#i love games like this they're so much fun

[witherby]

I think a really cool day idea for Conner and mouse would be like the circus scene from Teen Titans were Robin let Starfire try some cotton candy and it’s really cute 



I remember that scene!!! Robin's absolutely lovesick expression was so romantic to me, even back then.

I didn't replicate that one-for-one, but they're certainly at a carnival! I hope you like it!

The Littlest Wayne: Carnival

(features: established relationship, Conner Kent x gn!Reader, fluff, discussions of structures that aren't OSHA compliant, kissing)

Masterlist is Here!

"That doesn't look safe."

"None of these rides really are," you admit, queueing into the line to ride the Wave Swinger with your boyfriend. "Pop-up carnivals are designed in such a way that they can be thrown up and taken down within a day or two. You can't really afford to bolt anything down because it isn't going to be there in a week."

Conner looks at you with incredulity. He looks like he's trying not to pout, which is adorable. You barely refrain from kissing him.

"Then why are we lining up to get on one?"

"S'part of the vibe," you explain, lifting your hands for emphasis. One of them is interlaced with your boyfriend's, so his arm gets swung around, too. "You don't really go to these things to walk around and then leave again. You gotta ride a ride while wondering in the back of your mind if this is how it ends. You gotta spend way too much money playing a rigged game to win a prize that wasn't worth even a third of what you spent to earn it. You gotta eat a bunch of deep-fried foods that shouldn't be deep-fried and feel incredibly nauseated for the next two days about it. That's the real Carnival Experience™."

"This doesn't sound fun, M," Conner says. "I can take you on a flight and pretend to drop you a couple times. I can ask you for an absurd amount of money and not pay it back for like a week. I can cook you dinner and narrowly avoid giving you food poisoning. We don't have to be here."

"Trust me, it wouldn't be the same," you insist, moving up in the line. This swing ride is one of your favorites, next to The Whip, but you haven't seen one of those in a few years. "It's also the atmosphere. You're surrounded by fun, neon colors and happy strangers and screaming children — it's all part of the experience."

"Yeah..." Conner grimaces, gaze a little distant. "I could do without the screaming children."

"Oh, right," you frown, digging out a specialized pair of earbuds from your pocket and offering them to him. They help muffle out extra sensitive sounds for him, like breathing and footsteps and other people's heartbeats, so he can better control what noise he chooses to perceive. "Here."

Conner takes them, briefly letting go of your hand to put them in, then un-tenses his shoulders and offers you a thin smile.

"That's better," he admits, "but I still think getting on rides knowing they aren't bolted down properly is stupid."

"Welcome to the carnival," you grin. You both shuffle forward in the line, close enough now that you'll be able to get on next round. "You're gonna love this."

"I can fly, M. I don't think I'm gonna care."

Then it turns out he cares. He cares a lot. He actually cares so much. When you and Conner get strapped into your seats, he's white knuckling the chains keeping his chair suspended off the ground.

"You're joking. There's one little bike chain keeping me in this chair and there's a single hook on top holding me up. You're actually joking."

You start spinning and twisting around in your own chair, gleeful. "Isn't it great?"

"No??"

"Alrighty riders. Please refrain from bouncing, spinning, twisting, or yanking on the chains. When the ride is in motion do not grab onto other riders' chairs. Keep the strap secure across your waist while the ride is in motion, and do not attempt to remove it until it comes to a complete stop again. Enjoy."

Conner flinches when the chairs lift into the air. He watches the ground get pulled out from under him, shitty carnival music starting to come out of the speakers while the lights on the ride start flashing. If he weren't invulnerable, he'd be losing his mind right now. How are you able to enjoy such risky activities!? Are you insane!? Actually — you're the one civilian child to a family of crime fighting vigilantes. Of course you're insane.

He looks up to make another comment, but the words quickly die in his throat. Because you look stunning.

You look great all the time, of course. Conner loves to look at you, and you know that. But as the ride starts to spin and your chair starts swaying with the wind, you throw your head back and laugh. You spread your arms out to your sides and kick your feet, eyes closed and hair fanned out.

You're practically ethereal when you're having fun. Conner watches the colorful lights dance over your skin and feels himself falling even more in love with you than he already is. He never wants the ride to end, if it means he gets to see you like this forever.

