#GET HURT both of them simultaneously trying to protect the other in their “civilian” act. &brandon as green arrow thwarts the assassination

[crossbackpoke-check]

Sat politely ankles crossed hands folded please say you have more thoughts about the DC deweys. Lazarus pit cold-eyed stare pristine and bloodthirsty anyway I would love to hear any further thoughts if you have the time + energy + motivation

how i imagine you waiting for me to re-read the resurrection of ra’s al-ghul and hush vol. 1+2:

ALRIGHT. in no particular order, thoughts about the dc deweys

connor fits very well into the mold of a talia al-ghul for me; chip on his shoulder, femme fatale, deadly and precise. he’s not the loudest but he’s got a dry wit that’ll cut you!

“why is connor an al-ghul at all and not batman” well first of all he’s already got the water connection, i’m gonna go dip him into the lake a couple hours north of the pas to make him incredibly long-lived, rejuvenated and beautiful

second of all i want him to be a questionable villain/antihero because he looks evil in those pictures but like beautiful evil. you see him at a multi-million dollar soirée and he’s bored of being there wearing his “heritage” beads and jewels he originally had from a thousand years ago. he and his assassins are only here to murder the head of state who’s planning to lay a pipeline through ancestral grounds

rip brandon duhaime i simply cannot imagine you as any kind of batman. lacks the gravitas, too much of a yapper, loves his wife too much. i curse thee to be green arrow if you’re in this narrative at all

assuming connor stays with toronto, would LOVE to think about toronto as one of the sites of the lazarus pit for many reasons

(a brief aside here to say that for me personally this is interesting if connor goes to winnipeg because i think they suit him better, he’s a manitoba boy, but re: the chip on his shoulder, he’s NOT a manitoba boy. he’s from the pas and very proud of it)

a) the amount of ‘toronto is the center of the universe’ hockey creation myths i can play with & birth/rebirth/reincarnation. if you WANT to feel unhinged trying to blend hockey and comics is an ice rink not just a pool of water?

b) mr. cathal kelly i love your works!!! toronto eats its young!!! thinking about this very literally in the sense of the resurrection arc where players come to toronto and are sacrificed, give up their body, their skill, in service of the demon’s head, and lose themselves.

c) we see echos of the same narratives and styles over and over again—if i can hop over to the flyers for a second, there is of course the curse of the *8s (18 richards, 28 claude, 48 danny b, 68 nolan, 88 lindros) but ALSO the danny brière -> tk -> morgan frost celly chain. every generation a resurrection, emerging clean and new from the pit

can you just briefly hold my hand and imagine wayne gretzky as an evil ra’s al-ghul wanting to possess a new body. gretzky i’m sorry to malign you and i know you never played in toronto but you are the best player in my head to fit the idea, i’m open to other suggestions

coming BACK to green arrow dewey (i did not re-watch arrow or re-read those comics sorry) connor could also be black canary, who takes a brief dip into the lazarus pit (toronto) before getting married to oliver. i do like that narrative but because we were talking about pristine and cold-blooded i figured connor dewar head of the league of assassins was more what you were after

now that i’ve gotten through world building… choose your own adventure narratives?

hockey-ish au: connor chosen as a host for the Next One. i think the lineage of the great one -> next one -> next next one -> next one up of gretzky -> crosby -> mcdavid -> bedard is taken, BUT i can imagine that the league of old boys all have the same intentions. connor gets sent to toronto unknowingly being prepped to get body-snatched by ???? and brandon duhaime of course accidentally stumbles on the plot and they have to fight to stop it

connor assassinating people :) snapshot of the head of the league of assassins delegating which major world events they’re going to change today. would love his shark face from the gifset to have blood spattered across it, ideally.

version 1 as head of the league of assassins: brandon is one of his assassins, big strong bodyguard type. devoted to him, would lay down his life, perfectly designed for connor (lady shiva/cassandra cain-ish). connor orders for something to be done and brandon does it there for him then gently wipes the blood off his face and apologizes for being careless and getting him messy.

version 2 as head of the league of assassins: an actual plot where connor aims to assassinate SOMEONE but brandon gets in the way. they meet at odds as their respective roles (hero, leader of a crime syndicate) but are magnetically drawn together as their alter egos. eventually brandon puts together the pieces of the Big Evil and manages to (legally!-ish as much as vigilante-ism can be legal) take it down and the ending panels show a tentative friendship and recognition of potential shared goals

also, jaromir jágr is immortal. don’t know if this is relevant OR related but he is. personal hot spring lazarus pit?

um. thanks for coming to my 1.5k ted talk (including tags). what a way to moritz seider lore drop that i DID grow up a comic book nerd, lmao. thank you so much for enabling me <3 i'll be here all week thinking about which teams would get what rings in a blackest night au

[the-writer-ofthe-fandoms]

Breaking the Shell (Lucifer Morningstar)

Pairing: Lucifer Morningstar x Reader Words: 1.6k Warning(s): ANGST, blood/wound mention A/N: FINALLy I had enough inspiration to get this one done. I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you guys enjoyed reading. Also I love using gifs lol Request: Hey if you take requests may I ask for a Lucifer x reader where she is so hardened and cold towards everyone so he acts the same way to her until she gets hurt on a case and he panics (you can end it however)

----

A hard shell.

That is what you formed around your heart for protection. Too many people in your life had betrayed you, or hurt you in some form. So when you made the decision to move to L.A., you didn't want to feel that same mental and emotional hurt again.

You worked as a detective at the LAPD, often working alongside with Detective Chloe Decker and her civilian consultant Lucifer Morningstar.

You had no qualms with Chloe. She was good at her job, thought outside the box, stood her ground with what really happened with Malcolm, and she had a good set of morals on her. You respected her and held her in high regards.

Her partner Lucifer on the other hand was a different story. He was a goofy, sarcastic, pain in the ass unprofessional, mess of a person. Although past all of those traits, you can tell he wants to do good, whether he wants to admit it or not. He was like that with everyone else. After a while of starting working here, you noticed he seemed to be matching your "cold" exterior you give to everyone else.

Good, You like to say to yourself whenever it crossed your mind. Less chances for you to get hurt in any situation. Although, you wouldn't admit it but you did have a slight soft spot for him (and Ella, but she is a different case). You admired the good he did, admired is acts of self-sacrifice, and sometimes his occasional quips at Dan made you chuckle. He had a mask on, like you did, but his was much different. Lucifer wore a mask of a suave and care-free, when in reality he held something deep and dark in his heart...

---

It was another day, another case. You were teamed up with Chloe and Lucifer with your partner Dan. The four of you were in some huge, fancy house, looking for the wife and butler of a murdered millionaire. Lucifer pieced together that the wife and butler were the true killers, and they tried framing the gardeners.

The place was surrounded by cops, but the four of you went in alone. Chloe and Dan took one side of the house while you and Lucifer took the other. It wasn't ideal but if he kept his mouth shut-

"So do you always have a stick up your bum?" He quipped your way.

"Are you always this insufferable?" You snapped back, keeping your attention focused on looking for the suspects.

"I find it funny how you keep such a cold exterior to anyone who tries to talk to you."

"I find it funny how you are trying to play therapist right now while we are searching for two murders, Lucifer." You could tell he was trying to mimic your snappy mechanism to keep people away while simultaneously trying to break your wall.

"I just want to know, Darling. You seem lonely."

"Just because I keep to myself and I like being alone doesn't mean I am lonely." You were really starting to get irritated. Although you did slightly lie there... it does get lonely at times.

"Oh did I catch a lie there, (Y/N)? I am the the devil after all, I can detect lies."

"Uh huh and I am the Easter Bunny." You snort.

"If you just step out of that shell of yours you wouldn't be lonely."

"Maybe I have reasons to be alone." You sighed, realizing that opens the door for more conversation about you.

"What reasons could that be?" You didn't respond to his question. "Oh don't shut me out now, we were getting somewhere."

"We weren't. Now drop it." You moved into the master bedroom, which was huge. You stood in the middle of the room and did a general sweep at first. You could feel Lucifer glaring at you, probably attempting to burn holes in the back of your head.

"Why do you keep to yourself, (Y/N)?" He asked you again. You ignored him and kept looking around the room. You had your gun at the ready while you looked under the king sized bed; nothing. You got up from the floor and jumped slightly when you saw Lucifer standing right next to you. He repeated his question. You ignored. He repeated the question yet again and you ignored yet. He repeated-

"I lost a lot of people close to me and I don't want to keep losing them!" You finally shouted at him, your breathing ragged. "I can't- I can't deal with it so I act cold. I act mean. I do want friends but I just can't do it."

