#*also that might have been obvious but. i was curious and wanted specifics after explaining it to her

[horse-shit]

i went to the dentist today and asked how curly's teeth would be after the crash. safe to say i think his teeth are fucked

[nanabansama]

119 Thoughts

The recent chapter was... good!! Great, even!! We got a lot of answers and the new developments felt straightforward enough to follow. Still not fully comfortable with my interpretation yet, but honestly I'm just happy to be along for the ride.

Anyway, I wanted to write my thoughts down just to make sure I have everything straight going forward. There's a lot going on and some of my older theories have been debunked!

First, I'd like to point out what I think is pretty obvious and say that Kou must be possessed right now. The specifics are unclear but in my head this is still Kou, he's just being manipulated by the Red House or something. One thing I find interesting though is that he's overall really innocent... he doesn't do anything to put Nene in danger that she doesn't do herself. Nene is the one who decides to risk it all and talk to Amane, after all. The only thing I can say Kou did bad is separate her from the group and take her to Amane. Whatever is controlling Kou might be aware that Nene would drop her defenses around Amane and use that to their advantage.

Mitsuba's part in all of this is still a mystery, but I have to wonder if he will try to trick the Akane/Aoi/Teru trio whenever we jump back to them. I'm suspecting that they won't convene with Nene right away, though I have no idea how Nene will fare in the next chapter... (could she join Mitsuba and Kou and become the Red House's puppet!? I could easily see her tricking Aoi!)

Anyway, moving onto Yugi-sensei, I loved the glimpse into his headspace we got in this chapter. It seems like he's under the delusion everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) is happier in this timeline, which is quite interesting. It almost makes me wonder if the Clock Keepers made him like this to ensure the timeline stayed this way. They told Baby Amane that the future changed, after all, which is... honestly quite disturbing. While I think it was foolish for the Clock Keepers' goal to be to get rid of Tsukasa in the first place, I don't think they'd make such a big mistake by telling Amane the future changed and traumatizing him. The possibility that the Clock Keepers made Amane this way for the good of the world would be a thrilling twist, I think!

I also think this could explain his other curious behavior. Many have wondered why Amane spreads rumors about Tsukasa-kun and why he smirks when school kids summon Tsukasa-kun, and it seems the reason is because he thinks Tsukasa is happy this way. The fact that this Tsukasa is the age Tsukasa disappeared, too, probably helps with this because Amane might still be under the assumption that the Tsukasa who came back after their 4th birthday was a fake. Now obviously, this Amane doesn't have all his memories yet, but it's extremely likely they're just buried inside of him and--unbeknownst to him--influencing his current actions. Either way, I think it's clear that Amane is under the delusion that Tsukasa is happy torturing kids at school. (...and who's to say whether he is or isn't!!!)

All of the souls trapped in the Red House might be in a similar situation, where Amane is under the delusion he's making them happy. I wonder if his parents are part of them...? I'm just thinking that Kou's cheerfulness this chapter is really relevant. He's so happy to just be with Nene and seems to have zero worries at all. It's honestly kinda creepy, when you consider how he was in the previous chapter!

Now hear me out. I'm not usually one to wish harm on Nene, but it would be interesting if Nene got captured and got to meet Amane's parents, assuming they got trapped in the Red House too. I proposed the theory that Kou has just been brainwashed but it could very well be a fake Kou, and if she got to team up with Kou and Mitsuba I think that'd make for an amusing trio. Especially since we have another trio in the house right now with Akane, Teru and Aoi. We could have Nene trapped and trying to escape while a fake evil Nene tries to trick them... that could be so fun!!! (Writing fanfiction at this point lol)

If we go along with the theory that Kou is fake, perhaps the souls trapped in the Red House also have fake body doubles? You'll notice that they are very obviously not happy, considering the way they urged Mitsuba to run away and escape. But I really cannot think for another explanation for Kou's behavior in this chapter. Amane's ominous line about everyone being happy plus Kou being so cheerful just feel so connected! Perhaps the happiness once instilled in the poor souls trapped in the Red House eventually wore off, proving how fake their happiness was in the first place. (Or perhaps I've gone off the deep end.)

In any case, I really wonder what the point of oddly cheerful fake/brainwashed Kou is. I can only assume it's to try and trick Nene into thinking this new world is better. The motives don't seem very malicious, despite all the harm it's bringing. Amane genuinely wants people to be happy, and I think the Red House is working with him to make his dreams a disturbing reality.

I just wonder where Tsukasa is... is he trapped in the Red House, too? Or is he trapped inside the school, inside Tsukasa-kun? What if he's trapped as a child, unable to grow up, because the innocent little brother that left Amane on their birthday is the only true Tsukasa in Amane's eyes? How well did the Clock Keepers do at getting rid of Tsukasa, anyway...? He can't really be gone, can he!?

Ahh, but anyway!!! Thanks for reading if you got this far. And if Amane really prefers Baby Tsukasa then I suppose I can't complain. I mean, just look at him!!

He is so freakin' CUTE!!!! Grahhh!!!! ♡♡♡♡

[bidonica]

Hey! I see you're into fragile/higgs ship and caught myself quite like them too recently (tho i've been in DS fandom already for a year and mostly thought about them as a friends)

Just wondering why do you like them? Do you have any headcanons/interesting thoughts? I'm very curious 👀

Hi! First of all apologies for the wall of text you're about to get, but unfortunately you came knocking at my door after I spent nearly two months ruminating about this ship basically by myself sooo I'm dumping it all here

Well the short (lol) version is that in my first playthrough I mostly just absorbed the characters and storyline, but by the time I got to their final scene on the Beach I was like wait a minute... their whole shared storyline feels way too loaded for them to simply have been business associates, that shit is personal, even Higgs wanting to damage Fragile feels way too pointed to just be justified by "he was a turncloak with a secret agenda." Now, I'm not against a "they were simply close friends" interpretation, it works just as well to explain the emotional weight of their falling out, BUT I also cannot ignore the zest, the flavor, the spice of them actually having been involved romantically at some point. And honestly going into my second playthrough with the shipping goggles on I can't help thinking that Fragile speaks about Higgs like he was an ex that hurt her, and the way that she is suspiciously cagey about the specifics of their relationship makes my ears shoot up like a German shepherd.

On a Doylist level I also find it interesting that Kojima gave Higgs extra backstory that connects him to Fragile in the Director's Cut, and also how the behind the scenes for the DS2 mocap show Troy and Léa sharing a scene... I think Kojima is not done intertwining their story and we'll get more info in the sequel.

Now for the headcanons... I have enough that I might or might not be writing a long-ish fic about it, but I want to finish this Director's Cut playthrough before completing it (I could just look stuff up on the wiki but that's not fun). Also I have some art in the pipeline about it that I hope to post within the week. Anyway, the bite sized version of how I envision their relationship:

I hc Higgs as being immediately attracted to Fragile but not really acting on it, while she develops her attraction after getting to know him a little. Then she's down bad but she doesn't even realize it until it's so obvious it hits her in the face

A few people at their joint Fragile Express/whatever Higgs' operation was called co-op assume they are an item long before anything ever happens, because they just hang out together a lot. They have a similar penchant for corny jokes and puns and enjoy some light banter; Fragile finds Higgs' flair for theatrics endearing, while he is drawn to how gentle she is because he has known so little softness in his life (also he thinks she's insanely pretty, which duh. It's self evident because Léa Seydoux) (it's his first serious girl crush anyway; I hc him as bi and as having had mostly experiences with men before her)

They bond over their DOOMS condition and Higgs is fascinated by Fragile's powers, while she is less enthused by all the collateral effects. In my hc, at this point she has yet to become as skilled at traveling through dimensions as she is in the game, which makes her reluctant to agree to Higgs' requests to show him the Beach. This sows the seeds of his resentment towards her, because he feels she has a privilege she doesn't make use of and doesn't want to share.

They are both pretty touchy feely (canon!) so when their relationship goes from friendly to romantic it gets physical immediately and enthusiastically. Yes even accounting for the worldwide lowered sex drive. If there's one thing I never do is put characters in horny jail 🫡

 I think Fragile got to know a version of Higgs that was quite different from what we see in the game, which you sort of can gauge from the more optimistic pages of his diary. Like there's a part of him who's starved for love and connection and a sense of belonging and gravitates towards people like Coffin (he never had a mother) and Fragile herself; ironically, the pull towards Amelie answers to the same need but in reality it feeds on his more nihilistic, call-of-the-void side. I'm not saying that Amelie brainwashed him or anything, but I think she saw what was already there – a  deep seated resentment towards a hostile world and towards those he feels got handed a luckier deal than he did, that he countered by clinging to the notion of being special because of his DOOMS, but then there's someone like Fragile who's even more special and doesn't seem to be doing much with it. Amelie gave him a chance to fulfill what he felt was his potential and shared her power with him, but the tradeoff was severing  the connections he had, "killing" the part of him that wanted to be loved to make space for what he perceived as a higher form of love ("I found someone who completes me" which he says to Fragile specifically like he wants to rub it in her face? Like she wasn’t  enough to fulfill that role?)

That’s why I think it’s significant that he lost his hands with his power-up, because the (holding, welcoming) hands are strongly associated with Fragile; and to me it makes sense if he purposely ruins her body also because it’s a way to stifle his attraction to her. There’s also a lot of projection because HE is the one who’s felt like damaged goods all along, who grew up being  crushed psychologically and physically. I also think that both of them coming close to annihilating the other but choosing not to – leaving them in a dicey situation but not entirely without escape – shows in some twisted way that their bond still exists, which makes me giggle and rub my hands like a nasty little goblin knowing we have another game coming.

So… That’s the gist of it. Sorry for rambling on but as I said, I don’t really get the chance to talk about this ship much – greetings from rarepair hell, etc.

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

“I didn’t catch anything,” Bran said, “but Jon gave me his fish on the way back to Winterfell. Will we ever see Jon again?”

“We saw Uncle Benjen when the king came to visit,” Robb pointed out. “Jon will visit too, you’ll see.”

- Bran V, AGOT

There’s something so strange about this exchange because it’s preceded by Robb and Bran grieving Jory and then all of a sudden we get a random callback to Jon Snow. it’s only two lines of dialogue but I think it does quite a bit of work in terms of establishing who Jon is as a character, and also gives us a few hints of what we might expect to happen in coming books.

They’re talking about going fishing with Jory once upon a time and Bran mentions that when he didn’t catch anything, Jon gave him his fish. This, in and of itself, isn’t very surprising and it doesn’t tell us anything new about Jon’s character. That’s because he’s been established as a selfless and kind person from the very first chapter. Jon being self-sacrificial, then, isn’t something that is new to the reader at this point. But this short exchange does show us the extent to Jon’s sacrifice. He isn’t someone who takes half measures. Rather, he’s someone who goes all in.

And it’s so fascinating because Jon giving away all his fish may seem like a typical ‘big brother looking out’ moment, but I can’t help but notice the extent to which Jon looked out for Bran. Because he could’ve given him a just few fish and it would’ve been quite lovely; we would still say that he is kind and compassionate big brother. He could’ve given Bran half his fish and we’d praise him for such a great display of kindness. But Jon gave Bran everything he had. He didn’t take any half measures; he went all in. And Bran doesn’t mention Jon only giving him some, so I’m assuming that this means all.

This is something we see in an earlier Tyrion chapter, where he and Jon are parting at the Wall.

“Rickon will ask when I’m coming home. Try to explain where I’ve gone, if you can. Tell him he can have all my things while I’m away, he’ll like that.”

- Tyrion III, AGOT

Jon once again assumes the role of the big brother looking out for his younger sibling, but it’s quite stark (pun intended) how far he goes to make sure that Rickon is happy and well-provisioned. He doesn’t say “tell Rickon to pick and choose what he wants”. He doesn’t name a specific thing that Rickon might want. No. Jon means to have his brother take everything.

The depth of Jon’s kindness is quite remarkable. Yes I know, it’s not the most revolutionary thing to have the fantasy protagonist be good to people. But it’s still quite nice to see him being so kind in a series half-full of actors motivated by purely selfish reasons. It’s especially important because this flashback comes after Bran gets news of Jory’s murder - a selfish, unkind, and senseless act; it’s just pure malice. There aren’t many people in this world who would give everything they have, especially when they don’t have to. Jon had no reason to give Bran all his fish, but he did anyway. He didn’t have to give Rickon all his things, but he did it anyway. It’s the extent to which he goes about being good to people that’s impressive. And we see this develop where he starts extending that to the dozens, hundreds, and thousands.

And I would be negligent if I didn’t mention the obvious messianic framing here. We’ve got a sacrificial lord (mayhaps we might even say a prophesied sacrificial savior), a little boy, and a couple of fish. And we also have mentions of giving away all your possessions to attain true righteousness in scripture, as Jon did with Rickon.

But what I find most curious is Robb’s line. Because it reads like a promise of some sorts. Robb makes the observation that Uncle Benjen visited them when King Robert went to Winterfell, and he is using that as proof to say that Jon will visit too. It’s interesting because Jon mentions hearing his uncle talking to his father about settling people in the Gift. Plus Jon and Benjen have a pretty good relationship so he must’ve travelled there earlier. Thus, I’d assume that King Robert’s feast wasn’t the first time that Benjen went to Winterfell in Robb’s lifetime. So it just makes the connection of Jon’s arrival coinciding with that of a king all the more noteworthy. Except, Jon might be the king who visits this time around.

Robb’s line evokes the imagery of the Return of the King. And also if we go back to scripture, there’s the return of the lord/king, after a great sacrifice. So:

Bran mentions Jon’s sacrifice and then Robb promises that he will return

The savior sacrifices himself then returns in glory (scripture)

Therefore, Jon shall return to Winterfell as a glorious king after a sacrifice

It’s part of why I think we as a fandom need to be a bit more flexible when we talk about Jon’s relationship with sacrifice. I always see people say that because Jon is self-sacrificial, then he is the one who needs to/must die after sacrificing himself for the realm/other POVs. Nevermind the obvious bias in this line of thinking, which is usually in favor of other characters, but I think such opinions only got half the picture. They don’t follow the pattern that has been presented to us by the text. Yes, it’s true that Jon makes some big sacrifices. And it’s true that they’re sometimes preceded by a period of temptation. HOWEVER, these sacrifices are usually followed by something more spectacular (obviously, in my humble opinion). For example:

When they find the direwolf pups, Jon sacrifices himself so his siblings can get a pup each. However, he immediately finds Ghost afterwards who is the most special of all the dire wolves (and even becomes the largest)

He sacrifices his want for Wintefell in ASOS, but is elected Lord Commander of the NW by book’s end. So the sacrifice is followed by a great appointment to power (rather quickly, I might add). And being Lord Commander puts him in a special position in the upcoming war for the dawn.

So the quote at the beginning of this post, imo, just illustrates that pattern. A sacrifice is followed by something grand. Bran mentions Jon’s sacrifice and then Robb connects his coming to a king’s return. The question remains though: if this is something that will happen in the future, how will it happen and when? I don’t really know tbh, but it would be quite a nice bookend to have Jon’s glorious return be towards the end of ADOS so that it can parallel King Robert Baratheon’s arrival in the beginning of AGOT (which preempted Jon’s departure in the first place).

[borgialucrezia]

sorry in advance if this has already been answered before! i appreciate all your takes on juan and i love reading your tags, and wanted to ask your opinion of the grimy things juan did, like SA, dangling the baby, torturing a child, murdering paolo, etc. (i don't meant this as a comparison to anyone else; we all know cesare was guilty of pretty heinous things as well. BUT, if mentioning them both, juan was like the golden child who as soon as he didn't feel like he was getting the praise or attention he felt he deserved, he did some pretty awful things. cesare was always having to fight to prove himself due to being second fiddle in rodrigo's eyes, so i feel like excuses can be thrown around all day for both of them back and forth, hence why i was hoping to hear your thoughts primarily on juan specifically rather than versus cesare). also, do you really think juan would've defeated caterina and brought down the walls of forli? if so, can you explain why? i feel like even cesare would've struggled were it not for micheletto. hopefully this doesn't come off in any negative way at all, i'm just genuinely curious to hear your thoughts! (i love talking about the borgias but no one close to me has watched it) xx

now that's a good ass question!! and no, don't worry, it's not even slightly negative at all <333 buckle up for the long answer 🙏

first off, i just want to clarify that i *don't* like excusing juan's (or even cesare's) actions because, for me, it's more about understanding why he was acting the way he did :)

now i'll try to answer this in parts:

"juan was like the golden child who as soon as he didn't feel he was getting the praise or attention he felt he deserved did some pretty awful things."

tbh, i've never seen it like this, and i disagree because it's obvious that he feels like he doesn't get enough attention. he always feels inferior to his siblings, like the *real* black sheep of the family. he also feels incredibly isolated, especially after their papacy era when he has no one to be there for him. there's a reason he drowns himself in hedonism!! also, he's terrified that he might not be a "true borgia" since there are rumors about vanozza's commoner husband possibly being his real dad. in the first episode, he was so triggered when a prostitute called him a "bastard," and he aggressively replied to her, proclaiming himself as his father's "favorite" son. despite being "favored" by rodrigo, he still feels like he's not enough because he's aware that his dad confides in and trusts cesare, while all he gets from their dad are reminders that he's only favored because it's rodrigo's wish, refusing to favor the *real* favorite son, cesare, due to self-loathing (cesare being exactly like rodrigo, as if he was a mirror of him, etc.), even though he immensely loves him. meanwhile, rodrigo is always scolding juan and threatening him with replacing him with cesare and shunning him if he doesn't do better, saying that *all* his position and honor could be taken from him in a heartbeat, etc. that's why juan is an absolute blusterer towards cesare because he's a soldier instead of him (even though juan pretty much doesn't give a fuck about being a soldier BUT it's the only thing he has over cesare). and cesare was made juan's keeper by rodrigo, always sending him to pull juan back like some sort of unhinged animal. this deeply affected juan and intensified his insecurities and impulsiveness, but he keeps putting on his façade as he always does.

