#honestly gets to a point where he gets MORE paranoid if it’s been too long WITHOUT her charging at him with a knife

[himasgod]

Azul x reader where the reader read that octopus die after mating and so she refuses to even KISS him by fear of hin dying (if reader is a bit cold/grumpy I would love it even more tysm)

AZUL X READER

Where you don't want to kiss him

How would Azul act if you flatly refused to kiss him because you read that octopuses die after mating?

"Can I ask you something, dear?" Azul said with his usual smile, courtesy and ambition carefully disguised as sweetness.

"No," you replied, without even looking at him, turning the page of your book with a sigh.

Azul blinked, but he wasn't discouraged. If he had anything, it was patience…

And a dangerous stubbornness.

"Come on, it'll just take a second. I promise not to talk about last week's contract or the little favor I asked Jade for…"

"I'm not kissing you."

That really stopped him in his tracks.

"Sorry?"

You closed the book with a thud and looked at it for the first time all afternoon, frowning.

"I read something. About octopuses."

Azul blinked again. Twice.

"So… what does that have to do with me?"

"They die after mating."

Silence. Long. Awkward.

"Excuse me?"

"What you heard. After mating. Phew. Goodbye. Dead. And you… you're an octopus."

You pointed an accusatory finger at him, as if you'd caught him stealing babies or something.

Azul honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"I'm an octopus-mermaid, a merfolk, not an aquarium octopus, by the Seven," he complained, pinching the bridge of his nose as if just having this conversation was draining his life (and patience). "

"And besides, that's after mating, not a simple kiss!"

"I'm not taking any chances."

"What do you think is going to happen? That you're going to kiss me and I'm going to disintegrate in your arms?"

"Yes."

Azul stared at you, shocked.

"…You're cruel."

"And you're dramatic. Perfect for dying if I get too close."

"That doesn't even make sense biologically! Technically, I'm more like a merman than an octopus! And we're not even talking about mating, we're talking about an innocent peck on the cheek! Are you telling me I'm forbidden from that too?"

"Especially that."

Azul slumped down onto the chair across from you, defeated.

"I can't believe you're letting an internet article ruin our relationship. What's next? You're only going to feed me once a day for fear I'll get fat again and float to the surface?"

"Mmm… good idea."

"...!"

"I'm looking after you, don't thank me."

You patted him nonchalantly on the head.

"Now stop bothering me. I'm on the best part of the book."

Azul looked at you with a tragic expression, as if he'd just been informed that the Monster Lounge had run out of reservations for the entire month.

"I can't believe this… Rejected for fear of death by mating. This is the most humiliating thing that's ever happened to me. And Floyd once forced me to do a show dressed as a giant squid…"

"Yeah, Azul. If you can convince me with scientific proof that you won't die after kissing me, maybe I'll consider it. Maybe."

Azul narrowed his eyes.

"What if I get a medical certificate?"

"Then maybe I'll let you kiss me on the hand. With gloves. And disinfectant."

Azul sighed so deeply it felt like his soul was leaving his body.

But deep down, he couldn't help but smile.

After all, you were his favorite paranoid grouch.

You were so engrossed in your book, completely ignoring Azul, that you didn't notice him leaning toward you across the table.

"Besides, I don't even know where you got that information…" he muttered as you turned another page. "It could be a myth. Or an exaggeration."

"But still, better safe than sorry."

And that's when it happened.

Without a word, Azul cupped your face in a gentle hand and leaned in. A kiss. Quick, precise. Right on the corner of your lips.

It took your brain two seconds to reboot.

"AZUL."

He had already sat back down, adjusting his gloves as if nothing had happened.

"Ah, look at that. I'm still alive. What a miracle."

He smiled at you with that damn smug expression that you knew was going to haunt your dreams tonight.

Your heart was pounding like you'd run ten flights of stairs. The heat in your cheeks was so evident that even Grim could have pointed it out between jeers.

"That was… That was an attack!" you exclaimed, placing a hand over your mouth.

"It was scientific evidence, as you requested." He nodded solemnly.

"Hypothesis proven. I didn't die."

"I'll kill you if you do that again!"

"So I do die after a kiss?"

"AZUL!"

"You're blushing, by the way. Adorable."

You threw the book at him.

He caught it with ridiculous ease.

"Want to read to me for a bit?" he said, winking at you. "I promise not to die mid-chapter."

Your face burned. Your pride screamed. But your lips… well, those were dangerously tempted to break another rule.

And Azul knew it.

[forwards-beckon-rebound]

jason todd with a partner who’s afraid of guns

ft. gn!reader, mentions of guns (obviously), other weapons, potential home break ins, just jason being a little paranoid but we love him for that anyways

i imagine he would already have his vigilante and personal life very separate (he's just a guy :( who wants some normalcy and domesticity)

so i don't really imagine him letting his partner see much of his red hood persona

like he's not exactly bringing you to fights or anything even remotely dangerous

so, knock on wood, you’ll never have to see him actually shoot anybody, but he will still try to find ways to keep you safe when he’s not there

probably soooo very very protective of you, like even if he was practically in love with you, would hesitate to start a relationship until he's sure that his enemies won't have a way to use you against him

he's going to like one safe house to store his stuff and then probably another one just to throw people off of his tracks before he heads to your place

i think if his partner wasn't afraid of him guns at home, like is just scared of handling them, he would probably have one on him when he's going home

to protect himself because he could be attacked anywhere and also in case something happens at home (his worst nightmare is walking home to an empty apartment when he knows you should be home and in bed)

and he normally would have a stash of weapons in the house, including guns, in case either of you have to defend yourselves

like preferablyyyyyyy he teaches you the basics like how to load a gun, turn the safety on and off, and shoot, but if not there are plenty of other weapons to choose from

and he’ll let you know where they all are (it’s not hard, like you’ll probably run into a few on accident throughout the day anyways) and will tell you where the guns are so you can avoid them if you so wish (he’ll probably have them in case he’s home and needs them though)

super paranoid guy but considering everything he's been through and how many people he's antagonized in gotham, makes sense

however, if his partner is afraid of even having them lying around, he's definitely willing to make some changes. he still uses them while he's fighting, but subconsciously, he might be less likely to reach for them

he's not bringing any guns home (probably just settle for some knives, idk why but he seems like he would steal batarangs for funsies so he might have some on hand)

like he’ll drop off his guns when he gets to one of his safe houses and then arm himself to the moon with other stuff (sorry again i fear he is a little paranoid but like it’s understandable)

as far as weapons in the house...i think he'll still have a few guns, just in case, but he'll make sure it's not somewhere you could easily find them, like if you guys both have your own offices then he’ll leave them in his

honestly, for your peace of mind, he probably won't tell you the exact location, just lets you know that there are a few for life or death situations (unless you ask for the location, in which case he's more than happy to tell you)

so many other weapons though. i genuinely don't think he'd compromise too much on that one. again, if you don't like sharp objects or anything like that, at the very least, he is putting pepper spray in every room and a metal baseball bat

and probably some flares, smoke bombs, nonlethal stuff so you can run to safety if you don't want to deal with the assailant head-on, but best believe you’ll know how to use all of them very well

and there’s always self defence moves, although i think he prays that you never have to get to that point

why am i imagining jason practicing escape routes with you from different places in your apartment like it's some sort of fire drill

“okay pretend i’m the attacker and i come in through the window with a knife while you’re washing the dishes. what are you going to do?”

“cry?”

“no, sweetheart, remember, if you’re in the kitchen and they don’t have any long distance weapons then you go with escape plan C.”

“bitch how tf am i supposed to remember all of the plans.”

HE DOES IT OUT OF LOVE

will actually stress tf out if you don’t do it so uhhhhhhhhh yeah i’d start studying

will make you practice it every once in a while just to keep it fresh

and it’ll be random too because “crime doesn’t give you a heads up in gotham”

on the plus side if you have any weird requests he’ll probably feel bad and do them

like if you want fresh flowers in the house at all times? babe, he was going to do that anyways. onlt the best for you

you want to decorate the house in whatever style you like? here’s his card (being a crime lord does make good money)

doesn’t matter if he likes it or not, it’s only fair. you get to decorate your place with cute throw pillows, he gets to hide a few daggers under the sofa, same difference

or like if you want his location at all times? and hourly check ups?

honestly, he’s touched that you care about his safety as much as he cares about yours. he’ll make sure it’s encrypted so nobody can hack into your phone and see that, but he’s more than willing to whip out his phone in chasing down some villain to tell you he’s gonna be late for dinner or whatever

guys, at the end of the day, he just really loves and cares for his partner, and he'll do whatever makes you the safest and most comfortable

he has some…interesting habits but it’s all to make sure you stay safe

and he makes up for it by bringing home little trinkets that remind him of you and planning elaborate date nights and all of that cute stuff to show how much he cares

and who knows, if you still remember escape plan p maybe he’ll have a little treat planned!

