#most important guy on the planet. NEED to see him in many situations

[ghastlycrew]

ok WHAT did they put in the water at the will graham factory

[princessofgotham777]

Nights Like These

Part One?????

Anakin Skywalker x reader

Angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, I don’t write smut

Hi guys sorry this isn’t me adding onto the Jason Todd or dick Grayson fics I started. I will add to those I’ve just been going through it lately and so I just wanna write whatever’s comforting to me rn which happens to be this random anakin skywalker fic. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: You’re basically Padme I’m gonna write y/n but like you’re a senator from Naboo and stuff also you’re a princess because I say so lol. You get kidnapped by a separatist spy who’s been posing as your security detail and Anakin lovingly crashes out a bit.

Warnings: violence, kinda stalking(not Anakin), getting kidnapped (not Anakin)

Anakin had only been on Coruscant for ten minutes and he was already rushing to find you. He’d been off planet for a couple days dealing with after math of the clone wars. Three days ago Obi-Wan contacted him saying you’d been kidnapped by a separatist spy posing as security. Anakin left his mission early, going against the Jedi councils orders. He ran through the building finally finding Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu.

“Anakin,” Mace says. “Your orders were to remain on your mission were they not Padawan?”

“I haven’t been a padawan for a long time you and Master Yoda know that,” Anakin says.

“Anakin-“ Obi-Wan begins to say before Anakin interrupts him.

“Where are we on locating the princess?” Anakin asks.

“Her security is handling the matter,” Mace says.

“The same security who allowed a spy to kidnap her right under their noses in the middle of the night?” Anakin says angrily.

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan says. “I need to speak with you. Mace please excuse Anakin’s…outburst. Him and I will see that the Princess’s security has the situation under control.”

“Right,” Mace says. Anakin begins to leave when Mace says to Obi-Wan, “keep an eye on him.”

“Will do,” Obi-Wan says. He then rushes after Anakin who’s practically running down the hall. “Where are you rushing to now?”

“Y/N’s chambers, there could be some clue,” he says.

In your room they found clear signs of struggle. The knife you kept in your beside drawer was discarded on the floor. Your sheet was half ripped on the floor suggesting you were dragged out of bed.

“There was clearly a struggle, do we have a hologram of the spies face?” Anakin asks.

“Listen to me I will help you find her, she’s an important girl… a Princess and a senator of Naboo, I support her politics myself I understand the need to rescue her but I must ask Anakin is there anything at all you’re not telling me?” Obi-Wan asks. Anakin opens his mouth to speak but Obi-Wan says, “this would stay between you and I, no Jedi council I just need to know so I can help.”

Anakin hesitates for a moment, “do you swear you won’t tell a soul?”

“I swear on the force,” Obi-Wan replies.

“Y/N and I are in love,” Anakin says softly. “And I don’t mean some childish or lustful attraction I mean proper true love. She’s my whole world Obi-Wan. I don’t know what I’d do without her, I don’t know who I’d be without her.”

“Right,” Obi-Wan says as he places a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

Obi-Wan and Anakin met with your security detail and learned they didn’t have many ideas of where you could be.

“Coruscant is the largest city in the galaxy meaning it probably has the most cameras in the galaxy and you can’t find her in a single security tape?” Anakin says.

“They must’ve covered her face,” a security guard says.

“You don’t say,” Anakin replies sarcastically.

“Anakin…don’t get angry,” Obi-Wan says quietly.

“I’m not angry…I’m frustrated we’ve been standing here for nearly three hours and haven’t made any progress. She could be dead or being tortured,” Anakin says.

“We’ve got something,” a guard says. He pulls up a file on the screen. It’s a ransom note. 500,000 credits were being demanded for your life. Along with the ransom note was a contact to set up a time and place for the exchange.

“Ask for proof she’s alive,” Obi-Wan says quickly. The security guard does just that and within seconds gets a response. A picture of you, barely conscious, appears on the screen. Anakin looks in horror at your bruised and bloodied face.

“Set up a time and place,” Anakin says.

“First ask if we can speak to her for real proof of life that photo could be old,” Obi-Wan says.

“No, time and place we have to move quickly with minimal interaction that could risk escalation. She clearly needs medical attention the sooner we get to her the better. Set up the time and place,” Anakin says.

“Obi-Wan?” The security says.

“He’s right,” Obi-Wan says.

You had a blind fold on and all you knew was you were outside, cold, and hurting everywhere. You didn’t have any shoes on since you were dragged out of bed. Your nightgown had ripped during the struggle and now there was a huge gash in the side of the fabric. Bruises covered your arms and legs from being thrown around and you resisting being kidnapped. Small cuts and bruises decorated your face as well. Your arms were bound behind your back, fabric was tied so you couldn’t speak or scream for help, silencing devices were placed on your ears so you couldn’t hear the conversation of your captors.

“500,000 credits, as requested,” Obi-Wan says.

“To what do we owe the honor of having two Jedi come for a mere senator,” the man said sarcastically.

“We’ve gotten what you’ve asked for, now we make the exchange,” Obi-Wan says.

“The princess for the money. That’s the agreement,” Anakin says.

“Interesting you call her princess and not senator. I understand she is both but I thought when you abandon your home planet to medal in politics that don’t concern you, you are called senator from there on out,” the man says.

“Enough, we have your credits,” Anakin says.

“Not quite yet Jedi scum! Don’t you wish to know why we took your precious senator? Because we could.” He says. In one hand he holds your neck the other hand he places out for Anakin to hand him the credits. Your breathing picks up when the man grabs your neck. You have no idea what is happening around you or that Anakin and Obi-Wan have come to rescue you. Anakin walks forward holding out the credits. “Easy now,” the man says.

Slowly, Anakin grabs your arm and places the credits in the man’s hand. Suddenly shots from the loft above are fired at the Republic guards and Jedi. Anakin tackles you to the ground, using his body to shield you. Still unaware of what’s going on you panic and try to fight him off of you. Anakin tries to remove your blindfold and silencing devices but you head but him in the face. Obi-Wan races to catch the kidnapper as the republic guards shoot the separatist snipers. Anakin finally rips off your blindfold and ear devices. “It’s me, it’s me,” he says as you stop struggling. He takes out the fabric from your mouth. “I got you, you’re okay,” he says.

“Anakin,” you say with tears in your eyes.

“Y/N,” he says. He quickly breaks your arm restraints and guides you out of the snipers range. The republic guards go after the snipers giving Anakin and Obi-Wan the order to leave without them. Obi-Wan apprehends your kidnapper successfully.

“Get to the hover ship!” Obi-Wan yells to you and Anakin as he walks with the kidnapper.

“How badly are you hurt my love?” Anakin asks softly.

“Everything hurts,” you say as a few tears escape your eyes. You lift the ripped fabric of your night gown aside to reveal bruising on your lower abdomen. “Especially right here,” you say gasping in pain.

“You’re bleeding internally,” Anakin says. “Let me carry you,” You nod, giving him permission to pick you up bridal style and carry you to the ship.

Heyyy I hope you enjoyed this was lowkey so fun to write I love being dramatic lol. If you enjoyed please like and follow for more fics! Any and all positive feedback is much appreciated. I might write part two idk yet but I probably will. Check out my Masterlist if you wanna read some Jason Todd x reader and Dick Grayson x reader fanfics.

Masterlist

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 11 Thoughts

Chapter Eleven for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

The Underworld actually holds trials! Something we haven’t quite seen with Heaven so far, which makes me side eye them once more.

An explanation present in another translation that I found quite useful is what the Three Tribunes actually are. Or Three Orders as they are called in the J.F. Jenner translation. They are the Human Order, the Underworld Order and the Water Order. Interesting to see that ‘Water’ gets to be its own thing, though after short deliberation it does make sense given how many oceans and other bodies of water there are on the planet.

I really need to read Romance of the Three Kingdoms sometime, for some context as to why Li Shimin’s brothers seem to have beef with him. Well, extended context because the German translation explains this trivia bit! Li Shimin actually killed his brothers during a coup and forced his father to surrender the throne to him. So yeah, it’s understandable that they would be upset upon seeing him again.

Judge Cui messing with official documents like this is a bit eh. While it is kind of nice of him to go through with this favour for a friend, it is concerning how easily he did this.

It also brings up questions of how strict these “fate” things are. Heaven seems to insist they are extremely important and their every order needs to be followed for thing to function, but the Underworld seems to see it a bit more lenient.

Revisiting the situation with the dragon’s execution, was him being punished that harshly because of this pre-written fate which is essentially a prophecy? Or at least was that why specifically Wei Zheng was called in to execute him? If it is so that’s… well it’s really odd. How much of this is actually deserved fate and how much is downright fabricated by Heaven?

On a lighter note deities really seem to like their fruit! That’s pretty cute!

Picking up on a bit of translation detail I checked the Chinese original, as always with Google Translate, when I read “Griffin” and indeed it is not really a griffin as such, it just said demon/monster.

And repeating myself once more, whenever you see the colour green or blue mentioned, you can be almost certain that what is means is verdant.

The Tang Emperor coming back to live after three days specifically is pretty funny when you have context of different religions where similar things happened.

Liu Quan comes across as quite the self-centred idiot. He was far too willing to leave his children and for what? Because his wife couldn’t care for them anymore? That’s a big reason why he shouldn’t have thrown away his life! His children needed him most in that very situation!

Though his wife Li Cuilian wasn’t all that much better either. One little argument pushes her over the edge like that? Seriously? Either something was very wrong to begin with or there were additional important details which weren’t mentioned in the text.

It would be somewhat more believable if she got really drunk after the argument or something similar leading to her making an impulse decision to take her life just to spite her husband for that argument. She was seemingly quite restricted within the household, but it couldn’t have been an actually abusive environment or both of them wouldn’t have reconciled when they met again. At least there was no mention of them genuinely resenting each other or breaking up or something.

In the end they both got lucky that the Kings of the Underworld are such good guys and did all the work to get them back into the world of the living so they could get their full lifetimes.

At this point I mainly feel sorry for the children having to go through all this emotion turmoil because of their parents.

I’m starting to squint at the amount of women not being treated very kindly by the narrative and getting fridged under such nonsensical circumstances. And that is aside from the less than stellar treatment on display, which was considered normal back then. While it needs to be kept in mind that things were very different back when this story was written, overlooking this kind of stuff just because of that wouldn’t be right either.

Not the happiest note to end on, but an important one nonetheless.

[gofancyninjaworld]

as much as genos has proven himself to be a character damn near incapable of lying, i find it hard to believe the "becoming a cyborg" part of his backstory is recounted correctly. the human brain is weird and memory is fickle, especially surrounding traumatic events. kuseno just... doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would listen to a misguided childs plea for full-body cyborg modification and actually cave to it. it's entirely possible that ive gravely misunderstood his character, but im not buying the idea of a level-headed genius scientist having That Big of a lapse in judgement. i think it's more likely that genos's ability to recall events surrounding his villages destruction and cyborgification is lacking thanks to a whole lot of repressed trauma and his recollection of events isn't 100% accurate. hence, the whole "begging my doctor/adoptive grandfather to mechanize me almost entirely and quite possibly fuck me up mentally for life and having him actually go through with it" isn't an accurate retelling of what happened. kuseno still fucked up, but im inclined to believe he didn't fuck up quite that monumentally. ill leave off there, because if i continue this will quickly go from "short ask" to "full length college thesis" with how many hypotheticals are available to pick at when considering a situation like this, but id like to know what you personally make of it.

Oh, I believe Genos. Genos has stories to tell that sound totally unhinged and utterly unbelievable but are 100% true. However, we're missing something.

To get to that, let's go to Saitama and his incredible strength. If you ask Saitama how he got so strong, he says it's because he did 100 push ups, 100 squats, 100 sit ups, and ran 10 kilometers every day. Also, he didn't skip any meals, even if it was only a banana for breakfast, and he never used the heat or AC. That's all true, but that's not the whole story.

Flashy Flash is the only character to date who has grasped how utterly vital Saitama's environment was in enabling him to become who he is. Without living in a deprived part of town that slowly got beset by more and more powerful monsters, and dealing with the increasing loneliness of watching the people who once encouraged him pack up and leave, Saitama would never have had the graded challenges to break his limiter. He couldn't have done it anywhere else on the planet. But he has no idea.

Anyway, back to Genos. We are missing the context. As we've seen more of the pair, and we've learned more about cyborgs, it's become very clear that we're missing something important. Kuseno knows how to build powerful drones -- there's no need to endanger oneself personally. If one insists on being up close and personal, Kuseno has powerful body suits. And finally, extensive cyborg enhancements shorten one's life -- they don't save it or replace lost physical functionality. Brainwashing? No, ONE's writing of the Ninja Village shows that he understands coercive control very well and what its uses and limitations are. When it comes to Kuseno and Genos, most of the spokes in the wheel of control are missing: the doctor being happy to see Genos make his own money, associate with people he doesn't know, have conversations he's not privy to, and be overall more independent is the opposite of what a control freak does.

So, there's got to be a reason that the boy who would become Genos decided that only being a cyborg -- nay, only being an extreme cyborg -- would do. There's got to be a reason an old engineer took him up on it. We don't have this context. And we need it to understand. We don't need to agree, we don't need to approve. But ONE, at least let us understand.

Oh, the cyborg destroying towns thing? It's true. The only thing special about Genos's home town is that it's the LAST known massacre.

[hrodvitnon]

Weighing in on the Bagan/Destroyah stuff with some ideas of my own, because I've heard people mention it a few times:

What if Bagan and Destroyah were divided between routes? Like Destroyah being exclusive to Genocide and Bagan being solely a Coexistence Endgame threat. Here's my thought process for each:

Destroyah fits Genocide perfectly, I think. Godzilla would most likely fight him years after his rampage- and I think it's really telling his final fight would be against a monster created almost solely by a weapon humanity designed to kill him. I almost see Destroyah as a sort of humanity stand in- a grotesque monument to Godzilla's most horrific sin, made up of trillions of microorganisms, perhaps symbolic of everyone he slaughtered, born of perhaps many Oxygen Destroyers humanity kept up their sleeve in case a situation like a rampaging Godzilla happened. However, they were unable to kill Evolved Godzilla, and humanity was wiped out by the billions. It's almost like a karmic inversion of the classic Godzilla tale: where he is a metaphor for humanity's sin of harnessing nuclear energy into a weapon, and Destroyah is a metaphor for the sin of Genocide. Something else important: I think this should be a solo fight for Godzilla. As much as it would hurt Mothra and Abraxas and his family deeply to know that he would not come home from this fight, everyone kinda knows the weight of sin is something he alone must bear and atone for- even if atonement means death, which it ultimately does. It also marks a designated endpoint for Genocide, which I think really suits it as The Bad Ending® (Good Endings in games usually let the characters have a long life for making the proper choices, it's karmic sure but also narratively satisfying. Bad Endings... don't do that). I mean, you totally could have Destroyah be in Coexistence- but major reason why I don't really vibe with it is that he would kind of need to be the end of a major character (basically universally agreed to be Godzilla- it kinda just makes too much sense not to), but a Godzilla death in Coexistence just seems- weird to me. Sorry if this is blunt but like- why? What purpose would it even serve? Thematically he would've been fighting tooth, claw, and nail to build a good relationship with humanity and be a stalwart defender of the planet- despite horrific PTSD from Ghidorah and Xenilla, had taken so much shit from humanity and their crazy bullshit but refused to give up on them and go all murdery, and if Ozzy's alive there'd be the added aspect of him having to save him back when that all happened. I'm not sure how satisfying it would feel to only reward him with a heroic death when all of Coexistence points to a hard-fought happy ending where he gets to grow old with a humanity he's made peace with and a reunited family by his side (ikik; there goes tosho again with his 'no akctually this character should be allowed to live' crap. When's he gonna grow a pair and start letting people die in his HQs? Idk man maybe being a jjk fan has given me an aversion to deaths in stories or something, but to me characters are the beating heart of a story and I value them functionally in writing above every other aspect of a narrative- so whenever I want to kill one off I make sure I have a damn good reason to do so, as a lost character is directly trading off any later plots that could be written with them. lmao death rant in the middle of what's supposed to be a shorter ask, tbh normal behavior of mine at this point)

Ok, Bagan. Gotta credit my guy @zerm2v0hg for a lot of inspiration on this front, as lots of stuff here draws on their posts about Endgame-Abraxas stuff. Like Zerm mentioned he could have more of a personality compared against Des, which I think would suit him as a more sinister antagonist in Coexistence- a more cunning foe the Titans must overcome as opposed to the Icon of Sin lookalike in the other timeline who only cares about sweet bloodshed. A very important detail about Bagan is also that he's canonically made up of both Ghidorah and Godzilla's cells. So- what if this ends up being Ghidorah's next form? One of their asks did mention Ghidorah coming back to destroy London (to further fuck up Vivi, as if she needs further fucking up lol). This could be a kind of Composite Form of his that combines Ichi, Ni, and San's intelligence into a single mind for greater efficiency, merging both his and Godzilla's biology (or- semi-crack idea, he could see himself as kind of like a twisted offspring of Ghidorah and Godzilla; semi-crack because he'd call himself the son of Ghidorah and Godzilla and the entire cast would just deadpan at him while Godzilla tries not to retch at the thought of having a kid with Ghidorah). Either way, Bagan's big gimmick is his Shapeshifting power, where he modifies his body into different forms at will, like a controlled evolution- similar to what Shin does just way faster and efficient at killing his enemies. I feel like you'd need a full cast of fighters to take something like this on- as there's no way he'd be able to counter everyone at once, so when he swaps to counter one person someone else takes point against them, giving the others time to shine against him. Him being a new version of Ghidorah could also be kind of a progress report of how far the world and Titans has come since Boston- and even Russia.

