#Renegades book 4!!!!

[imobsessed123]

I am physically about to die from happiness I am SCREAMING rn

[mikodrawnnarratives]

I havent yet reread the protologue to see if this would work but today I had an idea about Ace betraying Nova's family

What if he had done something to test David's loyalty after finding out about his betrayal, or smthn that would determine the events in the protologue. And since David failed that test, that is why the person he sent killed them

But Ace didn't know if David failed that test or not until he walked into the apartment. And that would be the explanation for why Ace walked into the apartment with the medicine for Evie. He didn't know if the family would still be alive.

Cuz what if when he first found out about David's agreement with the Renegades, there was reasonable doubt? What if this was a trick by someone else? What if there were rumors? He would need to make sure they were true or false to know who to go after.

Anyway, this hc makes more sense to me

[bang-bang-gang]

the thing about deonna in aew is that she's honestly presented as kind of a cringefail loser who keeps losing her big matches even though she's only lost like 3 matches since getting there (and to be fair the title shot and the owen hart match were pretty relevant i suppose)

but she absolutely carries herself like shes the main character and everyone should listen to HER and only pay attention to HER. like she doesnt really care about losing the owen or care about what toni is doing or what mercedes is doing or any of the belts. thunder rosa is the only person smart enough to pay attention to her sooo CLEARLY rosa is the greatest threat in this division and must be eliminated

[biggitybonk]

I just introduced a friend of mine to the Renegades trilogy. I'm out here doing gods work 🙏🏽

[soleminisanction]

Once again got a bee in my bonnet to spend a night doing obscure fandom research to make a point, so. For all those people who keep making the annoying, "Tim keeps '''stealing'' other peoples' names" comments -- have a table.

EDIT: Updated version with some mistakes corrected.

Everyone with a check mark has used that codename at some point in DC's 80+ year continuity -- Elseworlds and alternate dimensions/timelines count, adaptations (movies, video games, cartoons, etc.) don't unless they've got comic book tie-ins, and neither do in-universe dream sequences/illusions/fantasies/other narrative elements that are objectively "not real" within the boundaries of the fiction.

A purple marker indicates an element that only applies in Elseworlds or alternate timelines. Yellow is for the originator of the legacy title. Star symbol is for borderline cases/extenuating circumstances/it's open to interpretation (with some further elaboration below).

The "other" column is just there to account for people who've held lesser or non-legacy titles, like Renegade, Wingman, Arkham Knight, Drake, Redbird, Talon, Deadman, Black Bat, Orphan and Catwoman.

Point being: the people who have actually gone through the most legacy titles in this family are Dick, Babs and Jason, tied with 5 each (again, not counting "other;" if we counted those separately Dick would've had by far the most). Tim is tied with Steph AND Helena Wayne, so unless you're whining about them "stealing other peoples' names" you're just wrong, and they're all only one higher than Damian, Carrie and Bruce.

This is a legacy family that passes their codenames up and down the inheritance line. It's what they do. It's not a legitimate criticism to level at one character and not the others. Please get over it.

---

Further elaboration on some of the lesser known/niche cases:

- Bruce uses the Robin ID in Superman & Batman: Generations, as well as the pre-Crisis Detective Comics #226 story.

- In the second half of Thrillkiller ‘62, Babs cuts her hair and dons the Robin costume worn by her deceased partner Dick to get revenge on his killer; however the only name ever used for her in the series is Batgirl

- Cassandra was a member of the Robins orphan gang from Dark Knights of Steel.

- Duke was a member of the We Are Robins gang, as well as the aforementioned DKS orphan gang, and has appeared as Robin in a couple of Elseworlds, including I believe a White Knight spin-off.

- Cass was Batwoman in one of the versions of the Titans Tomorrow, as was Bette Kane, depending on changes to the timeline.

- Babs is Batwoman in the Batman ‘66 comics and in the 1980 story “The Secret Origin of Bruce (Superman) Wayne”

- Earth-3 Steph is Batwoman in Young Justice 2019.

- Helena Wayne is Batwoman in the possible future story Last Rites

- Tim is a member of the Batgirls vigilante/little league baseball team in the DC Bombshells universe, as is Cullen Row. Some call them the “Batboys” instead. I call those people cowards.

- Helena Bertinelli wore the costume that would later become Cass’s signature Batgirl look during No Man’s Land. However, she was more often referred to as “The Bat” and her Batgirl status is up to individual interpretation.

- Dick didn’t originate the Nightwing name, it started with Clark in the Silver Age.

- Steph has never been Nightwing. The panel where she appears in the costume is a Black Mercy illusion that happens only in her own mind. It’s a dream sequence.

- Barbara was Nightwing in the Smallville Season 11 comics.

- Terry was briefly Nightwing in volume 4 of Batman Beyond.

- Damian briefly became Nightwing after accidentally killing Dick in the Injustice series.

- Dick is Oracle in the “Eight Wonders of the World” version of Earth 2 (aka the Black Superman dimension)

[purplephloxpress]

Another year, another Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day!!!! If you are a writer of fanfic, please know just how appreciated you are!! Fandom would be such a different space without your creativity and labors of love. 💜

Holidays are all about making traditions, and the bookbinding friends with @renegadeguild once again came together to bind copies of fics for their authors as a show of our appreciation. This year I had the absolute joy of binding Emergency Help Wanted by the wonderful @piyo-13 and even got to collaborate with her on some of the design elements! It's a Modern AU Jiang Cheng/Lan Xichen fic that starts with a "help wanted" ad.

EMERGENCY HELP WANTED

I lied when I got my job. I told them I had a kid so I could leave early from work to pick him up from daycare, take him to doctor's appointments, and occasionally miss a day when he's sick. Long story short, I'm in too deep. I didn't think it through. Looking to rent a kid for bring your child to work day. Must be a boy ages four to six, longish dark hair, likes soccer. Must also be artistic as the macaroni noodle paintings I made seem a little advanced for his age. Also, I will pay extra for someone willing to play the role of husband when dropping him off. He's a prosecuting attorney who often brings his work home. Message me for further details. Serious inquiries only.

Ok. So. I may have gone a little feral with this one. Online "help wanted" ad spiraled into loading wheel scene dividers, spiraled into fake Google search result headers, spiraled into FULLY committing to those authentic looking text messages. In full color. (There are so many. I typeset in MS Word. It was SO worth it, but god what a struggle at some points.) And don't forget the "recent searches" title page! Or the computer cutout on the cover! (It's bluescreening, just like Lan Xichen through this entire fic!) Also that cover/title page image that I just kept adding details to. (It's supposed to be Lan Xichen's desk, so it simply didn't feel right until it had sticky notes on the computer, #1 dad on the mug, scissors and measuring tape, scribbles on the sticky notes) Did I have a ton of fun designing this one? Perhaps. Couldn't say. Maybe just a tad. (This is a lie I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST!)

Historically, I've waited until I finish at least the typeset before reaching out to the author, but not so with this one! I got the idea for the fake google search results from Piyo's authors notes, teasing the contents of the next chapter. But! Those didn't start until about chapter 4! So I reached out and asked if we could collaborate and I'm forever glad I did! Not only does this have teasers for each chapter, I also got to bounce design ideas off of her, including what shade of blue and purple for the text messages. Because my friends, that is a serious matter and changed SEVERAL times throughout the process.