[phantasmatoucan]

Character ask game for mod Owl: I was gonna ask about Smitten, but I'm sure someone else will do that-

So how about instead... tell me about Skeptic. That fluffy bird-

THE FLUFFIEST GUY EVER

[Send Me a Character and I'll List Ask Game]

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM

I ABSOLUTELY ADORE HOW INTELLEGENT HE CAN BE, HOW HE CAN COME UP WITH A PRACTICAL PLAN THAT CAN HELP TLQ OUT AND MAKE IT WORK [including also whatever other voice was already there into his plan because im sure he knows he can't do this alone] BUT I ALSO LOOOOVE HOW DUMB HE CAN BE AS WELL AND NOT BECAUSE HES AN IDIOT BUT BECAUSE OF HIS DISTRUST OF OTHERS AND GETTING TOO MUCH IN HIS OWN HEAD THAT HE STARTS MISSING THE POINT OF WHAT THEYRE EVEN DOING, HE NEEDS ANSWERS NO MATTER THE COST, I LIKE TO THINK IF HE HAD SOMETHING LIKE RPG STATS HE WOULD HAVE THEM LIKE 20 INTELECT AND -2 WISDOM, HE HAS A HARD TIME JUDGING THE CHARACTER [in this case the princess] UNLESS HE CAN GUESS WHAT SHES TRYING TO DO, HE DOES CARE ABOUT THE PRINCESS, AFTER ALL HE CAME TO BE BY TRYING TO FREE HER BUT FOR HIM TRYING TO DECIPHER EVERYTHING THATS HAPPENING IN A LOGICAL MANNER COMES FIRST AND FOREMOST, ALSO I LOVE HOW HE CAN ADAPT AS WELL IF PUSHED ENOUGH BY OTHER VOICES, LIKE WHEN PARANOID TOLD HIM ABOUT THE SHACKLES BEING TO RUSTY AND HE GIVES IN INTO PARAS LOGIC, THE SAME WITH HERO IN THE DEN, HE CAN BELIEVE IN THIS HONESTLY ILLOGICAL THINGS BUT HE NEEDS A REASON TO BELIEVE, HE CAN'T JUMP INTO CONCLUSIONS WITHOUT QUESTIONING THEM ITS NOT IN HIS NATURE

LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM

ERM.... ERM... ERM.............................. I DONT KNOW... I THINK MAYBE THE FACT THAT THE LINE WHERE HE SUGGEST GETTING THE HEAD OF THE PRISIONER AND BRINGING IT WITH THEM WAS CUT OUT AFTER PRISTINE CUT... BUT THATS NOT HIS FAULT HE WAS LOBOTOMIZED A BIT 💖

FAVORITE LINE

"Looks like we've seen through your lies at last, Mr. The Narrator. If that even is your real name." HES SO STUPID

BROtp

SMITTEN AND SKEPTIC ARE THE BROS OF BROS FOR ME, GREY BROTHERS MY BELOVED, SMITTEN HELPS OUT SKEPTIC TO UNDERSTAND OTHERS A BIT MORE AND DISCERNING HIS EMOTIONS A BIT BETTER, ALSO HELPING HIM OUT ON NOT GETTING FRUSTATED AS EASILY IF THINGS DONT GO HIS WAY AND SKEPTIC HELPS OUT SMITTEN TO THINK MORE ABOUT HIMSELF AND DOING THINGS FOR HIMSELF, NOT REVOLVING HIS LIFE AROUND THE PRINCESSES SO MUCH, AND THEN SMITTEN INVITES SKEPTIC TO A TEA PARTY AND THEY HAVE A GOOD TIME JUST HANGING OUT

OTP

IVE BEEN INFECTED WITH THE SKEPTUNIST AGENDA AND LET ME TELL U I THINK THEYRE... VERY CUTE TOGETHER ACTUALLY, SKEPTIC TRYING TO UNDERSTAND OPPORTUNIST MOTIVES WHILE OPPORTUNIST TRIES TO GET ON SKEPTICS GOOD SIDE AFTER ALL HAVING A SMARTY PANTS ON HIS SIDE WILL ALWAYS BE GOOD FOR ANY PLAN HE CAN COME UP WITH BUT SLOWLY THEY REALIZE THAT DAMN.... I KINDA ENJOY THE COMPANY OF THIS PERSON THE MORE I TRY TO GET CLOSER TO THEM, MAYBE THEY CAN EVEN BECOME PARTNERS IN CRIME....

NOtp

I ACTUALLY HAVENT SEEN THAT MANY SKEPTIC SHIPS SO I WOULDNT EVEN KNOW IF I HAD ONE LMAO

RANDOM HEADCANON

I THINK HE HAS ANGER ISSUES AS HES PRONE TO GET FRUSTRATED VERY EASILY, HE JUST HAS A CALMER WAY OF EXPRESSING IT BY TRYING TO LOGIC HIS WAY OUT OF IT BUT ITS HARDER WHEN HE ONLY FINDS DEAD ENDS, ALSO A HEADCANON FOR MY VERSION OF SKEPTIC IS THAT HE CAN FLY AT ALL BECAUSE OF THE POSITION OF HIS WINGS AND THAT HE NEEDS GLASSES TO ACTUALLY READ lol

UNPOPULAR OPINION

HAVENT LOOKED AT THE FANDOM LONG ENOUGH TO THINK OF THIS ONE, I HAVE NOT SEEN MANY PEOPLE TALKING BADLY ABOUT SKEP OR ATLEAST IN A WAY I FEEL LIKE IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE FOR ME LMAO

SONG I ASSOCIATE WITH THEM

GOLDEN NUMBER BY IYOWA [I PUT THE SUB VERSION BUT CHECK OUT THEIR OTHER SONGS IN THEIR MAIN CHANNEL THEYRE VERY GOOD, I ASSOCIATE THIS SONG TO HIM SPECIFICALLY THE LAST PART A LOT lol]

FAVORITE PICTURE OF THEM

SINCE YOU KNOW, THE VOICES DONT REALLY HAVE LIKE SET IMAGES OR DESIGN ILL JUST PULL FROM MY ART O21L3KR12R, U GET MY FAV PIC I DREW OF HIM

[kralierror404]

SIT DOWN CHAT. ITS RANT TIME.

What do you mean Alex started making his actual film when he was aroud 20 and then at age 27-28 he fucking dies. I cant. He was so young and it ruins me man, i gotta rant about my fave.

Alex seemed so determined and happy about making this movie, it had auditions, a trailer, a few recorded takes that never released, his “best” friend literally got cast as the main character for it!! - bro was so excited for ppl to audition for his project (you can hear it in his voice when hes talking to Brian abt asking Tim to try out). Alex also literally declined going to dinner so he could work on things for Marble Hornets. He had such a nice like friendgroup too Brian, Tim, Jay.

Like Alex pre-operator was probably the sweetest guy imo, he was proud of the people working with and for him, he cared about them (he says hes very proud of Jay and also asks Tim abt his like coughing), he was also quite patient i believe.

Then yk shit hits the fan over the 3 months Marble Hornets is being shot and he changes so so much its so insane - he gets paranoid and irritable and his passion isnt all there anymore :C which probably was really upsetting, and maybe caused some internal confusion and conflicting feelings in himself of: “Why cant i just be normal!?” meaning he’s kinda at war with himself. Also not to mention he was going through the operators effects alone at the time so its not like he could just bring it up without sounding crazy, he probably felt so alone and that no one would understand.

As we know he moves away, probably to hopefully escape whatever was happening to him and to put things behind him, to start over in a new place, where its safe and thats with Amy!. Now ive brought this up before but idc- he says on the phone to her

“Im gonna come visit you soon okay?”

“Okay.”

“And while im up there we might actually film a few things for Marble Hornets”

“Good i could use the company.”

“Actually uh..ive been thinking, i might try to transfer there after im done shooting all this.”

(That to me is Alex already planning to stop shooting it, already making plans to move with Amy but hes still unsure if he’ll be putting her in danger)

“For real?”

“Yeah, i mean the film program is better the one im at now so..i mean well thats what ive heard at least”

“Also i just dont like being this far away from you.”

(He says that so ominously but hes definitely like sure of himself and obviously Amy sees nothing wrong with it, she’s probably just happy that her boyfriend is going to come see her for the first time in..however long. Alex probably thinks he can keep her safe too)

MY POINT WITH THAT PHONE CALL ISS: His solution of escape was to 1. Burn the tapes and 2. Go to Amy to be safe but also to make sure SHES okay

Literally he thought that the operator and him murdering Brian would magically go away if he just left the area to be with someone who loved him, it was probably also his way of ignoring those things which all in all was a HORRIBLE coping mechanism (yk ignoring it) but heyy its Alex, he is not healthy. So, for 4 whole years he lives with Amy, away from everything and then WHOOPS Mr pale tall and skinny is there again to fuck up his day.

I honestly dont even wanna go in depth about how Alex mustve felt, how bad it must have hurt for his past to come back on him and find him somewhere he was meant to be okay. Also the way he probably killed Amy, did he make her feel secure then did it as she died in his arms? did she fight him? Amy does seem confrontational in a way- then he had to leave her behind, start anew AGAIN.

Except this time, he finds Jay has gotten himself involved and there is Alexs new goal, his new task that continues to drive him throughout the series that absolutely turns him into more of a horrible person: STOP THE SPREAD OF THE SICKNESS AND ‘SAVE’ EVERYONEE…except for that one guy he just killed while he was going insane.

One person i doubt he was trying to save eventually, was Brian, given that apparently Brian has been killed multiple times, instead Brian became like a pest getting in his way which makes sense. SO OVER THE COURSE OF 3-4 years, all this shit his happening and it gets to the point where Alex admits he thought HE was the problem (which in a way, he is), he shifts that blame onto Tim, then the big fight happens where they’re ultimately trying to kill eachother.

Alex is dying but as he is, he seems sorta sad, he fully believes he was doing the right thing and now, the only “right” thing to do, is die.

God its just his transition from making a silly student film and then 7 or 8 years later, dying due to an Eldritch being really messing up his and everyones life.

[flipfliqyaoi]

Kicking my legs thinking about Hear Today Gone Tomorrow.... I need to talk about it

It is one of the TWO moments where Mondo lets us see how Flip & Fliq perceive eachother in a singular episode and it's so special to me gangg sigh(1 is this & 2 is Double Whammy except that one's special bc dude tried to fucking OD so they were just both tweaking the fuck out n well. Not sober, so)(more on that in some other yap sesh).

Over on Flippy's POV, where he's snoozing and dreaming of flying on an Alicorn, whilst outside there's like an earthquake sounding equivalent of alarms & sirens blaring from Lumpys house — when his subconscious mind registered those external triggers straight into his dream, it translated into Fliqpy chasing and slaughtering him with a helicopter with malicious intent, the LITERAL opposite of what Fliqs true intent is. (which is protecting the Host from dying), its also the first time he really acknowledged Fliqs existence (at least onscreen) AND ITS HIM FEARING FLIQ. THAT HE'S TRYING TO RUIN HIS LIFE AND HUNT HIM DOWN IN HIS DREAMS FOR SPORT. WHEN THATS NOT THE CASE. CRIES.

