#all i will have left is a final on the 15th which is gonna be ez

[rosemaryhoney27]

Death and Taxes

Title: Death, Taxes, and the Fenton Exception

Gotham was a city used to chaos—supervillains, vigilantes, the occasional alien invasion. But for one day a year, fear reigned over even the most hardened criminals. That day was April 15th—Tax Day.

And there was one man who became a model citizen exactly once a year: The Joker.

“Oh, you can gas the mayor, blow up the zoo, or replace the city's water supply with lime gelatin,” the Joker once told Harley, lovingly licking a stamp. “But you do not mess with the Internal Revenue Service.”

Danny Fenton didn’t get it.

“Why is everyone so freaked out about taxes?” he asked, lazily floating upside-down in the Batcave, sipping a soda. “It’s not like they’re gonna send hitmen after you or something.”

Jason, perched on the edge of the Batcomputer, stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “They literally will, Danny. That’s exactly what they do.”

Bruce, arms crossed and trying to make sense of Danny's W-2s—which were somehow written on ectoplasm paper thank you ghost writer and referenced “liminal hazard bonuses”—grunted. “Everyone pays taxes. Everyone.”

Danny shrugged. “Not me.”

Tim looked up from his tablet, eyebrows slowly rising. “What do you mean, not you?”

“I mean,” Danny said, setting his soda down with a slight fizz of anti-gravity, “the Fentons don’t pay taxes.”

“…You’re evading federal law?” Damian asked flatly, already reaching for the Bat-phone. “Father, allow me to call the IRS.”

“No no no,” Danny said, raising his hands. “We’re not allowed to pay taxes.”

Silence.

“What.”

It took less than twenty minutes for Oracle to hack the federal database and confirm the impossible.

The Fenton family has not paid a single tax in six generations.

There was a note on their file. A glowing, pulsing, red note—signed and sealed by multiple high-ranking officials and stamped with a Department of Defense warning tag. It read:

FENTON EXCEPTION ACT - CLASSIFIED DO NOT ENGAGE. DO NOT CONTACT. DO NOT AUDIT. THEY ARE TO BE LEFT ALONE. [Subnote: In the event of unsolicited contact, consider immediate relocation and witness protection.]

“Why?” Dick finally asked, trying not to sound hysterical. “Why in the actual haunted tax-code hell are they exempt?”

“I dunno,” Danny said. “Mom said something about Great-Grandpa Jack accidentally collapsing a dimension when he filed with the wrong form. The IRS has left us alone ever since.”

“What form?” Bruce demanded, looking more distressed than he had when Gotham was overrun by Fear Toxin.

Danny scratched his head. “I think it was called... uh... Form 66-Ectoplasm-B? Or maybe that was the one that summoned a wraith accountant? Oh, wait—that was Grandma Fenton…”

Meanwhile…

At an undisclosed IRS location deep under D.C., in a steel bunker reinforced with both magic and nuclear shielding, a red light began to blink.

The agents in the room froze.

“Is that…?” one whispered.

“Fenton ping. But it’s passive. Someone looked them up.”

The lead agent, an old man with a cybernetic eye and an exorcism tattoo burned into his hand, swore under his breath and lit a cigar with trembling fingers.

“God help them. Someone in Gotham must’ve tripped the file.”

Back in Gotham…

The Joker, halfway through filling out his Schedule C, saw the alert pop up on his monitor: Fenton Account Flagged – Gotham Search. He dropped his pen.

“No… No no no no no.”

He reached for his emergency bag: clown nose, fake passport, and a one-way ticket to Fiji.

“Harley!” he screeched. “Pack the hyenas—we’re going off-grid! The Fentons have surfaced!”

That night, Batman received an anonymous, trembling message from the IRS:

“Please, for the love of all that is holy, tell your newest ward to never attempt to file a tax return. We still haven’t recovered from the last time. The Department of Dimensional Finance sends its regards.”

Bruce turned to Danny. “What did your family do?”

Danny shrugged. “I mean, one of our fridge magnets is a minor god of debt collection, so maybe that’s part of it?”

Bruce just groaned and added “Fenton Family Finances” to the Batcomputer’s Top Threats—right between “Joker’s Laughing Gas Variants” and “Demon-Summoning TikTok Teens.”

And so, the truth became legend in Gotham:

There are two things certain in life—Death and Taxes.

Unless you’re a Fenton.

Then even the IRS fears you.

[priyajoyy]

devil wears Prada part 1

Dark!lottie Matthews x reader x dark!shauna shipman x dark!jackie taylor x dark!natalie scatorcio

Businesswomen/devil wears Prada au

Devil wears Prada with a bit of a twist and a toxic love polygon

This is only loosely inspired by devil wears Prada so not gonna be the same storyline or anything but similar vibes

Literally don’t ask about the job roles cause I’m lowkey making this company up as I go along and cba to work out the logistics of this fake ass company

Readers getting a magical promotion next part so she’s gonna actually get to interact with the girls I swear (even if its lowkey fleeting)

Warnings:

Dark characters, power imbalance, toxic workplace, mental health problems, fat shaming, beauty standards, ect (more in later parts)

Matthew’s tower was certainly an impressive building. One of the tallest in the city and home to your dream job. 

Ok maybe not your dream job. You didn’t really dream of working a front desk and fetching drinks for snooty big wigs who wouldn’t so much as learn your name. but it was the right path.

A year here, maybe even less, and you could get a job working anywhere you wanted. Maybe, just maybe, if you did well enough and didn’t completely hate it, you could continue at Mathews designs. With the right promotion of course.

It was terrifying really. Walking through the massive cold foyer. You felt like a tiny speck compared to the tall walls and wide room, and the walk to the other end of it felt like it took a million years. Each step your heeled feet took on the hard floors echoing around you.

An incredibly stylish looking woman greeted you when you finally reached the desk. In fact, all three of the young girls sat before you looked straight out of a fashion magazine.

Pretty, young and stick thin.

You’d tried to dress up for your interview. Youd worn one of your nicest formal dressed, though now it felt pretty frumpy looking. It was hard to wear something that seemed both appropriate, as well as up to the standards of the impressive company you were applying for. Especially given most of your work wear was plain and black, never needed to wear anything any more impressive.

You were also wearing your nicest heels, albeit they weren’t very worn in, and giving you blisters, having only ever left your wardrobe for a handful of weddings over the years. 

“Um hiya, I’m here for an interview with miss Ibarra?” you told the blonde girl nervously, who looked up at you with complete disinterest in response.

She stared at you for a moment, before tapping away at her keyboard, leaving you to stand there, anxiously fidgeting, unsure what to do.

“Yes, she’s upstairs on the 15th level” she finally responded, looking back up at you, “I’ll tap you in, the elevators are down there, shell be waiting for you”

You blinked at her, gathering all the information before quickly realising you must look stupid just standing there, “oh of course thank you! Um…what room am I-“

“she’ll be at the front desk of the 15th floor” the woman interrupted, looking back to her computer now, obviously done with the conversation. She taps something and the sliding doors to the right of the desks slide open for you.

You rush over to them, shooting her another ‘thank you’ as you hurry through them, eager to get upstairs and into the interview before you throw up from nerves.

You had only spoken to Miss Ibarra over the phone once, as well as a handful of emails. Marianna Ibarra was the head of so and so at the company. And, if you got the job, would likely be your immediate boss. 

She seemed quit intimidating, according to your google search and quick social media stalk (of which you did for most of the important people in the company that you were likely to be working with) you had found out she was 26, and freshly engaged. 

Most of the people you had googled from the company were quite young for their job roles. The CEO, Lottie Matthews was 27, though her young age made sense, given her father owned the company. 

The other however, were around the same ages, and all seemed to be quite close to the Matthews woman. A lot of them going to the same fancy universities 

and colleges you couldn’t even dream of attending.

There was Jackie taylor who had known the Mathews since childhood, having grown up in a lot of similar rich people circles. Then there was Shauna shipman, who had known Jackie for years, who was clearly who later introduced the pair, getting her a job working in the company.

Finally, there was Natalie scatorccio. The most unlikely of the 4. While Lottie and Jackie grew up in privilege and the three of them attended fancy universities. Natalie scatorcio, as far as you could find, grew up completely differently.

You were curious how she ended up where she was now. Of course, you don’t have to go to posh schools and have rich friends to end up with a nice job. But to do so, so young, being 27 like the others, well that was certainly impressive.

When you finally reached the 15th floor, you held your breath, greeted immediately by a beautiful noirette woman as the elevator doors opened.

“Miss y/l/n?” she asked straight away, not allowing you to so much as step out the elevator doors before she spoke up.

“Oh um, y-yes hi I’m y/n” you stuttered out, stepping forward to shake her hand as she offered you a polite smile, her face then quickly returning to one of neutrality.

“I’m Mariana Ibarra, you can call me Mari” she says simply, gesturing her hand towards one of the hallways after your hands separated, “if you’ll follow me, we can have a chat in my office and then I can give you a short tour”

You quickly follow after her, trying desperately to breath calmly and keep your cool. 

“Please…have a seat” the woman told you calmly, gesturing to one of the chairs opposite her own as she walked towards it. 

“As you know miss y/l/n, we’re down the last two candidates for the job position, you and another girl.” She started as you listened intently, picking at your nails under the desk, “I’m going to be honest with you, she’s far more experienced…”

Your heart dropped.

“However, I must say I think you might be a better…fit” she continued.

She must have sensed your confusion at her words, taking in your furrowed brows and heads slight tilt. You suppose you were happy she thought you were a better fit, but her words were confusing.

“Can I be honest with you miss y/l/n?” she asks.

“Yes of course…” you agree, somewhat hesitantly.

“The other candidate, she was lovely…she’s been working office jobs half her life and only had to stop at her previous job to help her husband recover from a hip replacement” Mari told you, “She’s got plenty of experience, hell she’s got more experience than half the girls that work here right now.”

“But you see, were a fashion company” she states simply, bluntly continuing, “and the other candidate…well she’s nearly 60 and can barely fit into any of the clothes we make, shed stand out like a sore thumb, she’s not the kind of woman we hire here…”

Your eyes widened at her words, not expecting her to be so blunt, and certainly not this rude about another applicant to your face.

“I don’t mean to be harsh but looks matter here” she speaks, not letting you have too long to think over her words, “you’re pretty and young, the higher ups would love you and while you’re not as experienced as Mrs smith, I think you’ll do well enough at the job”

You should probably be more alarmed by what she was telling you than you were if you truly thought it all through, but as you sat in the office you couldn’t stop a small smile come to your lips.

“Thank you?” you told her after a pause, though it came out more a question.

She ignored your words, choosing instead to give you a critical once over, making you blush at her grimace.

“However, I must be frank with you miss y/l/n, if I was to give you the position here at Matthews designs, you’d need to…dress the part so to speak” she told me, voice never wavering, “a pretty face is nice enough but we’re a fashion company, and those…clothes, they won’t cut it” 

You didn’t think your face could get any redder after she said that…

Despite your embarrassment, you nodded quickly, “of course, I’d be more than happy to dress however the company requires”

“good” the older woman responded finally with a quick smile, “well then I’d love to offer you the position”

You couldn’t stop thew wide smile from donning your face. You were sure she probably thought you looked ridiculous, getting so excited over a job as a glorified runner, but you simply couldn’t help it.

“Oh, thank you so much!” you said happily.

“Shall we?” she spoke, standing up from her desk and practically ignoring your words, walking towards the door and leaving you to rush after her.

this has not been proof read fair warning

Taglist:

@theoreticalfreak

[schemmentisimpasours]

Chapter Four: Choosing Captain Robinson

Again the best gifs are from @babytakeittothehead

Summary: Melissa is finally ready to make her move to get Y/N back. Also I made Captain Robinson a pretty understanding dude. Mel deserves support for her bi-ness. We are about two chapters from the end babies <3

Previous Chapter- Next Chapter

Masterlist

-

Melissa had spent the remainder of the school year and summer messaging you while also burying into herself. She was loud and angry often finding the nearest rage room to find an outlet for all the emotions she had. As the glass shattered around her she would feel some semblance of calm. As wood shattered underneath the force of her hammer swing it was like the grip around her heart was loosening. Finally there could be a physical representation to the hurt she felt on the inside. But none of it helped in any meaningful manner.

Until she sat down in a light blue room across from Dr. Parks, a therapist that came highly recommended by Jacob. He had slid the card to her timidly before everyone came in for lunch. 

“She helped me a lot when I was figuring out my sexuality and how to navigate some pretty tough stuff. I don't see her anymore but I think she could really help.”

Melissa grunted but that night as she looked at her 15th text that went unread by you she decided to call Dr. Parks. In the first appointment she had fled halfway through. The second one not going much better when she threatened physical violence. And the third one was spent in unstoppable tears. However slowly Dr. Parks got Melissa to open up. About her childhood. How she thought she had to be straight. How much she cared for you. How much she cried when you had left. How much she wanted to make it up to you.

Dr. Parks listened every step of the way never once pushing Melissa allowing her to open up and work through it on her own. Until it came to Ava’s birthday party at the end of the summer. Where Barbara had “accidentally” slipped up and told Melissa you would be attending.

“You have to tell her your feelings Melissa,” Dr. Parks said simply.

“No, I can’t. I am not ready,” The redhead fought back, “Plus I'm still with Captain Robinson.”

“And when is the last time you slept with him?” 

“You nosy you know that?” Melissa snipped.

“Only cause you refuse to answer the questions in the first place,” Dr. Parks snapped back which is way Melissa had finally taken to her therapist. They could go at it all session.

“Not since the week after Y/N left… when I was trying to get over her.”

“How did that work?”

“Clearly not well if I'm here,” Melissa sighed.

“And what have we figured out since then?”

“That I'm bisexual and have been my whole life,” Melissa mumbled twirling her fingers together, “And that I only got together with Captain Robinson because I was too scared to love a woman. But instead I lost the love of my life.”

“And now you have a second chance to at least explain to Y/N what happened. You gonna take the chance or let her slip away again? Are you going to allow yourself to be loved?”

“Take the second chance,” Melissa grumbled as the anxiety began to rise inside of her.

“Fucking finally we have a breakthrough,” Dr. Parks cheered.

Melissa smiled up at her therapist, “I hate you.”

“I love you too Melissa,” She said back, “Now let's talk about how you are going to get through this talk.”

-

Melissa had arrived with Captain Robinson too confused to explain her real feelings to him when her mind was so crowded with what she was going to tell you when she saw you. It only took a couple of moments to find you in the crowd. You had a dark purple bikini top on, showing off the new muscles that you had gained from hours at the gym. Your hair was pulled up into a ponytail, wet curls falling down your back. High-waisted black shorts hugged every curve of your body. You had a Dr. Pepper in your hand, laughter spilling from you at something Ava had just told you. She didn’t realize how long she had been staring until Captain Robinson coughed lightly.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” He asked, following Melissa’s line of sight.

Melissa let out a shocked huh before he continued, “Ms. Y/L/N who left Abbott unexpectedly. You cried for days after she was gone. She is the one that you really want to be with. I knew when we first went casual that your mind was always on someone else. Even after you wanted to start dating I thought… no I knew that it was always someone else. I have stood and watched you for five minutes and I see that sparkle back in your eye. I missed that sparkle and it took me standing here to realize that sparkle left when she did.”

Melissa’s eyes filled with tears, “I am so sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Hey none of that,” He said gently placing a hand on her shoulder, “I care about you alot Melissa but I just want you to be happy. She makes you happy. You would only be letting me down if you don’t go after what makes you happy.”

“You really mean that?”

“Go get your girl Melissa,” Captain Robinson smiled, “But I am assuming you will respect that I have to leave.” Melissa nodded, giving him one last hug before he made a graceful exit from the party. She breathed glancing down at her phone to see a text from Dr. Parks.

Do it Melissa. Stop being scared of everything.

It took her a moment to find you again. You had moved away from Ava, opting to sit by the edge of the pool where no one was bothering you. Melissa clenched her hands and made her way over to you, trying hard not to beat herself up. 

