#This is of course just shenanigans but

[tulipsnflowers]

Okay, guys, you want me to go on about the most pointless things?

Let's go on about Byeol (and a bit about Fane, I suppose), because I am going insane

Alright everyone, for those unaware, this is Byeol:

This is a tyrant in Nexomon: Extinction, his name is Byeol. The problem about this, however.

He isn't a story tyrant, and this... Makes me very interested in him.

Amelie calls Tyrants super powerful Nexomon, but here's the thing. According to Coco, Jin blocked off the entrance to Fenrir's tomb so that no more Tyrants may be hatched

Lydia also says to go bother Nadine because of the egg, and keep in mind, the grass Tyrant is Tikala. A warden. Probably because Deena didn't necessarily want to add fuel to the fire

So then we are already established that Tyrants are probably always hatched.

... So then what of Fane and especially Byeol?

(And there's no Psychic Tyrants because... Solus would be too lil to bonk an egg, and nobody would ask a random kid to do so.)

Well, let's go with the easier one, in which I ask yet again, what's up with the Ghost type? I've wanted to throw hands about it for a long time.

(Ulzar says that the reason Nexomon are, well, a thing is because of the Children of Omnicron. So it makes sense, right? 7 children, 7 elements)

Psychic is a bit trickier because of the fact Mystogen exists. And if we're going of the fact Solus made the psychic type...

Putting a pin in that, rant for another day.

So... What of Ghost?

Well. That's not the point of the post and that's my motivation for writing Doubts.

But! Moving on, Fane. Well, with the assumption they come from eggs, well frick. There's no ghost primordial.

... Which is why I can't speak much of it. We can surely just blame Hilda

... Do you know who we have more of?

Byeol.

Well. Let's see then.

Byeol is a normal type in Palmaya, first and foremost.... We are back to James everyone, anyone who's talked to me isn't surprised

Hi new people, James is how we call the Nexolord on this side of the fandom, moving on.

Assuming that James isn't dead and we take into account this from Nadine:

Well, who am I to argue with Nadine? (Granted, she could mean Grunda or Deena , but.)

.. So, in today's rant. Byeol and Metta, woooo.

First of all, he is in Palmaya(and later around the Orphanage as of the Abyssals but we can put a pin in that because, Abyssals) , which, is definitely not the frozen tundra

But, Merida is in the frozen Tundra, and Atlanta's Tyrant is frosty enough to argue Merida bonked the egg there.

.. So then, Palmaya's free, ey?

Well. That's interesting, further on, I am going to need to grab Metta for a moment

Hello bowling ball, I still think you should be an Armodillo.

Moving on, see this man? Until his siblings he is, unfortunately, not an animal

My only logic conclusion, looking at this man(if we don't take my other James theory into account), is that he's supposed to be a kind of biblically accurate angel, just, ribbons not wings (Thanks for the association Azzie, your hands are red too)

... HMMMM who ELSE has wings and is a normal type...

... WELL THEN.

Additionally, I must point out, Metta has 7 ribbons. If we count the bottom pointy Byeol has he has 8.

... Well, it just happens an additional type is added this time, to bump it from 7 to 8(we already went over why I think Ghost might not count)

.. So then.

And. Well, let's look at it this way. Nivalis and Arqua, they don't look the same. Fona and Mulcimer, er. The closest we have is Ventra and Eurus.

... And, well, Solus and Nara, but surely not

... Byeol could've been a kangaroo or something, but instead-

They're both inanimate object things I can't make sense of. I know Ross said that he was just inspired to make a star thing, but-

... Hm.

What am I trying to say? Nothing really. At the end of the day these are coincidences, likely

Like, n3 protag and James both have a blue hair strand, but that doesn't mean they're like, immediately necessary related kind of thing

... Just makes you think.

(Also, this stated when I made a joking like toddler Byeol human version, and I saw the white hair and went like "...wait")

[yuviur]

Summer vacation, 4am.

