#wrote this when i should have been sleeping

[cherrysnip]

pairing: mingyu x reader

a/n: just me having a tiny brainrot of a dad!mingyu being a scaredy-cat lmao i could bet this would happen in real life jk

and i'm just hoping i wrote it as fun as how it played in my head😭

He wasn't saying anything, but you could tell there was something wrong as he pressed himself closer to you.

"Love, are you okay?" You finally asked.

"Did I wake you up?" Guilt laced his voice. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," you turned to face him but his arms remained wrapped around you. "Are you having nightmares again?"

He shook his head. "I'm not. But I'm definitely hearing something..."

Your brow furrowed, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I might just be imagini---"

And as if on cue, you both heard it. It sounded like a whimper, like someone crying. 

Right then, you already knew who it was, so you didn't even hesitate to get up. Mingyu, however, was quick to grab your wrist. "Love, where are you going? What if it's a ghost?"

"It's not a ghost, Love. I'm certain about that."

"How?"

"I just know, okay? Now let me go so we can both get some sleep."

He hesitated, but seeing your determination, he finally let you get out of his hold. However, it didn't mean his worry dissipated.

He followed you as you walked towards your bedroom door. When you opened it, your hunch was confirmed.

Right outside your room, was your son Jion hugging his knees, crying. You immediately crouched before him.

"Jion, why are you crying, sweetheart?" Upon hearing your voice, the child looked up at you, tears streaming down his chubby cheeks.

"I can't sleep, Mama."

"Then you should have just come into our room. I told you before, right? You can always sleep beside us, anytime," you assured him.

"But Mama, I'm already a big boy. I should be able to sleep on my own, but I still can't," he sobbed even louder. Mingyu, who had been quietly watching, kneeled down and spread his arms. Understanding what it meant, Jion quickly went to his father for a hug.

"It doesn't matter how big you are, you can still sleep with us anytime you want," Mingyu told him while giving your son light comforting pats on his back.

"Really, Papa?" Jion asked. "Can I still get 'sleep hugs' even when I'm already old?" 

Mingyu nodded and kissed the top of Jion's head. "Of course, you can."

"Just don't scare your Papa again next time," you teased which then earned you a fake glare and pout from your husband.

—♡—

[confused-pyramid]

Breaking Point

pairing: art donaldson x fem!reader

summary: You and Art were hitting partners (and a bit more) in college, so when you run into him a decade later at the U.S. Open, old sparks reignite...

word count: 3.4k

warnings: SMUT, p in v, oral (fem!receiving), slight marking, drinking

a/n: I watched Challengers last night and then wrote this whole thing in one sitting. Nothing in this is really canon other than Art being a major simp lol so no spoilers for the movie! I usually make playlists (or at least find a few songs that get me in the zone) when writing, so I thought I'd start sharing them here too if people are interested!

You should've known he'd be here. You've been following his career for the last decade since you graduated, and ever since he won Wimbledon last year, he's been tennis royalty, but a small part of you still thought you wouldn't run into him here. At the fucking U.S. Open.

Stanford was a lifetime ago, and you haven't kept in touch with anyone from the college team, but there was always something about Art Donaldson that stuck with you. Ten years later, that hasn't changed.

"It's been so long," he calls out when he spots you from across the practice courts. "I didn't think I'd see you."

You didn't either, and you still haven't decided how you feel about it yet, but when he jogs over to your side, you just shrug. "Guess it's your lucky day."

He smiles, and his teeth glimmer in the bright sunlight. "It certainly is."

The loud thwacks of tennis balls hitting rackets echo around you, but you can't seem to focus on anything but the man standing in front of you. He looks good.

He was beautiful in college too, whether he was training across the net or slipping into your bed, but it feels different now, with so much time apart. He looks like a man now.

"Anyway," Art says, jerking you back to reality. "We should get a drink sometime. To catch up."

He adds the last part almost as an afterthought, but it doesn't escape your notice how his eyes have been trailing up and down your body since he walked over.

A drink could mean almost anything with Art Donaldson, but you're too curious to refuse. "Sure. This weekend, after the semi-finals."

He nods, his eyes glinting with amusement, and you grab your bag from the bench beside you before looping the strap over your shoulder.

You walk off the practice courts after one last glance over your shoulder, and you feel his eyes following along until the doors swing shut behind you.

***

He should've expected this. You were a firecracker in college, and you kept him on his toes every single day you were together, so he really should have known what he was getting into when he met you for drinks that weekend.

Instead, he's one too many beers in, and his buzz is only enhancing the glow of your beauty in the hazy bar light. Your dress isn't even that low cut, but something about the shadows glancing over your strong shoulders reminds him of late nights in the Stanford dorms after a hard practice when there was only one thing he wanted more than sleep.

"You played really well this morning," he says genuinely as he sets his beer back onto the table. "After that first set, Mueller didn't stand a chance."

You flash him a dazzling smile as you shrug, resting your chin on your palm. "I had her after the third game, but thanks. It was a quick match."

Art hasn't taken his eyes off of you since you sat down, and while prolonged eye contact usually makes you nervous, you find that you're actually enjoying the attention quite a bit. Attentiveness was never an issue with him, and you would normally give in to your urges, but there's just too much history with him, and you can't afford to lose focus. Not when the title is so close you can taste it.

"I hear the networks are eyeing you for a commentator post," you say, trying to change the subject.

You trace your finger around the rim of your nearly empty margarita, before lifting it to take a final sip, and you don't miss how his throat bobs as you lick the salt off your lips.

"Uh, yeah," he mumbles, clearing his throat. "It was just some chatter, but I'm not looking to retire anytime soon."

You frown. "Is that right?" He's playing better than ever, but he definitely hasn't been himself out on the court in years.

He glances down, clearly trying to avoid the scrutiny, and when his eyes land on your empty glass, he changes the subject again. "You want another drink?"

You shake your head, knowing that another will lead to a less than fun morning, but he isn't done yet.

"You sure?" His eyes find yours again, and this time the eye contact feels primal. "It doesn't have to be here."

Your eyebrows lift and you tilt your head with a knowing smile. "Where were you thinking?"

"I don't know," he shrugs, before his lips curve up into a cheeky grin. "My room's nice."

You saw it coming from a mile away, but it still pulls a laugh out of you. "Oh, I'm sure it is, but this isn't college anymore, Art. You should get some sleep...focus on your match in the morning."

You push your glass forward and stand up, nodding at him as you turn to leave, but then you see him stand too out of the corner of your eye.

"I'll walk you to your car."

He looks at you with a hint of amusement in his expression, and you can't help but want to play along, even though Art Donaldson was nothing but trouble for you.

