#Like all the Bats are probably a little super-human at this point because of so much exposure to this stuff

[gatorbites-imagines]

Hello gatorbite, I really liked your imagines with Mark Grayson, could you do an imagine of Mark with a Male Reader who is a vampire?

Mark Grayson x vampire king male reader

Headcanons

Cooking my own headcanons for vampires, how else are they gonna go on cute dates on the beach as the sun goes down?? Ive been listening to abracadabra by Lady Gaga for days, its been keeping me sane.

Mark and the bad bitch he pulled by being a nerd. i had a lot of fun writing this, i would love to write more about these two, or more vampire reader,,,

You guys would first have met after he became a hero, sometime during season 2. Probably before he got Oliver but after his dad left the planet and Mark wanted to fix everything and started working with Cecil.

The GDA knew of your existence of course. You were the first ever vampire, created through horrible magic and rituals against your will. This meant you couldn’t die, even from the sun or a stake or silver.

Every other vampire someone would meet would come from you in some way. Or rather, they were bitten by someone who was bitten by someone, so on and so forth until it reached you, kinda like a disease. The further out you go, the wilder and more animalistic the vampires are.

The few vampires you have bitten and turned yourself are strong and can walk in sunlight, and have other otherworldly powers, but those they bite have weaker powers, etc etc. and all other vampires but you can die. As long as life and death exist, so will you.

How you guys meet can be a mixed bag, but the most plausible is that some rabid vampires have run wild somewhere, and Mark was sent to deal with them since his skin can’t be pierced by their fangs.

The vampires he encounters are naked, human-looking creatures with warped faces, a mouth full of sharp teeth, shark bat-like features and the like. The only thing human about them is their shape.

A nest of vampires has run wild, and as the so called “vampire king”, “vampire well” or even “first vampiric ancestor”, its your duty to take care of it when it gets out of hand.

At this point Mark isn’t at his strongest, so the nest of vampire spawn gain the upper hand. Even with super strength, its hard for Mark since he also doesn’t want to kill at this point, and these technically were humans once.

So, imagine Marks shock, as he’s being overpowered by hundreds of these creatures that are more instinct than sense, when these creatures are sliced in half and turn into dust.

As the vampire king you can teleport all over the planet, you could probably even warp other planets if you focused hard enough. You might have done that once or twice, leading to vampirism spreading to different parts of the universe… but nobody has to know that…

What you wear can be up for debate, do you wear something from the time you died? Something Victorian? Or modern? I can’t imagine you are too involved with the current fashion since time passes so fast for you, so maybe it’s a bit out of fashion. You still look great though.

Maybe it’s having been beaten so hard by the now dead spawn, or maybe it’s just your vampiric influence, but Mark finds himself blushing and breathing a little harder.

The first time you meet doesn’t lead to much other than you taking care of the spawn, apologizing to Mark for causing such a mess and telling him you will take more care of your offspring. Mark just kinda goes “yeah, okay, thanks man…” before passing out.

You end up teleporting mark back to the GDA, or wherever hes being brought, like to the new guardians or whatever. Because obviously none of their protection measures can keep you out. It’s only weaker vampires that need an invitation inside.

They are all pretty damn uncomfortable when you comment about how nice Marks blood smells, because being thousands of years old also means you don’t have any shame in stating the obvious.

You say hello to Immortal before leaving. Of course, you guys know each other, both being immortal and all that. You guys play cards at least once every ten years or so, sometimes more, sometimes less.

This is also why Immortal is the most chill about you showing up, coming and going as you please, and saying Mark smells delicious. You once said he smelled delicious too when you first met, the stronger the person the better their blood and all. Now you guys are friends though, in a way.

After that you guys meet every now and then, mainly because you take his interest and Immortals friendship as an invite to come and go as you please, like a big scary housecat dressed in black.

You also follow him around (stalk him pretty much), and maybe it’s just him secretly loving steamy vampire fanfiction, or some viltrumite instinct, but being hunted is exciting.

You guys finally starting to date would also happen at some random moment when you guys are alone. You would have known about Marks attraction from the very moment you met, but your cold unbeating heart had started warming up around him too.

All his rambling about heroes and fictional stories worked like a charm. The many many questions about vampires and pop culture was cute too. He couldn’t believe that the whole weak to garlic thing started as an inside joke amongst vampires and spread out, when it wasn’t even true.

Mark was positively shocked when the whole pop culture idea that being bitten felt good turned out to be true. Later you would explain it was all about intent and reception. If you wanted it to hurt and he feared you, then it would have hurt. But because he was a little freak who was really into it, then it brought pleasure.

Mark also never thought you would be able to bite through his skin, but you could. Only because of your whole, king of the vampires, first original vampire, deal. Any other vampire wouldn’t be able to bite through vultrumite skin.

Being able to rip through vultrumites will be useful later, and not needing to breathe and being able to fly as well. But that’s for later space adventures.

When the whole thing with Oliver happens, you are of course there to support Mark, but also his family. Cecil also knows not to fuck with you, because its all thanks to you that the dead don’t rise and come for him every single day.

This may mean it doesn’t end as badly as in season 3, or, Mark just has some more support, very powerful support that the GDA knows to fear. Because how is Cecil gonna manipulate the original manipulator? The one strong enough to bewitch the entire planet if he wanted to?

You also have a better time explaining morals and powers to Oliver, since you are still stronger than him at this point, so you can put him in his place when he needs it. Being nonhuman also helps a lot, since Oliver feels his power disconnects him from humanity.

This gives Mark some more room to find himself and settle, and yeah, I feel like him and his family end up moving into wherever you stay. Be it some massive gothic castle in Romania, or a Victorian mansion at the edge of a massive cliff in England, who knows.

Both because its safer, more comfortable, and they get to feel like they don’t always have to look over their shoulder.

You don’t survive the coffin allegations though, since you sleep in a grand one, and have at least 100 different coffins you switch between. Most were gifts from your spawn, or one or two from immortal as “congrats on living another hundred” gift. You gifted him weapons or houses in return.

Mark can’t sleep in the coffins with you, since he hates how claustrophobic it makes him. But he will sleep beside the coffin. You guys keep the lid pushed to the side enough for you to stick a hand out, so you guys can hold hands.

I feel like Oliver would thrive a lot under you and your spawns, since you keep your “children” in line. Being direct descendants of you means they are powerful enough to play and roughhouse with, but also help him train.

Mark trains with you instead, and it regularly ends up with him almost giggling and kicking his feet as you pin him down, barring his neck all “oh please, vampire king, please don’t bite me”.

It takes Debbie a while to settle in, but maybe she meets one of your spawn to gets on with well, or she doesn’t at all. Maybe she just takes the time to heal and find herself when she sees her sons are happy.

You end up getting the shovel talk from her though, which all your direct descendants peek around the corner of the doorway to watch. Somehow you look meek as she points a finger at you and tell you to treat her son right and with respect.

I haven’t read very far in the comics so I cant tell you what happens after this, but Mark will have you by his side when everything goes down, and that might help change it to a more positive outcome.

It might help to have a lover who isn’t held back by his humanity and morals. You are more than willing to turn entire planets into your mindless spawn if it means keeping your dear ones safe. It does lead to a horrible argument and Mark not talking to you for a while, but he forgives you at some point.

Reading his secret fanfic does help with that, even if it means you have to dress like a man from the current era, style your hair and stalk him when he sleeps (as if you don’t already do that).

Being a super ancient and rich vampire also means you can pile gifts on Mark, Oliver and Debbie. Mostly Mark, but you don’t want his kin to be left out. So, Mark gets to live out his nerdy dreams to the extreme.

You’ll remodel a whole part of your house for him if it comes down to it. Your direct spawn will coo at you becoming soft. You let them, for now, but you’ll get your revenge, especially seeing them all tied around the Grayson’s fingers too.

You are so used to dealing with the GDA that it also isn’t hard to keep them at bay, how are they gonna invade a place that’s existed longer than democracy? You will burn the whole place down if you have too. Anything for your nerdy little hero.

[ckret2]

What your thoughts on other bill ships? Like Kryptos/Bill or Stanley/Bill. I love your Wasting Away Again in the Goldilocks Zone fic on ao3 and this is my first time using Tubmlr, so I’m not sure how it works here, so sorry if I sent this wrong place 💔

u found the right place

I don't ship him with any of the Henchmaniacs (except for saying an eye-bat is his ex because it's the funniest possible option), but I think he's hooked up with half of them. I'd say "casually hooked up" but I don't think there's anything casual about it, the Henchmaniacs are fueled by petty drama and rancid vibes.

I acknowledge Kryptos is easy for ships because he looks like he could conceivably be the same species as Bill and we know so little about him you could give him almost any personality, but i'm not interested in it myself. Especially since it feels like a lot of what I've seen with Kryptos/Bill goes for "Kryptos is the one nice guy in the gang and Bill is tsundere for him" and that doesn't do anything for me.

I occasionally contemplate "wouldn't it be fucked up if Bill hooked up with Stan so he could pretend he's with Ford and Stan knew but still went with it for some reason (idk why, maybe Stan's super lonely, maybe Bill's currently wearing a smoking hot human body, the point is we want DRAMA so any excuse will work)" but outside that, nah. I think Stan and Bill would be VERY fun partners in crime and they're GREAT to bounce off each other, but I prefer them platonically, I don't feel a romantic or sexual spark between them.

You wanna know what Bill ships I'm fascinated with?

Bill/Trembley. it's GOTTA be one sided though, Bill's gotta be head over heels for this weirdo like a teenage girl for her first celebrity crush while Trembley never even notices

Bill/the howling void he totally lied about not dating in TBOB. Here I am 15,000 words deep into writing their entire relationship start to finish... I was literally already writing about Bill dating a black hole, who happens to howl, prior to TBOB; so the book just took my OC and made her canon??? yeah sure fine I'll take it, damn.

Bill-possessing-Silas/the 100-something wives he stole from his cultists according to thisisnotawebsitedotcom. weeks after that reveal this is still the funniest & most fascinating thing to me simply because Bill had ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to do that, truly enthralled by his potential motives, I cannot believe this triangle is married

Bill/the shaman. I just think something was going on there. I can feel it. The shaman taught him a bit of magic, how often do you think that happens to Mr. Trillion-Year-Old All-Seeing Eye? Probably not much!

[violent138]

hi, I'm writing smth and I was wondering if you knew any references for how the batfam's costumes look/are made of (like layering and weapons and stuff)? specificly Cass, Jason and Duke but any of the other ones would be great too

Hello! Delighted to help, and I'll start off by mentioning that the Ultimate Guide to Batman (2022) says the bat-suit is constructed of "15 micro layers of Nomex reinforced fabric, the innermost layers providing insulation against extreme temperatures and covering the whole suit is a shell of triple weave kevlar". Bruce undoubtedly goes just as overboard for his kids' costumes, so that's a pretty good outline of what the layering might be. Additional notes include the suit being fireproof, capable of shocking opponents, vaguely shockproof (but Jason has tased Bruce before so I don't know).

Also, Jason's costumes tend to be sort of all over the place (there are several versions), if you stick to the Under the Hood comic one (he's prepping on fighting Batman I assume this is a pretty decent version of his suit), then you've got:

Which is essentially a streamlined bit of body armour with biker leathers, boots, and a helmet modelled off a bike helmet. Weapons he carries include guns, bombs, combat knives.

