#hal what exactly is that supposed to mean

[ferrouswheel11]

excuse me???

[ryzanecrow]

Danny and Billy are hanging out after a justice league meeting and decide to play lethal company after tucker told danny about it

justice league members are concerned about the supposed monsters that they've been fighting on their free time, like is this a threat???

jon pestered damian to play lethal company with him in exchange for telling him what kryptos favorite treat is

jon and damian stay at the watchtower for a while and come across danny and billy talking about lethal company

Damian: Batson, I demand you let us join your game

Billy: HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM

Damian: I know who everyone is

Damian: hmm i wonder why batson is so comfortable around a dead ghost that's supposedly been around for ages and should realize all his lies

now its the four of them saying concerning stuff ab fighting monsters and what do you mean jon got eaten by a massive forest giant twice

batman and superman know exactly whats going on and just sigh and warn them not to get into trouble

bonus:

damian and jon are telling the other two about that one time they went to space to fight a giant starfish, and hal, being off world at the time, is like, haha thats the game that superman told me you guys were playing right?

damian and jon: ???

jarro, being carried in damian's arms: no...? they went to space to beat up my evil space dad

[halcyone-of-the-sea]

Wow! As the header says, my blog just went past 5k followers - I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who hopped on for this journey; I'm having the time of my life sharing my writing with you all.

In celebration and as a way to have a little fun - I'll be opening my inbox for a day and letting those who want to send in something fill it up!

Now, I know you're probably asking yourself 'Hal, I thought you said requests are going to be closed so you can finish the ones you have and work on the AUs?' And you'd be correct - I did say that. I'm not going to be writing full-length works for this event.

To anyone who sends something in (and follows the rules I have in place on my Request Form (be sure to check it even if you've already read it, I added some more characters and other stuff)) I'll be writing one-to-two page drabbles!

All this being said, after this post is uploaded I'll be opening my inbox up to anyone who would want to participate and closing it exactly one day after!

Thank you again for being the best community ever - I'm incredibly lucky to be surrounded by kind and respectful individuals as well as mutuals who are mind-numbingly sweet. I could not have achieved all of this without you; I think that's beautiful.

This post will also serve as the Masterlist for all of the expected drabbles, so if you'd like to keep updated on what's going to be happening/being written soon, this would be a good place to hang out!

ALL COMPLETED AS OF 11/5/2023

IMAGES USED: A black retriever in an extensive mountainous landscape by Maud Earl & L'angelo, la morte e il diavolo by Roberto Ferri || TOTAL: 5

➣The Perfect One

╰┈➤ ❝ [He stares at the rings under the glass with an acute narrowness to his eyes. He inspects every one as if a bomb might go off at any second, not missing a single detail in the metal.] ❞

➣Get In

╰┈➤ ❝ [Coming home with bruises and stitched wounds, you drag him into the bathroom to wash away the memories.] ❞

➣Hum Me A Tune, Blue-Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [You listen to his heartbeat as he keeps you to his chest, his breath tickling your hair.] ❞

➣Here Now

╰┈➤ ❝ [He nearly misses one of the most important moments of your lives together.] ❞

➣Burst Veins

╰┈➤ ❝ [He never noticed you weren't behind him.] ❞

IMAGES USED:  Fallen Angel by Roberto Ferri & Nature of Fear by Nicola Samori || TOTAL: 5

➣Nervous Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [No one understands how you two get along - not when you're so different. It makes you second-guess yourself. He notices.] ❞

➣Blood Like Obsidian

╰┈➤ ❝ [Simon can only fight against so many nurses as they shove him back from your operation room.] ❞

➣Supposed To Happen

╰┈➤ ❝ [You died and left him a child he had no idea existed. How can he even begin to try and understand?] ❞

➣Digging Gaze

╰┈➤ ❝ [You indulge in a one-night-stand after you'd both called it quits, only, it leads to more problems. When he sees you again, how will he react to the swelling of your stomach?] ❞

➣Sole Survivor

╰┈➤ ❝ [Your father died years ago, and so you fall under the stiff, and unyielding, protection of your Uncle Simon. But it's not all bad. He can be funny when he wants to be.] ❞

IMAGES USED: White and Black by Vadim Gorbatov & Saint Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne || TOTAL: 7

➣Didn't Mean It

╰┈➤ ❝ [Arguments are rare, certainly ones that leave you in tears.] ❞

➣Him, Her, and the Dog

╰┈➤ ❝ [The woes of pining after a woman whose deadly K9 looks like it hates his guts.] ❞

➣Drunken Sappiness

╰┈➤ ❝ [You can't say you've ever had a boyfriend as perfect as Kyle.] ❞

➣How Do You Listen To That?

╰┈➤ ❝ [It was three a.m. when you all got the call to load up, but what's the best way to wake both yourself and the Sergeant up?] ❞

➣Finally Broken

╰┈➤ ❝ [Childhood friends turned lovers. The realization was far more violent and instantaneous than you'd like to admit.] ❞

➣Don't Look At Her

╰┈➤ ❝ [The bomb starts ticking down, rapidly firing to zero. Gaz won't let Price near you. Not after he'd remembered the Captain's actions when they'd first met.] ❞

➣In His Head

╰┈➤ ❝ [Collection of his SFW and NSFW quirks.] ❞

IMAGES USED: Scene from the Great Flood by Joseph-Désiré Court & Saint Jerome in Prayer by Carlo Dolci || TOTAL: 7

➣Life Snaps By In Flashes

╰┈➤ ❝ [A collection of memories from the second he laid eyes on you. All flashing past in the soft buzzing of the overhead lights.] ❞

➣Heart-Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [Being a medic wasn't pretty, but when your boyfriend was the subject under your needle you can't help but enjoy his unwavering gaze. Today, he has something to share with you.] ❞

➣From Ten To Twenty & Beyond

╰┈➤ ❝ [You've known him ever since the incident on the playground, and now you can't help but imagine that same boy as you watch him make supper with flour in his hair.] ❞

➣Find Me

╰┈➤ ❝ [You're finally back in One-Four-One's hands, but that doesn't mean you're saved. Johnny tracks you down after a violent episode.] ❞

➣Still The Same Fools

╰┈➤ ❝ [There was always a rivalry between you two - that hasn't changed even if both of you have. Years later, the boiling point is finally met.] ❞

➣Is This Why?

╰┈➤ ❝ [He finally sees why you never introduced him to your parents.] ❞

➣Oblivious Pining

╰┈➤ ❝ [Johnny hangs off you like a silent beast. Not that you would notice, of course.] ❞

IMAGES USED: King Gustav III of Sweden and His Brothers by Alexander Roslin & Geography lesson by Eduard Karl Gustav Lebrecht Pistorius || TOTAL: 6

KEEGAN P. RUSS:

➣Paint The Dawn; Paint My Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [In the midst of war and death, there's little time for pleasure. All you had was a ripped-up sketchbook to call your own, its contents littered with the rough face of your comrade.] ❞

➣Hold Her Close

╰┈➤ ❝ [Keegan cares for his young daughter.] ❞

➣When The Fighting Stops & The Silence Sets In

╰┈➤ ❝ [Continuation of (Don't) Go To War: the aftermath of recovery and a budding relationship.] ❞

➣Movies and Stale Popcorn

╰┈➤ ❝ [Oak and Keegan finally get to watch that movie.] ❞

DAVID 'HESH' WALKER:

➣To The Boy of My Childhood

╰┈➤ ❝ [Ten years came and went fast, but the memory of the Walker boys stayed. One more than the other. You never got to tell him you loved him.] ❞

➣Keep The Sheets Warm, My Love Is Coming Home

╰┈➤ ❝ [If this wasn't enough to prove that you were the only person for Hesh, you didn't know what did.] ❞

IMAGES USED: Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Caravaggio & Amor Vincit Omnia by Caravaggio || TOTAL: 17

CAPTAIN JOHN 'SOAP' MACTAVISH:

➣New Paint

╰┈➤ ❝ [Fighting to forget you, MacTavish finds comfort in whoever he can. Yet, like the layers of paint on the walls, it always peels back to you.] ❞

➣A Song of Gnashing Teeth

╰┈➤ ❝ [There was never a day where the two of you weren't butting heads - everyone was at their wit's end. Of course, you would both be forced to cooperate at some point.] ❞

➣Listen To My Voice

╰┈➤ ❝ [He orders you to focus on him as the sounds outside the cell get closer. He promises nothing will happen to you. You know he's lying.] ❞

➣Look At The Stars; Look At Me

╰┈➤ ❝ [Stargazing in the middle of an overgrown and wild glade.] ❞

➣Alive and Breathing

╰┈➤ ❝ [You're sick. Very sick. John takes drastic action.] ❞

➣I Can See It In Your Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [It's finally time to meet the family.] ❞

➣A Green-Eyed Monster

╰┈➤ ❝ [You'd slept together, sure. No strings attached. Then why are you trying to make him jealous? Who cares, the point is that it's working.] ❞