I approve of Bagan and Destoroyah being Route exclusives. It's kind of like Pokemon! But with DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.

[brokenjardaantech]

I started seeing a lot of childhood friends alerudy + valeria content lately and I cant stop thinking about it SO consider this little au: Alejandro went after Valeria and soon after that Valeria gives Rodolfo a call which literally made him sweat ice because that means she has Ale?? So he arrives ready to go apeshit but what he sees is a very familiar kid with arms wrapped tight around Valeria's neck. Basically a good old de-aged au where Valeria and Rudy are forced by situation to take care of little Ale who lost most of his memories but is still able to recognize both of his friends older versions and they have A Lot of emotions about it (and Alejo is the sweetest most energetic little menace)

Sorry for the ridiculously late reply anon. I got this ask two days before an important exam and I was hit by a nasty cold right afterwards, so I got neither the time nor the strength to answer this until now. I don't have a lot of ideas about this right now, but as always, I'll see what I can do. Putting the answer under the cut just in case.

----------

'This is a bad idea, Sergeant Major.'

Rodolfo climbs into the driver's seat of the truck and levels René with a look that would've made a less experienced soldier cower. 'Thank you, Major,' he says, placing his hands on the wheel, 'but I know Valeria. I'll be fine.'

Rodolfo is unaccustomed to the seriousness on René's face. 'And if you aren't?' René asks. His foreign accent is more pronounced, as it always does when he is thinking hard.

'Standard protocol applies. You take charge of Los Vaqueros and make decisions based on the information you have.'

A nod. 'Long live Los Vaqueros. We need you, Sergeant.' René closes the truck's door. 'Both you and the Colonel.'

Rodolfo merely nods in response and steps on the gas, not bothering to look back to see René's expression. Alejandro disappeared two days ago. Despite knowing he's the toughest guy on the whole planet - so tough that, sometimes, even though they grew up together and watched each other mature and grow old, Rodolfo finds himself wondering if Alejandro is some kind of immortal in hiding - Alejandro's absence has been weighing down Los Vaqueros ever since, with worry, with fear, with prolonged shifts searching every single inch of Las Almas for signs of their colonel. But there had been no trace at all; no footprints, no torn fabric hanging on a branch, not even a single crumb of the crackers provided in their rations.

Which is why he has to go after the only path he is provided with: Valeria.

He had expected the call, of course. Not many people in the world can take down Alejandro and Valeria is the closest and the most competitive of them all, so he was already geared up with a full squad behind him when he picked up the phone. What he didn't expect was Valeria sounding utterly tired and defeated on the other side.

'Just bring yourself,' she said. 'No one else. It's easier for you to see for yourself.'

'Is Alejandro alive?' Rodolfo had asked. It was the most important piece of information. If he wasn't...

'He is.' In the background, something crashed. 'Alive and well. Too well.'

The last sentence came as a disgruntled grumble, giving Rodolfo pause. He had never heard Valeria use that tone since she decided to be a drug lord. It was enough to convince him to go alone. And hey, if everything turns out to be a trap, he didn't get promoted to a Sergeant Major and become Alejandro's second-in-command for nothing; he can take care of himself. He also trusts René to handle everything if it really comes to it.

His instincts tell him it won't come to that.

The coordinates Valeria sent him lead him to a house on the outskirts of Las Almas. Not one in a village, but a lone building in the middle of the desert. He sees no power lines, but when he steps out of the truck, he can hear the muffled hum of a generator. A large water tank is also attached to the house, allowing it to exist off the grid. He scans the area for hostiles but finds none, which is strange. Nonetheless, he dares not relax and doesn't lower his rifle as he approaches the front door of the house. It opens on its own, and he nearly shoots Valeria.

'Took you long enough,' says Valeria, unfazed and exasperated. 'Put that away. Don't want you to scare your lover boy.'

Rodolfo scowls at the nickname. Not seeing any weapons on Valeria, he lowers his gun to his side. 'Where's Alejandro?' he asks.

Valeria stands to the side to let Rodolfo in. The sound of rapid footsteps hammering the floor originates from what seems to be the stairs, and the next thing he knows, a boy is dashing towards him and nearly tackles him from how hard he impacts Rodolfo's legs. Valeria smoothly takes the gun off him, and his hands fly to the boy's shoulders to steady him, which turns out to be unnecessary as the boy looks up still clinging to him with a wide grin.

Alejandro, except it can't be, because Rodolfo hasn't seen this face in more than 30 years.

'Rudy! You're here!' Despite Rodolfo's tactical vest being not very comfortable, young Alejandro buries his face in his stomach once more. 'I missed you. Valeria said you're going to show up so I've been waiting for you! She didn't say you're a grown-up like her!'

Rodolfo looks up and meets Valeria's eyes. Her expression, if true, says she is as baffled by the situation as he is. And if Alejandro's reaction indicates anything, it is that he does not remember a single thing about her betrayal.

Valeria clears her throat. 'I found him like this,' she says. 'Took him here. No idea who did this. I figure I should call you.'

'What for?' asks Rodolfo. The commander of Los Vaqueros should be a prime opportunity for her to expand, to give them a curb stomp. 'Why help us?'

'I'm not helping you.' Now that Alejandro has become a koala on Rudy, Valeria saunters to the armchair next to the sofa and sits down like a queen upon her throne. 'I've asked all the questions I can. You can ask them again. This is the Alejandro we know from our childhood. There's someone - or a group of people - out there, capable of de-aging adults.' She leans forward, her elbows resting on her thighs. 'It threatens my business too.'

Alejandro finally unwinds his arms from Rodolfo's waist and leads him to the sofa by hand. Even as a child, Alejandro is a pushy bastard, and he finds himself squeezed between one side of the sofa and Alejandro, who can't seem to stop swinging his legs. 'You know I can't stop going after the cartel simply because of this.'

'I'm not asking you to stop. You take care of Alejandro and I'll find whoever's responsible. Then we'll change him back.'

'And remove a tactical advantage?'

'Would you rather your husband stay as a child for the rest of your life?'

Rodolfo looks at Alejandro, who already looks bored by the adults' conversation, and then back at Valeria who, for the first time in years, doesn't look like she is going to backstab him within the next five minutes. Alejandro looks adorable - he always does - but Valeria is right; without Colonel Alejandro Vargas, Los Vaqueros will not be the same.

'Alright, we'll ease up on our raids, but don't expect me to sit around and wait for good news,' he says. 'I want in.'

Valeria grins, all teeth and wolfish and so much like Alejandro and Rodolfo himself at the same time that he can't help but remember why it is the case.

'Good.'

----------

Again, brain's a bit fried atm so this is all I can come up with right now. Hope you enjoyed this.

[universalzones]

"I think they did right after Eggman was beat and he lost his control over the entire world, though I think it was rushed for the most part. I didn't really have time since I was busy blowing up any standing bases, though if I were to guess he might've ran unopposed if no one really heard about it. It would make sense too. I wouldn't be surprised if not many wanted be President with how much work there was to do to get things back in order." The entire planet was a mess from when Eggman has complete control of the world.

"That is a sound theory, and if he has strong ties to G.U.N then I'm sure they wouldn't have had second thoughts about 'convincing' anyone attempted to run against Thawne not to do so." Blaze would turn her focus on the Chaotix. "Perhaps you time might be better looking into this Thawne. I still hold hope that he didn't have any involvement and is intentions are genuine with his concerns."

"Maybe we could simply ask him some questions? I mean, it can't hurt, and he shouldn't have any reason to lie to us. I know this is me being optimistic, though I just hope I'll see the best in people." Belle wasn't really using reasoning rather than feelings with what she just said, though sometimes being kind and direct got answers. Throwing out the idea doesn't hurt anyone either.

"That's... foolish thinking." Kitsunami seemed to want to say something else, though he bite his tongue and softened his words. The fennec actually liked Belle's company so didn't want to be mean to her. "Though it's not like it'll do any harm. The worse that could happen is he deflects or simply refuses to answer. If you want to ask then ask, though I personally think its a waste of time."

===========================================================

"Sounds like you'll miss me being a pain in your ass, which is just weird. Though I guess no one on this team is normal." Surge wasn't good at this, mainly because she simply expected them to shut her out and leave her to face the music solo style. Now they were saying they'll miss her and how she caused problems? Ugh, why does being a good guy have to be so weird.

"...Just take it easy Lanolin. I know you gotta deal with Tangle being Tangle, though you seriously need to relax more. Plans are fine, though if you wanna deal with Eggman you gotta learn to role with the punches and change on a dime. I know it's sucks to be put in a position like that when you gotta lead, though I think it's important." Why was Surge trying to give advice in a situation like this?

"I could dash you where you want to go before heading to the command center. I know a lot of people get stomach sick, though I've got more control now, weirdly enough." Surge actually had a moment to process just how stable her powers were. Made her wonder how tied her emotions were to her powers. Well, not like she'll have time to explore that.

That village, they condemned her the moment they found out who tinker was. It was also ground Zero for the Zombot virus. Of all the people they were hit the hardest. They of course put that blame on poor Belle. Miles couldn't help but feel like it was a sore spot for her, and hoped deep down that she was right. They'd have to contact him, get papers and confirm it all. But he knew it was just as likely even the mayor would turn on her. He'd be there to help her through it regardless--- chaos he hoped she was right.

Miles flipped through his phone as he looked for information on this president. A Name, a birthdate anything he could use to give him a clue about who he was.

" Here we go, President Thawne... first name Luthian... 28 years old, served in GUN from the time he was 18, fought with GUN in the War-- yea right more like cowered in a hole. Not much else here... just lots of photos of him with Abe. Guess they knew each other... still young for a president... did they even do an election i wonder? "

He flipped through the photos and checked his social media but until he could hack in and check things. He could only tell so much.

" Likes his guns, gives to charities, helps out at the local homeless shelter... guy is squeaky clean... like to clean, this feels--- Staged? no angry posts, no joking posts... nothing from before the war... Dunno if this will help us, and its very sus..."

The chameleon didn't seem phased by her decision, and frankly if she knew someone to counter that ability good. But he guessed they'd get involved before it was over. Plus they knew the lay of the land well enough. No point in arguing right now, they'd have time to discuss it later.

" As you wish princess, we'll be here if you need us. "

==========================================

She chuckled at Surge being upset that she wasn't angry, that it might be easier if she was. If anyone was angry it was Sonic, pissed that she wouldn't fight for her freedom. But that wasn't to say Lanolin wasn't feeling emotions. She was, but they were a jumble of sadness and feeling like she failed Surge on some level. She hugged herself and looked down at her feet, just for a moment that stern façade she wore faded away.

" Anger would be easy... i wish i could be angry at you. Yelling would have been so much easier. But i just feel... i'm going to miss you Surge. Even your little outbursts, and raiding the fridge at all hours of the night. Our little arguments about how to handle missions... i'll miss it... "

She said in a softer tone less the commander and more like a friend, even if they had there problems. She saw Surge as more then just a weapon, more then just some soldier.

" But i guess i'm being sappy, and sentimental--- Yes Report to the command center. Get Miles to get your testimony and get it all on tape concerning that day. I have one more stop to make, and then i'll be back at the command center. "

She took a deep breath and let her personal feelings go. She held a hand out to Surge as if to shake her hand.

" It was a pleasure working with you Surge... I hope we one day in the future we can do so again..."

[ellana-ravenwood]

Batbrats - Batfam x Fem!Reader (featuring Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy)

Synopsis : Oh no, the Joker is after your life again, this is sooOOoo unexpected...When you get picked up from your work by one Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, you can’t really say you’re surprised. You’ve lived in Gotham all your life. And Batman is your husband. This is not the weirdest thing that happened. Although you do have to admit that Harley and Ivy actually SAVING you because Bruce asked them, is rather novel. And finding yourself suddenly talking about your respective domestic life with them ? Definitely new. Never a boring day in Gotham, right ?

The word “Batbrat” came to my mind while looking at comics where the batkids are being little smartasses, and it made me think of something Harley Quinn would say...And here we are. I hope you will like it :) : 

My masterlists : @ella-ravenwood-archives

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“Funny how life goes hu, Batsy ?” 

Bruce had to admit, this was an unusual situation. Although not unforeseen given the past few years. But it was odd, and a little funny, that The Batman was now standing in front of two of his fiercest (ex-)enemies, asking for their help. 

To their defense, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy really turned their lives around, ever since Ivy helped Harley escape the Joker’s grasp. Helped her open her eyes to how toxic the relationship was, to say the least. Ironic, right, that the actual poisoned person would help you realize you’re surrounded by toxicity ? 

Turned their lives around, yes, but they were still up to lots of mischief. And Bruce encountered them many times since they stopped being “full time villains”, but extreme problems required extreme solutions, really.

“Yes. Funny.” 

“Oh come ooooon, say it with a little more liveliness ! The situation is really funny !” 

Silence. Bruce is trying to stay patient,  because this is really important. But inside, he’s screaming, and panicking a little. There is no time to be wasted ! So he says : 

“I guess it is funny.”

“Yet no smile.” 

“Smiling is more of his thing, is it not ?”

“Wow, hey ! If you want us to help, be nice !” 

Damn it, he probably shouldn’t have referred to Joker in front of Harley in that way, it wasn’t on purpose. Really. 

“Please, we don’t have much time. My wife-” 

“You asking us for help is a first.” 

“It is.”

Dealing with someone like Harley Quinn requires patience. And Bruce, even in the worst moments, can be patient if needed. 

“Rumors say you don’t even ask Superman for help.” 

“I most definitely don’t ask Superman for help.” 

“But he’s your friend, right ?” 

“...”

“He’s not ?” 

“...Yes. Yes he’s my friend.” 

“So we’re like, your best friends if you ask our help.” 

“More like my only option.” 

“That’s rude.” 

“Truth hurts.” 

“Haha, that’s true ! I know that !” 

“So, are you going to help me or not ?”

Harley and Ivy pretend to ponder for a second, before saying : 

“Of course, we’re going to help. Especially if it’s to help against him...”

“Yes. We’ll protect your wife from the creep.” 

“Thank you.” 

They could not see Bruce’s eyes, but they knew. They knew he was genuinely grateful and a big weight had been lifted off of his chest.

When he came to them, half an hour ago, and explained the situation, it took them a little while to understand he was asking them to help him. But then it all made sense, right ? Who, more than Harley Quinn would want to stop the Joker from hurting more people ? 

Neither Harley nor Ivy were “the good guys”. But as Harley managed to escape Joker’s emprise on her, and as Ivy realized there were more efficient ways to save the planet than what she did up until know, they sort of became “anti-heroes”, and known in Gotham to be the people you went to when you didn’t know to whom else you could turn. 

They gladly helped lost children and distressed women. And sort of became an actual living nightmare for any abusive men in their vicinity. A polarizing topic really. They were doing good, but their methods were too violent and...

Were they really that different from Bruce ? Yes. Yes of course they were. They were still Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, they weren’t “fighting” for the same ideals your husband had. However, mindless mayhem and destruction was not their thing. 

And when The Batman himself asked them to save his wife from the Joker, could they really say no ? 

“Careful, she has a mean right hook.” 

Bruce says, with a small smirk, and then he hurries off to join his kids. They have a clown to catch. 

************

“Did he just smile ?” 

“He did.” 

“Damn, what is this woman ?” 

“Probably a witch, we should be careful when picking her up.” 

“Yes, careful of the right hook too.” 

“Alright, let’s go. I guess we sort of own it to him..”  

They were helping him, because he helped them first... Contrary to popular belief, The Batman wasn’t just a violent, cold and unforgivable vigilante. He was one of the only person who took into account Harley’s mental illnesses, or Ivy’s deeper message...He did not agree with them, of course not, he was one of the “good guy” and would never derive from this “code” he settled for himself. But he genuinely understood. 

Harley bet that nobody ever noticed that he never attacked first, unless there was a hostage situation. That he tried to understand those he stopped, especially when they suffered from the mind, like Harley, or Scarface, or his former friend, Two-Face... 

Batman wasn’t who everyone thought he was. Harley and Ivy knew. Which is why they accepted to help him, and to go put his wife in safety. 

“Don’t worry, we’re here to rescue you. Mm ? Oh, ignore the gun, it’s not for you, sorry ‘bout that haha” 

Could they really blame you, when your first reflex as they suddenly appeared before you when you were leaving work, was to clock them in the face and run ? 

No. No of course they couldn’t. Neither Harley nor Ivy had really a good reputation, even now. Only in Gotham’s slums, did they start to know they weren’t villains anymore. 

Plus, you were Batman’s wife (something that of course, nobody in Gotham knew, except a few people who figured out...like Harley, although it was a total accident, years ago, that revealed the truth to her). 

So no, they can't really blame you. They catch to you, thankfully, before you go out in the streets of Gotham, and after quite a big struggle, manage to imobilize you and show a video of your husband. You instantly calm down, intrigued : 

“Hello my love, I am sorry I did not send you any messages prior to Harley and Pamela’s arrival, everything happened very fast. The Joker escaped after coercing some guards at Arkham Asylum, and threatened to take you again. I had to think fast, because he was going to act fast.” 

Bruce goes on to explain the situation quickly, however it’s obvious you’re still on edge and don’t quite believe things. It is easy, after all, to fake a video...And in your mind, Harley was close to the Joker. What if this is a trap ? 

 “By the way this is really me. I know you must be on edge, and untrusting, and that’s great by the way. Keep at it. But it’s really me. my proof ? Your weakness is when I  V-R-Y-A-T-W-A-T-T-C-O-Y-S you.” 

Your entire face feels warms, as you understand instantly what he’s talking about, while Harley and Ivy looks curiously at you. How dare. How dare he says such a thing on camera like that ?? Of course, not many people could understand but you, you-

“What ? Is that an acronym or something ? What the hell, and you guys call us mentally disturbed, how do you even know what the letters mean ?”