ok so let's talk about juan's nasty actions:

beating up vanozza's husband, theo: so, as i said earlier, juan is terrified by the idea that his mother's husband, theo, might actually be his father. In juan's eyes, having a commoner as his potential father is seen as a 'threat' to his honor and a disgrace. he is deeply offended by seeing theo being affectionate with his mother and being allowed into the borgia household while abandoning the house rodrigo bought for him. the whole situation deeply offends juan, and it's something that cesare also feels similarly about theo, as he dissed him in season 1 episode 4. however, cesare is not as threatened by him as juan is, as cesare possesses a cooler head and is less insecure about the parentage matters.

killing paolo: so we know how juan clearly remembers the bullying and xenophobic attacks he endured as a child for being a spanish jew in italy. he's still deeply affected by it because even when they triumphed and entered their papacy era, they were still hated upon and not recognized as a superior power because of their ancestry. it troubles juan, which is why he holds his status very dear and makes sure everyone knows he's the pope's son and the gonfaloniere of the papal army, etc. so the last thing juan needs is scandals in the family or someone shaming them, like paolo, for instance. a noblewoman like his sister getting impregnated by a peasant is a huge scandal. earlier, rodrigo taught him through harshness (slapping him, yelling at him, etc.) that he was bred to be a soldier and to protect the family. that stuck in his mind. moreover, getting rid of paolo is something he genuinely thought was the right thing to do, and he protected the family. he even expected praise for it since he often did things to impress and please them. but, typical juan, he acts without thinking things through, never anticipating that he would mess things up even more and disappoint them all. what hurt him the most was that lucrezia hated him for killing paolo, especially when he believed he did it to protect her, so he tried to make it up to her but with no solution (juan's anger at paolo could also stem from his incestuous feelings for lucrezia, and envy consumed him, leading him to find a motive to get rid of paolo, but that's another story.) paolo's murder was an act meant to be *good* but caused a lot of pain, grief, and hatred.

torturing caterina's son, benito: in the previous battle with the french, when juan surrendered instead of fighting them, his family basically called him a useless fool and pushed him aside. despite witnessing his troops being ripped apart by the french's chain cannon, juan was still seriously willing to fight and die doing it. however, lucrezia stopped him and convinced him to surrender because the prospect of him dying upset her, and juan couldn't bear to upset her. anyway, lucrezia was glorified (as she should be) as a savior, and for some reason, cesare was put on a pedestal, even though he did little except chase down ursula and kill her husband while his sister was being abused by her husband in pesaro. juan felt deeply destroyed by this and started spiraling into darkness. then later, given the mission of forli, he decided to do anything to pressure caterina to surrender because he refused to fail again as he did in the first battle against the french. he was even willing to discard his principles and threaten to kill her son, benito, by torturing him. he was determined to win this and bring caterina to rome. however, he ultimately failed due to ludovico's attack, which outnumbered juan's troops.

dangling the baby: one thing about juan is that the more his family, whom he desperately wanted to be loved by, pushes him away, the more he pettily pushes back and hurt them. his arrogance and fake narcissistic nature don't allow him to refrain from clapping back. so, after he told lucrezia that everything he did was for her own good and she still didn't buy it, it drove him mad. as a result, he wanted to provoke her by dangling the baby over the balcony, just to get under her skin. another reason is that, as he mentioned when he was getting high on opium, he was terrified that the baby, giovanni, could be lucrezia and cesare's child, and that the child was a "demon who would devour the world," to quote him. so, yes, he felt threatened by the baby. i mean, juan basically lost his marbles in his final episode lol

attempting to SA the dancer: david oakes described juan's final episode as if juan was already 'dead' the whole time. he was told by the writers to play juan as the antagonist as much as possible, as they wanted to showcase juan's worst actions to deem his death as 'necessary' as they couldn't flourish historical accuracy anymore since juan was supposed to be dead in s1 lol. so, if we're going to explain this particular action, i would say that juan had been suffering from depression and other horrible illnesses, the syphilis is already rotting his brain, and he was already losing his grip on reality due to the constant mockery he endured, including the 'ten more sons' taunt from everyone, including cesare. feeling betrayed and hated by everyone, he told himself he might as well fuck it all up lash out and attack anyone, including the poor girl whom he assaulted after she mocked him.

afterward, he returned to opium to get high again, which led him to see hallucinations. specifically, he saw images of himself and cesare being close and loving towards each other. in that moment, he realized that his salvation lay in affection and love, starting with wanting to reconcie with cesare and forming a brotherhood with him. juan confessed to cesare that he had been in pain his entire life. however, cesare seemed neither to be listening nor touched by his speech because he had already made up his mind to get rid of juan and pursue his own career. while killing him, cesare made it clear that juan was never considered a true borgia, and he stated that they never forgive, despite juan's forgiveness for cesare's constant mockery.

"so you really think juan would've defeated caterina and brought down the walls of forli?"

why not? juan may be physically weaker than cesare, but he certainly has a huge brain. he's the most perceptive character in the show, being the only one who foresaw the events before they happened. he predicted cesare and lucrezia's affair, and it came true. he also warned rodrigo that cesare was trying to kill him, and it happened. like couldn't he have eventually outsmarted caterina and set her up? also, i kinda relied on what david said: "juan laid a successful siege and would have kicked ass at Forli if cesare had let him know... jealousy, huge jealousy." so, yeah <3

so, obviously juan's behavior was constantly and undoubtedly harmful, and it caused a lot of pain and suffering to himself and his family. his actions were driven by a combination of deepseated insecurities, fear of inadequacy, the desperate need for validation and recognition from his loved ones, and a sense of entitlement. he constantly felt overshadowed by cesare and struggled to live up to the expectations and standards set by his father. in my opinion, juan borgia is a complex tragic character who was already doomed by the narrative. all he wanted was his family's validation and love, but he ended up being hated and discarded by them, unmourned. if i ever wanna describe juan with two words, they would be "misguided" and "self destructive"

[bookwyrminspiration]

I have to admit that I have two things I want to see from KOTLC before Shannon declares it complete: 1. The identities of blue and wraith. We know some very vague details about them but nothing about their background whatsoever. And 2, the Great Gulon incident. It’s been referenced multiple times.

I don’t particularly care too too much how they are presorted as long as it isn’t a completely insane way to do so. (I think a side story might be a good idea, or in an appropriately funny/dramatic way.)

There is definitely more things to be resolved but these are things that I want to know since I read about them.

What are some things you want to be resolved before the end of the series?

-⚙️

Gonna respond out of order but! Shannon has specifically said on multiple occasions that she will not disclose the events of the Great Gulon incident within the main series. Instead, she wants to make it it's own short story from Keefe's pov! if it was talked about in the main series, it would just be like a paragraph of someone explaining it to Sophie and then she just go huh okay, and move on. Which would be a huge letdown after so much buildup.

Shannon has, in fact, sold a short story collection to her publishers and the main one of those is going to be the Great Gulon Incident! She's said she 100% knows what happens and that we'll get to know someday, too.

And I'd also like the know who Blur and Wraith are! They're very background-like, but there's also just enough mystery around them that I'm intrigued. I'd be fine not knowing and it wouldn't take away from the experience, but it would be satisfying to find out who they are.

As for things I'd like to be resolved, that's tricky. There's the big obvious ones, like who Sophie's father is, what the Vacker Legacy is, who Ethan Wright was, but that's expected. I suppose I'm invested in whatever's going on with the trolls, as I (and my dad) liked Tarina a lot. She was brief, but lovely, so I'd like to address the trolls' situation to get her back! I'd like to know who Ruy was as well, more about him in general. Really curious about Gethen's motives and purpose as well along with more specifics about Vespera's past, how she got arrested.

I'm sure I could think of more, but those are some of the first things that come to mind (outside of the typical wanting to know how the story ends)!

[godlytransurfer]

The Importance of Self Regulation and it’s effects on the Body, Void and Manifesting - A Study

Hello everyone, today we are discussing some theories when it comes to mainly the effects of self regulation, your physical body versus your awareness/focus, and how that affects our relationship with the void, the outer world, and not only the speed, but also the consistency of your manifestations.

I’m not really going to elaborate much on the basics, if you have been on Law of Assumption tumblr for a bit, you already know how things go down wether they are good, bad or indifferent. That isn’t the main focus today, but some extras around it that we have been curious about.

As we all know, emotions aren’t needed to manifest. Your thoughts, feelings, and what you assume or decide as truth and persist on, is what does. Due to that, we might have an easy time simply learning how to persist and not necessarily worry about emotional states like many do according to the Law of Attraction. However, it is obvious you should care about your mental health and yourself, not to just get your manifestations. We all had this conversation on the community too already. This is your life, your reality, you should be feeling good. Dylan James on youtube is a very specific advocate for this. You must prioritize yourself and your physical and mental health, even when you know you can get away with wild things and comeback from anything.

But here’s the thing: We often might forget to ask ourselves what is our dominant emotional state, apart from manifesting. If we do, like I did, my case was: Even though I get everything I want and I don’t feel particularly depressed, I used to look for more emotional positives and cultivated them in a greater scale prior to the law on youtube craze, and now even though I was satisfied with knowing how things worked, at times I felt trapped in one mostly controlled, numb emotion, when prior to it even when I got other things, my mood was much better and energized.

Now you ask what this has to do with the void, and consistency. This is where it gets interesting. In law of attraction or general spirituality communities years ago, I used to hear how hard they believed to be for there to be people that knew how to reach high awareness and meditative states while awake, without formal methods, or people that could have astral projections without techniques like “the rope”. You know, things that start with Sleep Paralysis type thing. I always thought that was an exaggeration, as I had always been able to access astral planes with intention after falling asleep, as we now also know we can do with the void.

I always knew the void existed even prior to finding Neville because as things seemed to go on in the 3D world, I learned to persist. And in that meantime I ran into Alan Watts, who explained oriental philosophy to a Western audience. This guy spoke with eloquence, I still listen to him sometimes. But he quickly caught me with the concepts of everything being one. To me, even that seemed very obvious. Which meant, if we are already it, we could access it at any time. This was years ago. Fast forward to last year, I was still using that concept along with the teachings of Neville to manifest. All I had to do was close my eyes or focus on a point or something, along with behind my eyes. It was scarily fast.

Then, fast forward to the Void Method craze on tumblr, I attempted it “formally” as well on my comfy bed. But my body would just be very tense and uncomfortable. Thing is, prior to this I had only woken up there once even though my mind could look into it and focus on it while awake all this time. Heck, I didn’t even knew at that point (before I had this blog) that I could’ve just manifested it all there. I knew it was the “space” I loved so much though. I appreciated it in unconditional love and knew I was gonna get all I wanted anyways because I was always connected to it, and woke up. I might have told some of you this on messages, but basically I had an audio playing and noticed I couldn’t hear it when I woke up. I then heard a cracking sound and the time of the audio started to move, and then the music came back 2 seconds later. I felt invincible. BUT HEY, THIS ISN’T EVEN MAINLY ABOUT THE FORMAL VOID METHOD. LET’S FOCUS!

To be fair I know what I probably did that night, as my mental diet was ridiculously pristine, was to just set an intention, just like I did with astral trips and dreams years before even though I didn’t knew many people at all that could. This is when I started to wonder if it was the same thing. Then someone on tumblr said an intention to wake up there was enough, and it made sense to me and others, because I remember that night was also after some dream was over and I woke up there instead, a bit confused.

At this point I had/have two things I was working on when it came to overcoming my own crap: Mastering all access types to the void even though I seem to have a preference for awake methods (I just wanna learn okay) and how could I end even all of the occasional indifference when it came to my emotional states, because I wanted to feel more elevated emotions for my liking.

Recently as some of you know, others finally have also picked up on accessing the void state awake and instantly during our routines, thank god because I was wondering if anyone else could relate. Someone went there on a classroom before an exam. I have also done this in my own classes out of boredom, as well as in coffee shops. Had some little moments due to being awake simultaneously and being told negative/intrusive thoughts could manifest if I wasn’t careful (thanks 2020 youtube but hey we learn and we grow) which lead to 2021 never having a dull moment for me, but fortunately everyone and everything is well and I’ve learned a lot!

Since we noticed this, as seen on @diorbabe66 post,  @multiversebaddie recently came out with the I Am/God/Void Challenge. Both of these posts aim to get you to try affirmations like “I am”, “I am the Void”, etc during the day in your waking state along with your other thoughts and intentions to test the effects. Spoiler alert: I am convinced they are very good. After all, I used to tell myself all the time that I was the void, and felt being both little human me and big awareness me, although I mostly focused on big me. As I stood in that class and that coffee shop, and focused behind my eyes and out into space, everything was easy.

Now what does this still, have to do with emotions? This is where it gets curious. Maybe this should have been a separated post, but I have a feeling mixing these two things, even if I have to make more parts, will help in articulating and explaining my recent discoveries. You might wanna take this with a grain of salt, but it is actually what I am on the verge of testing right now.

A while ago while trying the Void’s most known entering method aka affirming, (Don’t even ask me for sleep paralysis cuz I’m not a fan of hallucinating but hey we gotta lose fear I recognize that lol) I would not only get my body to be ridiculously tense, it would be in pain, even had headaches at times and couldn’t figure out for the life of me what that was about, until they eventually left. I have seen other people ask about this on anons through blogs, and recently @diorbabe66 also asked about it and mentioned me if I had any idea on what this could be. Oddly enough, accidentally, I think my last two days have given me some answers.

When using the law of attraction and meditation years before, I also grew to be a fan of Joe Dispenza. He’s known for the study of epigenetics and meditations for inner focus, inner healing and going to the quantum field to create your desired experiences (WHICH IS THE VOID LOL). Dispenza basically defends that we are more than our body, we are the mind and awareness. He also defends the importance of awareness and focus is where energy goes, a bit similar to Neville, although Neville throws logic completely out the window. I appreciate both of their works nevertheless. This, because Dispenza is a really good source when you just want to make your brain see this is totally possible if you are really getting tired of not knowing the why, even though you don’t need to. He explains everything very well. I have been reading Becoming Supernatural for 2 days now, mainly because I already had the book and was procrastinating my reads, but also because I was hoping to find some information on how I could lift my emotions, since he also talks about those, just for the sake of feeling good. Then again, I will repeat: Emotions are not needed to manifest, the feeling is. Dispenza believes when you are focusing on something and you are feeling, or cultivating the emotions/thoughts before the thing appears, it selects it from the quantum, aka the void, to appear. Okay yes, very similar to Neville: but the good part about Dispenza’s studies is that he took regular people that were sick, in pain and in very stressful emotional states for some periods of time to meditations that involved focusing on your physical body’s energy centers (which we know as the chakras) and the space around them, as well as becoming aware of consecutively your whole body field, the place you are at, and then going into the quantum field. And people actually healed. The reason he focused on this is because he backs up on science and the way neural pathways and atoms and all that specific stuff works, and since we are all made from the same one thing, we obviously must have, logically speaking, matter that works in a more common way than it seems right? Electromagnetic waves and stuff, things we naturally, as well as other living beings, and objects can produce. This book is 400 pages, give me a break on the terms I’m sorry ahah. But basically what I found out until now is that people used this to get rid of pain and reoccurring conditions, including headaches. There was even a guy who couldn’t be around technology that was emiting waves because he had become so stressed that he couldn’t handle it. I remember having symptoms of this a long time ago because I was also a very stressed person who’s main source of energy was anger, even if not displayed outwards. I tried to use it on productive things and it got the job done but I felt awful. This person ended up bringing their focus/awareness from a center, then put it on the area around the center, gave it a good healing intention, and released it in a way Neville would describe as “dropping the seed” I guess. We then move onto the other centers until we reach the 8th center, above our head. Now, I know for some of you this might sound like some LO Attraction bullshit, but hear me out: It actually works. Why? Because since you as human producing conscious or unconscious/habitual thoughts and feelings before turning away from survival mode when trying to deal with the 3D, you are conditioning your body to get used with that result on an autopilot, day to day basis. I don't mean you can’t manifest, I’m talking about your default, dominant emotional and health state. Dispenza defends that if you get trapped in survival feelings which are associated to the first 3 energy centers you might experience an imbalance which can make you sick, because you are being more matter/body than you are being awareness/mind, and obviously as we know from following Neville and the Law of Assumption, we are meant to be way bigger than that. Everyone talked about in the book healed, and I decided to give it a go.

By placing awareness on your energy centers and intending that they flow in a healthy way, it balances your body and it’s system out. It gets rid of all pain, including your neck, and your head. And it works! Because I remember being very aware of everything last year before doing those little quick void visits, and I remember being able to order my centers around even to cure feeling nauseous at my sps house, and now that I come to realize, the places that hurt while trying to get into the void were the center between your neck and your head, as well as behind your eyes! BECAUSE WE UNKNOWINGLY MIGHT HAVE AN IMBALANCE OF NOT SENDING ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES INTO THE BRAIN, AND WHEN YOU DO, YOU GATHER WAY MORE ENERGY AND BETTER FUNCTIONING. When we enter the void in the usual way while laying down, we are attempting to go into a calmer state. Which probably, somehow, even if we don’t have to rationalize all of this and your awareness knows how to do it, we use this energy before disconnecting from our surroundings, because the void is still, literally, within us. It’s not a coincidence that those energy centers are so connected to your spine and your brain which is responsible for the currency of electromagnetic stuff going around? Also: we put our awareness in the center and then around the center because it makes our brain waves more consistent between the conscious and subconscious instead of having that dissonance. This is also why the breathing techniques are so successful. You are triggering your system to work as one more easily and without imbalance!

It made me feel better the last 2 nights, I got more energy, felt an electric like current and energy as well as almost sleep paralysis state while stuff was fixing itself and improved my mood, which I’m thankful for even if it doesn't have to do with all of my results. We should live a happy life and being capable of experiencing greater emotions even if we don’t see them as necessary.

IN CONCLUSION: You are unstoppable, this has been very useful, and remember

IF YOU ARE FEELING LIKE CRAP AND WEAKENED IT MOST LIKELY SEEMS TO BE THAT YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN AWARENESS ALIGN YOUR BODY BACK AND STOP UNKNOWINGLY MAKING IT GET STUCK ON THE STUFF THAT BINDS YOU TO THE WORLD IN EXCESS. THIS DOESN’T DETERMINE YOUR RESULTS BUT IT WILL MAKE YOU MORE CALM, MORE DISCIPLINED, IN A BETTER MOOD AND IN LESS PAIN!