If we move onto Cass, she carries most of the same weapons as Bruce, including Batarangs, grapple gun, smoke pellets, and if you want to get creative, considering her canonical master excellency in hand-to-hand and with multiple weapons (including a mace!), you could probably have her roll with several improvised weapons or things like swords. One of her usual costume appears like this (as Oprhan, she has also had several variants):

But she's best known for/most recognizable in one that's essentially a play off Batman's suit usually (so his defensive layers apply). A quick note for Cass is that she's (with deep affection) insane, so even if the suit took plenty of damage she would keep going.

Duke's actually quite fun in this regard, because he's got several cool weapons including modified grapply- Escrima sticks (commonly seen with Nightwing), I think at some point he ran around with Nunchuks (?), but he's also got really cool light-based powers. His suits vary less (from my DEEPLY limited knowledge, sorry!) but his most recognizable look is bright yellow with a helmet (and probably all the same layers as it is one Bruce helped with). Also as a note, as he is a meta, he does heal slightly/moderately faster than the average human (perhaps that shapes how you describe his suit, idk).

The Signal's suit looks a little something something like this:

This is already a super long reply. But I am more than happy to deep dive or even go further in discussing the rest of the Batfam's/other suits/other questions/weaponry if anyone's interested and I hope this helped at all anon (and good luck with your writing)!

[ladykailitha]

Well Met By Moonlight Part 13

Hey, guys do you all remember that period of time when I was working on this story but refused to show you snippets of it on WIP Wednesdays? Yeah, this is that chapter. (I'm pretty sure, anyway. Because this shit was super spoilery.)

We finally get what happened to Steve and why he didn't grow up as Pack. This chapter does get a little dark in its themes so be careful when you read and if you need specifics, DM me and I'll fill you in.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

****

Eddie and Wayne landed in front of their trailer with a deft touch. Eddie still wasn’t over the joy of being able to fucking fly. Like sure when he was younger, Wayne would take him for flights occasionally, but nothing beat banking on a breeze as the wind lifted him higher and higher.

“Your boy’s got a mouth on him,” Wayne said gruffly as he walked up the stairs to their trailer.

Eddie chuckled. “Always had. Even in school.”

Wayne huffed out a laugh. “True enough.”

As soon as they were safe inside, Eddie asked, “Hey, do you remember that couple who took Stevie in when his parents died?”

Wayne frowned. “You mean the Franklins?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

Eddie snapped his fingers. “Yeah, them. Why was Steve placed with them? And not, I don’t know, the pack?”

“Ah.”

Wayne went to the kitchen and pulled out a six pack of beers. “That’s a bit of story. Drink up, you’ll need it for this.”

Eddie opened up a can of beer and settled in for story time.

Wayne downed an entire beer and wiped his mouth off with his sleeve.

“Hopper had gotten bad,” Wayne began. “Like real bad.”

“You’ve mentioned that before. That was around the time I came to live with you, right?”

Wayne nodded. “It wasn’t just drinking. It was drugs, too. And not just weed, either. I’m talking the heavy stuff.”

Eddie nodded. He had sold said heavy stuff to Hopper just before he cleaned up with El coming into his life. When Wayne asked him why, Eddie told him that he had no idea what he was doing with it and honestly didn’t care.

Knowing what Eddie did now, he regretted it, but he was so close to being able to afford his Warlock that that was all he cared about at the time.

“Steve’s dad Clint Harrington was getting ready to challenge Hopper for the position of alpha,” Wayne continued. “He knew that he might kill Hopper, but at that point it probably would have been a mercy.”

Eddie nodded solemnly. Maybe if Clint Harrington had lived, lived to be the alpha, the town wouldn’t be experiencing the troubles it was now.

“So what happened?” he asked gravely.

“Allison’s father died out in New York,” Wayne said. “The timing of it was so suspect, Ed. Like, you know I hate conspiracies with every fiber of my being, because there rarely is one. But this smelled rank from the get go.”

“You think whoever had the Harringtons killed,” Eddie said, “you think also popped off Granpappy, too, don’t you?”

Wayne glared at him, but conceded the point. “Whatever happened to the Harringtons was bad, boy. Like their bodies were savaged–”

He stopped and his eyes went wide. “It was exactly like this morning. I couldn’t tell the scent then, just like I couldn’t now.”

Eddie nodded. “As near as I could tell, there wasn’t a scent to be had. Whatever it was who killed the Harringtons and attacked Patrick, didn’t leave behind a scent.”

“There are very few things in this world that leave a scent so minuscule I could barely detect it,” Wayne said.

Eddie nodded. “So what happened with Steve after they died?” He was interested in the other thing, but he was really worried about his boyfriend.

“The old mayor, Larry Kline and I,” Wayne said amused, “made the decision that the pack wasn’t safe for Steve. But despite what Steve thinks the Franklins weren’t human.”

Eddie frowned. “They weren’t?”

“They were Were too,” he said with wary tilt of his head. “Were-bat. We figured that with them being at least Weres would be able to teach him how to shift and how to shift back comfortably.”

“So what went wrong?” Eddie asked, moving closer to Wayne on the sofa. “Because holy hell, pops, if Steve had been human CPS would have been called and fast.”

Wayne drank more of his beer and then rubbed one eye with the other hand. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t. There were no indications that Steve was anything other than a kid who’s parents died and was adjusting to it. Yeah, he wasn’t exactly happy, but we didn’t expect him to be, you know?”

“So what changed?”

Wayne drank the last of his beer and set it on the coffee table. “They were away on a trip and I don’t know if they forgot, didn’t care, or planned it... but Steve wolfed out for the first in his entire life when he was eighteen.”

“What?!”

Weres were supposed to shift for the first time when they hit puberty. Early teens for most of them. But to not shift until you were eighteen was just begging for the Were to go insane.

“Fucking hell, Uncle Wayne,” Eddie groaned. “Whoever this is is playing a long ass game. Jesus Christ. They were hoping he would go crazy, ending the Harrington line for good. So what happened?”

Wayne licked his lips. “Steve ran to me. He was frightened. Terrified out of his mind. Old Mack nearly shot the poor bastard as he came tearing through the trailer park.”

“Jesus H. Christ...” Eddie whispered.

Wayne chuckled. “It wouldn’ve done shit, it was just a regular bullet, it wouldn’ve even slowed him down.”

Eddie breathed a sigh of relief. “So what stayed Mack’s hand then?”

“You’ve seen your boy in wolf form,” Wayne said, “can you imagine how beautiful he looked then? The cream of his under belly blending with the warm brown of his back and face as he tore down the gravel pavement?”

Eddie could imagine it in fact. Steve was gorgeous as a human, but as a werewolf? He was exquisite. It came from his mixed breeding of being born from another born werewolf and his turned wife. Born werewolves tended to be more timber wolf in their appearance. Almost dire wolf-esque. Big, with course fur and fierce. Bitten werewolves tended toward the smaller red wolves. Quick, slender, and cunning as hell.

Steve was a mix of these two breeds and it made him the most beautiful thing on four legs Eddie have ever scene.

“To fire at something so majestic would have been a travesty,” Wayne was saying when Eddie came back from his revery. “So Mack just stood there, rifle in hand as Steve made straight for my door.”

Eddie frowned. “Where was I? I don’t remember this.”

“You and your friends had gone to Indy for some concert or another,” Wayne said. “I don’t rightly recall.”

Eddie’s frown got deeper, he’d only gone to one concert with his friends in Indy because one of the ‘85 Hellfire Club members had gotten tickets for graduation and had taken all of them.

“Is that why you weren’t home when I got back into Hawkins?” he asked. “You were dealing with Steve?”

Wayne nodded and popped open another bottle of beer. He held one up to Eddie, but he shook his head. Eddie held up his still mostly full can. Wayne licked his lips.

“You’ll want to drink more of that,” he muttered.

Eddie did as he was told and it took the edge off of his anxiety but settled sour in his stomach.

“After I got Steve sedated,” Wayne said, “and yes it was fucked up I even had to in the first place, I went a paid the Franklins a visit.”

“That sounds ominous,” Eddie said flatly.

Wayne grinned. “They tried to tell me that they were frightened of Steve. That as a wolf he was much bigger than they were as bats. That all it would take was one snap of his giant jaw and they would be but a morsel to the boy.”

Eddie blinked at his uncle in confusion. “What now? His first change would have been a literal puppy. He wouldn’t have even been able toddle after them, let alone get within biting distance.”

Wayne huffed. “Right in one, boy. And if they had been teaching him from his first change on, he wouldn’t have thought of them as prey at all. Not even on moon nights.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“And then they tried to attack me,” Wayne continued.

“They did what?” Eddie squawked.

“They probably would have succeeded, too,” he said, “but apparently Steve is a hard wolf to keep down and followed me like a lost puppy. When he saw Dick Franklin raise a fucking yew stake to stab me in the back, Steve leapt on him.”

“Where the fuck did they get a yew stake?”

Wayne just shook his head. “The hell if I know, kid. But in comes this wolf and just snatches the damn thing out of Dick’s hand. He runs off with it Ella Franklin hot on his heels in bat form. Bats are fast and she catches up quickly. The problem is that in or out of bat form she knows she no match for Steve, so she tries to blind him by going for his eyes.”

Eddie’s hand covered his mouth as he listened to him go on about this horrible night.

“But despite what a lot of people think,” Wayne continued, “your boy ain’t dumb. He keeps his head down and makes right for the Creel House. He tosses the thrall on duty the stake and suddenly a werebat is face to face with Tammy Thompson, now holding a yew stake as Steve just continues running past the Coven.”

Eddie blinked. “I didn’t realize that Tammy’s family were thralls.”

“Just like the Perkins, Buckleys, and Hagans are hereditary keepers,” Wayne said with a nod, “the Thompsons, Carmichaels, and Bensons have always been hereditary thralls.”

Eddie was starting to think that he really should have paid closer attention to the hierarchies in school, they were a lot more important than he knew.

“Anywho,” Wayne said with a shake of his head. “Ella flies back to their house to find me beating the hell out of Dick. She manages to distract me long enough for Dick to get on his feet, but now it’s two against one and they’re still strong in their human forms, but wicked fast. I was able to take out Dick, the coward that he was, but Ella was proving to be too fast. She was going to get away.”

Eddie drank the rest of his beer and popped open another one. He leaned forward so that he was on the edge of the sofa, and his knee began to shake.

Wayne put his hand his knee to settle it, but Eddie stared at him wild eyed.

“I don’t have to finish if this bothering, Ed,” he said warmly. “I can give you the Cliffnotes.”

Eddie shook his head. “What happened next?”

“Just as she took flight, the thing they had always feared happened,” he said softly. “Steve’s jaws came down on her with a sickening crunch. Dick started spewing all sorts of curse words and things I didn’t understand. Something about how werewolves were a plague among the Weres and that they had to be exterminated and how if Steve hadn’t had my protection they would have drowned the bastard in the bathtub.”

“What. The. Fuck?” Eddie asked, can crumpling in his fist as it tightened on it.

