#lark and sparrow are chaos children

[ilikeboeks-blog]

Kiddads head canons from when they were teens.

When Nicholas started going into puberty he became a huge rebel. His dress trousers and polos were all switched out by ripped jeans and either band tshirts or his shirts had some form of profanity on it.

Jodie was actually scared that the other time line was bleeding through into their time line which wasn't the case. Morgan thought it was cool that Nicholas was discovering his own identity unlike before where he would just copy his dad, Jodie did not like that.

One time Nicholas expressed that he wanted to go by Nick or Nicky and his dad was furious thinking Glenn had to do with it and they got into this huge fight. Nick decided Jodie could go fuck him self and ran off to Glenn thinking he'd understand based off his memories from the previous time line. Glenn did, but he also said he should talk to his dad about it and not wait it out at his house.

Nicky remembers how to smoke from the previous time line so he asked Glenn if he could have a joint. And Glenn who learned his lesson by now said: "hey man, don't you have asthma or something?" Which promptly made Nicky leave and find another way to get some cush.

Eventually Lark came up to him with some edibles when there were like 16. They took some gummys together and they both had a bad trip and puked all over each other. They told their parents they ate food that had gone bad to challenge each other. Jodie believed them, Henry knew those red rimmed eyes meant something else.

Sparrow after his love wolf epiphany started to get into astrology and crystals and became cottage core personified. At one point Henry and Mercedes got actually concerned when Sparrow came to them super stressed out because his parents zodiac signs weren't compatible and please don't divorce. Lark laughed at him big time for that and keeps reminding him of that particular incident.

At one point Henry and Mercedes gave the twins an allowance to buy their own clothes. Lark bought a bunch of cargo pants so he could keep as many weapons as possible on him and Sparrow bought a ton of culottes and they were incredibly impractical but looked very cute.

Sparrow made potions and Lark tested them out.

Around 15 they stopped doing twin switches because Lark wanted grow out his stache, he looked like a perf for the longest time.

On his spiritual journey Sparrow smoked a ton of weed (he was also Lark and Nicky's supplier) at one point it became too expensive, so using his druid powers he used 'grow plant' and started growing his on weed supply. After a while Henry and Mercedes were wondering where he got all his money to buy crystals from without a job, but they never found out.

Grant got into the MCU around 15 and became a stucky shipper.

He got into a fight with Lark because he was team cap and Lark was team iron man.

When Darryl and Carol got divorced he was actually relieved and he told his parents too and they were like 'ok cool :|'.

Grant at one point tried to buy a furry costume and Darryl did everything in his power to prevent it. He never actually did because it was too expensive.

Grant's first pride was when he was 16 and all the other teens joined him and his dad and it was one of the best days of his life.

Darryl was freaked out the whole time not because he was scared he'd see gay people kissing, but because he was scared he'd lose the children so he was constantly doing headcounts.

Grant told his parents he didn't want to go to church anymore. Carol was cool about it. Darryl cried.

Grant was actually really popular during high school. He used to be bullied by this one guy who tormented all the queer kids in school, so he fucked the bully up and became a hero.

Terry Jr. unlike in his prepubescent was not a rebel at all. Once he started going into puberty his moody attitude was just gone??? Ron was very conflicted about that.

Terry really got into engineering around age 15 and he started making all kinds of tiny robots. Later he found that there is an extracurricular for engineering and started doing that as well as joining the engineering club.

Terry and Ron's relationship really started to improve once Terry got into high school. Terry wanted to start selling his robots and asked Ron for business advice. Samantha found it really endearing.

Due to Samantha being a therapist, Terry is hyper-aware of his issues and it freaks him out a lot. He also psycho-analyses his friends all the time and it freaks them out. They're freaked out together.

Ron always gives Terry lunch money, he's the only one in their group who gets lunch money and he's kinda jealous of the other guys' homemade lunches. So they make a pact where Terry uses his lunch money to buy food for the group and the others share their food with Terry.

The entire school is cool with Terry, if you'd ask someone about that one Terry Jr. guy they'd be like: 'Terry? yeah he's cool man'. Nobody has a problem with Terry and Terry thinks it's cool, he's just doing his thing anyway.

[kaseyskat]

had some thoughts about dood (yes ive settled on that spelling i like it) and missing scenes and stuff anthony would never do because he doesn't like roleplaying with himself and i very hastily wrote them our for your pleasure. enjoy!

