#a bit of lost potential

[pigeon-eyed]

Firstly, I love the snippet. It also made curious about what could happen later, I thought about Zuko trying to delicately ask Katara whether Aang has ever hurt her before, intentionally or not. I know, it was before The Southern Riders (I think), so she probably wouldn't want to be vulnerable with him, but still, a part of me melted at that thought.

Secondly, forgive me this rant, because I just noticed something about the lava fissure incident. I admit I don't know the comics, I just saw the scene you ("you" as in "the-badger-mole", I'm not sure if reblogging works the same as replying? I don't know much about tumblr, still) shared some time ago. If there was something more to it, idk, something important I missed, please let me know.

I won't talk about why opening a lava fissure in someone's face is wrong. You did it already, I think more than once. I wanted to focus on what happened later. At first he was understandably scared and called out Katara's name. However, when he realized she was neither physically hurt nor angry with him, he... resumed being angry with her. That proves he didn't understand the gravity of the situation at all. If he had, he wouldn't have started acting like nothing had happened the minute he noticed there were no immediate, visible consequences.

A possibility of physically injuring someone isn't the only bad thing about violence. Neither is a possibility of someone getting mad at you. And these seem to be the only two things Aang was worried about, because when he realized they hadn't happened, he jumped right back to his anger about how Katara was playing cruel games with his poor little heart. He didn't stop to think that he had scared the love of his life - and not in a "now that was one hell of a prank" way, but in a "she was put in a potentially dangerous situation and could fear for her life and health" way. He didn't ask himself the most basic "what if...?" questions: what if he had miscalculated where the lava fissue was going to be/how big it was supposed to be/where the lava drops would fall? Or what if Katara, startled, had made some unexpected movement and ended up falling right on some lava? He didn't even seem to be selfishly wondering whether Katara would still feel comfortable around him, or whether she would become afraid of being alone with him/being honest with him. He didn't even have a moment of fear of himself ("Is it really me? Am I capable of trying to intimidate someone I love into doing what I want?") - and he should have, I'm saying it as a person who has struggled with emotional regulation for years. Nope. He looked around, didn't see any bodily harm, didn't hear Katara scolding him, so he returned to thinking about himself. Out of sight, out of mind.

Then I realized it was a consistent attitude of Aang's. We could see it The Great Divide. Yes, these two peoples had hated each other for over a hundred of years. Yes, one touching story wasn't going to undo such a long time of propaganda, besides, the lifestyle differences between them were still pretty extreme and had to lead to some fights, but well, Aang wouldn't stay around long enough to watch them, so what was the issue? Out of sight, out of mind. I'm under the impresison a similar thought process led him to running away from the Southern Air Temple and ending up in the iceberg. The same mindset led him to forgetting about the sacrifice Hakoda and the other adults had made for him (when he went to play in the Western Air Temple), ignoring the problem of what he would do with Ozai since he didn't want to kill him, and leaving an unpleasant conversation with his friends right before he got kidnapped by the lion turtle. You could see some echoes of it in his attitude towards the loss of other Air Nomads. It's so consistent it would be brilliant if it was intentional and addressed.

Don't get me wrong, I love the show. But I think it had a chance of being better. The creators gave Aang this tendency and could have used it to show what kind of consequences it may have, especially in someone who is in position of power. It was right there. I would love seeing it explored a little bit.

OK, rant over. Wow. It was long. I'm sorry about that and I'm going to hide in my little corner and hug my cat. And I'm sorry for coming with it to your snippet, but I started thinking about it right after I'd read it, so I thought I would share my conclusions. I hope it's no big deal.

Fic Snippet!

“Are you out of your mind?” Zuko rushed across the courtyard and bore down on Aang with an intense, almost palpable fury. “Do you know how badly you could’ve hurt her?”

“I was just…I didn’t mean to-“ Aang stammered.

“Fire is not a toy!” Zuko bellowed at him. He turned to Katara, examining her for injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alright,” she assured him, her voice shaking. “I’m fine.” She was trembling visibly, and there were singe marks on her clothes, but she otherwise seemed unharmed. Zuko turned back to Aang, how was looking down at his feet in shame.

“What were you thinking?” Zuko demanded.

“I don’t know,” Aang mumbled, kicking at the ground. “I was…mad.”

