#beyond (a system for passing)

[zeravmeta]

we give garp a lot of (rightly deserved) shit but unironically like 90% of the criticisms towards him i see not only ignore the wider worldbuilding context of one piece but also don't acknowledge how sengoku is like the worst friend ever

[eternal--returned]

Cy Twombly ֍ Beyond (A System for Passing) (1971)

[15lehna]

Covid is homophobic because me getting it the week we got What doesn't break, WBN, Zerxus and the Mighty nein is absolute hell. Did I still read/listen/watch most of them yes was I dying while doing it also yes

[alienglowgarden]

Amidst all the ZA\UM news, I am once more reminded how terribly I wish IWATEX was a disco elysium styled cerebral weirdo alien communist game full of zany characters and like, x3 times the writing. THERES SO MUCH SPACE THAT COULD STILL BE FILLED.....

[sforzesco]

I'm so sorry if you get tired of answering asks about Pompey and Crassus BUT your response to the anon asking if Crassus let Pompey get away with things really got me thinking! Specifically about the way that Plutarch (I think?) says that Crassus didn't hold ill-will against Pompey for "stealing" his triumph. And how it feels like Crassus just kind of decided to shrug it off and instead asked Pompey for help for the consulship elections. Crassus seems so ruthless and direct while on the field, and I have so many questions about how he and Pompey worked together in Spoletium which will never be answered 😭 But then when it comes to politics I really can't see the pattern!

oh, I love talking about Crassus (and Pompey too, by extension), literally I can't stop. you can ask several people. I'll be talking about one thing, and all of a sudden: Crassus has entered the conversation. it's terrible, I can't stop. mostly, it takes me a thousand years to articulate my thoughts in any kind of way that makes sense.

I actually think that there are two times that Crassus subtextually calls Pompey a bitch, and the triumph incident is one of them!

specifically in that Crassus's comment about it:

Crassus, for all his self-approval, did not venture to ask for the major triumph, and it was thought ignoble and mean in him to celebrate even the minor triumph on foot, called the ovation, for a servile war.

Crassus is also not the first person to hold this sentiment.

Crassus' Ovation in 71 B.C., B.A. Marshall

I think it's important to remember that for Rome as a whole, the Third Servile War was terrifying because of the scale of the threat it posed to how an imperial wheelhouse running on a slave economy functions, but also because it's really fucking embarrassing for Rome's identity.

Crassus is also not the first person who commands the leading role against Spartacus. Spartacus goes through two other commanders before Rome asks Crassus to enter the scene. Crassus specifically is a private citizen when he is asked to step into this role: up until now, Rome's own praetors and consuls have failed to rise to the occasion.

Crassus' Ovation in 71 B.C., B.A. Marshall

Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic, Allen Mason Ward

this is a deeply humiliating moment for the Roman reputation and identity. Pompey taking credit for Crassus' victory is an expected power grab, but it's also kind of cringe that he did it. Crassus was doing Roman's Duty To The State (or, if you like a spicier take on it, may have pulled strings for it. after all, you can't consider a man rich unless he can fund his own army. and the army Crassus brought with him for this was is own)

and so taking credit for that is like. man. this was NOT a "glorious war" that was fought. (Lucullus cites this as a blemish on Pompey's character during his vulture speech, it's very fun!)

so while Crassus may have realized that writing back to Rome and requesting back up was a mistake because whoever showed up would have the world's easiest time taking credit and accepted that it would happen, I do think that he took alternative measures to even the playing field in a 'okay sure, have your triumph, but don't think you're going to have it all,' kind of way because he also does this

Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic, Allen Mason Ward

Pliny, Natural History 15.125

Gell. NA 5.6.23

Cic. Pis. 58

which does not strike me as the behavior of someone who is letting Pompey just run away with it without any kind of pushback.

and now to throw out literally everything I just said about the Triumph Incident, B.A. Marshall (whose article I've cited several times already in this) has an incredibly compelling case to make that there wasn't really as much conflict between the two over this as ancient narratives might indicate (which. seems to be a recurring theme with them)

Crassus' Ovation in 71 B.C., B.A. Marshall

I will stick to my narrative speculation that some of their respective peers probably thought it was at least embarrassing behavior on Pompey's part, because Lucullus has a lot of vitriol to direct at Pompey, and he does cite this incident as something negative to Pompey's overall character) someone who steals credit and glory from other people). so. hm. I think the assumed personal and periodically biting rivalry (in addition to the usual political rivalry) between the two is extremely fun, but so is. this. thoughts! much to think about.

