#and cass’s dad was alive and she loved him & he loved her. but that is clearly not enough

[roseworth]

i think cass and duke both have (different) complicated relationships with whether or not they see bruce as their father (or even the bats as their family) but we’re not allowed to talk about that bc people would just use it as another excuse to exclude them

[casscainmainly]

if you had a graph with the x axis being from "doesn't view batman as a father" to "views batman as a father" and y axis being from "doesn't view bruce as a father" to "views bruce as a father", where would you put each batkid?

btw, i love your recent metas <3

This is such an interesting ask!! Here's my rendition of it:

I'm going to add a little reasoning because these are contestable!

Dick: I personally don't think Dick separates Bruce from Batman the way some other Batkids do. Even if he did, Dick has been with Bruce so long, is so steeped in both his vigilante and civilian lives, that he's Bruce's son in any identity. Their bond transcends any 'Bruce vs. Batman' division.

Tim: Similarly, I don't think Tim separates Bruce/Batman, especially since he came into his life knowing both identities. The reason he's lower than Dick is because Bruce wasn't his dad originally; I'm a little biased since I'm now reading Batman: Contagion, but the presence of Jack Drake in much of Tim's tenure as Robin prevents Tim from being as strongly attached to 'Bruce/Batman = dad' as Dick.

Cass: Of course Cass separates Bruce and Batman very clearly, as she does with many people, such as herself and Babs as Oracle. For the early part of their relationship she didn't know Bruce, nor did she care; Batman is her father, Bruce is just the guy Batman happens to be sometimes. (I think this is less true recently, but she still thinks of Batman first and Bruce second).

Damian: Struggled with him because he definitely thinks of Bruce as his dad under any name, but I do think it's Batman that matters to him. He is the 'blood son' but it's the Robin mantle that establishes his relationship to Bruce (Robin, Son of Batman, not Damian, son of Bruce). This may have changed recently with the current Batman and Robin run, but for the majority of Damian's time I think it's fair to say he thought of himself as the son of Batman, not Bruce. (He is not anti Bruce though, which is why he's not that low).

Jason: Jason for sure thinks of Bruce as his dad - the entirety of UtRH wouldn't have happened if Jason didn't believe to his core that Bruce loved him as a son. That belief is so strong that Bruce overshadows Batman, in a way. Jason spars with Batman on the moral front, but his conflict is ultimately always with Bruce, which is the name he consistently uses in UtRH. This is the one I'm least sure about though because I've not read lots of Jason's runs.

Stephanie: Like Cass, Stephanie didn't know Bruce at all, so a lot of her relationship to him is Batman-only. She definitely doesn't think of either Bruce or Batman as a father - her desire for Batman's approval has shades of him being a father-figure, but it never goes as far as an actual desire for a father-daughter relationship. The only reason she's higher than Duke is because of the somewhat complicated way he echoes a father (and she, to Bruce, echoes Jason).

Duke: Duke doesn't really care about Bruce, and he cares about Batman only as a mentor. He basically tells Bruce he's only useful as Batman; even then, Duke doesn't have a super deep emotional attachment to Batman. He also loves Doug, who's still alive (though MIA), and wouldn't replace him in any scenario. He explicitly calls Batman a 'mentor' and 'friend'.

These are just my takes, I'm sure there are other interpretations of every single one of these. It's one of those questions that highly depends on your preferred dynamics for the characters, where canon can go either way. Even if this is horribly incorrect, I hope it was interesting! Thanks for the ask <3.

[haveihitanerve]

Bruce makes it in time to get to Jason. But… is it enough to save him?

“Master Bruce-“ “I’m almost there Alfred.” Bruce bites back, almost breaking his wrist by how hard he twists the motorcycle accelerator. And he is. He can see the warehouse. Bruce lands, not even bothering to slow, leaping off the bike as it crashes into the trees and he sprints for the doors, terrified he’ll make it too late, that he won’t be fast enough for his son. The door slams open, Bruce not even bothering to check if it’s locked or not, just plowing it down, and hurries inside, spotting his son within a moment. Jason opens his eyes in surprise, mouth curving to form a perfect O. “Br- Batman.” He whispers, voice hoarse with disbelief. Bruce rushes to his side, cupping his cheek, cradling the boy- his boy, to his chest. “Jay. Jay bird. Jaylad. Hey firecracker. Hey bud.” Jason’s eyes fill with tears and Bruce does his best to wipe them away, to press a kiss to his son's forehead. “You came.” Jason whispers, tears clogging his throat. “Of course baby.” Bruce murmurs, rocking back and forth. “Of course I came, baby. I will always come for you. Always.” He presses another kiss to Jason’s head. “I love you son. I love you, I love you, I love you.” “I love you too-“ Jason rasps, but his eyes catch something on the wall behind him. “Dad, wait- the bomb-“ the explosion shakes the very earth, and Gotham seems to curl in on herself, screaming with a pain and rage that is unimaginable. In a basement cave in the middle of Gotham, a butler's hands go cold. A man, wearing a blue mask a city over, suddenly feels a chill sweep over him, and something inside him, probably his heart, feels like it’s been torn in two.

Their bodies are found, or at least what’s left of them, two days later, the larger man wrapped almost completely around the smaller, cradling his boy to his chest. Nightwing almost beats Joker to death and is only stopped by three others, all of which seem just as inclined to kill him, but resist. Gotham mourns, earthquakes shaking the ground, warehouses crumbling to dust, and Joker is found drowned in the harbor, the fishes whisper of a presence so old and strong even the biggest fish feared her, and Aquaman shudders. Gothamites mourn their fallen Prince and his adopted son, but Gotham mourns her prodigal sons, her children, her oldest and youngest, and cradles the last survivor to her chest, cloaking him in shadows and gifting him all the things she did not give the others, the things she thought they wouldn’t need so long as they had each other, the things she had not yet granted them ready for. She drapes them over the young, jaded hero, gifting him sight and smell and sound, allowing him to control her shadows and her streets and most of all… gifting him flight, the way his namesake first claimed, the way her firstborn child and her youngest were never able to. The Vulture takes to the Gotham skyline like a moth to open flames, perhaps a little less withdrawn with his punches, perhaps a little more protective of young boys, but belonging to Gotham all the same. The Joker stole something from her, and she will never allow it to happen again. The Vulture gains followers, friends, the Starling, the Goldfinch, the Owl, the Crow, the Cardinal, and Robin, all under Gothams protection, and she has him watch, from his watery prison, as they protect her, defend their city from the ilk like him, not giving in to their rage and revenge, but helping, rebuilding Gotham in his image. Their image. The man who saw hope, and his son. Batman and Robin.

(In case it was unclear, the three people pulling dick away from Joker are Babs, Kate and Luke, and then the Vulture is dick, and his friends, in order as listed, are Stephanie, Duke, Babs, Cass, Tim, and Damian. Also Gotham does kill Joker because she knows dick cannot but she also keeps him half alive, suspended in time, destined to drown for all eternity and watch as the bats succeed in honor of Batman the man he fought against.)

[justsomerandom-nerd]

Alfred taught Bruce how to drive and it was the worst experience of his life. He had less of a heart attack when Bruce decided to fight crime dressed like a furry.

Bruce tried to teach Dick but backed out after the car ended up wrapped around a tree. Dick was only fourteen but come on Bruce, you let me fight crime on a school night but you won’t teach me how to drive.

Alfred picked up the slack and within a couple weeks, Dick was a better driver than half of Gotham. There are no traffic laws in Gotham, so it’s not hard, per se.

Jason had the best understanding of how a car worked. He could barely reach the brake, but he could Hotwire a car in ten seconds flat and Alfred didn’t ask questions. Still, he needed hours to get his license, and Bruce wouldn’t just sign the form. (No Jason, driving the Batmobile doesn’t count.) He didn’t really need any guidance, he never so much as blew a stop light, and it was really just an excuse for them to talk. Jason died before he was old enough to get his license, but he had more than enough hours. Alfred has the log, crumpled and faded, stuffed in a box under his bed, signed, alongside Jason’s forgotten drivers permit. It’s got a little heart on it, he was a donor.

Tim learned to drive from Jack Drake, and Alfred almost regrets not getting to teach him. It was something he wanted to bond with him over. But then Tim goes to Alfred, sheepishly, can you teach me to drive standard? It only takes a couple sessions, and Alfred has a heart attack when they roll backwards, but they get a laugh out of it after. Tim’s not half bad at it, after all.

Steph is no protege. She never has been. Her mom is too shakey to drive, still recovering, and her dad, well it’s hard to teach a kid to drive from blackgate. She won’t ask Tim, he’s only fifteen, and Bruce she despises. But she needs hours and she needs someone to sign her log. Alfred agrees, a little hesitant, but hey, she needs help. It’s the first chance he gets to know her. They make a sudden stop, and her arm curls around her stomach, scared for a child that hasn’t been born. At some point she says, some days I have to stop myself from buying a car seat. I know if I did, I wouldn’t be able to let go.

Cass comes next, and it’s not like she’s never driven before. She’s just never driven with rules before. She blows past stop signs with shakey apologies, but he never yells. It takes her a couple days to get used to not driving like she’s in a high speed chase, and when she does, it’s so relaxing. She drives Alfred around Gotham on errands and they go out to lunch, and even when she has her license they make it a thing. She’s his only granddaughter after all, why shouldn’t they?

Duke isn’t half bad. Alfred shows him the ropes, and he’s a little more nervous than the others. Duke makes less mistakes, and finally, he relaxes. He points out places around Gotham he knows from being a kid living in the city, and Alfred hears how lovingly he speaks about it. They drive a lot at night since Duke patrols during the day, and Gotham at night is a very different story. It’s more alive. And Duke knows the streets like the back of his hand, because it’s his city. He belongs there, just as much as he belongs with the rest of the Waynes.

Damian is a difficult story. He’s known how to drive since he was a literal child, so he’s understandably pissed when Bruce still makes him get practice hours off the vigilante clock. Dick is conveniently stuck in Bludhaven, and Damian simply wants to get it done as soon as possible. Alfred is his second choice, the only person he can think of spending forty unbearable hours driving with. It’s quite pleasant, Alfred lets him pick the music and they bond over a love of classical music. Alfred’s errands take excruciatingly long but after, they grab lunch, and oh why don’t we stop and see the knew exhibit at the Gotham Art Museum. Damian spends hours ranting about his siblings and Bruce, and Alfred tells him stories of how insufferable Bruce was as a child.

(I just think it’d be funny if Bruce was like, I know you could drive at 11 but you should probably get your required hours in out of costume, but I’m busy and you’re grandpa wants to spend time with you)

[soleminisanction]

Do you think Tim would have been more angry at Steph for starting the war games if she survived/didn’t fake her death? Or do you think the fact that she tried to fix it in the end would absolve her of that blame a little bit in his eyes?

