#I know it's absolutely not canon

[sheawritesstuff]

Cover-Up

[A longwinded ramble / theory about Gabe's death]

[Angst - 569 words]

[TW: Character Death, Alcoholism, Drunk Driving, Grief]

It was already dark when Gabe finished up his security gig and drove toward home. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just a crisp autumn night in early September. He had the radio on in his truck, listening to whatever songs came up without a worry in the world. He came to a green light, quickly checked both ways and progressed.

Colm was also on his way home after a night of relapse at the bar. He was leaning over to the passenger’s seat to grab another beer - one hand on the wheel, lead foot on the gas pedal, no eyes on the road. He sped through the intersection, oblivious to the red light and Gabe’s truck passing through the center. 

The alpha had tried to avoid it, but what could he do? By the time he saw the little black car charging toward the driver’s side door, it was already too late. His truck slid sideways across the street, smashing the other side of the truck against the traffic light pole. Gabe was dead on impact, never knowing a member of his pack had been the one to kill him.

It was just past midnight when the police came knocking on David’s door. He was still half asleep, barely conscious as the police tried explaining what happened. He almost thought he was still dreaming, stuck in some fucked up nightmare. But it wasn’t. His dad was dead, and some drunk driver killed him. 

He didn’t feel the need to ask who this mystery driver was, he honestly had no desire to know. It was easier to think of the driver as more of a concept than a person. Drunk driving killed Gabe Shaw. It was more palatable than the crushing reality that another living, breathing person had been the sole reason that his dad was dead and his pack was without an alpha. Knowing Colm had been that unnamed driver would not have helped anything, and it certainly wouldn’t have made stepping up into his father’s role any easier. 

David lost all the family he’d ever had and, on top of that, the entirety of his pack looked to him for guidance and leadership in his father’s stead. There was no space to worry about the poor sonofabitch who ran that red light with everything else he had to shoulder. So he didn’t know any better, and neither did the pack. DUMP made sure of that.

The department made sure no one knew one of their ex-investigators had driven drunk and killed the alpha of his pack. They knew it would not have helped their already strained relationship with the general empowered public, so they kept it under wraps. They got him into AA and made him pay a fine that was nowhere close to punishment enough and sent him on his way. 

Colm had already made a great deal of progress with his gambling before the accident, but the crash really set him straight. He quit drinking, he stopped going out to the casino, and he tried being a better man. The guilt ate at him and served as the ultimate encouragement to fix himself and get in line. He was given a second chance, he wasn’t gonna waste it. He lives with the shame of what he did, keeping it buried in his chest where it will stay with him until the day he dies. 

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Does anyone remember that ONE Captain Underpants book where George and Harold messed with fucking time travel and met their future selves who were married with kids and had successful careers as comic book creators or was that a fever dream?

I like to imagine that in the canon universe the new Dog Man movie was initially drafted and submitted by George and Harold as a concept, thinking it wouldn’t be accepted but wanting to give it a shot anyways.

⬇️ This was the wildest thing ever to my 11 year old brain btw. So wild that I didn’t even register that Harold is canonically gay.

[prlssprfctn]

In his new room - in his new house - Jason searches up for a circus performances and stares at them for hours. First, he watches at them mindlessly, unconsciously curious, and then, he starts to take notes.

He is a street kid, and everything about him screams of that. So, he is nowhere near the grace of these performers on the screen. His arms are not that strong, too, but he is agile, and his legs are much stronger - he can think of something.

He can be just as good as the boy he is replacing.

It is not like someone tells him to match Richard Grayson, and it is not like someone admits that Jason is here to replace the first Wonder Boy, but Jason heard Bruce's conversation with Dick earlier. It was meant not for his ears, but it doesn't matter now.

"So, now what, you exile me, and bring a boy to replace me?!"

Jason is not mad. All of it ‐ adoption papers, the manor, the school - is much more than he ever thought he would get in his life. Being replacement doesn't sound as bad anyway; especially, if his brother is so cool.

So, he makes notes on circus performances and slightly chopes his hair. They are much curlier than Dick's - he has more of a wavy ones, and the only ever look that way, when they get long; his childhood photos with short hair looks too straight - but the cut does its magic.

The next day, Bruce compliments his hair absentmindedly and is positively surprised by his new moves on the patrol, asking where he learnt it from. Jason lies about not remembering, but his cheeks are flashed, and his smile is all about teeth. He can't wait to show it to Dick once they finally get on a mission together.