Meanwhile Fliq got shoved to front the moment they woke up (from the nightmare and not the actual sounds. which is rly funny that they made world's heaviest sleeper a consistent trait of his.. my seeper... my eepiest) (check Easy For You To Sleigh, but tbf he also woke up from a literal cookie crumb falling. I believe it's because they're used to ignoring loudass sounds like bombs and missiles flying by when they're getting some shut-eye but their ears are trained to alert the brain when there's very subtle sounds bc maybe someone is sneaking around and trying to capture them or smth, because they've been held hostage and tortured(?) before, as the flashback had shown in Easy For You To Sleigh) (another note why the fuck does he have so many sleepy scenes). When he start trying to kill Lumpy and pull the same fucking helicopter that was in the dream out his back pocket, upon chasing him, WE GET TO SEE FLIQ REACTING EMOTIONALLY TOWARDS FLIPPY WHEN HE SAW AN ALTERNATE VISION OF THAT DREAM WHERE FLIPPY WAVED HELLO TO HIM RLY CUTELY... guys he literally cried he literally teared up from just that he just wants Flippy to gaf abt him aswell soooo so badly it twists and pains him from the inside out that Flippy is scared of him. And it caused him to switch out IN THE MIDDLE of piloting that helicopter which could've been dangerous for Flippy (and it was they legit died in the next scene LOL) gang he switched out knowing he could be endangering Flippy to that situation. But honestly they're doomed either way bc Fliq got distracted and deviated from how he usually does his job and it fucked him up lowk so he had to switch out anyway

it puts into perspective how misunderstood both sides of this areee. Fliq wants Flippy to trust and care about him too and maybe get SOME nice acknowledgement after everything they've been through for so long but his form of protecting scares him away because it hurts his other friends anytime a trigger occurs. Which makes hanging out or celebrating or befriending w other people really fucking difficult cuz of his uncontrollable and hypersensitive PTSD triggers (check Party Animal, Hide n Seek, & This Is Your Knife). Which makes Flippy lowk be afraid and hate him more for it. for his protectiveness. sighs exasperatingly

THIS IS ALSO WHY Flaky's friendship with Flippy is soso so so interesting too because it's been hinted that they've known eachother and are friends for a consistent amount of time enough that Flaky is deadass the only character that acknowledges/KNOWS of his problem (check Without A Hitch), to the point where they get easily paranoid of Flippy suddenly going out his way to genuinely kill them....which, combined with their anxiety issues is NOT a good mix!! Yet they're still seemingly long term friends with Flippy bc im pretty damn sure they feel really bad that he's struggling this much and they just wanna be there for him (with caution lol, they're the only character that's aware of the dangers before it happens, check Party Animal [again] and literally any other time they've been hesitant to do anything, genuinely the best character to befriend Flippy because of how careful they are when it comes to interacting with people so um yeah!!!) (I also dislike when people portray Flaky as not being able to defend themselves bro have u seen them shank a literal shard of glass into Flippy's eye the moment they thought they were getting hurt by him. Along with boundaries like they know how to set them gang i swear!! pinkie promise!!!)

This friendship is mutual as also shown in Double Whammy where Fliq instantaneously switches out the MOMENT Flaky started screaming, and Flippy switches in!!!!! That does not happen with any other character that start yelling infront of Fliq/Flip!! Also Party Animal when Flaky exploded like a balloon it was the one thing that for some reason snapped Flippy in front too LMAO?? But yeah it happened twice and it was both Flaky so idk gang it must mean something right. :3333

Urrm yep!! Yeah I'm done yapping for today WAHOO >3<💚

[casscainmainly]

I know your not really much of a Jason Todd fan but I kinda wanna hear your opinion on this. Is the Bruce Wayne Brainwshing Jason Todd still canon? If so so you think it’s out of character for Bruce to do this.

Also how do you feel about Bruce’s characterization in modern comics in general actually?

Honestly it’s one of the reasons I’m kinda hesitant to read the comics, because while I’m super interested in all the lore- both Batman himself and his family (especially Cassandra she sounds awesome I love characters that show unwavering, intense dedication to compassion)I DONT want to read comics where Bruce is like, a completely awful paranoid asshole with none ofhis redeemable qualities (I got interested in Batman via clips of the JLU/BTAS)And according to a lot of Batman fans his characterization in this respect has been on a downward spiral for years now.

Like I’m not even a “god dad Bruce Wayne” person, I think his actions regarding Stephane Brown make a lot of sense for him actually and play into the effect that Jason Todd’s death has on him well and kinda wanna read me about that outside of fanfiction.

PS.Sorry if this ask is long and kinda random, I know this is mostly a Cassandra Cain blog.

Interesting question!! I'm not an expert on Bruce or Jason, so I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. I'm assuming Bruce brainwashing Jason is a reference to Gotham War, when he injects fear toxin into Jason's brain to make him afraid anytime he experiences adrenaline. I haven't read this so I can't comment too much, but this breakdown is useful if you want context for what led Bruce to this moment; it did happen in an in-continuity comic, so yes, it is (unfortunately) canon.

Some things to note for the context of Gotham War is that Bruce is grappling with Zur-En-Arrh, a sort of second personality. While this doesn't make it good writing, Bruce is not 100% in-character when he injects Jason. Whether or not that absolves him of wrongdoing is questionable, but it's a little unfair to Bruce as a character, and even to Chip Zdarsky as a writer, to think the thing with Jason was meant to be an in-character moment. So while I do think injecting Jason is out of character, that's kind of the point of the arc.

That's not to say the run is well-written. I can't judge myself, but many people dislike this run for numerous reasons. But this is just one of Bruce's modern runs - there are many more amazing Bruce comics out there. Ram V's Detective Comics and Scott Snyder's Absolute Batman are two fantastic takes on Bruce (though the latter is an alternate universe and ongoing, it's so far extremely entertaining!).

There will always be better and worse times for a character's characterisation, and you will encounter some horrible stuff in canon, but you'll find some life-changing stories too. You sound like you genuinely want to delve into comics, so please do! Don't let the risk of reading something bad stop you - there is so much good in here, stories that will make you laugh and cry and stick in your mind forever.

Since you're specifically looking for dad Bruce Wayne stuff, here are some recommendations!

Batgirl (2000): a very nuanced portrayal of Bruce as a dad to Cass. Definitely not a Good Dad Bruce at all, but he genuinely loves her and tries his hardest. 5/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

Tynion's Detective Comics (2016): very good starter comic in general for the Batfam, and Bruce has numerous sweet moments with Tim and Cass (Steph too, if you count her as a kid). 8/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

Robin & Batman (2021): not 100% sure if this is in continuity, but it's 3 issues and a lovely depiction of early Dick and Bruce. Features very realistic mishaps on Bruce's part, but sets up the foundation for a strong, beautiful relationship. 6.5/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale. (This is also getting a sequel featuring Jason!)

World's Finest: Batman/Superman (2022-): an ongoing series that is pure comic book fun. Robin!Dick features heavily here, and there's some wonderful Batdad moments. 8.5/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

Tom Taylor's Nightwing: probably the best dad Bruce in modern comics, and has very sweet moments with Dick throughout. One big caveat is the characterisation can be off, so I recommend this only in the context of Bruce being a good dad to Dick. 10/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

You also can't go wrong with either Batman and Robin (2011) or (2023), which focus on Damian and Bruce (haven't read either but 2023 in particular seems to have good dad Bruce). Batman & The Signal and Batman & The Outsiders (2019) have great Duke-Bruce moments, while Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl is the best Steph-Bruce stuff we'll ever get that isn't wildly out of character. Batman and Robin: Year One is currently coming out for more Robin!Dick and Bruce relationship cuteness and drama.

I hope that answered your ask! I am mostly a Cass blog but I do love to talk about other characters so no need to apologise :)).

[razberrypuck]

trying to decipher how qcharlie feels abt qmariana and honestly I DO think he still loves him. I DO think he still cares about him. when roier brought up mariana wanting charlie there when he logged on again, charlie (though he didn't really believe roier at first) liked the idea, and begged roier not to make him sound too desperate or into the idea simply because charlie isn't sure where their relationship is at right now. he does care about her, still -- but with flippa coming back into his life, it resurfaced a lot of feelings charlie buried a long time ago.

because he never forgave mariana for their daughters' deaths. or for how absent he believed she was in flippa's life. or for how absent she's been, when charlie needed her support. he understands flippa's deaths were accidental. he understands that mariana was more present than charlie made him out to be. he understands that mariana never meant to hurt him by vanishing into thin air. but he never forgave him for it. after the trial, he just ignored it, because flippa's back and she wants her parents to get along and that's all that matters. after flippa's last death, after the funeral, he pushed it all down as deep as he could because mariana needed him. mariana was all he had. and finally, finally things were going well between them -- why would he bring up all that pain and hurt? why would he acknowledge it, hurt mariana all over again, when she's the only thing he had left TO care about?

I mean, just the way he was talking about mariana during the "trust" stream was more bitter than it has been in a long time. the same man who wordlessly put mariana's axe up on his wall, next to their daughter's first knife -- twice, he went off on a tirade, calling mariana his bitch fucking cheating ass whore wife, and asked roier not to tell him about flippa. because no matter how much he cares about mariana, charlie doesn't trust her.

flippa being back has dragged up a LOT of feelings that charlie has refused to process up until this point, and that's why his opinions on mariana flipped so suddenly. now flippa's back, and now all that anger he felt, everything that drove him to lashing out at all the other eggs after flippa's first death; all of his previous behavior that made the other islanders dislike him, that he "grew out of" through months of near-total isolation -- now that's coming back, too. slowly, slowly bubbling to the surface, out of desperation to protect his daughter. yes, he's happy, but he's also paranoid. he's more than willing to interrupt sidebars that he thinks are about his daughter, or conversations others are having with her. he threatens those he believes may want to do her harm. he picks up on a lot more than other islanders think he does. because he doesn't give a shit about what these people think of him. he has his daughter back. he doesn't need to cling to these people to feel wanted, to feel loved. he doesn't need to cling to his and mariana's relationship.

does he care about his friends? his missing nieces and nephews? his spouse? absolutely.

he just cares about flippa more.

