#(technically one of two or three people but the others are your younger sibling and cousin and you won’t put that on them)

[fore-seer]

insane about lucina today

[newtonsheffield]

I'd like to think that in the Funeral AU Anthony doesn't wallow in grief as much as in other AUs. Of course, it's still hard for him. He is the head of family now, being only 18-year-old. He has to care for his mother and 7 siblings (and family firm?), is still studying and on top of that, he is missing his dad every single day. But he has Kate in his life and their technically-not-dates-coffee-dates. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they just sit in silence. And he finds comfort in her company. He knows she is amazing and probably deserves better than him, but in the end, he is selfish enough to make a move. And miraculously so, she agrees with him.

I think that’s exactly it.

For one thing, he has someone that doesn’t need him to fulfill a role for them, really. Going to pick Kate up from work and going for a drink with her at the pub gives him space to be someone outside the person his family now requires him to be. He can still be Anthony, an eighteen year old guy. With Kate he doesn’t have to be Anthony who’s struggling to fill his father’s shoes. Having that space I think would allow for Anthony to grieve on a healthy way. This is obviously still a loss that he feels deeply and yeah he’s managing his family and making sure his mum’s okay and looking after his siblings’ needs. But being with Kate makes him feel like he can actually breathe. He feels like this is a temporary phase and one day maybe he will wake up and be able to breathe easily.

And she probably does deserve better than a guy who might have to cancel their date because he now has to look after the younger kids but he’s selfish enough that when she shows up at his house with pizza instead and kisses his cheek before she helps him get the kids to sleep he doesn’t tell her to leave. He sits with her tucked against his chest on the sofa when they’re the only two people awake.

“I love you.”

It’s probably too early for him to say it. She’s officially been his girlfriend for a grand total of 7 dates and three weeks but he feels it. And he wants to tell her. Because he’s learned recently that one day he might not be able to tell her, and she should know that he felt it.

Kate nestles closer, her lips against the hollow of his throat. “I know you do. I love you too.”

“I’m going to try to be yours forever.” He doesn’t know if he wants her to hear that but he’s glad when he feels her chuckle against him.

“It’d probably be harder to get away from me, now.”

[soleminisanction]

I've always really liked DC's in-house choice of referring to their various superhero groupings as "families," but it has gotten a little frustrating recently with people both in canon and in fandom seeming to forget that families aren't just a parental-unit-and-kids formation. They're complicated, and a lot of the DC families are too messy to fit into that neat little nuclear family mode.

Which is to say... here's some scattered thoughts/summaries about how these families are actually structured in canon, because I think it's interesting:

Supers -- The smaller, more traditional Superfamily (Clark, Lois, Kara, Kon, etc.) is a pretty traditional Midwestern nuclear family, with Jimmy Olsen filling the role of close family friend/goofy neighbor sidekick (in the Silver Age, he was Kara's would-be suitor) and Steel feeling more like part of Clark's personal circle of friends. The recent line up, though, with Jon, the twins, Kong and Nat? Starts to feel more like some old dynasty or noble house, complete with fostered foundlings and the Steels acting almost like knights under a noble's banner, possibly reflective of what the House of El would have been on Krypton.

Arrows -- Might currently be the closet to a traditional nuclear family structure. You've got Ollie and Dinah, their younger sisters, Ollie's adopted and biological children, and Ollie's granddaughter through Roy, plus by some counts Roy's co-parent and her sister as "in-laws." Bonnie and Cissie King-Jones are adjacent to but not technically "part" of the family, though I believe it's implied at one point that Ollie might also be Cissie's bio-dad. Pretty straightforward, these guys are actually family and they act like it, for good and ill.

Shazam Family -- Also a literal, actual family. Not originally, the original golden age "Marvel Family" was considerably more complicated and only Billy and Mary were full siblings, but nowadays the whole point of the modern Shazam family is that they're foster siblings united by familial love and that's fantastic. Meanwhile your average Black Adam story is 75% angsty family drama, 25% Egyptian mythology references.

Flashes -- Technically closer to three nuclear families (the Allens, the Wests and the Garricks; four if you include the Quicks), two of whom are united by marriage and all of whom are bound by the Speedforce, which, given its semi-spiritual connections to things like Speedster afterlives, can act almost like a religious force that connects them to the additional members like Avery, Circuit Breaker and Max as Bart's foster-dad. They're a big, sprawling tree with more cousins than siblings, the kind of family that functionally has a reunion every Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Lanterns -- Now these guys are the exception that proves my point about the whole 'family' thing not being straightforward. The lanterns aren't a family, they're a corps. Soldiers. Space cops. Comrades-in-arms. They respect each other, have each other's backs, might even like or care about each other, but those last two are optional, and they don't have the same kind of assumed obligations towards each other that a family would have. They're friends and co-workers, not family, but that doesn't mean their relationships are less significant, they're just different.

Wonders -- Roughly half of them are either one of Hippolyta's daughters (Diana, Donna, Nubia pre-Crisis) or related to them through the gods (Cassie), and the other half (Artemis, Yara, modern-age Nubia) use sister as a term of endearment more in a utopian lesbian commune kind of way. I think they brought Steve Trevor back recently? He's basically the Ken in this equation and perfectly fine with that role. None of which should be surprising if you've seen Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.

Bats -- This is the one that people get really wrong when they try to force it into a traditional family structure. Don't let WFA fool you, the Bats are and have always been way more a snarled mess of tangled interpersonal relationships than they've ever been a cohesive family. Whether Dick is Bruce's son or his brother depends on what era you're talking about, and the former reading is much more recent than you think -- as in "started cropping up in the early 2000s" recent. Barbara is both Cassandra's sister and her mother. Duke and Steph both have living parents and neither of them want or would ever dream of treating Bruce like their dad; Tim was the same way until his dad died. None of the Robins ever lived in the mansion together, nor did Cass. Babs considered Jean-Paul Valley her brother and Huntress is so close to Tim she once hallucinated him calling her Big Sister. They're a beautiful mess of people finding places where their broken edges fit together into something that works for them and trying to reduce it down to a cozy nuclear family is just so goddamn reductive and lazy.

Blue Beetles -- Are only tangentially related to each other. Seriously, they never even get direct mentoring, each one just takes over when the previous one dies and works on completely different rules from the other two. They're complete strangers bound by a legacy and that's honestly pretty fun.

Zataras -- There's only three of them and they're literally a father, daughter and cousin.

Martians -- Not really a family because there's only the two of them, but an interesting case where the two survivors of what was functionally a war of mutually assured destruction came together in an attempt to find some peace in the aftermath of what they'd lost.

Titans -- The JLA and JSA aren't really in the "family" category, but the Titans lean into it hard, mostly because they're a textbook found family. They don't mirror a nuclear family structure, they're simply a group of people who came together to form a mutual support network. They're the idealized college friends you grew into your own with, some of them childhood companions and others you only met once you leave home for the first time, but all of them friends that you manage to maintain contact with for life, with everyone coming back together even as you scatter and do your own things.

Young Justice -- Meanwhile, this team is the chaotic group of misfits you hung out with when you were a teenager, especially when you were just starting to be allowed to act without adult supervision. You drive each other crazy, none of you know you're all queer as fuck, and you'd fight a bear for any of them even if they asked you not to. They'd probably be insulted if you tried to call them a family. They come out here to get away from their families, thank you very much.

[strong-with-the-sarcasm]

Part 24: every color that you are

"Don't let nobody tell you your life is over. Be every color that you are." -Rush by Aly & AJ

Regent Masterlist A03 Mundane Macabre Part 23

Turns out, Danny’s hearing is good enough to pick up the baby’s new heartbeat. 

With an assurance that she did not in fact have a parasitic alien in her stomach, Jazz revealed her tiny bump with a smile and swore him to secrecy.

“But Jazz, this is great news!” 

“It’s not like we’re not going to tell anyone and show up for dinner one day with a newborn in tow, Danny. It’s just until the second trimester.”

“Which would be?” 

“The one after the first.” Jazz deadpanned. 

Danny snorted and rubbed the back of his neck for a moment before a smile came to his face. 

“I’m gonna be an uncle.” He said with what Jazz deemed as the proper reverence for such a statement. 

“Yes, you are.” Jazz agreed, opening up her arms like she used to when they were both so much younger. And as he did them, he now came to her with unmistakable love for his sister plain to see. Tucking him close to her, head under her chin, Jazz spoke again, “And you’re gonna be a great one.” 

After a few minutes Danny pulled back from the hug with a relaxed slump to his shoulders, like a weight had been lifted from them. 

“So you weren’t sick, you were sick.” The emphasis on the last word made Jazz roll her eyes. 

“Morning sickness, yes.”

“At night?” 

Jazz laughed, “Afternoon too.” 

“That sucks.” 

The two stared at the other, warmth in their auras for their sibling, Danny breaking the silence with, “Janus.” 

“What?”

“Danny Janus Nightingale, if you’re looking for baby names.” 

“Danny!” 

“See! It’s a great name! Just rolls off the tongue!”

“I am not naming my kid Danny.” Jazz firmly declares. 

“But-” “Or Dante, or Danielle, or any variations of Danny.” She adds, cutting off her brother’s words. 