"(Y/N)..." He mumbled your name softly. You would of broke down there if you hadn't heard a creak come from the closet. You bit your lip and pushed back all the emotions you were feeling. You walked towards the closet carefully, your weapon at the ready.

You barely make to the door when a burning pain hit you in the abdomen. You noticed the door had a hole through it before you knees buckled from the pain. Another shot rang out and you were hit again, right in the shoulder. You finally fell onto your back, a sob passed through your lips.

"(Y/N)!" Lucifer rushed to your sign, his eyes wide and his expression worried.

"Lucifer..." You cried, blood coating your hands as you tried to put pressure on your wounds. The door swung open and out came the two suspects. They both had guns pointed at Lucifer.

"Y-You are going to let us go and we won't kill you." The butler threatened, but his shaking voice made him seem less threatening.

"You stupid humans." Lucifer seethed, and you could of swore that you saw his eyes glow red. He turned from you and in an instant the man was disarmed and thrown against a wall. The butler slumped down, knocked out. He then turned to the woman and did the same, she let out scream before it was her turned to be tossed.

"Lucifer-" You called to him again which he was at your side once more. He peeled off his suit jacket and placed it over your abdomen wound. "Please... Please don't let me die alone." You hiccuped and winced from the pain.

"I'm right here, darling. I am not going anywhere." He tried to stay calm for your sake but the panic was starting to consume. His breathing was erratic as he stared down at your bloody, sobbing form. You were just starting to open up to him, even if he made you do it with a bit of annoyance, but you let down some of your wall. Now you were wounded, bleeding out right in front of him. "You aren't alone, (Y/N)."

"I'm sorry, Lucifer."

"Why are you sorry, (Y/N)?"

"For being so-so cold towards you. I actually do like you but I just-" You sucked in a deep gulp of air. It started feeling hard to get air.

"No, don't be. I quite like you too, I just didn't understand." He smiled sadly, tears started building up in his deep eyes. Lucifer continued to talk to you, even when paramedics came in to help you out. He followed them to the ambulance and rode with you to the hospital, he promised he wouldn't leave you alone for awhile.

-------

Lucifer and you grew close after that, extremely close. You were almost fully healed up and you were hanging out with Lucifer in his penthouse while off duty. You learned that he truly was the actual, biblical Lucifer and he confirmed you did see his eyes flash red. In turn he learned about the people who betrayed you, the exes that cheated on you, and the people you were close with passing away. He vowed that if he ever came across those who wronged you he would indeed enact some sort of punishment.

You were laying on his couch while he played random songs on his piano. You had the sudden urge to stand up and join him at his piano. You leaned against the instrument and watched with curiosity as his hands moved up and down the white and black keys: you recognized this piece as one of Beethoven's sonatas. He played the last measure of the piece and then looked to you.

"Yes, darling?"

"Oh I was just watching you." You smiled.

"How are your wounds?"

"They are a bit sore but the stitches have pretty much dissolved completely."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Lucifer." You watched as he stood up from his piano bench and placed himself in front of you.

"We didn't start off on the right foot and it took you almost dying for both of us to get to know each other." You picked up on how glassy his eyes were starting to look. "You are a stellar human, one I have grown to... to love." His voice got softer towards the end.

"Oh, Lucifer." You smiled fondly. "I feel the same way."

Lucifer beamed and leaned forwards, planting such a soft and gently kiss on your lips. His hands pulled you lose to his body and you wrapped your arms tightly around his frame.

You were so happy to have let down those walls for the Devil.

"I will always be with you, (Y/N)."

[dragynkeep]

in a way, both Ruby/Oz have their confidence broken when they learn a certain truth involving Salem: her being immortal/hermothersfate but while Ruby does get shaken by salem , she recovers quickly and strives to keep fighting. Ironwood, on the other hand, chooses to act like Ozpin and focus on putting off the problem as long as possible; by taking Atlas into the stratosphere, he is basically running away from Salem and giving her free rein on Remnant, and time to further build up her forces.

Yeah, this is a mad simplified and straight up misinformed ask, anon.

Starting with Ruby/Ozpin, it’s not that their trauma is done different in the same scenario, it’s that Ruby straight up ignores her trauma when it exeeds more than five seconds. Not only that, bu Ozpin never stopped fighting. He literally brought a time of peace by the time the show started. He created the Academies, Maidens, was behind many historically significant events with him being behind the idea of the creation of Atlas according to James in V7.

Ozpin kept fighting and gave the people he was protecting the means to defend themselves. Huntsmen were trained to fight the Grimm, the kingdoms were built to protect the innocent who would’ve been killed out in the undefended villages that exist outside these safe zones, either by bandits or grimm. He locked the relics away so Salem could never get them to rule over the people, he trusted a few close allies with most of the truth, and his flaw was not trusting them with everything, but that flaw is both explained and justified. When Ozpin tells people the whole truth, they either abandon the fight or straight up betray him. 

And he does this all while still trying to believe in the good of humanity. He’s faced with the serious trauma that his wife and abuser literally cannot be killed, that she will forever follow and hurt him (Imagine Blake and Adam but if Adam was immortal and their abuse had gone on for centuries rather than like five years), and yet he still tries again and again to keep fighting. Because if he gives up, humanity will be destroyed by Salem. 

Ruby keeps fighting, but she’s not fighting well. Her brief breakdown over the death of her mother feels unearned because she doesn’t know Summer. Her mother died when she was very young, since she apparently couldn’t even talk yet according to Yang. Summer is more of an abstract figure rather than a direct relation to Ruby, and any moment to help built up Ruby’s feelings and relation to Summer before V7 was a five minute gravescene that felt more like a tribute to Monty, and moments given to Yang. The worst part of that scene wasn’t that Ruby was upset over someone she doesn’t even know, but that Yang, the girl who did know Summer, had hardly any relevence in that scene apart from comforting Ruby. 

And in the end, it didn’t even matter! Ruby got right back up again and starts acting like a cocky little shit in the Ace Ops fight. Where was the sobbing girl from five seconds ago? The one who had her eyes start doing light shows and supposedly stop working? Cause that’s not the Ruby we get right after.

And her keeping fighting mentality? That’s going to get innocent people killed. It’s not a new flaw that Ruby has, she has the tendency to rush into fights without thinking, but the problem is that the show never treats it like a flaw. She jumped at the Deathstalker and nearly gets herself killed? Weiss saves her and that flaw is never chastised, only brought up in what was meant to be a moment of self reflection in V5, only for Ruby to keep doing it. She went to follow White Fang members in V2? She gets trapped underground and captured, needing her team to come and help her. She jumped into the fight with Tyrian despite Qrow repeatedly telling her to stay away? She distracts Qrow who has to save her, and then gets poisoned by Tyrian and almost ends up dying.

In V7? There is no other option. If there was a way for RWBY and their allies to keep fighting Salem’s forces and protect those being evacuated, that would lead to some credit to Ruby’s argument, but there isn’t. Ruby wants to keep fighting, and once again isn’t listening to realistic counters to her argument. They can’t keep fighting with Ironwood’s armies decimated, they can’t keep fighting with the Ace Ops exhausted and one having her Aura already shattered, they can’t keep fighting with the immortal witch that they know can’t be killed coming personally to the battlefield, nevermind the fact that a rogue Maiden and a seriously dangeorus criminal who nearly killed Ruby and Yang are already in Atlas.

Ironwood’s plan is cold and is an unfortunate plan that will get innocent civilians killed, but the fact of the matter is that it’s the only plan they have that doesn’t end in their immediate annihilation. I hate people saying that he’s running away, he’s retreating. He is making a tactical retreat so that they can build their forces and have time to plan a counterattack, time that they don’t have because the immortal witch who wants to kill them all is literally on their doorstep.

If Ruby had figured out that maybe her Silver Eyes could hurt Salem and suggested that, maybe they would’ve had a way to repel Salem even if they couldn’t defeat her. But Ruby hasn’t bothered to properly harness her powers outside of one lecture from Maria and barely beating the Leviathan before Cordovin had to come in and kill it for good. Ruby didn’t bother to further train her powers in the training montages we were given this whole volume, she’d rather be a Huntress and enjoy the benefits while simultaneously lying to her employer about the war he’s fighting in. 

In conclusion, fuck outta here. Ruby isn’t this pure soul who’ll always keep fighting, she’s a flat character who refuses to acknowledge her flaws and gets away with being a wholeass hypocrite by being sad sometimes. 

