#One Two Free Fall

[kettlefire]

As Good as Good Gets (DP X DC Snippet)

Richard "Dick" Grayson is the golden child. In the eyes of the public, and in the eyes of the league. Dick is a sweet, caring son, a man who went from being a sidekick to being a hero. The pipeline from Robin to Nightwing had many people applauding his dedication to keeping Gotham safe.

No one knew the full story, not truly. No one but Bruce Wayne himself. And maybe a certain butler. Many don't know that Dick only became Robin to stop him from hunting down and killing the man who killed his parents.

No one really knows about the harsh fights and arguments he has had with Bruce. The times when Dick would find himself cut off from the Wayne name for a week or so. No one knows that the first person Dick warmed up to was Alfred. Having been bribed with cookies.

Things weren't always this good, trusting, happy relationship between Bruce and Dick. It had been a rough ride, a complicated one. But that was okay, because it got better.

Dick stopped being so moody and angsty. He grew up, he learned, and he changed. He became an older brother, found people that needed him. Needed him in a way that the citizens of Gotham didn't need him.

His brothers like to call him annoying. A goody two shoes who Bruce trusted more than everyone else. They couldn't fathom how someone like Dick could be so stupid and bubbly at all times.

All times, except when shit hits the fans. Despite the name calling, despite coining Dick as the stupid Wayne. They all knew better. They knew that when it mattered, Dick Grayson always pulled through. He was a force to be reckoned with when needed.

The whole Wayne family was a force to be reckoned with when called for. It didn't have to be under the guise of costumes and vigilante acts. Whether he was Officer Grayson or Nightwing, Dick was a man with his morals and values.

One night on patrol as Officer Grayson, Dick found someone who needed that force. A force willing to protect and care for the innocent. The hurt. The damaged, yet still good.

It started like any other night. A call of shots fired by an empty warehouse. There was no sighting or knowledge of any rouges being there, so Dick took the call. Told the team he'll contact them if it seems more than just a civilian incident.

The warehouse was dark, reeked of copper and oil. It didn't take long for Dick to find the trail. The liquid he found looked like the person had been dragged before walking. There was a clear struggle, even with the mess and emptiness that was the warehouse.

That wasn't Dick's biggest concern. The concern lay in just how much blood there was. Too much for any normal person to lose and still manage to stumble through the warehouse.

It wasn't just blood. It wasn't that much, but Dick could spot the strangeness in the liquid. The mixed in green that had an eerily similar color and glow as a certain pit.

Without thinking, Dick followed the trail. Barely remembering to make contact with his family. Give them an update on what he found. Words telling him to stay put for backup went in one ear and out the other.

Something in Dick's gut was telling him he couldn't wait. He needed to find the source. Whoever was currently bleeding out in this warehouse. He silenced the comm, moving further through the dimly lit building.

Then Dick found it. Or more so, he found him. It was just a boy. A boy that reminded Dick too much of the youngest Wayne. A boy sat against a wall, looking pale and weak.

Red and green coated the front of the boy's shirt, arms wrapped tightly around his middle. An attempt to stem the bleeding. A puddle had already started to form beneath the boy, and Dick moved without thinking once again.

He quickly found himself kneeling beside the boy, hands carefully reaching out. Before Dick even touched him, the boy flinched. Eyelids suddenly opened, wide and terrified blue eyes landed on Dick's.

In just that one look, Dick knew what he had to do. The haunting, terrified, and pained look in the boy's eyes told Dick everything he needed to know. The boy was in danger. Someone had hurt this kid, and it was clear it wasn't the first time.

The boy struggled weakly against Dick's touch, terrified whimpers, and barely coherent pleas spilled from the kid's lips. It had Dick's heart aching, clear as day the poor kid has been through hell and back.

It took a lot of reassurance, gentle touches, and promises of help before the kid let Dick take a look at the bleeding wound. A promise on Dick's soul had been the final thing that earned him any semblance of trust. A strange promise, but Dick was willing to make it.

