#no posts involving Harper will be posted in that account

[psychology-department]

IMPORTANT: MOVING MY BRIGHT POSTS

Due to external issues, harassment and my own mental issues, I just don't feel comfy with Bright stuff on this account any longer. I want to keep enjoying Bright as is and post stuff about him so I have decided to move all of it to @jack-of-amulets, my side blog. I've been considering doing this for a while, so I'm doing it.

That side blog does contain a little bit of kinposting, but otherwise it should be just facts about my iteration of the character and art of him too.

I have reblogged all my previous posts there and I really hope you understand my situation.

[mumms-the-word]

The Shadow Curse Events

If you haven’t already, please enjoy my unnecessarily long totally not me avoiding writing an actual dissertation irl thorough deep dives into Ketheric Thorm and the Shadow Curse!

They are…well, very long, but I wanted to incorporate in-game texts and conversations to give an overall “lore-finding” feel to each post as I was working my way through theories and ideas about how these events unfolded in more or less chronological order.

Each post is written with an attempt to combine elements of in-game books, letters, and conversations with my reasonable(?) conjectures about how things might have happened and an occasional foray into stylistic nonfiction-style writing (which, you know, is interesting when you’re writing about things that didn't actually happen in real life). Basically this started as something I thought was cool and ended with me having, perhaps, a bit too much fun in the nerdiest possible way.

Maybe you’re into that and maybe not. But if you are, then welcome! Please enjoy these deep dives, all of which are linked below c:

Shadow Curse Events Part 1

Ketheric, Selûne, Shar, and Aylin

This first part covers Ketheric's descent from Selûnite devotee to Sharran general following the death of his daughter Isobel. Not only does it touch on him building and training a Sharran army, it also goes over the Selûnite resistance building against him, including one desperate mason named Morfred who makes a deal with a certain devil.

---

Shadow Curse Events Part 2

Harpers, druids, and the battle against Ketheric

The second post is all about the Harper/Druid war waged against Ketheric and the days involved in the battle itself. I present this idea that the Harpers and druids sieged Reithwin for several days without attacking and then launched a three-day battle against Ketheric. But a lot of this is conjecture since I'm trying to piece together a bunch of differing accounts about the actual days devoted to fighting and surviving the brief war between the two armies.

---

Shadow Curse Events Part 3

The first 40 days

The final post is a kind of walkthrough of the first 40 days of the shadow curse from the moment Ketheric dies to about 40 days later. I chose 40 only because it's vaguely symbolic in various cultures, but also because one diary I used to construct the timeline here ends on day 35, and that felt like a weird number to end on too, so...I added a few days. Anyway, this might be the most experimental of the posts, but it was fun(?) to try and place myself in these past events to imagine how the landscape changed into what we see 100+ years later walking into this area with our Tavs and companions.

---

In the end, these posts were just for fun and are not meant to try and convince anybody that my theories are absolutely 100% the way things happened. What I find interesting about this little deep dive journey is that it mimics trying to piece together actual history too. Everyone will have a different account or perspective on historical events, so trying to stitch together a narrative 100+ years later becomes an exercise in drawing sensible conclusions and admitting you can't fill all the gaps.

I could very well be wrong in my theories, and someone else could come up with a way better logical conclusion than I did. That's awesome! Maybe these posts will help others come up with cool theories too.

But anyway. Enjoy my long-winded ramblings about fictional events in a video game that I have put way too many hours into :)

[scoopaspoonful]

Jr. Harper and Zhent reporting for duty!

Hello! I never thought I’d finally make a Tumblr account, but here I am! I hope to briefly introduce myself on here before slipping some of my lovely posts!

Call me either Happie or Spoon, I’m a rookie Virtual Photographer (for only Baldur’s Gate 3 so far), and I’m one of your typical fandom geeks (anime, musical theatre, etc.) that also loves storytelling and OCs!

I’ve posted some of my shots on Twitter (HappieMedium) and Blue Sky (scoopaspoonful), and plenty on Discord. But here’s a preview of some of my lovely works!

“Astral Roundup” (Tav design: Decker Bronson)

“An Underground Melody” (Tav design: [“Spoon's Self-Persona”])

“Lady Roan of Chappell” (Tav design: Chappell Roan’s VMAs performance, BG3 Edition)

But ultimately, for the past six months I’ve grown to love a certain NPC rarepair in the game that has basically taken over my heart (and folders), which involves a certain Harper and Zhent~ 💙💛

"The Lowly Soldiers' Truce" Rugan and Harper Geraldus

They've become my OTP comfort ship at this point, and I'll eventually share the WIP fanfiction of them in the future too! Other than that, I look forward to finding mutuals and sharing my love for this game!

Happie to see ya', and scoop ya' later!

[connor-hawke-queen]

Intro post:

Green Arrow | Connor Hawke | Connor Hawke-Queen

He/they | non-binary

Asexual | gay

19 | November 28th 2004

Vigilante in Star City

(Lore, info, and boundaries under the cut)

Lore:

Ok so if it isn’t completely obvious this is a blog for Connor Hawke (I prefer that name, but it was taken so the name of the blog is Connor Hawk-Queen, if you want to use that I’m okay with it)

My version of Connor is still asexual (which is cannon) along with gay, and non-binary (he/they pronouns)

He’s mostly based in the Damian Wayne Robin comics and this years Green Arrow, but a lot of established lore will be involved too

He never knew Oliver, and Oliver never knew him, I don’t believe that Oliver would abandon his child and I prefer the versions where he finds out about Conner once they’re a teenager or adult

Connor got into a lot of fights as a kid which led to him living in a monastery that his father once did, while there as a teenager he meets Oliver

When Oliver goes back to Star City Connor comes with him, there Oliver is told that Connor is his son and doesn’t take it well

When Oliver soon after “dies” Connor takes over as Green Arrow

After Oliver comes back Connor starts living with his father and Mia Dearden

As of right now I’m just going to say that both Connor and Oliver use the green arrow moniker, they do talk and have a father-son dynamic, although it is complicated due to their past

Currently I’m debating if I want Connor to have gone through the whole coma + amnesia thing, I’m a bit on the fence

Relationships:

Romantic relationship: none right now, I’m not sure if I want to have any on this account but if anyone does want to do something dm me and we can talk

Parents: Oliver Queen and Sandra Hawke, Dinah Lance is his step-mother

Aunts/Uncles: Emiko Queen

Siblings: Roy Harper, Mia Dearden (closest sibling), Cissie King-Jones, Sin

Nieces/nephews: Lian Nguyen-Harper

Kids: N/A.

Friends: Kyle Rayner, Tim Drake, Mia Dearden (I think they can be friends and siblings), Rose Wilson, Damian Al-Ghul Wayne

Boundaries:

I am a minor, keep that in mind please

- NO BATCEST. Especially because this is a blog for one of the bats, I don't care how you rationalize it, I don't want to see BruceDick, DickXJason, DickXTim, or anything else.

- no shipping arrowfam members either (so no shipping Connor with his siblings like mia, Roy, cissie, anyone, and especially no Emiko, Oliver, or Dinah, it’s weird.)

- don't ship adults and minors!