“It didn’t mean anything until the events going on now,” Wayne said with a heavy sigh. He crumpled his can one handed and stared at the twisted mass. “But I think whoever it is who is trying to tear this community apart is getting desperate. They’re starting to make mistakes. And I think one day soon, this is all going to blow up in our faces.”

Eddie gulped, but nodded.

****

Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

Tag List:

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

@spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie

@chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @danili666

@goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

@justforthedead89 @vecnuthy @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690

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@birbsauce @acingthecounts @cryptid-system @counting-dollars-counting-stars @kultiras

[the-real-couchrat]

So I’ve been thinking more about the Geminus AU, Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU (HNGVBTHD AU) , and the Atlantica AU. Specifically their mindscapes and nightmares.

Geminus AU

I’m imagining Ford’s mindscape to be like a vast starscape, with floating structures like observatories, library shelves (that are definitely full of books that would make a human’s eyes melt out of their skull if they ever tried to read them) debris of failed experiments, ect. His nightmares (now called the Parliament) would be owls, and they would perch on the structures and fly between them very majestically. They have a tendency to resemble moths. (the nightmares were very inspired by @jacobsnicket’s Pollux design and commentary)

Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU

For Henry’s, I’m convinced that his mindscape would be a never-ending forest, made up of every kind of forest biome to have ever existed. The Menagerie (let me know if you have other name ideas for their group) would be massive in numbers, appearing as the animals that would inhabit the forests his mindscape imitates. There’s no order to what animals the dreams and nightmares take the form of, a dream could be a bear cub, and a nightmare could be a shrew. (Their numbers are so huge because of Henry’s whole “protector”thing in tau canon, with the woodsman and all. It might even get to the point where when a new nightmare or dream forms they go straight to him like instinct.) Alternatively it could just be a forest that you’d see in Oregon, with the nightmares as deer and cute little fawns for dreams. They would be called the Herd.

Atlantica AU

Pacifica’s mindscape would be a kelp forest, with her nightmares manifesting as spooky sea creatures, like sharks, Eels, Anglerfish, Giant squid, Lionfish, Stingrays, Moray eels, Goblin sharks, Vampire squids, stingrays, manta rays, and Jellyfish. (At first I chose a kelp forest because of how spooky and unsettling they are. but then I looked up pictures of kelp forests to refresh my memory, and it turns out that they’re quite pretty, and all my memories of them were from the Finding Dory movie.) The dreams would be cute fish or a baby version of the nightmare forms.

Titles

While making this post, I did a bit of research on what different groups of animals are called, so here’s a list I made for myself and anyone else who can’t remember all this stuff.

(Equivalence AU, Mabel’s pigs hogs ) “The Drove”

(Avarice AU, Stan’s dogs) “The Pack”

(Geminus AU, Ford’s owls) “The Parliament”

(Atlantica AU, Pacifica’s various sea creatures) “The Shoal”

(Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU, Henry’s animals) “The Menagerie”

(Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU, Henry’s deer) “The Herd”

@transcendence-au I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

(Also what is Henry’s demon alias? Is it still the woodsman? I thought like he was only called that because he lived in the woods. And what does he look like as a demon? I know he has antlers, and probably has hands dangling from them, but I feel like his full “Woodsman form” from TAU canon would be his super-saiyan form.)

Edit:

MABEL WOULD TOTALLY HAVE FLYING PIGS!!

THE NIGHTMARES WOYLD HAVE BAT WINGS AND THE DREAMS WOULD HAVE BIRD WINGS

Edit #2

I just remembered that Henry’s TAU alias is Sarva, so it’s probably that.

[itrustmydiscoverweekly]

This week I listened to Chromakopia

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5 out of 5 stars)

I liked this album a LOT and I know that I am not the first one to say this even in the slightest. I would not be shocked if this ends up being one of the highest critically rated albums this year.

For once I am actually listening to a popular album when it came out and that's cool! I had a great time with this album and I could not recommend it more if you haven't heard it yet.

Opinion time! (as always, not opinion order, just album order)

"Darling, I (feat. Teezo Touchdown)" is probably just one of the best songs I have heard in a really long time. It blends a beautiful melody and I like the lyricism a lot. It is such a beautifully human song and he acknowledges that with "I'm only human, if it ain't work...". I love the little bits of where he feels love compared to actual relationships, talking, about wealth and music. I think the line about how music fulfills you is just so beautiful and I love it. I love the layers of vocals, I think it it very characteristic of Tyler's music and it's amazing every time. I love this song so much.

"Hey Jane" I would pick this song off of this album for the best storytelling. I love love love that this song has the first section from Tyler's point of view and then it switches to "Jane's" point of view. I think it is a very cleverly written song. I don't think that the beat or anything is particularly of note but it's a great song and I'm a fan.

"Sticky (feat. GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne)" first off, the whistling is constantly stuck in my head. The human voice is an amazing instrument because everyone knows it and you can get things like that stuck in listener's heads very easily. This is very much the sillier side of Tyler's music and I appreciated it a lot that it is halfway through the album. I always like it when there are lots of people on a song. I love music being collaborative. I love that this song has drum and bugle on it, I love real instruments!!!

Honorable mentions!! 🥳🥳🥳

"Rah Tah Tah" This song is very goofy and very catchy and very hype and just all around a great vibe right off the bat for this album. I LOVE how it goes straight into "Noid" I always love it when albums do that.

"Take Your Mask Off" (feat. Daniel Caesar & Latoiya Williams)" This song just has a genuinely great message and I love it. It's super catchy and all around a great vibe.

[thdorkmagnet]

Scaredy Shells (Turtle Tots: Before the Rise)

@flufftober 2024 Day 12- “This is spooky.” - “Really?”

Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Chapter Summary: The boys go trick or treating for the first time.

A/N: Skipped a few days ahead to bring you all a themed chapter!!

Happy Halloween!! :)

Disclaimer: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belongs to Andy Suriano, Ant Ward, and Nickelodeon. All rights belong to them.

Mikey skipped along behind his brothers and April, swinging his pumpkin bucket beside him with each joyful step. Halloween was awesome! Mikey decided. Easily the best holiday. Oh, except for Christmas. And also Easter! And Valentine’s Day! And-

Point was, Mikey loved Halloween! Especially when this year dad said they could finally go trick or treating! They'd begged for it every year of course but dad had always said it was dangerous- even though they'd pointed out a million times everyone would be in costumes. But this year, they had April and she had a magical way of talking their dad into things they couldn’t (just one more reason she was the coolest!). 

And trick or treating was everything Mikey had imagined and more! He got to dress up in a costume and get candy and see all the fun decorations everywhere! 

He’d spent a long time figuring out exactly what costume to wear, since it was his first one so it had to be perfect. And after a lot of consideration he'd decided on dressing up as an orange kitty cat, complete with painted on whiskers and a tail that Donnie had rigged to gently swing back and forth. He was super proud of his new look, parading all over the neighborhood looking just like his favorite stuffed animal Klunk. 

It had taken a few attempts for him to get used to the whole ‘taking candy from strangers’ thing but now he was easily the best trick or treater ever! Especially when, early in the night an old woman had started cooing over how cute he looked in his costume and slipped him an extra piece of candy. That had blown Mikey’s little mind more than square pizza! But it wasn’t a fluke, because it happened again a few houses later, Mikey receiving an extra handful of candy along with a sharp pinch on his cheek.

That’s when it had clicked in his head that this was something he could milk and quickly started hamming up his already natural cuteness. He batted his eyes up at the humans, overemphasized the lisp from his missing front tooth, and sometimes even put on a little show as he meowed and pretended to lick his paws like a real cat. And the humans fell for it hook line and sinker! Mikey’s bucket was soon overflowing with candy, while the rest of the fam were barely scraping halfway. 

Which Leo was not happy about at all. “It’s not fair, why do you keep getting more candy than us?” the slider whined for probably the fifth time that night, stomping his foot and trying to look annoyed. Which ended up just looking silly thanks to the bright blue unicorn costume he was wearing. Colorful rainbow manes and bubbly blue horns were just impossible to take seriously, Mikey decided. 

“Guess I’m just better at trick or treating than you,” Mikey bragged, shooting his big brother a teasing grin. 

“Are not!” Leo snapped.

“Then why do I have more candy than everybody else?” 

“Uhhh because you keep playing the baby card on all the humans!” Leo assessed with a roll of his eyes. “Which is totally cheating by the way.”

“Me? Cheat?” Mikey said, feigning innocence, blinking impossibly big eyes up at him. “Wha dwo you mean big bwover?”

“You’re doing it right now!” Leo shouted, flabbergasted. 

“Dwoing wha?” Mikey asked, totally doing it. 

Leo groaned before looking to his eldest sibling for backup. “Raph tell Mikey to stop cheating!”

Raph looked back at them with a puzzled look. Mikey knew he hadn’t been paying attention since he’d been huddled with Donnie for the last few minutes exchanging candy. Since Raph couldn’t have peanut butter and there were a bunch of flavors Donnie wouldn’t eat it only made sense they would be the ones swapping treats with each other. Which was good because Mikey wasn’t giving up his horde for the world!

“What’s Mikey doing?” Raph asked, hand still buried deep in his bucket. He was dressed up as a pink bear with an adorable heart stitched into its belly, which Mikey had approved of instantly. Because if there was one thing Mikey would relate Raph to, it was a big cuddly teddy bear. He’d even said that he and Mikey were matching since they’d both dressed up as their favorite plushies which had made Mikey giggle. 

“I believe Nardo is once again complaining about our youngest brother’s skill in acquiring more candy than him,” Donnie answered dry, carefully examining a piece of chocolate like it might be poisonous or something. It was so weird to see someone dressed as the Lou Jitsu acting so emotionless about everything but, well, Donnie had called double dibs after Leo so that’s the way it was. Not even Leo was gonna disgrace the sacred rule of dib calling! 

Raph frowned in annoyance, rolling his eyes so hard Mikey was surprised they didn’t stick. “Cool it, Leo. Just let Mikey do his thing,” Raph said absentmindedly, going back to digging through his bucket.

Leo huffed, frustrated, pouty lip firmly in place. 

Normally Mikey would leave it at that but well, gloating felt really good right now so… “Yeah Leo. Just let me do my thing,” Mikey repeated with more than a little sass. 

Leo opened his mouth to retort but right then April blurted, “Next stop! Get your trick or treating faces on, boys!” and he had no choice but to let it go. Still looking none too happy about it, though. 

April had the most experience trick or treating so she stayed in the lead, guiding Mikey and his brothers through her sure-fired Halloween routine, one she had perfected over several years. She knew exactly which neighborhoods to hit up, which houses were candy gold-mines and which were stingy jerks. She navigated each area with expertise that could only come from a professional trick or treater. If Mikey wasn’t already the best at it, he’d probably think he had so much to learn from her. 

She had dressed up as a witch this year, complete with a big pointy hat and broomstick which she kept using to point at stuff whenever she felt the need to explain something to the brothers. Mikey had offered to be her cat (even though he was pretty sure witches didn’t have orange cats) and she’d giggled and said she’d love that, which made Mikey beam sunshine. 

