#hi or tory even could be a rogue

[tory-ben-hi-shelton]

the virals as dnd classes:

tory - paladin with coop as her steed with dire wolf stats (and of course they use pack tactics)

ben - ranger subclassed in barbarian

hi - bard (to me this is self explanatory)

shelton - wizard or artificer

[mixelation]

async!Tori murder methods: boil em mash em stick em in a stew

a step is missing. you gotta peel 'em

anyway here's what i was writing

context: minato has been having a minor melt down over his massive and embarrassing crush, which tori doesn't seem to reciprocate??? and so he got a pep talk filled with iffy advice from jiraiya about winning the girl....!

****

Rejuvenated by his new determination to seduce her, Minato tracked down Tori in record time. She’d moved to the northwest corner of Rice Country, where the rice paddies were fewer and peach and apple orchards prevailed. He found her late in the evening, in a bar in one of the largest towns for the area. 

The bar was attached to a swanky hotel that probably once serviced whatever tourists came up here for the orchards. In wartime, the windows of most of the building were boarded up. The bar itself still retained its fancy decor, although there was a big sign out front listing all the types of liquor they could no longer get due to supply shortages. 

Minato peered into the window to confirm Tori’s presence, and then refrained from simply walking right in. 

She was with someone. Minato hadn’t anticipated this. Tori attached herself to groups sometimes, but meeting up with individuals seemed out of character. He didn’t want to just barge in and piss her off, or piss off her friend into doing something brash. 

Instead of using the front door, Minato went in like he was scoping an enemy building for an assassination. He reached a hand in through a bathroom window and set a hiraishin marker, then he squatted outside in the dark and concentration of very carefully having the marker crawl across the walls into the bar proper. 

Using a camouflage genjutsu, he teleported in and set himself up in a shadowy corner like a spider. This was overkill for masking his presence from civilians, but Tori’s new friend was a ninja. 

Minato didn’t recognize the face, so the other ninja ninja couldn’t be too important. He was moderately handsome, tall and broad with ink-black hair tied back in a roguish ponytail. His hitai-ate identified him as a missing-nin from Kusa. 

War had led to a bump in missing-nin. A lot of ninja decided they could no longer ideologically support their village’s wars, or realized they could be paid more with less risk of death if they went rogue, or just wanted to get away from a mountain of dead loved ones, or just had mental breakdowns. It wasn’t unusual to find one openly drinking in random hotel bar. 

But why was Tori with him? Minato felt a pang of worry. She was a civilian and he was an honorless missing-nin. Was she in trouble?

She seemed unperturbed, though, chatting amicably with him. She’d dressed up all pretty, in a form-fitting black dress. Her hair was done up in a half bun and she’d painted her lips dark red. She sat at a bar stool next to the missing-nin, looking casual and comfortable as could be. 

There was a slit in Tori’s dress which went right up her thigh. Minato could easily slip his hand into it and then he could… 

He stopped that train of thought immediately. He should get Tori to like him back first, before he started coming up with ways to undress her. Besides, what if she preferred he do something else? He could also–

Concentrate, Namikaze, Minato chided himself. Just because Tori looked really good tonight didn’t mean he could lose his mind. 

Tori laughed at something the other ninja said and placed a hand on his bicep. Minato frowned to himself. His cheeks burned with jealousy. Was she doing this to him on purpose?

No, Tori was clever, but she didn’t have a ninja’s senses. She had no idea Minato was even there. It was ridiculous to think her interest in this man had anything to do with Minato, not to mention unfair of him to hold it against her. There was simply something about this ninja that attracted her. 

But what? Minato wondered, feeling his face relax into a pout. And how do I do that? 

The man was handsome, but Minato personally thought he himself was much better looking. Minato was definitely also a better ninja and, based on the way the man was openly leering at Tori’s cleavage, significantly more polite and gentlemanly. Unless Tori liked that…? Jiraiya swore some women were into it, although Minato had his doubts.

Tori giggled again, covering her mouth with one hand. The man smirked at her. 

Is it my jokes? Minato wondered. Kushina always said they were bad, but they make other girls laugh… 

The man set a hand on Tori’s bare knee and she stiffened slightly. Right. Minato was breaking this up. He moved, just enough so any half-competent ninja would notice him. 

The man immediately reacted. It wasn’t obvious, but he tensed and shifted slightly. Tori studied the man’s face for a moment, then her eyes slid over in the direction Minato was in. She didn’t look directly at him, but she could obviously read the other ninja well enough to see where his attention had suddenly gone. 

Good, Minato thought. Her attention should be on him. Oh, except, if she couldn’t see him, she might be worried he was some sort of enemy. He didn’t want to scare her. 

I’ve got this, Minato thought, stepping out of the shadows to casually make his way to the bar. He could definitely get her attention, couldn’t he?

Tori pointedly looked away from him and smiled at the other ninja. She said something, trying to redirect his attention. 

Okay, fine, we’re playing dirty, Minato decided. What did Jiraiya say again?

The other ninja was obviously now paying more attention to Minato than Tori. This was because Minato was a threat, but he didn’t have to be. 

Minato stepped up to the bar on the other side of the ninja from Tori. He waved down the bartender and ordered a beer. Only when he had it in front of him did he turn to Tori and her new friend. 

“Hey,” Minato said to the ninja, also purposefully not looking at Tori. “I’m off duty, so let’s get along, okay?”

He flashed him his most charming smile. The ninja turned more fully to him. Tori’s cheeks turned pink even as she kept her expression carefully neutral. 

“Batta, you didn’t finish your story,” Tori said. 

Batta ignored her, eyeing Minato up and down. “Yes, let’s get along,” he said. 

Oh? Minato thought. Was he interested? Judging by the scandalized look that briefly passed over Tori’s face before she managed to banish it, she certainly thought so. What did Jiraiya say about jealousy and the heart…?

Well, if it made Tori keep her eyes on Minato over this Batta person, that worked for Minato. 

Minato leaned his elbow on the bar and set his chin in his palm, eyeing Batta up and down right back. 

“Batta-san, huh?” he said. “I’ve heard of you. I knew you looked familiar.”

Batta straightened his back slightly, pleased with himself. Minato wouldn’t describe himself as arrogant, but he did assume this guy had recognized him on the spot. Minato had a fancy moniker and everything. 

He still had absolutely no idea who Batta was, besides apparently a missing-nin from Kusa. 

“Do you want to get a more… private table?” Minato asked. 

“Sure,” Batta agreed.

Batta picked up his drink without so much as acknowledging Tori was still there, which was ruder than Minato had anticipated, even from missing-nin scum. Oh well. Minato had succeeded in getting Tori to glare daggers at him rather than giggling over Batta. 

Minato shot a smirk over his shoulder as Batta led him to the back corner of the bar. Tori made a rude hand gesture at him before turning back to her own drink at the bar. Minato felt a little trill at the hand gesture– she was emotional over him!– followed by disappointment when she turned around. 

The bar didn’t have much in the way of private seating, but Batta approached a table in the darkest corner. Minato purposefully stepped forward and dragged one chair around so his back was to the wall. This was a normal move ninja did to keep an eye on exits, but Minato wanted to be able to watch Tori easily. 

Batta sat across from him, and Minato suddenly realized that he was now going to have to talk to Batta instead of Tori, which was what he wanted. So. Maybe this plan had been stupid. 

Except! Tori finished ordering a second drink and then spun her stool around to watch them openly. So that was…. Good? Great, even. He wanted her to watch him. 

“What brings you to these parts, Yellow Flash?” Batta asked. 

Minato plastered his most charismatic smile back on his face and lied through his teeth about scouting missions. Batta nodded like an important Konoha-nin might genuinely be telling him about his mission. Minato had no idea if he was just playing along or if he was dumb enough to believe him. 

“What about you?” Minato asked. “The life of a missing-nin must have a lot more freedom from mission parameters.”

Batta, it turned out, loved talking about himself. He gave Minato his entire sordid tale of being unjustly passed over for promotion and then going missing-nin. Then he told Minato some self-aggrandizing stories about battles he’d been in to prove he’d deserved the promotion, and explained he was building up a small following of other missing-nin. 

“Missing-nin life is bloodier,” he said gravely. “I’ve killed five people.”

“Today?” Minato asked politely. Tori had her second drink in hand now. She stirred the ice with a straw while staring him down with a smile Minato would loosely describe as fiendish. 

“Today?” Batta repeated, confused. 

“Oh you mean…” Minato hedged, smile still firmly in place. “Since you… started…?”

“Village ninja can’t understand,” Batta said. “Missing-nin kill and kill, and we don’t care about who.”

Was this supposed to… impress Minato…? He tried to plead to Tori from across the bar with just his eyes. She beamed back at him. 

“But you’re different,” Batta said, leaning over the table, casting a shadow over Minato. He was tall and broad-shouldered, which had contributed previously to Minato thinking he was a bit good-looking. He had rapidly lost a lot of attractiveness points when he’d started talking. “You get it.”

Was this that ‘negging’ thing Jiraiya had talked about? Minato was seriously thinking about simply teleporting away. Now that he’d located Tori, there was only so far she could go. He could wait a few hours and re-find her. 

Except what if him looking her up twice in one night was too pushy? What if leaving meant Batta went back to her? 

“Why do you keep looking at her?” Batta asked. “Disgusting, isn’t she?”

“Um,” Minato said. “What?”

“Don’t get me wrong, she has a nice rack,” Batta continued, waving a hand dismissively. “I would have hit it if you hadn’t come along. But civilians disgust me. They have no power of their own, but they crawl all over the place like they own it. Weak, pathetic things. Worthless.”

Minato frowned. He didn’t… well, he didn’t really think that much of civilians either, or at least he hadn’t before he’d met Tori. But he’d also not spared a lot of thought for most ninja either. He just didn’t really care about most people. That didn’t mean you could call them disgusting, and certainly they weren’t worthless. If they were, what would be the point of this war, or being ninja at all?

Besides, how dare he talk about Tori like that? Tori was clever and funny and cute and infinitely more interesting than Batta. Had he been chatting with her with no appreciation for the gift he’d won?

Of course, Minato couldn’t say any of that without giving away the game. Instead he said, “Civilians are the backbone of our society. For all you know, she could work on a farm that grows the food you eat, or she could work at a factory that–”

“Such a village mindset,” Batta said, and then reached over and put one hand over Minato’s. 

Minato felt his smile finally slip. Across the bar, Tori straightened up and basically preened. Then she was slipping off her bar stool and strutting over to them, hips swaying exaggeratedly, and Minato completely missed Batta offering to let Minato pay for a hotel room. 

Tori waltzed right up to their table, eyes set on Minato and Minato only, and basically purred, “Did Batta tell you about the seven ninja he’s killed?”

“Actually, it was only five,” Minato said, smile returning. 

“I have a proposition,” Tori said. 

The threesome she implied she wanted only seemed to mildly interest Batta, but then Tori fixed her cute little smirk on Minato and he was already on his feet. Most of him knew she wasn’t serious. A smaller, more excited part of him genuinely wanted to let her just lead him back to her hotel room, even if Batta came with them. 

“If he’s into it,” Batta finally said, also standing. 

“You have to close my tab for me,” Tori told Minato. 

After Minato settled both Tori and Batta’s tabs, Tori led them out of the bar and then down a dirt road that curved out of the town proper and into the wooded area around it. There were several roadside inns out here– cheaper places meant for budget travelers– but it occurred to Minato that his sweet, civilian little crush had just willingly wandered into the woods with two ninja. 

Of course, Minato would never do anything to her that she didn’t want him to be doing, and he liked the idea of spending time with her outside under the stars. But the principle of the matter was still there. Tori was smarter than this. 

Batta was eyeing the back of her head as she walked, also looking slightly flummoxed by the situation. He definitely thought she was an idiot for this. 

Oh, Minato realized dully. I’m an idiot. He’s her mark. 

Tori paused and fetched a thin scroll out of her cleavage. 

“Okay, before we do this, I do have one request,” she said. “Yellow Flash-san, I was going to get Batta to take a look at this for me…”

She offered him the scroll, literally fluttering her eyelashes at him. She said she found it in a farm house after the ninja squatting there left. She wanted to know if it was valuable. 

“If it is,” she said, “I’ll trade you for it.”

Batta sighed deeply and crossed his arms. 

“I told you,” he said to Minato. “Weak and pathetic. She was talking up getting me to bodyguard her up the Northwest Corridor.”

Tori shifted, looking ashamed. Minato knew this was likely an act, but he still didn’t like it. 

“Sure, I’ll look at it,” he said, accepting the scroll. 

Tori brightened. It was very cute. It wasn’t cute enough for Minato to actually open the scroll, because that was how Tori trapped you in a horrible little barrier run on mildew or something. 

“It’s a technique scroll,” Minato said after he’d flipped it over a few times. Next to him, Batta brightened in interest. Minato offered it to him. “Why don’t you take a look? You probably know more about fuinjutsu than me.”

Tori’s eyes lit up with mirth, which was probably the best face she’d made yet. 

“Sure,” Batta agreed after a beat. He opened the scroll with an unnecessary flourish. 

What happened next made Minato grab Tori around the waist and move them both out of the way in a panic. There was the faint blue glow of chakra around Batta’s hands, and Batta dropped the scroll instantly. Then his skin peeled away from his fingers and curled up, like watching bloody wood shavings. He screamed and kicked the scroll further away, but the technique continued to spread across his skin, up his arms and then his neck and across his face. Blood gushed everywhere. 

He collapsed, dead. 

“Holy shit,” Tori said, prying herself free of Minato's grip to go peer down at Batta’s corpse. “That went way worse than I thought.”

“What…” Minato started. She’d just been carrying that around? In her bra?

“I tried to get a job as a fruit peeler at a processing plant,” Tori started. 

She’d wanted to be able to do a full day’s work in a few minutes. She’d thought it wouldn’t be hard to make something that could differentiate between cell layers and then kick off the outer layer. The problem was that she wanted it to activate when she set whatever she wanted peeling in the seal array, and then accidentally made some sort of abomination she couldn’t open herself without it sucking off her own chakra and peeling her outer layer off. 

Minato had to hand it to her. When Tori wanted someone dead, she was brutal about it. 

“You handed that to me first,” Minato said, voice higher than he meant. 

“You’re not stupid enough to just take things from me,” Tori said. “And you made Batta go all ‘wah, wah, civilians stupid,’ so he wasn’t going to listen to me. You had to be the one to ask him to open it.”

Minato stared at her. Tori had her hands on her hips. Her brows were furrowed sightly at him, not the least bothered by Batta in a bloody mess two feet behind her. 

“....and why did you want to kill him horribly?” Minato asked slowly. He had really, severely misunderstood the situation, and he was feeling increasingly stupid for it. 

Tori gestured emphatically at the body. “I was saving you from your own stupid decisions! What the hell were you doing?”

Making you jealous, Minato thought, and then realized how bad that would sound. 

“So you killed him?” Minato repeated instead. 

“Yeah, so what?” Tori replied. “If I couldn’t get him to clean out the corridor for me, I was going to kill him anyway. That guy’s a creep.”

The Northwest Corridor was a stretch of trade road connecting Rice Country to Hot Water Country that had collapsed into an extremely dangerous highway of banditry over the course of the war. Tori hadn’t been planning to sleep with Batta at all. She’d wanted to take advantage of Batta’s delusions of grandeur and his tiny following of two-bit missing-nin and put it in his head that he could personally profit from clearing out bandits and taking over the road himself. This would require him taking control of the bandits currently parasitizing it, or clearing them out. Then she could finesse safe passage for herself. 

Typical Tori behavior, really, to decide the best way to accomplish something was to completely obliterate the problem. The fruit peeling job was meant to tide her over until then. 

Minato didn’t particularly care Batta was dead. Minato didn’t know enough about him to want to do it himself, but Tori seemed to have deemed him human garbage. Minato certainly had no affection for him to feel bad he was dead. 

“Well?” Tori said. “Why the hell were you hitting on my mark?”

“I…” Minato fumbled his words. This was really embarrassing. “I wanted your attention.”

Tori raised her eyebrows, incredulous. 

“If you wanted a ninja,” Minato said, trying and failing to keep the pout of his words. “Why didn’t you just ask me?”

Tori blushed, ripping her gaze away from him to stare at the grass. 

“I couldn’t tell if you liked me like that or not,” she mumbled. “You’re hard to read.”

“Of course I like you,” Minato said immediately. Tori’s eyes widened slightly, and Minato realized his faux pas and tried to backtrack. “I mean– we’re friends, right? Why else would I hang around you so much?”

Tori’s lips thinned. She pointed at Batta. 

“Because I can do that?”

“Well,” Minato hedged. Yes, he did definitely need to monitor her trail of destruction for Konoha’s sake. 

“Plus, you always have that stupid smile on your face,” Tori continued. “I can’t tell if you actually like being around me, or that’s just your customer service smile.”

“Of course it’s genuine,” Minato said, surprised. He liked her. Obviously he’d smile and joke around. 

“Is it?” Tori replied hotly. “Because you were making that face at Batta all evening. You made that face at the bartender. You made that face at me when you–”

She abruptly cut herself off. 

“When I what?” Minato asked. “Tori, if I ever offended you, I didn’t mean to.”

Her face had gone a deep red. She blustered in a way that contrasted starkly from how she could usually string a conversation along. She turned and made an excuse about actually needing to go suddenly. 

“Tori,” Minato said, reaching forward and catching her wrist. Tori glared fiercely at his hand on hers, and he dropped it. “What did I do?” he asked. “I… I do consider you a friend. I want you to like me back.”

Tori fidgeted with the fabric of her dress. 

“We’ve met before,” Tori mumbled. 

Minato tilted his head to the side in askance. He wasn’t sure what that meant. 

“Twice,” Tori continued, glaring at the vicinity of his knees. “You saved me from some ninja.”

“I did…?” Minato said, confused. “The Kumo-nin in Grass Country?”

“No, before that,” Tori said. “You saved me from some Iwa-nin and you smiled that same stupid smile at me.”

She kept talking. He’d saved her, and then he’d saved her a second time, and he had given her the exact same you’re-safe-now speech he gave all civilians, and hadn’t remembered her. And then she’d turned around on her route to the coast and gone deeper into Grass Country just to increase her chances of running into him again. And then he’d found her in that village in Grass Country, and he still hadn’t remembered her. 

“So obviously I tried to kill you,” Tori concluded. 

���You– what?” Minato squeaked out. 

He had no idea how to react to this story. Even hearing it retold and being told dates and details, he had no memory of meeting Tori previously. She’d been lost in a sea of hundreds of ninja killed and civilians saved. Deciding to kill him over it was an insane reaction, but it had worked to get his attention, hadn’t it?

“So obviously you being all friendly is meaningless,” she concluded. 

“But…” 

“Thanks for interrupting my terrible date, I guess,” Tori finished. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go sleep in my terrible budget hostel.”

She stomped off, leaving Minato behind with Batta’s corpse, feeling like the dumbest man alive. 

[rooolt]

deeply niche post for only me, but here are my thoughts on what dnd classes the ck teens would play because I am nothing if not predictable

Miguel - this boy screams paladin so intensely I would be hard pressed to try and think of anything else he would play. The boy is just nice

Sam - I couldn’t explain it, but I think she would severely fuck with ranger, it’s just the vibe I get

Robby - I feel like knee jerk reaction would be to assume rogue, but I honestly don’t think he would. He’s giving me more sorcerer to be honest, particularly wild magic

Tory - every troubled teenage girl should get the chance to play a fucked up little warlock as a method of working out their complicated feelings about a manipulative older man in their life

Demetri - literally do I even have to say it? Wizard, next question

Eli - struggled immensely with this one. His particular penchant for violence obviously gives monk, but I fear that’s a cop out in the karate show, however as ascendant dragon he would get wings eventually which I feel he would severely enjoy. In a similar vein I could also see barbarian, but also hold my hand and see my vision for cleric Eli. I couldn’t tell you why, I feel it deep within my bones

[sharp-teeth-and-archived]

( Cassie Roosevelt ; closed starter )

        𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫. In the small corners of her mind, in her thoughts that run carelessly through her mind, her past called to her. What ifs, wonderments of what once was, and speculation on if she could’ve changed the tide of her future, but she tried to depress those thoughts to the back of her mind. Into the dark, murky shadows and waters, being buried deep within the fabrics of her memory and only recalled when it served her. So far, the thought of the past hadn’t been useful to her. In fact, it only made her tension worse. To ease this tension for her sanity’s sake, she tried to focus on the here and now. The present moment. Not on the next day, the week ahead, or the month after that. She learned how quickly her life could change in a day, in a month, and in a week that arranging in advance and fretting over the what if’s and the dreadful possibilities that await her could be for naught. The life she imagined she was guaranteed slipped through her fingers before she could truly grasp it.

