#i guess??? it's...green...cause its alien blood

[my2phetaliaheadcanons]

Let's Build an AU Poll #3

PREVIOUSLY ON BUILD AN AU~

All our sweet heroine wanted to do was repair a leaky faucet. Instead, she fell down a dark pipe in her basement, taking her from the world she knew. The trip down changed her body from a chunky 3D to a flat 2D sticker.

Now, confronted with a possible threat (Y/N)’s on edge.

~

 “It’s a~ me-”

(Y/N)’s heart raised itself to its crescendo. Its beats overtook the bush rustling as the blood raced in her ears. She couldn’t look away from the leather gloves that pushed aside the foliage.

She leaned back. Her legs tense, but frozen as the leafy tunnel flashed two blue orbs. She swore, it growled as a couple tears fell and her body trembled.

“Alfred!” Cheered the happy face that popped into view.

At the strange man’s bright smile, (Y/N)’s legs gave out. Fear turned to confusion as she processed the view in front of her.

The man, or at least (Y/N) assumed he was an adult with those ‘chibi proportions’, struggled momentarily to remove himself from the bush. Its green, construction paper leaves stuck to his flat surface like stickers. Each twist of his flimsy body revealed that he was double-sided as he plucked off each leaf.

Yet, some parts of Alfred moved like a normal man. His golden hair fluttered as he messed with the burrs. Sapphire eyes, hidden behind round glasses glinted in the sunlight as he looked over himself. His round, gloved hands moved without hindrance as he felt along his jean overalls for more plant matter.

Alfred would have been very handsome. If he was normal.

“-that’s how I found you.” Alfred trained his blue eyes onto (Y/N). “So, what’s your name.”

And apparently, he had been talking all this time.

(Y/N) um’ed as she looked around with reddened eyes. She could feel the smoke that floated off her fried nerves as she weighed her options.

To trust, meant that Alfred would be her defacto hero. He hopefully would rescue her and get her home within an hour. On the other hand, what if he wasn’t as nice as he looked. What if this was all just a ruse? A wolf in sheep’s clothing so to-

(Y/N)’s off-rail train was stopped as Alfred knelt down in front of her. His face contorted with worry as he took her hands in his.

“Dudette, you ok?”

The way he rubbed his thumbs over her hands, felt normal, comforting even. Like she was still in the 3D world. Sitting at home, warped in a fleece blanket on her grey couch.

“I’m o-“ (Y/N)’s voice warbled as tears rose again like hightide. “kay.”

His baby blues softened as he wiped away a single tear that dared to fall.

“Hey~” He cooed. “I’m a hero, you can trust me to help.”

His smile was so warm. Begging her to let him help. With a sigh, (Y/N) answered with her name.

Somehow, the smile rivaled the cartoony sun above as he complimented her name. Repeating it with a happy chirp as he pulled her up from the meadow floor.

“So, wanna tell me how you wound up Merry Meadow?”

A small heat flushed over (Y/N)’s cheeks as she told the blond her story. The embarrassment burned as she detailed the trek into the basement. Her hands fluttered in gestures as she explained the strange pipes and painful transformation.

 At the end of her tale, Alfred stared at (Y/N) for a moment. His blue eyes were blank as he blinked.

She jumped at his sudden grab. His gloved appendages were on hers once more. He dragged her close, his eyes now sparkled with excitement as he lowered his face close.

“YOU’RE AN ALIEN!!”

The sheer volume of his voice rang her eardrums as she flinched backward. Yet, she remained upright from his unrelenting grip.

“WHAT?! No! If anyone’s an alien, it's you!” She accused, ripping her hands out of his grip. Her finger aimed at his face.

Nah-uh. Shook the blond. “You’re not from here, which means it's you.”

Oh. (Y/N)’s finger fell. She guessed he was right. But did that mean she couldn't get home? After all, she was under the assumption that pipe was a one-way trip. Could there really be a way to return home? What if her ‘alien’ status caused her to be hunted and killed? Or worse, become an experiment?

As her fates raced before her eyes, Alfred put a hand on her shoulder. He gave it a simple squeeze, bringing her attention back to him.

“Don’t worry Alien (Y/N).” Alfred said with a laugh and thumbs up. “As the hero of the Toad Kingdom, I’ll get you back to your spaceship.”

Huh? Now, it was (Y/N)’s turn to blink blankly. At what point did she mention a ship? Was this his poor attempt at meta-humor?

Alfred looked to the side and coughed when (Y/N) didn’t react. She swore he muttered something in that cough. Stuffed craow, maybe? Was that a-

“Anyway!” Alfred chirped. “How about you come back with me to my place?”

Once again (Y/N)’s face embraced the inferno as she squeaked. What did he mean by that?!

“Yeah, ya know.” He spoke with an innocent head tilt. “So, you can rest, before we figure out which warp pipe will get you home.”

Ah, that made more sense.

Nodding she gestured to him to lead the way.

~

Despite his chibi portions, Alfred moved fast. It felt even faster to (Y/N) as she tried to take in the meadow around her.

It was weird to take in all the cartoony nature. The over-saturated flowers came in both natural and unnatural colors. The paper grass that crunched under (Y/N)’s bare feet and Alfred’s work boots. The sky was a single shade of blue instead of the ever-changing gradient of blues she was used to.

In the distance, the occasional spiraled tower appeared, but this time they weren’t as scary. Even with their hyper-focused stares, Alfred’s presence lessened their pressure.  

As she noticed her observation created too great a gap, she dashed forward. Nervous that if she let him go too far, she would lose sight of her only salvation.

Not realizing he stopped, (Y/N) ran right into his back. She grunted; her arms scrambled to prevent herself from falling like a piece of paper.

The ‘hero’ said nothing about her plight. Just reached an arm back to steady her.

“Don’t move.”

Her eyes widened at his serious tone. Before she could utter a single question, two beings hopped out of the grass.

They seemed humanish at first with their chibi human proportions. That was it, though. These beings had big, brown, bowel cuts that draped like ugly curtains over ferociously thick eyebrows. Their eyes were dark and angry while each snarled lip was cornered by two large tusks.

 The taller of the two stepped forward. His voice was gruff as he shouted at Alfred.

“ALFRED!! IN THE NAME OF THE KOOPA KING, THIS IS WHERE YOU AND YOUR FRIEND FALL!”

 As the last syllable floated through the air, the duo rushed forward. Their tiny hands balled into fists as they were prepped to punch both (Y/N) and Alfred.

(Y/N) tried to scream that she just met the man. That she didn’t understand what was happening, but it fell on deaf ears. If they had ears.

The short one targeted (Y/N) but before his punch could land, she found herself thrown into the air. In shock, she turned to look downward. Alfred had been the one to throw her away as he dodged his own assailant. With a simple turn on the point of his boot, he was able to land a solid punch. The force flung the enemy back.

As she sailed downwards, she watched in amazement as Alfred then turned to the short one. A blood thirsty grin split his face as he kicked the being. It appeared to fly further than the first as it flew toward it.

Her fluttering fall took her back towards the ground, but before she could make contact Alfred’s strong arms cradled her. He tucked her head under his chin as he turned to address those freaks.

“Tell your king that if he really wants to stop me, he needs to stop sending Goombas!”

At that comment, the ‘goombas’ growled and stood back up. Red streamers seeped from their road rashes as they supported each other. Even from a distance, (Y/N) believed they were ready for round two.

But, a simple challenge stomp from Alfred caused them to pause. When he took a step forward with (Y/N) in his arms, they began to tremble. Another, with the same malicious grin, and the goombas turned and dashed.

As their retreat kicked up a cloud of dirt, Alfred laughed. It was loud and clear like a young lion declaring victory over his territory. (Y/N) still tucked tightly in his arms.

The jovial nature behind it wiped away all traces of blood-thirstiness. Yet, she couldn't forget any of that.

“What the HECK was THAT!?” She squirmed in his arms as Alfred resumed his path home.

“A normal Tuesday.” He responded with a chuckle.

~

It took a bit for Alfred to finally let (Y/N) down. The man had used the excuse of other creatures coming in for kill as a reason to keep her close.

It wasn’t enough to keep her there forever, especially since they had settled into silence. Though, (Y/N) was sure he could tell she had more questions. Alot more that stewed in the back of her mind.

As the arts and crafts sun began to set, Alfred turned back to her. His arm reached around her shoulders as he gestured to a cabin at the hill’s bottom.

“There’s home sweet home, alien dudette.”

“It’s quaint.” She responded. The sight was like an open door, inviting exhaustion to lay heavily upon her flattened bones and brain.

As (Y/N)’s shoulders sagged under Alfred’s grip, he hummed. It’s deep, melody relaxing the stressed woman even more.

“Do you want to me to carry you again?” She didn’t even look at him as she said no. She walked ahead; feet heavy as she was eager to reach her promised rest.

Near feet from the door, Alfred popped up next to her. Somehow having one last burst of energy as he positioned himself in front of her.

“Dudette, I forgot to tell you one thing.”

She cocked an eyebrow at his statement. Silently urged him to get on with it.

“My brother lives with me. And he’s a bit skittish.” Alfred pushed his fingers together in a cutely nervous fashion. “So… would you wait outside while I talk to him.”

Another blank stare, this time created by the numb exhaustion.

“Please?” He added with the sweetest puppy dog eyes.

Instead of the basic ok (Y/N) wanted to give. Annoyance from all the unknows crept into her tone.

“Only if you give me a blanket and pillow first.”

The fun thing about AUs is that they don't have to follow the canon. Though I am 90% sure which nation will be Luigi, I just wanna see what y'all will say.

[waeirfaahl]

No reaction, no doubts

In my previous posts (here and here) I kicked the three alien gods. In this post I'll kick the different aspect of the moments with them. Specifically, the moment in 5 season.

Let's look at the comics for the start. Jack lost his sword due to the energy burst during his attempt to open the time portal. In despair, he wanders and hides from Aku (and in the comics Aku immediately felt the destruction of the sword and put Jack on the wanted list, so everyone is ordered/offered to kill Jack — pretty weird that Aku didn't use his mirror for finding and killing Jack himself, because I doubt that changing of your clothess and getting long hair and beard will hide you from magic mirror, so Aku used for this Jack's blood, given to him by the bounty hunter robot, and then finally found out Jack without the sword). And then the exhausted and weakened Jack remembers his dad and the tale of how Emperor got the sword.

And here Emperor tells the story, very close to the events in "Birth of Evil". And apparently it happens before 1 season 1 episode. I guess, Jack was too young to not notice, how his dad doesn't mention some events in later iterations. Because, as I pointed out here, there's contradiction. Or the alien gods really started to erase some memories of Jack's dad?

Here Emperor admits that he watched Aku's birth, but doesn't aknowledge (or doesn't realize his responsibility) that he himself accidentally created Aku, gave the life to him. Because here he doesn't mention about the poisoned arrow and his attempt to destroy the dark shred, which instead caused Aku's birth.

For some reason their laser from eyes here is green instead of blue. Hmm, just like the color of the poison the Emperor used... But no matter, Jack is exhausted and simply hallucinates.

This color changing could be done because of visual aesthetics, but still pretty weird.

I mean, their main color is exactly blue. In "Birth of Evil" their laser/fire is blue, the light from their weapons is blue, even the eyes of their animals are blue. Ra's crocodile, Odin's stallion, although Rama's elephant has pink eyes, but I think that it's implying that Rama and his animal are blind (because Rama's eyes are black). Plus, the raven, another Odin's animal, also has blue eyes and blue light as well, when it teleported Jack to the castle of the alien gods, where they made the sword to Jack's dad in "Birth of Evil". (yep, even here the comics are authentic and respectful to the classic seasons and their canon — if in "Birth of Evil" Odin's stallion leads Jack's dad to their castle, in the comics Odin's raven leads Jack).

Later the alien gods appear in their true form (just like the classic episodes, the comics also hint that the monks are simply their human forms/avatars) and tell to Jack another part of the story, the beginning. Jack is calm here, because he knows about them from his father's tales. Remember that moment.

And this scene has own weird moments. Notice that they never refer to Aku as to a living being (which was deprived of free will and chance to become accepted, loved and "good guy" creature). They refer to Aku as the part of the Void of Ultimate Evil. And the most astounding thing — they don't mention that both they and the Void arose from the same star. Simply saying, the thing they know nothing about they themselves mark as the evil and kill, as well as the offspring (Aku) of this void they treat as the shred of the evil, which must be killed. They created the rules of this game. And they don't mention that Emperor created Aku as well. They test and judge Jack for loss of the sword (ah, guys, you themselves have weapons for "destroying the evil", what's problem? and why didn't you say to Jack that it's a bad idea to create time paradoxes?). And they also hint to Jack what his father said to him once in 1 episode of 1 season — the sword is just a tool, the main thing is the soul and its strength and purity.

They don't make to Jack the new sword, they don't restore Emperor's sword, they hint the way how Jack can make his own spirit to be his own weapon. And Jack does this in the deadly battle with Aku. He'll never give up.

Incredibly epic and powerful moment. Despite some strange moments, the comics really nailed the core of the show and the character. Awesome arc, leading to his decision to fight for the future and his friends he met and helped.

But this beauty was destroyed and threw away from canon in favor of the cursed 5 season. Hence nothing of this happened in the show anymore. What caught me out of guard in 5 season — Jack's absolutely absent reaction at the alien gods during his first encounter with them. Emperor never told to him about the alien gods and what they did, Jack never knew about it. Simply saying, he sees them for the first time, but there's no fear, no suspicion, no distrust, no assumption that they can be another spies or bounty hunters etc. And when they briefly mention that Jack was the chosen one just like his father, Jack again has no reaction. He doesn't ask them at all about "You knew my dad? You created the sword? Who are you? You know Aku — what caused the conflict in the first place? Why you ignored me all these 50 years? Why you ignored Aku's crimes on Earth and didn't beat him themselves all this time?". Why?!

Like, at least, in "Birth of Evil" Emperor's "absent" reaction (his face was literally "WTF is going on?!") was understandable — like, he encounters the supernatural beings for the first time in his life, he wants to protect his family and kingdom from the creature he created (without realizing this) and saw as the deadly threat, so he seeks for help and easily believes to the creepy trio's words about Ultimate Evil thing, because they create the weapon for him to succeed in defeating the demon. Why Jack has no reaction and no doubts, I have no idea.

[cescalr]

small [read: lengthy] mcrp (traffic/hermits) sims update

No more new DSMP sims, but a bunch of [the same] Hermits/Traffic sims! Mostly - mostly just Joels. The way I’m doing this is making each character, and then colour palette swapping them for each life stage in each series. 

I kind of did SB out of order cause i watched LimLife first, so i knew that skin best (aside from his standard human shrek skin that i kind of mostly just want to....... ignore.... because its. it’s. it’s human shrek guys. i don’t - i can’t. I refuse.) ANYWAY yeah so we’ve got;

LimLife; green and red.

double life; green

I’m probably gonna change his hair idk. DL!Joel isn’t set in stone yet. (Once I get to life stage swapping of colours i will fucking refuse to change anything about the design because OH GOD how long that would take.....)

last life; green is currently in progress.

Taking liberties too for variety’s sake. Not that he spent long on Green or Yellow in LastLife, lol. Still. Ignore the crown is floating; the height slider mod and the hat slider mod (for adjusting the positon of hat-category CC, not always hats though) conflict with each other as they use the same slider location (neck). REALLY annoying. Used to exist a height slider that used the front foot location instead of the neck and I wish it still worked so I could have them both in game at the same time... alas. Also if you remove the hat slider the hats reset to original position, which is horrendous. If you remove the height slider this is not the case, so basically; do heights first, then hats. Learnt this the hard way. Annoying, though, because if they’re too short you can’t access the neck in order to adjust hat position........... ugh. Problem for future Cesca to deal with. I do have the hairs I’ll be using for Yellow and Red LastLife Joel already set aside, though. There’s so much shit I have to keep track of for this project lmao. Might swap the pinkish/reddish crown over to his greenlife and use the gold one for yellow because..... it’s... yellow. Obviously. Don’t know why I thought I needed to explain that one...Canonically he’s wearing the black crown during his redlife, so. You know. Can’t really mess with that one. 

3rd life; green, yellow and red. 

Yeah i went with the wolf thing as best I could for variety’s sake. Also like a kind of transformative corruption or whatever idk what the fuck i’m talking about. Loads of fanart gives him antennae (I guess as a way of interpreting the shrek ears?) so I just. Went with that. Why not. Alien man. Sure. Skin tinted green, yellow and red on each life. There are SO many swatches i have to swap around guys. so many. just so many. The reason i haven’t colour palette swapped LimLife!Yellow!Joel yet is bc. oh god the number of swatches i’m going to have to swap around.... 

Couple higher res images; 

Green!3rdLife / Mazalean King!Joel, hence the purple streaks. I use an eye shine for the Traffic versions as an extra way to distinguish between non-death game versions of the characters and their usual selves. This is also what i consider Joel’s ‘default’ hairstyle to be, I guess. For now. 

 Couldn’t really tell in the preview, but red!3rdLife Joel is. just. that’s a lot of blood. (Not his.) 

For obvious reasons, my favourite Joel to make was LimLife joel. 

OTT? Absolutely. As he should be. Ik the darker green/teal dye is a bit glitched but i just used whatever I could find that worked. Can’t be arsed to replace with a better option now I have one, which I did use for the red!life and will use for the yellow. I still think it looks pretty great so I don’t really care. These glasses took FOREVER to find btw. But they’re perfect <3 so. Worth it. I also saw people draw LimLife!Joel with some kind of goatee-esque facial hair, unlike his usual design (and the times he has a full beard, like LastLife and Empires s2), and you know. Go big or go home! Especially with a Joel design. (Or a Scar design, for that matter.) So I went with that, too. Not dyed though because. Maximalism. Also I’m pretty sure everyone’s like in their 30s and I’m not checking that assumption. Jsyk. LimLife Joel is having a midlife crisis a decade too early <3. Anyway I finally got a chance to use all my alt cc i’ve been saving up for soooooo long because it’s so fun. So that’s nice. Pathetic worst loser gang Bad Boys trio my beloveds <3. Can’t wait to make tryhard failing at punk LimLife!Jimmy. That’s gonna be so fun. 

Got a base Rendog;

Which is hermit!Ren (s9, specifically). I need to make King!Ren and then i can start going over the Traffic!Rens. He has the wrong ears really because I wanted it to be more of a dog thing than a wolf thing, and I actually think these are fox ears now I’m looking at them... Oh well. They work fine for their purpose.

We’ve got s7, s8s, and a s9 Mumbo;

s7;

s8s;

Mooner:

Pacific:

Contractually harvested a soul (grian’s);

s9;

But we’ve got no potato or pig mumbo bc of the sims 4′s limitations when it comes to non-human[oid] characters. Need to make Traffic!Mumbo. I tihink he was only in LastLife??? So if that’s the case at least there’s only one of him to be dealing with. He’s got a bunch of outfits other than these because I don’t actually get to use the more formal cc I have in my game all that often. Pacific!Mumbo has a bunch of really fun outfits too. Mumbo was one of the more funky sims to make, actually.

As for Grians we’ve only got a s9 Grain man so far; 

And yeah, the wingspan is kind of absurd. But you know. To lift a whole-ass human person, it kind of has to be!

But he does have some CuteGuy alterego outfits;

I did a whole bunch of different ones, and given the watcher!grian of it all some even have different wings. Though most of those are admitedly just a swatch swap.

Being this one.

Please ignore how bad he looks from this angle but you can also see here the reason for Grian’s-Soul-Having-Mumbo’s hairstyle.

Anyway, can’t make a Poultry Man for the same kind of reason as the lack of pig/potato mumbo; there’s just no content in game or cc i can find that would make that work. (Need a chicken mascot head, basically, but there’s nothing like that anywhere I can find.) Can’t make a watcher!Grian for the same reason - no way to get enough eyes. [i go with a more eldritch angel inspired idea for how watchers look, syk. I’ve also never read ATUS and don’t plan to; my ideas are based on a combination of a) imagination and b) EVO. Also why would watchers cover their eyes......... they. they. they’re Watchers. They need those.]