[city-writes]

All’s Fair in Love and War

For years, Son Goku had been a superhero to many, having helped stop many an evil villain. From bandits to mercenaries to an alien like himself claiming to be a Demon King, Goku had stopped them all.

Well, almost all.

A trade piece for IGotTheMovesLikeErenJeager! Check out her art here!

Warnings: Superhero AU, Rating will go up in second chapter Pairings: Vegeta/Son Goku

Read it here on AO3! Commission info!

____________________

For years, Son Goku had been a superhero to many, having helped stop many an evil villain. From bandits to mercenaries to an alien like himself claiming to be a Demon King, Goku had stopped them all.

Well, almost all.

As he passed over West City, he was met with the sounds of screams erupting from down below, as well as alternating flashes of yellow and blue lights. Intent as he was to find the source of the issue, Goku took notice of a familiar friendly face down below, working with the police force.

"Krillin!"

Landing right beside the head of the police force, Goku looked down to his friend. "What's happening?"

"It's Vegeta!" Krillin exclaimed, pointing towards the direction the flashing lights were coming from. "He's terrorizing the city again! I've got my men evacuating citizens and aiding the injured, but none of us can get close to Vegeta!"

Goku frowned and nodded. "Leave that to me." With that, Goku flew up and towards the direction of the flashing lights.

Vegeta... Goku had fought him for years. The two were from the same planet coincidentally, but whereas Goku had been sent to Earth as a child and grew up among its people, Vegeta had arrived several years ago, claiming that he, as prince of their home planet, would rule this world. It was then that Goku learned of the destruction of not just their home planet, but nearly its entire population by a being named Frieza, and that while Vegeta had taken his revenge and killed Frieza, he still expected to rule something.

Unluckily for Goku, he chose Earth.

Vegeta was bent on world domination, intent on bringing the Earth and its people to their knees, and ruling them all. He'd murdered and taken hostages and threatened thousands, but ultimately, he usually used brute force to try and get his way.

Which, Goku noted, was what he was doing right now. Those blue and yellow lights were him rampaging in West City, firing off his two best energy based techniques: Big Bang Attack and Final Flash, respectively. As Goku flew to find him, he took note of the craters and destroyed buildings left in Vegeta's path, of people who hadn't been killed by his rampage crying out for help. Goku quickly did what he could to save as many as possible, trying to ease the job of first responders and Krillin's men. Though as he was saving a young boy and his mother from the inside of a collapsing building, he spotted Vegeta, charging a Big Bang Attack at a group of civilians.

Quickly putting the young boy and his mother down, Goku raced to Vegeta and the civilians, making it just in time as Vegeta fired off his Big Bang Attack, Goku managing to knock the energy blast up in the air to avoid hitting the people behind him, and sending a basic blast of his own to collide with Vegeta's high in the air, causing it to explode there where no one could get hurt.

"Go, get to safety!" Goku cried out to the people he was shielding, them all nodding and running away.

Vegeta scoffed. "Well, I don't mind a moving target..." With that he fired several basic energy blasts at the fleeing civilians, a dark smirk on his face as he did so. But Goku was quick on the draw again, and shielded them all by taking the multiple hits himself.

Goku panted slightly, his clothes slightly tattered and torn from Vegeta's blasts. "You won't be taking anymore lives, Vegeta. Not while I'm here."

Vegeta cursed under his breath upon seeing Goku take each and every one of the basic energy blasts he'd expelled, but at Goku's words, merely chuckled. "Is that so, Kakarott?" Goku's eyes darted around him at the utterance of his birth name, making sure no one heard it. Vegeta was the only one that used it, despite Goku having changed his name when he arrived on Earth. Why, Goku never understood.

"This ends today." Goku took an offensive stance. "I won't let you hurt anyone else."

"Tch," Vegeta mimicked Goku's decision, getting into a fighting stance himself. "You hero-types make me sick." The moment he was done speaking, Vegeta rushed Goku, attempting to land a punch to his face, but was ultimately blocked by Goku's arms crossing in an 'X' shape. With a scowl, Vegeta then ducked low and swept his leg under Goku's, causing the taller man to fall backwards, or so it seemed. Goku caught himself with his hands, it looking like he was going to backflip to either stabilize himself or gain some distance, but instead, as his legs flew up, he reared back a leg and kicked Vegeta with much force under his chin.

Vegeta was knocked back into the side of a building, causing a crater to appear in the side of it. Goku did end up stabilizing himself, but as he took notice of the crater left my the impact of his kick, he mentally chided himself. He was supposed to be helping protect the city, not aiding Vegeta in destroying it! That meant retaliating with his own energy blasts were out of the question. But that was fine, Goku preferred the close up contact of physical combat anyway.

It didn't take Vegeta long at all to emerge from the wall crater, scowling as he cracked his neck, piercing eyes focused on Goku. Goku watched as Vegeta wiped a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth using the side of his fist, looking down at the red smudge on his glove. "That's the only hit you'll be making on me today, Kakarott."

"We'll see about that!" Simultaneously, the two flew into the air and rushed each other, the fight a flurry of thrown punches and skillful dodging, the same song and dance most of their fights devolved into. Not that Goku was complaining, it was quite the opposite. As much as he disliked Vegeta's view of Earth, about how he needed to dominate it, he respected the natural born fighter the villain turned out to be. He was a challenge, a man not to be taken lightly.

Around them, people were still trying to get to safety, a few stopping awestruck at seeing their hero - Son Goku - in action right in front of them.

These people caught Goku's attention for the briefest second, as he wondered what the heck they were doing just standing there, when he suddenly heard, "Eyes on me!" followed by a sharp pain blistering in his chest, knocking the wind out of him momentarily, and sending him flying downwards into the concrete, leaving another crater on impact.

As Vegeta slowly hovered down to the ground, Krillin and his men arrived, some aiding the civilians, others hunkering down behind cars and large bits of rubble defensively, surrounding Goku and Vegeta in a large, wide circle.

"You're surrounded!" Krillin spoke, his gaze meeting Vegeta's. He swallowed harshly under the villain's malicious gaze, but continued speaking. "Give in!" At that, the members of the police force who had surrounded Vegeta and Goku raised their weapons, and pointed them straight at Vegeta.

"Pathetic." Vegeta raised a palm in Krillin's direction, blue energy beginning to gather there. His attention was no longer on Goku, who was pulling himself up. Upon seeing the sight of Vegeta getting ready to kill Krillin, Goku growled and lunged for Vegeta, being careful to restrain himself as they were still on city grounds, where people could get hurt. With a yell of rising power, Goku focused his energy into a single punch, his fist connecting with Vegeta's stomach. The shorter male coughed up spit upon impact, and the energy he'd been gathering disappeared. While he was hindered, Goku wrapped his arms around Vegeta's waist and flew them both upwards, toward the sky, where the two of them could fight without endangering the people and city below them.

The elbow he received to the side of the head forced him to change trajectory.

With a harsh thud!, the duo crash landed onto the rooftop of the tallest building in the city, Goku and Vegeta rolling to a halt against the concrete. Gritting their teeth, they both rose to their feet and charged for each other, hands colliding with one another as the two made contact. They were both panting, struggling to force the other man down. Their hands were locked in a power struggle, Goku looking down at Vegeta as he spoke. "That's enough, Vegeta!" He gripped the shorter man's hands tighter, only to seethe as Vegeta returned the action. "It's over."

"On the contrary, Kakarott," Vegeta said between pants, sweat dripping from his brow, "I'm just getting started." With that, Vegeta reared his head back, and swung it towards Goku, intent on knocking him backwards, but unfortunately for him, Goku saw the move coming, and mimicked Vegeta, the blunt force of their head strikes connecting with each other, a boom! of wind resulting from the impact. Both men grit their teeth as pain blossomed throughout their heads, though neither male pulled their heads away, instead keeping their foreheads together, despite the blooming pain they both felt from their impact. One of them was bleeding from the head, they realized, as blood mixed with sweat trickled down each of their faces.

Still they were panting, and neither one of them was backing down from the struggle. Their faces were so close together, their noses barely touching, one practically breathing the other's air. Goku knew he had to end this fast, if not to bring Vegeta down, than to protect the people of the city below, to give Krillin and his police force time to evacuate the injured, to--

Goku's mind stopped processing things almost instantly.