Also shoutout to all my Renegade friends who gave input and encouragement over the past year while I worked on this (what endpages to use? how to make this shade of green perfectly Nie Huaisang? how do we feel about this text message design? or how about this one?) - I love you all dearly and appreciate you so much for putting up with my nonsense at all times.

Binding details below the cut!

Fandom: The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi

Pairing: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin / Lan Huan | Lan Xichen

Bookcloth: Aqua/Purple Dubletta from Colophon Book Arts

Endpapers: Craft Consortium Ink Drops - Ocean pack

Textblock paper: short grain cream from Church Paper

Titling: We R Memory Keepers foil quill

Endbands: leather cording core, DMC embroidery floss for the bands

Body Font: EB Garamond

Title Font: Berlin Sans FB

Text Messages: Roboto

Additional fonts: Times New Roman, Kunstler Script, Magis Authentic

Title page image from Rawpixel and designed in Canva

Various computer graphics from The Noun Project

Tumblr insists on eating and doubling text in this section at its own whim, so if there's something missing that you're curious about, feel free to DM me an ask!

[keystonepublishing]

Dirges in The Dark by WixWrites

Before I start, let me just say: Ranchers! Scarian! Hermits and Life Series and Empires characters! Sheriff Jimmy! Sheriff Scar! Criminal Tango! the Wild West! Treebark and Ethubs!

RANCHERS. THE WILD WEST. CREEPING ELDRITCH HORROR.

Whoo, that was a rush.

I'll be honest; I think this book would have come out much sooner if not for my decision to add-in a whole lot of stuff into the text and pages. It got to the point that the original cover would have been a wanted poster at the front and a sheriff's report at the back!

I had to restrain myself, lest this book would never get finished at all. It's already been 59 days since my last post, and doing the original cover would have stretched the days even further. So I had to follow the mantra: Finished, not perfect. Besides, nothing says I can't make another version in the future...

From the moment I finished this fic, I knew it would become a book. But at 143,412 words, Dirges in The Dark by @twodiamondhoes would stretch my ficbinding skills to the limit and would be the second-ever bind that would reach past 250 pages (the first was an MCYT Sleepy Bois fic that predates this blog that I want to redo).

Eventually, the full typeset took up 520 pages! And as such, I finally decided to use extra support for the entire textblock. From an old pair of pajamas, I backed strips of fabric with glue and paper before cutting it into tapes, forming a crucial support for the various weaves along the spine. I then covered the entire spine in brown wrapping paper for even more strength.

For the title and headings, I scoured for and found several typefaces, dingbats, and vector graphics which really evoked the fic's Western and Gothic vibes. I also took some inspiration from fellow ficbinders in the Renegade Publishing group for the style of layout and formatting throughout the book, such as using faded images in the background of these pre-story pages.

I wanted the reader to be immersed in the Wild West from the get-go, so having such images from the start — before the story even begins — felt very appropriate. I tried to make them thematic to the information presented, like a singing cowboy for the music playlist pages, but I think I made the image too faint to be seen!

As for the chapter openers, I experimented with some layouts before finalizing on what you see: photos taking up one entire page on the left with the chapter titles and opening paragraphs on the right.

Just like my last bind, I want to make the reader feel immersed in the story and also bring out the mood of that particular chapter. This, however, led me to entire days of scouting and scouring stock photo sites just to find the right pictures for 11 different chapters. 4/10 would not recommend for sanity.

Given that the story uses a number of foreign words, old slang, and specific Wild West-era terms, I added a plethora of footnotes at the bottom of some pages for extra context and meaning.

I also wanted to be playful and make certain story parts, such as characters receiving letters and notes, really look like they're a part of the story. So I cropped old paper textures and fished out old fonts from the past to make them look as if they're actually there, pasted against the paragraphs!

More importantly, there were some specific parts of the fic that felt super important and I wanted to highlight these passages, especially the Deals made by the characters throughout their arcs. Given DiTD has a certain affinity with eldritch darkness, I decided to highlight such paragraphs by backlighting them against a band of pure black. Besides being thematic as hell, I made the bands have curved edges and decorative lines to add a certain western-gothic touch!

It was from this that I begin to think "what if I can color entire pages to convey the mood and setting?"

...Which led to the madness in these pages. I can't reveal too much because of spoilers, but there are certain times when the characters end up in situations where the very light turns to dark. Or they end up in hellish situations. Or the eldritch creatures began to speak.

It took some creative brainstorming to figure out how to show the mood of such scenes in printed pages, but I eventually figured out that I need find the right fonts, change their colors from black to white, and then change their backgrounds from white to dark to highlight them all! The power of formatting!

There's a lot more pages where I went wild with such shades and fonts, but I ain't revealing in public because spoilers!

But undoubtedly, this is the biggest experiment I have made with this bind. There is a certain part where Grian and Pearl spoke in eldritch R'lyehian / Cthuvian, and I want to convey the sheer strangeness of the speech and it's meaning. Something outside the box.

Luckily, I have an inspiration in fellow fanbinder @mythrilthread, who made an amazing fanbind that used vellum overlays to showcase the speaking of alien languages and what they mean in English. AND IT LOOKS SICK AS FUCK. When I finished reading Dirges, I knew I had to emulate this form of language translation, so I printed the eldritch speech, cut it, and pasted it onto the spine to give a similar effect of strangeness, and IT LOOKS SO COOL!!!

And lastly, I just had to include some of the amazing fanart made by readers into the book! All of these are placed by their corresponding text and chapters, and they all look so cool!

So I want to give a special thanks to @azzayofchaos, @leafdoodles, @hybbart, and @foxyola for granting their permission for me to include their incredible works into this bind! The dark shades and page formatting is one thing, but these works truly make this book feel so much more alive!

All in all, this bind was an odyssey in the making. I experimented with page formatting, layout wizardry, and bookmaking methods that I haven't tried before. While I know I could do better, I am beyond happy to see this work finished!

And once again, a thousand thanks to @twodiamondhoes / WixWrites for crafting an amazing story!

[finalfrontierpublishing]

So it's been a while since i posted any books - mostly because i've been hiding my progress like a little sneak.

I just finished this bind last night of The Desert Storm by @blue-sunshine-mauve-morning, or really it's volume 1 out of like ??? 15, maybe. Please take whatever i say with a pinch of salt (I have had 0 sleep for more than 24 hours, and that tends to make me a little very sleep-deprivation drunk a.k.a. unhinged). Okay, on to thoughts! The Desert Storm was foisted onto me by @celestial-sphere-press who told me under no uncertain terms that I WOULD FUCKING LOVE THIS SHIT. Well, I did. This more than 1 million word epic about Ben Fuckin' Kenobi is pretty much god-tier fanfiction. It reads like a goddamn novel. I can never think of canon again without thinking that this good shit should be canon. I read it and then consumed half of it within a week, and I have zero regrets. @blue-sunshine-mauve-morning, i absolutely love you and love your writing. It is the best thing since sliced bread. It is better than sliced bread.

