#neb has a life

[nebulize-my-mind]

i have personal issues with the hot topic backpack that looks like hobie's vest

this mf

because it's SO COOL and i LOVE the spider-verse movies and spider punk and everyone

BUT LIKE FUCK IM BUYING SPIDER PUNK MERCH

because no shit

so now i'm Upset because i do not have the Skills to make something like this and it's so pretty but i CANNOT

[pausegame]

I hope the plotline in DA: Absolution crops up in Veilguard. Devs did say the world keeps moving regardless of Rook/the player so that could be a plotline in Tevinter the same way The Masked Empire was relevant to Inquisition, though not mandatory reading material. Really curious as to what precisely Meredith wants to do. Ressurect all the dead Templars in Tevinter and turn them red and then overthrow??? I am curious 👀

[graysoncritic]

A (Negative) Review of Tom Taylor's Nightwing Run - What Went Wrong? Barbara Gordon

Introduction Who is Dick Grayson? What Went Wrong? Dick's Characterization What Went Wrong? Barbara Gordon What Went Wrong? Bludhaven (Part 1, Part 2) What Went Wrong? Melinda Lin Grayson What Went Wrong? Bea Bennett What Went Wrong? Villains Conclusion Bibliography

Out of this entire essay, this was the section that I considered cutting entirely. After all, in the past there have been instances when Barbara Gordon and her romance with Dick Grayson have been weaponized by Taylor and his fans against his critics. 

The example that comes to mind was when Taylor and Redondo were criticized for not including Duke in a Nightwing cover that parodied The Brady Bunch.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart Finale. Nightwing: Rebirth. 96, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022)

Personally, I believe that, while discussions of how Duke’s positioning in the Bat Family is warranted, the matter was blown out of proportion, and many of the attempts to cancel Taylor crossed the line into harassment (make no mistake, while I believe him to be a terrible writer, I do not wish him any ill-will). That being said, Taylor also escalated the matters when attempting to pin said negative comments onto DickKory shippers who did not like that he wrote DickBabs.

(While the original Tweet has since been deleted, the screenshot used is available in this tweet 

Neb | 🏳️‍🌈 [@NebsGoodTakes]. Twitter, 20 June 2022, https://twitter.com/NebsGoodTakes/status/1538939571789934593)

For this reason and this reason alone, I considered removing this part of the essay. While I have no idea if anyone will read this monstrosity, I did not want my arguments to be invalidated simply because I did not have a favorable opinion on the DickBabs.

However, after much consideration and numerous discussions with other Dick Grayson fans, I found that the subject of Barbara Gordon’s portrayal in this run (as well as in many recent DC media), and her romance with Dick perfectly embodies many of ideas I wish to explore in this essay — mainly, how shallow approaches to progress ideals create deeply problematic narratives that not only undermines the themes of a story, but they also destroy characterization.

I will start by once again stating that I do not believe this is a problem unique to Taylor’s writing. As I alluded to above, I believe DC’s modern portrayal of Babs does a great disservice to her wonderful, empowering, complex character. This is but the analysis of one of the stories she appears in. It is my hope to prove that in Taylor’s Nightwing, Barbara Gordon is not written as a woman with a strong sense of self and an internal life, but rather idealized girl whose existence revolves around the men in her life, and whose perfect yet shimmering depiction serves only to make her into the reader’s proxy-girlriend.   

Barbara Gordon in the late 90s and early 2000s was a mature and confident woman in her late-20s to early-30s. She had her own job, her own friends, team, villains, and the type of confidence that can only come with age and experience. She was serious while still having a sense of humor, pragmatic, and she knew exactly what she wanted for herself. 

(Gail, Simone, writer. Bennett, Joe; Barrows, Eddy, illustrator. Perfect Pitch: Part One. Birds of Prey. 87, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2005. pp. 22)

She was also flawed. She could get angry at people for little reason, she could be too cold or too straightforward without considering the other person’s feelings, she could be purposefully petty and selfish, she could get unreasonably jealous, she was impatient, she could be too proud to admit when she was wrong. It was all of these factors which allowed Barbara Gordon to be her own person — to be a fleshed out, well-rounded woman. 

(Dixon, Chuck, writer. Leonardi, Rick, illustrator. The Gun. Birds of Prey. 39, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2002. pp. 16)

Babs’ life did not revolve around Dick. Yes, she loved him, but she still had some interiority. She had a life outside of Dick Grayson, outside of Bludhaven, outside of Batman, and outside of Oracle. She had her own goals, her own dreams, her own likes and dislikes that worked independently of the men around her. She had her own history that informed her decisions, she had both positive and negative relationships with other women and those relationships were not dependent on her connections with Dick or Bruce. 

(Gail, Simone, writer. Timm, Bruce; Lopez, David; Melo, Adriana, illustrators. A Wakeful Time. Birds of Prey. 86, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2005. pp. 02)

By comparison, Taylor’s Barbara is not a woman, but a girl. She is very young and very immature. If Dick is written like a young man who just left home and is experiencing adulthood for the first time, then Babs is written as his girlfriend who is still in college and does not have concrete plans for her future. 

Note that when referring to Taylor’s Babs, I mainly characterize her through her relationship with Dick. That was intentional. While writing this essay, I struggled to think of Barbara having any meaningful interactions with characters who were not Dick or Dick’s friends, the Titans. I also struggled to think of her doing something for herself rather than for Dick and the Titans. I struggled to define her goals independent of Dick, I struggled to describe the plans she has for her future that do not revolve around her relationship with Dick, and I struggled to give an account of what she does in her spare time when she is not helping Dick, Nightwing, the Titans, or Batman. That is because everything in Barbara Gordon’s life, as written by Taylor, is constructed around Dick (As many may know, it is really hard to prove a negative. How can I get supporting evidence from the comics that Babs does not have a life outside of Dick Grayson when my argument comes from those factors not existing? For this, though I hate to do so, I’m afraid I’ll have to rely on the reader’s familiarity with the run being discussed).

Barbara is a constant presence in Taylor’s Nightwing run. She is a secondary protagonist, and she is often portraying helping Dick Grayson behind the scenes,

(Taylor, Tom, illustrator. Redondo, Bruno The Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart Part Two. Nightwing: Rebirth. 93, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022 pp)

Helping Nightwing as Oracle,

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Leaping into the Light Part 4. Nightwing: Rebirth. 81, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 19)

Or fighting by Nightwing’s side as Batgirl.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. You are Nightwing. Nightwing: Rebirth. 105, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2023. pp. 05)

She is always present, she is always doing something… But all of that is in the service of the men around her rather than for herself.

As Dick Grayson Fan A pointed out during a discussion, “Modern Babsgirl is forced to be perfect at everything. She's never allowed postcrisis Babs' edges, her flaws and intrinsic motivations. Taylor's Babsgirl is designed to be the perfect girlfriend for his blank self insert Nightwing. There's no meat to her bones, she's just shimmer and gloss.” (The subject of Babs came up when DC announced the lineup for Birds of Prey (2023) and Babs was not included on the roster.)

In other words, Babs as portrayed in Taylor’s run lacks any bite, edge, and maturity that would make her feel like a woman with her own sense of self and with a life that is not dependent on her boyfriend. Babs’ portrayal is a shallow girlboss-type of feminism, where though Babs is powerful and intelligent, she is not allowed to be a real person for she serves no purpose other than to be the perfect, understanding, badass girlfriend.

As a result, Dick and Barbara’s relationship becomes hollow. Because Babs lacks interiority, individuality, and agency, she becomes a flat character. This, in turn, makes it so it is hard to understand why Dick and Barbara are together other than for the fact that DC mandates it. The over reliance on the childhood friends-to-lovers trope only increases this hollowness rather than fleshing out their relationship. While Taylor includes flashbacks of Dick and Babs as friends when children, growing up together as teenagers, and fighting together as Robin and Batgirl, those instances feel removed from their individual histories. These moments exist in isolation, removed from the context of the rest of their lives, be it together or separately.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator The Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart. Nightwing: Rebirth. 92, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 06 - 07)

DC currently treats Dick and Babs as a foregone conclusion. As a result, Taylor does not make an effort to get his readers on board with the relationship because he assumes that they should already support it. Dick and Babs are portrayed as getting along great, never having had any conflict, tension, or disagreements. This idealized romance would not necessarily be a problem if it didn’t come at the expense of developing Dick and Barbara as individuals outside of their relationship. They are not one being, but two separate people coming together. They should be written as such, but in trying to create the perfect relationship, Taylor robs Dick and Babs of their identity outside of their romance. 

Not only does this inseparability that Taylor attempts to portray as ���charming” destroy Dick and Babs’ individuality, it can also be downright insulting. In #106 Taylor infantilizes Dick when making it so Babs needs to be the one to wake him up so he can start his work as Nightwing. 

As I mentioned previously, Dick is known for his toxic perfectionism, his obsessive tendencies that often come at the cost of his health. Making Dick laze around in bed while people need his help and having his girlfriend tell him to get ready for the day, as if she was his mother and he was a teenager who did not want to go to school in the morning, is not only out of character, it also diminishes Dick’s competence. It makes it seem like he cannot function as a responsible adult without Babs being there to hold his hand through everyday difficulties. 

