#hatching a plan

[aristocraticvision]

Chapter 350: Letter Perfect

David stared intently from his hotel suite at the cityscape stretched out before him. It was late, but the streets still echoed with the sound of passing cars while bright lights and neon signs flashed from all angles.

He had been in New York for less than a week, and already new opportunities were opening before him as if fate was working in his favor. David considered each move carefully, knowing that any mistake might cost him greatly.

A knock startled him out of his thoughts, and he walked quickly toward the door. Granger was right on time, and David looked forward to seeing what the man had to show him. As one of the world’s best document forgers, Granger’s services were expensive, but well worth it.

“Come in, Roland,” David said, ushering the man inside. “I’ve been expecting you. Do you have them?”

“Of course,” the man replied. He quickly cleared the table and carefully placed the three letters there for David, who immediately began examining them.

“It wasn’t an easy task, though,” Granger said. “Handwritten letters can be the most difficult to replicate with any accuracy. Then there’s the paper itself, which has to be true to the period. I had a devil of a time matching these sheets, since they’re Westonian, but finally managed to locate some through a source of mine in Paris.”

“Good, good,” David said, carefully laying the final letter back on the table and turning to his guest. “You included all of the passages I requested?”

“Yes, although their significance escapes me,” Granger said.

“Your understanding is not required,” David replied. “Only your skill.”

He turned back to the letters                      .

“These should work quite nicely for my purposes, Roland,” David said. “I’ll transfer your payment now. The Cayman Islands account, as usual?”

“That’ll do,” Granger said, nodding.

“Of course,” David said, sitting down behind his laptop and quickly transferring fifty thousand Westonian dollars. “I appreciate your help.”

“You are quite welcome, as always, David,” Granger said, confirming the deposit on his phone. Then he turned and walked toward the door. “Until next time, then.”

Having seen Granger out, David turned and smiled. The letters were perfect. While the correspondence Andrew had dropped off originally contained no real proof of the young man’s ancestry that would impact his claim on the Earldom of Buckland, these altered versions would hold up nicely in any Westonian court.

He walked back to the window and looked back out over the city.

I never thought I would return to Weston again, he thought to himself. But now, I’ll return in triumph, and Devon will regret the day he ever tried to cut me out of the inheritance I deserve.

CHAPTER 1 | BEGINNING OF PART 4 | PREV | NEXT

Continent of Oceana | History of Weston | History of Corwyn | History of Torenth | History of Allycia

[miscellaneousrenaissant]

Ep 3 AU in which Evan succeeded on his death save but lost his arm, so K made him a prosthesis while the group was still on Galamanis

[modricfan]

Gru hatching a plan

[lorlocks]

My Durge and Gortash were the worst goddamn evil co-conspirators ever and Ketheric deserves financial compensation.

[flamingpudding]

Drake's family secret

A/N: Another story idea I had and I probably will keep working on. I kinda want to continue on it I just have no idea how or with what yet.

Tim had a secret. Well, he had many secrets but this was one he had kept closed off for a very long time now. It was one of the reasons he fabricated a fake uncle to avoid getting adopted. After all, if you were put into the system how could you possibly get found or find your last living blood relative? His family didn't know and he never intended for them to know anyway. It was a secret well-kept of the Drake family, one that even the public didn't know about. His parents hadn't thrown around money to keep anyone involved silent for nothing after all.

But Tim had had vague memories as well as found the last remaining documents years ago. The problem had been that he hadn't been Robin yet at that time and couldn't do research like he can now. Tim had often wondered if one of the reasons he had followed Batman around back then was to see if he could help him with that matter too, yet he had never brought it up to Bruce nor any of his other siblings.

In a way it made Tim feel guilty now as he looked over that old piece of paper. The only hint he had until now.

He looked over the security video of Wayne Enterprise again. Watching that group of high schoolers that was there on a school trip visit. His eyes tracked one specific student among them. If things were different Tim would joke about how the boy looked like perfect Bruce adoption material. But as it was, Tim was not going to make that joke.

Because as much as the boy fell into the stereotype of Bruce's adoption problem, the boy had facial features that looked very much like one Jenet Drake. Tim could honestly see it, sure his memories were not the best in regards to his parents but he had kept at least some photos for references. But recognizing that threw in a whole other set of problems.

For one he would need to find a way to make sure the Drake Family secret doesn't get exposed to his family too soon. Second, he needed to find a way to approach the boy without looking suspicious. Third, he was on a time limit, according to what he found the school trip the boy was on lasted for a week. Once the boy was out of Gotham it would be even harder to find a passable excuse to approach him. Fourth, he would also need a blood sample. As much as the boy's looks alone could make Tim believe it, the rest of his family was paranoid and if he was completely homestead, he also would need it for his reassurance that he wasn't wrong. Which again he kind of doubted even with this little amount of evidence. The fifth problem in this was, how was he going to break it to the rest of his family.

Because the best kept Drake's Family secret, he was pretty sure he was the last remaining person in the know, was that Tim had a little brother. A brother that was born when he was around 3 or four years old. A little brother who had never gotten to grow up with him because Jack and Jenet Drake had used their constant traveling as cover so the public wouldn't know about him. They already had an heir with Tim, they didn't need a second child. So the moment his little brother had been born he was given up in a closed adoption. Never to be seen again and never to be connected to the Drake family.

Tim only knew about him because he had vague memories about his mother's pregnancy and also had later found the papers in his parents' office when he was around ten. He remembered how upset he had been at the discovery but also how he hadn't been able to do anything about it. Though it was back then that he had also decided that the moment he could he would do everything he could to find him. Things only started to change when he became Robin and then Red Robin. Now he had the resources and knowledge to find the little brother he had never gotten to grow up with.

