#as the new Bat-patriarch

[lorbanery]

Sometimes I get the urge to do some real cringe shit like writing character study songfic like it's 2005 and we're all trawling Fan Fiction Dot Net with no idea of the doom to come.

[sonicman66]

DpxDc fic where Danny is just haunting the Bats and providing memes to the internet whilst being invisible

Because I read a fic ('the curious case of who lives in the walls' by RaccoonRobyn over on ao3) that has Danny chilling in the Wayne Manor's walls and commenting on the Wayne's habits and goings on and i just

Tl;dr danny has a twitter page where he invisibly follows the bats and documents their funny mistakes like a nature documentary.

One day a Gothamite spots a new twitter page on their feed. Its not got a lot of posts, but they're all pictures. And the first one is... Nightwing. Lying on the concrete, face-down, with another bat or bird very obviously laughing at him.

They think nothing of it. They compliment the photoshop for its realism, and move on. Except there's more pictures. All of them, every last one of them, has the Bats and Birds suffering from a trip, fall, a gaffe, a misstep, anything and everything.

And then they find a video

Its clearly a handheld or phone camera, pointed at Robin in an alleyway. Someone starts talking, in a very poor attempt at sounding like David Attenborough, narrating like a wildlife documentary. "Here we see the youngest of the Bat-brood partaking in one of its more private behaviors, unseen and unknown by its kin."

And Robin just. Steps further into the alleyway and gets swarmed by stray cats, all begging for food. He grins and starts feeding them, all whilst narration continues, talking about this like its an animal's behavior.

And they have more. So many more.

A video of Red Hood. He does a fancy gun twirl when nobody's around, bobbles it, and accidentally fires into the ground. He picks it up and acts like nothing happened. But the video sees all.

A video of Batman on a gargoyle on a skyscraper, with shaky footage from clearly around a corner, but on the same level. "Commentary on this specimen has been added in post, for reasons you will soon see. Batman, the patriarch of the Bat-Brood, is incredibly elusive to research, and for good reason." In the video, the camera jolts a little and Batman turns suddenly to the sound of rocks moving. The camera goes still, and Batman scans the area, seemingly seeing nothing. Then, his white eyes turn blue, and he looks directly into the camera. Footage ends.

The acc posts a screenshot of a dm that is very clearly an Oracle sockpuppet. She has sent something along the lines of 'how have you obtained this footage, this is dangerous,' etc etc. His response is 'i am in ur walls lol'

He is not aware of the level of Bat Paranoia this brings out.

[flamingpudding]

The Ghost King is my Uncle Drabbles #2

A/N: Some more linked to a prompt week writing I did

>>Masterpost

Original this builds on: Link

Rowdy Cousin

Batman swore internally, from the outside he stoically sat in his chair and did nothing to indicate the absolute chaos that was going on in his mind. The Meeting rooms light flickered and the speakers once more started up loudly blaring a song all over the Watchtower. He was pretty sure one of his sons had told him once that playing that song was a meme.

"Someone do something about that kid! He is Rickrolling us!" Green Lantern screamed above the music.

"Constantine is already trying to do something." Superman's hands covering his sensitive ears as the music must sound to him even louder.

Batman very much only looped one thought in his head. -It's only for world ending purpose, I cannot use it right now.-

He had a responsibility to uphold, he was the patriarch of the earth branch family. This was not something that required him to use that. No he would not use it. He refused. This was not a world ending matter. Surely Constantine or anyone else of the Justice League Dark would solve this problem any second now.

The screens flicker and Batman did anything he could in his mind to not let his eye twitch even if no one would be able to see it. Cat videos were playing where second earlier statistics and observatory programs had been running.

No he would not, they could handle this problem no need to involve family.

The music stopped and some of his hero colleagues let out a relieved sigh only for a familiar laugh to echo through the watchtower and a new song starting to play. One that apparently counts all 100 dumb ways to die.

"Why is Klarion even targeting the watchtower like this?!" The Flash shouted over the lyrics before turning to him.

"Did one of your kids piss him off or something?!"

"No." At least not as far as he knew, though considering the recent discovery as well as the surprise visits his uncle had done lately he might have a guess why the witch boy was targeting them right now. Didn't mean he would elaborate this reason to the other heroes present.

Before Wonder Woman could comment John Constantine stormed in the room and slammed his hands down onto the table staring right at Batman with blood shot eyes. "Call him."

"Who?"

"Don't play fucking dumb bats. You know who I mean. This is not the witch brat alone. There is another entity and if you don't want the fucking watchtower crashing into earth you call him right now."

"Bats, he is not talking about who I think he is?" Superman carefully asked while the other heroes looked at him just as questionable.

He held his staring contest with Constantine a little longer before he grunted and reached into his utility belt pulling out a small bat-shaped pendant. A personalized upgraded calling card, his uncle had gifted to him as well as each of his children and extended family members.

This was not how he imagined a meeting in regards to his new discoveries and a possible sure fire contingency plan against world ending emergencies would go. He rubbed his thumb against the engraving waiting for a short moment for it to pulse, before tapping the pendant three times, paused and tapped it two more times. This was a non-emergency call, even if his colleagues might disagree.

He still thought they could very well handle this situation without the help of his uncle.

"BABY BAT, YOU CALLED THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU DID!"

The present heroes watched in stunned fashion how a white haired, 20 years old man stepped out of a green portal and instantly zoomed across the room to hug THE Batman around his head rubbing his cheek against the bat's cowl mindful of the pointy parts.

And Batman was letting the man do that only looking resigned.

"We agreed that I would only call on you with this pendant for emergencies."

The white haired man only hummed before his head turned sharply and green glowing eyes narrowed at Constantine, who visibly paled and took a step back standing straight and looking very much like he regretted what he had asked Batman to do. "Trading game is not being rude to you is he?"

The bat only grunted and the white haired man finally let go of him, humming as he took in his surroundings, eyes glinting in mischievously as he saw the flickering lights, animal videos on screen and heard the blaring music over the speaker. "When I okey-ed Klarion to go playing with his cousins I didn't think he would seek you two out. He had been talking about his older cousins starting another game of 'who's the better demon lord' in different dimensions. I thought he was joining their bet."

Wait did he say two? Batman grunted and the white haired guy chuckled. "I will be back in a second."

Not even the Flash could react as fast as the white haired man disappeared and reappeared with Klarion next to him. Clearly pulling on the witch boy's ear like a father would when their child had been naughty. The flickering lights and blaring of music over the speakers had stopped.

"Ow DAD what in the name of chaos are you doing here."

"Your Cousin called me. You are disturbing his work and risking them crashing into earth with Technus' help."

"YOU SNITCHED TO MY DAD?!"

"Hn."

"Technus get out of their network or I will lock you up on a Medieval Island for three decades."

As if the present heroes weren't confused enough a face appeared on one of the screens. Glaring at the white haired man. "You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me, if you stay in there any longer. I will also dig out the old thermos and soup you additionally for a decade or more."

The face on screen grumbled and the heroes nearly flinched back as a ghostly, green skinned man came out of it, looking every bit frustrated and annoyed. "I was just getting a good look at this modern technology, you have banned me from any big shot Industries…"

"We had that discussion 100 years ago, Technus. Back to the Ghost Zone." The white haired man commanded by opening a portal next to them with the wave of his hand and surprisingly, the green skinned guy listened.

"Sorry about this Baby Bat and Little Demi. Klarion will be grounded for a bit and re-educated in how to bond without risking potentially killing any bystanders. Oh and remember I will come by later for Baby Ghost to get his checkup with Frostbite!"

"Dad, please no grounding! Anything but that!"

"I am sure your Grandpa will be happy to have your help during your grounding."

"Dad! NO! I don't want to keep time in order! I live for chaos not order!"

The man was just smiling and completely ignoring Klarion's complains as he turned towards Batman and Wonder Woman, for reasons the hero's didn't understand.

"Well we will be on our way then Baby Bat, Little Demi!"

Batman grunted and the white haired man chuckled, leaving through the portal and dragging along a whining Klarion, who apparently was that man's son.

Just before the portal closed, the man stuck his head back out looking towards Wonder Woman with a mischievous smile. "Oh before I forget! Pops Clockwork sents his regards Little Demi . He doesn't want me saying this, but he is glad about the path you choose. Says you're set on a pretty good timeline!"

The head disappeared into the portal again and it finally closed. Wonder Woman was left blinking at the empty space, her mouth slightly open with the silent question of "What?"

"Bats, who was that?" The Flash was the first to break the silence that had followed as eyes turned to the dark knight.

"His Uncle." / "The Ghost King."

Superman and Constantine spoke at the same time. The JLD member flinched back as he looked at the glowering bat. Muttering something the man took his leave or rather escaped the room as quickly as possible as Batman kept glaring. Meanwhile Wonder Woman was slowly having a crisis of her own as suddenly family relations that had been hinted to her through Pandora made sense. "Clockwork... no, Titan Cronus? The Ghost King... Uncle Daniel?"

Chaos broke among the present heroes.

"WHAT UNCLE?!"

[brucewaynehater101]

Do you think the bat kids ever look at how Bruce treats them or their siblings and how their own siblings treat them and

internalize that?

As some examples. . .

Tim Drake, the parentified Robin, looking at the way Batman treats Stephanie and Jason and noting down how not to act around Batman if he wants any of the progress he's made to stay

Damian seeing scars from when Batman---the so-called civilized and humane alternative to the League---brutalized Tim during training and fixated ever further on becoming his chosen heir

Duke, a gang leader himself, remembering news articles and gossip on what Batman had to say about Red Hood gang leader himself after coming under the patriarch's wing

Oh, absolutely. This isn't explored enough, but you are correct. The way that adults interact with your siblings does impact you as well. The lessons they are being taught will also have an impact on you (my therapist mentioned something about watching the abuse happening to your siblings is traumatic for you as well).

This checks out for the Batkids too.

One, your Duke example is stunning. I've never thought of it that way, but it's perfectly reasonable and understandable.

Two, the Damian one tugged on my heartstrings harshly. It's a good hc.

Three, definitely vibe with the Tim one, and I'd love to see more examples with different kids.

A few other notes to consider: Does Bruce treat batkids of different attributes separately? Are the younger kids subjected to mannerisms distinct from the older ones? The kids who have killed someone? The ones without black hair? Gender? Socioeconomic background before Bruce? Sexuality? Caffeine intake? Hobbies? Fighting abilities?

I'm not saying that Bruce would do this on purpose or maliciously (I mean... he could), but our society is unfortunately filled with biases. You have been subjected to such, and in order to combat this, we need to constantly combat these mindsets. Because of this, Bruce might subconsciously treat his children differently due to common societal prejudices combined with his strict moral mindset (and tendency to sometimes have black and white thinking).

