#parents are people who project shit all the time just like everyone else

[littlecornerinbrooklyn]

okay well

just saw a post on reddit where a parent is asking for other artists to introduce to her 10 year old daughter who's obsessed with Taylor, emphasizing that she wants her daughter to listen to "healthy" songs that don't "dwell on unhealthy relationships"

and the most liked comment is someone telling her to introduce her daughter to Alanis Morissette

and i just feel we've lost the plot a little bit!

[nanenna]

Title: The Parent Trap Fandoms: Batman (DC Comics) and Danny Phantom Ships: None AUs: Demon Twins Warnings: Character injury, discussions of death.

Summary: It was just an ordinary night on patrol until...

“We need an evac,” Dick said, cutting the chatter off, “bird down.”

“Spoiler, you’re the closest to the cave. Nightwing, who’s with you?” Barb asked, “And how bad is the injury?”

“Robin,” Dick replied with some confusion before adding on with confidence, “a leg injury, we’re pretty sure it’s broken.”

“Robin?” Tim couldn’t help blurting out, looking over at Damian next to him, perched on his bike in full Robin costume. “But here’s right here, with me.”

---

Damian had been acting strange for the week or so. Rather, Robin had been acting strange for the last week. Not many people actually lived full time in the manor anymore, but everyone agreed that during the day he was his usual self. During patrols, however, he was simply a little… off. Like tonight for instance: Batman was away from Gotham on official Justice League business and Nightwing had agreed to cover his usual patrol route; normally Robin would tag along with Nightwing, giving the excuse that he needed to make sure Dick did the route correctly while everyone knew the demon brat really just wanted to spend more time with his favorite brother. But tonight…

“I will be joining you on your case, Drake.”

“You will?” Tim asked skeptically. Dick had already suited up and left, yet instead of scrambling to go catch up here Damian was, already all suited up, demanding to join Tim of all people.

“You are doing a stake out for street racers, correct? What will you do when they inevitably split to lose you?”

He sadly had a point, having someone else there would help. “Are you going to stab me?”

Robin didn't say anything, simply stood there and stared Tim down.

After standing there for a full minute, Tim sighed and headed for the vehicle bay, Robin hot on his heels. Without another word they donned helmets and slung legs over their bikes. Weird, but not unheard of, just another thing that was a little off. Not that Tim was entirely unhappy, he wanted a chance to observe Damian’s behavior. Even if he thought Dick was more likely to get Damian to open up.

…

And Tim was bored. The first half of patrol was quiet and uneventful, the street racers hadn’t shown up at their usual time/place yet, and Damian hadn’t said a damn thing the whole night. It’d just been the two of them riding around, not finding anything that needed their attention, and just being… normal. At least the usual chatter from the others was there to keep him company.

“We need an evac,” Dick said, cutting the chatter off, “bird down.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Spoiler, you’re the closest to the cave. Nightwing, who’s with you?” Barb asked, “And how bad is the injury?”

“Robin,” Dick replied with some confusion before adding on with confidence, “a leg injury, we’re pretty sure it’s broken.”

“Robin?” Tim couldn’t help blurting out, looking over at Damian next to him, perched on his bike in full Robin costume. “But here’s right here, with me.” The shadows around them grew deeper, seemed to sharpen.

“What? No, I’m looking right at him.”

“Well so am I!” 

“I’ve got your cams up and… well shit,” Barb murmured.

“Oracle,” Damian? Robin? Some imposter? said into the quiet comms, a hand up to his helmet, “send me Nightwing’s location.”

“Robin,” Oracle started, only to be interrupted.

“We’re in sector 36,” Damian? Robin? Some imposter? replied, going so far as to give longitude and latitude coordinates and a description of the building roof they’re on.

“Copy that,” Damian? Robin? Some imposter? said before revving his bike’s engine and taking off.

Tim would never admit to nearly losing him due to sheer shock. Too busy screaming “What the fuck” in his own head to remember he needed to follow, but follow he did. This… this might explain Damian’s strange behavior over the past couple weeks. If there was an imposter running around with them, but they would have surely noticed, right?

“We can’t have everyone abandoning their patrols!” Barb said in clear frustration. Heard clearly because the chatter was still gone, nothing but dead silence. You would think everyone would be demanding answers, peppering the Robins with non-stop questions. Hell, Tim wanted to, but he was too busy keeping his bike under him as he chased after his Robin.

“Red Robin and I are on motorcycles,” Damian? Robin? Some imposter? told Barb, “which means we have the small vehicle first aid kits, including analgesics, splints, and extra bandages.”

“We could use the splints,” Dick said faintly.

“And doing first aid before evac arrives means less time faffing about once Spoiler arrives.”

Tim nearly crashed, barely righting his bike. To hear Damian’s voice say “faffing about” was just… weird. Does that mean Tim’s Robin was the imposter?

“You all are faffing about right now,” Damian? Robin? Some imposter? grumbled before hissing.

“Stay still,” Dick chided.

Okay, so maybe “faffing” was a phrase Damian had recently learned from a classmate or something, Tim sure didn’t know. And oh thank god, they must have arrived. Damian? Robin? Some imposter? was parked on the sidewalk, helmet already off and just pulling the field kit from the bike’s storage. He didn’t even spare Tim a glance, simply looked up at the very tall building, looked down at his grapple, shrugged, put the grapple away, and then lifted off the ground and into the air.

“Shit,” Tim said softly but with feeling.

“What?” Barb asked, clearly very tense.

“I think my Robin was the imposter, he just flew up the building. Like Kryptonian flew.” Is this Jon? Were he and Damian pulling a Bruce and Clark? Except it couldn’t be, Jon had started packing on muscles while Damian was still in the lanky growing-taller-before-filling-out stage.

“Really, akhi?” Damian? Robin? Some imposter? asked in exasperation.

“Hey, the jig is well and truly up at this point,” Damian? Robin? Some imposter? replied.

Okay, that was really weird to hear in Damian’s voice. And oh wait, maybe Tim should get up there too.

“Oh shit, there really is two of them!” Dick said in shock. “Uh… hello there… other Robin?”

“Hello Nightwing, I brought the kit. I…” Damian paused, then sighed into the comm, “akhi, what did you do?”

Damian tsked, “Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Your leg is broken!” Damian yelled.

“Did you see that with your x-ray vision?” Damian asked.

“Contrary to popular belief, I’m not Kryptonian,” Damian replied. “I don’t have x-ray vision.”

“Sure sound Kryptonian,” Tim muttered under his breath. The Robin that flew had slipped into a faint Midwestern drawl that reminded him of Clark.

“Can you just give me the kit?” Dick asked both warily and wearily.

“Right, yes. Here.” 

Tim had made it onto the roof by that point, just in time to watch one of the Robins hand over the kit to Nightwing before kneeling next to the other Robin, who had his leg stretched out in front of him while he sat half propped up on his elbows. The laying down Robin (the real one? The one that hasn’t shown any meta powers yet, anyway. Is one of them the real Robin or were they both imposters?) let himself fall fully on his back and held a hand out. The meta(?) Robin kneeled next to him and took his hand. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I am more worried about you, you’re not used to this.”

“Yeah, normally I’m the only one getting hurt, and I usually don’t have bones when that happens.” Imposter Robin laughed at that.

