#but like story purposes i cannot

[lovevalley45]

#fictober23 day twenty-three

"No, you won't understand, ever."

original fiction (power payback)

word count: 744

cw: mentions of child abuse, injury

Most times, the walk from his house to the Coello-Sterling home was nothing more than a stroll across the street. Hugo could practically do the journey blindfolded, if not for the danger of getting hit by a car. 

But now, every step felt excruciating. It was even worse going to Haley’s window, knocking on the glass. Though her parents had no problem with him coming over, climbing through the window was his typical way in. Even if it wasn’t necessarily a big window. 

He was having trouble keeping his footing as he weaved through the flower bushes, let alone thinking of climbing a window. Yet Hugo still knocked, more urgently than he would usually. 

It was a bit until she came to open the curtains, looking out at him in confusion. Her short curls were parted into messy braids, barely brushing the shoulders of her pink nightgown. She slid the window open. “Hugo?”

“Hey, yeah,” he said, trying to keep the strain out of his voice. His mind was foggy from pain and the headache starting to build being his temples. It was taking all his attention to stay upright, so he braced himself against the window ledge. “Can you unlock the door for me? I can’t really- climb through there this time.”

She furrowed her eyebrows together. “What happened?”

Hugo glanced back to his house. The windows were still dark. “We can talk inside.”

Haley looked behind him, then sighed. “Alright.”

By the time Hugo limped his way to the porch, the door was unlocked. Once he opened it and crossed the threshold, his left leg finally gave up on him. He pitched forward, crashing onto the floor and at Haley’s feet with a thud. The falling hurt, especially since he had a feeling the bruise would be sticking around for a while, but the floor was nice and cold. 

“Oh my God, Hugo!” She reached around him to close the door before she crouched down. As she did, she looked down at his leg. Though he though his leg had healed up pretty quick on the surface, he knew she saw the dried blood, the frayed hole in his jeans. “What did he do?”

“Well, you know, trying to give me a burnout,” he said. A weak laugh tumbled out of him. “He might have succeeded this time, though.”

She cupped his face. “It certainly feels like you have a fever,” she muttered. “I should call my mom, or get my dad to drive you to the hospital-”

Hugo grabbed her wrist, his mind suddenly clear. “No. No hospitals.”

“You’re obviously in rough shape, you need a doctor-”

“That’s why I came here.” He met her eyes. “Please.”

“She’ll tell you the same thing I did. And she’s right. Hugo, this isn’t something you can just sleep off, you need actual medical attention,” Haley told him. 

“You don’t understand. No, you won’t understand, ever,” Hugo said, squeezing her wrist with the strength he still had. “If my dad hears, he’ll just yank me out of the hospital anyways. I’d rather be here than have my dad try to play nurse. Why do you think I snuck the fuck out?”

“Don’t-” Haley ripped her wrist away. “I know your dad is a fucker. If he wasn’t, you wouldn’t be lying on my living room floor.”

“Please, Haley,” he said. “I can’t go back. Not right now.”

She glanced back at the rest of the house. “Fine. I’ll get you to the couch, then I’ll get my mom.”

“Thank you.”

Haley stood back up and grabbed his arms. With his uninjured leg, he pushed himself up, and threw an arm around her shoulders. 

“If you don’t go to the hospital, my mom’s gonna try to get you to stay here.”

“Good. Better here than my dad’s.”

“I meant forever.”

“Oh.”

She looked back at him. “Were you really going to go back?”

Hugo didn’t want to admit the truth - that maybe if his Talent was actually gone, his dad would be nicer to him. Maybe this burnout could be a good thing. 

Instead, he said, “I don’t know if I have a choice.”

Haley helped him get settled on the couch, propping a pillow under his left foot. As she adjusted it, she looked him in the eyes. “If I know you, I know you’ll make one.”

Hugo sank into the couch cushions. He hoped that one day she would be right about that.

