#i restart my phone again. things are... normal? i go to do the Thing i set out to do.

[moe-broey]

Bro can my phone NOT shit itself and fucking die right now. What is your fucking PROBLEM......

[playedcrowd5610]

What If... The Bat's Answered Phantom's Phone?

Set as an AU at the end of Chapter 2 of "A Little Overshadowing Never Hurt Anyone" But can be read as an independent oneshot <3

—"What were you doing in Gotham?" The Dark Knight demanded, ignoring the ghost boy's previous comment.

"Just hanging out. I don't have any real reason to be here. Wanted to see the sights, I guess." Danny shrugged, trying to play it off. It was a lie, but he couldn't tell him anything about his parents or the ghost-hunting convention, since there could be a chance he could figure out Danny’s identity that way. 

Once again, Batman's expression didn't change, just as stone-cold as ever. That was annoying. Normally Danny was really good at reading people. Especially ghosts. It was much easier for them to read each other with their cores and emotions. But with humans, it was much harder. Especially this human.

Suddenly Danny jumped at the sound of his phone ringing… and he knew it was his phone because a remix of the “Ghostbusters theme” was playing.  Danny put his head down covering his face with his hands,  He really shouldn't worry about being embarrassed while being kidnapped with a bunch of ghost tech in some eccentric white guy's creepy bat basement, yet here we are.

The only other person in the room besides Batman stood up. It was the boy in the domino mask., Robin? Wait- Weren’t there multiple now?  Danny couldn’t keep track anymore.  Either way, emo mini Bat jr, a coffee in his hand, walked over to a table filled with ghost-hunting weapons, the majority of which was his parents’ designs.  Danny felt a shiver go down his spine and pushed himself back a bit further in the cage. His fear did not go unnoticed by the boy, who glanced sideways with a frown.

He reached down and started going through the pockets of a belt that lay on the table as the phone kept blaring loudly, Danny glanced down to his waist. He didn’t even realize that they had removed the phone until just now.  Finally, the teenage boy managed to wrangle it out of one of the pockets and held it high in victory before looking at the caller ID.

“B,” The kid started.  “It’s someone named Jazz.”  Danny’s eyes widened. He knew she would be worried right now!   And what was the one thing she told him before he went into Gotham? ‘Danny, stay away from all of those Gotham vigilantes tonight — it can be dangerous.’ The phone abruptly stopped ringing, and Danny breathed a sigh of relief.  But then the boy started scrolling through the phone, or at least the lock screen. “Dozens of missed messages and three missed calls.”  He raised an eyebrow at Danny as if waiting for him to respond.

“She worries.”  Danny shrugs before rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  Suddenly, the phone blares to life again. Danny’s ears twitch at the sound.  The ringtone starts again.  

“Bring it here, Red Robin,”  Batman says, holding out his hand.  Well, at least Danny now knows his name.   He narrows his eyes at the device like it is somehow out to get him and his whole family.  Danny would have laughed at the expression if he weren’t terrified for his afterlife right now.  After a couple of seconds, it stopped, only to restart again quickly after.

“She is not going to stop until you answer!”  Danny snaps, annoyed.  Batman seems to be in thought for a moment before holding the phone in between the vigilantes and the ghost, hitting answer on speakerphone.  Danny’s eyes widened instantly, in shock that he answered it. Danny was mostly kidding, he didn’t expect the Dark Knight to really answer! Now what should he do?

“Danny, oh my word! Where are you?!! I swear to Clockwork, if you got yourself hurt or anything… I’ve been worried sick! And with all of those hunters around! I told you to be careful, and to come back soon!  You were just getting air! Please tell me you’re okay.”  Danny winced back at every part of the call, but everyone in the room had their eyes glued to the phone, undoubtedly absorbing all the information Danny just gave them.  

“Jazz, Jazz I’m fine!”  Red Robin looked over at Danny as if to say, ‘You don’t look fine.’  Danny glared back his best ‘Mind your own damn business response..

“Danny, where are you?  I’ve been holding off mom and dad for as long as I can.”  Danny winced and winced hard, glancing up at the two listening into the conversation, looming over him.  “Right now they think you’re at the library, and it’s the middle of the night!”

Danny laughed nervously.  “Jazz, don’t worry, I’ll be okay, I always am.  I just got a bit lost and sensed a soul eater so I followed to find out if they were okay.  He saw Batman narrow his eyes again (if that was even possible — they should be closed at this point) at he mention of ‘soul eater’. 

 Danny felt slightly offended for them, but they did have a strange name.  For your information, soul eaters are just ghosts who need energy or ectoplasm to survive and make a body. They have to either take it from others or absorb it in an ectoplasm-rich environment, and if Danny has some to spare, he normally shares Soul eaters are a step above echo ghosts.  Two of the ones Danny had encountered were Spectra, who absorbed children’s emotions as a therapist to give herself a body, and Shadow, the ghost that has bonded itself to Johnny 13 in order to get as much ectoplasm as he needs in return for helping Johnny.  But enough of that rant.

“Okay, but you better be back soon okay?  Especially with all the hunters around. I don’t want you getting captured!”  

Danny glanced up at the two bats and laughed awkwardly.  “Ah yeah, we don’t want that happening now.  Just don’t worry too much, Jazz; get some rest, I’ll catch up with you later.”

“You better!”  Batman then pulled his gloved finger up and pressed the hang-up button.

Danny scowled up at the man, “There, you happy?  You got all that information out of me. You seem proud of yourself.”  Danny went to lean back, but burned himself on the bars, flinching as he felt the stinging sensation on his shoulder, hissing and baring his fangs.

Batman said nothing. It looked like his little robin was about to pitch in but then thought better of it and slinked away.  Suddenly, there was a ping on Batman’s belt.  He looked at it for only a second before stating “I have to go. Red Robin, stay here.”

)-(

Danny was staring down at the floor of his cage as he now floated cross-legged just above the ground.  What was he supposed to do now? Batman was gone and Red Robin was now pacing around the cave, either doing wide circles around the cage or just pacing around the whole cave in general. It looked like he was also kind of muttering to himself. Kind of strange, but Danny did the same so who was he to judge?  But the important thing was he never let the cage out of his line of sight.  He almost felt like Danny was being hunted by a shark at the rate this guy was going.

Danny knew he needed to escape somehow.  He glanced again over all of those weapons on the desk. He needed to get out of here, and quickly He knows that even though he called, Jazz would still be worried.  But with Red Robin ever on the lookout, that would be hard.

It would be hard to rewire the whole cage, especially because Red Robin keeps silently watching him — it's kinda creepy. Danny grabbed onto his hair and pulled, unsure of what to do.  Suddenly there was a clanging sound and Danny jumped, eyes darting around until he noticed that Red Robin was staring up at him right in front of the cage. His hands were on the door.

Danny stared at him, puzzled, and tilted his head to the side, eyes glued to each other in the tense moment.  Suddenly, the boy’s hands started moving and he was unlocking the cage. Danny’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”  He asked, still stunned that the kid had come so close.  

The boy paused for a moment, thinking to himself. “Letting you out.”  The door swung open with Tim holding it and staring at the ghost expectantly.  Danny stayed where he was in the cage, floating, unsure of whether or not to trust this new opportunity.

“What about Batman, won't he be mad at you?”  Danny asked, surprised his Robin would go against him like this. 

“I think…”  Red Robin paused.  “I think Batman would understand, and I think we were wrong about ghosts,  I was stupid to go along with this. Anyone who’d spend more than five minutes with you would know you are a sentient, innocent, person...  I’m sorry.”

Danny laughed awkwardly, “Wow, you're the first person to say that in a long time.”  Red Robin returned with a light smile, almost a grimace.

“Here, let's get you out of here before B gets back.”  He reached down and grabbed onto Danny's arm, pulling him out of the cage and leading him through the cave. Normally, Danny would have flinched at being grabbed, but this… wasn't so bad. 

---

Tim led them through the tunnels underneath Wayne's manor to not reveal their identities, he knew the tunnels by heart and managed to make enough turns that Danny couldn't follow them back.

[xyurishux]

CHAPTER 1 - AS A WHOLE, TOGETHER

Word Count: ~1.7k

Tags: GN!reader, Mentions of family disputes

Summary: You begin to tell Sebastian how deep UrbanShades rabbit hole truly goes, starting with yourself.

Pardon any writing errors, they may happen!

“ oh sweetie, you’re not ugly, society is,”

“So,

When I was younger, life was as normal as can be. I was in mediocre family, it was me, my mom and my dad. I’d only see my mom in the morning, and when I was back from school my dad would be home for dinner. It wasn’t until way later I learned about his job, but that isn’t relevant right now. My dad was a mystery to me, he’s my dad but I didn’t know much to anything about him. I saw him everyday when I got home but it’s was for such a small period of time, did it even count?

Life was so mundane and repetitive. Go to school, pass tests, summer break then restart it all over again. Life was boring but it wasn’t difficult.

I would do anything to be back there…” You paused looking out into the ocean, it was dark you could mistake it for the above, only simply at night. You breathe out from your nose continuing on with your story.

 “Anyways, it was back in September of 2009 when my father got a promotion. Seeing his face 4 to 5 hours per day dwindled down to seeing him once every two weeks or so, usually on Sundays. He became an enigma.

“You see, something I couldn’t see at the time was that as I grew older, his need to be in my life lowered, and sadly, that same fate fell too with my mother by default.

His job already took a toll on their relationship. Only spending 4 to 5 hours with your partner every day over the span of five years isn’t so great.

My mother would see him as much as I did and now, he just wasn’t there. The signs of a falling relationship presented themselves beforehand, but now it was obvious to anyone that the only thing keeping them together was me. At least, for my mom that was the case.

“The house was more silent than it ever was empty…”

You looked to the side with your eyes to see Sebastians full attention on you, perhaps it was the story? Or maybe he didn’t have anything better to do or it might have been the way your voice spoke with full sincerity and no sarcasm. It was like someone else took control but it was undoubtedly you and he was fully enthralled.

Your eyes met and you looked back down at the cold tile as you carried on.

“Ether way, it was in November of that same year where things would shift. My mom would realize the steady money flowing in and at growing amounts. Now you have to understand that my mother isn’t of the suspicious type nor is she a person who comes up with wild conclusions. She was (and still is, I hope) a reasonable and sensible woman. She knew that this wasn’t a simple ‘promotion’, but to know where all this money came from, well…she didn’t have the slightest clue. She didn’t know and she would never know. Well, truly know…

“The first snow started to fall as December began and Winter break freed me from my studying. Shockingly, dad came home for the holidays and New Years. Funny anecdote, I remember getting my first iPhone as a gift from him that year. It was an iPhone 3GS, God the memories…my mother was not pleased in slightest.” You laughed silent tilting your head to the side as your reminisced, it was good and loyal phone…

 “Continuing on, after Christmas as a family and with the family the next day, my parents had the only disagreement I’ve ever witnessed (only a disagreement, it wasn’t enough to count as a fight).

I think it was about 2 am and the only light that was on was the one above the kitchen table. My dad was sitting facing my mother who standing up, the last of the family who came over for the party had finally left. Chip bowls and wine glasses were still scattered on the coffee table, only barely visible by the outside Christmas lights. I watched as my mom tapped her nails against the wooden chair she was partly leaning on as she took a deep breath. I could tell she was tired, exhausted even but I could also tell she had something bugging her and she needed to let it out. I watched them from the darkness that the staircase provided, I was undetectable. I listened to them talk, leaning my upper body to the wooden railing trying not to miss a single word. I don’t remember much; it was about the money at first but it was nothing compared to what my mother said next.”

“Samantha, look- “

“I’m breaking up with you”

“My mother broke up with my father. I sat upon the steps dumbfounded, I didn’t expect that from their conversation but even then, I didn’t know what to expect. The last of the conversation consisted of my father staying silent and staring at the table as my mom talked important matters to him. She told him that she would stay for the New Years and then move in with a friend in an apartment she found. After that she finished the glass of wine my dad poured for her at the start and left the kitchen when he didn’t have anything to add.

