#inspired by the wire and true detective

[interxstitial]

@idleds​ sent: “ 120 (drabble me 🫶 i owe u sm and WAS OBSESSED W THE LAST DRABBLE SLFKSKRK….4 whoever u want!!!!) ”

“The tea-things were brought in, and already had Marianne been disappointed more than once by a rap at a neighbouring door, when a loud one was suddenly heard which could not be mistaken for one at any other house.” — sense and sensibility, by jane austen

it’s been twenty-eight days of paper pushing, form filing, ticket writing, and evidence packing. they’ve been dumped just about everywhere possible, save for the marine unit, and jiwon hopes to god that isn’t next. he would rather waste another ass-numbing month in the pawn shop unit than one day on a fucking boat. he’s already bored out of his mind; there’s no reason for him to also be spewing chunks on the clock. re-allocation of services is what the commissioner had cited. supposedly, they aren’t the only ones hopping between units, because the entire department happens to be short-staffed at the moment. seunggi claims bullshit, insisting they’re being babysat, and jiwon is inclined to believe his partner. it sucks.

today consists of a whole lot of nothing. on each of their desks sits a hefty stack of files for review, but jiwon hasn’t flipped a single page out of spite. instead, he funnels his valuable IQ into folding paper frogs, then directing the plague across the nile and into seunggi’s territory. equally as enthused over their workload, seunggi has taken to working on the locusts, but they look more like lop-sided, lumpy goldfish. at this rate, they’ll probably be halfway to the great exodus by lunchtime.

there comes a knock, and jiwon shoots up straight in his chair. three paper frogs tumble into the chasm between his and seunggi’s desks, but their sacrifice is for naught. no one stands in their doorway with the next big case, begging them to carry some of the weight as the names in red continue to pile up on the board by the coffee pot. so what if they racked up thousands of dollars in damage to public property in the name of justice? they’d been the only ones with enough guts to go after the real culprit, and this is how they’ve been rewarded: desk duty.

huffing loudly, jiwon slumps in his seat and sends another few frogs over the edge of his desk. there is, however, some comfort in that his partner seems to be equally disappointed with the false hope. like the rest of the fat cats in this city who refuse to acknowledge the corruption that extends beyond bodies on the street, the sergeant is handing over a proper, real police work case to lazy-footed detective cole. even if the scowl on seunggi’s face remains unchanged and his gaze never leaves the crooked locust between his fingers, jiwon knows what the twitch at the corner of his lip entails.

then the phone rings. sweeping the entire sea of paper frogs off his desk, jiwon rushes to answer the call, but it’s another false alarm. instead of an urgent request to assist in the bust of the century, they’ve received a prank from desh and sanchez across the hall. phone still pressed to his ear, jiwon leans back in his chair, just enough to glare at tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber in their own office. one middle finger later, jiwon slams the door shut and rolls back to his desk. the morons are still laughing, yucking it up like a pair of hyenas, but jiwon knows their time will come. one day, they’ll be begging for help, and jiwon will just smile and walk away.

there is another knock at the door, but neither he nor seunggi responds to it. they’re transfixed on their plagues, preparing for the transformation of water into blood. with a roll of duct tape, paper coffee cups, and empty pen ink cartridges, they’ve devised a clever system to replicate the ancient miracle. if no one at the department will appreciate their efforts, a couple hundred strangers on the internet surely will.

suddenly, an earthquake erupts and lays waste to all their hard work.

“hey, what the fuck!” jiwon and seunggi yell in unison, looking up to find the sergeant staring back at them. an enormous stack of files is dropped noisily on each of their desks, and the movement causes the red ink to begin spilling into the coffee cup nile.

“congratulations, boys. you just caught sixteen bodies.”

jiwon blinks. seunggi sniffs.

as blood continues to run freely, two pairs of hands slam against desks.

“fucking finally!”

page number starter/drabble prompts: ACCEPTING!

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

VH - The Lowest Bar

Antihero entered the reunion room in the headquarters’ agency, looking everywhere with a wonder they didn’t try to hide. This room was generally used in time of crisis, and by the most powerful superheroes. They couldn’t believe they had finally made it. Shyly, they walked towards the huge round table.

On the other side, there was a little man, grinning as widely as they were. He was drinking something that Antihero supposed was tomato juice.

“Hiya, bud !”

That wasn’t the solemn greeting Antihero was expecting, but maybe it was better like this. They smiled back hesitantly.

“Hello. I, uh- I was supposed to see someone about the machine I’ve made.”

“Yup, I’m the guy.”

“I’m sorry, I thought I knew all the Superheroes of the agency. Are you one of them?”

The man chuckled:

“Sorta.”

Antihero hesitated. They were sure they’d never seen him before, not on the TV nor on the papers nor on social media.

“So you do...missions, fight evil?”

“More like incompetent dorks, but yeah.”

Feeling his interlocutor uneasy, he rolled his eyes and added:

“I do night shifts.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

Embarrassed, Antihero sat down. They were expecting for several people to show up, even perhaps the director’s agency, or at least someone they knew by sight. The man looked young, frail and well...unimpressive. At least he seemed very enthusiastic. He kept smiling at them.

“Shoot. Don’t monologue too long about it.”

Antihero gulped and placed the Machine on the table. The man’s eyes shone. He put away his red drink to examine it further.

“What a big thingie ! With all those pipes and these strings and...bits and pieces!”

“Thank you?”

“Yeah, can’t say I’m good with this electronic stuff. Old-fashioned family, you know. I like phones, though. Do you know that if you yell the word at it, it submits and gives you lots of bats pictures?”

“Yes.”

“You are a true expert, then. Go on, tell me.”

Antihero coughed a little:

“Well, I’ve found possessions of an ancient supervillain when I stopped a villain the other day. It was made by some mad scientist who thought she could scan the souls of people. Villain used it on his henchmen to see if they had what it took before hiring them.”

The man rubbed the bridge of his nose, appalled:

“Really? See, that’s what’s wrong with the world today.”

“Exactly! More and more villains have access to this kind of technology-”

“-And not bothering testing people themselves. "

The table shook under his fist while his other arm was waving, as if he could catch into thin air the words that would express his frustration:

"Where’s the creativity? Where’s the craft? You can’t just push a button to deal with your victims! You have to take the time to discover their phobia and make it happen! You dirty your hands and rip out their guts yourself! Otherwise, what’s the point? ”

“Err- I see you try very hard to understand villains-”

“Oh, it’s because I have lots of empathy."

He took a big sigh and added:

"But let’s get back to the subject. What about the machine?”

“Fortunately, my team took it and well-”

Antihero took a big inspiration, wondering how useful it was to explain the functioning of the complex mechanism to someone who referred wires as “strings”, and decided to go straight to the point:

“I won’t annoy you with details. Just know that it’s now programmed the other way.”

“Meaning?”

“It can now detect the people who are pure of heart.”

“Really? How so?”

“Well, all I do is switch it on, the person speaks up and shows his eyes to the scan here, the machine looks into their soul, and then it gives a number. The average human is around 50, but the best person ever could reach a 100, theoretically.”

“And we care why?”

“Sir! The applicability is huge! Imagine if in politics we could give our politicians this test! Or- Or to anyone who wants to be a hero! Or any applicants in any job, really.”

“Where does the number come from?”

“Oh, it’s a score based on every crime the person has committed or thought about committing.”

“A crime? So it’s based on the law?”

“Yes, mostly. That’s the most objective base.”

“How true. And those below 50?”

“Well…”

Antihero looked away:

“When making the machine, Supervillain has ordered for those who failed the test to be executed. So, um, there’s still a function for that, if the score is really bad. We couldn’t delete it, but we made it better. Now it’s quick and painless. It’s not automatic, but with worst cases, it can be a humane method of execution.”

“And your point of coming here is?”

“Well, to have your authorization to produce the machine, of course. Unless you have suggestions to modify it.”

The man giggled, stroking his cheek in reflection.

“Let me sum this up. You stole your thingie from a guy who couldn’t be bothered to test his own minions – honestly, that’s not that hard, you give them one person to execute and see how much they squirm—then you’ve based it on the law, which as you know never changes and is always right, but you couldn’t find the button to delete the killing function. Do I get it right?”

Antihero blushed, griping their elbows with their hands:

“There...there are certainly modifications to be made...you...you don’t like it?”

“Don’t like it? I love it!”

The man leaned towards them. He was still smiling. Antihero, who had raised their head, looked at his white teeth glinting in the artificial light. Without knowing why, they shivered. There was still a bit of red at the corner of his mouth. The stain looked a little too dark and thick to be tomato juice. Maybe it was a special protein drink.

The man licked his lips:

“That’s a great idea ! In fact, I insist that you use it on me.”

Antihero stared at him with his eyes wide open.

“I couldn’t…possibly…It’s still a prototype, you know.”

The man shook his head and stood up, opening a computer that he turned towards them:

“That’s my file. Look at this, if you're not convinced.”

The first thing Antihero saw was the percentage of success. It might have been the first time they'd seen a 100% – except of course for the newcomers, so they scrolled down to see the details. They gasped:

“Y...You stopped all this people? Villain, and Villain, and also Villain and oh damn...even Supervillain? And Supervillain?”

“Yep,” the man smiled nicely. “See? Total paragon of virtue here. Plus, I don’t go boasting in the news or anywhere else.”

Antihero looked at them with admiration.

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to-”

“Oh, that’s all right. Somehow, lots of people are unconvinced about my inner goodness. Let me try!”

Antihero beamed at them and switched the machine on. The man obediently stared at the machine and got closer than ever. For the first time, Antihero realized how his pupils were abnormally large. When he said the sentence Antihero told him to say, they were surprised at how sharp his teeth looked, and how two of them seemed- well- longer than before…

They shook their head. They probably just needed a little more sleep.

Then the machine burped. And clicked. And groaned.

“It didn’t give a number,” pointed the little man after a while, surprised. “What does it do, now?”

Antihero blubbered, their eyes wide:

“I- I think- it’s dysfunctional- it never did that before-”

“Oh, it sings, isn’t that nice! Is it programmed to play a funeral march?”

“I- We’ve never noticed this...It’s losing fluid…”

“No, no. I think it’s just crying black tears.”

After a moaning that sounded disturbingly human, the mechanism fell into a deafening silence. Then, the biggest pipe popped off. Antihero yelped as the machine opened in two, projecting black ooze everywhere. The man dodged in time, they did not. He shook his head as Antihero gasped, their eyes slowly filling with tears:

“Man, I must have been off the charts. My virtue stroke again.”

This time, Antihero definitively saw two long fangs that looked like tiny daggers as he added:

“Guess all the bastards will live! Too fucking bad.”

*

Vampire Hero is a recurring character. His job is to troll current villains. Check the Vampire Hero Masterlist or Tag for more snippets with him.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

[hoffmanxfurthermore]

Lost In Echoes pt. 3

Content: cussing, violence, kidnapping, mark in a trap, reader in a trap, reader unfairly tested, chemicals

Acid trap was inspired by the film Funhouse.

It's been three weeks since Mark revealed his biggest secret to you, his true self. Despite what that truth is, you love him for being honest with you and trusting you with something like that. You're not sure if you're okay with it. He is still trying to help you understand why he tests people. You sort of understand, but you're still a bit skeptical about all of it.

On one night in particular, you decide to run to the store for a snack. You can't sleep, so you've sat up binge watching your favourite show. Mark isn't home, and he isn't returning your calls, so you're a bit worried. You convince yourself not to freak out. You slowly get dressed, grab your car keys, and head out into the cold, foggy night. As you unlock your car, you don't notice the dark figure creeping up behind you. The last thing you remember is an arm around your neck, followed by a sharp pain right below your ear.

Everything goes black.

You awaken in a dark room, with a single light shining on you, strapped to a hard metal chair. Scared, you look around. You're groggy, not sure at first what's happening. As you come to, you realise what might be going on, and you hope it isn't true. Pulling at the restraints and screaming, your voice echoes off the concrete walls. You're fully dressed except for your shoes and socks, the hard floor cold on your feet.

You hear a door open and shut behind you, heavy and metallic.

"Hello, y/n," comes a gruff voice from behind you. You know that voice. Mark's played the tapes for you in the weeks since revealing he was working with John Kramer. Oh my god, Mark, you think, where is he?

"I want to play a game," the voice continues. Your blood runs cold. You hear a switch flick on, and a bright light floods the room from the high ceiling. You look across the room with wide eyes, and you see a naked Mark, hanging from his wrists above his head, waist deep in a chemical container that appears to be filled with water. A clear tube leads from the tank to a container next to it, labeled SbHF6.

"MARK!!!" You scream. He looks so scared, looking at you.

"Help me... please, y/n... oh god," he cries.

The man walks from behind you, revealing himself to be none other than John Kramer. He turns to Mark.

"Detective Hoffman," he says, "you of all people should know how crucial it is to keep certain information from the public. And yet, you tell her. I don't know this person. How do i know she can be trusted? Consider this a test of her loyalty to you. But dont worry. I'm not going to kill her. This is her test, but you are the subject."

"Fuck you, John! This is too far!" Mark spits, thrashing around in the water. John turns to you.

"You've seen my work. You know about acid and the devastating affects it can have on one's body."

You stare at him with pure hate in your eyes.

"Flouroantimonic acid is the most corrosive acid on this planet when it comes into contact with water. Unless you want your boyfriend to be dissolved into nothing, you'll follow my instructions. All you have to do... is climb the ladder," he points to a ladder clinging to the wall, 70 feet at least, you guesstimate, "and press the button at the top. And Mark will be free."

He begins to untie you from the chair.

"But be careful," he continues, "the razor wire and barbed wire will slice you to shreds."

"Fuck you! You can't do this to us!" You yell.

"If you fail to press the button before the timer is up, Mark will die. Slowly and painfully. You have ninety seconds. How much blood will you shed to save his life? Make your choice."

pt. 4

[godbarks]

NAMED AGUSTIN "PREACH" CASTILLO. KNOWN AS PREACH, DETECTIVE. ZODIAC SAGITTARIUS. DOB DECEMBER 21ST, FORTY1 YRS OLD. PLACE OF BIRTH LAFOURCHE, LOUSIANA. GENDER CIS MAN. PRONOUNS HE/HIM. ORIENTATION HETEROSEXUAL. OCCUPATION DETECTIVE. FACECLAIM SANTIAGO CABRERA.

