#i. meta. — ( you think i’m gone ’cause i left. )

[zeb-z]

no ok because forevers solo mission into the nether and all the vague ‘if I don’t return’ and ‘I’m sorry’ messages he’s left behind is made all the more heart wrenching because he wasn’t meant to be the martyr.

bad has been setting himself up for tragedy. it’s in the self destructive choices he makes, his hyper paranoia, his self isolation, the way he’s literally turning blue and can’t seem to notice it himself. and from a meta perspective, it’s obvious - he talks about lasting consequences, he makes very clear framing and music decisions, the story arc has been setting up for something big. he’s got a book that says it’s for forever’s eyes only and hinted at him needing his help. he’s said to tina that he’s 100% sure of one person ending up dead at the end of all this. he’s made it clear he’d do anything he thinks would get the kids back - self sacrifice included.

it’s been an anxious build up as bad gets worse and worse. as his friends pick up clues and notice. bagi says she knows that bad lies and can cause havoc, but she’s not going to leave his side because he is too sad to be left alone. foolish takes note of his color blindness before anyone else. forever demands his time and reassures bad daily that he is there for him. gives him a flower every day. makes an entire party just showing how much bad is cared for and loved. keeps talking and visiting even when he’s ripping out his hair with annoyance because bad just won’t quit being a nuisance, or argumentative, or a probable kidnapper.

it feels like love and doomed endings. it feels like a build up to something tragic. it feels like trying to save a drowning man who won’t let anyone pull him up. because bad is ready to work for the feds, torture people, burn down anything in his way, sacrifice himself in his desperation and grief.

but now its forever who’s gone and decided any danger to himself is worth it for his son. who’s left behind vague goodbyes and see you soons, unsure if he’ll survive but set on the kids surviving at the very least. he’s already decided his death is worth it.

and while it’s not a surprise, it’s enough of a script flip to punch us all in the gut. because we expected tragedy, we expected uneasy goodbyes and self destructive choices and that effect felt across the island - but we didn’t expect it to be forever.

and neither did bad - who relied on that flower every day

[averageartistamber]

INVISIBLE F*CKING THING BLOW IT UP NOW!

Okay, so do you ever have that one random side character/character of the week that you just end up really liking for some reason? Like, Neronga's kinda growing on me. Maybe it's because the concept of a kaiju that you can't freakin' see is strangely funny to me.

I'm most of the way through the first set of Ultra Goobers, got two more monsters left for now, before I get onto scripting and trying to put a video together.

Now Neronga’s wanted to do was get up each morning and feed on some free electricity from a conveniently nearby power plant, but then the humans had to call Ultraman …  Stellar admits that he could be kind of a jerk to his opponents early on in his time defending the earth. So Neronga was dunked, clowned on and utterly humiliated in the resulting fight. It caused him to become a bit of a joke in-universe, so he eventually sought out Red King’s tutelage in order to Lock The Fuck In and eventually give the Silver Alien Asshat some “well deserved” payback.

I wanna note that as easy as it would be to poke fun at this dude’s goofy appearance, I guess it’s more that he doesn’t put up much of a fight? There’s a meta joke here about how whenever he shows up, he’s an early episode (i.e. low tier or “free win”) monster.

Also can blud decide if he’s a quadruped or not. I think he is, but “stands up” to fight/defend himself.

He’s the one that turns invisible, so gonna find a fun way to depict that (maybe colored line art? He’s probably gonna end up a fair bit like his Rising design, with bits from the older ones (maybe the “hazard pattern” back from Shin if I can make the colour palette work?). The electrical blasts now come out of his hands/claws instead of his…uh…ears? What the hell are those?

Okay, so when I first saw images of him I thought he looked quite short (…Okay, by Kaiju Standards…), but then got caught off guard seeing an episode with him and noticing he’s huge when reared up (giving Shimo). Here I kinda wanna keep him short…Or a least he doesn’t gain much height when standing bipedally.

As for lore, for centuries the locals had whispered stories about how if you looked towards the mountains during thunderstorms, you could see Neronga standing on them, essentially becoming a giant lightning rod to feed on the lightning bolts. In the modern age, however, he has much easier (and importantly, much more frequent) access to energy due to human development. He’s gone from a folk story to kind of a nuisance.

Also with that “Baragon Suit Brothers” meme I posted a while back, I’m thinking it’d be really funny if Gabora and Magular actually are his brothers. He could be like the older sibling that ends up being the primary caretaker of the other two. Idk.

[arkacarian]

Ravagers of the Stars

Did you guys know that Ado-ption isn’t the Kirby AU I’ve made that I’m the most proud of or is the most developed? That’s cause it’s this one. RotS has existed in my head since May 2023

Ravagers of the Stars is fairly dark, especially for a Kirby AU. Don’t worry, there’s no art (yet, I have someone who can hopefully do refs for the characters), but there’s quite a bit of dark stuff in the text here. Also heavy injury/gore described in not a lot of detail

After the events of Star Allies, something… happened to Kirby. He turned into some evil force much like 0², and sealed himself in a pocket dimension only accessible by one gate in the fields of Dream Land. His friends rushed to save him from whatever had happened, but it was too late. After Meta Knight and Dedede left and never came back, Bandana Dee went to look for them, and then he never came back. Everyone realized what was happening, but that didn’t stop others from going in. Eventually, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie were the only ones left, after four years of this. The planet was mostly peaceful, aside from lacking those who had vanished.

Until a stranger named Nightmare Knight showed up. They looked nothing like the other knights- they were tall, with long limbs. They had deep blue armor with specks like stars, and a large cape that turned into wings. They had a mask over their presumable dragon-like head based off the shape of it, and sharp clawed hands and feet going off their sharp clawed gloves and boots. They wielded a harpoon with an edge made of a crystal shard- one of the few things able to kill beings of void and dark matter fully. They ordered the three surviving friends of Kirby to join them on their quest of preparing a ship to enter the pocket dimension and rid the world of the only evil left.

They agreed, despite thinking this stranger was just a little bit weird, and travelled around, fixing up the Lor Starcutter into a much, much bigger and grander ship. With Susie’s help and the things they found around that Nightmare Knight was looking for, they created the Lor Haltmann, named by Susie. As they prepared to venture through the portal and confront Kirby, Nightmare Knight changed their armor to be more relaxed. Their chestplate and leggings were gone, replaced with a blue t shirt with a golden four pointed star on it, and blue shorts. They had the same gloves and boots, but the bottom half their helmet was gone. Only the top half of the dragon-like head remained, and the black eyes with piercing red pupils were gone. And visible underneath it, was…

Adeleine. An older, tougher Adeleine. She explained everything to her friends.

When she had gone to try and bring Kirby back, she was severely injured and dying. But it hadn’t been an instant death like everyone else’s. Something about her human spirit kept her alive just long enough. She crawled out of the tunnel to the pocket dimension and was seen by Ribbon, who rushed her to Ripple Star. Apparently the water beneath the Great Crystal had healing properties, and she was able to not die, but her injuries didn’t heal. Her right eye can’t fully open anymore, and has a large scar over it. And she has a massive gash across her stomach. Kept covered by bandages because it’s a miracle she can even walk with how badly it’s damaged. Her innards aren’t exactly… in, anymore. She was sent to Neo Star to hide and recover, and while down in the depths, found a suit of armor and a large harpoon. She took them, and trained for the four years she was gone. She developed a hatred against all spawn of void, and wanted them dead for what they had done to her.

Everyone was shocked, but they understood her. They went in, and Nightmare Knight, as she now hates her name because it’s associated with her former weakness, killed what was formerly Kirby without hesitation. The pocket dimension collapsed as they rode out, and they were heralded as heroes. Magolor made everyone matching clothes based off Nightmare Knight’s armor, and Taranza discovered something the Lor Haltmann could do- travel between timelines.

The Ravagers of the Stars travel from timeline to timeline, helping out the inhabitants of them, and usually avoiding the versions of themselves in them as best as possible. Nightmare Knight takes care of any dark matter creatures, and the other three help out with smaller things. They earned their group name from their ability to go anywhere, and they destruction a certain member often leaves in their wake.

Upon returning home once, N-Mare (which is Nightmare Knight’s nickname because her friends get tired of saying her full name) tried to talk to Ribbon again, who attempted to kill her because she killed Kirby. Ribbon fled after N-Mare was completed unfazed after being stabbed. They were going to chase her down, but N-Mare kept her friends from doing that. After some more inter-timeline traveling, they went back home and ended up in the Forgotten Land.

The Forgotten Land was much different for the Ravagers. N-Mare was wanted dead, because unlike everyone in the other timelines, the beasts could tell she was human under her armor. Elfilin wanted nothing to do with them, and was captured much more easily. Elfilis was defeated by the Ravagers, and they returned home.

They now mostly live on the Lor Haltmann, venturing from place to place.

So! That’s Ravagers of the Stars. There’s a lot more I didn’t mention here because then this would’ve been… unbelievably long. This is by far my most developed Kirby AU. Or just… AU in general

(Ok well maybe that’s actually Deltarune: TDO but shhh)

I have had the idea for this for an insanely long time as I said, and I’ve posted about it in a different post before but it was alongside other stuff, so here it is by itself

Hopefully I’ll have drawings for all the Ravagers soon, because N-Mare is just as cool looking as she sounds

And yes, different timelines are just AUs! Although they’ve never been to an actual other AU before, mostly just random “different scenarios” I made up as I went when decided stuff they’ve done. But, theoretically, they could go to any AU. Most of them would not end well just because… Nightmare Knight. Like, Ado-ption? MAN that would be absolutely horrible

But that’s all on this… for now. Expect to see more of them, especially when I get the refs of them

Feel free to ask questions or whatever!

[karebear923]

Vice Versa Rewatch ep 5

Ok now that I got my apology off my chest, I’m ready to get back into this! I’m still here, fam! 💪🏽 and I’ve decided to just vibe. No thoughts, head empty, only feelings 😌

Gosh, it hasn’t even been that long but I’ve missed seeing Sea on my screen 😭 I still get to see Jimmy, but not Sea! I can’t wait for the LOL concert!

Episode 5 is called Winter White, which is associated with purity, perfection, honesty, cleanliness, and beginnings. Here I think it represents new beginnings more than the other definitions. And no, I don’t think it has to do with Talay being cold towards Puen, that’s not what’s happening here 🙅🏽‍♀️

Same, Talay. Same! *swoon* 😍🥰

I love Talay’s “shiiiiaa”s hehe it’s cute every time he says it! 🤭

Is it called meta if they’re basically writing their own love story in the show? Is that what we call meta? Lol

See Talay, it’s these little moments where you just say such real emotional things like it’s no big deal that Puen feels the full weight of them and falls for you even more!! And look at Jimmy’s expression!! This is why I fell in love with this show in the first place!! The looks of love!! 🥹❤️

Oh wow I did NOT remember that Talay was older than Puen! 😮 not by much, but still.

OMG NAMTAN!!!! Back when I watched this I had no idea who anyone was, but now I know!! Gosh everyone looks so young here, it’s crazy how time flies! And omg a Gun Atthaphan cameo too! Crazy!

Oh here it is!! Talay’s biggest fear!! He immediately thinks that Pang could be Puen’s portkey, and he brings up he and Puen leaving each other for the first time. At this point it’s still early into their relationship, and he’s feeling unsure and insecure and he doesn’t want to become attached if he’ll just end up being left behind.

But then Puen mouths these words at him! And it’s just what he needed to see! The reassurance that they can stay together!

Plus it’s kinda cute and silly how he runs away like that after! 🤭

I noticed Talay’s been wearing white all episode so I think he’s the one beginning to fall for Puen. We know Puen’s already come to the conclusion that he’s in love with Talay, but that first kiss has really started turning the wheels in Talay’s heart and mind.

And because Talay’s been wearing white, the color pairing was matched with Puen in black all episode! I see the colors!

Clearly it doesn’t snow in Thailand, cause that is not how you make a snowcone! 😅

This man presents another real fear for them. They might be trying to live their swapped person’s best life, but there’s no guarantee the effort will be returned. And that man was gone for 5 years! His whole life was ruined by the other guy! Puen and Talay could be stuck there for a long time, who knows what Tess and Tun could do by then!

It’s stuff like this that reminds you the premise of this show is actually pretty scary and sad. One second you’re laughing cause of the way they hold their fingers up to count, and the next you’re having an existential crisis 😥

They held hands throughout their first movie screening! 🥺 and Talay said no matter what happens they’ll go through it together! 😭

And then their movie tanks but they watch it together and comfort each other and Talay even plays along with Puen pretending the theater’s packed. And they thank each other for helping each other grow and be better! 🥲

Funny enough, the ending where they have their new beginning since they’re no longer screenwriters is when Talay is not wearing white anymore 🤔 maybe the disappointment has made him close himself off a little.

It felt good to be back to watching this! 😊 The school semester’s almost over so I can do these more often! And I’m gonna enjoy doing it too!

As always a thank you to @stormyoceans for the idea!!

[t-am-i-the-asshole]

AITA: Friend kicked me out after an argument.

I’ve been staying at a friend’s couch for a couple weeks, after selling my house and basically starting over.

He offered and suggested I just help out with groceries and gas money here and there.

Over the past couple weeks he’s been an alright host, cooks awesome meals, but gets drunk or buzzed almost every day and moment outside of his job.

I’ve slept in almost every day he works but I work from a computer part time. I help out with dishes and tidying up while hes gone.

Whenever I do clean the house or vacuum it’s never the way he wants it. Granted he never asked me to clean but this guy is messy and lazy outside of work. Dishes are always filling the sink. Dishwasher never gets emptied. Toilet never scrubbed. Etc.

Anyways because he drinks and smokes he tends to misplace his belongings and blames it on me throwing off his routine by cleaning when he didn’t expect it or assuming I moved or lost it. If something in his house breaks or if a window is left open, he immediately blames me.

The “big argument”

Today I was blamed for the heater pilot light going out because I moved something next to the heater when vacuuming yesterday afternoon. Even though the heater was still working when we used it last night.

When the maintenance guy came over and fixed it, my friend asked what would make the pilot light go out. And he responded “sometimes just opening the front door puts it out”. My friend didn’t accept that answer and proceeded to insist “but what about putting something big in front of the heater”

(Again the heater was working even after I “blocked” the heater vacuuming”

In frustration, I said “bro he just told why the pilot light goes out, why are you trying make it my fault?”

I then foolishly went meta on him, calling out that he’s been trying to blaming me for every little thing that goes wrong for weeks.

I said “I think you get little dopamine hits off of blaming me things on me.”

He got mad and raised his voice, and I responded with something like “oh I must have nailed it, cause you just got really emotional”

He then told me to leave. So I packed up and left.

I’m not mad at him and he was probably 4 tall cans of Malt beer in by that point.

I think I’m the asshole because I did something referred to as “psychological commentary / analysis without getting permission”.

[gamerbot-22]

“You Don’t Need to Announce Your Departure.”

Real fast for everyone, I was laying down and mulling over old memories and had a thought (this is a stupidly long ramble, feel free to scroll)

TL;DR: “You don’t need to announce your departure” only really works for individual creators online, and not brands/companies/institutions/big name celebrities.

Like. There’s a difference between dropping “you draw fanart for X Property, which I think is problematic/shouldn’t be consumed/made because of Y Reason, so I’m unfollowing you” in someone’s comments/askbox and “if they use this fugly design for Sonic in the movie, I’m not going to go see it” or “if Riot Games is going to keep releasing insane gambling skins like Fractured Jinx, I’m not going to buy anything from them/play the game anymore” in the comments of a corporate/news post or on your personal account.

Because that first example is being filtered through a highly specific and pointed method of delivery, especially in places like askboxes and DMs. It’s the online equivalent of saying something to someone’s face while still using that buffer of an online space.

The second examples are aimed—if it’s not being said in some idle, conversational way—at someone with a substantially high position of power over others, with generally no personal attachment between critic and criticized involved. Whenever you see complaints like the second examples, and names are mentioned, you’re usually getting the name of a CEO/director/founder, or just the company/organization name, and stuff like Riot Games and Paramount have corporate accounts that, in my experience with similar accounts, generally don’t respond to direct messages and most comments.

I first saw the phrase “you don’t need to announce your departure” used online to combat bigots in progressive spaces. Like some TikTok account that was either very clearly right-wing would chime in on an influencer’s page with something like “didn’t know you were one of them queers. Unfollowed.” and get hit with a wave of “you don’t have to announce your departure” from other commenters and sometimes the creators themselves. I’ve also seen it used in fandom spaces over the most benign/matter of taste critiques like “MHA fan” or “[non-pro-ship ship] enjoyer.”

The first and only time anyone ever said that phrase to me was when I left a comment on a DevSisters post like. Years ago, criticizing them for something or other (I believe it was about how blasé they were being about the idea of NFTs, even after EXTENSIVE community backlash and calls for accountability, but it was so long ago I can’t remember. [Also, they might have made a statement since then, but at the time of me leaving that comment it either didn’t exist or wasn’t readily available, I’m not keeping tabs on them.)] I, a paying customer, was complaining to a massive company about their business practices and informing them that their behavior was causing them to lose business. Then some stranger hit me with the aforementioned quote like I had just dunked on a minority/minority-supporting creator for being an empathetic human.

And like? I do kind of get it. Parasocial relationships like that can be intense, companies aren’t exactly known for being receptive to single instances of online feedback (either ignoring it or doubling down), and there’s a fear of what might happen if you do speak out (ranging from the idea of hurting someone at the company’s feelings to defamation,) but also silence doesn’t beget change, especially when money is on the line.

Zuckerberg announced a couple days ago that he was going to loosen the punishment rate for queer hate speech on Meta services only to pretty quickly turn around when queer people started deactivating their accounts and announcing elsewhere that the policy change specifically was the cause of that. Then it suddenly became “we might have gone too far” and shit like that.

And going back to my Riot Games/LoL example from earlier, a couple companies have already tried to start bending backlash like this to their will. Before the announcement of the $250 Jinx skin, they released $500 dollar skins for I believe two other champions (I get all my LoL news from a guy who critiques skin design, I don’t play the game and never plan to)

I feel very much like I’m rambling at this point.