[little-pondhead]

[inspired roughly by this post. My brain snails started going nuts so I thought it'd be easier to post this separately :)]

…

It was a lovely day in Gotham. Well, as lovely as it could be. The sun was up, peeking through the overhead cloud cover and making the buildings gleam in the rare sunlight. The air was fresher than usual, and faucets ran clear of strange and unusual toxins.

Somewhere in the Upper East Side, in a little neighborhood tucked away from the rest of the city, marched around the new boss of the area. She was a young girl, just barely in high school. But despite it being the middle of a work day, she wandered around her chosen streets, content to do whatever she wanted. Above her, a pair of siblings watched on and discussed the unique situation.

"So let me get this straight: that fourteen-year-old goth girl is a crime boss?"

Mia smiled at Leon, her older brother, and his dumbfounded expression as they rested on her balcony. "She's fifteen, actually. Her birthday just passed. We all got together and threw a block party for her!"

"You know how insane that sounds, right?" Leon turned to her, a bit miffed that she dared to say those words to his face. "She's a kid. Why do you all listen to her?"

Mia shrugged and sipped her beer. "She does good work. Holds her own pretty well, and the kid has connections. Good ones, too. That can be the difference between life and death in Gotham."

Leon rubbed his forehead in frustration. "I just don't get it. How did she end up in this line of work? Do child labor laws even apply here?? Why aren't the Bats doing anything?"

"Don't think about it too much, dipshit." Mia crushed her now-empty beer can in her hand and tucked it into a paper garbage bag hanging off of a hook on the balcony rail. A familiar set of green arrows was printed on the side.

"And now you're recycling?!" Leon realized. "When did you start doing that, Mia??"

The woman shrugged and got up, stretching. "Probably around the time Brambles absolutely reamed out Mrs. Zalinski for littering at the park."

"Wait, who's Brambles?" Leon scrambled upright and followed his sister inside.

Mia laughed. "Brambles is our fifteen-year-old crime boss!"

...

"I can't believe you got a cool name right off the bat," Danny grumbled, flopping onto Sam's bed face-first. Sam smirked and shoved him off with her foot. Danny just squawked and let himself ragdoll to the ground.

"It's your fault for not having a better gimmick." She said to his prone body. "Besides, it could've been worse."

"I think Inviso-Bill is the worst possible nickname for anyone." Danny groaned. "But you got something cool immediately. Who even thought up 'Brambles'? That's such a unique name!"

"Well the kids call you Grim; that's pretty cool."

Danny flopped over, twisting himself much farther than any human was supposed to just so he could glare at her face. "They only call me that cause one of the is obsessed with Harry Potter." He grumbled, pouting.

Sam just rolled her eyes and went back to sorting through piles of papers scattered all across her duvet. Since moving to Gotham several months ago, Sam had taken it upon herself to turn the experience into something useful rather than just moping all the time, as she originally wanted to. That 'something useful' had landed her as the newest crime boss in Gotham, with about a third of the Upper East Side as her current territory.

So many problems had popped up in the last year, and the group had decided that taking it on alone would never work. The GIW had been trying to close Amity's borders, Danny's parents had a scientific breakthrough, tensions in the Realms were high, etc. There was a lot on their plate! Sam's solution was to create a foothold in Gotham City. She would lay the foundations for Jazz to work in Arkham and forge a safer environment for the residents of Amity Park to sneak off to if the GIW went too far. She was essentially weaving a cushion for everyone to fall back on.

Danny, using the power of duplication, was splitting his focus between foiling his parent's plans and resolving issues with his rouges to create a united front. He was the main distraction, and Sam's own heavy hitter when she needed help establishing dominance.

Tucker planned to gather intel with the help of Technus and Jazz. They were trying to gather as much evidence as possible so they'd be in the clear when the whistle blew. The GIW would crash and burn, legally speaking. They were the bugs of the operation, spreading themselves thin and hoarding information like it was candy.

Dani was their wild card, their jester. She was keeping the JLD's attention focused solely on her and all the supernatural hijinks she was stirring up. When the time was right, she'd point them in the direction needed and let them loose. After winding them up so much, the hope was that the Justice League Dark would descend upon the GIW like hellfire.