~

It happens so fast. 

Sparrow doesn’t even comprehend… everything that is going on. The Doodler talks in a voice that he recognizes from childhood dreams, and the children are talking, and Willy is talking, and then Lark pulls out his gun and is aiming it directly at Normal, and Sparrow is frozen, frozen in place, helpless but to watch and to stare at his twin and shake his head and plead with his eyes and think: this is not how I imagined this fight. 

Once, he had dreamed of this fight. It was glorious, the rendition in his head. The Doodler was a mighty adversary, one who wanted to bring a reign of terror and chaos upon the land, and from a young age, Sparrow knew that he and Lark were the ones destined to rise up, bear their arms in kind, fight the Doodler and win. 

But the Doodler isn’t a mighty adversary here, it’s just… scared, and alone. Is this really what Lark saw when he glimpsed into its mind? 

And Lark still has a gun pointed at Normal. Realistically, Sparrow knows that he’s aiming for the Doodler, because that’s what they’re supposed to do, right? Fight the Doodler and win? It makes sense, and yet it doesn’t, because no version of their fight would result in their family getting hurt. 

But that’s already happened. Our family is already torn to shreds! Sparrow wants to scream, wants to call out, but he is frozen and helpless and can only breathe a sigh of relief when Normal says… something to Lark and Lark puts his gun down. 

He’ll find out what Normal said later. Now, they have a fight to win, and this is one that Sparrow doesn’t feel wordlessly, strangely guilty about. 

And he crumples. And he drags himself back to his feet just in time to watch Willy flash away, leaving only the form of the Doodler that Sparrow has pointedly avoided looking at until now.

It could be a regular teenager, if teenagers morphed in and out of time and space, crackling with static energy. For a second, Sparrow comprehends it – the way the Doodler resembles, vaguely, the form that he had drawn when he was ten and wanted to give shape and dimension to the being that creeped into his dreams and spoke to him in whispered tones – before it shifts, and Sparrow only sees himself. 

Doodler-Sparrow is small, quiet, big eyes staring Sparrow down as their form flickers from cardigans to dresses, hair going blonde and then dark again, eyes flashing green to amber and back to green. It’s dizzying: Sparrow quickly looks away, taking a deep breath even as it continues to look at him, and look at him, and Scary is reading something but it is still staring at him. 

Then, quietly. “Hen?” 

Sparrow inhales. 

It is no secret that he misses his father terribly. Cutting himself off hadn’t been a personal choice: in fact, he still regularly calls his parents, tries making awful smalltalk, incorporates elements of his life that he liked into his own parenting, does his best for Hero and for Normal. And, and it isn’t like Henry is dead! Just… lost. 

That was Sparrow’s fault too, wasn’t it? 

“Hen is my father,” he says quietly, watches as Doodler-Sparrow shifts to look more like a younger version of his father staring at him in horror– in the fear of losing him forever, of having already lost him, or somewhere bitterly in between. “Hello… what did the kids call you? Dood?” 

They nod, taking a step back as Sparrow steps forwards, wary. Arms curl around them, and its form flickers again, right back to the younger version of himself. 

“Dood,” Sparrow repeats, and he snorts, shaking his head. “Alright, Dood. May I ask: do you remember anything of being… with my father? Hen?” 

“I…” the Doodler – Dood, rather – takes another nervous step back, and Sparrow is forced to look down at the shadows they cast against the floors of the church to avoid the headache building behind his eyes. “It’s… hard. But I think you were beautiful.” 

Despite himself, Sparrow smiles. 

“Then I suppose you don’t remember my name,” he says, softly. “But I’m Sparrow. I gave you your name once, a long time ago.” 

“The mascot,” Dood breathes, and they nod slowly. “I… is that my name?” 

“Dood is just fine, I think,” Sparrow smiles, and he offers his hand slowly, the way he would with Hero when she was younger and unwilling to budge on one topic or another. “I know Normal is going to take great care of you, but I want you to know you can rely on me too, okay?” 

He doesn’t know where this came from, except he does, because he just watched his son be held at gunpoint and reflected in Dood’s personage is the person that Sparrow turned away from in favor of what Lark wanted, of what the world needed, and where had it gotten them? His daughter hates him, and his son isn’t far behind. His father withers away and his mother is tired, so tired, and Sparrow has spent a lifetime loving and choosing his brother and it still hadn’t saved him, had it? He can’t force Lark to love himself, no matter how hard he tries, so shouldn’t he choose himself for once? 