“About what?” Zuko was absolutely bewildered. “What could Katara possibly have done that you thought it was a good idea to do that?”

“Nothing,” Aang admitted sullenly. He didn’t say anything after that. Zuko glowered at him, took a few deep breaths to quell his own anger.

“You’re going to clean this mess up,” he said gesturing to the torn up stones, dirt and cooling lava. “Then you’re going to do 100 fire squats. Then you’re going to work on your forms for an hour. And I don’t want to see so much as a curl of smoke out of you. You’re not responsible enough for fire. Understood?” 

“What? That’s not-“ Aang’s protests died on his lips when he saw Zuko’s expression.  He huffed, kicked at stone, and finally nodded.

“Get started,” Zuko ordered through clenched teeth. He turned back to Katara, who was watching the exchange. She was still shaking a bit. Zuko draped his arm protectively around her back and guided her away. He glanced back once more at Aang, and almost rolled his eyes when he saw the younger boy still moping at the ground. It was hard sometimes to reconcile the awesome might and eminence of the Avatar with the reality of Aang, the child.

“I’ll be back,” he warned Aang. “Have this mess cleaned up. And don’t even think about asking Toph to help.” 

I know canonically, the Lava Fissure Incident takes place while Zuko and Sokka are rescuing Hakoda, but I wanted to have Zuko see and react to it. Personally, I think it was another accidentally accurate depiction of how unready Aang is to be the Avatar. And it is also another incident that the narrative decides not to call Aang out for, so the chances of him growing from it are...well, we all know how things turned out in LoK.

[little-pondhead]

The Curse Of Hope

_

Danny is in another universe. He had a reason, but he doesn’t remember anymore. He can only stare, horrified and disgusted, at the sickest city spirit he’s ever seen. Shivering and swaying with every step, core exposed, and ectoplasm leaking from wounds that are decades old. A ratty blanket was thrown over their shoulders, barely hiding the spirit’s pale grey skin and protruding black bones.

The spirit didn’t even sense him until he reached out to touch its wispy shoulders. The spirit flinched, clutching at the dozens of trinkets hanging from their neck and tucking in on themselves like they were expecting a blow.

“Oh, shit,” He swore, floating back a few feet, hands in the air, to show he meant no harm. “I’m sorry. I promise, I’m not here to steal from you.” The spirit shivered again and rolled a pearl necklace in between their fingers. A nervous habit. “Uh, I like that pocket watch? It’s very nice.”

That got their attention. They peeked at Danny, and he saw that more tattered cloth was covering their eyes, blending in with the stringy hair that reached the ground. Their blanket fluttered weakly, revealing hundreds of thousands of tiny marks etched into their skin. Scars, really. Scars that wrote out curse after curse onto the spirit’s very being. They burned with evil intent, and even reached inside the spirit’s body and wrapped around their core.

Occasionally, blinding specks of color raced across their body, temporarily erasing the writing, but it always returned quickly. He watched, a little detached, as one particular line rewrote itself across their rough forearm, drawing fresh ectoplasm like someone was writing it with a thin knife.

“Are you…alright?” Danny stuttered. A stupid question.

The spirit cocked its head. He couldn’t see their eyes, but he felt their burning gaze as they pondered the question.

“The pain of others becomes mine own.” They rasped. “The lights of the city dim as rotten wealth clogs mine veins. Magicks long forgotten have eaten mine skins, pulled mine cloak, and darkened mine skies. Helios has refused to grace mine doorstep, and the seasons of the Earth have revoked their kindness.”

Danny held his breath. It felt like he was the one with the exposed core, not the spirit.

The spirit shivered once more. “Tell mine soul, little lamb. How could this Forsaken City know peace, when it was long since ripped from mine hands?”

Shit, he needed Frostbite. And maybe Clockwork. Now.

-Or-

Danny meets the spirit of Gotham City. The villains and rogues that have plagued the city for decades are literal curses that are taking quite the toll on Gotham, and honestly, Danny isn’t sure how much longer they can hold out. The heroes seem to be doing some help, and are probably the reason Gotham made it this far, but the poor city needs help from the Realms if they want to get better.

Luckily, Danny can provide that help.

But only if he could get Gotham to leave their city behind. Because recovery is going to take a very long time.