Using the trick Clark taught him, he speeds himself up to slow the world down, giving himself more time to admire you. To you, it's just a couple minutes in the air, but to him it's hours of unbridled admiration. When you're finally lowered to the ground again, he's unlatched himself from his seat and come around to kiss you.

"Let's go find another ride," he mumbles against your lips. You smirk, victorious, and grab his hand. He's utterly helpless to do anything but trail after you.

"Knew you'd come around. It's the Carnival Experience, babe; it pulls everyone in! Never should've doubted me."

"Yeah..." He says, smiling like a lovesick idiot. It's definitely the rides and games and people making him feel this good, and not the echo of your happy heartbeat or the image of your carefree smile under the neon lights burned into his memory. "Shouldn't have doubted you."

[kcdarchives]

my kcd2 experience

in the following post, i am going to describe my kcd2 experience and how it bred brainworms that have drilled into my grey matter and turned it into ye olde swiss cheese

i think one of the big reasons why i latched so hard onto kcd2 (and hansry) is: i actually went into kcd2 almost completely blind. the main reason i started playing was i read in a news article that there was a gay relationship in the game and i was like "oh! fun! i'm in the mood to play a new rpg anyways!" i had no idea who it was you could romance, or what form it would take. after the opening scenes, i was of course squinting VERY hard at hans. but after the stocks, he fell to the wayside for me as a player. i made henry as reasonable and conciliatory as possible and he still left? for me, as a player who hadn't played the 1st game, i shrugged and said "ok then! fine!" they let me loose and the world was my rpg oyster! i spent over 30 hours wandering around the map, doing side quests and having a generally wonderful time because the game is, above all else, a very well-made game with a ton of attention to detail, fun NPCs, and systems that i still hadn't fully learned even after a few dozens of hours in the game. as i finally attended the semine wedding, i FINALLY ran into hans again (i hadn't found him prior to this) and was reminded "oh! henry's buddy! he's here!" i went from having a funny silly carefree time at the wedding to the plot escalating so suddenly and severely. henry and hans finally reconcile. as a player, i've forgiven hans. his apology was really genuine and heartfelt and i could tell he was also probably a little lonely without the only other survivor from their company. after over 30 hours in the game, i'm VERY attached to henry, and this i am attached to hans, who he so clearly is also attached to. i can celebrate henry finally having a companion again only to have hans wrested away from henry in one of the most distressing ways possible. for whom the bell tolls was an amazingly stressful quest, and definitely one of my favorite main story segments i have played in a video game in recent memory. after this, when the first romantic dialogue option with hans appeared, i was honestly a little stunned. i felt so vindicated with my initial eye-squinting during the opening part of the game, but also, at this point i understood just how much hans was a part of the game's main plot. i was like "oh...this is a romance with...someone actually really relevant and showing up a lot!" when the second romantic dialogue option eventually showed up, that's when i really realized that their romance was going to be tied to progress in the main plot and thus i spiraled into taking several days off of work just to make progress. i was so happy whenever hans showed up and henry got to interact with him. romance aside, their friendship is well-written and it was difficult for me to forget that, besides godwin, hans is the only other person henry really knew before kcd2 that he has with him over the course of the game. so much of the main story is directly related to hans, and the consequences of both henry and hans' actions. i was constantly amazed, thinking "wow, hans is REALLY relevant to the plot! i love to see him involved!" after over a hundred hours in the game, i finally reached the culmination of their romance. and i was paralyzed. as soon as they started talking, i started yelling. i couldn't believe this was happening. it was SO romantic, so emotional, and felt like such a natural progression of their relationship over the course of the story. as soon as the "kiss him" option showed up, I stood up and had to take a minute to collect myself because i couldn't believe it was really happening. and when i finally pressed it.

the screen faded to black.