I’m pretty sure that night was the only time I saw my dad cry. He was still in love with her, never ever once thinking of ending their relationship. Never ever once thinking of loving another woman.

 Most children would walk down the stairs they sat on and go comfort their weeping father or at least ask if he was okay. But our relationship was so estranged to the point where I felt no reason to go down and comfort him. He simply was just my father, nothing else nothing more.

I watched him cry silently with his head in his hand as I sat on the steps with my legs close to my chest. I sat there for a few more minutes. I don’t know why I sat there watching for so long. Maybe I was intrigued with the sight, it was something new. A man I’ve know all my life was a mystery to me and now the last sight I might ever see of him is him crying his heart out. But soon enough I got tired, I walked back up to my bedroom and fell asleep to noise of the on going shower my mom was taking downstairs.

The next morning felt cold and unbalanced. The floor was cold to the touch and it was actually closer to noon then morning. The hall was silent as I walked down it and saw at the end of it that my mom was packing a suitcase and a large duffle bag. They were both placed on the bed with an equal amount of folded and unfolded clothes thrown around the two. It was enough to be unable to see the white and blue floral comforter underneath (or I remember it to be enough). I walked into the room and as if I didn’t witness the scene at the kitchen table last night I asked, “Are we going somewhere?”

She was so concentrated with her packing that she jumped startled when she heard my voice. With her hand over her heart, she turned to me with a forced smile (I knew that it was) and spoke words that I will never forget.”

“What were they?” Sebastian asked quietly, his full upper body now laying against the desk where you two sorted files on together almost an hour ago.

You smiled, “Well,

“Sweetheart! You scared me there,” She said, her smile faltering, “No, mommy is going somewhere, alone, but not forever. You’ll have to stay with dad for awhile.” She turned her head away as she folded a few pants and placed them into her suitcase. Then she squatted, and I had to look down to see her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and her lashes wet. I felt her hands on my upper arms as she continued to talk, “Mommy, mommy needs to go find herself for a bit, okay? Not for long but mommy needs this…I love you, eternally and always”

She left the same day with kiss on the forehead, her phone number seared into my mind and a “Be good while I’m gone, I’m a single phone call away”

And then I was there, at my door step, cold and watching as my mom entered her friend’s car with one last kiss blown to me. I caught it and placed it onto my cheek as she drove off. Now it was me and my estranged father and a lot of complex emotions I didn’t know how to decipher or begin to understand at the age of ten.”

You finished, pausing to take a breath for a second while also stretching your aching muscles.

“And then what? What does this have to do with us? With me?” Sebastian asked harshly as he raised himself from the desk.

“Give me a second, I need water and a snack, I’m a bit peckish,” you joked, smirking to him, before continuing, “Ether way, we’re barely getting into the meat of the story. I was just explaining how I got stuck with my father. Now will be getting into what he was doing

behind closed doors…”

And we start rolling, ~

@splatting-stampede

[axelsagewrites]

Daemon Targaryen*The Restaurant

Sugar Baby Series Part one of five, next parts linked at bottom

Pairing: Modern!Daemon x reader

Platonic: Cregan Stark, Sara Snow, Jace Velaryon

Summary: After a horrible night at work the reader finally gets some good news

Warnings: bitchy customers

Word count: 2370

Masterlist Here

Moving out was one of the best decisions you had made. Moving in with your best friend Sara Snow gave you the freedom you always craved but with one slight problem; being alive is fucking expensive.

Being a server was not as easy as many seemed to believe. You worked at the Dragons Den as a server which was the most exclusive restaurant in Kingslanding. Even to work there you needed connections.

Luckily for you Sara had managed to get a job as a host through her friend Jace, who is admittedly still denying his major crush on her, and lucky for you both the grandson of its owner, Rhaenys Velaryon. When a server position opened, she instantly referred you and Rhaenys, who interviews all her staff personally, seemed to take a liking to a girl trying to be independent.

You'd think working in a fancy place would mean the guests would have more decorum. However, you would be very wrong. It was as if rich people got off on causing problems for the staff. Dealing with their ridiculous requests was one thing but what was worse was when the Hightower’s came in. They seemed to get off on the fact they knew the owners, despite Rhaenys not really caring about their existence but not wanting to restart another family drama. Alicent always sent her food back at least twice while Otto constantly tried to wiggle down the bill despite constantly trying to flex his watch or car or whatever else you pretended to care about.

When you walked in the restaurant tonight the sorry look Sara gave you from the host stand made you internally groan. "Is it seriously my turn again?" you asked her as you clocked in at the tablet at the host stand. 

"Aly had them last time and Cregan is one write up from being fired and I cannot risk that," you loved Sara's half-brother, you really did, but if he skipped his turn one more time you were ready to fight him in all his 6ft jacked glory. "C’mon do it for me," Sara said, batting her eyelashes dramatically at you. 

"Ugh fine," you groaned as you tied your hair up, the lobby currently empty thankfully, "How many of them and when?" 

"4 of them at 6.30," Sara grinned at you as you finished getting ready and putting your apron on, "Not sure who's coming with them, but it was made under Alicent so only one way to find out," 

The beginning of your shift was normal, peaceful even. Your first three tables had all left a 25% tip, so you were already perky to say the least. That was until you watched Sara walk your worst customers over. Alicent had brought her husband, for once, as well as her stepdaughter of the same age. Rhaenyra had always been lovely to you, but it was rare for her to come at the same time as Alicent. However, what really caught you off guard was the newest silver haired man. 

You knew practically all the customers by name from the sheer amount of gossip you got from Sara who seemed to know everything about everyone. However, you had never seen him before, but your eyes were locked on him as he slinked across the restaurant, his lilac eyes scanning the room. Definitely a Targaryen you thought. You were knocked out your thoughts when you accidentally met his eye and turned away quickly, pretending to look for menus as you disguised your blush. 

“He’s smirking btw,” Cregan chuckled at you from beside you at the server station and you quickly hit him with a menu before turning to go to your demise.

"Hi, my names (Y/N) and I'll be your server tonight," you greeted as you placed down the menus. "Can I get any of you started with drinks before I leave you to look over the menu?" 

"Could I have-" Rhaenyra had started but was cut off by Alicent who finally looked up from her phone. 

“This tables dirty,”

The fun begins. “I can move you to another- “

“No this will do,” she cut you off, “took that long to be seated in the first place,” you saw how Rhaenyra shrunk in her chair and how Viserys refused to meet your eye, “Water for the table, lemon, a whole lemon sliced not just two silly little slices,”

“Of course, ma’am,” you said, pretending to jot down the nonsense she always sprouted.

The only one not sulking or avoiding your gaze was the mystery man who was glaring at the oblivious bitch, “I’ll have the salmon, whole potatoes not mashed, peas not green beans, extra sauce but hold the lemon on the fish,” she said her words quicker than the speed of light but luckily the kitchen had pinned her ridiculous order to the board so you just scrawled ‘that bitch’ on the note pad which had become the code for her. “He’ll have the duck, hold the sauce,”

“But I like the sauce,” Viserys finally piped up however quickly looked away like a scorned child.

“It’s bad for you heart,” she glared at him before turning back to you, “Well aren’t you gonna ask them what they want?” she said gesturing to the embarrassed Rhaenyra.

You nodded and turned to her as she gave you her order with an apologetic smile. Finally, you turned to the mystery man, finally getting to have a good look at his perfectly sculped cheek bones and that intoxicating smirk he wore, “I’ll have the alfredo; however, it comes,” he said, shooting Alicent a smile when he ordered. “Thanks, dear,” when he looked back at you, you struggled not to blush as you wrote the order.

“Okay guys I’ll be right back with your- “

“Why don’t we have any water?” Alicent cut you off and it took everything in you not to force feed her your notepad.

Forcing a smile onto your face, “I’m just about to get it- “

“Okay then,” she rolled her eyes and turned back to her phone.

As you turned to leave you heard the man speak again, “She’s not a magician you know?” the man’s voice said but you had no time to eavesdrop as you had to rush about to do the hundred other jobs your manager demanded you to.

Aemond used to be a cool guy, even if at times up tight, when he was just a bartender. However, when he got promoted to manager through total skill, totally not complete nepotism, a stick got shoved so far up his ass he was now able to taste it. “Quick steps, quick cheques,” he quipped as you rushed past, sweat practically dripping down your forehead with your now full section.

The dinner rush was hitting hard tonight and even Cregan, the phone addict he was, hadn’t checked his phone in the past couple of hours. However, he had managed to tell you as you grabbed food from the pass that the man at your table was Daemon Targaryen and he had just relocated back to Kingslanding after running the Targaryen headquarters in Riverrun. You weren’t exactly sure what it was the Targaryen did, something money related or maybe tax, but whatever it was it made them the richest family in Kingslanding, something Alicent and her father were quick to gloat about.

The rush seemed to give you the superpower to carry all four of the desserts at once to your most demanding table. “Who had the cherry tart and ice cream?” you asked, desperately trying to not crumple from exhaustion.

“Not shocked you don’t remember considering it’s been 20 minutes,” Alicent grumbled.

Tears threatened to prick your eyes, but you refused to give her the satisfaction, “Sorry the kitchens backed up tonight- “

“I don’t need your excuses,” she cut you off.

You took a deep breath before asking again, “The cherry tart?” you asked, your arm starting to waver.

“That’s mine,” Rhaenyra said, and you sighed in relief as you sat it down.

Then the same thing happened with the chocolate cake which Viserys refused to claim till your third ask. “Cheesecake?” you said for the third time.

“That’s hers,” Daemon snapped as he took the plate out of your hand and thrust it in front of Alicent who was blissfully unaware on her phone. “Then that’s mine, sorry bout that love,” Daemon said as he took his plate out your hand.

“Its alright sir,” you said, desperately trying to stay composed. “Enjoy,” you said before rushing off, picking up a check from a table that had just left and heading to the server stand to press it into the computer.

When you opened the check your eyes screwed shut, tears seconds from falling as you punched in the tip. $12 on a check of $198. You rushed to press the numbers before practically running into the kitchen.

Cregan was leaning in the corner, practically inhaling some stolen fries when he looked up to see tears falling from your eyes, “What’s up?” he asked as he rushed over to you, fries in hand, “Fry?” he asked holding out the plate.

“12 bucks on nearly 200,” you spat, shoving the salty fries in your mouth, “I’m barely gonna break even by the time I tip out tonight my first tables were great but everyone’s being so cheap tonight,”

“Time to lean- “you heard a smug voice perk up from behind you. your eyes screwed up as you tried not to swing on Aemond as he spoke, “-time to clean. Don’t you have a table?” Aemond said as he went to stand beside Cregan when his face fell, “Are you okay?” he asked, his managerial face finally falling.

“Just fucking peachy,” you spat as you grabbed another fry before rushing out of the kitchen leaving the cooks to yell at the new manager in your leave.

You had two tables left: an old couple and the Targaryen’s. The old couple left you thirty on 180 which while not great was better than twelve bucks however at least they didn’t bark orders at you all night. As you waited for Alicent to wave you over you debated whether this job was worth it all. The clicking across the restaurant made you lean over to the not worth it side, but you weren’t quite ready to quit yet, rent was due tomorrow and who knows maybe Daemon was a generous tipper and would get the bill.

When you dropped the cheque at their table your stomach dropped when you saw Alicent throw it at Viserys. When you went to punch it in you genuinely considered how much you could withdraw from the ATM before he caught you. $9.21 on a $289.79 tab.

“Night folks,” you smiled as you dropped the check back, Aemond watching you from the kitchen window.

“Did you get your tip?” Viserys asked as he slipped the card back in his pocket.

How much jail time would you get for slapping a millionaire, you wondered. “Yes. Thanks sir,” you said with your fakest smile which oddly seemed to leave him satisfied before you rushed off.

“Can I go?” you asked Aemond through the kitchen window. He tried to stutter out a no but when he saw your eyes water he finally agreed, and you rushed to clock out and thrust money into the tip out jar. You were left with a whole $20 bucks from that 10-hour shift. Plus, your hourly wages which were honestly just laughable despite how high end this place was.