“Hey do you mind if I sit?” Melissa asked a small waver in her voice, “I was wondering if we could talk.”

Your heart stopped for a moment looking up at the redhead. You had planned for this moment for so long, yet now that it was here you had no words. You could still feel those damn butterflies in your stomach as you took in her casual outfit of jean shorts and a green tank top. She had her oversized jean jacket sleeve’s rolled up and you could almost remember how it smelled wrapped around you from the last time Melissa had let you borrow it.

“I am sorry maybe I am rushing it…” Melissa said turning to leave.

“Shit sorry,” You said realizing you had never answered, “Please sit. I was thinking and forgot to answer.”

Melissa smiled and sat within arms reach but not touching, “Glad to see some things haven’t changed. What were you thinking about?”

“The last time you let me borrow that jacket,” You answered honestly.

“It was two weeks after the PESCA conference,” Melissa sighed getting lost in her memories, “Janine had dragged us to another team building exercise. I think it was axe throwing originally  but it had gone horribly wrong and we ended up standing outside this shitty little resturant to get tacos becuase I thought you were going to murdere Jacob you were so hungry. You were shivering, and without thinking about it I wrapped my jacket around you. I almost let you keep it you looked so cute in it.”

You blushed at the memory, “I can’t believe you remembered that.”

“The moments I spent with you are some of the best memories I have,” Melissa admitted, “Which is what I wanted to talk to you about Y/N. I.. well I went to a lot of therapy over the summer.”

“Therapy?”

“Yeah, Jacob gave me a card to a therapist that he thought would help me,” Melissa continued blushing a deep red, “I had been struggling with a lot of guilt since we got together. Not cause we got together. Cause I enjoyed that. A lot. I fuck… let me start over.”

“Mel,” You cut in gently placing your hand gently ontop of yours, “Just take a minute and start again.”

You went to remove your hand but Melissa grabbed it rubbing her thumb across your knuckles. It took a couple of moments for Melissa to talk again. 

“I don’t want you to think that what happened between us didn’t mean something to me. It meant everything to me. I really cared a lot about you Y/N. I still do actually, I think about yous all the time and the mistakes that I made,” Melissa said and you could see the tears building in her eyes, “I spent a lot of my life thinking that I couldn’t like women. From my religion to things my Ma would say. I got so far into my head that I couldn’t get out and realize you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“That whole weekend we spent together was the happiest I had ever been.You understand me more than anyone in my life including Barb which says a lot. That woman has seen me through a lot of shit. But with you it was different. It was like you looked at all of the broken pieces of me and knew exactly how to piece them all together. I watched you that Sunday morning still asleep a smile across your face and I thought I had to leave because I was going to break you. And that scared me more than anything. To take a person I adored and watch them become as broken as I was.”

“You didn’t give me a chance to have an opinion in the matter,” You said curtly, “I deserved the chance.”

Melissa nodded her head, “You absolutely deserved that chance and I had no right to take it from you. I hurt you more than I probably will ever know and I am so sorry for that.”

“I never thought you were broken,” You whispered scooting just an inch closer to the older woman, “You are gorgeous, intelligent, and a badass. Not broken.”

“You still think all of those things even after I hurt you?”

“I hurt you too,” You admitted, “I should have talked to you about how I was feeling and get your side of the story too… I shouldn’t have left the way I did either.”

Melissa let out a wobbly smile, “Not liking it over there at the private school? Too many supplies and new books.”

“You know they have all of those things but they lack one really important thing,” You said squeezing her hand, “A fiery redhead.”

“Ah yes, I hear those are hard to come by nowadays,” Melissa gulped, “You think that this fiery redhead could make it up to you? I know that we can’t go back to the way that we used to be but I would like to try to make a new type of us.”

“I will spend a lifetime trying to make it up to you,” You quoted her text, “You really up for that Mel?”

“You read my texts,” Melissa smiled letting one tear finally drop. 

“Every single one of them,” You admitted wiping the tear away,  “ the good news is that you it will become a lot easier for you to make it up to you when I come back as the librarian next week.”

“Wait! You are coming back,” Melissa squealed, “You aren’t pulling my leg right?”

“I will be back at Abbott. Down the hall from you running the library. Ava found the extra funds to bring me back.”

Melissa’s smile grew as she turned towards you but paused, “Can I give you a hug?”

“Yeah. I would really like that.”

Melissa launched herself towards you wrapping her arms around you. You pulled her closer letting her scent envelope you. It had been so long since you had held Melissa and your body seemed to unravel. All of the hurt and the sadness seemed to fall away the longer she held on. She only pulled away when the breeze picked up causing you to shiver. She removed her jacket pulling it around you smiling as she pulled back and you finally saw that twinkle in her eyes return.

“You really should carry around a jacket hun. You get cold easily,” She said jokingly.

“Why would I when I can take yours?” You laughed.

Melissa chuckled as you both looked out at the pool becoming crowded with people. You rested your head on her shoulder grabbing for her hand. She places your entangled fingers in her lap squeezing it gently.

“It’s not gonna be easy to go back,” You whispered still aware of the outskirts of your anxiety.

“I know,” Melissa said laying her head on yours, “But maybe we should plan to go forward together instead of trying to rebuild the past.”

“I like that idea,” You said before adding, “I'll start answering your texts too… help you out a little.”

The redhead laughed, “I'll take any help I can get. I got a woman to win over.”

-

Taglist

@yoyo-w

@cupldscntrl

@milfslvr

@liliapleasesteponme

[momoliee]

Orbs, On the Movements of the Earth

Just watched the finale, and i’ve got to say, i was moved. The ending left me breathless, in the best way possible.

I don’t even know where to begin, but i will start with the most obvious: the second Rafal, or Rafal2. I fully believe that Rafal 1 has died, and that Rafal2 is not an alternative universe, as the ending involved the letter to pototski. Then who is Rafal2? Well, my theory is that Rafal2 is meant to represent the idea that even if Rafal1 died, there was always gonna be other Rafals out there, with the same thirst for curiosity, with the same desire to pursue knowledge. I think Rafal2 is meant to show us that the passion behind learning can never be lost, it can never end with the death of a person, cause one day, someone else will be born with that very same passion, and even if they also die, then another and another will be born. Rafal1 died too young, but in the very same town, another Rafal was born, with the same convictions, the same thirst for knowledge, the same belief in the power of curiosity. And i think that’s beautiful, the concept that the pursuit of truth doesnt die with us, that someone else will inherit our will, even if we dont pass it down directly.

Building on to the point of ‘passing down’, a theme on which our story heavily relies on, i love how the priest that gave albert the final push to go to university, was implied to be the same inquisitor whose friend died after freeing jolenta, all those episodes ago. He talks about how he regrets letting his friend die, how he knew his friend did the right thing, and how he carried the burden of that event. I love how, just when we thought all our characters died and the chain of ‘passing down the torch’ was cut off, there was an unexpected and weak thread woven somewhere else. I love how the now priest, previously inquisitor, inherited his friend’s doubt for the system. He inherited his friend’s sense of justice, he inherited his friend’s will, and he passed it down to albert. That chain was never cut off, it was just passed down in an alternative roundabout way.

And finally, onto our miracle: the letter. The letter is a marvel. The letter exists simply to show that this anime was never about refuting religion, it was about believing, having faith, having hope. and how God does not betray His believer’s hopes. Every time they passed down the “10% profit to pototski”, they passed down the hope that their will wont be lost. they hoped, they had faith, up until Draka released that bird. And all of that was answered, by a miracle, a coincidence, of albert passing by and hearing one sentence, of the question mark that that sentence generated. that was all it took for our characters’ efforts and sacrifices to not go to waste. even after they were long gone, they were still rewarded for their hard work.

Our story is just a hypothesis on everything that couldve happened in history, all the records that were lost, all the people who were erased. it’s a speculation, a theory, about “people from the 15th century”. One important sentence that was said was, “the truth is not conceived, it is discovered.” so when one person dies, the truth does not die with them, another person just rediscovers it. How albert wasn’t the person who conceived, he was the one who discovered, discovered what all our dead characters tried so hard to keep passing on.

I think our author is trying to tell us not to absolutely believe, not to cease thinking, but to doubt. to be curious, to chase after knowledge, to discover truths, to doubt those truths, to start over, and most importantly, to always pass the torch. And even if we one day will be scattered to ashes, someone else will be born, to finish what we started. and that is how our will, will always live on, never to be suppressed.

[britcision]

AND HERE WE ARE! Totally getting this out in February well done team! And this is gonna be our last chapter before a wee teeny tiny time skip and Jason’s finished core! What a beautiful day 🥰

We’re getting another two-parter too, because Danny and Jason refused to let me get to the end of this lil introductory arc without at least one more pile of abject fluff! But finally, we’re ready to begin the plot!

Once again, the link to the AO3 version is in the first chapter and the 15th chapter; you can see it in the text for the link if you wanna subscribe to be told when it updates 😁

First Chapter:

Previous Chapter:

——————

So That Just Happened part 1

Back in her own room on the other side of the country from Gotham, Sam Manson reclined back into giant, coffin shaped body pillow her beloved girlfriend had given her when they moved and contemplated her phone.

The brand new Wayne-chat was blowing up satisfactorily, although apparently Tim was a massive stalker too. That was probably a good thing; it meant she hadn’t actually nuked Tuck’s chances with his nerd-crush. Now they could bond over their mutual stalker tendencies.

But, did that make her revenge less effective?

It wasn’t like she was actually out to ruin his life, but she’d kinda like to leave a mark. Something that would make him think twice about letting her think he and Danny had fucking died in Gotham in her absence.

Or. Well. Gone radio silent in Gotham, which was probably actually worse because if they were dead she’d know exactly where they were.

The Wayne chat were all pretty sure Tim and Tucker were together too, and Sam’s new best friend Babs had even pulled up the feed from their living room tv somehow. Sam wasn’t exactly the tech wizard Tucker was, but… after seeing that, she disconnected her and Val’s TV from the wifi.

And settled in to remote watch Tuck get his ass kicked at Spiderheck, apparently. At least for a little while; until something else on her phone caught her attention.

It was… almost funny. While she knew she was a whole three timezones away, she’d never really felt left out before. Like maybe she should have stayed on the east coast…

Not that she regretted it, of course. She had a good job, a good school, a wonderful girlfriend who’d been so excited to get into a good school and really go to town on the business department.

(Apparently there were posters of Val’s face in the ethics classrooms. Sam refused to ask if they were golden example or dire warning.)

She was just… a long way away. Even a long portal away, and… being back with the guys, even in Gotham, made the quiet of their comfy little apartment seem lonely.

Huffing, she turned and traced her fingers through the leaves of her mimosa plant on the windowsill beside the bed. They curled gently shut at her touch, and made her smile. Just like always.

She was happy to be home. She wasn’t technically liminal enough yet that it was her haunt, but… well, for all the jokes Val made, Sam had to admit she’d put down roots. She loved her job at the greenhouses, and her internship at the botanical gardens.

She loved scaring the hell out of the dudebros in Val’s business classes who thought ethics were a waste of time. She loved sharing messages with Jazz about the boys, laughing that even three hours ahead, Tuck and Danny still couldn’t get up before them.

She was kinda considering texting Harley about Timblr too. Not like, for any particular reason; if Tim’s family weren’t gonna embarrass Tucker enough, Harley probably wouldn’t either. She’d probably think it was adorable.

Or, y’know, worrying evidence of obsession. Psych types worried about stuff like that, usually.

Sam was kinda also considering sending Harley Jazz’s number. Jazz might still be skating just on the neurosurgery side of the line, but she’d always been big into psychology. Big enough to try and triple major, and only drop to major-major-minor after the third pre-exam meltdown.

And she could use having someone else do the shrink bit on her a little more often. Although really, for that Sam should make her a professional appointment; friends didn’t ask friends to psychoanalyze their overprotective pseudo-sisters. And Jazz could use more friends.

Jazz could use a transfer to a specialty that would let her sleep once in a while, a more stable supply of fresh ecto, and about six weeks in a meditation retreat to get the accidental telepathy under control, but more friends would be good too. And less stubborn insistence on her second try for double majors.

Maybe the switch to psychiatry full time would be good for her? Or psychology. Sam was a little fuzzy on the difference, which one Jazz was currently still minoring in, and which one Harley did.

(Jazz’s current second major was neurosurgery, which Jazz insisted was totally less taxing alongside a neurology major because it was the same body part. She was the only person in her class attempting the double major though, so.)

Humming tunelessly to herself, Sam flicked back into the group chat. Babs was still sharing the feed… brows drawing in, Sam frowned at the little spider figures still fighting to the death. Now, she wasn’t as big of a gamer as she used to be, but she was pretty sure Spiderheck didn’t actually offer red berets.

Snorting a laugh, she flicked back out of the chat and opened a new one, adding both Jazz and Harley. All it needed was the perfect name… something that would grab both of their attention.

Obvious. Child’s play.

Snuggling back into her coffin pillow, Sam grinned down at her phone screen.

Danny Has A Boyfriend chat was live.

**

Having eight legs wasn’t exactly the same as suddenly having four new ones, or two new legs and two new arms. While the first two were definitely functioning as “hands”, being the ones to pick up and use all of the weapons, Tim had quickly learned that he could grip with any of the eight “feet” that were available.

Yeah, spinning a laser staff all the way down one side of his body and up the other was fucking cool.

He’d adjusted pretty quickly during their “practice” round, while they all got used to the web slinging and worked out how to open the boxes and use the weapons.

(Tucker had swung himself into the lava by accident, so they’d started a second round.)

Tim felt pretty much ready to go, although if he was honest with himself… his only actual complaint was that he didn’t have a camera.

Conner had asked Tuck at the start of their second round if his powers had been nerfed to make it “fair”. Tucker, sweet innocent Tucker, had managed to convey a sidelong look even looking at even without a face on their little blob bodies and said he didn’t think Conner needed a nerf.

He just needed to understand how the powers worked, and they could be incorporated into the system. Which, well, was like catnip for Conner.

At least Tucker seemed a lot less flustered about talking to him while they were both spiders, because Conner had started talking his ear off about TTK and hadn’t stopped since.

Tim was kinda considering swinging over and taking them both out, just to get the game moving. But Conner was cute when he got really into something, and being a headless little spider body did not seem to have changed that.

He spent the time practicing with the webs instead, spinning and tossing himself around the map. It was pretty similar to using a grapple, although he wasn’t exactly sure whether or not the web was coming from his own body.

If it was, it was coming from inside a foot, which wasn’t how actual spiders worked… but Tim was pretty sure that was on Spiderheck, not Tucker.

Being able to run around upside down was the biggest change for him, and pretty cool. Tim scuttled around under a couple of the higher platforms for a while, planning his strategy.

Honestly, he was pretty sure TTK was going to wind up fucking Conner over rather than making anything easier for him. You’d think that flying would be an advantage in Spiderheck, at least as far as avoiding lava or an out of bounds, but Tim knew pretty explicitly how far it took Conner to stop.

It wasn’t exactly on a dime, and in this game? The pace didn’t exactly allow for imprecision.

And they were wasting time talking about it rather than getting used to having an extra six hand-feet.

Still upside down, Tim twisted until he could see the other two spiders. Which was when he learned that… they did kinda have their faces on them. Just, instead of being in a face position, on the front of his body that he was seeing out of, it was just sorta… plastered across the body.

Like a photo skin mapped onto a flat blob.

He considered letting the other two know; if anyone walked into the room, they’d probably be able to see their little faces on the screen. If they were just standing around talking.

Also, the pictures’ mouths weren’t moving, which hadn’t been weird when Tim was listening to them talk and didn’t think they had mouths. Kinda was to look down on Conner’s smiling face and hear his voice at a mile a minute.

Tucker probably already knew, and might have done the faces on purpose? And if he hadn’t, it was gonna be pretty funny to see what happened when he noticed.

He’d gotten progressively better at actually talking to Conner the longer he wasn’t actually looking at him, and the focus being on the game had helped too. Face in the game? Probably gonna throw him again.