Dood didn’t deserve this, and they clearly don’t remember much of what Sparrow had once resented them for. Forgiveness is one of the principles of being a lovewolf, isn’t it? 

“That… sounds nice?” Dood shifts in place, and Sparrow glances back up just in time to catch Himself looking back, tired and haggard and still so small. “I like Normal.” 

Sparrow shifts his gaze. Normal is standing with Scary, gawking at her over… whatever it was she was reading that he’s since tuned out. He’s ditched the mascot suit but still wears the bright blue jersey he’s so fond of, his hair is messy and clearly unwashed, and there’s the smallest wisps of what might be facial hair above his lips, only noticeable when he frowns. 

My son. Sparrow smiles. “Me too.” 

He doesn’t know what might come next, but he thinks his father might be proud of him for once, and maybe that’s enough. Dood takes his hand, and though the static stings and writhes and whispers, Sparrow can only smile to himself and turn to face a world saved by his son and his friends, and maybe finally find the grace to heal his own inner child in the progress. 

[abeinginsand]

The usually noisy and lively home ...filled with an eerie quiet and occasional hushed talking. A dread blankets all four of them. They don't know what to do. For now Mercedes and Henry hug their children tightly each day and pull the curtains closed to the chaos outside. Both are taking time off work and Mercedes tries to see the bright side in the momentary seclusion--extra time to be around (and protect) her favorite people in the world.

Lark has hardly spoken since that day and tends to stay in the twins bedroom most of the time. Occasionally coming out for meals or the bathroom. Sparrow sticks close to his brother with a forced little smile. Been grinding his teeth more lately and only speaks up to assure Lark or to ask his parents how everyone is doing....especially how his father's injury is doing too.

It's been healed already (with a winding branch like scar spreading out from the spot), but Sparrow has this skeptical look on his face every time so he asks again anyway. Sometimes even asking to see the mark directly to make sure. Seeing the mark makes the skeptical look turn to haunted though. A haunted look that can only be soothed when his brother or mother squeezes one of his fretful and fidgeting hands. Sometimes Lark wakes up in the middle of the night and sneaks in to his parents bedroom to make sure they are still there, alive and well. Not covered in static or goo. Both parents pretend to be asleep when their son crawls into bed with them too, not wanting to scare him away. Sparrow comes to join them all some minutes later--its become a new routine. They all hold each other close and hope someday that things might be alright again.

[mushroom-creacher]

Wayward Dads Chapter 3: Don't Father Me

< - >

The room had quickly erupted into chaos.

Lark and Grant shouted questions that went unanswered, Terry started pacing along the small room and Sparrow was trying to bring Nick down from a poorly masked panic attack while Paeden clung to Walter.

Erin and Walter didn’t know what to do. How the hell did this even happen? Was there a way to reverse it? How were they supposed to handle this?

“Can we all just calm down for a sec?” Figgs leaned against the wall, their snake familiar resting contently in her hair. “They’re kids, so what? You can still grab ‘em and bring ‘em back.”

Erin sighed and massaged her temples. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, Figgs. We don’t stand a chance against the Omega Daddies on our own.”

“There’s like, eight of you.”

“Six of which are children!” Walter spoke up.

Figgs scoffed. “That’s still enough to cause a distraction while the others grab your guys. You just need to keep the bad guys busy long enough to make an extraction.”

“That… might actually work…” Erin looked at the rest of the group. “We’d only need to hold up for a few minutes. I’ve seen you all fight, you may not be able to take someone down just yet, but you can stand your ground for a long while.”

“You can’t seriously be thinking of letting them fight those people! They’re 12!” Walter crossed his arms.

“It’s our only option if we want to get their dads back! Besides, do you really think they’re going to just sit here and let us handle it without them?”

“No, but we can at least try to keep them out of it!”

“They’re already in it! These kids have seen action, they’ll be fine!”

“We can’t risk them getting taken again! Their dads just got them back and now you want to put them in danger?!”

“Well, I don’t see you coming up with any other ideas!”

“Can you both please stop talking about us like we’re not here?!”

Erin and Walter went silent and looked toward the outburst.

Everyone was looking at Terry Jr., his brow furrowed in frustration.