The bat kids may or may not pick up the exact type of category Bruce has subconsciously placed them in, but they will recognize who gets affected by separate mannerisms of Bruce.

All of the kids have distinct collections of treatment styles that Bruce gives them, but they share some traits with various siblings.

Some behaviors Bruce might do: who gets hair ruffles vs side hugs, who gets lectured vs asked to report, who does he help with small injuries, how long does he stay with each kid in the infirmary, who is yelled at vs given the silent treatment, who has a space in Batman's toolbelt for their items, who does he call first for unrelated incident types, etc.

Also, this extends past Bruce as well. How does Alfred treat them? Doctor Leslie? Mr. Fox? JL? Anyone whose opinion matters to the kids will have an effect on them.

[apocalypse-shuffle]

LEATHERFACE | BUBBA SAWYER (TTCM & TTCM P2 | TCM: Next Generation a little)

—

Being in a relationship w/ Leatherface (and coexisting w/ the Sawyer Family) (Bubba Sawyer | Leatherface x Fem!Reader)

Headcanons

NSFW-ish, mature themes, canon typical violence & gore, murder, normalized violence, (TW: Cannibalism, human-skin leather), sawyer family appearances, brief mentions of sex, slasher shit -soft!girly!reader & kind of callous!reader

Pic source: beg./middle•The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) & end•The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2

Happy 3 days till Halloween!!! 🎃

The only reason you had been spared was because of how earnestly you’d taken to them. You’d been hitchhiking too when Nubbins asked to ride with the crew you were with. But keeping to yourself in the farthest corner of the van you’d looked so alert that Nubbins had kept his taunting for the others and stayed clear of bothering with you entirely in case the aura you were immitting — despite your pretty dust riddled clothes — wasn’t just his imagination.

Still though when Nubbins starts to show off his polaroids to bring the group's guards down you pay the most attention, even complimenting some of his more atmospheric shots before tucking back into yourself.

Nubbins is so shocked he just asks to be let out afterwards, not even having cut himself or properly antagonized anyone the way he’d perfected over the last couple of months.

Really it’s the others’ insistence on poking around after Nubbins had told them a “ghost story” about cannibals in the dust storms that gets them murdered. Nubbins hadn’t wanted to deal with you (at least not without Bubba), and had lowkey been flattered by your compliments, so he’d let you guys go.

When you make it a point to just be on your way after the Sawyer’s latest grocery delivery starts trespassing all over their private land, and run into Drayton and Bubba coming back from a trip out of town, the conversation the older man starts up with you isn’t even laden with ulterior motive.

Bubba is immediately smitten by the flash of a smile you give him when you catch sight of him unmasked before he has a chance to duck from where he’s sitting in the truck bed. And how you don’t recoil and hardly bat a lash at him after he hastily ties on his mask has him ready to argue with his older brother about inviting you to dinner and not letting you go before Drayton’s even halfway through talking with you.

He doesn’t need to do much convincing however because Drayton’s already got his hat off like the southern gentlemen he isn’t, and you’ve got your head tilted as you listen to him, guarded gaze growing softer the longer you keep catching Bubba stealing glances at you.

You’re honest though, and the pseudo patriarch likes that. Coupled with the fact he keeps applying “manners” to what’s really just your soft spoken bluntness, and he’s convinced you’re exactly the womanly presence the family needs before the day’s done.

You’re aimless and/or disowned anyway so you take Drayton up on his invite back to the house and the rest is pretty cut and dry (this is pre the first movie). You don’t participate in the deaths of your past companions, but you're introduced up close and personal to the reality of the Sawyers pretty quickly.

When “Leatherface” comes out and that chainsaw revs up you’ve got front row seats to the blunt chains tearing through flesh and cracking open bone and are covered in enough blood by the time the group of idiots you’d been traveling with are all killed with extreme prejudice to feel damn near baptized in it.

Enough blood to drive Bubba crazy and have him being mercilessly teased by Nubbins over the chub he’s sporting in his trousers.

For your part, you just go with everything (at first) so you won’t end up next. And you’re lonely enough that it doesn’t take long before you're not faking it, whether you want to believe it or not.

News Flash: You’re not very motherly at all, but by the time you’ve kindly handed Drayton his ass over whatever “woman’s work” he’d tried to give you for the last time it’s too late for him to take back his endorsements.

Bubba would kill his ass for one, and being so busy bothering you was actually slowing down all those episodes Chop Top always pretended not to have because of the war. So you stay, but Drayton thinks you’re one helluva con artist and you just tell him that it takes one to know one even though you never once sold him a lie.

You simply refuse to be “mammyfied” and that’s that.

Bubba is in love with your wardrobe almost as much as he is with you.

The first time he comes requesting you do one of your makeup looks — something more 70’s glamor for his tastes, even if it’s not a style you’d usually do — on a carefully carved out face mask, though, you pause.

It’s nearly a make or break aspect in your relationship, but if you accept this part of him (really accept it, enough to participate) then there’s no going back. No lying to yourself about just being a hostage or only acting out of duress every time you didn’t try running away or scream out to any of the Sawyer family’s victims before they were slaughtered.

When you do help out with the makeup for his mask Bubba sticks to you like glue the entire time. Part of it is just him liking to watch you work — and him wanting to study your process to (somewhat clumsily at first) recreate on his own later. The rest of the reason is that he’s so used to having his things messed with that he’s keeping an eye on you just in case, no matter how unlikely it is you’d steal from him or destroy his mask just to fuck with him.

It’s just— there was the drought, then the layoffs, then starvation, and his only family either died or got meaner. Bubba is destined to get defensive with you too sometimes, it’s not personal.

With trespassers it’s kind of personal though — refer back to the first couple bullet points.

If anyone on the goddamn planet is going to piss you off to no end it’s going to be Chop Top. Where Nubbins will accidentally mistake one of your scarves or washcloths for an oil rag, his twin will fuck your shit up or steal it completely on purpose.

Alternatively, every time Nubbins breaks or dirties something of yours without realizing he’s dismissive as hell about telling you it happened because he hates admitting he made a mistake, but he will try to give you a replacement taken off a victim or that he’s made in his version of an apology.

With Chop Top, though, you’ll see him wearing your shit one day and be too disgusted by whatever he’s done with it to want it back. And if it’d lead to anything good you’d strangle him again for his bullshit, but the last time you’d gone at one another’s throats you’d triggered him to the point of screaming nonsense while he held a knife to your throat and Bubba ended up breaking a table after throwing him into it while you recuperated on the ground.

So yeah, you don’t put your hands on each other anymore, but you definitely still cuss one another out on a regular basis.

The welts the edge of the blade left against the brown skin of your throat sent Bubba into so much distress that you vowed to stop trying to fight Chop Top just to never see that reaction from your partner again.

Bubba is the main cook in the house (the only other person who regularly touches the kitchen being the oldest of his brothers), and he is by no means bad at it outside of his tendency to get heavy-handed with his seasonings whenever he’s got some. However, you will not eat anything with meat in it from him (so long as you do eat meat) unless you watched an animal being put in there.

He finds this stipulation incredibly insulting at first, but you refuse to not draw the line there.

You paint flowers onto his kitchen apron to make up for his hurt and he forgives you pretty easily after though.

You have to make a hard distinction between what of your makeup he can use on his masks and what makeup he can or cannot share between you both that’s strictly for your own bare faces. The first time he’d asked to use some of your blush and you’d found him powdering a dead woman’s face you’d just about passed away yourself, and thus the rules swiftly followed.

Bubba always praises you whenever you get dolled up – in whatever way he sees fit: kissing your cheeks or the back of your hands, picking you flowers, twirling you around, clapping for you – but let any of his brothers make one comment on how pretty you look and he’s arguing with them.

At first Drayton cannot stand the scent of the flowers you or Bubba start bringing into the house and/or the perfume that you wear, but that’s only until he realizes how much better the scents were at making people stop at the shop. Add to that the lavender you planted keeping way more flies away and Drayton was convinced you were some kind of good luck charm. He’ll allow you this one win specifically despite how much he bitched about the smell beforehand (and the fact that he still thinks you’re one of the best liars he’s ever met).

The first time you help any of the Sawyers prep a dead animal they’re all surprised, but really you can only roll your eyes. Regardless of if you came with knowledge on how to properly kill and prep an animal to be eaten, or you diligently asked Bubba or Drayton to teach you, your appearance didn’t have shit to do with your actual ability to learn or have certain skills.

Drayton shockingly muttering that he thought you were just a delicate flower after you turn to him with a handful of guts in your hand is funny though.

Well, funny until Chop Top grabs the fist full of guts in your hand and motorboats them. You suck your teeth so hard as you watch him act a fool, eyes rolling, that Bubba stops cleaving to cast you a concerned look.

You’re either going to become a hardcore vegan or vegetarian or you're not, alright? I don’t make the rules of the universe. Outside of literal cannibalism most of the only other meat available is going to be the rare hunted animal or fresh-enough roadkill. Times are tough, but Drayton does want to start a garden now.

The only functioning fan in the whole house is in the room you share with Bubba (this doesn’t have anything to do with liking girly shit, you just refuse to be so hot all the time).

Instead of struggling with it for half an hour every time he’s in a more feminine headspace Bubba comes to you to tie on the silver bell bracelet he wears; you kiss his wrist whenever you’re finished.

Whenever you paint your nails you make sure to paint his too. You kiss each one of his fingers when you’re done, and he does the same to you while hard as a fucking rock and seconds away from begging to fuck you.

There isn’t a chance you’re ever going to try Drayton’s chili, no matter how fucking butt hurt he gets.

Whenever you cry, Bubba cries too.

Bubba definitely appreciates you helping him out. Whether being his assistant while he’s butchering or bringing him something to eat or just keeping him company so he doesn’t feel left out. Since it’s the kind of attention he for sure never gets from his brothers he cherishes it from you.

He will do nothing but stare at you if you sit down to do your makeup or otherwise get dolled up in any way, he can’t help himself. If you ask him to hand you something he’ll do it like he’s in a trance, he just likes seeing you come together like that and will be in awe. Blow him a kiss, he’ll blush.

Introduce him to ascots, I think he’d like them.

Whenever you wear your only pair of heels and your daisy dukes Bubba can’t keep his eyes off you, eyes glued to your black ass like it’s the second coming. You can’t help but tease him with the sway of your hips, it’s just too easy to coax those cute blushing looks out of him.

It’s only fair. The sight of him in his swim shorts always makes you go a little boy crazy too.