- no proships in general

- no homophobia

- no transphobia

- no racism

- no Zionism

If you agree with any of those things please just block me or leave now to make things easier on the both of us, if not then feel free to stick around!

Mun also runs: @sokoneedsagun @dr-pamela-isley @not-a-robin @notquiterobin @bludhavens-finest @zatannazatara-sorceresssupreme

[blight-files]

Updates

Hi everyone! I'm Harper, one of the new hosts of the Retro Corner.

I'd like to say I have some pretty major updates to share as an explaination as to why we suddenly vanished (This will be reblogged to all our blogs).

TWs for this post are small mentions of our abuse and police/CPS.

We are currently in the process of moving away from our abusive mother. We're no longer in her house, and awaiting our next birthday to legally move out. Police have been involved on account of us reporting her near the start of this month, and CPS are also getting involved, however we have no updates on it.

We are currently living with our partner, and feel much safer than before. We're still getting used to it all. :) Have a swell day, folks

[theaudientvoid]

Ok, I'm spinning this off the Msscribe post since it's tangential, but I would LOVE to hear some of your recollections of trolling on the old Discworld forums. I was part of those forums probably around the same time (small world) but my memories are also hazy. There was a migration when the forums had to move off the official site - someone from the community set up a new version, if I remember correctly. I'm curious whether you joined before or after than shift. I was there from the early 2000s I think.

I joined shortly before. So, the migration off the the official site, which was officially set up by Harper-Collins, but which no one at Harper Collins had payed any attention to in years, was specifically driven by trolling. One of the site's recurring trolls had taken to spamming the site by bumping years old threads, so that all of the current threads were driven off of the main page. They did this every day, around 4am pst. Ultimately, this was only slightly more than a mild inconvenience, as soon as the necropost spree ended, people would just rebump the active threads. The main issue was that no one had heard from the moderators in years, so no one could just ban the trolls. This was what prompted the bulk of the community to move to the new site, where there would be actual mods.

My understanding was that the fora had been hounded by a cabal of trolls (or possibly just one with an army of sock-puppet accounts) on and off for years. I only joined a few months before the move offsite, so I don't know the details of that.

I remember that the forum culture was dominated by a trio of users who were jokingly venerated as gods, each of whom had their own church that other forum members could join. (I joined as an acolyte of the God of Pie.) Apparently there was a contingent of forumgoers who were annoyed by this, or otherwise disliked the three "gods" and resented how popular they were, and this came to a head shortly before the big move, when everyone's nerves were a bit freyed from the incessent trolling. A big flame war ensued, and a faction of these users all left the site, seperate from the mass exodus that happened a bit later. (Again, I was new to the site when this happened, do I wasn't super familiar with the personalities of the people involved, or what the dispute was even about.) I don't know if these people kept in touch or founded their own site, but they were basically unpersoned from the larger community.

(One popular activity on the old site was the writing of "board fics", basically short fiction where the characters were named after other posters on the board and were loosly inspired by the posters' online personas. This was not carried over to the new site, as several of the most prominent writers were in the group that left the community.)

The community was a lot more harmonious after the move to the new site, at least as far as I recall. Eventually, I got it into my head to hand-install Linux on my laptop as a dumb teenager with no technical experience. I therefore spent most of my free time for the next few months working on getting my laptop configured to the point where it was a functional computer again, and consequently dropped off of the site. Eventually I got my laptop working, and returned, but then drifted off again. (I had recently discovered that BitTorrent could be used to download anime off the internet, and so my online presence shifted to being focused around that for the next few years.)

[harperpresley]

Intro

Hello there! I'm Harper and welcome to my blog! I'm a Latina-American who loves being involved in the multifandom communities and trying to create content! When I have the drive I write fanfiction, and I'm currently relearning how to draw as well! I've been on tumblr for 11 years, though I've had several different accounts since then so I'm hoping this one sticks.

If you're interested in seeing what fandoms I'm apart of, I have a list of them under the TAGS section.

I can speak and read some Spanish, though writing is a whole different story. So if you want to send something in Spanish feel free, I apologize in advance if I misunderstand things tho!

I'm 23 and do like adult content, though my likes are private for that reason. While I won't post explicit artwork/written pieces without it being censored or warned, please don't expect it to be completely SFW. I know I can’t stop those younger than 18+ from following my content, but please be aware!

Asks and messages: Feel free!

TAGS

[goobsgloom]

 ᴍɪᴄʜᴀᴇʟ ❛ ɢᴏᴏʙ ❜ ʏᴀɢᴏᴏʙɪᴀɴ

michael yagoobian is based on goob from meet the robinsons. he is a 26 year old human, little league coach, and uses he/him pronouns. he has no powers.

penned by HARPER

reflection

face claim: deaken bluman sexuality: (closeted) homosexual height: 6'0 eye color: hazel hair color: dark brown piercings: n/a tattoos: n/a

attitude

positive traits:  obedient, disciplined, introverted, soft-spoken, patient, athletic, perceptive negative traits: overthinking, antisocial, cowardly, pessimistic, uncommunicative, believes everyone is against him likes: baseball, black and white films, using traditional fountain pen and parchment paper to doodle, high top converse, being alone, the library, old books with worn pages, the smell of sage, flannel, dark denim, instrumentals dislikes: big crowds, drawn out conversations, talking about family, bright lights, talking to strangers, horror movies, drinking, going out of his comfort zone phobias: paranoia hobbies:  coaching little league baseball, going to the batting cages, doodling on park benches, going on walks at night with his headphones in, collecting bottle caps and vintage coins, spending a lot of time alone aesthetic: the quite whispers you hear when you walk into a library, the sound of a wooden bat hitting the sole of a cleat to remove the dirt from it, the smell of popcorn at a baseball game, the scratching of a pen tip against aged paper, black ink, the words of edgar allen poe, the steam coming off a cup of hot coffee

relations

mother:  n/a father:  n/a sibling(s):  n/a pet(s): n/a

headcanons

a large sweater, worn and grey, filled with holes in peculiar spots and smelling like a mix of dust and ever-lingering fabric softener that brings goob and ever-lasting sense of comfort. 

goob is the moment where the sun has long set over the mountains and is now out of view, the cool briskness of the evening has settled over the earth and the creatures of the night have found their posts, singing their concerto. despite the peace it should all bring there is a lingering shadow that is a constant reminder that one is never truly alone in the darkness. 

a worn baseball glove, well loved with faded leather and splintering laces, hardly any use in an actual game but sentimental and more valuable than anything else.

goob is constantly wincing at physical contact, disturbed by displays of wild and gleeful emotions, and uncomfortable with conversations involving himself or his life or… well, conversations in general.

he is incredibly opinionated, and doesn't really take the consideration of others into account when sharing those opinions. the world is a dark and bleak place, so why should he bother trying to conform to this happy go-lucky candor everyone expects from a stranger they've never met ??

on the rare occasion that goob is enraged, it is not just a simple display of anger. it is explosive, like that of a tsunami building up in the middle of the ocean and, all of the sudden, hurling at the shore at a drop of a hat. uncontrolled, unrestrained.

stacks of books left in the sorting room of a library, unsorted and endowed with years of supposed torture from oiled fingers flipping through pages, tearing them out, marked up with ink that was smeared by seemingly frustrated palms, covered in dust and cob webs… while one may call them well-loved, those who understand know the books and their stories were left abandoned solely because a select few could understand them. 

goob does not think he is capable of loving or being loved, as he spent his entire youth being unwanted and unselected in an orphange. he was once envious of the kids around him who were able to have found families but, eventually, came to realize that it was his own fault that no one wanted him. he doesn't see that fact changing in his adulthood.

