#hes just a orphan this boy never even had a normal family

[emryx]

When two NPCs with maybe 5 total minutes of screentime have you so obsessed you give them a child 🏃🏻

BEHOLD—my Teiago fankid, Elias de Riva (plus an info dump about him and his parents below because I’m very normal abt them but you can skip that and jus look at all the art if you want 🫣)

Realistically, it’s really hard to imagine a scenario where these two have a kid. But that’s what fanart and hcs are for 🙌 As of right now, I hc that around the time of the dialog from one of the crows abt Teia and Viago being "on again" is when he's conceived. But they don't really find out until after the ending of Veilguard. Any symptoms Teia might experience beforehand are just written off as stress or straight up ignored because of how much they have on their respective plates with the Antaam and the gods. Viago even calls her out for never going home and insists she takes a contract to “kill a vacation.” So I don't think it'd be too far fetched for her to look the other way until things are settled in Treviso again because of timeline stuff.

No clue how they react after the initial news rn but that can come later. They start being a little less childish with their back and forth break-ups at least once the seriousness of it all sinks in lol

Viago did not like the idea at first, I know that much. Mans was STRUGGLING with Elias in the early stages. Babies are loud, unpredictable, often inconsolable little heathens that he can't analyze or have a consistent system for. It would drive him nuts. A tiny human who can't yet care for itself and constantly needs to be held and directed, paired with his touch-aversion, OCD, and need for set routines? Yeahhh…Teia understands, but on one hand that woman just went through 9 months of her own hell and she's shoving that boy into his arms sometimes regardless of his bad days LMAO

It helps, in the end. Pushes him to gradually get used to it over time. Viago starts to realize there is somewhat of a system to the whole dad thing and fatherhood grows on him because I said so.

He holds a lot of resentment and hatred towards his own father. As a bastard of the king and one of his drunk mistresses, I doubt Viago’s upbringing was too great. The whole “demon teeth” comment was enough to hint as such. He wouldn't be thrilled about taking care of a baby, but the thought of entrusting his son to nannies? Strangers?? No. That's something his dad would and did do and he’s better than him. This is his kid; He doesn't care if it's gross, he'd rather feel uncomfortable sometimes for the sake of Elias’s comfort than stoop as low as the king.

On top of spite, the paranoia with poison extends to Elias in a way; one of my favorite hcs I’ve seen is Viago being exposed to assassination attempts on the king or his mistresses/servants while he was growing up before joining the crows, whether it’s via stories or witnessing first hand. The thought of entrusting Elias’s life to anyone else gives him flashbacks to being a child himself, scared to eat or drink anything prepared by anyone because of how many times others were killed that way around him. Even doing extensive checks and handpicking a trustworthy nanny is not reliable and doesn’t guarantee safety. We love a paranoid dad.

Teia on the other hand? | think she'd like a family tbh. Maybe she didn’t react well to first finding out she was pregnant, but otherwise the idea grows on her quickly compared to Viago. As an orphan, she didn't get much of a family—the crows became her family, Caterina as her "nonna" and some of the older Talons as her weird uncles. Being able to experience what she never had with a child she can ensure has a good life feels fitting for her character. Heals a bit of her own inner child too, yk? 🫠 She’s such a caring woman despite her occupation and she’d make a good mother. Scary, but good LMSKSKX

Life as a crow is harsh. Being the child of not one but two Talons?? On one hand that kid is very protected but on the other he has a huge target on his back. If Viago was worried about people thinking House de Riva and House Cantori had an alliance, I can only imagine what a wholeass child would stir up. They both would prepare him well for the future in their own ways. It’s not canon to him, but the thought of Elias being ridiculously resistant to poisons because Viago started building his immunity up so young is funny to me 😭

Anyways ramble over. Some creative liberties were taken, such as his eyes being more golden like how Teia’s are described in Tevinter Nights. I may give Elias his curls back because he looks goofy next to Teia and Viago with his emo hair JAKAMC

I love their little family…

[maddyshome]

Sometimes I get mad and sometimes I remember Yuuji never had peace and a moment to simply exist and be himself since he ate Sukuna’s finger. He always had to fight, to prove he has meaning and worth. And I get even madder.

[teklarn]

devoted little thing, pt 1. - j. todd

masterlist!

jason todd x fem!reader

link to the fic on AO3 -> here

genre: angst (series)

summary: After the death of your boyfriend, Jason Todd, your life has never been the same. You abandon everything you've ever known: your job working for Batman as a detective, your home, your friends. That is until three years after his death, your life is saved by a mysterious vigilante calling himself the Red Hood.

You assume it was a one-off; that the infamous anti-hero just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But you're finding his calling card everywhere. He's around every single corner―you can't seem to get rid of him. The mystery of his identity brings you back to Bruce in hopes of finding out who he is. But as intimidating as the Red Hood is, with his blurry morals and all, you can't help but find yourself falling for him.

Your devotion to your late lover, Jason, is strong, but it feels so nice to be touched again―how could you say no to the man who saved your life?

warnings: non canon compliant, heavy themes of depression and anxiety, slight yandere themes to come, slight stalking, suicidal thoughts, heavy angst, death, unedited.

-

He had always been angry. So damn angry. At you, at the world, at Bruce. 

And you knew, dammit. You had known deep down that his anger would cost him dearly one day. 

You just didn't think it would put him in the ground. 

Tears erupted from your eyes like a waterfall, Bruce and Alfred the only other people present as they dropped your beloved into the ground, his youthful face illuminated by the silver moonlight spilling over the graveyard. The three of you stayed silent. What was there to say? At any other funeral, people would say the usual: He died too young. His life still has meaning. He's looking down on us right now. He'll guide you. 

Damn it all. Damn everything. As you stared at that coffin, the dark wood splattered with raindrops violently crashing down, you couldn't help the anger boiling in your veins. Sad as you were, you couldn't help but think to yourself: Was I not enough? Not enough to stop him from chasing his anger down into a well. A pit of darkness so deep and inescapable even you couldn't pull him out of it. 

Bruce rests a hand on your shoulder, lifting the umbrella higher to further shelter you from the violent downpour. You pretend not to notice the way his cheeks are rosy from the cold, or how his eyes are watering the longer he stares at the grave. 

Death curls its bony fingers around your throat―it whispers sweet nothings in your ear. Once upon a time, you'd been just like Jason. Alone on the streets, an orphan with no direction in life. But cursed with a talent for solving any mystery you could get your hand on, Bruce welcomed you into his family, where you had met Jason. Someone who knew what it was like to be alone. Someone with the same resentment towards the world. The only person who understood you was in the ground now. And, just hours before his death, you had fought. 

Jason was no easy-going boy. There were some days where you pondered that perhaps Jason liked to bicker with you. He liked the thrill of fighting, of winning. Your relationship was perfect by no means, but it wasn't toxic. Not until his anger got the best of him, like it had hours before his death. The fight had started like many others and had ended the same way: with him storming out the door, cheeks reddened with fury, hints of tears glinting in his eyes. 

On any normal day, you would have chased after him. Told him not to run away from his problems. He would have returned with a scowl on his face, but at least he would still be home. It was the one time you didn't chase after him. The one time you let him slip away. 

And dammit, the guilt was stabbing your gut like rusty knives. 

You resisted the urge to shove Bruce's hand off your shoulder, instead opting for the respectful option of turning away, claiming you just needed space. Which wasn't entirely a lie. You didn't want to be near Bruce, nor Alfred, but if they hadn't been standing at Jason's grave, you would have stayed there and cried all night. Until your eyes were puffy, until the rain left you a shivering, soaking mess. Until Death came to claim you itself. 

Back inside, when Bruce and Alfred finally rejoined you, you'd already showered and changed into a dry pair of clothes. It had taken all the strength left inside your soul to take care of yourself. To not throw yourself onto your bed and drown beneath the plush sheets. 

You couldn't look Bruce in the eye. The fire flickered, casting shadows on his harsh features, the flames dancing across the walls. His eyes were angry. His eyes looked like Jason's. 

On long, hard days, Jason would rant about Bruce. About his antics, his supposed cowardice, his lack of courage when it came to doing the hard thing over the right thing. On those days, you yearned to tell Jason that he looked just like Bruce. That the only real difference between them was that Bruce would choose his morals over everything. 

Now, Bruce's eyes darkened. There was hate behind them. Thoughts swarming, filled with white-hot anger that mirrored your own. That same anger that mirrored Jason's. You couldn't do it. You could barely keep yourself on your feet. 

"Is everything all right?" Alfred asked, his gaze averting from his master to you. The wrinkles in his face made you sick. It felt wrong to see someone so old, so wise, someone who had lived life to the fullest of years. In fifty years, Jason should look just like Alfred. With wrinkles and smile lines pressed deep into his features. Crows feet should crinkle at the edges of his eyes and his smile should reflect accomplishment. 

You tried to shove the image from your head, but staring at Bruce and Alfred was like looking at future versions of the man you loved. The man you'd just buried underground mere hours ago. 

Blinking away tears, you waved off the poor butler. "I have to go. I'm sorry." 

Weeks later, you felt entirely, hopelessly useless. And Bruce had allowed you to rot. Your bed was your only comfort aside from your imagination. You'd pull your pillows close, running your hands over the smooth cases, digging your fingers into the wrinkles the same way you'd fist Jason's shirt when he'd hold you. Bruce's disciplined antics hadn't ceased, but he was shockingly understanding. 

Well, maybe not shockingly. To him, he'd lost a son. To you, you'd lost a best friend, a lover, a soulmate. Whatever your naive little mind could conjure up. Jason was everything. 

As the days dragged on, your anger subsided. All you wanted was him, now. One more minute to apologize for your attitude, one more second just to run your fingers over his olive-toned skin. Just a moment. One fleeting, desperate moment to say three words: "I love you." 

Your mind was a prison of grief, your body was a shell housing a half-dead soul. Periodically, Alfred came in to set plates of food on your nightstand. Your mouth watered, but the food remained untouched for the most part. Guilt prodded at your stomach. Bruce should find a way to drag you out of bed. He should force you to stop mourning; to find a distraction. Perhaps a new case for you to dive into. 

You felt like throwing up. 

Just the image of Bruce's face brought back the image of Jason's. An older, colder version of Jason hardened by the vices of the world. And Alfred, sweet Alfred could place a reason as to why you refused to look at him, too. 

It was all because of Jason. Because he deserved to live, to be old and die old. He deserved to be ninety and to rot away in some hospice, waiting for death to greet him like an old friend. His hairline would be receded and his face would be marred with age spots and freckles from years of baking under the sun. 

"Miss?" A knock at your door sounded, and the familiar voice of Bruce's friendly butler flooded your ears. 

A quiet sob slipped past your lips. Loneliness was consuming you like a disease, but who could you talk to that would be worth your time? Who would understand you, who would bring you back to life the way he always knew how to? 

A soft, "Mhm?" was all you could manage. 

You heard Alfred peel the door open with a creak, and the smell of steaming hot food invaded your nostrils, the mouth-watering spices wafting into your room and filling the space with warmth and love. He set the plate down on your nightstand, exchanging it for your un-touched dinner from the night before. 

"Master Wayne is requesting your presence. Would you...care to join him after breakfast?" The hesitance in Alfred's voice made your guilt ten times worse. You were bloated with regret and sadness―it was spilling through your mouth, your eyes. Your very being was drenched with remorse. 

"I can join him now," you say weakly. You didn't care much to make yourself presentable. Bruce had known both you and Jason's since you were children. You'd both been welcomed into the family under the same circumstances. Jason, being only a few years older than you, had been the first to make you feel truly at home. Everything seemed to revolve around Jason and it made you so...so angry. 

"He insists you take your time getting ready." The gentleness in Alfred's tone told you everything he meant to portray. Take all the time you need. There's something important he needs to tell you. 

When the door clicks shut, you don't know how, but you manage to crawl out of bed. The feeling of your feet on the scratchy carpet is foreign, even the hot water running down your body feels like a new sensation when you're able to drag your ass into the shower. Damn, how long had it been since you last washed up? 

The depression had a chokehold on you. It had sunk its teeth and nails bone-deep, slowly slurping the life from your veins. Your body obeyed nothing but sloth. It was a shock even to yourself that you had offered to meet Bruce downstairs. 

By the time you wipe the steam off the mirror and see yourself, you look the same as you had the day you buried Jason. Your eyes are still painfully puffy, your skin dry from tears dragging down your cheeks. You throw on suitable but casual clothing, and you have to admit, it feels nice to put yourself together after spending weeks sinking into your mattress, practically binding your body to it. 

Downstairs, Bruce is already waiting. Alfred has your coat ready. Your footsteps halt on the stairs as hesitance builds its way through your body. You can still barely look at Bruce without seeing Jason. You train your eyes on Alfred instead, hoping that you'll find his wrinkled face easier to bear. 

"What's going on?" Your voice cuts through the silence, echoing painfully along the empty walls of the manor. 

Bruce sighs, but you keep your eyes down or on Alfred. You can't look at him. You really can't. He takes your jacket from Alfred and holds the arms out for you. "We're relocating you." 