I always love your analysis btw! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the world

That's a good question. An interesting complication to the answer being: does canon Tim even know that Steph was responsible for for starting the War Games?

It can be hard to tell because certain people muddled the waters a lot (cough Brian Q Miller cough no-nothing wiki writers cough cough) but near as I've been able to glean from reading the comics, so far as most people in-universe were concerned, the blame for the War Games gang war fell on Batman's shoulders. There was a big publicity campaign during the War Crimes arc that followed that outed Steph as the girl Robin, but it painted her as a martyr and laid all the blame at Batman's feet.

Near as I could tell, the only people who actually knew Steph was involved with causing the war were Bruce, Selina, Black Mask, and Cass; and Bruce also blamed himself. The only person who ever really held Steph responsible was Cass.

So the question is, was Tim only not upset because he didn't know about Steph's involvement? Personally, I like to think that, if Steph had lived/not faked her death, she would've been open about her part, and that she'd continue the arc she showed in War Games of newfound awareness and understanding of how her actions affect others.

And if she did that, I think Tim wouldn't be angry. Hurt, yes. I think the whole mess of emotions surrounding those days, especially the fact that she became Robin in part to deliberately hurt him, would irrevocably damage their relationship to the point where they couldn't date anymore, and they'd need to spend some time apart. Tim would go off to Bludhaven with Cass after his dad dies, and Steph would go... somewhere else, away from Gotham, maybe with her mom, to recover and figure out her own way to move on after everything.

But the parting, I like to think, would be more sad than angry, a mix of remorse and hurt and being glad they're both alive and just... knowing they can't be around each other right now. That they won't be able to stand doing that again for a while.

Eventually, after a few months or years, they might get back to a point where they've worked through the grief and trauma enough to be friends again. And it'll be a different relationship than they had before, but it'd still be good. Or maybe they'd just stay apart from each other and live their own lives. You never know.

So yeah, bit of a ramble, but that's how I figure it'd work. Steph really does show her best character during War Games so I'm inclined to say that people who met her in the immediate aftermath, especially people who knew her before and could see how she'd changed, would give her the benefit of the doubt.

[bruciemilf]

There's no one, dead or alive, that knows Bruce quite as deeply as his children.

They have no idea how they could've possibly mossed the relationship between Bruce and Harvey's relationship. In retrospect, it was very in your face.

Dick should've known when he was 10, reassuring Bruce he'll get them out of Two-Face's evil crutches.

He didn't even bother tying them up! In fact, it was rather odd. No other rogue brought them to their penthouse, and patted his head.

(Maybe just Selina. ) Bruce didn't shed the Batsuit in favour of a huge shirt.

And none of them, certainly, cooked them pasta.

", -- And I would've beat you, by the way! I would've done a kick, and a backflip, and ohhh, I would've gotten you good!"

Harvey listens and nods along. He and Bruce share one of those secretive smiles. They looked so much like Mary and John in that moment.

-

Jason should've known when he was 12, idle and careless, swinging his feet on the batmbile's roof, "Told you it makes no sense to race with Flash."

"Not helping, Robin,"

Bruce isn't exactly an expert in being stern. He looks at Jason like he's made of porcelain, and speaks to him like he might bruise with just a word. It's sweet.

It was the way a familiar two-toned Cadillac pulled up next to them, with a grumbling Harvey holding a toolbox in a wifebeater and boxers with hearts on them.

It was between 3 and 4 in the morning, and there Harvey was, muttering low complains under his breath so Bruce won't hear him.

Still, he doesn't pull away from lips kissing his cheek as he gets to work.

"Hi! Harv, Hi! Look at this trick Dickie thought me! Harv you're not looking!"

"I am! Surprised that brat called..."

"Don't you say a word about our boy, Harvey Joseph Dent."

"No boy of mine is a PIG. "

-

Tim should've known; Out of all of them, he should've known.

In his defense, he was barely 7. No seven year old knows why their neighbour waited until all lights were off to sneak out of their own house, and dramatically run in the arms of Gotham's notorious fallen angel In a pink robe.

When he tells that, Harvey, head on Bruce's lap, smirks, " Your old man just couldn't stay away from me, Timbo."

"You said you'd bomb the national bank if I didn't have dinner with you."

"It worked, didn't it?"

-

Cass should be given some leniency.

People were difficult by themselves. They're even more difficult when they come in pairs.

She soon learns everything in Gotham is perfectly crafted to maintain a balance.

There's a script everyone must follow to the sharpest detail. In such circumstances, elements cannot live without the other.

Chaos needs Rogues. Rogues need Batman. Batman needs Hope. Batman needs Robins. Robins need love. Robins need Batman.

As she surveys the rows of seats at her show, looking at Harvey's arm thrown over her dad's shoulders, she knows Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent need eachother.

And Cass needs her father's happiness, in whatever shape it breaths.

[ultimate-marysue]

To all interested in toxic, dysfunctional Batfam/Bad or Abusive Dad Bruce I have a proposition of sorts. As much as I love a Bad Dad Bruce where the kids all comfort and help each other standing up to Bruce, I think it's more likely and more interesting if they're completely isolated and desperate for Bruce's approval.

(If this isn't your cup of tea ignore this post. I'm also a fan of Good dad Bruce and wholesome Batfam but I understand some people are only interested in one or the other and that's valid. There's space for everyone in this fandom. Also TW for discussions of psychological Child Abuse)

How abuse (especially the brand the comics accidentally depict at times and the fandom enjoys portraying) works is more complicated that a Mean Bad Guy and a bunch of sweet and adorable perfect victims that unionize together. You make your victims fight each other, you choose golden children and scapegoat kids to rotate between so none of them gets too comfortable. That creates friction and rivalry even on a subconscious level. You may know logically the abuser is the one creating the situation and yet your brain is annoyed whenever a sibling knocks you down in the Favor pyramid.

No one wants to be the scapegoat and when your abuser seems so big and inescapable, the only way to avoid it is pushing someone else under the bus. Not to mention how you believe their logic. When you're compared favorably to another sibling, you internalize said criticism as moral flaws that you're above off. Which makes you resent said sibling even more when they regain favor and you're left thinking "I did everything right, and yet this failure gets dotted on???!". It's the prodigal son parable, Cain and Abel.

I know this makes your fav character extremely morally grey but I find it fascinating. Like, Tim absolutely despising Jason for being a failure and a killer (victim blaming him), seething when he comes back to the family and Batman begs him to come to dinner because how dare he. Tim's done everything right and he doesn't get half the attention. How he tries to steal the spotlight from Damian, clawing at his role as Batman's side quick because that's all that's ever gotten him positive reinforcement.

Dick constantly compares himself to Cass because he was Batman's original partner, she doesn't get to come and suddenly be the apple of Bruce's eye. He thinks he's over the mind games, moving away and trying to encourage his brothers to raise above this nonsensical competition for Bruce's attention...and yet when it comes to Cass (the only one that threatens his status as Golden Child) he can't help but feel just as defensive as his siblings are with him.

Jason who claims to not need Bruce's love and yet is completely addicted to the intermittent reward of his affection. How he still resents Tim for making it a point to be Bruce's obedient little lapdog, how he still blames Dick for being too perfect to reach.

Damian who is constantly being compared to Tim. Perfect Tim who is so smart, and obedient and socially savvy. How do you get your father to approve of you when your competition is 1) The Original Boy Wonder 2) His most perfect and loyal soldier in the cause 3) The World's Most Dutiful Sidequick. He'll never be as great as Dick, as Devoted as Cass nor as obedient as Tim.

Cassandra knows she's the favorite, and even when Dick briefly usurps her place in Bruce's made up mental hierarchy she knows it won't last. She's too good, and that drives all of her insecure praise-starved siblings up the wall. She may not be purposefully mean, but the end result is the same.

Duke may be the only one escaping mostly unscathed. He's playing along with the whole family thing, but his real parents are alive, he's going back to them as soon as he fixes their situation. He's been in the system since they were jokerized and this is not his first encounter with this kinda dynamic so he's not engaging. He admires Bruce's work, but Batman was never his inspiration. There's no hero worship to blind and entice him, and that low-key scares Bruce. Which is why Duke also gets the golden child treatment, an instinctive attempt at winning him over.

Steph and Barbara often find themselves reeling from the shit they hear from the "Waynes". Because everything makes sense to their internal logic, but the second you talk to an outsider they feel the need to call CPS. I can see them arguing with Tim and Dick respectively and calling them out on the twisted way they talk about their siblings sometimes. Same with Cass.

These are just raw ideas, but I just think if you're going to play around with the concept of abusive Dad Bruce, you can enrich the analysis by reflecting on the consequences of said upbringing. It doesn't mean they can't talk things out and fix it, but acknowledging how abuse twists your brain can give depth to your interpretation. Victims aren't perfect martyrs, if you grow up in a fucked up environment you're gonna think fucked up things. And not all of those are self afflicted and cute, sometimes you're going to think very mean things about your fellow victims. And I'm not even bringing Alfred Sneaky Enabler Pennyworth into this, that's already its own post.

I'm not saying you should never write them banding together for comfort, I'm not even saying that this interpretation is canon (like, at all, it just isn't). I'm just saying I don't see enough of this idea and I wanted to share it.

[browniesarethebest]

What Would You Do?

A Reverse Batfamily fic

Summary: Chilling on a rooftop turns philosophical.

“Do you ever miss your parents?”

Jason blinked and looked over at Dick, who stared at the sky above them. They were lying on the roof of the Manor, stargazing as they snacked on some of Alfred’s cookies and drank hot chocolate. The blankets they were sharing kept the chill of the fast-coming autumn away. Jason thought they were having a nice time, getting away from their older siblings, but it seemed that Dick had other things on his mind.

“My dad? No. He sucked a lot, and good riddance. But my mom? She made a lot of mistakes, but she wasn’t a bad mom.” Jason bit his lip and looked back at the stars. “I miss her.”

Dick hummed, a frown marring his usually cheerful demeanor.

“...What about you?” Jason knew it was a dumb question to ask, but he hated the silence that had followed his answer.

“I miss them a lot,” Dick replied, pulling the blanket closer to his chin. “I miss them every day. Sometimes, I have dreams where they’re still alive, and then I wake up in the Manor really confused until I remember they’re dead. Then, I get sad.”

Jason’s grip tightened on the blanket, turning his knuckles white. This conversation was quickly heading into territory that Jason didn’t feel comfortable with. “Have you talked to Bruce?”

Dick sighed. “Yeah. He understands, but he also doesn’t.”

“How so?”

