#if i'd scanned them fully they'd have looked worse :[

[devilsrains]

led zeppelin, by neal preston

final rehearsal for the 1975 american tour. metropolitan sports center; january 17 1975.

CYNTHIA: …. These rehearsal photos. You just got in and started taking pictures? NEAL: Of course. Of course. Well, I wasn’t shy. I walked in already taking pictures and I remember they were playing ‘Custard Pie’. They also played ‘The Wanton Song’. Don’t ask me how I remember that.

[ultfreakme]

"I'd burn down the world for you."

Jay laughs. That's an understatement, he cackles, chortles, folds over in his chair and nearly drops his tablet on the tile floor of his office. "What tiktoks are you watching?" he wipes his eyes.

Jon's neck heats. Even after over a year of dating, he keeps finding ways to stick his foot in his mouth. "What!" Jon raises his hands defensively. "I might!"

Jay levels him with a steady look. "You would not, be serious."

"I could," Jon tries again. "Like a little."

"Really convincing me here babe." He returns to his work, tapping away at an email meant for Daily Star, then switching to a secret personal project none of the Supers should know about (sans Jon and Nat).

Jon sits on the large table. Dark wood, covered in printouts, post-its, notes, and candy wrapper, he shuffles them back to make space for himself, not like he can make it worse. "I just wanted to try saying it. It's what everyone says, you know, even if they don't mean it."

Jay picks up his stylus, carefully scanning a document for The Truth. "Again, I don't know what tiktoks you're watching these days- or is it some anime? Are you watching crappy shojo anime?"

Jon grumbles. "I have excellent taste in shojo anime and you'd know if you at least tried to watch Monthly Nozaki-kun with me."

"Fine, fine I'll watch it," says Jay. "Point is, no one actually means it when they say they'd do dramatic and destructive acts of useless violence for someone."

"But they do," Jon insists. "There are people who'd put everything aside if something happens to their boyfriend. And I--I can't."

Setting the tab aside, Jay rolls his chair closer to Jon. "What really brought this on?" He looks up at him, warm, honey brown eyes, sharp with the focus of an interrogation. Jon resists the urge to lean down and cup his face. Where should he begin?

"I wish I could say stuff like that without thinking forever about, like, moral consequences and actual global devastation," says Jon. "Ivy would do it for Harley, and you know Harley would do it back. But I can't even say shit like that without some alert going off somewhere."

He does feel the urge, he felt it a million times with Bendix. The urge to just, end it. It would have been so easy, even if he knew it was wrong. The instincts battled but there was always a clear victor. He's seen The Aerie not give a second thought before dropping people from skyscraper-heights when someone got a hold of Wink. He didn't approve, he never will. But he wonders, sometimes, to let the power flow and not stop it.

He keeps thinking it; 'I'd let everything go to waste to keep you safe. You deserve the world, you deserve everything' to the point he feels sick and helpless with it. He would, but he can't.

"They also end up being apprehended by Batman for trying that shit. Threats of ending-the-world are bad."

"I know but-- just-- I feel like I'm not, fully here with you, for you. You know?" Like they're one side, he can say it all he wants but if things get messy, everyone would expect Superman to leave his boyfriend behind. He hopes to every higher force hearing to never put them in that position, but after Waller and Nia, he worries, he fears. All it takes is one person with a motive.

"I don't expect you to go nuts with your powers for me," Jay says easily, tracing circles on Jon's knee. "I'd actually fight you if you go 'I let the bad thing happen for you', like that's where it ends."

Jon bends down. "But what if I did it to keep you safe?"

"Same thing," Jay turns his chin up, their noses an inch away. "Lois told me once, you aren't just mine to keep. You've got a whole world, it's not just me in it that matters."

Sometimes, it feels like it's just Jay. But he is right, he knows the consequence of letting one person define fate of the world. He's seen it in the version of his father who did let the world burn in the name of his mom. She'd hate it, and so would Jay.

"I'll try my best not to let the world burn down for you?" Jon says.

Jay pecks a kiss on his cheek. "Getting warmer, I am totally seduced and charmed."

Jon places a quick press to his forehead and leans backs, kicking his feet. "So, what would you do?"

Stylus paused over the tablet, Jay watches ahead. "I'm not Superman."

Jon tilts his head and makes a questioning sound.