That concern turned to pure anger the moment Dick managed to pull the sticky shirt away from the wound. The sight of a Y-incision cut perfectly into the skin, stitches tight on the skin, but blood still leaking heavily from the wound.

It didn't take long for Dick to realize why. Despite the perfect surgical care of the wound, a good couple of stitches had broken. Leaving gaping spots for that red and green liquid to pour out of.

The boy was deathly silent, tears streaking down his cheek as wide blue eyes stayed trained on Dick. In that moment, Dick knew he had to help. Had to get the kid to safety, patch him up, and find out what kind of monster would do this.

It didn't matter if the kid was human or not. It didn't matter if the kid had special abilities or not. No one, absolutely no one, deserved to be vivisected.

The kid was shrouded in mystery, but that mystery only seemed to grow and become clearer when Bruce had entered the scene. The boy had tensed, eyes flashing a bright glowing green.

Lazarus pit green.

It set a pit of dread in Dick's gut. His mind brings forward memories of Jason. Jason, after his revival, after his dip in that cursed pit. The same flash that his brother would get if he got too angry. Too emotional.

As much as Dick wanted to focus on finding who did this, if it had any connection to Ra's al Ghul. He couldn't. Not when the kid tried to get up, to pull away as Bruce and the others made their way closer.

Right now, Dick only cared about making sure the boy was okay. Fixing those stitches, getting him a meal, and a warm bed.

He needed to get this kid someplace where he felt safe and secure. Comfortable and protected. Dick wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the promise he had made, but he wasn't letting anyone get to the kid.

That included his family. As strange as it seemed, Dick put himself between the others and the kid. Shooting them all a glare that they had only ever seen a handful of times.

Dick lifted the poor boy up in his arms, cradling the crying child close as he led the way out of the warehouse. Ignoring the questions or confusion coming from Bruce and the others. As Dick walked, feeling the trembling boy clinging to him, he made a rather obvious realization.

Maybe the eldest son really was more like Bruce than he expected. Just a few short moments the the boy, a boy that Dick didn't know his name, and he was ready to pull out adoption papers. To give the boy a safety he so desperately needs.

Give him the chance that Bruce had given him all those years ago.

[bit-was-here]

some kinda rough (ford)^2/fiddauthor doodles for drawing practice!! trying to relearn a more cartoony and lose style :3

(also in case it’s not obvious, ford is supposed to be sloshed in the second pic, i was gonna have em holding solo cups but it was looking kinda terrible….)

also also if you’re reading this, lemme know which ship name you prefer for them. low stakes question, i’m just genuinely curious what the fandom thinks. i personally love (ford)^2 because like..cmon…they’re both nerds…it’s so perfect (im also a math nerd to maybe im biased….)

wow that description overstayed its welcome i’ll never do that again my apologies

[dynjay]

Bitter reunions

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Dick stumbles upon Jason while he’s at his most deranged and sawing heads off people to stuff them into a duffle bag and deliver it gift wrapped to the GCPD.

Dick is sick to his stomach. How can one person be capable of something so atrocious and laugh while doing it!? He needs to get back to the cave. He needs to warn Batman and Robin. This new player isn’t just dangerous, he’s evidently trying to rival his namesake in blood and violence alone and he’s succeeding.

(If Dick hadn’t been too busy keeping his late dinner inside his stomach, he may have noticed the warning creaks of the support beam.

As it is, the chains holding the beam in place snap and Dick goes down. Tumbling straight into the gory mess giving himself a concussion to boot at the Red Hood’s feet.

Shit.)

[icewindandboringhorror]

Just curious what the average level of personal investment in these sorts of things is. Like, how much do people usually get into silly stuff like this their friends ask of them? etc. etc. Which I know, only surveying a small sample on a very specific website means I'm not getting an exact average idea lol, but.. curious nonetheless .. Maybe reblog for bigger sample size but also this is not very serious at all/not worth a call to action gbhjbhjb

[seventh-district]

i’ve just finished season one of TMA, and being someone who’s okay with spoilers is fun because it means i can peruse the wiki and scroll through the tag and i get to become privy to all sorts of weird, wonderful, halfway-out-of-context information that i get to look forward to understanding in the future

like. what do you mean Leitner’s in the tunnels?

what do you mean Jon eats the extinguished sun??

what do you mean it’s spelled Gerard Keay???

