#k: my cape is my friend

[clone-futon]

He sulks

(May delete later)

[avayarising]

DPxDC prompt: Here is the News

“You’re watching CDTV Now, and I’m Ace Atchinson with a special feature. Last week, the nation was shocked when a team of junior heroes affiliated with the Justice League apparently vandalised one of America’s most beloved national monuments.”

A short, jerky video plays, showing an explosion on a large stone face – one of four carved out of the side of a mountain. The smoke clears to reveal a large hole where the nose used to be. Several figures fly out of the stone and are caught by some sort of flying vehicle. It swoops across the mountain and away.

“With me live in the studio this afternoon are some of the members of Young Justice, here to tell us their side of the story. Superboy, Wonder Girl, Impulse – did you destroy Mount Rushmore?”

“Yeah, we did,” says the boy with black curly hair and a leather jacket over his brightly coloured hero suit. A bar appears across the bottom of the screen. Superboy, it says. Member of Young Justice. “On purpose, too.”

The girl, with stiff black hair and large square glasses, scowls in his direction. “We weren’t trying to destroy it,” she says as the camera closes in on her. The bar across the bottom of the screen now reads Wonder Girl and Member of Young Justice. “We were rescuing our friend.”

“She’s a ghost you see and the apes captured her and held her in this secret base –” The brown-haired boy in goggles stops when he is nudged by the girl beside him. The bar flickers for a moment to say Impulse before returning to Wonder Girl.

“OK, so, we need to go back, like, five steps here. There was a secret government base inside Mount Rushmore where they were conducting inhumane experiments on ghosts.”

The host laughs in a strained, nervous way. “Ghosts?” he asks.

They nod. “I’d like to introduce you to another member of our team,” says Wonder Girl. A mist forms behind her as she speaks, and swiftly coalesces into the form of a pale, slight girl, hovering behind the sofa. “Um,” she says nervously. “My name is – I mean, I go by – Secret, and… I’m a ghost.”

-––––

“Danny! Turn on CDTV now!”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!”

–––––

“–torture and imprisonment, and she hadn’t even done anything! They’re just prejudiced against ghosts because they think they’re dangerous!”

“She is dangerous,’ says the black-haired boy proudly. The label Superboy appears on the screen again, in case anyone had forgotten. “She can shape-shift and go through walls and even possess people –”

“K– Superboy!” hisses Wonder Girl. “Not helping!”

“I’m right here,” says the ghost girl. The people who do the labels have obviously been hard at work, because she now has one too, saying Secret and Alleged ghost. “And I can do those things, but that doesn’t mean I want to hurt people or –”

There’s yelling from off camera, and a crash. A bolt of blue-white energy flies past the camera and the image whites out. There’s a scream, and a burst of static. The image returns, fuzzy and striated. Another bolt of energy. A large man wearing white rushes into view. Someone in green boots and a yellow and black cape lands on his head and knocks him down. A bang, and the image turns sideways as the camera crashes to the floor. The sound cuts out. There’s smoke, and running feet, and suddenly the side of the studio sofa, before another flash of blue-white light and the screen goes dead.

Nothing happens for almost a minute, and then the TV starts playing a rerun of the highlights of last week’s sports game.

––––––––

“Well, shit,” says Danny.

Superboy here is not in fact Kon but Match pretending to be Kon and trying to sabotage the team. Robin was hiding in the ceiling behind a lighting rig because Batman is going through one of his ‘we are cryptids’ phases and wouldn’t allow him to appear on screen. Anita hasn’t joined the team yet, which is good because her dad is one of the agents and it would have been awkward.

[saebyeokbliss]

JUST MEET ME AT THE APT.— K. SAE-BYEOK

CHAPTER SIX

synopsis: managing a rising rock band is already chaotic enough, but when you're stuck touring with four reckless musicians, things get even messier. between late-night facetime calls, teasing that feels a little too knowing, and a certain guitarist who might just be your biggest problem, keeping things professional is getting harder by the second. but hey, no one said the music industry was easy.

warnings: mutual pining, intense eye contact, teasing that borders on flirting (or maybe it is flirting), friends who refuse to mind their business, late-night facetime calls, secondhand embarrassment, slow burn that burns, emotional whiplash, cheol and ms. kang being the sweetest people to exist

playlist: spotify

It was late by the time you decided to leave.

The girls were still sprawled across the living room, half-distracted by their phones, still immersed in whatever chaos Jisoo was stirring up in their group chat.

You stood up, grabbing your bag. "Alright, I should head home. Got some work stuff to take care of."

A few half-hearted goodbyes were thrown your way—Ji-Yeong waved lazily, Se-Mi mumbled something about texting later, and No-Eul gave a small nod without looking up from her phone.

Sae-Byeok didn’t say anything.

Not at first.

You told yourself it didn’t bother you.

But it did.

Just a little.

"Oh, wait!" Ms. Kang suddenly appeared from the kitchen, holding out a small bag. "Take this with you. I packed some leftovers—you’ve been working too hard, you need to eat properly."

Your heart ached at the warmth in her voice.

She reminded you too much of your own mother—always making sure you were taken care of, even when she didn’t have to.

You swallowed past the sudden lump in your throat, accepting the bag with a small, grateful smile. "Thank you, eomoni."

She patted your arm gently. "Get home safe, alright? And don’t overwork yourself."

"I won’t," you promised, even if you weren’t sure how true that was.

Just as you turned to leave, Cheol ran up to you, something clutched in his hands.

"Wait! Before you go!"

You barely had time to react before he threw his arms around you in a quick but tight hug.

Then, he pulled back and shoved a folded piece of paper into your hands.

You opened it—and immediately laughed.

It was a hand-drawn comic.

One panel showed you and Cheol as superheroes, capes billowing behind you, standing triumphantly over a defeated villain. Another had you both high-fiving, and the last one had a speech bubble from Cheol’s character that said: "We make a good team."

You actually teared up.

"Oh my god, this is amazing," you said, beaming at him. "You’re seriously talented, Cheol."

He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean… yeah, I know."

You laughed, ruffling his hair. "I’m keeping this forever."

"Good," he said confidently. "It’s one of a kind."

With that, you finally headed out, stepping into the cool night air.

Sae-Byeok sat stiffly on the couch, phone still in her hands, but she wasn’t really looking at it anymore.

She had heard everything.

Had seen the way you stood there, waiting for them to notice you.

Had seen the way Ms. Kang’s warmth made you pause, how Cheol’s small kindness had made you light up in a way the rest of them hadn’t bothered to.

And she had done nothing.

She had let you walk out that door, barely saying a word, too caught up in her own distractions.

The guilt hit her like a slow, creeping weight in her chest.

No-Eul, who had been watching quietly, finally spoke.

"She looked sad."

Sae-Byeok glanced at her, but No-Eul wasn’t even looking back—just scrolling through her phone like she hadn’t just hit directly on the nerve Sae-Byeok was trying to ignore.

Sae-Byeok clenched her jaw.

Then, without another word, she stood up and grabbed her jacket.

Ji-Yeong blinked. "Uh… where are you going?"

Sae-Byeok didn’t answer.

Because she didn’t know.

All she knew was that she was going after you.

The night air was cool against your skin as you walked down the quiet street, the bag of food from Ms. Kang clutched tightly in your hands.

You told yourself you weren’t upset.

You told yourself it didn’t matter.

You told yourself that it was fine—that they were just caught up in the excitement of everything blowing up after Coachella, that you shouldn’t feel left out, that it wasn’t their fault.

And yet, the ache in your chest wouldn’t go away.

You barely heard the footsteps behind you until a voice called out—

"Yah, wait!"

You turned just in time to see Sae-Byeok jogging toward you, her dark hair slightly tousled from the wind, jacket half-zipped like she had rushed to throw it on before chasing after you.

You blinked. "Sae-Byeok?"

She slowed to a stop in front of you, catching her breath, her brows furrowed in something that looked dangerously close to concern.

"Why weren’t you talking?" she asked.

You frowned. "What?"

"You barely said anything before leaving," she said, her tone sharper now. "You’ve been quiet all night."

You let out a short, humorless laugh, shaking your head. "Maybe because you were all busy."

Sae-Byeok’s expression hardened. "That’s not an excuse. If something was wrong, you should’ve said something."

Your patience snapped.

"Why?" you shot back, voice rising. "So you could half-listen while laughing at more of Jisoo’s memes?"

Sae-Byeok’s jaw tensed. "That’s what this is about?"

You exhaled sharply, running a hand through your hair. "All anyone has been talking about—besides Coachella—is her."

Sae-Byeok’s brows knitted together. "That’s not—"

"If you all like her so much, then do something about it," you snapped, voice cutting through the night air.

Sae-Byeok’s eyes widened slightly, like she hadn’t expected that.

Like she hadn’t even thought about what it would sound like coming from you.

But you didn’t wait for her to respond.

You turned on your heel and stormed off, leaving her standing there, speechless, as the distance between you grew with every step.

And this time—

You didn’t look back.

taglist: @everly-summers-solace @knfthxv @madebysae @knfthxv @katieschry1 @imlackingsleep @lyzem @stellssxo @wiltingconquest @peelover25@monroesturnns @laurenkens @yenyu1s @idontliketoread2137 @bitchybananaflower @lyuuw

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Cameos & Familiar Faces

Entirely subjective yadda yadda. Organized by favs in each category. No numbered lists anymore, tumblr be buggn'.

End of Aug Start Sept 2023

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Sat iQIYI) 8fin - Oh the DRAMA. Why does the insane ex (my true love) remind me of the cartel leader from Romancing the Stone? Even the sides got HEA! It was fucking great!!!!! Charn remains a bonkers spoiled evil murderous brat with a cruel smile beloved by his one true paladin. Also: post it love note trope! Been a long while my old friend. NO SINGING!!!!! I do love that wedding jacket frock coat cape thing Charn wore. 

In conclusion: This is a great gay suspense thriller with several solid couples, fun plot, killer characters, queer rep, and a happy ending. Charn may be my favorite lead character of 2023. However, this show is not entirely BL, more on the fringe, like Manner of Death. Add that to several "singing incidents" and pairs being a little weak in the chemistry arena, and this lands safely in 9/10 territory. It’s tons of fun tho: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Sat grey) ep 3 of 12 - This show is getting more and more lakorn each ep. Apparently the straights are having a class divide arranged marriage crisis. Who cares? Our boy is ALWAYS in trouble. Crazy that he has to save the people who betrayed him in a previous life - but I guess he chose revenge! That's unexpected.

Had to switch to grey and couldn’t find a working rip. It was frustrating and I wouldn’t have bothered except I like this show so much. Still, it means no screen caps because the rez is naff.

Dangerous Romance (Fri YT) ep 3 of 12 - Uh oh. Kang wants to save Sailom and be his hero. The fact that K’s Pa puts no pressure on him whatsoever, makes me wonder if K's Ma committed suicide or something? It’s definitely the opposite parental dynamic we normally see in BL. I have to say, the pacing is great in the show. And the acting is on point. It’s really great. 

Hidden Agenda (Sun YT) ep 8 of 12 - these two just kiss well. I mean not "rip your clothes off Taiwan-style," but sweet young boyfriends-esk. Joke wants to be claimed so bad. It’s great. I enjoyed this ep, unfortunately it looks like we have a manufactured angst drama drop in the next episode. Is this a 10 episode arc? I thought it was 12. It’s odd to have doom happening next episode already.

Only Friends (Sat YT) ep 4 of 10 - Back story time! Ray and Mew are HARD to watch. Incestuous friend group gay is the worst. Omg I got such QAF vibes from this ep. Nick Boston Sand chats = very throw back 90s gay soaps. 

Location game moment: Top's hotel room is also Chan’s apartment in Laws Of Attraction. 

Naughty Babe (Sat YT) ep 1 of 8 - Ooo. Est is back! Hi handsome. Head of security suits you. Please lead out the new Waterboyy remake? You’re perfect for the role. (If it must happen.) Yi’s Pa is GREAT. Please give daddy a nice boy? Could that be our secondary couple for this series? 

Meanwhile, with the leads (sorry I was distracted by daddy) we got us an arranged marriage, run away bride, and an amnesia trope. Put in a secret baby and it's squarely 1980's Harlequin. Will there be Vikings? Sex herbs? Pirates? Dub con?

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 9 of 12 - Again with lovely sex scenes, it’s just the plot stringing them together is frayed. Also don’t fuck in an onsen. Both yech and ouch.

That goes for all y’all.  

Wedding Plan (Wed YT & iQIYI) ep 7fin - Trash watch here! Honestly this was an okay ending, I’m not mad at it. If you can tolerate Mame and liars (kinda the same thing) you’ll be fine with this show.

Summation: An innocent wedding planner falls haplessly and hopelessly in love with a groom who relentlessly pursued him, even though he’s about to marry someone else. A somewhat lackluster mame offering with less of the usual stellar chemistry, but all of the usual lies and manipulation. 7/10

Love in Translation (Sat iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - I skip everything to do with Tammy and it’s fine. There’s only about 20 minutes of fine but that’s more than enough. On the bright side. So far. No singing.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 24 eps - Cassanova Begins Part 2. Aw. It was sad. Another variation on the “my ghost boyfriend” trope (usually sad). 2/10 I don't do sad BL.

Next up is Merry Go Round featuring the pair from Destiny Seeker (we likey) who want to marry each other, but end up fake engaged to the same woman. Beard squared? Looks silly.