INSPIRED BY PRESTON TEAGARDIN ( THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME ), JESSE CUSTER ( PREACHER ), RUSTIN COHLE ( TRUE DETECTIVE ), JOHN PRUITT ( MIDNIGHT MASS ), RAYLAN GIVENS ( JUSTIFIED )

HEIGHT SIX FOOT ONE. HAIR CASUALLY TOUSLED, SILVER FOX IN THE MAKING. EYES DARK BROWN, SIMMERING. SCENT SPICE FORWARD WITH NOTES OF CEDAR & MARLBORO RED. LANGUAGES CHILEAN SPANISH, ENGLISH, FRENCH. POSITIVE TRAITS CEREBRAL, INTUITIVE, DEVOUT. NEGATIVE TRAITS OBSESSIVE, DELUSORY, ELUSIVE.

ENTER, THE WHISKEY PROPHET.

biography.

you’ve always known how this ends.   there’s a child,   and there’s a wolf—one will always devour the other; one is dead,   and the other is the worst kind of alive.   you came crawling out of the bayou,   dredged from the muck,   born to nothing but sin.   a warrant was always hanging over your pa's head,   or a leasing notice nailed to the door of your mama's sagging shack,   the one she loved too much.   you were raised in a place where the grass never grew upright,   and neither did you.   always reaching,   always wanting,   just a little too close to that line between need and hunger.

you've been a maw since the cradle, devouring everything around you.   you took it all from your mother,   including the man she claimed was your father—though he was never more than a butcher with a god complex,   wielding the knife as his god.   he carved you into a twisted reflection of himself.   even as a child,   violence seeped from your bones.   unable to bring him down,   you turned your sharp edge on a world that hadn’t wronged you,   yet bore the brunt of your wrath.

the swamp taught you its cruel lessons.   it swallowed the forsaken and the damned,   and you made yourself part of its dark embrace—something wild and ravenous that sprawled across all it touched.   your younger brother was the first to witness the change,   seeing you slip away before you even knew it.   from there,   it all became a blur of sirens,   badges,   and a life built on half-truths and hollow confessions,   leaving you a ghostly patchwork of sin and shadow.

you were born again in the fire,   a cover-up that turned to something wild.   it was supposed to be simple—burn the evidence,   bury your ghosts—but those flames had a hunger of their own.   you struck the match knowing what you’d lose,   but when the blaze spread,   it didn’t stop with the past.   it took everything,   left you standing in the ash of all you'd tried to hide.

they called it an accident,   said it was faulty wiring or an drunken lapse of judgement.   but you knew.   the fire didn’t just burn—it stripped you down,   peeled back the skin until you were nothing but bone and sin,   raw as the day you were born.   they sent you to a new town,   told you to start over,   but you carried the flames inside you,   always burning,   always waiting.

now,   everything you touch feels like it could go up in smoke.   you’re not just running from your sins anymore—you’ve made a home in them.   that fire’s in your blood,   waiting for the next match to light.   waiting for you to burn again.

headcanons.

has been in town for just about a year now. hasn't been home since but his call logs are almost exclusively between greylocke and louisiana. tells most folks that he's from new orleans for the very slight thrill of averting the truth.

raised on the side of louisiana that never recovered from the great migration to the inner city; will never fully adjust to the big city lights & sounds because of it.

his current apartment is the first place that he's lived in independently ( that wasn't a shoddy motel or his backseat ) in a WHILE and is very much a reflection of such: he doesn't have curtains, has far too many bottles of guinness in the fridge, BUTTTT the living room is sensibly decorated.

drinks to remember instead of forgetting. the bottom of a bottle tends to bring him clarity. bro is hardly beating the alcoholic allegations.

only became a lawman back in nola for the kudos, esp familially. his dad was on the other side of the law so all the more reason to prove the fucker wrong.

the fire seriously injured his then-partner & subsequently preach was faced with temporary leave for psychological evaluation as well as an unexpected transfer that has since kept him in greylocke.

wants to be a good cop but is rlly the bad cop. 100% raylan givens coded; questionable ethics & slightly less questionable methods.

[spontaneousglitterbees]

So I'm still learning to mix, tips would be very appreciated, but.

Nobody asked for this. Nobody (else) wanted this. And yet! Here it is. A cover of Waltz of the Departed (from Evillious Chronicles) but it's about the ghosts partying during trial 6 of Danganronpa V3. Bizarre, but I mean. It's my blog, I guess.

I had Solaria sing even though it's from Ouma's perspective, mostly because I couldn't get Kevin to sound close enough to try and make it sound kind of like Ouma. and also I like Solaria, so.

Original produced by mothy, creator of Evillious Chronicles

vsqx by vibking

based on Octosan's translyrics

Inspired by PsySoubi's english cover

Lyrics under the cut!

Tonight at the trial, survivors debate.

"Victims" and their "killers" unite to spectate.

As the jester's voice echoes these hollowed halls,

Let our dear departed all join in a waltz!

--

The adventurer invites the pianist

The inmate smiles to the maid, still restless

Rather than place blame and guess who's next to die,

How 'bout we make sure that it's the mastermind?

--

Bright spotlights high, audience cries,

Once she's been cornered, she dons a new disguise,

Through his frayed wires, true Hope still shines,

Angling the camera, it's all by design!

--

Targets and culprits spinning in a haze,

Fondly recalling their brief high school days

Cast off your mask, weapons drop to the floor,

We have nothing left that we can lose anymore

--

So, then are they evil? I don't think that's right.

Driven by fear, duty, grief, mercy, and spite,

Surely they're no saints, but we're still all the same.

We were all children in this killing game!

--

As the boy sings, spirits arise

Dancing and twirling past unseeing eyes

The detective, posted on high,

Smiles as he breathes an affectionate sigh.

--

Stained and the spotless, chaotic array,

Only way to win is never to play,

Count your scores settled, make room to despise

This whirling cacophony of truth and lies

(La lu li la lu li la lu li la lu li la la, la la la. La-ah)

--

Targets and culprits dance on without end,

at least we haunt this place beside our friends,

Cast off your brave face, weep so you can cheer,

The end of the killing game is finally here!

--

Stained and the spotless look up to the sky

With all of our love, you better live long lives

Though we may not know what's waiting in store

Let's meet again someday, so we'll never be bored!

[bakerstreetbabble]

Granada TV Series Review: "The Final Problem" (S02, E06)

IT IS with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.

With these words, Arthur Conan Doyle began what was originally intended to b the last Sherlock Holmes adventure. As the story goes, by 1893, Conan Doyle had grown tired of the impact that his Holmes adventures were having on what he considered to be his "serious" writing. It was apparently after a trip to the Alps with his wife that he was inspired to kill off his famous creation at the majestic Reichenbach Falls. In so doing, he created a villain who, despite the small number of times he appears in the Holmes stories, became the great detective's most infamous nemesis: Professor Moriarty.

Backlash to the publication of "The Final Problem," which featured the (apparent) death of Sherlock Holmes, was swift and enormous. The Strand Magazine was inundated with complaints and subscription cancellations. Reportedly, many people could be seen around London wearing mourning clothes, due to the death of their beloved hero. Conan Doyle eventually felt enough pressure from his fans, that he published what is arguable his greatest Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, in 1901. As that novel was a flashback to an earlier adventure, rather than a true "resurrection," it still wasn't enough for Sherlock fans. In 1903, Sherlock Holmes truly returned in "The Adventure of the Empty House," in which it was revealed that the brilliant sleuth had not, in fact, died at the hands of Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls.

Which brings us to the wrap-up of the first series of Granada Sherlock Holmes adaptations. "The Final Problem" (1985) is a fitting finale to the second season of that first series. It would prove to be David Burke's final performance as Dr. Watson. Edward Hardwicke took over the role for the second series, entitled (appropriately enough) The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which began airing in 1986. Burke turns in an excellent final performance as the good doctor, and as he takes pen to paper to write "The Final Problem" and bid farewell to his friend, the gravitas is palpable.

Jeremy Brett is in absolutely top form throughout the episode. One wonders if the series had been renewed by this point, or if he also felt that the episode may be his last chance to play Holmes, as well. Whatever the case, he is spectacular. Eric Porter turns in a menacing performance as Professor Moriarty. Overall, the episode is a fantastic adaptation of this most pivotal story, despite a rather clunky special effect that happens when Holmes and Moriarty go over the Falls. The stuntpeople are obviously suspended by wires for their "fall," and the bodies that hit the bottom are clearly dummies. Still, I imagine most of their budget was spent on the gorgeous aerial shots of the Swiss Alps, and what looks to be plenty of location shooting in Switzerland for the second half of the episode.

Despite the climactic ending of the story, there really isn't a whole lot going on in much of the original story, so the writers are forced to pad things out quite a bit. As a result, we have a rather lengthy and unusual sequence after the three attempts on Holmes' s life in London, wherein Holmes recovers the stolen Mona Lisa(!) Indeed, it is that event that precipitates Moriarty's decision in the episode to "dispose" of his nemesis. 

I suspect, if you were only to choose to watch a few episodes of the Granada series, "The Final Problem" would be a must-see installment to have on your list. Or you could choose to do what I am doing: watch them all on YouTube!

Incidentally, as next week is Holy Week and I am a church musician, my schedule is going to be very busy next weekend. Therefore, I am not planning on doing a review next Saturdaay. I will resume my reviews the weekend after Easter, as I move on to the second series, The Return of Sherlock Holmes. I hope you'll join me!

[imsparky2002]

Batraculous: Sketcher Bat

Character Name: Petra Markov

Miraculous Hero Name: Sketcher Bat

Appearance: Petra, known as Sketcher Bat, possesses a unique and artistic appearance. Their neck-length, straight blue-black hair frames their face gracefully, and their medium-tanned skin contrasts beautifully with their cloudy blue eyes. Wire-rim glasses perch on their nose, enhancing their intellectual and artistic aura. Petra is of short stature, plus-size, and boasts a curvy figure. Their sense of style is influenced by decora kei fashion, which means they wear colorful and eccentric outfits adorned with numerous accessories.

Bio: Petra prefers both she/her and they/them pronouns and is the resident artist of her class. They have a deep love for rubberhouse style and retro animation, often incorporating these influences into their artwork. Petra's biggest challenge is their hypercritical nature; they refuse to consider a piece of art finished until it meets their standards of perfection. They're intensely passionate about their work, and when they dive into a project, they become fully engrossed in it. Despite their perfectionism, Petra is incredibly supportive of their friends' art and refrains from offering critiques out of fear of being inadvertently rude.

Batsuit Description: Sketcher Bat's batsuit is a vibrant and expressive reflection of Petra's artistic nature and their love for retro animation.

Cowl: Petra's cowl is a work of art in itself. It features a design that resembles a classic animation camera, with a rotating lens at the front. The lens can zoom in and out to analyze details, making it incredibly useful for detecting akumas. The cowl's screen can display various animation effects, adding an artistic touch to their hero persona.

Cape: Petra's cape is a riot of colors, reminiscent of a painter's palette. It's designed to resemble the flowing movement of animation frames, with each color representing a different aspect of their artistic process. The cape can wrap around them to create a protective barrier or form into various shapes for creative offense and defense.

Armor: The armor of Sketcher Bat's suit is lightweight and form-fitting, allowing for a wide range of motion. It features a holographic overlay that mimics Petra's artistic style. The holograms can be manipulated to create decoy images or illusions to confuse akumas.

Gadgets: Petra's utility belt is filled with artist-inspired gadgets. They carry bat-shaped paint bombs that explode into colorful splashes, temporarily disorienting akumas. Their belt also contains a retractable, extendable staff that can be used for both offense and creating art on the fly. Additionally, they have a compact sketchbook that transforms into a sturdy shield when needed.

Sketcher Bat's batsuit is a true masterpiece that not only helps them combat akumas but also showcases their artistic talents. With a keen eye for detail and a love for animation, Petra brings a unique perspective to the Miraculous heroes of Paris, adding a touch of creativity and imagination to every battle.

Thank you to ChatGPT for assistance. Make sure to reblog, reply, post and ask for more. @artzychic27 @msweebyness

[castle-dominion]

castle 6x17 the belly of the beast

the russassin episode liveblog

meh I honestly don't feel like doing a plot heavy ep rn. It sounds draining.

uwu not your husband? lmao this is so cute

Okay, stop describing my life. RC: Yeah, I find deadlines … inspiring.

"You could convince me <3" "yes we do that's so true"

She is not on call babe.

sus I like how at least becks tried to tell gates she wasn't on call

I love ryspockett sm. More bras sthan a marching band lol "detective?" *three detectives are there*

Why is this so quiet tho? Why not let ryan in? english better than we do lol.

Inter act.

Yeah of COURSE she attempted suicide when y'all leveraged her into this.

lol beckett russian moments

sus. I'd take ryan in on this. Heck I read a fanfiction where beckett is all like "ooh trauma" & castles like 'see someone' "wdym? a shrink?" 'no' "castle I love you but i ain't talkin to u." 'glad u thought of me but no, someone who knows what you're dealing with.' "Esposito chatted w me abt ptsd before but he is not touchy feely in a figurative emotional sense" 'girl i didn't mean him either. i meant the one who has done undercover narcotics operations & been fricking water tortured.' "o ryan. ya u right castle. my B."

lol castle zombie games I love how he stops his game as soon as he worries.

VG: You don’t have to do this. You can walk away and I’ll take the heat. I love her.

voiceover

the real elena is NOT intimidated.

it is SO easy to spot a cop.

Elevators have cameras? no?

Dun dun dun! Sally pendrick moments

Green intro

lol dinner plans XD

Yeah it's an elevator.

lol rysposito listening in

except neither of those are true. they would have done this to elena too

love her door & tha audio

wow an hour

what thing? there a camera in there? or is it just the mic?

why tell her to get on her knees & then maker her stand? so close to her. rly sus. I thought she swallowed it but that wouldn't work well.

Ooh martha rly pretty! Love her! Ha, pray for me.

rysposito turned off their phones, sending castle straight to voicemail? also martha & ryan & esposito we need more interactions with the three of them.

Nice place. big gun. move packages she says. The act he says.

Good music. Obviously they did an audio commentary & I love it but yk w/e

This man ain't lazarus. no way. Da aka (chair thing)a

Yes please, whiskey or water

btw good caption choices, but I would still like the original language written even though it has "speaking russian" AND the translation.

why write it down on paper?

that's a bold request.

a bedroom.

Apparently the where-should-people-be question was a thing.

why she callin esposito? instead of straight up 911? also their phones would be wired to pick up 911 or calls to the pigsty. Couldn't they get her a phone call with lazarus at least?

she be noisy.