And it was probably time to get things actually moving, so he could enjoy that.

Humming softly to himself, Tim scuttled across to the loot crates, found himself a double ended lightsabre, and dropped down on Tucker and Conner’s heads.

**

“Sooooooo…” Danny clapped his hands, doing his best to make his broad grin at least look a little innocent as he floated sideways into Jason’s field of view, “not that that wasn’t adorable and dramatic and everything, super touching, buuuut…?”

He almost laughed as Jason jumped, having apparently forgotten Danny was there for a hot second, then pulled his hand back from Lady Gotham’s to glare at him. The Lady herself didn’t bother hiding her chuckle, settling back to recline once more on a cloud of smog.

“Was there something you needed, Phantom?” She asked with a dry amusement.

Danny shrugged innocently, sticking his hands in his spectral pockets. Much more dangerous than regular pockets, but he’d not been doing more than blob wrangling lately.

“Not so much what I need, just, y’know, trying to keep things on track. I dunno if you’ve got other plans for the night Jay, but we were with Frostbite for a while and if you did…” he trailed off, and Jason grimaced.

“Not what you’d call set plans, but…” Jason trailed off as well, and Danny could feel the guilt even before it tried creeping in.

Nope, not having that. He’d almost talked himself into that bullshit already tonight, none for Jason. He nodded airily, floating up to drape an arm over the larger man’s shoulder.

“All I’ve gotta do is get to bed before midnight, so I’m not rushing now that Tucker’s found himself a new ride.” Waggled eyebrows punctuated that comment with enough emphasis that Jason snickered, darker feelings pushed aside without finding purchase.

“What, you don’t wanna go watch that train wreck in person?” Jason teased with a lopsided half smile.

Danny pulled a face, both at the thought of Tucker’s goddamn disastrous attempts at flirting and… well, the possibility of running into Bruce again. Maybe Constantine.

Danny was maaaaaybe kinda avoiding the wizard since he’d started collecting the other contracts on his soul; it wasn’t like he wanted them for nefarious purposes, it was just fucking weird. He didn’t like owning people. Not even overgrown Sour Patch Kids in trench coats.

(At least Constantine was still alive though. Those unlucky souls who died still bound to Pariah damn near went through a full reboot. No memories, no personality, none of what Danny would have thought of as like, the core components of a soul.

So far nothing anyone had done had been able to help them, and Danny had a nasty feeling the final answer would be Ending them. The Observants didn’t want to, they were perfectly happy with a thrall army so long as they controlled it, but Danny was firm.

No slaves, no thralls. If the only way he could free them was through a final and permanent death… he would.

But Clockwork was still looking, and so long as the ancient of time thought there might be a way… Danny held out hope too.)

For now, he shook his head quickly, holding up both hands.

“No way man. Bruce already hates my guts, I’m gonna keep a healthy distance.”

For both their sakes, really. Jason’s mood every time Bruce had spoken to him today kinda proved he hadn’t listened to Danny’s advice and stepped up. Not that Danny had exactly expected him to; again, hated his guts.

Jason pulled a face but didn’t bother to argue; he’d probably rather not actually deal with the old man for a third time either. Instead he just shrugged, turning his attention back to Lady Gotham.

“Do you know what time it is in Gotham now, my lady?” He asked, and the really weird thing was that it didn’t actually sound weird.

Danny always felt awkward and formal whenever he tried to address a ghost by their title, and Lady Gotham was the very worst because she never bothered to hide when she was laughing at him. Which was, y’know, every time he said it.

(He wasn’t gonna just call her “Gotham” though. That would be worse, so he just sucked it up.)

On Jason’s lips, words like “my lady” just sounded right. Danny flashed back for a moment to snow in a graveyard, and Jason knelt before him quoting Shakespeare. There was something in Jason that was just made for flowery language and dramatic proclamations.

Lady Gotham clearly agreed, bestowing a fond smile upon Jason before inclining her head back for a moment, those red on black eyes glowing suddenly brighter. Looking into the living world, or right up Clockwork’s ass?

“It’s coming to ten o’clock,” she said softly, something almost like regret in her tone. The smile that she turned back to them was softer, sadder.

Danny’d feel bad about being the one to point it out, except, yeah. He’d had to. Ghosts in general didn’t exactly think about time. It was a problem for the living, so - him. And Jason.

Who didn’t seem nearly so sorry with the answer. He nodded, fingers beginning to drum against his thigh.

“Time for a few more questions, then.” That wasn’t a question, and if Danny was completely insensate or possibly locked in a sensory deprivation tank he might have warned Jason about talking to a powerful spirit like that.

It’d need to be a damn good tank for him to miss all the signs though; Jason was so in the good books. Lady Gotham just smiled and nodded, gesturing once more with her traffic cone.

“Of course. And, of course, we will have plenty of other opportunities to speak. I may spend much of my time here, but now that we have been introduced… I can also speak to you there, if you would like?”

It was a delicate question, and Danny hesitated, suddenly wondering if he should… well, elaborate again.

“Uh… yeah, sure? I’d like that?” Jason asked, clearly confused by the reticence, and that made up Danny’s mind.

“She’s not going to sound the same,” he explained quickly, giving Lady Gotham a quick smile. She smiled back, gesturing for him to continue, because none of the damn older ghosts explained shit for themselves.

Danny totally didn’t roll his eyes.

“Like, the way we talk to her in the Infinite Realms is kinda the abstract? She looks kinda human,” he added, gesturing vaguely at the Lady.

Jason’s brows furrowed for a moment, but he felt more curious than concerned.

“So… she’s an anthropomorphic personification, but not in the living world?” He asked, and Danny’s eyes nearly crossed.

He turned to Lady Gotham, hoping that this might be some weird city slang, and she laughed at him. Again.

“Yes,” she agreed with Jason instead, which absolutely did not help. “It’s easier for me to speak with you here, using eyes and ears like your own. But building and maintaining this shape in the living world is… complicated.”

“Because her real body there is the city,” Danny added, privately resolving to ask Sam what the fuck Jason was talking about later.

Honestly, Jason would probably get along real good with Mr Lancer. They both liked weird words.

At least he actually looked a little confused too now; Danny had freaked the first time Lady Gotham talked to him out in the city itself. He gave Jason a consoling pat on the shoulder.

“You’ve gotta see it to believe it, man. Just… it’s gonna be weird.” Not the most helpful, sure, but Danny was doing his best!

Jason nodded slowly, willing to table it for now, and refocused on Lady Gotham, something darker now welling in the purpose building inside him.

“So you said the Joker wasn’t from the Curse,” he said bluntly. Danny flinched, more from the lack of any aura inflection than the remnants he could feel.

Yeah, a lotta Gothamites hated the Joker specifically, but if Danny had even the faintest doubt of who’d killed Jason… the black, leaden lump of Death in Jason’s aura wiped it out.

Lady Gotham stilled too, her own smile fading as she regarded Jason. Those red and black eyes were suddenly so much older, so much sadder.

“Yes,” she agreed softly, lowering her traffic cone to rest at her hip. “Are you sure?”

‘Are you sure you want to know?’

Or ‘Are you sure you want to know now?’

Danny wouldn’t put money on which she’d intended, but it didn’t take a genius to know the answer to both. Stubborn, emotionally repressed, and self destructive as hell, bat-training only left one answer.

Jason nodded firmly now, his jaw clenching.

“Yes.”

Lady Gotham studied him for a moment longer but didn’t argue, inclining her head gently.

“Then I will be brief. While the Curse has always been part of the city, feeding on fear and despair, in recent years we have both felt… something else. I told you of the malevolence on the land?” She asked, and Jason made a soft, impatient noise.

“And that it’s where the Curse comes from, yeah. And that the Joker is different,” he prodded.

Danny made a face. He was usually very much on the side of blunt answers, and knew full well that the Lady wouldn’t actually like, break Jason for being mouthy. He was very, very used to seeing favouritism from the outside, and Jason was clearly a firm favourite.

Maybe because he was currently Gotham’s only actual part ghost child? (To be fair, Danny didn’t think that’d change much in the fullness of time; Jason was his favourite of all the bats alive or dead.)

Whatever it was, his interruption only brought a flicker of a smile to the Lady��s lips, which vanished just as quickly.

“Yes. The Curse is indeed the original manifestation of that malevolence, given form and now, purpose. But even that malevolence came from somewhere; Gotham lies on a crack between worlds, older than time. Every world in the multiverse exist along certain markers; certain weak spots. Gotham is one of them.”

“Of course it is,” Jason grumbled beside him and Danny shifted closer, brushing their shoulders together.

Personally, he figured that if Gotham was a weak point in the universe and all the bad shit just leaked through, they were probably doing pretty well for themselves. Then, he’d seen the depths of the Ghost Zone; he knew what else could be trying to leak through.

Which, obviously, meant the good luck had to end.

“When the Joker died,” Lady Gotham continued, only to be cut off by a startled “What?!” from Jason and a totally-super-dignified squawk from Danny.

“You are not gonna tell me that asshole’s a ghost!” Danny moaned, dragging his hands down his face. Honestly, if he’d missed a whole actual ghost in the city for an entire year too, he was never going to live it down.

Like any of the other ghosts had any fucking clue what it was like being half alive… or living fully inside a city spirit’s haunt. Let them visit Lady Gotham’s and see what they sensed.

“Who the hell killed the Joker?!” Jason demanded, something weirdly like panic spiking through anger. “It wasn’t fucking Bruce-”

Lady Gotham silenced them both with a pointed look, shadows growing suddenly long and dark under her stare. Then she returned her gaze to Jason, her expression sombre.

“The Joker is not a ghost, nor a halfa. Bruce Wayne resuscitated him, which may be all that kept him from becoming a manifestation himself; he was killed not only in Gotham, but by a nexus point, in rage and revenge and hatred.”

There was something dark in Lady Gotham’s eyes now, something black and burning and for half a second Danny could swear he felt that rage himself, deep in his chest.

“Something else leaked through in the short time that he was dead,” she went on, her gaze firmly locked on Jason’s and Danny couldn’t imagine just how much the older-younger halfa was feeling under its full force. “Something small, and hungry, and craving death because it was denied his - the death I believe would give it shape.”

It wasn’t enough for Jason, that much was obvious; bitterness-frustration-grief hung in the air in a cloud almost thicker than the Lady’s smogs, and this time Danny gave in to temptation.

Let his own soothing-sorrow-loss twine through, even if he didn’t exactly understand the cause of the feeling. Jason startled a little, knocked from grumbling something that hadn’t been for anyone but him, but his hand reached back for Danny’s. Squeezed tight, even as the bitterness deepened.

His eyes narrowed, he remained focused on Lady Gotham though.

“Of course. Of course he fucking brought the clown back, even after someone did the world a fucking favour,” he hissed through his teeth, then raised his voice more clearly. “So, what? No one can ever kill the Joker, or Gotham gets another curse? Who’d fucking notice at this point?”

A genuine sorrow and pain passed across Lady Gotham’s face but she schooled it, kept her own aura calm and composed… or at least in closer than they could feel. There was probably a reason she’d put space between them again.

“Not quite, but close,” she agreed softly, those red bat eyes somehow more gentle even against the black pupil. “This other entity is already here, growing each day. Every violent death in Gotham is being consumed by it, which I will admit has strengthened the truce between the Curse and myself. Neither of us wish to feed it any more than necessary.”

Danny’s brows furrowed at that and he tried to think back to everything that Frostbite had ever told him about spirits. Not the dead-people kind, but the Neverborn; entities, concepts, ideas given form. Like time, and cities.

“So… when did the Joker die?” He asked cautiously, and felt surprise jolt through Jason. Lady Gotham gave him a quick glance, and cocked her head at Jason himself.

“Not so long after Jason did. A matter of months, less than a year, though he was dead less than a few minutes.” There was something in her tone, a weight on the words that made Danny think he was on the right track… but that she didn’t want to say it.

Which. Well. That was all kinds of bad fucking news if an entity as old as Lady Gotham was wary of speaking it into being. Luckily, Danny was just a fucked up little half ghost who had absolutely no supernatural tie ins to things like belief.

And he believed in just laying all the cards on the table before he decided if he had to flip it.

“That’s really young for any kind of belief spirit,” he said bluntly, watching Lady Gotham’s eyes. Saw… just a hint of something, creasing the corners, and seriously considered reaching his aura to hers for the first time today.

It’d save so much time to just get the message through feeling, but… if she preferred words, the words had to be important, and Jason probably needed words.

Fuck, they’d all need words, because this was going to be a goddamn bat-briefing if Lady Gotham was filling them in, and Mr Emotional Repression Is My Soulmate was not going to be up to aura reads.

Chewing his lower lip, he thought through the next stage a couple times before speaking slowly, watching for any hint he was still on the right path.

“If… it’s grown fast enough that you both noticed… it’s not new?” He tried, wondering briefly if he’d retroactively doomed them all by thinking about “what else could break through” from the depths of the Zone.

Lady Gotham shook her head though, gesturing impatiently through her smoke to clear it… maybe the first sign he’d ever seen that she didn’t control it entirely.

“No. That much, we are both certain of. This entity… it is new and unformed, with no Name of its own. At the moment, all of the fear it wreaks is only feeding belief in the Curse, which is why it only has death. But there is already a will there, long before it should even have awareness. And it wants to grow.”

“Oh great, so Joker’s got a Pitty 2.0 but his is on the outside,” Jason quipped, irritation sparking through him… and Danny was kinda glad to see it, honestly. Just a little flash of the guy he’d been getting to know in all the dark.

Even Lady Gotham managed a brief smile, and didn’t actually bother refuting it; closing her eyes for a moment, she waved her hand and the clouds of smog between them solidified briefly into a model of the city. Buildings only, but with horribly empty shadows between them.

“The Joker’s death gave it an entrance, and his revival denied it his shape, his Name, and the fear he commands. But it is no longer fixated on killing the Joker - and it was, for several years. It pushed him before it had the power for anything else, driving him further, feeding poison to those around him, trying to have him killed so that it could become The Joker, the pure essence of every bloody mark the clown left on Gotham. And it very nearly succeeded,” she added softly, her gaze turning back to Jason with an almost tangible sorrow.

Something in Danny’s gut iced over, and suddenly he was really, really glad he didn’t know what she was thinking.

**

Bruce looked better as he rose from the table, Diana decided, watching her old friend closely. For all that he’d come with an actual reason for his doom and gloom (for a change), his attitude during the briefing was positively relaxed compared to their own discussion that followed.

He would still be worrying and fretting, she knew him too well to believe anything else, and… she knew why. While Diana had no children of her own (though she had met and heard of other versions of herself who had), she did dearly love her own proteges, and those of her friends.

She remembered Jason as the young, sweet boy who’d stumbled over every word he said to her and stared at her like she’d hung the stars. She remembered Bruce’s grief, Batman’s rage, and the shadow that hung over the Dark Knight with every step until Tim Drake took him to heel.

She knew that there was too much there, the guilt and pain and loss and grief for Bruce to see Jason objectively, and she didn’t begrudge him that. Nor did she condone it.

It only hurt both men, and while she would not give her opinion when it wasn’t wanted… well, she was aware Bruce spoke to Clark of his worries around Jason much more often than he would to her. This time though, she’d had no choice.

She knew the man well enough to know what was truly scaring him in this situation; that Jason would be taken from him again. He was at least as upset by this “Danny” boy as the thought of war with an entire realm.

It would have been cute, if he wasn’t a grown adult man who prided himself on critical thinking. Or actively forcing his son away with his own actions at every turn.

Still, there was one piece of counsel she could give. The thing he hated the most of all was a mystery. And while she also didn’t usually condone his stalking-as-a-sign-of-affection…

“Batman.”

He stopped in the doorway but didn’t look back, still as a statue. At least he was listening.

A fond smile pulling across her lips, Diana shook her head. Let the formal tones of Wonder Woman return to the voice of a friend.

“You see many dangers in the unknown. Perhaps you might reassure yourself by getting to know young Danny Fenton as a person, rather than a potential threat.”