Crazy Handsome Rich (Sun Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - There are 2 things I like about this. I bet you can guess what they are.

Lee Long Shi

The whipping boy trope

There wasn’t enough of either in this first ep. ALSO the captions, sound effects, and voice over are truly next level bad. Utterly atrocious.

The 2 leads fucking around in the end credits was the funniest part of the whole show. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Jun & Jun (Korea Thur Viki) ep 7 of 8 - I am confused and frustrated about what the communication delay is between the two Juns. It feels artificial and narratively manufactured. But since this is a short form KBL and I know it will be resolved quickly, I’m not as annoyed as I would be if this were Thai BL. Still it feels audience manipulative. I also feel sorry for Simon. BUT it looks like it’ll be a sweet boyfriends final episode.

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 10fin - Omg they’re so cute!!! Taiwan the purveyors of ultimate sappy gay domesticity. I am going to miss having these to nonsencing all over my dash.

This show was an interesting take on the "ghost boyfriend" trope. About a boy who is tormented by hearing the dead, except when he is around one other boy - desperation+proximity = love. Unfortunately, the story was erratic and waffled about. While the leads turned in solid performances and the sappy domesticity was off the charts, it never really had the strength of the narrative convictions such a strong concept should have supplied. Highly rewatchable and enjoyable for that sappy domesticity but not a whole lot more. Still I always give extra credit for the diabetes-inducing sugar content and rewatch capacity. 8/10 

Kisseki: Dear to Me (Taiwan Tues Viki & iQIYI) eps 3 of 13(?) - I love the punching thing - there is a lot of violent flirting in this show. I’m not mad about it. Ugh, poor thing has real abandonment issues. And now trust issues. I see why we’re getting 12-14 eps. This gonna be MESSY.

Meanwhile, does EVERYONE have a guest cameo? Not that I’m complaining. Hi BLIHID boys! Now I need to rewatch that show. 

Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) eps 7-8 of 10 - Oh my God the next morning w/ couple 2 was so darn cute. They are all such terrible flirts with each other. Honestly, this show makes me laugh more than any other BL currently airing. I’m not sure it is meant to be as funny as I find it. While couple 3 (the mature characters) is by far my favorite, I actually think they don’t work with the other two pairs, they feel superfluous to the show. I like the show better because they’re in it, but it feels like two different BL‘s stuck together. KBL certainly can’t handle more than two couple threads at the same time. 

Why R U? (Korea Wed iQIYI) eps 3-4 of 8 - Ugh. I am such a sucker for the FighterTutor dynamic. Why so good? Uh oh. Real kiss! KBL you're spoiling us. But, isn’t sad-seme-hyung dating some chick? Argh. Poor Sunwoo. This show is even worse at repping Fighter's character sympathetically. Who knew that was possible?

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 3 of 8 - The date episode! Even Japan is doing it now. And these two who have been living/fucking together for ages still dance around each other like junior high kids. I gotta say, I watch this one twice because Vicki has different subs from Gaga. I feel like it’s easier to understand if I watch two different translations of the same script. But it’s still quite a taciturn piece. 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) ep 8 of 12 - Sides are great. It was mostly a cute ep with tiny bits of Progress and a proper Confession. I miss Shin’s siblings. And then… the much loathed amnesia trope. Really?

Everyone say it with me: Must you, Japan? 

Stay Still (Hong Kong Tues YouTube) ep 5fin - It ended happier than I was expecting. Optimistic for one couple, and most likely optimistic for the other.

Summation: What to say about this offering from Hong Kong? It’s different, a mix of early CBL, Taiwanese shorts, and Pinoy visuals. It felt like the story was 2 independent shorts that had been lengthen and then stuck together, and I wish they'd been approached as separate and tighter entities. Nevertheless, this was a complex little piece,  interesting in a sweaty grungy way, with a certain aura of queer authenticity that made it simultaneously tense, unpredictable, and refreshing. I’m not sure I would necessarily call it BL, but any county’s early foray into the genre usually starts out this way, so perhaps nascent BL? Worth watching, especially if you enjoy stuff from the Philippines and Taiwan. 7/10

In case you missed it

Dinosaur Love ended its run but the final 2 eps are behind a paywall. Word on the street is they aren't good anyway (shocker) so I'm marking it as DNF and moving on with my life. If I can find em grey I'll watch 'em merely so I can give it a rating, but I can't imagine it will get more than 5/10. Seriously, do not bother.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Coming September

9/15 You Are Mine (Taiwan Gaga) Secretary has to deal with grumpy boss.

9/15 Bump Up Business AKA Bump Up Project (Korea movie) suspected cinema release? I don't know much about what's going on. Last status update. Love story between a trainee who is about to debut and a celebrity from the same agency. Kpop boy group OnlyOneOf has signed up to star in this idol-based BL (based on a webtoon). They’ve been auditioning for this since Libido IMHO. You can watch me chronicle their BL MV series in this post. It’s from Idol Romance who will do sad but can do good kisses (Wish You, Nobleman Ryu, Once Again, Kissable Lips, Poongduck 304, Tasty Florida, Tinted With You).

9/26 I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan ????) - Adapted from the manga, childhood best friends: The cool, smart one who’s good at everything, and his average, dorky friend who struggles. Always by the other’s side, but not together in the way they truly want to be. No matter how hard they try, their hearts cannot reach each other.

9/27 Absolute Zero (Thai iQIYI) - from 2021, Studio Wabi Sabi and New Siwaj finally bring us this “time loop to prevent tragedy” romance. We don’t always get HEAs from them, so I'm on my guard.

9/? Venus in the Sky (Thai iQIYI) 10 eps

9/? Mr Cinderella 2 (Vietnam YouTube?)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Hidden Agenda hitting us up with a hug + lap + kiss. Very nice.

I think these two might be GMMTV's best cuddlers.

Boys, I think your JoongDunk is showing.

(Last week) 

[mangoisms]

circle k (back to you)

summary: in which you're just the graveyard shift employee at circle k bombarded by vigilantes.

━ chapter two: it’s getting late | read chapter one

━ pairing: tim drake x f!reader

━ word count: 4.5k

━ warnings: none

━ masterlist

━ a/n: would be lying if i said this was for tim's birthday tmrw. it was rlly just because the reception to chapter 1 was so lovely and i also did this with my other tim fic—posting chapter 2 early, i mean. but we'll just have to work with this. happy early birthday tim you are annoying and i want to study you under a microscope <3

You expect Red Robin’s appearance to be a one-off thing. 

It is not. 

Instead, the next day, you get Black Bat. 

It jolts you from the phone call you’re having.

“—understand the temptation to tell them to screw off but I really don’t want to get… shot…”

You trail off, watching, wide-eyed as your newest vigilante customer steps into Circle K. 

Black Bat cuts an imposing figure, her suit made up mostly of inky black material, with a few accents of gold, the Bat symbol on her chest standing out the most. Her black cape flutters behind her, moving like a shadow. She looks the most like Batman, you think, with the cowl and the pointed ears. Except the eyes of the mask are black and the bottom of her face is completely covered—stitched closed. Considerably more creepy, you think, goosebumps breaking out over your skin. Though that could be the fan you have on, fluttering your hair as it makes a slow rotation.

“Hey, did you die or something?”

“No,” you mutter, watching, your heart starting to pick up as Black Bat comes up to the counter.

You aren’t sure what you expect, but it’s not—

“Do you have Red Bull?” Her voice is low and melodic. Not befitting of her… general aura.

Wordlessly, you point to the refrigerators at the back.

“Thanks,” she says, then she turns and walks away. You can only see the top of her head and the pointed ears of her cowl. A second later, you hear the suction-y sound of the refrigerator door being opened. 

A voice calls your name from the other end of the line. 

Your best friend, Stephanie Brown, who gave you a call to see how your summer break has been treating you. 

“Sorry,” you say, clearing your throat. “Just got distracted by something outside.”

“Something outside? That’s not reassuring. At all.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Like I was saying, I’m not gonna tell them that. It’s tempting but like I said, I don’t want to get arrested or some shit.”

“The charges wouldn’t even hold. It’s a free country. I can tell a cop to fuck off if I want to. That’s my god-given right.” 

“I appreciate the spirit, but I don’t think the GCPD would agree with you.”

“Well, the GCPD can kiss my ass.”

“You and me both, Stephie. You and me both. So, how’s, uh, Metropolis?”

“Metropolis is Metropolis. Brainiac nearly took control of the city yesterday but what’s new? Mom’s having a good time, though. Even if things are way overpriced over here. I mean, seriously. Eight bucks for a cup of coffee at this place we went to today. They’re crazy.”

Steph babbles in your ear for a few more minutes. Long enough for Black Bat to reemerge from the aisle, two cans of Red Bull and a bag of Takis and a pack of sour gummy worms in hand. You wonder who the second person is. Red Robin, maybe? 

He’d been odd about the hot chocolates. Odd in general. But that’s what you get with these vigilante types. 

No matter. You quickly focus on your current situation, giving Black Bat a small, embarrassed smile and pointing at the phone crammed between your shoulder and ear, mouthing Sorry. 

You shouldn’t be doing this on the job and you should’ve told Steph you had to go but quite frankly, you need the assurance of another person with you. Even if said person can’t do anything and is across the harbor in Metropolis on a mini-vacation with her mom. 

 Black Bat shouldn’t give you trouble about it. You hope. She just scares you a little more than Red Robin. Which is silly because he’s a guy and probably more potentially dangerous but. You know. Her suit is just… too similar to Batman’s, and he’s the one who scares you the most.   

Still, Black Bat just shrugs and waves a hand. “It’s fine.”

You nod your thanks, then scan everything and bag it. She pulls out a twenty dollar bill from her utility belt and you give her the change, which she promptly puts in the tip jar. A kind gesture, really, considering the twenty is a bit of an overshoot for her total, leaving you with a nice tip. 

You guess that if anything else, at least it’s nice that these vigilantes tip. 

After dropping the receipt into the bag, she takes it and waves at you. 

Mystified, you wave back. 

Then she steps out, cape fluttering behind her.

“Anyway,” Steph says on the other end as you focus on her voice again. “It’s pretty fun but I miss home. Can’t wait to be back in the city. We’re hanging out as soon as I do, by the way. How are things with you?”

Oh, you can’t keep it in. You have to tell her. 

“I saw the Flash two days ago.”

But she misunderstands.

“Oh, yeah,” she says. “I saw that in the news. ‘Cause of Trickster, right? Bet Batman wasn’t happy about that.”

“No,” you say. “I’m saying I saw him. Here. At Circle K. He dropped in to grab a bite to eat. I know you and Tim absolutely refuse to believe me when I say he visited me and that we’re friends—which, by the way, he totally reaffirmed when I saw him—but he was here.”

“We’re jealous, that’s all,” she says. “Just don’t want you running off with the Flash thinking he’s cooler than we are. Which, to be clear, he isn’t. Not me, anyway. Tim is up for debate.”

“Well, you’re about to be a little more jealous.”

“And why is that?”

“Because since he visited, weird shit has started happening.”

“Weird shit is always happening in Gotham. What is so special about this weird shit in particular?”

“Oh, he said something stupid to Red Robin—Red Robin came in a little while after he did, I guess they were working together to track down Trickster—anyway, he was talking about how I’m… scared of the Bats—”

“Are you scared of the Bats?”

You throw up a hand, though she can’t see it. “I have a healthy amount of fear and respect for them—and on that note, please don’t tell anyone else I’m telling you this.”

“Of course.”

“Right, well, Flash was just ragging him, you know? About how he has a better relationship with me, someone who doesn’t even live in Keystone or Central, than the Bats do.”

“So?”

“So,” you blow out a big breath, “Red Robin showed up yesterday to get some hot chocolate—”

“Hot chocolate?” Steph asks, disbelieving. 

“Yeah. He said it was a better alternative to coffee. Guess he’s not into energy drinks. Weirdo. The whole thing about it—weird. Like… I don’t know. He was just acting weird when he was asking if we had any.”

“… That is weird,” she says, an odd note to her voice. She clears her throat. “And then?”

“I knew why he was doing it so I told him he didn’t have to come around ‘cause he and the others obviously need to uphold a specific perception, right? Then he was all, Well, what does a civilian like you know about it? Can you believe they unironically call us that?”

Steph laughs. She laughs hard.

You wait it out, not entirely sure what or why she is laughing so hard but it’s not the first time she’s ever done that, so you can just let it go. 

“Okay,” she giggles. “Sorry. Keep going. What else happened?”

“He left. But then, y’wanna guess who just showed up right now?”

“Who? Batman?”

“God, no. It was Black Bat. She was nice enough. Gave me a big tip. Creepy suit, though.”

“What’d she’d get?”

“Two Red Bulls, a bag of Takis and a pack of sour gummy worms. Wonder who that second Red Bull is for. And the snacks. Red Robin realizing hot chocolate in June is weird? Hard to imagine him eating Takis, though. He’s probably like Tim, saying they’re ‘too hot’.”

Steph laughs again for a while.

“Oh, god, you’re killing me,” she gasps out when she calms.

You shake your head, rubbing your finger over a scratch mark in the counter. “I don’t know what is so funny but sure.”

“So, then, what? You think you’re just gonna some more vigilantes? ‘Cause it’s only been two so far.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” you grumble. “But it’s two. When previously, this has never happened.” 

“True! Well… any preferences? For who comes next?”