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

Firstly, this isn't me vagueposting, just me gathering my thoughts (I feel passionately about these points).

If Sarcean and Anharion are a allegory for queer trauma and the collar is unveiled to be Sarcean's compulsion wholesale, it renders the Light's campaign against him as righteous regardless of how hypocritical the Light is revealed to be.

It turns his relationship with Anharion into something that was not a relationship at all. Not love at all. It makes it into a sordid sexual fascination. Just as the Light says it was. If the Light represents antiqueer religious and societal pressures within this queer allegory then the story cannot be a pro-queer narrative if that sentiment becomes something tangibly true.

Sarcean can be terrible to everyone else in the world but not to Anharion because their relationship, within this allegory, is what they are fighting to protect. A place to be, to exist. To surrender to each other. To love each other in peace. Without condemnation and judgement. Without constantly being besieged.

Is Will not looking for that very thing? An oasis. One person he can be his entire self with. Is James not as angry as their past selves? Not as vindictive? "I'll show them an abomination!" Perhaps, if that's the case, Anharion and Sarcean also liked to put on a show. Rub their relationship in the faces of the Light. They'll show them. Sarcean cannot be the sole puppeteer of all that queer fury without it becoming an abuse narrative. Once it becomes an abuse narrative, and the Light's campaign becomes a righteous one, the queer allegories start to fall apart.

If Sarcean represents the urges you suppress to conform to a cruelly narrow but socially dominant interpretation of 'goodness' then Will's triumph isn't in suppressing those urges, it's in embracing them. If Will becomes but another good boy suppressing his dark urges for the Light then he's buying into the dominant social narrative. The aforementioned antiqueer one. He may as well marry a nice girl from a respectable family, never once ordering her around.

[popotobun]

WIP Wednesday!

Lately I've been working most on my SVSSS fic that's basically a "What if Shen Yuan was a little older and a little more competant". That's it, that's the fic. I have zero idea where it's going to end up, but I've got two chapters worth scribbled down, so that's something! I've also got an outline for a Tangled-inspired Liushen AU that I don't want to start because once I do, I think I'll keep going until it's done and I want to get more done on the longer fic first xD

I've still got plans for the post-MLC fic I'm working on! I really should finish that, since it doesn't have anywhere to go and should just be the one chapter... Who knows. I let words get away from all the time.

I've still got a couple of FF14 WIPs too, though the MSQ follow-along will always be slow going... I do want to finish the Dark Knight fic, but my WoL was in a Not Good headspace when he started that, so it's on a back burner too.

Feel free to Ask me to work on any of these and I'll post a new paragraph~ but either way, enjoy the snippet!

The entire night passed while he read, the morning only making itself known to Shen Yuan when a knock sounded at the entrance to his room and Ming Fan’s voice announced, “Shizun, I left breakfast at the table for you. Please let this disciple know if there is anything further needed.”

“Nothing but privacy, Ming Fan. I am only to be disturbed by meals for the next three days.” While he recovers is not spoken aloud, but carried in the silence that he lets linger a moment longer than it needs to. “Unless another Peak Lord requires my presence.”

Ming Fan bowed and started to leave after confirming the instructions, but was stopped by Shen Qingqiu’s voice adding, “Perhaps I will meditate in the gardens today. If I am not here, let it be known that I am unavailable for company.”

That should cover most possibilities. He was sure Mu Qingfang wouldn’t be back by so soon, but he couldn’t say the same for anyone else. With the worry from Yue Qingyuan that Mu-shidi had mentioned or potential curiosity as to his recent visitors, anyone could come by! And he didn’t want them seeing him practicing basic sword forms like someone who’d never held a sword before.