I think Gem would be one of the easier ones to make (s9 Gem). So she’ll probably be next. Cleo i need to find some medusa snake hair for and some torso damage (because of the giant missing chunk in their side) as well, so that’ll be a while off. But LimLife!Cleo is easier, so she’ll probably be the first Cleo I make. I’ve already got a bunch of 80s athletic gear. Scar.... not sure how to go abt him. Also daunting bc he plays just so much dress up so much all the time so there’s going to be So Many Of Him it’s going to take forever. Cubfan shouldn’t be too hard he’s just like some guy scientist edition and never changes his clothes (as far as I know). Much like DSMP!Sam being a creeper man i’m not really sure how to render Doc given he’s also just a creeper man (with additional cyborg goat elements). Also need a labcoat cc that works for him; open, one arm ripped off, cyborg arm on that side. Really specific shit I just don’t have available unless i make it myself, and I can’t do that. Awkward to deal with; putting off as long as possible. Though i suppose a lot of fanart DocM77 uses in his thumbnails (so, as I see it, accepted as canonical appearance fanart) is a much more humanoid green guy so... I might just go with that for ease. Have everything I need for both Hermit!S9!False & Empires!S2!False, just need to make her (and decide how similar to Lomadia I want her to look. I love making things cross over with each other so it would be really funny if they’re related. To me specifically. Interconnected MC Multiverse my beloved. Every time I see a False fanart I do a double take because my brain is like. Lomadia??? no it’s False. Chronic YogsMC brain at work right there. Also False is just so weird homicidal multiple versions of self that don’t get along she’d fit right in with the YogsMC gang <3. YogLabs experimentation on the nature of Players and Respawn my beloved.)

This is my Lomadia, ftr. If you’ve seen False fanart then you’ll get why I keep confusing the two blondes. Also this outfit is a sort of placeholder. I can’t find anything even remotely like her actual skin’s attire. And I think I’m missing something that can be used to recolour the hair ties... Anyway -

Skizz really shouldn’t be difficult esp LimLife!Red!Skizz. Though i might have to go to some awkward places to get the right cc for him. (mans is really just dressed like an office worker stripper huh.) Either way Skizz wasn’t in Double Life. I’ll have to check for the other two but I think he was there? One less series for me to make though which. Makes it much easier. I’ll be going with the angel headcanon because that gives a reason why he wasn’t in DL (Angels have no soul. Literally. It’s really funny. Soulless [compliment] alskjf;alskdf.)

Etho is literally just straight-up Kakashi Hatake from Naruto. I can probably download a sim of him. It’s highly likely one already exists. Tweak the outfits and I’ll be done. Easiest shit ever. (Like Xisuma is Just Doom Guy and Philza is Just That One Bleach Character I Keep Forgetting The Name Of.) Either that or I take as much artistic licence as physically possible because I find it really really really really really boring when they’re Just Some Pre-Existing Character Design. I hate it actually. Like a lot. Hence ignoring (... mostly) that Joel is Just Human Shrek. I’ll probably - I’ll probably do that. Canonically Etho wore a T-shirt of his own face which is fucking hilarious so i’m going to try and find some naruto merch cc. Also the one and only time I know of Etho changing his character’s skin was DL so I’ll need to do some research to check but keep that in mind even if it isn’t true. And maybe have it be canon to my AU that’s the single time this man ever changed his outfit just because i think that’s so beyond funny. One and only time. Wow. Soulmateism hit him real hard huh. [Joel loves to play dress up... one and only time Etho changed his clothes......]. (I have. Just so many thoughts about how DL soulbonds & mumbo harvesting some of Grian’s soul functioned. Maybe I’ll natter on abt that at some point.)

Mhmmmmm errrr Bdubs isn’t going to be so bad. I’ve got the cc needed right down to the missing tooth so like... it’s just a matter of actually making him. Setting aside the time yk. I actually didn’t know welsknight existed until like two weeks ago so I need to do a) checking if he’s a storyline character or just kinda on the server and if the former then b) some Skin Studying bc I am. Just so blind. And i need to stare at things for far too long in order to actually know and be able to even slightly recall what they look like. But i do have a bunch of armour cc so he wouldn’t be difficult to make. Impulse is only difficult in that his top (t-shirt?) is so specific and I’m so not good at CC creating so i’ll probably be putting him off for ages. Or at least I might make his s9 dwarf sim and then craft the standard ver’s outfits later. Idk. Tango I don’t have... everything. He won’t be very firey if I do make him now so I should probably go see if there is anything even close to fire hair out there. I’ll make usual orange/red Tango first and then the blue Tango of the Tek variety later. I got the perfect torso cc for Ties!Tango. It’s great. 

Outside of all that it’s just a matter of like... time and dedication, I guess. And I don’t have much of the former available so we’ll... this project will probably take me years if we’re being real a sec here. Sigh. 

Anyway! I think that’s everything.

[unseenstreams]

some real old shit

homestuck fantrolls? on MY blog? it’s more likely than you think

[im-in-vin-ci-ble]

Hello~ Can I request a Mark x fem reader who’s a lot like starfire and is very Powerful close to omni man and is also an alien princess but she lives on earth and they go to the same school and she’s also a solo hero who one day sees invincible fighting off a tough villain with the teenteam but is losing so she steps in to help and he recognizes her and starts getting all nervous since he has a crush on her and then after that they introduce themselves get to know each other and eventually work they’re way up to mark confessing and she says yes :3

(If possible can it be a slow burn im a sucker for slow burn tropes and stuff 😤)

A/N: I gotchu, this bout to be a lil long 😮‍💨 making the fem!reader a little more human, figured since she’s in an actual school for humans she’d need to adapt to the humor/culture so she doesn’t get suspicious

Pairing: Mark Grayson x Fem!Reader

Rating: M, some swearing and gross monster guts

Warnings: N/A

Summary: Mark is finally joined in battle by an alien princess who has caught his attention. Turns out she goes to the same high school, and if he can throw around 150-pound monsters across the street, surely he can confess his true feelings to a girl... right?

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?!" Rex Splode yelled as he wobbled up off the ground. "We've been on this thing for hours and it only has one damn cut!"

"Calm down Rex," Atom Eve said from behind, "You're gonna get even more tired from yelling."

The two watched as Dupli-Kate attempted to distract the scaly kaiju, replicating herself second after second to give space for Invincible to hit the monster by surprise. The kaiju's screech echoed throughout the city and shook the foundations of the surrounding buildings, forcing Rex, Atom Eve and Robot to move aside and save however many civilians they could.

"Invincible," Dupli-Kate shouted, "I can't keep up much longer!"

A sonic boom overcame the surrounding noise and Invincible appeared from the clouds. Dropping in at maximum speed, the young superhero balled his hand into a fist and took a deep breath. A loud battle cry escaped his mouth but it was cut short as the kaiju's heavy arm slapped him away just in time, throwing him through destroyed buildings until he landed on the pavement.

Out of breath, dizzy, and in a serious amount of pain, Invincible laid on the broken road for a second to regain his strength. The wind softly blew down on him as he focused his sight on a contrail leading towards him, and he watched as a girl in purple land right next to him.

She bent down and held him upright, "Invincible, are you okay?"

"Mmhmm," Invincible croaked with a defeated smile, "Totally fine."

His sight reverted back to normal and the first face he saw shocked him alive. It was her. They never talked in school and he was almost sure she didn't know his real name, but here she was, basically cradling him in her arms and calling him Invincible.

So she knows who I am. At least with the suit.

"Come on, that kaiju is about to be destroy the entire city," she said, helping him get back on his feet and flying away to the seemingly unbeatable figure.

He huffed, "Stay cool, Mark. She's here to help," and he followed suit.

This marked the first time he really interacted with the new superhero; he'd only ever see her on TV or read about how she saved people on the newspaper. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find her attractive — as do most guys his age — but watching her blast the kaiju with the green bursts of energy from her hands made her only even more appealing.

Invincible regrouped with the rest of the Teen Team. "I don't know what else we can do to this thing," Atom Eve admitted.

"I do," the girl spoke up. "Distract it as best as you can but stay far away from the stomach. When I tell you to take cover, make a run for it."

Robot replied, "That seems highly dangerous."

"Let's do it," Invincible quickly replied in a high-pitched voice.

Everyone looked over at him, surprised at the sudden change in his voice and just how fast he reacted in agreement. 

"Uh, it's a good plan," he nodded, causing the girl to shoot a warm smile his way. "I definitely think we should do it... if all of you... uh, think, we should."

Exhausted and out of options, the rest of the group followed her orders and took different corners of the monster. Dupli-Kate handled one leg, Rex Splode handled the other, Robot and Atom Eve took the arms, and Invincible went back to the head. The kaiju struggled to keep its focus on just one of the heroes, and while it remained preoccupied, the girl absorbed all the energy she could muster and flew straight for the stomach.

"Take cover, now!"

Invincible and the Teen Team moved away and they watched as the flying hero's eyes opened in a bright shade of neon green, both her arms extended out as a large ball of green formed around her hands. The rays exploded right through the kaiju and it shrieked in pain as she briefly disappeared into the stomach. The kaiju lost balance and slowly fell forward as the girl, her eyes still green, appeared on the other side and harshly fell down on the ground.

The kaiju landed on the street with a loud boom and the group ran towards the girl who was now covered in parts of the kaiju's digestive system.

"Okay, that's kinda gross," Rex Splode commented, to which Dupli-Kate quickly responded, "Shut up."

Invincible dropped down on his knees and wiped the blood and guts off her face. Subtly admiring her facial features up close, he couldn't believe (and almost felt stupid) that he never recognized her despite the fact that he almost saw her everyday.

The girl groaned in agony softly shook her head, her eyes fluttering open to the sight of Invincible's dark hair, goggles and yellow mask.

"Hey, hey," he whispered, "Are you alright?"

She sat up and hissed at her injuries, holding her head with her bloody hand. "Mmhmm," she gently nodded with a half smile, her eye one still shut. "Totally fine."

---

Mark had a hard time focusing on school. His body ached from yesterday's injuries and he suffered a few bruises from literally tearing through buildings. He made his way to his locker and rested his head on the metal door, dreading the fact that he still has an entire afternoon of classes to go. Closing his eyes in hopes to quickly recharge, his moment of peace was disrupted when a shoulder rammed into his chest and several books landed right on his toe.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," a voice exclaimed.

Mark's head snapped up at the sound of the voice. It's her. He momentarily froze and watched the girl bend down to pick up her things, and when he finally regained movement a split second later, he also bent down to help her out. He kept quiet as he tried to think of the coolest possible response to make her think that he was actually the coolest guy in school, but all he could think of was how heavenly and badass she looked yesterday.

"Thanks," she said as he handed her the book. "I hope your foot doesn't bruise."

They both stood up and he shot her a nervous smile. "T-totally fine," he replied, clearing his throat afterwards.

She crossed her brows at his response and nodded, and a look of suspicion replaced her worried demeanor.

"I'm Mark, by the way," he cleared his throat again and reached out his hand, "Grayson."

"Mark... Grayson, huh?" she responded, scanning his face as her suspicion grew. Her eyes finally landed on the hand that was waiting, and she took one last look into his eyes before deciding to shake it. "I'm Y/N," she introduced herself with a skeptical smile, feeling his sweaty palm wrapped around hers. "I'll see you around, Mark Grayson."

She walked away and Mark's eyes followed her trail as far as he could see. He quickly pulled out his phone to send a text to Eve, who was actually watching their interaction a few classrooms down.

"Mark," Eve called out as she moved towards him. “So I’m assuming...”

"You knew?” he asked her in disbelief. “Why didn't you tell me Y/N was a superhero? I just introduced myself to her as Mark Grayson and I'm almost positive she knows I'm Invincible."

"First off, it's not my secret tell," she answered with a shrug. "Second, you guys didn’t trade secrets or whatever?”

Mark shook his head in a panic, "No, but I'm guessing she also knows that I know her secret the same way I know she knows my secret." He rested his forehead on the locker door once again and groaned, "Ugh, I'm so into her, it isn't even funny. And this whole superhero thing just made it even more awkward."

Eve laughed, "Look, I'm not going to force her to tell you if she isn't up for it, but if you want, I can ask her to hang out with us later. Maybe — emphasis on maybe — my presence will make her comfortable enough to admit who she is."

"Okay, okay," he sighed, turning around to rest the back of his head. "My insides are dying."

"After the kaiju yesterday, be thankful you don't mean that in a literal sense."

---

Where in the hell is Eve?

Mark pulled out his phone for the third time in 10 minutes. Still no call or response from Eve to his text. He was getting evidently nervous; his palms were sweaty again and it felt like someone turned up the heat in Burger Mart. His left leg jerked up and down in anxiety as he stared at his phone, looking at the seconds on the clock icon tick by. If he were left alone with Y/N, he'd have no idea what to say. What does she like? Should I bring up the kaiju yesterday and praise Invincible? No, she'll just think I'm full of myself.

"Hey Mark."

He jolted and saw Y/N standing by the corner of the booth. "Hi!" he replied in that irritatingly high-pitched voice. Mark's heart began to race and the thoughts in his head ran wild. "Um... Have a seat. Sorry Eve isn't here yet, she actually hasn't answered my calls or my messages. Teenage girls, huh? What can you do?"

She crossed her brows again and chuckled, "That's fine, we can wait for Eve. But I think I'm more concerned about you."

"What do you mean?"

Y/N chuckled again, "You seem... nervous.”

He faked an obnoxiously loud laugh, “Me? Nervous?”

She watched him from across the table in silence, waiting for him to regain his composure.

When Mark couldn’t hear Y/N laughing with him, he finally shut up and shook his head. “Yeah, I am nervous, sorry,” he admitted, shutting his eyes tight. 

She giggled, “Totally fine.”

Hearing her say those two words calmed his racing heartbeat. A smile crept on his face and she reciprocated, their eyes locking for a few seconds before both their phones buzzed.

“Oh, I just got a text from Eve,” Mark said. 

“Me too.” She opened the message and began to read it out loud, “Sorry, can’t make it tonight. Something came up.”

“Have fun, you two,” he followed, his voice faltering. He placed his phone, screen down this time, back on the table and sighed, “Sorry, guess you’re stuck with me. That is, if you do want to stay and... hang out, and stuff.”

"Why wouldn’t I?” she replied, her warm smile easing Mark back into a relaxed state. “It’s nice to have a friend who...” she trailed off, “understands.”

“Understands what?” he asked.

“This thing people like us call life,” she answered. “You know, it took me a long time to acclimate here. I didn’t think I ever would, then I met friends who made this place feel like home. And home is a feeling I hadn’t felt in a really long time.”

Mark rested his elbows on the table and leaned in closer, “Well, I’m always here. You know, a-as a friend... or an acquaintance, even. I don’t, I don’t want to push it.”

Y/N giggled again, “You’re a funny man, Mark Grayson. This planet is lucky to have someone like you.” She reached out and held his hand, “And I’m even luckier to have you as a friend, or an acquaintance.” 

He felt the heat rush to his face and he could swear his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. The afternoon flew by in a hurry as they engaged in lengthy conversations, fatty fast food, and childhood stories. While Mark was open to sharing every tiny detail — down to the color of the bleachers at the park where he played little league — Y/N kept hers pretty vague, leaving out descriptions of family members and even the places where these stories happened. 

Mark’s phone buzzed again, but the vibrating pattern indicated it was a phone call. He turned the screen over and saw the unknown number; it was time to suit up.

“Shit, I’m sorry Y/N, but I need to go,” he said in a rush. “I have a... uh, an emergency.”

You couldn’t have thought of anything more specific?

“It’s cool. Um, don’t worry about it,” she said, shaking her head with her eyes glued to the vibrating phone. 

Mark’s one leg was already out the booth before he decided to finally just go for it. Sitting back down with his now quiet phone in his hands, he took a deep breath.

“Y/N, I think you’re really cool. Can I maybe, like, call you sometime, or something?”

Her lips formed into smile that extended to her eyes, and it was enough for Mark to melt a little. “Of course. Yeah, sure,” she replied in excitement and typed down her number on his phone. She handed it back, “Now you know how to reach me if you’re getting your ass whooped again.”

His mouth fell open as his shaky hands grabbed his phone. “Wait—”

She smoothly slid out of the booth, “See you later, Invincible,” she winked, “Don’t get killed today.”

---

Luckily for Mark, no one got killed today. Maybe a few wounds here and there, but nothing painful enough that will land him in the GDA hospital. After spending an hour in the shower, he finally managed to lie down on his bed and rest his body. He sank into the mattress and closed his eyes, taking in the seconds of undisturbed peace that have become rare moments since he got his powers. 

As he replayed the events of today’s fights in his head, his mind drifted off to the hours he spent with Y/N. He pulled out his phone and mustered the courage to press the dial button, and the repeating sound of the ringing was making his pulse race. 

“Hello?”

“Oh good, you didn’t die today.”

Mark chuckled and sandwiched his hand between his head and the pillow. “It wasn’t that bad today, just took a few hits,” he explained. “So listen, Y/N, I was wondering, uh—”

She cut him off, “What are you doing right now?”

“What?”

“What are you doing right now?” she repeated.

“Um, nothing, just getting some rest” he sat up and looked around. “Why?”

“If you’re not too tired, do you maybe...”

Mark smiled, “Maybe...?”

“I don’t know, sneak out? My roof is pretty comfortable.”

Silently fist pumping, he fully stood up and nodded, “Text me the address.”

Just as quietly as he exited his room via the window, he softly landed on Y/N’s roof. Swiftly flying up and greeting him, she took the place next to him and crossed her legs. 

“You’re right, your roof is pretty comfortable,” Mark said.

She chuckled at his remark then noticed a gash by his right temple. Her brows furrowed in worry, “You have a wound,” she said, making sure not to touch it.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, softly holding her hand and placing it back down with his. “Totally fine.”

Those words brought her some sense of comfort as her eyes softened, causing her to unconsciously squeeze his hand. Mark’s eyes widened and he looked down at their tangled fingers, frozen for a moment.

“Is this... okay with you?” he asked.

She nodded. “Wanna lie down? Since my roof is so comfortable?” she asked with a smirk.

“Sure,” Mark chuckled, removing his hand from her’s and stretching his arm out as they lied down. Y/N rested her head on his shoulder, keeping her eyes up at the stars.

“Hey Mark?”

“Yeah?”

A moment of silence.

“Thank you for coming.”

He looked down at her as she met his eyes, “You’re welcome.” 

The two shared a smile, and Mark took a deep breath as he prepared himself for the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

It’s now or never, Mark. Now or never.

“Watching you kick ass yesterday was... really a sight to see,” he began. “You’re powerful and strong, but more importantly, brave. And you’re so fucking beautiful and kind and smart and...” Mark trailed off, sighing, “I never thought I would be in this position — with you next to me in a very comfortable rooftop under the stars.”

“Mark...”

“And I really like you. Like, really, really like you.”

“Mark.”

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way, but I just wanted to let you know. It’s important that you know—”

“Mark,” she cut him off. “I like you too. A lot.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and covered his eyes with his free hand. “Oh thank god. Thank god!” he exclaimed.

Y/N shushed him, “You’re gonna wake up the neighborhood, Invincible.”

“Sorry,” he giggled quietly, “I got excited.”

She laughed and faced her body towards him. They locked eyes again, and Mark didn’t know if it was gravity or just the adrenaline that pushed him, but he finally leaned down and met her lips. Static ran through his body as he deepened the kiss, and he felt an excitement that was even more exhilarating than the first time he flew.

She pulled away and Mark ran his hand through her hair, resting his hand on her cheek. “How was that?” he asked.

She smiled gently and placed her hand over his, “Totally fine.”

[just-an-aussie-fandom-hermit]

Some #Only in Gotham posts because I’m stressed and this is my coping mechanism

Guys guys guys

So I was in Central City today visiting some friends earlier this morning, and then the city gets attacked by these... aliens? Weird reptillian cryptids?? Who knows, but they were not happy nor friendly. We were all at this nice cafe just vibing in the outdoor area when this bipedal, green-gray reptile thing pops out of the manhole outside the cafe and goes absolutely feral. He was super close to my group so I grab my croc repellant (for non gothamites, its’ basically pepper spray but really bad-smelling to ward off croc if he ever shows up) out in an instant and I sprayed it right in the face.

Then I grabbed the nearest thing—some poor old guy’s metal walking frame—and whacked the reptile in the back of the head and it crumpled basically instantly.

And after the JL had stepped in to deal with the rest of them (not many, from what I’ve heard, but better safe than sorry I guess), heaps of people were freaking out about it because, well, this is Central City, they don’t get this kind of crime, they’re not prepared for this, yada yada.