He huffs, but seems more amused than anything else. 

“There’s enough Dannies in the world already.” For a moment they both think about their siblings- both cloned and alternate reality born- and shudder. Oh yeah, three people were more than enough for the world. (Considering Dan was technically possessing an empty clone body of the original Danny and was off on another mission from Clockwork to indulge his hatred of the Flash Family’s timeline antics.)

(The weirdest part of that whole thing was that Dan and Danny could pass as identical twins until Dan went ghost- he still retained his brickhouse vampire visage.)

(Ellie had left Gotham to restart her adventuring, promising to be back soon enough.)

(Ellie, the Wrath, was an unholy combination of Vlad and Danny.) (Jazz had been livid when they finally told her that particular tidbit, including how Vlad had gotten enough of his DNA.) (Could she travel back in time to kick his ass again?)

(She had the distinct impression that Clockwork wouldn’t mind doing her that favor, as long as the vampiric halfa ended in his eternal casket all the same.)

“I’m happy for you Jazz.” Danny said, breaking Jasmine out of her thoughts. 

“Thanks Danny.” She replied, “You know you’re gonna have to fight the other batboys for the title of favorite uncle, right?” 

The halfa cackles in manic glee.  “I’m gonna enjoy every second.” 

They continued about their day, though with Danny increasingly obvious with his hovering. 

“I’m not gonna suddenly keel over.” Jazz told him with a bored tone as she organized her and Jason’s bookshelf. “Sorry…just…its really weird hearing a second heartbeat.” Danny admitted with a sheepish expression before he perked up, “Gotta tell Ellie and Dan!” 

“Wait, Danny!” Jazz called, trying to catch his attention as he zipped towards his room, where his Phantom Phone was stashed away. There was no way she could catch him before he started dialing his other siblings, but Jazz managed to reach the doorway as Dante, then Ellie, picked up the three-way call. 

“Danny!” Jazz tried again. 

“Ellie, Dan, good news!” 

“Shit!” Jazz lunged for the phone, barely missing it as Danny dodged out of her reach. 

“Was that Jazz?” Ellie questioned, concern leaking through the phone thanks to the Ecto. 

“What’d you do now, pipsqueak?”“Don’t!” Jazz yelled. 

Danny paused, giving her a confused look as she finally caught his arm in a death grip. “What’s wrong?” 

“Jason and I agreed to wait until its…safer to tell people.” Jazz enunciated the word clearly, trying to convey the severity of her statement. 

“What?” “What’s going on?” Ellie questioned again. 

“Are you alright, Jazz? Do you need us?” Dan asked, brusque voice inflecting with a concern matching Ellie’s own. 

(Thankfully none of the halfas had the ablilty to make portals.)(They’d have been here within the second.)

“I’m fine.” Jazz reasured. “Danny learned something and he didn’t know that I was keeping it secret for a little while longer.” she clarified. 

“You’re not dying, right?” “Template said it was good news, Alt, how would that be good news?” 

“At least we know where she’d be going.” 

“As soon as I can, I’ll let Danny tell you.” Jazz offered before a verbal arguement could ensue. 

“Promise?” “I promise Ellie.” 

“You be safe.”

“I will, Dan. Love you both.” 

“Love ya!” 

“Love you too.” 

WIth that Danny hung up, still quiet and having not bothered to say his own goodbyes. The excitement had been visibly drained out of him. 

“Sorry, Jazz.” 

She sighed, “It’s alright, I know you’re excited to be an uncle.” 

“Yeah…” the halfa trailed off, “I’m gonna go out early.” He transformed and vanished through his bedroom wall without waiting for her to reply.  “Lovely.” Jazz said outloud to nobody. Now she’d worry about whatever made Danny upset. 

Regardless, her and Jason had made the decision as a couple, with the exception of Alfred and now Danny, for the majority to know after Jazz officially entered the second trimester. The next ultrasound, with the pictures in hand, would be a good marker for when they could. Jason would probably want to screw with his adoptive father by making him the last to know, which Jasmine could understand considering the Bat’s obsessive need to know every tiny detail. It would be glorious for him to be left out of the loop. 

Was it a bit mean to delay telling a “loving” father that they’re soon to be a grandparent? Perhaps. 

Then again, Bruce Wayne had spectacularly failed her soulmate in life and in death- she had been the one to avenge him. She had given peace to the angry sprits. It should have never been on Jason’s shoulders, much less Jasmine’s responsibility, to rid the world of the demented clown. (Guess what place has the death sentence?)(Ethiopia!) Batman didn’t have to personally end the Joker. All Bruce Wayne had to do was use his ability of ‘rich white man’ to have Bozo tried and sentenced in a place where he couldn’t use a plea of insanity. Alas, the Bat was always going to write off the Bruce persona. 

Even Jasmine, the Regent of the Infinite Realms, understood the necessity of using every card in the deck to one’s advantage. That’s how she got the regency. 

Jazz didn’t hate Batman. She couldn’t, if only because he was a mere shadow of what could’ve been a good man- a concept turned reality of a hero.  However, Jazz can hate Bruce Wayne. She didn’t, not to the level she hated her parents and the GIW, because she didn’t wish him dead (yet), but she held his many faults against him.

For Jason’s sake too.

Whatever Jason wished for the man, Jazz would stand at his side. For as long as he would have her. 

Jazz, with a wry smile, puts a hand to the small bump hidden under her clothes. 

For as long as he’ll have us.

A/N: Happy New Years!

Shoutout to everyone over on A03 who guessed that Danny was hearing the heartbeat. He's kinda like superman where he keeps track of heartbeats, because of enhanced hearing.

Is this angsty enough for the 'Angst arc'? I can't wait to reveal what this arc was really supposed to be called, but didn't because spoilers. (small reminder that A03 uploads less frequently than tumblr, but with combined chapters for longer length and the Social Media AU.) Thanks for reading!

[bunni-v1]

Hi! For the 500 follower special, can I get L,O,Q and X from the sfw alphabet, for deuce, Lilia and malleus? Thank you <3

🍓I'm powering through the sfw requests, then I'll get nsfw, and then full lists in the same order. I'm so glad so many people requested, I just hope I don't let anyone down with my responses :/

I DROP MALLEUS LORE SPOILERS IN MALLEUS' OPEN PROMPT!!! (NOTHING BIG, BUT ITS MALLEUS LORE)

Deuce

L - Little Ones (how are they around children?): Oh, Deuce LOVES kids. He just thinks they're so cute and sweet and -- ugh, he wishes he had siblings to spoil. Equally, though, he's very nervous around them when he first meets a kid. I mean, they're so little? How are the so tiny and helpless? He just wants to smother them with affection, but he can't cause they might die if he does that.

O - Open (when would they start revealing things about themselves?): Deuce is a pretty open book from the start. He doesn't really have a reason to hide, and if you're his partner, why would he want to hide anything? So, you probably know most things about him before you even start dating, and then he tells you the more embarrassing things later down the line as you get more serious about each other.

Q - Quizzes (how much would they remember about you?): Listen, he's not good with the little things like favorite colors or what your favorite song is. But if you tell him what your favorite flower is, your favorite restaurant? He never forgets it. It goes in the long-term Deuce memory bank, forever categorized as incredibly important, but he has no idea why until he needs the information.

X - Xtra: Deuce is, surprisingly, very good with hair. He used to have to help his mom style hers, so he knows a ton of really cool tricks for styling it. Female, male, non-binary -- doesn't matter, he knows how to style your hair and it's going to feel like a GODSEND to your scalp.

Lilia

L - Little Ones: Lilia's favorite hobby is being a father of three, so it's safe to assume he loves kids. Just everything about them is so darn cute -- their stubby little arms and disproportionate bodies. Oh! He can't get enough. If he could raise a hundred more kids, he absolutely would love to!

O - Open: Lilia, unlike Deuce, is not open at all! He puts on this bright and cheery face so he can hide from his dark and fucked up past. You are the light of his life, his guiding start in the night sky -- he doesn't want you to know how much of a monster he is. It's not until you are WELL SETTLED in your relationship that he tells you about his painful past, the things he's done, and how badly he wishes he could take it all back.

Q - Quizzes: Oh, Lilia knows everything. His memory just seems endless, and no matter if you told him something today or years ago, he would remember it clear as day. Every little detail from the very basics to the intricate ways you go about doing different things, he knows and adores all of them.

X - Xtra: Lilia is very good at gambling -- just hear me out. He's incredibly observant and reads people better than they do themselves. Not only that, he's smart. He can sit down at any gambling game, any kind, even if he's a beginner, and walk away with as much money as he wants. He is a casinos worst nightmare.

Malleus

L - Little Ones: Children make Malleus... nervous. They're very little, and they seem very unaware of things around them, yet they have the confidence and demand of a well-established ruler. It's discomforting. Still, he did help raise (technically) two younger boys, so he does harbor some affection for children, he just has to get used to them for him to really enjoy them.

O - Open: It's not to say that Malleus is NOT open, it's just that he doesn't think to share things about himself. So he seems closed off, but really he's just thinking about gargoyles. He does this... thing, though, where he just... lore drops on you. Out of nowhere, he just "My mother died before I was born, and the love that Lilia gave me was enough to cause me to hatch, therefore, he is the closest thing to a father figure I will ever have." Kay... cool Malleus.