But those were their future plans. Right now, Sam was in possession of specific files from Arkham Asylum and the GCPD. She was looking for anything to give her an edge in the upcoming meeting with a few other crime bosses. Some annual thing they host to renew Goonion contracts, see who's still alive, and examine how much the territory lines have changed. Stuff like that. Red Hood was supposed to be there, and she knew she needed an ironclad defense against him and his nosy colony of Bats.

Danny untwisted himself all of a sudden, making a weird face. "Sorry, got to go." He apologized. "Vlad just showed up to my house."

Sam waved him off. "Go, I'll be fine for today. Just be on time for the meeting on Friday. And I want you, not a double."

"You got it!" Danny did finger guns at her and promptly melted into a pile of green goo. Right on her bedroom floor!

Sam sighed and got up to throw a towel over the puddle. The ectoplasm would evaporate eventually, returning to the original Danny little by little. But for now, this would keep anyone from asking about it until it was all gone.

Sometimes she really hated living in student dorms. People always felt the need to burst into her room for no reason.

Who even made dorm rooms for high schoolers in the first place??

...

Jason couldn't help but stare at the new recruit.

Well, 'new recruit' wasn't exactly accurate. 'Potential to be the most headache-inducing supervillain' was more like it. Standing at a solid 5'10" with platform boots, Brambles, the newest crime lord who had taken over half of the Upper East Side in under four months, was almost tall enough to look him in the eye straight on. Which she tried to do anyways, tilting her chin up oh-so-slightly (in that stupid way aristocrats do when they want to look down at you) and glaring at him with open hostility.

Brambles was young, way too young to be in this line of business. At the start of the annual underground crime meeting (yes, they couldn't come up with a better name), she had announced that she was fifteen, went by she/her, and would snap the dick off of anyone who looked at her funny. Most everyone laughed at her, thinking it was an empty threat. Brambles proved it wasn't by sucker-punching a younger lieutenant who tried to get handsy with her five minutes into the meeting.

When the lieutenant's boss protested and threatened a gang war, Brambles had snapped her fingers and summoned what could only be a fucking pit demon from the depths of hell to threaten the man back. The creature looked like a teenager, just like Brambles, at first. But it was...off. The longer you looked, the worse it got.

It wore a draping black cloak that covered most of its body, with the ends turning to mist when it reached the floor. It had a pale, young face and white hair. Its eyes glowed just like Brambles', except they were a toxic green that made Jason's heart skip a beat in fear. The creature was snarling, with a fucking muzzle on it to keep its sharp teeth away from wandering fingers.

With a nod from Brambles, the creature bounded forward and knocked the guy to the floor, its arm elbow-deep into the guy's chest. The dude looked terrified, and a little sick "Would you rather lose a lieutenant or your life?" She had snarled, sounding almost a bit demonic herself. The other boss had backed down without another word, writing off his subordinate as dead and gone.

Instead of killing the guy, however, Brambles simply banished her little guard dog to a corner of the warehouse to play with its new toy in peace.

"Is she allowed to do that?" Someone whispered.

"They weren't unionized, so the Goonion won't say anything." Another answered.

It was the most awkward meeting in the history of the criminal underworld. No one even died since they were all focused on the newcomer.

Jason could feel a headache forming as the meeting came to an end. Brambles was still sitting in her chair. The creature had grown bored of its toy and was leaning against her, sprawled out lazily and barely flicking an ear at the onlookers in acknowledgment. A few people were idling around her, mostly women, trying to talk some big game and get on the kid's good side. Brambles was humoring them, taking tight control of the conversation when they got too prying.

Jason sighed. He knew he'd have to go over and have a talk with the kid, even if it was just for Bruce's files. He hauled himself upwards and stalked over. "Pardon me, ladies and gents, but I'm going to borrow the kiddo here for a moment."