[arolesbianism]

I’ve been having a rough few days, but I’ve been feeling a bit better so I decided to make some lil thingies for some spiraling upwards kitties :3

[jewish-space-laser]

also not to be like, needy on the internet, but i’m having a hard night and i need to laugh so send me funny things. tik toks, jokes, i don’t care please please share and laugh with me

[compulsiveobsessing]

jd vance at CPAC talking about "attacks on masculinity" and how current "culture" supposedly wants to turn "everybody, whether male or female, into adrogynous idiots who think the same, talk the same, and act the same" is the same evangelical rhetoric i grew up with.

ive struggled to remember exactly how it was taught to me that androgyny or being otherwise gender non-conforming was wrong, but it was through fleeting bits of rhetoric like this. there's nothing incredibly violent about that sentence, but there's an underlying disgust there. this is coming from the group who believes being gay is an abomination.

vance went on to say that "we actually think that god made male and female for a purpose," and he doesn't elaborate, but he is alluding to separate responsibilities and abilities according to biblical teachings (woman is subservient to man).

blurring the lines of gender is scary, gross, and wrong to them. youre not supposed to do that (that threatens their power structure). i was enthralled by androgynous people when i was a kid. i thought androgynous/gnc people were so cool and beautiful, and i kept these feelings a secret, because even as a child i knew i wasnt supposed to think that way. yes it's so silly to force a strict expression of gender upon your kid, yes it's silly that i was so afraid to voice admiration for androgyny, but this is part of the underlying reason for their transphobia. to them, it's a gross twisting of your god-ordained gender. you're sinning by not conforming to whatever expectations were set upon you at birth. it's stupid and such a minor thing to get upset over, but it takes years of work to break out of that belief.

[gimmeshelter]

beyond sadness at lynch's death i'm also pretty pissed because he had been trying to get another project done in the years before his passing and netflix and others didn't want to finance it. john waters is the same age as lynch and his latest project was also canned because he couldn't find the money for it. others like scorsese have been luckier but they're also struggling to get their work made. and meanwhile there's more slop coming out every year. it just feels bleak. there won't be another lynch in part because the current system isn't allowing artists like that to exist, now less than ever

[rum-inspector]

I fucking hate multiple choice question exams!!!

They don't test how well you understood and are able to put the info in practice but they test how well you can memorize mostly useless nitpicky details.

And then the way you study becomes studying to do well in the exam (eg you start memorizing nitpicky details names and numbers and gloss over the actual meat of the material when you know the more complicated parts can not be reduced i to simple multiple choice questions) instead of deeply understanding the subject.

[curryshesus]

jeon jungkook fics that had me going feral

hi guys, here's a part 2 to my favorite jjk fics on tumblr! note that many of these fics contain 18+ content. you are responsible for the content you consume! as always, if you enjoyed any of these fics as much as i did, please take a moment to send some love to the authors! part 1 | other bts members

➺ cold nights & blurred lines - by @awrkive

summary: jungkook and you have been in a sexual relationship with each other for four months now, and it’s casual for the most part. but as time passes, you can’t help but feel that some of the lines suddenly got blurred in the process. is it a cliché to blur the lines with your fuck buddy? it definitely is. will you do something about it? both of your emotional constipation have a hard time saying yes.

➺ night crawlers - by @alphabetboyluvr

summary: jungkook’s always been good at running. track, field, red lights, shit outta luck. drugs, now, too. but he doesn’t expect to run into you. in your shared lecture halls, sure. maybe. but not down the back alleys of daerim at ass o’clock in the morning. there are only three types of women he ever sees in daerim: hookers, sugar-babies and addicts. you aren't any of those; you're a trust-fund baby who can get percocet on private repeat prescription, if you really want it. he's sure of it. so it then further begs the question: why the fuck are you here?