I also had the benefit of @celestial-sphere-press saying, hey would you want to use the typeset? MY GOD, i am grateful. I love this fic, i would have typeset it if it hadn't been typeset but Des did such a beautiful job that i am absolutely in awe and thankful that she and the author allowed others to use it. Look at it - it's so beautiful. I only had to think hey, i just gotta design the cover and et cetera and so the book happened.

Please also check out @celestial-sphere-press 's amazing post here and here, who is the only person i know who's started and is almost complete in fanbinding this epic, and is also making an author a copy of the entire series.

Some stats, if you will.

96215 words || 380 pages

Title font: Ghaomiec

I took some inspiration from starblight bindery's lovely desert scape as well as this amazing cover of Dune which i own. I love that the landscape emanates Dune vibes while being oh so Tattooine - just sand and heat, relentless loneliness and melancholy. This fic centres around Obi-Wan Infinite Sadness Kenobi so it needed SAD VIBES TM, which i tried to deliver in desolate landscape form.

Also thank the heavens for Renegade members, who in a masterful stroke of Group Buy Saves Money, managed to source extra-out-of-production colours of Colibri and help a fair number of us get really cool limited edition versions of bookcloth. I am now a proud owner of a lorge stash of Duo and Colibri of which i am now sitting on like a shifty dragon with a hoarding problem. Good luck getting your bookcloth now, Folio Society, ha ha (gloating)! This particular bookcloth is Colibri Copper which has been wholly stashed for The Desert Storm series. I am leaning on transitioning to Malachite for Rise and Fall when I get to it.

The front cover design was done with a stock image and converted to a PNG, which i then fiddled with and did some HTV magic with. It was remarkably easier to weed than expected. I tried something new and ironed the design on the naked bookcloth first before gluing it to the boards, which was a new challenge in making sure everything was aligned.

Endpapers are marbled endpapers (Renato Crepaldi) which I got from Hollanders, which perfectly fit the colour scheme of the bind. The only hiccup was as I was cutting, I realized the sheet was running in the opposite direction of his usual papers and half the size, and only yielded 3 A5 size endpapers and so my heart went noooooooooo. oh well. i guess i will use it for quartos.

Endbands are my favourite - silk in 3 colours in the french doublecore style (as i was binding this i did not have the mental capacity to handle the difficulty of 4 strands). the truth is i usually only can do 4 when I have higher brain function and am willing to spend 80% of my time unraveling it from getting tangled.

I also forgot to mention I had mild fuck-ups, I got glue on the front endpaper which I had to hastily remove with wet cloth, and the back square is preposterously bad but I'm ignoring it for now.

Anyway, i've actually managed to complete a few other binds which have not been mentioned here as they've all been gifts/ surprises or event books in some form. I am SO EXCITED, also because I am travelling in the latter half of July to San Diego and L.A. and I get to meet some bookbinding friends in the flesh. Renegade is fucking amazing y'all. I am ready to embrace these crazy lads who have enabled me for the last 1 year, even when i'm the solitary (1) weirdo from my country of origin in the server. Also... potentially bookbinding trip early next year??? I am enthused.

[three--rings]

Book 4 of Binderary

It's a typeset of Aral Vorkosigan's Dog. The typeset is by @teleportbooks from our Renegade Typeset Exchange this year. I love anything Vorkosigan so much and this typeset looks so great I had to bind it.

The style is simple but it was my first time using regular htv and I'm super happy with how it came out.

[ave-on-main]

“Pre-boot Roy's dynamic with Slade is what fanon wishes Dick's relationship with Slade would be” is a bad faith fanon myth.

I’ve seen this statement go around since Dark Crisis ended last year and wittnessed people actually believe it, so here we go: It’s not true.

First of, lets talk about what allegedly makes pre-boot Roy the person that fanon thinks Dick is to Slade:

One panel that gets taken out of context to prove the statement above is Slade talking about Roy as his “ace in the hole” in Titans (2008) which gets equated to Slade calling Dick a “trophy” in Dark Crisis (2022). In context, these two instances are not the same. Comparing them makes no sense. More on why in the Roy section of this little essay.

Another point of contention is that Rebirth Dick secretly works together with Slade to protect the Titans (2016). People claim that is a rehash of what happened when Roy worked together with Slade while Roy was the leader of the Outsiders (2003), but the premises are entirely different. In Titans Dick works with Slade to protect the other team members. In Outsiders Roy uses Slade’s intel and funding without knowing he’s speaking to Slade. He thinks Slade is Batman.

It is also worth noting that the Rebirth version has more in common with the Apprentice arc of Teen Titans Animated 2003. TT 03 came out at the same time Outsiders did. Slade was revealed to be Roy’s contact in Outsiders #21 (February 2005). The first time Slade appears as Batman is Outsiders #4 (September 2003), but it is not known to readers or characters that Batman is not Bruce. The Apprentice arc of TT 03 started in Season 1 Episode 11 (October 2003). The show didn’t copy the comics, nor assumably did the comics copy the show. It could be a weird attempt at synergy to reveal Slade in 2005 but it is unlikely because DC cared very little about synergy at the time. Worth noting though is, that Slade’s role in Outsiders is extremely limited. Once his identity is revealed, he is no longer part of the plot.

Now, in fanon, the Rebirth version of events is largely ignored. If anyone in fandom wants to talk about Dick working with Slade, they’ll mostly use the more thought out version of the show as a blueprint or the Renegade arc of Nightwing (1996). Both comic and show are also actually written by writers who like Dick unlike Deathstroke 2016.

That Roy is important to Rose’s developement isn’t true. She babysits Lian but she barely talks to Roy or any of the adult Titans while she appears in Titans (1999).  Nightwing: Renegade retcons that Dick was there while she babysitted Lian, but all Roy does is villify Rose, not once implying that he had anything to do with getting her on the Titans.

Equally as untrue is that Slade is actually obsessed with Roy over Dick. It’s a purely fanon take.

There’s also this conspiracy going around that Slade & Dick stans working at DC are retconning things to make Dick look better, which is, I can’t say it differently, an insane statement to make. Dan Didio erased the Slade-Dick rivalry from existance, so much so that Higgins could not use them in the same story even though he was writing both New 52 books. Seeley & King could merely put Deathstroke into Grayson (2014) as a papershield target practice. Christopher Priest dislikes Dick, which he not only states on his blog but is also obvious in his writing (Deathstroke #4). Interestingly, the people screaming about retcons ruining everything had nothing to say about Rebirth Roy being part of the NTT roaster while Grant attacks the team (Lazarus Contract).

Infinite Frontier ties Dick and Slade together once more, but it is almost all talk and no show. It’s a distant echo of their pre-boot relationship. There was zero build up to their reconnection. Frankly, a Dick & Slade stan would put a lot more effort into it. The only reason DC brought a semblance of their rivalry back was because of Red X nostalgia and it shows. Dick only dons the Deathstroke mask in Future State: Teen Titans to complement Red X and his hunt for Deathstroke in Teen Titans Academy is mention but never shown, not even as a one panel flashback.