“He was raised by Alfred after, but Alfred had already been in his life. You guys… You guys weren’t.”

Jason waited for Dick to continue, his brow furrowing as the silence went on again. “...And?”

Dick remained quiet for a moment before speaking again. “Do you think… Do you think if Bruce had a chance to make it so that his parents never died, he would take it?” Dick continued before Jason could reply. “Because if he made it so they never died, he probably wouldn’t have met us.”

“What?”

“‘Cause if Bruce’s parents never died, he wouldn’t have become Batman. He wouldn’t have gone to train with the League of Assassins, so he wouldn’t have Damian. If Batman didn’t exist, he wouldn’t have met Steph or Cass or you. Timmy once said that Bruce sees himself in us, so would he have taken us in if that was no longer true? Where would we be now?”

“I—” Jason didn’t know what to say. This was definitely not something he had thought about, but now he couldn’t stop. Jason was only 14 years old, but it felt like he was having a midlife crisis at the moment.

Dick noticed his older brother’s panic and winced. “Sorry.”

“It’s—It’s fine.” Jason took a deep breath. “What exactly brought this on?”

Dick shrugged. “Just been thinking lately.”

“Have you talked to the others?”

“No, you’re the first person I told.”

Jason’s heart warmed at his brother’s trust in him, and he hoped he wasn’t breaking it with his reaction. “Thanks for telling me.” He swallowed nervously as he thought about Dick’s question. “I don’t know if Bruce would take the chance or not. I would hope he wouldn’t, but…” 

Dick’s question had hit a little too close to home with Jason’s insecurities. Jason knew that Bruce loved them, but did he love them more than his parents? The people he had idolized for the last 30-something years? Jason wished he could confidently answer that Bruce would choose his kids, but their adoptive father had always been a wild card.

Dick nodded at Jason’s silence. “Yeah.”

They fell into an awkward silence, ruminating as they stared at the stars, until Jason finally blurted out, “would you?”

Dick blinked and looked over at his brother curiously. “Would I what?”

“If you were given the opportunity to make it so that your parents never died, would you take it?”

“Oh.” Dick went back to looking at the sky. Jason could see him fiddling with the blanket, though his expression was contemplative. He squashed down the urge to pick at the blanket as he waited.

The silence went on long enough that Jason was about to tell his brother nevermind when Dick spoke again. “If you had asked me three years ago, I would have said yes. My parents and the circus were my whole world, but I’m forgetting things now.” His voice trembled, choking with tears, and Jason took his hand. His younger brother gave him a wobbly smile. “It’s harder to remember what they sounded like or how they laughed. How exactly their arms felt when they gave me a hug. What they smelled like. It’s going away, and I can’t stop it.”

Dick swiped at his eyes. “But now I have you guys. I can smell Alfred’s hot chocolate. I can hear the sound of Damian’s pencil as he sketches in the living room. I feel the warmth of my second family surrounding me as we fall asleep during movie night.” He squeezed Jason’s hand. “I can’t give it up. I can’t live in a world where I don’t have you guys anymore. I think my parents would understand.”

Jason rolled over, pulling his brother close and pressing their foreheads together. He was fighting back his own tears as he listened to Dick’s speech, moved by the love his younger brother had for them. “I can’t imagine a world without you guys either. I miss my mom, but I think she’d understand too. I think she’s happy I found a good place with good people.”

Dick wrapped his arms around Jason in a tight hug before letting go and rolling back to look back at the sky again, smiling wryly. “Thanks, Jay. Sorry for bringing the mood down. I’m usually the one bringing it up.”

Jason hummed. They fell back into silence as they watched the stars, but it didn’t feel awkward or tense this time. Jason was just starting to fall asleep when he heard a shout from further down the roof. He jolted up and found Stephanie climbing up, their other siblings close behind.

“Hey, squirts! Having a party without us?”

Jason was slightly annoyed that their hangout was being interrupted—this was supposed to be for just the two of them—but it subsided when he saw the smile break out on Dick’s face. His little brother had been far too gloom and doom, and if this was what it took to cheer him up, Jason would let it slide. He called out to his oldest sister, “yeah, but it’s no dorks allowed!”

“Damn.” She turned back to the others. “You hear that? Sorry, Tim. Damian. You’re not invited.”

Tim rolled his eyes as he climbed onto the roof. “And what about you and Cass?”

“Not dorks,” Cass replied as she appeared behind him, ruffling his hair.

“I am not going back down,” Damian said, the last to make it onto the roof.

Jason’s older siblings crowded around, laying out their own blankets and pillows. He grumbled but was quickly appeased with refills of Alfred’s hot chocolate and cookies. They all piled together with Dick and Jason in the middle. He wasn’t sure if the others had sensed the mood when they came up, but their close proximity and warmth seemed to ease his baby brother. Even Jason couldn’t help but sink into the comfort of his siblings as Stephanie and Damian argued about personal space.

Jason and Dick didn’t share their conversation with their brothers and sisters, and they didn’t ask. Maybe Dick would open up to them more in the future about his fears, but that could wait.

Jason reached out and took Dick’s hand. The younger boy looked over, shooting Jason a small smile.

Even if Dick did open up to them in the future, Jason would take satisfaction in being the one that Dick came to first.

[asummersday]

Share some more ROTTMNT headcanons?

the hamatos have movie nights and board game nights. there’s no schedule for them, sometimes someone will go “movie night tonight?” or will text the gc “board games? i’m feeling some murder mystery tonight” and that’s how it goes. everyone participates. even splinter, and he complains but only to put on a show. he enjoys it. they play uno, clue, game of life, they play new and old games, play the ones they like more often, and throw out ones that suck. donnie has a spreadsheet for it (of course he does). mikey and splinter, surprisingly, are fucking RUTHLESS during monopoly. the wins are always tied between the two and that one time leo won by complete accident (thats what he says. donnie doesn't believe him ONE BIT because his twin is a lying liar who lies). everyone loves monopoly just because the chaos and the backstabbing is the most entertaining part.

mikey had a “copy everything donnie does/eat/likes” phase and leo had a “copy everything raph does/eat/likes” phase. (i am a firm ‘leo is the younger twin’ truther)

april an leo are face mask and skin care routine besties. she’s the reason he even KNOWS what both of these things are. she’s also the reason he even makes his dumb puns, because SHE makes them (and 9y/r leo was smack in the middle of his ‘copying his big bro’ phase. it extended to april, who basically became his big sister). donnie constantly tells her he still has not forgiven her for that (jokingly)

Lou Jitsu was ABSOLUTELY Sexiest Man Alive at one point i'll tell you that

donnie’s eye starts twitching when he’s annoyed (mostly when leo annoys him). it happens so often that it starts twitching when leo isn't even in the same room and donnie will go “leo's doing something stupid again”

leo doesn't fall asleep easily but when hes a sleep my mans ASLEEP. nothing can wake him up. hes usually a light sleeper but when he hasn't slept in 3+ days and passes out at 12:30pm on the couch? he's literally dead to the world. his brothers take FULL advantage of this. stacking food/objects? yes. drawing on his face/arms/legs etc? for sure. mikey paints his shell sometimes. he once painted all of starry night without leo waking up once.

raph is wary of cass when she first joins, but when they find how many interests they share, they become almost instant best friends. they're inseparable and hang out all the time its amazing. everyone is terrified of them because they've seen how violent their sparring sessions get.

mikey watched lilo and stitch when he was like 5 and instantly zeroed in on the whole ‘voodoo spoon’ thing and tries to do the same thing. his dad and raph are extremely concerned (and slightly off-put. mikey was a weird child)

when he was younger, he had a terrible case of separation anxiety. it gets better as he grows older, and then comes slamming back full force after the krang. if his brothers aren’t in his immediate sights, he will just. panic. it takes… too long for him to stop having panic attacks when he wakes up and one or two of his brothers aren’t present (especially leo. he latches onto leo the longest after. it takes nearly as long as leo’s recovery does for mikey to be able to sleep without leo in the same room)

splinter, the old sap, actually has hundreds of pictures of his boys growing up. so much that he has dozens of photo albums spanning the years. you can tell exactly when april shows up in their lives because one day she’s not there at all and the next its like he got a fifth kid. he loves leafing through them on occasion, reminiscing and definitely not crying. not all the albums survived the shredder, but enough did to still recount the years. after the invasion, splinter moves the albums from his room and into a shelf in the living room. (hes caught his kids more than once poring over the books, either alone or huddled together on the floor. he always leaves, allowing them this moment alone.)

[whentheleavesfallfromtheoak-blog]

my thoughts on unraveled!!

i liked it :) spoilers under cut

okay first off, dex never made keefe a panic ring?? INSANE. I thought they were friends now :( then like also how at Disneyland he wants to get dex a pin like aww so sad :( also Keefe is sooooo down bad for Sophie I love it. he's yearning and delusional just like I was praying for him to be. thank you Shannon. not thankful about the fox though. i really really wish it'd played a bigger part I mean come on! I thought it'd be like they walk around together like Keefe would have some company on his searches in london it coulda been soo nice ugh

cass paintings were crazy. high-key low-key really wish we got to learn more about this. Convo with Keefe's dad was also crazy. when did he become helpful? tbh I dont hate him as much now but like a lot. the painting thing really helped humanize (elvenize?) him. still a bad dad though :/ also the hot Cheetos omg Keefe is just like me fr. AND him thinking abt Fitz??? LOVED. I missed their friendship so badly and didn't even realize omg

Alvar return was insane. not to brag but I did think he was probably alive but in the lost cities??? would never have guessed! I do feel a little disappointed, just because I'd been hoping for Keefe to make friends with humans which never really happened. still, I guess it needed to be another elf for him to work on his abilities. speaking of: I feel like Shannon kinda blew past the voice control part of keefe's new abilities. I was expecting for him to learn how to use it and stuff instead of just pushing it down. I wonder if that's part of why his empathy is like messed up now that I think about it. also like alvar getting his ability back is crazy. kinda makes me nervous for him though cause he could get caught! he'd have to have like really good control with it and be super super careful

loved the stuff in Australia :) Eleanor was definitely unexpected, I really really really wish she'd explained her dads stuff or like literally ANYTHING. but whatever. maybe shannon will tell us in 10! ooo if she ever does spin-offs I would def read Eleanor's. and Cassius'. and Grady's. actually like most of the characters now that I think about it

Taylor swift mention was cool I guess but I'm kinda upset about the timeline now it was supposed to be like 2015 and its not! I'll get over it I guess but...

and then finally the bonus chapter!!! not much to say lol but I love them so much they're so silly and nervous it was so cute and amazing to read again! I remember when I read that bit in stellarlune I was literally kicking my legs and twirling my hair. I love them!