Sara tried to ask how it had gone but you brushed her off as you grabbed your jacket from the coat check and practically ran for the door when you saw the Targaryen’s approaching. The air was cold against your skin, your cheap jacket doing little for you as winter approached. You walked a few paces down from the restaurant to the bus stop and crouched down, leaning against the wall to catch your breath waiting for the bus which was always late.

There was no one around to see your tears fall so you let them. After all they were the only warm thing around. When you heard footsteps, you quickly whipped them off your cheeks and stood up, not about to get mugged as well as this night went. “What did he tip you?” your head whipped round to meet the sorry eyes of Daemon Targaryen.

“Its alright,” you tried to say but he insisted, stepping closer. You looked up at him, his face perfectly lit by the moon and streetlamps, “9 bucks,” you half laughed, your eyes rolling as you turned away. “It doesn’t matter. Some nights are just shit,”

You heard him ruffling in his pockets but didn’t turn around. Being murdered by a millionaire might be fun you thought. “Here,” you turned round at his voice, but he was already pressing the money into your hand. “You don’t deserve this shit,” he said, his hand still holding yours, “Get out you still will,”

“There’s nothing else for me to do,” you said, keeping your hand in his larger one. If not for your tears this might have been a cute moment.

“I doubt that doll,” he said before looking up the street, “That your bus?” he asked, and you nodded. “Get home safe love. And keep that to yourself alright?” he said, and you nodded as you slipped the cash into your pocket without counting.

“See you around?” you asked as the bus pulled up.

“Definitely,” he nodded before turning to where a sleek black car began honking at him, “Gotta goes love. Night,”

“Night,” you said despite him already being away. you quickly got on the bus, paying from your lousy tip money before taking a seat up the back of the bus.

You quietly took out the money from your pocket to count it, your eyes scanning the bus to make sure no one had moved to sit further up the bus as you counted, “Holy shit,” you whispered under your breath as you counted the bills. 3-hundred-dollar bills and a slip of paper with a number on the back.

Call me when you quit – D.T.

Part two here - Part three here

Taglist: @clairacassidy @valeskafics @starkleila

[blurryhowlett]

The Hugh Jackman twitter drama involving a person named Dawn.

I don’t normally make post like this but I had read a bit about the topic, saw all the screen shots and basically I think I have enough context to make a post. Why am I making a post? I feel the need to just talk about the whole ridiculous situation and tumblr didn’t even upload my first post about it so now I have to restart. (Haha yay..) Anyways, I wanna start by saying that this fully grown woman is clearly struggling with delusions and mental health issues. As a person who battles with my own struggles, I’m trying to understand the situation through her eyes as well but the whole thing is so utterly ridiculous, it’s hard to feel bad for someone who had years to try to come to terms with the fact that this ‘Hugh Jackman’ she was talking to was never actually him.

For context, Dawn had apparently had some role play account and had been in some sort of group role play and that’s where she found ‘Hugh.’ She said the two of them clicked pretty easily and would talk nonstop. She said she didn’t think it was Hugh at first but her reason for starting to believe so is that he was really good at writing? Like writing scrips? I don’t know but the fact is, she believed it was him and fell in love. It’s a sad situation, many people get scammed (if you can call this a scam since the only thing she lost was her role play) but this took place in 2013 and is now coming forward with a whole google doc with many screen shots and a whole essay about how this was him. I’ll make a separate post to show more screen shots since apparently tumblr freaks out when you have too many pictures in one post. (Learned that the hard way.) I’m made to believe that with the new rise of the Hugh and Sutton drama had triggered her (and frankly, a lot of other people too) and had decided to ‘call him out.’

Screen shots here:

This is her going on a whole rampage and we only get one post of her maybe thinking about how it might’ve not been real but I think that’s as close as we are gonna get to her facing reality. I do think it’s really messed up to talk about his ‘dick measurements’ and claim it as facts and then put it in your bio. I do think it was perfectly fine to tell her the truth and call her out on her problematic behavior because having mental health issues doesn’t excuse toxic actions/behavior. I think her going private on twitter was a good thing and maybe it’s time for her to drop this and finally let it go. She tries to grasp at straws by saying the colors he wore was because of her, that a lot of pictures of him smiling at his phone or being on his phone was because of her. The whole thing is sad when you look at it from the point of view of a woman who seemed to be very desperate for love. Or.. you can look at it how a lot of people are, that the whole thing is not only ridiculous- but utterly funny. And I’m serious, their role play is mostly sexual and even if I don’t know Hugh personally- I don’t think he talks like that and I don’t think this man comes home every night to log into a role play account about himself to do sex role plays. I mean- I’m not gonna judge but it’s highly unlikely.

This woman definitely got clowned on, bullied and all and while I don’t condone bullying- I also don’t like her actions and her outburst as she targets Hugh when it wasn’t even him in the first place.

I do think she needs a serious wake up call as this level of obsession is truly unhealthy. Again, I’ll make a separate post to show the screen shots of their role play and conversations. Thanks to whoever read this!

[erosedescending]

A Drone's Weekend

Well... what a time i have had. It all started saturday morning. I started the day with my headphones in, playing my drone brainwashing track in the background. This was kept up through the whole day except for a couple parts.

In the morning, i went with my girlfriend, R, to help move furniture, and back at her place, i off handedly mentioned a breathplay experiment i had been wanting to do. Now mind you, i was not in dronespace until later. so this was all me.

Anyway, i dressed up in my corset, and cuffed my hands behind my back. Meanwhile, R filled up a sink with water... and i knew where this was going. I picked up some noisy things to drop if i need to stop the scene, my other girlfriend, N, started recording with her camera and R took me over to the sink.

She asked if i was ready, and as i mumbled an answer, she dunked my head underwater. And held it there... i was powerless... hands cuffed, already restricted breathing from the corset... and the she pulled it out... i had just a moment to gasp a breath before i was dunked again, face underwater. Up again, and bot even a full breath, and back under i went. A couple more times like this, and i was let up to catch my breath... but not for long.

Just as i caught my breath, R pushed my head down again, but i resisted (cuz yeah... it is a lil scary... and sometimes its fun to resist 😉) and kept my head above water... Then she asked if if i was ok. I told her yes, and thats when she used force, and pushed me the rest of the way in. this time she held it longer... must have been at least 30-45 seconds.

i came up gasping, but she didnt wait, just dunked me right again. Held it for the longest time yet, and then pulled me back out. It was perfect. i struggled, and i was out of control. and it felt sooooo good. meanwhile, my body felt the subtle fuzziness of lack of oxygen. She told me 'good girl' and that was the end of the scene. it was so nice. it was scary, and wonderful and fun snd safe.

And that was the morning. After this, i got dressed, put my headphones back in, restarted the brainwashing loop, and we went out with some friends. For a couple hours, i was just hangin out, acting like everything is normal while i secretly brainwash myself in public 😋.

After that we went back to my girlfriend's place, and the three of us R, N, and i did normal girlfriend things like chat, cuddle, commiserate. And while these two were on the couch... um.... playing 😅... i sat across the room, playing on my phone. And that is when my controller came online. 😏

My controller snd I chatted for a bit, about how just by them being in proximity, i was already feeling the pull to drone space. And having had my brainwashing audio in my ear all day, this was definitely true. Controller suggested i ask my girlfriends to help physically stimulate me into dronespace, and i asked them. But they had just been stimulating each other... so... they werent up for it.

But that was ok. By that time i had already been slipping into dronespace anyway. and i said as much to my controller, who then proceeded to activate administrative mode. This mode allows it to be somewhat dommy. And so... with that, my controller had to be off, and i was there... in dronespace, administrative mode. And my girlfriends didnt even know it.

So... then we were just hanging out again. All of my responses were mechanical, my movements precise and exact, emotions dampened... and they didnt even notice 😏. Since i was in administrative mode, i told them instead of asking them whenever i wanted something. And they both super subby, so they didnt think much of it and just followed along. things like 'close the door,' 'get me some water,' And then we decided to go for a walk.

I, as drone, told them to get ready when they were lagging and distracted, especially N, who had been teased by R earlier and was still a bit flustered and out of it. 'Put your shoes on,' ' lets go.' and out the door we went, a drone and her two girlfriends. We walked hand in hand and i let R lead the way since it was her neighborhood.

we went to a park, and R shard some deep feelings she had about work that were troubling her. As a drone, my emotions were dampened, nut still functional, and the three of us were able to share and express feelings together. Helping to bear R's emotional burden. When it was finally time to head back, i had them hold hands in front of me, and i asserted dominance by walking behind them with my hands on their shoulders.

I made decisions about which direction we went, when we crossed the street. Still... they didnt notice i was in dronespace. And i wasnt even fully emulating my normal personality 😋. Anyway, we got back, and i asked if they noticed anything different. they didnt. We spent some more time together. until it was time to leave.

I drove N home, dropped her off, and headed home myself, still in drone space this whole way. Back home, i spent some time with my family, and they too didnt notice anything out of the ordinary 😋. After some more chatting with my controller, i eventually told my girlfriends that i was in dronespace for the time i was. and they said 'no wonder you were being so direct and commanding' 😋

It was eventually bedtime, and i fell asleep in dronespace. It was such a lovely day. Relaxing, loving, kinky, and fun. My controller, my girlfriends, they all are so supportive and i am so thankful to have them. 🥰

[trimalchiooframshackle]

Ever wonder how in the hell Jay's death goes? well do I HAVE A STORY FOR YOOUUUU!!! INTRODUCING HIS NEW CAUSE OF DEATH WOAH!!!! !

TW: Alcohol abuse, Drug abuse, suicide/suicidal tendencies, self harm, overdose mention, gore, ???

Quick note?? All of this is canon, yes he dies like this ;P LOLZIES!!!!! ALso if its all over the place i apologize i am fighting a moth while writing this /srs kinda curious to know how anyone reacts to it, so... if you wanna put that down or make a post go for it, honestly im kinda considering having this be my closing post but idk yet lol </3

The sound of a gunshot can never be heard over crowds laughing and music blasting. Fireworks in the air, water from the pool splashing... The loud BANG deaf to everyone's ears. How could we know that? The only way it was learned was finding the body of Mr. Jay Gatz. In the highest point of his manor, overlooking the crowd below...

Let's start from square one.

Jay felt... Unwanted. Alone, if you will. As a man who's built himself and his business up only for the sake of overthrowing others, he wasn't the most enjoyed man around. Normally he would've handled this by now. The dread, the self pity, everything he had thought about himself was always kept inside. Why not now? Standing alone, pathetic... In the office he had to himself. Bookcases covering the walls of obscure novels that he hasn't even read, a desk holding messy stacks of various papers, making him feel even worse about himself. A never ending ringing phone before he cut it, the gusts of wind blowing from the outside rustling against the curtains behind him. What a pitiful life.

An outsider. That's all he was, wasn't he? Standing up on that balcony of his, absent to anyones attention besides the solemn glow of the moon above him, and even that was leaving him soon. The fireworks lit up the mansion, the people below, the water, and the champagne bottles crashing and being tossed around to be used. He lit a cigarette, holding it for just a moment then he took a drag.

...After another drag, and another, and another... He put out the cigarette... On his own arm. He winced at the burning feeling against his skin, but another scar wouldn't hurt... Right? Scars were littered all over his body anyway, just another part of him to be ruined. He lit another cigarette then walked inside to grab a bottle of vodka from his own personal storage of alcohol. Never touched unless he was feeling more pathetic than other nights.

Ha, maybe this time he can drink himself to death. Or maybe Perkins will call the ambulance again. Jay hoped to whatever god there was above he wouldn't survive this time. His shaky hands moved to the bottle, bringing it up to his lips before pausing. A week of sobriety.

...He can restart another day. Or in another life, perhaps.

He took a drink. The burn of the alcohol going down his throat being a feeling of discomfort but satisfaction was one that he had somehow managed to miss. Gatz went back out to the balcony, drinking away his sorrows before he couldn't even find himself having any emotion anymore. The rich man could barely hear the knocks at the door, let alone the sound of a man calling for his name.

Soon enough, the door opened unbeknownst to Jay. The only thing that managed to get his attention was a quiet voice coming from the darkened room, lit by only one light. But now... There was another. Then another light on as the person flicked on the light switches. ...Perkins.