[fardell24b]

Spider Quinn 08 - The Three Misfits - Part 6

“This was a bad idea,” Gerald said.

“Just because Ben got bit by a snake doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea!” Quinn said.

“I get you wanted to engage me by doing something I’d like, but I’m not outgoing.”

“I don’t think going to the hospital would have been a good idea.”

“I’m sure there’s something nearby for Anna’s Celtic thing,” Gerald said.

“I’m not sure,” Quinn said.

Gerald was then silent.

They soon arrived at the phone booth Quinn had used the previous day. ‘I hope they won’t think it’s crying wolf,’ she thought as she dialled 911.

“911 Emergency.”

“A boy has been bit by a Copperhead in the West Lawndale Forest, near the bus stop,” Quinn said.

“How long ago was this?”

“A little less than ten minutes,” Quinn answered.

Quinn hung up. “They’re on their way.”

“Good,” Gerald said. “I’m going to walk home.”

“No! Miss Sanderson and Ms. Li will be angry. I have duty of care as well!”

“Then, you shouldn’t have tried to help me!” Gerald said he left.

‘Great!’ Quinn thought. She started running back to where She left the teacher and the two students. ‘I can’t go after him as SpiderGirl. Not yet.’

“Where’s Gerald?” Sanderson asked.

“He ran off after I made the 911 call. I couldn’t stop him,” Quinn answered, quietly.

Sanderson sighed. “You did the right thing, coming back. But I’m going to get the heat from Ms. Li!. The school’s going to get the bill for the call out too.”

“I know.”

It was another ten minutes before the ambulance arrived. The paramedics gave the antivenin and loaded Ben on the ambulance. “Can I come with?” Anna asked.

“It will cost the school more,” Sanderson said.

“I don’t care,” Anna said.

“In for a penny,” Sanderson murmured. “But I have to take Quinn back to the School.”

“Quinn’s gone,” Anna said.

“What?” Sanderson asked.

“She’s gone,” Anna said.

“The I guess I can come in the ambulance and get the bus later.”

It didn’t take long for SpiderGirl to find Gerald. He hadn’t gone far. ‘Now, how to do this without revealing my secret identity…’

Gerald was surprised when he was suddenly lifted up into the sky. “SpiderGirl!”

“That’s me!” the self proclaimed ‘superhero’ said.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he struggled against the webbing.

“With great power comes great responsibility, and that includes helping teenage girls and teachers who don’t want to get into trouble because someone ran away from a field trip.”

“Quinn! She’s an annoying insinuating busybody!”

“I’ll be sure to tell her that,” the costumed meta responded.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll take you back to the bus.”

SpiderGirl brought Gerald back to the bus and webbed him to it. “Quinn, Anna and Miss Sanderson will be back shortly.”

“Great!” Gerald groused.

Quinn got back to the spot and found that Sanderson and Anna had gone with the ambulance. “Oh no!” She thought quickly. ‘I guess SpiderGirl can drive the bus…’ she thought.

“What?” Gerald asked.

“I’ll drive the bus to the hospital,” SpiderGirl said. “How hard can it be?”

“And where’s Quinn? If the teacher went with Anna and Ben in the ambulance.”

“Now… did the teacher leave the keys here by accident?”

“I don’t think so,” Gerald said as he followed the vigilante into the bus.

‘Of course not,’ SpiderGirl realised. But she did learn how to hotwire a vehicle in Highland…

Gerald worried as the bus’s engine roared to life. He was sure SpiderGirl was going to cause traffic chaos.

The ambulance was on it’s way to the hospital. “How are you now?” Anna asked.

“You know that I’m more than under the weather,” Ben answered. “I know what Copperhead venom does!”

“But they have put in the antivenin, right?”

“It takes a while to take effect.”

“Uh oh!” Ben said.

“What?”

“Something else is wrong! There may be a tick! Or a leech!”

“Leech? You weren’t in water,” Anna said.

“Help! Tick!”

“Tick?” one of the paramedics asked.

“Ignore him, he’s a hypochondriac,” Sanderson said.

“We need to check him over.”

Behind the ambulance, SpiderGirl was driving the school bus haphazardly. Gerald was holding on for dear life. “Can’t you just carry me to the hospital?” he asked.

“No,” SpiderGirl answered. “Now, it seems that a bus is more difficult than a pickup, but I will get us to the hospital.”

“Right…” Gerald said as SpiderGirl made another sharp turn.

But it wasn’t far from the forest to Cedars of Lawndale. Only a mile and a half as the crow flies and through streets that weren’t all that busy, so SpiderGirl’s driving of the bus didn’t put anyone else at risk.

Gerald considered that as he was already at the hospital, that he may as well stay in the waiting room.

SpiderGirl left the bus as soon as she parked it and decided to patrol around the hospital before returning as her civilian self.

Olivia arrived at the waiting room to find Gerald there. “Oh! You decided to come here?” she asked.

“No, SpiderGirl dragged me here!”

“SpiderGirl?”

“Yes, and she drove the bus here too!” Gerald said.

“The bus, but I still have the keys!”

“She hotwired it too,” Gerald said.

“I find that difficult to believe.”

“It’s what happened, Miss Sanderson,” Quinn said as she entered the waiting room.

“Did SpiderGirl bring you here too?” Sanderson asked.

“After driving Gerald here, yes,” Quinn answered.

Sanderson sighed. “Anyway I called Ms. Li once I got signal. She should be here shortly.”

‘Great!’ Quinn thought.

Ms. Li pulled up at the hospital, noting that the bus she had leant Sanderson (and Quinn) was parked haphazardly across many parking spaces. ‘Really! She should have the presence of mind to park the bus properly!’

“Where’s Ms. Coultard?” she asked once she entered.

“She’s with the patient,” Olivia answered.

“I see. And why is the bus parked the way it is?”

“It was SpiderGirl who parked it that way!” Quinn answered.

“What!”

“And she hotwired it!” Gerald said.

“She’s a menace, I tell you!” Li exclaimed.

“She isn’t. She was just trying to help. Without her, Gerald would have ran off home and I would still be walking here,” Quinn said.

‘Ms. Morgendorffer is hiding something I’m sure,’ Li thought.

‘Ms. Li suspects something,’ Quinn thought.

“Now, tell me everything that happened,” Ms. Li said.

The two students became talking over each other.

“Slow down!”

“So, let me get this straight… Gerald ran off after you called the ambulance,” Li said.

“Yes,” Quinn answered.

“Then you met SpiderGirl?”

Quinn nodded.

“I see,” the Principal said. “And you say the vigilante hotwired the bus?”

“Yes,” Gerald said.

“Like. I tried to stop Gerald! And I told Miss Sanderson.” Quinn said.

“Why did you run off afterwards, when I said that I was riding on the ambulance?” Sanderson asked.

“I thought I could try to get Gerald again. But it wasn’t long before SpiderGirl came along…” Quinn said.

“I see. You were trying your best,” Sanderson said.

“But this has been a disaster!” Li said.

“Like I was a like a shepherd, who went after some lost sheep…” Quinn said.

“I’m not sure you found them,” Gerald said.

“And you ran into the metaphorical wolf, Ms. Morgendorffer. You did well, but there will be no more field trips. Do I make myself clear? Any such thing will have to be out of school time,” the Principal said. “But, the mentoring project will continue as long as each student and their parents agree. I’m not so sure about the Harrod parents. They should be here shortly.”

“I better call my Mom,” Quinn decided.

“Go ahead.”

“It’s Quinn, Helen,” Marianne said.

“Quinn? What’s wrong?” Helen Morgendorffer asked.

“Remember that Field Trip I was talking about?”

“Yes?”

“It was today. But one of the three got bit by a snake,” Quinn

“A snake?” Helen asked, with shock.

“But the ambulance came quickly. We’re at the hospital now.”

“And how are you?”

“I’m fine, but I’m worried about the one who was bit,” Quinn said.

“I’m sure they will be fine. The ambulance should have antivenin.”

“They did.”

“Good.”

“Ms. Li is here. She says that I can continue the mentoring thing. But there will be no more field trips related to it.”

“That’s good news. Do you think they’re getting something out of it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll see you at home. I better get back to work.”

“Bye Mom.”

Quinn returned to the waiting room, to see that Anna had come out. “Anna. How is he?” she asked.

“Resting. It’s taken a lot out of him, but he will be better, once the venom is out of his system.”

“That’s good.”

“But otherwise, today was good.”

“Maybe we’ll do something related to your interests next,” Quinn joked.

“There are some standing stones near Lawndale.”

“Really?”

“Put there by some Irish immigrants last century,” Anna said.

“Interesting,” Quinn commented as Ben’s parents arrived.

[hotcocoabuns]

I think this was the first shot that subverted the idea I was getting of Dream’s character in the show. He’d seemed so still, like a statue. Beautiful, never meant to be touched. It felt as if simply laying your eyes upon him would be sacrilegious.

Presenting a little meta and character analysis of Morpheus in this scene from the first episode of The Sandman in the shape of a drabble. Feat. Dream’s Tears, Jessamy-oops-she’s-dead-now, and Roderick and Alex Burgess’ horrible decisions.

By me.

He looked like coiled rage, cold disdain, barely suppressed power. Unfathomable and of incomprehensible nature. Everything that was being done to him—the kidnapping, the disposal of his clothing, the theft of his tools, the humiliation—, gave me the sensation that what they were doing was foolish. Crazy. That they couldn’t even begin to comprehend the severity of their actions. Measly little humans trying to cover the sun with the tip of a finger. Trapping that which is more eternal than holy.

An attempt to contain the uncontainable, control the uncontrollable, inhibit that which cannot (should not) be inhibited. They were being stupid. Maybe their ignorance would spare them from the worst of the Dreamlord’s fury, but with each passing day their sins only bred.

It striked me as nothing but a matter of time. Not an if, but a when. And I’m sure it felt that way for Morpheus too. He’d break out of this greed-made, crystalline prison, bring vengeance upon his captors, recover his scattered tools, and carry on with his duties.

Like nothing happened. Here, Morpheus’ patience is deadly, maddeningly so. He is in no rush in front of them. He outright refuses to be. He betrays nothing. Gives nothing. Not a hitch in his breathing, nor a twitch of his eye, nor a parting of his mouth.

Immutable. Although he’s caged like the sweetest songbird that’s been captured only for its (jailer) master. Although the dreamers and the dreams and the nightmares call out to him. Even if they believe he has abandoned them, left them to fend for themselves.

He remains. Until Jessamy (loyal, good-natured Jessamy) decides she’s taking her chances. And what chances they are. She’s done waiting around for these greedy humans to slip. To mess up the well-oiled machine they’ve become to maintain the Lord of the Dreaming ensnared.

Even for Morpheus to conjure the help of his siblings, as inconceivable as that is. Eons could’ve passed them by. Earth could’ve collapsed in on itself, before he’d do anything of the sort. But hope is a mighty thing, and hope gets you to dream.

(Even of the impossible. Of the absurd.)

So, she glided.

She glided through the Burgess Estate, caused a distraction, reached her Lord. And THAT’S where everything changes. There, in those few moments, an emotion betrays the impassive face concealed behind hefty metal bars, holding his prison together.

Hope is contagious, and so are the emotions that accompany it. Morpheus stirs—not only stirs; stands. On his own two feet, after decades of waiting, waiting, waiting, ever vigilant—, and is moved. He looks up at Jessamy, his friend, his companion. She wouldn’t leave him.

Wouldn’t cast him aside. He smiles. There she is; she’s pecking on layer upon layer, impenetrable. They both know she can’t get through them. He knows well when efforts are gone to waste, and this is one of those occasions. Yet, there is comfort in her presence.

(In knowing he’s the one that hasn’t been abandoned.

Forgotten.)

Then, there’s a blast. Blinding, cruel. It’s so sudden, so loud, it makes him flinch. Blood, there is blood and innards and shards of bone splattered against his glass contraption. Outside, out of reach.

For a moment, it appears that Morpheus does not comprehend what’s happened. His eyes dart around, confused, disbelieving. That was a shot, a shot fired.

Then, oh.

Oh.

It’s Jessamy crumpled on the floor. It’s her organs sprayed on the glass, on the floor. Jessamy’s been shot.

Everything changes, in a second. Morpheus, unmoving, severe, statuesque-

cries.

His tears cling to his eyelashes, they wet his eyes, slide down the length of his nose, gather and slip off his Cupid’s bow.

He looks down, the crumpled shape of Jessamy being taken away, and he fixes the Burgess fledgling with a stare more frigid than the Antarctic itself. Everything’s changed now. Alex has sealed his fate. Morpheus rarely forgives. He does not forget.

This is personal now.

There shall be no rest for the wicked, and he’s going to make sure of it.

[short-wooloo]

A Defense of Ki-Adi-Mundi Meta

Next to Mace Windu, Ki-Adi-Mundi is the biggest whipping boy of anti-Jedi people, being used as an example for why the Jedi are “bad” “hypocritical” “war criminals” or “the real villains/evil” and whatever other bad hot take they come up with that they think makes them sound edgy

and I’m going to take apart the common points used to slander this great Jedi Master

Well start with the real stuff, Canon, the stuff that actually counts

1. The Council scene in TPM:

I actually have a whole post about this scene (https://short-wooloo.tumblr.com/post/649282237923295232/why-do-people-use-this-as-an-example-of-the-jedis), but the gist of why people use it against Ki is a bit of a case of “shoot the messenger”, Ki is the one to actually say its impossible for the sith to have returned, since they’ve been extinct for a millennia

to summarize my other post, believing that the sith are dead and gone isn’t unreasonable, there has been no evidence of their survival, and while we as the audience may know that the sith are in fact back, Qui-Gon has no actual proof that what he encountered was a sith

2. "He is a political idealist, not a murderer."

This line, supposed proof of the Jedi’s arrogance,

Is it though?

The Jedi have no proof that Dooku was behind the attempt on Padme’s life (and at this point in the film neither does the audience) nor are they aware of Dooku’s turn to the dark side or becoming a sith, this scene depicts the Jedi’s faith in Dooku and respect for him even though he has left the Order and leads the Separatists (who at this point have not committed or indicated that they were in favor of any acts of war)

3. Flamethrowers on Geonosis:

People (a certain someone in particular) just love to proclaim that “Jedi broke X rule of the geneva convention!” something which does not exist in the SW galaxy

But that aside, flamethrowers are not illegal in war, in fact they are not generally banned, they just fall under certain usage prohibitions as described under protocol III of the convention on certain conventional weapons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Incendiary_Weapons), even so, most militaries don’t use them, because they’re impractical, difficult to use, and just as likely to hurt you as the enemy, but Star Wars and its tactics don’t operate off of practicality, thus the flamethrowers are used because its cool

(not to mention of all the times where flamethrowers are used and constitutes a crime, being used against civilians/surrendered combatants, none of them are done at the command of a Jedi)

details and legality aside, Mundi’s use of flamethrowers was against enemy combatants, and ones who were giving his own men a particular beating, on top of a day’s worth of beatings and nothing going to plan, it was desperation, and sure using it on the Geonosians isn’t the most merciful thing, but I will maintain that the Republic was not expecting such heavy resistance from the Geos (something they say in the episode)

most of the time throughout the clone wars, the Jedi and Clones are fighting droids, non-droid opponents are rare, and per Poggle’s words in AOTC, the Geos didn’t participate much in the first battle of Geonosis, thus I’ll bet the Republic wasn’t expecting to be mostly fighting Geonosians, they were expecting droids, and thus were only expecting to use weapons like flamethrowers on droids

4. Ahsoka’s trial:

Not much to say here, just another “shoot the messenger” case, Mundi is the one to actually deliver the verdict in a situation where the Jedi’s hands were tied

5. Yoda’s visions:

What is it with people and condemning skepticism?

Just like in TPM, Mundi doesn’t immediately believe what someone is claiming without proof, and again, we know Yoda’s right because audience awareness advantage, but the characters in-universe aren’t omnipotent and don’t have all the information, skepticism is completely reasonable, but apparently being a skeptic is cause for for condemning a character

Now time for EU and Legends

Many of these are cases of eu writers doing things without oversight from Lucas, writing things about the Jedi that are contrary to how Lucas envisioned him, and contradicted information established in AOTC and ROTS, it is thus important to remember that the films (and TCW) are higher canon than everything else, when there’s a contradiction, film/tv show wins out

6. Not a Master yet:

I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, this instance is used as a bludgeon to vilify the Jedi and excuse Anakin, which makes no sense to me, as Mundi’s status as not being a Master when he was appointed to the council makes Anakin seem like even more of an entitled brat

but that’s all a moot point,

as mentioned above, this is a case of eu writers making stuff which contradicted how George Lucas envisioned things, the eu writers made Mundi a member of the council despite only being a Knight, but as Lucas saw it you can’t be on the council unless you are a Master (or if a sith/power-hungry dictator in the making forces his own candidate onto the council as a spy)

This was later reconciled via retcons saying that Mundi was appointed to the council while he was in the process of being promoted to Master

7. Family:

Ki-Adi-Mundi has a family, this again is used to say “jEdI hYpOcRiTeS!  They should bend over backwards to accommodate Anakin”

its another case of eu writers contradicting how Lucas saw things, that being that Jedi cannot marry

later writers retconned this to say that in addition to the skewed population of 1 male to 20 females in Cereans (this was established by Issue #1 of Republic) Cerean birth rates are low to begin with, and that Mundi was granted an exception to the non-marriage rule with the understanding that him not marrying and not having children would be detrimental to the species’ survival

But people will still twist this into "he didn’t care about them"

Why?

Well:

“Ki-Adi-Mundi's entire family, including all five of his wives and all eight of his children, were killed during the Battle of Cerea, a brutal conflict that resulted in more than one million casualties, and destroyed much of the planet. The damage was so extensive that there were no bodies of Mundi's family members left to bury. Although Mundi had always strived not to become attached toward his family per the Jedi Code, he nevertheless felt the attachment following the tragedy. However, Mundi recognized he had to accept their passing and move on to stay true to the Jedi beliefs, so after mourning only in private, Mundi applied himself more thoroughly to his work as a Jedi General to overcome the grief. This helped prevent Mundi from running any risk of falling to the dark side of the Force after his loss.”