[vexsouls]

Hello! Thank you for checking out my blog, I hope you’re doing great dear!

I guess I should introduce myself, so let’s start there!

My name is Vex, but I’m also fine going by Souls. I’m an Aro/Ace individual who goes by any and all pronouns. I’m 16, so still a minor as of right now. I write in my free time because I find it fun! My favorite color is pink, so expect to see that a lot… it’s kind of a warning.

This blog is mostly where I post things involving my OC’s and such. I have a few, and I’ll list them all here! I should also mention that I sometimes ship my OC’s with canon characters. I don’t do this if the character has an actual confirmed lover in canon, and if I do, then I might not be aware of it or just don’t really like the ship. I do take requests, and if you’d like I can write stories about your characters, but I’ll mostly write things about mine.

But do feel free to DM me and just talk about your characters! I love hearing other people talk about their characters, it’s really nice in my opinion!

Now, a list of my characters and which fandom they’re for! (This is subject to change, just so you know.)

Serafeim/Spark Priyaa Athanasiou-Thompson (DC/Marvel/Miraculous ladybug)

Mac Isaac Evergreen (Harry Potter)

Milo Scott Montgomery (Voltron)

Mattheo (pronounced Matthew) Sam Andrew (Outer Banks)

Haru Fujioka Natsu (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Hunter Carlo Davis (FNAF)

Boris James Smith (Percy Jackson)

Kaji Jay Holt (Creepypasta)

Jay Ju-long Hitachi (Lego Monkie Kid)

Alex Darwin Blake (Lego Ninjago)

Andy (Welcome Home)

Mosu ___ ____ (HUNTER x HUNTER)

Austin (Undertale)

Kuroo ____ _____ (Demon Slayer)

Kenji ____ ____ (Hikyuu)

Suichi ____ ____(Assassination Classroom)

Lucio (Genshin Impact)

Shu ___ ___ (Ouron Highschool Host Club)

Oliver Harper Zander (Gravity Falls)

Ross Gregory Dallas (Danny Phantom)

Drew Samuel Harv (No fandom, main OC)

I will also—at some point (and if I can, it really depends on the fandom)—add fancasts with the characters descriptions and I’ll link it somewhere on this post!

In addition to that, here’s some other things I’ll link as soon as I can!

Rules for requesting.

Request page.

Master list.

My other accounts. (If you would like to see what other stuff I do, you do not have to if you don’t wish to!)

Once again, thank you so much for checking out my blog! I hope you have a great day, I love all of you!

[gothamnewsnetwork-official]

Richard Grayson in support of CoO, or something more?

Earlier this afternoon Richard Grayson, son of Bruce Wayne, came out in favour of the Court of Owls, now we think it may be something more.

Through a series of posts made by Mr. Grayson’s official account ( @notnotnightwing ) we have come to the conclusion that the Golden Boy of Gotham may be far more involved with the Court of Owls than we originally believed.

The thread started at around 7 PM last night with Mr. Grayson asking how best to ask out coo (see related post). At the time ‘coo’ was believed to be a code name for someone, but we soon learned it was simply an uncapitalized acronym for the Court of Owls (CoO).

The socialite went on to post several more times in regard to asking out the CoO (something this reporter is questioning as they are not sure how one ‘asks out’ a secret organization). (See related articles here)

Surprisingly the posts received much less backlash than expected, rather they garnered the support of a few celebrities and several civilians, including Mr. Drake Wayne ( @timblrdrake ) and Spiderman, two notable public figures. Though some have speculated that the support of the two may indicate that they are indeed members of the CoO, this publication casts doubt upon the theory as it lacks any real evidence to give it much substance.

When asked about this, Mr. Drake stated —

That doesn’t, however, mean that there was no backlash. Superman ( @official--superman ), Cassandra Cain ( @shh-its-cass ), and many concerned citizens, such as young Mr. Batson ( @billyybatsonz ) and Mr. Rosario ( @hinata-rosario ). When the 18 year old Mr. Rosario was asked about the situation, they gave the following statement for our publication -

“Tbh, my opinion on the whole thing is that he really needs to not try to get a date with someone actively trying to kill and harm our family members, it’s a gross error of judgement and quite frankly a great betrayal of everything the Wayne family stands for. Although I do love my uncle and support his romantic endeavors, I do not in any way shape or form support this one.”

Aside from the testimonies given by numerous Gothamites, when a concerned citizen attempted to bring up one of the many crimes the CoO has committed Mr. Grayson simply stated that it didn’t matter as the group was nice (to him). His younger brother, Mr. Todd-Harper responded by saying

“THEY AIN’T SHIT-”

In reference to the CoO. This is a sentiment many people, Gothamites and non-gothamites alike, seem to share. This however did not dissuade Mr. Grayson as he went to compare what Mr. Todd Harper commented as being akin to saying that Mr. Roy Harper-Todd (Mr. Grayson’s alleged brother-in-law) ‘ain’t shit’.

We would like to point out the absurdity of this comparison given that Mr. Harper-Todd does not seem to be prone to stalking, murder, tax evasion, embezzlement, violating OSHA, or child endangerment, an abridged list of the many crimes committed by the CoO (see related articles).

However Mr. Grayson remains steadfast in his commitment to ‘asking out’ the CoO, and as of writing this article has succeeded, though the response by the later named party is yet to be heard.

Mr. Grayson has since asked anyone who does not support his love for the CoO to block and/or unfollow his account.

While we are not sure what drove the eldest Wayne child to do such an odd, and frankly brash thing, we hope he is in a sound state of mind and understands what he’s getting involved with both romantically and legally.

Gotham Reports will keep you all updated on the latest developments in this case.

What are your thoughts on the situation? Let us know (here)

Gotham Reports is certified in unbiased, fair, and reliable reporting.

SOOOOOOOOOOO.....Coo....you're like....really really cool... @court--of--owls and I was wondering if uhhhhhh

If you'd wanna

Like

Uh

You know

[1001aus]

I posted 1,562 times in 2022

17 posts created (1%)

1,545 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@blackkatmagic

@spaceguylewis

@rinrinp42

@cuubism

@ironhoshi

I tagged 115 of my posts in 2022

#fic tag - 11 posts

#kenobi show - 6 posts

#the sandman - 5 posts

#idea tag - 5 posts

#unreality - 5 posts

#jason todd - 5 posts

#dream of the endless - 4 posts

#dreamling - 4 posts

#lian harper - 4 posts

#rip - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#but the truth is they can be sued big time for plagerism if someone can prove that they may have taken an idea from someone's fanwork

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

5 notes - Posted March 16, 2022

#4

lyta hall must have been so fucking wild in the comics. she and her husband join a b-list hero team because the justice league won’t take them then her husband dies in a massive fight that kills several heroes and she just disappears without a trace. THEN like a year later she shows up again with a baby saying the sandman killed her husband whose cause of death is in fact a matter of public record and there was no sandman involved. imagine being the caseworker assigned to her when her kid goes missing after the babysitter falls asleep and she’s back on accusing the sandman of murder again and swearing vengeance. should you call the justice league? i mean, what kind of problems can this woman actually cause? no way it’s the kind of thing the justice league would handle. fast forward and it turns out daniel hall is not dead but he is the sandman now on account of his mother actually managing to get his predecessor killed. probably should have called the justice league. union guidelines say this kind of caped nonsense is outside the scope of the job description anyway.

