#and what he did take was her arm

[chittychittyyangyang]

“Knowing what it is to feel loved…”

[puppetmaster13u]

You may regret this @phoenixcatch7 lol, what if I start spamming you /j

Less cryptid Batman in this particular WIP since it's semi-outsider pov lol (one of two outside person not unnerved by them lol)

🦇👻🪆🦇👻🪆🦇👻🪆🦇👻🪆🦇👻🪆🦇👻🪆🦇👻🪆🦇

   Clark knew Batman wasn’t human, even before that disaster of a mission where he had let it slip to the others. 

   He’d known for a long time, from one of their early meetups, when Batman had first referred to him as Clark Kent instead of Kal-El, and he had panicked. He hadn’t ever lied to his teammates when he said that the cloak prevented him from seeing his body, but his ears still worked. 

   He’d tried to listen to a heartbeat, to see if his at the time temporary ally was lying when he stated he wasn’t going to tell anyone and… Nothing. There was no heartbeat, no breathing, nothing even remotely human, and if he didn’t know any better, nothing even remotely alive about the silence. 

   He couldn’t help but to pay attention more, to seek out the strange almost silence-feeling that accompanied the Gotham vigilante each time he felt it. It was… almost comforting, like the swaying of branches and the rustling of cloth over stone. Familiar, compared to the hustle and bustle surrounding him in the city. 

   The first thing he had noticed, physically that is, was Batman’s ears. Previously he’d thought the man unemotional, what with the rough voice, expressionless white eyes, cloak-covered body and the gas mask covering a good chunk of his face. 

   Yet the longer he watched, even idly, the more he noticed that while the man’s face or body didn’t show much, his ears did. 

   While Batman could stay silent and still for hours, the long ears twitched and swiveled, catching on the hood that he’d always wear around them. They’d pin back sometimes, a near silent sound he couldn’t quite place accompanying the movement, while other times they’d twist a near full three-sixty, as though searching for whatever sound it had caught. 

   Sometimes, when he’d startled the other vigilante, there’d be rattling noise, like wood and metal clacking together before it was cut off. It was a strange sound, one he’d not heard anywhere else, except with his… friend. 

   Were they friends? He’d like to think so. 

   The next time he was reminded that his friend wasn’t human was when he saw him get injured. It hadn’t been a bad injury, even if the Gothamite’s head had hit the wall with a very loud cracking noise, but he’d still smelled what he’d eventually come to recognize as blood. There was an almost pickle-like scent to it though that wasn’t quite it either. 

   Honestly the closest he could think of describing it was some sort of formaldehyde. And once he focused, he could pick out other things beneath it. Maybe not flesh and blood in the traditional sense, but still. 

   There was always that scent of cloth and wood, but he could smell the black liquid, paint, a metallic thing underneath like iron and steel. No heartbeat, no breath, but life all the same. It was honestly beautiful in a way, like a part of the city the other vigilante called home had come to life. 

   And it wasn’t like Batman minded whenever his own human mask slipped. Clark may have been raised by his Ma and Pa, whom he loved, but it didn’t make his body any more human in nature. There were just some things that he couldn’t change, and it took effort to move like one all day as a civilian when his body wasn’t designed to do so.

   So he stayed quiet for the most part when their group of three grew, and people started to speculate. He diverted the conversations whenever it turned to him, lightly admonishing over the various rumors. 

   It didn’t matter if Batman wasn’t human, he was still his friend, their ally and teammate. Was he curious? Oh of course, he’d gone into journalism for a reason after all, but it was still his friend. If he wanted to tell, he’d tell, and Clark wouldn’t break his trust. 

[perilegs]

my sweet little baby man is no longer with us

[faaun]

my research partner and i are huddled in a blanket in paddington waiting for a too-late train i already miss you and you and you

[dutybcrne]

Thinking abt Kae’s Fatui verse,,,,

[possamble]

realizing im kind of a weirdo about laios and marcille

[hauntingblue]

ARCANE EPISODE 7!!!!

