#Meme Response

[zebracorn-chan]

"sped up" "slowed down", IT'S NIGHTCORE AND DAYCORE.

[yasmindifference]

12!

Tim is only halfway through his explanation of the case he's been working when Bruce sighs and says, "I'll bring Hood in."

He's so astonished by this idiocy that it genuinely takes him a few seconds to recover; he has to run to catch up. Then, since he's running anyway, he uses his momentum to slide into place a few steps ahead, blocking Batman's path.

In the Cave, that's more symbolic than anything--there's plenty of room to go around him--and B respects that much, at least. He stops in his tracks.

"No, you won't," Tim says very clearly.

Batman frowns. "Red Robin."

"Batman," he returns, and Batman's frown deepens.

He's wearing the cowl now, having pulled it on as he walked--steeling himself for what he's decided he has to do. Shutting Bruce away so his paternal affection doesn't slow him down.

As usual, he's being a complete moron. World's Greatest Detective, Tim's ass.

"Red Robin," Batman says again, "your attachment to Red Hood--"

"--has nothing to do with this," Tim interrupts. "Jason didn't do it."

His pointed use of Jason's actual name goes unacknowledged; Batman sets his shoulders to loom and doubles down.

"The victim profile is clearly in line with Hood's usual targets," he says. "The victim's own victims were children, specifically children from Crime Alley, and his crimes against them were exactly the kind that Hood punishes the most severely. You can't deny that."

He's using the Batman growl and still looming over Tim...why, Tim's not exactly sure. It's not like he ever backed down from this kind of display even when he was a literal child facing down a Batman half-mad with grief. As an adult and a vigilante in his own right, who's been facing down the city's, world's, and occasionally galaxy's worst for nearly a decade...Batman is barely going to make him blink.

So he meets the eerie white lenses of the cowl straight on when he says, "No, I can't deny any of that. But Jason still didn't do it."

"You're being unrealistic," Batman says sharply. "Basing your conclusion on emotion instead of fact."

"No, that would be you," Tim corrects, just as sharp. "You're blinded by your issues with Jason's way of doing things. If you were actually thinking straight--"

"Hood makes a habit of targeting rapists, pedophiles, and anyone who breaks his so-called 'rules' in the territory he claims as his." Batman looms harder. "All three apply to the victim. What evidence do you have to support his innocence?"

"The fact that this isn't how Jason works."

Batman's face blanks out, scowl wiped away as he forcefully suppresses his reaction to Tim's words.

"Hood has never agreed with the no-kill rule," he says, "and despite our truce, he never committed to not using lethal force. It was only a matter of time before he crossed the line again, and this is precisely how he likes to 'punish' those he deems guilty."

Tim has to take a second to deliberately calm himself before he can trust his voice. His hands ache for how tightly he's fisted them.

"No," he says, once he's sure his voice won't shake with the anger trembling in his fists. "No, it isn't."

"Tim--"

"It's true that Jason isn't opposed to lethal force," he says over Batman. "It's also true that he particularly targets people who break his rules and/or prey on children. But not like this!"

If he were anyone but Batman, Tim would say Bruce falters.

"Explain."

Tim doesn't hesitate.

"Yes, Jason is willing to kill," he says. "Yes, he'll even make it hurt if the crime is bad enough. But his goal isn't to punish anyone--it's to protect people."

Batman's flat expression--what little Tim can see of it beyond the cowl, at least--says he doesn't appreciate the difference.

Tim tries again. "Jason doesn't kill because he enjoys it, he kills because he thinks it's the only way to stop the worst of the worst. That's why he goes after the people the system can't or won't contain."

Still, Batman is unmoved. Tim gets to the point.

"Our victim was tortured over the course of several hours," he says again. It was one of the first lines in his little presentation on the case, and should have immediately disqualified Jason as a potential perpetrator. "I estimate at least twelve hours passed between the infliction of the first wound and his death, which was the result of a combination of shock and blood loss."

"You said that already," Batman says, unamused.