The creature hissed at him, tensed at his approach. Brambles kept a tight grip on the back of its muzzle, keeping it grounded. The other criminals scattered like flies. They were the only two (three?) left in the warehouse within minutes.

Bramble rose to glare at him. "What." She spat. "If you're here to convince me not to get involved with anything, I will set Grim on your ass after lighting it on fire."

The creature, Grim, growled in agreement. The sound echoed strangely like he was hearing it from underwater.

"Relax, I'm not here to do any of that." Jason raised his hands in surrender, immediately abandoning that possible line of thought. "I'm just here to talk business. You're young, and while you don't want to admit it, inexperienced."

"Stop the fancy words, Red Hood." Brambles' eyes glowed again, and she released her hold on Grim's muzzle. "If you want to make a deal, say it to my face. If you're here to dig for information, either ask me or hit the road. I prefer honesty over flower talk, so tell me what you want before I take over your area, too."

Jason bristled. His vision was tinted green as he snapped, "What the fuck is your problem, kid?! I just wanted to make sure you were safe and not being forced to do this. I was even going to offer my support and protection if it was too much! I know you aren't going to stop, but that doesn't mean I want a kid to die just because they got into something they shouldn't and they think their fancy guard dog will always be there to protect them!"

Brambles' eyes stopped glowing, and her stare softened a bit. Grim went deadly still, just floating there, staring at Jason. His heart beat like crazy in his chest. What was he saying? It was all true, but he could've been nicer about it. Dick would've found a way to be nicer.

-krrrk- "Ibis, reporting in. I think you can trust him, guys. Even if he's a Bat, his connections and experience would be useful in our plans. Ibis out." -krrrk-

Jason flinched from the sudden noise, looking around to find the source. It sounded like it had come from everywhere, even inside his own helmet. Brambles immediately switched out her hostile look for an annoyed one, tapping an earpiece he hadn't noticed before.

"Ibis, you really have to stop opening up our comm lines to the public." She snapped, but there was no real heat to it. "And I thought I told you to stop eavesdropping!"

-krrrk- "Sorry, can't help it. I'm everywhere now! You shouldn't have given me this power." -krrrk-

Grim hissed.

-krrrk- "Don't hiss at me, young man! You were the one who suggested this!" -krrrk-

"I'm sorry, time out!" Jason made a T with his hands. The green from his vision had completely disappeared now. "What the FUCK is going on now?"

Brambles sighed, rubbing her temples. "You know what? Fine. We'll trust you. My name is Sam. Nice to meet you, Jason Todd."

Jason stepped back, immediately reaching for his gun. Grim darted forward and promptly flew through him, stealing all his weapons in one go. "I'm Danny!" Grim-Danny?-chirped in a human voice, giving him a shit-eating smile. "Sorry for the act, Mr. Hood. And sorry about the name drop, I'm the one that told them."

-krrrk- "I'm Tucker! There are more of us, but they're busy. I have literally so many questions for you, Mr. Hood." -krrrk-

"Now that introductions are over-Danny don't eat his smoke bombs, you're not gonna look like Dorathea-we'd like your help."

Jason squinted at them. "You understand this is all suspicious as fuck, right? And how did a pit demon find out who I am?"

-krrrk- "Yeah, we know. But lives are on the line here, and I think you'd really be a help!" -krrrk-

Brambles-Sam-sighed and pulled out a flash drive. "I was going to use this as leverage, but I guess it'll have to be useful in other ways." She tossed it to Jason, who numbly caught it. "Look over it if you want. If you don't, then just burn it. Do not try to plug it into the Batcomputer. Don't try to send it to the Batcomputer, either. A virus will target that specific IP address as soon as it makes contact. Any other computer is fine."

"Look it over, and we can go from there," Danny added, spinning in midair while chomping on one of Jason's knives. (His good one, too!) "And I'm not a pit demon, but I am dead. That's how I knew about you. Whatever brought you back to life gave the Realms a real headache for a while. It wasn't hard to look you up in the records."

"This is so much information. Lives are on the line? And two, three kids are dealing with it? By becoming crime bosses?"