Expect, when they do, Dick just nods and mutters a light-hearted "good job" before leaving to talk with his team. And Jason knows Dick doesn't want to be mean - he gets it; no one feels good about having a replacement, especially the one that seems so cheap in comparison - but he still cries that night in his pillow, feeling himself a little kid, even if he isn't one. Even if he never was.

Jason wonders if his own replacement would make him understand Dick.

But Jason never gets replaced.

No matter the taunting voice of the Lazarus Pit in the back of his head - that sometimes sounds suspiciously like Talia's; you remain unavenged and replaced - and his own intrusive thoughts that spiral in uneven lines, Jason doesn't think Tim was ever meant to be his replacement. Being replaced means to match the person that was meant to be left behind. And no one asked Tim to be like Jason.

If anything, memory of Jason was thrown under the rag, hidden and locked securely in heads of those who survived. And if they brought Jason up, then it was always an example of what Robin shouldn't do: run away, disobey, and allow emotions to consume you. So, not much of an exemplary original. More like an opposite.

Jason feels an urge to explain that to Tim once; when they sit together on the rooftop, almost like a proper family, instead of broken pieces of someone's idea of a one.

'You could never replace me,' he says, and the instant it leaves his mouth, he knows it came out wrong.

Tim rolls his eyes.

'Yeah, dude. Whatever.'

'No, I mean—' He grits his teeth, scrapping slightly the back of his hand. 'I mean... You could never replace me, because... Because you were always better.'

Tim freezes. His big blue eyes shift in something more confused, and it is almost as if he is not sure how he needs to react — to protest? To agree? To thank him?

Jason doesn't know what to do, too.

He wants to say: it is easy as that, babybird. They wanted to have someone who would have nothing in common with me — someone who could help them to forget about my existence, about the existence of the failed Robin.

But he can't make himself speak again. And he is not sure he wants to stay any longer to hear Tin manging to put his thoughts in the words; he is better than him at this, too, and he almost always sounds convincing.

So, he leaves.

In his room - in the building he owns now - he ruffles his outgrown hair, fluffs up the white streak, and passes by his only remaining photo with Bruce in the frame, on the shelf under the stolen tire.

He still does this semi-circus move in his fights - almost frozen in the air, with his back arched - but he doesn't expect anyone to compliment him anymore.

[flowersdiceandlove]

I am 100% completely convinced that on Mount Yujun when Hua Cheng burst into thousands of butterflies that he did not mean to do that. That man was freaking out so bad at finally finding Xie Lian again and holding his hand and helping him and Xie Lian being right there that when he finally saw just the slightest glimpse of Xie Lian’s face and the thought of Xie Lian seeing him that his nerves took over and he burst into thousands of butterflies. All throughout the walk, Hua Cheng was trying his damnedest to keep it the fuck together (literally) but he just couldn’t anymore. You cannot convince me otherwise. He held Xie Lian’s hand all through the walk, but then he shakes Xie Lian’s hand off the next time they meet? Yeah, he’s scared he’s gonna explode into butterflies again and that would Not Be Cool and Ruin His Image he’s curating for Xie Lian as this cool reliable guy he can come to for help and depend on.

[4sh-n4]

AU where bruce and co. (his entire hoarde of kids, even jason in disguise) are at a gala. And it's a really big gala, party of the year type of thing in Gotham, absolutely unmissable. And usually, even the rogues know that this night is off limits, so it's relatively safe. So, they're all at this gala, right?

And then the joker crashes it because he has no respect for Gotham traditions. Breaks in through a window, yada yada. He starts to go on this whole villain speech as per usual, and everyone is waiting for the heroes to come. But all the heroes are at the gala, in their civilian identities, with a thousand eyes on them. No one can reasonably slip away, except for maybe jason, who's already seething mad and ready to attack. But with the chaos and people trying to get away, all the exits are blocked, and his helmet is at home.

Bruce is at the front of the crowd, facing the Joker. Joker sees him and makes a comment about Jason, and goes on about how Bruce must've felt when his baby died. And then he brings up how he killed the little birdie too, just a few days before the terrorist attacks that allegedly killed Jason. And he mentions how much he tortured Robin before his death, and Bruce snaps.