I loooove especkett this ep is actually good i love first names Audio remains the same when he put her on speaker. why did i say remain not stay? more letters to type. Also harden is a pretty hot guy for being the age he is.

If I were her I may have sat down facing the door on the edge of the desk.

At least she made contact. I heard The ukraine, bounced all over The europe lol

Oh no castle shows up. Gates I love her sm she is genuinely so much better than the fandom implied.

Niec room.

who are these ppl coming out of the car?

Why are esposito AND ryan AND the narco captain here?

Blood oh no! officer dead? If they took elena then becks is done for but if elena fled (which we will know in the future) then beck is fine

fricking no babe that is not how a paperclip works, Rip a hangnail if you want easy access to blood.

the uncertainty of not knowing if you'll make it out. I love this letter.

Becks is much less afraid looking now.

"I'll take it." they not giving her any intel? Oh they are.

the list? is she supposed to know abt the list? she's good. Are there guns in the house? curiosity keeps me alive.

so obv we're all like "whats going on who even is this guy" but where did she get the beet juice & ketchup to look enough like blood? chocolate syrup?

Ah she came out the back door. Show him what? do u usually take a souvenir to prove? Like I said. the apckage is delivered. What if he moved while they were still watching.

OH SHE'S LEFT HANDED

she's the contract killer lol this is great Love esposito kind of holding castle back

calling gates the homicide captain

poor guy still covered in beet juice lol Poor mr potter.

you can't but she is good at what she does

501 the nameplate says. who has this many guns tho? also isn't this new york? who has a house in new york even mr potter the attorney?

Harden watching her love it.

Make sure that there is no bullet in the chamber & the safety is on before you lose your legs to a gun going off in your crotch there becks What kind of a gig is this gal talking about?

I'd hate standing in a doorway guarding with my back to an open door.

wow lol an ugly basement. of vourse.

it suits him? lol the sound. Oh & the stairs were cgi. HOLY CRAP THAT IS A LOT OF NEARLY-NAKED WOMEN COUNTING MONEY. WHY.. WHY ARE THEY NOT WEARING MUCH?

wHO is screaming in there?????!?!?

future foreward

blood in the place

WAIT

WAIT NO HOLY CRAP OH NO THIS IS LAZARUS? WE KNOW HIM. GIRL COVER YOUR FACE WITH YOUR HAIR MAYBE. I love the "you are not" instead of aren't or you're"

Oh yeah she did break glass with him. Good scene. I'm glad they brought back vulcan simmons. He never confirms he's lazarus.

she texts javi again, not castle, not gates, not fowler, not ryan. 41319 becks badge # I would not be the one to send "address" before writing the address.

I love this stuff. rly good. Def better this way, glad they cut the scene.

VS: Let’s do without all this Kabuki theater, Detective. It’s undignified. KB: (harshly) Do you want undignified? Then wait ‘til you see what I do to you. So hot

I like how he says mama. mamma. Love the audio too & underwater. didn't the MIB remotely turn back on a cell phone once? ew still water, ew bubble on the eye. Ooh simmons took off his jacket. Vulcan simmons is an amazing character & I love him. At least Ryan made a joke & then got his knee almost shot out & then rescued. poor becks looks like she's been longer.

Harden my beloved. *sends her down a hill for no reason* It could make her body easier to be tracked

A few of them are your new neighbours lol

Yeah he probably has a better deal with these ones lol. Ohhhh she was sent in with a gun bc elena usually uses a knife!

Good scene here. Love it a ton. artistic.

He wanted her to live bc he owed her but he was willing to kill harden?

Oh they literally never found her! it was 6am when she called them after elena saved her, they were sitting there waiting thinking she was dead trying to find her, they never succeeded. I could read a fanfic abt the hours between when we last had contact with her got the cell phone & when we got her call & found her & saved her. I'd love a fanfic of finding her.

what sense of honour has this lazarus chosen to keep her alive?

love her bruises. "heart attack" It's impossible to know *she knows*

love her fur coat. nice & warm. warm to help her after being chilled this entire time.

Next tmie u see each other it's fair game, but then you will no longer be even, one of you will kill the other & then you owe them you owe letting them kill you even tho they're dead so that then you'd be even. doesnt make any sense.

But yeah I did fine with this plot heavy one. never took a clip tho. Considered it when esposito was figuratively holding castle back.

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Inspired partially by the twitter trend of The Face Vs. The Face Sitting On It and just in time for Valentine’s Day! 

Gender Neutral Reader Insert. 

Enjoy my masterlist!

Support me on KoFi!

__________________________

While sitting in the car, you watch out the window. Folks buzz around you--some folks looking content, strolling about their day. Others are flitting around, a bit of crease in their forehead. And you feel for them. You know those days where there’s just not enough hours in the day to get it all done. Or it’s when one thing sets off a spiral of all terrible things. Or when you just don’t wake up on the right side of the bed. You know that crease all too well because currently you were having a bad sleeping week. 

You were getting tired when you were supposed to but the second you put your head on the pillow your brain was hot wired--keeping you up with all the things you needed to do, hadn’t done, all the appointments you had kept pushing off. It was finding the littlest things to find that anxiety and keep you staring up at the ceiling. Calum noticed the tossing and turning and tried his best to lull you to sleep this week, fixing you tea in the evening, getting you off your phone or laptop a couple hours before bed. He even started reading to you, but your ears picked up on the white noise of everything in the house. Your brain picked up the embarrassing memory that you hadn’t even considered in decades and now holding it in front of your mind’s eye for hours on end during the week. 

Like right now, you should’ve been at home sleeping. Your work was giving you a long weekend and you really could’ve used the time to catch some extra Z’s, but you were, admittedly, a little scared to stay home. Sure maybe you did fall asleep cuddled up next to Duke. But you worried that you’d stay up, worry yourself sick some more so when Calum told you he had some errands to run you immediately tagged along. The time running around would hopefully tire you out enough that when you got home you could actually fall asleep. 

So after Calum’s personal training session in the morning, which you sort of tagged along for, but mostly went through your own routine and getting a solid breakfast, you two were now buzzing around from store to store. Calum had gotten most of the grocery the other day, but he forgot a couple things so your first objective was to grab those and bring them back up. He then had to go to the post office to mail out his mother’s birthday cards and a few other things. 

While in the line at the post office, your head tucked into his back, Calum got a phone call from a guitar shop on the other side of time about a new model that had just come in. Calum had been eying it for ages, but he didn’t want to be reckless with his money especially after getting some work on his teeth and to the house. So he asked the guitar shop to keep an eye out for when more stock arrived in case it sold out before Calum felt comfortable spending a large sum of money like that again. 

The store agreed to set one off to the side for him and could keep it on hold until the end of the day. Which was perfect--still gave the two of you time to get lunch. You didn’t need to get anything, didn’t need to do anything. But even after lunch, Calum made one more pit stop. Here now at the gas station, you sit peering through the windshield and can see a mother with her two sons walking from the doors. They boys hold brightly colored icees in their hand, each clutching a bag field with goodies. 

You aren’t entirely sure whey Calum needed to stop here for anything. It’s not like he needed stamps, since he got those at the post office. He hadn’t pulled in to get gas. Lunch had been filling, though you tried not to stuff yourself too much just because you knew that on a long car ride, the last thing you wanted to do was be uncomfortably full. 

The door opens again, Calum strutting through with his glasses covering his eyes and resting comfortably atop the chubby cheeks. Barely hanging from the crook of his fingers is a brown plastic bag. The doors click open and he climbs into the driver seat. The guitar shop wasn’t that far, but today seemed to be a busy day on the road. Took you all too long just to get to the grocery store this morning. 

“Snacks?”

“Was craving something sweet after lunch.” 

You peer into the bag as he hands it over to you. Some gummy bears, gum, a bar or two of chocolate you can’t quite tell. You set it onto the floor at your feet. “Let me know when you want something.” But he’s already tearing into a Twix bar when you glance at him. “Or not,” you laugh. 

“The other stuff is for you--if you want to indulge. Can’t forget ya,” he pushes the glasses down for just a moment to wink at you and then looks into the rearview mirror. 

“Do you think you’re going to get this one?” you asks as the SUV rolls out from the parking lot and onto the asphalt of the highway. 

“Hmm, maybe. Gotta see how it feels first.”

You nod at his question, resting your head into the cushion of the seat. And it goes quiet for a while. The radio plays softly in the background, and every so often the packaging crinkles as Calum downs more of the chocolate and caramel treat. 

“Valentine’s Day is coming up soon,” Calum states, while paused in a bit of traffic. “Got any ideas on what you want to do for it?”

You think for a moment. Valentine’s Day has never been your thing--being perpetually single does that to a person. “Restaurants are going to be a nightmare.”

“Yeah, they will be.” Another crinkle comes from the right side of the car and then his arm reaches behind your seat, finding the small bag of trash you stash there--though you have to be careful when Duke sits in the backseat. Generally though, he doesn’t mess with too much. “My mom sent me a recipe of hers. It’s really good.”

“I’d be down for cooking.”

“Nothing else? Don’t wanna go sky diving? Give me another heart attack?”

You laugh thinking about the first birthday you spent with Calum together as a couple. “You didn’t die.”

“But I did almost shit myself.”

“You can play on stage to thousands of people, but no, jumping from a plane is a no-go.”

“Yes, because I am a sane human.”

You huff out a small tuft of laughter and turn to look at him. One hand on the wheel with the stainless steel linked chain dangling from his wrist. His other arm is resting against the door, gently tapping out a beat with his long slender fingers. “Do you want to do anything?”

“Valentine’s Day,” he scoffs. “How long have we been dating? When have I ever been dying to do anything on some random day in February.” His statement doesn’t fall venomously from his mouth. He even looks over to you with a smile. “I don’t need one day out of 365 to declare my love for someone.”

And it’s true. While Calum wasn’t super accepting of love from new people, while it took you months to show Calum that you were trustworthy and not someone to keep at an arm’s length, once he cracked open, he oozed adoration and love for people. And you knew it was a defense mechanism. You knew that when someone did care as hard as Calum did it wouldn’t always be an easy thing to win over. 

Calum, when he finally let someone one, loved hard. It could be a random Tuesday in July or a Sunday in February, and he would make sure his love was known. He never needed a special occasion to send flowers, to cook dinner, to offer to drive you to doctors appointments because he knew that sometimes you got too nervous or flustered by them to drive but did manage to push through if absolutely necessary. He’d easily pick up some gloves and an extra sponge if he saw you wiping down the walls in the kitchen or wiping through the counter. He kept fridge cleaning days marked on the calendar. And when you added reminders to wash bed sheets to the shared one, he also include rest breaks for you too. 

Calum had never needed someone to force him to show appreciation. 

“I mean, there is the option to literally do nothing on Valentine’s Day. Like treat it as any other day.”

“That’s still something,” he countered, turning on his signal and switching out from the middle lane. His exit was approaching in another mile and a half. 

“Oh fuck off,” you laugh. “We can’t cease to exist that day. Bare minimum we need to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide.”

Calum laughs softly, showing some of his teeth too. “Fair, fair. There’s another Netflix documentary coming out, true crime one. I forget what it’s fully about, but I think it’s about a serial killer if you’d be down to start it then?”

“When would I ever turn down the opportunity to be a detective with you?”

“You haven’t yet,” he states with laughter in his voice. 

“And I never will.” The ramp takes the two of you down and down and soon you’re winding through streets and not too far you can see the shopping center coming into view. He pulls into the lot of the shop and the two of you step out in unison. 

The bell above the door chimes as he opens it for you and you smile often in your thanks. “Hey, Calum!” one of the guys at the register calls out. The store is fairly empty. But you’re not shocked on a Tuesday afternoon. 

“Hey, Derek. How’s it going?” Calum heads directly over to the counter and you look up to the left wall, at the records on display.

“Let me know if you need anything,” the second guy states to you, “or if you want to see anything.” He’s younger than Derek, both look to be equally tattooed from the pieces that peek out from the short sleeve work shirts, but his face is significantly brighter. 

“Thanks,” you return and go back to the displays. You can hear Calum and Derek chatting but slowly tune it out, make it background noise to the music playing through the speakers. 

You turn to walk towards the back where more instruments sit and you can see Calum leaning into the glass display of the counter. The palms of his hand pressed into the metal edge. The sunglasses sit on top of his head and you notice the younger guy glancing over at you again.

He nods again and then goes back to his computer. Nothing else is said. And you look over the stringed instruments, ukuleles, some violins and then you spin around again, done with that lap and go to head up to Calum. “See anything?” he asks. 

You shake your head. “You’re the musically talented one. I just nod and smile when you talk about it.”

Derek returns, a case in hand. He comes out from the hinged doors that separate the sales floor from the registers and back of the store. You scoot a little closer to the display as the case is transferred over. Calum takes it easily heading to the corner you just abandoned to sit and check out the instrument. It’s a beautiful deep green, almost reminds you of the thick Washington forest. The body is slender. 

“That’s a pretty cool color,” you note, watching Calum work his fingers over the frets. 

He grins up at you. “Think so?” You give another nod. He doesn’t inspect it long before you can see the desire to give in crosses his face. 

Derek’s standing close by and you turn to him and keep your voice as close to a whisper as you can while still being heard. “What’s a bass like that cost?”

He rattles off the price, one eyebrow slightly raised over the other. You know Calum will riot--he’ll pitch a fucking fit. But you reach into your wallet and slide out your card. You had been saving--for a year. You wanted to do something big for Calum. You just didn’t know what it was yet specifically though you had some ideas, a bass was top of the list.  But you didn’t want to try and go out and buy a bass without consulting him, without getting an understanding of what he liked. You thought about maybe a really good leather jacket and some more boots. He loved the ones he had, wore them as much as he could. 

And when you mentioned possibly getting him more, he told you the ones he had were still in good shape. Calum wasn’t the type to just buy clothes to buy them. He indulged here and there, but always made a point to wear something he had down before replacing it. You’d tease the subject a couple more times after that, but he never took the bait and you weren’t going to force him into a thing he didn’t want or need. 

But it’s clear to you that this is something he wants. But he’ll tussle with himself and never give in on it. It’s pricer than you thought it would be. But you too were being smart, having finally paid off the last of your car, you start moving those payments to savings and it helped a great deal. You were fine. You get insurance and the whole deal as Derek advises. By the time you slide the receipt back across the counter, Calum comes back to the registers. “I appreciate you holding it for me, man. But I don’t think I can right now.”