Somehow, Ki accepting that they're gone and nothing he can do will bring them back and moving on, and focusing on his responsibilities as a Jedi means he doesn't care, because as we all know, unless you act like a complete psychopath and murder children over them, then you don't really care about your family

[blueberrypancakesworld]

~ Lies ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

warning : hurt , emotional hurt , hurt/comfort , comfort , hugs

next chapter , masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mourning, instead of the sun, seemed to rise over the capital and its inhabitants that morning. But until this news of mourning should be ransacked, it still took a few hours. Slowly the young Mormont opened her eyes and immediately felt the dull pain in her fingers and back. She sighed before slowly bringing herself into a sitting position. Still slightly dizzy from sleep, she looked around her tent and realized that today would be her last day. They would leave for Bear Island in a few hours. She had shirked her duties long enough, indulging in dreams and unfulfilled hopes. A bear had no place with a dragon. ,, Good morning, my lady," she heard the voice of her maid as she came into the tent with a goblet of water and handed it to her. Gratefully nodding and murmuring a ,, Good morning" she drank from the goblet and felt how the water did to her dry throat. ,, How are your wounds?" asked the older one after she had taken the empty cup and fetched new clothes for her mistress. Briefly, the young Mormont looked at her fingers. They were still slightly swollen but the pain was not as sensory as yesterday. ,, It's healing slowly, I'm sure it will be healed in a few moons," she gave an appraising answer and got a pleased look.

Goosebumps spread over her body as she stood naked in the tent and was gradually dressed. The clothes did not smell of blood and dirt, not of a tournament. They smelled of soap something neutral not of something that could haunt her. But still she felt the slight uneasiness as her gaze went to her writing tablet. There, still untouched, lay the dagger of Prince Daemon. Briefly, the image of her daydream flashed before her inner eye and she turned her gaze away from the table. I've been here too long, she thought about her shameful dreams before she reached for Longclaw and pinned the sword at her side. Of course, she was careful not to strain her fingers too much so as not to cause more damage unnecessarily. ,, The breakfast is already ready," Meta announced as she held the tent flap open for her mistress. The sun dazzled the young Mormont as it had done before. But this time it was different, this morning was full of fog everywhere and the sun was overcast. Almost as if the weather was in mourning, she thought, taking breakfast from her foster father before going to Alyssa. The bear was lying on the ground and growled when she saw her rider. The young momront's eyes ran over the bear's body. ,, How are you?" she asked the animal, running her hand over its fur. It was soft, but she let it go when she heard the animal's short growl. ,, I know it hurts, doesn't it?" she asked the rhetorical question before taking her breakfast and glancing at her fingers again. He never holds back, she stated rather cautiously and frowned briefly.

She looked from her fingers across the square and saw that although the tournament was over, many of the houses' tents were still up. Even though she thought that some of them had already left after the tournament. The many different colors seemed to take no end. Her gaze broke from the tents when she saw the depressed look of her commander. Whether it was because of the little argument or because he didn't want to admit his own thoughts, she couldn't say. She knew she shouldn't have run away, she knew it was dangerous even in such a festive place. And yet, through this path, she had heard something she probably should never have heard. What did he mean? she asked herself, but shook her head. It was bad enough that she had lied to the king, she should not have gone after Daemon. But she also knew that it had happened and she could not go back. She sighed and was about to go back to her tent when she saw people crowding together. ,, What's going on?" she asked her subordinates, but only got uncertain looks. ,, I think it was a messenger, but I may have been mistaken," she heard her commander say before she walked with him toward the crowd. The closer she got, the bigger and the more they seemed to become. ,, What is so important?" she muttered and pushed her way through the people to see what was going on. But her commander was right, it was a messenger accompanied by a soldier. As soon as she stopped, the loud sound of a trumpet rang out and the crowd fell silent. Everyone seemed to be waiting in suspense for the announcement. ,, Hear hear this goes out to all those present. Our beloved Queen Aemma Arryn and her son Prince Baelon have both died. The queen in childbirth and the prince shortly after!" he announced and the silence was followed by chatter. Is that what Daemon meant? she thought, but she knew there was only one solution.

He must have known it...and celebrated himself for his renewed rise. The prince was his nephew, she thought in horror as the whole evening suddenly seemed to make sense. But with the sense came the realization that she might be in trouble for what she had heard. Not because she knew who it came from. Her enemies could take the words and simply twist them. She would be executed faster than she could defend herself. But the crowd quieted again as the trumpet sounded again and they all looked back to the messenger. The man was holding more rolled papers under his arm. He took them before announcing loudly, ,, These are letters from the king, the following houses have been instructed to come to the funeral ceremony. Arryn, Baratheon, Lannister, Stark and House Mormont!" Disbelief and shock were in her eyes as the sense of her fatal misdeed grew. The heads all remained until the crowd had dispersed. A glance to her side confirmed that Lord Stark was also rather uncertain. Whether it was because of the two deaths or because of something else, she did not know. But as soon as she had the scroll in her hand, her thoughts turned to Rhaenyra. How much pain and suffering she had to endure in the last hours. The princess first of all to her beloved mother and then to her brother. Alone probably left with the pain and must somehow prepare for the funeral a day later. How I would love to hold her now, she thought as she walked back into the tent with the scroll. Opening the paper with the seal of the Tagaryens, she read the words. But it was a simple repetition of the announcement.

To the Lady Mormont

Lady Mormont, as you have heard, the Queen died in childbirth due to complications. Unfortunately, the young prince Baelon also died shortly after. Your presence is hereby requested at the funeral of both at noon in the large area outside the castle.

Signed Ser Otto Hightower

When she came across the last name, she couldn't help but think of the older man's gentle kiss. But this time her heart did not beat, instead a feeling of uneasiness spread through her. But she quickly shook it off before stepping back outside and calling her companions together. ,, As you all know, our queen and our prince have passed away. I will go alone to the funeral. We will postpone our departure until the evening," she announced, seeing that despite the sad looks, there was still respect and understanding between them. ,, My lady, did you want to change for the funeral?" asked her maid who had followed her into the tent. She looked down at herself but anything else she would wear would be extremely macabre and inappropriate. ,, My black coat and dyed trousers should be enough. Anything else would be inappropriate," she said curtly and her maid nodded in understanding. It took a while for the elder to pick out the clothes, so the young Mormont decided to write a letter to her advisor. Not only that she had to deliver news but also that she had to receive them. It had become almost too quiet for her uncle.

To my advisor

I am writing this letter with unfortunate and devastating news. Our queen passed away giving birth to prince Baelon. It seems that the same is true for our prince Baelon. I have been invited to the funeral. I think my return trip will be delayed by one day, maybe two. Everything is very tense right now. Did my uncle behave well and could you find out anything about his letter contacts? I expect your reply as soon as possible.

Lady Mormont

When she put the feather back into the inkwell, she saw her maid standing in front of her with the new clothes. ,, Did you want to put them on now? asked the older one and saw the nod of her lady. The new clothes clung to her body and a glance at her mirror let her see her beauty despite the regretful occasion. Despite this, her gaze fell on the wreath of flowers she had received from Rhaenyra. The wreath still lay on her table and reminded her not only of her broken fingers but also of her princess. ,, Meta, can you dry the flowers? I would like to receive them " she asked the older one who was looking at the flowers with a knowing smile. ,, That's no problem, my lady, as soon as you return, the drying is already in progress" she assured and saw the relieved look of the younger one.

The minutes and hours until the time seemed to get even longer because of her concern by Rhaenyra. How would the princess react to her? Would the king speak to her? What about Alicent and her father ? Did the statement of Daemon also have consequences for her ?

Too many questions were running around in her head before she reached for the jug of wine and poured herself a goblet. She hissed as she put her hands around the goblet too quickly. Cursing, she took the goblet with her left and she already hated how restricted she was. She was helpless. It reduced her back to her looks and not her strength when it was broken down. She knew that as Lady of Bear Island she could not show weakness. With the thought that she would soon reach her full age slowly approaching, everything seemed to collapse over and within her again. Again she took a sip of the wine and hoped for a reaction from the alcohol. But it seemed to fail, as did her sense of what was right. The only thing she got was a dull ache in her fingers and back. Her body seemed to remind her since she lost in the tournament that she too had limits. Just because she could transform didn't mean she was invulnerable. It seemed that every time she transformed, it hurt more and more. The breaking of bones, the dislocation of her tendons and muscles. It was horrible.

The tent seemed to crush her all at once. She didn't need the memories of her battles and the pain. Almost in a hurry, she left the field before taking a deep breath of the air outside. The threatening pain, the thoughts and the ringing of the swords left her and her mind calmed down. ,, My lady, are you sure that no one should accompany you?" she asked her commander. ,, Yes, I am sure. I don't want to hurt the king or the princess. Besides, I'll leave Alyssa here so there won't be any more accidents," she replied, casting an apologetic glance at Alyssa. The bear only grumbled and lay down again. Despite the fact that it was only a small injury from the dagger, it was never to be underestimated. No matter how small a wound might be, it could bring down even the strongest warrior. She therefore took the commander's horse, which had recovered well from the tournament thanks to his good care. ,, I will probably be back by afternoon" she announced and received a ,, ride carefully and express the condolences of the house" from her foster father. ,, Here we stand," she replied strongly before letting the horse gallop to the meadow as quickly as possible. This was necessary not only because she had to look several times to see where she was, but also because she had to join the rest of the lords who were also on their way. ,, Lady Y/n your hand how are you?" came the question suddenly behind her and shortly after she saw the bright white horse and the shiny accesoirse of House Lannister. She suppressed a distracted expression and smiled softly. ,, Thank you for your concern Lord Jason, it will be healed in a few moons," she assured. She saw the grin and his eyes passing over her body as if he had never seen a female ruler before. She hated it. Too much gold always made people greedy for something they couldn't have. Or they get too arrogant like he did. ,, I generally don't understand why you haven't looked for a man yet. He could have surely replaced your wounds with something other than pain...something more tender," he said and it was clear what he was alluding to. Just because she was soon to be of age, it seemed men only wanted to use her for their advantage.

But why a Lannister needed a small island with only about three hundred men was a mystery to her. He could also have simply wanted to have a right to her body - an unpleasant thought. ,, Well, it would certainly be a shame for my husband to marry a child just because he couldn't control his instincts. But I am confident that one day you will meet a woman who appreciates a lion without claws," she said softly before speeding up her horse and leaving an irritated Lannister behind. A glance at her fingers told her that they looked little different than they had a few hours ago. Only her overall appearance seemed to suffer a bit because of the missing glove due to the wooden parts. But it would have been unattractive to try to pull the glove over her broken fingers. The most important thing was to heal to be able to swing a sword again as soon as possible. She saw from afar a hill where a dragon had risen. In front of it, numerous people were already standing, apparently waiting for the last ones. Rhaenyra, I'll be right with you, she thought and rode her horse even faster. She owed the princess at least her condolences. 

She wished she could do more. She stopped her horse, dismounted and handed over the reins to a servant to reign it in. The people who had gathered seemed to have already found a place. ,, Lady Y/n it is honorable and that you could come " she heard the familiar voice of Otto who had turned away from the king. ,, It is the least I can do in these sad times. My deepest condolences, it must be unimaginably difficult for the king and the princess," she said, looking at Otto's sad expression, which nevertheless had an understandable look for her. ,, Can I talk to the princess or the king?" she asked as she looked past the hand. A short sigh came from the Hightower man, ,, I think the princess would be pleased to see you. The king, I'm afraid, is completely absorbed in his grief," he explained and received an understandable nod from the younger woman. ,, Please go ahead," he said and took a step to the side. ,, Many thanks " she said and walked towards Rhaenyra. She noticed Alicent, who was dressed in a soft blue dress and seemed infinitely alone and lost. ,, Lady Alicent," she said, and she flinched, not having heard the sword-bearer. In her dark eyes was sorrow and pain. She lost her mother, the young Mormont recalled, understanding the younger woman's pain. ,, Lady Y/n" she said and was about to curtsy when she was pulled into a hug by her counterpart. ,, You don't have to be so formal...let the grief be" the young bear advised the only daughter of the hand.

She heard a soft sobbing, well hidden and only for the ears of the two. She saw Alicent wipe away a tear and she kept touching and pecking her fingers. The younger Mormont realized that she was not stupid, she had bitten her lip more than once out of pure stress and discomfort. ,, It's all right," she said and briefly put a hand on Alicent's slightly trembling hands. ,, Thank you," she whispered before the young Mormont went on to Rhaenyra. Her pulse went up and although she was glad to see Rhaenyra again, she felt the uneasiness when she saw Daemon. He can't have seen me, she recalled the night before taking on a sympathetic look. ,, Rhaenyra" she said and the princess turned around with tears in her eyes. ,, Y/n" she said, and her voice seemed to break at any moment under her grief. The younger one enclosed the older one in a tight embrace that symbolized nothing but an attempt to hold on. She gently stroked the younger one's back, meeting Dameon's serious yet interested gaze. ,, My condolences to your mother and brother," she said, seeing Rhaenyra's brief nod. ,, My condolences also on the loss of your nephew Prince Daemon" she said and received a short ,, Thank you". ,, I'm here for you, Princess," she assured, having intended to include Alicent, but when she looked behind her and saw the younger girl clinging to her father in mourning, she let it go. Daemon said something in High Valyrian to his niece, to whom he replied in the same language. Even in her grief she is so beautiful she thought as she saw Rhaenyra detach herself and go to her father. She gave Dameon a last sympathetic look before joining the other lords.

The atmosphere was oppressive, it was cruel. Everyone seemed to be reminded that even in the most beautiful times, everything can be destroyed. They all seemed to be waiting for the king's order, but Viserys, as far as she could see, seemed completely consumed by grief. Instead, she saw Daemon step up to his niece and whisper something to her. After a short hesitation, she took a step forward and looked briefly at her father. Only then did the young Mormont see the large golden dragon and realization entered her mind. I dreamed of Rhaenyra, she realized, and her heart filled with joy. ,, D-Dracarys!" she said out loud and her dragon came down the hill easily. Is Dracarys the name? she asked herself, wishing she could understand High Valyrian. The beautiful golden dragon opened its mouth before the fire descended on the pyre with the queen and the prince. ,, May they rest in peace" she murmured and closed her eyes for a moment before looking at Rhaenyra. 

She saw how strong she was, she was not crying and yet she seemed to break every moment under the grief and the responsibility. The same was true for Viserys, who seemed to have it even harder than Rhaenyra. All of them seemed to be suffering, except Daemon, the prince, who had the most rapid expression in his appearance. The fire of the dragon had burned away almost everything within minutes. Individuals went to the king to express their condolences and sympathy. Young Mormont waited until most of the people had left and ridden back. Her heart ached when she saw the blank and almost defeated look on Visery's face. It was the same broken look her father had given her just before his passing on her appointment as Lady of Bear Island. He seemed to be suffering incredibly.

He had loved his wife endlessly and even if no one dared to say it, it was clear to her that he had probably always wanted a male heir. This seemed to make it even harder for Rhaenyra. ,, My King...Viserys my deepest condolences for your loss" she said and bowed slightly. ,, T-Thank you" came so weakly and powerlessly from his lips that she was afraid he would collapse at any moment. She nodded once before walking away from him and going back to her horse. Just as she put her foot on the stirrup and was about to sit on the horse, she heard Rhaenyra. ,, Y/n...I would like you to accompany me back on Syrax?" she asked uncertainly and her violet eyes slid to the ground. ,, Syrax is your dragon, isn't it?" asked the young Mormont as she got off her horse and looked to the golden dragon. ,, Yes, Syrax is a female dragon, I am in bond with her," the princess explained briefly, but her voice was full of sadness. ,, If you wish, I will accompany you, but what about Alicent?" she asked, leaving the horse to a servant. The two of them looked at the brown-haired woman, but the daughter of the Hand was still crying with her father and seemed to be in mourning. ,, We should give Alicent some peace " said Rhaenyra only briefly and the two went past the hand and his daughter in the direction of the dragon. Daemon still stood by the side, looking from the pile of ashes to his brother and the two girls. 

He gave them both a nod as if he thought it was a good idea for them to be together. ,, Is it really all right with you princess?" she asked as the dragoness approached and she felt respect for the animal. ,, I just need someone right now," she said curtly and the young Mormont understood. A man with a staff also stood on the hill and said something in High Valyrian, which the princess replied. Again the elder wished she could understand the language, but it was one dream of many. Her dream with Rhaenyra on the boat was perhaps like a providence. Did it have a deeper meaning. Syrax raised her head in interest and seemed to feel the emotions of her rider. ,,Lykirí" said Rhaenyra and the dragon lowered her head. ,,Don't be afraid, it's like when you taught me to ride Visenya," Rhaenyra assured, hiding her sadness behind encouragement. Rhaenyra gently took Y/n's injured hand and slowly led her to Syrax. The honor turned for a moment to fear as the beast snorted. It's not even close to what a bear can do, she thought in shock as she realized the power and destruction these noble beasts could bring. Rhaenyra let go of her hand and the Lady of Bear Island crossed the last gap before placing her hand on the dragoness' snout. It was warm and felt most comparable to a snake or lizard. Only rougher, warmer, bigger and deadlier. ,,Hello Syrax," she said, stroking the golden scales. ,,She is beautiful," she said to the princess. Rhaenyra approached the animal's back and it lowered itself to help the princess up. ,,Don't worry, I'll hold you," Rhaenyra assured, offering her gloved hand. With a jerk and a moment she looked behind Rhaenyra on the saddle of the animal. ,,This is so much different from riding a bear," said the young Mormont.

