#If i thought my step by step meta was long this one just took the cake asdfas

[unknownplane]

The Court Jester Part 3

Yandere Batfam x GN Reader

Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 4

The Joker came closer, almost inspecting the job (Y/N) had done. His eyes run over the Bat.

"Good job with the knots, my little Jester. That will keep him there for as long as we want!" The Joker exclaimed with a large grin. "Now, how did you get him here so fast! I must know!"

"I can't tell you, Dad! It would ruin the game. And we love the game!" (Y/N) explained. (Y/N) went up to the Joker and side hugged him. Bruce saw this and started struggling.

"What have you done to them! They said you 'Trained' them! I know you! Tell me now!" Bruce screamed.

The Joker's smile widened as he saw the Bat struggle. "Peanut, would you be so kind and get your dad something to drink? I am absolutely parched." The Joker said with honeyed words.

"Of course, dad!" (Y/N) said, jumping at the opportunity to please their dad. They ran out of the room hoping to get a drink as fast as possible.

"Look at them. I'm so proud of their growth. You know they were so sad when I first met them. They were only 5. They were looking for someone to talk to. Can you believe it, Bruce Wayne, ignoring one of his own while still taking in new kids. Can you imagine how that felt?!" Joker laughed unknowingly rubbing salt in Bruce's wounds.

"It was perfect, you know. Them being in such dire need of affection and not caring who it came from! A perfect opportunity for me to step in and take them away! At first, they resisted. Fought so hard not to succumb! They even called out for you. Did you know that!?" Joker confessed, stunning Bruce. Even after all he did, you still called out to him? You called for your dad, your real dad.

"It took a while to get them like this. Lots of training. Brutal, really. Though nothing I haven't done to you and your birds, just in a shorter period of time." Joker stated as if he was talking about weather and not torture. This shocked Bruce, remembering all the things the Joker did to his family. "How are they alive?!" Batman questioned.

"That's the funny thing, Bat! No matter what I did to them, they wouldn't die! They would get injured, but only a few seconds would pass, and then it would completely heal! I even cut off an arm, and as you can see, they have both now! Amazing, isn't it!" The Joker exclaimed. This stunned Bruce. (M/N)'s child was Meta? No. He would have noticed.

"Now, what is taking that child so long?" The Joker said brazenly.

With (Y/N)...

(Y/N) scrambled around looking for a bottle of water when someone came up behind them. They were suddenly grabbed and restrained. "The fuck!" (Y/N) exclaimed. "Relax it's just me. I'm here to save you." Jason whispered assuming (Y/N) would stop fighting when they heard it was him. (Y/N) struggled to move surprising Jason giving them a little wiggle room. (Y/N) jabbed their elbow into Jason's stomach pushing him back into a coughing fit.

With Jason off them, they turned around. "You aren't supposed to be here, Hood." (Y/N) stated glaring. They move their hands to their hip and pull out a small stick. They hit a button, and it enlarges to become a marotte.

(Y/N) swings at Jason as he tries to dodge, not wanting to hurt his sibling. This goes on until something pierces (Y/N) in the back of their nape. They start slowing down until they pass out.

"Took you long enough." Jason said flatly, going over to (Y/N). "They were putting up more of a fight than we all thought. I needed to get a clean shot." Damian claimed. He was lying to himself. He just wanted to assess how his older sibling fought, and from what he could tell, if they were taking this fight seriously, it wouldn't have ended well. "Let's just get them out of here. The others are waiting." Jason said, knowing that when he got to the manor, he would finally get to be the sibling they needed.

Giddy, he picked them up as if they were the most precious thing in the world and started leaving. "I'll go help dad." Damian said flatly as it seemed like a chore.

With Batman...

"Why? Why would you do those horrible things to a child?!" Bruce questioned. "For fun." The Joker spoke with a wolfish smile.

The door crept open, catching Bruce's eye. He saw his youngest creeping in the room. "You know I believe this is one of the only instances in which I would be willing to kill you." Bruce said, letting Damian he had permission to try and kill the Joker. "Really! I pushed you to that level with this one joke!? How wonderful! I will have to keep this in mind for later! Now, if only that bra -" a sudden gunshot stopped the Joker from finishing his sentence.

Blood rushed from the left side of Joker's face as he fell to the ground dead. "Where is your sibling?!" Bruce questioned with urgency. "They are on their way home with Hood. If we leave right now, we should be able to get there at the same time." Damian informed Bruce. "Good now untie me so we can leave. Your siblings got a mean knot." Bruce commanded.

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

@cooki3dough @asillysimp @kitty-from-daaaa-voidddd @redkarmakai @horror-lover-69 @bat1212 @wisefuncherryblossom

[galedekarios]

references in gale's banter on selection

just thought i'd go through a few of his selection lines that stuck out to me.

Oh, what a tangled Weave we web!

reference to: "oh what a tangled web we weave" from a poem by sir walter scott:

"Like so very many of Shakespeare’s lasting observations, it’s  a beautifully expressed aphorism that uses just a few words to describe one life experience so perfectly, and is so true, that it enters into the English language and becomes one of its most powerful idioms – one that will last forever. ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive’ means that when you lie or act dishonestly you are initiating problems and a domino structure of complications which eventually run out of control. The quote is from Scott’s epic poem, Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field.  It’s an historical romance in verse, published in 1808."

the next one is is a play on a line from a shakespeare play:

All the world's my stage and you're just a player in it.

the play is titled 'as you like it' and the line appears in the following monologue:

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely Players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His Acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

the next one appears to reference a poem:

The path less travelled.

i think this is in reference to the well-known poem by robert frost, 'the road not taken':

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

i think this ties in well with gale's wanderlust, his wish to explore different worlds and planes of existence.

the next one is a waterdhavian saying, which i already took a closer look at in one of my metas:

'Doth thy mirror crack?' Apparently not.

Early on in his learning of magic, the long-dead and locally famous first Lord (revered in Waterdeep for his role in establishing the city as it is today) Ahghairon said, "I am no wizard. I am a dabbler but no master of magic; it seems no mastery burns within me." These are famous words in Waterdeep, still known by most Waterdhavian children and all adults, and are oft referenced, as in the dry comment "No mastery blazing forth yet," or "A dabbler but no master, eh?" (Comments applied to skill trades and crafts, not just to magic use.) Tuezaera Hallowhand was a famous "lone cat" thief of Waterdeep in the 1200s DR who disappeared suddenly and is thought to have come to a violent end. She once robbed a wizard, and wrote this on his wall with a fingertip dipped in his favorite red wine: "I take things. You take freedom with your spells. Which of us is the greater thief?" This statement, too, is well remembered, and usually echoed in Waterdhavian speech by someone using the last (questioning) sentence of Tuezara's inscription.  Laeral, Lady Mage of Waterdeep for some years (when married to Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun), once publicly rebuked an overambitious wizard of the Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors thus: "If I hurl spells but think not of consequences, I am nothing. If I take lives but count not the cost, I am nothing. If I steal in the night and see not the faces of the devastated come morning, I am nothing. If I make decrees like a ruler but undertake none of the responsibilities of the throne, I am nothing. And if I do all these things in the name of the Watchful Order, I am less than nothing. Doth thy mirror crack?" These scornful words are remembered and used almost daily in Waterdeep even a century later, though almost never as the full quotation. Rather, someone will ask scornfully, "Doth thy mirror crack?" or "Hurl but think not?" or "Take but not count cost? Be nothing, then!" [source: waterdeep: dragon heist]

i think this one is very neat:

No gloom, all doom.

because i believe it references xan of evereska from baldur's gate 1. xan is infamous for his gloomy nature, often talking about his doom, the folly of the quest, etc. some of his lines include the following:

"We're all doomed! Run while we're still able." "If we are doomed to fail, could we at least do it faster?!" "Eh. Onward, to futility!" "We're all doomed." "Life is so hollow."

i think it's not so unlikely because gale also references other characters from the baldur's gate series and the forgotten realms overall, like elminster:

Elminster's not around, so might as well.

as well as halaster blackcloak, a mad mage residing in the undermountain in waterdeep:

I hope Halaster takes good care of Tara while I'm away.

as well as another character from the games, edwin odeisseron:

Don't make me go all Edwin Odesseiron on you.

edwin, a red wizard of thay, was a companion in baldur's gate 1 and 2.

No rest for the wicked, I see.

a common idiom that originated from the bible:

No rest for the wicked begins as no peace for the wicked in a 1425 rendering of the Old Testament’s Book of Isaiah 48:22: “The Lord God said, peace is not to wicked men.” The sentiment is echoed in Isaiah 57:20, which in the King James Version reads: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”

another bible reference may be:

Seek and you shall find me.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 

from jeremiah 29:13.

more folklore than an idiom, but:

The witching hour.

Origins. The phrase "witching hour" began at least as early as 1775, in the poem "Night, an Ode." by Rev. Matthew West, though its origins may go further back to 1535 when the Catholic Church prohibited activities during the 3:00 am and 4:00 am timeframe due to emerging fears about witchcraft in Europe.

i couldn't find the poem in full, but i was able to find the line that references the witching hour:

Along whose banks at Midnight’s witching hour (So wayward Fancy dreams) aerial Beings pour!

another shakespeare reference is:

What fools these mortals be.

which is a line from a midsummer's nights dream:

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” is used in Act III, Scene 2 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The line is spoken by one of the best-loved characters in the play–Puck. Here is the short quote in which the line appears in:  Captain of our fairy band,  Helena is here at hand,  And the youth, mistook by me,  Pleading for a lover’s fee.  Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be! Puck speaks this line to his king, Oberon, while the two are watching the four Athenian main characters lost in the forest. These four lovers, whose love affairs are at the center of the play, are behaving in a way that Puck finds foolish and amusing. It should be noted that Puck bears some of the responsibility for the complicated relations between Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander. 

this one is, i believe, a dnd reference most likely:

May the dice roll in my favour.

i did however have the immediate association with alea iacta est:

Alea iacta est ("The die is cast") is a variation of a Latin phrase attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on 10 January 49 BCE, as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance of the Senate and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. The phrase, either in the original Latin or in translation, is used in many languages to indicate that events have passed a point of no return. It is now most commonly cited with the word order changed ("Alea iacta est") rather than in the original phrasing. The same event inspired another idiom with the same meaning, "crossing the Rubicon".