"Yes, and you should've known that it ruled out Jason!" Tim snaps. "If Jason had done this, he might have, have kneecapped the guy first, or shot him in the gut, or something, because yes, he'd have wanted to make him hurt. But the death still would have been measured in minutes, because at the end of the day, Jason's main priority is to end suffering, not cause it."

For a long, tense moment, Batman stares at him. Tim's trembling with emotion--not just anger that Batman is doubting him, but fear at what Batman might do to Jason if Tim can't stop him.

For all of Bruce's talk about Jason crossing lines...when it comes to Jason, Bruce tends to cross plenty himself.

Finally, Batman (and he is still so very Batman) says, "I wish I could believe that, but I can't."

"Then believe in me," Tim says, seizing the opening at once. "Just give me a day or two, okay? I'll find the real killer and prove that Jason didn't do this."

After either a few seconds or a lifetime, Batman finally--finally--backs down.

"You have a week," he says, and turns away. "And if you're wrong..."

Tim isn't about to humor that ominous trailing off. "I'm not. You'll see."

"I hope so," Bruce says quietly.

Prompt #12 was one character standing up for the other! Good choice! ♡♡

[nando161mando]

[gentle-hearted]

"Oh, I bled through my shirt. Cool." - Dylan

Not the oddest thing she's heard from a complete stranger on the street, but--

"...w-why are you bleeding?"

Still, she shrugged off her backpack and began fiddling inside. She knew she has a stray band-aid or two somewhere.

"Not, um, n-not that it's any of my b-business," she mumbled. "Sorry."

---

Random Suffering Starters

[hoboblaidd]

You only befriend dwarves like Varric and Harding because you think being kind to them will somehow make up for what you did to the Titans.

ask meme | go for the throat - criticize/negate solas' relationships

"That is inaccurate," he says, but though he shows no outward sign of discomfort, he cannot help but look away. "Perhaps I began to converse with them to discern whether their people had survived in any functioning way, but friendship was something...unexpected." And unwelcome, given that it had made the gnawing guilt all the worse.

[iknowmorethanyou]

Follow up

[kareenvorbarra]

Some of the books I'm hoping to read in 2025! Tagged by @wizardysseus :)

All books that have been on my list for a while; a mixture of recommendations from friends, next installments in series I’ve been reading, and books I’ve had in my house forever and just haven’t gotten to yet

tagging @child-of-hurin, @chthonic-cassandra, @anghraine, @vardasvapors, @vefanyar, and anybody else who would like to!

[chubby-kaito]

Woah. Kaito woke up from few months sleeping! G'morning sleepy bear

[starspray]

🫘🦄🦷 and 💥 for the writer goals ask!!

🫘 Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year?

Dunno! I don't have any solid plans outside of the WIPs I already have going, all of which I've either begun to post or have already talked about on here. The biggest thing I anticipate next year is whatever happens with TRSB--I took off this summer as an author, which turned out to be a very good call, and I can't wait to jump back in next summer.

🦄 Is there a new POV you'd like to try writing?

Unsure if this refers to a new character's POV--which, yes, probably, but again I have no solid plans--or narrative POV, in which case no. I've done first person and third person limited, and kind of third person omniscient, and while I like reading all of them I prefer to write in third limited.

🦷 Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're dreading to write (but is necessary to your plot)? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

I...don't think so? Everything I've got in my head ATM is something I'm looking forward to writing!

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

I'm pretty excited to get to the psychological whump part of my Maglor's Very Bad Time In Mirkwood fic. I don't have any snippets because I'm not there yet, but Sauron's really going to enjoy rubbing the whole Celebrimbor thing in Maglor's face. I am also going to enjoy writing it. Maglor is...not.

I'm also looking forward to (hopefully eventually) getting back to Untidy Souls. The scene in my head that started that fic is him meeting Bilbo, and while I'm very interested in Thingol meeting and reuniting with, y'know, *gestures broadly* everyone else that he has issues to work out with, there's something so fun about Bilbo being cheerfully unimpressed by all the great Elvenkings he's surrounded by. And of course Elrond is going to be there encouraging all the cheekiness.