MY GOD I WASNT READY FOR ANY OF THIS!!! WHAT WAS THAT!!!

Also ekko wallpaper I got with my fries lmao

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Before I had Sunny, I had a rabbit... His official name was Eddy, but he went through many names in my friend group

The names were: Kirishima, Springtrap and lastly Springkiri

Some pictures of him and a funny pic of Sunny

(A sad thing from here on)

So Eddy sadly passed away on 16th May 2022 while I held him. I bawled my eyes out when I realized he passed and literally couldn't go to school the next day because I was grieving so much. He was my childhood pet. He was 12 years old! Also he decided to pass before my birthday (21st May). I miss him very much

Now let me tell you, in February, the year (2022), he decided to jump from my arm because he was not happy about him getting his nails trimmed and fell on his side! He broke his fucking leg and was too old for operation because he wouldn't handle the amnesia. His leg was fully healed in April. You know he ran around, had fun with his toy, and played as if he was young again... Just to pass in May.

Now, to cheer you up, Sunny has the SAME sleeping spots as Eddy did. She also has similar running habits and such things as Eddy did. Now I think here Eddy's ghost was like 'Let me teach you cat' when she arrived at home and I like that!

Sorry for the kind of sad ask :(

AWWW eddy has such a lovely pelt pattern 🥺 and no worries about this being a Sad Ask: it'd be even more sad if you werent willing to share memories of him- he was still a little darling in your life, so i'm happy to hear bout both the good and bad bout him! so sorry to hear he passed right before your birthday tho.. 😭 at the very least, im sure he passed knowing how loved he was- and still is :]

ANND that's so cute sunny sleeps in his old spot now 🥺

[luv-again]

I should sleep !! I say, before I lay awake, over-analysing every tiny detail in shadow 05's cryptic castle mission for my next project

[acourtofquestions]

"You'll come back," Manon said.

It sounded like more of a threat than anything

Dorian smirked. "Would you miss me if I didn't?"

Manon didn't reply. He didn't know why he expected her to.

He'd taken all of a step, when Asterin clasped his shoulder. "In and out, quick as you can," she warned him. "Take care of Narene." Worry indeed shone in the Second's gold-flecked black eyes. Dorian bowed his head. "With my life," he promised as he approached her mount and grasped the dangling reins. He didn't fail to miss the gratitude that softened Asterin's features. Or that Manon had already turned away from him.

A fool to start down this path with her. He should have known better.

The hours that passed were some of the longest of Manon's existence.

From anticipation, she told herself. Of what she had to do.

Abraxos, unsurprisingly, found them within an hour, his reins sliced from the struggle he'd no doubt waged and won with Sorrel. He waited, however, beside Manon in silence, wholly focused upon the gate where Dorian and Narene had vanished.

Time dripped by. The king's sword was constant weight at her side. She cursed herself for needing to prove-to him, to herself-that she refused to let him go into Morath for practical, ordinary reasons. Erawan wasn't at the Ferian Gap. It'd be safer. Somewhat. But if the Matrons were there … That was why he'd gone. To learn if they were. To see if Petrah truly commanded the host there, and how many Ironteeth were present. He had not been trained as a spy, but he'd grown up in a court where people wielded smiles and clothes like weapons. He knew how to blend in, how to listen. How to make people see what they wished to see. She'd sent Elide into the dungeons of Morath, Darkness damn her. Sending the King of Adarlan into the Ferian Gap was no different.

It didn't stop her breath from escaping when Abraxos stiffened, scanning the sky. As if he heard something they couldn't.

And it was the joy that sparked in her mount's eyes that told her.

Moments later, Narene sailed toward them, making a lazy path over the mountains, a dark-haired, pale-skinned rider atop her. He'd truly been able to change parts of himself. Had made his face nearly unrecognizable. And kept it that way.