Gone with the Weave.

this is a reach, but my mind always went to 'gone with the wind' (margaret mitchell's novel and the 1939 movie adaptation of said novel) when i heard it in the game.

nothing in depth here, i just wanted you all to know that, haha. (((':

A rough tempest I will raise.

this may be another shakespeare reference and this time it's from 'the tempest':

Prospero: Now does my project gather to a head: My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day? Ariel: On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord, You said our work should cease. Prospero: I did say so, When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the king and's followers?

on researching, i found a reddit post that also discusses this likely reference.

the last one i want to end the post on is:

Your knight in magic armour.

this line is still bugged and thus i couldn't find it on the wiki, but it's an assist line for a romanced protag.

it obviously referenced the knight in shining armour:

The present-day use of this phrase is, of course, figurative and refers back to the notion of gallant knights saving fair maidens in distress. The reality behind that imagery is dubious and it no doubt owes much to the work of those Victorian novelists and painters who were captivated by the chivalrous ideal of an imagined court of Camelot. Nevertheless, knights did wear armour and that worn by royalty and the high nobility was highly polished and did in fact gleam and shine. The earliest reference that I’ve found to the phrase in print dates from the late 18th century – in The British journal The Monthly Review, 1790, in a poem called Amusement: A Poetical Essay, by Henry Pye: No more the knight, in shining armour dress’d Opposes to the pointed lance his breast

but it also features heavily in art, across various periods in time, like these from john william waterhouse:

i did see someone on reddit also discussing the creator and destroyer line in reference to various deities throughout history, which i thought was interesting as well.

anyhow, thank you for reading! i may have overlooked something so feel free to add your own thoughts!

🖤

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #108 Part 2

The thought sounded ridiculous and yet Damian found himself unable to completely scoff at the idea. He himself had seen some strange things in his lifetime and it wouldn’t be fair to completely dismiss the idea outright. 

“I’m unsure what your point is but I guess I suppose they exist.” Damian eventually said.

Danny chuckled at this, “I guess you're not from Amity Park huh?” he joked.

Damian scoffed, “I’ve never even heard of that place but I gather that’s where I am at the moment?” He mentally filed the name to search later. 

“Yeah, born and raised. Anyways, we’re the most haunted city in America. Ghost’s are real, you’ll probably meet one at some point. They’re uh… kind of attracted to me? Kind of like… “ He trailed off for a moment, likely lost in thought trying to come up with an example. Damian was going to call him out for spacing, they were probably running out of time before one of his siblings or Pennyworth came to check on him. Luckily Danny continued, “Hey, what city am I in right now, maybe there’s a comparison I can use?” Danny asked.

“Tt, did you not even think to use GPS to find your location before calling me?” Damian scoffed, his supposed ‘soulmate’ was incompetent, “You're in Gotham.”

“Gotham? Well I guess you could compare them to Batman’s rogues then, however they tend to play a little rough. It’s kind of how ghost’s bond.” Danny’s explanation made it sound like he was the one roughhousing with these ghosts. He wasn’t quite sure where this was going but he let him continue, “so well… this next part’s kind of hard to explain especially without proof but well… I’m what the other ghost’s call a halfa. I’m half ghost half human.”

Damian opened his mouth to retort, the notion that you could be half dead was ridiculous really. But as soon as he opened his mouth a cold blue wisp wafted out of his mouth shocking him. An unfamiliar feeling washes over him and he looked down in terror as he started sinking into the bed.

“Explain your power’s now, I appear to be sinking into your bed.” Damian demanded. The feeling was odd, it was almost as if the bed didn’t exist. 

“Uh, right, Okay… so, it’s kind of emotion based? Take a few deep breaths and you’ll be able to ease yourself back out.” 

Damian did just as Danny instructed and took a few deep breaths. Soon he was able to solidify and sit back up on the bed. Suddenly, a knocking sound was heard through the phone. 

Shit, just like he thought, they took too long and one of his siblings came to check on him. He thought it was sweet that they cared, but he’d never voice this thought out loud to anyone. 

“Danny, I need you to listen very carefully. I need you to open the door and hand the phone over to them. Don’t say anything, understand?” 

“Uh Okay?” Damian could tell Danny was raising an eyebrow at this but he did as Damian told him anyway.

“Uh, Hello?” The voice on the phone said, Damian recognized it as Tim Drake-Waynes. 

“Drake, Please step into the room and listen to my instructions,” Damian waited a moment as he heard the door shut. “Alright, meet my soulmate Danny, apparently his parents study soulmates and they did something and now we’re in each other’s bodies.”

He heard Danny sigh, “It was only supposed to strengthen the soulmate pull. It’s not my fault they don’t know about my weird biology.” 

“Weird Biology?” Drake parroted, “do they not know you're a meta?”

There was a pause before Danny spoke, “No, I’m not a meta… but for the simplicity of things, and this conversation, sure, you can call me a meta.” There was a tiredness to his voice, as if he had this conversation with someone else before.

“The name’s Tim,” he told Danny, then Drake suddenly said in an excited voice, “hey, let’s let him in on the family secret and prank Bruce. Let’s tell everyone else about it and see how long it takes him to figure out it isn’t you… we’ll have to train Danny of course. If he really is your soulmate he’s going to find out eventually and it might be good to prepare him ahead of time” The idea sounded ridiculous to Damian but at the same time, he was recently having some doubts about his Father’s attention on him. Drake had a point, if Danny really was his soulmate, he’d find out eventually. 

__________________________

Danny wasn’t sure what was going on, after he handed the phone off to Tim, they talked about some family secret. Soon Tim hung up the phone and turned to Danny, “Damian say’s Sam and Tucker are there and they’ll call back when he’s back up to speed which means that we need to get up to speed ourselves,” he glared at Danny. Danny, who was still wearing Pajamas stood there as Tim approached him. Once they were a yard apart Tim spoke again, “Listen, the secret I’m about to tell you must not be told to anyone outside of this house, got it?” He fixed a hard glare at Danny.

Danny shrunk back for a moment before a thought occurred to him, “why don’t I tell you my secret as well? Damian is already learning by now and since you're his brother you’ll probably be able to help out.” Secrets for secrets, that way they would both be afforded some leverage in the situation. 

Tim seemed to think for a moment with a hand on his chin, he nodded for a moment before looking up at Danny, “Alright, but tell me yours first.” 

[escelia]

Thank you so much to everyone who enjoyed the first part! I hope I didn't miss anyone in the tags.

You can click here to read the prologue and here to read part one.

Enjoy~

Not So Normal pt2

Bruce had gathered his whole brood in the Batcave for their debrief. This time, Danny included. He'd hoped that one day he would bring Danny down here and tell him all about their nightly activities, just not so soon. His newest son didn't even seem fazed at all by all the vigilantes flooding into the cave. Not that that really meant anything with him floating down through the ceiling with Dick and Damian in hand. To think one of the kids living under his own roof was a meta and he hadn't noticed… he had to step up his game as Gotham's greatest detective.

"Is the Joker alive?" Was Bruce's first question once everyone was situated and settled. He had a personal rule about not killing his rogues, but honestly, after what the Joker pulled, he thought he might be able to overlook it. After all, when an eldritch being takes a life, who is he to argue?

"Of course he's alive! Nobody dies when I get involved." Danny puffed his chest proudly. He hadn't broken his no casualty streak since he started hero work over a year ago. Not many heroes could say that, and Danny worked damn hard to keep it that way.

Bruce let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Out of relief or disappointment, he didn't know.

"Next question. Where and what is 'clown jail?'"

"It's a subspace of the Infinite Realms." The detective tucked that term away for questioning later. "It's a trick I picked up from my Head Guard back in the Realms. It's basically a space where you experience whatever punishment I think fits your crime. But it's all psychological, so no one ever gets hurt there."

"And what's his punishment?"

"Are you a meta or an alien? I can't tell at this point."

"How long have you known about us?"

"Why did you look so different back at the warehouse?"

"You have a Head Guard?"

The questions came in like a flood. Danny flushed at all the attention, unsure where to start first. He looked to Damian for help, but he only folded his arms and smiled smugly. That little traitor! But he supposed that's what he deserved for waiting so long to tell his family. In his defense, the last time he told a family about his abilities he'd ended up strapped to a table with a scalpel poking at his spleen.

"One question at a time, please!” Danny screeched, covering his face in embarrassment. He stared at Damian pleadingly one more time.

"I told you to tell them before something drastic happened, so don't look at me. "

"You knew?" Jason pouted. Damian just smirked and puffed his chest in pride. He knew exactly why Daniel hadn't told them, but had been confident that his new family wouldn't react the way his old one had. Perhaps this would teach Daniel to trust him a bit more. And wasn't it something that Damian wanted Daniel to trust him.

"They aren't like the Fentons, Daniel. You should tell them."

The words were like a balm on Danny's nerves. The others were smiling patiently at him, judgment absent in favor of eager curiosity but not in the cruel way it had been on Jack and Maddie's faces. He took a deep breath before starting in on the details. No place like the beginning, he guessed.

He told them about how he half died when he was 14 and all the abilities he gained as a result. He told them about his hunter parents and his colorful array of rogues turned friends. Bruce had paled considerably when he got to the part about Pariah Dark whisking their town away and his subsequent defeat of the Ghost King. And he looked downright nauseous when Danny detailed his victories over several of the more godlike entities of the Realms, like Overgrowth and Vortex. He left out Dan, skipping to the part where he'd effectively become the ward and apprentice to the Master of Time, Clockwork. And finally, he told them about Jack and Maddie.

When he'd stumbled into Gotham after the vivisection and begged Bruce to take him away, to protect him, "please, I just wanna feel safe again," he'd told him that it was abuse and refused to outline the details. This time, he looked him in the eyes, and with one finger wrapped around Damian's for support, he told his family about how the Dr's. Fenton had cut him open and poked around in the name of science.

"So… you're not a meta?" Duke asked in the silence that followed Danny's confessions. He had to admit he was grateful his brother wasn't dwelling on his past. Damian had been right, they were taking it well. Boy, did he let it show on his face in a typical, 12 year old, "I told you so," fashion.

"I don't have a metagene and I'm technically half-dead, half-alive. Damian used the term Pseudo-Meta. I kinda like it."

"So let me get this straight," Jason began. "Since dying, you won the Ghost King's crown by right of conquest, defeated several godlike entities, who are now your friends, and your mentor is the literal God of time?"

"Pretty much."

"Damn," he whistled. "I don't think I died right the first time. I want a do-over."

Danny snorted in laughter and Damian tutted at him while the others elbowed him in ribs.

"Does that make you a god?" Dick teased.

"I don't think so, but every time I ask Clockwork he gets all cryptic, so maybe?"

Bruce was getting a headache.

~~•○•~~

"Alright, it's time to solve some real mysteries now," Tim said with a gleam in his eyes. They'd migrated up to the kitchen for post patrol cookies. Alfred had been pleasantly surprised when Bruce had explained that, thanks to Danny, everyone had made it home relatively unscathed. And considering they'd had a run-in with Joker, that was worthy of cookies in his opinion.

"Danny, how in the world did you get Damian to stop trying to stab you?"

"Actually, yeah! You guys have gotten really close. What's the secret?" Dick asked with a raised eyebrow. Damian rolled his eyes and answered for Danny.

"I challenged him in combat and Daniel accepted. It's not my fault none of you were intelligent enough to realize it was a bonding tactic." Bruce tried to hide his laughter in his mug while the others blatantly gawked at him.

"No way."

"I have a picture of the first time he managed to graze me in a sparring session! You guys wanna see?" Everyone swarmed him to see the photo. Dick cooed and tried to pinch Damian's cheek, but was met with snapping teeth. Steph, with eyes sparkling, just muttered, "cute," so as not to stir the youngest's ire. Danny ended up promising to send the picture into the group chat later.

