QuillKiller's Easy Beginnings
I know that a lot of people enjoy the internalized homophobia narrative in relation to relationships involving DE's and purebloods, and I often enjoy it too, when done correctly. However, QuillKiller is one of the instances where I think, characterization wise, it simply doesn't work. Specifically, I'm thinking when the internalized homophobia narrative is pushed onto Bellatrix.
Why? Well, what do we know about Bellatrix? She is dangerous, clinically insane, murderous and undyingly loyal to whatever she applies herself to, and canonically that thing is the dark lord, yes, but what else? She is self assured. When she battles people she taunts them because she is sure she'll beat them, when she argues she does it sardonically and with the very distinct air of I'm right, you're wrong, fuck off and die before I crucio you. Everything she does is with a sense of superiority and self respect. She knows who she is, and she wouldn't brush that off (especially in her teenage years, because Bellatrix as a teenager was a spitfire and a rebel in one way or another) to replace it with being who she needs to be.
So, when she realizes she's gay she doesn't think, she knows. She isn't afraid of it, or angry at it, guilt doesn't eat her alive about it, she doesn't dread not being the perfect daughter about it, because she's Bellatrix fucking Black, when has she ever been the perfect daughter, and when has trying to ever been fun? But this, her queerness and being able to weaponize it to piss off her family? That's fun. Bellatrix takes everything about herself and sharpens it until it's the perfect thing to ruin people with, especially when she is filled with teenage rebellion and hate.
Enter stage left Rita Skeeter, the openly lesbian trans girl (because fuck Terf-k Rowling, Rita deserves to be queer and trans and she is beautiful because of it) who is in everybody's business and runs a gossip column for Hogwarts. I imagine it starts 3rd year. Bellatrix has discovered this powerful, sharp thing about herself, and there is someone just as self actualized as her. Rita knows who she is, knows how to prove that to people. She runs smear campaigns against people who are transphobic towards her, and occasionally gets in trouble for hexing students who say nasty things, and she is a bit dangerous because of her abilities and Bellatrix loves it. She loves how being close with Rita is this game, loves how she walks a narrow tight rope of being loves and being smeared, loves the adrenaline rush it gives her (because she is so adrenaline junky coded).
And that love for all that Rita Skeeter is turns into love for her in 5th year.
And Rita Skeeter is intrigued by Bellatrix. By her ideology, the way she thinks and acts and is quick witted. The way she defends her so easily, the way curses flow from her wand with ease that Rita can tell is actually years of training and practicing (she ignores the thoughts about who she has had to practice on). And maybe it starts out as a story, but it turns into something else. It turns into this weird feeling in her hears, and sneaking into Bella's dorm, and learning what she likes to eat for breakfast, and wearing each other's ties on purpose and smearing transphobes together, and feelings.
And it's quite easy for them to fall in love.
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Storytime bc I can NOT keep this shit to just myself oh my god this is HILARIOUS
Ok so me my mum & dad we're talking about how children are different regardless of where they came from, right? and so my mum launches into a story (you know it's good when my mum, the beacon of memory in our household [seriously that woman forgets NOTHING] launches into a story):
She says as a set-up that my brother had one (1) temper-tantrum when he was preschool age and my father spanked him twice — he never had one ever again.
Then, it was my turn.
One day in preschool I, apparently, didn't wanna go home for whatever reason preschool-aged me thought was adequate for the occasion, and so I proceeded to have a temper-tantrum.
Quick context, I have a shitty ass memory and all I remember from things like preschool are like. two things and everything else I've been told — for example, I've been told many many times how I apparently had a deep seated hatred for this one little plasticy backpack/suitcase type combo that every time I had a temper-tantrum and I happened to bring it to school, bitch wouldn't leave the classroom without being banged against a couple walls at least.
So anyway, it's time to leave and I'm probably making my best impression of a radiation nuke alert going off; my dad's not having it tho — he tells me we're going home. I just wail harder.
Ofc, because he's himself and raised on a different mentality (not an excuse, just an explanation; don't lay harming hands on your kids ppl) he spanks me.