SERGEANT GARY 'ROACH' SANDERSON:

➣Dance With Me Before The Chill Sets In

╰┈➤ ❝ [Tired? Yes, but he's never too tired for you and your loveliness. But maybe you need to remember to lock the door when you're home alone.] ❞

➣Raining Cats and Dogs

╰┈➤ ❝ [Roach has a deep love of storms.] ❞

OPERATION OFFICER ALEX KELLER:

➣Bright-Eyed History Lesson

╰┈➤ ❝ [A librarian with a fascination for war history and a soldier who loves how her eyes light up. Like a dog, he can't stop himself from coming back; smiling like a fool.] ❞

COLONEL ALEJANDRO VARGAS:

➣Hold Me Longer

╰┈➤ ❝ [Mornings spent in the sanctity of warm sunlight and bare skin.] ❞

SERGEANT MAJOR RODOLFO 'RUDY' PARRA:

➣A Love Like Ours Makes Us Strong

╰┈➤ ❝ [Rodolfo came back, alive but bruised. How do you explain how terrified you were?] ❞

COMMANDER PHILLIP GRAVES:

➣Sleeping On The Porch

╰┈➤ ❝ [As it turns out, your husband never really died. It's safe to say you're not overjoyed.] ❞

➣Love Echoes In Silence

╰┈➤ ❝ [You can feel him watching you, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a small smile. Humming to yourself, you listen to the birds outside the window.] ❞

SEBASTIAN JOSEF KRUEGER:

➣Ain't Giving Up My Pride

╰┈➤ ❝ [You get on his nerves, partially because you want to. But what happens when he finally snaps?] ❞

ALL 141 INCLUDED (SEPARATE):

➣Count The Hours

╰┈➤ ❝ [Collection of what the One-Four-One do on their down-hours with their Lovers] ❞

➣Wide-Eyed Panic

╰┈➤ ❝ [Why were you behind the couch?] ❞

[minnesota-fats]

He’s a Spectre

DCxDP ficlet

Hal Jordan POV

I also posted this on my Ao3, go take a look at it if you are interested. IDK if i will continue this….

Enjoy!

A humanoid shape floated out in a green void, motionless and still. Feelings of longing and regret sat in his chest as he listened to the entity in his head, tell him about what he was brought back to do. The man, he thought he was a man anyway, felt both new and old. Both here and not, like he wasn’t supposed to be but was. It was all confusing.

The man looked down at himself, he clenched and unclenched his gloved fists. A ring sat over top the white fabric, glowing ever so slightly. A symbol on his chest burned, literal flames licked off the edges of the symbol. It felt familiar yet he couldn't grasp what it was supposed to be, what it was supposed to mean.

”Jordan, are you listening?” The voice asked, bringing the man back to what was happening.

“Is that my name?” He asked, pretty good for his first words.

“Harald Jordan, former air force captain and green lantern of earth. That is your name.”

”That's a mouthful,” Harald said instinctively. He smiled, “would Hal just work?” He didn't know where that came from but it sounded like it fit.

The voice seemed to sigh, making the man smile a bit. “Hal Jordan, you have been chosen as my host. In the past my hosts helped me in my quest of vengeance and in exchange all have gained forgiveness and are able to move on. It has been a long while since my last host.”

“Forgiveness? What did I do?” Hal asked, finally gaining feeling in his cold fingertips.

“you had murdered your brothers in arms while possessed by the parasite, Parallax. In the end you were able to fight back against the parasite and use the last of your power, righting most of your wrongs. You threw yourself into the sun as a final act.”

Hal didn't speak for a long time, only floated through the green space around him, passing floating islands as he went.

”You don't sugar coat anything, do you?” Hal asked, voice sounding choked up. “Where are we now?”

“The Infinite Realms, the space between dimensions.”

“Oh, alright,” Hal mumbled. “What now?”

After that day Hal continued the mission given to previous Spectre’s. However, through willpower, the mission of revenge turned to a path of redemption.

-

The Spectre flew through the chaos of the realms with a practiced ease, he didn't know how long it had been since he had become. Began? Time was odd, it all tended to blur past him in a haze. Hal knew he was never that good at keeping track of it. Which was something that he had to learn to adapt to, having memories that felt faded and hazy. He was Hal Jordan; former Green Lantern. Yet he couldn't exactly place what that means. Who was Hal Jordan? Was he a good man? Did he deserve redemption? Hal was unsure, though from the foggy memories he did remember he had a home. He had friends. He had a family.

And then he lost that home, he lost his family and he killed his friends after being driven mad. But somewhere between those memories he can see glimpses of another man, dressed in black, wearing a familiar scowl. Whether it was holding Hal in his arms, arguing with him, or simply sharing a rare smile directed at Hal after he did something the other found endearing. These memories hint at a connection that transcended the darkness that consumed Hal. Despite everything, Hal Jordan was loved—truly, deeply loved.

The Spectre was pulled from his thoughts as he felt a pull towards something ahead of him, something that required his involvement. He flew forward following the tug that Aztar told him to follow.

He followed the pull to the mortal realm, to a small town in Illinois. Hal allowed his ethereal form to fall away, donning a more human guise. The green cloak morphed into a bomber jacket—warm, comforting, and strangely familiar. It reminded him of something—or someone—from a life that felt like a distant dream. As he walked down the street, blending in seamlessly, the passersby paid him no mind.

Hal continued to follow pull until he found himself standing in a crowd, looking up to the steps of what looked like a town hall. The people around him were focused on a man standing at a podium, delivering a speech with a commanding presence. The speaker had long silver hair, neatly tied back in a ponytail, and a well-groomed beard that added to his distinguished air. He was tall, broad, and had a lean waist. He carried himself with the confidence of someone used to being in control.

As Hal's eyes locked onto the man, Aztar’s voice told him who this man was—Vladimir Masters. The man was known both in the living realm as well as the infinite. He was a halfa, a rare creature that skirted the line between living and dead. But unlike most undead, was able to blend in seamlessly.

Aztar told him that he should just drag Vladimir to hell where he belonged, there was no reasoning with a ghost. Hal rolled his eyes and just listened to what the man was saying. The mention of ghosts caught Hal off guard. that's not right? Ghosts? Unsupervised in the mortal realm? And all these people seemed to not bat an eye at his words. Odd. But that didn't matter—Vlad was someone he was sent to deal with, so he is going to deal with him.

Hal watched as the crowd thinned, many people lingering to talk to each other like how most people in small towns do. Hal found himself smiling as he began to walk forward toward the man, standing amidst what might have been his friends if it weren’t. Hal noticed the cold glare Vladimir directed at the larger man in the orange jumpsuit, who seemed wholly unaware of the Halfa’s dameenor.

As Hal approached, something caught his attention—a teen, no older than fourteen. He had been glaring at Vladimir when a puff of mist erupted from his lips, causing him to tense and look around. Interesting. Hal’s interest was piqued, but he kept his focus on Vladimir.

Hal reached out his hand to Vladimir and smiled, “Vladimir Masters, right? I’m Hal Jordan,” he says happily.

Vladimir put on a fake smile and reached out for Hal’s hand, “please, Vlad is just fine, what can I do for you?” Vlad asked, shaking Hal’s hand twice before releasing it.

Hal could feel the man's power as soon as he touched his hand. The slimy intentions wriggled around like leeches just underneath his skin. Hal could also feel the man’s hurt, his longing and how he had died cold and alone.

Hal pulled away, still smiling, “Oh, Just thought I would introduce myself, is all. I'm new to town and thought I would try and make some friends. and who are you big guy?” He asked, turning to look at the large man who practically vibrated like he was a small puppy when promised a treat.

The kid, now directed his glare at Hal as the large man walked forward to shake Hal’s hand. The man closed the distance and shook Hal's hand violently, a pure smile of joy plastered onto his face.

“I’m Jack Fenton!” the man declared with a laugh, Hal took it in strides, laughing with the man as he talked.

He pulled a short redheaded woman into his side. “This is my wife, Maddie,” he said proudly. Maddie gave a pointed look at Vladimir as soon as Jack said wife.

Next, the younger redhead introduced herself as Jasmine, their daughter, with a polite nod. Finally, the black-haired boy with furrowed brows, Danny, stood silently, his glare unwavering.

Hal reached out his hand to Danny, the teen glared at him for a moment until his mom scolded him and told him to be polite. Reluctantly, Danny took Hal’s hand, glaring still.

The moment their hands touched Hal could feel the power that buzzed behind the teen’s eyes. He could also see the pain and the anguish he had been experiencing, not only because of the silver haired man but from his parents as well. Hal also sensed the trauma of a death, this boy died screaming as his flesh melted away in a blaze….

Hal felt queasy, he forced himself to continue his easy going smile. Hal turned his attention back to the adults, now assessing the other two as well.

[rey-jake-therapist]

The moment when I began to think that Hal and Gal had something off screen (not in a serious way, no worries) in 1x08 when Halbrand came out of his chambers, barefoot and in pyjamas, he heard a some noise and the first thing he said was "Galadriel?" like he thought it was her, but it was just Brimby. I mean Gal obviously visited him often while he was recovering and he was waiting for her or something.

