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lexkent · 2 months

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clex fic rec part 1:

Identical Series by Lanning (400,450 words)

summary: Lex loses everything, and finds something better.

If He Would Fall by sabershadowkat (5,291 words)

summary: Lex realizes Clark will always catch him.

Most Regretted by Tallihensia (5,062 words)

summary: A meteor mutant shows Clark what he will most regret in his future. Will Clark learn from it?

Reconcilable Differences by astolat (38,799 words)

summary: Luthor Family Values.

Soothing out the Hurts by Tallihensia (4,977 words)

summary: If one learns to harm people, one must also learn to heal. Superman accidentally hurts Lex and decides he has to make up for it.

The Perfect Life by A_Fallen_Sister (9,042 words)

summary: A little Thanksgiving tale. Lex and Clark have been angst-free for years, but life is not entirely without problems.

To Legends by Tallihensia (655 words)

summary: A final toast to legends.

Ants And Other Higher Lifeforms by Dayspring (3,123 words)

summary: He really didn't want to come back as an ant.

Escape Velocity by Bagheera (7,119 words)

summary: What if the meteor rocks had given Lex super speed?

Two Halves by Dolimir (31,254 words)

summary: A 'what if' Lex found Clark before the Kents did story.

Lex and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman by arysteia (16,816 words)

summary: Evil-doers have seized control of the Daily Planet building. Can Clark save the day, rescue Lois, Perry and Jimmy, and reconcile with Lex, all without revealing his secret identity?

Of Gods and Men by Lenore (17,176 words)

summary: What does it mean to be great?

i think that possibly maybe i'm falling for you by Nicnac (3,058 words)

summary: After the incident with Duncan, Lex is quietly asked to transfer to a different school. Lionel decides to send him to Smallville High as punishment for his misconduct, and Lex is chosen as that year's Scarecrow. Luckily, he's saved by local college student and unofficial town hero, Clark Kent.

Sealed with a Kiss by laceymcbain (28,613 words)

summary: Pete: "We're standing in Lex's office with Lana serving coffee right outside and I'm waiting for you to kiss me so we can see if you poison me or not. That's weird, Clark--even by Smallville standards."

Not a Villain by Tallihensia (156,782 words)

summary: When Clark makes a discovery about Conner, honor forces him to tell Lex. Lex comes by to see for himself.

Dancing at The Purple Parrot by laceymcbain (17,965 words)

summary: Lex couldn’t believe it, but the man seemed to be blushing. An awkward stripper in plaid who was blushing. “Oh, no,” Lex murmured to himself. “Oh God, no.”

Fixing Things by Tallihensia (45,049 words)

summary: Lex Luthor is his father's fix-it man for failing companies. But when Lex unexpectedly comes across Clark Kent again, can he fix what went wrong between them eight years ago? And will Clark let him? Through the meteor mutants trying to kill them, Clark and Lex try to find their way again.

Someone To Watch Over Me by Dolimir (22,034 words)

summary: What if the government had stepped in and collected people affected by the meteors when Clark was still a toddler?

Lover's Choice by Tallihensia (3,383 words)

summary: Lex's old lover wants him back in her cold embrace. Clark doesn't want to let him go.

Catharsis by arysteia (4,285 words)

summary: Aristotle says that tragedy purges the negative emotions of the audience. Can angsty porn purge the negative emotions of the Smallville audience? Let's give it a shot. Lex finally calls Clark on a few things.

Devil's Deal by Bagheera (29,560 words)

summary: Lex sells his soul to the devil to bring his son back from the dead. Can Clark get it back for him?

Cookie Dough & Candy Hearts by Dayspring (3,853 words)

summary: Lex, liquor, and Martha Kent make for an interesting Valentine's Day.

iHero by I I B N F (iibnf) (80,571 words)

summary: Bitten by a radioactive CD player, Lex gets super powers and just about everything he ever wanted, not that he'd ever admit he wanted what he gets.

Cooking Considered As One Of The Fine Arts by Caro (thestarsexist) (2,906 words)

summary: Sometimes part of being a good mother is knowing the best chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Manifest Destiny by Liviapenn (24,180 words)

summary: Giant robots and things exploding.

The Lost Soul by tasabian (4,975 words)

summary: When a malicious act of magic separates Clark's soul from his body, only one person realizes how to help him.

Run by Dayspring (31,667 words)

summary: "The castle blew up right after I dragged him from the shower. We've…we've been running ever since."

The Reset by tasabian (4,764 words)

summary: An unexpected portal opening in Smallville causes Lex Luthor from 2002 to trade places with Lex Luthor from 2018. How will it change the timeline as we know it?

Purple by Dayspring (13,922 words)

summary: Martha doesn't need an advanced degree in Art to figure it out, but Jonathan might.

Shadows & Stone: Smallville Stories by laceymcbain (83,680 words)

summary: Lex's evening has scored particularly high on the Luthor Scale of Tragic Dates. When he confesses to Toby that he thinks he's destined to be alone, an eavesdropping Clark is determined to change his mind.

Pheromones by Tallihensia (4,009 words)

summary: Lex and Batman take on the Bee Queen. It doesn't quite end up the way they planned and Superman has to step in to save Lex.

Time and Chance by Dayspring (111,267 words)

summary: Lex is pregnant. Nobody's happy. This is an mpreg (male pregnancy story). But this isn't one of those funny, life-is-great mpregs. It's full of bad days and sad days and people being ordinary pain-in-the-butts.

A Mad Season by Dolimir (22,683 words)

summary: An AU look at what might have happened if all of Lex's Smallville memories had been erased when Lionel ordered electroshock therapy.

Golden by CJAndre, Noelle (28,676 words)

summary: Lex smirked at his wishful thinking, but he knew that whatever the situation, he could handle it.

Then, confronted with the sight in front of him, he realized that maybe he couldn't handle it at all.

Memoirs Of An Alien Who Fell To Earth by Dayspring (10,566 words)

summary: See the title. FUTUREFIC.

Feel free to message me if you'd like trigger warnings on any specific fic listed. There's some very dark content here and not all is tagged.

Also @clarklexlois has an excellent clex fic rec list with descriptions, and it's actually what got me into fanfic!💖

#*okay so i posted this exact list before but it was in response to an ask so naturally i can't find it when i search my blog #so fingers crossed this will help #clex #smallville #clex fic #clex fix rec #text

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shewolf-sinclair · 4 months

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I HATE when people dumb down Jason Todd “he’s impulsive/irrational/erratic/brash/dumb/the angry robin!”

WRONG

let me break it down for you fools because he’s actually like one of the most nuanced and complex characters to ever bless my presence (and he’s the best ((my fav)) robin argue with the wall) (tldr at the end but please read the post)

Starting out as robin they are ALL orphans. because that’s like bruce’s thing. BUT dick and tim had families before bruce adopted them. Jason did not. HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. (+10 points for truama✨) which led him to grow up to be independent and resourceful. Bruce literally met him because he was trying to steal the bat mobiles tires with the intent of reverse engineering them to sell to the people of gotham because bullet proof tires in that kinda city would save lives source

As for being brash. Yeah. he is. he lacks people skills because HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. yet he still knows how to sympathize with people and not be an ass ALL the time. he’s cocky sure but it’s a defensive mechanism after years of being treated like he doesn’t have value/having to prove himself. and damien is worse lets bsffr.

He’s impulsive. (likely adhd) Teenager. next question.

He’s the angriest robin! he only ever wants vengeance! WRONG. dick is angrier! he was so petty he left gotham and got a new identity just as a fuck you to bruce. any anger Jason has is not unmatched or outdone by other robins and he is rightfully angry he’s been dealt a crappy hand in life. he’s jealous of dick because bruce was ALWAYS comparing him and telling heroic stories of dicks feats. it’s hard not to push yourself to be as good as or better than the og and not to crack under said pressure.

He’s dumb! NOPE. he is as smart if not smarter than tim. He is BRILLIANT when he wants to be. (see above: resourceful) if you take titans (cw) as canon (why wouldn’t u its as canon as any other tv show??) he is a GENIUS. he taught himself chemistry so he could invent and mass produce drugs. he had a genius strategy to fuck with the titans; the puzzle of clues for which dick needed scarecrow, kory, gar, and conner to solve. Not to mention him finding doctor light earlier in the season. He leads the outlaws bc he is a natural leader and good at handling the details!!

He’s a villain! OKAY AND? SO WAS HARLEY BUT WE LUV HER !! DAMIEN WAS A TRAINED ASSASAIN! he puts so much effort into helping people (see above: resourceful) HE RISKED/LOST HIS LIFE FOR IT. HE IS FIERCELY LOYAL. even as red hood he obtains a strict moral code; no drugs to kids or by schools, don’t kill innocent uninvolved people(depends on which media you’re looking at). serve karma on a gold platter. unlawful but USUALLY NOT unethical. he also becomes a vigilante (and the JL for a bit) and does so much good! none of them are perfect ALL of the time. and considering the other DC villains, he’s not that evil.

strength?? no problem! he almost beat dick and bruce several times in the comics!! source

not to mention his proficiency for new things (see above: chemistry) his whole time as robin he uses bat tech. but redhood uses guns and knives. he just picked that up and was a skilled marksman immediately. (also truama response after nearly dying to death stroke)

so what hes kinda fucked in the head. aren’t they all? isn’t that… the point? it’s justified after everything he’s been through AND it makes hims a better character, more 3D more realistic and relatable.

also for the sake of this thesis partially disregard the wonderful work of art that is WFA it’s a fixit. for a reason. because the it was broken and needed fixing.

TLDR; you don’t have to like Jason Todd, or think he’s the best Robin, but you have to admit, he is a complex, layered, well written character. And stop mischaracterizing him and dumbing him down to this impulsive, angry, weak kid.

bonus: my Jason playlist

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angelbaby-fics · 11 months

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Halloween Decorations

Word Count: 800

A/N: This is just a little something I wrote because I’m so excited for Halloween!! Oh, the things I would do with decorations if I had Avenger money…… hehehe 🎃

“Alright, here’s what we’re working with.” Bucky said as he lowered a big plastic tub onto the ground in front of you and Steve. The three of you were standing in the grass of your expansive front yard, and Bucky had just returned from the garage with the bin of his and his husband’s Halloween decorations they’d each amassed over the years. Except, as he lifted off the lid, you all realized at the same time that it wasn’t all that much.

Two, maybe three strings of orange lights were tangled together in an incomprehensible mass. There was a white cloth ghost on a string, a few half-used orange candles, and a single plastic bone underneath the lights, and that was about it. Maybe it was enough for two adults in an apartment, but now that they had a little and a great big house, Steve and Bucky knew they needed to step up their game.

You tried to hide your disappointment at the lack of decorations, not wanting to seem ungrateful, but it was hard to act excited over this pitiful pile. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust, and you were sure the lights had more busted bulbs than working ones. It didn’t matter, your daddies were just as unimpressed as you were. Of course they had high hopes for their first Halloween with their little angel and they were already failing at it.