Tons of easter eggs in this one! Click the image to find them (and for better quality ofc)

Close ups and process shots under the cut, description in alt text

[kyurochurro]

GM it’s Christmas so my gift to u is an older spirk doodle of them walking the err uhhh unicorn dog alien thing from tos GSHSBHA based off that one scene from 101 Dalmatians u know the one ;D ✨💫

[ironinkpen]

The interpretation of Rise Raph as a 'perfect responsible soft boy uwu' is so BORING I'm sorry, Raph is a rowdy adrenaline junkie with anxiety and I won't take this slander any longer

Raph secretly kept an enemy soldier in their actual literal house as a sparring partner. Raph glued his brothers together and dragged them out to fight crime. Raph once asked Leo to punch him in the face to prove he 'takes damage like a boss.' Raph tried to lift a school bus, twice. Raph offered to help his favorite wrestler beat his little brother up. When Leo suggests evacuating Bullhop, Raph says no bc the best defense is a good offense babey. Raph's idea of a 'friendly chat' with April's upstairs neighbor is to put on a black ski mask and go stand menacingly at their door. It takes Raph 10 episodes to conclude that they should MAYBE start training. Raph's plan to get a potentially priceless (and potentially FRAGILE) museum artifact is to punch a car in the middle of a busy street and also cut it in half with his brother still inside.

Raph's never met a problem he wouldn't try to punch in the face and does not know the meaning of the words 'excessive force.' He roughhouses with his bros and drags them out to fight villains and thinks any plan that doesn't involve an all-out brawl is boring and lame. He'll do anything to protect his family from harm and be a hero, but also he eats wet salami off the floor and once single-handedly destroyed a library.

I just adore how, at his core, Rise Raph is such a classic Raph—impulsive and stubborn and caring and passionate. He is a very sweet, strong, honorable guy who has a very powerful sense of personal responsibility... and he is also the exact kind of jock who throws you in the pool at a party without checking if you have your phone in your pocket first.

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

I personally don’t mind the reveal that Aegon the Conqueror was motivated by dragon dreams about tptwp/war for the dawn; I actually like it quite a lot. Mostly because I like how Aegon’s legacy basically becomes: the unification of the realm and its peoples (a wholly positive thing) AND the iron throne (which has become a symbol of war and destruction). Aegon brought the realm together, but he also created that stupid pointy chair. The irony is that this chair, made of swords from all over the realm thus being a representation of all the different peoples in Aegon’s new kingdom, is meant to be the symbol of peace and unity. But in the current story, it’s become the driving force of disunity. And now hundreds of years later, now that the real threat that Aegon dreamed of has actually arrived, the realm is much too focused on who gets to sit on the silly chair more than anything else. Which imo would fall in quite nicely with GRRM’s deconstruction of prophecy, how people interpret it, and the ripple effects from those actions.

[shu-box-puns]

I've got this image of Dad!Tsu’tey from my Father-son-shenanigans AU turning up in ATWOW during the aftermath of the SeaDragon, specifically on that one rock. And he has no idea how he ended up there, but whilst Jake and Neytiri are quaking at the sudden appearance of their dead friend (visibly aged from the joys of fatherhood), Spider pops out of the ocean.

Naturally, Tsu'tey only has eyes for his son, and immediately gets launched head first into Protective!Dad mode at the state of him. He looks like a drowned rat, has several sluggishly bleeding cuts along his body, his stripes are faded more than his Spider ever allows. Not to mention, his dreads are matted at the scalp and are in desperate need of a retwist. But most alarming of all, none of his other family members (The Sully's) seem to remember to check on him in their shock of discovering Tsu'tey's presence.

Since no one else seems to be bothering, Tsu'tey helps Spider out of the water, noting the shock on the boy's face as he hesitantly takes Tsu'tey's outstretched hand.

<"Are you okay?"> Tsu'tey asks, as he has done for countless years. And horrifyingly, instead of Spider replying with "yes Dad," or "no Dad" Tsu'tey gets a-

<"Yes sir.">

Spider has never referred to Tsu'tey as 'sir' before. It's either 'Olo'eyktan' when he's in a mood and wants to get under Tsu'tey's skin, or 'Dad'.

<"Sir?"> Tsu'tey repeats with a curl of his nose. <"Who the hell is sir? I am Dad to you. I have always been Dad to you."> And of course, Tsu'tey is dead in this universe, and Spider has no clue who this strange forest na'vi is. Not to mention he's had a very long and emotional day surrounding another father figure.