I still think it's possible that something happened off screen tbh. I don't think he spent a lot of time recovering, since Celebrimbor was surprised to see him going out of his room so soon ; Sauron probably didn't spend as much time in recovery as we was supposed to.

But Gil-Galad gave them three weeks, which appeared to be too short according to Celebrimbor... Meaning it's probably what it took to find the solution to their problem. Elrond confirmed that in season 2 when he said that Celebrimbor and Halbrand worked together in the forge "for weeks".

Galadriel became suspiscious of Halbrand as soon as she heard Celebrimbor mention "the power over flesh", but how did it translate exactly ? That we don't know. Did she keep her distance with him? Probably not, he would have felt something wrong and would have probably not seemed so happy while working with Celebrimbor. So how were Galadriel and Sauron, together, when on a break ? Did they get to spend time alone ? Did Sauron act flirtatious again, like he did here ?

So much we don't know.....

[nocaptainonthisship]

Something Blue

"Hal, seriously, what the fuck?"  Even whispered, the words reverberated oddly in the little anteroom. Too much emphasis on the consonants, sharp and crisp the way she'd been taught. Even spitting mad, Galadriel’s elocution lessons lingered. 

"What?" He always garbled his T's, the letter half gone and half transformed into a D until half the time she couldn't understand what he'd meant to say at all. This one was clear, though, wide-eyed, playful innocence on his face. He knew what he'd done, no matter the confusion he feigned. 

"Keep your voice down. The photographer is right out there.” She bit her lip sharply and tried to follow her own advice. “We talked about this. Months ago." 

"You're gonna have to remind me, baby." 

"A black suit is not traditional. It's not appropriate! This isn't the funeral portion of Four Weddings and A Funeral."

In the tight space, standing so close, he had to tilt his head down to give her a full once over, as if his jaw hadn't hit the floor when she walked into the room five minutes ago. Well, they'd both been speechless, if for entirely different reasons. 

"Is this 'traditional', then?" he scoffed.

"Pardon me?!"

"Gal, you look like the girl from Little House on the Prairie.”

On a different day, she might linger on the way his accent grew thicker towards the end, as if the mere mention of the prairie called him to his childhood home. A different day. Not today. She would not be charmed by him today. 

"You want to insult my dress right now?"

"I was trying to pay you a compliment. You're the one being insulting." 

"I *told you*, Hal. I don't care that you're thirty-two and still clinging to vestiges of your woe-begotten youth." Woe-begotten he mouthed, lips quirked up at the corners. "You know what I mean." 

He did, he always did. The same way he knew when she said woe-begotten, what she really meant was working class and with an affiliation for punk rock and goth and all the dark and dirty aesthetics implied therein.

"You promised me you wouldn't wear all black, just for one day. I love you, exactly as you, but just one day so my mother doesn’t freeze me out." She'd been reduced to whining and wheedling now, and it wouldn't be long before the frustration bled into tears. Nothing had been going according to plan, none of it was the way she thought it would be. Earwen had commandeered and countermanded every decision she could until it barely felt like Galadriel’s day at all. She hadn’t even brought her mother to the dress shop with her, hoping that the clothes, at least, would be them and nothing else. Her eyes started to sting. "I told you about the blue, right? I gave Mel a swatch, she said she’d take it with her to get your suit, she... You promised me."

"Hey, hey, it's ok. Have I ever broken a promise to you before?" Galadriel sniffed before shaking her head. "Right. So before you come for my head, can I show you something?”

He stepped back as far as the limited space in the glorified closet would allow and unbuttoned his suit jacket. The trousers, it turned out, weren't nearly as baggy as they'd seemed at first glance. Yes, they weren't as close-fitted as was trendy, but the wider leg suited him, counterbalancing the lankiness that made his mother call him 'string bean' even to this day. The jacket, that sea of black which had first made her see red, opened and Galadriel had to blink a dozen times a minute so her tears wouldn’t spill and send streaks of mascara down her perfectly made up face. 

The lining of his suit, which the tradition she'd tried and failed to insist on would have favored a darker fabric, was a soft, baby blue. It matched her dress, almost too perfectly. Except for the places where tiny black words walked across the fabric. 

Without conscious thought, her hand reached out to touch it. "What is this?" she asked, unable to do more than whisper. The whole thing had rather stolen her breath away.

"Emails," he said, as if she was just supposed to know what that meant. She did know what that meant. Hundreds of emails across hundreds of days after he'd finished his exchange year at Oxford and she hadn't yet found the courage to transfer to Columbia.

Hundreds of times they'd said "I love you," without ever saying the words. Both too self-assured, too self-reliant, too stupid to take a chance on being happy if it meant budging an inch. Galadriel had been the first to cave, filling out her transfer application in secret. Halbrand, of course, was the one to assign true meaning to it, a pizza box sitting on the floor between them as they laughed and caught up. He'd said "I love you" - out loud and on purpose. 

Galadriel blinked the tears from her eyes. It was such a blatant display of unadulterated affection, sickly sweet and so thoroughly American of him, she vowed then and there never to mention this to her father or uncles, lest it be the subject of drawing room ribbing for the rest of their lives. 

Privately, she’d cherish this forever. She’d frame it, if she could. “Halbrand,” she said, her voice shaky, watery. 

“There’s one more thing.” He had that gleam in his eye, mischievous, secretive, up-to-no-good in a familiar way guaranteed to make her smile. He tugged his shirt from the front of his trousers, but before she had a chance to process the way her mouth went dry at the sight of the dark hair dusting his abs, he tugged up the waistband of his pants. 

Silky soft, baby blue. 

“Now, if you’re done yelling at me and blubbering at me-” he hunched down then so they were at eye level, so she could see him eager, patient, kinder than she deserved after yelling at him in a supply closet, and just the tiniest bit lascivious - “maybe can we go take these photos and finally get married.”

She’d tell him later, that the boxer briefs he wore were a perfect match for the lingerie set his sister Mel had gifted at Galadriel’s hen do. A set she now wore under several layers of tulle. 

Maybe she’d just show him. 

🩵

For @justatinycollector and @stitchingatthecircuitboard

[flashfuture]

Also I'm not sure how familiar people are with this issue but

The Flash vol 1 #168 "One of Our Green Lanterns is Missing!"

It's a real good one. It gives a historical precedent for the Guardians trusting Barry.

For context 1967 and Barry and Iris have recently been married and moved in together.

(The Flash vol 1 #168)

"While you're at headquarters see if there's been any word from Hal Jordan! He might have reached town this evening and left a message there for you !"

"Thoughtful of Iris! She knows I've been worried about Hal ! We received a letter from him last week saying he was on his way to Central City to visit Iris and me in our new house..."

"But since then there's been no sign of him ! And that's not like Hal-- To act in such a manner !" But I suppose his duties as Green Lantern-- which Iris knows nothing about-- intervened! At least I hope that's the reason ! ... Either I'm having an hallucaination-- or I'm looking at one of the Guardians of the Universe Hal told me about !"

"I am one of the Guardians, Barry Allen-- seeking Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of this sector of the cosmos!"

So Barry and Iris are incredibly worried about where Hal could be at since he said he was going to visit them and was a no show. Now one of the Guardians of the universe has popped down to see Barry and ask for his help.

"You mean-- something is wrong? Hal is missing!?"

"Yes ! And his power battery too! In our efforts to regain contact with him, we thought of you! We are aware of course that from time to time you have teamed up with him as The Flash ! My mission is to enlist your aid in finding Hal Jordan!"

So Barry agrees of course to help find Hal and even tells Iris he's too upset about receiving no word from Hal to work tonight.

The next morning Iris is just saying how she thinks it's "strange Barry, that there's still been no word at all from Hal--"

When on the tv they show off a fisherman with who could it be but Hal Jordan. And Iris in shocked starting at the tv says "Barry, get down to the dock-- on the double! What are you waiting for?" And Barry of course runs out faster than on the double to get Hal.

So the Flash hits the docks says Hal Jordan ! And realizes Hal lost his memory and the Fisherman who found Hal is like cool go with the Flash kid

Barry takes Hal back to the hotel he figures he's staying at and finds the Lantern Hal stashed away and tells him in the vaugest most suggestive way possible what they're gonna do.

"Hal, please do exactly as I say-- even though you do not understand! A great deal depends on what we're about to do-- believe me ! But we must do it right ! come-- this way--"

"Why are we kneeling down--?" Great question Hal I love that you do it anyways

"Hal, you must repeat after me exactly what I am about to say..."

In brightest day, in blackest night and well you get the rest. Barry says the Lantern's vow while holding Hal's half up to the lantern and it fixes his memory. Hal gets dressed Barry lounges on the back of a chair.

"Green Lantern, it may take the two of us to handle the super-crime! How about joining me?"

"If you didn't ask, Flash-- I'd insist!"

