and better.

• Before the summer ends they have a heart to heart about their engagement a few days before their eleventh birthday party. They both decide to start dating when they turn fourteen, both feeling that it would be the best time for them to start.

• Damian and Marinette kiss each others cheeks goodbye while Damian promises to show her everything Gotham has to offer next summer when she comes. She also makes him promise to tell his siblings about her so that it wont be akward when she arrives.

• When the school year starts Damian enters Gotham academy and quickly excels becoming the top student with no problems. Meanwhile Marinette has joined the art club at school and began entering Fashion competitions slowly making a name for herself as MDC. Half way through the school year Damian convinces Dick to help him start training Titus as the next Bat-Hound.

• Soon after Batman and Robin have a breakout at Arkham, they ready themselves for a big fight after Scarecrow, Riddler, Penguin, and Ivy escape. They are able to take Riddler down quickly when he gets frustrated and attempts to attack Robin. After he got all the Riddles without missing a beat. Hood and Red Robin take Penguin down a week after he escapes. Batgirl and BlackBat have no luck for two weeks trying to find Ivy, until she shows up at the Wayne penthouse and personally thanks Damian for the park in her honor. She tells the entire family that she is going to be working towards bettering herself, and now longer being known as radical. The entire family decide to leave her be as long as she doesn't commit any crimes. Batman and Robin's worst fight is with Scarecrow, after Robin gets exposed to Fear gas for the first time. Batman calls in the rest of the family to finish things with Scarecrow while he rushes Robin to Agent A after administratering the cure.

• After that night Dick brings up adopting Damian the next day at dinner while explaining to the family that he doesn't want to take the chance of CPS taking Damian away. Everyone is surprised when Damian quickly agrees but everyone knows better than to voice it knowing that Damian would close on himself and storm out.

• A month the family is celebrating Tim amd Stephanie graduating and Dick successfully adopting Damian. However the entire family is also excited to finally meet Damian's betrothed. Wondering if she'll be just like him. They are incredibly surprised by the sunshine that they meet at the airport.

• They love seeing how fast she can get Damian to smile and act his age. Soon every news paper in Gotham is talking about the Newest 'Wayne'. Damian and Marinette do an interview together to stop speculation that shes an actual Wayne. They announce that they have been best friends since they were four and every summer they alternate between their homes.

• Marinette greets Dick with stars in her eyes and pretty much refuses to leave the hug when Dick offers one. When asked Damian tells the family that Talia based Marinette's fighting schedule off of Richard's and that he became one of her favorite heros because of it. Dick is quick to take her under his wing training her in his style personally and teaching her trapeze.

• She is quickly made a part of the family and even helps Alfred cook and clean becoming one of the only people he actually lets help. She soon joins them helping their various organizations, and also designing clothes for them.

• Gotham is taken with her and she is once again given the title of princess. Their next joint charity is for Orphans and foster families. Commercial and interviews are all about how they found their family thanks to Bruce adopting them, however their favorite is the Billboard with the entire family together. Each wearing fancy clothing and crowns, Marinette, Stephanie, Cass, and Barbara are sitting on a couch. With the boys leaning on the couch behind them smiling mischievously with Bruce photoshopped stand behind them smiling with his own crown.

• When asked about the billboard they family bursts out into giggles and Dick is the only one able to answer. Explaining that they felt like playing into their titles given to them by their fellow Gothamites as Princes and Princesses.

• Before the end of summer they hold a Gala at Wayne Enterprises celebrating Marinette and Damian's twelfth birthday

• By the time summer ends Marinette is practically famous in the states she is verified on both Twitter and Instagram. People absolutely love her designs and he upbeat and happy posts. She leaves with promises of showing the family around Paris next summer when they bring Damian, all of them planning to stay for a week.

• A week later Tim finds away to bring Bruce back and in his rush he forgets to tell his family. Until he shows up at the penthouse with Bruce, the entire family is in shock. They walk in at the start of family night and find Dick sitting on his and Damian's couch with Damian ontop of him arms around his waist and half asleep listening to Dick's heartbeat. Jason is in the kitchen with Alfred making food and Cass and Stephanie are picking the movies.

• For a while they just stare at each other before the girls quickly hug Bruce as everyone begins crying. Dick hugs Damian tighter crying form their place on the couch. Soon the entire family is in the living room Bruce is sitting on the catch with Dick and Damian, Dick's feet in his laps as he gently rubs Dick's ankle.

• Jason calls Kori Roy and Wally and asks them to patrol for the family for the night. Telling them Bruce was alive. Bruce spends the night explaining what happened on his side, before the family explains what happened on their side.

• " So let me get this straight. Dick left the police force? Dickie, you loved being an officer. Jason has been declared alive and he has been opening Orphanages?Tim and Stephanie both switch to online schoolng and joined Wayne Enterprises? Cass samtarted her own charity for childs and teens with disabilities and to help hospitals? And Damian not only opened parks and animal sanctuaries, you all found out he is betrothed, and the girl has already earned to title of one of Gotham's princesses."

• The only thing they dont tell Bruce is that Dick adopted Damian. They move back into the manor. Bruce is furious to find out that the Justice League turned their backs on his eldest. After talking with Dick and Damian he decides to take up the cowl and let Nightwing return in two weeks after Dick teachs both him and Damian how to work with each other. He takes up Dicks spot as Co-Ceo with Tim. Dick decides to remain at Wayne Enterprises and becomes a security guard with Jason, but he mainly does tours on Wayne Enterprises.

• After a month of being back Bruce finds out that Dick adopted Damian and it causes a screaming match. This fight causes Dick to move back into the penthouse and stop talking to Bruce altogether. Alfred smacks some since into Bruce pointing out that Dick didnt try to take his place as Damian's father. That he only did for Damian what Bruce did for Dick. That night instead of patroling Bruce goes to the penthouse and apologizes to Dick, asking him to forgive him and return to the manor.

• Meanwhile Marinette becomes close friends with two people in the Art club that are in her class, Alix and Nathaniel. The become best friends and do more and more together. Marinette even teaches them how to fight a bit when she discovers they are being bullied. In return Nathaniel teaches them his art style and Alix teaches them how to skate. When they find out how amazing Marinette is at Gymnastics they encourage her to try out for the nationals. Marinette does and she gets in and wins the national title for her age devision. The three celebrate by having a sleepover at Marinette's house.

• Eventually Marinette tells them about Damian and their betrothal, and how she want them to meet him over the summer. They begin to view themselves as siblings and all their parents find it amusing that they suddenly have two more children in their families.

• When summer rolls around Marinette is excited to see the family again. The only person she hugs as long as Damian is Dick. When Bruce points it out she blushes while Dick proudly claims that she is one of his favorite superheros. Soon after they arrive Alix and Nathaniel arrive too. She introduces her best friends to each other happy that Damian makes an effort to get to know them. The Batfamily spends the week with the Dupain-Chengs before returning to Gotham. Damian and Marinette spend the summer training with Alix and Nathaniel.

• The four celebrate Marinette and Damian's 13 birthday together at Disneyland Paris.

• Before the summer ends both Marinette and Damian tell them the truth about their betrothal and Damian being Robin. Marinette tells them that shes going to join him as a hero one day, and that she thinks both of them would be amazing heros. Both Alix and Nathaniel decide they want to join and support their friends. They begin training with Marinette everyday determined to join Damian one day with her.

• They didnt know Marinette would become one of Paris' heros that school year.

#dick grayson #ml salt fic #ml x dc #batfam #batman #maribat #damimari #daminette #damian wayne #damian al ghul #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug #mlb x dc #dc comics #bruce wayne #batfamily #betrothal

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astaroth1357 · 4 years

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I love reading your how to guide they're fun to read and I was wondering if you do a how to be the brother's sugar mama 🤣

So I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty sure Lucifer would let you be his Sugar Mama over his actual dead body so... I did a Sugar Baby instead. If you really want me to write the Sugar Mama, message me and I wiiilllll but I think it’s more of a stretch then I was comfortable taking otherwise. But if we're doing this at all, we're going to have to do it NSFW people. It’s going to be sort of unavoidable either way, so strap in cause I sure did.

How to be a Demon's Sugar Baby

Make the Most of Your Bartered Soul!

Well, well, well this is quite the arrangement you've made with the forces of Hell now, isn't it? There's nothing wrong with expecting a full return on your investment since you did give away your soul for this so it's time to enjoy that compensation! While we're sure that you're ready to be spoiled rotten by your beloved demon, there are going to be certain things expected of you in order to keep that affection flowing. In our guide, How to be a Demon's Sugar Baby, we will give you insight into what kind of actions you should expect to perform as well as the benefits you can receive when you start pampering your dearest demon! Always remember, love isn't material, but having good stuff is really nice regardless!

ATTENTION: This guide contains material not suitable for all workplaces. Reader's discretion advised.

Lucifer

What a wonderful selection for this kind of relationship because this demon is loaded! You need not worry about asking for too much. Whatever your heart's desire, Lucifer can provide.

HOWEVER… He's not a very generous demon. Every cent that he gives you, you will have to earn. The man isn't in the business of giving handouts, even to cuties like yourself.

Lucifer can be a demanding Sugar Daddy for sure. He will expect you to be ready for him at the drop of a hat. One text, one call, even a passing mention of your name, and you should be there. No questions asked or you will be punished.

It pays to be astute with Lucifer, too. If you're good, then he shouldn't even have to command you. One step in the room and you should know just what to do and how he's going to want it. Though remember, even if he doesn't say much, he's in control here.