I was confused. the screen faded back in to a shot of the fireplace. i immediately started cackling uncontrollably. i had a mental breakdown. i thought "oh! they're not gonna show the kiss! that's so incredibly funny! that's so funny i'm going to die." then the shot transitioned back to them sitting on the bed. i had assumed "ah ok, they kissed offscreen. this is what i get after playing through the game for over 100 hours trying to nurture their romance. this is what all of the anti-woke gamer warriors were getting up into arms for. this is so funny. this is so monumentally hilarious." and i could not stop cackling until - wait - henry puts his hand over hans. so sweet! i gasped. perhaps now they will actually kiss? was i wrong? but then he gets up. and i'm once again given whiplash, assuming the scene is over and now he's leaving. do i have to play even further into the story? do they make progress after he comes back from his mission? only for hans to pull henry back to him and my "i sink hundreds of hours into RPGs to eat the little gay romantic breadcrumbs they leave me in relatively unimportant side conversations" brain BROKE.

every single movement elicited a scream from me. i almost couldn't understand what was happening. henry pulls away, he looks like he's going to leave. he's going to leave and they'll resolve this when he comes back? but then he LOCKS THE DOOR!!! HE LOCKS THE DOOR!!! he power walks across the room and I CANNOT STOP SCREAMING. i have to pause the game every 5 seconds so i don't have an aneurysm. the passion!!! i hadn't imagined such passion in all of my years of gaming!!! yes, the fire in the hearth was burning, but not nearly as hot as the flames of their relationship!!!!

the screen faded to black once again after they made it to the bed, and i thought "ok...it's over...i can breathe again...my god...that was crazy...that was so much more intense than i was expecting for a 'kiss him' dialogue option" only for it to fade back in to THEIR NUDE BODIES EMBRACING?? I PLAYED THIS GAME EXPECTING MAYBE A KISS OR TWO???? I was pounding my fists into my beanbag, screaming and yelling, what was HAPPENING ON MY TV SCREEN RIGHT NOW??? then the screen panned over to the shot of the two crossed swords in the foreground and I tell you, I let out the loudest, ugliest, most delighted cackle i have ever made in my life. whoever came up with that shot is so DIABOLICAL. warhorse may actually be the funniest game studio i have ever seen in my life. thank you warhorse for my life. i was exhausted by the biggest emotional rollercoaster a video game romance had ever put me through, but also simultaneously re-invigorated by, i think, perhaps the best video game romance cutscene i have ever had the pleasure of playing through in all my 20+ years of romancing fictional characters.

i ended up staying up all night finishing up the rest of the main story, and then i spent the next couple of days trying to just. absorb everything that happened and process my experience. i know its very early to make this kind of declaration but kcd2 might literally be my favorite game of 2025, and it was SO unexpected for me as something that i just arbitrarily picked up because i was just looking for a new game to play. I was seriously expecting just a kiss at the most, some not particularly important dialogue options that develop a small romantic relationship with a few conversations. maybe a fade-to-black, not much else. the kind of stuff i've grown used to in the games i've played. i think going in with no expectations made its iron-fisted grip on me that much stronger because when it delivered, it did it by crashing the airplane that is hansry into the twin towers of my heart and brain. both the main story and the gameplay just made everything feel so RIGHT and had me so emotionally invested in them, i felt like I was going insane.

for those of you who haven't actually played kcd2 for yourselves, please do try playing for yourself if you have the ability to, or at least watch a playthrough. experiencing how their relationship slowly develops over the course of the game makes the conclusion of it that much more satisfying (i still have to watch/play the 1st game, which i do intend on doing). but also the side quests are so fun and interesting!!! and the other characters are SO charming and likeable.

i am #1 janosh fan!!!

anyways my big rant is over, i feel much better now ahaha

[lizardsfromspace]

Feels like a whole middle stage of consolidation in modern capitalism is being gradually forgotten. We've simplified things to "we had retail, then we had online monopolies" and left out the part - except for Wal-Mart - where big box chains took over retail

So much of nostalgia for brick-and-mortar revolves around those big chains; Toys 'R' Us and Barnes & Noble and Blockbuster Video etc. But those were the Amazons of their day: the force that drove smaller, indie stores out of business by sheer volume. Toys 'R' Us closing can't be an existential threat to the toy store itself if it hadn't first caused all the local toy stores to close.