They all got their candy from the next house (Mikey with a few pieces extra, hehe) and then continued on their way, April leading them across the street and into a more secluded neighborhood. Only she suddenly paused with a jolt, turning to all of them with a strained smile and suddenly declaring, “Okay so crazy thought but we’ve done plenty of trick or treating for one year, right? So how’s about we wrap up for the night and head back to the Lair to watch some Halloween specials or something, huh?”

Instantly everyone was protesting, Mikey included. Sure he barely had any room left in his bucket but he was still having way too much fun to stop now! It only happened once a year, he wanted to experience everything!

“Okay, okay,” April finally conceded, once the boy’s voices started overlapping each other. She still seemed hesitant for some reason but she finally continued to walk, muttering, “Just… don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

It didn’t take long before Mikey and his brothers learned what April had meant by that because they soon came upon the most terrifying sight Mikey had ever seen in his few short years of life. It was a house, old and decayed and practically falling apart, ghosts and ghouls and all manners of spooks hung from windowsills and scaffolding. The late hours of the night seemed to bathe the whole building in menacing shadows that left a chill down Mikey’s spine. There were gravestones scattered all over the front yard- with spooky sounding names written on each one- a literal cemetery standing between them and candy. 

But the worst of it all was the creepy looking man sitting on the front steps, wearing a black cloak and a bloodstained mask, the bowl of treats perched in his lap as if he was standing guard over it. 

Mikey gulped and ducked behind Raph to hide, while the others stared up at the creepy mansion in varying levels of wide-eyed fright. 

“April, what the heck is this?!” the snapper squeaked.

“That would be the Dooley house,” April replied, her voice low and dripping in menace and dramatic tension. It instantly put Mikey on edge. “The rest of the year it's a nice normal house in a nice normal neighborhood. But on Halloween night, the curse comes to life! Gravestones rising from the ground, showing all who have perished in its halls!” Mikey chirped once in distress, ducking his head into his shell and wishing it was soundproof, he didn't want to hear anymore. 

“At least that's my theory,” April continued neutrally and Mikey breathed a sigh of relief. Oh good, no more scary story, they could just keep walking and forget all about-

“Soooo, what's with the guy in the mask?” Leo asked, trying to sound normal but it shook a little. What, no?! They were supposed to be leaving!

“Oh yeah, he's also part of the curse,” April explained, sounding way too calm about the whole thing. “He shows up on Halloween and sits right there, waiting to grab any trick or treaters who try and take his candy.” 

“And why are the Dooley's allowing him to sit on their porch and frighten young children all night?” Donnie asked skeptically. 

“Would you wanna tell the guy covered in blood to leave?” April retorted. 

“...Touche.” 

“W-What happens if he catches you?” Raph asks in a small voice, the only one here who sounded as scared as Mikey felt. 

“Dunno. Probably something bad though.”

Mikey whimpered and fought back the urge to tuck the rest of his limbs inside. Instead he reached blindly for Raph's hands, seeking comfort from his big, cuddly protector. He felt Raph grab on tight and squeeze, which did make him feel a little bit better. Enough that he cautiously peeked his head out of his shell and glanced up. 

Yep. Still towering, still terrifying. 

He took a step closer to Raph. 

The twins and April were still talking, none of them in any hurry to get far, far away from the apparently cursed and very dangerous building. In fact, it almost sounded like they wanted to actually go over there. Which was just crazy! 

And even crazier, Raphie wasn't telling them no!    

They saw the scary thing already- fulfilled the whole Halloween spirit deal- they were all good and scared, now was the part where they were supposed to leave!

“I don't like it here,” Mikey blurted, hoping his power as youngest brother might win them over. “This is spooky.” 

 All eyes immediately turned to him and he didn't bother to hide his discomfort, shifting anxiously from foot to foot.

“Really?” Leo was the first to respond, eyebrows raising and- wait, why did he look so smug? “Sooo does that mean you're not going over there to get your candy.” 

Mikey shrugged, face hot despite the chill in the air. It wasn’t working, starting to cross the line into embarrassing. 

“That's okay, bud you don't have to,” Raph reassured, patting him once on the head. 

“Yeah,” Leo agreed. Only to add, “It just means you aren't the better trick or treater after all and a scaredy shell.” he shrugged, looking quite proud of himself. “But y’know, no biggie.” 

“Leo!” Raph and April both snapped at the same time Mikey yelled, offended, “I'm not a scaredy shell!”

“What?! I said it wasn't a big deal.” Leo’s innocent grin did nothing to dissuade the two oldest, if anything it only made them glare harder. 

“I'm not a scaredy shell,” Mikey repeated, puffing out his cheeks like a chipmunk. An adorable kitten-turtle chipmunk. “I-I could get the candy if I wanted to.”

“Oh yeah, prove it,” Leo said, tone landing somewhere between joking and challenging, leaving Mikey firmly in the middle of the two. He decided he didn't like either one. 

Mikey looked back at the house, towering and menacing. He looked at the gravestones. At the stranger sitting on the steps, waiting. At the bowl of candy. He let out a breath through his nose before saying, “Fine”-

-and took off running. 

“Mikey!” four voices yelled behind him but he didn't focus on them. 

He didn't focus on the gravestones lining the path either or the fear pounding loud in his eardrums or the horrifying man he was running straight for, because all of those things would lead to him chickening out. 

So he just kept running.

He was at the steps much faster than it felt, time getting weird and wonky thanks to the panic coursing through Mikey’s veins. The next few seconds happened almost in slow motion as Mikey reached a hand into the bowl, grabbing the first piece of candy he could, only for Leo to then grab him, wrapping both arms around his waist. Raph appeared next, grabbing both of them, and that was when the stranger turned. 

He moved towards them in an awkward, jerky manner, eyes blinking red and a haunting laugh bellowing from deep in his throat. Mikey shrieked, as did his two brothers, terror freezing him in place as he looked deep into the stranger’s horrible glowing eyes, nearly going limp with fear. 

He felt Raph start to scoop him up off the ground- snapping him out of his trance- and in the split second Mikey had to react he grabbed the entire bowl of candy. Then he and Leo were both whisked over Raph’s shoulders as the snapper turned tail and ran. 

From his position Mikey watched as the stranger waved a clawed hand around the exact place Mikey had just been, still laughing maniacally as he did. Mikey gulped and buried his head in the soft fur of his brother’s costume so he wouldn’t have to see anymore. 

There was yelling and screaming and general panicking from his brothers and pseudo-sister as they fled the scene, Mikey not daring to look up until Raph finally came to a stop a few blocks away from the house. April and Donnie caught up with them a moment later, panting and gasping for air, so his big brother must have left them in a trail of dust in his haste to get away.

They all took a moment to just catch their breath, Mikey and Leo still held in Raph’s gentle grip, the box turtle feeling his heart pounding against his ribcage painfully. 

But then someone laughed. A giggle. From Leo of all people. 

Mikey and the others all looked at him like he had six heads, but Leo just kept laughing. “We did it! We survived!” he suddenly shouted, grinning bright. 

And then Raph snorted and started laughing too. And then April started in with her own giggles. And then Donnie. And surprisingly even Mikey started to chuckle a little. It really couldn't be helped since Leo’s laughter was more contagious than the rat flu. 

Surprisingly though, Mikey started to feel relief from all the sudden laughter and it steadily grew in volume, all the worry and stress just melting off of him in waves. Soon everyone was laughing hysterically, wiping tears from their eyes and clutching sore stomachs. 

“That was terrifying!” Mikey shouted, between gasps for air.

“I don't think I've ever been more scared of anything in my life!” Raph added, smiling big and dumb. 

“Then why are we laughing?” Donnie asked cluelessly, trying to reign in the giggle fit.

“That's the magic of Halloween, dude!” April exclaimed wistfully. “Sometimes it's fun to get scared!” 

Mikey wasn't sure about that- he would probably get a few nightmares from this- but April was almost never wrong so he figured he'd take her word for it. 

“Did you manage to score any candy, Mike?” Raph asked and Mikey nodded. 

“Actually I managed to grab…” Mikey proudly held the bowl high over his head like a trophy. “All of them!” 

There were whoops and screams and congratulations from the others, even Leo surprisingly cheering for his little brother. The slider stood up in Raph’s arms, one foot perched on his shoulder and a hand raised in a dramatic hero pose, which only looked hilarious since he was still dressed as a unicorn. 

“Oh yeah! Take that you ugly, mask-wearing jerk!” Leo declared triumphantly, causing the others to start laughing again.

“Sooo does this mean I’m the better trick or treater, after all,” Mikey asked cheekily. 

That seemed to remind Leo of the earlier incident, eyes flashing with regret while the rest of him stayed frozen and unresponsive. He flopped back down in Raph’s arms, trying to hide his flush of embarrassment as he picked at a loose string from his big bro’s costume. “Um, yeah, maybe.”

“Maybe?” Raph pressed, shaking Leo once in his arms to try and encourage more out of him. 

Leo frowned, but finally relented. “Alright, fine. Yes. You might be a little better than me at this one thing.” 

Mikey beamed, pride swelling big and golden in his chest. That’s all he’d wanted to hear. 

The group decided to head back to the Lair after that, eager to enjoy their spoils of a successful night of trick or treating. April excitedly put on her favorite spooky movie, which Mikey was hesitant about until he saw the animation which April called “claymation”. It was really cool and unique and Mikey spent most of the movie just watching the way the characters and things moved, wondering if he could ever replicate it.

But then he felt a tap on the shoulder and reluctantly shifted eyes away from the screen and onto his blue brother. Leo was blushing, his cheeks nearly the same shade as his stripes, holding out a piece of Mikey’s favorite candy, not from their pile of sweets from the earlier heist but from his very own bucket. 

Mikey grinned and eagerly accepted the gift, before doing the same for Leo, offering a chocolate bar the both of them loved. Leo looked touched, taking the king-sized bar with a lopsided smile. 

Mikey scooted closer so he was leaning against his big brother’s side, finally peeling off the wrapper and devouring the whole bar in two bites. Leo wrapped an arm around him, absentmindedly eating his own snack and watching the movie. 

Mikey cuddled closer, resting his cheek against his brother’s shell, and grabbed another candy from the pile, settling in for a long night of spooky movies with his family.

Yep, Halloween really was the best.

[the-boring-distopia]

This is a little ramble post I'm writing because I brainstormed about biologically accurate angels and I thought too hard about it so here it is!

The point of this post is to pick apart and analyse how an angel could actually work, I'm using their most common depiction with the feathered wings for this post. I am in no way shitting on other people's interpretations.

The first problem is taking flight. Humans are very heavy, we have very high body fat compared to our closest ape realtives, this could make flight difficult or downright impossible. They need to he lightweight to actually take flight, so these angels are probably very light, hollow boned and their muscles are very lean.

Flight proposes an other problem, the wings, they need wide boney surfaces to attach. They need several adaptation to their ribcage, shoulder blades and spinal musles to make this possible. Since the arms and the wing would obviously require separete shoulders, or if they connect to the same one, a system of muscles that let both move as intended, this would make them extremely top heavy and it would make moving the hands and the wings at the same time ineffective. This means our angels would either use their wings or their hands, never both at the same time. This might sound like a drawback but birds utilize their legs in a similar fashion, their tendons work in a way that allows them to grasp without spending energy when they bend it into a certain way. These angels can probably still use their arms to hold onto objects when in flight or their wings could be effortlessly folded when on the ground.