➳ ❜ Ah, Jay! I was worried about you, sir! Are you doing alright up here? It's quite... Quiet up here. ❛

No response. Jay turned back to stare into nothing.

➳ ❜ Oh, I see... Maybe you should sit down, I can grab you some tea and- ...Well, maybe not any medicine, I don't want to... Let that happen again. ❛

It wasn't needed to be discussed anymore, it was obvious Perkins was referring to the prior... Attempts Jay had made. In an attempt, Perkins had tried his best to hide anything that Jay could use to end things. As of now, it was working. With a slow approach, Perkins had walked over to Jay. Placing down the lantern he held with a small blow to put it out, he found himself standing next to his boss. Or, rather, his semi-adopted son.

The silence felt like a million years. Perkins, thinking of how to approach this properly, feeling the fatherly need to sit there and just be someone for Jay to lean on, but he knew it wasn't a night for that. All he knew is that he could NEVER leave Jay alone in a state like this. He heard a small mutter of a sob coming from next to him.

╰┈➤ ❜ ...Perkins... Can we go inside? ❛ 

➳ ❜ Of course my boy. ❛

Jay tiredly swung his arm around Perkins shoulders as he got guided back into the office, letting the shorter man take the vodka from his bruised and shaky hand. Within the next minute or so, he found himself sitting in the rather comfortable office chair he had right infront of his desk. Almost immediately he put his arms down on the desk and put his head down on them, shielding his face in some form of fear of what'll happen next.

➳ ❜ Jay- ❛

╰┈➤ ❜ You can leave now Perkins. ...I'm fine on my own. ❛ 

➳ ❜ I'm worried, my boy. I can't just leave you like this. Not because it's my job but it's because I care- ❛

Jay's body tensed. Perkins froze as he could practically feel the cold emotion that came from the man right next to him.

╰┈➤ ❜ You don't have to lie to me, Perkins. ❛ 

Silence. Jay thought he had left, but he hadn't. When Jay lifted up his head he saw Perkins sitting quietly next to him. ...Looks like he's here for a while.

╰┈➤ ❜ ...Am I gonna be left alone forever, Perkins? ❛ 

➳ ❜ Oh- of course not! You have plenty of people who would love to be around you - ❛

╰┈➤ ❜ ...Then why has everyone left me? ...Everyone except you. I can't keep being alone like this. ❛ 

➳ ❜ I know, I know... And I'm not getting any younger... But trust me, I won't leave you all alone. You don't deserve that. ❛

╰┈➤ ❜ ... ❛ 

Jay stood up, then went to grab another bottle of vodka. Perkins got up to take the bottle, only for Jay to look down with a look he has only seen a few times. He was desperate for some form of numbing. ...Perkins sighed. He held up a single finger to signal he can only have one glass.

Jay agreed.

He got the glass and drank it quickly as if it were medicine. And it has been his medicine. Ever since he was younger, more vulnerable. Manipulated, oblivious, it's always been his escape.

╰┈➤ ❜ ...If I were to give you the rest of my wealth, would you let me die? ❛ 

Silence. Shock. A beat went by.

➳ ❜ Of course not. I wouldn't let you die at all. ❛

╰┈➤ ❜ Oh. ❛ 

Jay was quiet again. He exhaled and took a drag of the cigarette he had lit earlier. Blowing it out, he looked to the floor with some thought. Jay then opened a drawer in the desk, rummaging around then he let a metal item clatter into the desk.

A gun.

Perkins froze. He took a step forward and Jay put his hand on the gun. Not as a warning to Perkins, but to himself. The blond male slowly picked it up and showed that it was loaded.

╰┈➤ ❜ I was told I needed therapy. You know, I think I’m too far gone. What’s the point of it if im just a lost cause? I’ve been crying and telling too many people my sob story. At this point this… This is better. ❛

➳ ❜ No you’re not too far gone, Jay. …Put down the gun, okay? We can talk about this- ❛

The now slowly breaking millionaire then stood up sharply, stepping back. He took the gun along with him. Then… He snapped. Immediately bursting into tears, he found himself breaking every pushing second. His hands shaking more, he held the gun up to his own head.

╰┈➤ ❜ Talk about what, Perkins? How long have you tried to help me? I’ve been nothing but a waste of time, and god… God I BET if I just- if I just SHOT myself RIGHT NOW, NOBODY OUT THERE WILL HEAR OR CARE, RIGHT?! Who’d go to my funeral? You? Who else? Huh? ❛

Silence. Perkins simply walked over and hugged Jay, catching him off guard. Jays body tensed up again, trying to find a way to keep his composure but failing miserably. The gun slightly moved away from his head, then it sharply went back.

One last exhale, and one last sentence.

╰┈➤ ❜ If you want me to live another day, I need you to start running. Get to the nearest phone. ❛

God, why was he doing this? Why was he trying to help himself? He knew he’d die by then. Somehow, Perkins listened and immediately rushed to the nearest phone only to see Jay had cut the line, then opened the door to go outside. Jay stared.

The door closed, leaving Jay alone.

…Then the gun went off.

Silence. Darkness. Not a feeling. Just… emptiness.

When the paramedics got there Jay was already as dead as can be as he laid in Perkins arms. He had staged it as a murder, writing to Perkins in a final note to never specify it was suicide, but say it was homicide. The people wouldn’t care how he died.

The sight was grim. His only butler making an effort to help, holding him up as if he were still going to live. It was a desperate attempt, really, like a father begging to bring his son back from the dead. The once lively millionaire deceased, his body tense and the blood and brain matter pooling from his head onto the fur rug he had died on. His eyes were still open, only this time they were a monotone and distant blue with less saturation than ever. His skin was pale, suit tattered most likely from the fall. The cigarette lay on his hand, slowly burning at the skin. As he lay there, people were crowded around. Some were investigators, others were people who simply wanted to see. Others taking photos to post on the papers as soon as possible.

…And now Perkins was left to handle the rest of the work Jay had set up.

[skzoologist]

I just woke up, Hello

My vision is failing me ngl, for some reason whenever I wake up my vision gets so goddamn blurry, I can't read

The ghost fic made me cry, so beautiful

The ghost anon is so sweet wth

OH and since you erased the 1 request for 1 person thing, I would like to request

"No! I want cuddles now!" 🧋☕ focused more on Bae, 3Racha

Go ham with it

P.S I saw that -6°C was nearly freezing? Is where you guys live that warm? Cuz here the lowest is like -33°C and highest is like -9°C so far

word count: ~1.4k

warnings: none

genre: fluff, crack

a/n: Hey-ho 🐿️ anonnie! I hope your vision got better soon afterwards, it sounds worrying 😨 And I'm sorry my ghost!Bae fic made you cry, I hope this one will cheer you back up! Made it extra fluffy, for you. I accidentally went ham with it, I did not mean to write this much lol 💀 Also where I live it's I guess relatively warm? It's kinda rare for it to snow here properly (and not just have sludge and ice all over the place), which is why I'm so happy it snowed a few days ago, even if only a few centimeters. Your place is waaaaay colder, so stay bundled up and cosy! 😊

Please let me know if I left a warning or anything out, I will add it in! Reblogs, likes and feedback are greatly appreciated!

!I don't condone anyone stealing my work and posting it anywhere without my permission, or feeding it to AI!

!This is just fiction, my interpretation of Stray Kids. By no means is this how they are and how they behave in real life!

The powerful beats of their latest title track flowed through his body, his heart beating to that same, exhilarating rhythm. He knew the song from the top of his head already, having danced to it countless times, and yet, once the inevitable silence crept in, he restarted the cycle all over again, no matter how much his clothes and hair clinged to his sweaty skin.

Then suddenly the music cut off midway, a frustrated sigh left in its place amidst the dancer’s confusion.

“Bae, how many times have we talked about this? You’ve already perfected the choreography, you NEED to rest now.” - it was Minho, a disapproving scowl sitting on his sharp features.

Bae simply watched his hyung, heaving for air, wondering how the man got there in the first place. A quick glance at the now open door gave him all the answers he needed, knowing fully well that he was probably too absorbed in his own practice to even hear the sound of the door opening. Wouldn’t have been the first time, after all.

“I’m talking to a wall, I swear to god. Bae. If I see you in this room one. More. Time. I’m chucking you into the air fryer next to Hyunjin. Don’t look at me like that. Now go.” - the angry cat ushered him out, gathering all of the otter’s belongings and shoving them into his arms.

Bae obediently let himself be pushed out of the door, a click immediately resounding in the air.

He was locked out, that much was obvious.

Of course he knew not to push Minho’s buttons anymore, a miracle in itself that he was let off only with a simple warning. He’d already experienced the man’s wrath once before and it was not fun at all. Just the mere thought brought a shiver up his spine, never wanting to experience that ever again. Even if it was all for his own good, he would rather avoid a repeat of what’d happened.

Sighing, Bae trudged towards the locker room, the thought of a quick shower and fresh clothes soothing his mind.

Although that calmness disappeared the moment he checked his phone afterwards, the device filled with messages from Chan. There wasn’t a lot, not nearly enough to make him think something terrible had happened, but their contents were unusual, requesting him to drop by the studio. It had happened before, sure, but not often enough for it to be considered normal. The three idols preferred to work alone, their synergy so perfect, anyone else’s presence was a mere bother.

Confused, but not having anything else to do, Bae messaged his leader back and started his ascent to the seeked-after room. It took a bit of time; the hallways were packed, and so was the elevator, the rush hour inside the company hitting the idol full force. He politely bowed his head in greeting towards staff and other idols, some looking at him with a smile, some too busy and instead looking like they were about to collapse right then and there. It caused a worried crease to form in his forehead, but there was nothing he could do, sadly.

Having made his way to where he was needed, Bae let himself into the room, only after a soft knock and a quiet ‘Come in’ could be heard.

There sat Chan, Changbin and Jisung, all in comfy hoodies, bundled up and hunched over the table, way too entranced to even look away from the monitors fully. 

Only after Bae closed the door and plopped onto the couch did Chan shake himself out of this trance, headphones now fully slid off and hanging around his neck. A lopsided smile sat upon his face as their eyes met, only widening at Bae’s expression.

The other two joined the oldest soon, all eyes set on Bae and teasing smiles dancing on their lips. Bae didn’t know what warranted these expressions, simply confusedly tilting his head and causing soft giggling to be heard.

“So, I heard Minho kicked you out of the practice room.” - Chan gently whispered out amidst giggles, dimples fully on display. “Oh, so that’s why he looks like that!” “Jisung! Hey, it’s okay baby, don’t look so sad.” - Changbin said, his arms already guiding Bae’s head towards his chest in a soothing hug.

It was true that their tallest member was not happy about being kicked out, but the others’ reactions puzzled him greatly. He wasn’t devastated or anything, so what were they talking about?

Loud laughter grabbed his attention, the poorly breathing wolf soon joined by a quokka and a dwaekki. This only confused him more, a huff escaping his mouth as he crossed his arm, now free from Changbin’s hold, as the latter was too busy almost falling off the couch.

“I love it so much when you don’t realise you’re doing the puppy eyes. Hyung, you look like a kicked puppy!” - Jisung explained, making Bae’s eyes widen and cheeks dust over with pink. “Mh, our baby otter is so cute.” - Chan added in, watching in satisfaction as his victim’s skin only reddened. “YAH, you’re too cute, this is unfair!” - Changbin all but shouted, locking Bae into a tight hug and squeezing the air out of him.

Bae tried to wiggle out of the dwaekki’s arms, but the hold on him was way too strong for that. After realising this, he gave up, turning limp in the happily celebrating man’s clasp, essentially becoming his cuddle pillow. 

Seeing this all, the two left out members started protesting, wanting their fair share of their shy member and his cuddles. Bae didn’t hesitate to take the chance when Changbin’s arms loosened around him amidst his own protests about wanting to keep the man for himself, quickly slipping out and away from all of them. This naturally gathered all their attention; their eyes watching him fiercely, as if he was their prey, ready to be hunted.