Asterin rushed toward the mare, and even Manon blinked as her Second threw her arms around Narene's neck. Holding her tight. The mare only leaned her head against Asterin's back and huffed.

Manon hadn't dwelled long on what she'd say.

And as the three hundred Ironteeth witches filed into the hall, some coming off their patrols, Manon half wondered if she should have. They watched her, watched the Thirteen, with a wary disdain.

Their disgraced Wing Leader; their fallen Heir.

When all were gathered, Petrah, still standing in the doorway where she'd appeared, merely said, "My life debt for an audience, Blackbeak."

Manon swallowed, her tongue as dry as paper. Seated atop Abraxos, she could see every shifting movement in the crowd, the wide eyes or hands gripping swords.

"I will not tell you the particulars of who I am," Manon said at last. "For I think you have already heard them."

"Crochan bitch," someone spat.

Manon set her eyes on the Blackbeaks, stone-faced where the others bristled with hatred. It was for them she spoke, for them she had come here.

jacket, then hoisting up her white shirt. Rising in the stirrups to bare her scarred, brutalized abdomen. "She does not lie."

UNCLEAN

There, the word remained stamped. Would always be stamped.

"How many of you," Asterin called out, "have been similarly branded? By your Matron, by your coven leader? How many of you have had your stillborn witchlings burned before you might hold them?"

The silence that fell now was different from before. Shaking shuddering.

Manon glanced at the Thirteen to find tears in Ghislaine's eyes as she took in the brand on Asterin's womb. Tears in the eyes of all of them, who had not known. And it was for those tears, which Manon had never seen, that she faced the host again.

"You will be killed in this war, or after it. And you will never see our homeland again."

"What is it that you want, Blackbeak?" Petrah asked from the archway.

"Ride with us," Manon breathed. "Fly with us.

Against Morath. Against the people who would keep you from your homeland, your future." Murmuring broke out again. Manon pushed ahead, "An Ironteeth-Crochan alliance. Perhaps one to break our curse at last."

Again, that shuddering silence. Like a storm about to break Asterin sat back in the saddle, but kept her shirt open.

"The choice of how our people's future shall be shaped is yours," Manon told each of the witches assembled, all the Blackbeaks who might fly to war and never return. "But I will tell you this." Her hands shook, and she fisted them on her thighs. "There is a better world out there. And I have seen it."

Even the Thirteen looked toward her now.

"I have seen witch and human and Fae dwell together in peace. And it is not weakness to do so, but a strength. I have met kings and queens whose love for their kingdoms, their peoples, is so great that the self is secondary. Whose love for their people is so strong that even in the face of unthinkable odds, they do the impossible."

Manon lifted her chin. "You are my people. Whether my grandmother decrees it so or not, you are my people, and always will be. But I will fly against you, if need be, to ensure that there is a future for those who cannot fight for it themselves. Too long have we preyed on the weak, relished doing so. It is time that we became better than our foremothers." The words she had given the Thirteen months ago. "There is a better world out there," she said again. "And I will fight for it." She turned Abraxos away, toward the plunge behind them. "Will you?"

Manon nodded to Petrah. Eyes bright, the Heir only nodded back. They would be permitted to leave as they had arrived: unharmed.

So Manon nudged Abraxos, and he leaped into the sky, the Thirteen following suit.

Not a child of war. But of peace.

[naffeclipse]

Mer fic has been read and thoroughly enjoyed!! \o/

I simply love how you adapted the world to an underwater environment! From the weapons and the ways of life, to the way the vocabulary shifts in the vigilante’s inner dialogue that reflects how they perceive the world!

Of course, we start off with y/n being very smug about sabotaging Eclipse hehe XD Which thankfully, despite his later arrival, was not in vain since the weapons seem to be now unretrievable. Too bad this deal was important enough that the boss himself arrived to see it through.

