#danny identifies as a fucking problem

[slashthrashandcrash]

Ghostface calling Frank or someone a fag

Amanda: Danny you can't reclaim that

Danny: I'm not reclaiming it, I'm using it as a slur

"Wait, what are your pronouns? I wanna make sure I misgender you correctly."

[jaxon-exe]

Dp x dc prompt

So this starts with Danny becoming the ghost king on his 18th birthday and almost immediately every power-hungry ghost in existence starts proposing to him. At first he just ignores it but after the 10th time someone tries to kidnap him to marry him Greek god style, he’s fucking sick of it and goes to Clockwork for help.

He’s not much help. The only way for other people to stop trying to marry him is if he’s already married. What’s more, because he’s the king of the infinite realms, it has to be someone that’s considered a citizen of the Infinite Realms. (Like he can marry someone that’s still alive but they wouldn’t count and people will just keep trying to marry him) CW also warns him that people will try and kill anyone he marries if they can so a living person isn’t really ideal. The only bit of real helpfulness he does provide is a list of non-evil non-power-hungry citizens so he can have an easier time finding someone.

So Danny takes the list and starts crossing of names (like Johnny, even tho the guy won’t abuse the power of being the ghost princess, kitty would kill Danny for good this time) when he comes across the perfect candidate.

Jason Todd (Robin/Red Hood)

He’s been to Gotham before, knows the Robins all do good work and knows the Red Hood is already a good and fair ruler of his criminal underground. Plus the guy could definitely fight off any ghost trying to kill him even without the power boost and some helpful weapons Danny would give him if he agrees. Plus he has the perfect bargaining chip to get the guy to help by offering to fix the corrupted ectoplasm in him (not that he wasn’t gonna do that anyway when he had the time to but Hood didn’t need to know that)

So Danny hops over to Gotham and after quickly getting permission from Lady Gotham (she’s very protective of her Knights) heads over to crime ally and pitches the idea to Red Hood.

Which basically goes like-

Danny: so I give u, the title of prince, access to the Infinite Realms whenever u wish, a sweet private wing in my castle, any of the op ghost weapons in the castles armoury and a fix for ur rage problems and u marry me so I stop getting people trying to propose to me in increasingly more annoying ways :)

Jason, a literature geek with a secret desire to be the protagonist in a shitty YA romance: u had me at Prince

So the two of then jump over to the Infinite Realms to get married thinking it’ll take 30 minutes top only to learn that CW left out that a Royal wedding has to take at minimum a week otherwise no one will consider the Marriage valid. So the two, not backing out at this point, join in on the week of parties and celebrations without putting much more thought into it.

Meanwhile back in Gotham, after not having Red Hood check in after his patrol, Oracle searches CCTV and finds Jason having a conversation with a figure that is glitching out the camera to much to identify them, then the figure seemingly grabs Jason and drags him into a portal and the two of them disappear.

So obviously the Batfam comes to the conclusion that Jason was kidnapped by some sort of magical being and calls in John. He identify the magic as that of the ghost king’s and has been hearing that the king had been looking for a bride so comes to the conclusion that Jason has been kidnapped Persephone style to be be married and is under the (wrong) conclusion that it will mean Jason can’t leave the realm of the death after.

And so the Batfam + Constantine start planing to crash a wedding.

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

DPxDC. Talon Dick. Part 2 of Danny Fenton is a new master of The Court of Owls

~Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you~

Danny was terrified when he got the body of Talon in his morgue. The Court of Owls was notorious for leaving no trace after work. But Talon, a young man only a few years older than him, did not look like a mindless killing machine at all. Of course, the first time he had a couple of stab wounds from his new acquaintance but after numerous assurances that his help would remain their little secret and that he would not inform his superiors that he had fucked up on the mission, Talon began to trust him a little. as one dead boy to another. In a few months, most of the Talons come to him for first aid, and of course he got attached to the guys. After all, Gotham is not Amity Park and without the other dead ones around Phantom felt a little lonely. It was nice to give these poor people a few quiet minutes. Danny’s assistant has warned him many times not to mess with the Court of Owls, but Danny are Phantom and from the first time he met one of them he was planning to lose his temper and beat the boys' bosses to free them.

Fenton was not prepared to lead the Court of Owls. Even if Danny got his education as a villain he never thought he’d work according to his profession. But leave a whole den? nest? of creatures turned into weapons he could not. Of course, the best choice after defeating the leaders of the Court would be to destroy the entire organization. But Danny couldn’t do that.

Talons were killers, means of intimidation, even if not of their own volition. They will be killed (again) or sent to prison for the rest of their lives. Talons needed safety and a good therapist, not all of this. Danny’s scared, and he doesn’t know how to take care of them, but the others won’t do it. People are afraid of everything different. They won’t care that these dead are just victims, they’ll only see monsters. He could be half-human, but now he has to think like a full ghost. Talons are dead like him. And they have been dehumanized, tortured, used. People can be cruel. To do the right thing, he has to protect them.

It was difficult for Danny to identify likes and dislikes of his new friends because they always had the same facial expression and were taught that they had no feelings. Bullshit. Danny’s parents also think ghosts have no emotions, but they just have wrong theories and do not manipulate them to make ghosts think the same. Well, maybe it’s because they don’t think ghosts can think at all, but still! So, Danny know that number three loves strawberry jam, and number five always steals some of his cereal, and number 11 always gets closer to the music column to enjoy the sound. And he also know that the Talons weren’t fully fed in their organization because they definitely have problems with their digestive system, and he is going to fix it. Vlad said that he had trouble taking human food for only a few months after the portal accident, and some of the Talons were dead for years and still use injecting nutrient solutions. When a Dead Man can’t have a couple of spoons of treats, well, that’s a crime.

He needs to find a way to consult with Frostbite and conduct a full-fledged health diagnostics for his 'minions'. And he needs to settle the paperwork so guys have a legitimate reason to live in the Infinite Realms.

~~~~~ Danny: Hey Jazz, I’m in trouble. When can you come to Gotham? This time I don’t mind hearing a little advice.

~~~~~

Even though Dr Fenton smelled like death and blood all the time, the smell was different. And this difference was enough that something dead inside them swore allegiance to this Owl at their will. Not that they had it, of course. Weapons don’t have free will. But at least pretending to be able to choose is nice.

The new Master was weird, but in a good way. Not that this Talon know more about what is good than any other Talon. Ah, Di- Talon had a headache. Anyway, serving him is right. They all feel it..And feelings matter!! Well, they are not supposed to have them too but… looks like the young owl didn’t mind.

Master was not angry at how Talon № 4 frowned when the master had to pull a bullet out of his shoulder, and he missed Talon's sweet laughter when it saw the battle of Signal and Spice King on TV. The only times he raised his voice to them were when they were trying to threaten people near the master. Looks like this owl wanted to instill fear on his own. Strange. Usually there was always an enemy of the court who had to be hunted down and destroyed.

~~~~~

Danny: See, when you kill people, you do not make it easy for me. First, I will need to examine the bodies and write the report of their death. Second, if their souls remain restless, they will become my problem again. No more trying to get the cashier to have a heart attack. He said they ran out of the product I needed, not that he’s cursing my family for the next millennium. No one wants to see any more angry ghosts in Gotham. Me after a 24-hour shift is enough, okay?

Talons were alarmed. So far the master had shown no signs that he might want to completely break one of the weapons. But what if this owl is planning on punishing them for all their mistakes at once when he’s really angry?

Talon is not supposed to show initiative or empathy. But Talon 12, who suffered an injury in the course of a mission with old owls, has not yet recovered. They inadvertently hid it when the leadership changed. 12 has not yet met Doctor Fenton, and they do not know whether the privileges of medical care are retained now when they belong to him. So far, the Master has been rather careless about their movements and a few of them have slipped away for a while to check on a fellow. They didn’t lie if they weren’t asked about another weapon, right? They shouldn’t be punished too severely when the Owl finds out. Talons were hoping that Doctor Fenton, who was not in a hurry to look at the document of the court, would allow them not to write off the damaged thing. № 12 was an old and experienced weapon and could train beginners even if it has only one hand now.

Well, that was the plan. Talons allowed themselves to become too careless. Terrible mistake. Even the Owl that is usually nice to them remains dangerous. They need to find a way to satisfy their young master. Young Owls always have anger issues, not that Talons can judge.

The youngest Talon shared information that he sometimes had flashbacks of a working red bird who always had a murderous expression until he got to the coffee pot fluid. And it's non-Talon past was never afraid of this bird. The chick could always be calmed with this dark liquid. Coffee is something that will return the master to the favorable mood!

Talons rejoiced at this remarkable discovery and decided to send one of them on a mission as soon as possible to get rid of the potential danger.

~~~~

Danny: Thanks for the coffee, man. Hey, you also took another drink, judging by the dollars in the check. I'm so proud of you! How it was? Good?

Talon thought for a second and nodded. Yes, it was good. He didn’t drink the drink himself but when a coffee shop employee wrote down his order with a trembling hand, a boy appeared in the door.

This boy, now almost a young man, he was from his memories. Another coffee was automatically added to the order.

On his way out, Talon walked up to the sleeping chick and gave a cup to him. Even without opening his eyes, the bat’s cub sniffed and sucked the drink. Dick chirped with delight and patted boy's head, ignoring the frozen people.

That's a true magic drink which is commanding the minds of the powerful of this world. Yes, it will help them for sure!

~~~~

Danny: See, Jazz, Dick’s making progress! He went to the coffee shop today. That’s great, isn’t it?

Jazz: First, don’t call him that, we’re still not sure that’s his name and not the way Owls used to insult him.

Danny: Hey, the fact that he hissed when you called him Richard proves nothing. I don’t like being called Daniel either, or, over my dead body, Dan. I have to call him something. They’re all Talons. What are your suggestions? Jazz: We’ll talk about this later. Now back to the coffee question. Danny, did you forget anything when you let Talon go for a walk? Danny: Which one? Jazz: Don’t play dumb! Did you open the news headlines today or not? This is serious! Danny: What? Shit...civilian clothes. I didn’t think he’d wear a combat suit for it. Jazz: Didn’t you give them outfits for everyday use? Danny: Yeah, I did! But they still wear their Halloween outfits. All the time. Look, it’s not my fault they take everything I say as an order. When I asked them to make the tea and our teapot broke, they broke into some guy’s house and stole it. Jazz: Which guy? Did you at least apologize? Danny: One of Hood’s goons. I’m pretty sure he’s already met Dick on patrol, 'cause the first thing he did called Jason and start crying about being followed. Lucky for him Red was at my house that night and went to calm goon down. But I swear to you, Dick was a little shit on purpose. Of all the apartments choose his? Nah, such coincidences do not exist.

Jazz: I could be happy that he’s getting more independent in his decision making but now I feel like I have to offer the poor guy a discount therapy course.

Damian: Drake, we need to talk. I know about your investigation. You suspect one of the Talons is our missing Grayson. I’m willing to provide some evidence in exchange for… Tim: I don’t suspect, I know that. Damian: What? Where from? Tim: Well, the quadruple somersault was a good hint. And the fact that the Red Hood ran from him through the streets screaming that he wouldn’t take lunch from a damn golden child is also a tip. Damian:...Not a word to my father until we know more, right? I don’t want my older brother thrown in Arkham. Tim: Agree. It’s not like he doesn’t have a memory problem. He wouldn’t have made Alfred worried if leaving was his choice. We need more information.

Meanwhile in Gotham, Alfred aka the only one batfam member with more than one functioning brain cell *on his way to his first grandson and future husband of his sweet angel Jason*.

Danny: Jazz, we need to clean this house right now. Jazz: Since when do you start spring cleaning? Danny: I don’t know how to explain, it’s not a ghost sense, it’s more an unexplained sense of danger. Where’s the vacuum cleaner?