Since that was exactly what he planned to be doing.

After breakfast of course.

[psychotic-nonsense]

My favorite part about being obsessed with something is that you start looking for it everywhere. Especially in media that shares actors with the thing you’re obsessed with.

So thanks to the idea from one feralheartedalien here on tumblr and my current watching of A Quiet Place: Day One, I’m suddenly being roped into the Steddie Alternate Universe with Eric and Keys.

------ Minor "A Quiet Place: Day One" Spoilers after this point ------

Haven’t watched Free Guy in a while, but the dynamic is kinda sticking with me. Struggling, emotionally repressed, desperate, foreign exchange law student Eric, coming to the States for school due to parental pressure (can’t have a Steddie-like ship without some shitty parents). Redeemed bully, people pleaser, hopeless romantic, lonely Keys, trying to make something out of his love for programming and design while under his repressive boss (can’t have a Steddie-like ship without some doomed ambition).

Maybe next floor neighbors, Eric living right above Keys. He comes back to his basically empty apartment after school every day exhausted, collapsing on the carpet in his living room at 2am, lulled to sleep by the soft, muffled music in the place beneath him. Meanwhile, Keys only plays his "falling asleep" music when he's home, in hopes to calm the person above him, who has a habit of frequent pacing, self monologues, and unfortunately, breakdowns.

Maybe Eric just has a shit day at school one day; stressful projects, lack of progress in his studying, sleep deprived, and it’s absolutely fucking pouring on his way back home. Maybe Keys has accidentally memorized his neighbor’s schedule, accidentally began to care, and noticed how late it is. Maybe their floors are different but the rooms are the same, so when Eric pushes the wrong floor on the elevator, he ends up at Keys’s room. Breaks down when his key doesn’t work, falls to his knees in the hallway muffling sobs. Barely reacts when Keys opens his door because he’s so tired and cold and numb. Weakly tries to fight Keys’s attempts at help but nearly faints in this stranger’s arms. Eric finally lets himself be helped, loses himself in Keys’s thick blankets and soft music and well meaning rambling and killer hot chocolate-

Maybe that’s when Eric realizes how much this man has saved his life, and vows to return the favor.

[everybodyonhereisondrugs]

Howdy my fellow gays and theys, happy pride month! I wanted to share with y'all some Checkmatch that came to life in my mind while rewatching Frozen Empire with my friends! I love these tragic gays and wanted to give them the future I think they deserve, so we have this :D

I'll admit I haven't written anything in about 7 years so forgive me for being a bit rusty, but I hope you all enjoy this one regardless :)

Summary:

Phoebe is a woman of science, and if physics can explain Melody fading away, then physics can bring her back.

Alternatively:

Very loose interpretations of real science mixed with Ghostbuster science, and the three year journey of Phoebe Spengler getting her girlfriend back.

Chapters: 2/2

Fandom: Ghostbusters - All Media Types, Ghostbusters (1984-1989; 2021)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply 

Relationships: Melody (Ghostbusters)/Phoebe Spengler 

Characters: Phoebe Spengler, Melody (Ghostbusters) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Checkmatch, Mentioned Egon Spengler - Freeform, Possibly OoC character introspection?, technically this is set 3-ish years after Frozen Empire, so characters develop as they will with time, but still the ooc drop seemed relevant, i just think they're neat, and love pseudoscience, so we apply fake science to real science, And BOOM!, girlfriends like they deserve to be!, mentions of suicide but in the separate your atoms way, and gratuitous use of italics i wont lie, Whoops i accidentally made them soulmates, Soulmates 

[doodles-with-noodles]

Smol Hiccup doesn’t know how to shoot a crossbow. Not going to stay like that under tall Hiccups watch.