[arsenicflame]

It's a time-honoured tradition- every time Sam comes across Izzy (and Ed) in their travels, he asks Izzy to marry him. And every time, Izzy turns him down.

At this point, Sam is asking more for the sake of it than any belief Izzy will ever say yes, a remnant of childhood dedication touched with 30 years of heartbreak and regret- though even now, a small part of him still holds out hope. Sam's promises have only got more extravagant over the years, from a job as his first mate, to a captaincy, a fleet at his command, a whole fucking island if that's what Izzy wants- but he knows it isn't though, not really. If Izzy was ever going to agree to marry him, to leave his life and go with Sam, it wouldn't be for anything Sam could offer him. Izzy never did care for flashy shows of wealth, for a ship or to be captain. The only thing that ever mattered to him was loyalty given, and loyalty shown in return. 

It all comes to a head after Stede left and came back, after Izzy lost a toe, lost his leg. Sam hasn't seen him since before things with Ed started to really slide off the rails, before stress permanently set into the lines of Izzy’s face. So, when he sees a dishevelled man with a hoof for a leg in a no-name port, he doesn't even consider the idea that he might know him. It's only when he turns towards him, and Sam catches a glance at those oh too familiar tattoos, he realises this is Izzy, his Izzy, that stands before him.

Knowing Izzy's discomfort with pity, he doesn't treat him any differently than he would in years gone by, positioning himself in Izzy's line of sight before approaching and sweeping him up into a bone crushing hug. 

“Israel-goddamn-Hands!” he exclaims, as Izzy grumbles back a begrudging “Samuel-fucking-Bellamy”, a tradition almost as old as their friendship itself. Izzy might not hug him back, but he can’t keep the corner of his mouth from twitching, just for a second.

(If Sam holds Izzy a little tighter and a little longer than usual, well. That's his business)

By the time Sam lets go, most of the crew has appeared in the town square, drawn in by the commotion. They may have given Izzy his leg and welcomed him as one of them, but still there’s an underlying tension, with nobody quite ready to set aside everything that happened before the Kraken. Seeing him cosying up to an unknown man sets everyone on edge, unsure whether to come to their first mate’s aid, or to assume that they've been betrayed once again.

When Ed sees that the yelling was Sam, his hand goes tense where it's held in Stede's. He knows the routine, has seen it more times than he can count, but as he watches them part he realises that this is the first time in a long time he's unsure of what Izzy's response will be.

Knowing that something’s different, knowing that Izzy's feeling vulnerable already, Sam doesn't go for the same flashy proposal he’s been giving for years. He doesn't promise Izzy the world, he doesn't cause a scene (or, any more of a scene than he already has, anyway). He looks at the fractured man in front of him, takes his face in his hands, and says the exact same thing to him he said when they were little more than boys. “Israel, I have to ask you. I know what you'll say, but I have to try. Come with me. Marry me and sail away with me. I'll keep you safe”

And Izzy… hesitates. He glances over at Ed, at Stede, and says to Sam “...We’re staying in port for a week. Ask me again then”

That's the moment Sam knows there is something deeply, horribly, wrong. He's not just looking at an Izzy who got seriously injured in a fight and is struggling to cope, this is something so much bigger than that- and that Ed has something to do with it. Izzy wouldn't even be considering leaving if he didn't. Whether it was negligence or something more sinister, Sam doesn't yet know, but he intends to find out.

[thevoidstaredback]

The week after the Gala, there was another meeting at the Watchtower. Just as they had before, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Aquaman stayed behind after everyone else left.

No chatter started up as the door closed with a final sounding noise. Like a Death Knull in the ears of five of the seven present heroes.

An eternity passed between one second and the next, everyone waiting for someone else to say something. No one knew why no one else was saying anything, but they all knew they didn't want to be the ones to drop whatever shoe was being held over their heads.

All except Batman, the epitome of stoicism, and Green Arrow, the epitome of suspense.

Eventually, Batman said, "So, how did you enjoy your trip to Gotham?" He didn't address a single person, prompting everyone to speak over themselves at once, all trying to explain away their presence in his city. Soon, though, their anxiety gave way to confusion as everyone realised that everyone else was saying the same thing as them.

"What?" Wonder Woman asked, "What's going on?"

"I asked how your trip to Gotham was."