"What? Relocating me? What does that mean?" Confusion ebbs its way into your mind. 

"Both Alfred and I have concluded that it isn't healthy for you to stay here anymore. You need something new. Something―" 

You cut Bruce off. "What the hell do you mean by relocating me?" 

Alfred straightened. "There's an apartment Master Wayne has purchased within the city. We thought it might be better for you to be surrounded by people. There might be an opportunity for you to―" 

"To what? I don't need to be moved, I'm fine where I am. What about all the cases I've solved in the past? You don't think I'm fit to do it anymore?" You knew they were only trying to help. That this was the only way they knew how after you'd completely shut down. But your anger couldn't be snuffed out. This outburst was new. It wasn't you. "What? Are you trying to get rid of me? Am I too much of a reminder of him? Don't try to run away from your issues again, Bruce." 

You didn't want to say this. You didn't want to be so...mean. But dammit, your mouth was moving too fast for you to think. Even when Alfred and Bruce's faces flickered with sympathy and a strange sense of understanding, you didn't stop your insults. 

"I don't need to move. I don't need to run away." Your brows knit together in anger. 

"Then what do you need?" Bruce dared to ask. 

"I..." Your voice caught in your throat. I want Jason, I want his comfort. I want his words, his arms, his love and unconditional understanding. 

Bruce's stern features tightened. Instead of the father-figure you'd come to know, he was just a businessman right now. Cold, calculating, demanding. The strength it took you to meet his gaze was all you needed to snatch your coat and toss yourself into his vehicle.

The apartment wasn't shaggy, but it was homey. It felt much warmer than the emptiness you'd been accustomed to back at the estate. The ride here had been riddled with painful silence, you nor Bruce or Alfred daring to speak. A part of you wanted to apologize for your outburst. It wasn't their fault, they were just trying to help. You knew damn well that was the truth. 

One bathroom, one bedroom, a generous kitchen, and a balcony three stories up, overlooking the trash-littered street below. Gotham wasn't a beautiful place, but maybe it was just what you needed. To be around people, surrounded by the environment of people just as lost and as broken as you. 

The lack of elegance made you appreciate the apartment that much more. Bruce knew you didn't need anymore empty space to fill. And this...this was what you needed. 

Still, some wretched part of you couldn't stand the thought of decisions being made for you. You wanted someone to blame, someone to yell at. Something to take out your anger on. 

"We'd like to keep in touch." Bruce handed you a transmitter. One of his high-tech ones made just for you. It was an order, not a request. You snatched the transmitter from his calloused hands and stuffed it away. 

"How do you know I'm not going to kill myself now that no one is watching me?" You snickered. Your chuckle was humorless. It was a painful truth they hadn't thought of. Or...they had, judging by the tension pulling on their features. 

You didn't want to ask how or why. 

Don't make this about you, you scolded yourself. Gray emotions swirled within you. 

"We'll deliver your things tomorrow morning. Just allow yourself to get settled in." Alfred nodded to the transmitter. "If you need anything―anything at all―don't hesitate to reach out. This will be good for you." 

You must have pushed the awkward farewells from your mind, because somehow you ended up on the floor of your new apartment, sobbing at the emptiness. The void of your new home felt like a region in outer space that even an alien wouldn't belong to. Your mixed emotions, the pain running through your chest, it was all a constant reminder of what you lost, of who you were haunted by. Of the person you'd never see again. 

The emptiness inside of you was a permanent reminder of the person you had once loved the most, and how he had died thinking you were angry at him. 

This is good for me, you reminded yourself. 

Tears spilled from your eyes. 

This is good for me.

-

link to the fic on AO3 -> here

[rollinouttahere-writes]

could I get A E I J N for Ace please

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Ace is a BIG quality time kind of a guy. He wants to do things with his darling. Like going for a ride on Striker, exploring a new island together, or even just hanging out in his cabin. He lives to spend time with you, and he'll drag you along to whatever he wants to do in the name of bonding time.

He's also a touchy guy. When out and about, he's either holding your hand or has an arm slung over your shoulder. In private, he's much more cuddly. You won't be able to get further than arm's reach from him. Every inch of him is pressed against every inch of you. Ace is strong as hell and just as delusional, so he'll make excuses for any lack of enthusiasm from you while easily keeping you in place.

It's all very intense, Ace doesn't do anything in halves. You are his everything, and he's going to make sure that he becomes your everything, too.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

At first, Ace is very much keeping up a front around you. He wants and needs for you to think that he's this perfectly happy and normal guy. He has a sort of fake-it-til-you-make-it kind of mentality, but he never quite makes it. Eventually, cracks start to show, and then they shatter. His darling will feel like they have whiplash after witnessing their happy-go-lucky captor switch to the miserable, self-loathing persona.

Once the dam breaks, you become an unwilling pillar of emotion support. You're exposed to every facet of his extremely tumultuous character. It feels like you're being guilt-tripped to the extreme by him, but it's genuinely unintentional on his part. He can't help it. He needs to let you in, body and soul, even if he's dragging you in against your will.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

Ace doesn't have a plan. He's going through the motions in life, and that also applies to you. He wants you to be there, sure, but he doesn't really have an end goal. He just wants to be with you forever. Marriage doesn't really cross his mind. Not because he's against that, he just feels like you guys pretty much are married already. What's a couple of rings and a sheet of paper really going to add to that? That being said, he would happily go along with it if you were fully in the throes of stockholm syndrome and brought it up, but that's really only because he's through the roof excited that you've finally accepted him.

Don't worry about him pushing to have children. While he does like children and is honestly great with them, he is terrified of actually having any. He doesn't want to pass along his problems to them and perpetuate a cycle of misery. That being said, he wouldn't be as opposed to the idea of taking in some random orphan that's in need.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Oh boy. Ace has intense jealousy issues. His deep rooted insecurity comes out full throttle, and it gets scary fast. Fortunately, it only applies to potential romantic rivals, so friends and family are safe at the very least. If he does snap, you don't have to worry about him hurting you, but that can't be said for whoever had the nerve to approach you. He doesn't give them a chance to back off. Once they've gone far enough to actually make Ace jealous, they are already past the point of no return. He'll beat them within an inch of their life, and possibly burn them to death if he was angry enough.

After this is over, and you are thoroughly traumatized from watching that, Ace pulls a 180 and starts babying you. In his delusional state, he believes that you are upset because that disgusting waste of life was bothering you. You'll learn quickly to avoid people when you're out and about with Ace.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

He can't do it. He already struggles with guilt from just keeping you with him. He could never actually harm you. The worst that can happen is that he might yell at you if you've been fighting back a lot and had frequent escape attempts. He'll be up in your face, and his yelling is genuinely terrifying after only ever dealing with his softer side. As soon as it's over, Ace feels like a monster and starts love bombing the hell out of you to try and make up for it.

[g1rld1ary]

Hi! If you're still taking Lockwood and Co requests, can I plz request an imagine where Lockwood finally becomes vulnerable in front of the reader and he lets his emotions out in front of her and she soothes him 🥹🥹🥹?

reaching out - anthony lockwood x reader

wc: 1664

cw: canon typical death mentions, family trauma

thanks for waiting lovely! hope this is what u wanted xxx

Lockwood was a puzzle. You'd been working with him for a while now and still couldn't truly understand him.

As a boss, Lockwood was great. Never too hard on you whilst still pushing you to further your skills, but always putting your safety first. As a friend, he was similarly brilliant. The perfect listener, he always had a smile saved up for when you needed it. Even as a housemate he was perfect; Lockwood never took too long in the bathroom or left messes around even though it was his own house.

As a boy? Lockwood was indecipherable. Always gentle but never vulnerable. Always a listener, never a talker when it came to personal truths. He was your best friend but you knew nothing about him.

It was definitely an atypical relationship you shared, but you weren't unhappy with it and it seemed that neither was he. You proceeded in your usual way for a year while you were in the company until one particular case.

Lockwood had been off all week and you weren't sure why. You were in the middle of a case; a tragedy where all but one in a family had been killed and were haunting their own home. It wasn't one you needed a whole heap of research for, but George still wanted to take the precautions of getting the building layout and checking for the possibility of any other ghosts, and for once Lockwood didn't fight him on it.

George and Lucy had gone to the archives to get the research while you and Lockwood were doing all the other errands; stocking up on supplies, doing a daytime tour of the house then getting groceries on the way home.

Shopping for supplies and weapons was totally fine, the both of you chattering away as normal. It was only when you approached the cast iron fence of the Victorian-style home that Lockwood grew quiet again, retreating into himself. You spared him a puzzled expression but didn't dwell on it there.

A sad-looking woman met you at the front gate, draped in black. She introduced herself as the deceased wife's sister, explaining her red-rimmed eyes. She led you both through the garden up to the house, sniffling quietly as she explained what had happened, a horrific freak accident that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

Stepping through the threshold into the house, you could feel the gloom as if it were a tangible thing. What clearly used to be a loving home was already dark and lifeless, the photos on the wall mocking instead of nostalgic.

You could hear noise from down the hall, glancing curiously in its direction. Your host picked up on what you were looking at and explained it was her nephew, the only survivor.

"Will," She called, "Come here." Moments later a little boy came waddling up the hallway, toy truck in hand. Your heart clenched as you took him in, he couldn't have been older than six or seven, far too young to be orphaned like this.

"We're packing up his stuff today, he's living with me right now. I'm not sure he understands his family aren't coming back." Your eyes felt hot like you were going to cry just listening to their family tragedy. A glance at Lockwood said the same thing. You took the lead for the rest of the house tour, unnerved by Lockwood's silence.

As the two of you were leaving the house Will chased you both down the stone path, tugging on the tail of Lockwood's long coat.

"Please help my mum and dad and my sister," He said, eyes still wide with youth and innocence.

"Of course," Lockwood replied, ruffling the boy's brown hair gently. You thought he sounded uncharacteristically choked up.

"You alright?" You asked a while later, far from the house. You were both on the way to the grocery store, your hands shoved in your coat pockets to hide from the cold.

"'Course," Lockwood replied shortly, eyes straight ahead on the street. You tried to catch his gaze but he refused to look at you, changing the topic to what snacks you could sneak past George. You indulged him reluctantly, not pleased to move past his clear struggles so quickly.

You wandered home in near dusk, not doing much to get home before sunset. The groceries had been spread between the two of you so neither of you was carrying too much of the burden, but you suspected Lockwood was carrying enough emotional weight for the pair of you.

Silently, under the light of a ghost lamp, you looped your arm around his, providing a comforting touch. He didn't say anything, but you could have sworn he was leaning into you more than he ever had before.

You made it back to Portland Row in good time, only braving a few minutes out in the darkness.

Hours later, you crept through the house, painfully aware of each creak of the old floorboards. You peered around the door into the library, watching Lockwood sit in his armchair, bored as he flipped through a gossip rag.

"Hey," You said as you sat, curling up on the couch and surrounding yourself with a blanket. He smiled in response, greeting you quickly before turning back to what he was reading. "Are you okay?" You knew you were coming off intense but you were really worried about him.

"Yeah, 'course. Why?"

"I don't know, you've just seemed really off today. Down." You studied your fingers to avoid making uncomfortable eye contact.

"I'm fine," He said, almost aggressively. Realising his tone, Lockwood backtracked, "It's nothing, just--" Silence.

"Just?" You urged him, braving the jump to look in his eyes. It was immediately intense, a profound sadness replacing what was usually jovial charm.

"I was him," Lockwood said and you were immediately confused. You tilted your head, trying to work it out but Lockwood continued, explaining it for you.

"Will. I was the leftover. My whole family is dead, and I am the one left alive."

"Oh God, Lockwood," You whispered, patting the spot next to you. He followed you over, taking the blanket you offered.

"My parents died when I was really young, about the same age as Will. They were the first ghosts I ever fought." You couldn't contain your soft gasp, hand creeping over your mouth as you took in what he was telling you. "I had an older sister, too, Jessica. She was six years older than me, died when I was nine. An accident with some of my parents' old supernatural artefacts. I've been fighting ghosts ever since."

Somehow you'd started holding his hand, rubbing smooth circles over his palm with your thumb. You could hardly believe what you were hearing, you had no idea Lockwood's life was so devastating. All you'd learnt while working at Lockwood and Co was that his parents had probably passed away, given the house was his. You'd never heard about a sister.

"I'm really sorry," Was all you could say, not taking the risk of misstepping.

"It's fine." His voice broke on the second word, tears rolling down his red cheeks in a moment. You'd never seen Lockwood cry. It was devastating, but also unfairly beautiful. Crystal tears in honeypot eyes.

Before you knew what you were doing you were holding Lockwood, arms keeping him close as he shuddered through sobs. All you did was embrace him for a long time, letting Lockwood express the emotions he kept so close to his chest all the time.

It must have been at least ten minutes later when he pulled away, clearly embarrassed and rubbing furiously at his eyes.

"Sorry," He mumbled, looking anywhere but at you. You put a hand on his thigh to pull him back down to earth.