➺ this is how you fall in love - by @jeonqkooks

summary: after years of drinking and clubbing most days of the week and leaving every gig with a different girl on his arm, jungkook feels what it’s like to want someone with his entire being.

➺ the dilf installments - by @mercurygguk

summary: this series follows jungkook’s life as a divorced father. but wait, how exactly does one balance being a father, a boyfriend, a friend, and a respectable boss at the same time? read the installments below to find out!

➺ ultimatum - by @parkmuse

summary: your pervy, idiotic boyfriend just so happens to also be your friendly neighborhood Spider-man (in bed).

➺ a hero's journey - by @hansolmates

summary: jungkook and jisoo are the mightiest power couple. however, one drunken confession and that whole facade fades in an instant. you realize that maybe you need to break from your unvaried life for a bit and be the hero of your own love story

➺ tempest - by @kooktrash

summary: you’ve always considered your life to be more mundane than you would like to admit. it was a constant cycle of the same things over and over again that when you meet jeon jungkook at a bar, of all places, you didn’t expect to see just how much he would change your life and those around you. he’s got an air of mystery around him with his charming good looks and a violent past that you slowly begun to unravel when it feels like everything is going perfect.

➺ by its cover - by @gimmesumsuga

summary: the one where Jungkook makes a horrifically bad first impression.

➺ slow dancing - by @yoonia

summary: when your countdown appeared on your wrist right in the morning of your eighteenth birthday, you had thought that perhaps the universe was on your side, especially since the final seconds were already ticking so soon. You just never expected to have your first meeting with your soulmate to be the day when you had to let him go. But hope was not lost when you still found love without the bond, and Jungkook showed you that it was possible to find happiness beyond the system that was written for you. Except that the universe doesn’t seem to have enough of its game, when your past sacrifice comes back hitting you straight in the face, just when you had believed that you had written off the perfect ending to your bittersweet tale.

➺ e s p r e s s o - by @joonberriess

➺ hold me closer - by @ahundredtimesover

summary: when you're asked to look after your parents' house and meet them before they go on vacation, you, Jimin, and Jungkook take the trip to your hometown of Busan and relive memories of your youth. While your new relationship has you feeling like a lovesick teenager with all the affection that Jungkook shows you, you're still you - a professional trying to make it in the corporate world, and an eldest child trying not to disappoint her parents. And that turns out to be your undoing, as a little blunder causes a rift between you and Jungkook, resulting in a trip that you might as well have messed up… Not if your brother can help it, though.

[ozzgin]

There are some events which happen with exceptional rarity within the passing time of the Universe: winning the lottery twice, large galaxies colliding, black holes revolving in a binary system...

...And his Unholy Majesty catching a cold.

The Demon King grunts under the blankets as you tuck him in. Oh, what a humiliating affair, the disgrace of a lifetime. He is beyond mortified.

"Enough of this," he demands with an unconvincing, clumsy growl. "What, are you expecting me to lay in bed all day? There's dimensions to be invaded, planets to eradicate!"

"Don't worry, Sir, we have found a solution," his beastly butler says with a reassuring grin. "You must - without any sort of doubt! - rest and regain your powers."

The gargantuan creature stares with skepticism at his servant, forehead flushed with feverish fires.

"Besides," the scaly lizard suggests sweetly, "your assistance here is absolutely vital."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, yes. You see, (Y/N) will be overlooking your duties until your health returns. Which then, of course, leaves our estate defenseless! It's essential that you replace (Y/N) in the homely tasks; as a matter of fact, there's a chocolate soufflé that needs to be taken out of the oven soon. We leave everything in your blasphemous hands."

Before his Evilness can respond, you rush outside and head for the office. Can't be that hard, you tell yourself, stuffing the guidebook in your pocket: How to destroy worlds and torture its inhabitants.