~~~~~

Talon №5 stood in the knitting shop in thought. What color would the little mistress prefer? It should remain useful even if the Owl does not give them direct orders. Knitting a cute sweater for mistress Dani would be a good start. Yeah, that color’s gonna be perfect. And maybe it should stop holding those needles like a weapon, it makes the cashier nervous, and he wants to pay without saving a civilian from losing consciousness.

~~~~~

Danny became a little alarmed when Talon threw himself at the old man standing on the porch. To his surprise, the Briton readily embraced the bird, and Dick let him. Talons who stood behind Danny happily chirped. Making their youngest member happy things always meant something good.

Alfred: Gentlemen, good afternoon. I guess I should thank you all for taking care of my dear grandson. Would you let me come in for a cup of tea?

[starry-bi-sky]

i have... ✨Danyal Al Ghul Headcanons✨ but specifically for my yaelokre danyal oneshot

There's also the tumblr post here but I recommend the link in the title because its the ao3 version, and that one is edited and has some stuff in it that's not in the tumblr post, and will be the version I'm using.

So for summary: this Danyal is also from a Demon Siblings Au where Danny is five years older than Damian. However, things turned out a bit differently, and Danny and Damian had a fantastic relationship with one another. Danny loved music and regularly came up with songs to sing to Damian with. Specifically the folk band Yaelokre's EP "Hayfields" (seriously go fucking listen to it its sooo good. Harpy Hare is the second song but its my favorite. Special shoutout to @gascansposts for introducing the band to me)

He falls off a train when he's twelve and Damian is seven while the two of them and Talia are on mission. He ends up with magically induced amnesia and wakes up in Arkansas while the Fentons are on their yearly Divorce-iversary visit to Aunt Alica, and since he can only remember his name, he ends up being taken into their care.

---------------

Yaelokre Danny has the same facial scar as Things in Threes Danyal, since he was initially another version of him where things turned out better. I'm debating on whether or not I should take it away however, and give him a different scar (maybe from when he fell off the train?), just because the scar is a pretty key identifier for Ti3 Danyal.

-----------------

Danny frequently visits Aunt Alicia in Arkansas! Well, only after he gets settled in and stuff. He doesn't really like the city that much and prefers the countryside where Alicia lives. I know she lives in a cabin but I'm changing it to a farm, so she puts Danny to work and gets him to help her.

I don't want to confine his hobbies to only being star stuff, because people tend to have more than one hobby and I feel like it reduces him to one-dimensionality, so he likes to garden, and learns guitar. His room becomes filled with plants, and he turns their roof into a rooftop greenhouse right below to OPS Center.

He has a complex relationship with the weapons from his past, but he's not... like... appalled by it? When he finds his weapons in the Fenton attic all he thinks is that they're his weapons, and he starts carrying a knife on him afterwards. Essentially he becomes fascinated with weaponry because its one of the few physical ties he has to his past, and while he's not training like he is in the League, he allows his strong muscle memory to guide him through his katas.

Danny likes climbing things. This causes Problems For Everyone Else.

----------------

Danny was not the "kinder Al Ghul" in the League. His kindness extended to his brother and family, and that's it. To everyone else he had high expectations out of them, and the pride you'd expect from the grandson of Ra's Al Ghul and trained by its top members. While he wasn't like, unnecessarily cruel or anything, he wasn't merciful either.

This transfers post-train fall as him coming off as no-nonsense and unforgiving. He's not fond of the idea of giving people second chances, and is skeptical of the idea. He's disgusted by incompetency and views it as an unforgivable offense, especially if he thinks that the person should know better, although he's not sure why. Some egocentrism for the soul.

He doesn't like being touched by anyone who isn't family, and gets irritated when anyone grabs him or holds onto him for extended amounts of time. Dash has gotten hit so many times. With Jack Fenton's tendency for abrupt physical affection, it doesn't make it any better. I'd argue it'd make it worse because Danny doesn't want to be touched more often than not.

------------------

Danyal had a red scarf in the League that he wore on his last mission, it came off before he fell off and caught itself on the roof. Damian still has it and took it with him to Wayne Manor. He's got it locked in his room and takes it out when he's alone and missing Danny the most. One time he forgot to put it away before leaving his room, and Dick was visiting the manor for something and found it. Damian found him holding it and freaked out.

Dick could only say "I've never seen you wear this, Damian, this is really pretty--" before Damian shoved him to the floor and stole it out of his hands, before screaming at him; "Don't touch this! You don't ever touch this! This is mine! You hear me!?"

It caused such a commotion that the rest of the family present came to see what the fuss was about, and Damian kicked them all out of his room. Dick is the one brother Damian's the closest with, so the fact he reacted so strongly shocked them all.

This is likely what leads to the "Danyal" conversation.

[reindeerswillsavethisworld]

Corpse au case fic where the trio decided to try cracking a murder mystery, except instead of angst it's a comedy of errors where they make everything worse.

Like. Danny comes out of a portal dead and translucent and glowing, and there's charred remains of a human body on the floor. So now all three of them are freaking out, and instead of asking for help, or finding an adult, or telling literally ANYONE, they decide to just. Get rid of the body. As one does.

So that's what they do: they break out Tucker's nice shovels (because god forbid Sam's family owned something as pheasant as a shovel, and Danny's too afraid of touching their family's Patented Fenton ShovelsTM for... reasons), they find a nice desolate clearing in the woods, and then they bury Danny's body like one would a very unfortunate hamster who met their demise too soon under very suspicious circumstances. They even stay at the new "grave" in silence for a minute or five in respect and DEFINITELY nothing else, you know. And so, they bury the body, and then they (try to) forget the experience as some horrific nightmare.

And then, a year later, there's an uproar: the Amity Park's police department found the child's remains in the woods! And you see, Amity Park is not THAT big of a town, and the police estimated that the body belonged to a 14-15 year old child, and, look, there's only so many schools in a small town, alright. Obviously, the rumours start very soon in Casper High: about how the kid could've gone to their school, about how they could've died, about whether or not anybody was missing them, about their identity, and some definitely-truthworthy-would-I-lie-to-you-bro-come-on sources insist that the kid was murdered around a year ago, around the time ghosts started showing up. And these rumours obviously reach the ears of Sam, Danny and Tucker.

Now, you would've thought that their first thought would be something like "oh no, they found Danny's body", or "oh no, they know", or even simply "we're sooo fucked". Except. You see, the night they buried the body? It was really cloudy. And dark. And, y'know, it's very easy to get lost in a forest. And they were too high-strung, you see, they completely forgot to leave some sort of a marker or anything. And also like, it was so long ago, you know? A lot have happened, they were sooo busy and the likes, you can't really blame them for forgetting some things.

And here's lies the problem: all three of them just fucking forgot that there was a body left to bury at all.

And then it gets out that the police can't even conduct any sort of DNA test because it became corrupted to the point of being absolutely unrecognisable due to exposure to a large amount of ecto-energy.

It's now looks like a bad set up for a joke: an identifiable body of a child, cause of death unknown; the probable involvement of ghosts or at the very least a very large quantity of ecto-energy; a probable murderer on the loose, which naturally breeds suspicion and speculation; a town full of all kinds of rumours; and a trio of absolute dumbasses, who after hearing that ghosts were involved immediately went to stick their noses where they don't belong.

Rejoice, Amity Park! Sam, Danny and Tucker are now on the case! Except they are all teenagers, and nobody in their right mind will allow teenagers to solve a murder case. Plus, them poking around would be highly suspicious, but Phantom, on the other hand?

(people seeing Phantom helping solve this case and coming to the conclusion that the ghosts were definitely involved was not on their bingo card, but oh well)

They don't go to the cops, obviously: Danny at least in part because he's worried they will call GIW on his ass or try to arrest him, and Sam and Tucker simply because fuck the cops (one because the police is involved in a militaristic, capitalistic corrupted system that breeds injustice and furthers the divide between average people and the wealthy, and the other because cops suck and will probably call GIW on his friend's ass). They also can't go to any other authorities: cops are out of the question, as is the mayor; laboratory personnel will most likely just throw them out; and there're no witnesses or known relatives, so they're stuck.

Therefore they decide that desperate times need desperate measures, and so they enlist all of their ghost allies on a quest, hoping to find the ghost of the kid. Considering the amount of ecto-energy they were subjected to, they MUST have formed a ghost, they only need to find them.

Except. The Ghost Zone is a big place, and they only have so many allies, even if some of them are a queen and a god. So Danny bites the bullet and does the most stupid (debatable) thing he has ever done: he goes to his enemies for help. They're surprisingly understanding and willing to help, even if some of their reasons are a little... strange (Skulker and Johnny entered some sort of competition on who finds the ghost first, Box Ghost starts to seek out coffins (??) and Youngblood is not above to start torturing people to finally have a friend that is not either an adult or a complete stick in the mud). And even then they still can't find the ghost.

In the end Danny goes to Clockwork in a desperate hope that he will be able to glimpse at least a little of what had transpired on the night of the murder, and to Danny's annoyance Clockwork laughs so hard he almost pops a ghost equivalent of a blood vessel.

A few weeks down the line Sam hesitantly brings up Danny's buried corpse ("MY WHAT" "Your corpse which we buried in the woods, Danny, don't you remember?" "Yeah, bro, I think you dissociated the whole time we were digging the hole and carrying your dead body" "WE DID WHAT-"), reasonably saying that, you know, they ALSO technically buried a body in the woods. On that Tucker just shrugs because obviously it was not Danny's body, the place of the burial was way off, he remembers that there was a really big stone to the left of the grave (he doesn't and there wasn't), so they are in the clear. During that exchange Danny's sitting on the floor and having a panic attack, because he really did dissociate the whole time and afterwards legitimately forgot that there was a body to bury at all.

After that conversation all three of them leave with a certainty that Danny's body is still there where they left it, whenever it was. And so the shenanigans continue.

[allwormdiet]

Arc 1: Gestation, Concluding Thoughts

Two days in the life of Taylor Hebert, with a bonus one night in the life of Danny Hebert. Let's break it down.

Right now, initial feelings are really positive. I like this arc, I get why people are in on this in such a hardcore fashion, like it's making sense to me as I'm reading it. The characterization is really strong, the A to B plot is cool, and the first fight scene was a fucking banger to open up with.

And like, shit, I get why Taylor is throwing herself into cape life, right? Civilian life is already such fucking misery for her, utterly alone and the only person who's theoretically in her corner is sympathetic but just as helpless as she is. Yeah sure, mortal peril, but if she had nothing to do I feel like the bullying would've killed her eventually. Death versus Lung is at least marginally more noble than death by Emma. And isn't that fucking bleak.

Looking ahead a little bit towards Arc 2 and I'm immensely curious how long it'll take Taylor to do cape stuff again. I feel like I'd need a solid month to process the whole "near death experience" thing and then spend time sweating over whether I even put the mask on ever again. Meanwhile I wouldn't be surprised if Taylor went back out in like a week, because she's a hardcore maniac.

It's also very interesting looking at this and considering the exact sequence of events that went through these chapters. If the bullies didn't wreck Taylor's notebook, or if Taylor took a different message away from its destruction, there might be one or more dead Undersiders right now, and to a lesser extent Armsmaster wouldn't both get credit for a major capture and also owe this rookie hero a favor. Both of those things are going to matter a lot, and it's, I dunno, some people would call that contrived but real life is so full of weird coincidence and happenstance I can buy this no problem.

...Honestly now I get why so many AUs that diverge before this point still include the Lung fight and the Undersiders and Armsmaster meetings, like yeah at that point it's contrivance but I'm not going to sweat an author too hard because they don't want to figure out how fucking dramatic the butterfly effect (hah, butterfly) would be on the rest of the story. Like yeah it's contrived, but that's a lot of work they'd have to do otherwise.

That aside, I'm gonna get back on topic and meditate on my current gripes. 1.3 was a legitimate low point in this arc with the description of the Docks and its residents and their circumstances, and the total clusterfuck of the Azn Bad Boys, which. By the by this is the last time I'm going to say the full name of that gang, ABB is shorter and is less embarrassing for everybody involved. Wall-to-wall racism, classism, and an utter lack of sympathy for the lesser-thans. Like we're talking about crack whores in the year of our lord 2011, or, they were written about in 2011 and I'm hollering about it on the internet in 2024. When this kind of thing comes back up (when, not if, I'm not that optimistic) I just hope I can work around it, like eating everything but the bruise on an apple.