He stayed frozen in the doorway for a moment longer, then nodded his head sharply and swept away.

Diana stifled a chuckle. Honestly, for all Constantine had come to her as if the world were about to end… all of their problems with this Infinite Realm were perfectly clear to her.

The American government had overstepped drastically with their Anti Ecto Acts and would be brought to heel.

The new ruler of the Infinite Realms had turned their head in this direction, and guided them to what must be fixed.

And young Jason Todd, while far from the only hero who had died and returned, had been chosen by this ruler to be favoured with protection, in exchange for service.

Of course, it may all blow out of control and become as dire as her dear friend already seemed to believe it was, but for all Bruce was constantly creating contingencies and backup plans, he very rarely had to use most of them.

She turned her attention to John Constantine instead, the magician seeming much less inclined to make himself scarce than usual. At least he had also calmed considerably, and was even smiling in his own crooked fashion after Bruce.

“You know he’s gonna go stalk that poor kid even more now?” He asked sardonically, pulling another cigarette from his pack but not reaching for the lighter.

Diana hesitated for a moment.

She’d meant for Bruce to talk to Danny, preferably directly. But Bruce did not like talking to new people; not without thorough research and a chance to prepare.

Then she shrugged.

“If it will keep him from disrupting our already tense situation with the Infinite Realms, better that he distract himself with more fatherly concerns,” she said simply.

Constantine snickered again, then frowned.

“Wait, fatherly concerns? For some kid his boy’s known like, a week?”

This time, Diana didn’t bother to restrain her smile, glancing down at the phone in her pocket.

“Merely a week, perhaps, but according to Wonder Girl they have already been caught at least once without their trousers.”

Which hadn’t been part of the official presentation, of course. Nor apparently whatever Bruce had already shared with Constantine, as the mage promptly nearly swallowed his unlit cigarette and began choking.

Diana gave him a carefully gauged slap to the back, sending the now soaked and crumpled smoke across the meeting table, but politely did not laugh.

**

Jason was pretty sure he was going to puke. Or scream. Maybe both.

It wasn’t bad enough that Bruce had refused to kill the Joker, to stop him from killing anyone else, no, he’d fucking brought him back to life. Given the fucking Joker the chance that none of his victims ever got.

None of them except Jason.

And now apparently even wanting the bastard dead was all part of some master fucking plan to make the fucking asshole even worse.

He’d wanted Bruce to be the one to avenge him from the second Tallia pulled him out of the Lazarus Pit, but when he’d come to Gotham… when his plans to carve out his turf, provoke the Joker with an old alias, set the trap had suddenly become stuffing heads in a bag…

He’d thought about it. A lot. About just hunting the fucker down, putting a bullet between his eyes, and leaving him in the Batcave deader than dead.

Had nearly done it, but no. He’d wanted… he’d wanted Bruce to choose him. To put him first, to say he loved Jason more than some moral stance, to value Tim’s life more, and Steph, and Cass, over the fucking scum who would have happily killed every last one of them with a smile on his face just to see if Bruce finally broke.

And Bruce hadn’t.

Bruce had nearly killed him.

And in and around that whole mess, he’d never gotten around to actually thinking about how his fucking daddy issues had saved the Joker’s life for… years, by now.

Jason wasn’t killing anymore. Not like, actively. Intentionally. Not because he thought Bruce was right; something, someone, had to be willing to stand up for the people of Gotham and actually stop fuckers like the Joker from killing them.

But… well, Crime Alley was his territory, and a scared enemy, a cowed enemy who’d seen their life in Jason’s hands and knew just how easily he could end it was more useful than dealing with the power vacuum, or the next million upstarts who’d think they knew better, would be better, and could take on the Red Hood themselves.

Ironically, keeping fuckers like Black Mask and Great White Shark alive and in power (at severely reduced scale) saved him time. Kept him from dealing with all those upstarts himself.

That was how Waylon had put it, back when Jason was considering adding to his bag of heads. It was… like farming. Keep them low, but keep them stable. Break anything new they went for, or anything that got on his turf.

Let them harvest some of the power hungry fucks who thought they could take a piece of the Alley.

And then Dick had noticed. And reached out. And didn’t stop until Jason gave in and reached back.

When Danny came to Gotham. Somehow, it all swung back around to Danny.

And the fact that if he actually believed what he told Bruce, he could have gone to kill the clown himself at any time since returning to the city.

And he never had. The time wasn’t right. Something came up. Something went wrong, or broke, or distracted him before he thought too hard about it.

Killing the Joker hadn’t even been in his original plans for his triumphant return. He’d just wanted to take back the Alley, prove his point to Bruce. Keep his home safe.

When had killing the Joker become such a big part of the plan? Who the fuck had gotten into his fucking head, redefined him as the last moment of his fucking life, demanded his new life be all about how the last one ended?

Eyes narrowing, he looked searchingly into Lady Gotham’s face just in time to catch her slow nod, like she’d heard every thought. Like he’d been speaking aloud.

“I could not stop it from reaching to you,” she said softly, her voice heavy with sadness, “but I could… distract. Get in the way, make its path harder. That you did not give in…”

Something soft, something proud flickered in her eyes again, and it made him want to squirm.

“You may not have consciously known that you fought yet another enemy, yet you triumphed regardless. My dear Jason…” she sighed, heavy with sorrow, and reached out a hand again as though to cup his face.

Jason found himself moving to meet her before he even thought about it. Stopped himself just before it actually got him anywhere.

He wasn’t done being angry yet. He wasn’t even sure he’d actually started. If he could ever, would ever, be angry enough for this.

There was something building in him like a tide, riding high on resentment and his spiralling thoughts. It wasn’t green tinted like the pit rage, his vision was still clear… if anything, it felt sharper, like everything had been dialled up to eleven. Like the terrible, roaring anger was seeking a target.

“I am sorry that you have been robbed of your justice in this way,” Lady Gotham said quietly and once again Jason’s focus narrowed down with her intensity, like she was the only real thing in the world, “that even your own emotions of this, your death, have been used against you. It is…”

She hesitated, actually looking to Danny for help herself for the first time. Judging from the sudden low horror Jason could feel from the other man, he might actually be under reacting.

Or the tide was still rising.

He felt like razing the whole city to the fucking ground, with his own hands, brick by brick. Or puking. Or screaming until his lungs ripped out of his chest, if only he could move.

It felt like something had reached into his brain and cranked up the contrast, made the already neon brights of the Ghost Zone brighter, the shadows darker, the very air prickling at his skin like needles with the urge to do something.

Because if he moved, did anything, he wouldn’t be able to stop. Not when every muscle ached to tear the whole universe apart.

He was almost a passenger in his own skin as something else, a different, slow boiling rage barely under control clamped him in a vice.

“So y’know we talked about not asking about how ghosts died?” Danny said slowly, his voice suddenly low and hoarse.

Jason managed a stiff nod, every muscle twanging tight with tension. It had been pretty important, pre-Ghost-Zone.

And he could put the pieces together, right from the tight hot center of that ball of rage that he was pretty sure was his own core.

“This is worse,” he said gruffly, not bothering to look over. Didn’t have to, when he could feel the face Danny was pulling through the worry-worry-fear-anger-horror still surrounding him.

He… fuck. He was a little afraid of what he might do, if there was even an ounce of pity on Danny’s face, and honestly that panicked him more than anything else. All the rage wanted was a target, and he didn’t think he’d be able to choose what it was.

Danny nodded anyway, making a conscious effort to try and reign his aura in. Like he couldn’t hear the subtext, feel it in Jason’s, or like he could and didn’t care.

It left him feeling cold, icy and alone, but still relieved under the echoing slam of rage in his veins. A little more alone in his own head. A little less watched. Judged. Not good enough.

“Like, worse than worse, dude. Ghosts will throw down and rip each other apart just for fun and no one’s actually hurt, but… you don’t fuck with somebody’s death. You just don’t. It’s the worst thing you could do to a ghost, worse than Ending them. Not even Pariah Dark…”

“Exactly,” Lady Gotham hissed, baring her teeth in something not even remotely a smile, full cheeks and lips suddenly gaunt and hollow as the teeth became fangs. It lasted barely a moment, a flicker before it faded, but it snapped Jason straight out of his fury with a sudden shock of terror.

She’d been intimidating before. Effortlessly, gracefully powerful and commanding, the kind of person people would beg to step on them without a hint of aggression. Those teeth though… just the moment of that rage, of something so powerful suddenly nothing but raw, feral danger…

It wasn’t even directed at him but it still felt like a bucket of cold water down his spine. An instant urge to duck his head, show his throat, convince this much larger predator that he wasn’t a threat.

She was immediately contrite, turning her head away as her face cast into shadow, only the red pupils still visible.

“My apologies. It is… less personal for me than it is for you, yet it seems still too close to my heart.”

Forcing himself to swallow, Jason took a couple of deep, heavy breaths. The anger was still there, kind of. He could feel it in an almost distant way, past the hammering of his heart, but it wasn’t all he was anymore.

It was just… a feeling now. One he was in control of.

The shadows were just shadows again. The green of the Zone no longer blinding.

He blew the last breath out slowly, and let the remnants of the anger go with it.

“No, uh… it’s fine. I think that helped, actually,” he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and suddenly embarrassed at just how tense he’d become.

Justified, apparently, from both the other ghosts’ reactions, but that didn’t mean Jason wanted to feel so out of control. How close to just… being carried away by the anger.

No matter what anyone else said, no matter what the damn Pit or Joker-monster or whatever the fuck else tried to do, Jason Todd was not going to be defined by rage.

For one thing, he’d never live it down.

Danny sagged beside him, relief as tangible as that last breath flowing out of him, despite the core of concern underneath. That was fine; Jason was still concerned too.

And maybe thinking about his stash of ecto-candies again, but he honestly didn’t feel half as drained this time. He wasn’t even scared of Lady Gotham anymore - that moment had ended as soon as it started. As soon as she’d tucked those terrifying needle-like teeth away. Now she just looked…

Proud. Proud, and fond, and so, so sad. Like Alfred had been the first time he presented Jason with his very own Robin suit for the field.

It choked something inside Jason just a little, made his throat tight and breath hitch.

“You are so much more than anyone gives you credit for, Jason Todd,” she said softly, her sclera softening briefly to a bright, sunshine yellow. Like the cape he’d drowned in as a boy flying from her rooftops, “and they all think far better of you than you believe.”

That caught him up for a moment, confusion pulling into the absolute fucking mess of emotions he was pretty sure he was projecting to all and sundry.

Then Danny sighed heavily and draped himself sideways over Jason’s shoulders like a particularly lanky and bony scarf.

“Yeah, yeah, and your ghost mom is fucking terrifying. Did not need that reminder, Ladyship,” he tossed at Lady Gotham with a cheeky wink, effectively steam rolling the tension yet again.

Jason could have kissed him, but from the angle Danny had flopped on, his options were armpit or hip, and neither appealed.

Sassy comebacks, he could handle. Reassurances that people didn’t think he was a complete sack of shit, apparently not.

The whole batfam were just perfect poster kids for mental health, alright?

The Lady herself laughed softly and inclined her head, not arguing the point.

“Of course. Still, I am sorry Jason.”

He cut her off this time, raising both hands and stopping just short of reaching for the back of his neck again, which was about where Danny’s waist was sat.

“Don’t be. I… think I needed to be knocked out of my head there. I really do feel better now,” he added, and Danny huffed a noncommittal noise and ruffled his hair.

“Yeah, well. You’re allowed to be pissed about it,” Danny informed him like he wasn’t sure if Jason actually knew that.

Which, obviously, Jason absolutely wasn’t. He had a pit ghost baby to teach good habits to, and Danny still had no idea what Jason was like when he actually lost control of the anger. But he could appreciate the sentiment.

And deflect like a Robin.

“Oh, is that a royal decree?” He asked archly, and while this noise was no more coherent than the last it was decidedly more whiny and drawn out into wordless protest.

Which still ended in a very quiet “yes.”

Luckily, quiet enough that Jason could pretend he didn’t hear it.

“Anyway, I’m good. Still gonna kick this thing’s ass for messing with my head, and maybe put it in a blender, but for now I’m good. Chill vibes only for Pitty,” he added with a roll of his eyes when Danny made a confused little chirping sound.

Lady Gotham chuckled softly to herself and nodded, resettling herself to recline on her smog clouds once more.

“Indeed. You currently have more pressing concerns; as little as I enjoy the present situation, it can wait. The Curse and I can monitor this new being’s behaviour through the rogues it has affected; they are noticeably becoming more violent, while the Curse is swaying the rest towards being less. For contrast,” she added before Jason could ask.

Which… might actually explain why Riddler had tossed a broken game box at Croc and the Wayne gala rather than trying to fix it. He’d stripped most of the interesting stuff according to Tim’s report, sure, but Nygma never let a thread go.

So he wasn’t gonna be on this new bad guy’s kill list.

Nor would Waylon, and Harley had been more destructive than homicidal for years. Already making a mental list on the events he’d caught wind of in the last few weeks, Jason didn’t even realise the conversation had moved on without him until Danny stuck a wet finger in his ear.

“What the actual fuck!” Jason demanded, trying to shrug the ghost off his shoulders. And while there was deadass no weight to Danny in this form, it was frankly unfair that he just rolled with the movement like he also didn’t have bones, snickering.

“You had Resting Bat Face,” he explained with a grin, twisting upwards to look down at him in a way that actually really shouldn’t have been doable with a human spine - and Jason had grown up around Dick Grayson, who ran the limit of everything a human spine was capable of.

“He does best with a problem to solve,” Lady Gotham noted with a sly amusement. “This one, however, has no time limit as yet. If I thought you would listen, I would have insisted on telling you at a later date.”

And that was just pointed enough that Jason rolled his eyes, feeling his cheeks flush in spite of himself. He just… liked to have all of the information. It’s not like he was Bruce.

“Yeah, well, I like to know what I’m dealing with,” he grumbled, folding his arms and scowling at Danny. Who grinned back and ruffled his hair.

“Well, either way. Not like you need to pull the spandex back on imminently, right? There’s plenty of bats around,” he offered hopefully, and Jason felt a quick pang.

Danny… really didn’t want him to have to be a vigilante. He could taste it in the hope, in the worry, in everything his king was putting off. For some reason, he seemed to think Jason had come back to life and left the masks behind.

Like he hadn’t even thought about why Jason was still in fighting shape to be his fucking knight in the first place.

He knew he’d be annoyed if it was anyone else trying to insist he stay out of the game. He’d shot at Dick more than once for suggesting he go home when he was injured; the rest knew better than to say a word.

He hadn’t even considered giving up the vigilante life when he came back from the dead… except that brief period when he’d sort of been a rogue. He’d never even been a normal crime lord, most of them were way less hands on.

If he looked at the future now, he couldn’t imagine ever giving it up. The rogues would apparently literally always be a problem; the city would always need protectors.

That thought had never made him sad before, and yet…

Was it really the first time anyone had suggested he’d done enough? He’d died, and sure Jason was back now, but Danny seemed to really, actually believe he could stop wearing the mask.

That he’d given enough, given everything, and could and should just have a peaceful life now.

It made him almost ashamed to admit that he’d never even considered the possibility.

For all Jason railed against teen heroes, he’d only stopped being one for a temporary villain arc. Which was apparently at least partially supernaturally motivated, which was fun.

It’d shut Bruce up if Jason ever dragged that out in an argument, but Bruce already thought Jason was too volatile and susceptible to being controlled. Never mind that he hadn’t actually killed the Joker and started the apocalypse or whatever, all Bruce would hear was “someone else made Jason a villain so it could happen again”.

He’d probably try and take Jason off the case of this mystic whatever that was feeding on death. Fuck that noise. Until Bruce got a face to face with Lady G, Jason probably wouldn’t even tell him the details.

(Honestly, if there was even half a chance of avoiding that subject altogether, he’d take it. Bruce got ornery about magic in his city in a way none of the Robins had ever enjoyed dealing with, and that had been back when he and Jason had a good relationship.