Then that manhole pops up and everyone freaks out again because “oh god they’re back” but it’s just Batman dragging a bunch of tied up reptiles out of the sewers using some kind of winch set-up. It was almost comical—a daisy chain of reptiles being lifted out of this manhole in Central City by our favourite Goth Cryptid.

The cops were completely floored. The civilians didn’t know whether to be more scared of Bats or the reptiles. I mean, it was literally the middle of the day, and it’s rare to see Batman in daytime in Gotham but I guess this was an extenuating circumstance, so I guess I see why they were scared.

Batman just looks down at me standing over an unconscious reptilian holding the can of croc repellant and he’s just like “I’m guessing you’re from Gotham.”

I was like “yeah. Can’t escape the damn cryptids wherever I am.”

And tHEN he LAUGHS. Like, it was a small and quiet snort but it happened and I’m still shook. I have officially joined the “I made Batman laugh” squad. I can ascend peacefully now.

He seemed super embarrassed but asked if my friends and I were okay before he turned on his heel and stalked over to Flash and Woner Woman, a daisy-chain of reptiles in tow.

#lmao #onlyingotham #Batman #IMadeBatmanLaugh #ITookDownAReptileCryptid #GothamIsWeirdOkay #WeGottaBePreparedForAnything

———

I just heard this Metropolis guy try and trash Bruce Wayne to his friend at this diner and like five seperate people (myself included) turned around to roast the hell outta him. Like, yeah, he’s a billionaire, which is a whole can of worms I don’t wanna open right now, but he’s basically the only reason this city’s still standing and functioning (especially after the quakes and the no-man’s-land bs). His kids—most are poc and would not have thrived in the system—are all successful and work with their communities to better other people’s lives. Bruce Wayne is basically the only reason I got through high school (and am now in college); a scholarship is the only reason most of my friends have enough money to make rent. He “accidentally” spilled wine on Lex Luthor when he made a sexist remark. Also, didn’t it come out recently that he’s basically been funding the JL o at least is a major financial backer? An icon. You can shut your mouth, Jeremy.

One girl Instagram lived the whole exchange (she was filming beforehand I think) and it was magical.

Later on, Robin (the newest one, with the swords) shows up and he’s like “thank you for defending the honour of Mr Wayne”. I was like “kid,,,, you don’t need to thank me but you’re welcome”. he just kinda looks at me for a second and says “you eat free tonight” and chucks a bunch of dollar notes at me and disappears into the wilderness (ie. an alleyway). It was so surreal.

#GiveWayneABreak #BruceWayne #LetTheManLiveHisLife #GothamitesProtectTheirOwn #EvenTheBatkidsAreProtectiveOfHim

———

Yeah so....... I just saw some of Two-Face’s goons about to enter a bank, weapons drawn, and I’m scared because their boss is in Arkham, and the Rogues’ most loyal people always get antsy and trigger-happy when their bosses are off the board. I’d dialed 911 when I first saw them and ducked into an alley.

But then I see one of them stop dead in their tracks—Goon A we’ll call him—and says “hey, Wayne’s in there”.

Goon B: “Oh, we’re not meant to go after Wayne. Pack it in fellas.”

Goon C: “Huh? why not?”

Goon A: “Boss-man said so. Wayne used to be his best bud. Helped him campaign to be DA and stuff. Went to college together. Nice man.”

Goon B: “Got no problem wth that. Wayne’s the only reason my boys got through school. Besides, we mess with Wayne, the boss and Harley will be on our asses.”

Goon C: “Huh. Fair enough. We’ll go to the other location then.”

And then they just,,,, left.

#EvenTheRoguesWannaProtectHim #BruceWayne #HarveyDent #TheGuysGotCaughtAfter #IToldDetectiveMontoya #AndSheJustSighedForAReallyLongTime #OnlyInGotham #GothamIsWeird

———

Today I was in a Zoom call with some of my coworkers on the other side of the world, sitting in the kitchen facing the living room, when Red Robin comes crashing through my window. I just kinda turned around to see if he was badly injured (he wasn’t, couldn’t even see any blood) so I just continued on with what I was saying and he sheepishly left through the same window.

My coworkers are looking at me like “Jacob are you okay??” And I’m like, “yeah man, that was just Red Robin, he has unfortunate luck with windows. Soon enough one of the other Bats will come knocking with a replacement or a cash refund. Though, I should probably just invest in plexi-glass.”

One of my coworkers went on a bit of a rant about “vigilantes causing property damage and disrupting the peace” and i’m like “Mark I’d rather Batman crashing through my door or window once a month to getting buried in my twenties in his abscence,” and he was like “yeah, fair enough” so we just continued with our call.

After my call, Blonde Batgirl shows up and apologises for the window. I ask about plexi-glass and if Red Robin is alright.

She’s like “yeah he’s fine but he’s getting Bat-Lectured for being reckless which is why I’m here. Also from what Oracle can tell you should be able to get plex-glass installed within the week.”

#OnlyInGotham #GettingBatLecturedDoesNotSoundFun #ThanksOracle #BatmanDontBeTooHardOnTheKid #Gothamite #MeanwhileInGothamCity #GothamCity #RedRobin

———

So, Red Hood piggy-backed me up to my apartment yesterday because my heel broke when I was fleeing from these guys trying to mug me (or worse) and I sprained my ankle. He carried me up four flights of stairs and helped me get into my apartment and wrap my foot properly.

I told him to take some of my nana’s lasagna (because our local vigilante needs to keep his strength up! Man’s gotta eat, and from what I hear he’s not swimming in cash) and he got real quiet for a while before saying “yeah, sure”.

So he ate some lasagna while I called in sick to work (who were very understanding, surprisingly).

Then after a little while he’s like “bye” and jumps outta my window.

An icon.

#RedHood #OnyInGotham #WeStanALegend #IHopeYouLikedTheLasagna #MyNanaSaysSheWillMakeMoreForYou #GrowingUpInCrimeAlley

[apocalypticgargoyle]

𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙀𝙔𝙀𝙎. ҂ 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢

back by popular demand! xx thank you for supporting my ramblings! this is kind of filler.. sorry...

pairing: dream x fm!reader

warnings: blood, slight angst, using ccs real names, guns

← previous chapter | ao3 | request |

Clay pushed himself to sit away from the wall, dragging you up with him. “How can you not hear that?” He urged mildly. Fear began to pick at your nerves as you noticed the same reactions filling the shelter. Nick stood up, following some of the other guys who heard whatever they were talking about. Clay slipped from your grasp. “I’ll be right back,” he muttered and you grabbed his hand. His eyes flashed a different color as he looked at you.

A few of the women followed the group, attempting to get their companion’s attention before one of them opened the shelter door.

Your eyes grew wide as the crowd moved from the shelter. It seemed that only the women in the bunker were protesting against leaving the shelter, the men focused on shrugging out of their hold. The night sky was lit up by a foreign object you had yet to lay eyes on, Clay’s figure blocking most of your vision as you were sandwiched between him and Nick. You could feel your heart beating in your ears, your grip tightening around Clay’s arm. 

The crowd spread out in the field near the bunker, gaze cast towards the northern sky where a large planet hovered on the horizon line. You covered your mouth in shock, slinking backward as a few of the women screamed. The bright spots on its surface reflected in the eyes of the men across the field from you. You yanked on Clay’s arm, attempting to pull him back into the safety of the bunker with you. 

He turned, an amazed smile flashing to his face as he looked down at you. It was only then that you noticed the crimson lines of blood draining from his ears. “Can you hear that?” He asked, voice raspy and verklempt. You furrowed your brows, your chest rising and falling unevenly as your mind raced to figure out what was happening. Clay’s soft hair moved in the night breeze, his features looking sharper as the light from the planet cast shadows across his face. 

His face dropped suddenly, his brows knitting together as his breathing seemed to slow. You reached out to touch his face but instead, his eyes rolled and he collapsed into your arms. Nick dropped to his knees beside you as well, forcing you to reach an arm out so he didn’t face plant in the dirt under your feet. You swore under your breath as Clay’s weight forced you into a sitting position. As you held him to your chest, keeping a tight grip on Nick’s t-shirt, you hiccuped, hot tears beginning to stream down your face. 

You sat, waiting for them to wake up, for what felt like hours. Various women were wailing, while others smoked stale cigarettes and paced, theorizing what the planet could be doing. You drug your fingers through Clay’s hair, your other hand cramping from its hold on Nick’s shirt. You’d pulled him closer to settle his head on your leg beside Clay. You felt like a mother hen guarding her chicks against the winter. 

You hated it. 

One woman stood with her hands on her lower back, staring up at the planet. Every few minutes, she held her palm out to it, spreading her fingers out wide before biting her cheek and continuing to stare. You inhaled and attempted to soothe yourself by holding the boys closer to you. “They’ll wake up,” she said, her voice breaking into a quietness you hadn’t realized had settled over the field. You looked up at her, rubbing your cheek on your sleeve to rid yourself of salty tear tracks. “The big one, he still has eye movement.” You looked down at Clay, noticing her fact. He looked as if he were dreaming up the plot of a new Lord of the Rings book. 

You sighed in relief, pressing your cheek against his forehead as your hand loosened on Nick, fingers brushing his collarbone softly. It was then that you realized how warm he was. Your brain switched into panic mode as you touched his forehead, his skin burning beneath your hand. You pulled his hat off his head and set about pulling his hoodie off. 

The woman joined you at your side. “He has a fever. We have to-” you bit your lip as more tears threatened to spill. You were so tired of crying, but for some reason, you couldn’t help it. Especially now, as the lives of the man you loved and a dear friend were literally in your hands. “We have to get it down,” you managed, fingers yanking at the material. “He could die.” 

The woman settled a hand on your shoulder, slowing your movements. She removed Nick’s hoodie, balling it up and pushing it beneath his head. “He’s going to be okay. Obviously, his body’s fighting something off,” she assured. “You should move around a bit. So your legs don’t go completely numb.” 

You shook your head, looking back toward the two. “No, I can’t leave them,” you answered softly. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw her nod in understanding. “What were you doing over there?” You asked, nodding to where she was previously standing. 

She moved to sit cross-legged, turning her head to look back up at the planet. “I was seeing if it was moving,” she responded. “I swear I’ve seen it before. Like in a book or something.” You nodded at her words slightly. “I think it’s Callisto, one of Jupiter’s moons.” 

You dragged your sleeve across Clay’s cheek, wiping away the dried blood. “Callisto…” you repeated, attempting to jog your memory if you’d heard of it before. “So NASA was wrong, huh?” You joked, attempting to be light-hearted, but your voice reflected a dark sadness from the depths of your chest instead. 

She shrugged with a small grin on her face. “Unless it wiped us out completely as this is your hell for eternity.” You snapped your eyes to her, making her laugh. “I’m joking. Unless this is my hell,” she joshed. “It depends on what you believe is real or not, I guess.” 

You shut your eyes, a shaky breath rippling through you. “Please stop talking.” 

Before she could say something else, Clay’s eyes snapped open. He muttered your name almost as if he didn’t believe it was you. He turned his head towards where Nick was laying. “Nick?” His voice cracked slightly as he sat up. He looked at you as if asking what was happening before he turned to peer up at the planet again, his eyes shifting to a more brilliant green as if it evoked something within him. You watched his irises shift towards a glowing color before he looked at you again. 

Nick stirred in your arms before shivering. You rested your hand against his forehead once again, the heat of his body becoming more alarming. Clay was on his feet, looking quickly around the field as various people woke up, startled just as he was. You gently moved from beneath Nick, letting his head rest on his jacket as you moved to comfort Clay. He pulled you into his arms and you could hear his heart beat against his rib cage. Everything was beginning to happen so quickly as you stood on your toes to peer over Clay’s shoulder, watching as various men began to act strangely. 

You heard Nick mumble Clay’s name, causing you to break away from him to look behind you. As you did so, Nick grabbed your arm gently, his hand searing the flesh of your forearm. You let out a muted scream, yanking your hand from his as his worried eyes burned a bright orange.

THREE YEARS LATER

You tied your hair back, staring back at your reflection in the dirty mirror. It was the Callisto Anniversary, therefore you couldn’t help but think of what you used to look like; practically a child compared to who you were now. You almost glared at the scars on your arms from those nights when you all thought the world was ending. You wet your lips, tugging on your jacket and propping open the door of your bedroom before carrying yourself down the long hallway. Various people greeted you from their rooms as you passed by their opened doors. 

As you trudged down the various flights of stairs, you silently repeated the words of the cultists' propaganda posters covering the walls in the stairwell. You passed them every day; hating them more each time you saw them. You’d only let them hang the posters after they threatened to burn down the hotel, thus eliminating yours and several hundreds of other people’s homes and businesses. 

After the planet, which you now knew for sure was the moon Callisto, settled into the Earth’s night sky, reports of enlightened men popped up everywhere. The male population seemed to be a favorite of Callisto’s as most of them possessed some kind of power, whether useless or beneficial. Conspiracy theorists believed it was because of the creatures in the water beneath its surface attempting to create a new generation of Poseidon's sons. With the moon ruining Earth’s power supply, it was difficult to experiment and prove various theories. 

It’s the radiation, some would say. 

It’s a government conspiracy. 

It’s an alien experiment. 

You’d heard it all. The only thing you were certain of was what Eden told you, the woman you’d met when Callisto appeared. She was convinced of the Poseidon theory; though rather scornfully. “One more thing to strengthen male privilege...” She often accounted. She’d worked as a biology professor before the day of reckoning, therefore she could tell you the chicken came before the egg and you’d believe her. She explained the phenomenon of Callisto as a result of the ocean tides and gravitational pull, yet couldn’t figure out how Callisto could travel 4.3 AUs and why Earth would be its landing place. 

Your feet thumped against the cracked linoleum of the hotel lobby, the various dividers failing to provide sound barriers between the various groups of engineers and their counterparts as they worked and chattered. After finding the hotel, you’d given most of its space to Eden and her team as well as the brutes working for you. 

You grabbed an apple from one of the food stations before following the sound of Eden’s voice as she argued with someone about the patterns of Callisto in the sky. A radio lulled from the table in the middle of her chaos. She tugged her dull blonde/gray hair back into a ponytail before massaging her aging temples with two fingers. 

The front doors opened, ringing the small bell attached to one of the handles and drawing your attention. The group of men shrugged out of their wet jackets or shook out the rain out of their hair. You scanned the group from Clay’s white ski mask, an intimidating feature that signified who he was. Just as you had given up, he pushed through the crowd, pushing his mask on top of his head. You waved at him and he brightened before walking towards you. He leaned down to press a kiss to your lips, the smell of the Earth hanging against his damp clothing. 

“I saw something while I was out, and I’ve had a rough time keeping it in my head,” he stated with a slight chuckle, mindlessly asking you to follow him to one of the tables with a few workers. You watched him silently as he fished into the barrels of spare gun parts before throwing what he’d found on the table. The people around you paused what they were doing. Clay’s eyes began to glow, the green almost iridescent as the pieces began to morph together before shaping a new kind of gun. 

That’s really what your group was known for: arms manufacturing and dealing. 

Clay built them and you had the connections to sell them. On paper, it was simple. 

Clay held the gun in his hand, turning it over and looking down at you for praise. You furrowed your blows slightly. “Does it work?” You asked, making him shrug and bump a clip into it before firing it at one of the walls. 

You sighed. “How many times do we have to talk about shooting inside?” He giggled sheepishly at your words. You examined the gun in his large hand, trying to place where you had seen it before. It was a souped-up version of whatever you had previously seen. 

“Looks like a cop gun to me, Dream,” a familiar voice stated, making Clay chuckle proudly before looking up to see Nick with his arms crossed. Clay quickly tucked it into the back of his belt and Nick rolled his eyes. “Sorry, I meant to radio in on my way but I got caught in the storm.” 

You swatted off his apology and hugged him. “It’s good to see you, Sapnap,” Clay lightened. The boys had begun using their radio call names as if they got them from their mothers. “Happy Callisto Day,” Clay charmed, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as Nick picked up a gun piece. 

Nick’s eyes flashed to the burn scar on your wrist from him. The fever he had was due to his power. Clay always teases him with nicknames like Prince Zuko and Warren Peace for it. “Have you guys seen Karl? I have a friend that figured out how to make something similar to nail polish.” 

You snorted. “He should be hovering around Eden,” you answered, gesturing to the opposite corner of the lobby space. 

After Nick parted, Clay turned back to you. “I think I found a way to get supplies into the East Sector…” he mumbled, just audible enough for you to hear. You perked an eyebrow at him. The East Sector had been closed off to any kind of weaponry, but that didn’t mean the demand wasn’t high. It was a farming community outside of the city where most of the religious zealots lived and based the Cult of Callisto. 

You chewed the inside of your cheek. “How dangerous is this  way  you’ve found?” 

Clay smirked slightly. “They call him Techno. He’s a chlorokinetic. Apparently, he kills people and turns them into plant food too,” he stated, wiggling his eyebrows. “Plus, he’s an enemy of Quackity’s group.” He crossed his arms, leaning against the table behind him. 

“So, pretty dangerous, then?” You simplified. 

He smiled slightly. “In a fun way…” 

[fanfic-cave]

The Reveal Pt. 2

Rating: SFW/PG-13

Word Count: 1.6k (nearly 1.7k)

Pairing: Hunter x Fem Jedi!OC

Warnings: Swearing (im too lazy to write the star wars swear words so its our kind of swears), trauma/fear situation, lightsaber/jedi things, mushy hug/romance, its supposed to be kinda intense and dramatic

Summary: You’ve exposed yourself as a Jedi to the Bad Batch, and not intentionally. Now its out in the open, and this ex-jedi needs to escape before things get messy. Will these rogue clones attack? Will you have to defend yourself? How will this end without someones blood getting spilled?

Authors note: Check out part 1 linked below, theres links to a few other fics i'd reccomend reading as well along this these! Theres like a tiniest bit of fluff here. I have a few other fluff/short things I want to post soon, and I have some ideas for giving the other TBB memebers some love since all I've been posting is Hunter stuff lately

Please enjoy!

Part 1 here

“Isn’t it obvious? Sera is a Jedi.”

RIP

Tech's words flipped the switch and you took action. You used the force and ripped your lightsaber out of your bag, ignited it, and took a defensive stance.

“Stay back boys” You wish your voice wasn’t shaking. The green glow of your lightsaber reflected on their surprised faces.

“Omega, stay inside.” You heard Hunter's voice, and saw him push her in, her eyes wide when seeing your weapon ignited. Wrecker took a step back, a look of shock on his face. Tech raised his hands. Crosshair eyed you suspiciously, he stood just behind Tech. You couldn’t see Echo.

“Hmm. Looks like I was right.” Tech said nonchalantly, like he had just proved a scientific theory. Well, I guess he did, in a manner of speaking.

You held your lightsaber with two hands, squeezing tight and ready to use it at a moment's notice. You started taking a step back. “Nobody moves. I walk away, and nobody gets hurt-” you sensed something in the force, and heard a minuscule movement, a blaster. You pointed your saber to Echo, who had just appeared at the top exit ramp “Drop it!”

“Easy Sera,” Echo spoke. “We’re all removing our weapons.” He looked at the rest of the boys and nodded. “See?” You watched Echo lift his blaster pistol, careful not to touch the trigger, and throw it. Crosshair dropped his rifle. Wrecker raised his hands up. “You’re a Jedi?” Wreckers face looked shocked and confused.

You tried to ignore the emotions you were feeling. You didn’t want to leave, you had happy times with them. But you were too afraid to take the risk of staying and finding out if you would survive. “I don’t want to hurt any of you” You took another step back. “Just let me go and I won’t…”

“We won’t hurt you Sera.” It was Hunter's voice this time. He stepped forward out of the Havoc, and walked past the boys. His knife and blaster were gone, left on the ship maybe. He held his hands out in front of him, slightly raised. He had a slight crouch as he came towards you, like he was approaching a wounded animal. His expression was hard to read still, but he had a slight frown on his face. You looked into his eyes and couldn’t look away. He held your gaze intensely, like he was trying to send a message to you through his eyes.

“Please,” you said, desperation in your voice. You tried to move your feet. You couldn’t, you were frozen by his look, held by him. You felt the same electric current drawing you to him, keeping you from leaving.