Walking on the ground presents an another problem: walking. As I said, they would be ridicoulusly to heavy, if we assume they have a separete shoulder rig for wings and arms at least 35% of their weight would literally rest on their shoulders. That's bad, because human spines already suck and this would for sure break them before the angels turn 25. And forget about the hips and the knees, those would be destroyed too. This means these angels either have super strong bones, or, if we look at natural examples, they use their wings as aids to distribute the weight. The wings are probably long too, this means they can reach the ground easily beside/in front of the angel, like a chimps forearms would. Yeah, it's knuckle walking time. They would probably not do this all the time, they could still fold it behind their back and easily move in a bipedal fashion, but they would probably rest them on the ground or use them to leap or jump. Ancient pterosaurs are speculated to use their front limbs to jump, it's not that far off.

Flying burns a lot of energy and for that energy the angels would need more air than what a human lung can provide. Bats are a good example of a mammal who worked around the problem of mammalian lungs not being very effective, but since our angels are feathered, I want to consider air sacks. Airs sacks would allow them to make their supply of oxigen almost constant, a bird lung could provide better oxigen support. These air sacks could have a secondary function, one scientist speculate in gigantic dinosaurs: spinal support! Air sacks around the spine could help with weight and structure without adding to much weight, all the while still allowing for a wide range of movement. Air sacks could also help the angels breath when flying, moving their wings would automatically pump some air from the air sacks in the wing into the lungs. This also means that our angels could get fairly big, since the air sacks allow them to grow without becoming too heavy to fly.

It's hard to speculate what style of flying would they use, but I'm split between the big soaring wings of vultures and the relatively small, rounded wing of small raptors that hunt in forests. Both are related to landscapes early humans were familiar with, and if we assume they evolved naturally, both of these lifestyles could make sense. Rounded wings would make them more manouverable, while soaring would allow for travelling long distances, I let you decide what suits an angel better.

Sexual dimorphism is an interesting quesiton since in many birds the females are either bigger or there is no difference is size. In birds of prey the females tend to be bigger because of the great energy cost of making the eggs, I go with this model because human reproduction is also very costly energy wise. The females, regardless if these angels reproduced with eggs or with live birth, would need structural support to fly with their offspring, so belly ribs like ones seen on birds would either appear when they are pregnant or they would constantly have them. This could also provide an extra layer of protection. Also, since we are working with bird logic, the males should be colorful and do a little dance because I think that would be funny.

Having feathers is hard, you need to groom them constantly and take care of them, so these angels would have glands for natural wax to put on their feathers. Yeah, they would have a bird nipple dispensing grease somewhere on the angel. Isn't that a fun thought?

And my last and favorite point: they should have a crop. Most birds have some kind of crop, it's an enlarged part of their esophagus that holds food, it's handy because it expands outside the body unlike the stomach, making it a good way to carry snacks you are not currently digesting. Imagine having a second stomach that can get to the size of a backpack. I am not sure if it would be on the chest or on the stomach area but it would be unsettling to watch them gorge themselves to the point it's bulging out of their body. They might look human but if we want to make them more than just some guys with wings, it's a good touch in my opinion. Birds are weird as hell anyway, why not use their bullshit for world building?

And with that I conclude my post about biologically accurate angels, bye!

[mouthsfullofsharpteeth]

I noticed in a tag you said you had vampire Alex thoughts.

Could we hear them?

yes. yes you can. answering this days after you sent it, but thats because i had too many thoughts to properly pin down, and i wanted to be able to actually list some headcanons :>

so i have two different sort of thoughts for this, one being in a post canon setting that i've been roleplaying and am probably going to try and convert into a fanfiction format which i would post, so i can say more about that one later. but in this post i'm gonna talk about my other concept, which takes place during college in a pre-canon/alternate universe setting.

cw for animal death, violence, general vampire and canon typical stuff

alex getting turned was essentially him being a failed midnight snack. he's leaving a party that involved some of his cast and crew, he might be a little drunk and so he makes for easy prey. as alex is passing an especially dark part of the road, he get's pounced on by some hungry vamp, immediately starts freaking out, because even though alex likes horror this is still a bit much for him with no warning. he should have been dead meat, but the vampire gets attacked by something (or someone) else, giving alex the perfect chance to flee. i'm using twilight logic here too for the turning, so when his attacker becomes the attacked, some vampire blood falls into his open neck wound, and thats what kickstarts his turning.

after that, alex is holing up in his room for a few days, sick and exhausted and hurting and so so hungry, but unable to keep any food down, his body practically repelling it. at some point, he gets this urge to go into the woods, and i have this image in my head of him going completely radio silent to everyone, just off in the forest for WEEKS. no on hears from him at all, which is so unlike alex, because even though he can be bitchy sometimes, he is fiercely loyal to his friends and would never just up and disappear like this. in reality though, alex doesn't even feel like alex anymore. he's a new vampire, doesn't even know fully what's happening to him, and is inadvertently starving himself to death. he's delirious, 90% out of his mind. all the humanity gone from his eyes, just over dilated pupils and blood red irises, upper and lower canines that are too big for his mouth now, at least an inch long that poke out when he closes his lips. alex doesn't know how to hunt, doesn't know how to correctly feed, just knows he's desperate and hysterical with hunger, racing through the woods at night like an animal, holing up in the hollows of trees during the day, when he really does seem to become an animal. after all, the sun feels like fire now, sets his skin ablaze, smoke and all, and if he's human sized, he's too big to hide. so figuring out that he could shape shift into a bat was sort of accidental, but now it's what he used to protect himself from the daylight.

he catches squirrels and rabbits and mice and drains them dead, unable to stop himself from feeding in time for the small animals to survive. it tastes like trash, like the worst fast food he's ever had, and it might hold him over for a few hours, but after that, he's just as insatiable.

eventually, he would regain enough sense briefly to find one of his friends and drop to his knees begging for help, and thus begins his friends routinely allowing him to snack on them, occasionally letting him have a full meal. that stops being a thing when he finally tries tim's blood, because something about it is so different from brian and jay's human blood. something indescribably more... wild about it. aka, tim is a werewolf, and werewolf blood is even more delicious than plain human blood, and tim's wolf self was what saved alex from that vampire when he got turned, and then they fall in love later <3

i really like this au, and would be super up for talking more about it if anyone wants to hehe

[heartbeatbookclub]

what are your thoughts on trans natsuki? do you actively headcanon it or is it more of a “yeah i can get behind this” thing?

I personally don't have any super strong opinion one way or the other. I like both cis and trans Natsuki like I like both exclusive lesbian and bisexual Natsuki. Reality can be whatever you want, that's the benefit of fiction.

This is, incidentally, why I avoided bringing up the topic of gender the one time I discussed my view on all of the girls' sexuality (and, of course, because I don't think it's particularly relevant.) I am a cis man with cis experiences (inb4 i come back to this several years later with a new gender), so I don't feel super confident or insistent on assigning any particular gender headcanons to them. I just play with the concept like I'm playing with dolls; the heavy thinking I leave to people more versed in the field than I.

I think the idea of Natsuki being trans is a very interesting concept, though, especially when you pair it with the many, many avenues of angst (and, of course, the remedies for that angst) surrounding her. When I think of the trans experience, I think of all of the logistical realities surrounding transition (one of the oldest hyperfixations i have is medicine & human anatomy/physiology so it's hard to ignore lol), and I think of the nature of identity. Natsuki has a hard time being honest with herself, and with others. She struggles to create a view for herself which doesn't revolve around all of the insecurities she has, and has a sharp outer shell as a defense mechanism to keep people from getting too close. I could see why trans people in particular might identify with that kind of struggle.

And of course I think of her support network, helping her every step of the way. I think regardless of who's what, the Literature Club would absolutely be a trans-friendly space. Monika would probably stop a club meeting dead to kick a transphobe out of the club. Sayori, despite not necessarily getting the idea off the bat, would absolutely do her best to respect your identity, whatever it is. Yuri would be very intrigued by the idea and find the different ways people express their gender identity to be liberating for her, because social expectation weighs heavy on the mind of an autistic teenage girl. Natsuki would kill transphobes with hammers. (Do you think this would be enough for Mr. [BIG SHOT] Tumblr CEO to ban me?)

Alright, maybe that was a little corny there at the end, but I feel like for as unfortunate as the beginnings of the idea of trans Natsuki are (I remember when the game first came out, and I mostly used Twitter and Reddit as opposed to here. Dark times...), the fandom has really taken charge on terms of making some really nice things out of it. That feels sort of...odd coming out of my mouth, given my gender identity, but it's my honest opinion.

I've made comments before about trans MC, and I really do think that is a neat idea to more thoroughly flesh out a character for them that isn't just a thick-headed redditor. I actually do have a good few thoughts for a direction to take that idea, but...the Coil calls I'm afraid.

I might post misc thoughts on it at some point though.

[delugyu]

finally got around to reading this!! SOOO GOOD… LEMME RAMBLE

first of all, this is seriously some of the most amazing world building i’ve seen in a fanfic. that is my #1 compliment about this fic, everything about the world is so thought out and magical. ++ so much attention to detail and backstory. i admire it a lot cause it’s really hard to do! i can’t imagine the amount of thought you put into this!! really super phenomenally well done.

i love fantasy AUs so much and this one tickled my brain just right… right off the bat there’s whimsy and lore laced in each paragraph. picturing each scene comes easily with how well you describe the settings and characters.

immediately upon taehyun’s introduction i could see that he was a complex character. a faerie with human ears, a faerie against geasa (note: had to look up what the plural of ‘geas’ was for that 😭), yet seemingly uninterested and cold towards the new human member of the team… then we learn his backstory, and that added depth to his character explains a lot about him.

the relationship building between taehyun and mc is soooo delish… his kind actions are masked with icy words, a constant since chapter one of him keeping her safe despite his coldness. also can i just say, im so obsessed with how “cold” embodies him so well: he’s from the north, so he’s both cold by nature and by choice. and what a stark contrast he is to yeonjun……. yeonjun…..,, omg do not get me started on yeonjun.

his character is probably my favorite in terms of how they’re written! this isn’t me saying i’m team yeonjun (im team #BOTH #AtTheSameTime #WaitWhoSaidThat) but he’s just sooooo… swoon-worthy 😵‍💫 from the moment he was introduced, i was smiling and kicking my feet. the amount of times i had to shut off my phone and take a breather at his lines. what a charmer.

i love that there’s something suspicious about him from the beginning, but not to the point where it’s off-putting to the mc (or to the reader). great foreshadowing!! and so easy to forget the suspicions too when he’s being so romantic and sweet. it’s a great way to show that the mc is easily swayed by romance, and that she tends to follow her heart.

where taehyun is all ice and snow, yeonjun is warmth and sunlight. it’s so easy for him to build a relationship with the mc, sunlight fosters growth. just another detail that i loved

lemme give my flowers to the beautiful gorgeous capable strong lovely mc while i’m at it… i love that she has such self-understanding. she knew she wanted more from her life than being a servant, so she became a spy. then she found love, and she knew she wanted more than being a spy. she takes herself seriously and values her own interests, which i love to see in a female character hehe 🤍

the slowwww burnnnn between taehyun and mc HELP MEEE!!! taehyun runs from love and conceals his emotions because all he’s ever known was betrayal and hurt… meanwhile mc similarly has led a life of misery, but in her case it makes her long for love and emotion. they’re so alike but so different, and each little moment where they find something to connect over… YESSSSS SIRRR!!!! A HUNDRED MORE OF THOSE!!!