To close this out, I'm thinking about the people in Taylor's life. Emma, a former friend turned bully, and her cronies Madison and Sophia. Pretty shallow characterization at this point, just that they're cruel to the point of hospitalizing their victim. Danny Hebert is supportive, but has all the strength of a sponge when it comes to holding up against the pressures that weigh on Taylor, and he knows it but he's not doing anything differently. The Undersiders, criminals who mistake Taylor for a criminal, but identify her correctly as a comrade and potential friend, who realize she was fighting for them and went to fight for her. Armsmaster, who offers her very genuine and very sought-after praise as an authority figure, and then leans on that authority to get what he wants out of a freshly traumatized and exhausted teenager.

Is it any wonder that Taylor takes the path that she does? Would anyone have it in them to be surprised if they could see all of this from a bird's eye view?

I wonder if Armsmaster ever thinks back about this night, lying awake in bed. If he ever wonders what he could or should have done differently, or if he couldn't have done anything to divert course.

I was talking to my girlfriend about something related to this the other night, actually. If it's worse in a tragedy for there to have been a chance to avert it all, or if it's worse for the end to be inevitable. Looking at Taylor, looking at Brockton Bay, looking at Earth Bet? I dunno. If someone had acted early, with knowledge and intention sufficient to actually provide aid, maybe it would've been enough, but hell. Maybe not. I don’t know which possibility is more damning.

...I get melancholy when it's late, but I don't think it'd be right to delete all that; it's how I'm feeling about the novel, and that's what this blog is for, so even if it's a bit dramatic it'd be self-defeating to pretend I didn't say it.

Arc 2... probably starts tomorrow, assuming nothing comes up. Glad to say I'm looking forward to it.

[iam93percentstardust]

@imperialstark had these tags yesterday on a post and, well, gestures vaguely

you can also find this on ao3 here

~

1. You are…

They’re young and seventeen and they hate each other. They’ve hated each other since the day Steve came home two years ago to find out that his aunt’s unexpected visit upstate had resulted in her coming home with a dark-haired, sad-eyed boy only a year younger than Steve himself. And perhaps Aunt Peggy had been thinking that Steve’s chronic inability to ignore someone who needed to be taken under his wing would take care of that relationship in a heartbeat, but what she’d forgotten is that Steve doesn’t have a lot of people he calls his who have stuck around. The prospect of having to share his aunt, who’d taken him in after his ma had passed, had been less than appealing to say the least.

The problem had been that Tony hadn’t had a lot of people to call his either, and he’d been just as possessive over his godmother.

The bigger problem is that two years later, Tony is gorgeous and fiery feels really fucking incredible writhing against him when Steve pins him to the closest horizontal (or vertical, he’s not picky) surface.

“Fuck, you’re so annoying,” Steve moans, free hand scrabbling at the box of tissues on the dresser next to them. Aunt Peggy will kill them if they come in their tuxes. They’re supposed to be standing up there with her, the two bridesmen to Uncle Danny’s Daisy and Jemma. They can’t go up there looking like they’ve just had sex, even though they have. It’s bad enough that they’re going to be rumpled, that Tony’s bowtie is hanging loosely from his neck and will almost definitely have to be tied by someone who isn’t Steve because he’ll be too tempted to use it to strangle him. If they show up with stained pants, there won’t even be pieces of them to identify the bodies.

“I’m annoying?” Tony hisses, rolling his body in one long, sinuous line. It brings his cock right into alignment with Steve’s and makes them both moan. “You’re the one coming in here talking about starting over on the right foot or whatever like you think I don’t know you’re the one who put itching powder in my briefs for today.”

Steve blinks, hand freezing between their bodies. Itching powder? He doesn’t know about any—

“Wait, then what are you wearing under there?”

“That’s your question? Not ‘I’m sorry for trying to prank you on our aunt’s fucking wedding day’?”

“I’m not sorry,” Steve mutters, and that isn’t what he meant to say at all. He meant to say that it was almost definitely Bucky’s fault and Clint’s idea and that he hadn’t known they were planning to do something like that, but he’s a little too distracted by finding out what Tony’s wearing under his tux pants, which is—

Blue lace.

He lets out a strangled sound at the sight of Tony’s pretty cock wrapped in ice blue lace. He hadn’t even known that they made lingerie like that for men. Had Nat told him about them? It looks like something she might have worn back when they were dating (back before she realized his hate affair with Tony was always going to trump his love affair with her—high school romances may come and go but high school rivalries are forever).

Before he can think about it, he’s letting go of Tony’s hands so he can shove the lace down under Tony’s balls with one hand and frantically pull his own cock out of his pants with the other. He shoves against Tony once, twice, Tony’s hands scrambling at his shoulders as he’s pushed up onto his tiptoes. He hadn’t known it would be so hot, seeing Tony in lingerie, and now he hopes that Tony always wears them, that Steve always gets to know about that private little thing that’s just for him, that Tony’s his, that Tony’s his, that—

He barely gets the tissue down between them to catch his come when he spills, panting into Tony’s mouth. Tony lets out a shocked little noise of his own and comes only seconds later, cock jerking between them.

Tony’s bowtie is a little sloppy when they meet up with the other bridesmaids since Steve has never had to tie it onto someone else. And Steve’s jacket is a little wrinkled since Tony had dug furrows into it when he came. But Aunt Peggy had looked beautiful, and that’s all that matters (and if Steve couldn’t stop staring at Tony later as he laughed, twirling Aunt Peggy around the dancefloor, well... that's something for just Steve to know).

~

2. …cordially…

They’re twenty-one and standing in a small anteroom in a chapel in Vegas, three minutes after Bucky and Nat tied the knot on a whim. Tony is wearing a pretty purple dress that he’d picked up when he went with Nat to go pick out a wedding dress. Steve is in a cheap suit that nonetheless came with an actual bowtie that he’s since lost because it’s draped around Tony’s neck. They’re standing so close together that only a hand can fit between them.

Tony’s hand, to be exact.

It’s wrapped around both their cocks, stroking them off together with a little twist at the end that has Steve throwing his head back against the wall, gasping with how good it is. They’ve been doing this for four years now, and he doesn’t understand how it just keeps getting better every time.

“You’re so good,” he gasps, voice lilting up into a whine when Tony takes advantage of his bared neck and bites down on the tendon. Tony learned that was an erogenous zone for him last year, sometime right around the time they decided to let go of their hatred (though liking each other is still a long way off) and decided that friends with benefits wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“I know I’m good,” Tony purrs, but Steve hears the hitch in his breathing. Tony likes to be praised, likes to be called Steve’s good boy and told that he’s doing so well for him.

“What, you don’t want to hear you’re the best I’ve ever had?” he teases, and Tony’s hand does something that makes them both groan. The taffeta on his pushed-up dress rubs against Steve's stomach, the scratching a tantalizing contrast to Tony’s hand on his cock, slick with their combined pre-come.

Tony trails kisses up his neck to his ear, takes the lobe between his teeth, and gently tugs. Steve moans again.

“Am I the best you’ve ever had, Steve?” he breathes once he’s let go. “Better than that girl two years ago? Better than your first? Better than Brock?”

“You know you are,” Steve gasps, trying not to think about Brock. That relationship had been a bad idea in a number of ways, but one of the biggest had been that he couldn’t stop hooking up with Tony throughout it.

“Then come for me, baby. Show me how good I make you feel.”

And Steve does.

~

3. …invited to…

They’re twenty-four and hiding in the bathroom outside the newlywedded Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne’s reception. The wedding had been lovely, tasteful and exquisite just as Steve would have expected from Janet for all that he hasn’t known her long. The reception had clearly been catering to her parents, however, because all the food is tiny, the music is slow, and the bar isn’t free.

All it had taken was one smirk from Tony and a strategic loosening of his tie for Steve to follow him into the bathroom and sink to his knees to take Tony into his mouth.

They haven’t done this much recently. There’s been something stirring in Steve’s belly every time he looks at Tony that makes wanting to call him up for a night feel more awkward than it used to. He’s been avoiding thinking about it, but here, on his knees, with Tony’s cock down his throat, he can’t help but picture it: waking up next to Tony tomorrow morning, holding his hand at the movies, chasing after him at one of those obscure theme parks Tony likes to go to every year, and maybe—just maybe—one day it’ll be them at the end of the aisle.

He pulls off of Tony’s cock with a gasp, tears stinging his eyes as he thinks about it. He wants it so bad. He hadn’t even known how bad until this moment, and he can’t have it, Tony would never want it, and—

“Get dinner with me after this,” Tony exhales.

Steve looks up at him, surprised, certain that he hadn’t actually heard what he thought he had. “What?”

“Get dinner with me. Like as a date or whatever.”

So maybe he had heard it right, but—“Romantically?”

“Yes, Steve, romantically. I mean, I—” He stops and looks down at him, biting his lip. They probably look pretty ridiculous with Tony’s dick still hanging out of his pants and Steve’s mouth red and swollen, but there’s no denying the vulnerable look in Tony’s eyes and the way Steve’s heart leaps. “I’ve missed you the last few weeks. And I thought maybe you were… avoiding me for the same reason I was missing you.”

“Yes!” Steve says immediately, too excited to even think about trying to play it cool. “Yeah. I’d—I’d like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he says again. And to prove it he dives back onto Tony’s cock, burying his nose in the red silk at the base that’s poking out from his pants. He pulls out all the fancy tricks he’s learned from his years doing this with Tony (he gets to have Tony, and suddenly, he wonders if they’ve been building up to this all along), deepthroating him the way he learned how to do when he was eighteen and trying so hard to find something that Tony hadn’t already learned how to do first (he hadn’t succeeded, but he had managed to last longer than Tony had when he finally got his dick into his tight hole, so he’s always counted that as his victory).

It takes less than a minute for Tony to come and then Steve is shoving his hand in his pants and jerking himself off furiously, heedless of the mess it’ll make. If he knows Tony, they’re going to get drive-through anyway and park somewhere so they can make out in between bites.

…It sounds like the best first date ever.

~

4. …the wedding…

They’re twenty-seven and leaning up against the door to their hotel room a few floors above Pepper and Happy’s reception. Steve can’t help thinking of another reception a few years ago, but that time, he had been the one on his knees, not Tony. Tony’s tie is wrapped around Steve’s wrist, and Steve’s is hanging out of Tony’s pocket, having been exchanged sometime before the speeches.

“I love you,” he says fervently, hands tangled in Tony’s hair as he jerks him up and down his cock. “You’re so beautiful for me, so perfect. All mine, I love you so much.”

Tony whines in that way that means he’s just come, untouched, just from sucking Steve’s cock and hearing his praise. Steve groans and holds Tony’s head still so he can thrust instead, slamming his cock down his throat. Odds are high Tony won’t even be able to talk tomorrow, and if he does, it’ll be in that raspy voice that all their friends know means Steve fucked him good.

“Goddamn, sweetheart, never known anyone as good as you. I love you, I love you, I love you!”

He comes down Tony’s throat, barely remembering to let go so Tony can jerk his head back when it gets to be too much. Come drips onto the carpet, and Steve reminds himself that he’ll need to grab a washcloth later—it wouldn’t be right making the cleaning crew take care of it when he’s more than capable, no matter how nice this hotel is. For right now, though, he sinks onto the floor, picking Tony up so he can cradle him close.

Tony breathes heavily for a long minute and then finally manages to say, voice just as hoarse and fucked out as Steve had been hoping, “Jesus fuck, baby, why do you always have to ruin my pants?”

Steve laughs fondly and kisses his forehead.

Tony bats him away, hands as weak as a kitten. “Yeah, yeah, I love you too,” he grouses, “but if you ruin another pair of suit pants, I’m gonna make you pay for the next one.”

~

5. …of…

They’re twenty-nine and Steve has been heartbroken for three months out of that year. He still remembers that last fight they’d had before Tony had stormed out. He’d told himself that Tony would come back, that they’d make up like they always did, but he hadn’t. And three weeks later, Tony had shown up at Sam and Rhodey’s engagement party with Sunset Bain on his arm and that had been that.

Well.

Not quite that had been that.

There are times when Steve definitely wishes he could get Tony Stark out of his system but that never seems to be when he actually sees him, which is probably why they keep winding up fucking in some out of the way spot. Sam and Rhodey’s wedding isn’t an exception, much as Steve wishes it was since they both brought dates.

They’re supposed to be taking pictures in a few minutes, but instead, they’re back in the groomsmen’s room, clothes strewn across the floor, Tony’s perfect cock splitting him wide open.

“That’s it, baby,” Tony hisses in his ear, bending him further over the chest of drawers. “Tighten up for me, hmm?”

