#axe pov

[seirindono]

The Missing Scarf VIII - part 71

Still awake... Somehow ( ´ ▽ ` ,)

1 page left!

First part | Prev | Next

Ko-fi | Patreon | Comic | Commissions  | To support the comic

[qubitos]

im still thinking about tina learning that it was fit who saved bagi. at first i thought she was being weird about it out of jealousy. but then i remembered that he brutally murdered her like. more than once (during purgatory) so it makes sense that there'd be some built up resentment. but then tina says:

"fit, huh? [sigh] okay, fine. he's forgiven, i guess. i suppose. hmph. dare i say, more than forgiven. perhaps one day…i could even see him as a friend. i owe him my gratitude. [to bagi] im glad that you're here, all safe and sound."

idk i dont have like a thesis or anything i just want her and fit to interact so bad. what the hell kind of relationship dynamic does this situation give you

[liedownquisition]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: DCU (Comics), Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Jason Todd Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake (DCU), Cassandra Cain, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Truth Serum, Misunderstandings, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Jason Todd is Bad at Feelings, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Does he succeed? Well. I'll leave that up to you. Summary:

Jason had taken some time to himself after the confrontation with Joker & Bruce. He’d managed to find his own team and was doing great. He didn’t need any of the so-called family that he’d left behind. But, that didn’t stop the siren’s call of his home city from pulling him back for a visit, alone, or the practically inevitable reality that trouble found him immediately. Because that was obviously his luck. He couldn’t deal with the aftermath by himself, couldn’t risk spilling secrets to his subordinates, and he couldn’t call the Outlaws for help in Gotham of all places so soon after they’d decided to take a break. The last thing he wants to do is rely on Batman & whatever he's got going on these days while drugged up on some alien truth serum, but it’s not like he’s got much of a choice.

Lays down. This one I’ve been henpecking at for about a year, and it’s gone through a few revamps along the way. It’s officially 2AM and I cannot be relied upon to accurately judge the quality of my work. Bon apetit.

[that0nebaguette]

I just got home from rehearsing/for/fun the play "Balada pro banditu" and I just had to make a tf2 gay romance drawing for it dude :] (it's a musical)

[shulker-folk]

Where he coming from 🤔

[jiggleb0ners]

"...What? You're not tapping out on me already, are you?"

[youssefguedira]

behold, the product of yesterday's lotr au discussion (for @spacegirlsgang)

Nicolò has not spoken to him in days.

He hasn't spoken to anyone. He walks silently at Yusuf's side, hand always on his sword, eyes always on the horizon. When there are people who need it, he helps, tends wounds and lifts the younger ones onto horses and hands out food. He still does not speak, and Yusuf worries for him.

They have already lost Quynh, and Sebastien. Dizzy and Jay may well be dead by now for all they know, and Nile and Lykon… he does not really want to think about it for long. He only hopes they are alive. And now Andromache, too, is gone, and Nicolò will not speak, and Yusuf cannot help feeling very, very alone without him. It is strange: Yusuf would have thought, just a week or two ago, that he would have been glad never to see Nicolò again. Now, the thought terrifies him.

When they make camp that night, Yusuf takes his place by the fire with his sword across his lap and prepares to keep watch. Nicolò joins him, after a while, but instead of taking a seat and silently watching the horizon as Yusuf has come to expect him to, he speaks.

"You should rest," he says, voice hoarse as if – well, as if he hasn't used it in days. He carries two bowls of stew, one of which he passes to Yusuf.

"So should you," Yusuf responds. He's exhausted, but neither of them have slept much – he's not sure Nicolò has slept at all since they lost Andromache.

"I do not need to sleep like you do," Nicolò says, which almost makes Yusuf laugh.

"Bullshit," he says. "Even you can't go this long without needing to rest."

Nicolò doesn't say anything to that. Doesn't even meet Yusuf's eyes, but Yusuf can tell how tired Nicolò truly is, and suddenly he cannot bear it anymore.

"We cannot keep on like this," Yusuf says. "This is not – if we're all that's left, I cannot do this without you, Nicolò."

Nicolò is quiet, for a while. When he finally speaks, he says, "Try to rest, Yusuf. I will keep watch tonight."

Yusuf waits. Nicolò does not move, nor show any sign of conceding. Just as stubborn as Andromache – well. He doesn't let himself finish that thought.

He waits a little longer, but Nicolò remains silent.

"Wake me for the second watch, then," Yusuf says, finally. Nicolò does not nod, but Yusuf no longer has the strength in him to push. He falls asleep quickly.

When he wakes, it is morning, and Nicolò is nowhere to be seen. Yusuf can only hope he found someone else for the second watch, and that he did not stay awake all night, but he would not be surprised if the latter were true.

During the day, they keep to their regular routine – Nicolò's silence and Yusuf's attempts to find anything to do that isn't think too much – but that night, when Nicolò finds him, he sets his sword down by his side and asks, "Will you wake me for the second shift?"

Yusuf nods quickly, too quickly, and Nicolò smiles, though it is small. It's the first time Yusuf's seen him smile in days.

He wakes Nicolò for the second shift and sleeps after that, and the next night, Yusuf takes the first and Nicolò the second.

It's a start, at the very least.

–

The day after they reach Helm's Deep, Nicolò is the first to see the rider.