You don't respond, instead just stepping out from around the table and walking out the front doors of the bar. You don't have to turn back to know he's right behind you, and when you reach your car, parked in the center of the nearly empty parking lot, you spin around.

He doesn't stop walking until he has you practically boxed in by your driver's side door, his face less than a foot from yours as he tucks his hands into his pockets.

He had pushed his sleeves back at some point in the night, from the humid summer heat of the bar, and you can see the veins on his forearms now, under the dim light of the street lamps.

"This is me," you say jokingly, tipping your chin at your car as he looks at you with an expression you can't distinguish. "I'm good from here."

He doesn't move.

It's not that you expected him to give up so easily; you had just forgotten how persistent he could be.

Art's mouth stretches into a slanted smile. "Do you remember the Davis Invitational? Junior year."

Speaking of his persistence...he had been pursuing you for months, not in any tangible way, but you always knew what he was thinking.

After the invitational, where you and Art had been the respective men's and women's champions, you had gone back to his dorm to celebrate. Three hours and just as many vodka shooters later, he had finally gotten you in his bed. Not that you were complaining.

Art knew his way around your body, and even that first night, he had managed to get you off more times than you can remember.

"What about it?" you shoot back, your eyebrows raising at the insinuation.

"Nothing," he says with a shrug, but you don't miss the humor glinting in his eyes. "You just used to be a lot more fun to celebrate with."

"Fuck you," you spit out, shoving his shoulder harder than you mean to. He barely budges, instead grabbing your hand and tugging you a few inches closer, and suddenly a wave of lust washes over you, making your breath hitch.

You press your thighs together under your dress, hoping he can't feel the heat spreading across your skin, but then his smile turns to a smirk and you know you're done for.

"What do you think?" he whispers, leaning in so close that his lips brush over your earlobe. "Want to celebrate?"

Molten lava pools in your gut and you are only peripherally aware of his hand sliding down your hips to the flowy edge of your dress. His fingers glide over your skin as his hand goes under the loose fabric, before rising up to grab your ass, drawing your hips flush with his.

Your arousal is already starting to soak through your panties, but the feeling of his hard bulge pressed up against you sends you flying back to reality.

You lift your hands to his chest and push him back so that he's a few steps away from you. It's not far enough, but at least you can't feel him from there. "I'm not fucking you, Art."

He shrugs, his smirk only slightly shaken. "Who said anything about fucking? I just wanted to talk."

You huff out a laugh. "You're funny. Besides, I'm too tired for this. I need to rest up before my match."

"What about tomorrow night then?" His lip is still curved up in a smirk, but there's an earnestness in his gaze that surprises you.

"What makes you think you'll still be here tomorrow?"

His mouth spreads into a wide smile. "I always win."

You snort. "Fine. Win your match and we can talk."

You don't miss the grin on his face as you climb into your car and leave.

***

You win your next match in straight sets again, so by the time you're out of the locker room, Art's match is still in play. Driven by a mixture of curiosity and intrigue, you head over to his court and find a seat halfway up the stands.

He has won two of three sets, and he's leading the fourth, so with the prospect of the match ending soon, you use the time to observe him from a different angle.

His form is much better than it was in college, and you've seen him play countless times on TV, but you haven't really let yourself see how good he looks out there. The sinewy muscles rippling in his arms as he lifts them to serve. The rugged sturdiness of his legs as he races back and forth across the court.

You wish you could be down there with him, running your hands over the smooth lines of his abdomen, tasting the drops of sweat as they roll down his body-

The crowd erupts in cheers, and you are thrust back into reality as Art throws his arms into the air with a loud whoop. The scoreboard confirms his victory, and you clap along with the audience as he shakes his opponent's hand and heads over to his chair.

People around you stand up to leave, but you stay in your seat, watching as he grabs his bag and stuffs his rackets inside. When he wipes a towel over his face, his head turns up and his eyes immediately go to you, like he knew you were here the whole time.

Your stomach does an involuntary flip and he flashes his eyebrows at you as you bit the inside of your lip, trying to hold back a smile.

When he ducks back down to grab his things, you stand up quickly to avoid letting him see your blush and follow the rest of the crowd off of the stands.

***

You hear it late that night. Three little raps on your hotel room door, just before midnight.

You're in the finals, and you don't have any friends here to celebrate with, so you were sipping a beer and watching old match recordings when you heard the knock.

There's no one else who would come to see you this late, so you're not surprised when you open the door to find Art, dressed in a tee shirt and comfy-looking pajama pants.

"What are you doing here?" you ask, even though you already know the answer.

Art just looks at you, his pupils already massive. "You said if I win, we could talk." He shrugs. "I won."

"Okay," you concede, opening the door wider to let him in. "Just talking then."

He nods, before following you inside and shutting the door.

"You want anything to drink?" you ask as he trails behind you.

He shakes his head. "I'm good."

You grab your beer bottle from the side table and sit down on the floor, crossing your legs beneath you.

Art sits across from you, his feet in front of him and his elbows on his knees. You were assigned to a modestly sized room, but for someone as tall as him, the space must feel cramped.

"How did the match feel?" you ask, taking a swig of beer.

He thinks for a moment. "It was close at first, but once I shook my legs out, it became a breeze."

"Your legs were never the problem," you say, leveling him with a serious look. "It was always your attitude. Or your confidence."

He frowns, his eyebrows scrunching slightly. "I'm plenty confident."

"You are now," you tell him as you swirl the bottle around in your hand. "You won Wimbledon, you have a reason to be confident."

That makes him smile. "So you're saying my legs are fine."

"Yeah," you say before you can process what you're saying. "You looked good out there."

His smile turns to a smirk so fast it nearly gives you whiplash. "You think I look good?"

You let out an exasperated scoff. "At tennis."

His grin doesn't falter so you roll your eyes at him before lifting the bottle to your lips to take another swig. When you tilt the bottle back down to swallow, his hand reaches forward to take it from you. Your grip on the beer doesn't loosen, so the motion sends you pitching forward.

Your mouth parts with a small yelp as his arm wraps around you, tugging you closer, and before you can process what's happening, his lips are on yours.

If you let yourself think too hard, you would realize that there is way too much shared history and way too much baggage here for this to be a good idea...so that's why you don't.

Instead, you let him pull your body flush against his and when his tongue slides over the seam of your lips, you grant him access immediately. Your shirts come off in quick succession and you gasp as his hands run up and down your body, his strong, calloused fingers grasping at every inch of purchase they can find. Yours reach up to tangle in his messy hair, and when his lips move down your neck, your grip tightens, making him moan quietly against your skin.

Something about being on the floor takes you back to your college days, when you'd both be so worked up after practice that you couldn't even make it to the bed, but that feels too real right now.