Meanwhile Green Arrow is now the first hero Deathstroke fought (Deathstroke Inc. Year One) and Slade encounters Roy soon after (Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #2). DC is still trying to tie Slade to the JL rather than to the Titans.

But what are their actual Pre-Boot relationships?

Vastly different, that’s for sure. 

At first, Dick is largely tied to Slade because of Joey and the similarities (skill-wise) Slade sees in Dick. Later Dick’s ties to Slade’s children and what that causes makes respect turn into hate. 

Slade gets involved with Roy because of Cheshire and to manipulate the Outsiders by orders of Dr. Sivana. 

Roy Harper and Slade Wilson

Roy in Deathstroke (1991)

The first time Slade and Roy properly meet (aka actually share a word) is in Deathstroke The Terminator (1991) #18. They are both undercover and pretend to work with Cheshire.

Jade introduces Roy to Slade, and Jade “asks” for Slade’s help by using what amounts to a slave ring she can reactivate any time to control him. Together with her other underlings they set out to steal nuclear warheads.

Not knowing they could be on the same side, Roy betrays the team by going after Slade. Slade defeats him, and Roy is left in enemy territory.

Roy makes his way back after Cheshire has already nuked Qurac. The destruction makes Slade and Roy temporarly work together to apprehend Jade and reveal their allegiances to each other (#20).

While Roy is on the Titans when Rose joins the team in the following crossover event, she doesn’t interact one-on-one with him. All he does is give Impulse relationship advice because Bart is crushing on Rose (The New Titans #126).

Titans (1999)

Roy and Slade meet when Tartarus attacks H.I.V.E. which at that point is lead by an incognito Adeline Kane but don’t have a one-on-one interaction in thie story.

Their first true confrontation takes place later. Slade’s been contracted to kill Cheshire due to her nuking Qurac. As Slade and Roy fight, Slade mentions Nightwing as a comparison between the two, and even though Roy temporarly gains the upperhand, Slade escapes to go after Jade. (#22)

Rose starts to babysit Lian after the Deathstroke & Qurac incident, but weirdly enough, she barely shares a word with any of the adult Titans. She’s really just kind of there.

Outsiders (2003)

Roy believes Batman is giving him intel and is funding the Outsiders  (#6, #11) . In truth, the Batman who he’s been talking to is Slade.

It's when Dick learns that Roy hasn't been talking to the real Bruce, that Slade reveals himself. Slade fights Roy, taunting him about killing him and adopting Lian to make her an assassin. Slade realizes Roy isn't on top of his game and sees the five direct bullet wounds he's received on an earlier Outsiders mission. Taking pity, Slade decides to leave him alive (#21).

In #43 the Outsiders learn that Slade was hired by Dr. Sivana. The mad scientist saw potential in manipulating the team. It was not Slade’s idea to go after the Outsiders.

Titans (2008)

When Slade creates his own Titans team, Cheshire convinces Arsenal to join the team with her. She wants to use the opportunity to kill Slade. Roy pretends to have switched allegiances and joins the team.

Slade knows not to trust them. He uses Roy’s drug addiction against him by switching out Roy’s “regular” drugs with a substance called “Bliss”. (#27)

Later Slade uses Roy as his “ace in the hole” when the Justice League confronts them. He threatens to blow up his ship with a warhead. The League, lead by Dick as Batman, retreats as not to harm Roy. In this case, “always his ace” means the reason Roy is on the team is to be used as a human meat shield because other heroes still care for him (Annual #1).

At the end of this arc, Roy betrays the team and decides against resurrecting Lian and with that stops Slade from resurrecting Grant. Slade swears revenge on him because Roy literally did what the New Teen Titans did. “Killing Grant.” The Titans comic and the entire Pre-New 52 universe end with Roy and Joey deciding to reform the Titans because Dick still believed in the teams value.

Apart from the initial Qurac storyline, there’s no canon Slade and Roy story in which Dick doesn’t at least get mentioned.

Pre-New 52 Dick Grayson and Slade Wilson

New (Teen) Titans

Dick belongs to the six New Teen Titans that Slade originally takes on a contract against (New Teen Titans (1980) #02). Slade contacts the team soon after their first meeting to take them out. Dick plays the voice of reason during that second encounter and makes the Titans listen to Slade’s plan. Slade fails to kill them (#10).

During the Judas Contract, Slade learns Robin’s secret identity through Tara’s spying on the Titans (Tales of the Teen Titans #42). Slade attacks Dick in his office, telling him he won’t kill him if Dick doesn’t resist because H.I.V.E. wants the Titans dead or alive. Dick knows he can’t win a hand-to-hand fight against Slade and manages to trick him. Slade admires how Dick escapes, ascertaining that Dick is the leader for a reason. He’s the hardest to catch because powers don’t make a man. Just like Dick, Slade was the best even before he got augmented. It’s a first for Slade to loose his target. He blames it on being worried about the contract.

While Adeline and Joey get in contact with Dick, Slade delivers the Titans sans-Dick to H.I.V.E. (#43). Adeline proceeds to tell Dick how Slade became Deathstroke the Terminator. Afterward Joey and Dick team up to save the Titans (#44).

After Tara loses herself in her rage and dies, Dick concludes Slade and she were manipulating each other (Annual #3).

Dick remains in contact with the D.A. office to ensure the Titans are still going to testify against Slade but a Deathstroke imposter attacks Lilith. Slade’s attorney spins a defense out of the imposter (#53). Gar has his own plans for Slade while Dick and the Titans want to focus on aprehending the imposter. Dick gets sworn in as an expert witness on matters of identity, and he tries to use what Adeline told him about Slade in court, but Slade’s attorney uses Dick’s words against the Titans. Slade doesn’t go on further trial but will remain detained in prison and has a small confrontation with Dick. (#54)

Wildbeests are hunting the Titans and Slade gets hired by Dayton to save Gar and the others. He would have gone after them regardless to save Joey. He ends up searching out Dick’s apartment first, probably in hopes he hasn’t been captured yet (#71). Slade doesn’t realize that Dick is one of the Wildbeests he encounters, and the one who helpes Slade escape from the second Wildbeest.

The Wildbeests realize they have a spy and overpower Dick. Slade catches Pantha just as she finds pieces of Dick’s costume (#74). Slade invades the Wildbeest base, and Joey reveals himself to Dick and him (#75). The two end up fighting Joey, but can’t get through to him. Dick implores Slade to calm down and focus as they escape to Titans Tower. There, Slade stops Pantha when she attacks Dick shortly before the Wildbeests attack the base. Slade and Dick escape together. While Slade can’t believe Joey is doing this, Dick is the more realistic of the two. 

Later, Slade gets them out of a tough situation by morally questionably methods. Slade expects a response from Dick but gets a proverbial shrug (#76).

Shortly before their final confrontation with Joey, Slade decides he has no other choice than to kill Joey, which Dick is against. Slade kills his son because he knows the real Joey regarded the Titans as friends (#84).

Slade and Dick meet on the Titans Tower island afterward. Dick notices him, which according to Slade not many are able to do. Dick asks why he couldn’t be bothered to show up at the funeral of the son he killed. 