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 12/13 A Moonar Yulenear Miracle

Welcome back to Fantasy High where last week, I was MIA because I was on a girls trip–a reason I think the Bad Kids would very much approve of. 

Luckily, we can easily gloss over what we missed in a quick series of bullet points because, while it was an absolute banger of an episode (eat your dice Brennan!), it was fairly straightforward plotwise:

The Bad Kids were dropped into a creepy, dreamlike version of Mordred Manor which was created by a semi corrupted Cassandra who was trying to create a safe place for the Bad Kids to escape but having her intentions warped.

The Bad Kids did a fetch quest, fighting monsters and dodging Baron while they found the pieces of the pride armor curse. Once they got them together, they had a hefty piece of free infernal magic that Adaine could use as a spell component for a major thing–maybe even freeing Lydia from Bakur.

Cassandra assured Kristen that as long as Kristen is alive and believes in the Cass version of her, she can’t be fully corrupted (which is seemingly what Baron was trying to do–kill Kristen so Cass could comeback as his “stark father” the Nightmare King)

Cass also sent Kristen images of her wedding–where she got Kalina as a kitten as a present. Kalina once again reiterated that Ragh is the only name she can say before breaking her own neck so she wouldn't attack Kristen. 

Got it? Good. We reconvene with the Bad Kids as they’re escaping this briefcase dimension and all of their loved ones are calling out for them, but they all decide to take a brief detour to hell to get some answers about the pride armor first–just what every parent wants for their kids! Adaine stores the infernal energy in the Sword of Sight and Planeshifts everyone to hell.

They pop into Fig’s Hellish Recording Studio and slurp down some boiling hot grapefruit seltzers before recruiting Baby to help them find the research books they need. Baby trashed them all and, unfortunately, it’s trash day so they all have to book it as the dump truck ambles towards the dumpster. It looks like it’s gonna be a close call but then–BLAM! The dump truck is vaporized by a plume of fire from the Goldenhoard! Yup, Bill Seacaster is here and he’s tattooing one of those cheesy bumper stickers onto his ship's ass: My son is a Maximum Legend at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. He got Fabian’s message after all! 

Father and son are delighted to see one another but there’s still a lot of research to do so Kristen goes dumpster diving for books. She gets a 25 Religion and then a 20 (not nat) History while Adaine gets a 22 History and Riz gets a 27. Here’s what they collectively learn about the armor they came to research:

The sin armors were collected by Gorthalax as trophies for his hall.

Each was created by a different infernal deity to punish a mortal for the associated sin.

The armor of Pride was created to punish an elf named Athrenriel.

The Armor allowed him to win tons of battles but every battle ruined his reputation and the happiness of his family.

Eventually someone gave away the armor (maybe directly to Gorthalax, it’s unclear) but that caused the curse to move to the bloodline of the family itself and it’s been passed down patrilineally since.

The curse is known as the “curse of humiliation” and it usually affects the oldest boy in the family once their dad passes–which is why Gilear was a stud as a younger man and then he morphed into the yogurt man we all know and love. 

The best that they can tell, some combination of Gilear putting the armor back on and Fig calling for the power in the Night Yorb fight/being an archdevil had some weird magical effect that pulled the curse back onto the bloodline and got her involved despite her not being blood related to Gilear. 

This is just my interpretation but what makes the most sense to me is that because the armor was meant to help you win battles at the expense of your family’s rep, once Gilear put on the armor and rebooted the curse to its default state, he got really lucky and Fig, as his family, suffered for it. 

Anyway, the party catches up Bill on the whole Kipperlily situation (he thinks Kristen should just kill her and Kristen isn’t NOT thinking about it), the shrimp jump, and the Cloud Rider (which he doesn’t know much about but he does use it as an opportunity to teach Fabian a fun way to threaten his banker). He also gives them all guns–much to Adaine’s delight.

Fig remembers that she has to figure out her pact and asks Bill, a Warlock patron himself, for help with that. He’s happy to help her cheat at school and for 40 gp (borrowed from Fabian of course) writes her an agreement on the back of one of his crewmembers and flays it off (nobody liked that). Somehow, I don’t think Zara–who wouldn’t even let her be a Warlock of Cassandra because that didn’t feel right–is gonna let this slide but hey, it’s not my grade in jeopardy here. 

On Kristen’s suggestion, Fabian also gets a touchup on his Maximum Legend neck tattoo. He barely manages to stay conscious (truly so barely–Riz is so anxious about Bill using a dragon-sized tattoo gun on him that he gives Fabian disadvantage while trying to be supportive) but with the help of his friends he succeeds and, for his troubles, he now has a gold tattoo that allows him to safely handled cursed gold–no more dragon madness for him!

That super important business out of the way, the group splits up. Fabian and Gorgug stay with Bill so Bill can prove a point about the wisdom of buttering up ramps (just go with it) while everyone else goes further into the Bottomless Pit to continue investigating the armors of sin–this time in person. There are high rolls all around so here are the highlights again:

The Armor of Pride looks elven in design but it also feels fundamentally infernal. Riz wonders if that means it’s something maybe summer Eladrin related and Brennan says that would check out.  

The other armors don’t really feel seasonal in any way (the Lust armor is a full Gimp suit lol).

When Riz turns on Detect Good and Evil, he can see the weird rune from the dead bodies on the Pride Armor which now also pings as the word Anakarna. It’s the arcane mark on the armor which means that Ankarna is the one who made this armor. 

As he does this scan, he gets a call on his Spy Kids watch–it’s his dad! Just like Fabian, he’s super thrilled but he tries to keep it profesh. His dad (Pok Gukgak, secret agent angel) is understandably concerned that his son is randomly in hell as well as the fact that a god whose name hasn’t been said in a thousand years just had their name pinged by angelic spy tech (the necktie Riz used to cast the spell–all info gets routed back to the home office in heaven). Riz explains everything and his dad offers to help if there’s anything they want him to look up. They ask him to look up Athenriel and Ankarana and Pok is able to do that because he’s freed from the bonds of Oblivati Mori since they found the name themselves. So that’s a new fact we just learned: O.M. applies to celestial and infernal agents too, not just gods themselves. With Pok no longer bound by celestial silence, we get a bunch of info about Athenriel:

He wasn’t a follower of Ankarna as far as they know.

He’s older than the Court of Stars (the government of Falinel).

He’s not in any of the heavens they know of.

He was a druid and built many of the standing stones in Falinel (very probably including  the one they triggered two episodes ago. 

Gilear is related to him patrilineally. 

They also tell Pok about Kalina and Spy’s Tongue Curse and Riz asks Ragh if he’s under that with anyone. Ragh says no adamantly but Pok points out that he wouldn’t be able to say yes even if he was. Pok says that in order to get around a Spy’s Tongue Curse situation, the best strat is to find someone just slightly outside of the group of covered people to get you in the right direction and here’s where I want to cut in really quickly to drop the piece of info from Sophomore Year that I said recently was a loose end which was bugging me and might be relevant. This is a screengrab from the recap I did of SY Ep 4:

So that’s suspicious as hell and also a possible reason that Kalina would want to say Ragh’s name to alert the Bad Kids to someone else. Anyway, back to the story in progress, Riz wonders if Athenriel is Bakur and asks his dad if there's anything connecting the armor being cursed and the Ankarna being corrupted/if Ankarna had a previous form. Pok starts looking it up and is a little confused because Ankarna’s file is a bit weird. It says she (we get the pronoun she in this ep so I’ll be using it now) is associated with the 9 Hells and it says that she doesn’t have any active divine domains (which isn’t weird because she’s dead) but the file is corrupted so he can’t see what the domains are supposed to be (though it seems like there are multiple). 

Riz thinks that maybe Sol could have pulled some shenanigans to snag the sun domain for himself and Pok lays down some facts about gods. Gods–even good ones–are playing a different game from everyone else. They have to when their very existence depends on having worshippers. And gods generally hate collabing with a deity that shares their domain because they were explicitly the competition. 

As they’re having this conversation, they’re exiting the pit and they make it in time to watch Bill hurl Gorgug up a giant ramp in some kind of insane and ultimately inconclusive science experiment. Pok says hi to him via the watch and they make quick plans for Bill to sell criminal secrets to heaven in exchange for gold (what is he even spending it on???? It’s hell!!!). Fig asks one last important question. Is this a Night Yorb situation? Now that the cat’s out of the bag, is it OK to say Ankarna’s name? Pok says it should be fine. The only problem will come if anyone actually starts worshiping her. (Did you hear that Fig?) 

Kristen Planeshifts everyone out of hell before Fabian has a chance to say goodbye to his dad (entirely for the bit) and all of their parents are so relieved that they’re OK. Gilear is even more excited when he learns that his good luck has been nullified and his life can suck again. He feels at peace being back in his comfort zone and firmly believes that he doesn’t deserve good luck AND the best daughter in the world. Fig is worried that Hilariel might leave him now that his luck is bad again but Hilariel was into him BEFORE his glow up so they’re all good. Possibly better than just good if Adaine’s teasing prediction of a baby on the way is more than a bit (Fabian demands she undo it with a div roll and plans to give Gilear a vasectomy with his sword). 

Lydia rolls up and asks what the hell happened because Bakur just tried to jailbreak harder than he has in ages. They start filling her in and offer to try the ritual they talked about in an earlier ep but she says they’ve been through a lot and it’s Fantasy Christmas tomorrow so they should get some rest first. Riz asks if Tracker is OK and they confirm that she and Nara both are when they give her a call. Zayn and Aelwyn are also both fine. Tracker and Nara were, as Fabian suspected, thrown out of the circle as protection by Gal from the pride armor situation. 

Kristen explains to Tracker everything about Ankarna and the corruption and Bakur. Tracker is honestly really sympathetic to Adaine saying the name out loud and triggering everything in a, “Well if you find a dead god’s name you GOTTA say it” kind of way, like it’s as irresistible as popping bubble wrap. 

They talk to Gorthalax who, surprise surprise, ALSO was being tongue tied by Oblivati Mori and can now spill some info. Lotta helpful dads in this episode! Here’s what he’s got:

Ankarna wasn’t a fiendish entity to start with. She fell, just like he did (you’ll recall Gorthalax went from being an angel of temperance to a devil of gluttony). He doesn’t know what her deal was exactly pre-fall though (which seems to be a running theme).

Post fall, she was all about rage and fire and conquering and Bakur was her right hand. Unlike her, Bakur wasn’t Celestial previously.

She had a set of scales that she turned into a warhammer (sounds like justice to war–also, doesn’t Porter have a warhammer? Suspicious).

She took artifacts from other pit fiends about conquest to study them which Gorthalax says is a super weird thing for a god to do. 