There will be times where he's not looking for a little release and just needs some relaxation. You'll, of course, be expected to provide for that too: back rubs, tea, and pleasant conversation are all options you should get acquainted with very quickly.

Understand this now, anything short of perfection is not tolerated. If he's taking you anywhere, you're going to have to look/be amazing Every. Time. He'll make sure you'll have everything for it, but there's going to be no slacking off with him. Ever.

If you're looking to satisfy Lucifer, you won't just be a side piece or arm candy. You will be a trophy and he will spoil you like one.

Mammon

So maybe you don't like your Sugar Daddy with a lot of cash, but just the inability to say "no" to you in nearly any capacity…? Then Mammon's is your perfect pick!

True, it may not be wise to choose a Sugar Daddy who seems chronically without sugar to give but if there's any gambler in you then Mammon can be a near constant rush.

His highs are your highs, if he's out gambling then he'll want you on his arm or in his lap for good luck. Cheer him on and sprinkle in a bit of teasing because he's positive he makes better bets when he feels on top of the world.

If he makes a killing, then it's an all night celebration. He may even cover you in the Grimm just to enjoy how it looks. You won't stay like that very long though, because he'll need to have his way with you quite a few times before the sun comes up.

Don't fret, most of that money that he makes is going to go towards you anyway. You won't have to worry about him putting his bills over his Sugar (even if it's ill-advised).

Do remember that Mammon is a cheapskate at heart, but you shouldn't have any trouble bypassing that if there's something you want. Flash him some big, watery eyes and he'll cave every time until he goes broke again...

And then his lows are your lows… But if you still show him kindness and compassion even when he's flat broke, we guarantee he will never leave your side.

Leviathan

Are you an otaku/gamer/geek who wants copious amounts of that sweet, sweet merch and a little love on the side? Then you also want Levi.

Just know that this demon is desperate for love in his life so you'll be busy on most days. Levi needs to be lavished in attention: cuddles, pets, kisses, and probably more sex than you can process. He's veeery pent up...

Thankfully, he stays in his room all the time so you can do whatever you like away from prying eyes! Which is good, because he tends to get adventurous when he's confident. There won't be a spot in his room you two have not been before.

Like Mammon, Levi's going to need a cheerleader as much as he does a lover. Nothing is quite like starting a competitive match with someone very vocally in your corner.

We do hope you like anime, video games, or general geekry because he won't tolerate indifference. You need not have memorized the entirety of the TSL Extended Compendium, but you should at least be able to identify his favorite characters or scenes in anything he watches. You won't last long otherwise.

If you can then consider the entirety of Akuzon's wares to be yours. You'll only need to ask. If there's any particular series that you enjoy, expect its merch to be gifted to you whenever he sees it. He'll have very little self-control (especially if it's all for you).

Truthfully, we have no idea where Levi gets his money so just don’t question how he keeps buying you so many things... It's probably some shady cryptocurrency or black market type stuff so we recommend you stay out of his finances, lest you learn something you regret...

Satan

Ah, an intellectual are you? Not satisfied with just a fancy new car or a designer handbag? Do you need the very best that the world has to offer? The most beautiful, artistic, and thought-provoking goods you can find?? Then really your only choice is Satan.

… But do you like pets? We sincerely hope you like pets…

In truth, Satan will want two things from you: some stimulating conversation and a little pet play.

This is very much a "gentleman by day" arrangement. He'll be sure to treat you to very nice things all the time: wine tastings, art shows, even red carpet events thanks to his connections.

He won't mind taking you anywhere as long as you can engage that brain of his. Abstract conversations or discussions about hard topics will earn you even better trips the next time around...

But "by night" you will have a nickname, a collar, and probably a tail plug too. This man is bound and determined to have a cat and he does not care how.

If the idea of crawling for him makes you want to save face then don't worry. You needn't be an obedient kitty, not even for him.

In fact, he'd much prefer you act out from time to time because if there's one thing he likes more than cats, it's brats. Be cute for him and maybe he'll go easy on you if you like.

Asmodeus

Do you like shopping? Just, the act of shopping in general? Do you want someone who won't just sign a check but shop with you? Asmo's the man.

He loves shopping and he loves shopping for you! He won't just stand outside the dressing room on his phone, he'll be a very active participant in making you happy.

A veeerrry active participant… Everywhere… Probably including that dressing room…

You need to understand now that Asmo is insatiable. Whatever you believe a high sex drive is, double it and then you will get Asmo on a Tuesday.

He's giving. Very giving in fact, in money and in bed, but that won't change that he is a monster. His stamina is unreal, his desire is unmatched, and assuming that you are not an incarnation of Aphrodite herself You. Will. Not. Keep. Up.

If you choose to be with Asmo it will be a hellish bliss. You will be pampered like royalty on a sea of euphoria until the tide overtakes you and you drown.

If this warning isn't enough to dissuade you, we wish you the best of luck. Asmo may bring you to the greatest highs of your life, but he very much can be the death of you too...

Beelzebub

You know, food can be expensive. Especially if you have a bit of an appetite… If an endless food supply is what you're after, then you need Beel in your life!

He'll always be down to go out and try new foods or take you to whatever restaurant you like (provided he's eating there too, of course).

Considering the amount that he eats there's no way you can top his bill so order as much as you like! You'll get through what? Four? Five courses? He'll get cut off around 12.

Restaurants aside, food will be mostly what Beel expects from you so we do hope you like cooking. Cuddles and kisses are well and good but this demon needs to eat.

Speaking of which… Truthfully, being with Beel is almost just like a normal relationship but there's just one catch….

Beel is practically an oral addict. He will want to get a taste of you and once he does you ought to resign yourself to being his new fix.

A session with Beel is not for the faint of heart. He can be down there for hours and won't stop even if you're a drooling, overstimulated wreck. His aftercare is sweet but it's a hell of a journey getting there. Be warned.

Belphegor

So maybe all these other options just sound like too much work... You want a Sugar Daddy, but someone who's on the laidback side, right? Introducing Belphegor.

Belphie is a man of simple pleasures. A quiet afternoon, a long nap, and maybe a game or some mischief in the middle of the night. You won't have to worry about doing very much because he won't be conscious very long...

He will, however, get his money's worth in the hours that he's awake.

Belphegor is a lazy soul, so don't expect him to put much work into things. His favorite tactic will be to get you so frustrated that you jump him. Then he can just sit back and enjoy the fun with a smug smile on his face…

If you're not riding him in some way then you're probably going to be his new pillow. He will find a way to sleep on you in every position possible until he finds a favorite and just sticks to that.

As far as what he offers, Belphie will pretty much just toss money in your direction and leave it up to you to spend it. He’s not a shopping man...

In the rare cases that he does go out and buy you a gift take it as a compliment. You’ve motivated him to leave the House for longer than twenty minutes so you must be exactly what he was after.

For more of my “How Tos...” check out my Masterlist!

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me hc

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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One last one for the moment; top five superheroes who definitely AREN'T Pulp Heroes, but could be with a little tweaking?

Oof, that's a hard one. It's a hard one because, again, there ultimately isn't that much separation between the two to the point there's enough of a hard line in there to work with, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now that I've staked claims on there being differences between them.

Okay so, not counting superheroes who are deliberately modeled after actual pulp heroes, so no Tom Strong or Night Raven here. I'm sticking mainly with comic book superheroes (barring one oddball exception) since the medium separation is important), who I think could become pulp heroes with some tweaking.

5: Captain America

Sort of cheating because I already covered it here, but I definitely have to include Captain America in here, especially in the stories they actively go for a "pulp" vibe as well as the earliest ones.

Fun fact about Marvel: As Timely, they actually began life as pulp publishers. Not just pulp publishers, but specializing in some of the sleaziest, ghastliest magazines of the era, and you can bet this carried over to their superheroes. Where as DC's superheroes took inspiration from the big pulp heroes such as The Shadow and Doc Savage, Timely's superheroes seemed instead much more inspired by Weird Tales stories and Poverty Row horror films, and even in the 60s, Marvel never really abandoned their horror roots, the trick was just using them as a baseline to create superheroes. In DC, the world's first contact with superheroes begins with the world looking in wonder at a friendly strongman. In Marvel, it began with the world looking in panicked horror at a flaming monster rampaging through the streets desperately trying to not burn everything it touches. It should come to little surprise then that the majority of characters I'm including in this list are Marvel characters.

People think Captain America's first comics largely consisted of him fighting Nazis left and right, but they were actually much more often based around him encountering monsters and creatures of horror, like the above panel where it looks like Cap's staring down the beginning of Berserk's Eclipse (RIP Miura).

The early Captain America comics pretty much consisted of Kirby dipping his toe into the monster comics he'd make in the 50s which would later bleed into the 60s Marvel entourage. They even tried repackaging Captain America into a horror anthology in the 50s titled "Captain America's Weird Tales", just imagine how different the character would be today if that somehow stuck.

Imagine a world where Steve Rogers never became leader of The Avengers, never got to become the shining beacon of heroism of an entire universe, and instead, when he was unfrosted, he woke up to find a world running rampant with crawling nightmares and Nazi tyranny, and he has no idea what's become of his former sidekick. That definitely sounds like the start of a promising pulp adventure.

4: Namor

Another Timely creation. In Namor's case, he didn't so much encounter horrors from beyond imagination, as much as HE was the terrifying thing beyond us ready to rampage upon mankind, whose first on-screen act consists of the calculated slaughter of a ship full of innocents. The first true villain protagonist of comic books. Not just an anti-hero, a villain intent on wiping out the human race.