It was like flying from sitting alone. ,,That's incredible," she said with a smile and her gaze crossed the meadow and briefly lingered on Daemon's smile. The prince had been watching them closely and seemed to find something interesting about it only from his perspective. ,,Hold on to me...hold on tight" Rhaenyra said before she took the long big reins and said ,,Naejot". The dragon reared up and the Mormont made a surprised, slightly frightened sound. Syrax moved down the hill for two steps before spreading her long wings and with a few strokes she flew over the humans. Filled with fear and uncertainty, she clung convulsively to Rhaenyra to keep from falling. The ground seemed to become smaller and smaller with each loud flight of the dragoness. It was indescribable. The wind was colder, sharper and yet pleasant. Everything seemed unimportant when you were up here. ,,Rhaenyra, this is incredible, Syrax is incredible, you are incredible," she said when she dared to open her eyes. But after she said that, she heard a sob despite the sharp wind. At first she thought she had misheard, but when she heard it again followed by a helpless whimper she knew she had not imagined it. ,,Rhaenyra?" she asked cautiously and saw the light blonde wiping away tears. ,,It's okay...you have to grieve, just let it happen," she said carefully and gave the younger girl a gentle, cautious hug from behind. 

She felt Rhaenyra let go of the rein and grabbed the young Mormont's arms. They held each other tightly and Syrax seemed to fly on her own. Only now Rhaenyra seemed to break completely and cried loudly in her arms. It broke the young Mormont's heart to see her love like this. She felt Rhaenyra reach for her hands and seem to cling to her. As if even her father had not supported her in her grief, or anyone else. As if she had been left alone. ,, Everything will be all right, I'm here for you," said the Mormont quietly but audibly among the loud crying and whimpering noises. She took Rhaenyra even tighter in her embrace and felt the falling wet tears on her skin. It broke her heart to see the younger one like this. ,, Your mother....she watches over you in the sky above the house of Arryn, and in every flame of every fire she is there," Y/n murmured softly, trying to somehow take away Rhaenyra's pain.

Only when Rhaenyra shouted out all her pain, grief, anger and everything that was weighing her down, Syrax joined in. The two seemed to feel each other's pain. ,,I am here...everything will be alright my heart" Y/n said without thinking and gave the younger one a gentle kiss on the head to calm Rhaenyra down. It must have been the blonde's grief and state of mind, because she didn't even seem to notice. Instead, she continued to hold on to the older one, crying softly this time and leaving her dragoness to fly. But the young Mormont also cried. Only more quietly than Rhaenyra. Silent tears ran down her cheeks. The pain of the death of her parents, her responsibility, her uncle, the pain, this damn unfairness and so much more. Despite the fact that they had known each other for such a short time, so much more seemed to be said through the embrace and in that moment than was ever needed. Syrax also seemed to sense that the two were in no hurry to get home. Instead she flew slower and made a similar purring sound almost as if she was trying to cheer them up.

How long it took them to get back to the castle they both couldn't say. But it seemed as if both of their tears were extinguished and it was not obvious that the dragon decided on its own that it was time to return. Again she held on to Rhaenyra as they landed before Syrax came to a stop with a muffled loud noise. ,,That was...very compassionate of you," Rhaenyra said, alluding to both the encouragement and the flight. ,,If my princess needs me again, I'm always here for you," she replied, giving Rhaenyra another hug from behind before they both got off Syrax. But as soon as they walked arm in arm towards the castle and disappeared into the corridors, the hand came towards them. The young Mormont quickly detached herself from the princess and bowed slightly. ,,Ser Otto" she said, seeing the serious look in the man's dark eyes. Am I being punished for the flight? she asked herself, hoping that it was not so. ,,Princess...Lady Y/n your presence is expected by the king who wants to speak with you" he said as simply and yet meaningful as possible. ,, Is Lady Mormont accused of something?" asked Rhaenyra almost too concerned.

The hand turned to the younger one. ,, No, princess, she just has to answer a question, these are matters that should not be discussed in the corridors," he said, but there was a coolness in his tone that did not allow for any rejoinder. ,, Of course Lord Hand I will come with you immediately. Princess, I hope to see you again soon," she said to Rhaenyra before bowing again and leaving with Otto. ,, You truly showed your stance at the funeral " he suddenly said after they had walked around some corridors. Surprised, she raised an eyebrow, ,, I was only doing my duty, the kingdom has lost its queen and a mother," she said, and the strong voice of a leader was heard again. ,, Keep it that way, some lords, I'm sorry to say, have forgotten their position," he said, but he seemed to be trying to reach her confused mind. Before she could ask anything, he just added, ,, Their stand and their loyalty to the crown ". But before they could talk further, the door to the throne room was opened. ,, The Hand Ser Otto Hightower and the Commanderess of Bear Island Lady Y/n Mormont " they were audibly announced before they both went inside. Otto walked to the throne and was within need of the king while Y/n went before the throne and knelt there. ,,Please rise" Viserys said almost immediately and she complied. 

She turned her head to the left and to her amazement saw Prince Daemon standing there. His gaze was on Otto and then on her with something like brief impassivity in his violet eyes. As if he could not assess the situation, she thought and inevitably had to swallow. ,,My king, I have been called here, is it Bear Island or my house?" she dared to ask to break the silence. Viserys shook his head softly and for a moment he had the look of a father on his face before he took on the same hardness that is required of a king. ,, No Lady Y/n, don't worry, nothing has happened to your island and your house. No, it's about something that was brought to my attention. It is about last night and about Prince Daemon, who is said to have made bold and highly treasonable statements," the older blond explained, looking briefly at his brother. Do they know that I was listening? came the panicked question inside her and she tried not to show anything through her eyes. ,,The prince is said to have mocked his deceased nephew in a rented brothel. He called him heir for a day," Otto explained to make everything more understandable.

When the brown-haired man saw the puzzled look that she partly played and partly had, Otto said, ,,Lady Y/n you were seen disappearing in the dark with your commander in the direction of the city. When you were near the brothel, you were also seen to be in the same place. We don't suspect anything, don't worry," he added. ,,Mormont, did you hear those words from my brother the prince?" Viserys asked directly and she knew he wanted an answer. Her hands, which she had placed on her back, ran lightly over it. Suddenly she felt the prince's dagger under the fabric of her belt, which was under her cloak. Her eyes went to the violet of Daemon. The daydream from the bathhouse and the heart beating came back. But he also seemed to be checking something, as if he was still not sure. ,, My king and the hand, I do not deny that I was in the city. I went there after the tournament, after my maid had roughly treated my wounds. My commander knew his way around, he had been here decades ago with my parents at a tournament. However, we went to a healer who fixed my broken fingers that I had suffered through Prince Daemon in the tournament," she said, pausing briefly not only to wet her lips but also to show off her hand. ,,After we went to the healer, I wanted to take a bath, but since we didn't take any with us on our journey, we went to an area I didn't know. There I was in a bathhouse...with other services it was...unpleasant. But after that I went out, I was too embarrassed to be surrounded by so many people. After that I wandered around slightly dazed by my injuries and my shame. My commander found me and we went back," she said, pausing again and looking at Daemon who was still watching her. ,,But Prince Dameon I have not seen...nor heard him say anything like that. I swear by the memories of my parents and my house," she said and bowed again. 

She saw the almost too quick minimal rise of Daemon's mouth corners as he realized what she had probably done. Otto looked at her appraisingly and almost disappointedly as if he had hopes for something. Only Viserys nodded before he decided. ,,Thank you Lady Mormont, the Crown will pay for your injuries and your honesty. You may go Lady Y/n " he said and the conversation of the three continued. ,,Prince Daemon, it remains the same even if she does not speak against you. So you will return to Dragonstone today, and immediately!" she heard Viserys say angrily, and she flinched briefly before continuing hastily. Only when the doors closed behind her did she allow herself to breathe normally again. Daemon is going to leave she thought and her hand ran over the cold Valyrian steel. The old gods gave her the warm moment with Rhaenyra. She lied to the king again, as did the hand, and all because her heart would not stop speaking. What had she done again, she had listened to love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little lesson in High Valyrian for the Dragon Commands in the story

Drakarys = Dragonfire

Dohaerās = Serve

Lykirī = Be calm

Umbās = Wait

Rȳbās = Focus

Māzīs = Come

Naejot = Forward

[deimagines]

Sparks (A Barry Allen & Y/N Daughter Imagine)

Imagine your and Barry's daughter, the prodigy speedster and hero Sparks, was traveling through time to check up on Nora. Even though she hates time traveling, she loves Nora enough to let her go through with staying in past to get to know their father as an apology for the years of secrecy. But it was a disturbing visit for Team Flash due to her terrifying resembles of you, her mother.

Note: I do not own anything from the DC or CW. Or anything from the Flash.

Two years old Etta was the apple of Barry’s eye. Named after his father, Henrietta was the last gift that was left to him and his friends and family after the great demise of his great love, Y/N.

The day Barry met Y/N was the same day he met the Arrow, Oliver Queen, and Felicity. Y/N accompanied them to a crime scene in Star City and Barry couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Which annoyed Oliver very much. 

And when Barry got his powers, Oliver sent Y/N to keep an eye on him and prevent him from doing anything stupid. Barry didn’t think that he would ever fall out of love with Iris, but from work to hero business Y/N did the impossible. She was the impossible. 

Eventually, they fell in love and Barry asked her hand in marriage. And at some point, Y/N became pregnant. 

But one night, when she went to help Oliver’s battle with the League of Assassins, she was killed. 

That night broke Barry into a mental state that would then seduce him into creating the Flashpoint which gave him back his beloved. 

Unfortunately, his happily ever after wasn't to last and he had no choice but to fix his mistakes. But either way, he was glad he did. 

The aftermath of flashpoint gave him his daughter. Born a month before Y/N’s death. 

It took a while for him to repair all the damages he ‘caused and accept the fact that Y/N was gone. And when he finally made peace with it, he found the courage to move on and formed a relationship with Iris like he dreamed of before ever meeting his soulmate. 

“Okay, let’s try this again. Explain.” 

Nora squirms in her seat as her parents stare down at her while the rest of the team watches them. 

They had just returned from their fight with a metahuman who was strong enough and cunning enough to capture Nora in his arms and threatened Barry to let him go otherwise he’d kill her and then suddenly she wasn’t in his arms anymore. In fact, she appeared on the other side of the fight and Barry was quick enough to outsmart the villain and bring him to the meta prison. 

What really frightened him was that he couldn’t find any explanation for how Nora escaped and when he and Cisco did, they all led to the same answer. Nothing.

And the way Nora was acting and fidgeting, the team could easily tell that she knows how. 

“Well, I. . . maybe have an idea. But it is not a sure idea because it is literally a thought that I just came up with. Which is really the definition of an idea.”

“Nora.”

“You know what, all this thinking is making me hungry, are you hungry? “Cause I’m really hungry. Maybe we can get that new combo that Big Belly Burger released today! I hadn’t had that meal in weeks and it’s my favorite.”

Her parents shared a look.

“Nora-”

 “Actually let's see if Etta is still awake. Family night! Right? Right! Let's go!”

She was about to leave her spot but Iris stopped her and gestured for her to sit back down. 

“Nora Allen, I may not have raised you yet but you are a terrible liar, just like your father.” 

Cisco and Caitlin then shared a look.

“So spill.” Iris crossed her arms and waited.

Nora fidgets her hands and sighs as she closes her eyes in defeat. “Fine. Look, this is going to be difficult to explain. But I’m really trying, honest!” She assures them after she was getting doubtful looks from them. “I just don’t know how to explain it.”

Barry narrows his brows at her. “Explain what?”

Nora didn’t get a chance to answer when the emergency red lights were flickering on and off and the alarms were blaring from the speakers. 

“What’s happening?” Ralph asked. 

“Securities have been breached.” Caitlin explains as she and Cisco rushed over to the monitors and checked the security cameras. 

After a moment, the red lights turned off and the alarm went silent. 

Suddenly, green lighting was glowing the Cortex and the familiar sounds of the winds of a speedster stopping were heard. 

And there, in the middle of the room, stood a hooded figure with a scarf and goggles hiding their face. The suit that they were wearing was all black with green details lining her arms, chest and legs. It hugged their figure very well for Team Flash to deduce that the speedster was indeed in fact a woman. 

Barry pulled on his mask and glared at the female speedster as Nora stood up and Iris stood next to her in an attempt to hide her from the intruder's view. 

“Who are you?” He demanded in a strong tone. 

The black and green speedster ignored Barry and focused all her attention on his daughter, causing Barry to lose his cool and yell at her.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” 

She remained silent, which enraged Barry even more. The red streak's face finally catches her eyes after she takes a step forward . Though it is somewhat calm, rage can be easily read from it. And when he couldn’t hold back any longer, Barry made the first move and sped over to try and catch her, but she ran away. 

So he chases her. 

“Dad! Wait!” Nora calls in worry. But it wasn’t for her father. 

She chases after them. 

“Nora!” Iris yells for her daughter. 

Meanwhile, Barry chases the female speedster all over S.T.A.R. Labs, trying to catch up to her. But as hard as he didn’t want to admit, she was faster than him by a second. They ran from the meta prison to the Speed Lab. He thought he had the upper hand when he jumped from the wall and reached to catch her from behind. He was unsuccessful when she turned swiftly and caught his wrist and grabbed his shoulder to maneuver his body and throw him against a concrete wall. 

At his impact to the solid surface, he groaned painfully and fell to the floor. He propped his elbow to look up at her. She stops and looks at him in what he believes to be a taunting move. As soon as he stood up and found his balance, he was going to lunge at her.

Nora however stops him by appearing in front of the female speedster with her arms up. Shielding the masked intruder from her father. 

“No, no, no, no, no, dad! It’s okay! It’s okay!” She tries to calm him down.

Team Flash manages to catch up to them and enters the room. Cisco, Caitlin, and Ralph readied themselves in case Barry needed help. 

“Nora, what are you doing? Get away from her!” Barry exclaims. Fearing for her safety. 

“She’s good! She’s good, I promise! She’s not going to hurt us.” Nora assures him. 

Barry shakes his head at her in disbelief. “How can you know that?!” He didn’t mean to snap, but he couldn’t care less either. 

Nora hesitated, she placed down her arms to her side and  slowly turned to the female speedster behind her.  

“Because she’s not a stranger.” 

At her answer, the black-and-green speedster pulls down her hood to reveal a shade of Y/H/C locks and Y/S/C skin. She removes her mask, and then her goggles, placing them on top of her head. 

The training room was still dark, but the light from the corridor was enough to identify the face of their new ‘friend’. But when she steps into the light more, they sort of wish that she could’ve done it sooner. 

“It can’t be. . .” Cisco whispers. 

Caitlin's eyes started to cloud. “I don’t believe it.”

Barry's breath caught when he stared into the familiar pair of Y/E/C eyes that once belonged to the woman who held his heart with all of his existence. 

“. . .Y/N?” He croaks.

“No,” Nora says and quickly corrects him. “Etta.” 

Barry looks between Nora and Y/- Etta as the realization finally hits him. This woman, who could be a carbon copy of the love of his life, was his daughter. His baby was not a baby. She had definitely grown into the woman that he had hoped for. To be beautiful like her mother.

“Etta.” He says with wonderment.

Etta wasn’t fazed by the way he was looking at her. “Sorry about that. I was. . . actually that’s not important.” She returned her attention to Nora, her step-sister, and gave her a kind smile. 

“Hey Sis.” Nora smiles happily and gives her big sister a bear hug. 

Etta laughs a little, which sends a little shiver inside of Barry. She even sounds like her, laughs like her, and yet she wasn’t. She was still his little toddling Etta. 

“Hey,” She says and pulls back to look at Nora, up and down before placing a hand on her cheek. “You okay? When I saw that douchebag touching you I couldn’t help but want to rip his arms off.”

“Yeah, she’s definitely her mother.” Cisco comments, but is still content, and a bit freaked out, that future Henrietta was here. 

“I’m good.” Nora says. Assuring her sister that she wasn’t harmed.

Etta sighs in relief and taps Nora's chin. “Good.”

Suddenly she grabs Nora by the ear and pulls down hard. 

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,” Nora expresses her pain loudly. 

“What the hell were you thinking??” Etta said angrily. 

Everyone watched as the eldest Allen child dragged her sister by the ear and out to the corridor. They all shared a look and then they follow the girls behind, listening to Etta's ranting as Nora continues to moan in pain. 

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow-”

“I thought we agreed that you would stay and get to know dad, instead you decided to play hero??”

“Ow, ow, ow,-”

“I specifically told you not to interfere with any of their battles and yet you still couldn’t follow that one rule?”

“Should we help her?” Ralph asks.”

“No, I think it’s best that she settles this on her own.” Joe councils.

“I-is that a good idea?” Barry asked.

“OWWWWW!” 

“Maybe?”

***

Once again, Nora found herself sitting on a chair while rubbing the sting on her ear away.

Her sister Etta was still trying to avoid her father’s gaze ever since she calmed down. Well, everyone’s gaze really. And she knew why.

“Uh hi,” Cisco was the first one to break the tension in the room. “Sorry, but I just wanna say how creepy it is that you look like your mom. I mean, the resemblance is so. . .”

Etta looks at him and he just shakes his head.

“Creepy.” He finishes.

“Yeah, you and the rest of the people in my life say so.” Etta mutters.

“What are you doing here, Etta?” Nora asks in a tired voice, but mostly like she was accusing her.

“Uh-uh, you are not using that tone with me.” Etta points at her. “You stopped sending in your routined messages-"

"You send messages to the future?" Ralph asked.

"Gideon." Nora says the AI's name.

Barry finally broke his gaze away from Etta. "Gideon?"

"He sends out my messages to Etta in the future to let her know I'm okay."

"Who's Gideon?" Ralph asks, being more confused by the second.

Cisco was the one to answer."Gideon's the AI that Barry built in the future and was-"

Etta was clearly losing her patience."Can we please stop talking about Gideon."

But she left Ralph in a mental crisis.

"I got worried." She points to herself.

“You shouldn’t be.” Nora interjects. “I was with dad."

Etta scoffs. "That doesn't give you a pass to not let me in the know."

"Why should I?" Nora glares up at her.

"Because you are still just a child and as much as it hurts to hear it is the truth."

Nora pursed her lips to keep her from shouting.