"Art," you whisper as he runs his lips and teeth over your neck, before replacing it with his tongue to soothe the quickly blossoming marks. "Art, the bed. Now."

It takes him a second to process your words, but when he does, he loops an arm around your waist and lifts you up and onto the bed in one motion, before pushing you back onto the covers.

By the time your head hits the bed, he's already pulling your shorts and panties down, exposing you to the cool air. His lips follow the path of his hands as they trace up your legs, making you squirm under the hot touch of his rough fingers. He presses wet kisses to the insides of your thighs before spreading them apart and dropping to his knees on the floor in front of you.

"So wet for me," he whispers, almost to himself, before he dives in, his mouth making lewd noises as he licks a thick stripe up your core. "You taste so good."

He lifts your legs over his shoulders to give himself some leverage as he makes a mess between your thighs, licking and sucking your clit into his mouth before fucking you with his tongue.

His grip on your thighs is the only thing keeping you pinned to the bed as you writhe beneath him, trying to not squeeze your legs together from the heat spreading up your core.

His mouth feels amazing and it takes only minutes before you're already nearing the edge. You don't want to come until he is inside of you, though, so you yank his hair, pulling him up and off of you.

He looks up at you through his lashes, and he looks ethereal with his disheveled hair and his chin wet with your slick.

You, on the other hand, look like heaven itself with your eyes half-hooded from pleasure, and he can't help the grin that crosses his face as he licks his lips and climbs over you onto the bed. He lets you taste yourself as he kisses you again, and he lets out a low groan when you bite his lip just hard enough to sting.

"Fuck me," you gasp, your voice too breathy to be actually authoritative. "Fuck me the way I like."

Art grins at your desperate tone and the wild lust in your eyes, committing this image to memory for a later time when you're much further away.

He kicks his pants off as he lifts you both further up the bed, and after covering himself with a condom from his back pocket, he lines himself up and slowly pushes forward.

He gives you a few moments to adjust to his size before slowly pulling out nearly all the way and then thrusting in again.

The slight pain turns to pleasure almost immediately, but he keeps his pace steady so as not to hurt you. You need more right now, so you wrap your legs around him for leverage and flip him over so that you're straddling him.

He groans as his head hits the pillow, and when he tries to sit up, you press your hands to his chest, pushing him down as you ride him. This position gives you a lot more control, and you use it to your advantage as you bounce yourself on his cock, feeling the way he fills you up so fully from this higher angle.

His fingers dig into your hips as he helps lift you up and down, and his eyes are practically feral as he watches the spot where his cock disappears inside of you.

He's the perfect size to fill you up completely, and with each swivel of your hips, you get closer and closer to your climax, which is approaching so fast you can taste it.

You cry out when he hits exactly the right spot deep inside of you, and his eyes fly to yours as your movements start to stutter from your impending release.

Needing to see the look on your face when you come, he pushes your lower back forward so you fall against his chest, before lifting himself up to meet you halfway. With one arm locked around you, he brings his other hand down between the two of you to rub quick circles over your clit. The new angle lets him thrust up into you, and the increased pace of his movements mixed with the speed of his fingers sends you flying over the edge.

Your mouth falls open with a loud cry, and you squeeze him so tightly he's practically seeing stars. You look so beautiful when you come, like a goddess sent down here just for him, and when your eyes meet his, he finds his own climax.

His body jerks forward with the force of his release, and you let him thrust a few more times as he finally finishes inside of you.

After pulling out, he tugs you down to lay next to him, and at first you let him, but the emotions warring inside of you don't stay quiet for long.

You know that whatever this was isn't going to go anywhere. You didn't work in college, and you won't work now, and you don't want anyone to get hurt again, so you have to make a choice. Now.

"I need to get some rest," you say quietly, a tiny part of you hoping he doesn't hear you. "Before the next match."

"Yeah," he sighs after a beat. "Me too."

You let him hold you for a moment longer, before he unwraps himself from your body and sits up, tugging his shirt and pants back on. You tug the sheet back and wrap it around your torso as he stands up and walks to the door.

You're not sure what you're expecting as he goes to leave, but what you get is a silent nod as the door swings shut behind him.

[syncogon]

[QZGS TL] Butterfly Blue's Reflections, Ten Years Later

T/N: On April 28, 2024, for the tenth anniversary of the completion of The King's Avatar novel, author Butterfly Blue wrote the following Weibo post:

Translation below:

2014 April 28, to 2024 April 28. Ten years. 😲

It’s a bit of a blur, but yes, it’s been ten years. ⁉️

My editor told me in advance that I should write something to discuss my reflections, but I kept refusing on the grounds that I didn’t have any reflections to share. 🥺🙏 After going back and forth for a while, I suddenly thought, "not having any reflections" was itself something that I could share with everyone. 🤔

How come I don’t have any reflections? Because it’s been ten years. 😞

Ever since that day ten years ago, when I wrote that final period. The story of the world of Glory ended there. 🤗 And ever since that day, my thoughts and feelings on this story, this world, and all these different characters have gradually grown fewer and fewer. 😞👉👈

In 2022, as part of a Qidian event, I wrote another prequel chapter. I followed my ideas and thought patterns from my past prequel chapters to write this new installment. But as I wrote it, it was choppy, it was awkward, it was forced. 😫 The forty-plus-year-old me, regretfully, can no longer write well this story that brought me so much joy and delight during my thirties. 😞😞 This is probably the power of time. In the end, I have no way of maintaining my mood and state from ten years ago. 😞👉👈 When I think about this, I suddenly realize that “time” should be the true protagonist of this reflection, rather than anything else I could share about this work. 🥹 

With that, I immediately become even more saddened. Ten years have passed, I’m no longer young, my hair is gone, my beard occasionally sprouts some white strands, and I can no longer sleep right after eating due to acid reflux…🧎

And The King’s Avatar, after ten years, is still there. There are still people who see it, there are still people who like it. Through the passage of time, this is, to me, the greatest source of comfort. 🫡

Thank you to The King’s Avatar. Thank you to the past, present, and future readers who pick up this work. Thank you to the many staff of all roles who have kept busy for this work. 🙇

I wish that time could stand still. I absolutely do not look forward to another ten years passing by, but that day will inevitably come. 👋

Then, I will wish everyone happy travels on their life journey! I hope this work will be the flowers that decorate your happy journey. 🫂🫂

https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5028124733474872

[sparklepocalypse]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks to @cha-melodius, @kiwiana-writes, @anincompletelist, @orchidscript, @myheartalivewrites,

… aaaaand @firenati0n for the tags! (This five tags per line thing really is for the fucking birds, y’all.)

How many works do you have on AO3?

106 works and counting.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

461,281 😱

What fandom(s) do you write for?