[animeyanderelover]

How would Madara, Hashirama, Tobirama, Pain, Shisui, Itachi, Sakura react to the darling who got turned into a baby getting kidnapped?

Do you mean as a sort of continuation to this post?

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, delusion, abduction

Darling who got turned into a baby is kidnapped

Madara Uchiha

🌑 Madara is that close to murdering whoever was in charge of looking over you as he's quite busy searching for ways to nullify the jutsu that turned you into an infant in the first place. Honestly, he's sure that wouldn't have happened if he would have been the one to watch after you but he's been avoiding you ever since you turned as it's quite weird and awkward being around you after the incident. He's going out to search for his darling though, undeniably paranoid since they can't escape, defend or even attempt to leak information about their current whereabouts in their tiny form and whilst he might not show his fear, he is really short-tempered and snaps at everyone. After that big failure of his fellow clanmembers, he'd rather take things into his own hands. The eldest of the clan do want him to be accompanied since he's the head of the clan but it's best to not test Madara right now. The Uchiha is really pissed so whoever had the balls to kidnap his s/o in their vulnerable state is better prepared to be slaughtered.

Hashirama Senju

🌳 He has a heart attack whilst his clan is vehemently apologizing for failing in such a way. Hashirama honestly ends up blaming himself mainly as he laments that he should have taken you with him, even if he has work to do and shouldn't carry you in your new form around everywhere. Finding you and getting you back becomes from that point on a priority and a lot of shinobi are send out to track down traces of whoever abducted you. The Hokage skips probably meals and sleep, worried sick for you as you're so fragile in your baby body. Mito and Tobirama have to force him to take care of himself or otherwise he'll just have a burnout. Everyone is quite dedicated to the task at hand, especially his younger brother and the clan just barely manages to keep Hashirama in the village to fulfill his duties as the Hokage or otherwise he would have left to search for you a long time ago. He's praying day and night for you to safely return. Let's just hope that your kidnappers didn't dare to hurt you or otherwise even Hashirama might snap.

Tobirama Senju

🌊 Being in the same room as him is chilling for the Anbu he assigned to watch over you whilst doing his work as Tobirama is probably not far away from allowing his emotions to get the better of him and hurting all of them seriously too. This is a serious breach of his trust and expectations and he promises them that they will be punished accordingly later on but prioritizes finding his darling for now. There's a restlessness inside of him that unsettles him deeply whilst the whole Leaf Village is in a rush to retrieve you with his own clan making the biggest fuss since you're, even in your current form, still Tobirama's spouse. This is now the second time the village has been unable to protect you from attacks and Tobirama can't help but start blaming himself for it, maybe he should have done more. He goes out with his own team with the single goal to find you since he's brilliant with sensory. He has zero mercy for those who abducted you as he will see through that they will be punished and by all accounts, after all that happened he's going to put the Flying Thunder God Seal on his darling so that he can always find them in emergency situations.

Pain

🌧️ Pain might still appear to be stoic but one look in his eyes and you can see the intention to murder. Both him and Konan are in shock as they didn't expect anyone to be able to ever steal you, even after the recent attack where you were transformed into a baby. Konan is is far more visible distraught as she feels guilty for not having looked more carefully after you and Nagato is just as disturbed, considering that he had a couple of bodies guarding you. He's incredibly anxious and probably about willing to tear entire villages down to find you, let's hope Konan doesn't lose her cool just yet and stops him from going the violent way just yet. Both of them skip sleep and rest though so that they can find you as quickly as possible and everyone who knows even a piece of information will be tortured by all of Pain's bodies to spit it out only to die a miserable death afterwards. The man is desperate and furious, a dangerous combination since he's ready to tear everything apart if it means finding his darling again and nullifying the jutsu that was cast on them.

Shisui Uchiha

🍂 Shisui has taken the matter of you being turned into a baby so far with a mixture of worried seriousness and entertained amusement but getting to know that you were kidnapped in your current state erases all traces of fun. He knows that you have no way to resist or defend yourself and he immediately asks the Hokage for permission to take over the mission to find you again. Your parents are distraught so he assures them that he will get you back and find a way to turn you back to normal, no matter what he has to do. Shisui dedicates from that moment on every second into finding any sort of lead and traces to find out where you are and probably even asks Itachi to help him with this issue. Everyone probably notices that this all has affected him greatly as he's always a bit tensed up and even isolates himself to fully focus on the mission at hand. Without a doubt the guilt fuels him on as this is the second time he's allowed someone to assault you and considering his protective nature, this makes him only worse. Your kidnappers should probably run as far away as they can because the moment Shisui figures out where they keep you, it's over for them.

Itachi Uchiha

🍡 Itachi is suffering silently when he realizes that you've been taken away by someone and considering your current situation, it only makes everything worse. You're a small baby again, in no way possible could you defend yourself so he has to find you as quickly as possible. This is the second time already that something like this has happened since Itachi has abducted you and it is poison for his own self-esteem because he has no one besides himself to blame, fully aware that none of this would have happened if he would have never taken you in the first place. It's too late to regret that now though as he has to find you as quickly as possible. Kisame seems to notice that something is wrong with his partner and there are chances that he already knows about Itachi's secret and even your current situation. When he tries to laugh about it though, he quickly shuts up when noticing the cold glare Itachi gives him and instead vows to help the Uchiha in his search for you. The emergency situation reveals perhaps a more ruthless side of Itachi as he's also desperate now.

Sakura Haruno

🌸 Sakura initially falls into a state of heavily blaming herself. She should have looked more after you, she should have been more careful. The woman has high expectations for herself, especially regarding her darling so the abduction affects her deeply as she's quite shaken up and all her friends try to comfort her somehow. After a while she gets up again, still distraught but just as scarily determined to find you and save you. Sakura is really protective, all the more since you've been attacked with a jutsu that apparently turns adults into small babies again and she has spent a lot of time figuring out how to reverse the effects of the jutsu. She basically demands the Hokage to let her take the lead in that mission since she views this as her failure and for that as her responsibility to save you. She's also someone who starts neglecting her own needs such as meals and sleep in order to retrieve you again. There's a restlessness inside of her but she attempts her best to stay calm, although the question stands if she can keep her cool when finding those who have abducted you.

[opheliajupiter99]

Maiden of the Manor (Ella/The Baroness Fanfic)

Long before the Feywild, and before the pair even met the others they'd come to know as brothers, Kremy and Gideon had found themselves on the outskirts of Agwe. On said outskirts was a large, sprawling manor, that used to be home to an immensely wealthy noble family.

The pair stared up, way up, at the enormous mansion, behind which was the decrepit remnants of a once ravishing gardening, and a faded gazebo. Gideon huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Ya sure any of this shit is still good?" Kremy nodded. "It is, don't worry. These riches folks always get the shit that lasts." They moved up the steps, careful to avoid the mossy portions of the wooden steps.

"Well, if they're so good at lastin', what the hell happened to 'em?" Gideon remarked, trying to peer through one of the windows, but dust combined with the humidity of the swamplands made the interior of the mansion little more than a blur beyond the glass. "They had it good for a long while, just a pa, a daughter, and a whole mess of servants. The daughter died though, only about twenty if what I've heard's any good. Nobody's quite sure what happened, but her pa died not too long after, good ol' heartbreak. She was an only child, and so was her pa, and with no ma in the picture, the noble line was dead in the water right then and there."

"Why didn't the servants get it?" Gideon said, quickly getting a huff from Kremy, as the Genasi began to pry open the front door, the lock indeed being of high quality, as it was somehow still in place after so many years. "That ain't how shit works around here, not usually anyway. Ain't how shit works in most places, far as I know." Gideon was most way through prying through the door, when he stopped, standing up straight and looking up at the house again.

"Hey, wait a minute..." He began. "This place is damn fallin' apart; how's nobody else raided it yet? It ain't even that far from town." Kremy tensed a bit at the question, but shrugged; it was hard to tell, as always, whether he was merely annoyed by the answer to the question, or genuinely spooked. "Eh...ya know how the people in this place are, Gid. Paranoid. An old place like this and nobody'll touch it, especially when tragedy's gone down there. I'm sure it don't help that nobody's seen their fortune in person, like the gold part of it I mean. I'm guessin' anybody not scared just figures there ain't shit to find here, but I ain't givin' up that easy. Folks like this always hide shit, we just gotta find it."

Gideon shrugged. "A'ight." He said simply; honestly, he trusted Kremy enough at this point to where he didn't need -much- of a push, but he'd still question now and then. The door finally burst open, Gideon blinking and backing up a bit. "Damn, didn't think I pulled it -that- fuckin' hard." Kremy shrugged, stepping inside, Gideon falling soon after. The living room was both as expected, and a bit...off. The Gatorfolk wasn't wrong, rich folk always got stuff that was built to last, but even accounting for that, things seemed bizarrely pristine. Their seemed to be very little dust for such an old building, the paintings were faded, but still mostly in-tact, and as Gideon walked up to one side table in particular, he noticed the candle upon it had been freshly lit.

"Looks like somebody got here before us." The Genasi said with a huff, the Gatorfolk looked about with a furrowed brow. "Nah...nah, that can't be. None of the windows were broken, and if the front doors still locked tight, then the back one's gotta be too." Kremy looked down at the candle. "...And why'd they even need to light it anyways? Unless ya a fuckin' idiot, ya bring ya own shit when ya go through a place like this."

While the pair bickered, high up above on the tall walls of the living room, a staircase in the center leading upwards in classic mansion fashion, out of sight of the Genasi's flickering flames and shrouded in darkness, were rows of small, carefully carved, colorful masks. When they first entered, they were inert, but as they began to move through the first room of the manor, one by one they started to move, the beady eyeholes of each mask seeming to blink before their gazes turned downwards. They looked between each other, and soundlessly giggled, before returning to a seemingly inert state.