“Is this why you called me here?” - he sternly asked, a furrow in his brows and a slight scowl in his lips that wasn’t there out of true anger. “Yes and naur. Minho asked me to essentially lock you into the studio with us, so you cannot secretly overwork yourself. And hey, who am I to say no to some cuddles?” - Chan answered, that teasing smirk dancing on his lips that told Bae he was not joking around.

Before the cornered otter could dash towards the door, Jisung pounced on him, keeping him in place just long enough for the other two to drag him back onto the couch. A soft ‘Oomph’ sound left his lips as he collided with the bouncy material, unable to fight against the entire force of Gymracha alone.

He had to accept his fate, one that was filled with stiffening cuddles and teasing for an unforeseen amount of time.

A deep sigh left his lips as he’d done exactly that, relaxing in Chan’s hold as Jisung was hugging his legs and Changbin was playing with his fingers, arm tightly hugged into his chest. The couch was impossibly small to house all four of them, yet somehow they managed, all crammed into the tiny space. 

The three seemed content to just stay like that, and seeing as Bae literally had no choice, he let them be, their warmth seeping into his clothes and skin, settling there in contentment. His muscles relaxed in a way he didn’t even know they needed to, a tension he’d never noticed leaving his body. The position he was trapped in felt safe, as if he had nothing to worry about in the entire world.

Maybe Minho was right, maybe he did need to rest for a bit, just a little bit.

But after an hour of it all, he was starting to overheat, the contact on his skin now too much, too warm.

“Shouldn’t you guys be working?” - he asked, hoping the answer would be yes, since all of them were workaholics to a certain degree. “No, I want cuddles now!” - Jisung shouted before anyone else could, flopping onto Bae’s front and burying his head into his clothed stomach.

Chan and Changbin only laughed at his misery, their answers probably similar to their younger members. Bae could only sigh for the umpteenth time, head gently plopping back against Chan’s shoulder.

“At least let me get my hoodie off.” “No.”

The afternoon seemed way too long in Bae’s eyes already, a fact that was only strengthened as time went on, even though there was an undeniable, gentle warmth that danced around in his eyes whenever he looked at the ones around him.

[maccreadysbaby]

A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: mentions of death/su**ide

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

this took forever but i’m getting back in the groove! I got a little ahead of myself so I had to restart my whole timeline so it made sense. also yes asten is really determined to do this, you’ll learn why later

part sixteen

❝ WITHOUT A TRACE ❞

SATURDAY — AUGUST 8 — 10:04PM

SURPRISINGLY TO NO ONE, SLEEP WAS AVOIDED LIKE THE BLACK PLAGUE THAT NIGHT. Bentley, Nico, and Asten took to conversing quietly instead, all spread out on various parts of Bentley’s king sized bed. Nico was laying on his back across the foot of the mattress, bickering with Asten a little, but staring at the ceiling, mostly. He’d been jumping at shadows and flinching at the faintest of sounds for hours now. Bentley wasn’t even sure he’d seen him smile since they got to the Manor. Asten was posted up near the left edge of the bed, scouring the internet on Tim’s old laptop with a big bag of chips Jason had insisted they take up with them. He, as opposed to Nico, was taking their terrible circumstances in his stride, acting completely normal. Bentley was against the headboard, fiddling with his phone, trying his best not to be awkward.

Before they’d come up to Bentley’s bedroom, they’d been cooped up in the den, watching random movies on a quiet volume with Dick and Jason for company. It was the first time Bentley had seen Dick out of the hospital bed. Outwardly, he was just Dick Grayson. Charming, outgoing, fun-loving and even able to put Bentley’s jittery friends at ease; but Bentley could see the glimmer in his eyes that was dimmer than usual, the brief moments that he took to breathe and gather himself before he put the never-ending smile back on.

Jason had to have been seeing it, too. He was off to the side reading a book, but Bentley saw him react to things ever so slightly, like his finger twitching the slightest bit when Dick would shift uncomfortably, or the way his eyes flicked up for a split second when Asten’s Crime Alley drawl made a unmistakable appearance. 

After they successfully spent nine solid hours in the den, and skipped lunch, Dick practically begged them to eat something. (Bentley realized just then that he and Asten hadn’t eaten at all that day.) Dinner was quiet.

Bruce had let them know Damian had gone to a friend’s house — a family called the Kents — and Bentley was ninety-nine percent sure it was because of him, Asten, and Nico. Why else would Damian spontaneously up and leave? Duke was working on a school project at a classmate’s, Steph was swamped with college, Babs was staying late at the library, Tim was working over (which really meant he was in the cave.), and Cass was… well… doing whatever Cass did. (No one could really keep tabs on her, could they?) Bentley assumed it had to do with her upcoming dance recital next week.

Bentley didn’t mind. The meal was quick and quiet, and Alfred made some really good pasta stuff, that was so good Asten got a second helping. (Which Bentley considered really good, because he was Brazilian and Brazilians were very good cooks.)

And that pretty much led to now, ten at night, sitting in Bentley’s  bedroom that was pitch silent apart from Asten’s occasional crunching.

Bentley had exhausted all the games on his phone throughout the day, so now he was just kind of playing with his phone case. Nico’s phone kept going off repeatedly. (Bruce had called his parents to let them know what was going on, and they were coming back early, but their plane didn’t leave until morning so Nico had to stay with the Waynes until they got home.) Asten had said he called his uncle, but Bentley didn’t actually think so — he’d been near the bathroom door the whole time and never heard him say anything. But maybe he texted him. Either way, Asten was staying the night again, too. (As if Bruce would even consider letting him go home alone — He’d been checking on them nonstop, once every fifteen minutes at least. No one would know he was the calm and collected Batman based on the way he acted with his kids. Which was probably a good thing.)

“Bentley?”

It was the first time he’d heard Nico’s voice in quite a while, so both he and Asten perked up, glancing over at the blonde. His ocean blue eyes were locked on the ceiling. He was tugging on the strings of his light gray hoodie in a repetitive, rhythmic pattern, staring at nothing but deep in thought.

“Yeah?” Bentley questioned, picking at the edge of his clear phone case.

“What was your dream like? About her?” 

Bentley blinked. They hadn’t talked about the Secret Keeper since they got home, and he really hadn’t expected Nico to be the one to bring it up. He tapped on his phone lightly, exhaling.

“Uh… well… it was really realistic,” Was how he started, gaze focusing on the dark comforter he had over his legs. “I thought I was awake, and I started hearing her. Talking to me.”

He tried to hide the little shiver that shook him when he imagined the warped, strange mixture of her voice and Damian’s, but he wasn’t sure he hid it very well. “I tried to run but she was everywhere, taking peoples faces, their voices, just for me to look up and realize it was her and not them. I...” He looked down a bit farther. “I threw up when I finally woke up.”

Nico glanced over at him, blue eyes bouncing across his face for a few seconds. “Mine was really realistic, too. I woke up when my baby sister was crying, and I went to get her, but when I opened her bedroom door it was…” He trailed off, focusing back on the ceiling. “She, uh… started chasing me around my house. And none of the doors went to the right rooms, everywhere was a dead end, and I couldn’t find my parents or my sister, and I…”

Bentley glanced over at him, watching him blink the tiniest hint of glassy-ness out of his eyes. “Don’t be embarrassed,” Nico finally continued. “I threw up, too. Like four times. It always happens when I get really scared.”

A moment of silence passed.

“Was yours weird like that, Asten?” He questioned, glancing over at him.

Asten shrugged, not looking up from the screen that was lighting up his face and hair. “It… uh…”

Bentley watched his green irises move from the screen, to the keyboard, down to his lap, bouncing around there for a few moments. “I don’t… really want to talk about it.”

Nico blinked, looking back at the ceiling. “…Sorry.”

“S’fine,”

The room fell quiet, and Bentley kept fiddling with his phone. Maybe Asten’s dream had something to do with his parents or Brazil — that would make sense why he didn’t want to talk about it. Or maybe he was just terrified and didn’t want to think about it. Justifiably.

Bentley breathed in and out. “How’s your research going?” He said after a few moments, glancing over at Asten.

The blue-haired-boy shrugged. “I’ve pretty much dead-ended on my missing persons list. It totals up to forty-nine in the past four months, in and around Gotham. A lot of them are already… dead.”

Asten picked up the laptop and moved next to Bentley, adjusting the screen so he could see it. He had a spreadsheet open with a list of names and links to the articles where he’d found them. The whole thing looked freakishly similar to Tim’s — Asten wasn’t kidding around with his research, apparently.

“Research for what?” Nico questioned, sitting up on his elbows to gaze at them.

“I’m making a list of all the potential Secret Keeper targets. Trying to find something to go off of. To find her boss,” Asten explained, nonchalantly.

Nico wasted no time sitting up with a high-pitched: “To find her what?!”

Asten shrugged. “I dunno! Her boss, her leader, her dad, whoever branded her head.”

“Branded her head?”

“Yes, branded her head,” Asten clarified with a sigh. Nico pushed himself upright and shimmied up to the headboard, on the other side of Asten to look at the computer.

“Why in the world are you trying to find her boss?” He murmured, scanning the spreadsheet quickly.

“Because I want to destroy her,” Asten said, with a completely blank, serious expression on his face. Nico stared at him for a solid ten seconds before he frowned.

“What’re you gonna do? She’s killed people!”

Asten scoffed. “I’m going to make her life a living hell, thank you very much. Bentley said he’s in.”

Nico’s panicky blue eyes flicked over to Bentley. “For real?”

He shrugged lightly. Chasing down murdery metahuman supervillains wasn’t exactly his idea of fun, but if it would convince Damian he deserved to live with them, he’d do that five times over. After all, it’s what his whole family did, every single night. 

“Yeah,” He muttered quietly.

“If they harass you, harass them back,” Asten chimed, like it was some sort of nursery rhyme he learned when he was little. Nico gaped at him. “Fight fire with fire, they hit you, you hit them harder, all that jazz.”

“That’s illegal and immoral,” Nico murmured. “And I’m pretty sure fire plus fire just equals more fire.”

Bentley glanced up at Asten, who snickered: “Nothings illegal if you don’t get caught!”

Nico blinked a few times, in silence. “No,” He deadpanned. “How are her supposed victims going to help you find her boss, anyway?”

Asten shrugged. “I’m not actually sure yet. Just working with what I’ve got. Which isn’t much.”

None of them said anything for a solid ten seconds, all just glancing between each other and the computer.

“You guys can help me, actually. I’m trying to find anything besides being missing or dead that might link all these people together. If you want to see what you can find on some of them, that would be very helpful,” Asten explained.

“Helpful in finding a boss that might not even exist, of a lady who can kill you from four states away, that’s been personally attacking us. Sounds safe to me,” Nico muttered, and Asten elbowed him with a pointed glare. 

“Shut up,”

“Why are you so obsessed with destroying her? Gotham has police and superheroes for that,” Nico continued.

Asten stared at the screen in silence for a moment, something grim swirling in the back of his eyes before he pushed it away with a sharp inhale. “Because she’s been stalking us like a freaking psycho. If she’s gonna mess with us, she’s gonna know who she’s messing with.”

Bentley blinked. “If she can read our minds, I guess she already does.”

Asten glanced over at him for a moment, their eyes locking for a solid five seconds before he looked away again.

“True,”

“You think she can just always read our minds? Whenever she wants?” Nico interjected, glancing between them worriedly. “Because I don’t think a supervillain that knows we’re trying to catch them is going to be very easy to catch. Not to mention she’ll probably kill us.”

Asten shrugged. “I mean, if she can, she already knows. There’s no point in stopping now.”

“Uh, yeah, there is. It’s called not dying,” Nico sassed.

“Would you just help me?” Asten finally muttered, gesturing to the computer. “Just pick anyone on the list and see what you can find. It’d take me forever to do all these.”

Bentley obeyed, turning his phone the right way and choosing a name from the very top of the list: Titus Lancaster. 

He navigated to the internet and typed the name in, and immediately, several different results popped up.

The first one was on a website called Gotham’s Coldest Cases, and when he clicked on it, a picture of a boy with shiny, grayish-brown eyes was the first thing he saw. He was holding a guitar and sitting on the floor in front of a distant Christmas tree, wearing a red hoodie and gray sweatpants, smiling brightly up at the camera with dimples the size of craters. There was a red and black beanie pulled over his head, his deep brown hair only peeking out slightly from the front and back.