Now… well, Constantine had been sticking around, so hopefully he could handle that mess and Jason could just get the actual work done.)

He gave Danny his best reassuring smile anyway, rolling his eyes and reaching to try and ruffle his hair. Found that he actually couldn’t quite reach with the way Danny was twisted around him, which was kinda weird.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard Frostbite. Side effects of the forming core could be pretty much fucking anything, and til Pitty pops out I’m not even gonna do research on anything that’ll set us off.”

Which wasn’t the same as saying he wouldn’t start the case. He could arrange what he already knew, start a plan of action, and organise his next steps without doing any additional research, after all.

Something about Lady Gotham’s delicately arching eyebrow let him know that she, at least, was onto his bullshit. Lucky for Jason, Danny just accepted the words, grinning and twisting around to wrap his whole head in a hug.

And then flowed back off his shoulders like a fucking liquid before Jason could worry about having to breathe.

“That’s great! Oh, and we should set up your haunt too! That’ll help!” Danny enthused brightly, clapping his hands and doing his best impression of a totally solid human that was apparently not his default.

Maybe it was a ghost thing.

Just so long as he never did it in human form, Jason could ignore that he definitely shoulda felt a ribcage being squeezed like that…

And no, Jason absolutely wasn’t wondering about what else Danny could use that noodley flexibility for. Totally not letting Dick know either… for competitive gymnast reasons, definitely.

No one wanted to deal with that.

And then his brain fizzled to a halt as Danny’s actual words penetrated and a sliver of concern slipped in.

Because… yeah. They’d talked about haunts. It was practically the first topic on the list; what to do in someone else’s haunt, what to never ever do even near someone else’s haunt, what a haunt meant to a ghost.

It was soul-underwear again, one of the most sacred parts of a person’s soul; their truest, actual home. Fortress and power source.

Halfas had to have them too, since Danny and Frostbite had both insisted that keeping and maintaining his haunt were going to be vital to his health while his cores stabilized. As in, Frostbite told him not to leave it for long and suggested redecorating as a soothing activity.

(Danny’s was officially Amity Park, which had not escaped Jason’s notice when he was apparently being put on haunt-arrest. It might have been an older halfa thing; very few ghosts actually stayed in their haunts all the time, although Jason could see the temptation.

It also might have been something else, and Jason had this thing about secrets and surprises down the line. He’d ask later, if he couldn’t work it out himself.)

Danny called Crime Alley Jason’s haunt, and that had felt right from the first time he’d said it. Crime Alley was his, his territory, his space, his home more than anywhere else. He knew it inside and out, could feel its moods and taste the changes in the air when something went wrong.

Baby ghosts usually couldn’t claim a haunt of any size as their own, but Jason knew that the Alley belonged to him.

That was before he’d met Lady Gotham. And if she was the spirit of the whole city… maybe he’d been wrong? Maybe it was just through her that he knew it so well?

He found himself looking to her uncertainly, searching her face in case there was any trace of displeasure. Any sign she didn’t want another ghost’s haunt in… well, what was kinda her physical body.

He couldn’t see or feel anything, but when she’d already been so careful about keeping her feelings her own… no better time to ask, really.

“Yeah… about that…” this time he did scratch the back of his neck, Danny safely down beside him. Which was about when he realized that he had no clue how to word the question.

Haunts were personal, he knew that much.

Then again, Lady Gotham said she was his ghost-mom. That had to include stupid questions. Blunt it was.

“Is it weird if I have a haunt in the city? I mean, it’s obviously your city, duh, but how do I… it feels like I’m squatting in your closet,” he said finally, giving up on not being just the most awkward creature in a thousand mile radius.

Danny’s mouth opened and closed a few times, excitement fading to a confused fascination as his words sunk in.

“Y’know, that’s a really good point… except it’s more like he’s squatting in your kidneys,” he pointed out to Lady Gotham, turning to face her too.

Lady Gotham chuckled softly and took a slow drag from her traffic cone, which had almost stopped smoking.

“Ah, I forget the limitations of a halfa’s knowledge… all ghosts begin with a haunt within their parent’s, Jason. From the moment you returned to my arms I opened up the Alley for you, and it has been yours ever since.” She paused to blow out a long plume of smog, which shaped itself into a tiny row of very familiar buildings.

Jason didn’t have to see more than a couple to know what they were; he could feel it right down to his core.

“When you are older, stronger, you may desire another, although being in the mortal world is already a degree of distance, but Crime Alley will always be your first,” Lady Gotham continued as Crime Alley bloomed from the smog before them, tiny and yet more than just an image, more than just a replica; the real thing in the scope of her power.

There were no lights in tiny windows, nothing moving through the smog, and yet it was still clearly alive. No, filled with things that were alive, people and noise and even the rats.

And it was his. His beating heart.

Lady Gotham’s smile was a tender beacon in the fog, her hands coming up to caress the smoking Crime Alley and gently waft it in his direction.

“Every crumbling brick, every pothole, every shadow. It is a heavy responsibility, and one I shall share with you until you decide you no longer need my help, but it will always be yours, Jason. It would not have accepted anyone else.”

The cluster of smoggy buildings fell apart as they reached Jason and for a moment he nearly panicked trying to keep them together, but… he was suddenly washed in a wave of old, familiar scent.

Not the burned rubber and pollution of all the rest of the smogs, the constant smell of the city. This was… floral. Soft, and sweet, and chemical in the way that cheap perfumes always were because they couldn’t have afforded the good ones.

Watered down, because they could get even that so rarely that she would begin refilling the bottle with water when it was barely half empty. Catherine Todd’s favourite perfume.

It hadn’t covered the stink of cigarettes and worse coming from the very walls of their apartment; he’d only smelled it when she was holding him close. Shielding him from Willis’s rage, tucking him into bed, cuddled up on the couch to wait out the rain or sickness.

The smell of home.

It brought tears to his eyes, the pressure of the day threatening to spill over and overwhelm him again.

Intellectually, it felt like another moment that should have been terrifying. More than any show of teeth, this was her strength. Who and what she was, she could break him with a wave of her hand, a wisp of smoke, and yet…

He felt warm. Comforted. Wrapped in her smile and at peace in a way he hadn’t in… fuck it had been years.

There was something else too, a layer under the flowers that only the deepest detective-trained parts of him tried to pluck apart; it was part of the home smell, inextricable, but it didn’t make sense. Wasn’t the perfume. Just the very faintest hint of baking far away, and Catherine Todd had never been able to afford…

Oh.

Of course not. Because Catherine Todd, his mother in every possible sense of the word but one, had never met Alfred.

**

So, the good news: Tucker was currently in the lead for Spiderheck. Bad news: they’d finished the first set (Tim won, but he’d been two ahead from the start which was cheating), and… the game had ticked directly over into another set.

They hadn’t been planning on changing any settings, so it was fine, and Conner and Tim hadn’t noticed anything wrong.

But… Tucker was beginning to worry, just a little. He’d done video games before, with Danny and Sam; no worries, they’d taken a turn directly in pretty much every game they’d played together.

Just, y’know, he knew Danny and Sam really well. And Tim and Conner were really cool, and he understood a lot more about how the Supers worked than he ever had before? But, maybe that was why he’d kinda screwed up.

Because he wanted things to be fair, and didn’t want them to think he’d given himself extra advantages. So they were all spiders, all the same.

And he wasn’t completely sure where the meta controls were?

Danny and Sam always insisted he have a version of the controller somewhere, so they could flick to the menu (and sometimes run riot there too). Last time they did Spiderheck, he’d put the buttons on his stomach, so Danny and Sam could try and hit them for an extra level of difficulty.

But he wanted to be fair. Didn’t want extra powers. And, apparently, technopathy had sorta maybe converted that wish into him not being able to feel it while he was spidered up.

All his combat moves were fine! The break, grab, web commands were smooth and easy, just like every other time he did them. Different attacks, no worries. And, obviously, he hadn’t stood still and tried to look for the code, because they were playing Spiderheck and that was a really easy way to get wiped.

Dodging another swinging attack from Tim, he scuttled at top speed across the platform and jumped behind a box. No weapons here, and he scanned quickly for the next spawn point.

Which, normally, shoulda shown up on two levels; the normal game vision, and the white lined underlay of the code, which he could always see through from top to bottom of the level.

(This was usually an active impediment rather than an advantage in Spiderheck; it was way too hard to know what he could stand on.)

He couldn’t see one, just the platform above and the wall behind.

Maybe he should take an early death, just to give himself a little time to work this out. Just so he could stop worrying. He was 21, he’d had these powers for years, he totally knew how they worked by now.

He just, maybe, might have gotten overconfident.

Danny would never let him live it down if they all had to be rescued from Spiderheck.

And, way more importantly, Tim Drake-Wayne and his super hot boyfriend would only remember him as the loser who couldn’t even control his powers.

Nope. Absolutely not.

A loud buzzing heralded the arrival of one of the spinning laser traps, and Tucker made up his mind. Just one early death. No worries. He had a two win lead, and honestly he’d rather lose the set than admit he’d fucked up.

Scuttling “away” from Tim’s probable next attack, Tucker scurried into the path of the spinning laser trap.

And saw, at the very last second, Conner swinging in from the other side, directly into a laser.

Shit.

**

Sam was comfortably snuggled down into her pillows and thoroughly enjoying the chaos her new chat was creating when she finally heard the door. A little too buried to easily get up, or look particularly graceful doing it, so instead she stuck a hand straight up into the air.

“In here, love!”

And, like the angel of mercy that she was, Val only made her wait ten minutes to get out of all of her winter gear and put the kettle on before coming to save her from her fate.

“Not the fastest rescue I’ve received,” Sam teased, even as Val hauled her easily to her feet. Val grinned back and pulled her in for a quick peck.

“I wasn’t aware I was being timed. I can do better.”

“I bet you can,” Sam laughed, draping her arms around her girlfriend’s shoulders. Val gave her another, deeper kiss, then drew back enough to press their foreheads together.

“So, how was Gotham? I saw Danny made the front page,” she teased back, and Sam hesitated.

In amongst all of their various plans for disaster, it hadn’t really come up that whatever they did at the party, it was sure to make the gossip rags. Front page though? That was probably an achievement.

And, given what she herself had done, really annoying.

“What, they gave the front page to him? I blatantly accused at least two CEOs and Lex Luthor of weaponizing misogyny, with citations, and Danny got the front page?” She huffed, drawing back and folding her arms, fully intent on turning away to sulk, but not remotely objecting when Val’s arms snuck around her waist and pulled her back in.

Val’s chin tucked in over her shoulder and the taller woman snickered.

“I know, right? Sadly cold hard facts just fade away in the face of a scandal.” Val sighed dramatically, then dropped a kiss on the side of Sam’s neck. “You’re on page seven. It’s mostly about your parents, but using Lex’s name got a couple other points in. Oh, and Vicki Vale did a three page piece on how Brucie Wayne specifically upholds the patriarchy. I think she quoted you.”

Sam considered that for a moment, her arms automatically coming around to cover Val’s for a brief squeeze. It wasn’t like she’d actually been planning to change anything at the gala. Mostly she’d just wanted to be heard.

It could be an interesting starting point, though. Especially since she got to pick her outfit for the next gala; her mother hadn’t even specified that it had to be a dress on the document, which was definitely a peace offering.

Cass Wayne had looked really good in that suit.

Her cheeks suddenly hot for absolutely no reason, Sam twisted in Val’s arms to kiss her again.

“I’m sorry my mom’s… the worst,” she finished lamely, wrapping her arms around Val again.

The whole fall-from-grace thing may have been seven years ago, and Val had more than moved on, but. Well. Sam didn’t exactly believe all the scars had healed.

Especially when Val stilled for a moment in her arms.

Then she chuckled, wrapping her arms a littler tighter around Sam and lifting her off her feet.

“Hey, at least she’s not actually a bigot. It’s always nicer to be hated personally than in general, y’know?” She teased, echoing something Sam was pretty sure Danny had said to her back in her Phantom-hunting days.

Sam huffed and wrapped her legs around Val’s waist too, raining kisses down on her face.

“Yeah, well, she can still shove it up her ass. You’re my date for the next gala, if you actually want to come.”

Which.

Well.

Was about when she realized that the next gala was probably going to be extra interesting, after all their shenanigans. Maybe they should have been more discrete? More careful?

Her worry must have shown on her face, because Val gave her a very gentle bounce to shake her out of it.

“Hey. Samantha Manson. I would be delighted to go to the next gala with you, and tell all the little journalists that yeah, I’m that Val,” she said firmly once Sam had refocused on her. Then she grinned. “I’ll even be on my best behaviour and not one up Danny until the second one.”

That made Sam laugh again, hugging on tight even as Val turned and easily carried her through to their little kitchenette and sat her up on one of the counters.

“Hey, did you get that autograph from Harley for me by the way? I wanna send it to my dad for his birthday,” she added, sneaking another kiss and then pulling a pair of mugs next to the steaming kettle.

Sam considered hopping off the counter. Didn’t bother, reaching behind herself instead to pull her favourite tea for the month and drop a bag into her mug.

“Yeah, a couple actually. And she said if we wanna meet Ivy she’ll let us know when they’re back on the west coast, but it won’t be any time soon.” That hadn’t been particularly surprising, but it still made Sam a little sad.

Just another reminder that they were on the outside looking in all the way over here.

Valerie stilled, coming back and resting both hands on Sam’s thighs.

“Do you miss being on the east coast?” She asked quietly, those gorgeous green eyes so large and gentle.

Sam hesitated a moment longer, then sighed and let her head thunk back against the cupboard behind her.

“Honestly, I think I just miss being closer to everyone. It’s not far for Danny with the Zone, but if you or I wanna visit anyone we have to hop on an airplane or spend weeks driving, neither of which are good for the environment. We just… get forgotten out here, stuck out of the loop.”

Val raised an eyebrow, a smirk on her face but eyes still soft with understanding.

“Oh, like you’re one to talk. I thought I’d pick up a new phone and rejoin the group chat that day, but suddenly I gotta wait nearly a week for “new secrets”,” she teased and Sam sighed, shaking her head. Not quite able to lift all the way out of her funk.

“Yeah, I know… it probably woulda been fine, Danny shouldn’t have dropped anything at all in the main chat if he didn’t want everyone to see it, I just…”

“Wanted to be more sensitive than he is,” Val finished the sentence, leaning in for another kiss. Not needing to reach up even with Sam sat on the counter. “That’s why I’m still dating you.”

It did pull a smile from Sam anyway and she draped her arms over her girlfriend’s shoulders again.

“For some reason. So, what did you think?”

Val shrugged, her hands sliding up to settle around Sam’s waist.

“About a new halfa? Probably sucks for him. Especially when he’s gotta come out as dead to his family. The Waynes aren’t exactly known for being stable,” she pointed out when Sam snickered.

Which was a fair point.

“They’re actually worse when there’s more of them,” she mused, glancing back towards the bed where she’d left her phone, “and the oldest’s a cop now.”

This time it was Val’s turn to snicker.

“Yeah, I heard. Tuck already sent me the blow by blow of you eviscerating the poor guy.”

Sam preened. Deservedly.

“Hey, you know me, I’m not gonna play nice just cuz I’ve been dragged to some social function.”

The snicker turned to a chuckle as Val leaned in, rubbing their noses together.

“And you know me, baby girl, ACAB all the way, and I still think that should extend to the Justice League. Heard half of Batman Inc also showed up, did you let them have it too?”

“You know I did,” Sam purred, locking her ankles behind Val’s back and nipping playfully at her lower lip. Val laughed, her hands creeping slowly up the small of Sam’s back.

“That’s my little leopard. Tea’s done.” And then, totally unfairly, she reached back with one hand and pulled Sam’s ankles apart, slipping free with a laugh as Sam pouted. “Hey, you’d be more upset if I let it over steep.”

“I can make more tea,” Sam grumbled, finally slipping off the counter, but a rebellious smile made it onto her face anyway. Val toasted her with the french press.