<"Dude, I have no idea who you are.">

Cue:

Tsu'tey from my Dad!Tsu'tey AU looking at Spider in our ATWOW: "Watch out kid because you're about to get the strongest and most stable support system any clan has ever seen."

BONUS:

If Spider were to admit to Tsu'tey that Quaritch is alive (he's only known the man for an hour but Eywa does he trust him to keep Neytiri from mauling him):

Side Note: Tsu'tey has it all under control, and now has recruited Neytiri to go hunt down that dead beat dad.

[marlynnofmany]

Digital Billboards and Bumper Stickers

I handed another can of food to Eggskin, thinking idle thoughts about skin and scale color. Neither of us were what I considered kindergarten-crayon colors, though I was somewhere in the white-brown-pink area while they were a yellow-green-white. Someday I’d ask them if they knew their scales were the color of human boogers (no I wouldn’t).

Really I was thinking about that to avoid reading the labels of the food, since most of them had my alien crewmates in mind, and looked profoundly unappealing to me. This stack was mostly bug paste. Some cans were shelled, and some unshelled. Flavored with the highest quality algae. Bluh.

“That’s the last of these,” I said happily, handing it over.

Eggskin placed it on the shelf and looked thoughtfully down at the counter still strewn with shelf-stable food. “Let’s do the seed paste next. Leave the herb stalks out; I’ll want to use them sooner than the rest.”

Following their pointing claw, I located the jars of peanut-butter-adjacent food, and the narrow boxes that I’d thought were spaghetti. “Got it.” I shoved the boxes aside and started passing the jars to Eggskin for placement. Reorganizing the shelves was a lot of work. I could see why they’d asked for assistance. At the very least, it would have gotten boring after a while.

Eggskin asked, “So what was the captain grumbling about just now?”

I thought back to when Eggskin had recruited my help from outside the cockpit. I’d only been there to bring Wio the water bottle she’d left in the lounge, but it had been long enough to pick up the gist of the conversation. “All the ships in this area have extra information on their ID’s, and they keep popping up as images overlaying the map, making it hard to see where everything is.”

Eggskin turned with the speed of a striking snake. “What area? Where are we going? I knew I should have checked the schedule.”

“I didn’t catch the name,” I said, but Eggskin was already racing for the door.

“Put away the jars, please; I’ll get the rest later!”

I paused for a moment, then hurried to put all the seed paste jars next to the cans of bug paste, labels forward and in neat rows. Then I ran after Eggskin.

When I arrived at the cockpit, I found our ship’s cook/medic with a hand on Wio’s chair, pointing something out to the captain.

Captain Sunlight sat in the copilot’s seat, frowning at the screen. Many colors reflected off her bright yellow scales, glowing from the mishmash of light that was normally a dark starfield. “If we make that much of a detour, we won’t be able to make the delivery on time. We’ll just have to go dark on communications until we get there.”

Eggskin made a concerned noise as Wio tapped several buttons with her tentacles. The room was suddenly darker as all the company logos and custom images blinked out of sight. The screen now held the usual blackness of space, speckled with stars — one close enough to be called a sun — and a variety of ships mostly heading to or from a distant space station shaped like a tube. There were also far more asteroids hanging around than I was entirely comfortable with.

But before I could ask about that, the music started.

I think it was music. “What is that?” I asked at the jumble of sound. It sounded like several radio stations at once, some playing recognizable instruments, some talking, and others making what sounded like rude noises.

In a tone of defeat, Eggskin said, “The ads and taunts can detect visual sensors. Some ships target outsiders in exactly our position: no time or money to buy a blocker.”

Wio made a rude sound of her own and turned the volume down.

Captain Sunlight was still frowning. “I don’t want to speak ill of anyone else’s way of life, but this is terrible.”

Eggskin gripped both chairs, eyes trained on the screen. “It’s one of many reasons why I left. You’ll want to keep that big ship between us and the station for as long as you can.” They pointed briefly. “Or else we’ll have a Core on our tail wanting to fine us for flying blind.”

“Terrible,” the captain repeated. But she instructed Wio to do as they said, while aiming for one specific asteroid that hadn’t come onscreen yet.

This seemed like a good time to ask. “Why are there so many asteroids this close to the station?”