“How about just asking us what we want to do instead of making the choice for us!”

“Yeah, we want to help! We can’t just sit here and do nothing while our dads are out there!” Sparrow spoke up.

Walter sighed. “Kids, we know you want to help but this is much too dangerous. We are fighting incredibly powerful people; you could get hurt or taken again! Then we’d be back at square one.”

“We’re not gonna wait around here while you guys are out there! You can’t keep us here!” Grant protested.

“Oh yes, I can! Even if I have to tie you to the door, you’re not going out there! It’s too dangerous!”

Walter felt a small tug on his sleeve, looking down he saw Paeden, unusually timid and afraid.

“Walter... Please... We can’t leave them...”

The bullywug stared back at the small boy before letting out a heavy sigh as he looked back up at the group of defiant tweens. He knew that only him and Erin wouldn’t be able to fight against the Omega Daddies, but putting these kids in the line of fire would be wildly irresponsible. But then again, he remembered how angry and scared he was when Paeden had gone missing and what he was willing to do to get him back.

“Ok. Fine. But we are taking every precaution! If things get bad, we retreat immediately. Understood?” He gave a pointed look to everyone in the room to make sure they knew how serious he was taking this.

 All of the kids nodded, letting out a collective sigh of relief.

“Ok, well now that you have all come to the sensible arrangement, maybe we should get a move on. Which kid are we nabbin’ first?” Figgs asked bluntly, already preparing to cast the portal.

“Gods, do you have to phrase it like that?” Erin cringed.

“What? We are nabbing kids, even if they should be nabbed, it’s still nabbing. So I ask again, who are we nabbin’ first?”

Lark and Sparrow stepped up.

“Our father is a powerful druid even as a child. It would be beneficial to acquire him first as he will be helpful in fighting the rest of our previous captors.” Lark explained.

“And he it would be smart to get another healer in case anything bad happens during the rest of the rescue missions.” Sparrow added.

Nobody argued, even if they wanted to. They all wanted to get their dads back as much as the others and Lark and Sparrow made some good points, though they all knew that this strategy was just their excuse to get their dad back as soon as possible.

Erin nodded. “Ok. You all should get ready, prepare however you can while Figgs and I work on this portal. Try to come up with a plan, a good one.”

The twins nodded and rejoined the rest of their small party and Walter to discuss strategies.

Though it was subtle, everyone could see the small glint in the Oak boys’ eyes. One that the other boys had only ever seen when someone dared to try and push one of the twins around. A look of complete and total determination and protectiveness. They were going to get their dad back no matter the cost. Because one thing you learn around the boys is that you never mess with an Oak.

[cephalog0d]

mischief monday!

Terry knows that the twins like to be rowdy, playing ninja and giving themselves tattoos inside Walter’s motorcycle on the road while they are fighting for their lives against bounty hunters.

The bruises on his hands and arms sting even as Lark approaches him and Nick with a grin, “Shall we play another round, Terry Junior?”

Sparrow pops up beside him, “Nicholas, will you be joining us?”

Nick glances his way, despite his calm and cool attitude, Terry has seen first hand his competitive side when they play video games.

Terry sighs internally, and Nick grins, “Okay, one more round.”

MY BEAUTIFUL CHAOS CHILDREN. <3 Thank you, I love them!!

[greiiliss]

So, Lark and Sparrow are ~13, right? And they're both "wild children", they're "disrupting to the class". And their dad doesn't do much about it, not really. He focuses on encouraging desirable behaviors rather than correcting bad behavior. So the twins live their childhood essentially out of check, and they start to develop this idea that they can kind of do whatever they want with no real consequences (kinda like their grandfather).

They get to the Forgotten Realms, and they get taken to Neverwinter, and they learn that people here think the Doodler, the school mascot that Sparrow made up, is a real, powerful creature. And they learn about the prophecy that a Lord of Chaos will bring the Doodler into world, and they figure out (or decide) that the prophecy's about them. They decide "'The Lord of Chaos', that's really cool! We should do that! Then we'd be really cool!"

But their dad stops them, and Sparrow kind of changes his mind. But they don't give up on wanting to be as cool as possible. A lot of stuff happens until eventually, they bring about the end of the world. For quite possibly the first time in their lives, their actions have very real, very bad consequences. The worst thing that has ever happened to them or anyone they have ever known, was their fault.