Two very different vibes, but I'm looking forward to both more or less equally.

[entamewitchlulu]

For the Yugioh character ask meme, I'm giving you autismn personified aka Akaba Reiji

Why I like them/why I don’t

I just. Where do i start.

he's just. he's so. -clenches fist- he's so compelling. i love that he's so good at putting on a facade that even the viewers think he should have been a villain. he does his absolute best to act like one at the beginning, because maybe it's easier that way for him, if the others view him as an antagonist. he can work with antagonism. he's been doing it for years, probably, as a child attempting to gain dominance in a world of adults who looked down on him and dismissed him.

And yet despite this facade. he's so good??? he's so purely straightforward. at his core he is a Hero with a capital H, but he doesn't believe he is. He's just doing What He's Supposed To Do, after all. he considers all of his decisions as sacrifices for a greater good, and he doesn't expect anyone to like him or agree with him. He'll be the Bad Guy making the Hard Decisions if he has to be.

And YET!!! beneath all of that he is just a child. he is just a kid, who wants to fix things. who wants to protect people. who strides straight forward and just has the pretense of being a mastermind when he's really just winging it.

He's so intelligent but he's not and never has been a puppetmaster type character because he acknowledges the fact that plans fall apart. he puts on the act of being a master planner, but he's actually a master adapter. He's so good at being a chameleon of what people want to see him as until it's time to get to work and show that he was just holding back the whole time.

i JUST. i could talk about him for hours. He's so good. He's so complicated and yet so straightforward. he needs a hug. he needs a decent adult in his life so he can take a nap.

What I like about their appearance

he's genuinely so handsome??? my Character Type i'm weak for is someone with white/silver hair and either violet or red eyes and he checks ALL the boxes.

like look at him. he's so handsome.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

SUB SUB SUB SUB SUB SUB SUB my GOD every time i see the name declan for him i wanna shrivel up. i understand WHY they did it, to match his D/D/Ds, but 1) it completely ruins the Rei theming and 2) any time i see the name Declan all i can fucking think about is the wedding shaming post about the lady who was going to go backpacking in the mountains after no one would give her 1000$ a piece to have her destination wedding and her kid was named declan

i kid you not i have considered downloading a word replacement extension specifically to replace all mentions of his dub name with his real name.

OTP

do i even gotta say it

I'm so soft for them all the time. i love that yuya was the first person to distract Reiji from his plans, and he was like "well obviously it's because i need his power to take down my dad" but then he started having image battles with yuya involuntarily and i was just like oh you're kind of like. he's doing things to you isn't he.

I love how their relationship develops from pure antagonism to Yuya starting to realize just how much of Reiji is a facade and then choosing to trust him unconditionally despite what others say about him, even though before he hated Reiji so much he wanted to punch him! And they become a total battle couple by the end??? they may not be traditional rivals in a yugioh sense, but they truly do push and inspire each other to push beyond their limits and see beyond their originally more narrow viewpoints, and it's so beautiful.

NOTP

I really just don't like anything where reiji is in a relationship with a woman. i'm sorry he's just gay to me. the only exception is yuzu and that's only when yuya is there too.

OT3

As stated above, i do enjoy orchestrashipping now and then. to be honest though, reiji is one of those few characters i ship pretty monogamously.

Favourite card they use

to be completely honest his deck doesn't really do it for me; i'm not a huge fan of the more mechanical designs. if i have to pick though i love how iconic his main three kings are

Also, gotta give a shoutout to how much i think about his contract cards and how his entire deck is built around the concept of broken promises. i promise you i'm normal about this (lying).

Favourite moment they were in

well.

but NO in actuality it has to be his duel against Roget. i love that they were built up all season as like one-to-one rivals, in that Roget was totally focused on him and taking him down, considering him a rival chessmaster, only for when the duel happened for Reiji to completely wipe the floor with him and prove that there was never a contest to begin with.

Least favourite moment

none. any moment he is in i love <333

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

become him

i guess i'd marry him if i have to pick one. he's rich so that would be nice.

thank you for the ask :)

[oddlyhale]

Reposting this because I was sorting my files and found this. It's still one of my favourite gifs I made. (Me responding to the meme above.)