But too much time had passed and his parents had been thorough when covering their tracks, which resulted in Tim having been unable to find that little brother of his. Having no name and no idea who adopted him, didn't help either. But Tim had had less to work with before, yet the search had given him massive troubles, to the point that he HAD contemplated getting the rest of his family in on it.

But now that wasn't necessary anymore, there was an actual chance again.

Thankfully he had come in late today, if he hadn't he wouldn't have seen the group of High School students on a school trip in the Lobby waiting for their tour guide. He wouldn't have seen the group of teens that lacked behind their fellow students a bit. But most importantly he wouldn't have seen that kid that looked like adoption bait for Bruce. That then by closer inspection had so many facial similarities to his mother that Tim had first thought he was hallucinating.

Now he was sitting in his office, watching the group of High Schoolers getting a tour through the building through the security cams while trying to come up with the perfect plan that didn't look too suspicious as he watched the boy who could be his blood-related little brother. Oh, Damian would throw a fit if he learned about having another brother, Tim mused for a moment as he noted down the boy's, Danny's, excitement about their aerospace department. He had already decided, if Danny was not living adequately he would pull all the strings he could to get his little brother home.

So far Tim had found out that the boy's name was Danny Fenton. He would dig into that later more. He would also make sure that if Danny was his little brother, he saw to it that he was getting treated right. He had noticed how his little brother appeared overly tired and there was a bandage hidden below his shirt plus through the security camera footage, he had also seen that there was a hint of scarring on his left arm.

For now, though he had sent a message to the tour guide to end the tour in his office, for something like a surprise introduction to Tim Drake-Wayne. He would continue to build up his plan of getting to know and confirm his little brother's status from there.

[pumpkster]

jumpscare

[ID: A cartoon drawing of Slimecicle and Juanaflippa, she's on Slime's arms as she has a blank stare at his shoulder, her body is loose as Slime has one hand on the top of her head (the other arm holding her by the side of her torso) he has a disturbed / scared / shocked expression, looking up, not at her, his brows furrowed, his pupils are unfocused. There's blood that has the color of a TV glitch, it's coming from Juana's head, and is on Slime's hand, that is holding her close to him. The TV glitch colours are on Juana's pupils as well. Juana has a human appareance, brown hair tied in 2 pigtails, she has glasses, a yellow t-shirt, a red shirt under, she has some dark green shoes, combining with a skirt of the same color, white baggy socks. She has red horns, wings and tail dragon-like. The background is black, a TV-static texture coming from Slime's head. There are 2 lines resembling their heart's pulse, first one is white, it's from Slime, its a quick one, going up and down, agitated, and the second is from Flippa, a pink line with no sign of life. The drawing is a reference to a painting called "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan". ]

[arcticclimes]

[beanbecute]

”Surely it couldn’t of been nothi-“

[shysimblr]

Callie 🤎

Loves; dogs, surfing, mango, the colour yellow and grilled plantains

Hates; people who litter, seafood and snow.

[dontyoulistentome]

HOW THE FUCK. Did Caitlyn not burst out laughing when Vi spat at her???

[dustybones]

Could not be more obsessed with your shadowzel gith egg reluctant co-parent comic, it is delightful, thank you for sharing it 💖

no, thank YOU for stopping by and making my day!!!!

[camels-pen]

usopp and sanji late night impromptu date swimming in the aquarium. reblog if you agree

[senseearly]

I wonder what the canaries (specifically mithruns squad) are thinking of early kabumisu

I feel like they were all trying to tease mithrun for getting close to a tall man but eventually they go "oh. The captain is close to a tallman" whos been there for only like a week yet made strides in getting close to the captain and theyre like...unexpectedly jealous *squints at lycion and cithis specifically*

But really tho they would have questions. Anyone would have questions. Kabru and Mithrun were just with each other for a week but it feels like their shared time in the dungeon made them somewhat unforgettable to each other. Who wouldnt wonder what happened?

[socksandbuttons]

TRICK OR TREAT!-.....ARE THOSE RAISINS?!?!

IT;S VERY FUNNY TO SEE THE SAD SAD FACES THEY GET!!

[muninnhuginn]

You know what's gonna kill me when we get the inevitable Lu Guang flashbacks?

The fact he's always described as "mature" as his post-dive self implies he must be different now than before. It's hard to imagine exactly what his personality was like before, and if it's written well, he shouldn't be completely unrecognisable. But we know he's been changed.

Imagine a first timeline where Lu Guang just follows along with Cheng Xiaoshi, no attempts to reign him in whatsover. Cheng Xiaoshi having the opportunity to come up with more of his complicated tricks but channelling it into lower stakes stuff like pranks and Lu Guang actually enabling him in that and having fun with it. Imagine tragedy striking when Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are both allowing themselves to be genuinely happy, no facades.

We know that Cheng Xiaoshi used to put on a brave face in light of his parents' disappearances and what that meant for how he was treated and what he was missing out on. But we also know that Qiao Ling and Lu Guang together have been able to lift that into something more genuine. Imagine a world where Cheng Xiaoshi was able to do the same for Lu Guang. Where they both mutually brought that light into the other's life.

It's still true to some extent in the current worldline, but it's complicated by Lu Guang's own actions. Lu Guang can never be fully honest with Cheng Xiaoshi without (in his mind) losing him forever. But he has to stick by his side in order to have any chance in his hopeless quest. And so, he must distance himself in other ways, protect Cheng Xiaoshi, enforce the rules. Swallow the guilt. It leads to a more lopsided relationship, one where one side is always hiding something from the other and refuses to open up themselves. A relationship that in the original timeline must have been more equal, as partners.

There's something that's been lost here, and it's not just the original Cheng Xiaoshi.

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

Monk [name unknown], taking a moment to share with the local avians