Currently? Red, White & Royal Blue, and RWRB RPF.

Historically? Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series, Queer as Folk, Supernatural, That One Fandom With The Wizards and the Bigoted Creator, Smallville, Glee, and a handful of other RPF fandoms.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Even though, IMO, kudos are a poor metric of the quality of a fic…

What’s Symbiotic will Always Be | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 2.6k words — my Kinktober 2023 breeding kink fic.

Be Worthy Love, and Love Will Come | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 30.8k words — my epic childhood friends to lovers AU.

Wrap Me Up, Unfold Me | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 4.3k words — my mile high club smut inspired by one of Hann’s incredible art pieces.

Take it Down Low / Make Me Get High | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 2k words — my Kinktober 2023 rimming fic, which has been described as that rimming fic.

I’d Wanna Be Held By You, Felled By You | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 2.3k words — my lake house smut inspired by Henry sharing Alex’s clothes.

More under the jump to save you a scroll!

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I’m horrendously behind, but I promise I’ll catch up one of these days… I hope.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

We’re just gonna focus on my RWRB works here so I don’t have to dig too far. I don’t really do truly angsty endings in this fandom, but I did write one piece with an open-ended ending:

Back, Bring it Back | RWRB | Alex/Henry | T | 1.2k words

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

It’s a toss-up between two of them, so have them both!

Single Sad-Sack Seeking Same | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 7.7k words, and

Count to Ten & Breathe Real Deep | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 8.1k words

Do you get hate on fics?

I have had an anon throw a tomato emoji at one of my fics, which still stuns me. I used to get significantly more hate when I was writing in more problematic fandoms… 😅 but if you want to read the fic where Alex bottoms for the first time, and I got this comment, where they not only flung produce but also… felt the need to censor the word “top” for… reasons:

… then you should read In the Low Lamp Light, I was Free | RWRB | Alex/Henry | E | 3.1k words, which is my take on what happened with that second condom wrapper in the Paris scene.

Do you write smut?

Oh, fic meme creator, this is the cutest, funniest question.

Do I write smut? Hilarious.

What’s your craziest crossover?

Speaking of smut — I don’t really write crossovers, but I’ve written a few monsterfucking or monsterfucking-adjacent fics:

If We’re Caught in a Wave, I Will Carry You Over | RWRB | Alex/Cecaelia!Henry | E | 5.9k words

Just Let the Night Go Down | RWRB | Alex/Henry/Oviposition Toy | E | 2.2k words, aaaaand

All the Ocean was Sleeping | RWRB | Alex/Siren!Henry | E | 6.4k words

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. Fic (and fandom) are pretty reductive though. For example, I know that there’s someone writing a King Henry AU for @aroyallybigbangrwrb, and I’ve been working on my own King Henry AU since last September. There will probably be some similarities; can’t be helped. I’m not worried about it though, unless there are wholesale chunks of paragraphs that are somehow magically identical.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t believe so, but I have a blanket permission statement on my AO3 account, so if someone wanted to translate my work I’d be down!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Eons ago, I used to co-write Kurtofsky fic in the Glee fandom. Pretty sure all of those works have been lost to the ether, as this was before AO3 was absorbing archives as they went kaput. I’m not completely heartbroken about it.

All time favorite ship?

Darcy/Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice. No, I’m not kidding.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a couple really old WIPs from previous fandoms that I put a lot of work into, and then the ADHD took hold before I could complete them. It would be interesting, at the very least, to revisit these. Maybe retool them into something usable for this fandom, IDK.

What are your writing strengths?

Making people absolutely collapse in a heap of devastation with my angst, as @hgejfmw-hgejhsf, @kiwiana-writes, and @ad-astra13 will attest; smut with “multiple different positions laid out in such detail you can almost see the gifs used as reference,” according to @bigassbowlingballhead. I also like to think that my spicy trauma makes me pretty funny.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Brevity — given the option, I’d rather write 5k words than a drabble every time. I also really struggle with saccharine sweetness and fluff for the sake of fluff, despite what y’all keep saying in my comments section; my sweetness is always bittersweet. And kidfic gives me the ick, as the youths would say, even if I’m the one writing it.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Yes! Just make it something that I can Google Translate and I’m good.

Which fandom was the first you wrote in?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, way back in the 1990s. (Yeah. I’m that old.)

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

So, I have two. My favorite fic overall is my King Henry AU, Facing Tempests. I affectionately refer to this fic as KHIX (King Henry IX) and The Big Giant AU, and it’s my baby. I’ve commissioned some really incredible art from @seanchaidh7 for Facing Tempests that I can’t wait to share with y’all when the fic is ready to post.

My favorite published fic is If We’re Caught in a Wave, I Will Carry You Over, for which I commissioned some absolutely stunning art from @artofobsession which is now embedded in the story on AO3. There are several other fics that come close, but octoHenry is my beloved.

My tag is always open! Because this meme has been out for a couple days, I’m not gonna cold call anyone, but if you’re reading this, yes you with the clenched shoulders and the mild headache from staring at a screen, then consider yourself tagged!

[firstpooher]

Okay, but imagine if Babe is actually pregnant and going through a traumatic period like in the book. He thought he had moved past it, but now that he's pregnant, all those fears and nightmares are resurfacing. He's terrified for the baby, especially because the nightmares involve Way and Tony, two people who have caused him harm in the past. When he wakes up, he finds Charlie by his side, taking care of him even more now that he's carrying their child. It's so Charlie coded to watch over pregnant Babe while he sleeps and smile goofily.

"Do you feel better, Mama?"

This theory starts to make sense when Charlie mentions that line to babe because Charlie is aware that Babe is having nightmares due to the baby. We also know that Babe has had 'some' thoughts about carrying a child inside him (book babe).

Yeah, babe is really scared and concerned about him, his child

and Charlie his let's call him papa Charlie for real here (lol) their small family of three.

It's messing with his head and giving him terrible sleepless nights.

So, Tony and Way still haven't returned. Not yet, at least.

(as said they may be alive and babe sensing them in his dreams (bec he is extra sensitive he is now pregnant) or they aren't back alive, and babe past is hunting him again)

Now that babe is pregnant, he's been sensing their presence and seeing them in his dreams.

In conclusion, babe MUST BE PREGNANT next season or, me as zee will cry :///

(love how I say next season, like we will have more loll)

The whole theory might be disconnected I wrote it down quickly, I should jot down the theory and make it more coherent.