Not only that, the scene also plays into incredibly sexist dynamics where women are expected to carry the domestic labor in a relationship — the man cannot keep track of his own schedule, and so it becomes the woman’s responsibility to attend to his needs. What was intended to be a “cute” scene portrays Dick as being immature and irresponsible, and portrays Babs spend her time keeping track of an adult man’s responsibilities.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Byrne, Stephen, illustrator. The Crew of the Crossed Part One. Nightwing: Rebirth. 106, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2023. pp 08)

This unhealthy codependency further insults Dick when, in #107, Babs demands Dick come back home as he is about to help his ex, Bea. Rather than believing Dick’s capability as a vigilante who has been operating in the field for far longer than she has, Babs shows her complete lack of faith in Dick’s ability to get anything done by himself by telling him that she “wants him home now.” 

(Taylor, Tom; Byrne, Stephen The Crew of the Crossed Part Two. Nightwing: Rebirth. 107  e-book ed. DC Comics, 2023. pp. 19)

This is a great contrast to Nightwing (1996) #66, where Babs encouraged Dick’s independence and had full trust in his abilities to take on such difficult challenges on his own. When Lockhaven goes up in flames, Babs trusts Dick to be able to handle the situation by himself, even though she also knows that Dick’s mind is greatly preoccupied with Bruce and the murder of Vesper Fairchild. Indeed, in the next issue (not part of Murderer/Fugitive, but happening simultaneously to it), Dick does handle the Lockhaven fire by himself, without requiring any assistance, before returning to Gotham to help with the investigation that should clear Bruce’s name.

(Dixon, Chuck, writer. Burchett, Rick, illustrator. The Unusual Suspects. Nightwing. 66, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2002. pp 18 - 19)

This healthy separation and this unconditional trust not only portrayed Dick and Babs as both trusting each other’s abilities as heroes — Dick did not worry about Babs’ capability of taking care of herself, and Babs knew Dick could handle his own — it also portrayed them as being more secure in their relationship. They were individuals first. They had their own independent lives and personalities outside of their romance. They trusted the other’s ability to win on their own and handle their own cases without help. And that, in turn, made it so that they could stand on their own, and so that their relationship did not feel so vulnerable.

That being said, it wasn’t as if previous depictions of Dick and Babs didn’t present them with hardships, or demonstrated how, at times, they could bring out the worst in each other. As much as they could compliment one another, Dick and Babs could also disagree, get into arguments, and even fights. That is because they were individuals first, with their own opinions, preferred way of doing things, and their own background that would sometimes come in conflict.

Taylor avoids having meaningful conflicts in his story. While this negatively affects his narrative in a myriad of ways, the lack of the conflict in the plot also affects the relationship between Dick and Babs. It is fine to have a wholesome, sweet romance, so long as it is balanced with a plot containing other forms of tension. This way, the relationship can be a safe harbor for the main characters, the one space in their lives where they can be safe, and the one source of strength they can draw upon when facing the challenges ahead. By balancing a conflict-filled plot with a wholesome romance, the stakes of the plot feel higher while the romance feels sweeter. They foil one another to create a cohesive and unified story.

In Taylor’s Nightwing, all major plot beats take a backseat to the sitcom-like relationship between Dick and Babs. The lack of conflict in the plot and the lack of conflict in the romance makes it so everything is stagnant.

I do believe that Taylor thought he was writing a “Will-they-won’t-they�� style romance in the beginning of his run. In Nightwing #95, for example, Batwoman implies that the reason Dick and Babs aren’t together is because Dick and Babs are scared of crossing that line. 

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno The Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart Part Four. Nightwing: Rebirth. 95, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 17)

Wally also played into that idea when, in #91, he pointed out that Dick and Babs were already together and just needed to make it official.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Get Grayson Act Three. Nightwing: Rebirth. 91, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 19)

More than that, I believe Taylor attempted to make a commentary on comics imposing needless conflicts in relationships to keep two characters apart. In Taylor’s view, Dick and Babs were always in love, always meant to be together, and never had a complicated history that prevented them from rekindling their romance when Dick is trying to regain some control over his life after recovering his memories. This shows a lack of understanding as to why Dick and Babs often break up and does a disservice to both their characters.

Now, to explain this, I’ll borrow heavily from a private discussion I had with a Dick Grayson Fan A once distinguishing the difference between external and internal conflicts in a romantic plot. While we were not talking Dick and Barbara then, much of what we said still applies to their relationship.

External conflicts, as the name suggests, involve external forces that keep the couple from being able to develop their relationship despite their mutual feelings for each other. This is the case with a romance like Clark and Lois. Given Babs’ laugh at Dick’s condescendingly sexist claim that Babs shouldn’t be with him because it is too dangerous (as if he doesn’t know very well that Babs can easily take care of herself), it seemed that Taylor believed that this was the conflict that has been keeping Dick and Babs apart. And so, with one panel, he dismissed the idea that external forces could keep Dick and Babs apart because they are able to face their enemies together.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart Finale. Nightwing: Rebirth. 96, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp. 17 - 18)

But in the past, what broke Dick and Babs up were not external conflicts, but internal ones. If external conflicts are created due to external forces, internal conflicts preventing a couple from being together come from the characters not yet being who they need to be in order to be happy together. This can be due to a clash of personalities, worldviews, needs, wants, or goals. To prove my point, I want to look at Dick and Bab’s break up in Nightwing (1996) #87 and the Nightwing Annual #02. (I’ll be honest in saying that it pains me to cite Nightwing Annual #02 in this essay, for I absolutely detest it. I believe Dick is written incredibly out of character and it, quite frankly, captures one of my major problems with how some writers choose to depict DickBabs. In trying to prop Babs up, Dick gets knocked down and ridiculed, and often burdened with the full responsibility as to why Dick and Babs haven’t been able to get together due to timing and Dick’s immaturity. As such, writers make it so Dick and Dick alone must change in order to become a partner worthy of Babs. They greatly mischaracterize him, fault the failures of Dick and Babs’ relationships on those mischaracterizations, and then portray Babs as the patient woman waiting for her immature soulmate to grow up. This is both an insult to Dick’s character and a propagation of sexist tropes where a woman must put her life on hold in order for the man to “catch up” to her maturely. Not only that, it unfairly requires that only one party makes changes for another. It is not Dick and Babs that must change for each other, but Dick who must change for Babs.)

Just as Taylor uses Dick and Babs’ shared history to bring them together, their breakup explores how shared history can make being together so difficult. 

In Devin Grayson’s run, their shared history can be painful to Babs. Not because she doesn’t look back on their time growing up together fondly, but because it was such a happy time in her life that it makes her feel bitter about what she lost. While she is incredible as Oracle, she is still frustrated that she can't be Batgirl anymore. The past, no matter how good, is a reminder of what she can no longer be, and Babs wants to move forward. So Dick bringing up their time as Robin and Batgirl, however fondly, is painful for it makes her feel like they are stuck in the past they shared rather than moving forward together.

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zitcher, Path, illustrator The Calm Before. Nightwing. 86, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2003. pp 21 - 22)

But to Dick, the past you share with someone is what makes your relationship in the present special. The past informs the present and the future. Dick, much like Bruce, doesn’t move forward by disconnecting himself from the past. His parents are part of his past. So is Robin. His childhood with Bruce. The past is something good to Dick, even when it's also so filled with pain. Dick is not shackled by his past the way Bruce is because he does not see it as something that needs to hold him back. You can move forward while still embracing who you once were and honoring the legacy you carry on your shoulders. The past informed who Dick is now, the relationships he has, and the person he wants to be. The past is where much of what he loves exists. So when he brings up their shared history when talking to Babs, he is not doing it because he loved Batgirl but cannot love Oracle, and he is not doing so because he is just focused on who they were then and not who they are now; he does it it's because to Dick, there's no such distinction between Batgirl and Oracle. They are both Babs, and he loves both of them. 

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zitcher, Patch, illustrator. Snowball. Nightwing. 87, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2003. pp 16)

The way Babs copes with trauma is by divorcing herself from the hurt, by letting go of who she was and embracing who she wants to be. Dick, on the other hand, merges who he was then with who he is now. He doesn't see those people as separate entities, but rather as extensions of him. And that makes sense when you consider that Babs' main trauma relates to something that was taken away from her, and for Dick, the only way he can remain connected to his parents is through the past. It's a great example of incompatibility. Neither one is "at fault" for how they view this issue, neither of them is more correct than the other. They are just different. They care for each other, but the way they understand and interact with the world prevents them from being happy together at this moment. For that to work, internal change is needed. 

In portraying Dick and Barbara as complex individuals first, who have different attitudes towards looking back at the past and looking forward to the future, Grayson managed to make their relationship feel real. There’s a weight to their breakup, you can see why they care for each other and why this decision is painful and not taken lightly. They love each other, but they are not in a place where they can be themselves and be happy together yet. It is not danger that keeps them apart — it is the very same differences which they admire most about each other which pushes them away. 

In Nightwing Annual #02, we see other reasons why Dick and Babs failed to come together so often. These included Babs being scared of Dick eventually leaving her due to tensions between Dick and Bruce

(Andreyko, Marc, writer. Bennett, Joe, illustrator Hero’s Journey. Nightwing Annual. 2, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2007. pp 22 - 23)

Timing,

(Andreyko, Marc, writer. Bennett, Joe, illustrator Hero’s Journey. Nightwing Annual. 2, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2007. pp 25)

And, perhaps most importantly, the way in which Dick devalues his own life. 

(Andreyko, Marc, writer. Bennett, Joe, illustrator Hero’s Journey. Nightwing Annual. 2, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2007. pp 37 - 38)

This is something Grayson also alludes to during her run, when she often portrays Babs being both worried and frustrated at Dick’s tendencies to push himself too far.