The feeling of slightly wet but still somewhat chapped lips pressed against his own set his mind into frizz, the majority of his body acting on its on accord still fighting against Vegeta, but Goku's face... he was frozen. His eyes were widened in disbelief, and his jaw went somewhat slack, his lips parting of their own accord, which gave Vegeta all the room he need to slip his tongue into Goku's mouth. Goku's first thought that snapped back into his mind at that was that Vegeta tasted like blood, but also somehow tasted both sweet and bitter, like coffee with some added creamer. (Do villains even do something as casual as make morning coffee? Goku couldn't help but wonder.) Goku shook off the thought, and instead thought to bite down on Vegeta's tongue, to stop this, this... whatever this was he was trying to pull!

But when he went to search Vegeta's eyes for an answer, he saw nothing. Vegeta had closed his eyes. This itself had startled Goku, as Vegeta had never before purposefully taken his eyes off an opponent. This left him exposed, Goku could knee him in the gut and he'd never see it coming. This was it, this was the advantage Goku had needed in this fight!

...So why wasn't he taking that advantage?

His body was slowly giving up the fight against Vegeta, but he realized, Vegeta was slowly giving up the fight too. The pressure forced by their power struggle was easing into nothing, their arms lowering of their own accord, but their hands still remaining conjoined.

Vegeta's tongue mapped out every inch of Goku's mouth, until he turned his attention to Goku's own tongue, prodding it expectantly. When Goku failed to respond in any way, Vegeta pulled away from Goku, the taller male suddenly missing the feeling of Vegeta's lips against his own, the bittersweet taste of bloodied creamed coffee. Vegeta opened his eyes, usually piercing black eyes seeming less volatile than Goku remembered them.

"Are you going to kiss me, or not?"

Before Goku could respond, Vegeta moved his hands, one gloved hand harshly grabbing Goku's jaw and pulling him down some, the other burying itself in Goku's hair at the back of his head. As Vegeta mashed their lips together with more intensity this time, Goku's now free hands instinctively planted themselves at different spots: One hand at Vegeta's midback, the other on a shoulder.

What was he doing? His body moved of its own accord, pulling Vegeta closer to him and he hesitantly kissed Vegeta back, not fully processing what the hell was going on right now. But as his tongue slid against Vegeta's, and Vegeta's hand at his jaw softened its grip, Goku came to a realization.

Oh.

Oh.

He liked this.

Goku would have been lying if he'd said there hadn't been something inside him building up towards Vegeta for all the years they'd fought. He'd assumed it was some form of respect for Vegeta as a fighter, as a rival, maybe even as a fellow Saiyan, as something... But this? This hadn't sort of something hadn't crossed Goku's mind at all, and frankly, why should it have?

But now that he was here, tracing the inside of his nemesis's mouth with his own tongue, he was feeling bolder, more confident. Why hadn't this crossed his mind before? His hands gripped Vegeta a little tighter, kissed him a little harder, fighting back a chuckle at Vegeta's taken aback grunt towards his boldness. If Goku hadn't have known Vegeta as well as he did, he would have been surprised when Vegeta resumed his tight grip on Goku's jaw, would have yelped in protest as Vegeta dug his fingers into his scalp, would have been scared off when Vegeta glared at him and bit at his lower lip as if in retaliation to Goku's confidence, as if to silently say, 'Who do you think you are?'

Goku broke off the kiss at the nip, biting back a noise of indigence, but also giving him and Vegeta well-needed room to breathe. There was a fog slowly beginning to cloud his mind, replacing the frizz that he'd initially had been shocked by. Goku shook his head slightly, knowing he needed to get his head on straight! What was he doing!? He was supposed to take Vegeta out, not... not make-out! But as Goku's eyes met Vegeta's, he tensed, seeing a want for more in his gaze. The sight of Vegeta's slightly parted, somewhat reddened lips as he gazed at Goku with lidded eyes laced with want was an image Goku knew he'd never get out of his head.

And frankly? He was completely ok with that.

Goku was quick to dive in for another kiss, and Vegeta was more than willing to oblige, the two beginning to heatedly make out once more. There was a different power struggle now, akin to the one from mere moments - was it really moments? if felt like hours - ago, as Vegeta and Goku kissed each other fervently, trying to outdo the other in this new kind of battle. Hands grasped at each other for some sort of purchase, feeling all over the other's body, with the silent mutual exception of their waists, where their tails lied curled. The small of Vegeta's back, Goku's broad shoulders, Vegeta's toned chest, Goku's strong hips, Vegeta's built arms, Goku's ass--

A yelp left Goku as a hand squeezed his buttocks, and he pulled away from the kiss, pouting somewhat as Vegeta chuckled, his expression dusted with mirth.

"Not fair, Vegeta."

Vegeta gave a 'hmph!' in amusement, before leaning upwards and murmuring against Goku's lips, "All's fair in love and war, Kakarott."

So which was this? Goku wondered. Love? Or war?

Before he would question it any further, Vegeta was kissing him again, Goku finding it nigh impossible to resist the spell, the temptation of Vegeta's mouth against his. Goku was finally getting used to Vegeta's voracious style of kissing, when Vegeta's tongue swirled around Goku's, only to suck on it a second later. The groan that left Goku was damn near shameful, and he could feel the corners of Vegeta's lips curl up in a smile. For a moment, he wondered what that would feel like on another part of his bod-- what was he thinking?!

Banging on the rooftop door forced the duo to break the kiss, both men looking towards the door.

"Goku?!" Came Krillin's voice. "Goku, we're here for backup! Alright guys, knock the door down!"

Goku paled. Oh god, if the police force was to see them like this...!

"Tch, damn it." Vegeta sneered at the door, glaring daggers into it. "Fine then, we'll end this here for now." With that, a hand went to Goku's shoulder, the other to the back of Goku's head, and before the taller male could process what Vegeta was doing, Vegeta proceeded to knee Goku in the gut.

A yell of pain escaped the hero, hands going to clutch at his stomach as he slunk to his knees, coughing up spit as he did so. He watched with slightly blurred vision as Vegeta began walking to the edge of the roof, his vision clearing as Vegeta rubbed a gloved thumb over his own lips as he spoke.

"Come and find me, Kakarott."

With that, Vegeta flew off at high speed into the distance, disappearing from sight just as the police force knocked down the rooftop door. "Goku!" Krillin was quick to race to Goku's side, helping him rise to his feet. "Goku, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Krillin." Goku assured through a pained smile, one of his hands going to rest on Krillin's shoulder. Though the moment he was done speaking, he looked out towards where Vegeta flew. Vegeta's words echoed in his head, but were they a promise of more to come? Or a threat if some sort?

As the rest of the police force began to surround Goku and Krillin, Krillin followed Goku's gaze and frowned. "That's the direction he headed off in?" Krillin looked over Goku, seething slightly. "You're beat up pretty badly, buddy. What do you plan on doing?"

Without missing a beat, Goku replied, "I'm going to find him."

[userseokkie]

why steve rogers needs to learn how to apologize

or a refutal of his letter to tony at the end of civil war because i’m bitter and tired

(note: i KNOW that this isn’t meant to be a ‘please forgive me for all i did wrong’ letter, we all know that. they both made mistakes and as such, they both need to apologize. the fact that steve made the first move by writing him a letter would make you think that he’d try to at least say ‘sorry’ and clear the air a bit right? well YOU’RE WRONG. instead we get a paragraph of self-justification and an offer to help save the world again if whatever alien invasion tony hallucinates happens eventually)

anyways, let’s get started

“i’m glad you’re back at the compound - i don’t like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself”

steve didn’t seem to mind tony being alone when he, yknow, left tony alone in subzero temperatures in siberia.... but i digress. and oh wait a sec, he was incidentally the cause for the rest of the team to leave or be put behind the bars, leaving tony alone except for rhodey who, yeah that’s right, is now paraplegic thanks to the shit steve pulled at the airport in berlin.

“the avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. i’ve been on my own since i was 18.”

ok and? tony’s been on his own since he was 21, or did steve think he’s the only orphan on the team? as per the first part, i’m not even. nope, i’m not even gonna dignify that one with a response. perhaps cap thinks of the avengers as a commodity? because tony might see them as a family or something preposterous like that, but nah, not steve. i’m just trying to follow his line of thought here, the avengers are like his howling commandoes in this scenario so.. i thought there’d be more Man Pain than that for losing the team steve, come on

“i never really fit in anywhere. (...) my faith’s in people i guess, individuals. for the most part, they haven’t let me down. which is why i can’t let them down either.”

steve........ you literally..... refused to sign a treaty which guaranteed a) the free will of nations to allow you to act upon them and b) safeguarded the protection of.. um. INDIVIDUALS. civilian casualties and victims of crossfire?? ring any bell??? or i guess they aren’t the individuals you’re referring to, which hey, highly convenient when you take on the mantle of a symbol for the people and then look the other way when what they ask of you doesn’t align with your personal beliefs. but moving on

“locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn’t. i know i hurt you tony. i guess i thought by not telling you about your parents i was sparing you, but i can see now that i was really sparing myself”

and... DING DING DING! we have a winner people, this is a very rare example of acceptance of guilt. (notice i said guilt and not blame, we’ll see that in a few) thank you, steve! that’s so nice of you to say that!