The “grandma” mask throws you off more than his others, especially considering he doesn’t wear it when he’s around you very often. He wears it when he’s cooking or doing more mundane house work (usually to contend himself with having to slip into the more “traditionally feminine” role his brothers refuse to), and if he’s not in his kitchen apron he wears an antique house dress that really makes him look like a little old lady from afar. You just watch him do it and keep him company. Whenever you try to help it kind of depends on his mood if he’ll let you. You’ll need to ask him where he wants you, don’t just guess.

Bubba teaches you how to whittle bones. He also most definitely gifts you some of the jewelry he makes out of his victim’s bones/teeth or gifts you stolen jewelry (and other things he thinks you might like) from the people he kills.

Bubba is chief decorator of the house mostly of his own accord. He wittles, strings things up, and builds all kinds of furniture out of bones and feathers and other miscellaneous things he finds that he thinks are pretty and is so calm while doing it you just sit down and watch him work with a little smile on your face.

He will 100% braid your hair (and is a quick study when you want it done a specific way) with yarn — which is easier to get than braiding hair where you are, or delicately twist decorative feathers and charms into your cornrows.

He massages oil into your scalp too and you always fall asleep with your head in his lap.

He does a lot of yard work also, so if you’re dedicated to spending a lot of time with him you will be outside often. He’s perfectly content with just having your company and your assistance here and there, but if you want to do more he won’t stop you outside of the really big jobs he has to do.

Sometimes you just dress up cutely in your overalls and boots and sit around looking pretty and soaking sun into your already sun-kissed skin for the whole day and he loves that about as much as you being his assistant. (You have sunscreen, it’s fine.)

Oftentimes you knit or sew (if you know how), but most often you’re reading a book or entertaining Bubba with anecdotes from one of the week's newspapers.

Bubba’s ass is strong. He can and will pick you up, and watching him swing a hammer borders on…overwhelming.

His clothes are the only ones you mend or help wash at all. You’re not a maid, but he respects your time and doesn’t demand it so you help him out because he’s your partner and you choose to. Also, blood stains are a bitch to get out (even when you leave them in the sun to “bleach” after washing) and Bubba gets covered in blood the most for the family so you’re not just going to leave him hanging.

“Leatherface” is lowkey a moniker that was created to taunt Bubba. The twins gave him the nickname after he started wearing his masks and it kind of stuck with everyone. You don’t use it just based off how Chop Top and Them tend to throw it in Bubba’s face whenever they’re irritated with him, but you will use the ambiguity of the moniker when talking about your chainsaw wielding partner to any trespassers and/or victims just to get them extra apprehensive.

When you got to the point where seeing him covered in blood started turning you on you spiraled a bit for sure. You kind of just embrace how aroused it makes you now though, and Bubba gets endlessly flattered.

You still wouldn’t have him any other way, really. Or the rest of his fucked up, irritating family. Even Grandpa (though you do still avoid him like the plague even when you're helping Bubba care for and feed him).

NOTES: Hope you enjoyed!!🧡

Honestly, after Chromeskull, Bubba is probably my favorite slasher. Anyway, this was fun! I’ll also definitely write more of these at some point too!

btw: if you’d like to leave a comment I’d very much appreciate it!

[ghostlyreader09]

The Crimson Threads: Part Two

aged up damain wayne x yn

hiii! i think i’ll keep with this series💛

The Batcave was still, as it always was. A hollow echo reverberated through the cavernous expanse, filled only by the low hum of monitors and the rhythmic tapping of fingers on keyboards. The glow of digital screens lit the faces of Gotham’s protectors, but the silence between them was thick, palpable—a tension that hung like a storm on the horizon. They had gathered here, in this dark sanctuary, trying to piece together the fragments of a puzzle that eluded them.

Damian stood apart, watching from the shadows, his presence more felt than seen. His arms were crossed tightly, his jaw clenched, every muscle in his body coiled with the same restless energy that had kept him on edge for weeks. He could feel their eyes on him, even if they said nothing. Alfred was the only one who didn’t seem to care for his silence, but even the older man’s usually comforting presence couldn’t soothe the knot that had settled in Damian’s chest.

“What do we know about her?” Bruce’s voice was low, measured, as it always was. The leader. The patriarch. But there was something different in his tone now. Concern. A subtle shift, barely perceptible, but unmistakable to those who had grown accustomed to reading his every mood.

“She’s elusive,” Tim Drake spoke up, his fingers gliding effortlessly across the keyboard, his eyes flicking between lines of code. “But that’s nothing new. Whoever she is, she knows how to stay hidden. She’s got a network of data wipes around her, almost like she’s actively erasing traces of herself.”

“Not just a criminal,” Damian muttered, his voice edged with frustration. He could hear the soft clicks of the Batcomputer as Tim continued his work. “She’s a ghost. A shadow that slips through the cracks.”

“I’ve encountered her,” Bruce said, his eyes dark with a hint of the same frustration Damian felt. “She has a strange ability to heal, yes. But we’ve only seen what she does from a distance. Her powers—there’s something more to them. I need to know what.”

“Her name is Sanguis,” Damian interjected, his voice tight as he took a step into the circle of light. “And she’s more than just a healer. I’ve seen it in her eyes—the way she takes from people. The way she absorbs their wounds. I don’t think she’s just fixing them. She’s using them.”

The room fell silent. The weight of his words hung in the air like a fog, thickening the already suffocating atmosphere of the Batcave.

“Wait,” Jason Todd, the ever-impulsive second son of the Bat, spoke up from across the room, his arms folded, leaning against the wall in that way he always did. “You’re telling me she takes on their pain? She absorbs it? That sounds like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.”

Damian’s eyes flickered to Jason, a brief flash of something darker crossing his features. “It’s not a bomb. It’s… more controlled. Calculated. But the fact remains that she’s hiding something.”

“Could be the price of her ability,” Tim suggested, his voice soft as his fingers danced over the keys, searching for answers that didn’t seem to exist. “Not a lot of data, but there’s been mention of people she’s healed—victims of accidents or injuries. The reports are conflicting. Some say they just walked away, fully healed. But others… there are no records. No follow-up. No sign of them ever being seen again.”

“Or they’ve been taken,” Damian murmured, his thoughts racing. He could feel the puzzle pieces clicking together in his mind, but none of them fit. The weight of the mystery was pressing down on him, heavy and suffocating.

“And she never stays around long enough to talk,” Bruce said with a deep sigh. “She disappears before anyone can ask questions.”

There was a brief pause, a pregnant silence that seemed to stretch on forever. In the quiet, Damian felt a flicker of something—a memory, perhaps. Something that had been gnawing at him for weeks. He saw her face in his mind—her dark, unreadable eyes. The fleeting moment when her touch had pulled the pain from his body, the agonizing sensation of his wounds closing and her own taking their place.

She had healed him. He had felt the exchange—couldn’t deny it now. But what had it cost her?

“What if she’s not… evil?” he asked, his voice quieter than before, as if testing the words in the air. The shift in tone was subtle, but unmistakable. He had never voiced such a thought aloud. It was dangerous to even entertain it.

Bruce’s gaze flickered to him, sharp and calculating, as though the words themselves were a betrayal of everything they stood for. But instead of reprimanding him, he merely tilted his head, considering. “You’re suggesting she’s… what? A vigilante?”

“I don’t know,” Damian admitted, his voice low. “But she’s doing something more than what we’ve seen. She’s healing—yes. But there’s something about her… something beneath it. She’s not like us. But that doesn’t make her a villain.”

Tim, still absorbed in his search, sighed heavily. “I wish it were that simple. She’s not giving us much to go on. Whatever she’s doing, she’s keeping her identity locked down tight. Almost like she’s afraid of being discovered.”

“Afraid of being found,” Damian corrected, his gaze distant, as if seeing something none of the others could. “Not just discovered. She’s hiding something more than just a name.”

Alfred, who had remained silent through the exchange, stepped forward, his gaze steady, his expression unreadable. “Master Damian is correct in his assumption. But I believe there’s more to Miss Sanguis than mere fear or secrecy.”

“Then what is it, Alfred?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow. “What’s her game?”

Alfred’s gaze flickered to the darkened corners of the cave, as if he were searching for something that wasn’t there. “Perhaps it’s not a game at all. Perhaps she is… something else. Something different.” He paused, his voice softening. “We are all bound by the cost of our choices. Some of us carry our burdens in ways that are visible to the world. And some, like her, bear them in silence.”

Damian’s thoughts stirred, the weight of those words settling in his chest like a stone. Was she truly carrying something heavier than any of them could understand? Was she paying a price for her healing that none of them could even fathom?

The room fell quiet again, each of them caught in their own contemplation. There were no answers yet. No clear path forward.

Finally, Bruce broke the silence. “We need more information. Keep an eye on her. Track her movements, Tim. And Damian,” he turned his gaze to his son, the unspoken weight of expectation between them, “I want you to stay focused. We don’t know if she’s a friend or foe. But we’ll find out.”

Damian nodded, but something in his chest tightened. His father’s orders had always been clear-cut, but this was different. This wasn’t just a mission. Not anymore. Something inside him, something fragile, something unspoken, had begun to change.

————

The next night, as the moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows over Gotham, Damian found himself watching from the rooftops once again. His gaze swept over the streets, the alleys, the quiet places where shadows lived.

And there she was—Sanguis.

She moved through the streets like a wraith, her cloak trailing behind her, her every step graceful and unhurried. She didn’t see him, not yet, but he was watching—watching her as she healed, as she touched the broken bodies of those who had been torn apart by Gotham’s cruelty.

Her power was a strange and wondrous thing, and he could feel it even from a distance—the way she moved, the way she shifted the very essence of life within the bodies she touched. She wasn’t just a healer. No, that was too simple.

She was a keeper of souls, a silent guardian who traded her own strength to save others.

Damian’s fingers clenched at his sides. This city didn’t need another shadow in the night. But maybe, just maybe, it needed someone who could walk between the light and the darkness. And for the first time, he wondered if he was the one who had misunderstood her.

—————

The night wrapped itself tighter around Gotham as if the city itself were waiting for something. Damian perched silently atop a gargoyle overlooking a dim-lit alley, his eyes tracing the winding path below, where Sanguis had just appeared. The flicker of her silhouette was familiar by now, a shadow within shadows, and every time he saw her, the tension within him grew.

Tonight, he didn’t follow her immediately. He wanted to observe, to understand without moving, without the pressure of confrontation. For the first time, he wasn’t chasing her like prey, as he had done in the past. Instead, he was waiting for something—some crack in her armor that would reveal the truth. Her power was undeniable, and yet he couldn’t reconcile the idea of her as a threat, a mere villain in the shadows. No, there was something more to her.

She had to be more.

Damian leaned forward slightly, letting the cool breeze of Gotham wash over him, but his eyes never left her. The way she moved through the alley, that quiet grace, the fluidity of her steps—they didn’t belong in Gotham. They felt like they belonged to another time, another world, one where healing and pain weren’t bound by the same rules as the harsh city streets.