Steve tries, but he feels like he’ll never be tight again, like Tony has fucked him permanently loose. He tries to say that, but all that escapes him is a pathetic groan as Tony’s cock glides across his prostate, lighting him up.

“Do I make you feel good?” Tony whispers, harsh and mocking and cruel. “Do you miss this? Do you think about me every time that pathetic pencil pusher gets his dick in you?”

The worst part is that Tony isn’t even wrong and they both know it. The worst part is that he knows Tony is just as unsatisfied with his pretty little heiress as Steve is with his accountant. The worst part is that if they could just talk about it, they could fix everything, they could both be happy again, but neither of them would ever be willing to swallow their pride long enough to do that.

“Tony,” he whispers, and maybe something of that shows in his voice because Tony drops his forehead to Steve’s shoulder and lets out a harsh sob. His hips don’t stop moving, his cock still thrusts into Steve’s hole like it belongs there (it does, oh god, but it does), but Steve’s shoulder is damp now and he doesn’t think it’s just from sweat.

“Does he make you feel like this?” Tony says, so softly Steve almost doesn’t hear it over the sound of their bodies moving together. He gets his hand around Steve’s cock and strokes once—twice—a third time. “Does he make you feel like he loves you?”

And Steve wants to tell him no, that only Tony has ever made him feel like this, but he’s coming against the drawers, pleasure whiting his mind out. And by the time he’s come back to himself, Tony is long gone.

~

6. …Tony Stark and Emma Frost

They’re thirty-one and they haven’t seen each other even once since Rhodey and Sam’s wedding. Tony opened up a new SI facility in Malibu, and Steve has been staying in New York, working as a curator at MOMA, which he would love more if it didn’t remind him of Tony coaching him through the interview process by fucking his brains out every time he made it past a round. Truth be told, Steve had started to think that they were never going to see each other again, but then he’d found out from one of the other curators that they were closing the museum early for a night for the wedding of the century: Tony Stark and Emma Frost.

And he’d suddenly realized that this was his last chance.

So he’s here now, uninvited and unexpected, in the small gallery they’d set aside for Tony to get dressed in. Their pants are around their ankles, shirts unbuttoned, ties loose. Tony’s hands are pressed against the wall, Steve pressed against his back, and his cock has found its home again inside Tony’s body.

He keeps the words locked behind his teeth—I love you—and asks instead, “Does she make you feel like this?” It’s only once he’s asked it that he realizes it’s what Tony asked him two years earlier.

Tony must remember it too because his breath hitches and then he’s shoving back against Steve. For a moment, Steve wonders if he’s gone too far—if they’ve lost their chance, if Tony really does love her like he’s never loved Steve—but then Tony turns around, stepping out of his pants entirely.

“I want to see you,” he pleads, looping his hands around Steve’s neck.

And Steve—

Steve is helpless to ignore that voice. He gets his hands under Tony’s ass and lifts, pinning him back against the wall before he slides Tony back down onto his cock. Tony throws his head back and moans, the sound echoing off the walls so loudly that Steve worries someone’s going to come looking for them.

“She doesn’t, Steve,” Tony cries, voice catching on a particularly hard thrust. “It’s only you. Always you.”

Steve sobs and quickens his pace, trying to lay the last claim he’ll ever get to have on Tony. Tony is getting married. He isn’t Steve’s anymore, but this—this last moment between them, they’ll always have this. This will always belong to them—to him. He kisses him, grieving and desperate and scared. They haven’t seen each other in so long; after today, there won’t be any more excuses. Tony will be Emma’s, and Steve? Steve will go back to his lonely apartment and think bitterly on what they used to have.

“Run away with me,” he pleads, pressing the words into the soft skin of Tony’s throat. “Run away with me, sweetheart. Let’s go far away where no one will think to look for us. We can get married, have ten kids—”

Tony comes, crying out his pleasure. He tightens around Steve, pushing him over the edge too, and it’s too soon, they didn’t have enough time, they’ll never have enough time, but all too soon, he’s setting Tony back on his feet and helping him get dressed. He’ll look a little messy, and part of Steve is pleased about that, that Emma will always wonder what her husband got up to before their wedding. The rest of them is trying to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

“Steve,” Tony says quietly.

He doesn’t turn around. He can’t. It had been hard enough seeing Tony in his wedding suit when he’d first walked in. It’ll shatter him if he has to see him now.

“Steve. Look at me please?”

But he’s never been able to resist a request from Tony.

Tony looks nervous, hesitant, in a way that he hadn’t when Steve had walked in. He visibly swallows, dark brown eyes meeting Steve’s. “Ask me again?”

Ask him—“What?”

“Please. Ask me… what you said. At the end. Ask me again?”

Hope starts to unfurl in Steve’s chest. Barely able to breathe, he asks, “Run away with me?”

Tony swallows again and then offers him a small, sweet smile. “Yes.”

[oldmanpuppyplay]

movie asks 9, 10, and 25

Oh bless you, I am Indulged *wiggles fingers*

9: a film from the year you were born.

So 1989 was full of bangers so have some bonus recs because I can't help it: do the right thing dir Spike Lee, Santa Sangre dir Alejandro Jodorowsky, and The War of the Roses dir Danny DeVito,

My actual pick tho is Three Fugitives a bit of a silly heart warming underrated gem about Martin Short as a desperate single dad who gets tangled up with a career criminal on the day he's released from prison (who is trying to turn his life around) and making his entire day worse. It's got James Earl Jones in there and the kid is adorable.

Also these two totally just, are in love and co-parenting somewhere but only in the subtext. I have feelings about this movie and I pitched it to my boyfriend as a romance and by the end he was like, huh you weren't kidding.

10: a movie where the main genre is horror.

I have to be brief or I will be here all day god I love horror. And we have so much overlap you may have already seen it but I'm gonna go with Prevenge.

This one doesn't hit for everyone so I think you already have to like brit horror which can be a bit slower compared to American horror, a bit more twee, but I had such a good time. It's about a recent heavily pregnant widow killing on the behest of her unborn child. The director is also the star and she was actually pregnant during filming so if nothing else a herculean task to appreciate it.

25: a box office flop.

My favorite kind of movie 👀 if I wanted to go the easy route it's Batman + Robin but that's easy stuff so I'll try to go more niche, a deeper cut.

The Darwin Awards. Now stick with me, I know there can be an air of cruelty around the book series and the concept as a whole BUT the movie manages to subvert that in the best possible way by making the main character just a man with so many problems, just such a fucked up little man who thinks he can save his company money (works in insurance) by identifying and tracking these Darwin Award cases, obviously instead he just finds normal people who aren't that different from himself and start developing empathy for these people written off as idiots and while I won't spoil everything it goes some places. Imperfect for sure, the ending comes out of left field but it's got a lot of heart and it's charming. Flopped hard tho. Like, I genuinely think the whole snotty concept of the darwin awards is ghoulish so keep that in mind with this recommendation - it had to work hard to win me over.

[torscrawls]

A King in Ghostling’s Clothing

This is written for Dannymay 2022 day 9 - Ghost King AU.

A frighteningly strong ghost appears in Justice League's midst and they find themselves powerless to fight back. Just when they think all hope is lost, something even worse shows up.

(Danny might have forgotten to tell them that he is the Ghost King and that the job comes with certain eldritch "perks")

Also available on my AO3!

-----

“Tremble mortals!”

 The sudden and echoing voice boomed through the room where Bruce, Constantine, and Clark had met up to introduce Constantine to their newest member Phantom. At the unexpected interruption, Bruce tensed and saw his colleagues do the same. But before they had time to react further; the room's temperature suddenly dropped as the shadows seemed to stretch and grow. Dancing in the corner of his eye.

 And between one blink and the next—there was someone there.

A figure seemingly made entirely of shadow, accentuated by gleaming silver armor and purple fire that trailed behind him like a cape. The ghost—because Bruce was certain that it couldn’t be any other type of creature, not with that glow and those eyes—even though those hateful and blazing green eyes were a far cry from the familiar and kind eyes of their new teammate.

 Bruce felt himself break out into a cold sweat as the ghost spoke, voice booming and carrying with it an undeniable sense of dread, "You stand in the presence of the mighty Fright Knight."

 Constantine, usually so calm and collected, took a step back. What the fuck is the Ghost King's second in command doing here?!”

King? That most likely meant that this ghost was big news. And combined with the way Constantine’s voice had an edge of forced calm, it set off all of Bruce’s warning bells.

 Of course this happened now when they were still new at handling ghosts. They had gotten some ghost hunting equipment from Phantom, but most of it was currently in the Batcave where it was disassembled to be studied and replicated, and Phantom himself was still their ace when it came to fighting ghosts. And of course Phantom wasn't here right now. Luckily he was most likely on his way; they just had to stall for time. Hopefully the four of them would be enough.

 The ghost raised his sword high and Bruce actually had to steel himself to stand his ground. As the Fright Knight spoke, his echoing voice reverberated through the room and in Bruce’s very bones, “Where is the High King of all Ghosts?”

 Bruce glanced over at his teammates to exchange a quick look, but Clark shook his head and not even Constantine seemed to have an answer to the question. That… might prove to be a problem. Or if they played their cards right, maybe they could get him to leave?

 Since this was clearly a supernatural enemy and Constantine was the only one who had been able to identify, and therefore hopefully knew something about, their visitor, both he and Clark gestured for him to speak up.

 Bruce could see Constantine swallow before saying, “We—We don’t know where he is. You must have come to the wrong place.”

 “Do not take me for a fool, human! I know he has been here!”

 Constantine took a small step back. "I think we would know if we had met his royal highness, mate."

 Bruce’s hand clenched around his batarang.

 “Enough of your insolence!” And with those words, the Fright Knight swung his giant flaming sword.

 Constantine immediately jumped backwards to the edge of the room as he called out, "Don't let him hit you with the sword! It'll transport you to a nightmare dimension. Literally!"

 “Thanks for the heads-up.” Not that Bruce had been planning on getting hit. Despite knowing that it was most likely futile, Bruce threw his batarang, but it went right through the ghost who also took the opportunity to rise up off the ground and into the air.

 “Please stop fighting.” Clark was on the enemy in a heartbeat, or more accurately; through the enemy. Fright Knight didn’t even use his sword as he backhanded Superman frighteningly easily straight into, and through, the wall.

 Similar base power set as Phantom, then, even if the aura they gave off were completely different. Even so, Bruce knew better than to assume that was all their new enemy could do; Phantom had surprised them on several occasions with new powers, so it wasn't really news that other more powerful ghosts could have more abilities than the basic ghostly attribute they all seemed to share.

 And sure enough, from seemingly nowhere, a shower of small meteors started raining down from the ceiling; exploding wherever they landed. Bruce threw himself underneath a table close by and prayed that the metal would be strong enough to hold. He saw Constantine stumbling backwards as he swore, “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” but before he could be hit by any of the flaming debris, Clark came back into the room and covered him like a shield, but to Bruce’s horror he saw the attack actually tearing up Clark’s skin.

 If the attack was strong enough to injure Superman, then Bruce knew that if he, a mere human, was hit he would be done for. The table he had been hiding under was absolutely demolished; it wouldn’t be able to withstand another attack.

 The overwhelming aura of malice intensified as Fright Knight raised his sword back up and declared, for the second time, “Tremble mortals!”

 And to Bruce’s absolute disgust, he did.

 Bruce knew that a lot of the research that painted ghosts as unfeeling and evil was wrong, but from his own encounters and research he also knew that Phantom wasn't really your typical ghost; acting and appearing more like a human teenager than a supernatural ghost. But as he looked upon this… this monster he didn’t wonder where those scientists drew their conclusions from.

 “Prepare to meet your worst nightmare!”

 Constantine raised his hands from his position hunched beneath Clark’s frame and recited something that did absolutely nothing.

 Bruce made a last desperate attempt by firing off a laser-based gun—maybe energy attacks would get through—but the ghost didn’t even flinch as it sizzled out where it hit his shoulder.

 They couldn’t fight him.

 Bruce had never felt so powerless before.

 He regretted that they had called Phantom in, he didn’t want their newest member to get dragged into this fight, but he didn't have any possibility to call him off now. The kid wouldn't stand a chance against this monster.

 Bruce saw Clark ready himself, no doubt to fly both him and Constantine to safety, but before he could take off, they all froze as the temperature of the room abruptly plummeted even further. Bruce breathed out a shaky breath and watched as it clouded in front of his face.

 The shadows, which had been restless since Fright Knight's arrival, abruptly darkened and twisted; pooling in one corner of the room.