“I don’t !”

“You sure ? Cause you look hella embarrassed...Come on, tell us, what did he say ? Was it naughty naughty ?” 

“Nothing ! It’s nothing !” 

In a second, you are relaxed, and as they keep teasing you and trying to get you to talk, your odd journey of the day is starting.

************

“Sorry for the punch.” 

“It’s ok, I guess you couldn’t know we were on the good sides this time. Whatever it means. Spoiler alert : it doesn’t mean we’re good now. We just want the Joker neutralized as much as your family does. Without killing him...” 

Ah. It kind of hurts your heart, to be honest, to see how fiercely she does seem to want to stop her ex-partner in crime, yet without killing him. 

“Killing him is too nice. Arkham drives him nuts, he hates it there, it’s a good punishment.” 

Ah. Right. Probably. But you can’t help thinking about how hard it must be on Harley, after all she went through. All the thing HE put her through. 

You should feel wary of her, after all she was there when he once kidnapped you (A/N : reference to this story : “You’re mister J’s new obsession, Sugar”), but you can’t. Because you know how manipulated she was, and you know the real villain is him. She doesn’t even seem to recall this episode, she shows no sign of it at least. You do know certain people block memories out of their head, to protect themselves...

After all, if Harley Quinn was truly a bad person, she wouldn’t be helping you right now, right ? 

“Do not worry, we are not going to hurt you. I think Batman would hunt us to the end of the World, if we touched even one hair of your head.” 

“Oooh Batsy, he’s suuuuuuper in love with you, it’s disgusting, tooth rotting, and I hate the dentist. We really won’t harm you, you know.” 

You nod, still a bit unsure, until something suddenly hits you...

“Where are the children ??” 

“Oh don’t worry, Batsy’s taking care of the brats. They were with him when we left.” 

You release a sigh of relief. Of course, them being with Bruce meant that they were actively going after the Joker...But it’s not like anyone could stop them. They were all rather stubborn. And you trusted them. You trusted Bruce. You knew he’d keep them safe, and in control of their emotions. He was good, at keeping them grounded during important missions... 

Of course, it didn’t mean you weren’t worried as hell. For all of them. 

“You’re not saying anything ?”

“Mm ? Sorry ? About what ?”

“Me calling your kids “brats” ?” 

“Oh, no. I mean. They can definitely be brats.” 

“Wow. I’ve seen you with them, and defending them, I’d never think you’d ever say they’re brats...” 

Harley is genuinely surprised. You guessed she was judging out of the few encounters she had with all of you reunited, but also by all of Gotham’s tabloids picturing y’all as a “perfect family”. 

“They’re not brats like people can think they are. They never ask us for material things they don’t need, they’re not spoiled and they are well behaved...But everyone has bad days.” 

“That is true.” 

“My children are amazing, and they’re not like other children for sure. You know I’m not just saying that because they’re my kids, they are really...different. But they’re not perfect. Just like every kid, they can throw tantrums. Or get frustrated with us. Get really bratty, really. I don’t think it’s that bad. I don’t actually mind that much, it’s proof they are still children, you know ?” 

“I don’t really understand...” 

“Well. They don’t have a “normal” life, what with being vigilantes and all. There’s  a lot of times I wonder if...They’re ok, because they do miss out on being just regular kids you know ? So. When they act like a brat, like kids do sometimes...I don’t mind at all.” 

“That’s actually such an adorable thing to say. You’re adorable. Ivy, can we keep her ?” 

“It’s his wife, I don’t think he’ll let us. I don’t think she would want to either, right ?”

They both turn to you, and you can see they’re asking an actual serious question. 

“Oh um...Sorry, when this is over I definitely want to go back to my family.” 

Harley is visibly disappointed, and you’re not sure how to feel about this. But then she says :

“Well, tell us then.” 

“Tell you what ?” 

“About your brats ! We only know them as serious boring vigilantes who tell us “no” while we say “yes” ya know ? So tell us, tell us how they really are !” 

“I’m not su-”

“If you’re worried about what Bruce will say, don't worry, we won’t tell him. Not like we can use your kids’ bratty behavior against you anyway. And we have no intention to harm any of you. Batman...has been good to us.” 

Yes. Yes he has. You know he has. He’s always had a soft spot for those who were victims, and became “bad”. That’s why he particularly despised the Joker. He stood for nothing, he had no background that could explain his evilness...he just was. The absolute perfect villain, irredeemable. Someone he would stop at all cost. Someone he would have no qualms using brute force against. It wasn’t the case with every “villain”. This was a common misconception about your husband. He wasn’t just a violent vigilante...But that was another story. 

“Alright. Well, I guess the most logical thing to do is to start chronologically. See, none of my children are actual brats. They do have moments, however, when they act like perfect little  brats...”  

DICK 

“I think Dick must’ve been the brattiest.” 

“Really ? Nightwing ?” 

You nod. There’s a fleeting thought in your mind that tells you you shouldn’t say your son’s real name, but then you’re reminded that they know who you all are. And never did anything to harm any of you. 

“Yes. I know, when you look at all of them he’d probably be your last guess because of how happy-go-lucky he is, and calm and nice and such. But oh boy, sometimes...” 

Dick was 8, when he entered yours and Bruce’s life. It was not that long after your relationship with Bruce became serious, and it was a lot at the same time. Neither of you were experienced with kids, and Dick was traumatized by his parents’ death. 

It really hasn’t been easy, in the beginning...Oh, but this isn’t a story about how little Dickiebird came to be one of the brightest sun in your lives, and how tough the first few years were. No. This is a story about how, like every child, he behaved like a little brat, sometimes. You smile at Ivy and Harley, as they’re unaware of the little walk on memory lane you just took, and tell them :

“You know how many chandeliers we had to change when he was little ? Oh my god he used to jump from the BANISTERS onto the chandelier in the foyer exactly when I’d walk in just to freak me out. Then he’d laugh, and always threw me into panic mode when I could see the chandelier slowly unscrewing. He did that EVERY SINGLE TIME he was upset we told him no and such.” 

“Upset you told him no ? What a brat !” 

“I’m not going to say he wasn’t a brat at times, but he was a good kid. Dick just always had...trouble, when he was younger, at dealing with his anger. Now, it’s very rare that he gets angry, but my oh my when he does I really wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of it !” 

Not that you ever were. When he was a child you would sometimes endure the brunt of his frustrations because he was not yet mature enough to truly control himself, now as an adult, he would only get very mad when someone would hurt a loved one, and of course it was never you. 

But this wasn’t the point here. No. Right now, you were talking about how Dick and his often reckless behavior made you think : “brat !” about him a few times. 

“Dick has always had particular ways of...being purposefully annoying. Sometimes to see how far he could push us, sometimes just because well, he could be a little brat. For example, when we’d stay too late in bed, and he was annoyed at that because he wanted to see us, he’d barge in our room, plunger in hand, and I kid you not, would jump on our bed, get some height, use that damn acrobat training he had since he was born, and stick himself to the ceiling with the plunger ??? How did he even had such an idea ?? And he’d really stick up there, just hang above us telling us it was time to wake up, or just giggling, and then Bruce would have to stand up on the bed to get him down safely, and well, we’d have to wake up. You wouldn’t believe the amount of rings on the ceiling he made. We had the repaint it at least twice.”

“No way !”

“Wayy ! To this day, you can’t find any plunger in Wayne Manor. Well, you can, but they’re all hidden under Alfred’s bed because Alfred’s room is the only place none of the kids dare to go in...” 

“Oh so they barge into your room easy, but no in the butler’s room.” 

You nod, smiling. Not feeling like going into long explanations about how Alfred is much more than just a butler, but knowing where you stand on the matter nonetheless.  

“Dick used to drive us crazy, he would have such...creative ideas to show us he was upset about something. He didn’t have that many tantrums. Or rather, his tantrums translated in us having to run after him in the most crowded places in Gotham, while that little brat would parkour his way through easily...Brr, those were NOT good times.” 

“I never knew Nightwing was such a difficult child.” 

“Oh don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t. Not really. But he had his moment. And believe me, out of all of my kids, he’s probably the most stubborn one, and you really don’t want to get on his bad side.” 

“That’s such a funny thing to think about. The Batman himself trying to get a kid who’s hanging from a plunger.” 

“You’d be surprised about what’s really going on in our family haha.” 

“I bet we would. I mean. To be honest, I always felt like there was more to the bat than what he let on, if only for all the time he showed me kindness when I probably didn’t deserve it.” 

Ivy said, thoughtful. And how ironic again, right, that someone known as a “villain” would be one of the few people who didn’t stop themselves at their first impression of your husband ? 

You smile, actually quite liking the idea that even people who fell on his wrong side still saw kindness in him. You knew him the best, of course. Along with Alfred. And you knew why he really did all this. That kicking some people’s asses was definitely not his motivation. 

It was nice, to realize that Ivy actually thought rather highly of your husband. And that Harley did too, because he always took into consideration their mental illnesses and inner troubles. 

It was nice, that once again, talking about your children and their relationship to their dad helped others to see that “the big bad bat”, was just a man after all. 

JASON 

“Contrary to popular belief, Jason was a very sweet child. He never even talked back ? When he got frustrated, he would go to his room, not saying a word, wouldn’t even slam his door, and then come apologize for his behavior...” 

“Are we both talking about Red Hood right now ?” 

“Yes, well he wasn’t always Red Hood now, was he ?” 

Harley feels the weight of your eyes on her, and for a second, an old anger you thought was forgotten rises in you when you think about all the things your son went through because of...because of...Because of the Joker. 

It wasn’t Harley, that took your baby away. It wasn’t her who used him to hurt your husband so deep he fell in a dark well again for years. It wasn’t her. She wasn’t even with the Joker, at that time. 

You sigh, and say : 

“Jason was a little street urchin, as some say. He learned how to survive in the streets, not to live. He had no idea what it was like to be taken care of. So when we took him in, and after his suspicions passed...He never acted out. Never. He absolutely worshipped his dad, and took everything I said as gospel. That’s probably why, when we didn’t avenge him he...” 

“You don’t have to continue about this.” 

“Thank you.” 

“It’s ok, I understand. So. Red h-Jason, wasn’t a brat at all was he ?” 

“Really, no. I honestly can’t recall a time he acted like a brat when he was little. Oh, of course there was that time he stole Bruce’s favorite lambo and went on a rodeo through Gotham because he thought we were going to give him up...He was 9.” 

“He knew how to drive at 9 ??” 

“He knew how to neutralize a man three times his size at 9.”

“Oh, right, sorry, forgot I was talking about your family.“

“It happens.” 

“So...What happened ?” 

“Ah, yes. Well you see, he got himself in danger stupidly during a night out, so Bruce got mad. Madder than he should’ve. He yelled, instead of explaining. Can’t blame him though, he really was shaken up. But in Jason’s mind, yelling equated to him soon being thrown away like garbage. Every time someone yelled at him, or around him, in his life prior to him being with us...he ended up abandoned. All alone. So...” 

“So he thought you were going to give him up ? But that’s so silly, it was just a bit of yelling ?” 

“You have to understand the way Jason grew up. To him, and his past traumas, it was more than just a bit of yelling. So he decided to leave before we told him we didn’t want him anymore...Can you imagine how heartbreaking a decision it was ? I don’t even know now that I’m telling the story, that this is really bratty behavior. Well. He did keep going even as Bruce chased him with the Batmobile, and he only stopped when he ran out of gas. Then he ran away, as fast he could. It took Bruce a while to catch up to him. And when he finally did, Jason didn’t make it easy. He fought back, yelling that he “didn’t want to hear it”. Once we understood what he was talking about, of course, we reassured him. And he calmed down. He fell asleep in Bruce’s arms as he brought him home. We never yelled at him again after that...Not even when he became the Red Hood, and wouldn’t listen to us.” 

There’s a slight pause, an awkward one, a heavy one. Every one in the room knows what happened to your son...You do not want to dwell on this today. Not anymore. Not as you finally got your baby back, and just like he used to be, there’s not one “bratty” blood in his body.

“Rather boring I guess, a child who isn’t a brat at all haha. It’s easily explanable by how he grew up. He never wanted to disappoint us. I guess...He had more bratty behavior once he came back ? I...”

“You don’t have to talk about it.” 

“Right. Well. Let me continue, then.” 

“Go ahead, we’re listening.” 

TIM

“Tim came shortly after Jason’s death. And when his own parents died and we officially adopted him, I must admit the beginning of his education might’ve been too full of extremes. On one hand, we’d never tell him “no” if he wanted something material or to do something not dangerous, on the other Bruce was extremely strict with him when he was Robin, even a little overbearing at times...You have to understand, we had just lost a son. We couldn’t bear to lose another one. We sheltered him a little too much, maybe, while spoiling him a lot. Not rotten though. But that is, thankfully, because Tim isn’t a bad kid. He grew up in a wealthy environment. He always had whatever he wanted, but his parents’ attention...So he craved ours a lot. And that’s maybe why sometimes he’d um...” 

Silence. How could you put what Tim did without making yourself pass as a terrible parent ? 

“He’d what ?” 

“Tim had the bad habit of...sort of running away.” 

“Sort of ?” 

“Yes. He wasn’t really running away. He was going on “adventures” without telling us...” 

“Oh, like a dog ? Like you know how certain dogs escape from their home’s garden when their owner go to work, and then come back before they do ?” 

The analogy is special, comparing your child to a dog but...Harley isn’t wrong. Tim’s behavior was quite like that. 

“The worst thing is that when he’d come back, he would really pretend like nothing happened. He’d just go off to look up on a case on his own, or because he suddenly wanted ice cream and went by himself. I think he was too used to do things on his own, as his parents weren’t very present and never really took care of him. It would make Bruce mad though, mad with worries. And then when Tim would come back, they’d get into stupid fights about it...” 

Reminiscing of your husband during that time always hurt your heart. He was so afraid to loose more than what he already lost...

“It never deterred Tim to go off on his own though, oh no. On the contrary, he’d take great pleasure in bypassing Bruce’s security systems, and nag him about how easy it’d been, before leaving. That’s the bratty thing about it, I guess, how he’d sometimes would just act like anyway, we can’t stop him.” 

It was frustrating, especially because you both knew Tim could be very reckless. It was also frustrating, and made you feel bad about yourself, that your own child would just decide to not listen and...Ah. But Dick did do this sort of things too, didn’t he ? You were just too used to Jason and...Jason and...

You didn’t want to think further about that time. 

“Eventually, we did realize that his behavior was directly our fault. How could he understand our point of view if 1) we never explained to him why we did what we did, and 2) we’d tell him “yes” for everything except when it was related to his Robin duties ? Of course it was confusing for a ten years old boy eager to help. To be honest, most kids acting like “brats” are often like that because of the parents. Once we figured that out, well, we had a talk with him.” 

“And did he understand your point of view ?” 

“Tim is the smartest boy I ever met. He definitely understood. And that was our mistake really, to not take the time to explain things to him. Don’t get me wrong, even now he sometimes goes off by himself and LOVES to drive his father crazy by bypassing any security he settles, but it’s just...Well, it’s just because he’s a brat. He understands our view, and never pushes it too far. But he does like to push our buttons...Smart ass.” 

CASSANDRA

"Hey, what about your daughter ? I don’t know her name, sorry.” 

“Cassandra.” 

“Aah, that’s a cute name. Well, is she more well behaved than your boys then ? Girls are often calmer and more mature.” 

You burst out laughing at Ivy’s statements. Yes, that is true that Cassandra matured faster than her brothers. But oh boy, “calmer” ? Cass ? Well. You could see why some people thought that, after all, she didn’t speak a lot. But ah, when she was upset with you or Bruce ? 

Cass was sneaky. A little salt in your coffee because you didn’t let her do something she really wanted to. Or hiding one of your shoe. 

You knew when she wasn’t happy with one of your decision. She’d stare at you from one side of the room, and whenever you’d look at her she’d turn her head away, nose up in the air, pretending you don’t exist. 

It didn’t happen often, to be fair. Most of the time she’d try to view things from your perspective, and understand your decision. But sometimes..Sometimes...Well, she was a teenager. 

Kids didn’t always understand their parents’ decisions, especially regarding their lives. Sometimes, it feels like they just don’t get you and are trying to control you, even if they’re not. Being a teen is tough. Being a vigilante teen is tougher. Getting frustrated was normal. 

But Cassandra had trouble expressing herself with words. She spoke nowadays, but she didn’t always find the right words when it came to explaining her feelings. So she’d do other things, to let you understand. 

Just like how she said “I love you” in millions different little ways that were her own...She also was able to say : “I’m annoyed with you” very well. 

It was by her action, and not her words, that she truly could be a brat. The way she’d ignore you, or be a pain on purpose. 

“Once, I told her she couldn’t go with Jason to I-don’t-even-remember-where-but-it-was-definitely-not-a-place-for-her, and for a week she didn’t even look at me. She made a spectacle of talking lots to her brothers, more than usual, and wouldn’t utter a word to me. Gotta admit, it hurts a bit. But I guess ya know, kids don’t always realize that. She apologized later on, but that’s not the question. Sometimes you just don’t see you’re hurting the person.” 

“That’s true. I know that all too well...” 

Harley says, looking at Ivy and then down. Ivy puts her hand on her shoulder, and squeeze it, and it’s quite an adorable sight to see. 

It feels like them too, have their own family. It sort of reminds you of Bruce and you, the early years, to be honest. 

“You know, my daughter, Cass, I can’t be mad at her in those moments. I too was a frustrated teenager who did things to my parents, my brothers, I still regret to this day. I wish I could go back and not be a little shit, ya know ? I understand her. I understand sometimes, you have to lash out. And honestly, what she does is nothing compared to what I already did...Everyone needs to vent. We’re not perfect. And..No matter how big our mistake, we all deserve redemption.” 