[conanssummerchild]

with angsty episodes in community theres some where i can watch and go yess >:) the angst i love it (virtual systems analysis), some that i watch and think that sucks :( i hate that what a dick move (basic rv repair and palmistry), some that make me go oh no thats sad :( (abeds uncontrollable christmas), some that put me in genuine distress (contemporary impressionists and digital exploration of interior design to pillows and blankets) and some that make me uncomfortable and feel icky (bondage and beta male sexuality) there was no real purpose to this post its 3am and im stating my sleepy oponions thank u for coming to my ted talk

[m1d-45]

i’ve been thinking abt miss nikki of shining nikki fame and i think it’s a damn CRIME that i’ve never thought to mention how canonically strong she is. like if we go by the event duration of dawn duel, nikki fought a literal actual god for two weeks straight. SHE!!! FOR TWO WEEKS!!! not to mention the times she: was able to break several people out of brainwashing, started a time loop in order to prevent the destruction of the world and ran through it several times, Gun, has stood her own among mercenaries and literal terrorists, and more shit that i’m probably forgetting like my girl might not have a physical combat build but she is not to be fucked with!!!! - teddy anon

shining nikki!

first off i love that one of the points is just gun. absolutely based.

second, nikki! i don’t know her canon very well but based solely off the second hand knowledge i’ve gotten, i’m 100% certain she is not to be fucked with in the double isekai au (which to clarify is when reader is first in miraland and then in teyvat)

she’s seen this all before! she puts up with cultists like eight times a week!! red is less than sane? she can handle it! honestly, if she knew half of much about genshin as the average player, she’d probably be able to end the hunt in roughly 3-5 business days. she probably only told you about reflections to keep you company while she’s planning out things—not that it’s something you couldn’t help with, but because you’re still her creator as well.

forgive me for derailing this into sagau if that wasn’t your intention but in my defense i have like three hobbies!

[wat-zu]

Absolutely love your art. I want to nom it.

Also, Hollow Heads Siblings my beloveds,,,

Theyre the doomed siblings ever its not even funny

[ninjagirlstar5]

Hello local Teruya enjoyer, mind if i ask why he's one of your favorite characters? As in, what made you so love the little guy turned big guy in sequel so much?

Oh boy. That's kinda hard to answer actually as I essentially worked backwards when I saw Teruya's character. As in, I heard about SDRA2 (and eventually DRA) through WeebyNewz's livestreams, looked at fanfics on AO3, and got to know Teruya's character through there before eventually jumping right in to writing him for my (shipping) project. As a result, my interpretation of him was far from perfect as I knew the broad strokes of his character and his role in both games but didn't know the little details until I went back to really consume DRA and SDRA2's story by actually listening/watching the streams or even playing the game myself. I'm going through SDRA2 right now with a Discord mutual, but it's been put on hold due to college. But since I'm essentially done with my spring semester now (all I have left is a critique for Printmaking but that class is pretty chill thanks to my professor so I'm not worried about it), I'm hoping we'll be able to pick that back up soon-ish. It'll depend on our schedules.

Anyways, back to the question as to why I love Teruya...I've essentially built up an image of him in my head thanks to my many on-the-fly headcanons and what I researched about him. But when I started watching DRA, I noticed he was a sweet, funny but flawed kid that can snap pretty easily at others and can get quite emotional while also taking part in bad actions that get others hurt just to benefit himself (hiding food for himself and plotting to murder Haruhiko being some of them), and being a hypocrite on top of that. But that didn't make me hate him or anything, but made me love him more as he's far from a perfect character, let alone a perfect person. Teruya lashing out, arguing with others, and just struggling to keep up in the killing game, even when he decides to better himself and take after Haruhiko and follow Satsuki's parting words, makes him a very interesting and nuanced character! I loved watching him caring about Yuki in Chapter 5 by checking in on him and being supportive, even when he falls for the obvious framing of Mikako by Monokuma. He still makes mistakes, but the little actions he does for others can make him a good friend that deeply cares. And the way he wondered why Fake!Yuki/Utsuro and Akane just...let them go, even when he agreed with Kinjo and Rei that they were awful, perhaps even evil people, that line made me go, "OH, his feelings are complicated" and that kind of nuance is SO juicy. The feeling of knowing this person has wronged you in a horrible way that you have every right to not only hold them accountable but cut them out of your life but you still miss them anyways because you loved them and the memories you've made with them despite everything? Good shit, more of this please. I like that Teruya has just a slightly different opinion than Rei and Kinjo's, even though he still agrees with them in the end and rightfully so. And I like seeing his slightly more mature personality while still having a few of his quirks and interests in SDRA2 as he felt a little more like an adult version of himself. Teruya is sooo interesting to dig into and analyze that I have a hard time organizing all of my thoughts on the fly but basically, I love him in DRA and SDRA2 and coming up with headcanons for him before, after, and in-between the stories. He's such a fun but sad character when you really think about it.