Captain Sunlight flicked a glance at me, possibly only now noticing I was there in the doorway.

Eggskin answered without turning. “It was meant to be a tourist attraction, but the company got bought out and the project abandoned. Now half of the gravity engines are failing, and reputable businesses are leaving the area.”

Wio said, “It still looks awfully busy.”

“That would be the disreputable sorts. If you see a triangle where the stars disappear for a moment, fly at max speed in the other direction, never mind the delivery time.”

Captain Sunlight turned her frown on Eggskin. “It’s that extreme of a danger?”

The hands on both chairs tightened. “Yes.”

I studied the screen for any sign of disappearing stars. Black ships in the blackness of space were uncommon back in familiar territory, for the simple reason that they risked having someone crash into them and atomize both ships. But it sounded like someone here considered that a risk worth taking so they could sneak up on others. I didn’t ask what they did when they succeeded.

We spent a tense few minutes flying in silence, with no sign of invisible ships and only a few pop-ups. Apparently even flying blind couldn’t block all of them out. At least these were mostly informational things on the asteroids themselves, defunct notifications about events and attractions that had never been finalized.

One ship that looked cobbled together from spare parts had a blank panel above the thrusters that drew my eyes with how bright white it was. Eggskin stared at it intently. “This could be nothing,” they said, “But it could be important. Use a tight-beam scan for that panel.”

Wio did. As if the ship was just waiting for someone to look, it accelerated away and produced an image that glowed on our screen after it was long gone. The stylized pair of shapes were vaguely familiar.

While Eggskin made a disappointed grumble, I asked, “What is that? I’ve seen that symbol on the back of a racing ship.”

“I believe,” said Captain Sunlight, “It is an insult. A view of the bottoms of the pilot’s feet as they swim or fly away from you.”

“Oh,” I said. “Huh. I guess it’s like mooning someone. Or an ‘Eat my dust’ bumper sticker.”

Before anyone could ask what human nonsense I was talking about, Wio spotted the meeting location. “This one, right?” she asked the captain. “The mid-sized flat one?”

Captain Sunlight consulted a smaller screen. “That is where they said to meet. But they also said they would be here before us, ready to rush off as soon as they got our delivery.”

Wio and Captain Sunlight inspected the surrounding area for other ships, which all seemed to have left. I kept watching the stars, sparing a glance for Eggskin, who looked more intense than ever.

“Scan the landing area,” they said suddenly.

The message that popped up this time was a simple text one, in a language I didn’t recognize.

But Eggskin did. “Thought so. Send a tight-beam message back to open the drop box. This message.” They rattled off a string of numbers that Wio dutifully copied down and sent. I saw the captain also copy it onto her notepad with an expression that suggested she had some questions for Eggskin later.

Lo and behold, the flat part of the asteroid rolled back into an empty space that could have fit a ship larger than ours. The light of the distant sun showed it to be empty.

Captain Sunlight sat back, exasperated. “Where did they go?”

Wio said, “There’s a ship over there. Is that them?” She turned our view to show a speedy little junker careening between the asteroids toward us.

“I don’t think so,” the captain said. “Unless they had to use a different ship.”

A patch of stars behind it winked out. I pointed. “Invisible ship!”

Before Wio could hit the thrusters, Eggskin commanded, “Get in the drop box!”

Wio threw a glance at Captain Sunlight, who nodded. Wio sent our little courier ship diving into the secret hidey-hole, folding the solar sails and transmitting the other message Eggskin gave her to close the hatch.

It was very dark inside that drop box. I thought briefly about the rest of the crew, who had no idea how much danger they were in. I didn’t even know how much danger we were in. But I suspected it was a lot.

Eggskin said, “We should be safe after a few minutes. Given their trajectory, they were chasing that other ship. Even if they saw us, they’ll be busy.”

Wio asked, “These aren’t the people who will fine us, are they?”

“No,” Eggskin said firmly. “The Core will fine you, because they’re what passes for a police force out here. Spherical ships, like a planet’s core. That,” they said, pointing emphatically, “Was a Lancer. They will dismantle your ship, sell it for scrap, and sell you to a work camp. No, the Core won’t stop them. Yes, it’s terrible.”