"Don't apologise. I want to be here for you. You're my best friend, Lockwood, I love you." Lockwood smiled at that, unlike his usual thousand-watt grins, more muted but undeniably genuine.

"Thank you," He said, the warmth seeping back into his tone.

With the moment mostly passed you suggested it was probably time for bed for both of you.

"And you stay home tomorrow. Lucy, George and I will go put Will's family to rest. Take the night off, okay?" While you firmly believed it was in Lockwood's best interest to avoid what was a clearly triggering event, it was also for your own safety. Lockwood and Co was disorganised at the best of times, having Lockwood lose it because he was thinking of Will and his younger self would only endanger every one of you. It was for the best that he stayed home. To your surprise, Lockwood didn't fight you on the order, despite being your boss. He just nodded, lost in thought.

"You remind me of her," He said suddenly.

"Who?"

"Jess," He replied, "She would have liked you." You smiled softly at that, a warm glow igniting in your chest.

"Goodnight, Lockwood," You said instead of addressing the scary genuine feelings blooming. He didn't reply, instead pulling you into a tight hug. His arms around you were warm, holding you in place as his head rested in the crook of your neck.

You realised suddenly how few hugs Lockwood had given you in your time at the company. Partly because it was a little unprofessional, mostly because Lockwood was typically too repressed to manage his emotions in such a healthy way. You enjoyed it though, it kind of felt like you two were meant to be like that, two halves of a damaged whole. When he pulled away his smile was just for you, bathing you in the love he'd never been able to express.

[startheskelaton]

Can you tell us more about Landlot(Sparkplug's ex boyfriend)please?

Oh gosh I'm gonna go on a huge tangent about this guy, mostly because I feel like it.

So Landlot is the newest version of a character that belonged to my own ex boyfriend. However I was the one to properly flesh out his character, the most my ex did was give him a color pallet and basic personality.

For context, One Spark first started as a fanfiction called "End of the rode" made by my ex. It was a post apocalyptic transformers au where the Optimus and Megatron are dead, the autobots are trying to make another arc to get to Cybertron and the decepticons are now led by Starscream. The story only really got a proper threw line when I suggested adding a character I had thought up, Sal Witwicky, the orphaned daughter of Spike Witwicky. Sal's deal was that she resented transformers because they not only destroyed her world, but let her family die, now she's one of few surviving humans. She gets found by Hound and reluctantly agrees to go back with him to the autoboot base.

At one point, Sal was supposed to be horribly injured by Ravage (who was only there because I really liked Soundwave, and his addition helped fill in plot gaps), to the point she was about to die. However they put her in a experimental protoform body... she would now be known... as Sparkplug. (I also came up with this plotline)

Why am I going on about this? Well because it's important to why Land lot exists on my current story. Landlot in the old fanfiction was a twin and was one of the first transformers built on earth, post Sparkplug getting put into robot body. He was supposed to be the leader of his group, as he was kind of a hotrod wanna be. He was also vary clearly a self projection character for my ex, similar to how I tend to project onto Sparkplug. I had offered the idea for Sparkplug and Landlot to be a couple, I can't remember if my ex was on board for the idea or not, however I do remember it being the only thing close to romance in the whole story.

So here we are a good maybe 6 years later. I had a lot of trauma from that relationship to the point I still dream about him, and the moment I realize it's him in my dream, I try and get away from him, not wanting to be with him at all. I won't say I was a saint during that relationship, but I do resent him for being able to find some sense of peace with intimacy. A lot of shit happened... So when I decided to remake the Transformers AU, I was mean to Landlot.

So who is Landlot in the One Spark AU?

Well he's a 1970's Plymoth GX, who emerged with his twin sister, Defender. They emerged pretty soon after the matrix awakened the energon on earth. They emerged vary close to the autobot base and were taken in and trained like any normal sparkling would be trained back on Cybertron. He fit in vary well as he remined a lot of the autobots of the older days, just a bunch of guys who turned into cars acting like heroes and messing around. He would become a poster boy for the transformers born on Earth.

How did he end up dating Sparkplug? Well I'll tell yah. Despite a lot of my art showing people dotting over Sparkplug, that wasn't the case for a majority of the autobots, yes a good amount of them formed bonds with her, but it was only because they were related to prime. Bot's like Ironhide, sideswipe, Blur, Proceptor and a good amount of other autobot's being vary against Megatron and Soundwave being allowed to join, and some are still convinced that Sparkplug is just part of a secret plan of Megatron to try and take over earth again.

So a lot of bots stayed away from her, and this bias would trickle down to the new earth born bots on the base. So Sparkplug never had any friends her age, the closet being Rumble and Frenzy who were basically teenagers when she was born. However Sparkplug did grow up to be rather pretty... well... as pretty as you can be while being a weird combination of two bots. Even though she tried to talk to the other young bots, her awkwardness and bluntness only made them stay away from her. However Landlot slip in, seeing an opportunity to have a cute/shy girlfriend. Sparkplug fell hard and fast for him because she had never had anyone interested in her romantically. He would try and mold Sparkplug into a sweet, dotting and helpless shy girl that would hang on his arm to make him look cooler. Because how badass would it be to show that he was able to get the notorious Megatron's daughter to be his side chick.

Eventually, Sparkplug got tired of getting the short end of the stick and decided to break up with him after seeing that he was trying to get with other bots behind her back, bot's that vary clearly didn't like her.

So that's where they stand as of now. Landlot is still a celebrated leader for his heroics and fun personality, while Sparkplug just only got passed to go on missions and was put on the most mind numbing job imaginable.

sorry that this is so long, I just really wanted to share all this info

[silviakundera]

Melody of Golden Age ep 1-2 watch comments

"Even a ghost claiming lives has personal desires."

Empress Dowager ruling behind the curtain

Head of the Imperial Guards!ML is slightly unusual, that's more commonly the role we see in second male leads/supporting character who backs up the ML.

But because they've made him the ML, he's of course Super Respected & Very Serious Business Guy

I appreciate how OTT melodramatic the ML is. His intro is The Double-esque.

I also appreciate that we can actually tell that armor is supposed to be heavy.

Decent costuming & sets - not historically accurate but the story isn't trying to be. It looks decent (not just cheap fabric & props), creates a sense of time & place. You can tell the clothes have a sense of weight, like they should. tbh my expectations were low, so I didn't expect it to look so good.

So the guy over the Inspectorate is a dick. Noted.

ML has the backing of the Empress Dowager. So tons of political players resent him. A bit precarious.

FL is non-descript but that's not necessarily a bad thing. She just acts like a normal person. After just trying 2 dramas where the actress does this thing where she opens her mouth & eyes wide as she talks and constantly looks unsure/startled and almost sounding-out her words, it's refreshing to see an actress just... talking

Assassination attempt! FL is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Inspectorate dude most definitely a dick.

LMAO the slo-mo on the ML and the not-at-all-scary dogs 😂😭

ML was the son of a convicted official, huh? Who rose to captain of the guard? not bad, my dude, but who was his benefactor and will they turn out to be SECRETLY EVIL???

FL knows ML from somewhere but is he pretending not to remember, because he just that dramatic

Young orphan boy wants to become FL's disciple. He's cute and hopefully not Secretly Evil (look, SOMEONE is gonna be secretly evil, let's just face facts)

FL is gonna be sister in law to ML but is that truly all she "remembers" about him? ugh her sister has that cutesy way of speaking that grinds my gears. Please!! don't purse your lips and talk wide-mouthed like a child 😭

FL family are not fans of marrying their fav daughter to the dramatic guard leader. FL's concubine mom: "It's quite good to be ignorant and uneducated!"

so there's a reason ML doesn't want this marriage bestowed: the prime minister can threaten their family, pressuring the married in daughter to spy on ML and share info

but engaged sister has fled with a scholar! 😱 how predictible! Except our ML and FL already met, so she will need ML's participation in the subterfuge

LMAOOOOOOOOO ML cannot move a finger without slow mo and an orchestra. can't even trot his horse down the street 😭 buddy is just going for an evening ride stoppppppp

ML is being so omnious and unnecessarily threatening, he knows that girl fled right?

The way they have ML and FL face off so far isn't bad, compared to other low-grade idol dramas - he is above her in status and the way he speaks to her very much reflects that but it never feels to me like he is treating her like a child, simply a lowly constable (he's just That Bitch). She asserts herself with frustration & anger, but she doesn't throw temper tantrums, stamp her feet and pout.

Bad guys are in masks. 🕵

Oh yeah, I knew it - ML is betting on the bride's family to cancel. He knows that 3rd sister won't show.

FL just like, "I'll be the bride" - girl I know ya'll don't want to die for defying the monarch but he literally knows who u are. Like you've had 3 conversations and he knows your name. What's the plan??

lmao he shows up just to be intimidating and point a sword in her face. I would try to sell him on fake-spying.

Huh. He actually doesn't need any convincing! Doesn't press about deceiving the monarch and lets it go. There's been multiple indications that he's a drama queen who had created this image but he has a soft side underneath. He's given her a way out twice now when it would have been easy & convenient to let her die.

ML is right that this marriage isn't much of a threatening conspiracy when everyone knows what's up. He's ridiculous but also sensible.

I hate her sister-friend, do not stay PLEASE go home. you are on my last nerve.

oh naturally ML and FL met as children and there's a token. there's always a childhood token.

ML can't even walk into a room without dramatics asdgghjkl

tbh I feel like he is actually a lot nicer about things than he could have been. other than some threatening, he's just gonna let her live there as long as she doesn't spy on him.

[ghost-bxrd]

Dragon AU idea, Nightwing is the one who re-taught Dick to smile and be emotionally venerable. If the boys are still orphans, when Bruce first adopted him he was still worried about what the young king wanted from him. So when he was still suspicious of him the tradition was every official member of the royal family would get a dragon when they came of age. So he gave Dick his egg even if younger then normal, if he still didn’t trust Bruce by him giving it to him the boy would still find a companion in the dragon.

Dick coming from a different land didn’t know this, and was understandably confused what he was given. Bruce explained it to him, and Dick was actually interested.

When the little dragon hatched it was a long process but it taught the young boy who lost his parents overtime to value the past but to remember the present.

(Side note: the little dragon I imagine was known for playing pranks and being a little snot to Bat, hanging off the larger dragon and head butting the older much to its chagrin. Also chasing staff much to Bruce’s headaches too.)

When Jason was adopted, both Bruce and Dicks dragons had made the young peasant boy excited when he’d see his for the first time. As both talked highly about them as both dragons helped them through their times of grief.

That’s why it stung more when his was given away. That was HIS. But just as much the other way when all they could see was the small egg that would never hatch…

Ouch, yes, that would sting a LOT 🥺

There could be so many variations to a dragon rider au depending on what you’re going with. But most of it would boil down to Jason‘s feeling of betrayal over having his dragon stolen 😭

[fictional-orphan-smackdown]

PINK VS. PINK, GO!

All propaganda and what each competitor is from under the cut

Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney)

The case in which his father died is the root of all the tragedy in the first 3 games. He even thinks he killed his father at first which is very sad and he has lasting trauma from the incident (his father died in an elevator during an earthquake. edgeworth is shown to panic and shut down during earthquakes or something similar like airplane turbulence and he avoids taking the elevator whenever possible)

Miles Edgeworth is the most repressed individual you'll ever meet. He is a chess player and everytime he has a chess board he puts the red pieces (him) cornering a blue piece (HIS RIVAL/THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE). He told the aforementioned rival his ex girlfriend died by telling him "her metabolic processes are concern of only historians". He dresses like a victorian child. He is a steel samurai fan. Almost christmas means it wasn't christmas

Sakuya Sakuma (A3!)

OUGH okay hello I’m gonna yell about my little guy here. Obviously he’s an orphan; parents died when he was really small, passed around to different family members, and BOY does it affect him. He’s not colossally depressed or anything but it does give him abandonment issues, a general sense of loneliness, and a latent fear that if he’s too sad or angry then he’ll get sent to live somewhere else. Even after he joins his live-in theater company, though he does start moving past it there. Despite all that, he always strives to be kind and caring and cheerful, yes in part because he felt like he had to be but also because he just generally is. He’s so very loved in the place he’s at to the point that a number of grown adults (he starts the series at 17!) openly admit that they look up to him. TRULY one of the characters ever I’m so incredibly normal about him

ok so i havent been caught up in years so forgive me if i get the details wrong but he's just a ball of sunshine despite all he's gone thru (multiple foster homes, never really feeling like he belonged anywhere). like he literally put his everything into acting because it was the only place he could go that wasn't back to a foster home (the company has dorms for the actors), to the point where he was doing "solo" shows (he had a bird as a supporting actor) just to bring in enough people to keep the acting company from shutting down completely. also it's the way that he FINALLY found a place to call home and people to call family and he was SO DESPERATE to hold onto that when his fellow troupe members threaten to leave (at least once for each of them for a minimum of 5, but only one at a time. u would think they would catch on at some point and not do that). also the sleepover cg in act 1 makes me feel like crying like they're finally on the same page and ready to work together and they look so comfortable and vulnerable with each other and it just AUGHH because they only did that after sakuya decided to sleep on the stage on his own and got caught by another troupe member who dragged in the rest of them too like hello?? crying

[yall-batman-fanfic]

Dreams and Reality | Bruce Wayne/Batman x OC!Magician ft Justice League Dark [Part 3/3]

Synopsis: After speaking with the Endless, Vivian falls asleep and for the first time sees the beauty of the Dreaming, and sharing it with her is her husband, and both are given a surprise by Morpheus.