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zitcher, Patch, illustrator Snowball. Nightwing. 87, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2003. pp 13)

In both Grayson’s run and the aftermath of Infinite Crisis, the toxic perfectionism referred to many times during this essay led Babs to break off their relationship despite their mutual love. 

Having lost the mobility of her legs due to the Joker, Babs sees her life as Oracle as a second chance, and one which she will use to its fullest by putting herself first. It makes sense, then, that she sees Dick’s self-sacrificing tendencies and his desire for approval as both concerning and irritating. As Dick constantly puts himself in near-death scenarios for even the smallest of things, Babs decides that she would rather wait for a time when Dick learns to value himself more rather than to continue in a relationship where she is the only one who cares about whether Dick lives or dies. 

Whether this is the right solution to their relationship is up for debate. Personally, it irks me that stories will often frame this as Dick having to mature to be with Babs and not place an equal burden on Babs having to learn to accept that this is just who Dick is. But that is irrelevant to this discussion, for what matters is that there have been plenty of reasons why Dick and Babs did not work out in the past, and those are almost always rooted in who they are as individuals struggling to perfectly fit together as a unit. Dick and Babs have a messy history, both as individual characters with their own stories, and together as friends and romantic interests. They are two different people who, although their morals align, approach life differently. The development in their romance, then, comes with how willing they are to change for the other, and how willing they are to accept the things that cannot — and should not — be changed. It is about a balance of give and take, and when Babs and Dick broke up in the past, it was because they were not able to find that balance. It is because they, as individuals, clashed. As Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and Cesar Alfonso Marino put in their essay analyzing Dick’s portrayal in the Batman Family (1975-1978) series, Dick and Babs will often find themselves in “point[s] of inflection which marks that both heroes must go their separate ways to avoid further tensions (developed by sexual attraction and/or problems about leadership).” (Pagnoni Berns, Fernando Gabriel and Marino, Cesar Alfonso “Outlining the Future Robin: The Seventies in the Batman Family.”Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder: Scholars and Creators on 75 years of Robin, Nightwing, and Batman edited by Kristen L. Geaman, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2015, pp. 32)

In other words, it was about interior conflicts, not exterior ones.

When taking this into consideration, one can see how Taylor’s portrayal of Dick and Babs’ relationship is not only incredibly hollow, but incredibly cynical. Because Taylor removed Dick’s self-destructive, toxic perfectionism, that is no longer a point of friction in their relationship. Because Babs is no longer the pragmatic woman who doses out tough love, that is also no longer a point of friction in their relationship. But as a result, Dick and Babs are no longer themselves, and their relationship is no longer representative of their shared history. Instead, we are left with an insulting and purposeful misrepresentation of their past relationship, with Taylor displaying a blatant disrespect and disregard for anything his predecessors contributed to these characters. Dick and Babs were never apart because of danger. Dick would never condescend to Barbara in this manner, and Barbara would never let something so trivial go unchallenged or get in the way of what she wants. What got in their way was a matter of compatibility. They may compliment each other in the field, be great friends, get along well, but in previous attempts to make their relationship work, they found that they were simply too different to share a life together, their goals did not align, and their approaches to life did not work together. Getting and staying together was not a matter of external factors, but rather whether they could do the difficult internal work necessary to make their romance last. 

I want to make it clear that I actually love the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope. But what makes friends-to-lovers interesting is the fact that it creates inherently messy romances. If you two characters who have loved each other for so long, then they naturally have a history. They have seen each other at their best and at their worst. Yet, insecurities, timing, and compatibility keep them from being able to get their happily-ever-after. That creates a messiness that adds weight and meaning to the relationship. Seeing them overcome these challenges, become better individuals, and then finally come together is what makes the narrative so effective.

Dick’s and Babs’ romance, as currently portrayed, lacks that weight. Taylor and DC want that history, that “true love” aspect of their relationship without acknowledging the complications that come from having lived so many years in close proximity. In other words, they want the appearance of a long shared history without acknowledging the contents of said history. This robs both Dick and Babs of their individual personalities and backstories, for it is there where the source of their conflicts lie. All of the things that make them interesting individuals are sacrificed for the heteronormative DickBabs amalgamation. There is no Dick Grayson. There is no Barbara Gordon. There is only a happy, wholesome, smiling couple of nothingness — as it was put earlier it is all “shimmer, gloss, and no substance.”

And this does not affect only them.  

In making Dick and Babs inseparable, Babs has become heavily involved with the Titans. This leads to the majority of Babs’s interactions in the current canon to be with Dick’s friends. And because, once more, Taylor skirts away from conflict, that means that all of Dick’s friends have become Babs’ friends. However, by making Babs friends with all of Dick’s female friends, Taylor created a shallow girlboss feminist narrative where all of these women’s individual personhoods are reduced their relationship to one man. He does not take into account who they are, only their gender and their mutual connection to Dick. In trying to do a girl-boss feminist empowerment, Taylor instead creates a deeply misogynistic narrative. 

Kory and Babs, for example, should be allowed to dislike each other despite being on the same team. They are, after all, supposedly fully realized women with their own personalities, values, and goals. Their existence is not dependent on Dick Grayson or their romance with him. Real world women dislike one another for various reasons that are unrelated to men. Male characters often hate each other without it being because of a woman. So why can’t the same be true for female characters? 

To attempt to make Kory and Babs friends simply to undermine expectations because one of them is Dick’s ex and the other one is Dick’s girlfriend is not empowering. It sacrifices characterization for the purposes of subversion.To think of the dynamic between these two characters in terms of their relationship with Dick reduces their existence to a man by implying that the only possible reason they could dislike one another is because of said man. It is not due to different value systems (which would be incredibly reasonable given their different background and cultures), it is not because their personalities clash (as they are two different people), it is not because their likes and dislikes may contradict (once more, because they are two different people). All the things that would make them realized individuals with agency are ignored in favor of focusing on their relationship with Dick. 

Babs is a cisgender, straight, middle-class white woman from New Jersey. Kory is a warrior Princess from a different galaxy. It would not be unreasonable to expect their opinions to conflict when their backgrounds, upbringings, and experiences also differ. After all, those are things that shape our value system, dictating our perspectives. 

Having different values or different ways to express your opinion does not mean that one is right and the other is wrong. It does not mean one is superior to the other. It only means they are different. Diverse. To believe one must be correct and the other must be wrong is to fall into the traps of ethnocentrism. By making Kory and Babs values indistinguishable, the story implies that there is only one correct way to interact with the world. This eliminates diverse perspectives in favor of a monolithic one. The fact that Kory's culture is the one that is ignored so that they are compatible with Babs implies that Babs – the cisgender, straight, middle-class white woman from New Jersey – is the one whose culture and world views are correct and, therefore, superior.

Dick’s relationship platonic relationship with Donna is also devalued and watered down in favor of Dick and Barbara’s romance. Because Dick and Barbara are depicted as having been each other’s best friends since childhood — when, in reality, Dick was closer to Donna during his preteen and teenage years, and Donna is often portrayed as his best friend — Donna’s place in Dick’s life is replaced by Babs. Babs must be everything to Dick — his true love, his longest childhood friend, his one female best friend. 

This creates a narrative in which Dick cannot have a significant interaction with another woman without it being a threat to his relationship with Babs. Needless to say, this is an incredibly heteronormative worldview which implies that men and women who are not related cannot share deep and significant platonic intimacy without some underlying romantic tension. So naturally, Donna cannot he Dick’s longest friend, his best friend, because in the heteronormative world portrayed in Taylor’s run, that would mean that she is a rival to Babs.

Perhaps it is for this reason that Melinda was revealed to be Dick’s sister so soon into her introduction. If Melinda and Dick were not related but were still meant to interact with each other, that would create a bond that some might see as romantic or sexual. So by presenting Melinda as Dick’s biological sibling within moments of the two first interacting, Taylor strips Melinda of any romantic or sexual appeal. In this heteronormative world, only by being related can Dick and Melinda share intimacy without threatening Babs’ position in Dick’s life. 

Needless to say, this heteronormative worldview which only allows for the relationship between non-biologically related men and women to be seen through lenses of romance and sex is also a misogynistic, male-centric worldview. In this story, women are not treated as people and are instead perceived solely through their relationship to Dick Grayson.

[cumulo-ghoulll]

Aether HC

After he finished touring, Aether took up extra shifts at the nursery. He was out on the wing where the 'difficult' ghoul kits were kept. These were usually kits who were highly reactive, too elemetally strong for their own good, or just general trouble makers.

Aether's quintessence tended to make these kits easier to manage for him (as well as his patience). For the first time in months, his wing was almost empty, almost being the operative word. There was only one kit in the entire wing, a quint called Nebulae, or 'Nebs' to Aether. They were an extremely fussy kit. They cried almost continuously until Aether was with them (he may or may not have used a little bit of quintessence on them). He looked after them for years and eventually ended up fostering them.

They had begun to call Aether dad shortly after their 8th birthday and really did consider him their father, even though they knew they weren't related. Nebs was raised by Copia too. He often took them out to zoos, cinemas, waterparks, and really anywhere they wanted to go. Nebulae called Copia papa but not in the way siblings of sin would call him.

Copia and Aether would both take Nebs out together. Whenever Nebulae wanted to buy something, there was always an answer of "Go ask your dad" from Copia or "Go ask your papa" from Aether. Nebs would always get what they wanted anyway as both Aether and Copia found it hard to say no to them.

Every other ghoul or ghoulette was simply known as auntie or uncle (uncle rain and mountain were their favourite uncles). The pack would babysit for Copia and Aether if they were both busy, which Nebulae loved as Swiss in particular would give them a monster and packs of candy for lunch.