Derek looks at you and you look down into the glass. “It’s--it’s yours, dude.”

“What?” Calum breathes behind you. 

“They-uh, they paid for it,” Derek says, nodding at you.

You can feel the heat in your body now and spin around to face Calum in a rush. “Consider it a not Valentine’s Day gift.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Ever since I finished paying off my car, I saved the payments to do something nice for you. Didn’t know what it was going to be for sure. But I know you, Calum. You’d want something and tell yourself no. I mean you can treat yourself sometimes.”

“You-you didn’t?” His eyes are rapidly blinking, head shaking like he doesn’t want to believe you. Like he can’t believe you as his mouth mumbles out, “No,” repeatedly. 

“It’s yours,” you nod. “It’s really yours.”

If it weren’t for the weight of the bass, you’re sure Calum would’ve tipped over, maybe even rushed to Derek to hand the case back over, but instead he’s weighed down, chained to this spot in the blue speckled carpet of the store, still repeating, “No,” softly. 

“‘I hate to break it to you, but you’re gonna have to find space in your office for it now. Because I refuse to return it.” You step forward, find the handle and slip your hands around it taking it from Calum. A small grunt leaves you and then you start to the door, throwing a thanks to Derek. 

The lights to the SUV blink and you can hear the locks clicking open as you push open the door to the store. “Wait--what are you doing?” Calum asks. 

“Open the trunk please,” you ask. 

“Let me do it,” he demands, stepping in close to take the case with the bass now. “What the fuck did you do? Baby, this is expensive.”

“It’s not a Valentine’s Day gift,” you answer again. “Because I love you. On a random Tuesday.”

He gets the instrument safely into the trunk and then closes it, watching dumbly as you climb into the passenger side. He walks to the driver seat and climbs in, taking you gently by the chin. “That was absolutely reckless and unnecessary-- ”

“I am just absolutely reckless and unnecessary then,” you counter, “because I’m not returning it.”

“--but thank you. Thank you so much,” he continues as if you hadn’t interrupted him. “I love you.”

“I love you.” Then it’s silent, as the two of your gaze at each other, watching what could almost be tears well in his eyes, but they don’t fall. 

“I don’t know what I did to deserve a person like you, but whatever it was, I’m glad I did it.”

“I’m glad you did it too.” The two of you return home, Duke rushing to the front door as the two of you step through it. Calum safely places the bass in his music room/office and returns shortly after to help you decide on what to order for dinner. 

As the two of you settle onto the couch, Calum takes your hand and presses a kiss to teach knuckle. “I’m gonna teach you how to play.”

“You know we’ve done this before.”

“And you were good at it.”

“I was alright at it.”

“It’ll be your bass,” he whispers. 

“I bought it for you,” you return tossing your head back to look at him. 

He kisses your lips. “Yeah, but it’ll be the one that I teach you to play for real one and it’ll be yours--just as much as it is mine.”

“A true sap,” you laugh, but nod and return your focus back to the TV. 

In the week that follows, Calum makes sure to take an hour in the evenings to set you down and pick up on the lessons. They fizzled out as work for the both of you picked up. But now things are a bit more calm. He sits next to you, assessing what you remember from last time and correcting finger placements as needed, but they go smoothly. 

When Valentine’s Day does come, Calum pulls you back into bed for just five more minutes of sleep. And five minutes turns into half an hour. But finally you two pull yourself out from the sheets, figure out what to do in the midmorning that results in food being consumed and then you slowly gravitate towards different sections of the house. 

There’s still a bit of laundry to be done and Calum takes Duke out for just a little bit. The two of you migrate back together by mid afternoon. He finds you making a quick lunch and presses a kiss to your cheek. You turn to face him, squeezing at his. “I bought some face masks,” he offers. “Care to join me in doing the bare minimum of converting oxygen into carbon dioxide after your lunch?”

“Don’t see how I could pass up such a wonderful offer? You want anything?” He shakes head, mentioning grubbing on some of the leftovers earlier while you took a nap. 

With your lunch done and the plates cleaned, you find Calum in the bedroom and let him know you’re ready for the face masks. He shuffles to the bathroom. “I hope I got the right one for you,” he mutters. “I got them forever ago it feels, so who the hell knows what I got.” His laughter is soft as he rummages through the bins under the skin. 

“I’ll be in the office,” you tell him and he nods, still pulling bins out. You settle into the couch and spy the green bass still on the stand from yesterday. You pull it into your lap and sling your arm over it. The amp next to you is off, you know but you still pluck away at it as if it were on. 

Calum shuffles in a few minutes later. “Um, babe. It’s off.”

You don’t reply but do look up. He holds up three different packages. “Here’s to hoping one of these is worthwhile.” You place your bass back to the stand and take one that sounds like one you’re okay with using. Calum hands you a towel so you can wipe your fingers off after you get it placed onto your face. He helps get it right and then you help him with his and the two of you slip onto the couch, legs entangled and leaning into opposite ends of the couch.

You laugh at Calum’s story as you scroll mindless through app after app. In the boredom you snap a picture of Calum with the face masks on and don’t think too much of it, saving it to the album with all the silly and cute photos of him are--there are tons. 

“I mean the sun is a star. Though the ones we see have been dead for a long time.”

Calum taps your leg with his foot. “It was a simple question--to be the sun or the stars. I didn’t ask for this philosophical crisis.”

“Why would it not weigh in your decision! If you’re a star like the ones we see at night, you’re technically already dead. You wanna be dead?” You huff, sitting up. 

“I mean, no, but c’mon.”

“It’s a valid thing to consider, that’s all I’m saying!”

He laughs. “Okay, sun or the moon?”

“You first,” you return and just then your alarm on your phone goes off. The two of you shuffle back to the bathroom and take off the masks. 

“Moon, maybe,” he counters. 

You nod. “Fitting. When should we get started on that recipe of your moms? Is it super involved?”

“Nah, it’s pretty easy. Normal time should be good. I’m going to read outside if you want to join.”

“Maybe in a bit.”

Calum nods, grabbing his book as he passes through the bedroom and the patter of Duke’s claws follow behind him. You go back to the music room, turn on the amp and then actually play a little something. It’s nothing fancy--just the arrangement you put together with Calum as a practice exercise once. You play it for a bit, adding a little flair. When you phone rings, you pause to answer it. You wouldn’t normally, but the number looks semi recognizable so you answer it. 

It’s just a scam call and you hang up but then notice some other notifications. Before you realize it, you’re deep into Twitter. You’ve run across the trend of people posting pictures of themselves and their significant others with the caption, The Face Vs The Face Sitting On It. It made you laugh just a little bit at first. And then you kept going down the rabbit hole. Some are silly, most are good pictures. 

While it’s not exactly secret that you and Calum are dating, you two don’t post too much. Calum isn’t incline to post on social media in the first place and while you use it a bit more than him, you try not to post too much about him out of respect. However, as you look tap on quote retweet and bring up your photos you think maybe one silly post wouldn’t hurt. So you grab the one of him recently with the face masks and then one of yourself--it’s silly too, a little blurry too in the darkness that it was taken in. 

You hit post and watch the likes come in. Then keep scrolling. Eventually you have to put the bass away and peel yourself from the couch to find Calum and see if he’s hungry enough for dinner. Just as you round the corner to the office, you spy him stepping through the glass sliding backdoor. “Hungry?” you ask. 

He nods, “Yeah.”

The two of you, with Duke trotting ahead, make your way down the hallway and into the kitchen. “You’re funny,” he states, washing his hands first. 

“Thank you. I’ll be here until you kick me out.”

He laughs. “No, the pictures you posted. On Twitter.”

You’re shocked that he noticed it that fast. Normally it took him a bit longer to see silly stuff like that. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Nah. What I hope you don’t mind is my reply.”

At first you’re nervous. Calum could’ve gone one of two ways--super silly and broke out even worse photos of you possibly not sober or he went super on trend with it and pulled out a photo of you done up for a date night. Not that you preferred one over the other, but sometimes you liked to keep your relationship light on social media. It was easier that way. There wasn’t any real pressure that way. Though the fans seemed to have enjoyed it when you posted more posed and serious content. 

You liked to keep it a bit more real. You and Calum didn’t do the whole nine yards a lot--you two were normal people who hated getting out of bed some days and went as well into the afternoon before showering at times and walked Duke and went to doctor’s appointments like everyone does. So you always opted for a bit of a joke, a silly Tweet or photo whenever you could. 

“What did you post?” you ask. 

He shrugs, taking up the knife to dice the onion. “I’m not telling you.”

You glance at the printed out recipe and get a pan on the aisle over medium heat before pulling out your phone. As you load the app, you listen to the snap of the knife fitting the wooden cutting board. You type Calum’s name and tap onto his profile. 

While there’s is silly--I do want to take a moment to show off my favorite person in the world. So here we go, The Face Vs. The Face Sitting On It. Below is attached a picture of him--you snapped while you two were out for lunch one day. The black t-shirt tight around his biceps as he slyly grins into the camera. The lights in the background are just barely in focus of the resturant and Calum’s glancing out of the window next to him. You remember that you were recording him, or at least you thought you were, and told him that he was handsome. Not the first time, but everytime he did, he blushed and turn away. And you captured it here too. 

The photo of you is actually one with him in it. The guys got together and did a big family dinner and the two of you posed at Crystal’s request in the slightly matching outfits. You hadn’t intended to match--though black was a staple in both your wardrobes. You were a bit different thanks to the pop of color in your shoes, but in the lighting of the street lamp, you had to admit that you did look hot. The first couple of  buttons on your shirt you were undone and with your hands tucked into the pockets, you looked like you owned shit. 

“While I hoped that you’d go with something more silly, I will take this,” you finally say. 

“That picture is literally my background for a reason,” he returns. 

You kiss his cheek and then trace over the stubble with your teeth to his ear. “Can I make a reservation for tonight?”

“The table is reserved for you literally at all times,” he returns in a breathe. 

“Good,” you laugh and then glance back to the recipe. 

[aion-rsa]

Spiral: From the Book of Saw Ending Explained

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Spiral spoilers.

After all these years on the force, Chris Rock’s seasoned Det. Zeke Banks still hasn’t figured out that when you play a Jigsaw game, the unwritten rule is you have to lose. Sure, his one-time partner, Det. “William Schenk” (Max Minghella), isn’t actually Jigsaw, nor even a true-blue disciple of John Kramer. However, Will learned the master’s trade, and he learned it well. Which is why at the end of Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Will’s on an elevator that’ll apparently lead him to safety out of this warehouse, and the SWAT team just murdered an innocent Black man.

… Well, as innocent as a man like former Police Chief Marcus Banks (Samuel L. Jackson) can be. It’s interesting though that Will let Marcus’ son, Zeke, live, isn’t it? We’ll get to that later.

For those who want a refresher about how this Saw movie all played out, let’s go back to the moment which set this all in motion. Twelve years ago, Zeke Banks was a beat cop with a crooked partner named Pete. While investigating a crime in an apartment building that apparently involved a cop murdering someone, Pete is taking a witness statement from a man who says he’ll go on the record: yes, he saw a corrupt police officer commit a crime. So Pete pulls out a gun and shoots the witness in the heart.

By the time a younger Zeke gets on the scene, Pete has placed a gun in his victim’s hand and claims he shot him in self-defense. Zeke of course knows it’s a lie, as does the child who watches from a bedroom doorway in the corner. That child grows up to be Minghella’s character.

The twist is actually pretty heavily hinted at throughout the movie. When Zeke and Will go to a church to talk with Pete—who ended up serving nine years of hard time after Zeke turned him in—the former partner even admits what they did was wrong, saying “it was crazy back then” and that the guy he murdered “had a family.”

Throughout Spiral, we are told that these Jigsaw murder games are “too personal” to be another Jigsaw disciple. This copycat is out for revenge. And at least for this viewer, I immediately began suspecting Will, who always talked about his wife and son but never introduced them to his new partner. When Zeke calls Will at home, we hear a baby crying off-screen but never see it.

So when Will then also dies, apparently off-screen, in a murder that wasn’t even apparently a game—it seemed like he was skinned alive in a butcher’s shop—it becomes pretty obvious that Will is actually the son of the man Pete murdered. Seriously, we have a whole scene about Zeke consoling the widow of a buddy on the force who died, but no one thinks to call Will’s supposed wife about the young detective’s death?

But you’re not supposed to think about that plot hole. The point is that as a child, Will only got nominal justice thanks to Zeke turning his partner in. But Zeke is the anomaly: the one good cop who will not tolerate the “code of silence” in cases of blatant corruption.

That corruption in the police force stems from the system itself. While we’re never told exactly what Article VIII is, the citywide law is apparently the PATRIOT Act on steroids, or just Giuliani Time redux, allowing police to deal with perceived criminals at their “own discretion.” One of the apparent architects of it was Zeke’s father, then-Police Chief Banks. Played by a cocky Jackson, we learn in flashbacks how systemic the coverup culture is on his watch.

Hence Marcus dreads Zeke will be killed by other cops because his son did the right thing and turned in a rotten apple. Indeed, one of Will’s future victims, Det. Fitch (Richard Zeppieri), even lets Zeke take a bullet, refusing to answer Zeke’s calls for backup.

Zeke is protected, to an extent, by his father and his otherwise reasonable seeming, if complicit, captain (Marisol Nichols). But Zeke turning in Pete failed to bring any tangible change to corruption among the department’s ranks. Even Zeke’s best friend on the force winds up being the new Jigsaw’s first victim because he lied constantly on the witness stand, getting potentially innocent people sent to prison in order to bolster the DA’s conviction rate. It’s why Jigsaw takes his tongue.

This is Will’s grand idea: take the teachings of John Kramer and apply them to the entire Metropolitan Police Department.

“[The spiral] is a symbol of change, evolution, progress,” Will says. “But why limit that to an individual when you can apply it to a whole system? You got shot for doing the right thing. Let’s face it, these cops aren’t going to clean up on their own. We take a tongue here, a few bones there, they’ll come around. We’re going to fix a broken department. You and me.”

So the boy who saw his father murdered by a dirty cop changed his name to Will Shank, became the top of his class in the police academy, and situated himself as the partner of the one honest cop who’s spent 12 years looking over his shoulder. He also created a fake home life, so no one wondered what he was doing after hours.

Strangely, he isn’t above a little murder himself. A drug addict named Billy Riots is who Will pays to bump into his first victim. Will later kills Benny, skinning him so that it’ll look like Zeke’s new partner died screaming.