"By the way, you never did say what Joker's punishment was," Jason mentioned casually. Danny smiled cruelly, his frosty blue eyes glowing.

"His greatest fear, of course! A prolonged stay in a Gotham that has not nor will ever know the Joker. I swear, I've never met a clown that wasn't a total narcissist." Danny popped the last bite of a cookie into his mouth and dusted the crumbs off on his pants. "No one is allowed to hurt my brothers. Ever."

~~•○•~~

Damian was just about to climb into bed when he heard a knock at his door. He looked up just in time to see Danny phase through it into his room.

"Why even bother knocking?"

"Because it's polite!" Damian rolled his eyes. "I just wanted to say thank you for earlier." He took a seat at the end of the bed and Damian sat next to him, as was tradition for their late night chats.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you," Damian countered. "You weren't ready to tell everyone, and yet you came when I called."

"Of course I did. You're my little brother. And I'd do it for any of you." Danny nudged him with his shoulder, and it earned him a tiny, barely there smile.

"Thank you Danny."

"Using a nickname, huh? Don't let Dick hear that, he'll think you're playing favorites."

"Of course not. I have a reputation to uphold after all. Besides, Richard already thinks you're my favorite. It's giving him a complex."

"Well, aren't I?"

"Tt, don't push your luck."

There was a beat of silence before they erupted into laughter. Danny was so proud that he could make Damian laugh, even if it was more reserved than the guffaws he and their brothers had when they found something particularly funny. He couldn't wait to brag to Jazz about it once it was safe to contact her. If it was safe to contact her.

"I'll see you in the morning," Danny said, leaning lightly against his brother's shoulder in lieu of a hug. He floated over to the door. "Goodnight, Dami."

"Sleep well, Danny."

~~•○•~~

Vlad Masters gnashed his teeth while he stared at the computer screen in his office. First Daniel up and disappeared without so much as a word, and now he was all over the news and tabloids as the newly adopted "Daniel Fenton-Wayne." He was annoyed. He was furious! He was… confused. What had that fool Jack done to get Daniel taken away? Why hadn't Maddie stopped it? How did Daniel end up getting legally adopted by Bruce Wayne of all people? The boy should have come right to him if something was wrong. He deserved it! The boy was his or he was no one's!

The man swatted the mug off his desk. It shattered against the wall.

[jojo-schmo]

How did you come up with roleswap Elfilis' design? It's really cool!

Hi! Thank you so much! :D I'd love to share my thought process! Gather round the armchair by the fireplace, friends! It's story time!

I've said before that the Forgotten Land Roleswap started off as a doodle that swapped Dedede and Bandana Dee's roles as Player 2 and the Brainwashed Beast. But when I realized how fun that one little change was, how about EVEN MORE changes? That's how my one-time doodle turned into the full AU story. I swapped Meta Knight and Kirby, Clawroline and Leongar, and Sillydillo and Gorimondo- and because the story is so Waddle-Dee centric, I promoted Dedede to "Player 1" since the stakes would be higher for him as their King.

So now I had a story that had a lot of opposite traits to canon and I wanted to explore that further! When it came to the matter of Elfilin, I thought he would probably behave too similarly towards Dedede and Meta as he did to Kirby and Bandee. He'd be friendly and trusting, communicative, optimistic, knowledgeable, and cooperative. So how about providing them a travel companion who is defensive, has trouble communicating, a little wild, uninformed about themselves and the world around them, and has a bit of a temper?

But working with all these opposite traits didn't feel in-character for Elfilin anymore. So my natural next step was to swap Elfilin with Elfilis and make a new version of the Forgotten Land's lost little pup!

Enough yapping about the context behind my decisions, tho. How'd I come up with Roleswap Elfilis' design?

I see you out there, Fecto Forgo fans. Maybe somebody out there's thought, "Roleswap Elfilis does not look like them! Why not? That's what the other 50% of the Ultimate Life Form looks like! I demand justice for the angry glowing rat fetus!"

Maybe nobody has ever thought this. But I wonder sometimes lol

Your feelings are valid, friends. Please lemme explain my reasonings.

This fella, to me, is the abandoned wet specimen left to float in a jar for who-knows-how-long after a forcible physical and mental separation via spatial teleportation shenanigans. And I think part of their appearance is due to their role as the trapped and forgotten half.

The role of the half that got away fully formed his own body and inherited some traits from the complete being-

For Elfilin in canon, he got ears that are proportionally huge compared to the rest of his body, blue eyes that sparkle with the light of a thousand destroyed planets, a tiny bit of pink fur for his adorable blushies, and a really long fluffy tail. Maybe becoming a being free of chaos gave him those sweet eyes like Kirby and the Waddle Dees have.

My reasoning is that whichever half ends up escaping the Lab and fully forming their own body, they would carry the major physical traits the other wouldn't inherit.

Anyway, that left Elfilis with the horns, colorful and expressive eyes, whiskers, beige chest fluff, opposable thumbs, and pink tummy fur.

Elfilin gets the long tail in the bodily divorce so Elfilis has a short stubby little cotton tail like a bunny. Like if he ended up with just the very tip of the Ultimate Life Form's tail.

Behold this diagram above I came up with two years ago! Disclaimer: the canon Elfilin is the one in the chart. And I draw him a little differently these days lol. I ain't showing anyone how he ended up in the Roleswap yet tho!!!! >:0

But Roleswap Elfilis is more than just "baby version of the Ultimate Life Form..."

All the differences in the Forgotten Land Roleswap from canon stem from one event in the timeline. One change that I added to the events that were already supposed to take place. It's why the Ultimate Life Form split differently. Why the Beasts have different roles and aesthetics. Even why the portal took Bandana Dee and Kirby before Meta Knight and King Dedede.

How did that saying go again? The flap of wings somewhere can influence a bunch of huge changes somewhere else down the line...? What was the name of that theory again....? Hmm. Not important, I guess.

Anyway, the end!! You sly dog, you got me monologuing!!1! /lighthearted

[farewelln3verland]

I cant forget the way you looked at me

pairing: best friend! taehyun x fem! reader

a/n: for taehyun's birthday, as well as Tubatu’s Year Long Birthday Event 🎂 created by @junniieesbbys and @boba-beom!

“you know, many people would kill to look like that,” you comment to your date, taehyun.

the two of you had been best friends for almost a year, and you knew he liked art, so he was a clear choice to have as your guest. when you decided opening your photography gallery was the next huge step in your career, taehyun had been right there for you through it all.

and the open house that you hosted this very night had turned out even better than you could have dreamed. of course, it might be partially because you had a celebrity friend there, but hey, any publicity would be good for business.

taehyun was currently tugging on his suit collar, grimacing slightly. “i should have never let yeonjun pick out my outfit.” 

“probably not, but hey, it draws attention to this great picture i took of you. and you look amazing, tae.” you assure him softly.

you point over at the black and white photo of him on the beach. his head was tilted backwards, hair slightly blowing in the wind. the meta point? it had been drizzling when you’d gone, so there was fresh dewy raindrops gliding over his face. with the quality of your camera, you could easily see the drops become embedded into his eyelashes. 

you giggle slightly as he tugs at his outfit again. “if you have such a problem with the outfit we can just take it off-“ you quip and he shoots you an amused yet silencing glare. 

“don’t make me do something about it.” he murmurs and you do a double take. 

“what?” 

“you heard me.”

“uhhh-“ your brain short circuits trying to figure out why your best friend was flirting with you. you’d made jokes before, calling each other ‘babe’ and ‘love’ ironically, but this had a waaay different ring to it. i mean, he was just a naturally dominant and flirty person...right? right??

“just shut up and kiss me.” he suddenly muttered, leaning closer even as you back away a few steps, and his eyes widen, then give a flash of sadness, his face becoming closed off.

“ah. i see. i-i’m sorry-“ he apologizes, truly sorry, but with a note of coldness in his voice.

“no- i would kiss you, tae, but the paparazzi…we can’t do this in public. if i'm going to have you, i'll have you to myself." you tell him, reaching for his arm.

he flashed a sincerely relieved and happy look at you, then nodded. there was something in your bones that just screamed at you that he was going to end up going home with you tonight. 

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

years of you being with the love of your life and best friend flashed through your mind, especially that one night a couple years ago when he made you his. the night you had your open house, the night he made you aware just how much he needed you. how much he loved you.

the times that you thought back to... it always made you fall in love with him more. yes, he’d been passionate, after confessing of loving you for most of your friendship, maybe even a little impatient. but demanding? no. you’d already been in deep, given him consent twice, and still, as he was about to make love to you, he still asked. 

“are you sure? once i start- i won’t be holding back-“

and you knew then: you never wanted him to hold back again.

[wistfulnightingale]

Promises to Keep (or, When It All Goes Too Fast - Lost Picnics, Dancing, & Regrets)

Mini-Meta Musing #12

This may not be an original thought in the world of Good Omens Meta, but I was working on a little fluff fanfic, and thinking about Aziraphale's glowing, hopeful, but also pleading expression as he asked Crowley to dance in E5. You know-- the night their peaceful, fragile world really started to fall apart.

"You don't dance," Crowley responded, just before he was tugged onto the floor by his giddily radiant angel.

Aziraphale had desperately wanted to create a romantic evening for them both. (He's been criticized a lot for that, unfairly, I believe.) You can see the strain on his face as he watches his plan collapse moment by moment. I believe Aziraphale knew that it might be the last chance for romance that he and Crowley would have for a long time. (See my meta, Ineffables in Check). That alone is reason enough for the angel's seemingly "foolish" single-minded focus on dancing with his beloved demon.

But, what if it meant even more than a last sweet romantic evening before the chaos hits? What if a dance was meant to be a gift he felt was long overdue? What if, on a certain night in 1941, a song was played on the gramophone, Crowley had extended his hand in invitation... and Aziraphale didn't take it? And has regretted that decision every moment since?

"Perhaps one day we could... go for a picnic. Dine at the Ritz."

Wished-for moments, hoping for a Someday, back in 1967. With the scrutiny and fears and dangers pushing them apart, it probably felt impossible to fulfill. But now... Maybe our angel looks at them as unfulfilled promises? A picnic, dinner at the Ritz, a special dance... What if the Ball was the way he hoped to fulfill another of those promises? Before the Powers-That-Be took away their chance. Again.

"You don't dance." Crowley stated at the Ball. In Crowley's world, it seems, this is a fact. Despite all their years together, the only dancing Crowley apparently has seen Aziraphale do is the Apology Dance. Even though they've been a couple since that night on the bus, after the almost-Apocalypse, they never have danced together! (See An Old Married Couple)

"You don't dance," Crowley had said dryly, head pulled back, chin pulled in, eyebrows raised. There's also a question there. His tone, and especially the way he physically drew back, makes me wonder. Is there a reminder in it? Does it recall a memory, long forgiven but not forgotten? Crowley, we know, is secretly a hopeless romantic, at least as much as Aziraphale. Oh how he wanted that downpour to cause a sweet va-voom kiss for Nina and Maggie!