-krrrk- "Technically, Sam's the only crime boss here. And that was kind of an accident. She was supposed to create a safe foothold in Gotham in case we needed to evacuate our town. But we all got cool nicknames out of it! And you're the only adult we've told this stuff to!" -krrrk-

"I'm what?"

"The only adult." Sam's unwavering gaze seemed to pierce his soul. "There are quite literally no other adults that can help, Red Hood. None that we trust, not really. Any adult intervention needs to be planned carefully so it doesn't backfire on us. We're trusting you here, Jason. Not only are you like us, which technically puts you in danger too, but you have power and connections to support a whole town of people the government wants to eradicate."

Jason looked at the little green flash drive in his hand. He didn't want to ask. "And this...?"

"A fruit basket," Sam said simply. "Originally, it was supposed to be blackmail. But instead, this is a present to show our goodwill and faith. To show you our skills. That drive contains information on other gangs, upcoming rogue attacks, chemical breakdowns of Joker Venom and Fear Gas, unfinished antidote formulas, etc. Tucker and his team scoured the underbelly of Gotham and gathered dirt on every single prominent figurehead. Including Bruce Wayne, should you choose to use it."

"I would never-"

"But you've thought about it." Danny cut in and scratched his neck. Jason's hands shook. "It's not a bad thing. It's just the nature of the dead. Wanting to right the wrongs left over from their time with the living. Even if you walk and breathe now, that doesn't mean desire disappears."

"The point is, we need help. Even if I'm loathe to admit it." Sam rolled her eyes, and suddenly, Jason didn't see a potential supervillain in the making. He saw a teenager trying her best, shouldering the responsibility of hundreds of people, both in Gotham and her hometown. Danny looked the same, no matter how other-worldly he was. What battles were they facing? Why weren't there any adults to turn to? What kind of lives were they leading if they immediately trusted a known crime lord with their lives upon the first meeting?

"I'll think about it." Jason finally said. Danny trilled in excitement, and some tension bled out of Sam's shoulders. "If the situation is bad enough, however, I'm calling in someone else for help."

Danny shrugged. "As long as it ain't Batman! I don't think he'll appreciate us smuggling a town of liminals into his city."

Sam poked Danny's shoulder, prompting him to look at her. "Let's go, before you break his brain with more info-dumping. Bye Red Hood!"

"Uh, yeah. Goodbye!" Jason stuttered. He watched the two kids walk towards the exit door, before shimmering out of sight before they even touched the handle.

What the fuck.

[oneluckydragon]

Thinking about how these two met. Get adopted, idiot.

More human!Echo.

[ducktracy]

extremely infatuated with this story illustrated by Stephen DeStefano and have spent the past two hours just staring at it off and on, which is my cue to share it with the world. words genuinely cannot express how much i love this and how it caters to me in multiple regards. JUST LOOK AT THAT DELICIOUS INKINGGGGGGGGGG

[tootditoot]

Their office reeked of sulfur and salt. Under the floorboards, I could hear dozens of tiny legs skittering about intermittently. Dried leaves and dead twigs were scattered under the furniture, ink stains covered the book that laid on the table, and I imagine that the scented candles that had been left burning were some futile attempt to make the room feel more pleasant.

"You must forgive me, Inspector, had I known you were coming sooner, I would've..." She looked around, her eyes landed on the dried leaves on the floor and then back to me "...prepared tea".

She led me to the center of the room as she sat at the side of her desk at the other end. Beetles and cockroaches started to pop up from under the floorboards at this point. She paid no heed to them. I could've sworn those pests were forming a perimeter around her and were ready to swarm me by the snap of a finger.

"I don't suppose you came here to ask for my expertise". A scan around the room revealed walls lined with bookshelves, filled with monographs on insects, fishes, and mythical creatures. There were even a few books with her name on, Salome Barko, listed as the author.

"For the yearly census. Have you recently travelled outside the city within the past month?"

"Oh yes, recently I had just returned from my trip in the desert city of..."