He chuckles and brings the tablet back to life, circling a sentence for a grammatical error. "I'm not for protecting anything and everything all the time," he says. "I've got to prioritize, and my priorities are based on what I care about."

Jon should probably discourage him and tell him no. No he can't just prioritize. No, he has to care about the rest of the universe too because superheroes, powers, responsibilities.

But it does feel nice to know someone would tear everything apart for him, selfish as it is. He wouldn't even hate Jay for it if he did it.

[askthechronoverse]

Last Chapter •||• Next Chapter

The children filed into the blue box, confused how all of them could fit in a small box. The four of them stopped when they noticed the engine room was impossibly large, the light casting everything in a sepia tone. Kit walked up to one of the crystal pillars and touched it.

"Most people like to run around the ship a bit, but we don't have time for me to let you do that." The Doctor ran to the center of the impossibly large room through arches of crystals to a center console and began to frantically press buttons. "X-PO, are we headed home?"

"No time, Doctor. I just detected another foundation element. I'm opening a portal to get you right there. I know this is going to be a sudden change for the kids, but from what I got from scans of this world, we should get out there before it's exposed to something far worse." X-PO spoke from out of nowhere.

"Got it! Let's just get right in!" The Doctor smiled in a way that reminded Kit of her dad: a mischievous and mysterious grin that made you know you were about to have a good time. "Hold on tight. The portals can be a bit bumpy."

The Doctor didn't misrepresent the rockyness of the ride when they started moving. It felt like they were in the middle of a stormy sea as they were thrashed and thrown about. Kit chose to focus on the Doctor, who ran around her console pressing buttons like they were standing still. Multiple forevers passed before the ship stopped. The Doctor stopped her dance and began to do readings of her own. She muttered things like "strange" and "not quite what I expected". She turned to the four. "Right. I have a gift for you, Charmy." She snatched an old device from the console and handed it to her. Charmy's eyes lit up in recognition that she took the device. She turned the black and silver box over in her hands, a meter blinking the words “relic detected”.

"How did you get Mom's relic detector?" She turned it all around, in awe at holding the device.

"I will be borrowing it in the future, when your mother has calmed down to the idea of you having an adventure like this." The Doctor's grin returned. "Now I won't be coming with you on these trips. Too many cooks. Use the relic detector to look for the foundation element. It could be anything. I recall the time when it was a black forest cake. Try to be nice to the people out there. The world you'll be stepping into is very different from the world that you came from. They haven't had visitors in a while." She turned back to the console. "Oh! And if you're ever asked, your favorite color is pink. I'm not sure if they'd acknowledge any other color." The four travelers looked at each other with confusion before Charmy and Kit headed for the door.

When Kit looked out the door, she could understand why the Doctor specifically mentioned the color pink. Everything around her was varying shades of the color, with a few pastel exceptions here and there. The world was soft and oddly nostalgic. A crowd of large beings passed her by, each one greeting the others with one phrase: "Hi, Barbie!" She went back into the TARDIS and looked over at the mysterious time traveler.

"There sure are a lot of women named Barbie out there." Kit commented. “And they are like GIANTS!”

"You'll find that each world is unique in its own way! That's the beauty of the multiverse!" The Doctor called from the console. "This world is pretty close to home for you, though. Just a skate, snowmobile, caravanner, and tandem bike away according to my readings! I would catch up to your friends. They already left." Sure enough, when Kit looked for her friends, they were gone. "By the way: remind me later. I want to talk to you about your father, but I'd rather do that in between searches for the foundation elements." Kit nodded and headed out the double doors.

The new world around her now fully in her sights, the pinkness of her surroundings was almost blinding. It took a moment to adjust to the high levels of pastel, but the softness of the sun was helpful for that. She took a deep breath and could smell a soft and inviting ocean breeze. There was a warmth in the air that made her feel like the whole world was in vacation mode. The houses didn't have front walls so she could see into them to find perfectly decorated rooms that reminded her of photos of Heartlake City. Everything looked so perfect and well cared for. The key thing that made things so intimidating was that the world was big. Really big. She floated past a pole that was as thick to her as an old redwood.

Kit caught sight of her friends and rushed over to them, bumping into a few legs on the way. These women seemed cheery despite that, greeting her with a chipper ‘Hi, Tiny Barbie!’. Once she caught up with the others, she saw they were talking to a woman with perfectly styled violet hair and tie dye coveralls. This woman held them in her hands and Kit swore she saw smoke coming out of the poor woman's ears. The woman put them down on a fence and grinned, clapping her hands.