        Then the past called again. Not in her mind, but in the people around her. The gossip hanging on the wind, what she overheard from those that knew her or did not know her. Vocally, she went by a different name, but legally, she still was tied to the Roosevelt name. She hasn’t been gifted with matrimony yet, to change her name for the better. So, when the past whispered into her ear again, the name that was intertwined so deeply in her past and set her for her current circumstance: she willingly pulled herself back to the name Casse Roosevelt. She shined a light on the shadows and on the rogue waves she purposely avoided. The past whispered that of Patriots being spotted near the Roosevelt home and how ironic it was with William Jr’s affiliation. The home still bore the sinful name of her father after its buyer sold it to another. Thus, the name of her father had been in the mouths of others again for what Cassie assumed wouldn’t be the last time.

        The home looked as if it was frozen in time. Her father ensured for the money he paid for its construction that the home would last for a long time, longer than his own lifespan. Once, she foolishly assumed he meant its longevity was meant for her, but what she thought she knew of her father was all a lie. By her own intention, she had been kept in the dark regarding the home. She had no idea what Washington had done with it or the owner before him, but she imagined the paint and wallpaper remained as it was still in fashion. The engravings were still intact on every archway and along the staircase railing. It was a respectable home for a respectable family full of dignity and honor--their own little palace--but looks were always deceiving. 

        As Cassie paid the man on the wagon a few shillings, she stepped forward up to the house. She walked its familiar porch steps, lifting the skirt of her dress to not step on it, but her eyes didn’t need to look down to watch over her steps. Even after being away from it for what felt like years rather than months, the layout of her childhood home with every step was embedded in her mind. She knew it as well as she knew formal dances and she assumed she wouldn’t partake in either now with her falling reputation. As she approached, she was met with the stony faces of the guards. They looked close to her age, but she wasn’t used to the sight of blue being so close to her home.

        As she spoke, she leveled her voice and made sure to soften its intonation. She acted as if she spoke with a royal officer, her cheeks flushed from the outside chill and politeness in her tone. But as she continued, she paused and cut herself off when she saw one of the guards curl their lips into a smirk with a bounce of their brows.

        ❝ My apologies, madam, but we don’t tolerate tories or turncoats. ❞

        ❝ Turncoats? ❞ Cassie questioned, leaving behind that polite and refined tone for a confused, spirited one. He had practically knocked her off kilter with a singular sentence. ❝ I’m not a-- ❞ Was he assuming she was as double-crossing as her father that she was now begging for the aid of the Patriots? For now, confusion blanketed any anger and she stepped back when the man reached for her arm. ❝ I had no part in this war. ❞ Her father certainly did with his perceived loyalty to the Crown, but as if with everything in her life, it seemed as if Cassie was left with little freedom of her own and pigeonholed into a place that made her useful for others. Not by choice.

@honorhearted

[petalsmooth]

BTW whatever happened in ep 7 there IS a polin wedding.

Some people doubting their own eyes and ears wondering how the writer's fit everything in to two episodes but that is their problem, not ours. We saw all the shots of people dressed for a wedding back during filming including the Bridgerton's and more importantly the FEATHERINGTON'S because that proves it's their wedding plus soooooo many redhead extras. On top of that Bridgerton announce an original song they had written that Tori Kelly sung and SHE said the orchestral version is for Polin's wedding. So, it's happening.

And I don't think it's happening in ep 8. Ep 7 is called the Tying of Hands? Or something like that. That generally means a wedding union. So however bad their fight or even if they do briefly have him go to a brothel again it's going to be so short lived in the long run. The only reason people are worried to point denying reason is the spoiler was vague and said not really sure what else happens aside from saying he doesn't have sex but think Colin is mad for an ep or ep and a half. Which there may BE lingering issues to work out, there were in the book but it won't stop the wedding. Main issues during their marriage in the book were his jealousy over her being established with her purpose as a writer and his fear of her discovery. My guess is that is what it will be here.

People can be mad went back to the well for another brothel scene that goes nowhere (if that spoiler is true) but there are too many unmovable spoilers out there to think this is something that won't be mostly resolved before the final half hour of ep 8. Infact even the Queen is going to be at that wedding.

Which....oh.......that jogged a memory. I think there were a couple scenes where they had most of the actors exit the site of filming of the wedding. I wonder if there is a confrontation between the Queen and Penelope here...I'm still not sure how they have decided to proceed with keeping Whistledown on the show but I really don't want her to be a propagandist for the Crown so I have some trepidation about that.

OMG...thinking on it now...I think everyone in the fandom has forgotten about that detail too. That the show was clearly trying to keep some kind of spoiler of what was happening under wraps and I don't think it was just Pen's wedding finery looking to hide. I know I had forgotten it. And the person saying they don't really know what happens next...either conclusively proves how secretive it is being locked away or just how much trouble they'd get in if leaked it.

The thing about leaks is they aren't always from people going rogue. Sometimes the show wants to get out ahead of something so let people put it out there. A person saying Colin goes to a brothel but wait! he doesn't have sex...that sounds like show authorized leak to try to temper the reaction they got before the season started with one of the UK rags made it seem half of Colin's sl was sleeping with prostitutes and getting off on two women having sex. Context of the scene was off and there was a lot of backlash but when show aired narratively had some purpose. So I definitely could see them behind this leak. People still aren't going to like they lazily wrote him going there again but maybe will reduce the reaction a little.

Ben being bi, Eloise having next season instead of Benedict, Michael being Michelle, Francesca getting the story some Eloise fans wanted...all these I could def see the show leaking because they know the meltdown the fandom is going to have and maybe hope people will exhaust themselves of arguments prior to then.

But to have THOSE details and yet be vague on if Pen and Colin have a wedding? Saying not sure? Even though we KNOW they do? Oh, the show is definitely hiding something big there....

Sorry off on a tangent but now I am very curious what they are hiding that happened in that church. Especially since no one is speculating on it since everyone has forgotten that detail about actors waiting in the cold outside while filmed something....

[themculibrary]

Hi! Do you know any fanfics with Stark’s AI? I love FRIDAY and JARVIS and KAREN and just wanna read more with them. Thanks!!

we actually already have a jarvis masterlist posted from awhile back x

but here are some more fics that include friday and karen:

FRIDAY

Plato’s Laws of Advanced Robotics (ao3) - Synthpop T, 11k

Summary: Tony creates a new A.I. program, and JARVIS has difficulty trying to figure out why.

Play Date (ao3) - Akira_of_the_Twilight bucky/tony

Summary: “Forgive me, Captain," FRIDAY said. "I needed a moment to be certain I hadn’t erred, but based on my facial recognition systems, I can safely say that Mr. Barnes and Mr. Wilson have located Tony.”

“What the fuck?” Bucky rose to his feet.

The kid tried to run, but Sam caught the rugrat and restrained him.

“Let me go!” The kid struggled. “My dad isn’t going to pay any ransom. You’re just wasting your time.”

Ransom? Facial recognition?

Bucky stared at the kid—really looked at his face.

Amber eyes, oval face, olive skin, strong but narrow chin, a slightly larger than normal forehead, and a nose somewhere between small and medium in size.

“Oh, fuck. Tony?”

The tears were back in Tony’s eyes. “Fuck you, you assholes!” He wiggled one arm free and punched Sam in the kneecap.

Protocol SOTERIA (ao3) - GoldenFinches steve/tony G, 40k

Summary: Friday’s primary objective at all times is to protect one Anthony Edward Stark. And she will fulfill that objective no matter what it takes. Even if it means including certain people she thought she would never have to deal with again.

(Basically the Rogue Avengers get some sense knocked into them with the help of Friday and handful of videos.)

The Video (ao3) - jelly_pies T, 7k

Summary: Peter will do anything to help get Mr. Stark back, including watching the torture videos his kidnappers sent. But this time there's more to the video than Peter expects.

Until All You See Is My Ghost (ao3) - SargeantWoof T, 6k

Summary: FRIDAY was coded, created, to eventually learn how to feel as best an AI could.

However, she was not JARVIS. And that made all the difference.

KAREN

Bad decisions and the art of teaching AI’s to lie (ao3) - wolfypuppypiles M, 2k

Summary: He knew that, logically, he should tell Tony, because he’d been told off a million times for hiding injuries, because stab wounds were dangerous, because he was fifteen and shouldn’t deal with those things on his own. But on the other hand, he healed so fast that it would probably be gone by morning, and he really didn’t feel like getting stitched up again. Plus, Tony would lose his mind over it.

Connecting... (ao3) - Speeps G, 1k

Summary:

>> connect to SPIDER_MARK_03 c o n n e c t i n g Error: receiving terminal not found

Karen is confused.

He Can’t Just Be (Gone) (ao3) - ambivalentangst M, 2k

Summary: Karen loved her Peter—sweet and kind and making a mess of his suit with crumbs—so very much.

It wasn’t like him to plead.

How it happened, Karen didn’t understand.

Tony's Not The Only One Whose Best Friend is a Bot (ao3) - spidermanstan G, 3k

Summary: request from my tumblr: "could you write a fic that focuses more on peter and karen's relationship??" why, yes i can!!

in which karen helps peter through the ups and downs of a day on patrol that goes from run of the mill to anything but.

and I can certainly make a masterlist for the AI’s too!

- Tori

[ladyeglantine]

Guilt and Resolve of a Reluctant Knight

My Time at Portia One-Shot

Pairing:  Female Builder/Aadit

Rated G

Summary:  The aftermath after the Builder's first encounter with the Rogue Knight

Link to AO3 version found here.

-1-

He was living his worst nightmare.

Aadit was not one for melodramatics. He’d always done his best to see the positive in situations, stay in the present. He had to for any hope of living a peaceful life from the one he’d shed. It was enough for his nightmares to haunt him; he didn’t need his waking hours to be as well.

For a time, Aadit thought they wouldn’t. That he’d finally outrun his past. But then his past finally found him.

“Turn your head a bit.” He pressed the bandage against Tori’s head, a cut along her temple.

A cut that he’d caused.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, very effort to keep his voice and hands steady.

Tori groaned, brushing aside the hair clinging to her face. “Head hurts, but hopefully I’ll sleep it off. Not like that’s anything new.”

She tried to joke it off, as she always did, but Aadit could see the pain in her eyes. She was right. Tori was always out fighting off hostile creatures, or going into ruins. Not coming back with a cut or bruise would have been unusual. But this was different. Much different.

Aadit had been doing his best not to become emotional at the sight of her on their bed, bounced around. But his composure failed minute by minute.

He’d always been concerned for her safety and wellbeing. That feeling only multiplied once they became a couple and got married. That made it easier now to hide the guilt. How he’d been responsible for this, and would never forgive himself for it.

Aadit hadn’t meant to. He’d just wanted to keep her back. He hadn’t wanted to hurt Sam, Mali, or Arlo either. But he had to also maintain his cover, assume the persona of the man he’d abandoned so many years ago. It was sickening how easily he could slip back into it, as if he hadn’t been trying to shun that past version of himself for years. Pretend it never existed. He couldn’t break it, even when his darling Tori was flung to the floor. There was too much at stake for Portia. And her.

He wished he could tell her, Dawa, the Civil Corps -even the whole town- everything. Who he’d been for Duvos, the past he wanted so desperately to escape, the path that had led him to becoming the Rogue Knight. And the people who had discovered where he was and what they now expected of him. Or rather, threatened him to do.

It was because of that threat he couldn’t tell anyone, including his own wife. They couldn’t know anyone knew. Duvos had spies everywhere. And Aadit had become lax after years of living in one place. He should have known the day would come when Duvos’ agents would find him again. Aadit still didn’t know how; his contact -no, contact was too kind, more like blackmailer- didn’t say. He suspected someone posing as a tourist; there were always a handful that came through, but after the first year in Portia wasn’t an issue, he was lulled into thinking he was safe.

A touch on his wrist brought him back from his unsettled thoughts. She looked up at him with concern. “Hun, I’m ok. Really.”

He clutched onto her hand like the lifeline he wanted it to be, as if it could pull him back into the peaceful, idyllic life he’d had. “I know, I just…I fear for you, darling. You don’t know what this knight is capable of.”

She shot him an understanding look, but it also held determination. “I can’t let this go. I have to help. I want to. I owe it to everyone in Portia. And after today, I’m more determined than ever.”

Normally Aadit wouldn’t ask her to drop it, not put herself in harm’s way. It was who she was to dive in and help, make things better, and he wouldn’t change that about her. However worried he’d always be, Aadit knew she was capable of taking care of herself.

But this…

One time of fighting people he cared about, the woman he loved, was enough. He didn’t know if he had it in him to do it again.

“Tori, I…” His voice broke, mind struggling to come up with a valid reason to convince her not to be further involved that wouldn’t lead to more questioning. Especially as he stared into her loving, trusting eyes.

A knock on the door echoed through the house, interrupting the moment between them. Aadit went to the door, thankful for the distraction. Sam stood in the doorway.

“Hey, Aadit, just came by to check in on Tori.”

“Of course.” He let her in, noting the slight limp in her step as she stepped into their home. Aadit pushed the rush of guilt down before any sign of it could show on his face.

Tori pushed herself up by the elbows. “Glad you came by, Sam, how are you doing?”

Sam waved away the concern, approaching the bed. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before. And I should be asking you that question, I’m not the one who hit her head.”

“He got lucky,” Tori said. “But I’m ok. Aadit’s taking good care of me.”

He forced a smile even as his throat and chest tightened, his stomach twisting itself into knots.

“Any sign of the knight?”

“No. Actually off to go on perimeter search with Teddy.” Sam shifted her weight onto her good leg. “Personally, I hope we don’t have to fight him again until Mali gets back with reinforcements. As good as we are, I don’t think we’re enough to handle that knight. He was a tough cookie.”

Only by happenstance. He’d started training again in secret, using his walks as an excuse to go someplace where he knew no one would see him. The muscle memory had still been there, unnervingly there, but he was far from being in the same fighting shape as before, his mind resistant even as his body went through the movements. And they had given a good fight. The armor and sword were what gave him the advantage and protection from being similarly hurt, “gifts” from Duvos. Items he’d shunned and left behind the day he’d fled, just wanting to get away before anyone knew he was gone.

“I’m sure we’ll find a way.”

“Always the optimist.”

“One of us has to be.” Tori’s face shifted into a pained grimace, eyes shutting. “Sorry, I need to lay back down.”

“No worries.” Sam patted Tori’s duvet-covered knee. “Rest up. We’ll need you for what’s coming.”

“Whatever you need.” Even through the strain in her voice, Aadit heard the conviction, just as before. And as he opened the door for Sam, he knew there was no way to convince Tori to leave this be.

He sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through her hair and brushing it against her cheek. “I’ll make some dinner for us. It’ll be ready for you when you want it.”

“Thanks, hun.” Her eyelids lifted as she laced her fingers through his. “I’m glad I have you.”

Before, it would have overjoyed him to hear such sentiments from her. The joy was still there, but now it was intertwined with such guilt and fear of how this would all end, the heartbreak this would lead to. If he could just tell her, maybe she’d understand…

No, her life was too precious to him to risk. If that meant ultimately losing her love, it was a sacrifice he would have to make.

“Me too.” He gently kissed her before heading outside, thumbing the first talisman she ever made for him in his pocket.  

[wetalkedaboutthisshinji]

Unexplained stuff about Ward

( MASSIVE SPOILERS OFC)

Something I respect about Wildbow’s worldbuilding but that also INFURIATES me is how he leaves some stuff out.

I think back at a small piece on LOTR when they walking with The Dead Guyz and they randomly find a corpse clearly from Rohan nobility that died trying to open a door. Aragorn wonders what the hell was behind that door and why did he want to enter, then essentially tells the reader: “WE WILL NEVER KNOW”. Tolkien was a master of this, adding small, mysterous tidbits in the world that make it bigger and more intriguing. 

Wildbow does it too but where LOTR made it more mystic with Worm and especially Ward it makes it maddening. As in, I understand it’s on purpose, but goddammit I NEED TO KNOW.

Some weird shit that Wildbow just refused to explain on Ward:

- WTF was Goddess’s sixth power??

- WTF was up with Goddess’s cluster? This guys essentially jumped from plot relevant place to a new one and most of them have 0 development. We know their names (Bill the Blood Priest, Tori Helflin, Jay, Ysmine and Megan) but little else. Tori gets SOME development (which Im not comfortable with as she becomes another jealous lesbian character and while I will defend the value of Amy’s role in the plot I do believe the story has a bit too many of those and that critiques of that are completely fair). We know she’s apparently the TK user. Megan apparently “looks like a dancer” and she was the “power battery” user. Bill was a villain prior to Goddess taking over and he was probably the “trump defense” or “sixth power” dude. For Jay and Ysmine? NOTHING. Yzmine and Megan both survive and join the Wardens in some capacity, but that’s about it. We don’t even know Jay and Ysmine’s powers. Why did they join March? One of them was the target for Goddess attack on the prison, but we don’t know why (she?) got there or how.

- Similarly wtf is up with March’s megacluster team? Most of them literally appear in one chapter and die. IMO March got a bit too much nasty vitriol and attacks for WB if the comments are any indication but I do believe what he was trying to do with the arc that had her as a villain was a bit of a misfire. I think the idea was how her objectives were inconsequential to her role in the story and her team were part of her own story and not the main one...or something...but at the end we have a full damm team of capes with no development, most of them being named once.

- THE TITANS. I both respect and hate that most of them were side characters with no relevance. Super smart for a story with this many characters, yes, but at the same time, I will always prefer development over none. Some of them give us enough to assume what were their issues before going crazy, I would include here Shortcut (anger issues), Magic Mystic Impaler (victim of Teacher shenanigans), Auger (lone wolf mindset), Axehead (low self-esteem and being a hero sucks), Mr. Bough (being a piece of shit and maybe giving some karma to Breakthrough for giving him jail privileges) and The Custodian (overall everything). Wiki helped with some names btw. I think Cinereal is a good example of this done right: we have conflicting information (she seemed like a hardass --but she could fight back the TITANBEAM) but for the others Im left with names I would have loved to see become characters, but that never will. I’m OBSSESED with Pouffe, a character that is only described as a “hero” and just appears as a titan --that’s even less development than Axehead. Drillbit appeared once as an alcoholic rogue, but we don’t even hear his damm power. We also don’t know much of what they do as titans, as only about half of them fight onscreen. Like, Victoria and Shortcut don’t even fight? That would have been a great callback. Yes, subverting expectations and all, but now there’s no more Parahumans in the future and I feel like I need to know wtf was Axehead’s deal. Also I LOVE the detail that most of the future-titans are barely described even back when they were human. This applies for Fume Hood, Cinereal and Mr. bough at the top of my head. I have no idea what it means, but it IS cool. Again, I get why, but would some small chapters showing them fighting some more capes, showing a bit more of their lives be impossible? Then again, with how loaded the ending was, yeah, it probably WAS impossible.

- Who were even the leaders for Advance Guard and Foresight? I do agree on the idea that it seemed like more was going to be done with both hero teams.

- WHAT IS Anelace’s power? (Besides lovemaking)

- I do love the indirect implication that Blindside MIGHT be the Stranger Titan. Cool way to play with the implications of, well, a stranger titan. BUT now I want to know what their deal was.

- There was a villain named La Llorona and she didnt do anything. Disrespect for latinamerican folklore ngl.

- I’m OK with Machine Army and Sleeper never being explained...to a point. Mostly I think that if Ward really is the last of the Parahumans universe...it kinda sucks to never know wtf was up with Sleeper.  But Im cool with Machine Army being randos, bc its funny.

- Just tells what was the Pharmacist’s cape name please. And also, where did she go? She had a nasty power and either Team Shin or Teacher would really use her, but she fazes that to the realm that Wildbow forgot.

- Would have personally liked to know more about Mockument, but I get that he falls perfectly into “give enough details about super minor character to make interesting” a la Switch Hitter and Flower of the Hecatomb. Who I also wanted to see more, if Im greedy.

- We are perfectly okay with knowing as much as we do about Torso.

- Ingenue and Nailbitter kinda do disappear, huh? Despite being powerful villains with nasty powers. I guess they do fall into the whole “evil continues” thing. But...did Egg do anything in the climax?? The New Irregulars kinda fizzle out, accept arguments and fuck off.

- Sooooo did Jessica trigger or nah?