“Well this just won’t do, will it?” Steve broke the tense silence with a smile.

“Not at all, honey.” Bucky replied to his husband before turning to you. “What do you think, cupcake? Wanna go to the store and help us pick some new decorations?”

Your eyes lit up and you nodded eagerly. Your daddies spoiled you every time you went shopping as a family, and you knew this trip would be no exception. Your mind began to race with thoughts of the incredible display you’d be able to put on this year - with your daddies’ help of course!

When you reached the store, Steve pushed you along in the cart, talking to you and pointing out everything you passed by. Bucky kept up alongside the two of you, grabbing anything that even slightly made your face perk up and tossing it into the basket of the cart. You stocked up on strings of lights in all sorts of spooky shapes and colors for the outside of the house, as well as lights on stakes to line the sidewalk leading to your driveway. You couldn’t decide between all the options of silly-faced scarecrows, so Bucky went ahead and loaded all of them into the cart, barely able to make room amongst a parade of toy spiders, ghosts, and creepy crawlies. A whole colony of fake bats sat up in the front of the cart with you, and you pet their little plastic heads as Steve steered you between the endless aisles.

And then you saw it.

As you turned the corner into the next aisle, a massive figure loomed over you, dark and menacing. The sleeves of its long black cloak threatened to stroke your hair as you passed by, and your eyes widened in fear as its horrifying face smiled down at you with an evil grin. Your face twisted up as you began to cry, the sobs escalating with each panicked breath. Steve couldn’t push you away from the figure fast enough it seemed, the creature's villainous eyes following you as he hurried you along, but Bucky was trailing behind and hadn’t noticed your fear. Completely oblivious, he strolled right up to the animatronic and hit the activation button. You were still within earshot when it spoke.

“Trick or treat! Hehehe…” Its deep voice echoed through the store.

And your crying stops.

You looked back up at the animatronic. How actually evil could it be with such a sweet little giggle? Bucky hit the button again.

“Happy Halloween, you creepy little cutie!” It said, followed by another laugh.

You clapped with joy. It called you a cutie, just like your daddies did!

“Again! Again!” You cheered, no longer afraid, but rather enamored with the figure.

“How about we take him home, and then you can listen to him whenever you want?” Bucky offered, picking up one of the heavy boxes with ease.

“Would you like that, angel?” Steve asked, making sure you weren’t still scared.

“Yes pwease! I love him!!” You squealed as Bucky put the box in the cart.

That joy stayed with you as the three of you checked out, and you even asked specially to have the animatronic’s box strapped into the backseat next to you. You couldn’t wait to go home and help your daddies decorate, already sure you were going to have the most spectacularly spooky house on the entire block.

#little!reader #stucky x little!reader #agere fic #bucky x little!reader #daddy!stucky x little!reader #daddy!bucky #daddy!stucky #cg!stucky x little!reader #cg!stucky #chloe's fic

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weirdmarioenemies · 1 year

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Name: Scarecrow

Debut: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

We are in the midst of September, and that is Scarecrow Season! This is the time of year where the scarecrows start to become self-aware! If you want to befriend a scarecrow, now is the time to enter your local cornfields and strike up a conversation about Grains! Of course, there is a limited time frame to do this. In October, the scarecrows will begin to believe everything the crows have been whispering to them, and decide to jump down from their posts and chase farmers with a scythe. I love autumn!

The dashing red-clothed scarecrow heading this post isn't just any effigy. In fact, you know him! You know him very well.

Does this fellow look familiar to you? This is Super Mario, from Super Mario Games on The Nintendo. What's he doing being a scarecrow? It's not his fault! It was a weird dog thing!

This is Belome, the weird dog thing, and he has some tricks up his metaphorical sleeve, my favorite of which is the ability to turn anyone into a scarecrow. He does this using a spell called S'crow Funk, a name I adore because it sounds like the COOL way of referring to scarecrows. The hip young farmers don't have time for any extraneous syllables! They see a scarecrow and say something like "Check out that s'crow, Tom!" But ol' Farmer Tom doesn't like the name shortening, because he loves scaring crows, more than he loves protecting his crops. He hates crows so much. I don't like that about him.

S'crow Funk is a real deal magic spell, with a rhyming incantation! It goes like this:

Stick for a body Head full of straw Give me a scarecrow, rah rah RAH!

Due to the "funk" in the name, I must assume this rhyme is accompanied by a funky beat. You can try invoking this yourself, but before you do, be courteous. Make sure your victim is okay with being made unable to attack normally, and only able to use magic attacks. Unless you're evil, in which case you will probably do it anyway. But I hope you're not evil. That would be Problematic!

Name: Scarecrow

Debut: Super Mario Odyssey

Look! Another scarecrow! I'm really sorry if any crows are reading this post. But THIS scarecrow is fresh and 3D! And this one is not Mario.

No, still not Mario, even with his hat! If Mario throws Cappy onto a scarecrow, Cappy will stay on its head, and activate some sort of new platforming challenge. This is because if it weren't for the scarecrow, crows would eat all of the platforming challenges, and then there would be none for us to eat! Without scarecrows we would die!

#scarecrow #super mario rpg #super mario rpg legend of the seven stars #super mario odyssey #mario #mario entities #mod chikako

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togrowoldinv · 1 year

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Decorations

Natasha Romanoff x Female Reader

Natasha wants to decorate the house as a new fall tradition for your family

Note: Happy flufftober! Here’s my first fic. Enjoy it!

Flufftober 2023 Masterlist, Main Masterlist

During your relationship so far, Natasha hasn’t really wanted to do anything special for the fall. October was just another month to her. You got used to that, so you never expected it to change.

But today, Natasha wakes up with fall activities at the forefront of her mind.

“Detka, wake up,” she says into the morning light. “We have to go shopping.”

You grunt and roll over to look at her. She sounds like she is talking nonsense.

“What?” You ask her. “What time is it?”

“7:30,” Nat answers casually.

“Too early,” you mumble. You try to pull the covers over your head, but Natasha stops you.

“Our sweet girl will be up soon,” she says.

“So, we should sleep until then.” Your daughter is in an energetic phase. You love seeing her come out of her shell, but she has too much energy for early mornings.

“You need to wake up so we can get ready,” Nat says. “I have some things I want to do today.”

“Natasha, please,” you say.

She loves the way you pout at her. She kisses it away. Her plan to wake you up is successful as you can’t resist her kisses. Nat shifts so you’re pinned under her. The weight of her wakes you up further.

“You’re evil,” you say as she kisses your lips deeply.

She kisses you for a few minutes before you hear the sound of little feet running towards your room. You brush your knee between her legs and Natasha practically growls. She didn’t hear the little girl, so she tries to kiss you again, but you push her off you.

“No,” Natasha mumbles as she falls back on the bed.

You chuckle at her antics.

“Mama! Mommy! The sun is up!” Ali says as she comes to your side of the bed.

“Yes, it is, baby,” you reply. “Come on up.”

The little girl crawls onto the bed and Natasha wraps her in her arms. She kisses her temple and holds her close.

“So, I was thinking we could decorate for fall/Halloween today. What do you both think?” Natasha asks.

“Really?” Ali asks. Her face lights up at the idea, but soon falls. “Scary stuff?”

“No, malyshka. Nothing scary,” Nat assures her. “Just some pumpkins, haybales, maybe even a scarecrow.”

“Where’s this coming from?” You ask your wife.

“I don’t know,” Nat says. “I just realized I kind of want to be one of those tacky fall families that decorate for the season. I want that for our kids.”

You nod in understanding. Nat has slowly opened up about her opinions about how to raise your kids with the older Ali gets and the prospect of more kids soon.

“Well, then we have some shopping to do,” you say.

“Can I wear my pumpkin shirt Auntie Wanda got me?” Ali asks.

“Absolutely,” you agree. “Let’s go get ready.”

With that, your little family of three is out of bed and gets ready to go shopping. You go to Target for a few inflatables, the farmer’s market for haybales and pumpkins, and finally make a stop at the grocery store for fall themed snacks and drinks.

When you get back home, you turn on a fall playlist and help Natasha decorate the house. She mostly does the work while you wrangle Ali from running around crazy. Maybe a caramel apple with M&M’s on it was too much sugar for a three-year-old.

“What do you think?” Natasha asks, stepping back from the house.

There are pumpkins, haybales, and a scarecrow in the front yard with more pumpkins and a fake black widow spider you convinced her you needed on the porch. The yard also has a Charlie Brown great pumpkin that Ali wanted. It’s perfect.

“I love it,” you answer. “You did amazing, my love.”

“Thanks,” Nat says, a smile on her face. She lifts Ali into her arms. “What do you think, Ali baby?”

“The spider is my favorite,” Ali replies.

“Really? I thought it might be a little scary,” you say.

“No, because Mama is a black widow, and she isn’t scary,” Ali reasons.

You and Natasha both laugh. Nat can be a little scary, but you won’t tell Ali that. After all, the woman who wanted to wake up and decorate the house for fall couldn’t be that scary.

The house looks perfect, and you feel a new tradition has begun. You can’t wait for next fall with your perfect family.

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #soft natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff comfort #togrowoldinv’s flufftober 2023

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chavahlahdraws · 1 year

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okay i see you’re obviously a fan of hmc, as you should, but i have a question cause i read the book but people on tiktok pissed me off (as booktok usually does i’m about ready to get rid of it) and a lot of people were saying it’s weird that people love the relationship even though sophie “didn’t really love him” because she was charmed. but i was like no y’all i thought she really loved him?? like she stays with him to have a kid right so???

ok. here is a real way to comment on this yippee! this is actually aweslome because i get to do my little sophie rant.

first of all and most importantly - sophie was never charmed by howl. quite the opposite, really, which i would argue is how she fell for him in the first place.

“Oh, confound that gray-and-scarlet suit!” Sophie said. “I refuse to believe that I was the one that got caught with it!” The trouble was the blue-and-silver suit seemed to have worked just the same. She stumped a few steps further. “Anyway,’ she said with great relief, “Howl doesn’t like me!”

this is by far one of my favorite sophie moments in the whole book: and i understand the confusion here for more than one reason (will explain more later!) but clearly she’s using the gray and scarlet suit as a euphemism because she’s in denial. after everything she’s seen of him, sophie refuses to believe that she could fall in love with someone who is so intrinsically flawed—however, as we find at the end of the book—they’re the same in that respect.

howl is by no means a bad person or an evil person in the slightest, and despite herself sophie falls in love with him because of his kindness (like most people do, anyway) here’s some times that they bond …

More about Howl? Sophie thought desperately. I have to blacken his name! Her mind was such a blank that for a second it actually seemed to her that Howl had no faults at all. How stupid! “Well, he’s fickle, careless, selfish, and hysterical,” she said. “Half the time I think he doesn’t care what happens to anyone as long as he’s all right-but then I find out how awfully kind he’s been to someone. Then I think he’s kind just when it suits him-only then I find out he undercharges poor people. I don’t know, Your Majesty. He’s a mess.”