And not just a cardboard supervillain, but the beautiful prince of a race of ugly fish monsters, a momma's boy who's doing what he thinks is right by warring with surface dwellers. While Namor's become largely defined by his gargantuan arrogance, here, he's almost childlike, despite being much more brutal and villainous here, spurred on by the whims of his mother, who even acknowledges that Namor had no real reason to kill the divers but did so anyway, and now encourages him to genocide. His mom even tells him "Go now, to the land of white people!", and the very last panel of the story even states he's on a "crusade against white men".

The massacre of explorers at the hands of something beyond their understanding. A monster born of an interracial coupling. A race of fish monsters with bulging eyes, antagonistic towards humanity but are shown to have positive traits just the same. A dash of racism. There is no mistaking The Sub-Mariner's pulp horror influence.

A non-white superhuman warrior born from a Lovecraftian horror story, who gradually moves away from his villainous crusade into becoming more of an anti-hero, never truly putting aside his hatred for humanity, remaining a temperamental, unpredictable outcast, with a strong, palpable undercurrent of anger in his stories. I could very easily buy Namor as having crawled out of a Weird Tales story and I can't think of other superheroes whose origins are as steeped deeply in pulp horror.

3: Doctor Fate

Technically we already have a pulp hero version of Doctor Fate in Doc Fate, and I'll get to him separately, but even besides him, the earliest Doctor Fate stories in particular feel very much like he's a character steeped in the worlds of pulp and pulp horror who decided to put on a superhero costume and show up in comic.

He's got a similar set-up to The Shadow, from the pulp Shadow in the sense that he's a mysterious, eerie crimefighter who dwells as a presence more often than an active character and who kills criminals without remorse, always watching and waiting for the right time to strike as a a wrathful old-testament force of vengeance, and from the radio Shadow due to him using superpowers to fight crime while being accompanied by a smart, fierce love interest.

Originally, Fate was not a sorcerer, but instead a scientist who discovered a way to manipulate atomic structure, of his and other things, thus making it appear that he can do magic (although we never see his face, and he's implied to be thousands of years old, before they settled on the Nabu origin). And going back to Lovecraft, a lot of it appears in the earliest Fate stories. Fate was given powers not by a sorcerer, but an alien worshipped as a god. He barely encounters traditional monsters, but instead contends with hidden races, zombie slaves, abandoned alien monoliths, and half man and half fish creatures. Fate may have actually been the very first pastiche of Lovecraft in pop culture.

And of course we can't forget the gloriousness of Doc Fate pulling an Indiana Jones on us.

2: Wolverine

I don't even think you'd have to tweak Wolverine at all. You'd just have to get him out of the costume and Avengers/X-Men associations (although the X-Men have a substantial background in pulp sci-fi stories like Slan and Odd John, so they aren't really at odds here), maybe tone down his powers a bit and, that's it. Logan's already the kind of character who has such a varied sandbox history, whose powers can lead to so many different scenarios, that it's not a stretch at all to picture Wolverine in the usual pulp hero scenarios.

You can have half-naked Wolverine running around in the jungle with animals Tarzan-style, take him to Savage Land if you wanna throw dinosaurs in there. He's already Marvel's foremost "wandering samurai/cowboy" character which was one of the stock and trade types of the pulps. Western? Done. Samurai? Done. Wuxia? Just put him in China and add a couple extra fantasy elements. Wanna make a sword and sorcery story with him? He already comes with a bunch of knives and savagery and ability to survive grisly injuries. Horror? The MCU is crawling with them, or alternatively, tell a story from the perspective of someone who's being hunted down by Wolverine. Wanna tell a detective/noir/post-apocalypse story? Logan's right there.

Wanna have him crossover with pulp heroes? He's lived through the 1800s and 1900s and traveled all over the world, you could feasibly have him meet up with just about any of them. Logan may actually be the purest example of your question, because he's very much not a Pulp Hero, and yet, he definitely feels like a character who could have been one, at just about any point in the history of pulp magazines. He's perfect for it.

1: Wario

WAAA-okay, look, bear with me for a second here, I'm not just picking Wario because I love oddball choices and he's one of my favorite characters, I got some logic to this.

Okay so, the first question here: is Mario a superhero? While I'm usually adverse to calling characters prominent outside of comic books superheroes (hence why I'm definitely not interested in debating whether Harry Potter or Goku or Link or Frodo are superheroes), I do think it's a pretty shut case that, yes, Mario is a superhero. Superheroes don't just come in the form of skintight crimefighters, right from the start comic books have had varied types of superheroes appearing in comics and comic strips. For example, the "funny animal" superheroes are a type older than superhero comics, and they were arguably not only the most successful type of superhero of the 40s-50s era, but arguably defined trends dominating nonfunny animal superheroes, traits that predated or influenced Captain Marvel as well as Otto Binder's reshaping of Superman that defined much of superhero convention as we know it. It's part of why the question of "Is Sonic a superhero" has a very clear Yes as an answer.

So upon establishing that, yes, funny cartoon characters can be and are superheroes too, is Mario one? Well, I'd say yes. He's got an iconic uniform, he's got superpowers, he goes on fantastical adventures, he is both a nebulously general do-gooder as well as having a clear mission as protector of the Mushroom Kingdom. His adventures span multiple storytelling formats, he's got catchphrases, he even dresses up in Superman's colors and has a Super prefix iconically associated with him. Not a superhero the way we usually think of, but a superhero nonetheless.

And Wario? Well, putting aside Wario-Man who's more of a running gag than anything, Wario does just about everything Mario does. He's got all the traits that define Mario as a superhero short of a Super prefix and the selfless mission (which isn't exactly a rule). He goes around and gets into crazy adventures, he picks up items, beats bad guys, conquers the odds, and gets some kind of prize for it. He's got Mario's physical traits, and Mario's costume, and just about the same name short of a single letter. The caveat being, of course, that he's Wario, and so everything Mario is or does has to be exaggerated to gross extreme.

Mario is paunchy and strong, Wario's round and built like a powerlifter. Mario's got a friendly face and a fluffy mustache, Wario's got a massive horrible grin and jagged razors for a stache. Mario is a bit of an overeater, Wario can and will eat anything in front of him. Mario gets around with acrobatics and magic power-ups, Wario brute forces his way through everything and just rolls with whatever injuries he picks up along the way.

Mario gets fire powers by consuming magic flowers. Wario sets himself on fire and barrels around destroying everything in his path. Mario harnesses the elements or abilities of beings around him to clear obstacles and solve puzzles, Wario gets turned into a zombie, a vampire or a drunk to get the same things done. Mario befriends and rides dinosaurs who raised him from infancy, Wario piledrives dinosaurs and then uses their bodies to beat up more dinosaurs. Mario pals around with fellow heroes, princesses and friendly fantasy creatures, Wario pals around with aliens, witches, mad scientists, cab drivers, and lanky weirdos. Mario always ends his adventures joyfully leaping to the next one, Wario usually ends up either cackling in a pile of treasure or completely broke.

Mario races through plains to rescue princesses, Wario invades pyramids to hunt for treasure. Mario jumps through planets with baby stars guiding his path, Wario crashes into the Amazon jungle and fistfights the devil. You can see where I'm going with this.

If you were to take one of Nintendo's heroes to make them into pulp heroes, Wario, specifically the Wario Land Wario, may be the only one who really could do it, because in essence, he's the videogame equivalent of Professor Challenger. He's Bluto moonlighting as Indiana Jones, the weird brute adventurer for weird brute adventures where everything's off limits and you can trust our intrepid hero, who really shouldn't be a hero on all accounts, to deliver us a good time, give or take a couple deaths, scams, shams and oh-damns to complete said mad treasure hunts.

#replies tag #not pulp heroes #comic books #dr fate #wolverine #captain america #namor #wario

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singtheskyandfightlikehell · 4 years

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BatFamily Headcanons: Stuffed Animals

In an attempt to productively combat my recent writer’s block, I’m practicing writing the batfam characters through short character study fics (which I will post once I make enough) and comparative headcanons. I might end up making short fics out of these, as well, since some of them got a bit long anyways

Today I decided to explore how many stuffed animals each member of the batfam (plus an adjacent character or two) has, what they think of them, how they got them, etc. I’ve got eleven characters on this list (and I’m still missing some, sorry)

Bruce:

Bruce put aside stuffed animals when he was eleven, deciding it was time to become serious. However, since acquiring children, he has been gifted a number of stuffed animals, ranging from a small and realistic brown bat to a child-sized bear wearing his cape and cowl. None of the children know this, but he keeps them all in a prominent position in his walk-in closet. Sometimes, when he has a particularly nasty fight with one of his kids, or he discovers something (like an injury) that they were hiding from him, he’ll tell the stuffed animals all the things he struggles to tell his children in the hopes that, one day, he’ll figure out how to express himself when it actually counts.

Alfred:

Alfred has no stuffed animals of his own, but he keeps the old, worn teddy bear that was once Thomas’ and later Bruce’s, alongside the somewhat lopsided bunny that Martha attempted to sew for Bruce when he was two. They sit side by side in a spotless glass cabinet filled with other memories that various members of the family have at one point or another attempted to cast aside.

Dick:

Dick has a pair of stuffed elephants, Eleonore and Zitka, and a teddy bear of his own, all from the circus. Most of the time they sit on the shelf under one of his nightstands, but when he has a particularly bad day, he’ll hold them all tightly until he falls asleep. If he’s crying, he finds it slows the tears to press kisses to the tops of their heads, or just smoosh his whole face into them. Sometimes, if he’s having a particularly good day – especially if no one else is sharing in his good mood – he’ll tell them about whatever made him happy. The rarest occasions are a bittersweet combination of both, the moments when he dwells on his happiest memories of his parents. When this happens, he is more likely to address them than his family, talking to them like old friends who were “there” for the things he’s recalling. It reminds him of the parties he would host as a small child, attended by his stuffed animals and his parents and sometimes other people from the giant family that was Haly’s, and for just that moment he’ll feel suspended somewhere between grief and content.