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

Father of Mine – 1/2

Character: Bruce Wayne x Daughter!Reader

Summary: With the tragic passing of her mother, Y/N learns to the truth of who her father is. 

Word Count: 4,000+

Warnings: Family death, cancer, absent father, cremation 

A/N: The reader is described as tall in this fic. Bruce Wayne is 6′2 and I’m tall, so I’m indulging myself with no apologies. Read it or don’t. 

“Do you want to say anything before we…” the operator asked her.

“No,” Y/N answered quickly.

“Oh, my assistant forgot to give you this,” the operator gave her a shy smile as he handed her a small cardboard box.

She opened it to find all of her mother’s jewelry that had been on her body at the funeral.

“Thank you,” Y/N told him.

“Ready?” The operator asked.

He had been so kind throughout the whole process. It was obvious he was used to people breaking down and being extremely emotional. 

But Y/N had been stoic, almost concerningly so. 

Though he wasn’t one to judge. Everyone grieved differently.

With the pull of a handle, Y/N watched her mother’s body going into the chamber.

“It will be a few hours,” the operator told her.

He meant it will it will take a few hours for her mother’s body to burn to ash. Then they would hand her a tacky vase with her remains.

Y/N just nodded. “I’ll go for a walk.”

As soon as she was outside, Y/N called her mother’s executor.

“Ms. Y/L/N, I was just about to call you.”

“I’m at the crematory,” she told him. “I figured we should discuss the bills that still need to be paid for.”

“Yes, of course. As I mentioned to you before, your mother’s life insurance covers quite a lot of it…” his words died out.

“But it’s still not enough,” Y/N finished for him. “I’ll get the money.”

She wasn’t exactly rich, but she also wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck. But people never realized how much money it cost for loved ones to die. It was honestly ridiculous.

“You might want to consider taking out a loan,” he tried to suggest gently.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Another thing, Ms. Y/L/N. There was an envelope with a name on it. And your mother left instructions on delivering the envelope to them.”

She stopped her pacing. 

“What name is on the envelope?” Y/N asked.

There was a pause.

“Bruce Wayne.”

Y/N’s brow furrowed.

Of course she knew who Bruce Wayne was – everyone in Gotham did, as well as most of the country. He was a billionaire playboy, only making headlines when he was a mess. But every once in awhile his philanthropy would sneak in there. Y/N always assumed those were only to help recover his image and not because he was a good person.

“You still there?” The executor asked.

“Yeah. I’m just a bit confused. But please pass it along to him, if that’s what my mom wanted.”

“I can’t. The instructions specifically say for you to deliver the envelop to him in person.”

“In person?” Y/N groaned in annoyance as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Why did all of this have to be so god damn complicated?

“Yes. Her instructions are…oddly specific."

“Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll pick up everything from your office before the work day ends.”

——————

Y/N stared at the envelop that she’d tossed on her coffee table as she sipped a rather large glass of red wine.

She was wracking her brain trying to think of a time when her mom mentioned knowing Bruce Wayne. But Y/N would’ve remembered her mom saying his name – even in passing. It’s not a name that one can drop casually.

Y/N pulled up her phone and googled him. But she looked at his history. Yes, he was from Gotham, as was her mom, but so were 10 million other people.

But then Y/N’s scrolling paused when she realized they went to the same high school: Gotham Academy. Not only that, they graduated in the same year.

‘Were they friends?’ Y/N wondered.

But just classmates or friends still didn’t seem to warrant a handwritten letter to be delivered after one’s death.

Y/N didn’t open the envelope.

Her mother’s instructions specifically told her not to. And if she put in that much of an effort to get this done after her death, Y/N wasn’t going to ignore such a request.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t curious.

“Fuck,” Y/N sighed before throwing back the rest of her wine.

——————

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t grant you access to the building without your name being in the system by the company you’re visiting,” the building receptionist told her for the third time.

“I understand. But I called his office 30 fucking times and they refuse to put me through to him or get me an appointment,” Y/N practically growled.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I already called their office to say you were here and they didn’t recognize your name. I can’t let you through to the elevators.”

Y/N’s gaze flickered to the security guard who stood a few feet away. He was eyeing her now that there was clearly an argument going on.

Y/N wanted to roll her eyes. She had a good foot on him – even without her heels on. And he looked like he couldn’t run a 50 yard dash without passing out or vomiting. If he thought he was going to physically stop her, he had another thing coming.

“Listen, I am not some crazy fucking stalker. My mom knew Bruce Wayne and in her will she asked me to deliver this to him,” Y/N’s voice lowered and became disturbingly calm. “I don’t want to be here just as much as you don’t want to have this conversation.”

“Ma’am, I’m going to need you to calm down,” the security guard finally stepped forward.

“Oh, fuck off,” Y/N rolled her eyes at the rent-a-cop.

“Ma’am, I’ll have to ask you to leave,” he continued.

“Call me ma’am one more fucking time…” Y/N growled.

But the security guard was taking a step to her.

“Excuse me. What seems to be the problem here?” A voice suddenly interrupted.

Everyone turned to see a young man – younger than Y/N – glaring at the security guard just as he was about to grab Y/N.

“M-Mr. Drake, we were just escorting this young woman from the premises,” the guard stuttered out.

Everyone at the building knew every member of the Wayne family. But unlike his siblings, Tim Drake was at the office almost every day. As one should be when they’re the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.

“For what reason?” Tim Drake asked.

“She insists on seeing Mr. Wayne. But she doesn’t have an appointment. For security reasons, I cannot let her through, obviously, unless the company she is visiting has put her into their system and the building’s system,” the receptionist explained nervously.

Y/N frowned as if she was bored of the whole thing.

Tim stepped forward. “May I ask what your business with Bruce Wayne is?”

Now that he was closer, Y/N noticed how exhausted he looked. He was handsome still, of course. But she wondered when he last got a good night’s sleep. He was shorter than her, probably standing at 5’5. And she still believed he was younger than her, which was wild seeing as he was already the CEO and couldn’t be older than 24.

Y/N sighed before she grabbed the envelope from her black leather satchel, and showed that Bruce Wayne’s name was handwritten on it.

“My mother wished me to personally deliver this to him.”

Tim tilted his head slightly. “Why isn’t she doing it?”

“Because she’s dead,” she shot back without emotion.

But Tim’s face became sympathetic. “I’m sorry. I should’ve assumed…”

“It’s fine,” Y/N quickly cut him off before he could continue.

She was so tired of being on the receiving end of people’s sympathy. It didn’t help. And the words stopped holding any meaning to her.

“But I’m sorry. Bruce isn’t in today. And he probably won’t be coming to the office for the rest of the week.”

“Oh,” was all she responded with.

Of course Bruce Wayne didn’t come to work. Why would he?

This was a stupid idea. And now she had made a scene because of it.

“But if you give me your information, I will personally let him know that you are trying to reach him.”

“Really?” Y/N asked in shock.

Tim smiled at her surprise. “Of course.”

“Here’s my card,” she quickly grabbed one from her wallet and then a pen. “All my info is on that.” She wrote something on the back. “And that’s my mom’s name.”

He took it from her and nodded. “What was your mother’s relationship with Bruce?”

Y/N shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve been trying to figure it out. Apparently they graduated in the same high school class. But that’s all I was able to find.”

He nodded.

“Thank you…Mr. Drake. For your help. Really,” she urged.

“Please, it’s just Tim.” Then he glared at the receptionist and security guard. “For you it is, at least.”

“Thank you again,” Y/N felt like saying it 30 more times still wouldn’t be enough.

“You don’t have to thank me. Someone will be in touch. Have a good day, Ms. Y/L/N.”

“Y/N,” she corrected with a smile before she nodded and started backing away.

He smiled at her correction and gave a final nod.

——————

Y/N didn’t expect to hear from anyone for at least a week.

If the Wayne family was one thing, it was busy.

They probably had parties to go to, meetings to attend, private jets taking them around the world whenever they wished.

Why would they ever prioritize a meeting with her, a stranger?

So imagine her surprise when she received a call from an unrecognized number the same day she gave Tim Drake her card.

“Hello?” She answered.

Usually she would let any unknown number go to voicemail.

“Hello,” a British voice answered. “Am I speaking with Ms. Y/F/N Y/L/N?”

“This is she,” Y/N sat up straighter on her couch.

“This is Alfred Pennyworth. I work for Master Wayne and manage all his personal appointments. I was told by Master Tim that you wished to meet with him?”

“Uhhh. Yes. Yes, I do. Is that…is that possible?”

“Would you be able to stop by Wayne Manor on Friday afternoon?”

Y/N already knew she had nothing going on that would stop her from getting this done. But she still paused to pretend to think about it.

“Yes, Friday afternoon should be fine. Are you sure he doesn’t just want me to stop by Wayne Enterprises?”

It felt oddly intimate to stop by Wayne Manor. Wouldn’t they want to meet her in a more secure location like a corporate building with security that already hated her?

“He is quite certain. Should I send a car for you Ms. Y/L/N?”

A car?

Y/N felt even more out of her depth now.

“Oh, no. That won’t be necessary. I’ll be there.”

“I look forward to meeting you, Ms. Y/L/N.”

“Thanks,” she answered before hanging up and realizing that probably wasn’t the proper response to such a polite goodbye.

——————

“I haven’t heard that name since high school,” Bruce had muttered as he stared at the business card for what felt like the thousandth time.

“Yes, and the end of your relationship did not end on the best of terms,” Alfred commented.

Y/M’s/N Y/L/N had been Bruce’s high school sweetheart.

An she had seen the last moments of Bruce’s normal life. 

Upon graduation, Bruce decided to leave Gotham and that’s how his second life was founded. The two of them broke up before the summer after graduation had even ended.

Well, “Breakup” was a strong word.

Bruce stopped answering her calls.

She was his first love and he continued to love her.

But once Bruce realized where his life was going and who he wanted to be, he knew he couldn’t drag her into it. She deserved better.

And Bruce was a coward about relationships then. Maybe he still was.

“I am certain you did a thorough background check on her already,” Alfred commented with a smirk.

Bruce took in a breath before listing off all of her accomplishments. “Y/F/N Y/L/N. Graduated number one in her class at Gotham Academy. She was the star of the track team, breaking the regional record for fastest time in 100m, 200m, and 400m races. Also captain of her soccer team. Attended NYU’s photography program before dropping out after a year. Now she’s a professional photography. Her work’s been featured in Vogue, New York Times, National Geographic…amongst others.”

“Rather an impressive woman,” Alfred said.

Bruce nodded.

“I should get the tea and coffee ready for her arrival.” And with that, Alfred left Bruce in the drawing room.

30 minutes later, the doorbell rang.

Bruce glanced down at his watch: she was right on time.

He heard Alfred saying his pleasantries before he heard the clicking of her heels as she rounded the corner to enter the room he was waiting in.

For being a famous photographer, she could’ve been a runway model with her height and the way she walked into the room, completely owning it. She wore four-inch heels, only adding to her natural tallness. And her bright, red coat only added to her presence.

For a split second, Bruce was convinced that he was looking at an Amazon. Diana immediately flashed into his mind for a split second. Perhaps that was what Y/M’s/N needed help with: to get her daughter to her real people. But how would she have known Bruce Wayne had such connections? Unless she knew Batman’s true identity…

As soon as Y/N spotted him in the room, he rose from his seat.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” Bruce greeted.

He took a step forward and held out his hand.

“You guys really love the formalities.” She said it with a dark evenness, but it was clearly a joke. “Y/N is fine, Mr. Wayne,” she added as she shook his hand.

“In that case, it’s Bruce,” he countered with a soft smirk.

There was something so familiar about her. But Bruce knew they’d never met. 

“Thank you for seeing me. I don’t want to waste anymore of your time,” Y/N quickly got to it. She opened her purse to grab the envelope.

“My mom wanted you to have this. And she wanted to make sure I was the one to give it to you,” Y/N explained as she offered it to him.

Bruce took it carefully, but didn’t open it. “Yes, I heard about her passing. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” she said hurriedly, making it obvious to Bruce that she did not want nor need his condolences.

Bruce nodded slowly.

There was a pause.

“Do you know what it says?” He asked her lightly.

She shook her head. “I wasn’t supposed to read it.”

“I see.”

“I should really be going. I have a flight to catch later tonight.” Most people that visited Wayne Manor wished to stay there forever. Or their curiosity got the best of them and their eyes took in every little detail.

But Y/N looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. And she wanted to get out as soon as she possibly could.

“Thank you again for seeing me,” she rushed out.

Without waiting for his answer, Y/N turned and started walking out of the room.

But she only got a few steps before she stopped.

Bruce watched her shoulders tense and her body move as she was clearly taking in deep breath.

Slowly, Y/N turned around to face him.

“Were you friends?”

Bruce gave her a watery smile. “She was my girlfriend in high school.”

Y/N seemed annoyed by that answer. “She never mentioned you. Not once.”

Bruce’s brow furrowed at that and his eyes zoned out as if he was revising the past in his mind. “I’m not entirely surprised. Things didn’t really end well between us.”

She nodded slowly. “Goodbye, Mr. Wayne.”

And Y/N turned and strutted out of the room without looking back.

As soon as Bruce heard her cab drive away, he ripped open the envelope and pulled out a letter.

He barely noticed that Dick had walked into the room. “May I ask…Who was the extremely attractive and tall woman that just walked out?”

But Bruce didn’t hear him as his eyes raced across the letter. His heart sped as he continued reading.

“Bruce?” Dick asked after being ignored. “Is she your next conquest or what?”

It wasn’t until Bruce was done reading the letter for the third time that he finally looked up and acknowledged Dick.

Alfred had also walked into the room, unbeknownst to Bruce.

“You OK?” Dick asked, now concerned with how silent Bruce had become.

“Master Wayne?” Alfred also urged.

“That was…my daughter,” Bruce finally muttered.

Dick blinked before his eyes grew wide in shock.

Alfred seemed less surprised, almost as if he had already put that together.

“Excuse me,” Bruce told them and exited the room.

———

Dick and Alfred must’ve warned the rest of the family not to bother Bruce in the cave. Usually he would’ve been disturbed by now.

Bruce had been at the computer for hours.

Alfred was the first person to come down, carrying a tray with dinner and tea.

The butler wasn’t surprised to find Y/N’s face all over the screens.

If Bruce had left any available information hidden before inviting Y/N to the manor, it was all out there now. Bruce knew everything about Y/F/N Y/L/N that was public knowledge – probably even some things that were not.

“You know, you did not seem all that surprised,” Bruce said to Alfred as he put the tray of food down next to him.

“Seemed rather obvious, didn’t it?”

Bruce quickly turned to look at him. “It did?”

Alfred smirked. “Her eyes,” was all he said.

“The color?”

Alfred shook his head. “As soon as she walked into the manor, they were reading me.” He tilted his head in Bruce’s direction. “Observation. Perception. Attention to detail...That is all you, Master Wayne.”

“The way she held herself,” Alfred continued, "Shoulders held back, head high, walking with purpose. No hesitation.”

“Also me?” Bruce asked.

Alfred simply nodded.  

“I don’t think she liked me very much,” Bruce sighed.

He didn’t know how he felt about that yet.

“A lot of people think you don’t like them when you first meet them,” Alfred countered. “Because I don’t trust them yet.”

Alfred raised his brows and silently ask him, ‘Don’t you see my point?’

Bruce rubbed his face and reached for the tea on the tray, ignoring all the food.

“I don’t know why you’re so entertained by this, Alfred.”

“Yes, I was entertained. I just saw a younger, female version of you, Master Wayne.”

“I abandoned her,” Bruce shot.

“You didn’t know she existed,” Alfred corrected.

“And why do you think that is?”

Alfred’s face dropped a little bit when he noticed the envelope discarded on the far end of Bruce’s desktop.

He looked down at the ground as he asked, “Might I ask what the letter said?”

Bruce glared at the letter as if touching it would burn him.

But after a moment, he grabbed it and quickly handed it to Alfred.

Bruce,

If this letter has finally reached you, it is because I have passed.

I must admit that I wrote this letter mostly in the event that I leave my daughter before she is an adult. But once Y/N turned 18, I decided to still pass this along to you.

There is no easy way to tell you this, so I will get to the point.

The young woman who delivered this letter to you is your daughter, Bruce.

Y/F/N Y/M/N Y/L/N.

When I found out I was pregnant with her, I was only 18. We had just graduated high school. You had started traveling. You called less and less. And you grew more distant – physically and emotionally. Eventually, you stopped answering my calls altogether. I left you a voicemail, only saying that I so desperately needed to talk to you, that I needed you.

But you never called me back.

With no words at all, you made it very clear that you no longer wanted anything to do with me.

But there I was, a teenager who was pregnant with our child.

I would be lying if I said I never considered terminating my pregnancy. I was scared and you broke my heart. All I wanted to do was erase you from my life.

But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Once I decided what my future was going to be, I also decided that I did not want you to have any part in it.

I knew even if you pretended to play the doting father and the committed partner, you would grow tired of us eventually. You would resent me and our child for bringing you down. And you would brush us aside for yourself.

I realized I would rather Y/N have no father at all than one who would only disappoint her over and over again.

To this day, I truly believe I did the right thing for all three of us.

There are not enough words to explain the complicated woman that Y/N grew up to be. But I will try my best. I think I owe you that at least. 

Or maybe you have no interest.

I don’t know how she became so much like you, even when I never so much as showed her a picture of you or uttered your name.

She enjoys being alone – almost to her own detriment. I constantly catch her repressing her feelings, always staying strong for everyone else. It reminds me of you. She’s assertive and confident, never letting anything stand in the way of what she wants. Sometimes I don’t think she’s scared of anything. It worries me, just like it worried me when I thought the same of you.

I truly don’t know what you will do with this information.

But…if you have any desire to form some sort of relationship with her, then you should know this: she will not make it easy for you. She will push you away. And she might even hate you. I raised her to never need a man in her life, and she’ll make sure you know that.

I don’t expect anything from you. I never did.