"Um," Green Lantern said, "Care to address who you're talking to?"

"Why would I? You all know who I'm talking to."

There was a beat. "All of us?" Aquaman asked, "Were all of us in Gotham?"

"Yes." Batman says. "How did you enjoy your trip?"

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait!" The Flash said, "First of all, how would you know that?"

"Nothing happens in Gotham without my knowledge. No one or thing enters or leaves the city without me knowing."

"Right," The Flash relented, "That's creepy as hell, and a huge privacy violation! Second of all," he directs this at the rest of the room, "When were you all in Gotham? I was invited to a gala at Wayne Manor last weekend."

The round of agreements from around the room only confused everyone further.

"Wait, you mean we were all in one space as civilians?" Superman asked.

"There's no way that's a coincidence!" Green Lantern yelled, "What the hell, Batman?!"

"Arrow?" Wonder Woman's voice hushed everyone else's. "You've been awfully quiet."

Green Arrow took another moment before he moved. He chuckled lightly, "I see what you're doing, B. I can't believe I didn't notice earlier!" As he spoke, he reached up and removed his mask and hat, ignoring the others' disbelief. "It's nice to meet you all formally, I guess. I'm Oliver Queen."

The Flash blinked.

Superman spun to face Batman, anger in his expression. "You had Wayne throw a party to force us to reveal our identities to each other?!"

"I've known who you all are since just after you all made names for yourselves." Batman said.

Oliver shook his head. "You're horrible at this, man."

"We didn't tell you our names." Aquaman growled, "At least I didn't."

"No," The Flash agreed, "I didn't either."

"I am a detective first and foremost. I needed to know who you all are before I could trust you with the safety of this world."

Green Lantern got right up in Batman's face as he said, "You don't get a say in that, Batman. That's not up to you to decide."

"Not to mention that Wayne, who is a very well known civilian, knows who we are now. " Wonder Woman said, "Or, at least, I assume he does."

"He does," Batman affirmed.

Superman grabbed Batman's cape and picked him up out of his chair. "We were good friends, Bats, ut you've crossed a line."

"We can still be friends." Batman says.

"Oh, yeah?" Aquaman asks, "How?"

Ignoring how he was still suspended in the air, Batman, too, removed his cowl. Superman dropped him as soon as he realised who he was holding, backing away so everyone had a view of Batman. "Because I'm Batman."

Part 17 Storyboard Alt. Ending

[ruporas]

post ep 11

[necrotic-nephilim]

I’m gonna be honest I didn’t realize the new 52 messed with Kon that much till I read your post and now I can’t get over the potential. I’m a Tim/Kon girly at heart so I would devour anything you write exploring the 52 vs typical Kon. Also Time being in a clone sandwich is 👌.

the new-52 messed Kon up SO bad it's ridiculous. like, to the point i would personally argue he's a completely unrelated character to pre-Flashpoint/Rebirth Kon. his personality, his suit, his origin, all different. the only real similarities are the name and powerset. and even New-52!Kon's powers are slightly different from pre-Flashpoint!Kon. New-52!Kon is a clone of a future version of Jon Lane Kent, cloned by N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to provide genetic material to Jon Lane Kent, whose body was not handling being half human/half Kryptonian well, it was a whole thing. New-52!Kon is also where we get the infamous "Kon-El means 'abomination of the house of El' and Kara basically named him a slur in Kryptonian culture" tidbit, because that is the only time that's canon. (originally Kon-El was a name gifted by Clark to accept Kon as his family way back in the 90s) he also never went by Conner Kent. New-52!Kon just straight up didn't have any real human identity or connections, outside of being very close to Tim and some Titans.