Dick attacks Slade in his grief over Joey, telling him to fight back. Slade does if only to tell him he lost someone too. Their fight ends when Dick admits he doesn’t get how Slade and Bruce can just keep bottling their anger up, he’d explode. Slade tells him that losing control hasn’t done him anything good and that he has to believe he freed Joey. He then shows concern for having injured Dick, but Dick denies his help, and they part ways without anything truly resolved (#86).

Dick in Deathstroke, The Terminator (1991)

Bruce calls Dick to get intel on Slade. While Dick knows how dangerous Slade is, he calls him a good man, to which Slade later responds by saying Dick’s wide-eyed and idealistic. (#7)

When Deathstroke gets into crosshairs with the Justice League and has lost much of his powers, the Titans set out to confront him. He encounters Dick and Koriand’r while he tries to escape. Dick tries to stop him and explains to him that if he’s an innocent man, he’ll stand by his side and help him get free of the charges (#14). In fact, the Titans saw what was happening to him on TV and Dick made the decision to help him or take him down depending on whether Joey dying pushed him over the edge (New Titans #89).

Dick and Slade end up working together when Eclipso tries to take over Earth’s heroes. Slade heads to Salvagion to get information about his current situation where he meets Nightwing, who’s been caught spying. Salvagion isn’t the enemy, though, Nightwing is there to retrieve information about Cyborg’s files to heal his friend. The files were lost when Titans Tower got destroyed. 

Dick and Slade fight against enemy mercenaries, who are attacking Salvagion,  and figure something is wrong. Dick then hires Slade and Pat to save the Titans.

By 1993 Dick’s appearances in Deathstroke and The New Titans apruptly ends because he had been taken back by the Bat Office. Editorial was quite strict at the time, demanding him to be written out of New Titans.

Slade in Nightwing (1996)

As Dick tries to apprehend an out of control Man-Bat, Slade shows up to do just that with tranquil darts, shooting Dick too in the process (#17). Dick learns that Slade has been contracted to capture Man-Bat alive and knows Slade doesn’t work cheap, so he and Barbara figure out who Slade has been hired by.

Dick ends up fighting Slade on a boat, treading barbs throughout, and ultimately taking Slade out long enough to escape with Man-Bat (#18).

While Dick’s working at the BPD, Dick one day comes home to find Slade in his apartment (#79). Slade reveals that he’s searched him out because he has a contract in town. Dick and Joey were such good friends, Slade feels it’s fair to tell him. Dick asks for the name of Slade’s target, but Slade hasn’t come to betray all of his cards, he’s simply trying to make a deal, so Dick stays out of his way. Dick considers calling for backup, but there’s no one he wants to put in Slade’s path.

During his police work, Dick sees Slade again and goes after him. They have a short confrontation in which Slade reiterates for him to stay out of the way, but Blüdhaven is Dick’s city, he’ll protect everyone in it. Slade threatens Dick and shoots when Gannon Malloy, Dick’s partner at the BPD, draws a gun at him. Dick saves him but gets shot in the arm (#80).

The Batfamily visits him at the hospital, and Dick asks Cass for help with Deathstroke. She fights Deathstroke and retrieves a disc from him that reveals who the target is (#81).

Dick succeeds to save Amy from Slade’s first attack, fighting Slade until he takes advantage of his injury. Dick tells Amy to run, stating Slade won’t hurt him. Even though Slade implies that he will, Slade doesn’t further fight Dick, going after his target instead. Dick ignores his own safety to attack Slade in close proximity again. It allows Amy to get far enough away for Slade to temporarly stop his hunt and punch Dick unconscious.

Dick remains by Amy’s side as much as he can, stopping Slade from shooting her by dropping bills on him and fighting him long enough to tell him that Dick s overbidding the contract put on Amy.

Slade responds by saying that he always knew that Dick had a heart (#82).

When Blockbuster dies some time later, new villains want to take his spot and as Dick learns Deathstroke will be the hired help, he considers how he can stop them while Slade knows his secret idenity (#110). Dick hunts down Westbrook to get into contact with Slade. By the time Dick returns home, Slade has received his message (which leads to the famous shower panel) and Slade witnesses how Dick has gotten involved with the Blüdhaven mob (#111). Dick tries to convince Slade that he is one of the bad guys now, but Slade claims he doesn’t have an interest in seeing Dick be a “selfloathing mercenary” now that he has to take care of Rose.

Dick wishes Rose good luck after both Grant’s and Joey’s deaths, and Slade ultimately decides through Rose’s input to let Dick train her. Rose tells Dick she was a nanny to Lian (paradoxially because he knows. He was there in Titans (1999)). They save Sophia Tevis and Rose tells her father, asking him if Dick gets to have a private life from them, which Slade replies to with “obviously not” (#112). 

While Rose and Dick investigate another crime, Slade seeks out Amy Rohrbach, telling her he won’t hurt her because she is permanently off his hitlist. He can still kill her family, though. He is searching for Sophia Tevis behind Dick’s back and confronts Dick with her existence and proof that Dick in fact remains a hero (#113). Rose’s training continues, and while Slade does not trust in Dick’s loyalty, he lets him investigate the villains Slade is currently working with (#114). Slade decides to monitor Dick as he sends out Rose and Dick to hunt Superman. Dick has been given a glove through which Slade can monitor and change his heartbeat as well as hear what is going on. Dick uses the fight to show Rose that the ideology of her father is wrong. 

When Dick is later confronted by Slade, who is threatening to kill him, Dick reveals that Slade cannot kill him for two reasons: 1. Slade killing Dick would cause Rose to betray him and 2. that Slade has always failed to kill him and that it never fails to make him mad. Slade lets Dick go, but knows Dick is messing with something too big for him (#115). 

After Slade betrays Dick, Dick plants geiger counters in Slade’s house and makes sure Rose learns that her father has been poisioning her with the Kryptonite in her eye. Slade and Dick are fighting during the conversation. Slade tries to stay in control of the situation, but Rose ultimately believes Dick, especially when Slade tries to silence him even though Rose wishes to hear what Dick has to tell. Dick makes sure Slade knows he’ll get back at him someday for what he did to Blüdhaven (#117).

Titans (1999)

This Titans story takes place before their fallout. Deathstroke is fataly wounded by Tartarus and goes to the Titans for help. Dick reluctantly offers him a temporary place on the team, but not without putting a tracker on him (#10) and reminding Slade continuously that if he fights with the Titans, he must follow their rules (#12).

Deathstroke brings Dick up while fighting Roy, claiming Arsenal is no Nightwing (#22) and Rose later becomes the carekater of Lian but hardly talks with the Titans on panel.

Teen Titans (2003)

When Slade defeats the Teen Titans by manipulating several young heroes, the original Titans aren’t happy about it. Dick tells Slade to leave (#45). When he doesn’t, Dick and he fight while the other Titans take on his crew. During the confrontation, Slade taunts Dick, but Dick still stops Cass from trying to kill him.

When Slade tells the Titans they’ll never be able to trust Rose and Joey, Dick replies that they have proven themselves and will always have a place on the team. Slade gets away, revealing it was all a test to see if his children will have a good life with the Titans (#46).