And oh. My goodness.

Mer Eclipse does not hold back! However, he does indeed hold, as the vigilante can attest to gflñghfd I mean, tentacles are after all pure muscle. And this guy has no problem showing how strong he is, seeing how he both just outright threw his trident so hard it got stuck into a rock wall, and then effortlessly got it out of it too. (I am very normal about that by the way glfkdgjl) And I have a feeling Main verse Eclipse would be ecstatic to leave as many marks as this one did in one go oof. 

(sidenote: I love that he refers to them as Pearl, because it makes so much sense with their pearly scales! Oh and I love that you kept the black and white color scheme so characteristic of them!)

And ahhh it fits so well that he is an octopus like mer! With how touchy he is, and I’ve said before how he is so imposing and takes space and attention, so this form definitely lets him do that physically at a next level! But I also kept thinking how an octopus can technically fit itself into very tiny spaces! So what if y/n at one point is fleeing from him and gets through a tiny fissure that they are sure Eclipse’s massive figure couldn’t go into, but then surprise! Not only is he squeezing through, he’s doing so with ease and there is a wide sharp grin approaching very fast as he claws at the walls for momentum and y/n can only hope there’s an exit they can find at the other side… 

(But I digress, back to the fic XD)

He seems even more willing to use lethal force against y/n too!It really seemed he was going for a join me or die approach, even if the vigilante was assuring themselves that he wouldn’t. Even I was unsure for a moment there, whew!

And oh, that was so smart how they used their own blood to entice him into listening to them. With how blood stays in the water I can only imagine Eclipse has had more than enough encounters with y/n to grow addicted to the smell of theirs. Freaky but useful to entrance him enough to make him more agreeable. Though I can’t see that working next time with the way he delivered that ultimatum.

And then aaaahh!!! Sun and Moon!

(Oh but before I get to that, I really like the way you handled the conflict of the two sides that were originally humans and animatronics, with the humans being the sunlight mers, and the animatronic being the twilight mers, though that really has me itching to know the backstory for the celestial trio!) 

I laughed at Sun’s exasperation at having a wide open entrance but y/n chooses the cool risky one XD I know they were trying to not get detected, but to Sun it must look like so extra for no reason other than to show off (and you just know he loves it all the same >:3c). And he glows gold!! That’s so fitting and so cute and he really shines like the Sun!! And smart as ever, he does not let the vigilante brush off what happened so easily, and even manages to get them to rest when they obviously wanted to go in and out. But also as fluster-able as ever too with that cheeky bed comment gfkdhgkfdjhg

And oh my gosh, the part that caught my attention the most with Moon was when he was warning y/n about getting involved (more than they are) with Eclipse and y/n responded that “he can’t hold me”, while guiding Moon to hold them. And ahhh that means so much, because it’s a silent way of telling him “you can, though.” Him and Sun, because Sun was also asked to stay when they were lying down for rest and aaaaahhh that has my heart melting into a puddle. But also Moon’s defeated “you are going to leave” had me clutching my chest a bit. I know he probably knew that the moment he went for the snapper they would be gone but aaagh you can just hear the yearning and so many things unsaid in that statement.

As a final note, I adored how you incorporated the similarities between the three brothers! The fact that Sun shares the same venomous spikes that Eclipse does (and yet they do not worry y/n as Eclipse’s do), and that Moon has a crown of tentacles he hides, that Eclipse also has (and I wonder if he hides them specifically to not make their familiarity obvious, since spikes might be common among the mer, but maybe tentacles surrounding the head is a bit more specific?), and not to mention the photophores that are in a similar pattern to Eclipse! Since they are organic in this Au, this means they very well can be birth brothers, with Eclipse inheriting both the traits of which Sun and Moon got only one each. But since he has the octopus theme and Sun and Moon have tails, I wonder if in this one he also did adopt them at first and they are just similar species and the photophores sync with those they have chosen as family? Hmmmm, this au has me thinking so many possibilities about how they grew up!