“We don’t have inhibitor chips, not that they worked too well anyways.” He lifted his headband and shifted his hair, pointing to a small scar. The rest of the boys did so similarly, showing they all had an identical scar on the right side of their skull.

You looked at them confused. Inhibitor chips? All you knew was that the clones executed the Jedi. Every Jedi. You didn’t know how, or even why, other than the Empire saying the Jedi committed treason.

Hunter had been taking small steps forward the whole time. Your eyes stayed locked onto his. Then, you felt something you hadn't in a long time, something you shut out.

You recognized the feeling of the force, it moved through you, awakening your force sensitivity. Maybe you reignited a severed connection by touching your saber again, maybe the strong emotions in you and everyone else caused the resurgence. Whatever the reason, you felt it move through you, connecting you to your surroundings.

After the battles on Umbara, with a lot of effort, you closed yourself off from the force. You realized now that it was never truly gone, and you had still been seeing your surroundings with your instinctual force sensitivity.

You hesitated and broke eye contact from Hunter, shocked at what was happening. You took a breath, and closed your eyes. You concentrated on the force, focusing on the feelings you felt now. Fear, love, sadness, anxiety, all of it. You quieted them, and then reached out. You felt a surge of more emotions. Worry. Fear again. But not a selfish fear. They were scared you would leave. You could sense the intentions of each of them, seeing a bit into their mind. You sensed no malice, no intention to take life.

You sensed Hunter step closer. He was maybe a foot away now. He reached out and touched your forearm. You took another deep breath, then opened your eyes, watching him. He reached his hand up to your face slowly, reaching for your mask. You made no movement to stop him, and he slipped it off of you, tossing it aside. Beneath it revealed your face, and he calmly looked into your eyes.

You realized he was trying to reassure you, comfort you. He wasn’t scared of you, despite the legendary weapon you held. You felt more hopeful, now that you saw nobody had tried to attack you. You turned off your lightsaber, never breaking away from his gaze, and dropped the saber to the ground. Everyone relaxed.

“What are inhibitor chips?” You asked. Tech launched into an explanation. The Kaminoans created the clones with chips in their brain, to inhibit the clones' cognitive functions and allow them to follow any order. Theirs were not functioning, save for Crosshair. Crosshairs face darkened as he mentioned this, he looked like he would rather avoid the memories all together. They retrieved him from the empire and removed all their chips.

The clones were forced to kill the Jedi. Thinking about it left a bitter taste in your mouth. The clones would’ve stood by the Jedi, their commanders, generals, and friends. The Jedi only wanted to protect the Republic. They were forced to murder them. They were all tricked.

But, the bad batch… your friends. You sighed. You’re safe. You don’t have to leave. “So none of you feel an overwhelming urge to execute me for holding a lightsaber? Or making a 40ft jump?”

“More like 45 feet, and no. We never were known for being rule followers.” Hunter said. He smiled a bit when he said it, and watched you process his words. You blinked back tears, and a smile spread on your face. You couldn’t believe that you were all going to be okay. A horror you felt sure of was now averted.

You felt the electrical current run through your body again as Hunters hand retreated from your arm. You looked up at him, tears threatening to roll out of your eyes. The current dragged you in. You walked towards Hunter, the heat of the moment sweeping you up. You slammed into him and wrapped your arms around his torso. You squeezed tight, and shut your eyes, tears rolling down. “You’re not going to kill me.” You spoke half laughing, half crying.

You felt his arms wrap around your shoulders, and return the hug, squeezing you back. He was warm. Compared to moments ago feeling terrified of death, the feeling of being hugged and cared for was euphoric.

Hunter pressed his face into your hair, and you felt lips press to top of your head for a brief moment. He bent down a bit and whispered in your ear “Never. You’ve protected us, and we are going to protect you.” A few more tears rolled down as he spoke, and you pressed your face against his chest. He made circles with his thumb on your back, seemingly to comfort you. The world around you just disappeared. It was just you and him. You could feel him take deep breaths, while yours were a bit more shallow and sporadic.

A minute or two passed, and suddenly you heard awkward coughing. You withdrew from the hug, looking to the rest of the boys. Hunters left hand remained on your right shoulder.

You normally might’ve felt embarrassed, but right now you were still just happy to be alive. You faced the rest of the group, feeling a little guilty. “I’m sorry everyone. I really thought you were going to kill me. I didn’t mean to frighten any of you.”

Wrecker laughed. “Don’t worry about it General, we don’t scare easy!” Your eyebrows knit together when he called you General.

“If we really wanted to kill you, it would’ve happened already.” Crosshair said. Hunter looked at him disapprovingly. You just laughed. “Thanks Cross.” He made a short nod, and walked off the ramp.

“To be honest, I’ve suspected it for quite some time. Your reflexes, agility, weapon skill with a blade, and extensive experience with alien culture and language all pointed to you being a Jedi.” You raised an eyebrow at Tech after he spoke.

“How long have you known?” You inquired. “Several months.” He replied. You sighed. “You didn’t tell anyone?” You asked. “No. I thought it was obvious.” He stated simply. He walked past you and typed into his data pad. “See you Sera.” He waved without looking up.

“Echo-“ You called up to him. “Don’t worry about it.” He waved off your apology quickly. You just nodded at him. He walked back into the ship.

You turned to Hunter. “Please don’t start calling me General…” He patted your back. “I’ll talk to them, don’t worry about it.” You breathed out a sigh in relief. You relaxed more and looked at your surroundings for a minute. Your eyes found the horizon and you saw a beautiful sunset beginning. “Thank you, Hunter.” The words escaped your mouth as you watched the sunset.

He squeezed your shoulder, which brought your attention to him. “You can breathe easy now.” The corner of his lips turned up a little. You returned the smile and nodded. He patted your shoulder, and it seemed like he didn’t want to let go. He eventually released your shoulder and walked back to the ship, you assumed it was to go to Omega.

You smiled to yourself as you stood alone. This changes everything. You felt more hopeful than you had in years.

[snothing]

Request: Drabble in which Jake looks through some old stuff and finds a rather odd yet captivating item: a red tunic with a green scaly leotard, a black-yellow on its right side, a black domino mask, green gloves and finally green pixie boots. he decides to try the suit on

I want to apologize for how long this took! I’ve been so busy with school, and I made this way longer and convoluted than necessary. It’s definitely not a drabble anymore, and I added a lot of sibling banter, lol, I can’t resist. This was so much fun to make, I had so many ideas. Thank you so much for being patient, and I hope you enjoy! 

I decided to deviate from my universe, while keeping some old things. Mar’i and Jake are still twins, and Mar’i can turn invisible.

"Go away, Jaki! This is my hiding spot!" Mar'i whispered-hissed at her brother. She glared at him through a jungle of coats and umbrellas in the armoire, her mouth in a tight frown.

"Oh, come on, Mar'i!" Jake cried. With a flair for the dramatic, he threw his hands up in the air. Of course, his annoying sister would take his favorite, top-secret hiding spot!

"Shhh!" she snapped, finger to her lips. Pink eyes flashed brightly at him. "Would you be quiet? Do you want Dad to find us?"

He pursed his lips and looked down the hall. Pretty soon, his dad would be done counting and be searching for them. Still, a great wrong had been committed in the eyes of Jake. "You took my hiding spot! Get out!" he seethed, just a decibel lower.

"Nuh-uh, it's not your hiding spot!" Mar'i shot back. "You don't own it!"

Jake smirked cockily and pointed a finger past her. "Uh, yeah, Mar'i, I do." 

A deep, unamused frown settled on Mar'i's face as she noticed— in bright cerulean blue crayon— the word "Jake" hastily scribbled on the panel. "That means nothing! You don't own everything you put your name on."

He silently raged. "How am I not surprised a heathen like you-"

"-Heathen?! I watched you squirt an entire can of Easy Cheese in your mouth!"

"That was a long time ago. I’m a different man now."

"It was last week!"

"As I said, a long time ago," he retorted drolly. "Anyway, as I was saying— only heathens don't respect the sacred rules of hide-and-seek!"

"You're so ridiculous," she sighed, exhausted. "You act like I broke the law."

"Well, you might as well have. I'm hurt, Mar'i, really I am. I never thought you'd betray me like this. My own flesh and blood— my wombmate--"

"Ew, don't call me that!"

He clasped his hands together. "I think the only way to solve this and mend our broken relationship is for you to leave and find a new hiding spot."

Mar'i stared blankly at him. Jake was her favorite person in the entire universe, but there were times where she wanted to slap him. "I'm not leaving, Jaki."

"By the love of X'hal, you can turn invisible!" he argued.

"So? Dad's using heat-sensing goggles this time."

"Mar'i!"

"Hey, babe," their father's voice filtered in from downstairs. They stilled, eyes wide and locked on each other. 

"Hello, my love. Are you looking for something?" they heard their mother ask him. 

"Oh you know, just for two half-human, half-alien eight-year-olds? Have you seen them? They're like yay-high, black hair with orange skin? Got glowing green eyes?"

"Oh," Kory chuckled. "I think I know the two. Say, are they dangerous?"

"Very. The little rascals will eat all your cereal and blame it on an innocent larva."

"My, they sound like quite the dastardly duo," she mused. "I believe I saw them go upstairs. Please, proceed with caution."

Dick let out a laugh. "Don't worry, babe. I think I'm well-equipped to handle them; Batman raised me after all."

Mar'i snapped back her attention to Jake, panicked. "Go away, Jaki!" she nearly growled. 

"But-" he tried to argue, but her hand shot out and closed the armoire door, effectively ending their discussion. 

Frantic, Jake looked around for a new hiding spot. Under his bed? No, there was a monster. Behind the house plants? Nope, too obvious. In the air vent? Nah, he'd get stuck again. Finally, his eyes found the inconspicuous attic door. 

He was like 90% sure it was haunted. Uncle Jay showed him and Mar'i a horror movie once, and he learned that attics were prime real estate for ghosts and couldn't be trusted. 

But...

It would probably be a great hiding spot. His dad wouldn't expect it. 

The creaking of the stairs interrupted his thoughts and effectively ended his inner turmoil. He dashed to the attic door and braved the darkroom. 

"Oh wow," he said, looking around. The room was cramped, littered with boxes and other knickknacks. Moonlight filtered in through the port window. "Okay, ghosts, listen. I don't mean to trespass or anything. I just need a place to hide from my dad, alright? So no possessing me, okay? I'll only be here for a couple of minutes."

Slowly, he made his way through the clutter, hoping to find a nice nook to squeeze in. A thick layer of dust coated everything in the room, and it was not long before he started hacking. It was then that his left foot hit a meddlesome snag in the carpet, causing him to plummet down on a pile of boxes. 

He let out a rather undignified squeak when his knee slammed into the ground. A flurry of Tamaranean curse words left his mouth; thank heavens, his mom was not around to hear him. "Stupid ghosts!" Jake spat. The crash was loud. His dad knew where he was now. "And stupid Mar'i for making me hide in this stupid, haunted attic!"

He went to glare at the confounding boxes, but he halted when he saw something interesting. His ire vanished, his head cocked slightly. He pulled himself up from the ground and went to analyze the contents of the fallen box closer, his hand alit with a low-energy starbolt.

Inside the unsuspecting box was a brightly colored uniform. Jake's eyes widened the size of saucers. Could this be? There was no way. But sure enough, he found the iconic scaly leotard and black domino mask. Yep, this was his father's old Robin uniform. 

He stared at the red tunic with the utmost reverence; his thumb traced the R. Jake was so absorbed in the costume he failed to notice his sister hovering over him. 

"Whatcha got there, Jaki?" she asked curiously, face inches from his.

He let out a squeal and jumped several feet in the air. He snarled, eyes ablaze in a blue fury. "Mar'i! Don't do that!"

She snickered, an eyebrow raised. "It's not my fault you're not observant."

"I was in stealth mode," he said defensively. He crossed his arms. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be hiding in my hiding spot?"

She shrugged. "Dad found me pretty quick, so I decided to come to bother you."

Jake was surprised. "Wait, do you mean he didn't hear me fall?"

"Nah, I told him you were being a cheater and hiding outside. Thankfully, you decided to be a klutz after he left," she informed him. She frowned when she noticed the betrayed look on his face. "What? I thought you'd be happy I saved you!"

"I think it's funny you pick and choose when to be a loyal sister."

She smiled. "Gotta keep you on your toes, Jaki. Now, what's that?"

Jake followed her pointed look at the costume. He showed her excitedly. "I think it's Dad's old Robin costume!"

Green eyes rounded. "What? No way!"

"Yes, way!" he dazzled. "Look at the insignia!"

"Whoa," she breathed. She fingered the black-yellow cape gingerly. Her head snapped up. "Come on, put it on!"

"W-what?" He gave her a bemused look. 

"I know you want to," she said wryly. She held up the tunic and pushed it towards her brother. "I bet you'd look just like dad."

"Yeah, but..." he trailed off. Honestly, he did not need much convincing. Jake had seen pictures of his dad in his early crimefighting days, but a thought stopped him. "I don't know, Mar'i..."

"Why not?"

"Well, Damian's Robin."

"And?"

"And I don't want to-- I don't know. I guess I don't want to send the wrong message," Jake answered. He sighed somberly. "Besides, it's not like I could ever be Robin anyway. I'm weird."

"What the heck?" Mar'i spluttered. "You think you can't be Robin because you have powers?"

"Robins don't have powers, Mar'i," he said, dejected. "They don't fly or shoot starbolts."

She snorted. She scooted closer to her twin, looking at him intently. "And? Anyone with a brave heart can be Robin, and as I can see, you have one."

"But-"

"No buts, Jaki," she cut him off. Mar'i was not going to allow her brother to put himself down. "I like you just the way you are. I think shooting starbolts and flying is super neat!"

"You're biased," he chuckled. Mar'i's words instantly made him feel better, though. 

Her mouth blossomed into a silly grin. "Well, yeah, duh. I know if I'm awesome, you have to be. Now, put it on!"

"Okay, but turn around. I need privacy!"

"Yay!" she piped before spinning around. Her arms and legs tingled with excitement.  

"Okay, I think I'm ready now," he told her, a bit apprehensive.

Mar'i whipped around, nearly knocking Jake down in the process. She almost burst out in awe when she saw him there, proudly donning their father's uniform. "Wow, Jaki! It looks so good on you!"

He flushed. His eyes, now concealed by a domino mask, peeked down at his body. It had been a bit awkward in some places; Jake did not care for his legs being so exposed, but otherwise, it fit like a glove. "Really?" he asked, swooshing his cape back and forth.

Her head bobbed up and down. "You look just like Dad when he was young!"

"What do you mean by that, Mar'i? I'm still young!" 

Jake and Mar'i were startled by the voice. They spun around in the direction of the attic door and spotted their dad: the first-ever Boy Wonder and best pancake-maker-this-side-of-the-galaxy-- Dick Grayson. 

"Dad!" the siblings exclaimed in perfect unison. 

Dick chuckled. "And what are you two glowsticks doing in the attic? I thought we were playing hide and-"

He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Jake. His eyes widened as they absorbed, his mouth agape.

Jake panicked, and shame surged through him. "I'm sorry, Dad!" he said hastily. "I-I was just hiding upstairs a-and I fell a-and I found your old costume!"

"Jake-"

"A-and I knew I shouldn't have, b-but Mar'i said I should-"

Jake paused when he felt his father's hand on his shoulders. He looked up and met his father's loving gaze. "Jake, calm down," Dick comforted. "It's okay."

Jake swallowed. "You're not mad?"

"No, of course not, son," he responded, genuine. 

"Doesn't he look cool, Dad?" Mar'i piped up, a goofy grin on her face. 

Dick smiled tenderly and moved his hand to caress Jake's face. He could not have predicted what seeing his son wear his old Robin uniform would do to him. His heart soared with love and pride. 

"Yes, Mar'i, he looks pretty cool," he agreed. 

Jake beamed and matched his sister's goofy grin. He thought his dad would be mad at him, but thankfully, he was the furthest from mad. 

"But don't think this means you can go out crimefighting," Dick added quickly.

"Aww, Dad!" Jake whined.

Dick wagged his finger at him. "Don't 'aww, Dad' me! You may have the look, but you're not old enough."

Jake pouted. "I'm not a baby anymore, Dad!"

"Aww, but you're still my baby.” He gave Jake a quick kiss to the temple. “Now, come on, you two. Mom made dinner, and I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she sees you."

"Did she burn the food again?" Mar'i grimaced. She loved her mother dearly, but she was not the most adept in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I don't know if I can eat burnt lasagna again, Dad."

"Now, now, glowsticks. Mom spent all day working on this meal!" Dick assured them. He escorted them out of the attic. "It's a dish from Tamaran. I'm sure it'll be wonderful."

Mar'i whispered to her brother, "I like when Mom cooks. We always get McDonald's afterward."

"Or food poisoning."

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Ash.”

A couple people were showing some interest in other Alien characters aboard the ship, and I thought I would give you all some insight into that. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you all have a great day. 

“You have ruined this family.”

“What have you done!” 

“The war is the only thing left for you now, so make yourself useful and die.”

-

Etium slowly lifted his head from the computer where he sat staring blankly at the accounting spreadsheet on the screen. Beside him, the other two Tesraki’s chairs were empty. He sighed, and slowly turned back to the accounting. They had likely finished their half of the books hours ago, leaving him to sit in the darkness alone with his own strange thoughts. His four fingered hands clicked at the keys of the human made keyboard,

He was good at typing, pretty fast for someone who was missing two requisite fingers, but he was nothing in comparison to the others.

He was nothing in comparison to most Tesraki.

Etium was slow when it came to doing the books, repeatedly checking every line and ever string of numbers for any possible mistake that could have been made. The process took him hours longer than it should have, but finally he stood, pushing back his chair and hopping down to the floor. The human ship whirred softly in the distance. It was a comforting sound, but he had always found some measure of comfort in humanity.

Etium had been hit the hardest by the huminization phenomenon. It didn’t surprise him all that much. He had fought side by side with humans since the Drev war, and the changes in him had taken a long time to develop. They ran deep now through his body as sure as his blood. WIth skills honed in human war, and being one of few survivors, he was quick to react to sounds, followed movement more easily, and could read body language better than almost any other alien he knew.

Dr Krill wasn’t even as good as he considered himself.

That’s what war did to a person.

He reached up to his torn ear and shivered at the smell of smoke that seemed to waft up from his fur. He could never get the smell of ash out of his head no matter how hard he tried.

Etium knew there was something wrong with him, but he kept that to himself. The others tended to avoid him, and that was alright. He was friends with the Finnari, and while they were a bit sensitive, he supposed that was ok. He didn’t need anyone asking questions about what he was doing and why he was there.

He ducked through one of the maintenance corridors, and into the hallway behind the rec room.

He could hear humans and Drev talking and laughing on the other side, but when he passed through the next door, he found the hall opened into a large-ish storage room that was lined in boxes and crates. Inside was what remained of the Omen crew. Tesraki, Finnari, Celzex and Yeb. They had a little place here for those aliens who found it difficult to constantly interact with humans.

Yeb was a bit of a special case as she seemed to hop between both without much trouble. She lounged on one of the crates, her tail swishing back and forth against the box below her, bright green fur along her back, waving slightly in the air currents.

Etium leaned against the wall making no noise, and interacting with no one.

He wouldn’t have minded hanging out with humans, and drev, but….. Every time he did he just couldn’t shake the smell of smoke.

Why was he here?

Because he had seen a human boldly risk his life for two wounded alien soldiers.

Etium remembered the red sky above and the ash covered ground beneath. He remembered the wounded Rundi soldier at his side as the creature stalked towards them from the darkness. He remembered the flash of blue, and then an animal howl as the human came charging from nowhere.

When he closed his eyes, he could still hear the blood curdling scream of pain the human had given off as his limbs were ripped from his body.

He shook himself trying to shake the smoke away.

“Clan is more important than anything else.”

Etium lifted his head, arms still crossed over his chest.

“Then mean nothing.” Yeb was saying, “My parents abandoned me in an ice cave when I was just a cub.”

“Not our fault your species is defective.” Lord Avex was saying.

The burg lifted his hands in an attempt to keep the piece, technicolor wings flickering behind him, “Not now, all of you we must remember that as different species we all have different beliefs and needs. He pressed his hands together. The Burg do find clan very important, but it was for our survival for the longest time. There are plenty of other species that don’t need such things, like the Vrul or the Gibb for example, who are solitary creatures.”