He leaps forward, absolutely hammering the shit out of the joker. Beats him up so bad, no finesse or technique to it, just pure rage. His kids try to pull him off, to no avail. No one else even tries. By the end of it, by the time the police arrive, the joker is more blood than body, and Bruce has finally calmed down. Everyone is just staring at him in shock, understandably. (The joker ends up in hospital, paralysed and in a coma)

His kids all drag Bruce home and give him an entire lecture about his persona and how his cover has probably been blown. About excessive violence and how he refused to kill joker but then pulled this in public?? They're all worried about the fallout in the news the next day.

No one sleeps that night, for various reasons, but then when the newspaper comes out the next morning... there's just nothing bad written?? The headline is something about Bruce being a hero for saving everyone from the joker, but there's no other mention about Batman or anything else.

Turns out, no one in Gotham is surprised that Brucie Wayne, no 1 airhead, beat up the joker because "did you SEE him as a teenager?? We were all just glad when he came from his travels pretending to be stupid instead of picking fights with everyone. If anything, it's understandable that he snapped, I would too if a clown started bragging about killing my son." The only reason no one brought up his violent past is because they were worried he would revert back to that behaviour.

[lizardbrainlabs]

Your interpretation of Hector talking with Bauhauzzo post-game (if you can see that happening) would be neat!!

oh the horrors of knowing no one can fix the problem except for you

[thekittyokat]

you ever just have a lot, a LOT of feelings all at once about a character and not even remotely enough words or brainpower to FORM the words to describe everything you're feeling. so it feels like you may explode. yeah

[pandadrake]

Protector of the Arachno-Humanoid Poly-Multiverse vs. the Daddest Dad to ever Dad. (Having one meaningful conversation with Jeff would probably kill him irl.)

[bayofalgecirascranes]

Baffled by the way so many Billy-is-adopted-by-the-batfam aus seem to be fundamentally uninterested in the fact that in most canons Billy Batson isn't actually alone in the world. Like forget the magical talking tiger who doesn't exist in every canon and the various non-superhero adults in this kid's life, where's Freddy? The lack of Mary at least has a Watsonian excuse because of the amnesia and the fact that in some canons she isn't Billy's twin sister, but Freddy? No.

And sure there's a million and one excuses for Freddy to not be present at the moment. But if a fic author doesn’t even seem to know that Billy's got a best friend named Freddy?

then I have to doubt their ability to write Billy in a way that's recognizeable to me as Billy.

[wu-does-art]

I fcking loved the sally face au where the gang knew each other since kids, please post more of this au (also, ur art is so cool!!)

:]

ask and you shall receive!

[darling-stardust]

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[starleska]

Here to talk about the little cricket (?) dude you've been talking about, Lux I think his name is? Anyway I haven't seen such a accurate rubber hose character since cuphead and little fella is really cute! (Since he's from Dr Who I assume he's malignant in some way? Idk I don't really plan on watching it, I just wanted to comment.) Anyways, he's super charming and expressive, I like having him all over my dash :]

hahaha YESSSS gosh i am so happy that folks are so excited about Mr. Ring-A-Ding | Lux Imperator, even if they aren't fans of the show!! i'm biased as a long-time Whovian, but the episode Lux really is the best one we've had in ages, so i'd recommend it wholeheartedly 😉 let me give you a little bit of lore re: our new toony cricket fellow!! massive spoilers for the episode Lux and an ongoing plot in Doctor Who, so only read if you're interested 🥰 i hope this'll be useful for any newcomers who are interested in starting Doctor Who as well!!

HUGE LORE DUMP BELOW:

so!!! the basic premise of Doctor Who is: the Doctor is an alien called a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. he travels the universe through time and space in his 'spaceship', the TARDIS (stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), and his almost always looks like a battered-up police box. he often travels with 'companions': usually human (though sometimes alien!) sidekicks who help him solve space/historical-related mysteries. when the Doctor dies, he can 'regenerate': his body changes, saving him from death and giving him an entirely new appearance. currently, we are on the Fifteenth Doctor, played by the brilliant Ncuti Gatwa 🥰

now back in 2023, we received three episodes for the show's 60th anniversary, and things changed hugely. as the Doctor regenerated into his Fourteenth version, he somehow came back with a familiar face: that of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor (perhaps one of the best-known iterations of the Doctor). this is because of the return of a character who hadn't been seen since the 60s: the Toymaker, a godlike entity who rules over games 👀