Q - Quizzes: He is so bad at keeping track of time, he will not remember 90% of the things about you. He will, however, remember the most random things. Like he doesn't remember what year you were born, but he knows your favorite character and all their lore. It's because he only cares about the things you care about a lot. If you talk about something frequently, he's going to go out of his way to learn more about it because it matters to you <3

X - Xtra: Malleus has an EXTENSIVE collection of Magic The Gathering Cards (or the test equivalent). He doesn't play the game, he has no idea how it works, but he really likes the collecting part of the whole thing. The art on the cards is pretty, and that was enough to fuel a whole collection.

[bored-sunray]

Have this scenario/possihke fic that I came up with

Wash canonically skateboards. Same with Theta. Wash never liked taking his armour off or even his helmet like- at all but the person to make him take off all his armour? Fucking T h e t a

there's a day all the top Freelancers look up to, it's sort of like a "vacation" the moi stops at earth to do a resupply of equipment, food etc

being top Freelancers who work all the time they get some paid time off and get to go in the city and all that, Wash was originally planning on training but York was like "come on dude! This is your first free week right? It'll be fun."

Wash is hesitant which is when Theta notices the skateboard in his locker, he questions it and York answers for him

"He never uses it, unfortunately."

"I- I used to use it. I just haven't really.. had the time-"

"Well now you do Wash! Are you good at skating? I really want to see."

Of course Wash gives in because why would you say no to Theta, who would say no to that sweet boy.

My hc as well as many others- Wash has freckles e v e r y w h e r e, another thing i imagined was while their in the city

(Basically the trio, North York and wash)

York suggest to go into this one skating place in the city which made wash laugh a bit as he "used to go there a lot" but once they get in North notices a veryyyy specific photo.

On the wall. Is fucking. W a s h i n g t o n.

When Wash said he's good at skating he meant it, canonically younger wash had a lot of anger issues, he almost fcking blinded a kid when he wasn't even in high school so imagine what he was like in high school.

imagine the big group of Freelancers walking into a skateboard place and the first thing they see is this big photo of a bunch of people who look like teenagers and there's wash in all his glory, arm draped over two people with his tongue poking out, he's wearing a singlet and a jacket tied around his waist.

it's a picture that has tons of signatures from everyone including wash but ofc no one knows who's wash as he had gone by a nickname during this time, what made everyone keep staring was the very obvious eyebrow piercing as well as the fact he had a massive tattoo of what looked like a koi fish on his arm

York is the one that points it out while saying "holy shit" wash tells him that it's not actually a tattoo, his sister liked to draw on him all the time

a guy approaches them and immediately gets excited, he does a whole secret handshake with wash while saying "Davey! God- how are you doing dude?! Haven't seen you in a long time!"

three girls walk over and immediately start hugging wash, one of them kisses him on the forehead and hugs him tightly while picking him up

the first dude is an old friend of his, same with the two girls and the third girl- his sister. Wash canonically has tons of siblings, specifically sisters.

This sister in particular is his one of his older then him by only four years, he regularly talks with his sisters, not all of them- only the ones that actually respond to him, he had actually secretly planned to go to this place anyways but was only hesitant earlier bc it wasn't like he didn't tryst North and York, he felt embarrassed by his past but their excitement as just a little hobby of washs made him change his mind

Wash introduces everyone to the Freelancers, York is excited as fuck about this because he loves wash and this??? experiencing this made him feel closer to wash, as if this place was something personal

wash walking around without his armour made him happy enough but being there with washs old friends made him feel s p e c i a l

Theta: "Wash says he is very good at skateboarding. Has he won any trophy's?"

his sister: "good? he's great at it. Should have seen him in highschool- almost got expelled because of it-"

wash: "hey THAT wasn't my fault. Technically it was Rose's since she told me that-"

his sister: "she tells you that the principal suddenly lifted the ban on skateboarding and you believed her? Thats your fault David."

wash: ".. I hate you."

North is somewhat good at skateboarding but York? he sucks at it. Wash decided to "show off some of his skills" and try to play it casually but he starts to get really into it and start zoning out while doing it and when he stops York and Theta are fanboying all over him

being his older sister of course she has to embarrass him with old photos, including a photo of wash in his emo phase except it wasn't a bad emo phase where he's all depressed and shit, it was just a phase where wash got really into the emo aesthetic and even dyed his hair black, his mom refused to let him get a tongue piercing so he got an eyebrow piercing instead.

Another "embarassing" photo is him sitting on top of the hood of a police car while wearing sunglasses,he's making a smug ass expression while holding a water gun, wash mentions that the photo was a dare, he got introuble for that and had to apologise to the cop

the last "embarrassing" photo was him on his high school graduation night, it was a series of photos and this is when York and North finally find out Washs sexual orientation, Wash during pfl era is bisexual

In the first photo he's posing with a guy, both of them in suits- the guy has his arm around his waist

in the next photo was wash puking over a toilet while the guy takes a selfi with the text "living the highschool movie dream!"

(note: I puked during my graduation ball, made a joke about how in almost every highschool movie the mc pukes during the ball, also found out I was kn my period DURING the ball and my feet got fcking bruiser after someone stomped on them so yay)

the next couple photos are just random photos from the ball with one of them wash is practically making out with the guy which made the first photo make sense

the last photo from the "graduation photo series" is wash collapsed on the mattress in his bedroom, not even bothering to change out of his clothes with the text "someone's exhausted <3"

anyways, hope you liked this scenario, please the one thing I want Rn is fcking fanart of wash doing a kickflip mid-air with an excited grin bc god this man

he deserves to have some fun, he knows he's good, he deserves that smug ass grin

[serpentface]

Does Tigran pull his weight in the trio or does he delegate all the bitch work to Palo?

Either way, I don't see Couya doing anything that doesn't involve shooting a hole into someone or something

Oh yeah you got the gist of it, Tigran has been basically assigned as Palo's mentor in spite of being a good deal younger and dumber than him (as he has been a galenii monk since childhood, and Palo was initiated recently and as an adult). Being placed as a mentor is basically the first position of power he has had in his entire life and he's very eager to exert it.

Palo isn't a pushover and is very resentful of being lorded over (especially given his former high social status), and Tigran's power is very limited (while he is a mentor he doesn't actually Outrank him) so he can't actually force him into all the bitch work and they ultimately both have to pull their weight. It ends up mostly being a lot of whinging (ie "When I was an initiate I had to haul shields behind marching soldiers for 50 miles uphill BOTH WAYS, and here you are complaining that I won't help you fetch water, in my darkest hour, when my ankle is so sore, possibly sprained...").

Palo is also dealing with the trauma of recently being made a eunuch (technically willingly, but as a lesser of two bad options), and part of it manifests in coping with like 'at least I'm not like him' (Tigran was castrated before puberty, him being a eunuch is more immediately apparent and he is more heavily Othered in this society) and Tigran turns it around on him and plays on his insecurities like "Oh if I'm so weak and effeminate surely you're much more capable than me? Surely you don't need a prissy little gelding to do your work for you?". They're both assholes but Tigran is more manipulative about it.

These guys never have a beautiful loving friendship but they go through a lot of shit together and do eventually gain a great deal of respect for one another and a lot of these behaviors are diminished (instead of throwing each other under the bus, they find OTHER PEOPLE to throw under the bus!).

Couya is actually very eager to do certain tasks that would not be expected of a woman of her stature and to put on an air of self sufficiency (partly out of disdain for her own family, she sees her siblings as coddled and weak), but still is utterly of her upper class upbringing and delegates any work she sees as specifically Beneath her to whoever ranks lowest in her command, which is Tigran and Palo for a very long stretch. This gets worse the more convinced she is that she is God's chosen, and starts treating the two of them like Acolytes instead of their actual role as attendants.

Also: Premise of the story below the cut for anyone unfamiliar because it's been a while

A devastating multi year drought hits the lands of Wardin coincidentally after the previous Odomache was murdered, it's determined that the face of God incarnate being so defiled is the cause, the world might be ending, and that this must be rectified via a reenactment of creation via the sacrifice of 7 great beasts and a new Odomache being crowned. A bunch of monks, priestesses, and soldiers go on a massive pilgrimage to the believed site of creation to Do That. This is framed as a quest to Save The World but it is ultimately highly political imperial maneuvering.

Tigran and Palo (galenii monks) and Couya (odonii priestess) are assigned stewardship of the sacrificial white calf and travel together. Couya believes she is God's chosen and is on a warpath for apotheosis, Tigran and Palo just want to like, not die. The three get separated from their entourage for a while, shenanigans ensue, etc)

[chaosduckies]

Congrats on 100 follows! I'm so happy for you, you deserve 100% of it. For the celebration fic ideas, I shall re-propose Nathan, Ryker and his siblings going to McDonald's. (I have no idea why it's it's funny to me)

It can either be a non serious crack fic, or maybe it can be full of fluff (maybe Nathan not having eaten there since before he was taken? Maybe eating there reminds him of his family? Maybe Ryker offers to pay and Nathan starts crying?)