10 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

#3

after Hob learns Dream's names when he's being annoying Hob lists them all like he's fullnaming him

12 notes - Posted November 3, 2022

#2

AUs where Jason knows Damian or Cassandra from the League of Assassins are fine but I'm gonna write one where he knows Lian as a baby in the League

21 notes - Posted March 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

That post about how gadling means friend please. Consider. Gadling is not a family name maybe Hob doesn't even have one or just doesn't use it anymore. What he does have is a reputation.

Death drags Dream out of his house realm to meet Chaucer so he can stop being a shut in for a bit and then suddenly Hob the Friend announces he's never going to die.

Introduce your introvert little brother to the storyman and he'll socialize for a couple hours, trick him into befriending an immortal and he'll get out occasionally for at least a few centuries

71 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[incorrectbatfam]

Reddit in DC would so funny and equally disturbing. Like so shit can happen in one day

I can definitely picture it

The death of Jason Todd shows up so often on r/UnsolvedMysteries that the mods had to ban the topic

And in doing so, they deleted the post that said Jason came back when Superman punched a hole in reality and became the Red Hood

(It only had 3 upvotes anyway)

Tim uses a burner account to expose big businesses on r/LateStageCapitalism

Meanwhile Dick has a burner account for making bad puns in comments that frequently end up screenshotted on r/AngryUpvote

Bruce made exactly one post—an AITA post about whether he's in the wrong for banning his anti-hero son from using guns against Gotham's worst repeat offenders

And that post ends up on r/OddlySpecific

There's a thread called r/TheButtsMatch where people match random butts to Batman's

r/ItsABird is for Robin sightings

And r/ItsAPlane is for Kryptonian sightings

Starfire's post explaining Tamaranean anatomy ends up at the top of r/AlienAnatomy

r/shittyaskscience is filled with questions like "Why do Robins get shorter" or "What would happen if humans ate Kryptonite" or "Can I go nyoom with the Speed Force"

Someone finds a Lantern ring for $15 on r/ThriftStoreHauls

Someone else finds Roy and Oliver's lost arrows for $1 each at Goodwill

(That second one was Dinah)

TIFU stories include a mix of everyday life ("TIFU by calling my football coach dad") and stories involving superheroes ("TIFU by calling Wonder Woman dad")

r/OnlyInGotham is the Gotham memes thread

At this point superhero news only makes it to the Reddit front page if the world is literally about to end

So like… every other month

Damian tried to join Reddit and Tim ratted him out for not being old enough

Tim only did it as r/pettyrevenge for Damian stealing his new sweatshirt

Harper and Cullen host an AMA together as Bluebird where they answer superhero questions with wrong answers only

Babs does a voice session, but it's not about superheroes at all—it's just IT stuff with other computer nerds

Selina posts on r/relationshipadvice about how her husband sometimes goes to bed in his fursuit and it weirds her out, and Bruce immediately finds it and comments "don't act like you don't do the same"

Duke got banned from r/family because they thought he was making up stories

Steph is the admin of r/BreakfastFood

And the mods are Alfred, Martha Kent, Bart Allen, and Matter-Eater Lad

Cass wrote a True Off My Chest post where she confessed to eating the last of Alfred's cookies and blaming Dick

The most popular r/MaliciousCompliance post was from a former Batburgers employee who went home to change in the middle of a busy shift because his manager insisted that Harley Quinn wasn't a hero and thus he couldn't wear her logo on his shirt to work

r/Batman is actually filled with photos of dark blobs with two pointy ends that vaguely resemble Batman, i.e. inkblots or people's cats

Jason gets banned from that for posting pictures of Bruce

[fatehbaz]

Gypsies aren't segregated moron theyre just known to steal dogs and shit lmao

Let’s not use slurs.

It’s been a while since I’ve made the post, but I’m gonna assume you’re referring to a post where I shared the work of the Environmental Justice Atlas project. Obviously doesn’t seem like you’re engaging in good faith here, but for the sake of anyone else who might want to look more deeply into environmental racism against Roma in Europe, I’m gonna temporarily ignore your tone. I’m very confident that looking at any map of Central and Eastern Europe displaying ethnicity, income, infrastructure failure, etc., would clearly and unequivocally show extreme segregation of Roma communities. In fact, the report shared in my post shows exactly that. The report includes exact lat-long coordinates of sites of some of the worst segregation; you could plug those into G00gle Earth, zoom in, and take a look for yourself. In some of these cases, local governments build literal walls and fenced enclosures. Is that not segregation? The report includes photos of the unlivable conditions of the sites, too.

The report: “Pushed to the wastelands: Environmental racism against Roma communities in Central and South-Eastern Europe.” Produced by ENVJustice, Environmental Justice Atlas team at ICTA-UAB. List of credits, from their published map: “The research team consists of Ksenija Hanaček and Federico Demaria (ICTA-UAB), Patrizia Heidegger and Katharina Wiese (EEB), Radost Zahireva (Bulgaria), Mustafa Asanovski (Macedonia), Ciprian-Valentin Nodis (Rumania), Zsuzsanna Kovács (Hungary), Ondrej Poduska (Slovakia).”

Most of the case studies documented by the team include photos of each site, sites where you and others imply that there is no “discrimination” or “environmental racism”. Some of the examples: hundreds of Roma living at a chemical laboratory at a copper factory; local governments forcing Roma refugees to live at landfills; lead poisoning of Roma families after forced settlement of refugees at mining complexes; local governments proposing and/or constructing fences and separation walls; etc. In each of these cases, it is clear that the UN, national governments, and local administrators clearly and deliberately engaged in forced removal and forced relocation often involving poisoning from environmental contaminants.

Here are just a few of the cases included in the report:

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If anyone is skeptical that Roma face extreme racism, discrimination, then I’d recommend taking a quick look at ... the history of Europe. Then I would remind skeptics to listen to the voices of Roma people. I’d also remind you that the scholars reporting on segregation, environmental racism, and discrimination really do their homework.

Why might it seem, on the surface, that anti-Roma racism might have, allegedly, “improved” in recent years (despite evidence to the contrary)?

Kocze and Rovid have used the concept of “double dis/course” to describe how contemporary Europe (in the late 20th and early 21st centuries) “promotes the integration” and so-called “equal opportunities” of Roma (aka: assimilation), while simultaneously denying even basic “recognition of, and ways to address, enduring structural violence”, environmental racism. The inclusion, in European dis/course, of “rights” and “opportunities” might seem benevolent on the surface. (”Oh look, European governments published a short statement and said a nice thing about the Roma. Discrimination is over, Europe is trying to help!”) But this obscures how anti-Roma racism and discrimination plays out materially, in reality. Because, meanwhile, local administrators and institutions can weaponize zoning regulations; selectively enforce municipal codes; over-p0lice; neglect infrastructure; and pursue evictions, often in ways that seem like “reasonable” enforcement on paper.