The captain nodded. “One of the many reasons why you left.”

“Yes.”

“Well, we very much appreciate your expertise today!”

“I’m just glad I realized where we are,” Eggskin said. “I’ll make a point of checking the schedule more regularly.”

“And I will make a point of not accepting deliveries for this part of space, no matter how much they pay,” the captain said wryly.

We sat there a little while longer, until Eggskin said it was safe to open the hatch. All the stars were in place as we ventured out. Nothing moved, not even any drifting bits of dismantled ship. Good news.

But also bad news, since we still didn’t know where our client was.

“I will be extremely disappointed if all this risk was for nothing,” Captain Sunlight said. “Eggskin, are there likely to be other drop boxes nearby that they could have hidden in?”

Eggskin let out a breath. “If there are, I won’t know the codes for them.”

The captain made another note to herself, and told Wio to search the area for other likely asteroids. I did my part by continuing to watch the stars, just in case.

Wio said, “Most of these have a flat enough area to land on.”

Eggskin put in, “By design.”

“Should I turn the communications back on, to look for markers?” Wio asked. “There are no other ships over here to jam our screen.”

Eggskin muttered, “Optimistic.”

Captain Sunlight said, “Do it.”

The drifting space rocks were suddenly festooned with logos. It wasn’t as bad as before, but it wasn’t great. They were all old and glitchy.

Wio turned the volume up slightly, just enough to hear that any audio messages had dissolved into static. “If anybody spots something promising, sing out.”

We all watched the screen as Wio slowly toured the area. A couple of asteroids had newer pop-ups, but these were clearly graffiti: messages about how somebody was the envy of this half of the galaxy, or how whoever was reading the message should go stick their tail in a thruster.

“What species made most of this?” Wio asked.

“The original owners were Frillians,” said Eggskin. “Though that graffiti clearly wasn’t.”

“And what species is our client?” Wio asked the captain. “Or is it a mixed ship?”

Captain Sunlight glanced down at her notes, then up at me. “Human.”

Oh. No pressure. “I haven’t seen anything yet that looks particularly human-ish,” I said. “But I’ll look.” I gave up on the stars for now, and stared at the asteroids. “Are those two just extra flat, or do they have panels like that one ship did?”

Wio dutifully moved closer and scanned the two that I pointed out. One was a political slogan about something Waterwill-related from several years ago.

The other one was music. The volume was still quiet, but I recognized it. As Wio turned up the sound of synthetic drumbeats, I grinned at the old Earth anthem.

This asteroid was equipped with a rickroll.

“That’s a human thing,” I said. “Check that one.”

Wio took us closer, then she sent a short-range communication ping, the equivalent of knocking on the door.

And lo and behold, something pinged back and the door opened. A ship floated out that was sleek and aerodynamic, and painted in a camouflage pattern that did absolutely nothing to disguise it against the rock. I burst out laughing as Captain Sunlight hailed them to confirm that they were indeed the people we’d come to meet. I tried to laugh quietly.

With the drop box closed again, there was space for both small ships to land side by side. Theirs even had an extendable airlock that matched up with ours, saving everyone the inconvenience of getting into exo suits and doing the handoff in whatever atmosphere still clung in the artificial gravity.

I got to do the honors, with Captain Sunlight at hand close behind. I suspect she would have preferred to do it herself, but her little lizardy arms weren’t up to carrying a box this size, and there wasn’t space in the airlock for a hover sled. Simpler to just let the tall human do it.

The airlock opened to show a guy who looked malnourished, stressed, and very relieved to see me. “So glad you found us,” he said in an unfamiliar accent, grabbing the payment tablet before I could offer it. “It’s just one thing after another these days.”

“I bet,” I said. “Have you considered leaving? I have it on good authority that life is terrible around here.”

He handed the tablet back. “Thought about it. Dunno what we’d do for a living.”

I gave him the box, which according to the manifest included fresh chicken eggs, kosher salt, and a selection of media from Earth. “Have you considered a career as a courier?”

He smiled. “I’ll mention it to the crew.”

As he stepped back onto his own ship, I called, “Feel free to follow us out! We probably won’t get caught by anybody horrible on the way!”

I heard a chuckle as the door closed.