The group of three finnari huddled close together and nodded.

They wouldn’t be likely to argue, they hated conflict and tried to keep the peace as much as it was possible.

He glanced over to the side surprised to find Waffles, the dog, lying with her head on her paws, around her neck, the snake creature Jeffery hung like a boa scarf.

He supposed she had any right to be here like the rest of them, she wasn’t human and neither was the snake. Though neither of them were classified as sentient and didn’t have the intelligence to speak. Waffles licked at her paws and Jeffery lifted his head turning to look at the speakers as if he was listening intently.

“This is not about biology, this is about the facts. There is strength in numbers, and numbers can win out over force anyday. Humans are the best example of this and you all know it. They managed to survive on a death world by making packs.”

Lord Avex did have a point, but lord Avex was also known for being an egotistical asshole.

That was sort of the defining feature of Celzex.

The furry little creatures were very proud, and very loyal, so they were both a blessing and an absolute pain to have on your side.

Most of the time they just liked causing problems for the sake of causing problems.

“There is nothing wrong with a solitary existence. My species has been living as single occupants inside a distanced society for a very long time.”

Lord Avex snorted, “Might I also point out that you society is a fascist Authoritarian dictatorship recovering from a pandemic crisis and refuses to join the GA to control their own citizens?”

The hair on the back of her body stood up, “Oh like your planet is any better. Roving warring clans who eat their own children.”

“Please, Peace.” THe burg was saying.

“You have no place in this. The burg have lived under a corrupted monarchy for ages.”

Etium sighed and closed his eyes.

Apparently, he had sighed much louder than he intended, and when he opened his eyes the entire room was looking at him,

“You got something to say.” Avex growled, “Anything to offer from a corporate capitalist hellscape.”

Etium pushed himself off from the wall, “No, I have nothing to say.”

Avex bristled, and when he did he got even fluffier, “I don’t think we are done here. I want to hear what you have to say.”

Etium sighed, knowing that he wasn’t going to get out of this one, “I think that all of our societies suck, they just all do it equally.”

The room bristled, but he kept going. He had stuck his foot in it and now he was going to have to deal. He looked at yeb and Avex, “Both of you are true about the other, same with the burg sorry to say.” He nodded over at the winged creature, “But think about it, all of us suck in some way or another,. My species destroyed our own natural habitats in the name of progress, He looked at the Finnari, No cohesive leadership, and a societal wide inability to make decisions. The Vrul live under a corrupted communist system and the Rundi are all politicians, so guess where that leads us. The Drev are a fractured group of clans bent on killing each other for no other reason than the fact that it is honorable. And don’t even get me started on humans, they are the worst of us all, since they can do everything we can and more.”

He sort of expected the uproar that followed, but kept his head low to avoid having to deal with it. He brushed a hand through his fur, attempting, mostly to brush the ash from it, and despite being able to feel it with his fingertips, he saw none break loose.

The room grew louder and louder until a sharp bark broke the silence.

The room went very quiet very suddenly.

He turned to see waffles had risen up into a sitting position, her hackles raised.

She growled low in her throat , and the entire room calmed down very quickly after that, Jeffery opened his mouth and turned his head like a periscope around the room.

Waffles slid back onto the floor and rested her chin on her paws ears sticking straight up as she sighed.

The room was only slowly able to return to its former discussion, though everyone remained mostly quiet.

Etium slumped back against the wall. He could see the other Tesraki across the room staring at him. He tried to ignore them for the most part, he didn’t really fit in with them to any sort of degree. He didn’t blame them.

He wasn’t particularly good with finances.

He didn’t have to be though, most humans were pretty poort at it too, so any ability whatsoever was considered good. That was another reason why he was here. If he was slow and ok at handling money, then he was going to be fine. If he tried to work anywhere else as a Tesraki….

He'd be fired

Or disowned…

Etium quietly slipped from the room, out and down the hallway. He knew where he was going, and followed his own memory down through the hallways until he came to a door. He knocked once.

“Come in.”

The door slid open and he stepped into a room lit by soft yellow light. Dr Adric was sitting at his desk, skin glowing a pale yellow in the dim lighting. He looked up, and when he smiled his teeth flashed white.

“Etium, it is good to see you. I didn’t expect you till our session tomorrow.”

Etium wandered into the room glancing down at the diagrams on the wall, and the large books on the shelves beside the desk. “Do you want me to leave.”

“No, of course not, take a seat.”

He did and stared up at the ceiling with a sigh.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Etium was quiet for a while, but finally opened his mouth to speak, “I can still smell the ash sometimes, Feel it in my fur when I go to bed. It…. doesn't really bother me most of the time, and I know it’s not real, but it certainly feels that way.”

Dr Adtric leaned on his desk and nodded, “Did you know somatic hallucinations are extremely common In Tesraki.”

He rubbed his fur, “Really?”

“Yes, at least one in twenty report small things. Feelings of items brushing over their fur even when nothing is there. If it starts to bother you, come to me and we will look into helping it. Otherwise just remember the exercises I taught you.”

He shifted in his seat and absently looked at the wall, “So if Somatic hallucinations are common in Tesraki….. Than what about everyone else?”

Dr Adric smiled at him. His expression, both charming and calming at the same time. He had an eir about him that just seemed to make things slow down and relax. It was a nice feeling to have.

“Well both Vrul and Gibb are prone to psychosis with obsessive and grandiosity characteristics. Most Vrul I know could be classified as having some sort of anxiety. Rundi are commonly seen with OCD. Celzex presents with characteristics of Antisocial personality disorder.  Finnari can commonly be seen with dependent personality disorders. Both the Drevb and the Starborn, have a high rate of narcissism. In the case of the starborn, they have a 100% rate at this time…. Though to be fair we only have one starborn”

Etium couldn’t help but smile just a little. “Humans have all of those things I guess, since you have a name for all of them.”

“Yes. Though, I would say that I work most closely with Post Traumatic Stress.”

“Like what I have?”

“Similarly yes, though yours presents differently.”

“That’s what the Admiral’s dog is for? He said she was a PTSD dog.”

“That would be correct.”

Etium leaned back in his seat and stared out the window behind Adric. The man said he presented with listlessness, difficulty concentrating, and emotional detachment. He didn’t have flashbacks or stress associated, which is why he couldn't be entirely diagnosed, bu7t the two of them were pretty sure whatever he had was similar. They had thought about depression on one or two occasions, but he didn’t have trouble getting out of bed, or doing things that he enjoyed. He just got listless and distracted a lot.

Adric thought it might be an entirely different issue from what humans could get, but as of yet, there wasn’t enough research to determine that. They were working on it in their own right now, and he had been feeling a little more present, but he still wasn’t really there yet.

He hoped that soon he would be out of the rut he was stuck in.,

“Have you managed to tell the Admiral, like we had been talking about.”

Etium picked at the fur on his arm, “He seems…. Too busy to talk to me and I…. well I don’t know what it would accomplish.”

“I think it would be good for you to talk to someone who experienced the war.”

Etium sighed, “I didn’t really do much in the war. I sat there and just… was scared. The humans did everything.”

“I think you might find there are humans that feel the same way you do. I encourage you to talk to him. Knowing the man myself, I have no doubt that he will be accepting  of your story.” He held up his hands, “I don’t want to push you, but I do encourage you to let him know.”

I think it would be good for both of you

[tonystarktogo]

It takes quite a bit of effort -- and some outstanding teamwork that Tony didn’t think he and Rogers would be capable of -- but they manage to break the helicarrier.

Hang on, that came out wrong.

To clarify [because Fury will undoubtedly be on Tony’s ass about this]: They don’t set out to break the helicarrier. But Barton, it turns out, is a damn talented saboteur and while Tony and Rogers successfully intercept his minions before they can get their hands on some of the very secret alien weapons SHIELD should’ve never gotten its hands on, they are way too late to do anything about the control center.

Or the rampaging Hulk. Who, if JARVIS is to be trusted -- who is always to be trusted because it’s JARVIS -- got into a screaming match with Thor. Wonderful.

Saving the helicarrier is a lost cause but they manage to break only part of it off -- the part they’re on because why wouldn’t they be -- so there’s a good 60% chance that not all of SHIELD’s top-of-the-top agents died in the crash.

Solid win for the good guys that.

[continues under the cut]

Sarcasm aside, they’re all alive. Tony caught Rogers -- not a fucking team player, ha --, Hulk is pretty hard to kill to the surprise of absolutely no one, save perhaps Ross, Thor and a very concussed-looking Loki can get downed by Captain America’s shield but are too godly-Asgardian-whatever to be phased by falling a couple of kilometers through the air and Romanoff just shows up amidst the rumble, covered in dirt, an ugly bruise on her jaw, blood tickling down her neck and the unconscious shape that is probably Barton slung over her shoulder.

Tony doesn’t even ask.

He’s too busy staring down Hulk. “Aren’t you supposed to be bigger?”

Instead of snarling, squashing him or whatever rage monsters do when they are told they aren’t impressive enough, Hulk claps his hands. “Tin man back!” he booms. “Hulk happy!”

Tony takes a wary step back. If Hulk tries to hug him too then big fan of the green guy or not, he’s taking to the sky and never coming back down again. Tony’s more than filled his hug-quota for the month, possibly for the year. And also people need to stop being so damn enthusiastic to see him, it’s gonna give him a complex.

Thankfully, there’s plenty of other people around him to serve as a distraction. Rogers for one is brushing already taking in their surroundings. Thankfully they’ve landed in an unhabitated, random hill in the middle of nowhere. The last thing Tony needs is more civilian causalities on his head. That said, he doesn’t recognize much of anything within eyesight, which isn’t promising.

Sure, his suit can probably get him out of here, but that still leaves a supersoldier, two secret agents and two Asgardians -- after Thor’s insistence on the term, Tony’s gonna stick with it, even if ‘god’ would freak more people out, see how well he’s taking other people’s feelings into consideration? -- unaccounted for. Plus the Hulk. But getting Big Green anywhere he doesn’t want to go would be impossible anyway.

“You alright there, Cap?”

“I’ll live.” Rogers grins at him, a little more tired and still with that same shadow that Tony can’t properly identify, but real nonetheless. Urgh. This much genuine happiness can’t be healthy. “Thanks for the help, Stark. You did good.”

Tony shrugs. “Hey, I’m all for team spirit and all that shit, ask anyone.” What else is he supposed to say?

Rogers snorts. Turns around to face Thor, who is carrying Loki towards them. Their future evil alien overlord doesn’t look too good up close, pale and haggard, with dark shadows under his eyes that would give Tony at his first post-Afghanistan depression a run for their money.

Not a record any sane person wants to beat.

“Everything alright with your brother?” 

Tony’s impressed how casual Rogers makes the question sound. It’s impossible to tell if he’s concerned about Loki’s welfare or subtly requesting information on his mental state or even demanding a report about potential trouble. Well done.

“Nothing he won’t recover from.” The expression on Thor’s face is hard to read, almost blank, but the way his grip around Loki tightens is a tell on its own.

Sternly reminding himself that he’s not gonna involve himself in Norse god drama -- again -- Tony catches Romanoff’s eyes and nods towards her carry-on. “Barton good as well?”

“He’ll be fine.” She says evenly. A threat if Tony has ever heard one. 

“Good.”

They both turn back towards the rest of the group. Even Hulk has joined them, perfectly content to just stand there and casually crush what’s left of the wreck inside his left hand. A powermove if Tony’s ever seen one -- really, if Tony didn’t already have his precious honeybear he’d claim Hulk as his best friend in a heartbeat. No second thoughts. Plenty of regrets. For other people, that is.

“Well, we’re all alive so that’s great.” Rogers rubs the back of his neck, wincing like he’s just realized how depressing that sounds. Shoots Loki an anything-but-inconspicious look. “I guess we should get back to the Tower, just in case.”

“What tower?” Tony asks over Thor’s agreement and Romanoff’s raised eyebrows -- they’re very loud raised eyebrows, okay.

Rogers freezes. The look on his face bears a weird resemblance to how Rhodey looked that one time Tony caught him with a Hammer gun. 

“Uhm. Stark Tower?”

Tony crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Why would we go there?”

Why would they even go to NYC? They already have Loki, even if he doesn’t look particularly chained up from where Tony’s standing and they’ve even gotten some of the brainwashed minions back. Shouldn’t they focus on the Tesseract now? Or barring that on pissing off Fury into telling them what else besides hella-illegal-if-anyone-knew-about-it weapons manifacturing they haven’t been told?

“...to regroup?” Rogers asks slowly.

Tony gives him the look that statement deserves.

“That sounds like a sensible course of action,” Thor adds. “And I would like to leave my brother in a place where he can rest.”

What high-level security cell wasn’t chill enough? Tony swallows that comment at the last second, vaguely remembering the protective fevor Thor has shown in defense of his brother and not at all eager to become its target.

“Hulk sleep,” Hulk says, not being much of a help at all.

Romanoff’s eyebrows judge them all.

“It’s decided then!” Rogers claps his hands, blatantly ignoring the lack of agreement from the sanest two people present. “Let’s go see if we can find a car to hotwire.”

Tony stares after him. “I can’t believe Captain fucking America just said ‘see if we can find a car to hotwire’.”

Romanoff scoffs, even as her gaze flickers restlessly back and forth between Rogers, Hulk and Thor and Loki. “I can’t believe they call him the man with a plan.”

“Well, no one said it had to be a good plan.”

“Don’t worry,” Rogers calls out over his shoulder, cool as a cucumber and doing a terrible job of concealing the amusement in his tone, “if a giant hole appears in the sky, you and Thor get to play flying taxi.”

Tony exchanges a glance with Romanoff -- not an easy thing to do considering his faceplate is still up -- and says quietly. “The scary thing is I can’t tell if he’s joking or not.”

“He’s not,” Romanoff deadpans.

[reddpenn]

Hey, hey, I have some more Cool Rocks and I think they’re neat and I want to show everybody!

Ok so first of all, check out THIS weird rock!  This cool rock is aragonite.  Its crystals grow in these super weird clusters, all radiating out from each other.

Look at those shapes!  Aragonite is The Best when it comes to bizarre crystal formations.  This rock wouldn’t look out of place in an alien landscape from some scifi movie.  I’m proud of how big and weird my specimen is.

How about a lovely blue rock?  Celestite has this gorgeous pale blue color, like if you froze the sky into ice.  You can see how it got its name; it’s truely celestial!  It’s easy to tell apart from quartz, because celestite is way, way heavier.

A cute little cluster of black diopside, in a sparkly silvery matrix.  I guess part of this photoshoot is happening outside today, since it’s especially sparkly in sunlight!  Maybe I’ll show off some more of my Best Viewed in Sunlight rocks.

A pink forest of spiky triangular huelandite crystals, surrounding a huge rectangular crystal of silky white stilbite!  Stilbite and huelandite both belong to the zeolite group of minerals, and zeolites love to grow together.  The fact that the stilbite is framed so perfectly makes this zeolite extra special - like the huelandite is as proud to show it off as I am!  Ahh, those gentle pastel colors.  They’re so nice as a pair!

Phantom quartz!  The coolest name ever for a Cool Rock!  Can you spot the phantom?

It’s not an opera ghost, it’s a smaller quartz crystal hiding inside the larger one!  Hidden beneath that dark layer of dust and calcite inclusions, our phantom and its dusty coating got trapped inside when the larger quartz crystal grew over top of everything.  It’s like a shadowy and mysterious miniature landscape, tiny enough to fit in my hands.

Some rocks form slowly over thousands of years.  This rock formed when a meteorite smashed into the planet and instantly melted those Boring Earth Rocks, flung them into the air, fused them together into bottle green space glass, and rained them across Europe.  This is moldavite!!!  (Yes, real moldavite, and holy crap was it Expensive.)  That unique texture is the result of its explosive formation, and it’s best viewed with a bright light shining through it.  Can you imagine the kind of intense forces it must have taken to create such a pretty and delicate thing?

Here’s a tiny rock of mine.  Right now it doesn’t look like much, but it’s actually one of the rocks I’ve always dreamed of adding to my collection.  Let me take it out and let the light hit it just right…

A sudden rainbow flash!  This little guy is fire agate!  Its brilliant rainbow of colors comes from a layer of shiny hematite hidden inside.  The colors are brightest when the rock is wet, so I often show this one off to people by… licking it.  My friends are judgmental.

Here’s an unusual rock:  hemimorphite!  This colorful stuff looks like it’d be soft and waxy to the touch, doesn’t it?  Like the melted drips from a scented candle with a name like “summer surf.”  But it’s really a hard layer of crystal that forms on zinc-rich rocks.  The color contrast between this bright blue hemimorphite and the orange rock it’s growing on is really cool!

Hey you!  Yes, you!  Do you love the sparkly, night-sky look of blue goldstone, but were disappointed when you found out it was manmade, perhaps because you have made some sort of Blood Oath never to collect manmade rocks?  OH MAN DO I HAVE GOOD NEWS.  Let me tell you all about specularite.  It’s a naturally occurring type of hematite that forms in tiny, mirror-bright crystals.  When polished up and given a coat of protective resin finish, it glitters with an even brighter, even more complex galaxy of stars.  Holding a piece of this stuff is amazing, it’s like having a window into the Milky Way.  This is my Prettiest Rock.

But THIS.  This is undoubtedly one of the coolest rocks I own.  (Everyone I know can attest, I never shut up about this rock.)  This huge chunk of green cubes is fluorite, and there’s something incredible about it that you can’t see under artificial lighting.  Let’s get some sunlight shining on this thing!

It’s a beautiful sunny day outside, and the rock in my hands is BLUE now!!  It’s not my camera, it’s not an optical illusion, and I haven’t edited the photo.  This rock actually changes color!

You’ve probably heard of fluorescence, where certain minerals glow or change color under a UV lamp.  This fluorite comes from Rogerley Mine in the UK, and displays the mine’s famous Daylight Fluorescence!  It’s so sensitive to UV radiation that even regular sunlight causes an instant, vibrant color change!  Now’s not the time to Wax Obsessive over the science, but there’s so much Cool Science behind fluorescent minerals.  Daylight fluorescence is also a very, very valuable trait, and this big guy blows my previous Most Expensive Rock out of the water.  I have no regrets.  This rock is beautiful.

Let’s end on a closeup of those cloudy blue cubes.  Nature did this!  It made this with minerals and sunlight and science!  We’re so lucky to live in a world full of rocks!!

(You can see more of my rocks over here!)

[ask-spiderglass]

Change of Plans

In the sandy dunes of Queen’s Rocky Peninsula, lying in silence between the main part of NYC and the Atlantic Ocean, was the abandoned remains of Fort Tilden. Within one of the darker, graffiti covered bunkers that was nestled in the snow covered dunes, was one of the many coastline hideouts Doctor Octopus of Earth-777 had called a home away from home.

Deep in its bowels, a complicated ritual was set up in one of the rooms: two chairs facing towards each other with six green candles encircling them both. The one on the right that had an opened, out-of-print antique book placed on the cushion along with an intact human brain and attached spinal cord sitting upon said book.

Fresh blood had been spilt on the brain along with the ashes of a burnt slip of paper sprinkled upon it. Seated on the left chair was none other than Odyssia Octavius.

Her eyes were glowing brightly with a sickly green hue as she uttered out inhuman clicks and chattering in a language no human could begin to comprehend. In a jittering motion, she allowed the Writhing One to envelop her as she etched out the information she had gathered onto a journal on her lap with a dip calligraphy pen.

The sole witness was Oliver Octavius of Earth-42711a, who had been keeping his distance while observing the process of the ritual. His usual set of four arms was warped and divided, changed by his abilities into something akin to an elevated seat. He’d gotten used to camping out in abandoned structures— not that he had ever liked it. This one in particular was laced with the smell of salt and water, and his nose wrinkled at the stench every so often. He had been watching this for a while now. Time seemed to be irrelevant in the space that was the bunker. With a pen and paper in hand, he had taken notes on the ritual throughout its duration, though the longer it dragged on, he found himself growing a bit bored, his note-taking growing less enthusiastic. Was this really supposed to take so long? Shouldn’t she have gotten everything that she needed by now?

A short, pained shriek rang out, snapping himself back to alertness in time to see Odyssia abruptly jolt out of her magic induced trance. Her head was drawn back and her hands were trembling slightly. Taking shaky breaths, her initial shock began to subside as she soon realized what just happened.