“Behold the new Royal Wizard,” he said. “My name is very black.” Then he began to laugh, much to the surprise of Sophie and Michael. “And what did she do to the Count of Catterack?” he laughed. “I should never have let her near the King!” “I did blacken your name!” Sophie protested. “I know. It was my miscalculation,” Howl said.

Howl pointed a shaky hand up toward the canopy of his bed. “That’s why I love spiders. ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, again.’ I keep trying,” he said with great sadness. “But I brought it on myself by making a bargain some years ago, and I know I shall never be able to love anyone properly now.” The water running out of Howl’s eyes was definitely tears now. Sophie was concerned. “Now, you mustn’t cry-”

“If you come out here alone, bring your stick to test the ground with,” Howl said. “It’s full of springs and bog. And don’t go any further that way.”

As she had feared, the hard black-and-white daylight coming through the broken wall showed her that Howl had not bothered to shave or tidy his hair. His eyes were still red-rimmed and his black sleeves were torn in several places. There was not much to choose between Howl and the scarecrow. Oh, dear! Sophie thought. He must love Miss Angorian very much. “I came for Miss Angorian,” she explained. “And I thought if I arranged for your family to visit you, it would keep you quiet for once!” Howl said disgustedly. “But no-”

Howl rose up on his hands and knees with a scramble. “I can’t stay,” he said. “I’ve got to rescue that fool Sophie.” “I’m here!” Sophie said, shaking his shoulder. “But so is Miss Angorian! Get up and do something about her! Quickly!”

Howl looked a little sad, but he said, “We were both hoping you would. Neither of us wanted to end up like the Witch and Miss Angorian. Would you call your hair ginger?” “Red gold,” Sophie said. Not much had changed about Howl that she could see, now he had his heart back, except maybe that his eyes seemed a deeper color-more like eyes and less like glass marbles. “Unlike some people’s,” she said, “it’s natural.” “I’ve never seen why people put such a value on things being natural,” Howl said, and Sophie knew then that he was scarcely changed at all.

and finally…

“Sophie,” said Martha, “the spell’s off you! Did you hear?” But Sophie and Howl were holding one another’s hands and smiling and smiling, quite unable to stop. “Don’t bother me now,” said Howl. “I only did it for the money.” “Liar!” said Sophie.

howl and sophie are meant for each other! they compliment each other immensely, and it’s difficult to describe how well they do so concisely. what i can pin it down to is this: nothing is secret between them. they operate like best friends as well as they do as lovers; they never let anything slide between them! sophie refuses to take howl’s shit when he crosses a line, (and howl vice cersa, especially when sophie is putting herself down) but they also know each other well enough to truly know their intentions when they say anything. a great example of this in hmc is this whole conversation:

“Why did you pretend to run away? To deceive the Witch?” “Not likely!” Howl yelled. “I’m a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell my self I’m not doing it!” Oh, dear! Sophie thought, looking round at the swirling grit. He’s being honest! And this is a wind. The last bit of the curse has come true! The hot grit hit her thunderously and Howl’s grip hurt. “Keep running!” Howl bawled. “You’ll get hurt at this speed!” Sophie gasped and made her legs work again. She could see the mountains clearly now and a line of green below that was the flowering bushes. Even though yellow sand kept swirling in the way, the mountains seemed to grow and the green line rushed toward them until it was hedge high. “All my flanks were weak!” Howl shouted. “I was relying on Suliman being alive. Then when all that seemed to be left of him was Percival, I was so scared I had to go out and get drunk. And then you go and play into the Witch’s hands!” “I’m the eldest!” Sophie shrieked. “I’m a failure!” “Garbage!” Howl shouted. “You just never stop to think!” Howl was slowing down. Dust kicked up round them in dense clouds. Sophie only knew the bushes were quite near because she could hear the rush and rattle of the gritty wind in the leaves. They plunged in among them with a crash, still going so fast that Howl had to swerve and drag Sophie in along, skimming run across a lake. “And you’re too nice,” he added, above the lap-lap of the water and the patter of sand on the water-lily leaves. “I was relying on you being too jealous to let that demon near the place.”

sorry for the chunky quote, but this is super super important for our two silly little characters and their dynamic!!

and as for the misconception that sophie was charmed by howl:

mrs. pentsemmon actually hints when she meets sophie that she cursed the grey and scarlet suit herself (out of jealousy, though she’d never say it) and the original passage says that;

The trouble was the blue-and-silver suit seemed to have worked just the same.

Sophie knows for a fact that she felt the same about Howl when he was wearing the blue and silver suit that she did when he wore the enchanted one, and she knew from that that she most definitely wasn’t affected by the charm.

also! a little note about misconceptions in general: the first time i read hmc, the ending scene felt out of nowhere. but that’s how subtly dwj worked in the character development throughout this story! at it’s core hmc is a character based story, and howl and sophie are the most important characters (sophie especially!) but in the first read through i think we all focused on the plot a little more since we didn’t know that was what it was. every read through since, i’ve seen how howl and sophie fall in love in real time! and it’s undeniable then. :3

anyways! relationships written by a woman always win fr. thanks for listening to my rant if you made it this far. and my good friend @thatfoolsophie if you have anything to add, please do to this already crazy long post lmao :3

#hmc book #howl’s moving castle #hmc #dwj #sophie hatter #howell jenkins #howl pendragon #howls moving castle #sophie x howl #howl and sophie #long post #book analysis

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dracaelus · 8 months

Text

Ok guys, look at me *shaking with ghostbat energy*

During the events of Batman fear state, scarecrow finds a way to get into batman's mind and mess around a little. So, naturally, batman asks ghostmaker to enter his mind and check what's going on, you know, as you do

This happens in Batman (2016) #113, if you wanna read the whole thing you can start at Batman #106 or (if you wanna see Khoa's introduction and first appearance in the comics) Batman #102. I'm telling you this because right here at this moment, there's a wonderful, incredible potential for ghostbat fics and I need someone to tap into that, so bear with me

In the actual issue, things get resolved a little faster, but here we have your prompt: Bruce and Khoa exploring Bruce's mind, walking around through all of his memories, trying to get to the one they need and find out what's wrong with his brain (besides the usual).

So we can see Bruce at multiple points of his life

Khoa: you know, I think you could've been an actual cute baby if they'd just given you brown contact lenses

Bruce: don't start

Khoa: I mean it, you had potential. But as things are, you were just a small creepy creature

Khoa: like, what's the deal with all the staring?

Bruce: I was attentive and observing.

Khoa: you were strange and off-putting... Not much different than you are now I guess

Khoa: Oh, he's staring at me now. Can you make him stop? Do they come with an off button?

Bruce: It's just a memory, Khoa, it can't hurt you

Baby!Bruce: •-•

We can have kid!Bruce going to the park with his parents; they send him to play with the other kids and about half an hour later he comes back with some company.

Kid! Bruce: *holding a little kid's hand* Mother, Father. Meet your new son, Tobias.

Martha: What

Kid!Bruce: I adopted him as my brother since you wouldn't give me one by your own volition. He's part of the family now. He's very nice, I think you'll like him.

Tobias: :D

Thomas: How did you even get him-

Martha: *carefully* Look, Bruce. Darling. I know you want a little brother...

Kid!Bruce: I really, really want •-•

Martha: ... really, really want. But you can't just steal a kid like that, that's illegal.

Kid!Bruce: -_-

Kid!Bruce: I shall be a criminal, then.

*in the background*

Khoa: so... you've always been like that, hm?

Bruce: stfu i was six

The comedic potential??? The opportunity to throw all your headcanons into it and call it a day???? C'MON!

And you can take a completely comedic approach to it, but may I present you one more aspect of this little adventure because everything is fun and games until I throw horror at it O_o

So, here's the thing about Scarecrow's plan: he creates an evil/monstrous version of Bruce in his memories. It doesn't appear much so it's hard for me to explain what exactly it is and what it's supposed to do, but it's basically:

Ghostmaker just straight up kills it but yk I think there's more potential to this idea, it can be further explored

I, personally, love the idea of this disturbing version of him being able to manifest itself in multiple memory!bruce versions

So, cute but creepy baby bruce? He's about to get creepier

Baby!Bruce: •-•

Baby!Bruce: *eyes go completely black*

Khoa: yk, Bruce... I'm not a kid specialist, but I think there might be something genuinely wrong with mini-you...

Bruce: Khoa, seriously, I thought the only baby here was my younger self. Could you please stop trembling under the stare of a 1 year old-

Baby!Bruce: *turns his head 360 degrees like a kid in a horror movie and starts coughing black goo*

Bruce: ...

Khoa: see, this is why i never wanted kids.

Also, just as a side note, khoa can also show bruce his own memories

So you can do whatever you want with that information. I just really wish that whole plotline had been longer

#this has been in my drafts #for SO LONG #you have no idea #i simply don't have the energy to finish long posts #i keep trying to make them anyway #but god if the state of my drafts isn't depressing #drac panels #drac rambles #batman fear state #ghostbat #batman #bruce wayne #ghostmaker #minhkhoa khan

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souurcitrus · 2 months

Text

Batfamily Time-line

Decide to do a quick timeline for Batman's core family, since it seems like the Comics writers don't know how old the characters should be, and with the stories being due between New Earth and Prime Earth, things get even more confusing.

I don't really like the New 52 and most reboots irritate me, so I made this timeline based on old Batman stories. Anot all information are correct, and some is more speculation based on the Comics.

1939 -

• August 16th - Alfred Pennyworth was born.

• (His age is never specified in any type of media, but it seems like he was at least on his 30s when he became Bruce's guardian).

1962 -

• Bruce Wayne's birthday is officially February 19th (though I don't remember when the exactly year).

1970 -

• One night, while returning from the Monarch Theatre, the Wayne family was approached by the criminal, Joe Chill, who murdered Thomas and Martha and fled.

• Bruce (age 8) was left in Alfred Pennyworth's care (age 31).

1971 -

• January 26 - Kate Kane, Bruce Wayne's cousin, is born.

1973 -

• At age 14, Bruce Wayne's eyes were opened to the level of crime in Gotham and he was determined to do something about it, swearing to rid the city of the evil that had taken his parents' lives.

• He left Gotham City and spent his youth traveling the world, training himself to intellectual and physical perfection and learning a variety of crime-fighting skills, including chemistry, criminology, forensics, martial arts, gymnastics, disguise and escape artistry.

1975 -

• September 23 - Barbara Gordon is born.

1978 -

• March 20 - Richard "Dick" Grayson, son of John and Mary Grayson, two acrobats from The Haley Circus.

1984 -

• (Batman: Year One, Batman #404-407)

• Bruce Wayne (22) returned to Gotham and began acting as a vigilante, taking on the title of Batman.

• Bruce named Lucius Fox president of Wayne Enterprises and brought him, Alfred Pennyworth (45) and Leslie Tompkins their plans.

• Along with James Gordon, Sarah Essen and Harvey Bullock, Batman faces corruption and crime in Gotham.

• August 16 - Jason Todd was born.