Bruce has perfect the art of microsleeps and meditation, which is how he is able to function even without a full night's rest, but tonight he must sleep. A real and deep sleep that would make him dream. He never liked to dream, not for a long time. Since he was a boy his dreams would be of Crime Alley, after watching Zorro with his parents, the gunman – Joe Chill – and the pain and fear of going through all of it again.

But for the past twenty years, his dreams were no longer the nightmare of that night, either it would simply be darkness, his mind still running about a certain case, or Vivian. Just Vivian. 

As they prepared for sleep, Bruce felt uneasy. How could he just sleep after what happened early tonight? It was a rough night in Gotham with criminals running rampant, acting on their impulses and desires, then there was the case of Vivian's father appearing after forty years of being gone with the revelation of him being an Endless. Specifically the anthropomorphic personification of Dream. Then Vivian having to face the wraiths of Sinner's Nine and the Endless (all of them this time) all on her own. Well, she had John Constantine with her the entire time, but John claimed he wasn't much help at all. He was just there as a spectacle.

After the Batfamily helped GCPD with arresting the criminals, a raven appeared on the hood of the Batmobile and spoke. Yes, the raven spoke to him. The raven said his name was Matthew, he was Dream's raven, and that Vivian and John were back. Both unharmed. Batman and the Robins, mainly Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, and Orphan ran to meet with Vivian to see how she was.

She was, indeed, back and was having a drink with Alfred, Midnite, and John in the shop. All speaking about what has occurred in her meeting with the Endless, and her plans to pay a visit to Hell about the wraiths.

Vivian greeted him then as if it were a normal day of him coming back from a mission for the League with a, “welcome back, how's everything?” He was both annoyed and glad to see her back to her old-self that he brought her to an embrace and kissed her deeply. They went home soon after discussing the meeting with the Endless and after learning from Signal that all of the criminals they were chasing were suddenly sleeping in the middle of the road. 

“It's Lord Morpheus’ way of apologizing for the mess the family has done,” Vivian told Duke and the others. “Go home everyone. Rest up, we have an early start tomorrow with the holidays.”

“Can we start a little late?” Steph asked through their comms.

“But —” Damian began but one look from Jason and Dick, he huffed and said, “Fine! But we better still be doing everything.”

“Fine!” The rest groaned and ended the call.

Saying goodbye and thank you to Papa Midnite and Constantine, the Waynes left for home, where they were faced with a cold draft with a huge hole at the sitting room wall. Vivian magically repaired it with a wave of a hand and went straight to the bedroom where she and Bruce were now.

Both sitting on their bed, dressed appropriately for sleep, and Vivian asking Bruce to sleep.

“It's not like I can control it, Viv,” Bruce joked.

“Do you need any help with it?” Vivian beckoned him to lay on her lap. “Come on.”

“What about you?” Bruce asked as he laid his head on her lap, from this angle he could clearly see how deep the scratches of the wraith were on her shoulder, while there was a scar there was an indent. 

“I can sleep and be off to dreamland faster than you. You on the other hand, I need to lull you to sleep and not the type of sleep you've been doing for the past twenty years.”

“There is another way that would get me to sleep like that.”

“We're not facing my Endless father right after sex,” Vivian started massaging his temples and head.

“He won't know.”

“He will. Just close your eyes, you  stubborn man.”

Bruce chuckled but then hummed in how good it felt to be massaged. He remembered the first time Vivian did something like this for him. It was when he refused to go to sleep after thirty-six hours of being awake. She made him change out of his Batman uniform and head to bed where she massaged his head until he had fallen asleep. 

“It's not working this time,” Bruce murmured.

“What would help?” Vivian asked in a whisper.

“Lay down with me,” Bruce went to his spot in their bed and opened his arms for her. 

Vivian laid down, getting under the covers and snuggled into her husband's embrace where she acted a big spoon. “Better?” She yawned.

“Yes,” Bruce said against the skin of her neck. “Much better… I almost lost you today, I want to hold you tonight.”

“You will always have me, Bruce,” Vivian brushed his hair, trying to lull him to sleep. “Go to sleep or else I'll,” a yawn. “I'll knock you out.”

“Like you can.”

“Don't test me…”

~*~

It was the steps leading to the throne atop that caught her eye, followed by the three stained glass windows behind it that represented a being of different shapes, always changing, a garden filled with trees and mountains, then an abstract. Nothing yet, she guessed, or maybe there was something there before. 

“The Major Arcanas,” Dream's voice came. The Endless stood behind her with him was a being that was not entirely human, given the pointed ears and the fact they exist in the Dreaming. 

“This is the Dreaming,” Vivian concluded. “And this is your throne room.”

“In a sort of way,” Dream fidgeted. “Vivian, I would like to introduce to you Lucienne. Lucienne has been the chief librarian and trusted guardian of the Dreaming for the longest time. Lucienne, my daughter, Vivian Pryor.”

Lucienne approached her and bowed. “My Lady.”

“Wow, I will not get used to that — Vivian's fine or Viv, whichever you prefer,” Vivian held out her hand to Lucienne.

The dream looked at her hand for a moment, unsure on what to do, but then took it and shook gently.  “A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Viivian,” Lucienne greeted. “I do hope all is in order in the Waking World.”

“Yes. I’m sorry if it took us a while to get to sleep. Our family are a bunch of night owls.”

Lucienne smiled and then asked for leave to go to the library. Dream lets Lucienne return to their duties, leaving Dream and Vivian in the throne room.

“I hope to speak to you first before we visit your husband in his dream,” Dream sat on the step that led to his throne. 

Vivian followed after him and sat beside the Endless. As she sat there with him, she realized she wore the black dress that Midnite gave her earlier. It seems to have attached itself to her. “I hoped for that too. So much has happened in the past six hours. My whole life suddenly changed.”

“How so?”

“Firstly my father turns out to be an Endless, and is Morpheus, the god of dreams, who I would read about in my books and studies,” Vivian counted. “Then there's the fact that my mother is actually an immortal witch who gave up her immortality and magic to hide me from you and seal this power…”

“Which do you want to talk about first?”

“I think the hardest part to grasp is about Mom,” Vivian said as she looked into the distance. “She hid so much from me. It hurts to know that I never really knew her at all.”

“I understand your sadness to learn about your mother in such a manner. I would have told you gradually if I had known Madeline had never told you.”

“So, what was she like? What made the King of Dreams fall for a witch in Gotham?” Vivian leaned back, resting on her elbows and legs stretched out, ready to listen. “And no need for the slideshow, I am more than comfortable with the story being told and not flashed before me.”

Dream smiled. “Madeline Pryor was the daughter of a High Priestess of their coven. But that coven dissolved after countless in fighting. After her mother's death, Madeline lived as a village healer. Making medicine for everyone who needed it, she also taught so many people. She was the only woman who could read then, it was one thing to know how to read, then it was another to know how to read and speak another language.

“Many already feared her but none made a move to kill her, despite the witch hunts, in fear of being cursed by her.”

“So, they knew,” Vivian asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

“Yes. Madeline was never discreet. She would heal the incurable illnesses, mend the unmendable bones… and to children, she brought stories and hope. She told many stories, acted them as well. She loved children but no one would marry her because she was a witch. Even when she tried to seduce someone, they were too afraid. 

“I was infatuated with her, for her mind and her compassion. I courted her but Madeline wished to have children, but it is known that to be involved with an Endless will be her demise. For her sake, I simply courted but never acted on our desires.”

“Was there love?” Vivian sat up and looked her father in the eye. 

“Yes, there was. A mutual love and care for one another. Then, Gisella Sinner came. Sinner caught her husband speaking to Madeline once. Both are fond of the conversation. Then again at another time. Then again. And she noticed how her husband would always insist on getting the medicine from Madeline despite there being another healer in the village. 

“It was jealousy that had Sinner to cast a spell of illness that killed many children and blamed Madeline's witchcraft to be the cause, and she was the one who gave them — in the guise of an angel — the chains that stopped her from using magic. Madeline was about to die in the stake, but she would not die alone. She told everyone that Gisella and her daughters were witches too. They were not lies, not truly, but she caused the brutal and torturous deaths of Gisella and those girls, and the hanging of Gisella's husband.

“I saved her from that pyre but after that, I could not look at her for what she had done to the Sinners, so I left her. Three hundred years ago, I did not see her. I only knew what has become of her — immortality, her marriages, the stillbirths. Until I was captured by Roderick Burgess.”

“Burgess?” Vivian said. “The Magus? They say he had the devil in his basement… that was you. Burgess captured you.”

“Yes. For nearly a century I was his captive. Until I was able to escape. I journeyed to collect my tools and fix the Dreaming, but then I heard her voice again. She has not aged and she was a social worker, helping those in the clinic and teaching children still. After three centuries she still holds affection for me, and I to her. Then she asked me the first favor she ever asked. She asked me if I could give her a child. That was the one dream she will always want. Many months later you were born.”

This time Dream was unable to keep his promise in telling the story, he summoned a vision of the time he visited Madeline in the hospital after she gave birth. The vision showed Dream reaching for the infant and holding her close. A father holding his daughter.

“I was to raise you with her, just as I raised my other children before you,” Dream’s smile fell as the vision showed the room where Madeline slept peacefully with an infant Vivian sleeping in her crib then the bright light came through the window and found its home in her. “Then the Phoenix found its host in you. An infant. The next time I visited, I felt its presence, and knew it would be too dangerous for an untrained infant to hold such power. I told Madeline that I must take you back to the Dreaming where I can contain the power.”

“You were going to take me away,” Vivian sighed and wiped away the vision, making it disappear like smoke. “No wonder she hated you and hid us both from you.” Getting up, Vivian began to pace around the throne room. “You scared her. You were going to take away the only dream she has ever wanted.”

“I regret doing so,” said Dream. “I tried searching for you and Madeline but my duties to my realm needed me. I had duties to fix the Dreaming. The next I knew, Madeline was murdered brutally. Worse of all, it was one of my creations who killed her.”

“What do you mean?” Vivian turned to him.

The abstract stained glass slowly transformed to the face of a man with dark glasses. “The Corinthian was one of my nightmares. He killed Madeline, took her eyes. It was my sister, Death, who told me.”

“He did it?” Vivian’s lips quivered. “What did he do to her eyes?”

“He ate them.”

Vivian turned away from the image of the Nightmare on the stained glass. Memories of that night came back, along with the nightmare she saw when she was infected with Scarecrow's fear toxin. “They say,” she began. “That her murderer was killed in some sort of sick Serial Killer convention. Was that you?”

Dream nodded. “I turned him back to my sand, a part of me. Humanity is not ready for the Corinthian.”

“Is there more I should know?” Vivian sighed. 

“I hope for you to see more of the Dreaming,” Dream got up from the step. “But we can do that at another time. Now, we must find your husband. He is a light sleeper, and I feel that he will wake soon.”

Vivian laughed. “Yeah, he is.”

~*~

It was a nightmare that haunted him. As much as he wanted to have dreams, despite his happy life there are still some things that haunted Bruce Wayne in his sleep. His parents death, Jason’s death, and Helena’s death. He tried so hard to have good dreams but in this world he was not in control. 

Nightmare after nightmare haunted him. The gunman in the alleyway, the Joker beating Jason and eventually killing him, and Helena… 

One moment he and Vivian were happily preparing the nursery, thinking of names. He would press his ear to Vivian’s womb just so he could hear and feel their daughter growing inside her. Then suddenly she was gone and all because he was not there to anticipate Two-Face’s plans.

All because Bruce Wayne believed in Harvey Dent’s recovery.

“Mr. Wayne, we did the best we could. Mrs. Wayne will be fine but the baby…”

Bruce couldn’t move from where the seat he was on. He couldn’t remember exactly what happened then but he was sure Alfred was there and Tim. Tim was there, and he was calling Dick and Jason on the phone but this time he was just alone, and on his lap was the glass that held the wrapped body of his daughter. The glass box he buried in their garden.

“Bruce,” it was Vivian’s voice.

Looking up, Bruce was met by the sight of Vivian standing before him, holding him. Smiling sadly.

This wasn’t how this dream goes. 

She wouldn’t appear until later. Until he goes through those doors and finds her body mutilated. Dead.

“My love,” Vivian knelt before him and held his hands. The box that held their daughter’s body was gone, and so were the others in that hall.  It was just them, or so he thought. Dream stood far from where they were, watching as the couple mourned still. 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Vivian whispered to him. “It’s been years now.”