“True that, darling, but I’m not wasting the good coffee beans. Daddy asked me four times if I was sure about taking the train but honestly, he’s a state away now, it’s not worth a flight.”

Setting her teabag aside, Sam squirted in some vanilla agave syrup and took a deep breath. Gotham was fine, but no hotels could match her home tea stash. Not even the Waynes could.

“Beautiful, strong, environmentally conscious, and a Daddy’s girl. How did I land you again?” She asked innocently as Val dropped creamer into her own mug.

“By being all of those but the last one,” Val countered easily, taking a mug and holding an arm out for Sam to tuck under. “Now c’mon, if I’m going to the next gala you need to tell me allllll about a certain cutie Cassandra Wayne,” she cooed, making for their couch.

Sam’s face flushed red and she made to duck away instantly, but those damn vigilante muscles made it so hard.

“Okay, veto, you’re not allowed to do that anymore! My mom is trying to hook me up with her!” Sam did not whine. She. Protested. With dignity. Totally no idea why Val snickered, holding her coffee up and away in her other arm.

“Yeah, that’s the point. How funny would it be if Danny and I both stole a Wayne from you?” She asked with a vicious grin.

Which… did make Sam pause. Because that would be really funny. And Cass would almost certainly be down for it; she wasn’t as loud or attention seeking as any of the boys, but Sam could recognize the wicked gleam in anyones’ eyes when they enjoyed the chaos.

Then she sighed.

“No, we have to be good for the next gala. Otherwise no one’s going to listen to what I actually have to say.”

Val hummed an agreement, guiding her to sit on the plush, well loved cushions. It was an old couch, and a hand-me-down from Sam’s work, but it was just too good to pass up. They could both lie comfortably side by side on the seat, if they snuggled just a little, and the back was wide and plush enough for two throws.

“Okay. The gala after that, then. It’ll make our slow burn long distance romance all the more compelling,” she added when Sam snorted, finally releasing Sam to sink comfortably into oblivion.

Sam swatted at her and put her tea down on the table.

“You’re dreadful. I love you. We’ll ask Cass, lemme just get my phone and I’ll hook you into the group chat with her, Steph, and Babs. They’re Wayne family friends,” she added at Val’s questioning noise, “I haven’t met Babs yet, but Steph is great. You’re gonna love her.”

“Only if we’re going for some three’s company action,” Val snickered as Sam jogged to the bedroom, flipping her girlfriend off as she went.

**

Jason was quiet as they left the Zone. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, especially after the day he’d had and the emotional whiplash.

Danny was doing his very best not to let it bother him. He remembered the early days of being a halfa, how much he’d second-guessed himself, how much every new change and discovery had rocked his world. And he’d been a teenager, all hormones and fire and energy.

He hadn’t even been dead a month before shit got weird.

Jason was twenty-two, and had already been dead for almost seven years. Danny’d like to think he’d found ways to cope, but seven years in himself he was pretty sure he still hadn’t.

Whatever Jason had dealt with in those six and a half years was being ripped up in front of him day by day.

If there was anything he wanted, anything he needed, Danny would be there for him in a heartbeat. Before he could even have to ask, if possible. Aaaand the only thing he couldn’t do that for was if Jason needed space.

Lady Gotham had been able to open them a portal directly into Jason’s apartment; Danny preferred to aim high enough to miss walls and buildings on the way back, but it was her city. She knew exactly where everything and anything was - the portal had been in the back of Jason’s front door.

Danny totally wasn’t jealous. He could come back out almost at the same place he’d gone in, if he was quick. And he could go intangible anyway.

It was still really cool to watch the city spirit do it, the way the realms opened easily and willingly at her touch. She’d given Jason a token, a coin that had to be at least six hundred years old that showed the city’s skyline. Apparently he could use it to get in touch with her, or get back to the Zone on his own if Danny couldn’t take him.

Danny was fine with that. For sure.

The Infinite Realms were dangerous, but the token should bring him straight to Lady Gotham, in an emergency. And then Danny could follow and find her, and find Jason. It was a super reasonable backup plan.

He still found himself hovering in the doorway, unsure if Jason wanted him to stay or go while the other man shrugged out of his coat, boots, and shoulder holster that Danny had totally missed this entire time. And then walked directly into the bathroom.

Danny hovered a little closer, entirely unknowing what exactly he’d do if Jason was crying. Or screaming. Or beating a hole in the wall away from prying eyes. Or, actually using the bathroom for its intended purpose, apparently.

Because Danny forgot Jason was still in mandatory human form at all times.

He couldn’t hear anything from inside the bathroom with the door shut anyway, not even movement or the sink running. But then again, Jason’s family knew Superman personally. That probably lead to some inside jokes and really specific precautions.

Danny hovered back to the door. Stared around at the incredibly clean, well organized display of video games and weaponry on the walls, the double shelf of books.

This, he was beginning to suspect, was a third, larger, more expensive apartment. The furniture and room layouts were about the same, but he was like 80% sure the apartment they’d played MarioKart in hadn’t had as much stuff.

This one had some dishes waiting by the sink though. Given how well organized everything else was, they stuck out.

…

Five minutes. Jason was still in the bathroom.

Danny hated waiting. If he was going to stick around, he could justify it by helping out. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

———————

Part two imminent! All my love to the tag list, you’ll be following the link on this one so you don’t get both separately

Part 2:

Tag list: @welcometosasakiworld @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop p @mayoota-blog @xysidhe e @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper r @bun-fish @aroranorth-west  @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking g @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor r @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 8 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai @greenpyrowolf f @frivolous-pastel

[desmos-calculator]

I was thinking about those posts I sometimes see about dates being an equation (you know the ones), and was thinking, is there a year where that happens the least? maybe even one where it doesn't happen?

Well, I don't think I'd be qualified to cover every function that uses two inputs, and I would assume every function is quite a few and probably would cover every day

So, I'll be sticking to the basic 4,+,-,× and ÷, since that's what I see most common with those posts

First step is to get a list of all the dates (I should clarify, from the Gregorian calendar, since that's the most common dating system I see from those posts), which is pretty easy, just make it yourself! you know how the months work... right?

right?

Anyways, we have a list now! two, in fact, so we can put our days and months separately

Now, we just apply the functions and,

meh, could be prettier, now, we gotta consider that negative years don't exist yet, less so something like XX negative 19, so those extra spots below, gotta go

We also need to consider that years such as XX 100 would theoretically someday exist, but we're just gonna assume you're only looking at the last 2 digits, so, BEGONE!

And don't forget about the year XX 02.75, that was the best year... for all of us that used a different calendar system, so I'm going to need to ask you numbers to LEAVE!

And that should be all the house keeping we need to do, let's collapse em down

woooah, coolio, let's color them based on the group come from

preeeetty, someone should crochet that

Now, you may think "Hey, he left out my favourite day, [February 29th], How could he????!!!!!"

Well, 2+29=31, which can't be a leap year, 2-29 is negative, so no, not possible, 2/29 is a fraction, and 2*29=58, which is NOT a leap year

so, to anyone guessing dates that can never work, congrats, you won!

we can also see what years work with each function

with division ending the lowest, since all it does is decrease, we find the last date to be XX14, on 28th February, ironic. sorry y'all didn't notice it til it was too late.

for subtraction? the last date will be... 30th January 2029! Get your cakes (uh, funeral cakes?) ready for the last date possible for subtraction in.... 4 years time?!?! jesus, time flies, huh?

uhmm, for addition, we find the final day to be 30th December XX42! woa

and the multiplication goes til the end, being the year XX99, dated November 9th...... ANYWAYS

the year of most functional dates will be XX12 with the dates:

11th Jan (11+1=12), 12th Jan(12*1=12), 13th Jan(13-1=12),

6th Feb (6*2=12), 10th Feb (10+2=12), 14th Feb (14-2=12),

24th Feb (24/2=12), 4th March (4*3=12), 9th March (9+3=12),

15th March (15-3=12), 3rd April (3*4=12), 8th April (8+4=12),

16th April (16-4=12), 7th May (7+5=12), 17th May (17-5=12),

2nd June (2*6=12), 6th June (6+6=12), 18th June (18-6=12),

5th July (5+7=12), 19th July (19-7=12), 4th August (4+8=12),

20th August (20-8=12), 3rd September (3+9=12),

21st September (21-9=12), 2nd October (2+10=12),

22nd October (22-10=12), 1st November (1+11=12),

23rd November (23-11=12), 1st December (1*12=12),

and finally... 24th December (24-12=12)

awesome

the years with no days are all primes after XX43, since if it had any factors, it'd work for multiplication

except, I lied, XX58, XX62, XX74, XX82, XX86 and XX94 are all not prime, yet have 0 days, since they're divisible by 2 but the other factor is bigger than 30

except, I lied again, XX58 is actually the only one with a potentially real day, being february 29, as we mentioned earlier.

"BUT WAIT, WHAT ABOUT m/d/y? WHAT ABOUT THE AMERICAN SYSTEM?!?!"

hghhghghg

graaaaah, the division section barely exists

woah, separation, around the x=y line too, with the same shape no less

except, BOOM, i lied to you, AGAIN.

you see, this shape is actually skinner than the original one

you actually only lose potential dates by switching to the other system, and here's how many you lose

The years that lose the most are XX13, XX14, XX15 with 13 missing days, and we'll reach a consensus for amount of days working with math in XX32! the perfect number to end on

but also, this system gives us our earliest year ending with a multiplicative date, being 1st December XX12 (XX12 was a great year for functions, huh)

So, when's the next functional date? well, we missed 13th November, so mark your calendars for 12th December!!

So, what did we learn?

Well, I mean, I guess you can brag about knowing when the next date that's a math equation.

and also the tragedy that is 29th February XX58...

Suggest other calendar systems, and I'll look into them!

[dokidokiliteraturegirls]

Now time for an announcement I've been waiting to make since August... FEEL LESS COMES BACK FROM HIATUS NEXT WEEK!!

That's right, I'm finally done working on the 2 updates that needed so much time to be finished. Once they release, I hope their quality speaks of why they needed so much time~ 💖

Here's the release schedule for the next 3 posts:

Saturday 14th: Update 36.5: "Where Were We?" (Summary update in case you forgot where we left off)

Sunday 15th: Update 37: "Whole"

Sunday 22nd: Update 38: "As Good As I Can Be"

Besides this I'm also working on a Spanish translation, which I hope can soon have its own Webtoons page! And once the updates have been posted, there's gonna be a ton of behind-the-scenes content on Patreon, which can be accessed for as little as $1 a month, so please consider supporting the comic~

Overall, thank you all so much for your patience! I know it's been a long wait, but I really appreciate you all for sticking through it with me~ See you all next week!! 💖

-Yui

[thelesbianoffrontiers]

cw pet death

Celebrating Bingo's posthumous birthday (thats him in the urn) Happy birthday my sweetie boy... I attempted to edit out my mess left on the table so don't mind the bg and i don't know how to rotate the video anymore so.

He loved sweets 🥲 last year for his 15th bday I made a cat friendly cake from canned food, with a nutritional yeast/yogurt frosting and topped it with cat treats as sprinkles. He was sick around his birthday last year as well so I went all out in case it was his last… and it was 😅 He really enjoyed it so I’m very glad I did that. Now is his final birthday (im choosing to count it since he got so close lol) bwehhh. I love him so much… and I miss him… and Tom has been crying out every night since his passing, which I hope is unrelated and just a coincidence bc it is really heartbreaking… anyway, tumblr is my diary now I guess. Ending on a happy note, Bingo’s memorial seeds have started to sprout, I’m excited to see what the flowers look like!! 🌻

I’m gonna go rip out some carpet and run away with it in my mouth to honor Bingo’s favourite pastime 🫡

[strawberrysundi]

you know what you know what, another thing that i've put too much thought into

this line on the earthbound wiki

hwha??? where? don't just leave it there!! show me!!!

so this sent me into a whole thing trying to figure out what this was talking about, since i love it when there's female grunts in things and i was reasonably confident that i had seen pretty much all developmental pigmask-related things there were to find

now, it's not like i need some vague unused sprite to justify myself imagining female pigmasks, since, like, there's only a couple explicitly male pigmasks too, but still, i wanted to get to the bottom of this

but try as i might, i could not freaking find anything about this anywhere else

so i started checking the history of the wiki article to see when that info was added it seems like it was first added on september 10th, 2010, by an anonymous user, in this form:

not very helpful

it received a couple tweaks to the spelling and grammar aftewards, but on october 30th, user Breakin'Benny added some more information:

okay! sick! i mean the baseless speculation is stupid, just gonna take a moment here and warn people not to use the earthbound wiki as a source, but it has an actual link to something concrete!! so let's check it out together!

okay welp that was a really disheartening bust no indication of what the video was, no images or anything

the line was trimmed down later on, first removing the video link, then the sexism part, and finally became its current form

so i decided to take a different approach i know pigmask stuff pretty well, so i figured i could try and deduce what it is they're referring to it's a sprite, of a yellow pigmask, seemingly with breasts hm

so let's see in the game, the only "yellow pigmask" is the mask boney wears in thunder tower, which doesn't really count the garbage collector pigmasks wear yellow vests that have a small line on the chest, but that's a pretty big stretch

for unused stuff specifically (i could imagine someone not remembering the vest pigmasks and confusing them for unused content, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt), we have this strange pigmask graphic

yellow, unused, and maybe someody's interpreting that line on the left as the shape of breasts, but idk there's an unused palette swap of a navy squeal, which is yellow, and perhaps someone could mistake the folds of the clothes for a chest, but i'm doubtful

and finally i thought of this picture from the 15th anniversary of the game, which features a yellow pigmask with a sort of weird-looking chest, but unfortunately the timeline doesn't match up

that's sadly where my search ended, my best guess is that they meant the weird-looking sketchy graphic, but i can't say for sure no idea if there ever was a legitimate source for that info, but they're not even trying to source it now and it really bugs me

don't use the earthbound wiki

[korpse-doll]

omg comet shut up about your school..... we get it its bad.... NO!

under the cut is a long rant of what i must endure from now until the last day of school. read at your own will.

its lwk a note to self to get me to lock in tho

i am taking 4 college classes. history, english, trigonometry, and education. thats the bg info

it all started today, may the 6th. english quiz (english is a very hard course idgaf abt old english literature but it was part of the college course.)

may 7th i have to get to school, im gonna sit down and do 10 hw problems before class (the hw is due same day). then 1st period i do the other 14 problems. i turn it in. next class, trig, i have the last test before the final. i need to cook so hard. english i have to write a 750 word essay on a prompt i wont know until its put in front of me. 750 words on the spot.

may 8th i have to run all of act 2 for the school play and restart act 1 js cuz. then start the education final and teach the first lesson in a serious of lessons to a 1st grade class. then after school 3-6 i have dress rehearsal.

may 9th. all late work due for trig, english, and physics. (i have 1 trig assignment and like 5 physics.) start trig final review. start the english final (or preparing for it.) which is one big long essay. physics test.

WEEKEND FREEDOMMMM

may 12th, more english final prep. as well as trig final prep. start on physics class final project. after school rehearsal.

may 13th. history final presentation on a book i have 7 hours left of on the audiobook. trig final prep. english final prep. work on physics class final project.

may 14th. trig final prep. english final start on those probably more than 1000 words..... NIGHT REHEARSAL 6-9PM; PREVIEW SHOW WITH AUDIENCE.

may 15th. run the show for a large group of elementary schoolers, will likely interfere with education lesson teaching (which i am excused from for this.) work on physics class final project. opening night of the school play

may 16th. trig final prep. english final due. work on physics class final project. show that night my full family is attending.

may 17th i know its saturday but i have to go to a birthday party and be social as well as yes, ANOTHER show that night but its closing night and i will cry a lot because all my friends are seniors and i may never act with them again.

may 18th. sunday haha crazy how i still have work. history final presentation questions+video response due. we have to do this with our mom but its for extra credit.

may 19th. trig final prep, work on physics class final project

may 20th. trig final prep, work on physics class final project.

