#also. let the record show that if robin was a guy then everybody would be shipping her with nancy and not just calling them platonic.

[infiniteentertainment]

So we saw Tammy Thompson sing the national anthem in the first episode of s4...

Which prompted Robin and Steve to give each other looks because they remembered Robin's coming out moment in the bathroom, where they made fun of Tammy's singing...

Vickie overheard them joking, and Robin took the opportunity to talk to her, saying that she "used to think that Tammy sounded good because I had this massive crush—um, we took a massively hard class together. We were in Mrs. Click's class together," reminding the audience of Robin's explanation that, in the class, she wanted Tammy to look at her, while Tammy only looked at Steve.

So episodes later, in the boat out on Lovers Lake, where Robin looked at Nancy looking at Steve? Yeah. This was a direct callback.

And it's interesting that even though Robin's crush was specifically mentioned when talking to Vickie, it's this scene with Nancy that we see what Robin referenced in action.

But the question is: why do any of this?

Even though Robin said Vickie is the girl of her dreams, we saw Vickie for approximately 3 min of s4, and it's within the last 20 min of the final episode that they had their first actual on-screen conversation. Meanwhile, Robin had been glued to Nancy's side all season. The writers are smart, they could've inserted Vickie into the main group at any point, to give her and Robin a chance to bond, and to develop their relationship. It's been done before with other characters. If anything, it seems like the last thing the writers would want is to give clear preferential treatment to Robin's dynamic with a character who's (supposedly) not meant to be a love interest for her (especially in the season where the actual love interest is first introduced, and the audience has been mentally prepped for Robin to have romantic interactions). I'm not saying Robin can't have platonic female friends, I'm just pointing out interesting writing choices, and the usage of show vs tell.

[sarcasticassian]

Corroded Coffin’s label want them to do a Christmas song, Chrissy (their manager) tells them over and over that it’s not gonna fly, it’s really not the band’s brand and who is even asking for a Christmas song off them but due to the recent mainstream success of the band the label is not backing down so Chrissy tells the guys what the situation is thinking she’s going to have to deal with an unhappy label and unhappy talent, she immediately lets them know that she’ll try and negotiate a cover or something that they can whip up in no time and then forget about 

but they all surprise her, Eddie the most, Jeff just had a kid with his wife and he’s in good spirits, Grant is married and Gareth has a long term girlfriend so she can maybe understand their tolerance for Christmas but Eddie? Mr anti establishment and hates all things capitalistic etc etc, he LOVES Christmas apparently, he says its about the spirit, people’s giving nature etc also he loves watching people get into physical fights over presents and families tearing into each other over the holidays, it’s kinda funny as an outsider and as someone who has one other family member 

so they put their heads together and even out do what she’s asking by giving her two original songs and a couple of covers, enough for an EP, the label is ecstatic and Chrissy is flabbergasted, the only hitch is that before they record properly Eddie needs a choir of kids (why, Eddie? it’s part of the Christmas spirit Chris, so many songs have them as well, why can’t ours) so to make it interesting the label makes it a competition for local school choirs and a certain Miss Buckley decides to send in a tape because why not right?

except Eddie loves them, the tape doesn’t cut off in time to miss a snarky comment from the kid at the front with the curly hair and the redhead next to him rolls her eyes so hard Eddie is pretty sure she can see the back of her head and he’s charmed, they sound good too so he begs the band to pick them and the other guys really aren’t as invested in this so they say go for it

Robin is over the moon that her choir got chosen, she’s a music teacher at a local middle school where her bestie also teaches history and is beloved by all children apparently, and it helps that the prize is tickets to a Christmas concert Corroded Coffin will be a part of for all the kids so she tells them that world famous band Corroded Coffin is coming to their school to record them for a new song and they go nuts as a bunch of 14 year olds would, Steve is happy for her even though he has no idea who these people are and doesn’t bother looking them up cause what kinda band comes to a random school for a recording of their song

Eddie LOVES the kids when he arrives, they’re delightfully bitchy but obedient enough or respect Robin enough that they listen to both her and him all day and they sound great, he enjoys them so much in fact that he asks if they’d all want to be in the music video, Steve is out sick that day much to everybody’s dismay but once the video shoot is all worked out they need another teacher for health and safety etc so he volunteers to go (not that Robin would’ve given him a choice) and he sees Eddie covered in flakes of fake snow, surrounded by this soft halo of light and is like oh dear when his heart starts pumping double time

Eddie thinks this teacher is a total cutie and all the kids seem to love him, clamouring to point out cool things on set or show him their costumes or just chat to him about their other weekend plans and Eddie is a little smitten, the shoot goes on and the song is about being lonely at Christmas, the other guys’ partners are involved and the original idea was for Eddie to remain alone to really drive in the point (who doesn’t love a sad Christmas song, of course Eddie would write something against the grain) but the label has a sudden change of heart and wants the video to end with Eddie finding someone and Chrissy seizes her chance to play matchmaker so she suggests Steve fills in if he wants before Eddie can protest

Steve is a slightly confused about why they’d pick him until Eddie blurts out that he’s gay and out etc so a guy would make more sense to their fans so Steve, caught up in the moment, says sure why not, and half falls in love with Eddie under the fake snowfall and horribly bright set lights, he knows it’s an act but Eddie is very charming (Eddie isn’t acting) and all their actual audio will be cut because of the song playing over the top so Steve just enjoys himself

when the song and video goes live fans lose it, who is this cute, cute man that Eddie has bagged, it must be his boyfriend right because everybody else’s partner is in the video and Eddie has to quickly clarify that he just met Steve that day but nobody believes him, ‘the chemistry is too good’ so Eddie manages to reach out to Steve and apologise and Steve decides to joke that Eddie should take him for a drink to make up for it but Eddie immediately agrees and that’s how Steve finds himself on a date with a rockstar

(his class go wild after Christmas break and they hear from Miss Buckley about Mr Harrington’s new boyfriend)

(they go wilder when Steve spills in return that Robin has been seeing Chrissy-the-band-manager since the recording at the school back in October)

[spidernuggets]

this is so tropey and cliché yet I cannot help but adore it sooo a calm chill peace n love pacifist type of gal who only uses computer skills/detective skills/whatnot for the titans but never violence. that is until some asshat takes jason hostage and reader to the sheer shock of everyone goes deathstroke level violent, demolishes everything, sneaks out alone to single handedly rescue jason whilst the titans are still tryna figure out a plan, and jason wakes up back in titans tower to find out that it wasn't a team effort to get him back, that reader did it all alone and killed the people who took him, jason is maybe a lil shit and is all thanks but I had the situation under control, and then he asks why she cares so much and she's like I don't but if they killed you I would kill everyone in this room and then myself 😊 👉👈

Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Note: I'M SO SORRY IT'S TAKING SO LONG TO GET THIS OUT, BABES!!! I'M IN MY FINAL YEAR OF SCHOOL, AND I HAVE EXAMS LIKE EVERY WEEK REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CRIES. ALSO, the first part of this fic is kinda based on Jason and Gar's little moment before they go down to the subways.

"What are you doing now, nerd?" Jason walks into the computer room where yoh sat in front of the downgraded version of the Bat Computer. He leans against the edge, budging your leg with his to get your attention.

"That name is hypocritical, theatre nerd," you bite back.

"Holy shit, they're thespians, not theatre nerds."

"Same difference. Anyways, if you must know, Arkham Asylum's system broke down. Dick asked me to help them fix it. It's fine now, but a bunch of crims broke out. Some are back in, but a few handfuls are still out there. No one above Riddler level. We'll be fine," you say, leaning back on the chair, hands resting behind your head.

"Need any help, babe?" He asks.

You'd be a pathological liar if you said all the nicknames he gave you didn't make your face heat up. You always liked Jason. He has the smart potential that everybody else seems to refuse to see. But you appreciate it.

You shrug. "I dunno. You can if you want, I'm just trying to find where these criminals would be next. But it just looks like they're breaking in and stealing shit from wherever. They pick one building and then move on to a whole different area," you frown, unable to find a pattern.

Jason squints at the big screen. "Hey, zoom into that street over there," he points to the corner of the city's map. You furrow your brows, but oblige. "They're not targeting random buildings, sweet thing," he mutters.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Look. See those buildings there? They already have past records of breaking and entering, and robbery. These Arkham crims are targeting untouched places." Jason says, observing the area.

You then go on your own computer, searching the history of crime through Gotham. Sure, the majority of residents were witnesses or victims to these crimes, but there's still places that have been safe for a good while.

"Hey, all these buildings. I know them." He adds. "Bruce enforced higher security. They're aiming for Wayne Enterprise sponsored buildings!"

"How did I miss that?" You whisper to yourself. "Fuck, Jason, your a bloody genius." You missed the whiplash he got, looking at you in awe for such a simple compliment. "Alright, let me just go mark these locations and I'll go and let Dick know."

"Woah, woah," Jason holds your shoulder. "He doesn't need to know. He's already so busy. I'll handle them. You said it yourself, 'we'll be fine'." He says proudly.

You sighed. "Jay, I know you'd be fine. What's not fine is knowing for a fact that you'd show no mercy and probably make all of them bite the curb." You crossed your arms, folding one leg over your other.

"Ugh, c'mon, Y/n. I promise I won't, and I promise I'll be safe. Dick and the other guys need to know that I can do shit on my own!" He starts to beg. You always knew how important Robin is to him. You were actually impressed about how passionate he was to a mask.

You sighed again, staring at the floor while thinking. "Fine. But you need to be wired. At least be in contact with me. The moment you get into trouble, you call me, I'll get the others to help."

"Why don't you just come out with me? I know you git them badass combat skills?" Then, Jason gives you those eyes for when he asks you for something, and shamefully, you always give in. Not this time.

"Jay, you know why. Even just giving someone a oetty slap just doesn't do it for me."

"Yeah, yeah I know. But if you're ready to throw a punch, make sure I'm there to see," Jason winks as he's about to leave to suit up. But you call out to him.

"Jason." He turns. "You don't need to prove yourself to anyone. Not to me at least," you gave him a sympathetic look. Jason just gives a slight nod in return before turning again and leaving to get ready.

"You sent Jason out there?!" Dick storms into your room without knocking.

You were sat on your bed, holding your hands up. "Woah, man, I could've been changing or something," you say nonchalantly. "Jason will be fine, Dick. He is capable enough of defending himself. Besides, I have him wired, so if he needs help, he can contact me." You say, eyes focused on the laptop placed on your legs.

"Okay, genius, then why did Hank inform me just now that Jason's unresponsive and that his tracker has been disconnected!" Dick yells at you. You stop typing.

"I'm sorry," you choke out a sarcastic laugh, getting off your bed, walking out of your room, Dick following suit. "What? It sounds like you're saying someone cut off all connections that Jason has to us," you said, hoping that you heard wrong or that it was some lame, insensitve prank. You walk into the debriefing room, where the other Titans were. And to prove what Dick said was true, the screens showed that there were no signs of Jason, his tracker, or his wire.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Dick replies sternly. "Jason's gone missing, possibly kidnapped. Why didn't you tell me he was going out?! Why didn't you tell us?"

Hank chimes in. "Yeah, kid. You know how reckless Jason can be-"

You chucked your laptop to the wall, completely smashing it, the screen chipping everywhere, and the keys scattering across the floor. It instantly made the room dead silent.

You stayed silent, too. You said nothing, giving the others no explanation to your sudden, quiet outburst, and headed back to your room.

From behind you can hear Dick sigh, and preoare everyone to find Jason.

You had other plans.

You didn't know where Jason could be. But from the tracker, you can pinpoint his last known location. Not that you told Dick or even Bruce, but you managed to connect your smartwatch to Jason's tracker. No, you are not a stalker... is what you always repeated to yourself. You just wanted to be the first one to always be sure that your spontaneous friend is okay. And look at what good it's doing.

Opening your closet, deep in the back, situated your throwing knives and flame thrower.

"Come to mama," you whispered. Sure, the use of violence is more or less a disturbance to you. But these assholes have your friend hostage. And you know that if you stay with the others, they'd slow you down.

You packed a backpack with everything you think you'd need, and you climbed out your window and ran to where Jason was seen last. You didn't have a hero suit of your own, seeing as you refused to kick ass with the others. Oh, well, you thought. A face mask would do you good.

You ended up in the outskirts of the city. There was no noise, and no Jason. But there was blood. Possibly his.

Unfortunately, there were only splatters and no trails that could guide you.

"Well, aren't you a pretty little thing?" A deeo, raspy voice said behind you.

You turn around and tilted your head. "Hello. I'm lookin' for a friend. About yay high, black domino mask, Christmas coloured superhero suit with an R on the left breast of the chest plate. Goes by the name Robin. You seen him anywhere?" You politely ask.

The gruffy man hummed. "Hmm. Show me what you're made of little lady, and I might spill a secret or two," he disgustingly smirks.

You shrug. "Since you asked so nicely." Swiftly, you threw a knife at him, slicing right through his shoulder as the man howls in agony.

"YOU BITCH," he screams.

You slowly walk up to him, and right as he tries to throw a punch, you dug, slicing his leg with another one of your knives, making him tumble to the concrete.

As he lays on his back, you tower over him, your foot resting on top of the knife that was impaled through his shoulder, making him cry out in pain.

"Now you listen to me, pretty little thing," you smile, mocming him. "After this, you're going to live. Because the sight of a dead body makes me gag. But the catch is," You reach for your flamethrower from your back, pointing it to the man's crotch as he whimpers in fear. "You're gonna be walkin' around with a fried dick. So what's it gonna be? Giving me a location? Or giving yourself a grilled sausage?"

You blink twice before he yells and reveals where Jason is. "Thank you so much, sweetie," you smiled, moving the flamethrower away and your foot lifting off the knife, turning to go find your friend.

He sighs out in relief, but you then turn back around. Saying nothing else, you point the flamethrower at his face, setting it off, letting the flames char his skin.

You hide behind crates in a dimly lit, abandoned warehouse, trying to search for Jason. You then go into a different room, and upon going in, you see a figure tied up in a chair, mouth covered in a dirty rag and a blindfold over his eyes.

My poor- shit. I mean. Poor Jason. You think.

The room was empty. It's an opportunity for you to help him. You cut the ropes, take the rag, and blindfold off.

"Jay?" You whispered. "Jason, wake up, c'mon we gotta go." It was no use.

"So you're the little gal burning up faces," another rough voice says.

You stand up straight, facing the significantly larger man in front of you. "Why does everyone keep calling me that? I'm the average height," you complained, crossing your arms.

The man grunts, snapping his fingers. Then, what seemed to be a whole army of men dressed in black and white striped jumpsuits appeared from every corner, with crooked grins and nasal chuckles.

"Naw, but you'd be cut, chopped, and sliced into little pieces after we're done with you, little thing," he smiles.

"All of you against me?" You pouted. Well, that's just not fair, is it? How about a little disadvantage for you guys." You threw knives in all light sources, smashing the bulbs, now with the only source of ligbt being the moon shining out from a window or two.

You quickly whip out night vision goggles, activating them and your flamethrower ready in your hands.

You start blasting at all the men that attempt (and failed) to attack you, quickly burning their faces, hands, legs, all over their bodies.

All you could hear were the sounds of their writhing pain. You also made sure to stay close to Jason, making sure no one tried to hurt him.

Just as you were about to roast another guy, your flamethrower suddenly ran out of fuel.

"Well, shit," you muttered to yourself. "Old fashioned, it is."

You used the flamethrower itself as a combat weapon, hurling it through their guts and crotches, any of their most vulnerable areas.

The last guy to go down was the supposed leader. You smash the flamethrower into his head, probably leaving a dent, and he falls to the ground. You then take out any knives that remain, stabbing them through bith his shoulders and shins.

You took out your remaining anger and adrenaline out on him by using the flamethrower, striking it against his abdomen.

"Asshole! Perveted! Kidnapping! Ugly! Son! Of! A! Bitch!" You exclaim with every blow.

You pants, looking around the room full of unconscious men. Even the one in the cape.

You lift him up, throwing his arm over your shoulder, beginning to haul him out of the warehouse.

By the time Jason woke uo, his head was spinning, his throat was dry, and his vision was blurry. He sits uo, trying to stay still to focus his vision. He then notices that his shirt is off and his torso is bandaged. There were also many patches all over his face.

He slowly gets uo from bed, wincing at the pain. On his nightstand, he sees a glass of water, pills and a sticky note.

"Take the pill and drink all the water, theatre nerd

- Other Nerd."

Jason couldn't help but smile at the little message and consideration. He did as was told, swallowing the pill and gulping down the water.

Wanting to get into bed, he heard voices coming out of his room. He leans against his dokr, trying to listen.

"Half of those guys are in death threatening condition! The other half have permanently damaged bones! You killed a guy, Y/n! When the fuck do you even kill!" It was Dick. Who seemed pissed. Wait.

Did he just put your name and the word kill in the same sentence?

"What was I meant to do, Dick? Lock them up and wait for them to escape again? You and I both know the justice system is bullshit!" You spit back.

"That doesn't make you the judge of death, Y/n!"

"What-Fucking-Ever! Here's an idea! Maybe if you had just a little faith in Jason, he wouldn't feel the need to go out there! He was just trying to help! You're his older brother. Act like it!" You bite, not wanting to hear another word coming out of Dick's mouth, and stormed into Jason's room.

Too bad you didn't know he was leaning on the other side of the door.

He grunts heavily, and you shove the door against him.

"Shit! Jay, what the hell are you doing out of bed!" You scold him, taking him by the arm and leading him back to bed.

"Hello to you too, nerd," he mumbles, lying back down.

"You just wake up? How you feelin'?" Your hand rests against his face.

"I'm fine. What happened?" He replies groggily.

You sighed, sitting on the floor, resting your chin on the edge of the bed. "You got kidnapped. Your tracker and wire went offline."

"So what were you and Dick arguing about?" His brows knit together.

Your head tilted so that you were leaning on your cheek.

"Just tell me, nerd," he scoffed.

"Went to save you on my own. Killed a guy," you shamefully admitted.

He smiled in disbelief. "I thought I was fuckin' hallucinating. Fuck, wished I was conscious to see you in action. You didn't even need to get me, nerd. I had everything under control." He scoffs at the end.

"Mm.. Okay, Mr. black eye and stabbed stomach," you reply tiredly, while poking his nose.

Jason sighs and stares at the ceiling. "Thanks." He mutters.You smile.

"Hm? What was that?" You tease.

"I'm not saying it again. You know what I said."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." You admire the side of his face.

"Why? Why go through all that, Y/n? You haven't even punched a person in who knows how long. And suddenly you put people in the hospital and kill someone? I don't understand," Jason suddenly says, turning to face you.

You look back at him. "They took you."

He shook his head, unsatisfied. "No. That's bullshit. Gar and Conner got kidnapped once. You didn't kill people then."

You looked away. "They aren't you." You mumble.

"So what? What the hell's so special about me, Y/n? Why do you care so much?" Jason was confused. He wanted answers as to why someone could care so much for him. He wanted to know why someone who doesn't believe in violence would kill for him when even his own family couldn't.

"I don't," you tried to excuse yourself. "But if they killed you, I would've killed everyone, and the Titans, and then myself," you casually say, still avoiding his gaze.

Jason couldn't help but snicker. "Sounds very caring to me, nerd," he lowly says.

You hum. "Mm, whatever."

He then dramatically sighs. "You know what, sweetheart. It's pretty cold up here. And I assume the floor isn't as comfortable as the bed," there's a look of both want and need in his eyes.

You smile. "What? Wamt a blankie?" You teased.

"Fuck, just come up here," he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

You said nothing else. Just quickly obliged, going around to the other side of the bed, lying beside him.

"You're too far," he complains.

"I'm gonna mess up your bandages," you pout.

"You're so stubborn," Jason says, using his gokd arm to pull you closer, making your head lay on his chest.

"You're one to talk," you snap, though nestling your head into his warmth.

He just hums in response, letting his lips linger on the crown of your head.

I'M SORRY AGAIN, ANON. this is probably lame... and I didn't know how to end it

cries 🥲

[lifeexperience]

MariBat March 2021 - New Start

Masterlist - Previous

*

Bruce was nervous.

It was clear to his sons. To Selina. To Bilal.

More precisely, he was a nervous wreck.

“Can you sit down or I can break your legs for you?” Jason pushed him into one of the chairs in front of the computer with a rude move.

“Hood, please…” Dick began standing up but was stopped by Damian.

“No!” the youngest said with a smug glee. “He is right. It’s not the first time when Father is meeting a blood child not knowing about him beforehand.”

“Yes.” Jason nodded in agreement. “He already has practice, so I don’t understand why he is so pissy about it. Like some teen girl in front of her first jock crush.” He adjusted his straps again. A nervous habit. “Babyba…”

“Kitten.” Selina cut in sternly. “He is a kitten.”

His second son rolled his eyes. “The kitten is already a superhero with an established badass partner. He has good emotional control, not like us. And he inherited more from your fiancé than you.” he listed more calmly as he glanced at the glaring Damian. Bruce sighed. Jason always loved to annoy his brothers, but here it could be really dangerous.

“Master Jason, I hope you don't want to be left out of the next month's babysitting routine.” they heard Alfred wise voice from the speakers.

Jason immediately started backing up in his words and trying to sooth out any ruffles in Robin’s uniform. They also heard Tim’s sniggering through the static noise. So he also was there. And if Tim was stalking on them then it was sure this evening’s record would end up with Barbara and the girls.

Bruce didn’t know it was a good or a bad thing. The girls could be more ruthless than the boys. And there were Damian and Jason.

And a new son.

A son.

He didn’t even know if they would learn his identity today. Like Ladybug already found out about them, but it could be dangerous at any time if they akumatized. And if he remembered correctly Ladybug and Chat Noir didn’t even know each other under the mask.

Here comes a headache.

Again.

He stood up to go for a pill. Fortunately Bilal had a really equipped health aid section in his basement. There were a lot of different painkillers. Even some charm from the lady luck herself for magical indicated problems. Those children were indeed badasses.

As the silent minute was broken with a quiet click, every one of them focused on the door.

They were here.

The entrance was pushed open slowly. Bruce heard fast murmuring from the Parisian heroes as they walked in. Ladybug was holding something in her hands while Chat Noir - his son - carefully closed the door.

“Heyya, little bro!” Jason couldn't restrain himself for more. Dick just shook his head resignedly then smiled welcomingly.

“We are happy you two came.” he stepped up and showed them further in the base. Damian growled a little then stopped as he caught Bruce disapproving frown.

He really loved his children, but they were handful.

“What is this?” Dick leaned closer to the bundle in Ladybug’s hands.

The two french looked at each other, and the girl held out a box instead to him. It was a patisserie box, inside a few different cakes and pastry. However her other hand was still full on with some dotted clothes.

“And that?” Jason pointed at it curiously.

The heroine looked down and blinked up shyly. A spreading blush grew from her neck to her ears. “We found him in a rain gutter when... There was no nest, so…”

In the red bundle was a little bird with ruffled feathers. His sons watched it in awe. It had a beautiful blue-grey and yellow plumage with a hint of white and black. For the situation it was in, the little bird was really calm and as it tilted its head, a little curious.

“It’s a Parus Major.” Damian jumped at his feet and ran swiftly to the animal. Of course he would, Bruce thought, watching with a smile as his youngest got excited about the little bird. “Mother never let me foster any Parus Major in the....” he cut abruptly off. Jason and Dick changed a meaningful glance before started asking questions about the bird. Sometimes Chat Noir chirped in shyly while his partner handed the animal over to Damian.

Lost in their conversation the boys didn’t even notice as Ladybug skipped away to the adults. Or more adults than Red Hood and Nightwing ever were.

“Monsieur Batman, Madam Kyle! Nightrunner!” she nodded in greetings to each of them.

“Little Bug, I have to say, you are a little badass!” Selina opened her mouth before Bruce could say something. He also won a disapproving look from his financé as she praised the increasingly embarrassed Parisian.

Bruce turned to Bilal for some help about what he did again, however the vigilante shook his head negatively. And of course, he couldn’t ask Alfred about it, because he was only in the comms and not here in person. Great.

“I am not here for the pleasantries, Madam!” the girl said after gulping her own bashfulness. Her voice was not that hard but carried a little stern edge. Bruce knew this voice, he used so much sometimes almost forgot to not use it. It mirrored his Batman voice.

“Please explain!” he straightened himself out in the chair.

For a long moment Ladybug looked at his cowl like searching for something then took a big breath. She glanced back at the boys and nodded to herself as they were all absorbed in their own conservation.

“Chat Noir is hurt. He is good at hiding it, but he is hurt. And if he isn’t ready to show himself to you, then… I think you have to step back a little.” She was confident. She stood beside his partner’s decision with her full heart and mind.

“I don’t want…”

“I know.” she interrupted him. “He wants you to learn about his new family too. But his life… Our life is not that easy.” She blinked some. “If we are akumatized the world ends. And we can’t let that happen.”

Bruce vaguely sensed how both Selina and Bilal tensed up at once. He also felt how his own muscles froze up to the indication of a new world-ending scenario. Of course, they already knew about the possibility, but to say it out loud from a teen girl’s mouth. It was another matter.

They had to be careful and follow the boy's wants.

“And I have to warn you about your identity. I didn’t say anything in the police station, and you two were really lucky that Chat Noir didn’t notice Madam Kyle. But you have to be more careful.” she explained, frowning. “I am not the only observant person in this city.”

Oh shit!

They didn’t even think about it at that moment. If Ladybug didn’t know about him being Bruce Wayne, that would have been a rookie mistake. No, not had been. It was a rookie mistake.

And he hated to be a rookie.

“By the way, it’s a common occurrence to fight with a fucking hydra?” Jason’s voice broke them out of their tense state.

“Language!” Bruce and Ladybug hissed at the same time with the same tone. Again.

The boys all looked them with surprised eyes then faced back with Chat Noir. Bruce kind of saw how they all debated how the heroine wasn’t his child. It was written in their masked face, and he knew them very well to recognize their mind’s logic.

Dick wanted to shoot sister-rights, while Damian was getting angry again. And Jason… Jason just looked too smug for his own good.

“If we are… kind of there…” the Parisian cat started shakily refocusing everybody. “I would like to say something.”

Fortunately besides Bruce, Dick also noticed Damian’s instinct and grabbed the boy by his shoulder and adjusted the little bird’s nest, distracting him at the same time. So without one batarang they all could concentrate back on Chat Noir.

Bruce tried to look encouragingly, however his new child only glanced at him for moments. He clearly waited for Ladybug’s approval and not his.

The girl searched for something in her partner’s eyes in the same way as not long ago she searched in his soul. It was kind of disturbing how it felt like she saw his mind like an open book. It was surely a magical skill.

When she finally nodded, Chat Noir looked around again. He is scared. His hands shook and his unnatural pupils were dilated. His closed posture said he wanted to be anywhere else than here. Bruce almost stood up to stop him whatever he wanted to do.

However he was late.

With a murmur and a big green flash, on the place of Chat Noir stood a thin boy with blond hair and green eyes.

“My… my name is Adrien Ag... Agreste.”

In the room almost everyone forgot how to breath. At least Bruce was close to drown without his oxygen intake.

This boy. His son. Adrien.

He stepped closer to him while trying to say something. Anything. Reassure him. Greet him. Introduce himself and his - Adrien’s - siblings.