…And god dang it now I have the image of a baby octopus mer Eclipse and then an older but still young one being responsible for baby mer Sun and Moon and why does my brain give me cute when I just read this man do what he did XD

Anyways, I loved reading SJ mermaid style, Naff! Amazing work as always! <3

Ahhh, Chaotik! I'm so happy you enjoyed it, babe! ♥

Thank you! I love writing about a mer Y/N, especially with the vigilante, and it was so fun to figure out the little tidbits in the ocean.

Ah, yes, unfortunately for the vigilante, twilight mers have great strength. I didn't work this line into the fic, but Y/N would never dare try to throw their trident for the fearing of not having it in their hands and that they don't have the strength to throw an object like that through the water at a strong enough speed. Eclipse, however, can.

EEE thank you! I wanted to keep the vigilante's essence as much as possible hehe

Oh gosh, with Eclipse squeezing into a narrow space because of flexibility, your comment made me think of this meme:

Eclipse was a bit upset when he found out what the vigilante had done, to say the least. He wanted to make it known how he felt. You're right to be concerned about the same trick not having the same effect next time around ;-;

Ahhh, I'm really glad the human/animatronic conflict translated well to the sunlight/twilight mers! I had to think about how to go about it to keep the prejudice against the boys and figured that would do the trick.

Sun and Moon are doing their best, and oh, how they endure their sweet little vigilante! I'm glad Sun's light hit well and Moon's little comments had an impact, ahhh!

Okay, I'm so glad you're curious about the boys' backstory and talked about their physical similarities because I've been itching to talk about it! I'm going to tuck it under the read more as I warn that it involves Death and Sickness.

The boys' mother is Comet and the boys' father is Quasar.

Comet is an octo twilight zone mer. She has deep purple and dark blue flesh and yellow suckers. She also has heterochromia eyes, one of red and one of blue, and black sclera. She has tentacles on the back of her skull and her face has a crescent marking.

Quasar is a fish twilight mer. He has pale yellow and silver flesh, broad fins adorning his long tail with a crescent-shaped tail fin, golden scales with scarlet patches like stars, venomous spikes crowning his head, and yellow irises and pale sclera for his eyes.

The twilight zone is a dangerous place, even for the mers that inhabit it. Predators, wicked mers, and the darkness prove lethal to even the most skilled and adapted.

Comet and Quasar loved Eclipse, and he was so clingy as a babe. He had the rare inheritance of both of their head features. Eclipse doesn't remember this time except for the vague care and tenderness that permeates dreams. It was happy.

Quasar was killed by a gang of twilight zone mers before Sun and Moon hatched. Comet did everything to take care of her children alone, at times going hungry but ensuring her little ones had full bellies.

Comet taught Eclipse to always take care of his little brothers. She made certain that he knew that he and Sun's venomous spikes could never hurt anyone they were related to by blood. She also showed Eclipse how to tuck away his head tentacles and that one day, they'll show Moon how to do the same as well.

Eclipse always had a deep connection to his baby brothers, gazing at them in his mother's arms as she cooed and sang lullabies. Eclipse missed his father terribly, but his mother's expectations made it clear that they would make it, they would survive.

A few years later, Comet became deathly sick while they were still young. She instructed Eclipse to go to the Reef to ask for aid. He took his still baby but not-so-small brothers with him. When they ventured to the edge of the corals, they were met with scorn and chased off before he ever had a chance to beg for medicine for his mother.

When he returned, she was laying still, cold, the current tugging on her weightless body.

Eclipse took care of his brothers, finding food and shelter, keeping them safe from dangerous mers and hungry predators alike. His hatred for the Reef and the sunlight zone mers festered, and Sun and Moon longed to escape the darkness, and at last, things changed. The twilight zones could live among the sunlight zone mers.