[kiwi-qwq]

time for a silly little tsukasa rant when i should be sleeping!m,!(i wrote this at 11 o clock at night and am putting it in my queue bc ive put way too much on my blog tonight)

first off i want to address how AWFUL HIS PARENTS ARE

we in the pjsk fandom all know saki was/is chronically ill, and constantly in the hospital when she was a child. and we also know that their parents would go with her to comfort their youngest

but like.. they left tsukasa alone when he was a kid. yes, he may have acted mature for his age, but still?"? dont leave your kid alone for whole weekends without SOMEONE watching him..

next is that god awful room..

literally has at least one open wall to the rest of the house.. hes got like no privacy..

sure it may have been fine when it was just him in the house for days at a time, but now that he's a teenager and saki's better and his parents are home more often??? nah man..

third is that not too many people ive talked to address just how growing up like that affects him

tsukasa was quite literally all alone during the early years of his childhood (save for like shizuku and toya, but idk when they met). thats gotta affect someone. when people write and/or make art and comics PLEASE add something like that because you cant really brush that off.. like, it would make sense for him to positively hate being alone.

ive got a lot more but that was just my silly little rant for now teehee

[the-crimson]

Q!BBH and Generational Trauma

For a long time this has been something I’ve noticed in the halo family that I’ve strongly related to. Idk if it’s an intentional theme bbh and Dapmin (and pommin but im mainly gonna focus on Dapper) put into their characters but it’s definitely there. So heres my perspective on bbh’s character arc so far observed through a lens of generational trauma.

(Quick side note. Writing this post was a journey tm and my initial view of bbh and god’s relationship and what the afterlife scene meant shifts dramatically half way through XD)

Even if a parent does everything right, they will still hurt their children. It’s part of the job. It’s part of life. Even if we choose to be better than our parents, the scars they left will bleed onto our children. I think every family has an element of generational trauma - I certainly do but im not gonna trauma dump on yall - but the severity of it is a spectrum.

Q!bbh was cast from his home due to the conditional love of God/the Father and this has left a clear impact on him. His self worth is in the gutter and he lacked a sense of purpose. According to everything we know of bbh’s life before the island, he didnt really care for much of anything other than finding the next source of entertainment - i mean, he remembers the salem witch trials fondly because of the drama of it all regardless of the fact that hundreds of innocent women were murdered.

Was God being intentionally cruel or abusive? Probably not. From His perspective, he may see casting his angels from heaven as a temporary punishment - like spanking a child for throwing a tantrum - without really understanding the damage such treatment is actually doing. He isnt teaching his children the lesson he thought he was just as spanking a child doesnt teach them to behave, only to fear. Bbh redeemed himself in the eyes of the Father and thus was granted the choice to return home. The Father was doing his child a kindness, he was welcoming his lost angel back home because what fallen angel would ever choose anything other than Elysium? And thats the point of conflict. The Father thinks he is doing right by his child but hes only causing bbh more pain. Bbh has to choose between his own children and eternal salvation (that he knows can be taken away on a whim). His heart has been severed in two.

Bbh’s wounds from his disownment run so deep he doesnt even notice them and thus, doesnt notice how they impact his children. Dapper has taken after so many of bbh’s characteristics and a complete lack of self worth is one of them. Selflessness to the point of self annihilation. The fear of being a burden. The need to feel useful otherwise why am i even alive? Dapper was borderline suicidal because they felt useless and nearly killed themself trying to be useful by farming soul hearts and they learned all of this behavior from Bad. Bbh showed Dapper unconditional love but it wasnt enough. Bbh couldnt save Dapper from his own trauma.

Breaking cycles of generational trauma takes more than just realizing how you were raised didnt work and trying something else. Bbh never healed from the wounds left by the Father and thus they were passed down to his own son.

When i started writing this analysis, i thought that this was the tragedy between bbh and the Father. God was too stuck in his ways to understand what His child needs, what would truly make bbh happy. I thought that the Father had not changed. His love remained conditional. Bbh could only come home if he chose god/heaven. The door might be closed next time. This is his only chance of coming home. But now after laying it all out like this… it made me wonder why the Father decided now of all times was when bbh redeemed himself. My initial cynical reading was that the Father was putting bbh through a test of loyalty. He only truly earned his redemption if he would abandon his children in favor of god/heaven but now… i can see a more hopeful reading.

God watched bbh become a father. He watched bbh become a better person through fatherhood. He also watched as the trauma He caused was passed onto bbh’s child. If the Father wanted bbh to come home because he’d redeemed himself, then the Father could have snapped bbh away at any time. Perhaps thats what He would have done 14,000 years ago when bbh first fell. What if the Father recognized his mistake? What if this was His attempt to fix things after seeing just how much damage He’d done? What if he did finally understand what bbh truly needed?

Bbh was stuck in his trauma because he lacked agency in his current state. The Father still had all the power between them by holding heaven hostage. The only way bbh could ever start to heal from this damage was if he was given back the choice that was made for him. Bbh needed to choose one way or another in order for him to take the first step towards healing even if it causes him anguish in the moment. He needed the choice. He needed the freedom to refuse.

But giving freedom to your children can be scary. What if they make the wrong choice? What if they screw up and ruin everything? For a god who expects perfection from his children, freedom must be terrifying. Giving His children freedom means giving them the option to turn away from him. But that is part of being a parent.

What if unlocking the gates was an apology? Im sorry i hurt you. Im sorry i made this choice for you. I see you. I wont take this choice from you again. Its too late to change the past but you can change the future. Dont make my same mistakes.

What if it was a gift? God relinquished his leverage over bbh and gave him the option to come home. An opportunity for bbh to break the cycle. A chance for bbh to make a choice for himself for once. To free him of the shackles that tied him to God. To heal and stop his own son from continuing the cycle of generational trauma.

After all, the greatest gift a god can give is the freedom to choose one’s own destiny.

[2018wattpaduser]

Wrote this when I should have been sleeping

Ten: This is my tenth body.

Simm!Master: You're so careless! And selfish!

Ten: How's dying selfish?!

Simm!Master: Uhh...

Simm!Master: *wishing he didn't say that*

Simm!Master: You can regenerate into a fish?

Ten: ..What???

[egginfroggin]

Came to the realization earlier that Emmet in the Illusory Lives AU could just.

Scruff Ingo.

Like, as far as Zoroark go, he's pretty tall due to having retained his human height (*bop bop bop* yes I know normal Zoroark are like 5 feet shhhhh), and he's just tall enough that he could pick Ingo up by the collar.

Needless to say, this is egregiously embarrassing for Ingo, because dragging siblings around by the collar is his job, and yet here Emmet is doing just that.

It goes great until biology fails Emmet and Ingo grabs his actual scruff, rendering him a limp noodle because scruffing instincts (many baby scruffables go limp when scruffed) (he's not a baby but. shhh).

Ingo just has to find his scruff first, why does Emmet have such a fantastically voluminous mane of ghost fur, how is he supposed to find any vertebrae in there.