“Anyone but Batman, thanks.”

Your next visitor is not Batman.

It is, in a turn of events that makes a little more sense, the Signal.

A few days after your call with Steph, things are fine, until your manager posts to the team group chat about wanting someone for an afternoon shift, saying someone quit unexpectedly. Not one to say no to some extra cash, you latch onto the opportunity—even if it’s an admittedly questionable idea. You try not to work weekends to let yourself recuperate from sustaining your not-so-great sleep schedule. 

Anyway, you feel and look like a zombie, but you get your work done. 

“I can help the next person in line,” you call. 

A tall, broad-shouldered stocky older man with long blonde hair and blue eyes behind coke-bottle glasses steps up, armed with two large cups of coffee. The scrubs he wears clues you into some kind of healthcare position. 

“Hi, did you find everything—”

The door opens, your eyes automatically flickering to the movement, and your voice cuts out sharply as you realize who it is.

The Signal stands there a bit awkwardly for a moment as all of you look—the blonde man at the counter and the other man waiting in line.

“Hey, you!”

You flinch, tensing, already fearing a confrontation as the other man steps forward, pointing at the Signal. The one in question tenses, shoulders rising, like he’s preparing to fight. You hope not. That would be a lot of paperwork for you. It’s the manager’s, technically, to report any damage done by vigilantes, but they always give it to you or the other employees on the floor.

But it is not as you feared. Instead of picking a fight, the man… thanks him?

“You’re the Signal, right? Right? You saved my son a few months ago from some muggers following him home from school. Thank you, man. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough. He wouldn’t be here with me if it weren’t for you,” the man says, holding out a hand.

“Hey, man,” Signal says, reaching out to shake his hand. “It was nothing. I’m glad I was there to help.”

“Are you here to buy something? Let me cover you. Please. It’s the least I can do—”

“Oh, you really don’t need to—”

“That went better than expected.”

The soft-spoken voice brings you out of your thoughts and you belatedly realize you still have a customer to take care of. But when you look at him, he is watching the Signal try to tell the other man that he doesn’t have to pay for him, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“Yeah,” you say. “Good thing. Signal’s a good guy.”

He turns back to you as you scan the cups of coffee, pulling out a wallet.

“He is,” he agrees easily—meaning his words, too, a genuine conviction you don’t hear often associated with the vigilantes of the city. 

Signal manages to hold firm on not needing the man to pay, repeating that he was just doing his job, and thankfully, the man accepts it with good graces. 

You quickly get your current customer wrapped up while the Signal steps into the chip aisle. 

You pass him the receipt. “Thank you, have a good day.”

He sends you a small, handsome smile, picking up the cups of coffee. “Thank you, you, too.”

The one after him steps up to pay, talking jovially with you, spirits still apparently lifted at seeing Signal and being able to thank him. It’s a nice moment, you think, and you make sure to respond in kind. 

The door swings shut behind him just as Signal re-emerges from the chip aisle, holding a can of Monster Energy and a bag of chile picante Cornnuts. The combination is… surely something. You let yourself slip with it, too, because you’ve personally heard a lot of good things about him. The fact that he works during the day helps his case, too. 

“I need the energy,” Signal says, seeing that thought in your face; he doesn’t sound mad, though, just vaguely amused. His suit is filled with more yellow tones, still intimidating but not as much in the daylight, a helmet of sorts leaving only his mouth exposed. 

“It’ll definitely give you… something,” you say, chuckling as you scan both.

He pats his stomach. “I have guts of steel. Don’t worry about it.”

“Not a problem as long as I never have to hear ‘guts of steel’ ever again. Jesus. Is that just a natural thing of your biology or is it evolutionary-based?”

“This life isn’t for the faint of heart or stomach,” he agrees, passing you a five dollar bill. “Adaptation is key.”

“I bet.”

Signal laughs, taking his change and dropping it into the tip jar. You smile, too, shaking your head slightly. 

“Have a good day.”

He tips his Red Bull at you. “You, too.”

Guts of steel. You nearly can’t believe it.

You pick up your phone, finding your conversation with Tim. You and Steph are hanging out tomorrow, so you’ll tell her about it, then. She asked him, though, and he said he was busy. Too bad. But that doesn’t mean he gets out of being subjected to those words, either.

no joke signal came in to buy a monster energy and cornnuts (a questionable combo) and when he saw me judging he said he has guts of steel

meta related do you think???

makes sense to me. you have a gene inside you that gives you literal powers i think they shouldn’t be having digestive issues/ibs like us common folk do

Your three texts, sent in quick succession, deliver. You bite the inside of your cheek as you see your previous ones still unanswered. It’s been like that for the past few weeks. Not him ignoring you but a bit of a dry spell going on in your messages that was only broken when you told Steph what happened and decided you had to tell him, too.

It’s not his fault. The dry spell from before or the lack of responses going on now. 

You started the first thing. So, it’s more your fault than anything for all of that. Steph’s talked to him, though, and she’s never let up on anything amiss…

You groan quietly, dropping your phone on the counter and burying your face in your hands.

Too complicated. Too much. 

It never used to be like that but… things changed recently. 

You, mostly. 

You met Stephanie Brown your second semester at Gotham University. 

Taking your required elective, you chose Intro to Psych. She was doing the same. Though, being a social work major, psychology was practically a cousin to it. 

The professor for the class turned out to be a total dud. Rambled during lecture, refused to give out study guides, and while he would give out hints as to what material might show up on exams, his questions were trick ones. When people complained, he said some crap about being in a higher ed setting and needing to do better because of it. Like his class was some 300 or 400 level course and not a literal intro course to a large and burgeoning field of study. 

But classes are expensive, so, you couldn’t drop it. Refused to, really, knowing you would face much more difficult classes later on, ones you knew you might need to drop and try again. So, you weren’t going to waste the money on this type of class.

Steph was of the same thought.

She sat next to you in the lecture hall. You two didn’t talk until after the first exam and everyone was upset about their grades, the exams having been handed back at the end of class. Your shared frustration brought you together, mostly as you two were ranting about it, you packed up and wound up leaving class together, the both of you just too caught up in your anger to realize you both needed to go in opposite directions for your next class. 

You initially agreed to be study partners, to cover more ground that way. But Steph managed to worm her way to your heart by the end of that semester. 

Your astounding lack of friends helped, too. Even if things had been that way since your junior year of high school, even if you wanted things to remain that way to protect what little remained of your heart, the loneliness hit you harder than you thought it would when you started college. 

And Steph was nice and funny and listened to you and paid attention to you and you… were so very deprived of those things, so it was nice in the beginning, but then you realized, to your own horror, that you actually wanted her to stick her around, that just as she knew nearly everything about you by the end of the semester, you knew nearly everything about her, too, and you wanted to know more, wanted to be there for her like she always was for you. 

You have that and more now and you are so very lucky because of it.

Tim, though?

Tim was something else.

Steph told you she had a friend visiting.

Just that—that she had a friend visiting campus and she ‘hoped he could find his way to the computer workstation on the fourth floor because as soon as I sit down, I’m not leaving for anything other than to use the bathroom or some kind of world-ending event.’ 

It was a particularly grueling paper she had to churn out—twenty pages, heavily research-based with the kind of statistics that made your head spin.

Working at the front desk of the Martha Kane Library at the time, you humored her. Told her good luck and that you’d keep an eye out. The second part was a joke, of course, because she never said who was visiting her and how could you know if she never said anything?

You and Tim Drake wound up finding each other, anyway. 

Well, more like he found you. 

It sounds sort of romantic, right?

It’s… well, it’s certainly something.

“I’m just saying,” you’re telling him, totally neglecting your homework and the other duties you have at the front desk (you know this last part is especially true by the way your coworker, also at the front desk, is side-eyeing you but come on, there’s no one in line, so it’s fine!). “It’s a solid movie.”

Tim Drake gives you a comically disbelieving look. “A solid movie? It’s—it’s gaseous.”

“Did… you just make a physics joke? About the three states of matter?”

Tim turns an attractive shade of pink. “It’s four, actually, and, uh… yeah.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Steph is right. You really are a geek. Anyway. Cloverfield still sucks.” 

“Your opinion is automatically negated by the fact that you think the Final Destination movies have any kind of substance to them.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that. I just think they’re good ‘cause of Mary Elizabeth Winstead. You probably think the Transformers movies are actually good, don’t you?”

He looks offended. “Don’t insult me. We hate Michael Bay in this house.”

“Sure.”

“But I do think Bumblebee—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bumblebee is good for a change, we all know it. You’re probably one of those Nolan stans, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think any of what you just said are real words.”

“Oh, they’re real alright. Nolan stans are constantly on his dick, they’re all like, ‘Nolan is so deep and thoughtful and there is no one else like him.’ Wrong. I could find ten of him in the movie industry.” 

Tim narrows his eyes accusingly at you. “Steph said Interstellar is your favorite movie.”

“It’s his only good movie.”

“Don’t count out Inception like that.”

“Never seen it.”

“Wow.”

“You know what you sounded like just now? A Nolan stan.”

Tim actually grins at you and your stomach flutters at the sight of it. It’s that that had drawn your eyes to him. The cute but confused looking guy loitering around nearby, systematically checking his phone and glancing around—presumably for a map of the confusing and ancient library. With dark hair, pale skin, and pretty blue eyes that make you feel unbearably seen, Tim Drake is a sight for sore eyes. Your eyes, to be certain. 

Of course, you also know he’s here for Steph. That he is the friend she spoke of. And also the ex-boyfriend. That reminder sobers you considerably. 

Kind of funny, really. 

Much can be said about Tim Drake. 

The adoptive son of Bruce Wayne. The kid who snuck into No Man’s Land on a dare and had to be extracted by the US military after his father made a fuss about it. Then later, became controlling shareholder at Wayne Enterprises for whatever reason, boosting him into a very powerful position. Then he got engaged. Then he was shot—he was meant to be killed but obviously, it hadn’t gone that way. All this at seventeen. 

But eventually it petered out. He stepped down. Engagement broke off. He recovered. Now? He does some work for WE. That’s all that’s known to the press, anyway. 

It’s like you said. Much can be said about Tim Drake. 

But most of your impression is from Steph. He plays Warlocks and Warriors sometimes. Is a bit of a computer geek and has built his own PC for gaming. Hits the skatepark every now and then. Likes to spend time tinkering on his car.  And… has strong opinions on movies. 

Above it all?

He is her ex. A good friend now! But still. That fact remains. 

“Anyway,” you say, adjusting your notebook, textbook, and bag of pens just to do something. “You’re here for Steph, right?”

“She told you?”

“Well, she’s obviously told you stuff about me.”

“Steph won’t shut up about you,” he says, seeming more amused than annoyed by that fact. “I can’t imagine it’s the same with me.”

“I know enough.” Like the fact that he is her literal ex-boyfriend. Even if Steph says their relationship wasn’t the greatest, had some very questionable decisions on both their parts, and ended a bit dramatically… he’s still the first person she ever fell in love with. She told you that much. “She’s upstairs on the fourth floor. Hit the elevators over there, then when you get to the fourth floor, turn left, then another left, and the computer workstations are on your right. Can’t miss them.”

“You should watch Inception,” he says, instead of acknowledging literally anything you just said.

You arch an eyebrow challengingly. “You should watch Interstellar.”

He taps a finger on the counter. “We should do both. You, me, and Steph one of these days.”

“I hate to say it, but that sounds like a good idea.”

Steph’s voice scares the shit out of you. You bang your knee on the desk, cursing.

Tim looks unruffled as she comes from the side—the direction of the elevators, joining him at the counter and nudging his shoulder as she goes. He nudges back. They keep the contact.

“Sorry, Stephie,” you say. “We got preoccupied.”

“Arguing,” she corrects, but she doesn’t look upset about it. Instead, her cobalt blue eyes twinkle with something you can’t quite identify as she drops her chin into her palm.

“We weren’t arguing,” Tim says next. “We were lightly debating.”

“Of course. My cute little movie geeks. I think Duckboy’s right, though—” Tim groans slightly and mutters her name in annoyance; she ignores it “—we should get together and see them.”

You scratch your cheek. “I don’t know. Finals—”

“—are not for another month. I say let’s do it.” She looks at Tim and jabs a thumb at you. “She needs more friends.”

“Stephanie, please.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Timothy needs more friends, too. Friends from, say, the other half.” She smiles mischievously, a joke known only by the two of them. 

Tim, for his part, rolls his eyes but says nothing in protest. 

You don’t need more friends. More friends is actually a very bad idea. Letting one person get close was bad enough. Another person? Hell, no…

But the look on Steph’s face tells you that you, quite frankly, have no say in the matter. And the way you and Tim ‘lightly debated’ movies for a solid half hour tells you, too, that it’ll be too easy for you and he to become friends. 

You decide to shelve the issue for now as Steph tugs him away, promising you that she’ll arrange for things.

Maybe it won’t pan out. Maybe he’s actually horribly arrogant and conceited. (Though, if he’s friends with Steph, the likelihood of that is admittedly low.) 

You don’t know. All you know is it’s dangerous to let yourself get close to someone else.

But that’s all rather dramatic, isn’t it?

And it didn’t turn out how you wanted—you met Tim in the first semester of your sophomore year; your junior year just ended this May. You’ve been friends with him for a year and half. Steph for two. No end appears to be in sight. But you’ve compartmentalized. It’s just two people. That’s fine.

It’s totally fine. 