There’s something about her.

She stopped in front of an abandoned building, kneeling beside a man who lay prone, his face contorted in pain, blood staining the pavement. Damian could tell from here that the man had been injured in a violent attack—his body was broken, his breath labored.

But as always, Sanguis didn’t hesitate. She simply knelt beside him, her hands glowing faintly in the darkness. A soft hum seemed to vibrate in the air as her fingers moved over the man’s chest, his body slowly beginning to mend beneath her touch. She was absorbed in the work, oblivious to the world around her. The man’s breathing evened out as his injuries closed, his pulse stabilizing. It was like watching a miracle unfold, but as always, Damian’s sharp eyes saw the cost.

Her hands trembled slightly as the blood began to settle, as if it had taken something more than just the injury from the man. Her face, normally calm and unreadable, showed the faintest flicker of strain.

There it is again.

The odd sensation—the way she never seemed to just heal. She was taking something from the world around her. Absorbing it.

Damian could feel his pulse quicken. He wanted to rush down, confront her, demand answers, but he didn’t. Not yet. Something in him had changed over the past few weeks. This wasn’t the same cold pursuit, the same bitterness that had once fueled him. No, now he had questions—questions that were pushing him in directions he didn’t want to go.

As she finished with the man, standing slowly, she turned her face upward, as if sensing the eyes that were watching her. Her gaze swept over the rooftops, briefly settling on his position, but she didn’t react. No surprise. No fear.

She knows.

For the first time, Damian felt exposed. The battle wasn’t just about his identity anymore. It was about something much deeper, something tangled in the spaces between their secrets.

Her voice broke the silence, quiet, almost a whisper that was carried away by the wind. “You’re here again.”

Damian didn’t move. He stayed where he was, his gaze never leaving her. “You’re hard to track.”

“And you’re predictable,” she replied smoothly, the hint of a smirk in her voice. “Your shadows follow you too closely.”

He felt his lips tighten at her words, but he didn’t rise to the bait. “Why do you do it? Heal them. Take their wounds. What’s the point?”

Her eyes met his, dark as the night itself, but there was something new there—a flicker of something that Damian couldn’t quite place. Was it… pity? Or something softer? She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she turned her gaze back to the man at her feet, who was now stumbling away, looking dazed but unharmed.

“The point?” She repeated, almost as if the word were foreign to her. “You think I do this for a reason? Because I’m some kind of hero?”

“Are you?” Damian asked, his voice steady, but his mind was racing. He wanted to understand. Needed to.

Her lips parted, then pressed together as if the words were too sharp to speak. “I do it because I can. Because I have no other choice.”

There was a crack in her voice—barely perceptible, but there nonetheless. It unsettled him more than anything she had ever said.

“Choices…” Damian echoed, taking a step toward her. His feet moved of their own accord now, drawn to the vulnerability in her words, to the soft, aching truth that seemed to seep out when she least expected it. “What makes you think you don’t have one? You don’t have to—”

“I don’t have a choice,” she interrupted, her voice suddenly harsh. Her fists clenched by her sides as if her own words caused her physical pain. ���This power—this curse, I can’t escape it. If I stop healing them, if I stop taking their injuries, I don’t know what will happen to me.”

Damian felt the breath catch in his chest. A curse?

The thought lingered between them like a thread, fragile and delicate, but no less real. Her face softened then, as if the anger had burned itself out, leaving only the exhaustion behind.

“I don’t do this for glory,” she continued, her voice quieter now, the weight of her words pressing down like a fog. “I do it because I have to. Because if I don’t, I don’t know who else will.”

Damian’s gaze softened. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the way the shadows seemed to part around her, revealing the raw, aching truth she had been trying so hard to hide. Maybe it was the way she stood there, alone in the heart of Gotham, carrying the weight of others’ pain as her own.

For a moment, they stood in silence, the world around them seeming to hold its breath.

Damian’s voice was barely more than a whisper when he spoke again. “That doesn’t make you weak. You know that, right?”

Her eyes flickered toward him, the barest trace of something—hope?—in them before she looked away again, her gaze fixed firmly on the pavement below.

“I’m not looking for anyone’s approval,” she said softly. “I’m just trying to survive.”

Damian didn’t know what to say to that. How could he? He had spent his life surrounded by people who fought because they had to—because Gotham had demanded it. But this was different. She wasn’t just fighting the city; she was fighting herself.

A faint memory crossed his mind then—the first time he had encountered pain that wasn’t his own. The first time he had been forced to watch someone else bleed for a cause that was beyond him. It had felt like a betrayal. A mistake.

But as he watched Sanguis, standing there in the moonlight, her power both a gift and a curse, he began to understand. She had never had a choice.

And for the first time, Damian didn’t know if he wanted to stop her—or if he wanted to help her.

————

Bruce, Tim, and Alfred were in their usual positions, scanning through data, as they always did. But Damian’s eyes were distant. He couldn’t stop thinking about her—about the weight of her words, the way she had felt when she stood in front of him, the way her power had pulsed against him, as if there was something more to it than just healing.

But he wasn’t about to say anything—not yet. He wasn’t sure what it meant, what he was feeling. All he knew was that he had to keep watching her.

Because there was still so much she wasn’t telling him. Something that he had to know.

thank you!!!! any recommendations or ideas for this story is greatly appreciated, and i do take requests! 💕💕💕

sanguis is latin for life-blood and might

[leviathanspain]

innocent son

regulus black x reader, sirius black x reader

synopsis: regulus was a messed up person, but he made you feel just as bad as him

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“god, regulus!” you pulled your arm out of his tight grip and walked towards the door.

“no, no no.” he shook his head and slammed a hand down on the door before you even pulled it open, “stay, y/n, please stay with me.” his voice cracked slightly and you heard the rumble of orion’s voice from down the steps and you shivered slightly. leave now and deal with the consequences of the black family patriarch who had a creepy fondness for you.

you let out a huge sigh and paused. your lips felt dry as you thought. your parents weren’t expecting you home, you lied and said you were spending the night with lily. but you and lily hadn’t talked for weeks since the incident.

sirius was walking just ahead of you and you moved quickly to catch up to him, “black!” you yelled and sirius turned around, rolling his eyes as he saw it was you. “yes, oh my dear y/n.” he remarked sarcastically.

you laughed dryly, “i suppose that you can’t help me study for my potions exam? i heard you had a rather interesting talent for it.”

sirius stopped walking and smirked slightly, “and just who, told you that?” sirius looked at the planes of your face and took in its image, a small blush was on your face as you thought.

“your brother.” you whispered.

sirius’ smile fell slightly and he hummed, “oh.” and continued to walk.

you, were blissfully unaware of the friction between the two brothers. you had just met regulus the other day after your friend decided it would be a good idea to try her new bat off the field, sending a slugger to the back of reg’s head.

“what’s wrong?” you reached out for sirius’ arm and pulled him back. sirius looked surprised that you had pulled him back, and raised an eyebrow, “nothing.. nothing.” he gave a stiff smile and looked at the floor, “i’ll help you. hardly do i ever study but for you, it wouldn’t hurt for a few hours.”

you practically squealed in happiness when he finished. you jumped up and down, reaching up to peck his cheek, “thank you, you handsome man!” you yelled, and ran off, seeing a group of girls from the class and catching up with them.

you flickered between that memory and the pain creasing regulus’ face.

you pulled him towards you, and you held him, “i’m sorry.” you had overreacted, regulus needed you, and as much as you didn’t want to believe it, you needed him too.

lily, james, remus and sirius were all gathered in the gryffindor common room when remus finally broke the silence.

“and you said yes?” sirius nodded and james let out a bitter laugh.

lily looked between them all and shook her head, “y/n is sweet! i don’t really see the issue.” she looked at sirius who was avoiding their gaze, and shrugged, “she’s just a friend, right?” she asked but lily seemed to already know the answer.

remus looked at lily and sighed, “she’s friends with regulus, that already makes her tainted fruit.” james agreed and sirius stayed silent.

he didn’t know why he had said yes.

“at least she called pads handsome.” james reminded him and nudged sirius, who was smiling shyly.

“just study with her. control your emotions and that whole word vomit thing that you do that always works for you but you end up regretting it later on.” lily warned sirius who nodded, “yes ma’am.” he held up a hand over his heart and his other to salute her in a sarcastic jab. the two boys laughed as lily rolled her eyes.

sirius found it harder and harder to keep himself contained next to you. he was like a boiling pot of water, threatening to spill with every hair flip and coy smile you gave him.

but he knew that there was one thing that would suppress him.

“how do you know my brother?” he cut in awkwardly, as you were reading the textbook silently.

you stopped, and looked up, “my friend batted a ball at his head. i walked with him to the infirmary when he remembered me in potions.”

sirius nodded, letting out a silent ‘oh’ before he carried on.

“what do you think of him?” he prodded, and you shrugged, “he’s nice. everyone else doesn’t really seem to think so, i see him alone most of the time, but he’s really sweet. and cute.” you mentioned, “i guess it runs in the family.” you looked up at sirius, who was struggling to hold his words in. he had a look in his eyes that you had seen only a handful of times, always when you were alone.

“i guess it does.” sirius muttered absentmindedly. and as you looked up, you felt hands cup your cheeks, and sirius kissed you.

for a second, you were frozen, until his tongue met yours and you were entangled in the kiss. gripping his hair, you pulled sirius closer to you as he grabbed your neck roughly. you moaned into the kiss as you felt his fingers press into the nape of your neck.

days passed by and you had avoided sirius. horribly bad timing, that night as you had finally torn your lips off sirius, a flush of regret washed over you, and even more so when regulus saw you walking down the corridor. it was late, late enough to warrant detention, but regulus was hardly ever caught. he saw you, and pulled you into the shadows where he stood.

a slip of moonlight showed your face to him and regulus noted the swollen lips, clearly from kissing someone. he swallowed thickly, “holiday is coming soon. my pretentious parents want to go to france, come with me.”

a boy whom you had just met a few days ago was now asking you to crash his family vacation.

“will sirius be there?” you asked and regulus shook his head, “no.”

“then yes.” the words left your lips before you could even think. regulus held you for a moment before nodding, “thank you.”

regulus was in front of you. your hand was in his as you breathed slightly on his neck. the bed was large enough for the both of you, and regulus had hardly moved in the last hour, frozen in your embrace.

“reg?” you asked and regulus hummed quietly, “why did you ask me to france?” why did you drag me into this, you wanted to add but you withheld that question, knowing it would only make him freeze you out.