MAY 21ST END MY LIFE END MY LIFE END MY LIFE SEND A BOMB THREAT TO MY SCHOOL ON THIS DAY (dear federal bureau of investigations, i am joking. i am simply frustrated and expressing it by executing my first amendment right of freedom of speech.) MY HISTORY FINAL IM FUCKED FOR. MY TRIGONOMETRY FINAL IM FUCKED FOR AUGHHHHH.

may 22nd. i have to give a full like 45 minute lesson to my 1st graders but its also the last time ill ever see them and theyre my kids theyre literally my kids im gonna be so sad. also u guessed it. work on physics class final project!

may 23rd-probably may 29th is radio silence.... idk when physics class project is due i assume the 29th.

then i lwk probably wont be going to school on finals week cuz well no actual finals. except a final physics presentation which is short and like i can probably fake it till i make it on june 5th

last day is june 6th and i highly doubt i'll be in attendance other than maybe for yearbook signatures? but like i dont have friends so probably not lol.

i should really kill myself tonight because wdym i have to deal with all this. moral of the story is drop out before junior year.

[crazycoke-addict]

Island of the slaughtered victims analysis: Heather

At first I was going to analyse the victims in order of how they died but I just gonna randomised them so I am analysing the Queen B herself, Heather. So Heather is the 15th camper and the last person to die at the hands of the killer. Heather is dragged away from the group where she is begging for life, the killer not having any remorse cuts her head with a chainsaw. The killer acknowledging Heather’s beauty takes her head and puts it in the freezer. Later on, Gwen and Leshawna find the aftermath of Heather, Leshawna finds her body while Gwen finds her head.

Heather being the last one to die is a reference to how she was last camper to be eliminated just like how Ezekiel was the first to die and the first to be eliminated. While looking into Heather’s death I noticed that she had one of the few who had quick death while everyone had to suffer through. Courtney's legs were broken and was beaten to death, Noah was stabbed, strangled and drowned, Bridgette was burn alive, Tyler's neck was stretch, Sadie was eaten by wolves, Geoff was sewed on Owen while Owen was alive. But Heather’s death was quick, her head was cut-off.

Her having a death is similar to how her downfall is humiliation rather than brutal unlike Alejandro and Scott, but she also had to suffered in way by doing all the dares until the last dare where she had to get her head shaved by chef which was orchestrated by Lindsay. Heather refused by kicking the clipper away but it ends up flying towards her and shaving her head back. Heather’s downfall was her vanity meanwhile Alejandro was burnt by lava while Scott was injured by Zoey's trap than later got mauled by a mutant shark.

Her head getting cut off is very telling since that were the brain is located and Heather is the most strategical intelligent character in the game. She has caused the most eliminations, her teams win the most challenges and she managed to get to finals 2 times and even won a season. In my assumptions, I believe that Heather would be most realistic pretty much has realise earlier when Chris left them than their fate has been sealed. So it is interesting of her to be begging for her life when she herself would know it happened however it's very different when death is staring right at you.

Because Heather is seen as the bitchy mean chick, her being a spirit is basically telling Chris that you not only fucked up but also you shouldn't have come back. Heather is possibly the most dangerous that she uses her long hair to suffocate you. Her head being located in the freezer is a nod back to when she gets locked in by her teammates in If You Can't take the Heat but I also noticed that Heather has used the kitchen in challenges three times. The cooking challenge, she used the kitchen as a hidden place when they were hunt down by chef and her key was located in the fridge. It's like it was intentional for her head to be in the freezer that and her beauty doesn't decay.

Leshawna and Gwen being the one to find her head and body is reference to how Leshawna and Gwen are her main and mortal enemies. Her and Leshawna insult each other which results Leshawha to go into physical violence. Heather find ways to humiliate Gwen on live television like reading out her diary or ripping her skirt where everyone sees her underwear, however Gwen does get back at her by dropping Harold's red ant farm on her and using her freebies which results Heather to do the dares.

[rygoespop]

KOF XV: Aftermath

So, with the reveal of Vice and Mature in KOF XV recently at EVO, and with Terry set to be in Street Fighter 6 this year in Autumn, and with City of The Wolves coming out next year, I made this fun story, so enjoy

Scene opens at the KOF Tournament, as the flame gone off, signaling that the 15th Tournament came to an end with the reveal of Vice and Mature

Announcer: Well, that was an incredible Fifteenth Tournament, we hope we will see you again!

Scene cuts to all the KOF XV Characters all chatting of what’s next

Hinako: Please Ms. Jenet, take me under your wing

B. Jenet: I wish I could, but my schedule is tied, sorry Hinako

Hinako: Oh ok, I understand *she heads off to chat with Shingo*

Soon, Terry along with Rock and King of Dinosaurs all came up to B. Jenet

Rock: Hey Jenet

B. Jenet: Hey Rocky! Oh, hey Terry and Dinosaur

Terry: Hey, since the recent tournament is done, it’s time we get ready, we got another chapter ahead of us

King of Dinosaurs: Yes! I’m so happy to get to bring back my old Tizoc costume! *he brings out a chest, opens it and reveal his old Tizoc costume*

Rock: So, that’s your old mask

King of Dinosaurs: Yep, and I haven’t worn it in 19 Years! I can’t wait to wear it again!

Terry: Ok! Now we need to connect Marco Rodrigues and-

Suddenly, as Terry can finish, a beeping sound has gone off

Haohmaru: Huh? What could it be Terry?

Andy: What’s wrong brother?

Terry: It’s my Pager *he takes his Pager out*

Blue Mary: Pager?

Terry: It’s a gift from a certain friend! *he plays the Pager’s message*

Ken: Terry! Metro City needs your help, it’s Bison, and he’s back!

The message ends

Rock: Terry, who was that?

Terry: That was Ken Masters, and he needs my help! *he hurries off to the docks in Tokyo*

Andy: Terry! Where are you going?!

Terry: Off on a mission, to Metro City!

All the fighters cheer for Terry, all except for Mai as she is determined not to be left out again

Mai: Oh no you don’t! *gives chase*

Andy: Mai! What are you doing?!

Mai: Sorry my lovely Andy, but I’m not gonna get left out again!

Yuri: Come back!

Terry arrived at the docks and there was a ship that goes to Metro City, and Terry quickly got on board

Terry: Hold on Ken! I’m coming!

As the ship left with Terry on board, Mai caught up on another ship, unaware that the ship she is on, goes to Africa

Mai: Not on my watch you wolf!

Meanwhile, at Metro City, it was taken over by the newly resurrected Shadaloo, with M. Bison back in full recovery in his old suit, now with his 3 subordinates (JP, AKI, and Ed) by his side, as they capture all the Street Fighters (Ryu, Ken, Guile, Chun Li, Cammy, E. Honda, Dhalsim, Dee Jay, Blanka, Zangief, Juri, Rashid, Luke, Jamie, Kimberly, Manon, Marisa, and Lily) and have them imprisoned

M. Bison: Heh heh heh! Oh this is a grand day, the day where Shadaloo has fully been revived, soon all you Street Fighters, will be interrogated by us

Dee Jay: Hey mon! You are Cuckoo cuckoo crazy!

M. Bison: *glares at Dee Jay* Oh, you think I’m crazy? Hmph, amateur

Dhalsim: Dee Jay, I wouldn’t recommend you angering him

Juri: *furious* When I get out Bison, I will have your eyes!

M. Bison: Tempting

JP: Lord Bison, shall we proceed for the demise of these Street Fighters?

M. Bison: Don’t be hasty, we’ll keep them in their prison until the time comes

Ed: Until then you Street Fighters

AKI: Sweet dreams, and share your final moments

The 4 members of Shadaloo cackle as they left

Guile: *Enraged as he pounds on the iron bars* BISON!!!

Ryu: It’s no use, despite everything we could to stop Bison, he has overpowered us.. Not even Akuma could stop him

Cammy: This really is the end..

Luke: Speaking of which Ryu, why didn’t Bison capture Akuma?

Ryu; Akuma is too strong to be captured, so he’s currently on the run, fighting against Shadaloo

Jamie: Well, this sucks! We can’t escape!

Ken: Well, don’t count on it yet

Jamie: Huh?

Marisa: What are you saying Ken?

Ken: Let’s say, I was able to contact an old friend to save us

Ryu: Who?

Ken: *smiled with confidence to Ryu* A friend, who is the Legendary Wolf

Scene cuts to Bison in his Throne Room

M. Bison: Now who is gonna stop us!

Scene now shows the ship arriving at Metro City, with Terry on board

Terry: Hold on guys, I’m coming!

Scene cuts to black, as Terry begins his battle with Bison

But what happened with Mai?

When the other ship arrived in Africa, Mai was dismayed, she arrived in Africa

Mai: This isn’t a city, but how did I end up here?

Scene shows Elena, who is observing Mai, as the scene cuts to black

Elena: Greetings new friend

Thus concludes this story

[waywardxrhea]

Chapter 9 - Panic Room

What happens when you lie to the Devil? How long can one woman keep a lifetime of secrets from the Devil of Hell's Kitchen? The answer may surprise you...

installment list

pairing: Matt Murdock x enhanced!fem!OC

series content: coffee shop AU, fluff, humor, friends to lovers, pining, language, canon typical violence, angst, drinking, implied smut, medical emergencies, mental health disorders (PTSD, panic disorder).

"welcome to the panic room where all your darkest fears are gonna come for you" - panic room, au/ra

word count: 2.3k

Crystal's hand is forced when she uses her powers very publicly for the first time since coming to New York.

On a clear summer evening Crystal was out patrolling her usual route making sure no one was assaulted by petty criminals when she heard a quiet whistle from above her. She quickly looked up to see Matt clad in his black suit jumping down from a fire escape to meet her on the ground. “Hey you,” she said, relaxing her alert muscles in his presence for a moment. “How’s your patrol going?”

“Good, I’ve taken three to the 15th so far, what about you?” he asked, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. 

“You know this isn’t a competition right?” Crystal asked, shaking her head as a quiet laugh left her lips. 

“Oh no, it definitely is. Remember a few weeks ago when you said that you stop more guys than I do on any given night?” he asked. His hands landed on his hips as he finished, “Since then it’s definitely been a competition.”

“That isn’t how I intended it! I just meant that since the big crime rings aren’t out of control anymore, petty crime has risen and therefore I have been stopping more people.”

“Whatever you gotta say to help you sleep at night,” he told her, a full smile finally gracing the lower half of his face at the banter. 

Suddenly though, both of their heads snapped in the same direction as they heard gunshots ringing in the still night air. “I make two gunmen and two people in the building,” Matt said as Crystal crouched to the ground and laid her hand on it.

“It’s on 51st and 9th, bodega robbery?” Crystal asked as she began turning to leave the alleyway.

“Beat you there,” Matt told her playfully as he skillfully began scaling the building while Crystal took to the sidewalks. 

By the time Crystal ran the few blocks required to get there, Matt was already on the scene grappling with one of the gunmen while the store owner and patron stood frozen behind the counter. What she didn’t see was the second gunman Matt had mentioned before they both made their way over. Surely he wasn’t wrong about that part, but where was he? Pushing that thought aside and wanting to get the innocents out, Crystal quickly navigated through the small store’s isles so she wouldn’t be seen by the man Matt was fighting intensely. 

While the two men were distracted with each other and the mess that was being made of the bodega courtesy of the fighting, Crystal managed to approach the two innocent bystanders behind the counter. “We’re here to help, come with me,” she told them quietly in her American accent as she motioned for them to crouch down and follow her. 

“There’s an exit out back by the office, we can go that way,” the owner whispered as he pointed to the exit sign on the wall in the corner. 

Crystal nodded before asking, “Was there a second gunman here?”

“Yeah, he took off though when Daredevil showed up,” he replied as the three of them began slowly making their way to the exit. As they did, Crystal noticed that Matt had moved the fight toward the front door and away from the three of them and smiled to herself at the gesture. 

When they neared the exit though, from the small hallway nearby which held the office, a second man emerged carrying a rifle. “They’re trying to escape!” the squirrelly man shouted to his partner as he aimed the gun at the three of them. 

“Well shoot them, damnit!” the man managed to grunt out from his fight with Matt. 

Following orders quickly, the man pulled the trigger, but before the spray of bullets could hit the three of them, Crystal made a motion with her arms that caused the concrete floor to form a thick wall that absorbed the blow of the projectiles. “What the-?” the owner said in shock, his eyes wide at the feat. 

Crystal looked up in the round mirror near the ceiling and saw the man making his way around to the next aisle with his gun up, so she took down the wall and shouted at the owner, “Just go!”

While the owner and patron scurried out of the back exit, Crystal focused back on the scene where Matt was still fighting the first man, but what made her blood run cold was seeing the second aiming his gun right at Matt’s back. “No!” Crystal shouted as she focused on the stone material within the metal of the barrel of the gun, willing it to bend to her will as she ran toward the man at the same time, ready to go hand-to-hand if she needed to. That choice didn’t have to be made though as the barrel of the rifle bent up and backfired as the man pulled the trigger. 

As the man went down due to his injuries, Matt finally managed to incapacitate the man he was fighting, his chest heaving with exertion from the battle. “Thanks for the save,” Matt told her with a nod as he wiped the blood dripping from his bottom lip. His head turned a bit and he informed her, “Cops are nearly here. Get out of here, I’ll deal with this.”

“But…but they saw… There are cameras here, I…” Crystal mumbled as the realization of what she did so openly dawned on her. Her knees gave out from under her as numbness filled her body and panic filled her mind.

When Matt ran over and caught her, he ran his hand comfortingly over her back as he whispered, “Hey, hey, just listen to my voice. Breathe. Nice and easy. I’ve got you.” The tenor of his voice soothed Crystal the slightest bit, but before she could stop it her body dove into complete panic mode and she felt like she was shutting down. 

Before the cops arrived, Matt gently picked Crystal up and swiftly got her up to a nearby building’s rooftop. He leaned against one of the walls of an AC unit and held Crystal close to his chest as he rubbed her back to calm her down. 

When her heart rate began to slow the slightest bit and her breathing was less shallow, she finally was able to process her surroundings. Taking a deep breath and trying to slow her racing thoughts, Crystal managed to get out, “The cops. Owner’s statement… They can’t find out!”

“Crystal, sweetheart, who can’t find out what?” Matt asked softly.

“My powers! No one’s supposed to know! They’ll come for me!” she cried, clinging to Matt impossibly closer as tears fell from her eyes. 

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, you know that,” Matt told her. “If anyone comes after you because of your powers they’ll have to go through me first, got it? No one’s laying a hand on you while I’m here.” Crystal nodded, not able to fully process the words, but felt comfort in Matt’s arms as he continued to whisper reassurances in her ear. Once she was calmed down enough to stand semi-steadily, Matt got her up and off of the roof, taking her to his place to continue to cool off while he went back to the bodega to talk with the police about what happened. 

When he returned, from her spot on the leather couch curled up in a soft blanket, Crystal watched as Matt took off his face covering and ran a hand through his mussed hair, letting out a sigh. “Everything okay?” she asked, worry flooding her mind at his grim expression. 

“For the most part,” he told her, his hands going to rest on his hips as his head fell back over his shoulders, stress evident in his body language. 

“But…?” Crystal prompted.

He was silent as he navigated his way to the couch to sit beside Crystal. She turned toward him and he grabbed her hand as he told her, “When I got back, a reporter from The Bulletin was already there interviewing the owner and patron about what happened…”

“Oh my God…” Crystal whispered, her free hand going to cover her mouth as more tears sprang to her eyes. “Is there any way to stop them from publishing?”

Matt shook his head solemnly as he squeezed her hand in an attempt to comfort her. His head turned to the left for a moment and he closed his eyes, shaking his head again. This action prompted Crystal to ask, “What did you hear just now, Matt?”

“Crystal…”

“Matthew, please, just tell me,” she pleaded.