"Lucky for all of you, I'm Stylist Barbie! I can make you look your best in no time! Not that you aren't already your best of course! It's always nice to look on the outside how you are on the inside!" Stylist Barbie skipped along, urging the kids to follow after.

"What happened?" Kit asked after floating up to catch up with them.

"So that lady walked up to us and asked us what kind of Barbies we were? I didn't know how to respond to that and she kept trying to figure out what we were based on what we were wearing." Charmy looked puzzled. "I say we go with her. What's the harm? We get a makeover and can let Mom's scanner do its thing."

"That really doesn't interest me, Charmy." Bellamy shook her head. "Give me the relic scanner. I'll search and you can do whatever." Bellamy held out her hand to receive the scanner. Vito stopped his sister from handing it over.

"You should stay with us. We have no way to communicate right now and we can't help you if you get in trouble or vice versa." Vito walked back to his sister's side, leaving Bellamy stunned. “Besides, this place is huge. We could get lost.”

"It's OK. Maybe they'll think you're a combat Barbie and give you a new camouflage jacket." Kit said with a warm smile. “I know you've been lucky for a new one of those.”

"I'm afraid that she is going to do that and it's going to be a pink monstrosity. I'll just stand guard in front of the building." The four caught up with Stylist Barbie at last and entered a pink and pastel blue storefront that looked like a cute little salon on the inside. There were Barbies styling hair for other Barbies and one stray man, who Kit overheard was called Allen. Charmy and Kit entered the salon fully, while Vito, who muttered about at least using the buddy system and Bellamy stayed behind. Charmy stealthy passed them the relic detector as she passed.

"Your friends aren't coming in? That's ok! They can always come to me later." Kit looked around more and saw that every Barbie and Allen seemed happy, a few of them humming as the ones styling the hair worked. They followed Stylist Barbie to the back of the salon and the fanciest looking mirror they had ever seen despite the mirror not really reflecting anything for some reason. It looked a little too dull a gray on the reflective surface to work as a proper mirror. This was unnoticed by Stylist Barbie, however. "Have a seat! I'll make you look like how you feel on the inside in no time!" She gestured to a smaller version of Stylist Barbie's workstation, down to the nonreflective mirror.

Charmy rushed over to the seat and plopped down, leaving Kit to stand and watch the process in action.

Meanwhile, Bellamy and Vito sat on top of a bench. Bellamy had the relic detector on her lap. They turned to Vito.

"What is this device supposed to do when it finds these element things?" She tapped the box.

"It makes noise… I think." Vito took the box off of Bellamy's lap. "I wasn't paying attention when my mom talked about this thing. I didn't think I was ever going to have a need to use that knowledge. I'm not the adventuring type. I never was."

"I guess I'm not like that." Bellamy admitted with a shrug. "Adventure's in my blood."

"I'm sure. Your dad is Queen Unikitty's bodyguard. You don't get much more adventurey than that." Vito shrugged. Bellamy gave a hearty laugh.

"He's the most adventurous person I know!" The relic detector made a soft beeping noise. "Looks like the relic is on the move."

"I wonder how close it is. I don't know if it's going to get harsher and louder or if it's just going to get more frequent as it gets closer." Vito held the box at arm's length.

"I don't know, but I don't think holding it that far out is going to give it a better signal." They glanced at the salon. “I know you said we don't have a way to communicate with them, but I'm pretty sure they're going to take a while in there. I still say we should be lookin’ around, especially if the relic is on the move.”

“I guess. I really don't want to leave them, but I don't think there's anything around here that would hurt them.” Vito gestured around the twee atmosphere.

“Come on. Let's look around.” The two began to walk around the pastel streets, avoiding shoes as they moved.

After some fussing with Charmy’s hair using a tiny brush, the stylist clapped her hands as she bounced back a few steps. "Look at that! It looks like you're an Adventure Barbie! We don't see them terribly often since they like to explore Barbieland." She showed Charmy a mirror that didn't have any form of a reflective surface in the same way as the larger mirror. Kit, however, pulled out her father's phone and showed Charmy her new look through the camera app. She tilted her head to one side, noticing that she was wearing a fedora made of a dark brown material, a vest out of that same material, and riding pants of a similar color. There was a whip at her side clipped to her belt. "This is to complete the look!" Barbie handed her a backpack that looked filled to the brim. She tried to open it, but noticed it didn't actually have the ability to do so. She got up, throwing the backpack over her back.