Once Nebulae turned 18, they were given the choice to stay in the ministry or move out. They had decided to leave and live at the church in england where Aether was raised. Nebulae had been speaking to a few other ghouls there and had become really close friends with a few of them. Aether's friends at the church agreed to keep an eye on Nebulae and keep him updated on their life.

Copia and the pack receive letters from Nebulae monthly and they are kept in a folder in Copia's office. Nebulae occasionally returns to the ministry to meet catch up with everyone face to face and to go out for lunch with Aether and Copia. When they return to England, Copia has to be comforted by Aether as he usually cries when they go.

[globofhoney]

I just realized...my dragonborn will be so flipping super alone in the long run. The mage is an elf after all, and she also has magic to extend her life on top of that.

Imagine centuries has pass...

- She has to visits Kaidan's grave

- She has to visits Xelzaz's grave

- She has to visits Lucien's grave

- She has to visits Inigo's grave

- She has to visits Remiel's grave

- She has to visits Lucifer's grave

- She has to visits Khash's grave

- She has to visits Auri's grave (In case she has not been eaten by her fellow wood elves)

It is painful to see them off and away to the afterlife. But at least she has Taliesin, Nebarra, Serana, and Caryalind. (Talie, Nebs, and Carya will likely perish soon enough)

Ultimately, those closest to her would be Odahviing and Paarthurnax. The two Dov are the least of her worries.

If she perish, the saddest thing would be that she wouldn't be able to see Durniivir again since his soul is bound to the Ideal masters in the soul cairn.

[isamajor]

So I had a hilarious moment in Skyrim where Neb and Lucien started fighting, because Neb had presumably been hit by friendly fire from an attack by Lucien... But hey, given the ice spikes, I would have said Tally but maybe Neb needed a reason to bash an Imperial.

Taliesin : ...Should someone tell him it was me, or? Lucifer : Nah.

So here it is, after a few blows of the sword, Lucien, determined not to let himself be done, retaliates with great blows of magic.

...Which sends Nebarra flying into the ashes, for the first time.

But Nebarra is stubborn and does not let himself be dismantled for "so little". After all, he's fighting an Imperial, he's already fought a number of them two decades ago. It's about his honor, I suppose.

But racial slurs don't sit well with Lucien.

He remains polite but his gaze is worth all the speeches in the world. Obviously, Nebarra, blood heated by the fight, continues on its momentum.

Inigo : He shouldn't go after my friend Lucien. He has become a very powerful mage. Maybe he'll even turn him into a Mudcrab, eventually.

...And Nebarra, once again, took a tumble head over heels in the ashes, catapulted away by the impact of a powerful spell.

Seeing the Altmer struggling to get up and climb to meet Lucien who was quietly regenerating his life, Xelzaz asked him, a little pity in his voice, pointing to the bloody wound that smeared his shoulder.

Xelzaz : Do you need help with that gash, Nebarra ?

...before rolling again in the ash, under the jaded gaze of the Argonian.

Xelzaz : *deep sigh*

Apart from a few small cries of pain, Lucien did not open his teeth, but in his eyes you could read the determination not to let himself be walked on. Maybe even Lucien really realized his potential, his ability to really fight?

Lucifer : ...Your last words ? Lucien seems fine. Remiel : Do you think we should help Neb? Xelzaz : No.

Remiel : Do you think they have a long time yet? Night will soon fall. Auri : I find their fight very entertaining. Remiel : True, but I wouldn't want us to be surprised by vampires. Xelzaz : If Nebarra only knew when to stop...

Taliesin : Wow, that was low. Even if for him this fight is cathartic, it's far from delicate...

Lucien : My mother fought in the great war too! I won't put her to shame!

Inigo : Nice one my friend ! I think you broke your throwing record !

Nebarra : *hand clenched on the hilt of his sword, unable to get back on his feet*

Lucien : *after quickly healing himself* Ah ! That's was exhilatating ! Should we go back to Raven Rock ?

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 27 – NO POWERS

This Love I Hold True by justanotherrollingstony (adoctoraday)

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 3,219 Tags: Marriage Proposal, College AU, Pre-Serum Steve

Summary: Tony and Steve have known and loved each other for years, and now it's time to make it official.

Reasons why I love it: I never knew that I needed to see Steve ripping into Howard like that, but boy howdy, it's so satisfying. I love both Steve's and Tony's perspectives in this, and the proposal scene just feels perfect for them. This fic is absolutely lovely, and I hope you check it out for yourself!

He Blinded Me With Science by youcancallmearrow

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 9,220 Tags: Office AU, Found Family, Fluff

Summary: The Security Admin Department at Stark Industries has a point system in place to pass the time. +10 points for tagging management with a "Kick Me" post it note +10 points for paging a punny fake name over the office intercom without getting caught +10 points for stealing any office supplies off Clint's desk and returning it in jello +20 points for making Steve swear It's a good thing productivity isn't in the job description.

Reasons why I love it: This is the kind of Avengers team I love to see! They're giving family vibes left and right, and I love how they basically adopt Tony and Bruce instantly. And the Stony in this one is cute as hell, plus I'm giving extra points for morally upstanding decision-making regarding workplace romances. This fic is wonderful, and you should definitely read it!

The weather outside is frightful by BladeoftheNebula

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 5,552 Tags: A/B/O, Snowed In, Courtship

Summary: “I can’t believe this!” Steve paused, his hand hovering over the piece of firewood. Was that—? “Of all the idiotic, selfish—“ The last of the words were cut off by the wind, but that was definitely a voice. Steve frowned. The voice was too clear to be coming from a truck or a car, which meant they must be on foot. He looked at the heavy fall of the snow. No one should be out in this. Or, Tony is an omega in distress, and Steve is just the alpha-in-shining armour he needs.

Reasons why I love it: Yeees, give me all the mountain man Steve! Neb always writes fantastic A/B/O settings, and this one is no exception! I love how respectful Steve is, especially in contrast with Ty, that weasely ass. And Tony is adorable, as usual. I love this fic so much, and I bet you will too, so I hope you give it a shot!

When Love Comes Knocking (You Out) by itsallAvengers

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 8,591 Tags: Meet-Ugly, Parent Tony, Misunderstandings

Summary: Steve really just wanted to buy some goddamn groceries. Instead, he tries to help a kid who's managed to get lost in a Walmart parking lot and ends up being punched in the face by his irate and panicked father. Surprisingly, this doesn't turn out as badly as it sounds.

Reasons why I love it: Oh Steve, in today's day and age you should've known what was coming to you. I love this entire premise, and protective single dad Tony is always a treat. Also love the bad boy vibes Steve is giving off throughout the whole thing, it's a really cool take on his character in modern times. This fic is fantastic, and you should definitely read it!

What Could've Been by itsallAvengers

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 11,047 Tags: Canon Divergence, Palladium Poisoning, Service Top Steve

Summary: So. Tony's dying. Palladium poisoning is a shitty, painful way to go, but hey: at least it's his birthday party, right? A cool send off. Lots of alcohol and fun and girls and- ...And all Tony wants is Steve Rogers, the stupid Art Professor who used Tony for a booty call now and again and whom Tony had stupidly decided to start falling in love with. Whilst in the middle of getting slowly poisoned to death. God, he wished his life was easier.

Reasons why I love it: This fic is so sad and so beautiful at the same time. All the little signs of how much they care for each other just make my heart melt. I love Steve's reaction to seeing Tony's chest for the first time, and the dialogue throughout the entire fic is incredible. Definitely check this one out, it's so good!

[mistakenot4892]

Nebula devblog, July '24

Sneaking in this month's update two days before August due to Nova Lands eating an entire week of dev time and Warframe eating another 2 days. It's a hard life. This one will probably be a bit patchy or sparse as I have genuinely lost track of what was new this month due to leaving it this late. I am a highly trained and competent professional.

Nebula SS13 is an open source project based on the Baystation 12 version of Space Station 13. SS13 is a topdown multiplayer simulation game where you play the crew of a ship, station, colony, etc. depending on your fork and map, with the Nebula and Bay forks having a focus on roleplaying and simulation interactions.

Notable changes

The first phase of a major AI rewrite has gone in, separating AI behavior from mob type so human-type mobs can be given AI. This is mostly to support undead and skeletons on Pyrelight at the moment, but will be much more flexible in general going forward.

Simple wall-based windows/shutters have been added for low tech maps that need airflow and light. Penny's genius idea of having them cast a light cone towards the darker side of the shutter makes for some very aesthetic medieval interiors.

Spacefarers, a ship-based fork, has a new ship, and the painfully tricky shuttle rotation PR Penny has been working on is slowly progressing towards a mergable state. When it goes in, manual ship landing will be greatly expanded as shuttles will be able to rotate to match docking ports, instead of having to strictly dock in the same direction every time.

The atom temperature system has been disabled in several cases due to a lot of weird edge cases and bugs in the simulation. It needs more time in the oven. The disabled interactions include things like all of your blood congealing into black pudding if you stand on a stove, being able to instantly heat a beaker of beer to 5000K with a cigarette lighter, or all of your clothes melting off in a fire.

Penny has also put a bunch of work in to moving most of the 'classic' Baystation SS13 game modes into modpacks. This allows forks to pick and choose which are available, since as funny as it could have been, having high tech spacer mercenaries landing on Middle-Earth wouldn't fit the vibes.