Blockbuster gets the worst of it bc I guarantee many of the people nostalgic for Blockbuster now would've hated it then, and yet it's become synonymous with video rental itself. To have nostalgia for video rental is to have nostalgia for Blockbuster...the corporate monopoly that drove all the fun mom-and-pop video shops out of business, and replaced them with a space whose main promise was that they'd have a hundred copies of each and every major studio film, that seeing the latest mediocre action flick would always be possible. Did you know Blockbuster censored content? Not just in the indirect way where they killed off the nascent NC-17 rating by refusing to stock NC-17 & unrated films, but they would demand cuts to content within films. Blockbuster would also just refuse to stock films, like The Last Temptation of Christ, and if you lived somewhere where Blockbuster had pushed out all competition...well, then you just didn't get to see it.

But if you were a 90s kid you probably don't have any memory of indie video stores, and you probably weren't aware of the controversy of how they treated films for adults (hell, I doubt the blockbuster-loving non-cinephile adults in my life were aware of it), so Blockbuster is the video store, just like how Toys 'R' Us is the toy store. Heck, I remember going to game stores that weren't Gamestop & being disappointed when all of them turned into Gamestops or closed, and yet I know the generation after me has only ever known a world of Gamestop and whenever the walking corpse that is Gamestop shambles into its final grave they'll be just as nostalgic for it

(the censorship makes it even funnier when people laud how Blockbuster had a "wide selection" and that video rental stores were better than streaming and we should go back. Like I'm sorry Netflix sucks but the idea that it would be Good to ditch an era where you're just a few clicks away from watching any film ever bc it's *worse* in terms of accessibility and we were truly free when we had to choose from a video rental monopoly that had a single shelf for "Foreign" & a single shelf for "Classics" & that had the capability to make films they disapproved of unavailable entirely is bonkers. I can watch thousands of movies on a whim and they're putting out boutique Blu-Rays of the most obscure 80s slashers, this is a golden age of media accessibility & anyone insisting it's worse is plain nuts. Okay it's only a golden age if you have a good adblocker and VPN, but)

[fandomandangstlover]

fuck it. fates inverted doodle dump

eunoia and her killer ver, aurora!! something something knowing that your existence for awhile was just a dream, a fabrication, that you aren't real can sure Fuck Up even a robot.

Eunoia is hiding from Spawn/Spectre!! like, constantly. she's still a dream mostly so she's getting by :3 Spawn does Not like the AI that could fuck around with code. she sneaks in rounds to help for a little while and then fuck Right Off. Nash gets to meet her in her dreams still, though!!

anyways aurora gets a fascination with human hearts because... well, she thinks it's interesting that such a small part of the human body can be so, so crucial. that by some people, it also means love. the one thing keeping fragile bodies alive.

i luv her <3 her moveset isn't fleshed out yet so it ain't here. a lot of these aren't, actually.

nassh... sleepwalker woke up in Not a dreamsphere and is concerned af. also yes yuri is canon here, have fun with that.

anyways she n' mafioso got beef, ofc, but they're on neutral terms for now. i don't have much for her rn so uh... yeah.

mafioso's killer design! might make him an entirely new moveset since his survivor ver has, well, a moveset. yes the heart is on purpose. they matching...!!

and now, ozolog1 from brandonworks!

why is he here? grief, ofc.

yeah ah'm. making him canon. and yeah he's actually from outside of roblox and is. slowly becoming apart of the game. he's coping trust ← failing miserably.

also the brandon npc WILL fuck him up (mentally). this poor man. oh and yes, the rot is based off of his shared account skin :)

no voice yet!! only text bubbles, like old roblox. he get voice privileges when he's here for a little longer. not that he notices, ofc.

explaining how he got here but i need to put a cw for this cuz. y'know. don't look if it's uncomfortable, don't force yourself.

CW: suicide attempt

i think he would kinda... withdraw from the world for a little while after the whole. brandonworks ending. like he stepped away from roblox, from games, and kinda just... laid in bed for awhile. definitely went into a deep depression.

his parents might've tried to help, but i have a feeling ozo might not have told them about brandon's whole situation since, online things so they never understood why he was like this. or what he lost.

practically drowning in grief and guilt.

a perfect target.

so as he held a knife against his throat, having already said goodbyes to his friends, hoping that maybe he'll see Brandon again, he was taken.

he woke up in the forest, and found by "DC."

a missing person case was filed days later.

[chosaraki]

Chaos Finds Control.

—————————————————————————

Kang Jichan:

Kang didn't expect his girlfriend to be so full of energy all the time. She was always messing around, challenging him provocatively and never backing down in a verbal or physical fight. At first, it annoyed him, but over time, he began to like the dynamics.