 Fright Knight, seemingly unaware of what was happening, boomed out, “I have you now! You will not stand between me and my liege!”  And with that he manifested another shower of flaming meteors, this one even bigger than the last.

 He could hear Constantine from halfway across the room, “Fuck,” and Bruce couldn’t help but agree as the rocks hurled through the air and he braced for impact and—

There was a green-tinted shield covering both him and Clark and Constantine. That hadn’t been there before. Before he could do more than frown, there was a sudden searing light and another figure appeared in the room. And if he had thought that Fright Knight had an oppressive aura, then this being was on a whole other level as he could feel the pressure build up as soon as it appeared. This was something else

 The being seemingly sucked in all the light in the room, like a black hole, and as the room was plunged into complete darkness it was the first time in a long time that Bruce felt uncomfortable being in it. Even stranger; despite impossibly being even darker than its surroundings the figure could easily be made out by the light being given off by its silhouette, strong enough to make Bruce squint as he looked at it. He was uncomfortably reminded of an event horizon.

 The light the being gave off fractured and spread in the room as if it was shedding countless tiny stars and Bruce slowly backed up to avoid touching any of them. They slowly circled the figure—as if they were orbiting it.

 Bruce had no idea if the thing he was looking at could even be classified as a ghost. Or a person.

 Sure, its shape was humanoid and from what he could make out between the light and the darkness it appeared to have elongated ears and hair that wisped like white fog around its head, but what really caught Bruce’s eye was the crown resting above its head; multicolored and cloudlike. Like a nebula, continually expanding and contracting.

 A king.

 The being’s white glowing eyes shone bright like the sun.

 The whole appearance had happened in a heartbeat, and Bruce numbly watched as the meteors peppered the newly arrived being’s form. It didn’t even flinch

 Constantine swore. "You've gotta be kidding me! I didn’t think the King would actually—"

 "How dare you?!" The being spoke with a voice that made everyone in the room flinch. Bruce instinctively raised his hands to cover his ears as he gritted his teeth against the sound. It hurt.

 For a heart stopping moment, Bruce thought it had addressed them, but then the being turned towards Fright Knight with a growled, "How dare you?!"

 As it bared its teeth Bruce instinctively stepped back, stumbling into the wall. Something in his hindbrain told him that this was a predator and those teeth were sharp and big enough to make good on that title.

 In the blink of an eye, before Fright Knight had the chance to react, the being was standing over the ghost; hands glowing green as he towered over the crumpled form of the enemy that had brought them all to their knees not moments before.

 Effortlessly.

 “How dare you hurt my friends?!” The being growled and Bruce flinched at the sound of its voice before taking in the words. It almost sounded as if it was scolding the ghost.

 As if Fright Knight was a misbehaving child.

 "My King. My liege.” And now Fright Knight almost sounded afraid. "They refused to tell me where you were."

"So you attacked them??"

 "I beg your forgiveness for my transgression. I never intended to—"

 "Get out of my sight before I change my mind. We will talk about this later.”

 "Certainly, your highness." And Fright Knight disappeared in a blink.

 Bruce didn’t feel relieved when the ghost disappeared as he looked upon this other being and knew they were screwed.

 But then the ghost—the being—turned towards them and beneath the glowing, oppressive aura, beneath the inhuman eyes and ghastly look, there was something… very familiar.

 Bruce could see it in the way the being suddenly looked sheepish, the way it raised an arm to rub at the back of its neck in a startlingly human gesture. The way it smiled—even though the mouth contained far, far too many sharp teeth for its size.

 "...Phantom?"

 "Hiya. Sorry for the scare.” And as he spoke, his voice lost some of the haunting echo. “And I’m so sorry about him. He can be a bit overzealous sometimes."

 And it did sound like Phantom, if he listened past the painful echo and warble.

 Clark blinked as he straightened out. "...What?"

 Bruce knew that Phantom was relatively strong and had a wide array of powers at his disposal and sure, Bruce had often gotten the feeling that he wasn't showing them everything he had, but this.

 This.

 “You’re late,” Bruce surprised himself by saying, trying to keep the sheer relief he felt out of his voice.

 “Sorry, sorry, I got held up on the way.”

 Constantine was watching the exchange with an open mouth and it wasn't until his limp cigarette fell from his lips and hit the floor that he seemed to snap out of it. “Wait, back up. You're Phantom?" Phantom nodded. "The new teammate Phantom?" Constantine turned to level a glare at Bruce. "The young ghost I was supposed to meet today, Phantom?!"

 Bruce held up his hands. "I didn't know—"

 Phantom cut in with a confused, "Yes? I think I’ve missed something here."

 "So have we!" Clark exclaimed, uncharacteristically agitated. Bruce couldn’t blame him. "What happened to you?" And here Clark gestured at Phantom’s form and all of its horrifying glory.

 Phantom looked down and seemed surprised at what he found. Or as surprised as it was possible to look when your face barely held any features that could give the expression away. "Oh. Right, I forgot. Hold on. Close your eyes for a second."

 There was another searing light and even though Bruce had closed his eyes, he was nearly blinded through his eyelids. As he blinked his eyes open, the familiar form of Phantom was floating in front of them instead; eyes back to green and ghostly glow dimmed to its usual strength. The crown was nowhere to be seen.

 "Talk about a costume change," Clark commented dryly.

 “Sorry about that, I know that form can be… unsettling.”

 “That’s one word for it,” Bruce grumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

 Phantom ignored him to turn his attention to Constantine. "Then I guess you’re Constantine! Nice to meet you." And he extended his hand in a casual greeting.

 Constantine stared down at it with wide eyes. “Are you shitting me? …Your highness.”

 "Oh, for the ancients’ sake," Phantom groaned. "Stop with the formalities. I get enough of that at the keep. I'm Phantom."

 Bruce had never seen Constantine speechless before. "Eh—I—Sorry. Yes. I’m Constantine."

 Bruce decided to end the poor man’s suffering and cut in with a terse, “So what’s going on here?” And besides; he didn’t enjoy being kept out of the loop.

 Phantom was back to rubbing the back of his neck, a light green blush dusting his cheeks. “I miiight have forgotten my lesson with Frighty.”

 “Frighty?” Constantine repeated incredulously under breath.

 “How come we’ve never seen you in that getup before?” Bruce asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

 Phantom made a face of distaste. "I don't walk around every day in the whole getup. It would be like you walking around in fancy clothes every day at home.” Bruce decided not to mention that he essentially did that as Wayne.

 “And besides,” Phantom continued, “as you noticed it’s not exactly… pleasant for humans to be around."

 Clark grimaced with a nod, confirming that it may not only apply to humans, before asking, “And the whole king business? That’s true then?”

 “Oh, yes,” Phantom nodded, “I defeated the last king and won the title by conquest. I thought I had told you guys?”

 “You have not!” Bruce said in a very much not exasperated tone of voice, thank you very much.

 Clark nodded. “Yeah, I think you skipped that part.”

 “Woops?”

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

I feel like this is a problem with a lot of morally questionable characters in fiction (referring back to the ask about abusive Maddie and Jack). You get this character who is deep down a good person, or at least is trying to do good but does bad things. On the one hand, yeah they need to be called out for their actions and I don't want excuse them, but it's just so exhausting seeing this complex (or at least potentially) character reduced to a mustache twirling villain with no redeeming qualities. I want to see the real Jack and Maddie get called out and have to struggle on the road for redemption. I wanna see them comprehend all the wrong they did and break down (that sounds a but sadistic but you get what I mean).

there is absolutely somewhat of a problem in fandom cultures of whittling complex characters down to simplistic tropes, and definitely with morally questionable characters either being labelled as 'precious snowflakes who must be protected' or 'evil incarnate' when canonically they are actually neither

morally grey characters are some of my favourites because nobody in this world is perfectly good or perfectly bad, everyone lives in the grey somewhere, everyone has at least some good AND bad qualities, morality is a spectrum after all, and characters that toe the line right down the middle are absolutely fascinating to me

because depending on circumstances sometimes you want them to redeem themselves and sometimes you want them to go apeshit

one of my absolute favourite tropes is the 'redeemed villain becomes weird antisocial friend' trope, I love that, give it to me, I will eat it up

another favourite is 'villain turned anti-hero that you aren't 100% certain aren't still up to something, but they seem to be on your side at the moment and you actually really need their help' that one is SUPER fun

another favourite of mine is 'hero who has been treated like shit their whole life fucking snaps and goes absolutely feral' that is some GOOD fucking soup

I think a lot of the time when people get really intense about liking or hating a character it's because they've gotten personally invested, sometimes they project their own issues onto these characters

maybe they really identify with a morally grey character and that's why they decided to defend that character to their last breath because they feel like they are defending themselves

alternatively a lot of people will project their own trauma onto certain characters that remind them of their abusers (which can often be the case with morally grey parent characters) and so will be completely intolerant to anyone who tries to defend these characters in any way

but if you can avoid pushing your own issues onto other people's interpretations, then there really isn't an issue with how you choose to perceive these characters

if you want to whittle a character down to a simplistic base personality because it brings you joy or some kind of catharsis then hey go ahead and have fun 👍✨ that is your right and you should enjoy yourself

but I won't pretend there isn't an issue in many fandoms (especially big ones) where these sort of characterisations reign supreme to the point of people being harassed as 'apologists' for looking at a commonly perceived 'evil' character and trying to find some nuance

personally, I'm not a fan of Danny being a perfect precious bean, I want this boy to have faults and flaws, I also like seeing Vlad showing some redeeming qualities, it makes things interesting

and my personal preference for stories is that they are interesting

but some people just want tooth rotting fluff or just want to talk absolute smack about a character they don't like, and that's also fine if that's what you like

there are definitely exceptions to the rule, and there are certain tropes I cannot tolerate and will block people who use them, but I'm also aware that I have my own trauma that impacts my decisions, I have no intention of personally harassing anyone who writes things I find detestable, but I also have no intention of interacting with them and that's also okay

it just always comes back to live and let live, and not always making assumptions about a person's personal morality because of how they choose to write a character, and if you can't help but make those assumptions, block them and move on

[britcision]

Happy WIP Wednesday everyone! Because I asked last week what to call him, this week y’all can have some Conner!

Chapter 16 is coming along much better now that I’ve mostly settled on the order I want this first little segment to be in, so we’ll see how long it takes to wrap up some Tim/Tuck/Con and get to the good stuff 😇

Not quite half way there yet, but it’s on the horizon

———————

Field Trips Without Permission Slips part 2

In the skies above Wayne manor, Conner stalled out for a moment. His powers weren’t the most reliable, he was more than aware of it. 

Usually though? He could tell when they were fritzing out. 

He’d heard Danny and Jason perfectly clearly, a weird tearing noise, and now both were gone. No voices, no breathing (had they always been breathing? Suddenly he wasn’t sure), no heartbeat. 

Neither of them had sounded particularly upset, or concerned. Well, not more than Jason already had been. 

Jason’s heart had actually been a little slower by the time they parted ways, and hadn’t gone back up. 

Not that Conner was eavesdropping. Not on purpose, anyway. He’d heard voices and listened just enough to identify Tim’s brother before stopping to check in. 

He didn’t much care what anyone else did in the skies above Gotham, so long as it wasn’t his problem. And he valued privacy, or at least got pissed enough when Clark disrespected his that he wouldn’t do the same. 

Right up until he’d flown away and Danny had casually commented about Tucker melting if Conner asked him to ride. 

Because that had kinda been directed at him, really. That didn’t count. He’d even heard his own name. Tuned right back out after, up until the disappearing. 

(And totally wasn’t thinking about Tim’s new friend wanting to actually ride him. He hadn’t even met the guy yet, although from what Tim had told him he was pretty sure they’d get along. 

Anyone who could get Tim to actually enjoy a proper meal had to be kept around on a freakin’ pedestal. 

He was resigning himself to a lot of technobabble though. Tim on his own tended to go off, but if Tucker really was on Tim’s level? 

Yeah, Conner was well aware he’d understand at most half of what they were talking about, but he just liked seeing Tim that happy. That passionate. 

Conner was well aware he didn’t offer much to Tim’s intellectual side, not being one to wait for a well thought out plan, but that was kinda why they worked so well. Their skills were a near perfect complement. 

He’d do his best not to melt their new friend though. Definitely no riding jokes. 

Maybe he was preening just the tiniest ittiest bit that Danny apparently thought he was that hot.) 

He was stuck for a moment, held by indecision. Jason had been in the kind of mood that Conner wanted him nowhere fucking near Tim. 