-Totally Normal Anon You Have No Idea Who I am ✨

Hahahaaa I loved this idea!

I chose to do half and half! Hopefully it’s more funny than serious?! I also hope that you like it because I had noooo idea what I was doing half the time (yayyy writing past midnight) so I’m just hoping that it’s okay-

Also I definitely don’t know who you are anon mhmmm

Word Count: 2.1k

Cw: None!! :D

———Ryker———

It was after school, well for my younger siblings at least. Being out of school felt great. Less worries, I could finally make more time for myself and Nathan. Of course there were some times when it was stressful because technically I am in college, but that didn’t count since I only had to actually go on campus for two days out of the week. The rest of the time it was online work. Not too hard. Usually everyone would just walk home from school, but today I decided that we could all go eat out, and of course since there were more kids in the house than grown-ups, no thanks to Lucky and Dylan, they all decided to go eat at the most childish place ever. Mcdonalds. Because what toddlers and teenagers don’t want a happy meal? Nathan of course thought it was hilarious, but said he’d never had it before, which only made me lean towards actually getting it. Curse my stupid heart. 

Nathan sat on my shoulder for the first time ever. He had said he finally had the courage to, but I could tell that he was still terrified of falling. Even after I told him I wouldn’t let him fall off. He gripped some of the loose cloth on my jacket, struggling to keep his balance. As usual, I kept my movements light and controlled to offer some kind of reassurance, but obviously it wasn’t helping. 

“You can just let me hold you. I don’t mind.” I offered a hand, but he shook his head. I knew he was fine with it too. He’d always say that he gets tired. 

“No. I have to get used to this eventually. You can’t keep carrying me everywhere in your hands.” He argued, glancing at the ground then immediately looking back up. I didn’t mind the stares people gave me. But maybe he did? He didn’t exactly like being seen by other people so it would make sense. 

I moved my hand back down and shoved it back in my pocket, but still kept a close watch to make sure he wasn’t close to falling. I just had to trust that he could keep himself up, and I completely did! But I just didn’t want him to hurt himself. I think being the parent of five younger siblings for two years actually creates mom instincts. I sighed to myself, laughing to myself. Nathan had been curious, but didn’t want to lose focus on the death grip he had on my jacket, “Just thought of something.” I forced myself not to shrug my shoulders. Maybe I wasn’t as used to this either. Then again, I’m not really the one who carries everyone everywhere. Guess Nathan and I could both use the practice. 

“You’ve really never been there before?” I asked, smirking a bit. I could hear him roll his eyes, “I’m sorryyyy,” We both laughed, “I didn’t know you’d say yes immediately after I said I’d never been.” We laughed a little harder, earning a few looks from people who were also waiting to pick up their kids. Well, for me it was Angela and Isabelle. The other three said they would meet me there. A little suspicious as to why, but I just agreed to it. Maybe Jasmine was going to beat up Dylan for agreeing to this, but then again it’s also partially my fault. Okay, it was entirely my fault for thinking Dylan and Lucky would be on our side. 

The school bell rang, signaling that the kids were going to come rushing out. Soon enough, Isabelle ran out the front doors, safely holding Angela. I was grateful that our parents taught Isabelle otherwise that would have been a nightmare for me. I ignored the looks parents handed me as Isabelle called my name. Nathan hadn’t, even if he tried his hardest to hide himself. 

“Ry! Can we go now!” They grabbed my hand and started to drag me. I glanced over to Nathan who was struggling to stay on. Who knew a 6 year old could be so strong? I helped him back onto my shoulder, then started walking regularly. Isabelle still held onto my hand tightly, a bright smile on her face along with Angela. 

“How was school?” 

“It was good!” Angela answered first. I smiled softly, waiting for the cars to get past the streets before walking across. None of us knew how to drive a car yet so walking was the only way to get around. Though I was working on mine because taking a bus everyday to get to classes was a little tiring. And walking to work. 

“That’s nice. Do anything special?” 

“Nope!” This time Isabelle answered. 

I had no idea what Jasmine usually did, but obviously it was fine. Isabelle didn’t seem to mind the lack of conversation. Actually, she seemed to be having one with Angela. They were going to be inseparable when they grow up. I already know it. It was adorable really. It was nice that they don’t fight as much as I thought they would have by now. If anything they’re somehow growing even closer. Aren’t siblings supposed to fight? Like Jasmine and I? Do those even count as fights if we’re messing around with one another? Oh. I guess I’ve never really fought with any of my siblings. Neither have they. 

After keeping Nathan from falling off my shoulders more times than I could count, and me telling him that he should sit further back so he doesn’t keep slipping off, Jasmine and Angela sighted the sign. I sighed, crossing the street and meeting up with everyone else. 

“You’re both nearly 15 and still decided to come to this kids place?” 

“Exactly! Payback for burning the last of the pancakes yesterday!” I could practically hear him sticking his tongue out as he said that. Jasmine sighed, leaving Dylan and Lucky laughing, probably nearly cry laughing. 

“You’re both kids. It’s not like I meant to burn them!” Jasmine stuck her tongue out. 

“Then it’s a good thing we’re here then huh?” Dylan added on, making them laugh even harder. Jasmine slapped her forehead before noticing Isabelle and Angela. Her face lit up, as if she was fine with them choosing this place. Maybe that was because they were actually kids. I laughed to see how she immediately brought them inside, glaring at Dylan as she walked in. A laugh escaped my mouth as I crossed my arms, “You two kept her company?” 

Lucky finally stopped laughing, catching his breath and wiping away the tears in his eyes before answering, “Yup! Absolutely. Not sure if she liked it though.” Nathan and I laughed before opening the door with Dylan and Lucky following behind. 

There were plenty of other kids and their families here too, some even in the playplace but I didn’t trust it at all if I were being honest. The kids there seemed pretty rough. I guess Isabelle knew that too. 

Jasmine volunteered to order for us, and I already had an idea as to why. I felt Nathan move closer to me when I sat down at the table. He had always been so quiet and sheepish when he went to new places. I smiled, offering a hand for him to climb on so he could eat. I lowered him onto the table after he climbed on, seeing that Lucky was already teasing him again when they walked up to them. I just smiled, turning to talk to Jasmine, “We’re leaving after we eat, right?” 

“Yup! I can’t stand the smell of grease…” She glared right back at Dylan who nervously smiled. I laughed, “I thought so.” I tried my hardest to stay awake, I hadn’t realized I was this tired, but I managed. 

Soon after Jasmine went to go grab the food, and when she came back she had the biggest smirk I have ever seen her made. Dylan stared at he wide eyed before she threw a happy meal right at his face. We all started laughing besides Dylan, who stuck his tongue out at Jasmine as she sat down and passed the food out. Nathan walked over when she placed their things on the table, handing out the things that were for Isabelle and Lucky. He stared at his box, undoing it. I sat with a small salad. Jasmine always knew what I liked somehow everywhere I went. I wasn’t complaining though. Usually I’m too tired to order for myself, and when I do it’s because I have to. Not like we go out to eat very often. 

    Nathan followed Lucky’s lead, opening the box and shrugging his shoulders. I smiled when he took a bite, “Is it as good as Dylan made it out to be?” When he heard that Nathan had never been he had practically praised. Was it funny that an almost 15 year old was acting like a child? I’d be crazy not to say that it was hilarious. I used to like this place, but after a while it kind of lost taste, but who was I to ruin Nathan’s first time here? Even though he’s only a few months younger than me. 

    “It’s good! A little greasy though…” Nathan smiled, eating a little more. At least he was eating it. He seems to like it anyway. He wasn’t picky about anything after all. 

    “Throwing the box at my face…” Dylan started grumbling, throwing a fry in his mouth. Isabelle and Angela were still excited like the little kids they were. Of course Jasmine and I didn’t want this in the first place but as long as everyone was happy we were. We were the older siblings. This just means that everyone else owes us the next time. I’d say this was a win if I were being honest. 

    “You do realize that we get to pick where we go the next time we eat out.” Jasmine and I both crossed our arms with a smirk. Dylan stared at the both of us banging his head on the table. Jasmine patted him on the back, making the both of us laugh. 

After we all ate, I told everyone that they could start heading home so I could pay. Nathan climbed onto my hand this time, not questioning why he preferred that over my shoulder. I was in the middle of pulling out my card before Nathan grabbed my sleeve and started pulling. I paused before my hand dangled over the probably far drop for him, looking down confused. 

“Uh-” He started shaking his head. Did he… not want me to pay? Of course he wouldn’t. He never wanted me to pay for anything, but of course I always snuck past him. I didn’t think that would work this time though. 

“Let me pay. Pleaseeee” He practically begged me. I bit the bottom of my lip, taking a shaky breath, “If I let you will you stop with the puppy eyes?” I chuckled. He nodded his head, probably holding in a laugh. I sighed, shoving the card back into my pocket and bringing my hand closer to the scanner on the screen for him. He lit up as I turned away. I should’ve been the one paying, but I already accepted that I wouldn’t win this fight. 

After he paid I walked off, through the door. 

“Seriously?” I slapped my forehead, smiling. There was no way I could be angry at him. I think it was nice he always fought me to be able to pay for things actually. 