Even if it’s two people to match the two others you lost when you were fifteen. Like a repayment for the pain.

(Or a way to double it.)

But you lost your parents in the earthquake. 

Scientists called that a once-in-a-lifetime event.

There are plenty of things going on in this city that could cost your friends their lives but… it’ll never be as devastating as the earthquake. 

The earthquake where you nearly died after a piece of metal pierced your thigh, barely missing your femoral artery, and you spent the entire time from after the earthquake, when they dug your body out of the rubble, and to when they decided to exile the city, in a coma from the infection. 

By the time you stabilized, you were on a helicopter to Blüdhaven, the rest of the city in a panic to leave, and your parents were officially gone by that point. 

They couldn’t even find their bodies in time.

It took almost three years before they did. The year in which the government turned a blind eye to the city and cast it away, then another two years to rebuild, to sift through the ruin and destruction, to find the bones of the ones left behind since they were decomposed by then, and identifying them was an even more arduous task.  

You only managed to receive the catharsis of burying them when you turned eighteen. 

You might tempt fate by saying this but even if you lost either of them, the fallout would never beat that. A blessing, in that way. 

But even you hate to consider the possibilities of them leaving you. For anything.

They won’t. 

Everything will be fine. 

It has to be. 

reblogs are appreciated!

taglist: @peachesona @knoxx-seresinbradshaw @kikis-writing-service @sweetistic @soundsfunbutno @ginevraxrogers

[if you'd like to be added to the taglist (or removed), let me know here or in my inbox! ^_^]

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hiiiiii

Do you have any fics where john or sherlock are mutants/ have powers?

Hi Lovely!

OOOOOOOHHHH I love this; I have a few fics that could be qualified as "CLOSE" to mutations and superpowers, but not 100%. I have a lot more "changelings" than anything else. I've compiled together some of the ones on my MFL list as well, but I can't guarantee that they're mutants in them since I haven't read them.

If anyone has any fics that they can suggest, please do! I'm kind of into MCU fics right now so if I can have Sherlock-style in there too, that would be awesome! PLEASE let us know if you have mutant or Superhero Johnlock fics!!!

MUTATIONS or SUPERPOWERS

See also:

Magical Realism Where John is the Powerful One

Telepath / Empath AU

Hybrids and Shapeshifters

Soaring Above by Corporate_cards (G, 394 w., 1 Ch.  || TRF, Light Angst, Superpowers) – "Have you ever though about having a super power...?" Part 2 of the Random Things I've Written In Class -- Johnlock series

The Frost Child by twistedthicket1 (M, 9,994 w., 2 Ch. || Frozen-ish AU || Magical Realism, Christmas, Angst, Fluff, Powerful John) – In a world where people are born with a Gift of varying levels, simple John Watson is the last person one might look at when thinking of any strong Magick capabilities. Hiding comfortably in the shadow of Sherlock's brilliant deducing abilities, John is content to keep it that way...

Conductivity by Coquillage Atlas (K,11,051 w., 8 Ch., FFNet || Fantasy and Friendship) – John Watson, alone in London with a healing power he can hardly bear. A description of his life with magic, before and after Sherlock. SEQUELS: Resistance || Reciprocity

Invisible by chappysmom (K+, 25,947 w., 11 Ch., FFNet || No Slash, semi-canon compliant) – John had had the knack for as long as he could remember. It wasn’t that he could become invisible, exactly. The laws of physics worked quite well in his vicinity, thank you very much. It was just that people tended … not to see him. SEQUELS: Still Invisible (ASiB) || Too Visible (THoB) || Invisible Once More (TRF)

Left by lifeonmars (M, 45,153 w., 9 Ch. || Magical Realism, BAMF!John, Slow Burn) – John Watson is left-handed. He’s tried not to let it affect his life, but as any Lefty knows, that’s almost impossible.

Out There by DiscordantWords (T, 131,695 w., 10 Ch. || X-Files Fusion || Past Soldier John, Panic Attacks, POV Alternating Present Tense, Anxious John, Canon Adjacent, Deductions, Obsessive Sherlock,, Travelling, Sherlock’s Family, Jealous Sherlock, Mind Palace John, Awkward Flirting, Kidnapped/Abducted John, Semi-Reverse Reichenbach, Worried/Anxious Sherlock, Hospital, Slow Burn, UST, Case Fic, Government Conspiracy, Aliens, UFOs, Mutants, Mutual Pining, First Kiss, Coma John, Forehead Touching, Hand Holding, Drinking/Bars, Past Jolto) – FBI Special Agent John Watson, medical doctor and army veteran, is assigned to assist eccentric genius Sherlock Holmes with paranormal investigations on the X-Files project.

How to Build a Heart out of Ashes by Teumessian (E, 144,931 w., 31 Ch. || Changeling AU || Slow Burn, Drug Use, Mentions of Child Abuse / Bullying, Mentions of Student/Teacher Relations, Uni-Age) – In an AU where a small number of the population become Changelings at a young age, at 17 John Watson believes he's destined for Normal life but then the Change takes him and he is sent to the Baker Institute. There he meets Sherlock Holmes.

MARKED FOR LATER

(I Love You) Infinitely by helloliriels (T, 20,072+ w., 14/16 Ch. || WiP || Marvel Cinematic Universe AU || Post-TRF, Post Infinity War, Not Endgame-Compliant, Super Humans, Happy Ending) – With a snap of his fingers, Thanos had caused the heartache and loss of half a planet's population. And Watson, of all people could have kissed the glove that did so. Part 2 of the Liriels Chaptered Fics series

Trenchcoats and Capes by jomochi (T, 35,275 w., 3 Ch. || Superhero AU || UST/URT, Mutually Unrequited, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Love Confessions, Secret Identity, Hero John) – He’s twirling a strand of hair around the finger of his other hand. His coat, which honestly looks more like a cape than anything, is spread out beneath him. His chest rises and falls slowly with calm breaths, the tight black material of his suit stretching to accommodate the movement. John has seen many pictures of him but not one did him any justice. The sight before John is breath-taking. It isn’t right. Evil shouldn’t look this good.

The Alchemystics by elwinglyre (E, 69,014 w., 16 Ch. || Full Metal Alchemist Omegaverse AU || Non-Traditional ABO Dynamics, Major Character Injury, Angst, Human Transmutation) – Since youth, Sherlock was forced to hide who he was from the world. That time has ended. With the world torn apart, he must embrace who and what he is: an alchemystic and an omega. Fortunately, he finds another, John Watson, who is a true compliment to himself. With Watson’s help, Sherlock strives to obtain what’s needed to right the world. But the past, present and future aren’t aligning, and what is needed to succeed comes at a high cost: for to gain, something of equal value must be lost--that is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. No one knows this lesson better than Sherlock. He’s lost his father, his brother and his arm attempting to bring his mother back from the dead. What will he need to sacrifice to save the world?

The Destruction of Ice by All_I_need (E, 91,682 w., 28 Ch. || Psy - Changeling Crossover/Fusion || Changeling John, Psy Sherlock, Murder Investigation / Case Fic, Slow Burn, Touching, Forced Lack of Emotion, Silence Protocol, Sci-Fi Elements) – The year is 2081 and Sherlock Holmes never expected to encounter a threat to his Silence, the conditioning that keeps him sane and unfeeling. John Watson, on the other hand, never thought he'd find a flat in London. He certainly didn't expect to find one that comes with a Psy flatmate: brilliant, emotionless and more intriguing than John would like. When a series of brutal, random murders shakes London to its core, it is up to them to stop a vicious psychopath - preferably before Sherlock's latest experiment gets them both killed.

A Vintage Exceptionally to Your Liking by EmmyAngua (E, 95,334 w., 19 Ch. || Alternate Dimensions AU || S3 Fix It, Lies, Angst, Pining Sherlock, Superpowers, Domestics, BAMF Mary, Hiatus, First Time, Magical Realism, Slow Burn, Colliding Universes, Moral Dilemmas, Betrayal, Mary’s Past) – Sherlock and John met seven years earlier than canon and fell in love. When John dies, Sherlock is introduced to the concept of alternate dimensions and given the opportunity to visit a different universe where he can have a second chance with a new John Watson. A love story across alternate dimensions.

[1eaf-me-alone]

— 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚒𝚕𝚘𝚝 —

𝙼𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝙻𝚊𝚍𝚢𝚋𝚞𝚐: 𝙵𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙴𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

[Lyney x GN!reader ~ Collaboration with @perpetualcynicism ~ Masterlist/ introduction for the fic is here.] …Episode 1

Though it was technically an orphanage, the House of the Hearth was hardly a welcoming place.

Where there should have been laughter echoing through hallways resounded empty silence, broken by occasional clipped footsteps on cold stone. The lights were bright; it took some time to accustom oneself to the glaring white walls, which were decorated only sparsely with old oil paintings of long-dead men and women who stared down passing children’s necks. It was a place for business, for accommodation, not for living in. 

A woman clad in a white suit walked at a brisk pace down one such corridor. Her heels clicked sharply against the floor. She turned a corner into another corridor, this one longer, darker at the end. A painting, large and framed in polished dark wood, hung on the wall at the end of the corridor. It depicted a young woman of pale skin and frosted eyes. A long crimson cape draped from her shoulders; her ashen hair was pulled in an intricate rose behind her neck and fell in a curl across her collarbone; her lips were pulled tight, pursed forever in mild disapproval. The lift of her chin spoke of elegance and an air of superiority. A dark headdress was carefully composed from fine black lace and veiled her eye, its frame shaped into the tapering spines of a butterfly’s wing. 

Beneath the painting, spiralling gold lettering named its subject La Signora.

The white-clad woman pushed on one of the black diamonds hanging around the painting’s throat. The shape slotted inwards. At the same time a low click resounded from within the painting, like the inner workings of a huge clock were turning, slowly, behind its surface. A polished black screen took the diamond’s prior position. The woman pulled off one of her gloves and pressed her fifth finger to the screen. A moment passed before the device retracted back into the painting. A pinprick of cold blue light flashed in the painting’s veiled eye: the woman stepped back and waited as the light travelled up and down her face. A mechanical voice spoke out, Authentication process successful. Welcome, Arlecchino.

The painting began to rearrange itself like a puzzle. The surface shifted in small blocks and pulled backwards to reveal a doorway. All the while, the quiet whirring of cogs sounded in the background. The sound fell silent; Arlecchino stepped into the passage, and the painting closed behind her. 

For a moment, she was in darkness. Then, one by one, a row of red lights flashed on to dimly light the path into the gaping mouth of a cavern, bloody stars glimmering in the Abyss. Behind her, from where she’d entered, stood another painting of the same woman; but unlike the cold composure of its counterpart, this La Signora was clothed in a dress of scarlet flame, and her headdress was like the antennae of a moth who longs for the firelight. Her eyes, although hidden behind the headdress, seemed to burn like hot coals on the back of Arlecchino’s neck. 

Arlecchino clenched her jaw and walked on. In the centre of the cavern, surrounded by dancing hellfire butterflies, stood a white coffin: the remains of the moth who had strayed too close. She walked to its side, traced her hand lightly along the cold stone.

“My friend,” she began, the usual harshness of her voice softening by a touch, “I will bring you back from your slumber. I swear this on the Hearth.”

On her back, behind where her heart was beating with the strength of her vow, smouldered the fiery, crimson glow of the Moth Miraculous. 

Taglist:

So far: @d-a-r-k-s-w-a-n, @lunavixia, @lumiconic, @apotatouwu, @catarinarose;

@wolfkitty42, @kaedear, @mellowberrie, @motherscrustytoenailclippings, @ishouldstopdaydreaming;

@sketcheeee, @scarifiey, @astolary, @reixcalliope, @imliquidesmooth;

@princessofenkanomiya, @haystack4854, @bananasquash, @sofa-overlord, @honey-lemonz;

@signedbyhira, @just-a-ghost-named-echo, @theday-dreamer17, @carillonkh, @karma-gisa;

@kithewanderingme, @mycatateit, @academiq, @lazy-sanns, @smexycaterpillar;

@cridtiins, @ruee-bearr, @lizzy-harper, @ladyel1x1r3l0p3r.

Comment beneath the masterlist if you want to be tagged with chapter updates. (Disclaimer: updates will be very slow!)