[Main Story]

[justanotherbirdbrain-blog]

A Workshop for Creating Magical/ Fictional Crystals: A Guide from a Geologist

Hi folks, its me, here to talk about fictional writing again! Today I'm just tackling the idea of magical stones/mana stones by looking at existing minerals today and some neat properties that they have, and how you can apply these things to a fictional world. The goal is mainly to help you if you are stuck trying to come up with a unique magic system, or a unique identification/characteristic of your mineral.

First Things First: Mineral Shapes

I am exhausted, petered out, down-right fatigued by seeing every mineral depicted with having the crystal structure of calcite and quartz. There are soooooo many cooler, more interesting crystal structures, don't you think you would stop and take a look at a perfect cube in nature? It is completely unsettling.

Second: Color

Color within minerals can either be really important, or not important at all! It is your choice to decide if color is going to be something that means something to your mineral. But what are some times when the color is important? Well.... there are some elements that are called chromophores, this classification just indicates that these elements, when present, will determine the color of whatever they are in. So, if you wanted to treat mana like a chromophore, you could say, "Oh everything that contains mana turns green!" This could mean that regardless of the mineral, if that mineral is a specific color, it means it contains mana. This concept is exciting because you can just stop here and use minerals that already exist! You can also use it as an indicator for a magical ore! Chromophores are typically metals, so if you are making a new metal weapon, making the ore of that metal a unique color would make a lot of sense!

However, your mineral can also just be every color of the rainbow like quartz and perhaps that's what makes identifying your mana stones elusive and create an illusion of scarcity that your character can solve.

There are other things that can change the colors of minerals, like radiation damage, and electron exchange, but I think that is beyond what would be helpful! So lets talk about some unique color properties that happen in nature that seem magical in the first place! Maybe you don't need to design a mana stone, but you want a unique gemstone that only the royal family passes down or something (IDK).

The first one is the alexandrite effect! This is where a mineral can change color in natural light vs. incandescent light. (the mineral itself is not changing, but the lights contain different amounts of different colors that then get absorbed by the stone). Even if you don't use electricity in your fictional world, you could have the colors change in the presence of light magic. This could create fun misunderstandings about what the mineral is reacting to!

Pleochroism

Pleochroism is something that most minerals have, it is frequently used to help identify minerals in thin sections, however minerals are usually not pleochroic enough for it to be visible to the naked eye! Pleochroism is just a fancy name to describe the change in how light is absorbed based on the angle of the mineral! So if you scroll up to the first image where I showed a lot of crystal shapes, most of them have angles where they are longer and shorter! This will effect the way light travels in the crystal. Tanzanite is a popular mineral that does this.

Photochromism

This is when a mineral will change color (in a reversible way) when exposed to UV light (or sunlight), I am not going to go too into the details of why this is happening because it would require me to read some research papers and I just don't feel like it. The mineral that is best known for this is Hackmanite!

Alright! These are all the really cool color effects that might inspire you or maybe not, but now I am going to talk about how you might find your minerals within a rock!

When I see a lot of magical caves/mines, typically I see them with some variation of a geode honestly, but most minerals are not found like that! Now I am sure most of you guys have seen a geode, so I will not really talk about those, but I will talk briefly about porphyroblasts which is when the mineral grows larger than the minerals around it, this happens in metamorphic minerals!

sorry random stranger, but this is an image of garnets inside a finer-grained rock at gore mountain in New York!

Another way you might find minerals is in a pegmatite! This is when all minerals are really large! This is a formed from really slow crystalizing magma!

But something else to think about is that your mineral might just be massive, it doesn't have to have distinct crystals, it may be similar to jadeite where small grains grow together which leaves it looking smooth and seamless! A note about all of these is that you would have to mine into the rock to find these, there would not be any natural caves in these rocks! Caves are only ever really formed in limestones and maybe marbles (rocks that react with acid).

How can your characters identify these minerals?