However Jason was faster. “You are that perfume guy!”

*

@maribatmarch-2k21

To be continued in May...

[365days365movies]

February 24, 2021: Annie Hall (1977) (Part 1)

Well...Woody Allen.

I, uh...OK, look, I could get into the whole Woody Allen thing, but INSTEAD of me doing that, I’ll just say this: look into it. Because there is a LOT on this subject, and it’s controversial as HELL. At the end of the day, I’ll recommend this upcoming series on HBO, and just recommend that you look into it.

Because, uh...yeah, it’s not great. That’s all I’m gonna say, because I need to educate myself on it more as well. Instead, let’s talk for a few seconds about divorcing the art from the artist. But ONLY for a few seconds.

I understand why some of you might be surprised I’m doing this one. Because, again...Woody Allen. But, yeah, I always try to do my best to divorce the art from the artist. Because some people suck, but they still make nice things, or at the very least, things that should be open to interpretation and appreciation.

“Superfreak” is a classic song of 1981, and everybody’s heard at least some of it, but Rick James fuckin’ kidnapped two women and kept them in his basement, WHERE HE TORTURED THEM. Edgar Degas made beautiful paintings of ballet dancers, and was also A MASSIVE ANTI-SEMITE. And before he was (RIGHTFULLY AND JUSTIFIABLY) outed as a roofie-ing piece-o-shit...I grew up with - and genuinely enjoyed - this guy’s comedy.

And you can judge me for this, but...I still think his stand-up was and is genuinely funny, and I still appreciate the cultural impact that The Cosby Show had on society’s perception of African-American families, divorced from the stereotype of the ghetto. Fact of the matter is, works themselves deserve to be separated from the artist who made them. That’s my philosophy, and I’m sticking with it Entirely fine to disagree with me, by the way, I get it.

But in that spirit, I’m watching Annie Hall, despite its creators likely transgressions. After all, this is technically his magnum opus, and it’s a good look into the man himself. And so, with that in mind: Annie Hall! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is talking directly to us about his outlook on life, and his view on the potential future. He tells half of a joke, then an amusing anecdote, and a bit more until telling us that he’s broke up with Annie, and he’s still thinking about it, trying to figure out exactly where things went wrong. He goes back to the beginning, which is punctuated with flashbacks.

He grew up in Brooklyn in World War II, and a young Alvy (Jonathan Munk) is with his mother (Joan Newman) at the doctor’s. He’s depressed after learning that the universe will one day end after a period of expansion, and is having his first real existential crisis. I had mine around the same age, actually, went I learned that the Earth will one day get swallowed by the sun. And THEN came the realization that I’d be dead by that point. AND THEN came the realization that I’d die one day, and that was a WHOLE NEW crisis to...anyway.

He grew up under the Coney Island rollercoaster according to him (although his analyst says that he exaggerates), and that’s what he blames for his “nervous personality. He’s also got an active imagination, often blurring fantasy and reality. His Dad ran the bumper cars on Coney Island (a place that I’ve never been, but desperately want to go).

He continues on talking about his former schoolmates, and not really that well. While in class, young Alvy kisses a...little girl...ahem. And then, when reprimanded by the teacher, current Alvy notes that he was always...like that...and he also says this to the little girl, and they talk about Freud’s latency period, and Alvy said he never...had...one...that’s uh...that’s fuckin’ SOMETHING, now isn’t it?

OK, well, shoving that forcefully aside as hard as I can, Alvy wonders aloud on where his classmates now, and one of them says this:

This also involves a little girl saying she’s “into leather,” which is...awkward as FUCK, but WE’RE GONNA MOVE THE FUCK ON. Alvy recounts his paranoia, and was so even after he became a famous comedian (which we say after a VERY good joke about qualifying for the army as a hostage). He speaks to a friend, Rob (Tony Roberts) about potential anti-Semitism from a person in a passersby meeting, then heads to meet Annie.

Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) arrives at a movie theater, late and in a bad mood. The two are late to their intended film, argue briefly, then head to another film that they’ve already seen, The Sorrow and the Pity. In line, they’re in front of a man loudly soliloquizing on film, much to Alvy’s annoyance.

Annie and Alvy continue to argue a bit, while Alvy openly berates the casual film critic. In the middle, he talks to the audience about it, only to be followed by the crtiic himself, who also acknowledges the audience! Huh! Anyway, he’s a professor at Columbia, and starts continuing his line speech, this time on the work of Marshall McLuhan, one of the most important early media theorists ever. And then, Alvy brings out Marshall McLuhan (Marshall McLuhan) to debate him on it, only for Alvy to turn to the audience and wish aloud that life could really be like this!

I’m beginning to understand why people like this film. It’s metacontextual before metacontextuality was really a thing in film. It’s a fourth-wall breaking movie in some fantastic ways. But will it still hold its muster after breaking the fourth wall’s become so commonplace? we’ll see, I guess.

After a showing of the film, the two return home, and Alvy tries to initiate sex. But Annie’s not really into it at the moment, and Alvy complains that they used to have sex all the time, and it’s been a while since. So, I guess that retroactively awkward scene at the school was meant to foreshadow Alvy’s high libido, that will probably cause some conflict in the film. Anyway, Annie notes that Alvy once went through something similar with Allison, his first wife. Who’s Allison? Flashback!

Allison Portchnik (Carol Kane) is a graduate student in political science, working for a campaign that Alvy’s about to perform for. He’s nervous, as he’s going on after another comedian. She comforts him by saying that she thought he was cute, and he does well. But we flash-forward to a night after they’re married, shortly after the death of JFK, which Alvy’s obsessing over, entertaining various conspiracy theories.

However, Allison rightly points out that his obsession is simply a way for him to avoid having sex with her, which mirrors the present-day situation him him and Annie. Flash forward TO Alvy and Annie, and there are just lobsters...everywhere, on the floor in their kitchen. After that commotion, they talk about Annie’s past romances.

And by talk about, I mean they LITERALLY WALK THROUGH her memories. And I gotta say...I fuckin’ love this method of storytelling. One of her previous boyfriends is an actor (John Glover), and his over-dramatic prose sickens Alvy. We see a second marriage of Alvy’s to New Yorker writer Robin (Janet Margolin), who’s dragged him to a stuffy high society party of intellectuals that he has no interest in going to. Same her, Alvy. I bet the caviar’s canned.

He tries to initiate sex with her - in the middle of the party, mind you - and she turns him down. later, when they get to it in their apartment, she’s unable to, uh...reach satisfaction. From there, we flash-forward after that marriage ends to a tennis match with Rob, where he meets one of his mutual friends: Annie Hall.

And for the record, Annie’s pretty obviously got a crush on him, and she’s adorable as fuck. Also, that outfit, real talk...that outfit rules. She offers to give Alvy a list, during which he’s quite worried about her driving, but the two still get along well enough. Annie’s an amateur photographer, during a time period where photography is considered a relatively new art form. The two go to her apartment, and share familial anecdotes and personal stories about themselves. And as they talk, we also see a set of subtitles on top of each of them that betray their inner feelings and thoughts.

I do genuinely like the stylings of the movie, goddamn. This conversation leads to Alvy asking her out on a date, although they end up scheduling it after Annie auditions at a nightclub as a singer. And while it doesn’t go great, Alvy tells her she was fantastic, and they share a kiss before they head to dinner. They head to her place afterwards, and we cut to later that night, post-coitus.

And then, we get a flash-forward back to the next day, where the two are at a bookstore, and Alvy speaks on his personal philosophy of life.

I'm obsessed with uh, with death, I think. Big - big subject with me, yeah. I have a very pessimistic view of life. You should know this about me if we're gonna go out. You know, I - I feel that life is - is divided up into the horrible and the miserable. Those are the two categories, you know. The - the horrible would be like, um, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. You know, and the miserable is everyone else. That's - that's - so - so - when you go through life - you should be thankful that you're miserable because you're very lucky to be miserable.

Iiiiinteresting.

Shortly into their relationship, they admit they’re in love (or “lurve”, as Alvy says). She moves in with Alvy, which he initially isn’t the biggest fan of, having been burned in two previous marriages And already, their relationship is showing a few bumps. Alvy’s also always trying to push her to take college classes, while she uses mariuana whenever they have sex, which Alvy doesn’t agree with.

But as they have sex one night, without the marijuana at Alvy’s urging, Annie’s mind wanders - LITERALLY.

This film...this film has a VERY unique style of visual storytelling, and I am HERE for it! Seriously, I genuinely love this method of storytelling and comedy, it’s extremely engaging to me.

Soon enough, Alvy gets an interview to write for a talk show host, which he ABSOLUTELY despises. But in doing so, he decides to go into stand-up for himself, and is actually quite successful at it! But before we get to that, we’re at the halfway point! See you in Part 2!

[beca-mitchell]

life as we know it (1/1)

Summary: After Beca's miscarriage, the road to healing is a long one. Their first night out together in a while proves to be more difficult than expected.

Word count: 2.7k

continuation from this. Part of now i see daylight—an au series that explores beca and chloe’s lives together as if they had been childhood friends.

A/N: this universe is the work-product of hours of hc'ing with @asimplefavors, so just assume all ideas are things we've discussed. <3 in this universe, beca and chloe are high school sweethearts.

Warning for angst and mention/reference to a miscarriage.

read below or on AO3.

——————————

“I never want to be without you again.”

“I never left.”

“I know, but it felt like you did and that’s what hurt the most.”

Blinking at her reflection, Beca murmurs a quiet thanks at both her stylist and her make-up artist as they quietly mill about behind her packing up their things.

It feels odd, as it has for the past while, to be preparing to go out when it still feels like she ought to be grieving. The aches and pains—the physical ones—have long faded and she has been spending more time in the studio, slowly getting her bearings again. Though she is technically on a break from the album she had been working on before and during her pregnancy, she still thinks about the music she had been creating—the music she had anticipated being read just in time for their baby, but—

She inhales deeply.

Music has never felt more soothing or poignant.

Though she still shares her music with Chloe from time to time, there has been a very specific solitude she has received from simply immersing herself in music again.

But more than that—losing herself in the love she feels for Chloe, their life together, and their baby who didn’t make it, but who will forever be so, so loved and cherished. All of that, translated into music and memories to be cherished forever.

Beca attempts a smile at herself in the mirror.

Chloe’s quiet gasp draws Beca out of her musings.

“You look beautiful,” Chloe murmurs, pulling Beca towards her for a quick kiss. Beca finds it amusing that for how much Chloe hadn’t given a second thought about PDA in high school, Chloe is now the more reserved one between the two of them.

It’s charming.

“Wait,” Beca pleads, wanting to feel Chloe’s warmth against her for just a few seconds more. Her stylist can wait a few measly seconds. “There,” she mumbles against Chloe’s mouth, purposefully sliding her hand up Chloe’s back to send a shiver down Chloe’s spine. Pleased with her own ministrations, Beca pulls back, taking care to ensure that Chloe’s lipstick is as pristine as it was before.

“You two,” Beca’s make-up artist says lightly from where she’s packing up her things. “I’m not fixing anything,” she sing-songs.

Beca smiles up at her girifriend who returns the smile with equal energy. “There’s nothing to fix,” she promises, speaking directly to Chloe. “I’m going to have the best-looking woman on my arm.”

Chloe’s smile threatens to turn into a smirk, but she maintains innocence long enough. “Flatterer.”

Though Beca feels light at the moment, an undercurrent of nervous anticipation rushes through her. This is the first event she and Chloe are attending together ever since the miscarriage and though their relationship is pretty much back at where it was before everything nearly fell apart, it wasn’t without hard work and pain. One month after Chloe finally broke down in her arms, clutching at Beca with the desperation of somebody on the brink of total collapse--one month and eight joint therapy sessions later--Beca finally feels like she’s close to whole.

So while flirting with Chloe openly is only a mask to hide her nerves, she still thinks Chloe is the most beautiful woman she has ever laid eyes on. She softens her gaze, allowing herself to sink into the sensation of being so in love with the woman standing in front of her; it is gratefulness and happiness and passion all at once--Chloe, who has been there for everything, will continue to be there (so long as you let me, Chloe had said with tears in her eyes).

“What?” Chloe finally asks when she senses the change in Beca’s demeanor.

“Nothing,” Beca responds. She reaches out to hold Chloe’s hand. “I’m just happy.”

She’s telling the truth.

“Me too,” Chloe says.

Beca knows Chloe is telling the truth as well.

—————————— 

 The event is close-knit enough that Beca doesn’t feel any of the usual anxiety she feels whenever she goes to industry events. She can tell Chloe also feels a small measure of comfort having met many of the attendees as well. It is still surreal to both of them—Chloe more so than Beca—that this is their life now. By virtue of Beca's status as a celebrity and recording artist with a major label, they mingle regularly with celebrities. This event in particular is a moderately-sized event��honouring some of the older, well-respected music industry executives. It means the flashy celebrity turn-out is low to medium at best, which seemed like a fitting way to make a public appearance. Beca barely knows the honorees, but she supposes showing her face can’t hurt every now and then.

Her label’s president immediately swoops in front of her for a quick conversation. Chloe smiles and kisses her cheek, murmuring that she’ll come back with drinks.

In the past few weeks, Beca realizes then that she and Chloe hadn’t really spent too much time apart. It’s the only explanation for the loss she feels so keenly even though Chloe is just across the room.

“—Beca?”

Beca startles back to the present, flicking her eyes guiltily back to Tom who smiles at her knowingly. “Sorry,” she says quickly. “What, um—?”

“Never gets old, huh?” he asks, tipping his wine glass in her direction.

“What doesn’t?”

“Being in love.”

Beca feels the blush spread across her cheeks and down her neck all at once. “Oh, well, I don’t know if—” At his raised eyebrow, she shrugs helplessly and cuts herself off. “I don’t know where I’d be without her.”

“Well, behind every great artist,” he says lightly.

Chloe appears by Beca’s side again. “Is an even greater woman?” she asks with a pleasant lilt to her voice.

Beca grins, accepting the glass. “Took you long enough.”

“Well, I was going to say a great partner,” Tom corrects. He holds his hand out to shake Chloe’s hand. “Tom Mackay. A pleasure to meet you formally. Beca never shuts up about you.”

“He’s the big guy up there,” Beca clarifies for Chloe, talking over Tom.

“Chloe,” Chloe says after nudging Beca lightly with her shoulder. “Nice to meet you, Tom.”

They are soon joined by a couple, Dan Freeman and his wife Robin.

"So, Chloe," Dan begins in a tone that already has Beca rolling her eyes. She’s never particularly enjoyed his company, but he’s such a solid sound engineer that she begrudgingly admires his talent and tolerates him at least half of the time. "This one is always spending time in the studio, especially recently.” He tilts his head towards Beca. “I bet you’ll be glad when she’s finally done with this album.”

Beca clears her throat. “I’m actually taking a break,” she reminds him stiffly. “Remember?” Chloe, for her part, has not tensed up uncomfortably next to Beca, but instead tucks her hand neatly into the crook of Beca’s elbow. A quick glance shows a gentle smile on Chloe’s face as her eyes flicker to Beca’s.

“I’m grateful for Beca all the time,” Chloe says simply.

Robin coos at them and leans into Dan. “Look at them, why can’t we be more like them?”

Beca tries not to smile too smugly at her coworker, but a small measure of self-satisfaction seeps through nonetheless.

“How long have you two been together again?”

“It’ll be seven years next month,” Beca replies, unable to resist smiling at Chloe again who beams back at her.

“I envy you,” Dan says, shaking his head. “You’re so young and you have so many opportunities to attend events like this. Don’t have to worry about staying out too late or finding a sitter for the little ones,” he jokes, nudging his wife with a playful smile.

Tom laughs at that. “I agree. It was impossible for me and Emily to find somebody to look after our rascals, but we did. I’m sure they would have enjoyed this thrilling event though,” he jokes. “Well, the joys of being a recording artist...at least your schedule is king and you can set up whatever you need with no super strict deadlines,” Tom directs at Beca with a wink. “As long as we still get those albums.”

“Stop pressuring them both of you,” Robin chides. “I’m sure you’ll make lovely parents,” Robin says graciously, directing an apologetic smile at both Chloe and Beca. “But I know that’s not always in everybody’s agenda—at least not really early on.”

For a moment, she struggles to breathe. Beca feels some of the air around her grow thick and stagnant. The shift happens in an instant. She tightens her grip around the stem of her glass and wills herself not to crush the fragile material in her fist. Chloe tenses next to her as well and Beca feels the brief tightening of Chloe’s fingers in the crook of her elbow.

——————————

“I think...with our history and everything that we’ve been through together...part of me is afraid that one day I’ll wake up and she won’t be there,” Chloe whispers. She can barely look at Beca while she says so, taking the brief silence as an opportunity to quickly swipe at the tears welling quickly in her eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Beca murmurs, trying to keep her voice steady despite the sharp pain that spreads through her chest. “I would never leave you.”

“But you almost did. We almost broke because of what happened.”

“I felt so guilty,” Beca explains even though the words are increasingly meaningless. So much of the misplaced guilt had been alleviated over the past few weeks. “I still do sometimes, but—”

“Beca, don’t,” Chloe pleads.

“But,” Beca continues, reaching out to hold Chloe’s hands. “It’s mostly because I know that I hurt you and I know that things still hurt, but I can’t imagine doing this whole life thing without you and I can’t believe that it feels like I almost threw it all away.”

“You didn’t,” Chloe promises. “We’re both working on it now and I know you’re trying. I’m trying, too.” Chloe twists her hands so she can hold Beca’s hands properly. “I love you so much.”

Beca sniffles, surprising herself. Laughing hollowly, she reaches up to quickly swipe away a few stray tears before immediately holding Chloe’s hands again. “I love you, too, Chlo.”

For a moment, they both forget that their therapist is sitting across from them.

They’ll get through it. "We'll get through this," Beca promises. "I'm sorry for ever making you think otherwise. Too lost in my own head." 

"Don't apologize for feeling things, Bec. I only ever wished I could take some of that worry away from you."

"We're going to get through this," Bece repeats, with conviction.

Chloe has no choice but to believe the love of her life.

—————————— 

There is a quiet pain in Chloe’s entire posture as she sits silently next to Beca at their designated table. The lights feel increasingly hot and jarring as they bear down on her. Though Chloe never shied away from the spotlight figuratively or literally, she somehow feels more put on the spot than ever.

The sudden reminder of what had happened such a short period of time ago—and the fact that she and Beca hadn’t even had the opportunity to tell anybody about Beca’s pregnancy before the miscarriage—sticks in her chest like a dagger through her heart.

She tries to focus on the food in front of her and the sound of the MC’s voice amid bursts of laughter, but none of that makes sense—it shouldn’t make sense, not when the flash of grief that rushes through her is immediately struck down by other warring emotions all threatening to burst free.

The fear she had felt when she had received the call from Beca—how Beca’s voice had trembled and hitched and wavered. The drive to the hospital and the energy it had taken to not tremble too badly so as to not get into an accident. Tears. Beca profusely apologizing for nothing and everything all at once, like she had any hand in what had happened.

And the distance—the distance that had stretched between them afterwards.

Apologies and declarations of love.

“Chlo,” Beca says softly. “Are you okay?”

Dragged back into the present moment, a rush of noise hits her as Chloe turns to Beca and quickly swipes at the tears that had formed. “Yeah,” she replies. “I think I’m just…” she trails off.

“Yeah, me too,” Beca murmurs. Her eyes reflect a similar pain. She glances around. “Want to...go?”

“Go? Go where?”

“Go home,” Beca says simply with a half shrug.

“Don’t you need to...be here?”

“I’d rather be at home with you.”

Chloe watches her for any trace of emotion that might indicate otherwise before she nods her head.

Together, they leave.

——————————

  “I’m pregnant,” Beca whispers, tears springing to her eyes. “I’m pregnant, oh my God.”

Chloe drops her plate into the sink, hastily wiping her hands off on the closest dishtowel. “Beca, what? What did you just say?”

Beca smiles through a hiccup or a sob. She can’t tell. “It worked,” she tries to explain with a shaky voice. “I’m pregnant.”

“Oh my God,” Chloe exclaims, immediately reaching out to hold Beca’s waist. Beca immediately notices the careful grip Chloe has on her already. “Oh my God, Bec, I—” Poor Chloe, completely overwhelmed, simply begins to cry.

Beca looks incredibly alarmed at the display. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Chloe promises. “I’m just so happy.”

——————————

 “Chlo,” Beca murmurs as they lie together in bed, showered and refreshed.

Chloe hums, tucking her face further against Beca’s neck and holding her close. “What is it?”

“You know what I see in our future?”

Chloe shakes her head, ruffling her hair as it sticks to Beca’s shirt and skin.

“I think I can see us with two kids. A beautiful house with a backyard. Maybe close to the ocean. And every day when we wake up, it’ll be to the sound of them laughing and giggling as they jump on our bed. You get the side of the bed closer to the door because I’m not getting my spleen ruptured by them every morning.” Beca inhales. “And God, I know they’re going to be beautiful. Whether we adopt or whether we figure out another way, they’re going to be such beautiful, beautiful children to call our own and that’ll be because they have you to model themselves after. I am so lucky to have you by my side. I was so sad earlier, thinking about everything and how unfair life can be sometimes, but Chlo, I can’t imagine what life would be like without you and I want you to know how much I love you.”

Chloe thinks she’s crying and laughing by the time Beca finishes, but she doesn’t care because she is pulling Beca in for a slow, deep kiss that quickly becomes messy because Beca is whispering words of love into her mouth and tightly weaving her arms around Chloe’s back to hold her close. It is surreal how this feels—how incredibly close to Beca she feels then. It is then that the memory of their entire shared history (littered with all kinds of memories, both happy and sad) doesn’t feel quite so daunting anymore. Like clouds parting to reveal an incomparable warmth, Chloe envisions such a clear and probable future with Beca. As clearly as Beca has seen it, evidently.

They share the same future.

They’re in this together.

“I know that we’re going to be good parents,” Beca whispers, voice thick with emotion. "Like...the best." She rests her forehead against Chloe’s. “I know I’m going to be a good mom despite my own parents.”

“You are,” Chloe breathes out with the little air she has left in her lungs. “You are so, so—” Beca kisses her, interrupting her. Chloe huffs, placing her hand loosely on Beca's chest. “I wasn’t finished."

“I know. I just had to tell you that you’re going to be an incredible mother too. I’ve known this forever. Ever since we were kids even when I didn’t even understand what I was feeling. I just know because you’re Chloe Beale. Our kids are going to be beautiful because of you,” Beca repeats. “I know it.”

“And you.”

Beca closes her eyes. The silence that follows is heavy, rife with all the emotion shared between them in the past few minutes. “I believe you,” she says finally.

Chloe knows she’s telling the truth.

fin.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Villainy Squared

Dramatis Personae

Batman/Bruce Wayne, the heroic but grumpy crime fighting vigilante

Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel, the eccentric and dimwitted girlfriend of Joker

Harvey Dent/Two-Face, the angry D.A. turned mob boss who bases his decisions on coin flips

The Riddler/Edward Nygma, a childish, riddle-obsessed technological genius

The Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane, a psychopathic psychologist; obsessed with fear

Script

Act I

(Enter Riddler and Two-Face from different directions)

Riddler: Riddle me this, Gotham! What has- (Pause) Two-Face? What are you doing here?

Two-Face: Out of the way, Nygma. This is the Second National Bank, and I’m going to rob it.

 Riddler: But this is my heist! I’ve been planning it for months! You can’t just interrupt months of detailed planning because of your obsession with the number two! Why, I’ve already set up my riddle-based death traps of doom in there!

Two-Face: Tough luck, Nygma. You should’ve known better than to gamble on  the Second National Bank with me on the loose. Now get lost. (Shoves Riddler to the ground)

Riddler: Ow! (Stands up, brushes himself off) That was entirely uncalled for! And I’m not going anywhere until you find a different bank to rob. This one is mine! Mine! All mine!

Two-Face: Do you really want to tussle with me, Nygma?

Riddler: You aren’t so tough. I can take you. Probably.

Two-Face: (Laughs) A skinny little nerd like you? In your dreams, loser.

Riddler: I’m not a loser! Why, I’m Gotham’s greatest criminal mastermind and the smartest person in Gotham! You’re just a dumb thug!

Two-Face: I may be a thug, but I’m far from dumb. I was a lawyer before I turned to crime, remember? You have to be smart to get through law school!

Riddler: Whatever you say, Two-Face, whatever you say.

Two-Face: (Grabs Riddler by collar) Look here, punk. I’d feel bad fighting a weakling like you, so I’ll give you one last chance to leave. If you don’t, I’ll beat you to a pulp. Got it?

Riddler: But-but I can’t leave! I spent ten thousand dollars on this heist! If I don’t make a profit, I’m gonna be broke! Those riddle traps aren’t cheap, you know.

Two-Face: That’s your problem, Nygma, not mine. Now leave, or it won’t be just your bank account that’s broke.

(Enter Harley)

Harley: Hi, Two-Face! Hi, Eddie! What are you guys doing here?

Riddler: Hi, kid. I’m trying to rob this bank with the help of my riddle-based death traps of doom, but apparently Two-Face had a similar idea, and so we’re now having a difference of opinion regarding who should rob the bank.

Two-Face: (Shakes Riddler a bit) Yeah, and Nygma was just deciding to leave the bank robbing to a professional. What are you doing here, Harley?

Harley: Mister J sent me to rob the bank to fund our next comedy show.

Two-Face: Well, tell that green-haired freak that Two-Face beat you to it. This is my bank to rob, not his or anyone else’s. Isn’t that right, Nygma?

Riddler: Y-yes, sir. Just let me go and I’ll be out of your hair- (Aside) And out of money again! This stinks! How am I supposed to get respect when this keeps happening?

(Two-Face releases Riddler; Riddler rubs his neck)

Harley: Uh, I don’t think Mister J will like the idea of you taking his money, Two-Face.

Two-Face: Well, that’s too bad, because I’m taking it anyway.

Harley: Couldn’t the three of us just split the money, Two-Face? That way, we can all get what we want, and we don’t have to fight over it.

Riddler: Kid, we’re villains. We don’t share money with anyone, not even adorable little things like you. Sorry to disappoint.

Harley: But we’re friends, aren’t we?

Two-Face: No, we aren’t. At best, we’re acquaintances. Now you two had better get lost before I lose my temper. Like I said earlier, this is my heist, and I don’t share.

(Harley starts crying; Enter Scarecrow)

Scarecrow: Greetings, citizens of Gotham. You are about to participate in the largest experiment in mass hysteria ever recorded, courtesy of me, the Scarecrow! (Notices others) Wait- what are the three of you doing here? You’re not part of my experiment.

Two-Face: Go away, you sadistic creep. I don’t want anything to do with a sicko like you.

(Harley pulls out improbably long handkerchief to blow nose)

Scarecrow: Scared, Two-Face? You should be. And Riddler, how nice to see you.

Riddler: H-hello, Scarecrow. I-I was just leaving. See you around! (Tries to exit, only for Scarecrow to grab him and pull him back)

Scarecrow: Leaving so soon? Why, the experiment has only just begun!

Two-Face: (Mutters) Experiment, my foot. (To the others) I thought I told all three of you to leave! This is my bank robbery, not a fear experiment or a way to fund stupid jokes or a way to prove intellectual superiority! Now go before I get violent!