[the-state-of-georgia-official]

well hey there, darlin! s'pose I should introduce myself, I'm the state of Georgia official tumblr page! (For legal reasons, this is a joke)

i hope to see y'all stickin' around, and if there's anythin on your mind, just ask away, darlin, alright?

lemme know if I can get y'all anything to eat or drink and I'll see ya around!!

oh yeah also I'll edit for tags as I make em, but so far I think

• #ask georgia for asks

• #georgia speaks for just regular text posts

• #it's alright‚ flor‚ honey‚ i'm just teasin for teasing Florida

• #favorite siblings for my favorite siblings (so far, Virginia/ @virginia-state-official, Florida/ @state-of-florida-official, Indiana/ @definitely-indiana, Illinois/ @unofficial-illinois, and Rhode Island/ @official-rhode-island)

• #siblings say things for reblogs from other US states (and the US Navy I think)

• #reblogs from dad are things I reblog from my dad, @official-the-united-states

• #children of georgia for reblogs from my children (currently just @atlanta-unofficial , @atlanta-official , @atlanta-city-official , and @thatoneacerobot as far as I know)

• #new friend? for befriending other blogs and gimmick blogs

• #but not really cuz it's just the mod ooc tag for when the mod speaks

• #friends of georgia for other blogs and gimmick blogs I'm friends with (Ireland/ @definitelytherepublicofireland, Sanrio/ @its-sanrio-official, @pigeonlikesbread, Cape Breton/ @cape-breton-island-itself, BJs/ @def-bjs-guys,

KFC/ @k-f-c-official, @i-bless-your-heart, Australia/ @true-blue-straya, Russia/ @russia-totallyofficial, @onceinalifetimexperiencebuttwice,

the actual Catholic church [/silly]/ @the-real-catholic-church, the British Antarctic Territories/ @real-britishantarcticterritories, Gmail/ @the-real-gmail, Kroger/ @kroger-fr,

@irishfry , Medford Oregon/ @medford-oregoppenheimer, Germany/ @germany-official for their based opinions on candy corn, and Raleigh North Carolina/ @raleigh-nc-official-totally-real)

• #speaking about siblings for when other blogs or gimmick blogs mention my siblings

• #family of georgia not siblings, not dad, but a secret third thing (other family members in our family tree like @non-tyrannical-usa/my aunt and @100percent-shell-oil/my stepdad)

• #and georgia says bing sucks‚ use duckduckgo instead for the war against Bing because L Bing...and also just in general for reblogging stuff from Bing

• #and georgia says FUCK THE TRANSPHOBES for tagging things about bigots of any kind. Transphobes, homophobes, ableists, terfs, aphobes, etc. Fuck bigots, all my homies hate bigots.

• #a house divided against itself cannot stand‚ but somehow this one is managing- for tagging state feuds (I'm looking at you, @maryland-officially and @ohio-thestate /lhsilly)

• #fellow Georgian 🫵 /lhsillyy is for when I meet/find fellow Georgians...just came up with that today (8/16) tho, so sorry if you're a Georgian and I haven't tagged your previous asks or posts as such...I'll do that next time though ^^

• #georgia polls the people of tumblr for the rare occasion I decide to post a poll

• #I love you a bushel‚ and a peck‚ and a hug around the neck for reblogs from my in character twin, @washington-offical / @washington-offical-2

• #unhinged posts wheel for asks to add to a wheel to spin when I'm bored for unhinged things to post on this blog

• #uwu owo so siwwayy for that time I got uwuified

...wait, now I gotta uwuify all my usual tags- *sigh* hold on...

• #ask geowgia an uwuified version of my usual ask tag

• #but n-n-nyot weawwy cuz is jus da mod x3 an uwuified version of my usual ooc tag

• #geowgia speaks OwO an uwuified version of my usual regular text post tag

• #speaking abyout sibwings ÚwÚ an uwuified version of my usual tag for when other blogs or gimmick blogs mention my siblings (other state blogs and also the US Navy I think...usually for in character stuff)

• #f-fwiens of geowgia uwu an uwuified version of my usual tag for other blogs and gimmick blogs I'm friends with

• #sibwings say fings an uwuified version of my usual tag for reblogging things from other state blogs (and the US Navy)

• #new fwend? OwO an uwuified version of my usual tag for befriending other blogs and gimmick blogs

• #famiwy of geowgia ^w^ an uwuified version of my usual family tag

• #fuck‚ it's memory loss time... for that time @anonymous-thief-of-memories deleted my memories...look, I'm sORRY FOR TURNING YOU INTO A GECKO, BRUH, OK- TT TT IT WAS AN ACCIDENT-

• #nature is healing~ for any posts related to the aftermath of the memory wipe incident

• #what in the freaky friday is going on here /sillyj for that one time an anon turned me into my six year old self...no I'm not kidding and YES I know that's not what freaky friday is about, but I couldn't think of a better analogy

• #High off my gourd-gia for that time I accidentally got high off paint fumes...it's happened before, so chances are it'll happen again-

• #anon hates peaches for the anon hate saga. I wanna keep it in case I wanna look back and giggle at my responses :3 ...or cry if it's anon anti-hate BC y'all are so nice to me- 🥺🥹

Also my playlist in case it gets lost in the reblogs:

Adding this to the end for shits n giggles...if you scrolled down this far, hi lmao-

[p0ppingjelly]

🫧 ★ ˗ˏˋ ꒰ you are now watching 𝙟𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙥™ tv ! ꒱ ˎˊ-

thank you to my sugar pie @venusvity for creating this beautiful graphic for me <333

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ 𝙟𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙥™ !

jellypop is a fictional 6 member girl group established under HYBE entertainment. the group debuted may 2022 with their smash hits BUBBLE and POP . they have a bright and fun concept that they bring across through their bubblegum pop sound as well as their catchy lyrics and choreography. many say, the group is bringing back the real k-pop.

although the entire group has been successful since their debut, there is no doubt that member jangmi is the stand out star due to her famous family ,charisma and visuals. there have been many controversy surrounding the group and jangmi’s blatant favouritism, with the group often being seen as “jangmi and friends.” she has always gotten the best outfits, the most screen time , the most lines -despite not being a main vocalist- as well as being the only member to have promotions outside of the group. this along with the competitiveness of the industry created jealousy towards jangmi leading to her being bullied and isolated by some members.

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ clair ™

clair nari moon was was born on the 25 of feb 2001 to moon jinyoung and alice kim in cape town, south africa. clair grew up alongside her older brother jonathan (jono) jaehyun moon and baby sister angela soyeon moon . clair went to a prestigious all girl catholic private school and was well known for her bubbly and likable personality . the atmosphere wasn’t one that she felt safe in as she struggled with navigating her sexuality. she comes from a musical family with her mother being a high school music teacher and her father although a chartered accountant , played the piano. clair sang in choir and was in the play every year throughout school. she learnt to play piano from her dad. her entire family would gather around the piano since she was a baby and sing songs together . she grew up surrounded by music and so it was no surprise she would pursue it one day. she never initially wanted to be a kpop idol but after seeing a random ad to audition for hybe her little sister told her to take the risk. clair ended up training at hybe for 3.5 years.

STAGE NAME clair ˒ 크레

BIRTH NAME clair nari moon / moon nari ˒ 문 나리

BIRTHDAY 25 feb 2001 * pisces ˒ ♓︎

POSITION leader ˒ lead vocalist

ETHNICITY korean

NATIONALITY south african

FACE CLAIM huh yunjin

HEIGHT 169cm ˒ 5'6

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ bora ™

lim bora was born on the 26th of april 2002 to lim jongho and yoon jiwoo. bora grew up incredibly wealthy with both of her parents coming from rich chaebol families that own large companies throughout korea. she is the first and only daughter ,the first grandchild and the first niece so she grew up incredibly spoilt. growing up bora always got what she wanted and even more attention. this developed into her having a bad attitude and a generally unpleasant demeanour. but shes always been seen as beautiful , alluring and her lifestyle was aspirational to everyone around her making the most popular girl in her school and as a trainee despite her unlikeable personality.bora has always enjoyed singing and playing the piano. she would self-accompany herself in many of her monthly evaluations, which garnered a lot of attention. she relished all the talk about being the next "it" girl in the industry. when jangmi entered the company and took all of the attention that she felt she deserved she couldn't handle it, this coupled up with her popularity with the general public she began to resent her. this resentment festered over the years and developed in to flat out bullying. she has always been a bully although she was never physical she still caused a lot of damage. amongst idols she has spread nasty rumours about jangmi, from bullying to slut shaming ruining her reputation and ability to form any relationships or friendship. in the group she has successfully isolated jangmi, her favouritism already caused discomfort and jealousy so it was fairly easy to achieve.

STAGE NAME bora ˒ 보라

BIRTH NAME lim bora ˒ 임 보라

BIRTHDAY 26 april 2002 * taurus ˒ ♉︎

POSITION main vocals

ETHNICITY korean

NATIONALITY korean

FACE CLAIM park sieun

HEIGHT 157 ˒ 5'2

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ akira ™

akira ‘ kiera ’ murakami was born on the 14th of august 2002 in the bustling shibuya district of japan. she was raised by her father after her parents' divorce, her 2 older sisters yui and and manami chose to live with their mother. akira's father frequently moved with his job and this led her to call over five cities home, namely chicago where she adopted the english name kiera. with her vibrant ,energetic, and infectious personality, akira effortlessly made friends wherever she went and was always well loved. her love for music and drama was evident from a young age, and she is a natural-born performer. she participated in the survival show produce 48, where she captivated audiences and placed 6th. as a result, she became a member of the popular girl group izone, further solidifying her status as a rising star in the entertainment industry. the names of the rigged members were never revealed but she is believed to possibly be one of the rigged in members. since debuting in jellypop akira has been a fairly popular member who is often chosen to join jangmi on her promotions. despite her overtly friendly personality, she has never clicked with jangmi and often joins bora in her bullying. bora has always said that akira is the most talented member and deserved to be the popular member instead of jangmi, who they believe has just been handed everything due to parents being famous. all of this caused her to resent the younger girl.

STAGE NAME akira ˒ 아키라

BIRTH NAME murakami akira ˒ 村上 あきら / kiera murakami

BIRTHDAY 14 aug 2002 * leo ˒ ♌︎

POSITION lead vocals ˒ lead dancer

ETHNICITY japanese

NATIONALITY japanese / american

FACE CLAIM kondou chisa

HEIGHT 160 ˒ 5'3

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ jangmi ™

kim jangmi was born on the 3rd of june 2003 and is the only child of actress park areum and soloist kim seojoon. the two were huge stars in the 90’s and early 00’s both winning awards in their respective careers. their pregnancy forced the two to announce their relationship and child to be. since jangmi was born she has been in the spotlight, her parents took her to award shows since she was a toddler. they also got a reality show when she was just 10 years old. it became a hit with multiple seasons until she was 14. as the only child and growing up in the industry she gets a lot of attention and loves it. her visuals have always been praised and she is very proud of them. her already established family, the public watching her grow up along with her incredible visuals has made her a stand out idol in the industry. she’s been labeled ‘the nations rose’ since her name means rose. jangmi wanted to pursue modeling but hybe reached out to her to ask her to join their upcoming girl group replacing her ex bff minchae and destroying their relationship forever. bora has hated jangmi since she entered the company and has made it her mission to ruin jangmi's reputation and life to punish her for taking all of the attention from her. due to her overbearing popularity she doesn’t have many friends even in her own group.

STAGE NAME jangmi ˒ 장미

BIRTH NAME kim jangmi ˒ 김 장미

BIRTHDAY 3 june 2003 * gemini ˒ ♊︎

POSITION face of group ˒ centre ˒ lead vocalist ˒ visual

ETHNICITY korean

NATIONALITY korean

FACE CLAIM jang wonyoung

HEIGHT 172cm ˒ 5'7

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ hana ™

identical twins hana & haruna yoshida were born on the 1st of october 2003 to hiroshi and miyoko yoshida. their older brother yuma. since they were born the twins have always been compared relentlessly and hana has always been an overachiever. this comparison carried on into school. both girls were very academically skilled but hana was always just slightly ahead and their parents never failed to remind everyone that hana was the “better” twin which created strain in their relationship. she was very competitive and felt a lot pressure to be perfect because it’s what everyone expected of her. the only time hana felt at peace was when she was singing or watching akb with her older brother yuma. she dreamed to be an akb idol one day but her parents refused she needed a “real” job . she never thought of trying to enter the kpop industry until she watched produce 48 and saw sakura, an ex akd member debut and become an idol. despite her parents disapproval hana decided to move to korea and follow her dream of becoming an idol.

STAGE NAME hana ˒ 하나

BIRTH NAME yoshida hana ˒ 吉田 花

BIRTHDAY 1 october 2003 * libra ˒ ♎︎

POSITION main vocalist ˒ lead dancer

ETHNICITY japanese

NATIONALITY japanese

FACE CLAIM juria ueda

HEIGHT 165cm ˒ 5'4

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ trinh ™

trinty nguyen, or trin for short was born on november 20th, 2004 to mary and david nyugen. she was born in vietnam. she is their oldest child and has a younger brother trevor who was born in 2010. in 2009 her family moved to manchester, england after her dad got a major job opportunity. trin is deeply connected to her family and her culture, she loves celebrating vietnamese traditions and sharing them with her members. her love for her culture resulted in a love for food and cooking especially traditional dishes. on the groups youtube she does a lot of cooking videos and mukbangs just talking about life which has become a super popular section of their channel. one of trin's greatest passions is dancing, a skill she's been honing since the age of five. her moving to manchester greatly affected her life , introducing her to her love of dance. she grew up across the road from a famous dance studio and as soon as she stepped foot in there her life changed. one day her teacher told her about a open call audition for hybe and took her and some of her dance mates to the audition. out of everyone at the audition trin was the only one to make it through. she is the groups mood-maker and is undeniably a treat to be around.she is the only member that actively talks to jangmi, even considering her on of her closest friends.when on variety shows her and clair often put on their thickest accents and everyone eats it up. her infectious energy and natural talent make her a captivating performer.

STAGE NAME trinh ˒ 트리느

BIRTH NAME trinity nguyên / nguyễn thị trinh

BIRTHDAY 20 nov 2003 * sagittarius ˒ ♐︎

POSITION main dancer ˒ main rapper ˒ lead vocalist ˒ maknae

ETHNICITY vietnamese

NATIONALITY british

FACE CLAIM hanni pham

HEIGHT 163cm ˒ 5'4

[spotaus]

A few references! (A wip because I got distracted lmao--)

I snatched a few of these from a magma with @oodlesndoodles (I took out Kale if only because I *was* planning on rendering before my distraction) but this doodle features Pretender!Sans, Paps, Gaster, Alphys, and Grillby in their monster forms!