- If the Blasphemies are a shard ploy why didnt they do shit up in New Europe? (in general I think Wildbow is kinda bad at the international side...theres a part where Antares and Tattletale talk about all pending plot thread and it sounds like all USA states had their own S Threat and there were like 3, tops, for the rest of the world)

- Where did Gary Nieves go?

. Marquis name is obviously Marquis Lavere.

[moonlit-mizukage]

Chapter six: You literally have to be fucking with me

Summary: Y/n and Tendou are deeply in love. Living on the other side of Tokyo now, the Monsters are still up to their old shit. They even opened a few businesses for Tax reasons. Even though it’s been almost three years later, Y/n still has never been able to understand how they have avoided the law several times. When Tendou’s Mother reappears in his life, Y/n is confused as Tendou claimed she is dead. Finding out Tendou is being forced to take over the family business by his Mother, she soon learns the truth behind Tendou’s reason he never gets in legal trouble is his family business. His mother is quick to decline Y/n as his future wife and tries to set up Tendou with someone she sees more fit. What will happen to Y/n and Tendou? What will happen to Tendou’s “family business”? What does this mean for the future of the Monsters?

TW: Swearing, mentions of sex, mentions of stabbing, blood, stiches, death 

AN: SORRY THIS IS SO LATEJIDFBVHKBS I WAS SHOWING MY FRIEND DEATHNOTE NVNJDFK

______________________________________________________________ Third Person Pov - Tuesday Night 

Tendou sat at the table beside Y/n anxiously. She noticed the way he shook his leg against hers. 

“Satori… What’s going on? I have never seen you this way before?” 

“I don’t… I am just… very nervous, the person you will meet is someone to m-” Before he could finish his sentence the front doorbell rang. He shot up from his seat and rushed over to the door. He ripped it open to see his mother in front of him. He rolled his eyes. 

“Well hello to you too Tori.” She said with a laugh. He did not say anything back, only pointed her to the dinning room where y/n sat at the table. 

Y/n stood up extending her arm to the woman now in front of her. 

“Hello I am Tendou’s Fiancé, Y/n.” She said politely. 

“Hello I am Tendou’s mother, Kohaku.” 

“I’m sorry, did you say his mother?” 

“Yes I did. This one isn’t too smart now is she, Tori?” She said as she sat down in Tendou’s seat. 

“Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute Satori?” Y/n said, the anger was seeping out into each word. He nodded and followed her in the kitchen. 

Y/n looked out to see the woman just sitting at the table as she was on her phone. 

“What in the absolute fuck is going on here Satori?” She asked, angry. 

“Well, you see my mom’s not dead, and that woman at the table happens to be her.” 

“You literally have to be fucking with me.” 

“I wish I was Y/n. She is the one I am inheriting the business from.” He said as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Holy fuck.” She said as she grabbed the counter for support. 

“So not only is she alive but a fucking Yakuza boss???” Y/n asked. 

“Yes.” 

“If I didn’t love you so much I would probably kill you right here.” She said.

“I'm sure the other Monsters would have a problem with that.” Tendou said with a smirk. Y/n laughed at his comment. 

“They can literally eat my ass.” 

“Don’t tell Matsukawa or he might be down. He has seen us have sex three times now.” 

“After your mother leaves, don’t tell them.” 

“Oo? Is this a rough sex on the table kinda night.” Y/n got noticeably flustered as she swat at him. 

“Shut up! Let’s just fucking go back and get this fucking meal over with.” Y/n said before she walked away. 

“Sorry about that, just had an urgent personal matter to discuss.” Y/n said as she sat down at the table. 

“Tori tends to tell people I am dead, but I never expected you to act like such a bitch about it.” Tendou’s mother said so casually. 

Before anyone could say anything else, the food was brought out by some cooks Tendou hired for the night. 

“So Tori, since I am here now, let’s talk business after our meal, in private.”  She said the last part as she shot eye daggers at Y/n. 

“Can’t we just fucking talk over our meal?” He asked. 

“No, you are going to be running shit now so it’s fucking different. Don’t try to act tough to me for your… whatever she is.” She said as she gestured to Y/n. 

“I literally have done nothing and you chose to come in her like some entitled bitch.” Y/n whispered under her breath. 

“I’d watch that tongue if you want to keep it.” Kohaku snapped at Y/n. 

After the meal was finished, Tendou and his mother headed up to his office.

 “Why are you being such a cunt to my fiancé?” He asked as soon as the door slammed shut. 

“Well if you had better taste in women we wouldn’t have an issue, now would we?”

“You can fuck right off. You can fuck with me, you can fuck with my friends, but if you fuck with her, I will be the one to kill you.” He said as he moved right into her face. She pulled back away from him and said; 

“You will have to get in line, the other rogue half has been causing us hell for some time now. After finding out who’s mother I was. I guess a couple of your old classmates are around that part of town now.” 

“Like I give a fuck.” He snapped. 

“You will once they come for what will hurt you the most.” She said.

“The fuck do you mean?” 

“I have seen the way you are around your monsters, I have seen the way you treat me, and I have seen the way you treat Y/n. You have a soft spot so you better fucking fix that, or I will do it for you.” 

“Like fuck you will you dumb bitch!” He shouted as he slammed his hands down on his desk. 

“So which ones of your gang are in?” 

“All of them.” 

“Really? That one guy, well I must say he seems pretty suspicious. I would watch your back if I was you.” She said back to him. 

“None of my friends would betray me, ever.” 

“You think what you want Tori. When the truth comes out, I hope you are prepared to shoot.” She stood up as she approached the office door. 

“I will text you tomorrow with more details about shit when you want to show your boss some respect.” 

“Fuck you.” He said as she left. He stood up and slammed his hands down on the desk. “FUCK!” he screamed out. 

The sound of the door slamming into the downstairs wall alerted him as he got up to see what was happening. He noticed Kenma being carried in by Terushima and Hanamaki. Y/n was rushing them into the dining room as she pushed all the plates off, shattering them. She rushed off to grab something in the distance. They placed kenma down as Shirabu came rushing in with Suna holding first aid kits. 

“What the fuck happened?” He then noticed the red stain on the side of Kenma’s shirt. 

“We were out at the bar and this guy came up, addressed us as the monsters and started a fist fight. We thought we all had someone distracted but one snuck in and stabbed Kenma at the table.” Terushima said. “Mattsun and Mad are still back there I think.” 

Tendou looked around as he noticed everyone had fresh blood splattered on them, even Shirabu. Y/n came rushing back in as she placed a pile of towels on the table. She walked over to Tendou as he pulled her into his chest. 

“Will he be okay?” Y/n asked. 

“Yeah, I may not have been in medical school long, but enough to know this guy sucked at stabbing. A few stitches and he will be as good as new.” Shirabu said. 

“Who the fuck were they?” Tendou asked. 

“We think some fucks from a gang or something trying to get street credit.” Just as Shirabu was finished stitching up Kenma. Kyotani and Maytsukawa walked in. 

“Is he fucking okay?” Kyotani barked up. 

“He is now Mad.” Terushima said.  

“Shit look at you too.” Y/n said as the two were dripped blood on the floor. 

“Don’t worry, it’s not ours.” Matsukawa said with his sadistic smirk. 

“We got you a fucking present in our trunk.” Kyotani said. Kyotani, Tendou, Matsukawa and Y/n walked outside knowing Kenma is going to be okay. 

Matsukawa popped the trunk, there sat a man who was bloody and beat. 

“Who the fuck is this?” Tendou asked. 

“The fuck that stabbed Kenma.” Matsukawa said. 

“And the rest?” 

“Four out of seven fucks escaped .” Kyotani said. 

“And the last two?” Y/n asked. 

“Dead.” Said matsukawa with his sadistic smirk again as he grabbed his bloody bat from the back seat and swung it up on his shoulder. 

_____________________________________________________________

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[wetwareproblem]

do you.... do you *want* helen "secret tory" classic to be. still in there. look i project too much onto jon i'll admit that one so i'm not exactly unbiased but i'm kind of terrified of the ah yes helen d stortion is hashtag relatable reaction here

No, I don’t. (Hilariously, when I told Rogue I think I kin Helen now, their first response was “You can’t, she’s a tory.”) Helen Classic does not exist any more.

But why is she the Real Helen?

There’s... a really uncomfortable and difficult-to-explain thread in here. The Helen Jon liked? Was terrified and in the middle of a major mental health crisis. That wasn’t the Real Helen either. He never met Helen Richardson, not properly. And, given his penchant for assuming he knows what’s best for everyone without ever consulting or listening to their perspectives, it’s of critical interest to me that the version of her he considers “likable” and “real” is the one who was helpless. The one who couldn’t ever challenge or threaten or stop him from doing exactly what he wants.

He hates the version of Helen that found empowerment and agency, and can meet him on a level playing field. Fucking hates it. Because he and his aren’t safe from her - but when was she ever safe from him? And part of what he hates her for is that she’s found empowerment in the very thing he hates most about himself - in her monstrosity.

Let me be clear here: If Helen Richardson is dead and Helen D. Stortion is something New, then Jonathan Simms is also dead, and Jon Magnusarchives is a new and inhuman creature.

And because Jon can’t deal with that, because the aspect of the Eye that he’s most vulnerable to is self-knowledge, she becomes the symbol of all his own insecurities and concerns. Instead of actually examining whether he is a monster, whether he needs to work on himself, he pins it all on her.

“Helen D. Stortion is #relatable” is a terrifying statement, on some levels. It makes Me very painfully aware of just how tightly restrained I have to keep My worse aspects, of just how terrible I could be if I slipped my self-imposed chains.

But she’s also the story of a woman who was horribly violated and found strength in coming out the other side, and calls someone with seriously dangerous and unchecked abusive tendencies out on his shit at every opportunity, and I’d find it hard not to relate to that even if we weren’t so parallel in other ways.

[vln-vibes]

Unwanted, Unreliable, Unstoppable (2)

Holy shit this did better than expected.

Summary: When one of their own gets harmed by the one who should have protected them most, how will the Team take it? Not lying down thats for sure!

Tags: @abrx2002 @bigpicklebananatree  @jardimazul  @lozzybowe 

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

When Dick Grayson became Bruce Wayne’s ward that fateful night he hadn’t known what to expect.

Of course he had heard of the Waynes while on his travels with Haly’s Circus, they were probably part of the Top Ten Richest families in the world if he had to guess. Though no one really knew much about the lone Wayne, Bruce, other than the fact that he was an airheaded philanthropist party-goer. Everyone would pretty much be surprised if he hadn’t just wasted away his family’s money by the time he was in his mid 20s.

He never thought that his new guardian would be doing things like this.

“So….You fight crime dressed as a bat?” Dick found himself asking as he looked around the “Batcave”, as he’d been mentally calling it when Batman started talking about hideouts.

“Something like that”

Dick hadn’t thought much of the training Bruce made him undergo when he said he agreed to take him along to defeat Tony Zucco. He thought it as just regular training like he had done before, granted it was a lot of how to redirect knives back to the enemies, avoiding gunshots, dismantling or disarming guns, sticking to the shadows and how to throw proper kicks and punches.

Was it strange that he had not heard of Batman when people actively talked about heroes like Superman or Red Tornado or Wonder Woman, well no. After all Bruce said he did more detective work, stuck to Gotham and was ‘just’ human.

He hadn’t thought much of it, he needed something to get his frustrations out.

When they took down all of the goons and had Zucco tied up Robin didn’t know how to feel.

“Do what you want with him” Batman had told him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Let it all out; your fear, anger, sadness, let it all out on the man who caused this”

Dick never thought of himself as a bad person even as he began to beat Zucco bloody with his armored fists.

Death would have been too painless for a man like him.

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“Ugh just look at her” Alya grumbled.

In front of them was Kagami talking to a rather attractive teen with rich tanned skin and piercing emerald eyes. Neither she nor any of her friends had any idea who he was and she only got close enough to hear the tail end of their conversation.

“... Exhibition match is going to be the most enjoyable challenge since first dueling with Adrien” she said in her normal stoic voice. The boy seemed to not notice or care as he just nodded along with her.

“Yes, my brother has insisted he come and watch as well. I reckon your mother will also want to?”

“Oh Alya, I just don’t think Kagami is good for Adrien” Lila cried out, snapping Alya from her stewing anger, the girl instinctively hugging her friend in comfort.

“Ever since she’s joined our school, he’s done nothing short of physically lashing out on his father. He even said that if we don’t stop bothering his Kagami that he’ll make me pay!”

“That𑁋That guy is gonna see what it means to mess with my BFF!”

“O-Oh but don’t blame Adrien… after all it was Kagami who started this nonsensical feud within the class as well”

Alya never saw the smirk grow on Lila’s face as everything was going to plan.

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“You shall not make fools of the Tsurugi. We Are Perfection”

Kagami elected to stay quiet as her mother continued to monologue, as though Kagami hadn’t heard the same conversation play out ever since she could remember.

During the sessions she had with Dr. Quinzel, Harley Quinn the psychologist had told her she preferred to go by outside of the office, she had come to realize that what her mother was doing to her was not alright. Her mother continued to enforce her ideals onto Kagami, as though she were trying to live vicariously through her. Kagami couldn’t fathom why; her mother was trained by her grandfather, a kendo Hachi-Dan, all her life and was already a world renowned and record holding fencer… So what did she want out of her? Why was it so important for Kagami to be seen as superior to all others?

“Show him no mercy, that he is nothing against a Tsurugi '' her mother finished much to Kagami’s relief.

“Mother, you are aware this is merely a friendly exhibition match, correct?”

Smack

Oh, Kagami had forgotten who she was talking to; she was not in Gotham, hanging out with her friends or training with the Bats or even talking to Dr.Quinzel or Dr.Isley.

She was in Paris where her mother and Hawkmoth were; Where both her civilian and hero self had unrealistic expectations for her.

The current sting on her leg reminded her of that fact.

“Watch your tongue you insolent child. Now go before you prove to disappoint me further”

“Yes, mother” Kagami gritted out, trying the breathing exercise Luka had taught her as she walked up to the field of play, a mat having been laid out to indicate all the boundaries.

“Are you ready, dragon girl?” Damian questioned, walking back from where Richard, Dick he had insisted, stood alongside her friends. She was too distracted to realize he had an alarmed and analytical look towards her and her mother. 

“Only if you are, Chīsai tori-chan”

The two made their way to their positions, M.D'Argencourt waiting for them in the middle before starting the match.

"En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

Kagami had been using her anger to lash out on Damian, some may call it unfair but she looked to think it was a good use of her pent up energy.

“Point to Miss Tsurugi”

“Oh I thought you were better than that?” she smirked underneath her mask. She couldn’t see his expression but she just assumed he rolled his eyes or scowled.

“You merely caught me off guard”

Kagami felt herself smile as she heard her friends cheer for her, Damian shaking his head before going back to their original position.

She was not expecting the events of the day from that moment, she hadn’t realized and would not want to hear her birthgiver’s explanation after that day.

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“Unbelievable!” Robin cried out in frustration, next to him Speedy looked like he was ready to punch anybody who’d stand too close to him.

“Sorry, uh Robin” the ginger speedster looked flustered.

“It’s just too dangerous for people like you to be involved with us” the new ‘hero’, Miss Martian, they recalled, said apologetically. “Your physiology is too susceptible to injury, it isn’t like our own”

“You think we want to be part of your stupid daycare club” Speedy laughed harshly, “We just saved your sorry asses because we were around, because you’re on our turf”

“And you still want to call us fragile and weak? You’re just as underwhelming as they said you’d be” Robin snapped, frustrated at the continued degradement from Metas and the Justice League. 

He remembered when he first met Speedy and the League, Batman having been sent a request to help with some world ending thing; definitely above their pay rate but Batman also didn’t trust them to get it done so they agreed.

He remembers working his ass off to make sure these people made it out alive, live to see another day, and help defeat the big bad. Then the comments came rolling;

“Isn’t he too young? Why did we have to call in the human? Is the Bat insane? It's bad enough that we got the man involved, now we have to deal with his kid too? We could handle it without them. Now we have to play babysitter for the humans”

He understood why the Batman didn’t even stand working with the League after that.

“We-We were here by League orders!” Miss Martian cried in outrage.

“Orders to spy on us” Speedy sarcastically remarked as the ‘Young Justice’ flinched “You lot really think you were that slick?”

“Whatever the hell it is they were supposed to do is over” Robin nearly growled out, batarangs at hand, “They’re officially persona non grata”

“You can’t just do whatever you please” Wondergirl began “The League just wishes to know if your mentors are up to any… questionable activity”

“Shitty excuse for shitty behavior” Speedy responded, clearly getting on the nerves of the Young Justice.

“Just let us do our job and we’ll be on our way” Cyborg tried placating though the duo was not impressed.

“Or we can just kick your asses and send you crying back to your bosses” Speedy took out his quiver and pointed straight at them, the group divided between offended and surprised.

“We do not need to result in such behavior, we mean no harm” Starfire tried getting in the middle, only to be pushed back by Kid Flash and Miss Martian. Aqualad seemingly about to do the same but realising it was a fruitless endeavor and just got in a fighting stance.

“You don’t even believe that princess” Robin felt his eyes rolling, the Young Justice tense considering Starfire being princess of another planet was supposed to be a secret.

“You- You shouldn’t know that! See, this only proves what Superman feared! That the Batman has gone rogue!” Miss Martian said in a near panic.

“What do you mean by go rogue; We’re not even part of the League!” Dick was getting real tired of these pretentious metas already. From the corner of his eyes he could see two shadows waiting for their signals and staying in position.

Dick didn’t think of himself as a bad person but this Young Justice really had all of this coming.

“Young Justice, action!”

And really he was sure he could come up with better names than them.

At the end Dick and Roy kept their word, the Young Justice scattered all around them in various states of consciousness on a Central City rooftop. Kid Flash groaned as he looked at their ‘fragile’ assailants, only to see two new figures with them, a blonde girl with an arrow pointed at Miss Martian, and a shorter boy wearing Robin’s costume that just electrocuted Wonder Girl with glorified knuckle busters.

“Oh and Wally,” the speedsters heart began to beat faster as he looked at the cold smile on Robin, ex-Robin?, now wearing a black and blue bodysuit….when did he change? “Tell Superman I’ll be using the name Nightwing from now on”

Nightwing did not think he was a bad person as he, the new Arsenal, Tigress and the new Robin dumped the unconscious bodies of the Young Justice back into their ship, sending it on autopilot after typing in the ‘secret coordinates’ for Mount Justice.

The Justice League would understand loud and clear that they would no longer be expecting help from the Bats or Arrows at a moment's notice or preferably ever from now on.

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“Umm are you Mmd. Tsurugi?” Tomoe Tsurugi turned, indicating her attention was caught by the young lady next to her. She sounded vaguely familiar but they said it was easier to recognize someone by their face than by their voice; she wouldn’t know.

“Who are you to ask?” she responded curtly, wanting to refocus on the match her prodigy and some American boy were engaging in. From what M.D'Argencourt had told her, his name was Damian, a prospective transfer student from America, who wished to check out the school’s fencing team. D’Argencourt had insisted that the boy was one of the best he’d seen, on par with her own prodigy. How could some average boy be on par with her own prodigy of the Tsurugi name?

It simply would not do.

Thus they had arranged this exhibition match, to show just how leagues above the Tsurugi were from this common boy.

“ My name is Lila Rossi, a classmate of your daughter and model, I work for Gabriel Agreste” the girl’s self-praising was not missed by Tomoe but she had ignored it for now, it would be best to quickly get to the point lest she miss a second of the match.

"En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

“I’ve heard of you from M. Agreste. What is your business with me?” Tomoe was getting quickly irritated, as her own prodigy had taken longer this round; the rapid movements of the sabres, swishing in the air and clashing into one another, both opponent’s feet moving across the mat in quick and small intervals.

“ I know I’m not supposed to say things without letting M. Agreste know first but,” she starts to tear up, at least Tomoe could hear that from the hiccuping of her voice. “Your daughter has been influencing Adrien to rebel against his father”.

Her prodigy did what?

“I overheard them talking about how the two planned to help each rebel against M. Agreste and you. She said she’d throw the match in order to disgrace you”

Tomoe had trained Kagami better than that! There was no way the insolent child would be so foolish as to𑁋

“ Point to Mister Damian”

She began to metaphorically see red as they called for the final round of their little exhibition match. Kagami was made to perfection; this should have already been a settled deal instead of dragging out for almost five minutes now. Kagami better not disappoint her in the final match lest she have to discipline the girl.

“ I know this is an inopportune time to inform you of this but I fear of what else she’ll do and what she’ll make Adrien do if she keeps this up… With such influential families it would be dishonorable to let this continue further”

Tomoe was so deep in her head that she missed the rapid footsteps running across the mat or the sound of liquid falling on it.