...Even if it will always annoy me on how underutilized he was in SDRA2. If he was just used a little more smartly and given much more care like in DRA, I feel like his death would've hit much, much harder, even with repeated viewings. Which is a shame cause I do think I can see where LINUJ was trying to go with Teruya, that Teruya was meant to be a character that did his best to help the SDRA2 cast despite being stuck in the killing game together and preventing history from repeating itself, only to be met with repeated failures despite trying to do everything right this time. And was unfortunately put into a position where he had no choice but to die lest the worst case scenario played out, all due to Mikado's plotting, Kinjo's choices, and Rei's mistakes. (They all played a role in it but all of them have different levels of responsibility for it, with Mikado being the biggest one since he's, you know, his murderer and turned Teruya's avatar into a firewall in the first place, but Teruya probably would've have been put into that situation if Kinjo just didn't use him as bait or if they simply had more time for Rei to make another escape code for Teruya to use for himself in case things go south - and that's assuming he was able to prioritize escaping despite witnessing Rei's supposed death.) But unfortunately, as much as I love Teruya, all I can remember from his role in SDRA2 is that he spouted hope platitudes in Chapter 2, started dipping out of the group in Chapter 3 (and it seems like I won't be able to COMPLETE HIS FTEs ACCORDING TO THE WIKI'S GUIDE ON HIS AVAILABILITY GODDAMMIT-), went CrAzYYyy in Chapter 4, and then just disappears and DIES in Chapter 5 and it isn't until Chapter 6 that we learned that Teruya purposely ate the poisoned food to destroy the firewall inside of him, trying to sacrifice himself and hoping it'll give the Kisaragi Foundation the time they'll need to get the rest of the cast out, never finding out that Kinjo hired Syobai to act as a double agent and that he used him and Rei as bait to try and distract Mikado from ever finding out about Syobai's double agent status. I feel as though Teruya was stripped of most of his nuances from DRA, and that frustrates me because I want him to be utilized more in SDRA2! I want to care about his relationship with the cast! I want him to be his own person with his own opinions, even when he agrees with and even looks up to Rei and Kinjo! I want him to have more moments of characterization and hear his stories about the Kisaragi Foundation and his reflection on his past instead of being hit with the amnesia plot point (which I feel did more harm to his character)! I want him to be the mediator of the group, like how he supposedly acted out that role back in the Kisaragi Foundation between Rei and Kinjo according to LINUJ in his concept art! And another reason why I don't like how Teruya is handled in Chapter 4 the more I think about it in hindsight, is that I felt as though LINUJ was trying to have him be like Kinjo. And I! Don't! Like that! Even if Teruya's beliefs started to become warped due to following Kinjo's leadership over the years and may have rose-tinted glasses in his belief in him, I still don't like how LINUJ handled him in Chapter 4! Because I don't want a Kinjo 2.0 that you can get at the dollar store, I want Teruya fucking Otori!!!

...anyways. My issues with how Teruya was handled in SDRA2 aside, I love him a lot. But I'll admit, a lot of that comes from my own interpretation of his character and how much depth I gave him from what I learned of him. And honestly, that's one of the fun parts of fandom: digging into a character to the point that you're probably overanalyzing them but you kinda don't care because it's so much fun to add even more depth to a character you love. He's my blorbo, my scrunkly, my fucked up lil guy turned fucked up big boi, and I can hurt and comfort him however I want.