Etta sighs tiredly and pinches the crook of her nose. "Look, Nora. You are smart. So smart that I shouldn't even have to remind you that you are still new with your powers. That’s why I agreed to let you learn from dad."

The youngest Allen child looked down in frustration and it was not because she was being scolded, but because of herself. Nora knew that Etta was right, but she wouldn't be where she is with Barry if she hadn't made the choice that would ruin their sisterhood.

"When are you gonna realise that I'm not gonna be there all the time whenever you make a mistake?"

Etta turns around and begins to walk out the Cortex.

"Where are you going?" Cisco asked as she passed him.

"The lounge.” She responded and disappeared through the corridor.

***

Central City, 2049.

“Sparks.”

Etta looks up at Clark Kent, Superman who broke her out of her gaze.

“You okay?”

Etta nods. “Kind of. Just feeling a little homesick.”

“I can understand.” Clark places a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You must miss them terribly.”

The speedster smiles sadly. The Justice League had just come back from one of their missions at Coast City. Her three month old son Don was the highlight of her life whenever she came back from a mission or a battle in Central City. “Now I know how my dad feels whenever he’s out doing missions for the Justice League.”

Clark snorts. “Are you kidding me? He was a complete mess compared to you during the Crisis. Trust me, you are handling this better than he did.”

She smiled, but not because she was humoured. Clark drops his smile slowly, apologies quietly.

“I’m sorry. Your father was a good man.”

She only gave another nod before standing up from her chair, her father’s chair. After his disappearance, Etta trained to be Central City’s protector and had taken her father’s place in the Justice League at the age of eighteen. It wasn’t as easy to understand her powers alone, her aunts and uncles were there to help, but she wanted to learn from her father once.

The first memory she has of him that popped into her head was when she was four and had a nightmare about a black ghost with red eyes. She woke up and her father came into her nursery, shushing her lovingly and told her she was okay. Once she calmed down, she told him about the monster and he had a sad look on his face but it was only brief before he told her that he would scare all the monsters away so that his little princess would sleep peacefully. Then, he picked her up from bed, took her to the kitchen and made them both ice cream sundaes. They had to be quiet since they didn’t want to wake up Iris and get in trouble.

“Thank you.” She says to Clark. “I better get going, Micheal and Don are waiting for me.”

“Tell Michael I said hi.” Clark says before giving her a parting hug.

“I will. See you at the next meeting.” She waves and runs out of the Hall of Justice.

Her physical home in Central City was a penthouse that she and Michael had brought after three years of their relationship. She met Michael, Ryan Choi’s apprentice at Ivy University, when she needed an upgrade on her suit and they just clicked. They crossed each other’s paths again and again until Michael had the courage to ask her out for coffee. And as secretive as she was, Michael still figured out that she was the speedster hero Sparks.

They married two years after buying the penthouse and had their son, Donatello 'Don' months after their wedding.

Her true home was being with them.

***

Central City, 2018. 

Etta studied the buildings from the balcony of the lounge, admiring the night skies and listened to the cool winds against her ear. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed a device that’s the size of her thumb and clicks on it. A small holopic of her husband holding their son in his arms appeared. 

She smiles at it and reaches out to stroke the image of her son’s cheek. It glitched by the touch but she ignored it as she imagined her son’s touch when she held him in her arms. Her husband would be there holding them together as he had many times. 

“They're beautiful.” 

Etta turns as she closes the holopic and sees her dad changed into his normal attire. 

“Hi.” She waves lamely. 

“Hi.” He rasped, feeling nervous by the second as he steps closer to her. It was still strange to see her standing, looking like Y/N would’ve been if she was still with him, alive.

His staring was similar to the ones she received all her life whenever she first met someone who knew her mother. The same stare of awe and grief. 

“Will you stop looking at me like that.” She says with a deadpan expression. 

He tilts his head. “Like what?”

“Like I’m gonna disappear.“ 

Barry looks down at his shoes and up to her again. “I’m sorry, it’s just. . . I always envisioned what you’ll look like, all grown up. I mean, you were born with her eyes and hair.” He shakes his head lightly and walks up to her while looking down at her with tears beginning to form in his eyes as he smiled. “You look so much like your mother.”

Etta looked up at him awkwardly and shifted in her spot. “You know, sometimes, I get tired of hearing it.” Her voice wavers a bit. “Getting compared to my mom.”

Barry nods in understanding.   

She crossed her arms. “But weirdly hearing it from you. . . it’s different.”

Barry smiled more brightly. “Is that a good thing?” 

She nods and steps back to rub her arms. They walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the bars with elbows. 

“So, who are they?” Barry couldn’t help but ask. 

“I’d rather not answer.” She wanted to avoid it. “Timeline thing, you know.” 

“But-”

“Look, I really don’t want to sound mean,” Even if she is. “But I’m only here to see how Nora’s doing. That’s it.”

He stayed silent for a while, looking at her like a sad puppy. But respects her decision either way. “Okay. How long will you be staying?”

“A day.” She answers.“I still have duties to attend in the future.”

“What duties?” 

She didn’t say, only placing a finger on her lips mischiefly and walked back into the lounge. “Night dad. Kiss baby Etta goodnight for me.” 

Barry watches her leave the lounge. Fighting the urge to follow her, wanting to spend more time with her. But he has a feeling that she wants to either be alone or go back to Nora.

***

Central City, 2049.

“Who else knows?” Nora asks angrily at her mother.

“Everyone.” Iris whispers.

“Everybody?” Her daughter quietly. “Everyone that I love has been keeping this from me? Why?”

“Because I told them to.” Iris tries to reason with her.“Nora, I was trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

“From this city. From meta-humans. From. . . From. . . Yourself.”

Nora scoffs and looks away from her. Unbearing to look at her right now. “Wow.”

“Nora, you don’t understand.”

“No. I don’t understand. How did I get my powers? What do you have against speedsters, against Spar-” 

And then her mouth opens with the smallest of realisation in her eyes. “Etta?” 

Iris closes her eyes again. 

“That’s why she’s alwaysdisappeared away. She’s Sparks isn’t she?”

“Nora-”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Nora snaps.

“Nora, I have already lost so much. I can’t risk losing you too.”

Nora shakes her head and shrugs. “Well. . .you just did.” 

And she disappears. Leaving Iris to her sadness, but she didn’t have any regets of protecting her daughter.

Nora ran through all of Central City to go to her sister, but what she found at her home was a nightmare.

CCPD was there along with an ambulance. Nora feared the worst and ran at a normal pace to the scene. She showed her badge and was about to head into the building until two paramedics rolled a stretcher. Her breath caught her throat when she saw the person on it.

“Etta? Etta!” She cries and runs up to the paramedics.

“Are you family?” One of the paramedics asked. 

“She’s my sister. What happened?” She asked and gasped when she saw a pool of blood wetting the blouse on her sister. They lifted her into the ambulance and stepped inside as they answered her question.

“Multiple stab wounds and a head concussion. Get in.” 

Nora didn’t need to be told twice and immediately went into the vehicle. She sat beside the paramedics and reached out to hold her big sister’s hand. 

“Etta please, don’t leave me. Please.” She cries. “There’s so much I need to know. Please.”

After they got to the hospital and rushed Etta to the OR, Nora paced around the waiting room.

Soon, when she was on her third cup of coffee. Loud footsteps were heard from the corridor and a strong yet familiar voice was called out. 

“Henrietta Henrietta Allen-Jude. Where is she, is she okay?” 

“Any relations?” 

“I’m her husband, now tell me where she is!” 

Nora stood up from her chair. “Michael?” 

Michael turned and saw her. “Nora! What happened, is she okay?”

Nora shakes her head. “I don’t know." And she breaks down into a crying fit which leads Michael to catch her in a hug.

Luckily, Etta recovered from the attack, but the surgeon doesn't know when she’ll wake up. That left Nora into a deep spiral of sadness. Once again, she felt alone. So to take her mind off her sister’s condition, she decided to spend her time trying to catch Godspeed and continues to meet with the only speedster she knows, Eobard Thawne. 

After finally catching Godspeed, who was identified as August Heart, Nora began her training as the ‘Fastest Woman Alive’ which she shouldn’t use that title since her sister held it first. Thawne taught her how to become a proper speedster despite knowing that he was her father’s archnemesis. But what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t wait on Etta forever and she needed to find a way to use her powers to become a hero. A choice that was taken from her mother. 

Then, one faithful day, Etta finally wakes up. 

Etta opened her eyes and blinks rapidly to adjust the bright lights above her. She looks around her surroundings and deducts that she was in a hospital. She turns when she felt a heavy weight on her lap and sees her husband sleeping peacefully there, laying his head on his arms as a pillow. 

Not stopping the smile that was forming slowly on her face, she lifts her hand and rests it on Michael's head, stroking his hair. 

Micheal stirs then opens his eyes. He looks up and suddenly stood straight. “Etta,” He whispers. “Thank god.”

He leans over to press a long kiss on her forehead, grabbing her hand and held it tight, not ever wanting to let go. 

She laughs quietly at his love, savouring the moment. “Someone misses me.” She jokes. 

Micheal pulls away and began planting small kisses on her face. Once he was done he wipes the hair away from her face and places his forehead against hers. “You have no idea how happy I am to see your eyes open, Runner.”

She smiles but then quickly becomes serious. “How bad is it?”

Micheal sighs. “Not bad. Thankfully, your Aunt Caitlin came to see you and everything seems to be fine.” 

“Good.” 

“Etta!” A voice behind Micheal cries in joy. 

Etta looks over and sees that Nora was here as well. Awoke from her sleep on the chair.

“Hey XS.” She says happily as Nora continues to cry under her breath. 

“Are you okay? Do you feel any pain?” Nora asks but Etta just waves. 

“Nah, I’m good, hungry, but good.” She then sent a look to Michael and he immediately understood. 

“I’ll go see the doctor.” He squeezed her hand and gave her one more kiss and swoops out of the room. 

“How are you. Really?” Nora held her hand and stroked the back of her hand. 

“Fine.” Etta says. “I’m fine. . .”  She tried to comfort her but failed miserably as her lips quivered. 

“Hey. Hey. What is it?” Nora panicked and manages to hold her calming voice to ease her older sister. 

Etta let out a small sob. “I-I. . .” 

“Shhhhh. It’s okay. It’s okay.” Nora consoles her. Whatever God Speed did to her, she’ll make sure that he’ll stay in the pit hole. Forever. 

The older woman shakes her head. “It’s not. It’s not.” She grips Nora’s hand tightly. “Nora. . .”

Nora then understands. Etta was going to tell her. 

Etta takes a deep breath to control her emotions. “Nora there’s something you need to know.”

“Etta-”

“No, Nora, please listen-”

“Etta.” Nora repeated her sister’s name more loudly. Etta stops her babbling and looks up at her. 

Nora smiles and petted Etta’s hair. She took a deep breath. “I know.”

Etta shakes her head again. “No, no you don’t. Listen to me-”

“Etta.” Nora cries too. “I know.”

Etta’s breath shakes. A sudden wave of relief rushes through her body and she closes her eyes. 

“I wanted to tell you. For so long.” She sniffs.  “But Iris. . . she wouldn't let me.”

“Why?” Nora rasped. “You are Sparks. “ She whispered. “You’re Central City’s Heroine. You’re part of the Justice League. What power does mom have over you?”

The speedster sniffs. “She’s a mother. Something that we both have in common.”

“Hey. There’s something you need to know.”

Etta watches as Nora lifts her hand and vibrates it to a familiar speed. She gasps. 

“You’re. . .” 

“Guess I’m a late bloomer.” Nora says and they both burst into quiet laughs. “There’s a lot you need to catch up on.”

She sniffs again and grabs her sister’s hands with excitement. “Tell me.” 

[admirableadmiranda]

Sangsang, hello! How was your erha re-read? I wanted to ask you your opinion on Hua Binan. I love the reveal. I love the whole him mannapping Chu Wanning. Its prbly to prevent spoiler but I haven't seen meta about him yet. I just want to know what u think of him

Hello, anon! I have not done a reread yet, I usually like to sit for a couple months on a book before doing a reread unless I do something unusual like get kidnapped by MDZS, but I’m happy to answer your questions even so!

Hua Binan is a character that I have complicated feelings on. I think he’s an absolutely fantastic antagonist who does an excellent job of driving the plot forward. I think he’s the first real grey morality character I’ve seen in a danmei as he has reasonable goals and horrible ways to enact them. I think he’s an extremely well crafted character who will likely unfold in new ways throughout the book when I do reread it.

I kind of really hate him as a person. The way he treats Mo Ran is subtly unsettling, the way that he treats Chu Wanning is disgusting and while the complete lack of regard he has for human life is completely understandable knowing his history with them, the way that he does just as despicable things while thinking himself above them is unsettling.

Which I think is exactly the point. He’s an utterly fantastic villain and even if I’d tipped on Shi Mei being evil (and my friends can attest that I was calling him a villain from like chapter 20), the depths to his reveals and actions were incredible. But he’s not really meant to be likable or all that sympathetic. He is a villain, and he’s an incredibly thorough one, but in the end I don’t at all feel sad about his death or think that his life was wasted in some way because he got two lifetimes to make his own choices and ended in the one that he did.

I do think some of the reason why people may not meta about him so much outside of spoilers is cause there’s not really much else left to talk about. His reveal is so well done and he’s so far gone that he’s not really excusable or debatable in any way. We even get an idea of what he might have done if he had a chance to reconsider his path in the main world’s Shi Mei, who sacrifices his eyes to his cause, but then later becomes a healer who goes around helping people without ever telling them who he is, acting in what he seems to feel is penance for his actions before. Hua Binan has a complete character arc and journey with backstory, choices, motivations and weaknesses all laid out, and unlike my usual fandom of choice, as far as I can tell, no one doubts that.

I’m sure there are probably things to be said about him, but most of it the book says plenty well for itself. Hua Binan is a man who did live through a terrible experience and was born a race that was tortured and treated abominably. But his actions ended up leading him down a path that hurt so many other innocent people and somewhere along the way he sold everything good about himself for a dream that he would never get to realize, one that had been closed to him from the start.

I dunno! He’s very complex and I think he’s the perfect villain for the story! Just personally I also kinda hate him for being who he is and that’s just as it should be.

[dathen]

Okay I have some complicated thoughts following Melanie’s arc that all build on top of each other and hinge HEAVILY on unreliable narrator interpretations so bear with me

In my relisten I’m at the beginning of s3, and it always shocks me a bit at how quickly she interprets Martin’s interaction with her as hostile.  I’m going to skip over the “it’s understandable, Melanie’s had a hard time in her career” disclaimers since there’s plenty of meta on that already, and instead follow the effects of this tendency: not on others, this time, but on her

(This got absurdly long and covers so many episodes so I’m going to split it into separate pre- and post-bullet surgery posts)

Rewinding a bit, the last time she was at the Institute, she was starting to get along with Jon before he seemed confused about her comment on “the other Sasha.”  It takes her a split second to interpret that confusion as him suddenly deciding to gaslight and mock her, gets angry and tells him there is something seriously wrong with him, and leaves before he can ask what she means.  Given how tenuous their truce was and the fact she and Jon had mocked each other in the past, it’s an outburst that at least has some personal history behind it.

But only a couple episodes later, we learn that it’s not just Jon she responds to in this way.  In TMA 84, she meets our Martin Blackwood!  Customer service voice opposite-of-Jon politeness extraordinaire!  And as soon as he gets confused about the two Sasha comment, she.......immediately assumes that HE is also trying to gaslight her.  She insists that “I’m not doing this again” without giving him a chance to ask or explain, so they miss the opportunity to piece together the deal with the Not!Sasha.  Her doing this with someone she just met shows a much broader pattern than her interactions with Jon.

That very episode, Elias offers Melanie a job, and she accepts despite Martin’s protests.  Later, she accuses them all of them being an “old boy’s club” because she interpreted Martin’s warnings as sexism rather than trying to protect her.  As the audience, we see the unreliable narrator of her perspective at work: we know that Jon and Martin were genuinely confused, and we know that Martin was trying to save her, and that all of these instances were her seeing it as people being out to get her.

Hop forward to the notorious gossip scene in TMA 106.  Here, Melanie complains about Martin being hostile to her.  My first assumption was that this was all offscreen, but after this parade of misinterpretation and comparing to her and Martin’s actual interactions, I have to wonder:

TMA 84, after Martin tells Melanie about the murder, and right before Elias interrupts:

Martin:  Are you sure you’re alright?

Melanie:  Yes!  I just got… God, I’m kind of at the end, you know?

Martin:  The end of what?

Melanie:   Everything.  Friends, clues, savings. Everything.  Options.  There’s nowhere left for me to go . I don’t know why, but…  I just, I just felt that perhaps coming here might help.  And talking things out with Jon.  I mean, I mean he’s awful, but at least he listens, you know?

Martin:   (soft) Yeah.  ...I’m sorry.  Um, is there anything that I could, like, maybe...do for you?

They get interrupted immediately after this, so this was the first impression Melanie was given.  Then, when Elias offers the job, she...assumes Martin’s “I don’t think that’s a good idea” is from sexism, when he’d just been talking about murders and disappearances that caused that very job opening.

TMA 88 

Melanie:   Are you alright?

Martin:  Yeah… Sorry, just a lot of change recently, y’know.  You and John and Sasha and… everything’s gone a bit wrong.  It’s the not knowing, you know?  I mean, Jon’s still alive.  Not sure why, but I’m sure of that.  But Sasha, I…

Melanie:   Yes, it’s… it’s probably, um…

Martin:   Sorry, sorry, I’m...  What do you need?

Next interaction!  Oh this one HURTS.  Martin takes her question literally, and starts telling her why she’s not alright, a reverse of their earlier exchange.  But Melanie came by for a question and wasn’t prepared for an honest answer, so Martin quickly reels it in and asks what he can do for her once again.

Skipping forward a bit in that same scene:

Martin:   Oh, you weren’t here when we took the place over from Gertrude!  It’s been over a year just to get it like this.  I mean, I think the database was on Jon’s list, but--

Melanie:  So how do you track someone down?