“hopefully one day you can understand. i wish we’d agree on the accords, i really do. i know you’re doing what you believe in, and that’s all any of us can do.” 

ok.... so. steve is accepting that his reasoning behind a) leaving the team after refusing to sign and b) hiding the truth of tony’s parents is skewed WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY washing his hands of any true blame by applying one dick move - recognizing hurt feelings that he cannot control. this is basically saying hey, i’m sorry YOU feel that way but i am not sorry for what I did. i’m just sorry your reaction to it was hurting.

and we wrap it up with a thinly veiled shrug off that hopes to put everything under the rug: 

“so i promise, if you need any of us, if you need me, i’ll be there.”

so..... yeah. nice explanation steve gave there! right? and he even offered to come back and defend the world if another threat shows up. awww. at least until another institution comes charging in and makes him question his own beliefs in any way he dislikes. in that case y’all can fuck off

[althor42]

Fixing the DCEU

So, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how I’d fix the DCEU. Well, not fix it, so much as go back in time and stop the madness. A lot’s been said about what’s gone wrong, but I wanted to put my mark on how they could have done things correctly. My beta hpwot added some commentary as well.

I’ve fit this within certain constraints based on what DC has given us so far:

Man of Steel still kicks things off.

Jason Todd dies.

Wonder Woman is almost entirely unchanged.

There is a climactic fight between Batman and Superman.

Superman seems to die.

Eventually: Justice League

Man of Steel isn’t a terrible way to kick thing’s off, but there’s some things to fix about it.

Don’t have Clark watch Johnathan Kent die for no reason, for one. By all means, give him a struggle to maintain anonymity as his parents have asked of him, but letting your father die is pretty unsympathetic for a movie hero, especially Superman. Have Superman accept at least some of the weight of responsibility for the many deaths from the invasion. Yes, he was a newb to that kind of action, but he acted rashly, and his actions led to collateral damage; this is a man who values human life, and he should hate that he wasn’t better. Also like, let Superman smile every now and then. The point of this movie is to answer the question of why does Clark Kent become Superman, and it does, barely.

Alternatively, hpwot has posited the following for a revised Man of Steel:

___

How to do Man of Steel?  

Give a very brief prologue on Krypton: They have chosen not to use Zod’s doomsday machine at the sacrifice of their own people.  Zod is imprisoned; Clark is sent off into space.

Man of steel shouldn’t just be setting up the moral backbone for Superman’s character arc, it should be setting a moral backbone for the entire DCEU so we can play the other characters off of that theme.  Start with a bullied super kid.  The movie did this bit right. Superman knows what it is like to be weak, even if it’s only because he must hide that he is strong.  Give a bit right after the bully is gone when we see some feat of strength that tells us that the only reason he is bullyable is because he allows it.  One of the most important things to do in the first act is to show where he gets his first sense of right versus wrong.  He gets it from his parents.  I want to open with a very young Superkid getting bullied before we jump to a Superteen who is struggling so hard not to lash out.  He’s still bullied, but he’s not the only one and he struggles with whether that’s his problem or not.  

The thing is we only have one movie, and we don’t want it to be a mess, so we need to introduce the villains early on.  Zod and co. reach Earth in the cut between super kid and superteen.  They have the same general goals as in the original, but they don’t have everything that they’re going to need.  It’s going to have to take time with this primitive human technology.  They realize they’re going to have their work cut out for them, but Zod was a general, and he’s a planner, and he can make things work.  They just need to stay in the shadows until the right time.  

Cut back to superteen who’s just starting to lash out.  It sets the stage for his moral arc.  

Cut back to Zod and Co.  They have an underground lair and they have a host of henchmen who think that the Kryptonians are gods.  But they aren’t just any old henchmen, we discover that at least one of them is the CEO of ACME or whatever major corporation.  This also serves as foreshadowing for Clark being a god among men.  We need something to tie in these two story lines, so give them a broad over-reaching plot and some small part of it creeps into Smallville.  Something that seems mundane, but it starts a moral problem that the Kent’s are faced with.  

Start a mini one-act story line that focuses on Super teen learning by his parents actions and guidance what it means to be a good person and what it truly means to be strong.  I’m seeing something involving someone else who needs protecting, a stirring moral speech from Pa Kent and Ma Kent standing up for what’s right at a key moment showing both strength of character and humility.  Super teen goes back to school and he’s realized that there’s something he can do.  Superteen becomes a defender of the week in his school, but he doesn’t do it with super strength or laser vision, he does it with kindness and occasionally by becoming a punching bag.  Afterall, he can’t be hurt, even if his ego can be bruised.  But something more, he has the hope that the people doing wrong can change and become better.  All of this will have to be done with a minimalist touch.  Every single part of Act one is going to need to be done with as little dialogue and whatnot as you can manage, because you’ve got a lot to fit in.  Say a lot with a little.  The only point where you can slow down a bit is the moral backbone scene.

Okay, that was a lot.  Let’s pick up the pace a bit.  Superman is moving out of Smallville for Metropolis.  Hugs and kisses.  An admonishment not to let the big city erase his roots.  You get a scene of getting introduced to the bullpen at Daily Planet.  “Why did you decide to become a reporter?” “The press is the guardian of freedom.”  (This will be important contrast for later) This is not the bumbling Clark Kent of the comics who’s Human Suit showed what he thought of the everyman, this is the man of quiet moral strength and humility that he learned to be from his parents in Act one.  Clark sets out for the first time as a visibly superhuman wearing the Superman getup his mother made him.  Classic “Look, up in the sky,” but with a twist.  Is it a drone? Some sort of marketing stunt?  

Cut to Zod, where plans are almost complete.  Everything else is almost complete and then they’ll just need one more thing before they can turn on their doomsday machine.  But that one last thing can’t be gotten from the shadows.  As soon as everything else is in place they will show the people’s of the world their god… cue breaking news in the background about Superman.  

Cut to Louis showing Clark the ropes.  First item on the agenda, find out everything they can about Superman while simultaneously trying to work on Louis’s other project, investigating the strange things ACME Co’s been up to. (Lois is skeptical that Superman is as good as he seems, so that she can be won over later). Get a bit of chemistry going with a contrast of Louis’ fast paced chaotic work method to Clark’s slower more methodical work process.  

Cut to a montage of Superman, learning the ropes of being a superhero.  Contrast the fast paced nature of being a superhero who can hear crime happening everywhere to Louis from the previous scene.  Introduce Superman’s thou shalt not kill.  Bullet ricochet’s off his chest (Holes in his costume) and hits the gunman.  Superman get’s very flustered and rushes him to the hospital.  We want to show that Superman believes the villains can become something better.  He has a faith in humanity and therefore any death is a tragedy.

Cut back to Louis and Clark.  Louis uses Clark as a sounding board as she’s working on the Superman case.  “What if there are more of him?” “What if he’s the only one?” A bit of sadness in his voice.  Phone call: Louis’ source from the ACME case calls, says there’s a warehouse with something she needs to see.  That sounds dangerous.  Shouldn’t Clark come too?  Nope, only she can know who the source is.  Clark considers following at a distance, but then, breaking news: a break in at a military base by superpower wielding villains who are stealing the McGuffin.  

Superman sets off, and manages to trace them down to a warehouse… Inside is the spaceship Zod landed in in the beginning, only it’s been heavily modded. Superman confronts them.  Zod tells Superman that they’re of the same people.  And reveals his plan, asks Superman to join them.  That’s when Louis gets dragged in by henchpersons, she’s been caught snooping.  “Louis?” Superman says in a moment of carelessness.  Tensions mount, a fight ensues, Superman get’s his ass handed to him.  Kicking and screaming, Louis gets loaded into the spaceship which takes off to a spot high above metropolis where it will start doing it’s thing.  It doesn’t affect the entire world at once.  But we see an energy field that probably goes out across several states.  There is a resonance building in the ground, and we don’t want to find out what happens when it covers the entire world.  Superman gets back on his feet.

Final act, Superman must choose between saving Louis or the world, does both, and then comes the whole climactic fight where he has to kill Zod in order to stop him from killing civilians thing, which we have now earned, and his anguish afterwards feels like it came from somewhere.  