But I would just like to know there might be someone who will be there for her should she need them.

Goodbye, Bruce.

Alfred slowly handed the letter back to Bruce when he was finished.

“I pushed her away because I knew what I was about to become,” Bruce explained darkly. “And I didn’t want her anywhere near it. She would’ve been in danger.”

“Y/N, as well,” Alfred added.

“But had I known…if I just listened to her–”

“Master Wayne, I thought we had agreed to never linger on the ‘what ifs.’”

That sure silenced Bruce.

“Now, what do you plan on doing, Master Wayne?”

———

Y/N frowned when her phone started vibrating and she recognized the name of her mom’s executor on her phone screen.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Y/L/N, how are you?”

“Fine. How are you?” She was quick, wanting to get this over with. Surely, he had bad news. Another medical bill came in or some other expense that slipped by them.

“Good, good. Just curious…have you placed any payments to our various claims?”

“Uhhh…no. But I’m working on it.”

Y/N hadn’t expected to get a call nagging about paying bills.

“No, no, no. You misunderstand. They’ve all been paid,” the executor explained.

Y/N sat up straighter in her chair. “What? That’s not possible.”

“An anonymous donor. They somehow got record of all your outstanding payments and covered all of them.”

Y/N was stunned to silence.

“Ms. Y/L/N…this is a good thing.”

She blinked and shook her head. “Right. Yes, of course. I just…thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank this guardian angel of yours.”

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

Part 2

Let me know what you think!!!

[mc-lukanette]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

—————

Luka took a breath as he hit the last emotion-filled note on his guitar. His body vibrated just as his strings did, though he realized soon enough that there weren't enough high notes to lift him from feeling so low.

Marinette was Ladybug. He was still absorbing it, even though a part of him insisted that it should've been obvious; not just because there could only be one girl in Paris who was so brave, kindhearted, and suited for the job, but... well—

There was also only one girl in Paris who could be so unlucky. Luka was upset - angry, really - at all the things he couldn't have known that just proved to put more pressure on her. People idolized and adored Ladybug, but he never once thought that he wanted to be her. She didn't get anything from being a superhero outside of wasted time and the guilt of having to lie to everyone. He'd felt bad enough keeping Viperion a secret from his family, and he was only a temporary hero.

He sighed, setting his guitar down and raking his fingers through his hair. Marinette being Ladybug would've been enough of a shock on its own, but Adrien being Chat Noir made everything both worse and more complicated. In the midst of all the realizations he'd been having at the time, he felt lucky that he was able to get Ladybug - Marinette - to believe that his mind had just drifted for a moment. She'd still looked worried, but there was nothing he could've told her at the time, his mind too scrambled to be certain what the right steps were.

He'd always imagined that past snakes had learned of other's identities before as well, and thus had wondered before what he'd do if such a thing ever happened. Chat wasn't the one "in charge," so Luka wasn't worried about him (at least not in terms of talking about identities), but Ladybug was a different story.

Previously, he would've said that he'd tell her without hesitation, but the problem was that she was Marinette and the way he found out made things messy. If he told her that he knew, she'd blame herself and demand to know what happened for him to know so she could try to "fix" it, except there was nothing to fix and a conversation about his abilities would inevitably lead to talking about Adrien being Chat Noir.

In essence, he was at a roadblock. There was probably no "right" solution either, as he figured Sass might tell him; that even seemed to be the message Sass wordlessly sent him as Ladybug took his miraculous back. He’d probably known, and maybe had intentionally given him the power to see red strings on heroes in the first place. He didn’t know for sure because he couldn’t ask, aware that it would make Ladybug even more suspicious after he’d already tried to assure her.

What he did know was that Chat was something else to think about now. Chat was tied to her, and he knew - everyone knew, really - that there was drama going on in their relationship. He'd done only a little digging and Face to Face was all the evidence he'd needed, as if seeing the two interact in person wasn't already enough.

There was a pressure there, for Ladybug and Chat Noir to be a couple. Chat Noir was a habitual flirt, and most people ate up any drama or “juicy details” about their relationship. Everyone went wild for the hand kisses that Chat gave Ladybug, whether or not she pulled away from it. Add on the red string of fate, and it just made everything worse, making him wonder what the ties meant; did Adrien's string being tied around his ring mean that he became the cat through fate, specifically so—

It made Luka feel gross just thinking about it, and knowing what he knew made it even worse; people were shipping his friend with someone she wasn't interested in, even if it was "one side" specifically that she wasn't interested in.

He shook his head, feeling vaguely possessive. It wasn't about Marinette being his friend; it was about her deserving better than something deciding her fate for her.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a familiar jingle, pulling out his phone to see a message from Marinette.

Are we still on for tonight?

FOR THE FIRE I MEAN.

I just don't want you to get in trouble! You're sure???

He chuckled, his shoulders easing at Marinette's usual enthusiasm. It was adorable that she was worried about him and not what they were planning to do.

He typed back immediately, I'm sure, Marinette. Don't worry.

He glanced at the drawer under his bed, where all the Adrien pictures were. He imagined Adrien's face plastered all over Paris, flashing back and forth between Adrien himself and Chat Noir.

He felt like he shouldn’t be shocked by the revelation, though he wouldn't be able to quite explain why.

—————

Luka looked over his work once more, checking to make sure the fire would start properly. It'd been a while, but he at least hadn't gotten rusty and even got a congratulatory pat on the back from his mother when she'd seen him carrying the supplies. Had she known that it was Marinette's decision to do this, she would've married them on the spot herself.

As he eyed the box of Adrien pictures set out, he had to bury another slew of thoughts. He knew it was right to try and get rid of Marinette's string, but and he felt guilty knowing that he’d be satisfied at seeing the pictures burn for reasons outside of Marinette.

Speaking of whom, he looked up as he heard a familiar set of footsteps to see Marinette herself heading towards the Liberty, having just made her way down the stairs. She was dressed fairly lightly for nighttime, but wore a fluffy pink shawl around her shoulders to make up for it. Considering what they were doing, it made sense that she wasn't concerned about the cold.

The gangplank had already been put up for her, so she walked across with a smile that warmed him more than the eventual fire would. "Hey."

He smiled back, plopping down comfortably on the seat behind him. "Hey."

She gripped her shawl closer to herself as she glanced at the setup for the fire, the moonlight briefly shining off of her earrings. Luka attempted to avert his gaze from them, but only ended up staring at the red string around her neck. He gave up looking at her entirely at that point, checking the setup again as if it was extremely important to do so.

"You can sit anywhere," he offered, gesturing vaguely to all of the mismatched seats he'd placed around the future fire. He'd wanted to make sure she'd have options, though he hoped the designer side of her didn't mind the chaos of it all. He'd just grabbed whatever spare seating they'd had.

Marinette's eyes scanned over the various choices. Giggling, she replied, "Thank you."

He nodded in acknowledgment. He wasn't in any hurry to get the pictures burned, even if burning them was their goal that day. He'd intentionally had her go slowly so as to test the red string as little as possible, and he planned on doing the same here.

"I brought one for you too," she suddenly said off to his side.

He looked over in curiosity and noticed her open purse, a large piece of blue fabric nearly bursting out of it. It took a bit of effort from her - he imagined that she'd wanted it to be a surprise - but she managed to pull it out, presenting him with a shawl that matched hers exactly outside of its color. He smiled in appreciation of her thoughtfulness, then reached for it before realizing with a start, "Wait. Marinette, did you make these?"

Before she could answer, he took the shawl in his hands, turning it every possible way. Without a doubt, it was her handiwork, and along the back was where the design broke with a Marinette.

"Yeah," she confirmed, and he could practically hear her shy blush. "It's just—you're doing this for me, but even if you weren't, I don't want you to get cold, so..."

"It's great," he cut in firmly, leaving no room for doubt on her end. "Soft. Comfortable. I wish I was better with fashion to say more."

"No, you said more than enough," she assured, taking a seat next to him. That fact looked both silly and intimate given the multiple other seats she could've chosen instead, but he tried not to think about it.

Instead, he gave a curious glance at her pink shawl, silently comparing it to the one she'd given him. "...You didn't have to make it blue," he commented, and clarified before she could think anything bad, "I would've happily worn your colors."

She gave him a look, though didn't seem weirded out by the idea. "But... it's pink."

"What's wrong with pink?" he asked, genuinely confused. "It's your color."

She blushed, her shoulders hunching forward shyly. He didn't even bother taking back what he said, because he meant it; he might've favored blue when he picked out an outfit, but pink made him think of her.

It was much better than red at the very least.

Marinette pursed her lips in response, idly tugging at her shawl and seeming to be in an internal debate with herself. Apparently making a decision, she closed her eyes and breathed up, letting out a soft, "Okay."

He blinked and gave a tilt of his head to show his confusion. "Okay?"

She turned to him, resolutely pulling the fabric off of her shoulders. "T-then you can wear mine?"

He couldn't get another word out, too distracted by Marinette leaning towards him and carefully settling the shawl around his shoulders. Despite the bold move, she couldn't keep eye contact with him, awkwardly hanging onto the front of the shawl as she stared at his lap. She wasn't exactly warm or exuded any particular body heat - in fact, he was sure that her hands would be cold if he held them - but there was a comfort there that couldn't be matched by anyone else.

It took him a moment to make a move, at which point he remembered the fabric underneath his fingers. In a motion equally as careful as hers, he raised the blue shawl and settled it around her shoulders. She finally met his gaze, surprised, but smiled gratefully and released her grip on the pink shawl.

"You can keep it," she said quietly, with less shyness than before.

"Really?" he asked, placing a hand on the fabric to make sure it was what she meant.

She nodded, gripping her own as she replied, "A-as long as I can keep this one in exchange?"

He snorted, even covering his mouth to stifle a chuckle. "You made them, Marinette. Of course you can." He gave an obvious glance at the shawl to admire it. "I'd be happy to match with you."

She beamed at him. "Me too."

That topic officially concluded, his mind went blank for anything more and both of their gazes drifted to the unlit fire. He didn't have to look to know that she was shifting in anxiety in her seat, either wanting to back out or just get it over with.

"Are you ready?" he asked experimentally.

"Yes," she responded, perhaps a little stiffly but the resolve was there. She wanted this.

Luka stood briefly, and within the next few moments, the fire had been lit. The flames started out faint at first, then grew until it was something respectable, easily illuminating the small area around them. The slight chill from the wind dissipated as the fire warmed their skin, Luka hearing Marinette sigh in content harmony with him.

Neither of them took their shawls off despite the increased warmth.

The additional light from the fire made the box of pictures more obvious, with it sitting on a table not too far away. Luka took a step towards it, but Marinette was faster, grabbing up the box and turning to him with a determined expression.

"I have to do it," she insisted.

He didn't exactly disagree - this wasn't his battle - but it didn't stop him from looking nervously at the red string, the dangling part of it laying across her hand and dipping itself in the box, taunting him.

"How many do you want to do at a time?" He was careful in his wording, not wanting his tone to imply anything.

She furrowed her brows, staring down at the box in deep thought. Her fingers flexed against the cardboard, a small gust of wind blowing by and causing the fire behind her to whip around in protest.

"...All of them," she muttered, then met his gaze cautiously. "Will that be okay?"

Luka glanced at the fire, but it wasn't that he was worried about. The string would try to fight her, he was sure of it, and the only thing he wasn't sure of was if it would be better or not to let her go with her wishes. He half expected the string to physically drag her off the Liberty, and the mere thought caused his neck to sting.

But, he also believed in her. She was fighting fate herself without having used the snake even once, and he wasn't going to deny her if she thought this was best.

"Yeah," he assured. "Just don't get too close. I don't want you to get hurt."

She nodded, obviously not catching onto what he really meant.

Luka sat down on his chair, toying with the rips in his pants to keep his hands occupied as he watched her. Her posture was straight and confident as she faced the flames, despite the shake in her hands, and he was sure the fire in her eyes wasn't just a reflection.

He didn't see Ladybug in her place. There was only Marinette and everything that he already knew about her. Knowing what he did now wasn't surprising, but heartbreaking, and he couldn't be prouder of her for doing what she was trying to do.

To go against what everyone - even fate itself - expected of her. He couldn't relate on her level, but looking as he did and having the mother he did, he understood.

Finally, Marinette stepped forward, and the string was already tightening around her neck. She froze, shutting her eyes and clutching the box tighter as she mentally fought the sensation.

He barely managed to keep himself still.

She swallowed, taking another step and managing to open her eyes again. She squinted at the fire, either from the light or from her own resolve.

Then, all at once, she thrust the box forward, the pictures flying out and mingling with the flames. The fire flared up in response, practically roaring, and the string tightened further in protest. Marinette even let out a cry as she tossed the box aside.

Luka barely had time to react when she suddenly rushed towards him. He outstretched his arms and she filled up his lap, her heart seeking him out as she clutched his jacket. He wrapped his arms around her, hoping his comfort came through without words.

Her breathing was ragged, and he couldn't tell whether it was from the string or her emotions running high. He brought one of his hands higher up on her back, knowing that he could do nothing more for her but wishing he could.

He took solace in the fact that the worst of it was over.

Staring over her head, he watched as the pictures burned, blond turning black as the flames singed the pictures and reduced them to ashes. Marinette, meanwhile, remained against him, desperately clutching his fabric for wordless support. He honestly would've been okay being the only spectator to what she'd done, but she then shifted in his lap to glance behind her.

They watched the sight together, the fire whipping about with the wind like it was making sure the job was done as they'd wanted. In no time at all, there was no evidence of the pictures left outside of what was allowing the fire to burn brighter.

Marinette let out sigh of relief, collapsing against him again and nuzzling his chest. "What's wrong with me...?"

"Nothing," he replied, clutching her tighter. "You were amazing."

She looked up at him, possibly searching his expression to ensure he meant it, then offered a tired smile. She shifted again, but this time without any urgency or need. Luka sucked in a breath as she nestled her head against his shoulder, making herself comfortable on his lap while still being in a position where they could watch the fire together. Slowly, he relaxed, and they ended up not needing those other chairs after all, neither moving from their comfortable positions.

And, maybe it was just him, but the string seemed looser around her neck than it ever had before.

[wanderinginksplot]

Riye (A Favor) - Alpha-17/f!Reader fic

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Third installment of my Alpha-17/fem!reader fic!

Word-Count: 3,100

Warnings: aggressive flirtation, Alpha is rude.

---

You carefully straightened the neckline of your shirt, eyes on the refresher mirror. It might be silly, but today marked a full month since you had come to Kamino, and you wanted to look your best.

Your outfit had survived the morning, despite a meeting with several Kaminoans who wanted updates on your progress. You had been able to deliver good news - that you were right on schedule - but a sense of doubt overshadowed any triumph you might have felt. The first deadline had been met, but the next one promised to step up the workload, and you were already feeling overwhelmed at the idea.

Still, you were determined to push the negativity out of your mind. You would figure out a better schedule to complete the work later. Today was a celebration.

The bad thing about taking more care with your appearance was that it attracted more attention than usual from the cadets. You had politely turned away two different groups of young men by the time Alpha was due to arrive in the cafeteria. Another cadet - alone, this time - was doing his best to keep from being dismissed as well.

"Was it raining when you came in, ma’am?" he asked, leaning over you. "I have flight drills after this and it gets even more dangerous in the rain."

You did your best not to smile at the obvious way he was hinting about being a pilot. "You know, I think it was raining the last time I was near a window," you told him, voice grave.

"Then I'm going to need some luck to survive," he said dramatically, flashing you a smile he clearly hoped would be charming. "I've heard a kiss from a beautiful woman is a good start. What do you think? It might help me survive the afternoon."

"I wouldn't count on it," a dark voice warned.

The cadet stood as straight as possible as Alpha approached. The captain brushed your new pilot friend aside with a twist of his armored shoulders and sat down. He proceeded to start eating, ignoring the cadet completely.

Any other cadet would have backed away, thankful that Alpha hadn't decided to throw them directly into the oceans of Kamino, but this one was more determined than most.

He winked at you from behind Alpha's head. "By the way, my name is-"

"She doesn't want to know your name," Alpha told him. "Get out of here before I decide that I want to know it."

"Very flattering, Captain," the cadet said cheekily. "But Jango's face isn't the one I want to wake up to, yeah?"

Alpha swallowed his mouthful of food and deliberately set his fork aside, standing slowly from the table. He drew up to his full height before turning around. He was taller than the cadet, forcing the younger man to look up.

"Now I'm extremely interested," Alpha said slowly, his slow and methodical voice dripping with menace. "What's your designation?"

Behind him, you winced. You hated how glaringly obvious it was that the Kaminoans considered these men products. Also, this cadet might die in front of you and that would almost certainly ruin your ability to eat in the cafeteria anymore.

"CT-7115," the cadet said with a grin.

"Ah, part of Zackra Trem's group." Alpha raised his comlink. "Trem."

"Alpha," a female voice returned immediately.

"I've got one of your pilot cadets here in the cafeteria. 7115."

"Broadside," Trem said, clearly recognizing the number. "He's one of my best, Alpha. Don't break him too badly."

"No promises," Alpha replied, turning slightly back toward Broadside. Since you were seated directly behind Alpha, you couldn't see his expression yourself, but it was enough to make Broadside's grin slip for the first time.

"I'll make you a deal," Trem offered. "I'll give him hell here and then send him back to you tonight. I'm sure he could help you demonstrate something unpleasant to your ARCs."

Alpha considered that for a long moment while Broadside shifted uncomfortably. Eventually, he conceded, "That works."

Trem laughed. "Do I even wanna know what he did to you?"

"Harassed an uninterested female."

The laughter emanating from the comlink's speakers cut off abruptly. "In that case, I think we should coordinate punishments. I'll be in touch, Captain."

The transmission cut off suddenly and Alpha looked at Broadside once more. "You had best get to your training, son."

Broadside, looking suddenly concerned, nodded and hurried away. “What was that?” you asked quietly when Alpha had sat down across from you once more.

“I told his superior officer about his behavior.”

“What more than that?” you pressed.

Alpha grinned suddenly, and it was half a snarl. “It just so happens that his superior officer is Zackra Trem. It’s not my story to tell, but she’s got more reason than most to hate that kind of osik behavior.”