In any event, the movie ends exactly how Will wants it to. He sets up a trap where Zeke can try to save the old crooked partner he sent to prison (Zeke fails twice in Will’s eyes, first by attempting to actually save the man and then by not succeeding). Next he gives Zeke the choice to join his crusade by standing by and watching his daddy die.

I’m not sure why Will thinks the best way to win over an accomplice in Zeke is by killing his father in front of him since the murder of a father is what inspired this whole mess. Nevertheless, Zeke winds up in another no-win scenario. He has one bullet he can use to kill Will, if he so chooses, or use it to disarm the elaborate trap bleeding Marcus to death, drip by drip from tubes into mason jars.

Zeke tries to save his father, which fails another test in Will’s eyes. At this point though, he’s already implemented his “full-proof” escape plan: Zeke still can’t win.

When the SWAT team busts down the door, they hit a wire which triggers another fail-safe in Marcus’ trap. Like a puppet on strings, Samuel L. Jackson is pulled back into the air, with the blood draining out. A string also pulls his hand up with a shotgun in it, making Marcus seem like a threatening Black man. The chief is brutally gunned down by his own police force.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The political subtext in all of this is thick. With a story idea originated by Rock—notably before the murder of George Floyd last year—the Saw franchise has returned in the Black Lives Matter era with a potent (if heavy handed) allegory about racism in law enforcement and the institutional menace of authority valuing the protection of their own over the safety of the public.

One imagines the real reason, then, Will lets Zeke live—even after he still tried to save his corrupt daddy from being gunned down like so many other fathers and sons—is so Rock can go head-to-head with Will again in another sequel. It certainly feels like we’re all still on the same spiral downward. So why not a Saw sequel with a recurring protagonist?

The post Spiral: From the Book of Saw Ending Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ogbgsI

[sapphicgarlic]

can u do one with a very famous reader who is a singer. everyone thinks that the reader and Harry are going through rough stuff because of FL and the Camille songs, and the reader releases a song, which makes things worse. and Harry starts feeling insecure too, but the song isn’t even about him come to find out. a rec for the song, ‘In My Head” by Ariana Grande... it mentions Gucci so hahahaha

okay but I LOVE these type of requests that come with a song! helps me loads to get inspired! so please, anyone feel free to send me some preferbly not famous!y/n because I still have tons to go through and don’t want to wear the topic out.

wired interview!

y/n takes a buzzed quiz about harry!

y/n´s vogue morning routine video that harry interupts!

y/n and harry read thirsty tweets

In My Head

Harry isn’t one to listen to the media outlets. He has been on the spotlight long enough to know they blow things out of proportion or create things that weren’t even there to begin with. Yet, he is in his hotel room, analyzing every coma in Y/N`s new song instead of going out with his old friends. Maybe the media was right and they weren’t as good as Harry thought.

Maybe Y/N resented him for putting so many songs in his album about Camille even though she said it was okay by her, that she understood. Maybe it wasn’t okay.

“Falling, falling, but I never thought you’d leave me.

Falling, falling, needed something to believe in.

I thought you were the one

But it was all in my head.”

Harry can’t even count how many references there is to his songs or moments they spend together in those four little verses. And the fact Y/N didn’t show him this song before releasing it didn’t help the fact thaT MAYBE this was her way of saying goodbye to their relationship. Could it be? How it could not be about him though, one of the lines is ´In Gucci shoes, running away from your issues´ for God’s sake.

She hasn’t even responding to his messages all day and Harry left a lot of them, not to mention the desperate voicemails he filled her phone with. Harry is considering adding ´pathetic´ to his name by now as he scrolls even further is feed.

“ Click Here To Listen To Y/N L/N´s Heartbreaking Song About Harry Styles.”

“Here Is A List Of All The Harry Styles References In ´In My Head´”

“Y/N L/N and Harry Styles Not So Perfect Of A Couple As It Seems”

“Y/N L/N Is In L.A Celebrating Her New Single Without Harry Styles. Could It Be The End Of Their Relationship?”

His curious fingers immediately click on the last headline which flood his phone with blurred pictures of a rooftop party somewhere in the sunny L.A. Harry wanted to say that the zoomed shots that the paparazzi toke were too awful to distinguish anyone one, that could be any other celebrity throwing the party but he couldn’t. It was definitely Y/N and their friends and the big balloons that read ´In My Head´ did not leave too much room for interpretation. The fucking website had even a list of all the guests they spotted on the party.

Harry´s brain isn’t working properly however Google is, which helps him loads to do some detective work. If all the information was in fact correct, the party had began that noon there and the lasts guests to leave were seen at 5ish L.A time. It was almost four am in London — which was a very worrisome piece of information because he had began speculating on the lyrics all day long— that corresponds to almost dinner time in the U.S.A so Y/N should be at home by now.

Pathetic Harry, as he is calling himself from now on, rings her house twice without a answer. In the third one, all hopes are gone as he hears the that annoying noise for that he feels like the thousandth time so he doesn’t even notice when it stops.

“Hi Harry!” Y/N giggles and shuffles, sitting on her sofa, he guesses. She hates going to bed without him and loves to chill on her living room. Maybe that changed while he was away.

“Is it true?” He really sounded that pathetic, god. “Is that for me? Are we really that broken? I-I…”

“Do you mean the song?” Y/N asks and Harry hums in response, afraid that if he speaks one more word tears will just fall like a faucet. “ No, of course it isn’t!”

“Then why weren’t you answering my calls?”

“Hey, hey. Are you okay?” She worries.

“I am not fucking okay, Y/N. I can’t believe you have the courage to ask me that! Is us a bloody joke to you?

Everything we’ve been thr—“

“Harry, I am not fighting with you because of a song I wrote about my ex. None of that.”

“Hold on, please. What?”

Maybe, after all, Harry should add ´pathetic´ in his name after all.

[multiverseforger]

Robin the Boy WonderEdit



Characters from an illustration by N. C. Wyeth for "Robin Hood" (1917) by Paul Creswick. The look inspired Jerry Robinson's design for Robin.[6]:83



Dick Grayson as Robin in his first appearance, on the cover of Detective Comics #38 (April 1940), along with Batman. Art by Bob Kane.

The character was first introduced in Detective Comics #38 (1940) by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Robin's debut was an effort to get younger readers to enjoy Batman. The name "Robin, The Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume are inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood. The costume was designed by Jerry Robinson who drew it from memory based on Robin Hood illustrations by N. C. Wyeth.[6]:83

In his first appearance, Dick Grayson is a circus acrobat, and, with his parents, one of the "Flying Graysons". Robin was born on the first day of spring, son of John Grayson and Mary Grayson, a young aerialist couple. While preparing for a performance, Dick overhears two gangsters attempting to extort protection money from the circus owner. The owner refuses, so the gangsters sabotage the trapeze wires with acid. During the next performance, the trapeze from which Dick's parents are swinging snaps, sending them to their deaths. Before he can go to the police, Batman appears to him and warns him that the two gangsters work for Tony Zucco, a very powerful crime boss, and that revealing his knowledge could lead to his death. When Batman recounts the murder of his own parents, Dick asks to become his aide. After extensive training, Dick becomes Robin. They start by disrupting Zucco's gambling and extortion rackets. They then successfully bait the riled Zucco into visiting a construction site, where they capture him.

Robin's origin has a thematic connection to Batman's in that both see their parents killed by criminals, creating an urge to battle the criminal element. Bruce sees a chance to direct the anger and rage that Dick feels in a way that he himself cannot, thus creating a father/son bond and understanding between the two. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, DC Comics portrayed Batman and Robin as a team, deeming them the "Dynamic Duo", rarely publishing a Batman story without his sidekick; stories entirely devoted to Robin appeared in Star-Spangled Comics from 1947 through 1952.

The character history of the Earth-Two Robin accordingly adopts all of the earliest stories featuring the character from the 1940s and 1950s, while the adventures of the mainstream Robin (who lived on "Earth-One") begin later in time and with certain elements of his origin retold. Both were depicted as separate, though parallel, individuals living in their respective universes, with the "older" Earth-Two character eventually reaching death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Teen TitansEdit

1964's The Brave and the Bold #54 introduces a junior version of the Justice League of America. This team is led by the modern-day Robin, residing on Earth-One, and was joined by two other teenage sidekicks, Aqualad (sidekick of Aquaman) and Kid Flash (sidekick of the Flash), to stop the menace of Mr. Twister.

Later, the three sidekicks join forces with Speedy and Wonder Girl in order to free their mentors in the JLA from mind-controlled thrall. They decide to become a real team: the Teen Titans. By virtue of the tactical skills gleaned from Batman, Robin is swiftly recognized as leader before the Titans disband some years later.

In 1969, still in the Pre-Crisis continuity, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams return Batman to his darker roots. One part of this effort is writing Robin out of the series by sending Dick Grayson to Hudson University and into a separate strip in the back of Detective Comics. The by-now Teen Wonder appears only sporadically in Batman stories of the 1970s as well as in a short-lived revival of The Teen Titans.

In 1980, Grayson once again takes up the role of leader of the Teen Titans, now featured in the monthly series The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics's most beloved series of the era. During his leadership of the Titans, however, he had a falling out with Batman, leading to an estrangement that would last for many years.

NightwingEdit

In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, the maturing Dick Grayson grows weary of his role as Batman's young sidekick. He renames himself Nightwing, recalling his adventure in the Kryptonian city of Kandor, where he and Batman meet the local hero of the same name. In post-Crisis continuity he is fired by Batman after being shot by the Joker and becomes Nightwing. He maintains this identity during his role in the Teen Titans, and occasionally returns to assist Batman and his successors as Robin in the form of Jason Todd and Tim Drake, Tim in particular becoming a younger brother figure to him.

When Bruce's back is broken by Bane during the Knightfall story arc, Bruce selects Jean-Paul Valley as his replacement as Batman as he does not want to burden Dick with the role and fears that Dick may go after Bane in revenge. However, when Valley proves to be too unstable to be Batman, Bruce undergoes a rigorous recovery and training program with the aid of Doctor Shondra Kinsolving and Lady Shiva to restore him to full health, defeating Valley with Dick and Tim's aid. However, feeling that he needs to re-evaluate Batman and his mission after Valley's defeat, Bruce leaves Gotham once again, after appointing Dick as his successor during the "Prodigal" story arc. While acting as Batman, Dick is left with a clearer idea of the psychological stresses Bruce must endure in the role, as well as facing some of Bruce's newer enemies — such as Killer Croc, the Ventriloquist and the Ratcatcher — while settling his own long-standing issues with Two-Face.

Miniseries and afterwardEdit

In Nightwing: Alfred's Return #1 (1995), Dick Grayson travels to England to find Alfred Pennyworth who had resigned from Bruce Wayne's service following the events of the KnightSaga. Before returning to Gotham City together, they prevent an attempted coup d'état against the British government that involves destroying the Channel Tunnel under the English Channel.

Later on, with the Nightwing miniseries (September to December 1995, written by Dennis O'Neil with Greg Land as artist), Dick briefly considers retiring from being Nightwing forever before family papers uncovered by Alfred reveal a possible link between the murder of the Flying Graysons and the Crown Prince of Kravia. Journeying to Kravia, Nightwing helps to topple the murderous Kravian leader and prevent an ethnic cleansing, while learning his parents' true connection to the Prince; they witnessed the original Prince being killed and replaced with an impostor who became as bad as his predecessor (although Zucco killed the Graysons before the conspirators could do anything about it). In the aftermath, Dick returns to his role as Nightwing, recognizing that, for all his problems with Bruce, Bruce never made him become Robin or join his crusade, accepting that he imitated Bruce's example because Bruce was worthy of imitation.

In 1996, following the success of the miniseries, DC Comics launched a monthly solo series featuring Nightwing (written by Chuck Dixon, with art by Scott McDaniel), in which he patrols Gotham City's neighboring municipality of Blüdhaven, relocating there to investigate a series of murders and remaining as he recognized that the city needed protection. He remains the city's guardian for some time, facing foes such as Blockbuster and new villains such as Torque, and even becomes a police officer so that he can make an impact on the city's criminal activity in both parts of his life. Later, Grayson divides his duties between Bludhaven and Gotham after a devastating earthquake and the subsequent decision to declare Gotham a No Man's Land, Grayson occasionally assisting his mentor and other members of Bat-Family in maintaining and restoring order in Gotham until it is fully rebuilt. When the Justice League vanished into the past fighting ancient sorceress Gamemnae, Nightwing was selected as the leader of the reserve League created by an emergency program Batman had established in the event of his League being defeated, Batman describing Nightwing as the only person he could have picked to lead the new team.

Eventually, the original League are restored, and Nightwing departs along with some of his League-although others remain as some of the original team take a leave of absence-although Batman notes that his leadership of the League proves that he is ready for more responsibilities. However, the death of Blockbuster prompts Nightwing to leave Bludhaven due to his crisis of conscience; Blockbuster was killed by vigilante Tarantula and Nightwing did not stop it even when he had the chance to do so. While Nightwing returns to Gotham to heal after assisting Batman in dealing with a series of gang wars, Blüdhaven is destroyed by the Secret Society of Super-Villains when they drop Chemo on it.

During the battle of Metropolis, Grayson suffers a near-fatal injury from Alexander Luthor, Jr. when he shields Wayne from Luthor's attack.[7] Originally, the editors at DC intended to have Grayson killed in Infinite Crisis as Newsarama revealed from the DC Panel at WizardWorld Philadelphia:[8]

It was again explained that Nightwing was originally intended to die in Infinite Crisis, and that you can see the arc that was supposed to end with his death in the series. After long discussions, the death edict was finally reversed, but the decision was made that, if they were going to be keeping him, he would have to be changed. The next arc of the ongoing series will further explain the changes, it was said.

After spending some time away with Bruce and Tim to heal and rebuild after their harsh times prior to the Crisis, Dick relocates to New York, but has trouble finding work as both Dick Grayson and Nightwing. During the Batman R.I.P. storyline, Nightwing is ambushed by the International Club of Villains. He is later seen being held in Arkham Asylum, where one of the surgeons, in reality also the civilian identity of ICoV member Le Bossu, arranged for Nightwing to be admitted under the name of Pierrot Lunaire (another ICoV member) and be kept both heavily drugged and regularly beaten by staff to subdue him. Scheduled for an experimental lobotomy by Le Bossu himself, he manages to free himself and come to Batman's aid for the finale of the story arc.