"Shades of grey...?" Dark grey, light grey... So much teasing and gentle flirting that 1941 night as they toasted and dickered! Crowley started showing a bit of the raised chin and extended neck that slips into his countenance when he's feeling especially romantic for his angel. The gramophone is just a few steps away. Did one of them put on a record? Was it "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"?

What happened that night in 1941 remains a mystery. Most of us ponder and imagine and long to see more! I wonder, though, did Crowley gracefully rise and, playfully or gently or gallantly, offer Aziraphale a dance, and did Aziraphale falter? Did danger threaten again? We've seen so many times how the angel would pull back from Crowley, trying to protect him, afraid that admitting even their friendship would cause Hell's punishment. Lesser things than that certainly had drawn Hell's wrath. (See Anything to Protect Crowley)

Did this moment in 1941 become a regret that still shadowed the angel over 80 years later?

They eventually became a couple, and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" still became their song. (See The Nightingale DID Sing!) Yet, if they had never danced together in all this time, I can easily imagine Aziraphale blaming himself, and seeing that as a personal failing he'd want to make amends for. But life gets busy, and even now it's not entirely safe for them, and missed opportunities tend to pile up quickly when you're not looking -- even when you have the most loving of intentions.

You know how sometimes serendipity strikes, and you get inspired? A few unrelated events happen in sequence, and they link together in your mind to give you an exciting new idea? I wonder if that's what happened for Azi. Crowley is willing to do whatever it takes to make amends for hurting his angel, and does a reluctant but beautifully graceful Apology Dance. Then Maggie cries and Azi lies to protect Jimbriel, and he and Crowley contemplate romantic scenarios to try to turn the lie into truth. Va-voom! Aziraphale has a brilliant idea that's not reeeally just about his heartsick neighbors -- he can FINALLY make amends for a hurt he feels he caused long ago. He can gift his sweetheart with that long overdue dance.

If you listen to that va-voom conversation believing they are already An Old Married Couple, you can hear a subtle flirting going on. Crowley teases that he saw it in a film, but we all recognized the memory of Crowley familiarly sheltering from the first rainstorm under Azi's wing. Was that when he started to fall for the surprisingly daring and compassionate angel? Was he beginning to realize they were "made for each other"?

Aziraphale's imagery, though, isn't one we recognize. A ball? A dance? He acknowledges he's venturing into fiction. I don't think it's an actual moment from their history like Crowley's is. It's a retelling of what Azi wishes had happened. And Crowley's cynical response, "Now that's unlikely," doesn't sound light and teasing anymore. One dance together does not, in fact, fix misunderstandings. Are they remembering a dance in 1941 that did NOT actually resolve past misunderstandings, but deepened them instead? Did the angel refuse Crowley from the start, that long ago night? Were they interrupted by danger? Did Azi playfully accept, then realize their feelings were a bit too serious, too risky, and step back again?

"I- I'm sorry, I don't dance, actually," he might have stammered (not quite accurately). Could that be the specific moment he meant in 1967? "You go too fast for me, Crowley."

So Aziraphale plans a Ball. He KNOWS you can't miracle people into love and romance. "Miracles don't work that way," he told Crowley. He'll do his best for Maggie and Nina, stubborn and somewhat miracle-resistant though they prove to be. But the Ball is for Crowley.

"Don't look so disappointed. Perhaps one day we could, I don't know... go for a picnic. Dine at the Ritz."

So much longing in Azi's expression, but only when Crowley isn't looking. He hates saying what he feels he must say to keep him safe.

They've dined at the Ritz, at least several times that we know of. The last time we saw was quite romantic, in fact. That's one promise kept. I suspect a picnic in a park would feel far too vulnerable and exposed to ethereal and occult forces for our Ineffables, despite having been "fired" by both. Perhaps that promise is still waiting. I think that would weigh heavily on Azi. But, A-Ha! Aziraphale also owes Crowley a dance -- and dancing can be done in the safety of the bookshop. So Aziraphale decides to make it especially memorable.

It would be a lovely gift to give to Crowley, one that Aziraphale may feel he's overlooked far too long. He's been forgiven for that night, but from what we saw in the bar, when Azi talked about dances healing misunderstandings, it's not an easy memory for Crowley. Giving Crowley this dance is Aziraphale's way of asking for that freely-given forgiveness, of acknowledging his regret for the hurt he caused. Add to that the angel's regret for all of their lost time. Even if it was time that they never safely could have had anyway. Because now, demons are at their doorstep, Heaven is watching again, and the Metatron is threatening their safe little world.

And Aziraphale cannot let it be too late. He will not accept it.

I just realized something, this moment. So I scooted off to make a dual photo. Serendipity. In both scenes, the lighting and tones are warm and red. Aziraphale's look is filled with longing, and his face is half shadowed.

There aren't many scenes, comparitively, where Azi's face is half in shadow. When it is, it seems to have been done meaningfully. Maybe these two moments are actually intentionally similar (?). One is a promise made, the other an attempt to fulfill an unkept promise, but both moments are shadowed by outside threats that make that impossible, for now. The past was more deeply shadowed and unpleasantly red -- they weren't together yet, hadn't discovered how much stronger they are together. Maybe it means there's more hope now.

(Also, the greatest threat in 1967 was from Hell. Red light. Now, the danger is coming from Heaven.)

Maybe I'm on to something more than a wistful little musing after all.

And I can't tell you how MUCH I need to see these Ineffable Husbands HAPPY and CONTENTED in their little cottage in South Downs! Someplace quiet, with a garden and a cozy kitchen for baking and plush sofas to cuddle on and an ancient tree to picnic under and a little duckpond nearby....!! (And a cat or two, lots of fluff and lots of cattitude!)

I'll meet you all there!

..........

I hope you enjoyed my speculative meta. Here are links to the other metas I mentioned, and another I think you might like:

An Old Married Couple

Anything to Protect Crowley

Ineffables in Check (from the Chess Moves Theory Set)

Finding Forgiveness

The Nightingale DID Sing!

Aziraphale's Jubilant Smile (NOT the crazy elevator grin)

[not-freyja]

For the director's cut, I would love to hear more about Legend's thought process and motivations once he met Hyrule in Adjuration! 🥰

Thank you for an actual scene selection everyone else had me pulling out a random number generator. Fucks sake. Love you guys. Also sorry this took like… a month, writing is hard.

This is going to be long. And though it might be analysis for chapter two, it will contain spoilers for the whole story.

Key: [quoted text in brackets] my analysis out if brackets.

[Time to deal with the strange Hylian. The same strange Hylian who came out of a now-vanished portal that also spat out a monster.

Link did not get this far in life by being the trusting sort.] Okay this sets the tone. Legend is immediately suspicious. He knows something fucky just happened, and that this person is involved.

[“So…” he says to the figure now sitting up on the ground. “Who the hell are you?”

There’s a faint mumble from the Hylain shaped pile of dirt at his feet.

Link sighs. “You need to speak up a bit.”

“I’m…” the kid's voice is raspy, as if he hasn’t used it in a while. He coughs, trying again. It’s a bit better this time.] Crying in Rulie-loving sorrow. This boy has such a hard life. I wanted to make sure the readers understood that without rubbing it in. I also wanted to make it clear that Legend was noticing these things. [“I’m no one. Just a traveler.”] Nick name establishment. Also secret world-building. I have so many thoughts about the world-building of each of their eras. And I was holding myself back chomping at the bit not to pull a Tolkien and overshare.

[“Bullshit.”

The kid’s eyes go wide. “No, really!” There’s an almost raw edge of panic to his voice now, and Link almost feels bad. “I’m not anybody important, I’m just passing through. I’ll be on my way now, thank you for the help.] They have known each other for about two minutes and Legend is already aware of a few things. This kid is involved with some kind of Dark Magic, he’s on the run, and he does not want to reveal his identity. This is ringing some trauma bells for Leggy. He is seeing himself, and he is getting sympathetic.

[And before Link can so much as laugh at such a pathetic attempt at a lie (and it is a lie, he’s been on enough quests to be able to tell a nobody from a somebody) the traveler scrambles to his feet.] Little meta joke here. We the player, we the reader can tell an NPC from a main character. Legend, who thinks in meta terms, can too.

[The thing is, Link is retired. He’s put in the work, done his time. He’s spilled enough blood and lost enough of his life to goddesses and princesses and lost wayward souls that this is the point in the story where he wants to take the guy at his word.] So… Link. Not Legend. Link. He is so tired, and so done. Its been four lifetimes of misery and he is done, thank you. [Link wants to shrug, turn around, and continue on his way home. He wants to turn and run through the woods, back to his house and slide the bolt in the door and have Ravio tell anyone who comes calling that the hero] This is the only time that Legend thinks of “hero” in the general lowercase noun and not “Hero” as a proper noun. Why? Well because a hero would do such a thing as to hide from a quest. A Hero would not. [is not home because he is not going to be answering any more calls to greatness. There will not be one more quest.] oh buddy. *sobs* Rulie’s “got one more in me” later down the road as the direct foil to this thought. Rulie’s death is the catalyst for the rest of Legend’s character arc, like his entrance into Legend’s life is the catalyst for the plot.

[He’s retired, by the Three.] Yeah man keep telling yourself that.

[But right before he can do just what it is he wants, the stranger goes to leave first. And the poor thing takes one step, yelps like a kicked dog, and crumples back to the forest floor.

“Fuck.” Link can’t help the curse] The sympathy is now at a boiling point. Legend cannot help but care. Cannot help but try to help. [and he strides forward, towards the kid, away from home.] OKAY so the “away from home” bit is both directionally in the scene and narratively in the plot. [It’s only a few steps, but it’s the wrong way, and Link has done this enough times by now to know that it really is those first few steps that count.

Those are the ones that you can’t take back. The ones that all the rest come after.

Link takes them anyway.] I can’t even start with this part. The repeated theme of Legend “going the wrong way” of him doing the dangerothing anyway, despite his well-earned survival instincts. I… listen, Legend was suicidal. From day one. He knows he can’t undo this. He knows that another quest will probably get him killed. He does it anyway.

[“Hey, easy there,” he all but whispers, dropping to his knees next to the filthy kid. “I’m not going to hurt you, okay, Traveler?”

Big eyes stare up at him. They are full of fear and distrust, and a painful glint of hope. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Link sighs, takes another deep breath. “Is it your leg?”

That gets a weird combination of a nod and a shrug. “Ankle, actually.” The kid smiles at him. And it really is a nice smile, soft, and a bit shy. “I got my foot twisted under a tree root.”

He can’t help but wince because, yeah, been there. “Well that’s not too bad then.” Link grins. “A brace, a red potion, and a few days rest, and you’ll be good as new.”