Infinite Crisis (2005)

After everything that has happened with Grant, Joey and finally Rose, Slade blames Dick for his misfortune (#7). (The page this panel is from was apparently accidentally erased in the digital version of this issue. It can only be found in the digital collected edition and the print editions.)

Batman & Robin (2009)

Talia hires Deathstroke to kill Dick by letting him take control of Damian’s body. She states that Slade has a “long and eventful history” with the “foolish young Batman pretender”. Slade has waited a long time to get rid of Dick per his own words (#11). Slade wants Dick to know who is going to cripple him, so Talia intensifies the neural bond for Slade to be able to speak through Damian. They are working together because they have both lost their children to the hero community because of Dick.

Damian is resisting the control, which makes Slade unable to do much more than to reiterate his desire to kill Dick. Dick electroshocks Damian, knowing Damian can handle it, but Slade likely can’t because of his enhanced senses making him more vulnerable while connected through the neural link. Slade goes into shock, and Dick later searches him out after infiltrating Talia’s base to give him payback. 

Titans (2008)

Deathstroke makes a deal with Mad Hatter, which causes his group of Titans to cause havoc in Arkham Asylum. Dick, then Batman, stops him from taking an inmate with him (#28). Slade calculates whether fighting Dick is worth it and decides to do so. Dick is still furious at Slade for what he did to Damian.

Dick is forced to let Slade get away to save two Arkham guards but pursues him, getting confronted by the new Titans team Deathstroke is leading (#29). Dick and Roy shortly work together. Dick tries to convince him that he is not a villain, but Slade tells Dick Roy is now on his side.

Slade and his Titans are able to leave while Dick deals with the freed inmates off-panel (#30). Ray Palmer point out to Dick that he is taking the confrontation badly, initially only blaming it on the appearance of Slade, who Dick has fought “more times than any [hero]” (#34). Slade reveals to Roy that he chose him for the team to ensure the League could not act in fear of putting him in mortal  danger. Dick gives the order for the JLA to fall back but both Slade and Roy know they’ll still be pursued.

As usual, Dick and Slade share a snarky exchange before the serious fight begins. Dick leaves Slade to Ray while he engages with Roy. The hero Isis stops the fight because they are in her land. Dick makes it known that they should have killed Slade long ago but retreats with the League, giving Roy hope in the process to stand against Slade’s goal (Titans Annual #1).

Conclusion

Fans who enjoy the Dick-Slade dynamic whether at DC or in fandom aren’t erasing Roy to slot in Dick. Slade obsessing over Dick isn’t a new concept. He grew obsessed because their paths crossed many times over the years, and Dick has ties to all three of his children. Slade never felt obsession toward Roy.

If you want your fanon Slade to be obsessed with fanon Roy, and you want to transform canon moments, go ahead, nobody is stopping you, but don’t pretend it’s canon simply to erase Dick.

And before you all come with the Gar argument: Simply because the Gar-Slade and Dick-Slade dynamics came up around the same time does not mean they are the same. Gar and Roy are mostly tied to Slade through one person (Tara and Cheshire). Dick was initially tied to Slade through Grant (as were the other NTT) and then Joey, but their dynamic transcended that to something much more personal and the groundwork was laid by Wolfman himself when he made Slade point out how much Dick's capabilities remind him of his younger self.

The Slade-Dick dynamic is unique because it was allowed to transform and build-upon with each appearance (except for Dixon's). Enemies turning to frenemies then bitter enemies is not a story usually experienced like this in comics. It happens, but it happens as a backstory or under the same writer, not in real time.

[howlingaround]

[ Faction Paradox ]

Very certainly not the first to notice but theres a sort of countdown (countup?) in the Book of the War, but I cant find half the numbers

Updated Version 3:

14 - ???

13 - Thirteen Day Republic

12 - ???

11 - Eleven Day Empire

10 - Ten escaped Familiar type timeships

9 - Nine Homeworlds

8 - Eighth Doctor as the Evil Renegade mentioned between the lines? Or the eight deleted entries unter the Enemys entry?

7 - NOT Seventh Head Prophecy (its not in BotW oops) ... so yeah i got nothin

6 - Sixth Wave Defection (see 8)

5 - Five Famous Space Battles

4 - Four "mutations" in the generation

3 - Cousin-Thrice-Removed Anastasia, being three times her own imposter

2 - Second War in Heaven?

1 - "One", President Umbaste and Investigator One

Its probably just coincidence, nothing to worry about ...

[wanderingmind867]

My plans for my Justice League Canada series (if ever I manage to make such a series) regarding lineups and rosters on the team.

Issues #1-5: These first five issues serve as an introduction to the comic and to the Justice League Canada more broadly. The Justice League Detroit completely broke apart, and now it's the Justice League Canada! And the three new members of the team: Blue Beetle, Aqsarniit and The Angel of Dawn.

Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz)

2. Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)

3. Aqsarniit

4. The Angel of Dawn/Ange de L'aube (Samantha Guizzon)

5. Captain Marvel/Shazam (Billy Batson)

6. Gypsy (Cynthia Reynolds) (i know the name of gypsy is offensive, but i couldn't think of a new name).

7. Red Tornado

Issues #6-7: Booster Gold is added to the team. Introduced in the Blue Beetle's solo comic as a reluctant villian who gets redeemed and becomes a hero, Blue Beetle now insists the team add his buddy to the roster. Most of the team is against adding Booster to their ranks (knowing it'd be a PR nightmare for the already publically distrusted league if they recruited an ex-con), but Martian Manhunter insists they give him a chance.

So J'onn stages a test for Booster. He shapeshifts and pretends to be a supervillian, and he tests Booster's weaknesses. Can he overcome J'onn's death traps? Can he neutralize his super strength and telepathic powers? Can he resist the temptations a supervillian can offer (like unlimited wealth and power)? When the answer to these questions becomes clear, J'onn shapeshifts back and welcomes Booster onto the team!

Issue #7 is the story where J'onn finally departs from the League. After one last mission with them (and a tense press release where he defends the recruitment of Booster Gold), J'onn announces that he's leaving. He's off to go search for his brother, since he's heard rumours Ma'alefa'ak is in St Louis. And although he loves the Justice League, J'onn's brother comes first. He has faith in all of the leaguers present before him, and he knows they won't disappoint him.

Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) (leaves at the end of issue #7)

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)

Aqsarniit

The Angel of Dawn/Ange de L'aube (Samantha Guizzon)

Captain Marvel/Shazam (Billy Batson)

Gypsy (Cynthia Reynolds)

Red Tornado

Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter) (joins in issue #6)

Issues #8-13: These issues feature no shake ups in the team's lineup. Just our 7 members going on missions. Possibly we'd see an escalation in the Red Tornado/Cynthia Reynolds romance, or we'd get more character development for some of our cast.

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)

Aqsarniit

The Angel of Dawn/Ange de L'aube (Samantha Guizzon)

Captain Marvel/Shazam (Billy Batson)

Gypsy (Cynthia Reynolds)

Red Tornado

Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter)

Issues #14-15: The beginning of a new two part story arc, designed to introduce some characters who'll be relevant later. The Justice League Canada is called to investigate a weird disturbance over the skies of Vancouver, only to discover an alien invasion attempt by some renegade saturnians, led by K'os'che'i (although his name won't be revealed in this book until many issues from now, when Jemm joins the team).