Lots of small changes and features have been coming out of the Pyrelight fantasy map testing. Little things like honey being usable for wound disinfection, various crafting tweaks, and things like flooded turfs not putting out your lamp unless it's deeper than your waist.

Automated movement that previously relied on BYOND's inbuilt walk_to() procs now use a dedicated subsystem that calls the appropriate MayMove()/DoMove() proc chains. This essentially just means AI-driven mobs no longer completely ignore little things like pain, having working legs, or being dead or unconscious when chasing you.

Bugs of note

Trout were completely invisible because their main texture was accidentally named world-trout instead of world. This definitely impacted the trout population.

Undead on Pyrelight don't know how to pick up their weapons if they drop them, so disarming them literally or figuratively makes it turn into a slapfight.

Prosthetic limbs, like cybernetics or peglegs, were getting itchy or developing rashes. Maybe it's psychosomatic.

Simple animals like deer were dying en masse on the wilderness maps due to hail. We didn't intend for hail to be the size of hen eggs and covered in spikes, so deer and such are now unhurt by weather.

Current priorities

Personally my focus has been on getting through the Pyrelight feedback list after each test. Lots of small things come out of each test round and my limited time after my real-world job has cut into my space feature time. The Neb general issue list has been getting a bit long so I'll probably put a weekend into getting that cut down again this month.

Otherwise, I have three big PRs open waiting for me to find the focus to finish them: the floor rewrite (aiee), a wizard modpack and ability rework (needed for Pyrelight, eventually, but augh), and a bee rewrite (beewrite) to make bees and other insect nests available outside of one specific machine on space maps.

NataKillar has an amazing PR in the works that sounds quite mundane: separating liquid and solid reagents in reagent containers like beakers. However, this opens up a buttload of interesting chemical interactions down the track, not the least of which is finally getting ice cubes to not require a dedicated ice material.

[mamamoon92]

Major Egyptian deities✨

Male

Aker – A god of the earth and the east and west horizons of the Underworld

Amun – A creator god, patron deity of the city of Thebes, and the preeminent deity in Egypt during the New Kingdom

Anhur – A god of war and hunting

Aten – Sun disk deity who became the focus of the monolatrous or monotheistic Atenist belief system in the reign of Akhenaten

Atum – A creator god and solar deity, first god of the Ennead

Bennu – A solar and creator deity, depicted as a bird

Geb – An earth god and member of the Ennead

Hapi – Personification of the Nile flood

Horus – A major god, usually shown as a falcon or as a human child, linked with the sky, the sun, kingship, protection, and healing. Often said to be the son of Osiris and Isis.

Khepri – A solar creator god, often treated as the morning form of Ra and represented by a scarab beetle

Khnum (Khnemu) – A ram god, the patron deity of Elephantine, who was said to control the Nile flood and give life to gods and humans

Khonsu – A moon god, son of Amun and Mut

Maahes – A lion god, son of Bastet

Montu – A god of war and the sun, worshipped at Thebes

Nefertum – God of the lotus blossom from which the sun god rose at the beginning of time. Son of Ptah and Sekhmet.

Nemty – Falcon god, worshipped in Middle Egypt,[18] who appears in myth as a ferryman for greater gods

Neper – A god of grain

Osiris – god of death and resurrection who rules the underworld and enlivens vegetation, the sun god, and deceased souls

Ptah – A creator deity and god of craftsmen, the patron god of Memphis

Ra – The sun god

Set – An ambivalent god, characterized by violence, chaos, and strength, connected with the desert. Mythological murderer of Osiris and enemy of Horus, but also a supporter of the king.

Shu – Embodiment of wind or air, a member of the Ennead

Sobek – Crocodile god, worshipped in the Faiyum and at Kom Ombo

Sopdu – A god of the sky and of Egypt's eastern border regions

Thoth – A moon god, and a god of writing and scribes, and patron deity of Hermopolis

Wadj-wer – Personification of the Mediterranean sea or lakes of the Nile Delta

Cite error: The opening  tag is malformed or has a bad name

Amunet – Female counterpart of Amun and a member of the Ogdoad

Anuket – A goddess of Egypt's southern frontier regions, particularly the lower cataracts of the Nile

Bastet – Goddess represented as a cat or lioness, patroness of the city of Bubastis, linked with protection from evil

Bat – Cow goddess from early in Egyptian history, eventually absorbed by Hathor

Hathor – One of the most important goddesses, linked with the sky, the sun, sexuality and motherhood, music and dance, foreign lands and goods, and the afterlife. One of many forms of the Eye of Ra.

Heqet – Frog goddess said to protect women in childbirth

Hesat – A maternal cow goddess

Imentet – An afterlife goddess closely linked with Isis and Hathor

Isis – Wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, linked with funerary rites, motherhood, protection, and magic. She became a major deity in Greek and Roman religion.

Ma'at – Goddess who personified truth, justice, and order

Menhit – A lioness goddess

Mut – Consort of Amun, worshipped at Thebes

Neith – A creator and hunter goddess, patron of the city of Sais in Lower Egypt

Nekhbet (Nekhebit) – A vulture goddess, the tutelary deity of Upper Egypt

Nephthys (Neb-t kha-t) – A member of the Ennead, the consort of Set, who mourned Osiris alongside Isis

Nepit – A goddess of grain, female counterpart of Neper

Nut – A sky goddess, a member of the Ennead

Pakhet – A lioness goddess mainly worshipped in the area around Beni Hasan

Renenutet – An agricultural goddess

Satet – A goddess of Egypt's southern frontier regions

Sekhmet – A lioness goddess, both destructive and violent and capable of warding off disease, protector of the pharaohs who led them in war, the consort of Ptah and one of many forms of the Eye of Ra.

Tefnut – Goddess of moisture and a member of the Ennead

Wadjet (Uatchit) – A cobra goddess, the tutelary deity of Lower Egypt

Wosret – A goddess of Thebes

Both male and female forms

Heh – Personification of infinity and a member of the Ogdoad

Kek – The god of Chaos and Darkness, as well as being the concept of primordial darkness. Kek's female form is known as Kauket.

Nu – Personification of the formless, watery disorder from which the world emerged at creation and a member of the Ogdoad

Ra (Re) – The foremost Egyptian sun god, involved in creation and the afterlife. Mythological ruler of the gods, father of every Egyptian king, and the patron god of Heliopolis.

Tatenen – Personification of the first mound of earth to emerge from chaos in ancient Egyptian creation myths

Anubis/Anput – The god/goddess of embalming and protector of the dead

[ghostinthegallery]

can you do "please hold me" for the prompts please?

Here it is! "Please hold me" from this list of prompts. Featuring Zahndrekh/Obyron and a little post-Severed trauma.

###

Obyron had endured hundreds of feasts. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands by now. Some in the time of flesh, most in the time of metal when there were no dishes nor full goblets save for in his master’s mind. Obyron hated them, but he had never once fled from the unpleasantness. Until now.

Obyron wished he could slam the door behind him. Instead it slid smoothly back into place, doing nothing to release the violent tide of emotions roiling in his flux. His heart should have been racing, his head swimming, his skin dotted with sweat. There was nothing. His living metal was pristine and he was still. If one were to look at him they might assume he was as mindless as his brethren. He wasn’t. Sometimes he cursed that fact.

Right now he cursed his weakness most of all.

Casual barbs at his expense from Sautekh lords were a reality of his position. The necron nobility had little to do but battle with their armies and battle with their wits, meager as the latter often were. In reality, they simply insulted each other. Their performance in campaigns, their palaces, their possessions…their soldiers.

“That one had a phalanx, didn’t it, Zahndrekh?” The lord had pointed to Obyron then. “Shame you never taught it proper tactics, otherwise it might have held onto them. Or perhaps your example was too poor.”

At that point, Obyron had faced a choice between leaving the feast or beating the noble to death.

He had managed to make his exit somewhat subtle. Found a lychguard to take his position at Zahndrekh’s side, circled the room as if he were simply patrolling. Then he left. This chamber was the first empty one he had found, scrying through the oculars of some nearby scarabs. The Yama had been built in the time of flesh, back when ships needed room to store provisions, beds, and life support. There were many unused sections to slip into. Perhaps this plain, dull silver room had once held necrontyr soldiers. Perhaps they had spoken here, reminisced, laughed, cried, lived. 

Obyron pressed his hand against his faceplate to try and drive the thoughts from his head. He could not stop the flood of images of the phalanx he had lost. Sabni, Pentesh, Neb. Dead gods, Neb who had asked to die at his side. Well he had gotten his wish, only Obyron had no idea if Neb had realized it in the end. What little existence they’d clung to had been erased on Doahht. Because of Obyron’s orders. So much had happened on that planet he’d barely had time to think about their loss. Part of him had even been relieved that their suffering was over. But still…they had died. And it had been his fault. 

Why? Why had his mind survived when theirs had not? Why was he standing here when they were reduced to nothing? Their bodies not entombed but repurposed to build new chassis for different soldiers? He had been no different from them. Born a soldier, promoted for good service and a stubborn ability to stay alive. Burned away body and soul. What had he done to earn existence while his friends had been condemned to mindless oblivion?

A knock on the door startled him. Damn the dead gods. He had let his circumspection protocols slip in order to fall into this pathetic malaise. 

“Obyron?” asked a cautious voice. “Are you in there, old friend?”

“My lord?” Obyron paused. Zahndrekh? He should have been entertaining his guests. “Has something happened?”

“No, no. That feast was just growing interminably dull. Might I…come in?”

Obyron was not sure how to respond. “It is your ship, lord nemesor.”