Bakur referred to her as a “Mistress to her people” which Gorthalax also finds weird because, generally speaking, gods are more the ones making requests not taking requests as she seemed to be doing (the Bad Kids think this might mean there was an as above, so below situation where her followers morphed her into what she is now).

She was very touchy about her relationship status and once almost merc-ed someone who made a pass at her and had a snide comment about her being married still.

Before everyone goes to bed, Tracker checks in with Kristen and offers to help in any way she can. Kristen asks her to ask Gal about Ankarna and her OG domain and Tracker promises to follow up–now that Oblivati Mori is out the window, she can bring it up during their weekly Zoom meeting no problem. Tracker, like Pok, warns Kristen to be careful to avoid allowing this goddess followers and belief because now that this name is out there, it’s only a matter of time. (FIG, ARE YOU LISTENING???) Kristen thinks maybe it wouldn’t be that bad if they can revert this goddess back to her original, presumably less destructive domain.

While the above conversation was happening, Nara was around so Adaine steered her away from it from getting her to take her and a disguised Aelwyn (“Roma Childa” which Fig shoots down with bazooka level force) to the Court of Stars where her dad apparently works (Note: Her parents are supposed to be clerics, right? I guess they just have no separation of church and state in Falinel, lol). Adaine tells these immortal elves with no concept of finances that she can’t afford to be the Elven Oracle and she’s tapping out because she’s working as an ice cream waitress to scrape together enough money for her basic needs. Nara both vouches for her skills as an adventurer and asks her dad to let her have the 10 barrels of diamonds that are just lying around their house that they don’t have any use for. After briefly clarifying that she (Adaine) was *not* in fact declaring war on Falinel (exhausting, high elves are exhausting), the Council says they’ll convene in a month to discuss whether Oracle should be made a paid position. Their first thought is lawyers but Adaine gets it changed to a dance battle and she gets Fabian assigned as her champion. Fabian agrees, though the text asking him if he’s down stops him from completing his sword vasectomy on Gilear. Better luck next time buddy. 

The next day, it’s the Moonar Yulenear and game time re: the gem in Lydia’s chest. Adaine is going to use the energy in her sword plus Contact Other Plane to make a viewing screen to talk to Bakur. With the spell, they get 5 questions and, of course, being the Bad Kids, they immediately waste two just asking “Sup?”. Riz yells at everyone except for Adaine (and maybe him) to shut up and the real questioning begins.

With their first proper question, they ask Bakur if he was Athenriel. He says yes. They guessed it in one. Second question: What was Ankarna’s previous domain before she was all about conquest? He starts crying scalding tears at hearing her name–the kind of crying that you do when you haven’t heard a loved one’s name in a really long time. He says she was the goddess of giants, long days of plenty, clarity, discernment, judgment, justice, righteousness, clarity, and the conviction to act with the force of the sun. So a serious slide from pretty chill to pretty intense. He also says that her sister was the light of her life and that she was fiercely protective of her. Final question: Was Sol involved in Ankarna’s corruption? Bakur, instead of answering, asks a clarifying question: Do they mean Sol himself or his followers?

At that, Adaine has to make a Charisma save. With help from her friends (including Gorgug’s new Flash of Genius Artificer ability) she just barely makes it. Bakur is going off about gods and followers and weapons and who wields who and Lydia is starting to not feel good so Adaine shuts down the connection right away. Lydia has to make a save and also just hangs on so it’s time for that gem to come out of her chest. 

When they reveal that they have the power to get the gem out properly, Lydia is taken aback and Ragh is in tears, soulfully pleading that they do anything they can to help, and of course they do. Adaine uses the energy stored in her sword from Fig’s curse to gold-seal the gem so it’s no longer in contact with Lydia’s skin. Inside the gem, Bakur reverts back from devil form to being a high elf that looks a lot like Gilear and is terrified of yogurt. 

Fabian volunteers to do impromptu surgery because he has the new anti-cursed gold tattoo and clearly the dice know he’s not anything close to a trained medical professional because he rolls TWO NAT ONES and KILLS LYDIA. But luckily, there’s no I in Team and the other Bad Kids are there to bail him (and, more importantly, Lydia) out. Adaine swoops in with a 13 Portent roll so she doesn’t just pass away on the spot and then Kristen, surprise surprise, casually pops out a Nat 20 to remove this enormous, chronic, burden from Lydia. Saint Kristen does it again. 

Lydia, free from the need for her constant rage for the first time in years, instantly falls asleep. Fabian keeps the gem because of his cursed gold immunity and Adaine uses Nystul’s Magic Aura to make it magically ping as an empty palimpsest to anyone who’s being nosy. 

And with that Fantasy Christmas Miracle, vacation is over and we move into downtime.

Fabian first!

First Track Popularity: 18. Wild success.

Second Track Bard: 23: A+ AND Brennan lets the Dance Battle for Adaine be a school project so he crushes his competition and gets her salaried! Even though he’s wildly wealthy and doesn’t need more money, Adaine declares him her champion for all future dance battles and demands that the position comes with a stipend as well. He’s named the Oracle of Dance and Adaine gets her extra credit from predicting that he becomes the future of dance. Way to pay off a bit.

Third Track Owlbears: 27. Big success!

Fourth Track Fighter: 32. Another A+!

Fifth Track Job: You might be wondering what a job roll is for Fabian since he’s, as I said before, fabulously wealthy. Well, he’s keen to threaten his banker life his dad showed him and with help from Fig as backup (and Adaine telling him where the banker is hiding) shakes him down. Brennan, who I assume is making this up on the spot, says that it’s written in Fabian’s trust contract that he gets a 200 gp advance every time he finds and threatens his banker. Adaine offers to locate him every day if Fabian will split the gold with her. Fig is down to tag along for free.

Adaine’s next–though we’re not going to resolve all of her rolls this episode. 

Now that she’s getting paid, she gives Basrar her two week’s notice and he’s sad to see her go but happy that she’s doing well. Adaine says that she’ll maybe come back to get a summer job for fun and he gives her a Fudgie the Whale cake to celebrate. Aelwyn’s sister senses go off and she can instantly sense that Adaine is having a nice thing without her. Adaine, who wanted to stuff her face with ice cream cake in private, is baffled at her non-divination specialist sister’s sudden supernatural intuition, but invites Aelwyn over to have cake with her. 

Also, with the Oracle job being paid now, Adaine gets to roll 2d10 GP and even if she fails her Oracle track, as long as she rolls for it, and her financial situation will count as Well Off which is great because it was really screwing with her school rolls to not have her finances in check.

First Track Wizard: Dirty 20. A+! And without having to worry about her supplies, she now has time for research and projects and stuff. 

Second Track Spells: This is a wizard mechanic that allows her to get new spells from her spellbook. With Help from Boggy, she rolls high enough to get a new 7th, 6th, 5th, and 4th level spell!

Third Track Mystery: She wants to Investigate Kipperlilly and on an 18, Brennan says that they’ll resolve this at the end of downtime, but she’s starting to put together where their hideouts and meetup stops are. Let’s put a pin in that until next episode. 

Fourth Track: Relaxation Fabian is surprised and honestly adorably thrilled when Adaine shows up at his little relaxation nurse spa day thing. And, this time, it actually takes! Adaine is able to relax so well that she removes 2 stress tokens (which allows her to get rid of two negative stat effects–she’s now down to only 1 stress). I guess money solves all your problems after all. 

[NOTE: Relaxation is supposed to be your last track but, in the AP, Brennan lets Shiv roll Oracle track and she gets a NAT TWENTY. Brennan flavors this as her issuing a ton of new prophecies while she’s at her spa day, haha.]

She closes off her downtime rolls with a sweet scene with Jawbone where she’s finally able to open up to him about the trouble she’s been having because she’s fixed it herself. Jawbone really wants her to know that she can come to him with problems and that she doesn’t have to fix things herself and when she says she likes solving her own problems and that she can still get discounted ice cream for everyone since Basrar let her keep the discount, Jawbone gently rebuffs her. He’s the adult, he buys the ice cream. (And Aelwyn steals the ice cream. Adaine catches her creating a portal to steal more whale cake from the mini fridge because she’s a menace even when she’s not actually there).

Finally for the episode, we move on to Kristen who is back in cleric class after a harrowing break and, as she steps into the classroom she sees an even more harrowing sight: In an all white suit with a Kentucky-fried silver tongue is the new Cleric teacher. None other than Buddy’s grandfather–Bobby Dawn. 

Detention*

Fabian for Killing Lydia

I mean, come on? Double Nat ones? My guy. 

Honor Roll

Kristen for Saving Lydia

The reason Kristen can be such a chaos generator is because and everyone just deals with it is because, at the end of the day, she’s also the best cleric ever hands down. Honorable mention to Adaine for her arcane assistance. 

*I want to give Bobby Detention just for existing but I’m gonna wait for him to do actually do something out of pocket. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll have to wait very long. 

Random Thoughts

Just a few quick notes this week! I haven’t been including this section consistently because I tend to get a lot of my random thoughts out in answering asks that people send me and also I’ve been so busy that by the time I get to the end of the actual recap I’m often like, OK I’m done, lol. But I wanted to take a few minutes this week to include a few thoughts.

Love Pok being just not happy that Adaine has a gun but not being able to say anything because his son is literally wielding his gun. Also lol at Murph saying, “It feels less weird when you call it an arquebus.” That’s why I love referring to it as a glock whenever I can.

I didn’t mention it in the recap proper but, in case it matters, Fig uses her blood to create a…Copy? Clone? Child? Romance Partner?...for Baby named Baby Baby. Truly not sure what their deal is. 

Riz has a thought about whether they can use the power of music to uncorrupt Ankarna and, honestly, not even remotely the craziest possible idea. They have a rockstar on the team and last season a viral shrimp party was an important strategy.  

As much as Fabian is protesting, I think he’d make a great big brother. Also, he’d have a full house again! I think he knows deep down he’d be the most ride or die big bro ever. Did you see how outraged he was last ep upon hearing her hurt Adaine?

I wonder if Gal throwing her clerics out of the circle had more to do with the general badness of the pride armor or her recognizing Ankarna’s mark specifically. Glad Tracker is going to question her. I think they should be exploring all their godly options at this point now that OM is gone. Hell, Kristen should try and ask Helio if he’s still taking her calls. 

We need eyes back on the Rat Grinders ASAP. I’m glad Adaine took initiative there because we still have so many loose ends with them. We did a lot of macro investigating this ep but I’m itching to find out about the BS happening closer to home. What is Kipperlilly up to? Why did Ivy react the way she did to seeing “Lucy”? Is Oisin evil or not and can Adaine date him? All equally important questions. 