Also sopping wet Emmet after getting hit with basically any water-type physical attack. Looks drowned. The mane just deflates like an old balloon and adds like 20 pounds of weight to his neck because it's full of so much water. He genuinely looks pathetic.

[m3llowm1sh]

mish’s relationships with the rd cast

[micamicster]

Entertaining myself by fucking around putting all my fics into that Penguin Classics cover generator today! Link to my ao3 <3

[magicinavalon]

I just think that hob gadling would make an amazing stem professor. Don't get me wrong, I love history and literature professor hob just as much. But this is a man who is so incredibly passionate about discovering new things, and with the science and technology boom of the last century you just know he was curious to learn more. He has all the time he could ever need to explore, and to apply what he learns; to write research papers and publish findings and keep reaching and reaching into the well of science that never runs dry.

Imagine Hob in a lab coat, grinning like a madman over a pair of petri dishes when his microbes do the exact opposite of what he was expecting, Ahh, but I will figure you out yet my friends!

Or Hob tirelessly tracing out blueprints for an orphanage. He's going to get this right dammit, he may not have been able to save his siblings from plagues and hunger, but with a little structural engineering and the latest in materials science, he will save the lives of today's hungry, lost kids.

Or Hob the astrophysicist, constantly discovering new stars and galaxies and black holes. He cried while watching the moon landing and he spends his days puzzling over string theory and dark matter and why doesn't the universe behave the way it should.

(Dream loves watching him theorize by the way, because what is a hypothesis but another sort of dream?)

Also Hob the (dare I say it) marine biologist! He's intimately familiar with coral reefs and has made friends with a few sharks and what is down there, in the deepest darkest blues of the ocean, anyway? Look at this brilliant new species of jellyfish, do you see that bit of light there? What is that? Bioluminescence? Remarkable!!

Oh and Madame Curie? What an exceptional mind! Hob is so glad to have known her for the short year that he did. Thomas Edison, on the other hand, was a real piece of work. The one time Hob met him he nearly punched the man's lights out (ha).

I could go on forever, but I'll stop there. Hob Gadling would make a brilliant scientist.

[blainerificapologist]

As far as I know the specific rumor about Noah being planned to be in Heather's alliance and spy on the guys may have just been completely made up by someone on tv tropes. However I think it's incredibly funny if true. Especially the part about it getting scrapped because they wanted it to be an "all-girls" alliance.

Cause imagine you have this character that's pretty queer-coded in his early appearances and is friends with Owen, the one guy explicitly shown to have a crush on another dude. And then in this scrapped storyline he's going to be in an alliance with 2 of the most attractive girls in the show, presumably show no interest in them, and then spy on the other boys. This plotline would have had extremely gay vibes, probably too gay for kids network television in 2007.

If the rumor is true their two options at the time to mitigate that were basically give him a romantic subplot with Heather/Beth or scrap the whole thing. And they chose the latter. And they still had him kiss Cody and play it for laughs. So like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[dragonsandwolvesohmy]

So... I'm having thoughts about a previous post of mine, regarding a Gotham Zoo au. (Gotham Zoo AU)

I see this going two ways; Zoo au happens despite of Batman. (aka, Batman's origins still happen, but doesn't go through with becoming Batman.) or Zoo au happens instead of Batman. (Aka, Bruce never considered being Batman, Zoo happens, no superheroes in this universe kinda thing.)

Let's go with Despite Batman first of all. (Be warned, this is along. So friggin' long. As in 3k +)

Bruce finds out about Damian before Dick's parents fall. There's this small child he's created with Talia, who struggles even more than his father in connecting with people. (perhaps Talia handed him over because Damian is on the spectrum?) He's broody, moody, resentful of being treated like a child, and a bit entitled. and he's not even double digits yet. Bruce, in short, has not one clue what to do with his son.

(Alfred help.)

Bruce finds out Damian likes animals when his grumpy little shadow abandons his side for the first time during a gala, because one of the heiresses brought her new, expensive, pure-bred cat.

It's perhaps the only time Bruce has seen his young son show childish interest in anything. Because cat fluffy.

He brings home a tuxedo cat the next day, freshly adopted from the shelter. This prompts a 'teaching moment, master Bruce' from Alfred, where Bruce tries to explain to Damian why adopting is better than buying from a breeder. In the end, he loads a tablet with a bunch of documentaries and docuseries about animals, habitats, endangered species- what that means, and consequently why and what causes these species to be dispearing- and why 'adopt don't shop' is a good thing. There is also a sorta kinda age-appropriate explanation for inbreeding of dogs and cats, and why Damian's new mixed breed, unknown origin cat might have better health, and live longer.

(The first time Bruce sees Damian cry, it's because of a Sarah Mclachlan commercial. Bruce full-on panics. This is how they adopt Titus from the shelter.)

Bruce is making an effort to Bond with His Child. Volunteering at the shelter sees a surefire way to end up with more adopted animals in his house. Alfred would not forgive him for turning the place into a zoo. Hence they go to the actual zoo.

Gotham Zoo... isn't great. There's a tiger who paces around an island of grass surrounded by cement, a few monkeys in artificial trees behind barred glass, some tropical birds, hyenas, a few tarantulae, some stick bugs, and a large pond of koi as a centerpiece to the zoo. It's small, run-down, the animals are healthy, but clearly not happy.

Damian is dismayed. Bruce is... tired and sad and wondering when the little things like the zoo he remembered so much better with rosy childhood memories became so run down.

Bruce buys the zoo.

Alfred is exasperated.

Damian is delighted. He spends more time with Bruce than ever, childhood joy and excitement and energy at the forefront as he shows Bruce all the bits and pieces he's picked up from documentaries, shows, and reading- all too happy to share his special interest with his father, knowing his ideas would be considered if not used.

That's how it starts.

Animal Welfare, and the zoo, become synonymous with the Wayne name by the time Haly's Cirus rolls into town. Bruce takes Damian to see the circus animals, the way they're trained, and the relationship with their caretakers and trainers. As well as assure Damian they're treated okay, and if they aren't, they'll do something.

(The moment he hears the snap of the rope, he's tucking Damian half under his curled body, covering his ears, desperately wishing he could be doing the same to the boy who seemed larger than life when he was flying through the air just moments ago. now he seems so very small.)

When Bruce adopts Dick, he buys Zitka the elephant from Haly's Circus. It means shipping an elephant across multiple states by the time he tracks down the circus, as well as having a proper habitat built in the slowly improving zoo, and hunting down some good and proper caretakers.

(Damian tries to bond with Dick by showing him his ever-growing collection of animal-related media on his tablet, but the older, grieving boy wants nothing to do with them.)