They don't know how to handle this, they've never had to before. They get angry, blaming themselves and each other. They feel guilty and stupid. It strains their relationships, not only with their family and friends, but with each other.

I imagine they tried to take some sort of comfort from the knowledge that them releasing the end of the world was prophesied. It was inevitable, fated, and if it was fated, it can't be entirely their fault. They weren't children making a dumb decision, they were tools of fate, acting out a prophecy. It was their purpose.

And then they hear about another prophecy. One about a Chosen One who will stop the Doodler and undo all of the damage they caused. And they figure out (or decide) that it's going to be one of their first kid.

Rebecca gets pregnant, and Hero arrives, named for the role she's destined to fulfill. The twins are desperate for something, anything, just one chance to fix their mistake, and they've pinned all their hopes on Hero. So they train her, and train her, and train her, pushing her to do better, be better, be perfect. They drill the story of what they did wrong into her head and remind her over and over that it's her responsibility to fix it. They mold her into the tool they think fate wants her to be.

Hero is ~17, and she's a person, not a tool. She is scared, and lonely, and she is bending under the crushing weight of the pressure her father and uncle (and who knows which is which) are putting on her shoulders. And they don't notice, or they don't care. She has no one to talk to, no one who could possibly understand and sympathize with her situation. So she decides that she's done. She's sick of the training they've put her through and the expectations they put on her. She gets a job delivering pizza, and an internship at the JPL in another world, probably to fill up her schedule so her father and uncle don't have any opportunity to take her away for more training. I personally think she's also saving up money to try and get away from her family.

This is the real Oak family curse, it seems, for the fathers to drive their kids away. Barry expected Henry to be perfect and ignored him when he was anything less. Henry's complete lack of discipline caused tension between him and his sons, even post-Doodler, when he wouldn't punish them for something they felt they should be eternally punished for. Sparrow had one completely honest conversation with Normal, and it resulted in Normal completely rethinking his entire identity. And now we learn that Lark and Sparrow have been traumatizing Hero all along. For a family that has based its identity around "working with all sides of an issue", the Oak-Swallows-Garcias have a lot of trouble listening to and accepting their own kids.

[thefandom-casserole]

Episode Three- The Lord of Chaos

My relisten notes

- The opening song!!!! That one was good

- DadFact: Glenn plays an indeterminate brand of guitar

- DadFact: Favorite TV show is Bones (hmmm… this changes…)

- DadFact: Ron thinks a hug is a type of dog

- DadFact: Darryl’s favorite TV show used to be Bones, but then Finder was his favorite

- DaddyFact: Beth thought that her guy voice was so good she thought no one would know a girl was on the podcast

- “Have we canonically established what the Doodler is” “I don’t think we should” if only you guys knew 😔

- They’re taking a nap after telling jokes 😭 This is such Dad culture

- The same man twice!!!!! The Lord of Chaos!!!!!!!

- “I don’t know if that inn is still standing” Knowing how the Oak boys turned out hearing about them like this makes me so. fucking. sad.

- Ron comparing Henry and Darryl to his parents 💔

- WIAT IS IT CANONICAL THAT LARK AND SPARROW THROUGH THE PARTY WITH THE PITS? OR KS THIS JUST SOMETHING WITH THE TOWN!?!?

- I know this was a through-away line but the way they said “there’s professionals in both pits” after Henry mentions professional wrestling makes me think that Unfortunate Foster Children were in the fighting ring :)

- Yes this is me having constant Paeden brainrot fuck you

- Sherif Boreanaz 😭

- The Doodler!!!!!!! Adore them

- This episode brings so many things to light good god good god

- This is insane

- “You might be the unsung heroes!” Hmm I wonder if one of them is. Wouldn’t that be crazy woooooowwww

- ExtraDadFact: Henry really likes old westerns, but finds them very problematic at the same time

- Oooh since Henry falling didn’t count and unleash the Doodler means that either a.) someone with the Doodler in them (which we know are only the twins, Henry, Normal and Hero) wasn’t watching, or b.) he wasn’t yet the unsung hero and so you can BECOME the unsung hero

- Cool cool cool

- I love how they forgot that Darryl gave his Nokia phone to the Lance lol

- “The only people the Lord of Chaos seem to respect are people who fight” man I wish we got more Paeden-Twins interactions 😞

- The way they immediately went to exploiting the weakness. The nudeness of them good god

- This could’ve been such a cool fight scene 😭

- RON’S PANTS

[inkedintothepaper]

Oak Twins Analysis

Sparrow and Lark love each other but are so phenomenally different from each other now, which is a huge difference from how they existed in season one. The two were so in sync that they came together to become the lord of chaos. But now, the twins are wildly separate. And it seems they don’t know how to deal with that due to their codependency. This has partially led to Lark’s resentment of his father for not attempting to remedy this in the twins youth, but has also led to Sparrow’s resentment of Lark.