The traveler nods, some of the stress seeming to bleed out of his shoulders. “That’s what I thought too. Thanks.” He pauses, gulps before continuing. “Thank you for handling the moblin for me. I… I’m not at my best right now.”] This whole section is about deepening the sympathy. He is looking at Rulie amd seeing his younger self (I have Rulie at 16 and Legend at 20) and he just wants to help. (Time: “Let me help.”)

[“No need to thank me.” Link’s smile, previously genuine, turns bitter. “That’s what heroes do.”

Just as he was starting to loosen up, the stranger tenses again, every muscle going taut as a bowstring.] So they have different reasons for the same action (getting tense). Legend is a ball of angst. Hyrule is afraid if being recognized.

[“You alright?”

“...What do you mean ‘hero?’”

And that tone of voice right there? Suspicious and untrusting? Waiting for the other shoe to drop? Link knows that tone of voice. He uses that tone of voice on the daily. He loves that tone of voice. But only when it’s coming from him. Out of another mouth, it just sounds sad.] Here Legend is an inch away from self awareness. So close. But more importantly, his recognition if the self in Rulie is getting even stronger. Every moment is another moment that they are more alike in Legend’s eyes.

[But hey, in for a green rupee, in for a gold.] LOL.

[“That would be me,” he says with his most winning smile. “Link, Hero of Legend, savior of Hyrule, chosen by the Goddess… you get the gist.”] Here I have Legend give the titles of three out of five Heroes that Link will be. Chosen, Legend, and Hyrule. This was foreshadowing no one noticed because why the fuck would you? What I did to this boy was unhinged no one saw that coming.

[And the kid just stares.

And stares.

And stares some more.] Me too buddy. Legend is so pretty.

[This is getting ridiculous. Link shakes his head. “Listen, I’m not really in the market for any missions, or quests, divine or otherwise. Firmly out of the whole kingdom-saving business. And the princess-saving gig as well. So why don’t you just tell me where you’re heading, and I’ll make sure you get to the nearest town in the right direction in one piece and we’ll call it even?”] Last attempt to avoid the situation, and he is still trying to help. What a dumb bitch.

[Those deep green eyes staring up at him suddenly roll back, and the boy goes limp.] Baby boy! Also the green here. Yes it is Rulie’s eye color. But it os also Ravio’s eye color, and every single detail Legend notices about this kid gets him more attached.

[“Well, shit.” Link grumbles, running a hand through his hair. What could have been an hour-long detour on his day is now a problem with a capital P. Because as much as he might want to, Link isn’t actually capable of abandoning some poor homeless-looking teenager in the middle of the woods. Especially not one who fainted at the sound of Link’s name.

That thought makes Link pause. Did he faint? A monster was chasing him, it could be blood loss. It could be more than just his ankle.] Standard worrying here. He feels responsible for this kid now.

[He reaches out tentatively with a small brush of magic and almost sighs in relief.] OKAY BIG MISTAKE. Rulie is the Triforce. Legend loves the Triforce. And the Triforce loves Legend. They magically harmonized here. Imprinted. Zinged. From this moment on they were both attached. [The issue is clear now. There’s an empty well where the kid’s natural magic should be, almost drained but nowhere near dangerously so. The fainting wasn’t about Link at all, it was the adrenaline fading off and the strain the poor kid’s body was under finally catching him.

The memory of that strange portal flares in his mind. That incident coupled with this guy being certifiably drained of magic after falling through makes Link realize a couple of things real quick.] Smart Leggy. Good Leggy.

[First, this kid probably made that portal. Second, he came through it as a last-ditch resort. He was running from something, or someone. Third, this poor Hylian has a lot of magic at his disposal (not only did he make a stable portal but he and a moblin went through it before it collapsed), magic that still pushes out in a wave, nauseatingly strong despite its low levels.] Bitch that’s the fucking Triforce.

[Link is almost afraid to learn how much the kid will have after he recharges.] Again, the Triforce.

Now to fast forward about three paragraphs, because while I like those paragraphs very much they can be entirely summarized as: Legend is so suicidal. How did none of you notice?

[One arm slides under bony knees, the other behind the prone Hylian’s back. Nayru’s tears, he won’t even need a power bracelet for this, he’s so thin.] So… I’m not crying, you’re crying. Their first moment together perfectly mirrors their last, and that is fine, that is so fine. Nothing is wrong here, I am okay.

[The Hero rises, an unconscious stranger held delicately in his arms.] Here we go. The pivot to Hero as a proper noun. The acceptance of the call. The attachment is personal and magical, and our journey begins with Legend carrying Rulie to safety, when he knows it will kill him. (And kind of hoping that it does.)

…this is a loop. The beginning is the end.

[arcticwolfpaws]