the very TLDR of Kon's history is: during post-Crisis/pre-Flashpoint, a clone called Superboy is created by CADMUS. at first, he's considered to be a clone of a dude named Paul Westfield and is not Kryptonian whatsoever, he was simply made to look like Superman and only has Tactile Telekinesis as a power. then, it was made canon that actually he was a clone of Lex Luthor and Clark Kent, but Lex hid this fact and slowly, Kon developed more Kryptonian powers. he's given the name Kon-El by Clark, and is taken in by the Kents, getting the name Conner Kent. then Flashpoint happens, we get the New-52, and we're given the above version of Kon-El, who is a clone of Jon Lane Kent, created by N.O.W.H.E.R.E. who has mostly very strong telekinesis powers and some Kryptonian powers. he's with the Titans for a bit, then at the end of the New-52, he kills some aliens and feels bad about it so he decides to fuck off and is never seen again, it's presumed he's dead but never confirmed. then Rebirth happens and DC makes Jon Kent the current Superboy, we get Supersons and all that, and it's assumed that no version of Kon-El exists. just at all. he's not around whatsoever, Jon is our only Superboy. *but* in 2019, we get a new Young Justice run and the pre-Flashpoint Kon-El is back, and we're given the explanation of: Kon got accidentally teleported to this alternate realm called Gemworld and then Flashpoint happened, and since that was a Crisis Event that changed the timeline, the poor lad got *erased* from the timeline, causing most people to *not fucking remember him* and for him to remember a timeline that no longer exists. some of the Young Justice team vaguely remember him, Ma and Pa Kent remember him, but notably, Clark *does not remember him*. it's not an issue of "Clark ignored Kon in favor of Jon" it's an issue of "Kon was erased from the timeline and didn't exist for years bc he was stuck in Gemworld and Clark just doesn't remember Kon or Kon's timeline" which to me, is far more tragic but i digress. since then, Kon has been back and is present in most significant Superfamily runs, with his own recent mini-series, Superboy: Man of Tomorrow. (which was very good btw)

so basically: the New-52 fucked Kon up so bad they wrote him out of comics for years and then brought back the pre-Flashpoint version, but never *explicitly* killed the New-52 version off. so hypothetically, it's possible that there are currently two characters existing in the DC universe named Kon-El who have been Superboy. and like i said above, one of New-52!Kon's only real significant relationships was with Tim, it was the only thing the New-52 managed to get right about Superboy, his closeness to Tim. they have a *lot* of moments that read incredibly queer. and ofc, it's just outright confirmed in Dark Crisis: Young Justice that Tim had a crush on pre-Flashpoint!Kon at some point. so while comics are intent on pretending New-52!Kon doesn't exist, i am intent on putting Tim in a clone sandwich.

because i do think it's fun to play with Tim having genuine feelings and potentially a relationship with both of them. and the fucked up nature of him not fully *remembering* his relationship with pre-Flashpoint!Kon (which is a canon thing, in YJ(2019) Tim has vague memories of Kon he's struggling to piece together and understand why he cares about this guy he doesn't recognize so much) and how frustrating that is for Tim. he knows he loves Kon, but it's all foggy besides that. and so it's even *more* fucked up if Tim dated New-52!Kon before he got emo and ran off into the unknown. obviously in canon no one has told current Kon about New-52!Kon bc comics are doing the good ol' tried and true of "sweep that shit under the rug" but for fanfic, i think it's fun to ask the question of: would anyone *tell* Kon? especially Tim? who now remembers dating both versions of them? would he admit to Kon that briefly, he had another Kon? how would Tim cope with that and move on? personality wise, they could not be more different. they dress and act and look different. they're not the same person, but there's certainly a questionable factor of Tim's dating history including two Kon-Els.

the idea i've had for a while is Tim slowly starting to date pre-Flashpoint!Kon again. it feels familiar and like home. and Tim has grieved and accepted that wherever New-52!Kon is, he doesn't want to come home, he didn't love TIm enough to stay and try. so Tim takes the Kon he has, and genuinely has a happy relationship. like for once, life is good and things almost make sense for Tim. but then, of course, New-52!Kon comes back. he decides he wants to try again and he finds Tim. only to find well. he's been replaced. and technically, he's been replaced with the *original* that he didn't even know *existed*. and if being a clone is bad enough, that just makes it a hundred times worse. because imagine knowing you're actually the second Kon-El your boyfriend who you never *technically* broke up with fell in love with. that's gotta give you some kind of complex.