Scarecrow: Leave intimidation to me, Two-Face. You lack the proper finesse to be truly frightening to anyone-except for cowards like Riddler, of course.

Riddler: I-I’m not a coward! I’m a genius! (Aside) Why, oh, why did I have to pick the one bank in Gotham that three other supervillains wanted? It’s going to ruin me, and then I’ll never be able to prove that I’m better than Batman! It’s not fair! They cheated me! They cheated! (Pouts)

Harley: (Notices the Scarecrow, runs to him, hugs him) Hiya, Professor Crane! It’s nice to see you! How have you been?

Scarecrow: Good evening, child. I have been doing well, and I have conducted many fascinating experiments in fear. How have you been?

Harley: Great, Professor Crane!

Two-Face: (To Harley) You actually like this psycho?

Harley: Of course! He was my professor of psychology!

Scarecrow: And she was my favorite student. Her grasp of the physiological and psychological effects of fear, as well as the names and causes of many phobias, was astounding. (Pause) Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I have a fear experiment to conduct.

Two-Face: Oh, no, you don’t. No one’s committing a crime in that bank but me!

Harley: No, I’m robbing it for Mister J!

Scarecrow: Child, my experiments are much more important than petty thievery, and there are plenty of other banks for you to rob. Couldn’t you attack one of them instead?

Harley: Mister J specifically told me to attack this one, Professor Crane. Couldn’t you do your experiment somewhere else? Or just wait for me to rob the bank before you start your experiment? I really wanna impress Mister J, and he’ll kill me if I don’t do what he says.

Two-Face: Why do you stay with that clown? He’s such a creep!

(The three ad lib an argument)

Riddler: Fellow villains, I have a brilliant solution to our problem! (Pause) Hey, guys, I have an idea! (Pause) Is anybody listening to me? I said I have an idea. (Pause) BE QUIET SO I CAN TELL YOU ALL MY PLAN!

(Other villains stop arguing)

Scarecrow: So, you finally grew a spine. I’m impressed, Riddler. What’s your idea?

Riddler: We all want to attack the same bank, but none of us are willing to team up or take turns, right?

Harley/Scarecrow/Two-Face: Right.

Riddler: So why don’t we bet for it? I have a fine set of cards at home, after all. The winner of the game gets to rob the bank-or spread fear gas, as the case may be- and the other three have to help them. Does that sound like a brilliant plan or what?

Harley: I love games! I’m in!

Two-Face: Everybody has equal odds of winning. That sounds fair to me. But I’ll have to flip my coin to decide. (Flips coin) The coin says that it’s a good idea. Let’s play.

Scarecrow: I normally dislike games, but, as this one will allow me to spend time with Harley, study three severely disturbed individuals, and get assistants for my experiment, I will play your game as well, and study how much you suffer from Ludophobia- the fear of losing-by so doing.

Riddler: Terrific! Let’s go to my Riddle-Lair.

(Exit all)

Act II

(Enter Batman on the phone)

Batman: Hello? Hello, Commissioner Gordon. Is something wrong? (Pause) The Scarecrow’s escaped from Arkham, too? That makes four high-profile criminals on the loose. Do we have any leads as to where they might have gone? Mmm-hmm. Uh-huh. Make sure that Gotham’s citizens know not to attempt to engage them. The last time someone tried that, they ended up in the hospital. Thanks for telling me about his escape. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Well, I’ll start looking for him-and Arkham’s other three escapees-straightaway. Good-bye, Commissioner. (Puts phone away) Hello, audience. I am Batman, the guardian of Gotham City. I have been protecting the innocent citizens of Gotham City from its large collection of lunatics, mob bosses, corrupt politicians, psychopathic psychologists, and ordinary thieves and thugs, and I have also trained my ward, young Dick Grayson, to help me fight crime as Robin. However, he is in Washington, D.C. for a field trip, and so I am single-handedly striking fear into superstitious, cowardly criminals until he returns. However, I am currently facing a much more serious problem than usual: namely, the fact that Harley Quinn, Two-Face, the Riddler, and the Scarecrow have escaped from Arkham and are running amok. Each one is a dangerous criminal in their own right, and the idea of all four on the loose simultaneously would be enough to strike strong fear into the hearts of the good people of Gotham. Therefore, I must quickly defeat and recapture all four criminals before they can start committing crimes-or, worse yet, decide to team up. To the Batmobile, audience! (Batman pantomimes getting into car and then driving it) My sources tell me that the Riddler is hiding out in an abandoned publishing facility, while Harley Quinn is in an abandoned amusement park and the Scarecrow is in an abandoned haunted house. Two-Face is probably in one of his many apartments, but I’m not sure which one he’s in, so I should probably look for him first. Tell me if you see anything, audience. Thank you.

Act III

(Enter Riddler, Two-Face, Scarecrow, and Harley)

Harley: Nice place you got here, Eddie.

Riddler: I know, right? I took over this publishing facility after it was abandoned, added a few personal touches, and wallah! Instant masterpiece of home decorating!

Two-Face: If you like neon green question marks, maybe.

Riddler: Who doesn’t ?

Two-Face: 99.9% of people who aren’t you.

Harley: I like it. It’s so shiny and pretty!

Two-Face: That’s because, you, like Nygma, have the attention span, maturity level, and taste of a six-year-old.

Riddler: I do not have the brain of a six-year-old! Why, I’m the world’s greatest criminal mastermind! If I wasn’t a mature adult, I couldn’t be.

Two-Face: One, your claim to that title is very, very debatable. Two, even if you are a mastermind, your crimes are based on riddles, puzzles, and brainteasers. You’re an adult who uses children’s games for your crimes, and you throw hissy fits when you lose. Even I can’t deny that you’re a genius when it comes to tech and wordplay, but you have an extremely immature outlook on the majority of life.

Scarecrow: In other words, Riddler, you’re a technological and linguistic savant. Your skill in those areas far outstrips your capability in any other aspect of life, and in terms of social behavior you are extremely delayed to the point of it being clear that, emotionally and socially speaking, you’re still a small child. And Harleen has regressed to that point as well, in large part thanks to the Joker. Both of you are adults who act like children, and it’s why you’re insane.

Riddler: Whatever. You’re just jealous because neither of you has a brilliant mind like mine. (He grabs a box of cards and sits down at a table with them)

Scarecrow:  (To Two-Face) And, of course, his delusions of grandeur make his mental issues worse. (Both laugh and sit down)

Harley: Professor Crane! Two-Face! Stop being mean to Eddie! (Sits down)

Riddler: Yeah, stop being mean to Eddie-er, me!

Two-Face: (To Riddler) Aww, did we hurt your feelings? Scarecrow: (To Two-Face) Knock it off, Two-Face.

Two-Face: Why? It’s fun to watch Nygma freak out.

Scarecrow: I told you to knock it off! I don’t particularly care for Riddler, either, but we’re upsetting Harleen by making fun of him, and I hate it when she gets upset.

Two-Face: Who are you, and what have you done with Jonathan Crane?

Scarecrow: Harleen is my only friend, all right? I’m allowed to be nice to one person, aren’t I?

Two-Face: So, the big bad Scarecrow has a soft spot, huh? How cute.

Scarecrow: Mock me again and I’ll give you a faceful of fear gas.

Two-Face: Okay, okay, I’m sorry!

Scarecrow: That’s better. So, Riddler, what are we playing?

Riddler: I was thinking poker, but it’s really up to you three. I mean, I’ll win no matter what we play, so it doesn’t matter to me.

Two-Face: (Flips coin) The coin says we play blackjack.

Scarecrow: I was hoping to play rummy, myself, but as I am here to win, not to enjoy myself, I don’t particularly care what we play.

Harley: Um, the only card game I know how to play is Go Fish. Can we play that?

Riddler: You’ve never played a card game besides Go Fish? Really?

Harley: Really really, Eddie.

Riddler: Why?

Harley: All the other ones confuse me.

Riddler: I see. Since I don’t feel like teaching you to play poker, I guess we’re playing go fish.

Scarecrow: Very well. As I said, this  is merely an opportunity for me to study human behavior, nothing more. Go Fish is as good a game as any for that purpose.

Two-Face: No way are we playing Go Fish. That game is for little kids, not super criminals. Can you imagine how we’d look playing a game for little kids?

Riddler: Well, according to you, Harley and I act like children anyway, so why wouldn’t we play a kids’ game?

Two-Face: Okay, then, imagine how I’d look playing a kids’ game.

Harley: Aww, you’d be adorable , Two-Face!

Two-Face: Not the point I was trying to make. I wouldn’t look adorable, I’d look stupid, and nobody in the underground would ever take me seriously again. I am not playing Go Fish!

Scarecrow: All right, then you forfeit the game and have to help whichever one of us wins carry out our crime.

Two-Face: Fine! If that’s how you’re gonna play it, then I’ll ask my coin whether I should participate. (Flips coin; groans) Deal me in.

(Riddler deals and the four play Go Fish, ad libbing all the while)

Riddler: Yipee! I won! I won! I actually won! And you two thought I was a joke!

(Two-Face and Scarecrow grumble and glare as Riddler does an obnoxious happy dance)

Harley: Congrats, Eddie! Do you mind if I steal a little something for myself to keep Mister J happy while we’re helping you?

Riddler: Of course not. I may be a psychotic maniac, but even I don’t want to see you get hurt by that barbaric clown again. Speaking of which, you should really find a new boyfriend who treats you with the respect you deserve.

Harley: Whaddaya mean, Eddie? My puddin’ loves me!

Scarecrow: No, he doesn’t. If he did, he wouldn’t threaten to kill you for failing to fulfill his requests. I’ve told you this a thousand times before-he doesn’t love you, he’s using you.

Harley: Well, maybe Mister J is a little rough sometimes-

Riddler: A little rough? He pushed you out of a fourth-story window! What’s a lot rough for you, having him drop a nuclear bomb on you? Oh, wait-he was willing to do that, too!

Harley: But I l-l-love him!

(Harley starts crying again, Riddler pats her on the back awkwardly)

Two-Face: Does anyone else find it a little odd that three supervillains are lecturing someone about how they’re in an abusive relationship?

Scarecrow: Maybe a little. But then again, I used to be a psychologist. I know the signs of an abusive relationship when I see one.

Two-Face: You do? I thought you only cared about fear.

Scarecrow: I may be fascinated by the effects of fear on the human psyche, but that doesn’t mean that I have completely forgotten everything else I learned in order to become a psychologist. And besides, that poor child’s fear of disappointing the Joker, while invigorating for me in the abstract, is also what keeps her from leaving him. Fear plays a large role in such abusive relationships, and as such, I know a lot about it. (Pause) Poor child. Poor, poor child.

Two-Face: Why does her relationship with the Joker bother you ? You’re the psycho who deliberately makes people see their worst fears for your twisted “research”!

Scarecrow: That doesn’t mean I entirely lack standards, Two-Face. And, even if it did, that doesn’t mean that I want the only person in my entire life who ever wanted to be my friend to be constantly abused by the clown who claims to love her.

Two-Face: Okay, you have a point. (Examines his gun)

Harley: Why does everyone think that my puddin is abusing me? He doesn’t mean anything by what he does to me. (Blows nose)

Riddler: We think he’s abusing you because he is! He threw you out of a fourth-story window, drove you insane, got you involved in battles with a crime fighting ninja, throws you around, hits you, never listens to what you have to say, lies to you, makes fun of you, makes you do things against your will, and ignores you when you’re not convenient. What else would you call that?

Scarecrow: It’s simple psychology, really. He follows the standard pattern of abusers: he pretends he’s nice to win you to his side, then he makes you think that you can’t live without him, and once he’s convinced he can control you, he starts with the abuse.

Harley: But I love him!

Riddler: Is loving him worth him trying to kill you when he gets angry?

Harley: Yes.

(Riddler and Scarecrow groan)

Scarecrow: Child, if you stay with him, he will kill you. I am very similar to him, so I know that he is incapable of love. At best, you are a diversion to him. At worst, you are a punching bag. You need to break up with him and find someone else-preferably someone else who is less prone to creating gigantic explosions.

Riddler: My vote would be that you turn “puddin” into pudding, but that’s neither here nor there. Either way, you should ditch that creep and move on with your life.

Harley: But where would I go?

Riddler: Poison Ivy likes you. Maybe you could go live with her.

Harley: Thanks for the suggestion. You guys are the best friends a psychotic nutcase could ask for. (Blows nose) From now on, I’m done with that homicidal, abusive clown.

Scarecrow: Wonderful! And if he tries to bother you, I’ll give him a nightmare that he’ll never wake up from.

(Harley hugs Riddler, who looks thrilled, then hugs Scarecrow)

Riddler: (Aside) I got hugged by a girl! Score!

Two-Face: Can we go rob the bank now, please? I’m as fond of weird counseling sessions as anyone else, but if we don’t get going soon, I’m going to forget our deal and rob the place by myself using my own plan.

Riddler: Okay, okay, we’re coming. Don’t have a cow.

Harley: You know, now that I’ve broken up with Mister J, I don’t really need to rob the bank, so I’m going to go find Ivy. Good-bye!

Riddler: Atta girl, kid! Bye!

Scarecrow: Farewell, child.

(Exit Harley)

Two-Face: You two really are crazy.

Riddler: And we wouldn’t have it any other way. Let’s go rob that bank!

Commercial Break!

Act IV

(Enter Batman)

Batman: I’ve checked the hideouts of Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and the Scarecrow, but they weren’t at any of them. That means that they must’ve teamed up with Riddler for some reason, and they must be hanging out here, at the abandoned publishing facility Riddler uses. I hope that, whatever nefarious crime they’re planning, they’re still here now, because if they aren’t, I’ll have to deal with panicked civilians.

(Enter Harley)

Harley: Hi, Batman! (Does double take) Batman?

Batman: Surrender  quietly and things will be much easier for you, Ms. Quinzel.

Harley: Great! I was just looking for you! (Hugs him) I’m breaking up with the Joker, so I need to go to Arkham to get away with him and meet up with Red.

Batman: (Confused) You’re surrendering?

Harley: Yeah! I’m breaking up with the Joker, so I need to go to Arkham so that he can’t get me, and this is the quickest way to do it.

Batman: All right. (Handcuffs her) Why the change of heart regarding the Joker?

Harley: Eddie and Professor Crane told me he was abusing me, and they made sense, so I decided to leave him and become my own person again.

Batman: I’m glad to hear that, Ms. Quinzel. I wish you the best of luck with your attempt to break the cycle of codependency and abuse.

(They pantomime getting into the Batmobile and driving to Arkham in it. Harley throws her hands in the air like she’s on a roller coaster)

Harley: WHEEE!

(Batman stops the car and lets her out. They ‘walk inside’ Arkham)

Batman: Good-bye, Ms. Quinzel.

Harley: Good-bye, Batman. (Hugs him) And next time, you can call me Harley. Everybody does.

Batman: Good-bye, Harley. (Aside) Now I just have to hope that the other three have kept out of trouble.

Act V

(Enter Riddler, Scarecrow, and Two-Face)

Two-Face: If this plan fails, I’ll make you eat your hat.

Riddler: Fail? I’m a genius! So long as Batman doesn’t show up, my plan can’t possibly fail!

(Enter Batman)

Batman: Hello, gentlemen.

Scarecrow: (To Riddler) Congratulations, Riddler. You jinxed your own plan. How predictable.

Batman: I assume that asking the three of you to come in quietly would be too much to ask.

Riddler: How did you solve my riddles, Batman?

Batman: I didn’t have to. The three of you left a trail so obvious that anyone could have followed you here.

Riddler: You didn’t solve the riddles I sent you? Then I won! I won! I actually won!

Batman: Sure. Whatever makes you happy. (Aside) It’s like fighting a six-year-old.

Riddler: And now, I’ll kill you with a riddle-based death trap of-

(Batman knocks him out)

Batman: There’s your prize, Nygma.

Scarecrow: Did you see Harleen, by any chance?

Batman: Yes, I did. I took her to the asylum myself, in fact. Why?

Scarecrow: I was hoping that she would find a way to keep herself safe from that lunatic. Good for her! (Pause; Brandishes fear canister) It’s time for you to face your fears, Batman!

Batman: No, it’s time for you to face the law. (Knocks fear canister out of his hands) Why did you willingly help Harley, Crane?

Scarecrow: That’s personal information, Batman. (Tries to grab fear canister, is knocked out by Batman)

Two-Face: (Makes a run for the bank) Looks like I get the money after all! (Is knocked out by Batman)

Batman: Good night, Dent. (Pulls out phone) Hello? Commissioner Gordon? It’s Batman. I have three criminals for you to arrest. They’re right outside the Second National Bank. Thank you. (Puts phone away) I can’t believe that the Scarecrow and the Riddler care enough about Harley to try to get her away from the Joker, but it’s beneficial anyway, as it means that I might not have to deal with Harley Quinn any more. Who would have expected that?

[stvlti]

Batfam Death Note fusion prompts

I've been thinking about DN vs DCU a bit more so like. Here are your what-if scenarios that nobody asked for:

What if: Jason Todd is one of the few humans the Death Note can't kill because he's already died before (I know I know he's not the only Batfam member who's died at some point but also he's the only one whose death wasn't just retconned away like he never died, or that he was only dead briefly, no this boy full on died and got buried and was only Superboy Prime-punched back to life after a few months of sleeping with the worms. Also, Pit magic. Let's pretend the Pit cancels out shinigami powers, or something.)

What if: the DN ensemble cast exists in the same universe as Batfam, and they decided to fully step in after L dies. (Okay realistically I know this would be a crisis of global catastrophic proportions and the JLA would probably have already stepped in as soon as criminals in American prisons started dropping like flies. But let's just pretend they never actively engaged because Batman kept a channel open on NPA / Interpol / FBI / all major investigative agencies across the world and knows about the risks of investigating Kira head-on; see: the 12 dead FBI agents.)

Except the Bats really can't do much beyond investigating from a distance, since Kira only needs a name and a face to kill, and most of the Batfam have well-documented civilian identities in public records. Hell, most of them are public figures, e.g. Barbara being the daughter of the GCPD Commissioner, or most of the Wayne kids being high society celebrities.

Enter Agent 37!Dick. There's something about Spyral's face tech to play around with, all Spyral agents are automatically immune to the shinigami eyes since their faces are all obscured, and also all their paper trails are destroyed, so no one outside the organisation can identify them, really. Dick is pretty much the Batfam's only member who can do any sort of field work for the Kira case.

Alternatively, Jason decides to join the investigation (without Bruce's permission - which I imagine would be another point of contention between the two because at the end of the day Bruce can't bear the thought of losing Jason again, but Jason would probably just see Bruce's obstruction as Bruce being an ass per usual). Jason probably counted on his helmet providing natural protection against Kira's powers (since it keeps his face covered when he's out on the field), and also on the fact that his identity registers as legally deceased and is therefore untraceable in all public records. But it's at this point that he learns he's also immune to Kira's powers.

Perhaps Jason tracks down all the surviving members of L's troupe and successors and has a nice talk with Beyond Birthday (let's pretend he doesn't die by Kira's hand in this AU). Jason learns about the shinigami eyes, and that he's an anomaly. Instead of showing a string of shifting numbers, his lifespan just shows a "0" with a strike through the static number. Beyond still dies though - Jason kills him after he's gotten all the info he needs. After all, killing a 13 year old girl automatically puts Beyond on Jason's shit list.

What if: One of the Batkids is born with the shinigami eyes, or somehow acquires that ability accidentally without having done the eye deal. How does being able to see lifespans and predict death dates affect their outlook?

Dick: this would be the reason he tries so hard to save everybody. He saw the numbers floating on his parents' heads and didn't connect the dots back then. But once he knows he's got this gift, and he's seen the way the numbers sometimes shift to a greater number, he will do anything he can in his power (as Nightwing and as a cop) to change fate and keep every person alive if only for one more day.

Jason: it really depends when he discovers / develops this ability. If he's had it from birth, I imagine Catherine's death would just make him see the ability as a curse. Life on the streets of Park Row is rough, death is commonplace and he sees no gain to being able to predict someone's death date if there's nothing he can do change it. He tried so hard to keep his mom alive too and that never made much of a difference on her lifespan. The shinigami eyes become a burden on Jason, especially with all the deaths he encounters on the field as Robin.

Or, alternatively, Jason coming back from the dead with this newly acquired ability. Does that make him sleep easier at night when he realises some of his victims were going to die anyway and so pushes him along the path to becoming Red Hood faster? At his most ruthless he might likely see this as a tactical advantage too, knowing which opponents he wouldn't need to plan to eliminate as they would soon die anyway. Or does it provide a deterrent, where he feels like he's not so much making the hard choices as he is just playing god, and that would be too much for him to bear? (though at his worst moments the Pit has him convinced he'd make a great Batman substitute that's willing to cross the line, when he's sane he doesn't want anything to do with being the next Batman, that's not the sort of legacy or role he wants. Playing god might just be too loaded of a task for him to want to undertake.)

Tim: Death and this boy are well acquainted, throughout his life he's lost and mourned for a lot of people. I imagine he probably figures it out not long after his parents are kidnapped and Jack is rescued by Bruce - because Jack and Janet used to have matching numbers above their heads, but Jack came back from Haiti with his numbers changed - and they keep fluctuating as he alternates between relapse and recovery. But Tim would probably live with this for the rest of his life much like Dick does, except with a lot less confidence in how much he alone can affect fate. After all, he is just one guy, just the third Robin, just another boy Bruce took in -- I definitely think Tim's insecurities and self-doubt about his worth would rear their heads as he tries to process his shinigami eyes ability. He might have a philosophy similar to that of Final Destination - especially after his dad dies - that some deaths are predestined and even if a person avoids it at the initial date where they were supposed to run out of lifespan, the consequences linger and they may not avoid it a second time.

This probably becomes one of Tim's most closely guarded secrets from a young age. Especially knowing Batman's stance on metas. But at the same time, this could be one of the real reasons Tim's so hell-bent on proving Bruce is alive and rescuing him after he gets lost in time. Tim's seen Bruce's lifespan. He was fated to live long into his old age, even up until his supposed death his numbers didn't dwindle dramatically, and the numbers have never lied to Tim.

(addendum: I'm aware Tim having the shinigami eyes would negate the detective work he had to do to figure out the identities of Batman and Robin I & II, because he'd only need to get a good look of the two Robin's faces to see their names. A domino mask I would assume works like a pair of sunglasses - that is, ineffective against the shinigami eyes. Of course, the eyes being a secret that Tim keeps even from Bruce would mean he'd still give him and Dick the same story about figuring Dick out by the quadruple somersaults, because he wouldn't tell them he figured them out via supernatural means, they'd react badly to that; but the cover story sort of just sticks from then on. I don't want Tim having the shinigami eyes to discredit his natural talents for detective work though, so since figuring out Batman's identity is out of the question a different formative incident is needed to highlight Tim's investigative abilities and explain why he's a good fit for the job.)

To be continued

[wrestlingisfake]

World Tag League & Best of the Super Jr. night 1 preview

To catch up on the messed up schedule caused by the pandemic, New Japan is doing the heavyweight tag team tourament and junior heavyweight singles tournament at the same time during one tour.  This first show features the first five block matches of each tournament.  Then for the rest of the tour they alternate between WTL and BOSJ until the December 6 show, which features the final block matches for both.

Each tournament is in round-robin format, with one block of ten teams/juniors.  Everybody wrestles everyone else in their block, scoring 2 points for each win and 1 point for each 30-minute time-limit draw.   The entrants with the two high scores advance to a final match on December 11.  The winner of the BOSJ final will presumably challenge the IWGP junior heavyweight champion at Wrestle Kingdom 15, and the WTL winners will also probably challenge the IWGP heavyweight tag team champions at the same event.

Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi - Ishimori is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, but titles are not at stake in this tournament.  He won the title from Takahashi back on August 29, so this is Hiromu’s first chance at some payback.  Whoever can pin or submit Ishimori during this tournament is likely to be a future title contender, regardless of who wins BOSJ.

Because of scheduling issues and travel restrictions, this year’s Best of the Super Jr. field is considerably smaller and weaker than last year’s.  So under the circumstances, I’d say Hiromu is the clear favorite to go all the way.  On paper I’d say Ishimori is another top pick, but realistically the defending champion rarely (if ever) wins these tournaments.  This particular match could go either way, but I expect both of these guys to take several key losses, to sell the idea that they’re vulnerable and some of the others have a real chance to pull an upset.

David Finlay & Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa - Fin-Juice won last year’s World Tag League, and went on to capture the tag title from the Guerillas of Destiny (Tama and Tanga) at Wrestle Kingdom 14, but GOD cut their reign short on February 1.  All four of these guys were sidelined by the pandemic.  Juice returned to Japan for the G1 Climax, while the other three worked in the LA Dojo tapings.   This is the first time all four of them have been in the same match since the shutdown, so it’s time for some payback.

As former 6-time IWGP heavyweight tag champions, GOD are the logical favorites to go all the way, even though they’ve never finished better than second place in World Tag League.  I get the feeling that 2021 isn’t going to be Fin-Juice’s year--New Japan never seems sure if they want to push the team or Juice as a solo act.  But they’re always sure they want GOD in (or neat) the WTL finals, so I think Tama and Tanga are going to make a dominating statement here.

El Desperado vs. Ryusuke Taguchi - I don’t see either of these guys winning BOSJ, but Taguchi generally turns it up a notch for the tournament, and Despy’s been getting a bit of a push this year. 

Since Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru are the IWGP junior tag team champions, and there are no clear challengers for January, one of the stories in BOSJ is going to be which guys can score victories over Despy and plausibly find a partner.  Taguchi may have the edge on that last part, since he’s had a history of grabbing guys from out of nowhere to form formidable teams.  But I think New Japan will be more interested in letting Despy shine on the first night.

Shingo Takagi & SANADA vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi - Shingo recently regained the NEVER openweight title and has no clear contenders.  As the only singles champion in WTL this year, it’s a good bet somebody is going to pin him to lay claim to a title match against him at Wrestle Kingdom.  I don’t expect that somebody to be Evil or Yujiro, though.

It’s conceivable Shingo and Sanada could go all the way and earn a tag title shot on January 4 while Shingo defends the NEVER title on January 5.  That’s just about the only way I see Sanada getting a championship match in the Tokyo Dome, but I’m not feeling confident about it.  I still think Evil’s destiny lies with Jay White in January.  As for Yuj, I think he’s going to do a lot of jobs on this tour, preventing his team from having any shot of winning.  Accordingly, I’m picking Takagi and Sanada to win this match.

SHO vs. BUSHI - The big question for Sho is whether he’ll go back to the junior tag division once YOH is medically cleared, or keep chasing the NEVER openweight title, or make a big run for the junior singles title.  His performance in this tournament might be a clue about that.  Unless they’ve got big plans for Sho & Yoh in a junior tag title match in January, I’d say Sho is in the conversation to win BOSJ.  Of course, if he’s going to do well, that could mean he’s booked for an early slump so he can rally back towards the end.  So I’m picking Sho, but I can’t count out Bushi.

Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI - Dangerous Tekkers (Sabre & Taichi) are the IWGP heavyweight tag team champs, and will almost certainly defend the title against the winners of World Tag League.  (If they win the tournament, they can name their own challengers, but they’d probably just try to name no one and skip Wrestle Kingdom, so I don’t think that’s going to happen.)  I’ve always loathed Taichi but I think I turned a corner on him in the G1 Climax, so my big experiment with this tour is to try to enjoy a bunch of Taichi matches.  Fucken 2020, man.  New Japan has been trying to make Goto and Yoshi seem a little more legit lately, but not nearly as much as they’ve been pushing the Tekkers, so I think it’s clear that Sabre and Taichi are going to win this one.

Robbie Eagles vs. DOUKI - This is Robbie’s first tour since the pandemic shutdown, so it’s time for him to remind us that he’s a key component of this division.  For too long now it’s felt like there haven’t been enough top contenders for the junior titles.  The solution is to push more guys, and Robbie’s right here.  If he doesn’t finish better than 5-4 I don’t know what the hell they’re thinking.

Douki joined the New Japan roster by entering last year’s BOSJ, as a late substitution for El Desperado.  He finished with an atrocious 1-8 record, but I kind of expected that kind of booking for an outsider in that position.  A year and a half later, it’s time to show he can do better than that.  I don’t expect much from him, but he’s got nowhere to go but up.  I’m pretty sure he’s not beating Robbie, though.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Great-O-Khan & X - Henare is back for the first time since the shutdown, reforming the “HenarACE” team from last year’s WTL.  I was expecting O-Khan to team with Will Ospreay, since they’re the only two guys in their new stable, but it looks like they’re unveiling a third member here as a mystery partner.  I’ve already written at length about how I suspect this will be Jeff Cobb.

Henare really needs to start moving up in the world, but with Tana on the way down I think this team is going to be lucky if they finish with 10 points.  They’re certainly not going to win this match, because the mystery man almost certainly needs to win the match where he’s revealed.  However, I’m not expecting that momentum to carry O-Khan’s team all the way to winning the whole tournament.

Master Wato vs. Yuya Uemura - This was originally supposed to be Wato against Yoshinobu Kanemaru, but Kanemaru had to be pulled due to an injury.  As a Young Lion, Uemura is the ultimate underdog, and it would be something of a miracle if he scores even one point in BOSJ.  However, Wato isn’t too far removed from being a Young Lion himself, so this may be Yuya’s best chance for a win.

Wato’s run with this current character has been a great disappointment so far.  I don’t know if he’s just not delivering, or if New Japan has slotted him as a prelim guy, or what.  I was expecting a hot new contender for the junior title, and considering how few contenders there are this year, the fact he couldn’t clear that bar is astonishing.  If they’re serious about him, he should finish at 10 points or better.  If they want us all to mentally give up on him like he’s Blue!AU Yoshi-Hashi, then he’ll lose a lot and just kinda look sad about it.

Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens - Coming into this tournament, Ishii and Yano may be the strongest contenders for the tag title, simply because Dangerous Tekkers already beat Goto and Yoshi-Hashi.  Fale and Owens, however, are making their big return to Japan for the first time since the shutdown.  Fale should be dominant throughout the tournament, but Chase may drag him down enough to keep them from finishing with a winning record.

There are a total of three Bullet Club teams in WTL--GOD, Evil/Yujiro, and Fale/Chase--so we should get three BC vs. BC matches where they argue about who’s supposed to lay down for each other.  That would all be normal, except for the recent tension between Jay White and Evil.  Where do the other members of Bullet Club really stand on that subject, especially since most of them were away when Evil practically took over the group?  We could start getting clues during this tour, but I’m not expecting any solid answers until late December.

[sooghostwriter]

Iliada

Pairings: Do Kyung Soo x OC

Genre: Mature,  Romance, AU, action, Bad guys and secret agents, smut baby!

Warnings: Kyung Soo is not a good guy, mention of violence, bad language.

Summary: After a long and hard assignment, Yoon Suji is sent to a new mission that involves less violence but needs a lot of acting. Do Kyung Soo has one of the biggest drugs rings in South Korea, but police haven’t been able to get him. They need proof that he is the one in charge and Suji is the one sent to get them.

She has the freedom to decide how is she going to get his trust.

Chapter 12

June 29th to June 31th

Baekhyun saw how the people started to get inside the courtroom. 99% of them were journalists.

Since the day Kyung Soo was put under custody, newspapers, magazines and TV stations have had a feast. Half of the news were  lies, but still, everyone was talking about it. Especially when every well-known customer that Kyung Soo had was visited by the police. Baekhyun saw all that with pleasure, Kyung Soo too. Although the busted buyers tried to make it look like a lie, Kyung Soo had saved every single transaction, he even had videos and tapes. They wouldn’t be able to run away from this one.

Once everybody was on their seats, Kyung Soo was brought inside the room, escorted by two police officers and with handcuffs on his wrists. He smiled at Baekhyun and sat next to him, nudging his friend's shoulder with his.  

The doors of the room were closed, Kyung Soo looked around, wishing to see someone. 

“She said it would be bad if she came here,” Said his friend. He nodded and focused his stare on the judge, who was organizing his papers, ready to start. The accusers stated their charges, it took them an hour and a half to finish showing all the evidence. Finally, the judge looked at Baekhyun. 

“Now the defense can state their records” Said the judge, taking off his glasses, picking up his pencil, ready to write. 

“Thanks your honor, from the defense side, we accept all counts and my client declares himself guilty of all charges…thank you” There was a long second of silence and then the entire room exploded in loud whispers.  The prosecutor, the judge, and the jury were in shock. Baekhyun and Kyung Soo kept still on their seats, he saw how his friend was fighting against the need to laugh, at least smile, so Baekhyun hit his leg under the table, telling him to contain himself. The prosecutor stared at both of them in obvious annoyance. 

“Silence, silence everyone. We will take a recess, and we will resume in one hour” Everyone stood from their chairs, except for Baekhyun and Kyung Soo. 

“So this is it?” Kyung Soo asked his friend. 

“Now they will deliberate your sentence, so we have to wait, let's get some coffee or water” Baekhyun helped his friend to get up from his chair and followed him and the two police officers to the waiting room.

Baekhyun was amazed by how Kyung Soo and the two police officers spoke in friendly terms. Kyung Soo didn’t ask anything, they had already talked about any possible scenario and he was ready for all of them. The hour passed quickly, but not quickly enough, at least for Baekhyun. Saying that his friend was guilty was the last thing he wanted to say, but it was the best option for Kyung Soo.

They were called back to the room, Baekhyun got up with Kyung Soo, patted his shoulder and walked next to him. The prosecutor was sitting on his chair already, and the judge arrived a minute later “The court was unable to access to all the data presented by the demandant, but considering the defense argument, the court finds no reason to postpone the trial. Now I will continue to deliver the sentence. Do Kyung Soo is found guilty and is sentenced to 20 years in prison for the charges of drug trafficking, illegal sale of narcotics and blackmailing” The judge kept talking, saying technicalities, but Baekhyun and Kyung Soo weren’t listening anymore.

Baekhyun looked at his friend and held his stare for a long while. They knew this would happen, but that didn’t make it easier.

Baekhyun couldn’t close his eyes that night. He bid goodbye to Kyung Soo at 9, then went home, drank a beer and then laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Kyung Soo’s situation was sealed. 20 years. With the right to be eligible for a sentence reduction, after 5 years of confinement. If he behaves well.

For now, his job was done.

Baekhyun woke up with the sound of his phone. It was his assistant telling him to check out the newspaper, they had new information about Kyung Soo. 

“New information? I know everything there is to know about the case”

“No Mister Byun, there’s new information about him, about his family. Frontpage of today’s newspaper, Do’s parents killed by a supreme court judge, and it’s a two pages spread on what the police did to hide it, how they passed over any intent of Kyung Soo’s family to clear the issue, and how they made out evidence so it looked like an accident, as fake records and fake autopsies” Baekhyun got up from bed and ran outside his house to pick up the newspaper from the mailbox. And there it was. With big bold letters and a picture of the judge that killed Kyung Soo’s parents, he could never forget that face. Baekhyun sat at the entrance of his house and began reading.

“Who did this?” Asked Kyung Soo with his eyes wide open, holding the newspaper close to his face. 

"The writer talks about a source from inside the police. You know who could have done it?"

"Well, I know people inside the police but right now they are in the same position I am and they didn't know about my parents...but wait, there’s someone who could have done this" Baekhyun looked at Kyung Soo reading his mind. He went out of the room and dialed her number. 

"Yeah, I did it with the help of a colleague" Baekhyun was speechless. 

"I refuse to let that issue go without showing the truth, we found all the evidence and we are showing it. Kyung Soo was a victim of abuse of power by the police, and maybe he took vengeance, but I didn't. Now, the memory of that judge is tainted by the truth"

"This is amazing" Suji muttered something similar to a thank you. 

"Baekhyun...how is Kyung Soo?" He smiled at the tone of her voice. Those two idiots, he thought. 

"Calm, in three days he will be transferred to the Somang Correctional center …but he is very happy with this, I can tell you that much, you cleaned the memory of his parents" Her serious tone was back. 

"I’m not going to say it’s the least I could do because it’s not, I can do more, but not yet" Baekhyun remained silent for a while, with a peaceful smile. 

"No one suspects you at work?"

"No, Kyung Soo is a closed case, no one cares anymore"

"That’s very nice of them, then when are you going to be able to see him?" He was left with the dial tone of the phone. She had hung up.

            Baekhyun had already finished signing some papers regarding Kyung Soo’s case, and he was mentally tired, so to relax his head, he turned on the kitchen television and prepared himself a cup of ramen. In the news, they were talking about Kyung Soo’s news.  

"In Do we can clearly see a victim of this country’s dark and rotten high powers, people who believe they are superior. And what he did was a response to them, saying, you screw me, I screw you, and that is what we need in society, a man who has no fear, who makes the high powers pay" Baekhyun turned off the TV with a big smile on his face. Since that newspaper saw the light, people started to see Kyung Soo as some kind of Robin Hood, a brave member of society taking what belongs to him. Baekhyun didn't tell his friend about this new Do Kyung Soo fever, because he could feel quite annoyed. But he enjoyed how people stopped judging him.

Maybe that was one of Suji’s goals too, to clean her boyfriend’s name as much as she could.

From July 1st to July 31st

July 1st

Minseok pulled Suji in a tight hug when he saw her walk outside Chanyeol’s office. She answered the hug and giggled against Minseok’s chest, feeling like a little girl. Minseok pulled her away, and looked at her as if checking if all her parts were intact. 

"Meanwhile I was in America I heard about Do’s case, congratulations" Suji hid the pain that went through her body. 

"Thanks, it took a while but is finally over"

"You look different” "

“I feel different, I feel like I softened a little bit. I was so full of rage and so angry towards everything. I was cold and overly analytic.  Now I feel...lighter" Minseok only smiled at her.  

"And that’s good?"

"Very good, you know how boss used to call it, superwoman complex, he always complained that I didn't take enough care of my life, that I was too open to be murdered? Well, now I’m not" Minseok walked next to her and grabbed her arm pulling her with him. 

"Come on, let’s go talk with Junmyeon, he has a new mission for us I think" Minseok was glad to hear her talk like that, and didn’t question why she had changed.

July 15th to July 16th

Baekhyun followed the indications that the GPS was giving him and with little problem he reached Suji’s house. He called her telling he was already there and he saw her walking outside her apartment on the second floor. He waved at her and climbed the stairs in a hurry. Suji held the door open and followed him inside her house. He looked around feeling a bit weird. The house was almost empty, the kitchen was clean, but it lacked some decoration and the living room had only a couch and a TV. Suji could read in his face what he was thinking. 

“I come here only to sleep, I don’t need anything else"

"It's alright, I was just...surprised" She invited him to sit at a small table in the kitchen and offered him something to drink. He waited for his coffee in silence. 

"Are you still mad at me Baekhyun?"

"Nah! I read the report you wrote. You went very easy on him and hard with the rest, thanks to that the sentence was less than I expected, I also heard that they asked you to testify against him"

"Yeah, the prosecutor asked me to. I told him to go fuck himself" He giggled, sipping from his mug. The prosecutor had told him that much.

Suji prepared herself a coffee too and once it was ready, she sat in front of Baekhyun, staring at him very seriously. 

"So, what do you want to talk about?" She leaned across the table and started talking in a low voice. 

"Next week I’m leaving for India on a new mission. I will be back in two months, in the meantime, I need you to take care of this" Suji passed him a key with a number engraved on it. 

"What is this?"

"Is the key to the deposit where I hid Kyung Soo's possessions. I couldn’t keep them with me here, it wasn’t safe. The journals, books and some belongings are there" Baekhyun nodded, grabbed the key and saved inside his wallet. 

"There's another thing I need you to do for me" Suji only continued once Baekhyun agreed to help her. 

"Inside the deposit there's a box that says books, Inside there's a new copy of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, I need you to give it to Kyung Soo"

"A book?" Suji gave him a single nod. Baekhyun was wondering if she would visit Kyung Soo before leaving, but that wasn’t on her plans apparently. 

"You are not going to visit him?"

“I can't do that yet, and don’t give me that look, I want to see him, I miss him so much, but I can't do that" He believed her, he couldn’t understand her, but he believed her.

                                       ≠

Kyung Soo walked to the room arranged for visits followed by two guards. They kept a light conversation with him, telling him different things they heard about him in the news. 

"Kyung Soo, the general opinion is that you are a victim"

"Really?" Both guards hummed their answers and opened the door for him.

His heart stopped for a second. For the last 2 weeks he was constantly visited by Baekhyun, and he knew that it would be the only visit he would get for a while.  But each time he left his cell, deep inside he wished that this time the person waiting for him at the visit room was Suji.

But it never was.

And today again, it wasn’t her, it was Baekhyun. 

“I met with your girlfriend" He said even before saying hi. Kyung Soo didn't know what to say, so Baekhyun told him what he wanted to hear. 

“I visited her at her house. She wanted to give me the key of the storage where she keeps your things because she is leaving to India for a mission for two months" Kyung Soo looked a bit taken aback. 

"She is leaving" He nodded and gave him some more time. Kyung Soo stared at his hands and tried to dissipate the worry. He knew this would happen, but that didn't stop him from being bothered. Suji had marks all over her body, which indicated that her job was far away from being safe.But now he could do nothing to stop her. 

"What did she say?"

"She sent you this" Baekhyun gave his friend a small copy of the Robert Louis Stevenson book. Kyung Soo didn't recognize it as his book, it was a new edition. He looked at the first page, hoping to find a short and stoic speech, but he found nothing. Not a single note. Swallowing the disappointment, he took the book and bid goodbye to his friend, ready to go to his room.

July 24th

The first three weeks at jail weren’t that bad. At least Kyung Soo thought so.

The days passed rather fast, and he always had something to do. Reading, helping at the jail library or talking with other conscripts. He never got bored, which helped him to not think about what was happening, and the best, it helped him to not think about Suji. Except at night, she will always pop in his mind at night and he will abuse his pillows until falling asleep.

After releasing a frustrating sight against his pillow, Kyung Soo looked around the room, searching for something, anything to do.  And resting on top of his desk was the book Suji sent him. It was a book he read long ago, but still, if it could help him to fall asleep it was good enough.

Kyung Soo read the first page with little interest. He was about to close the book, but that was always the first feeling that came to his mind when reading. So he didn't give up and turned the page. When he read the first line, he could feel how his heart stopped and his soul left his body and left him there frozen. It wasn’t Doctor Jekyll anymore, it was Suji.

    - Kyung Soo, I'm very sorry to interrupt your reading, and I'm glad you made it to the second page. I know you have been waiting for my visit. But it can't happen yet.

On the other hand, I know this is a bit over the top, hiding messages in books. But apparently, they are keeping a good eye on you. Someone is recording all your conversations with Baekhyun and uploading them to a secret server for the police. And also, there's a strict order that all your mail has to go through analysis. I don’t know why they are doing that. Probably ego. Chanyeol has infected every single recording, so don’t worry.  

About your parent's case. I started working on it when I read your journals. You state clearly that it was a murder, so I did some research. The post mortem exam is fake. They hired a fake forensic scientist and made him go testify at court. He stated that your parents were drunk and driving at high-speed. I found the real report in a mislabeled box at a police station in Seoul. I don’t know how it ended up there - 

Kyung Soo kept reading each line, taking his time, analyzing each word. Suji explained to him every single thing she did to find all the necessary proofs, he didn't want to miss a detail. 

 - What you read in the newspaper was all we could find. No one was sentenced since the main culprit is already dead, but some people involved are currently under investigation. The police got two very strong blows in a very short time, so they are doing their best.

I went to visit your parents grave some days ago, and it was full of incense, flowers, and cards wishing for the final rest of their souls. There was also a very pretty picture of you in a frame, which I find rather amusing -

Kyung Soo turned around the page and cleaned a couple of tears running down his cheekbones.

-I’m sorry if the publishing of that news annoyed you. But I saw it as the best way to do it. And at the same time, your sentence was decided. You can hate me all you want but I found it quite perfect. People didn't even have the time to judge you badly. They took sides with you.

Maybe you have more questions and I will answer them.

Baekhyun must have told you about me leaving for India. And I know you must be worried, but this time I’m not going to be on the field, my partner will be. I'm in charge of the tactical part of the mission. I’ll be inside a trunk looking at videos and stuff. So please, don’t worry. I decided that I’m not going to risk my life anymore.

Now I treasure it -

Kyung Soo turned the page, willing to read her next words, but there was nothing. Just the continuation of the original book. No more Suji.

He closed the book and held it against his chest. He didn't have the opportunity to think about what he had just read.

He fell asleep immediately.  

From September 24th and onwards

Suji’s skin was two tones darker and her hair had turned into a big dry ball that couldn’t even be controlled by a ponytail. The Indian weather did not agree with the proteins of her hair, and despite all the sunblock and fabric she used to cover herself, the sun burned like hell.

But the weather of Seoul received her with a nice rain that felt so unfamiliar but welcoming at the same time. After two days of resting, Chanyeol appeared at her house, bringing some news. 

"I was able to hack the WIFI network at the jail where Kyung Soo is, so I could read some emails. He is alright, apparently, the worry is over, so they aren’t recording his conversations with Baekhyun anymore. And they are just letting him live"

"That’s great news…you think I can go and say hi?"

"Yeah, I think you could, and if anything weird happens, I can erase it from the files"

"Perfect, now if you excuse me, I need to go and talk with the boss" She patted Chanyeol 's shoulder and pulled him outside the house with her.

Junmyeon was just getting ready to leave for a meeting when Suji appeared at his office. She asked for a couple of minutes and Junmyeon agreed. 

“Boss, I will like some long vacations" His nonchalant tone surprised her, she thought he would say no. 

"Ok, you deserve them. How much do you want? "

"10 months" Junmyeon wasn’t surprised by the request. It was a lot of time, but Suji never asked for vacations before and he was kind of relieved. 

"Ok, but in exchange, once you are back, I want you to help me train new people" Suji made a disgusted face, but agreed to do the favor.  

"It will be my honor sir" she said with a fake smile. Junmyeon gave her back the same smile and walked with her outside the office. 

“Talk with my secretary about the paperwork and then you can disappear” Suji bowed at Junmyeon and walked in the opposite direction. 

"Yoon!  let me ask you something" Suji stopped and turned around giving Junmyeon a questioning look. 

"Yoon, did you develop any kind of feeling towards Do Kyung Soo?" The question shocked her, but she controlled the expression of her face and the tone of her voice like a professional. 

"That’s a strange question, but not really boss. Although he was damn good at sex" Junmyeon looked around uncomfortable and walked away with a quick step.

                                          ≠

Suji looked at her reflection in the mirror and almost couldn’t recognize herself. She had a different glow. Also, she got inside the first hairdresser she could find and cut her long mane a couple of centimeters down the shoulders. She stepped on the dumbbell and realized that she had gained a couple of pounds. Several pounds. But her body didn’t show it.

Her first day of vacation consisted of shopping. New clothes, some makeup, shoes, food, and a new car. She will need it.  Before dinner, she got an awaited call. 

"Miss Yoon, I'm confirming the appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning. Please bring your blood test"

"Ok, thank you very much" She hung up the phone, ate her dinner and went to sleep.

In bed, she decided to not sleep resting on her tummy anymore, just in case.

                                                  ≠

Kyung Soo expected to find Baekhyun at the visiting room again. Long ago he had already made peace with the idea that Suji wasn’t going to visit him. But the guards gave away some information that he couldn’t understand, or didn't want to understand. 

"She said she is your childhood friend, she is very shy, kind of cute"

"Yeah, so cute that the boss allowed her to get in without previous notice" Kyung Soo only hummed. A bit absent from what was happening.

One of the guards opened the door while the other released him from the handcuffs. Kyung Soo looked up, massaging his wrists when he saw her back. It was a different haircut, but he could recognize that back and those legs everywhere. 

"Suji?" He said in a low whisper, scared that he could scare her away by shouting as if she was some kind of apparition. The figure in front of him turned around and flashed him a shy smile. She answered something, but Kyung Soo couldn’t hear her. His ears were buzzing and his hands itching to reach her. Suji took the first step, a bit shy, not sure of what to do, but Kyung Soo erased the doubt by meeting her halfway, grabbing her face in between his hands and kissing her, feeling like he was finally able to breathe again. It was there when Suji realized how much she had missed him. How much she was craving him and how much it hurt to be away. The strong and solid touch of Kyung Soo gave her a feeling of nostalgia that ran down her bones, hurting. He moved from her lips to the contours of her face, dropping lingering kisses, feeling her giggle against him. 

"Kyung Soo, you need to hold your horses" She said in between laughs, and he obeyed, for his own sake. He grabbed her face again and stared at her in astonishment. 

"You are as beautiful as I remember you, Kyung Soo"

"You are even more beautiful than I remember"

"Did you get my message?"

"I did, thank you" Suji only shook her head and pulled him with her, sitting at the table. 

"I'm sorry that it took me so long to come here, but you know my reasons"

"I do…Suji, What you did with my parents' case, I don’t think I can thank you enough"

"But you don’t have too, I did what I had to do" He didn’t know what to do or say. In the past, he had thought about what he wanted to say to Suji the day they could meet for the first time, but now he couldn’t remember. 

"How was India?"

"Hot, messy and amazing, How ... How have you been doing here?"

"It's not that bad. It's monotonous and cold, but I feel like time is passing quite fast, and that is a relieve"

"It surprised me that you declare yourself guilty, I thought you will give some trouble to the police"

"No, we talked about it with Baekhyun, in that way I could get fewer years than expected and fewer interrogations…oh!, I met Junmyeon "

"Yeah he told me, he said you gave him a bad feeling"

"He looked rather uncomfortable" Kyung Soo laughed under his breath and stared at her for a while. She knew what he was looking at, so to distract him, she kissed him again. Kyung Soo answered the kiss with a smile, he knew what she was doing, and it pleased him in a way. Suji was unbeatable. 

"You look different" He said, holding her chin moving her head from side to side, trying to grasp what was different in her. It was subtle, but he saw it. 

"Well, I'm tanner, I gain some weight too, so maybe my features are accented by that"

"Maybe, and your new haircut makes you look even prettier" Kyung Soo could have sworn that he saw her blush, and it was a first. He pulled her back into a hug, resting his cheek against hers, feeling the warmth of her sudden blushing.

Kyung Soo didn’t exchange too many words with her. They kept a light conversation, exchanging touches once in a while.

There weren’t too many things to say. And Kyung Soo was scared to ask anything related to them. 

“Kyung Soo, I have something to tell you…I’m going to be away for 10 months” His eyes grew wider in surprise and anger. 

“10 months?!, Why? Where?”

“I’m in charge of an investigation at Brazil, but as in India, I’m meant to be working behind a desk, no fieldwork, you know, no danger”

“Suji, why this sudden change? And such a long time?”

“Now I have you Kyung Soo, I can’t afford to get hurt knowing you are here worrying about me” He cursed and pulled her in for a kiss. A long, feverish, parting kiss.

January 15  -  5 months later.

Baekhyun stopped his car in the middle of the empty road, double-checking his map. After miles without seeing a house he got scared. But he was sure he was close.

He followed the line the map showed, and after 5, 6 and 7 miles, he found the house he was looking for.

His seeking had started a couple of months ago. For what he knew. Suji had left for South America for a mission, and she would be back in 10 months approximately. But he could swear that he saw her twice. Once going out of the storage where she hid all of Kyung Soo’s belongings and then going out of a clinic. He was a man who believed in his hunches, and this gave him a big one.

So he hired someone. Because in South Korea you could hire someone for everything. He hired a man whose only duty was to look at the storage place and follow whoever got inside.

Two weeks later, he got a map that showed where she was.

And he was finally there. A small blue house with tiny windows. The entrance was covered with daisies and threes protected the house from the sun. Baekhyun got out of his car and called inside the house, but got no answer. With careful steps, he walked across the garden until he reached the front door. He knocked, but no one answered again. He started to think that maybe the guy he hired was wrong. That he just lost a big amount of money for nothing.

Baekhyun walked around the house following the sound of water, apparently, someone was watering the flowers. Once he was sure that there was no dog that could eat him, he kept walking, with confident steps until he reached a figure. The figure’s hair was light and long, and her back looked broader, but it was her. No doubts.

Baekhyun called her name.

“Suji!”

The figure flinched but remained still.

He called her again and this time he got an answer “What are you doing here Baekhyun?"

“I could ask the same, I thought you were in Brazil" She kept still, giving him her back. 

"Suji, what is this? Why did you lie to Kyung Soo?" He quickly walked the few steps that kept him away from her. He didn't give her the opportunity to walk away. Baekhyun stopped just beside her. She looked at him with worry in her eyes. Scared and vulnerable.

She remained silent.

Something caught Baekhyun’s attention. He moved his eyes from her face down to her chest and then lower.

He said the first thing that came to his mind. Although they weren’t the nicest words. 

"Holly shit you are huge!".

November 21th  -   2 year later.

Chanyeol closed his computer, took off his glasses and scratched his eyes until he could see colorful lights playing behind his eyelids. He had finally finished the last part of the plan.

The private jet was booked, the two plane tickets to South Africa too, the three hotel reservations, all of them in different countries. He had already hacked the database of all the places that will be involved. He used the Hostile Takeover he had created a while ago. It took him some work, especially because he had to travel to all those places, but Suji paid for it, so he didn’t complain. Now he had to start with the second and third part of the plan. But for that, Suji had to make a drastic move.

So he would have to wait.

She walked outside the elevator with the letter in one hand and her credential in the other. This was the first time she was nervous before visiting her boss.

Maybe that would make him happy.

Junmyeon’s door was open and she could see him talking on the phone. She waited outside until he hung up the phone and invited her in. Suji sat in front of her boss with a thin smile on her face and knots in her stomach. Junmyeon stared at her with a questioning grin and let her talk first.

"Boss... I brought you... My resignation letter" Junmyeon’s face changed in a split of a second. His mouth was open but no words were said.  She could have laughed because of his expression, but since it was the last time, she acted with some respect, at least for once. 