Sparrow loves his twin, this much is indisputably true. Yet Sparrow blames Lark for the Doodler and for the family breaking apart. But because of his love and codependency on his brother, Sparrow bottles up his feelings and doesn’t fully process his trauma. And we move forward in the timeline, you can draw parallels between past Lark and past Sparrow with Normal.

Normally Ly Oak-Swallows-García is a “mixed up mascot who doesn’t know who he is anymore.” This is a direct parallel with Lark and Sparrow, both individually and as a whole.

Lark, after the rogue card was drawn, is a very “mixed up” character. His father, someone he loves, has become someone he hates. He doesn’t know how to feel about his situation. This is extra variable of the card doesn’t make it better. Especially after summoning the doodler. Doing that caused him to be even more “mixed up.”

Sparrow, on the other hand, is the “mascot.” Now, this may be a reach, but Sparrow’s love wolf tendencies are representative of the Oak’s love for what seems to be everything. He’s the figurehead, given how he’s the twin with children. He’s a mascot in the way that as the family changed it’s dynamics, Sparrow changed how he existed.

Both twins “[don’t] know who [they are] anymore” after the doodler. Before the realms and the doodler, they were simply Lark And Sparrow. They were together all the time, and that was a big part of their identity (looping back to the codependency). But after the doodler, the two started drifting apart. Now they are Lark and Sparrow. They are no longer a unit, they’re such different people that it’s a shock from how they were during the first season. The two don’t know who they are in what is not only a doodlerized world, but also a world where they are so fundamentally different that they no longer function as a single being.

This plays into Sparrow’s treatment of Normal. Sparrow looks at Normal and sees himself and his twin when the two were younger. And he’s scared. Because life fucked him and his brother over completely and he doesn’t want his son to go through that. This fear clouds his mind every time he looks at his son, leading to his complex feelings about Normal.

Anyways that’s just what I think.

[anoctoberpepper]

Sparklers and Death Dice

Lark pulls a sparkler out of the box, twirls it around a few times, then jabs it into Nick’s forearm. Sparks burst to life on the tip, sizzling and cracking as Nick yelps and smacks Lark’s hand away. 

“Dude!” Nick gives Lark a knock-it-off look and pulls his arm out of the other man’s reach. 

Lark grins wide and mischievous. 

“You’re gonna give me away,” Nick says. “To who?” Lark asks, waving his hand to motion around the Oak’s backyard. “The assembled toddlers?” Across the space there are stumbling kids, and the parents trying to keep them from falling off plastic playsets or tripping on hoses and garden plots. 

“There are grownups here too, man,” Nick says. 

“Oh.” Lark looks around at the small group of parents that aren’t in on the whole Nick-is-a-demon thing. It’s a small group, but it is a group none-the-less. “right.” His sparkler sizzles happily. 

“Where did you find all of these people anyway?” Nick asks. 

“I don’t know,” Lark says, “but Sparrow and Rebecca have friends, apparently.” 

There’s a lull in the conversation long enough for one of the many children running around to pull to a stop in front of them. 

“That’s so cool Uncle Lark!” Hero grins wide and stares at the fizzing toy. 

“Merry christmas.” Lark hands the firework down to the kid and Hero smiles wildly and not unlike  a young Sparrow. “Don’t light yourself on fire.” Lark calls after her, pretending to be a responsible adult. He watches her run in the dimming evening light. He never spends too much time thinking about Hero’s childhood, if he did then teaching her how to fight would only hurt worse, so he grabs the box of sparklers and shakes out another stick. 

“Don’t even think about it.” Nick holds up his hands and steps out of the other man’s range. Lark whines pathetically, but puts the sparkler back.

“Fine.” He tucks the box safely into his back pocket and leans against the fence. Nick resets himself at Lark’s side. 