Barbara:

Barbara had lots of stuffed animals growing up, but as she got older, she gave most of them away. The only one she kept was a little otter that her father gave her for her first birthday. She doesn’t remember this, of course, but they have an old home video of that day which she’s seen a few times, and she know it’s one of her dad’s favorites to watch when he’s feeling nostalgic. She does remember the way she used to drag the otter with her everywhere she went when she was about four, and it’s so worn now that all of its original fluffiness has disappeared. She sets it up near her main computer and uses it in place of a rubber duck.

Jim:

When Babs decided she was too old for her stuffed animals, Jim was instructed to give them away at one of the Gotham children’s toy drives he helps run as commissioner. Only about half of them ever make it out of the house, because he keeps looking at them and remembering little moments that involve each of them. He has two boxes full of them that he swears he’s going to bring to the next drive, but he’s been swearing that for over ten years now.

Jason:

When Jason first arrived at the manor, he swore up and down that stuffed animals were dumb kids toys that he was way too old for. The first time Dick showed up at the manor after Jason was there, he brought a plush dog he’d picked up on the way there, unsure what to get his surprise new brother but not putting an excess of thought into it either. After all, he wasn’t about to ask Bruce what Jason might like. Jason made a show of scorn and tossing the toy in the trash, but when Dick was gone he dug it back out. When he was sleeping, he clutched the dog protectively against his chest like it might be snatched away at any time. When he wasn’t sleeping, he kept it hidden in a box wedged under a floorboard beneath the bed, alongside his other contraband. It was there when he died and it’s still there now. Every time he’s in the manor, he thinks about sneaking into his old room to retrieve it, alongside some of his other old belongings, but he never does. His reasoning alternates between not caring, being too old for toys, not wanting to set foot in his old room, and not wanting to get caught caring after all these years.

He does however have an obnoxiously long bright red snake that Roy won at some sort of archery carnival game while they were supposed to be tracking a suspect. He’d griped at Roy for wasting time with frivolous games, a complaint that was very on brand for their relationship. He’s pretty sure Roy saw through him, though, and understood the real reason he was so antsy to leave the carnival, given his soft apology later that night. He also recently acquired a floppy stingray, a gift from Lian for his latest birthday. She told him that she’d gotten to pet a stingray at the aquarium where she’d bought it, and it reminded her of him. Specifically, she’d said he was, “Kinda dangerous and maybe a little scary, but actually really soft to anyone who’s nice enough”. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that description, but the gift had a place of pride, resting atop an old model of his helmet that Roy had “defaced” with a sweet message that always made Jason smile.

Cass:

Cass grew up without stuffed animals, and was honestly a little confused at first about why she might want one. The first one she ever got was a tiny key-chain cat that was given to her by a little girl she saved. She was unsure what to make of the object itself, but she treasured it as a symbol, proof that she was doing good in the world. It was Steph who convinced her to look for more, to look for stuffed animals in her “style”. Eventually, she got two of the most different ones she could find: an iridescent octopus packed tightly with beans and made of a coarse fabric, and a large fluffy goose that squished like a cloud and was made of the softest fabric imaginable. She likes tossing the octopus lightly in the air to feel the weight of it, and faceplanting into the giant goose. She also has a big bear holding a plush heart that Steph got her for their first Valentine’s.

Tim:

Tim’s relationship with stuffed animals is a bit more complicated. He had five growing up: a dog, a bear, a lion, a rabbit, and a lamb. They had names, stories, personalities, and they were his friends (his only friends, at the time). When he was seven, he woke up one day to find them gone. His mother scolded him for his tears, explaining that he was too old for baby toys, and that his attachment to them would only hinder his path forward. For years, he felt ashamed whenever he thought of his grief towards them, because he knew they were just toys, he knew he was being a baby about it, and yet…

It wasn’t until he was fifteen years old and stumbled across an article about autistic people and the projection of feelings onto objects that he understood why he had been willing to sneak out at night to search through pawn store after pawn store and – once – the landfill in the hopes of seeing his beloved toys again. As a teen in the Wayne household, he knew he could get as many stuffed animals as he liked, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so after what had happened before. He got one giant, floppy moose, barely half a foot shorter than himself, that he clings to like an octopus when he manages to lay down, whether he succeeds in falling asleep or not. Additionally, on a night after Jason made amends with the family, Tim returned to his room to find a fifteen inch plush latte with a cute little face on the mug portion and a sticky note on top that simply read: Sorry for trying to kill you a bunch. My bad :) He keeps it on top of his dresser, and while he doesn’t really hug it, he did discover it was the perfect object for chucking at his siblings’ heads whenever the situation calls for it.

Steph:

Steph loves stuffed animals. While she never got any of the fancy brand name ones, or the luxuriously soft ones, or the hyper-realistic ones, her mom had a tradition of buying her one for every birthday, Christmas, and Easter. She soon had quite a collection, and – like Tim – she gave them all names and personalities. She played out complex scenarios with them and the few dolls she had, designing an intricate world of wild concepts and plots. She also used her stuffed animals to conquer her fears, like thunderstorms and darkness, by pretending they were all more scared than she was, so she had to be brave for all of them. Steph still has her whole collection, as well as quite a few “nicer” (though equally loved) ones that she has acquired from various Waynes. At this point, pretty much everyone in the Wayne family has given her a stuffed animal at some time or other. For a couple of years now, she has taken to posing with her massive collection and making fake family Christmas cards to send out to everyone she knows, where she will update them on the well-being of any plushie they’ve given her.

Duke:

Duke also has a great love of stuffed animals, although he doesn’t match Steph for quantity. He only had a few beloved animals growing up, all of which he’s held onto (a panda, a penguin, a turtle, a frog, a leopard, and a pikachu). Since being fostered by Bruce, Duke has taken to searching out and buying only the rarest stuffed animals he can find: an anteater, a platypus, a manatee, a sloth, and an axolotl have made the cut so far. Bruce knows about this and has taken to keeping an eye out for anything interesting whenever he’s out. After accidentally mentioning it at a gala one time, it has since become his favorite topic, as getting drawn into an intense discussion with Bruce Wayne about where to acquire strange plushies for his son elicits one of two reactions from his guests: delighted awws or hilariously awkward attempts to steer the conversation back to high society definitions of business and pleasure. At Duke’s request, a large shelf was built around the top of his room, so that all of his stuffed animals can sit comfortably and be clearly seen.

Damian:

Damian was much like Jason when he arrived at the manor in more ways than one, but his determination to prove himself above stuffed animals was certainly on that list. He sneered at his siblings’ attempts to treat him like the child he swore he wasn’t. And honestly, even after he began to lower his walls just a little, he still wasn’t particularly fond of stuffed animals. Sure, he privately thought they were cute, and sure he might (might) find himself holding one at night if it happened to have been left in his bed by an annoying sibling, but in general he preferred live animals to fake ones. Real animals had personalities and feelings, fake ones did not, it was as simple as that, no matter what Stephanie claimed. But as time went on, Damian found himself acquiring a small army of stuffed animals against his will. Some of his siblings (Jason, Tim, sometimes Duke) gave them to him because they found it funny to watch him growl about how he was not an infant in need of deceitful comforts. Some of his siblings (Dick, Cass, sometimes Duke… sometimes his father as well) would give them to him because they knew he liked animals so they assumed he’d like imitations of animals as well. Steph would just give them to everybody, every now and then. But regardless of motive, Damian soon found his room overflowing with stuffed animals that were moderately cute but ultimately pointless.

It wasn’t until a patrol a few years after he’d taken on the mantle of Robin that he discovered a solution. Tim had hidden a tiny stuffed bear in the medical supply compartment of his utility belt, a felt bandage wrapped around its little head. He hadn’t been wounded, but the young girl he’d rescued had been bleeding from a wound that looked worryingly dirty. The bear had fallen out of the pouch, right into her lap, and she’d stared at it with wide eyes, surprise halting the flow of her tears. She’d held onto it the whole time he disinfected her arm and bandaged it, and afterwards he had insisted she keep it. For the first time that night, she’d smiled. After that, Damian began taking a few of his many stuffed animals out on patrol with him, ready to hand out to any and all injured, lost, or otherwise traumatized children once he’d rescued them from their troubles. Eventually he began running out of toys he’d been gifted, even though he kept getting new ones, so at some point he begins to regularly sneak out for the sole purpose of acquiring stuffed animals to hand out. He never tells his siblings, but he suspects they’ve found out anyway, when the presents they give him drastically decrease in size.

#batfamily #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #duke thomas #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #barbara gordon #jim gordon #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #jayroy #stephcass #my headcanons #i stole elements of the hc for dick tim steph and duke from my own personality lmao #also the only portion of this that draws on canon (to my knowledge) is the stuff about dick #i've seen stuff about him having a stuffed elephant with both of those names so i decided to just give him two #can't go wrong with extra elephants #but yeah i hope there's nothing that like blatantly contradicts any of this stuff #i'm trying to speed read a bunch of comics rn but i keep reading like 50s-80s era primarily #so there's a number of characters i haven't really gotten to yet #also i've discovered i find green arrow comics more entertaining so lowkey i keep reading those instead oops #i have a very convoluted list of what i need to read to hit the major plot points of batfam and arrowfam #but i also lowkey feel like major plot point comics are gonna tell me less about characterization #filler episodes are where its at #but there's no reading order lists that give me 'best filler issues' sorted by character

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thiswasinevitableid · 3 years

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Pleasant Surprise (Indruck Superhero AU)

A little fic I’ve had bouncing around my head for awhile, set in the universe of “The Thrilling Adventures of the Green Knight.” It takes place after that story, and after the events of the small fics “Aww, Rats” and “Back in Time”. You can read it as a standalone, but it does contain some spoilers for main fic.