“I believed in him, Viv,” Bruce said. “I let our daughter die because I believed in him. In his recovery. If I had just –”

“If you had, then what would make you different from the rest of them? It wasn’t your fault. It is neither our fault,” and thought hard, Vivian finally admitted. “And it wasn’t Harvey’s. It was Two-Face. Harvey was just — it was just his body we saw. But he would never harm our Helena.”

“How many more, Viv? How many more must die because I choose to prioritize my mission?”

“No more… That's why I’m here. To help you. That’s why Dick and the others are here, to help you…” Vivian pressed her forehead on his. “Please, my love, it’s time we move on. We don’t have to forgive but we can start again.”

Vivian got up and pulled Bruce to his feet. Still holding his hand, she led him to the door where Dream stood. It was that door he would find Vivian mutilated and dead.

“No, wait,” Bruce stopped them. “No, no.”

“Bruce —”

“If you go in there, you’ll die.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

“How can you promise that?”

“Close your eyes, Bruce,” Vivian brought her hands to his temples and rubbed circles to ease his mind. “Close your eyes and take a step.”

She held his hands and they both stepped forward. Then another, and another, until he suddenly couldn’t hear his shoes tapping on the hospital floor but there was the rustling of the grass with the wind. The crunching of them under his feet, and the smell of the wind, and a stream. Opening his eyes, Bruce saw a haven. Nature was the only thing he could say, they were surrounded by nature of all kinds. And it was beautiful there.

“Is this heaven?” He asked, almost scoffing.

Vivian laughed. “I don’t think that’s part of the Dream Lord’s realm, my love.”

“This is Fiddler’s Green,” Dream explained. “A place of everlasting joy.”

“What are we doing here?” Bruce asked.

Vivian shrugged. “This is my first time here, I’m still getting used to all this realm-thing.”

Bruce only hummed in amusement and offered his arm for Vivian to hold.

“There is something I would like to show you both. But first, Wayne,” Dream stood before Bruce. “We did not start on good terms.”

“You did just have Constantine piss off my wife, barged into my home, brought wraiths which attacked my wife, and left a hole in my sitting room’s wall.”

Dream only looked at him and hummed. They were not sure if it was of displeasure or amusement. Nonetheless, Dream continued, “But I thank you for loving my daughter. If it would please you, I can help stop the nightmares from coming.”

“I don’t like it when people and Endless mess with my head.”

Dream frowned and turned to his daughter.

“He’s a stubborn man,” Vivian shrugged.

“Very well, then I hope this would give you a moment of joy,” Dream called for Lucienne. But it was Matthew who came, the raven flew across Fiddler’s Green and settled on the ground before telling them, “Sorry boss, transport’s a little slow but they’ll be here.”

Dream nodded. “Then we shall meet them halfway. Come,” he told the couple.

As they walked forward, following Dream, the Endless spoke, explaining to them how the Dreaming and his powers work, and how all of this came from him, from the dreams to the nightmares. Everything they touched was Dream and they were alive. Even Fiddler’s Green has a human form who claimed the name Gilbert.

“I am sure you noticed  the blank glass in the throne room?” Dream asked Vivian.

“You have a throne room?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah. You said that was where the Nightmare, the Corinthian, was,” answered Vivian. 

“Yes. I have yet created a nightmare to fill the gap that the Corinthian left in the Major Arcanas, but I believe a new dream would fit it nicely. The Corinthian was supposed to reflect the darkness that humanity could not confront in itself. But after the events that led to so much pain and death, including your Mother’s death, I believe humanity is not ready for such a concept… maybe they must first learn to confront the faults they blame themselves, to learn how to move forward from grief.”

Not far, two figures appeared walking towards them. One was Lucienne, and the other was a little girl wearing a white black dress. The closer they got, Vivian and Bruce could see the features of the girl: around five years of age, long red hair that framed her face, a button nose, pink lips, a round shaped face, and blue eyes with long lashes.

She had no hair yet, but I could see that she was going to have red hair, like her mother. Her eyes were blue, like her father. Vivian remembered Death’s words as she told her about her Helena.

“My Lord,” Lucienne greeted. “I have brought with me the new Major Arcana. Helena.”

“Thank you, Lucienne,” Dream turned to the couple as they looked at the child before them. “She does not have a concrete form. Helena transforms before the eyes of each dreamer. She represents the grief and guilt mortal carry and cannot move on…

“It was Death who told me about Helena’s death. And I could only imagine the grief you both felt then, that I too felt it. So, I created a dream which I named after your daughter. Helena.”

“Hello!” Helena waved at them with her bright smile. 

“How you see her is how you remember her. How you dreamt she would look like.”

Vivian and Bruce knelt before the dream both completely speechless as they looked at the child before them. Reaching out, Vivian tucked back a piece of the child’s red hair and caressed her cheek.

“May I… may I hold you, Helena?” Vivian asked.

“Yes, you may,” Helena answered with her sweet and angelic voice.

Helena walked towards her wrapped Vivian to an embrace. To touch the daughter she never saw nor heard, tears fell from Vivian’s eyes and she held the girl tight. “I know that you’re not really her but… Helena,” Vivian cried. “My darling, Helena, they took you from us too early. You were like an ocean who made its mark on me and when you died, there was a hole in my chest that can never be filled. But everyday I try to move on, there is still the pain of never seeing you grow up, but holding you now. Thank you… thank you for giving us that moment of happiness.”

Helena snuggled in Vivian’s embrace. Letting go, Helena smiled sadly at Vivian and wiped her tears, then she turned to Bruce. She stood there waiting for him to make a move or to ask to hold her just as Vivian did, but Bruce was silent and still. 

Until he sat down on the ground, fully, and just looked at her. “Would she have ever forgiven me for not protecting her and her mother?” Bruce asked about the dream. ‘Would you?”

Helena only walked towards him and brought Bruce to an embrace. “I wish this brings you dreams and not nightmares from now on,” Helena whispered. “You are plagued with so many nightmares that you rarely sleep at all.””

“May I carry you, Helena?” Bruce asked.

“Yes, you may,” Helena answered.

Bruce wrapped his arms around the dream and carried the little girl. And in that moment, his dream of holding his daughter came true and he held her tight. Bruce then had the girl sit on his shoulders, making Helena laugh, and reached out to hold Vivian’s hand. They walked down the path following the stream in Fiddler’s Green and settled just under the tree where they spent the remaining time they slept dreaming the life they imagined with the daughter they lost.

~*~

“It is time, you will wake any moment now,” Dream approached the couple where they sat by the stream with the dream.

Helena got up, not minding if her dress got wet from the water and crossed to join Lucienne. She turned back to Vivian and Bruce and said, “thank you, I had a lovely time!” and waved at them before walking back from whence she came with Lucienne.

“Thank you, Lord Morpheus,” Vivian said to him. “Until the next family dinner then, I guess?”

Dream nodded. “Until the next dinner.”

~*~

Bruce and Vivian woke up near noon. The couple were still in each other’s embrace but now it was Vivian who was being held by her husband. Opening their eyes, they were still in the darkness brought by their heavy curtains, but it did not hide from Bruce the puffy eyes that Vivian had, as if she had been crying all this time.

“That was a nice dream,” Bruce spoke.

“It was… we got to spend time with our daughter.”

“We did,” Bruce pressed a kiss on her forehead.

“Did it help? Seeing her.”

“It gave me peace of mind. You?”

Vivian nodded. “I think I would like to see Harvey one day. Talk to him.”

“He would like that, Viv.”

The knock on their door pulled the husband and wife from their tender moment. It was Damian, the boy opened the door even without waiting for their response and he looked at them with a pointed look.

“I was wondering when you were getting up, Alfred said not to disturb you both because you looked like you were having a good dream,” said Damian as he walked toward Vivian’s side of the bed. 

“Good morning to you too, sweetheart,” Vivian messed with Damian’s hair.

“Well, were you?”

“Were we what?” Bruce asked.

“Having a good dream.”

Smiling, Bruce said, “We were. A gift from Lord Dream.”

Damian hummed in response. “I see. If you can, tell the Dream Lord to stay out of my dreams. I don’t need them.”

“That’s not how it works,” Vivian said. “It’s you who enters the — nevermind. Just offer a twinkie to him if you want him to lay off with the dreams. He’d appreciate it. So, what’s for today’s agenda?”

“Considering you both have slept through family breakfast and the morning preparations, and Alfred had all your meetings moved for tomorrow, what is left for today is the snowball fight. But as you and Father collect yourselves and have your breakfast at noon, Thomas and I will be at the animal shelter. Grayson mentioned that he and Kane will visit the Martha Wayne Foundation to volunteer. The others will also do their work. For you both, stay here until we return.”

With that, Damian left, slamming the door after him.

“Did he just put us on house arrest?” Vivian said.

“He did.”

“Well, we can’t have that,” Vivian got out of bed. Get dressed, wear something warm. “We’ll drop by my father’s house today.”

“Viv, it’s almost midnight there.”

“He’ll be awake. They all will. Come on, he needs to know about Dream and about Mom.”

Bruce nodded. “You’re right.”

~*~

Just as Vivian said, Adam was still awake at this time. Despite his old age, Adam Royce could still pull off all-nighters and take walks in the cold. When they arrived at her old home, she found the place locked and she and Bruce waited outside until the old man returned home. When Adam Royce came back from whence he came — most probably the pub, drinking with some friends — he was surprised by the sight of his daughter and son-in-law sitting in the cold.

“Vee, what are you doing here?” Adam hastily walked through the gates and greeted his daughter with an embrace. “You should have told me!”

“It was a spur of the moment decision, Dad,” Vivian told him.

“Bruce,” Adam patted the man on his shoulder and asked if he could open the door for him. 

Bruce reached for the spare key hidden in the doorbell and unlocked the door for all of them.

“Where are Olivia and Oliver?” Vivian asked.

“They’ll be here for the holidays, don’t worry. It won’t be just me, but I do not mind if it was. Lenny from the pub has invited me to join them in the celebrations. So, what brings you both here? Don’t tell me you’ll be celebrating the holidays here — I have nothing in that fridge to feed your entire family. Especially the children!”

“Actually,” Vivian helped her father to sit in his favorite chair. “Bruce and I were hoping you would celebrate the holidays with us at Gotham. You, Oliver and Olivia, and their families.”

Adam smiled. “I’d love to, love, but there aren’t any flights now, innit? Too late to book now.”

“Dad, I got us both here by portal. I can open a portal for us now so you can go there and be back here if you like your bed so much,” said Vivian.

Adam shrugged. “Forty years, and I still can’t get used to your magic,” he laughed. “Have you, Bruce?”

Bruce chuckled. “I still wonder how she was able to put a snake in her pocket, and sometimes I still get spooked when things start to move in the manor. But Adam, we would like you to be there for the holidays.”

Adam sighed, turning to his daughter he brushed her cheek and said, “how can I say no to this one? Besides, I’ve been wanting to see the boys and the girl you adopted.”

“Cassandra will be fond of you, Dad,” Vivian held his bony hands. “Dad, there is also another reason why we came here… there’s something you should know.”

“This sounds serious,” Adam said.

“It is.”

“There’s two things you need to know.”

“Three things,” Bruce corrected her, catching Vivian’s attention. “There’s three things you need to know.”

“Bruce…”

“It’s about time that he knew, Viv… we’ve known each other for more than twenty years now, and we’ve been family since then. I should have — we should have told them the moment we married.”

“Told me what?” Adam asked. “What is this, Vee?”

“I think I should go first,” said Vivian. “Last night, I met my biological father, Dad.” Adam Royce froze and for a moment his face turned pale. “He asked help from John Constantine to find me, and John brought him to our home. Dad, say something, please.”

Adam cleared his throat. “You finally met the Sandman.”

“You knew?”

“Of course, I did, Vee.”

“But what about the thing with Mom, she was a —”

“A three-hundred-year-old witch?” Adam had a knowing smile. “Your mother told me the moment she tried to break up with me because she thought it would just be too complicated. But it was at that moment that I didn’t care, I loved her. That was all I cared about. I love her and the little girl she had. All  I cared about was you and her.”

“Then the Sandman, you knew about him.”

“Aye, I did. How is he then? Does he know about Madeline?”

“Yes, he does,” Vivian decided not to tell him about the Corinthian being a nightmare of Lord Dream.  “He found out from his sister, Death.”

“I see. Is that why you came here, Vee? To tell me?” 

Vivian nodded. “You deserve to know. You loved us so much — you took me as if I was your own and I… I just felt like I was betraying you when I was easily forgiving him after all this time.”

Adam sighed and beckoned Vivian to his embrace. “My sweet, sweet girl,” Adam rubbed her back. “There is nothing for you to be guilty about. He is your father. And even when he is an all powerful Dream Lord, I will not let him take you from me. You are my sweet girl, my Vee.”

Vivian held her father tight and said, “I miss you, Dad.”

“I miss you too, love. You should visit more often.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry.”

Pulling away, Adam cupped his daughter’s face and squeezed her cheeks, just as he would when she was little, and it made her laugh. It always does. 

“All is well between us, Vivian. Nothing has changed. Nothing will change.”

Vivian nodded and welcomed her father’s kiss on her forehead.