[widowshill]

VAMP ROGER AU QUESTION! how would he and barnabas interact together (if they ever interact)? :3 💜

tagging @tortoisesshells because she's my co-conspirator <3

excellent question! this family and their sharp-toothed men will be the death of ... well, several community members of Collinsport, i suppose.

to start — Barnabas gets out of the box slightly differently than in canon, which colors his relationship to Roger and the rest of the household. Roger kills Willie after his attempted assault on Carolyn and Vicki (who is, by that point, his wife); Willie's mysterious disappearance and Roger's suspected involvement makes Jason that much more panicked, desperate, and correspondingly aggressive. Liz goes searching for the lost family jewels in a last-ditch attempt to buy Jason off, and, inadvertently, lets their ancient family sin out of the tomb.

ergo she's made Barnabas' thrall instead of Willie, but this goes unnoticed for a while — even though her brother would, in theory, recognize the signs, and his suspicions are raised, but she's already acting so much unlike herself with Jason around that he doesn't suspect anyone else of doing her harm. yet.

at the start, he and Barnabas get along very well, even before they discover their shared affliction: they're both relatively sophisticated, well-traveled, intelligent people, and for all that Roger decries Liz's emphasis on the Collins name, he leans towards familial connections instinctively (Roger hasn't got much in the way of friends outside of the house even in canon, and he's even more isolated as a vampire).

after he finds out Barnabas is also a vampire, things get a little more complicated, but overall, they're still friendly. Roger doesn't have much sympathy for Barnabas' relentless self-pity and decrying his doomed fate to live as a monster, because Roger on the whole enjoys his vampirism and has made a decent un-life for himself out of it (thanks in no small part to Vicki). but having someone like him around is a comfort in ways he wouldn't have expected, he's no longer solitary or uniquely monstrous out of the Collins family, he has someone else around through the night, and someone who understands the sufferings of bloodthirst and being shut out of the sun.

furthermore, Roger's very much interested in his family history and stories of the past, the building of Collinwood, Jeremiah's ships – and Barnabas was there. there's potential for some very interesting conversations about the past, and the arc of the Collins family history to the present, not to mention literature, travel, fashion, politics and the rest. Roger's his cousin's mirror in modernity in many ways, and that's something potentially interesting to explore: the world changes around them, but Collinses do not.

as an aside, they both have a funny sort of relationship to Burke. Barnabas hates him for his resemblance to Jeremiah and envies his friendship with Vicki and thinks he's crude, and Roger ... well. it's complicated. it's closer to antagonism than not, and Burke has tried to kill him once in this au, and Roger resents his flirting with Vicki, but then there's everything else with their past. so I don't think Barnabas' treatment of him would sit particularly well with Roger, he'd take the attitude of hey, only I can be a dick to Burke >:(

the definite fracture point is Barnabas imprinting on Vicki. Roger's already jealous and possessive by nature, and it's amplified by the supernatural nature of his relationship to Vicki (being closer, bodily and mentally; being necessary to each other; being, quite literally, sustenance) so he's already a little on edge when Barnabas starts paying attention to her, giving her presents, and appreciating the scenery — Barnabas doesn't, exactly, tend to have much in the way of moral inclination to leaving women alone when they have prior engagements, but it's fair to point out the irony of everything Roger was doing with his bloodbag governess when he was still very much a married man.

anyway: Roger finds foreign bite marks on his wife's neck, and he's understandably immensely upset by this. partially out of territorial sentiment, but he also knows Vicki, and he knows that she wouldn't have invited another vampire willingly — which means that she was forced, or hypnotized, or attacked in secret, and there's only the one potential suspect. this is already enough to lose his good will, but he might have been willing to let Barnabas go with a "hands off," had this discovery not lead to finding out what he'd also been doing to Liz. the combination of the two is unforgivable, and it's Barnabas' error to have made an enemy who is very personally aware of all his vampiric weaknesses, and Burke's already carved a stake.