“You know how you always say communication is important in a relationship?” Indrid drums his fingers on the arm of the couch.

Dr. Mwangi nods, the chain on her glasses glinting in the soothing lights of her office.

“I...there is something I am not sure how to communicate to Duck. I, it’s something I’ve been dishonest about. I” Indrid takes a deep breath, “I lied about the date of my birthday.”

Dr. Mwangi doesn’t so much as cock an eyebrow, much like she managed not to gasp in horror when he told her what his training regime involved when he was learning to be a villain. Indrid’s going theory is that this self-control is his therapist's super power.

“Do you want to spend part of our session today figuring out how you’d like to talk with him about this?”

Indrid fidgets with his glasses, “Yes, please.”

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Duck comes home to one of his favorite scenes; Indrid sitting with his easel in front of the rat run. His boyfriend decided he needed to cultivate his artistic streak, so that one part of his life would not involve superheroing or villainy in any capacity. From the look of it, he’s still on the theme of inserting the rats into still-lifes of different styles.

Duck loves watching him paint, in a way at once connected to and completely different from the attraction he feels observing the other man train in the hideout or dig himself into engineering a new invention. There’s the same cleverness in his hands, the same concentration lining his face. But there’s an innocence that’s absent other places, a kind of happiness that only exists in activities untouched by his past.

“Hello, chivalrous one.” Indrid murmurs as Duck comes to drape his arms over his sweater clad shoulders.

“Hey sugar. I like the new paintin’--is that Dr. Harris Bonkers?”

“Indeed.” Indrid turns his head, his grin as bright as the streetlights flickering to life outside, “The fuzzy medical practitioner in the style of Seurat. I foresee Aubrey liking it as a Christmas gift, and I wanted to do it while the inspiration was still fresh.”

“Bet she’ll get a kick outta it.” Duck kisses the top of his head, then starts removing his work clothes, “you had dinner? Thought I might reheat some pizza.”

“I ordered us dinner, it should arrive within ten to fifteen minutes, depending on whether this is the broken stoplight timeline.” Indrid sets his brushes aside, stands so he can follow Duck down the hall to the bedroom.

“Thanks for doin’ that.”

“There is, ah, something I wish to discuss before it arrives.”

Duck turns and his heart twinges. Back when Indrid was his nemesis, Duck learned to read his emotions, a skill that eluded everyone else. He can tell when Indrid is nervous and, most often, when Indrid is nervous and doing everything he can to hide it.

“What’s on your mind?” He takes a soft step towards the other man, who goes very still as he summons his next words.

“Do you remember what I told you about my birthday?”

“That it was in the spring and you’d let me know when we were gettin close to it. Wait, fuck, you never did, not this year or last year. Then again, last year was when the White Star boys kept tryin to fuck everythin up, think a lot of stuff got missed. Do you, uh, wanna do a birthday observed or somethin? Could even get a little goofy and do a half-birthday.”

Indrid shakes his head vehemently, “No. That is not it. I, I ah, I lied. My birthday is not in spring. And before you ask ‘when is it,’ the answer is I have no idea. We never celebrated birthdays. I only know my age because my father unleashed my brother and myself upon the world some time after I, or rather we, turned eighteen.” Indrid tucks his hands into the pockets of his sweater, “that is all I wish to say.”

It would be easy to giggle at his serious tone.

Duck pulls Indrid into a hug, “Thanks for tellin me. Do you want help tryin to work out when it really is?”

“I...I do not know. I was simply tired of such a small lie weighing me down.”

“Okay. You wanna cuddle until dinner?”

“Of cour--oh damn it all.” Indrid steps back, pulling off his sweater, “Baron Thorne is going to try and hold an entire dormitory of students hostage in forty-five minutes.”

“More than a two hero job?”

Indrid tips his head back, then replies, “it’ll go best with for. I shall alert Barclay and Aubrey.”

“Roger. I’ll get the car.”

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Duck’s researching potential plants for Dani to modify into non-lethal weapons when the secure elevator dings open and Agent Stern hurries out, looking a kind of excited he hasn’t seen since Barclay’s parents landed their ship to meet their son’s new boyfriend.

“Gettin the feelin you got good news for me.”

“I do.” Joe pulls out his datapad, “I went through the files we confiscated from Abbadon to find the one on Indrid. It did indeed have his birth date, and you are not going to believe what it is.”

Duck looks at the little boxes of letters and numbers beneath the photo of a much younger Indrid with a much crueler smile.

“No fuckin way.”

“I know right?” Joe grins, “ I think he’ll get a kick out of that.”

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“My birthday is on Halloween?”

“Yeah!” Duck looks so happy that for a moment the emotion carries Indrid as well.

“That is rather fitting. It’s always been my favorite holiday.” He can see it now; little orange lights, a black tablecloth, some cake.

“And it’s three weeks away, so we still got time to plan somethin to mark the day. I was thinkin we could have it Friday, since Halloween is a Saturday and I know at least Barclay and Dani got things they do every Halloween. How’s that sound?”

He isn’t sure. Something circles up from the deep, animal part of his mind, but he can’t name it and so does his best to ignore it.

“It sounds wonderful.”

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Indrid cannot escape. Everywhere he turns there are birthdays; on the T.V, in the restaurants he and Duck go to, on cards and balloons when he’s getting groceries

It’s your big day!

“You don’t turn thirteen everyday”

To my son, on his eighteenth birthday

“To my brother, my favorite partner in crime”

“This week on ‘My Neighbor’s a Werewolf,’ Jamie throws Max a surprise party, and gets a big surprise of his own.”

When that one flickers across the screen, Indrid clicks the T.V off with a little hiss. He’s tense, feels like the embodiment of the moment a knife-tip meets skin; resistance and resignation in the instant before it all comes pouring out.

“You got a cake preference?” Duck rests his hand on the couch near Indrid’s shoulder, tone light as he continues, “know you like really sweet stuff, I could get mom’s hummingbird cake recipe from Jane-”

“Whatever you think best.” Indrid flexes and coils his fingers.

“‘Drid, it’s your party, you get to mark the occasion however you want.

“And what if I do not wish to mark it at all?”

“Uh…” Duck clears his throat, “uh, that’s fine too.”

Indrid turns his head to see the expression he knew would be there.

“That upsets you.”

“N-uh, fuck, I uh, it don’t uh-”

“Duck, please do me the courtesy of not drawing out the lie.”

Ducks shoulders sag, “Guess I’m a little disappointed. I, uh, I was havin fun plannin it with you. Thought I could make up for all the times you didn’t have one.”

“Well, you can’t.” Indrid snaps, stands more dramatically than he means to. He just wants this to be over, wants to stop seeing the memories he thought he’d properly laid to rest, “you cannot make up for what I saw, what was done to me, what I did.”

“I-”

Indrid holds up his hand, “I know you see it as your job to remove all traces of my tragic past that you can.”

“Hold the fuck on.” Duck shakes his head, “Is that what you think I’m doin? ‘Drid, it’s just a party. If you don’t want it you don’t want it, but don’t fuckin pretend this is some indicator of us as a pair.”

“Oh but it is.” Indrid feels his lips curl into an old smile, “you get to play the nice, normal hero making everything better, while all I am is someone to pity, broken long before you ever met me!”

Duck goes still, and in his visions he sees the rats finishing skittering to the far side of Ratopia. It’s at this moment he realizes he’s been yelling.

“I…I am going to bed. Goodnight.” He hurries down the hall, only bothering to change his pants before crawling under the covers. In most futures, Duck follows him and demands they finish their argument, leading to a far larger fight. But the hero doesn’t come. This gives Indrid time to get his breathing and heart rate back to normal, to try and work out why the thought of his loved ones gathering to celebrate his birth makes him want to disappear into the night.

He’s not quite asleep when Duck comes in. He’s not quite ready to apologize. As he’s contemplating his options, his boyfriend slips under the sheet and lays in such a way that his right hand is inches from Indrid’s own.

Without opening his eyes, Indrid slides his fingers across Duck’s palm. Duck shifts to interlink their fingers, and closes his hand.

Indrid wakes up five hours later in two discrete stages. The first is coming out of the nightmare, of his body registering the need to move, to hide, before his brain is fully back to the present. The second is waking up enough to wonder why he always hides in the closet after these dreams; he didn’t have a closet growing up.

He creeps into the living room, hoping he hasn’t woken Duck. He has woken Chicken, who decides it’s close enough to her breakfast time to yowl at him until he feeds her. While she crunches her cat food, he opens one of the doors to Ratopia. The mischief is mostly asleep, but at the sound Void rouses from his spot atop Mallard and scurries over to Indrid’s hands.

“You forgive so easily.” Indrid murmurs, cupping him in one hand and closing the cage with the other, “or perhaps you just forget with much greater skill than I.”

He knows when Duck is behind him. Without turning, he sets Void on his shoulder and says, “I think I know why I have been so unpleasant tonight. I...I have only ever marked two changes in age; being old enough to face the trials of my order and being sent out to cut down those who dared oppose us. My ‘birthday’ is a harbinger of suffering and death. And I, I know that is not the real truth, but it is the one my body believes, the one my mind has been bracing for without me fully understanding that’s what it is doing. I did not mean to take that fear out on you.”