If Brennan bided his time and let Emily rage about Porter for two seasons only to lull her into a false sense of security and reveal that he was involved in secret machinations this whole time I’m gonna laugh so hard. 

[ohmotherwhereartthou-if]

Me and my friend love your story. We can't wait for chapter 2. I saw this on another interactive fiction blog but how would the romantic interests react catching their kid sneaking out while they are a teen to see their lover.

Hello,

Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you and your friend like it. 💙

I'm working away on act 2, we are getting there. 😉

Now unto your ask,

Cassandra: Ooh they are so dead lol. She would totally be the type to be sitting in a chair, in the dark waiting for them to creep through. She is so damn mad but won't yell, she sounds very calm; which makes the whole scenario even more terrifying. In classic Latina mom fashion, you are never too old for a ass whooping and I expect that is exactly what they are about to receive. Grounded for 4 months at least. After she has called down she will give them a very serious "I am very disappointed with you" talk, she expects better behavior from her children and while she will always love them, she will not tolerate being lied to.

Cass: ...

Kid: ...

Cass: ...So, who's the guy/girl?

Valeria: Laughs at the theatrics and tells them they should know better than to try and keep secrets from the nosiest woman alive. The only punishment they are getting is her dragging them to the table and having to tell her all the details. Why did you think you needed to hide this from her? Are you embarrassed? Who's the lucky guy/girl? No wait, let her guess... She then proceeds to list literally everyone she knows her kid has ever talked to. The whole conversation is very painful, for the kid; Valeria is having the time of her life.

Tomás: Ouch. He is very hurt, you can see it clearly on his face. Why did they hide this from him? This is the equivalent of lying to him, he takes that very personally. He is quiet for a moment and I think the kid would be too, once he gathers his thoughts his voice is quiet but firm, "Just... go to your room. Please."; he decides to handle this in the morning, after spending most of the night awake brooding and taking comfort cuddling with MC. He feels like he failed as a dad if even his own kids feel like they need go lie to him. If the kid is a boy he will have a father-son conversation with him in the morning, talk about how he doesnt need to lie and how to know your with the right girl and all of that. If he has a daughter, God help the idiot who convinced her to sneak out; as soon as Tomás finds out who is trying to woo his baby girl away from him he is killing the little bastard.

-

Ludovica: Heartbroken her kid thinks they need to hide anything from her. She wants to be their confidant, somebody they can always confide in, with anything. This shows that her child doesn't feel this way about her and this just breaks her heart. Definitely cries and asks MC to handle the situation but to not too so harsh on them.

Aurelio: Smirks and acknowledges that they are definitely his kid. He makes a big show pretending that he is mad when he really is not, he chastises them and says they are in so much trouble! As he promptly drags MC front in center saying "As you mother/father is about to explain!". Laughs when MC glares at him, winks to the kid and goes to make them some coffee. He has a feeling that it's going to be a long night.

Elio: Blinks at them as they tried sneaking in, only to come in through the window right next to where he was reading. They stare at each other in silence for a minute until Elio goes back to his book and tells them not to tell MC and next time don't be such a moron in their sneaking methods.

[haveihitanerve]

Superheroes Aren't Supposed To Sleep In Hospitals-

Bruce was so still. Sooo still. He was never still. He was always moving. Always. Maneuvering around the cave, one hand holding a cup of coffee the other a wrench as he fixed and tweaked and fiddled with everything. One leg bouncing as he read some reports Tim had printed out, finger tapping when he was working on a particularly hard case. He was constantly moving. No movement was ever without purpose and every movement was a comforting, familiar tick that made Bruce Wayne who he was. Father, friend, JL Member, son, and the best husband anyone could have ever asked for. The best one Selina had ever wanted and needed anyway. But he wasn't moving now. Alfred had changed him into some of his favorite black pants and a nice soft shirt, a stark contrast to the chrystal white linoleum floors of the hospital. Selina hated it. Hated the clean, crisp white sheets. Hated his cold, lifeless body. His closed eyes. His cracked lips. Hated it and hated it and hated it. But oh how she loved him. 

Dick couldn’t go through this again. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t lose another family member. But Jason, Jason had come back. But Bruce, his father, his dad, there was no way his dad was coming back. He was dead. He was dead. He was dead. Dick was screaming. Yelling at the top of his lungs. But no one could hear him. 

Jason couldn’t eat, couldn't speak, couldn't hear. All he could feel was his heart, his traitorous, horrible heart, as it continued to pump inside of him. As it kept him alive. How could he be alive when Bruce, when his father, when his dad was dead? The machines and tubes and other medical equipment that were hooked onto the lifeless body of his father were daunting? And jason wanted to scream, to cry, to rip them all out and away and pull his father close, be held by his dad because he was lost. So lost. And he needed to be home. 

Tim was a ghost. He couldn't even feel his hands, even as they lay limp in his lap, even as his fingernails dug into his palms hard enough to draw blood. But he was numb. He couldn't feel anything. Except for his heart. His horrible, traitorous heart as it shattered into a million pieces as he watched the monitor of his fathers heart beep. And then stop. 

Damian couldn’t move. He was stuck, sitting in that uncomfortable chair in the hospital room, staring at the bed. At the bed that single handedly held his entire world.  Because his father was on it. His father. All he could do was watch, watch and sit there, even as an uncomfortable cramp flew through his body from sitting too long in the hard hospital chairs, as his father died. Right in front of him. And Damian was powerless to stop it. 

Stephanie closed her eyes. Maybe, if she tried hard enough, when she opened then he would be there. Either because it was all a bad dream or because she herself had died. But when she opened them, he was still there. Lying there. Lifeless. Cold. His hand had turned to ice in her hand but she couldn't let go. Couldn't release it. Because that meant he really was gone. So Stephanie kept holding onto that cold, stiff, lifeless hand. And prayed that her warmth could somehow, somehow bring him back. Because if he wasn't alive it wasn't a world she was interested in living in. 

Cass screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed until she couldn't scream anymore. Her already ruined and straining vocal cords giving out. And then she wept. She wept as everyone filed in to offer condolences or sit at her fathers side for hours. Staring, just like her, at his chest and hoping, praying, to the gods, to their maker, to whatever power they believed in or didn't. Just to bring him back. She wept as the monitor flat lined. She wept as the doctors came in, faces masked in sympathy as they recited the same script over and over again. “Im so sorry. We did everything we could.” Cass wanted to rip their throats out. She wanted to practice every move she had ever learned as an assassin because clearly, clearly they hadn't done everything they could. Because then he would be alive. Cass’s tears had dried by the time they moved him. No one ever saw her again.

It is said that if you wander down a forgotten street in Gotham, you will stumble upon a house. It is old, and it is crumbling, but it is vast and it is clean. Because one man still lives there. An older man. A butler. Alone, he cleans the stairs and the kitchen and the toilets. Alone, he walks the seven stories and dusts the king sized library. Alone he cooks, and cleans, and waits. Standing by the front door, an arm extended, waiting for the coat that will never be handed to him. He isn't the only one. Once a year, for one day, the manor is full. Full with laughter and food, and people from around the world. They spend the day together, talking and reminiscing. But when the clock hits nine, the chatter stops. And the food grows cold on the table. Because the house is empty once more. And on one night, on one singular night of the year, Gothamites sleep peacefully. Because their city is protected. Guarded by the fiercest superhero that ever walked the earth. Batman. 

(this was inspired by one of those 'you sing' videos for how do i say goodbye when the guy sings 'superheros dont sleep in hospitals' or something, highly recommend looking for the video absolutely heartwrenching anyway hope you enjoyed)

[regulus-books]

warning: NSFW

After the full moon Remus is always in the mood, but nowadays it's hard to fit in time alone without our daughter Cassiopeia. Cass is a beautiful, smart, little girl. She's also a werewolf, so this time is hard for her too.

Now Remus is sitting in her room with her, tucking her to sleep, I can hear him whispering to our little babe. He's such a good dad. I stand up from our brown couch and walk down the hall to our baby's room. I peek my head in to see Remus' light hair peeking out from beneath a blanket, not seeing Cass anywhere. I walk around the bed and lift up the blanket, four black beady eyes look back up at me, and I take in the scene. Remus is holding a flashlight up to a book and reading to our baby. Cass' inky black hair is curled around her head all over her pillow, her tired big eyes looking up at me.

"Papa, blanket!" She points her chubby finger up at the blanket I lifted off them.

"C'mon, baby girl, it's bedtime." I pick her up and kiss her cheeks.

"Papa, no, no, no, no, no!" She whines.

"Yes." I say brushing her hair out of her face.

"Come here baby, it's bedtime." I hand her off to Remus, and she hugs around his neck, I smile. "I love you so, so, so, so much!" Remus puts her down and kisses her forehead.

"I love you, baby girl. Be a good girl and sleep nice for daddy tonight, okay?" I tuck her blanket around her like a burrito.

"Love you." She tries to reply but it comes out as more of a lub you, but neither me or Remus care about her pronunciation.

"Night, babe." Remus walks over to her nightlight and turns it on before walking out of the room.

"Goodnight, love." I kissed her for the last time on her forehead, and shut off the main light to the room, I left her room door open a crack.

I walk down the hall to see Remus making tea in two mugs, I flop onto the couch.

"You're the sexiest man alive, Rems." I put my arms behind my head.

"Oh? And why's that, darling?" He turns around, licking the spoon and putting it in the sink, which is full of dishes already.

"Look at you. It's so fucking hot how you take care of us." He walks over to the couch, puts the mugs on the table, grabs my legs and puts them in his lap. He massages my thighs, staring at me.

"I like taking care of you guys. My favorite people, hm?"

"Yeah." He pulls me to straddle his lap and kisses me softly, squeezing my ass and his hands go up and down my back.

"So pretty, love." He whispers.

"So, Cass is asleep then." I say, pulling away from his mouth.

"Mhm."

"And to be honest, I'm not thirsty for tea at the moment." I smirk and put my arms around his neck.

"Suddenly, I'm not either." He chuckles and pulls me in again, this time rougher.

"Upstairs, love." I whisper into his mouth.

"Mm." He hums against my lips and stands, carrying me. I kiss his jaw and then his neck, sucking and biting, he groans quietly.

"You're so warm, Sirius, makes me so horny, baby." He whispers into my ear, his hot breath on my neck, making the hair stick up.

"Does it?" I ask, still sucking on his light brown skin.

"Fuck, yeah." He stops in our room and throws me on our bed. "Take off your shirt for me, love." I lift up my stained wife beater tank, my new tattoo exposed to the cool air of our bedroom, Remus closes the door to our room. He throws off his work shirt, and looks me up and down, I squirm a bit, and take off my trousers. "You're the most beautiful boy I've ever seen." He walks over to me and lifts my chin, kissing me. His tongue laps with mine, exploring my mouth. He pulls away and straddles my lap, he leans down and licks up the center of my neck, all the way down to my boxers lining, moving down and laying between my legs.