Listening to her recount her travels, I started to realize what I was surrounded by. These insects infesting the place weren’t normal.

"...then a small bite killed the camel I had in no less than a minute!"

These insects are not from here. A cockroach suddenly flew and landed on my arm, I saw its mandibles slowly widening. Instinctively, I frantically shook my arm and slapped it, knocking it to the ground. I then heard hundreds of wings furiously buzzing from under the floorboards so I ran. I tripped over a dead twig in my haste, hitting the ground with a hard thud. As I scrambled to my feet, I glanced back. She was still sitting at her desk, looking at me with a blank stare.

Only after the door slammed shut behind me was I was finally able to breathe. I paused to fill my lungs with fresh air, then pulled out a checklist from inside my coat and crossed off a name.

I will be writing my resignation letter next month...

- Personnes d'Intérêt Illustrated: The Excommunicated and the Exiled., Chapter 6: "Excerpts from the Diary of Inspector Priuli", P.38

[booksandmore]

moshang as persephone and hades writes itself

[sp00ky-scary]

The designs are designing ig

There will likely be major changes made so don't judge too quickly just trust the process since it's still processing (I haven't even been able to bring myself to start on the line art for Alastor and Angel Dust, but trust me their sketches exist)

[monsterfuckermilligan]

it’s very important to me how my therapist (attachment trauma specialist) who works with a lot of adoptees and ffy is also obsessed with supernatural. and agrees that jack is not adopted, and it’s important to his storyline that he isn’t. it’s so frustrating trying to explain to people that adoption isn’t about ‘what’s in their hearts’ or some other bullshit, because adoption isn’t about love, it’s a legal process that tfw don’t partake in. they never try to to erase his lineage or require it for there to be love. jack keeps his last name! jack has a picture of kelly at his bedside! jack gets the freedom to meet his first family, including lucifer! he gets to make his decisions about that even after he argues with cas about it! he is not adopted y’all just don’t know how else to describe their relationship because of the romanticization of adoption in ‘found family’ media and the fact that most non-adopted people have no idea what adoption actually is.

[ender--slime]

thinking about how. in all the sludge of mascot horror games made just to sell merch and get big on youtube there’s one gem that’s a harrowing and horrifying story about a poor black family getting taken advantage of and exploited by a company who doesn’t even see them as human. about a little black girl who had her childhood taken away and wasn’t even allowed to be a little girl. about a black man who was likely killed by this company and then accused of “abandoning his daughter”. about a library and a neighborhood getting gentrified in the background.

and then people went and whitewashed her and said “i can draw her how i want”

[rainbowsandwhumperflies]

The Winged Servant - 2

cws: royal whump, winged whumpee, manipulation, threats of punishment, whumpee is super conditioned, female whumper, male whumpee, lmk if i missed any!

masterlist

I knocked on Her Majesty’s door and entered as soon as I heard “Come in,” careful not to let any of her food get out of place while I held the tray in one hand. Most of it wasn’t difficult, just the grapes—I’d only ever had problems with the grapes, because they were the only food item in Her Majesty’s breakfast that would roll around with any movement. Luckily, everything stayed in place as the tray passed from hand to hand as I closed the door softly behind me.

“You’re late.”

Fuck. Was I late? I hadn’t noticed, but the edges of my memory were fuzzy this morning, it was early, I-

I hadn’t bowed. That was something I was supposed to do every time I was in the presence of Her Majesty. I really was performing horribly this morning. I could fix this. I could fix this. I knew how to fix things like this. “My apologies, Your Majesty,” I told her, dropping to my knees and leaning forward. My wings were sore, but the sooner I perfected my behavior the sooner they would rest, so I pushed them forward and out until I could freeze in the picturesque bow that Her Majesty liked me to be in.

“Don’t mumble to me.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty,” I repeated, enunciating this time. She was right; it was disrespectful not to speak as clearly as possible to her. “I was awoken earlier than I’m used to, but I shouldn’t have taken so long to get here. It won’t happen again.”