“he wanted you. i saw the way he looked at you, how he gazed at your hands, your face, even the way you walked.” he swallowed thickly, “i couldn’t let him have you.”

him. him? the thought passed around in your head until it landed on the most obvious.

sirius.

sirius who was utterly heartbroken to hear you were going with regulus on holiday, seemingly sealing your fate as regulus’ bitch, the boys had forbidden you to see him. lily had communicated the thought and you couldn’t even protest. you could’ve stopped the kiss, could’ve told regulus no. so many decisions on your part that seemed to be all a jumbled mess anyway.

so you swallowed your pride and nodded, looking at lily, “tell sirius im sorry.” you whispered and lily nodded.

she wasn’t your friend, none of them were. so why did it hurt so bad to be shunned by them for hurting their golden boy?

you had been rubbing your thumb on the back of regulus’ hand, which ceased movement as he said that.

“what?” you asked, your voice sounding suddenly very far away.

your hearing moved to a buzz, a harsh buzz that made you blink in shock.

“are you telling me, that because sirius liked me, you sabotaged me?” regulus was not good for you. you had come to terms with that. the boy had too much emotional baggage that it was nauseating. not knowing how to feel, you pulled away from him and sat up on your side of the bed. you gripped the sheets slightly and regulus sat up.

“it’s not how i wanted to tell you. but, i fell in love with you! sirius would’ve thrown you away like a used tissue the minute you opened your legs for him, he would’ve used you.” regulus hissed and you shook your head, “that’s not a decision you should’ve made, reg!” you stood up, and knew very well this was a screaming match in the process.

orion would most likely have to break it up, and walburga would have to sit with you until orion had sorted regulus out. this was all predictable because it always happened. regulus said stupid things, and didn’t care how they hurt you.

“you cant say you love me, regulus.” it had been just weeks since school had started back up since the holiday. “we have sex under the moonlight, both drunk and emotional and suddenly that’s love?” you referenced the last night of your trip in france. heavy on the neurotic, little less romance, it could’ve passed for a really bad rendition of romeo and juliet.

“yes.” regulus looked at you, his eyes were red rimmed and his hair was a mess, “i told you i loved you then, and im telling you now. i love you!” he yelled, and the doors down the hall cracked open and you felt your ears heat up.

you didn’t want to go through with this again. you couldn’t deal with the consequences.

so you shushed regulus, who was shaking now. you turned his back towards the door and you embraced him tightly. regulus didn’t question it as he buried his head in your shoulder.

orion had opened the door, “everything alright?” he had a permanent frown on his face. his disdain for his own sons was clear, but he thought you had changed regulus for the better, the frequent fights were just a bump in the road. he was convinced you would be married by the end of hogwarts.

you nodded and the door shut quickly.

regulus hugged you, kissing your neck, “i’m sorry. im sorry.” he repeated, “tell me you love me.” he whispered.

“i love you.” you exhaled.

[8bitrosethorn]

I know the plot of the next ACOTAR book

Your girl’s back with a new theory and this time, it’s more receipts from ACOFAS. Continuing with my theory (link) that the next two novels in the ACOTAR series will be about Elain and Mor (in that order), I went back to look at the structure of ACOFAS and for any more clues on Elain’s book 🧐

Last night, something hit me on my latest reread. I wanted to look at how Cassian’s introductory chapters unfolded through a lens of what we now know of his and Nesta’s story in ACOSF, and use those parallels to look closer at Azriel and Elain’s chapters (as narrated by Feysand).

So let’s dive deeper…

THE EVIDENCE

Exhibit 1

In Chapter 2, we start with Rhysand’s POV. Here are the first 3 sentences.

🔻 Cassian was already pissed — the start of ACOSF has Cassian and Nesta both frustrated and at their lowest/feeling like failures (Cassian with the Illyrian problem, Nesta with herself/her sisters/her father's death).

🔻 the Illyrian Mountains — training and the climax of ACOSF all surround them and Ramiel (which is also featured in Chapter 3 when Cassian flies by it).

🔻 the gray peaks — characters in ACOTAR are continuously referenced with repeating colors, and Nesta’s most notably is gray (sometimes referred to as steel, which is a fun double entendre with weaponry).

And in Chapter 3, we have Cassian’s POV. Here are the first 3 paragraphs:

🔻 Devlon and his warriors — the Illyrian warriors are antagonists against Nesta in the Blood Rite

🔻 the murmurings of discontent — the motivation for that growing threat that Nesta faces in the Blood Rite and the patriarchal legacies that the Valkyries are upending

🔻 hell of a weapon against enemies in battle — Nesta’s new trove of weapons she Made: the greatsword, sword, and dagger.

In both of these chapters, there are other recurring themes and imagery, including The Blood Rite, Ramiel, fire/campfires/embers, and more interestingly, Cassian visiting his mother’s unmarked grave, something that Nesta literally does when she visits her father’s grave at the very end of ACOSF.

Every major plot that Nesta and Cassian faced as a couple was explored in the first two chapters reintroducing Cassian for the spinoff series.

Using this evidence, we can deduce that the next chapters exploring Azriel will feature the same sort of foreshadowing, setup, and potential payoff in the upcoming novel (which I predict will be Elain’s book).

Exhibit 2

In Chapter 7, we start again with Rhysand’s POV. Here are the first 3 paragraphs:

🔹 You really do know how to give Solstice presents, Az — We all know about the necklace for Elain at this point. But also interestingly, Elain gives Azriel two significant Solstice gifts, one of which he keeps by his nightstand to longingly look at every night, the other a pair of earplugs (which we can deduce will have their use in the upcoming book).

🔹 wall of windows — something I’ve noticed (and want to dive deeper on later) is that both Azriel and Elain are often associated with windows.

Azriel: grew up in a lightless, windowless room; stares out the window of the townhouse to the garden during ACOFAS, presumably to watch a gardener at work; in the HOW lounge area, his unofficial chair is nearest to the window.  Elain: during her time after becoming Fae, she sat near the bay windows in the HOW; during ACOFAS Solstice, she watches the snow fall outside the windows before Azriel joins her there; her smile was described by Nesta as being as bright as the setting sun beyond the windows.

Windows can symbolize freedom, desire to explore, and pathways to the outside world. They also focus on providing sight, something very important to a Seer who can look beyond the world in front of them to something more, but I digress!

🔹 private — Azriel is described as the most private, secretive of the Bat Boys (with both his emotions and his lovers), so I thought it was worth noting.

🔹 awash in the hues of the early morning — only one character is consistently described as glowing like the sun at dawn (even by Azriel himself, no less).

🔹 might as well have been stone — there is a wealth of repeating imagery of Elain associated with stone: sitting on a stone bench with her father surrounded by blue and pink flowers (haha, I see you SJM), Elain washed onto the stone floor by the Cauldron after becoming Fae, Elain hearing a heartbeat through stone, etc.

🔹 just after dawn — I see you again, SJM 😏

🔹 that sleep had been futile — although this is about Rhysand being tired, there is a wealth of sleep imagery surrounding both Azriel and Elain. Most notably Azriel’s inability to get a goodnight’s rest the past year as he’s been thinking of Elain at night. And Elain, who says she feels like “she’s always dreaming these days” in regards to her Seer powers.

I also want to dive into the sleep imagery surrounding these two and their potential Sleeping Beauty ties. But alas, a post for another day.

🔹 Tamlin and his borders — Conflict with the Human Lands, similar to Cassian’s with the Illyrians and the growing discontent, which then ties into the next part of the chapter.

Rhysand and Azriel move on to the next conflict at hand: Vassa, the Human Lands, and the sorcerer-lord’s curse, which they discuss after deeming Cassian to handle the growing Illyrian conflict, leaving Azriel to “continue to watch [the human queens]” and the “strange gathering” happening in the human lands. We also learn that the curse on Vassa by the sorcerer-lord might be woven into [Vassa’s] very blood (put a pin in this).

Finally, Rhysand and Azriel turn their attention to how they might get a handle on the situation to the south:

🔹 As our human emissary — While Lucien may have been considered the human emissary to the Night Court during ACOFAS, per Mor in ACOSF, Lucien can no longer be trusted as he is now living with Vassa and Jurian in the human lands. Does this perhaps leave an opening to a new human emissary of the Night Court? Maybe even Elain, who could convince anyone with a few smiles.

🔹 the tenseness — interesting of Rhysand to point out considering Azriel is usually impossible to read. Something is stressing him about this situation causing some sort of internal conflict

🔹 shadows veiling half of himself from the sunlight — an interesting parallel to the iconic carved, wooden rose scene in ACOSF when Nesta places the rose the exact same way, half-hidden in shadows.

🔹 elegant and cold as the legendary dagger at his side — elegant and cold are repeating descriptors for Azriel and Truth-Teller’s significance after HOFAS has only grown. 🗡

🔹 “He is Elain’s mate.” — one of our next conflicts: Elain’s mating bond (which is also supported by Azriel’s BC).

🔹 “invasion of her privacy” — interesting to me that privacy is brought up again… perhaps alluding to something secret or forbidden?

Towards the end of their discussion, Rhys and Azriel move on to Cassian's favorite subject, Bryaxis:

🔹 “No word on Byraxis, I take it.” / “Do you want me to hunt it down?” — Like hunting for the troves in ACOSF, I believe Azriel will hunt Bryaxis down in the next book. Given how he’s an ancient, shadowy monster, I’d be curious how Bryaxis could perhaps provide incite into Koschei 👀 Also, what does Bryaxis want installed in the library? A goddamn window.

🔹 beneath this mountain — perhaps we’ll see underneath another mountain explored, given Eris’s parting words to Cassian and Nesta at the end of ACOSF 🏔

🔹 My brother had a sly, wicked sense of humor — this also aligns with Elain, whose Solstice presents to Az have both been cheeky and made him laugh.

From this chapter alone, we can see the major plot points building: Azriel spying on the human lands, Vassa’s curse and Koschei’s control over her, Bryaxis still on the run, Truth-Teller’s significance, and Elain’s mating bond.

Which finally leads us to Feyre’s chapter where Elain is front and center.

Exhibit 3

In Chapter 15, Feyre and Elain visit the weaver’s shop while looking for Solstice presents for their family, where a very interesting conversation goes down:

🌸 the weaver paused the loom — similar to the the curse woven into Vassa’s very blood, weaver imagery surrounds the conflicts of both Vassa's curse and Elain’s mating bond, especially as mating bonds are described as threads, particularly as one tied to a rib by Elain. This also aligns with the multitude of Sleeping Beauty imagery surrounding Elain.

🌸 my sister’s gaze — lol, I mean, I love when SJM does this over and over. We know Elain’s gaze is special as a Seer.

🌸 “I call it Hope.” — Elain, who is constantly described as hope and having a different sort of strength, which aligns with Azriel, who Rhys declares taught him how to hope. Perhaps Elain and Azriel are connected by an iridescent, living silver thread that is bright despite the darkness?