“What the fuck?” Tim said under his breath, what does that mean?

“Focus,” Dick chided as Tim came to join him in tending to Damian’s(?) injury.

“Batcopter ETA five minutes,” Barb said. “Agent A has the medbay prepped.”

Imposter Robin flinched at that. Odd.

“Focus,” Dick hissed. “Save the mystery for after we get our downed bird home.”

Tim almost pointed out they couldn't be sure either Robin was even the real one, but a scathing look from Dick that burned even through the domino white outs had Tim snapping his mouth shut. Instead he nodded and set about helping Dick set and splint Robin's leg.

Steph arrived right on time, between Dick, imposter Robin, and Tim they got the real(?) Robin loaded onto the batcopter. Then the imposter pulled something from his costume and tossed it at Dick.

“Keys?” Dick asked.

“We gotta get Robin's bike back to the cave somehow.” He hopped into the batcopter and settled next to the injured Robin.

Dick held out the keys, “And as Robin shouldn’t-”

“No,” the imposter interrupted. “I’m not leaving him.”

Seems it was Tim’s turn to be the voice of reason. He put a hand on Dick’s shoulder, “Robin trusts him, we’ll meet them back at the cave in a minute.” If the injured Robin even was the real Damian, if the imposter didn’t use his unknown powers to escape, if any slew of unpredictable situations. Holy hell, Tim could see why Bruce was so paranoid about knowing everything about everyone. He’d be in the middle of three panic attacks and an existential crisis on top of a heart attack if he were here right now. But he wasn’t, thankfully. Instead Tim pulled Dick away from the batcopter so Steph could take back off and head to the cave.

Soon Dick and Tim were on their respective bikes, Nightwing looking ridiculous on Robin’s candy apple red paint job, and were zooming through the streets at a pace that was while fast still gave Tim time to actually think. He went back over everything the two Robins had said since Nightwing had called in for an evac. And then it hit him.

“Akhi.”

“What about it?” Dick asked.

“It’s what they called each other.”

“Brother,” Cass added in her soft voice.

“Right, in Arabic. They called each other brother. And recently Robin told us about his twin brother.”

“Are you telling us that Robin’s twin brother came back from the dead and decided to just… join us on patrol?” Dick asked in disbelief.

“He told us several weeks ago, and has been acting odd on patrol for nearly two weeks now. If when he told us was when he found out, or at least started planning this, then they had a few weeks for Robin to give his twin a crash course on us before pulling this stunt.”

There was muffled laughter in the comms, but Tim wasn’t sure who.

“But why?” Oracle asked.

“A prank?” Dick asked.

“A test of some kind,” Tim said in a monotone. There was a double tap on the comm, Cass’s form of nonverbal agreement.

“The batcopter has arrived back at the cave,” Oracle informed them. Everyone else grew quiet, waiting for whatever was about to happen to happen.

“... -nk went too far,” Damian (or his twin?) was saying into the comm.

“TT, it did not,” Damian replied.

“You couldn’t taste their emotions,” okay that was the twin, and what a weird way to phrase that, “they were really scared.”

“You like the taste of fear.”

Wow, Damian, really not helping with how creepy your long dead twin is being.

“Well yeah, obviously, it’s delicious. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to go around purposefully scaring your family.”

Fear is delicious?!

“What does it matter? As you said, ‘the jig is up’ and the prank is over. We will have to explain ourselves when the others arrive.”

“Others like me?” Steph asked cheerfully.

“Great, time for the great bat interrogation,” the twin said with exactly zero enthusiasm.

“Not until Master Damian has been seen to,” Alfred said. Tim could just see the raised eyebrow.

Tim tuned the rest out as those actually in the cave set about the logistics of getting Damian moved to the medbay.

“He can taste fear?” Tim asked incredulously.

“You know as much as the rest of us,” Dick said back.

“Does that make him an empath? He said he’s not Kryptonian, would that make his power suite closer to a Marian? Wait, neither Talia nor Bruce have the meta gene, how’d he even get powers?”

“Maybe he got them from the Lazarus Pits?”

There was a snort in the comms, “Then why didn’t I get powers?”

“Hood? What’re you doing on our comms?” Dick sounded far too delighted.

“I have an alert set up for whenever your chatter stops, it’s always a bad sign.”

“Fair enough, you heading to the cave to meet the demon brat’s long lost twin?”

There was a scoff from Jason, “Of course!”

“Everyone’s headed for the cave,” Oracle said with a tone of defeat.

“Stuck in ops?” Dick asked.

“Well someone has to keep an ear on things while the rest of you get to go have fun.”

“We’ll keep our comms on.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Tim and Dick both laughed at that. Fortunately they arrived back at the cave at that point, quickly parking their bikes and all but running over to the medbay. Steph was standing just outside the door, clearly keeping an eye on things while Alfred and the twin fussed over Damian. Tim and Dick went to go join Steph at the door, none of them willing to risk Alfred’s wrath should they get in his way. Cass joined them shortly after, all four staring as Alfred finished up what he could do for Damian. The demon brat was laid out on a medical cot, his costume set to the side, down to just the thin layer worn under the armor, mask already removed.

“Leslie has been called, she’ll be here in the morning with the necessary supplies. I’m afraid you will have to remain here until then, Master Damian.”

Damian tsked, but otherwise said nothing.

“And now I do believe we are all owed an explanation.” Alfred turned ever so slightly as his attention turned to Damian’s twin.

Damian responded by struggling in his bed.

“What are you doing, akhi?” the twin asked, clearly exasperated.

“I will be sitting up for this,” Damian snarled.

Without a word Alfred handed Damian the bed’s controls, allowing him to slowly raise himself into a reclined sitting position. Alfred raised a brow as if to ask if that would do, Damian only glowered at the wall.

The twin started pulling his domino off. Damian tsked yet again and handed his twin a wipe to help pull the mask off. “Ancients,” the twin said, which Dick mouthed in confusion, “you lot sure do love your theming. And I thought the ghosts had it bad.”

“Ghosts?” Tim mouthed, exchanging quick, confused glances with Dick.

“So yeah, hi. I’m Danny, Damian’s long lost twin.” The twin, now known as Danny, said with a little wave after he got the domino off. And there was no denying that he was Damian’s twin, he had Damian’s face in every feature save his eyes. While Damian clearly had Talia’s eyes, Danny’s were all Bruce.

“Everyone, this is my brother, Danyal Al Ghul Wayne.”

“Legally not my name anymore.”

“Legally?” Tim asked.

“Yeah, I got adopted!” Danny grinned again, all sunshine and cheer that was so wrong when he had Damian’s face.

Tim snorted, Bruce’s kid had been adopted. Oh things just got complicated but the irony of Brucie being on the other end of a kid getting adopted was still a fun kind of irony. Or maybe Tim had gotten to the everything-is-hilarious stage of sleep depravation.

“So what is your legal name?” Dick asked.

“Um… I’m not sure I should tell you that.” Danny fidgeted nervously. “Not yet anyway. I mean, Bruce… uh… our father? Isn’t here and like… shouldn’t he be told? Too? Or first? Honestly I’d rather just be able to tell everyone at the same time rather than having to go over the whole thing every time someone new walks in the door.”