i’m sooo interested that taehyun has the ability to lie… i wonder where that path is going to lead teehee. also when taehyun gets jealous my pants get wet. sorry.

super interested to see more of beomgyu too! he’s such a lovable character, i love those little moments he has with the mc. feels like there’s more in store for him and im excited to see it !!

anyway this is just so so so amazing and i’m really so excited to see what comes next. i was fr like squealing and blushing throughout all 5 chapters. (which i read in an embarrassingly short amount of time.) your writing skills are super inspiring…. i effing love you for this… accept my declaration of admiration…

sorry for this long ass review, i took a literature analysis course last semester and couldn’t shut up ever since.

i love this series so bad 😫🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

𝓘N WHICH 〃 a life lived as a human among the fae is one hard-earned. the folk are built of indescribable beauty, and of debauchery and mischief. for some, a life lived subservient to the folk is just fine; but to those who dream of something more, they would spend their lives clawing and biting to make it happen.

you, looking for a way to escape a life as a faerie’s human servant, put a new foot forward thinking that any life could be better than that. but, when your first assignment as a king’s spy is alongside a brooding, icy faerie man, you begin to wonder what your place in this foreign world really could be.

wc ➳ 93.3k﹙ and counting! ﹚

genre high fantasy/faerie, smut, angst ˒ ˒

pairings faerie!taehyun x reader, faerie!yeonjun x reader

warnings violence, death, death of animals, smut (specific tags will be listed before each chapter), childhood trauma & mentions of abuse, jealousy, controlling & yandere relationship dynamics, unprotected sex, original characters but they only last for small amounts of time & act as story catalysts, fem! reader

˒ ˒ want a look into the world? here’s the pinterest board !! ༘⋆

﹙ 🪕﹚ playlists ⑊ yeonjun ˒ taehyun ˒ series

: ̗̀﹙❆﹚𝓅arts . : ↘︎

one ˒ two ˒ three ˒ four ˒ five ˒ ...🪶

© hyukascampfire please do not steal, plagiarize, or repost any of my works.

[jcmarchi]

How you can use AI to push boundaries in SaaS products

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/how-you-can-use-ai-to-push-boundaries-in-saas-products/

How you can use AI to push boundaries in SaaS products

My name is Juliette Denny, and I am the CEO at Growth Engineering. We create really engaging technology fueled by artificial intelligence.

Now, I know this subject can seem like traveling to an alien planet, but I’m giving you a step-by-step guide to reach lift-off!

Here’s the breakdown: 👇

Main talking points

What is AI

AI in more detail

Hollywood has warped our understanding

Business applications

Unprecedented growth

Better outcomes

What is AI?

There’s a number of different definitions of AI. But none of them define it better than this quote from Professor John McCartney.

In other words, AI represents our efforts to stimulate human intelligence through machines. AI is usually applied to automate tasks or processes to make them more efficient.

These are the more challenging tasks that humans would do, rather than easier tasks. An important thing to note right off the bat, is that AI isn’t a substitute for human activity; it augments human activity.

AI can take over tasks that would be more time-consuming for a person, like looking through legal documents to find precedents and commonality. On the other hand, things that’re easy for human beings, like walking, are very hard for AI to pull off.

Okay, so now that we’ve got the definitions out of the way, let’s dig into AI in a little more detail.

AI in more detail

Now, within the subject of AI, there are many subcategories, and we’re going to cover them in this section.

Weak/narrow AI

Typically, when people are talking about weak or narrow AI, it’s the type of artificial intelligence that’s limited to a really specific or narrow area. So, for example, we have Alpha Zero. That’s a computer system that’s basically excellent at chess. But if you were going to bet on this system in a game of Scrabble, you’d be out of luck.

General AI

This system seeks to establish a kind of intellectual agent that can learn any top tasks that  humans can. In other words, it’s on par with a human ability. This has been used when assessing loan criteria, for example, whether something is low or high risk.

Super AI

As you may have guessed by the title, super AI would be something that has superseded human intelligence. The potential of these kinds of technologies is unprecedented (and potentially scary!) It’ll probably be a long time before we arrive at this point.

Machine learning

This is a subfield of the wider AI. It allows the software to learn through an algorithm so that it can complete tasks more efficiently.

Deep learning

This is a type of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks. It progressively learns from the data that’s being pushed through the neural network. This is a textbook example of AI augmenting human actions.

Hollywood has warped our understanding

Sadly (or maybe luckily!) we’re not anywhere close to Terminator 2 or Ex Machina.

Better examples

Modern-day examples of AI include things like:

Recommendation engines

Virtual assistants

Chatbox

Intelligent Search

Email filtering

Driverless cars

All of these are powered by AI. Now, we’ve highlighted some modern examples of AI, let’s look at some companies that have invested heavily in AI.

Domino’s

So, I don’t know about you, but I love pizza, but do you know what I didn’t love? Ordering pizza on my cell phone for deliveries. Often you’d be waiting there, not knowing what time it was going to arrive, wondering if they’d forgotten about it even!

What Domino’s pizzas did is they used artificial intelligence to develop a model which allowed them to predict when your pizza was going to get to you. They went from an accuracy of 75% to an accuracy of 95%. This also worked out well for Domino’s because it meant they weren’t getting as many calls.

Deutsche Bank

This company really utilizes AI in a different way. They used it to identify attractive loan clients to speed up their loan approvals. This happens as the customer is actually filling in the form, and it’s really speedy and efficient. Just think about how much manpower and how much expense banks must rack up from having to employ people to carry out those checks!  

The knock-on effect has been that more people have signed up to use this process. Now, more loans are getting approved, and more business is being done.

IBM Watson

IBM Watson has a number of applications in terms of customer service. They have a smart assistant, which uses conversational AI to help resolve over 7,000 customer inquiries a day. The reason why this works is that most of the customer inquiries are the same customer inquiries, it doesn’t require human intervention, so we’re driving down the cost of delivering the service.

Real breakthroughs

Having said that, there are also really powerful examples of AI. It has the potential to engineer unthinkable technology, as well as technological and scientific breakthroughs. Because machines are able to analyze data so much quicker than mortal brains.

A good recent example would be…

Deep Mind

Deep Mind’s AI program was able to solve a problem that scientists have been trying to crack for almost 50 years. Now, I’m no protein scientist, but what a protein does largely depends on its own unique 3D structure. Understanding how different proteins can fold can really help us develop new medical treatments.

It represents a real, significant advance in human understanding. Because scientists were unable to understand how the math worked, It was estimated that it would never be known.

But of course, Alphafold came to the rescue! It’s a software from DeepMind that’s able to analyze the available data. It then develops really strong predictions of the underlying physical structure of the protein within a matter of days.

Unprecedented growth in AI

A lot of large organizations are investing in AI. If you’re a small or medium-sized business, never think that you are locked out of AI, because the reality is, there has been a huge amount of investment made by the big technology companies. And now this technology is widespread. It’s very accessible to smaller companies.

Don’t believe me? Here are some key stats on the growth of AI:

97.2% of organizations are now investing in AI (NewVantage Partners)

AI tech investment will reach $232 billion by 2025 (KPMG)

AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to the world economy by 2030 (PwC)

Why should AI be so interesting to you? Well, first…

It automates time-consuming tasks

Let’s say in customer success, for example, they’re answering the same questions over and over again. By utilizing bots, you can speed up the time that you can respond to customers.

When you usa a customer support helpline, you’ll typically encounter a bot filtering out the common questions before they put you in touch with a human being.

AI increases team efficiency

Your team is freed up from answering the same question over and over again. They can work on more challenging questions, and they can really formulate creative ways to innovate, do their jobs, and deliver value for the customer.

Is AI going to replace humans?

This is really the million-dollar question, right? But the reality is, it’s really not true at all. Robots are not going to replace humans, they’re going to make human jobs more humane.

Robots will be doing the four Ds in jobs. These are:

Jobs that are more difficult

Jobs that are more demeaning

Jobs that are more demanding

Jobs that are more dangerous

Humans get to be the superheroes

They can get creative and really focus on solving complex problems, those wonderful things robots will never be able to do. What we really should be doing is trying to advance AI and machine learning to take over stuff that we really don’t want to be doing ourselves.

What we do at Growth Engineering

The first thing is, we are not a big company. We’re working on a shoestring budget to produce something which is really meaningful. Humans are naturally curious, but sometimes when it comes to doing online learning, we stop being curious.

Our main goal is to determine how we can get AI to facilitate learning being easier. Here are some of the ways that we think can achieve that:

AI can automate tedious admin tasks

When you join a Learning Technology Department, you don’t join because you want to work a learning management system or create e-learning, you join because you love training people. So, one of the things that we really wanted to do is enable L&D professionals to focus on what they love doing, which is developing people.

How can we utilize AI for account provisioning, user provisioning, etc?

AI can create personalized learning pathways

Think about your Netflix recommendations – which are AI automated– how would you feel if it kept pushing the same content at you based on an algorithm? E-learning is the same. By freeing up people, we can allow them to curate pure curiosity and deliver the stuff our learners really want.

How can we refine learning?

One of the things that’s really important in learning and development is showing that you can do something as well as know it. We want to make learners more than a passive recipient of a piece of content.  

AI can help in getting people to practice the skills before they actually put it into practice.

We want to make it easy for admins to understand the process of learning.

We want them to understand that:

You need to see the information.

You need to be reminded of it through testing and assessments.

You actually need to do it.

If we can pull together processes, AI can actually facilitate this for the admin, and we’re going to get better outcomes.

Better outcomes

Example 1: recommendation engines

There are many big technology companies that have recommendation engines you can plug into really easily. All you need to do is Google AI and you will find a whole variety of different services that they offer. One of the things that they offer is recommendations engines.

What does that mean for us? Well, we need APIs that bring together our user-provisioning information with our content information in order to deliver good recommendations for our learners

Now, one of the challenges in this is that the model can only be trained once the user information is there. You need to have a cold start, but once you get going, one of the great things about recommendation engines is they focus very much on what colleagues in your industry are doing rather than the actual content itself.

Example 2: User & content provisioning

This is admittedly pretty boring, but it’s a massive part of onboarding.With our customers from  big companies like L’Oréal and BT, the users and content they provision can come from five or six different enterprise platforms.

Not only that, the content can come from five or six different content providers, including their own content providers. We can end up with different elements of metadata in the information that we get. For users, we can get a lot of patchy information.

Often it’s a real nightmare for some of our clients to be able to put the data in the structure. We need to onboard them and get the right recommendations in terms of content. What we’ve been able to do with AI is use auto-tagging.

This allows us to match between the content and the provisioning data in order to get the model started. It’s not quite a cold start. We’re able to get between 56 to 70%, depending on how much information is coming over from the content metadata.