He definitely was not near Tim. Mission accomplished? 

On the other hand, part of Tim had never fully let go of Jason as his Robin. Not even after… well, everything that happened when Jason came back. 

Conner had been kinda out of it when the whole Titans Tower incident went down (and dead shortly after), but he knew the basics, and he knew Tim. Tim hadn’t processed fucking anything from that time well. 

Still probably hadn’t. Conner didn’t really want to ask if his boyfriend still had the data from the whole attempted cloning thing. 

But when Dick finally got through to Jason, Tim had jumped at the explanation of the pit rage. It took the edge off what Conner knew ached more than the beating; being rejected by his predecessor. 

His hero. 

Conner woulda kicked Jason’s ass for that alone, even without the physical attack, but Tim… Tim didn’t want him to. 

For one thing, Tim could make Jason’s life hell just fine on his own. But Tim… 

Well. 

Conner was more than happy to admit that Tim knew way more about the Lazarus pits than any of Young Justice. He just hoped Tim was going off knowledge, and not just the wish for his hero to accept him. 

Because Jason did, now. They’d never exactly talked about it, the asshole never apologised, but… they got along. 

Jason was prickly as fuck with everyone, but Conner had noticed how… careful he was with Tim. How quick to back down, to just remove himself from the situation if Tim pushed him. 

Which Tim did, because none of the bats had any self preservation. 

Jason really did seem to be fighting something inside him. A fight he didn’t always win, but had learned to retreat from. Taking himself away before he lost completely. 

It was most obvious when Steph wound him up; Conner had been to enough family dinners, and talked to her enough to know she hadn’t let Jason entirely off the hook either. 

But they’d both defer to Tim, because it was Tim’s call. 

Tim would probably want to know Jason had disappeared off the face of the earth. Actually, Tim would probably know exactly why and how it had happened. 

Had Jason or Danny actually mentioned what other business they might have? Conner had kinda been focused on not letting Jason near Tim, but he didn’t think so. 

If it was a planned disappearance, it’d have been Danny doing it, so Tucker would probably know more, right? Danny obviously had multiple abilities, Conner had already seen at least two. 

Either way, the answers were in the manor beneath him, along with his very favourite person in the world. 

Alfred. Tied with Ma and Pa Kent, though. 

And his beloved boyfriend Tim, of course. 

Brightening a little, Conner made his descent, landing at the backdoor of the manor and letting himself in. 

On the off chance they did need to be worried about Jason and Danny’s strange disappearance, at least he was already in town. 

—————————

Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara a @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @trickerdi @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @idkmrpianoman @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west  @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai i @greenpyrowolf @frivolous-pastel @honeysuckletook k 

[woodchoc-magnum]

L*ne St*r Hate Watch 3x08

Disclaimer: if you love the show, don't read this, please have a wonderful day.

Eddie Diaz, because it's only prudent we should gaze upon his beautiful face before embarking on this torment:

Prefacing this by saying I genuinely don't know how much of it I'll actually be able to get through – equally the TK & Owen shit but also as someone who recently lost her mother. I'm not sure if this is going to trigger some strong emotions or not (probably not - let's face it, it's LS, the writing is fucking terrible, but still). We're just going to roll with it and see what happens.

This is a really awful death for Gwyn who absolutely didn't deserve it (for those not watching – she's knocked over by a bike rider and she hits her head on the curb, and she dies instantly).

I hate this because I really love Lisa Edelstein and I feel this show has done her dirty.

I feel like we're 100% heading for a TK relapses storyline, right? But they're too cowardly to do it to their golden boy so probably not

"leave me alone" TK says in a monotone

God I'm gonna hate this episode so much

He can't act. Like he just actually can't act. I know he's meant to be acting "numb" or whatever but like every single line is delivered in a monotone.

Rob Lowe looks particularly old in this scene? Maybe it's the lighting

Is Carlos going to get to go with them in this and actually have something to do? Amazing

I thought it would just be a Strand family adventure (note from future!me: oh past!me how wrong you were)

Maybe I would feel more if I actually cared about these people, but I don't.

Oh TK is doing the thing that I tried to do which was to simply deny it – damn it, I will not identify with this asshole

I mean I suppose if you really like TK this is exactly what you've been wanting

And like, if the OG did an episode that was all about Eddie, I would be over the moon

So I guess I can't complain about that

But I just find him so intolerable

Confession – I'm not really watching it so much as I'm listening to it, because it's very boring and I can't look at TK too long without getting annoyed

Carlos can do so much better

I'm only 15 minutes in, this is going to be interminable

And no Grace or Judd to relieve things

Also off topic but I feel like I'm the only one who has absolutely fucking zero interest in seeing the new Batman movie and I've always thoroughly disliked Robert Pattinson

It's Batman Returns or fucking nothing

I like my Batman with a lot of camp, thank you very much

"oh no let's make all superhero movies dark and serious" - NO, you put DANNY DEVITO IN A PENGUIN COSTUME AND HAVE HIM EAT RAW FISH, YOU COWARDS

This has been an unsolicited Batman rant

One of the ladies from Superstore is on the plane with TK (couldn't tell you her name, she's a larger blonde lady)

I'm not sure why Rob Lowe doesn't just slap TK and tell him to get the fuck over himself

He is the whiniest of bitches

God I just don't care

21 minutes

Oh what now the plane is going to crash? Plot twist

That would be amazing, two birds with one fucking stone right?

I mean the window blew out on their row and NEITHER ONE OF THEM WAS SUCKED OUT?

The lady from Superstore solved the problem of the broken window by shoving a suitcase in it, don't worry

Oh wow it's TK's time to fucking shine, he's going to save this lady's life and it's almost like he was put on this planet for a reason, right? To help people? Wow, this isn't heavy-handed at all

Why did they leave it to the day of the funeral to fly to New York?

Lady from Superstore saving the day again

Look I'm not saying that she's doing all the heavy lifting in this episode but she definitely is

All right so basically to recap what's happened is that the lady they were sitting next to was partially sucked out of the plane, and they pulled her back in but she's severed an artery in her arm and they're trying to save her life

And that is the bulk of the episode at this point

And I am not invested

30 minutes in

Okay so one of TK's vodka bottles fell in the toilet (in a flashback) and even though the other two were fine, that was the one he drank

And I am side-eyeing that decision

(unless the other two broke and I didn't see that happen - if so, fine)

"you can't save me, mom" TK says in a monotone

While Lisa Edelstein acts her fucking heart out

Can you imagine having a scene partner this fucking bad?

You know how insignificant Gwyn was as a character that her death is solely about TK and Owen's shared man pain, and not about the partner and baby she left behind

I mean I know the OG killed Shannon to further Eddie's storyline but for the most part, they don't kill characters like this

And I just think it's a cheap ploy for drama

And it's bad writing

Apparently the fucking plane was still close enough to Austin that they're just going back to the airport so that TK and Carlos can have an emotional reunion

Ugh I hate this show so fucking much

7 minutes to go

I wish the plane would blow up

Damn it

The plane didn't blow up

Also the lady from Superstore is FINE

Gwyn was a good mother and I'm annoyed that they killed her off when they absolutely didn't have to

Booooooooooorrrrreeeeddddddddd

4 minutes to go

Like now they're not even going to the funeral? All because their plane nearly blew up? Weak as piss

Now Carlos is crying and blaming himself for putting them on the plane

Okay here's the spooky thing, after my Mum died my friend and I had Chinese food to honour her – and they're doing the same thing on this show and I'm bothered by it

Also Rob Lowe is looking rough in this episode? Not sure what's going on there, maybe he's laid off the botox

OH THANK GOD IT'S FINISHED

All right so ultimately I did not find it particularly triggering. I also thought I would fast forward most of it but I half-watched, half scrolled through Tumblr which I feel was a happy medium.

I am side-eyeing people who thought this was a strong episode though because like... ??? If it doesn't have Grace or Judd in it, it's not a strong episode.

In conclusion I still hate this show.

Eddie Diaz for beautiful cleansing energy:

Maybe a couple more - we've earned it:

The fucking HEAT in this moment you guys AAAAHHH and it was in the first episode of Season 5

5b is going to kill us, I can't wait

[brawltogethernow]

So, I don't think I've ever asked you this... what IS the whole point of the Spider-Sense? It really seems like something that only exists for writers to ignore or work around when they want to inject Legit Tension into a story.

I’ve thought about this power so much, but never with an eye to defend its right to exist, so I needed to think about this. The results could be more concise.

Ironically, given the question, I have to say its main purpose is to ramp up tension. But it’s also a highly variable multitool that a skilled creative team can use for...pretty much anything. It does everything the writer wants it to, while for its wielder always falls just short of doing enough.

I went looking through my photos for a really generic, classic-looking example to use as an image to head this topic, but then I ran into the time Peter absolutely did not reimburse this man for his stolen McDonald’s, so have that instead.

A Scare Chord, But You Can Draw It

That one post that says the spider-sense is just super-anxiety isn’t, like, wrong. It’s a very anxious, dramatic storytelling tool originally designed for a very anxious, dramatic protagonist. I find it speaks to the overall tone of the franchise that some characters are functionally psychics, but with a psychic ability that only points out problems.

Spidey sense pinging? There’s danger, be stressed! Broken? Now the lead won’t even KNOW when there’s a problem, scary! Single character is immune to it? That’s an invisible knife in the dark oh my god what the fuck what the fU--

Like its counterpart in garden variety anxiety, the only time the spider-sense reduces tension is in the middle of a crisis. But in the wish fulfillmenty way that you want in an adventure story to justify exaggerated action sequences, the same way enhanced strength or durability does. Also like those, it would theoretically make someone much safer to have it, but it exists in the story to let your character navigate into and weather more dangerous situations.

For its basic role in a story, a danger sense is a snappy way to rile up both the reader and the protagonist that doesn’t offer much information beyond that it’s time to sit smart because shit is about to go down.

Spidey comic canon is all over the board in quality and genre, and it started needing to subvert its formulas before the creators got a handle on what those formulas even were, and basically no one has read anything approaching most of it at this point, so for consistent examples of a really bare bones use of this power in storytelling, I’d point to the property that’s done the best job yet of boiling down the mechanics of Spider-Man to their absolute most basic essentials for adaptation to a compelling monster of the week TV series.

Or as you probably know it, Danny Phantom. DON’T BOO, I’M RIGHT.

DP is Spider-Man with about 2/3 of the serial numbers filed off and no death (ironically), and Danny’s ghost sense is the most proof in the formula example of what the spidey sense is for: It’s a big sign held up for the viewer that says, “Something is wrong! Pay attention!” Effectively a visual scare chord. It’s about That Drama. And it works, which won it a consistent place in the show’s formula. We’re talking several times an episode here.

So why does it work?

It’s a little counterintuitive, but it’s strong storytelling to tell your audience that something bad is going to happen before it does. A vague, punchy spoiler transforms the ignorant calm before a conflict into a tense moment of anticipation. ...And it makes sure people don’t fail to absorb the beginning of said conflict because they weren’t prepared to shift gears when the scene did. Shock is a valuable tool, too, but treating it like a staple is how you burn out your audience instead of keeping them engaged. Not to go after an easy target, but you need to know how to manage your audience’s alarm if you don’t want to end up like Game of Thrones.

The limits of the spider-sense also keep you on your toes when handled by a smart writer. It tells Peter (everyone’s is a little different, so I’m going to cite the og) about threats to his person, but it doesn’t elaborate with any details when it’s not already obvious why, what kind, and from what. And it doesn’t warn him about anything else-- Which is a pretty critical gap when you zoom out and look at his hero career’s successes and failures and conclude that it’s definitely why he’s lived as long as he has acting the way he does, but was useless as he failed to save a string of people he’d have much rather had live on than him.

(Any long-running superhero mythos has these incidents, but with Peter they’re important to the core themes.)

And since this power is by plot for plot (or because it’s roughly agreed it only really blares about threats that check at least two boxes of being major, immediate, or physical), it always kicks in enough to register when the danger is bearing down...when it’s too late to actually do anything about it if “anything” is a more complex action than “dodge”.

Really? Not until the elevator doors started to open?

That Distinctive, Crunchy Spider Flavor

The spider-sense and its little pen squiggles go hand in hand with wallcrawling (and its unique and instantly identifiable associated body language) to make the Spider-Person powerset enduringly iconic and elevate characters with it from being generic mid-level super-bricks. Visually, but also in how it shapes the story.