Once the airlocks were sorted away and everybody was back in position, Wio took us up from the asteroid, and back toward civilized space. I watched from the doorway while Eggskin kept an eye out for dangers. We made it out of the asteroid zone safely.

And so did the other ship, following close behind us.

~~~

Thanks to everybody who joined in the discussion of spaceship bumper stickers and related things, particularly @lillyjen and @voodootortoise!

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[greghatecrimes]

HELP this one is even funnier

[bacchuschucklefuck]

[merilles]

May Le Fay

(For @queer-ragnelle's May Day Parade!)

The Queen of Avalon in all her sorceress glory with a raven companion, illuminated by the light of the stars and a crescent moon. Woe to any knight-errant who happens to come across her in the darkness of the forest!

[chase-ing-shadows]

AU where Atreus gets stuck as a bear and him and Sindri have to go on a brother bear style adventure to make him human again.

also open to the idea that this happens after Ragnarok and this is the story of how Atreus and Sindri reconnect

[schwazombie]

Kidd and Law lying on the couch watching TV and out of nowhere Law says, "Say 'purple burglar alarm'." Kidd (Scotsman) seethes, looks at Law (German) , and says with an unwarrented amount of vitriol, "Squirrel."

[madphantom]

Just saw a post saying IT'S CREEPY FOR A 22 YEAR OLD TO DATE A 20 YEAR OLD and had to sit down for a moment because. I'm twenty. My beloved is twenty-seven. If you think two years age difference is weird what exactly do you think of that.

[impressions-of-downton]

Old WIP from that AU where Vera haunts Bates but somehow only Bates and Thomas can see her

[geraskierfanficprompts]

Prompt 13

How was Jaskier supposed to know that the lovely woman he spent the night with had a husband? Let alone a husband in a big scary poacher gang? So Jaskier is hauling ass through the forest, only to get his leg caught in a beartrap. He faceplants (very daintily, prettily, and most certainly not with an embarrassing wail, thank you very much) and begins sobbing with the pain. Not to mention his cheap lute breaking into splinters. Great. Just great. What a LOVELY day he's having! A pure white werewolf with bright golden eyes suddenly prowls out of the bushes, growling at him, and Jaskier decides that today really is his worst day. No matter how majestic the beast is, this is cearly the end of Jaskier the bard. He sobs and begs to live, apologizing profusely, and the last thing he sees is the monstrous snout getting closer. Geralt, the werewolf, is stalking for food for his pack, only to come across one of those humans in their own traps. Except... This human isn't one of them. He's wearing brightly colored delicate clothing, and wasn't familiar with where their traps were. It's an innocent human. One that smells very nice, under all the stench of blood and fear. Wolf!Geralt creeps closer, and pries open the trap, intending on releasing the human back into the wild, but it just kind of stares at him in horror before passing out. Hm. Well, it appears it needs more care than he initially thought. So imagine the other witcher's surprise when he doesn't bring food back to the pack, but instead brings a human to patch up. The moon dips out of the sky, they all turn back into their witcher-human forms, and now they're all SCRAMBLING over what they're meant to do!? HOW DO YOU CARE FOR A HUMAN AGAIN??? FUCK- I DON'T KNOW! Geralt stop petting him, he doesn't like that, he's human, not a wolf! What do you mean he likes it? Oh shit- EVERYONE QUICK PET HIM! No wait- He doesn't like it any more- One at a time pet him! And uh- Fuck- What do normal people eat!?

♡!Optional addons!♡ • (ORIGINALLY A TAG) Is Aiden a werecat or also a werewolf? And if he is a werewolf (and/or a werecat I suppose), perhaps he's from a rival pack (against his will) and needs to be rescued by Lambert as a sideplot • Maybe the poachers find poor trapped Jaskier and Geralt has to fight them off first, or perhaps they come back later, intent on killing the White Wolf • Perhaps Geralt turns Jaskier into a werewolf (Either with his consent or without his consent ONLY if he has to do it to save his life, we don't fuck with forced bonds here, people)

[ragnarokhound]

trick or treat!! 🧡🖤

Hi Tauria!! Happy Spookmas UwU

Since you shared some behind the scenes verse details with me, I wanted to share some ideas I have cooking for a verse with you!!