In any case, The Justice League then has to deal with repelling a saturnian invasion of earth (just as the original Justice League had to deal with this years ago). And when in Vancouver, a new hero enters the scene: Guy Gardner, earth's newest Green Lantern! When a green lantern patrolling space is shot down by K'os'che'i's fleet, he lands on earth.

More specifically, he lands in the backyard of Guy Gardner, educational assistant for mentally disabled children! Guy Gardner proves himself to be pure of heart, and the dying Green Lantern passes the ring on to him. He had been considered for Green Lantern before, but Hal Jordan and John Stewart beat him to the punch. But now it's Guy Gardner's turn, and he's not gonna waste it!

Guy Gardner teams up with the Justice League Canada to help defend Vancouver (and the world at large) from K'os'che'i's invasion of earth. And together, the eight of them manage to repel the invasion! And when the invasion has successfully been repelled, the few human crooks who got roped into assisting the saturnians receive full prosecution from crown attorney richard raleigh (a man who will later join the Justice League in his superhero identity as The Red Bee).

1. Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)

2. Aqsarniit

3. The Angel of Dawn/Ange de L'aube (Samantha Guizzon)

4. Captain Marvel/Shazam (Billy Batson)

5. Gypsy (Cynthia Reynolds)

6. Red Tornado

7. Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter)

8. Green Lantern III (Guy Gardner) (Joins officially at the end of Issue #15)

[m4sonn]

The Gang During Quarantine (the outsiders)

What the gang would’ve been doing during quarantine

(Thanks to my friend @peachyponyboyy whom I collaborated with with for this and the projects like it)

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺ ᴳ : Ponyboy

• scared as hell of getting the vid.

• refuses to go outside.

• hoards hugeee stacks of books, he stole darrys old dvd’s from when he was a kid.

• reads every single book he can get his sticky little hands on.

• shut in his room most of the time bc “everyone else is a ‘distraction’ to his peace…”

• Went through the E-Boy 2021 phase.. Got a nose ring out of spite, Darry got piiiiissed but oh well, it kinda suited him.

• bought a bunch of strawberry cow shit and now hides them in his closet out of shame, he’s still relentlessly teased by everyone but especially Sodapop

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Sodapop

• tbh? He doesn’t really do much

• Just invites steve over and they get on everyone’s ass

• Sometimes when he’s really bored he’ll try on the clothes he doesn't wear much that sit in the abyss he calls his closet and pose in front of his mirror (Did I serve or did I serve?)

• Totally learned tiktok dances (still knows the renegade, even after 4 years..)

• Became one of the POV tiktokers like skyyjade but stopped in early 2023

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Darry

• cooks sooo much more than usual

• he’ll literally take out cookbooks from like 3 generations back.

• Does the “aesthetic” workouts if he’s bored

• grocery shopping a lot because he’s the only one who responsibly does it, he likes when Ponyboy goes with him but he barely does since Ponyboy is terrified of getting sick now.

• Got a pair of airpods during quarantine and loves listening to music through them, they're glued to darry now.

• He is a god at baking.

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Dally

• Ngl he didn't change at all

• sneaks out a lot though.

• darry knows but does not have any shits left to give.

• hates cops even more than he did before

• Would definitely go to the protests with a gun locked and loaded.

• Surprisingly he keeps a tidy space.

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Johnny

• watches a lot of tv

• and listens to music a lot

• scared as hell of getting the ‘vid

• Locks himself in his room

• Probably had a slight depressive episode, i feel like his brain needs to stay stimulated or else he just crumbles.

• Had a gacha phase during quarantine and had a semi-famous YouTube channel (also gacha), he never EVER told ANYONE. Not even ponyboy

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Two-bit

• very ecstatic because he can actually just watch mickey mouse clubhouse the whole day

• sneaks out sometimes to get beer and cancer sticks.

• if mickey isn’t on he’ll watch lilo and stitch

• eats like a goddamn pig, but everyone does so who tf cares

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Steve

• He tries to be helpful because he knows darry isn’t just gonna keep baking all the sweets he makes.

• so he tries to learn how to bake

• Bad idea (almost burned everyone alive)

• apart from that he just fucks around with soda

• That's when they found resident evil…and all the leon kennedy edits…they have gotten into arguments over this man.

[bang-bang-gang]

#4 of the OT3 dialogue prompts for HangMoxRenee?

prompt:

"I need attention." "And I need to focus right now. Go and annoy Person C, that's why there are three of us."

Thank you for sending this in, this was so much fun to write lol. Featuring neurodivergent Mox!

(read on AO3 instead)

--

The best way to approach Renee at a time like this, is by bending over to bring your head down low and bonking it against her shoulder.

“I need attention.”

“And I need to focus right now,” Renee answers. Well. Mox never claimed his approach would actually work out. “Go annoy Adam, that’s why there’s three of us.”

Mox’s eyes go wide. “But we’re at work.”

Renee looks up from her notes just to roll her eyes at her husband. “So what? Everyone’s terrified of you and him both right now. No one will dare to bother you.”

She’s got a point. Mox leaves her be, making sure that on his way out, he shoulder-checks RJ City, who’s been cowering in a corner. Just makin’ a statement.

It doesn’t take long to find Adam. The space that’s set up as a makeshift gym isn’t very big, and there’s not much equipment available. Mox is sure Adam could have glared someone down to hand over the weights, but instead, his boyfriend opted to do push-ups on one of the mats. Shirtless.

Mox allows himself a full thirty seconds for staring. That’s when he notices those girls, the Renegade twins, off to the side and giggling between the two of them. Hey, they are totally allowed to enjoy the view, but Mox kinda needs Adam right now or he’s going to burst.

The goat-like headbutt isn’t going to work on someone who’s basically horizontal already, so Mox sinks down to his haunches next to Adam. “Hey. Got a moment?”

Adam doesn’t look up from his exercise, the thick muscles in his upper back contracting as he lowers himself with a heavy sigh. “I’m in the middle of my set.”

“I need you,” Mox says in a low voice. His eyes scan the room: the Renegade twins have fluttered away, and everyone’s staunchly looking away from them and avoiding eye contact. Good, they’re all scared. “Renee told me to come find you.”

That gets Adam’s attention. He stops and sits back on his knees. “But we’re at work.”

Mox waves it away as if that’s not exactly what he said fifteen minutes ago. “It’s really important.”

Adam’s curious eyes flit down Mox’s body. “Then we better go somewhere more private, huh?”

Mox doesn’t really care about the place they have this conversation, honestly: in fact, he wouldn’t mind Adam continuing his work-out as eye candy for Mox while he talks. But he supposes a quieter spot makes more sense, so they don’t raise any questions with the way they’re all buddy-buddy all of a sudden. What he doesn’t understand, is why Adam drags him into a supply closet, of all places.

The space is cramped, but at least the light switch works. Mox turns to face Adam, and before he can get a word out, their lips crash together.