"Boss, I have been thinking about this for a while, and I think is about time"

"Yoon, if you don’t want to be on the field anymore, I can get you a desk job, you could team up with Minseok in tactical, or training others, you did a great job the last time"

"No…I want to have a normal life, do something with the money I saved, or find a job in one of those gorgeous islands I have visited, I want to be away from any political issue, terrorism or national security... I feel like I already did everything I could, I should start doing something for me and the people I care" Junmyeon’s expression softened as he listened to her. Especially since it was the first time he heard her talking about someone beside her.

He cared about Suji and appreciated her work very much, but he could understand what she meant. And she was still a young woman, who got into the agency at a very young age. Junmyeon saw it coming. She went through a lot, and she needed to start over. He stretched his arm and Suji handed him her resignation letter. 

"You have to come here in one week and sign some papers"

"Yeah, promising that I will not say a thing about all this and what I have done" Junmyeon nodded and saved the letter inside one of the drawers of his desk and stared at her again. 

"You will be very missed here Suji, you were a brave and committed agent, and although you never followed my orders and you were very disrespectful to me, I’m grateful for your service"

"Thanks boss, it was an honor working with you, your ideals and cold mind were the things that kept me loyal to this service" Junmyeon bowed at her and gave her a warm smile. She left her credential on top of his desk, bowed at him and walked outside his office.

For the first time in her life, Suji had used her chameleonic abilities with her boss, now ex-boss. She made him believe all the things she had just said.

Junmyeon wasn’t too surprised. He sensed that something had changed with Suji. Since she came back from her vacations, she took fewer missions, and never worked on the field. She stopped working extra hours and whenever he and Minseok asked her out for some drinks, she refused. Minseok told him that maybe she had found someone. And Junmyeon suspected the same.

And that someone needed her presence, apparently.

                                                          ≠

Suji walked down the street feeling a bit different. She was a civilian now. She got into the first hair salon she found and asked for a makeover. Light brown hair, shorter and a perm. After a quick lunch, she got inside an outwear store and bought boots, raincoats, parkas and pants in different colors. For women, men and children.

The second stop was the storage place where she kept all of Kyung Soo’s belongings. She put all the boxes inside her car and paid the last month of rent.

Baekhyun was just returning to his office when he saw her come down from her car. He gave her an appreciative whistle when he saw her new look. 

“Running away from someone?”

“No, just starting a new life, I just resigned from my job” He was a bit surprised by the news. During all those years he had learned that Suji did things without telling others, so each time he met her, he was a bit scared of what she could tell him. 

“Why?”

“I’m leaving for Argentina next week and I will be away for some months” Baekhyun grabbed her arm and pulled her inside the building into the waiting room. 

“Argentina? So the date is close? What about Joon Hyung?”

“He is coming with me. I already bought the land, and the contractor with his people are almost done with the house”

“That fast?!” Suji nodded and handed him some papers. 

“I made some inquiries and here are all the things you have to do so I can take Taro and Sabotaro with me next time I come here”

“And when will that be?”

“In a month maybe…I still have to do some work related to the…plan” He grabbed the papers and saved them inside his briefcase. He stared at her for a long while wondering for the nth time if all this will work was the right thing to do, but then he remembered his friend, and how his glow had started fading for being inside that god damn jail “Ok, then, good luck Yoon Suji”

“I don’t need it”

                                      ≠

Kyung Soo was having a very bad week. Nothing happened, but he was feeling tired. The doctor said it could be the beginning of a depression, but he ignored him. Nothing had really changed, and he could say that he was already used to that place. But the exterior was calling him, and every day he started missing the things from outside. Smells, colors, places, his dogs, and of course the people around him. If it wasn’t for Baekhyun’s visits and Suji’s letters, he would have lost his mind a long time ago.

During those years, Suji had visited him 6, maybe 7 times. Each time she looked different, but only on the outside. And despite the fact that those were short visits, they helped him.

Suji had told him to wait for her.

And he was planning to do that.

June 29th   -  2 years later

Kyung Soo couldn’t sleep the night before. Baekhyun had told him that Suji was going to visit him that day, and she had good news.  The last time he saw her was 6 months ago. She had told him she would be on a mission, and Kyung Soo had stopped asking what kind of mission a long ago, so his nerves wouldn’t kill him.

After breakfast, Kyung Soo was called and taken to the visit room. This was the first time Suji had announced her visit, but it still made him nervous. One of the guards opened the door, and he saw her. She didn’t greet him, only smiled, and waited until the door was closed behind him to get up and hug him.  

“Long time no see” He whispered against her neck. 

“How have you been doing?”

”Good, you?”

“I just came back from Russia”

“Drugs?”

“No, human trafficking”

“Bastards” Suji moved away, so she could look at his face. She caressed his cheeks, the new wrinkles around his eyes and the line of his lips. They stayed in silence for a while, he only rested his hands on Suji’s hips and received the caresses. 

“You’re just back from Russia and the first thing you do is come here?”

“Yeah… 4 years and 6 months inside uh? You feel like you already paid for your sins”

“Maybe…why? You have a proposition?”

“Yeah… you have the right to appeal for a reduction of sentence”

“And it’s going to be a waste of time”

”Of course, there’s no way that they are releasing you before those 20 years pass, but there’s another option”

“And what’s that?” She moved away from Kyung Soo to fetch something from her bag. 

“I can’t tell you here, and it’s a bit complicated, so here” She passed him a new copy of Fahrenheit 451. 

“A gift, read it carefully”

“Thank you, this is why you have been so busy, too busy to visit your boyfriend in jail, you did this and keep working?” He asked moving the book in front of her face. 

“Kyung Soo, I quit my job some years ago”

“What? You did? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I quit so I could have everything ready, there were a lot of things to prepare for us” Suji didn’t tell him what exactly meant. 

“Now everything is ready, we just have to wait for the audience in two weeks”

“I feel like you are hiding something from me”

“I am, but you will know soon” He stared at her for a while with a grin. 

“Ok, I will wait then, so it’s happening?” Suji passed her arms around Kyung Soo, pulling him closer to her, whispering, very low against his lips. 

“It’s happening, I’m taking you with me, away from this damn place” Kyung Soo pulled her even closer, kissing her and melting with her body.

Kyung Soo went back to his room and started reading the book Suji gave him. From 5 pm to 7 am. Because he didn’t only read it, he memorized every single thing that will take place. Suji was very thorough with her plan. There were no loose knots, no place for mistakes.

And Kyung Soo couldn’t make any mistake and toss all her effort to the garbage.

July 12th  -  2 weeks later

Kyung Soo shaved his face and combed his hair in front of the small mirror of his room.  

At 9 am the guards opened the door of his cell. He stood up from his bed and left the room knowing that he wasn’t going to be back.

At 9:30, Kyung Soo was waiting for the police car that would take him to the courthouse for the audience. The two guards greeted the three police officers that came to take him. Two of them went out of the car, the third one stayed inside the car, behind the wheel. Kyung Soo bowed at them and got inside. He made eye contact with the driver and exchanged a silent salute. He was Accomplice N°1, as Suji named him.

The drive from the jail to the court was a long drive of 2 hours, with traffic, maybe three. Normally, a conscript like him will require more security. Cops in motorcycles flanking the car, a helicopter in the sky flying over the road, but no. Do Kyung Soo, a man with a 20 years sentence, was taken to the court by three police officers in a mundane police car. Suji had explained to him in the book the reason. That would call attention, and they were scared of the reaction of his followers. And also, it will involve the expense of money that the police didn’t have at that time.

The exchange was meant to take place after 25 minutes of driving. Kyung Soo looked at the radio clock and counted the minutes, impatient. 23 minutes passed, and he stared at the driver for the second time through the rearview mirror. The man didn’t look at him, but he could see how focused he was. 24 minutes and the scene was the same. Two police officers looking through the window, one driving and another police on the other side of the radio, asking for the state of the transfer every five minutes.  

Soon, 25 minutes had passed. The driver stopped at a red light and looked at Kyung Soo. 

“As indicated, put on this mask” The police told him, as he put on his own. The other two officers didn’t have time to react. Immediately smoke started to come from the air-conditioning system and filled the inside of the car. The two policemen fell unconscious and the driver took a sudden U-turn.

After 5 minutes of driving with the windows down, they stopped the car in front of a school full of kids that were currently leaving school with their parents. The driver took off his police jacket and got off the car, Kyung Soo did the same, with his hands hanging low so no one could see the handcuffs. The man stopped in front of him and took a set of keys from one of his pockets. 

“The other car is right in the corner. Another driver will be there and he will take you to the next stop” He said as he saved the handcuffs in his left pocket. Kyung Soo bowed at him and walked past the sea of kids who were talking in groups or running towards their mom’s cars. He turned to the right once he reached the corner of the street and found three cars parked, only one of them was occupied. Kyung Soo walked towards it, opened the back door and got inside. The driver didn’t talk or look at him. He initiated the car and drove towards downtown. 

“There is a bag next to you, turn on the phone, Miss Yoon will call you” Kyung Soo did as told and some seconds later the phone rang. 

“Kyung Soo? It’s me” The sound of her voice stirred him, a rush of adrenaline ran up and down his body. 

“How’s everything?”

“Great, we have one hour left, you will soon change cars again, and it will take you to the aerodrome. I will be waiting there” The call was abruptly cut but gave Kyung Soo some reassurance. He found a t-shirt, food, a second phone, and a wallet. He took off his shirt and threw it out the window. Then he turned on the second phone and made sure to leave his fingerprints on it and call some numbers already saved inside the phone. Lastly, he opened his new wallet and found his new identification, some bills, a picture of a dog and an old couple and some last week train tickets. 

“If things slow down and the alarm goes off, the police will be after you in a second, so if a police officer stops you, show him this” Suji had written in the book. Kyung Soo saved the wallet in his pocket, just when the car stopped again. He went out of it, already knowing what to do. The second stop was a residential building with an underground parking lot. He walked inside the reception and the doorman guided him to the stairs that lead him to the parking lot. Kyung Soo went down the stairs with a quick step, and just as Suji told him, at the lot A6 there was a white car waiting for him.

He got inside, this time sitting on the passenger’s seat. The man next to him was different from the previous drivers. This one actually talked to him. 

“Kyung Soo! It’s nice to meet you, I’m Chanyeol, and I will take you to your last destination. From where fancy families with their own planes leave this country by air” Kyung Soo recognized the name, he knew who he was, but he never imagined that Chanyeol would look, and act like that.

“You’re Park Chanyeol, the hacker”

“I am! And you’re Kyung Soo, the lover” He chuckled and shook the hand Chanyeol was offering him. 

“Thanks for all the work you did with my parent's case”

“Nah, no need, I’m glad I could help, and I’m glad I could help also with this, did you like your new identity? Suji’s new name is Hae Ryung, she hated it, but I think is cute” Kyung Soo thanked him, enjoying Chanyeol’s company. 

“Hae Ryung is a very cute name, thanks for my new identity, I like the name Lee Yool, it has a punch”

“I know right!” Kyung Soo kept smiling thanks to Chanyeol’s company, he felt bad that he couldn’t spend more time with him. He felt less nervous and scared by the whole situation thanks to his smile. They had already left the city, and the signs indicated that the aerodrome was closer. 

“The good thing about all this is that I get to burn this car, this is going to be fun, stressful, but fun” Kyung Soo laughed with Chanyeol, wishing to develop this friendship. Maybe he could visit them in the future, wherever Suji decided to live.

They stopped in front of a security cabin. Chanyeol went out of the car quickly, with an envelope in his hands.  Kyung Soo saw the short interaction between him and the guard inside the cabin. Chanyeol, who was easily 15 centimeters taller than the guard, patted his shoulder and then gave him the envelope. The man opened the envelope, smiled to himself, and nodded at Chanyeol. He nodded back and came back to the car. 

“Everything alright?” Asked Kyung Soo. 

“Perfect, now we have to be quick” Chanyeol pressed the accelerator and drove ahead. There were several planes. Mostly cargo planes, private jets, and twin-engine planes. 

“Ours is ready to leave, see the white one over there? It’s a business jet, I don’t know too much about planes, Suji does, she said is the best kind of transport, is fast, and flies higher than commercial planes, so the permissions are easier to get…also,  If the driver asks, you’re the son of the owner, and Suji is your wife”

“Got it, anything else?”

“No, she will explain you everything”

They parked the car under one of the wings of the plane, Kyung Soo checked his pockets, making sure he had everything he needed and got out of the car. Chanyeol followed him close, and got inside the plane with him. 

“Suji?!” Chanyeol screamed once they were inside, and she appeared from inside the pilot’s cabins. She ignored Chanyeol and ran towards Kyung Soo, pulling him in a hug. He was in such perplexity that it took him a while to answer. Everything happened too fast, and now he had Suji there, now he could feel her, smell her, hold her in complete freedom. 

“I get it has been a while and all that, but we are running out of time guys” Chanyeol felt sorry, but he had to take them back to reality. She kissed Kyung Soo on the cheek and walked past him, holding Chanyeol’s hands. 

“Chanyeol, you know what you have to do, we will take off in five minutes, as soon as we arrive in our last destiny, we will call you…and Chanyeol, thank you so much” She pulled her friend in a hug, and kept him there for a couple of seconds before dropping a kiss on his cheek and part. Kyung Soo followed her. They met for a short time, but Kyung Soo  was already grateful for Chanyeol’s existence. 

“Thanks Chanyeol, I hope we see you again”

“Of course! You have to tell me all about the you know what of the century” He whispered to him. Kyung Soo gave him a solemn reverence, promising him that he would tell him every detail. 

“Ok guys, I wish you the best luck, take care and I’ll do my part here” Chanyeol hugged her again, then Kyung Soo and went off the plane. The pilot passed by them, greeting Kyung Soo, and closed the door. 

“Please ma’am and sir, I have to ask you to sit down and put on your belts so we can leave on time” Kyung Soo pulled Suji with him and sat in the closest set of seats.

In Suji’s instructive, as he liked to call the book with all the indications she gave him, she explained only until the part where he got into the third car with Chanyeol. What will happen now was a mystery for him. So he asked for explanations immediately. 

“So? Now what?”

“Now we are flying to Russia, we will land in a small town close to the border between Russia and Finland. We will drive to Ivalo, a small city close to the border. There, we are going to take a train to Helsinki, a plane to Brazil is waiting for us there, then in Brazil, we will take a plane to Argentina, to finally drive again to our house” Kyung Soo felt tired already, so many kinds of transportations, and so many stops. He was grateful for Suji, but maybe she overdid it. 

“No, I want them to lost our trail” She answered him with a deep frown, a bit offended by Kyung Soo’s comment, she didn’t overdo it, it was a flawless plan. 

“It is a flawless plan, I’m sorry” He said, kissing her temple. 

“And all the fake evidence is brilliant”

“Thank you, I was inspired by your masterpiece, and that’s not all, thanks to Chanyeol’s magic, right now, Yoon Suji and Do Kyung Soo are getting in to a plane to South Africa, and another couple with the same name, in an hour, will be taking off in a plane to Canada”

“How?!”

“Chanyeol hacked the passenger list in those two flies, our names will appear, but not us” Kyung Soo was amazed, and Suji’s explanations had him so caught up that he didn’t realize when they took off, and now the pilot was telling them that in an hour they will be flying in Russian sky.

The excitement in his body was obvious. He wasn’t just running away, Suji had put up a Hollywood like stunt, and until now, it worked perfectly. 

“Suji, Where are we going? I mean, where is our final stop?”

“Argentina, the Patagonia, with the money you gave me, I bought a small land close to a river and I built a house, well, not me, but you get what I mean”

“The Patagonia, you read my mind”

“I did. Taro and Sabotaro are there already” Kyung Soo tear up at the mention of his dogs. 

“They like it?”

“They do, Taro spends half of the day following birds, and Sabotaro just looks at him, they love to swim in the river in the afternoon, when it’s a bit warmer”  Suji looked at Kyung Soo holding her hand and saw him smiling brightly. All the work was worth it, only for that smile. 

“I’m sure you are going to like the place, Joon Hyung loves it” Suji closed her eyes, waiting for the obvious question. Her stomach hurt, and she felt dizzy, she knew Kyung Soo will be happy with the news, but maybe not with the fact that she hid it from him. 

“Who’s Joon Hyung?” She took a deep breath and looked at the floor. 

“Joon Hyung is your son, he is 4 years now, and he is waiting for us at the house, don’t worry, I have two nannies taking care of him, and Baekhyun’s mom is there too and …” She couldn’t finish talking, Kyung Soo had pulled her in a thigh hug, crying so hard that it worried her. He muttered a Thank you in between sobbings, and the grip of his arms kept getting stronger and stronger. She knew he would be happy, but not that happy. Kyung Soo couldn’t believe his luck, and how happy he felt with the news. He secretly wanted kids, but he never told anybody, and of course, he never told Suji. He always thought he didn’t deserve a family, that it would be impossible for him. But life gave him a surprise. 

“How? When? That last night?”

“I guess so, we didn’t use protection that night, and the time fits” Kyung Soo moved her away from him, suddenly worried. 

“But you left for India during that time, didn't you know?”

“No, I felt like hell those months there, but I blamed it on the water, the food and the hellish summer, oh, and I didn’t get my period, when I came back I went to the doctor, and she confirmed it”

“Did you have any problem? Wait, then you left for Brazil right?”

“No, that was a lie, I stayed in Korea, waiting for Joon Hyung to arrive, I moved to my grandmother’s house in the countryside, no one except Chanyeol knew about my pregnancy, so I wanted to avoid any accidental meeting”

“Dear god Suji…I don’t know if I should be mad because you didn’t tell me, or proud of how well you managed alone” She pulled him closer by his shoulders, luring him with her eyes, and he let himself be pulled into her. 

“I’m sorry I didn't tell you, but I guess I was trying to cause you fewer worries” She kissed the corner of his lips, slowly, asking for forgiveness. Kyung Soo didn’t think twice and forgave her with a kiss. With all the excitement and stress of the runaway, they hadn’t kissed since they met outside jail. And once they realized it, they couldn’t let go of each other. His hands were acting way too daring, so she stopped him politely. 

“Kyung Soo, sorry, but no sex for now, maybe once we are in mainland” He cursed under his breath, but he understood that much, so he made himself comfortable in Suji’s embrace, ready to wait for their landing. 

“Suji, Does Joon Hyung know about me?”

“Of course, he talks about you as if you were there, he can’t wait to meet you”

“Thanks, tell me things about him” Suji kissed the top of his head and started telling him all about Joon Hyung, starting with the day he was born.

Epilogue

July 13th - One week later

Minseok knocked at Junmyeon’s half-open door and got inside without waiting for his response. Junmyeon was on the phone and gave him a signal to sit down. Minseok served himself a cup of coffee and waited for Junmyeon to be ready. His friend looked very angry talking on the phone and Minseok suspected who was on the other side “Our boss?” He asked once Junmyeon was done with the phone call “Yeah, the police will take care of Do’s get away, they want to show people they are doing their job, which clearly, is a lie”

“Are you mad? Did you want to take care of his search?”

“Not really, I just don’t like him…He took my best agent,” Minseok smiled at his statement. Some days ago Junmyeon had come up with that theory, and with the explanations he gave him, Minseok found it quite possible. 

“Well, Suji did a lot for us meanwhile she was here”

“I know, That’s the only reason why I haven't tell anyone that she is with him and that she probably helped him runaway”  

“Well, anyway we are not 100% sure that’s true” Junmyeon shrugged, Minseok was right, but his instinct told him that Kyung Soo and Suji were together on this. 

“I hope she is alright, but remember what I told you, she is trustful to herself, or someone very important to her” Minseok felt a bit sad with what he said. After all, he saw her as family, he had saved her ass several times, and Suji had saved his ass even more times.

But if Suji’s heart told her that she belonged to Kyung Soo’s side, Minseok had nothing to do against it.

Maybe if Suji had asked him for help, he would have helped her.

END

Note: Next way there will be an Epilogue (number 2) called ‘After winning the war’ . So I  will say goodbye to this story then. 

[hillbillyhippiemusicreview]

Post #46—Them Dirty Roses: Locked Down & Unplugged LIVE

“Cause I found the wind that blows, It’s blowin’ me back home 🎶”

Nashville-based southern rockers Them Dirty Roses recently let the wind blow them back to the Bama clay they were raised on for two consecutive nights of sold out shows at Sidetracks Music Hall in Huntsville, AL. General manager/talent buyer Shane Bickel was eager to re-open and provide both musicians and fans alike a safe, socially-distanced outlet for music, so Hillbilly Hippie Music Review made the trek there via Indiana and L.A. (that’s lower Alabama) to enjoy a couple nights of tunes post-lockdown.

Deemed “Locked Down & Unplugged LIVE,” the set of acoustic shows was the perfect, albeit different, way to kick off the return of live music—especially since HHMR’s last show before the nation-wide pandemic lockdown was in March with TDR at Sidetracks. Total full circle kind of moment, and one we wish we could have frozen in time. But, I’ve got to be frank—despite being a total glutton for acoustic music, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, being that everything had changed so quickly. Would people hesitate to interact? Would we dance and sing or sit there like statues? Would the energy in the room be relaxed or tightly-wound? At first, there was a bit of an unsure current in the air, but before long, everyone was loosened up and moving to the groove in their seats and all the ladies made their way to the stage to end each night with “Shake It,” a TDR ritual.

Before we dive into the specifics of the weekend, here’s a little background for readers unfamiliar with TDR: Brothers James Ford (vocals and guitar) and Frank Ford (drums) formed Them Dirty Roses with their friends Andrew Davis (guitar) and Ben Crain (bass) in Gadsden, AL circa 2012 prior to moving to Tennessee to travel the country playing their brand of rock and roll and finding success both stateside and across Europe. Their sound is a bit southern rock heavy laden with outlaw vibes, and a bit party band mixed with a penchant for slower, sentimental jams—in other words, it’s eclectic and every bit as unique as the four men who form the band. However you describe it, a TDR show is always a good time—and it only takes one to get hooked on the electric energy these guys bring to the stage. On June 5th and 6th in a little venue off by the railroad tracks in Rocket City, the vibe was killer and the feeling was out of this world. Not only were the fans ready to rock, but the band was ecstatic and thankful to be back in action.

HHMR contributor Linda Owen’s first-ever TDR show was March 13–the night the country shut down due to the pandemic. She has the unique perspective of experiencing the “typical” wide-open TDR show and the stripped, intimate version back to back. Here’s what she had to say:

“Three months without live music—I know I slowly watched myself go from the happiest most optimistic person I knew, to a complete mess. It may have seemed like I was okay, but I assure you I was not.

I’ve always known how much music has impacted my life. It has always brought me the greatest memories and blessed me with many friendships and there were so many times in my life where the only thing I had to hold on to was a song. Three months without my music family was torture. With that being said I'll never forget my first shows post-COVID-19. Ironically, the first post -COVID-19 show was at the same venue with the same band I saw pre-COVID-19, and it was perfect.

Let me set the scene. Sidetracks Music Hall is the kind of local music hall we all want in our hometowns: you feel at home as soon as you walk in, you are treated like family, and it has by far the friendliest staff and patrons of any place I've been to date. The venue possesses a large open floor plan with the bar area in the back, so there is not a bad spot to see the show. For this show in particular, tables are spread about what is normally the "pit" area. To be honest, I was a little nervous that this social distancing acoustic show wouldn’t quite fill that void that COVID-19 has left me feeling...I was so wrong. After getting settled in with a drink, my sidekick Lyssa and I did some mingling getting to talk to new-to-me friends that I'd made three months previously at the last show I had attended. The excitement in the room was palatable—and it only got better from there.

TDR hit the stage and you could feel the spirits of every single person in the room glowing around you. All the doubts that an acoustic show wasn't going to feel right with social distancing rules melted away! We danced and sang along like those tables weren't in the way the first night. "Whiskey in My Cup" "Grew Up In The Country" and "Molly" had us all on our feet grooving. We were treated to covers by The Black Crowes, Jason Isbell, and The Allman Brothers, in addition to fan favorites and new songs from their upcoming album expected to release in September—and we are stoked for it.

My heart and soul were happier those two nights than they'd been for the past three months. I sang my way back to Indiana..caught myself sing at work on Monday too!”

The magic wasn’t solely felt by the HHMR team—the air was saturated with it and everyone in the room had a taste that left them yearning for more. Below are a few comments from TDR fans:

“The first show post lock-down came with more enjoyment than just the music. We were super excited for the chance to get back out and hear live music! Them Dirty Roses were the last band we got to see prior to the lock-down. Now, it turns out that Them Dirty Roses would be the first post lock-down. The music was great! What we didn't anticipate was the joy it also brought by seeing so many friends with smiling faces! It was amazing to be seen again and to hear two nights of wonderful tunes!”

—Bud Gambrell

“Went to the Friday show and it was a group of guys that were ready for a show. They were the last band we saw before the Coronavirus shut things down in Huntsville. Looking forward to seeing them again.”

—Kevin Boyd

“The first show post quarantine was like something wonderful that I had been deprived of for a long time. I think sometimes we don't see how many things that surround us in life we take for granted. I see at least two live music shows a month. During the summer, I probably go to 2-3 shows a week. Honestly, it seemed like such a wonderful release and something that people needed. Everybody has something that feeds their spirit—mine is music. Being deprived of other people and the things we love are just some of the things that add to that depression that comes with the whole quarantine/covid situation. So, being around friends and music felt really great and normal. It seemed like life may be getting back to normal finally. I smiled all night!”

—Jerolyn Davis

“Needless to say, Them Dirty Roses put on one hell of a show two nights in a row, which was just what I needed after the almost three month drought of no live music! The fact that they were the last live show for me before everything shut down is kinda ironic and cool at the same time. I'm also very thankful to Sidetracks for putting on the shows, they rock!”

—Robin Huff

Guitarist Andrew Davis was on the same wavelength as many in attendance. When asked his thoughts on performing again post-pandemic, he said: “In March, the future of the entire industry was uncertain. We all knew that April was going to be postponed, but we couldn't even imagine postponing or cancelling the entire festival season. Then, weeks later, exactly that happened. With all of the uncertainty surrounding the future of our industry, it was very reassuring to get back out and play again. It definitely answered a lot of lingering questions about whether or not people would rush back to live venues.”

After last weekend, it seems life will slowly, but surely, get back on track and all will be right in our world again. Until that day comes, be sure to support live music and independent venues—such as Sidetracks who has hosted many fabulous performers like Anderson East, The Steel Woods, Black Stone Cherry, Adam Hood, Kingfish, Ritch Henderson, Muscadine Bloodline, Whitey Morgan and the 78s, and many, many more in addition to TDR—in whatever manner you can so that we have them to return to when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted nation-wide. And don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for that new Them Dirty Roses record to release this fall—it’s without a doubt some of their best work. In the meantime, keep up with the band and their tour schedule at www.themdirtyroses.com and @themdirtyroses on both Facebook and Instagram.

As always, stay safe, spread love, and be kind to one another. See y’all down the road!

✌🏻💙🎶—Lyssa

*This is an independent review. The Hillbilly Hippie Music Review was not compensated for this review.

*The opinions expressed are solely that of the author(s).

*Fan quotes have been edited for conciseness and clarity.

*These images are not ours, not do we claim them in any way. They are copyrighted by Todd Dean with Butterdean Photography, Linda Owens, & Lyssa Culbertson.

[thisiskatsblog]

Soup, Sex and Sun Salutations

Fixed it!