Batman: RebornEdit

Following the events of Batman's apparent death during the Final Crisis, Nightwing has closed down shop in New York so as to return to Gotham, where after the events of "Battle for the Cowl", he assumes the identity of Batman, with Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's biological son, as the new Robin.[9]

The new team of Batman and Robin is the focus of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's Batman and Robin series.[10] Their dynamic reverses the classic dynamic of Bruce and Dick, by having a lighter and friendlier Batman paired with a more intense and dark Robin. Over time, Dick's experience as the Dark Knight would harden his personality as his mentor.

During this period, Dick Grayson as Batman also features as a member of the Justice League in a short-lived run by writer James Robinson. After an intense confrontation with the Club of Villains and the mysterious Doctor Simon Hurt (who has established fake evidence that he is actually Bruce's father Thomas Wayne), Hurt is defeated when Bruce returns to the present. However, Bruce leaves Dick to continue to act as Batman in Gotham with Damian as his partner while he sets up the new 'Batman Incorporated' program, Bruce publicly identifying himself as Batman's financial backer to justify a global Batman-themed operation where he funds multiple other vigilantes.

The New 52 (2011–2016)Edit

See also: The New 52

Dick Grayson is re-established as Nightwing following DC's Flashpoint crossover event, after which the publisher relaunched all of its titles and made alterations to its continuity as part of an initiative called The New 52. In the new status quo, Bruce Wayne is once again the only Batman, and Dick, like the other members of the adoptive family, is a few years younger. Dick, despite being 19 is drawn a bit shorter than in his pre-relaunch frame. This is likely due to adding believability to his acrobat past.[11] According to various interviews it is stated that Dick was adopted at 16, as opposed to 12. This is due to the DCNU's timeline existing for five years.[12] Dick Grayson is shown in flashbacks as Robin with a revamped version of the Robin costume in Nightwing (vol. 3) #0 (November 2012) and Batman and Robin Annual (vol. 2) #2 (March 2014).



Dick Grayson in his New 52 Robin costume from Batman and Robin Annual, vol. 2 #2 (March 2014). Art by Doug Mahnke and Patrick Gleason

In his civilian identity he is attacked by an assassin named Saiko who insists that he is the fiercest killer in Gotham.[13] The series Batman Incorporated relaunches with a second volume, continuing its story while taking into account the New 52's continuity changes; Dick is now depicted as Nightwing, and not as Batman, but the change is not addressed in the comic itself. In Nightwing, Dick inherits the deed to the circus from a dying C. C. Haly and begins a relationship with his childhood friend acrobat Raya Vestri. Saiko tortures Haly for information on Nightwing's secret identity, and the old man dies in Dick's arms after telling him the circus holds a terrible secret.[14] Investigating leads, he tracks down a supervillain named Feedback, who used to be a childhood friend, but does not learn anything.[15] Following Haly's clues, he finds a mysterious Book of Names in the circus that has his name on the last page.[16] Later the circus announces they will be doing a memorial show on the anniversary of the night Dick's parents were murdered, and Saiko attacks by detonating a massive explosion.[17]

It is then revealed that the circus has been training assassins for years, and Saiko was a childhood friend using Raya as an accomplice. Grayson had been selected to become a new Talon for the Court of Owls, but when Batman adopted him, Saiko took his place. The killer plummets to his death and Raya turns herself in. Returning to the Batcave, Bruce reveals to Dick that the current Talon is his great-grandfather William Cobb.[18] During the Night of the Owls event Dick faces Cobb, who was revived while protecting Mayor Hady.[19] Following the event, Dick decided to keep Haly's Circus in Gotham and plans to invest in turning an abandoned amusement park into their new location without Bruce's money.[20] He works with Sonia Branch, the daughter of Tony Zucco, the crime boss who murdered Dick's parents, into getting a loan for this plan by investing his entire trust fund despite being a high-risk due to Saiko's recent attack. The problems arise because of the guilt Sonia feels towards her father's actions [21] and many members of the circus are afraid for their lives because of the previous disasters and accuse Dick Grayson of being a flake, making it hard for those who choose to stay.[22]

The "Death of the Family" crossover event across the Batman-related comic books led to a major shift in Nightwing's status quo. During the storyline, one of Dick's friends Jimmy Clark, who worked as a circus clown, was murdered by the Joker because Joker felt like Jimmy was a knockoff of him. Nightwing later discovers Joker broke Raya out of prison, infected her with his Joker venom and has forced her to fight him while wearing a makeshift Nightwing costume. The toxin eventually killed Raya, though Nightwing tried in vain with an anti-toxin to save her. Nightwing then discovered that Joker left a message on Raya's abdomen that he was targeting Haly's Circus next.[23] However upon arriving there, Joker unveils his plan to burn the circus to the ground and then infects Nightwing with his gas that not only causes him to experience hallucinations of Jimmy and Raya, but he is soon attacked by the other members of Haly's Circus that were also affected by the toxin allowing Joker to capture him.[24]

In the aftermath, Haly's Circus is gone, with Dick broke as a result for having lost his investment. While the other circus members survived since Joker used a different Joker venom on them, they blame Dick and decide to leave after Raya and Jimmy's funeral, though deep down they know it is not his fault. Dick becomes bitter from his loss. After he used excessive force to bring down some criminals that tried to plunder valuables from the remains of the circus, Damian, having been monitoring him, is able to talk some sense into Nightwing, which helps him recover.[25]

Nightwing is later deeply affected by the death of Damian following his murder at the hands of Damian's clone, the Heretic, in Batman Incorporated. With Damian's death and potential resurrection becoming an obsession of Batman's, Dick is shunned by Bruce when he tries to tell him to move on, in Batman and Nightwing (a retitled Batman & Robin #23).

Later, the Nightwing series changes its setting to Chicago, Illinois. Sonia Branch reveals to Dick an e-mail that indicates that her father Zucco is still alive. After giving the address to Red Robin to try and track down who sent it, Robin uncovers that Zucco is residing in Chicago. Nightwing moves to Chicago in order to find and arrest Zucco, who is now living under the assumed identity of Billy Lester, an assistant to the mayor. Soon after arriving in Chicago, Dick meets his new roommates, a photojournalist named Michael and a computer specialist named Joey. After leaving the apartment to meet with Johnny Spade, a borderline criminal who steals and sells information, their meeting is interrupted by the police. A short chase results in the accidental destruction of a newly rebuilt subway. Meanwhile, a criminal hacker called the Prankster tortures, maims and kills criminal con men who are untouchable by the police.

The Chicago story is later abruptly ended by Nightwing's role in a larger company-wide crossover event. After the Crime Syndicate invade Earth Prime at the conclusion of the "Trinity War" Justice League storyline and defeat the Justice League, the DC crossover story Forever Evil depicts Nightwing's capture by the Crime Syndicate, who expose his secret identity to the world. Following their escape from the Syndicate, Batman and Catwoman decide to rescue him. He then is invited by Owlman to help defeat the Crime Syndicate, which he accepts. Nightwing is severely beaten by Ultraman and is attached to a device from a parallel world known as the Murder Machine, which is controlled by his heart rate and is reportedly impossible to escape from alive. When Batman and Lex Luthor arrive to free him, Lex stops his heart in order to fool the system so he can disarm it. However, Batman, enraged over what Lex has done, attacks him. Luthor explains it is not too late to save Grayson.[26] In an uncharacteristically heroic moment, Luthor injects Grayson's heart with adrenaline, which successfully revives Grayson. Cyborg enters, having defeated Grid, and Grayson joins Batman, Cyborg and Catwoman in freeing the Justice League from the Firestorm Matrix. After the defeat of the Syndicate, Grayson is seen with Batman in the Batcave. Batman tells him that he has to send him on the most dangerous mission he could possibly undertake.

GraysonEdit

The Nightwing title concluded in April 2014 at issue #30, and was replaced with a new title, Grayson, which depicts Dick having given up his life as Nightwing at age 22 and going undercover as an agent of the Spyral organization where the former Batwoman Kathy Kane works.[27] Written by Tim Seeley and former CIA counter-terrorism officer Tom King, the career change for Dick Grayson comes from the urging of Batman himself, who convinces him to remain dead to the world. Seeley stated that the series will be "leaning into" Grayson's sex symbol status. The character's look also is redesigned with no mask, but a blue-and-black outfit calling back to his pre-New 52 Nightwing counterpart with an addition of a "G" on his chest, said to be reminiscent of the Robin "R".[28][29]

In the "Agent of Spyral" storyline, Dick (known as Agent 37) is enlisted by Mister Minos, the director of Spyral, after having been chosen by Helena Bertinelli to serve as a new candidate. However, Dick serves as a mole under Batman due to their agenda of unmasking heroes by collecting the Paragon organs, organs in which contains the DNA of the Justice League and bestows meta-bioweapons the ability to use their powers. He assists Spyral's agenda to know more about Minos and his endgame, resulting in Spyral attaining most of the scattered organs. In a later story arc, Minos betrays Spyral and attempts to leak its secrets. To his surprise he finds the new Agent Zero, who reveals that she, along with the upper echelon of Spyral, had used Minos to attract Dick into Spyral and kills Minos as he has outlived his life full of humor.[30][31]

During Batman and Robin Eternal, Grayson finds himself working with various other members of the Bat-Family-during the time when Bruce Wayne is amnesiac after his resurrection against the ruthless villain known only as "Mother", who, it is revealed, briefly met with Batman early in Grayson's career as Robin, believing that he shared her views on using trauma to make people stronger. Mother intends to trigger a global collapse with the reasoning that the survivors will rebuild a stronger world after being broken by tragedy and without the hindrance of parents to force their ideals on them, but Grayson and the rest of the Family are able to defeat her, Dick affirming that Batman helps the Robins become their own people who can avoid the mistakes he made in dealing with his own trauma rather than Mother's belief that she and Batman each teach people to use their trauma to define themselves. At the conclusion of the storyline, Dick meets with the restored Batman, assuring Bruce that, unlike Mother, he never forced his ideals on them, but simply gave them all an example that they chose to emulate while avoiding following it so exactly that they became like him.

When the Court of Owls plant a bomb inside Damian Wayne, they are able to blackmail Dick into officially joining their organization, although all sides are aware that Grayson intends to try and use his new position against them.[32] The Grayson series ended at issue #20, where in the final issue, it was revealed that all knowledge of Dick's identity was erased from most of the world with one of Spyral's satellites, allowing Dick to resume his superhero activities as Nightwing once again.[3]

DC RebirthEdit

Starting with the DC Rebirth relaunch in 2016, Dick returned to being Nightwing with his black and blue costume, his Spyral contacts having wiped all global evidence of his dual identity and the bomb removed from Damian. He uses his new skills and expertise in espionage moving forward.[33] Nightwing is prominently featured in two Rebirth books: the fourth volume of Nightwing, his own solo book, and Titans, where Dick teams up with the other original Teen Titans after Wally West returns to the universe; through Wally, Dick remembers events of his life prior to Flashpoint and The New 52.[34] After the Titans are forcibly disbanded by the Justice League, Dick creates a new Titans team after the rupture of the Source Wall consisting of Donna Troy, Raven, Steel (Natasha Irons), Beast Boy, and Miss Martian.[35]

In his solo book, Dick is paired with a vigilante named Raptor and the two plan to bring down the Court of Owls from the inside. Barbara criticizes Dick's willingness to trust him and does not agree with his methods. Though Raptor seemed willing to play by Dick's rules of not killing, he tricks Dick into agreeing to a plan that results in the deaths of all of the Parliament of Owls in Sydney. After knocking Dick out, Raptor goes to Gotham and kidnaps Bruce during a conference. Nightwing confronts him alone in the ruins of a circus in Paris. Raptor reveals that he grew up in the circus as a child and fell in love with Dick's mother, Mary, as they stole from the rich and powerful in Paris. Raptor watched over Dick in the shadows as he grew up, and developed a hatred for Bruce Wayne as he represented everything he and Mary were against and felt it was dishonoring her memory to have Dick raised by him. Dick defeats Raptor and rescues Bruce in time.[36]

After joining forces with the pre-Flashpoint Superman to defeat the latest attack of Doctor Destiny, Dick contemplates checking out Bludhaven, based on Superman's reference to how the pre-Flashpoint Grayson acted as the city's guardian for a time,[37] and ultimately decides to go there.[38] While there he meets a supervillain rehabilitation group called the Run-Offs, all of which were villains he and Batman defeated in the past. He finds that most of them are being framed for crimes around the area and works with them to find the true culprits.[39] After solving the case and clearing their names, Dick begins dating their leader Shawn Tsang, known as the former criminal the Defacer.[40] Shawn is kidnapped by Professor Pyg after Dick discovers she might be pregnant with his child, and he teams up with Damian to track Pyg down and rescue her.[41] After Shawn is revealed not to be pregnant, she ultimately breaks up with Dick, who focuses his efforts on taking down criminals such as Blockbuster, the returning Raptor, the Judge, and Wyrm.[42]

During one of his nightly patrols with Batman, Nightwing is shot by KGBeast and nearly killed.[43] As a result, he suffered from severe memory loss and attempted to build a new life in Bludhaven. He changed his name to Ric, gave up being Nightwing, and became a taxi driver that frequently went to bars. With Bludhaven suffering from an increase in crime from the vigilante's absence, a detective named Sapienza comes across Dick's abandoned hideout in the subway and decides to become the new Nightwing.[44] Sapienza recruits a team of his friends in law enforcement to help him, and together they make a team of Nightwings using Dick Grayson's old uniforms. In addition to Sapienza, the team consists of Malcolm Hutch, the deputy chief in the Bludhaven fire department, Zak Edwards, vice of the 10th precinct, and Colleen Edwards, detective of the 14th precinct.[45]

During Year of the Villain, Ric is captured by William Cobb, his grandfather who is a Talon. A brain surgeon that Bruce hired to take care of Dick after he was shot named Dr. Haas was secretly a member of the Court, who was using a mystical memory crystal to alter Dick's memories and eventually shape him into becoming a Talon himself. William Cobb forces Ric to wear goggles and puts Dick under his spell. As a Talon, Grayson fights off other Nightwing heroes. A Nightwing hero name Connor Red shoots at Grayson's mask, making his eye visible. Connor Red pleads for mercy saying he has a family, and as the sun comes up Dick Grayson suddenly breaks out of his grandfather's control. Dick Grayson starts to remember his adventures as Nightwing. Ric defeats Talon, and saves his girlfriend Bea.[46] Afterwards, he journeys to Switzerland to learn more answers about his past from Dr. Haas, who attempts to use the crystal to alter his memories once more. However, an explosion seemingly sends her down a river to her death while Ric is able to retrieve the memory crystal she used on him. During the "Joker War" storyline, the Joker steals the memory crystal and uses it to brainwash Grayson into believing he is the Joker's adopted son, "Dicky Boy" and turns him against the Bat Family in his latest war against Batman. After Barbara gets the crystal back, Bea uses it to allow him to fully regain his memories as Dick Grayson.[47

[adenei]

Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride - Ch. 3

AO3 || FFN

The next morning, Jenny stayed true to her word and called me before work to grab coffee. As much as I wanted to hear about her night, I also sort of didn’t. Harry had looked at her the way I’d always dreamed he would look at me, and that was tearing me apart.