They know you’re talking about them now, and not about your daughter. Although they can’t know that Cass’ had been force as a child to be a weapon, and did things she dearly regrets. 

And that’s it. That’s why you find yourself able to “forgive” Harley and Ivy for their past actions. Obviously, they already changed quite a bit. But also...Jason, Cass, and Damian...They all did things they regret. They all went through so much, and have been on the “dark side”. 

They deserved redemption. To be given a chance. 

Jason, Cass...And Damian. 

Your little Damian, a paragon of what the word “redemption” means. 

DAMIAN

Damian is not a brat in the way you think he’s a brat. 

Sure, if you don’t know him he can appear too sure of himself, full of himself even. Someone who looks down on people. But...people who think that just don’t know him very well. 

No. Damian was only truly an actual brat when it was related to animals. 

“One time, I said “no we can’t take another cat my little buddy”, because like, we already had like, 17 cats roaming around the mansion and the gardens, as Damian has a tendency to just bring in any strays he finds. You know what he did ? He went to a near puddle. Like a very, very muddy puddle...And he just started to jump in it, and roll in it, until I said ok, we can take another cat in...Brat.” 

“You caved ?” 

“I caved. He was so dirty !” 

“Hahaha, that’s an hilarious thing to think about really.” 

“Not the worst occurrence of this. Once, he wanted to free the tigers at Gotham zoo because he thought their enclosure wasn’t good enough. I told him he couldn’t do that, of course, and I was going to add that we’d look into it but...Next thing I know, he tells me : “Watch me”, and disappears in the crowd. I was like : “WELL I CAN’T WATCH YOU IF YOU JUST GO OFF LIKE THAT !!”. First, it’s already scary when you loose your kid in a crow, even if granted, if anyone tried to kidnap Damian, they’d be the one in trouble. But still. And second, we were just talking about how he wanted to set some tigers free !! Fast forward not even fifteen minutes of me frantically looking everywhere while calling Bruce on the phone and trying to explain the situation, I see Damian, wearing his Robin costume, mounted on one of the tiger, and leading the other two away out of the zoo...” 

“What the hell ?? What happened next ??” Harley was absolutely entranced in your story. You saw her nodding away as she was definitely agreeing that those tigers needed to be free...And you sort of recall her having hyenas as pets ? 

“Well, I get home ok ? Because I know that boy brought those tigers to our garden, just like he does with all those stray cats. And yes, I come home and here he is, eating cookies and drinking milk, saying the tigers need a real home, as said tigers are chilling in our garden ???” 

“What did you do with the tigers ??” 

“Damian convinced us to start a case against Gotham zoo and...Turned out he was right, there was some malpractice. The tigers were relocated in a reserve of one of our friend. And Gotham zoo was entirely remade by one of the Wayne Foundation. So I guess it ended well.”

“That kid isn’t a brat, he’s an icon.” 

“Yes well, he didn’t listen to me at all.”

“But he saved those tigers. And a few other animals.” 

“Harleyyyy ! That’s not the point !” 

“Did you punish him ?” 

Small silence. You look at them. They look at you. Then you turn away and say : 

“Of course I didn’t, it was epic.” 

Cue some laughter, of course. Aaah. It was HARD to raise children, especially when they were such smartasses ! 

“But honestly, Damian is a sweet child. He does definitely totally ignore his father sometimes, but he always listens to me. The only times he doesn’t, and act like a proper brat, is when animals are involved. I’m not even going to tell you the time he almost brought home a dragon from Apokolips...” 

“What ?? You have to tell us now !” 

“Oh, You want me to tell you ? Alright then, well see, we were on...” 

There were dozens and dozens of stories about Damian acting like a “brat” and trying to convince you to bring more pets (with you rarely winning the arguments, because he’d throw genuine tantrum acting like the 10 years old he actually was). 

You loved those stories. Of course, you’d get frustrated that your son wouldn’t listen...But it was proof he was still just a little kid. Your little kid.

Talking about him to Harley and Ivy was oddly nice, as if they’d been your friends since forever. They didn’t invalidate you, they didn’t tell you you were a bad mother for succumbing to your kids’ tantrums sometimes (to be fair, your kids knew not to push you too much either, your glares were rather effective), and they were eagerly listening.  

It was nice, to see someone actually interested in the mundane side of your life. Granted, stealing tigers from a zoo wasn’t THAT mundane, but ah, your children acting out sometimes...It was normal. 

And it felt nice. As odd as it might sound. 

DUKE

Duke was already 15, when he came to live with your family. And his parents were still alive, as well, which made the dynamic between you and him different. He was distant, at first, reminding you every chance he got that he’d leave as soon as his parents would feel better. 

And those few first weeks, when he was lost and unsure he even wanted to stay with you at the Manor...It wasn't “bratty behavior”. Just like Dick who missed his parents, or Jason who was afraid you’d leave him, he would act out sometimes. Out of pain. Out of frustration at not understanding his own feelings, and being so full of conflicted ones. 

On one hand, you gave him a home and made it so that he wouldn’t be lost in the system. On the other, he wanted his mom and dad. 

Yes. At first, it was tough. But as time went on, and with your care, and making him understand that it was ok to be angry...He truly opened up. 

His behavior the first few days, wasn’t “bratty”. It was a behavior born from trauma and pain, and being scared. 

“He did got me arrested once though, I admit that day I wasn’t too happy and might’ve thought he was a brat...” 

“He did what ?” 

Both Harley and Ivy were absolutely glued to your stories, and you definitely had a way to tell them. To keep them on edge, wondering what would come next. Like right now. What did Duke did, that got you arrested ? 

“Well. He pretended I kidnapped him. I didn’t have the official papers that said he was our ward with me, and that little one is an amazing actor. I got put behind bars, and then they called social services. The mix up was cleared up fast, as Bruce arrived. But ya know, it wasn’t a good experience. If only to witness the utter incompetence of Gotham’s police.” 

“Tell me about it, they never even once caught us. Not without Batman’s assistance of course.” 

“That’s a wild story honestly...What did Duke do, after that ? What did you do ?” 

“Honestly ? It was obvious he felt extremely bad about what he did. When Bruce asked him why he did it, he answered that he didn’t even know. And we believed him. Sometimes, when you’re in too much pain, you do things without really knowing why. After that, actually, things greatly improved. He talked to us. And he never once did anything like that again.” 

Duke wasn’t a brat at all. Well, none of your kids were. But Duke, even with his own parents, was always a calm obedient kid. With a normal life... 

The times he acted out with you, you knew it was a cry for help. And you knew you guys put that new life on him. You, and what the Joker did to his parents. Everything always lead back to the Joker...

“You have a nice family.”

“Thank you for telling us all that.”

“No problemo.” 

“You managed to make me simultaneously want, and not want kids !”

“Aaah, you just summarized the life of a parent haha !” 

Who would’ve thought ? Who would’ve thought that one day, you’d be sitting comfortably in an armchair in one of Gotham’s most famous “villain’s” lair ? They had a nice loft, to be honest. You had no idea where it was, but you heard the sea not far so probably somewhere in East Gotham. 

This was nice. It was odd because you were talking to Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, but it was nice. To talk about your children, and how sometimes...they did act like children. 

It was easy to forget, even for you, that they were just kids. So this was nice. A nice reminder, that them acting like brats is actually good. 

Everyone needs to vent their emotions, ya know ? 

Plus, there is so many good moments with them... (A/N : aka, literally all my stories with the Batfam haha) 

“I envy your family a bit.” 

“You do ?” 

“Yes. When Batman came to ask us for help, I saw it. And I see it now too, as you tell us those stories. You guys aren’t perfect, but you really do love each others very much.”

“Ah, yet another great summary made by Harley Quinn...” 

“Well you know, I was a psychiatrist after all.” 

You smile gently at her, wondering if maybe one day, she’ll tell you her story. How come she ended up under Joker’s manipulation ? What happened to her, and what were her aspirations ? 

“To be honest I admire you, I don’t think I could handle someone like Batman on a daily basis !” 

“Hahahahaha, if I had a dollar every time someone told me that ! But hey, it’s cause nobody quite knows him like I do...Which makes me think, wanna hear one last story ?” 

“Of course !” 

BRUCE

“You know what’s funny ? I just thought of it right now. The brattiest of them all isn’t even one of the kids. It’s Bruce. Man. He can be SUCH a brat !”

You say, rising up slightly in your seat. Ivy chuckles and says : 

“Oh I believe that.”

“He can be so broody for no reasons.”

Both of your new girl friends nod. They definitely noticed he brooded a lot. And never smiled. And he had a bad tendency of telling them to “stop” doing something when they were having such fun... 

“Like, once, I forgot to kiss him goodbye before work ok ? Well he pouted all day about it. Our two years old son Thomas had the same reaction, when I got home he was all like : “Mommy left with not kissy !” except, you know...He’s two.” 

“Wait, I wasn’t expecting that.” Ivy says, while Harley add : “I thought you were going to talk about how cold, harsh and all he was.” 

“Oh, he was in the beginning, it didn’t last that long...you know, everyone needs someone to be themselves with. He’s not cold with me at all. Really, no, more like...Well. He can be a brat, actually. Ok, there that one time I lost too much at Uno and threatened to divorce him, but he can be much worst !”

“U-Uno ?” 

“Yes. Long story. Not worth mentioning, right now we’re talking about how BRUCE is a brat. You know, he pouts soooo easily. Not in public, but when it’s just the two of us. Oh boy. He’s also super jealous. But that’s another story. You know, he does get moody when he doesn’t get his way ? Like he wants to watch this movie, but we all wanna watch something else ? Well boom, he acts like a brat. This kind of thing you know ?” 

“Batman is...a brat ?”

“Ah yes ! And you should listen to Alfred’s stories of him as a child. An actual genuine brat !”

You’re about to keep going with your stories, when you realize both Ivy and Harley look at you with their mouth open, as if their brain just melted. And...Well, you understand. After all, it must’ve been quite a surprise, for them to learn that the big bad bat was a brat. 

Come to think of it, yeah, you’re probably the only one in the world that would call The Batman, a “brat”. Batbrat. Haha. 

(A/N : If you have no idea who Thomas is, he appears in those stories : . Not writing a part with him because it was really getting too long, but imagine some toddler shenanigans haha). 

Always here 

Jason is the first to arrive at Harley and Ivy’s hideout. He rushes to you immediately, asking if you’re alright. 

“Yes, didn’t even see that damn clown. Harley and Ivy picked me right up.” 

“I’m glad.”

“Where are your brothers ? And your dad ?” 

“Coming soon. They wrapped things up. We caught him, of course. He’s becoming sort of predictable, in his unpredictability. I just didn’t want to participate more, so I came to get you. We’re regrouping home.” 

Relief. 

It’s a relief to know this is already done. Although it’s almost suspicious, it went so fast...Oh well, you’ll think about it later. Maybe it’s true, that he became too predictable ? Your guts tell you he might’ve had an ulterior motive, but you ignore them. No. Not now. Now, it’s time to go home. 

You don’t go home, of course, without telling goodbye to your new friends. 

Your son waits for you a little further, eying both of them suspiciously. Especially as Harley takes a step towards you and says : 

“Listen, I'll go quick because I know your kiddo over there hate me but...Thank you. For telling us stories and reminding us we’re human, too. I hope our path will cross again.” 

You nod. You hope so too, in a better situation than : “we’re protecting you from being killed by a maniac”, hopefully. You’re about to leave, when your son stops, and turns around, saying : 

“I don’t hate you. The Joker used you, he mentally manipulated you and ruined your life. You’re not responsible for what happened to me. That doesn’t mean, by the way, that all your actions are forgiven. But it does explain and excuse some things...and everyone is allowed to have their redemption arc. I would know. Plus. Again. He gaslighted you for years, and manipulated you.” 

His words shook Harley to her core. Except for Ivy, and maybe Bruce, nobody ever gave her a chance like that...Nobody...

You’re so proud. Oh. You’re so proud. You can’t even say anything, you hold him in your arms, and as you leave, you see Harley, crying in Ivy’s arms... 

************

Home. And all together. In the end, this day was good for you. You got to vent about your kiddos, while underlining how amazing they truly are. You made new friends. You once again realized how much you loved your family...

It didn’t feel like a “Joker evasion” day. Usually, those were much more terrible, and ended terribly. But here you were. All home. 

You did notice Bruce seemed a little worried, and you felt it in your guts once more. You were sure him too, felt Joker’s plan wasn’t entirely done...But ah, there was nothing to do right now. 

So you took to distracting him, and making him enjoy this little moment right now, as you’re all in the mansion, together. 

It’s movie night. 

No vigilante duties, for anyone. It was already quite some work to catch the Joker, and usually after such a big arrest, Gotham was calm. Worst case scenario, Kate, Bruce’s cousin, was out as Batwoman. She’d take care of things, and call them for backup if need be. 

Right now, it was movie night. 

With all of your little brats. 

Aaah. 

Yes. They could be brats sometimes. Everybody had bad days, right ? 

But they were your little brats. 

And at the end of he day, they were always there for you. And vice versa. 

Your precious beloved little brats. 

EPILOGUE 

A shadowy figure is looking at your family through the back windows, standing in the dark. You’re unaware of its presence of course, trusting your home is a safe haven. Because...Nobody really knows who you really are. And your house is surrounded by security created by your husband and son. 

Someone able to bypass all your security, someone who filled your nightmares for years. Someone who wanted to make sure his suspicions were right. 

“Aaaah. So they ARE the Waynes. Interesting. Thanks Harley for the valuable informations, although maybe you didn’t give it willingly. You and I will see each other again soon enough. We’ll all, see each others soon enough. A little...family reunion, if you will.” 

Someone who isn’t done with your family...

The Joker. 

To be continued ?

_________________________________________________

Well here. I really hope you like it, and that you are not disappointed with this new story, I know it might look a little fragmented and weird, I haven’t written in ages and it felt like I didn’t know how to anymore :/. I know there’s always expectations when someone doesn’t post for a while and then comes back so..Yes, I hope you like this story born in the spur of an inspiration. As usual, feedbacks and other reblogs are more than welcomed (and thank you for going that extra mile <3).

More stories to come soon, on which I’ve been working for a while ^^. More well thought out stories if you will, and longer things (including multi-chapters stuffs because I got hella carried away). Once again, I hope this didn’t disappoint you, and thank you for reading ^^. 

[changelingscribbles]

OKAY SO I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS AAAAAAAH I LOVE THE POSSESS-IAN AU— how do you think Jack-as-Ian would react to a main character who didn’t mind the fact that Jack was possessing Ian, and in fact actually prefers it? They’re still attracted to Ian, but Ian betrayed them by cheating on them… but now Jack can be a better, new-and-improved Ian. With all the things the main character used to love about him, just… better!

Ooooh, this is a good question! :) Now, this really varies on how the MC goes about getting this info across to him. (Under the cut again!)

Jack absolutely doesn't want MC to love "better Ian", because that's not who he is - he's Sunny Day Jack! He's still Sunny Day Jack, just in a new body that needs a little time to be the best it can be! Ian might have had the life before, but now it's Jack's, forever and ever! Now for this, let's say Jack achieves getting MC to actively date "Ian" again, even under the guise of 'Ian-but-different'. He's been playing along, lets MC call him by that name, and then when the time feels right, probably somewhere cosy and romantic, a private moment, he confesses the truth. He's not Ian. He's Sunny Day Jack, and he's been stuck in a VHS tape of his old show for way too long- he doesn't like to think about it. Ian let him out and Jack miiiight've borrowed his body indefinitely to come talk to MC. Ian hasn't been around since that last phone call. Jack was in the background for that, encouraging him to make the big decision to see MC again. Jack's really sorry for lying - it'll be the only time he ever does it, cross his heart and hope to fly. Please forgive him. Now, if MC were to admit to either knowing the truth already, or not minding, or even enjoying the new boyfriend, Jack would be over the moon! Praising MC to the heavens and back for their smarts in figuring it all out and their willingness to accept him as he is, entirely, always! Nothing stopping them being together now, isn't that fantastic?! He'd pull out all the stops to be the most wonderful boyfriend on the planet, to prove to MC that they deserve the whole world in his eyes, deserve someone who could treat them properly. However, if MC were to openly talk about him as though he were just an Ian Upgrade after all that, they'd be having a serious conversation about the way MC sees Jack. Communication is very important in a relationship, and Jack wouldn't want to let MC misconstrue their situation in that sort of way. He has to make sure MC knows the difference between Jack and Ian, even if they're the same body on the outside.

He wouldn't want MC to 'cheat' on accident, after all. Cheating is for guys like Ian. And Jack's not Ian.

[phoenixyfriend]

ok. karin vs anakin's genome being 50% the Force. go

Jesus fuck, okay. Uh, fair warning, I know very little about this subject, so it’s 90% bullshit. I am in no way qualified to talk about biology past the high school level.

Anakin's sixteen. He's part of a set of Jedi assigned to a weird mission regarding making contact with an isolated planet of near-humans with superpowers but no space travel. He doesn’t really have a Job here and now, he’s just there as Obi-Wan’s plus-one. There's an underlying plot about Sidious trying to acquire people from Ninja Land, but none of the Jedi are fully aware of it. Mostly they're distracted by all the ninjas and their bitching.

They call it the Shinobi Planet, because nobody can agree on a name for the planet when they ask and the last major international alliance was named after the shinobi profession, right? Good enough, you can change it later when you idiots can agree on literally anything, oh my god. The Samurai are very offended and it's a whole thing.