You could very well guess the rest of that story. Your heart twisted for Trem, though you had never met her. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Nice, but she wouldn’t appreciate the sentiment,” Alpha told you, not unkindly. “Feel sorry for your little pilot. She’s a Weequay who ran with Mandalorians for the past few decades. Whatever she makes him do, it won’t be pleasant.”

You chuckled at that, trying not to actually feel sorry for Broadside. In the time you had been hanging around Alpha, most of the cadets had eased up a bit on flirting, but every now and then, someone crossed the line.

Alpha picked his fork up again and shot you an intense look. “Why are you dressed like that?”

Though your immediate instinct was to be embarrassed about being overdressed, even mildly, you rolled your eyes at him. “Anything looks like too much when everyone else wears uniforms all of the time. Remember that day I wore a necklace?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Alpha said, snorting. “A necklace. What are you, a Senator?”

“Your ideas of fancy clothing are extremely skewed, I hope you know that,” you told him, adjusting your collar again.

“Hazards of the job,” Alpha replied with a casual shrug as he returned his focus to his food. “Looks okay, though.”

You paused, staring openly at him. Had Alpha just complimented you? Surely not… The universe wouldn’t survive such unexpected behavior, not without signs that space was collapsing in on itself.

Alpha noticed you watching him and lifted an eyebrow in question while he chewed. You just shook your head and applied yourself to your own lunch, avoiding his curious eyes. Explaining your thought process there would be an intensive effort, especially if your goal was to keep him from being uncomfortable.

Fortunately, avoiding Alpha’s eyes let you notice the approaching cadet sooner than your companion did, and you had time to brace yourself before the young man - even younger than you were used to seeing - opened his mouth.

“Excuse me-”

“Kriff,” Alpha said loudly, dark brows crashing down over his eyes. “Go away, kid. I’ve already ruined one cadet’s day and I have no problem adding to the list. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“N-no, sir, of course not,” the cadet told him, nodding respectfully at you as he went on. “I wanted to talk to you. Is it true you served with General Kenobi?”

"What?" Alpha asked, sounding uncertain for the first time since you had met him. You quirked your brows, unsure of whether to be amused or concerned.

"General Kenobi," the cadet repeated. "And General Skywalker, too! I heard you went on a mission with both of them. What was it like?"

"Look, kid, I don't have time to answer all your questions about Jedi-"

"That's fine!" the cadet told him. "I already know everything there is to know about the Jedi. I want to know more about your experience, specifically."

The muscles in Alpha's jaw flexed and you quickly interrupted. "What's your name?"

"Dogma, ma'am," the cadet told you, making an apologetic face. "I know names are against regulations, but my batchers won't stop calling me that. My designation is CT-4287."

“Nice to meet you, Dogma,” you said politely.

Dogma's cheeks darkened and he gave a tight nod. "You too, ma'am."

"Stop flirting with the poor boy," Alpha chided and you gaped at the captain. So much for trying to help him.

"Dogma, I'm sure Captain Alpha would love to answer any question you have," you told the young cadet, grinning triumphantly at Alpha.

"Wait," Alpha ordered, catching at your wrist before you could stand up. His hand was ridiculously huge and you found yourself shackled by his gentle grip. "You haven't finished eating."

You grinned wider at him, slipping your wrist out from between his fingers. "I'll take it with me. Have fun, you two!"

Dogma gave a half-hearted wave while Alpha glared.

---

The rest of the afternoon was spent locked away in your office, working on the second major project you had to complete. Your concerns about the deadline were unfortunately proving correct. The icy grip of stress and fear were squeezing your heart, and you were honestly relieved when someone knocked on the door of your office.

“One moment!” you called to the unseen visitor, but they didn’t seem to hear you. Instead, they continued to pound on the door until you opened it. You were unsurprised to see Alpha on the other side, glowering down at you.

“You’re mean for a nat-born,” he grumbled, brushing you aside as he pushed into the office.

After letting the door slide closed once more, you followed him over to your desk and plopped down in your chair. Rather than sit in one of the chairs opposite you, Alpha leaned his hip against the side of your desk, much closer than you were comfortable with.

In a show of belligerence, you crossed your arms and lifted your chin as you replied, “Serves you right for being rude about my outfit.”

“I didn’t say anything bad about your clothes!” Alpha denied, befuddled.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t say anything nice about them, either,” you argued childishly, conveniently forgetting his half-compliment at lunch.

Alpha frowned. “You want me to… talk about clothing with you?”

Well. Put that way, it did sound a little silly. Of all of the things you were sure Alpha did well, deep discussions about fashion might be beyond him. Honestly, they might be beyond you, too. You sighed. “No, I don’t want you to talk about clothing with me, but I was trying to look nice today. I put a lot of effort into this.”

“I don’t understand why,” Alpha said. “You look… fine… every other day.”

“Fine,” you repeated dryly. “Thanks, I was going for fine.”

“I don’t understand what I did wrong.” You were able to hear the growing frustration in his voice. “What do you want me to do?”

“Maybe don’t act like I’m wearing a ballgown to work if I show up wearing a necklace!”

“What is a ballgown?”

You stared at Alpha, the simple question making your brain screech to a halt. It was like a chasm had opened between you, and it made you reconsider a few things. Since you had arrived on Kamino, you had treated the clone troopers as if they were people you might meet out in the galaxy, but that wasn’t exactly true. You still believed that they were people - of course you did - but you were only just coming to realize how different they were from anyone you had ever met. While the troopers shared their own experiences on Kamino and had been trained to be perfect soldiers by the time they shipped out, they were startlingly young by the standards of the rest of the galaxy.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter.” You fiddled with one of the many datapads littering your desk rather than meet Alpha’s intense gaze. “I am sorry for siccing Dogma on you, though.”

“You should be,” he growled. “He asked ten questions before I could shake him off. Ten!”

“Wow, that’s what? Five days worth of questions?” you teased.

“Five days for you,” Alpha told you seriously. “For anyone else, that’s more than I would ever answer.”

You were unreasonably touched by the reminder that Alpha let you learn things about him that no one else would ever know. Moved by a sudden surge of warmth for the ARC captain, you repeated your prior sentiment, but more fervently. “In that case, I honestly apologize for unleashing Dogma. If there’s anything I can do to make him back off, please let me know.”

Alpha’s stare was level and unwavering. “Yeah?”

“Of course,” you agreed immediately, not understanding what a wildly stupid idea that was. That was fine - you would learn… and it didn’t take long.

That night at dinner, Alpha came in and sat across from you, but instead of starting the meal in silence, he leaned across the table slightly to get your attention. Lowly, he asked, “Are you still willing to help me with Dogma?”

“Yes,” you agreed simply. “Do you have a plan?”

“Yeah. Flirt with me.”

You fought not to react visibly to that. Carefully keeping your face blank and your voice flat, you replied, “What.”

He leaned even closer, eyes lit with excitement. “I’ve been threatening and trying to alienate Dogma all day, but the only time he was uncomfortable was when you flirted with him.”

“I didn’t flirt with him!” you reminded him. “I just said it was nice to meet him.”

“Fine,” Alpha conceded. “We’ll just have to do better than that if we’re going to convince him to leave me alone.”

Abruptly feeling like this was the worst idea anyone had ever had, you tried to speak in your own defense. “Alpha, I don’t think this is a good idea-”

“You said you would help me,” he reminded firmly. “He’ll be here in a minute. I need your answer.”

Your heart was pounding, one of many warnings that this was a bad idea, but you nodded anyway. Alpha smiled - he actually smiled - and the expression looked menacing on his face. “Good.”

In a moment, he had circled the table to sit beside you, his huge frame making you feel ridiculously tiny in comparison. He wasn't wearing any armor at all now, and you could feel the heat of his skin through what little space there was between you.

You tried not to obviously tense as he spoke next to your ear. "There he is, get ready."

Impossibly, Alpha managed to get closer to you, tugging behind your knee slightly so that you were angled toward him. When he had finished posing you, Alpha’s large hand lifted to cradle your face. His fingers brushed over your cheekbone before trailing down to your jaw.

"My little neverd," he murmured to you, face filled with affection.

You didn't have to feign embarrassment at the warmth in his tone matched with the intense eye contact he was giving you. When you replied, you tried not to sound squeaky but only managed to sound shaky instead. "You know Mando'a is my weakness."

He laughed, a low chuckle that sent delicious chills running over your skin. “Why do you think I use it?”

“Alpha…” you chided, managing to sound mildly flirtatious.

“Come on, little one,” he urged you, voice velvet in a way you hadn’t known it could be. “Let’s go back to your- Ah, one moment, neverd. Dogma, sit down.”

You looked over to see Dogma standing at the other side of the table. You had never even noticed, your entire focus narrowed down to Alpha. Dogma looked as embarrassed as you felt. While you were focused on Dogma, Alpha’s arm snaked around you, pressing against your waist to pull you flush against his side. Your face flamed and Dogma glanced away.

“Sir, I- I’m sorry, I forgot I’m on duty tonight,” Dogma muttered, speaking so quickly it was difficult to understand him.

“Sorry to hear that, cadet,” Alpha replied gravely, flexing his fingers against your side. It made you push a little closer to him in reflex, the tip of your nose brushing the space under his jaw as you tried to look up at him. Alpha shivered, and you weren’t sure how much of the motion was acting. “Maybe later.”

Dogma gave an awkward nod and hurried off.

Alpha started laughing even before he let you go, his muscular chest shaking against your shoulder. After a moment that felt like it had stretched an hour, he pulled his arm back and slid away a bit. You immediately felt the loss of his closeness and suddenly you were horribly uncertain of what expression you were wearing. Just in case it said more than you wanted it to, you looked back at the entrance of the cafeteria.

“I feel bad,” you admitted.

"Don't," Alpha advised, looking toward the door as well. “He’ll be fine. He’s a good soldier, just a little…”

He trailed off, apparently content to let his thought stay incomplete. You glanced over to him with an eyebrow raised, but his eyes were fixed on the door. “You can see every access point in the room from here.”

“That is why I chose this spot,” you agreed.

“Switch with me tomorrow.”

“Not a chance,” you refused. “This is my spot.”

“Then I hope you like sitting next to me,” Alpha told you. Surprised, you laughed up at him and he met your eyes. “You know, I’ve never seen anyone blush on cue.”

“Hidden talent,” you explained vaguely. Alpha didn’t seem convinced, so you changed the subject. “What does neverd mean?”

“Civilian.”

You laughed before you could stop yourself. “Civilian? That’s what you used as a term of endearment?”

Alpha blinked blankly at you. “What’s wrong with it? You are a civilian.”

“Yes, but,” you thought over it for a second, “-it’s not very romantic. Usually, people say things like ‘dear’ or ‘sweetheart’.”

“How should I have known that?” Alpha asked.

It was the ballgown situation all over again, and more than you were willing to tackle that day. “Well, some warning before you want me to go undercover would be helpful.”

Alpha snorted. “How much warning do you need?”

You pretended to consider that for a moment. “Two business days, minimum.”

He frowned fiercely. “If you get two full days of warning, I expect more. I need you to show up in a disguise with three different accents ready.”

“Harsh terms,” you told him with a smile. “With those negotiation skills, you’d make a great senator."

Alpha gave you the darkest scowl you had ever seen him muster. “Watch it, neverd.”

Idly, you wondered if Alpha would protect you from himself, but the amused glimmer in his dark eyes told you it would be unnecessary.

---

A/N - Pretty sure Broadside is wildly OOC, my bad. Also, sorry for the weird image for this chapter. I didn't really want the text bubbles in there, but I needed to keep Alpha's sassy hip lean.

Taglist - @imabeautifulbutterfly @cagrame @mysticalturtleenthusiast @marvel-starwars-nerd @lackofhonor

[stormblessed95]

https://mobile.twitter.com/bonobonoya_03/status/1445771462174908426

So this the context

But still I didn't understand why kook reacted like that?

Hello, I saw the first part of your ask where you asked why JK reacted the way he did. I'm not posting the first half though because the Twitter account it came from is an extremely toxic Jimin solo account whose caption to that video was a little shady towards JK anyway. For anyone who wants to know which account it was so they can go report and block on Twitter, it's the Aquarius Jimin account. They are on report accounts for JK and Tae at least once a week and have made appearances on report accounts for the hyung line too, specifically mostly Yoongi. Here is the link from this part of your ask with the same video from an account that I don't know so I'm assuming they are fine and it's just from a cute thread otherwise:

This moment comes from this vlive for their comeback show for the Young Forever album on 160501 and starts at 1:06:40.

Jimin shares that they had about 200 male extras who came to film the scene for the fire MV. And he said that after the scene was over, one of the extras came over and was super shy but handed him a piece of paper. When Jimin opened it, the extra had drawn them on the paper and wanted to give it to Jimin. While Jimin is explaining this story, JK, multiple time looks surprised and is asking "a man??" Which is not added to the subs:

The rest of the guys teased about it saying that he didn't do his job but instead spent the time drawing BTS. It was obvious this extra was very much so enthralled with the members and wanted to gift this to jimin though. Namjoon seemed to recognize which extra Jimin might have meant, asking if it was the one with the glasses, etc. He then said he was very young, maybe 17 and in high-school. At which, JK starts laughing a bit and joking about dance groups covering Fire with the rest of the guys.

I don't think it needs to be read into all that much. JK seemed to be curious about where Jimins story might have been going, maybe a little worried. He seemed strangely fixated on the fact that it was another man who was giving Jimin presents during this MV shooting. And he seemed to find the story much funnier after he found out that this man was most likely just a teenager still in high-school. This is honestly probably still during the timeline that if we are correct that they are together, they were just starting to push past those friendship boundaries and things are still new. And now on live he found out that a man he didn't know was giving Jimin a present that he spent time working on when they were on set and he was just hearing about it. I'm not saying he was jealous, maybe just trying to figure out what happened and if he needed to sort through feelings of his own about it. Which after finding out it was a kid, he no longer had any feelings about it anymore it seemed. Lol honestly it was probably him trying to make sure he also got the details of Jimins story correct too, perhaps just another instance of them being shocked when they don't know everything and every detail of the other person. Who knows. It is interesting that he asked "a man" a couple times, and got ignored, but I don't really think it's a big deal or a big moment in any direction.

Just my personal opinions. You should all watch the vlive if you haven't yet too! Thanks for the ask! Have a good day

[stoneworldsimp]

what’s mine is not yours —a request

platonic senku x reader

warnings: swearing, anxiety, talk of insecurities and worries, gender dysphoria

your name!

your name!

YOUR NAME!

your hands slapped to your ears, eyes shut tight. i can’t take this so early in the morning.

the voices from your dream had lingered longer than you would have liked. it reminded you it was time to face another day, to endure another long long day and night of hearing the wrong things.

maybe if i went and lived on my own again…i wouldn’t have to deal with it—no. senku needs me. he needs me…what does he need me for again? you rolled onto your stomach; your pillow rustled as you flopped it on top of your head. he doesn’t need me. i’d rather be lonely than hear everyone say some bullshit about me.

everyone in the village knew you as a miss. yuzuriha made you more neutral clothes upon request, but everyone assumed you were tomboyish. luckily, no one read more into it; it was nice to dress comfortably, but it was like no one else understood. why were they still calling you a girl? and the older folks, you knew they meant well! but you couldn’t help but feel like their constant “sweet girl”s were making fun of you at this point.

i can’t do it, i can’t do it, they’re making fun of me right now, as i think. as i exist!

you felt a tear trickle down the side of your nose.

oh, you’re kidding. crying? again? is this—

a knock on your door halted your thoughts; you quickly flipped back and sat up in your bed on the ground of your hut, and wiped your face quickly. you lightly slapped your cheeks to stop yourself from continuing crying.

“yeah.”

“it’s me. can i come in?”

senku’s voice brought some sort of relief; personally you felt it was better for him to come in at such a time than anyone else.

you took a deep breath. “sure, but i just woke up. i’m staying under my blanket.”

senku laughed behind the door. a small shove was made and it opened, revealing a quite chipper senku. he liked to come early in the morning when the rest of the village was quiet.

his smirk faltered once he saw your face. you believed you hid your crying well; you didn’t think to check your red eyes or stinging cheeks.

“what’s wrong?” he asked, his words much gentler than when he asked to come in.

damn. how could i not realize i was so obvious?

with a deep breath, you whispered, “senku.. we’re pretty good friends, right?”

he snickered. “of course we are, way more than that asshole gen.”

his voice was closer. you laughed as well, and wiped your eyes clear. he slowly walked over and sat down on the floor next to you. senku was looking at you, really looking at you; it was intense, almost if he was making sure his closeness or anything about his presence wasn’t bothering you.

“okay…i’m about to say a lot of stuff. let me know if you need me to explain more, or if i’m talking too much. or—“

your words halted as senku put a hand on your shoulder, a smile light on his face. “all ears.”

you smiled back softly. “okay. so—back in..our time,”you gestured between the two of you with your hands, “i told my family and friends i was, uhm… nonbinary. like i don’t feel male or female, i use they/them pronouns; all that good stuff. still feel that way now. and, for quite some time, they didn’t believe me. not in a direct ‘you’re lying’ way, but more of ‘i don’t understand it therefore you shouldn’t understand it’ type of thing. i got a lot of shit from people who weren’t my friends, too. but with my friends’ support and getting more confidence after coming out, my parents were able to kinda see it. but yeah, it took quite some time. probably like.. eight months? even then, i had to remind them constantly, ‘not a daughter. please don’t call me she or he. please don’t call me a woman.’ but we were getting there. and right when we got petrified, right when it happened, i saw the look on my mom’s face.