Martin:   Oh, oh well, y’know, we’ve a few contacts in various record offices around the place.  Aside from that it’s just… just a bit of detective work, really.  Tim used to do a great line in impersonating people to utility companies!  Heh, the number of times he got them to give him ‘his own’ address--

Melanie:  Right, right… Um, this one, the name is 'Jude Perry.’ Doesn’t mean anything to you, does it?

I LOVE THIS EXCHANGE.  I TREASURE IT.  Having bottled up his emotions, Martin is going in full Friendly Helpful Coworker mode.  There are so many little details here signaling that he’s embracing her as part of the team, sharing anecdotes about Tim’s shenanigans and Jon’s old plans, looping her in as One of Them as he helps her get what she needs.  This is the kind of approach you go to management trainings to get, to help new hires feel welcome and part of things.  But alas, Melanie is in a hurry and wants to cut to the chase, so all this is lost on her.

TMA 98 - I won’t copy it all in here because it’s long, but this is an overwhelmingly positive interaction.  She asks if he’s okay, but he bottles it up and says he’s fine.  This time, she presses, and he admits it’s because of the statements.  Martin ends up asking for help!! and Melanie agrees!  She’s on the way to murder Elias, but she still gets credit for “I’ll ask him to cut you some slack.”  Then she invites him to drinks!

And then.... TMA 106

Melanie:   Anyway, Martin’s always been lovely to you.

Basira:  Hmm. I don’t know, I mean, you should have seen him when I turned up last year. I think he thought I was trying to steal his precious Archivist.

Melanie:   Ahhh. I got the exact same when Jon was hiding out, and came to me with his “source on the inside” stuff.  Martin was not impressed.

WAIT WHAT

We just looked over all their interactions!  They were all soft and lovely and welcoming!!  But then we hear Melanie with “well unlike how he is to me, Martin is nice to you.”  This was taken at face value for years, but when you line up all of the above, I feel there is a strong basis to say this is another case of Melanie’s first impressions + over-defensiveness gone wrong.  Just like we saw her initial bickerings with Jon solidify into series-long hostility, her interpreting Martin’s confusion as gaslighting and warnings about the job as sexism seems to have doomed her opinion of him long-term.  We hear Martin being kind and concerned and welcoming, then hear Melanie contrast it as bad treatment.

Recently, a mutual considered this even further to how she talked about losing all of her friends with the Ghost Hunt UK circles:

Melanie:  Even back then, I could feel all my old friends starting to distance themselves from me. ...  I stopped asking the others for help, and I kept my research to myself. I talked to them less and less. By the time I was arrested, I think a lot of them had already given up on me.

I have to wonder...did this sort of dynamic play out here, too?  Did she assume that her friends’ concern was judgment or hostility?  Were they giving up on her, or did she lash out and push them away?  Either way, it’s easy to see parallels to s2 Jon in her description, here, with her withdrawing and diving alone into increasingly risky research without asking for help.  And s2 Jon definitely shared Melanie’s tendency to see offers for help and support as hostile.  (Aside:  I interpret her and Georgie as not very close at this point, like a networking contact rather than a friend; Melanie comes to Jon for someone to talk to about her struggles above her, and Georgie seems to be unaware of all of Melanie’s encounters pre-s3)

And on that downer note I am ending part 1...but PART 2 IS GOING TO BE WAY HAPPIER THAN THIS.  Here, we see Melanie with a lot of people who would have supported her if she let them:  Martin, Jon, possibly the friends she said abandoned her.  But in her effort to protect herself and not let history repeat for how she’d been hurt in the past, she ends up alone and spiraling.

[ragingbookdragon]

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#god u get told too many times as a kid that no one cares and u just forget how to show your passion without saying sorry every fucking min

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

“I don’t give a rat’s ass how badly you want me out of your business,” she griped, cocking her hands on her hips. “I am you mother and as long as I’m alive I’m going to be in your business making sure you’re doing alright.”

Tim’s expression pinched and he couldn’t help but cross his arms over his chest. “Me and the others had it under control.”

“Look me in my eyes and tell me that meta-humans running wild across Gotham City means you had it under control,” she argued, and he glanced at her, meeting her irritated gaze. “You are seventeen going on eighteen, Timothy Jackson Wayne, and while I’m comfortable letting you and your friends go around doing God knows what in other cities, when your ass is in Gotham City, you know damn well you’re supposed to check in and let me or your father know what you’re doing.” She accentuated her point by tipping her head towards the man leaning back against the desk who was merely watching.

“Dad,” he whined, trying to get him to help him out.

His father merely sipped the glass of water in his hand. “Nope, not getting involved.”

She started tapping her foot, a telltale sign that her annoyance was shifting into anger. “Timothy, you’re grou—”

Tim, in a last-ditch effort to save his hide, he pointed at his second eldest sibling and shouted, “Jason snuck Kyle into the manor last night whenever you were out with Damian and dad on the back porch! He left this morning when you were getting ready for work!”

Her eyes went wide, so did Jason’s as he spluttered, “W-what! No, the fuck I didn’t!”

She was already whirling on him. “Jason Peter Todd, did you sneak a boy into this house!”

“I—we—he—” Jason pointed at Dick. “Dickhead was the one who broke the Ming Dynasty vase in the hallway! I saw it!”

“ME?!” Dick shouted, already turning on Cassandra. “Cass is the one who broke the refrigerator after she punched the panel ‘cause it wouldn’t work!”

“Damian skipped school last week,” she countered, glaring at Dick.

Damian’s olive cheeks flushed crimson. “You dare tell on me!” he pointed at Bruce. “Father skipped the gala last Tuesday and said he had a mission to complete but instead he was hanging out with Superman and Wonder Woman!”

She stood bewildered and turned, gaping at Bruce. “Excuse me? You did what?”

Bruce held his hands up, expression already turning panicky as he calmed, “Darling, I can totally explain not attending the gala with you.”

“Oh? You can?” she laughed, eyes narrowing in rage. “So, it wasn’t just to get out of having to deal with all the other socialites? No, not Bruce Wayne. He wouldn’t leave his lovely wife to fend for herself.”

At this point the children were inching their way towards the door and Bruce pointed at them. “They’re getting away!”

She spun, ready to yell at them but they were already gone and when she turned back around, Bruce was gone too, the wall shifting back to its original place; she let out a howl. “OH, ALL OF YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!”

2,143 notes - Posted February 27, 2022

#4

“Can I ask you something?” Soap inquired, sitting close enough for their legs to brush.

“Depending on what you’re about to ask me, be prepared for either sarcasm or cold ruthlessness.”

He nodded. “I can appreciate that.” Gazing at her, he asked, “Do you think you’ll live to be an old woman?”

“Define old woman.”

“Old,” Soap answered. “With grandbabes. In your old age.”

She snorted. “Oh, no. I’m definitely going to be dead by fifty.”

“Why’s that?”

“People who do what we do don’t exactly make it out alive, Soap. I know I won’t make it to die old.”

“Already prepared?”

She nodded. “My affairs are in order.”

He sat back in thought, simply staring at her. “…Will you have any regrets if you go early?”

For a moment, she was quiet, a distant yet love-longing look in her eyes as she gazed over the rim of her laptop to the Lieutenant reading over a set of blacked-out files. “Only few.”

Soap didn’t speak on it, wasn’t going to breach that barrier she and the Lieutenant had built around one another; instead, he smiled and nudged her in the side, quipping, “You’re going to have a giant regret if you go before Ghost, aye?”

She barked a laugh as Ghost looked up and glared at them. “Let me tell you something, if I die before Ghost, that means I have a limited amount of time before he gets there too to set up a room of traps for him to fall in.”

“I don’t think the big man upstairs is going to let that go.”

“Oh we’re all going to hell, Soap, there’s no doubt about that.”

“If anyone’s going to hell, it’s you, love,” Ghost remarked, going back to his files. “But only for being a witch.”

“Asshat,” she griped, throwing a pen at him, which he caught.

Soap looked between them and asked, “Why haven’t you two just married already?”

Ghost looked up and gestured at her. “I tried. Gollum ate the ring and told me to fuck off.”

“I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME GOLLUM! AND NO, YOU DROPPED THE RING OFF THE PIER!”

“It was your fault.”

“IT WAS NOT!”

Soap grinned and rose from his seat, walking off as they started arguing and Price simply rubbed his temples. “Why do you do that?”

“Because if I have to suffer a Brit and an American on the same team, I’m going to make amusement somewhere.”

2,208 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

#3

Is Jason going to call Bruce dad to his face? No, no he’s not.

Is Jason going to defend Bruce with “My dad—” and beat the shit outta anyone who talks bad about him when Bruce isn’t there? Yes. Yes he will.

3,670 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

#2

Soap reclined against the back of the metal wall of the plane, eyes dragging from each member of the team until they landed on her. She, oddly enough wasn’t sitting like the others were, contemplating the mission and the risks. In her hands was a small book, about the size of a cigarette holder, perhaps a religious book, but he’d never known her to pray or be religious outright; then again, she wasn’t very open about many things of herself either.

Her eyes drew along the pages, quietly turning them, occasionally shifting with the movement of the plane and he heard lowly, “Keep staring at her like that and she’ll think you like her.”

He fought the urge to roll his eyes and merely retorted, “Would that be such a bad thing, Lt.?”

Ghost chuckled. “She’ll eat your heart out, Soap.”

“If it’s her, that doesn’t sound like a bad way to go.” He shifted his foot and tapped along the ground, loud enough for her to cock an eyebrow to acknowledge the motion. “Whatcha reading?”

She flipped a page. “A book detailing the capture, trials, and deaths of women during the Salem Witch Trials.”

Soap blinked, eyebrows furrowing together. “…Why?”

“She’s tryna figure out why they didn’t catch her back then,” Ghost chirped and her eyes rose from the page to meet his, knowing he was smirking behind that stupid mask of his.

“Don’t take the bait,” Price muttered beside her, arms crossed over his chest, and she was almost prepared to let it go. But, she also remembered that Ghost ate the last of her chocolate chip poptarts before they left.

She went back to her book and rattled off, “Ghost can’t play golf. We went to a putt-putt one time and I’ve never seen a man so competent in the art of war be so terrible at hitting a ball.”

Ghost spluttered as Soap snickered.

“He snores like an old dog and drools in his sleep.” She flipped another page. “One time we were on a mission in Baghdad, and he wasn’t paying attention and ran into a wall. Broke his radio from the impact.”

“I did not,” Ghost hissed.

“He cried watching Where The Red Fern Grows.”

“WHO WOULDN’T?!” he snapped. “SHE DIES OF A BROKEN HEART AFTER HER BROTHER!”

“One time he ate a box of fiber bars to recover from a hangover and he shit himself in the middle of the store.”

“Alright! I get it! I’m sorry!” he griped and she smiled to herself as she quieted down and went back to her book.

For a few moments, silence enveloped the group in the plane, then Soap asked, “Did you really shit yourself?”

“Shut. Up.”

4,545 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I need everyone to stop what ur doing and go google Betty White. Rn. Go.

9,034 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

‘Ell I’ll be damned

[ayamari-no-goshi]

To Join the Whispers (10)

AO3

Fandoms: Danny Phantom (DP) / DC universe

Summary:  THIS  IS A CROSSOVER. A contact for the Batfamily passed along a rumor that the League of  Assassins were investigating a small city called Amity Park.The old man and Tim managed to find evidence of unusual  paranormal activity in the town. While they weren’t entirely certain it  wasn’t just infested with metas, the locals believed the entities that haunted, for lack of a  better word, the town were actual ghosts. If there was one thing Ra’s al Ghul didn’t need to get his grubby hands on, it was ghosts.That’s probably why Jason was doing this. He had the unfortunate luck to experience both death and resurrection in a way he’d never recommend to anyone else.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, and questionable mental health

Parings: none

Notes: originally uploaded to AO3. Cross-posted to tumblr. Jason Todd-centric

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Duke hesitantly asked Jason as they made their way out of the lab. Plasmius hadn’t reemerged, and without a clear picture of where he might go, they decided to check in on the other guests.

“For the fifth time, yes! Can we move past this already?” The repetitiveness had gotten under his skin. After Danny got him out of the table, he made sure to check if everything was okay. Even Bruce ran a quick scan as he replaced his gear which Dick and Cass happened to find while double checking the area before they exited. Even though the man frowned, he didn’t actually say anything which worked for Jason because it meant he wouldn’t be benched.

Sure, he dealt with two rather unpleasant brushes with death in the past hour or two. But, at this point, it was par for the course for long missions. The only thing that made him wonder if something did change in him was the weird feeling in his chest.

It wasn’t hurting him or anything, but he didn’t like how it felt. While it still caused problems, the Pit’s affects over his mind we’re slowly diminishing, and if Frostbite was to be believed, being in Amity was helping that process. Things had been noticeably better during his solo fight with Plasmius so there seemed to be something to it, but now those Waters felt more concentrated. He really didn’t want to slip into madness in front of the others, especially Danny. The kid had already done so much to help him. He didn’t need to see that.

Speaking of Danny, he flew a little to his left as they moved. His furrowed brows and frown suggested something made him uneasy. Was it the tension his siblings currently held in their stances? Or was it the anger radiating off of Bruce? Usually, the Bat reserved that for days when he decided Jason’s stance on how to be a good vigilante got under his skin more so than usual, prompting a physical fight.

Jaosn heard rumors Bruce was sometimes like that after one of their family members got seriously injured and/or killed. Tim once mentioned that was one of the reasons he originally approached Bruce. Supposedly, during the months after Jason’s death, Bruce’s way of handling criminals was unprecedently brutal. While it wasn’t a secret Batman would rough up criminals for information, he wasn’t usually violent for the sake of violence.

It wasn’t a good idea for him to think about that time period. Most of the time, it just created turmoil in his heart and mind that tended to make the whispers of the Pit hard to ignore.

“Phantom, do you have any idea where Plasmius may have gone?” The anger in Bruce’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. Usually, the man could keep his voice even, but it seemed his ire seemed to be partially directed at Danny.

“I can’t sense him like other ghosts so I’m not sure. In the past, if I screwed up one of his schemes, he’d back down for the day, and that’s that.” Danny almost seemed to shy away from the group as he spoke.

“What about Axiom Labs?” Dick suggested. “We saw his company bought it.”

The kid considered it for a moment. “Unlikely. He bought it for… what’s the word? Leverage? Basically, a family member of someone he tricked into working for him works there. I think I saw some of their tech in the lab, but he hasn’t really used any of it in a fight after me and my sister tricked him that one time.”

“Didn’t think your sister was the combative type.” Jason teased as they reached the staircase.

“She will if she has to.” A scowl momentarily crossed the kid’s features. “Just don’t let her hold the Fenton Thermos. I don’t know how, but she always catches me instead of who or whatever we’re trying to get. Do you know how cramped that thing is?”

“I don’t think most people have to worry about being trapped in one,” Duke hesitantly pointed out to the teen as he glanced back at Jason. Great, if one of them was thinking about whether or not he could be trapped by that stupid device, it meant the others probably were too.

He glared at his newest sibling. “If any of you try testing that on me, I promise vengeance beyond anything you can imagine.” For some reason, the idea of being trapped in that thing tickled the same fear he had of waking up in a coffin.

“Don’t worry,” Cass surprisingly said as she appeared at Duke’s side. Even though all of them had mastered Batman’s art of being able to move without a trace, Cass seemed to take it to a different level. “He is unlikely to… cause permanent harm.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better!”

Phantom floated closer to him. “You wouldn’t seriously try to hurt him, would you?”

“You already know I tried killing this one.” He jerked his thumb at Dick. He also nearly cut Tim’s throat, but even now, he wasn’t entirely certain if he was ever serious about it. That stunt was specifically designed to unsettle Bruce during the time period before he truly revealed himself as being alive. There was also that time he shot Damian. It would have been so easy to end him, but he purposely avoided a fatal shot. “But if you think that’s bad, you should hear some of the bullshit Robin tried pulling.”

“Is trying to kill each other normal in your family or something like that?” Danny floated closer as he glanced back and forth between him and Damian. “Like, I’d get if there was an evil clone or future self situation, but you’re siblings, aren’t you? I thought you’d be more like, I dunno, supportive of each other and less stabby?” He looked baffled as everyone, except Bruce and Duke, started laughing. Oh, the poor kid had no idea.

“I’m the only one here who is blood related to Batman. I merely decided to claim my rightful place,” Damian irritably replied. “It was Father’s choice to adopt these miscreants.”

Jason snorted. “If by adopted, you mean abducted first, then sure.” He just barely caught the old man glance back at him with a frown. Oh, did he not like being reminded his response to their first meeting wasn’t exactly normal?

“I’m sorry, what? What do you mean abducted?” Danny’s eyes grew comically wide as he stared at Bruce’s back.

Dick mischievously grinned. “Oh, it’s kind of become a legend in our family. Red Hood stole the tires off the Batmobile and then tried attacking B with a tire iron when they met.”

“Wait, that’s true?” Duke gaped at him. “I thought Al… I mean, Agent A was messing with me when I asked.”

“Why did you try to attack him with the tire iron?” Tim questioned. “That’s the one thing that’s bothered me about it. Even for you, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“I was a street kid doing something illegal and got caught. It made sense at the time.” Jason couldn’t help but grin at both Duke’s and Danny’s dumbstruck reaction. Too bad they couldn’t see it through his mask. “I’ll admit, it was one of my finer moments, but it did lead me to being tied up in the Batcave for a bit. Someone thought sandwiches would make a good peace offering.”

“If you forgot, we’re still on a mission.”

A few sheepish looks were tossed around at Bruce’s words. With the fighting currently over, they had slipped into their normal habit of teasing each other. Danny’s reactions made it more satisfactory. But, Jason supposed the old man had a point. They still needed to check on the civilians, and none of them were entirely certain what Plasmius’ next move might be.

As they continued up the stairs, something started buzzing. When everyone turned to Danny, he apologized as he pulled a green earpiece out of his belt. If Jason wasn’t mistaken, it was the same one the kid used when they traveled into the Ghost Zone.