“Christ, Onyx, now you’re trying to pin the blame of your incompetence on waking up early? That’s a pathetic excuse, and besides, you’re my servant. You’re supposed to be able to do the things I need you to. Do I need to remind you of that?”

I would not shake. I would not shake, it made me look pathetic and it would make her breakfast move around on the tray. She hated when it did that, and I didn’t think I could stand her being mad at me for another thing right now, no matter how deserved.

“I have places to be,” she told me as she pulled the tray of food out of my hands, and I released the breath I’d been holding. “Do not think that you’re off the hook for this morning, but I don’t have time for this right now. We'll revisit this tonight. Understand?”

I nodded, standing back up. Maybe if I did everything else right today I could get back in her good graces. I’d still have to be punished for being late, of course—that was deserved and I needed it to become better—but I still did hate it when Her Majesty was angry with me.

At least I managed to keep my mouth shut and keep myself from digging myself into deeper holes throughout the rest of the morning. My only job right now was to dress Her Majesty in the red dress that was currently laid on the bed. I breathed shallowly as I laced up the back, trying to keep my stomach from rumbling simply from the smell of her toast as she ate it. She didn’t usually finish the toast, and her scraps were mine as long as no one else walked in, but not if I couldn’t just be good for the rest of the morning.

“I have an important meeting today,” Her Majesty told me as I clasped her necklace from behind her. “You are not to interrupt under any circumstances, unless I call you. My career depends on this. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

She sighed again, turning around to face me. “You’re much more trouble than you’re worth, you know. You’re lucky I take care of you like this, especially on days like today where you barely have to do anything. Just your regular cleaning and cooking.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, I am lucky, I am very grateful, thank you.”

The ghost of a smile played out across her lips. “Good. You should be. Now start cleaning my room, and don’t leave my bed sheets all wrinkly like last time." She swept out of the room, and I was left alone again.

She’d left half of a piece of toast on the breakfast tray, along with almost all of her grapes. Our strawberry jam was running out, but the sugary-sweet taste alone made me practically melt into the floor while I ate the toast.

Her Majesty the queen was fully within her rights to eat every scrap of her breakfast, or to not finish it but not give the scraps to me. That would be fine of her, and I would still be grateful for everything she did for me. I understood that my place as a servant was permanently below her.

God, though. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for a steady supply of the strawberry jam.

taglist: @kaleidoscope-of-thoughts (lmk if you'd like to be added/removed)

[batsplat]

In 1996 Vale raced a rotary-valve 125cc two-stroke that weighed 70kg and was good for 140mph/225kph. In the year he reached his retirement age he raced a 1,000cc four-stroke that weighed nearly 160kg and nudged 220mph/350kph. It is inevitable that such motorcycles need to be ridden in different ways. The essential difference between racing a low-powered bike and a high-powered bike is the speed the rider uses through corners. The best way to achieve fast lap times on a lightweight bike with relatively little horsepower - like a 125 or 250 - is to use as much corner speed as possible, by taking flowing lines through the turns. On the other hand, a 500 or a MotoGP bike has a lot of horsepower (too much, in fact!), which if used correctly has a huge effect on lap times. Therefore Vale had to change the way he attacked corners when he graduated to the premier class in 2000. After his first few races on a 500 he understood that the secret to a fast lap time on a big bike was to focus on corner exit, so he could unleash the engine's power as soon as possible. This required sacrificing corner speed, the gain in acceleration in corner exit more than compensating for the loss of time in the middle of the corner. "You need to go slow mid-corner, then lift up the bike really quickly and give gas when you are on the fatter part of the rear tyre," he said. "If you don't get it right, you're either slow or you crash." The first man to set him right was rival Sete Gibernau. Vale had a lot of crashes during the winter of 1999/2000, because he was trying to ride the bike like it was a 250, using flowing cornering lines on the edge of the tyre. Gibernau told him what to do, but like any keen young racer, Vale ignored the advice and kept falling off. Gibernau was correct, however. The 500 had double the power of a 250 - about 180 horsepower - and a two-stroke engine delivers power and torque in an aggressive and unpredictable way, so it's asking for trouble to swoop through corners on the edge of the tyres and then open the throttle.