The first time Bruce takes Dick to the zoo, he's withdrawn the whole time, a little resentful over the 'bonding activity. then Bruce takes him to see the new elephant exhibit.

Dick cries when he sees Zitka, hugging her trunk.

They don't leave for hours.

(Dick hugs Damian when they do return to the manor. He asks about elephant documentaries. Damian is very pleased (smug) to say he has multiple he's willing to share.)

Going to the zoo is an everyday thing after that. Dick teaches the keepers there everything he knows about his beloved elephant, from favorite treats (she loves apples) to tricks he knows how to perform with her. Damian likes watching Dick play with Zitka like Damian plays with Titus.

Bruce ends up taking on more management items from the zoo purely because he's there so often. It's when he's staying late, glaring at the paperwork trying to strongarm him into giving up his tiger despite the old cat no longer being in his prime for breeding, that someone breaks in.

(It's Jason.)

Dick is sleeping in a hammock on the 'safe' (trainers) side of Zitka's enclosure, and he's pretty sure Damian is still religiously taking notes about the dusk activities of their python. Yet... there is a child. A child wearing a too-big red hoodie with tiger ears on the top. It's a hoodie sold in the gift shop downstairs, but this one is worn, old stains and frayed cuffs.

(It was his mothers. She took him to the zoo during one of her better moments, when she was sober, when the Waynes showed their completely redone tiger exhibit. it was no longer grass and cement and a feeding ball. It's trees and rocks and shaded areas of viewing glass, a modest sides piece of a tiger's natural habitat for their boy. He's been so much more lively, happier with space and enrichment and good care, drawing the eye of annoying management wanting to breed a tiger passed his prime because he acts like a kitten now.)

Jason broke in because he remembers there being a display of food by the cashier, and he's more likely to get away with stealing food from a closed zoo than any proper store.

Bruce gives him a packaged sandwich, and a bottle of milk, from the little fridge by the cash register. Then find a tiger-themed backpack among the dusty boxes of merchandise in the back rooms, fills it with water bottles, beef jerky, applesauce squeeze pouches, and 'granola bars' that are more like slightly healthier candy bars. He sneaks a board book called 'The Very Brave Little Lion' and a stuffed tiger in the bottom, despite the kid being older than Damian who 'was well passed the age for such simple things, father'.

It lasts Jason a few days on the streets, but he comes back every day for free kids admission to the zoo. It's safer than wandering the streets, and no one looks twice at the kid reading a library book on the bench. (If it's a board book sometimes, well. That's Jason's business.)

He falls asleep, tucked up against the viewing glass of the tiger enclosure, to be woken by Bruce making the nighttime rounds to see the animals before taking Damian home to go to bed. He takes three sons back to the manor that night.

(Bruce calls Jason his little tiger unironically. Jason allows this with token protests. Tigers led him to his new family, after all. Privately, he thinks it might've been his mom looking down on him. making sure he knew where to go when she was gone.)

Barbara comes to the Waynes by way of a protest. She's protesting zoos; animals shouldn't be entertainment, they should be in their natural habitat, outrage at the treatment of animals, at humanity abusing them for their own gain.

Bruce takes her around the zoo. Shows her the enrichment, the detailed meal plans for each and every animal. The habitats meant to be a piece of natural habitat in the city. The safety measures for both animals and humans. Their conservation efforts, their efforts to raise awareness of habitat loss, climate change, poaching, and more. The way their elephant herd may only be three large, but it's because there's a mother-daughter pair living with Zitka, and elephants grow their herds via family; when the mother or Zitka has babies, the herd will grow. Ideally, they'll have eight or more elephants, but they don't want to cause any upheaval with the current matriarch- no need to stress her or cause fighting with another, mature female wanting to lead the herd- or try to merge more families. If an orphaned elephant needs a home, but can't live in one of the sanctuaries meant to raise, then release orphaned elephants back in the wild, Gotham zoo will gladly take them, assuming the existing herd of three takes to them. Their other animals are solitary by nature. Other than the elephants, they haven't taken in any animals- from the wild, from confiscation with illegal pet trade, from other zoos- instead focusing on making the animals already there has the best life they could. Be it better food, habitats, enrichment, etc. these animals can't be released, so they do the best they can for them.

Then, Bruce takes Barbara to the office. He offers her a job. 'Be our moral compass, you can change the zoo from the inside. Do what's best for the animals. If that means a zoo is the only way that animal will survive, can you handle that?'

She can. She takes the job. She runs that office like she was born to. She likes digging dirt on any animal-related person she comes across. How do other zoos treat their animals? sanctuaries? Is conservation happening or is it breeding for public entertainment? Who's doing what's best for animals, and who needs the full force of animal welfare brought down on them? Turns out having the Gotham Zoo backing you makes animal activism more easily heard.

Barbara wants what's best for animals, no matter what. Sometimes that means human care. Sometimes that means release into the wild. She refuses to give up her values; in the ideal world, all animals would be wild, there would be no more zoos, no more captivity, except for the animals who wouldn't survive in the wild, and even then, it'd be more of a national park/haven situation for animals. That's the ideal- they aren't there yet, but Barbara will do what she can to make this zoo one less problem. One step closer to the idea.

Tim comes on a school field trip and just... never stops. He takes pictures of the animals, of their habitats, of every little detail he could get. The increased security for animal safety- no public getting into enclosures, little chance of someone 'dropping' something in. The plants found all around the world, and the different terrane carefully mimicked to make an animal's space as close to natural habitat as possible. Animals playing, sleeping, exploring, interacting. All of it.

(Poison Ivy keeps growing plans in their zoo, and Bruce has to pay for a lot of corporate clean-up before he gets a meeting with her to ensure she only grows safe plants for their animals, and only ones found in their natural habitats, please. she agrees, but only because the zoo if taking good care of the animal habitat plants, and has a whole program related to turning animal waste into fertilizer, which then goes back into green spaces in Gotham, including the plants at the zoo. They try to grow food for their animals, after all, instead of buying it where they can.)

Tim inadvertently gets photos of Harley Quinn stealing the hyena pair and takes them immediately to Bruce. Bruce gets the hyenas back. The Drakes do not get their son back. The little photographer is theirs, and his photos of the zoo if their number one advertisement strategy. Especially for the Scarlet Macaw flock- two paired birds and their eight collective offspring- which are Tim's favorite animals in the zoo. He loves the bright red of the bird's feathers.

He loves even more when the head keeper of the birds starts training him to train the birds. Dick, by now a full-grown elephant handler/keeper/trainer, is delighted by this kid who starts training brightly colored birds to do tricks for enrichment. Babs is less than pleased. Macaws, despite being kept as pets, are not domesticated animals. However, Tim approaches it more like falconry- these 'tricks' he's teaching aren't meant to be 'cool', they're meant to engage natural, wild behavior, in a safe, regulated way. Babs allows it, but keeps a close eye.