“Yup! You never let me pay.” He sighed. Well he was right about that. I guess that was my fault for never letting him. Yeah I brought this upon myself. Of course he would find a way to surprise me. 

“I guess you’re right,” I sighed, catching up with everyone, “Did you like it? Or do you see why Jasmine and I didn’t want to come here?” I laughed, hearing Dylan still complaining about Jasmine throwing a box at his face. 

“Hmm. A little in the middle. Wasn’t bad, but I definitely prefer homemade cooking.” I forgot he’s never really eaten out before. To be honest neither have we since our mom was so keen on having dinner made at home. Makes me wonder how Jasmine turned out to be one of the worst cooks I’ve ever seen. It was really funny. Also part of the reason we even came out here in the first place. Because she burnt pancakes yesterday. I wasn’t exactly shocked when Dylan called and told me, but I was surprised he just used today as an excuse to get back at her for ruining his favorite breakfast. 

“Well I’m glad you kind of liked it.” I shrugged my shoulders with finally not having to worry about Nathan falling off before Dylan threw the tiny stuffed animal that his box came with at Jasmine. Everyone paused, trying to hold in their laughs. Isabelle and Angela were the first to break, covering for the rest of us.

“Revenge does feel good.” Dylan smirked, arms crossed across his chest. I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, just wait till we get home to see what she does.” I continued walking down the path, grabbing Isabelle’s hand. Knowing Jasmine she would probably just throw something else at him in return. Maybe a little harder than necessary but it’s not either of them would actually hurt one another. 

“Thanks for taking me” Nathan laughed, hearing Jasmine already make her own plans for revenge later. 

“You’re welcome.” I smiled.  ——————

Ummm I hope that was a little more funny than serious! (I wasn’t entirely sure) but I hope this is somewhat what you wanted anon I totallyyyy don’t know! thanks for the prompt!

Taglist: @da3dm, @dav8530

if you would like to be added or removed please let me know! :)

[edgessunflower]

Hi, I got a request if you're willing to write.

Jason with a touch starved, maltreated fem!s/o. I'm thinking: she crave his touch but at the same time, the smallest of it makes her tremble and her mind spinning back to past violence against her. All in all he's just trying to patient with her (but it;s still Jace with the hell of his own traumatic past experience and a bit of anger issues, so .....) Make it whatever you want, fluff, angst, I'm taking everything from you).

TY :)

Omg of course he deserves better 🥹

I understand you

Pairing:Jason Todd x Fem reader

Description:You and Jason fall in love while dealing with your past traumas together

You felt at peace for the first time in your life laying in bed with Jason's arms wrapped around you feeling safe for once in your life. You had been through a lot in life from growing up in a very poor family, being homeless for most of your life, raising three of your younger siblings, and ending up with Fibromyalgia at 15 didn't help what you had been through and trying to slowly get on your feet away from your family. Jason related to that not really having anyone losing his parents, technically dying by the joker, having multiple near death experiences, and not really trusting anyone at all until he met you and wanted to trust you while gaining your trust. Over time you became one of the few people he trusted other than his friends Kori and Roy who he truly trusted with his life and he treated you the same as them.but he felt different about you over time and knew he was in love hoping you felt the same. He noticed that when he touched you even accidentally you would jump and flinch which he knew was from your past traumas so he always tried to make sure not to touch you a lot or in a way that made you feel scared but overtime you slowly felt safe and truly loved for once in your life and the two of you slowly took the walls down. The two of you were watching movies sharing a kiss that soon led to being lifted in his arms, going in the bedroom, hands roaming and touching, mouths caressing and kissing, and lots of different words being said that were never said before "I understand you...I love you much" soon the both of you were molded together under the covers asleep. Coming back out of your thoughts you smile at the events from hours ago as you turn laying your head on his chest and wrapping your arms around his torso while he gently squeezes you to him in his sleep smiling as you fall back asleep feeling the safest and cared for than you have ever been.

[hermannsthumb]

omg could we see #62 from the winter prompts list?

62. you’re my college roommate’s sibling/best friend and you’ve come to visit for a week since you’re done school but unlike some people, I have three more finals to study for so kindly fuck off

from winter writing prompts here

stuck on some of my other wips so i'm digging back through my old unfilled winter prompts!! from. well. 2018. can you believe i've been writing fic this long. insane.

enjoy some dumb (sort of?) college boys newmann! I decided to cheat with the prompt a little (a lot) so I could work it to be conceivably not an AU but instead set pre-canon, though I realize it techhhhnically screws around with the newt/herm penpal backstory just a tiny little bit....

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To be honest Newt’s probably paying more for year-round university housing then he would be in rent at an actual apartment at this point, but details like that get a little screwy when you start college significantly before your eighteenth birthday and grow up on campus. His dorm holds more sentimental value than his childhood home at this point. I mean, it technically is his childhood home. Newt did try the spring of his twenty-first birthday to finally move out, but he spent exactly two minutes poking through a Cambridge housing group on Facebook before it made him want to die and he gave up. At least this way he doesn't have to buy new furniture.

He has enough good will left with administration despite all the shit he's pulled to leverage certain things like that in his favor, and he struck a deal to keep his dorm in exchange for letting campus housing utilize it as an actual dorm from time to time. (Which is to say, Newt is kind of broke and needs to save money from his stipend every now and then for, you know, groceries, so he can grit his teeth and deal with a roommate when the time comes.)

His roommate at the moment is a German exchange student (maybe one or two years younger than Newt) who’s currently enrolled in a year-long study abroad program to mess around with electrical engineering—interesting enough guy with just enough neuroses and weird family issues to make Newt feel like the most well-adjusted twentysomething in the world. It's a great ego boost.

Anyway, it’s convenient. There are like three Dunks of varying quality to choose from at any given moment, and Newt only has to walk ten minutes max to any lecture hall to give class. This is especially nice on stupidly cold and snowy days like today where even a ten minute walk feels like too much.

The door to Newt’s dorm is slightly ajar when he finally gets home. In normal circumstances this would make Newt pause and think for a few seconds before stomping inside—rules of horror movies or whatever—because if his roommate is anything, it’s particular with things like that. Shoes off at the door, dishes left in the sink on a firm one-day-max limit, doors very much locked when they leave to protect all their super important possessions from being stolen, like the refurbished Playstation 2 Newt got off eBay or the Brita filter Newt also got off eBay. Very luxurious stuff.

But Newt’s cold and hungry, so he stomps inside anyway. He does kick his boots off, though—just because some people decided to stop following the dorm rules doesn’t mean Newt will—and makes sure to click the door shut behind him carefully. “Hey, dude, you home?” he calls down the hallway. Nothing. His roommate, Bastien, is usually in class at this time of the day, but finals have turned their schedules upside down, so who knows. He wiggles out of his winter coat and hangs it next to an unfamiliar green parka on the wall hooks (maybe Bastien went on a shopping spree?) and tries a second time. “Uh, you know you left the door open?”

Newt's glasses are splattered with melted snow, and he dries them on the hem of his sweater as he fumbles with the door to their room—and is more than a little surprised when he sees the blurry shape of Bastien sitting primly on the edge of his bed, smoothing out his clothing like he’s just woken up from a nap. His bed as in Newt’s bed. Newt startles backwards. “Oh,” he says. “Um. Hey?” Has he fucked up? Are they having a roommate talk about something? …Preceded by Bastien inexplicably taking a nap in his bed?

He pushes his glasses back on. The dark-haired blur on his bed comes into focus, and though the sharp angles, bad haircut, and vaguely sickly pale flush are reminiscent of Newt’s roommate, everything else about him is different, from the brown eyes to the wide frown. It’s a Gottlieb, no question, but which one Newt’s not sure. He knows there are at least three more of them, a concept which has always struck fear into Newt’s heart each time Bastien alludes to having siblings. “Hello,” the guy on Newt’s bed says. He nods. Very proper. “You’re Newton.”

“…Yeah?” Newt says.

The mysterious Gottlieb is kind of hot, which is the worst part. The whole stern professor look he’s rocking—big glasses, knit sweatervest, slightly too-big loafers—is doing him plenty of favors. Normal circumstances, Newt thinks again, coming home to a hot nerd lounging in your bed? It might almost make him believe in a higher power. It’s taking a significant amount of effort to not start flirting. Then again, he is in Newt's bed, and has been clearly been sleeping in Newt's bed, which feels like a flirtation in and of itself.

“Hermann Gottlieb,” the professor-dude says. He gets to his feet with the aid of a cane, which he’d hooked on one of Newt’s bedposts and offers a hand out to Newt like they’re both eighty years old. Mildly bewildered, Newt takes it. He's treated to a firm handshake. “I assume my brother told you to expect me? I let myself in. I hope that’s not too rude of me, but it was rather cold out.”

“Uh,” Newt says again. He’s a lot more…British than Newt expected. Very posh BBC-miniseries about posh English people with large country estates. Especially compared to Bastien, whose first language is clearly German and is very much not British—it’s just not exactly what Newt was expecting. “I mean—he didn’t totally tell me you were coming. Or, at all.” Hermann drops his hand. “I guess he could’ve mentioned it and I just forgot.” This is probably what happened. Newt’s been a little busy lately.