"Final round. En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

The match had lasted just as long as the last, almost using up the full three minutes. She could hear the two make their way onto Kagami’s side of the mat when Tomoe realized that she was disgracing the Tsurugi name on purpose.

The child slipped backwards, she could already hear the announcement before D’Argencourt could.

“Point to Mister Damian. Match goes to Damian”

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“Again” 

Dick took out his escrima sticks once, panting and sweating profusely but did as his instructor told. He felt himself repeat the same movements over and over again, he was going solely by muscle memory at this point.

“Alright Grayson, you’re done for the day” Dick resisted the urge to sigh in relief as he gave a slight bow and took a drink from his water bottle.

“So how have the kids been Slade?” he asked nonchalantly, knowing if it were any other person they’d be dead for even bringing up Slade Wilson’s children.

“Joseph is doing as well as always, focusing on the fine arts and being a good kid. Rose just enrolled in the same private school as him so they’re looking out for each other” the mercenary said with a huff, one Dick saw through.

“Why, I’d say you sound like a proud father!”

“As if you and Bats don’t talk about the birds like that”

Dick knew he had him there.

When he was 9 years old, a year after debuting as Robin and being adopted, he met Bruce’s ‘girlfriend’, if they could call whatever game those two were playing an actual relationship. He did not like Talia al Ghul, even less who her father was but he kept his opinion to himself, he wanted Bruce to be happy. Then it turned out she was pregnant.

Talia had decided to stow away from Ra’s, definitely not defecting from him anytime soon but she also knew that the man held too many secrets; few which she was able to discover. She was already aware that Ra’s had contingency plans if the Lazarus Pits stopped working on him, he was planning on possessing the body of someone of his blood. She knew the child would be the perfect vessel in his eyes. 

So she lied to Ra’s, stating that she was going on a deep cover mission for the League, dismantling or infiltrating some country from the inside instead of just killing their way in. Instead she hired Slade as a bodyguard and to help maintain her cover while she stayed at Wayne Manor. He had to admit that it was the softest he’d seen her.

Then when he was 12, they found Jason Todd. Well more like they caught him trying to steal the wheels from the Batmobile in the middle of the night at Crime Alley. The kid had spunk and a not great life living in Crime Alley’s streets so they took him in as their own. At the same time Dick was outgrowing Robin and didn’t think the mantle should gather dust as they waited for Damian to grow up; Jason was the perfect candidate.

That same year Batgirl came out of nowhere, a new shadow that hunted down corrupt cops specifically. Dick hadn’t really been all too surprised when it turned out to be his friend and classmate, because he was bored and decided skipping two grades would be a good idea, Barbara Gordon. That or the fact that they immediately took her in and gave her real training.

He was 15, nearing 16, when Tim Drake literally barged into their lives.

He was a scrawny 9 year old that had apparently been stalking them while they went around Gotham beating up very dangerous people and had found out their identities by seeing him perform a quadruple somersault. Seriously what the fuck had been the only thing in his mind at the moment.

It turned out that Tim had come to them in need of protection as he found out his parents were involved with the Court of Owls, something Bruce had tried to uncover but even he was beginning to believe was a myth, with his parents soon scheduling for him to be tested as a potential Talon. They were fully willing to sell their son’s soul for their cause and not caring that he would lose his humanity in the process. It wasn’t hard to open a case against the Drakes as concerned citizens for child neglect and embezzlement that may or may not have been discovered while they raided their place in the night and took anything they owned pertaining to the Court of Owls the week before the police began their investigations.

Which led to now.

Joker had decided to attack the new Robin, his perverted mind finding it unfair that he wasn’t told of the new change. Not only had he been surprised by the fact that Jason survived but he also got his ass handed back to him by Batman and Nightwing when they found out. Jason was borderline dying and the closest place they could go was, unfortunately, Infinity Island; aka al Ghul palace.

Ra’s was fortunately not on the island however David Cain was not informed of the fact that the Bats and Talia al Ghul had a strange alliance, sicking his living weapon aka his daughter out on them. She had stopped when she saw how close to death Jason was, freezing as though she could physically see his string of life snapping, and when David was readying to retaliate against her, he found himself knocked out by Talia. A few hours later the Batjet was sent back and the Batplane returned with Alfred, Barbara, Tim and Damian inside.

Once Jason was well enough, a day or two hopefully, they’d be leaving the island with a new sister in tow.

Dick would stop at nothing to keep his family safe.

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“Oh my god, Kagami”

Marinette had been hanging out with Damian, Dick, Marc and Alix in her room when her skylight window opened. Now this itself was a common occurrence after she and Adrien revealed their identities and when she began to give Miraculous full time.

However, the sight in front of her was one she had never expected to see before.

“I hope I’m not interrupting”

Kagami had dropped the transformation the moment she opened the window, Longg floating besides her in concern.

Her normally impeccable fair skin was littered with bruises of various shades, the most notable being a dark purple one on her cheek close to her eye. There were others she noticed on her hand and few popping up from underneath her ripped leggings. 

Marinette was snapped out of her stupor as Kagami stumbled down the window, her bookbag and two carry-on bags on her back.

“What happened?” Marc asked, right beside Kagami as Marinette took the other side, helping the Japanese girl with her bags and sat her on Marinette’s chaste.

“... My mother was not happy with my performance today” the girl winced as she sat down “She seems to have gotten it in her head that I sabotaged the match and have disgraced the family name”

“Kagami,” she looked up to see Richard, Dick, with his deep sapphire eyes full of concern and unrelenting fury. “Do you feel safe at home?”

Had she been asked a year ago she would have said that she did or that it was irrelevant and did not matter. She has since learned that ignoring the blaring issue and suffering in silence would do no good for anyone.

“No, I do not”

“Do you want to open a case against your mother?”

“... I do”

“That’s all I needed to hear”

While Marinette went to get her parents, scrambling up an explanation for how Kagami got to her house, not that her parents would ask once they saw her friend, Damian took photos of Kagami as evidence for a domestic abuse case.

They all took notice of her missing ring and the patch on her blazer.

Dick Grayson was not going to let this go.

But he knew that the woman did not deserve his time as Nightwing for this. No. She would just twist it with her reputation; they needed to destroy that to truly break her.

He may not have jurisdiction in Paris but he was still an officer and vigilante dammit! Not to mention he had a billionaire dad notorious for adopting kids left and right.

“Hey dad, y’know how it's my birthday in like ten months; how would you feel about giving me another sibling or two?"

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“Who are you?” In the middle of their stakeout for a potential safehouse in Happy Harbor, Nightwing and Robin turned to see an eerily familiar looking teen floating next to them, arms crossed but not looking ready to make a move. Yet.

“The better question is who are you” Nightwing quipped “I know Boy Scout did the Devil’s Tango but his kid definitely shouldn’t be as old as you are”

“Oh my god, shut up Nightwing” Robin groaned, Tim wondering what his odds would have been if he had just run away from home instead of going to the Bats.

“... I’m Superboy” the teen looked at the two curiously, he had heard hushed whispers of the Batman and his sidekicks, Nightwing and Robin. He also knew that for some reason the name Nightwing had caused discomfort and righteous anger to Superman.

“Superboy, huh.” Nightwing questioned as Robin began typing on his wrist computer “So you’re the secret member of Young Justice”

“How do you know that?” he hovered defensively, confused at Nightwing’s hand wave.

“Chill Superboy. I’m sure you’re all aware of the not so secret dislike between us and the League” his smirk told him there was more there… not that he’d know. None of the adults really talked to him other than Black Canary, and she was only a temporary member at that; she had mentioned to Superboy how she usually works alongside the Arrows of Central City and was part of The Birds of Prey.

“Especially after I stole the name from Superman”

“Stole from Superman?” Superboy was never aware of the fact that Nightwing was a name Superman ever used, it wasn’t part of the data fed to him through Cadmus or even personal studies he did in the Mount Justice library.

“Hasn’t big blue told you about his heritage?” Robin asked, an air of nonchalance and judgement around his statement.

“... No. Superman would rather ignore the fact I even exist” Superboy hadn’t meant to sound so pretentious but he couldn’t help it! It was getting on his nerves, how everyone just saw him as nothing more than a mini-Superman or a clone or even a weapon the enemy made… He wanted  to be more than all that.

“Do you have a name?” Nightwing asked, his cheerful demeanor gone and replaced with a serious and protective one.

“I am Superboy”

“Noㅡ I mean a name for the teen underneath the ‘S’. Not a codename” Nightwing asked gently “People don’t call me Nightwing when I’m not wearing the mask”

“... I’ve only been called Superboy, even in Cadmus”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me for fucks sake” he heard Robin’s angry huff, he couldn’t exactly turn off his super senses. 

“Well that’s dehumanizing” Nightwing was suddenly all smiles again, gently pulling Superboy down and sitting on a city bench, oddly there was no one near their general vicinity.

“How about I give you a Kryptonian history lesson, straight from the Fortress of Solitude’s archives! The story of Nightwing and Flamebird”

That was how Superboy became friends with the “dangerous enemy” and got a real first idea of what it meant to be Kryptonian.

That was also the night he gained the name Conner.

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When Kagami didn’t show up to school the next day no one thought much of it, at least no one that wasn’t Lila Rossi and Alya Cesaire.

People began to grow curious when Marinette and Chloe were also gone or the fact that Marc  and Alix had huge eye bags under their eyes. Depending on who asked they’d say that it was something personal or none of their business.

People began to get concerned when Sabrina’s dad, officer Raincomprix, asked to speak to M. Bustier, Adrien, Marc and Alix.

When the class began to pester Sabrina for answers she gave them a lost look and said “I can’t tell you anything, I’m not even supposed to know about the case but dad asked for some information… I think it's best we back off”

Of course that didn’t stop Lila or Alya from gloating over their victory, hoping that Kagami had been pulled from school or even sent back to Japan.

They never realized how much their act of revenge had impacted the Japanese girl or her group of friends.

Bruce Wayne would arrive that same day and head straight for the Dupain-Cheng household along with his daughter Cass and sons Tim and Jason.

“I didn’t think we’d have to start this whole process until after December but being early never hurt” Tim tried to joke, helping lift the somber mood just a bit.

After Tom and Sabine offered them refreshments before having to head downstairs to the bakery, the group began to think of logical backstories before Officer Raincomprix was due to arrive.

“... So you can just say after that poor excuse of a birth giver did what she did to you” Jason made sure to keep his cool, he knew these kids didn’t need a fucking Akuma right now “ You already had bags prepared and managed to leave when she went to sleep and went to your friend’s house. You knew you’d be safe there and that they’d be able to take you to the hospital to get your injuries looked at”

“I think that’ll work” Tim nodded along, invested in his laptop as he looked through Parisian surveillance for any other instances of public domestic abuse or even covering Kagami’s tracks as Ryuuko from last night, not that he blamed her for trying to leave as soon as possible.

“I know I said I’d help you with Gabriel but, “ Bruce began before Marinette shook her head.

“Right now Kagami’s case is more urgent… besides this may be beneficial with our case against Gabriel for associating with Tomoe and praising her form of parenting. Maybe we can even get them both in one go”

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Amidst the laundry list of paperwork and things to get done there were two important things happening;

First was the announcement of the Flying Grayson’s Foundation, a scholarship for international students to travel and study at Gotham Academy and any other high ranking schools around the country; they were looking for children who were either of lower income who could take advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunity or students who displayed great talents and could use the enriching environment these schools had to offer.

In other words it was a cover up to get the Miraculous Team away from Paris and in Gotham.

Should Bruce really be using his fortune to do these sort of things? He was rich with money to spare, if he used it to help teens that were left to their own devices by most of the adults in their lives then who was to say what he could or could not do with his money.

The second was the Hawkmoth investigation finally going guns ablazing.

Bruce and Marinette had both decided to let their teams handle tracking Hawkmoth for now as they strategized on ways to get Adrien away from Gabriel and secretly Nathaniel away from his parents.

With the later they had more luck by the name of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

Within the months they had spent together the duo had gotten attached to the teens and were protective even as they ‘attacked the city’ to keep their criminal cover. When hearing about Nathaniel's situation the two had begun to think of ways to get him away from it, having had similar experiences growing up, along with Bruce.

They hadn’t realized there was a much simpler solution that wasn’t killing/arresting the Kutzbergs or kidnapping Nathaniel.

“You know you can just Matilda this and just give the adoption papers to them, right?” Duke said from the couch one day. “From what Nat says its likely they won’t give a shit or even protest”

It had worked.

Nathaniel was now officially Nathaniel Isley-Quinzel.

Barbara had worked with Tim and Max to perfect the laters algorithm for tracking down the Hawkmoth (along with some upgrades on Markov and maybe creating other sentient A.Is they hoped wouldn’t cause the apocalypse in the far future). Thankfully Tomoe Tsurugi had proven a valuable pawn as they managed to track down the one mile radius from where the Akuma could have come from when she was arrested for child abuse, physical abuse and child neglect.

Luckily, Tomoe had tried to attack Kagami when she heard her ex-prodigy and former daughter on her way to the police car. Dick had intervened, giving her a nerve punch and rendering her unconscious. Of course he brought up that it was for self-defense and could easily be proven by the cop cameras, though it was still seen as overkill.

That Akuma was quickly captured by Ladybug, who had already seen it coming, as she and the new Bee, Abeille, were watching the arrest from a nearby rooftop.

Money made things work much more faster in terms of the adoption process. It helped that he already had four adopted sons, an adopted daughter and biological son as proof of his competence as a parent. They’d laugh at him being a ‘great parent’ but he was a tired man who was secretly trying to change the world for better by dressing up as a Bat furry at night and was trying to be good for them and also had six legal and two technical children, so really they’d take what they could get.

Gabriel Agreste and Natalie Sancoer were doing their best to cover any violations of child labor laws, even going so far as to try to ground and pull Adrien out of school again.

Of course when Bruce and his three oldest sons showed up they had all the evidence they needed for a major scandal to break and ruin the Gabriel brand. They did make a very nice offer at a not so nice expense;

Give guardianship to/let Bruce adopt Adrien and the press would never have to find out.

Gabriel had nearly yelled at the man to leave his home the instant he subtly suggested it, even going so far as to call the “Gorilla”, which not only did not work but also gave the Wayne’s an even harder dislike of the man.

As it turns out as soon as Adrien told Gorilla, damn it he would find out the man’s name one day! About the plan against his father the man gave Adrien a flashdrive to use as part of the evidence.

“It's up to you Mister Agreste” Tim said in his CEO voice, cold and with business only in mind.

“You could just listen to our offer and just renounce any custody you have of Adrien and give it to us” Dick practically sang through his eyes but still held a hard look.

“Or you could face the backlash of not only exploiting, but also keeping him captive in his own home and overworking your son all for the name of your brand… Not to mention your questionable business practices or bias towards an underaged model” Jason added as nonchalantly and non threateningly as he could. It did not work, which was the whole point. “Losing your reputation and your son anyway”

Gabriel knew he was in over his head but was no fool.

Adrien packed up his things the next day, beginning his process of shipping his belongings off to Gotham. Coincidentally, Gorilla had given his letter of resignation and had gotten a job as the main caretaker of one Alise Anciel-Pennyworth.

Gabriel swore he’d get his revenge against Bruce Wayne one way or another.

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Conner did not know what to do.

He knew he did the right thing in distancing himself from his team, he didn’t know them well enough to consider them friends. But it still hurt to be alone…

Superman had been nothing but a pain in his ass with his Boy Scout routine and higher than thou personality.

Ugh just thinking about it made him want to shoot him with his heat vision. He had no idea how Superboy, because yeah the kid asked him and how could he say no to him?, could be related to that man. It must have been the Lois Lane of the kid.

Conner didn’t know who to turn for, there was no way he’d go to any of his biological donors, so he'd just spent the past few days flying endlessly.

He had stopped by Star City to see how Black Canary was, and for a quick session, but as much as she and Green Arrow offered he didn’t want to overstay his welcome. Not to mention he had a feeling he needed to go somewhere else.

The only other person who had given him the light of day was….

“Are you Superboy?” Conner looked up, which he didn’t do that often now that he thought about it, and saw a male figure standing on a lightpost, his features hidden by the Gotham night.

“Not anymore, who the hell are you?” the guy hoped down, with the light he was able to see the blonde hair and leather catsuit… did Catwoman get an apprentice?

“Well you should know the big bad Bat doesn't like metas. Any reason you’re here or should I escort you out right meow?”

“... I’m going to ignore the pun for now. I’m looking for Nightwing”

Conner noticed the twitch of the leather ear against the honey blonde hair and began to wonder if the guy was either trustworthy or meta. Just as Conner was about to fly away the guy tapped his ear, he recognized Nightwing’s voice before the guy nodded and ended the transmission.

“Well looks like Nightwing is vouching for you” he sat down on the park bench where Conner hadn’t realized he had spaced out for most of the afternoon. “He says to stay put, he’s kinda busy right now but shouldn’t take too long. Anyways I’m Chat Noir, Parisian superhero”

“Never heard of you before but it's nice to meet you” Conner shook his hand even though Chat Noir scowled, dropping the whole playful demeanor.

“No surprise there. You know we spent years asking for the Justice League’s help and they didn’t do shit, they didn’t even open our messages” the half Kryptonian experiment thought that he must have been mistaken.

Sure the Justice League had Superman and was full of a bunch of enhanced beings/meta-humans who would rather have brawns than brains according to his #2 Sperm Donor and refused to allow ‘regular’ humans or even only slightly enhanced on their team even though they knew how to kick ass but they weren’t terrible enough to not answer distress signals, right?

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“Nightwing and Batman told my team”

“And you trust their words, just like that?”

“Don’t you?” Chat Noir seemed to stare him down before Conner sighed, hand raking through his naturally curly hair.

“Yeah, I do. Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust him. Never met the other Bats and Birds though”

“Trust me, it’ll be chaotic in a fun way” Chat Noir grinned, a knowing twinkle in his eye. “So, why are you looking for Nightwing? Sorry if its invasive but well, you know what they say about cats”

“Curiosity killed the cat?” Conner questioned, the shit eating grin on Chat Noir’s face grew, like the cat who caught the canary.

“But satisfaction brought it back!”

“It’s kind of a long story, I doubt you’ll want to know the knitty gritty” Conner showed his gloved hands into his leather jacket, sighing.

“I’m all ears”

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“So you’re telling me that you were genetically engineered to replace and destroy Superman by using his stolen DNA and the one of his arch enemy Lex Luthor while also being planted with trigger words to make sure Luthor had a way to control you. Superman never even liked you even when he thought you were just a clone of him even though his own kid was pretty chill with you and he met you after the whole Daddy #2 reveal. Which also he used the triggers to make you attack your teammates, the Young Justice, so even though you got the triggers removed you quit and decided to take a break from the hero biz but you don’t really have anyone to trust so your best bet was Nightwing, who you’ve talked to every now and then since he likes messing with Superman and taught you about Kryptonian culture”

“Well yeah basically”

“Holy shit you need to see Dr. Quinzel or something”

“What about you leather boy? What are you even doing in Gotham?” Conner asked with a smirk, feeling comfortable with the feline boy after letting out his whole life story to him.

“Well do we want to start from when my mom died or when I was chosen to be a superhero at thirteen or when the whole city of Paris just expected my partner and I to be able to defeat the full on grown man terrorizing the city all on our own with no help whatsoever?”

“Daddy issues?”

“Pot calling kettle”

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“Ugh I can’t believe Ladybug didn’t show up to the fire yesterday” Alya ranted to her classmates, the ones that were still worth talking to that is.

“Dude you do realize that the fire department was there and had everything handled, right?” Nino looked at her skeptically, the two had broken up a few months or so ago now but they still treated each other with decency. At least most of the time.

“Think of all the lives they risked by not showing up!” Lila cried out “How could they leave Paris at their most vulnerable state?”

“I- I’m sure they were busy” Rose squeaked out, trying her best to console her friend. She still held some hope for the heroes of Paris after all!

“Yeah it's not like the firemen were doing their job or anything” Alix rolled her eyes at the group.

“Sabrina!” the ginger girl tensed at her name, turning to see the very much in danger of being akumatized again reporter “Didn’t your dad and the police department have to deal with those bank robbers last week without help of Paris’ heroes?”

“We-Well yes but my dad does that 𑁋”

“They’re just being so selfish! Think of all the people who risk their lives everyday with no magic bulletproof suit. They think they’re above Paris’ everyday problems and only show up when we can’t handle it”

“Surely you aren’t such a fool, Cesaire” Max stated cooly as he typed away on his laptop “Or do you not remember how everything used to function before their arrival”

“Listen here you little nerd!”