“Now, what is this other secret that you two have been keeping from me?” Adam turned to Bruce.

Bruce got up and went to close the curtains and locked the door first. 

“Must be really bad for you to lock me in my home,” Adam joked.

“Somewhat,” Bruce said and stood before Adam as he shrugged off his coat and pulled off his turtleneck. 

“Hold it, son!” Adam stopped him. “Are you broke? Are you here to tell me that you’re broke and now you’re stripping to keep a roof over my daughter?”

“What?!” Vivian exclaimed. “No! Dad, No! We’re not broke — and Bruce is not a stripper!”

“Why did you think I was in the first place?” Bruce asked.

“Because you’re stripping right in front of me!” Adam exclaimed. 

“No, he’s not!” Vivian then ripped open Bruce’s button shirt, startling the two men. “He’s Batman, Dad!” Under the shirt and the turtleneck, Bruce works the Batsuit. The Bat insignia at the very middle. 

“Ye, could’a start with that than stripping right in front of me!” Adam told them. 

“You’re not angry that I’m?” Bruce trailed off.

“No, I’m not, why the bloody hell would I?!”

“Considering the danger it would mean for Vivian.”

“She’s got magic, she’ll live. What I’m pissed off about is how she can easily rip off a man’s shirt without trouble as if she’s done it before!”

“Dad, I’m married!” Vivian argued.

“I don’t need to know what goes on in the bedroom! Good God, Vee! And I thought catching you and that Constantine-prick in your bedroom would be the last!”

Bruce frowned at that knowledge. “You slept with Constantine in this house?”

“He was my boyfriend, Bruce. Yes, I did!” Vivian said.

“Aye, caught them in the act too! Chased the bastard down the street with his willie waddling between his legs,” said Adam.

Bruce hummed in annoyance.

“I bet you enjoyed the show your husband was putting,” Adam told his daughter.

“I can’t believe that you’re more pissed at the fact that I ripped off my husband’s shirt in front of you than the fact that he’s Batman and we’ve been hiding that from you for more than twenty years!”

“I was SAS, Vee! There are things that even you still don’t know I did then! You telling me your husband is someone running around in a bat-costume is nothing compared to the things I’ve seen!”

As Bruce put on his shirt and turtleneck again, he watched as Adam and Vivian go on and on arguing about the stupidest thing there is. Between Adam and Dream, Bruce can say Adam was his favorite in-law.

~ Extra Ending ~

After a long and fun day with the family, everyone went home or to their rooms. Surprisingly, Adam, Oliver and Olivia and their family decided to accept the invitation to sleep in the manor that night. Olivia had two reasons though: they had no room in their old house and she promised the boys and Cassandra that she’ll go with them in whatever they said they have planned. Also, there the fact that Oliver wanted his son to meet his cousins.

Retreating to their bedroom, Vivian sat before her vanity to remove her earrings and brush her hair. “Are you going on patrol tonight?”

“Just for a couple of hours. Kate mentioned that there’s not much activity tonight. I think Dream still has some of the criminals sleeping earlier than usual.”

Vivan chuckled.”I’ll tell him to lay off. We have a couple of hours left before your night-shift. Do you want to lay down and just cuddle until I fall asleep or do you want to take the time to get some actual rest before you head out. You did a lot today, you know.”

Bruce walked up to Vivian and leaned down to kiss the base of her neck. “I don’t want to sleep. And there are other ways for me to get energized for later’s patrol.”

“My father’s here, Bruce.”

���At the other wing.”

“I still don’t feel comfortable with that.”

“You didn’t seem to mind back then with Constantine.”

Oh, so that…

Sighing, Vivian got up and faced her husband, she placed a hand on his bare chest as she walked them towards their bed, but one moment they were in their bedroom, and the next they were in another room. A smaller one with rock band posters on the walls, books on the shelves, and an electric guitar on the wall-mounted holder.

This was Vivian’s old bedroom in Liverpool.

“What did you – oof!” Bruce fell back to her squeaky bed Vivian climbed over him, straddling his hips. 

“Happy, Wayne?”

Bruce smirked. “Very,” and he welcomed her deep and lustful kiss.

A loud squeak was heard when Bruce made a move to get her under him. It made him stop and check if the bed could take them both or if they could move at all.

“You wanted this, didn’t you, Wayne?” Vivian teased him. “Try to figure it out.”

“I feel like the neighbors will hear.”

“Oh, they will. That’s how we found out Mrs. Hart was cheating on her husband with Randy from the shop. Everyone can hear there going at it. Mr. Hart was deaf in one ear and about twenty-percent deaf in the other.”

“That means he’s deaf, Viv.”

Vivian laughed. “Come on, Bruce. Let’s see what you can do in a tight situation.”

Leaning down, Bruce kissed her again, and every movement they made the bed creaked loudly, and they were sure to have heard Mrs. Hart calls out to them: “VIVIAN PRYOR, YOU QUIET IT DOWN! WE CAN HEAR YOU ALL THE WAY AT CHURCH!”

It made them both laugh loudly but continued on.

[blorbologist]

For the Spotify prompt: Ashton and either Essek or the Bright Queen with number 42 (the answer to everything)?

42. Kids Again, Artist Vs Poet

[Went a bit of a bittersweet direction with this but ohhh boy]

Ashton Greymoore isn’t an orphan. They aren’t really a ‘normal’ kid either, though. Normal kids don’t -

Wait. Hold up - maybe it’s easier to start with what Ashton is. Because Ashton is: a kid, sixteen as of a few days ago, a huge pain in the ass per his dad and the teachers, and really fucking confused.

They thought they had it all figured out. So what, they didn’t look like their old man - lots of kids didn’t! Didn’t change nothing! I mean, hypothetically he could be an orphan once - but who gives a shit about who those parents were. He has a dad.

Ashton Greymoore doesn’t know why he has the name though. Greymoore. Kids tend to match with their parents. Or at least one of them. When he asked, he just got a cryptic bullshit answer about the name being an heirloom. 

He has a lot of those - heirlooms. A wardrobe full of shit, like an old-ass helmet and a piece of yellow-painted metal. There was some cooler stuff in the dresser, but he might have gotten it all confiscated when he got caught with the immovable rod in class.

Apparently weird ass dreams are something else they inherited. Or were given. Whatever.

Except they’re popping up when he’s sure he’s awake, and when he’s fucking around with his friends, and when he’s playing hookey, and when he hears a storm overhead and when he tugs at vines on a fencepost and when he listens to howling late at night and when he sees a rat and when he’s eating cookies or scones or fish for some fucking reason -

Ashton Greymoore isn’t an orphan. They aren’t - they have a great family, and awesome friends, and all that shit. So why do they feel like they’ve lost everyone?

“Ashton!”

Of course they didn’t hear their fucking dad coming. They measure their breaths. Completely fucking fail to when the knock knock knock sounds right above their head, bounces off all the metal shit in here with them.

“I know you are in there, young man. Would you like to come out, or should I come in?” There’s a pause. “Or would you prefer I left?”

He doesn’t feel like giving an answer. Which is a mistake, because a classic fuck off would have solved his problems - but, shit, being quiet is concerning.

Dad doesn’t even need to touch the wardrobe to open the doors - Ashton doesn’t need to look up as the faint magelight flickers down. Really no point to it: his eyesight is way worse in the dark, just like how his ears are round and his skin isn’t purple.

There’s a flutter of robes as his father floats to the floor. A soft sound as he lets himself land. They’ve never been the hugging sort of father-son duo, but the quiet company is always a big relief.

“Ashton,” Essek says carefully. “I, ah. Am probably due to explain consecution to you.”

Send me a character / pair of characters / AU & a number from 1 to 100 & I'll write a little something inspired by that song!

[mylittlegemlins]

Spy x family hurt/comfort ideas for destroy your soul:

-loid and yor are expecting a child, anya is jealous that they don't love her as much as their own child.

-Loid, speaking seriously with Sylvia: " fuck it, I'm going to keep them and if you want me to continue being your star spy, you're going to give me missions that don't involve falling in love with women or adopting children, one is enough for me. "

-Loid thinks about the joy his wife and daughter bring him: God, when was the last time I did something just for… fun? Why I didn't do it befo-... oh right... This is a mission

-Loid wonders how Yor had never dated anyone until she was 27, then Yor interprets something very literal and Loid thinks, oh that's why.

-Since Loid saw that Anya had too much stress after the sandbox test, he is very worried about her mental health. Anya stares into space because she's busy thinking about what he thought. But he thinks that the poor girl she is dissociating due to a trauma and he tries to repair her with kisses and hugs.

-The mission ends on the night of a full moon, so Anya has no idea if her father plans to get rid of them, or how, or when, she just stays close to her parents for as long as she can.

-Yor begins to question if she is going to be married to Loid until death do them part, since she barely knows Loid... Well, she knows him a little... For a year... But she is not sure of her feelings for him.

- -Loid finally decides to take Anya to the doctor because bleeding from the nose every time you get overwhelmed by loud noises might not be normal. Anya is just terrified that the doctors will open her brain and see that she has her powers, somehow. he also discovers that she is very low in weight and height for her age and worries even more.

-you love me? Direct question to destroy the heart of the best spy in the country, especially if it comes from a child, especially if it comes from an orphan, especially if it comes from his daughter who has never lived more than 4 months with an adoptive family because they did not get attached to her. Answer honestly, she will know if you lie.

-The Strix mission ended. Loid abandons Anya and breaks up with Yor without much explanation. only to regret it 15 minutes later and run to find them.

-Anya obtains 7 tonitrus having already 7 stellas. And she knows that expulsion is closer than the prize. So she runs away from home.

- Anya is finally ready to tell Loid a little about her birth mother and the orphanage, and it hurts.

-Anya never had a birthday party because there was no budget at the orphanage. Loid is able to hiring even the boys who cry if that makes his daughter happy

-Yor is hospitalized due to a fight and telling your husband that you have appendicitis is easier than explaining to him that some criminals shot you 3 times in the hip and who the hell you're still alive.

-Bond has to bite one Forger to save them from some imminent danger he predicted but the rest of the family panics and gets very angry with Bond.

-"If you keep getting close to dangerous guys you are going to get really hurt one day." Ergo, Anya gets hurt.

-Did you know that adoptable children in real life know that their chances of being adopted go down as they grow older because most only adopt babies? Anya knows it.

-Loid and Yor have no choice but to sleep together because their daughter is terribly ill in the hospital and her last wish is to sleep with them together. Or she actually has a common cold and they took her to the emergency room because they panicked when her fever went up 0.1 degrees.

- Damian wants to hang out with Anya but he would never let Emilie and Ewen find out.

-Loid comforting Anya during an anxiety attack because he thinks it's because of her past and only he knows.

-Instead of directly saying that he wants to keep his family or give up being a spy, he begins by extending the mission for 4 more months, and then another 4 more. And when he realizes 4 years have passed.

-Yor asks Loid about his dead ex-wife because they will never go to leave her flowers or he doesn't have old photos of her and baby Anya. Loid has many photos to fake.

T/W torture

-Anya biological father is a voluteer or one of the scientist because she was made by artificial insemination so that she was born, Anya's mother was kidnapped from a rural town where her language was almost extinct.

-The scientists remove Anya's mother's tongue so that she cannot communicate with her other than through her telepathy.

-The scientists being really mad the first time that her powers didn't work during the full moon.

-Still has nightmares about the electroshock in the laboratory every time she failed the tests. Her parents try to console her but she can't tell them anything, even if she wants. still hurts.

[wheelsvoid]

HOME ; STRANGER THINGS

⇢ you don’t have a place to call home, or a family, and you keep it a secret from your friends. however, they find out and find a way to help you without your knowing

masterlist

genre: platonic, angst with a happy ending

word count: 1,674

warnings: one curse word, and the reader doesn’t have a good life outside of school so keep that in mind ofc

request: “Heyyyyyy for a platonic stranger things imagine could be like an orphan and friends with the gang and no one knows about Rs's situation but El looks for r one time and finds out about Rs's bad living situation (maybe homeless?) and the crew rally around their friend and hopper adopts r?”

tried my best, here you go!

Jealousy was something I was very familiar with. I knew it well enough to call it a friend, but I hated it enough to wish it would leave me forever.

I never knew myself to be such a jealous person until I made all the friends I did. I was typically quite kind, and forgiving, and I only got angry when justified. Still, my jealousy never left me.

All my friends had homes, and at least someone to go home to. I had nothing and no one. Their lives weren’t perfect, but the little voice in my head always told me that mine was worse, even if it wasn’t fair to compare.

I found ways to hide my lack of a real life. I often stayed at Lucas’ house, or Mike’s. I had sleepovers, and their parents didn’t mind. I stayed long enough to look as though I was hanging out, but I left before they could think to call my mother or father.

It was embarrassing to depend on others for a bathroom, or a bed, or food, or anything necessary to live a normal life, but I had nothing else.

They never had to know, anyway.

I was the first one at Starcourt Mall today, seeing as I had taken the early bus. I watched as all my close friends left the large vehicle with smiles on their faces, smiling back at me when they saw me leaning up against the wall.