Cas is brought to the Waynes by the Justice League. Bruce has been lowkey funding them since they busted some black market animal trade going on, and arrested a bunch of poachers and people with 'exotic pets'. In turn, sometimes the league calls upon Bruce to find them various animal/habitat/climate experts to help them with something they've encountered. In this case, they encounter an alarming amount of various venomous snakes, being cared for by a mute, terrifyingly lethal girl. Cas gets to fly Air Superman to the zoo, because the league doesn't know what to do with all these snakes other than taking them to the only zoo they know well, and silently instructs reptile keepers on all the snakes. at least until they're put into zoos better equipped for them, or dubbed releasable into the wild by experts.

Cas never leaves, unlike most the snakes. She stays with the Waynes. So does a blind Black Mamba.

Cas is worryingly close to the snake. this never changes, but she reluctantly shifts to protective contact to ensure it's less likely she- or anyone else- will be bit by one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

(Steph walks into the Waynes life one day and never leaves. No one's really sure where she came from, but she's there, and they love her, so they don't care. She works more on the domestic animal side of things, which gets the whole family into ensuring Gotham's animal shelters are up to par with their standard for animal care. She's the Barbara of cats, dogs, ferrets, and other domestic pets. except more likely to bully people into better treatment rather than Babs shaming, throwing the law into their faces to get them shut down, to steadily ruining them in any number of ways.)

Duke comes on as a Veterinarian, intending to work with domestics, but there's an internship at the zoo and he takes it because how could he not? He works with the emperor tamarin monkeys there, and the funky mustache-wearing monkeys convince him to stay with the zoo even after he finished his degree.

Duke is also the one to convince Bruce to expand the zoo. He asks if they can look into expanding their primates via rescues; just keep an eye out to take any in, as the zoo hasn't taken in any animals except the elephants since Bruce bought it.

Bruce says he'll think about it. No chimps, though. Chimps are vicious, Bruce doesn't like them. Too violent, too triggering for him.

Bruce presents him with a family unit of golden lion tamarin rescued from a fire, deemed unreleasable due to various injuries and disabilities. Dick loves the bright golden orange monkeys.

Dick stays with his elephants, but he also gets to start working with rhinos. He loves a rhino named Exxy, who was rescued after poachers almost killed her for her horn. She lived, barely, but her snout is mutilated where her horn used to be. Dick thinks she's beautiful.

His favorite animal will forever be Zitka, however, closely followed by Zitka's baby with an elephant Superman brought to the zoo. Rescued from inhumane treatment in the south, in a privately owned theme park. He's a good bull, a gentle soul to Zitka's brightness, and their baby is precious. Dick stayed in the keeper's side of the elephant habitat most of Zitka's pregnancy and was the first to meet the baby after having been there when they were born. Dick loves them dearly.

(Dick names the baby 'Nightwing')

Jason prepares to beg for Bruce to take in a lion from New York. The male can't stay with the current pride there, having grown to the point he's competing with the pride leader for unrelated females in the pride, and they don't currently have the resources to keep him. Not when it means a new exhibit, plus finding him his own females to form a pride. Jason's tiger was passed his prime before Jason started getting his degree in animal sciences, and eventually, he had to be put down from age-related issues. He's been working with various animals in the park, but he misses working with big cats.

Bruce redoes the whole habitat previously housing Jason's beloved tiger, and soon Gotham Zoo is home to a lion named Rizu. (it means brave. Jason reads him the board book he's kept all this time on the ride from New York to Gotham.)

Tim slowly moves on from only training only red macaws, into raptors, then vultures. He still takes pictures, which are plastered all over the zoo, their advertisements, and sometimes travels to other approved zoos to take photos for them too. He likes his bird, however. They challenge him to challenge them. sometimes they're too smart for their own good. (Yes, he means the crows he's started training to pick up litter in exchange for treats. Don't tell Babs or Steph. They'll murder him.)

Cas gets some snakes back. Black Mama (her blind black mamba) is still her favorite, but she's loving the little group of pancake tortoises Bruce got her. (Green Arrow brought the Gotham zoo a chimp one of his 'not villains' had. Bruce refused to keep the chimp. He reached out to everyone on the approved list to find another place for the chimp- any place- and the only one that would take it would only do so if they took a group of pancake tortoises seized from illegal ownership. Bruce snapped the deal up quickly. No Chimps.)

In other news, completely unrelated, Green Arrow is not allowed in Gotham Zoo.

On the other hand, Black Canary and Wonder Woman are absolutely allowed at the zoo. Why? Because they brought Cass' Rosie to the zoo. Who's Rosie? A 132-pound (60kg) freshwater crocodile.

Rosie is Cas' baby.

Steph deals with all their acquisitions, ensuring their rescues, and works with Babs to get animals released. She still works mostly with domestic animals to ensure they're treated well, but she really likes busting black market, illegal pet trade/animal poaching, and making sure the animals find safe, healthy homes.

She finds Tim a toucan.

Tim loves his toucan. His name is Reed. He don't take no shit from crows and seems to be coordinating their efforts to keep the zoo litter free. (to the alarm of everyone else.)

As for Damian? For now, he's bouncing around working with any animal who needs him that day. He's looking into starting up a petting zoo with Steph, especially wanting to show alpacas and their story of domestication and treatment for wool. While waiting for everything to fall in place, he's working on the education part of the zoo. He's the driving force behind the department; from signage, to field trips, to fundraisers, to research. He wants everyone to know about animals, how they're threatened and could do their part to save them.

(He butts heads with Babs about zoos. He believes zoos, when done right, are great for animals. Babs is of the opinion all wild animals should be wild, no zoos, only sanctuaries when needed. Damian thinks that's unrealistic. They argue this many, many times. They never come to an agreement, nor budge their opinions, just go in circles until they're distracted from fighting.)

Eventually, he'll take over the zoo. Until then, he likes educating people.

...Where's Alfred, you ask? Exasperated his family spends more time in a zoo than at home. When he said the manor was turning into a zoo, he did not mean, go buy a zoo to spend more time in than at home. However, he loves his family, he loves what they're trying to achieve to better animal lives, and better the planet for animal habitats. He's proud of them. (And look, Master Bruce, all the children went to College. and finished. look at that.)

(He dearly loves the little group of penguins Bruce shyly got because they reminded him of Alfred.)

[iloveyoumorethansoup]

Today I learned that essays and written work isn’t that hard. I just have adhd

[scarletiswailing347]

you can really tell i mellowed out about zam cause i draw him about as much as i do my other blorbos now aka never lol jk