After a pause the door slid open, revealing Zahndrekh, whose arms were folded. “I was trying to be polite,” he said as he crossed the threshold. “Now, what ever is the matter?”

“Nothing.”

“You always were a terrible liar, Obyron.” Zahndrekh let the door close, trapping them together in the low, gauss-green light. 

Obyron shifted, grateful that his height let him look over Zahndrekh’s head so their oculars would not meet. “I apologize for leaving. I should not have—”

“None of that.” Zahndrekh held his finger up to what would have been Obyron’s lips. “Please, don’t make me guess. Tell me. What is wrong?”

A flash of despair tinged with anger washed over Obyron’s engrams. Zahndrekh could not possibly understand. He refused to see the horrors of biotransference, so he could not comprehend the weight of what Obyron’s phalanx had lost. Obyron could never tell his lord that they had not simply died. He alone had watched his friends fade into pale imitations of themselves, be dragged across thousands of battles, only to expire. He could not even offer himself that comfort that they were finally at rest because without souls he was not sure if they were.

And then to have that thrown back in his face at a dinner party—

“Obyron!”

Zahndrekh grabbed his hand. Obyron realized he had clenched his fist hard enough to crack his necrodermis. Already it was repairing, but seeing that shook him. He should have had more control. He should not have been this affected.

“I—” he stammered. “I don’t know what—”

”Here, sit with me.”

Gently but firmly, Zahndrekh dragged him down until he was kneeling on the floor. Obyron felt his legs give out from under him, as if the flux had ceased flowing to his motor actuators. Grief and guilt burned his insides like acid. 

“I never mourned them,” Obyron gasped. “I brought them to their deaths, yet I never did anything to remember them.”

“Your phalanx?” Zahndrekh shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Obyron. I should never have let that insult slide. It went too far.”

Obyron wished he could say that he did not care. He had no right to care. But those words had hit too close to the truth. He had not known what to do on Doahht without Zahndrekh. And yet he had not been the one to suffer for his incompetence. 

“I was the one who failed you then,” Zahndrekh said. “I bear more responsibility for their loss than you.”

That was perhaps true in the strictest sense, although it did little to assuage his guilt. The more he dwelt on it, though, the more he realized it was not simply grief that disturbed him now. Because if he was like them, if they had not been so different…

“Why have I been spared all this time?” he whispered, finally acknowledging something he had not wanted to speak aloud for years. Though his living metal form was more advanced than most soldiers’, even elites, he did not have the enhancements of a lord. “What if I share their fate? What if I fade away?”

He looked into Zahndrekh’s oculars at last, afraid he would find confusion or pity. He saw neither. For a moment he thought he saw understanding, although he could not be sure. There was so much about his nemesor he did not comprehend even after all this time.

“My dear vargard,” Zahndrekh said. “I am sorry I did not see your pain. You have been my shield for so long, it is too easy to forget that you are not just steel. That there are parts of you that  need protecting as well.” 

Zahndrekh’s hand moved slowly along Obyron’s amor until it settled over the place where once his heart had been. There was nothing there now but machinery. But Obyron’s chest still ached and his mind still reeled. And his body still reacted to the nemesor’s touch. The shoulder where Zahndrekh rested his hand was the only part of him that felt warm. The only part that didn't feel ready to crumble under the weight of everything.

“What can I do to protect you?” Zahndrekh asked. “How can I ease your pain?”

It went against all propriety and protocol. But they were alone. Who would it hurt if Obyron allowed himself one small comfort.

“I feel lost,” Obyron said. “I just want to…”

”Yes?”

”Please,” he said. “Hold me, my lord. For a moment.”

Before Obyron could think better of it, pull away, beg his lord’s pardon, Zahndrekh’s arms were around him. They struggled to fully wrap around his broad shoulders, so Zahndrekh pulled him close, buried Obyron’s face in the crook of his neck. He imagined the time of flesh, when Obyron would have been able to weep. His tears would have stained Zahndrekh’s robes.

Obyron clung to him. The lord that he did not understand and who did not understand him in turn. But that did not stop Zahndrekh from being Obyron’s anchor. His love, though it terrified him to even think the word. Yet what could he call it but love that kept him at Zahndrekh’s side? If someone offered Obyron an empire in exchange for this moment in Zahndrekh’s arms, he would have laughed in their face. It wasn’t a choice.

Perhaps that was all love really was.

“Would you like to tell me about them?” Zahndrekh asked after a long period of silence. “The comrades you lost?”

It would feel good to remember. To speak their names and their deeds and prove in some small way that they had lived. To finally allow himself to grieve and know that he would be heard.

”Yes,” Obyron said. “I would like that.”

[raccoonfallsharder]

rocket raccoon prompt week ✷ day four family✷.⁺⋆˚₊

semi-romantic fluff | no use of yn | gn reader | minific | word count: 1,274.

The artificial daylight of Knowhere has gone from bright and pearly to bronze and slanted, and now it’s finally sunk low in velvet purples. The Star Kids don’t really have bedtimes because every adult here is a frickin’ pushover, so they’re dancing under the sleep-shift sky, all spangled and studded with tiny plasma orbs jingling on strings over the streets, glowing like warm white moons. 

It’s not an uncommon part of life on Knowhere — not anymore. Neither is the heartwrenchingly light laughter ringing out from the streets, from the rooftop bars, and from the second level of Mantlo’s, where the usual poker players have meandered out to the mezzanine in order to watch the celebration. 

Rocket leans back against the step where he’s slouched: tail flicking peacefully, ears swiveling to follow the sounds, nose twitching. The Star Kids smell like Indigarran peaches and moonlight, and there are lingering curls of Contraxian tobacco and Ssssaralami’s moonshine. The spiced fragrance of grilled orloni and yaro-stuffed pastries fill the streets. It’s all overlaid by a sugary scent: the bastardized Luphomoid honeycakes that you’d helped Nebula resurrect from her childhood, just especially for today.

Nobody knows when the Star Kids were born — if they were born at all — but you’d insisted there needed to be something to mark a birthday of sorts. 

Children need celebrations, you’d told him and Nebs one night over drinks, and Drax the Dad had enthusiastically concurred. And so this — the anniversary of the liberation of the Arête, of the children’s arrival on Knowhere — has suddenly become some sort of festival, some sort of revelry. Nearly every citizen of Knowhere is out on the streets: eating, dancing, singing, chattering. Ruffling the childrens’ hair. Steemie Blueliver has come down from the mezzanine, and the Star Kids take turns flipping themselves over his tree-trunk arms or letting him spin them over his head. Mantis had come back to visit — just for this, from the frickin’ ass-end of the universe — and she’d picked up Pete while she was at it. Both of them are laughing with Nebs and Kraglin, while Cosmo barks and prances in the center of a bright ring of giggling kids. A cluster of raccoons from the Arête watch from the rooftop of the laundromat: still young, but no longer babies. Their fur is glossy and their bodies are soft and round, and they keep an eye out for dropped street-food. 

And the music — the music is alive. It floats down the insides of Rocket’s bones: sweet and sparkling with little bubbles, like carbonated wine. 

Rocket takes another mouthful of his fruit-flavored milky-fizz — spiked with something you’d sneaked him before the festivities; you’d told him it was strawberry schnapps — and he watches. 

He catches it: the moment you clock him there on the steps. Your eyes crinkle at the corners when you smile, and it looks like you’ve got stardust in your lashes. You’re talking to Hoobtoe and Phloko, but you’ve only got eyes for him — warm, and inviting. He tilts his plastic carton toward you in a mockery of a toast, then clamps his teeth onto the straw and takes another sip. The skull’s ventilation systems kick on and a breeze sweeps delicately through the streets, teasing the scents of food and booze, and playing with the fibrous platinum strands of the Star Kids’ hair. Each child’s head is gleaming: pale and reflecting back dapples of radiance. Rocket swears that everywhere he looks — the tiny candles on the honeycakes, the plasma-orb string-lights, the wide eyes of the kids, and you — he can see halos and rays of light. Soft starbursts, and luminous, hazy hexagons. Little motes of crushed-up bone-dust, dancing in and out of the shadows like antigravity glitter.

A little curl of concern shows between your brows as you toss him another glance — he’d guess it’s hard for you to read him right now, because his eyeshine is probably throwing all that gorgeous light back at you. Like rubies, you’d told him once, which had probably been when he’d first started falling in love with you, if he’s being honest. Now, dazzling in the gold and shadow, you laugh at something Hoobtoe says, and you pat Phloko’s shoulder before weaving away from them — smiling at Xlomo Smeth and Ssssaralami, nodding your greetings while you walk past. You pause at the little table still stacked high with honeycakes.

And then make your way toward Rocket.

You tuck yourself next to him on the step, even when he doesn’t move — content to stay half-sprawled next to you, his arm draped casually across the stair behind your back. He looks up at you with his ruby-eyes, and then down at the honeycake in your hands. It’s got one of those teeny candles in it, lit up like a piece of amber held to the sun. You’re glowing in the gold of it,  warm and apple-cheeked — eyes all glimmery, just for him. 

“You okay?” you ask carefully.

He turns his eyes back to the streets so his heart doesn’t fall apart like the overblown petals of an autumn flower in his chest. The scene there doesn’t help though: everything is as warm as fresh-baked bread. Groot’s joined Steemie, tossing the kids in the air. Even Howard’s come down from the mezzanine, awkwardly patting the head of a child who’s taller than he is, while he tries to protect his cocktail from the jumble of bodies. Rocket eyes him, then snorts and shakes his head. A soft huff leaves his mouth: too short to be a chuckle, too affectionate to be a scoff.