Example 3: Intelligent search

We need a deep intelligence search on our own platforms, as well as on the learning content itself. We need to do intelligent search on everything in the ecosphere of our customers, not just the information on our platform, Intelligent Search is a great way of doing that.

Using API’s, you can easily push out to other platforms, get that information, and then bring it back to your users in whatever the user interfaces.

Example 4: Content Creation

Content creation is a massive headache! Most organizations have a huge amount of information that they need to get out to their people. Some of our biggest clients are in retail, and there are products coming all the time. You can have a situation where you’ve got to spend 180 hours creating a single hour of e-learning. Yeah, no-one has time for that, right?

AI can very easily upload PowerPoint presentations, upload work docs, upload PDFs, and then put it into a series of templates. Again, this frees up educators to do more actual educating. We’re in a situation where we’re able to coach people one-on-one in a more personalized manner.

Example 5: AI coaches and mentors

Okay, so let’s say we know what the correct curriculum is, if we push that into the AI engine, we create the content really quickly. Once students start asking questions, the AI can query it out, and find subject matter that answers these questions.

You’re going to have some tutors there initially, but it could be a very personalized level of learning.

Ideas are cheap…delivery is expensive

This may be true, but let’s also remember that there is no delivery without ideas. You’ve got to start somewhere, right? We can’t just all throw up our hands and say, “it’s all too big! It’s all too complicated. It’s all too expensive.”

AI is absolutely not a mysterious planet that can only be visited by spacemen, or, in real world terms, the top five technology companies. It really should be the new bread and butter of any SaaS company.

At Growth Engineering, we’re a very, very small company, but we’ve made AI and ML absolutely central to how we operate.

Everything that our department does is driving towards this idea of utilizing AI and ML where possible, in order to deliver more, for less. That mindset change is a really important part of moving towards AI.

The problem is always data

Don’t think that your first thing you’re going to be doing is building neural networks. The thing is, you don’t have to. There are just so many free and open-source elements to try. Instead, the constraint is always data. If the problem is that you’ve got lots of replicable data, then you will very easily be able to find an AI or ML solution.

Find the thing that can be automated

Find the process within your organization that can be automated. Find out which of those processes you’ve got the most data for. If you don’t have a large amount of data, then reach out to open source sites for code that’s been written, and try and play around with it, if you can’t find it for free.

There are lots of SaaS providers that have all the components you really need in order to plug your data for.

Find a pilot project

Finally, if you have exhausted the above, look at paying for a pilot project for a consultancy. This can be internal or it can be external. To be honest with you, I don’t think you need to be putting in huge amounts of resources for actually building the model.

Key takeaways

AI helps us to automate time-consuming tasks: Just imagine the much innovative, creative work your team can do when they’re freed by AI!

It has helped other industries to cut out costs and drive more value: It might seem like a big investment, but it’s more than worth it. Believe me.

Intelligence is what makes us human: AI is just an extension of that.

AI is not going to take over our lives. If anything, it’s going to make our lives infinitely better.

Have fun!

[poltergeist-coffee]

So apparently blue team and green team And red team is just chilling Lore aside, silly thoughts- CELLBIT AND RANBOO PLAYING TOGETHER??? WHAT??? THE CROSSOVER IS REAL Cellbit's chat is having a gay panic over... Sneeg I think? They are are shy but they are asking if he is single Slime is there too:D Anyway, SILLY THOUGHTS Heyyyy, you know the vampire pac headcanon(it still very much not paying rent) do you think qpac would actively try to hide it or nobody would think much about any strange, because let's face the reality everybody in that island is at least a bit strange, and nobody would ask him and never got the opportunity to talk about it Because, what are you supposed to do? Just say "oh yeah, I'm a vampire" out of nowhere Qmike would know of course, I think the rest of the favela six + Richas probably would figure it out at some point

At first view, qpac is just a normal guy, I mean, look at the other islanders, there demons, avians and other hybrids Oh yeah, and a cucumber

His fangs are a bit sharp BUT some humans are just like that, right? I mean, look at qforever it's not only his fangs that are sharp(yep, putting werewolf forever here, why not?) Blood on his fridge? That could be used to anything, blood transfusion, rituals perhaps, and if there was a glass with a little blood on the sink.. I mean it's not so bad considering qcellbit's past with cannibalism and that's doesn't mean qpac drank it And he's out during the say, yeah, he aways with his hoodie up and all covered in clothes but that's just a choice!

... I want to say that I take no responsibility for my actions because of that headcanons, I've stole them from you and Devil anon, I'm a child that has been given a fire sword and no instructions Update on the stream, Cellbit's high pitched screams are aways funny to hear

And the phantom cellbit headcanon still a very cool idea to me and I don't what to do with it:D

-Plate anon(<- started playing hollow knight so they might lose their head over it too... on a more literal sense)

OMGGG PLATE ANON IF YOURE PLAYING HOLLOW KNIGHTS WE COULD MAKE A HOLLOW KNIGHTS U TOGETHER…. OMG…

omg that’s so cute iamindihs i’m watching the stream rn from slime’s pov!! i didn’t know chat was in love with sneeg’s voice that’s so cute haha <33

i think no one woudl guess that q!pac is a vampire at first because he looks like so normal kekw he (use to) get a decent amount of sleep and he doesn’t really “dress” like a vampire (very fancy clothes u know) so people just think he’s a normal human or maybe an elf because he has pointed ears!! so what his teeth seem a little shaper then most? he was just born like that it’s rude to ask :// it’s not his fault he can’t stay in the sun long it’s because he gets sunburnt super easily!! not even sunscreen can help so he has to stay in the shade or inside a building!!

we love vampire pac in this household especially if he gets to turn into a cute bat and hang upside down to sleep (captures mike to cuddle him to sleep most nights hehehe)

phantom cellbit is so wonderful and i don’t have many thoughts abiut him but he’s like….. so cool….. he is so creature…. the goofiest creature ever you know…

[fandom-lover-extra]

Tim made several attempts at bringing up Danny's more... peculiar qualities without tipping the boy off. Tim still wanted Danny to come to him about it, to tell him in his own time. (And Tim really didn't want to bring the other bats into this. Danny wasn't a threat, and he knows how Bruce would react if Tim brought up how Danny might be an unknown species. No, Tim would figure this out on his own. That way when Tim does eventually tell Danny he's Red Robin, he has everything planned out and he has the highest chance of making sure Danny and his family get along.)

However, Tim was also itching for answers. He didn't know of any aliens that purred, or if they did, they certainly didn't do so in front of him. Besides that, Danny clearly wasn't Kryptonian, Tamaranean, Martian, or any other alien that Tim was familiar with. Which means Danny had to be something else entirely. 

Considering there haven't been any clear major cultural differences, Danny probably was raised on earth. He might be a case similar to Clark, and in that case he might not even realize what exactly he was, but Tim found it hard to believe that Danny didn't know he wasn't human.

Even though Danny wasn't the...smartest, that didn't change the widespread information about aliens on earth, or the fact that Danny himself was obsessed with information about space. Looking back on it, Danny being an alien might be the entire reason why Danny loves space so much to begin with.

So, attempt number one: Declare that aliens are super cool and how he would love to meet more of them.

At first, this didn't seem to be like a bad idea. In fact, Danny perked up in the cute way that he does any time something interest him. A sparkle in his eyes and a large grin on his lips, he eagerly divulged into a conversation with Tim about aliens and space in general. Which eventually involved into Danny talking about how Martian Manhunter was his favorite hero of all time.

Tim didn't have the heart to ruin Danny's fun, even when he could tell his boyfriend sorely missed the hint he was dropping. It wasn't an entire waste. After all, seeing Danny talk about something that he was so passionate about sent Tim's heart ablaze and kept a warmth throughout his body. Right then, plan b.

Attempt number two was honestly a little more desperate than the first, but Tim had thought for sure that it would work. Maybe Danny didn't realize that he wasn't human! So Tim being Tim, he created a fake brochure on "How To Recognize If You're An Alien: 101", and coincidentally left it to where his boyfriend could find. And while Danny did read it, it just brought up another conversation about space and the stars. And while Tim loved hearing his boyfriend talk about his interests, it doesn't change the fact that this hadn't exactly been what he was after.

Alright, fine. Tim could work with this. He'd just get Danny to pur again and bring it up then! It would be perfectly natural, not out of nowhere, and he could pretend that he hadn't been cataloging his boyfriends peculiarities!

So, attempt number three had been a go! Only, Tim couldn't get Danny to pur again like he had that night. It didn't matter how much he cuddled the man, or ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to get the boy to relax, Danny never did end up purring like he had that night.

Not that Tim was particularly frustrated with attempt number three. It was the one he had enjoyed the most by far, and even if he hadn't gotten the results that he wanted, it doesn't change the fact that the moments spent curled up against Danny had been utter bliss.

(And if this was because Tim was a useless bi-disaster, no he wasn't Jason, you can shut up! It's for science, and no, he will not be elaborating!)

At this point, Tim had to consider that his boyfriend hadn't actually purred. That maybe it was a sleep deprived hallucination. Except, Tim had been getting better sleep ever since he started dating Danny, for the boy always made sure to drag Tim off to bed whenever Tim got particularly bad about not sleeping. (Tim could never find it in him to turn Danny down, not when he stared at him with those artic blue eyes that at times seemed to glow.)

But Tim had never been one to let things go. He was certain that his boyfriend had actually purred! And Tim could admit that maybe Danny was oblivious enough to not notice that he was human. (Danny was the first person that made Tim seriously consider if he was into idiot men that at times had a hard time functioning in everyday society. Shamefully, he had to admit that he very much so was attracted to that.)

(Unbeknownst to Tim, privately Danny thought Tim was the one that had a horrible time with basic function. The man didn't even know how to use a washing machine until Danny showed him how! Or a toaster. Actually, Danny refused to show Tim how a toaster worked. Toast was evil and the food deserved to die.)

So, attempt number four. Actually, Tim had yet to attempt it. Rather, it had just been an idea. If Danny didn't think he was an alien, then he probably thought he was a meta-human. And if he did, that doesn't change the fact that he still didn't feel comfortable enough sharing this information with Tim. But if Tim was to show him his own form of extreme trust, that might just change things.

Which was why Tim considered telling Danny that he was Red Robin. Tim really wanted to introduce Danny to his family, properly. Sure, Danny knew of them, and even personally knew some, but it doesn't change the fact that a big part of his family was comprised of their vigilante selves. That a large part of Tim was comprised of his vigilante persona, and he wanted to trust Danny with it. And hopefully, if Tim tells him this secret, it would make Tim comfortable enough to tell Tim about whatever the hell Danny happens to think he is.

Only, Tim never got the chance to make this decision himself. Not when he crash landed into his boyfriend's apartment, heavily injured, and proceeded to pass out.

The next time he whole up, he was dressed, changed (probably because the only was to dress his injury was to remove his armor), and in his boyfriend's bed, with said boyfriend purring next to him.

Tim's mask had been left alone, but Tim was certain that his boyfriend would recognize the scars he had, there was no way that Danny was that oblivious. Add in the fact that there was also no way that Danny was not going to meet the rest of the Bats as vigilantes, as Tim was sure that Barbara had someone check on Tim the moment he failed to report back. So there was absolutely no way that cat was going back into the bag. Sighing to himself, Tim left sleep consume him, deciding he could deal with it in the morning.