(More rambles under the cut)

Design Choices!:

Sans: He's been underground for a long time but used to live on the surface. I imagine he *does* have the iconic Sans outfit somewhere, but right now he wears robes like the King and Queen used to. (He recieved them when he was appointed Judge by Asgore, but no one really knows their significance because only the Guard and Asgore know of his work.)

Paps: Chose his outfit mostly to match Pretender amd the Guard. His shoulder-pads are like old crystal ball props, and his cape had the same sparke affect as Pretender's hood/robes. Around his waist he wears one of the old lab coats Sans leaves around the house. (<- It belonged to one of Sans' favorite people, the one Paps tries to mimic, so he wears it now instead.) Paps has the markings on his face same as Gaster because Sans has a lot of photos from over the years hung on the walls in his room, and Paps used to see them a lot.

Gaster: He's deceased, so the current plot doesn't see him (he can't interact with K, unfortunately. I think they would've been friends if they'd met in Gaster's prime) but I still wanted to doodle him. This was how he looked towards the end of his life, when most of the lab team had passed and he was starting to fall down. He wore cardigans and sweaters, focusing mostly on comfort rather than safety (he was always cold, but especially so towards the end).

Alphys: Went a bit crazy after Gaster passed. She hadn't been eating for a long time, and she couldn't bring herself to leave the lab, even after Sans retired his studies and moved to Snowdin. She still wears her old lab coat, stained and ripped, and she's worse-off for it. Most who see her think she's a rabid animal that has taken a spot in the labs, cameras abandoned and traps scattered in the lab waiting for prey to fall into them. It's an unsafe zone. Any humans who manage to pass Undyne *always* fall to Alphys.

Grillby: Back to fun times!!! He's a short king (at least coming in at around 5'6" which is small compared to other boss monsters, but big compared to merchants) and still runs his restaurant in Snowdin. Though, it's usually empty these days since he doesn't exactly have much food to serve. And water? He doesn't touch the stuff. Sans goes there often just to keep Grillby company. Most monsters, even if they do see a human enter, won't bother attacking because they know Grillby gets first dibs. Grillby would rather not get blood on his nice counters, though. He wears a vest and button-up with symbols like Pretender's, but otherwise is fairly unchanged from canon.

Extra Notes:

-Alphys and Sans aren't on speaking terms any longer. After Sans gave up the project, Alphys became manic and fell into despair, deciding that she'd do everything herself. Sans tried to see her a few times after that before be realized she'd gone off the deep-end and he only dared to be nearby when Asgore needed him.

-I now believe that MTT would be a positive force for humans. A ghost-monster who wanted to look human, to see if they could pass the barrier. Alphys was in charge of the project before Gaster passed, and constructed a surprisingly sturdy human-like body. It was never tested against the barrier. Now MTT tries to stay by Alphys, even in her madness. He tries to help people by reminding them how humans look, act, and talk, with his show. He helps people who get caught by Alphys' traps. (Gotta talk to Ood, but I'm thinking that Pretender wasn't fast enough to help K on her first time through the lab. It was actually MTT who moved her out of immediate danger before stalling Alphys? Unsure.)

-Grillby likes the taste of human, but there are certain unspoken rules he works by, like other shopkeeps. For him, as long as you pay your bill and follow his one rule (no water (tears do not count as water)) then you're free from his harvest. If a human came in looking for shelter, he'd leave them be.

-Gaster was a brilliant mind, and Pretender took a lot of influences from him over the years. Despite his death, his image and memory lives on in the mannerisms and knowledge of those who knew him. In the grief left in his shadow. In the young skeleton who imitates him partially every day because he made his brother happy a long time ago.

[hbosscreations]

Fixing Hellblazer: Dead in America

Apparently I'm not doing being negative today, so I'm going to channel my bullshit into fixing things.

Let me tell you a bit about me. I love bad horror movies. I LOVE horror movies that aren't great, but you can see how they COULD be great under different circumstances. My favorite thing to do for years was take a movie that wasn't good and think about what needed to be done to fix it.

Dead in America actually has a pretty simple fix that would help with the rewrite. You'd have to rewrite the whole thing, this draft isn't salvagable, but if you really want to tell the story about American Racism, it's such an easy fix, I don't know why they didn't do it in the first place.

Make Noah Ikumelo the main character.

Seriously. That's the big change.

Maybe he's not the focal character for the entire 11 issue run, but have him be the perspective of at least one issue instead of the random racists that keep getting their stories told like we're supposed to care about them.

Issue 1: Flee

Tommy is dead, K-Mag is dead, they're on the run, and John says 'well, I've got friends in America who could help us out'.

Noah's scared, Nat's scared, John seems to have a plan. So, they're off to America with no money, no papers, nothing but the clothes on their backs.

It's okay at first, John's magic lets him manipulate people a bit, gets them through security checks and keeps them fed, but it's definitely not enough to keep them safe forever.

Noah has a bunch of exposition he gives about being black in the UK, about being disabled, about his feelings about his mother (being a cop, being in a coma, being weird about magic).

How he has always felt unheard until John came into the picture and saw him.

They're traveling, the fear starts to wear off, Noah realizes they've fled the country and his mother is alone.

Where's his gran? This is a point to show flashbacks. Maybe she's not mentally all there? Maybe Noah has been sleeping on John's couch. Maybe he's been learning magic during the months we don't see in the original run. Not a lot, John tells him that he likes that Noah's not really involved in this shit.

Until the murder dreams, when Noah starts getting a crash course in magic and hasn't had a chance to think about anything except John and his stupid plans.

The issue ends with them on the freight ship they stowed away on approaching the docks. They've arrived in port, and it's time to leave. John puts his hand on the double decker bus and reassures them both that he's got this. He's got a plan, and things are going to be okay.

He looks fondly at Noah, and Noah wonders if he can trust that face. Can he believe John?

He doesn't really have a choice, does he?

Issue 2: Where is everyone?

This issue is mostly from John's perspective and his narrating voice takes control again.

John reaches out to old contacts. They're gone. Dead or never existed in the first place. No capes and cowls in this universe. Just magic, divinity, and damnation.

They're fucked.

Meanwhile, Noah and Nat both realize that they're being treated differently than John is. Both have experienced different types of prejudice based on race, gender, disability, and now there's an extra layer of it. The American layer that the story really wants to talk about.

John gets a little, but it's pretty clear that people are generally cooler with a blond haired, blue eyed, white man with an accent than they are with Noah's lack of speaking and Nat's heavy Glaswegian accent.

There's a level of cruelty that makes being trapped in another country, unable to call anyone and tell them that you're alive, unable to know if your family is safe, unable to know if you were even a suspect in the crimes committed, extra fucky.

John's contacts he'd normally call are all of touch the easy way.

So, fine. If he can't call them, he'll go to their usual haunts and track them that way.

Hence, road trip.

This leads into the actual comic scene where John is in St. Augustine, Florida and talking to the statue.

You can still have the Girl Scout come and be cryptic and cruel, have John losing his shit over the fact that he's damned Noah to hell.

(Or we can include my favorite headcanon that Noah was supposed to be a tulpa designed to distract John. I don't know if it would work here, but a story about a kid literally designed to be a sponge for prejudice and cruelty might be a mirror this story about racism could play with. It would need a MUCH more competent writer than me and at least two sensitivity readers.)

Noah wants to pull over for a hitchhiker, they've got the space and he's kind, but John cautions him that America is VERY different from London. We learn that Noah has not traveled much outside of his home city if at all because of his mother's profession and then her coma, leaving him in the care of his gran, who lived on the estate and therefore didn't really have much in the ability or desire to go far.

The dream with Dream still happens, which gives us a nice connection to the previous story as well as John's whole...being dead thing. They're looking for the sand, they're looking for friendly faces, they're looking for magic in a world that John quickly realizes is GASPING and DYING.

Because the multiverse still got punched in the dick by Tim Hunter, and while this world hasn't been hit by him specifically, it's feeling some of the multiversal repercussions of an apocalypse that massive.

And John doesn't have the power to get them out of this while he's a corpse. The longer he rots, the weaker he gets.

Dream gives his orders. John agrees.

They wake up, Noah is being threatened by the cop because he's black and driving a bus. We don't make it about the cop being too stupid to know what a bus is this time, instead, we make it because the bus looks strange and 'why is a black boy driving a bus unless he stole it? obviously he's a thief and he's refusing to speak out of disrespect'.

That fucking sucks, but it also works more to the actual threat of racism in the US. The OTHERING. They're dangerous because they're OTHER. They're lesser because they're OTHER.

Nat keeps the cop's gun after he's frozen. She's freaked. Noah's freaked.

John calmly tells them the spell won't last forever and they need to drive. Nat goes to the wheel and we watch Noah sneak up to the upper level and cry.

John watches from the stairs until he's sure Noah is asleep. He doesn't know how to offer this particular kid comfort, how to offer to hold him without revealing his death or just being too attached.

We see him put his coat over the boy as a symbol of protection. He brushes a hand over Noah's head and asks Dream to look out for the kid.

"I know you're pissed at me and I don't really have the right to ask, but hasn't he had enough nightmares for now?"

Noah's dream about all the horrible things he's processing from the previous issue, the previous run, and that night melt into something more pleasant. Maybe the groundwork for him learning John is his father.

John is back with Nat as she's driving. She's angry. The conversation from the original issue can stay and be expanded on. John tries to comfort her, tries to ease the tension, and it eventually works.

She gets what he's doing, even if he's not doing a good job.

This is a Classic John Constantine who cares about other people but isn't necessarily good at showing it.

The sun starts to rise.

"Where the fuck are we going now? We're a target in this thing, John, and that cop's gonna call us in."

John reassures that they're fine and he's got a new plan.

Most of the hero types don't exist now, but that's fine. He's started to tap into the multiversal memories that he'd repressed in the 2019 issue, and he's pretty sure that he's got a friend who will exist in this universe, even if people like Zatanna and Superman don't.

After all, the Green is a multiversal constant.

This leads into the ending of the original issue 1, with the swamp being filled in and turned into a golf course.

And that ends issue 2.

I don't know if I want to invest energy into re-imagining the entire run, and I suspect that would require the run to be finished before I can properly fix anything except the opening. If you actually read this...sorry about the way it's written, this was all just thought to typing, so it has 0 polish.

I think this is a series that could have worked under different circumstances. I think there are elements here that are good, but this was clearly not written with any real oversight or a coherent story beforehand.

I would have loved for them to learn magic on the bus. Scenes of Nat and Noah picking up spells, Nat teaching Noah the proper way to throw a punch that won't fuck up his hands. Noah being REALLY good at making sure they all manage to eat properly (I am deeply invested in this child shoving oranges into people's hands because 'do you want scurvy?').

A scene of John teaching Nat sign language while Noah slept because he's already so isolated and they all need to take care of each other. Nat forcing John to drive, only for him to hit a car and immediately switch back to her driving. Nat reading a novel aloud to keep Noah awake while they drive at night.

Basically, we need to make them seem like they're actual people who actually spend all of their time trapped together.

Also, does John eat? How have they noticed that he doesn't eat? Does he sweat? If he showers, does that damage his skin and hair, since he's apparently molding at the start of the series?

[artzysyam]

It might help me keep track of my WIP fic Here the snippet of my Scarlet Knight fic “You’re doing great, Jason.”

Jason maintained his ghostly form, determined to change his costume based on Danny’s advice. He reminisced about his partial 'Eikonic' form, feeling the energy surge through his arms.

With his eyes closed, Jason focused his mind and summoned his ghostly powers. A familiar warmth enveloped his legs, as if his ethereal form willed itself into a pair of pants. The cape disintegrated like fiery flames, and the Robin logo on his chest burned away. He opened his eyes and looked at his transformed reflection in the mirror. A sense of relief washed over him as he realized that the altered costume no longer triggered any negative emotions.

“I fucking did it!” Jason exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement as he thrust his fist into the air. The sound of his cheer reverberated through the air, echoing in the distance. Amid his joy, he could hear Danny’s light chuckle, adding a touch of amusement to the moment. Danny appeared beside him, the sound of his footsteps crunching on the ground as he landed. He placed his hand on Jason’s shoulder, the coldness of his touch seeping through the fabric of Jason’s shirt.

“That’s great, Jason!” Danny praised, his voice filled with genuine admiration. Then, a mischievous glint danced in Danny’s emerald green eyes, adding a spark of mischief to his words. “Or should I say, my knight?”

Jason’s face flushed a deep shade of green, a mix of embarrassment and surprise. The sudden rush of emotions caused his concentration to waver, and he felt his body shifting back into human form. Trying to regain his composure, he stammered and his words came out in a jumble.

“I-I’m not your freaking k-knight…” Jason’s cheeks burned with embarrassment, the heat spreading across his face. He turned his face away and uttered under his breath. “Yet”

Danny heard that, and a mischievous twinkle danced in his eyes as his mouth formed a shit-eating grin. The sound of his low chuckle filled the air, mingling with the faint hum of conversation in the background.

“Oh, is that so?” he said, his voice laced with playful sarcasm. He then wrapped his arms around Jason in a warm & cold embrace, the sensation of their bodies pressing together filling the room with a sense of camaraderie.