For a time, they simply searched through the living room, moving from there to the other rooms of the first floor, finding bits of jewelry, gold, and other such valuables, though admittedly, not much more than they typically got from an abandoned place like this. And as they went, something more and more just...didn't feel right. How was everything in this good condition? It wasn't even just the furniture, it was everything, almost as if someone was still living here. For the most part though, they tried to brush it off as a squatter having lived here recently, Kremy especially - perhaps to try and comfort the growing feeling of dread.

Eventually, they made their way upstairs, moving up the towering staircase. As Kremy ascended, he saw something, for just a brief moment, small orbs of light that quickly faded from view - the masks in the depths of the dark returning to inertness as soon as they noticed his gaze. But even with the glow, he still couldn't see the details. His brow furrowed, and he reached out towards where he'd last seen Gideon, expecting to feel his shoulder, but instead felt nothing but empty air.

"Gid?!" He rushed up the stairs, sighing with relief as he saw Gid once more. He was stood at an ornate doorway, having already creaked it open partially. "Aye, check this out." He said, opening the door fully as Kremy moved to stand beside him. Inside was a lavish pink, silky bedroom, fit for a princess. It would've been beautiful, if not for the context - the room looked pristine, all the candles still lit and not a speck of dust to be found anywhere. It was perfect, as if the mansion it was found within was never abandoned at all.

As Kremy gazed around, his eyes snagged on one piece of furniture in particular. It was a vanity mirror, across from the bed, the surface of its mirror sparkling in its polish, and its table adorned with various makeups and perfumes. When he looked around the rim of the mirror, his eyes widened in horror; around the rim of the mirror were symbols, seemingly painted in black lipstick, but not just any symbols. They were ones of voodoo magic, more specifically ones used for communication.

"...Gid." He said softly, form stiff with fear as he clutched his cane tight, backing up. "...We gotta go. -Now-." Almost as soon as he spoke, the mirror's shining surface turned pitch black, and the faint, yet sickeningly familiar tunes of ominous jazz began to hum out all around the pair, Gideon instinctively pulling him back out of the room and moving to stand in front of him protectively.

"Go?" Came a chilling, booming voice from the depths of the bedroom, a voice Kremy respected and feared in equal parts. "Why, ya fellas just got here! Come on, stay a while - stay a -real- long while." He said with a hearty cackle as the jazz grew louder, doors all around the house beginning to open and close in rhythm with the tune, fog flooding out from seemingly nowhere, growing so thick they couldn't step the stairs beneath their feet as they began to run for their lives.

Due to this lack of proper footing, Kremy stumbled, the sounds of his rough tumble down the steps echoing out. "KREMY!" Gid cried, fumbling around in the dark to try and find where he was, only leading to him tumbling right after. He groaned, Kremy full-blown starting to cry - he'd come to fear these signs more than anything else, knowing that all of these things together, not brought forth by the warlock themselves, spelt the end for men like him.

Gideon was bruised up, but not nearly as hurt as Kremy now was, fumbling through the fog until he found the Gatorfolk, hugging him close. As he did so, a pink neon light pulsed through the fog, as a shadowy figure stepped delicately down the staircase towards the pair, the click-clack of heels ringing out amongst the music.

A skeletal woman in a puffy pink dress, adorned with long silky gloves and a bundle of blonde, luscious hair upon her skull, holding a dainty pink parasol in one hand and a matching hand fan in the other, hiding the lower portion of her face with said fan, the burning flames of neon blue in her eye sockets staring down at the pair. It was precisely the same outfit the noblewoman in the portrait wore, and despite the skeletal nature of the figure, they both felt deep in their soul that this was indeed the same woman.

The woman stood in front of them, eerily staring in silence for a long moment, Kremy closing his eyes tight and curling up in Gid's grasp, utterly terrified, while Gid just continued to hold him close, overwhelmed, not sure what to do, or how to go about it. Eventually, he growled. "Get the fuck away from us! I don't care whatcha do to me, ya ain't gettin' him, no way!" The noblewoman was unphased, delicately stepping closer, and reaching her hand down - but instead of reaching for Kremy, she instead reached for the bag of stolen goods they'd collected thus far.

She lifted it up with a soft hum, staring at the bag for a moment, then towards Gideon. "Be a good boy and run along now, would you?" She said, the sweet as apple pie tune of a southern belle's voice echoed and oddly warped, making her voice both comforting and otherworldly at the same time. Gideon just stared for a moment, before shakily nodding, standing slowly and carrying Kremy bridal style, making a mad dash towards the exit.

He ran through the door, breaking the rotted wood clean off its hinges as he did so, running as fast as he could from the manor and back towards Agwe. Kremy was beaten up bad from his fall, but a quick visit to the healer and he was fixed up. That didn't make him any less rattled by what had happened, nor did it Gideon.

The manor's riches would stay right where they were, and any others to try what the pair had would be met with much less mercy.

[slaythebirdman]

does the peanut choir in Quiets head become too much? Does he ever just stare into space engaging in the latest nonsensep while the princess can only wonder what is going on in there? and conversely does the princess ever have times when all of her facets pulling in different directions become too much?

💗 the times where the princess interrupts the voices because birdie has been silent for a really long time were sooo funny. i understand that the game can't make that joke every single time the voices go on and on, but the peanut choir really cannot keep quiet, can they?

(as a side note, what the hell is going on with the poll? why is smitten so popular? i honestly cannot stand him. yellow and i will be posting our individual tier lists for the voices at some point, and smitten is easy at the very bottom for me. if anyone could explain the hype, i'd appreciate it)

The voices can be... distracting.

- The Voices™ are great, really, don't get him wrong. They all mean the best, even if they have wildly different opinions on pretty much everything. But with those differing opinions comes many, many, many arguments, and while it's possible for the Quiet to tune them all out, he feels kind of bad about leaving them alone.

- Sometimes he can't help but engage in the conversation, especially when they often involve himself or an important decision. Usually nowadays it's all trivial matters, and the Quiet finds silent entertainment in sitting back and listening to them all bicker about proper grammar or music tastes.

-The Quiet is pretty decent at responding to the voices in his head, though he will sometimes slip up. He might be washing the dishes and the Princess will walk by and hear him mutter, "This plate was too expensive, I'm not turning it into a shiv."

- There are times when he doesn't realize, however, that the Princess is standing nearby--often right in front of him--with a questioning look, playing her game of "How Long Will it Take for the Bird to Notice Me." The Quiet has before emerged from his own head to a hand waving in his face, to a card game being all set up and ready to go, to hats being stacked on his head. The Princess finds it entertaining at least and doesn't seem to mind too much when he spaces out mid-conversation.

- Sometimes she asks what was going on in there. Sometimes the Quiet can't answer without hours and hours of context. When that's the case, the Princess tells him that she's lost interest.

- The few times where the arguing becomes too much and he can't help but shut them out, he feels awful. It's just too much for his head to handle sometimes. The Princess knows that the Quiet needs some dim lights, cuddles, soft kisses, and whispered reassurances. The voices are all pretty apologetic when he finally tunes back into them and are quieter for a while after.

- A few of the voices have gotten to know the signs of the Quiet reaching his breaking point. Usually it's the Narrator who notices first, though there are times when he's too caught up in an argument to realize. The Paranoid or the Cold are the most likely to notice after the Narrator. The Hero is... bad at realizing, but once he's made aware, he is one of the most active in getting everyone to cool down or at least be quieter.

The facets can be overwhelming.

- The Princess does sometimes experience something similar, though instead of voices in her head, she gets strong, conflicting emotions. She has to sit out and take a breather lest she blow up at the Quiet out of frustration like she used to, allow herself to listen to and feel all of her emotions, understand what they're trying to tell her. It's exhausting and takes a lot of mental energy.

- Some facets will overtake others. It's easier for the Quiet to tell if facets like the Beast or the Witch are the most dominating, and he's quickly able to advise the Princess to take a deep breath and take some time to herself. Ones like the Prisoner and the Damsel, though, are more difficult to detect and are scary in their own right.

- She'll often disappear into the bedroom and close all the curtains to lay in the darkness in silence. The Quiet knows not to disturb her, waiting for her to come back on her own time, offering a hug, a cup of tea, a game, or an ear if she needs it.

- The Princess still loses her cool sometimes, angry tears streaming down her cheeks as she races to the bedroom and slams the door shut. She's incredibly ashamed and apologetic after she's taken time to collect herself, and the Quiet is understanding and reassuring.

...

- They're both aware of what each other needs by now, able to offer the right kind of support without really needing to ask. It's not always easy, but it's them.

[smokescreenimusprime]

I am absolutely in love with the Ghost of Darkmount au. It's both so funny and intresting.

So, my thoughts are, what would the autobots's reaction be after they found out the truth? You know, Ratchet obviously finds out first, but it can't be far behind before the rest does too. What are their thoughts, emotions, on the whole thing? Will they be angry at Smokescreen? Will they understand the reason he did it all?