“Fuck…” she groans under her breath as she put the pen down and rubbed at her temples.

“What is it?” Oliver impatiently says. “Something obviously just happened, so spill it.”

“Jesus… my connection was broken,” she hissed. Her eyes felt like they were burning, like she stared at the sun for too long as she rubbed at her eyes, “Ugh.. based on that very searingly bright white light I saw, it was definitely a Celestial behind this,”

“Such as the angel that your Spider is bound to?” Oliver asks. “It’s obvious that they’ve managed to meet with one another at this point— I said it would eventually happen, remember?”

“Yeah, I’m aware,” she mumbles with a bit of vague resentment. Quite honestly, the way he spoke to her almost reminded her of when her mother used to nag at her.

“... And I guess you had a better idea in mind, right Juice Man? Did you have a better way to get all of this information about the Shards? Because if you did, you would’ve surely told me about that BEFORE I stole a fucking brain and spinal cord from a medical school and asked you to get me some blood, right?” she snarked with a side of venom. Her trembling had ceased as she unconsciously clenched her fists.

Oliver sighs, running a hand over his face before straightening his posture.

“Yes, I would have,” he says. “But that’s not the point. The point is that our Spiders are working together now— so now we need to figure out what we should do next.”

Odyssia lets out a heavy sigh as she unclenches her fist. Blinking a couple times she recovered her vision and the searing pain evaporated as the Writhing One compelled her eyes to heal faster. She thought about what she was going to do now… knowing that Amari was now getting involved she needed to think of a way to cause the least amount of pain to her… While she didn’t exactly feel the same way towards Melly, she felt like she was at a crossroads with no clear right path in sight. She slowly gets up from her chair as her viscous tentacles sprouted from her back.

“Alright, first of all, I’m sorry for snapping at you like that, I normally don’t have an audience for this sort of thing,” she says tiredly as she stretched her arms, “And second of all, let me tell you some things before we continue: we have everything we can possibly get from Crimson Weaver’s mind, all right here in this journal. I managed to get it all before our good pal Steve tried to ruin it. Another good thing: I can re-establish a connection with her in order to slow her down since I still have everything here and everything is still pretty fresh to use. And hey, since she’s right here, it will be easier to have a grip on her and I won’t have to focus as hard as I had to when she was in your dimension… But I need some time to set things up again,”

“Excellent,” Oliver says, green light flashing in his eyes for a moment as he smirked. “Tell me… does your Spider know that you frequent this place? If so… perhaps a diversion is needed while you prepare things. Something to keep their punchy little fists busy for a bit.”

“I’m assuming that she’ll definitely look around the peninsula first… we did last encounter each other around here,” she replies, rubbing her chin, “Yeah.. that could work. And you won’t have to do this alone.”

With that, she snaps her fingers. Oliver could hear the moaning, hissing, and�� distorted whinnying of several entities emerging from elsewhere from the bunker. Oliver could sense their presence long before he saw them: their presences felt very similar to Odyssia’s own energy, albeit with a distinct lack of humanity behind it all. From the darkness of the dilapidated bunker, five entities of her creation appeared.

The first thing that had emerged was… what looked like a grotesque cross between a horse and a fish? Slow moving but powerfully built, it dragged itself into view. Patchy bluish gray scales, cold damp skin, fin like appendages, soulless black eyes… this thing really shouldn’t be a functioning living animal but here it was, in all of its visceral “glory”. Following just behind the ‘seahorse’ was a levitating, glowing, oversized cross between a squidworm and a bombardier worm that undulated around the air. This entity looked alien (although deep sea creatures tended to look very alien anyhow) as its tendrils began to pick up on Oliver’s Shard energy, curiously inspecting him before swimming away in the air. Next was a chimaera-like entity that seemed to be made of human flesh and… limbs with far too many hands attached? It seems to scuttle around the room in a way that a fish really shouldn’t do. Not too far behind was a quadrupedal wolffish that was well, the size of an actual wolf, with what looked like patchy bits of human hair and disturbingly human-like blue eyes. But the odd one out was an entity that resembled a flapjack octopus. Nothing about it seemed… as nauseating as the others. It… was the closest one to being considered cute, in a hideous way.

Oliver stiffened for a moment as he felt the entities approach, shifting back a bit as the floating worm drifted in his direction, and though his lip curled a bit at their twisted appearances, his eyebrow also rose in interest.

“Interesting…” Oliver says, looking them over. “Yes, these should do quite nicely.”

“You like them? I made them myself,” Odyssia chuckles knowingly.

“You did, did you?” Oliver says, thinking for a moment before deciding that it might be better to not ask from where or from what these creatures were made of. “I can’t say that they match my own choice of aesthetic, but they appear useful nonetheless. I take it you or your Patron will be directing these in some way?”

“Yes! These creations of mine are going to be directed by me,” she explains, “They already have their marching orders in place and they know what I expect out of them. So you don’t need to worry about bossing them around or anything. They’ll be on your side and give you an extra hand in a fight.”

“Which is appreciated,” Oliver says. “Though out of curiosity… What orders have you given them? Some foresight on what my ‘allies’ here may do would be appreciated.”

“They’re there to help in combat. The hippocampus there—Charley Horse—is there to keep the Cobwebs’ resident hunter busy and give him a hard time in particular,” she says, gesturing to the horse thing. “The worm—Shoestrings—is not only to sense Celestial energy associated with Spider-Glass but it’s also able to deploy bioluminescent flash bangs to disorient the opposition,” she says pointing to the undulating worm in the air. “Then this chimaera—Bunny—is going to use its venom and its whiplike tail in its attacks,” she continues, “And the wolffish—Canine—will obviously be using its powerful jaws to bite anyone who tries to get in the way.”

She paused for a moment to look at the flapjack octopus, regarding it with a sort of connection she did not seem to have with its fellow monstrosities. She smiles at it before finishing her explanation.

“Adorabilis here has a very special job: she’s going to have the privilege to deal with Spider-Glass. She will make sure that Glass will not interfere with you and keep her under control.” Odyssia concludes. It seems to be very obvious that Odyssia definitely had picked favorites.

Oliver inwardly rolled his eyes at the fact that Odyssia had given these things names, though he was still quite impressed with their range of abilities.

“I see,” he says. “Yes, these will give us quite the advantage. Perhaps we may even be able to obtain the Weaver earlier than planned— though I will keep that as a best-case scenario, given that we don’t yet know how many of their pesky friends they’ll be bringing along.”

“Well, I think you’d be happy to know that I at least planned for Spider-Glass and her friends,” Odyssia replies, “And you should also know that half her teammates don’t even use magic… and that’s assuming that two of them will even show up at all. All we really need to do is keep them busy anyhow. Anything more than that will be a bonus, let’s say.”

Oliver grins back at Odyssia.

“A bonus indeed…”

Odyssia nods in agreement, “Yes.. One step closer to both of us getting what we want. I’ll be here, then. I’m sure you can take care of yourself just fine, right Juice Man?”

This time, Oliver made his eye roll clear— he still was a bit confounded as to what the exact circumstances that had led Odyssia to start calling him that. But, seeing as it was otherwise a harmless name, he had otherwise not taken the time to object to it.

He sat upright, and as he did, the metal structure behind him shifted. With a green shimmer, it warped and condensed into four metallic clawed tentacles, two of which held him aloft as he moved forward.

“Oh, I assure you that I will,” he says.

With that, he shifts to one side, heading out of the room and towards the surface, the four creatures following not too far behind.

Adorabilis is about to follow the rest until Odyssia stops her. She bends down to look her in the eyes with a great intensity.

“You have a secret mission: keep Spider-Glass safe. Under no circumstances will the others be allowed to hurt her too much. Especially not Oliver. Understand?” She instructs.

Adorabilis curls a tendril and she seemed to listen to her words carefully. With that, she hurries away to join the rest of her fellow creations.

Once Odyssia was left all alone and felt no other presence nearby, she looked over the journal that she had been recording all the memories she had gathered from Melly. At first, Odyssia seemed to routinely skim over the information regarding the Shards (figuring she and Oliver will have plenty of time to dive into it), one bit of information caught her off guard.

This… wasn’t exactly anything Shard related per say, and if anything it really had nothing to do with her agenda. And yet, she found herself reading and rereading this particular memory over and over again. The image of a woman, Crimson’s mother presumably, had kept haunting her in a way similar to how her memories of her own mother seemed to follow her around like a ghost. Try as she might, no matter what she did to try to pull herself away, her eyes did not want to look away.

She shuts the book.

No. I can’t let her get in my way… I shouldn’t care about her. This is all for the glory of the Writhing One, Odyssia scolded to herself. But this sentiment wavered as she thought about what the Weaver had said to her when she entered into her mind, Damnit, Octavius, stop second guessing yourself! This IS what you want. … So why do I have these hang ups?!

Odyssia resigns herself to restarting the ritual in silence, trying to avoid thinking of the memories that have been altered by Crimson Weaver's own mother. Even if the lull of self sabotage kept her from fully feeling committed.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

this DLC has me FUCKED UP and i keep screaming

spoilers for Bounty of Blood under the cut, keep reading at ur own peril. Also some Guardian Takedown spoilers for anyone who hasn’t beat it yet

tl;dr: a comparison between something taken from BL2 and a thing taken from Bounty of Blood. more spoilery tl;dr below the cut.

also the siren thing is not spoilers so i’ll share it here for anyone curious, it’s just this: siren tattoos are blue but when lily absorbs eridium in 2, they turn pinkish/purple. just like how vaults do from bl1 to bl2. they’re white/blue in bl1, then purple-pink in bl2 (and tps), y’know, after Eridium begins erupting from the ground. just a neat little detail i noticed that im not entirely sure was intentional but im gonna believe it is.

tl;dr: Gythian Blood = Core and the Ruiner is of Eridian Origin even tho everyone in the DLC likes to say it was created with Jakobs’ bioengineering. disclaimer: idk if I’ve found every hidden ECHO so I may be missing a few things but I have done every side quest and took ample screenshots of all important dialogue in the DLC : )

“man i just sat here for like 15 minutes staring at my keyboard mentally comparing core and eridium like the dumb bitch i am. 

it's not like we can do an actual comparison because we have no idea what the natural fauna of gehenna was like before jakobs came and mutated everything with core unlike pandora where we know what skags and rakk and shit were like BEFORE the eridium crust erupted. 

altho!!! there's a neat comparison between joey ultraviolet and rose. like obviously he wasn't getting tattoos and was just doing lines of crushed up eridium but the point stands they both have glowy eyes and unique powers so i don't necessarily think this means rose is a siren just because she has magic powers especially when we know she got the whistling passed down to her from her grandmother. 

especially because we've never seen a siren interact with core before. altho that leaves the question we have seen core tattoos now what are eridium tattoos like? actually rose's tattoos were on her right arm obviously she isn't a siren as we know them right now (I saw a post on reddit where people thought rose was a siren) 

of course that brings up the point perhaps siren tattoos ARE eridium tattoos. but then we hear the general's log about how the devil riders were tattooing a man with core and blood so obviously they're not ‘naturally’ occurring unlike siren tattoos. so odds are they're probably not equivalents but something interesting i thought of while thinking about this is how well siren tattoos compare to the Vaults from borderlands 1 and borderlands 2″

anyway. this is all ive been thinking about. yes yes i know guardian takedown post but! >:( im still salty even tho this update has been lovely (outside of Blane not getting his correct damage scaling ‘till today......). so i’ll do that at my own damn pace. now let me elaborate so i can sleep at night lmao

Eridium

refinement produces slag, which weakens people and can mutate things

has mutating properties, mostly with imbuing elements into shit- possibly causes insanity

seems to be connected to another dimension, likely the one the Eridians are from

Core

has a secondary form of Infused Core

has mutating properties, mostly regarding a thing’s body and mind

apparently radioactive

there are some things i wanna note

1) People throughout the DLC say the Ruiner was created by the Jakobs corp (the company) thru bio-engineering but I’m 99% sure that’s not true. The paperwork seems to me like they found the egg somewhere on Gehenna and decided to roll and experiment with it like all corporations do when they find weird alien shit. so maybe they experimented with whatever was inside the egg, but I don’t think they actually created it entirely

“Excavated from [REDACTED] ... Local legends speaks of a [REDACTED]. This theory is not endorsed by our research personnel.

2) The Ruiner’s design reminds me a lot of the Warrior.

3) Core immediately reminded me of Gythian Blood from Guns Love and Tentacles and I don’t think that’s coincidence to have 2 back-to-back DLCs where the big bad is focused on green death juice. I think Gythian Blood and Core are of the same stuffs.

4) Therefore, I think the Ruiner is (mostly) of Eridian origin (if you haven’t already guessed). 

This gives us an amazing look into how the Eridians actually create their beasts!!! And I’m so happy they showed us this.

(side note, Interitus Regina (the long name for Ruiner) literally means Destruction Queen and I think that’s beautiful <3)

i mean the idea that they plunge them from orbit to create an explosion similar to a nuke is fucking horrifying (but holy shit I love it so much ahhh it’s so cool!!!!)

the one side line from Oletta about how the company couldn’t control the Ruiner deffo makes me double down on this theory. I’m not entirely sure how Rose’s grandma knew about the whistling (I don’t think I’ve found every echo log in that area YET), but I would bet it was part of the testing given how many fuckin’ tape players they have throughout the facility. The Warrior was controlled by verbal commands via Jack, so it’s possible that the Ruiner was intended to be controlled similarly, but Jakobs intervention (or something like the way Rose hatched it) fucked it up.

now we know the Warrior was created to protect the Vault of the Destroyer (hmm.) so what the heck was the Ruiner created for? Ruiner is a name given to it by Jakobs/the people of Gehenna so we can’t really assume, but then again the monster names are pretty apt in this series even tho they probably technically shouldn’t be. 

it was only an egg, so maybe it was another test of Core? A Vault Monster incubating until it was ready to protecc and attacc but was never hatched because the Eridians ‘sacrificed’ themselves before it could? (I’m still not convinced the Eridians are the good guys. Listen. LISTEN. The guardian takedown is something to think about, BUT it doesn’t disprove that theory and I’ll stand by it because I 100% trust the Overseer more than bitchpants mcgee over here who thinks he’s soooo special for no reason fuck you and your dumb ‘I did what the Watcher could not’ bull you haven’t done shit.) ok sorry im done he just angers me. stupid guardian man. your whip is stupid and you should feel bad. oh also I totally called us actually being Guardians thru Guardian Rank before the game came out aha yeah.

I definitely think Gythian was a test/use of Core from the Eridians. We see in Bounty of Blood that core seems to mutate more the physical (and occasionally mental) parts of people, like with the crew challenges u do for Juno with all the weird hybrid people and whatnot. Gythian had the whole ‘the heart still beats’ thing going on (which is definitely a physical mutation if i’ve ever seen one), plus the whole, you know, mind control and shit. Which is p similar to what the menta gnats can do when charged with Infused Core. And keep in mind in BLaT we see DAHL notes on what happens to test subjects when injected with Gythian Blood. They mutated physically and went insane.

What im saying is Sirens and Eridium and Elements are connected, so what does Core equal? body/mind sure but are there unique creatures for core (yes holy shit I’m not talking about h2o au for once and FINALLY they gave us a canon name for the green stuff!!!). If not, I’d love to see a Siren interact with Core to see what it does to them. seriously why hasn’t tannis interrupted us yet. horrible excuse for a science lover (kidding kidding, I love her). I’d also really love a fuller rundown on what the hell Rose’s powers were. Because the whistling thing seemed to just be her grandma’s thingie passed down to her from her mom

but the core stuff

her gun seems to be infused with it. So did her sword thing. I didn’t really get a good look at it i was too busy trying to see thru my blurry tears of LOVE for this DLC.

Strangely while her tattoos are (mostly) green I actually don’t know if they’re core infused bc look at this

n look back at hers. hers aren’t very lime.

anyway

her eyes

I’d love to know if the core gives her immediate future sight or just increased perception or reaction times. there’s a huge difference but she seemed to be able to shoot the gun outta the sheriff’s hand near immediately and it seems kinda implied its because of the core (or at least because her eyes are glowing green)

there’s a possibility she has some unique core powers/possibly implants because of her relations to the project in the first place, or as leader of the devil riders after looting the facility. it’s really hard to say without more info and like i said im not sure if i missed an ECHO or two or not regarding her backstory :( 

Her hair is also green which I just noticed. Maybe she has core powers bc her grandmother got suuuuuuuuper irradiated/influenced working on project horizons and it passed down thru her n Rose’s mom, to Rose. Tannis does have a line about Sirens having unique hair colors and, if Sirens are linked to Eridium, perhaps those linked to Core also have unique hair color. Could also explain why only Rose seems to have those whistling powers. That said we don’t really see anyone else trying that whistling thing out afaik and idk if it was, like, a special ability or a certain tone/ditty or w h a t. 

i know being vague with everything gives them more creative freedom to create amazing characters and scenarios, but dammit I want A N S W E R S.

All THAT said man I’m so glad magic is real in the borderlands universe. oh, sorry, “magic”. It’s magic. Science it, tannis, I dare you. either way, I win. Either it’s magic and H2O AU is canon, or it’s science and I finally get my goddamn answers. Hey gearbox can you make a book just explaining all the science and eridian stuff. please. I’d love you forever. please. pleaheheheheaaasseee it’s all i’ve ever wanted.

oh also can i just say, suuuper disappointed we didn’t learn anything about anshin. Really wish non-fan favorite corporations would get the spotlight/lore for once. Like, I like Jakobs as much as the next guy, and I get WHY they did it (can’t have a corporation looking too good!!!) but they now have 3 DLCs (Jakobs Cove, GLaT, and Bounty of Blood) and also a hefty chunk of the main game. Like... we all know Jakobs fuckin sucks, look at what they did on Pandora. I really just want info on a medical corporation 😭 I have to do everything my damn s e l f. but SERIOUSLY IMAGINE the possibilities that could come from a medical corp getting its hands on eridian tech. like, yeah obviously the weapons corps are gonna use it for weaponry and stuff BUT WOULDN’T THE MEDICAL CORPS MUTATING PEOPLE MAKE MORE SENSE??? ldfhgldfshg I have to do everything my damn self...

anyway all that aside, this is definitely by favorite borderlands dlc by a LONG shot. Nothing comes close. Ahhh the lore, the nuclear aspect, the a e s t h e t i c (seriously, have I mentioned how much I adore Trigun???), the art, the music, the cryoslinger, the fact I can bust out going beeEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAans like Ray Chase at any time and it will MAKE SENSE. I love all of it.

oh, also, Rose is totally not dead. C’mon, they couldn’t find her body. She pulled a Lilith. “Are you sure she didn’t just suffer a wound that LOOKS fatal, only for her to come back in a blockbuster sequel...?” is a line from mr Jones himself (the movie guy)

I just hope when she comes back she gets to meet Captain Scarlett. I’d love to watch their interactions plus pirates and or ninjas. That’s 2 DLC villains now that have vanished without a trace. And I like Captain Scarlett way more than Rose (seriously I spent the entire beginning of the DLC complaining about how her voice bothered me- I was so happy she was a villain, I was hoping that was the case).

oh yeah, reminder, the people of vestige were living next to highly radioactive egg for likely years. i feel really bad for them :(

also!!!

this made me smile

[tisfan]

Terrible Things (You’ve Done)

for @gilajames 1000 - 1500 words

I would adore some fluffy Tony Stark/Victor von Doom werewolf/shifter fic. (With or without Doom still being a villain and doing what he *thinks* is fluffy, but requited love regardless.)

Title: Terrible Things (You’ve Done) Written by: @tisfan Square: G1 - Restricted Dog Breeds Rating: Teen Pairing: Tony Stark/Victor Von Doom Triggers/warnings: none Tags: werewolf AU, dubious sense of humor, first time shapeshift Created for: @bannedtogetherbingo2020 Word count: 1362 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24530134

Summary: Tony Stark is out of time... and he’s done terrible things... Restricted Dog Breeds: the piece that was banned for this discussed information about the dog in question, which are illegal in that township. I thought it would be a cute tongue-in-cheek if this pertained to lycanthropy, which would probably be illegal if anyone believed in werewolves.

Twenty seven days and twelve hours later.