• (Catwoman: Her Sister’s Keeper)

• Selina Kyle was inspired to become a costumed thief when she sees Batman in action and becomes Catwoman.

• (Batman: Shaman, Legends of the Dark Knight #1-5)

• That same year, other rogues appeared, before the Joker even existed: Man-Bat, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and Riddler.

1985 -

• (Batman: Year Two, Detective Comics #575-578)

• Batman inspired the vigilante movement, leading to the arrival of the likes of Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Black Canary and his old friend Oliver Queen as Green Arrow.

• January 26 - Cassandra Cain, daughter of Lady Shiva and David Cain, is born.

• (Batman: The Man Who Laughs, Detective Comics #784-786)

• The first appearance of the Joker.

• (Batman: The Long Halloween #1-12)

• Batman, James Gordon and Harvey Dent worked together to bring down the organized crime syndicates led by Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni.

• They also had to investigate a serial killer named Holiday that had been killing mafiosos. Gotham's new breed of criminals was replacing the traditional gangsters.

• This was the first time Batman met Selina Kyle dressed as Catwoman.

• After a long investigation, Maroni was brought to a trial, during which he threw it at Dent's face, leaving him scarred. Later, Harvey reappeared calling himself Two-Face and shot Falcone twice in the head.

• He was accused of betraying the things he believed in and arrested.

1986 -

• (Superman, vol 1 #76; Superman/Batman annual, #1)

• Superman and Batman meet for the first time, as Superman came to Gotham and they work together tracking the dangerous psychopath Magpie. They both gained respect for each other, although they doubted, they would ever work together again

• July 19 - Timothy Drake is born.

• (Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity)

• Clark later introduced Bruce to Wonder Woman while chasing "The Purge" led by Ra's al Ghul.

• Already a hero to Gotham, Batman (26) became a hero to the world when he and six other heroes fought Brainiac's invasion and formed the Justice League of America.

• August 11 - Stephanie Brown is born.

1987 -

• (Detective comics, vol 1 #37 / Robin Annual #4 1995)

• July 15 - Bruce (27) watched the Flying Graysons perform an acrobatic act and continued to watch as they plummeted to their deaths due to the act being sabotaged by Tony Zucco, leaving only his orphaned son, Richard "Dick" Grayson (9).

• Upon learning that Dick had no living relatives, Bruce saw himself in Dick and adopted him. Dick discovered the Batcave and convinced Bruce to train him to be a vigilante.

• (Alfred's age: 48)

1988 -

• (Robin Annual #4)

• Due to his acrobatic skills, Dick Grayson (10) already had a foundation to build on and so Gotham's Dynamic Duo was born with the first appearance of Batman and Robin, beginning the era of young heroes.

• Barbara Gordon (13) becomes an orphan after her parents tragically die in a car accident. Her uncle, Jim Gordon, adopted her and took her to live with him and his wife Sarah in Gotham City.

• November 18 - Harper Row is born.

• (Alfred's age: 49; Bruce's: 28)

1991 -

• (Detective Comics, vol 1 #359, 1967; Batgirl: Year One, 2003)

• Barbara Gordon (16) debuts in an improvised costume as 'Batgirl' and is nearly killed. Eventually she is accepted by Batman and joins the "Bat Family", being Bruce's new apprentice.

• Duke Thomas is born. (Couldn't find his birthday)

• (Alfred: 52; Bruce: 29; Dick: 13)

1994 -

• (The brave and the bold, vol 1 #54-60; Teen Titans vol 1 #53; Teen Titans: Year One)

• The formation of the Teen Titans happened mainly due to the kids' mentors making them feel inferior, which they quickly realized was not right about them.

• Dick Grayson (16), along with Wally West / Kid Flash and Garth / Aqualad teamed up; later, Donna Troy / Wonder Girl (13/14) joined the team along with Roy Harper / Speedy (14).

• Together, they cured the heroes of their mind control; later, their mentors (Batman, Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman) supported the idea of the teenagers becoming a heroic group, the Teen Titans!.

• (Alfred: 55; Bruce: 32, Barbara: 19)

1996 -

• When Jason Todd was a child, he lived in a very poor neighborhood with his father Willis and his stepmother Catherine. As his wife was suffering from an illness, Willis became a criminal and started working for Two Faces to pay for her treatment.

• Willis was killed in a shootout after betraying his boss and Jason was left to care for his mother alone, resorting to also getting involved in crime to get money.

• (Teen Titans vol 1 #53)

• The Teen Titans split up and follow different paths in their careers

• Dick divides his time between working with the Titans in New York and working with Batman in Gotham.

• (Batman and the Outsiders, vol 1, 1983)

• Batman (37) leaves the Justice League and forms the Outsiders.

• (Batman and the outsider's, #32; Justice League, vol 1, 1987)

• Batman leaves the Outsiders and joins the New Justice League.

• (Alfred: 57; Bruce: 34; Barbara: 21)

1997 -

• Bruce Wayne (35) begins to notice that Dick is growing up and moving around, living between New York and Gotham. Afraid of being left alone, he fires Dick.

• (Detective Comics vol 1 #495)

• Dick Grayson (19) goes to Hudson University and leaves after the first semester in July.

• Meanwhile, Jason Todd (13) cared for his mother Catherine until her last breath.

• After his death, legally an orphan, Jason lived in his father's apartment in an abandoned building in Crime Alley, where he turned to crime out of necessity. Jason has become highly skilled at stealing tires from vehicles.

• (Batman #408-409, 1987)

• Jason tried to steal the Batmobile's tires, but was caught by Batman, who decided to take Jason in and began training him to be the new Robin.

• Six months after Dick left Gotham, Jason's training was complete and he stepped in as the new Boy Wonder.

• (New Titans, vol 1, 1980)

• Dick Grayson (19) then formed the new Teen Titans with Raven, Wally West/Kid Flash, Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, Koriand’r/Starfire, Victor Stone/Cyborg, and Garfied Logan/Beast Boy.

• (Nightwing: Year One, #101-106)

• However, his identity as Robin no longer suited him and he soon adopted a new identity: Nightwing.

• (Alfred: 58; Bruce: 35; Barbara: 22)

1998 -

• Bruce (36) leaves another Justice League.

• Barbara (23) starts working in a library and has much less time to be Batgirl.

• (Batman: The Cult #1-4)

• (Batman: The Caped Crusader Vol. 1, Batman #417-430 and Batman Annual #12)

• Some Batman stories with Jason (14) as Robin, this collection does not include "death in the family ".

• (Alfred: 59; Dick: 20)

1999 -

• (The killing joke; Batman Chronicles #5; Oracle: Year One)

• At some point, Barbara Gordon (24) is attacked by the Joker.

• The criminal broke into her apartment and shot her, leaving her paralyzed, in an attempt to drive her father, Jim Gordon, crazy and prove that anyone can be as crazy as him if they have just one bad day.

• As he grew older, Jason Todd proved to be a challenge for Bruce (37), despite being skilled crime fighter, he was very rebellious and often disobeyed Batman.

• (August)

• Jason turns fifteen years old.

• (Batman #425-429, A death in the family)

• Batman decided to remove Jason from his duties as Robin to allow him to grieve the death of his parents.

• Jason discovered that the woman he knew as his mother was his stepmother, so he decided to find his biological mother.

• He found her, Sheila Haywood, an aid worker in Ethiopia. She proved to be the right person and she and Jason had an emotional reunion.

• However, unbeknownst to Batman and Robin, Sheila used to run illegal operations in Gotham and was recently blackmailed by the Joker, to whom she handed over her own son (now in his Robin costume).

• The clown brutally beat him with a crowbar. Robin was soon unconscious in a pool of blood. The Joker then left him and Sheila in the warehouse with a time bomb.

• Batman arrived too late to save them as he was stopping the Joker's venom from reaching the city and they died from their injuries.

• Batman pulled Jason's body from the rubble and took him to Gotham City, before he called Wayne Manor to deliver the news.

• (New Titans vol 1 #55, 1989)

• Dick (21) received the news too and returned to Gotham to look after Alfred and Bruce.

• (Suicide Squad vol 1 #23-28, 1989-1990)

• A mysterious Hacker, called Oracle, starts working with the Suicide Squad.

• (Batman: A lonely place of dying, Batman #426-429, #440-442, and New Titans #60-61).

• Some time later, Timothy Drake (13) discovers the secret identities of the Wayne family and tries to join them. He uses Jason's old costume to save Dick (21) and Bruce (37).

• Orphaned by organized crime, Tim was placed in the care of Bruce Wayne. Tim asked his new caretaker to allow him to train as the third Robin, but Bruce refused due to the fact that he was still grieving the loss of Jason Todd.

• Discovering the breadth of Tim's intellect and deductive genius, Alfred opposed Bruce and began training Tim in secret.

• (Detective Comics #618-621; Batman #480-481)

• Tim's mother is murdered and his father is left in a coma, from which he eventually recovers.

• (Robin: A Hero Reborn, Batman #455-457 and Robin #1-5)

• Tim Drake's first missions as Robin, where he heads to France to study specialized fighting techniques under an old master.

2000 -

• (Batman: Birth of the Demon)

• Bruce discovers the origin of Ra's Al Ghul.

• Helena Bertinelli became Huntress and also began fighting crime in Gotham.

• (Detective Comics vol 1 #647-649, 1992)

• Bruce hears about a young girl named Spoiler causing trouble around town.

• Stephanie Brown (14) wanted to anger her father and began following in Batman's footsteps.

• The mercenary Bane discovered that the effects of Venom increased his physical strength. He arrived in Gotham with the aim of defeating Batman, who he thought owned the city.

• (Batman: Sword of Azrael)

• Bruce met Jean-Paul Valley (18), a student who was being controlled to become the dangerous vigilante Azrael, and then took him in as his new protégé.

• (Robin III, 1992)

• Tim start dating Ariana Dzerchenko.

• (Batman: Knightfall)

• Bane invades the mansion when everyone is away and, being extremely tired, Bruce is unable to face him. Bane breaks his back with one blow and takes control of the city.

• Out of options, Bruce gives Jean-Paul Valley the mantle of Batman.

• (Robin vol 2 #3-5, 1994)

• Spoiler also joins them and gets closer to Tim.

• Bruce, still with a broken back, travels across Europe on a healing mission with Dr. Kinsolving. Alfred despairs at how little he is taking care of himself and resigns in protest.

• Meanwhile, Dick and Kory's relationship becomes worse. They almost get married, but decide to separate and the Teen Titans are disbanded.

• In the months that passed, however, Jean became an extremely cruel and aggressive Batman, distancing himself from Robin and going against Bruce's request.

• He even manages to defeat Bane and tries to break his back, but Robin stops him.

• (Batman: Knightfall) comes to an end. (According to the comics, this arc last at least 6 months)

• Before more damage was done, Bruce recovered and realizing the mistake he made, faced Jean and returned to being Batman in the conclusion KNIGHT ’END.

• (Batman: Prodigal)

• Bruce decides he wants to go on vacation and Dick becomes Batman, with Robin following him.