And Smokey himself! I imagine wearing the phase shifter could have some serious side effects, especially now that it's damaged. Imagine him forgetting he's not a 'ghost' anymore and walking into walls or other solid objects constantly lmao

well >:3

Ratchet is absolutely floored by this, but admittedly doesn't have much time to process it in the rush of Hey The Final Battle Is Happening Right Fragging Now And We Don't Have Time To Spare. He makes it VERY clear that they WILL be talking about this later on, no ifs ands or buts, but he does put it on the back burner so they can actually get this plan through

the Autobots also have it pretty rough in terms of reveal since it's just. Right in the middle of them invading the Nemesis

but then when everything calms down........ then things get interesting :3

the emotions everyone feels are definitely complicated to say the very least of it. They're happy Smokescreen's alive! Don't get me wrong there!!! But there's also a BUNCH more they're feeling, especially after the immediate relief fades. You're right in how there's some anger at the secret keeping and tricks, but there's also a little bit of pride at what Smokescreen managed to accomplish, some mild discomfort that the kid did this by himself

However, most of all is...... concern honestly

after all, Smokescreen had been undercover for a long time, and the Autobots aren't blind to the differences, which nicely segues into the other point you brought up :)

Ratchet ends up dragging Smokescreen off to the side to remove the Phase Shifter as soon as he can, and he immediately gives him a check up that...... admittedly doesn't come out super great. Smokescreen hadn't gotten out of the collapsing base completely unscathed, not to mention all the grime and dirt that's been sticking to him for what could possibly be months now

and Smokescreen does have some..... habits

there is as you've mentioned Smokescreen forgetting he's not intangible anymore, and there have been more than a few instances of him walking or even running full speed into objects, walls or even other bots. He's a pretty frequent visitor to the medbay, and it gets bad enough that he starts carrying around a medkit

He's a weird mix of quiet and chatty. He's VERY socially starved and talks with the others whenever he can, but there are also times he forgets that people can see and touch him. The number of times he's been startled by people calling out to him or touching him when he didn't initiate it is more than he can count. There have also been times where he's just....... silently watched the other Autobots talking with a look that could only be described as longing, as if he's forgotten he's allowed to join in

he has an........ interesting relationship with the vehicons and Knockout. It's very tense and awkward, and honestly they're still largely terrified of him because of the months of Spooks. Now, Smokescreen doesn't regret what he did, not by a longshot...... but it does hurt a little bit whenever they whisper about him or flinch when they see him. It's especially bad with Knockout because of all Smokescreen's trips to the medbay

it takes Smokescreen a long time before he refuels with everyone else and recharges in a regular berth. Those habits were among the hardest for him to break. After so long of breaking into storage rooms to steal small portions so he wouldn't get caught and catching quick naps while being paranoid of falling through the airship, it's....... really difficult to adjust

to the Autobots, it's clear that he isn't the same bot as when they last saw him, and it's going to take time before he finds his "normal" again, but they do what they can to act as a support so he knows he doesn't have to be alone

[devilsrecreation]

Some more angsty TLG stuff cuz we all need some angst in our lives

- Tamka having a breakdown over his lack of intelligence in his episode. After he finds out he was being used by the mob and he pushed his friends away, he thinks he’s all alone and starts to cry

- Jasiri remembering her past and how she seems to be forgetting her mother…. oof

- Chungu realizing he’s never going to find his parents (it’s brief, but still upsetting)

- I’m imagining at some point when the OG trio come back, they start inviting themselves into Janja’s life more and more. Shenzi especially does this since she didn’t get to be much of a parent when she was forced to leave the Outlands as to not get suspected for killing Scar by Zira. It’s honestly fine for the Janja at first, then it starts getting annoying when Shenzi (unintentionally) becomes degrading by providing unnecessary protection. It gets to the point where Janja snaps at his mother about how he isn’t a cub anymore and she can’t treat him as such after leaving for so long

- So my Sibling’s Day idea, right? Where Jasiri invites everyone’s siblings over for a celebration and to let them know they’re appreciated? Cute wholesome family moments, right? Well, not for a certain lizard cuz Njano slowly gets more upset the longer he looks at everyone having a good time with their respective siblings, reminding him of Danganya. He legit goes from “Aw that’s nice” to “heh…they look pretty wholesome” to “maybe a little too wholesome” to “just like….him”. He acts all fine when Shupavu asks him if he’s okay but inside he misses his late brother :(

This episode idea is one of the rare times he actually frowns. Njano’s a generally happy skink, but when he gets upset, Danganya has something to do with it

- Reirei: What are you scared of?!

Goigoi: I’m scared of you

Reirei: Me??

Goigoi: I'm scared that... One day, you'll see yourself as I see you... Perfect.. And... That you'll leave me for someone you deserve..

-I think I’ve mentioned this before but Nduli’s trauma caused him to have a fear of abandonment and it shows. Ever since he lost his mother, he’s scared that his float would leave him like the majority of animals he knew. He can’t even handle being alone for a few hours cuz he’ll get paranoid. He’ll try to be optimistic at first, but the more he’s alone, the more worried he gets cuz there’s always a possibility his friends aren’t coming back. So he has to be with at least one of his friends or else he becomes a scared child

There would be an incident in the future when he has kids where the float wakes up at the end of the dry season and one of Nduli’s daughters, Shauri, isn’t there and Nduli straight up has a panic attack (dw she’s fine. She just got woken up in the Dry Season)

-Kiburi frequently still has nightmares about his father’s death. Every time he wakes up, he snuggles just a little bit closer to one of the other float members

-Kenge and Shupavu go through the same thing with Ushari’s death. If only Kenge had been there instead of ditching his only friend…then maybe Ushari would still be alive. Shupavu could have done something instead of staring like a fool, but she didn’t

- Sumu blaming himself for Kenge getting hurt when Mkatili’s chimps attack. Kenge keeps telling him to shut up and that he’ll be fine but Sumu can’t help it

-Selena Gomez’s “people you know” perfectly encapsulates Makuu and Kiburi’s rift

We used to be close, but people can go

From people you know to people you don't

And what hurts the most is people can go

From people you know to people you don't

That’s basically them

-Imagine how Pua must feel knowing that basically all of his friends had passed on. It’s basically that one drawing of all the regular show characters and Skips being the last one left

-Mzingo constantly being reminded of the fact that he nearly killed Janja by trapping him in Pride Rock even though he didn’t know the hyenas were there in the first place

- TW for character death

This isn’t gonna happen anytime soon but…Pua finally completing his journey. It was a peaceful death with all the crocodiles by his side. He has last words for everyone (basically all the crocs we care about). Everyone, even Makuu and Kiburi, cried

Tamka takes it the hardest, he thinks he should have been a better son :(

-Sometime, in the far future, when all the kids are grown up and Wakali’s the new leader of the crocodiles, Nduli’s gonna be the last of his generation to still be alive. He’s still the same Nduli, albeit a bit sadder cuz all of his friends have gone without him. He’s no longer the baby during that time and while he has to be strong for the sake of the float, it’s proven hard for him cuz he can’t help but miss his friends

[birdmitosis]

Keep seeing your analysis-ish posts in the tags and man. I wish I could make coherent posts about this game like that but whenever I try it just comes out like this

misery

also I see you are a voices enjoyer so I am obligated to ask what you think about voice of the contrarian bc he is my fav (he just like me fr we are best friends we are going to go get waffles together)

Aaahhhh, ironically my brain has been MUSH and so I didn't respond to this right away, but it's been giving me fuzzy feelings for days ;-; It is so kind of you to say... My analysis stuff is mostly me rambling and trying to sort out my own thoughts, LOL, so I'm glad it's at all coherent! I constantly feel like I'm in a state of

over this game, at least, so I get it. As for Voice of the Contrarian, I absolutely adore that voice! He's not my top fave but he's easily in my Top 3. I love him so much in The Stranger chapter and especially if you get her first and get any variation of the "Strange Beginnings" endings; I love his development and the quietly positive relationship he develops with Voice of the Hero, with the Stranger, and even in some ways with the Narrator. I love the way he tries to defend the Long Quiet in the "A new and unending dawn, and everyone hates you" endings! I love him in The Razor and The Moment of Clarity paths, I adore him in The Fury chapter... The only chapter he even mildly annoys me in is The Wild, and I think that's just because my first experience with that was the one with Opportunist and Paranoid and there was something so... emotional in that experience, and Contrarian really doesn't want to let you just sit with that emotion. That's not really a bad thing, though, not inherently, and it also says a lot about his character at that point in the game! (Honestly, my one quibble with the game is that since he says in the "Strange Beginnings" version of the endings that he's been at the cabin since you left him there, I honestly wish it became impossible to get any route he appears in if you get the Stranger first. That might be annoying and even a little unfair; I'm sure that in practice I wouldn't like being entirely locked out of The Razor and The Moment of Clarity if I went with The Stranger for my first vessel. But it'd make that part make a bit more sense, right? Then again, if you say to Hero "I thought you died whenever I looked in the mirror," he says:

"I don't think that's wrong, but I'm not sure it's right either. ... There's still a piece of me nestled close to where it all began. I can take you there... I can take you to her heart." Which I... think might imply that while the voices are all broken-off shards of you, they're also in pieces across each chapter you do? Which has some fascinating implications and does make Contrarian's thing work better. He is also still "where it all began," where Hero takes you.) ANYWAY that was some rambling about non-Contrarian things, or at least not strictly Contrarian things. Suffice to say that I really, really love that character; I think that in a situation where the other voices are learning to be individual people especially he could be really supportive and helpful there, because he has possibly the biggest personal arc of any character in the entire game. And I love that for him. (I also ship him hard with Voice of the Hero, and have a bunch of other more minor ships with him, including Contrarian/Hero/Narrator a little? SO YEAH THAT TOO.)

[brynalyn]

Safety psa warning for Floraverse

Just wanted to put this out there and finally get it off my chest. In 2021 I was doxxed, as well as my family, and at least one other person was doxxed at the time by the same person. and I was also in the floraverse discord servers at this time. The person who doxxed me/my family/others (they did not hide that they had done this) became active in the discord within the same month. I reached out to glip and, although they reached out to the person and confirmed it, they didn’t take any action, and didn’t even bother to tell anyone publicly in the server that they were at risk of also being doxxed on kiwifarms (this person targeted me partially because I was a fan of floraverse and like I said this individual had doxxed another person around the same time as me and potentially more.) after I pushed to get this person kicked out as I ultimately felt extremely unsafe and that they could dox others, Glip told me I was making them uncomfortable by pushing that, and that I was being rude and inconsiderate and even hurtful for suggesting and pushing for it. Then I also got a message from pengo who told me I was basically in the wrong for bringing up this person and their actions, and how inconsiderate it was of me to tell Glip how uncomfortable and unsafe my doxxer being in the servers made me feel, and guilt tripped me about coming forward without making sure Glip was in a good headspace beforehand, even though I had already at that point breached the subject many times in several weeks, and repeatedly got put off as Glip didn’t want to take any actions and got more short with me as I kept trying to have discussion about removing them for my and others safety. This started to shatter my trust in both Glip and pengo, and my doxxer being in the servers led to me having severe mental breakdowns and paranoid spirals as i realized that was not in fact a place I could be safe as no action was taken and I was talked down to for suggesting an action should be taken. I finally left the servers sometime earlier this year, after continually witnessing huge amounts of bullying in the servers throughout my time and terrible treatment of others similar to what I went through.