That night, he was sitting in an alley, his arms crossed, watching as she messed with some weaker guys from her territory, challenging them to a game of street fights.

- "Are you scared? I bet they don't even last a round with me," she said, laughing.

Kang let out a sigh. He got up and went to her, grabbing her by the hood of her jacket and pulling her close.

- "You know, you're more work than it's worth sometimes."

She smiled sideways. - "Is it really? So why don't you let me go?"

He clenched his jaw, knowing that she had caught him this time. Without answering, he pulled her by the waist and kissed her firmly. It was the only way to make her shut up for a few seconds. When they separated, she laughed.

- "Do you see? You like a little chaos in your life."

He snorted and put an arm over her shoulders.

- "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

————————————————

Hyunjin Jin :

Hyunjin loved a good power game. But his girlfriend... she took it to another level. If he tried to provoke her, she provoked him back twice as bad. If he threatened someone, she was already in front of him, staring at the victim with a mischievous smile.

That afternoon, they were in a clandestine bar, Hyunjin sitting with her legs open, throwing a glass of drink up and catching the air, when she sat at the table next to him.

- "You're bored, Hyunjin?" She asked, resting her chin on her hand.

He looked at her with a corner smile. - "Not exactly. But you could entertain me."

She blinked. - "What kind of entertainment are we talking about?"

Before he could answer, she took the drink from his hand and turned it around at once, hitting the glass on the table.

Hyunjin blinked, surprised, and then let out a laugh. - "You really have courage, huh?"

She leaned to him, brushing her lips on his. - "Always."

He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled for an intense and possessive kiss, showing that, despite liking the game, he was still the one in charge.

——————————————

Arin Shin:

Arin never liked women who just smiled and waved at him. He wanted someone who had a little fire, someone who knew how to play at the same level as him. But your girlfriend... she was practically a storm.

They were walking around the city when they passed by a group of guys who stared at her in a strange way. Before Arin could say anything, she was already going up.

- "What was it? Have you never seen a woman before?" She mocked.

Arin let out a whistle. - "Hey, calm down. Do you want to fight with me or with them?"

She looked at him and smiled. - "You, obviously. They're not even worth my time."

He laughed, putting his hands in his pockets. - "You really amuse me, you know?"

She approached, poking her chest. - "Then show how much."

He grabbed her face with one hand and kissed her, deep and slow, savoring the moment. When they moved away, he smiled.

- "Satisfied?"

She licked her lips. - "For now."

—���———————————

Jihoon Min:

liked to keep things under control, but his girlfriend was pure unpredictability. Where he tried to stay calm, she was already running to create problems.

That night, they were in an arcade, he patiently playing a fighting game, while she, on the other side of the room, had already arranged a fight with a guy three times bigger than her.

Jihoon sighed and walked up to her.

- "Again?"

She turned, smiling. - "You should thank me, I'm giving you a show."

The guy snorted, angry. - "Is she bothering you too, partner?"

Jihoon just smiled slightly and, in a second, the guy was on the floor. He looked at his girlfriend.

- "Now, can we go back to the game?"

She crossed her arms. - "You stole my fun."

He put an arm around her and kissed her on the forehead, calm as always. - "I'm your fun."

—————————————

Park Hyukjin:

Park was one of the calmest of the group, but his girlfriend... well, she was the complete opposite. He liked it, but he also knew that he would have to deal with his constant impulses.

They were sitting in a cafe, he having a quiet tea, while she was standing in the chair, trying to bet a race with a small child who was at the next table.

- "You can't beat me, boy, I'm a human rocket!"

Park looked at her and then at the child's parents, smiling politely. He pulled the bar of her blouse.

- "Maybe you'd better not traumatize the child."

She sat down again and rested her chin on her hand. - "I just wanted a little emotion."

He smiled, took her hand and kissed it gently.

- "I'm your emotion."

She blinked a few times before farning.

- "Right... you won this time."

He smiled, satisfied. Even if she was pure energy, he knew how to keep her around.