Typically when you are out in the field you will look to see what type of rocks the minerals are found in (The overall texture of the rock will tell you how it formed). If you know how the rock formed, it will narrow down the amount of minerals you need to think about by quite a bit! Next, you are going to look closely at it and observe its crystal structure, does it have an obvious crystal? if so what is the general shape? If it is broken, how did it break? Did it fracture like glass or did it break along uniform planes. Some minerals have a thing called cleavage (breaks along planes of weakness). If a mineral exhibits this habit, it will again help narrow this down. Next we can look at color. Color can be misleading, because minerals like quartz can be any color imaginable, but minerals like olivine will always be green! The next thing your character can do is test for hardness, minerals all have a specific hardness that can help identify it as well.

After you go through all of this, your mineral might have some special property! This could be magnetism, fluorescence, reactions to acid, or any of the color changing effects I mentioned above! Other than that, your character can take it back to a lab and do a number of things to identify it, but the most typical thing would be for them to make a thin section (very thin piece of the rock) and observe it under a cross polarized microscope!

On that note folks! I hope this helped in some way in thinking of new magic mineral properties! I have other guides that explore some different fictional worldbuilding issues you might run into, but if you have any topics you would like me to cover please that I haven't mentioned already, let me know!

[reasonsforhope]

"Buried among Florida’s manicured golf courses and sprawling suburbs are the artifacts of its slave-holding past: the long-lost cemeteries of enslaved people, the statues of Confederate soldiers that still stand watch over town squares, the old plantations turned into modern subdivisions that bear the same name. But many students aren’t learning that kind of Black history in Florida classrooms.

In an old wooden bungalow in Delray Beach, Charlene Farrington and her staff gather groups of teenagers on Saturday mornings to teach them lessons she worries that public schools won’t provide. They talk about South Florida’s Caribbean roots, the state’s dark history of lynchings, how segregation still shapes the landscape and how grassroots activists mobilized the Civil Rights Movement to upend generations of oppression.

“You need to know how it happened before so you can decide how you want it to happen again,” she told her students as they sat as their desks, the morning light illuminating historic photographs on the walls.

Florida students are giving up their Saturday mornings to learn about African American history at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum in Delray Beach and in similar programs at community centers across the state. Many are supported by Black churches, which for generations have helped forge the cultural and political identity of their parishioners.

Since Faith in Florida developed its own Black history toolkit last year, more than 400 congregations have pledged to teach the lessons, the advocacy group says.

Florida has required public schools to teach African American history for the past 30 years, but many families no longer trust the state’s education system to adequately address the subject.

By the state’s own metrics, just a dozen Florida school districts have demonstrated excellence at teaching Black history, by providing evidence that they are incorporating the content into lessons throughout the school year and getting buy-in from the school board and community partners.

School district officials across Florida told The Associated Press that they are still following the state mandate to teach about the experience of enslavement, abolition and the “vital contributions of African Americans to build and strengthen American society.”

But a common complaint from students and parents is that the instruction seems limited to heroic figures such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and rarely extends beyond each February’s Black History Month.

When Sulaya Williams’ eldest child started school, she couldn’t find the comprehensive instruction she wanted for him in their area. So in 2016, she launched her own organization to teach Black history in community settings.

“We wanted to make sure that our children knew our stories, to be able to pass down to their children,” Williams said.

Williams now has a contract to teach Saturday school at a public library in Fort Lauderdale, and her 12-year-old daughter Addah Gordon invites her classmates to join her.

“It feels like I’m really learning my culture. Like I’m learning what my ancestors did,” Addah said. “And most people don’t know what they did.”"

-via AP News, December 23, 2024

[soapcloth]

Statue!Ghost x reader - pt 2

CW: 18+ MDNI, noncon/dubcon elements, size kink, horror aspects, scopophobia, temporary loss of movement, derealization(?), large insertion, reader gets fingered by a statue pt 1 - not edited - dividers -> @/cafekitsune

It’s been getting worse. 

Ever since you became fearful of a giant marble statue prowling around your place of work, the duration of your shifts would stretch out- mangled and twisted by his presence. No one would pass through the warehouse, causing the towering labyrinth of stock to feel more like an ancient crypt than a museum's storage. 

In light of the phrase 'Out of sight, out of mind.' you had employed the company of a radio that hadn't seen daylight since the nineties to chase away the dread laving across your spine. It helped at first, finally letting you plug away at work, but it was shortlived- only lasting a moment before all sounds started to slowly wither away, leaving only you, your thoughts, and the distant scraping echo.