My answer?? I ran beneath the fucking school bus.
NOBODY could get me from beneath that bitch — my dad moved around that thing and I just scurried to the other side like an overzealous lizard, or maybe a rabid and feral raccoon; my grandma didn't even dare intervene, she knew this was a hopeless endeavor.
It took my mom noticing from her at-the-time job — which was close-by so she could sort-of see what was happening — to start leaving and think huh, the school bus ain't going home yet. wonder what's happening to get my havoc-wrecking ass hauled back home.
As my mom oh-so-eloquently put it: "she didn't even wanna go home with (dad), she had a murderous look every time the idea was brought up."
I was apparently basically UNINTELLIGIBLE when explaining the situation STILL FROM BENEATH THE FUCKING SCHOOL BUS, so the convo was something like:
Mom: what happened? Why are you beneath the school bus sweety??
Me: little child rabid noises, crying and screeching, it vaguely sounds like a velociraptor screaming actually
Mom: ok, and what did daddy do?
Me: even more unintelligible screeching oh my god is that even a language???
So yea, I was a rabid little preschooler huh
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Now: imagine you’re Hob, and you meet a fey so stunningly poised, a true gem, in your eyes, of their court. You think their magnificence is only further enhanced by the fact that they, too, understand what it is like to serve others, to work so that others may enjoy the majesty of the Bloom. You share an unexpectedly tender moment, alone in the forest, and then it ends abruptly, and you are unsure as to what you have done.
This uncertainty is only further exacerbated when you are challenged to a duel by their assistant, and even once it is over, she refuses to tell you what offense you have committed. It seems logical to conclude that your foolhardiness in expressing any tender sentiments to someone so majestic was an insult that could not stand. As you are reminded by your superiors, you are a blunt instrument. That is your purpose.
Then you see them transform at the tea party, the lovely elven form fading away to reveal them as they truly are: a resplendent, breathtaking owlbear, eyes kind, nervous. You stumble over your own feet, marveling at the splendor of them. Their magnificence truly knows no bounds.
You realize, then, what an arrogant fool you were, to think anything you did or said impacted their thoughts in any way. They simply had their own inner worries to focus on. As if a humble goblin such as yourself could even begin to factor into any of their considerations at all.
And in the hedge maze, as you turn away from the scent of peonies, you know you are something else, even worse than a fool: a coward.
At the tailor’s shop, you remind yourself that you are an idiot, insignificant to their mind, but you remain enamored by them, the glory of their beauty such that it could inspire a sunrise to jealousy. They don’t say much when the conversation turns to deriding the Court of Wonder, and you are moved, wishing only to comfort them, as they describe their complicated feelings toward their court. You understand them. You know that isolation.
When they tell you that you were used, that it seems as though no one else in the Goblin Court has given any concern to your needs, you feel the coldness of the medal in your hand so keenly, stunned even as you know they are correct, unable to offer any reproach to their words. This wondrous fey before you is like none other you have met, and you are unworthy in their presence. You hurriedly give them your medal, rushing to the door, hearing but not heeding their insistence that you protect yourself.
At the masquerade ball, when the fireworks explode above, your only thought is of them. You act so rashly, ungentlemanly, placing your hands on them without permission, but their response is kind, gracious. You can scarcely believe it when they show you their empty dance card, and you feel the breath leave your lungs when they ask you for yours. You meet their eyes, feeling the magic in the air, and you eat your card, so that their name and their name alone will ever be the one it bears, as close to you as you can keep it.
You dance, and you dance, and you dance again, and even when you muck it up with your typical oafishness, they seem to enjoy it, to enjoy you. You are spellbound in their arms, and when they ask you what the P stands for in your name, you can only whisper it, a secret just for them. They smile, lifting a peony from their ensemble, and place it behind your ear, as if in exchange. For the first time in your life, you feel cherished. You feel pretty.
Their kindness this evening is a gift you will be grateful for forever. They have given you a glimpse of possibility, of what it might be like to be... loved, and it is as beautiful a dream as they are.