Anakin wanders a lot. He runs into various strange people and is mostly polite because, listen, half his friends are distinctly not human. When your immediate circle includes nautolans and besalisks and twi’leks and whatever the fuck Yoda is, you’re not gonna blink at a Hoshigaki or... uh... okay that kid just turned into a giant fox, is anybody gonna--no? That’s normal? Just him? Cool, cool, cool.

There’s a kage summit involved in the negotiations going on. IDK what’s being negotiated, probably something to get the ninjas to set up a singular spaceport so there’s somewhere to land WITHOUT ships being regularly shot down by village defense systems powered by that massive flaming purple skeleton warrior or the girl who punched down a mountain or the.. the literal desert? There’s a guy that can control the desert? Is there any way of keeping him away from Anakin?

(Gaara’s tickled pink that the reason someone wants to stay away from him has nothing to do with fear or respect for authority, and everything to do with ‘he is also from the desert and fucking hates it, so he’s staying away from the sand powers,’ because it’s very novel and kind of funny.)

ANYWAY where was I. Uh. Right, kage summit, lots of villages, they invite smaller villages to pitch in, but nobody ever ever ever wants Orochimaru anywhere near this situation, for hopefully obvious reasons, so Otogakure sends Karin.

Really, who else was it gonna be? Suigetsu? You want Suigetsu representing you on an interstellar political field? You want Juugo before he’s stabilized? You want Sasuke, master of ruining kage summits? You want these idiots representing you at the big kids’ table?

They send Karin. She’s a bitch with a temper, but at least she’s not as big of a political risk as... literally anyone else from the snakepit.

Anyway, Anakin wanders around, meeting people, trying foods, showing off when asked for demonstrations. He doesn’t have an Entire Protocol Droid, but he did cobble together a little floating helper that can do translations for him. Assume all translations are accurate and being done by the little helper bot. Bot’s name is G1-0T. Anakin calls it Glot.

He runs into Karin at one point, who’s not super into the whole situation, but at least Anakin’s interesting. She’s not interested in him, because he’s sixteen and she’s like... mid-twenties. And his hair is stupid. But! All these force-sensitive people feel weird to her, because sensor stuff, and it’s not chakra but it’s... something. Anakin is, of course, the weirdest.

(There are non-sensitives in the envoy, so she knows it’s not just a space thing.)

She strikes up a conversation about it, because hey, she hasn’t made it this far to not lean into... you know, being the kind of person who barges ahead with Weird Questions that might lead into fun science stuff.

Anakin is like. Well. This woman’s very strange, but it’s not like there’s anything against talking about midichlorians to random people. It’s easy enough to look up in the core. Not everyone knows about them, but it’s not a secret or anything.

“Wow,” Karin says, though not in so many words, “that sounds incredibly strange, and actually a lot like it functions completely differently from chakra, though maybe it intersects with nature chakra somehow. Can I take a blood sample?”

Anakin doesn’t want to give a blood sample to a stranger. Karin isn’t stupid enough to try to steal one. She’s seen what this Force Stuff can do, and this kid’s got a lot of it. She hasn’t got enough information on hand about it to know if he’d notice.

“How about I let you look at the blood of a guy that can turn into water?” Karin asks, because she’s not going to let him look at her blood. “I’ve got it with me.”

“...why?” Anakin asks, reasonably disturbed.

“He owes me,” she says, and does not elaborate.

“What, there’s nothing weird about your blood to share?” Anakin demands, like the ornery little bastard he is.

“People took my blood against my will for over a decade,” Karin says, with the kind of smile that threatens a stabbing. This is not secret information. Her healing factor is in the bingo book. Plenty of people still want her dead. “Nobody gets my blood except me.”

Anakin has no idea what to do with that answer. Most people wouldn’t know what to do with that answer. It’s not exactly a standard answer.

“So there is something weird about your--e chu ta what the fuck are those scars?”

Karin looks at her arm. She looks back at him. She raises an eyebrow.

“What do you think they are?”

He stares a little longer, and then very carefully does not say anything as she pushes her sleeve back down.

“So can I look at your blood?” she asks again.

“Uh--”

“You can look at mine under a microscope,” she wheedles. “You can’t take any, though.”

Anakin... does eventually agree. Eventually.

-----------

There is a very angry redhead yelling at a machine, and Anakin does not know what to do.

“Is something wr--”

“What the fuck is your blood?” she demands. “It’s glowing in ultraviolet. It burned the dye up. I tried to sequence your genome--”

“Woah, I did not agree to that.”

“--and look at this. Look at this!”

“I don’t know how to read your graphs. None of this is a language I know.”

“It’s garbage,” she hisses at him. Glot takes a few moments to process it. “Look at this. This is supposed to--fuck, where’s the Jiraiya file, he’s standard--this is what it’s supposed to look like for most humans with chakra. And this is a civilian, and a few bloodline users--”

“Do you just carry these around with you?”

“Shut up, you don’t exist. You have--you have more in common with summons than people. I ran a blood test on one of your human diplomats, the ones that aren’t monks--”

“When did they agree to that?”

“They didn’t, I’m just sneaky.”

“I should tell Obi-W--”

“STAY THERE, I’M NOT DONE YELLING YET. Do you see this? Do you see this shit? This is the one and only time I’ve managed to perform any kind of analysis on a bijuu. They don’t usually have blood. Shukaku is sand. Matatabi is literally just fire. This was almost impossible to make happen, but I did it because I’m a dedicated biomedical resea--”

“Because you’re unhinged.”

“--rcher, and you know what? You know what I’ve found?”

“What?”

“Your blood looks like you’re half demon,” she says, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking, a little wild-eyed and clearly pissed at him. “Half of it’s human! Half of it looks like the non-physical chakra manifestations that were torn-apart remnants of a godlike demon. The fuckers can’t die. They also can’t breed. They don’t have reproductive organs! This isn’t just demon-tainted like a jinchuuriki, I’ve got that analyzed--”

“Why?”

“Because my cousin’s a moron, don’t change the subject. You--you shouldn’t exist. Your blood is stupid. Fuck, is this what I’d find if I analyzed the Sage of the Six Paths?”

“The what?”

She ignores him, frowning at papers. “Is--I need to call Haruno, she might still have some of Kaguya’s blood dried on her old gloves from the war, I know she kept those as a souvenir from the whole ‘punched a god’ thing.”

“I’m sorry, the what?”

“There was a thing a few years back, godlike alien demon princess who got sealed into a moon by her sons a thousand years ago, but her immortal sentient goo child brought her back with a giant tree that consumed all the tailed beasts-the flaming fox you saw earlier is one of them--and then used a giant eyeball to reflect off the moon to put everyone in a hallucination at the same time so she could eat our life-forces,” Karin dismisses. “It’s not important.”

“There is--what?”

Jedi see many things. Many of those things are very strange.

This is a little much even for Anakin.

“It’s over, if you want the actual details, talk to my idiot cousin,” she huffs. “But now I need to run comparisons between the actual nonsense that is your entire existence and the actual nonsense that is my cousin’s existence, and maybe Sasuke’s... fuck this is going to be a mess, I’m going to have to cross-reference all the clans with bloodlines we know are derived from Kaguya, she’s the only angle we have on gods like that, unless... maybe there’s still some black Zetsu goo somewhere... Orochimaru must have kept a sample...”

“Uh, can I--can I go? I’m not comfortable here.”

“I need to find Naruto so he can call the Sage of the Six Paths out of the afterlife so I can see if I can get blood from a ghost to compare to yours.”

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

Ok, but Jasnah ended slavery because unlike any monarchs of the time in our world, she truly had absolute power. And there's no uprising at her unending everything by doing so bc the most prolific and valuable slaves across the planet just turned into a terrifying warrior race waging an existential war against everyone. And bc people didn't have give up their important slaves (bc the point is made often that the human slaves pretty much suck and aren't really important to running anything) bc again they all ran off already to turn into an army to fight a genocidal war. Nobody argued with her bc the slaves were already gone and bc if they had done it early, they could have avoided some of the trouble they were having (though not all as the Fused were still coming back bent on genocide -- which I get wanting revenge but they've literally lost every time for millenia. How have they not gone fuck it, this just ain't happening, the fuckers breed like crazy and live everywhere?)

When the slaves go THAT way, it's a whole different story to just abolish slavery. Plus terrified populace -- scared people are sheep, and they are not going to fight too hard against the most intimidating woman alive and the Blackthorn to keep slaves who have already left and are trying to kill them all.

In any other situation, yes the sudden abolishing would be insane. This however was not a normal thing. Note that it wasn't Jasnah or any of the Kholins were such great people they'd always wanted it, it was that the singers showed slaves to be a very real threat. Nah, human slaves weren't the same but since humans could and did join them there was a risk of human slaves joining the singers or just rising up together in the future as a lesser headache but still a headache. And since people were already shell-shocked and having to cope with losing their good slaves, might as well rip the bandaid off quick.

Not to say Jasnah hadn't been opposed to slavery before, we don't have her on record at all. We don't have any of them on record. That's kind of a statement in itself. They took it for granted bc their station allowed them to.

As for race, they're shown to be much like actual people. They have some prejudices and some not. Dalinar trusts a dark eyed man more than anyone else before he discovers Kaladin is a Radiant. Yet still looks at other nations in bigoted ways at times. Adolin seems to not really notice -- I don't think his initial issues with Kal came from racism but from embarrassment. Jasnah looks down on literally everyone. Renarin looks down on no one. Elhokar is confused bc he doesn't get why he's demonstratably not better than them. Only Elhokar and Dalinar became better people -- Dalinar well on his way to being better from the moment Gavilor died -- and he didn't save shit.

And they very much did not save the world. They had big beats yeah. But the Windrunners who were the dregs of society? The Lightweaver built by Shallan out of deserters who'd turned bandit? Lift... I don't even know how to describe her. Szeth, who straight up murdered people unthinking bc a guy holding a rock said to? The Kholins did important shit, but they'd all be very very dead without the Radiants, which they're the only royals among them. He'll Elhokar would have died with no redemption if not for Lopen's mom who took no shit from him.

Adolin and Renarin didn't need to realize their racism was bad bc they never really had it. Adolin doesn't see Kal as a darkeyes -- we see him relating to darkeyes charmingly many times. He doesn't like Kal bc Kal is bitchy and made him feel inferior, which he wouldn't have liked from a lightened either bc the boy has ego. Renarin doesn't think he's better than anyone no matter their race or species bc the boy fails to meet societal standards in every way.

The fact is none of these people would have thought much about racism enough to realize it was bad. Royals wouldn't in any world bc everyone is a chess piece. The story about race shouldn't be told by them, bc they're the worst person to tell it -- that's a story that belongs to the oppressed. If you want to look at the race story, loom at Kal, arguably the most important character, learning not just that not all lighteyes are bad (which is not the way you wanted the racism story to be told but it is still a racism story) but also like when he sees the singers as just people despite being his enemy or when he tells Rlain he understands and gets checked for it and goes you're right I don't but I want to and actually listens to the oppressed man.

He's the race story. The Kholins are not

Proposal for Re-working the Kholins’ Character Arcs - a semi-coherent “essay” by me (feat. @akpaley​, thank you for your contributions and for your attempts at editing.)

Hey guys. Different kind of post this time around, compared to my usual brand. It’s time for some fix-it fanfiction masquerading as literary critique. I won’t be using a readmore, I dunno, probably to punish anyone still following this blog or something. So! In this post I’m going to solve the all the issues of racial theming associated with the Kholin family.

I’m often very harsh on the Kholins for benefitting so much from exploitative power structures while doing little to help those below them. But then I’ve also criticized them for actually addressing these very problems in-universe. How can I be upset at them for their inaction and then also be annoyed when Jasnah ends slavery? The short answer to all of this is just that the ways these topics are addressed all feel very inauthentic. For example, in real life history it took over a century of protests, slave revolts, political campaigning, and civil wars to legally end slavery in Europe and America, and abolitionists were met with fierce opposition at every turn. A fictional world need not follow our same historical trajectory, but it still seems a little disingenuous for a monarch to just decide to end it within her first year of power because it doesn’t mesh with her philosophical framework. It’s more like trying to wrap up a subplot than actually address the topic.

Ultimately however, there’s only so far this line of criticism can ever take me because the Kholins are the protagonists and you can’t get rid of them without turning the whole story into something else entirely. And Sanderson shouldn’t have to, these are characters that he created and he’s allowed to tell a story about them. And I actually like a lot of their personalities and arcs and outlooks quite a lot. I do think it’s…unfortunate…to have used slavery and racism as disposable props in a story that ultimately turned out to be about a bunch of royals learning to be better people and saving the world along the way. So I guess what I’m interested in is if there’s a way to keep the premise, keep the characters, keep the general story beats, keep the themes of honor and personal growth, keep the basic structure of everything, and still handle those themes with grace. You know, could this be a compassionate story about addressing racism told from the point of view of nobility? Is such a thing possible?

Well, I’m going to try my best. And I’m going to be imperfect about it, obviously, so if you actually care enough to read all this shit, I welcome discussion and disagreement. 

Jasnah is the most obvious example to point to as being indicative of the problem, but I also think she has the easiest character fixes. She’s already been established as an outspoken dissident on many of her society’s deeply ingrained values. Just add to her atheism and feminism that she’s also always been an outspoken abolitionist. Give her ties to an ongoing reformist movement. Have her lecture Shallan about it in Way of Kings. Make that a reason she’s butted heads with her family so much. I do think it’s poor writing to have a ruler end slavery on a whim, but I won’t deny that having the right person in power can make a huge difference. It’s not as cathartic as having Kaladin lead a slave revolt (or as having Moash destroy society <3) but that doesn’t make it inherently bad so long as the topic itself is still treated with weight. Have her moralistic ideology be firmly pre-established so that when she has to explain why she’s abolishing slavery, her reasoning can be purely pragmatic. The reason she’s moving so fast is because this is a historical point of heightened change, and so her reforms are more likely to work, but if she waits too long and things settle back into a new status quo, she may have missed her window. Not to mention, when her nephew comes of age, her own legitimacy as a ruler might be challenged, so she needs to do as much as she can in what may be end up being a short reign. As a character, Jasnah has always been able to girlboss her way past political realities through sheer force of personality, and that’s great and all, but I think it heightens her character’s competence if she does have to deal with real backlash, not just to her but to her policies as well. The narrative doesn’t even need to linger on her opposition, but acknowledging it and acknowledging that she’s simply a member of a preexisting and ongoing movement would have done wonders to portray slavery as a real and prescient issue. Then again, this is a topic which people have fought and continue to fight wars over, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable for her to have receive major backlash either; perhaps when the Kholins hear in Words of Radiance that she was assassinated, the news could come as tragic but not entirely unexpected so as to imply that her opposition has attempted such in the past. All this is to say, I don’t think it’s at all wrong for Jasnah to do what she did. I also don’t think her entire stance on abolitionism should have come down to a comment where she tells her uncle she’s trying to rule according to ethically consistent values. The fact that slavery was insultingly easy to end not only delegitimizes is as a topic worthy of discussion, but also is a really scathing indictment of literally everyone else in the ruling class who didn’t even think to try.

Jasnah done, easy, Dalinar next.

Dalinar is probably the most complicated character for me to discuss and form coherent statements on. He’s just so rife with contradictions down to his core. That’s probably why I continue to like him so much, why he’s still my favorite, even though I still consider him to be a Bad Person over all. I think deep down I’ll always lean a bit too pacifistic ideologically to ever consider a warlord/general to be a good person, no matter how honorable he may be or how much growth he may undergo. Don’t get me wrong, I still do love his growth. Dalinar is characterized by his constant change and forward momentum, even moreso than the rest of the cast. So for discussing him, at what point can I point to him and say “this is Dalinar, this is who he is, this is what he believes and what he cares about”? Of course, during any point in his arc, you’re going to have to grapple with the fact that all of his lofty rhetoric about honor and striving for personal betterment is ultimately going to be pretty useless to all the people whose lives he’s meaninglessly thrown away across his military career. For me personally, when I talk about his character I like to take the end-of-oathbringer approach, where I acknowledge everything he did in the past as Blackthorn, I agree that it was pretty fucked up, and I forgive him and grant him a clean slate. All this to say that even if I’m judging him purely by his behavior as the current Dalinar within the present day continuity of the books, he’s still a massive hypocrite with horrific amounts of blood on his hands which he’s never even bothered to consider. I dunno, when I first read Way of Kings and I first got to meet this general who’s leading an army in a literal genocide campaign, I sort of figured he’d get some kind of “wait am I the bad guy” moment at some point in the future. And he did get a moment in Oathbringer where he has to fully confront his guilt over past actions, it was great, I really really loved it! But it was also all about actions he took before the series even started, so I guess wiping out the listeners wasn’t a sin he thought needed any atonement. I’m not going to get into the narrative’s treatment of singers and listeners on this post (for no other reason than because I have waaaaaaay too much to say there) but the point I’m getting at is that however good Dalinar’s growth is and whatever direction it takes, it’s always going to have poisonous roots to me. And his treatment of class/racial issues is no different. 