• Barbara Gordon (25) finally returns to work with her family, revealing herself to be the mysterious Hacker, Oracle.

• At this time, Cheshire became more distant from Bruce after Alfred moved to London and became more busy with the search for Ace and the others from Royal Flush.

• (Nightwing: Alfred's return)

• Dick (22) goes to London to try to convince Alfred to return to Gotham.

• (Batman: Contagion; Batman: Legacy)

• A plague spreads across the city and Batman, Azrael and Gordon try to find a cure. Robin meets Catwoman and reluctantly joins her to also find the cure on a super long journey.

• Nightwing and Huntress deal with rioters in Gotham, and Tim becomes infected when a sick looter spits in his face.

• (Alfred: 61; Dick: 22; Barbara: 25; Bruce: 38; Tim: 14; Stephanie: 14; Jean Paul: 18)

2001 -

• Batman (39) and Azrael (19) go out again in search of a cure.

• Gordon and Mayor Grange fight to keep the city from panicking.

• Batman is forced to leave the city and reluctantly puts Huntress in charge. Helena interrupts a Penguin's plot to cause chaos.

• Batman and Robin (14) travel with Nightwing (23) to the desert and discover that the person behind the virus was the "Immortal" who is revealed to be Ra's al Ghul, who plans to exterminate 90% of humanity so he can dominate the world. world.

• Batman eliminates the virus by blowing up the Aventine Casino.

• Vaccines are distributed and Gotham is saved. Despite Wayne Enterprises exhausting their resources in the relief effort, Bruce is shocked to see the large number of dead bodies.

• Batman, Nightwing, Huntress, and Robin feel guilty for the lives they couldn't save, but Alfred reminds them that every citizen of Gotham would be dead if it weren't for their efforts.

• (Nightwing vol 2)

• On March 20th, Dick turns 23 and moves to Blüdhaven.

• (Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey, 1996)

• Barbara (26) begins working with Black Canary, eventually forming the Birds of Prey.

• Dick and Helena form a romantic relationship in (Nightwing/Huntress).

• (Robin Plus Impulse; World's Finest Three (Superboy/Robin); Young Justice: The Secret)

• Tim meets Superboy and Bart Allen / Impulse and then saves a mysterious girl named Secret.

• (Justice League of America: World without growth; Young Justice vol 1)

• They form Young Justice.

• (Batman: Cataclysm)

• There is a huge earthquake that passes through Gotham City, destroying many buildings and tearing up the foundations. With the chaos caused by the earthquake, many criminals are released, the city is completely isolated from the rest of the world.

• (Robin vol 2 #57, 1998)

• At some point, Tim breaks up with his girlfriend Ariana to be with Stephanie, who realizes she is pregnant, so tosses the mantle of vigilante aside for a while.

• (Batman: Aftershocks)

• In the weeks that pass, Gotham tries to recover. However, Bruce's efforts to help the city are futile when the world decides to turn its back on Gotham.

• (JLA/Titans #1-3; Titans vol 1)

• Dick returns with the Teen Titans.

2002 -

• (Batman: No man’s land)

• After the US government's declaration, Gotham City became a No Man's Land, which effectively quarantined the island. Bridges were destroyed and any other means of entry or exit were guarded by the Army.

• Although the Justice League did not assist in the quarantine for ethical reasons, they were so busy preventing outside forces from conquering the city that the internal situation was left to Batman and his allies.

• According to Barbara Gordon (27), it has been 93 days since the quarantine began and "Gotham is still dead."

• Batman disappeared all this time, and when he returned to the city to reconquer it, he saw that the criminals had already taken over.

• During this arc, Bruce reclaims the city, meets Cassandra Cain (17), daughter of David Cain, a former mentor, Barbara hands over her Batgirl mantle to Cassandra, Lex Luther hires Bane to destroy Gotham's gallery, so he can take control of the city, and James Gordon's wife is killed by the Joker.

• (Alfred: 63; Dick: 24; Barbara: 27; Bruce: 40; Tim: 16; Stephanie: 16; Jean Paul: 20; Cassandra: 17)

2003 -

• Eventually, thanks in large part to the financial and political machinations of Lex Luthor, Gotham City was liberated and rebuilt, and became part of the United States again.

• (Batman: Evolution; Batman: Turning Points; Batman: Officer Down)

• Ten weeks after No Man's Land ended, Commissioner Gordon is shot and retires.

• Alfred (64) goes with Tim (17) when he starts studying and isn't talking to Bruce.

• (Batman & Huntress: A Cry For Blood)

• Helena Bertinelli is being accused of murder and, while avoiding the GCPD and the Bat-Family, she revisits her childhood with The Question in hopes of trying to uncover the true culprit.

• (JLA: Tower of Babel)

• Ra's Al Ghul steals Batman's plans to defeat the Justice League of America.

• Dick (25) goes to the police academy. He and Barbara (28) start dating.

• Tarantula debuts as a vigilante (ew)

• (Batgirl vol 1 #3-6, 2000)

• Cassandra (18) continued as Batgirl moved into Barbara's Clock Tower.

• (Robin vol 2 #87; Batgirl vol 1 #20)

• Bruce tells Stephanie (17) Tim's identity and begins to train her.

• Jean-Paul (21) has established a base of operations near Gotham.

• (Gotham Knights #17, #20-21)

• Bruce (41) finally adopts Dick (25) as his son.

• (Bruce Wayne: Murderer? / Bruce Wayne: Fugitive / Consequences)

• When Vesper Fairchild is found dead at Wayne Manor and Bruce is imprisoned at Blackgate with Sasha Bordeaux, the other members of the bat family try to help break the case.

• However, Bruce has had enough and escapes from prison announcing his intention to do away with Bruce Wayne's identity, and exist solely as Batman.

• Some members of the Family continue to doubt Bruce's innocence in Fairchild's murder, as it appears he has truly crossed the line this time.

• They undergo an extensive investigation as Bruce struggles with identity complications from fighting crime on the streets.

• Eventually, they discover that Vesper's real killer was the ever-devious David Cain, who was hired by then-President Lex Luthor to destroy Bruce.

• (Batman: Broken City, Batman #620-625)

• Batman embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces him to reflect on the life he has led and the choices he has made while hunting the killer of a young boy's parents.

• (Azrael: Agent of the Bat, vol 1 #100)

• Azrael (21) ended up being killed in a fight with his two biggest enemies, Biis and Scratch, after an attempt to frame Azrael for various crimes. Azrael was hit in his armor and fell from a balcony.

• Although his costume was recovered, his corpse was not.

• (Batman: Hush)

• It's a hell of a mystery that lasts at least a whole week or more. Jason is not here, it's fucking Clayface.

• (Arkham Asylum: Living Hell)

• (Batman: Tabula Rasa / Veritas Liberat)

• Bane (41) discovers that Thomas Wayne was close to his mother before his death and goes to Gotham, demanding that he and Bruce take a DNA test. He stays at Wayne Manor for a while, and there he and Batman fight crime together, with Bruce trying to convince him to be less aggressive.

• When the DNA test arrives, it becomes clear that he and Bruce are not related, he is devastated and lost.

• Some time later, Bane meets his father, the King Cobra, Sir Dorrance, but they do not get along and Bane, who has developed a small respect for Batman, protects Bruce from being shot and almost dies, but Bruce throws him in the Lazarus Pit.

• Bruce lets him leave Gotham a free man.

• (Batman: Death and the Maidens, 2003-2004.)

• Ra's al Ghul dies

• (Titans/YoungJustice: Graduation Day; Teen Titans vol 3; Outsiders vol 3)

• A team-up between Young Justice and the Titans goes horribly, resulting in several deaths, and both teams breaking up. Tim ends up joining the latest version of the Teen Titans, and Dick is reluctantly convinced by Roy to join the new Outsiders.

• (Birds of Prey vol 160.)

• Huntress joins the Birds of Prey, and things are finally looking good for her.

• (Nightwing vol 2, #83 and #95)

• In Blüdhaven, Dick's life is terrible, including Barbara breaking up with him, his old circus being burned down, and his building being blown up, culminating in Blockbuster's death.

• It's a bad time.

• (Robin vol 2 #127-128)

• Soon after, Tim's father discovers that he is Robin and forces him to retire. Stephanie temporarily becomes Robin before Batman takes the mantle from her again.

• (Batman: War Games)

• Immediately afterwards, the War Games begin – Stephanie starts a gang war to prove herself to Bruce and is murdered.

• (Identity Crisis)

• A few days after Stephanie dies, Tim's father is murdered.

• Barbara's Clock Tower is destroyed.

• The police are against the vigilantes

• (Robin #132, Batgirl #58, Robin #133, Batgirl #59)

• Tim, mourning his father and girlfriend, and a little tense with Bruce after the Stephanie stuff; and Cass is mourning her best friend; they move to Bludhaven, where they begin a stronger friendship.

• During this period, Tim placed himself in the custody of a fake uncle, after rejecting Bruce's offer to adopt him.

• (Nightwing vol 2 #107-115)

• Dick left Bludhaven and Gotham, working briefly with the mob in Detroit, and then with Deathstroke.

• (Birds of Prey vol 1 #74)

• Barbara moves to Metropolis with the Birds of Prey.

• (Batgirl vol 1 #66-73)

• Cassandra goes on a personal quest to discover her mother's identity, is caught with the League of Assassins, is killed, thrown into a Lazarus Pit and comes back to life.

• (She doesn't seem to tell anyone about this.)

• (Batman: Under the red hood; Teen Titans #29)

• Jason Todd (17) goes back to Gotham, kills some guys, tries to kill Tim (17), does his whole sad thing and leaves.

• While Under The Red Hood is happening, Dick (28) leaves the name Nightwing and becomes Renegade.

• He chooses to work with Deathstroke of his own free will because he is in a bad place mentally and thinks that Deathstroke can help him with his goals.

• (Infinite Crisis)

• Tension between superheroes and villains increases. Bludhaven is blown up and Dick returns to Nightwing, but does not return to Blüdhaven.

• (Alfred: 64; Dick: 25; Barbara: 28; Bruce: 41; Tim: 17; Stephanie: 17; Jean Paul: 21; Cassandra: 18)

• (Jason is 17 now, he died when he was fifteen. So maybe he was revived two years ago)

2004-

• Bruce's last paranoid spy turns bad and almost kills everyone, Superboy dies, Dick almost dies and the universe semi-explodes again.

• Bruce decides to take Tim (18) and Dick (26) on a fun trip around the world.

• When Cassandra (19) returns from her spiritual quest, she takes over Gotham in their place.

• Also during the holidays this year, Kate Kane (33), Batwoman, appears for the first time, although she actually has a lot less connection to the main Bat-family than you might expect.

• (Alfred: 65; Dick: 26; Barbara: 29; Bruce: 42; Tim: 18; Stephanie: 18; Cassandra: 19; Jason: 18, Kate: 33)

• (I don't know if Kate's age is stated at any point. And I don't know if the writers know either.)