Closing?  Superman’s helping a little old lady cross the street.  He’s a bit sombre after recent events but he’s happy to help.  He goes home to his tiny apartment, dressed as Clark once more.  He is surprised to see Louis sitting in his only chair, a pad and pencil in hand.  “I have some questions for you Clark.”

___

So that’s a copule ways to do Superman. We’re going to need another movie to show us how Superman’s super heroic aspirations match up with the real world. But first, Batman.

A big problem with Batman V. Superman was that it showed us this maniac as Batman, and expected us to root for him, giving him the ridiculous ‘Martha’ redemption at the end. But why should we care about this creep’s redemption? Just because you say he’s Batman? No, first you need us to love Batman, which isn’t hard. He’s the goddamn Batman.

We start with a post-Dick Grayson’s Robin Batman.There is no origin story here. Nightwing is off doing his own thing in Gotham, and we see a Batman that people are starting to get worried about. He’s getting tougher and tougher on crime, and he’s starting to cross boundaries. He’s not happy as Batman. He’s not happy as Bruce Wayne. The only time we see him crack a smile is when Alfred is in the room, or when he’s meeting up with Nightwing. Adopting Dick as Bruce Wayne, and mentoring him as Batman were the best things he’s ever done, but that chapter’s closed. Gotham may be better off than when he started, but the fight is never over, and Batman is throwing himself harder and harder at the city’s problems trying to put them to rest once and for all. It gets to a point where Nightwing announces that he’s leaving Gotham city ___(Maybe he’s going away to college, he’s decided on a school that’s far away.  I like the idea of showing that unlike Bruce, he has more in his life than just being a superhero).___ He says that other city’s need protectors of their own, but they both know that he just doesn’t want to watch Batman destroy himself.

Somewhere in the background, some of the early events in Man of Steel are making the news.

Cut to: Some big villain caused disaster. Lives are lost, Batman can’t always save the day. But just because he couldn’t save them, doesn’t mean he won’t bring the responsible parties to justice. He throws himself into it, glad to have a problem he can bring his whole self to bear on. At the end of the day, a greater disaster is averted, the perpetrators are brought to justice, but he knows that there was someone pulling their strings. Someone who he has fought before. Someone he has captured, only to be let loose again: the Joker. Too bad the Joker is nowhere to be found. ___(Either Harley Quinn is in this one and is captured, or she is in the second one and gets captured, seting up her character for Suicide Squad.)___

The movie ends with Bruce driving out into the countryside. He’s on the phone with Dick, who’s still worried. But Bruce isn’t; he’s got a mission. On the seat next to him is a profile on an orphan who’s parents were lost in the earlier disaster, sent to a group home after all the fights he’s been in. We close on Bruce Wayne meeting Jason Todd.

Next up is Wonder Woman. That movie was pretty close to perfect. I’m sure there’s things to nit-pick about it, but it’s a strong addition to the DCEU, and is good as is. The only thing is, for reasons that will be clear later on, we make one addition to Thymescira: at least one Amazonian has the gift of foresight.

Next is another Batman movie, and we’re in the wake of the devastation of the fight between Titan’s that was the climax of Man of Steel. A lot of Bruce’s focus is on his company for a change, but there’s plenty to do as Batman with all the chaos that the destruction has brought. Meanwhile, he’s got a rookie Robin to train up. Here we see Batman being downright paternal and maybe even downright happy, through that gruff and guarded exterior. It’s clear that being a role model, trying to show Jason how to do things right, brings out the best in him.

Batman doesn’t like the destruction wrought in the fight between Superman and Zod. He knows that the bulk of the blame falls on Zod and his compatriots, but he can’t help but think ill of Superman, who couldn’t pull the fight out of the city fast enough ___(He spent all that time trying to save Louis, because he had the hubris to think he could save everyone)___ He is still haunted by the collapse of Wayne Tower. Jason though, is excited about Superman, seeing him as a force of good in the world. Again, news of Superman’s deeds are sprinkled in the background of the movie, but this isn’t a movie about Superman, this is a movie about Batman and the new Robin. Mysteries abound, crimes need to be solved, and Batman is taking things slow with training his new apprentice. Robin’s safety is his highest priority.

But eventually, all signs point to the Joker, not just that he’s back in town, but that he’s at the center of all of the recent troubles. Batman is adamant, Robin stays in the bat cave for this one. But Robin knows exactly who it was behind the disaster that killed his parents, and he’s not content to stay at home. They fight over it, but no way in hell is Batman going to let Robin indulge himself in a quest for vengeance.

Eventually, Batman catches the Joker. I’ll leave the details up to an actual script writer. But he finds the Joker covered in blood, and there’s something in his possession that sends a chill through Batman: the ‘R' of Robin’s costume. The Joker is gleeful in giving him the gory details of Jason Todd’s death, and Batman beats him savagely, to within an inch of his life. It is only that same ‘R’, and the man he wanted to be for Jason, that keep him from crossing that line.

___(For this, look into the 5 Act Tragedy as an appropriate structure.)____

((There are those that defend the BvS movie’s odd pacing, saying that it follows the five act structure, and audiences just aren’t used to it. Moviebob has a video on youtube, Really That Bad, wherein he takes a few minutes to explain why that doesn’t add up because a. it just doesn’t, and b. that movie’s just a mess.))

Next we have Superman again; a Superman who is trying to define who he is as a hero, and how he can be most effective for the world. He flies around, saving people. He stops bank robberies, he puts out house fires, he responds to natural disasters. But there’s always so much he can’t do, and it weighs on him. Meanwhile, the world is trying to make sense of what it means to have a Superman in the world. Honestly, a lot of this can be done in montage.

At the same time, we see him as Clark Kent. The goofy but earnest reporter, who’s still trying to make a difference by putting pen to paper. But even in his civilian life, that’s not enough for Clark, and he volunteers as a Big Brother. Enter down-on-his-luck kid from a broken home: Jimmy Olsen. Because even as he explores what it means to be a god-amongst-men, he also wants to explore what it means to be a good man. (Yes, from a utilitarian standpoint, any volunteer hours Clark Kent puts in should just be as Superman, but Clark having a rich personal life has always been a gimme from the the beginning of Superman).

He’s finding himself, becoming the Boy Scout we all know and love, dedicated to truth and justice, but what does that mean for a 21st century Superman? Does justice refer to stopping crime, or to a broader social justice, and what does truth mean to a man who has to lie every day? But meanwhile there are things in this world that feel bigger than Superman. There’s a war on, and he goes to protect the civilians. And when he can’t save them all, he goes on a rampage, destroying nearby military hardware.

Now there is real lash-back. It is one thing for Superman to save people, it is another for him to take military action. The UN is resolute. Superman can be an actor in our world, but he cannot act in matters between nations. Superman accepts this decree; he is reluctant, but he is not here to be a tyrant. And yet, with Superman on a leash, travesty happens in the midst of war, and countless lives are loss. Superman knows he could have prevented it, but he didn’t, and that makes him responsible.

Over the course of less than one day, he destroys the responsible nation’s capacity to wage war, going after all of their hardware. Not a drop of blood is spilled, but a definite message is sent, and he backs it up by flying himself back to the UN to give a decree of his own. War is over on the planet Earth. Nations can stockpile whatever weapons and soldiers they want, but they will regret it if they ever use them.

___(I think this would also have to be a five act tragedy.  The announcement at the end is the Transformation.)____

Next is another Wonder Woman movie, the events that made her start losing her faith in humanity. We see her facing much the same dilemma as Superman: how do you save humanity from itself. Wonder Woman is powerful, but she can’t quite destroy an army in a day. So she goes where she can, does what she can. Saves as many innocent, and plenty of not-so-innocent, lives as she can.

At some point, her mother shows up, hoping to bring her daughter home. She brings some warriors with her, so we get a nice Amazonian fight scene in whatever war zone. But Hippolyta entreats her daughter: Ares is dead, and still mankind wars with itself. But no, says Diana, there is still so much good in them that can be saved. She encourages her mother to see more of mankind, to look for the good. Meanwhile, Diana has a war to fight.

She wins, time and again, but it’s never enough, and every day saps at her belief that there is anything worth saving. Vietnam and Korea are decent wars for her to throw herself into, but there’s plenty for the movie to choose from. Eventually, she saves the day in a big way. Everything seems to be going well, maybe it even looks like peace is on the horizon, but mankind falls down on the job again, tragedy ensues, and she can’t for the life of her see what she���s actually accomplished. She doesn’t put down her sword at the end of the movie, but you can see that she is on that path.