The Toymaker's introduction started a shift for the show, which was almost always strict sci-fi, into a more fantastical, rule-bending realm. the Toymaker turned out to be a member of The Pantheon of Discord: a collective of gods whose powers are beyond the laws of physics and nature. normally, The Doctor faces off against sci-fi monsters and antagonists, but the Pantheon are far more powerful, and not bound to typical rules (though they do have their own). there are a few members we know are in the Pantheon (The Toymaker, his child Maestro, the God of Death Sutekh) and some we speculate are in the Pantheon (the fourth-wall breaking Mrs. Flood), but the episode Lux finally confirmed our newest Pantheon member: Mr. Ring-A-Ding, AKA Lux Imperator, the God of Light 😱 in-universe, Mr. Ring-A-Ding is a character from a 1930s-era cartoon inspired by Fleischer Studios, Disney's then-competitor (and the inspiration for games like Cuphead!). however, Lux Imperator possessed and brought to life Mr. Ring-A-Ding's form by travelling on moonlight into a movie theatre set in 1950s Miami, where he climbed out of the screen and sealed the movie-watchers into celluloid film. when the Doctor and his current companion, Belinda Chandra, end up at the theatre, Mr. Ring-A-Ding (as he is calling himself) shows up as a smaller, physical manifestation of a living cartoon, and pretends to be innocent...but he quickly reveals his true form as Lux Imperator 🙈💖

after some completely crazy fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans wherein Mr. Ring-A-Ding | Lux animates the Doctor and Belinda, trapping them inside of celluloid film, he reveals his new desire: to use the Doctor's regeneration energy and build himself a body. this is because Lux craves light, but has always been trapped in the dark. having seen it on a film in the movie theatre, Lux wants to use the power of the atom bomb to unleash the most devastating light of all. it's pretty insane 😂

and the end of the episode is...the Doctor exposes Lux to sunlight, which causes him to grow infinitely large and...dissipate, into space? along with light itself? we have no idea. it's utterly mad, but SUCH a great watch!!! so to answer your question: yes, he definitely was malignant at first, but he kind of gets one of the nicest endings i've seen for a Doctor Who baddie in a while? he's just chilling up there in space now, twinkling along with the stars. that's wonderful 🙈💖 tldr; Mr. Ring-a-Ding is both the name of a 1930s Fleischer-esque cartoon-character in-universe, and the name adopted by Lux Imperator, the God of Light. if you're confused, don't worry: that's all part of the Doctor Who experience 😂💖

[moroniccats]

Once again asking people to rifle through canon and find me their favorite quotes of:

Dr John H. Watson being an absolute bisexual disaster

Literally there is no helping this man. You KNOW he’s hopeless when he says shit like “As I looked at his dark and expressive face I felt more than ever how true a descendant he was of that long line of high-blooded, fiery and masterful men. There were pride, valor, and strength in his thick brows, his sensitive nostrils, and his large hazel eyes…” He has known this man for less than two days, and he’s already like ‘yeah, I’d die for you.’

Less popular but no less ridiculous are his…intense…descriptions of Mr and Mrs Trelawny Hope: “Dark, clear-cut, and elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with every beauty of body and of mind…”

“A moment later our modest apartment…was further honored by the entrance of the most lovely woman in London…no description of it, and no contemplation of colourless photographs, had prepared me for the subtle, delicate charm and the beautiful coloring of that exquisite head.”

“His handsome face was distorted with a spasm of despair…for a moment we caught a glimpse of the natural man, impulsive, ardent, keenly sensitive.”

“It was a queenly presence - tall, graceful, and intensely womanly.”

Every person he meets is the hottest person he’s ever met. Everyone is sexy to him and he makes it our problem. We love him for it.

[backpackingspace]

Okay so with the line "the olive tree where we first met" we have two equal hilarious options.

When penelope was sassily like oh I'll marry you if you make a living bed out of this tree right here! Cue penelope stumbling over odysseus very very carefully digging up the tree "because how else is he going to get it to itacha we can't have a wedding bed out in the open in sparta duh"

Or

2. Penelope, knowing that Helen's suitors would soon be arriving to take over her home for a while. Snuck out and went on her own wacky shenanigan filled journey where she scoped out all the major players. Odysseus caught her spying in an olive tree. And when she got back she told Helen she had dibs on the cutie from itacha.

[boarloved-art]

ig ooomfie said i should draw xuanli and i kinda went crazy abt them whoopsydoodle