As if he had timed it to happen that way, Jason came roaring into the cave on his bike. There was a collective sigh as everyone crowding around the outside of the door knew they’d have to wait for Jason to get there before things could continue, even if he had been listening in along with Oracle on his way in.

Danny’s face lit up as Jason, still wearing his full Red Hood gear, came into view. He whooped and threw both hands in the air as he ran out the door, somehow not even touching any of the vigilantes crowded in the way.

Jason stopped dead, his own hands raised up halfway in front of him as if unsure what to do. Danny just slapped both of Jason’s with his own in a kind of low five, then bounced excitedly in place. “Undead solidarity, yeah!”

“Uh… what?” Jason’s modulated voice asked in its usual monotone.

“I’ve been dying to meet you!”

“Heh, have you? Were you dead set on meeting the best?”

Damian groaned, “Stop encouraging Danyal’s insipid sense of humor.”

“Yeah, you’re the best!” Danny continued as if Damian hadn’t said a thing, “My favorite new brother!”

Dick gasped and clutched his chest.

Jason pointed at him and laughed as he slung an arm over Danny’s shoulders. “I see you are a kid of taste. How do you feel about Jane Austen.”

Danny winced, “My dude, I’m a guy in high school.”

“And so was I once, but we can’t all have my impeccable taste.” He started walking Danny back over to the medbay. “Anyway, Bruce shouldn’t be back until tomorrow afternoon, we really going to wait that long for the whole story?”

Danny winced, then cursed quietly under his breath. “We’ll have to, something just came up.”

Everyone frowned at that, “What do you mean?” Damian asked.

“The real deal got into a fight and uh… they’re pretty strong. I think I’m gonna need to recombine.”

“What?” Jason said, it was hard to tell if the flatness was his own voice or the modulator.

“Oh uh… I’m a… what’s that word again… doppelganger! That’s it. The main body’s back home and,” he winced again, a bruise blooming across his cheek in real time. No, in double time, it was like watching a time lapse of a bruise blooming and slowly starting to heal. “Look, having my attention and powers split like this is normally fine, a good way to keep my powers in check for fighting normal humans actually. But uh… let’s see… I think I’m fighting Plasmius?”

“We don’t know who that is,” Damian said with a sigh. “He keeps saying names of people or things like I’ll know what it means.”

“It means I can’t afford to have my attention and powers split over two bodies, so I’m about to poof. Sorry. But I’ll be back tomorrow, summon me after school Dami?”

“Summon?” Everyone but the twins asked in confusion.

“Of course, Danyal. Good luck fighting your rogue.”

“I think the fruit loop counts as my arch nemesis, unfortunately. But I gotta sorta slide back, can’t have all of tonight’s memories and my half of the power hit me all at once. This might look a little freaky, but it’s normal and I’m fine I promise.”

Jason unslung his arm from Danny’s shoulder and took a step to the side. They all gawked as Danny closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, his breath frosting in what should be warm air. His face, the only part of him not covered by the Robin costume, started to go invisible at the same time his skin and hair started to gray. Then he was gone and the costume was left behind, slumping to the floor in a pile.

Everyone stood there for a moment, staring at the colorful pile of armor, then they all turned to look at Damian.

“TT, don’t ask me. I still don’t have a full list of everything he can do.”

---

Tim, along with everyone else, was at the manor the next afternoon. And he did mean everyone, even Kate, Harper, and Cullen were there. Hell, even Jason was there, on time no less. Damian had put “17:30 sharp” in the family (minus Bruce) chat and they knew he meant it. They were crowded into one of the larger sitting rooms, every chair filled save a chaise lounge that had been reserved for Damian. The boy of the hour arrived right on time, with five minutes leeway to set everything up.

“So tell me again who you want to introduce us to, chum?” Bruce asked as he followed behind Damian. Alfred brought up the rear, a plate of fresh cookies in hand.

“I haven't told you yet, Father. Have some patience, it will all make sense soon.” Damian settled on the lounge, setting his crutches to lean against it before pulling something out of his pocket. It was a small metal container, he popped it open and pulled out what appeared to be a bright green handkerchief. Very bright green, possible letting off light, neon toxic green. Duke made a soft surprised sound. Damian spread the cloth out on the coffee table in front of him and smoothed it out.

“Damian,” Bruce said carefully, “what is that?”

“A summoning circle, obviously.”

Wait, Danny was serious about being summoned?

“Can… can you even summon living people?” Dick leaned over from where he was perched on the couch’s arm to whisper to Cass, who was perched behind Tim on the couch’s back. Tim and Cass both shrugged.

“Damian, dealing with the occult is very dangerous.”

“It’s quite safe, Father.” Damian pointed down at the white markings on the handkerchief, “Since all the sigils are on here permanently there is no chance of making a mistake drawing them by hand. This group here is his name, this circle can summon one person and one person only. The rest of these are for protection. And this spot here,” Damian tapped on a small circle within the outer ring, “is to activate it. It does require a single drop of blood, it was the safest way to make the circle.”

“Blood?” Bruce asked flatly.

“It will make sense when I call him, do you trust me?”

“I’m not sure I trust whoever this “him” is,” Bruce grumbled.

“But do you trust me, Father?”

Bruce sighed, “You promise whoever this is means us no harm?”

“Of course, I promise.”

“I met the young man last night,” Alfred said as he placed the plate of cookies in the circle. “I found him to be polite and sincere.”

“So this is to do with whatever happened last night that I can’t get any of you to tell me about?”

“We want to explain it ourselves,” Damian said firmly. Then he pulled out a batarang and carefully poked a finger. “Blood of my blood, I call forth the spirit of my brother, Danyal.” He touched the drop of blood to the handkerchief, which lit up as the air around them shifted. 

A figure began floating up from the circle, glowing white hair that waved as if they were under water, ashen skin, glowing Lazarus green eyes, a wide smile filled with sharp fangs. This… this wasn’t Danny, was this? The figure seemed to be wearing some kind of black jumpsuit, white gloves picking up the plate of cookies as they passed through the plate. They had no legs, after the belt the body just continued in a long tapering tail that ended like whisps of smoke. They were glowing, they were slightly see through! What was going on?

This wasn’t the boy they’d met last night.

“Father, my brother. Danyal, our father.” Damian paused, then added on, “And the rest of our family.”

“Hi,” the figure chirped, then seemed to shrink into himself as he looked around. “I uh… prefer to be called Danny. The only people who full name me are usually trying to kill me. Or send me to detention.”

That was Damian’s, or rather Danny’s voice alright. Even still had the faint midwestern drawal.

“Why do you look so different?” Dick asked in shock.

“It’s… a long story. Which I’m supposed to tell everyone.” Danny shrunk further into himself, looking miserable. “Please stop being so scared.”

“They are simply adjusting to your unfamiliar form, they will get over it,” Damian said firmly, glaring at everyone in the room.

“It’s not just fear, Dami, they’re horrified.”

“Sit down, eat your cookies. Alfred worked hard on those.” Damian patted the empty space next to him on the chaise lounge. 

Danny turned and spun in place to sit down, looked down at where his tail was curled up under him, made a sour face, then the tail was suddenly replaced by a pair of legs tucked under him. He shoved a cookie into his mouth, now sporting normal teeth from what little Tim could see. “S’good,” Danny slurred, glancing over at Alfred who merely nodded his approval.