It was incredibly painful and traumatizing how my genuine concern for my own and others safety was made out to be hurtful and selfish by Glip and pengo. Pengo in particular often was aggressive and accusatory towards me and others, he lectured and belittled people in private and in public while making assumptions about others and justifying his bullying based on his assumptions and projections (this happened to me often and I also witnessed this happen to others repeatedly.) i didn’t feel safe speaking up because dogpiling was common in the spaces, and I had already repeatedly been shut down and guilt tripped for speaking even privately about the person who doxxed me. I didn’t feel comfortable speaking honestly in the server for fear of being punished. I often felt trapped, and had to ‘fawn’ and agree and accept the crappy treatment, and I continued to get more uncomfortable in general until I finally left. I wanted to put my experience out there so that others can potentially be informed that they may not be safe in the server like how I wasn’t and that their valid issues may be twisted and used against them to guilt trip and bully them like mine were.

Tbh I should have left sooner but I had nostalgic attachment to floraverse and I also had friendships with kind people in the servers and it was painful to have growing cognitive dissonance where I had good interactions with friendly people but then get pinged with huge condescending uncalled for lists of all the small ways I had bugged them even if those things were years old, minor interactions that had long been resolved the same day, while also leaving out any mention of my doxxer or considering how that could have been affecting me too, basically doing bad faith reading of others’ characters constantly to justify attacking and berating others for insignificant or bizarre reasons. fear of this happening and of being publicly humiliated over and over became a very huge source of trauma and stress for me and everytime I was torn down it basically enforced the trauma and hurt me more. Overall while I had some good experiences and even friends, I began to become socially fearful, and get anxiety attacks when I got discord pings because of the fear I would get yet another cruel lecture at any time from pengo or that I would bear witness to yet another person getting bullied and dogpiled and I would feel sick to my stomach while others in the server pretended they didn’t see it or joined the bullying. It was extremely horrible for my mental health and I don’t regret leaving as I have healed a lot and had much healthier interactions with others outside of the servers in basically every sense since then. It’s been a healing process as I learn that I shouldn’t have to tread on eggshells constantly to be treated humanely, I shouldn’t get bullied for making simple human mistakes, and im gaining trust in others that they won’t belittle me for my pain and will take me seriously, and learn to trust others in general again after getting that trust smashed by people I once looked up to.

Please be careful about what you say to people in that server and guard yourself if you are in them. and I would caution against trusting the mods because of my own experiences with having my trust repeatedly broken and used.

[biconickyoshi]

Honestly-it’s compelling for the sequel comics with Zukaang in the circumstances where they stay in their original roles within the stories- if Zuko were to be a still somewhat paranoid Firelord and that whole political debate about Yu Dao still happened and Aang is where he was placed in originally, can tell an interesting and constrained narrative that might oppose the original.

Weeks or months of Aang and Zuko being separated due to their duties to the world so less of that couple banter and possibly a strain in their communication with each other-then there’s the conflict in Yu Dao and maybe Zuko being hurt in the similar way with Katara when she was concerned for Aang’s insistence on the idea of all four nations being separate-as well as their relationships. Especially when Zuko in the original learnt to accept the other bending techniques intermixed from all of the nations into his own bending.

It’s also like with some fanfics of AO3 when people write about the societal and political problems that came with Zuko and Aang dating in the first place.

Yessss anon, I've actually been brainstorming recently about what I'd like to do for this whole plotline once I finish TAatFP and start writing the sequel fic. I personally have never been a fan of Zuko just being forced into the role of Fire Lord, especially as a teenager, and even more so after what he went through redemption-wise. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but I may either have him step down from the role at some point, and/or have Iroh become the FL.

Right now, what I've been thinking of is having Zuko be FL for a few years, but it really takes a toll on him mentally/emotionally, and of course being in a relationship with Aang makes it even worse because he longs for the days where he was able to be free and travel with him. Maybe the Yu Dao conflict could be the catalyst for this. Overall I'd very much like for Iroh to be more heavily involved in the politics of the Yu Dao stuff than he is in the comics... I've also never been a fan of Iroh just getting to go be a tea shop owner instead of helping his nephew who is still very much a child run and restructure an entire nation 😬 Since Azula is getting a redemption arc in TAatFP as well, I'd like for her to be involved in some way too, like maybe as an advisor to Zuko?

All of this stuff is still far off in the future though, and some of my ideas about where I want TAatFP's plot may change as I continue writing.

[archersxartxblog]

finally getting chapter three up, Emmet 'Tells' Elesa about things he discovered in Sinnoh He talks Trains with his nephews and Chandelure 'meets' the boys.

Chapter three

Eleas paced back and forth in her kitchen as she dialed Emmet’s number once more. 

Glancing at the clock, she muttered another curse. If she was correct, then it was almost midnight in Sinnoh, and Emmet was supposed to call her when he got out of the hospital. Yet, there had been no word from him.

It took everything in her power to keep her head. Telling herself that everything was fine. That this was, in fact, a good sign because it meant that the visit was long, meaning that this was truly Ingo and that Emnet had lost track of time. 

And if this was the case she couldn't blame him. If she was in his place the hospital would need a crowbar to pry her off of him, and Emmet deserved to have all the time he could after being separated from his twin for so long.

But at the same time something itched at the back of her skull.

What if Emmet went missing too? Snatched up just like his brother.

What if this whole thing had been a ploy to lure the last subway boss out, so that whoever had taken Ingo could take Emmet as well?

The thought made her sound paranoid, and it honestly sounded a little silly.

 but she had already lost Ingo. 

She couldn't bear the thought of losing Emmet as well.

"Come on, come on, answer your phone already." She muttered as she listened to the ringing from the other end. "What's the point of having your phone on if you're not going to answer it?"

Then finally a click and a groggy voice came from the other end.

"Hello? I am Emmet,"

Relief washed over her and the model breathed a sigh of relief. Yet at the same time…

"Emmet! Where have you been?! I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?" She could help but be annoyed at him for leaving her hanging.

"Elesa, yes, right, I was supposed to call you, sorry." She heard him mutter, he sounded tired so he must have been sleeping. She almost felt bad since she knew he hadn't been sleeping well, but…

"So?" She pressed, wanting to hear what Emmet had discovered

Only to receive a confused and tired "huh?" In return.

"So, is it really Ingo?" She continued, not meaning for her annoyance to slip through, but she wanted to know…needed to know.

Skyla already had their flight plan all set for tomorrow and what happened afterwards would depend on what Emmet’s answer was.

If it really was Ingo, then Eleas would be driving over to the twin's place and pack her brother a bag of fresh clothes, and then she, Skyla and Emmet would be staying in Sinnoh until the hospital said Ingo could go home.

If it wasn't… Well, she would be cleaning up her spare-room, then they would pick up Emmet at the airport and head back to Unova to morning the last hope they had for their brother to return home.

She listened closely as she heard Emmet take a shaky breath, her heart already beginning to drop as she felt like it was a bad sign.

"Yes! It is verrrry much Ingo!"

Eleas nearly dropped the phone from how much she was shaking, tears quickly framing in her eyes.

Ingo… after so long…

"Are-are you sure?" Just as the words left her mouth she quickly shook her head. "What am I saying? Of course you are!" Emmet would know his brother anywhere, so if he said this was Ingo then it was Ingo. He wouldn't joke about this, never this.

"H-how is he? Is he okay? Does he know what happened? Why is he in Sinnoh?!" Questions came pouring out of her mouth as she tried to wipe the tears out of her eyes, yet the smile would not leave her face.

"He seemed fine to me, though he was verrrry scruffy looking. But he had a bunch of machines connected to him, so I’m unsure. And I didn't ask about what happened, it slipped my mind."

"O-oh, okay" of course, Eleas didn't really expect Emmet to grill his twin answers after being apart for so long.

"Look, Emmet, I'm running over to your place in a bit to pack a bag for Ingo." Arceus, just saying that, made her start tearing up again. "Is there anything I should grab while I'm there? Do you need anything while I'm there?" 

"I am Emmet, and I don't think I need anything. But I think Ingo would like some comfy clothes. Like a T-shirt and sweatpants. Simple stuff. Maybe a sweater, it is cold here, verrrry cold…hm" She heard him suddenly trail off, humming to himself in thought before continuing. "Actually, Eleas, could you do me a favor?"

"Ah, sure…what is it?" She replied, Slightly taken aback by this sudden request.

"Could you contact Drayden for me? I would like to know if he had anything from when me and Ingo were little…verrrry little. like clothes and such "

"Um… okay," an odd request. "Can I ask why?"

"Maybe get him to call-no, me text me later."

"Emmet, sweetie, why would you need clothes from when you two were kids?" She tried again, feeling like she was missing something important.

Silence.

"Emmet…you still there?" She started to wonder if his phone had just died on him, that was until he started speaking again.

"Um…how should I put this…ah… you'reanauntnow bye!" Then the line went dead.

The dial tone beeped quietly in the dark, as Eleas stared down at her phone, the glowing screen telling her the call had ended. her mind working at a Sliggoo's pace to try and make sense of Emmet’s rapid fire speech.

The sound of soft footsteps echoed quietly in the dark as Skyla slowly padded down the hall, yawning as she looked into the Kitchen. "Hey, Eleas, did you get a hold of Emmet yet?"

Slowly, she turned her head, eyes wide as she looked over at her tired Girlfriend. Her mind still struggling to grasp the realization of what Emmet had just told her.

"Eleas?" Skyla asked, worry written across her face as she took a careful step towards her. "Are you okay? What happened? Was it not Ingo? It's okay, I'm sure he's out there somewhere. Look let's get you some hot coffee and then we'll go get Emmet-"

She couldn't keep it in any more. 