“I’m good,” he rasps out. “Just thinkin’.”

“About what?” 

The corner of his mouth curves in a perplexed, uncertain little smile, like his head hasn’t caught up with the rest of reality. “‘Bout how I used to think I wanted to be alone.” 

He sips his milky-fizz. The strawberry schnapps warm his belly. Howard would love this shit, Rocket thinks. 

He reminds himself not to let the guy near it. 

“Why’d you bring that over?” he asks, nodding at the candlelit honeycake cupped in your palms. 

You reach toward him with it, lifting it for him: a sugar-sweet little offering. “Today is your day, too, you know.” 

He blinks up at you, a protest filling his mouth before he pauses and tilts his head consideringly. 

He supposes you’re right. He supposes he had been trapped on the Arête, for far longer than he’d realized. 

“Okay,” he says mildly, and he can see the way you startle at how agreeable he sounds right now. He shrugs, sets down the milky-fizz on the step between his feet, and takes the cake in his hand. “What’s with the candle?”

“Pete brought them,” you  tell him. “It’s a birthday tradition on Terra. A candle for every year.” You smile at him. “When you blow it out, you make a wish.”

He looks up at you, and then out at the wide glimmering lake of people, all shadow and shimmer. He turns the golden cake in his hand like he’s studying it: trying to read something in the fruit-infused icing and the amber-glow flame. Then he turns his eyes out again to the people of Knowhere: music and mirth and the joy of belonging. And from this angle — up close, and unhidden by eyeshine — you can see the moment when ironic amusement turns into something just a shade off of wonder. 

His fingers are usually so quick you can barely follow them — but now he reaches up with his other hand, almost lazily, and casually pinches out the wisp of candleflame. 

“I think I’m good on wishes, actually.”

there's that critical mass word-count. i personally think it is very cool of me that i took till thursday to break a thousand.

day three. emotionalistic ✷ day five. machinery rocket prompt week masterlist ✷ main masterlist rocket raccoon prompt week list

taglist ♡ @evolvingchaoswitch ♡ @glow-autumz ♡ @wren-phoenix ♡ @suicidalshitstick ♡ @pretty-chips

[nebulize-my-mind]

writing an essay in spanish while listening to japanese rock music/anime openings is an Experience

[blueiscoool]

4,300-Year-Old Tomb of Palace Official Found in Egypt

A gentle wind blew the sand around the base of some pyramids in Egypt. The ancient structures dominated the landscape and likely drew attention away from an intricately decorated tomb nearby.

Not anymore.

Archaeologists were excavating an ancient cemetery at the Dahshūr archaeological site when they unearthed the long-forgotten tomb, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a March 21 Facebook post.

The 4,300-year-old tomb was built of mud bricks and partially buried in the sandy soil, archaeologists said and a photo shows.

The ancient grave was decorated with “wonderful inscriptions and scenes,” according to a news release from Egypt’s State Information Service.

Some inscriptions showed a glimpse of daily life such as people threshing grain, markets, ships sailing along the Nile River and offerings being presented, archaeologists said.

Photos show a few of these colorfully depicted scenes. In one scene, several people appear to herd a group of donkeys. Another shows several people in a procession carrying a bird and other objects, possibly offerings.

Based on the tomb’s inscriptions, archaeologists identified the its owner as a man named Seneb-Neb-Af and his wife, Idet, Egypt’s State Information Service reported. Seneb-Neb-Af was a palace official in charge of the “administration of tenants,” and Idet was the “Priestess of Hathor and Lady of the Sycamore.”

Archaeologists said the tomb dates to around 2300 B.C. or slightly earlier.

The Dahshūr archaeological site is in Dahshūr and about 25 miles south of Cairo. The area is part of the ancient Memphis UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to Britannica, and has five pyramids built between 2575 B.C. and 1756 B.C.

By Aspen Pflughoeft.

[midnightmayhem13]

Could to one where Nebula and her girlfriend are just hanging out and one of them just says out of nowhere “I want kids” or sm like that. (Could be Nedula or not or both)

I've loved you three summers but i want em all

this request is so cute!! and imma keep writing for nebula even though it's lowk a dead tag💙

it was a rather peaceful day, a little too peaceful. you're the guardians of the galaxy, you never have a calm day. but you weren't gonna complain. everyone had peace of mind somehow.

you couldn't be happier. you finally had some private time with your beautiful girlfriend nebula. she was different around you. she wasn't afraid to smirk or kiss you when u two were alone, not that she's ashamed to do it in public. but she felt more confident when it was just you two.

you had almost dozed off, ignoring the tv show you two had been watching before the sleep deprivation caught on. nebula was laying on ur chest with her arms wrapped tightly around ur waist and thigh.

it almost scared you how sudden it was. she suddenly got up and faced you. hands on your inner thighs and eyes focused on yours.

"i want to have a child with you, y/n."

youre sure you were as red as a tomato. you've never had anything opposed to having children with nebula, you wouldn't want that with anyone else in the whole universe. but the environment you both lived in was so heavy and intense you wouldn't want to bear a child into this chaotic mess you two call life.

it wasn't any of that that had been actually holding you back though. it was how were you two actually going to make a biological child??

as all this ran through ur mind you failed to notice a very nervous and touchy nebula. she was squeezing ur thighs and lower belly like an impatient child.

"my love..?" she whispered suddenly kissing ur neck. she wasn't nervous or insecure in your relationship anymore, but your hesitation was freaking her out.

"h-huh? oh, i would love to have children with you too nebs!" you said, sounding way more unsure then you intended to.

"you don't have to lie to to me y/n." nebula spat out, getting to her feet. clearly she didn't like ur tone. and she wasn't upset you didn't want kids(she totally was) but why would you lie. you knew you weren't lying, but nebula has never been the easiest person to talk to.

she was heading for the door, heart pounding and eyes watering. you don't want her to be the mother of your kids??

"nebula wait. please. " you gulped reaching for her. you felt her try to pull her hand away. but something about your touch that sent butterflies up her stomach. your glossy eyes and plump lips were calling her, her heart ached seeing you upset that you upset her.

you tugged her until she reached the bed. and held her hands and she moved to grab your thigh. touchy much?

"listen my moon, i would love nothing more to bear your children. but i can't live with the fact knowing they have to be born into this chaotic life of ours." you spoke calmly, intenting to relax her.

"y/n, it's okay. it fell out of my mouth but i need you to know this is something i crave." she wasn't a women of many words, but they always meant the most to you

"we will. we will have children of our own. well live comfortable together. and that's final yes? but i need you to understand that we have to wait." you said staring into her eyes and shooting her the smile she always loved

she couldn't help it anymore. she grabbed her waist and kissed up ur neck then on ur lips. you were so beautiful. she couldn't imagine herself without you.

you pulled away as she chased your lips, putting a stern hand on your chest. "time will tell love" reattaching her lips to yours.

as the night went on, and she fell asleep. you held her. you weren't sure how you were gonna give her children, but you were going to. and you'd would love her and all of them more than anything in this universe.

a/n THIS WAS SO DELAYED but i hope you enjoyed even tho nebula x reader is a dead tag😒

[angelmichelangelo]

LEO AND MIKEY MEAN SO MUCH TO ME you get it. you really get it. if you feel up to it i’d love if you had anything written about rise leo and mikey and their dynamic. i think about post-movie stuff so offen

LEO MIKEY TIME LEO MIKEY TIME :D enjoy!

x

In a very small fraction of a second, everything changes.

Not thirty milliseconds ago was Leo preparing himself to die. Gonzo. The Big Sleep. The very, lasting End of his life, when there’d been a crackle of hot electricity bursting through the air and so many pairs of hands bruising against skin to yank him back,

Home. The stink of the sewage reserve and overly polluted air that has the undertones of gasoline and smoke — he lands on his shell with a rattled thud, and is almost instantly scooped up by the larger sets of hands: Raph.

“Leo?” His face comes into full view as he cradles him, face taut with worry, each syllable of his name is said with a wobble of concern. “Leo, are you alright? Oh god, I thought we lost you.”

Leo blinks. The sky is no longer a rusty red, the taste of something metallic has since sunk down into his gut, rather than lingering and pooling in his mouth. He swallows, and everything hurts all at once, but he manages to knit himself a frown to match his inwardly confusion.

“Wha—”

Raph pulls him to his body with ease. His arms so gentle as they rest around his limp, aching body. He doesn’t hug back, only because he can’t find even a smidge of energy to do so.

“Mike got you home,” Raph says through happy tears. He can’t see them, not in the way his face was currently pressed tightly into the crook of his shoulder like he was never going to let go, but he knows all his brothers tells without a second glance. “Mikey portaled you home and—”

Something heavy hits the concrete. The sound of a chain spilling against the ground. There’s Donnie’s voice, clipped and short and surprised when he calls out,

“Problem! Problem!”

Raph untangles himself from Leo, a sharp breath snagged and tangled in his vocal cords, it comes out all strangled sounding. Leo forces his neck to move to the left, ever nerve ending firing off at once like a fireworks display, he does it because Raph launches himself upwards without hesitation.

“Michael? Michael!! No, no. C’mon!”

There’s that sudden, frightful urgency creeping back into his tone once again.

Leo can’t hold himself up any longer without Raph supporting him like he once was, so he slowly drifts back to the ground, staring at an unchanged sky whilst chaos continues to erupt around him.

“—get them home, now! Call dad on the way—” Donnie is barking orders fiercely and if Leo had even just a fraction of a smidge of that wonderful energy he was so very much missing right now, he might just tease him for it.