———————————————

The personalities and

information of each of them came:

@immortalityforthegoddess

…………………………………………………………

[redshift-starfire]

Last Song: Andrew Prahlow - River's End Times

From the Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye soundtrack, aka one of the best video game soundtracks of all time

Last Book: Tamsyn Muir - Harrow the Ninth

I'm not much of a reader even if I really want to be. The last time I touched that book was months ago and I only got through act one. What I read was really good tho. I'll get back to it eventually

Last Movie: Woman of the Hour

Watched this on a flight and got so terrified I got g-force sickness. Major trigger warning for it but it's so good, it's a serial killer horror based on a real person but it focuses on the victims and it's great

Last Show: Marvel's What If? (s2-3)

I still occasionally keep up with the Marvel shows and was pleasantly surprised, particularly by season 2. One particular episode really fulfilled my interest in indigenous languages

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Savory → Spicy → Sweet in that order

I love all three but I've found I don't have as much of a sweet tooth as many others. And I also prefer intense flavors over bland ones

Relationship Status: 1 Long Distance gf, 1 In-Person gf, 1 Long-Distance qpp, always open for more

Last Thing I Googled: Mandarin Phonology

Learning Chinese to help fit in on 小红书 (Rednote) better, trying to get the pronunciations right, but also cause I have a Chinese/Canadian friend/tumblr mutual who occasionally teases me in Mandarin and I simply cannot allow that

Current Obsession: Mirror's Edge (Series)

I occasionally revisit the games and every time I go "I could make this better" so now I'm finally writing a fanfic. Will post when I'm finished

Looking Forward To: Actually Finally Getting my Shit Together

Via a barrage of bullshit I'm finally in a safe living space for the foreseeable future, I'm starting school again and I finally have the space to do what I'm passionate about, and subsequently I'll finally be able to see my girlfriend a lot more! Despite all the bad things I'm actually positive about my future, and I'm excited to do some real self-actualization (getting weirder)

Tags: @candyskiez @gothfrog-44 @hornytransgirljenni @vicesario @the-cake-system-101

Ten people I'd like to get to know better

Tagged by @marshmallow--shark Thanks for the tag!

Last song: Intro/Chamber The Cartridge by Rise Against

Favourite colour: Orange!

Last book: A Brief History of Intelligence by Max Bennett

Last movie: That Christmas (it was kinda weird and we didn't finish it)

Last show: Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld

Sweet/spicy/savoury: I don't have much of a sweet tooth anymore, but I used to. Savoury!

Relationship status: Happily single

Last thing I googled: "quality" synonym

Current obsession: Star Trek: Enterprise. This is my fallback obsession. Close behind is Jentry Chau as a very recent one.

Looking forward to: Seeing a concert and a musical next year!

Tagging: @ionamalachite @peculiarreality @thetachapel02 @deadheaddaisy @papercranesong @talshiargirlfriend @glitter-and-metal @dragons-in-spaceee @pearlypairings @strze-lec

[blossoms-phan]

[probablyanalienindisguise]

Black and white canvases my beloved

[czpeterp]

Gods I haven't been this self-indulgent with my art in so long

[companion-showdown]

Who is the best TARDIS team?

TOURNAMENT MASTERPOST

propaganda under the cut

12, Clara, Missy

Imagine the 3 worst people you know, who are simultaneously exactly the same and completely different. The epitome of the "Wow These People Are So Weird, Thank God I'm the Normal One" meme. Now imagine putting them together in a box and shaking it around. It's so funny, I love them

[necrotic-nephilim]

for the ask game (1)

au where bruce is attracted to his robins and batgirls. he tries not to think about it or act on it, but it's getting more difficult with every new member of his team he acquires. does anyone know? do the robins and batgirls notice his weird behavior? what do they do about it? do they ever find out the truth? who would think it's terrible and who would find it strangely hot/comforting/nice? does bruce ever act on his feelings?

for the ask game!

oh my GOD do i have thoughts for AUs like this, i love this shit so dearly, dirtybadwrong Bruce who's trying to keep a lid on it my beloved.