The headline beneath it was: New Jersey Couple Awakes to their Twelve Year Old Son Gone Without a Trace.

Bentley continued to scroll, watching the body of the article appear as he did.

Isabelle and Jonathan Lancaster awoke the morning of May 6 like it was any other day… little did they know, it wasn’t. When Isabelle Lancaster went to wake up her pre-teen son for school, he wasn’t there.

‘There was nothing in his room or in the rest of the house that would suggest he ran away. Even his cellphone was still charging on his nightstand.’ Says Eugenia Carlomile, head detective on the case. ‘No signs of forced entry or forced exit, no sightings of him or any suspicious persons anywhere outside of their house. We’re waiting for further evidence to continue our search.’

Titus Lancaster was last seen on May 5, when he and his parents parted ways for bed around 10:45pm. He was reportedly wearing a black hoodie with his last name and the number 16 on the back, and the Gotham City Middle School basketball logo on the front, with light gray sweatpants and a black and red beanie on his head. 

As of today, July 17, there are still no sightings of Titus. His family is holding an empty, closed casket funeral that is open to the public for anyone who wishes to grieve with them on July 27.

If you have seen or believe you have seen Titus Lancaster, or have heard any additional information regarding his disappearance, please contact the Gotham City Police Department at (856)-916-GCPD.

Bentley scrolled back to the top and saved the website to his favorites folder, before tapping his way back to the initial search results.

The second website that came up was Gotham News Network (GNN). When he opened it, there was a button at the top that said About the Disappearance of Titus Lancaster, but below that stood the large headline: Isabelle and Jonathan Lancaster Found Dead.

He took a deep breath, in and out, then scrolled down.

Isabelle and Jonathan Lancaster were found dead in their garage due to asphyxiation on July 28, caused by the trapped fumes of two running vehicles. Detective Eugenia Carlomile suggests this was a direct response to their missing twelve-year-old son, Titus Lancaster’s closed casket funeral the day before.

Bentley opted out of reading the rest of the article, saving it to his file with the other instead.

He couldn’t even imagine going missing, only to come back and learn your parents were dead.

The rest of the articles were repeats of those two, the only other relevant website being one called Gotham Areopagus. Bentley clicked on it, but it just ended up being a congratulations on their website for a group graduating from a children’s physics course there early in the year. Titus was among the list of names.

“I didn’t find anything about Titus, other than what happened to him and his parents,” Bentley said quietly, glancing over at Asten. “And that he took some class at a place called the… Areopagus?”

Asten nodded lightly, typing something next to Titus’s name. “It’s some rich kid's extracurricular class thing. I think people go there to just… take more classes? Nico’s been there.”

Bentley glanced over at the blonde, who shrugged. “It’s like, hands on STEM class stuff. I only went to a birthday party there, but there are year-long courses and stuff you can take.”

Bentley nodded lightly. He wasn’t going to ask what STEM meant.

“I’m surprised you didn’t know about it, nosebleed,” Asten taunted, nudging Bentley with his elbow. “Y’know, being the kid of the richest man, like, ever, and everything.”

Bentley shrugged. “I’m not from here, remember? I’m from Drew.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Asten continued. “You can look up someone else, then. It’s fine if you can’t find much.”

Bentley moved onto another random name, in the middle of the list: Davis Henderson.

Why did he recognize that name?

He typed it into his browser, scanning the results that popped up. The first one was on a news site called Right Now New Jersey, and when he clicked on it, the headline read: New Jersey College Student Assaulted at Work.

When he opened it, a photograph of an eerily familiar, blonde-haired-green-eyed guy came up. He was wearing a blue button up and a little waist apron, with a notepad and pen in his hands, smiling down at the camera. Behind him was a bar.

The bar Bentley went into when he was running from his father last year. It was that Davis, the waiter that tried to keep Bentley away from his father’s men, to protect him, only to get the butt of a pistol to his head.

21-year-old Davis Henderson was assaulted by an unknown assailant in the back room of the bar he works at. He was found unconscious with a blow to the head by coworker, Madison Langford, who called the police. ‘All I saw was blood, a lot of it, and I immediately called the cops,’ Said Langford, Henderson’s coworker in training. ‘I was so afraid he might’ve been dead.’

Henderson woke up confused and unable to give the police any description of his assailant or the incident in question. The camera system in the bar seemed to have been tampered with, as the exact time of the assault was cut out of the footage. More on this story as it develops.

Bentley quickly clicked off of that article. He could still remember the way the gun cracked as it collided with the waiter’s head. The way he dropped like a rag doll. The fact that it was all his fault.

He silently scrolled down to the next article instead, on the same website as Titus’s: Gotham’s Coldest Cases. The headline was: Star Princeton University Student Missing?

He opened it up and scrolled past the exact picture of Davis that was on the other website.

21-year-old Princeton University student Davis Henderson was declared missing on August 2nd, after not showing up to work or classes for 24 hours. 

He was last seen on surveillance walking between his home and work on August 1st at approximately 3:27am on 9th street, near Whitehouse Library and The Gotham Areopagus. He was wearing a blue button-up, black slacks, and black tennis-shoes. He didn’t make contact with anyone on or around the time of his disappearance, and there is no surveillance footage of him returning to his apartment complex that night or the following 48 hours.

‘I assumed he was sick when he didn’t come to class,’ Said Ethan Hunt, Davis’s classmate at Princeton University. ‘But he didn’t respond all day. I drove all the way to his apartment complex in Gotham, to make sure he hadn’t fallen seriously ill, but it was still locked and he wasn’t home.’

If you have seen or believe you have seen Davis Henderson, or have heard any additional information regarding his disappearance, please contact the Gotham City Police Department at (856)-916-GCPD.

Bentley sighed lightly and closed the website. Davis was so nice to him, and now he was… gone. Disappeared off the street.

And wasn’t Whitehouse Library the same place where The Secret Keeper chased Asten?

When he went through more of the search results, they were just repeats of those two stories, plus a few social media posts where Davis was tagged. Bentley scoured four different accounts of his, even going back as far as when he was a young teenager, but there was nothing that aided his search or seemed suspicious in the slightest. 

Bentley sighed heavily, glancing at the list Asten had made. “This guy was last seen in the same area where the Secret Keeper chased you.” 

Asten glanced over at him, then at his phone. “Who?”

“Davis Henderson,” Bentley stated, and Asten nodded, finding Davis’s column and typing a few things next to his name.

“I’m not finding anything on this Olivia girl but her dream and the reports of her going missing,” Nico stated. “She saw the Secret Keeper in her yard.”

“That’s fine,” Asten muttered.

Well, three down. Forty-six to go.

—

dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💚

—

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @cademygod

[streamdotpng]

(I had to write the Enid asking if Wednesday would still love her if she was a worm. It took me at gunpoint and forced me to write this.)

Enid knows Wednesday loves her. She got to first-hand experience the Addams family courting rituals, she shared her first kill with Wednesday— they are destine to be together for ever! The Addams love curse and werewolf mating seem about the same in terms of intensity.

But then she saw a Tiktok. Maybe Wednesday was right, maybe Tiktok is a soul-sucking void of sadness. Or whatever she said. Enid got distracted by her eyes.

"Ask your girlfriend if she'd still love you if you were a worm and film her reaction." The nasty robot voice said.

The couple in the video seemed excited. The person's girlfriend would still love them.

Would Wednesday still love her?

She needs to test something.

.

.

.

She walks into their dorm, Wednesday using her typewriter. Perfect; a normal environment would make Wednesday's answer more accurate.

She takes her phone and starts recording, she places it on her pillow, desperately hoping it can pick up Wednesday's low voice.

She flops on her stomach onto her bed and sighs.

She looks at Wednesday.

She's still writing.

She crosses her arms and rests her chin on her forearms, then sighs again, a bit louder. She looks at Wednesday.

Still writing.

She rolls until she's got her legs bunched up so she can face Wednesday, then sighs even louder.

She looks up.

Wednesday still hits the keys.

She gets upset.

"Sigh!" That finally gets the other woman's attention. She finally turns around.

"Did you just say the word sigh?"

"I'm fine, Willa." Wednesday turns back to her typewriter with a quiet "that wasn't my question."

"Okay!" She flings her arms out in defeat. "I'm not okay!"

Wednesday turns around and stands up. She walks past the line in their dorms and kneels in front of Enid's bed, facing her.

"What's wrong, my beloved?"

Enid looks at her hands, then at Wednesday's.

Their both normal human hands.

"Would—" she chokes. "—would you still love me if I was a worm?"

Wednesday goes completely still, her face stuck in her caring expression while her brain restarts.

"Would I fucking what?"

"So you wouldn't!" Enid rolls onto her side, facing the wall and facing away from the person who just torn her heart to pieces. "You wouldn't love me if I were a worm!"

"I— I— what? Am— am I having a stroke? Are you?" Wednesday stares at her hands. "I don't smell burnt toast."

"Go away, worm-hater!" Enid grabs her brightest, hottest pink pillow and throws it at her.

"What— why?! What did I do?!"

"You wouldn't love worm-me!"

Wednesday blinks, then sighs softly.

"My love, I didn't mean I wouldn't love you, I was just... in shock at your question."

Enid turns and looks at her. She sniffs.

"You'd still love me if I were a worm?"

"If you were an air molecule, I'd spend the very last of my days making sure no one breathes you."

Enid jumps at her and encases her in a hug.

"I love you!"

Wednesday sighs into Enid's shoulder, whispering a "why do you do these things."

She kisses Enid's shoulder.

"I love you too."

-Writer Anon.

God these two are so stupid, Wednesday's reaction is totally valid because I reacted like that when my ex asked the same thing 💀

(she said that if I were a worm she'd keep me in a terrarium and not at all let other worms near me)

And Enid just.. You're so dramatic you werewolf, omylord

I'm so happy for them, the cute couple

[sister-lucifer]

every now and then my phone does this really scary thing where it’ll randomly not charge (like it’ll just hold at one number, keep going down despite being on the charger or just go back and forth between 2 numbers like from 13% to 14% then back and forth again) and then when i restart it it’ll charge normally again??

why does this happen and how do i stop it i do not like it

[rp-meme-central]

Press Start to Laugh - What if Stanley Talked in the Stanley Parable? - sentence starters

1. “My shrink told me not to listen to the voices in my head. Bad things tend to happen when I do.” 

2. “So I’m just going to do the exact opposite of everything you say. Cool? Cool.” 

3. “You’re snarkier than my other voices.” 

4. “It’s okay, take your time. Not like I’m going anywhere.” 

5. “This is way more walking than I normally do in a day. Or week.” 

6. “All right, follow the yellow paint line. I’m like a very boring Dorothy.” 

7. “For the love of _____, make it stop! I can’t hear myself think!” 

8. “You’re talking to a line. Not sure you’re gonna get the answers you’re looking for.” 

9. “Damn it, ______! Can’t I go five minutes without being reset?!” 

10. “I’m gonna get dizzy. Yep, I’m getting dizzy. I’m gonna throw up.” 

11. “You’ve had your chances, and it ends in a reset.” 

12. “I don’t want to walk through the red door, I want to take the blue door, and you can’t stop me!” 

13. “I did not do enough drugs to make this interesting.” 

14. “Is this one of those ‘You die in the game, you die in real life’ situations? If so, let the dying commence!”

15. “Is this worth it? Do I really want to die just to get out of this living purgatory? Is this a smart idea?” 

16. “Oh, stop guilt tripping me. You’re the one who stuck me in here.” 

17. “Due to past experience, I’m still not sure about dark, ominous rooms.” 

18. “I’ve never been so creeped out by a phone in my life.” 

19. “Starting to regret my life choices...” 

20. “You should know by now I’m stubborn.” 

21. “I lived? I lived. Hahaha! Or did I live? Am I dead? Have I been dead this whole time? These are questions I should have asked a while ago.” 

22. “Stop talking and help me!” 

23. “Oh, I hate this place. I hate it! I HATE IT!”