“Y/N!” El ran up to me in excitement. She gave me a hug, and I laughed as I hugged her back. When the boys got closer, with Max by their sides, Lucas, Will and Dustin each gave me a high five, and Mike gave me a fist bump with a grin.

“What took you guys so long?” I raised a brow, sending a teasing grin as we made our way in the mall. “I’ve been here a whole hour longer, waiting.”

“Oh, we’re so sorry that you had to wait.” Lucas sympathized, dramatically holding a hand over his heart.

“It was Mike’s fault, anyway.” Max said. “He got into an argument with Nancy over who got the last pancake.”

I laughed loudly. “Typical.”

And the energy was up the entire day, too. We went to the movies, sneaking through the back thanks to Steve (who grew more regretful for letting us do so the first time every time we saw him). Afterwards, we went back to Scoops Ahoy to each grab an ice cream.

I was glad for my job, from Tuesday to Saturday every week, so I could pay for my own ice cream. I worked after school each day, not having to worry about a curfew or anything of the sort. I only had myself, and the longer I worked the better. I liked feeling as though I was in a normal environment for a teenager, even if it was just a café.

On the way out of Scarcourt Mall, Max turned to me. “Hey, Y/N, wanna go to your house this time?” We typically went to one of our houses after our meet ups, and hung out the rest of the day. However, the thought of doing so this time scared me. I had no place to call home. “I just realized, we’ve never been.”

For a moment, my eyes were wide and I went pale, but I relaxed a second later. I played it cool. “No, thanks. I’d rather go to Mike’s, I wanna see Nancy anyway. And my house is a mess today. Maybe another time.”

At this point, I was digging my own hole. Another time? I couldn’t keep denying them. They’d figure it out eventually.

Max, Lucas, Will and El frowned in confusion, but Dustin and Mike were blissfully unaware of my slip up. “Sounds fun.” Dustin cheered.

And it was fun. I spent as long as I could at their house without seeming lost, or alone. I tried my best to fit in. And I was hopeful that I did.

How could I have known that I’d worried the others, leaving them to talk as I left to go fill in for my coworker on a Sunday?

———

“I’m worried about Y/N.” Will admitted. “They were acting… weird.”

“I noticed too.” Lucas sighed, leaning forward from his spot on the couch downstairs.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Mike frowned in confusion.

Max turned to him, raising a brow. “You didn’t notice?”

Mike stared, “no…?”

“They looked…” Max had to think about it for a second. She had to think of the right word. Then it hit her. It was fear that she’d seen. “Scared.”

“Why would they be scared?” Dustin asked. “We go to each other’s houses all the time, right?”

“Not Y/N’s.” El said. “We’ve never been.”

For a moment, everyone was silent. They were either lost in their thoughts, or unsure of what to say.

Will spoke next, sounding hesitant. “Are they okay?” His voice was so soft, it could only be heard due to the quietness of the room.

———

After school the next day, Mike had come up to me and told me that El wanted to hang out at her house, but since I hadn’t given them my phone number, she asked him to tell me. I was glad that El wanted to hang out, and I was glad that she wasn’t scared to ask.

I told him I’d love to, and he grinned, telling me he’d call her and let her know I’d be over after school.

Since I had nowhere to go, I began my walk from school, all the way to Hopper’s cabin in the woods. It was a long, exhausting walk. But I was glad to make it before it’d gone dark (and lucky it wasn’t that long of a walk).

When I saw the small cabin, I felt relief. Despite my aching legs, I began jogging to the front door. I was more than excited to see El after not seeing her all day. It would be nice if it was safe enough for her to join us at school.

I knocked on the door, waiting patiently for it to open. Hopper opened it, and it wasn’t a surprise for me that it was him. He had to, to keep El safe from any unwanted visitors. He could play it off as the only resident in the cabin if he wanted to.

“Hello, Hopper.” I grinned. “Can I come in.”

Hopper smiled like he was expecting me, but there was something else shining in his eyes that worried me. “Sure, kid.”

I had always liked Hopper. He was kind to me, and grew kinder over the years, too. He was special.

As I walked in, putting my bag down that held all of my belongings, I looked around in search of El. I saw her door, which was opened only a couple inches, quickly guessing for her to be in there. As I took of my shoes, Hopper stood a few feet away.

“Before you hang out with El, would you mind if we talked?”

I looked up at him, somewhat surprised but mostly confused. As I finished untying my laces, I nodded, kicking off my shoes and getting to my feet. “Yeah.” I said, but it sounded like more of a question.

Hopper led me to the living room, and I glanced at El’s door which did not open any more. He sighed as we both sat down on the couch that fit perfectly in the room.

He was silent for a while, like he was thinking of what to say, before his voice broke through the silent space. “The kids told me that you seemed… off yesterday.” He said.

I held my breath. Had they figured it out? Did I mess up? How much did they know? How did they—

“They just want to make sure you’re okay.”

I stared at him, unsure if I looked as calm as I wanted myself to. I was sure I was showing some of my fear. Still, I nodded. “I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?”

Terrible answer. Now he’ll never let me leave. Shit.

He looked at me, frowning. “Well, they told me that you’ve never given them your number, and that you never let them stay over.” He said softly, “and that you never talk about your family, and that you get nervous whenever they bring anything up.” He sighed. “We’re just worried, kid.”

I held my hands together, unable to look away from them now. I didn’t know what to say. Why had I gone silent? I’d never be able to play it off now.

But what if I needed some help?

“What’s going on at home?”

I chipped away at my blue nail polish, which Max had lended me. “I have no home.” I said.

I could feel Hopper’s eyes on me. “None at all?”

I let out a shaky breath. “None.”

He was quiet for a second. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I… didn’t know how.” My voice was quiet now. Gentle. “I didn’t want to ruin anything.”

Hopper put a hand on my shoulder, causing me to look at him. He looked sad, and sympathetic, but mostly heartbroken. “How would it ruin anything?”

“I didn’t want them to have anything else to worry about.” I said. The weight on my chest felt a little bit lighter. “I didn’t want to… make things worse, I guess.”

They already had so much to deal with.

“I promise you,” he made a point to look me in the eyes. “That nothing you could ever say or do would ruin anything. They would always help you. I would.” I couldn’t control the way my lip quivered, and as Hopper squeezed my shoulder, he asked me a question that made me feel like I could breathe again. “You want to stay with me?”

A tear slipped from my eye and I nodded, “yeah.”

He smiled softly, pulling me in for a hug. “Okay.”

[ar3s-r4t-qu33n]

Why I Think Johnny Kills Danny (Before the Game even starts):

Footage by me <3 eating shit when I was a Julie Main (Maria gal now ever since she came out but both of them are SO WEAK Gun PLEASE give Jules a speed boost and Maria's ability do SOMETHING MORE-) but just for a full visual so folks can see what this animation full looks like

First, I wanna go over the fact that Johnny and Danny are foils of each other. I think I'm using the word correctly? Think about Danny's backstory; a scrappy orphan who's good with his hands, specifically mechanics, who presumably grew up on a farm (I personally believe that Jared Gaines is part of Danny's foster family, but that's pure speculation based on them both being Texans with the same last name, so I have no idea), and has gone on to turn his life into something, attending a university and meeting the girl of his dreams. He is a sweetheart, doting, devoted, a real Southern gentleman through and through.

And now Johnny; a scrappy orphan who, if those are oil stains on his gloves and what Ronnie Hobbs (creative director) for the game said in an interview about Johnny being designed to 'look like a guy who helps out at a gas station' (paraphrasing) and the fact that he lives in a god damn scrapyard, is good with his hands, specifically mechanics, who grew up on a farm and has been forced to be something he is not- a brutal killer. Despite fighting against it, he has had no choice but to be a Slaughter and has grown to be especially brutal because of that. He doesn't want it, he has no choice, therefore he will be the best fucking killer there is. He is cruel, cold, has found a way to take pleasure in his craft, but is also incredibly charming, a soft side to him that can be heard through the way he speaks to Hands, Choptop and sometimes Nubbins, even Nancy gets a somewhat distant affection from him in some of his lines.

The two are almost perfect parallels, hell, maybe if Johnny had been able to stay with Judith and have a normal life, he and Danny could have been almost identical.

Now, contrary to what some folks think, I do believe that Johnny is in love with Maria. Not a normal love, not a healthy love, but a love nonetheless, and a love that is entirely his own, the first person he has ever chosen to love on his own, not because they were 'family' and he had to. As I said in my Johnny's Bluffing analysis, he initially plans to seduce and kill Maria just like every other woman he takes a vague interest in, but, because she's in love with Danny, he can't do that, and is instead forced to be around her sweet, kind, loving self and he falls head over heels for her. Who wouldn't? So he kidnaps her, luckily Grandpa takes a shine to her and lets her stay with a 'not dinner' badge, and Johnny finally has her to himself.

There's only one problem; she doesn't love him.

'Pretty Boy' Johnny has never struggled to make people like him or even fall for him. That's the easy part for him, he's used to being sexualised and leans into it. People fall at his feet all the time, so why is it the one woman he actually wants won't? Maria admits in her letters home on the Maria Flores Tribute Account on Instagram that she finds him attractive. But her heart belongs to Danny. No matter how hard he tries, Maria can't fall for him. Everyone in the family knows he loves her, but she doesn't feel the same, not only because she loves someone else, but because he went about it completely wrong. He likely spends a whole week down there trying to get her to want him, every trick in the book, just trying to make her feel for him what he does for her, but it just isn't working.

And then...

The man who he sees as keeping Maria from him literally shows up on his front door step.

We know from the Devs that Danny leaves early to go find Maria. I believe that he is dead before the gang arrive to save her, same as how I think Virginia dies before they get there, and I also think that Maria never finds out that Danny dies at all.

Now, obviously what happens in the trailer isn't the entire 100% truth as to what goes down here, but we have a general gist, and I believe that in Nancy's line of questioning, she gets angry at Danny and that is why she attacks him in a pretty reckless move for someone who seems so calculated and careful.

Not only has this 'floosy' taken her sweet boy's attention away from her, but she already has a boyfriend!? Nancy is insulted on Johnny's behalf, and is confirmed in her suspicions that Maria is no good for him. Because if he must have someone, they better devote themselves to him the way she does. If Johnny has to have someone, they better fucking let him, and not have some boyfriend waiting for them back home to complicate things.

Danny obviously fights Nancy off and runs away to the spare bedroom (where Maria's camera happens to be, I wonder why that is? wink wink nudge nudge I have my thoughts about that if y'all wanna know em), getting out into the scrapyard. He's locked in now, on his own facing Nancy on her land.

Right?

Well... no. Because who lives in that scrapyard?

Either Johnny is already there in his shack, or he'll be back from the Family House soon, and Nancy will tell him who Danny is and that he hurt his mother.

And Johnny isn't going to like that.

Something about his animation for the 'Choke Artist' Execution that I've always found interesting is the level of anger he has whilst doing it. We know that choking is Johnny's favourite method of killing someone, it's what he's known for around Texas in his various murders. So why isn't he enjoying himself? He only seems to enjoy it once he knows that they're dead, but during the choking is a sheer rage that seems totally different to every single one of his other kills.

Well, picture this:

Johnny has spent all this time trying to get the only person he has ever loved to want him. He can't handle rejection, he's never had to before, he doesn't know how to handle any of these feelings, the good, the bad, the rotten, he's a confused and vulnerable mess and he hates it. And then here comes Danny, the man who not only stole his beloved's heart and is holding it out of his reach, but also is everything Johnny could have been, he has everything Johnny could have wanted; freedom, friends, a normal life, the girl of his fucking dreams. And not only has he come here to throw all of that in Johnny's face, but he has attacked his mother and wants to take the only person Johnny has ever loved away from him.

And Johnny just sees Red.

And then, maybe a few days, maybe a whole ass week later, Virginia breaks in, tries to save Maria, and is murdered on the spot. There's no way she survives that house, Maria has the Grandpa Pass and I honestly think Johnny would start slashing if anyone went for her, and we see Uncle Hands pop 'round for a cuppa just as Virginia tries to escape, he is GETTING her ass. Few days after that, the Gang show up and all are killed bar Maria. Whether or not she survives the Family is something we don't know. But she never escapes them. I have my personal headcanon on what I think happens to her, Johnny, Sissy and Nancy once the Gang are dead, but that's for another time. But as it stands, Maria knows Virginia is dead, that all of her friends are dead, that her little sister is dead, but likely never finds out about Danny. Because she'd either have to find his body (and, knowing Johnny and Nancy, he's either in the sunflower patch or Devil's River by now), or Johnny would have to tell her. And he'd rather die than do that.

Idk, just how I personally see things, I wanna reiterate that as with all of my posts and analysies here, it's all my personal interpretation of events and none of this has been confirmed by Gun or anyone associated with them, none of this is canon and please do not mistake it as such, I just adore this game and Maria/Johnny/Sissy as characters and think about them way too much.

Lemme know what y'all think though!! I've building my own personal timeline and 'who kills who and in what order' list, so if folks wanna hear about that or have any questions or anything else from me, please let me know!!