"Please, baby." I arch my back, trying to get any friction with him or the air, my boner sticking out clearer then ever.

"Please what, Sirius, love?" He grins and fiddles with the hem of my boxers, pulling and letting go, listening to it slap against my wet skin. "All you have to do is ask, baby." He leans back and kisses my knees, waiting for a response, staring me down.

"Please, touch me. Remus, I'm begging." He rubs me through my boxers, my cock is so hard it hurts. "Mhm, please, baby."

"You know how much I like begging," he smirks and pulls down my boxers. "but because you asked so nicely." My cock springs out and hits my stomach. "Look at you, all hot and bothered for me, hm?" I whine as he grabs my cock, pushing a finger back and forth over the slit, I moan quietly, trying to be mindful of our daughter downstairs.

"Please, fuck, Rems." I look at him, he's so beautiful. His brown hair tossed to the side, his skin wet with sweat, his scars covering him making him look even more attractive. I can see his boner through his boxers.

Remus starts to pump his hand up and down on my dick, making me whine and moan. "So pretty, baby." He praises me. My back arches further when he kitten licks my tip.

"Oh, fuck, love." I run my fingers through his hair, and push him down. He shakes his head no.

"I'm in charge tonight, baby." I whine.

"Remus, you're killing me, love." He smiles and spits on his hand, wrapping around me again and pumping. "Oh, shit." I groan and throw my head back.

"So fucking pretty, Sirius, babe." He suddenly deepthroats my cock, I can feel it hit the back of his mouth. My eyes roll back and I moan deeply. He pulls up but doesn't take my cock out of his mouth, instead starts blowing me, his chin has saliva running down it, his eyes looking up at me, watching every reaction I have to him. With one hand he pumps me and with the other he rubs my nipples.

"Oh, fuck. Remus, if you don't stop I'll cum, baby." I say into my pillow. Remus moans, vibrations spark all up my body, making me more aroused. "Oh my god, for fucks sake!" Remus hums, sending me over the edge, I cum in his mouth, he continues to suck me off, riding my high. He pulls off and crawls up to me, kissing me and pushing his tongue into my mouth, showing me exactly what I taste like.

"So fucking gorgeous for me, right baby?"

"All for you." He smiles and takes off his trousers and pants, starting to pump my dick again. He reaches over to our nightstand, pulling the drawer out and grabbing a bottle of lube. He takes both his hands off me and spreads my legs, he puts lube on one of his fingers, pushing it into me slowly, my back arches and he pushes my hips back down. He pushes his finger in and out of my body, I moan in pleasure.

"More!" I say, excitedly. Remus smirks and pushes another finger into me, I moan louder, covering my mouth with my hand.

"Your moans are so pretty, babe. We've gotta get uncle Reg and Prongs to take Cass, so I can hear them, loud and clear."

"Shh, don't talk about Cass, just you and me right now." He grins and kisses my neck, pushing another finger inside of me, now pumping three fingers into me. "Oh, fuck. Please, babe, give me your dick!" He chuckles deeply and pulls his fingers out, licking them, my eyes rolling back at the sight. He takes the bottle of lube and squirts it on his dick, rubbing it around.

"You ready, pretty boy?" He asks, I nod vigorously. "Words, handsome, I want words." I groan.

"Please, Remus, just fuck me!"

"You want me to fuck your pretty little ass, Sirius?"

"Please." I whine.

"That's what I like to hear." He leans down to kiss me, positioning his cock and pushing into me. I gasp and moan into his kiss, he bites my lower lip and sucks on it.

"Remus, you drive me crazy, you fill me up so well, babe." I moan under my breath.

"I'm glad." He kisses me again and starts to push in and out of me, not in any rush. "You look so pretty like this, Sirius. So fucking beautiful." Remus continues to fuck me, whispering words of praise. "So beautiful." He moans. "You feel so good wrapped around my cock, baby." He rubs up and down my thighs, then up to my stomach. "I never want this to end." He throws his head back, the only sound in our room is my soft moans and our skin slapping together.

"Fuck, Rems." I moan out.

"You're taking me so well, beautiful."

"Yeah."

"You're so beautiful, Sirius. Look at you all pretty with pre cum, hm? So fucking pretty." He strokes my cock, pre cum dripping on my stomach. His thumb wipes off the pre cum and he lifts his hand to taste it. "You taste so good, handsome." His thrusts are starting to get sloppy, I know he's close. "Oh, fuck, Sirius."

"Are you gonna cum for me, baby?" His head is thrown back and he's still jerking me off with one hand, the familiar knotting feeling in my stomach.

"Fuck, yes, Sirius."

"Fuck!" I moan and a string of cum starts to come out of my dick.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Remus moans and cums deep inside of me. "So good, Sirius, so, so good, baby." He thrusts a few more times, riding out both of our highs. "You're so perfect, babe." He pulls out and I wince at the cold air. He stands up and grabs his T-shirt, wiping me off.

"I love you so much, Rems." I pull him down on top of me.

"I love you so much, baby." He kisses my cheek. "We should probably go shower."

"M'not feeling it, we can in the morning." I wrap my arms around him, twirling his hair around my finger.

"Okay, babe." I run my hands all through his hair until I hear him softly snoring.

"Love you so, so much." I whisper before drifting off myself.

In the morning the sun shines on my face, waking me up. I look around the room, no Remus. I stand up and pull on my boxers, running my hands through my hair, and then I walk out and down the stairs. Remus is sitting at the kitchen table with Cass, drawing.

"Morning, babe." I run my hand through his hair and kiss his forehead. "Morning my other babe." I run my hand through Cassie's hair and kiss her on her head.

"Hi papa." She babbles and continues to draw with her crayons.

"How'd you sleep?" Remus asks, taking a sip of his tea as I sit down next to Cass at our table.

"Amazing, but I have this cramp in my back, it's so annoying." I run my hand down my spine where it hurts.

"M'sorry, love." He slides his tea over to me and I take a sip.

"Probably your fault too." He chuckles and rubs Cass' back. I stand up and pull her hair into a ponytail, I wrap a scrunchie around it and boop her nose.

"You're beautiful, girl." I say, walking away from the table, turning on the water and cleaning some dishes, our mugs from last night are now in the sink.

"You are too." Remus says, half turning to look me up and down.

"Thanks, love."

"Papa." Cass turns to me.

"Yeah, sweet pea?" I turn off the water and dry my hands.

"Dada was talking about you all morning!" I laugh and walk over to her.

"He just loves me! You love me too, right?" I already know she does, I rub mine and her nose together.

"Yes!" She wraps her small arms around my neck, hugging me.

"You and dada are the most important people to me!"

"And Uncle Reggie, and Prongsie!" She laughs.

"We should see if you can have a sleepover tonight, hm?" I ask, setting her back in her chair.

"Yes!" I smile and wink at Remus.

Word count: 2.1k+

Cass belongs to the wonderful @industrations ILY!!!!

little smut, little fluff:)

[cookies-over-yonder]

disconnected memory

Willy's forearm disintegrates into nothingness, and the effect slowly travels up to his shoulder.

Flesh shifts in colour to a dark shade of red, before crumbling into fine bits of dust that vanish into thin air.

And whatever happens to Willy… happens to Cass.

⋆ or ⋆

The spell Scary casts on Willy goes awry, and Taylor is the one who pays the price

ao3

1 | 2

this is the first fic for my new au: My Mom DIED... and came back as a DEMON!? a.k.a. demon!cass au!!!

shout out to @llumimoon for helping me come up with the summary and also for being my brainstorm buddy for this au (and for being amazing in general🥰💖)

1. love

⋆

Nicky wouldn't say that he and Cassandra were ever really in love. They loved each other like friends.

Like family.

And then they started one.

Nicky couldn't stay for long, and it tore him apart, but it was for their safety.

So he settled on supporting them from afar.

Nicky wouldn't say that Cassandra plagued his thoughts. It was more like fond memories that snuck up on him.

He would replay them to lift his spirits.

Nicky can only watch in horror as Scary's vampiric touch travels up Willy's arm, and Cassandra's screams follow.

"Mom!"

That's when Taylor rushes forward and snatches the phone, nearly dropping it, and then managing it to hold it steady.

Nicky looks back at Willy.

His forearm disintegrates into nothingness, and the effect slowly travels up to his shoulder.

Flesh shifts in colour to a dark shade of red, before crumbling into fine bits of dust that vanish into thin air.

And whatever happens to Willy… happens to Cass.

Nicky can't see the phone, but he can hear Taylor screaming, and as Willy's face begins to turn red and crumble away, he can hear Cass's screams stop.

"Taylor—"

Nick Close was seven years old when his dad got a phone call that changed everything. Well, it wasn't the phone call that changed everything, it was the information behind it.

"Mom—"

Nick Close found out through his dad's words that he would never see her again. Alive, anyway.

"Taylor, I love you—"

Nick Close never got in his last words to her.

"I—I love you too, I—Mom… Mom! "

In a matter of seconds, the goth kid's hands are trembling, and Willy is gone.

And whatever happens to Willy—

A glass-shattering scream echoes throughout the church.

And the clatter of a phone against the floor.

And the sound of shaky breaths increasing in speed.

Nicky snaps himself out of his hazy wave of shock to see that Taylor has lost his balance, and he's tipping over…

The next thing Nicky knows, he's holding an unconscious Taylor in his arm.

Nick Close didn't watch Morgan die.

"Taylor!" Grant's kid shouts, and despite himself, when Nicky hears footsteps approaching, a ring of fire encircles him and his son.

"No one go near him," his voice rumbles, low and fiery.

Taylor is completely limp. His eyes are shut tight and the only movement is the rise and fall of his chest.

He dropped the phone, dropped his cane, and fainted.

Nicky feels something burn inside him. It's a hot, flaming mix of love and fear and every emotion between the two and all that he can think to do is stay right here with his son.

"Taylor?" Nicky shakes him a little by the shoulder. His face scrunches up, and then his eyes crack open.

"...Dad?" he mumbles. His voice is hoarse from screaming, but even aside from that, he sounds so small .

"Hey, kid."

"Wha—"

Taylor's eyes go wide with horror, and his breathing picks up again. "Mo—Mom, she—"

He jolts out of Nicky's grasp, but when he stands on his own, it's clear that his wobbling legs won't hold him up for more than a second, so Nicky is quick to steady him with a hand on his arm.

"I—I saw her…she—she—"

"Taylor, breathe."

His whole body is trembling, and his breaths are coming in quick, and he has this wild look in his eyes that bounces around the room before it stops, staring directly back at Nicky.