“Sam? What’s wrong?” Danny’s expression slowly morphed to concern as he listened. While they waited for an explanation, Tim made a quick motion to let them know he was trying to hack that frequency. “He’s what? I’ll be right there!” The kid didn’t say anything to them before rocketing upwards and slipping through the ceiling of the stairwell.

“I only caught the end of it, but I think Masters is attacking the guests,” Tim stated as he rushed up the stairs. All of them followed.

…

Just before they reached the door to the ballroom, Dick tugged on his hood attached to his vest. “Make sure to pull your hood up. People might recognize your hair.” Other than Bruce, he was the only one currently tall enough to attempt it.

Annoyed, Jason smacked his brother’s hand away. Pain blossomed at the brief touch as the electric shock from Dick’s belt raced over his skin. As Dick backed away, stunned, Jason swore a few times. “I didn’t miss that feeling.” Of course, Plasmius’ little experiment on him had to have some sort of result.

“But I fixed that…” Tim’s puzzled voice caught his attention. He and the others started making speculative glances at him.

“We’ll worry about it later,” he snapped. They did not have time for this. The Pit was angrily churning, alerting him that Plasmius was somewhere nearby. “Just don’t touch me.”

Someone wanted to say something, but instead of letting the idiots continue to worry about him, he kicked he door to the ballroom open. Bruce would probably lecture him about it later, but that didn’t matter. They had a psychotic billionaire with superpowers to stop.

The scene that greeted them was something else. Danny was floating between the crowd of guests and Plasmius, who kept firing pot shots at them. Although the shots were easy enough for Danny to deflect with a green shield, similar to the constructs the Green Lanterns could make, they were too frequent for him to go on the offensive.

“Nightwing, Red Robin, Signal, evacuate the guests,” the old man instructed. “Robin, Hood, Orphan, we’re going to help Phantom.”

That was fine by him. Unlike the others, the Red Hood didn’t exactly give people a reassuring aura. Maybe he once did when he was still Robin, but those years were long since gone.

However, he didn’t like the order to stay close to Batman’s side. It was probably a safety precaution in case Plasmius tried targeting him again, but it still felt more like the man didn’t trust him enough to wander away. If he was going to have a chance to break the older half-ghost’s jaw again, he was going to listen to the order, at least for now.

As they began their tasks, Danny gave them a relieved smile before he went on the offensive. Jason had noticed it in his other fights, but Danny really did seem to have a preference for close up fighting as opposed to long distance attacks. From what he could tell, the kid did seem to have decent aim, so why would he risk being so close? Did he not trust himself? Or did it have something to do with damage control? Jason vaguely remembered someone mentioning the amount of property damage done by the ghost attacks while they were going over details of the mission before arriving in Amity.

While Vlad clearly had more experience, he wasn’t anywhere near as fast or flexible as Danny. While the older halfa could use the openings in Danny’s self-taught fighting style to his advantage, the kid’s speed and agility helped even the playing field. And, Danny now had backup.

Jason’s task was fairly simple: distract Plasmius enough to let Danny get some hits on him while trying to get Vlad closer to the ground. Luckily for Danny, he was a pretty good shot. Bruce and the others also helped. While the ones with him hadn’t chosen any long range ecto-weaponry, Bruce and the others kept Plasmius busy with their own various projectiles, some of which could explode.

After a few good hits, Plasmius turned his attention towards them. He flew down to fire a few close-range attacks, but Jason and the others easily dodged out of the way. When he turned to try another volley, Danny hit him from behind with one of his own blasts. The kid followed up with a different colored blast, blue this time. Ice cracked as it formed on the older halfa’s right arm.

Cyrokinesis? None of their intel suggested Danny had such a power. Maybe it was something he rarely used. But it definitely would have been nice to know about a few hours ago.

Speaking of abilities, Vlad hadn’t tried duplicating again. He hadn’t been shy about using it during his earlier fights. Maybe he was starting to tire. Or maybe he didn’t want too many people knowing about it. There were still normal guests in the room after all. But it didn’t make much sense why he had been so willing to use that specific power against them.

Had he just been flexing when he overshadowed the guests? It was possible since he did seem to view Jason as a potential candidate for a son. And since he wasn’t used to fighting against people who could fight against him, he possibly figured it was the only way to get the upper hand against Jason and the rest of his family.

Judging by the narrowed eyes, Bruce noticed the difference too. He made a brief gesture to the demon brat, and the two shot a grappling hook into the ceiling in an attempt for an airborne attack while Plasmius was distracted by Danny. They were able to connect, and Plasmius shrieked in pain from the combination of the blows and the shocks from their belts.

Although he didn’t fall to the ground, Plasmius did lose some altitude, allowing Cass an opportunity to launch an attack of her own. While he was distracted by her, Jason viewed it as the perfect opportunity for a few more shots while Bruce and Damian safely landed. While the first two hit, the halfa recovered enough to use the ice encasing his arm as a temporary shield before spinning around and smacking Danny, who had been closing in, with it. A pinkish aura could be seen in the ice before it was blasted apart. Energy crackled around Plasmius’ hand in much the same way raw electricity would.

“I’m impressed, Daniel.” The light tone of Plasmius’ voice didn’t match his scowl. “I didn’t realize your core already developed an elemental aspect. It’s already fairly rare among ghosts, and it’s almost unheard of to develop one within a year of formation.”

“You should be glad I did. If I hadn’t, Undergrowth would have taken root in Amity, permanently.” Danny shot another blue beam of energy towards the other halfa, who dodged out of the way. Jason and the others also had to move as it hit a little too close to them. A few spikes of ice grew where the beam hit the floor.

When they had more time, he was going to have to ask Danny about this Undergrowth. Judging by the name and the obvious pun Danny made, who or whatever it was probably had plant-based powers. He briefly wondered if this Undergrowth could control people like Poison Ivy could.

Plasmius chuckled as he let another volley of batarangs harmlessly pass through him. Something in his demeanor changed as that pink energy began crackling around him. “How cute. But Daniel, did you really think something like that would stop me? Even with help from the Batman and menagerie of children, you’re struggling to land any hits. Let me demonstrate why you need my help.” Plasmius began spinning in the air. Sparks of that pink energy increased and danced around his form.

Jason didn’t like where this was going. The way the energy seemed to build, and the air around them went from still to a howling wind. Shit, it was way too much like attacks he’d seen from some of the speedsters. Knowing something needed to be done, he fired a few shots towards Plasmius, but the now swirling magenta energy deflected it.

The old man tried his hand, but he had a bit more luck. Using a more volatile type of batarang, he was able to cause an explosion as soon as the few he threw met Plasmius’ energy. While it stopped Plasmius from continuing to spin, it forced an energy discharge that swept through the room. Jason had to plunge his knife into the floor to prevent himself from being knocked backwards.

Thankfully, the rest of the guests had been evacuated by then. He wasn’t sure how many normal people would be able to handle that discharge without injury.

When he righted himself, he realized Plasmius grabbed Danny by the neck. There didn’t seem to be any visible machine, but he did something that made Danny scream and convulse as if he’d been shocked. The whitish transformation ring Jason has seen only once before momentarily appeared around Danny’s waist before fizzling out. Plasmius repeated the action causing Danny more pain.

The Pit snarled and spit as green tinged his vision followed by a momentary flash of something bright. He vaguely heard Bruce shout something as he rushed forward, but it didn’t matter to him. He needed to wrench that bastard’s hands off of Danny before shattering them. Was it possible to kill something that was already half dead? He should find out. The Pit seemed to like that idea as it surged through his body and gave him strength.

Plasmius gave him an arrogant grin as he flaunted the now limp teenager in his grip. He said something, but Jason wasn’t interested in listening. Instead, he fired a shot directly at the man’s head. Ah, he dodged, but he wouldn’t do that for long. Jason fired a quick volley of shots, most of which hit, and the ghost seemed to stumble in the air. It was enough for him to drop the unresponsive teen.

He should have continued blasting Plasmius, but when he realized that Danny wasn’t moving as fell, he wrenched his focus on to the teen. Skidding across the floor, he just barely caught the kid before he crashed. While the kid’s eyes were open, they were unfocused, and he was shaking.

Seething, Jason raised his ecto-gun towards Plasium, who floated about twenty feet above him wearing a smug grin. “Go ahead and try it,” he hissed as he started to pull the trigger. Before he had a chance to follow through, Bruce forcibly changed the trajectory. “Fuck off! I’ll kill him!”

“Hood, that’s a duplicate.” He blinked a few times as he registered what the old man said.

“I see you caught on to my ruse, or perhaps one of your children told you. Either way, I got at least one of the things I wanted tonight.” Plasmius bowed before his form dissolved into nothing.

“That bastard.” As much as he wanted to continue chasing Plasmius, he needed to stop and take care of Danny. The kid wasn’t shaking as much as earlier, but his eyes were still unfocused. Once he was sure Danny was okay, he was going to brainstorm several revenge plots. Although he’d prefer to do that on his own, he should probably recruit his siblings. Sure, he could come up with some very intricate ways of torture on his own, but sometimes the others had ideas that would never have occurred to him. And with Bruce being Bruce, having his siblings help ‘reign’ him in would probably make the old man feel better about it.

“Anyways, how’d you know that was a duplicate?” he asked as he maneuvered Danny so he could carry the kid on his back since none of the others could safely touch him in his ghost form. He noted that Danny barely weighed anything. Hopefully, that was a side effect of being part ghost and not from being malnourished from the lack of edible food.

The old man raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t hear Nightwing’s report?”

“Sorry, the fact that I just watched a kid who was already killed once by electricity be electrocuted, twice, in front of me took precedence.” He gritted his teeth as he brushed past Bruce. While he probably already figured he’d temporarily lost control, Jason wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. Besides, he’d been able to come out of it very quickly this time without him murdering someone, not for lack of trying.

Bruce surprisingly didn’t say anything in response. However, the way his eyes narrowed and how he ever so slightly pursed his lips suggested he was analyzing him.

“What the fuck’s your problem?”

“And here I thought you could multitask better than that. Did those shocks from Masters’ machine affect your hearing too?” Damian teased. That brat enjoyed the misfortune of his family a bit too much at times. It probably just reinforced his superiority complex.

He ignored the demon brat. But now that he had a moment to calm himself, that feeling in his chest from earlier seemed more pronounced than it was. If he wasn’t imagining things, the Waters of the Pit seemed to be humming. Weird. That sensation was almost calming. He’d figure out why it was doing that later.

“While we work on getting Phantom to safety, what did the Golden Boy say?” he asked as he started moving towards the door to the ballroom.

“Masters appeared in his human form and inserted himself among the crowd when he had his duplicate attack,” the old man explained.

“He gave himself an alibi. Fucker.” With him appearing in the same place as his duplicate, that meant it would be much harder to prove Masters had done anything criminal. It was just like with Felipe Garzonas all over again minus the diplomatic immunity, but wealth often provided similar protection. It would make him just as hard to touch as Luthor, maybe even harder.

As much as he wanted, attempting to go after someone with no known criminal record would probably backfire on him. That meant he was going to have to withdraw and bide his time before he could do anything, and that pissed him off more. And even if the police check the tips they provided about the bodies underground, Masters might just overshadow them to get out of any trouble.

He’d find a way to destroy Masters, even if he’d have to dismantle the man’s empire brick by brick to do it. That was a promise to himself and Danny. The kid obviously had a complicated relationship with Masters, but he shouldn’t feel like the man was an ever-looming threat.

“Hood,” Bruce’s voice brought him out of his thoughts of revenge, “take Phantom and go out the back. You can take him back to the room. Orphan, go with him. Signal mentioned the G.I.W. have arrived.”

Right. The assholes who would kill Danny on sight if they had the chance. “Understood.”

=======

In Hush (the comic), Jason did get a hold of Tim and held a knife to his throat when he momentarily revealed himself to Bruce. And he did shoot Damian in the head. If I remember correctly, it's played off that Damian was just grazed.

In one of the more recent tellings of how Bruce and Jason met, it's shown Bruce legit abducted him, took him back to the Batcave, and tied him up. And Alfred questioned whether or not Bruce would be keeping him. Also, in Jason's flashback to that event in RHaTO, he attacks Bruce with a tire iron after being caught. I believe it's mentioned only in the original telling, but Jason stole the tires on the anniversary of the deaths of Bruce's parents. And the absurdity of it actually made Bruce laugh.

Dunno if this is common knowledge or not, but Alfred is referred to as Agent A in the field.

I think Jason's official height is 6ft, but heights vary between runs and artists. I personally headcannon that he's somewhere between 6'2" and 6'4". I've seen some posts on Tumblr HC him around 6'7" (6'7" is 2.01 meters). While I can confirm someone of that height can conceal carry an AK-47 with the right clothing (there are reasons I know this), it just doesn't feel right to me to have Jason quite that tall. Dick is usually considered to be 5'10" (I swear the boots add an inch or 2), but it again varies, and Bruce is 6'2".

Also, kicking doors open is quite fun. Unless a wolf spider falls on you.

The kind of whirlwind energy attack me trying to describe an attack Vlad did in "An eye for an Eye".

Felipe Garzonas is the diplomat Jason may or may not have pushed off a balcony during his time as Robin. Jason was frustrated they couldn't act immediately due to diplomatic immunity, and it's unclear if he actually did kill the man or he fell like Jason said he did. The "death in the family" arc starts immediately after this one (them dealing with Garzonas ended in Batman #425 and the events leading up to death in the family starts with Batman #426), and it's mentioned Jason was acting off (abnormally moody, aggressive, resentful, and reckless). This probably contributed to his frustrations with Garzonas.

[invisible-pink-toast]

i wrote a meta post about how dawn would never betray buffy in ‘empty places’ and how it would’ve made more sense for dawn to take andrew’s place in the mission with spike and.... then i rewrote the script so that happened!

Original Transcript for Empty Places | Original Transcript for Touched 

Empty Places

15 INT. KITCHEN AT BUFFY'S HOUSE - NIGHT 

Dawn and Giles are reviewing the police file in the kitchen. Andrew walks in. 

DAWN  OK, well, here's the one that stood out. It's, um, a mission up north in Gilroy. 

She hands Giles some files.

ANDREW  (walks up to the counter)  Um, Mr. Giles, Faith stole the last meatball-and-mozzarella-flavoured hot pocket out of the freezer even though I had called dibs on it. 

GILES  (looking at a picture, ignoring Andrew)  I don't see anything. 

DAWN  Exactly. No vandalism at all. 

GILES  Then why is it in the file? 

DAWN  The place was abandoned. Locals started noticing after a few days that no one was going in or out. 6 members of the order lived there, but when the cops showed up... all gone. Unsolved. 

ANDREW  (grabs a box from the freezer)  Yup. See, the post-it's still here: "Andrew's. Please do not eat." But the box is empty now. 

GILES  Oh. 

DAWN  Oh? Oh, good? 

GILES  Not sure. Here... 

Giles and Dawn walk into the living room; Andrew follows.

Cut to: 

16 INT. LIVING ROOM AT BUFFY'S HOUSE - NIGHT 

Giles walks to the desk and pulls a magnifying glass out of the drawer. A bunch of potentials are sitting on the couch and chairs in the living room as well, but they're quiet and solemn-looking. 

GILES  (holds the magnifying glass over the photo)  Dawn, what do you see? 

DAWN  What am I looking for? 

GILES  On the back wall, a... knothole. 

Through the magnifying glass Dawn can see an imprint of what looks like Caleb's ring in the wood on a wall next to a statue of Mary. 

DAWN  That's not a knothole. Maybe this'll help...if this does bring us closer to Caleb. We should tell Buffy. 

GILES  We haven’t heard from Buffy all day. 

DAWN (concerned) Do you think she’s- 

GILES I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably at the hospital with Xander. But Buffy hasn’t exactly been…

Dawn gives him a hard look and he changes tact. 

GILES (cont.) Buffy is needed here. Amanda, would you go down to the basement and get Spike? 

DAWN  Spike!? 

FAITH  (walks into the room, eating a pastry)  Sounded like there was news. 

Andrew glares at her. SPIKE walks into the room with a lit cigarette in his mouth

SPIKE   What's up... Rupert? 

GILES  Spike, I have a mission for you. 

DAWN What? 

SPIKE  Oh, really? 'Cause, you know, sometimes your missions end up with you trying to kill me. I'm not fond of those. 

GILES  This is more important than- personal issues. Take a look at this. 

He hands Spike the photo and the magnifying glass. 

SPIKE  Looks like our boy's been here. I can go check it out? 

GILES  It’s our only lead so far. 

Spike shrugs and walks toward the door. 

DAWN Wait! Why does he get to go?

Spike and Giles glance at each other. 

GILES I need someone who can take care of themselves in case Caleb has... left some souvenirs. 

DAWN I can take care of myself! It’s my lead, I’m going. 

GILES Absolutely not. 

DAWN (crosses her arms)  You can’t stop me. 

Faith laughs and claps Dawn on the shoulder. Giles glares at her. 

GILES We have no idea what might be there - demons, Caleb, others like him. It could be extremely dangerous. 

DAWN And living on the Hellmouth is a walk in the park, right?

Giles splutters, Dawn walks past him and grabs her backpack and jacket. 

GILES  Buffy wouldn’t want you to- 

DAWN Buffy needs help! Giles I know you want to protect us, but we’re in an apocalypse. THE apocalypse. There’s no way I’m just standing by while Buffy ends up in the ground again. I’m doing this, so get out of my way. 

Giles looks around the room, but the only one who will meet his gaze is Spike, who’s been watching silently from the doorway. 

GILES  Spike, surely you don’t agree with this. 

Spike looks between Giles and Dawn. He and Dawn share a long look. They’re not friends anymore, they don’t trust each other. He puts out his cigarette in the ashtray on the windowsill and grabs the blue helmet on the coat rack. 

SPIKE C’mon, Bit. Better get going. 

Dawn grins, before schooling her face into a Serious Mission Look. 

DAWN (to Giles)  Look out for Buffy. 

GILES Now wait a minute- 

Spike opens the door for Dawn like the Victorian he is, and leaves with a two fingered salute at Faith. 