Throwing her arms around her girlfriend she screamed, not caring if she woke the neighbors up.

"WHAT DOES HE MEAN I'M AN AUNT NOW?!"

"WHAT?!"

—

Emmet was starting to wonder if Arceus itself was trying to keep his visits with his brother short.

Thanks to Eleas's call last night, he had overslept, making him verrrrry late. 

He still might have made it on time if there had not been a line at the café he stopped at to get a cup of coffee and a bagel, probably not the best idea when you're in a rush but the last thing Emmet wanted was a repeat of yesterday.

So by the time he made it to Snowpoint hospital, up to his brother’s room, they had only had time for a fifteen minute visit before Ingo was whisked off by the doctors.

At least this time he hadn't been asked to leave, and this time he wasn't alone. 

Ingo had not been too thrilled about leaving his kids behind, wanting to take them with him to whatever test that was being done. But the doctors and nurses managed to convince him that the boys would be better off left in the care of their uncle, rather than watching their father get an MRI.

With a reluctant sigh, Ingo told his boys to ‘be good’ and promised his brother that he would be ‘right back’, before finally following the doctor's out…

Leaving Emmet to stand awkwardly in the room with his two Nephews, whom he had only met yesterday.

And oh was the awkwardness palpable.

Emmet stood, rocking slightly back and forth on his heels, as he tried to figure out some way the silence between himself and the little passengers. He knew nothing about these kids other than they were his brother’s and they were verrrry young. So finding a subject that he could use to break the ice without his brother around was proving to be more of a challenge then he would have liked.

“Are you a Warden like daddy, Uncle Emmet?” The two year-old’s…no… Caleb's voice cut through Emmet’s thoughts. The young boy looked up at his uncle, holding his brother in his arms.

“Warden?” Emmet tilted his head, unsure what the young boy was talking about. “I am not sure what a Warden is.”

“Um…” The boy hummed, his little face scrunching up in thought. “a Warden takes care of a special pokemon” 

“I see…” was this what his brother had been up to all these years? “No, I am not a Warden. I am a Subway boss, one of two.”

“Subway Boss?”

“Yep, we conduct the Subways of Unova, and battle any trainers with a win strike of twenty or higher.” Emmet explained upon seeing the confusion on the boy's face. It was fine, most people from other regions were confused with the idea of involving the battle Subway. something about battling on a moving train seemed to baffle people for whatever reason. 

And since his poor brother currently didn't have the best memory at the moment, it was no wonder his children didn't know what a Subway boss was. But that was fine, Emmet was happy to explain.

“What's a Subway?”

Now that caught Emmet off, if only just a bit. 

Had Ingo forgotten Subways as well?

But this was fine. Most regions didn't have Subways. After all, it was rather easy to explain. “A Subway is a train that travels underground to its destination.” 

“What’s a Train?”

Now that Question had been like a Sucker Punch right to the gut.

“your-you're father never told you about trains?” Emmet questioned, looking down at his Nephews as Caleb shook his head. 

Ingo never told his sons about trains. The notion almost seemed ridiculous. Blasphemous almost. 

So did that mean…

Ingo had forgotten Trains as well?

Just how bad was his brother’s amnesia?

“Well then…” Emmet started, straightening his hat and standing up just a little straighter. “We'll just have to fix that, won't we. Come.”

Quickly, he ushered the boys towards the bed. Excitement pumping through his veins at the thought sharing all he knew about his favorite mode of transportation. He even scooped Fjord out of his brother’s arms and rested him on his lap, without even realizing it. 

As he waited for Calab to crawl up beside him, Emmet dug out his phone, opening his personal gallery and pulling up some of his favorites.

“This, my dear Nephews, is a train.” Emmet turned his phone sideways, so that the kids could have a better view of the image of the old Galarain steam-train. 

“Whoa!”

“A train is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track-”

—

“And this one is the magnet train, in Johto that runs between Goldenrod City and Saffron city in Kanto.” Emmet explained flipping to the image of the Johtoan train he had taken several years ago. “it can travel over 340 miles per hour”

“Wow, really? How can it go that fast?” 

“It uses a magnetic force to levitate along the rails, allowing it to move without any rolling resistance.” Emmet happily answered, flipping to a Poketube video that showed the train in motion, and turning the phone just enough so Caleb could get a better look. “It's like how a Magnezone levitates.”

He wasn't sure how long they had been at this, but at this rate he could hardly care. Emmet was having a blast. It had been so long since he'd been able to just info dump about trains to someone, to have them genuinely be interested and actually engage in the conversation. 

Sure, Caleb's questions were fairly basic, and Emmet was pretty sure a lot of the finer details flew right over his head. Yet he still seemed to hang onto Emmet’s every word with wide eyes and a want to know more. 

Even the boy's brother Fjord, as young as he was, seemed to show interest. While the baby had not been as vocal as his brother, (Emmet wasn't sure he could even string together words yet,) Fjord had a very tiny death grip on the arm. Like he was trying to keep Emmet from moving his arm too much as he stared at the screen, mesmerized by the pictures and videos in front of him.

If this was what being an uncle was like, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. 

“Now this is an old Steam train.” Emmet flipped to a new photo, which he had taken the last time he had been in Anville town. “It is currently decommissioned, but they have it on display at the railyard.”

“Wow! It's so big! Is it like the other one you showed us? The one in Galar?” Caleb asked, leaning forward on his Uncle’s lap, trying to get a closer look.

“Close, the one in Galar is a newer locomotive, and mostly transport people. This one was used for freight when it was in use.” Emmet explained carefully and as simply as he could. “This picture does not really do it justice, but we can go see the real thing, once we are settled back in Unova.” 

Then a thought occurred.

Emmet looked over at Caleb, watching as the boy stared wide eyed at the screen. It still seemed strange to think that he'd never seen a train before. Even if there wasn't a railway system in their region,  surely they would have at least seen one in tv.

“Are there really no trains where you are from?” Emmet asked, titling his head slightly as he watched Caleb closely.

The boy shook his head looking away from the screen. “Nope, Hisui doesn't have anything like that” Caleb hummed “except maybe the angry steelix that lives down the mountain.” 

Ah! Perfect! 

Now he had a name for the region his brother had been taken to.

Hisui!

He’d honestly never heard of the region before. But that was what the internet was for.

“As much as I hate to say this, but we must switch tracks away from trains for a little bit.” Emmet announced, returning to the home screen on his phone. “I need to look something up.”

The second he looked back at his Nephews, he was met with sadden faces and Lilpup eyes that pulled on his heartstrings. 

“awe, can't we look at just one more?” Caleb asked, looking up at him with big sad eyes. Even the boy's brother, whom Caleb had pulled into his own lap,  looked up sadly at him once he realized the images on the phone weren't coming back. “Please, Uncle Emmet”

This was honestly not fair, he was being hit by a tag team using super effective moves, with no back up of his own.

How did Ingo mange this on his own.

Just one more train couldn't hurt…

A short one.

Emmet shook his head, no, he needed answers now, he was so Close to understanding what happened to his brother that he could taste it.

What he needed was a distraction of his own.

“We can look at trains later, but for now, would you like to meet some Pokémon?” The moment the words left his mouth, the assault stopped and the two boys looked at him with curiosity.

“You have pokemon, like dad?” Caleb almost sounded shocked by the concept.

Just what kind of place was Hisui?

“Of course, in fact, I have two on my person right now, though I normally have six.” Emmet answered, standing up and slowly reaching for his belt, taking the two pokeballs resting there, one of which shook ever so slightly. 

Technically, this was verrrry much against the rules, but so long as they weren't caught, it should be fine. Besides he couldn't back down now, not when his Nephews were staring at him so expectantly “I have known both of these pokemon for a verrrry long time, one of them is even my partner.” 

Emmet held out the two pokeballs, having every intention of releasing Eelektross first as he wanted to keep control of the situation even if he would be otherwise distracted. But the shaking of the other ball started to intensify until it burst open in his hand, and Chandelure appeared before him, twirling in the air as she shook off the glow of the pokeball.

She must have sensed her trainer nearby and broke out of her Pokeball, Emmet reasoned, she had been very anxious to see Ingo again after so long. 

“Chandelure!” Emmet called out, trying to catch the ghost's attention as she looked down at the two children below.

Just staring at them like she had never seen children before. 

Odd…

“Chandelure” He tried again. “These are my Nephews, Caleb and Fjord-”

Before Emmet could even get another word out, Chandelure let out an excited chime and suddenly charged towards the boys, bowling into them and knocking them both back onto the mattress.

“No,no,no,no” panic shot through the subway boss’s  veins as he quickly reached out to try and pull the ghost type away from the boys. That would be just luck, Ingo's partner pokemon mauling his kids while under his watch. 

Chandelure resisted the first couple of pulls, but finally she gave way, turning to look back at Emmet with an indignant stare. The boys on the other hand were…totally fine. their hair was a little messy from being squished against the bed, but otherwise they were completely fine. Fjord was even reaching up towards the Pokémon, as if trying get Chandelure to come back to him.

But still, that was a shock to the system that Emmet just did not need.

He'd never seen Chandelure act like that. She had always been good with passengers but never aggressively so. 

Perhaps it was the excitement of wanting to see Ingo again, and she could sense him on the two. Or, she somehow knew that these were his kids. Either way, safety checks must be maintained.

“Please be a little gentler, Chandelure,” Emmet warned, letting go of her arm. “Ingo would be quite displeased if something happened to his children while he was out.”

There were a few chimes in reply, that Emmet was positive was some form of sass, but she remained in place, so she was at least being compliant. 

With any luck, she would be able to handle the two herself.

“I am Emmet, and I need to look something up, right quick. Can you keep these two entertained for the time being?”

Chandelure bobbed in the air once, before once more charging towards the two again. 

Emmet stood for a moment, making sure he was hearing giggles, and not screams, before taking a seat and taking his phone back out.

“Now, time to see what I can find about this…Hisui.”