“‘Drid” Duck’s voice is scratchy with sleep, but when Indrid turns his eyes are alert, “I’m so fuckin sorry. It, uh, it didn’t occur to me that your birthday would be wrapped up so tightly with the shit you went through as a kid. I never meant to push you into somethin you didn’t want.”

“But I do want it!” Indrid shoves his hands into his hair, “I want to have dinner with our friends, to get gifts, to enjoy a thing that millions of people partake in every day. And I am so, so very angry that I cannot, that instead I am dealing with all of this.” He gestures vaguely to himself, then looks at Duck, his body registering safe as the hero joins him by the rat run. When Duck opens his arms, Indrid nestles into them without hesitation.

“Whatever you decide on, that’s what we’ll do.”

Indrid hums, snickers when Void clambers onto Duck to tickle his cheek with his whiskers. After the shadows of the past recede in the warmth of Duck’s embrace, Indrid whispers, “I would like to have the party. I would like to help you plan it. But I...I would like a few of the details to still be surprises for me. It might be nice for my birthday to bring me a pleasant one for once.”

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“Oooh, this looks so cool!” Aubrey sets a gift on the table as she admires the mothman string lights, banners, and balloons, “dang, Duck, didn’t know you had a decorator streak.”

“Don’t get a chance to flex it much. And it’s kinda easy when the theme is so specific.”

“I’m trying to compliment you, doofus.” Aubrey playfully whacks his arm, then squeals, “honey, look, rats in hats!”

“Awww” Dani joins her to regard the mischief in their tiny party hats (only Mallard is still wearing his, the others in various states of tossing them about), “Indrid, did you make these?”

“Indeed, though Barclay made these.” He slides the enclosure open and sets five rat-sized cupcakes on the floor, “which is wonderful, because I did not want them to feel left out. They’re getting them earlier than the rest of us because Barclay is looking for ways to keep me out of the kitchen.”

“It’s your birthday, that means letting someone else cook!” Barclay calls from the kitchen.

“But I modified the blender and the mixer to be self-operating!”

“Wait, what?” Is all they hear before Barclay is drowned out by whirring.

“Should we help him?” Dani says through their laughter.

“He’s a professional, he’ll be fine.” Joseph steps from the kitchen, his casual wear of jeans and a Loch Ness Monster dress shirt still somewhat jarring to the former villain who only ever saw him in suits, “Aubrey, Dani, can I get you anything to drink?”

“Yes please. Okay doctor, time to play.” Aubrey opens the special hatch in Ratopia and deposits the rabbit, who settles in to be groomed by his smaller friends.

Dinner is fancy macaroni and cheese and fruit salad, Indrid’s favorites. As Ned regales the table with his latest misadventures in fixing up his new van (“I was unaware an owl could nest in a seat cushion”) Indrid glances at the entryway.

“Everythin okay?” Duck whispers.

“Yes. I, ah, I simply did not expect so many gifts. I know it’s customary to receive them but I thought you got one or two. Not that everyone brought them.”

“You wanna open them?”

Indrid nods, grinning, “very much so.”

He takes care not to peek at the futures when unwrapping them, wanting to preserve the excitement as long as possible. Aubrey gives him a six pound bag of Lucky Charm marshmallows, Dani sneaks out to the car and returns with a potted plant (“I modified it so that the blossoms will be extra attractive to moths”). Ned gifts him a signed, limited run poster from Red Dust on His Soul, Joseph and Barclay a stack of new romance novels (“I think you’ll like Agent X, it’s a mystery series but he romances quite a few characters in them”). Mama sent a package from West Virginia that contains a small, wooden duck she carved herself and made especially smooth so it would be soothing to rub). And Lydia Little, AKA Sylvia Cold, presents him with a mug declaring him “Favorite Brother.”

Duck’s present is the last one he opens. Waiting for him in the rectangular box is a white shirt with “World’s Greatest Rat Dad” on the front. The back is covered in squiggle-scratches of five different colors, which Duck explains are signatures from the mischief made in rat-safe fabric paint.

“It’s perfect.” Indrid sighs, kisses his boyfriend and then beams at his friends, “it is time for cake.”

They dim the lights, sing to him as Barclay emerges from the kitchen with a massive, mothman shaped cake with lots of candles. To his delight and surprise, the inside is layers of pink and yellow, flavored with strawberry and vanilla. He eats far more than is perhaps wise, but it is his birthday and it is his understanding that such things are allowed.

His guests linger for a few hours more, Aubrey and Dani the last to leave with a reminder to put the plant on the balcony. Indrid waves goodbye, closes the door and arms the security to full. He turns back into the house, sees the cards and gifts his friends put so much thought into locating for him, the stray dishes and half-empty glasses that signify they were here. For him. Because they wanted to be, because they care about him.

“‘Drid? You want any more cake before I put it aw--oh fuck, sugar, what’s wrong.”

“Nothing” he sniffles, grins, “these are tears of happiness. I, ah, I hurried us into cake because I felt them upon me when I opened the gifts. It will take some time yet for me to be willing to show such feelings around our friends.” He wipes his eyes, “thank you, my love, for arranging this.”

“Any time, darlin.”

He smiles, “Have I mentioned lately that you are my hero?”

“Pretty sure you called me that this mornin. But I sure as hell don’t mind hearin it again.”

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

“What is this?” His brother scowls up from the paper plate Indrid passed to him through the complex delivery system keeping his cell from the world around it.

“Cake. Today is our birthday. Did you know that?”

“Who cares for such frivolous things, little brother?”

“Those of us who do not spend our lives steeped in the misery of others, twin brother. If you do not want it, give it back and I shall share it with one of the guards.”

Apollo looks at the cake. Then he kneels on the floor, tearing into it with his hands. He doesn’t eat it what he destroys, and after a moment Indrid grasps why.

“Did you really think I hid some device to help you escape in there?”

“Yes.” His brother is now trying to light stab the cake with his gaze.

Indrid rubs his forehead, “Perhaps some day you will learn to see things for how they are, not how you believe them to be.” He starts for the door, looks over his shoulder and says softly, “happy birthday, Apollo.”

A slam as his brother strikes the see-through front of his cell, “Get back here this instant you worthless, traitorous, coward!”

The door slides open and Indrid steps into the hall. Joseph is waiting for him, drops his eyes from the security feed to the man in front of him, “what a waste of Barclay’s cooking.”

“Agreed.”

A gentle pat on his shoulder, “You tried, that counts for a lot. Now go enjoy your night.”

“And my knight?”

“Him too.” Joseph waves goodbye, then adds, “and happy birthday!”

Indrid gets home before the city trick or treating hours begin; he’s feeling rather good, all things considered, and Halloween is so beloved by villains that the odds of his evening being interrupted by work are almost none.

Duck is on the porch lighting their Jack ‘O Lanterns, grinning brighter than all the candles and lights on the block combined when Indrid walks up the steps to join him. He sees in the futures that he’s made him a special, Halloween themed birthday dinner.

He pulls Duck into a hug, kissing the top of his head with happy sighs, thanking whatever twist of fate pushed him into the arms of the man who was, in many ways, his first-ever pleasant surprise.

#Indruck #indrid cold/duck newton #taz amnesty #superhero au

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aestheticallyunaesthetic17 · 3 years

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100 questions and answers

Who is your hero? Probably future me, i want to be able to grow up and be the better person that i hope they are, and the only way of knowing that is by making it happen.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? New Zealand, Canada or USA. I lived in TX for 3 months and loved it there and I have family in NZ and Canada.

What is your biggest fear? Wasps, 100%. Not being stung but the way they look scares me.

What is your favorite family vacation? When we went to Krakow in Poland.

What would you change about yourself if you could? My skin color. I hate it so much.

What really makes you angry? People hating others or stopping others from being themselves.

What motivates you to work hard? To make future me happier than I am now.

What is your favorite thing about your career? I want to be in cabin crew, so probably the traveling.

What is your biggest complaint about your job? Being away from family.

What is your proudest accomplishment? Getting through the shit 2020 brought me without killing myself.

What is your child's proudest accomplishment? No kids rn.

What is your favorite book to read? Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

What makes you laugh the most? My boyfriend.

What was the last movie you went to? What did you think? Freaks. I was a bad movie, a little like the scary movies franchise. My friend was scared at parts which was super funny to watch

What did you want to be when you were small? An actor. Typical Leo ;)

What does your child want to be when he/she grows up? They can be anything they want to be.

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be? Visit Edinburgh alone.

What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play? To watch, American Football. To play, archery.

Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car? Drive a car, it's peaceful and warm. I would blast music.

What would you sing at Karaoke night? no idea.

What two radio stations do you listen to in the car the most? Heart and Capital

Which would you rather do: wash dishes, mow the lawn, clean the bathroom, or vacuum the house? Dishes or vacuum.

If you could hire someone to help you, would it be with cleaning, cooking, or yard work? Yard work!!!

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Tandoori Prawn curry.

Who is your favorite author? Jacqueline Wilson or JK Rowling (only her books, not her)

Have you ever had a nickname? What is it? Just Em. But id like to be called Millie.

Do you like or dislike surprises? Why or why not? Depends on the surprise tbh, I like to plan a lot.

In the evening, would you rather play a game, visit a relative, watch a movie, or read? Watch a movie.

Would you rather vacation in Hawaii or Alaska, and why? Hawaii. I was meant to go this year but covid and leaving the US fucked it up.