“Do not worry, I’m sure Fright Knight will train you when he comes back.” Jason’s face flushed with embarrassment, the heat radiating from his cheeks palpable.

“F-Fright Knight? Do I have to fight him or some shit?” The sound of Danny’s giggle echoed through the room, a knowing grin spreading across his face. Jason let out a frustrated sigh under his breath, the scent of his exasperation mixing with the subtle aroma of the room.

‘God damn it,’ Jason thought, his core emotions laid bare for all to see.

“Oh, you’re jealous, my knight,” Danny teased, the words dripping with playful taunting. Jason’s face turned a deep shade of crimson, his cheeks burning as he forcefully pushed Danny away from him. The sound of their bodies colliding filled the air, followed by a tense silence. Jason averted his gaze, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to calm his racing heart, overwhelmed by the proximity of his mentor and friend.

Danny, realizing his mistake, raised his hands in surrender, the sound of his voice soothing and apologetic. “Alright, Alright. I’ll put an end to the teasing,” he said, offering Jason an apologetic smile.

“You better be, or I’ll fucking throw a fireball on you,” Jason warned, his voice laced with anger. He clenched his dominant arm, which transformed into his ‘Eikonic’ form, crackling with raw energy. A ball of fire ignited in his palm, casting an intense glow that illuminated the room.

Danny’s core trembled with a potent blend of fear and excitement, his heart pounding like a drum in his chest. The charged atmosphere crackled around him, sending sparks of anticipation coursing through his veins. However, amidst this electric energy, he knew this was not the time for playful roughhousing.

“I heard you, Jay,” he shouted over the cacophony, the sound of their voices drowned out by the crackling energy in the air. “So please, don’t throw a fireball like a wannabe wizard.”

Jason smirked, his eyes glinting mischievously as he feinted a throw, the flicker of flames reflecting in his gaze. With a swift motion, he powered down his fireball, the vibrant glow fading into darkness, his ‘Eikonic’ form dissipating like smoke.

Danny let out a sigh of relief, his tense shoulders relaxing as he cleared his throat. “Well, it’s time for mee—”

Ring Ring! Ring Ring!

Suddenly, the jarring sound of a phone ringing echoed from Danny’s pocket, shattering the tranquility. Danny’s face contorted into an apologetic smile towards Jason before he retrieved his phone and answered the call.

“DANNY JAMES NIGHTINGALE!! WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN!?” The piercing volume of the voice caused Danny to cringe, his ears ringing from the forceful reprimand.

“Hey... Jazz,” Danny said with a sheepish grin, his eyes darting towards Jason as he raised a placating hand. Jason’s instincts urged him to defend his king, but a wave of assurance washed over him like a comforting blanket. The volume of the surrounding noise drowned out the words, clarifying that a phone call wouldn’t suffice.

“Don’t you just ‘Hey Jazz’ at me!” Danny winced, his ears ringing from the piercing volume. The bright screen illuminated his face as he pleaded, “Put me on video call so that I can scold you, my reckless brother!”

[randomwriteronline]

@cantankerouscanuck

There were still things that put the Chain on edge.

Surprisingly; because they'd been through some wild stuff, individually and together.

Sudden appearance of a portal? They could handle that. They'd gotten almost used to it, by now. Only almost, but almost.

No, the weird part, which made the nine heroes draw out their swords in the blink of an eye to point their blades at the brand new threat and Skull Kid's pupils thin into slits as they hid behind their larger friends' legs, was that from the strange gateway into who knows what dimension emerged a being they weren't even sure they could have ever dreamed, not even after the biggest, most uncoordinated, stomach-ache worthy supper of their lives.

Its elongated head was bone white, with red eyes and an enormous mouth of teeth; its body seemed at first deathly emaciated beneath the dark mantle, but a more careful look revealed that it was more or less only a skeleton - a metallic one at that, with incomplete hands and sharp feet, similar to the talons of a bird of prey.

Whatever the hell that thing was looked at them nice and long, taking them in one by one.

"Oh," he finally said, clanging his horrible teeth together in dismay: "Oh, you are hideous. Disgusting, even."

"Never look in a mirror then," Four quipped: "You'll get a heart attack."

"A mirror? Why would I do that? Ah, I see, I see, that's an insult, I understand - but you see, you horrible fleshy thing," the stranger replied with no apparent malice in his voice, in a rambling tone, "I have seen myself - well, not since this mask was fused to my head, but I have, and you will have to understand that while I do indeed have a horrendous face not even my own other half could love, you are made entirely of meat. Of flesh. Of organic material. No such thing as a piece of metal on your bodies except for your swords. No masks at all. Not even a glimmer of iron on you - although I do like your fabrics, I do, they'd make for quite a nice cape, and - oh, you do have armor, yes, you do, that you do... You won't mind me taking it all from you once I'm done killing you all, will you?"

The nine of them tightened the grip on their weapons, making them glint in the sunlight.

"I'll take it as a maybe."

Wind glared at him up and down a couple times: "What even are you?"

"A Skakdi, or the half of one, to be more precise," the being answered as if any of that made perfect sense. He turned to Time: "You should be shorter. And less meaty. And less appalling, but only slightly."

"Funny. I don't think we've ever met." the older warrior replied curtly.

"We haven't? Oh, I suppose we would not have, not here. Such a shame, truly. I didn't like that other you at all. I would have hoped not to meet another one in the next place I ended up in."

"Sucks to be you."

"Indeed it sucks."

"And you got a name?" pressed Four a little more rudely than usual. "Or at least half of one?"

The creature paused. His strange hand tapped on his chin pensively, as though he honestly needed to think about it for a couple seconds.

"A name, a name, a name..." he mumbled, until finally he seemed to remember: "Ah! Of course I do, of course. I gave it to me myself, after all - it's Vezon, with a Z, which means double, because I am a double, ripped away from a big blue brute, Vezok, also with a Z--"

"With a K," Sky corrected.

Legend elbowed him.

"What?" Vezon asked.

"Vezok with a K," Hyrule repeated helpfully.

Legend elbowed him as well.

From threatening and unpredictable, their opponent completely shifted his demeanor: now he stood a little hunched, arms limp down his sides, head tilted, face a bit scrunched into a confused expression.

"Yes, I do know Vezok is spelled with a K. My name is Vezon, though."

"You mentioned Vezon with a Z, but Vezok also has a Z." Sky explained.

"Yes, I know that too."

"That's not a difference."

"I'm aware. What is your point?

This time it was Hyrule who clarified: "If you don't want us to call you Vezok, you should specify that Vezon is spelled with an N and Vezok is spelled with a K."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because that's the difference between the two names. It sets them apart."

Vezon seemed floored.

"I did not think about that," he admitted. "That does seem more useful."

"This guy tells us upfront he wants to kill us to loot our corpses and you start arguing with him on spelling?" Warriors took the chance to hiss at his fellow heroes while the creature was distracted.

Sky raised his shoulders defensively: "It made no sense! It was bugging me!"

Wild, who had some amount of brain damage due to caramelizing for about a hundred years in the rebirth oil, decided he had enough experience on the matter to ask the half Skakdi with a hint of genuine concern: "Are you like. Alright?"

"Oh, yes!" the being replied: "I am insane."

That did explain a variety of things.

Skull Kid (who, as they were wont to do, had snuck away from their friends so quietly that their absence had gone completely undetected in order to investigate possibly deadly things on their own) sniffed at Vezon's arm. Based on their furrowed expression and squinted eyes, the scent was less than enjoyable.

The mechanical creature turned to them, and widened his awful grin.

"My dear! You still look the same! Sort of," he croaked out almost happily. His incomplete hand prodded at the wooden head, specifically interested in the mouth area: "You're still non organic. Mostly, I mean, you still have all that horrid plant-life on you, but you're not as immensely horrid as these fellows here... You are much shorter though. And much quieter. And you still don't have a mouth, do you? Ah, such a shame, such a shame, I was hoping in one of these universes you'd have a nice set of teeth for once, you know - maybe I would manage to rip them out of you nice and clean so I can jam them in your jaw once I finally get the chance to pry your skull open and-"

Skull Kid's razor sharp teeth bit down on his palm.

Vezon's head glowed suddenly: he barely had time to shriek a blood-curling A-- that he was already gone, disappearing in the fraction of a second.

The imp's teeth clattered close around the empty air. They looked around, confused.

Nope. The guy wasn't coming back.

"Well," Twilight hollered loudly to break the silence: "Guess that's over."

"Did the Goddesses just think it was getting a little chummy around here? Did they figure we were getting bored and so threw... That, at us?" Four wondered aloud in genuine bewilderment.

"He tastes like metal." Skull Kid informed them. "And he has tendons."

"That's great, Sweet Pea."

"I think I have some in my mouth."

"Ah, fuck-"

"Again?"

"Here, come over here..."

[caelenath]

Trick or Treat

Last time on #mamoru in college, Mamoru was attempting to broker peace between his living friends and his dead ones. Having successfully smoothed things over, they are now all embarking on a Halloween bar crawl.

Roomie: So, uh, would it be rude to ask what happened the first time you and Chiba— Kunzite: Yes. Roomie: Right. Zoisite: It's an eternal sore spot for him, but don't worry. Things are fine now. Kunzite: Except that we're walking around in public with sheets over our heads like idiots. Nephrite: He never could refuse a direct order from Master. Jadeite: I think it's kind of ingenious. Zoisite: Would it be less idiotic in private? Kunzite: No. Study buddy #1: Okay, well, can we all agree that Chiba has the best costume out of all of us?

The Shitennou immediately agree in unison.

Roomie: You would think so. Mamoru: This aged thing?  Roomie: You mean 'this old thing'. Mamoru: Yes. Thank you. Kunzite: Modesty doesn't suit you, Master. Roomie: Right? He would look so much hot—ah, better in that toga I suggested. Study buddy #1: He… *clearly looks torn on the subject* Mamoru: I get cold easily. Roomie: Could that have something to do with always having four ghosts around you? No offense, guys. Nephrite: None taken. Zoisite: Speak for yourself. Kunzite: Your existence is an offense. Roomie: Someone clearly needs a drink. Jadeite: He always does. Study buddy #1: Omgomgomgomg. Roomie: You okay there, man? Study buddy #1: I just saw at least two Sailor Moons in this crowd. I knew I shouldn't have chickened out. Roomie: That's what I've been telling you! Don't let that asshat Steve talk you out of wearing miniskirts if that's what you really want to do. YOLO. It's your life. Kunzite: And your reputation. Nephrite: Careful. That might come across as a slight to the Princess. Kunzite: I would never! Mamoru: What is 'yolo'? Jadeite: It seems to be a popular justification for questionable actions or decisions. Roomie: No, it… actually, yeah, that's pretty accurate. Jadeite: How does being reborn factor into that logic? Study buddy #1: Oh, you mean like the Senshi? Roomie: Also a foundational tenet in many Eastern religions. You know, no big deal. Mamoru: Some of the Senshi do use this 'yolo', but I didn't ask them to explain. It seemed safer not to know. Study buddy #1: Ooh, are you getting into character? Roomie: Danger, Will Robinson. Thirsty Sailor Moon at ten o'clock. Everyone else: What?? Roomie: He probably wants a picture with Chiba. Mamoru: 'He'…? Kunzite: *shaking his head* Republicans. Roomie: Not likely. Not with that level of freedom of expression, my friend.  Kunzite: I'm not your friend. Sailor Moonbro: Yoooo, Tuxedo K-Man! Your costume is sick! Where'd you get that cape? It almost seems like it's alive! And that hat! Could be straight out of Titanic. Can I get a picture with you?

Mamoru exchanges a long-suffering look with his roommate.

Roomie: *shrugs* YOLO. Where's your camera, Sailor Dude? I'll do the honors.

[darknoverse]

🎫 here's a gush pass ^^ feel free to gush about whichever f/o you want, however much you want, then send this ask to 3 other self shippers (optional) !

a- whole gush pass? all for little ol' me?????