You couldn't decide which you disliked more; when you’d look away only to find him contorted into a new position, or when you actually saw it happen. Things that big, things with no fibrous muscle or supporting bone to speak of should not be able to move.

The hulking figure was fond of defying nature. 

He had begun to do something much worse than the previous two options, though. The first time you experienced it, there was a quiet rolling noise, distant and unfamiliar. Your base instincts screamed at you not to look, and yet.

He was in a new pose this time, playfully holding his skull-shaped death mask against his face. That itself would not have been too bad if not for the two gaping black pits where his unblinking gaze had resided Two eyes, wet as your own and boasting irritated veins peered at you from the hollow holes through blown, pitch black irises. Following you. 

Slowly, accompanied by the low hum of moving stone, the mask lowered to reveal his usual carved visage. Nothing was stated out loud but you could tell that against your will, something had shifted. 

He approached, agonizingly slowly, but directly and with thundering footfall. He knelt down before you, head swiveling as he got closer inorganically. You could hear laboured breath whistling through the notch in his still lips, examining it at this angle revealed a small hole that hadn't been there before. This alerted you to a fact that gave you pause- below thick stone skin there was a cavity with room to accommodate something you couldn’t possibly begin to fathom rattling around inside him. The thought sat at your eyes, too difficult to be transmitted through their receptors into your brain beyond a surface level acknowledgment. 

Up close, you could see that his motions were not as smooth as you had initially assumed; every inch moved labourous, awkward, and accompanied by the incremental jerk. 

He would get closer until his lips, though much larger, were level with your own. 

The contact came contradictorily, both expected- welcomed, and unheralded, an ice water shock to your system.

Something in your mind that had rationalized him as a thing had told you he was of flesh like you, but the kiss was chilled and unmoving. Stone fingers digging into the cement floor told you he was expecting reciprocity, leaving you with no other options but to accomodate embarassingly and press warm lips to stone. 

His marble head nudged to the side softly, leading you like a lamb to the notch. Your lips slowed as you were hit with the nausea that accompanied peering into a hollow otherside, too dark to see anything in there- and there was something in there.

All at once, you were accosted by visions of a man, a victor- every glimpse lasting only microseconds and each one incredibly overwhelming. 

Dizzy. 

You fell back with a crawling sense of paralysis taking over your body, and with a freezing touch, more gentle and reverent than you could have ever expected- he cradled you, dragging his big body back to his ornate podium to pet and nudge at you, head uncannily tilting with curiousity for each sound he managed to pull from you. 

Pulseless fingers prodded at you as you looked up at him and for a passing moment, he was man, both of the earth and grounded as a large finger slipped under your shirt, soft grit tracing at your belly. For a passing moment, expressionless monochromatic eyes were those of man too, incredibly melancholic and lonely before the emotion vanished, gone all to soon. 

Your monolith breathed as his finger curled downwards, dipping into your undergarments, playing with the hidden flesh, absorbing your warmth for himself. 

His touch heated, and you could hear distant cheers of a battle hard won and a band- no, a single instrument, perhaps a lyre? It sounded far off and intimate, but it was there; it's dulcet tones swimming around your head.

A big, warm hand fussed with your pussy, pumping in and out with an unspoken worship.

Too focused on the feeling, you could only barely make out his deep voice murmuring as he talked you through his touches, the blurred looming silhouette of your giant somehow bigger made mortal than he ever seemed in his effigy. 

With heavy lids you blinked, and then through your bleary gaze you caught sight of those crystal clear bloodshot eyes set over a black void on his undefined face. You gasped, pulling away as he examined you, invasive and unwelcome gaze the only thing you could make out of his vague form. Like you had been scorched by fire, suddenly all you could feel was the hot freeze of a stone finger dug inside your folds, pumping you full. he continued to nudge around inside you experimentally, stretching you out far beyond anything you were accustomed to. he kept the same deep and agonizingly deliberate pace as you writhed beneath his bulk, squinting as humid, laboured Shallow breath fanned your face, painting you in a wet sheen. You clenched around the solid intrusion; crying out as you came on the numbingly cold marble that met your skin.