Chapter 8: School Daze

I have some news! after September my first post in October is going to be a new story based around The young justice

~~~~

As is going to be normal link to the Ao3 fic

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56481082/chapters/143531686

I took a deep breath, as I stepped out of the class room I was waiting to be grabbed by the boy I broke the nose of however instead I found Tom waiting for me.

“Hey, Faraj!” He chirped walking up to me, I waved not really sure what to make of him being there.

“Oh.. ummm hi I guess.” I mumbled he smiled brightly at me before he spoke again,

“How did you sleep?” He asked, I gave him a small smile and he kept talking after I didn’t respond,

“Yeah I kind of thought you were on the shy side, I mean you’ve been here a few months and I haven’t seen you spend a long amount of time with anyone person.” He stated and I spotted Jason, he seemed to be watching us, he wasn’t joking about keeping an eye one me due to thinking I was up to something,

“Hey… umm tom?” I started and he was quick to correct me,

“Tim, it’s Tim. Oh and quick tip at a Gala or something and you can’t remember someone’s name avoid trying to use there name.” He chirped I paused and looked at him confused and startled, he just smiled at me before speaking.

“Where did that come from?” He gave me a soft smile at my question,

“Oh, After the Gala I watched your interview and you just called me Tom but Your dad said that you were knew to the hole life style, I’m sure being a Wayne child you’ve got some kind of etiquette tutor but I thought you might like the tip I’m sure you’ll be drug to all sorts of parties.” He put his hands behind his head

“Actually, Dad made a comment that I wasn’t going to be going to a bunch of parties as I need my rest and the lights might be to bright for me.” I told him, I mumbled something and the only reason I missed it was a sudden sharp noise that left me momentarily disoriented. It left me deaf for a moment as Tim pulled me along to the cafeteria. When my ears started working again the noise of everyone talking had me covering my ears,

“Whoa, hey are you okay?” I shook my head no and Tim drug me back out of the room and to the bathroom, I could think there and I sat on the floor under the sink, in a corner as I calmed down my head between me knees.

“You can go eat.” I told him but he shook his head,

“Not happening, we’re friends and friends don’t leave friends to get picked on in the bathroom, I snorted and but jumped as the bathroom door was aggressively thrown open, my head slapped the under side of the sink, I whined and grabbed my head,

“Why aren’t you a-” Jason cut himself off as he spotted me and Tim, he sighed heavily before sitting down with us.

“Alright what’s going on… besides him hitting his head.” He asked looking more to Tim then myself, I was fine with that as I was far to busy holding my head.

“I’m not sure the bell went off he seemed off balance after that and it got even worse when I got him to the cafeteria.” Tim stated, I really couldn’t explain if I did they’d know I was meta and I had heard what father had thought of them… of me.

“Faraj?” he asked and I hesitated, I didn’t know what to say but Tim spoke again,

“He was holding his ears.” I heard Jason sigh heavily before he moved.

“Stay here.” He stated pointedly as he walked off not slamming the door open this time, I glanced at Tim and he seemed just as confused as I was.

“What do you think he’s doing?” He asked softly and I shrugged,

“If I’m being honest I was convinced that he didn’t like me.” I told Tim I knew he didn’t trust me but I wasn’t expecting him to help me with something, when he came back he had something in his hand.

“When We get home I’ll talk to Dad, about getting you some kind of pass so the school doesn’t get bitchy about this.” He knelt next to me and held his hand out palm down, I slowly reached out and let him drop it in my hand, I quickly realized that they were ear plugs.

“I noticed you didn’t handle the bell before but I never thought it was this bad.” He stated end got up,

“Get something to eat both of you.” He stated pointedly, I quickly put the ear plugs in and Tim Glanced at me,

“Do you know sing language?” He asked and I nodded.

“Yeah why?”

“So, We can talk.” He chirped, Right he couldn’t know that I could hear him just fine. We got lunch and while still obnoxiously loud, the cafeteria was tolerable now. I sat with Tim and Bernard. Tim explained what happened and the two of them started talking in sign, it felt odd why were they doing this? They barely knew me there was no point in this and yet… here they where. It reminded me of Roy when we met he always spoke quietly for me.

“I know this might be a bit of a dumb question but, who are the worst of the worst that the batman deals with?” I asked and they both seemed to be completely invested in telling me all about the joker, killer crock and a victor zsasz before getting into an heated discussion on weather or not someone called two face was, the came to the likely hood that yes he was, they then add… a bird? I really wasn’t sure what a penguin had anything to do with crime and someone called black mask.

As we were walking to our next class we were stopped, Tim looked unnerved but I simply frowned at the bi-

“Mr Wayne.” He tone was sharp and angry, she eyed me for a moment while I racked my brain as to what I might have done to anger her.

“You are not permitted to have ear plugs, during school hours.” she stated firmly, and held out her hand to me as if expecting me to give her something, it took me a moment to realize that she wanted.

“If you’re suggesting that I give you the ear plugs that my brother has given me then I will remind you that, taking something unwillfully is a crime and I will not have my brother’s items stolen from me.” I stated pointedly she looked like she wanted to ring my neck but I stayed calm giving her a flat look.

“As a teacher I am allowed to confiscate anything I see fit.” I had to bite back a comment about her age and likely sight poorer then my own,

“Yes but I am not willing to hand it over and that would make it theft.” I pointed out and began to walk away only to have her grab me, I had to fight my muscle memory, to not throw her over my shoulder and pin her to the floor, however she practically ripped the ear plug out of my ear before grabbing the other one and storming off before I had time to recover from the sudden shock of volume.

“Are you okay?” Tim asked putting his hand on my shoulder, I took a deep breathe before nodded,

“I’ll be alright… mostly.” I muttered the last part I sighed as we kept walking,

“Mostly?” He asked, tilting his head as we walked to our classes they were close to one another something that I was starting to think wasn’t that bad.

“Well… honestly? That was the first nice thing that Jason has done.” I stated and my eyes looked down before sighing,

“When it comes to miss Drees, I don’t think anyone can fault you for that.” He stated and I shook my head not sure that I could get away with that.

“I don’t know… Jason has never really seemed to like me.” I told him and Tim frowned before sighing,

“Sorry man… hey this is my class let’s talk later,” he stated before walking off and I sighed and walked the rest of the way to my class.

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

I didn’t bump into Tim again, instead after classes I was cornered by a pair of 4 older boys. Why did I have a very bad feeling about this,

“I… umm How can I hel-” I squeaked as two of them picked me up, Do I fight back? No probably not that might cause problems, as I was lifted I noticed one of the boys had a bandied over the bridge of his noise and a cast on his wrist. Oh…. This was some kind of revenge wasn’t it?

“Shit…” I grumbled as I struggled kicking my legs and trying to pull my hands free, How problematic is this going to be? I wondered as I struggled and kicked, as I was carried to the side of the school. Do I yell? I’ve never had to worry about this, Normally I just fight off any attackers,

“Are you going to say anything or ju-” I was suddenly dropped but I had fallen more then I should have and when I stopped I landed hard my head slapping against the ground and I heard what sounded like a crunch, I froze but the only thing that hurt was my head, so slowly I sat up my head spinning as the one boy yelled.

“Let’s see if the Killer crock likes whine kids.” The one boy snapped before his buddies closed the man whole locking me in darkness while feeling light headed.

“Fuck me.” I hissed and searched for my glasses in the darkness ignoring the wet feeling that was dripping down the side of my head, I frowned as I got my glasses an arm had been broken off,

“Should have kicked there asses.” I grumbled, before slowly getting up making my head throb and forcing me to take a wide stance to avoid wobbling. I let out a squeak allowing me to ‘see’ a decently large hall empty of anything and completely closed off…

“Well, If I stay here I’ll starve guess I have to look for some kind of storm drain or something.” I mumbled shaking my head. Oh… oh I should not have done that, I rubbed my head as I walked letting out small squeaks to ‘see’ through the darkness. I walked until I heard a low rumble, I only paused for a moment not wanting to give what ever it was the chance to realize I knew it was there. Please, please, please don’t be some kind of sewer cat. I mentally begged before a low but shockingly gentle voice spoke,

“You’re bleeding.” I spun to face the voice but stumbled due to my head throbbing, there was a low growl before it spoke again the voice still low but just as kind.

“What happened?” A large hand gentle steadied me, it felt rough like it was covered in callouses. I hesitated for a moment before speaking softly, suddenly feeling strangely shy.

“I umm brought it on myself.” I mumbled but he growled lowly,

“I doubt that.” he gently started nudging me in one direction making sure that he didn’t push to hard and make me fall.

“No one need thrown in the sewers with me.” I paused for a moment realizing who I was talking to but I let him lead me, even as my hear began to pound in my chest.

“Y-you don’t seem that bad,” He snorted as he kept pushing me along, We came to a dimly light room but with out my glasses I couldn’t make much more then the orange light out. He sat me down on what felt like a broken chair and moved my hair away from the wound.

“Are… Are you Waylon Jones?” I asked and there was a deep growl however I was starting to doubt it was an actual growl.

“You going to tell me what happened?” He asked I frowned and thought for a moment.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me.” He huffed before letting out a low chuckle, I heard water drop to the concrete at an irregular pattern.

“Alright kid you have yourself a deal.” he stated as he pressed something cold to my head.

“Before spring break… I was with someone… I think they had kept me drugged with something a lot of stuff is fuzzy, but I broke someone’s nose and wrist. They threw me down here as some kind of revenge.” He paused for a moment taking the cold cloth away.

“Why didn’t you fight them off this time?” He asked and I shrugged,

“It’s…. Well… the man that took me in seems very nice, Dna test says he’s my father but… I don’t want to cause trouble and the other kid he has seems to dislike me on some level, so I was just wanting to keep my head down, Honestly I was hoping they would just I don’t know kick me a few times and leave it at that not drop me down a man hole.” he paused for a moment letting out a low growl for a second before he spoke,

“Yes I’m Waylon Jones. And you should have fought. Your safety is worth more then some rich assholes image.” I blinked, I was about to ask how he knew my father was rich but then again I was in a likely dirty now school uniform. I felt him press something to my skin that stuck there and when I reached up to touch it he grabbed my hand.

“Leave it alone.” I slowly put my hand down, I kinda liked this guy.

“You’re nice.” I stated and all sounds of movement stopped I could still hear his heart beat but didn’t say anything.

“Watch it or I’ll eat you.” He growled and I hummed,

“On the contrary I don’t think you will despite the nickname.” I stated and he growled lowly I stood up pulling my broken glasses out, I could see were the croc part of the nickname came from.

“How about I bring you a sandwich or something tomorrow?” I offered and he snapped his jaws at me like he thought it would scare me but I just tilted my head that caused my glasses to fall off.

“Shit.” I mumbled and squeaked to find them but instead found a large hand reaching out to them,

“Fine, but don’t get yourself in trouble on my behave.” He stated handing me my glasses back I smiled at him as I took them.

“Alright!” I chirped. He lead me to another man hole pushing it open with ease the light was blinding but I had dropped my bag in the struggle and didn’t have my sun glasses.

“Whe-” He cut me off as he picked me up lifting me as high as he could.

“Next to G.C.P.D, Go inside and Ask for Jim Gordon.” He stated as I grabbed the ledge and pulled myself up, I knew that name wait from where? I turned back only to realize the noise of the near by cars had hidden the sound of the man hole closing.

“Thanks.” I mumbled anyway, as I stumbled a little to find the door, I walked in and a woman spoke sounding bored,

“Look kid we don...” She trailed off. I think the lights in here were worse then outside as I had to close my eyes, Gotham’s cloudy day had certainly helped while I was outside.

“Can I tal-” She cut me off, great was everyone just going to be rude today? Honestly I didn’t feel like dealing with this shit,

“Jim? I the uhh Wayne boy he…” I knew that I wasn’t supposed to hear the other side especially from the door.

“Yes, Yes I know he’s missing Mr Wayne was quite upset and I have several men who’s only job right now is to find him.” I knew that voice it was the same one form the Gala, I perked up.

“Yes I know but he just walked in…”

“He What? Why didn’t you say that sooner send him up here this instant.”

“Yes sir I’ll bring him up right now.” I was sure he turned his attention to me, and I heard her heels click on the tiles, I winced at the sound.

“Come on sweet heart.” she said gently and I felt her grab my hand and gently pull me along, I followed her she walked slowly for me but I couldn’t see due to the lights, I tripped on some kind of rise and the woman spoke.

“Didn’t you see the step dear?” she asked me helping hold me upright. I shook my head shaking my glasses off and she picked up that too before.

“It’s to bright hurts my eyes.” She paused as she placed my glasses on my face before speaking again.

“Alright well we’re about to go up some stairs.” she warned and I nodded like it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world seeing as I tripped on them, as we walked up them she was moving frustratingly slowly but once we walked down a hall and a door opened the I could instantly tell the room was much darker, I blinked open my eyes and saw Mr Gordon. He looked upset, Was it something I had done? Was he mad at me?

“What happened son?” He asked gently, as he walked up as He walked up I looked up causing me to realized that the main light in the room was shut off.

“Oh… some of the kids tried to feed me to Killer croc… It didn’t work.” I stated and the mans frowned deepened, I guess that was better then telling him that I liked Croc.

“I called your father, He’s on the way and I’ll be talking to him about pressing charges.” He stated firmly.

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

Bat files

Name: Waylon Jones

Age: 25