So they go beat up the bad guys Kabam

And then Hal takes Iris and Barry out onto the boat to show them how to fish. And The Guardians are pleased The Flash was successful and clearly know they can rely on him again in the future.

"Green Lantern, don't run out on me! Without you I'm helpless against these super-armed crooks!"

I'd also just like the point out this click bait dramatic ass break up style cover. Absolutely not what happened in the issue it's really good

[imasradiantasthesun]

District 12 Family Trees

Here are some family trees I made for my thg fic holding bright! I include a good amount of worldbuilding and fleshing out of some side characters (aka Bristel, Thom, Leevy, and Delly) in it, so I thought hey might as well draw some trees to help clarify my thinking. First, some notes on the structure:

The numbers in brackets are the characters' ages at the time of the Reaping for the 74th Hunger Games. I didn't feel like assigning specific birthdays for everyone, hence just the ages lol. Some characters' ages differ from canon in my fic: Katniss, Peeta, Delly, and Madge are all 18, Prim is 13, and Rory is 12

My use of "clan" here is super arbitrary, it doesn't actually mean anything lol

Names in quotation marks are nicknames/what they go by

Plenty of people in the older generations are dead, again I just didn't feel like specifying it unless it's relevant

Some notes on my decision-making in general:

I accidentally made Katniss and Peeta's maternal grandmothers have the same maiden names please ignore that lmao they are NOT related closely At All, it's a normal amount of distance lol

Ashwin is supposed to be older than Jubilee, not younger!! and Carson is supposed to be younger than River and Rylee (who are twins)!!!

Some of the names chosen for some Seam characters are Indian names, because I headcanon that people from the Seam can be a mix of a ton of different stuff, including South Asian

The idea that Mrs Everdeen's first name is Alyssum (Alys for short) comes from Mejhiren's fic When the Moon Fell in Love with the Sun

I continued the bread theme for Mellark names lol. Mr Mellark's first name is Nick, from pumpernickel. I also once read a fic where Peeta is of Jewish descent, which I really liked, so some of the breads are of Jewish origin: Hal is from challah (which can also be written as hallah), and Bab is from babka

In Holding Bright (which is an au, hence the variety of small changes I have made to canon lol) the Reaping takes place on June 1st (instead of the canonical July 4th), and it's also canon that the Games start exactly one week after the Reaping, so therefore in HB they always start on June 8th. Therefore, the teenaged deaths set after June 1st -- Glory Salsbury, Maysilee Donner, and Ridge Littlefield -- were all in the Games.

As explained in chapter 9 of Holding Bright, Ezra and Petunia Rainwater started a tradition of giving their kids long ass floral names lol. Their first child was relatively spared, with the name Foxglove, though he still went by Fox; their second child, Devil-in-a-Bush (or just Dev) fell in love with a woman who also just so happened to have a super long floral name, Queen Anne's Lace (though she went by Lace). All of Fox's descendants were spared from this naming tradition, to the point where his daughter, Hazelle, gave all of her children only four-letter names. Meanwhile, Dev's descendants got the longest names ever lmao: Chrysanthemum had five children: Morning Glory, Lily-of-the-Valley (aka Leevy), Stairway to Heaven, May Night Salvia, and Forget-Me-Not.

I have a headcanon that in Town they tend to give their children middle names, while in the Seam they don't (why? I don't know <3). In Town middle names came into use because they wanted to honor loved ones who have passed away, but because of the Games and all that it's considered bad luck to give your child the same first name as a deceased loved one

However, because I'm lazy I only wrote out the middle names for the youngest generation because I didn't want to come up with middle names for every single Merchant character lol

Katniss and Prim have middle names because their mother is from Town. Madge's middle name comes from Maysilee, just like Katniss's

I'm going with the popular headcanon that Katniss is indirectly related to Lucy Gray through Maude Ivory. Katniss's father's name follows the same conventions as those of the Covey (name from a ballad + a color). I had originally planned for people to only really know Mr Everdeen as Jet, hence why the family tree says Gordon Jet "Jet" Everdeen, but I have decided against that!! he went by Gordon Jet!!!

The first part of Mr Everdeen's name comes from the Scottish ballad Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie, in which the protagonist, Jeannie, is in love with a poor man named Auchanachie Gordon. However, despite Jeannie's resistance, she is married off by her parents to the wealthy Lord Salton/Saltoun; Jeannie then dies of a broken heart before Auchanachie Gordon returns and also dies. I thought Gordon is a fitting name, considering that Mrs Everdeen left her life in Town, where the wealthier Mr Mellark was in love with her, to marry the poorer Mr Everdeen

The second part of Mr Everdeen's name, Jet, comes from the color jet black; jet is also a type of coal

Some allusions to another canon character + my minor OCs:

Rooba is the name of the butcher in canon, so here she is Delly's aunt

Madge's maternal grandmother, Magnolia, has the maiden name Blackwell. She is distantly related to Maggie Blackwell, the carpenter's daughter who went missing about a decade ago

Thom’s maternal grandmother, Nomi Goodwin, was originally from Town

Bristel's mother, Juniper, passed away from complications at childbirth

Gale's maternal grandmother, Anika, has the maiden name Reeves. Gale is second cousins with Sparrow Reeves, the female tribute from 12 in the 68th Games who made a lasting impact on her district due to the brutality of her death

River & Rylee Ludlow are the 17-year-old twins who tend to pick on Madge a bit. No wonder they're related to Mrs Mellark...

Mrs Mellark's brother, Noah, died in the Games. Her other brother, Elijah, took over the apothecary shop from the Stewards after Alys ran away to be with Gordon Jet

Ivy Fairweather is the Undersees' housekeeper, usually referred to in HB as Mrs Fairweather. She and her husband probably have a ton of kids, but I just didn't feel like writing them all out lol. Ivy's maiden name is Claymore, which is also the last name of another OC, Hetty Claymore, who mysteriously died; Ivy is Hetty's like second cousin whatever-times-removed or something (aka practically a distant aunt)

[elvesandlanterns]

Helpline part 2 “Why the hell is a child here?” Hall yelled! Constantine rolled his eyes, “Age is relative … tho even by demon standards I assume you’re rather young eh Sheila ?”

The demon pouted, “My name isn’t Sheila, I told you call me Konstelacio!”

“Right my apologies.”

Damian sneered,”Idiot.” Only to have Dick elbow him,”Don’t.”

“Now then! What do you need?” The girl crossed her arms and slowly paced by the edge of the circle.

“Wait wait hold up! What is the Infinite Realms?”

Demon girl kept on examining the circle, “Exactly what it sounds like.”

“What are you?”

“Rude”

“How old are you?”

“Depends”

“I thought this spell was supposed to be random?”

Dick groaned, “Wally-“ Zatanna put her hand up, “Hold on that actually is an important question. Why did you show up?”

The demons face contorted. “Uh because it’s my job?” Her hands coming up to her chest.

“How do you get a job like this Konstelacio ? This doesn’t exactly seem like a safe job for a kid?” Superman pondered.

She shrugged, “Eh, community service.”

The heroes gapped. Hal’s ring shone, “And what exactly does a demon have to do to be sentenced with community service?”

“None of your business!!!” The girl grew flustered shoulders tensing.

“Was it a violent crime?” Batman questioned

“That’s it I’m leaving!” She stepped closer to the middle of the circle “You humans are so rude!!!”

“Wait wait,” Constantine pleaded “I apologize on behalf of my colleagues. They have simply never met anyone as…” weird, different, odd “magnificent as you o great one!”

She hummed, “Oh no! The Great One is my uncle!!!”

Uncle? What did that even mean?!?! John was gonna have a heart attack at this rate.

“Yes well please don’t leave we truly do need your assistance!”

Batman cleared his throat, “We were trying to reach someone to help us with several world ending threats that have appeared.”

“Yes, you said that you were uh a helpline? Could you connect us with someone else?” Superman spoke in a kind tone.

“Well duh” the girl relaxed, “You need to actually talk about the issue tho and what exactly it is you’re looking for these things can be tricky.”

“Tell me about it. ….ow”

Batman continued, “ There seems to be some sort of disease spreading everywhere as well as a monster running rampant.”

“If it’s a magical monster why not have your magic users take care of it?”

“Captain Marvel and Dr Fate are both currently of world. We also think the disease may also be magic in nature.” Superman butted in.

The demons eyes lit up at the mention of the Captain only to turn to stone right after. Interesting thought Damian this might be useful information.

“ Alright then I’ll need as much info on these issues as I can! Tho I already do have a few ideas on who to contact about it!”

“This is the monster,” Aquaman pulled up photos of a blue glowing dragon in a gold amulet on screen. “It first appeared in Atlantis wreaking havoc in it wake as it took over the mainland along the coast of California. Our magicians were in able to harm it at all! One second it was there the next gone.”

“Uuughgghhhh Aragon!”

Necks almost broke looking back at her.

“Oh great you two know each other,” Constantine’s voice began to rise in pitch, “lovely.”