___(This wonder woman movie would be another 5 Act Tragedy)___

((A running theme for these second instalments))

Now the stage is set for Batman V Superman. We have a Batman who’s been brought to the brink of despair and is still teetering. We have a Superman who tried to be a Boy Scout, wanted to be a Boy Scout, but is leaning on the edge of tyranny. We have a Wonder Woman who’s giving up. We have world governments who have good reason to be terrified of Superman, and would be willing to do any crazy thing to find a way to neutralize him as needed. Enter Lex Luther. He doesn’t give a damn about about what it means to have gods amongst men. Neither is he insane, but sure, Silicon Valley Tech Billionaire is a good modern take. He’s charismatic on the outside, but he is cold and calculating in truth, and he wants one thing: money. The traditional weapon’s industry has tanked in the wake of Superman’s ultimatum, even as all the money is going into finding ways to stop Superman…just in case. Lex has bought up all available cheap stocks in the Military Industrial Complex, and all he needs to make it worth a fortune is the death of Superman.

So begins Lex Luther’s plans within plans to bring about his demise. One of which, yes, is to create a goliath creature of some sort, (just not Doomsday because there’s already a lot packed in, and the fans are going to want him to get a proper showing later down the line). Another is to pit Batman Vs Superman. He’s even got people watching Barry Allen, just in case. He doesn’t need to blow up congress, (and let’s face it, would Superman even answer to a summons at this point?), he just needs a good pitch for why Lexcorp is the best company to find an anti-Superman contingency.

Meanwhile, Diana is not interfering in the world of man. She has lost her hope for us. She is cutting her ties, and plans to return to Thymescira. But instead her mother comes to her again, this time with a message. Something terrible is coming to our world; prophecy says so. The world needs it’s gods again, and it’s Diana’s job to assemble a new Pantheon. Diana is reluctant. She has seen too much of man’s cruelty. She thought she could save us, but she doesn’t think it will ever get better, her mother had been right in the first place. They do not deserve saving. But no, says her mother, Diana, you were right. Your only fault lay in trying to save humanity on your own. (And yes, a part of Diana still knew the good of man. Why else would she work to curate a museum, preserving the beautiful and amazing work’s we’ve created over time?)

Eventually, Batman and Superman have their big throw down. Batman has been aimed at Superman by Lex, true, but his paranoia of Superman turning on humanity is not entirely artificial. Superman’s own actions have fed this drive. Meanwhile, Lex has found a way to manipulate Superman. Not Martha, but Jimmy. And in the end, when Batman has him at his mercy, he begs, “Save Jimmy. He’s just a kid, and Luther is going to kill him.”

Here is where Batman sees the humanity in Superman. Not because their mother’s have the same name, but because they have both sought to nurture and guide a child. And where Batman failed with Jason, it is not too late for them to save Jimmy.

Jimmy is saved, but not!Doomsday attacks, and Diana watches on TV as a god fights back, a god with an ally. She feels the call to battle.

Once again, Superman flies not!Doomsday into space, and is hit with a nuke, but his destroyed body remains in orbit, while not!Doomsday returns to Earth, and so we have the seeming death of Superman. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman takes up the kryptonite spear and, while Bruce distracts the beast, she slays it.

A conflicted world mourns the death of their protector. Diana approaches Bruce; trouble is coming, and she wants to gather others to help face it.  The world prepares for war now that the Superman Deterrent is gone.

Next up is Suicide Squad. It may have been a garbage fire of a movie, but it had a pretty good concept. First of all, you need Amanda Waller to make some goddamn sense. She’s not building a team to fight Superman. That’s not the point of a suicide squad. The point is to send them places where you need deniability, places where no one would volunteer to go, and yes, into situations where you need some incredible people. The Enchantress and her brother get their hearts destroyed before the movie starts, because there’s no good sense in keeping those around.

Next, you have to justify why Harley Quinn was put on the team. Her character was the one good thing about the movie, but her being there didn’t make much sense when her skills were basically just being reasonably good at violence. The movie didn’t capitalize on the fact that she is a disciple of the Joker; she’s a brilliant manipulator, tactician, and technical expert in all things mayhem. It’s still a stretch, but at least now we’re justifying our suspension of disbelief.

Now give them an enemy. Remember that your main characters are bad guys, so you have to put them against some really heinous people. Give them hostages; plenty of important people to get the powerful forces at play, but also squishy civilians to tear at our heartstrings. Make sure we know that the villains will kill the women and children first, to keep their most valuable hostages for last.

Then set the Suicide Squad loose. Fun ensues. 

Next up is a Cyborg movie. The Flash already has a series on the CW. We don’t need another origin for him. We all even know what Aquaman’s all about. Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa are great choices for casting, and I’m excited to see them, but it’s someone else turn. It’s time to make the world fall in love with a little known hero, because if DC can’t do that, then what are they even playing at?

I’ll be honest, I know next to nothing about Cyborg. The point of this movie is the man though, not the machine. Show us who he is, why he is, and why we should love him for doing what he does. Just remember that this is about a fledgling hero, who’s trying to find himself in a post-Superman world. The movie ends with a knock on the door. A tired but triumphant Cyborg goes to answer it. Cut to black as the Wonder Woman theme plays.

Now you can pull out the Justice League story. Open the movie with some kind of renewed focus on a what it means to live post-Superman. Where Cyborg focused on a micro-level, show us the global scale of the problem. But, the audience already knows that Superman’s coming back, no need to be coy about it, so make him the first hero we see, as his body reenter’s atmosphere and crash lands in a field somewhere.

Batman goes off to have his dick-measuring contest with Aquaman, and Diana goes to recruit the Flash. She’s starting to see the pantheon that her mother spoke of her building. Superman is once again faced with the decision of whether or not to be Superman, because yeah, things got pretty messed up the last time he tried.

Eventually though, the big bad comes. Give us a memorable villain, big enough to justify the existence of the Justice League, but not so big that they won’t have worse to face later on.

And then you’re off! Throw in Flash and Aquaman movies at some point. Explore the complex world that’s been built. Have fun.

[adscititious-cacoethes]

Petrichor (1/12)

Pairing: Eventual Trevor C./Reader; other background relationships Chapter: 1 of 12 Warnings: Swearing, Danger, Guns, a little bit of blood, vampires and werewolves and things that go bump in the night (PG-13)  Word Count: 2,181 A/N: Hello! This is a modern fantasy (supernatural) AU that drops faery!reader into the (half bodyguard/half-PI) protection of AH. Please note that everyone is some sort of supernatural being, so be aware of subjects that come with that territory: magic, demons, blood-drinking, etc.). Also, this would not have seen the light of day if it weren’t for @chefgeofframsay, so thanks, my dude. This is my first published work in a while, so feedback would be cool beans.  P.S. - sorry if any chapters end kind of weird, this was written as one long thing and then I decided to break it up.  Summary/Excerpt: That was…unbelievably lucky. You thought to yourself, turning without a solid purpose in mind and then whoops there’s a hand on your throat and yep feet are not on the ground! Your hand shot up to grip at the disembodied hand around your neck, pulling in an undoubtedly fruitful attempt to get him off – you were guessing it was a him, judging by the fact that his hand was so large it nearly wrapped all the way around your throat and the mere act of him holding you off the ground was crushing your windpipe. You gasped and the hand squeezed a little bit, face materializing into view. 

Next Chapter

There wasn’t a lot of time to really figure out what was going on.

All you knew was that there were people – with guns – running after you, not Normal people but they were too far away for you to See, and you were running out of steam but they were still close enough that you couldn’t just wing it out of there, in case they were, actually, hopefully, Normal people and just have a façade of being not-normal. (The unnatural speed really sort of gave it away that your hopefulness was for naught, but they weren’t the only people on the streets tonight, and you were not about to risk getting civilians involved).

You ran across the street, letting just a little bit of your power eek out, just enough to get through the cars without them hitting you (or each other – you weren’t in the business of getting other people killed), whipping around just in time to see them turn the corner across the street, guns drawn and eyes peeled, looking for you. You pulled the hood of your jacket further forward, covering your face, and fast-walked into the nearest crowd of people, leaving a bar happy and drunk. They either didn’t notice or didn’t care about your sudden presence, but you still flitted through them as quick as you could, turning down the nearest alley and rounding a corner before the drunken pack had even made it a block. You stopped for a moment to breathe, hiding behind a dumpster (despite the smell being borderline painful), when you heard hurried footsteps coming your way.