You panted, sprawled across stone with swelling lungs as you gazed upwards at the silent image of a man. Coming to, you blinked as sunlight bled in through the raised skylights, soaking the back of his head in a white glow. He stared back through unmoving spheres as you gave a shaky, torturous heave, pulling yourself off him. Ache scorched your inner muscles as you staggered through the warehouse and to the stairwell doors. As with all things relating to him, the sting only got worse the more you acknowledged it. Pushing the pain to the back of your mind, you stumbled towards your waypoint, everything around you becoming more tangible as ambient sounds flooded and warmed your ears. You didn’t look back at the carved idol, but that was fine- watchful eyes would find you through troubled dreams.

[lazycats-stuff]

Could you do "baby bat" where a killer tried to kill Bruce Wayne's youngest son when I saw that all the media and the family loved him but Titus was sleeping in his room and saw him and bit him to save the baby

Sure can. Oh Titus the good boy is coming to save the little baby.

Summary: Titus is a good boy who loves (Y/N). And is very protective.

Warnings: Breaking in, Titus protecting (Y/N), so there will be aggression from Titus, but in defense of (Y/N), everyone is protective

Bruce gently cradled (Y/N) in his arms, trying to soothe him so that he could go to sleep. (Y/N) was an easy baby and when fed he would be docile and just sleepy as hell. Bruce loved that about his boy. (Y/N) was the youngest one out of all the siblings and Bruce was taking care of him since his mother passed away.

Everyone stepped up to take care of (Y/N). Dick loved nothing more than to soothe (Y/N) to sleep. It was his favorite thing in the whole wide world. And feeding him was great too. Dick just loved his baby brother too much.

Jason would jump in too, he would simply talk to (Y/N) about stuff or simply played with his stuffed animals. Seeing (Y/N) giggle and move around excitedly. Jason more often than not fed him whenever necessary, since he wanted to be closer to his brother.

Tim, despite loving his brother to bits, was more often than not afraid to hold (Y/N). So, Tim showed love in another way. By buying baby things, such as toys, clothes and other necessities and making sure that the security system in place is at the top of its game.

And Damian?

He loved (Y/N) a lot, considering the fact that he was a baby and the fact that (Y/N) made Damian feel protective beyond belief, since he is the weakest one out of the family. And he also allowed Titus to spend time with the baby, under supervision of course. And Titus was a gentle giant when it came to (Y/N).

Despite his tail wagging all around whenever he was around (Y/N), he was always gentle with him, gently licking his hands and sniffing him. It must be the baby smell that everyone likes. He would often follow (Y/N) around and whoever was holding him. Whenever (Y/N) cried, Titus would drag someone by their sleeves.

And since (Y/N) came, at least one person was home and not on patrol, since someone needed to take care of (Y/N). Everyone rotated every day to make sure that (Y/N) was taken care of. It was something they all enjoyed and loved.

And the public went nuts for the youngest Wayne. Bruce made it clear that (Y/N)'s face won't be circulated over the Internet and majority of Gotham agreed. If he was approached by fans, they would ask for photos and make sure that (Y/N)'s face wasn't visible. And then Twitter, known as X, broke. The normally toxic social media app went aww over the stories of meeting Bruce and the little boy.

Of course, no one shared any photos of the boy. There have been attempts, but Bruce shut them down. Alongside his older sons of course. Bruce wasn't afraid to protect his son's privacy. You never know what type of people are lurking around, looking for photos of children. Bruce would be damned if he even gave them ammunition.

Not on his damn watch.

Of course, any enemies of his as Bruce Wayne and not Batman have found a new target within the family. And people with not so good intentions have set their sights on (Y/N). Bruce knew that very well and alongside Tim, made sure that the security system was working.

It was in the middle of the night when Titus woke up. He was sleeping in Damian's room, whoever, Damian was in the Batcave, while Bruce, Dick and Tim were patrolling the streets tonight. Damian and Jason were home to take care of (Y/N). Titus knew that, but there was a scent that he didn't recognize so he got up to investigate.