“Some time ago,” Damian started, as if that wasn’t the most vague way to start, “I summoned Danyal the first time. I am aware it was foolish, I will not hear about it.”

“I called him dumb already,” Danny added in. “I mean, I had to go find someone to explain how the circles work and what makes them safe or dangerous first, but yeah, I called him dumb. Then I had some friends help me make this,” Danny reached over and tapped the handkerchief, “then I went to three trusted uh… mentors? I guess I’d call them? And made sure with each of them this thing is legit before giving it to Dami.”

Bruce hadn’t moved, still standing in front of the coffee table, slack jawed, staring blankly down at Danny and Damian.

“Is he okay?” Danny stage whispered to Damian.

“Perhaps keeping it a surprise was not the optimal option.”

That seemed to snap Bruce out of it, “I think I need to sit down.”

Dick hopped up to guide Bruce to the nearest open seat, which happened to be the chaise lounge. Danny quickly flew up and moved to float cross legged in the air just on the other side of Damian, as if he were sitting in some invisible chair. He munched another cookie before offering the plate to Damian, who took a cookie for himself.

Once Bruce and Dick had settled back down, Damian decided to continue the story. “More recently I needed to do a covert investigation, but I couldn’t allow any of you know.”

“You what?” Bruce asked, clearly upset.

“I know, he still hasn’t even told me what it was. And I had to cover for him!” Danny sounded so offended.

“I had Danyal take my place in patrol while I was away.”

“When?” Bruce asked, voice dipping down as he leveled a steely glare at Damian.

“You never noticed, I think that speaks for itself. So as a test-”

Cass and Tim bumped fists.

“-Danyal has been joining us on patrols for the last twelve days.”

“Almost made it the full two weeks too,” Danny said airily. “That reminds me, you owe me fifty bucks.”

“What? No!” Damian shot back angrily. “They found out before the two weeks were up, clearly I won that bet and you owe me!”

“They didn’t figure it out, that part of the bet is a draw at best for you. No, the fifty is because you’re the reason they found out. It seems awfully suspicious you got into some kind of accident right before the deadline, how did you break your leg again?”

“I did not break my leg on purpose just to win a meaningless bet!”

“Okay, both of you need to calm down,” Bruce said, looking unsure if he needed to step between the two squabbling boys. “You… had a bet?”

“I bet fifty bucks I wouldn’t give myself away before the two weeks were up, Damian bet fifty bucks you’d figure me out before two weeks. And they didn’t figure it out.” Danny turned to glare at Damian as he said that last part.

“Fine,” Damian conceded with a pout. “I shall venmo you your winnings.”

The ghost floating in front of them has a venmo. The ghost floating in front of them has a use for US currency. What is going on? Is Tim hallucinating?

Damian’s pout deepened, “I am still disappointed in you all for not noticing a whole extra person joining our patrols.”

“In my defense, I don’t patrol with you guys,” Duke joked.

“In our defense, we were suspicious,” Tim added.

Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Damian, we had no way of even expecting you to switch places with your long lost dead twin.” Bruce paused, then looked over at Danny. “How did you pull that off? No offense Danny, but you are very easy to tell apart right now.”

“Oh, that’s because I can do this.” A bright flash of light washed over Danny, changing him back to the boy Tim had met the night before, only wearing baggy casual clothes instead of brightly colored armor.

Duke yelped and covered his eyes, “A little more warning next time? Damn, that was bright!”

“Oops, sorry.”

“Oh thank god, I was so worried,” Steph murmured from next to Tim.

“Well that was flashy,” Dick said.

Bruce seemed broken again, staring at the now living, black haired, blue eyed boy sitting cross legged in the air next to Damian.

“Okay, so what the fuck was all that?” Jason asked, motioning to Danny. “Are you dead or aren’t you? Because you don’t look dead right now.”

“Neither do you,” Danny snarked back.

“I’m not dead though.”

“You sure?”

“Not anymore,” Jason said stubbornly.

“No one ever comes all the way back, not anyone who was dead dead.”

“Please stop,” Bruce begged. Dick whimpered in agreement.

Danny ducked into his shoulders again, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Since it would be inconvenient for Robin to be missing at the same time I have a broken leg,” Damian said as a clear subject change, “and we have a perfect stand in who’s already proven himself in the field, Danyal has kindly offered to cover for me for the next few nights.”

“I managed to soup Plasmius last night, so that gives me two, three days max of not having to worry about his schemes. My friends can cover for me during the night so long as I’m still back home during the day. Unless a rabid ancient show up, anyway.”

“What does any of that even mean?” Tim begged.

“We could use some context,” Dick added.

“Right, I guess this is when the life story portion starts,” Danny said with a sigh.

“Perhaps you would prefer to talk over dinner?” Alfred asked from the room’s doorway.

“Dinner sounds great!” Danny cheered as he hopped to his feet, now firmly on the floor. “I’m not sure talking about dying and coming back is the best dinner conversation though,” Danny said absently as he and Bruce helped Damian to his feet.

“Alfred usually has a strict no work talk at the dinner table rule,” Tim teased.

“I think he can make an exception for someone’s life story,” Duke laughed. There were several murmurs of agreement.

“Alright, well I guess we can start with the first time I died,” Danny said as the group slowly filed out of the sitting room and towards the dining room.

[mcflymemes]

GONE GIRL (2014) PROMPTS *  assorted dialogue, adjust as necessary

what are you thinking? how are you feeling? what have we done to each other?

i felt i needed to shoot something.

we've never fucked in a bookstore.

you know i have to kiss you now.

sometimes i want to punch us in the face, we're so cute.

when you're upset, you bottle up.

brought you a present.

i need you. now. touch me.

that's very sweet of you and very unnecessary.

pour me a bourbon, would you?

it's a bad day.

i'm so crazy, stupid happy.

i met a boy. a great, gorgeous, sweet, cool-ass guy.

things could get ugly.

whose beer am i drinking?

i prefer men who are funny, not "funny."

i'm the guy to save you from all this awesomeness.

it's hard to believe you. i think it's your chin.

you are way too into that cat.

tell me how it ends.

i'm not someone who hits the panic button, but... it's weird, right?

you mind if we look around?

so what do you do now? for work.

perfect, time for a quick tour of my failings.

i love your parents, but they can be assholes.

people want to hear from you.

i thought that'd be embarrassing.

i am here on a strictly journalistic capacity.