This is for the very silly and self-indulgent Little Red Riding Hood AU I thought of a zillion years ago, and it's very much under construction still haha. I've changed a lot of things about the premise from that original post, so here's a breakdown of the idea (with spoilers!) plus a small scene snippet from the beginning of the fic:

Little Red Riding Hood AU:

Fairy tale setting - so think hand-wavingly feudalist kingdom in fantasy land, very 10th Kingdom in its approach.

(Side tangent: 10th Kingdom is an excellent miniseries that I love dearly from the 90s - it features a character named Wolf who is the love interest. No one who's been following me for any length of time would be surprised to discover that I had a massive childhood crush on this man lmfao definitely formative media for me ✨)

Jason is a knight of the realm (who wears a red riding hood ;) ) and his adoptive father Bruce holds a wooded country estate. Sent to war (and presumed dead (!)), Jason hasn't been home in years. He's coming home now, ahead of official correspondence correcting this misconception.

Along the way to Wayne Manor he stops to hunt, but that movement in the bushes wasn't prey; he accidentally grazes a lone wolf. And the wolf isn't very happy about that.

Reminder that this is fairy tale universe; the wolf's cheeks are ruddy, his thick black hair hangs in his pale blue eyes. He's a beautiful creature - but Jason knows better than to let his guard down. Wolves are clever, and that makes them dangerous. They're untrustworthy, and liable to bite. (Enormous prejudice against wolves in fairy tale land that will be unpacked later ;) )

This is, naturally, one big misunderstanding - the wolf thinks Jason attacked him on purpose and lashes out, and Jason's not about to sit back and let a wolf kill him. They get into a scuffle (riddled with banter and sexual tension of course) that only ends when Jason has him pinned to the forest floor with a blade against his throat-- but he hesitates to kill him.

As they catch their breath, they realize their errors, and Jason gets a name out of him. Delivered with no small amount of sass.

“My, Tim, what a big mouth you have,” Jason says dryly. “Don’t make me say it,” the wolf, whose name is apparently Tim, groans. But his pale eyes flash yellow as they flicker down the length of Jason’s body to the place their hips have met, his pink tongue swiping out to wet his lip. Jason catches sight of a sharp white fang, and abruptly his breeches feel tighter across the front. “But it’s right there,” Jason says absently, leaning in closer almost against his will. He doesn’t mean for his knife to break skin, but Tim’s throat bobs against the edge as he swallows, calling up a thin red line. Jason can feel the rush of his breath, soft across his own chin. He watches, fascinated, as the black swallows the blue of Tim’s eyes. “Fine, Sir Red-Riding-Hood. The better to taste you with, you brute,” he murmurs, and Jason closes the gap between them.

After, they part ways, both satisfied with the encounter and with the happy memories they'll be keeping for long nights ahead. ;)

Jason advises Tim not to sneak about in these woods if he can help it; he'd hate it if Tim were reduced to nothing more than a pelt adorning some hunter's wall. Tim teases back that Jason himself might prefer that honor, then melts back into the shadowed boughs of the forest. Goddamn.

aw, a happy ending! Right?

When Jason gets home, shocking Bruce and Alfred with his arrival (and the whole 'not dead' thing) (i'm still waffling on whether Jason knew about his presumed death lmao) Jason himself is shocked to discover that the son of their tragically departed neighbors the next county over, who has been staying with Bruce and Alfred for most of the years since Jason's departure, is none other than Tim. The wolf Jason just said his farewells to yesterday in the woods.

Cue the rest of the fic.

A discord message I sent to a friend when I was explaining Jason and Tim's feelings about this mutual revelation of their identities:

Jason, pulling Tim aside and whispering harshly: what do you think you're doing here, do they know you're a wolf, what are your intentions did you think to replace me-- Tim, whispering equally harshly: I swear I had no idea who you were, but youve been gone for years you have NO idea what it's been like while you were away, so don't you DARE-- Jason: I was AT WAR-- Tim: AND I THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, HOWEVER--

Obviously, they fall in love.

(For the trick or treat ask game! Send me a trick or treat ask and I'll share jaytim WIP snippets, or new 3-sentence -paragraph fics, etc :^) through the 31st!)