Dove-tailing with this apparent bureacratic neutrality, Kocze and Rovid suggested that part of the reason why anti-Roma racism has persisted or even strengthened (or, at least, re-asserted itself in different language) recently is due to what they call “three dimensions” of “double dis/course”: “racialised de-Europeanisation, [...] undeservingness, and (dis)articulation of citizenship”.

Similarly, scholar Huub van Baar -- describing recent European maneuvers to redefine their anti-Roma discrmination in more palatable terms -- references concepts like: evictability; contained mobility; secularization of borders; and racialization of poverty.

-------

While the books aren’t freely available, most of these articles are free to read online:

Silvia Rodriguez Maeso. “‘Civilising’ the Roma? The depoliticisation of (anti-)racism within the politics of integration.” Global Studies in Culture and Power. June 2014.

Huub van Baar. “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: the Roma at the development-security nexus.” Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture. Issue 4: Un/Free Mobility: Roma Migrants in the European Union. June 2017.

‘Angela Kocze and Marton Rovid. “Roma and the politics of double dis/course in contemporary Europe.” Global Studies in Culture and Power. November 2017.

Richard Filcak. Living Beyond the Pale: Environmental Justice and the Roma Minority.

Huub van Baar. “Evictability and the Biopolitical Bordering of Europe.” Antipode 49. August 2016.

Krista Harper, Tamara Steger, and Richard Filcak. “Environmental justice and Roma communities in Eastern Europe.” Environmental Policy and Governance. July 2009.

Aidan McGarry. Romaphobia: The Last Acceptable Form of Racism. 2017.

Margareta Matache and Jacqueline Bhabha. “Anti-Roma Racism is Spiraling during C0VID-19 P@ndemic.” NCBI: Health and Human Rights Journal. June 2020.

Global Studies in Culture and Power: Issue 6: Romaphobia and the Media. 2017.

E Vincze. “Socio-spatial marginality of Roma as form of intersectional injustice.” Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai-Sociologia. 2013.

Helen O’Nions. “Roma Expulsions and Discrimination: The Elephant in Brussels.” Brill. January 2011.

Romain Cames. “Government by Expulsion: The Roma Camp, Citizenship, and the State.” Sociology (International Sociological Association). 2013.

Victoria Shmidt and Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky. Historicizing Roma in Central Europe: Between Critical Whiteness and Epistemic Injustice. 2020.  

Huub van Baar and Ryan Powell. “The Invisibilization of Anti-Roma Racisms.” In: The Secularization of the Roma in Europe. 2018.

Catalin Berescu. “The rise of the new European Roma ghettos: a brief account of some empirical studies.” Taylor and Francis: Urban Research & Practice. October 2011

-------

I’m sure some of my friends here at this site could provide more reading recommendations. Or maybe there are Roma people here who’d like to chime in.

(Sorry, everyone, for exposing you to slurs.)

[notbecauseofvictories]

oh I'm interested in the tag novel on how fan spaces becoming more meat spacey benefits the producers!! also happy Halloween! 🖤🧡🖤🧡

It’s not a particularly academic argument---I don’t have sources to back this up, I haven’t done research. I’m also wary of painting a picture of “fandom” as anything more than a lot of weasels in a trenchcoat, because that word means a lot of things to a lot of different people, some of whom hate each other. But as long as everybody understands that this is the ethnographical equivalent of drunkenly throwing darts at a copy of the AJS...sure.

[under a cut because it’s long and baseless, and also I had a lot of thoughts and feelings. Sorry.]

My basic premise is that fandom occupies “fanspace.” Fanspace is not solely online, since fanzines and conventions are fanspace too, but since the 90s it has become increasingly and primarily internet based. While some websites are designated fanspace (e.g., AO3, ff.net, stand-alone fansites) fanspace is not necessarily contiguous with a hosting site (e.g., there is fanspace on tumblr, but tumblr is not a fanspace). Fanspace is really just those urls, message boards, threads, blogs, accounts, etc. designated for fandom and/or where fannish activity takes place.

Its deeply-rooted internet presence has allowed fanspace and what I call “meatspace” to operate on different rules. Meatspace has always informed fan spaces, of course---disclaimers on fic to ward off accusations of copyright infringement, for example, or asking readers to attest that they’re over 13 before reading an R-rated fic. But traditionally, fandom has accepted as norm things that don’t apply to meatspace: fake names and anonymous posts, pictures of someone else’s characters, lengthy self-published stories featuring violence, explicit sex, sometimes even gay people. Fanspace is in many ways an artificial carve out from meatspace, where fewer of its rules apply; fanspace supplements these with its own norms.

The division between fanspace and meatspace is not and has never been a clear, settled line, however. Debates on how much meatspace should inform fan spaces have been raging for as long as I’ve been on the internet, and to be fair to meatspace, it has made good points. (I’m not sure if “don’t be racist,” counts as a meatspace rule given...racism, but fandom frequently reacts to it like a meatspace intrusion so I think it should count.)

However, what used to be intra-fandom conversations have become increasingly more public, for a few reasons:

Part of this is just the natural development of the internet---it’s not like fanspace was ever hidden, but there just weren’t as many people online, and stuff was harder to find in a pre-google, pre-algorithmic promotion world.

Part of it is the changing architecture of fanspace---websites shutting down, Strikethrough, and the tumblr porn ban have all, in their own ways, served to alter fanspace and move towards more and more public-facing sites.

But part of it---and this is the biggest factor, I think---is that over the last two decades, we’ve seen content-producers** increasingly willing to engage with fandom. 

On its face, this sounds good! After all, fans like people who make things, people who make things want fans. What could possibly be wrong about both sides recognizing their mutualism?

I think this works when the most interaction you could expect with a creator was showing up a bookstore to ask Tamora Pierce a question, or writing fanmail to Paul Gross. But it falls apart when you consider just how public-facing fanspaces have become, and just how much interest content-producers have taken in cultivating the fannish audience. Content-producers engaging directly with fandom are a thumb on the scales of mutualism, and a heavy one. After all, one side of the relationship is a loosely collected anarchic cult, migrating along a series of websites they mostly don’t control, making do with nothing but ongoing wank and general obsessive tendencies. 

The other side has D*sney, Harper Collins, and Comcast.

That thumb on the scale has paid off, more than I think even the content-producers could have anticipated. Fandom is good at loving what it loves and talking loudly about it, but capitalism is way better at doing what it does---turning everything into profit. So now people pay $100 a pop to go to Harry Potter World. Conventions are well-produced extensions of their parent companies, raking in money and providing a blitz of publicity---directly to the source most likely to take your messaging and amplify it. Make a superhero movie and the minute the trailer drops you conjure up thousands of online fans will be your de facto, unpaid publicists---generating interest via fan art, fic, and controversy with minimal corporate effort.  Of course fic writers who have established online presence are the darlings of the publishing world---what publisher wouldn’t want a built-in hype machine for a new author? 