🌸 “I made it after I mastered Void.” — Elain’s Seer abilities are often described as the murky realm, a void that she needed to be freed from when Azriel recognized her powers. She declares in ACOSF she can start reacquainting herself with her powers to help the Inner Circle. Since Nesta stepped in, we haven’t seen her truly do this yet. Also… the weaver Made it 😜

From this small conversation, we can see SJM is playing with classic Sleeping Beauty fairytale imagery and how it connects to Elain as not just a Seer, but as a light in the darkness. I believe for Elain’s book where she finds her voice, we will see her master the Void, aka her Seer powers, and perhaps weave something made from Hope, like a mating bond and healing Vassa’s curse.

CONCLUSION

SJM clearly laid out the stories to be explored in the next books with ACOFAS, a plan she said she’s had for years. This does not mean that we won’t see more from our other favorite characters (looking at you, Nesta and the Valkyries).

But based on the evidence I shared last time that Elain’s book is unequivocally next, here we can see that the storylines set up in ACOFAS were paid off for Cassian and Nesta in their book.

So, I can without a doubt say we know what’s coming:

Elain’s book, where she will explore the main conflicts of the growing threat in the human lands as possible human emissary, her mating bond with Lucien, her feelings for Azriel, mastering her Seer powers, Hope vs the Void, and breaking Vassa’s curse.

I can’t wait for the book announcement in the months to come for our favorite flower girl 🌸

Next time, I’ll explore Mor’s first chapters in the Hewn City and why I believe her story will be paired with the defeat of Koschei (There was no light in this place and eternal darkness dwelled in the Hewn City, anyone?).

Thanks for reading 💖

[forthegothicheroine]

Ray Bradbury, an original voice and heart in the science fiction and horror genres, was always vociferous about Poe's influence on his own stories. In his introduction to the 1966 science fiction anthology S is for Space, he listed him as an influence along with Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Mary Shelley. "Edgar Allan Poe was the bat-winged cousin we kept high in the attic room." Thirty years later, in a new forward to his macabre anthology The October Country, Bradbury wrote that Poe had grown to become more of a patriarch on the Bradbury family Halloween tree: "My proper home was Usher, my aunts and uncles descended from Poe." Where the two diverge on the family tree is that Bradbury wrote from a totally different place. Every word Bradbury wrote, no matter how sinister, no matter how fraught with soul-peril, seems to have been written with a child laughing over his shoulder, whereas any laughter Poe might have heard as he composed his tales was of the maniacal sort. The two would be perfect for a revamp of The Odd Couple.

J.W. Ocker, Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe

[mxtxfanatic]

Not really a JC ask, but more of a JC adjacent one.

Why didn't Jiang Fengmian ever divorce Madam Yu? I think you mentioned somewhere that JFM was also a victim to Madam Yu's abuse, and while I am not necessarily disagreeing, I do struggle to understand or even feel empathetic towards him for still being there and letting her act as she does with their children when she, factually, doesn't have any actual power over him or the sect.

In fact, she actively rejects the sect by keeping her maiden name and refusing to be Madam Jiang.

Looking at it in an objective way, Madam Yu... Doesn't have anything. She has Zidian. She has her strength. But none of that strength actually translate to the power that Sect Leader Jiang possesses as the sect leader of one of the Five Great Sects.

It's a reason why she's so insecure, because she knows that she has none of the political power necessary to hold onto her position.

Why didn't JFM divorce her, when the previous sect leader that had pushed for that marriage passed away? He didn't even want to marry her, did he?

I understand that abuse victims struggle to leave their abusers, and I do feel for that, but I am of the mind that if children are involved, then no matter your feelings you should protect them.

And by that I mean actually protect them, none of that half assed bullshit that's just placating everyone for the sake of a shaky peace that nobody is satisfied with.

It feels like a remix of Lan Xichen, who, in pursuit of making everyone content, ended up just ignoring the warnings and stood aside as everyone else around him suffered.

I find it interesting how JFM preached for the ideals of the sect, to "attempt the impossible", and yet he never dares try anything to actually help anyone around him.

When people say that they wouldn't say he neglected his children, I beg to argue, because he absolutely did. Yes he couldn't say a word whenever his wife was around, but what could've possibly stopped him from keeping her from doing that, or, if inneficient, then to make er a non issue anymore.

The very patriarchal, classist and misogynist society he lives in wouldn't have batted an eye at that, because as a sect leader he had every right to do whatever he wanted with his own wife.

His inaction and cowardice fostered a cycle of abuse that every one of Madam Yu's victims could've been spared from had he just done anything, so I find it hard to consider his contribution in his family as anything more than gross negligence.

Obviously, she is terrible. She is abusive. JFM isn't any worse than her. But from where I'm standing, he was a bystander that let things happen and fostered an illusion of having his hands tied when he very much did not, and never did anything to actually help any of the children in his care, other than that time he broke Yanli's engagement after learning Jin Zixuan had disrespected her and that's...

Hardly anything in the grand scheme of things.

I don't disagree with you, anon. In fact, I think this is part of the larger critique that the novel leverages at modern society: instead of fighting for better even after being dealt a shit hand, people would rather fall into passivity and accept their recently received shit hand as their new status quo. Jiang Fengmian was forced into a political marriage with Yu Ziyuan, but even after his father died, he maintained the marriage along with all the dysfunction that came with it, leading to the destruction of his clan and its legacy. Despite the QishanWen kidnapping their heirs and almost killing them, no clan does anything. Despite the QishanWen having the Cloud Recesses burned, killing the former Nie Clan leader, chasing dangerous monsters into the territories of other clans, thereby endangering their people, and being responsible for the Lan Clan leader's death, not a single clan rebels until the Nie pick up the banner for the Sunshot Campaign after successfully repelling the invading Wen forces and killing the Wen heir. Until that moment, all the rest of the clans were willing to overlook the Wen's behavior and accept every escalation as the new norm. Jiang Fengmian is even shown to have traveled back and forth to Qishan to beg his disciples' swords off the Wen despite those people almost killing his son.

After the Sunshot Campaign, nobody says anything about the labor camps holding civilians, an issue Wei Wuxian made public. Nobody stuck up for Wei Wuxian being slandered except for Lan Wangji who was ignored and Mianmian who was then slandered. Nobody except Wei Wuxian said anything about the Jin Clan collecting clans former subsidiary to the QishanWen, and he's brushed aside. Nobody except Nie Mingjue says anything about Xue Yang's slaughtering of the Chen Clan, and then after he dies, nobody says anything about the multiple clan slaughters done at Jin Guangyao's own hands. Just as everyone was willing to accept the horribleness of the QishanWen as "business as usual" until it led to their own massacres, the fact that none of the post-war clans were willing to stand up for Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants and, in fact, bayed for their slaughter is how whole-clan slaughters became "business as usual" to the post-war cultivation world.

So while I agree that Jiang Fengmian's decision to stay in his abusive marriage absolutely affects the quality and effectiveness of his parenting, I don't think we are meant to see this as a critique of the parenting capabilities of domestic abuse victims but as a critique on how people who don't truly stand for anything will passively welcome evil into their homes with little to no pushback, if they are not themselves throwing the doors wide open to welcome the evil in.

[lucrezianoin]

Wyll and Astarion banter (1/2)

Collection of all Wyll and Astarion banter I could find. I started compiling it for fanfic reasons (PART 1 of 2??, i will use the tag wyllstarion banter). Each picture is a different banter. But I added transcriptions:

Astarion: Ever heard of a vampire called Cazador, Wyll? Wyll (knows Astarion is a vampire): I don't think so. Why? Friend of yours? Wyll (doesn't know Astarion is a vampire): Doesn't ring a bell. Why? Gale: He's a patriarch of the Szarr family. Nasty fellow, if the histories are accurate. Astarion: I imagine they are. (note: Darkly, to self)

---

Wyll: I'm surprised I never saw you lurking in the shadows at any Baldurian balls, Astarion. Astarion: The city's elite was not my target audience, alas. People ask questions when members of the nobility disappear, and the last thing Cazador wanted was people asking questions.

---

Wyll: I'm feeling a bit parched and peckish. Astarion: Me too. Keep an eye out for any passing vagrants. Wyll: I'm afraid you'll have to content yourself with vagrant chickens.

---

Astarion (if player character): I know these cobbles well - the gate to the Upper City's just ahead. All that time and what's my legacy in Baldur's Gate? Missing friends and broken families. Wyll (also... if played??): You can't undo the past, Astarion. But you can craft a better future, if you so choose.

---

Astarion: Spent much time in the Underdark? Wyll (does not know Astarion is a vampire): I've slayed a death dog or six, crossed a few duergar. I never was scared of the shadows. Wyll (does not know Astarion is a vampire): Some. And you? Seems a perfect hunting ground for... you know. Astarion: Perfect? You try drinking an earth elemental's blood.

---

(more under cut)

Wyll: Astarion, how is the rat diet going? Astarion: It may soon come to an end if you don't shut your mouth.

---

Shadowheart: So, Astarion. Which of us would you rather feed on? If you had free rein? Astarion: Ah! Wyll. No question. He's strong, fast and righteous. I'm salivating already. Shadowheart: Hmm... interesting. Astarion: You sound disappointed. I'll bite you if you ask. Shadowheart: I'm sure you would. Don't sound so eager.

---

Wyll: Killed a few giant bats in my day, Astarion - but never hunted a vampire. Astarion: Just to remind you, I'm merely a spawn. It won't count. But if you want a true vampire, I'm happy to recommend one.

---

Wyll: The city fell under Gortash's charms without him casting nary a spell. Astarion: Well, most people are idiots, Wyll. You can lure them into a dragon's maw if you promise a bag of sweets. Wyll: The people aren't stupid, Astarion - they're scared. Gortash provoked a damned war, and then promised them safety. Astarion: Safety, sweets - it's the same principle.

---

Astarion: I used to be agog at everything when I first walked in the sun. Perhaps I'm adjusting to this new life. Wyll: It's when you use words like 'agog' that I remember you're actually two centuries old. Astarion: And it's when you think 'agog' is an impressive word that I remember you're just a child.

---

(This is ascended Astarion in a romance with player)

Wyll: The two of you are the unholiest union I can bloody imagine. Astarion: It's funny - I don't recall asking your opinion, Wyll. Wyll: You had the most precious thing - someone who would do everything for you - and you damn well took everything. 'Degenerate' doesn't half cut it.

---

Wyll: To think how vibrant this place must have once been. Children playing, merchants hawking. Real people living real lives. Astarion: I know, can you imagine the noise? This is much more peaceful. Wyll: Come, Astarion. I know you're not really as heartless as all that. Astarion: Of course not, I'm a pussycat really. Just ask anyone who's seen my claws.