Waylon is troubled, But I also know him well enough to not see his as a threat, mostly he's just trying to survive and it's not uncommon to see him in under ground fighting rings however if he sees a child in danger he's made it a point to help them or ask me for help. I wasn't sure about this the first time he did it however it's become a pattern so despite what school children around Gotham think the sewers are a death sentence it's likely one of the safer places to be, the biggest risk is getting lost

[violetlunette]

Okay, so I really like Female Silver. (Obviously, I like Male Silver better, but still.) It’s a bit hard to explain, but I like the idea of Lilia trying to raise a sweet, angelic girl and figuring out how to keep her safe while respecting her independence. Here, I drew Lilia catching Silver as she fell asleep. The image isn’t one of my best, but I like it well enough.

Anyway, while I’m here, some headcanons for a Female Silver AU.

*When Silver got her first period, neither she nor Lilia knew what the heck was going on and panicked. Lilia took her to a midwife who—after laughing—explained what was happening. Both were horrified and had trouble understanding that it was natural. (Lilia was then traumatized when he looked at the biology book Silver was given to help understand what was happening to her body.) *While none of the boys were overprotective, they were all very much aware that Silver was beautiful and were cautious around strangers. As such, they’re a bit more defensive of a female Silver than a male Silver, as a pretty female will attract danger more than a pretty male. **Lilia taught Silver to never talk to strangers but never told her why. *The second thing he taught Silver when her chest grew was how to break someone’s arm. The first thing was how to break “hardwood.” *To this day, Lilia never had the sex talk with Silver. He’s tried a few times but, whenever he does, he sees his baby girl and wusses out. **Despite this, Silver is very much aware of sex as they had a burrow of bunnies behind the cottage and, since she can talk to animals, they explained the concept. (Though, as all her information comes from animals, she’s a bit mixed up.) ***On that topic, Silver herself is very curious about sex and relationships. VERY curious. *When Silver first arrived at NRC, people were quite taken with her beauty, however, only a few brave ones approached as others saw her stoic features as ice Queen qualities. *At first, Malleus was confused (and a bit jealous [not for romantic reasons, but that people were approaching her]) when people approached Silver as they acted in a way he wasn’t familiar with. When he discovered what was going on and that Silver was being pursued, he had a mini-freak out. There were thunderstorms, and students were getting struck by lightning—it was chaos till Lilia stepped in and told him to calm the heck down. **Silver was bewildered by the whole experience and still had no idea what was going on. ***On that topic, Silver is still 100 % oblivious to romantic topics. *Malleus still sees Silver as a little girl and is always thrown off when something happens to remind him that she’s a young woman. He honestly has trouble processing it, but when he does, he gets melancholy. *When Silver first arrived at NRC people thought she and Lilia were an item due to how close they were. **They thought the same when Sebek arrived till he LOUDLY rejected the notion. *Lilia tries to act calm and cool, but one time Lilia saw a bruise on Silver’s neck and—believing it was a hickey—obsessed over it for hours, till Silver informed him that she got it while training. Basically, he can pretend to be calm all he likes but that girl more often will send him into panic without knowing it. (Just like Male Silver does.) *Silver finds her long hair annoying, but keeps it as she likes it when her father styles it. (Meta: This is a defense for me as I just like drawing long hair.) *Like her male counterpart, Silver is a strong fighter and hopes to become a knight.

[saltyb0ba]

im soooo normal about ezran callum sibling relationship

the little kid who had to grow up too fast, leaving stolen jelly tarts behind for clean hands on the throne and the big kid who never got a chance to play house with his younger brother before worries took the place of imagination. the kid king who seems to be handling things well, but no longer laughs at jokes with his kind of humor, and would rather get to the point than have a bit of fun with finding out the answer.

ezran luckily has a strong support system and a brother that will be there for him no matter what, putting himself in danger just to ensure ezran's safety. he's bonded with zym on a psychic and emotional level, and can talk to animals with relative ease. making the burden of the crown just a bit lighter. he knows he has people he can reach out to and lean on, and takes advantage of that when the offer is handed to him. growing up hurts, but with loved ones surrounding him, it was okay. as okay as it could be.

callum is his own support system. soren's called him step-prince for as long as he could remember, and though it was never explicitly shown, it's not hard to infer the amount of damage that can inflict on someone's mind. he already was second in line to the throne despite being the older sibling, and to just have it drilled in your head again and again that someone doesn't want you there just hurts. and it forms an unhealthy mindset that sticks with him for a while.

soren's insisted that it was a joke, but it's not wrong for callum to take it personally. especially with how many times soren's repeated it. claudia lost his respect a long time ago. callum isn't really shown to have the same amount of familiarity with the royal court as ezran does, and his office is a bit isolated from the rest of the castle. it isn't where he sleeps (though sometimes falls asleep in), but even in his own quarters he's separated from ezran. that bed's either filled by rayla or just empty moonlight at this point.

callum's always taken his own path whereas ezran followed in his father's footsteps.

that's naturally led to callum exploring a new future alone (or at least, with minimal support) vs ezran having the entire castle staff to rely upon with centuries' worth of experience in handling the rule of a king.

and proven in the series, it's caused ezran to detach from callum a bit himself. how he thought callum's upset post-possession was about rayla and not the literal puppeting that had been going on. he was never able to see through his brother the way callum could see through ezran and that's likely intentional.

bait and zym are also like parallels to their relationship in a sense; ezran had accidentally batted bait away in his sleep and bait left, upset and a little angry -- until callum saw him and invited him to hang out with him. they don't have a connection like ezran and zym have (unless you wanna get super meta, since bait's sounds are made by jack desena), but they understand each other just as much as the king and dragon prince do. before that happened, however, bait was very clingy with ezran. see the connection?

they haven't abandoned each other, far from it. they've gotten more aggressive in their love, especially with the stakes raising and callum extremely prone to becoming a weapon. ezran would prefer to talk things out, though something tells me aaravos would rather have fun with his toys instead of discussing things. maybe the way they show brotherly love is different now, but callum knows what sacrifice he would have to make to protect his family, his brother. ezran doesn't want to lose callum, and is determined to find a solution that doesn't involve the loss of his brother. his only brother.

thank you for coming to my ted talk this was a massive brain dump that i just needed to get out haha! i'm a sucker for sibling relationships and theirs draws me in like no other.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Can i ask you if you ever saw/had some character analysis over Izo? I would like to read it badly since i got interested more in his character after Wano, but i barely see anyone actually talking it out loud, and thus it makes me hard to really get why bro is so popular..

See, what I heard was "Please, drop some fire Izonalasis on me." And that's what we're gonna do. His popularity is actually really easy to understand when you hear it but it is a bit meta. A writing trait baby sister has too but big bro is waaaay better at. Let's call it Economy of Impact. What does that mean? In such a big arc you do a lot with a little. Add that to a character concept that's unique but easy to grok with a killer look to him? Easy to love.

He's there just enough in Marineford most people thought about him showing up in Wano. Never center stage but visibly helps Luffy and gets some cool gunman moments, which have been rare in a pirate manga. Stuff like shooting a dude's sword in half. Come Wano, an astute fan is spending the first leg figuring out how you're gonna slip in. It's right there with Marco at the start. But when he finally folds in? Nice surprise, you're the big brother of this local girl who's been cool and memorable in her own right and that instantly makes both characters a lot more intriguing.

Then his role in the Raid is just plain good. We never really waste time when Izo shows up, he's just always doing something worth your time. Yamato's giving a big dramatic speech? You capture attention with a heartfelt reunion taking one page. Gang is rushing Kaido? Slip in that extra badass moment of disarming King. One exchange that shows us all we need to know about your dynamic with Kiku. Heroic save for Marco. More Heroic rescue your sister & Usopp. Most heroic last stand in the flames...and none of that ever took more than a page or two. Dude is the definition of all killer, no filler. Even his anime filler scenes are just cute sibling stuff most people liked and wanted more of. Which in and of itself, given how long Wano was it's rare to see a thread people were pretty burned about not getting more of.

End of the day though, my take has always been the sibling samurai as a pair represent something a little more mature in the series, something with a little more depth. The tragic undertone to the big, flashy tale of Wano people want to hear. Even if not everyone can step back and think of it like that organically...I think they get it subconsciously. Izo's the half that also gets to be constantly cool and strong and daring and tied to beloved Whitebeard. He's a big deal in his own right, the development in Wano makes him the Commander after Ace we know the most about. And he had a similar fate without that tinge of being dumb about it.

When you're able to pack that all in with almost no fluff it's so easy to be super popular by virtue of everyone at least agreeing you were pretty cool.

[fincalinde]

for your ask meme: wei wuxian?? 👀

Since I've got some new followers over the past couple of days (who knew what branching out from Xiyao would do for my reputation!), I'll once again add the disclaimer that I write MDZS meta and not CQL meta. I'm aware that in CQL, WWX is characterised somewhat differently. I have thoughts on that too, but I'm not immersed enough in CQL to commit to sharing them publicly.

Since WWX is the main character and appears in almost every scene, I won't attempt to write a thesis statement on him. (You cannot afford my hourly rate.) Instead I've decided to focus on an aspect of WWX that I feel is often overlooked or sanitised. That is to say:

WWX is extremely annoying.

He's not just irritating, or overly exuberant, or a touch too arrogant. He is infuriatingly obnoxious.

Obviously WWX is also brave and often well-meaning. He loves deeply, even if he consistently lets down the people who care about him. He's strong-willed enough to abide by his own sense of morality in the face of overwhelming disapproval and danger, and arrogant enough to make unilateral decisions when it would be better for all concerned if he took a step back. He's bad at big picture thinking and rarely considers the full ramifications of his actions, but he's also incredibly adept at getting out of scrapes, and he has an admirable if also somewhat depressing ability to shrug off pain and suffering that is the result of his difficult days on the streets and his mistreatment by YZY. 

And he's obnoxious.

I do think it often gets forgotten, because Wangxian is intended to be a love story and it's much more tempting to write sweeping romance and charming banter than hark back to all the canonical moments in which characters, including LWJ, genuinely want to throttle him to death.

He never shuts up! He's constantly laughing far too loudly and for too long. He's the sort of person who thinks it's funny to pull the rug out from under someone in a conversation so they end up discomfited and embarrassed. I fully understand that a large part of his hectoring LWJ is a precursor to his later romantic interest and is in line with his flirtation style, but the fact remains that he goads LWJ beyond the point of endurance on multiple occasions. LWJ just happens to be a weird dude who's really into it.

A good example of what I mean is when Wangxian encounter each other at Phoenix Mountain. WWX asks LWJ if he's ever kissed someone, then proceeds to speculate that LWJ has never been kissed and will never be kissed. LWJ doesn't seem to mind this at first, and only becomes angered when WWX lies about having been kissed before himself (oh LWJ), but it's important to remember that WWX has no idea that LWJ has any interest in him whatsoever. From WWX's perspective, he's just having fun belittling someone else over a topic that for most young people is a sensitive one. I don't want to oversell this moment and claim that it's bullying, actually, but I do want to use it to highlight that WWX is not always a considerate person and this type of behaviour is teeth-achingly thoughtless and cringeworthy.

I could go on, but if you pick any given scene including WWX you're likely to see dialogue in which he's being actively annoying to other characters, intentionally or otherwise. This isn't an attack on him, just an observation that in order to write him in a canon consistent manner he should be not just witty and chatty in a way where other characters simply roll their eyes and keep going. He should genuinely actually aggravate them and it should have consequences within the scene. Characters such as JC and WQ care about WWX but also find him infuriating, and that's with good reason—never mind the juniors, whom WWX takes pleasure in messing with. There are many characters who feel great respect and affection for WWX, and every single one of them also regularly feels deep frustration and irritation towards him too. There should be some meat on the bones of any back and forth between them.

[aprocessionofthoughts]

Stitches and Cookies

ai-less whumptober 2023 day 10- scars/collar fandom- Danny phantom x batman TW- scars, medical stuff but nothing graphic summary- Jason helps patch Danny up then feed him

ao3 ai-less whumptober2023 masterlist part 2 of DLM

Danny stared at the man in front of him. He felt wrong. Like he should be at least slightly liminal, but there was something wrong with his ectoplasm.

And Danny had just revealed his scar to him.

But the man, Jason, kept projecting a sense of calm. And despite everything he had been through, Danny felt that he could trust him.

Jason’s breath had hitched when Danny had lifted his shirt, but now he was looking at the stab wound an agent had given him when the GIW caught up to him yesterday. Danny didn’t have long. He would have to leave Gotham soon. But he had figured it would be best to get his injury treated first. 

It had been a month since he had escaped the GIW lab and he had no wish to go back.

“Do you want anesthetic?”

Danny blinked. “What?”

Jason gestured toward his wound, “Do you want some local anesthetic before I start the stitches?”

Danny shook his head. “No, it doesn’t work on me.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, but just got out some disinfectant and started cleaning the wound.