Fixing Dalinar is going to take a lot of what Dalinar does best: introspection. In Way of Kings, Dalinar dislikes how Sadeas treats his bridgemen because he believes it to be dishonorable, because he believes Sadeas is forcing others into a situation that he himself would never put himself into. He also has various sympathetic reflections here and there about how sad it is when soldiers die, and about how without the benefit of the Thrill, violence is actually kind of bad. You know how it goes. But I don’t think he ever put himself at risk to actually help or protect any of the people who are dying. Whether he wants to end the war or not, he still continues to participate in it. And he’s still willing to set aside the lives of literally everyone beneath him so he can pursue his dream of unity. The book ends with Kaladin and the rest of bridge four saving him and Adolin, and in gratitude, he purchases their freedom and gives them honored positions in his household. You know, because he’s so honorable. Everyone loves this scene, so I’m going to make it the catalyst for Dalinar’s new and improved character development. The problem with saying Kaladin helped Dalinar so Dalinar helped Kaladin is that when I’m being reductive and uncharitable (like I’m being right now), I can argue that their relationship basically started as a quid pro quo. This scene is meant to prove that Dalinar really is the most honorable person in Alethkar, just as Syl thought, only it doesn’t actually do that. See I don’t actually want Dalinar to start treating Kaladin as an equal. I want Dalinar to, in that moment, realize that Kaladin is better than him. That for all of his pontificating about honor, he would have never even considered risking his own life and the lives of his own family to rescue a bunch of bridgemen. I want him to see Kaladin’s honor, and rather than be validated in his beliefs, I want him to be thoroughly humbled. Let him spend all next book reflecting on all the lives of darkeyes he’s destroyed. Let it shame him, as Evi’s death shamed him. He already flirts with these lines of thought, and he already has an arc about confronting his past actions. Let the racial injustices he’s participated in be a part of that. Let him abandon his books and traditions instead look to Kaladin to learn what honor truly means. I don’t know how any of this would translate to his actions, because if we’re being honest his ideals are already quite incongruous with his actions, but the fact that he manages to have such strong theming regardless makes me think maybe that’s okay. I guess ultimately it would be enough for me if his character, as someone who symbolizes the ideals of a nation, was able to look at a darkeyes publicly be a follower rather than always trying to lead by his own personal example.

That’s Dalinar. Elhokar next?

I actually don’t think there’s too much wrong with Elhokar’s writing, especially in the first two books where a much greater emphasis on these themes were placed. He’s not a protagonist and we the audience aren’t supposed to endorse his actions. Most of what I’d change about his story is more about Kaladin and Moash than it is about him. I definitely don’t love that he can throw away the lives of his own people by the thousands in the genocide campaign that was the vengeance war, and then have the narrative just ignore all that in favor of him being sad about his own incompetence. If Elhokar is meant to be a sympathetic character, then when he calls himself a bad king, that’s what he should be thinking about, the number of lives he’s wasted over these years. I actually like him a lot more as a less sympathetic character, and I think I would have preferred if in oathbringer the narrative and the other characters would have stopped making so many excuses for him. Back to Kaladin and Moash, those are the two characters defined by their experiences as members of the downtrodden caste, so I personally sort of judge the problematic-ness of the whole story by how they get treated. Everyone loves to talk about how those two are foils. So. In order to strengthen Kaladin and Moash’s characters, either Elhokar needs to be as much of a monster as Amaram, or Amaram needs to be just as sympathetic and conflicted and having-of-a-toddler as Elhokar. Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely love the trope of finding at the end of a revenge quest that the person you hated has changed and grown. But I hate how this means that Moash’s hatred is wrong and unjustified, whereas Kaladin’s is validated at every turn. I don’t actually dislike Elhokar. I mean I think he’s a bad person, but I like a lot of characters who are bad people. I just think that if this story really wants to grapple with class and race (because it sure brings them up a lot for a story that doesn’t want to talk about them), then Moash is a much more important character than him, with a lot more to add to that kind of discussion, which is why I think Elhokar’s characterization would have to come second to Moash’s development. (Obviously if this series were being reworked to be better on this topic, Moash would have to be written with a lot more compassion in general, but this post isn’t about him.)

Intermission time. Gavilar.

Gavilar is already perfect, 10/10, great character all around, what a guy, no notes, no wonder he’s so universally beloved among all of the fans, social justice icon.

Okay onto Navani.

I may not be the best person to talk about Navani. She has never been a favorite character of mine, and so compared to the others I haven’t thought as much about her values or the way she thinks or the narrative impacts of her actions. Someone who has more love for her would probably write better criticisms of her. (I’m going to reject any premise that falls along the lines of “Navani isn’t racist because she feels X,” but I’m not wholly confident in my analysis here, and I welcome any good faith critiques both of my own thinking and of her character when come at from other angles.) It’s hard to say where she should have grown from how she starts out viewing darkeyes because I don’t actually know how she starts out viewing darkeyes. I know I’m probably meant to assume she just treats everyone equally because she’s a Good Person on Team Good Guys, but it’s hard to just accept that she had all around good values when she married a warlord and was in love with his more violent brother. I dunno, was her “good guy” status meant to have always been an element of her character, or did she get it secondhand from her association with the new and improved Dalinar? With someone like Adolin, we got to see what shitty values he held at the start of Way of Kings (I’m talking about the Alethi warmongering, not his interest in fashion) but we also got to see how his father gradually won him over throughout the course of the book, and then later on we get to see him develop further on his own. For someone like Navani, I find it strange how she’s always so proactively supportive of Dalinar in everything, even when his own goals and values are in flux. I assume her character is just meant to be super ride or die when it comes to her family, and I do like that in a character, but that also means that she’s been wholly willing to support or at the very least excuse her family’s oppression and exploitation of darkeyes without comment. (See, Lirin is a much better parent than Navani, he would never have let his son start a whole genocidal vengeance war for fun and profit (I say this as if I’m joking but I’m kinda not.)) Some people have reminded me that she was pretty much shut out of the political process by Gavilar and Elhokar, and I agree with that, but I don’t really have any evidence that she would have cared much about darkeyes even if she had been more involved. In general it just seems like the whole topic doesn’t matter much to her. So what I would wish for the narrative would be to lean further into this. Draw attention to her cognitive dissonance and try and make the readers feel conflicted about her as a person. Highlight the fact that she’s willing to overlook the suffering that befalls other families if it means success for her own. I think one of my issues with her is that to me, this is a major (and interesting!) character flaw, but the books never seem to treat it as such. Honestly I think if this were intentional, I’d probably find her character really interesting, but from my reading of the text, I feel that I’m supposed to think of Navani as a generally decent person who’s by and large on the right side of things. The thing is, with the caste system playing such an integral role in their culture, I think she needs to have some sort of feelings about it, or else the fact that she doesn’t should be an issue to overcome. Otherwise she becomes another factor delegitimizing racial oppression as a real and important problem. If she’s a good guy and she doesn’t care about racism, then that’s saying you don’t have to be antiracist to be a good person in this world. 

Probably could have done that one better. I dunno. Leave me angry and hateful comments if I’m totally misrepresenting your favorite character. Moving on.

Adolin already has some great character development across the books. And he already has kind of engaged with this stuff in his story. Unfortunately, that’s less used in the “this person was racist but is becoming better sense” and more used in the sense of “Kaladin learns that #NotAllLighteyes are bad” which is pretty unfortunate for a number of reasons. Especially since, if he actually was going to prove he’s different from other lighteyes, out of all the Kholins I think Adolin is the best candidate for being a full on class traitor. I’m serious, looking back over the events of his plotlines, it would suit him shockingly well while disturbing the overall narrative shockingly little.

Adolin’s current plot is loosely as follows: in Way of Kings he likes all the things someone of his station is supposed to like, clothes, violence, dueling, warfare, swords, hangtime with the guys, all the good stuff. At the beginning of the book he doesn’t understand why old, stuck-up Dalinar can’t just let loose and be a relelntless war-monger like everyone else, but by the end of the book he’s come to understand a certain value to honor and thus has begun to become a better person himself. Words of Radiance has him lose his popularity, fall out of favor with all of his friends, grow disillusioned with his society, perform a prison sit-in in solidarity with Kaladin, and murder Sadeas. Most of this is done again, because of his father, and how Adolin now wants to help and support him and his ideals. In Oathbringer he mostly isn’t involved in courtly politics, being away on a mission for much of it, but he does make a pretty big move by rejecting the throne. In Rhythm of War we see the schism that’s formed between him and his father until he leaves on another long-distance mission. Summary over. In general I reject the idea that making the Kholins be individually less racist makes for a better, or more nuanced and compassionate discussion of the topic, but if anyone is primed for a “lighteyes learns racism is wrong” character arc, I think it’s Adolin. Imagine him following a bit less in Dalinar’s footsteps and a bit more in Jasnah’s. You almost don’t even have to change any story beats: in getting to know Kaladin, something clicks in Adolin where he realizes that if he wants to treat Kaladin as his equal, he has to treat all darkeyes as equals, and so he realizes to his horror that he and his entire caste of friends and family are all monsters for treating them the way they do. (Actually, there is one plotline in WoR I’d probably scrap, and that’s his slowburn bromance with Kaladin. I mean I get what Sanderson was going for with the ribbing and then eventual friendship, but Kaladin was an absolute stranger who risked his own life to save Adolin and his father from certain death, and so I feel there should probably have been a bit more overt respect upfront there.) In pushing for his newfound belief in equality, he ends up burning through all of his intracaste goodwill and political capital, causing all of his friends to drop him. When he kills Sadeas, it doesn’t have to be about protecting Dalinar or about personal revenge, it could also be that he’s gotten to know Bridge 4 and learned firsthand about the atrocities they’d gone through, and so there’s no way he’d allow such a pioneer of human rights violations to stay in power. In the following books, maybe he’s become so politically toxic due to challenging the very foundations of his own power, his own family has to send him away on missions so he can’t rock the boat too much at home. Maybe refusing the throne was more of a political statement than a personal one, because he’s come to understand that being a ruler means oppressing thousands of others. Maybe this is another form of hypocrisy he criticizes Dalinar for, how Dalinar might claim to value darkeyes but how he still retains power bought with thousands of their corpses. None of this has to modify actual events very much, it just affects the reasons for them. And it would also meaningfully show why he gets to be a “good lighteyes” if he actually engaged with his status and rejected it, knowing it comes at the expense of others.

Okay, enough about that. Renarin maybe?

I won’t say too much about Renarin here, because I’d probably just end up repeating a lot of the same criticisms of how he’s used as a “good lighteyes.” From a narrative standpoint, all those criticisms hold for him as well. You know, he wants to join Bridge Four, and future-villain Moash doesn’t like the idea because he doesn’t trust lighteyes, but Kaladin reassures him that Renarin is a good boy, so don’t worry about it, and everything works out fine in the end, proving that lighteyes are good people just like you and me. This isn’t a problem with him as a person or character, it’s just more of that general theme of “the caste system is fine so long as nice people are at the top” which I clearly think should be interrogated. Thus far, in contrast to the rest of his family, Renarin is very young and has had much less of a political presence, not to mention fewer POV chapters anyway, so I think delving too much deeper here will feel a bit hollow to me.

Does Shallan count as a Kholin? I’d like to talk about her super briefly.

Unpopular opinion, but I actually think Shallan is one of the better characters on the topic of race insofar as how she’s written, especially compared to the other Kholins. But wait, I hear you say, what about all of her dozens of instances of casual racism? Yes, that’s what I’m referring to. I like how Shallan demonstrates how ingrained these harmful ideologies are in their society. I like how every time she has a distasteful thought, we the audience are reminded that racism still exists and even good people will continue to promote it if they don’t view it critically. I like that Shallan is problematic, because their society has problems! At least with her it doesn’t feel like the story’s trying to sweep the fact under the rug. There are plenty of issues with her writing, plenty of jabs at Kaladin that probably shouldn’t have been treated as cute. She’s actually the main character whose racism and classism I see criticized the most. And I think that’s a good thing! My issue with the Kholins isn’t that I think they should all be less racist, my issue is that their positions are inherently oppressive, and it seems as though the narrative doesn’t think that matters so long as deep down they’re good people. When people critique Shallan in specific instances, I tend to see a fair amount of consensus and agreement there, but when I critique the Kholins people will argue with me by pointing out that Dalinar/Adolin/Navani/whoever actually treats darkeyes as equals, so my arguments are invalid. Purely my own anecdotal experience of course, but it tends to make me think that there’s something in Shallan’s writing that’s working right, something that isn’t working for the other lighteyed characters.

Now obviously with all of this, I’m not saying I want these books to have more racism in them. What I’m arguing is that if the books are going to explore the topic (which they do) then they should treat the topic with an appropriate amount of gravity rather than acting as if it can be solved by having aristocrats become nicer people.

If you’re still here with me, thank you for reading, I love you, I hope you enjoyed yourself through my descent further and further into rambly nonsense. If you just scrolled to the bottom, that’s fair enough, there won’t be a tl;dr but you’re welcome for filling your dash with massive text blocks.

[atinydise]

Ateez reacting to the other members not liking their s/o (part 2)

❦ Genre: Fluff, a tiny bit of angst.

❦ Pairing: OT8.

❦ Word count: 3K7.

❦ Requested: Omg yes lol, thank you! 🦋

❦ A/N Note: ⚠️Since I took an eternity to post it, I advice to read the first part again (or for the first time)! Thank you for liking the 1st one tho! hehe

HONGJOONG

It's been 3 weeks since your altercation with the boys. You didn't talk to your boyfriend yet and he was really sad. He was trying to call you every day at least once, but your phone rang one time and the voicemail welcomed him. You were the only one he wanted to talk with right now. And he wanted to fix this situation as well. "Hyung, do you want to play with-" started San, handing the console remote to him. Still angry at them, he didn't bother to glance or reply neither. He just slammed the door's room loudly. "Us." Finished San. "He's still mad." Declared Yeosang. "Congrats Genius. You found this deduction by yourself?" Asked San, ironically. Yeosang ignored his comment and took his phone. "Where's Y/N working already?" "I don't know. In a café or something." "Where?" "Itaewon." "Okay then put some pants on." "What? Why?" "Wow Sherlock." Replied Yeosang in the same tone San used later. "We are going to apologize to her. Hongjoong was obviously happier with her." "And he didn't have this serial killer look." "Let's go." Claimed Yeosang.

The 2 boys entered at least 16 cafés to find where you were working. They were about to give up when San spotted you, cleaning a table under the terrace. "Y/N! Y/N!" Yelled San, running crazily. You thought that you were dreaming when you saw these 2. It almost felt unreal since they never gave you attention. "What is happening? Are you guys, okay?" "We are really sorry Y/N." They both bowed respectfully. "We had wrong assumptions about you. We are really ashamed of ourselves." Continued Yeosang. "You were not taking advantage of Hongjoong Hyung. But in fact, you made him happier." You felt bad to know that your boyfriend was sad because of this situation. "It's okay..." you smiled nervously. "I guess that you wanted to protect him." Yeosang and San nodded. They were really sorry. "Lift your head boys. We are fine now." "There's a last person you need to be fine with." Added Yeosang. San and you stared at him weirdly. He pointed at the other side of the street, where Hongjoong was smiling at the warming scene. San, completely unaware of this plan, whispered to Yeosang: "how did you planned this? And when?" "You know how long you take to put a pant on?" "Are you a genius?" "Why are you surprised?" Replied Yeosang. While they were talking about their strategy, you asked your manager, 15 minutes break and ran to your boyfriend. His arms were open, waiting for you. "Mission accomplished." Declared San happily. "Congrats Partner."

SEONGHWA

Just when the rest of the group entered the room, Seonghwa was waiting for them with a wide smile. "What is going on? And why are you smiling like that?" Asked Wooyoung. "Yeah. It's scary." Whispered San. "Well boys..." he started. "We have a guest tonight." "A guest? Your mom?" Hongjoong freaked out a bit. Judging that it was the best moment to appear, you came out of the kitchen, an awkward smile on your face. "Hello." You waved nervously. You saw all of their faces darkened at the moment they saw you. "What is she doing here Hyung?" Asked Jongho. "She came here to talk and to arrange the situation." Replied Seonghwa. "But who said that we wanted to talk to her?" Sighed Mingi. "Guys." You tried to interpose, but Seonghwa stopped you. "Let's talk comfortably in the kitchen." He smiled. Even if the boys were reticent, they walked one by one to the kitchen. All of them, taking an empty seat, except San who decided to seat on the counter. Seonghwa and you sat at the end of the table like 2 serial killers waiting for the justice. "I wanted to know why you hate Y/N so much." Started Seonghwa. "I'm sorry if I did something bad." You apologized. "But I would appreciate if you were honest with me instead of being so cold." "How are we supposed to act with you when we know you are just taking advantage of him?" Asked Hongjoong. Seonghwa raised a brow, "taking advantage of me?" "Yeah. She appeared right when we were rising in the charts and stuff like that." You stared at Seonghwa, who was still looking at you. You both busted in laughter. "They thought you were the one asking me out." Laughed Seonghwa. All the boys were confused. "I was the one insisting to date her. I was practically stalking her." "Creep." You whispered. "She had like no interest in me." "Yeah. Zero. Nothing. Nada. Rien. Nieten. Que Tchi. Walou.*" You added. "Hey." "Sorry." "So, you are telling us that we were wrong since-" "The beginning." "She was my prey. And I was the hunter." Smirked your boyfriend. "Seems like we had a misunderstood." Admitted Hongjoong. "Yeah. Seems like." "Can you be friendly with Y/N now?" They all nodded and apologized once again. "Cool! Now should we goo at the restaurant?" "Heck yeah! I could eat a whole bear!" Claimed Yunho. "Babe, do you want to come?" "Yeah sure." You finally accepted, not scared anymore to ruin the mood.

*Nada, Rien, Nieten, Que tchi, Walou: expression to say “nothing” in severals languages.