[name], you are beyond amazing. you are incredibly smart but entirely unsnobby. you are kind, but never a martyr.

you surprise me. you challenge me.

isn't it time we fixed that?

we're going to take this very, very seriously.

i go there for the quiet.

we're still not sure what we're dealing with.

please don't take that tone with me.

everyone told us... and told us and told us... marriage is hard work.

technically we're supposed to fuck at the next stop.

books, sex, bourbon... life is good.

i knew you shouldn't have moved back here.

maybe i'll teach you a thing or two.

i'm a little drunk.

let's swear we will never be like them.

everything else is background noise.

why are you throwing that in my face again?

it's like you're daring me to be someone i don't want to be.

i'm not that person. i'm your wife.

suddenly i knew everything was about to get worse.

i'm asking you nicely.

everyone is projecting their shit onto me.

i feel like i could disappear.

i've been so worried about you.

i don't want to fight. i just want to be with you. that's all i want.

you fucking lied to my fucking face.

for valentine's day, i thought i'd buy a gun.

you have to fucking talk to me!

i'm not going to be scared anymore.

this man of mine may kill me.

men always use that as the defining compliment, don't they? she's a cool girl.

i will admit. for someone who likes to win, it's tempting to be the girl every guy wants.

we were happy pretending to be other people.

i need to show you something.

see we have the same taste in men.

you're reading it again? you know how it ends.

whatever the hell they found, we have to assume it's very bad.

everyone would hate me.

why are you so good to me?

my defense is the truth.

i've never seen it in my life.

i feel myself fading.

i just said what you wanted to hear.

take off your clothes.

i'm a fighter. i fought my way back to you.

kiss my cheek.

you're not at risk anymore.

you know you can sleep with me, right?

we should hold hands.

you called me a murderer.

i haven't touched you.

i've killed for you.

[raviosrupees]

My parent rates LU Link's based on first impressions

[warning foul language, mention of alcohol, and my parents very negative impression of Wars !!! note this is my parents impression based off of the LU concept sketches + descriptions. a lot of em aren't accurate]

TIME

Very God of War, Kratos. PTSD Link.

when all the others are hanging out he's in the cups. He fought the moon? Sounds about right. Everyone else is talking and goofing off and he's got the thousand yard stare.

No one talks about how he cant get a full nights sleep. Please let him nap. Maybe let the owl take a nap too.

*stares at him for a very long time, before taking a sip of mimosa*

TWILIGHT

blond hiccup [httyd] very viking. Humble? Hiccup. Animal whisperer? Does he have a dragon? he turns in to a wolf? good for hiccup. getting over a complicated relationship? ...... h-

OH HE HAS GOATS? I love goats! Love this guy.

WARRIORS

Ah, douchy paladin! Yeah he's got the hip flex, he knows he's the shit. Very prideful? Of course you are. Leader type? Women problems? Not surprised. [said they most wanted to punch this one]

"This one writes himself. On Reddit forums"

FOUR [their 3rd fav]

"eeny meeny hippy genie" They've got the weird flowy scarf hat, they're super tiny! Dwarf.. chaos gremlin-- No that's a changeling! I don't think that's actually a Link, I think they faked their way in. Not that I blame them, its a pretty cool crew to be a part of. Spy for the fae realm.

WILD

5th grade school photo link. He's really excited for his first day of school and has a planner for all of his classes.

Good at navigation? Kudos for being a good boy scout.

Her 2nd favorite.

WILD

"Legolas Link" he likes to run on snow, flip his hair back + forth and shit talk dwarves [changeling doesn't like that]

"takes any questioning of his princess too personally? Why are they questioning his princess in the first place? *squints* Why is he so upset? Feel like maybe we need some codependency therapy-

IDENTITY CRISIS DUE TO MEMORY LOSS???? oh no, there we go, the therapy- INSECURE? THE ONLY ONE THAT FAILED? Dude, I think douchy paladin needs to take him to therapy-, maybe it'll convince him to get some too.

Proceeds to go into a rant about his sheikah tech being called weird magic: "Why are they calling his magic weird? That's rude ! They need to have more open minds, no wonder he's insecure! He just needs to feel confident and supported in his new environment and they're not being very supportive right now!"

*orders another mimosa*

LEGEND [their favorite]

"We've got stoner wizard link..." "Which one?" "He's wearing red, and like a fancy staff with a ball at the end for walloping on people who say he's not a real wizard" He just smacks em and says duh yes I am, but usually he doesn't bother with it bc he's too chill.

He's the Millenial of the linked universe. "Chooses not to be a leader type? 'Nope, Im good, just here for a paycheck not a promotion. Some PTO would be nice. Another adventure? He'd rather start a commune"

"Seems unaffected by his adventures?" Uhh he is though. He's just delusional about it now.

HYRULE

Classic link [true] silent generation, nobody acknowledges him. "just happy to be included," mistaken as a hobbit.

"He's actually a traveler, never stays in one place" "Ah so post adventure Bilbo baggins, who wants to see mountains again."

*starts singing "the road goes ever on and on"*

SKY

Foppy link. Fabulous haircut, cape swooped over one shoulder with the gorgeous coloring, contrasting belt-- he knows color schemes way too well, he could be in project runway.

"Not the leader type? Sure he's too busy worrying about fabric swatches. Views the master sword as a blessing? Yeah, I bet he does."

Very confidently decided his Zelda is a beard.

[intimacyequalsdeath]

Hiya! Have you ever gotten a platonic request? If not then this could always be your first! I wanna ask for headcanons of stu macher's sister x billy loomis (if you have the time)

I wanna see the headcanons of how wpuld stu macher deal with the fact that his younger sister (same age as billy, just younger by a few months) is dating his friend who is also a serial killer like hinself and of course she wouldn't know that but still-

Stu would threateb billy to not lay a knife on her or else-

Stu loves her obviously, he's protective. Well you should be if your sister is dating your friend who is also a killer! ^._-.

Now that I can finally get back to doing requests I have chosen you lucky anon as my first! Thank you so much for sending this request in, I love this idea!

Notes: Minors DNI, SFW, This request obviously has a AFAB female presenting reader in mind. She/Her pronouns used.

+ First and foremost I see the relationship as something you and Billy would probably keep a secret at first. Billy has a good thing going with Stu and even though he loves you I could see him not wanting to ruin that.

+ When Stu finally does find out, he's not furious but he's definitely not happy. Out of everyone in school you JUST HAD to pick Billy Loomis, even if him and Billy are friends.

+ Cue a lot of angry Billy and Stu fights both in front of you and behind your back when their out doing Ghostface stuff.

"Billy what the hell man? Out of all the people in school it had to be her?"

"I didn't fuckin do it on purpose Stu! I just really like her ok?"

+ You knew Billy and Stu were friends but you had no clue about Ghostface. I wouldn't be surprised if Stu would think that you dating Billy would put both you and Ghostface in jeopardy.

+ Billy would treat you amazingly though, at first Stu would be apprehensive cause he's seen Billy with how he treats his girlfriends but Billy would prove him entirely wrong with you.

+ Whenever Billy would have any free time from school or Ghostface you could probably find him holed up in your bedroom, laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. Now that he's dating you he really doesn't have a reason to leave the Macher household, ever.

+ Since your Stu's sister you've probably been around to see Billy go through the situation with his parents. You know him better then 99 percent on anyone else, even sometimes better then Stu.

+ As time would go on I think Stu would slowly but surely warm up to you and Billy being a thing. Billy would have to prove himself though don't get me wrong.

+ Now that your fully into the lives of both of them, close calls with Ghostface would happen. You'd slowly start to get suspicious as to the strange times and places you would see both your boyfriend and brother.

+ They would of course write it off though.

"Sis Me and Billy had that English project we had to do at the library"

"Babe we literally talked on the phone all night"

+ If you ever came to them with your fear of the Ghostface they of course would assure you that they would protect you. You of course none the wiser and comforted by their words would go along with it.

+ Behind the scenes though of course Stu would make sure Billy was 100 percent for you and this wasn't another Sydney situation. Stu swears that if Billy EVER threatened you like that, that it's over.