He sighed before quietly telling her, “The news is already reporting it as an ongoing story. They don’t have any details, I’m sure they’re waiting on the footage, but…”

“Oh my God…” Crystal said, her hand escaping from Matt’s as she ran her hands through her hair, getting up to pace the sitting area. “I have to get out of here, I can’t be here anymore, I-”

“Crystal, what?” Matt asked, getting up and making his way over to intercept her from the pacing. “What do you mean you have to get out of here? What aren’t you telling me?”

“I-” Crystal started, wanting to just lie completely about everything to save face. But she stopped herself in the middle of the sentence, not wanting to test the boundaries of how much she could bluff to the human lie detector standing right in front of her. She also didn’t want the lies to completely ruin this unexpected union with Matt…

Deciding on a vague form of the truth and praying that her riled up heart would cover up the lie by omission, she told him, “When you have powers like I do, there’s always going to be people coming after you. You’re going to make enemies wherever you go, and before I left London I made some pretty big ones. I work as discreetly as possible and cover my face, not because I don’t want the people I help to know who I am, but because I’m afraid of what may happen to me if those people I made enemies out of find me… And now that it’s out there…”

“You’re scared of them coming after you and those you care about…” Matt supplied quietly. 

“Exactly…” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion as she walked over to the window to look out at what she could see of the city from there. “I know you can handle yourself, but…what about Raeyes? Karen? Foggy and Marci? If they get their hands on any one of you, that’s on me and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself!”

“Crystal, sweetheart, listen to me,” Matt said softly as he joined her at the window, taking her hands in his once again. “You can’t give into the fear, that’s how people like this win.”

“But-” she tried, but was cut off when Matt softly hushed her once more. 

“Crystal please, just hear me out,” he said, guiding her back to the couch. As they sat down together, Matt told her, “Maybe the best way to get out in front of this is to be more open with your powers. You’ve saved countless people since you moved here, so if you step into the spotlight then maybe whoever it is you’re afraid of won’t come after you. It’s what Foggy did when Fisk was after my loved ones. He ran for DA’s office because as a public figure there was less of a chance of Fisk getting him. And it worked.”

“I dunno, Matt… These people, they’re…ruthless…aggressive… I’m afraid they won’t stop until I’m out of commission…for good,” Crystal said, her voice barely above a whisper. 

“And I won’t let that happen,” Matt said firmly. “We survived Fisk, I know we can get you through whoever may come for you. If they even come. If we get you out in the spotlight they might not even try.”

“If I agree to do that, I still don’t have to show my face, do I?” Crystal asked hesitantly. 

“No, absolutely not. The public still doesn’t know who I am, but Daredevil is a household name around here,” he told her, a quiet laugh at the end of his statement. “How about we make Rockie one too?”

The last statement shocked Crystal for a moment before she started laughing, saying, “Oh come on, don’t you dare side with Raeyes about that nickname!”

“It’s not just Raeyes, that’s what the bodega owner called you too,” Matt said with a chuckle. 

Crystal groaned as she leaned back onto the couch, shaking her head as she said, “Of all the low effort nicknames…”

“We don’t get a choice in what the public calls us, I didn’t,” Matt tells her, “Mahoney actually got the name Daredevil to stick.”

“Well maybe he can come up with a better one for me too,” Crystal said. 

“So you’ll do it? Become more of a public figure? Work with me openly at night?”

Crystal was quiet for a few moments as she thought it through, weighing the pros and cons of the situation in her mind. Finally, she sighed and asked, “I guess I don’t really have a choice do I? I just have to pray that this crazy plan of yours works…”

“It will, I promise,” Matt told her, kissing her before bringing her in for a hug. 

After the kiss, with her voice muffled in Matt’s shoulder, Crystal asked, “Strawberry mentos?”

Matt nodded, replying, “Yeah, the bodega owner told me to grab whatever I wanted as a ‘thank you,’ so I grabbed a pack and ate a couple on the way here in hopes you’d catch on… Hoped it would cheer you up.”

“Well I’m definitely on my way there,” she told him, a small smile making its way onto her lips at the sweet gesture. 

next chapter

[afpwestcoast]

9:30 Club, Washington, DC, 6/14/24

My friend Melissa, who has actually been to more shows this year than I have, had developed a theory. They have been playing the same playlist before all of the recent shows, and if the crowd sings along to ‘Say It Ain’t So’ by Weezer then it will be a good crowd. Tonight they not only sang along to Weezer, but just kept going and sang along to ‘I Wanna Be Sedated,’ by The Ramones and ‘The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1’ by Neutral Milk Hotel. We all looked at each other and were like Holy shit this is gonna be a good crowd! We were right. The band … went through some things this night, but the crowd caught them and supported them and prevented the wheels from coming off completely.

Since the Dolls reunited in November ‘22 a familiar pattern has emerged: torch through 6 or 8 old favorites without pausing for breath, a lengthy pause to check in with the audience, talk about the new album, and mentally brace for the new songs, play a string of new songs, then close with a few familiar bangers. That pattern, for reasons both technical and thermal, went out the window tonight. At the Patreon meetup in Philly I said that Amanda had “powerful songs rampaging through her soul and if she doesn’t release them they will destroy her.” This show was sort of the embodiment of that. It felt like she wasn't so much performing songs as exorcising demons. She was definitely going through … something.

According to tour manager Jaron (and later confirmed by Amanda) this was due, at least in part, to it being cold on stage. So maybe don't perform in just a bra? As Anthony used to say: There is no bad weather, just poor clothing choices.

When I made this comment to Amanda at the Patreon meetup on the 15th she said it’s not so much about her body temperature, but more about the effect of cold air on her throat, which seems fair.

Anyway, the set list was ignored, the energy was manic, the crowd was wild, and the overall experience was sublime.

Annotated Set List:

Good Day (Brian on guitar to start)

Sex Changes

There was a pause in the set uncharacteristically early due to Brian having an unspecified technical issue. Brian made a sort of Hamburglar noise and Amanda asked, “Fucking are you okay? What? What? What? What? WHAT?” and then said “Hold on!” in a sing-song voice and went over to the drums. Brian inaudibly explained the situation, causing her to exclaim, “Weird!” I yelled out, “It happens!” And Amanda replied, “It happens … to other bands too!” Soon enough Brian yelled, “Sorry!” and we were back at it. Gravity

Amanda started with a tinkly intro reminiscent of Trout Heart Replica, then teased Girl A before finally breaking into …

My Alcoholic Friends

Backstabber

Missed Me Amanda: How is everybody feeling? Crowd: <roars> Amanda: This is good. How’s everybody up in the balcony? Balcony: <roars> Amanda: How’s everybody down on the floor? Floor: <roars> Amanda: Balcony. Balcony: <roars> Brian: FLOOR! Floor: <roars> Brian <points stage left>: How are the two people in the VIP balcony? VIP balcony: yay? Crowd: <laughs> Brian: Floor! Floor: <roars> Amanda <in a high-pitched voice>: The balcony in the back! The little balcony! Hi guys! Little balcony: <tiny roar> Amanda: What the fuck? Brian: Isn’t this FUN? Crowd: <roars> Brian: Chaos on stage here. Cats and dogs, living together. Amanda: Cats and dogs, living together, mass hysteria. Fucking what even is … the Earth? What even is this city? What is time? I don’t know; we’ve stopped trying to figure out; the solution is just ��� music. The end! End of story! We literally are embodying the deck chairs on the Titanic here, it’s us. And we look FABULOUS!

While scanning the crowd for young people Amanda found 6yo Eliot in the balcony. “Eliot, we’re gonna be swearing a lot tonight. … My son is 8; his name is Ash. And I’ll tell you what I tell my son Ash about swearing … (because Mommy swears a lot): The rule in our house about swearing is that swearing is like a tool. It’s like a knife or anything else that you can use for good things or bad things. … And joyful swearing, or swearing for emphasis is totally allowed and even encouraged. But we are not allowed to swear if it is mean or hurtful to someone else.”

Welcome to the Internet (Bo Burnham cover)

Amanda <looks at Brian> What do you wanna do? Brian: Pirate Jenny. Amanda: Alright!

Pirate Jenny (Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill) While introducing the song Brian reiterated that they are planning to put it on the record, so that seems to be happening.

Amanda went over to the drums and said something to Brian, whose response was a genuinely shocked, “NOW!?!??!?” Yes, now.

War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

Modern Moonlight Girl Anachronism Mister God

Houdini

Boyfriend in a Coma

Whakanewha

The Runner Before the song Amanda remembered to exhort the crowd not to record the new songs, or at least to listen to them in private and not post them to the internet. A woman in the crowd yelled out, “I promise I won’t touch myself!” “You can touch yourself,” Amanda replied. “Why would I want you to not touch yourself? If anyone records these songs and goes home and masterbates to them (sorry Eliot!) I will give you extra points.”

The Nail (Amanda on synth) The normally reverberating bass was toned down a bit tonight.

Bad Habit

Half Jack

Photo Gallery:

I am very mature. (by Scott Hanes)

Good Day

The Dresden Dolls are a very expressive band!

Uh … you okay over there?

Brian is having a moment. With his hat.

Shenanigins!

The best drummer. IN HELL!!!!!!!

Half Jack

You’ve been a wonderful audience! Thank you and good night! <drops mic> <no encore>

[stormyoceans]

Have a nice day, Monica! 🌸How are you feeling? Do you sleep better or are you worried about insomnia? I have a question for you: what are your favorite interviews with JimmySea? Can you make a top? I like their interviews, where the boys tell something special about their character, about hobbies outside the set or about their family. But I think the most favorite interview is Mint Hang Out. Very beautiful bright cafe, delicious dishes, Jimmy and Sea in flirting mode, and Jimmy, who did not come out of the image of Puen, because there were shootings the day before, and driving everyone crazy with gentle looks. Take care of yourself!🌸

hello, dear anon!!!! 💜

this is such a sweet message and that’s also a very interesting question!!! unfortunately im not the best at keeping track with interviews and events, so im probably going to miss some major one, but im going to try to make a small list of my favorites anyway!!!

praew magazine Q&A. YOU WILL NEVER GET ME TO ADMIT HOW MANY TIMES I’VE REWATCHED THIS INTERVIEW JUST KNOW I WOULD HAVE ORDERLIES AT MY DOOR READY TO DRAG ME INTO A PADDED ROOM IF I ADMITTED IT OUT LOUD. im not sure why i like it so much tbh, maybe because it’s a recent one and you can really see how much more comfortable they are in front of the camera and with each other, especially sea. my favorite part is how after the 15th time sea touched jimmy’s leg in the span of 3 minutes even the editor of the video was like if im forced to bare witness to things not even god could withstand then so are y’all [zooms in]

mint hang out vlog. jimmy truly be having some residual method acting left in his system with how ridiculously FOND he looks throughout the entire video. the only reason it doesn't get first place to me is because technically this isn’t exactly an interview but more of a vlog, as the title says, however since i love it and the ACTUAL interview doesn’t have any subs (if anyone asks this is my villain origin story btw) i’ve decided that i don’t care and that im gonna add it to the list anyway. ALSO THIS PERFECTLY SHOWS WHY WE NEED A JIMMYSEA EATING PROGRAM @ GMMTV LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE!!!!!!

our skyy vice versa interview. LISTEN i know it doesn't have any subs so it's not fully accessible to international fans, however it deserved a place here even just for THEE HUG™, i know it was for a challenge but sea clearly didn't expect it and you can tell he is SO DELIGHTED by it AND SO AM I OKAY IDK WHAT TO TELL YOU I AM ONLY HUMAN. also even if you don't know what they're talking about the vibes are just so immaculate and unmatched i would listen to them FOR HOURS

open the world interview. im so very fond of this one because i feel like it's a very good starting point to get to know them. sea is still very shy here, but you learn a lot of things that if you follow them for a while you find out are true: that behind the scenes sea is clingy and determined, that jimmy is always there to guide him, that the way they express their love (even the platonic kind) is by supporting and taking care of the other person, that they do end up spending time together swimming and singing and wakeboarding......

let's talk BL podcast. i knew i could trust them with my life when they were asked which was their favorite vice versa episode and jimmy replied that it was episode 10 (because he is so proud of himself for the derangement he unleashed upon us) while sea eventually picked episode 11 (because he is a man of culture) TRULY KINGS OF TASTE VISION AND CORRECT OPINIONS ONLY!!!!!!! honestly it's just a great interview all-around and i always love how both jimmy and sea try their best in everything they do

i wish i could add more but sadly all the other ones that come to mind (like the oishi magic of zero episode with milklove and the jd's birthday party live with earthmix) don't have any subs ;;;;;; let's hope we're gonna get a lot more when last twilight finally airs!!!!!

[miyubbl]

🎈

(February 15th, 2025)

Hello~

It’s Matsuo Miyu.

There are some parts I wrote on January 31, so there’s a bit of a time gap, sorry about that

The 37th single Under Live has successfully been completed 🪽

Otsukare!

And to everyone who came to see us, and everyone who watched the stream, thank you so much

As the first live of the new year, I feel like we had a really great start.

What do you think? I wonder if you had fun too.

For me it was fun

Before the show, while taking a break and zoning out with Kaede-san, we were saying, “This is so much fun~”, that’s how much I really felt the fun ✌️

There were times when I saw different members crying from different emotions, and every time, I tried to lighten the mood by telling funny stories

But since there were so many different kinds of tears, I ran out of funny stories to tell. I need to save up more funny things.

For this live, we all got to sing solo songs on different days,

I chose “Do my best ja imi wa nai.”

I really love the lyrics of this song, and I’ve always tried to give 100% of what I can do at the moment, just like the lyrics say.

Even if, in reality, I might not have actually reached 100%.

And I think that will never change, or rather, I want it to never change.

Of course, everyone has a different limit to what their 100% is, so the way people perceive it will be different too.

But I feel like, for me, the most important thing is being able to satisfy myself, that’s the first and foremost result that I can truly feel.

This time, the laser effects and lighting effects were absolutely beautiful. I’ve always wanted to see a live performance with such amazing production in person, and before I knew it, I was the one performing in it. You really never know what life has in store.

So many people put in so much time and effort into making everything better, just for us 12 members, and I’m once again filled with gratitude for absolutely everything.

It was truly, truly beautiful. 🪐

And, just like I said I would, after three years, I’ve finally managed to properly open up to everyone ✌️

I’m sure there are people thinking, “How long are you gonna keep saying that…?” 🤷‍♀️

But for me, finally being able to open my heart to everyone is a huge achievement.

No matter what people say, forcing myself to rush beyond my own pace just wouldn’t have felt right.

But I did it.

Just like I said on the radio, after three years, I’ve finally been able to open up.

In the end, the person who understands me the most is myself.

The fact that I wished for this fun time to last forever, just feeling that way made me feel at ease.

I am happy.

Tomi, thank you for your hard work as our chair.

Even while feeling overwhelmed, you kept smiling, and thanks to your soft, warm presence, we were able to prepare with a lighthearted feeling.

Before the last song, you mentioned that you looked at my MC from the 33rd single as reference, and that really surprised me.

Something that was just a memory to me had actually remained as something meaningful for someone else too…

I don’t really know how to put it into words, but it made me happy to feel like I had left behind something.

You did great.

Take your time to rest

I’ll be waiting for you 🧸

Shupei-san came to watch too!

I couldn’t spot him this time…

I wanted to check if he was enjoying the show.

I’m frustrated.

But still, thank you so much for coming! ☝️😚☝️

Sorry that the photos are out of order.

Nogizaka Escape

We look cute (T/N: She used 'Ore,' which is a masculine pronoun)

(At this moment, Yakubo-san had gone out to the hallway to get some fresh air)

“貼” (stick) became “販” (sell) 🩹

Yuna-chan had written down her lines with Satsuki. She even wrote out little details like “Hmm” and “What?!” seeing how her seriousness even showed in her notes made me chuckle.

Kyoto’s real meet & greet

I couldn’t go, but Kuromi sent me this picture 🫶🫶🥲 Thank you.

To everyone who sent flowers and to everyone who came, thank you so much.

I once again thought, “Fūsen wa Ikiteiru” is my favorite song. 🎈

See you again.