And, just coincidentally, of course, fanspace and meatspace are drawn closer together, that line further blurred by this new and very, very interested third party.

I’m not saying this is some big conspiracy. No tv exec is out there rubbing their hands together and cackling evilly about how they’re going ruin fandom. But in exchange for meatspace validation and an endless stream of new content, I think fandom has ceded important ground. And I think it’s changing fanspaces, even now:

One of the founding rules of fanspace is that it does not generate money---you risk real copyright infringement that way. (This isn’t to say that money hasn’t been involved in a few massive fandom scandals, but it’s not typical.) Increasingly, however, the grumblings about getting paid for fan art and fic have gotten louder, probably due to meatspace’s general emphasis on the side-hustle, and seeing content-producers churn out more and more fan-like things for a profit.

(It seems unimaginable now, but once upon a time the HP Lexicon was an invaluable resource, a rare unicorn in a pre-wikipedia age. Now, D*sney wouldn’t even think of releasing a tentpole movie without a novelization, a picture dictionary, and a tie-in novel.)

Also, those calls for fan art that “might be featured” by a content-producer are (rightfully) scorned for asking for work pro bono. But the takeaway seems to be “we deserve to be paid for our fan art!” rather than “how dare the content-producer intrude on our fanspace and its activities!”

Fanspaces have never expected or required legal ID, permitting anonymous or pseudonymous activity in order to protect individual privacy. And while there’s still no expectation you link your legal ID with your online/fan ID, the norm has shifted---it’s no longer considered gauche to go by your legal ID, even necessary when turning mutuals and followers into an “audience.” We’re not anonymous fans, engaged in our mutual hobby anymore---some people are doing that, and others are potential content-creators.

I’d argue that even purity wank if an example of this new blurring, classic “don’t like don’t read” arguments taking on new life now that meatspace is so nearby---we wouldn’t want to offend the neighbors!

Even these things benefit the content-producers: the more fan-like stuff they churn out, the less fanspaces will create on their own; the more fanspaces that emphasize linking legal ID to online ID, the less people will be able to engage in fan activities privately; the more meatspace rules assert themselves on fanspaces, the less fanspace we’ll have.

Now, maybe this is just...evolution. As I said before, there is a porous and shifting border between fanspace and meatspace. I remember angry threads about whether m/m fics should be rated higher than a het equivalent; I remember the tagging debates, the incredible resistance to accurately describing what happens in your fic. Maybe in a few years, my longing to return to a more separate fanspace will seem equally as embarrassing, incorrect, and unnecessary. 

But right now, it feels more like an erosion---one fandom is about as willing or able to resist as the tide.

.

** “Content maker” is a term that’s come to mean “anyone who makes something” which is sheer nonsense. There’s a difference between publishers/television producers/movie studios and someone recording a podcast in their bathroom. There’s even a difference between D*sney, a vast undead creative monopoly animated by copyright protections, and someone like James Patterson, who uses a stable of ghostwriters to churn out “his” works. We shouldn’t be scrutinizing all these things them the same way, it’s lazy, and intellectually dishonest.

[justforbooks]

Down and Out in Paris in London (1933) was the first book published by Eric Arthur Blair under the pseudonym George Orwell. The name was chosen, according to Orwell’s biographer Bernard Crick, ‘partly to avoid embarrassing his parents, partly as a hedge against failure, and partly because he disliked the name Eric, which reminded him of a prig in a Victorian boys' story’. The book offers an account of Blair’s experiences of poverty as he tried to build a career as a writer after quitting his job in the Burmese Police Force. Looking back on this period in The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), Orwell explained: ‘I wanted to submerge myself, to get right down among the oppressed, to be one of them and on their side against the tyrants’.

The book begins by describing the experience of destitution in Paris, and particularly work as a plongeur – pot-washer – in restaurant kitchens. The second section consists of comparable experiences in England: the low-paid work Orwell finds is as a hop-picker in Kent, and the squalid accommodation he describes are the ‘kips’ or ‘doss-houses’ of London.

The question of the book’s genre is open to debate – though the raw material is broadly non-fictional, Orwell treats it with some of the techniques of the fiction writer, rearranging the historical order of events to produce a more compelling narrative, or to spare the blushes of his family. For example, the ‘Italian compositor’ who robs Orwell and worsens his predicament was in fact a woman with whom he had been involved. The book is often treated as a classic of the literary ‘documentary’ form; a record of what it was to be poor in England before the post-war introduction of the welfare state. Having suffered several rejections and after going through a number of different titles – including A Scullion’s Diary – the book was published by Gollancz in the UK and Harper & Brothers in the US, and was generally well-received by writers such as J B Priestley and C Day Lewis. It was published in French translation in 1935. English sales remained relatively low until it was picked up by Penguin in 1940, published in a cheap edition of 55,000, and categorised as ‘Fiction’.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[heyitsani]

Loving You is a Losing Game Chapter 1

@jaydick-week Day 2 fic: Fairytale AU

Word Count: 3,543

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Monsters and Magic

Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson

Summary: When Batman goes missing, Nightwing is called in to try and track the man down. What he finds at the spot Batman was last seen is something he's not sure he's equipped to deal with. But that doesn't stop him from doing what he has to in order to get Batman out. Even if it means becoming the poisoner of a strange shadow man in a Gothic castle hidden behind a wall of magic on the edge of Gotham.

Notes: This is my Beauty and the Beast AU set in the comics (sort of...I’ve changed some details and you’ll understand once it’s all done).  I’m not sure how many chapters this one will have but here is the first.  I just wanted to be able to post at least part of the stories I prepared for the week since I wasn’t able to finish any of them.

You can also read it on AO3 here

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

He felt the person before he heard them, and the presence alone was enough for Dick to tense up in ways he’d rather not admit happened.  This was not a confrontation he was in the mood for at the moment, but apparently he was going to have to have it none the less.

“Deathstroke,” he said flatly, turning to look at the other man standing a few feet away in his familiar orange and black gear.

The white-haired man gave a smirk that boiled Dick’s blood, but he refused to react.  “Nightwing, how lovely to see you tonight.”  Dick never understood why Slade kept up the pretense of these meetings being unplanned.  They weren’t.  He might be oblivious to many things, but when a predator is stalking him has never been one of them.  He was well aware of what Slade was doing when he appeared out of nowhere.

“Is there something I can do for you tonight?  Or are you just here to get in my way.”

“Just curious how my favorite Little Bird was doing,” the man said as he leaned against the brick wall that held the door to head down into the building he had made his perch for the night.  “I’ve heard some interesting rumors over the past couple of months and I wanted to see if they were true.”

This was a dangerous game, Dick knew that.  He should just ignore Slade and head to a different spot in hopes the man would leave him alone, but his curiosity was also burning.  What kind of rumor could Slade have possibly heard involving him.

Sighing, Dick turned to face the man.  “And what rumors are those?”  He took the bait.  He frowned when Slade’s smirk turned predatory and made Dick want to take a few steps back to get more space between them.  Despite there being about ten feet already.