Also I promised I'd tag @alittlebitofeverthang in this so here you go!!

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

“Sweetheart, if you knew the things I could do with you, you’d have run away a long time ago,” said the young man standing below the arch of the city gate.  If you looked at him full-on he seemed normal enough, but catch him in your peripheries and he seemed Wrong somehow.  Like he had too many sides to him, or like his limbs were just out of proportion, or like he moved with a grace that wasn’t quite human.  He reached out to run a finger along a stray lock of hair escaped from the pigtails of the young woman he was talking to.     

She groaned loudly.  “Don’t. We’ve known each other far too long for this bullshit.” 

The man grinned.  It was an unexpected grin, usually men like this are expected to smirk, or leer, or smile slyly, or even quirk an eyebrow if it came to it.  But the grin was real, open and glad, briefly washing away the aura of inhumanity and leaving merely a boy who very much liked talking to this girl. 

“But it’s funny.”

“I’ll kill you.”

“But it’s really funny.”

Let’s back up a bit.  Everyone knows that history repeats itself and certain outcomes always arise.  Violence is condoned through complacency.  Tyranny lasts for a while then tends to burn itself out.  Empires always end up toppled in the end.  These are our stories, at least, which crop up again and again.  The principle is true in other lands as well, they just happen to view different things as histories. 

Fulfaran was particularly high in story density as cities went.  It seemed you couldn’t turn a corner without running into a run-away princess, or a charming scoundrel, or a crone (crones were particularly bad – it was a 50/50 chance as to whether they’d try to destroy your life or give you genuinely good advice).  The markets were teeming with exotic goods, the castle at the top of the hill flew its banners brightly in the breeze, and there were established parts of town you went to only if you wanted to a. meet an orphan, b. meet a thief or c. fall down a hole.  Rather a good place for Reynard and Connie, who tended to be plagued by stories. 

Constance was a baker’s daughter who had been taken as a teenager to live in a tower by a witch in exchange for her impoverished family receiving enough gold to live on.  She never fully understood that witch’s motivations but that’s just how it went.  She had immediately proceeded with a number of escape attempts, most of which failed until Reynard had ridden below her window and she had bargained with him until he snuck a rope inside with her food deliveries.  He had claimed to be a prince, but wasn’t.  Connie knew he wasn’t quite human either, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about it and she didn’t want to pry. 

She had wanted to go home, but she knew the witch would try to exact vengeance.  So, she said her goodbyes for a second time and started out in the opposite direction, which happened to be where Rey was headed as well (or so he claimed, in truth he had no direction or purpose.  But he liked Connie, she was sensible and she made him laugh). 

Unfortunately, it seemed the two of them were not fated to have an easy path.  For one, events kept transpiring which forced Rey into situations where he was expected to betray Connie.  Said events seemed rather upset every time he simply told her everything and they worked out a solution together.  Connie, on the other hand, was continuously being offered chances to fight royalty and claim a kingdom.  It wasn’t that she wouldn’t like a kingdom, she commented once as the two of them wandered through the woods, but she didn’t think she had the training to run one.  She was, after all, a baker’s daughter.  She could make excellent bread but she didn’t care for administration. 

They also stubbornly refused to fall in love with each other, which seemed to make the stories very distressed indeed.  This was not helped by how within a few hours of meeting they had become firm friends – Connie rather thought they had been expected to be unlikely allies who hated each other at first.  But it wasn’t in either of their natures to hate very hard and she liked Rey – he was clever and cutting, but never cruel.

Eventually the events all became too much, which is why they had come to where they were, the main gate of Fulfaran.  The storied city.  Surely someone here must know how they could get out of this. 

Connie felt herself smiling back despite herself.  “Fine, it’s a little funny but I honestly don’t know how you can say stuff like that in public without wanting to curl up into a ball and die,” she said starting to walk again, under the gate into the crowds.  Rey fell into step beside her. 

“I have no shame,” he shrugged, “besides, I don’t know any of these people. No one’s paying attention and even if they were, they’d think it’s normal.  I’m pretty sure I saw at least three pairs of ‘people who definitely hate each other’ coming in after us."

Connie was going to reply, but she was cut off by a harsh voice that had snuck into their path. 

“Child! I see greatness in you—”

“Oh not today, thank you!” said Rey, doffing his cap to the aged woman in the dark cloak swaying before them.  Connie summoned up her best customer service smile, the one with just enough of a hint of rage in it that it tended to shut people up without them knowing why, and slipped past the figure. 

“Wait!” the crone cried, “there is a prophecy—”

“Probably not me,” said Connie cheerily over her shoulder.  “Try that girl with midnight-blue eyes over there, that’ll do the trick.”  She rolled her eyes at Rey who grimaced. 

“When we get to the inn we’re taking the most boring room imaginable,” he said emphatically.  “Nothing on the top floor, nothing with secret passages, just four walls and a bed.”  The two of them had long since given up on multiple rooms, or even multiple beds.  No matter how hard they searched every inn was always just a little too full. 

“We better do it quick, I want to sleep before dinner.  Who did you say this place was recommended by again?”

“Basically everyone I know who’s been here,” said Rey, scanning the buildings as they passed.  “They say it’s lovely, really quaint and unique. We should be there right around this corner—”

He halted.  Connie almost hit his shoulder but she hardly noticed, too focused on the inn they had found.  It was small and smoky, almost crumbling beneath the weight of the sky.  Hooded figures passed in and out, glimmers of gemstones sometimes flashing out from beneath their clothing.  The sign was covered in enough grime that it couldn’t be read and there was a large board on the front with dozens of papers stuck to it advertising quests, monster-hunts, missing people, missing dogs, various balls, festivals, and competitions, and the best shops to find weapons in the area.  Connie’s heart sank and Rey’s expression told her he was feeling the same thing. 

“I saw a TreacleTavern down the road,” he said under his breath.  TreacleTaverns were in every city and they were all huge and identical.  Connie nodded vigorously.

“Let’s go, let’s go.”  She all but shoved him back down the way they had come. 

As they left she shot one last look over her shoulder.  A young man was staring at them.  He had chestnut brown hair and an intense expression, as though he had seen them before.  He seemed oddly familiar to Connie, though she didn’t know how she might have met him. 

It was probably something very important that she would have lingered on had the circumstances been different.  Unfortunately for the stories, however, she was still extremely invested, come hell or high water, in getting her pre-supper nap.   

[anyxis]

Diasomnia Mafia

Malleus is the heir of one of the most feared mafias in the city. Diasomnia is not hidden in anyway. Everyone knows about it and everyone knows who they are. The reason they have never been taken down by justice is the simple fact that they are untouchable. What people see is that they are heartless criminals who think of nothing more but pain and blood. What they don’t see, however, is that they are a lot more than that. They control everything. With their money, they were able to fund many of the Al Asims charities and they even managed to put the Kingscholars in the city hall. Everything that goes down in the city is either carefully planned to their advantage or carefully monitored to make sure it won’t become a problem. One of such problems was a recent war with a very powerful gang. Not as powerful as them, but, unfortunately, they were able to cause irreparable damage, such as the death of Malleus’ parents. This event left a very young boy, so young he couldn’t even remember the sound of their voices or the look of their faces, at the head of the most feared family. Because of this, Maleficia, who had stepped down from this role years ago to let her daughter reign, came back in control until Malleus was old enough to take over. This also caused the issue that she couldn’t care for him, since she was constantly busy with work. In order to not leave him unattended, Lilia, who had been declared a traitor, was called back to play babysitter. And so, because of the tragedy that left him an orphan, Malleus grew to despise every other gang and family. He didn’t trust anyone other than himself and his own family. Trust was what made his parents lower their guard and leave a problem unattended. A problem which, ultimately, cost them their lives. He was decided he wouldn’t make the same mistake. He would be better. He would be the Lord everyone used to fear. It had been too long since the city had known the meaning of the Malevolence.

Lilia was Maleanor and Raverne’s closest friend. They were his whole world. When the tragedy happened, they were all attacked by surprise and he would have lost his life for them. But there was one small issue. Malleus was present. Maleanor begged Lilia to just take her son and go and, obeying what was both his leader and one of his other-halves, he took the boy and ran. To this day, he still wakes up in cold sweat, remembering the gunshots and the screams of a terrified child who was too young to understand. When they were found, Lilia wasn’t given time to explain. He was first suspected of having abandoned them in the fight instead of dying by their side, like he had sworn in his oath to the family. However, now that they had found the young missing heir with him, it was all clear. The attack had been planned and he was part of it. His job was to kidnap Malleus and hold him hostage until further notice from the gang. This, of course, was false. But with no other proof than his own words, Lilia could do nothing more than to accept his fate. The only reason he lived was because Maleficia couldn’t bring herself to kill him. He had been too important to her daughter to do this. Instead, he was exiled from the city, never to return again, and, if he did, it would be on sight. And so, he left. It wasn’t long, however, before they sent Baul after him. When Lilia woke up one day to find his old instructor and friend in his living room, he thought that they must have changed their minds. He was here to get rid of the dirty, worthless traitor that he was. Needless to say, he was quite surprised when Baul asked him to come back. He explained that his reputation had been cleaned thanks to some anonymous sources and that he was needed to take care of the heir. He couldn’t believe it and, frankly, some things had changed since he had left. He couldn’t go back like everything was normal, but, at the same time, he couldn’t abandon his godson the same way he had his best friends. So he took it upon himself to have a talk with Maleficia. If he was to come back, he could no longer be involved like he used to be. The safety of his own son depended on it. And so, Lilia became the father of what was meant to be mortal enemies.

Silver’s parents died in the war between his family’s gang and the Diasomnia mafia. His parents had been the leaders and, after the Draconia’s assassination, the family stopped at nothing to get their heads. Silver only barely survived the attack. His parents had sent him away, sensing the rising danger on their lives and, even then, the escape had cut it short, with his parents dying barely and hour after his departure. Following his parents directions, he had been left at a random house outside of the city, with no name to himself, not history. Only a ring. Little did the members charged with this mission knew that, the owner of the house was painfully aware of what that ring meant. Still, with a broken heart and all the self-hate of the world, Lilia still decided to take him in has his own. He wasn’t doing this out of the good of his heart however. No, he was doing this has a punishment. Not only would he have to live with the painful memory of his betrayal, but he would also live with the constant reminder of what he had done. Fate really could be some twisted bitch sometimes. Still, Lilia took care of him, gave him all the love of the world. Ultimately, Silver wasn’t responsible of what had happened. He didn’t deserve to be treated horribly because of his parents decisions. And everything was perfect, growing up with his older brother and his father, up until he found the ring. It was nothing malicious. He was just a curious little boy, snooping around and having fun inventing stories for the strange objects he found. The problem was that he went around showing his newest treasure to everyone, including the members of Diasomnia, and, where most had accepted Lilia back as one of their own, some were still convinced that it was a terrible mistake. So when his own son started showing around a ring of the enemy, a ring he had found in his father’s belongings, all hell broke loose. Because of this, Lilia had no other options but to explain where it came from, meaning he had to reveal Silver’s true identity. He had worked so hard to keep him safe and, now, everything was out the window, because the family had a mole in their ranks. Had it not been for Malleus shielding a crying Silver from the guns, he would not have made it out alive. And, still, here he was now, ruling over the most feared family in all of the city, alongside his one and only brother, Malleus Draconia.

Sebek grew up in the family, just like Malleus and Silver. The Zigvolts had always been part of Diasomnia and they were considered trustworthy allies. So, when Baul’s own daughter fell in love with a member of another gang, it had been the end of the world. He had tried everything to make her change her mind, but, if she was anything like her father, it was that she was strong minded. They had many fights about this, how it was a betrayal of the family and she would be killed for that. Even then, she didn’t care. At least, she would die with the man she loved. It was another story for her lover. He wasn’t that suicidal. He loved her, but he still loved living more. So, it was all fun and games until the threats started coming. It didn’t take him a day to cut everything off. Needless to say that she was devastated. First loves can be cruel like that. However, after she was done mourning, it was on sight. Baul proposed to do it for her, but she insisted she be the one to look him in the eyes when he takes his last breath. This is how she met her husband. He was a normal dentist, finishing up his day at the clinic, when he ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. He witnessed what would become his wife and mother of his children kill her lover. He was convinced that, after seeing this, he would be next, but, fortunately for him, she didn’t do things in halves. When she saw him, it was love at first sight for her. Because of this, instead of being silenced, he was just kidnapped to ensure his silence. It took some time, but, after a few months of being held prisoner, he was allowed to go back to his normal life. On the condition that he would be closely followed of course. Years later, they slowly, but surely, got closer and closer, until Baul caught them kissing in the very same alleyway she had killed her ex. Fast forward some years, Sebek is born. Thanks to Baul and Lilia being so close, he was constantly playing with Silver and Malleus. The three of them were inseparable, which only served to bring even more painful memories to Lilia, who saw Maleanor, Raverne and himself in them. Seeing the way things were playing out, Baul and Lilia could do nothing more, but to wish and hope the story wouldn’t repeat itself.