He decides to address the elephant in the room next, the bed thing, and determine if it was a deliberate choice or not. Maybe Bastien has made Newt out to be so irresistible in whatever he’s reported back to the Gottlieb family that Hermann decided to try his luck. This is definitely not the case, but Newt can pretend. “You’re on my bed,” he continues, and points across the room. “Bastien’s is that one.”

“Oh,” Hermann says. He looks mortified in a properly stiff-lipped way and almost trips over himself to cross the tiny dorm room, and for a split second Newt sees a different Hermann behind the dress shoes and exaggerated formalities: an awkward twentysomething probably barely older than Newt playing dress-up to be taken seriously. The belt he’s cinched to the last notch around the oversized waist of his tweed pants is stiff and cracked in places. Bastien mentioned once that one of his brothers is a math whiz who’s followed an accelerated academic path not entirely unlike Newt’s, and Newt suddenly has a strong hunch he’s looking right at him. “I’m—I’m very sorry. I didn’t realize. My flight only just got in, and the time zones—I was a bit tired.”

“No worries, man,” Newt says. He tosses his tote bag onto the Hermann-sized indentation in his bedspread and kicks his docs off one at a time, while across the room Hermann twists the handle of his cane between his hands. “You want some coffee or something? Bastien is usually out until late on Thursdays, so it might just be us for a while, sorry.” He pulls the sweatshirt he’d slung on his desk chair that morning down over his head and straightens out his glasses.

The offer for coffee is a somewhat-pitying lifeline Newt is decent enough to throw out, which he has a feeling both of them understand. Hermann seizes it desperately. “Coffee would be nice,” he says.

He trails after Newt into the kitchen. Apartment-style or not, it’s still a campus dorm, and the kitchen space is cozy at best and cramped at worst. Hermann plasters himself against a row of cabinets in a heroic effort to stay out of Newt’s way as Newt dumps some coffee grounds and water into his cheap pot and digs two mugs out of the cupboard. They avoid making eye contact at all costs while it percolates. “We have, like,” Newt gestures vaguely at the doorway, “a couch? If you wanted to sit? And not stand here?”

“I don’t mind,” Hermann says.

Newt kind of minds, but whatever, he can deal. He pours soy milk into one mug in preparation and offers some to Hermann, who shakes his head. The coffee drips slowly into the pot. Newt thinks about the stack of ungraded finals tucked into a binder in his tote bag, the other stack waiting on his desk, and the final final he still has to proofread and send off to Copytech for, like, seventy copies by tomorrow. “So, Hermann,” Newt says, and tries to think of a polite way to ask why exactly are you in my apartment during finals week? Does the guy not also have finals in England or wherever? “Are you just visiting your bro for fun, or…?”

Hermann’s face twists with a sour expression. “For a week,” he says. “Not all that willingly. I’m in town for a conference and I won’t have my hotel room until tomorrow morning. Bastien offered to let me use his couch for the night.” He adds hesitantly, “I’m due to give a presentation on Tuesday.”

A lecture: almost definitely the math whiz, then, unless overachieving is a family trait. Newt will circle back to that later. He’s not exactly a math expert, but you kinda can’t really pick up that many STEM doctorates without having at least a basic (or, you know, decently advanced) understanding of, uh, everything about math, and he’s keen to hear what Hermann plans to lecture on. “I’ll try to stay out of your hair,” Hermann adds quickly. “I know you’re busy with final exams and whatnot.”

“Ugh, no kidding,” Newt says. The coffee finally finishes with a few rattling huffs, and Newt carefully pours it into their mugs and shoves the less-chipped one over to Hermann. “I still have another left to go,” he continues. “I got stuck with three whole sections this semester, it sucks. I think they just wanted to get back at me for—well, um, I caused a minor fire in the lab last year and they had to evacuate a few buildings, and I put it out right away because I'm the king of lab safety, but whatever, everyone lost their shit anyway. It’s going to take me forever to grade everything.”

Hermann frowns at him, and Newt wonders exactly how much Bastien has shared about his American roommate—or in this case how little. “Not a student,” he explains. “Dr. Geiszler, technically, but do not call me that. I managed to convince the biology department head to convince student life to let me keep living on campus after I—well, I guess I technically graduated undergrad a while ago. After I wrapped up my first PhD?”

“Ah,” Hermann says, and the edges of his sharp cheekbones going the faintest shade of pink. “I’d assumed—Bastien didn’t mention that, is all.” His eyes flick over Newt twice, scrutinizing him and lingering on his oversized hoodie, a DIY screen-print job bearing the latest logo for Newt’s band that he tried valiantly to sell at their last show. “First PhD? Exactly how old are you?”

“Twenty-two,” Newt says. “I skipped a grade. Or ten. Would not recommend it. Anyway, Hermann, you’re some sort of super-genius, right? You were doing calculus in your crib or something?”

If Newt’s right about which brother Hermann is, that means—compared to the rest of his family—Bastien has alluded to Hermann’s existence in all but name three whole times. By familial standards Newt can only assume that means they’re practically BFFs and probably send each other birthday cards every year. If possible Hermann might be even more reserved than Bastien, though, and it’s making Newt want very badly to prod him a little more just to see what happens. Get him to poke his head out of his shell or something. “That’s pretty impressive, you know,” he adds.

Hermann flushes pink for real this time, obviously pleased with the compliment, and Newt’s equally pleased to see him hold his head a little higher. They’re getting somewhere. “It’s not precisely that dramatic,” Hermann says. “But, yes, er—I started university at a rather young age. Comparatively. Before that, my father sent me abroad when I was eight for my schooling. I’d shown a knack, I suppose, for mathematics, and…”

Abroad—Newt guesses that explains the different accent. Not unlike Newt himself. He wonders if Hermann’s family ribs him for the lapses in his German the way Newt’s family does (America is rotting your brain, Newt!), though maybe somewhat less gently. “And?”

“I’ll finish my doctorate in the spring,” Hermann finishes, with a small smile.

“Dr. Gottlieb,” Newt says. “Nice. I like the sound of that.”

Hermann suddenly spills a large amount of coffee down the front of his sweater. He doesn’t seem to notice, though his ears (which stick out just a little) do go red, so Newt doesn’t say anything.

It’s unfortunate how cute Hermann is. Newt briefly debates the ethics of hitting on your roommate’s hot British brother and whether or not it breaches some sort of sacred roommate code. On the one hand, Hermann is only here for a week, so it’s not like they can get up to too much, and Bastien himself will be packing everything back up for Germany in like, six months tops when his study abroad program ends in the spring anyway. And besides, it’s not like Newt and Bastien are tight or anything like that. On the other hand—I mean, that would be weird, right? You can’t just hit on your roommate’s hot British brother, especially not when he's sleeping on your couch for the night.

Newt has over a hundred final exams to grade, and a suitcase to pack for his own trip (albeit one that’s a maybe-thirty minute ride on the commuter rail) out to his dad’s for the break. He kinda wants to hit on Hermann.

He’s going to hit on Hermann.

“Sooooo,” he begins, “you got any plans, or—?”

And it’s then that Hermann’s cell phone begins to buzz in his pocket. “Ah,” Hermann says. “One moment—apologies.” He pulls out a battered flip phone that looks like it’s been passed down from at least two other people and squints at the screen. “My brother,” he explains, “at last. He’s finishing up at the library and wants to meet for dinner.”

“Oh, right,” Newt says. “Of course. Duh.”

Hermann closes his phone slowly and hazards a small, but considering, glance at Newt, and Newt has a fleeting suspicion he’s not the only one weighing the pros and cons of risky flirting. He might just be flattering himself, though. “…Would you like to join us?” Hermann says. “I’m sure Bastien wouldn’t mind. It might be…” He works his jaw a few times. It’s incredibly cute. He’s clean-shaven in a way Newt hasn’t managed to be since he turned seventeen (the Geiszlerian curse of thick facial hair whether you want it or not), and it makes him look even more like a weird kid trying very hard to be an adult. “Fun.”

It's a bad idea. Hermann’s only here for a week, and he’ll clearly be busy with his conference and his big talk and all that, and then they’ll be back on opposite sides of the Atlantic probably forever—Newt would just be setting himself up for heartbreak. And six months of awkwardly dodging his roommate, which is possibly worse. Ugh. Being responsible sucks. “I shouldn’t,” he finally sighs. “I have to finish—”

“—your finals. Of course,” Hermann says. “Yes, of course, I’m sorry. I forgot. I’ll let you be.” He sets his mug on the counter by the sink. “Thank you for the coffee.”

“Sure, dude,” Newt says.

Hermann works his jaw again, chewing at his lower lip, and then says so quickly Newt almost misses it “If you’re around next Tuesday, perhaps you would like to see my talk?”

Newt tries very hard to be chill. “Yeah, totally,” he says. “That would be awesome. I think I can make it.”

Hermann nods solemnly. “Excellent. I’ll ask Bastien to give you the details later.”

He finally begins to dot at the coffee stain on his sweater with a handkerchief he pulls from a different pocket, and Newt squeezes past him to rinse their mugs out. (No dishes in the sink overnight.) His elbow brushes against Hermann’s as he dries them with a dishtowel. Hermann makes no effort to move away from him, and this close he smells like stale cigarette smoke. Newt can imagine him standing out in the rain in a dreary English landscape somewhere, maybe in the oversized coat he saw hanging by the door, scowling and crushing cigarette filters beneath his cane.