“we were talking about me and my identity and it was like something had clicked in her brain. like, she knew exactly what i meant and how i felt when i said what it meant to be nonbinary. i don’t even remember what i said specifically, but i remember her expression as if she were standing in front of me right now. i was so hopeful i’d see her again, her expression got me through my petrification and even helped me break out of it. but of COURSE, i didn’t ever see her again after i woke up. and then i almost lost my own sense of self after being by myself for probably a year.. i was under the assumption i’d never meet another person again, so when i did run into your village—i had this gross feeling of dread. and i realized it was the same feeling that basically lived inside of me before i came out.”

you sat up straighter and looked away from senku. “it’s like, i have to rebuild my identity all over again. people always say you shouldn’t care about what other people say, but i can’t help it. i’m a sensitive person. i get hurt easily, no matter how hard i try to thicken my skin. they all, they all just use ‘she’ and ‘her’ and ‘that girl’ so often, it feels like they’re making fun of me, like they’re constantly telling me i’m not who i say i am. and i can’t tell them senku, being nonbinary was confusing for so many people in our time, i hardly believe they’ll understand it now. sure, my parents were fine, but it took a while before they got it. i can only imagine how long it’ll take for everyone here.”

senku was quiet. have you over explained yourself? was it too overbearing? in all honesty you’d only been good friends with senku a short while; you should have waited at least a little bit longer before letting him in on something so personal—

“it all, it all kind of makes sense now.”

huh?! “what?”

“what you told me, i think i get it now.”

you gave him a look up and down. it was possible, but you didn’t think there was much of a chance that senku would be so..cool with it. not right away. you expected some form of silent treatment for at least a day or two, so he could collect his own thoughts.

“i’m gonna say something, and i need you to listen. yeah?”

you stared at him like your brain short-circuited. what the fuck is he gonna say to me.. oh god, he doesn’t wanna be friends anymore. but he’ll be too nice to kick me out of the village. but it is his village—

“hey, hey…are you with me?” you both sat facing each other now, and his hands rested on your shoulders.

just hear him out. “yeah. all ears.”

he smoothed your shoulders with his thumb. “you’re just as valid as everyone out there. i know you’re scared, but believe me when i say they will not be mocking you in any way. sure, it might take a while for them to understand, but theyre not going to give up just because they dont get something right away. it took me a few months to fully convince this village i could help them, and even then, there were still a few who didn’t fully understand the experiments and contraptions i made until a while later. i know that isn’t the same as your situation… but what i’m trying to say is that they will try their best to know you, the real you. they aren’t going to mock you; if anything, they’ll have lots of questions to ask you.

“also, you have me, you have gen to help out in case you don’t have the capacity to answer everything yourself. i’ve a few things about gender before the stone world, and gen definitely knows a lot of things that are relevant to it as well.

“everyone here… they’re all so eager to learn, i highly doubt they’ll be unaccepting. they’ll be curious. and they’ll be happy you’re letting them in on something that is so important.”

tears had made their way down your face and on your clothes halfway through his mini-monologue; you didn’t notice him continuously wiping them away until he was finished. “it’s going to be okay. trust me.”

with a quiet sob, you pushed yourself into his arms for a hug.

“thank you.”

you knew he wasn’t particularly one for any type of physical contact, but he gladly accepted. for the occasion, he thought. his arms slowly wrapped around your slightly shaking body as you tried to calm down. neither of you spoke for a few minutes; only your soft sniffles were heard in the hut.

“senku, i think that was the most i’ve heard you talk about something that wasn’t directly related to science,” you laughed into his neck.

he laughed back. “i had a lot saved, since there were moments i could tell you were kind of uncomfortable. i didn’t want to force you into talking about it either, so i just waited. tried to figure out what i was going to say. it had to be good.. you are one of my closest friends, after all.”

both of you embraced each other a little tighter. “i hope all of this helped, i want you to live here with none of those worries. especially after so many months of having it bottled inside.”

you nodded in response.

today.. today will be the day i tell everyone not to use what they used to call me; that won’t do at all anymore.

today, i’ll tell everyone my name.

[robininthelabyrinth]

I love your Nie brothers content, all of it, but there is so little written about the friendship between Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian! We know they were friends in Cloud Recesses, but it's never explored how these genius guys, even if one is focused on magical inovations and the other on strategy and politics, got on. Something which shows how well they got each other would be great

1

Wei Wuxian’s fist trembled. How dare he – worthless peacock – my shijie..!

But before he could throw a punch, he saw a swirl of white – Lan Wangji, sweeping forward with a face like a graveyard, and Nie Huaisang cringing in his shadow – and suddenly he realized that he didn’t need to punch Jin Zixuan.

Speaking of others behind their backs is forbidden.

Sneering without reason is forbidden.

Arrogance is forbidden.

Do not be haughty and complacent.

Do not praise yourself and slander others.

Do not make assumptions about others.

Do not insult people.

Do not take your words lightly.

Wei Wuxian grinned with teeth. “Hey, Lan Zhan!” he sang out, and Jin Zixuan blanched. “Perfect timing!”

Later, after he’d laughed himself sick at Jin Zixuan’s punishment – humiliatingly perfect – and making his appreciation very clear to Lan Wangji, he went to go find Nie Huaisang.

“When did you go get Lan Zhan?” he asked, honestly curious. He hadn’t known he was going to get into a fight until he was there and it was happening, but Nie Huaisang, of all people, had apparently figured out what was going to happen before it happened and took steps to fix it.

“The second they started talking about girls,” Nie Huaisang said promptly. “It’s fairly obvious that Jin Zixuan is resentful of his parents managing his life and he’s lashing out at everything, including specifically your shijie, so a nasty comment was inevitable.”

Wei Wuxian blinked, derailed from his original line of questioning. “He – what? Wait, that’s why he’s so rude about my shijie?”

“Of course,” Nie Huaisang said, blinking back at him. “What did you think? That he just didn’t like her? He’s barely even met her.”

Wei Wuxian hadn’t thought about that way, but it made a certain amount of sense. “When did you get so good at reading people?” he asked, bemused. “I didn’t…uh…”

“Think I have any skills?”

Wei Wuxian coughed.

“I don’t!” Nie Huaisang beamed, clearly very proud of it. “But I do have a lot of expensive hobbies, and that means I need pocket money.”

Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure he understood the connection, and said as much.

Nie Huaisang laughed at him. “The Nie sect believes in self-sufficiency,” he explained. “My brother gives me a certain amount of money to spend, sure, but we’re not the Jin sect; I can’t just buy everything that I lay my eyes on and send the bill back home – my brother would break my legs! I’m expected to find a way to increase the money I get until it’s enough to cover both my needs and wants, necessities and luxuries both, and if I can’t, then I have to do without luxuries.”

Nie Huaisang has never, not once, in the entire few months Wei Wuxian spent in his company, done without luxuries.

“So,” Wei Wuxian said, feeling oddly unnerved and unsure why, “you learned how to read people because you want to act like…a merchant?”

Nie Huaisang lightly tapped his head with his fan, rolling his eyes at him. “Stop being such a landed gentry young master, Wei-xiong. There’s nothing wrong with trade! How much of your sect’s money comes from merchants interested in keeping their trade routes free of resentful energy?”

Wei Wuxian wrinkled his nose a little. “That’s cheapening it a bit, don’t you think? As cultivators, it’s our duty to stand up as heroes, to defend the innocent and defeat evil, to purify –”

“Right, right. Remind me again how the Jiang sect pays for all that pretty purple?”

“Well…I mean…”

Technically, yes, there were all the dye sellers and the fabric merchants, but…

Nie Huaisang was laughing at him.

“Don’t worry about it, Wei-xiong,” he said, wiping his eyes. “You stick to doing your own thing. If you ever need to sell anything, come to me.”

“Of course,” Wei Wuxian said, privately thinking to himself that he’d rather farm for crops than become a seller hawking his goods in the marketplace. “Hey, wait, what is it that you sell, anyway?”

Nie Huaisang sniggered and refused to tell him.

2

It was porn.

Also barbeque and liquor, although in that case Nie Huaisang mostly played the middleman between the vendors of Caiyi Town and the students stuck eating Lan vegetables.

Sometimes he could even be convinced to tug on his contacts for other things, too.

“You’re a true friend,” Wei Wuxian said, clutching the bottle of chili sauce to his chest. “A true and wonderful friend.”

“You still have to pay,” Nie Huaisang said, his eyes curving up behind his fan. “No discounts.”

“A ruthless, vicious, cut-throat friend…”

“I lend you the porn for free, don’t I?

“Wonderful! Wonderful friend!”

3

No matter what Jiang Cheng said, Wei Wuxian was trying to keep his head down during their time at the indoctrination camp. He was taking this whole thing very seriously: he wasn’t making a fuss (too much), he wasn’t being insulting (too much), he wasn’t even socializing (too much).

Lan Wangji didn’t count, anyway; after what had happened to him, he needed someone bothering him.

But Wei Wuxian was being good and keeping back from the rest!

Well, he was, except then he saw Nie Huaisang and just had to go over to say hello. It was only polite, and had nothing to do with the fact that during the months he spent at the Cloud Recesses, he’d learned that Nie Huaisang could sell anyone on anything.

“I don’t suppose you have contacts that will sell you barbeque here,” Wei Wuxian said as a greeting, because the food they’d received was frankly disgusting in a way that made him wistful for the Lan sect like it had been a gourmet restaurant.

“Well,” Nie Huaisang hedged, and Wei Wuxian’s eyebrows shot up. “Don’t get too excited, it’s not barbeque…”

It was meat, though, chunks of that had probably been roasted as skewers at one point, and Wei Wuxian didn’t even care that it was cold as he scarfed it down, immediately feeling ten times better than he’d been before.

“Where?” he asked. “How?”

“There’ll be a surprise inspection tomorrow morning,” Nie Huaisang said instead. “Keep your head down, they’re looking to make an example out of somebody.”

“How do you know that?”

Nie Huaisang shrugged. “I brought art.”

“To the indoctrination camp?”

“Wen soldiers get lonely and bored too, Wei-xiong.”

“You’re trading for information using porn?”

“Don’t be silly. I’m trading porn for meat, and getting the information while we’re chatting. A large number of the Wen sect cultivators used to be their own sects, you know, before they were absorbed, and not all of them are happy about what’s going on here. You just have to figure out who the loyalists are, avoid them, and focus on the rest, and it’s easy.”

“I still can’t believe you brought porn to the Wen sect,” Wei Wuxian said, shaking his head. “What’ll you do if your brother finds out?”

“You’re joking, right? He helped me pack it.”

Wei Wuxian will never understand the Nie sect.

4

Wei Wuxian stared wordlessly at his bowl.

There was a single slice of radish in it.

“Is this a joke?” he asked Wen Qing, because it might be, and she glared at him, meaning that no, it was not. “Don’t we have anything else?”

“With what money, Wen-gongzi? Do you think it comes from thin air?”

“I had a friend once who could make it come out of thin air,” he grumbled, looking down at his bowl. He’d practiced inedia, he didn’t need it, except for the fact that he really, really did. Not having a golden core made things hard. “He could’ve sold fish to fishermen, except he mostly just sold porn.”

Wen Qing rolled her eyes at him. “Wonderful story, Wei-gongzi. Positively heartwarming. But unless your old erotic art dealer is going to come to Yiling to help us sell some radishes, I don’t care.”

Naturally, that was impossible. Wei Wuxian was a villain now, his name blackened, the whole cultivation world against him –

Actually, as far as he could tell, the Nie sect didn’t seem to give a damn about him one way or another. From all the stories Nie Huaisang had told about his brother and from everything he’d seen in the war, Nie Mingjue wasn’t the sort of person to let evil sit around on a mountain while he was busy with other things – if he objected, he’d be there the next day with his saber, ready to put him in his place.

He hadn’t, obviously.

His hatred of the Wen sect was pretty well-known, but he’d taken no action at all to invade Yiling and demand that Wei Wuxian hand them over, and Wei Wuxian was mostly sure that it wasn’t because he was scared of what Wei Wuxian could do with the Stygian Tiger Seal.

…it was probably just the hunger getting to him and making him think crazy things. Not caring enough to go against him was pretty far from supporting him, after all.

But, hey, he wouldn’t be risking anything if he just wrote a tiny little letter asking Nie Huaisang for some advice on selling things, right?

I never thought I’d see the day my Wei-xiong finally became a merchant, the return letter said. I’ll be there in three days. I expect to see liquor.

Wei Wuxian took Wen Ning down the mountain and stood on his shoulders in order to emancipate a jar from the local tavern, but by the time Nie Huaisang arrived, there was, in fact, liquor.

Even Wen Qing – who had opposed the entire outing once she had heard about it upon their return – suddenly thought it was a perfectly reasonable sort of theft when Nie Huaisang offered to trade a giant crate full of meat for it.

“We had some leftovers from a boar hunt,” Nie Huaisang said mournfully, accepting the liquor and a bowl of radishes. “I need variety, Wei-gongzi, it’s terrible. You have to help me get rid of it; I can’t stand to look at it any longer.”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Wei Wuxian reminded him in between glorious bites of pork. He was going to be a very good friend and do his best to ensure that Nie Huaisang’s request was fulfilled, even if it meant taking seconds and possibly thirds. “I asked for advice, not a visit.”

“You can’t expect me to put my good name on what could be inferior goods,” Nie Huaisang sniffed.

“Your good name? The one known for porn, you mean?”

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes at him. “So show me what you have to sell.”

“It’s mostly just the radishes,” Wei Wuxian said. “I tried to tell Wen Qing that we should plant potatoes, but –”

“Forget the radishes,” Nie Huaisang said. “What’s this I hear about you designing a compass that pinpoints resentful energy?”

“Oh, that?” Wei Wuxian said, blinking. “Yeah, I made one of those – the Burial Mounds is the biggest source of resentful energy around, and it’s easier to have a compass that points home instead of north, you know? But what does that have to do with selling radishes?”

“Wei-xiong, you’re hopeless. Leave it all to me, and you’ll have your sect up and running in no time.”

“Yeah, that would be – wait, sect? What sect?”

“Actually,” Nie Huaisang said, tapping his fan against his cheek. He was just plain old ignoring Wei Wuxian now, which, hey! “I take it back – before you leave everything to me, show me what other ideas you’ve been cooking up. What about those talismans you used during the war? The spirit-drawing ones?”

“Spirit summoning,” Wei Wuxian corrected.

“Yes, those. Have you improved on those at all?”

“Uh, I mean, I guess…”

“Good. Show me everything.”

5

“So I have a sect now,” Wei Wuxian told Lan Wangji, who had come to visit. “We sell things to support it. Apparently.”

Lan Wangji nodded, apparently already aware of this. “The clan elders have agreed that using your flags to draw fierce corpses and other creatures away from areas with innocent human lives is an acceptable use.”

“Even the Lan sect?” Wei Wuxian marveled. “No wonder we’re making so much money.”

Then he sighed.

Lan Wangji looked questioningly at him.

“Well, I have a sect now,” Wei Wuxian said. “Everyone’s expecting me to – you know. Form the core of the sect.”

“Marry,” Lan Wangji concluded. Possibly advised? No, that didn’t sound like he was urging him to go ahead, which made a total of one person. “You do not have to if you do not wish. You already have an heir.”

“A-Yuan’s too young to be a proper heir,” Wei Wuxian objected, though he was secretly gleeful that people were generally accepting him as one. “And obviously I can’t just pick anyone; how will I know if they’re a spy? Or if they’ll secretly dislike A-Yuan?” He sighed again. “The worst part is, I think Nie Huaisang is plotting against me, too.”

“Plotting?”

“Yeah! He’s encouraging people to ask me about marriage, when clearly it’s better for me to stay off the market…what about you, Lan Zhan? Are you planning on marrying?”

“No,” Lan Wangji said.

“We’ll be a bunch of old bachelors, then,” Wei Wuxian said. “You should come more often, A-Yuan loves you…hey! I have a great idea! Why don’t we get married? Then no one will bother us ever again!”

“Mm,” Lan Wangji said.

“Mm? What does that mean?”

“It means I will need to send Nie Huaisang his payment in the morning,” Lan Wangji said, and moved to sit next to Wei Wuxian.

“Payment? You bought something from him? What did you want to –”

Lan Wangji silenced him pretty effectively, no spell necessary, and by the time Wei Wuxian retained enough ability to think through what exactly the purchase must have been, he’d already been converted to thinking that it was a very intelligent purchase to make.

Nie Huaisang really could sell anything.

[clotpolesonly]

Hi hello, I just watched the TW trailer and immediately came here 💙

What are your thoughts on it? 👀

(the trailer)

.

firstly, the AUDACITY of them to rehash the nogitsune without DOB. i mean, really!!! 3B was their most successful and lucrative season, sure, and the TW writers are notorious for resurrecting old villains instead of creating new ones, but DOB was 70% of what made the nogitsune so successful in the first place!! i honestly never even CONSIDERED that the movie might take this route cuz it's that much of an obvious cheap and likely ineffectual cash grab.

also no Kira and/or Noshiko as they rehash the japanese mythology that was introduced with those characters specifically. opinions on Hikari are on hold until i actually see how she's introduced/explained/handled.

-sigh-

anyway. aside from how lazy and disappointing the choice of Big Bad is.... i've already seen speculation on Allison maybe being the nogitsune's vessel, but i don't see how that would work logistically, considering it's been ~17 years since she died. unless the nogitsune inhabited her body soon after her death and just hasn't felt like coming back for revenge until now, there wouldn't have been much of a body left to take over now, and considering that the actress has visibly aged, it's hard to imagine Allison has just been resurrected, cuz she would presumably come back at the same age that she died. and if the nogitsune was going to conjure her up to torment Scott, i would assume, again, that she would look as she did when he lost her.

so all the same questions about Allison remain. she looks very very sexy though.

other than that.

DEPUTY MASON!!! that's not exactly a career i expected from him, but i don't hate it 😂 i support him in anything he does.

i resent them for putting Eli in plaid if only because of the sheer amount of "omg Eli is the Sterek lovechild, #Eli Stilinski-Hale is canon" i'm going to be subjected to. am i a fake Sterek fan for being extremely annoyed by that? cuz i am. deepest apologies. idk which is more irksome, the movie's pandering or the fandom's inescapable reclamation of it.

Derek continues to have the absolute BEST werewolf roar. i'm just saying, Hoechlin does it right.

there is a distinct lack of Jackson in this trailer and i'm mad about it 😂 there's one brief shot that looks like it might be the kanima menacing Eli?? which......why??? very confused by that (and also mad about them retconning Jackson's evolution into a full werewolf even further than they already did in 6B 🙄)

also very little Liam, Peter, Parrish, and Hikari in the trailer. too many characters to fit into a teaser of that length, lol. i assume they will all be there and have a part to play.