Danny turned away, biting his lip. It stung. With everything he’d been through, he’d have thought that something this simple wouldn’t pain him anymore.

It didn’t take long for Jason to be done.

Both of them sat there for a moment in silence. 

“Want to tell me who gave you that?”

Danny didn’t say anything.

“I could protect you.”

Danny snorted. If the GIW found Jason they’d put him on a lab table as well.

Jason sighed. “Alright, would you at least like some food? I just made some cookies.”

DAnny frowned, looking around, “Where…?”

Jason winced. “Actually, my apartment is next door. This is my friend’s. He asked me to watch it while he was gone.”

That didn’t seem like it was true. But Danny didn’t feel any negative intentions coming from Jason so he nodded.

“Cool.” Jason stood and offered Danny a hand which he took, wincing as he stood up. “Follow me.”

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

Jason struggled to keep his emotions from showing. Danny had a dissection scar. And that wasn’t the only thing. Not counting the recent stab wound, Danny had plenty of scars from burns to cuts to ones that looked medically induced.

And Jason had also seen the scarring around his wrists and neck. Things that came from being chained up too long, and what might be a power suppressant collar, if Jason’s guess about Danny being a meta was true.

He was fuming. Who would do that to a kid? Just wait until he found them. He’d make sure they didn’t hurt anyone ever again.

But for now there was a scared, hurt kid who needed his help.

Jason took a deep breath and let the kid into his apartment. 

First step, cookies and hot chocolate.

[friendlyneighborhoodsynthezoid]

More Pirate Batch! Wrecker

One more right away, just to prove I've got the rest on the way.

Wrecker was content with his life as a dock worker. Or so he told himself, daily, while he spent long hours hauling heavy crates to and fro in the relentless wind and heat. Wrecker knew he was a strong guy, but even he was going to bed exhausted and dreading the morning that would begin the cycle of endless work once again. Until one day, he spied a strange looking visitor to the docks. A young man, maybe Wreckers age, stepped off a peculiar-looking ship, docked clumsily and with evident difficulty in a secluded corner in the pier. Wrecker would never claim himself to be the brightest sort, but to his eyes, this guy looked green. Both literally, and meta… figur… and that he looked inexperienced. The hat and coat he wore were impressive but didn’t quite fit him right. The ship was sleek and looked well armed, but it appeared damaged and shoddily repaired. And this kid stepped off the ship alone, with no visible escort or companions, and walked right past where Wrecker was gawking without even seeming to see him.

The whole of his workday, Wrecker’s thoughts kept straying to the half-hidden ship and the strange fellow who captained it. That evening, Wrecker went to it and undid the rope which held it. It was a sorry job that Wrecker couldn’t stand not correcting. With a mighty tug, the ship straightened out and drifted closer to the pier, where he fastened it more securely. Wrecker sat on the edge of the pier, legs dangling over the side and daydreaming about weaponry when raised voices caught his attention.

“Hey, you! With the silly hat!” Wrecker turned his head slightly towards the shout, not moving just yet. It didn’t pay to get involved and escalate things when it wasn’t necessary.

“Well lookie here,” a different voice added, “we’ve caught ourselves a Fett!”

That make Wrecker whip his head around, subtly be damned. Wrecker would never presume to be knowledgeable about, well, anything, but even he recognized that name. He scanned the docks until his eyes alighted on the same young man he’d noticed that morning. His carefully constructed air of confidence was cracking slightly as he took small steps back from two hulking figures lurching towards him.

“Hey, fellas, I was just leaving-” he tired, hands up placatingly.

“Yeah, right,” snorted one of the thugs- he was big and ugly, sure, but wrecker decided he could be dealt with, “you’re leaving, Fett? No way yer Jango. Not parading about with no backup and a coat that don’t even fit. You one of his brats?” he punctuated the sentence with a sharp jab of his huge finger. Wrecker’s feet were carrying him closer without any input from his brain.

The young man rolled his eyes, “I dunno about any Fett, but-” his gaze caught Wrecker’s and flashed from searching, to scheming, and finally, smug confidence, “-what was that you said about backup?” he ducked, turned and ran as the two thugs turned to find Wrecker behind them.

Wrecker gave them a chance. “You guys wanna back off and let this one go?” he asked. He meant it, too, but it seemed to Wrecker that people only ever wanted to solve problems by punching them. This suited him just fine. Predictably, the thugs bared teeth and fists, and wrecker mourned the state of peace he’d enjoyed minutes before. Oh well. It would be a short fight.

_______

 A short time later, Wrecker was sitting idly by the water, watching the sunlight play across the rippling surface of the bay. A smoky voice sounded from behind him. “Hey pal, you looking for a career change?”

“What?” Wrecker yelped and turned around to find the young captain standing over him with a calculating sort of smile. “What’re you- but who- i’m just a dock hand!” 

The guy rolled his eyes. “Right. A dock hand who just saved my stupid skin, and – I notice- pulled my ship into port with your bare hands. You, my friend, are something special.” he sat down next to him, kicking his booted feet a little. “The names Hunter Fett, and I’m looking for a crew. I could use a big guy like you. You can probably guess why-" Wrecker tried not to glance at the man's short stature- "I can promise one hell of an adventure if you join up. And a significant amount of firepower.” Wrecker’s eyes lit up, for his nickname was well chosen. Firearms and cannons were his great obsession and his best talent. Hunter smirked. “I may be short on men, but I’ve got guns galore.”

And so Wrecker's new life began.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Ok so here's the fairy tale meta thing based off a lie that I was talking about.

In Dead Apple, there's a flashback scene at Bar Lupin where Dazai explains the concept of apple suicide to Oda, while a track called "Dear Prince" plays in the background. There's a brief mix-up where Oda confuses the story of Snow White for Cinderella - but when I first came up with this, I misremembered what he said (I mixed up... his mix-up...) and thought the line was about Sleeping Beauty.

And I'm so unreasonably annoyed by this because that would've made so much more contextual sense. Why? Because they both involve an awakening. Moreover, there's a few interesting details in the environment of the older tales (I will not be using the Disney versions as the Dead Apple motifs actually connect better with the originals and also because I have never actually seen them... embarrassingly enough) that translate quite nicely to aspects of Dazai's life and bonds.

Specifically, there are some loose parallels to be found with Odasaku and the story of Sleeping Beauty, and Chuuya and the story of Snow White. (Note that this is not intended to be shipping fuel or anything; interpret it however you like, I'm just drawing connections.)

And yeah, I know this is an entire half-baked meta formed around a line that doesn't even exist but please just give it a chance or at least humour me please please please please please

Alright let's get the Cinderella thing out of the way first since I want to at least address it.

Cinderella has its origins in the old Greek story of Rhodopis, which sets up the main aspects of the story we know now: a servant girl from a poor background ascends to royalty through marrying a prince, who searches for her after finding her missing shoe. This doesn't really bear any resemblance to the rest of the movie or any other ongoing themes... unless you want to suggest that maybe Dazai's jumping from one side to the other was something akin to a "shoe-test"; that he was looking for a perfect fit. I think that's quite a stretch though and it's likely this really was just a throwaway line meant to show us Oda's occasional uh... airheadedness. If anyone has any further thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.

It's a shame, really, because the slip up could've been given more significance and also because as an analyst of sorts it is my sworn duty to pull meaning out of absolutely nothing so I guess I took another step further here and made up my own line to analyze in stupidly excessive detail.

The entire point of this was meant to show how both the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White have a theme of awakening, and so do Dazai's bonds with both Odasaku and Chuuya - they both have a function of "waking him up" in a sense. However, the means of doing so manifest very differently.

So, let's talk about Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Beauty has its origins in an old Italian story called Sun, Moon and Talia, which has many of the elements we know today but was uh. A lot darker. And way more non-consensual. The version the more modern story takes its roots from is Perrault's version. Here are the important bits to this analysis: the princess pricks her finger on a spindle out of curiosity, the good fairy puts everyone in the castle to sleep along with her for 100 years so that she will not be alone when she wakes, the prince does not wake her with a kiss but instead she wakes just by his presence and they sit and talk for a long, long time.

So, on to my delusional parallels. Part one: the princess pricks her finger out of curiosity. See, for Dead Apple, we have to rethink this a bit because Dazai brings up the concept of apple suicide, not murder. Of course, this is a parallel to himself and his disregard for his own life, so here we can take it that he did not "prick his finger" out of mere curiosity, but also, likely out of a desire to "sleep".

It's hard for me not to draw a connection between the curiosity aspect of the finger prick and Dazai's curiosity to join the mafia, especially with the next part - where everyone falls asleep as well for the time the princess is asleep. Essentially, no one will age or die. For as long as the princess remains unconscious, the world will not change. And if the princess perhaps, wanted this, then we can infer what is likely a fear of being left. Maybe even a fear of living. Dazai joined the mafia because he was curious if it would have what he sought. Instead, he spent his days trapped in an "oxidizing dream" as he detached further and further both from his humanity and from others. The mafia is already a place where people don't talk to each other openly and we know Dazai was even more unknowable than that - if he doesn't care about himself or others, the dream goes on. He stays asleep, and if he doesn't care, then he doesn't lose anyone - no one truly "dies".

As for the last part, there isn't much to say. Dazai warms up to Odasaku because the man just talks to him. And likes talking to him. And doesn't tell him to stop when he's being really freaking weird. But notably, Odasaku doesn't do much at first to help Dazai "awaken". It's only when he's about to die in his fight against Gide that he realizes he regrets not saying something sooner. Odasaku only has one chance to wake Dazai before he dies and he does it by shattering that dream that he will find what he's looking for. Paradoxically, that hope Dazai held onto was what trapped him in that singular mindset. Oda dies shortly after and the illusion is broken. Dazai wakes up, his world kickstarts where it had previously been stagnant and Dazai greets the sun and tries to live.

See why I'm slightly annoyed this wasn't the line now?

But hey, while we're at it, let's also talk about Snow White because the Dead Apple movie was actually a lot more firm with its connections than I think people realize.

Firstly, I would love people to know that in the original Grimms' fairy tale, Snow White doesn't clean the dwarves' house but in fact burgles it, eating their food, drinking their wine and falling asleep in one of their beds after testing each one, and generally leaving the house in complete disarray. Yeah. Not related to my point at all, but this sounds an awful lot like something Dazai would do (but more out of mischief than naivete of course).

Here's the important part though: Did you know that the Queen attempted to have Snow White killed not just once, but three times? The first two times, the dwarves were the ones to save her and quite quickly - they made a deal after she broke into their house that she would fix it up for them and maintain it in exchange for her staying with them in safety. It's an agreement of sorts, but as they became fond of her, they try and save her life in earnest. The poisoned apple is actually the third attempt to kill her, where the Queen bites into the white, non-poisoned part of the apple and Snow White, thinking it safe, eats the red half and falls asleep.

Hey. Remember the colour of the pill Dazai took in Dead Apple?

Yeah, someone on that team knows the original fairy tale.

Interestingly (and this is where I got really excited), there are three different attempts to kill Snow White (or, if Dazai is to be believed, three different attempts at her own self-destruction) - and there are three different instances where Chuuya "wakes" Dazai, twice while they're partnered (when they have an "agreement", terms in a sense as partners), and once in Dead Apple.

The first is in Fifteen, the infamous scene where Dazai shoots the body and Chuuya snaps him out of it by wrenching the gun out of his hands. I'm honestly a bit too tired to go super into that scene right now but I'm doing a little bit on it later - all that needs to be acknowledged here is that Dazai was out of it and Chuuya forced him back to earth. The second occurs during the Dragon's Head Conflict when Dazai is completely insensitive to the death of a mafia executive and Chuuya decks him for it. The now-infamous line "no one would believe that" is often misinterpreted I think. Chuuya says this in response to Dazai's "I'm human, too, you know." He's not saying "you're not human", he's saying "you are human but no one would believe that with the kind of shit you're saying and doing". It's the same kind of sentiment in the first scene where Chuuya intervenes, I believe. And it is a form of waking, in that Chuuya snaps Dazai out of his more inhumane moments - he basically calls him out and forces him to reevaluate; the epitome of a rude awakening.

Now for the Dead Apple scene proper.

Firstly, let's establish something. They are no longer partners in the mafia. They are even on separate sides. The framing of this changes Chuuya's actions from working with Dazai with occasional call-outs to bring him back to earth, to saving him in what is quite literally a rescue.

In the original myth, again, there is no waking kiss. Instead, in this third time, everyone assumes Snow White is really dead, that she will not be coming back. The prince, who happens across her, insists she at least receive a proper burial. But when carrying her coffin, one of them trips and they stumble, which jostles the princess enough that the piece of apple stuck in her throat is dislodged and she coughs it up, reviving. Uh...

Yeah.

Anyways this got kind of messy at the end and idk if it even made sense this is really just unhinged rambling so...

Tldr, Odasaku and Chuuya both help "wake" Dazai even if their methods and personalities are very different, which is part of the reason why both bonds are very important. Neither are particularly gentle with him, but waking, especially if all you want to do is sleep, is not a gentle thing.