“You can’t be serious, Tones,” Rhodey said. He wasn’t quite blocking the door, but it was getting close to that. He meant well, Tony was sure of that, because Rhodey always meant well, but just this one time--

“Honeybunches, you gotta trust me,” Tony said. “Contrary to what everyone thinks, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“You have no clue what you’re doing,” Rhodey muttered, but at least he got out of the way. Which was good, Tony could feel in his bones that he didn’t have much time left.

He was out of options.

Von Doom was his only hope, and that was terrifying. And yet, the alternative was worse.

“Let me go with you,” Rhodey said, catching his elbow. “If-- Tones, I don’t trust this guy, you can’t trust him.”

“I know,” Tony said. “But if it all goes wrong, I don’t want you anywhere near that shit show. Tell Pepper I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you gonna be sorry,” Rhodey said, dragging Tony into a bone-crushing hug. Or it would have been, Tony thought, if he hadn’t been changed. If there wasn’t something else new and alien inside his body, just waiting for its chance. He could smell Rhodey’s human odor, the way his skin felt under the press of Tony’s face, the way his heart beat. Enhanced, animal senses; he was a predator in a herd of sheep.

It was utterly terrifying.

And yet, Tony knew the longing to shed his clothes and run free.

Run with me.

“Gotta go, prickly pear,” Tony said. 

The motorcar was already started in the drive, Jarvis would have seen to that, turned the crank and made sure the steam engine was fully pressurized. Tony had discovered only a few weeks back that a horse would have nothing to do with him, now. He’d nearly caused an accident the first time, the horses panicking and nearly killing his driver, Happy, in the process of rearing and kicking until the carriage wasn’t much use for anything aside from kindling.

The way was smooth, at least.

Von Doom was many things, probably more myth than man these days, but one of them was a lover of progress.

The roads were paved all the way from the city below to his castle.

That said, the motorcar wasn’t made to drive up a mountain, and it took Tony hours to get there.

The sun was setting and Tony was panting for breath, fighting with everything in him not to-- whatever it was that he was going to do.

He barely remembered the parking brake, dashing from the motorcar to the front entrance of Von Doom’s castle.

Maybe he was expected; the door opened under his hand, and Doom was there, green cloak swirling in the evening breeze, that steel mask showing nothing of the man underneath, no emotion, no surprise, no nothing.

No mercy.

The moon peeked out from the horizon, and Tony felt the change shift in his blood.

There was no time.

*

When Tony woke up the next morning, he felt only moderately horrible. A three of ten on the hangover scale. The room was dimly lit, which was good, and he was laying on something that rather resembled a large dog bed, and he assumed that was bad.

He wasn’t dressed, either, which was pretty uncomfortable.

Despite his expectations, his hands weren’t drenched in blood -- although he did have a few feathers clinging to his skin, and his fingers and toes were filthy. 

He shivered again, trying to figure out where the hell he was.

Scrubbed his hands over his face; fingers came back flecked with dried blood. And there was a heavy, leather collar around his neck.

Right. This was really, really bad.

A moment later, the door opened and he caught a glimpse of a metal sabaton, pushing a basket into the room. The door closed with a boom.

His nose, still wolf-sharp and sensitive, told him there was food in that basket. Eggs and toast and sausage and bacon and steak and berries. His stomach, not really caring all that much about his emotional state, growled.

He edged forward cautiously. He wasn’t sure what he was being careful of. That someone would come in and attack him, or that he would attack someone else.

He didn’t feel crazy, but he also couldn’t remember what had happened, the night before.

There were clothes, too. Soft, clean. Tony pulled them on. At this point, anything was better than being naked and vulnerable.

At someone else’s mercy.

He was just settling in for breakfast when the door opened again.

This time, Doom swept in, a few of his identically clad servants behind him, one carrying a bucket  and some towels, the other carrying a chair, which he sat in front of Tony and then Doom sat down in it.

“You’ve done terrible things, Mr. Stark,” Doom intoned.

Tony looked down at his hands. “Just tell me,” he said.

“First, you were completely disorderly, and got into the chicken coop. You’re just lucky that the rooster chased you out before you could eat more than two of my best layers, otherwise I couldn’t have any eggs for breakfast,” Doom said, and he flipped up his metal mask, looking at Tony with the same disapproval that people reserved for misbehaving children. 

Well, somewhat less disapproving than Howard had, since Doom didn’t really look ready to take a fresh-peeled switch to Tony’s backside.

“And you chewed up my best leather slippers, I’m quite put out. Also, you shed all over the sofa. Do you ever brush your hair? Further, you got into the midden heap. Trash, everywhere! What am I supposed to do with you, Stark? You’re like a badly trained puppy. It’s disgraceful.”

Tony’s mouth dropped open, all the muscles in his jaw refused to work.

Finally-- “What?”

“What did you expect,” Doom continued. “You don’t even know who bit you, it’s not like you’ve been initiated. Can’t expect perfect behavior out of your wolf when he’s got paws the first time. It was smart, coming here. I didn’t expect that, but I approve.”

“I didn’t hurt anyone?”

Von Doom rolled his eyes. It was surprising, really, how attractive Doom was. Tony’d heard the legends his whole life of how the man had gotten a trifling cut on his face when he was a boy and sealed the metal mask over it, still hot, to hide from the world.

There was only the thinnest scar on one cheek, and it didn’t make him ugly. As a matter of fact, he was quite handsome, with silvering hair and amber colored eyes. 

“They’re still telling that ridiculous story?” Von Doom said. “No, werewolves don’t eat people. They don’t track down their loved ones to rip out their intestines, and they don’t become mindless monsters.”

Tony held out his arm where the bite -- now a simple pink impression of teeth, fading. Soon it would be gone, he thought -- had been. “And then how do people become werewolves?”

“Bad luck, usually,” Doom said. “Look, don’t let me keep you from breakfast and then I’ll let you have a bath. Tonight, you’ll meet the were who made you, have your initiation. Meet your pack. It’ll be easier, after that.”

“Who made me?”

“He didn’t mean to,” Von Doom said, not meeting Tony’s eyes. “He was hunting, and you struck a creature with your carriage. Do you remember?”

“I thought it was a--” Tony blinked. He’d thought he’d hit a man, at first, that had staggered, drunk, into the road.

The thing in the ditch was no man, and had lashed out violently.

“You thought it was a man,” Von Doom said. “And so it was.”

A strange, sudden knowing filled Tony’s chest. “Who?”

Von Doom swallowed and looked at him. “I would have thought you’d have guessed. He’s me.” 

[vln-vibes]

Ephemeral Flowers

WEEK 3 DAY 7 of Maribat March; BROKEN Part of Staying Whelmed and Erable.

Ships: Dickinette, AdriKon, NatMarc

Summary: They won. Earth was saved from the Reach... but at what cost?

Paris, France June 20, 12:20 CEST

“Everyone get to the shelters!” 

Adrien was lucky he was already out when this disaster began. His mom had called to see if he’d been alright, he felt an uneasy squeeze to his heart when he told her that he was in the safety of the Bourgeois hotel; he never liked lying to his mom before, but he didn’t have the choice right now. Not especially after he just got her back.

Somehow, he thought six hurricanes surrounding the Eiffel tower and making their way around the city was easier to handle than their Final Stand barely a month ago.

“You think this has anything to do with the Reach?”

“Most likely, Chaton” Ladybug’s voice was in his ear, the team going around and helping the citizens head to previously designated akuma shelters. Ryuuko had activated Wind Dragon form to try and contain the hurricanes in one place, but they seemed to be more powerful than the average hurricane… y'know, considering there were six.

“Any word from the Team?” Bunnix asked.

“Guys, I know what's causing these things!” Viperion’s voice was hard to hear, a lot of interference where he was. All their devices got pings, each of them showing an oval shaped device floating in the air with a swarm of drones surrounding it, currently in statis.

“What the hell are those things?” Monarch asked, indigo locks, where normally red hair was, blew wildly in the air.

“I’d say that looks pretty alien to me” Paon responded, their embroidered royal blue mask shaping to the same furrowed brow they had. “It's like the Reach’s final present to Earth, if anything. Y’know, one last kick to the heroes and all that.”

“Mon ange, now is not the time to think of how fitting this would be in a writing point of view”

“Look, it's either this or panicking.”

“It.. a.. Eiffel….attack..g hurry!” Viperion’s signal was beginning to cut out, but they all got the idea.

Paris, France June 21, 05:16 CEST

The Dupain-Chengs watched as the Justice league announced that the reach had been defeated; the world was now safe.

The world panicked as machines began to pop up in different places of the world, two even in Paris, but were dealt with by their own heroes. Many had wondered if they would continue once Hawkmoth was defeated, but they continued to protect their home. It was of no real surprise when they teamed up with the other heroes to take down the Reach. But something deep within told them that all was not well when the announcement was made.

“The Reach is being sent back into space and will be awaiting trial Green Lantern Corp.” Captain Atom announced as the crowd began to cheer, but his face was not one of celebration. Wonder Woman taking his place at the podium, sadness and acceptance in her eyes before speaking.

“But it was not without a cost; Today we mourn and celebrate the lives of the Parisian heroes who gave their lives to save the planet”

A hologram appearing behind them, one by one appearing as she said their codenames;

“Souris,Tyger, Paon, Monarch, Bunnix, Taurus, Roi Singe, Pegasus, Ryuko, Viperion, Carapace, Queen Bee, Rena Rouge, Chat Noir and Ladybug.”

The permanent smile on the holograms made Sabine’s heart ache, those young heroes who’d been protecting Paris for more than five years. They had finally defeated their villain only for them to parish.

But she knew there was more to it. She might have been paranoid, but a mother’s instinct was never wrong

“Oh their poor families,” Tom said, shedding a few tears for their beloved heroes. A knock on the door interrupting their solemn thoughts, going downstairs to open it they were surprised to see a red eyed Richard with his younger brother, Tim, and friends, Artemis and Wally.

“Richard? Is everything alright?” Sabine tried calming her voice, but alarms rang in her head as she noticed their matching expressions. The same look of guilt and regret as no one dared look her in the eye.

“I-It’s about Marinette “ Richard softly spoke, the group silently entering the apartment. “I think you need to sit down for this, both of you”

Tom and Sabine shared a look, both instinctively knowing that they would not be seeing their little girl for a long time.

“... She wanted to tell you for so long” Artemis’ voice cracked, handing them a small device. Sabine cradled it in her hands, one last thing from their daughter she was sure. Pressing the sole button on the device a hologram popped up before them; Marinette was there from the waist up, as though she had been sitting when recording this message, the only identifiable item of clothing was a black zipped up half-jacket.

‘Hi maman, papá. If you’re seeing this then it must mean that my mission is complete or I gave it my best til the bitter end’ her little girl looked so tired, as though the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Had she always looked like that?

``I don’t know how long I have before our final fight, but I gave it to Dick so he’d give it to you guys just in case. For nearly the past seven years, I have been at the front of what seemed to be an endless war. I’m sure I’ve changed, hopefully into a respectable woman that will make you proud. The truth is…’

‘Please don’t.’ Sabine stubbornly thought as the tears welled up in her eyes, her husband's squeeze on her hand tightened as they heard her next line, a familiar mask being placed on her face. The world froze and her blood grew cold.

‘I am Ladybug; wielder of the Miraculous of Luck and Creation, Guardian of Miracles and Protector of Paris. I wanted to tell you for so long, but with Hawkmoth out and about I just𑁋I just couldn’t! I couldn’t allow you to suffer, knowing I was out there everyday  risking my life because of some maniac with too much power in his hands. I didn’t want your lives in danger because of my selfishness.’

Their sobs echoed in the now too empty house, regardless of the other guests in the room who accompanied them in silent tears.

‘I hope you can forgive me for having to learn this way. I can only pray I made you proud. Know that wherever I am, I’ll always love you. Signing out, your daughter Marinette Dupain-Cheng.’

Paris, France June 21, 05:16 CEST

Conner Kent hated the news he had to give.

But he owed it to Adrien.

He stepped into the gates of the newly named Graham de Vanily Manor, knowing that it was late, but hearing soft speaking voices come from inside. Part of him wished that he had agreed to let someone come with him, but he knew that there’d be other places that need visiting.

Too many.

As he softly knocked on the door, knowing its residents could hear him, Conner felt like he would throw up. The last look of those emerald eyes haunted him and made his heart ache.

He heard the heavy doors open and thought he saw a ghost.

“A-Adrien?” he felt his throat tighten before noticing the differences; this new figure was taller, leaner, hair platinum blonde instead of honey, green eyes with specks of gray.

“No. I’m his cousin, Felix,” the lean man asked, clearly perturbed by the fact that a complete stranger was knocking at their doors at five in the morning.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Can I come in, it’s about Adrien” Conner could hear his spiked heartbeat as he moved to the side and beckoned him to the family room. 

In the room were three figures, two of them looking nearly identical if for differences in hues and a few hardly noticeable grays on the paler one (then again losing your sister and husband would do that to you). It explained why Felix looked so similar to him, at first glance they could be mistaken for twins. The other was a big burly figure, bigger than himself.

He knew Emelie Graham de Vanily and Guillaume ‘Gorilla’ Durand. He could only guess that the other woman was Amelie, the aunt that lived in England with his cousin that Adrien would sometimes talk about.

“Conner.” Emelie caught his attention from her wheelchair next to her sister. He hadn’t known her for long, mostly through stories he was told, until she was woken up; then he was introduced as Adrien’s boyfriend.

“Mrs. Grah- I mean Emelie” 

Conner couldn’t do this.

He didn’t want to.

But they deserved to know the truth.

“It’s fine dear. I’m afraid Adrien was going to spend the night with Chloe when that disaster started.” her eyes clearly worried, looking out the window, the first few rays of sunshine peeking through this somber morning.

“I hope they were fine” Amelie sighed in agreement, “Can I offer you something to drink?”

“No. No it’s fine, thank you” he took a deep breath, not wanting to allow his own emotions to overcome him. 

“I need to speak to you about Adrien.” Everyone’s heartbeat elevated as he did nothing to hide the somber tone in his voice, and Conner wanted to hate his super hearing. 

“Adrien left this behind. In case anything happened, he wanted for you to read it before letting anyone else say anything.” he pulled out a black envelope, in silver cursive it said, ‘To my Family’

“Co-Conner, what is this about?” Emilie’s hands shook as she got a hold of the thing, as though she were afraid it would burn her.

“I think you should read the letter first.”

‘Hey fam,

I know I just got you back, which is why I’m sorry this had to happen. What I’ve been doing this past half decade has been a real wild ride. After what happened with mom, Gabriel practically locked me up in the mansion, only letting me leave whenever it was for his convenience. I was just the trophy son, I wonder if he ever loved me.

Life is full of unexpected turns, one minute you feel like you’re locked up in the highest tower by an evil witch, the next you’re on the adventure of a lifetime with the best friend you can ever ask for.

There’s a lot of things I regret not doing; not stopping Chloe from becoming a total brat and bully when we were younger, not going to uncle Arthur’s funeral, being complicit in Gabriel’s will and therefore Lila’s and especially harassing one of my best friends because I couldn’t take no for an answer just like that man. 

I regret not telling you that I am Chat Noir, the Black Cat of Misfortune and Destruction and  Protector of Paris.

I hope you can forgive me for not coming out with the truth sooner but m’lady and I had already come to an agreement to not tell our families in fear that they’d be targeted by Hawkmoth; can you imagine what would have happened?

Even with all of that over and done with, the risk was too high, and honestly I didn’t know how to casually bring it up in conversation. Oops.’

Emelie’s voice cracked as she choked on a laugh, her vision too blurry to see what the next word was, quickly engulfed by her sister in a hug as she passed the note to Felix. His own eyes were bloodshot but he refused to let any tears run until he finished reading.

‘Most importantly I regret not proposing to Kon.’ 

Conner felt his heart stop. The world was spinning around as the line repeated in his head; did everything always look so blurry?

``I was going to ask mom for her ring, but I thought it’d be better for a wedding. I even started wedding planning with Mr. Dupain-Cheng, did you know he’s a hopeless romantic?. Mari thought I was insane when she helped me pick out the ring. We got it custom made too; Tungsten𑁋 one of the strongest metals on Earth, it’s harder than Steel!

I had hoped to give it to him myself but things don’t always turn out the way we want them to and I’ve learned that that’s okay. I lived my life to the fullest and experienced things no others have; pretty cool I’d say.

Forever your little cat waiting for his knight,

Adrien Agreste Graham de Vanily’

Conner hadn’t realized he was crying until he felt a small object placed in his hand, Felix having placed it as he shook in an attempt to suppress his tears. Connor realized that it was the ring Adrien had gotten him.

The mansion was filled with sniffling, the shadow of a cat seemingly looming over them.

The WatchTower  June 20, 07:16 EDT

Lex Luthor did not think everything would go to shit with the Reach so quickly. Neither he nor the Light trusted those aliens as much as Superman could throw them; that is to say they were just using them and planned on backstabbing them once their usefulness was done.

Not only had they killed one of the members of the Light, not that any of them thought he’d be gone for long, but they had also planned to betray the Light as well.

He convinced the most likely fired United Nations secretary general Zhang in order to call the League; he may not like them but he also enjoyed living on Earth… maybe until they find a sustainable planet to move their society to should anything happen.

“Luthor! What are you𑁋”

“ Secretary Zhang was kind enough to let me borrow his frequency,” he decided to ignore Captain Atom’s outrage and cut to the chase. “As I have a possible solution to our mutual problem”

“A problem created by you and the Light when they collaborated to bring the Reach to Earth.”

“But as I believe you know, the Light always planned to betray the Reach. Lexcorp𑁋”

“I think that’s enough of that Luthor,” the man could say he was surprised by the sudden appearance of the Parisian superheroes who’d “recently debuted” after defeating a magical terrorist that had been rampaging for the past years. He hated having not known that, apparently it was something no one in the Light knew.

Though Vandal Savage and Ra’s al Ghul gave interesting looks when finally catching glimpses of them.

“We have already created a solution, one that needs no help from the likes of you,” Ladybug’s eyes glowed red as she looked at Luthor, a ladybug themed flash drive on Nightwing’s hand.

“And trust that the Light will see justice for their crimes”

With that Chat Noir cut the transmission, the team turned back to Blue Beetle as he continued to create Reach Tech eggs, as per Ladybug’s instructions, and Pegasus transferred the flash drive's information into them.

“Alright guys, we have 19 Magnetic Field Disruptors to destroy and stop the world from ending”

They distributed the eggs with groups of two going up against each MFD; one as cover while the other went to disable the device. There were barely enough heroes available as the majority had gone out to help with rescue of the citizens.

“I love it when she takes charge like that.” Nightwing sighed before helping distribute the eggs and sending the teams to their designated areas.

Paris, France June 21, 05:16 CEST

Kaldur’ahm found himself in front of a ship, The Liberty. He never ceased to feel like it matched Luka’s easy-going attitude.

As he boarded the ship he could see some water remaining from the storms earlier, quickly using his hydrokinesis to throw it back into the river.

He was procrastinating.

He walked down the deck towards the door leading to the cabin. With a swift knock on the door, he could not hear anyone approaching; that’s when he noticed the bell. 

He needed to deliver the news.

He pulled on the rope as the bell chimed loudly, a muffled yelling coming from within. A woman with graying hair in a messy braid came out, although tired, there was a clear resemblance to them in the way she currently looked like she’d skin him alive and feed him to the fishes for waking her so early. It was a few times he’d seen the siblings genuinely angry and he could say it matched the woman before him.

“What’re ya doing on my Liberty so early?” she wipes the sleepiness from her eyes and adjusted her glasses. Despite how carefree she’d been described, he couldn’t help but think she looked older than she should.

Oh right.

She became a single mother of two at barely thirty years.

“My name is Kaldur'ahm, a friend of Luka and Juleka. I am… sincerely sorry. I am afraid I did not come bearing good news” the woman, Anarka Couffaine, looked alert and like she was about to fight him. He gave her the item the siblings entrusted the team to deliver should anything happen.

Luka and Juleka had left a song. 

Anarka did not hesitate to go down to her children’s room , an old radio with a DVD player being used to play the song; Luka’s soft guitar strums soon became accompanied by Juleka’s gentle voice.

Happiness and joy

Sorrow and sadness

You and I

We shared them together

Shared for a time

But suddenly faltered

Flowers of a dream

Anarka slowly sank onto the floor, Kaldur holding her to the best of his abilities as silent tears. As soon as the strums of the guitar started she knew what it meant; she had learned to understand her husband, and then her son's way of communicating after all.