There’s something strangely magnetic about Hermann.

“Hey, listen,” Newt says. He dries his hands off on his pants. Hermann looks at him, abandoning his efforts to clean himself up. “You wanna swap emails or anything…? Maybe we could talk. Collaborate on, uh, something.” He has absolutely zero idea of Hermann’s subfield so he doesn’t know exactly what they’ll collaborate on just yet, but he’ll think of something. Make some notes during the Tuesday lecture. Newt has three PhDs and counting, he can come up with an excuse to talk to a cute boy, okay, he’s not twelve. He’d ask for Hermann’s number like a normal human being if he could dream of affording the international texting rate.

Hermann gives him another stiff nod and the shadow of a smile, which Newt hopes means an enthusiastic yes, Newt, I’d love to be your penpal!, so Newt fishes a pad of paper and a pencil out from the kitchen junk drawer and they take turns printing their emails out as neatly as possible. Hermann folds the slip of paper with Newt’s in half and slips it into his top pocket. “It was very good to meet you, Dr. Geiszler,” Hermann says, and he offers Newt a parting handshake.

What the hell, Newt thinks, and takes it.

It takes ten months and a split in reality at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for Hermann to get around to emailing Newt. Newt expects they’ll have a lot to collaborate on in the near future.

[unnervinglyferal]

Hello !!

I saw a lot of people telling you that having two kids so close together was inherently a bad idea, so I just wanted to balance it and tell you from experience it isn't a done deal. My sister and I are one year apart almost exactly, and while it wasn't smooth sailing all the time (and our teenage years were probably nightmarish for our parents, though mostly because of my at-the-time undiagnosed mental health issues), I love her to death and would not trade her for the world. Obviously our situation was very different, our parents were in their early thirties with good finances, but I believe the most important thing in a child's life is stability and love. I absolutely loved being an older sister (still do but like I meant as a kid) and most of our fights stemed from jealousy over our different characters and talents, not our parents' attention (which was technically divided in four). I think that with you being a full time dad and your (soon to be) wife and you having a relatively good familial support she'd be able to have a good enough equilibrium to still go through gymnasium and university. On the other hand my mom will absolutely tell you that the jump from one to two kids is not double the work, it's three to four times the work, especially if the oldest isn't weaned or potty trained, and it will definitely strain your finances too.

Also I feel sorry for you, yeah most doctors are bad at really explaining sexual health and efficient contraception.

Whatever you end up doing I just hope you have the emotional support to feel safe and confident in your home !

Yeah, her family is prickly but they do offer a lot of support otherwise, my girlfriend had a hard time with them growing up since she was raised to be a people-pleaser and with these people you have to bite somebody every once in a while (not literally) to have your boundaries respected.

She is also the oldest daughter out of all her own siblings, but they are all several years younger than her. It's comforting to know that being the eldest at such short rate isn't inherently doomed.

[svvanisms]

❪    🤍 ❫ hello brewedhq! — i'm luna 🌙 ( she / her ) better known as your local (un)magical girl and i'm excited to be a part of this little group! i'm bringing two brand new muses to me — ahn haeun & nam haesol who i'm jazzed to bring to life here. just bare with me as they're still tentatively under construction a bit orz. feel free to check out some information on both of these swans under the cut and don't forget to like, subscribe and SMASH! that 💙 for me to dive into your dms to start plotting.

ahn haeun.

dossier. connections. visuals.

tldr; haeun comes from a conglomerate family — she's the youngest out of three girls, and though her family is affluent, she gets on well with both her parents and siblings and they're a little more laid back then what one would think for people coming from wealth. she's loyal to her family, and has since dedicated herself to being a senior content strategist for a home goods store that her oldest sister runs. she's kind and approachable, super reliable and always puts in the work, but can also be pretty hard on herself. she has a strong sense of responsibility and is always thinking things through, pushing herself to do her best.

for the zodiac lovers; haeun has a pisces sun, virgo moon, and libra rising.

nam haesol.

dossier. connections. visuals.

tldr; haesol moved from busan to seoul in an attempt to better support his family — his father left them shortly after his younger brother was born, leaving his mother to take care of the two children. haesol took on a lot of responsibility since his father was absent in their lives, and works hard to send money home and hopes to put his brother through college. he's got a big heart, and is generally the the one people turn to when they need support. he has a magnetic and uplifting personality, but is easily overcommitted and tries to juggle too many things at once — especially jobs, as he currently has three of them.

for the zodiac lovers; haesol has an aquarius sun, cancer moon, and sagittarius rising. 

from the mun.

both muses are still under construction ( mostly because my brain can only go so far tbh ) and i'm hoping to flesh them out a bit more through threads and connections — kinda on brand when you think about it since they're both living for other people technically and not sure what they want to do with their own future. anyway, thanks for having me here! i'm excited to write with everyone! i'm open to all sorts of dynamics — fluff, angst, romance, antagonistic, etc. so just give me a shout if you have an idea for our muses. i'm slightly more chem-leaning, meaning i'd prefer to play off the chemistry our muses have naturally, but if you want to plan something out in advance i'm pretty flexible so i'm sure we can make whatever your beautiful minds come up with work. 🤍

[bitterkarmaa]

*KICKS DOWN YOUR DOOR* HI I HAVE MORE RAYS RAMBLES TO SHARE.

I hope i'm not bothering with more ramble because this boy gives me so many brain worms you have no idea- ANYWAY full disclaimer this is all headcanon i've got for him AND IF YOU DEEM IT NON-CANON THAT IS FINE 100% I AM FINE WITH IT! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ANY MISINTERPRETATIONS I'VE MADE!

SO-

I've made some slight hints toward it in my writing already and have only now worked up the courage to share it in full hjdkfg so- I'm kinda playing on a general DCA headcanon i have that DCA models mainly Sun and Moon ones need counterparts in order to basically function. Because that is how they were designed, two halves of a whole that were made to exist together.

So a Sun needs their Moon and a Moon their Sun. Or a Moon their Moon or a Sun their Sun. Eclipse's included! The main point is there's gotta be two (or more) DCA models who are 'imprinted' or 'bonded' in order to properly function (Ruin would be mostly exempt ofc due to the two being one)

NOW WHERE DOES RAYS COME INTO PLAY HERE? So as i rambled about on A03 in the comments of Canary and Crow, i had a headcanon that Rays had 'imprinted' onto Lord Eclipse because, he is technically a Sun who lost his counterpart, that being Moon. So baby Rays, fresh and new sees Eclipse - possibly still a DCA model himself before changing his form - and automatically imprints onto him!

And this ends up carrying over to KB Eclipse and again, possibly Veil too because they are both of the same/similar ai that Rays own code has logged as being his natural other half (and counterpart relations can be whatever really, siblings, friends, family, partners whatever but ofc in this situation its 100% family or siblings)

And this is why i've written Rays to be so attached to Eclipse and why he seeks his company first and foremost when he feels lonely. And again this could later extend to Veil too! (Because i have not forgotten that oneshot where Rays comforts Veil and mourns with him that broke me Shep IT BROKE ME- /pos)

Anyways thankyou for attending my ted talk i shall now disappear into the cosmos!

I love your rambles honestly- it astonishes me that I’ve made characters that people find are WORTHY of rambling about 🥹❤️ it means a lot to me that Rays means so much to some people :)

I could defiantly see Veil “imprinting” on Rays as a sort of younger brother, for sure! Veil has a lot of emotions that he doesn’t understand and Rays being so gentle and patient with him would really give him brownie points in Veil’s eyes.

The drabble with Rays and Veil mourning was meant to be a sort of introduction into how both of them are accepting that vulnerable side of themselves that they’ve tried to ignore for so long, which would foster a sense of security for Veil since he’s still learning how to let people in (he’s still ahead of Eclipse on that one though LMAO) and accept that he’s ALLOWED to be different from Eclipse. He is, quite obviously, a lot more open-minded than Eclipse is. He may not ENJOY negative emotions, but he’s willing to learn and experience them in order to become a better person.

Eclipse…is not.

The main difference between Veil and Eclipse is that Veil is actively trying to better himself, while Eclipse is doing it without realizing and still has violent, sociopathic urges that others use as reasons to avoid him or discredit the progress he HAS made. Except for Rays, which is why Eclipse has a certain fondness for him, and tries to reign in his frightening tendencies in order to stay on his “good side.”

Rays knows Eclipse is struggling with something, but is too afraid to push it or ask questions.

Eclipse wants to do better for Rays, so he keeps his problems to himself in order to avoid scaring him.

Veil wants to understand himself in order to prove he can be different from Eclipse.

It all goes in cycles between the three, which is why their dynamic is going to be so interesting and unique when their arc begins later on, after Veil is introduced into the main storyline.