2005 -

2006-

• (The events of "One Year Later" begin)

• Jim Gordon comes out of retirement to be commissioner again, for reasons that will never be explained.

• (Nightwing #118)

• Dick returns to NYC, where he has an unpleasant - but brotherly - encounter with Jason, who is still an anti-villain.

• (Batman vol 1 #654, 2006)

• Bruce offers to adopt Tim again, and this time Tim accepts and moves into the mansion.

• (Outsiders: Five of a Kind, 2007)

• Dick (28) leaves the Outsiders, and Bruce takes over the new team.

• (Batman and son, Batman #655-658, #663-669, #672- #675, 2006)

• Bruce discovers that he has a biological son with Talia, Damian Al Ghul (10) and takes him in. But Damian wants to be the only Robin so he tries to kill Tim and no one likes that so he apparently dies along with Talia.

• (Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul)

• Ra's tries to steal the Damian's body to revive him. Things don't work well, he ends up in a different body and Talia and Damian disappear again.

• (Titans vol 2, 2008)

• Dick and company reform the Titans once again.

• (Robin #170-174; Robin/Spoiler Special, 2008.)

• Stephanie makes her return to Gotham.

• Tim is initially thrilled to see her, but this becomes an uncomfortable tension as her fake death takes hold.

• (Batgirl vol 2, 2008-2009; Batman and the Outsiders vol 2 #2)

• Cassandra returns to live in the mansion, Bruce adopts her and his daughter.

• At some point, Damian returns to Gotham and tries to reconnect with his father. He starts to live in the mansion with Bruce, Alfred and Tim.

• (Batman: The Heart of Hush)

• (Batman RIP)

• The Final Crisis happens and Bruce "dies" aka is lost in time.

• Dick returns to Gotham because someone has to keep this city and his family intact. And the Teen Titans split up again.

• (Batman: Battle for the Cowl, 2009)

• Tim convinces Dick to become Batman, with Damian as his new Robin.

• (Red Robin #1-4, 2009)

• Tim doesn't like Damian being Robin, and he also believes Bruce is alive so he becomes Red Robin and goes on his murder mystery tour.

• He also doesn't believe Bruce is dead and searches for him.

• (Batman and Robin vol 1)

• Dick, Damian and Alfred move into Wayne Tower, living in the penthouse and working in the underground bunker below.

• (Batman: Long Shadows, Batman #687-691)

• Dick becomes the new Batman. It doesn't take long for the city's criminals to put him to the test.

• (Batman and Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin)

• (Batman: Streets of Gotham Vol. 1: Hush Money)

• Hush tries to pretend to be Bruce Wayne but Dick, Damian and the Outsiders put him under control.

• (Batman: Streets of Gotham – Vol. 2: Leviathan)

• (Batman: Life After Death)

• (Batgirl vol 3)

• On Bruce's posthumous orders, Cassandra gives the mantle of Batgirl to Stephanie. After she leaves the Outsiders and Gotham, she is later revealed to have gone to Hong Kong.

• Dick joins the Justice League as Batman.

• Stephanie returns as Batgirl. Dick tries to bring Jason back and he refuses, preferring to remain an anti-hero.

• (Red Robin vol 1 #10-12)

• Tim returns to Gotham now as Red Robin, now having proof that Bruce is alive, he also becomes president or something of Wayne Enterprises.

• (Alfred: 67; Dick: 28; Barbara: 31, Bruce: 44; Tim: 20; Stephanie: 20; Cassandra: 21; Jason: 20, Kate: 35; Damian: 10)

2007-

• (Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne / Bruce Wayne: Road Home; Batman: The Return)

• Bruce returns to life thanks to his allies and family. Dick returns Batman's mantle to him.

• (Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Robin Must Die!)

• (Batman & Robin: Dark Knight vs White Knight)

• (Batman: Streets of Gotham Vol. 3: The House of Hush)

• Tommy Elliot cracks under the strain of living as Bruce Wayne and plots his ultimate revenge against Dick Grayson, Selina Kyle and other members of Bruce's friends and allies.

• Cassandra becomes Black Bat in Hong Kong.

• (Batman and Robin vol 1 #23-25)

• Jason (21) escapes from prison, works with Damian (11) and Dick (29) then disappears.

• (At this point Tim and Stephanie should already be in college, right? Let's pretend they are!!)

• (Batman: The Black Mirror)

• Dick, as Batman, has to deal with James Gordon Jr.

• (Batman: Eye of the Beholder)

• (Batman: The Night of the Owls)

• (Batman, Vol. 2: The City of Owls)

• Bruce meets Harper Row (19), who becomes the vigilante Blue Bird. She doesn't have as many appearances as she should and is soon left aside in the comics.

• (Batman and Robin: Born to Kill)

• The killer Nobody goes after Batman and Robin (Bruce and Damian). This is the first time we see Morgan Ducard and Titus, Damian's dog.

• (Batman and Robin: Pearl)

• Damian tries to prove to Bruce that he is worthy of being Robin just like his older brothers.

• (Alfred: 68; Dick: 29; Barbara: 32, Bruce: 45; Tim: 21; Stephanie: 21; Cassandra: 22; Jason: 21, Kate: 36; Damian: 11; Harper: 19)

• (I don't know if Harper's age is stated at any point.)

2008 -

• Jason (22) joins the Outlaws.

• Dick (30) sees that Damian (12) needs to make friends and develop compassion, to curb his harsh ways. He then takes Damian to Titans Tower, where Damian, despite not being a teenager, takes steps to become the leader of the Teen Titans.

• After dealing with his first mission, which at first was a disaster but ultimately went well, Damian leaves the Titans.

• Upon returning to Gotham, Dick notices that his brother has become more patient and less likely to use his weapons.

• Damian infiltrates Gotham Academy, where he meets Maps Mizoguchi (13), a big fan of Batman and Robin, who becomes his friend.

• (Supersons)

• Damian becomes friends with Jon Kent (10).

• (Gotham's Most Wanted; Batman and Robin: Requiem)

• They happen a little differently. Let's not make Talia the worst mother in the world, please, I hate what they did to her in these comics.

• Robin dies and Bruce is expelled from Gotham. One of the differences here is that since Azrael is dead (since we ignore the New 52).

• (Robin: Son of Batman 2015—2016)

• Damian meets Maya Ducard (Nobody).

• (Batman: Urban Legends Vol 1 #1)

• Jason Todd (23) is reinstated into the Wayne family.

• (Joker: Endgame)

• The Robin war begins.

• (Batman Vol. 10: Epilogue; Batman #51-52, Batman: Futures End #1, Batman Annual #4)

• Bruce tries to recover from the events of Joker: Endgame. Duke Thomas (17) joins the Bat-Family as the vigilante Signal.

• Gotham and Gotham Girl debut.

• (Let's just ignore most of I am Suicide, I am Bane, I Am Gotham and all that shit. Alfred is immortal and stays alive after this, please :'].)

• (Alfred: 69; Dick: 30; Barbara: 33, Bruce: 46; Tim: 22; Stephanie: 22; Cassandra: 23; Jason: 22, Kate: 37; Damian: 12; Harper: 20; Duke: 17)

2009 -

• (The Next Batman: Second Son)

• Jace Fox becomes Batman.

----

According to the comics, Damian is like 14 right now (and we ignore what the comics did to Jon), so Alfred should be 71 (since we pretend he doesn't die), Dick is 32, Barbara 35, Bruce 48, Tim, Stephanie and Jason are 24, Cassandra is 25, Kate is 39, Harper is 22 and Duke is 19.

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jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear · 1 month

Text

Have a Scarecrow butt!!

#Jonathan Crane #Scarecrow #The Scarecrow #butt #dc #dc comcis #new year's evil #my scans

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suzieloveships · 2 months

Text

Jegulus Batman au

So last week I wrote post about how Bruce and Harley are Regulus and Pandora variants and now I can't stop thinking about Jegulus Batman au

Regulus as Bruce Wayne, but more like Battinson!Bruce instead of comics!Bruce. In the day time he is Regulus Black, awkward rich orphan who looks like he wants to kill himself everytime he steps outside. By night time he becomes Batman, a mask vigilante, who fights criminals of Godric's Hollow, the most corrupt city in all of England. It's his way to repay for his parents' sin, part of Hollow's corruption. His only help is a family butler, Kreacher, who really wishes Regulus finished the med school instead of running around in bat suit

James as the Cat, a professional thief with a heart of gold whom Regulus keep failing to catch. He won't admit it but there were few times when he let James escape. Mostly because James often steal from people that deserve it but also because he loves the thrill of a chase. Overtime the two of them start working together on few cases and slowly fall in love

Pandora as Harley Quinn, once a young psychologist turn a henchwoman of Regulus's biggest villain, Tom Riddle, turn an anti-hero who help Regulus, James and their allies fight evil. Her biggest strength is psychoanalyzing her enemy and getting inside their heads. She and Reg went to med school together before he dropped out, years later while working together she conected the dots and realised that this grumpy bat and that grumpy boy from med school are the same person. Arguably Reg best friend

Lily as Poison Ivy, an ecoterrorist with a power to control plants and Pandora girlfriend. Regulus often lets her and Pandora escape as they most attack factories that pollute the environment

Sirius is both Dick, Jason and Kate. Regulus older brother that after a death of their parents abdicated from a role of a Black family heir and started a life for himself outside of Hollow. He came back to Hollow after seeing Batman on the news an immediately recognising his little brother. Was killed by Tom Riddle, but resurrected but whoever is Al Ghul in this au, I haven't decided yet. He return to Hollow as Red Hood, mad at Reg for "replacing" him and not killind Riddle. It took a while but eventually they startes working together again because at the end of the day they are family

Emmeline as Red Robin, Sirius "replacement", a smart girl that figured out Regulus secret identity and girlbossed her way into becoming his new sidekick (not my joke)

Remus as both Barbara and Renee, the only good cop in an all of Hollow. Later he ends up resigning from the force and starts working for Regulus but hacking into city cameras and becoming his eyes and ears

Mary as Spoiler, daughter of a minor villain name Cluemaster. He was a terrible father so Mary decided to help Batman take him down. Now a member of the batfamily, Emmeline's girlfriend and Regulus's biggest bully (affectionately)

Barty as the Riddler, arguably the smartest man in all of Hollow who loves creating chaos and asking people riddles. Luckly for Regulus Barty is also an attention whore that needs everyone to know that he is the smartest person in the room so he often leaves clues for Regulus to follow

Evan as Penguin, the biggest kingpin, started out as a son of a poor housemaid and climp his way into becoming the most powerful mobster in all of Hollow. For some reason Barty is the only person he really trust in this world (he has a massive crush on him)

Dorcas as Scarecrow, a scientist fascinated by fear and the only person in the world with enough brain power to keep up with both Pandora and Barty

Marlene as Firefly, purely because I think Marlene deserves a flamethrower

Peter as Two-face, Reg's best friend turn enemy with half of his face burned

And Narcissa and Alice as Green Arrow and Black Canary

Harry as Helena and Luna as Lucy

Also Xeno as Rick Flag because I love both of them so much <3

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madlittlecriminal · 1 year

Note

Hiya! It was my 21st on the 17th! Could I get a birthday request with any of the following characters?