I said it can share a narrative role with super strength. But when you end a fight and go home, super strength continues to make your character feel powerful, probably safer than they’d be otherwise, maybe dangerous.

The spider-sense just keeps blaring, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! God, why aren’t you doing something about this!?”

Pretty morose thing to live with, for a safety net! Kind of a double edged sword you have there! Could be constantly being hyperattuned to problems would prime you for a negative outlook on life. Kind of seems like a power that would make it impossible for a moral person to take a day off, leading them into a beleaguered and resentful yet dutiful attitude about the whole superhero gig! Might build up to some of the core traits of this mythos, maybe! Might lead to a lot of fifteen minute retirement stories, or something. Might even be a built in ‘great responsibility’ alarm that gets you a main character who as a rule is not going to stop fighting until he physically cannot fight anymore.

Certainly not apropos of anything, just throwing this short lived barely-a-joke tagline up for fun.

One of my personal favorite things about stories with superpowers is keeping in mind how they cause the people who have them to act in unusual ways outside of fights, so when you tell me that these people have an entire extra sense that tells them when the gas in their house is leaking through a barely useful hot/cold warning system that never turns off, I’m like, eyes emojis, popcorn out, notebook open, listening intently, spectacles on, the whole deal.

It also contributes to Peter Parker’s personality in a way I really enjoy: It allows him to act like an irrational maniac. When you know exactly when a situation becomes dangerous and how much, normal levels of caution go out the window and absolutely nothing you do makes sense from an exterior standpoint anymore. That’s the good shit. I would like to see more exploration of how the non-Parker characters experiencing the world in this incredibly altered way bounce in response.

It’s also one of many tools in this franchise hauling the reader into relating more closely with the main character. The backbone of classic Spidey is probably being in on secrets only Peter and the reader know which completely reframe how one views the situation on the page. It’s just a big irony mine for the whole first decade. A convenient way to inform the reader and the lead that something is bad news that’s not perceivable to any other characters is youth-with-a-big-exciting-secret catnip.

Another point for tension, there, in that being aware of danger is not synonymous with being able to act on it. If there’s no visible reason for you to be acting strange, well...you’re just going to have to sit tight and sweat, aren’t you? Some gratuitous head wiggles never hurt when setting up that type of conflict.

Have I mentioned that they look cool? Simultaneously punchy and distinctive, with a respectable amount of leeway for artists to get creative with and still coming up with something easily recognizable? And pretty easy to intuit the meaning of even without the long-winded explanations common in the days when people wrote comics with the intent that someone could come in cold on any random issue and follow along okay, I think, although the mechanic has been deeply ingrained in popular culture for so long that I can’t really say for sure.

It was also useful back in the day when no artists drew the eyes on the Spider-Man mask as emoting and were conveying the lead’s expressions entirely through body language and panel composition. If you wiggle enough squiggles, you don’t need eyebrows.

Take This Handwave and Never Ask Me a Logistical Question Again

This ability patches plot holes faster than people can pick them open AND it can act as an excuse to get any plot rolling you can think of if paired with one meddling protagonist who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. Buy it now for only $19.99 (in four installments; that’s four installments of $19.99).

Why can a teenager win a six on one fight against other superhumans? Well, the spider-sense is the ultimate edge in combat, duh.

Why can Peter websling? Why doesn’t everyone websling? Well, the spider-sense is keeping him from eating flagpole when he violently flings himself across New York in a way neither man nor spider was ever meant to move.

How are we supposed to get him involved with the plot this week???? Well, that crate FELT dangerous, so he’s going to investigate it. Oh, dip, it was full of guns and radioactive snakes! Probably shouldn’t have opened that!

Yeah, okay, but why isn’t it fixing everything, then? Isn’t it supposed to be why Peter has never accidentally unmasked in front of somebody? ('Nother entry for this section, take a shot.) That’s crazy sensitive! How does he still have any problems!? Is everything bad that’s ever happened to characters with this powerset bad writing!? --Listen, I think as people with uncanny senses that can tell us whether we are in danger with accuracy that varies from incredible to approximate (I am talking about the five senses that most people have), we should all know better than to underestimate our ability to tune them out or interpret them wrong and fuck ourselves up anyway. I honestly find this part completely realistic.

*SLAPS ROOF OF SPIDER-SENSE* YOU CAN FIT SO MANY STORIES IN THIS THING

The spider-sense is a clean branch into...whatever. There is the exact right balance of structure and wishy-washiness to build off of. A sample selection of whatevers that have been built:

It’s sci-fi and spy gadgets when Peter builds technology that can interface with it.

It’s quasi-mystical when Kaine and Annie-May get stronger versions of it that give them literal psychic visions, or when you want to get mythological and start talking about all the spider-characters being part of a grand web of fate.

Kaine loses his and it becomes symbolic of a future newly unbound by constraints, entangled thematically with the improved physical health he picked up at the same time -- a loss presented as a gain.

Peter loses his and almost dies 782 times in one afternoon because that didn’t make the people he provoked when he had it stop trying to kill him, and also because he isn’t about to start “””taking the subway’’””’ “‘’“”to work”””’’” like some kind of loser who doesn’t get a heads up when he’s about to hit a pigeon at 50mph.

Peter’s starts tuning into his wife’s anxiety and it’s a tool in a relationship study.

It starts pinging whenever Peter’s near his boss who’s secretly been replaced by a shapeshifter and he IGNORES IT because his boss is enough of an asshole that that doesn’t strike him as weird; now it’s a comedy/irony tool.

Into the Spider-Verse made it this beautiful poetic thing connecting all the spider-heroes in the multiverse and stacked up a story on it about instant connection, loss, and incredibly unlikely strangers becoming a found family. It was also aesthetic as FUCK. Remember the scene where Miles just hears barely intelligible whispering that’s all lines people say later in the film and then his own voice very clearly says “look out” and then the room explodes?? Fuck!!!!

Venom becomes immune to it after hitchhiking to Earth in Peter’s bone juice and it makes him a unique threat while telling a more-homoerotic-than-I-assume-was-originally-intended story about violation and how close relationships can be dangerous when they go sour.

It doesn’t work on people you trust for maximum soap opera energy. Love the innate tragedy of this feature coming up.

IN CONCLUSION I don’t have much patience for writers who don’t take advantage of it, never mind feel they need to write around it.

[luulapants]

It’s Interpretive | Stackson | Teen | 1,000 words

For @softranswolves​

Derek never warned Jackson about the ‘alcohol doesn’t work’ thing. Not that it would have swayed his decision back then, when he was convinced that the bite was the solution to all his problems. Not that getting drunk was so amazing that he would have thought twice.

Hey, when it wasn’t turning him into a homicidal lizard monster, lycanthropy was totally worth not being able to get a buzz.

But it did make parties sort of lame and awkward. Especially parties like this one: the UCBH homecoming bonfire. The fire roared in the center of the field, surrounded by dark masses of rambunctious students. Most of them strangers to him, almost all of them wasted. Danny had fucked off with some sophomore ages ago.

Jackson kept a beer bottle dangling between his fingers for appearance’s sake as he strolled through the crowd. Music blared from speakers near the edge of the field, top forty shit that was easy to dance to. Closer to the fire, bodies swayed to the beat, hooting and screaming along, jumping up and down or grinding against one another. Farther out, in the shadows, couples fooled around on blankets or in the grass.

He stopped somewhere in the middle, eyes falling on a familiar figure, though it took him a moment to identify exactly who it was.

Stiles Stilinski was dancing – if you could call that spasmodic flailing of limbs ‘dancing’ – near a circle of girls, obviously hoping they might let him join in. From the wary glance one shot him, Jackson didn’t think that was going to happen. Stiles wore baggy jeans, a loose flannel shirt falling around his shoulders. And he was singing. Badly. He mumbled vague noises over the majority of the song, jumping up his volume when he hit words he actually knew, or at least thought he knew.

“Won’t be no mhmhm stick figure baby doll… if that’s all you’re into, you can move along.”

Jackson winced, but found it melting into a smile, then a laugh. He walked over. “You know those aren’t the words, right?”

Stiles turned to him, head still jerking in that dorky, shameless rhythm. “It’s interpretive!” he shouted over the music. “Y’know, it’s art. It’s my interpretation.”

Read the rest on AO3

[riot-ghost]

Daniel Fenton had been alive four-hundred and thirty-seven years. And he still got carded every single time he tried to buy anything even remotely bad. Acholic beverages. Weed. Even fucking sharpies and tide pods. Still.

"This is bull shit." Danny sat on the curb, three heroes crowded around him. "There are actual villains elsewhere. Maybe other innocent people for you to terrorize."

They'd caught a news reporter, and Danny could hear them across the street, talking about what a problem underage drinking was. The heroes currently were shaking out his bag, and his very real ID was in two peices in front of him.

"Don't I get a phone call or something?" Danny rolled his eyes.

"Sure." His phone is dropped in his lap. Danny takes it, and contemplates just calling a nobody to pretend to be his parents. He stares at his cut ID in front of him, and then thinks about the DMV.

"Hey, Yagi! I know you're in the middle of class right now, but go ahead and make it a field trip. I'll even teach some extra classes for the favor. Yup. Uh-huh. Thanks!" Danny tossed his phone back to the hero, kicking his feet up.

The heroes are baring down on him, berating him, when All Might shows up.

"Hey, Danny." All Might grins.

"Oh thank fuck." Danny drops his head in his hands. "Someone they'll believe!"

"All Might?" One of the heroes squeaks.

"Ah, berating random pedestrians, aren't we?" All Might sets a hand on their shoulder.

"He's underage. Keeps claiming an age quirk, but uh-"

"I have the card! It was literally ATTACHED TO MY ID. THAT YOU CUT UP!" Danny gestured to the item in question.

"Oh. Ouch." There's a class of hero students there, all watching the scene, all in hero gear and outfits, scribbling notes.

"Now, class, this is what not to do!" All Might says. He picks up half of the ID, passing it to his students. "If you look at that yellow symbol, that's one used to identify people with an age-altering quirk. So that they can still buy alcohol, sharpies-" All Might looked at the medical bag one of the heroes hold, "-medical marijuana."

The hero students played the part, nodding and passing the ID around. Pencils and pens scribble in kanji.

"O-oh."

"Can I have your hero identification numbers? I'm filing an official complaint and I demand compensation for my ID." Danny stands.

"Oh, I'm sure they've learned their lesson, I'll cover the ID. Run along now then." All Might gestured and the heroes left.

Danny sighed, leaning down to pick up his things. "Four hundred years of total bullshit." Danny stuffed his things carelessly into his bag. "Oh, god forbid this CHILD buys a HOUSE or BEER." Danny yanked his bag from All-Might.

"Ah, they're just trying to do their job." All Might started walking. "And you owe me a class."

"Yeah, yeah." Danny waved. "Another time. Next month. I'm going to get so drunk I sleep for two weeks."

Danny : (trying to buy some beer at convenience store in japan)

Random Hero : whoa there child! aren’t you too young to buy that?

Danny : (looks at the hero disbelievingly)

Danny : (throws his passport to the hero) I exist even before the age of quirk, study history you idiot

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Have you been asked yet to rank Trust eps? Cos I'm asking! But your the criteria for ranking I leave to you to decide.

Ahahahaha I’ll have you know I put way too much thought into this. :-D

Ok so first of all, there is no such thing as a bad episode of Trust. The whole thing is really tightly written, every character and plot thread has a purpose, and even the episodes that I haven’t watched over and over again are important to the overall story. And a lot of the impact of the show comes from things that are cumulative over multiple episodes.

That being said, I do have favorites. Since the definitive ranking of Primo’s outfits has already been taken care of, here is my ranking from least to most favorite based on some nebulous criteria of artistic/narrative effectiveness and emotional impact, my judgement of which is obviously highly subjective and also correct.

Under the cut because this got ummm unbelievably, ridiculously long.

10. The House of Getty (episode 1)

Sorry Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, the pilot is my least favorite episode. Still think it was the wrong choice to open with a flashy (and, I can tell, expensive) sequence showcasing the death of a character we literally never see again. And, look, I’m an impatient viewer. If I don’t get someone to root for/emotionally identify with/otherwise catch my interest early on in a narrative, I’ll tune out. And Old Paul is not only unlikeable--far from a mortal sin in dramatic storytelling--he’s boring. I don’t care about any of his rich people problems, and I’m not the kind of viewer who can be kept engaged just by hating someone and watching them be terrible.