Do with this what you will :)

[utilitycaster]

Like, i get it that people can be frustrated that something they really like on a character, (ie. Glasses on Imogen) is not canon, and i get making shitposts about it or venting for whatever reason

The problem lies when people make a whole thread about how a player doesn't know their character and their canon decisions are bad somehow? And it's not like Laura hasn't acknowledged the glasses hc, she has several times in th show, she just doesn't share that canon for whatever reason she might have

It's a big problem with actual play podcasts that the viewers take away from the player's agency to play their own canon, CR has a big breach between the audience and the players, plus the fact that they are professional actors, so viewer opinions rarely influence the characters in a meaningful way. But MAN is it frustrating to see

So I agree with much but not all of this. Because here's the thing: this is not actually a breach of player agency. Like, to be clear, I think the people doing this sometimes believe that if they're loud and obnoxious enough they'll get what they want, but in the end what this means is that you might notice that the players of any podcast/show that's large enough that they don't rely on Twitter for connections anymore have become really hard to reach on Twitter. Like, no matter how much art people make of Imogen in glasses, in the end, Laura decides, and she can just block people she doesn't like. And frankly, even when Critical Role was live? So much was quietly decided behind the scenes. Like, Taliesin had decided Molly was not a character who could be resurrected from well before Molly's death; no matter how much some sad rando on Twitter screams and cries even to this day, it won't change that.

I think it's okay to wish your fanon were canon - I mean, technically that's all shipping is, right - but I think there's a point where someone with a reasonable relationship to fiction says "man, that sucks that this went in a direction other than the one I wanted" or even "I don't like how this was written/played out" but to say it's objectively incorrect is just...you don't know what's correct! There isn't necessarily an objectively correct answer!

I also think that while Laura creating Imogen as a character who doesn't wear glasses is not an example of this, two of the biggest examples of entitled fans I can think of recently are the current ACOC D20 debacle, and the incredibly misogynist and obnoxious way people talked about Madeleine Roux's Lucien book. The people screaming the loudest have all, truly, been people who created fanon, and who then saw someone else be hired to essentially create sanctioned canon as a collaborator and instead of saying "oh cool! someone else playing in my same space doing their thing" they threw a massive tantrum because the other person had different ideas. It's literally just people who are bad at understanding that other people exist separately from them and have their own feelings and ideas. Coincidentally, people who lack this kind of understanding also tend to come up with really stupid ideas.

Honestly that's kind of the guiding principle behind the vast majority of fandom bullshit:

People want to simultaneously have the scrappy independence and cool fuck-the-man vibes of the underdog [fanon], and the actual power of those in charge [canon]. Obviously, this is impossible. If you realize this you'll be able to strike a balance. You will also understand a lot of real-world political and social dynamics on the micro and macro level.

I keep going to metaphors of early childhood here and some of this is because I have three younger siblings so I've seen (and been a part of) this countless times, and some of it is because truly all of this is full-grown adults acting like the worst kid in preschool who is definitely going to have to repeat it because they are not kindergarten ready but like, the vibe is when a child is not playing with a toy but also if anyone else touches the toy they scream bloody murder.

Anyway though as I said yesterday, yeah it's frustrating because you're watching people who are, as I think I said once, like a dog in a crate where the door is open but they're too fixated on trying to somehow push through the bars to turn around. But also it's a great source of mostly meaningless schadenfreude, because like, I'd feel bad if someone actually had bad things happen to them but if like, a ship doesn't happen, or Imogen doesn't wear glasses? That's just funny and enjoyable. I think an important skill in life is to say "yes it's incredibly annoying how much people are whining about this, but also they didn't get what they wanted, which is very funny."

[vacantgodling]

#8: Jihi Arthea

Your world is a mist of illusions; thick and bewildering. Only she can save you now. You stumble in the darkness, take actions not your own—but how little you know of what you have truly done. Should you break free of this curse, the pain of your failures will swallow you. Perhaps it is better to live in blissful ignorance; you can’t miss what you cannot remember. But there is a beacon in the darkness… something that is beginning to open your eyes.

“jihi” means mercy. “arthea” means lofty hill.

39, cis man (he/him), romance: debatable; he’s hard to tie down to most things. he’s flirtatious and enjoys the tease of it, but if things were to try and get serious he gets flighty. sex: yes. preference: feminine.

deep midnight skin and dark, shimmering indigo eyes like the deepest depths of the ocean; they seem to have a strange reflective quality about them that is hard to tell if they absorb or reflect all light. his hair is jet black and frames his face in waves, curling around his cheeks and the nape of his neck. he has a crooked smile that quirks to one side, and he is long and lithe in build and stature, standing somewhere around 5’11”. 

SCOUT, trained as an upperclassman to francesca, cameron, and miona. he is a very skilled scout and tends to fight with his barehands—though this grappling tends to work better on humanoid opponents. the reason he uses his barehands has to do with the fact that he is from Snake’s Canyon and is quite proficient in the magic lumine; so he absorbs the ars of monsters and plants and nearby things as he fights to make his punches more powerful and devastating. he could rip your beating heart out of your chest faster than you can blink. another advantage lumine gives him is that it gives him the odd ability to essentially melt into darkness and become completely invisible to the naked eye. he basically bends light around him into nothingness and steps into the pocket it creates—which is a terrible explanation but he’s bad at explaining how it works himself. the only person who understands this is erebos—but that’s also because he’s a proficient lumine user. 

before jihi met madja, he was already quite a mysterious person. still, he was mysterious in a helpful, relaxed kind of way—he just kept his emotions to his chest and didn’t always let people know what he was privy to or what was on his mind. he loved to tease and got along well with his previous teammate, altair, for this reason, as the two were quite alike. he could be vague but you could tell he had a deep compassion for the people he allowed into his life and he would do anything for those he cared for. if you ask cameron, who has known him for many years… madja changed him. she isn’t sure how or why, but the same traits that he has feel more hollow and on edge than he used to be. he is wholly and solely devoted to her and would drop anything, anyone—kill anything or anyone to please her. its not natural… but he’s too caught in the whims of it to notice or care. at least, yet. another person who notices this is odd is jagoda; who is technically jihi’s younger brother. the two of them don’t really have much of a relationship… just due to the fact that jihi didn’t really grow up with him and their two younger siblings jacira and jitka. the three younger ones moved to Kingsburrow from Snake’s Canyon where they were born to lead a better life, but jihi refused to go and stayed there with their father—causing contention among the family. nowadays, the two of them acknowledge each other… barely. but well. jagoda has his friends, and jihi has madja, and that’s enough. jihi tells himself it is.

3 fun facts about them: he is very dense when it comes to how other people feel about him and doesn’t see anything wrong with flirting with others which really tends to give them the wrong idea and him a slightly unfair reputation as a ‘ladykiller’ — biggest example of this being cameron. he hates the taste of water and has to be coerced, bribed or tricked into drinking it. he loves to take naps, especially on those he trusts—its like the biggest show of his affection for you.

[nonuggetshere]

May we learn about Sting and her other parent?

ALWAYS HAPPY TO TALK ABOUT MY OCS

Sorry this took a hot second, I wanted to finalise the Bean Designs™ before replying

There's actually 3 of them, with Sting being the eldest

And for some context, they're from an AU where PV's sentience is discovered before the sealing, and also they ruinite with Ghost shortly after.

She's extroverted, super energetic and likes to bite things (and people rip PK's ankles). First thing she did right out of the egg was to try and chew on PV's finger. She's also named after Hornet.

Spectre is her twin brother and the younger one out of the two. He's a shy, quiet kid and a bit of a drama queen. Literally came into this world screaming his head off. And you can probably guess correctly that he's named after Ghost. I find PV naming their kids after their siblings very cute.

Also, yeah he's a bee and should technically be a grub, but I got attached to this design and just justified it by saying since vessels go through hemimetabolous metamorphosis, they got that from their parent and just hatch looking like a miniature bee. Yeah, that does raise some eyebrows.

And the third one, Tally. They're 5 years younger than their siblings and look a lot more like a normal vessel and take a lot after PV appearance-wise. They're a quiet, sweet kid that prefers to do their own thing. Their nickname is "little tulip" thanks to their horns looking like flower buds. They're also the one kid I draw the lost of, for some reason

As for their parents-

They have three. (the bee is supposed to have wings btw I just consistently forget about giving the characters wings for whatever reason, it's the bane of my existence)

Petunia is a solitary bee that just ended up in Hallownest and settled down there after a pretty hard life. They're genderfluid, use any pronouns and work as a comedian (who has a personal love for puns). They met, started living with and got together with their other partner before they met PV. Also, I find it funny that they're with PV bc they're very much an anarchist, very critical of the monarchy and generally dislike the higher beings. Also also, they've been declared autistic by my bestie.

Lummis is the firefly, he was born in Hallownest, orphaned and then adopted into a family of menderbugs. Because of it he's sort of a mechanic (or the bug equivalent) by trade. He's also the token cis guy of the relationship (he/him). He's the reasonable one in the relationship that keeps the others in check but still goes along with whatever idiotic idea Petunia pulls because "somebody will have to talk the guards out of arresting us and it certainly won't be you and your big mouth". He's also Hegemol's godson because I head anon that guy as a menderbug and I thought it'd be funny if PV has a bunch of close calls getting catched by good ol' Hedge.

Petunia is the bio parent of Sting and Spectre and Lummis is the bio parent of Tally, though they don't really make that distinction and just all raise them together.