“N-No Alya… I know I shouldn’t say this but the truth is… Ladybug is over Paris” Lila began to tear up, hiding her face within her hands as she started to choke up “She and I had a fight a few weeks back; she said she’s tired of dealing with all of Paris’ problems even when I begged her to reconsider! I- I think she’s planning on abandoning us altogether… and we all know we’re doomed without Ladybug there to keep her sidekicks in check”

The room was full of looks of shock and surprise, including that of Miss Bustier who was sitting at her desk. Suddenly that grieving silence was interrupted by laughs coming from the back, Adrien trying to reign in his laughter.

“Oh god,that’s probably the only lie you told that’s partly true Rossi '' the blonde sunshine child had gotten more cynical the longer he spent time in public school. There were rumors he threatened his father with a lawsuit through a third party about child labor laws, something Alya tried researching and asking him about. Apparently Adrien was officially out of the fashion industry.

“She really is a lost cause” Alix had not so subtly whispered to Kim, who nodded along.

“What would you lot know! Besides anyone whose friends with the Ice Queen, Tsurugi is𑁋”

“Actually, Alya” Marinette interrupted “As class vice-president you should be aware that Kagami had her name legally changed. She now goes by Kagami𑁋”

“Oh dear, did you get disowned Kagami?” Lila framed it as an innocent concern but those who knew the real her recognized the mocking tone.

“I owe you no explanations, Rossi” the girl responded back, going back to ignoring the class with Marinette. They still remembered the day she came back to school, most of the class, not including a select few assholes they decided not to name, had looked at her in worry as she branded various bandages and some healing bruises; she had all but ignored them and continued on her regular routine.

Meanwhile that night Bruce Thomas Wayne made a press conference at Wayne Enterprises’ building, with his two oldest Richard John “Dick” Grayson-Wayne and Jason Peter Todd-Wayne.

“Mister Wayne are you really saying you’ve adopted another child?” Lois Lane stood up as the microphone was given to her “What warranted the newest member of the Wayne Clan? Is it a sensitive matter like that of your daughter Cassandra or perhaps like that of Damian’s?”

Bruce made sure to give a flustered look, especially since her husband, one Clark Kent, otherwise known as Kal-El or Superman, was with her.

“Why I must say, those are excellent questions Miss Lane” he started off with a smile “ However, to answer your questions they’ve been a family acquaintance and then friend for some time. It’s not my story to tell but their home life was not the healthiest, it got to the point where my family offered to help them get out of that situation. They were admittedly reluctant to do so but… I suppose a line had been crossed and they asked for our assistance”

The members of the press seemed to deflate at the confession, all drawing up their conclusions to what his words meant and what the newest member had experienced in their life.

“Yes, Ms. Grant?” Dick asked, pointing for them to hand over the microphone for Cat Grant.

“Will we be meeting the newest member of your family anytime soon?”

“They will be properly introduced to the public during the Wayne Gala next month in Paris, they’re still attending school elsewhere but they’ll be transferring to Gotham Academy and properly moving into the estate this upcoming semester”

They were sure the new Wayne would be making headlines when the time arrived.

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“You’re serious” Conner asked in awe, “You’d really do that?”

“Oh kitty,” Selina began to brush her fingers across Conner’s curly locks as she held the hurt boy closer to her.

After arriving in Gotham and getting to talk with Nightwing, who when learning about the situation the teen was in had recruited the help of the Gotham Sirens to host the boy as the Wayne’s had a lot of eyes on them after the announcement of an adopted child; Conner didn’t need the attention right now. 

The Sirens had agreed after learning about everything the boy had gone through, Harley agreeing that he needed stability and offered sessions or even having Dinah come visit, while Ivy made sure their place was secure enough to withstand an attack and kept vigilant in case the boy scout decided to come looking for Conner, even if they doubted he’d’ try. Selina tried to get the boy to open up, sharing her own childhood backstory and how she became Catwoman.

That’s when Selina realized that Conner had no family name, he’d even only gone as Superboy until fairly recently. No one bothered to give him a name.

So she offered her own.

“Of course I am. In fact any one of the people in this apartment and even the Bats would offer their name if you asked”

Conner knows that Jon called him an “honorary Kent” on the basis of being his dad’s clone and a Krytonian but Conner never felt like he had earned the name. Clark certainly never offered.

“Conner Kent, they said I should feel free to use that name” Conner sighed “But I don’t think it’s right”

“Well whatever name you choose it’ll be yours. Though I suggest making up your mind soon, Oracle is working on making you some legal documents so you can finally have a ‘normal life’ if that’s what you want”

“What even is normal?” the duo looked behind to see Nathaniel, graphite smudges on his face. The red headed boy was staying over with Harley and Ivy as his new moms and they were working on some more “family bonding time”. If all went well he’d be transferring to Gotham Academy for the new school year.

If Selina remembered correctly his boyfriend and Alfred’s great-nephew would also be moving to Gotham while Alfred’s sister would be placed in a senior center or given a caretaker.

“What happened to you?” Conner muffled a laugh as he took a look at Nathaniel’s state.

“Deadlines” the boy in question said, chugging what they thought was hot coffee, Trixx sleeping on his head, almost camouflaging in the red. “I’m about to go in a 12+ coma, night”

“But its 2 pm?” Conner asked amused, Nathaniel walking out of the room with a wave of his hands before peeking back inside with a smirk.

“By the way, Chat Noir has a thing for black hair and blue eyes”

Selina was amused by the flush Conner was quick to gain and decided that she’d tease him about it another day.

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“Chloe, Nino hey!” Adrien waved at his friends as they made their way around the enormous amount of rich/influential people that were attending the first ever Flying Graysons Scholarship celebration in Paris. All of Dupont Francois was allowed to attend, though Lila insisted it was thanks to her connections, because of the amount of students that would be receiving their awards/scholarships that night.

The whole Miraculous team was clad in images to their hero persona via Miraculous by MDC line that Marinette had been working on ever since she quit being class president almost a year ago. They were her most popular designs on her website, even internationally which they had found odd.

Nino was wearing an Anselm inspired bomber jacket along with a standard white button up and black jeans. Chloe was wearing something a bit more formal with a two piece dress with a black top and honey gold pencil skirt with little bees stitched at the hems and some high heels, her hair was let down for once with a pearl hairclip keeping her bangs up.

“I’m guessing you got here with the rest of your not yet adopted family?” Chloe asked while the boy grinned. Adrien had decided that the first thing he would do as a not yet Wayne was to wear other designer clothes that were not from the Gabriel design, and what better clothes than those of his platonic soulmate. Marinette may have gone over the top but he loved her for it; deep emerald dress pants and tie, the tie having subtle cat paws travelling from the top to the bottom where a cat was stitched, a black button up with the same shade of green as the pants on the underside, showing up as he had rolled his sleeves, standard black vans and her iconic bowler hat.

“Well yeah but I also got a date” Adrien smirked at their surprised and offended looks

“And you didn’t tell me!” they both said outraged.

“Guess the cat’s out of the bag now, babe?” the two turned to see Conner, whom they met a handful of times since he tended to hang out alot with the Sirens; he was a cool and overall good guy who just had shitty adults in his life according to Nathaniel, who’d see him when visiting his moms.

“Well at least you have good taste” Chloe gave Conner a one over; he was for once not wearing the same leather jacket he wore as not-Superboy, though he wore a ruby button up with rolled sleeves, a black vest and black jeans making the outfit more of a business casual sort of vibe though his brown combat boots definitely it lean more on casual.

“Thank you, your highness” the Kryptonian bowed much to their amusement “Though I don’t think I got a bad catch either”

“Damn I don’t think we had any betting pools for that” Kim laughed as he walked along with Max. Kim was wearing mocha dress shorts and a beige dress shirt, a mocha bow tie and gray suspenders with little monkeys tied the whole thing together. Max had a more average short sleeved white button up and khakis combination though with the addition of a coffee bowtie and deep coffee formal jacket with small silver horseshoes on the collar it definitely spiced up the look.

“By my calculations you guys were the most unpredictable pairing though it doesn’t surprise me that you got together before LadyRobin”

“LadyRobin? I thought we were going with Daminette or Maridami?” Nino asked amused

“Whatever their name is, those two are taking forever to make a move! For kwami’s sake RedScales/LukaTim already got together months ago” Chloe huffed in annoyance causing the group to laugh in good nature.

“Conner?”

The group took quick notice of Conner's sudden stiffness, looking up to see a besticaled man with an overbearing aura, as though his mere presence could overpower you. They had assumed that it was because of his large figure. Until Bruce made his way towards them.

“Clark Kent, right? With the Daily Planet?”

That got reactions from the teens; they were well aware of who the man before them was.

“Right you are sir. It's an honor to meet you in person mister Wayne” Clark laughed politely in a very obviously superficial way.

“I’d hardly call this the first time, after all I know the Daily Planet has a tendency to send you and Miss Lane when covering cases in Gotham” Bruce smiles before looking at the group of teens, as though he had just noticed them, “Ah! I see you’ve met some of the recipients of our Flying Graysons Scholarship”

“Oh, really?” Clark gave a skeptical look as he looked at the teens who were subtly moving Conner away from the center of attention.

“Yes; We have Kim Le Chien as a training olympian swimmer and overall athlete, Nino Lahiffe who’s been getting recognition on short films he’s created for school along with some original soundtracks he’s made and Max Kante and his talent for coding and robotics”

“And what of the others?” the reporter pestered on, though they knew he just wanted to know what Conner was doing there with them,

“ Well,  Adrien Graham de Venily is a family friend, while Chloe Bourgeois is daughter of the mayor and of the fashion mogul Style Queen” he gestured to the two blondes gave cold smiles at the besticaled man “Both they  and Conner Kyle here” he patted Conner’s shoulder, the teen relaxing at a familiar touch before glaring at Clark, “The adopted son of a family friend, will be transferring along with the award recipients considering they’re all friends to Gotham Academy; I rather think its touching how deep their friendship runs”

“Conner… Kyle?”

“Yes. It's my legal name on my birth certificate, Mr.Kent. Do you have a problem with that?” Conner puffed up his chest towards his genetic donor.

“... None at all Mr.Kyle” Clark had then been quickly swept up in a conversation that was truly about nothing that Bruce had distracted him with, allowing the group to leave towards the balcony for some much needed privacy.

“Are you alright, Kon?” Adrien looked up at his boyfriend in concern before the boy sighed with a tired smile.

“I will be”

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“I can’t believe Adrien blew me off like this!” Lila cried out on her ride to the Wayne Gala. She didn’t care for the stupid scholarship, her mother’s job could easily send them to wherever the hell they wanted anyway. Alya seemed to believe that she had a chance of getting the award and scoring an interview with the Wayne’s newest member. If Lila had her way then she was sure she would get one of those rich idiots eating out of the palm of her hand by the end of the night. Especially if they were as much of a playboy as Brucie Wayne was.

“Lila you need to realise that Adrien isn’t worth it” Alya soothed “He’s done so much shit to you, he doesn’t deserve your time. I bet you can totally score a better man at the gala than anyone Adrien could hope to be”

“Tha-Thanks Alya, I don’t know where I’d be without my bestie”

The two girls met up with the rest of their school during the reception, though a few noticeable people were not with the group.

“Thank you, everyone for coming today to support this wonderful new foundation” Richard’s voice echoed as he made his way on stage, the audience applauding as he reached the table with all the awards.

“I remember before meeting Bruce I’d travel around the world along with the circus with my parents; we used to perform gravity defying tricks as the Flying Graysons. We’d see the different places of the world but I noticed the differences in the culture and state of living. So now I’d like to honor their memory with the help of dad by giving different gifted and talented kids around the world a chance to flourish and further polish their talents”

Alya was already streaming on the Fox Tea as the crowd clapped. Lila wasn’t impressed though; he may look like money but he was just a circus monkey after all. Though his body certainly looked like a million dollars.

“And to help give out these awards I’d like to invite my family, including my new little sister; Kagami Wayne!”

Lila would feel her nails stab into her palms as the Waynes came out from behind the curtains, a familiar Asian girl with them.

She hated the fact that her dress was as gorgeous as it was.

Kagami hadn’t wanted to go over the top but according to her brothers and sisters she needed to stand on her own lest the media try to brush her off or even try to start shit with Bruce neglecting them. Marinette had worked long and hard on the dress she wore, swearing it was her magnus opus of the Miraculous by MDC summer formal line. A raspberry red thigh high figure hugging dress with a silk skirt and golden embroidery with a dragon wrapping up to her waist. It had been months since Kagami began to rebel against her birthgiver and had grown her hair out enough to curl it and clip it to the side of her hair with a golden hair ornament Bruce had gifted her when the papers went through, pairing nicely with the golden heels, belt and choker she wore.

The rapid flashes of light nearly blinded Lila but somehow none of the Wayne’s seemed affected by them as they just stood and posed for the paparazzi.

“Now we’d like to present the Flying Graysons Scholarship to the following people from Francois Dupont; Marc Anciel, Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Nathaniel Isley-Quinzel, Max Kante, Alix Kubdel, Nino Lahiffe, and Kim Le Chien”

If it weren’t for the fact that she spotted Gabriel earlier in person and could currently see him glaring at the Waynes, Lila would have been counting on Akuma to appear.

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“Oh my kwami, please tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing” Marinette stated as she rolled her suitcases behind her, her friends in similar states as they saw the building before them. It was now the end of August by the time they officially moved into their new dorm… or rather new apartment building in which they were the only residents besides Mrs.Anciel-Pennyworth and “Gorilla”. Adrien had sworn all of them to not tell him his former bodyguards real name because he was a big boy who’d investigate it himself.

“Holy shit this man literally just flexed at us” Conner said in awe, lowering his sunglasses to get a better look at the place, it seemed like Bruce had thought ahead and coated certain rooms in lead paint, enough to keep Boy Scout from snooping but to be safe for his friends to not face health issues.

“Okay he’s clearly showing favorites now unless he did the same for the other winners” Alix looked unimpressed.

“Though he certainly did a 180 of this place” Max nodded, as it turned out those months ago this had once been the building where the now extinct gang was keeping their “merch”. Since then they knew Wayne Enterprises had bought it out but they hadn’t realized that Bruce would refurbish it and make it into their new living place.

“Seriously, Mr.Wayne you didn’t have to spend𑁋” Nathaniel began, looking as the man came out with his own kids to help with the move and to get Kagami, Marc and Adrien settled.

“Don’t worry about it. It was like spending money at the dollar store for him” Jason ruffled his hair before picking up some boxes and taking them inside.

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“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were trying to buy us out” Luka said as they finished up the tour of the glorified dorm/ mansion.

The building had what they called six visible floors;

The rooftop had an indoor pool and was fully furnished to hold campfires or even barbecues if they wanted as well as a collapsable roof.

The sixth floor is where the music studio and labs were. Both were soundproof, reinforced and had monitors linked up to Big Sister aka Hecate ( the artificial intelligence Barbara had worked on to reassure Bruce that the kids wouldn’t die in their dorm. She was no replacement for Alfred however Guillaume ‘Gorilla’ Durand promised to do his best in taking care of the children’s well-being and that of Alise.) who would warn them if their activities were reaching dangerous levels.

The fifth floor was called the Artist Alley. Half of it was occupied by Marinette and Chloe as they developed Lady Luck (trademark pending) by MDC while Marc and Nathaniel occupied the other half with their studio to develop their series “The Adventures of Illustrator and Reverser”. They thought it was good but both had realised that they wanted to try making a more mature, probably teen targeted, series; (Teen) Titans was their current working title.

The third and second was what they called the residential floors, the right side holding the girls’ dorm while the left had the boys’.The second floor also had rooms they would use for guests though each room also had a pull out couch just in case. Each dorm had a private bathroom with a full bathtub, sink and toilet, full sized room, closet, and computer desk with a comfortable amount of space to rearrange or add their own items. Each floor had their own entertainment system, kitchen and dining room that helped separate the rooms. On the third floor was Marinette, Kagami, Chloe and Alix on one side while Adrien, Luka, Nino and Conner were on the other. The second floor had Alise and Gorilla on the right while Max, Kim, Nathaniel and Marc lived on the left. 

The first floor was the entrance, the first part looking like your standard lobby though it still had a mailbox for all its residents for the mailmen to drop off their letters and packages, fully equipped with a detector just in case anything passed any screening before. People could only make it to the elevator if they were accompanied by one of the residents or were identified as welcomed/ not persona non grata by Hecate. The other side of the first floor was the game room; different game systems, DDR system, pool table, darts boards, foosball table, and chess/checkers table were scattered around the remaining space of the room.

The basement was a fully dedicated gym. It had about every machine one would find at a regular gym along with a basketball court and a place for practicing gymnastics though there were nets and safety mats installed along any area where they could have accidents on them.

The first secret floor was where their special gym was, the floor hidden by thick lead underneath the basement. There they had equipment that they could use to train their extraordinary abilities. Any equipment in it was super strength resistant for Conner to blow off some steam without fearing he’d ruin it for his friends. Training dummies were also in their own section for them to train without having to go to the Batcave. There was a place to meditate and find quiet amongst the chaotic building, soundproof but monitored by Hecate. The room was also made to withstand any natural disaster, including a disaster caused by Superman or a rampaging Joker. 

Beneath the building was also an underground tunnel, it was connected to the Batcave and could be used to escape in case of an emergency or for a direct route from the cave without having to go out on the surface. There was also another one that was connected to a safehouse where they would meet in case shit really hit the fan. It was big enough for them to use their hidden motorcycles, leave traps for any followers or to run; whichever they had the liberty to do .

“Brucie didn’t pay for everything” Dick laughed

“Yes, Jagged insisted he help with at least the music and art floors” Damian informed them in a monotone voice, though he did try stealing glances from Marinette.

“Plus Lex Luthor may or may not be missing some hidden money that may or may not have been used for all the gym equipment and the labs. Y’know evil guy pocket change” Tim laughed as Luka just snuggled to his little evil genius of a boyfriend.

“Well if he was buying us out I’d say it’s working”

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“He’s conspiring against us”

“How?”

“He’s making his own team of teenagers”

“So you’re saying that Wayne is the Batman? And that he’s making his own teen superhero team?” Flash, Barry Allen, found himself questioning their leader during yet another Justice League meeting at the Hall of Justice.

“Well there have been more vigilante reports in Gotham” Wonder Woman, Diana, added on, looking through the newest blurry photos that the internet was able to scavenge up. Like the other photos they were all blurry and covered them by shadows. 

“And Sup— Conner was amongst the children that transferred into Gotham Academy “ he admitted reluctantly, their screens showing the list of all Flying Graysons Foundation Scholarship before narrowing them by those who would be staying in Gotham.

“Conner? But I thought—“ Martian Manhunter asked from his seat.

“All these papers look legal enough,” Barry said as he took a closer look at the copies of the birth certificate and school records for one Conner Kyle.

“We can’t even say these are fake or forged because he never had one to begin with” Diana further admonished though Kal brushed over it.

“And you suspect that the other scholarship students are in on it?” Aquaman, King Orin or Arthur Curry, asked skeptically. The children who had won the scholarship seemed about as average as normal children could go other than the fact that they had different specialities or talents, awards already to their names in recognition and that they attended the same school as the newest Wayne, Kagami.

“Well there’s no evidence that points towards that” Hawkwoman, Shayera Hol, admonished “These are merely children; accusing them of such things is most dishonorable if we have no evidence against them”

“We are well aware of the animosity between the League and the Batman” Red Tornado informed in his normal monotone voice.

“And we know you and Conner had a hard falling out after… All that happened those months back” Starfire, Koriand’r the alien princess of Tamarand and supervisor of the Young Justice, stated as diplomatically as she could.

“Are you sure you aren't blowing this out of proportions? This could just be Superboy moving on with his life. Perhaps he found someone to adopt him as their own” when certain people failed to was the silent addition most could hear out of Diana’s voice.

Barry Allen knew they had a reason to fear these rumors.

If the limited, and he meant the bare minimum, information Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, had told him of the secret alliance of heroes who weren’t part of the Justice League was anything to go by.

He just hoped that they hadn’t done anything to anger these new blood.

AO3 Ko-Fi

[charaxiphare]

Conversation

Inspired by the drawing I made of Argunon and Tori talking. I wanted to put the oneshot under them but I hadn’t written it then. 

Story under the cut.

In the early morning, Tori walked over to the temple of her continent’s Guardian. A slight smile crossed her lips as she considered how close he was to her home. It made it easier for the two of them to talk.