so i think it's fun if both Kons try to step back and let the other Kon date Tim. both of them have reasons to feel like the "replacement" or "fake" Kon, and it makes them incredibly awkward with each other. do they count as the same person? bc they definitely don't *feel* like the same person to each other, but with weird timeline stuff, who can really say. them settling on an awkward throuple that's really meant to be Tim just dating them both but somehow they end up dating each other too is so fun for me. they both feel like imposters to the Superboy name but are so deeply in love with Tim Drake, it's the one thing truly connecting them. and then of course, Tim feels bad in that somehow, he's betraying both of them for having feelings for the other. but they make it work, with a lot of awkward angst and miscommunication. i just think it'd be fun. very difficult to write to get all the weird timeline nuances down in a way that's understandable in a fanfic (bc you can't just. infodump like i did on this post) but doable. also difficult to tag, because even though i argue these are two different characters, i'm pretty sure Ao3 groups them under the same character tag. so it'd be difficult to convey it's not *really* as selfcest-y as it would imply. comics, man. DC will never acknowledge New-52!Kon again, and he's admittedly a terrible adaptation of Kon-El, but. i think he was sort of neat in his own right and i'd *love* for DC to just inexplicably bring him back and make the current Kon deal with the consequences of all that. and them make Tim kiss them both. obviously.

[frameconfessions]

I hope they don't make The Drifter and by proxy The Hex irrelevant by just leaving them in 1999 forever like how Excalibur Umbra stopped being story relevant.

[driftingballoons]

For the art requests: A Pokemon Mystery Dungeon team comprised of a Banette, Phantump, and Drifloon struggling to read a map?

(I was possessed by the idea of a trio team made up by these three spookies who have a neat possible dynamic when you look at their 'Dex entries, and I'd love to see your take on them in your style!)

Ooh this is such a good combo! All fantastic ghosts with that loose relationship to children falling to some misfortune

Team leader Phantump seems pretty confident, but hard to trust a pokemon’s sense of direction when their claim to fame is “child who got lost in the forest and died”

[theadventurek9]

Just a short video, but this means a lot. For those that have been following Ryker's journey know that he has been a very hard dog for me to figure out training wise. While he is very confident and stable in many ways, he is deeply anxious about training. He easily gets stressed and shuts down while trying to do a variety of training things.

Anything that is not easy luring with a very high ROR is stressful for him. Shaping has been out of the question for him. I've taken breaks, rewarded everything in a session, tried Nosework (he found that stressful), tried conditioning (he actually does like), tried games and so many different things to pinpoint why he is stressing out and how to help him understand that training is just a silly game when he does things and I give him things he wants. Food, toys, praise, play...any of it.

I've cried a lot over him. I've felt like a failure and a shit trainer who can't even get her own dog to enjoy training.

Yet today I was working on his various food markers with some easy eye contact and he started offering other behaviors. I rewarded everything he wanted to try and eventually it led into this little video. Just a simple back up with a hiked hind leg. This probably has come from the sidestep work we've been doing with conditioning but he offered it on his own, he built up from one step back up to targeting the desk leg and leg hike. I just free shaped what he wanted to offer.

His head is up, his tail is wagging and he kept giving me more and more. This is what I hope for. A dog that enjoyed a silly game of training with me. That he let his goofy side come out and just tried something. I started crying out of happiness for this dumb little behavior. Maybe he will eventually enjoy all training, like Aayla. Maybe I'll get multiple days in a row where I won't see signs of stress when I lay out the mats for training. Maybe he will not hide when I have to manage one of the other pets from interrupting our session.

[spotlightstudios]

Neon was bored and so I proposed we look at the Hazbin Hotel cast and redesign one of em! (<-We've been planning this for a while-)

I twas assigned my favorite lil guy, Pentious, and I'm pretty happy w/ it!

His normal design is great, but it always gives me Bananna Slug vibes, so my main goal was to make him noticeably More Snake-like.

Obviously this design is mostly just me imposing my preferences, but I thought it was fun lol!

[stealingyourspins]

(Click for better quality)

Ninjago Mermaid AU- Zane.

Species: Narwhal. Chosen because of their ability to withstand cold temperatures plus their color pallet.

Zane is a Marine “spy” Robot used by researchers to record and collect data of Merfolk in their natural environment. Made in a partnership with Borg Industries and Julien Laboratories, he is a revolutionary advancement in the robotics field, going past a simple language learning model level to becoming a true AI in the 25 years of development. Zane’s expedition is simple: to help marine biologists to study Merfolk and blend in the best he can.