“What is he? My magic barely did anything to him too!” Zatanna asked

“Yeah,” Wally backed her up, “We couldn’t do anything against that thing!”

“He’s not a thing! He is a ghost his name is Arragon!”

Flash paled, “A ghost?? That thing couldn’t be a ghost !”

“That’s it I’m leaving! You are being rude again!”

John ran towards the circle, “Wait wait hold on now..”

“You are all being so rude! We are people! We have sentience Aragon is a person!” Red hot anger flushed her cheeks as her eyes wavered.

Flash went up to the circle, “You’re right you’re right it’s my fault entirely I’m sorry! Konstelacio!” Barry felt awful the young girl reminded him of Wally before the adoption. Sad and joking. Sad and demanding to be seen for what they are.

“Yeah whatever,” she looked away, “what about the illness ?”

“It started around the same time as the mons- as Aragon arrived. The illness seems to be random causing deterioration of the skin and violent outbursts,” Batman threw the file over the ring of the circle, “Here’s more info.”

“Hhhmm I’m going to be honest I don’t understand half of this stuff. You said it might be magic based?”

WonderWoman nodded, “ Yes I use to hear tales of something similar back on Themyscira. Supposedly it is one of the illnesses Pandora released from her box.”

“Well why didn’t you start with that ? I’m sure NanaDora will be happy to help!”

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

considering the state of bullworth (the city), what do you think the state of the country or world is like? do you think bullworth has a unique culture, or is it almost representative of the society outside its perimeters?

i think about what hal esposito said a lot when he and lucky were finding things to watch on the tv. "what? war footage and natural disasters doesn't do it for you?"

considering it is highly likely that the world's condition is very chaotic, how might this affect bullworth and its residents?

hello there!!! ah yes, geography. my beloathed

that's an interesting question of course, yes!! my instinctive thought when first reading this ask was what i always asumed, ie: the news hal and lucky were referring about weren't local but, yknow, american general news. also bc paris from the carnival says something very similar in front of her tv, and we know that the carnival travels, so i wouldn't think of something too different.

however!! let's go by steps there, because thinking about it that's something i never properly expanded upon.

so, first of all: canonically speaking, bullworth is in new england. now, as a non-usamerican, i have very little knowledge of anything about hyperspecific cultures in america, maybe just some west coast zones or south and some midwest.

however!! the fact that there are so many kids of italian certain descent and some other kids with non anglophone last names (kowalski, brakus, luna, karamazov, etc) implies that it is an important destination for migrations. this makes me think of earlly 1900s new york, which would certainly be coherent.

now, a long time ago i found the certain information that bullowrth was supposed to be in new hampshire. however, since i have learned that "trust me bro" is never a good source, i went back to dig some deeper into the whole thing: it still seems to be more or less agreed upon that the state is new hampshire, also because someone noted a striking resemblance of bullworth with the phillips exeter academy. of course maybe it wasn't as explicit and direct as this user puts it, but it is suggestive enough that it would be nice to go with it.

now, first about the culture: we mentioned bullworth being basically a melting pot. this means that it is not only unique, but in fact very diverse, also depending on the zone. for example, i think in new coventry you'll find an especially colorful culture, with people coming from different places and different cultures, everyone holding onto their own but also interacting with their neighbor. you'll find people giving each other giving their best wishes to their neighbor for a festivity they don't even celebrate but know the other does. i mean, maybe you'll have some catholic complaining about the shop being closed just that day, but cue to the stereotypical southern italian wife smacking him behind his head and telling her good friend is home with their family and he mustn't be an annoying jerk (not in so many words, of course).

it is probably quieter the more you get closer to the vale. maybe in town there will be the occasional decoration outside of the house or in a shop, but overall… i'd say that the fundamental sentiment in bullworth is, exactly as the school crest says, canis canem edit. mind your own business and you'll live a hundred years, like an old saying goes. keep a good distance, so they don't hurt you and you don't hurt them.

and in fact, the vale is where this hyperindividualism gets ornated with the hypocrisy of the Good People, some facade to keep so that not only no conflict is created, but any chance and risk of it is perfectly concealed. you have the middle class-bourgeois, christian family who greet their neighbors with a smile and then speculate on all their disgraces as soon as the front door closes. and everything that happens in the family stays in the family, dirty laundry is washed at home.

yeah, overall i'd say. the whole point of bullworth culture is self-sufficiency, it's doing the best of what you have and care thoroughly and not let anyone else touch what's yours.

now, the natural condition of the territory: established that we are on the new hampshire coast, i have tried to dig a bit. i will bring up again something i mentioned earlier: i immediately assumed it was us or global news, but, while it is unfortunately enough to desensitize the general public to military violence, natural forces can be… a bit different.

i will tell a small anecdote about me. i grew up in an extremely seismic area, and by that i mean that we would experience at least a couple waves every some weeks, not strong enough to cause damage but enough to be perceived and do small stuff like making small objects fall off or ceiling lamps shake. and, y'know, it has always been perfectly normal for me, it has happened while i was in class and the worst thing was that i smudged a line on the essay i was writing. but then i moved away for college, and, when in geography we started talking about earthquakes, my professor admitted being scared shitless of seismic waves. my friends got the news of some waves in my native area and asked me how my family was; my mom was like “what do you mean four? i only felt three”

what was that to say? well. in my experience, the general masses are much more moved by natural disasters than by wars. so, in some way, the idea that hal and lucky were at most annoyed by the repetitiveness of the news makes me think that they have some experience with it. earthquakes probably aren't the ones, since, well. plate tectonics. which i will not explain here mostly because i have already passed that exam and i want nothing to do with it ever again LMAO. but anyway the east coast is a very stable area of the earth, so no earthquakes nor volcanoes. and, since it is located tightly in a small gulf, i think sea storms and tidal waves are out of the question too.

however! apparently, tornadoes are not too infrequent in the area, nor, i guess, storms and other similar climate events. as i mentioned before: what happens there is that you get kind of desensitized there; the thought of anything horrible happening isn't there, or, if it is, it barely hits with its full force. “but what if it is stronger next time?” we'll all just die, at least i won't have to worry about rent anymore, maybe my boss will finally kick the bucket too, ha-ha. what do you mean someone died in the next city? well, you know, it can happen.

so yeah, when you ask how it affects the people of bullworth- it probably just amplifies whatever nihilism is already there, y'know. see constantinos, who's most probably clinically depressed, or lefty's “life sucks and then you die”, which is disturbing, especially coming from a kid his age.

i guess it's not the only factor, but it does contribute to this feeling of bullworth just being some lost land, forsaken by god himself left to its own devices. it's like the entirety of the population is... in survival mode, as i tend to say; you just pull through, which should be the bare minimum, but there we are. think of yourself first, then your neighbor, but actually fuck your country, since it has never done a thing for me.

[claymoresword]

All I Wanted Was You | Maddy Perez x Rue Bennett

Summary: Rue confronts Maddy in the bathroom and they get carried away.

Pairing: Rue x Maddy

Wordcount: 1.5k

Warnings: smut (?), fluff, mention of nate jacobs, top!rue, very much pda

Note: this was supposed to be a shorter chapter leading up to a bigger event but i got carried away lmao.. so i figured i would post it as a separate one shot. i probably won't post the next part till after new year's so happy 2023 to anyone reading this! anyway hope u enjoy :)

not proof read apologies for the mistakes!

"That's what I'm saying, Rue. My sister's totally out of control. I mean I knew she was crazy before but it's like a flip switched and now she's really gone." Lexi explains, exasperated.

They were stood by their lockers, there was a half an hour left till homeroom.

Lexi had been ranting the minute Rue got off her bike that morning.

"You know that she's still with Nate?" Lexi states, grimacing.

"I don't get how she hasn't learnt her lesson yet. Everytime he hurts her she comes to me to cry about it. It's so infuriating." Lexi trails off into another tangent and Rue merely nods in response, half listening.

Frankly, it was too early in the morning for this.

Rue glances towards the lockers down to her left hoping to catch a glimpse of her girlfriend but she was nowhere to be seen.

Maddy's not here yet, she thinks to herself.

She pulls out her phone with the intention of shooting the raven haired girl a text.

Before Rue could start typing however, she hears a familiar voice in the distance.

Maddy and Nate are seen entering through the front doors together, Maddy looks upset.

The shorter girl raises her voice at Nate before eventually storming off to her locker.

Rue shifts her gaze Nate to find that he was already staring back at her intently, a rather inscrutable look on his face.

Rue scowls before looking away.

Nate's vibe was always off so this wasn't anything new but the thought of him upsetting his girlfriend when he shouldn't even be anywhere near her to begin with, filled Rue with rage.

She couldn't make out what they were arguing about but from the look on Maddy's face it couldn't have been anything good.

The taller girl watches as her girlfriend shoves her purse into her locker, before strutting over to the bathroom.

Lexi has since stopped talking as she was also closely watching the scene unfold.