Mat Oxley’s Valentino Rossi: All His Races

At the time, I was falling a lot. And for many different reasons. Part of it had to do with my style in 250. In 250cc you can go into a turn bent right over and you can even open the throttle all the way on the turn, accelerating as you go through it. OK, it's not the easiest thing to do but it was possible and many of us had mastered it. You can forget about doing things like that on a 500cc. One of the problems with the 500 is that, at first, you feel totally confident. That's what happened to me. I felt very sure of myself, I pushed ahead, keeping my 250cc style. And, as a result, I kept falling off. It happened in my second test, at Phillip Island. And it was a very bad fall. Gibernau had come up to me before the test and actually warned me: "Look, you bend the bike too much, treat it as if it was a 250cc. You can't do that. You should use your body more rather than bending the bike." "Gee, thanks, yeah, I'll do that..." I replied, not really taking him too seriously. I asked myself, "Who is this Gibernau who thinks he can tell me how to race?" Of course, I paid no attention to him. And that was a big mistake. Two hours later I had a terrible spill. I was going very fast and, all of a sudden, I felt the rear tyre lift itself off the track and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air. It was an incredible flight. When I finally landed it was with the kind of thud I'm sure to remember for a very long time.

Valentino Rossi in his 2005 autobiography, What if I had never tried it

[tsui-no-sora]

In the midst of all of this I want to say thank you to Shelby for speaking about her abusive situation, because you really don't think it is abuse until you are no longer being abused.

It's not even immeadete it takes a long time, and then you feel silly for trying to be their friend at all.

And more so, when it's odd stuff like that, things that you usually don't think about, like 'biting' as abusive, or about spending a lot of money as abusive, or living in filth, or being constantly lied to, and made to believe like you were the 'crazy person' in that situation.

But it is abusive, and it is dangerous, and you shouldn't be treated that way. Being resented by your partner, and purposefully injured by them, it's terrible mistreament that nobody deserves.

You don't realize how bad it is until you see it happening to somebody else, and you think, of course nobody deserves to be harmed by the person they love, of course I didn't deserve to be harmed either.

So I want to thank Shelby for being so brave, and bringing visibility to these different ways of abuse, as she said, abuse doesn't just look like punching or hitting somebody, even if it isn't 'dramatically' violent it is still abuse.

And her being brave has made people like me feel seen, and I think it will help many other people in similar situations recgonize that they are being mistreated, and that they deserve to be helped too.

Shelby is an inspiration to me now, for being able to make good in the world even after being harmed like that.

I am so happy she's got so many cool friends in her corner. She is so cool

[always-a-joyful-note]

*shakes the ainana timeline like a maraca* Zero disappeared 15 years ago. That means Mitsuki was like 6 years old. Why are 3year old Iori and 7 year old Mitsuki writing him a letter l, I'm BEGGING YOU WRITERS -

[match-your-steps]

two things about the don't let me let go music video:

lol this guy (dillon francis, I presume) looks lo uncomfortable with being on camera. it would be comical on its own but compared to who I am assuming is evan giia, with the confidence of a thousand suns, it's especially silly. giving middle schooler tbh. it's literally so comical that I think it's intentional.

why are the dancers in tennis outfits??? what

[captainshyguy]

[looks up the story for the scvi dlc] oh. now im VERY glad i didnt get it. why would u defang the main story like that. kills u.

[murdermost-foul]

series three makes me so frustrated like yes i want to see the doctor commit atrocities because i think that's extremely interesting to explore in his character especially after the continuous theme of love for humanity nine and early ten had shown (when they were with rose) and i've been hyped about it since the christmas special (i think sometimes you need somebody to stop you) and the ending of the family of blood was so so good in showing how scary and uncontrollable the doctor can be. yes the martha storyline is shit.