i think the fun of this AU is if characters would notice Bruce lusting for themselves vs would they notice Bruce lusting for a different Robin/Batgirl. like does Dick pick up on it when it's just him and Bruce? no, because it's just. him and Bruce. he and Bruce are weird and complicated and hold endless bounds of nuance. that's just How Bruce Is, and Dick is the "test run", in a sense. he knows Bruce is new to this whole sidekick/family thing and is giving Bruce grace for being rough around the edges. but when Bruce starts looking at Jason or Tim or Cass that way, that's when Dick starts to notice. it's never enough of a suspicion he feels justified to bring it up, but the thought lingers. he's hyperaware and grows less and less comfortable with leaving them alone with Bruce. it's a weird game of chicken, Dick and Bruce staring each other down when Bruce's touch lingers too long. each waiting for the other to say something first. if Bruce ever broke and actually acted on his feelings, Dick would be eaten alive by the guilt of knowing something was up, but never saying something until it was too late.

obviously, Cass would know. there's no world where Cass *doesn't* know, the nature of who and what she is would immediately clock it. but the issue is, Cass doesn't have a good framework of what family looks like. she doesn't really understand familial vs romantic love bc she has no firsthand experience of what a parent's love should even look like. so she never calls it out. she just watches. i'm a fan of Cass believing this is normal and believing she too can express and act on attraction that's vaguely incestuous. maybe it's with Babs, maybe it's with Dick or Tim or Bruce himself. but she recognizes this as Normal and Accepted within the Batfamily, so it severely fucks up her understanding of familial love and i just. man it's my favorite thing about Cass in Batcest honestly, is how you can play with her lack of experience with love, boundaries, and sexuality.

Tim is the fun one for me. because my favorite flavor of BruTim is when Tim knows, as he agrees to be Robin, that there's a non-zero chance that Bruce is going to be Weird and agrees anyway because he's decided it's an acceptable risk. so Tim knows from the get-go because he's expecting it. if Bruce acts on his attraction, i think it's either with Tim or Cass first, because they're the most likely to confront him about it in a way that isn't entirely negative. Tim has accepted it's a possibility and Cass just seeks being loved and touched so. it leads to the first time someone's ever confronted Bruce about it. and the thing is, Bruce really doesn't like confrontation about his flaws. the first time Tim tries to imply he's okay with it, Bruce would lash out at the idea, tell Tim how inappropriate that is and benches Tim for a week. it'd probably take a united front from Cass and Tim to get Bruce to even *admit* to the attraction. still Bruce wouldn't allow it to happen and he brushes them off until finally, the dam breaks. it's fun if there's a cause like sex pollen, but i think it's *more* fun if it's just. a random fucking Tuesday and finally Bruce is at his limit. he has no real reason, there's nothing particularly different about that day's routine. he just sees Tim or Cass striping armor and sighs and gives in.

i don't think Steph, Jason, or Babs would notice until anything substantial happened. not because they're not wicked smart, but just because none of them were looking for it. Jason put Bruce on a pedestal when he was alive, and when he came back from the dead he wasn't close enough to be noticing Bruce's interpersonal dynamics outside of his narrow scope. Steph has no real framework for what healthy fatherhood looks like, so if Bruce's touches linger, if he stares too long, she just shrugs and assumes it's how it is. and Babs was just never quite close enough to Bruce to notice. if and when she notices, is when actual sexual things start to happen between Cass and Bruce. because Cass would see no reason to hide it. Babs would be pissed, but it'd be tricky to navigate. Cass would be an adult, even if she's only 18/19, so technically, she's old enough to be consenting. if nothing else, Bruce is a careful man. even when he breaks and gives in to his desires, he covers his tracks well. he makes sure he has enthusiastic consent and there's no legal recourse that could be taken. age of consent and all that. there's not much Babs can *do* other than try to tell Cass (and/or Tim) that this isn't normal or okay. not that it gets her anywhere, but god would she try.

by the time Duke comes along (if we venture out of the pre-Flashpoint era) i think it's a sort of. open secret, in the Batfamily. talked about in nothing but hushed whispers and knowing glances. at some point, they've all had sex with Bruce, caving all for different reasons. some more than others. Tim sees it as a duty, Cass sees it as a way of seeking comfort, Steph sees it as getting Bruce's approval for once, etc. it's never forced on them, but eventually, they all come to Bruce sooner or later. and that's the fun irony of it, i think. they try to convince the others not to, but would go to Bruce on their own well. because complicated reasons they can't put into words. sometimes, Bruce is just a messy man who doesn't realize how prized his Attention to for the rest of the Batfamily. that weird duality of not liking him, but also wanting desperately for him to like you. all of them have dealt with it, at some point. so for Duke, it takes a while for him to understand this... whole dynamic. it's Cass who tries to explain it to him, and he's a little horrified, a lot confused. especially when Bruce starts staring at him a little too long as well. i think he'd only want to watch first but well. they all cave eventually.