(Y/N)'s room was not far and the door was open. Titus listened carefully and he heard some noise and off he went to investigate. He knew how (Y/N) sounded, so the noise was weird. He stopped when he saw a man, dressed in all black, with a knife in his hand.

Titus wasted no time.

He ran to the man, biting into the hand that was holding the knife, with all of his might. The man yelled out from pain, waking (Y/N) up who started wailing. Titus was pulling him out of the room and Damian and Jason were running up the hall, with Jason tackling the man and Damian pulling Titus off. Titus did one hell of a job and Damian moved him to the room and took (Y/N) into his arms, trying to soothe him.

" I'm calling GCPD. " Jason punched the man out cold and took his phone out, already dialing 911. Damian gently soothed (Y/N), who after a few minutes calmed down. Damian checked on Titus, whose snout was covered with blood, but otherwise, wasn't harmed. His eyes were trained of (Y/N) and Damian was going to let Titus sniff him as soon as his snout is clean.

" The system went down. They hacked our system. "

Jason sighed at that. That was no small feat. Their house was Pentagon type of secure.

" Tim's going to blow a gasket once he hears that something happened to the system... They must have gotten in when it was rebooted... Bastards... " Jason muttered to himself, crossing his arms. " Is (Y/N) okay? Not hurt? "

" He's fine. Titus saved him... "

Jason nodded, patting Titus' head, telling him he's a good boy for doing it.

" Who's calling Bruce? " Jason asked and Damian sighed as he forgot about them all.

" You are. " Damian said and Jason scoffed as he looked for Bruce's contact in his phone. Yes, they had channels of their comms on their phones, just in case for emergencies.

Jason stepped out to talk to Bruce while Damian turned to his baby brother.

" No one will ever hurt you (Y/N). Titus and the rest of us will make sure of that. Absolutely no one will hurt you. I promise you that. "

Jason stepped back into the room. " They are all on the way, they'll beat GCPD too. So... A plan is in order. "

Once everyone came in and checked on (Y/N), they managed to agree on a story that would convince GCPD. And if Tim and Dick kicked the assassin a few times? GCPD will overlook it. Even the most corrupted police department wouldn't mind if a hitman who tried to kill a baby just died.

But Bruce wanted to know who hired this bastard to kill a literal baby. A baby who can't defend himself. Safe to say, Bruce held his son throughout the talking with the GCPD detectives. Titus was also near Bruce, not wanting to let (Y/N) out of his sights.

" If I were you mister Wayne, I would take the dog to the vet, just in case... " The detective pointed out, clearly seeing the blood on Titus.

" I don't worry about him. He isn't whining or anything and let me tell you, he is one dramatic dog. If his blanket is not the right way on the couch, he gets huffy and whines, " Bruce said and the detective chuckled.

" If you say so mister Wayne... Also, (Y/N) is adorable. Cherish these moments before they turn into toddlers. I can speak from experience. I have 2 boys myself... "

Bruce smiled politely and nodded. Bruce never had that stage with any of his kids, so he didn't know what he was in for.

" A full house? "

" You have no idea. That one will be full of energy, I can see already. And I can promise you, we'll catch the bastard who hired the scumbag. And it's not because of your status. That baby deserves to be safe and sound, " Detective said and Bruce nodded. The two were fathers and a mutual feeling of protection was brewing in both of them.

" Here's my contact info. " The detective tucked to Jason since Bruce's hands were full. " Any questions you might have, feel free to call me, " The detective finished up and Bruce nodded, thanking him.

" No problems mister Wayne. The forensics will stay around for a bit longer to collect the evidence, you know, around the window and the crib. The man is on the way to Gotham general, since the good boy over here did one hell of a job of protecting (Y/N). Once he's patched up, he's going to lock up and await trail, " The detective explained and Bruce nodded, pretending he didn't know anything about how those things went.

" Alright, I need to get going, but anything you might need to ask mister Wayne, please call. "

" Of course, thank you. "