“Nightwing hasn’t been seen in Gotham for almost half a year.  And the hero community is wondering why the Titans have lost their leader suddenly.”  Rolling his eyes behind his mask, Dick crossed his arms over his chest.  “Now…you fighting with Daddy Bats isn’t all that strange, but six months?  When there’s still the little Robin running around not fully trained?”

Dick didn’t point out that Damian was Batman’s own son and had been trained by the League of Assassins. He was more trained than any of them had ever been.  And he made sure to point it out frequently to Tim.

“And that you have left behind your precious Titans?  Now that’s surprising.”  But Dick knew he no one other than the team knew why he had separated himself from them and they all accepted it.  He hadn’t been ousted or banned.  He had left because he had needed to.  “Are you isolating yourself, Little Bird?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Slade shrugged and pushed away from the wall, taking a few long strides to close some of the distance between them.  “Seems to me that you are pushing away everyone in your life, Kid.  Perhaps you’re ready for your true destiny?”  Dick frowned.  “Join me.  You know it’s inevitable.”

Dick laughed. Actually laughed at the words and shook his head.  

“Dream on, Slade.  I say it every time you bring it up,” Dick reminded him, uncrossing his arms.  “Until the world has burned, I will never join you.”

“Don’t tempt me, Kid.”

Instead of responding, Dick just rolled his eyes and took a step back off the edge of the roof, free falling for a moment before shooting off his grapple in the direction of where he had parked his motorcycle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Agent A,” Dick said into his comm when he heard Alfred’s voice bleeding through.  He was surprised to be hearing from the older man, but welcomed it none the less.  Even if it was coming in the middle of a fight.  

Landing a punch across the jaw of one of the goons and vaulting himself over the falling body to swiftly knock the other down with a firm kick to his chest, he breathed heavily. “Nightwing, I require your assistance in Gotham.”  Frowning, Dick knelt down and zip-tied the hands of the goons together before sending off the signal and coordinates to BPD.

“You require it?  Or Batman does?”  He questioned as he shot his grapple up to get off the street and out of the area before the cops arrived.  While the cops of BPD had gotten better over time, they still had an arrest order for all vigilantes.  So it was always best that he just left before they arrived. “What’s going on?”

“Batman has not been seen for about 48 hours now.  Robin and Red Robin are off world with the Titans at the moment and I know Batman would rather keep the search in the family before involving the League.” Which made sense in Bruce’s mind, but considering their hero friends had been vanishing left and right over the last two years, Dick thought it was somewhat foolish.  “Might you make your way to the Cave?”

Figuring out where he was in relation to his motorcycle, Dick took off in the direction of where he had stashed it.  “I’m on my way now.  Tell me what he was doing the night he went missing.”  He listened to Alfred relay the major points of the missing hero case that the entire community was working on while holding down their various cities. He listened as Alfred talked about Bruce starting the suspect something was happening in an abandon warehouse on the outskirts of town, not far from Crime Alley.  

Dick confirmed that Bruce had mentioned that to him about a year ago and Dick had told Bruce that there was no activity in the area after running the scans.  But apparently that didn’t mean Bruce had dropped it.  It just meant he didn’t immediately deal with whatever it was that was happening there.

“Master Bruce linked these three heroes and their disappearances with that warehouse,” Alfred said as he pulled open three filed.  Dick frowned when the faces of Roy Harper, Koriand’r, and Wally West appeared on the screen.  Three of his closest friends whose absences he had felt deeply.  If Donna’s face had come up alongside them then he would have left immediately.  “All three had come to town for various reasons and all vanished when leaving in that direction.”

“And Bruce thinks they vanished in the warehouse so he what?  He went there to try and figure out what was happening?”

Alfred nodded and pulled up a video, which Dick easily figured out was the cowl recording from the night he went missing.  Dick watched from Bruce’s eyes as the batmobile came to a stop on the outskirts of the three-building area.  His mentor took a moment to scan the area and look for any signs of life, but when the readings seemed to glitch he still decided to go in.  An action Dick had specifically been told not to do if he had experienced the same thing.

“Magic,” Bruce had said when Dick had reported his findings.  

But Bruce exited the car and headed toward the first of three buildings.  And just as Dick leaned forward, pressing his hands on the desk to watch closely, the screen glitched again and then static.  Scanning the screen for the readings of the video, he frowned.  “What the hell was that?”

“My thoughts?  It is the same magic you encountered when you had gone to scout the area at Master Bruce’s request.”

Dick straightened and frowned.  That was heavy magic if it was able to cut everything off from Bruce.  And it made Dick wonder if Bruce had somehow managed to get stuck behind the wall.  “Is Zatanna one of the missing?”  There had been so many that he couldn’t remember all of them.  Alfred’s nod filled him with dread.  “I have to go check it out.”

“Could I advise you to go to the Watchtower before you do?”

“There’s no time. He’s been missing for two days and some change.  I need to head in there.”  Dick frowned, grabbing his mask from where he had set it down when he had arrived. “But you should contact Clark immediately.  I’m not sure if they’ll be able to spare any of the other magic users, but let them know what Bruce had suspected.”  He turned to head back to his motorcycle but paused when Alfred’s hand landed on his upper arm.  “I have to go, Alf.  I can’t just leave him there.”

“I understand my boy, just be careful.  We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”  Dick gave a nod before continuing to his motorcycle.  “I will contact the League and try to get the Robins to return to Earth.”

“Thanks Alf.  I’ll keep you updated for as long as I can.”

He gave the older man one last smile before he gunned the engine and sped out of the Cave toward the warehouse where he would face too many unknown variables.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pulling up to the same place where Bruce had parked the batmobile, Dick frowned when he noticed the car was no longer there.  They were far enough away from the majority of the city that thieves wouldn’t have gotten to it, but that didn’t account for whatever magic that had been used to protect this area.  So he carefully set his motorcycle into stealth mode and left it tucked between two smaller buildings in the area.  If he was lucky, it would be there to get him and Bruce back to the cave once he found the other man.

“I’m approaching now, Agent A,” he reported to Alfred through the comms, sticking to the shadows as he approached.  He kept one eye on the grounds and the other on any possible movement around him.  “I didn’t notice it last time, but you can actually see the current.”  He moved to stand about a foot away from the now just slightly visible wall of magic.  He looked up, trying to see how far it went, but after about ten feet, the angle didn’t provide a good look.  

It almost reminded him of heat waves that came off the pavement during the worst of Gotham’s summers.

Reaching out a hand, Dick carefully touched the wall and jerked a hand back when it felt like he had been zapped by one of his escrimas.  “It feels like electricity,” he said into the comm but the reply he got back was crackled and broken.  And that meant he was probably on his own.  “I’m not sure if you can hear me anymore, but I’m going in.  Call for the League and the Robins.  Find a magic user and get them here if you can.  I’ll bring him back, Alf.”  And with a deep breath, he stepped forward and into the wall of magic.

And when he came out on the other side, he bent forward with his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. “That is not a good time,” he groaned to himself as he tried to pull himself together.  With a few more deep breaths, Dick straightened and gasped in surprise at the sight of what was on the other side of the wall.