Chris' face as he rushes into the hospital and finds out that Allison is alive 🥺 catch me crying.

.

so OVERALL, i am........less excited than i was before the trailer, because they've fallen back, again, on dredging up a previously defeated villain instead of doing anything original. and they've already proven that they're not even very good at that, judging by Kate and Gerard and Peter. (who wants to place bets on whether Peter is good or bad in the movie? 50/50 odds imo, lol.)

i'm still gonna watch it. i'm curious by nature and a completionist at heart. but my hopes aren't very high.

[ayamari-no-goshi]

To Join the Whispers (4)

AO3

Fandoms: Danny Phantom (DP) / DC universe

Summary:  THIS IS A CROSSOVER A contact for the Batfamily passed along a rumor that the League of Assassins were investigating a small city called Amity Park. The old man and Tim managed to find evidence of unusual paranormal activity in the town. While they weren’t entirely certain it wasn’t just infested with metas, the locals believed the entities that haunted, for lack of a better word, the town were actual ghosts. If there was one thing Ra’s al Ghul didn’t need to get his grubby hands on, it was ghosts.That’s probably why Jason was doing this. He had the unfortunate luck to experience both death and resurrection in a way he’d never recommend to anyone else.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, and questionable mental health

Parings: none

Notes: originally uploaded to AO3. Cross-posted to tumblr. Jason Todd-centric

Well, Bruce was the one who took Danny home. According to everyone else, he would jostled the kid too much while carrying him. Just because he doesn’t particularly like using grappling hooks, it doesn’t mean he can’t move smoothly.

But, he’d been tasked to work with Tim and Dick to review the information they took from the assassins’ bodies while the other three would return to the warehouse to see if they could find any more information. Bruce didn’t want him anywhere near an area where the G.I.W. could possibly be, at least until it was certain the organization’s equipment wouldn’t detect him. If anti-ghost equipment could harm him, it was possible various scanners could detect him.

They wanted to check it first with the one they got from the Fentons. Maddie had gone over how it worked, but due to Danny being in the house, she explained it would end up giving false readings. Might have been a good thing in the long run. As much as he was curious to see how badly the Fentons would react, making a public scene was currently a bad idea. They were trying to be discrete after all.

However, Jason decided to stay true to his promise to himself and get that shower first. He was not going to continue to stink like ghost bear spit for the rest of the night.

He tried to keep his mind from wandering too much during the shower. He knew full well that he shouldn’t have been able to physically attack a ghost, but he didn’t have much time to question it at the time. Had he been able to do that since he came back from the dead? What else did the Pit do to him other than the obvious body enhancement? Knowing he wouldn’t get an answer from his own thoughts, he decided to finish up and rejoin Dick and Tim.

“Find any… never mind.” He was going to ask but seeing as Tim already had two empty coffee cups and Dick was hanging halfway off the bed reading something, they didn’t have anything just yet. “What do you want me to start with?”

“Can you look at the readings of the assassins?” Tim didn’t even look up from his laptop.

He grabbed his own computer, specifically supplied by Bruce for this mission, and began sorting through the information Babs organized for them. She also might be looking through the same information, but it was also possible her focus was on something else, like the Fenton’s research or looking into Masters.

Duke’s abilities suggested the assassins died shortly before they arrived to take them out, and the reading verified it. However, there was an odd temperature reading around the chest on the first one he checked. After death, the body cools down over the course of several hours, but it doesn’t heat up. There was somewhat circular spot much warmer than the surrounding tissue just over the heat. A quick check showed the other four had the same spot.

“I might have something.” His brothers crowded around as he pointed out the discovery.

“Could it have been a heat ray or something like that?” Dick questioned. “No, that wouldn’t make sense. There’s no evidence of the heart or any other organ being cooked, and the skin doesn’t seem to have been burned.”

“Could it have really been a ghost, and that’s where it, or a hand at least, entered the body?”

Tim frowned as he turned his attention back to his laptop. “But aren’t ghosts supposed to be cold. Phantom’s readings are insane, and I have no idea how he’s still alive… well, at least partially alive. How does that work?”

“We’d probably have to ask Phantom that one,” Babs answered over their communicators. “However, some of the Fenton’s and even the G.I.W’s research suggest that some ghosts do have abnormally warn temperatures. The ones I can find have obvious fire related abilities, but it does appear most of them run cold.”

“I guess we can’t rule out ghosts.”

“Babs, do you have any data about a ghost named Plasmius?” Jason had a sinking suspicion that Masters was somehow involved, especially after the appearance of the mutant ghost animals.

“Honestly, I don’t have a lot,” Babs replied accompanied by some tapping. “We only have a few hints from the Fenton’s research. There’s nothing in the G.I.W.’s database, but there seems to be some evidence of tampering. If they previously had anything, it’s long gone.”

“Any chance of restoring it?” Dick questioned as he maneuvered himself between his brothers.

“At this point, I doubt it, but I’ll look to see if I can find the hacking signature.”

Jason absently rubbed the large scar on his chest as he leaned away from Dick. “So, what do we have on him?”

“I’ll send you the files, but honestly, it’s just the basics like appearance, approx. height, noted abilities.”

“Phantom wasn’t joking when he said Plasmius looks like a vampire.” After a quick review, Jason was disappointed that there wasn’t a temperature recording for Plasmius. However, there was a note mentioned that either fire or electrical abilities were suspected. While it didn’t confirm anything, other heroes and villains with those types of abilities did tend to be warmer than the average person.

After a moment of debating, he added, “You know… the Pit did react to something when we reached the perimeter of the warehouse.”

“You said you didn’t sense anything,” Tim glanced over at him.

“Once we were inside, I didn’t until Phantom showed up.” He ran his hand through his hair. “It stirs a lot, and I thought it was just that. But maybe it wasn’t. It’s not like I really understand how this works.”

Dick attempted to pat his shoulder, only for him to bat it away. “We’ll talk to B about it. You might have to start letting us know when that happens until we get to the bottom of this.”

“If you want false alarms all day, sure, because it happens all the time, especially here.”

“If I’m not mistaken, you can tell when it’s Phantom though,” Babs noted.

“Yeah… it’s…” he frowned for a moment as he tried to find the word, “…like a greeting? It’s stupid when I try to explain it, but it really didn’t like those ghost animals.” If he wasn’t mistaken, his brothers wanted him to elaborate further. Too bad he wasn’t going to. “I’m going to review those images again, but unless something jumps out at me, I’m pretty sure a ghost is our best bet for a culprit.”

About an hour later, the rest of them returned to the hotel room. Although it wasn’t obvious to the untrained, the Batman was irritated. The G.I.W. contaminated the entire scene with their equipment. This included driving a tank through one of the walls and, judging by scorch marks, destroyed another one with some of their weaponry. Some of them were also still lingering around the fencing.

They quickly exchanged information. While they couldn’t eliminate another force dealing with the League, as of right now they agreed the current most likely suspect was Masters. While Tim shifted back to working on the belts, Bruce took over for him. Jason, on the other hand, decided to investigate Masters.

On the surface, everything seemed normal. However, with a little help from Babs, they found a lot more than they expected. “No wonder why Danny calls him a Fruitloop,” he mumbled. Weapons, ectoplasmic composition, ectobiology, cloning, and something referred to as ecto-acne were just the tip of the iceberg. He had to recruit Duke and Dick to help sort through all of it.

After a few hours, Tim announced that he thought he had isolated Phantom’s ectosignature from the samples he took from the kid when he was bandaging him. And with a caffeine-fueled grin, he demanded a blood sample from Jason.

“You have that on file already.” He narrowed his eyes. The most recent sample had been personally provided by him when he revealed himself to Bruce after his resurrection.

“Yeah, but I need a fresh one to try to figure out your ecto-signature. If I remember, there were some abnormalities in it.” Of course, the little nerd remembered that without checking. “We believed that was residue from the Pit. I’ll have to double check, but we might be able to label it as ectoplasm now.”

After rolling his eyes, Jason used one of his knives to cut the back of his hand and held it out to his brother. With the sharpness of the blade and the enhanced healing the Pit gifted him, it’d be mostly healed within a few hours. He’d still have to wrap it just to prevent any chance of it getting on anything prior to that. Leaving as little trace as possible was figuratively beaten into them.

The regular chatter soon filled the room as they continued to work on their projects. While they still had little to go on regarding the assassins, they slowly uncovered a great deal about Masters. If what Babs uncovered was correct, Masters had spent a great deal of time trying to cover up what was happening in Amity. There were several files regarding various events in the town and what was provided to outside sources.

On top of that, there were several documents regarding Danny and his family. The man was absolutely obsessed with the Fentons, particularly Danny and his mother. And if the files were accurate, the man tried to clone Danny several times but stopped after catastrophic damage to his equipment. That’s probably what Danny referenced when talking about the experiments. The oddest thing was the apparent lack of interaction with known supervillains outside of regular business deals.

“Was it really just a fight over turf?” Duke yawned as he flopped backwards on the bed.

“Until we have evidence to prove otherwise, it seems that way,” Bruce agreed.

With no other obvious motive, it really seemed Masters was trying to keep others from interfering in the town. What surprised Jason was the man only seemed to make a tentative move against them. Perhaps he wanted to see if they were only interested in the assassins? Or were mutant ghost animals retaliation for befriending Danny?

Damian tutted. “I still find it unlikely men trained by grandfather would lose in such a battle.” Cass silently nodded.

“You couldn’t detect Phantom, could you?” Tim glanced away from his tinkering for just a moment.

The brat huffed and glanced away. “That’s different.”

With a stretch, Jason popped his back. “If it was Masters, he can sneak in undetected and his multiple foes at once. He’s a new type of enemy with unusual tactics. Anyways, did someone want to see if that Fenton device worked?”

Dick’s grin could only be considered childish as he flipped over the bed to grab the device. Show off. “I call dibs!”

Within moments, the device was booted up and a pleasant but robotic voice spoke, “Welcome to the Fenton Finder. There is a ghost four feet in front of you. You would have to be an idiot not to see the ghost in front of you. Thank you for using the Fenton Finder.”

Jason tried to suppress his desire to punch Dick in the mouth for the stupid shit eatting grin currently plastered on his face. “Don’t even say it.”

…

They slept in shifts. Tim was forced to sleep on the first shift. He tried arguing, but a threat of bodily harm helped convince him. Jason was not above pistol whipping his brother. He had kneed him the groin before. Or was that Dick? He was dealing with both of them at that particular moment.

He slept on the third shift. Why their hotel had a presidential suite baffled Jason since Amity wasn’t considerably important compared to say Gotham, Metropolis, or Star City, but it was nice having a place big enough that they could go into a separate room to sleep. It reduced the likelihood he’d be rudely woken up with Tim zapping him, but it didn’t completely get rid of the possibility.

If Tim pulled that crap, he would punch the idiot in the mouth.

Sleeping didn’t come easy. His dreams kept throwing him back in the Pit, complete with the unimaginable pain of being forced back to life. His psyche must have been sick of the reminder as he jolted awake.

But he didn’t wake up in a bed. Instead, wooden planks filled his vision. Was it a coffin? It better not be a coffin. Someone was going to die if it was. For years, he had nightmares about waking up in one. It hadn’t been something brought up to his family, but he did mention it in passing to Roy once.

However, after a quick glance. He realized he was just under the bed. Cussing out his family for playing such a stupid prank on him, he began the very annoying process of trying to get out from under it. His body type made it more difficult than it needed to be.

How the heck did they pull it off anyways? He’d heard of some of the pranks between Dick, Tim, and Damian, but those didn’t usually involve physically picking someone up off a bed. They were all trained to be light sleepers, and unless sleep deprivation took over, being jostled usually was enough to wake them up.

Grumbling after finally getting out from behind the bed, he glanced up to see Dick staring at him from the other bed. “What’s your problem?”

Dick raised an eyebrow at him. “Was the bed that uncomfortable?”

“If I find out you put me under there, I’m going to break your leg.”

“That’s enough of that,” Bruce warned as he appeared in the doorway.

“Judging by your scowl, I’m going to bet we don’t have any new information.” Jason glanced at the clock on the nearby desk. It was just past seven a.m.

“Correct. Both Masters and the Fentons have already contacted me.”

Dick let out a low whistle. “The Fentons are already done with our order? I’m actually impressed. You said they’re an entirely independent operation, right?”

“That’s what it looked like. That basement of theirs is a lot like a smaller version of something you’d see at Star Labs or Cadmus,” Jason crossed his arms as he shifted his weight. “What did Masters want?”

“Business meeting, or at least that what it sounds like. He wanted to meet in neutral ground at a local restaurant. I was going to bring Tim and Damian with me while Cass and Duke search his manor.”

“That leaves us to talk to the Fentons.” Dick frowned as he went over the plan. “Why would you have Damian come with you?”

Bruce gave an almost smug smile. “Masters doesn’t seem to know how to handle him.”

….

After getting ready, Bruce pulled him aside. “I’d like you to see if you can get a clearer picture of Danny’s homelife while you’re there.”

“Was already going to do that,” with how Danny’s parents acted around his ghost form, making sure the kid was safe at home was already at the top of Jason’s list of things he needed to do while still in Amity, “but are you sure you want me at the Fenton home?” It did have what they could basically call an artificial Lazarus Pit in the basement.

“You have the best rapport with the children. We still don’t have a clear picture of what Masters wants.”

“And you want me to see if Danny will be willing to give me more information. Got it.” Before he could move, Jason noted that Tim was approaching with Spector Deflector. “Guess you want me to test it before I leave?”

Tim held it out. “I think I finally figured it out.”

He heard that one before. After a needed eyeroll, he grabbed it. However, instead of the intense shocking pain of before, this was more akin to an unpleasant buzzing similar to using certain types of power tools. “Still feel it, but it’s nothing like what it was. I wouldn’t want to wear it for any length of time, but I’d love to hear what happens when Masters touches it.”

“I might not have enough time to tinker with it and fix the other belts before tonight so you might have to deal with it.” Tim then grinned at him. “I’ll tell you how Masters reacts when we get back.”

“Jay, you ready?” Dick called from near the door. He seemed almost giddy to leave. He hadn’t seen the Fenton household yet, so maybe that’s why he was so excited?

Shaking his head, he moved to grab his jacket. “Just need this…?” He thought he grabbed his jacket, but somehow his hand was sticking through it. Pulling his hand out of the leather, he found it appeared as a pale shadow of itself until about midway up his forearm. “Well, that’s new.”

Immediate alarm spread through the room. Everyone wanted to make sure he was okay, and that involved touching and more than a few scans. Sometime during the scuffle and trying to keep Dick away from him, his arm went back to normal.

“Back off! It’s fine now,” he snarled as he grabbed his coat.

“But, but you don’t know that,” Duke spoke up. “You said this wasn’t normal.”

Tim hummed for a moment as he checked the scans. “Vitals look normal, but didn’t you say the entire town feels like a toned-down version of the Pit? Maybe it has something to do with that?”

“Until we know what’s going on…”

Jason bristled Bruce’s attempt at concern. “Bruce, don’t finish that statement. If this is because of the town, do you really think staying here is going to change anything? It’s even more reason to talk to Danny. He’s probably the only one who might be able to explain what that was or if it’ll be a problem.”

…

“You know he’s worried about you.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “He certainly likes to pick and choose when he cares. Dick, you know how he is. Right now, he’s only worried about whether or not I’ll compromise the mission. Maybe if we were on our way home, I’d buy it, but not now.”

Dick stood in front of him, forcing him to stop walking. “Little wing… Jay… what happened to you affected him, badly. You didn’t get to see it. On top of that, you’re the only one we know of who seems to be permanently affected by the Pit.”

“Yeah? Well, it sucks.” Jason pushed past his brother and continued forward. Dick wasn’t wrong. The effects of the Pit were supposed to dissipate after a while, but they never did for him. “I had heard Cass was resurrected in it too. But she’s clearly not crazy.” He left out the obvious, ‘Like I am.’

“The only thing I think makes you crazy is your dislike of grappling hooks.”

“I don’t dislike them. I just don’t need them as much as you do.” He smiled despite himself. It was true. He had gotten so use to being able to bounce off the side of a building or catching himself with a ledge or flagpole that grappling hooks just weren’t as appealing as when he was younger. Made a great trick when trying to catch the attention of a Kryptonian. He still had one, just in case.

His brother nudged him with his elbow. “Now you’re smiling. None of us are still really sure what happened to you once you came back, but we’ve started seeing glimpses of the old you. That’s probably thanks to Kori and Roy more than anything we’ve done to help.”

When he didn’t respond, Dick took that as an invitation to continue. “We’re in new territory when it comes to ghosts and the like, so we’re all a bit on edge.”

“Meaning you’re worried I’m going to go on a killing spree.”

“What? No!”

“You don’t have to hide it.” Jason glanced up at the sky before taking a cigarette out of his jacket and lighting it. “The need… desire… obsession? I don’t know how to explain it… for taking them out, permanently, hasn’t been as bad for a while now.”

“Except for Joker.”

“Can you blame me on that one?”

“No, not really.”

A comfortable silence fell between them as they continued to walk until Dick pulled the cigarette out of his mouth. “What the fuck?”

“You know these will kill you.” Dick just grinned in a teasing way as he stomped out the cig.

“Been there. Done that. I think I’ll take my chances, especially if it helps me deal with nosey assholes like you.”

“You wound me, brother.” He dramatically placed the back of his hand on his forehead. “So, what’s the Fenton Portal like?”

“You know, if you ask them, I have a strong feeling they’ll show you.” Jason had no doubt the Fentons would do that. Glancing up, he caught sight of the metal monstrosity on the roof of the Fenton household. He gestured to it. “And that’s our destination.”

“How on earth is that even allowed?”

….

As predicted, the Fenton adults were more than happy to show Dick the portal after being introduced to them. Jason opted to stay in the kitchen while that occurred which was code for he was going to take a look around. However, he did make sure to ask two questions, one about the security system they had and the second about the hunk of metal they called the ops center.