“Nice to see you out of kevlar for a change,” Nick says. It’s not an understatement, the five of them have been working almost nonstop for three months. In all that time Nick hasn’t seen Lark as anything but a murderer hyped up on monster energy drinks, head-to-toe in gear, sporting at least three weapons. 

“Still strapped,” Lark says. “Don’t tell Sparrow.” “He is too.” Nick shrugs. “Told me not to tell you.”

Lark laughs, short and deep, and both men glance warily up at the sky. It hasn’t been long since they switched everything, since they made the world move under their feet. It still makes Lark a little nauseous. 

“Did you hear what Terry did?” Lark asks. He doesn’t have anything to fidget with since he promised Sparrow he’d leave his butterfly knife at home and the sparklers are in his pocket so he picks at the wood on the tall privacy fence around his backyard. 

“I’m not sure I want to know.”

“It’s not bad,” Lark says, “Just weird.” Nick raises an eyebrow, curious.

“He rolled the dice,” Lark says.

“The Die another Day Dice!?” Nick looks impressed, shocked, scared. None of the rest of them, even Lark, has tried that. Life’s too bleak to know when he’s going to die. 

“A couple days ago,” Lark says. He pulls a satisfying splinter off the wall, turns it around in his hand and presses little lines into it with his fingernail.

“That explains why he’s been staring at the doodler sunset for twenty minutes now,” Nick mumbles. 

Lark looks up and follows Nick’s eyes to Terry standing in the middle of miniature baby chaos knot, holding kombucha and not moving. The porch lights flick on behind him and Lark hears Nick chuckle. 

“What?” Lark asks. 

“Nothing, just.--Mortals,” Nick says. 

“You’re mortal,” Lark reminds sourly. A little less mortal than the rest of them, but mortal. At least they’re pretty sure Nick is somewhat mortal. A little bit. On his mother’s side. “But not like you,” Nick says. 

Lark sighs,

“I know.” There’s a long moment where Lark watches Terry, then breaks his tiny piece of wood in half, then in half again. Then he says, “Will you catch us on the other side?”

Nick makes that back-of-the-mouth thoughtful noise that he picked up from his kinda dad, Glenn, then says, 

“Of course- but how are you so sure you’re going to hell? Lark gives him an unamused stare. 

“Terry at least has a chance,” Nick says. Lark looks back at Terry, turns that possibility over and over in his head. He doesn't know what makes a good person, at least not anymore, but Terry surely qualifies. Only problem is,

“Terry made the same decision we did. Can’t take that back.”

Nick doesn’t have any way to argue. He leans against the fence and stares. “So will you catch us on the other side, at least to say hello?” Lark asks again. Snaps the last bit of splinter that he can before dropping the wooden flakes to the ground. “I’ll catch you,” Nick says. Then noticing Lark surreptitiously sneaking the sparklers out of his pocket again says, “You can light one more sparkler…I guess”

[crookshanks23]

Homegrown

Henry was exhausted, mostly. There were other feelings, too, but he wasn't going to deal with those right now. (You can't control yourself.) Going to the Church of the Doodler was supposed to help them. Guide them. But now he just had more questions. Mostly about his son. Sons actually. Lark had refused to tell anyone what he had seen on the throne. (My poor son, you know as well as I do... you can't control these children.) Not that Henry would've expected Lark to tell him anything. (I don't like you.) And Sparrow echoing his brother's sentiments... did Sparrow just say what he thought Lark would say? Or did Sparrow feel those things too? What was Henry supposed to do other than take his sons at their word? And there were those other feelings again.

Despite the weariness in his bones and the late hour, Henry went out to the back porch and sat. He needed to screw his head on straight before trying to sleep tonight. (...but you're so afraid of it, you're so upset at yourself for that specialness within you that it just manifests as all this rage.) Not for the first time, he sat on the porch and stared at the inky blackness, missing the stars. They used to bring him such comfort. And now they were gone. And he's just left with the unspoken. The anger that he can't express. Won't express. Won't allow himself to express.

He thought about the look he saw on his boys today. The intensity of both of them. Lark, determined and angry. Sparrow, determined, angry, and sad. He thought about how much those looks had changed since his son had stabbed him and brought forth a chaos god. Not their intensity, no. His beautiful boys had always been intense. But the weariness and sadness in both of them. The anger in Lark. Man, he wished Lark and Sparrow would stop blaming themselves. Lark's (no - Sparrow's) words echoed in his head. "If you'd been a better father..." (This is my fault, but it's your fault too! You fucked this up - We fucked this-...) They were right. Barry had been right. It truly was his fault. He hadn't been able to control his children. And how his son was telling them the only way out was to kill an eldritch god.