Every fucking time. Adam tastes like something so sinful, it makes Mox want to carve his name into his flesh and carry him on his skin forever. Or maybe he’d settle for a tattoo to match the one he has for Renee. He allows Adam to lick into his mouth, groaning into the kiss as his hand tangles in blond locks.

Adam tears away from him, panting slightly with his eyes wild. “Tell me what you need.”

Oh. Right.

Mox lets go of the other man and straightens his shirt. He smiles. Nearly got distracted by Adam’s lips.

Anyway.

“So, there’s this book,” he starts, leaning back against a cabinet before he realizes he’s about to make a mess of the cleaning supplies and quickly standing up straight. “And it’s just total bullshit? I hate how the author set up the central conflict, and it just keeps dragging on and on and on. Like, get to the point already, you know? I haven’t finished it yet so it’s not like I can go online to talk about it, there’ll be spoilers, and I was wondering if you… would you please…?”

Adam blinks back at him, eyes wide. A very, very slow hand reaches up to touch his lower lip, spit-shiny and red from the kissing. His eyes trail down Mox’s body before looking him in the eye again.

Just when the silence starts to get uncomfortable, Adam speaks up. “You want me to listen while you infodump about your book?”

Mox nods fervently.

Adam takes a step back, bumping back against the door, and very much still in Mox’s space on account of the room being too small to allow otherwise. “When you said you needed me, I pictured something very different.”

“Oh.” Mox’s eyes widen. The cramped space and sudden make-out are starting to make sense. “Sorry?”

“Don’t be sorry,” Adam says, his lips curling into a smile. “I love you. I just thought you wanted to have your dick sucked. You can totally talk about your book, of course.” His voice grows softer, more gentle. “Guess your book club has kinda dissolved, huh?”

Mox casts his eyes down. Man. He just wants to rant about this stupid book, not reckon with the consequences of his own actions.

“Tell you what,” Adam says, reaching out to hold Mox’s hand. “How about I blow you while you talk. I’m very good at active listening when there’s something in my mouth.”

Mox doesn’t even have to think about the offer, he’s nodding yes immediately. “You are the perfect boyfriend.”

“I know,” Adam says with a smirk, already on his knees and looking up at Mox as he works his pants open. “Now tell me about that book you’re reading, baby.”

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Here is the koi fish au I kinda typed up?

Pros to nothliting as koi:

1. CONTAINMENT - the yeerk and taxxon population becomes an inert non threat. Koi are basically powerless against humans, and it's not like they could manipulate people cuz what can Koi Esplin offer? And the greatest advantage is we can keep an eye on every single nothlit, because Koi Can't Escape, especially if we keep them in, like, Nevada or Siberia or something.

2. FAMILIAR but UPGRADED environment - a koi pond or an aquarium can be beautiful spaces. Much like a yeerk pool, yeerks natural environment, a koi pond or aquarium can house potentially hundreds of koi, and multiple can be hooked together. They could swim around, thought-speak, take visitors, even read books and use computers (depending on security level). It's a straight upgrade too, because koi experience all 5 senses and pass the mirror test, so even if you're just going from the yeerk pool to the koi pond directly, it's way better than being a yeerk OR a taxxon OR Any Wild Animal

3. COMMUNITY - yeerks, taxxons could live in community together. Humans would definitely bond with yeerks if the aquariums were visitable. Humanity is scarred by the yeerk invasion, but I believe that we could have a path forwards with our new Koi friends. Imagine this (https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/s/fdDEsPmZku) but giant talking goldfish are you kidding me??? I would go every day to talk to my new fish friends. Koi can also live long and fulfilling lives, unlike most wild animals.

4. Anaconda plan flaws - it wasn't clear to me why the yeerks were allowed to turn into apex predators and roam free in the first place. Seems. Likely that you'd get, oh idk, some renegade guerrilla warrior anacondas mixed in with the rest. Maybe even some who saw from precedence a whole bunch can be. If it wasn't completely clear by now, I completely disagree with Cassie on the amazon idea. You can't just loose a bunch of snakes in the amazon! You have no way of controlling the outcomes there. And nobody seems to be considering that they're all going to starve in a few months (sciencedirect com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/lotka-volterra-model). Why not put them in a zoo? Or y'know. A koi pond.

*john hammond voice* Somewhere where we have a bit more control

This is amazing and I love it.

[chaoticbindery]

Embers by Vathara @wuxiaphoenix

Special thanks to @sayornispress for letting me use their typeset to complete these binds for the 4th annual @renegadepublishing exchange! Thanks to the mods and my giftee for their patience while I struggled lol 🙈

I hope my giftee loves them as much as I loved making them. I'm glad they arrive at their forever home.

This is what the gift economy of Fandom is meant to be!

I kinda didn't understand what over 700,000 words meant when I first decided to bind this monster of a fic. But I was excited to learn to round books and do these 2 bookcloth cover designs. I also came in possession of a very large and diverse variety of heat reactive foils... so here we are lol. I think each book from printing to completion took me 20ish hours?

Below the line, you will find more information regarding these binds

Embers book 1

This puppy was so complicated for me to complete that I made it twice. The first one was so horribly made that I refused to show it to anyone.

Made using Colibri Golden bookclothfor the cover with green foil. The back was done using Duo Herb Garden with gold foil, which was a yellowish undertone. The endpapers are Thai Banana Green from ASW. I used warm white 28lbs paper from chirch paper to print, linen thread, and remie bands, and I made the endbands using Herb Garden and 4mm twig core.

It's about 700 pages and 1 1/4 thick

Embers book 2

I kinda loved this one the most. This was the second book made, so it has a lot of the flaws the first version of book 1 had, but I was happy enough with what I accomplished with it and the construction of the book was solid.

Made using Colibri Pearl bookcloth with silver, black, and metalic blue foil for the front, the back was done using Duo Polar from Australia with silver foil. the endpapers are Thai Banan Blue from ASW. I used the same warm white 28lb paper from church paper, linen thread, and rembie bands, and the endbands were done using polar bookcloth and 4mm twig core.

700 pages, 1 1/4 thickness. I'm very proud that the dimensions of all the books are the same 💙

Embers book 3

This one is my all-time favorite, and I blame it on the sky bison on the cover. I can't help it. They are my favorite creatures on the whole show!

The cover was made using vintage Colibri Copper (some company had rolls of these colors from years ago, and they had been discontinued in, I believe in 2010) using gold foil. The back is Duo Sunshine, and I used metalic orange foil. The end papers are Thai Mango Mustard from ASW. I used white warm 28lb paper, linen thread, rembie bands, and 4mm twig with sunshine cloth for the endbands.

It's a bit under 700 pages, but still 1 1/4 thick.

And finally...

Embers book 4

When I completed this one, I almost cried 🤣. I loved working on these binds, but I was so happy to finally be done.

I used vintage Colibri Uran with metalic red foil for the front and Duo Evening Red with black foil for the back. The endpapers were done using Thai Banana True Red from ASW. I used the same warm white 28lb paper, linen thread, and rembie bands, and the endbands were made using Evening Red with 4mm twig core.

About 650 pages yet still 1 1/4 thickness.

Funfact: These 4 books weigh 12 lbs together 🤣🙈

If you would like to learn how to bookbind consider joining Renegade!!!