Like Tim had found on his preliminary surveillance, their security system did include lasers. And after the quick demonstration via Jack, they quickly found out there were a lot of them. Who in their right mind did that in the main part of the house? He could see them doing that in the lab, but the staircase too? There were even metal claws and ecto-weaponry that appeared out of, well, everywhere.

After turning off the internal security, Maddie casually mentioned that the weapons vault under the stairs could withstand almost any attack. Who in their right mind mentioned something like that to a virtual stranger?

Moments after that, both Jazz and an exhausted looking Danny hurried down the stairs. After Jazz reprimanded her parents for turning on the security, she greeted him and introduced herself and Danny to Dick, followed by an apology about having them see that.

“Oh, Jazzy-pants, now that you’re here, can you show Jason the Ops Center? We were going to show Dick the portal, but he’s already seen that,” Jack requested while wearing his signature grin. Apparently, he was a morning person. If he wasn’t, how in the world was he so excited so early?

“Are you seriously going to open that thing again?” Jazz demanded.

“It’s perfectly safe. Besides, we’ll be there.”

“Your mother is right. If any ghost scum bursts through, we’ll be there to take care of it!” Jack puffed his chest out. He was certainly sure of himself, but Jazz and Danny just shared a look.

“It’ll be fine. We’ll just be a few minutes, and then we’ll met you up in the Ops Center.” With that, Maddie led the way down the stairs to their lab. Jack wrapped his arm around Dick’s shoulders as he escorted him while talking about ghosts.

Dick looked back at him in mild concern. Jason just smiled and waved.

“You’re not worried?” Jazz questioned, noticing his reaction.

“Nope.” He popped the ‘p’. “Dick can take care of himself. Anyways, sorry about the rude awakening. I asked about the security, but I wasn’t expecting a demonstration.”

Danny grumbled something before speaking up. “They’ll show anyone basically anything if they think there’s interest.”

“With how advanced some of this stuff is, I’m surprised they’re so lax about it.”

“Up until more recently, ghost hunting really wasn’t considered anything but quack science. Both of them are brilliant, but not being taken seriously for years has made them a bit enthusiastic about sharing information.” Jazz then turned to the coffee maker while Danny sat at the kitchen table and started nodding off again. “Let me make myself and Danny some coffee then we’ll take you on the tour.”

A few minutes later, coffee was made. Jason decided to tell a few harmless stories about his siblings, such as one of Dick’s disastrous attempts at using a chandelier as a trapeze, while Jazz and Danny slowly became more alert.

Things were going well until the Pit decided to, for lack of a better word, violently flare. It could feel the portal in the basement calling to it. While trying to hide it, the hand that had been keeping him steady while he leaned against the counter slipped causing him to stumble.

Danny was by his side in a moment, now wide awake. “Are you okay?” When he nodded, the kid added, “The Portal is pretty intense when it gets opened. You get used to it after a while. Is your hand okay?”

“What do you mean…?” He glanced at the hand that caused him to slip and found it had that strange washed out look from earlier. “Oh… That just started, and I think you’re the only person who might have an idea of what’s going on. But…” He nodded towards Jazz.

“Don’t worry, I know about Danny’s situation,” she explained as she moved towards a section of the wall and pressed an unassuming panel. A staircase appeared. “We’d probably move the conversation to the Ops Center though. We can at least get a few seconds of warning before someone bursts through the hatch with some sort of ecto-weapon.”

“I’m assuming that happened?”

“A lot. They’ve destroyed my bed a few times, attacked one of my teachers…” Danny frowned for a moment. “How many times was the mailman attacked before the post office started forcing them to come to the station to get it?”

“I think it was five.”

“How haven’t your parents been arrested?”

===================================

Notes: Firstly, I seriously can't find evidence of Jason using a grappling hook as an adult. I first noticed this in "Under the Red Hood", both the animated film and the comic. And after attempting to search for an instance myself and checking with other DC fans, it's apparently very rare to see him use one.

In the comic version of “Under the Red Hood”, Jason cut the back of his head to provide Bruce with a blood sample. In the movie, Bruce got it off of the sword of an assassin.

There is a wonderful panel of Jason fighting both Dick and Tim. One is being kneed in the groin and the other is being punched in the mouth. This was during what I affectionately call his bat shit crazy days.

I previously mentioned the two different variations of Jason's resurrection. Which version is canon can vary between DC reboots. And for some reason, my mind has decided that as an effect of that, some of the characters might have nightmares about alternative versions of bad experiences. In this case, it's Jason waking up in a coffin.

There is a fan comic I saw years ago which had Bruce occasionally doing normal businessman things to annoy the crap out of supervillains. The one I particularly remember is him putting a giant billboard of himself in front of Luthor’s penthouse view. I accept this occasional pettiness as a personal head canon.

One last note. Cass was killed by her mom and resurrected in a Lazarus Pit (I think this is still canon?), but she didn't have the so-called 'perfect' resurrection Jason did. As of right now, I don't think we have a proper explanation for why he did when others didn't. I'm going to make the assumption it either dealt with how he died or the length of time it took between death and the dip in the Pit.

[animeyanderelover]

I wonder if it's too much to ask for a isekai reader for the eldian soldiers like Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie and/or Zeke ? I just realised that isekai in aot is like the manhwa "iris lady with a smartphone"

More Attack on Titan!

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, overprotective behavior, clinginess, stalking, controlling Yandere, mean Yandere, kidnapping, death

Reader gets transported into their world

🟤🧡💗People might think they didn’t have already enough secrets keeping with them. Needing to keep quiet about who they really were and what their true intentions were. But then you suddenly came. It was after Marco had died that you suddenly stumbled upon them, to be more specific after Annie had joined the police. She was just patrolling around the city when she suddenly heard loud noises from one of the alleys, slowly walking inside, ready to fight whoever was in there. She had expected some drunk bastard or thief to hide in there. But she hadn’t expected to find you inside. Someone with a very questionable sense of fashion who just looked with huge eyes around, muttering something from “not believing you were in one of your favorite animes”. At first Annie thought you were some lunatic, confronting you and asking you coldly who you were. Upon seeing her you instantly flinched and stuttered to not kill you. Annie just rolled her eyes and told you that she you should leave because she didn’t want to waste time on you.

🟤🧡💗It was kind of obvious to you that she thought of you as some crazy person. But you weren’t. And you needed help! And just as she was about to leave you suddenly told her that you were from another universe. That caused her to scoff, continuing to ignore you. But she froze when you told her that you knew that her, Reiner and Bertholdt were Titan shifters. And before you could even blink you were suddenly thrown to the ground by Annie, threatening you to better tell her if anyone else knew about this and from where you had even gotten this information. You were honestly scared that she would kill you so you told her in a scared voice that you had proof that you were from another world, telling her to look into your pocket. She did, her eyes never leaving you and her arm never stopping to twist yours in a painful grip. You knew that if you would move she wouldn’t hesitate to break it. Annie quirked an eyebrow when she pulled that weird thing for the first time out, some flat object. For a few moments she just turned it around from all angels before accidentally pressing somewhere down. When that thing suddenly started glowing she was a bit startled and nearly let it fall before catching it. What was that thing?

🟤🧡💗You were dragged away from the town, Annie making sure that no one would ask any questions. If they did she just said that she escorted you home due to being a bit drunk. She got laughed at for this, but didn’t care. And you had to keep your mouth shut or else...You didn’t want to find out what else would happen then. So you just followed Annie for who knows how long, always asking you where the two of you were going to and her always making you shut up with a short glare. By the time the both of you arrived you had been traveling for hours. At least you had ridden the most part on horse Annie had taken with her on her way out. Your destination? A small house in the forest, pretty isolated from other villages in here. You actually wanted to protest, but before you knew it you were pushed inside from her. And after she had locked the door she slowly pulled the small object out, asking you what exactly that was and that you should better on explain everything to her. And be truthful with it. She was still a bit suspicious of your explanation that you came from another world, but on the other hand she had never seen a thing like this before. But she got convinced when you showed her photos on your “phone” from her and all her comrades, telling her that in your world the story of her world was like a fairytale in hers. Many people knew that story and that was because you knew everything.

🟤🧡💗Annie left you alone in that house after progressing the news, tying you to a chair and warning you to better not disappear. And there were definitely better things than being tied up for hours to a chair without having the chance to go to the toilet before, not to mention without having drunken or eaten anything before. You were when she finally came back sure that you would pee in your pants if she wouldn’t hurry up. But she hadn’t come alone. You realized that when suddenly no other than Reiner and Bertholdt stepped in, Reiner having a non believing look on his face and Bertholdt a unsure yet curious expression on his. Both of them observed you closely when Annie carefully untied you, giving you finally the chance to relieve yourself and even being that nice to steal some food and water for you which you needed after hours. But it didn’t change the fact that you felt very nervous by all of them. Especially Reiner scared you. At least they had the patience to wait until you had shoved down all the food before Reiner finally demanded from you to show them what you had in your “phone”. So you showed them gladly all the fan art and pictures you had saved about them. Reiner kept his stern expression, but Bertholdt watched everything with wide and fascinating eyes, being amazed by the fact that there was another universe like yours out there.

🟤🧡💗The opinions about you at the beginning were very different. Reiner believed it might be the best to just kill you, seeing you as a potential threat. If people like Levi or Erwin would find you, they would be doomed. Bertholdt thought the complete opposite. He had instantly taken a liking to you after the first meeting, protesting and saying that you could be a great help for them as well with all your knowledge. Annie’s decision was what saved you in the end. She thought that it wasn’t their job to kill you. You didn’t even belong into this world and they didn’t even know if you might just get transported back without them doing anything. So after long discussions they agreed to keep you in this house, making sure to tell you that if you would try to escape. Bertholdt wasn’t even all that threatening, Annie just told you with a neutral face that she would break your bones if you would try to escape and Reiner was the one who definitely was focused on scaring you the most, telling you he would kill you if you should ever try to run away. And so your new life started. Being locked up in a small house with one of them or all three coming every night at the same time to look after you. You weren’t very happy about this, having hoped to see the other characters as well. But all three had agreed that it would really mean trouble if the scouts would find out about you. Not only that, but you obviously had “favs”, meaning they couldn’t risk that you would tell someone about them just because you wanted to save someone’s life.

🟤🧡💗Bertholdt was the first one to become obsessed. He had a huge curiosity for you the moment Annie had told him and Reiner about you and had taken a instant liking towards you the moment he had met you. The thought of another world much more peaceful than his existing was so soothing for him, making him want to know everything about this world and also you. What exactly made him fall so hard? It was probably the fact that you could listen to his worries and his guilty thoughts without completely judging him like everyone else did. You were somewhat neutral, despite having your “favs” in this show, being able to give him your honest opinion without having to always add in the end what he had to do. You just told him what you thought about this. For him you were a true angel, possessing an innocence that not even a child had. It made him want to protect you, to make sure that you would never have to suffer like he had to.

🟤🧡💗The next one to fall for you was Reiner. At first he honestly disliked you. He didn’t enjoy the fact that there was someone from another world in here and knew everything about them. You were just an obstacle in his eyes, at least at the beginning. But he was a very unstable one and that was what made him fall faster than thought for you than he had expected. The knowledge that there was a world where people didn’t have to suffer like him or all the others was truly medicine for his damaged mentality. Similar to Bertholdt it was also your innocence that made him fall even harder even though he liked to describe it more as naivety. Despite the fact that he still was sometimes very harsh with you he relied a lot on you, being able to just let every shit that was going on in his head out without being scolded for being weak or being called a monster. And you just listened and tried to understand. He would have never expected to fall so hard just because someone would just sit down and let him talk all his overwhelming feelings out.

🟤🧡💗Annie was the last one from those three to fall for you. She had been the most neutral and calm about you. She hadn’t hated you like Reiner had done, but she also hadn’t been all over you like Bertholdt had been. She had just thought rationally about the whole situation. But you knew that behind her motionless mask someone else was. And that’s what made her in the end fall for you. You didn’t just see her as a soldier or warrior. You saw her for the person she was and not just as a weapon or a monster. You saw her as more. And Annie felt...appreciated. For the first time in her life she felt like she was sincerely liked for who she really was. This innocence made her want to shield you from the cruelty of this world, ensuring that you would never lose those pure thoughts of yours.

🟤🧡💗Everything was alright for some time, but all of them weren’t dumb by any means and realized that they all felt the same for you. And then it came to a small argument. Reiner was definitely the most pissed, Annie was, despite still being able to keep most of her cool, slightly annoyed and Bertholdt was only confused and surprised by this discovery. It became more messy between them after this. They didn’t hate each other, knowing fully well that they needed to work together, not only for their home’s sake, but also for you. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t some tension. Especially between Annie and Reiner was the tension more thick. Annie had a talent for pissing him with her words off whilst keeping a cold face, making it even for Reiner hard to keep his cool. Bertholdt was the one who tried to ease the tension between the two of them. He considered both of them as his friends and more important, they were also helping to protect you so he needed them to get along.

🟤🧡💗Despite this small problem they were still able to keep you a secret. But things started to become more messy after Annie’s cover had been doomed. This is an AU where she was able to climb over the wall and escape. Suddenly people knew that there were more like Eren out there, people who could transform into Titans. It became more stressful after that for Reiner and Bertholdt, needing to be more careful since it had been known that all three of them had been always very close. Especially after they had found you. There was a closer eye kept on them, not allowing them to visit you every night like they used too, what was for both of them a torture. They feared that at some point you would ran out of food or even worse, the Military Police would find you and investigate you. For Annie it was even worse. Whilst Reiner and Bertholdt were at least still able to reach out to you, she was now completely out. Somehow sneaking back in would be very hard and there was also the danger that she could doom Reiner’s and Bertholdt’s cover or even leading the enemy directly to you. She needed a plan and help, leading us to how you met Zeke.

🟤🧡💗🚬You were very well aware of the events that were avout to happen, speaking of the Beast Titan aka Zeke Yeager coming into the picture. You were aware that some of the original story line had been changed, knowing that Annie had actually been supposed to crystallize herself. You guessed your appearance had led to some change in the plot twist and asked how much that would change the story. And what would happen to you? You got your answer sooner as wanted when that happened which you had already known. When the Titans started to appear inside the wall and the roof of your house had suddenly been lifted up, giving you nearly a heart attack and thinking that this must be your end. That was at least until you recognized the Female Titan. It was Annie who had grabbed you and set you on top of her head before running off with you, not giving your brain the needed time to progress all of this. She just ran away with you, bringing you somewhere else. Somewhere far away from all the disaster that was currently going on in the Walls.

🟤🧡💗🚬It was a while later when you met Zeke who had decided to help Annie with saving you. Could you blame him for wanting to meet the infamous “world traveler”? You didn’t look that different from any other human, but he as a smart man instantly noticed during his talk with you that you were different. From the way you used gestures whilst talking to your speaking pattern. It all was unique, not to mention the weird words you sometimes used from which he had never heard before. He had believed Annie when she had told him about you, being able to tell that she wasn’t lying. But when he asked you what you knew about his past and you held a whole speech, including even his father’s and mother’s past up until now? If he hadn’t been convinced before he was now.

🟤🧡💗🚬It was only natural for him to become obsessed with you. How couldn’t he with someone who was such a mystery? How had you even gotten here? Had there been a reason why you and not someone else? Was there a way to teleport back to your world? What was your world like? At first Zeke had just been obsessed with those kind of questions. But with time they started to revolve more and more around you. What was your family like? How was your childhood? He wanted to know everything. He had expected to be highly interested in you, but he hadn’t expected to feel so abnormally strong for you. What was it about you that caused him to feel this way? Was it your point of view from the meaning of life and this world that he had never heard before? Was it your more innocent and openly personality that was like a breath of fresh air for him? Now that he started thinking about it, there were a lot of things about you that he loved. Who would have thought that he would found himself attracted to a dimension traveler?

🟤🧡💗🚬Not long after meeting Zeke you were also reunited with Reiner and Bertholdt who were honestly nothing, but glad and relieved that you were safe. They had feared that you might have gotten in contact with a Titan or the scouts. But now a new problem appeared. Whilst Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt had gotten by now somewhat adjusted to the fact that they all loved you they hadn’t been prepared to finding out that Zeke had it suddenly for you as well. Zeke hadn’t either. He had suspected from the way Annie had acted when it involved you that she had feelings for you. But he hadn’t expected all three of them to be in love with you. And even with the same unhealthy feelings he was. That was somewhat troublesome.

🟤🧡💗🚬Zeke had an advantage in here. The fact that he was the superior of the three. So it wasn’t rare that he often just snatched you away from the three, claiming that he wanted some more informations from you. In reality he just wanted you away from them and being a manipulative and controlling one he started to try to talk you into avoiding the three and spend your time instead more with him. And that was what caused the tension to reach a suffocating level. Because Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner weren’t happy with that. Whatever dislikes they had held against each other before was put to a stop and they teamed now willingly together. It became honestly like a game of tug of war. Suddenly you found yourself in a situation where Zeke tried to tell you to stay away from those three since they weren’t good influence and Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie telling you that you should probably stay away from Zeke since he wasn’t what he looked like. It was a very tiring situation for you.

🟤🧡💗🚬Now to what would happen if each one of them would find a way to travel back with you. And let’s be honest. They would all use that chance without blinking twice. But would they consider sharing you with someone? Let’s see. For Zeke it would be a huge no. He’s paranoid and not a fan of sharing, making him someone who would definitely take his darling and travel without anyone else to your world to finally have you all for yourself. Annie is another one who would travel alone back with you. She might actually consider the fact of taking Bertholdt and Reiner with her since she has some history with them and they did help her to protect you. But I feel like in the end she would decide that this might cause to arguments for which she don’t have the patience and will also consider Reiner’s unstableness. With Reiner there’s a high possibility that he might take Bertholdt with him given the fact that both of them are really close and there’s a chance that he might even consider taking Annie since she helped protecting you as well. Bertholdt is honestly the most willing to share, seeing both, Annie and Reiner, as his friends and as more ways to ensure that you’re protected and save even in your world. But don’t forget that the moment he witnesses that they should treat you wrongly in his eyes he’s also willing to leave alone with you. But as long as this doesn’t happen he’s fine with taking them too.