(Alt version with no spots under the cut and non transparent versions)

[aboxofcereales]

I think there should be some magnificent writing done of the looming moral dilemma of Elspeth Rook Mercar, the Breaker of Bonds, the firm believer in heroic nonsense, falling for a Lucanis Dellamorte, whose calling is death, the First Talon of the Crows. Because no matter how big and soft his heart is, he’s still unavoidably will lead the organization who helped to save Thedas, yes, but also is intertwined with many of the horrors that the Shadow Dragons oppose. And yet, still she will always choose Treviso, instead of Minrathous.

[book-lover85]

ok but what if we got a scene of Sophie telling someone she could feel herself cracking

she'd witnessed too much violence

maybe she's had less of a problem attacking people

maybe she's killed someone (Gisela?)

she can feel the cracks in her mind

[sesamenom]

no living man may hinder me: The Gilded Wraith of Numenor

from the Reverse Gondolin AU, based on @who-needs-words's idea for Ar-Pharazon's fate! (they also wrote a ficlet for it, check it out here!)

[thevoidstaredback]

Oliver was having a crisis. He has been for nearly a week now. It's gotten to the point where Dinah has benched him. Benched him!

He tried to tell her what was wrong, but what did she do? She laughed. Laughed! She laughed at him so hard that she started crying. And when she recovered enough to actually speak? She told him, point blank, "Don't be ridiculous, Oliver! You honestly think that Bruce Wayne is Batman? Brucie?! He literally said that he doesn't like Batman! What kind of person gives their secret identity a bad rap?"

"That's the genius of it, Dinah!" he shouted back, "No one expects it because the very notion is ridiculous!"

Dinah had put her hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Look, Ollie, I get that you two are long-time friends, and it would be awesome to let him into this part of our lives, but really? You want him to be Batman of all heroes? And, no offense to the Big Bad Bat, but he's way to scary - and probably pumped full of death magic and curses - to be human, let alone Bruce Wayne."

Oliver could do nothing but watch her leave.

Is this why Bruce told him? To make everyone think he'd gone insane? He thought they were friends!

***

Roy, of course, had witnessed the entire interaction before Oliver and Dinah left Bludhaven. Naturally, he gave Jason a play-by-play of the entire thing.

***

The last meeting at the Watchtower had ended with the 'Core Members' of the Justice League getting a tour of the Batcave. Now that this one was now over, they found themselves sitting in quiet at the table after everyone else had gone.

Green Arrow was the first to break through the growing tension - though no one really knew the source - in the room. "Batman, isn't there something you'd like to tell us?"

The looks of confusion from the other seven heroes went ignored.

"Yes," Batman nodded, "Our civilian identities are closely held secrets. Such is the fact that not even we know who each other is. But that's not quite true. I know who every single one of you are under your masks. I have information on you, your families, your coworkers, even strangers you interact with when you get your coffee in the morning."

"What?!" The cry of outrage could be heard even outside of the soundproofed room.

"That's a huge violation of privacy, Bats!" Green Lantern shouted, slamming his hand on the table.

"I know," Batman admitted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Superman, ever the voice of reason, called over the rising voices, "How do you know it's actually our secret identities and not a random group of civilians?"

"We're detectives before we're heroes," Batman explained, "We don't make mistakes like that."

"I'm sorry," The Flash interrupted, "'We'?"

"Do your- Do your sidekicks know, too?!" Aquaman screeched.

Batman nodded. "If it's any consolation-"

"Doubt it," Cyborg scoffed.

"-I did not tell them; They figured out all on their own."

"You are really bad at this." Martian Manhunter said.

Batman ignored the noise, finally standing from his chair, as he spoke, the other's quieting down to hear him. "I'd like to ask for your trust in my keeping your secrets by offering you mine in turn." He lifted his arm and gripped his cowl. In one swift move, he pushed it off to fall against his back with his cape. "My real name is Bruce Wayne."

There's a long moment of nothing. No one so much as breaths for what feels like an eternity.

"...holy fuck." Green Lantern whispers, breaking the spell over the room.

"I told her!" Green Arrow shouts, also standing, "I told her! And what did she do? Laugh! You owe me, Canary!"

Part 17 Storyboard Alt. Ending

[miakwat]

​A little part of me thinks they let Kai learn rising dragon first as an apology for him repeatedly losing his powers throughout seasons 11-15