I’d probably gotten two hours of sleep, so I was planning on ordering the largest cup of coffee with a double shot espresso from my favorite coffee shop. t I grabbed my bag and looked in the mirror, giving one last check for bags under my eyes. Jenny was just leaving her flat as I was locking my own door. 

“Good morning!” she said cheerily.

“Morning,” I said, trying a little too hard to match her bright tone.

When Jenny noticed me, she frowned a bit. “Are you okay? You look like you barely got any sleep last night.”

She wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t really want her knowing the reason why. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just some insomnia was all,” I lied.

We left the building and walked down the street toward my favorite coffee shop. Jenny was chattering on about how she needed to unpack and attempt to get some laundry done today. “Maybe I’ll even take a nap this afternoon as a reward,” she added.

I wished I could take a nap. Hopefully I wouldn’t fall asleep and drool all over my desk. That was the last thing I needed: Harry walking in and seeing me like that.

After we picked up our coffees and sat down at one of the small tables, I noticed Jenny was picking at her nails. She was probably waiting for me to ask about how her night was. I knew I was going to find out one way or another, so I took the bait. 

“So, how was the rest of your night?” I asked casually.

Jenny broke out into a wide grin. “It was amazing! Harry took me to this posh restaurant where we ordered drinks and split an appetizer, and then he invited me back to his place. I didn’t get home until four, but I’ve just been so wired that I haven’t slept.”

“You’re this awake and you haven’t slept at all?” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Jenny smirked. “It’s funny. I’ve always heard about how ‘when you know, you know,’ but I never believed all of that rubbish. Yet last night, with Harry, things just made sense! He was so easy to talk to, and things felt different with him than the other blokes I’ve seen.”

“O-oh, well that’s good, isn’t it?” I asked, trying to sound pleased for her.

“He’s not normally my type, you know, the quiet, brooding kind, but there’s something mysterious about him that makes me want to go back for more.”

“Yeah, I guess he is,” Hermione said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“Tell me everything you know about him,” Jenny begged. “I want to learn more!”

I took a long sip of my coffee before responding. As much as I didn’t want to share that with her, I couldn’t resist talking about him. “Well, he’s such an inspiration! His parents died when he was a baby, so he was taken in by his Godfather, who was then murdered when he was fifteen. He worked really hard at school to fit in and make a name for himself that wasn’t necessarily tied to his parent’s horrific car accident.” 

“Oh, my God, I had no idea,” Jenny said as her hand covered her mouth in shock.

I nodded. “They got into a car crash when he was one, and they both died on impact, but he was fine in the backseat. Everyone called it a miracle given the state of the car. He doesn’t like to talk about it, so I wouldn’t bring it up unless he does,” I added. 

“Noted,” Jenny said as she nodded. “What else?”

Hermione took another sip as she thought. “Well, he dropped out of college, and used his inheritance to start the company. Harry worked as a temp for a major publishing company, saw how ruthless they were to many authors, and decided he wanted to help. It was either that or go into law enforcement. I personally think he’s happier here, but every now and then his reckless need for adventure strikes.”

“He likes adventure? What does he do when the urge kicks in?” Jenny asked with rapt attention.

“He’ll volunteer with the local police department. He got to know some of the detectives there when they were investigating his Godfather’s murder. Harry likes to help out with various neighborhood watch programs, too, and becomes a bit obsessed with helping solve the smaller cases.”

“This is so fascinating! I would have never guessed that about him. What about some of his random interests and likes?” Jenny pressed on.

“Harry loves treacle tart, he adores his dog Padfoot, and he plays for an amateur football league in his spare time. Did you two even talk last night?” I asked, surprised that she was asking me about him.

“There wasn’t really much time for talking,” Jenny chuckled. 

“Right,” I said. I was pretty sure my voice sounded hollow as my heart dropped into my stomach. It looked like they were intimate.

“Harry wants to have lunch today, so now I’ll have things to talk about with him!”

That was peculiar. Why wouldn’t they have other things to talk about? Wasn’t she going to talk to him about her own life? “What do you mean? Surely, you’d have your own stories and experiences to share?”

“Oh, yeah, I do, but I’m more interested in him! It’s not often I meet a man who isn’t shallow and full of lies. Harry seems like the real deal. Someone I’ve been waiting my whole life for!” She seemed to be dodging my question about herself, just like she did whenever I asked anything too personal. It didn’t sit well with me.

“Ha, yes, your whole life for…” I echoed. “But won’t you have to leave in a few months for work?” 

“Maybe,” she said in a noncommittal tone. “I was thinking of making a career change soon, so maybe now would be an opportune time if I’ve found someone to settle down with! That way I could finally stay in London.” 

My mind was feeling rather fuzzy, and I was realizing I needed to get out of there. I was holding onto the hope that this would be a fling because Jenny would ultimately have to leave again, but even that was looking grim judging by the way she was talking. I checked my watch. “Oh, no! I’m going to be late if I don’t get going. I’m so happy things worked out for you last night! You’ll have to let me know how today goes,” I told her as I stood up and gathered my things.

“Okay! Tell Harry I said hi, will you? I promise we’ll catch up later!” she flashed me a genuine smile as I returned it with a half smile of my own and escaped toward the exit. 

I tried my best to shake the conversation from my mind and not worry about it as I walked into the office. This wasn’t something that was worth fixating on, so I focused on my work to distract me. After verifying the to-do list that I left on my desk the day before, I pulled out my Filofax, wanting to double check that I hadn’t missed any appointments.

What I found instead was that the red headed pain in my arse decided to defile the one thing that held my entire life. “I’m going to kill him,” I said under my breath as I ferociously flipped through each page of my Filofax.

I grabbed my phone with a little too much force and punched the numbers into the keypad before holding the handset up to my ear and waited as I listened to the ringing.

“Weasley,” he answered. Why did he always have to sound so buggering cocky?

“Not only did you read my Filofax, but you defiled it with your name and number as well? What is wrong with you?” So much for attempting to begin a civil conversation.

“Hey, you got my message!” Ron responded in a disgustingly cheerful voice.

“How could I not? You seem to have penciled yourself in on all my Fridays for...oh, let’s see, the rest of the year!” I scoffed. “What do you want?”

“A drink. That’s all I’m asking for,” he said simply.

“Yes, well, that’s never going to happen so you’re going to have to get over it.”

“Well, the offer stands if you’re ever looking to meet up with someone who doesn’t want to talk about tulle and event menus.”

I laughed derisively. “Thanks, but no thanks. Goodbye, Ron.” I slammed the phone down on the hook before he had a chance to respond. 

The nerve of him! I was beginning to regret that he was the one who helped me come to after my fall last weekend. For once, I wished it was Lavender who was there to help. I closed the planner and shoved it in my bag as I did my best to get through the rest of my day distraction-free.

~o~

The next few days dragged on, and the reminders of Jenny seeing Harry were enough to make me want to bang my head against my desk and smash my computer in. Harry never returned after lunch on Tuesday, and when I walked into his office on Wednesday, a new frame made its home on his desk. Inside was a picture of him with her. I thought that was fast, but I wasn’t about to say it out loud. 

Jenny came in Wednesday afternoon and hung out in Harry’s office, learning all the ins and outs of his job, which I guess was nice. I could keep tabs on them and knew that at least they weren’t having sex in his office. The downside was I couldn’t get my own work done since I was too distracted by their vomit-worthy cuteness through the windows that connected the two spaces.

Thursday evening I came home from my seminar and had the unfortunate experience of running into them snogging outside Jenny’s door. I was mortified and just wanted to get inside my own flat without being caught. It didn’t happen, though. I dropped my keys as I fumbled with getting them in the lock, which broke the pair out of their passionate embrace. Harry made some awkward comment about not realizing I lived so close. Thankfully the walls were thick so I didn’t have to listen to them doing things all night.

Work used to be a comfort for me and I couldn’t wait to get to my job every morning, but this week flipped everything upside down. I just wanted to get to the weekend where I could distance myself from them. That hope was short lived though when I saw Teddy running into the office. 

“Hermione!” he shouted when he saw me.

“Hey, Teddy!” I said as I gave him a hug. Teddy Lupin was Harry’s ‘little brother’. He’d been paired with the teen through his volunteer work at the Boys and Girls Club, and it’d been a perfect match. 

“Are you ready for the game?” I asked him. 

Teddy was dressed in his football jersey, and I knew he was waiting for Harry to take him to the sports complex where he played during the summer season. Harry never missed a game. 

“Yeah! I’ve got a good feeling about today. I really think we’re going to win. Harry promised to run some drills with me before the game starts. Where is he anyways? He said he wanted me to meet someone.” Teddy looked at me quizzically. 

“I think he’s in his office. Let’s go see!” 

I walked next door and sure enough, Jenny was in his office, and they were making eyes at each other. Knocking on the door to break them up, I announced Teddy’s arrival. I watched as Harry rushed over.

“Teddy! Hey, bud. There’s someone I want you to meet. This is Jenny,” Harry introduced the beautiful redhead that was standing to his side.

“It’s nice to meet you, Teddy,” Jenny said with a warm smile. 

“Hey. Are you Harry’s girlfriend?” he asked unabashedly. 

Jenny laughed. “I am. So, you play football?” she asked interestedly.

I watched as Teddy nodded. I was surprised to see Jenny so friendly towards him. She did not seem like the type to like kids, but she seemed really genuine. It made me wish I knew her better than I did; not that I hadn’t tried, which made me wonder how open she was with Harry.

We arrived at the sports complex, and Jenny and I settled on the stands while Harry went to the field to warm up with Teddy. Harry wasn’t the coach, but he helped out and hosted clinics for the kids from time to time. He always looked so young and carefree when he was playing football, and I loved that about him.

“Harry is absolutely everything I could have ever dreamed of in a man. Have I thanked you for introducing us? Because I feel like I owe you my life,” Jenny told me.

Great, she’s falling in love with him. I felt my grip on reality slip even further, and I was clutching to a nonexistent hope that this wasn’t going to last. 

“It’s...nothing,” I said. Deciding to change the subject, I asked, “What do you think about Teddy? Isn’t he great?”

“He’s the coolest teenager I’ve ever met! He seems like he’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Jenny commented as they watched.

“He’s an orphan too, you know. I think that’s why Harry hit it off with him. They’ve got a lot in common. If he could adopt Teddy, he would in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s trying to make that happen.”

“I think that would be great for both of them!” Jenny said sincerely.

“Do you want a big family someday? Lots of kids?” I asked her, trying to learn a little bit more about her background.

“Kids, yes. A lot? No. I don’t want to subject my own future family to a life like that. I know what it’s like,” she said as her voice trailed off. 

Before I could ask her what she meant by that, Harry was waving over to us, signalling for Jenny to join them. As she ran over, I pondered her answer. It implied she had a larger family than she let on. I only knew about the one brother in London, whom I’d never met in the five years I’d known her, and she rarely talked about her parents. Though I was pretty sure they were both alive and well.

I watched as Jenny interacted with Harry and Teddy. I saw her shake her head at something they said, and then it looked like they were teaching her certain moves. That completely baffled me. I thought she told me she was an athletic football trainer. What did she say when I’d asked her about it? That’s right! She said ‘something like that.’ Something strange was going on here, and I was starting to develop a bad feeling about it. 

I shook my head. No, I wasn’t going to let myself go there. Not yet, at least. I needed more concrete evidence first. That’s what I resolved to as Harry and Jenny came back over and we settled in to watch the game.

~o~

Luna’s wedding was Saturday, so the reprieve I was hoping to find from Harry and Jenny was delayed, and now I’d only have Sunday to pretend my life was what it had been a week ago. Lavender and I were both in the wedding, so we were dressed in bright yellow evening gowns because Luna believed the colour should be a vital part of weddings since it’s supposed to bring happiness to the newlyweds.

The dresses were made of a polyester material for the long, flowy skirts, and the upper half was a delicate floral lace pattern. The neckline was strapless, with flutter sleeves that were off the shoulder. 

“I still can’t believe we have to wear these dresses,” Lavender hissed as I was pinning the sunflower to her hair.

“They’re not terrible,” I told her.

“Oh, so you don’t mind looking like a hippie? And this color! I’m completely washed out and look sick. I’d take that taffeta lilac dress any day,” she continued complaining.

“It’s not your day, it’s Luna’s,” I reminded her. “Now come on, we’ve got an aisle to walk down.” I shoved her bouquet in her hands as we lined ourselves up for the procession.

While we were standing by Luna’s side during the ceremony, I couldn’t help that my eye was drawn to where Harry and Jenny were sitting. They were smiling and whispering things to each other.

 I tried so hard to pry my eyes away, but I couldn’t stop staring. It was becoming harder and harder to keep a smile on my face. Lip reading was not my forte, but I was certain I just saw Harry mouth ‘I love you.’ My suspicion was confirmed when I saw Jenny’s look of surprise before she grinned and said it back to him. 

I knew my smile had faltered, but there was nothing I could do to fix it, and I prayed the photographers weren’t flashing any pictures. Thankfully Lavender also witnessed the same thing, no doubt following my gaze to see what was upsetting me. I caught her disgusted look out of the corner of my eye, and that helped me fake a smile through the rest of the night, no matter how much I was hurting on the inside.

~o~

I was wrapping up at the office late on Wednesday night. I had a couple of manuscripts that I needed to drop off on Harry’s desk and then I could go home to relax with a glass of wine. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked over to Harry’s office, setting the manuscripts down on the corner of his desk.

As I was about to head back out the door, I noticed something sticking out from under another folder that was splayed on his workspace. Moving the folder, I realized it was his wallet. I quickly scanned his desk calendar and saw that he was having dinner with Jenny at Valentini’s. It was still early, but I figured I could meet him there. I was sure he’d need it, after all.