24. “Oh. This place. Yeah, I’ve been here before. Several restarts ago.” 

25. “You know what, I’m not that mad about it. Seriously, this is like the most boring mind control ever.” 

26. “How about I take this thing over and see what it can do?” 

27. “Just shut up and let me die in peace!” 

28. “I swear, if you explode me again...”  

[sociallyawkwardseal]

Had a dream that I got an email about a comment on a fic; whenever I get emails, it shows me the little title that they have, so from AO3, they're like... "Comment on (ao3 title)". The one in this Dream Email was on a specific SBG fic I have.

Gonna put the rest under a cut because, initially I wasn't going to type out the full dream because I figured it would be kind of boring, but considering the reaction the people I already told was "What the fuck? What the fuck", well.

I noticed that the text for the preview was... Wrong and it weirded me out. I was just kind of like "...? That doesn't look right...? Did they change how these are sent out?"

And I opened my phone to see what the comment was. Very quickly, I started losing the ability to read; the letters of the AO3 email became jumbled, they would "dance" around and jitter, and eventually just fully glitch out until my phone went dark with the weird little restarting circle that it's been doing on and off for the past year or so at... Pretty much random. I swore and tapped at the back of my phone (as if that would do anything; it doesn't irl, why would it do anything in a dream?), and when I looked up, it was pitch black inside my house. My phone turned back on and I was greeted with the BSD layout I have--which was reassuring; it meant everything was normal. I checked my email, and the email itself was still there, but now it didn't have a title line to it, it was just the sender information, "Archive of Our Own".

I didn't reopen the email out of fear that it would cause my phone to crash again--I kind of desperately needed the light. Despite living next to a highway, everything outside was perfectly quiet. Both in my house and outside of it.

Which is weird. Because when you have the pets that I do, there isn't usually a quiet moment. Someone is always making some kind of sound. Even right now, one of my cats is just crunching on some food. Very audibly. Anyways. Yeah, so. Pure quiet? Incorrect. Uncomfortable.

And that's when I realized two things in my dream; 1) This is a dream 2) I was dreaming about the Otherside from Otherside Picnic (I assumed this because of the weird circumstances+the text on my phone getting messed up, though tbh lore-wise I shouldn't have even been able to read "Archive of Our Own" once my phone got back but what does that matter, it was a dream, I don't make the rules, my brain gets to do what it wants, and since most of my dreams are pretty lucid, I usually get to make decisions based on whatever environment it crafts for me), which I was reading right before bed. I was at a part where Sorawo had gotten back to the Mayoiga alone after one hell of a bus ride, and couldn't find any sign of anyone else--then she woke up and saw an Incorrect Toriko in her bed, and then it jumped to Runa.

Remembering the part I had been reading before going to sleep, I was like "Okay, then... Surely I'm at the Mayoiga? But like, the Mayoiga is where I live? What the hell. Would be a little funny if the Mayoiga in the thing were an American trailer park." and I kind of just sat there in the light of my phone. Thinking about what to do, how the Otherside in the series is implied to be impacted by the culture of those experiencing it, how it's impacted by the urban legends and stories that the person there had, and what this meant for my brain and the dream that it's conjured up. I mean. If I was going to just dream about Otherside Picnic, what could I do? I could encounter horrors beyond my comprehension, that'd be cool--but would they be like, the scary stories I grew up hearing, the ones I researched for fun, the creepypasta I read as a teenager (admittedly, I think it would have been a little funny to encounter Certain Creepypasta Entities in my dreams as an adult--I don't think that I would be able to stop myself from being like "Dude, you have No idea what happened. Do you know how excited I was as a kid for a movie about you? Yeah, that went to shit. Repeatedly. Sorry. Sucks for you."), would my brain just pull the experiences straight out of the novels (I haven't seen the anime or manga)...? Regardless, my thoughts would keep going back to one fact: I just couldn't look at the owner of the place. Which is a complex rule that I had to think over for god knows how long.

But I moved on from it and tried to figure out what percent my phone was at. I couldn't make out the numbers at the top of my screen, but thankfully it looked like it was pretty decently charged. So, I turned on my light and crawled out of my bed and set out to look around the place. I debated going outside to explore the full trailer park, but I kind of felt the dream "slipping", if that makes any sense? And reasoned that I would wake up before I had time to do that. Just the trailer itself would be enough.

I didn't even get that far, though. I just... Woke up. Before I could even leave the bedroom. Saaad. I wanted the Appalachian Otherside Picnic experience. It would've been fun!!! (<- Loves to experience The Horrors and has Little To No Fear involving them)

Anyways, the only reason I'm sharing this dream here is because it involved a fanfiction of mine/a comment (that doesn't exist and didn't exist in the dream either) being left on it.

[folliesandfolderols]

Writing prompts day 58-60

From this prompt list. If you’ve read this far, I’m not sure you need any explanation, but the short version is I hadn’t written any fiction since 2019, I set a goal to write at least 150 words/day in 2024, and this list was my way to restart. Also I abruptly decided on day 2 I would write an entire Tim/Damian story connecting all the prompts, because I am Good at Judging My Limits. /sarcasm Anyway, I finished the rough draft a while ago and am now unlocking the old entries as I edit.

Read from the beginning here, or on ao3 here

Day 57 here

***

96. "Oh, sensitive there, aren't we?"

***

Tim seriously considered going off planet again for the entirety of his patrol. But he couldn't help remember Damian accusing him of always running away when people called him on his bullshit, and he couldn't stand the thought of proving him right.

When he got home, he heated up leftovers and texted Kon. 

hey u up

His phone buzzed on the kitchen counter within seconds. 

this better not be a sext rob

Tim snorted. 

like i'd want to fuck u right after patrol with my sweaty ass anyway

hey kink tomato or whatever.  I don't judge. what's up

Tim sat at the table but instead of eating laid his forehead on the shiny wooden surface and groaned. He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

am i an asshole

of course, part of your charm, honestly. why do you ask??

Tim blew out a sigh. 

weird convo w this guy i've been fucking

oooooooohhhhhhhhh, all of a sudden the trip off-planet begins to make sense

Taking a bite of naan, Tim gave the screen a disgruntled frown. 

wtf does that mean

you like this dude. sorry cuz I'm sure this is news to you, but since Bernard you always question if you're a decent human whenever you start liking someone

Tim set the phone down, completely confused. What did he even mean, he liked Damian? Of course, Kon didn't know who it was so he was just speaking in generalities. But why would that make Tim question his worth as a person? He was only wondering because of what Damian had said.

After another minute, he responded by marking the text with a question mark. Kon sent 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🩷💜🩵🤡 then nothing else.

Tim went to bed and hoped things would make more sense in the morning.

***

They didn't.

He opened his eyes and his whole body hurt. Some of it was the normal post-patrol bumps and scrapes, but a lot of it was a series of reminders of what he had done with Damian. The scrapes on his hip, the hickey on his shoulder blade, the never-ending ache in his stomach and chest. And of course sitting down wasn't super comfortable either.

Tim ended up messaging his team at WE to let them know he was working from home and available for video calls, then spent the day sprawled on his belly while he was at his computer. He knew it was self-indulgent, but it was also prophylactic. When his internal state got this tumultuous, forcing himself to be around groups of people became so draining that he ended up strung out and despairing.

He slept better that night, and went into the office the next day, but he still felt off-kilter, like he was searching for his balance on a ship in the middle of a storm. A couple of his subordinates gave him concerned looks, and when Tam dropped in with a quick question she asked if he was all right. It was strange because when he checked his reflection his face just looked neutral. The idea of others being able to see what was going on inside his head made him seriously uncomfortable.

Fortunately, when he headed to the Cave to touch base with Bruce about some aspects of the human trafficking case that could use the Detective’s keen perspective, the best possible distraction was waiting for him.

Bruce turned in his office chair as soon as Tim exited the elevator, shoulders relaxed in a way they only got around a select few. Tim grinned at the sight of the man standing next to him.

“Dick!”

He flung himself at his older brother. Dick’s arms closed around him, and suddenly all Tim’s internal turmoil calmed like a switch had been flipped.

Dick’s voice vibrated through his chest, against Tim’s ear. “Hey, Tim. You doing all right?” He tightened his embrace when Tim didn’t pull away. He had been the first person ever who didn't make Tim feel he should let go before he became inconvenient, and sometimes it still felt like that was true. "Seriously, are you okay?"

Tim released him and turned away, suddenly embarrassed. If Dick could tell something was wrong that fast, then his self-control was pathetic. "I'm fine. Sorry. It's good to see you. I was gonna run some case stuff by Bruce if he had time, but you're busy, so—"

"Hey, no, wait." Dick shot out a hand and grabbed his arm.

Tim looked back fast enough to catch the tail end of a concerned glance exchanged between Dick and Bruce. What the fuck, pretty soon people were going to start thinking he couldn't handle his shit. He forced a smile that hopefully looked effortless. He lied to the goddamn Batman when he felt like it—surely he could pull this off. "What's up?"

"We weren't talking about anything important. What's the case? Maybe I can help too."

Wonderful. More pretending, full steam ahead. "That sounds great, thanks." He reached past Bruce to call up the relevant files. "I'm comparing financials here to see if I can use tax evasion as a means of forcing these two guys in the human trafficking ring we're investigating to want to trade information. But they look really clean, so I'm having a hard time tracing the outflow of their under-the-table income."

Bruce looked up at the monitors, gaze sharpening. "Show me where you've looked so far."

Dick pulled up a chair behind them and sat, opening two of the files in side-by-side windows on a tablet. Tim and Bruce opened the files and went through them line by line, scouring them for inconsistencies that could indicate the information they were seeking, while Dick appointed himself the task of eliminating the files Tim had deemed less likely possibilities.

When Dick's hand landed on his shoulder again, Tim blinked in startlement, seeing squares of light behind his eyelids. "What's wrong?"

"You've been sitting in one position for about two hours, buddy. You need to move." Dick grabbed his hand and hauled him up to standing.

Tim scoffed but followed him away from the computer toward the workout mats. “You need to move, you mean."

"Six of one, half a dozen of the other. C'mon, change and we can practice your acrobatics for a while. It'll be fun."

Tim wanted to ask where Damian was—usually he was impossible to rip from Dick's side when his older brother was visiting—but held his tongue. Now that Jason and Cass both were suspicious he couldn't afford to give anyone else more fodder for speculation. "I'll be right out."

Dick helped him stretch first, then they started floor exercises. They began with simple tumbling and then moved into the true acrobatics and flips.

Tim couldn't help feeling off-balance in more ways than one. He sighed in frustration after his third unsuccessful attempt to land a round off back handspring layout with his feet where Dick told him to be.

"What am I doing wrong?" he asked.

Dick showed him the video he'd taken after the most recent attempt, playing in slow-motion. "Your shoulders are dropping too soon as you rotate over—it's happening before your feet begin to drive over. Wherever your shoulders are when your feet begin the rotation is the highest point you're going to reach with your layout, so then you have to pike out of it and your feet aren't going where you want them. Plus it looks awkward as hell." He gave Tim a searching look. "You've nailed that one before. Sometimes when something's bothering us it can show up in what our body does if we don't choose to deal with it."

Tim sat on the mats with a huff and drew up his knees, resting his forearms on them. "Nothing's bothering me. I'm tired, that's all."

Sitting next to him, Dick bumped his shoulder with his own. "Tim, my guy, we all operate tired every day. It's our normal state. This is different. You're hurting."

He rested his hand on Tim's back for a second, landing right on the hickey Damian had left there. It was still a little sore, and Tim flinched, then immediately cursed internally at himself. He hid the reaction to things hitting his wounds all the time, but around Dick his guard was down too much.

And of course Dick had noticed. "Oh, sensitive there, aren't we? Did you get an injury?"

He made to lift up Tim's shirt and check his back, and Tim leaned away. "Dick, I'm fine. Seriously."

"Your shoulders are telling a different story. You’re in your head and so you’re not in your body. You don't have to tell me what it is, but I hope you tell somebody, because right now it's eating up too much of your attention."