The image projected on the city side of the wall was what he remembered the area to look like.  Three large, abandoned warehouses and their various grounds surrounding them.  Gray and boring, weathered from the lack of upkeep and use.  But what was before him seemed almost gothic in comparison.  In fact, it looked like some of the older buildings of the city.  Gargoyles and all.  The plain concrete walls had been replaced with stone, vines that had not been there two years ago had begun to creep up them giving them an even more aged look.

The grounds themselves were green and reminded him far more of the Manor than what he would have expected a warehouse to look like.  They also looked immaculately kept.  It was almost as if whoever had done the spell had taken a gothic castle and placed it on the edge of Gotham while making every one in the city believe the warehouses remained.

It made Dick feel like he had a rock in his stomach.  This was a very powerful spell.

Scouting the area as best he could, Dick carefully made his way forward with his escrimas in hand and ready for a fight.  He didn’t know what he was bound to encounter, but he wasn’t going to chance not being prepared.  Not when it might be Bruce’s life on the line.  

When the grounds revealed little information, Dick snuck his way inside through one of the windows in the front and quietly made his way through the main foyer.  The more he saw of the building, the heavier the pit in his stomach got.  

The sound of fierce whispering hit his senses as he came to the base of a set of stairs.  

Nightwing, it is Nightwing.  

He frowned, looking around to try and find the source.  

Nightwing can do it.

He wanted to ask what exactly the whisperers thought he could do, but instead he remained silent and looked up the stairs.  There was a faint light further up and like a moth, Dick made his way toward it.  The whispers got quieter and quieter the further up he went.  Until they had vanished all together and he was standing at the top of the stairs, looking at something that he was struggling to understand.  It looked like cells but it wasn’t making sense in his head.

Of course, if this really was some sort of medieval structure, it would make sense for there to be a tower with cells for keeping prisoners.  But what that even what this was.

The sound of movement from one of the ones on the right caught his attention and with barely a thought, he rushed forward to peer inside.  “Batman!”  He cried, latching his escrimas on his back before gripping the bars of the cell door. “Are you okay?!”  He questioned as he looked the older man over.  

“Nightwing,” the name came out as a groan and Dick frowned.  Bruce looked roughed up, but he didn’t look like he was in that bad of condition. “You have to leave.  Get out of here now.  Before it takes you like it took them all.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not going to just leave you here,” he shook his head before searching his utility belt for his lock pick so he could get the cell open and get Bruce out of there.  He had just about gotten the lock open when a loud crash sounded behind him and he was flying toward the cells on the other side of the small hallway.

“What are you doing here?!” The question was practically growled, and Dick tried to focus on the source but all he could see was a shadow and a pair of glowing green eyes.  “You don’t belong here.  Leave!”

Shaking his head, Dick looked over at Bruce before looking back to the shadow.  “I’m not leaving without Batman.”

“Yes, you are,” the shadow growled.  “He’s my prisoner.  He’s cursed to remain.”

Dick carefully stood to his feet and grabbed his escrimas, moving into a fighting stance.  “I’m not leaving without him.  So either you give him to me or I take him.”

“Nightwing, no!”  

But Dick ignored Bruce’s call and carefully moved so he was standing in front of his mentor’s cell. He didn’t know who or what it was he was facing, but he had fought enough in his years to be adaptable. “Dick, please just go.  Get out while you can.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“One of you is leaving before I really lose my temper.”

That gave Dick pause. “One of us?”  The shadow seemed to tilt it’s head and Dick considered the idea building in his mind.  He could get Bruce out of there.  He could get Bruce home to Alfred.  And Bruce would figure out a way to get him out of there.  He could do that.  Dick would never be able to figure out how to combat magic like this.  He wasn’t sure even their magic users in the League would be able to.  But Batman always found a way.  “Take me instead.”

“What?”

“No!”

“You heard me.  Take me instead.  Release Batman and I’ll take his place.”

“You…” the shadow paused, sounding almost awed.  “You would do that for him?”

“Yes.”

“Dick don’t do this, please.”

Turning his head just slightly to lock eyes with Bruce, Dick pursed his lips.  “I have to.  You’ll figure it out.  You’re already there.  I trust you.” The man frowned but understanding filled his eyes and he gave Dick a firm nod.  Turning back to the shadow, Dick latched his escrimas again and raised his chin.  “I’ll stay as long as I have to if you promise to let him go safely on the other side of the magical wall.”

There was silence before the shadow moved like liquid, shoving Dick out of the way and getting Bruce out of the cell.  In a blink of an eye, the pair were gone and Dick was left alone wondering what he was supposed to do now.  He just risked his life on Bruce being able to figure this out.  He had given up everything because he trusted the man enough to get to the bottom of whatever was happening here.  Dick trusted Bruce and Nightwing trusted Batman, but jumping in front of a bullet was different than trapping himself inside a magical dome with no connection to the outside world.

With a deep breath, Dick pulled the mask off his eyes and looked around the room he supposed he would be staying in.  The cells were stereotypical for a medieval castle and under any other circumstance, he would probably laugh at that.  But now this was his...home?

“Come,” a voice came out of nowhere, causing him to jump and quickly turn toward the staircase he had come up.

The shadow was back.

More magic, he mused to himself.  “What?” He questioned the command, wary of what the game might be here.

The shadow shifted and moved forward, stepping into the light to reveal a man.  Not a shadow at all.  Blonde hair, sharp cheekbones, and green eyes.  He was tall but not as tall as the shadow had made him appear to be. And not as bulky, but still solid in muscle mass and strength.  “Do you want to stay up here?”  The man growled, his green eyes taking on an almost glowing look to them.  It made Dick take a step back in self-preservation.

“No, but I thought…” This was where Bruce had been kept after all.  Why was he not to assume that it would be the same for him?

“You thought wrong.” The man turned and headed down the stairs and after a short hesitation, Dick hurried to follow.  He kept quiet as he followed the man down the stairs he had come up in the beginning and then down the halls toward a different wing of the castle.  “This is your home now.  You can go anywhere you like but the West Wing.”

Dick glanced behind him, remembering the staircase they had passed that would have been in the westward direction.  “What’s in the West Wing?”  He asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.  He blamed Bruce and his need to raise detectives.

“Nothing of your concern!” The man ground out, turning to glare at Dick with his glowing green eyes.  And though he wanted to take a step back, he resisted the urge.  He did, however, give a slight nod of understanding to pacify the man instead.  There was a moment of pause before he seemed pacified and they continued on the path. “You will stay here,” the man said when they reached an elaborately carved, pair of double doors.  Dick looked up at them before stepping forward and inside the room after he pushed the doors open.

The room itself looked as though it had come right out of a movie.  Four post bed, gleaming silvers and blues all over.  The bed looked plush and the furniture was likely hand carved.  Everything was polished and smooth, gleaming under the lighting.  It was ornate and fancy and Dick hated it.  But that might have had more to do with it being his prison than it being overly done.

He heard the man clear his throat and Dick turned to find he remained in the doorway of the room, looking hesitate to enter.  But that was something Dick had no desire to unpack that right then.  Not when he was still technically a prisoner.

“If you need anything, the others are always lingering.”  The man glanced around the room before straightening his spine.  “I expect you to join me for dinner.”  Dick frowned when the man turned away and slammed the door behind him.  Sighing, Dick turned in a small circle before dropping down onto the edge of the bed.