What he says next hurts a million times more than any battle wound could.

There's a pleading in his voice. There's desperation, there's fear.

There's a sliver of belief.

"Tha… that wasn't real, right?"

Nicky can't bring himself to say anything.

It's a question he knows. It's a question he knows so well he can still feel the taste of the words on his own tongue. It's a question that coursed through him from age seven to age twelve in another life in another version of the universe, but it still pulls him right back.

"I… I—I mean I've had nightmares before," Taylor laughs in a sort of hysterical way. His eyes are wild and everywhere again. "About—about you, and about Mom—that wasn't—this isn't—"

"Taylor—"

"It wasn't real," he mutters and then stares daggers at Nicky. " Tell me it wasn't real!"

Nicky wants to tell him that. Nicky wants to believe it's true. But he can't. The tears in Taylor's eyes are soon reflected in his own.

"...Why aren't you saying anything?" he asks, and his voice breaks. "Please. Please ."

"I…" Nicky feels his voice laced with sorrow as the hot tears slide down his face. "I can't tell you that, kid."

Taylor's eyes widen, and he starts shaking his head.

When Taylor's head tips forward a little, Nicky realizes he's fully hyperventilating now.

"Ta—Taylor, uh—"

Fuck. He doesn't know what to do.

Fuck.

He can't let Taylor pass out again.

Nicky lets down the circle of fire around him, and the first person to Taylor's side is Grant's kid—Link.

Link takes Taylor from Nicky's hold and keeps him upright by the shoulders, turning him so they're face to face.

"Taylor, Taylor, hey, can you hear me?"

There's no response. No acknowledgement. Taylor's breathing is too shallow and too fast, and he has a faraway, horrified gaze that won't alter in the slightest.

Nicky thinks his gaze is something slightly similar. It must be, because Sparrow's hand is on his own shoulder now.

It's only for a second, but it's grounding, it brings him back. And then Sparrow is with Taylor and Link and casting something, and Taylor's breathing steadies, but his expression doesn't soften, and the horrified look remains all the same.

Not even the sound of gunshots make Taylor flinch.

Lark shoots the spot on which Willy stood maybe three or four times, shouting something Nicky can't decipher right now.

Willy is dead.

"Guys, I think we should go. Now."

Willy is dead, and no one is celebrating.

"Yeah, let's um, let's head out."

Willy is dead, and Taylor is borderline catatonic.

"Taylor, I—I'm gonna carry you okay?"

Willy is dead, and so is Cassandra.

⭒

[peterxwade24]

Safety Found in Red Sleeves

Chapter 12

Jason looked at Duke, watched him take several deep breaths as they stood on the roof of an abandoned building. They hadn’t had much time to just, breathe together since they found out that their sister was in the city. They hadn’t really had time to talk since then either, but Jason had made time today to talk to his brother. Damian had been left with Dick and Wally today, so that all of the kids could run around and play at the park.

Duke looked blankly across the city, not seeing anything but seeming to see everything. “Do you think she knows we’re alive?”

Jason dragged his hand through his hair before sighing. “I hope so?” Jason gave his brother a cursory look before looking back out across the city. “That dumb press conference aired before they would have gotten on the plane. Hopefully she saw us and knows we’re alive.”

Duke nodded before turning towards Jason. “I think she does. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be trying to keep tabs on us.”

Jason nodded, looping his arm around Duke’s shoulders. “So, what do you say? Do you wanna go freak out Dickie and steal some kids to give them ice cream?”

“Hell yeah.” Duke laughed and together they vaulted off of the roof with a laugh.

---

Dick called them thirty-five minutes later, in a panic. “Hi Jason. How’s it going?”

Jason smiled at his son and niece, watching them enjoy their ice cream. “Hey Dickie. It’s going good. Duke and I had a good chat. How’re the kids?”

Damian looked at Jason with a slight pout, clearly confused.

“They’re, uh, having fun?” Dick sounded very scared and panicked. “So uh, hypothetical question. If Dami was ever to, uh, disappear or run away, where would he go?”

Jason stifled a laugh, knowing that Dick and Wally had just realized that all four kids were no longer in the park. “Dick, did you lose my son?”

“No! No no no no no. Nothing like that. We’re just, uh, playing hide and seek, right Wally?”

“Dick have you seen Irey or Jai? Have you seen Mar’i for that matter?”

Jason and Duke shared a look before laughing and hanging up the phone. Jason hit the FaceTime button and smirked at Dick when he answered. “It took you guys thirty-five minutes to realize you no longer had the kids?”

Dick looked mad, for just a moment before Mar’i weaseled her way in front of the camera.

“Hi, Dad!” Mar’i had the added benefit of having strawberry ice cream in her hand while she waved.

“Jason! Did you pump our kids full of sugar without telling us? What if we wanted ice cream?” Wally tried to look sad and angry at him.

“All of the kids got ice cream,” Jason panned over all of the kids with ice cream in their hands, including Duke, “and if you two hurry I might even buy you two bozos some ice cream.”

---

Jason smiled at Selina, pressing a kiss to his surrogate mother’s cheek, before welcoming her into the apartment, for probably the last time. “Hi Ma.”

“Hello my little bird.” Selina ruffled Damian’s hair as they walked into the living room. “What did you need to talk about dear?”

“Tim found us a house, in Old Gotham. This little family we’ve made is outgrowing my apartment faster than any of us ever thought.” Jason looked around, at all of the things scattered around that belonged to the various members of their family. “He and Steph and Cass made sure it wasn’t in the Bat’s patrol route, it’s technically in Dick’s. But it’s perfect Ma, there’s even a room for you. Well, if you want it, there’s five rooms, but these days we all seem to end up in one room. You and Alfie and Thana will all have rooms, and-”

Selina cupped Jason’s face and smiled at him through happy tears. “Little bird, my poor little bird. I’m so proud of you and who you’ve become and I promise you that as soon as you get your sister back she’ll be stuck to you like a barnacle again.” Selina pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I love you little bird.”

“I love you too Ma.” Jason covered Selina’s hands with his own and smiled at her. “I’m going to get her back, and then you’ll have another chaotic child.”

“I’ve always had her, she just hasn’t been around lately. Too busy with John and Edward and Oswald.”

“They are basically her uncles.” Jason’s tone was wistful, full of longing for days long past when he and Thana had roamed the streets together.

“But she’s just as much mine as she is their’s, well, Oswald might have more of a claim to her but whatever. I’ll just be happy all of my kits are together again.” Selina glanced over at Damain, who had quietly coloring at the coffee table for the whole conversation, and new tears sprang into her eyes. “I’m so happy your sister is here in the city, and I’ll be even happier when you bring her home.”

-*-*-*

Thana looked at her uncles with disdain, they knew better than this but they still insisted on sitting in the lobby of the hotel her class was staying in with her as she waited for them all to come downstairs.

Jon and Ed smiled at her and waved, which just irritated Thana more as she just drank her cup of really, really terrible hotel coffee. Some uncles they were, didn’t even bring her good coffee.

Kim slumped down in the chair next to her and rested his head on his folded arms on top of the table. “How are you so awake?”

“Shitty coffee, mostly. Also spite since Uncle Jon and Uncle Ed didn’t bring me good coffee.” Thana made eye contact with her uncles as she took a sip of the terrible hotel coffee.

Chloè sat down across the table from Thana, partially blocking her view of her traitorous uncles. “Thana, dear, whatever are you drinking?”

“Swill, because my uncles no longer love me.”

Nino plopped down in the chair on Thana’s other side. “That’s not true. They wouldn’t be here in they didn’t love you.”

“You’re just saying that because Alya can’t talk to you when they’re around because you’re always with me and they won’t let her near me.” Thana frowned at her cup of coffee and sighed. “I know a great cafe just a couple blocks away from here, we’ll literally go past it and we can duck in to get something.”

Adrien and Alix had joined them at some point while Thana was talking. They simply nodded while they slumped into chairs on either side of Chloè.

Madame Bustier clapped to get their attention after everyone had trudged down to the lobby from their rooms. She gave them just a few moments to give her their attention before smiling brightly. “Okay everyone. Today’s going to be a little more relaxed than some of the other days we’ve had, as Mister Wayne had something come up unexpectedly and will be out of the city on business for today and half of tomorrow. So, we’re just going to walk to the nearby park.”

The class started to get up and get around as Thana and her friends made sure their various red sleeved accessories were in place and the girls pulled their purses closer.

Adrien adjusted the tie of his black and white top, making sure it was centered over his black high-waisted jeans. His dark red, rhinestone bedazzled undershirt sparkled in the overhead light and matched the laces in his combat boots. Nino, standing next to him, wore baggy jeans adorned with chains under a black loose-fitting croptop paired with a dark red almost black fishnet shirt. He paired a teal hat with the teal laces in his black combat boots wrapped in chains. Kim, on the other hand, had baggy black track pants under a black sleeveless crop top with red sleeves attached with decorative straps. He wore black combat boots as well, with navy laces.

Chloè wore a formfitting black and white checkered dress with a burgundy red sheer cardigan, with her hair braided away from her face and her signature sunglasses perched atop her head. She wore black heeled boots with orange laces to match her orange nail polish. Alix had a pair of black jeans with pentagram designs over the knees paired with a black crop top over a red long sleeved bodysuit with silver chains criss-crossing around her waist which matched the chains wrapped around her black combat boots with light green laces. Thana had a pair of neon yellow fishnets under her black shorts paired with a black halter croptop with fishnet material over the uppermost part of her chest. She had a blood red leather jacket drapped over her shoulders under her pair of bubble braids. She wore black heeled boots with dark green laces and had dark green polish on.

They looked intimidating all put together, with their matching outfits all in black, so the rest of the class gave them a wide berth. Mlle. Bustier, even, kept shooting them looks as if she had never seen them act like this before.

The class left the hotel, with John and Ed in tow, to walk to the local park so that a majority of the class could run around and use up their energy. Jon and Ed, however, had other ideas for Thana and her friends. They deviated from the path merely a block from the park and headed towards a seemingly abandoned part of town.

“Where exactly are you taking us?” Adrien asked, a little skittish around the two men even after having spent time with them over the rest of the week.

“We,” Jon started, a giant smile on his face, “have a surprise for a certain niece of ours.”

“From everybody, not just us.” Ed added, nudging his idiot of a partner.

Thana laughed, a light little noise her friends had seldom heard. “Oh? Did you guys catch he who shall not be named and string him up so I can finish him off?”

“Not exactly.” Jon and Ed pushed open the doors to the building and revealed the surprise.

“Hello pumpkin.” Jerome smiled at his niece, and caught her when she threw herself into his arms. “Welcome home.”

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