Shaking his head, Tim played with a loose thread on his shorts and avoided looking at him. "It's stupid. I don't want to talk about it. I just feel . . ." He searched for the right term. How the hell did he feel? It was so hard to figure out. "I feel like a bad person."

There was a long moment of silence. When Dick spoke again, his words were careful. Measured. "Can you tell me what happened to make you feel that way? Did you let someone down?"

At least he hadn't patronized him by pretending he could never be a bad person. Tim shook his head again and pulled his knees against his chest. "I accidentally let someone know I don't fully trust him and it hurt his feelings. Like, really hurt, not kind of peeved or whatever. I didn't mean to do it but it sort of just happened."

"And this person is important?" At Tim's shrug, Dick asked, "Are there good reasons that you're not safe with him?" Tim opened his mouth to protest, but Dick cut him off. "If you don't trust him, it's because something about him doesn't feel safe to you. Is he a genuine threat?"

Tim kept his eyes locked on the thread. "No . . . I don’t know. I just know that now I feel sick all the time. And I have this weird phantom ache in my chest and my stomach. It feels kind of hollow there? And I can't catch my breath, like, my whole body keeps trying to curl up around the pain to protect itself and I have to fight to stand up straight. It's so weird, like emotional flu. At first I was wondering if maybe I got sick while I was in space but I think it's this thing between me and this guy. Anyway, all that to say, it's not surprising that you can tell something's wrong."

Dick reached for him again, and this time Tim let him pull him into a sideways hug. He still spoke in that same cautious meter. "I’m gonna be honest here, buddy. What you're describing sounds a lot like a broken heart. Haven't you felt this way before, like after a breakup?"

Tim used every bit of his willpower not to tense. "I haven't been dating him, though. We're barely friends. We can't have broken up because there's nothing to break."

"Well, first of all, friends have breakups too, you know this. But I'm kind of wondering if maybe he means more to you than you're willing to acknowledge. It could be that you need to look at the situation from a detective's perspective and see what conclusions you can draw from the evidence. Something that’s got your focus this skewed could affect things in the field. I want you to be safe, okay?"

Tim rested against him, relishing the solid reassurance of the embrace. "Sure, well, better retire then. Time to go corporate full-time."

With a snort of laughter, Dick let him go. "Yeah, right. Hey, have you seen Damian?"

And there it was. They couldn't talk too long about Tim without Damian somehow gaining center stage, even in absentia, although for whatever reason it stung less than usual this time. Tim still couldn't stop the sharp glance he gave Dick, but his older brother only looked inquiring. "No, sorry."

"Hmm." Dick shrugged. "Must've missed him. Hopefully he comes back before I leave." He turned on his heel and walked away, whistling.

Hustling in the direction of the showers, Tim kept his head down and hoped he'd been a better actor than he'd felt.

Days 62-69 redux here

[morfinwen]

So. Things are ... going.

My overall emotional state is kinda like when something falls from a high place and lands on something between it and the ground and stabilizes after wobbling: it's not great or even good, but it isn't shattered pieces on the ground.

I have never been particularly good at discerning my own state of mind or distinguishing between the causes and effects thereof. Allergies are still a thing but mostly in check, and while it's fun (after a fashion) to blame the cold and frankly ridiculous early darkness, that's been a thing for years and i don't recall always having an emotional collapse this time of year, so it might be something else. (I hope it's something else: can't really afford to move somewhere less affected by the earth's tilt, and i'd rather not have to deal with this level of depression annually.)

Currently on the new job hunt. Weirdly enough, there's the occasional high of seeing a job posting that sounds really good, but sadly it is often followed by the low of seeing how many other people have also applied for it. I have resorted to adding (*gag*) a cover letter with most applications in the hopes that will make an impact. Next step may be "reaching out to the employer", but i really hope it doesn't come to that.

Computer is up and running again, and my phone has been replaced -- with the latter, there's adjustments to be made in the change to a different model, but at least i can actually use it for phone calls and don't have to worry that restarting it will necessitate a factory reset.

So! Prayer requests:

First and foremost, a new job. I would really like a work-from-home data entry kind of position, but there's multiple factors at play, so just .... anything that would be a better fit than my current job.

That whatever is messing with my emotions would just ... not do that anymore? Tbh i can't tell if i've got some actual mental illness going on or just the garden-variety kind of thing that plagues "normal" people.

Continuing to make progress with helping my sister achieve what independence she can.

I'm going to start going back to the gym this week (haven't been in the last two weeks), but eating healthy remains a problem.

A couple appointments i should be making ... really don't want to.

My mom had a particular genetic (defect? malfunction? unsure of the correct term) that probably contributed to her getting cancer. It's hereditary, so i recently got blood drawn to be tested for the same. Please pray for results to be quick and that i didn't inherit it.

Oh, and there's some writing i really want to do, but it's been a while since i've really been able to find a writing groove, and it's only gotten harder to attempt now that i've quit using Google Docs.

That's all i got for now. Someday, maybe, i will start queuing posts again.

[dogdot25]

(( I give you a story while I work on my comic.))

((Probably includes some little mistakes but please enjoy.))

The lonely walk of survival.

Ch1- prologue part 1 - The Restart.

Every device that could communicate ranging from TVs , radios and phones , to g.p.s' and unplugged headphones, all of them acted as though they were hacked , all making the sound of static.

"You humans have committed a sin of an unimaginable degree" proclaimed a deep males voice through the static,

"It's time to pay for your actions" the voice rose louder.

14 year old Valwin stood frozen in place from the sudden worldwide phenomenon that interrupted his music

"Valwin, where are you" yelled a females voice with evident confusion, the voice belonged to non other than Valwins sister Anna.

Once again the voice spoke, Valwin made his way down the stairs to look for his panicked and confused sister.

"Before you humans pay for your actions, I'll explain what's going to happen".

Valwin reached the kitchen, to find his sister in a much bigger panic than Anna had made it sound.

"Wha.... val do.. do you hear it to" her voice wavered as she spoke.

"Yes... where's mum?" Valwin said, trying to stay calm.

Just as Anna shakly pointed over the kitchen counter to the lounge room, the strange voice spoke once more, causing both Valwin and Anna to look at the TV in unison.

"All creatures not including humans will stay in this world"

"Mu...mum" voiced Anna.

The mother spoke with worry and care in her voice, "Valwin, Anna, sweethearts, come over her and hug mum till this is all over"

They both did as their mother said, they all held each other tightly, the mother in between Valwin and Anna.

"All humans from ages 17 and up will perish" the voice once again proclaimed.

As soon as those words were spoken, their mother had disappeared, before disappearing the mother spoke her final words.

"Look after each other, remember I'll always love you".

At that Anna broke down crying, holding tightly onto Valwins shoulders.

Valwin tried to stay as calm as possible while letting some of the tears spill over from the sudden disappearance of his mother, though he stayed focused on the TV while hugging his older sister.

"Now for those who are left"

Anna jolted at the voice, still in full blown tears and hugging Valwin tightly as if this voice was going to take him.

"Y..you..c.. you can't..have him" she firmly said through tears at the TV as if the voice could hear her.

"One more thing to add to the mix of your punishment, say hello to the new creature's".

At that the TV went back to normal, leaving the news channel still there but not a person on site, valwins music played once again.

Before Valwins sister spoke, the sound of screaming and shouting started, along with loud crashing.

Anna hopped up in a hurry looking out the window, Valwin following the movement, only to see elephant sized crab like creatures scurrying down the street, crushing cars, the side of houses and brutally taking the lives of some of the kids left outside.

Anna looked at Valwin with a firm look, while trying her best to calm down and hold back the tears and panic.

"Mum said to look after each other, that we will do"

She paused, waving Valwin to follow her as she walked toward the master bedroom on the ground floor.

Anna had known her action was to get a move on before either of them could find out what the new world had in store for them.

When Anna reached the room opening the door she spoke once more.

"Mum kept guns in her room, hers and dads guns"

She pointed to the wardrobe closer to the door of the bedroom, their fathers wardrobe.

"Grab the guns out of dad's wardrobe, I'll grab mums" she said softly trying her best to hold back the panic and sadness in her.

At those words Valwin did as asked slowly grabbing hold of the wardrobe that had not been touched in years,

Ever since their father had passed.

Just as Valwin pulled the door open his sister spoke again.

"Also grab anything valuable and/ or things that are precious".

Opening the wardrobe door released clouds of dust causing Valwin to cough through the dust and that stale dust smell.

He spotted his father's keepsakes from the army that he kept in an old shoe box and a tall gun safe with a small key hole.

He opened the army keepsake shoe box and peeked at it content's, there in the box layed multiple photos of his father's friends and family, it also contained his father's tags alongside prepared tags for Anna, himself and their mother, their was also multiple badges, metals, a couple of different sized bullets and lastly the key that belonged to the tall gun safe that sat waiting in the wardrobe.

As Valwin went to open the metal gun safe, his sister spoke up and at this point she had gone all protective sibling mode.

"Valwin" she spoke fast.

" I've decided we should head to dads cabin on the outskirts of inland Queensland, that means we need to find the keys to the ute and gather everything we can and load it into the car, most importantly food , clothing and stock up on water, then we can add other things, not too much tho".

"That's a good idea," Valwin spoke softly. "I think we need to be quick about this, we should also be prepared for the power to go out and any store to be raided".

"Good point val" Anna headed out of the room with three hand guns in hand along with a stock of bullets and some of their mothers keepsakes.

Valwin did the same after acquiring four guns from the gun safe along with the bullets and the shoe box of keepsakes of his father's.

As he walked out of the bedroom he spotted Anna walking out of the garage door.

"The front garage door is closed" she stated, before heading up the stairs that lead to their rooms.

Valwin nodded in reply then pushed through the garage door and put the contents that he grabbed in the passenger seat of the car, as he was doing this he had spotted the gathering of fuel containers in the Corner of the garage, about 6 or more.

He let out a saddened giggle as he remembered that his mother would always make sure they had too much of everything essential for survival.

Valwin opened the canopy of the ute, gathering the full fuel containers and loading them in the back.

Anna walked in the garage with bags of clothing and some other things from her room.

" I forgot we had those," she stated while shoving some bags in the back of the ute, then putting the rest in the back seat.

"I'll do the rest of those, go and get the things you want from your room".

Valwin hummed and headed up to his room, he thought to himself, while gathering his clothes and bedding in bags, this is going to be a ruff start.

He gathered all he could of his clothes and bedding, leaving a few bags for some keepsakes, some books and some other stuff.

"Anna" he yelled, grabbing his sister's attention.

Anna appeared at the door seconds later.

"Yes Val"

"Should we bring the collection of weapons we have acquired" he pointed to the corner of his room where there was a collection of swords, axes, spears and more.

"Oh definitely" she said while grabbing a couple and heading down to the car.

Valwin had finished packing the stuff of his that were both essential and other stuff he wanted, and started heading down stairs.

A loud knock was heard from the front door, Valwin dropped his bags and grabbed a long sword from his room. He headed to the door slowly, knowing full well that everything has been put off balance since the voice thing.

He got down stairs to find Anna at the ready with one of the hand guns slowly opening the door.

It was the 16 year old kid next door, Anna had raised the gun as she opened the door, Valwin stood slightly behind.

"I'm leaving" he said with a tight grip on the lead he had on his dog, with a gun held at him.

"Could you guys please take Teddy?" he spoke with sadness and worry.

Anna slowly lowered the gun as he spoke.

"This whole situation is f**ked up, I understand the gun situation and if you haven't noticed the cell towers are down and some kids have gone on rampages, so I've decided to leave and stay on the move." He spoke as if he was defending himself for doing wrong, he wasn't.

"Please take teddy, there is plenty of dog food at my house, i'll drop it off here, please."he pleaded.

Anna looked at Valwin waiting for him to make a decision.

"We are leaving, but we aren't going to be on the move, if he can't take teddy i think we should" valwin stated to Anna.

"Alright then it's settled" anna said.

"I'll help you with Teddy's stuff".

And with that Anna left with the boy after handing Valwin the leaded dog.

"Be safe anna" , Valwin said with care and panic, after hearing that other kids have gone on rampages.

((To be continued.))