Reality, of course, returns the following morning, with your new promotion and your new assignment, and after your conversation with BINX, you think it is no wonder you are so easily cornered by Prince Apollo, as true a scoundrel as you’ve always suspected. You flee, taking substantial wounds for your trouble, but you do find the others, them included. They ask you if you’re hurt, and you try to assure them, but your answer seems to upset them, and you realize you must have looked a fright. Wounds are nothing to you if you may be of service, but of course someone so kind would be concerned. They ask you again about your own wants and happiness, and you do not know how to answer. There is no alternative to obligation, is there?
They simply wish you happiness before they leave, something in their demeanor... dampened, and Lady Featherfowl quite understandably assumes you’ve been stabbed once again, this time right through the heart.
At the theater, when the message from the Court of Sea Foam comes through the blossom, you are frazzled, moving to find more information, and the confirmation of your terrible suspicion feels like ice in your veins.
You are a fool. You’ve known it all along. Of course a fey so wondrous and glorious would not lower themself to entertain a lowly goblin like you. Of course they would not truly care about your wants, your needs. What you took as kindness out of obligation to the Bloom was nothing more than calculated cunning, expertly wielded to keep you off guard, to dissuade you from your mission. You’ve been tricked, made a mockery of, and so easily, too. It mustn’t have taken them much effort at all, to make you feel as you did--as you do.
You confront them, knowing you will be unable to fully conceal the effect they’ve had on you. Even now, in the moonlight, in their red-rose dress, they are stunning. They speak of love as the basis for their actions, as though the damage they have dealt to your court is irrelevant, as though your duty, your service, is irrelevant. You know now their actions toward you were a charade, but still it stings. You thought you understood them. You thought they understood you.
And then they tell you they love you, and you are caught, frozen, mouth agape, as they explain how much they love you and how much they care, that they’ve professed their feelings and did not receive a response. They explain why they turned away from you in the forest, that you inspired their glorious unveiling, and in that moment, your mind reels, and you feel as though you’ve forgotten how to breathe.
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Au where Damian is closer in age to Tim and joins the batfam after Jason dies
bruce has to make himself functional with a new kid dropped in his lap and then has to cut back on the violent outbursts because Damian WILL take it as permission to kill and they're trying to teach him not to do that
tim keeps his stalker tendencies and grows to like Damian's robin just as much as Dick and Jason's, even if this new robin is a bit stabby around the edges
damian is the first robin to notice Tim tho and confronts him on his own without telling Bruce
timmy is like heyyy don't stab me I swear I wouldn't endanger the bats ever & also I can maybe give you info I find sneaking around & also hey wouldn't it be cool to have a secret from bats? You could have your own personal informant wouldn't that be so cool you could impress Batman and everything
dami: fine but you don't have any more secrets right
tim, knows their secret identities: and I said no, y'know, like a liar
so they make a truce that turns into a friendship that turns into Damian hiding the fact that he has adopted a brother, shut up Batman you picked up random children from the street so can damian
bruce and dick: wow it's so nice that Damian has started listening to us about not killing or using excessive violence on people. We're glad he understands now
Damian, who got a 72 slide PowerPoint lecture from Tim about the practicality of not killing as a vigilante in Gotham: yes, that is what happened. I have accepted your perspectives on morality. No other reason
tim’s powerpoint has a lot of graphs and venn diagrams measuring different kinds of criminal activity vs public cooperation vs batman's violence levels vs police cooperation vs rogue activity. The gotham ecosystem is delicate
when jason comes back tim throws a fit because he has to REMAKE his powerpoint and all the graphs to add red hood’s vigilante-slash-rogue effect
Tim at some point: batman is fragile if you kill people it will make his traumatized brain explode
Dami: trauma?
Tim: y'know from martha and thomas being murdered in front of him
Damian, eyes narrowed:
Tim: I mean… that's just a game theory?
but just like generally Tim and Damian being each other's support systems
they bond over having parents who are absent?? Like, damian missing his mom and tim immediately empathizing on how its hard when you love someone who is away a lot or for a long time
they talk about missing them and damian is able to open up about feeling out of place and how difficult it is to adjust or know how he's supposed to act
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