Spencer Reid Miguel O'Hara Eggsy Jonathan Crane Hobie Brown.

As always Im a sucker for confession stories and major fluffiness haha

GN!Reader's Birthday [blurbs]

omg happy belated birthday love! i hope your birthday was amazing! i did all of them because i love them all and i couldn't decide.

Warnings: age gap, fluff, mentions of alcohol

note: hi. if you're new, welcome! i typically write my characters soft. any character here that you feel is out of character is because im a firm believer that they are soft strictly for their s/o no matter how grumpy or evil they are.

------

Spencer Reid (established relationship):

With a memory like his, your birthday would always end up in you being spoiled with your favorite things. This year was different since you both were dating, and he wanted to make it extra special for you. Not only did he get you your favorite cake flavor, but he also took the whole week off of work for you, wanting to make it extra special for you. He cooked a dinner for you...but the recipe was wrong, so the food was a bit saltier than anything else, so you both just ordered take out instead and watched your favorite movie on the couch and cuddling.

Miguel O'Hara (friends to lovers/confession):

You were one of the few people he liked, so when Jess mentioned it was your birthday, he mumbled a soft "mierda" (shit) before rushing out of his office and heading to a nearby panadería (bakery) and bought a cake, asking the man behind the counter to write your name on it and rushing back to the Society building. Funny enough, your name was now smeared all over the cake, making you laugh when you saw it. You would thank him, and he'd smile. To you, that was the best birthday gift you could ask for...right? Well, it would've been if Miguel didn't end up turning into a major softy and confessed his love for you.

Eggsy (established relationship):

He would invite you to a pub to celebrate with a few drinks after taking you out to dinner. Naturally, he would tell the waiter that it was your birthday, so the other waiters and waitresses would come out with a dessert and sing the happy birthday song. You were in between wanting to hate him or wanting to love him since he got you a free dessert but made a big deal out of it. At the pub, he'd buy your favorite drink (alcohol-free or not) and would simply just talk to you about his job that you knew had nothing to do with tailoring suits. The night would eventually end with him giving you a ride home and kissing you goodnight.

Jonathan Crane (friends to lovers/confession):

This man was something else. He wasn't sure what to do for your birthday and he was stressed. The one time when you both became best friends, he gifted you the knowledge of knowing he was Scarecrow...but that was two years ago. He was losing his mind on what to do, so he kept it simple and invited you to his place for a movie. He tried baking a cake, he really did, but this man was a whiz in the kitchen of a lab, not of a home. He gave you a shy smile when he showed you the burnt cake and you thanked him for at least trying. Instead, he lit a pumpkin shaped candle and told you to make a wish; he decorates early for Halloween, don't judge him. The night ends with you cuddled up against him after he told you he loved you more than a friend.

Hobie Brown (established relationship):

To say that he confused you in the best way was an understatement. He told you birthdays weren't his thing, but it seemed like for you, he would do absolutely anything. He bought you cupcakes to celebrate and told you his gift would be different than every other year. It kind of saddened you since you loved going on protests with him, but alas, you waited for the gift. When he took out his electric guitar and played a song you didn't recognize with it. Once he was done, you tilted your head to the side, and he told you he wrote it for you as a gift for your birthday. You would then thank him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. You both shared the cupcakes, but you drew a smiley face on his cheek with some icing, causing him to laugh and kiss you softly.

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just-an-enby-lemon · 1 year

Text

Steph: Hey, wouldn't it be hilarious if all B's villains had backstories like the new Disney villain-centric movies?

Barbara: Explain.

Tim: Oh! I get it is like Riddler is evil because a riddle killed his mom!

Barbara: But wouldn't that make so he hated riddles?

Tim: Maybe he hated his mom? You don't know!

Duke: Or maybe he hates riddles and uses them to stop himself and protect the world for the evil he truly represents... Nah, that's stupid.

Barbara: No, no go on.

Steph: It was funny as hell.

Duke: The Riddler hating riddles was not the stupid conspiracy theory I thought I would make for Tim today.

Barbara: How many conspiracy theories did you even made for Tim?

Tim: Does the ones he made for Bernard count?

Duke: A magician never revels their secrets.

Barbara: You're not a magician.

Steph: He could be. Anyway before this ends up with someone giving Duke a box of magic tricks for begginers made for seven year olds *looks pointedly at Babs, she shrugs* my idea was that the number two died trying to save Two-Face's grandma from the other numbers.

Barbara: Okay, this one makes more sense. What about Scarecrow lost his puppie because of a horror movie?

Tim: You judge me but that means Crane would hate fear. So check mate.

Barbara: No, no, hear me out, he lost the puppie because the dog was too brave and stayed during the whole movie. If if had runned afraid it would have been fine.

Duke: My turn! I present all the books they had falled into Mad Hatter's dad killing him except somehow the Alice in Woonderland book that stayed in the shelve so he sweared to never read another book ever again?

Steph: Love it.

Cass: *was always there but hidden in the corner* Great. May I?

Duke, Tim and Steph:*surprised jump scare noises*

Babs: Please. Be our guest.

Cass: Killer Moth was raised by moths. Bruce accidentaly killed his third aunt as a child because he tried to pick it and show Alfred but was too strong.

Duke: You are a genius.

Steph: It's better than whatever official backstory he has.

Dick: *just came back from a mission* What are you guys doing?

Tim: Creating stupid rogues origin stories.

Dick: It seems fun. Let me try... huh... Oswald became Penguin because a Penguin flew through his window the moment he was considering becaming a criminal .

Damian: *was in the mission with Dick* May I try? Joker is a villain because his mother had depression and his jokes never made her happy.

Dick: Holy shit! Too heavy, lil D.

Duke: Sadge.

Tim: It looks like a soap opera plot.

Damian: I DO NOT watch soap operas with umi. SHUT UP!

Tim: Whoa there is a lot to unpack here.

Damian: Say one more word and I'll kill you Drake.

Duke: My bet is on Dami.

Cass: Bet Tim survives but barely.

Dick: Let's all calm down a bit. Maybe Joker became a villain because a mean kid said he wasn't funny.

Jason: *coming out of nowhere* What about Joker became a villain because he sucks?

Steph: That's just real life, Jay. We are trying to have fun here.

Jason: *rolls his eyes* Fine. Let me try again. All of B villains had their family killed by a bat. All of them. The same day, the same bat. Better?

Steph: Amazing!

Tim: Wait a second.

Damian: What now, Drake?

Tim: Bane has a Cruella type backstory!

Babs: *eyes getting huge* Holy shit he kindda has.

Cass: Explain.

Tim: When in the pit because a lot of irrelevant trauma things Bane had nightmares with a half bat half man creature attacking him so his solution was to crack B's spine in half.

Dick: Okay we need to make a Cruella Bane song.

Babs: Is not that close of a backstory.

Dick: So you don't want a Cruella Bane song?

Babs: Good point. I stand corrected.

#batfam #barbara gordon #stephanie brown #tim drake #duke thomas #cassandra cain #dick grayson #damian wayne #jason todd #batkids

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thebluestbluewords · 1 year

Text

Rhyming is hard

This is about 90% an excuse for me to write Banter, 9% jokes about murder, 1% plot. I wrote the dialogue for this over a year ago, and scavenged it from my drafts to clean up yesterday.

“Mirror, feel my evil presence,” Evie chants, clutching the mirror in one hand like it’s a call phone. “Show me the location of our parents.”

“That’s seriously the rhyme you’re going with?” Mal asks, leaning over the table to stare at the mirror as Evie sets in down in the middle of their huddle.

Evie frowns. “What do you think rhymes with parents?”

Mal’s nose scrunches up as she thinks. “Errants? Aberrants?“ she offers. “Um, clearance?”

“Insurance,” Jay adds. “Which won’t help against theft here, cause apparently they’re all too good for that. Don’t buy a phone from the guy in town unless you’re okay with getting it stolen, by the way.”

“Don’t tell me that.” Ben says firmly, leaning over Evie’s head to see the mirror as well. The black smoke curls angrily, like the magic contained in the mirror is trying to escape the glass and smash their faces in for daring to use it for frivolous things like checking up on their parents, and then begins to clear.

“Incoherence?” Carlos offers, drumming the very tips of his fingers on the table. “I think your rhyme was good though, Evie. I’m just offering suggestions for next time.”

“Shut up, it’s working.” Mal gasps, pushing him out of the way as the smoke inside the mirror swirls into the beginnings of a clear picture.

The background resolves itself first, into a deep grey wall made of rough stone. The figure standing in front of it is small in stature, which is made all the more obvious by the gigantic crow sitting on her shoulder.

“My mother,” Mal says, sounding almost disappointed. “As alive and evil as ever.”

“Didn’t need a mirror for that one, babe.” Evie says fondly. “Pretty sure we all remember what she looks like, considering that she’s been the bane of our existence for the last sixteen years.”

Mal, on the pretense of leaning closer to the mirror, puts her hand over Evie’s on the table, interlacing their fingers. “Maybe Ben wanted to know, and also shut up. It’s changing.”

The mirror is changing, but not to a nicer sight. The background darkens, and the view of Maleficent monologuing to Diablo fades out. The background turns a nasty, muddy shade of grey-brown, and the figure visible in the mirror doesn’t look much nicer. He’s filthy, for one thing, and he’s wearing a collection of leather scraps that would be better suited to a scarecrow than a living person.

He’s also swinging a shovel at the wall with what looks like increasing violence, and his hair is on fire.

“Dear old dad,” Mal drawls. “Great to see him expanding the cave for once.”

“Is that Hades?” Ben asks, in a tone that could generously be described as ‘strangled’.

Mal laughs. “Yeah. My mom wanted a powerful kid. She didn’t pick him cause he’s a great father, she picked him ‘cause he’s one of the most powerful entities on the isle. And I guess ‘cause he was DTF, or whatever. Chernabog isn’t much for procreation.”

“Wow.”

“I can’t raise the dead or anything,” Mal explains, eyes still locked on the mirror. “Not even a fly. I just get some sick highlights in my hair when I use his fire, and some cool shit happened with a ouija board once.”

“That’s, uh, cool!” Ben manages, before the mirror swirls again, and a new face comes into view.

“The Evil Queen,” Carlos says, reaching out to touch the side of the mirror. “Do you think the mirror’s showing her in better light because it’s magic and it likes her better, or does her castle just have better lighting?”

“Mother’s castle has flattering light,” Evie says, but it’s her turn to stare at the mirror, eyes blank and lips slightly, beautifully parted. “She keeps it that way on purpose. For visitors.”

“Not that you got many.”

Mal’s hand is warm and firm over Evie’s own. Her exile should be an old wound by now, but even old injuries, even ones that can be treated softly now, still ache sometimes.

In the surface of the mirror, the Evil Queen is stabbing a needle, over and over, into the soft flesh on the inside of her legs. Behind her, there’s an intimidatingly large stone cauldron resting on a low fire.