[Note: all it took was some copypasting - just the italics are mine]

“We had the chance to sit down over some miso soup with Harry Styles. We didn’t talk about his new album at all but were charmed by the way he challenges gender norms and by what he had to say about sexuality, his female fans, feminism, while male privilege, toxic masculinity, his publicity relationship stunts, and how meditation and yoga have helped him deal with it all. ”

Challenging gender norms

He’s got a white floppy hat that Diana Ross might have won from Elton in a poker game at Cher’s mansion circa 1974.

His nail polish is pink and mint green.

He’s also carrying his purse — no other word for it.

He hosted the Met Gala with Lady Gaga, Serena Williams, Alessandro Michele, and Anna Wintour serving an eyebrow-raising black lace red-carpet look.

He is the official face of a designer genderless fragrance, Gucci’s Mémoire d’une Odeur.

Harry said in his speech (note: for Stevie Nicks). “She knows what you need: advice, a little wisdom, a blouse, a shawl.” He added, “She’s responsible for more running mascara — including my own — than all the bad dates in history.”

Refusing to put a label on his sexuality

Harry likes to cultivate an aura of sexual ambiguity, as overt as the pink polish on his nails. 

He’s asking questions about culture, gender, identity, new ideas about masculinity and sexuality.

He’s dated women throughout his life as a public figure, yet he has consistently refused to put any kind of label on his sexuality

On his first solo tour, he frequently waved the pride, bi, and trans flags, along with the Black Lives Matter flag. In Philly, he waved a rainbow flag he borrowed from a fan up front: “Make America Gay Again.” One of the live fan favorites: “Medicine,” a guitar jam that sounds a bit like the Grateful Dead circa Europe ’72, but with a flamboyantly pansexual hook: “The boys and girls are in/I mess around with them/And I’m OK with it.

He’s always had a flair for flourishes like this, since the 1D days. An iconic clip from November 2014: Harry and Liam are on a U.K. chat show. The host asks the oldest boy-band fan-bait question in the book: What do they look for in a date? “Female,” Liam quips. “That’s a good trait.” Harry shrugs. “Not that important.” Liam is taken aback. The host is in shock. On tour in the U.S. that year, he wore a Michael Sam football jersey, in support of the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team. He’s blown up previously unknown queer artists like King Princess and Muna

His worst fears

“While I was in the band,” he says, I felt so much weight in terms of not getting things wrong. I remember when I signed my record deal and I asked my manager, ‘What happens if I get arrested? Does it mean the contract is null and void?’ ”

About Rainbow Direction 

“Now, I feel like the fans have given me an environment to be myself and grow up and create this safe space to learn and make mistakes”

“It’s a room full of accepting people.… If you’re someone who feels like an outsider, you’re not always in a big crowd like that,” he says. 

At one of his earliest solo shows, in Stockholm, he announced, “If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender — whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you. I love every single one of you.

What do those flags onstage mean to him? “I want to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be,” he says. “Maybe at a show you can have a moment of knowing that you’re not alone.”

“To me, the greatest thing about the tour was that the room became the show,” he says. “It’s not just me.” 

About vulnerability, toxic masculinity, and meditation

“I’m discovering how much better it makes me feel to be open with friends. Feeling that vulnerability, rather than holding everything in”

“I feel pretty lucky to have a group of friends who are guys who would talk about their emotions and be really open,” he says. “My friend’s dad said to me, ‘You guys are so much better at it than we are. I never had friends I could really talk to. It’s good that you guys have each other because you talk about real shit. We just didn’t.’”

“I was such a skeptic going in,” he says. “But I think meditation has helped with worrying about the future less, and the past less. I feel like I take a lot more in—things that used to pass by me because I was always rushing around. It’s part of being more open and talking with friends. It’s not always the easiest to go in a room and say, ‘I made a mistake and it made me feel like this, and then I cried a bunch.’ But that moment where you really let yourself be in that zone of being vulnerable, you reach this feeling of openness. That’s when you feel like, ‘Oh, I’m fucking living, man.’”

Doesn’t this ambiguous sexuality clash with his public image?

He’s dated [a string of high-profile] women throughout his life as a public figure, yet he has consistently refused to put any kind of label on his sexuality - [and] he never gets caught uttering any of their names in public.

We’re off to the pub,” he tells his mom. “We’re going to talk some shop.” She smiles sweetly. “Talk some shit, probably,” says Anne.

“It’s not like I’ve ever sat and done an interview and said, ‘So I was in a relationship, and this is what happened,’” he says. “Because, for me, music is where I let that cross over. It’s the only place, strangely, where it feels right to let that cross over.”

So how does he feel about the industry?

“Only a city as narcissistic as L.A. would have a street called Los Angeles Street,” he says.

About his female fans, and about feminism

He’s always had a fervent female fandom, and, admirably, he’s never felt a need to pretend he doesn’t love it that way. “They’re the most honest — especially if you’re talking about teenage girls, but older as well,” he says. “They have that bullshit detector. You want honest people as your audience. We’re so past that dumb outdated narrative of ‘Oh, these people are girls, so they don’t know what they’re talking about.’ They’re the ones who know what they’re talking about. They’re the people who listen obsessively. They fucking own this shit. They’re running it.”

“To me, the greatest thing about the tour was that the room became the show,” he says. “It’s not just me.” He sips his tea. “I’m just a boy, standing in front of a room, asking them to bear with him.”

He doesn’t have the uptightness some people have about sexual politics, or about identifying as a feminist. “I think ultimately feminism is thinking that men and women should be equal, right? People think that if you say ‘I’m a feminist,’ it means you think men should burn in hell and women should trample on their necks. No, you think women should be equal. That doesn’t feel like a crazy thing to me. I grew up with my mum and my sister — when you grow up around women, your female influence is just bigger. Of course men and women should be equal. I don’t want a lot of credit for being a feminist. It’s pretty simple. I think the ideals of feminism are pretty straightforward.”

About white male privilege

“It’s not about, ‘Oh, I get what it’s like,’ because I don’t. For example, I go walking at night before bed most of the time. I was talking about that with a female friend and she said, ‘Do you feel safe doing that?’ And I do. But when I walk, I’m more aware that I feel OK to walk at night, and some of my friends wouldn’t. I’m not saying I know what it feels like to go through that. It’s just being aware.”   

I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows. I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.”

On tour, he had an End Gun Violence sticker on his guitar; he added a Black Lives Matter sticker, as well as the flag. “It’s not about me trying to champion the cause, because I’m not the person to do that,” he says. “It’s just about not ignoring it, I guess. I was a little nervous to do that because the last thing I wanted was for it to feel like I was saying, ‘Look at me! I’m the good guy!’ I didn’t want anyone who was really involved in the movement to think, ‘What the fuck do you know?’ But then when I did it, I realized people got it. Everyone in that room is on the same page and everyone knows what I stand for. I’m not saying I understand how it feels. I’m just trying to say, ‘I see you.’”

Heartbreak and loss

As Stevie starts to sing “Landslide” — “I’ve been afraid of changing, because I built my life around youuuu” — Anne walks over to where Harry sits. She crouches down behind him, reaches her arms around him tightly. Neither of them says a word. They listen together and hold each other close to the very end of the song. Everybody in Wembley is singing along with Stevie, but these two are in a world of their own.

[Note: I doubted a bit whether to include that last part, but then I did, because this HS2 is apparently an album about sadness, and the description of that moment reminded me painfully of the real heartbreak and sadness Harry and Anne have had to deal with in recent years. So here’s a little shoutout to Anne who lost Robin, so recently still. Wishing her all the courage to continue building her life without him at the center of it. We love you.]

[tessatechaitea]

Teen Titans Spotlight #14: Nightwing

So that's why I finally dropped this series: they dropped the "on:".

You might have forgotten that the biggest gang in Gotham in 1987 were the Jewish Surrealists.

I don't even care how many people don't know what the fuck I'm on about. Did you know this world is on fire? Batman is busting a cocaine shipment into Gotham in the prologue of this comic book. According to the cover, he's about to be crucified. I guess the Jewish Surrealists are still micro-managed by Caesar's Hand. Speaking of unbelievable things in comics (this segue works because I believe I was speaking about it fifteen hundred commentaries ago when Nightwing drove a motorcycle up the wall of a building), how does Batman always wind up unconscious and in some form of complicated trap and yet, in all the time it takes to put him there, nobody ever takes the mask off. Not one henchman is curious? Not one henchman binding Batman to the cross ever thinks, "If I knew Batman's identity, I could quit this henchman gig, sell the information, and retire"? I don't believe it. My theory is that thousands of henchmen have tried this plan but Alfred intercepted all of the blackmail notices, hired Jason Bard to find who sent them, and then hired Tommy Monaghan to kill them. I would just like it on the record that I spelled Tommy's last name correctly before looking it up. The Jewish Surrealists capture Batman because they had a sniper with a tranquilizer gun on overwatch during the deal. Batman gets drugged, blackjacked, and spit upon before nobody thinks to take off his mask.

At least I hope that's spit.

I guess if that isn't spit, I now understand why nobody took his mask off.

"Are ya kiddin' me, Rudy?! Put yer fuckin' dick away and help me schlep this bastard into tha van! The boss can take tha fuckin' mask off. Ugh."

Alfred calls up Dick Grayson when Bruce doesn't show up for morning stitches. Dick sighs, hangs up the phone, and goes off to do a literally thankless job because Batman thinks expecting people to be there for him is the same thing as gratitude. I hate complaining about the art because I never complain about the art. So when I finally complain about the art, that means I really fucking think the art sucks. And, well, I'm complaining about the art now.

"Fuck dinosaur references! I got this!" -- Stan Woch

This is some of Woch's earliest work with DC so I shouldn't be too hard on him. Plus he's still alive and he might read this. Although wouldn't it be worse if I were criticizing the work of a dead man? Also, he draws a pretty decent studio apartment and jizz dribble. Nightwing heads off to save Batman even though he knows Batman doesn't need saving. If Batman seems to need saving, it's only because Batman misses Nightwing and this is the only way he can see him without admitting that he misses him. "Oh no!" says Batman as he tries to remember what it's like to feel sleepy from tranquilizers or to feel concussed from a blackjack to the back of the head. "My legs are all, um, wobbly? I'm, um, falling now, right? OH! I'm helpless! I just peed a little too!" Then he lets the bad guys kidnap him and waits for Alfred to worry way too soon and call for backup. And of course Batman would choose a night when Jason Todd is off in California and Superman is off on Oa and Wonder Woman has her anniversary dinner with Steve Trevor.

Oh, just because he's suddenly half-robot, I'm supposed to believe some high school football star can now design high tech contact lenses?! Fuck you, comic books.

Dick finds a vial of acid left behind as Batman as a clue to who murdered him. I mean kidnapped him, probably! Who would kill Batman when they had the chance? I mean if they actually had a chance and Batman wasn't completely faking and ready to start breaking kneecaps the second somebody tugs at his cowl or tries to put a bullet in his brain. Anyway, the acid vial reminds Dick of that one case which was the only one ever in which Batman used a vial of acid which leads him to Drakkar, a Gotham drug lord. This is less evidence that Batman was in trouble and realized Nightwing would come looking for him and more evidence that Batman wasn't in trouble at all and was expecting Nightwing to come looking for him because Batman misses him.

With all the Batman themed stuff in this picture, that marquee obviously says Debbie Does Batman.

Nightwing threatens to beat up some cowardly punk named Skates who Batman apparently beats up every time he needs information. And even though Skates always gives up the information, he somehow hasn't been killed by any other Gotham criminal. Skates tells Nightwing that Batman is going to be killed at midnight in the graveyard. It's going to be a huge party. But instead of thinking, "I'll go to the graveyard and stop this!", Dick wastes precious time tailing Skates hoping he'll lead him to Batman or Drakkar. When Nightwing loses him due to Nightwing's fandom crowding around him, Nightwing thinks, "Wait. What did Skates say? Oh yeah! He gave me everything I needed to know! But now it's so close to midnight, I might not make it in time! Shoot!" Drakkar's plan is to auction off the right to unmask Batman and put a bullet in his brain. So, you know, almost the plan I proposed when they first knocked him unconscious! Stupid greedy thugs! Now Drakkar won't be rid of Batman or rich because Nightwing has found him! And he saves Batman in the nick of time! Time for hugs and demonstrations of familial love and intimacy!

Oh Batman!

Nightwing should know Batman cares because he didn't disappear the instant Nightwing looked away. Batman does smile at the end but not until Dick leaves. Only the reader gets to know Batman is capable of the tiniest bit of joy! And that joy probably wasn't due to Nightwing telling Batman that he's proud to have been Robin. The joy was probably in getting away with not thanking somebody for saving him yet again. Teen Titans Spotlight #14: Nightwing Rating: C+. If I had written this issue, it would have been from Batman's point of view. And all along the way, Batman would be thinking things like, "I'll drop this acid vial which will remind Dick of the Great Dragon caper which will lead him to Drakkar and the subway graveyard where I'm certain Drakkar will take me to kill me!" Then Batman will think, "I bet Dick and Alfred are brainstorming how to find me right now!" And later, as the gun is being put to Batman's head, he'd be all, "The lights should go out just about now! Dick will save me in the nick of time which I'll totally razz him over. Should I say, 'Cutting it pretty close, Boy Wonder' or 'Jason would have been here five minutes sooner'?" Then the final panel of Batman's life will be a bullet passing through his head as he's unmasked. The final page would show Dick Grayson sitting in his apartment listening to Cat's in the Cradle with the phone off the hook.

[isa-ghost]

A Long Ass Theory (7/25/18)

BUCKLE UP KIDDOS, THIS IS A REALLY LONG POST/THEORY AND YOU SHOULD READ IT.

This took me SIX FUCKING HOURS to write out, holy shit.

First of all, I don’t like that title.

“GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS | Enter The Gungeon”

Why? Because...

A certain someone we know and love has experience with guns.

Second of all...

Yeah... this.

Why is this concerning?

Simple.

Last time Chase and Anti were in the same video in any way, shape, or form, Anti was charging at Chase while he was in a drunken stupor at the end of Dark Silence. We never saw what happened after Anti reached Chase, if he even did.

Also, it could just be me (please tell me if someone else has noticed this too back in May) but when “Jack” acts suspicious, especially when the video gives off Chase vibes, he gets this weird sarcastic? tone in his voice throughout the entire video. I’m even more unsure about what I’m about to say, but when he says something he knows we’ll point out as a possible hint, he looks directly into the camera. Maybe its just a few times, maybe every time, or maybe I’m just remembering something incorrectly and he doesn’t do it at all, but that tone in his voice for sure tends to show up a lot every time he acts suspiciously like Chase.

So with all this unsettling information in mind, here’s everything I found suspiciously Chase or Anti-like in today’s upload:

The title, and the intro, as previously stated.

2:14 “Everybody’s dead, I’m happy” Honestly there’s a lot of “death” references through the whole video which while they ARE concerning for paranoid, over-analytical Anti theorist reasons, its hard to say that they’re cryptic hints given the fact that its a game where youre supposed to kill people and therefore the death comments are relevant to the context, rather than being out of the blue “Jack being weird” comments. I’ll keep all the mentions of death I find alarming in the list anyway, just to be safe.

4:52 “What happened? I don’t know but I’m glad you’re dead!”

11:37 “You’re all gonna know the name by the end of this. You’re all gonna know the name of your victor.”

 12:25 That’s a really weird Chase-esque “dude-bro” type person laugh, if you ask me...

13:44 He refers to himself as Jack. I’m only mentioning this because it either confirms he isn’t intentionally being suspicious and we really are just paranoid OR its a reminder that Chase is posing as Jack while he’s in a coma. Or MAYBE this IS Jack after Stories Untold #4, awake from his coma and struggling to remember things. He “doesn’t remember” his intro because “he hasn’t recorded in so long” which could be a joke about how he took a week-long hiatus but could also be a nod at how he was in a coma.

16:52 “I could also die. I could die in real life. If you die in real life, you die in the game.”

17:14 “I’m just doing it for all the people out there to make them feel like I’m a regular bro.“

19:16 “I have to go three dreams deep and meet Leo Dicaprio and bring him back to reality.” (Sounds more like bringing Jack out of a coma to me) Needs to meet his kids. (And this sounds like Chase). I think I’m over-analyzing this one but *screams in paranoia*

19:32 “I just slaughtered a whole bunch of babies. ... It’s what I do. I’m ruthless.” There were a lot of theories that Anti might have hurt Chase’s kids after Dark Silence. Especially after he screamed “WHERE ARE THEY?!”

20:00 “Dope af, as the lit kids would like to say.” This one’s probably me just O/A again. It sounds like a dad trying to keep up with the lingo his kids use...

23:22 He uses the “Chase voice” and drops an iconic “sah dude” that we’ve started to associate with him for almost a minute straight.

24:38 “Because I can’t be trusted. We all know that by now.” *Glares at Sean* yeAH NO SHIT, MCLOUGHLIN.

26:03 “Hi, I’m Jack. I’m a pathological liar. And a piece of shit.” Could this be Anti pretending to be Jack and mocking him? Probably not lmao. Or maybe Chase knows Jack isn’t a very good friend? He said he’d kill/let Chase die first if he had to choose and that he finds him annoying, yet Chase considers him a friend. We DO know from TIE that sometimes if Chase gets too heated, he tends to “break character” and rant to us.

28:58 “My parents may have never told me they loved me, but that doesn’t matter” *Gestures wildly at the “Chase was abused” theories and how when Chase was the one recording the video in Mayhem, he’d make a lot of “my dad”/“my parents” references*

30:42 “I like the little sounds they make. It makes me feel like I’m killing a whole bunch of tiny babies” Ah, Anti harming Chase’s kids vibes again.

32:22 “What I need is love and support” Just like in GNOG, this just gives me Chase vibes... “And also your compliance and your own death.” Aaaaand Anti vibes. Anti talking to Chase? Chase talking to Anti? Anti talking to Jack? *Explodes in theorist*

34:38 “Its just cause... me and my dad” Another damn “my dad” reference like back in May.

36:29 Jack glances behind him for basically no reason. We all know what that meant in May...

37:38 “Don’t hit me, don’t hit me, nooo papa!” *Chase was abused theories intensifies*

44:14 “[My mom] never paid enough attention to me and I had a bunch of time to play video games”

44:50 “Did I have a stroke? Can I remember anything?” Mmmm coma vibes

48:26 (Singing) “Your parents don’t love you”

55:27 “Don’t I look like a guy that deserves good things in my life? I’m not a bad guy.”

58:54 “GET AWAY FROM HIM! Don’t get closer to him, he’s a stranger man! Stranger danger, remember what you parents said!” He highkey sounds like Chase scared/scolding his kids to stay away from Anti... Just sayin’-

59:02 “Actually my parents told me go play in traffic. Suddenly explains a lot.” *Vibrates with abused child Chase vibes*

1:00:55 “Don’t mind me, just going to the store to try and get my life back together.” That last part just... sounds like Chase recovering from the divorce (or maybe after his suicide in Bro Average/Henrik saving him like he mentioned in KJSE?) *coughs in over-analyzing, whoops*

With all this in mind, I also want to make note that I’ve seen some things floating around my dash about the following, which could also imply incoming doom for us ego enthusiasts and theorists:

The anniversary of Antisepticeye vs. Darkiplier is coming up in 3 days. Mark and Jack already confirmed several times that they would not be doing another collab like that one again, BUT--

--Jack mentioned that he and Mark have some cool plans that they can’t talk about.

Mark has the genius skills to make Markiplier TV and WKM happen (with help, of course). What if he’s helping Jack with a video featuring multiple/all egos? Jack DID say during tour that at some point later in the year he wanted/planned on a big video with all the egos. That was sometime in the early spring, and its now almost the end of summer. I think that counts as “later”...

Mark apparently mentioned revisiting some egos. I think he’s referring to the Wilford videos, personally, but I still find this noteworthy.

Robin is apparently going to L.A to hang out with Jack. While this is probably just him being a supportive friend and all that, after what I’ve just said... I trust nothing.

Jack confirmed he planned on doing more skits/sketches/etc while he was in L.A.

We are still waiting on Bro Average 2, which Jack confirmed would eventually become a thing.

With all this in mind, Jack, his god tier editor Robin, and ego video-making genius Mark might all be together at once at some point in the near future. We MIGHT be in for some serious community fires soon, guys. Get your extinguishers ready.

I feel like I might be waaay over-analyzing a lot of this, but the levels of unease in the theorist part of the community have been very high lately. Better to note down what we find questionable than to not take notes at all only to suddenly get slammed with fire, right?

[seriouslyhooked]

Scoring Your Love (Part 12/?)

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six,Part Seven,Part Eight. Story also on FF here and AO3 here. Banner by the wonderful @timetravelandfairytales 

Modern AU where Killian is a world famous soccer star who has hit rock bottom and been sentenced to the place where ‘football’ legends go to die – America. While here he crosses paths with Emma, an up and coming musician and film scorer who challenges everything he thought he knew and makes him want more than the game he’s always loved. Will be filled with fluff for days, and eventually rated M.

A/N: Hey everybody! Remember how I said there might be some hiccups along the way in this story? Well let’s call today a hiccup. It’ll be okay though, friends, because you know if it was actually really bad I would warn you before hand, but there is some drama today that’s been looming on the horizon for a while. Hope that you guys enjoy the chapter and I would love to know what you all think! Thanks for reading!

“And you’re really sure about this, Jones?” Robin asked Killian as they stood in the team room adjoining the press hall in the stadium. “Because I can talk to Regina. Contract or not, she can’t force you into this.”

Killian appreciated his coach’s concern, and where many people might think that Robin was taking all of this too seriously, Killian knew the truth. The press could be brutal for athletes of his standing, and with his history there was bound to be some awkwardness. To go from one of the most talked about footballers in the world to pretty much off the grid for public consumption was abnormal to say the least. So far, however, the press had respected his boundaries. Over the past few months of the season, Killian hadn’t had to do this and he also hadn’t been hounded by paparazzi or rogue sports bloggers. That was thanks, no doubt, to the power of Regina and her family’s influence, but Killian knew he couldn’t ignore this part of his world forever. For better or worse this was a key element of his job, and the sooner he did this, the sooner he could be done with it.

“She’s already screened the questions, which is better than most of my interactions with the press in the past,” Killian reasoned, his voice lilting with a joking edge as he shrugged his shoulders. “Besides the sooner I get this done, the sooner it’s behind me.”

“And the sooner you can get to your date tonight,” David chimed in as he walked up to them. “But brace yourself, man. There’s a lot of them out there.”

“There always are, mate,” Killian said, trying to portray the overconfident cockiness he was known for as he straightened out his suit jacket and headed through the doors.

Instantly the flashes of the cameras blinded him, pulsing every second as photogs tried to get the perfect shot of Killian. At the same time murmurings of his name, coupled with the most eager of reporters directly trying to talk to him, began. But all of this chaos was to be expected. The press was hardly known for its patience, especially with high profile players like Killian, but before it could get too out of hand, Regina called everyone’s attention back to her.

“Now gentleman, what did I say about manners?” she chided, her voice cool but resolute.

“Hey, there are ladies in here too,” one particularly overeager sportscaster said as Regina chuckled in response.

“There are, but they all knew I meant what I said and they’ll be rewarded for that. Yelling isn’t going to work in my house. You play by my rules or you’re out of here. Got it?”

The quiet that settled in as Killian took his spot at the table before all the microphones was answer enough, and Killian fought the urge to smile at the looks on some of the audience’s faces. Many of the most taken aback journalists were ones he recognized as being on the European circuit, so clearly they hadn’t had the chance to tangle with the Queen until now.

The movement of the conference from there went as well as could be expected. Regina had told him that she needed half an hour of his time, and she ran a tight enough ship to allow that. Just as she promised, she favored almost all of those question-askers who had been quiet at his arrival with opportunity, leaving the others grumbling and frustrated. It provided an interesting dynamic for Killian too, since most of those early questions actually had to do with the game. He was happy to answer those, admitting that he hadn’t stayed on top of his stats as dutifully as he had in the past, but that he was happy with his effort so far this season and that of his whole team as well.

“Killian, what do you think that moving to the American leagues has given you?” one woman asked along the way, and though her phrasing was innocent it struck Killian with a bit more force than the other queries had.

The truth was that this move had offered him so much more than people would ever know. The answer that this fleet of reporters was looking for no doubt had to do with privacy from the press or a clean slate on a new team and both of those were undoubtedly true. But the most important thing that this move had given Killian was a wake up call about his life and what he wanted. He had entered this contract a far more broken man and he was now at the twenty game mark yielding both a perfect 20-0 record and a whole new world perspective. Now the game wasn’t the most important thing to him, Emma was, but strangely enough his change of priorities hadn’t hurt his playing it all, it had only made him better.

“It’s given me everything,” Killian responded evenly, and as all eyes and cameras remained trained on him he expanded the thought. “I left a great team back home, a talented group to be sure, with a city and a country filled with passionate fans. But the culture here is different. It’s not just the fact that Americans call it soccer that makes them unique.”

The press corps laughed at Killian’s purposeful joke, feeding into his ploy to appear charming and put together. Then Killian returned his eyes to the woman who had asked this question and pressed on.

“I honestly didn’t come into this expecting what I’ve found. The love of the game here is just as strong as anywhere in the world, and the emphasis on team as opposed to being the best is refreshing. It’s not about big names and perfect stats. It’s about which man gives his all on the pitch and which man doesn’t. This team is filled with men willing to go the extra mile, and I appreciate that.”

“And what about your personal life?” A faceless voice asked, going against the tone of the conference all-together. Regina was in charge of calling on reporters, but this man had spoken of his own volition and he showed no signs of stopping. “What about the hot blonde you’ve been seen with, Emma Swan?”

In the span of two heartbeats Killian’s world went from normal to doused in anger and a little fear. It enraged him that this man would bring up Emma at all, never mind with descriptors that disrespected all she had to offer, but he was also shaken by the fact that people even knew of her. Here he was thinking he’d done all he could to keep things private between them. The press had mentioned nothing substantial about his dating life either here or at home, as Killian had been checking in every day, but that peace and solitude was broken now and Killian felt terrible and irate all at once.

“Cameras off, now!” Regina said, and immediately everyone complied, live feeds or not. The sound people moved to cut their recordings and the whole operation stopped so forcefully Killian was awed by it even through his anger.

“Now, Who asked that?” Regina yelled, her voice cutting through the large room almost like a blade. “I will not ask a second time.”

As if people were so scared of her that they physically had to move, the crowd shifted and both Killian and Regina could see the perpetrator. Instantly Killian knew that the truce that landed him here had been broken, because this man was familiar. He was a writer for one of the most sordid tabloids back home and the owner of that tabloid just so happened to be Killian’s largest enemy: Gold.

“I think the people have a right to know about -,”

“This is the part where you shut your insolent mouth and listen well,” Regina replied, interrupting the man who clearly had balls to even try to go against her. Now, however, the reporter practically cowered where he stood. “I was very clear with my expectations, Mr. Glass, and even though you work for a dumpster fire of a paper, I let you into my home, into my stadium, with the understanding that you’d walk the line. Since you’ve failed to do that you are now no longer welcome.”

Regina motioned to the security staff who immediately stepped in and escorted the man out. It was a sight to see, and the display of power was almost chilling even if Killian was grateful for it. That being said the damage was already done. Emma’s name was already out there and that was Killian’s fault. Her whole life might be changed because of this and he just couldn’t forgive himself for that.