"So, you're Red Robin?" Danny asked, staring at Tim from across the couch, his expression neutral, not giving anything away.

"Yep." Was Tim's oh-so-intelligent response.

"And you thought it was a good idea to come to me while injured instead of going to someone that you knew could help you? As touched that I am that you trusted me, you could have died Tim! I'm hardly a medical professional." Danny ranted, and a stab of pain went through Tim at Danny's expression. The boy clearly distraught over the idea that he wouldn't have been able to help Tim. That Tim might have died last night.

"I know... it's just, I've been thinking about telling you for the past few days. So, I think my body just lead me here." Tim explained, and yet Danny's expression didn't faulter.

"I love you too, but I'm still mad at you." Danny huffed. Tim was quiet for a few moments, deciding now was a good a time as any.

"So, when were you going to tell me you were a meta-human?" Tim asked. Danny blinked at him, his expression morphing into confusion.

"What are you talking about, Tim?" Danny replied, looking genuinely lost. And while Tim knew Danny wasn't always the smartest, there was absolutely no way Danny failed to notice he wasn't a normal human.

"Danny, you always run at a lower body-temperature. You've managed to sneak up on me and several of my family members, and we're trained vigilantes. You have enhanced senses, don't bother lying, I know for a fact that you do. And I'm almost positive that you have enhanced strength. That isn't even talking about how your eyes glow in the dark, or the fact that I caught you purring. Literally last night." Tim listed, watching Danny's expression go blank. The boy looking thoughtful for a moment, biting his lip in a way that almost made Tim want to drop the conversation entirely and kiss the boy senseless. Almost.

"I'm not a meta-human." Danny began.

"Danny--" Tim sighed, not wanting his boyfriend to lie to him when he just revealed the biggest secret he had. Besides his missing spleen.

"I'm not an alien either." Danny snorted, seeming to have not realized what Tim was trying to get at these past few weeks. "But I'm also not entirely human either. I'm something else." 

Tim blinked at his boyfriend. Confused. What was Danny talking about?

"Danny, what are you talking about? You can only be meta-human or an alien. There isn't anything else that you could possibly be." Tim pointed out. Maybe his boyfriend was just confused? 

But Danny just gave him a wry smirk, and in a flash of light, Tim was staring at someone else entirely. Or at least, it seemed like he was for a moment. 

Sitting in the place of his boyfriend, was well, his boyfriend if his boyfriend looked entirely different. Had had bluish-greenish tinted skin and toxic green eyes that reminded Tim of Lazarus waters. His snow-white hair moved and swayed as if the wind was blowing through it harshly. Pointed ears seemed to wiggly mockingly at Tim as Danny gave him a too-wide grin that showed off a pair of sharp canines.

"Suprise." Danny spoke, making jazz hands. "Your boyfriend's a ghost."

Tim blinked and then he blinked again. 

Tim lied earlier. This had to be what took the cake. And considering Danny's insufferable little grin, he knew it too. God, his boyfriend was such a little sh*t.

Tim didn't know what it said about him when this fact just made him want to lock lips with Danny even more. Instead of addressing that, and the fact that deep down, he truly was a useless bi-disaster that had a hard time focusing on anything when his boyfriend looked at him like that, Tim instead landed on--

"What."

DC X DP: Taking The Cake - Dead Tired

This had to take the cake.

Tim had noticed a couple of odd things about his boyfriend.

One: His boyfriend had an unusual cold temperature-- Tim had originally assumed it might just be because he had poor circulation in his blood stream. But as winter creeped in and his boyfriend still didn't get cold? Not only didn't get cold, but thrived in the temperature? Tim considered just maybe his boyfriend was a meta.

Danny had never mentioned being a meta. But Tim hadn't mentioned being Red Robin either. Not to mention, this was Gotham, so Tim understood why Danny may be a tad apprehensive as to mentioning his colder temperatures.

And if Tim kept the thermostat at a lower temperature from then on any time Danny came to visit? Well, that was his business and nobody else's.

Two: His boyfriend was abnormally quiet. Danny had managed to sneak up on Tim and a few of his family members before. He had managed to sneak up on Cass. And while, on some level Tim could understand his family's apprehension, he felt telling them to promptly 'f*ck off' had also been justified. Tim knew Danny, and Danny genuinely hadn't meant to sneak up on them. 

He had seemed just as startled as them when they shot up in surprise. (And maybe he did ask Cass if Danny was genuinely surprised. His boyfriend was a little sh*t and would totally pull something like this to laugh at. It was his business and Cass's and as far as the two of them were concerned, Danny was perfectly fine.)

Three: Danny was oddly protective. He freaked out anytime there was a Rogue attack and he hadn't heard back from Tim. And while Tim was touched, he hadn't exactly appreciated the mini heart attack he received when he saw Danny out in the field looking for him in a panic.

(That was one of their first big fights. Tim didn't want Danny out in the line of fire, he could take care of himself. Even if Danny didn't know that. But Danny had been just as insistent that he needed to hear back from Tim to know that he was safe.)

They'd reach a compromise. Tim made sure to always respond to Danny's text messages asking if he was safe during a major rogue attack. (Never any phone calls. Danny would know he was lying then.) And he would put up with Danny coddling him the next time he saw him. While it was a bit frustrating, Tim was still touched by the worry.

Four: Danny had enhanced senses. At first, Tim didn't really notice. But eventually, he saw how Danny would flinch at particularly loud noises. Would avoid crowds like the plague. Would sometimes have to wear sunglasses because it was "too bright". Tim never said anything. Never called attention to any of these occurrences, just attempted to help his boyfriend through it.

Tim knew it was a possibility that Danny was just sensitive to those types of things. But considering Tim was sure that Danny was some type of meta, he was leaning more towards that theory.

Five: His boyfriend was unusually strong for someone that looks as much like a twig like him.

Once when Tim had been injured particularly badly during patrol, he had practically been put on bedrest. Not because he hadn't attempted to go out the next night, but because Danny had found out he was injured and came to take care of him while he was injured.

When Tim had attempted to sneak out that night, luckily he had yet to change into his Red Robin suit, Danny had basically manhandled him back into bed. With absolutely no effort, even with Tim struggling against him. Not that Tim had struggled much, with how frazzled his brain had been when he realized that Danny was stronger than he realized.

And if Tim invited Danny to the gym next time he worked out? Well, that didn't have any ulterior motives, no matter what Steph insisted upon.

And now for number six. This took the absolute cake. The last thing Tim had expected. And at this point? Tim wasn't so sure that Danny was actually even human. Which means he would have to completely scrap his theories on his boyfriend and start over from scratch.

Because right now, Tim and Danny were cuddled up on the couch in Danny's apartment. They were having a series marathon of the Star Trek series. It had started out perfectly fine. It had started out as normal.

A weighted blanket on top of the two, Danny cuddled up to Tim, with a bowl of popcorn in-between the two. Eventually, they shifted. The bowl of popcorn ending up on the floor with Danny on top of Tim on the couch.

Absentmindedly, Tim began running his fingers through his boyfriend's hair, not really paying attention to the background noise of the TV. He was just so warm and felt safe with the added weight of Danny on top of him. The movements of his finger's being just as much as a soothing motion to Tim as it was to Danny.

And at first, Tim hadn't noticed it. Not when he was slowly drifting off to sleep. But as the sound got louder, Tim couldn't help but notice. Danny was purring. 

Tim blinked and he blinked again. Not once stopping in his ministrations as he blanked out. Danny continued purring away, leaning into Tim's touch, his eyes closed and a content smile on his face. Tim couldn't help but be reminded of an overly affectionate cat. Especially when he rubbed the space around Danny's scalp and ears, Tim was convinced the was purring louder than the sound coming from the TV at this point.

So maybe he wasn't human after all. Maybe Tim should have given more weight to Damian's alien theory.

But right now, Tim was tired, and he was sure he would remember in the morning.

In the end, Tim allowed Danny's presence to send him off into a warm and comfortable sleep.

(And if Tim proceeded to take apart his theory board and contemplate just how to ask his boyfriend about the fact that he wasn't human? Well, that was his business and nobody else's)

[m00nslippers]

Hello!! Hope you don’t mind me stopping by your inbox! I absolutely fell in love with your writing style and especially the “Everyone Has a Crush on Jason” AU! I was wondering how you’d think everyone would react to learning the fact that Jason literally glows when he meditates? Anywho, have a nice day!! Much love

(These two asks are related so I’m putting them together)

Thank you, so glad you’re enjoying the ECoJ AU! It’s fun to write. You wouldn’t necessarily know it from the other stuff up on my AO3 which is more angsty, but I used to write a lot of humor, so it’s pretty fun to get back into that. I love getting asks! Sometime they sit in my inbox a while before I get around to answering them, but I’m happy to get them! Canonically Jason totally does glow when he’s meditating and using All-Caste powers, doesn’t he? I believe he did in New 52 RHATO. I think he glows white, but I could totally see people believing there is a connection between Jason’s eyes glowing green, even if they are actually two different powers/substances at play causing both. I’ve got some headcanons that involve both glows/powers, so maybe I’ll do a post about it at some point.

- - -

*The Question, pacing in front of a large projection screen, featuring a power-point showing various pictures and facts about Jason Todd as he monologues to the members of the Jason Todd Appreciation Society. His first slide is a still from Watchtower security of the night when The Question tried to interrogate Jason about his white streak as he was sleeping, which clearly shows Jason’s snarl of anger and his eyes glowing a vivid green in the dim light.*

The Question, indicating Jason’s eyes with his laser pointer: Exhibit A--glowing green eyes. When the subject is in a heightened state of aggression, one observes his eyes, normally an oceanic blue-green to glow an acid green color.

*Clicking to the next slide, the image is from another Watchtower camera in the training room, which is empty but for Jason, who is sitting cross-legged and meditating, a bright glow of indeterminate color surrounding him.*

The Question, indicating Jason’s whole self with his pointer: Exhibit B--When the subject is in a state of heightened focus and meditation, one observes his body emitting light.

The Question, pondering aloud: Are these two behaviors, which indicate the presence of a something beyond the known abilities of a normal human, connected? The evidence suggests so. Now the question we must ask ourselves, Lady and Gentlemen, is what substance, what power could produce such a phenomena? What could alter the state of a human body such that they could exhibit the abilities found in one Jason Todd? I ask of you, what has the man been in contact with which has the qualities of both illumination and the color green? The answer is--

Hal, stunned: Holy crap, are you saying Jason is a living embodiment of Willpower?

Guy, eyes huge: That would explain so much...

Kyle, wincing: No way am I okay with Jason having Lantern abilities, he’d be insufferable!

The Question, taken aback: What? No, I--

Kara, gasping: His blood has been infused with Kryptonite! I bet it was that damned Lex Luther...

The Question, baffled: Absolutely not.

Booster Gold, tapping his chin: Don’t like...half the weird substances in Gotham glow green? Joker toxin, Ivy’s pollen, Bane’s venom...

Kara, overreacting with worry: Jason used Bane’s Venom before a few years ago, I saw it in his blood! Oh no, it’s mutated him!

The Question, shouting to get a word in: The Lazarus Pit, I’m talking about the Lazarus Pit!