YUNHO

Your boyfriend was feeling down. He was working for his first k-dramas. he should be happy and in a good mood. But instead, he was simply acting well in front of the cameras and was almost depressed backstage. It wasn't right and you didn't like this at all. The rest of the members were trying to talk to him. In vain, he was simply ignoring them or spending most of the time at your apartment. This behavior would not help to solve this situation. Removing all of your bad thoughts, you planned a quick visit to the other members; especially Mingi and Wooyoung. ["What are you doing today babe?"] You sent a text to your boyfriend, praying that his schedule hasn't changed. ["I'm filming. My break is over in 10 minutes :(. Do you miss me?"] He replied. ["Always haha. Have fun filming too."] Now that you were sure that Yunho won't interfere in your plan, you paid your taxi and get straight to the building. You decided to use the stairs so you wouldn't have more time to think of a strategy. Just right when you entered the hallway, Wooyoung and Mingi were closing the door. For a quick second, the thought of running away settled in your mind. But Yunho's health and spirit were the most important things right now. "Hi." You greeted them. "Hello?" Started Mingi. "Yunho isn't there, he's-" "I came to talk with both of you actually." You said. "Yunho explained what happened 2 weeks ago." "Yeah sure." Growled Wooyoung. "I think it would be easier for us to get along if you tell me what is going on. What did I do wrong?" You asked. "We know you with another guy." Declared Mingi. "And you seemed close enough to hug for at least 2 long minutes." "Listen Y/N, we just don't want Yunho to suffer so we didn't tell him yet that you were seeing someone else." "Are you talking about this tall guy, with a lot of tattoos?" You raised a brow. They both nodded, reminding exactly every detail. "That's my cousin. He moved in Mexico. For his work. So yeah." You sighed. "I hug my family." Wooyoung and Mingi were looking at you dumbly. "Well... what a useless situation." You admitted. Wooyoung ran his hand through his hair and stepped forward you. "I guess you deserve apologies." "Instead of this, can we make a deal?" You offered. "Sure." "Let's get along." You handed both of your hands to each of them." "Deal." Mingi shook your hand, quickly followed by Wooyoung. Before leaving, you asked one last thing.

["Guess who's going to have a dinner with us tomorrow?"] Yunho instantly called you, wondering how you managed to take a selfie with his friends. ["I'm so happy that I could combust right now! How you managed to do this!"] ["Anything for my man!"]

YEOSANG

"Yeosang wait!" You followed him in the hallway. "I want to be alone for now." He replied, opening an empty backstage room. "But you just can't run away like that!" You held his wrist. "Y/N." "We can fix this. Or just at least try to live without them hating me." "I do not think they are ready to do that." Yeosang gently pushed your hand and entered the dark room. Before you could say anything else, he slammed the door in front of you. A quick and loud noise made you realize that he locked the door. Knowing that being loud or begging your boyfriend to open wouldn't help, you decided to fix the problem by yourself. "Okay! If you prefer to stay here and hide, then FINE! I'll handle it!" You gave a quick kick on the door and walked back on your previous step. "What a baby..." Without knocking, you opened ATEEZ' backstage room. They were all gathered around Hongjoong, probably claiming how much they hate you. "I have many things to say guys." You started. "And one by one." They were all looking at you as an alien who just came from another planet. "I'll start by you Kim Hongjoong! As a leader, you should be comprehensive and try to fix things which could hurt any members!" "Y-Y/N." "And you Park Seonghwa! Yeosang told me that you were the nicest here, but I only saw a rude and cold guy! I'm really disappointed." "Please-" "Yunho and Mingi." You sighed, putting your hands over your hips. "You were the first one who were nice with me. But something made you change your mind and you both kept hurting my feeling. Especially when you leave every room I enter." You said angrily. Both of them bent their head, feeling guilty. "Oh, and this trio!" You pointed at San, Wooyoung and Jongho. "I would appreciate if you could stop looking at me like you are looking at a trash. Surprise! It hurts my feelings too! Because YEAH! I have feelings!" You almost screamed. "So, tell me NOW, why you hate me so DAMN MUCH?!" A long silence settled after your monologue. The boys were looking at each other, waiting for one to talk. Hongjoong as a good leader, stepped forward. "We are sorry Y/N." They all bowed to you. You had no idea that your words would affect them that much. "Ah... Huh-Okay." You scratched your arm. "After Yeosang quick departure, we talked a bit about our behavior, and we concluded that we have zero reason to dislike you." Explained Hongjoong. "Let's trying to get along." Said Hongjoong. "For Yeosang." You accepted. "It might be hard for us because you were really not into our heart." Added Seonghwa. "Yeah, don't worry y'all made it clear." "But if you are important to Yeosang, then you are important for us." He said, smiling warmly. "Thank you. I truly appreciate that." You bowed back politely. "Now we just need to get Yeosang out of the room."

SAN

Seongwa entered the kitchen. He was surprised to see San and Wooyoung actually sitting at the same table. San was eating his cereal and Wooyoung was scrolling on his phone. It almost felt like a random and good day. Until Seonghwa asked: "You are finally getting along again? It's a good thing!" San sighed, "why should I get alone with this guy?" "Oh no..." "Just ignore me like you used to do. I'm fine with it." Said Wooyoung, rolling his eyes. "Okay, I should have stayed quiet." Whispered Seonghwa. "Exactly like him. He should have shut his mouth." Replied San, leaving the room, bowl in his hand. "I said that to help you!" He shouted. "Jung Wooyoung." Called Seonghwa seriously. "You should fix it." "Me? Why? It's him which was dating this girl! And you weren't liking her too, right?" "Yeah, but have you seen San these days? He's barely smiling or talking to us." He replied. "You need to fix this. And today." "Today?! Hyung! Come on." Growled Wooyooung. "Not my problem." Honestly, this task wasn't helping Wooyoung to like you, but he needed to do or at least try something for his friend.

That's why, now, he was waiting at the restaurant next to your college. You said that you would show up, but he wasn't sure about that. Until, you sat, in front of him. "Hello?" He greeted you. "Hi." "Okay... I'll be totally sincere and straightforward with you." "As you always do." Wooyoung was surprised by your attitude. But in a good way. "I don't like you because I'm pretty sure you take advantage of my friend." You sneered. "How many times do I need to tell you that I don't give- that I don't care about his career." "What if he was an employee or a technician?" Asked Wooyoung. "Do you date people for their image? I'm not like that. I don't date him because he's an idol. I just love him. For his personality, his kindness. Everything that made San, our San." "You love him?" Said Wooyoung, surprised. "Yeah, of course I do." I thought it wasn't serious at all yet." "Well maybe if you tried to talk more and sooner with him or me, you'll know." "If you us to get along, you should be nicer." "And you, less rude." Wooyoung rubbed his forehead. You were stubborn as him. "How can we get along?" "Are you free right now?" "Huh, yeah?" "Cool. Let's hanging out without beating each other." You offered. "A-Are you sure it's a good idea?" He asked, not convinced. "Well, San, always says that people get closer around-" "A good meal." Finished Wooyoung. "Cool then let me call the waiter." You paused. "But you pay." "Argh... this woman." Sighed Wooyoung.

MINGI

Hongjoong sighed when he saw Mingi, eyes glued on his phone. It's been 2 weeks and still no sign of you. You declined all of his calls, ignored his messages even on social media and obviously you were not sleeping in your apartment anymore. "Mingi, your view is going to be terrible if you don't leave this damn phone." Scolded Hongjoong. The tall boy gave him a dark look. "My view would be fine if you've learned Y/N better. Instead of judging her." Seonghwa growled next do the leader. "Here we go again." Mingi rolled his eyes, still pissed by this behavior. "Yeah, here we go again." He repeated. "It will be like that until Y/N accept to talk to me again. Or just listen to me." "Why does it matter so much?" Asked Seonghwa. "Because she's the one. Why? I don't know. I just feel it. She's the only one I need." Hongjoong and Seonghwa exchanged a quick, guilty glance. "Y'all decided that she wasn't made for me because of a stupid "instinct". Mingi air quoted. "We are trying to help you. We know how sensitive you are." Declared Hongjoong. "Then why do you need to put me in this situation? You are the only ones who are hurting me right now." He finished, plopping angrily on the sofa. The 2 boys remained quiet for a second, looking at each other. Finally, Seonghwa asked: "Okay so how can we help you?" Mingi smirked, when he finally heard those magical worlds. It was exactly what he wanted since these past weeks. "Okay call everyone here." He ordered.

You were sadly applying your night cream on your face. Since your break-up with Mingi, your skin decided to be terrible dry and itchy. You were the worst. Tired of this situation, you buried your face on your arms. You shivered a little when your forehead touched the cold surface. "It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby I think I wanna marry you!"* You didn't need to hear it twice to recognize Mingi's voice. Not believing that he did something like this, you rushed to the window. At your big surprise, he wasn't alone. The other members were there too: Hongjoong was holding the phone and speaker, while the rest of the group was holding a sheet of paper saying, "Can you forgive us?" But Yeosang was holding the quote mark in the wrong side. "Song Mingi! Are you crazy!" "Crazy of you!" The members gagged behind him. "We all want to apologize for treating you this way." Claimed Yunho, louder than the music. You were affected by this effort. They all realized that you were not a bad person. "If you accept our apologies than come here so we can have a discussion." Declared Seonghwa, speaking for the whole group. "Got it, I'm coming. Do y'all need snacks?" They all yelled and shouted an incredible about of snacks' brands in only few seconds. Mingi winked at you. Your kindness got them. And food too.

*Song reference: Marry You by Bruno Mars.

WOOYOUNG

Your roommate entered the library again. She couldn't help but to let out a quick sigh when she saw you: your head buried behind a ton of books, which didn't seem interesting. "You didn't move since I left this morning." She sat in front of you. "I need to pass this exam." "You could have at least answered to your phone. I wanted to have a lunch with you." "I forgot my phone." You shrugged. "Did you really forget your phone?" She raised a brow. "Or you made sure to let it on your bed? To avoid texting Wooyoung?" "Study is the only thing that keep me away from my problems." You sighed. "You should confront your problems." Advised your roommate. "I can't. Nobody can force someone to like them." "It's not true. You can do it." She replied. "Meg...." you rubbed your nose. "Even if I want to. I can't." Your roommate opened her mouth to prove you the opposite, but finally she decided to stay quiet and open her books instead. This silence lasted only 30 minutes before someone tapped your shoulders. "Ye- Yunho?!" You freaked out. "Hi." He scratched his head, embarrassed. "Is everything okay? Wooyoung is sick? And how did you manage to find me?" "I'll let you talk in peace. I have my science lesson anyway." Said Megan, burying her books in her bag, before leaving." "See you later Y/N." "Is everything okay?" You repeated. "Yeah, don't worry. Wooyoung is fine." You sighed in relief. "Fine but sad though. He's missing you." "I do too but... I don't want to interfere with his career. I got it. It's important for you and the rest of the members as well." You claimed, sadly. "It is. But we only thought about the group and our success." He added. "It's a complete selfish behavior." "It's okay." You smiled nervously. "You wanted the best for the group." "I can understand if you don't want to forgive us, but we are truly sorry." "For Wooyoung, we should try to get along. And to find the right way to move on." Yunho nodded, happy that you didn't plan a revenge. "So... you are the one who decided to come here? So brave." "Hm... honestly, we are all here except Wooyoung. But I'm the only one who succeeded to jump the gate. "W-Who what?" "If you hear security guard running here than we should run too." "The heck-"

JONGHO

"I can't believe we hide ourselves for 3 hours now." You complained, shoving your hand in a pack of candies. "What do you want to do? Confront them?" You raised a brow, "yeah! We should." "Come on Y/N, we don't even know why they don't like you." "That's why we should open the door, enter the living-room and ask all of them." Jongho sighed, "Y/N." "Jongho." A long eye-contact battle started between both of you. The one who is going to blink will be the winner. "I won't give up." You said. "And I won't give up too." Your eyes started to feel dry and itchy when a loud knock resonated in the whole room. "Jongho, Y/N. Come in the living room please." Requested Yunho." Jongho got out of the bed the first one, you simply followed him. The room was just next to the living-room, but it felt so long at the same time. Your boyfriend gulped and your hands became moist. "We are coming Hyung." Jongho got out of the bed the first one, you simply followed him. The room was just next to the living-room, but it felt so long at the same time. "Why do you want to talk about?" Asked Hongjoong, sitting next to the coffee table. "You asked if we had a particular hate toward Y/N." Replied San. "And yeah, a bit." "At least that's straightforward." You whispered. "Can I know why?" "Well, you made Jongho cry just after 5 days of relationship." The maknae facepalmed and blushed at the same time. "I what? You cried?!" You looked at your boyfriend shocked. "Yeah... it was our first argument. You were really really really mad, and I was so nervous! I was having a mental breakdown and it just happened." He explained. "Only 5 days of relationship." Repeated Yeosang. "So how he would be after 2 years? Depressed?" "Argh no! Of course not. And that's not my intention." You tried to justify yourself. "And an argument is normal for a couple..." "Even after 5 days?" "Seonghwa Hyung..." whispered Jongho. "Yes, it is!" You raised your voice. "You'll understand when you'll get someone in your life." "Y/N." Called Jongho. "I really like Jongho. I don't want to hurt him." You started. "Yes, we have arguments, yes, we cry, yes we ghost each other for few hours or even days. BUT! We will always be going through it." You held Jongho's hand in yours. "Right?" He nodded, completely agreeing with you. "So... I know y'all won’t change your mind instantly, but I'm ready to wait that you give me a chance." You stood up. "here are you going?" Asked Jongho. "Going back home. Maybe you should have a talk with them. "Yeah. We need to gather and explain this situation." Acquiesced Jongho. "See." You winked. "I'll come back tomorrow don't worry." "Okay then." "Thank you for having a talk with us." You thanked the boys. "I really hope you can see me as someone who only wants Jongho's happiness." "We do." Smiled Wooyoung.

[kidflashimpulse]

Hi! So, there are probably way more interesting things I could be asking you, but I wanted to go with this. While it’s basically canon that Bart is gay, do you think that’s how he identifies? Like, he comes from an apocalyptic future in which I doubt people had the same terms we do for everything that concerns sexuality ( since most of their knowledge probably came from old sources or aliens ), or maybe they just couldn’t care less. So, how do you think he would react/ identify himself?

Hello :D ! Thank you for your ask, its actually such a good question because I have thought about this a lot, especially in terms of what it means to be LGBT+ within the context of growing up in his alien invaded post-apocalyptic time-line.

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how absolutely awesome and crash it is that we can say that hes basically canon gay like... sure its frustrating the way the YJ creators need to go about this considering the situation but like when Greg first pretty much confirmed it, it was such a moment for me to have a character that is so loved and important to me and so many others being confirmed for what many HC and speculated him as. Like it was so re-affirming and shows why rep is so important, especially to us as part of the community.

Now as to answer your question, I need to explain (as concisely as I can because im not exaggerating when I said i thought about this a lot due to world building but ill try to be as direct to the point as possible lol) how I interpret the Reach and their effects on the civilisation of the post-apocalyptic earth society.

So what is the Reachs background and ultimate goal? Directly from the DC Database (source: the Blue Beetle vol 7 comics, amazing read btw highly recommend) they're explained as: "an alien race of intergalactic conquerors. Their primary goal is taking over planets to enslave the natives and make an economic profit."

From what we saw of them in the Young Justice series, this description pretty much perfectly suits them. (Off note: I think its an incredibly interesting type of alien invaders because I find its like an allegory on the fatal repercussions of consumerism and capitalism but this really isn't the place for me to write this all out LOL). Uh right, back to the point.

So, what have we actually seen from the show that we can interpret about the Reach´s, "practices"? We def have seen that they're driven by economic gains, to the point that Barts timeline was shown to be incredibly polluted and run down. They see humans as live-stock, refer to them as "meat" and probably use them for all sorts of purposes, e.g: slave labour and experimentation, which we have explicitly seen from Barts timeline as well as their actions in the present.

Now what about the Reachs own practices for their own species? I find they're very similar to the Bugs on New Genesis, they're a hive-like species with no sense of identity beyond their designations which is shown by how they don't have any names, only roles. So we have the "Ambassador" (the annoying male leader guy), "Scientist" (the evil but smart female researcher) and the "Warrior" (Black Beetle). From what we have seen, the Ambassador is a condescending, manipulative, ends justify the means, tunnel-visioned, over-confident person in power who definitely places himself and the warriors above others like the scientist. He leverages his position of power to talk down and overrule suggestions by the scientist, no matter how valid they might've been for the evil cause (lol). Hes also shown to threaten the scientist for trying to speak up.

So with all this in mind, the power dynamics and practices of the Reach I find is very much reminiscent of everything wrong with society lol.

Also, we know that if we were to talk only about how human society develops in times of hardship, lets take the pandemic as an example. Its no secret that the rates of radicalisation and extremism has had an uptick and the people who ultimately suffered the most are minorities or those who are financially disadvantaged. People with privileges, facilitated by their place in society could make use of this power dynamic more whereas those who are systemically disadvantaged r statistically more likely to suffer.

Now to tie this in, my personal understanding and I guess pessimistic view, is that in the event of an apocalypse, a post apocalyptic human society is very much backwards and has regressed. Now combining this with the Reach´s inherent affinity for power abuse as well as what I interpreted as them also having systemic issues like misogyny, things like misogyny, racism, homophobia etc are very much rampant among the surviving human society. Its important to note that hes only from 40 years in the future, so I think whilst things were bad and have regressed, not even 1 full generation of time has passed so im sure there was a good portion of people though that at least managed to retain, practice and pass on good values of their pre-apocalyptic times to newer generations and was most probably prevalent among the surviving hero-communities of his time.

Historically, oppressors have largely passed down some values/practices onto the oppressed because again, power dynamics, so the Reachs influence on human customs can't be denied, for ex linguistically with Bart calling people meat or our fave terms mode and crash lol

Lastly, whilst im sure the Reach could care less about human constructs, considering they treated humans like live-stock I doubt they would have been favourable to same-sex couples.

So to tie this all in to answer your questions. Within only 40 years, I am doubtful that within the remaining human society, things have changed to the extent that social constructs and terminology has changed significantly for things like sexuality to be radically different. I do think that with the context of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, society has generally regressed and things like racism, misogyny, homophobia etc run rampant, amplified by the power abuse and values of the Reach. I think some people might assume "oh everyone is suffering, no one could care less about those kind of issues" but the thing is those are exactly the kind of circumstances where those issues actually get worse and affects people.