The sky above took him back to that night in the kitchen, making popcorn. "But, Lark? I believe you have an apology for Father?" The hope that had filled his chest at that moment. His child that had wanted nothing to do with him for weeks, wanted to speak to him? Wanted to apologize even? Maybe the effects of the Rogue Card had finally warn off now that they'd been home for a bit.

Henry knelt down on the yellow linoleum, wondering what his son was going to say.

"I really do need to apologize, Father. I am sorry" (You can't control these children.)

And then pain.

Physical pain at first. And then the pain of betrayal. But before that could fully set in, a new pain appeared in his body, burning like fire and static under his skin, making its way to his gut. He pitched forward, retching, black bile pouring onto the floor out of his body and out of his sons.

And then it was over. The stab felt numb. The betrayal sat there, as negative emotions about his sons often did in Henry, quickly replaced with panic and urgency to see what had happened outside as the world fell apart around them.

Present Henry remembered that moment and remembered that brief feeling of betrayal that he had since refused to acknowledge. But now that feeling was staring him in the face. And that was the problem - he could never allow himself to have those feelings about his sons. He was confronted with the fact that while he was great at loving them and dealing with the feelings of others, he could never cope with how infuriated and frustrated his own boys made him feel. Because he refused to hate his children the way that Barry had hated him. Refused to become his father.

And because he never learned to cope with those feelings, the sky had filled with static and turned red. The eye of the Doodler now forever watching. Because he couldn't figure himself out. He could never hate his sons. Sparrow loved him but was torn between his father and his brother. Lark hated him and also had come to hate himself. And how Henry knew they both blamed him. And he wouldn't fault them for that. At the end of the day, it was his fault. Sure, Willy had cast a spell - but those boys were trying to summon the Doodler long before Willy had met them. Henry had never truly taken the boys at their word that they wanted to summon the Doodler. He had thought it was the fantastical ambition of two chaotic pre-teens. And now he had to figure out how to save the world.

There was only one other place Henry could think to go. One place that he'd been avoiding like the plague. But it contained the only person he knew that might know something about the Doodler. The only other person who had lived with it. Henry stood up and walked inside. It was finally time to deal with the anger burning inside him. The anger he had passed to Lark. He couldn't change the past. All he could do was love and support his family and maybe hope that he could be the hero this world needed, unsung or not. It was time to go home.

[sunshinethena]

not me actually wanting to cry from a d&d podcast

[undeadhousewife]

I know the dndads Fandom is still uhh recovering from sparrow's message in this, weeks episode so I'm tossing my theory into the ring because I can't stop thinking about it

And I'm probably projecting but

I think part of what he said IS TRUE. I think deep down, he really really wanted Normal to be normal. And honestly it makes sense. Sparrow himself never had a fighting chance at a normal life, being raised by a half elf dad and spending time dragged into a magical realm only for his own beloved twin brother to summon the doodler and all that entails, and I can see how as an adult, he could long to hope his son would be able to move past the family craziness and be "normal". To be a normal person with a mundane life. The chaos of Sparrow's life very well maybe something he grew to resent as an adult and most parents biggest goal is to strive to make sure their children's lives are better than their own

But I think perhaps like what Lark was saying, where they are stuck is twisting his words. And I can see how something like the doodler would use a father's biggest concerns and worries and twist those once well meaning feelings into something painful and hurtful.

I'm curious to see if we'll get more of this from the other dads as well. A peak into their biggest concerns for their children twisted into something meant to hurt

[simplyfroggy]

WASSUP I'm curious as to what other people's favorite arcs are insofar. This leads me to ask: favorite arc? Mine's the Lord of Chaos, because Henry turning into a love wolf was, so fucking metal.

The lord of chaos arc is actually my favorite too! I love Lark and Sparrow (not to mention Henry), we meet a lot of awesome NPCs, and the idea of the dads ruining Anthony's elaborate plans by accidentally stripping in front of their children in still hilarious to me. I'm super excited about the Roqueporte arc, it seems like it's taking a slightly darker turn, but given their track record I'm not sure how seriously the dads will take what they just did