He hears the sound of his brother’s whimpering cry, far away sounding and pained, and Leo closes his eyes, not meaning to fall asleep.

But he does, anyway.

When he wakes up it’s no longer on the side of the dock bay where the air was salty and warm, but instead, in Donnie’s room. Where it definitely smelt worse, in his own humble opinion.

“Yeah, right.” A voice comes from the other side of the room. Leo gingerly lifts his head up, everything feeling so cumbersome and impossible. Donnie is perched in one of the beanbag chairs, flicking through a magazine he was barely skimming over with a quick darting of his eyes.

He pauses to look over towards his brother, expression softening for just a small moment.

“You were saying my room smelt. Something like saltwater and humble pie.” He sets the book down onto the end table. “You’re delirious with pain so I’ll let it slide.”

Leo hums, dropping his head back again, his eyes slowly pinching together, he tries to knit together some kind of coherent blanket of thoughts and memories as to what had happened.

“You passed back out on the way home.”

Donnie’s standing now beside the bedside, googles torn off from where they were usually perched on the come of his head, he’s lacking his usual bandana; a nebula of purple rings swallow up most of his eyes, both bruises from battle and no doubt the stress. He runs a hand tiredly down the entire length of his face and sighs.

“You broke a lot of bones,” he tells him straight. “Like a crazy amount of bones.”

His throat bobs. It’s serious then. “Luckily nothing… majorly important.” He deadpans him, eyebrows looming in low. “Like your neck, for example.”

Tinges of pain creep around his throat, like a ghostly whisper of his hurt that still lingers there. He’d try to reach up and touch it with his fingertips, but he’s assuming his arms were currently also out of commission with the rest of his body.

Plus, it’d look a little cliche, in his opinion.

“And,” Donnie adds pointedly, narrowing his eyes rather suspiciously. “There’s the whole self-sacrifice conversation that has been undoubtedly shelved for another time. If Angelo hadn’t portaled you out of there, Nardo, I don’t know wha–”

Leo finds all his strength at once to bolt upwards, eyes wide with a kind of panic that creeps across his chest with ice.

“Mikey,” he says with a breath. “Where is he, is he–”

Donnie shushes him with a flap of his hand, brows pinched together and mouth drawn in a stern, hard line.

“Quit moving about like that.” He moves towards him, more or less pushing him back down against the springy mattress. Seeing Leo’s concern however, does something to shift some of the hardness from his face, and he manages to pat Leo’s shoulder in a somewhat affectionate way.

“Raph and Dad are with him,” he tells him, drawing his chair up closer to the bed to sit beside his brother. “He’s alright. Pretty out of it.” His throat bobs, as if savoring all the words he perhaps didn’t want to say.

Eyes dart away and Donnie’s hands end up twisting together. Leo wishes nothing more than to reach across and grab them gently to still him, even for a moment. But the casts alongside the drugs that were swimming about in his system prevent his limbs from listening to a single command he wills them to doing.

“It was touch and go for the both of you,” Donnie finally explains, still failing to look at him at all. “What our dear friend Casey failed to mention was…” his throat bobs again, this time to swallow back the tears that brim his eyes. He fixes on a more sturdy expression when he looks to Leo. “Was that Mikey blew himself up when he opened up the portal last time. Or, er, rather, in the future, I guess.”

Leo blanches. “He what?”

Donnie nods. “Uh huh. Like, to dust.” A beat. “He’s lucky.” A ghost of a smile breezes past his brothers face, more tears springing behind warm browns. “We’re… all lucky.”

Leo sniffs. Maybe it’s the drugs, or maybe it’s the fact that they’re outta Staten Island together, but it doesn’t matter regardless. “You gotta let me see him.” He’s telling his twin. “Or I will just get up and walk to the next room regardless.”

Donnie sighs, standing and scraping back his chair, he deadpans his brother and says,

“I figured just as much. Alas, I am ten steps ahead of you, dear brother.” He throws a unbothered glance over his shoulder. “April.” He calls out.

There’s the squeaking of bed wheels against the floor and hurried, excited footsteps. With the med bay curtain pushed back Leo finally has eyes on his little brother.

He’s tucked up in his bed, face lacking his usual mask, highlighting his tired, beaten face. He’s got a split bottom lip that seems to be healing alright, still some leftover dried blood on his chin, and his arms…

Leo’s throat bobs as he soaks in the image. Mikey’s arms are bound tightly, from his hands all the way up, snaking up and around to each of his shoulders.

“S’not as bad as it looks,” Angelo is quick to assure him, voice so airy and breezy like they were discussing anything but their newfound bond over near-death experiences. “Don said I might need to wear compression stockings for a little while after to help with the nerve damage, but it don’t hurt so bad right now.”

Leo hums, waiting for their beds to be pushed together, Donnie side steps out of the way, side eyeing his brothers carefully.

“Well, that would be on the account of the boatload of drugs we supplied you with,” he says, musing over his words. Then, getting very serious, he tells them, “I want you both resting. This isn’t a sleepover. You very nearly died.” His expression softens. He lands a hand on Mikey’s shell and gives it a rather affectionate pat.

“Stop him from going stir crazy in here, will you?” He says, gesturing to Leonardo with a playful bob of his head.

Leo laughs brightly, and is somehow able to reach his arm across, wrapping Mikey’s bandaged fingers up beneath his, giving them the fainest of squeezes. Any other time he’d taken the opportunity to simply bypass Donatello’s laws and rules.

But true to his word, he was indeed hooked up to a lotta good drugs. All of which were seemingly kicking in at once.

“We’ll be okay, Dee,” he hears Mikey say, voice gentle and true. He feels him just about managed to squeeze his hand back, and although there’s a conversation still on sacrifices and suicidal portal missions, right now, with the weight of his brother’s hand in his and his gentle laughter filling the room, it was all the best medicine Leo needed for a peaceful sleep.

[theartoflovingthomashunt]

Always and Whatever Comes Next

[All Thomas Hunt x Alex Spencer Masterlists] [Red Carpet Diaries]

Pairing: Thomas Hunt x Alex Spencer (F!OC) Book: Red Carpet Diaries Word Count: ~600 Rating: General: no warnings, just fluff Prompts: ice skating: @choicesficwriterscreations & @choicesholidays

Synopsis: Alex finally has a chance to teach Thomas how to ice skate.

This precious art of my forever OTP is by the amazing @weetlebeetle! Look at how adorable they look!!! I will never get enough of Neb's chibis!

There weren't many opportunities like this one, and Alex was determined to make the most of it. It was no secret she loved the snow. She somehow convinced Thomas to even have a winter wedding in Lake Tahoe. The glistening snow. The brisk, refreshing air. The feel of the cool wind on your rosy cheeks. Alex loved it all. She loved California, but she would always miss winter, a true winter.

Even with the snow she enjoyed during their many trips to Lake Tahoe in their years together, finding a frozen lake for ice skating wasn't something that happened often. It took a very specific set of circumstances and a whole lot of winter magic, but here they were. It was a small lake south of South Tahoe, but it was gorgeous. The sun glittered against its icy surface. It was everything she hoped it would be. 

Excitement sparkled in her eyes as she stood from the rock on the lake's shore on which they had been sitting to put on their skates. "Are you ready?" 

"Not even remotely," he stated apprehensively, remaining where he sat.

"It'll be great. I'm right here." Alex gave his hand a gentle squeeze as she attempted to usher him forward.

Thomas glanced at the shimmering surface with uncertainty. "I wouldn't want to hold you back."

"You never could do that." Alex took his other hand in hers, gently guiding him to his feet. She helped steady him as he got his footing, standing on his skates. "You can do this! We can do it—together."

He took a tentative step forward toward the frozen lake. With the safety of her beside him as his anchor, he continued steadily.

"I won't let go," Alex reassured him, her thumb brushing tenderly along his hand. "I'm right here."

With cautious steps, Thomas ventured onto the ice, wobbling almost immediately. His legs flailed out to the sides, threatening imminent disaster, but Alex's steady guidance kept him upright.

"Okay, just follow my lead," she encouraged, directing him with gentle patience. "Just like that." 

They glided in unison, Alex's effortless grace a stark contrast to Thomas's stumbling attempts. Even still, their laughter echoed across the frozen expanse as they carved paths on the ice.

"Just keep holding on," Thomas insisted, his grip tightening around Alex's hand. "Don't let go."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Her warm lips brushed a tender kiss on his cool cheek. "You're stuck with me, Mr. Hunt."

"I can think of far worse fates," he teased.

"You mean like if I let you go?" She wagged her brow playfully, pretending to loosen her grip on his arm.

"No." He shook his head to the sides, his faith that she wouldn't let him fall remained unwavering despite her feigned threat. "Losing you, not having met you—a life without you—that would be the worst fate I could imagine." 

She guided them to a halt, the warm sun tickling their rosy faces. "I'm not going anywhere. This is where I belong." Her fingers traced the strong lines of his jaw. "This is where you belong." She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close. "Together—this is where we belong. Now and always." 

"Always." His lip twitched up into a soft smile. "That sounds like a good start."

"A start? What comes after always?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, I hope I'll find it with you." 

"Always and whatever comes next," Alex pondered, but her words were lost on his lips as he drew her in for a slow and lingering kiss. 

This is not edited so please forgive any mistakes. I got inspired to write this little snippet so I wanted to share it before I second guess myself and delete it.

Thank you for reading! I always appreciate any support for this couple. They will always have the most special spot in my heart!