The large Guardian was outside his temple this morning, watching the brilliant colors of the changing sky. His long horns pointed up towards the blue part of the sky and his light purple fur shined brightly in the growing light. Tori stood in front of one of his long, white claws and cleared her throat.

“Argunon!” She shouted up at him. The Guardian turned his head and his bright blue eyes focused on her form. Argunon brought his large head down to her level and let out a heavy breath. Tori’s green and blue fur flew back for a few moments as his breath hit her. Argunon’s large ears curled back in shame.

“Sorry. Even after all these years it’s still hard to conceptualize how large I am.” Argunon said as softly as possible. “My very breath has sent blades of grass flying…” He looked over at his back spikes and then back at Tori. “What brings you here again, Tori? Do you wish to take upon my Trial?”

Tori glanced over at the temple and noticed the brilliant red dagger. She knew of its power, that’s why Argunon was protecting it and why he would only give it to those who passed his Trial. A weapon like that could bring havoc in the wrong hands and she had heard stories of what Argunon did to those who decided to slaughter with said weapon.

“Ah no. I’m just here to talk like usual.” She rubbed the back of her mane nervously. “Speaking of that Trial, has anyone taken upon one recently?” She sat down in the grass, flashing a smile at the large Guardian. Argunon tapped a claw on the chin of his snout and pursed his lips as he thought.

“Actually, no, surprisingly. It appears the need for such an artifact is coming to an end.” He said with a slight, toothy smile, his saber fangs making him look goofy as he did so. Tori chortled a little and stared back at the Guardian.

“How often do you hear from the Gods nowadays?” Tori asked, standing back up. She wiggled her tail a little. Argunon sighed.

“Vela has told me that Apedak fears Rift may return and come for him.” Argunon spoke solemnly, flicking his tail nervously with each word. Tori felt her lips waver. Rift? The Guardian who went rogue and had to be imprisoned in a whole other dimension could break free? She doubted a Guardian had enough power to kill a God but… If Apedak was worried…

“Has he done anything recently? I mean, has Rift-”

“I have not heard anything, Tori.” Argunon growled quietly. The red markings around his eyes began to glow with rage. “But I know if Rift got free nothing good would come from it… That bastard.” Red spikes began to reach out of the ground, creating a circle around the large being. Tori stood up and stepped out of the reach of the spikes. Argunon stared down at the spikes and his pupils constricted.

“I apologize… It is not right of me to use my powers like that. I just wish the Gods would do away with Rift already.” A quiet growl followed his words. “IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK?” He roared into the heavens.

“Didn’t they only imprison him to see if he could be redeemed?” Tori asked nervously, tucking her tail between her legs.

“They should have let him go through Peccatur. Let him see the errors of his ways there and elect a new Guardian…”

“Do you know the fate of his artifact?” Tori asked.

“From what I’ve heard the Drakins have given it to their Queen. Apedak isn’t exactly happy about that but I guess it’s better than nothing.” Argunon grumbled, shoving his snout into the ground. “Hopefully no problems shall come for us.”

“That is what I hope as well.” Tori said, looking back. “I should be heading back home.”

“Okay. Good luck tending to your duties and I shall tend to mine.”

[rogue-of-heart-classpecting]

Victorious

Ah shit, here we go again.

Tori: Ugh. Lol. Ok but for real I think Tori would be.... ? Let’s see. Her goal in life is I guess to get famous. Or to grow her talent. She might be a Maid. A maid of Space? Or like a Seer of Space? I think that could work because she doesn’t really start out with no access to her aspect. I mean unless you count her being extremely average in every art. But since the show pretends that she’s a god among men. I’m gonna say she’s the Seer.

Andre: Time player. He’s so good at music! He’s also kinda patient. Idk if it was patience or impatience that was associated with time but I feel like they kinda both are. And they’re both space-associated too. Actually I think it was IMpatience that was the time one because Dave and Aradia are both impatient and Kanaya is very patient. Jade is sometimes patient and sometimes impatient because she’s a Witch. Um anyway he could be a knight. Or an heir? Wait he kinda has that rogue thing where hes like um... ok nvm sorry I said that lol. Like that time he accidentally called a girls dad hot and then he said “I didn’t mean her dad was... I drank fish pee.” And he says things or makes corny jokes a lot and then goes “I should shut up.” Kinda rogueish. And he’s always writing music for his friends! Especially Tori the space player. No no no no wait. He has like. Maidlike traits. Maids also give up easily and have to embrace their aspect, but instead of moving it they make it. That seems just right for Andre. He can be the Maid of Time.

Robbie: Doom player? Lmao. He literally has a Cal-level evil juju puppet by the way. We cannot just ignore that. That fucking puppet is constantly plaguing him with bad thoughts and ideas. But he also has an unhealthy attachment to it to the point where he hallucinates that it’s talking to him when he’s been apart from it for a day. One day. Terrifying. But anyway let’s look at his class. He seems like a Page. If he was a page tho he would have to be a Page of Life. Pages ofc have a lack of their aspect in their lives that leads to severe problems for them in that they get stepped on by anyone willing to take advantage of them. A Page of Life wouldn’t be able to grow physically or they would have constant ill health. Robbie is a little string bean of a man. He comments that he is “still working through the last chapter of puberty,” and rex says “he is a sloowwww reader.” He would also be unable to stand up for himself, even more than other pages. Whenever Robbie gets an idea and decides to carry it out for his own sake and for once have control over something in his life, he gets immediately shot down and does that weird “AEI” thing that I think is so funny. You know when he screams just a little bit and it sounds like a puppy yelping? So funny. Anyway Robbie will have to eventually grow and be full of Life by avoiding everyone trying to get in his way or step on him.

Jade: Let’s see. Jade can be a Doom or Rage player. She likes dead things. And scissors. She would have scissorkind as a strife specibus. She could be a Witch of Doom? She doesn’t have the genocidal tendencies I assume would come with a Thief of Doom title. She could be a Prince of Doom? I think she has too much fun to be a Prince to be perfectly honest. I think Jade fits the Rage aspect more than the Doom one. Doom is more about control and I think Jade doesn’t care about that very much. If she was a Witch of Rage she would be able to manipulate the fear and anger in other people, which sounds about right tbh. She would break the rules of rage and break rules with rage. That actually is getting kind of off course. What I see her doing with rage is controlling others by instilling it in other people. That sounds more like something a Sylph of Rage would do. Sylves like to control and micromanage their aspect in their friends. They’re also kind of mom friends sometimes. And Jade is constantly looking out for Cat and uses Rage sometimes to keep her out of trouble. What a queen. Can you guys tell by now what my type is honestly 😔

Beck: Knight? I have no idea what his real feelings are. He’s just a king. He might be a void player? Knight of Void? He always protects his friends and it seems like no one actually can tell what he’s really like. He’s a bit like Dirk? But he’s not really destructive. But he doesn’t seem like a Heart player either. I’m gonna just say Knight of Void.

Cat: Uhh? Could be a rogue? Wait that’s perfect lol. She is JUST like me when I was 10. Now for the aspect. Ok what does Cat not accept in herself. Maybe her crush on Robbie? WAIT Cat cannot be me PLEASE do not let Cat be me!!!!! Oh no. Guys I think it’s happening :( Remember when she had that blonde episode where she wouldn’t stop wearing the damn wig bc she thought her new boyfriend wouldn’t like her without it. Yeah 😔. Rogue of Heart

[auriel187]

Purgatory Ch.1

Word count: 8500 (around)

Warnings: Creepy Capitals being Creepy Capitals...

Pairings: None yet (ship who you want)

The Conclave

In times I tremble, I hold onto my heart knowing their safety is more important than my own.

In krono mhe slipp lowa, mhe kep onto mi beeta knowing demens secur is masal imprativ than mi own.

Eulalia

The cityscape was unapologetically urban. There were no trees or city planted blooms, just monoliths of concrete and glass soaring out of the sidewalk in an exact grid pattern. At night it was beautiful in it's own way, there were so many lights. By day you relied on the sky to let you know that it wasn't a monochromatic world; just one in which the people were too busy for life. For over a generation progress had meant the teaching of specific skill sets to the children of The Felicity and The Hope Rises. In most parts of this city we only work and eat, there was no time to sweep fall leaves or plant spring flowers, so they eliminated them. It was sad how mundane and rigid life became. There was no beauty, hardly even enough to notice the blue above. With no more designers, our clothing and cars never change, there are five styles of everything in Ellis, but you’ll very rarely see different districts dressed the same way. In this way our city outperforms those in the region.

In the mind of the young outcast I used to be, it was like a story to me. One that became more and more like a nightmare as time ripped every shred of innocence from my life.

The coldness of the slate tile and it's dampness seeped through the thin polyester trousers my brother, Hami, had stolen from the market. With knees pulled tight to my pronounced rib cage I shivered in the early morning chill. In this poor light the roof-tops spread in every direction like great grey serpents with rectangular scales. Only the red brick chimneys ruined the illusion, but in this light they were just as monochromatic as everything else, the slate, the swirling smog, the streets that were never deserted, the unfriendly sky with its dense cloud robbing me of the sunrise. From here I could see what a maze this borough was, every house three stories and each joined to the next. The streets curved as if laid down on a whim a few centuries ago before anyone had conceived of a grid pattern idea.

There I’d stay while I waited for school to begin, in my ripped khakis and oversized faded maroon shirt. There I’d stay telling myself stories of brave heroes who had it all wishing I could be one of them. Hungry, cold and tired from all the city had to give me, was it selfish of me to wish this on the little girl in my class who called me by the wrong name telling me I’d live the rest of my life covered in mud and shit and drinking out of a clogged gutter?

From the Mass, you could see all the things to love about the city, and there was a lot to love about this city. It was one thing I loved about Capital Hill. From the high arches in the towering glass buildings to the balconies that look over the sea of homes and businesses. It was one of the things I never had back home. The views from here were stunning. I could see The Torch glistening in the golden rays of sunlight, and the sense of safety that fills me is almost overwhelming. “Miss Suarez,” I heard behind me as I felt the soft breeze hitting the apples of my cheeks. The stray hairs behind my ears flailed about behind my ears as I turned to face the intruder now standing before me. He practically filled the doorway, in his uniform that made him look more like a cinder block than a man. His half shaved black hair glistened in the light before he took a step toward me. “The work day is over for you. There’s gonna be a Conclave later this evening at The Torch.”

I tried to keep my face as neutral as possible, but judging by the way he held back his laughter I guess I failed. “What for?” I proceeded on as if I didn’t realise the cameras were there, and Seraphineas was living for it. Now it was his turn to roll his eyes as he chuckled boredly, “Maybe it’s another execution...or maybe they’re announcing a new system in place that only benefits them.” It was impossible not to hear the humour in his deep voice as he mocked the Capitals and the past Conclaves. Of course, knowing that he would never say anything like this in front of his other guard buddies really put a damper on things. He must’ve seen my fading smile because he immediately turned to walk me out. I slipped into the elevator, the wall of glass turned into a mirror. I see why people assumed we were related. We were both relatively tall, him at six feet and myself at almost five foot eight. Thin figures adorned with muscle that came from our unique forms of exercise. “The Conclave begins at five. You’ll be charted too so be careful.” Phineas warned me as we exited the elevator just before we parted ways.

Well, that wasn’t ominous at all. You’d think something like that would bother a girl, but no. I’ve lived in this city my whole life. A girl gets used to the threats disguised as requests. They don’t just crash suddenly before you like lightning in a storm, I’ve known them to be the sudden raindrop before a downpour. It reminded me of the unease I felt every time I entered The Felicity. The Capital Hill district was beautiful. With their grand buildings and picturesque views, it was easy to say how much nicer it was then The Barrens or The Shadows. It was just another monster behind the curtain. A puppeteer pulling the strings of laws and lives of the people around them. They were an oxygen mask filled with poisonous gas to anyone that wasn’t their own. Luckily, I was close enough for them to view my life worth saving if shit ever happened.

I was a Regal now. Almost thirty eight percent of the population, we were almost untouchable in the eyes of society. We were privileged and we knew it, most of us acting like assholes because of it. I knew better. I used to be part of the forty two percent of Ellis. In short, my family was living ration to ration, sick and in a small house that was barely standing. I had a mother who worked her ass off just to come home to four kids and a father I barely knew because he was off working the most shifts he could. Unfortunately, the whole family plan didn’t work out when my mother and brothers all got Galixx, leaving only my dad and I.

I think we lived because we weren’t always home. I was the only one who went to school. Maybe if they didn’t think to send me away, I could’ve been with them. Instead, I left for school everyday and came home one day to my crying mother holding my brother, Devis, whose face was covered with sweat, dirt and tears as he coughed up blood. I turned and ran outside my home and began screaming until I found one of the town guard. I don’t know who long it took me to find him but when we got back, my mother was wailing and begging for the guard to take me away as she started coughing between her sobs.

I went to bed that night with tear stains running down my face, and to make matters worse, I was completely alone. I didn’t call anyone, simply sitting in my room with my eyes screwed shut until I eventually dozed off.

I woke up the next morning with a guard outside ready to escort me to my new home. My new home in The Hope Rises. It was nicer than my old home there was also more room up here not that my dad would be spending much time at home. It didn’t matter though, I was never completely alone. We all had our own family, mine just came in the form of Tauriel.

She was at the root of most of my happy memories. From my first day of school when she braided my hair and told me stories from books she had read from before the bunkers opened. I’d spend some nights at her house doing homework. She never really paid attention to anything aside from Earth Class. It was considered a Rogue class, but that didn’t stop a few Blends from coming in. Maybe she was interested because of the books she read of mountains that reached clouds, or butterflies with bright wings and this class was the closest thing to actually learning about them. She just wanted a world beyond these walls. I understood that. It just made us better friends. Even when I changed districts, we were still inseparable.

But, as Murphy’s Law dictates, “Everything that can go wrong will.” It was one of those days where Tauriel’s mom and I were baking for some Capital party. One of the snobby events where they needed catering and waiters. Zenobia, Tauriel’s mother, had been working for hours and seemed glad to have the assistance of a twelve year old. I had been decorating the large cake when I heard screaming from outside. Zenobia quickly ran to the window and nearly passed out. I muttered ‘Tori?’ before I was out the front door, seeing three guards trying to cuff her and shocking her into submission. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Her mom asked, trying to make it for her child. “Your child hacked into a government system with intent to distribute information.” I saw red, almost jumping on the guard closest to me. “She’s eleven, you lunatics!” Her mother reached for her daughter and the guard holding her hit her in the stomach. Tauriel and I froze. I didn’t know where to look. From the guard beating Zenobia to the guards dragging Tauriel to a large truck and throwing her in. I took a step in Tauriel’s direction and regretted it instantly.

A loud clang echoed behind me and Zenobia was lying on the ground, the guard walking to the truck without a second thought. When I ran to the unconscious woman, the truck drove away and I was stuck. Do I run for help or do I stay with her? I couldn’t shake the memory of my mom and Devis and what if I could just have faster? I need to stay with her. I’m not risking it again.

“Miss Fa Suarez?” I heard a voice say from behind me. I only turn my head but I stay pretty much in place as the swaying of the shuttle brings me back to the world I should be in. “It’s your stop.” He looks concerned. In his words, I’m usually ‘sharp as a tack’. I walk to the front of the shuttle and reach into my pocket. He’s here everyday. From my six AM trips to The Felicity straight to my trips back home at eight PM. “Take a day.” I say handing him my fair, plus another tip for waiting for me to get off. He never accepts my tips, but that doesn’t stop me from stuffing it in the small basket where he keeps his personal belongings. “This is why I got you these. Tell that sister yours I said to eat.” He handed me four wraps. I nodded my thanks at the sweet old man. “My love to the greats.” He laughed at my words before watching to make sure I descended the shuttle safely.

I turned towards my building. A large gold bricked building not very many stories high, but it was honestly much smaller on the inside than one would think when examining the building from outside. The air was cold here, it always was. With Tauriel constantly in the garage and having several pieces of machinery, the cool air prevented her and I from becoming casualties of her rage. She only ever got into tinkering when she was pissed. Based on the loud echoing clanking I could hear echoing from downstairs, I figured she’d need time to cool off and maybe put down whatever large metal object was colliding with her desk. In any sense, we had to be at a Conclave in a few hours.

My room wasn’t very big, only enough space to place my bed and two drawers. The room already had a large closet in the back so it’s not like I needed much in here anyways. The bronze and turquoise lights that swirled designs in my room. The premise of light and shadow was always appealing to me, maybe because it accrued anywhere and remained a natural part of life no matter what district you lived in. I headed towards my closet in search of something formal for the Conclave. I was never one for overt femininity, having been taught at a young age to not give a crap about what I look like and to just get the work done. That being said, I always managed to find a dress or two that I really did like. Scouring through pieces of cotton and linen, I stopped suddenly when I saw it again. A distressed brown leather coat.

It was just a jacket. It was just a stupid leather jacket with a padded quilt patch on the left elbow and a crap ton of buckles. There were faded letters on the left chest and a sort of mesh material that would cover my knuckles. It was just a jacket, and I loved it. Like a hidden piece of me that I never really show. This jacket screamed Rogue in uppercase letters. I loved that, even though I hadn’t been a Rogue in sixteen years. It almost felt wrong to wear it sometimes. Like I was an impostor trying to pass as something I wasn’t. I wasn’t even close.

I always envied Tauriel in that regard. Despite living here in The Regal Ward, The Hope Rises, with me, she never seemed to fear being shunned for not attempting to fit into the higher classed district. Fiercely adorning leather and denim in her everyday attire, she looked more like a Rogue than a Blend. Then again, why try fitting in when the world already looks down on you. Being that Tauriel’s district accounted for only one percent, and having been around Rogues most of her life it was easy to understand why she might be more comfortable in leather and studs.

“Are you wearing that tonight?” I heard her ask behind me. I should’ve figured she was on her way up when the banging and crashing ceased. I was holding the jacket in my hands, my fingers running over the cuff. “No...it doesn’t go with anything I own.” I gave my reply, letting my eyes drift past the coat and toward some of the other items of clothing in the confined space. I grab an old dress. The ornate gold dress collar along the black halter top matched the asymmetrical leaves on the red rose skirt. If it still fits like I remember, it should stop a little above my knee. “I’ll be in the shower. Do you…” before I could even finish asking, she responded. “Yes.” And with that, I left.

I spent almost thirty minutes in the bathroom, I was wrapped in my robe with my hair soaking wet. In the mirror, I hold my own gaze for just a second before taking into account how tired I must look. The bags under my eyes were devastatingly prominent. I don’t look at myself often, too afraid to not recognize myself from the old photos I had hanging in my room, and I was right. My features are sharper now, more pronounced jaw, higher cheekbones, and my eyes look more almond than monolid. I look like my mom. Though her hair was shiny black and mine was dark brown and my eyes are slightly darker than hers, I can still see it sickeningly clear. I placed my hand on the scar on my neck, remembering where my birthmark used to be. Descended from Natives and Malaysian ancestors, teachers at school would tell me that the very DNA in my bones held more history than our textbooks.

I’d know. I read them all.

It wasn’t much but keeping my hair down with a braid securely clipped behind my ears, neither Tauriel nor I had any makeup so my bare face and simple hairdo, Just dry your tears and fake a smile. Nobody wants to see a Regal cry. “You know, your eyes are going to get all puffed up. Here.” Tauriel stood behind me clutching a bottle of eye drops. I smiled at my oldest friend before I slung my arm over her shoulder and we walked to her room. I could never imagine my life without her. At this point, she was all I had to live for.

My little sister. I would walk from Heaven to Hell (and everywhere in between) for.

Tauriel

I always hated Conclaves. They always seemed too public. Ironic when you think about it. The word ‘conclave’ actually meant private meeting so the large citywide events seemed like a lie. I felt almost pageant-ish, told to look my best because of how many “eligible bachelors” there were. I honestly just think it’s because the Capitals would never want to be seen with the lower districts in our ‘rags and cheap coats’. In my opinion, the clothes the lower districts could afford only seemed to make the Capitals look more classy, almost like they were subtly jabbing at us in a way that said “haha, even in your best you’re not at level with our best.” And if we were looking to impress the eligible, more attractive people, The Rogues held that trophy for decades. Honestly, the glassy dullness of Capitals creeped me out. I wasn’t the only one who thought that either, the distinct features of each district were almost immediately identifiable.