[other scenes]

18 INT. BUFFY'S HOUSE - NIGHT 

Buffy limps into an empty house. 

BUFFY  Hey. Guys, how's it— 

She looks around and realises everyone's gone. 

BUFFY (cont.) Going? 

GILES  (from the dining room)  Buffy. Are you hurt? 

BUFFY  Oh... Caleb came back looking for seconds. 

GILES  My God, is h-he— 

BUFFY  Still able to make me see cartoon birdies all around my head? You betcha. The short lack of consciousness was nice. I feel rested.  (sits, groans)  So...how did those police files work out? Were they helpful? 

GILES  Uh...uh... yes.  (sits)  Very much so, I think. Um... there's evidence that Caleb may have established a foothold up north. 

BUFFY  That's great. So why are you all twitchy? 

GILES  I, um... I sent Spike to look into it. 

BUFFY  Spike? Is this a mission from which you intend Spike to return alive? 

GILES  Yes. Dawn went with him. 

BUFFY Dawn!? You sent Dawn!? 

GILES I didn’t send Dawn anywhere. She’s presumptuous. 

BUFFY  You should’ve talked to me first. 

GILES  Buffy, you weren't here. Decisions have to be made in your absence. 

BUFFY  Yeah, well, those are the ones that have been scaring me. 

GILES  I did what I thought was right. 

BUFFY  You sent away the only people that have been watching my back—again. 

GILES  (quickly, indignant)  We're all watching your back. 

BUFFY  Funny... that's not really what it feels like. 

She stands to walk away. 

GILES  Buffy— 

BUFFY  Where did everybody go? 

GILES  What? 

BUFFY Faith. The girls. Where are they? 

GILES  Um...Faith thought that the girls could do with some time off their studies. I—I thought… She took them to the Bronze. 

Buffy shakes her head, rolls her eyes, and walks out the front door.

[other scenes]

29 EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT 

Dawn is riding behind Spike on the motorcycle with her arms around Spike's waist, wearing the old football helmet. Spike drives them through the California countryside at night. 

DAWN  You sure you don't wanna stop and pick up some burgers or something, you know, road trip food? 

SPIKE  It's not a road trip. It's a covert operation. 

DAWN Exactly what is covert about a motorcycle? 

SPIKE Alright, it’s a fast operation. We get there, find out what we can, and get back to B- to Sunnydale as soon as we can. 

They are silent for a while. 

DAWN  I guess a motorcycle is more “covert” than a Winnebago. 

Spike smiles. 

DAWN But we are gonna have to stop for food at some point. I am human you know, I can’t survive on blood and cigarettes.

Spike sighs like the weary older brother he is. 

SPIKE We’ll go through the drive though. What d’you want? 

DAWN  How about curly fries? They're really good. Also I don’t have any money. 

SPIKE  (rolls eyes, then)  Curly fries aren’t as good as those onion blossom things. 

DAWN  Ooh, I love those. 

SPIKE  Yeah, me, too. 

DAWN  It's an onion... and it's a flower. Who even came up with that? 

SPIKE  See, the genius of it is you soak it in ice water for an hour so it holds its shape. Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about 5 minutes. 

DAWN  (mockingly) And how do you know that? 

SPIKE  None of your business, Niblet. Tell anyone we had this conversation, I'll bite you.

DAWN Please. You could try.

Spike rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning. 

[other scene] 

31 INT. MISSION - DAWN 

Spike pushes open the creaky front door to the mission and Dawn pushes past him. He sighs, and moves in front of her, and she rolls her eyes. 

DAWN (whispers) Doesn’t look like anyone’s here. 

SPIKE (whispers)  Then why are you whispering? 

DAWN These places give me the heebie-jeebies. 

SPIKE  Got anything to confess? 

DAWN What, like I was originally an ancient demonic energy? 

SPIKE You’re human now. Part slayer as well. 

DAWN (shrugs) Still don’t think Churches are the place for me. 

SPIKE Guess you and me got something else in common after all. 

Dawn watches him sadly. They used to have a lot in common. Spike moves ahead, Dawn peers at some of the architecture. 

Someone jumps out of a closet as she walks past - a robed figure. They grab Dawn and shove her against a display of candles. She cries out as the flames and wax burn her hand, but then kicks out and pushes the figure off of her. 

SPIKE Dawn! 

Spike grabs the robed man and pulls him away from Dawn with a ferocity souled-Spike doesn’t usually show. The man punches Spike, who hisses when a crucifix ring burns him, his vamp face coming out. 

The man cries out in fear. Spike pushes the man backwards and Dawn kicks his legs out from under him. Spike pulls the hood off of the man's face to reveal a burn mark on the man's cheek. The mark looks like something Caleb made with his ring.

[other scene] 

33 INT. MISSION - DAWN 

Spike and Dawn recognise the shape of the robed man's scar and stare at him. Spike bends down to get a better look. The man shies away. 

SPIKE  Tell us about the mark. 

MONK  Oh... 

He covers the scar with his hand. Spike watches him curiously. 

DAWN  Hey! Are you part of Caleb's faction? 

MONK  (shakes his head)  No! No! 

DAWN  Then tell us what happened!

MONK  (weakly, frightened)  I c-can't. 

DAWN  (bends down to get in his face)  "Can’t" is a four letter word! We want answers, and if you don’t start singing, I’ll let him bite you. 

She gestures at Spike, still in game face, and the man shudders. Spike reverts back to his “human” face and places a hand on Dawn’s shoulder. 

SPIKE (gently) Dawn… 

Dawn sighs in frustration, but leans away from the monk. 

SPIKE (cont.) We're trying to fight him. Caleb. 

The monk looks up in shock. 

SPIKE (cont.)  What do you know? 

MONK  You can't fight him. You can't stop him. You can only run. 

DAWN We can’t run. He found us. He’s hurting my family. If you know anything, tell us. Please. 

SPIKE  He did that to you.  (indicates the burn mark)  We’ve got two slayers ready to tear that bastard to pieces. You want him gone? Talk. 

The monk looks between them. 

MONK  I'll do better. I'll show you. 

Spike offers the man his hand, but the monk baulks at it. Dawn rolls her eyes and takes Spike’s hand instead, and he helps her to her feet. The monk hesitantly follows suit. 

MONK (cont.)  One night, some time ago, a man arrived at our doors. 

SPIKE  And you said, "come in, do some damage"? 

Dawn whacks him in the chest. 

MONK  We are—we were a benevolent order, and, yes, we welcomed him. We offered to feed him... but he had come for something else. 

The monk walks up to a statue of Mary in an alcove, just as seen on the picture that led them here in the first place. He touches a secret lever, causing the statue to swing out of the way, revealing a secret compartment behind it. 

MONK (cont.) Behind this, he revealed something even we didn't know was here. A secret room. 

He walks in; Spike and Dawn follow. 

MONK (cont.) He was excited, talking the whole time... destiny, that sort of thing. 

SPIKE  Yeah. We hear he's a real smooth talker. 

The monk takes a tapestry off the wall, revealing an inscription behind it. 

MONK He was here for this ancient inscription. 

Dawn brushes her fingers over it, almost trance-like. She’s bleeding slightly from the burns. The inscription glows faintly at her touch. The monk watches her with wide eyes. 

MONK (cont.) He read it... and he didn't like what it said. His temper... He was the purest evil I've ever seen. He burned his mark upon me. And then I ran and I hid... and I listened to the others die. 

DAWN   You feel guilty. 

The monk nods. 

DAWN (cont.)  You couldn’t have stopped him. Running away… saved your life. And you showing us this… I think we can beat him.

SPIKE What does it say? 

DAWN (reading the Latin inscription)  “Non tibi est. Ei solae tractare licet.” 

SPIKE  (translating)  "It is not for thee. It is for her alone to wield."

Touched 

12 INT. MISSION - DAY 

DAWN and SPIKE are waiting inside the candlelit interior room of the mission. Dawn is hunched in the corner, hands gripping her head.  Spike is sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with his knees bent up, and his arms resting on his knees. Spike watches Dawn out of the corner of his eye. 

SPIKE I’m sure they’re fine. 

Dawn huffs, not looking up. 

SPIKE (cont.) There’s a million reasons why- 

DAWN No one’s answering? Yeah, maybe they’re all just playing board games and got too into it. 

SPIKE  There’s a lot going on. They’re probably busy, maybe off on a mission-

DAWN (looks up at him, scowling) Great! Because the last mission went so well! 

Spike scowls back at her, but doesn’t bite. They sit in silence until Dawn sighs. 

DAWN They should’ve answered. 

SPIKE …I know. 

DAWN That’s why we came all the way out here, to help! But what use are we just sitting here!? 

SPIKE  We could try for a car- 

DAWN I already said no! You’ll burst into flames long before we find one. 

SPIKE We could get the monk to- 

DAWN What, hotwire a stolen vehicle? 

SPIKE I’ve got some money, we could get you a bus ticket- 

DAWN Right, a ticket from the middle of nowhere to the mouth of hell! 

SPIKE Bloody hell, what do you want from me, Dawn!? 

DAWN Just- stop! Stop trying to fix it! The world is ending and everyone’s dying and there’s nothing I can do to fix it! 

Dawn’s anger fizzles out, and tears take its place. Spike watches her helplessly, before tentatively putting a hand on her head, the way he’s seen Buffy do. Dawn freezes, before leaning into the touch. 

DAWN (cont.)  I can’t do it again, Spike. I can’t lose her. 

SPIKE We won’t let that happen. 

DAWN Why does it always have to be us? Why can’t someone else save the world? 

SPIKE  Probably ‘cause they’re a bunch of worthless layabouts. Besides, we’ve done an alright job so far. World hasn’t ended yet. 

Dawn huffs, not quite a laugh, but better than crying. Spike goes to lean back, but Dawn shuffles next to him and leans her head against his shoulder. Now Spike freezes, trying not to cry as he gently puts an arm around her and awkwardly pats her shoulder. 

SPIKE (cont.)  They’ll be fine.

DAWN Can you talk about something else? 

SPIKE Like what? 

DAWN You used to tell me stories. Of cool stuff you used to do. 

SPIKE Mhm. Sort of lost the taste for recounting the horrifying autobiography after the soul, Kiddo.  

DAWN Lame. 

SPIKE (huffs)  Alright, fine. I’ll tell you about when I first discovered punk rock. So it’s 1976…

[other scenes]

16 INT. KITCHEN AT BUFFY'S HOUSE - DUSK 

Giles, Faith and a few others come up from the basement to talk to the gang assembled in the kitchen. 

WILLOW  Oh, hey. So? 

GILES  The Bringer's dumb. 

ANYA  You were expecting, what, a Rhodes Scholar? 

GILES  Dumb as in mute. 

FAITH  Someone ripped out its tongue. 

AMANDA  Oh, gross. 

XANDER  That’s not ideal for our “get him to talk” plan. 

WILLOW There’s gotta be some kind of spell or- 

DAWN  (O.S.)  We're back! 

Everyone goes quiet. Dawn rushes into the room, sighing in relief at the sight of everyone. 

DAWN  What happened? No one answered, I called a bunch of times? 

WILLOW Uh, the powers out. All over town. 

Spike walks in with a nod. Dawn runs over and hugs Xander. 

DAWN How are you? 

XANDER Hanging in there, Dawnster. 

SPIKE Any news? 

There’s an awkward pause. 

FAITH We’ve captured a bringer. 

SPIKE He talking? 

FAITH No tongue. 

DAWN Yuck. Oh! There's an old incantation that the ancient Turks used to communicate with the dying. Like if they can’t talk - the spell lets them say their goodbyes or, you know, gripe about how nobody came to visit them. It’s in this ancient spellbook I’ve been reading… would this help us with Mr. No-Tongue?

WILLOW Uh, yeah, that’d be great Dawnie. 

Spike ruffles Dawn’s hair and she slaps his hand away with a grin.

DAWN  Sorry it took us so long, we had to wait out the sun. But we were right, Caleb had been there! 

SPIKE  I think we got a lead. Where's Buffy?

GILES Um, she’s not here right now. 

SPIKE  When's she get back? 

Everyone who’s not Spike and Dawn share a glance, a moment of tense, silent communication. Willow steps forwards, wringing her hands nervously. 

WILLOW  Well… while you were gone, we all got together and t-talked out some disagreements that we were having. Um... and eventually, after much discussion, Buffy decided that it would be best for all of us if she took a little time off, a little breather. 

Dawn and Spike stare in disbelief. 

DAWN (confused laugh)  What? 

SPIKE  Uh-huh. I see. Been practising that little speech long, have you? 

Willow looks hurt and steps back. 

SPIKE (cont.) So, uh, Buffy took some time off right in the middle of the apocalypse, and it was her decision? 

XANDER  Well, we all decided. 

SPIKE  Oh, yeah. You all decided. 

He takes a step away as he curls and uncurls his fist, trying to contain his anger. Dawn isn’t angry, she’s crushed. 

DAWN But… where is she? 

GILES We’re not sure. She left- after- 

DAWN After what? After you kicked her out? 

Silence. 

DAWN (cont.) So we’ve been gone one day and you all staged a coup and kicked Buffy out of our house. Wow, that’s- that’s really funny guys. That’s a really great idea! Because it’s not like Buffy’s saved the world before, or she has a ton of experience, or that her name is on the mortgage- 

WILLOW Dawn, just take a breath-

ANYA It’s more complicated than that. 

XANDER It was a group decision. A majority vote, for what we thought was right.

Spike starts to laugh. 

SPIKE  You sad, sad, ungrateful traitors. Who do you think you are? 

WILLOW  We're her friends. We just want— 

SPIKE  Oh, that's ballsy of you. You're her friends, and you betray her like this? 

GILES  You don't understand— 

SPIKE  (disdainfully)  You know, I think I do, Rupert. You used to be the big man, didn't you? The teacher all full of wisdom. Now she's surpassed you, and you can't handle it. 

Giles stares at him in shock, and Spike scoffs. 

DAWN I know things went badly at the vineyard but- things have gone badly before. We’ve made bad choices, but Buffy never gave up on any of you!

SPIKE She has saved your lives again and again. 

Some of the group looks uneasy, some of them roll their eyes. No one looks at Spike or Dawn. This just incenses Spike more. 

SPIKE (cont.) She's died for you! And this is how you thank— 

FAITH  Hey. Why don't you take it down a notch or two? The time for speech-giving is over, bat boy. 

Spike and Dawn turn their glares to Faith, who steps forwards out of the group. 

SPIKE  (mockingly)  Oh, is that right? 

FAITH  Yeah, that's right. Save your lack of breath. 

SPIKE  (shrugs)  All right. 

He punches Faith. The kitchen erupts in noise, people arguing, trying to stop the fight, or cheering it on. 

FAITH  You're pretty sweet on her, aren't you?  (kicks Spike in the face)  I think it's cute. The way she's got you whipped.

Spike punches Faith; she punches him back. Dawn whacks Faith in the back with her helmet, and Giles takes it away from Dawn with a disappointed scowl that she returns in full. Faith kicks Spike into the other room where he slides over the dining room table and onto the floor. 

GILES  Enough! 

Faith goes into the dining room after Spike and starts punching him in the face repeatedly. He kicks her off of him and leaps to his feet. 

SPIKE  Finally got what you wanted, didn't you? 

FAITH You have no idea what I want! 

They exchange punches. 

SPIKE Where is she?!

FAITH  I don't know!

Spike rolls Faith over his back and flings her into the dining room wall pretty hard. She gets to her feet as does Spike, but he just glares at the room before walking out the front door. Dawn races after him. 

DAWN Spike! 

The others stand around, looking uneasy. Faith wipes a trail of blood from her mouth. She’s standing alone.

Cut to: 

17 EXT. IN FRONT OF BUFFY'S HOUSE - NIGHT 

Spike pauses on the bottom porch step as Dawn rushes out after him 

DAWN We have to find her! 

SPIKE I know. 

He takes a deep breath, tamping down his anger, before turning to Dawn and putting his hands on her shoulders. 

SPIKE (cont.)  You should stay here. 

DAWN What? You can’t be serious! Stay here, with those double-crossing motherf- 

SPIKE Dawn. 

DAWN Finding Buffy is the most important thing. 

SPIKE So is making sure the world doesn’t end. Right? 

Dawn scowls. 

SPIKE (cont.)  Look how badly things went. This is the frontline, and there needs to be someone here with sense. You really want to leave the apocalyptic war effort to those bloody idiots? 

DAWN (mutters) No… 

SPIKE  I’ll find Buffy. I’ll bring her home. And you’ll be here, safe and smart. Besides, your name is on the mortgage too, Summers. 

Dawn is still scowling, but reluctantly nods. She quickly heads back inside, only to come out with a walkie-talkie. 

DAWN Tell me when you find her. 

Spike nods. Willow opens the front door, hesitating at the matching glares she gets. She holds up her hands in surrender. 

WILLOW It’s not how we wanted things to go. 

DAWN I don’t care. 

WILLOW (sighs)  Buffy’s not hurt, if anything had happened to her, the First would’ve shown up to gloat. I tried to look for Buffy, with magic and without. There’s too much demonic energy for a tracking spell to work, and she could be anywhere in town, it’s deserted. 

SPIKE  I’ll find her. 

Spike and Dawn share a look, before Dawn quickly puts her arms around him in a hug. He’s surprised, and tentatively returns the hug. 

DAWN Bring her home. 

SPIKE I will. Stay safe. 

Spike heads down the path toward the street. He pauses, shuts his eyes, and smells purposefully. Finally he catches the scent he's looking for and walks down the street. 

Dawn watches him go. 

WILLOW Dawn? 

DAWN I’ll get the spellbook. 

She walks inside, slamming the door behind her. 

18 INT. ENTRYWAY OF BUFFY'S HOUSE - NIGHT 

Dawn stalks past the wide eyed potentials. Giles steps forwards, reaching a hand out to her. 

GILES Dawn, please just listen- 

Dawn fixes him with a glare that stops him in his tracks. 

DAWN I asked you to look after her. 

She walks away and doesn’t look back.