"Lex, I'm sorry I have to-" Rue starts before Lexi interjects, knowing exactly what the taller girl was about to say.

"Go. See if she's ok, I'll catch you at lunch." Lexi reassures with a warm smile.

Rue moves her arm to her bestfriend's shoulder as a quick gesture of thanks before walking over to the bathroom.

Rue opens the bathroom door and is met with the sight of her girlfriend stood infront of the mirror, fixing her makeup.

Rue stops in her tracks, admiring the raven haired girl from afar. There honestly hasn't been a moment where Maddy didn't take Rue's breath away. Just looking at the shorter girl was intoxicating enough, Rue adored how all consuming Maddy was.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

Nate jacobs truly is the dumbest person alive.

Not only did he treat her like shit, he repeatedly betrayed her trust. In Maddy's book that goes unforgiven. He fucked up and lost her and it infuriates Rue to think that he can't accept defeat and leave her be.

He continues to torment her even now, Maddy doesn't deserve any of it.

Rue steps a little closer, still keeping her distance. This caught Maddy's attention as she catches Rue's gaze in the mirror, smiling fondly at her girlfriend.

"Are you done gawking?" Maddy jokes, before turning around to face Rue.

Rue finally moves closer to the older girl. Maddy quickly wraps her arms around Rue's neck and pulls her into a tight embrace. The younger girl's hands rests on Maddy's waist and they stood like that enjoying the closeness for a few moments.

Maddy may not show it but Rue knows something's wrong.

Rue eventually pulls back and moves her face down to kiss the shorter girl but halts her movement halfway.

"What?" Maddys asks, confused at her girlfriend's hesitation.

"I don't wanna ruin your lipstick." Rue admits, guilelessly.

Maddy's face contorts in amusement but she doesn't say anything in response.

She pulls Rue down by her neck, capturing her lips with her own.

The kiss now mirroring their earlier embrace, warm and deep.

Maddy disconnects their lips and slides one hand down, resting it on Rue's chest her other hand still on her girlfriend's neck.

Rue gazes at the shorter girl, studying her features before softening her gaze.

"Are you okay?" Rue asks earnestly.

Maddy merely nods and flashes her girlfriend a genuine smile.

"You know how Nate is, he's just giving me a hard time. I bet he's bored of Cassie already." The raven haired girl responds.

"A hard time with what?" Rue's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

Maddy shifts her gaze away from Rue for a moment before shaking her head slightly, dismissing the matter.

If she doesn't want to talk about it, Rue decides it's best to respect that.

Eventhough the pit in her stomach is urging her to push on it further, she decides to ignore it.

"I missed you last night." Maddy breathes out, changing the subject.

"Yeah?"

Rue is not oblivious to the intentional diversion but she chooses to go along with it anyway.

Maddy hums in response before glancing down at her girlfriend's lips.

"Why didn't you come over?" Maddy asks her voice low.

"I'm sorry. Gia needed me for something. I would've texted you but I lost track of time." The taller girl states, apologetically.

"I suppose you're just gonna have to make it up to me." Maddy whispers against Rue's lips.

Maddy's hand glides down Rue's front before slipping under her shirt. The

older girl's hand now against Rue's toned stomach.

Rue lets out a slight gasp at the sudden feeling of her girlfriend's hand on her bare skin.

Maddy takes the opportunity to connect their lips again, this time into an open mouthed kiss.

Rue wasted no time in deepening the kiss, her tongue tracing Maddy's lip before entering her mouth.

She glides her hand down, now resting it on Maddy's ass. She gives it a squeeze before pulling the raven haired girl closer.

A moan spills out of Maddy in response. This sends a rush of arousal throughout Rue's body.

She needed Maddy. Now.

Rue disconnects their lips and moves her mouth to the older girl's neck. She traces her tongue across the skin on her neck before sucking on it purposely leaving a bruise.

Maddy's lets out a groan, she's basically panting. The feeling of Rue's mouth on her making it impossible for the shorter girl to catch her breath.

Rue moves her hand to lift Maddy up in one swift movement. As she's sat on the sink, her dress rides up exposing more of her thigh. Rue moves closer and Maddy further eliminates the space between them as she pulls Rue in by wrapping her legs around her waist.

Rue leans down again, her lips crashing against Maddy's. The shorter girl kissing her back with the same level of hunger. Rue's hand getting lost in Maddy's hair, their kiss now purely driven by their carnal desire for each other.

The taller girl moves her hand down to caress Maddy's bare thigh and Rue feels goosebumps form against her hand.

Rue moves her hand further up and tugs at the hem of Maddy's underwear. The older girl places her hands on Rue's shoulders and lifts herself up slightly, allowing the younger girl to pull her underwear off completely.

Rue looks up and settles her gaze on her girlfriend's face, at an attempt to gain consent but Maddy seemed to have beaten her to it. She pushes Rue's head down and the taller girl prepares to get on her knees until she hears a dreaded noise.

The bell.

"There's no way." Rue groans.

Maddy lets out a whine in protest.

"Who cares if we're a little late." Rue states, looking up. She meets Maddy's gaze with hooded eyes.

Maddy opens her mouth to respond but before she gets the chance a girl suddenly bursts in through the bathroom doors.

Rue quickly stands up and Maddy hops off the sink, frantically gathering themselves.

The girl stops for a beat, looks at the pair perplexed before eventually rushing into one of the stalls.

Rue glances at Maddy and the latina had managed to straighten herself up infront of the mirror. All evidence of their intense makeout session barely visible.

Rue had her mouth slightly agape, astonished at Maddy's ability to gather herself so quickly.

Maddy gets on her tip toes and places a quick kiss on Rue's cheek before slyly shoving her own underwear into Rue's pocket.

"Find me after school." Maddy whispers against Rue's ear, not giving the younger girl a chance to respond.

She then rapidly walks past her and out the bathroom.

Rue stood disoriented for a moment, trying to recover from what just happened.

The girl from earlier walks out of the stall and heads over to the sink to wash her hands.

She looks over at Rue and squints her eyes slightly before reaching over to grab a few pieces of tissue paper to dry her hands.

"You have lipstick all over your mouth by the way." The girl states, bemused.

[soudakuwunmoment]

I've been thinking about him lately. Realizing his character is a lot more straight forward than I thought, and that when it comes down to it, he's honestly one of the characters i relate most to. There have been characters before him in Homestuck who dealt with self-hate, mostly Karkat and Sollux. and I'm not saying it was represented badly with them, but what I am saying is that Dirk represents it goddamn PERFECTLY.

His relationship with Hal is the most obvious example of this. It is made known that their feelings towards one another aren't friendly, purely because they HATE the feeling of having themselves reflected back at them. And yet, they never really express those feelings to anyone but each other. When they talk about it, it's a vicious cycle of trying to express their feelings then immediately being mocked for it under the guise of some fucked up form of "irony". The only chances he gets to express these feelings, it's thrown directly back in his face, challenged, mocked. There's no one to give him a healthy response, there's only HIMSELF, to say "I hate you just as much as you hate me."

Another example of this which is well known is Dave's Bro. When Dave reveals what Bro is like to Dirk, he's mortified because he realizes that he can see exactly how he would end up that way if left unchecked. And sure, Dirk is far better off than Bro was, having the other alpha kids and eventually the beta kids as well. He himself keeps himself in check by being so weighed down by his possible future self and all of his splinters. But realistically, is that enough? He never fully expresses how he feels about himself to his friends. He never talks about his issues because he feels that they can see his issues just as clearly as he can, and he doesn't want to become worse by burdening them with a conversation about it. Dirk as he is in canon doesn't TALK to anyone about his issues. How are people supposed to keep him in check if they don't know what's going on in his head? We see with Ult Dirk how easily someone that unstable can lose themselves in fear and confusion and hate.

But I think Dirk's relationships with his splinters aren't needed to see how little he cares for himself. Like, how many times does he decapitate himself again? It's not that he hates his life so much that he would rather be dead. It's more so that he sees his life as a playing piece in the game of SBURB. He takes his own life, not out of wanting to die necessarily, but out of recklessness. If his death can make a situation go as smooth as possible, it's his automatic play.

This means that one of the only two reasons he has ever taken his life was for the sake of making things easier for his friends. Why? Because they're why he sticks around. I mean really, we established how miserable he is. He sure as hell doesn't live for himself, and he sure as hell DOES live for his friends. He makes that clear every time he sacrifices himself.

What was the other of those two reasons again? Oh right. It was because he had no reason to live if he didn't have his friends.

And so i find myself thinking, "If he cares about his friends so much, wouldn't he want to keep them happy by staying around as much as possible, and, well, NOT dying?"

But that's the thing. He doesn't see it that way. He has expressed that he believes his friends only see him as a problem, and that they think of him as "toxic" despite no one thinking that about him.

If his friends don't think he's toxic, why does he think he is?

Think about who he opens himself up to.

One, Hal. Hal, who does absolutely nothing to make Dirk think he's anything but the lowest scum.