You slammed up a barrier just before they turned the corner and took off running again, fully knowing that as soon as you were out of sight it would go away but hoping that it would give you enough time to find somewhere to hide. It was times like these that you wished you could do something useful, like teleportation, or intangibility. Hell, even possession would be helpful at this point in time. But alas, you had to stick to running and praying that no one Normal saw your mostly-translucent barrier – that no one saw you at all, really.

You ripped down another alley and around a couple of corners, zig-zagging your way through streets that were mostly dark and deserted, cold and unfamiliar. When you made your way out of this – if you made your way out of this – you were going to have a helluva time trying to find your way back to a place that you even sort of recognized. Shit. You’d been running in a straight line for too long. You heard the sound of gunfire, felt a round whiz just above your head and put on the gas, practically flying around the corner and then –

“Oof!” You nearly fell backwards onto your ass if it wasn’t for the strong, cold hands that suddenly gripped your forearms. Looking up, (way up, he was tall) you realized you had ran face-first into a man – a pair of men, actually, when another man looked over the first one’s (who’s still holding you by the arms, by the way) shoulder. You blinked, purposefully, and Saw that they gave off an aura, of what you needed to concentrate a little more, but in the few seconds it took you just to See, you could already hear the men catching up to you and panic really settled in.

“Listen,” you whispered, out of breath, “I don’t know who you are or what you are, but you’re not Normals, and I’m not Normal either, but there’s men coming after me and I don’t know why so if you could help a girl out that’d be really, super-duper appreciated.” You spit it out as fast as you could, flitting between the bright blue eyes of the man in front of you and the deep dark brown of his companion. You could practically hear him think for a second – maybe two – and then he was shoving you behind him (you would’ve fallen if you didn’t correct yourself) and both of them were spreading their feet apart and bending their knees a little, enough to still be mobile but casual enough to not cause immediate attack. The two men turned around the corner and immediately pulled their guns up.

You blinked and focused, knowing that you had at least temporary safety in the form of the two helpful strangers to at least See what’s going on a little bit. The taller of your two assailants had a tiger’s eye-colored aura swirling around him, the shorter a stark white, streaks of gray running through it. Focusing more on the not-trying-to-kill-you men in front of you, you saw the twin blood red auras that signified vampirism (wow, how did you not notice that the first time? Pretty damn obvious).

“Need you two boys to just step aside now, don’t know what this little lady told ya but it ain’t none of your business.” The taller one said, while at the same time you whispered, voice small as you could, “Shifter on the left, banshee on the right.”

Blue Eyes gave you a glance for recognition without moving his head, while Brown Eyes nodded almost imperceptibly without looking away.

“Afraid we can’t do that, sorry.” Blue eyes rumbled, his voice deeper and more menacing than you thought it would be. You could See banshee-man’s aura concentrating around his head and shoulders, more than likely preparing to let out a Scream, and you contemplated for a second in the heavy silence whether or not you could absorb something like a banshee Scream (absorption isn’t your strong suit but there’s a first time for anything, right?) when Blue Eyes growled out “now” and both vampires lunged forward simultaneously, a split second later a spray of bullets answered them. You squeaked and ducked behind a trash can, trying to save your energy to do something maybe-useful while still using your Sight in case the banshee Screamed and you needed to warn the vampires.

“Hoo-wee-mama.” You swore under your breath, poking your head around the dumpster to see the man Shift into a large tiger just as Blue Eyes lunged at him. Brown eyes had just broken a grapple with the banshee, and the latter’s aura was swirling, concentrating –

“Scream!” You shouted, just as he opened his mouth. You sprang into action, flying forward and splayed your hand out, focusing your aura through your body and into your palm. A small blast of white, sparkly energy burst from your palm and hit him square in his (slightly unhinging – banshees are gross) mouth. Before he could recover, Brown Eyes leapt at him, raking fangs across his neck.

That was…unbelievably lucky. You thought to yourself, turning without a solid purpose in mind and then whoops there’s a hand on your throat and yep feet are not on the ground! Your hand shot up to grip at the disembodied hand around your neck, pulling in an undoubtedly fruitful attempt to get him off – you were guessing it was a him, judging by the fact that his hand was so large it nearly wrapped all the way around your throat and the mere act of him holding you off the ground was crushing your windpipe.

You gasped and the hand squeezed a little bit, face materializing into view. His face was scarred, teeth pointed and red eyes wild, and although he startled you enough that you could not See his aura, there was no doubt that he was fae – Unseelie, at that.

“You’ve caused quite a bit of trouble here, little one,” He snarled in your face, breath hot, words lisping as his tongue seemed to struggle around the sharpened teeth, “almost more trouble than you’re worth.”

“I – wha –” You struggled to get out a refute, a question, anything, but as soon as you opened your mouth he just squeezed tighter, and you could feel the rings on his fingers digging into your skin. There was a large crash to your left, and it made the man jump, flexing his fingers just a little more and made your vision swim.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” You heard from the left, and then there was a gunshot and you were falling to your knees on the ground and a second that spattered your face a little with blue blood – fae blood – and Sharp Teeth was snarling, “Don’t think that I won’t be back for you” and disappearing as you looked up and Blue Eyes fired another shot where he had just been but it must have missed because no body crumpled to the ground. There were still black dots in your vision as you tried to draw as deep of a breath as you could, throat aching, looking around desperately in an attempt to figure out what the fuck was going on.

Blue Eyes chuckled lowly, “I was about to ask you the same question.”

Your eyes widened as you realized shit I said that out loud.

“I –” You paused, momentarily surprised by the raspy quality of your own voice and clearing your throat slightly before continuing, “I am so sorry, I hope you weren’t hurt, and…I have no idea who that man is.” As you spoke, you glanced around and saw the banshee cowering in fear at the end of the alley, hands on his neck, and the shifter lying half-naked and unconscious in a him-shaped dent in the dumpster before finally looking up at Blue Eyes.

Besides the blue eyes, he had brownish, wispy hair that he raked a hand through as you spoke, a slightly crooked nose to match the crooked grin he gave you, fangs still poking just a little bit over his bottom lip. He crouched down to get eye-level with you, but even then, he still seemed tall, and now that you were close and not in immediate danger you could see the broadness in his shoulders and the scruff on his face.

“Well, that’s not good, now, is it?” He spoke rhetorically, chuckling as he did. He looked at you for a moment, his eyes almost as bright as his aura, and you couldn’t find it in you to do anything but stare back and rub absentmindedly on your sore neck (you could feel, now, with your fingers that his rings had left a mark, starting to bite into your neck enough to break the first couple layers of skin).

“Hey, Trevor, c’mere.” He finally said after a long moment of silence, and Brown Eyes, – Trevor, – who had previously been facing away from the two of you, watching for danger, turned around and in two long strides was standing next to his comrade, crouching down so that he was precariously balanced on his toes. His dark eyes matched dark, well-groomed hair that seemed unaffected from the short scuffle.

“This is Trevor, and I’m Ryan.” Blue Eyes said, and you nodded in greeting (and then immediately grimacing from the movement, for you are nothing if not an idiot).

“[Y/N].” You replied, and smiled at the way that Trevor glanced at Ryan before copying the smile-and-nod gesture that the (presumably older) man gave. Apprentice, you guessed internally. You hadn’t met many vampires but you had a lot of books and a handful of encounters – although Ryan and Trevor were much nicer than those you’d met previously.

“Alright, [Y/N]. I can’t in good conscious just leave you here, or drop you off at your home, with the risk of Ugly Shark Tooth Guy coming after you. So, the only real option here is to bring you back to our home – that is, as long as you don’t object to it. I’m not in the business of forcing not-hostile people to do things.” Ryan said.

You weighed the options in your mind. Your fish, you knew, could survive a night without being fed. You had your phone, and your wallet, and as far as you knew there wasn’t anything going on in the morning that warranted having to be somewhere. These men were strangers, yes, but by the brightness of their auras, they are well-fed even after helping you fend off your attackers, so it would do them no good to trick you into being a meal for the night. Plus, they helped you, and if you were completely honest with yourself, you were fighting the urge to cry or scream because you were still scared shitless over the whole ordeal and you weren’t about to bite the hand that feeds.

“Okay. I – I can do that. Just – I know it’s not a great idea, but can we sit here for just another minute?” You tried to keep your voice level, but it petered off towards the end, and judging by their twin sympathetic smiles, Ryan and Trevor definitely noticed. You berated yourself for it for a moment, before berating yourself for berating yourself. You were just chased halfway through the city and then attacked for reasons unknown to you, that was understandable, right? 

Right.