When I got to the restaurant, I entered to find it completely empty. I looked around, thinking I’d gotten the day or time wrong, but then I saw Harry. A quartet started playing Italian music at my arrival, and Harry turned around with an excited, anxious look on his face.

After seeing me, he made a ‘cut’ motion with his hand and said, “No, guys, she’s not the one.” 

The music immediately stopped and the musicians reset themselves as I looked around in shock. “Hermione, what are you doing here?” Harry asked, snapping me back to reality.

“Y-you forgot your wallet,” I said as I walked forward, my arm extended to hand it to him.

“Oh, er, thanks.” He didn’t seem concerned in the slightest as he tucked it into his jacket pocket.

“I’m sorry. I should go—” I turned around and walked a few paces when Jenny came around the corner.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“That’s her! She’s here, she’s the one,” I heard Harry say from behind me.

Immediately, the music began playing and a banner was dropped that read, ‘Will you marry me?’ Padfoot came from who knew where with a small box tied to his collar. This couldn’t be happening.

I tried to shrink away and hide, but somehow I couldn’t escape. I looked back and forth from Harry, who had extricated the box from the dog and gotten on one knee, to Jenny, who looked like she was in complete shock.

“Jenny, I know it’s only been a few days, but you’re everything I’ve ever hoped for, and I just know you’re the one for me. I can’t imagine my life without you. Maybe this is rushed, but I’ve waited long enough to find you. Will you marry me?”

“Yes, of course!” I heard Jenny say as her head was nodding vigorously. 

I watched as Harry stood up and slid the enormous solitaire diamond onto her finger and they shared a tender moment. I thought I was going to vomit. I needed to get out of there.

“I’ll see myself out,” I mumbled. “Congratulations, both of you. I’m so happy for you,” I said as I side stepped myself away.

My feet carried me out of the restaurant, and I stopped at the edge of the sidewalk to lean against a streetlight. Harry and Jenny were engaged after only knowing each other for less than two weeks. How was I still desperately waiting and hoping for my own love story to begin, when Jenny’s had fallen right into her lap without even looking. And to the man I was determined was meant to be mine! Everything around me was crumbling, so I did the only thing I could think of that might help take some of the pain away. 

I needed someone who wasn’t privy to the situation. Who wouldn’t judge me for being heartbroken over a man who never gave me the time of day. So, I opened my Filofax and pulled out my phone to dial the number that was written like graffiti over every page. He answered after four rings.

“Hello?” There was an air of formality in his voice that I wasn’t used to.

I took a deep breath and hoped I wouldn’t regret this. “So, about that drink…”

[southerndragontamer]

Inspired by @huffletrax’s post I just reblogged I figured if they wouldn’t mind, I’ll do a team for everyone’s favorite Septic and my interpretation of him as he’d be in Pokémon.

Pokemon AU

Antisepticeye

Luxray, Toxtricity (Amped Form, can Gigantamax), Vikavolt, Nidoking, Gengar (Has Gengarite), Naganadel

-He travels just to do what he wants, chief among them being fight with his Pokémon. He’s a very brutal fighter but he never goes too far if his Pokémon look tired or the opponent is knocked out already. And don’t try to make him fight a Baby Pokémon or one that’s young just. Do not for the sake of your own health.

-His ‘starter’ was Luxray, he found him while hiding outside of Rowan’s lab to wait for an opportunity to grab one of the ‘official’ ones, and as he was waiting. He felt a little nuzzling at his leg mixed with a spark that fizzled against his static and looked down, there was a Shinx just... there. Like any cat, he chose Anti and Anti didn’t have the heart to say no.

-He does not have the ability to use lightning in this AU, but he has the ability to conduct it without risk to himself, his static is more of a kind of... hypnotic ability so he doesn’t need to worry about anyone ratting him out to Jenny if they see him. It makes it so anyone in range of his static just, forgets his face and his voice.

-His team met in order is Luxray, Gengar, Nidoking, Vikavolt, Naganadel and Toxtricity.

-He befriended Zekrom as he sticks true to his Ideals, he also befriended Raikou, Mewtwo and Xurkitree.

Putting the rest under a read more since it’s getting long.

-As he isn’t fully human but a glitch, he knows of MissingNo. He’s one of the few that know about it that doesn’t use the poor thing for duplication, instead he tries to treat it as kindly as he can when he can feel it nearby. And no, he will not give secrets.

-The reason he doesn’t want to be caught by Jenny? He’s a hacker, and a damn good one too. He uses it to expose people like Giovanni for what they really are, he doesn’t do just big names either, he exposes anyone corrupt. Looker can’t stand him because Anti hasn’t ever been caught and actively taunts the detective because it’s fun.

-His Hacker Symbol is a green and black glitching Eye and he lets his voice get glitchy so no one can identify him. A play on All Seeing Eye, Always Watching.

-He has an unofficial seventh Pokémon in Rotom, as the little Legendary took a liking to him as he wandered through the Old Chateau where he caught his Gengar then a Gastly, as they were of a similar personality. And the fact Anti laughed when Rotom tried to scare him instead of running away. Rotom helps Anti with his hacking and likes to stay in his phone or laptop, bringing up reminders or information he needs.

-Anti’s usual style is punk/rock, ripped jeans, combat boots, biker jacket, wrist bands, black t shirt, fingerless gloves and a spiked choker. His hair is dyed different shades of green and he keeps it long to tie into a braid or ponytail. And he paints his nails black or dark green and likes liner. Try to make fun of him for it and he will punch you if his Pokémon don’t get to you first.

-His Hacker outfit when he wants to appear is a black trenchcoat, full gloves, uses his static to make the green in his hair to go black, a black mask with a green spray paint jagged smile and holes for his eyes. He only lets one be visible at a time and the other is black.

-The nicknames for his Pokémon are: Luxray is Gamma, Toxtricity is Skrillex, Vikavolt is Beetleguise, Nidoking is Kaiju, Gengar is Mort and Naganadel is Mordred and Rotom is ED-E

-The scar we all know him for is still there and in this AU it was gotten when he was younger, more reckless and didn’t care who saw what he did trying to do what he felt was the right thing. It’s why he prefers not to be seen now.

-He can beat the elite four of most Regions if he wants too, but he doesn’t want to be tied down to one place like he knows he will be if he’s Champion. So he just moves when he gets all the badges, is currently exploring every inch of Galar as he pleases.

-He has a soft spot for kids and will give them advice with care for their Pokémon and won’t go too hard on them. And do not make a little kid cry or Arcues forbid hurt one around him or he will end you.

-He met Zekrom while transitioning through Unova to get to Alola through the airport. The dragon reached out to him with telepathy as Zekrom could sense him and was curious as Anti wasn’t like anyone else. Anti decided to stay a bit to talk with Zekrom and they became friends.

-Mewtwo was an intense meeting. Anti had decided to do some digging into an attempt of resurgence of Team Rocket in their home turf and also caught Kaiju whike he was there, and he heard rumors about the strong Legendary returning to it’s Region of birth. And he wanted to fight them just to see how strong they were. He didn’t mean his Pokémon either as he didn’t want to endanger them from Mewtwo’s psychic attacks, Anti knows how to kick someone’s butt without his Pokémon, so yes. He challenged Mewtwo to a direct fight.

-No, Anti has never claimed to be fully sane, why do you ask? XD

-The fight ended with Anti laying on the cave floor panting, but with a mile wide grin and Mewtwo was also a bit out of breath. Using telepathy Mewtwo congratulated Anti for being the first human to impress with both his bravery and his utter recklessness. And now the two meet up every so often to fight. Yes, Mewtwo has used both Mega Forms in said fights.

-Also yes, Anti’s Pokemon are very worried for their Trainer’s lack of self preservation. XD

-Raikou was met in a thunderstorm when he took shelter in a cave after he got lost in Alola. It was a very tense night as Anti wasn’t sure if the Legendary Beast was going to attack him or not because they didn’t tend to like many humans, but when Anti ended up passing out to get sleep, he woke to find Raikou had curled up around him with Gamma to keep him warm. Mort could only do so much as a ghost and didn’t want to make him colder. Yes, he got to pet Raikou and the roaming Legendary has very soft fur.

-Xurkitree was an interesting one, in Alola he’d heard about the Ultra Beasts but didn’t expect to find any as it had been a little while since they were first sighted and he assumed someone had already caught them. But apparently not as the living live wire ended up following him from the Memorial he stopped to pay respects at. Xurkitree was very affectionate despite Anti’s grumpy nature towards the constant attempts at hugs or cuddles, Anti figures it’s probably due to his static.

-Befriending Xurkitree was also how he met and caught Naganadel, then Poipole as the little poison type Ultra Beast ended up finding them both and was impressed with the strength of Anti’s other Pokémon and wanted to get that strong.

Authors Note

And now due to the plot bunny running away from me, I’m going to go do the other Septics, canon and a few not canon and a few Ipliers. XD

And if you have any questions or want an in-depth look at teams including not official members such as ED-E the Rotom, like hold items, moves or little tidbits of personality let me know!

[toddbeeson]

Ghost Busting

The spirit appears and works in mysterious ways.  Last Tuesday, I revisited my collection of writings to find something I had written in November of 2006 and had posted to my MySpace account.

I found a list of 20 things that I written about, made some slight edits and added another item to the list!

See if you can detect what song was the subject of 19-21.

Read below to find out!

Connecting thru music!

More musical gifts Current mood:  awake

I can’t sleep…I feel like a detective possessed by solving a mystery…kind of like they do in the movies…the person has no real home life, they just have to solve the mystery.  Ever since the Rick Allen incident, I have been followed by Def Leppard music. Lately it has turned itself up a notch…the songs come flying at me instantly. Check out these recent events involving Def Leppard and a few companions…I will type this up in a chronological form.

1) Oct 9th, 2006.  While  I was driving back home to LA from El Capitan Canyon, north of Santa Barbara, I pondered on a Jack FM concert that I saw in August.  Before that concert, I had told my brother that I would only go if I could go as a VIP.  Well...that never happened...until the actual day of the show my good buddy Jason had an extra couple of tickets--  he won VIP tickets.  It featured Def Leppard as the headliner.  I thought about that band a bit on my drive.  As I was driving I had to pull over to go to the can at a gas station near Calabassas…and somehow met the Def Leppard drummer, Rick Allen (i wrote a song called “Whistle on the Pot” inspired by the story.  Long story short– we were in line for the bathroom…however he didn’t even end up going to the bathroom– so it seems he was there just because I thought of him– it was very surreal.)

2) I started hearing Def Leppard songs everywhere…I wish I had written them down…but you’ll see how they showed up in November.

3) Fast Forward to Friday, Nov 3. I had a date that night…on my drive to her place, my choice of car music was the U2 album “Unforgettable Fire.”

4) Saturday, Nov 4. Oops…I find out I left a mark on my date’s neck.  It was embarrassing, frankly.

5) Sunday, Nov 5. The very next morning while walking in Trader Joe’s I heard “Love Bites” by Def Leppard– Laughed out loud…now that is funny!

6) Monday, Nov 6. My radio alarm clock wakes me up to “Foolin’” by Def Leppard.  True! Not foolin ya!

7) Just before bed time, I sent an email to that same woman I am dating w/ the song “Sugar” in it by Dan Wilson and express that it was beautiful when she mentioned the word “Surrender” to me a few weeks previously.

8) Tuesday, Nov 7. The next morning, I woke to a song called “Bad” by U2 from their “Unforgettable Fire” record... just before Bono sings the line “Surrender.” Amazing...

9) Later that evening, I entered my studio w/ my Itunes on random playing the song, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard…thousands of songs and it happened to be a DL song w/ the word “Sugar” in it.  Wowza...

10) Wed, Nov 8. My date called to say she heard a song at yoga class and wanted to know what it was…she sang a few lyrics, I knew it to be “Landslide” by Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham. I told her that Lindsey Buckingham is actually playing The Wiltern Theater and that I would mail her an mp3 of “Landslide.” I found “Landslide” on “The Dance” album of Fleetwood Mac. Also on it, an amazing version of Lindsey playing and singing “Big Love” acoustically and forwarded that song as well.

11) Thurs, Nov 9. I taught the song “Blackbird"  to a guitar student. Later, I did an IM (Instant Message) with a friend who just happened to be emailing with the songwriter, Paul McCartney, at that moment.

12) I visited my friend’s place and told him that I am reading the book "Living, Loving, and Learning” by Leo Bascaglia…he then pointed to a bunch of furniture in his home that used to belong to Leo.

13) I made arrangements to attend the Lindsey Buckingham concert…which I gracefully got to attend for free.

14) Friday, Nov 10. I attended the LB show…walked into it late…but perfectly about 10 minutes before LB plays “Big Love.” He performed it intensely and the crowd erupted…I sat and then stood in wonder.

15) Sat, Nov 11. Upon returning home from the health club in my car, I listened to a radio station that was going to play a song by a band called Wired All Wrong…I turned the station because I thought that the name choice is not very ultimate (My band, The Lift, had a song called Wired- -which is about being connected to peeps) and turned it to a station that happened to be playing “You Can Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac, sung by Lindsey Buckingham…and performed by him the night before…now that was the station for me! The next song, “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” Okay…I am starting to go thru the roof with this…thankfully, I was driving my bro’s convertible!

16) Sun, Nov 12. I told a few friends all these stories…including my bud, Braden.

17) Mon, Nov 13. I got in my car to go teach elementary schooI and  turned on the radio to find a re-broadcast of the in-studio appearance w/ Lindsey Buckingham– within a minute he is playing “Big Love” live…I called Braden to tell him…he happened to be listening to “Landslide” at the time. HOLY FREEKIN $#*t!!!

18) I emailed a few peeps about #17- including my brother, Brett.

19) While emailing my brother during a school break, a student came back into class during recess..and mentioned that her “uncle” had written and recorded a popular movie soundtrack song from the mid 80’s– I told her that I happened to know him and that his wife was my modeling agent.

20) Ten minutes later, I called my brother to get his reaction from 1-18…he then said, “I don’t know what to think about it, though I did hear a song twice today, and I had not heard that song in years.” That song happened to be the song in #19.  He had no idea of #19 when I called him...

Speechless.

21) Tuesday, October 13, 2020, I read this writing for the first time in years…and I had just one guitar lesson for that day…and guess what…my student asked to play the song that was the subject of #’s 19 & 20.