Two, Jake. Jake loves Dirk but he is AWFUL at expressing it. Dirk is a teenager, and he is in LOVE with Jake. Jake's opinion matters more than anyone, but Jake either gives him nothing or complains about his downfalls. In fact, when Jake DOES say good things about Dirk, it's almost NEVER to his face.

From Dirk's perspective, his friends are at best avoidant of him, and at worst hate him. It reminded me of my childhood, and how I only ever had people to tell me what was wrong with me. Believe me when I say that seriously fucks a person up.

So, in my Ideal Homestuck™ Dirk finds someone he can be open with and a safe environment where he has an eye kept on him by people who love him. Somewhere where he can be told when he does something good, and not be punished or scorned when he does something wrong, instead simply being guided by someone who understands he never got to be taught these things by a stable guardian.

[conceptofjoy]

i enjoy how you made hal take after mom (and rose?) in clothing... i feel like its important but i am probably overthinking it bc i am not sure if the i think about it is even a little close to the original idea... i was wondering about her (hals) feelings once she started to realize that she could actually take care of her wardrobe and. It would be kind of dilemma considering she is still somewhere between i should look up to dirk (aka the concept of masculinity she had to inherit) and fuck this shit. so to see some1 who can indirectly "help" you crack the egg problem apart and become more aware of your self after is very wholesome. SWeet gods give hal her happines.s

.. also just remembered my first crisis when i couldnt decide what exactly i wanted to dress up. I was like obsessively relying on stereotypes (i honestly dont know what word to use here because it wasnt exactly stereotypes but i dont want to be tautological), so just dressing the way i wanted seemed too alien and dressing the way everything expected from me made me feel hideoufuuUCKKK. hope it wasnt too weird to just drop it so thank you a lot a lot!!! for letting people just ramble in your asks <3 Its really nice to look up here and see things that will make you feel nice even if make people feel nice wasnt the exact goal

YES that was what i had in mind :D its a hal and dirk struggle that they’re either doing 100% or barely at all. in this case 100% being alpha mom’s style of femininity, and not much at all being just wearing dirk’s hand me downs.

ultimately she has to find her own style/ identity and branching out into copying various women in her life is a good start, but she also has to figure out that there isn’t a By The Book Right Way to do this. shed totally feel like she was a faker at first ugh, not only was she supposed to be dirk, what does it mean that she’s trying to emulate other people?

is this free will or Stockholm leading her to do this?

why bother if people are going to see her as dirk no2 regardless?

in the effort to try to distance herself from from visually looking like dirk, is she doing this for herself or is she just repulsed at the idea of looking like this? something like that.

[lukecastellanshandholder]

Ok, I’ve been seeing a lot of opinions on the last episode and especially about the betrayal scene, so I just wanna share how I interpreted it. (And this is not me trying to be disrespectful of people’s opinions at all, I’m just sharing how I feel about the whole scene).

⚠️Obviously spoiler warning for episode 8⚠️

I really think that the changes made to this scene alone were perfect and actually builds upon what will happen in the books. Luke not immediately wanting to kill Percy makes much more sense considering that first and foremost, the entire base of Luke’s reason for wanting to dismantle Olympus, and take the gods out of power, is because he is tired of seeing demigods being treated poorly by their parents. He’s tired of seeing demigods dying left and right just because their parents are too selfish to think about anything other than what they want. He’s tired of the gods (to use the words of Medusa in ep.3) being bullies who believe that they can do no wrong, and who will punish even their own children when they feel threatened or they feel like their pride has been wounded.

Remember Hal? In The Diary of Luke? The first demigod that Luke had to see die because of the way his father punished him unfairly, simply for using his powers to save a friend? The first demigod of whom soon would be many that Luke is unable to save?

If Luke’s whole original meaning behind wanting to bring down the gods was to save demigods like himself, Hal and Thalia; then why would he automatically be trying to kill Percy? It makes much more sense that he originally just wanted to recruit Percy to his side! Besides, why kill Percy when he could potentially have the most powerful demigod alive (that anyone knows of) on his side? He would be absolutely stupid to not take that opportunity and Luke isn’t stupid, he’s actually pretty smart.

So yeah, I’m pretty ok with them leaving out the whole scorpion thing (no matter how much I liked it for joke purposes).

Then we have the fact that this Percy who obviously thinks and feels the same as Luke, still didn’t join Luke in the end.

Yes, Percy feels the same way about the gods. He still doesn’t care for them even after what Poseidon did. However, the main reason that Percy in the show doesn’t join Luke, even when he’s not actively trying to kill him, is because of his up bringing. Because of Sally. They make it a big point in episode 5 and 7 to point out that Sally had been keeping Percy from the world of the gods because she didn’t want them to make him into someone he’s not. She didn’t want to expose him to that world without him first knowing who he truly is and showing him unconditional love. How a family is really supposed to treat each other.

Then, we have Luke. Luke didn’t have any of that. He was only 9 months old before being thrust into the mythical world. All his life he had been exposed to the world of the gods. He never had a mother who was all the way there to show him how family is supposed to behave. He didn’t have any sort of strong pillar there for him. He didn’t have any chance to just take the time to find who he truly was without any influence from the gods. So, Luke fell into the trap of repeating history again.

Percy is able to see this. He’s able to see what Luke is talking about and he’s able to sympathize with him.

But, there is one main difference between them both. Luke knows exactly how the gods are. Having been exposed to their world for so long, he knows how things truly go and the lengths that they would have to go to for any real change to be made. Percy on the other hand, may have been taught a lot by Sally, but he is still naïve when it comes to the gods and how they really work.

Percy still thinks that change can be made without going to such lengths. He still has hope. He’s stubborn and willful to a fault. But most importantly, he’s still a young kid who has just began his journey and who unfortunately hasn’t even seen or felt a fraction of the horrors that this new world has to offer. He still feels like he can be this hero who saves everyone and make everything ok. He still thinks that he can save Luke.

However, as the prophecy says, "you will fail to save what matters most in the end". And if that thing that "matters most" is Luke, then he is technically the first person that Percy can not save. It is the start of Percy’s journey as a hero.

So, yes. Percy still deciding not to join Luke makes sense. Besides, Percy now has Sally back and he has his friends. He still has so much to lose and he knows that he would lose them if he joined Luke. With Percy’s fatal flaw being loyalty, even if it meant that the world would be 100 times better, he would still choose the people he cares about over anything. This is something that we see become more apparent about Percy as the series goes on so it’s cool to see that already being a factor more early on in the story.

And lastly, we have the inclusion of Annabeth being there to hear everything.

I personally don’t know why people are saying that it throws off how she’s supposed to feel about Luke as we go further into the story?

I mean, in the book Annabeth hears about what happened from Percy. When she first hears about it she’s in shock obviously, but when she takes a minute to think about it and get over that initial shock, she still believes Percy. After their first quest, Annabeth has grown to trust Percy so there’s no reason why she would doubt what he says. Yet, throughout the series she still knows deep down that there is a legitimate reason why Luke is doing what he’s doing. She also knows that most of this is caused by Kronos and that Luke is just being used as a puppet.

So, just because she heard everything that was said, doesn’t mean that she can’t still have the same kind of feelings. It doesn’t mean that she can’t feel sympathy for the person who she looked at as a big brother. It doesn’t mean that she can’t understand Luke and what he’s doing. I’d even argue that her hearing what he said would cause her to understand even more. And since they removed the whole thing about Annabeth having a crush on Luke, I feel like her being able to understand what’s truly going on is even more important since we won’t have her blindly following him because of her crush on him.

So my overall verdict? I personally feel that every change made in this specific scene actually makes more sense and flows into what will happen throughout the rest of the story even more.

[ghoulsbeard]

da4 spoilers

"Speaking of! What's the situation with cooking, exactly? Are we on a rotation, or what?"

The Nevarran woman that Lace introduced as "Rook", half-leaned in Bellara's door, frowns like a funereal statue. She has an gruff sternness about her that reminds Bellara of her clan's tough old craftmaster; that frown only heightens the resemblance. "Hasn't Lace told you? We've each taken a day. Luc wanted weekends. Told him we'd all pitch in on weekends-- well, you'd have thought I kicked his mother. Something about professional pride."

Neve snorts. "He probably thought you were insinuating poison."

Rook grumbles an oath under her breath. "Suppose when we cook together, he'll see things my way."

"Oh, good," says Bellara. "Not the-- poison. But I'd appreciate having another pair of eyes. Sometimes I get distracted, things burn..."

"Can't have that," Rook laughs. That's how Bellara first met her in Arlathan-- a smiling stranger, charming and curious. She never would have guessed the woman belonged to the Grand Necropolis. "I cry over burnt food, I do. It's ugly."

"Do you mostly cook Dalish foods, Bel?" asks Neve. "I haven't had a chance to try many."

"Sometimes. Not a lot of options when you're out in the forest. But I've learned a lot of different cooking styles! Antivan, Rivaini... I even learned how to make Tevinter khachapuri!"