(this is a dialogue for "CL_FishermansHut" which I am not sure what it is)

[justherefor000]

(Reblogs if you like)

What if Lamp teaches about CREATIVITY, What if Tony teaches about LOVE(CULT LEADER), What if Sketchbook teaches about DREAMS, etc. etc.

Here's something under incase you wanna read something.

Larry the Lightbulb:

Their quite the chipper fellow but very hyper and reckless with what they make, they cannot help it at times btw most of the things are weapons/little contraptions.

His episode teaches the trio on how to be creative like "Get WILD, get LIMITLESS, get CRAZYYY there is no limits on what you can do :) who cares what people REALLY think!" even though the trio get insane and hurt themselves or each other by sheer bliss.

They make stuff in art like a spiky baseball bat for example, reckless things so someone like tries to make sure he doesn't cause so much chaos(its Swap Shrignold/Michael)

He once liked Shrigony, now he hates him due to past stuff. Probably would be besties with Electracey hehe.

Shrigony the Toy-Heart Clock:

(He gaslights, gatekeep, girlboss everyone)

A patriarch of a Love Cult and calls home there his Wonderland, likes to have tea parties with people but warning its drugged and used it to brainwash members or incoming ones.

He seems friendlier and cheerier but he does things like freezing people like statues, trapping members to lonely boxes plus still out temperamental clock that loudly mehs he here just tries to hide it enough then becomes a passive agressive gentleman that has absolute malice in his metal heart.

Has some history in this au's Shrignold who is now called Michael, so the story he tells in his episode in Anthony! he now lives in the sewers???

Diary the Dream Diary:

They like to list people's dreams especially the trio and other teachers but even nightmares for giggles and sleep on the bed clouds they summon to laze around.

Goes to pranks with Larry, is kind of less strict but they got a sleeping schedule they like to follow, they don't like people who ruin their flow and becomes passive with some sass, they either haunt you in your dreams.

They may laze around a lot but they listen in to many things, so they know many secrets and sometimes starts rumors, but they don't involve themselves with the chaos, kind of a older sibling to the little lightbulb.

Btw their gender is BOOK/Nonbinary.

(Hi Raindrop, oh yeah we both made this au incase your new...)

[yakuzabrainrotlive]

I have started Like A Dragon! I've actually already made it to chapter 5.

Why hadn't I made a post already, then?

Well, there's no sugar-coated way to put this so... let's just rip off the bandaid now.

I haven't really enjoyed myself playing this game this far. Yet. Maybe I will at some point. But for now I honestly just haven't had much to say in terms of what's happened in the plot besides the beginning. I don't hate the game, it's just that it hasn't been able to really hook me in yet.

I'll keep going since I've heard this game is one of the generally more loved ones in the franchise. And I know RGG loves its slow burn.

I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but I wanna be totally honest. I doubt y'all would want me to lie about how I feel about the game.

More about all that right at the end of the post. I will list my positives and negatives when it comes to this game (and talk about the battle system) down there.

I know this type of thing is common in RPGs, but I like it all the same. Neat little game mechanic. There's quite a few different ones here, but it's cool.

An interesting background for a main character. Yeah, being an orphan is more than common. But being raised by the employess in a soapland and the townsfolk around him? That's really out there - in a good way.

This was very sad. Ichi lost 15 years of his life to the joint and got nothing in return. The shock and disappointment on his face when he was released and there was just. No one waiting for him.

And after that, all that awaited him was just... betrayal. That's just brutal. I fully understand why Ichiban went into Total Denial Mode for a while; it must have been a totally incomprehensible and shocking situation.

-He got out of prison after 15 years and where he expected to find his family waiting for him, he found nobody. AND he suddenly had the freedom of choosing what to do, when to do it and where to go after 15 years. That can be scary.

-He witnessed how much the world and general society had changed in his absence and probably felt very confused.

-He saw his home totally wrecked and abandoned.

And now his mentor and beloved patriarch, the one who saved his life. The man he would have happily been ready to die for at any moment. That man had changed completely and acted like he didn't know Ichiban.

Yeah... the denial, frustration and desperation are totally valid.

Oh dear. Well, Kiryu wasn't there anymore, the Tojo upper brass kept changing and there was constant conflict within the clan itself. It was just a matter of time before Omi would take advantage of the situation.

I hope Majima and Daigo are okay. Or at least alive ;-;

*Faint sounds of Majima cackling in the distance*

Oops. Majima better hope Ichi doesn't find out who the driver was lmao. I feel bad for Ichiban, but I also love how this single random idea of Majima's still has these consequences that are brought up, even after all this time.

God bless Nanba. He's a sweetheart. That's all I can say about him. I also kinda like Adachi. I'm not attached to these side characters yet, but they're neat. I think they'll grow on me eventually, it's just that I tend to be slow when it comes to becoming attached to new characters.

Legends say that if you pull this bat out, Shinada will appear in front of you and ask for some money....

I did play through the whole soapland thing and then some. I don't have much to say 😭. We do have a woman fighting with us, finally after all this time! #Girlboss

I would honestly happily die for Nancy. No questions asked.

OKAY UHH POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES.

Positives:

-Ichiban

-Interesting premise

-The different jobs satisfy my hyper-optimizing, excel-sheet-making, micromanaging self

-Funny enemy titles like "Piss Wizard"

-Free full heal spots my beloveds❤️

-Voice acting (in the Japanese dub at least) is excellent

-Substories have been fun!

Negatives:

-EXP yield is... not optimal; grinding takes FOREVER unless you go fight higher-level people than yourself, but then the battles can take ages. Job exp grinding especially feels about as pleasant as pulling teeth.

Am I supposed to grind in this game?? I've started to wonder about that since it's such a slow process. I have absolutely no idea. Have I missed a thing that helps exp gain??

-Unless you get lucky with the ability to find treasure, money yield can be tight at times, too. Which is rough, considering the cost of gear with 4 team members (and probably backup members later).

-The premise is cool, but the stuff I've played through in terms of the plot after leaving Kamurocho hasn't been very interesting to me this far (early-to-mid chapter 5) :/

-Substories don't give you EXP 😭

How about the elephant in the room - the battle system?

Well. I'll come out with it straight away; I'm very, VERY picky when it comes to turn-based combat. Shin Megami Tensei and Persona have unfortunately spoiled me too much, so this game had some unfairly MASSIVE boots to fill. And it didn't quite fill them. My bar is way too high and I acknowledge that 100%.

I get that they didn't want to make the system completely "passive" by just having to select moves and it all going smoothly from here. But I dislike the timing-based quick time stuff in the middle of attacks and perfect guard. I can pull off the attack dmg boost thing most of the time, but perfect guard is just... it feels way more difficult to pull off than Tiger Drop in any previous game. It's very frustrating. I frankly feel stupid, having this difficult a time with it.

Grinding is further hindered by spread moves being kind of unreliable - if the enemies are spread out, you're only hitting a single foe. For now. Maybe there will be better moves later on.

Idk if it's just me, but characters' MP pools feel very limited compared to the cost of the moves combined with how little damage you do at times? Maybe it's just the fact that I'm in the earlier parts of the game, but I feel like I have to be replenishing MP constantly.

I like how all the different types of gear can have additional special effects. It's neat.

All in all the battle system feels... very laborius. I can work with it! Absolutely. I'm just not the biggest fan.

God, I wish I could just gush about this game and sing its praises, but that's not happening yet by a long shot. This far? Maybe a 6-6.5/10. I hope my opinion changes for the better as I progress; I really wanna love it as much as other fans seem to.

[brucewaynehater101]

Breaking in because some months ago you posted an AU idea where Dick kills Batman before Damian arrives but imagine if Dick realized that Batman got so bad a child resorted to being brutalized because he thinks he's needed to fix him

So then Dick ends up killing Batman BEFORE Jason ever arrives, and disposes of the body in such a way, that trying to ressurect Bruce w/ Lazarus waters is pointless

There's two three four ways we can do this

a. Jason only learns of Batman dying after coming back to Gotham and before meeting the Batclan

b. Jason learns Batman died while still with the League, something that throws him, Thalia, Ra's, and whoever else for a loop

c. Jason doesn't even know Bruce is dead after getting to Gotham, and it takes time until he learns Dick is Batman

d. Jason and the League only knows of Batman being replaced or missing himself, and only later learn he's been found or announced dead

When the newest Red Hood tries to pull shit? Dick (the new Batman) has none of it as he is extrq protective of his Robins (Tim and Stephanie) after Jason died and Tim was abused

Now what to do w/ Bruce and Wayne Enterprises? I mean, Dick w/ Barbara and Tim's help can become the new patriarch and owner/CEO but there's also the fact that tjey need to navitage the chaos that is either Brucie Wayne dying or going missing qnd being qnnounced deqd unsuspiciously

There's also the idea that Dick (+any accomplices) would have to navigate relations with the Justice League whilst hiding his murder, and Gotham has to deal w/ the changes a new Batman introduces

Suddenly Batman is putting the wellbeing of the people, especially his kids, over justice and his ideals, and whether or not anybody suspects or knows this new Batman "took care" of the old one leaves a lot of potential for plotlines

Also Cassandra, if she still joins the Bats, has to grapple with the patriarch being a killer because the previous patriarch was an abuser

Gosh how will this affect Damian and how he's raised? How will the LOA respond to Bruce's death?

Oh yeah Jason, I can't imagine Dick would leave Joker alive either after what happened to Jason, especially if there was a Joker Junior incident

It's gonna be a mindfuck for he, he needs wanted for his father to prove himself as still being his dad, for Bruce to choose him over "The Right Thing To Do" even if Jason became something Batman would hate

Except Jason doesn't even get the closure of his father proving himself a failure of a father, because Bruce already failed as a father to Dick to such a degree that his reward was death

Jason doesn't know who his father is or would have beenanymore, just that Dick is to Tim, Stephanie and so on what Jay dad wasn't as he was in the League, training for an encounter that would never come

Ooh! But let's add on more, shall we?

I don't remember the og post you're referencing, but let's be mean to Dick :)

I like the many many possibilities for Jason you've listed out, but imma get specific on how Dick killed Bruce.

To be cruel, let it be an accident.

For the exact stage, perhaps the JJ incident still happened, but after Tim was Robin. Dick didn't find out about it because Bruce never informed him, and Dick was busy with Bludhaven and the Titans (it was another unfortunate timing for Dick).

About a year or so after the event, Tim is doing much better. He's been on the field for a bit and doesn't relapse as much (either into thinking he's JJ, Joker's his dad, or the laughing spells).

Joker captures Tim again and calls him "Junior." Dick has never seen Tim react the way he did to that name.

They have history. A bad one.

Bruce isn't surprised.