“You can go now, Killian,” Regina said in a way that was defined but more sympathetic. “I’ll handle this.”

Killian thanked her as he left, knowing that even if Regina was capable of granting a miracle this couldn’t be totally undone. Emma’s name was out there now, and whether he had a hundred reporters looking for the scoop, or just those in Gold’s army, it wouldn’t matter. The small kind of sanctuary he had and the beautiful freedoms he’d indulged in living in LA were gone. There was no more anonymity, and tonight’s date would likely be the last time he and Emma could make such a public outing without interference. The only question was should he try to enjoy the evening and then tell Emma, or should he come clean immediately and deal with the potential fall out? Killian was still grappling with that choice when he arrived at the restaurant where he and Emma were meeting and he was brought to their table where she was already waiting for him.

“Well if it isn’t Mr. Undefeated himself,” Emma greeted when he approached the table, and the teasing in her voice made the heartache Killian was dealing with all the more bittersweet.

Instinctively Emma got up from her spot to meet him, and though she pressed a soft kiss to his lips that was meant for a more casual kind of greeting, Killian couldn’t bring himself to let her go. He deepened the moment, letting himself get lost in Emma and the feeling of this bond between them before reality could settle in again. Losing himself in the kiss, his hands held her close, roaming her body and trying to map out every perfect curve and line about her. Killian felt Emma holding onto him too, meeting him beat for beat, before she finally pulled back, her breathing altered and her eyes wide with curiosity and lust.

“Wow. Well that’s one way to say hello,” Emma murmured, her fingertips coming up to cover her lips like she could still feel the kiss there. Meanwhile, Killian remembered that they were not alone, and as he spared a look around the restaurant he realized almost all eyes were on them. Luckily there didn’t appear to be any cameras, but damn if it didn’t bring the sad state of things barreling back at him.

“Sorry, Swan. I just… needed you.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Emma said as she took his hand and led him into the table, scooting in so they were side by side in the rounded booth. “I’m sure not. That was a hell of a kiss.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Killian asked with a soft smile, even though he knew the answer already.

At that moment the waiter came over, asking them questions about wine and dinner and the like, and Killian allowed himself to get caught up in that even though he was distracted. He answered every query, and paid attention to everything Emma wanted as he usually did, but it was hard to be present right now. He was still reeling from the day he’d just had and trying to figure out what the bloody hell he should do.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Emma asked when they were alone again and Killian met her gaze, slightly terrified of having this conversation even as he took comfort in the fact that Emma knew him so well.

“How did you know I had something to say?”

“Well for one thing you haven’t let me go since you got here,” Emma mused, drawing attention to how close Killian had her. It was an intimate hold but also a possessive one, as if subconsciously he was afraid that she would slip through his grasp. He looked back at Emma, expecting her to be upset, but instead she only smiled as her hand came to cover his. “And I may or may not know about the press conference.”

“You saw it?” Killian asked, feeling himself blanch as he did.

“No. But Mary Margaret did. She didn’t have much to say though, except that my name was brought up.”

“Aye, it was. I wish it hadn’t been. I’m so sorry.”

“It was bound to happen, right?” Emma asked, taking this a lot better than he’d expected. “I mean we’re together, and, well I don’t know about you, but I don’t see that changing any time soon.”

“No, love, that’s not changing,” Killian replied, taking her hand in his and pressing a kiss to the top of it gently. “You know if I had my way this would be a forever kind of thing.”

Emma brightened at his words, looking as if she was about to say more, but then someone approaching the table caught her attention. Killian assumed it was the waiter again, but he never imagined who he’d find when he turned. For there was the devil in the flesh: Gold was here, and sporting a shit eating grin that put Killian’s whole being on red alert.

“Well look what we have here. If it isn’t Killian Jones and his latest fixation. How quaint.”

“What are you doing here, Gold?” Killian ground out, his words more a growl than anything else.

“I see your manners haven’t improved since your move, Killian. What a shame, since your pretty little date here seems sweet as can be.”

The words were designed to make Killian retaliate, but just as he was about to jump up Emma’s grip on his hand tightened. He looked at her and her face said it all: this wasn’t the place to get into a brawl, especially since Emma was in the dark right now, not knowing the full story. Even so, Killian knew he had to do something to get Gold out of here. He just didn’t know how the hell to do it. As he tried to think of something, Emma came to his rescue.

“I’m sorry, Mr….”

“Gold,” the snake of a man replied with feigned charisma. “And no need to introduce yourself, dearie. I know all about you. You’re Killian’s latest conquest, and I can assure you that you are one of many.”

“Did you just call me dearie?” Emma asked, sounding more put off by that than anything else even as Killian’s blood ran cold. “Seriously? It wasn’t bad enough you interrupted our dinner, you have to pull out the creepiest pet name to go with it?”

“Ooh, this one’s got some fire doesn’t she Jones?” Gold replied with a grin that was so sinister it looked like something out of a horror film. “I can see why you like her. Such spirit. Such passion.”

Hearing this monster of a man speak of his Emma and mock the things about her that he loved so much physically repulsed Killian. His whole being was begging to go toe to toe with Gold right here and right now. There was no doubt who would win in a fight, at least one that was fair. Perhaps it was primitive but Killian felt like if he could just beat enough sense into Gold the man would get it and give up, but that wasn’t the case. With men like this there was always a looming trick and some complex strategy. Getting a rise out of Killian would no doubt play into that, so Killian attempted to restrain himself.

“You’ve had your fun, Gold, but you and I both know you’ve already pushed things too far today.”

“Oh Sydney, right. Well he’s just so dedicated to the truth that one. There’s no way to rein him in,” Gold said with a showy smirk. “And we’re all obviously worried for you Killian. What with the drugs and the sex addiction and the -,”

“Enough!” Killian yelled, causing such a ruckus that in the moment thereafter the whole restaurant fell eerily silent. Killian instantly regretted his response in that moment, knowing Emma must be mortified at best and actually scared of him at worst. This was just about the worst thing he could imagine happening right now. At least Gold was quiet though, having flinched at Killian’s outburst. But the devil rallied enough to bid them a final farewell, trying to pretend he wasn’t intimidated even though Killian saw it in his beady little eyes.

“It was a pleasure meeting you Miss Swan. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again very soon.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Emma replied, and with one final look between them, Gold departed, leaving a stale aura of tension in his wake.

The sinking feeling that he’d ruined all the happiness he had with Emma made Killian feel physically sick. Not only had he just publically embarrassed her by causing a scene in front of all of these people, he hadn’t prepared her for the monsters that roamed in the world he’d left behind. She knew only the bare minimum about his past. She didn’t truly understand the vendetta and how it all started. Now, perhaps, she would think it best to cut her losses. After all, who would submit themselves to something like this when they’d done nothing themselves to deserve it?

“We should go,” Killian whispered only just loud enough so that she could hear it. It pained him to think of doing so, but staying here with all these people looking on would only make things worse for Emma.

“No,” she replied, prompting Killian to look at her. In her eyes he saw questions, but more than anything else he saw determination. “If we go he wins, and besides, you promised me a date.”

“You mean you still want to…? But there’s so much I have to say. I should have told you before, Emma, it’s just -,”

Emma broke his train of thought by cupping his cheek and pulling him down for a quick kiss. It didn’t last nearly as long as their first of the evening, but it told Killian so much more than he ever hoped to hear. Emma was trying to tell him that she was still here and that she wasn’t going anywhere, and only when they broke apart and she offered another of her small smiles did his growing anxiety that she would leave him start to fade.

“Whatever it is, it’ll be okay. It’ll all still be there after dinner, and I’m guessing I’ll feel better hearing about it if I’ve had a few glasses of really good wine and some to-die-for pasta first, right?”

“Probably,” Killian agreed, shaking his head at the idea that she could be so certain of him.

“Okay then. Now, tell me about the game. Twenty straight wins – that’s pretty incredibly if you ask me.”

Not as incredible as you are, Killian thought in his mind, but he bit back the words and three other little ones that would give away his whole heart. Instead he stuck to Emma’s plan, trying to enjoy the dinner as best as he could and knowing that whatever came next, Emma and him would be okay. And even though today had been a rough one, there was hope within it too – for today had shown him that the woman he loved was with him in this, and nothing could take that away from him, not even a demon like Gold.

Post-Note: There are no doubt a few of you right now staring at your screen in shock or dismay that I did not include their conversation. I swear I can actually hear some of you in my mind right now, but alas this is where the muse has led me. As you can imagine, this stuff with Gold isn’t over yet, and the next two chapters will actually be rather big ones, so big in fact that I’ve decided I want to try to post them together. My ideal is that in two weeks I’ll post one Saturday and one Sunday, but no matter when they come, please trust in my vision for this story and this couple – Emma and Killian always end up together in the end and it’s always a fluff fest when it’s one of my fics. This story WILL be a fluff fest, and since I have seven more chapters and an epilogue mapped out, there is plenty of time left for all the cuteness I have in mind. Anyway thanks to all of you for reading, and I hope you have a great rest of your day!

[daynamartinez22]

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 333

Click on the video above to watch Episode 333 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

but welcome welcome welcome to a fit for SEO hump day hangouts we got the triple three-episode it’s episode 333 we got everybody here we’re gonna jump into it in a minute first we got some hellos to say and a couple of announcements to go over if you’re joining us live leave a quick low on the page let us know you’re alive and kicking and if you got any other questions now is a great time to get those on there so since Hernan kicked it off I’m going to start with him first how’s it going its good man it’s great, I mean, downtown Buenos Aires for a couple of days it’s good.

yeah and I’m not used to this being in the big city but everything’s good

nice alright Chris how about you how are things in Austria.

well today was absolutely amazing

with let me calculate 77 degrees here sunny almost summer weather like everybody loved it but tomorrow we’re going into hard lockdown till 11th of April so I went all out capillary psycho went out for like one and a half hours bike tour and yeah you gotta use the time as long as you can still do it

right nice nice nice yeah I had a call with you ladies from Vienna who were like yeah getting kind of tired of the back and forth so I was like yeah I’ve heard that oh man Marco how you doing

well can I say we’re gonna we’re gonna go to yours every week and you’re gonna see the same exact thing if i stop if i start going over that way if i start going off into the it’s my fake background you know now with this zoom thing i can fake the backgrounds and fake sunny all day long it is what it is man it is what it is syndication academies what’s up sc is great i don’t know it’s just it’s been it’s been fun it’s been a journey because we started on my birthday last year so that’s what’s august to now getting it already getting it all set up and she’s in we have we i say we i mean se because you she rocks three update websites already all three updates let’s call it two websites and an update where she went into depth about something that i talk a lot about which is just fantastic and so to and above and beyond the call of duty in sharing that i just think it’s fantastic man and i think the people are going to get a lot out of this train so someone nobody what’s the difference though we never rebrand our shit and just call it like v3 and repackage the same thing and so we never do it we’ve never done it we know that it’s standard in the industry you call it something else and it’s still the same old shit we don’t do that we actually do cover new things different things of course user interface has changed the way the approach might change software comes and goes right people they’ll put out good software next thing you know that they’re not supported they made enough money they go they stopped support and waited the only idiots who support a facebook group for over over six years or almost sorry six years we have to be the only one but we do i mean that’s why we have the name that we have and that’s why we’ve developed the trust that we’ve developed we’ve got to be the only idiots what seven years giving away free information free knowledge for people so that we give back to the seo community to the people that support us anyway all that to say syndication academies that just re recorded training no it isn’t it’s new and improved ses in the facebook group i just saw her yesterday actually your day before answering your question so she’s in there she will be in there daily answering questions for you guys or giving you updates or just whatever it is i think to me and what people are getting sometimes it hurts i see those numbers come through and what we’re charging monthly and like if we were taxing that it would still not be enough for me but that’s another story altogether anyway syndication academy

rocks definitely yeah it’s been really cool I’ve already been in the group a little bit seen SEO responding to people because I was like oh this is a good question I just saw that notification so I went in and I was gonna say something like nope already got to it so he’s doing an awesome job and helping people out in there so yeah if you guys haven’t checked it out head over to syndication academy and find out more about that but Bradley how you doing

I’m happy to be here a busy as all hell it’s that time of year for me where the three guys are you know their business is really starting to pick up so things are getting really busy on my end and that’s a good thing just in time

cool well I’ve got a couple of quick announcements to see what else we got with you guys but I wanted to let everybody who’s watching know, you know, if you’re new to semantic mastery you’re new to MGYB new to heavy hitters club you’re just kind of watching or just getting started with us, we highly recommend heading over to the SEO shield comm that’s the word the SEO shield calm, alright, find out how to shield your site don’t have to worry about algorithm updates, and it’s free training head over there get started there and that’ll also help you understand some of the stuff we’re going to be talking about. If you want to take things up from there, you can grab the battle plan it’s our step by step processes for getting results with SEO and how we do it the services we use the way we do it the order we do it in a battleplan.semanticmastery.com if you’re an agency owner, maybe more of a consultant, you know, you want to get more clients, you want to grow your revenue, you want to scale your team, hopefully, all three of those things have you saying like, yes, those are things I want to be doing. So that you can work less earn more and work on your business, then to x your agency is the place for you to go and check that out. Beyond that, if you’re really ready to grow and you want and know that you know, an experienced community is the place for you to be, which is how we all got to know each other because we independently realized that’s what we needed. We met each other online. And that’s how Semantic Mastery came to be. Well, if you know that that’s the next step for you, then we highly recommend checking out the mastermind You can find out more about that at mastermind dot semantic mastery.com. And I mentioned mg y v real quick but I just want to say if you’re not familiar with mg y b, it’s where you can get your done for you services, all sorts of stuff link building the SEO shield syndication networks done for you, right? In case either you don’t want to go through and learn all the training or you don’t have someone to do it for you. There’s also the done for you option, and so much more of it, go over to mg y v.co. And check that out. So with that said, Guys, is there anything else that we need to cover? Before we get what

one last thing, if you happen to join the mastermind, then you get a great discount into the Heave Hitter Club, where it’s Rob. And I going into like the technical aspects of SEO, the why and the house. So not only do we explain why things work, the way they work, we show you literally step by step, how to apply everything and how to make it work the Semantic Mastery way not to say that our way is the only way or the only correct way. Because there’s plenty of ways that you can rank. But we know from Personally, I know from 18 years of experience, what works. And so we’ve created a system where we’ve each sprinkled our own pieces of knowledge so and put it all together into one ecosystem where everything works together. And we just apply that over and over again, doesn’t matter if you’re local, if your global-local is relative, the niche doesn’t matter. The competition doesn’t really matter. Sometimes the budget does matter. But the only thing that matters is or the only thing that’s going to be in your mind is when this happens is that there’s no longer if it’s when you start rocket ranking for whatever it is that you’re asking when you start making money. It’s become the system has become that really that could I would venture to say people get tested, it’s ridiculous. It’s what we’re doing. It’s predictable.

I just want to add to what Marco said because all I’m doing right now is GMB stuff for my new agency and a number of my own lead gen assets in the stuff that we teach in local GMB pro and then what Marco and Rob are teaching and Heave Hitter Club combined with like those two things combined are just fucking crushing. GMB ranking right now. It’s insane how quickly I’m able to get GMB to move. And then I’ve sprinkled some of my own flavors into what local GMB pro and what Marco and Robin been teaching and Heave Hitter Club. And I talked about that in the semantic mastery mastermind and it’s just like, I’ve got dozens of GMB’s that I’ve been testing across now for the last six or eight weeks different methods and the local GMB pro method with what they’re teaching and Heave Hitter Club is just absolutely crushing GMBs right now like to the point where I’m offering a guarantee to my to prospective clients when I’m pitching GMB services, I’m offering a money-back guarantee within 90 days and it’s insane because it’s not something that you know people typically do. And I’m willing to take that risk because across all the dozens of sites that are GMBs that I’ve been testing with in the last six weeks or so I’ve gotten every single one of them to jump into the three-pack it’s just insane. So it’s you know if you guys are doing local stuff or even not local as Marco says local is relative, but I know it works. It works for hands. It’s crazy how quickly it works, too. So

yeah, any follow-up on that? It’s just what we’re doing is ridiculous and people say they can’t be done that way or too simple, or it can be used that way, the way we’re using it in ways that people can’t even think about using they have, they can’t conceive it as but the only way that we’re going to share that is come to join the Heave Hitter Club or join the mastermind and the Heave Hitter Club through the mastermind. And come see what we’re doing in there. Because it’s like I said, they get ridiculous results that we get.

Sweet more, we’re good to go, guys, I’m gonna grab the screen. Let’s do it.

I can find it. There it is.

What’s The Best Way To Associate A Brand’s Acronym To The SEO Shield?

Alright, looks like Tory is the first one for today says Hi, I already have a successful SEO shield, the keyword URL Association has been made. But now I’d also like to associate my URL with its acronym. What’s the best way to do this by an extent an expansion for the main URL schema update? Not Oh, I guess that’s or a schema update. And if it’s simply schema is this something that can have support do for me. Um, there is in schema there is a difference there’s an alternative name, there’s that is a designation that you can add in the schema Marco can give you better advice as far as like what to do with the drive stack. But there is definitely an alternative name designation within the schema and either at either the organization level or the local business level. I know that to be true, because a lot of my lead gen assets I have branded, but I have their DBA or doing business as from my primary LLC. So in that schema for those assets, I put the brand name, which is it’s a registered brand name for the state of Virginia, but it’s a fictional name or doing business as a name. So that’ll be the primary name of the asset or the entity for that location. But then I put my LLC company name as the alternative name, or whatever the designation is the specific designation, I’d have to go look at my schema code to tell you what it is. Marco, what do you say about doing it for the drive stack?

Rob just ping me. And he said that it’s not something that that support will do. Right? He answered this in one of the groups but for the sake of our Hump Day Hangouts, it is not something that support will do, you can go in and you can update the schema, I mean, you own the s3 bucket that your ideas and you can change it, you own the schema that you have on the website, and you can change that. Now as far as the acronym, be careful, be careful how you approach this and that you create the relationships correctly. Because you don’t want to create ambiguity is going to take you 10 times as long to fix the ambiguity because it only takes one shot. And it’s ambiguous and the bad taste that is two different things. They have to bring it back together. And it’s not that simple. By unexpected, yeah, you could buy an expansion stack, but all you would have to do is relate the name of the company to its as Brad was saying alternative to alternate name, if it is an alternate name if it’s used a lot, then that’s why you would be using it and if it’s something that’s referred to, commonly, why didn’t you brand it from the beginning as the acronym, and then provided the alternate name for whatever the company name is? Like, I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish? Or what you’re trying to do from the question is just association that then it’s just creating the parent-child relationship with alternate name schema, go to schema.org and see what you can use I’ll be there’s a whole lot of things that you can use for alternate name schema.

Yeah, here’s one of the legal name is a schema.org property. That’s where I do like so for example, I’ll have for a location that is a lead gen asset, I’ll have the, you know, the brand name for that location as the schema name for that business. But then, and the legal name, structured data output, you know, the LLC, which is the parent where essentially, it’s not the parent organization, it’s the same organization just it’s the actual legal name of the organization if that makes sense. So that’s one of them. Just go to schema.org and look at the alternative name, legal name, you know, stuff like that, see what you can find and that should help.

Okay, moving on.

Is It Okay To Make An Entity To The Website Or To The Gsite Or GMB?

There’s a good question though. Dwight says Hey guys, schema question for Marco. Is it a good idea to make main entity our website or should we point to G site or GMB? also is a good idea to put us three ID and our ad ID schema section or would it be better to leave it out so competitors don’t find it interested to get your opinion? Well, I was Specifically just to you, Marco. So I’ll turn that one over to you.

Yeah, but that’s not how the main entity works. No, it’s not that no, no, no, no, no, not at all. Again, I’m gonna direct your brand, if you care to share your screen to the main entity of the page in schema.org.

Let me see, right there.

Yeah, it’s a creative work URL, it’s a thing. But if you go to the JSON LD, like click on JSON LD, it gives you an example of what it should be. It’s a context at type, the main named entity of page, which is, now they give you a subdomain, in that case, but that’s the main entity of the page, right?

So if I can just add to that briefly. So here’s the thing, guys, if you’ve got different structure elements on the page that are marked up, then that’s what the main entity of page comes into play because it’s one of those smart up elements of the page is the main entity of the page. Does that make sense? So for example, that’s where I was talking about over the last few weeks, this question has come up a few times. But I used to just put organ I used to create organization schema, and it would go sitewide, even for like a multilocation. a, you know, lead gen business or, or for a client or whatever, let’s say they had multiple locations, what I would do is I used to put the organization, schema sitewide. So that would be global structured data, right? That would be it would be added globally to the site. But then on each individual location page, I would add location or local business structure data. Well, unless you nest or connect those data items correctly, then that ambiguous it’s the page because Google doesn’t understand whether the organization schema is the main entity of the page where the local business schema is the main entity of the page. And that’s where something like the main entity, a page designation would help to clarify that. But unless those two pieces of data are still connected properly, it’s still going to be treated as two separate pieces of structured data, which is what is incorrect. So that’s where like, again, if you were to markup say, for example, Article markup, and you have image markup video markup blog, you know, the actual article markup for the entire page, but then you have individual elements marked up, then that’s where the main entity of page could come in to help disambiguate that, is that correct? Marco?

Yes.

Yes, not only that, the main entity. But I don’t want to get into all that because it gets too technical domain entity can also be a named entity, the main entity could be a supporting entity or the main entity, and that that’s just getting way more intricate than we can go into. I mean, we, I will do this in a one hour webinar, focusing only on that on schema, right, and all these different attributes that you can use to solidify the entity, the main entity, the supporting entities, and however it is that you’re looking to push that page or post, go to schema.org and go to schema.org. And look through it. And you’ll see that the wealth of information that you can provide through that main entity in schema.org.

Yeah, and I was just gonna see if there were any, like help files that talk about connected data. I mean, schema app has some help files, but it’s very specific to their app itself, which I use schema at myself, just because I don’t have the patience to go through it the way that Rob does, although I know he’s created a lot of really good templates. But I use schema app just for my own projects. And they’ve got some really good help files, but it talks about how to, you know, it teaches schema on and how to create it through their app. So it does give you some kind of like conceptual understanding, but it’s also very specific to their app, but that might help you to get a better understanding of what it is that you’re supposed to do. So

Alright, we’re moving on.

Is It A Good Idea To Put The S3 ID In The @ID Schema Section?

Oh, I guess we had additional questions in here said, Would it be a good idea to put s3 ID in our IDs schema section? Or would it be better to leave it out? So competitors? don’t find it? Put it there? I mean, if you don’t put your ID page in, then how is Google going to know to go to your idx page? If you’re not designating that as your idx page? Am I right in saying that Marco?

Well, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t need an @ID if you’re, you’re giving it an identification. That’s your node identifier. Why would you not identify that like I see with this what comes to mind is like we don’t care about the competition? We could give a crap about what they do. We just go and focus on how we do things correctly. Because once you start out, you’ll be so far ahead of the competition by the time they’re catching up. You’ll be forward in something else. That’s why it’s so crucial to like to be on the leading edge on the cutting edge of all this. Like I understand schema up and all that shit but The place where you’re gonna get what’s working right now is in the Heave Hitter Club. Oh, I agree with you through our teaching, and how we show you what does not only teach you the education that you get the examples that you get through the way we show you how to manipulate schema because it’s not just using schema, it’s manipulating and stacking it in such a way that your competition becomes mean, it’s worthless SEO for a reason. Not only do we not worry about Google and Google updates and everything else that Google is trying to throw at you, but we also don’t care about the competition. Because we only focus on what we do, we focus on doing the things that we do, creating the system, putting it in place. And letting that takeover and overtime is you start seeing these ridiculous things happen, where you can rank in 90 days for pet food. Oh, like who does that, where you can get displays in GMB for the keyword pet. Who else is doing that right now? But it happens, because there’s a system in place. And every, if you just go and use schema app without everything else that it entails without focusing on the entity correctly without getting your onsite correct without getting the off-site. Correct. So that everything works. It’s a big piece of the puzzle. And you put that last piece of the puzzle in, and now you can enjoy the work, you’re going to enjoy the fruits of the labor. But the only way that that that can happen is by putting all of these different pieces together, going and doing the ad ID is fine. And creating that node identifier for all of this information is fine. But it’s how you replicate all of these across the web is how we present the entity and the supporting entities, the named entity, the supporting entity, sub-entities, and everything else that we’re pushing at Google so that when when when the buck comes in and looks at our, the data that we’re feeding it, we become the best answer for whatever query, it is that we’re after. That’s what we do. We established ourselves as the best as not only the best entity but the best answer for whatever it is that we’re after, which is how, five years later, the guy in DC plumber, His phone is still ringing off the hook. I just looked at his analytics and search console. And it’s ridiculous what’s happening and all of that before we even knew exactly what it was that we were doing now. Now we know. Now we know exactly what it is back then we were testing and looking and seeing and yes, we were working with entities and brands, and putting all of these little pieces of the puzzle we’ll get we’re getting the patents, getting the information doing the math. Now we know. And now we’re focused, and we share all of this in the Heave Hitter Club and nowhere else. I mean, yes, go and create your note identifier. But that’s only one small piece of a much bigger puzzle.