"Wait," says Neve, smiling. "Real khachapuri? The hollowed out bread? Three kinds of cheeses? I love khachapuri."

"Real khachapuri! Or my best attempt, anyway."

"What about you, Rook? If you could have anything?"

"Anything?" Rook grins wistfully. "Plate of squid, fresh off the boat..."

"I've never had squid before," says Bellara. Neve sighs.

"Hal does such a good fry. But the Swan does this curry..."

"Next time in Minrathous, ladies. My treat."

"Maybe we can make a curry here," Bellara suggests.

"I could do with a good curry."

Neve clears her throat, eyes sparkling, like she's about to tell a particularly bad joke. "...Have either of you seen the storeroom yet?"

"Mythal'enaste, this is bad," Bellara gasps. "Why are there so many raisins? I think about seventy percent of this room is raisins."

"Honey's good," says Rook, licking her finger. "Small mercies."

"Can either of you tell what this meat is supposed to be?"

Bellara and Rook lean over the first open barrel.

"Well," says Bellara, after a long minute. "It's not... halla."

"Mutton," Rook suggests, unconvincingly.

"Who's going to take a bite and find out?"

"You're the detective," Rook grins. Neve laughs.

"Fair enough." She scrunches her mouth around as she chews. "Mm... bit gamey. It isn't mutton. Maybe snake. Maybe snoufleur."

"Let's make a list," says Bellara, eyeing the mysterious meat and the walls of raisins. "I'll ask Amylia if the Jumpers have rations to trade."

Later-- at least by the water clock in Lace's room; there is no day in the Fade, as there is no true night-- Bellara finds Rook swinging her feet off the precipice that overlooks the main square. "So I asked everyone else what they wanted to-- oh! What a view!"

"Have a rest," she pats the stone at her side. "I've watched you run the length of the Lighthouse at least seven times."

"I wonder how far we can see into the Fade from here! Lace was just asking me yesterday if the Fade has true landmarks. Because the Crossroads do seem to be semi-... no, no, I came up here to talk-- I wanted to know what you wanted... food, I mean. Provisions."

"We'll be here a long, long time if I tell you everything," Rook laughs. "Sardines, to start. Oil... but I hope you've already noted that."

"Way ahead of you."

"Any good wine will do. Retsina would be lovely, though. Lemons..."

"I'll put it with fresh fruit. I'm hoping we can trade for a few kinds. Lucanis said he's worried about Neve living off of fried fish."

"Lucanis isn't the only one," says Rook, still smiling. "And I'll have some nuts, if we can find them. Do they grow in Arlathan?"

"Nuts," Bellara repeats. "Wine. Sardines. Great. Oh! Yes! There are quite a few groves, actually! I'll show you, the next time we visit."

"I don't think I've picked nuts since I was a girl," Rook muses. The Fade seems to turn her wistful. Out in the real world, she's all work.

Bellara meant to bolt back down the stairs, but the view really is beautiful. She's been studying the Lighthouse's resonances, but she's indoors so often, and her little room doesn't have any windows. Ruins drift overhead close enough to touch-- ramparts, turrets, temple walls. Trunks of massive trees. Moons and stars and comets. You could lose yourself in a sky like that. Someone else might, anyway, someone who wasn't Bellara, with Bellara's racing mind.

"You know, I was quite taken with Falon'din when I first joined the Watch," Rook says, after a little while. "Kept a shrine in my quarters. Learned his songs." She whistles six dolorous notes.

"Lethanavir." Owls calling in the night. Bellara focuses on the knot of vertigo in her stomach as she swings her feet over the edge of the Lighthouse tower. "Don't tell anyone-- please. But I keep having these... dreams. I keep meeting souls who walked here. Spirits, and-- and aspects of-- anyway, I think this place is making them worse."

"Dreaming in the land of dreams? Bound to be odd." She taps Bellara's ankle with the tip of her boot. "Most of mine are blight terrors. There's an old piece of the Chant... they say magisters brought it out of the Fade ages ago, looking for their Maker."

"I don't know chantry myths," Bellara says, "but the Fade is not exactly the best place to walk unprepared; let alone to live in..."

"I don't like it either," Rook agrees. "All that Veil-crossing, and the Veil already gone funny. But I don't see as we have much choice. "

Down in the courtyard, wisps chase each other through cracks in the stone. Spirits drift in the breeze, fluttering gossamer.

"Do you dream about him a lot? Does he-- reach you here?"

"Only when he's chafing, I suspect." Talk of Solas deepens the wrinkles around her eyes. She looks older and sadder. “Never mind him, dove. Wouldn’t know proper conversation if it bit him on the—“

Bellara surprises herself by laughing. “I wonder if he hears everytime someone swears on him. Fen’harel’s teeth!-- Cyrian used to say.”

Rook grins. “I hope he does.” She cups her hands round her mouth and bellows into the Fade. “By Fen’harel’s blighted cock!”

Bellara laughs herself into a side-stitch. “Fen’harel’s hangnail!”

“Fen’harel’s flat arse!”

"Fen'harel's left elbow!"

Neve comes up the stairs to find the pair of them laughing too hard to continue. “We could hear you two all the way from the kitchen.”

“Oh,” gasps Bellara. “Good,” grins Rook.

She flashes one of her charming half-smiles. “I thought Lace would crack a rib laughing.”

[marybeatriceofmodena]

What was that crazy music video type thing you included on that post about ALW being an ass to Patti Lupone? I have never seen that before and I am both intrigued and horrified. I only recently got into Phantom, and all this craziness is just delighting me. 😂

For context, this is the video referred to in this ask:

This was a promo video done in 1985 (I think), to promote Phantom. Those are the original lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, which he wrote before Charles Hart was involved. You'll recognize a few here and there, but a lot of them are... weird, to say the least (weird enough for Cameron "Satan" Mackintosh to tell ALW to either find someone to help out Stilgoe, either outright fire him, or else he wouldn't produce Phantom anymore. And given it was proving to be a VERY costly show to make, even ALW knew losing CamMack was a no-no).

The staging is also different, because Trevor Nunn was the director at this point. And that's another funny (HA) story: ALW and Cameron Mackintosh had initially got Hal Prince to direct. And for those of you who don't know, Hal Prince is basically to musicals what Steven Spielberg is to cinema. He directed some of the most successful musicals of the latter half of the 20th century: Evita, Sweeney Todd, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Cabaret, Company... and that's the list of musicals I know even the uninitiated will recognize. So one day, on a whim, ALW decided to fire Hal Prince, which went about as well as you might expect: ALW chickened out of the dinner where he and CamMack were supposed to break the news to him, which led to CamMack having to sheepishly break the news to Hal Prince, who stormed out furious (AS HE SHOULD). Again, imagine yourself firing Steven Spielberg from making Saving Private Ryan and replacing him with, I dunno, the Russo brothers because The Avengers made a shit ton of money.

Why? My guess is that Hal Prince had the balls to tell ALW to stick it whenever he'd bring bad ideas on the table, so ALW basically decided to replace Hal Prince with the director for one of his previous musicals, Trevor Nunn (who is a decent director, mind you, making the comparison to the Russo brothers a little harsh).

Which musical was it, mind you? CATS.

IT ALWAYS COMES BACK TO CATS.

And Steve Harley? He was a rock singer who got picked up along the way because they urgently needed someone to play the Phantom in the music video, and full offense but he's a worse singer than Gerald Butler in my opinion, and at least the latter could actually act. ALW realized that they needed someone else, and he basically smuggled the score to a comedic actor called Michael Crawford, who had some prior experience singing in musicals (he's in the film adaptations of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Hello Dolly, if you're interested), but he wasn't exactly the guy you'd think of for the Phantom? Thankfully, he proved everyone who might have doubted him wrong, and amazingly at that, but he was a gamble at the time nonetheless.

And as you may guess, the music video was kind of poorly received, and Trevor Nunn worked on a little musical called Les Misérables, which got piss poor reviews and ALW was at the head of them (CLASS ACT, THAT FELLOW). But the uneducated, unwashed plebs loved it so I guess that's the reason why it's still playing today, and not because it's one of the most beautiful scores ever written for musical theatre, summing up a 1,000 book perfectly and conveying emotions that could make angels cry, nah. /s Anyway, that led to ALW firing Trevor Nunn, and begging Hal Prince to come back, and he agreed - which really goes to show how gracious he is because I would have laughed in ALW's face.

And what happened to Steve Harley, you may ask? He found out with a call from CamMack that he was fired, with no explanation whatsoever, and it was only later that he found out Michael Crawford had replaced him. I mean, was it for the best? Yeah. Do I still feel kind of bad for Steve Harley? Yeah.

So yeah, thank your lucky stars Hal Prince, Charles Hart and Michael Crawford agreed to be in this. I'd also add Maria Bjornson, but I really wonder now how she got involved in the first place because if that came from ALW, that might be the single best decision he ever made in his entire life. But I don't have any trust in him whatsoever to pull that off lmao