[aparticularbandit]

Tsumugi x Himiko

If not Junko x Kyoko

WIP Game

“I want to go as myself.”  Himiko crosses her arms and pouts.  “I don’t wanna wear a fancy costume.”

Tsumugi matches Himiko’s pout with one of her own.  “But Himiko, dressing up is plainly half the fun!”  She pulls out a long rack of cosplay outfits and begins going through them rapidly.  “You don’t have to wear something fancy; you can wear…something like this!”

Himiko stares at the outfit.  It looks like an everyday school uniform – one of the sailor ones, sure, but it’s just a school uniform.  She frowns.  “That’s boring.”

“Haruhi isn’t boring!”  Tsumugi points to the armband on one arm.  “You’re the leader of the SOS Brigade!  You can warp reality!”

But Himiko just continues to stare at her in a way that very clearly says, If I could warp reality, I would warp myself out of this conversation.  She tugs at her mage’s sleeves.  “Why can’t I wear this?”

Tsumugi sighs.  “You can, but then you’ll just fade into the crowd.  No one will notice how cute you are.”  She reaches out and boops Himiko’s nose.  “If they pay attention even to plain old me, they’ll definitely pay attention to you.”

Himiko flushes a bright red and looks away.  Then she shakes her head.  “Nyeh.”

~

Tsumugi is wrong, by the way.

Everyone notices Himiko.

They just think that she’s cosplaying as someone else, when Himiko does nothing more than wear her everyday clothes.

But Tsumugi is also right: they all universally think that Himiko is very cute.

[yasmindifference]

Shit, fuck, left my DND dice at work, I love rolling on random tables but I guess I'll have to actually pick a number instead, uhhhh...

36

Sixteen hours after Tim powers his phone completely off, it starts ringing.

"The fuck," Jason says without taking his eyes off the road. "Didn't I tell you turn that off?"

"You did and I already had," Tim assures him. "It's Oracle."

Well, to be specific, it's Dick calling, but what he means is that Oracle's behind his phone somehow turning back on.

"...It's creepy as fuck that that's even possible," Jason says after a moment of contemplation.

"Yep," Tim agrees. The phone stops ringing, and he holds down the appropriate buttons and then slides to power it off.

Then he pitches it out the open window, and his brand new, thousand-dollar latest-model smartphone is left to shatter against the asphalt at 80 miles an hour.

"I wasn't gonna make you do that," Jason says, but there's a smile tugging at his mouth--a very small thing, like he just can't hold it completely back.

"I only kept it so we'd know when Dick clued in enough to go to Babs for help," Tim tells him.

That gets Jason's eyes off the road. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Tim covers the hand that's been gripping his thigh for the last thirty miles at least, slotting his fingers between Jason's. "I meant it when I said I'm all in."

Jason's tiny smile turns into a real grin. He squeezes Tim's thigh and looks back at the road, some lingering tension Tim hadn't even noticed falling away from his shoulders.

"I'm with you," Tim tells him. He can't resist leaning over to kiss his cheek, and treasures the way the skin warms beneath his lips. "Whatever comes next."

"Whatever comes next," Jason echoes. His grin slides into a smirk; the sideways glance he casts Tim is downright mischievous. "How 'bout Vegas?"

Whether he plans on robbing casinos, tangling with mobsters, or even a quickie wedding (or, very possibly, all three), it doesn't matter. Tim's answer would be the same no matter what.

"Hell yes."

Prompt #36 was two characters on the run! Good choice! ♡♡

[nando161mando]

[bedlamsbard]

POV

Natasha POV of the opening scene of Of Home Near! (Original version here.) About 1.1K below the break.

*****

Sometimes Natasha thought that Howard Stark just liked looking at Steve.

She had seen Tony watch Pepper when he thought no one else was looking, and there was a little of that in the way Howard watched Steve, his chin propped on one hand and his eyes going soft and pleased.  Part of it might have been only that Howard had missed his best friend while Steve had been presumed dead and was more than a little afraid that Steve would vanish if he looked away, but if there was one thing other than how to kill people Natasha knew, it was how to read men.