Would you rather win the lottery or work at the perfect job? And why? Work the perfect job, id get bored sitting around all day.

Who would you want to be stranded with on a deserted island? my boyfriend.

If money was no object, what would you do all day? Travel and see the world.

If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to? 2012. To see my Nana again.

How would your friends describe you? Stupid.

What are your hobbies? Traveling, photography, music and shopping.

What is the best gift you have been given? Forgiveness from myself.

What is the worst gift you have received? Sixe XXL jacket when im an XS

Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without? My macbook.

List two pet peeves. - Breaking trust - Bad table manners

Where do you see yourself in five years? Hopefully working my dream job, maybe moved to a different country and traveling the world.

How many pairs of shoes do you own? too many, roughly 16

If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have? Invisibility or teleportation.

What would you do if you won the lottery? build my own house

What form of public transportation do you prefer? (air, boat, train, bus, car, etc.) Train, its so relaxing. Then planes.

What's your favorite zoo animal? Lions or tigers.

If you could go back in time to change one thing, what would it be? My time in America.

If you could share a meal with any 4 individuals, living or dead, who would they be? - My nana - my bf - Princess Diana - Obama

How many pillows do you sleep with? 4, two on each side.

What's the longest you've gone without sleep (and why)? 26 hours, traveling to Texarkana from Edinburgh.

What's the tallest building you've been to the top in? Idk tbh

Would you rather trade intelligence for looks or looks for intelligence? looks for intelligence because then you can earn enough for plastic surgery.

How often do you buy clothes? 1/2 a month

Have you ever had a secret admirer? Idk I guess so.

What's your favorite holiday? Summer vacation Christmas for an actual holiday

What's the most daring thing you've ever done? Moved half way across the world and lived with strangers.

What was the last thing you recorded on TV? Nothing

What was the last book you read? 1984

What's your favorite type of foreign food? Indian

Are you a clean or messy person? Both, but relatively clean

Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life? Millie Bobbie Brown probably

How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? 1 hour

What kitchen appliance do you use every day? Kettle

What's your favorite fast food chain? Chick fil A (i know, i cant buy it now tho)

What's your favorite family recipe? Nana's bacon and egg pie

Do you love or hate rollercoasters? LOVE

What's your favorite family tradition? Opening gifts on Christmas Eve

What is your favorite childhood memory? I dunno really, Ive forgotten a lot of my childhood.

What's your favorite movie? Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Beautiful Boy

How old were you when you learned Santa wasn't real? How did you find out? Probably 7/8 but I dont remember.

Is your glass half full or half empty? Half empty.

What's the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of love? Said i'd come back one day.

What three items would you take with you on a deserted island? A boat and food. Yes i am that person.

What was your favorite subject in school? Scottish school, geography. US school, government.

What's the most unusual thing you've ever eaten? Haggis

Do you collect anything? Foreign coins

Is there anything you wished would come back into fashion? Skinny jeans, my ass looks gooood in them

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? introvert that likes being sociable

Which of the five senses would you say is your strongest? hearing

Have you ever had a surprise party? (that was an actual surprise) nope

Are you related or distantly related to anyone famous? my dad is well know in the whisky business. Has his own prime tv show

What do you do to keep fit? Walk a lot and swim.

Does your family have a “motto” – spoken or unspoken? nope

If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce? everyone is equal.

Who was your favorite teacher in school and why? Scottish School, my geo teacher. US school, my english teacher.

What three things do you think of the most each day? My bf, my mum and America

If you had a warning label, what would yours say? Sad, angry and anxious

What song would you say best sums you up? 17 again

What celebrity would you like to meet at Starbucks for a cup of coffee? Timothee Chalamet or Tom Holland

Who was your first crush? a boy called Finlay who i rode the bus with

What's the most interesting thing you can see out of your office or kitchen window? sheep or cows very often

On a scale of 1-10 how funny would you say you are? 5

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? kids, married, settled down and happy. moved countries 100%

What was your first job? never had one

If you could join any past or current music group which would you want to join? 5sos

How many languages do you speak? 1 - english

What is your favorite family holiday tradition? opening gifts on Christmas Eve

Who is the most intelligent person you know? my mum

If you had to describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be? a cat probably or a tiger

What is one thing you will never do again? trust people fully

Who knows you the best? my bf.

#100 things about me #questions #100 questions

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cherry-valentine · 3 years

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How Black Clover Gets Lady Characters Right

*Spoilers for most of the Black Clover anime (mostly character related stuff, not much in the way of major plot stuff)*

Black Clover is right up there with Gintama in terms of shows that reward viewers for sticking with them through some mediocre early episodes and arcs. When Black Clover began airing, I was excited. Manga readers had been hyping the series up, and it sounded like the next big shounen fighting anime that would take anime fandom by storm. Then I started watching it, and I was immensely disappointed. I found Asta’s constant screaming almost unbearable (to the point that I started muting the tv when it looked like he was about to open his mouth). The early episodes were totally predictable and cliche. The animation was, at times, embarrassingly bad. But I stuck with it because there were a few elements that kept me interested. One was the absolute bangers of opening and ending themes (at one point the thought crossed my mind that they were entirely too good for this show). Another was Yuno, whom I liked from the start. Then there’s the fact that Asta’s magic, or lack of magic, was the one element I didn’t predict a mile away. I honestly expected him to awaken to some super powerful magic early on. Almost 200 episodes later, he is still magic-free. I really did not see that coming. Still yet, I came close to dropping the series several times during those first thirteen episodes or so.

Somewhere around the time they went to the undersea village (I don’t remember the name of the arc), I began to notice that I was actually looking forward to each new episode. It was a gradual change from being at the bottom of my watch list to being near the top. So gradual it took me a while to realize it. The show still had some problems, sure, but it stopped being predictable. Asta talked more and screamed less. More interesting characters were introduced. The fight scenes were exciting. By the time this arc was over, Black Clover had become a favorite. So, if you tried the series and found it boring and annoying, consider giving it another shot. Like I said, it rewards you for sticking with it.

One of the best things about Black Clover, for me, is how it treats its female characters, especially when compared to other popular shounen fighting anime. It is by no means perfect, and I’ll talk about the show’s minor failings in regards to its ladies a little further down. But overall, it does a phenomenal job.

The first thing that struck me about Black Clover’s women is just how varied they are. There’s a surprising range in their appearances, personalities, and skills. And there are lots of them. Far more than a lot of other shounen fighting anime allow. There are five women in the main squad, the Black Bulls, alone. And we see that each squad has several women as well. Then there’s the all-women squad the Blue Roses. This extends to the villains, as well as the non-combatant supporting cast as well.

Speaking of skills, the women of Black Clover are unusually powerful. The two male leads, Asta and Yuno, eventually get “power-ups”, some kind of new form or transformation or whatever. This is super common in shounen fighting anime. What’s not so common, however, is the female lead getting her own cool power-up/transformation. This is what happens for Noelle, and it was such a great surprise. A little side note here: I’ve been watching the series on a streaming site that allows comments, and I was so amazed by the comments on the episode in which Noelle gets her power-up. The (mostly male, judging by their names) commenters were genuinely happy for her! They were proud of her for getting stronger and cheering her on! I didn’t spot a single comment about her looks or how great of a waifu she is (at the time anyway).

But it wasn’t just Noelle that got stronger. Another Black Bulls member, Vanessa, got an interesting power-up of her own, in the form a cat familiar that basically makes her and her teammates completely impervious to harm for as long as her mana holds out (which has saved their lives countless times). Another lady, Grey, has recently (in the anime) demonstrated some shockingly powerful magic that none of her teammates, or even she herself, realized she was capable of. Then there’s Charmy, who was already quite powerful but gained her own powered up transformation that made her strong enough to defeat an elf-possessed Magic Knight captain. If anything, the ladies have received MORE power-ups than the men.

And while we’re talking about powerful women, I have to talk about Mereoleona. If you’ve watched the show, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t, just imagine a character who can curb-stomp a powerful villain who is on a higher level than villains that the main characters were struggling to team up against just a few episodes before, who can then take on a whole group of these powered up villains and remain standing, even after losing consciousness, because they’re just that badass. Now imagine that character is a woman. And she’s so terrifying that one of the elf-possessed enemies (her comrades who had their bodies taken over by elves) remarks that his body froze up because, even though he’s controlling it, the BODY ITSELF was afraid of her. Mereoleona is an absolute beast, the kind of character that is almost always male in these types of shows. And the best part? The icing on this badass cake? The only person who was stronger than her, who could defeat her one-on-one, was ANOTHER WOMAN. Noelle’s mother. And a huge part of Noelle’s motivation as a character is becoming strong like her mother.

On the subject of Noelle’s motivation, I really appreciate that it has nothing to do with her crush on Asta. Sure, she likes him, but it’s not a motivating factor in her life and it’s not even really that important to her story arc. Her arc has always been about HER, about becoming stronger, living up to her powerful family’s expectations, discovering the truth about her mother’s death and then about avenging her, about becoming more empathetic to the common people despite being royalty. Noelle’s story is ABOUT HER. And it’s really sad that this is something remarkable, but we’ve all seen the “heroines” with no real arcs of their own, or worse, their arcs revolve almost entirely around their love for a male character (Sakura from Naruto is the most obvious example here but anyone who watches a lot of shounen can no doubt name many more). And Noelle isn’t an exception in Black Clover. Almost all of the women have interesting back stories and character arcs that have little to do with men (or if men are involved, they’re in supporting roles to these stories and very rarely the main subject).