*grabs papers*

ok soooooo a whole essay about NOS4a2 and why he matters to me sm as a f/o ever

k so, starting off.

what makes him special design wise?

first of all, his whole design is sharp and edgy(literally.lotta edges). each end is pointy and sharp . lotta triangles used in his design. but despite that there's something interesting about how he has a cape (something usually made out of soft fabrics) as a cover, but even so the sharpness REMAINS. something else is how he has like two different eyes, which one of them is a monocle which is slay idk lol. also something else is how he's not like- he doesnt look strong physically at first sight even tho he's trully capable of being so . also fangs; LITERAL energy vampire, it's so cool as a concept.

ok personality wise:

most of the times he's on scene, it's always this very classic "muahahaha evil" kinda deal, he's silly af. geniunely enjoying it . he keeps on making stupid unfunny jokes all the time and he laughs at his own stupid jokes lol. idk i think it's cute and sillly waaaaaaaaaaaaa

BUT! he's capabe of being TRULY TERRIFYING (like half the robotic gore in BLOSC is caused by him lol, also his plan in ROTM was dark af)

it's even more interesting cuz his motivations are simply, yes being in charge as a SECOND need. the FIRST need is mainly to feed on robots. SENTIENT ROBOTS. LIKE HE D O E S WANT TO FEEL THE THRILL OF THE KILL. HE COULD JUST DRAIN from lifeless machines, but he'd rather HUNT and play with his food, if you will.

it's just very interesting.

now, SPECIFICALLY WHY do I like Nos and why is he so important to me?

so in general i was/still am a villain apologist ok? i always loved villains, no matter how evil they were. it sortz felt really comforting. but something about Nos specifically felt very special . possibly the fact that the first episode i watched in general was Revenge of the monsters (aka the climax of his character in everyway) .so basically my first impression was based on seeing him in his best if u know what i mean . like if it was any other episode things would've gone differently but that's not the case as you see. like ROTM is like this whole bigger climax yk? say, if it was another episode there's a high chance zurg could've been my fav character but boy he literally ran like a coward in ROTM so i just didnt care much cuz he wasnt in the ep as much as NOS.

like yea in an alternate reality it could've been Zurg but NUH UH . Nos it is.

also the fact that ROTM is like, as i said, sorta sums up his whole character in a great way . so when I watch that episode i IMMEDIATLY got attached especially when my introduction to the series is this. both his ultimate downfall and like .. the top of his character arc . like, INSTANT attachement.

another thing to note is how like … the whole episodes sorta focused on his turning every Z to an N .

ok here i might start explaining things a bit too personally here but ok it's an essay . ok so the circumstances of me watching the show for the first time were…something.

see i didn't have much friends back then as a kid. even the ones i had were pretty much SO different and can't understand me cuz im that shy, weird kid who goes on info dumping about my interests it might get annoying. but nobody understood those interests except ONE friend. whom just left and idk where he is till now. another thing to add, being the weird kid sorta let people exclude me and/or bully me soooo yeah .

so my putting that into prespective with the whole Ns all over the place thing in that specific episode sort of.. made me relate ya know? feel like it's specifically an episode for me . there was something nice and comforting about it.

the fact that it's the first letter of my name (which at the time was a big deal cuz all my favs didnt specifically put that fact into like, part of the story like Nos if u get me.) like, something about a villain i KNOW has the first same letter in their name as me, being all goofy yet menacing, also a vampire of sort -i am obsessed since day one idk) just felt right.

last part of this might sound silly or stupid but like . another reason WHY i felt this connection to Nos specifically till now :

people i know irl did NOT know what blosc was.

even the few who knew, don't remember it or specifically know who Nos was when i asked them.

so it's like "damn. all this epic character being so obscure and unknown despite everything they did?…sounds like me "

so until i went online and find more blosc mutuals (and till i went to Uni where people know it somewhat and still take show suggestions seriously from me) it just felt like this one character was specificaly made for me . like, this one character nobody knows except me . cuz i'm just as unknown and as unnoticed irl .

conclusion:

and to this day that still stands . Nos is still one of the turning points in my life in general. be it in art , in social life , or in general anyways. still my favourite fictional character of all time . my Top 1 fav and my main comfort character along Antasma and Zira for similar reasons.

thank you for coming to my cringe talk btw and reading all this lol.

[super-predictable98]

Always an Angel | Casanova AU

Part 2: All Because of Angela

Word Count: 2,2 k

Warning: mild sexual content

(Masterlist)

"What exactly did he say, Rocco?" Angela asked, trying to sound as casual as possible while talking to Casanova's only friend and employee.

"Well, he said that he turns into an idiot whenever he's around her. He says he cannot give up because she is so beautiful. She's taken over his head, his blood, and his guts. He can't stop thinking about her and only her."

"He could always find someone else..."

"I told him, but he insists someone else wouldn't be her."

"Oh, poor thing," Angela couldn't help but smile. "Is he home?"

"He is reading, he said he didn't want any..."

"Angela!" Giacomo smiled, standing at the top of the stairs. "I thought I heard your voice! Come on up."

"Interruptions," Rocco mumbled, moving over to allow her to climb the stairs before closing the door. 

She sighed, letting her cape fall to the ground and revealing her red dress which made her skin look even paler and her hair look even darker. She knew she was beautiful in that outfit, she felt beautiful.

"Wow, you look like the type of woman someone would write a book about. Raven black hair, red lips like an apple, and skin as white as snow... I should write that down actually," Giacomo chuckled. 

"Thank you, Giac," she giggled. 

She was embarrassed to ask, who wouldn't be embarrassed? But it seemed the entirety of Venice knew she was being courted except for her. If he truly couldn't sleep or eat, consumed in desire, she had to do something about it. 

"So, um- I heard a few things about you," Angela cleared her throat.

"Oh? Filthy gossip as always? If it's bad, it's all true," he joked. 

"No, it wasn't bad, I just- I heard about your feelings. Your agony concerning... me."

Giacomo stared at her in confusion, his brows furrowed as he tried to remember ever mentioning anything of the sort. 

"You could never bring me agony, angel, you are the kindest person in the city."

"I heard about your courting and..."

"My courting," he narrowed his eyes until he finally understood. "My courting! Yes, I have been courting Angela Tusselo."

Her world suddenly crumbled, how could she be so stupid? Of course he wasn't courting her... Henriette had made it seem like she was only a baby, of course he wanted nothing to do with her! 

"Angela Tusselo, the daughter of the priest," she nodded, unable to hide her shock.

"Oh, dear. Did you think I was secretly courting you?" 

"I... yes! And I was terrified, because... because I cannot reciprocate your feelings," Angela quickly lied so as to not look foolish.

"Oh really? I always thought you found me quite handsome," Giacomo smirked. "Do you not?"

"I- Everyone finds you handsome, Giac, that is not the point. I just simply cannot like you because I am already promised to another man. The Viscount's son, Elias."

"That boy is as dull as a butter knife."

"Yes, I know. He would not be my first choice, believe me," Angela laughed nervously. "But who knows, maybe I will fall in love with him or maybe I'll manage to rid myself of him. Find a more suitable suitor."

"But not me."

"You are courting Angela Tusselo, why do you care?" She asked, intrigued by his little game.

"I think it's clear as day that I do not plan on marrying her. In fact, I received a visit last night from both her sisters, they kept me company all night in bed."

"You disgust me."

Angela couldn't get another word out without bursting into tears, it was so obvious all Giacomo wanted was to toy with her feelings. Why did she let him get away with it? Because of his looks? His charms? His voice? Well... yes, but not anymore! 

She was a catch, she was a young beautiful virgin with a sharp wit and every quality a husband could possibly want from a wife. She deserved better certainly.

So it started, Angela would go to gatherings and parties not to catch a glimpse of Casanova, but in hopes Casanova would catch a glimpse of her in her best dresses and looking absolutely content. Maybe this way he would realize what he'd been missing. 

"I am enjoying your new disposition," Henriette smiled when they entered yet another mansion. "Conversing with all the rich and powerful young men to secure yourself a good husband... I'm glad your silly infatuation with you-know-who is gone."

"Is yours gone as well?" Angela asked.

"I do not not what you mean."

Angela scoffed, she knew her sister also had a weak spot for Casanova, just like every woman in Europe. That infuriated her more than anything, to think she had to compete with her own sister... 

"Hello, angel," Giacomo approached Angela and gently kissed the back of her hand. "I haven't heard from you, don't tell me you are angry at me. I couldn't bear it."

"I am not, of course not. I have just been a tad busy with my affairs. Why would I be angry?" 

"You are right, it must be my own paranoia. I thought you were quite cross with me after I told you about the sisters Tusselo."

"Oh, that thing... Of course not, I know damn well you have slept with half of the women in Italy, there's no reason for me to get worked up over that."

"Half? I believe I had at least three-fourths..." he winked and sipped on his wine. 

He scanned the ballroom with restless eyes, he wished to ask something, but he couldn't find the right words, he did not want Angela to think he only came by to talk about that matter. They were friends, weren't they? At least he thought they were, but she had been so distant.

"Tell me what, angel, you see that soprano over there? Rocco thinks that's a boy, a castratto, but that's clearly a girl, right? Come on... that's a girl!" 

"I- what? But Bellino was inspected by the Bishop."

"The Bishop's been celibate for over fifty years, he doesn't know the difference anymore. That's a girl, I know girls!" 

"Let me guess. You are attracted to him and you are trying to make your attraction justified?"

"Well, it is! Because he- she's a girl!"

"So you admit you are attracted to him?" Henriette approached the pair with a huge smile. "I dare you to find out, Casanova."

"Do not give him any more reason to be stupid, sister," Angela chuckled. "He does that perfectly well on his own. You will end up disgracing yourself, that's what you'll do."

"Sorry, angel... I never turned down a dare."

Over the next few weeks, Giacomo did everything he could to win over Bellino's heart. He paid for his clothes and accommodations, made sure he would perform in the theater, and invited everyone to watch.

Angela simply let it happen, pretending like she was perfectly fine with all the extravagance, smiling politely at the boys who made conversation with her, and gracefully accepting her sister's praise for turning herself around and finally acting like a responsible adult. 

But of course she was only human, she couldn't keep appearances forever. One fateful night, the poor girl was sobbing right outside an elegant venue where a banquet was held. She wore her cape and leaned against one of the rough brick walls. How did she manage to become such a lifeless shell?

"What do you want?" Angela wiped her tears when she saw Casanova walking towards her.

"I just came to tell you that you win, the game has turned sour. The boy is a boy and now I disgraced myself just like you said I would."

"Good for you."

"Are you crying? Are you alright?" He lowered her hood and saw her red eyes. "Was it Elias? What did he do?"

"Nothing."

"He must've done something. What has he done? Has he hurt you?"

"Why do you care? Why are you here talking to me? I am nothing to you, Giacomo!" Her tears escaped before she could stop them.

"I thought... we were friends."

"Friends? Lucky me, the only woman in all of Italy that Giacomo Casanova only wants to be friends with! I must be hideous! I must be completely stupid! And now you're in love with that castratto."

"I'm not- I can't- I love him," Giacomo sighed, defeated.

"Then love him, make it worth something... friend."

*

The news that Casanova was engaged to Bellino, who was revealed to be a woman, after all, spread like wildfire. Everyone in Venice knew of them and when Henriette walked into her sister's bedroom to show her the invitation they had gotten for their engagement summer ball, all she heard was the loudest scream she had ever heard in her entire life. 

Angela cried for hours, hit her head on the wall, screamed some more, tore to pieces the book Giacomo had given her on her birthday, and then put it back together again, regretting her actions fueled by rage. 

After finally regaining her composure, she started to select which dress she would wear for the ball. She asked Grimani for a new one, but ended up choosing one of her sister's gowns, a green one with gold embroidery. She knew there was no hope to win him back now, but she had to show Giac and everyone else she was perfectly fine and did not mind at all that he was marrying someone else.

"You look divine this evening, Angela," Elias took her hand as they danced.

"Only tonight?" She spun around with a bored look.

"Well... n-no. You look divine every day, I just meant-"

"I know what you meant."

"Are you thirsty maybe? Would you like some refreshments?"

"No, my stomach is in a twist."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to escort you outside or maybe walk you home?"

The boy wasn't a bad person. Yeah, he was dull, but most boys were. He didn't love Angela by any means, but he was kind to her and held her in high regard. There were worse fates than marrying him and she knew it quite well.

"Look, it's Casanova and his bride!" Elias pointed at the entrance where the couple stood wearing clothes that looked like had just been ripped and glued back together. The two seemed like survivors of a lion attack.

"They look marvelous, don't they?" Henriette asked while they made their way through the crowd. 

"Yes," Angela simply said, trying to smile, but the longer she looked, the harder it was to keep acting like everything was fine. She should be the one by his side, his bride. She wondered if she had said something before... maybe things could've turned out differently.

After a few more dances it was obvious the entire city was enamored with Bellino who had a brilliant career ahead of her. Angela couldn't see the appeal, but that might be due to her own bias... Everyone was looking at her except for Henriette and Giacomo, who had a silent conversation about the future.

"I have been meaning to introduce you," Angela interrupted them. "Giacomo, this is Elias. The one I told you about."

"Oh yes, the famous Elias," Giacomo collected himself. "You are one lucky fella, I hope you know that. And I hope you know if you ever do her wrong, I will find a way to make you regret you were born."

"What are you scared of, Giac? That he might be like you?" She mumbled. "Do not pretend to care now because you do not. Now if you'll excuse me..."

Angela had to leave the ballroom, she couldn't breathe, it was like all those feelings, all the small caresses she saw Casanova exchange with Bellino, all of that was being shoved down her throat and she was choking, suffocated by the words she couldn't say.

"Angel!" Giacomo ran after her, pushing Elias out of the way. "Are you feeling well?"

"Do I look well?"

"Uh... did I say something wrong?" He held her hand right before she left the room. 

"No, it is not what you said, it is what you didn't say."

"And what do you want me to say?" 

"If you need to ask me, the words would have no value."

"Do you- did I hurt your feelings? I thought you were in love with Elias since you have been by his side ever since our last meeting."

"Of course I'm not in love with him, did you look at him? He can't have a conversation that lasts more than five minutes!"

"Are you in love with... me?"

He truly had to ask? How stupid was he?

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"I am quite sure! I am frustrated, I am tired. I am destined to marry a man I despise, I do not have a choice!" She had to lie, admitting her feelings for him would only make everything more complicated. And if he decided to follow through with the wedding, she feared the humiliation of the rejection might kill her.

"I'm sorry."

"So am I. I am going home."

"Can I have this dance before you go? Please, I would hate to see you go so upset."

"A dance won't change it. When you let go of my hand you will be engaged to Bellino, and I will be promised to Elias. When you let go of my hand the world will keep turning, it won't wait for me... Friend."