Eclipse couldn't stand it. Sun and Moon tried to convince Eclipse to leave the darkness behind and stay with them, but he wouldn't.

Tragic backstory aside, baby octopus mer Eclipse is very cute, and oh, he did take care of his younger brothers. Though they have different body types, that never separated them. It was Eclipse's choices later in life that tore the family apart, but they all survived. Eclipse made sure of that.

[swordmaid]

thinking abt jaime having to cuddle with a wounded brienne because it’s cold and she’s shivering and having nightmares …

[a-penchant-for-the-lethe]

Regulus' problem started with James.

James, who would absolutely take any excuse to hold Regulus' hand, asked if it was okay if he doodled little pictures on him. Claiming that it would help him focus.

"What do you mean there's paper right there, Love? Just give me your hand. Please?"

So, James just started scribbling little suns and snakes and one dopey lion (whose ears were vaguely lopsided) looking extremely content while doing so. Regulus - the poor sod, always weak for a happy James - just let him get away with it.

A mistake, he realized much too late. As soon as Pandora saw she wanted to add her own "artistic vision" to his hands and who could possibly resist Pandora? So, in addition to the snakes, the suns, and the lion (whom they'd lovingly named Leopold), there were flowers and vines weaving their way through his fingers and up his sleeves. Small rainbows, in only black ink, on the backs of his hands.

Dorcus was the next one bold enough to ask. A bracelet of triangles was added around his wrists in an up-down pattern.

"Because you only ever accessorize with rings. You need to branch out. See? Bracelets suit you, Reggie."

Evan wanted to add clouds to the ends of Pandora's rainbows ("Rainbows shouldn't just end like that. It looks weird. Come here, let me fix it.") along with the uneven swirls he drew on each of Reg's fingertips.

Barty was absolutely distraught to have been the last in their little group to get to draw on Regulus. It was a terrible betrayal that James got to do it before him, despite it being James’ idea to begin with.

He put tiny X's all the way down Regulus's pinkies. Then, he did the same to his own hands. So they would match. And so that if they were to theoretically make a pinky promise, which of course they would never do, as the serious and intimidating posh boys they were... then the X's would line up.

Sirius nearly triped over Remus when he saw what had been done to his brother because Regulus never painted on his hands as a kid. His memory was always really good, so there was no need to jot down quick reminders on the backs of his palms.

Whenever he did need to remember something, he just wrote it in that little black notebook he took everywhere, the one he would never let Sirius see.

Sirius, on the other hand, was almost always covered in little pictures and notes because he was scatter-brained, but mostly because it irritated their mother to no end.

Regulus never wanted to do anything that could disappoint their mother, so the image of Regulus holding on to his books with arms covered in ink was an odd one for Sirius. Regulus looked defiant. More importantly, Regulus looked happy.

Regulus explained his "predicament" to them in a petulant tone. Despite the small smile that seemed to be making its way onto his face as he recounted how James’ small requests snowballed into whatever the heck was going on with his hands now.

Sirius asked if they could "contribute to the community canvas" that had become of Regulus's skin, and he relented with the worlds most dramatic sigh. Remus drew a crescent moon on Reggie's left arm while Sirius drew a star on his right.

Peter was so shy about asking, Regulus wasn't entirely sure if he would. Regulus found himself very glad that Peter did, however, because when he finished, there was the most adorable and detailed little drawing of a mouse Regulus had ever seen.

His hands were almost entirely covered by the end of the day, so it was honestly a miracle that Lily found space for anything at all. But if Regulus knew anyone capable of miracles, it was certainly Lily Evans. Her design was a simple heart just below his thumb.

"A reminder. And a promise," she had said,"of how much we love you."

When Regulus watched the ink wash away in the shower, he was surprised by how sad he was to see it go. His arms felt bare when he went to bed. He thought it was strange just how quickly he'd gotten used to the doodles, like they'd always been there, under his skin.