The Capitals, born and raised in Capital Hill (aka The Felicity) had the most interesting eyes in the world, very distinctive for their central heterochromic irises that housed multiple colours at a time. That and the fact that most of them were fat faced from being able to eat was a dead giveaway. They look like the Bill Nye bobblehead Eulalia had on her desk. Capital also wore their hair short. I never understood why, but long hair was a sign of rebellion against the “oppressive and derogatory order of the Capital men.” I’ll give you one guess what demographic was saying shit like that. I’ll give you a hint, they steal daddy’s cards and mommy’s rocks to go flirt with the Rogue boys much to the disapproval of the elders. Acting like they were edgy for going through the same phase as their mothers did, before they realize that Rogue men don’t give a fuck about rocks unless it gets them paid.

The Regals were similar, wearing their hair slightly longer. Most had extremely lean frames due to the training most of them worked for since the age of six to become a guard. The Regal Ward housed most of the idiotic soldier boys, I was honestly surprised when a Regal came along and decided that they would rather sell booze to the city rather than tote a gun and act like you owned the place. Most regal women (like Eulalia) studied for the higher grades, like doctors and lawyers. It was cool to see Regals, though. Their tag was their hair. Yes it was usually cut short but I think they made up for it with the silver that rimmed their hair from birth.

Rogues were almost unbelievable in their district appearance. They had all the most beautiful features from their naturally sharp jawlines with either dimples or freckles (sometimes both). The boys usually had long hair, mostly because the Government didn’t think it was a good idea to give Rogues and Infects access to sharp edged tools, partly because most of them thought they looked tough. They were all ripped, boys and girls from years of literal heavy lifting. I always considered myself lucky to be a Blend in that regard. We always got some kind of Rogue gene. I dawned dimples. My Jawline wasn’t as defined but I had that feature and I was glad I did. Eulalia was of Native descent so her bone structure resembled a statue carved of marble.

Eulalia kept fidgeting with the metal collar on her dress, her jacket fitting her narrow frame as the dress hung above her knees. I know for a fact how much she hated wearing tight, single layers. Regales often wore baggy jumpers with tattered looking overlayers. It was the perfect look for her. Mostly Regal but with an obvious Rogue history. “Hey.” I whispered, her head snapping down to me due to her not only being a few inches taller than me but in heels nearly the same height Seraphineas. “You okay?” I asked. The huge influx of people walking towards The Torch, once a mighty statue.

She always had this moment where she stands just out of view of the guard. The Conclaves would separate people based on district and having only recently (not recently) turned twenty one, the word Regal was now branded on her identifications, she still felt like a traitor for standing with them. She nodded, softly patting my hand before walking towards the desk. I did the same.

“Hold out your hand please.” A woman asked, holding a large glass plate with a few small censors out to me. It was cold under my palms as it scanned the fingerprints. My face appeared on a small screen in front of the woman. It must’ve had the words Bruise in big block letters because the demeanor of this woman changed as she stared me down. She quickly gripped my arm and clasped a large silver cuff on my wrist. Could she feel me rolling my eyes at this? I huffed a laugh at her attempt to be nonchalant. She has to know how obvious it is that she now fears a twenty three year old. I stared at the blinking light as I walked through the stone arch that led to the city center. The four sectors were at least proportional to the Districts population, Blends/ Bruises having the least amount of people. I stood in the back, my eyes glancing over to the Regal section where I attempted to find Eulalia. I can see Seraphineas walking down the row and walking towards the back of the section. The silver streaks in his shortened hair I can recognize immediately, even in the sea of silver headed citizens. He liked to dye his hair darker, I know he tries to keep his hair as neutral as possible as to not get busted right away when he gets sent undercover, but that only made the silver look like a slate blue.

The microphone screamed. A short, sickly woman stood on the stage with a tall, semi healthy looking man. They were Capital to the heights accord. The Jevons to be exact. They were the parents to three kids. Spoiled like asshats as most people like to call them. They come to the Mopes once a week. They go thrifting cause it sounds real fun and looks real cool when a Capital is down to get down, while they wear their false lashes that wave like flags to the men here. I can see their eldest, a girl by the name of Apathy and yes she lives up to her name. A narcissist who spends her time ridiculing the districts for the fact that The Felicity robs us blind. Places like The Barrens and The Bounds were trash holes where the people should bow down and kiss her feet. The only reason she even dares cross the boundary is to find a piece of ass they’d dump after a month anyway.

Even now, Apathy and Power (yes, Elodora and Zenier Jevon named their son Power) were basking in the spotlight of Capital glory, whilst Anarchy, the youngest, was staring off into the Regal section with her lower lip between her teeth. Apparently mommy and daddy’s speech was a bore. She really thought she was somebody though. Her honey gold tresses dangle to her lower back rather than the neatly buzzed pixie most of the women wore.

“We celebrate another year of safety and sanctity behind the walls of Ellis...” The woman on stage spoke in a shrill voice that instantly made my whole brain throb. Can this day get any better? Well yes actually. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the one and only October Vervent. I was nearly four years older than him and I'm thoroughly convinced he’s been taller than me since birth. I slowly weaved my way through the section to find the taller young man. I pat his shoulder causing him to jump slightly and smile almost immediately. His mother was a Rogue, just like mine. His jawline was more rounded, less sharp than most Rogues and Blends. He was of Chinese descent, which gave him shiny black hair that only cut off below his ears with a single streak of silver just behind his left ear. Just below but still in sight, was a tattoo that read “I CAN’T HEAR YOU.” Well, that’s one way to tell the world you’re deaf and mute.

I knew he had spent the better half of ten minutes reading the lips of the Jevons standing on the large metal podium. I turned to face him. He followed suit with an even bigger smile. I saw two small scars just above his ears. I’ll have to do something with that later. “It is our pleasure to present the recipients of this year's Grands.” Elodora continued with her rehearsed and very poorly executed speech. I normally would have stopped listening by now, but October needed a break from people being completely oblivious to his needs and the needs of people like him. I began signing to him, each word they said. “Mara Fox of the Barrens District. An extra one hundred was added to your wage, congratulations on receiving Dead Eye, Miss Fox.” A knew the name. I’m sure Everybody did. Every member of the Fox family walking the earth had naturally bright red hair. Mara was the only one with a fiery red.

She walked up on stage almost gingerly. The apprehension in her warm brown eyes as she twisted the material of her dusty rose dress, which was actually just an oversized T shirt with bleach stains and burn holes at the bottom. Her hair was in an updo. The front was twisted up to the right side of her head with a long braid that wrapped the rest into a sock bun. The smile on her face was fake. She usually had these deep dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. She was on the stage, the uncomfortable feeling that this was some kind of sick joke was evident by her wandering eyes. The part that made me sick, though, was when Zenier Jevon looked her up and down, biting his lip at the exposed fair skin of her legs. He stared at her almost greedily as he shook her hand. He was married with three demon children and was currently drooling at the thought of being with a twenty five year old on a public stage. A girl the same age as his youngest daughter with his wife standing right next to him as the creep caressed her hand. Were all men in power this fucking gross? She bid the couple a near silent thank you as she practically flew off the stage.

A low applause filled the room as she returned to her place with all the other Rogues and Infects. Everyone began to move out of the aisle, heading for the doors when, “The next recipient of this grand is…” What the hell? In the 23 years I’ve lived in the city and all the Conclaves I attended, there was never more than one recipient. Never has there been multiple. Ever. The crowds all stood frozen. Something wasn’t quite right about this. “...Eulalia Fa Suarez!”

Something definitely was right here.

Eulalia looked more confused than I thought she would. Her eyes narrowed as she slowly walked to the stage. She kept shooting questioning looks to both Seraphineas and I as she shook the hands of the Jevon’s on stage. Xenier had the fakest of fake smiles before he practically pushed her off the stage, where the crowd raised their hands in an awkwardly pushed applause. October and I didn't applaud though. I think he might’ve been able to sense my worry because even as I stood completely spaced out, staring at the empty space where Eulalia was standing not that long ago.

“The next grand being received,” I snapped out of my daze and signed to October. I know he was able to read lips but honestly he deserved all the help the world had to offer. “Thayer Michaels for bringing in the most food for the city!” Eladora spoke pridefully as the Rogues and Blends (Infects and Bruises included) either scoffed or dramatically rolled their eyes. Of course we did. Regals had the highest population and spent most days begging for scraps. Blends were treated just the same unless both parents were in the picture. Capitals were less than fifteen percent of Ellis and for some ridiculous reason, they deem themselves more important than every other district taking first picks of long hauls and leaving enough for them to have a chuckle watching the poorest of citizens fight for stale bread or and water rations.

I wasn’t complaining. If anyone deserved the grand, it was Mara Fox, EulaliaFa Suarez and Thayer Michaels. Mara Fox, when she wasn’t doing the wood work or in the meat room, spent hours teaching young Rogues how to read, giving them the education most of them had to give up in order to eat. Eulalia bought big portions of food and would walk the streets of the Barren giving food to families. She cries when she comes back and begs me not to ask about it. In guilt, she pushes to raise the ration fund for Capitals and Regals before she offers her leisure time (which she barely has) to teach kids in the neighborhoods that had no doctors basic medical skills. Thayer spent his time not hunting as a caretaker. He would walk October and a few other people to and from places, getting them groceries and even playing with them in parks. It didn’t need to be said that October was his favorite. October was partial to him too, if the smile that was currently on his face said anything as he watched the much taller, much older man walk on stage. He deserved it. All three of them did, but giving them grands to commemorate for all they’ve done almost exclusively for The Felicity made them seem far less noble.

At this point, for October, I tried not to focus on the fact that Eladore was eyeing Thayer the same way Zenier was eyeing Mara. What the fuck is wrong with these people?

When the Conclave ended, there was this feeling of unease. October and I still stood side by side as the Capitals made their way out first, not wanting to be surrounded by the lowest of lows for longer than necessary. They also just got to leave. Every other district was either held back to get your cuff taken off or you were waiting for someone who did. Yet another way to separate us and treat us like crap. All because I have a flashy red label next to my name. To hell with it all. I stood in the line watching as people existed around me. I never felt like I was existing anywhere close to them. Eulalia was having a conversation with October, Mara was having a moment with her boyfriend and Seraphineas is breaking up a fight. Oh this chaotic world of mine.

“You know,” I heard a deep voice behind me. An air of familiarity hit and shifted to my comfortable numbness once I knew who it was. “The point is for you to move up when people leave, right. Don’t tell me you grew attached to that thing.” Yup, same old Thayer. I took a few steps forward closing the gap between me and the tall Rogue girl in front of me. “Still not much of a talker, huh, Jailbait?” He said quietly enough so only I could hear him. Part of me wanted to clock him for bring up that stupid ass nickname. Another part wanted to give a smart ass reply. I was so in my own head, I missed the opportunity. “You always did prefer hunks of metal to people.” He bit. I just knew the bastard had a smirk on his face right now. “Hunks of metal don’t talk and aren’t nearly as narcissistic.” I responded, adamant on getting away from the prick.

I was never so glad to see a Capital in my life and this one was a real bitch. The younger woman had the angriest look in her eye when I walked up, not sure why. I don’t fuck with Capitals and the feeling was mutual. “Have you stolen any property not belonging to you during the conclave?” What the fuck was there to steal, all the shits a person could give? “No.” She sized me up before shooting a quick glance to Thayer, who was still behind me. “During the Conclave, did you skip a mandatory announcement for-” She looked at Thayer again, this time slowly taking in his features, “any reason of recreation?” Is she serious? I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, we ran off to tap dance on the Torch. I guess you caught us.” I could hear a few people snickering at my rebuttal. At least they have a sense of humour.

Eulalia

Tauriel looked about as comfortable as I thought she would. She had a scowl on her face as the attendant pried the cuff off of her wrist. “Ak heppia?” I called out to her. She turned to me with a small smile. She didn’t have to look up to see who was talking to her, I’m pretty sure only a handful of people still speak Dyselian. It made Tauriel feel safe, like people couldn’t poke their nose into our thoughts and conversations. She nodded slowly, she was alright but the exhaustion of having to deal with so many people was getting to her. “Mhe am heppia, mhe just desir to vette hadven.” I chuckled at that, because of course she just wanted to go back home. I honestly am not sure why she didn’t want to stay. Most girls would kill to get Thayer to utter a single word to them. Like most Regal boys, he was broad shouldered with rippling muscles that were obvious under any shirt and tall as hell. Who was I kidding, she'd rather break every bone than deal with her old tormenter again.

She walked over to Toby and I, glad to be with people she could actually tolerate. “U beso to gat allies!” I whispered, pinching her arm. She visibly cringed at the idea. “Mhe would rather pia in hutted.” she replied, turning to look at October. She quickly signed ‘Eula says I need to make friends.’ The taller boys tried to stifle his laughter before he signed ‘She’s right.’ Tauriel rolled her eyes before the two began to playfully bicker back and forth. I left them to their devices when I turned to notice Mara standing to the side waiting for Cecil to get his cuff off.

“Hey, Fox.” I said nudging the redhead’s shoulder. She quickly turned to face me, a smile quickly spread when she realized I wasn’t some other Regal. She whispered a quiet hello before turning to look at her boyfriend. It’s been a while since I’d seen Cecil but he grew up nice. He was now a little over six foot two, typical for Rogue males. “He asks about you two.” Mara stated seemingly out of the blue. I know she worried about him all the time, more so since he stopped coming over for exams. It was the same look in her eyes the night she called Tauriel and I to help him after a few guards thought it right to attack him. ��You let him know it’s nothing for me to do an exam?” I asked as the freckled young man moved up in the line. Mara’s voice quivered as she nodded “Everyday. He doesn’t want to bother you, you being a doctor and all.” She smiled slightly when he waved our way. “He still working in the mines?” I asked. Mara scoffed, “Like he’d ever stop. Thick as he and his buddies are?” I couldn't help but laugh. Cecil definitely hadn’t changed. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the chimes rang throughout the city. Fuck!

“Tell him I say to give that shoulder a break every once in a while!” I say before I began running back to Tauriel and October. This wasn’t good. Tauriel looked ready to break something. Her fists were clenched so tight, I thought she'd pierce the skin. As quickly as I could, I signed to the two of them, ‘We need to leave. October, you’re staying at our house for tonight.’ Tauriel froze in place. I only sent her a sympathetic smile when October ran to grab his protector. Thayer had placed his hoodie over October as we all started to Tori and my building. We walked the back alleys and listened for the easy to identify marching of the guards.

I’m not surprised that Thayer is good at this. He was a hunter. Standing at nearly six six, he is both light on his feet and stealthy. I imagine his training was horrifying but I know for a fact that he learned his skills while he was in prison not when he got out. He had the same urgent distrust of his surroundings that Tauriel has whenever she leaves our house. What the fuck did they do to them?

Tauriel sneaks to the back of the building and then there’s silence. I held my breath as I waited for her. I smiled when I heard a whistle emit from around the corner. We were behind the building in a second as she held the window open. She turned to Thayer first, I know it was because he was the tallest and the window was a little more than seven feet above the ground. He went down feet first and let out a satisfied smirk when he landed. I sent October in next, only because I wanted him inside before any guards decided to check back here. I went next, grabbing onto the copper pole that hung above the window I quickly slid in. Thayer made sure to place me down on the concrete floor rather than actually let me jump. Tauriel came in and jumped from the window, closing it before the guards could see her.

We got inside just before eight. The second we entered upstairs from the basement, the alarms started blaring. They had placed a curfew after the Conclave. I can see Tauriel standing awkwardly by the door before she disappeared into the garage. October sent me a curious look and I was glad he didn’t hear what I assumed to be her shelf colliding with the ground or the string of Dyselian profanities. He didn’t need to witness that. Thayer seemed a little shocked at first but I guess he knew the feeling because he sent me a sorrowful half smile.

“Hey! Go lon out isei yella!” She reluctantly exited the garage with a kid bruise forming at her knuckles. She looked beyond pissed. “Mhe deid howa infolo! Mhe deid howa infolo it was a angaari!” She began pacing around. I sent a look to October who was all too quick to leave, practically dragging Thayer behind him as he headed upstairs. I could feel Tori’s blood boiling from here. “I knew they were up to something. I should’ve guessed there would be a trap too!” I said nothing. She was right about something weird going on. The Capitals never offered more money than necessary, they never offered grands and fundings to more than one person each. It’s fairly odd that three people won the grands and six won the funding.

We walked upstairs seeing Thayer and Toby looking for something to eat. Tauriel had walked into her room, closing the door behind her as I walked into the kitchen. October was stuffing his face with bread, not at all worried about anything today had to offer. Thayer on the other hand was standing against the wall, watching as his little brother consumed his food ravenously. I could see how hungry he was too. I tossed him a loaf of his own, standing next to him as we watched the near twenty year old fill himself while sitting on the floor. “You take great care of him.” I said quietly. Most people thought that Rogues like Thayer, tough guys who got into fights, were barbaric animals. They get told that they’re animals so much that they believe it so much.

He looked me in the eye before quickly averting his gaze to the floor. He shrugged off my compliment like it was nothing, but the itching of his lip and the dimple in his cheek let me know that he appreciated it. We sat in silence for a minute before I blurted out “Can I ask you something?” To which he laughed in response. He rolled his shoulders back and relaxed a bit. “Go ahead but I might not answer.” ‘Cheeky bastard’ I thought, rolling my eyes at him “It’s about Tauriel.” He got serious rather quickly at the mention of her name, standing up and staring at me in concern. “Sure, what’s up?” His voice dropped a bit.

“What was she like? In prison?” It hurt me to ask but I might learn something. I pretended not to notice the disappointment and guilt in his eyes even though his long hair had fallen in his eyes.He scratched the back of his neck before clearing his throat. “She was noticeable.” He smiled to himself. “When she got there, a bunch of guys sought her out as a punching bag. They learned pretty quick not to mess with her.” his voice carried such pride as he spoke it was kinda heartwarming. I knew this story. Some prick came in ready to throw punches on anyone in there, he immediately thought Tauriel would make a good target. Thayer got in the way just in time. It’s why he started calling her Jailbait. Easy pickings for a prison brawl. “She was so fucking smart! So much smarter than the guards there. Smart ass got into her fair share of trouble. They threw her in the pit the first night!” That explained a lot. “She came back with a tattoo, we all did.” He mumbled, pulling down the neckline of his shirt to reveal his collarbone. Liberties lined his skin from his collarbone to his right shoulder. “What does “people are poison” mean?” I asked suddenly. He seemed caught off guard. “It means that most people will try to kill you before they actually help you.” He must’ve noticed my furrowed brow because he immediately nudged me with his shoulder “Don’t worry. It’s about Capitals.”

I scoffed. “You definitely sound like Tauriel. She always worries. Thinks they’re monsters that suck the world around them dry.” He laughed at the idea. “You think they’re evil too?” I asked. He shook his head. “I think they know not to poison the water they need to drink.” He says picking up October, who had fallen asleep on my kitchen floor with a half eaten bread roll in his hand. “You boys take my and Tauriel’s beds. We got a couch in the garage.” Thayer shot me a look of refusal. “Like you AND October can fit on the thing, go!” I shooed him away with a humoured grin plastered on my face. He put October in my room, I had a sneaking suspicion he would. “Any particular reason why you opted to take the room of a young girl, Mr. Michaels?” I heard him scoff. He looked up at me with a grin. “She fashioned her room like I did mine.” He responded. I shot him a curious look before it hit me. It looked and felt like a prison cell. That’s why it was always so cold.

I stood silently in the doorway of the garage. Tauriel, currently sitting on the floor fixing her busted shelf with her braid in a sort of bun, paid no mind to my existence as she worked. “You can come in here.” She mumbled under her breath before filling the shelf so it stood at its proper height. I sat on my bench, filled with some of my tools as Tauriel sat in hers. She was tinkering away at something.

When she was arrested, I became her only family left. I would call her everyday and visit her every chance I got, but these walls became so quiet when she went away. I would go to school, earn some quick cash from dumb kids then big bucks from dumb adults. I called her and taught her lessons over the phone and she’d be happy. When I’d go visit her, she’d keep her head down and speak slowly. There were times I’d wonder if she’d make it, but as time went on she became the queen. When she was finally let out, due to the ‘Liberty Act’ all occupants twenty one and lower got released at that point she was seventeen and only a fraction of the eleven year old I saw arrested over a decade ago for no real reason.

She came out with a tattoo, two Liberties on her waist and a new habit of looking over her shoulder at every turn. On her twenty first, when she was branded Bruise by the rule of the Capitals I noticed the scars on her back for the first time. She was wearing her hair up, similar to how it was styled right now, and her top tied around her neck leaving her upper back open. She said she wanted to see the rain so we figured out a way to do it. That year, she spent over a hundred days teaching me how to fix things. I guess when you have a tendency to break things you learn how to fix them.