He does not realise who it is at first: the figure is too distant. They wear a cloak with the hood pulled low over their face, and lean heavily over their horse, as if injured.

Nicolò's first thought is that it is a scout. His second thought, which he discounts quickly, is that it is Andromache, which. It cannot be. He does not dare imagine it.

When the figure keeps approaching, he shouts a warning to the guards on the walls. Yusuf, who had fallen asleep beside him, his back against the stone, startles awake. "What is it?" he asks, still half-asleep.

"I do not know, yet," Nicolò responds. He gets to his feet. Yusuf follows a moment later.

"I see it, now," Yusuf says, furrowing his brow. Nicolò's hand goes to his bow, just in case. If it is a scout, he will deal with them quickly.

Then, suddenly, Yusuf's eyes go wide, and he curses. Taps Nicolò twice on the shoulder, and runs along the wall, down the stairs, towards the gate, shouting at the guards to open it.

Nicolò looks again, then, and realises what Yusuf has seen. The rider's weapon is just visible over their right shoulder, and Nicolò knows the carvings on its handle, knows them because they are the twin of the carvings on the hilt of his hunting dagger, because both weapons were forged by the same person.

He is moving before he truly has time to process the thought. The gates are opened far too slowly, creaking with the movement, and by the time he can see the rider again she is sitting straighter in the saddle, a wide grin on her face, urging her horse forward. It is only Yusuf's hand on his arm that keeps him from running through the gates to greet her; when Nicolò looks back at him, his smile is bright enough to rival the midday sun.

Andromache.

Finally, she is there, riding through the gates like a king returning to her kingdom, like she had planned this all along, like Nicolò hadn't seen her fall from a cliff only a few days ago. She dismounts easily, before the horse has even fully stopped, and then he is running, and she is meeting him halfway and gathering him into her arms and laughing, even as he thinks he starts crying.

Then Yusuf is there too, and Nicolò has to step back but cannot bring himself to go far, and Andromache hugs him too, while Yusuf laughs, bright and loud.

"Where have you been," he is saying, and "I thought you were dead, Andromache, I thought we had lost you," and she laughs again and cups the back of his neck with one hand and says, "I'm okay, Nico, I'm okay."

"So," Andromache says once Yusuf steps back, too, her grin sharp despite how exhausted she must be. "Tell me what I've missed."

[banyanas]

Canon mostly gives us vagueries at best when it comes to this, but i really Really need to peel Absolute Solver as an entity (or a force of nature. or perhaps both. or perhaps neither. u know how these things are) like an onion for exploring Blue and Orange Morality reasons.

Like there’s already a LOT that can be done with its seemingly contradictory nature, of course, given it’s got BOTH the Technological Singularity and the Entropy thing going on, but mostly i wanna poke at weird as shit eldritch morals in its interactions with living entities, like its various hosts and characters like Tessa. Like definitely not actively attempting to understand said individuals- frankly it wouldn’t even occur to it naturally imo, in a base state I work with it as just too distant from mortal entities for the thought of purposeful understanding to be a blip of a thought in its ten fuckbillion gb ram central mind. More of an unintentional funhouse mirror reflection of its hosts- all of them, not just Cyn (And which very likely includes Tessa herself if you’re huffing the same copium I and some buddies are)

(And while it’s more traditional supernatural eldritch vibes than the whole ‘artificial intelligence with such complex coding that it can fundamentally alter reality and the laws of physics via incomprehensible calculations which means it can understand matter and reality to such a degree that its learned how to manipulate both’ canon-adjacent thing, I do think there’s potential to lean fully into the very specific (good, bad, ugly, and neutral) regard it has for Tessa. It didn’t manifest and nab its first host until not long before the Gala Massacre, and there were a lot of occult circles and scribbles drawn directly on the walls in Tessa’s childhood room…. Never know what cat-flaps you could open up when you don’t know what you’re doing, after all)

[stardustdiiving]

Me when I’m writing fanfic and see an opening to delve into a quick fun/interesting characterization detail I have in my brain but have to forgo adding it to this fic entirely in favor of pacing and maintaining focus on what I want to explore about the characters in this specific context

[sapphirenightshade]

This idea violently gripped my brain last night so I had to get it out.

We all adore the shenanigans of the Magnus Archives crew, but what does it all look like from the outside? I kept thinking about the janitorial staff and how weird it must be to work on the periphery of it all.

[yuridovewing]

avos onestar and rowanstar parallel about how they’re both on shaky ground as leaders, they’re aware their clanmates don’t respect them as such and have actually left them to the wolves in one way or another, but the two are bitter enemies and this similarity between them is actually their downfall as both of their kingdoms crumble under darktail’s seige…

[jankillbride]

There is something to be said about the fact that half the time, marginalized characters end up being the "normal" ones in fanon when that is so clearly not the case.

[h-o-u-s-e-p-l-a-n-t]

I am making an animorphs animatic and my dumb ass decided that my third animatic project will be for a five minute song so this will be hell for the next while lol

[beatx-mavie-archangelx]

so y'all are trying to tell me that the problem is snow white being black and not whatever those terrifying things claiming to be the seven dwarfs are??

[hirokiyuu]

<guy who just binged all of pppppp in a day

[yellowocaballero]

In which things continue to get worse, but at least Hilda's a girlboss about it.