He supposed James’s idea wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, initially. He found that, maybe, he already missed Leopold, and Lily's heart, and all the little pictures that served as proof that he was loved.

Eventually, he learned he didn't really need the pictures, though, because he had the people. People who still loved him even when there weren't strangely-ending rainbows and hearts on his hands to prove it.

They'd always been there. His people. He couldn't imagine a world where they wouldn't be. It was like imagining the earth without the sun. The sky without the stars. Unnatural. Cold.

The next morning, Mary and Marlene got to him first. A dimond and a broomsitck were the first things added to his arms, respectively. He thought it was incredible how quickly he'd grown to love so many people even when he never thought he could.

Maybe a younger version of him would be screaming that this could get back to his mother, somehow. That this would disappoint her. He could no longer find it in him to care. Because he had people who really loved him right here. Absolutely extatic that their little drawings came out so well.

His arms were always clean by the time he went to bed, but every day, he got to collect new doodles from all his favorite people.

It was always slightly different. Paw prints or sometimes footprints made their way down his arms. Sometimes, there were antlers or intricately drawn eyes. Sometimes, Peter would show off and draw something incredible that would have everyone else trying a little bit harder with their doodles that day.

Always, no matter how much room was left (be it a little or a lot), there was a heart from Lily. Always. A reminder. A promise. He was loved. By so many wonderful people. His real family loved him, and at the end of the day, that was everything. The only thing that mattered.

They surrounded him with warmth and love like it was the most natural thing in the world for them. Even if he could never be as open as Lily with her endless complements or as touchy as James with his soft hugs and quick kisses, he could learn to love and be loved more. In subtle ways that meant the world to the people who cared about him.

James takes every excuse to hold his hand, and Lily never misses a chance to tell him he's lovely. His friends throw themselves near him in piles and laugh until their lungs ache. His brother is with him again like he should be. Like that's the only way the universe will have it. There is love.

It doesn't matter if someday the only marking left on Regulus' arm was not drawn out of love. And it doesn't matter if the end of the story is not kind. If it is cold and unnatural like a sky without stars, because there was love.

And he can hope that his sacrifice will be enough to make up for his mistakes. He can hope that his final act will help shift the tides of the war, keep the people he loves safe. He can hope that his brother will forgive him if he ever leans the truth. He can hope that his life will leave an impact.

Because the end of the story is not what matters. The only thing that matters now is that the love he had at the start stays with him. It's proof he existed. That was his impact. No one final act of reckless heroics but infinite acts of courage and kindness and compassion that lead him to his people.

The end of the story doesn't matter, repeats like a mantra in Regulus head as water tries to wash away the marking on his arm one final time. The gray hands that grip him can take this mark. He never wanted it anyway, and he won't be sorry to see it go. The ones that matter will stay with him, always.

Beneath his skin. Burned into his heart. Keeping him warm even as cold water fills his lungs and makes him ache in such a familiar way. The harder it gets to think, the easier it is to convince himself that the pressure in his chest is just Lily sprawled across him on the couch. James told a supid joke. Now Regulus is laughing so hard he's running out of air. The moment the pressure eases up, Regulus will get him back.

And if the pressure never eases up, at least Regulus can be sure that he had love at the start, and he has love now. Always. Lily promised, and she's always right. The water can wash away all the ink it wants. Take his air and his life. It can think itself invincible. Because as long as stars burn in the sky, Regulus will be loved.

[science-lings]

reading some batman comics and i always get so excited when Tim is there he's so funny

[gothamsfinestdummy]

One day I might actually write an essay thing about how the reboot completely destroyed Pinky and Brain’s characters I am soooo very passionate about that subject

[quietwingsinthesky]

the first time river regenerates is under the care of jack, which is good because he has the (rare) necessary experience of knowing how to help someone who died a little and got better and bad because he now has to figure out a way to explain to amy pond why her daughter is now a completely different child without dying himself.