“Is she—“

“She’s fine,” Evie says quickly. She’s still staring at the mirror, but she’s looking through it now, like she can’t bear to see her mother through the magic. “That’s what she does, most days. She’s just waiting while the cauldron heats up.”

“Pretty fucked up.”

“It’s not anything magical,” Evie says, but her voice is soft and she’s still focused on the mirror. “It’s acupuncture. She’s doing it for weight loss. And the cauldron isn’t magical either, it’s just some makeup compounds that don’t come over on the barges.”

Jay whistles, low and long. “That’s a pretty big cauldron for some makeup, princess.”

Evie startles out of her stare. “Oh, we sold it. She’s not boiling children’s skulls or anything like that. It’s a foundation base. She boils down some of the plants that come over and then adds pigments for each customer. It’s a pretty good business practice, and if we didn’t like somebody it was really easy to sneak something a little bit nastier than just pigment into their bottle.”

“Oh.” Ben says. He’s leaning over Evie’s shoulder to see the mirror, and he doesn’t pull back, but his shoulders tense at the mention of Evie’s mother slipping something untoward into a bottle. He’s got sort of a thing about poisons and edible spells, which is understandable. “I see.”

“Evil, babe,” Evie reminds him, tipping her chin up to look him in the face. “We didn’t exactly have a lot of other options.”

Unseen by Evie, the mirror swirls again. This time, it reforms to show a crumpled skeleton, surrounded by pieces of rusty metal.

“Uh, who’s that?” Ben asks after a moment, staring over Evie’s shoulder again. He looks a bit like someone watching a car wreck happening, but in a casual way. Like watching a car wreck on TV, maybe.

Evie glances back down at the mirror, and then recoils visibly at the pile of bones. “Oh, ew. I guess I didn’t word the request very well. That’s my father’s corpse.”

“Is that a dungeon?”

“It’s my mother’s dungeon, yes.” Evie explains. “She had my father killed down there shortly after I was born.”

“I’m sorry.”

Evie shrugs. “Thanks, I guess. She had him killed when I was a baby, so it’s not like I ever got to know him.”

Mal drops her head onto Evie’s shoulder. “Not like he was a big loss.”

“Come on, M,” Evie says fondly, tipping her head so that it rests on top of Mal’s, just for a moment. “Just because you don’t like your father doesn’t mean we all have to hate ours.”

“You never knew yours!” Mal points out. “And he was a man, E. We all know what men on the island are like.”

“I could have liked him.” Evie insists. “He might have been better that your dad. Not everyone is a bad parent.”

“Right, just everyone on the isle, then.”

“I know my dad,” Jay adds, leaning over to insert himself into the girl’s space. “Not to sway our data here, but I agree with Mal. There’s way more bad parents on the island than good ones, and my dad’s shit. Mal’s dad is shit. Evie’s dad is dead, so he’s not doing great either—“

“It’s changing again!” Carlos points out, smacking the table next to where Evie’s set the mirror down in order to argue better.

Five heads snap back to attention as the mirror swirls, and reforms into quite a different view. The background this time is bright grey, the color of the sky on a rainy spring day, the sort of day where the sun is trying and failing valiantly at breaking through the cloud cover. There’s a shop in the foreground, with a garish pink and green sign declaring it to be ‘the goblin mud spa’, and a bright copper car parked out front. There’s a woman in the front seat of the car, holding the steering wheel with one hand, and balancing a dirty glass in the fingertips of the other.

Carlos makes a soft, sad sort of noise. “…oh.”

On the surface of the mirror, his mother throws back the remainder of her drink.

“Is that normal?” Ben asks, leaning in to get a better look. “Drinking and driving isn’t exactly legal.”

Carlos’s hands aren’t visible, but there’s a sense of nervous, fidgety energy from him anyway. “…Yeah. She does that a lot. Goes away, drinks a lot, comes back stupid.”

“Magic mirror, move on,” Evie whispers, after they all stare for a long moment at the unmoving view of Cruella and her beloved car.

“Why isn’t it changing?” Mal asks. “It didn’t show my mom for this long.”

“You don’t wanna know,” Carlos mumbles, around the fingertip he’s got in his mouth. There’s a drop of blood smeared on the corner of his mouth, and it’s not entirely clear if his hand was bleeding before or after he started chewing on it. “Trust me.”

Mal frowns. “I totally do. Telling me I don’t want to know something is basically like slapping a neon sign on it telling me to keep digging until I find out. How do you not know know this already?”

Carlos sighs, and reaches out with his other hand to hover his index finger just over the surface of the mirror, above where his mother is pulling the strap of her soft leather purse over her shoulder. “That’s my dad. Human remains count, and that leather she used for her purse is the biggest piece of him left.”

Mal tries to recoil away from the mirror. but they’re so tightly packed around the table that she really just ends up shoving herself harder into Evie’s side. “Oh, gross. That can’t be hygienic.”

Carlos stares at her. “It’s leather. Humans aren’t any different than cows inside. Is wearing cow leather gross?”

Mal’s pale cheeks are somehow even paler than usual. “Yes,” she snaps. “It’s different.”

“It’s fine, you just have to process it properly,” Carlos says, leaning ever so slightly closer to her. “And besides, it’s not like there were any concerns about fluid bonding when she scraped the flesh off his skin. They’d already been there, done that, had a kid to prove it.”

“Gross,” Mal groans, burying her face in Evie’s shoulder. Conveniently, Evie’s wearing her coat with the mini caplet attached today, and Mal pulls the extra leather over her head. “You ever heard of a thing called TMI?”

Carlos smiles, but it’s not a very nice expression. More like an animal showing their teeth. “Evil, remember?”

“That’s horrible.” Ben says firmly. “I don’t mind knowing, but it’s still awful, and I’m glad you’re not there anymore.”

“Yeah, well,” Carlos mumbles, sitting back now that his point’s been made. “It’s changing again.”

The mirror clouds over with dark swirls, and clears to an image of Jafar, standing behind the counter of a shop while a woman in an emerald green dress examines a handful of jewelry that’s spread over the counter between them.

Jay waves a hand at the mirror, middle finger firmly up.

Ben laughs. “I take it there’s no lost love there?”

Jay grins. He’s still flipping off the image of Jafar in the mirror, even as the picture shows him carefully slipping one of the rings onto the woman’s finger, mouth moving like he’s flattering her the whole time. “Nah. Not really. He’s charming and all, but not a great parent, you know?”

Ben’s nodding before the words are even finished. “Yeah, that’s fair,” he agrees. “My dad isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy either.” Mal’s mother might be charming when she wants to be, and Evie’s mother is beautiful and dangerous and enticing, but Ben’s father has made a career out of walking the line between being loved and being feared, and neither of those things has made him the kind, attentive parent that Ben needed. Even more than the others, he can understand the pressure of having a career politician for a parent. “I wish you’d been able to get away sooner.”

“Me too,” Mal agrees, reaching across Evie to tap her fingers on one of the scars that runs, white and twisted and bold, across Jay’s wrist. “Your dad’s a dick.”

The mirror swirls again; the picture resolves into a patch of ocean. Very deep, dark, empty ocean.

“Is that the ocean?” Evie asks, staring. “I didn’t think any of our parents were the sort to get murdered by pirates.”

Jay makes a funny sort of choking noise. “That’s my mom,” he says, eyes locked on the mirror. Under the glass, the ocean undulates with the great swells of very deep, open water. “She drowned herself.”

“I thought the spell prevented that?” Ben asks curiously. “The spell was supposed to prevent anyone from dying under the barrier.”

Jay snaps his head up to look at Ben, and if his eyes are a little red, well, nobody else is close enough to notice.

“The spell doesn’t work all the time,” he explains, voice low and even. “You can get around it if you destroy the body. Scatter the remains, or burn them beyond what the spell can handle, or let the sharks deal with you. People who really want that way out usually go with the sharks.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jay lifts a shoulder. “It is what it is. Can’t blame her for taking the only way out.”

“Still.”

Evie’s gasp breaks whatever sympathetic moment might have happened, and her hand shoots out quicker than a snake to grab the mirror as it starts to shift again.

“Oh? Magic mirror, what—“

The picture solidifies before she can finish the command. A beige room, with a man sitting at a desk comes into view.

“Why—“ Mal starts, but Ben is faster, and he leans down over Evie’s shoulder to tip the mirror up for a better view.

“That’s my dad?” Ben says, sounding thoroughly confused by the discovery. “He’s not— he’s just sitting in his office. He’s not on the isle of the lost or anything like that.”

Evie tips the mirror back down towards herself. “Ah, I guess I didn’t specify well enough when I said whose parents we wanted to see. My bad, Ben. You got caught up in the spell too.”

“Are we going to see your mom next?”Mal demands, shoving her head further into Evie’s space to get a clear view of the mirror, which really isn’t large enough to be seen by five people at once, especially not when two of them are sitting on the same chair. “What does she do all day?”

“I….don’t know,” Ben says slowly. “I guess we’ll see. I think she hangs out in the library, mostly. With grandpa, if she doesn’t have state duties to do with my dad.”

The mirror swirls, and the surface turns brilliant, spring green.

“It looks like she’s outside?”

Sure enough, Queen Belle is standing outside, in the center of a ring of trees. There’s a book in her hand, and as she reads, she rocks back and forth slightly, her mouth moving around the shape of words that the mirror can’t play for them. Or possibly won’t. Evie’s been working on control of her powers, but when the spell is board enough to sweep a whole extra person in their attempt to see what their parents are up to, it’s possible that asking the mirror to help them ‘see’ their parents was a bit too literal. Or maybe the mirror can only do auditory assistance when it’s coming from the whole mirror, and not just the broken shard Evie keeps in her palm-sized frame. Maybe some of the magic was lost when her mother ground the shard to size, or maybe the magic is weaker than it should be, and there’s something deeply wrong with the state of magic in Auradon.

Or maybe they’re just not very good at directing spells yet.

Ben slaps his hand on the table. “Oh, that’s the glade above the lake!” he exclaims. “It’s enchanted. No wonder the mirror showed her too.”

Mal frowns. “You have an enchanted glade?”

Ben beams at her. “Yeah! It’s up the trail from the enchanted lake a bit. Kind of by the cliffs up there. It’s really pretty in the fall, when the leaves are all changing. I guess she’s been riding out there sometimes. It’s one of the most magical places in the kingdom.”

“She looks pretty happy,” Evie says thoughtfully. “D’you think that’s why the magic included her?”

“Yeah, guess so.” Ben says, shrugging. “I don’t really understand magic, but I know the glade is supposed to be one of the most magically powerful sites in the kingdom. It’s a nice place to read, I guess?”

“Ben.” Mal says sharply, as the image of Queen Belle turns, book still in hand. “Why is your mother reading a spell book?”

#my fic #descendants fic #rotten ot4 #only it’s actually very heavily implied ot5 because I know what I am about #descendants #mal bertha #evie grimhilde #jay son of jafar #carlos de vil #ben florian

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