Some of the secondary characters in the Getty household do have interesting plotlines, but we don’t get to learn very much about them in the first episode. And I do think things get interesting once Little Paul shows up (although I maintain that the whole episode is more interesting if we understand what the stakes are for Paul getting the money), but if I had started watching this show with no context I wouldn’t have made it past Old Paul’s pre-coital erotica listening routine.

If this had been anything other than the first episode I might not have ranked it last, but extra penalty points for leading with your least interesting characters.

9. Lone Star (episode 2)

This episode is, I think, saddled by the fact that it has to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of exposition and setup. It mostly works because Chace is an entertaining narrator, and once we get to Italy with Gail I think things zip along at a pretty good pace. Opens with an attempted rape to show how Bad the Bad Guys are, which is...not my favorite trope.

Once again, I think a lot of the information in this episode would have worked better if episode 3 had been episode 1. (We’d already know who Berto was when Chace meets him; we’d already know about the box of guns in the apartment; we’d know when certain characters are lying.) This whole show runs on the suspense of the audience being the only party who knows what’s going on with all the characters at once; I think trading mystery for suspense here was the wrong move. I also can’t help thinking there was pressure to front-load the well-known American actors in the beginning of the show at the expense of the strongest narrative choices.

Imo the best thing about this episode is the sort of...multiple competing images of Paul that emerge. His mom sees him as an innocent victim who couldn’t possibly have planned any of this. Chace sees him as a spoiled rich kid trying to swindle his granddad. Neither one of them has the complete truth.

Next we get into some episodes that are certainly not bad, but their greatness is more on the level of some bangin’ individual scenes than a whole package.

8. John, Chapter 11 (episode 6)

Again, this isn’t a bad episode. The main reason I put it near the end of the list is that the first time through I got sort of impatient during the first half. We, the audience, by virtue of our extra-textual knowledge, know that Paul can’t be dead, and we spend about half the episode before we know what really happened to him, which felt a bit too long to me.

This episode does have some fantastic individual scenes including: Leo talking Primo down in the farmhouse, Leo and Paul’s conversation about Angelo’s death, Gail being an absolute badass, and the meeting between Salvatore and Old Paul. A lot of these scenes are essential on a thematic level, but I don’t think the episode as a whole is the most streamlined.

7. Consequences (episode 10)

I debated for a while where to put this episode because the overall feeling of 57 Chekov’s guns going off in the space of one episode is SO satisfying, and the resolutions of some of the individual plotlines are delicious. Ultimately I would have liked more space for Paul and Gail and less Old Paul being grumpy about his substitute child museum’s mediocrity (although the scene with the bad reviews is hilarious). Once again I feel like the show creators felt they had to pull the focus back to Old Paul to wrap things up and I just. don’t care.

That being said. The resolution of Primo’s storyline? SO SATISFYING. And tbh I don’t dislike the scenes that exist with Paul and Gail; even the happy scenes have this poignant tone to them. I think they were trying to deal with the fact that his irl story is just...incredibly fucking tragic, and you can see a bit of the strain showing.

6. Kodachrome (episode 7)

I know episode 7 is not one of your personal favorites, but it’s the one where I think jumping between multiple plotlines/sets of characters is used to the most satisfying dramatic effect. It has this sense of dramatic irony that feels like some Shakespearean family tragedy. The whole episode, we are hoping that Paul Jr. will finally do the thing we want him to do, which is stand up to his father. And he does it--but at the absolute worst, most selfish and destructive moment possible.

Paul Jr. may be the literal worst, but I do have compassion for him in the flashbacks, mostly because it seems painfully apparent that no matter what he does, he will never be able to please his father. But he doesn’t seem to realize this, and he keeps trying, even as it’s destroying him and his relationship with his family. Credit to Michael Esper for his performance for making me feel a smidgen of compassion for this bastard.

I think the other thing this episode shows is how both of Paul’s parents keep putting him, a child, into roles and circumstances that he shouldn’t really be in. He’s wandering around through what seem like very much adult environments with his dad and Talitha in Morocco. In the Trust version of events he’s there when Talitha ODs and is the one trying to revive her while his dad is having a breakdown in the corner. Gail seems like the more responsible parent but there’s something about her bringing Paul as her “date” on a night out, and the understanding that this is a thing that happens regularly...to me the disturbing part is not so much bringing a young kid to a party with adults but the unspoken expectation that Little Paul will fill the void of companionship that his father has left empty. (Gettys expecting Little Paul to step in to cover for the failings of his father is a repeated theme, and it even plays into the ear thing. His family has failed to pay the ransom, so this is now a problem he has to solve himself.) Combine this all with Leonardo going, um, excuse me but what the actual fuck is wrong with your family? and I think it makes a very effective episode. And the last couple minutes had me yelling NOOOOOOOO GODDAMMIT because you can see what’s going to happen and you’re just watching it unfolding like a car wreck. Also has one of my hands-down favorite scenes, of Paul and Primo in the car waiting for the ransom.

5. White Car in a Snowstorm (episode 9)

The ~ D R A M A !!! ~ This episode is an opera. I mean this whole show is dramatique but episode 9 really leans into the vivid imagery--that snowy highway in the mountains above the sea, the all-white ransom exchange, Paul clinging to the pole at the shuttered Getty gas station, some Very Serious Mobsters throwing the ransom money around like idiots in a moment where you’re encouraged to be happy along with them.

This is also one of my favorite episodes for Primo and for Primo and Paul’s weird sometimes-alliance. Primo walking away from Salvatore to go tell Paul “they always pay in the end”? Primo and Paul teaming up to argue with Salvatore about why Paul shouldn’t die? Primo being all threateny to the doctor treating Paul because somewhere deep down he is worried (that’s my take and you’ll never convince me otherwise)? Primo dressing up to fake-scab on a postal strike in order to find a misplaced severed ear? All gold.

Fun fact: the letter Gail writes to President Nixon did happen in real life, but as far as I can tell the phone call did not. The real details of who convinced Old Paul to finally pay (some) of the ransom are considerably less cinematic. They’re the same amount of sexist though!

Ok now we are getting to the top tier...

4. That’s All Folks! (episode 4)

This is definitely the episode that took me from “ok this is fun” to “oh holy shit I’m invested now.” It’s the episode where we get introduced to most of the Calabrian characters and their world. It’s also the episode where we start to realize that Primo is not just a fun antagonist but is really a parallel protagonist to Little Paul, with his own set of relationships and motivations that we start to see from his POV. (I’d argue that, with the exception of his very first scene, we’ve mostly seen Primo through other characters’ gaze up until episode 4, and this is the point where we start watching him as like, the character whose pursuit of a goal we’re following over the course of the scene.)

This episode ranks high for capturing so much of the weird mix of tones that makes Trust work. It can be very funny. (I never fail to fuckin lose it when Fifty is on the phone with Gail the first time and when he’s talking to the thoroughly unimpressed newspaper switchboard operator.) It has this weird unexpected intimacy between characters you wouldn’t think would connect with each other. (Primo and Paul, Paul and Angelo; in retrospect the arc of the relationship between Primo and Leo gets started in that scene in Salvatore’s kitchen.) And it has one of the show’s absolute best record-scratch tone shifts when Primo gets the ransom offer. I remember saying “oh FUCK” out loud the first time I watched the end of that episode, when Primo comes back to the house, visibly drunk and clearly furious. We’ve seen him be violent plenty before now in the show, but always in a controlled, calculated way. This is the first time we see his potential for out-of-control rage-fueled violence and he’s terrifying!

3. La Dolce Vita (episode 3)

I stand by my claim that this episode (with a few minor continuity adjustments) should have been the pilot. Can you imagine a title card that’s like “Rome 1973” and then away we go with Paul snorting coke and taking racy photos and jumping on cops and fucking his girlfriend in what is definitely not proper museum etiquette, and then the smash cut to Primo intimidating and robbing and murdering people? And that’s the opening of the whole show? And you’re like how are these characters connected and then they meet each other and it’s the fucking sunflower field scene??

Anyway aside from the fact that I think knowing the information in this episode would have made episodes 1 and 2 more interesting...it’s just a great fucking episode. It’s kinetic and propulsive and funny and tense and violent and features Primo’s sniper skills and his ass in those cornflower blue trousers. I rest my case.

2. Silenzio (episode 5)

I’ll be honest, I went back and forth on the top two a bunch. Silenzio is definitely my personal favorite episode, and I’d argue that it’s the best written, in terms of what it accomplishes narratively, which is to keep you emotionally invested in both Paul and Angelo trying to escape with their lives, and Primo and Leonardo hunting them down. That’s so fucking hard!! And yes some of it is great acting but it starts from the foundation of the writing. It’s just such a perfect little self-contained horror movie, and it has this profound sense of fatalism to it, because you know from the beginning (if only by virtue of only being halfway through the series) that Paul is not going to escape, and you sort of know that there is only one way this will end for Angelo. And yet they escape by the skin of their teeth so! many! times!

It’s also the episode where you see how much power the ‘Ndrangheta has over people’s lives in this community: Salvatore is like God, calling his servants to him with the church bells. Combine that with the visuals of two characters running for their lives mostly on foot through this unforgiving landscape, and you really get the sense of this environment as a harsh place where most people have a very constrained set of choices, and the claustrophobia of that. You get the sense in this episode that everyone is trapped in these expectations of violence and duty and honor. Angelo did what anyone with compassion would do, and saved Paul from what seemed like certain death, and he’s doomed for it. At the same time Primo is doing exactly what anyone would expect him to do in response to a subordinate who disobeyed him. In some ways the end of the episode feels inevitable, unsurprising, and yet they do SUCH a good job of winding up the tension until the literal last seconds of the episode, and then releasing it with a big dramatic bang. It’s so good!!

1. In the Name of the Father (episode 8)

Ok I’ll be honest the ONLY reason In the Name of the Father edged out Silenzio for the top spot is that it is really clear they pulled out all the stops in terms of making this episode feel extra heightened in a show where everything is already heightened. Like, the cinematography is different? They still use handheld a lot but I swear there are more still shots and more extreme, editorial camera angles like that shot of Francesco looking upward in church where the camera is looking down from above him. I can’t tell if they actually tweaked the color grading or if the bright white and blood red just stand out against the Calabrian color palette which is mostly earth tones, browns and greens and blues.

There are just. So many layers to this episode. The imagery! The literal sacrificial lamb at the beginning, Francesco being guided by Leonardo through an act of violence against an animal, something that I’m sure they don’t even see as violence but just part of farm life, part of survival and in this case part of a celebration, but something that fathers teach their sons how to do as part of becoming a man in this world. Paul as the metaphorical sacrificial lamb later, drawing parallels to Jesus (the lamb of God), Isaac (a father sacrificing his son), any number of martyred saints, pick your Catholic imagery. The blood of the lamb on the tree stump and Paul’s blood on the stone. The communion wafer (the body and blood of Christ) and Francesco at the end with Paul’s blood and a literal piece of his body held in his hands the same way.

And then there is like, the suspense of watching everyone marking time through the steps of this community ritual that’s supposed to be a joyful, communal celebration, while we know that there is a secret ticking away under the surface. The slow unfolding of the lie told to one person spreading to everyone in the village, and then the knowledge that Salvatore knows spreading to all the people who’ll be in trouble for that. The relationship arcs between the main Calabrian characters...not resolving, but sliding into place for the final act. Primo finally being done with Salvatore. Primo and Leo’s alliance being cemented and Leo physically stepping between Primo and Salvatore, to protect Primo. (No one ever protects Primo!! Still not over it!!!!) The confirmation celebration as a mirror of the Getty party in episode 1, the parallels drawn between the 3 Pauls and Salvatore-Primo-Francesco and how Primo reacts to being passed over as heir vs. how Paul Jr. reacts. Little Paul having two whole minutes of screen time and managing to break your heart with them. Regina! Just...Regina’s whole everything. The music going all-instrumental for an episode and having this haunting, dreamlike but still tense quality to it. And the fact that we never cut away from Calabria to another plotline gives the whole episode this hypnotic, all-encompassing quality. It’s just. SO GOOD!!!!