A field of grass

Leads to heaven

A gentle wind passed by

When you gave a smile

Nothing to fear

Forever in my heart

Blooming flowers prevail

“H-How did they… ?” Anarka’s broken voice softly spoke as the music continued.

Despite what Nightwing had said earlier, he couldn’t help but blame himself; if they had captured all of them earlier, then perhaps the Reach would not have gotten the chance to implement the MFDs. If they had detected the two remaining at the poles, then none of this would be happening…

“They were heroes.”

Paris, France June 21, 05:25 CEST

Batgirl and Impulse were there at the Kante residence only for Claudie to beat them to the punch.

“Max programmed Markov to tell me everything if his vitals couldn’t be detected anymore” her sad but proud smile did nothing to help them feel less guilty for the single mother.

Wonder Girl stood in awkward silence as Eden and Roux Lavillant-Piaf reacted to the news of their daughter’s death. The two men taking comfort in each other's presence as they cradled one another, Eden humming a tune she thought was familiar while Roux shed silent tears, one she later realized was one of Souris’ favorite songs; La vie en Rose.

Kid Flash didn’t know what to take of Kagami’s note;

‘I do not need that woman’s tears, nor those of whom call themselves my family. I would rather tell the Dupain-Chengs or Couffeine, however, if these are being delivered they are already heavily burdened. Knowing my friends shall mourn my loss is enough’

He also didn’t know what to make of Nathaniel’s request;

‘Don’t tell my family about Monarch. I doubt they’d even care’

The beautiful smell of the land that lingers in our history

Sands of black that color every little corner

I saw eternity only once, but I realize it cannot be kept in sight

Paris, France June 21, 05:30 CEST

Bumblebee was not surprised by Abeille’s video to her parents or even the fact that she was ‘fired’ by Audrey Bourgeois. When Guardian asked her about it she just shook her head in somber.

“Some people mourn differently”

“I always knew my little Marc was a hero” Mrs. Anciel, Paon’s grandmother if Garfield remembers correctly, said as she sat in her rocking chair in a daze “I just never thought it’d be so literally”

The Le family had just thanked L’gann with clear tears forming in their eyes after giving them a letter in a language he did not recognize. It wouldn't be until after that he learned Roi Singe’s native tongue was Vietnamese .

Our lives are truly in a world of wonder

A poem of my life - it's a pretty song to remember

We already acted a thousand lives

For the briefest moment in our long history

Paris, France June 21, 06:16 CEST

Robin, Tigress, Blue Beetle and Miss Martian felt their hearts heavy.

They had decided to be the ones to inform the Cesaires, Kubdel and Lahiffes of what happened to their daughters and son.

They were the only heroes apart from the Couffaines that had siblings.

“If I had never given her that watch” Mr. Kubdel buried his face in his hands.

“You didn’t know but maybe she did… She was always a spitfire, I don’t think we could have stopped her if we tried” Jalil told his father. Neither men wailed, they simply hugged each other for a while.

“No! She𑁋She can’t be gone!” Ella and Etta had viciously tried to beat at Tigress as he kneeled down to them. The hug she gave the twins seemed to trigger the waterworks as they devolved to sobbing.

“I couldn’t protect her…”

“You can’t blame yourself for this” Blue Beetle tried consoling Nora as she sat on the couch, hand on her head as she hid her face from everyone; he knew that if he heard about Milagro he’d feel the same. 

“He’s too lame to be a hero!” Chris yelled out “You’re lying!”

“You know we’re not,” Miss Martian said soothingly from her place with Ms.Lahiffe, trying to help the crying woman.

“I hate him! I hate him!” Chris’ yelling got louder 

“No you don’t” Robin spoke next to him, “No matter how much you fight, no matter how much you get on each others’ nerves, no matter how much you wish you’d never see him again… You still love him. He’ll always be your big brother”

“How would you know?” Chris’ voice cracked as he finally realized that his denial would do nothing to bring Nino back.

“Because I lost my big brother too”

I love you; I miss all of you

No warning what had happened then

I won't ever say goodbye

Metropolis June 20, 08:30 EST

“So now that Hawkmoth’s gone are coming back to Gotham?” Robin asked from behind Taurus, the hero engaging in a fight with one of the drones, headbutting it into the other one.

“Don’t know replacement,” he grunted “I kinda like it there, but I do miss the English language, as annoying as it is”

“Well,” Robin continued, using his bo-staff to push away the drone blocking the main device, “You know you always have a place back home, right?”

With one last dash he pressed his egg onto the MFD, deactivating their device. The two heroes looked at each other proudly as Taurus smirked.

“Yeah I know”

Birds are singing

Clouds are drifting

Trees are rustling

They cover the night

Gotham City June 20, 08:30 EST

“Hey Ma fée?”

Nightwing leaped across the street, throwing an EMP on one of the drones before Ladybug used her yo-yo to throw them away.

“Yes, Mon coeur?” Ladybug looked at him curiously

“I was thinking” he touched the MFD with the egg, letting the machine fall onto the Gotham street, “Maybe it's time we take a break from the whole hero business. I doubt we’ll be able to fully take off the capes like Wally but𑁋”

The two shared a tender kiss, the last strike of lightning disappearing from the Gotham sky.

North Magnetic Pole June 20, 13:50 UTC

They missed two MFDs.

Their locations blocked them from the initial search until Blue Beetle and Tyger told them that there were still two out there in separate parts of the world.

Ladybug had volunteered her Team to go, originally just planning to go by herself and Chat Noir while Rena Rouge and Carapace could get the other; Viperion and Bunnix immediately objected and instead her whole team was deployed to go.

They were herself, Monarch, Paon, Taurus, Viperion, Ryuuko, Tyger and Souris. The other team was Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Abeille, Bunnix, Pegasus and Roi Singe. Pegasus would teleport both teams to their destinations due to the simple fact that there were no Zetas in the Arctic or Antarctic.

She would lead the team to the North Magnetic Pole; Chat Noir would go to the South Magnetic Pole.

“We’re too late…” 

Ladybug’s crestfallen expression was felt by her team as they watched the Magnetic Field disruptor reach its chrysalis state as they watched the ice cave collapse in on itself. The Earth will fall in a new ice age… 

South Magnetic Pole June 20, 13:50 UTC

“Both MFDs have reached Chrysalis state” Chat Noir informed the Watchtower. He didn’t think it would all end like this.

After everything they went to, after finally defeating Hawkmoth, after finally getting his mother back and the literal end of the world had to happen.

‘No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!’ Plagg’s voice echoed in his head, ‘We can still stop this if we combine our powers’

“Ladybug, is Tikki𑁋?”

“Yes, she also says we can do it.” Ladybug’s steeled voice responded before he finished asking.

They could still save the world, they could still stop the Reach from winning.

But Chat Noir knew better than to think that there would be no consequences to their wild plans.

“Are you in, Noir?” 

“Always, my Lady”

Adrien could only hope they could forgive him, and that the letter would get back to them in safety before feeling his consciousness merge with the god’s.

Time passes by

With merciless pride

The sun will rise again

Mount Justice Remains June 21, 00:02 EST

Batman found the need to stop himself from gaping at the remains of Mount Justice. Sure it had been sabotaged and destroyed partially before, but now it was gone.

All of it thrown with chunks of rock and metal scattered around the beach.

As he and the others descended with help from the Green Lanterns, Hal and John. He couldn’t help but fear it was too late. 

They were too late.

“By the Gods” Diana gasped, suddenly clutching at her head, “Something is wrong”

With a gust of wind they were greeted by Flash, followed by Miss Martian’s bioship landing on the beach. One by one the Team came in various forms of disarray and emotionally compromised.

“Oh” Martian Manhunter sumbered, likely reacting off of the wave of sadness the teenagers made no effort to hide. Batman missed the look of remorse and sympathy sent his way.

“What happened?” He hadn’t meant to growl it out, but there were only so many reasons why the whole team would feel this way; there were casualties.

Batgirl and Nightwing could barely look his way before Robin decided to take a step forward. Tim had always been able to push aside emotions better than Barbara or Dick.

Our lives are truly in a world of wonder

A poem of my life - it's a pretty song to remember

We already acted a thousand lives

For the briefest moment in our long history

“The Reach left one last surprise for Earth in an attempt to cover their tracks; Magnetic Field Disruptors meant to cause natural disaster before forcing the next ice age. All but two MFDs had been deactivated, each located at the two poles. By the time we arrived they were already at their chrysalis stage. Those sent were able to deactivate them… at a cost” Tim choked out as he heard Diana, Kal and Sheyra take sharp breaths, it had to be bad for him to get so emotional.

“Robin?” Batman kneeled as he placed a hand on the younger’s shoulder.

“T-There were no survivors B”

“... Who was dispatched?” Diana asked, fists clenched in frustration of being too late and having others pay the consequence.

Batman must have been too distracted by Tim’s state to have noticed Nightwing launch himself into his arms and silently cry.

“I’m sorry Batman.” Flash stepped forward, and he knew Barry well enough that the man was probably holding back tears. Batman felt a familiar sense of dread build up inside him; the last time he felt this way had been when….

“Team Miraculous was sent.” 

Bioship June 20, 13:55 UTC

“Whatever they’re doing, it's working!” Atom’s voice could be heard on the comms as Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Tigress, Robin and Nightwing sped as fast as they could to the North Magnetic Pole. Aqualad, Superboy, Impulse and Blue Beetle made their way with Sphere to the South Magnetic Pole.

“The power’s too strong” they could hear Chat Noir mutter with Plagg’s familiar echo.

“Can’t stop! Won’t stop now!” Ladybug gritted out as the interference with their comms got stronger.

“AHH!” The sudden screams made their blood freeze as they could only think of the worst case scenario.

“It’s not time, not yet!” their mantras continued as the static became painful.

Both groups made it to their destinations as the bright white light of the MFDs became tinged with color. The rainbow of lights shot up higher in the air before a similar bridge of light joined it, both Team’s powers combining in that moment.

“They’re doing it!” M’gann and Bart cheered before Jaime and Tim interrupted.

“Something’s wrong!”

“What do you mean fade!”

Suddenly the light began to expand, encasing the heroes inside before their figures began to shimmer and break.

With one last look the lights gave one last powerful glow, it dissipated, spreading a warmth like that of a hug to each of them.

But by the time each group managed to look, the cold finally seemed to reach them.

There was nothing left behind.

Paris, France June 26, 10:00 CEST

The official story was a kidnapping.

The teenagers that disappeared some time last week during what many had taken to calling “The Reach Invasion”; Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Graham de Vanily, Luka and Juleka Couffaine, Chloe Bourgeois, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Cesair, Nino Lauffey, Max Kante, Le Chien Kim, Alix Kubdel, Nathaniel Kutzberg, Marc Anciel, Rose Lavillant and Jason Todd-Wayne. The fourteen children and single adult had been caught up during the chaos of the Reach’s invasion and had been taken when looking for shelter. 

There is always a little truth in every lie.

The amount of missing children cases in general had been increasing since the Reach had arrived on Earth, but even after sending them off to Oa they had yet to find evidence of all of them. Only a small percentage had been freed, now having to undergo Metahuman training, and sent back home or relocated. 

Over half had been deemed unsatisfactory and were subsequently terminated.

But that still left about forty percent of potential victims to be found and rescued.

But their parents knew that their little heroes would not be part of that percentage.

They had saved their planet at the ultimate sacrifice.

“Today… We would like to honor the fallen heroes of Paris by lifting a new statue in their memory for all their services… One that is long overdue and that we can only hope they will see from wherever they are'' Mayor Bourgois spoke, though his eyes seemed so far off, not that anyone would blame him after they caught word of his daughter’s disappearance. There was a major turnout for the unveiling, it seemed as though all of Paris was present; guests like Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Bruce Wayne and his sons Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, Oliver Queen and his newly found son Roy Harper, Lex Luthor, Prince Ali of Achu, Audrey Bourgois and reporters like Lois Lane, Cat Grant and Iris West-Allan were in charge of reporting live.

The statue was golden, each hero caught as though they were in the middle of action with it’s two longest heroes in the center, the rest surrounding them for a 360 effect; 

Ladybug and Chat Noir back to back, one with her scarlet yo-yo flying midair and the other using his baton to jump like a cat with a black gloved hand behind him. On Ladybug’s side was Viperion strumming his harp, his arm’s bangle glowing turquoise, while on Chat Noir’s was Rena Rouge caught playing the orange flute in the middle of a leap. Next was the newest heroes Monarch and le Paon on Ladybug’s side, one with a white with purple butterfly about to fly away from his outstretched hand, the other blowing into a single blue feather, while Tyger and Souris were on Chat’s, Souris also leaping while using her pink jump rope and Tyger getting ready to roar, magenta claws cusping around her mouth. Roi Singe was in the back of Ladybug and Chat Noir, his yellow glowing bo staff frozen mid twirl before calling for “Uproar”, assisting him was Bunnix, using her umbrella with a baby blue glow at the tip as a sword, and Pegasus with his horseshoe boomerang, arm encircled with a blue ring. Ryuko, in the middle of transforming into Wind Dragon form, with her ruby sword at hand and Abeille, launching her glowing spinning top, charging into the fray. On the sides were Carapace, with his shield armed up in front of them, the beginnings of his shield being formed in a translucent green glass, and Taurus, with his fists in the middle of punching and eyes glowing red, defending the group from oncoming attacks.

“I’m so sorry,” Dick found himself whispering once the ceremony was done and everyone had left their offerings. If only he had done better; if only he had asked them to join the raid; if only they had caught everyone instead of leaving them divided and scattered;

The rose gold ring weighed heavily in his pocket.

I love you; I miss all of you

No warning what had happened then

I won't ever say goodbye

They talked about what would happen in the future; neither saw themselves leaving the hero business anytime soon, it was too hard to after so long. She  had dreams of becoming a top-tier designer while he wasn’t sure what he’d do. They jokingly said he’d be a stay-at-home father or a model for her line.

Now none of that would be happening.

“He looks different from when he was Robin” he heard Tim whisper, melancholy and reminiscence, in his look as he stared at Taurus. Definitely more brute stregth and hands on but that look of mischief and cockiness were the same as Robin II. 

“He was always a little shit” Dick laughed softly, remembering that they’d be adding the Miraculous team to the new Grotto at the Watchtower, Jason’s being specially made to display both his time as Robin and Taurus.

Today would be his last day at the Watchtower for a while.

He was tired, after all of this, and was ready for a break. He knew Conner also planned on doing the same thing while Artemis was coming back to active duty despite Wally’s reluctance. He wasn’t too sure about his best friend, but the redhead insisted that he wanted to get his degree first before going back to the hero business, even part time, he even began hinting that Dick could go to college and try and get a semblance of normal life; they both knew it was in vain but neither said anything.

But before any of that he still had business to take care of.

Paris, France June 19, 00:20 CEST

Marinette woke up in a cold sweat.

The same nightmare she’d been having for the past week.

Her Team would fall for the sake of the world.

“I think we both know what this means Mari,” Adrien said silently as they watched the Parisian night atop of the Eiffel Tower.

“I don’t want it to come true” Marinette could feel the tears starting to sting her eyes.

“Then we’ll do our best to stop it” Adrien’s determined face made a soft smile appear; something told her that as hard as they’d try it wouldn’t change a thing.

But it was nice to hope.

“Why should we make these goodbye messages?” Chloe asked skeptically that morning after the team had gathered. They had just been told to do them or write any  requests for someone to follow if anything should happen to them. After all Marinette and Adrien had finished theirs.

"Come on Chlo, just do it."

"Better to do it than regret not doing it."

"Think of it as a little thing to look back at when we come back after missions. A motivation to come back and destroy it"

They just hoped they’d be forgiven.

Paris, France June 26, 12:30 CEST

Walking into the Dupain-Cheng household he found that it was much colder than anytime he’d come to visit. Sabine and Tom had let him in with no hassle, the duo still reeling in the fact that Marinette was gone, he was too. They made little small talk for once, just checking to see how the others were doing and to not be strangers, before they excused themselves to meet up with Tom’s parents. Dick went up to the familiar step of stairs and opened the familiar hatch.

Her room looked the same as it ever did except it was missing a certain shine, an aura of creativity. He supposed that with the owner of the room and the goddess of Creation missing that would happen.

Her scattered design sketches and pieces of fabric reminded him of the latest project she told him about. Balls of yarn from when she started knitting or would use to play with the Kwami, and Adrien from time to time. Schedule reminding him of all the plans they had for once Hawkmoth was caught.

He made his way to her desk, a secret compartment on the side of the desk had been almost invisible to all except those who were aware of its existence. Opening up the small door he let out a small gasp, the Miracle box reminding him so much of her again; 

The box was in the shape of an apple blossom, fading from red at its center to white at the tips, overall its appearance was rather simple but then again they always said appearances are deceiving. He then took out an old phonograph, a tablet, and an ancient book, the Miracle Book or Grimoire. With a sad sigh he pressed the small apple blossom’s center at the top before tapping the top petal, followed by top left, bottom right, bottom left, top right and center again. The lid to the compartment lifted, revealing seven empty slots, before opening up its petals, two layers of six petals stretching themselves so as to not cover each other. Only four compartments were being used. Using a bag he carefully stored the box inside the phonograph while using a satchel for the Grimoire and tablet.

He already told Zatanna and Zatara about the Grimoire, the two assuring him that it would be safe and that they’d even get other magic users like Constantine and Doctor Fate, who seemed to think he owed a debt to the Kwami and would honor their remaining comrade, to help protect it. The tablet could go to Tim and Barbara who’d have the best bet in perfecting the translations and encrypting it further so even if someone got their hands on it they’d have a hard time even unlocking it.

But he hadn’t thought of the Miracle box.

He looked up at the pink room with nostalgia, remembering every video chat, midnight meeting, talks at the terrace, impromptu sleepovers, designing frenzy, fashion talks, modeling session, strategy meetings, emotional breakdowns and kisses they shared in the very room.

He couldn’t help but want to take it with him.

Dick looked at her desk, a photo from when they were still Ladybug 1.0 and Robin, one he took as Dick Grayson when he commissioned her to make him a suit for the Wayne Gala (only to wear it to the Sweetheart’s Dance), one from Rolling-Stone wedding as he was twirling her around the dance floor and another from a few weeks ago when they were celebrating Hawkmoth’s capture with the Team. More photos littered her wall; Adrien and Wally arm wrestling, Artemis and Alix doing parkour, Kaldur learning some guitar from Luka, Conner being subjected to a makeover from the girls and Adrien (which he needed after his third year of wearing the same outfit), M’gann meditating with Barbara, Nino and Marc, Tim and Max looking at some sort of schematics on screen, of Jason during combat training with Kagami, Chloe and Black Canary.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

“Are you alright?” Dick hadn’t realized that the tears began to fall again. He turned around but saw no one there.

No one would be there.

“We miss her too” the voice spoke again, Dick knew he couldn’t be hallucinating, looking inside the bag he noticed the Miracle Box glowing even as it was held shut. With far more patience and calm than he truly felt Dick opened the Miracle Box again with four bursts of lights appearing as he did so.

He barely remembers Marinette explaining the Miraculous to him but he did recall the kwami’s names and powers;

Barkk, dog kwami of Bonds and Foraging.

Ziggy,  goat kwami of Endurance and Speed.

Daizzi, pig kwami of Abundance and Ingenuity.

Orikko, rooster kwami of Forethought and Cycles.

“I miss our Guardian” Daizzi cried into Ziggy who seemed to be in a similar state, Orikko looked quiet but clearly saddened given his downward feathers and comb, Barkk was the one who had been speaking to Dick.

“You loved our Guardian, she loved you very much” Barkk sniffled sadly.

Dick realized that they not only lost their Guardian but their fellow Kwami as well;

He wasn’t the only one left with a gaping hole in his heart by the love of his life and little brother.

“Hey now,” he said, taking the miniature gods into his arms in a small embrace, “You won’t be alone. We’ll make it through this, together”

As Dick made one last glance at the room, memories playing out like ghosts before him, he secured the bags containing Marinette’s precious items and made his way out of the cold apartment.

He didn’t know if he’d ever recover, just like with his parents; But he knew he wouldn’t be alone.

He just hoped that he’d make them proud, from wherever they were watching.

Nothing to fear

Forever in my hear

Blooming flowers prevail

Ko-Fi