Yeah, and just to clarify, when I mentioned, like schema app is a good resource, it’s, it’s, I totally agree with what Marco said, the schema map, I’ve learned more about, like, the concept of structured data and like connected data items and things like that from training that I’ve got from schema app, but again, it’s very specific to how to use their, their tool. So I’ve learned some high-level conceptual, like understandings of schema from schema app. But as far as how to put all those different pieces of the puzzle together in a way that gets results. That’s not something that like schema training teaches, it’s, um, it’s putting together it’s applying what I’ve learned from Marco and Rob, and some of our other mastermind members and the POFU Live event that we add. And so it’s all of those pieces combined. And that’s what, what Marco is saying is, uh, you know, I think it’s still important to get an understanding of schema on a higher level. But then as far as how to put it together in an effective way and apply what you know, in a way that’s going to get results. That’s a different story. And that’s where, again, Heave Hitter Club is the place for that. Those guys, it makes my head spin sometimes, and I’ve been doing SEO for about a decade now. So anyway, I would encourage you to go join there if you really want to figure it out. I’m gonna keep moving. Next question. Dave says when adding multiple syndication networks to a YouTube channel, is it better to add multiple two-tier rings in parallel IE all fired by the same trigger? Or to add additional tiers to a single network? Excuse me? Alright, so Dave, I haven’t done any, you know, Video SEO campaigns and several years now because I stopped attempting Video SEO. It wasn’t really I use Google ads for YouTube stuff now. So I want to just, you know, I want to preface my answer to your question with that. I just want to be 100% clear that I don’t do a whole lot of video SEO anymore at all, I still go through the on-page process of optimizing a video before I upload it, or publish it to the channel, whatever channel I’m publishing a YouTube video to. But as far as hardcore SEO stuff for video, I just don’t do that anymore because I use ads for that. That said, when I was doing which, for a long time, was a pretty significant part of my income was I was doing video SEO services for a number of clients, but also for a video production company that so I had a whole lot of clients that they managed, but I just provided like wholesale SEO services to during those that time, I did a lot of testing. And what I found was, you can get a better fat excuse not better, but faster-ranking results by having a whole bunch of single-tier networks connected to your channel, whatever channel you’re using as a trigger, but what would happen is you would get like when you would Livestream or upload a video, it would you know, syndicate or cascade across those syndication networks, and it would rank rather quickly. But then unless you were and at the time, it was more about links and stuff than it was engagement signals. So unless you started hammering that video with links and getting engagement signals, at the same time, like it would start to after a week or so or just an initial like really good ranking, it would start to drop. And if it. So what I learned over again, through testing was that what I would do is the two-tier networks, but I would stack multiple two-tier networks onto the channel, to where they weren’t, it wasn’t any more than two tiers, right, I didn’t go out to tier three and tier four and all of that, and there’s a reason for that. And that is that becomes much harder to manage. And also, it becomes harder to troubleshoot when stuff breaks down. And the more tiers you add going out. The likelier it is that something we’ll break down. I’m not saying you can’t do it, you can we had one of our previous members, I think it was a female. And I think she took our syndication network stuff and created like these massive multiple tiers, networks that would just absolutely crush anything. But what I found was, all I would do is just so two-tier networks, right, which would be tier one, and then three-second tiers, or tier two rings, I should say, I would stack for every new project at the time that I would start for video SEO stuff. If I’m starting a new channel, for example, I would always come right out of the gate with three to tier networks attached, which would be a total of 12 syndication networks, right, so three first-tier networks, and then nine, tier two networks. And that was just what worked incredibly well as I said three or four years ago, is to not like the video wouldn’t rank as quick when you would syndicate to that many networks, those two-tier networks. And that same kind of setup that I just mentioned. So again, I would always come right out of the gate with three two-tier networks. And it wouldn’t rank as quick. But when it did rank, it would stick and it didn’t slip or do it didn’t dance as much. And it didn’t fall back as quickly as just a single-tier network. So with all that said,

I don’t know if that’s still the case, because I don’t really do a whole lot of video SEO stuff anymore. But I would probably still opt for the two-tier networks and just stack as many of those to get the results that I need. But don’t forget that, you know, just having syndication networks is I mean, that’s good in itself. But you can also power up existing networks, or like, for example, if you had one tier two network, so you’d have liked the branded network around your channel. And then you’d have three persona-based themed networks, right. And you could add additional networks, but you could also spend money on powering up that network, that two-tier network, so all three rings within that network. And again, I haven’t tested this because it’s been a few years. But my assumption right now would be that it would be better to power up really well-themed kind of, you know, a network that has content that you know, you’re continually adding content to power that up over adding more networks that haven’t been powered up if that makes sense. And if you have the budget, and you can do both, you can add more networks and power them up, then that would be the way to go. But it really depends on what your budget is. So who wants to comment on that?

No, no, I totally agree on that. themed network, right? activity, relevance, trust, and authority. Always try to get traffic into that because part of art is activity. It’s right to get real traffic and the real traffic, the ads training the YouTube Traffic YouTube and Google Ads training. The Bradley does. It’s a real simple way to get if it’s local, then people from that geographic area, and if it isn’t local then people who are at least interested who haven’t. Bradley knows that you can create an affinity audience, people who have an affinity for this now what Google is affinity and what you consider an affinity. And affinity might be two different things. But the whole point in all this is, first and foremost, you’re getting your credit card and Google, you’re paying Google, you no longer become a leech, you no longer lead, you’re actually a paying customer, you’re paying for ads. Now you are, you’re a real person, an entity, who is part of this bigger entity that’s now running ads to this other entity. So you see how it all begins to coalesce and take shape as it being a real thing. So now you take that, and you drop those into maybe the tier one part of your network because you should have a tier-one, even though you’re going to get a tiered network, you’re going to have the main one. And then you’re going to have the three blogging point, blogger, Tumblr, and WordPress, which are going to distribute to your tiered network, you can still have your tier one branded, he said, Yeah, but um, it’s only a YouTube channel, well, then you don’t want to sell hosted WordPress, that’s fine. Use the G site that we provide for you in the SEO shield and make that your money site and embed your videos in there, too. Now you have a link building target for your videos, and you have a trusted source that you can send your Google ads, traffic, and your Youtube traffic to, to start watching your videos in someplace other than in YouTube, of course, trying to kick the YouTube algorithm in the ass to get you’re going to get you more visits from YouTube. I mean, there’s a whole bunch of different ways that you can manipulate this. But the idea is always to verify the entity meaning create the entity and make sure that Google has information on this entity, validate the entity, nothing better than to get real people interacting with your entity, and then solidify it. Meaning that you extend the entity with all of these different nodes that you create that are part of your main entity. And you’re showing Google all of these different things that are all you and these get traffic and they’ll get traffic over time and you run Presley’s and then you run LinkedIn, it’s the system is always the same, it doesn’t change, whether it’s YouTube, whether you do it with Facebook, you can make Facebook your part of your golden frame, your money site, whatever it is you want to call it. But it doesn’t matter, we get this question all the time also doesn’t matter if you if you don’t have a money site, because we will create one for you with the G site and you can work from there.

Yeah, just again, just to add back on to that I agree that you know, again, if I were going to and I have to test if I was going to be doing video SEO stuff, I would test these, you know, different methods to see what works best. But um, I would I mean, again, my assumption is, and this is just a wild-ass guess because I haven’t done any testing recently. But it would be to do one two-tier network. For the brand really power-up that brands it well, all three networks, but especially the branded networks and the tier-one network. And then as Marco said, it’s about the activity too. And that’s one of the biggest things for YouTube, for ranking YouTube videos is the engagement, right, the activity, and engagement. And so there’s a number of ways to do that, the way that I have been doing it for the last few years, which is why I don’t even bother with the SEO side other than on-page anymore, is by buying engagement signals from Google ads. It’s very inexpensive, and it works and it works really, really well. So you know, that’s something I would recommend is, you know, a single a two-tiered network, if it’s YouTube syndication, only then, you know, to networks are great for that, and start powering it up with link building, you could also do embed, embed gigs for that. So you could take like your profile, like, again, your blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, those and actually embed those do embed gigs, for those that would help and then link building to the embeds all of that’s like all off-page SEO stuff. But then, again, the fuel the fire that you can add, or the fuel that you can add to that fire is the engagement signals that you can buy directly from Google, from Google ads. And it’s very, very inexpensive. And it works really well for both geographically targeted clicks, but also clicks and views from a known audience that Google has already determined is interested or at least likely interested in your product, service topic, whatever. Does that make sense? So it’s a good question, though.

Is It Better To Point A Forbes Or 90 DR+ Link To The SEO Shield Instead To The Money Site?

So we’re gonna keep moving babies up with a list of questions is always what’s up baby? He says, Hey, guys, do you say that if you can get a link from a Forbes or some other 90 domain rank plus, then it will be better to link to the shield rather than to the money site?

No, that’s not what I said at all.

Yeah. And if I was getting a link from a really powerful source like that, and it was in a relevant article, you know, that it was on topic, which I don’t know how you could get a link from one of those if it wasn’t relevant. Then I would link directly to my money site with that that’s me personally that I would absolutely Marco might have a different opinion but i would like to my money site with that what would you say

what’s always been my caveat do not link or build links to your money site unless maybe i didn’t say on this or maybe that day i forgot to say i always say unless you can get a link from one of these trusted authoritative sources especially in the niche or it doesn’t even have to be relevant just getting a link from forbes new york times any any of them but especially if it’s relevant like wiki or wikipedia link getting a wikipedia link all of these reinforced and solidify the entity so why wouldn’t you want to link from these highly authoritative sources to your directly to your money site now in order to avoid any type of penalties we say do not build links to the money site does not listen please do not build links to the money site unless it’s from one of these high power domain amazon would be another one unless you get them from there or unless the links are coming to your website naturally so those you can’t avoid but you didn’t build them so there’s the key do not build links unless they’re from these highly authoritative sources now 90 dr or whatever that dr after it whatever it is like i could care less because that’s that’s a vanity that’s a third party metric it’s not a Google metric we know forbes is powerful so just the name itself are what it is will tell us whether we want the link coming to the money site or through the seo shield to power up and if you could if you could both into your drive stack and g site and into your money site i know it costs a whole lot more but that would be the way to get power into both i never said not to the money site from these high power domains

aaron says i enrolled in syndication academy do I get a t shirt? I don’t know, man. I know when you’re doing the mastermind to get a shirt we on this week we’re sending out shirts. I don’t know if yeah sorry reserved shirts for the trainers only train yeah

I think he wore it well and that’s why I was brought up I’m sure.

What Do You Mean By Source And Destination In The MGYB Embed Gig?

so alright moving on next question and Marco this one’s for you because I think it’s about the terminology that bb is basically asking for clarification on he says any embed gig on it must be on the sales page for the embeds he says the power from and it’s in quotes the power of link building will flow to the source and back but both the source and the destination will be protected by the embed itself what is the source what is the destination and how is it protected I guess you just asking for like clarification on what that means the sources is in the iframe itself, right? Right in the inline frame which is an iframe, there is an src equals that’s the source that’s where you’re grabbing the information from the embed on the destination which is somewhere else iframe source equals this right by and then you have a URL in quotes that’s your source the destination is wherever you’re going to embed it ours is the URL the sources the page that you’re embedding correctly the destination is where it is embedded wherever it’s going correct know-how would it be protected it’s protected because it’s not an HTML hyperlink and all of Google’s algorithms focus the ones that build PageRank and ranking score hope to focus on HTML hyperlinks and so iframes are an entirely different beast an entirely different animal and that’s as far as I’m going to go with iframe explanations outside of our paid groups.

It’s interesting in SEMRush you can see iframes as empty anchor links which is interesting i thought that was interesting because i hadn’t seen that until recently and i’m seeing that now it just says it’s it’s it says empty anchor and it but it’s an iframe it’s weird so anyway moving on baby says how is it going in eecom store and the shield of use and sale so i guess that one’s for you adam but that that project is just now getting really started with the off page stuff right

yeah definitely so we’re doing kind of a live case study but that’s really you know it’s a on the side case study we’re doing it as we can and so it’s kind of happening in real time so yeah maybe we’ll have some information once that’s wrapped up but i guess just to give everyone a quick update we got the blog up and running we’ve got posts we’ve got syndication networks got the rest of the seo shield in place we’ve got a gmb asset and we’re literally just starting with some hosting and doing some other things so We’ll be back. What is this march almost April, so I would think early summer would be a good time to probably give people an update and put something together.

Are G Sites Different From GMB Sites?

Cool. Tony’s up. He says I work part-time and manage a few actual business GMB listings in the UK. You’ve in the UK, excuse me. You frequently mentioned g sites are different from GMB sites? Yeah, GMB website to the free like one-page website Did you get with your Google My Business profile, which has a limit of 5000 characters, by the way? Or maybe it’s 50,000. I think it might be 50,000. Anyways, it does have a limit because I reached it on one of them recently. Anyway, g sites are sites.Google.com. So if you go to sites Google.com, you’ll see what a Google site is. And that’s what we talk about. And when we say g sites, that’s what we’re talking about. If we’re gonna, if we’re talking about GMB websites, we’re gonna call it a GMB website. So G sites or Google Sites is sites.Google.com. It’s like, you know, a, it’s a full kind of CMS, I guess, that you can have within Google sites that, you know, we use for the drive stacks and the SEO show. So you want to comment on that Marco?

Yeah, G sites are the only ones they all in ones that Google gives for free. The other one is the business site. And it’s not just a one-pager because every post that you put on there actually becomes a page in and of itself, you can actually silo it. It’s like an inner page. Yeah, it’s really cool. What happens in those and how you can manipulate that. And it’s something that we go into in local GMB Pro.

Yeah, and that shit was working like crazy, right? Now.

Imagine that.

It’s crazy.

I’m gonna go off of skip off, skip for a second, right? And just say the training was done. How long the three years ago for probably, for now, I think and people asked, has it been updated? And we’re like, no. But why? Why would update something that’s working? The same thing with RYS Academy, same thing with the SEO shield, something’s changed. Like, right now what we’re recommending is when you send for that GMB pin, to have as much detail in there as possible, so you never again have to go and change anything. So that you don’t run the risk of getting suspended. If it’s real. It’s hard to get a suspension, but it does happen. You’ve had real businesses suspended by Google, which is ridiculous. But I mean, the basic foundational principles of that training, which is what we always work on, we don’t go with the latest greatest. We don’t go with the newest, best, brightest, whatever. We just don’t go with what works. And if it’s a hack, we try to tell people like when we were able to verify GMB, that it is a hack, and that it’s liable to get terminated, which is why we gave people a money-back guarantee and a suspension even guarantee on on some. And we ended up giving people a whole bunch of money back because it was something that we knew Google could close or shut down at any time, others other ways. We work on foundational principles in the GMB, we’re going exactly by what Google says to do that we do it our way. Well, that’s just us. And it’s and it’s open like that, that it can be manipulated that way. And you’re still I mean, yeah, it’s getting really close to the edge. But you’re still within the boundaries of the terms of services we’re allowed to post. We’re allowed to post images, we’re allowed to post video, we’re allowed to do a whole bunch of different things. And it’s exactly what we do. And they just keep opening up things and making it better and making it easier, making it simpler, and making it more powerful. So why, I mean, if you could, why would you not take advantage of that GMB? And it’s ridiculous yet and no, I do have plans to update it at some point. We talked about it. But just so people know it works and it works like crazy. And if you go into the Heave Hitter Club, you learn the foundational principles and apply that to whatever you’re doing Local GMB Pro, people are not going to know what hit them.

Yeah, there are two things I want to add to that. Number one is the fundamentals don’t change guys. You know, and that’s the thing everybody’s looking for the shiny new object, it’s sexy and you know, and all that kind of stuff, but man some of these principles, they just fucking work and so like why to deviate from that if you know that they work and it’s not some loophole that is going to be exploited for some short period of time and possibly closed. Do you know what I mean? loopholes can become closed can be closed, but some of these you know, like local GMB pro stuff that’s fundamentals that shit doesn’t change. And just one other quick tease to kind of encourage more people to join the heavy inner club is, and I’m just gonna make one statement and I’m not going to expand upon it. So don’t ask because you’d have to find out and the Heave Hitter Club, but you know, using GMB for organic rankings is it works. Let’s just say that it works. And I’ve proven that in the last couple of weeks over and over again across multiple examples, where clients said like, Hey, I know My Maps is ranking really well. But I’d like to get a push organically and I’ve done a couple of things that I’ve learned, again, local GMB Pro Heavy Hitter Club, and been able to push organic rankings with the GMB. It’s insane. So just throwing that out there.

Anyway, moving on. The next question was from I saw a couple coming up from D, who’s one of our mastermind members, I’d like to get to those also D Just so you know, we’ve got a mastermind webinar tomorrow, where you know, I can deep dive into your questions over there, where I can’t hear if that makes sense.

Would It Be Better To Order All The Parts Separately If You Don’t Have A Syndication Network In Place?

So Jim’s up, he says, I just joined a syndication Academy v3. But after realizing that I don’t really want to build out the stuff myself, I just ordered a full SEO shield from MGYB. Well, that’s good. And we encourage you guys even though those of you in Syndication Academy to order a syndication network from MGB so that you can have a finished product to compare what you’re doing. With you know, what I’m saying, you can get you can learn a lot from looking at a finished product, while you’re learning how to actually build that finished product. It can help you shortcut your learning curve and see what a really well done, the properly interlinked network looks like. So we would encourage you to do that. So I think that was good that you did that, Jim. Let’s see. He says, given the fact that I don’t have my syndication network in place and very few social profile links, would it be better to order all the parts separately in the future for a brand new affiliate display ad blog site, also, as the full SEO showed overkill since my sites don’t have any local aspects, such as maps? Okay, so a couple of things on that. We, you know, we don’t recommend ordering a part separately, unless you needed to, like, for example, if you had built a syndication network already, but then you decided that you wanted to add an SEO shield, then, you know, you could go in and actually buy our y S Drive stack and G site separately, you could buy an idx page separately, you could buy each one of those components separately, but it’s better, it’s more cost-effective. And it’s also faster in delivery because it makes it easier for our Build Team. If you order everything under a product bundle, like the SEO shield. That makes sense. As far as whether or not you have a local project doesn’t matter, the SEO shield Should I mean, like, we used to joke about syndication networks about, you know, everything gets syndication that we’re Marco used to say if my dog sits still long enough, it gets a syndication network built around his neck. And so that’s how we feel. I mean, syndication networks are still foundational, there’s no question. But really, the whole SEO shield now is foundational, in that, like every project, we recommend, whether it’s local or not, it doesn’t matter, guys, the SEO shield helps to validate solidify the entity, it helps to start building authority. And as Mark always says, it’s being in the belly of the beast. So again, whether it’s an affiliate project or a local project, it doesn’t matter. You should have an SEO show. Do you want to comment on that? Yeah,

I’m using it for everything. It’s one of the foundations of everything I do, everything goes through my SEO shield. Not only that, it’s a way to power up everything. And it’s a way to protect from everything so so why wouldn’t you, I mean, it doesn’t matter. And, again, local, is relative, it doesn’t matter what it is you’re doing, you need, no matter what, no matter what. So please remember this, if, if you don’t remember anything else, no matter what you need to be an entity focus in today’s web environment. The World Wide Web now requires you to have a present entity, your thing has to be well defined on the web, or else someone who has defined it better will outrank you, and get the money if you don’t brand, and present the entity correctly so that it’s easy so that Google can see where everything fits together, then it’s going to guess how everything fits together. And how to codeword says everything is going to be treated as separate. Instead of it instead of everything being part of what it is that you’re trying to show Google no matter what works on that entity and works on that brand. Yes, it exact match the work as the artificial intelligence gets better and gets better, as the natural language processes get better as the filters they’ve installed in local especially in the GMB Get better, those exact match domains will not be as effective. Will they ever lose relevance? I’m not sure. We’ll just have to see Time will tell. But if you look at the people who have been successful online, Joe’s plumbing in Bismarck, whatever, oh no, I definitely north south South Dakota, wherever, wherever it is, hasn’t ever become nationally or internationally successful. Look at the brands go to the supermarket, look at the brand. Go wherever it is, look at your TV and watch the commercials that you get. Yes, you will get some local commercials, of course. But look at the national chains, especially in what in the hell is and I will say this what’s a Google? What is it? What’s a Yahoo? What’s a Benz is a charity. But how does it apply to a search engine, Bing, MSN, Microsoft, IBM International Business Machines, all of these businesses that became these giants Amazon? I don’t think I need to say anything else

How Long Does It Take To Rank A Map In The Three Pack After GMB Verification?

may have said these up. He was up he says Bradley, how long is it taking to get map rankings and three packs after GMB verification? It varies every time. But I did just I just got a new brand new project at the end of last week. Well, actually it was over the weekend really. So I’ve got a brand new newly registered GMB that I’m going to be applying all the tests that I’ve been doing for the last, you know, six weeks or so to you know, existing assets that I’ve just been crushing it with lately. So I’ve got this new one, like I said that I’m going to start applying that to, in fact, I just asked my VA today to start doing some posts and stuff for it. So you know, you know me, I share that shit in the mastermind D. So, in particular, I can actually share this as a case study because it’s for my own brand, not for a client brand. So I’m happy to talk about this a little bit tomorrow in the mastermind as well as actually show that particular brand because I’m going to be building out more assets underneath that brand as time goes forward. So, but it does, it always varies. Like I don’t have a specific timeframe on it. You know, depending on how well the proximity of the GMB was physically located when it was registered, compared to like the, you know, city center and things like that, that has a huge ranking factor that I found his location, right location of the GMB where it’s physically located. What I’ve experienced is that has a huge factor in how quickly it will rank. But we can do all the other things that we do. And it just varies it also I think, as I think it varies more depending on like how competitive it is, like how they the other people that are competing for that same term, or same terms in that same area, like how well they’re optimized with some type of age and authority that they have and that kind of stuff. Not that we can’t overcome that we certainly can. But it varies. So if it’s in a less competitive area is typically going to happen a lot quicker. If it’s in a more competitive area, it’s typically going to be slower. So it varies if that makes sense. So the one that would stand by one-moment market, the one that I’ll share tomorrow, D and the mastermind is like the third or fourth most competitive area for tree services. Why don’t know if it’s the most competitive, but it has the highest search volume, the third or fourth highest search volume for tree services in Virginia? And so I specifically wanted to target one of those higher competitive ones with a brand new listing to see if all of the stuff that I’ve been doing, which I’m talking about in the mastermind. If I apply those methods to a brand new listing, if I’m able to get the same type of movement in the same timeframe that I’m able to get with more aged GMB is that have already had a like a presence that you know, they’ve had an existing presence. So it’ll be a great case study to track and talk about in the mastermind. I’m sorry, Marco, what were you saying?

Yeah, I think you guys have heard my pitch to clients, 90 days give me 90 days to show results. Everything I do is results-driven. If I can’t show results within 90 days, with everything that we have in our arsenal, then our shit just doesn’t work, man. I just know from experience that it’s inside of 90 days. So that 90 days whatever that 90-day sandbox that people talk about what that is after 90 days and there are 180 days, you can force shit to go. You should start seeing movement within six weeks did the trick. Right meaning that your GMB will start telling you that and you should start seeing signals, visits to the website phone calls a lot of spammy Phone calls in the BNA this how you know because they’ll be the first one to first ones to find you the Yellow Pages people and all of these guys know HomeAdvisor relentless. So they will all find you. So you know, I’m starting to move up because I’m getting the spam calls and then the good calls start coming in, they actually help the spammy calls because Google sees that click to call on the number. So they’ll help you with that art. But then the phone calls start coming in. And then over time, it just starts to snowball. And all you have to do is just keep doing the same things that we talk about in the semantic mastery mastermind and in the Heave Hitter Club man.

Yep. And that’s, uh, you know, like I said, it’s, within 90 days is absolutely possible, I should have clarified that day. Like, again, my, I’m actually pitching that to prospects right now is guaranteed within 90 days in the three-pack cross a 25 square mile area, or your money back. So that just goes to show you how confident I am and being able to do it within 90 days. Does that make sense? I don’t encourage other people to do that unless you have that level of confidence. And right now I just, it’s crazy what we’re able to do.

Is It Worth The Effort For A Multi-location Business To Create A Syndication Network To Each City Location?

So. Anyway, moving on. Next question was, we only got a couple of minutes left, I want to try to complete these last few questions and comments. He says for a multi-location business, is it worth the effort to create a syndication network for each city location? Or, if not competitive, just create one syndication network for the main entity and have city categories in the blog, your thoughts? Anyone? That’s a great question D. I’ve covered that many times. And so yes, I absolutely have an opinion on that. And that, in my opinion, stick with one branded network, it’s so much less work. And you just completely power-up that network. You know, the branded network through link building and embed gigs over time. And if you’re, if you silo your site properly, whether you’re using categories, so traditional silo structure using WordPress categories, or using tags silos, in either case, you can do it because you get specific category feeds, plus you get specific tag feeds, RSS feeds that you can use to power up location-specific networks if needed. So to clarify, for multi-location businesses, or lead gen assets that I build, now I do one branded syndication network. And then I do exactly what you just mentioned, which is I’ll set up categories and either usually the way that I silo local sites is I do topical categories where service-based categories and then I with, with, with categories, and then I do location-based silos using tags. But what it does is it gives me the ability to, you know, publish content that is to targets each location by just placing it in either the proper category or tagging it correctly, if that makes sense. So that now I have silos, either category silos or tag silos that are all the content is optimized for that particular location. Does that make sense? And so again, that can all go out to one branded syndication network that you just juice, right, you just power that shit up. Over time, you can build a massive amount of power to a syndication network, where I will do location-specific syndication networks is if I have a particular location that just isn’t responding as well to having that, that the format that I just described, if it’s not responding as well to that as some are perhaps some of the other locations, then I might, I may go in and actually build a or, you know, have MGYB, build a specific local location-specific network for that. And in that case, then I would just publish content directly to that network-specific font. And by the way, you can cross-post into both, right? So for example, if you’re using a category, you can have the category RSS feed, feed, or trigger that one location-specific network, and you still have your content publishing to your main branded network. Does that make sense? So you could cross-post to both locations because it’s still the same brand, you just have a location-specific network, and you can do that using the category or the tag or RSS feeds. So, again, one network is so much easier to manage, that’s what I recommend. But if you have particular locations that aren’t responding as quickly as or as well to them as to the content marketing that you’re doing, then you can always build a location-specific to only do it as needed is what I’m saying. Okay, any comments on that?

That’s fine.

Okay, Aaron, by the way, I think Aaron is one of our new mastermind members. So if you were asking about the syndication Academy t-shirt, we were giving you we were joking around earlier, but if your mastermind member we will likely send you a mastermind t-shirt. We are still doing that, aren’t we on?

Correct? Yeah, if he’s not, if he hasn’t seen something about that, then just yet send an email to support at semantic mastery.com.

There you go. So Tony says thanks for a very comprehensive explanation, as always, really appreciate it. I guess they were different. So he was talking about the G site versus a GMB site. And then lastly, Tim says, okay, Jim, excuse me says Okay, thanks for the answer for a brand new sight? Are there any sort of timing issues for a full Seo? Shoot? I don’t. I haven’t experienced any of that. And because it takes about three weeks or so, roughly for it to be delivered? Well, depending on what you ordered, the SEO show could take a month because it’s the syndication network, then the ROI stack and G site, and then the IDX page. So about a month, I think, is that the correct market right now? About a month? Yeah, yeah, three, all components to be delivered. But I don’t wait, when I start a new project, it’s right off the bat. You know, I just ordered the SEO show. As soon as I have all, you know, all of the details ready for the order, then I ordered that shield because it does take some time. And there’s not really any timing issues for that, that I’m aware of. Is it best to let the site age a bit or get content onto it now, not really, just for the syndication network? And this is what we do at MGYB. And we teach this in syndication Academy. But that is when you first create those brand new accounts. It’s best to post content that wasn’t syndicated content, so post natively on that platform. And again, we do this at mg y b, we’ll go find a relevant article from the same platform. So for example, on blogger, we go find an article that is relevant to the topic that that blogger blog is that you know, the branded profile was supposed to be about, we go find an article on blogger and repost it onto the new blogger that was set up for that project. And then we link back give attribution to the source. That way it’s an internal link in blogger from one blogger blog to another blogger blog. So and then we allow that to sit usually for several days of we recommend about a week to let that kind of in, we call it seasoning, right? So network seasoning, we let it a season for about a week before we start automating posts through IFTTT, and then when you do start automating posts through IFTTT, start slow, do like one post per week. For the first maybe the first week, do one post and then the second week, maybe do two and then to whatever frequency of publishing that you ultimately are going to end up with. You just want to ramp it up kind of slow, so that you don’t get your networks terminated. That’s about the only extent of any sort of timing issues that I would worry about as far as the syndicate, drive stack, g site, Id page, all of that. There’s no need to wait. Any comments on that?

No. Okay,

I think we’re good then guys. Thanks, everybody, for hanging out mastermind webinar with me tomorrow for all of you in the mastermind if you’re not join, and we’ll see you guys next week. Thanks. Bye.

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 333 published first on your-t1-blog-url