also fun bonus if we venture into the Dark Knight Returns universe for my bestest girl Carrie Kelley: there's such a like, "i'm fucking around and i'm finding out" vibe to Carrie. like Tim, she's very proactive in just. deciding she's going to be Robin and she's ready for whatever that entails. (IMO canon Carrie is closer to fanon Tim than canon Tim is but *that* deserves its own post-) like she takes one look at the old man that is Batman and goes yup. he's never fucking getting rid of me now. if Bruce started having weird feelings about her, i think she'd have *fun* with it. she's decided she's in it for the long haul and for whatever being Robin means so. she's almost teasing about it, seeing how hard she can push before Bruce snaps. since it's an older, gruffer Bruce, i think he'd express open annoyance at it first, almost a sort of banter about how Carrie behave. but of course he caves and Carrie leans into it, because there's a fun in having all of Bruce's attention to herself. in the main timeline, Bruce is pretty split with so many Robins and Batgirls, but during their era, it's *just* her and him and she's very proud she's got him all to herself.

[miniagula]

movie sonadow would be so l umity-coded…and i say this bc their dynamic is similar to the games but with a different and tender perspective: they both empathize deeply with each other now, and this shadow is not as reticent or closed off bc of that. that being said: movie!sonic would ABSOLUTELY 'YOU'RE the sweet potato!' the hell out of shadow

[hypostatic-oath]

I've started playing Honkai Star Rail and I love how dramatically silly it lets me be. So far I have stolen mail, searched garbage cans, entered a closet to become one with the darkness, waxed on about how life is just a road to death to a terrified guy (somehow that seemed to make him less terrified), bowed in respect to a dumpster, investigated an inconspicuous lamp so many times it got mad at me, investigated a trash can so many times it insulted me, and felt bad for two different trash cans and several sandbags (I believe my Trailblazer is going insane from putting up with me). All this not counting with the countless dialogue options with NPCs around the world that allowed me to be incredibly dramatic (think almost Fischl style) for no reason (you can bet I took them). However, I cannot jump or climb, and fights are turn-based... we respect our opponents in Star Rail (and die. A lot).

What I conclude from this is that while the Traveler has a moral code (and some standards) when dealing with interpersonal interactions but isn't bound by physical restrictions or conventions (stairs? The Traveler does not understand that concept. Fair fights? Please, they don't have time for that), the Trailblazer is the exact opposite. The physical rules may hold them but their only ties to social rules or convention so far have been March and Dan Heng saying "hey, maybe don't fight the guards" and "hey, you can't just accept random jobs".

It also might be because the Traveler is a thousand year old entity that has been through A Lot (has learnt the power of friendship, but is too tired to take the long route) and is on a serious mission while the Trailblazer was quite literally Born Yesterday with the sole purpose of housing a massive problem inside their body (walks and fights like a Normal Person bc they're mimicking everyone else, but is absolutely unhinged) and is just having fun with tjeir newfound existence.

Either way I love both of them and they're basically cryptids but in different ways.

[buttercupshands]

just some LoV sitting in the long lost bar in Ultra Impact in clothes that they didn't wear yet

[uncanny-tranny]

Hey, you're being lied to about what fitness constitutes. If you can't work in an hour-long crossfit slog, but you can work in a five-minute walk, then that is still fitness. If you can't use your legs but you can do arm circles every now and again, that is still fitness. If you're moving around at work, that's still fitness. It can be intentional or incidental, but here's the best part: your body doesn't care if you're dedicating specific work-out times. It doesn't care if the "only" fitness it gets is your nine to five on your feet. It doesn't care, fitness is fitness is fitness. Some of us do it differently, but the end result is more or less similar.

If you can do any type of fitness safely, your body isn't going to care if you're doing it like an Olympic athlete or if you're just a casual.

[heinrixvancunt]

anyway. something doesn't need to be good for you to be able to enjoy it!!!!