An exception to this is possibly Charlotte, who is in love with Yami and this plays a big role in her story. However, even this is framed in a way that puts the emphasis on her own growth. It’s really about her learning to be honest with her feelings and getting over her own awkwardness around Yami. A big moment for her is when she admits to her squad that she’s in love with Yami, and they’re all eager and excited to help and support her, like the wonderful ladies they are.

Now, as I said before, Black Clover’s depictions of women are not perfect. There are a few issues I consider minor that I need to address. The first is the tendency the show has of making almost all the ladies be in love with someone. A large portion of the women are sporting crushes, though some of them are quite subtle or mainly used for comic relief, it’s still a little annoying that so many of them are in love. Of course, many of the male characters are in love with someone too (including the protagonist, Asta) and there are several female characters who are totally disinterested in romance, so I can overlook this. Another small issue is that, even though there’s more variety than usual in the body types (one female character is fat and another, Charmy, often gets quite pudgy for extended periods of time, plus a few ladies have more muscular builds), a significant portion of them have very large breasts, including two teenage characters (Noelle and Mimosa). It feels a little unnecessary, to be honest. Though to be fair, it’s rare that any of these characters are used for fan service and the camera never really seems to linger on their bodies. Most of them dress fairly modestly and among those who don’t, the more sexy clothes fit their characters and make sense for their personalities.

The last minor issue I have is that we often get the “designated girl fights”. If there’s a female villain, it’s likely that a female hero will be the one to fight her. This isn’t a rule set in stone, because there are plenty of male/female battles, but it happens enough to be very noticeable. Of course, these lady villains are demonstrated to be just as powerful and dangerous as the villainous men, but it’s still mildly irritating.

Those little nitpicks aside, Black Clover is still a shining example of a shounen fighting anime getting its ladies right. The women in the series are well-written, interesting characters with compelling stories. They’re powerful, have wildly varying personalities and motivations, and never feel like window dressing. They’re not just there to be pretty romantic interests. The show does all this very well, and I think it deserves a lot of praise and credit for it.

#Black Clover #Female characters #noelle silva #mereoleona vermillion #text #long post

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eerythingisshaka · 4 years

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Ficmas Day #15 “Should Old Acquaintance Be Diego?”

[Diego Hargreeves x Reader]

Word Count: 1.5k

“One more!” You call the bartender to refill your drink. The bar is packed with patrons as music blares over the speakers and party horns are tooted constantly. New Years’ Eve pulled you out of the comfort of your home for a chance of having that whimsical moment with a stranger who you might share the stroke of midnight with, however this spot seemed rather dull.

“Adrian, let’s go across the street. They know how to make my gin and tonics the right way,” you slur, pulling on your white faux fur coat over your silver shimmery jumpsuit.

Adrian puts down her half done drink, giving you a look. “You didn’t say that with the first four you had. My feet hurt, it’s almost 10 minutes away from midnight can’t we stay here?”

You shake your head, moving your curly locs of your wig out your eyes clumsily. “It’s not the right vibe. I want my New Year to start right. I’m tired of these half washed looking sons of bitches sharing my air. I want beautiful people and a playlist that tells my life story!”

Adrian gets up, putting her arm under yours. “You’re drunk but ok. Let’s try the other bar.”

The cold air hits your face, giving you temporary sobriety. The streets were pretty clear since the bars were packed, as you and Adrian walk down to your current favorite spot but you’re greeted by a bouncer.

“Sorry ladies, we are at capacity.”

You groan. “Come on! It’s just two more! What’s the difference?”

“Two people. Because we are at capacity.” He says once again.

Adrian pulls you back. “Look, let’s just go back. The countdown starts in five minutes.”

You look at her with surprise. “Five minutes! Sir, you gotta let me in, my boyfriend is in there and you know if you don’t kiss at midnight, you won’t make the new year!”

The bouncer looks over his shoulder. “What does he look like?”

Your mouth freezes open as you think quickly, looking through a side window.

“Short haircut, black turtleneck,” you squint your eyes, “Latino looking…”

Adrian interrupts you. “She is just messing around, we’ll go.”

The bouncer stops her. “No, I know who you’re talking about, he’s a regular. I didn’t know he has a lady. I’ll get him.”

You grab a hold of his arm. “If you go in and it’s over capacity, you might as well let me! I got two minutes to get to him, it’s more romantic that way.”

The bouncer mulls it over.

“You can’t be serious,” Adrian says under her breath.

“Ok, go ahead, but you and him need to be out quickly. You don’t need more to drink.” The bouncer opens the door as you make a stank face but thank him just the same.

“SIXTY SECONDS!” Someone shouts as you push through the crowd looking for your ‘boyfriend’. Everyone is buzzing from the anticipation of the new year to come. You keep losing sight of him in the crowd, but realize he is playing darts, so you use the board as your North Star.

“Ten...Nine…”

You reach out for his shoulder just as he is about to throw another dart.

“Do I know you?” he asks.

“Seven...Six…”

“What’s your name?” you ask, making mental note of his square jaw and intense stare.

“Four...Three…”

He puts his darts aside, folding his arms. “Diego. Yours?”

As the crowd erupts, you pull his face to yours, giving in to the sudden passion you felt deep within. You don’t make time for social norms, this New Years is about primal instinct. When you pull yourself back, you feel slightly small as he stares into your eyes wordlessly. Feeling smaller now, you get the urge to retreat and turn away, but he pulls you back to him.

“Do you need a drink?” he asks.

You burst out laughing, partly from the relief of moving past the awkward air and partly because of the flashback to the security guards warning.

“Sure, but not here. Come back to my place.”

---

“You all have a good night,” you call out to your friend, who managed to bring home the bouncer from the bar. Closing your bedroom door and untwisting the bottle of gin, Diego wastes no time to grip you against him and make you forget how your legs work.

You and Diego roll around on top of your bed, exploring each other under the haze of new year bliss and gin. As Diego licks on your neck, you reach back for the bottle, pushing him back so you can straddle him.

“Open your mouth,” you command, holding his jaw until he complies with a warning in his eyes. “I won’t drown you!” You pour the liquid into his mouth, petting his stubble as you fill him.

“Good, now hold it.” You set the bottle back on your nightstand and hold his face in your hands, taking in his facial structure, his hands on your hips, the hardening you sit upon.

“Open your mouth again.” He does so, gin still sitting where you poured it. You hover your mouth above his, letting your tongue out to lap at the alcohol like a cat.

Diego snorts, spitting some at you as he sits up and laughs. “Shit, girl! What’re you into?”

You sit back wiping your face. “Different shit! Damn, you couldn’t control your reaction for a minute?” Eventually you chuckle, but aren’t over him spitting all over you.

“Hell am I supposed to do! My bad, lemme see.” He eyes your face, wiping one side. “Hm, what’s that?”

“What?” you ask, reaching your hands to feel, but he holds them down.

“Let me.” He leans into our face closer and closer, almost getting eyeball to eyeball with you causing you to go rigid. Then, he licks your cheek.

You push his chest hard. “Diego!”

Falling back on the bed, he looks shocked. “Is that now what you like?? I thought I was on track there!”

You wipe your face in shock. “No lie, you are...but now I’m trying to figure YOU out.”

“What is there to know?” he asks.

You shrug. “Tell me...your childhood pet’s name.

He pauses. “I didn’t really have a pet...not like what you’re saying.”

“An animal?” you ask.

“...yes?”

You furrow your brow. “Why is that such a hard question? I don’t get-”

Diego interrupts you, sitting forward in preparation. “Ask me another, come on.”

You think. “Ok...something easy that you will make difficult. Hobbies?”

Diego scoffs, reaching for something under his pant leg. “I’ve got a thing for these.” Pulling out of a sheath, he brandishes a dagger.

“Whoa! Why do you have weapons on you like that? In my house?!” you exclaim, getting off the bed to add some distance.

Diego puts a hand out to you, holding the knife away. “Listen, I don’t hurt anyone with these unless they’re asking for it. We’re good, by the way.”

“So if you don’t use it, what do you do? Cuz a knife collection is feeling a little dark web right now.”

He smirks, holding the blade in between his fingers. “I didn’t say I don’t use them. I use them a lot actually. I’m pretty good with aiming these. Like the dart game you interrupted me on?”

“Oh,” you say, intrigued. “How good?”

Diego shrugs, looking you up and down, he stands up. “Very good. Like, carnival attraction or Penn and Teller in Vegas good.”

You nod slowly, studying the weapon in his hand. “Can you show me something now?”

Diego points the blade at you. “How much do you like your outfit?”

You fidget with it, looking it over. “I mean, it;s kind of nice. Old, but-”

“Let me rephrase that. How badly do you wanna come out of it?” Diego asks, scraping the blade lightly against his face.

You grow warm at his suggestion, standing back toward the door in feigned peril. “My gosh, what will I do. Me, being so warm, yet unable to come reach my zipper?!” You laugh out loud, waving him off. “Nah, I don’t trust you that-”

You see him flick the blade at you, but before you finish screaming out to stop, you can barely catch your jumpsuit before you’re holding it over your chest, yelling like you’re at the peak of a rollercoaster.

“Whoa, you ok? I didn’t mean to scare you,” Diego says, flipping his blade in his hand a couple times, completely unphased by you.

When you catch your breath, you let the fabric fall, this time sending Diego into his own state of shock as you walk up to him, snatching the blade. You pull his shirt from his pants, starting at the hem to run it up the length of his shirt, stopping at the neck. You can see him tense up as the blade hovers under his Adam’s Apple.

“I think you have a lot left, you need to show me.”

@chaneajoyyy

#diego hargreeves x reader #shakafic #ficmas

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