So taking all this context into account, I believe Bart has been around both good and bad people, where hes been allowed to be passed on good values (particularly from any surviving hero community members, maybe like his family when they were still around, or just generally good people) but hes also seen a lot of messed up sht too. So regardless of at what point he realised hes gay, either during his original timeline or after he travelled to the past in the new time-line, I believe he might've had at the very least at some point some identity inner-struggle or out of survival instinct would try to keep the fact that hes gay under wraps/on the down-low. I don't think his post-apocalyptic climate was friendly at all to LGBT+ ppl and I think in the present hes most probably struggled and panicked a bit over his own identity considering all this.

I hope I managed to answer your questions with this essay lol and thank you again for your ask <3 also apologies for the length of this post as always lol

[seriouslysnape]

Interrupted Slumber

__

Remus Lupin x Fem. Reader

Warnings: None.

A/N: I want a Remus so mf BAD in my life.

Word Count: 1,296

“Let’s talk about it, yeah?”

__

There was a faint light coming from outside, spilling into your bedroom through the cracked window. A gentle breeze flowed through the room, leaving your skin cool and your body comfortable. Your eyelids fluttered every few minutes or so as you continued to float through a deep, resting sleep. The clean sheets were draped over your waist and legs, keeping the easy wind from keeping you too cool. The inky black skies were dotted with little sprinkles of stars. It was perfect conditions for a productive sleep. You were quite at peace.

However, it wasn’t the same for your husband lying next to you.

Remus had broken out into a sweat, his legs shifting uncomfortably around under the sheets as his mind raced with disturbing images. His breathing was heavy and rapid in response to the nightmare he was having, his head moving in distress on his pillow. He had begun to let out scared whimpers and low cries, which brought you from your sleep. It took you a minute to realize that Remus was having a bad dream, and he was what woke you up.

You rested a hand on his shoulder, shaking gently to keep from startling him more.

“Remus, darling, wake up.” Your drowsy voice whispered out.

He suddenly shot up in bed with a sharp gasp, his heart pumping in his ears and throbbing in his head at being awoken so abruptly. His eyes darted around the room frantically, relief falling on his features at the sight of you looking worriedly at him. 

“Oh, thank Merlin...” He croaked out, falling into your frame.

You wasted no time taking him into your hold, his head resting on your chest as you stroked his damp hair. You hushed him, rubbing his back carefully to get him to calm down a little. His breathing was muffled in your shirt as he tried to fight through the panic response, his entire body was shaking violently. You spoke to him sweetly and quietly.

“You’re okay. I’m here. It was just a dream.” You consoled him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

You felt terrible for him. You knew how much he needed sleep, and you always hated when he didn’t get it. He didn’t say anything, but he did something that almost sent you into tears yourself.

He started to cry.

Remus never cried. You would definitely consider him a sensitive guy, and he was much more in touch with his emotions than most males that you knew. Despite this, you had only seen Remus cry two other times in the many years you had been together. The first was when he proposed to you, and the second was when you got married. And even then, those had been happy tears. So this was something seriously upsetting to him.

These were not tears of joy kind of sobs. These were gut wrenching, heartbreaking, truly broken down kind of cries. 

“Oh, Remus...” You called out, bringing his head from your chest so he’d look at you; “What is it?”

He was still quivering, his eyes endlessly pooling with tears and you watched helplessly as they fell down his cheeks. 

“Kiss me.” He said more as a beg than anything else.

You almost chuckled, thinking he was trying to be funny to diffuse the situation, but there wasn’t a hint of entertainment on his face.

“What, love?” You asked.

His clammy hands came to your face, looking into your eyes.

“Kiss me, please. I need to know that you’re actually here.” He pleaded.

You kissed him without hesitation, your heart aching at how bad this had rattled him. He kissed you so desperately that you would’ve thought that he hadn’t seen you in years. His lips were quivering on yours, his crying only ceasing for a few seconds. He pulled away, a little less frantic, but still shaken up. He sighed deeply.

“It was so real. I was...I was sure that you...” He trailed off, another harsh bawl erupting from his soul.

You pushed his hair back from his forehead so you could see his full face, persuading him to talk it out.

“Let’s talk about it, yeah?” You suggested.

He nodded with another whimper, a fruitless attempt to stop his crying. His voice cracked and quaked as he spoke.

“I’ve had dreams like that before...but this one was so different. I didn’t even know I was dreaming,” He explained; “I was watching you, but I wasn’t really there. It was like I was watching a memory.”

He stopped for a moment, sniffling a few times before continuing with his story. He held your hand, squeezing it when he was fighting a choked up sob.

“And then I showed up, but it was a full moon,” He said, knowing you’d understand what he was implying; “Moony was so angry and he just attacked and I couldn’t do anything. Before I knew it, he had...”

You hushed him again when he fell off into crying once more. He didn’t have to say it. You knew that Moony had killed you in his dream. It was something that Remus had always been afraid of. Scratch that, he was petrified of it. Remus had mentioned to you in passing that he sometimes had bad dreams about Moony hurting people, but you guessed that you had never been the victim until tonight’s nightmare. 

“Remus, I know it frightened you,” You said, wiping tears away from his scarred cheeks; “But I’m here, love. I’m right here in front of you. Moony didn’t hurt me...you didn’t hurt me.” You convinced him.

As relieving as it was to know that nothing had happened and that you were safe, Remus still felt this sense of dread. He knew what Moony could do, and he tried his best not to think about what could happen. 

His shaking had slowed some, and his heart and breathing were going at a more normal pace. You held him again, his arms wrapping around your midsection and his head resting against your chest once more. He listened to your steady heartbeat, another reminder that you were there and totally fine. You hummed softly, rocking him back and forth just slightly. While you never ever wanted Remus to feel upset or hurt, you still cherished these moments where he was vulnerable. The moments where he retreated to you for comfort. 

You took advantage of any moment to show him love and affection. He was such a pure, gentle soul that didn’t deserve the tribulations he had to face. 

“I love you. You’re okay.” You said again, making sure that he knew.

He raised his head, moving to sit upright. He knew there was no way he’d be sleeping for the rest of the night, but he didn’t mind. As long as you were there, he didn’t need it. 

“I love you, my beautiful girl,” He replied, the last of his tears fading away; “Thank you for being there for me...and I’m sorry for waking you.”

You assured him that there was nowhere else on the planet that you’d rather be, telling him that he was more important than sleep. Now that he was well into settling down, he noted how disheveled you looked from being abruptly brought from your sleep. He knew you’d want to go back to bed soon, which was fine.

“Kiss me again?” He requested with a slight smirk.

You gave him a smile, knowing that this time he was just being cheeky. You obliged though, kissing him and keeping him close until he was fully feeling like himself again. He didn’t get much sleep for the rest of the night, but you were there with him. 

And that was all he needed.

[sternutaries]

ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧₊˚

RIIIGHT! How could I forget, Thrawn the 'I can and will name every insect and flower we pass cause that is just the type of autism I have' guy (the flower one here in honour of that moment with Anakin at the beginning of Alliances when Thrawn starts monologuing about the grass and Anakin just goes like 'thought you were with the military but you go, flower boy' and Thrawn just clarifies that he downloaded the whole flora/fauna data of the planet before leaving his ship xd) [also I stand with autistic Thrawn the coding is just so...THERE]

So real for Aralani assigning staff for the animals Thrawn and Ezra bring in there because Thrawn would totally forget about the basic needs of every living creature ("what do you mean, I cannot pet it 24/7?>:(") And the general idea of the whole fleet kind of getting used to it because it actually calms the Skywalkers is so cute. TwT Especially since most of them are still quite young, children actually who have to help with military operations and the thought of every child having an emotional support animal that may even stay by their side is actually so adorable.

And they would totally take turns teaching Thrawn! Not only because one can only fanthom a certain amount of his bullshit ("NOOO, you may not do as you think just because the reasoning of the politicians seems irrational to you!" *sprays Thrawn with water*) but also because this man just asks so. many. questions. Like he's the guy in the back of the class you always hoped was sick on the day you had to hold a presentation cause his questions sucked more than yhe one your teacher would ask you. XD love him for that though but he drives Eli, Ezra and Aralani crazy with coming up with the most absurd problem one could possibly imagine.

And I also hope that we'll see something like that in the Ahsoka show!

You are so right. XD Ezra loves to tease both of them with it though. He cannot wrap his head around Eli's doubts whether Thrawn actually likes him because to Ezra it is so obvious that Eli is very important to Thrawn but he also won't miss out on any opportunity to mock Yhrawn for not being able to actually TALK about his emotions for once. His favourite activity becomes putting Thrawn and Eli into situations in which any normal being would totally lose it just to test how much it takes to get Thrawn to talk about his feelings. Eventually he realizes that's not how it works but the whole Chiss Ascendancy GASPED when Thrawn walked up to Ezra one day and asked him "what the actual fuck he was up to" in the thickest Wild Space accent ever (let's not forget ELI was the one who taught him basic. And let's not forget that Thrawn taught Anakin local swear words on Mokivj. Let's especially not forget about the last part because I feel like no one heard Thrawn ever swear in his life).

Also take this as an official request to make "the giggle gang" the official name for Ezra and Eli.

And I need to catch up on a few Legends books as well! I can totally recommend starting off with the 'Heir to the Empire' trilogy given the fact that it's probably not only the most popular one but also the literal quote about Thrawn from the trailer. ^=^

After reading Treason again I just wanna say that I'm convinced Thrawn was buzzing with joy when Ezra decided to yeet both of them into the Unknown Regions.

[darthzero22]

Hi idk if your taking requests but i just thought it would be really cute if Crosshair had a really happy/bubbly/positive girlfriend, but one day he sees her REALLY upset and its beacuse some person hurt her and Cross gets PISSED, because he's never seen her upset before and wants whoever hurt her to pay

Hi! I hope you have a nice day! I will open request later, I don't know when, but I will 😊

But I loved your idea, anon! I'm inspired now, so here you go. I hope it's what you wanted, or looks like it.

Crosshair x Fem!Reader

Crosshair, a serious, cold, distant man with a crude personality, fell in love with you, a woman who always sees the positive side of everything. He doesn't remember you ever getting upset, whenever you could you smiled. That would change and he wouldn't take it very well.

Warning: strong language

You and your squad had landed on a planet to get fuel and repair the Marauder after that complicated mission. You went into the city to get a couple of things Tech needed for the ship, and Crosshair had seen you leave the ship with a smile on your face, but when you came back you didn't have that beautiful smile. 

You were upset, very upset. 

You didn't want to talk to him, in fact you didn't want him to know, but he could instantly see that something or someone was upsetting you.

The door to your room opens. Crosshair enters to find you sitting on the edge of your bed with your head down. Something wasn't right, he had never seen you like this, and he felt his stomach clench at the sight of you in that mood.

“Mesh’la"

"Hey, Cross..."

"What happened?”

“I don't know what you're talking about"

“Don't try to hide it from me” he rests one knee on the floor in front of you, to face you.

“I'm not hiding anything from you, really"

"I don't believe you"

"I..."

“Look at me” he grabs your chin gently.

You lift your face to look at him, and Crosshair is surprised. That beautiful smile that characterized you was gone, and now there were only sad and wet eyes as tears wanted to come out, but you did not allow it.

“Is it bad to help people, Cross?” you were suffering all those negative emotions. Anger, sadness and disappointment. “Is it wrong to want to help someone?”

“It depends on the situation"

"I am beginning to believe that..."

"What happened? I need to know”

He starts to get angry because he suspected someone had hurt you.

“When I was returning to the ship, the owner of this port needed help with some boxes that fell on the floor and I helped him, but...”

“But? Mesh’la, come on. I need to know what else happened”

“I accidentally knocked over a box and whatever was inside broke. I don't know what it was, possibly droid parts or something? I was really sorry… I wanted to help him again because I was really sorry, but he yelled at me saying that if I was so bad at helping, then don't help him anymore… and practically pushed me away”

That man pushed you? That guy dared to lay a finger on you? Crosshair felt his blood boiling more and more.

“He… Don't tell me he dared to push you” he grits his teeth, feeling increasingly pissed off.

“Yes… He even called me useless and pathetic. I... I've never been called that before, especially when I tried to help…”

That was disappointment and anger because you couldn't believe that there were such ungrateful people, and sadness because that man humiliated you in public. That man didn't care that you had helped him before, because at the slightest and simple mistake you made he treated you like a useless and pathetic woman.

You didn't want to cry because you were aware that bad things happen, but it hit you hard because you were treated like garbage when you simply wanted to help. Crosshair frowns, you've never seen him so pissed off. He squeezed the bed sheets with his hand, as he had them resting on the edge on either side of you.

“It's silly, I know…"

"Mesh'la"

"I know some people are ungrateful, but I've never been treated like this before...”

Crosshair was about to say something, but he couldn't because you hugged him by wrapping your arms around his neck, as he was still in front of you. He rests a hand on your back and I could feel you start to tremble.

“People turned to look at me and judge me…” you rested your eyes on his shoulder.

"Mesh'la"

Your shortness of breath made another horrible sensation appear in him.

"You're not... crying, are you?" his tone of voice indicated fear and concern.

Yes, you were crying. Crosshair took that very personally, something in his heart hurt. You were his girlfriend, the most important person in his life. You were always in a good mood, you always found it easy to smile, but now you only cried out of anger and sadness. Now it was hard for you to smile. He had never seen you like this before, which made the pain in his heart increase.

“He pushed you, insulted you and also humiliated you… all because you tried to help him”

"I guess..."

Crosshair hugged you back, while thinking of a thousand ways to make that guy pay for what he did. You were so beautiful, unique in this galaxy that someone dared to hurt you, and above all to prevent you from smiling again. He was stroking your back in an attempt to reassure you, and while he was succeeding, it wasn't enough.

"I'm going to kill that guy"

“Cross…"

Before you could stop him, Crosshair stands up and leaves the room. To say he was pissed was an understatement to describe how he was. He exits the ship, meeting Tech who was surprised to see him.

“Where are you going, Crosshair? We have to take off now”

Crosshair simply ignored Tech and with his eyes found the ungrateful man who hurt you from a distance. That man was just tidying up those damn boxes, so he walks over there. He was clenching his fists, it was very likely that he would beat him up, and you got out of the Marauder too to stop him. You didn't want him to get in trouble because of you.

“Hey, you!”

The man turns around when he hears that, and raises an eyebrow as he sees the tall, angry figure of Crosshair approaching him.

“Yeah? Do you need something...?”

Crosshair didn't let him finish speaking because he punched him in the nose so hard that he managed to knock him to the ground. He did not even give him time to recover because he grabbed him by his clothes in the neck area, and forced him to get up and slam him against the wall. That man had blood coming out of his nose.

“What the…?!”

“Shut up! You think you're brave for humiliating my girlfriend?” Crosshair's eyes showed nothing but fury.

“Your girlfriend…?"

"Yeah. That beautiful woman who dared to help a scumbag like you"

"Oh! I don't know what she told you, but it wasn't like that! She broke…”

“Wait. You dare to call her a liar?!”

“No, no…!"

"You are ungrateful!"

"If you don't let go, I'm going to call the authorities!”

“She helped you, you piece of shit. She helped your disgusting ass when she didn't have to! And you dared to push her? You humiliated her!"

“Please, I didn't mean to treat her like that!”

“You made her cry. You have no idea how pissed off I am... A punch will be the least of your problems”

“No!”

Crosshair was going to punch him again, harder than the first, but a hand grabbing his shoulder stops him. That hand was yours, so he lowers his fist.

“There is no need for this!”

“He hurt you! It is more than necessary”

“I don't want you to get in trouble because of me!"

"I don't care"

"Please... Let that guy go”

Seeing those sad eyes of yours convinced him, even though he didn't want to. Crosshair sighs, but before letting go of the man, he knees him in the crotch, and then the guy falls to the ground in pain from the blow. No one dares to mess with you, that message was more than clear.

"You deserve worse, you idiot"

"Stop..." you grab his hand. "Let's go back to the ship"

You begin to walk back to the ship, but before Crosshair kicks one of the guy's many boxes causing it to fall, and therefore whatever was inside to break.

"I'm a little better now, just a little" he said.

"Was all that necessary?

"He hurt you, he had to pay. No one makes my girlfriend cry"

Even though you didn't quite agree with the violence Crosshair used, it made you feel better to know that he really cared about you. You knew he didn't like public affection, so you waited until you were alone back in your ship's room to hug him. He reciprocates the hug by placing a hand on your back, and you rested your face on his shoulder.

"You could have gotten into a lot of trouble..."

"I told you, I didn't care"

"Cross..."

"Nothing you can say will change my mind. You always find it easy to smile, and then to see you like this..." he sighs. "I wanted to make him pay"

"Cross, the reason I always smile is because of you... You make me smile"

Well, Crosshair didn't expect that. A blush appears on his cheeks, he even frowns, but you feel him hug you a little tighter now.

"I hate to see you sad and to see you cry.... You have no idea how much"

"I am much better now... and thanks to you" you raise your head to look at him, and finally smile.

There was the smile that he loved, even though he loved everything about you. Crosshair brings a hand to your face and strokes one cheek with his thumb, then strokes your lower lip.

"No one will ever hurt you again, I promise" he said.

"I know..."

You give him a kiss on the corner of his lips, but he wanted something more, so he moves his face and they make you kiss each other on the mouth. You knew that with him you felt safe, loved, and above all he was the reason for your happiness. To Crosshair you were his life, so if someone dared to hurt you, it was as if someone would hurt him. He wasn't going to let them hurt you again, he wasn't going to let anyone take that smile away from you.