+Your the only thing Stu would ever end the Ghostface shit over, especially when it came to him not fully trusting Billy at first, and no matter what Billy says there will always be a part of Stu that doesn't fully trust him.

+ Stu, of all people, knows how unpredictable Billy can be. So for however long you two date he will always have a guard up.

[thatztyv]

Since Been

Description:

- Kordei and Oakley high school days

Word Count:

- 1.8k

Kᴏʀᴅᴇɪ Cᴏʀsᴏ

(core-dee-uh core-so)

"Girl if you don't stop looking at that boy", Remi said hitting my leg and making us all laugh.

"KC you still staring at that white boy?", Liyah asked after taking a sip from her water.

"First off he ain't no regular white boy", I said rolling my eyes.

"He's a white boy with an accent", Kass said sarcastically.

"I don't care what y'all say. That boy is fine", I said while opening my juice box.

"I always knew you liked white boys", Remi said while eating her tangerines.

"It's something about them", I said making Liyah laugh.

"Something like what?", she asked.

"I don't know but they make my lil cooter jump", I said almost making Remi scream.

People started looking at us.

"Y'all need to stop being loud", I whispered.

"You one to talk about somebody being loud. Don't act like you wasn't just screaming west side in the hallway as if you Tupac or somebody", Liyah said.

.✿.

"Alright everyone. Today is the day that we've all anticipated for in this class-", Ms. Walker started.

"Graduation today?", someone asked.

"Mane I wish BK", someone else chuckled.

"Well it's not graduation night", Ms. Walker chuckled. "Today we start the baby project. I have already picked partners for everyone. So when I call your name please come to the front."

After forever she finally called my name.

"Kordei Corso and... Oakley Caesar-Su", she said.

I walked up to her desk, along with Oakley.

"Baby name ?", she asked.

I looked at Oakley and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Tiana?", I asked.

"That's fine."

"First T name today", she said as she wrote it down beside our names on a piece of paper. "Take care of her."

She handed me the baby and gave Oakley the baby bag.

"Oh shit", I said when it started moving in my arms.

Ms.Walker arched a brow at me.

"My bad Ms.Walker", I chuckled.

"Okay now that everyone one has a baby", Ms.Walker started as me and Oakley walked to our seats. "You're all free to be single, divorced, or married parents. As long as the baby is cared for and healthy when it's time to turn them in then hey. See you all tomorrow!"

The dismissal bell rung and everyone jumped up, rushing out the class.

.✿.

(It's the next day and they're in the library by the way)

"Who did your hair KC?", Liyah said as she ran her fingers through my hair.

"I did and girl you know better than anyone not to just run your fingers through my hair", I said playfully rolling my eyes.

"Wait Kordei?!", Kass gasped pulling on my jacket collar. "What the hell is this on your neck?"

She pushed my hair behind my shoulder. I just suppressed a smile as I rocked Tiana side to side.

"Girl who been sucking on your neck?", Remi asked.

"Y'all gone make me drop my baby", I chuckled.

"Fuck that baby", Remi said reaching over the table and trying to slap her out of my arms. "Stop beating round the bush bitch."

"Tell us his name and give us the details", Liyah said.

"Well..", I sighed before Oakley approached our table.

"Hey KC, you think I can get Tiana? I'm going to Mr. B's class, and he said he'd give us extra credit if we were taking care of the babies", he said, unaware that Remi, Liyah, and Kass were staring him down.

"Sure", I said with a smile and stood up.

I gently handed her to him.

"Please don't drop her. She will literally scream and won't stop unless Ms. Walker deactivates it", I said reaching down and grabbing the pink baby bag off the floor.

"I won't", he chuckled while I put the bag over his shoulder.

"See you in sixth period", he said but more so asked.

"Yeah, take care of her", I said and squinted my eyes at him.

"Don't worry I will", he chuckled before walking off.

I sat back down and all three of them were staring at me.

"What?", I laughed.

"Was that white boy sucking on yo neck?", Remi asked before crossing her arms.

"Since y'all wanna know so bad", I said and playfully rolled my eyes. "Yes, Oakley was the one who gave me the hickeys."

"Oh my lawd", Kass said falling out of her seat.

"Jesus help us", Liyah said throwing her arms in the air.

"I would rather- I would rather go blind boy", Remi sang while shaking her head.

I laughed at them and rolled my eyes. "Y'all do the most."

"Did you enjoy it?", Kass asked sitting up.

"Yes ma'am I did", I said and nodded my head.

"Oh my lawd", she said again, throwing her arms up and laying back on the floor.

"I hate y'all", I chuckled after they calmed down and Kass got back in her seat.

"So how it all happen?", Remi asked.

"I was just over at his house so we could take care of the baby together...."

"Oakley I need a bottle!", I said as I rocked her side to side as she cried.

"I'm trying, I'm trying", he said and accidentally dropped the top on the floor. "Shit."

"You can't just pull a titty out and let her suck it", he joked as he picked the top up and rinsed it off.

"One, she's not an actual baby and two, ain't no milk in these titties."

He chuckled as he finally walked over to me with the fixed bottle.

"Thanks."

I put the teat in her mouth and she immediately started drinking it.

"God knows I wouldn't be able to handle a real baby", I sighed.

Oakley chuckled as he went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

"You spending the night?", he asked drinking his water and leaning against the counter.

I looked up at him and saw he had a smirk on his face.

"Your brothers home? I haven't seen them in a while?", I asked changing the topic.

He chuckled before answering. "Nah, my mom took them to visit our Nana for the week."

"Got the house to yourself for a week? No wonder you asked me over."

"I asked you over so we could take care of Tiana together."

"Mmm", I hummed.

She finished her bottle and I set it on the counter before I started to burp her.

I absentmindedly started humming 'hush little baby' while walking around the kitchen.

"Good girl", I said after she made a burping noise.

"How's your music going?", I asked after handing Tiana over to him.

"It's going great actually", he hummed. "I think it's time for her nap."

We walked upstairs to his room. He laid Tiana down in the middle of his bed.

He sat down in the chair by his desk before I sat on his lap.

He put his hand on my waist, caressing it lightly and locked eyes with me.

"You never answered my question", he started before I put my head in the crook of his neck.

"Fuck", he groaned as I lightly bit his neck.

I brought my head back up and pulled him into a deep kiss.

He slipped his tongue in my mouth making me moan.

"Why you been acting different around me?", he mumbled against my lips after pulling back.

"You be acting like I'm not there", I said making him smack his teeth. "I'd be wrong if I ghosted you though."

"Don't do that....Spend the night KC", he said before pecking my lips.

He kissed along my jaw and down to my neck.

"Mmm", I hummed as he sucked on my sweet spot, making me bite my lip.

I wrapped my arm around him and leaned into him.

"Girl you really let him do that?", Remi asked cutting me off.

"Y'all should see his neck. You'd think I was beating on him. That's why he had his hoodie over his head."

"Bitch", Kass said. "I can't believe you."

"KC did y'all? You know", Liyah said and motioned with her fingers.

"Oh nah", I said making them let out a breath of relief. "We ain't tryna make a real baby."

"Wait I just realized something.. you done been to his house before and ain't tell us?", Liyah said and hit my arm.