She couldn’t exactly blame Howard for it.  She liked looking at Steve too, and she was the one who was in his bed every night.  She had the right to look, which was still a fairly novel sensation for her.

By the time they had been there for a week, everyone in the SSR was getting fairly stir-crazy due to the lockdown Howard had imposed.  As far as Natasha could tell, no one was actively opposed to it; despite Howard’s attempts to spread a more mundane version of the story, rumors of Captain America’s dramatic return had spread and at this stage in the war everyone in the SSR was paranoid enough to understand the reasons for the lockdown.  It just didn’t mean they enjoyed it.  It also meant that they were running short-handed since Howard had instituted the lockdown in the middle of the night, when most of the SSR’s personnel had already gone home.

They were in Howard’s office, Natasha watching Howard watch Steve and wondering if Steve had any idea that Howard Stark was in love with him, when she heard the sudden silence in the lab outside.  Steve cocked his head to one side, listening, then suddenly went white.  Natasha looked at him in concern, then turned as the door opened behind them.

“Stark, you are aware there’s still a war on, aren’t you?  We can’t drop everything to hop across the Channel just on your say-so.”

The speaker was a tall army officer with a weathered face, wearing a colonel’s insignia and SSR pins.  There was a woman with him, mouth painted red and brown hair perfectly coiffed, and four years ago Natasha had seen both of their portraits flanking Howard Stark’s in an old SHIELD building in New Jersey not long before Hydra had blown it to hell.

Howard’s gaze flickered quickly to Steve’s still face before he straightened up. “I didn’t think this one could wait,” he said.  “And you took your time coming back; I called you a week ago.”

“Because there’s still a war on,” the woman said.  Steve shut his eyes at the sound of her voice, breathing hard, and Natasha closed her hands into fists.  She might be sleeping with him now, might have his name and his borrowed ring on her finger, but she was under no illusions about where she ranked on a scale that included Peggy Carter.  “Well, what is it?”

Howard looked at Steve again instead of responding.  Steve breathed in deeply, then opened his eyes and turned around.  “Peggy,” he said, then swallowed hard and added, “Sir,” to Chester Phillips.

Phillips blinked once, clearly startled, and said, “Rogers.”

Peggy didn’t say anything at all.  She just walked forward until she could put her arms around Steve.  Natasha bit the inside of her cheek as Steve hugged her back, his whole body briefly going slack with relief, like he had gotten something back that he had never expected to have again.  Which he had.

When Peggy finally pulled back, she reached up for him, and this time Natasha looked away, belatedly aware of Howard Stark’s sharp gaze tracking the motion.

Steve said, “Peggy, wait – wait –” and Natasha looked back, startled.

Peggy seized his left hand, staring at the ring on his finger, and said, “You –!”  Then she punched him in the face.

Steve staggered backwards and almost fell.  Natasha and Howard caught him to steady him as he got his feet under him again, staring at Peggy with huge, hurt eyes.

“Well,” Howard said, releasing him once he was sure that Natasha had a good grip on Steve’s other arm, “at least she didn’t shoot you this time.”

“Thanks, Howard,” Steve said, touching his jaw gingerly. “That really makes me feel better.”  He was trembling a little under Natasha’s hands, but his voice was even.  Since she had seen him take a punch from a god without flinching, she suspect his reaction was more surprise than anything else.

Peggy shot Natasha a hard look that both took in the ring on her left hand and quite obviously found her wanting.  Natasha met her gaze calmly, not willing to let herself waver and undermine Steve.

“Glad to see you’re in fine form, Rogers,” Colonel Phillips said, turning to shut the door on the audience they had acquired in the lab.  He looked at Natasha and added, “Is this the lucky lady?”

“Natasha Rogers, Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter.”  She let go of Steve and offered the colonel her hand.  His grip was firm and dry; she saw him register her pistol calluses and nod a little, giving Steve a contemplative look that was probably at least as much evaluating his taste in women as gauging anything about Natasha.