“I saw Mara earlier. She and Cecil said hi.” I saw her break into a small smile. She adored the redhead, always finding humour in her quickly retorts and sarcastic remarks. “Tell them I say hi.” Tauriel went back to work in a much better mood. “You know…” I started watching Tauriel place an old pair of headphones over her ears. She nodded at me to continue. “With Cecil’s longer hair and dimples, he kinda looks like Thayer…” I held in my laughter when Tauriel’s face fell. She rolled her eyes dramatically before taking off the headphones. “Eula, sharp bone structure and long hair is kinda the norm. And don’t go ruining Cecil for me, he’s my friend.” She still laughed. It’s been years since I heard that sound.

I always loved the sound of Liberties in the morning. The sweet sound of their bird song that let me know I was still in the garage when I should’ve been sleeping hours ago. What did I care? I spent most of my nights on this very bench and often woke up with my head against the cool metal of my desk. I sit with my head in my hand for a minute or two before I actually stand. The boots I ditched last night were still on the floor by my feet, so I decided to leave them there and go eat. The fixed up headphones were around Tauriel’s neck, with a stray wire tickling the back of her head. “Need your room back?” He asked from behind me. I actually did but I wasn’t going to let him know that. I spared a glance in his direction, he almost filled the door frame. He was smirking at me. That devilish smirk, like I didn’t know that's not who he really was. “Is October awake, I need him for something.” I kept my voice cold as I spoke to the older man. He gave me that look, the same one he gave me in prison when he wasn’t overly trying to be a jerk or when he thought I wouldn’t notice. He gave me a quick smile before heading into my room for the sleeping twenty year old.

Toby came out rubbing his dark brown eyes. I pulled him into the kitchen as Thayer emerged. He smiled at his brother before pushing off the door post he was leaning on and going back into Tauriel’s room to get dressed. October kept looking around the kitchen for food as I placed a food bag in front of him. We went through the cupboards, grabbing things for the young man to take home. I knew it would be easier for me to stock my cupboards rather than Toby and Thayer to stock theirs. We were almost done wrapping the bread when the alarm blared throughout the city. “THAYER MICHAELS, REPORT TO THE HAULING STATION.” I nodded at October to continue, letting him know I’d be right back before quickly making my way to the hall where Tauriel was waiting outside the bathroom. When he came out of the bathroom, his hair was tousled and slightly damp. Tauriel wasted no time heading into the steam filled room, waving the soft white clouds from her face. “Sorry in advance. I used a lot of hot water.” He stated through the door to which Tauriel offered no reply. Whatever he did to get this reaction from her must’ve been bad. I saw a glint of that subtle irritation in his eyes, understanding too, but mostly just irritation. “Don’t worry, she likes to take cold showers.” He looked my way with a forced smile. I watched as he quickly put on his jacket and boots shooting me a questioning look. I chuckled knowing exactly what he planned to ask me. “I’ve got work in a couple hours, but Tori will watch him okay?”

He only stiffly nodded before opening the door and heading to the Hauling Station.

@jayloxoxo @thinkinghardhardlythinking @justagirlinafandomworld @mashedpotatowithcheese

[yastaghr]

Our Skeleton 34

This time on Our Skeleton radio: Let Flowey be Mean 2020!

The farmer wasn’t quite sure why this strange flower monster wanted to rent his goats for the day. They were just goats. They weren’t trained to do yoga or pose for pictures. They would eat anything and everything in sight, but hey! Who was he to turn down this much money for something so simple? If he did he’d be a fool.

It wasn’t until much, much later, when he saw the column in the next day’s paper just above the fold, that he had a clue. He wasn’t sure whether to be horrified or to double over in laughter. Laughter won. The article read:

WILD GOAT HERD RAMPAGES IN HILLSBURY HILLS Gardens were decimated today in the well-to-do neighborhood of Hillsbury Hills when a seemingly wild herd of Boer goats descended. The herd, at least 30 strong, mowed through grass, flowers, shrubbery, and other vegetation alike. Affected residents estimate that the goats did over $250,000 worth of damage in the space of a few hours. Police were called on the miscreants as soon as a local servant noticed the goats. By the time the officers in blue responded, though, the goats had vanished from the scene. They left devastation and a large amount of pellets in their wake. No clues as to their origins have been reported. However, the property managers have posted a $250 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the perpetrators. Information is to be reported to the city police. They can be reached at: (111)111-1111.

The farmer reflected on a couple of things as he reread the article. The first was regret that he hadn’t asked the strange flower’s name. The second was the likelihood, even if he did know that information, that the police would believe him. Then he wondered why, if the property managers were the ones who had posted the reward, the police were the ones who were collecting information. Wouldn’t that invalidate any ability to claim the prize? From there he reflected on the word ‘posted’. Nowhere did it say that the reward would actually be paid. Finally, he wondered if this strange flower was happy that his revenge had been so complete. Surely that kind of dedication to destruction should be rewarded with a little bit of loyalty? Say, enough loyalty not to snitch? Especially since the flower had returned his goats happy and safe. Yes, the farmer thought to himself, renting out his goats out was definitely worth it for today.

=====

A giant nest (or possibly a fort) of couch cushions, blankets, and pillows had sprung forth in the middle of the living room. At the moment it was mostly empty. Only Papyrus, Sans, and Frisk were in there now. The rest of the crew wasn’t far away, though. Everyone except Toriel was on the phone, spreading the news of their little human’s burden to all of their guardians, also known as all of monsterkind. Toriel was baking a celebratory butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Today’s honesty and revelations deserved it.

In the cuddle pile, Sans had his arms around Frisk, and Papyrus had his arms around both of them. Frisk’s hands were free so they could sign. “let me get this straight. you have this power to save and load, and you’ve never done something silly with it? come on, you can tell us. you have to have done at least one silly thing. i know i would have.”

Frisk giggled. [Okay, there was one thing. It was the first time I came through the Underground. I’d just gotten past you and I ran into Doggo. I wanted to pet him, so I LOADed a few times just to pet him more. I kinda did that with all of the Dog Squad, especially with Lesser Dog. If I had a hard time or got scared by someone else in Snowdin I would go back and pet him a bit. That usually helped calm me down.]

Papyrus nodded wisely. “AN EXCELLENT DECISION. I, TOO, HAVE FOUND MYSELF SEEKING COMFORT FROM SIMPLE THINGS. PETTING A DOG IS CERTAINLY ONE OF THEM. I BELIEVE YOU HAVE SPENT QUITE SOME TIME GETTING TO KNOW DOGGO’S NEW SEEING EYE DOG?”

[Yes,] Frisk signed happily, [She’s the best! I don’t bother her when she’s working, but when he’s at home he lets me spend time with her. I give her pets and we play with toys and we cuddle. It’s great!]

Sans blinked at his brother and Frisk, then smiled cheekily. “you could say she is doggone good, huh kiddo?”

Papyrus groaned. “SANS! THAT ONE WASN’T EVEN GOOD!”

Sans chuckled. “i know, bro. that’s why i like it.”

=====

Flowey considered the fine selection of knives, swords, and other cutting blades in his collection. They were all razor sharp, which is what he wanted right now. Cutting through fabric required a sharp edge. He considered which length would be best for this task. The swords would be too unwieldy. The daggers all were too thick for what he had planned. That left the knives. There were eight of them. He dismissed the ones with serration. That left four. He would be traveling under the ground for this trip, so he needed a sheath to keep the blade fresh. That left two. He decided on using the double edged one. That way if the first side went dull he could still cut. Plus it had a good heft to it, which he liked.

Once that was settled Flowey turned to his other armaments. In this case they were dye bombs, glitter bombs, and water bombs. Usually he used bombs that were a little more destructive, but he didn’t want to destroy anything, he just wanted to ruin them.

With all of that tucked in his inventory Flowey set out for the mansion. It was child’s play to sneak in. All of the servants were busy trying to repair the damage from the goats, and the two targets of his campaign were away at some kind of a party. That left the house empty for him to exact his revenge. He started in the upstairs closets. There were easily more than a hundred dresses and suits. He took great pleasure in cutting the fine fabrics into tiny little pieces. He didn’t make them even, either. He sliced at odd angles, cut in wonky curves, and generally made it impossible to sew the clothes back together.

Once he was finished with the clothes Flowey moved on to the other linens in the house. He shredded pillows, mattresses, bed clothes, curtains, towels, and rugs alike. When he was done it looked like a rogue confetti machine had been let loose in the house. He smiled wickedly. That was attack number two.

=====

“What are they doing now, Grillby?” Toriel asked quietly. Her hands were covered in flour to prevent the pie crust she was kneading from sticking to her fur. She’d made enough for three pies. She hoped that would be enough for everyone to get their piece as well as enough that anyone who wanted to have seconds could.

Grillby, who was standing in the doorway talking to her while she worked, turned around and peered over his shoulder. “..... My boys and Frisk….. are still in the fort. Gerson left….. to go talk to the monsters in the Underground. Asgore is still….. on the phone. Undyne and Alphys have….. finished their phone calls and are now cuddling. I believe they may….. be kissing.”

Toriel huffed. “I hope they are not doing so in front of Frisk. They are a child. Such a display of affection is not appropriate for them to view.”

Grillby chuckled. “Miss Tori, times have changed. It is no longer….. the fashion for children to be prevented from seeing….. kisses and hugs. It would not surprise me….. if they had already seen them. Perhaps you should ask? In any case….. Undyne and Alphys are allowed to kiss in front of them….. and so are you.”

She blushed. Why did he always know how to push her buttons? “I am more than satisfied as I am, am I not?”

“Yes…..” Grillby said slowly, “but are your datemates?”

Toriel froze. Were… were Asgore and Sans happy with this? Asgore could be incredibly affectionate. He loved to touch and kiss her. And Sans… Sans needed all of the love they could give him. But she could still hear the voice of Asgore’s mother screaming at them for daring to kiss in front of the younger guests at a party. It had hurt. Toriel’s parents never screamed at her, even when she had upset them. Toriel wanted to make Asgore’s mother happy… but she was dead now, wasn’t she? Why was Toriel still trying to please a woman who had died nearly 1,000 years ago?

“I will think about that, Grillby. I will do some research as to what is appropriate. Now, can you go get the filling from the fridge? I’m just about ready to lay this crust out in the tins to be filled.”

=====

With the fabrics thoroughly bombed and destroyed by Flowey’s hands he turned to his next task. He reached up to the curtain rod nearest him, now denuded of its usual burdens, and pulled it down. The hooks that held it to the wall clattered on the ground; in this case, it was the marble floor of the entrance hallway. Flowey offhandedly knocked them under the furniture with one stray vine. Then he turned to the rod itself.

It was child’s play to remove the finials from the end of the rod. They unscrewed quite easily. Flowey hoped (in a very detached way) that that didn’t mean that they changed out the ends on a regular basis. He wanted this prank to haunt them for as long as possible.

With the finials off, Flowey pulled out his secret weapon: a whole platter of cocktail shrimp. He popped the lid off and grabbed three of the shrimp. One went in his mouth. The other two went, one each, into the open ends of the curtain rods. There they would rot, slowly and surely, and give off a haunting scent that would not be cleared until the curtain rods were replaced. The servants would, of course, be blamed. But Flowey knew that most of them were there under threat to their family. Losing this job would be freedom for them, so if Frisk ever asked he could truthfully say that they weren’t suffering because of his actions. Frisk cared about stuff like that. He had no idea why.

After planting the shrimp Flowey screwed the finials back on the ends of the curtain rod and dropped it carelessly onto the floor. That let him move on to the next curtain rod. And the next. And the next.

=====

“Move your elbow, Papyrus. I swear it feels like you’re all bones,” Undyne complained. She was currently in a giant cuddle pile. Everyone, from Toriel and Asgore to Frisk and Sans, was in the fort. They could generally be described as a giant heap.

Papyrus obligingly moved his arm, resting it instead on Grillby’s knee. This dislodged the Annoying Dog’s head. No one had any idea when he had shown up. He just did. Papyrus had sighed and grudgingly allowed the mongrel to stay. “BUT, UNDYNE, I AM MADE OF ALL BONES. I AM, IN FACT, A SKELETON!”

She snorted. “That doesn’t mean you have to feel like it. Do that thing where you go all fuzzy! I know you can do it. Sans is already doing it!”

Asgore’s voice rumbled into the conversation. “That would, in fact, be my head, Undyne.”

“Oh,” She said, sounding disappointed.

Sans decided to join in. “that doesn’t mean we can’t do it. it’s just kinda tricky when there are so many people around. it’s easier when there’s only one or two.”

Alphys mumbled, “... Vector matrix of magical signatures…”

“yup,” Sans said. His ear was currently pressed up against Alphys’ mouth. “that’s it exactly. you got any tips to overcome the gradient issue? pap is better at resolving it than me, but he’s never been able to explain how he does it.”

Alphys blushed. Undyne, whose hand was on her shoulder, squeezed it. “Go ahead, babe. You got this science sh...ip.”

The doctor snorted out a laugh. It was more of a hiccup than a snort, but snort made more sense. “O...kay. Well, I don’t what what you’ve, um, tried? But when I had to consolidate the differential between Mettaton’s magic and that of the power grid in order to charge his magic I, um, found a vector that’s perpendicular to the average of the other two vectors and projected them onto it? That resulting vector, the one that was the difference between the projections, was easier to handle. I just sort of… inversed it? I can’t remember what that’s called, but-”

“that’s genius, alph!” Sans interrupted enthusiastically, “i can just…”

A beat passed. Then Grillby smiled. “You have….. achieved your goal, Sans. You are now….. quite fluffy. Papyrus, do you understand….. what he’s done?”

Papyrus shook his head, dislodging Frisk’s foot. “I DO NOT, BUT I KNOW WHAT I NEED TO DO TO BECOME FLUFFY LIKE HE JUST DID. I NEED TO DO THIS! UM… IT DIDN’T WORK. DID IT?”

“Yeah it did! Right on, nerd!” Undyne cheered.

“I must admit,” Toriel commented, “that is one skill I have never seen on another skeleton monster. Do you two know where it comes from, by chance?”

It was Grillby who answered. “I am afraid it comes from….. me. I will admit I tried to teach them….. how to show their magic more….. but I taught them as if they were fire elementals. We can control how hot our flames are….. so I assumed their magic would work similarly. This….. was the result.”

“Oh!” Toriel said, “That is interesting. I wonder if there are other abilities like that that different monster types have that they don’t know about. I wonder how we could learn…”

“when you get your school you might learn. you’re going to be teaching all kinds of different monsters and humans, right?” Sans pointed out, “you’re bound to discover a hidden ability or two. especially with the humans in the mix. humans have such weird magic, right frisk?”

Frisk, who was on top of the entire pile with a quite relaxed expression on their face, signed, [Humans don’t have magic, Sans.]

Asgore chuckled. “My dear child. Humans have always had magic. You cannot live without it. It just manifests differently than monster magic. I believe, for example, that your magic controls these SAVEs and RESETs. Rodger’s magic is that of his ability to see ghosts all the time. He’s told me about several ghosts in the area that I didn’t know about, including one that seems to follow you.”

Frisk froze. Everyone else didn’t seem to notice. Well, except for Papyrus, who Frisk was laying on. But he didn’t press. Maybe he decided that Frisk was allowed to keep some secrets, just like he and Sans were. Everyone should have a secret or two.

“That’s very nice! Humans can be very judgmental about that, can they not?” Toriel said.

“They can. I am glad he…… felt safe enough with you to share,” Grillby said quietly. “Terrance has told me….. that he worries about Rodger. He seems afraid of the teachers at the school you used to attend, Frisk. Perhaps we should try and convince Terrance and Leopold to enroll him at your school, Miss Tori.”

“That sounds wonderful! He is a delightful child with wonderful parents. I would be happy to have him as a student,” Toriel said, sounding delighted. Everyone in the room knew how much this school meant to her.

“heh. how many more weeks is it until school starts again? i know we’re getting close,?” Sans said with a smile.

“The school opens for students in 8 weeks, but the other teachers and myself start work in seven. I have already begun planning my lessons. Frisk has been helping me, have you not, my child?”

Frisk knocked enthusiastically. [Yes. I’m the fun checker! I have to make sure that every lesson includes something fun!]

“WOWIE. THAT IS AN IMPORTANT JOB, BUT ONE THAT I AM CERTAIN YOU WILL DO WELL! JUST LIKE YOU ARE AN EXCELLENT HERO, FRISK. AND AN EXCELLENT FRIEND!”

Everyone nodded their agreement. That was true. Frisk was the kind of person who could (and would) be friends with everyone. Who knew what they would befriend next?

=====

With all the shrimp successfully hidden in the curtain rods Flowey moved on to his last prank. Well, extremely mean hearted payback. That was the same, right? It was to him.

He pulled out the little tube-like trigger thingy. He’d only ever seen it used to dispense guacamole, but he definitely felt like that wasn’t the original purpose. It looked kind of like a giant hot glue gun without a cord. He’d bought it at a home improvement store from an old man in a yellow apron. The apron was the same colour as his petals, a fact that the old man couldn’t shut up about. Flowey had never heard anyone so chatty in his life.

Lifting himself up to the level of the handle was harder than he thought. It was only a few feet. A few frustrating feet. When he reached the door handle he clung to it, bending the lever down a bit. That was fine. Any position would work for what he planned.

Flowey carefully lined the tip of the little trigger thingy up with the opening of the lock. He pressed the trigger for a few seconds, forcing the hard-setting epoxy into the locking mechanism. Only when it started to overflow did he stop. He put the tube back in his inventory, lowered himself to the ground, and slithered off to find the next door with a lock he could destroy. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he did so. The Revenants had no idea what was coming to them.

[themculibrary]

Hi! Same horrible human from the last irondad ask you did say let you know I want more I really do I’ve literally read all of those but two 😂 I was wondering if you could find some more if it’s not any trouble?

5 Times Peter Sleepwalked And The 1 Time He Pretended He Did by losingmymindtonight

Summary: Peter sleepwalks, Tony stresses.

Academic Commitment (ao3) - underoosstark

Summary: Peter had faced death countless times. He’d joined Mr. Stark in fighting the Rogue Avengers, fought Toomes and his gang, and stopped countless robberies and muggings. He was used to feeling fear - it came with the job description.

But that fear came nowhere close to the pure terror he felt at the prospect of having a meet and greet session with actual-freaking-Captain-America.

(Set post-Spider-man Homecoming, but pre-Infinity War because who needs to worry about that stuff, lmao. It’s in a perfect world where the Accords were eventually agreed upon, and the Avengers are back together. Because yay, happy endings!)

A Tremendous Thing (ao3) - ExpectoPatronum

Summary: Peter spends Father's Day at the lake house. He tries not to overthink it.

just know you're not alone by samandbucky

Summary: Tony was settling into his new life being an Avenger. Everything was going fine, great even, and then suddenly a kid was thrown into the picture. Peter Parker becomes Tony’s world, and he’s doing everything he can to keep his son out of the spotlight. Unfortunately, some things don’t always go to plan. But would it really be such a bad thing if his fellow Avengers found out about his son?

research and disaster (ao3) - blueh

Summary: There should have been nothing remarkable about two people in a busy cafeteria, but Becket takes in the familiar sight of curly hair, brown eyes, and a t-shirt with a science pun on it talking animatedly alongside Actual Anthony Edward Stark and promptly drops his lunch.

He gapes for a solid second, seeing but not believing. It definitely doesn’t look like Mr. Stark is forcing the kid to leave, or firing him, or escorting him to security given the relaxed smiles on both of their faces. If anything, Becket thinks Mr. Stark looks rather proud.

“So, uh, Mr. Stark definitely knows Roomba-Kid,” Becket says and discreetly tilts his head in the direction of the pair.

“Oh my god,” Jess says. She almost sounds gleeful. “Oh my god, he’s not just some random kid. He’s Mr. Stark’s kid.”

or: the interns at Stark Industries have some questions about Peter Parker. The answers aren’t quite what they expect.

The Short List (ao3) - LogLady (OodLaLa)

Summary: “Kid, you know that I have a very short list of people who I would move heaven and Earth for.” With his flesh hand, he began to tick off names. “Pepper. Morgan. Rhodey. Happy...and you. You made the cut, Pete. And honestly? I don’t know what else I have to do to prove to you that you made the list." Iron Man is retired but Tony Stark will never stop playing superhero for his kids. Or Peter Parker has a high school diploma and not a lick of common sense. Set three years post- Endgame. Featuring retired Tony and walking disaster Peter Parker.

- Tori