Bruce hid this from Dick.

The young adult has to take several breaths, but he holds his reservations. Maybe Bruce was respecting Tim's boundaries (yeah fucking right).

Fighting happens ya da ya da and Dick learns what Joker did to Tim.

He's fucking enraged. Joker has touched another sibling of his.

Then, the Joker and Tim are in a precarious position. Dick rushes to save Tim and barely manages to get him in time.

When Dick looks up, the Joker is perfectly fine. Nightwing feels his blood start to boil.

His baby brother almost slipped out of his grasp when he rushed as fast as he could to save him. Dick moved, without hesitation, to save Tim.

Batman would have had to move, without hesitation, to save Joker over saving Robin.

Batman put Joker's safety over Robin's.

The flip is instantaneous.

Nightwing starts pummeling the shit out of both Joker and Batman. Due to the element of surprise, Dick had the upper hand. He gets broken ribs and a concussion for his troubles, but Batman is beneath his fist taking the beating Nightwing is dealing out.

He never realizes Bruce has stopped breathing until he feels a hand on his elbow.

Tim's expression is grim as he focuses on Dick. The teen is heavily dissociating as he takes in the scene.

Tim's lips, when he glances down at Batman, start to tremble. He presses them together to try to keep a calm facade.

The teen closes his eyes, breathes in, breathes out, nods to himself, and then opens them.

Bruce is dead. Joker is dead.

They've got work to do.

~~~

In this AU, Steph becomes Robin during Tim's recovery stage from JJ and after this incident. Tim takes a step back after helping Dick dismantle and hide Batman's body to consolidate Dick's position as Wayne heir, majority shareholder, and Batman. He works with Babs to aid Dick in these various transitions.

Lucius is the acting CEO, which takes a huge load off of Dick's shoulders.

Dick is obviously not doing fine about accidentally murdering his dad. At least he killed Joker too, though.

Tim's not doing great either, but it's fine. He eventually steps back into the cape. Steph and him like to play pranks on Gotham. They both vehemently deny that there's two Robins running around at the same time.

I don't think Alfred would stick around after they murdered and covered up the murder of Bruce :/ I wish he would, but maybe he takes a nice retirement in England.

Babs, Tim, and Dick are good at covering their tracks. There's rumors that the new Batman killed the old one, but there's also rumors that he eats people.

The LoA don't know who killed Bruce, but they know he's dead. Tim and Dick still grieve him (feelings are fun like that), so they aren't on the suspect list.

Red Hood shows up demanding answers.

Batman (Dick) confirms that he *will* put his family first. Always.

[karlachismylife]

Gorilla!reader you say ? 👁️ 👁️

Yeah! Sorry I'm actually excited to yap about it hahaha cuz it has been really forming quite in details in my head last days

It is obviously very self-indulgent (in case not everyone noticed, I refer to myself as gorilla and it's a lifelong thing), not fully self-insert, but uhhh. My ideal self insert? Maybe not that either. But deeply personal and with a lot of my issues/problems/feelings projected there, that's what I mean. I don't know how enjoyable it will be for people reading it, but it's just something I really wanna write, so I'll do it anyway. And post it cuz well I'm an attention whore.

So I have been going back and forth on whether make it shapeshifter or hybrid, and I ended up deciding on shapeshifter. First of all, "weregorilla" is prime for stupid puns fueled by gorilla talk, and second, it will kida help me avoid misrepresenting gorillas (because this reader will be very aggressive and gorillas ARE NOT) + adds actually a layer of depth in the sense that I can play off the contrast of animal/human form in this case. Don't know if I'll go full on "two souls in one body" route, but there are things I want to show through the duality.

It's gonna be a classic "new addition to tf141 is a shapeshifter" plot, cuz I'm a basic bitch like that, and yes, it's gonna be poly 141 x reader but also big emphasise on found family. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it doesn't feel right for me to write it without touching on racism, in the military and in general, and it's probably gonna be very on the nose and clumsy, but this whole thing is basically on the nose and not nuanced at all. It's very much stemming from all the pent up rage I have inside, and rage knows no nuance. Oh and gender stuff too, cuz yeah, well, self-insert part, and I don't know gender. Never met her. That one would be fun actually, cuz gorillas are pretty patriarchal and form harems, but like. Where does a genderqueer gorilla fit into this hierarchy? Since obviously 141 will be like this reader's troop (gorilla pack), that would be a fun disruption if I manage to do it like I see it.

But I am very anxious about touching the race issue, and while I very much know that it's not anyone's job to educate me, if there are any black readers of mine that would be kind enough to let me run those episodes by them to make sure they are not downright awful before I post them, I would be immensly grateful. Maybe if people tell me there is no way this does not come across wrong, I'll cut it from the story. But help would be appreciated. Yeah.

So in short, it's my childish tantrum I have been dying to throw for years now, but packaged into text with four big guys liking the tantrum for no other reason than I want all four of them to be my troop.

I saw recently a post mocking the "strong female characters who are badass because they don't wear makeup and their only emotion is anger" and welp. That's gonna be it. Honestly I don't even feel upset that it looks so shallow.

One time a friend made me a birthday gift in a form of one visit to a "wreck it room" where they give you some plates and cheap old furniture and some other trash, and also baseball bats, crowbar (my favourite), a mallet and some other things. Blast heavy metal and such things through speakers. And let you break EVERYTHING in that room. Only walls are off limits, and I ended up even accidentally breaking a brick out while I was trying to break a stubborn chair leg in half. I destroyed everything they gave me in that one hour limit, even the guy who worked there was impressed. That's still one of my happiest memories.

And if channelling it makes for a shallow walking stereotype of a character, well, I don't give a fuck this time.

honestly even relaying all this made me feel better, sorry I dumped it all on you, I realize this might be not yours or anyone's cup of tea, but it's really something for me first and foremost. i think allowing myself to write dumb shallow angry shit might fix me just a little bit.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Hamsteak Liveblog

A'ight hell tier update, and the first update is that they've changed the chapter select menu. It's now explicitly a chapter select where the chapters are numbered, whereas the old menu made it look like you were meant to choose your own order. Up next is "Chapter X", which appears to be Davepeta. My prediction is that we're done with the ghost cameos and Davepeta is going to give the moral of the story and then the final 8-ball update with be Vriska vs Vriska to bring it home.

I am almost immediately proven wrong. This is a "Meanwhile" where Davepeta is up to something. Is this screenshot even legible? Well, if you can't read it, computers can.

*dp hesitantly crawls up to their phone, curiously pawing at the device and feigning ignorance as though they don't know what the fuck it is because theyre kind of embarrassed to talk to the sprite^2 they know is at the other end*

Hm. What's "sprite^2" would be at "the other end" and not there. Jasprose? I guess it's basically only Jasprose it could be.

Oh shit I was able to guess which of the one possible people it could've been. I'm a fucking genius. This is why people read my liveblog, for the glaring insights that only I provide. Second question: Where the fuck is she? That background kind of makes me think of the Midnight Crew, but like the original Problem Sleuth bonus comics that introduced them where they were in some Problem Sleuth-y looking city.

Sort of interesting that Jasprose and Davepeta apparently don't like each other. Jasprose's main character trait in HS1 was being uninhibited and kind of uncomfortably horny, and she's Davepeta's....um....cousin? I guess? Where did I put that Homestuck family tree. Oh, I didn't add her, lemme do that.

The most cursed thing about this chart is that it's simplified.

The reason Vrissy's in "adoption jail" was because I made this chart for someone complaining that Vrissy dating Tavvy was incestuous, when Vrissy is basically the only character not related to anyone (this blog's tagline was "It's not incest if she's from space" for a bit as a result). Which makes this ironic because I think the reason Davepeta doesn't like Jasprose is that Jasprose keeps trying to fuck them.

Hey, I was right, it was the Problem Sleuth bonus comics.

One thing that's been bugging me a lot about HS2 and the epilogues is Homestuck already had a metaphor for canon in the form of the Alpha Timeline, and HS2 never really separated "canon" from "the alpha timeline" in a meaningful way, but now we're having the snapchat comics and the Problem Sleuth bonus comics references as "canonically deniable", so we're actually doing something new with the concept.

"Tall, dark, and loathsome" is the name of a song in the Midnight Crew: Drawing Dead album, so it's likely Jack Noir. The "Crocker Patriarch" is weird though. It can't be Jake, and Jane's dad is de-

Wait, hold on. Is this referring to the bonus comics? Dad Crocker is chasing after Jane who was kidnapped by Jasprose....but that's all in Meat! So this Jasprose is currently with the Meat version of Jane Crocker, being chased by Dad, Diamonds Droog, and possibly Problem Sleuth, and is somehow able to interact with Candy.

Maybe it's because Jaspers barely had any lines, but it's interesting how Jasprose is a unique individual with her own unique quirks while Davepeta is still very clearly Dave+Nepeta. She doesn't really talk like Rose at all. She's a little flowery in her language, but in a very different way.

Davepeta: Jasprose....you've been drinking? Jasprose: Please. You know it's only milk bars for me. Well, perhaps the occasional martini bar. Though with them, it's more difficult to find bartenders that won't bat an eye when I order a glass of that delectable matronal ambrosia Jasprose: Speaking of, I've made fantastic progress with the enchanting, yet problematic Ms. Crocker.

Man, that leap from "matronal ambrosia" to Jane Crocker is one of the most convoluted boob jokes I've ever seen. Speaking of, Jasprose finds Jane "enchanting". I kind of want to re-read the bonus comics to refresh myself on the context but they're glitching the fuck out for me right now and also....aren't very good.

This is referring, presumably, to Meat Jake, who I don't think has appearing in HS2 at all so far, having been ditched in the epilogues. I honestly thought we wouldn't be seeing Meat Jane/Jake again. Also, "pass her off"? To whom?

Anyway apparently Davepeta thinks the "therapy shit" isn't working well. Interesting to see them dropping the wise mentor act a little here. They also make it sound like this is something they're being compelled to do. Jasprose notes that it's been four years in there and that being Vriska it'll probably take 4 more to make it 8 and Davepeta is all "Ha ha, can you imagine" so the final chapter is obviously going to start "4 years later". This was a fairly short little chapter with a ton to speculate on. The sprites are working together and they're maybe working with (or for) someone else that Jane is going to get passed off to. Who could that be, I wonder? Dirk's made reference to having agents on the outside, but why would the sprites work for him? It's not Al, who was actively opposed to this. Could it be....

I don't know to what extent real-life person Andrew Hussie is involved with Beyond Canon, but his fictional stand-in has been mostly absent outside of the bonus comics, and has not yet appeared on-screen, but considering that Al has been shown to be nigh-worshipful of the original comic, it'd be interesting for her and AH to interact.