"It slipped my mind", I said making them smack their teeth.

"You stare at this boy everyday at lunch but it slip yo mind that you been done spent the night at his house", Remi said. "Woooow."

.✿.

"So today we're not going to be doing anything school work-wise. I'm just going to let you all focus on taking care of your little bundles of joy", Ms. Walker said after everyone sat down.

"You a real one Ms. Walker. Cause I don't think I could handle any more school work today", someone said making all of us agree.

I got up and moved to the back of the class, Oakley joining me soon after.

"This is getting too real. She pooped her diaper three times in Mr. B's class", Oakley chuckled as he sat next to me.

"She threw up on me this morning."

My phone started vibrating in my pocket.

Remi🩷

Y'all bet not be back there kissing 😐

Liyah🩷

I'll come in there and drag that white boy out of that room by his ear 👂🏻🤏🏾

Kassidy🩷

I got my eye on him 🥷🏿

Bet not be no more hickeys on yo neck

Kordei 🩷

Where the hell y'all at?

Kassidy🩷

Look at the door 🙂

I looked up and saw them looking dead at us.

Remi did a head-cutting motion then pointed at Oakley.

"Those your friends?", Oakley asked.

"Unfortunately", I sighed.

"Should I be worried?"

"No....Anyways", I said redirecting my attention to Oakley, ignoring them still standing at the door.

"You coming back to my house tonight?", he asked.

I squinted my eyes at him.

"You know so we both can take care of the baby. We want her to grow up with both of her parents", he said making me chuckle.

"If you just want me to spend the night again just say that."

"Spend the night", he said.

"You asking or telling me?"

"Kordei just spend the night again", he sighed.

"Ok", I chuckled. "Imma swing by my house and grab some clothes before coming over."

.✿.

"Seven years?! Time flies", I chuckled as I walked over to Oakley. "But one thing about it..."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist.

"You get finer everyday", I said before pecking his lips.

"You still kissing up on that white boy I see", Remi said as she walked in with Liyah and Kass.

"We be doing more than kissing now", I said, receiving a chuckle from Oakley.

"Just nasty", Kass said shaking her head.

"You know it", I said and winked at her.

[xxchromies]

Antinatalism is dumb

I support women not being forced to have children (obviously) and I of course am happy that more and more people are choosing to opt out of children because they don't feel like they'd be good parents. This expectation that everyone SHOULD have children is extremely problematic.

All that being said, antinatalism has gotta be one of the dumbest, pessimistic, dead-end philosophies out there. I recognize that a lot of them are radical feminists, but a lot of them are men and I abhor the way they talk about pregnant women/mothers. I won't deny that there aren't any non-selfish reasons to have children, but at the same time I think parenthood (especially motherhood) is one of the most selfless things you can do. Possibly the most selfless, provided you're an actually good parent. The urge to have biological children and spread your genes is a part of nature. It may be selfish but so is eating and drinking.

They never seem to take things to their logical conclusion. If life is inherently suffering and immoral why don't they kill themselves? Some do, but most don't and refuse to answer the question because they don't have an answer. They are miserable and they project their suffering onto everyone. Most people think the good outweighs the bad. It's also such a red flag because if you place negative value on life itself, then why would you care if someone was murdered? You might even think that person was lucky! The second-deadliest school shooting in America was done by an antinatalist. It's very likely he thought he was "saving" the people he killed as well as himself. He even killed his own mom who sacrificed everything for him. Piece of shit. But he took things to their logical conclusion. Most antinatalists are cowards who can't admit how fucked up the implications of their ideology really are.

It's just so antisocial. I don't see how it couldn't infect every interaction you have with someone who is a parent. Or any interaction you have with children. Or honestly just any interaction with anybody. It's such a cop-out. An excuse to not participate in life at all because by their logic humans shouldn't even exist. What is the end goal? For us all to die out? They say that it wouldn't matter because life is meaningless and everything is pointless and I admit that they are right on a purely philosophical level. But just because you don't "see the point" doesn't mean you are morally superior to everyone else. You're just an antisocial dickhead. I can't believe they expect us to take them seriously.

I do believe the ability to create life is beautiful and sacred (not in a trad way) and that's why it's especially important that people not be pressured to bring life into the world if they don't truly want to. I don't fuck with any "radical feminist" who thinks it's okay to denigrate and act morally superior to mothers. Women are damned if they do, damned if they don't. If you don't have kids you will be called selfish. If you have children you will be called selfish. Fuck off.

It's just depression with a pseudo-intellectual twist and it's borderline psychopathic. "Childfree" people also often get a little weird with it, and I take issue with that. I can't stand the way many of them talk about children and parents (usually mothers). It reeks of jealousy, honestly. Smells like cope.

[birdiescanfly]

Jake Seresin: Self-Esteem

I've been thinking about Hangman lately, and I can't get the thought of him as being a bit insecure and traumatized by his childhood out of my head. So obviously I need to flesh it out more, but I’m thinking Jake grew up poor. In my experience, this can lead to a very disorderly life which is why he likes to keep things so perfect and clean (His styled hair, his crisp uniform). Being dirty all the time as a kid, living in a dirty place, or even just not having nice clothes is something that like really effects Jake and that’s why he tries so hard to present himself in a certain way. Not only that, but growing up being called trashy and dumb kind gives you a complex so I think Jake would likely push for a different view of himself, even if its asshole perfectionist. Thus the creation of ‘Hangman.’ People see him as uppity and/or finicky, a clean freak, and a loner who only thinks of himself but like, it all comes from a desire to NOT feel like he did as a child. To prove himself.

I imagine him growing up Deep South, Bible belt all the way. A trailer park kind of life. I think that the reason he leans so far away from his old life is because he got a lot of backlash during his academy days maybe?  His commanding officers and peers probably had preconceived notions about him, especially if his parents were laborers with no higher education. (Neither of my parents graduated high school, and you wouldn’t believe how many professors I’ve had that find out I’m a first generation college student, and immediately treat my like an idiot.) I think, for Jake, it would be made even worse if he had a really thick accent. Maybe Jake even tries to hide some of natural drawl and slang. I often see him proud of his accent in stories, but I bet that during those first academy years, he just wanted to fit in. He wanted to prove that he belonged with people outside of the hicks he grew up around. (Up for interpretation, maybe he adored his family but he leans away from them to distance himself from that life cause he doesn’t feel like he fits in anymore, or maybe his parents were shit stains, up to you), but nonetheless, there is a divide between Jake and them now. It’s a very much “you chose them” mentality. Makes him feel in between worlds and that he’s always trying to prove that he belongs to his two spheres of life.

So yeah, Jake hides his accent because people think he’s dumb when he uses southern phrases or slides words together. So Jake hates dirt and disorganization, and he cleans and clean and cleans, he takes two showers a day and maybe even still feels a little filthy.  Maybe he still feels like he’s not smart enough, or good enough. And yeah, Jake grew up trailer trash, he’s got to prove himself a little more, he’s got to push a little harder than everyone else.  He’s got to be number one, or he’s nothing, right?  But he’s got Hangman for that.  Hangman can be number one, he can be the perfect pilot and he can be clean, and he can prove that he’s worth more than anyone ever thought.