Natasha felt the pistol calluses on Peggy Carter’s palm and fingers as the other woman squeezed her hand a little too hard, her expression suggesting that she would have liked to rip Natasha’s throat out with her teeth.  Her gaze tracked the scar at Natasha’s hairline from the Battle of New York as well as the way Natasha shifted her weight after Peggy released her, one professional’s quick evaluation of another.  She didn’t look at Steve, whose expression was miserable.

Howard and Phillips were both looking back and forth between Steve, Peggy, and Natasha like spectators at a three-way tennis match.  Natasha let out her breath, then took Steve’s hand in hers, folding her fingers around his and squeezing a little to reassure him.

She had only been thinking about how Steve might react to Peggy Carter.  It had never occurred to her to worry about how Peggy Carter might react to him.  Or to Natasha, for that matter.

“You were able to bail out?” Phillips asked Steve.

Steve took a deep breath. “Not exactly,” he said. “I didn’t walk away from the crash, either.”  He glanced at Natasha, who nodded a little in response to his unspoken question, then took another deep breath and looked back at Phillips.  “I’m Steve Rogers, but I’m not your Steve Rogers – I mean, I am, I’m just not from 1945.  Nat and I are from 2018.”

[hoboblaidd]

NAME: Solas

NICKNAME(S)/ALIASES: So many, and a bunch of fake names he uses when he’s creeping around, but the highlights are - The Dread Wolf, Fen'harel, Spirit-Speaker, the Great Betrayer, the Roamer of the Beyond. Chuckles.

DATE OF BIRTH: Time did not exist and he came to this world mostly unwillingly.

GENDER: Cisgender male (insofar as gender works for someone who was once an amorphous construct of the Fade).

PLACE OF BIRTH: On a mountaintop/Titan, overlooking his first sunrise on a lush valley. He remembers that it was beautiful, and it was cold.

CURRENTLY LIVING: He's in the Fade prison, and his lifeforce is bound to the Veil. Prior to that, he was in the Lighthouse.

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: Common (fluent); Ancient Elvhen (fluent in all dialects); Modern Elvhen (fluent, if annoyed that it's lost some of its luster); Tevene (almost fluent); Orlesian, Antivan, Rivaini (enough to get by); Qunlat (proficient).

EDUCATION: School of hard knocks. He learned everything by doing, and it started with a war.

HAIR COLOR: Auburn, but he/Felassan shaved it in grief and this is how he chooses to look now.

EYE COLOR: Violet.

HEIGHT: 6' - 6'1. Getting taller with every game file I see lol.

Family Information

BIRTH SIBLINGS: All of the Firstborn elves are kin. They were made from the same earth and lyrium, and they came into this world together. But it's kin, not siblings.

PARENTS: Mythal called him to this world. There's a hint of the All-Mother to their relationship, but they were more companions than parent-child. If Elgar’nan ever called Solas ‘da’len’, he’d explode.

CHILDREN: Nothing formal, but he's somehow managed to informally adopt a bunch of people he's met. Nanna, Cole, Orana - the list is always growing despite his best efforts. He should not be allowed near any actual children because he's a terrible influence. He’s got beef with Kieran.

PETS: He has beef with so many animals due to their association with his enemies, and their predilection to hate him (dogs - Elgar'nan; owls - Andruil and Falon'din; ravens - Dirthamen; bears - Dirthamen). He's fond of halla, but they're wary of him.

Relationship Information

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual, especially in Elvhenan. He really doesn’t get modern Thedas restrictive ideas about sexuality.

STATUS: Timeline and verse dependent. Where possible, he's with a romanced Lavellan like @keepslore . Ghilan'nain ( @fellenaste ) is a very distant ex.

tagged by: @extravagantliar , who is trying to destroy me.

tagging: @avrorean , @hemerasiae (dealer's choice but also give me Teia), @abyssflown (dealer's choice but davrinn), @turlums , @weptduty (and any of your other muses), @ingllvar , @sulahndinan