"Okay! It's your turn now!" Before Kit could object, Barbie put her in the same seat Charmy sat in with her manicured finger. She began to tap her chin, spinning Kit around in the chair. "You're going to be difficult, I can already tell. You're not as certain as Adventure Barbie about what you want to be. There's a lot going on in your head."

"How do you know all this?" Kit tilted her head.

"A good stylist always knows a thing or two about the person they're working on!" Barbie narrowed her eyes. "What is your favorite thing ever?"

"Um… I like to listen to stories." Kit said after some thought.

"What kind of stories?"

"Stories about the world around me, about the people I love." Kit was starting to feel a little more at ease for some reason, her hand now on her lap.

"Oh! Maybe you're a storyteller Barbie!... No. That doesn't sound right." Stylist Barbie tapped her comb to her chin. “I feel like some power and influence might suit you as well as any accessory. Maybe you're a Diplomat Barbie! You do seem to hold yourself with the air of a true peacekeeper.” Kit stuck her tongue out.

“Diplomat work is really boring. Trust me.”

“Maybe you're right. But I still think that I'm on the right track with you having some power.” Barbie walked over to a box and looked for some appropriately sized accessories. She pulled out a space suit, one that contradicted the pastel world around it by being dark blue with neon green accents. It came with a helmet in similar colors, the visor being a vivid neon green that would have obscured her face if worn. “How about Space Outlaw Barbie? You seem to have an edge to you that might make you a little different from other Barbies, but I think that's okay.”

“I have no idea where you would have gotten something like that from.” Deep down, Kit had a very strange and creeping feeling. Something about that space suit scared her.

“You're a tough one! But I always love a good challenge!”

As Bellamy and Vito wandered, they found themselves deep in the hills on the outskirts of the perfect world. They found themselves staring at a gate that looked like it crawled out of a Picasso painting. It was painted in every color you could think of and had angles that seemed improbable for proper security. They opened on their own and the winding path led to a house that was equally abstract in nature that was surrounded by a perfect circle of brush-like evergreen trees. They could hear a dog bark in a vaguely humanoid approximation of the sound from that distance. The relic detector chirped with a little more urgency.

“Looks like they're practically invitin’ us in.” Bellamy took a step forward. Vito grabbed their sweater to stop them.

“This is someone else's house! We can't just walk in-!” Vito realized he was speaking to Bellamy retreating back. “Get back here!” Before he could even register it, the two were at the house. The relic detector was going off with far more urgency now as Vito pulled Bellamy aside. They opened their beak to protest, but Vito pointed to a woman in a multilayered puffy dress doing a spit across one of the many landings of the house, the chaotic patterning of the walls matching her dress and face perfectly. She spoke to a blonde man with a colorful hoodie.

“Ya know I think you're just the perfect snack for the eyes, but I don't have the answers you need.” She spoke with a small amount of what could be described as pity.

“But Weird Barbie, you helped her.” The man held an aura worthy of pity, if Bellamy had to be honest. “Can't you share some of that wisdom with me?”

“Ken. Babe. What happened with your Barbie was something else completely. She was ripping a portal that she needed to fix. A Ken without a Barbie… that's not something I've seen before.”

Bellamy pointed the relic detector at both the Ken and Weird Barbie. “Should we interrupt them?”

“No. That's rude.” Vito shook his head, talking while Weird Barbie flipped around in thought. “Besides, the more they talk, the more time we have to figure out which one of them has the element.” He stopped talking as Weird Barbie finally spoke.

“What you need is a purpose. Travel around Barbieland. See if there is a Barbie who really needs those wonderful muscles of yours.” She didn't have to wait long for Ken to nod with a bright smile.

“I know just the Barbie to start with! Thank you, Weird Barbie!” He turned quickly and rushed down the windy road.

“Don't be a stranger! Love to see you again!” Weird Barbie slinked off as Bellamy watched the relic detector calm down.

“The relic is on the move. Let's go.” They stated as they followed Ken into the city, Vito running as fast as his legs could carry him after her.