I am in fact projecting, but what are comfort characters for, right? And also, I just love reading about everyone’s theories about why Jake is such a loner who leaves people behind, and I adore even more the stories that dive into Jake’s self-esteem issues and childhood.

I’ve got more to this idea, (Hangster all the way), but this is too long as it is so I’ll just make another post.

[catgirlforeskin]

Actually, I want to talk about this more.

I think that people really overpay how bad politically "online" and 4chan and such are. Not because 4chan is good (it is very bigoted), but in my experience while imageboards are very loosely moderated*, and it allows them to spread some graphic shit, they are not interdimensional aliens. Sure, I didn't see photos of bestiality anywhere else, but I saw and see all the same prejudices in "normie" groups, in comments under movie torrents, in news media, I hear them on the streets and from my relatives. And it doesn't just happen, it's like the norm (not so much in official news, thank fuck, but mainstream TV is still guilty).

After Trump all imageboards into more or less interconnected system of fascist propaganda, sure, but the foundation wasn't that different, in my opinion. Society just sucks because of capitalism and due to the fact that most of pre-capitalist heritage is even worse.

Something similar is true for Reddit. It does suck, but also everyone uses it, even worldwide. The fact that it is like that is not because of redditors, but because this is the face of (mostly white American) middle class society.

This may sound too anti-communist of me, but I feel so angry when people say "actually bigotry is just a thing that online loners do, most people are actually nice". No! People are not nice, people are the ones who do all of this bigotry! It is not 4chan that makes people use racial slurs, it is not twitter that brainwashes women into being housewives, it is not Reddit that covers up rapists, it is not TikTok that makes people crave fascist dict6. It is your neighbors, your friends, you! And me, and all of us here. It's not "human nature", but it's our reality. Society is very flawed, and since society is not a deity but only a network of people, all of us are flawed, all of us are monsters even. Attributing every societal ill to "terminally online neckbeards" is just placing all of your crimes on convenient scapegoats.

This is not defense of 4channers or redditors, they suck, but it's so stupid to pretend that they are just not children of your society, not even that different from you

100% agree, yeah, I hate the tendency for people to project societal ills onto an Other so they don’t have to think about their own complicity in it. We see it in Stranger Danger and the creation of The Predator as opposed to the reality of most abuse coming from people you know and have structural power over you (parents, bosses, etc).

We see it all the time in the transmisogynist harassment campaigns on here, where we’ll see trans women get called “literal rapists” for doing cnc play with their girlfriends when we (at least used to) understand that Rape Culture is a thing and it’s omnipresent in society, or trans women promote “literal incest” for calling their girlfriends big sis or whatever when the most popular porn category everywhere for the last decade has been incest crap.

There’s easily a hundred other things I could list but the point is obvious, I mean shit it applies with the law too, there’s so many things that are part of the dominant culture and everyone has a hand in, but punishment is only inflicted on the subaltern

[countmur]

How Literate Arcane Characters Are - Headcanon Thread

(Vander, Silco, Benzo, Caitlyn, Vi, Mylo, Claggor, Powder, Ekko, Jayce, Viktor, Mel)

I’ve never used tumblr before so please be patient w me 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️ some minor spoilers for arcane 1 ahead!!

Vander:

Barely literate. He gets by mostly but he reads increasingly slow and needs to read out loud. The undercity doesn’t have an actual school system so the kids usually have to teach themselves or have their parents teach them. Vander was just a little shit as a kid, thought it was useless then and now he’s trying to learn since he’s running a business and all that. He can write, but again, barely. Has to sound out every word and even then it’s not guaranteed to be spelled right. He doesn’t understand how people read for fun. You give him anything thicker than a pamphlet and he’ll look at you like you’re crazy

Rat bastard Silco 🥰

A lot more literate than his brother, he was always more of the brains than the brawn anyway. For his work the ability to write well is a must, and he was a little less of a shit in his childhood than Vander so he actually started learning early on. He does enjoy reading actually!! He’s a bit of an elitist though and thinks he’s better than everyone else for “enjoying” classics. Probably wrote some fanfics as a teen, If Vander could read then he would definitely bully Silco.

Benzo (off topic but he doesn’t get as much love as he deserves)

He’s around the same level of literacy as Silco. Read data sets and instructional pamphlets all the time as a kid. Probably stumbled upon an IKEA furniture assembling guide once as a kid and was so fascinated he just had to figure out what it meant. Vander always comes to Benzo for help when he gets an especially fancy message from Grayson. I think Benzo would actually have some nice handwriting and would be super proud of his signature. He’s used to tinkering with very small and complex machines so he’s got good control.

Caitlyn

Idk what you want me to say here she’s a piltie with a council member for a mom I don’t know how she could be anything less than that one kid in elementary who was reading at a 12th grade level in 3rd grade. Read fanfics as a kid. Still does occasionally. Probably figured out she was a lesbian from reading fanfics. Had a weird obsession with mystery novels back then which may or may not have led her to become an enforcer.

Vi

Yeah she’s obviously Vander’s kid. Didn’t see the need to read and Vander didn’t really push her to so she just kinda never learned to read. To her the most important thing is to be able to speak well and not die. Probably liked to flip through comic books and try and piece together the story from the pictures (that or she just made up her own). Being locked up in prison for several years also doesn’t really help with literacy so yeah. Vi is illiterate.

Mylo

Most literate of Vander’s kids. He’s not super advanced but he’s doing a LOT better than his siblings. Benzo probably gave him a book on lockpicking without telling Vander once and that’s probably where Mylo actually began to read a lot more. He enjoys the usual fantasy and adventure books but rarely has the time to read them. He’s probably around a 5th or 6th grade reading level. Likes to rub the fact that he can understand the comic books into Powders face.

Claggor (I couldn’t find any good gifs of just him sorry 😢😢)

A little less literate than Mylo but he can still read pretty well! Probably likes to flip through craft books and then never make any of the projects shown (cough cough I’m projecting cough). Same with cooking books except he actually MIGHT make a thing or two shown in the book. Likes Fantasy books as well.

Powder / Jinx

As a kid she definitely loved flipping through kids’ encyclopedias with different animals in them. That’s partly why she started reading, cuz she was so interested in what those animals were. She also had a lot of spare time since Mylo would always insist on leaving her behind and sometimes it was enough to convince Vi. Once she got older I think she stopped reading as much. She still knew how to read she just lost the love for it, reminded her too much of her past life. Silco didn’t push her to keep reading either.

Ekko 😢😢😢😭😢😭😢😢😢😭😢🥺😢

Benzo actually pushed him to read a ton, and Ekko absolutely loved and respected Benzo so he wasn’t a tough student. He loved loved loved learning from Benzo and just honestly enjoyed spending time with his mentor. Benzo wasn’t too bad of a teacher either so Ekko became very literate very quickly. Again, after the events of the first arc he also lost his love for reading. He’s a great letter writer tho especially when he needs to give instructions.

Jayce

He got into a university I think you gotta be pretty literate for that. Idk tho. Could be wrong. Again idk what you want me to say for him. Oh but! I think he speaks atleast one other language just not well. He’s highly literate in English but not in the language his mom speaks. He can understand it and can speak it but can’t read or write in it.

Viktor

Kinda like Jayce I think he speaks another language EXCEPT he can also read and write in the other language too! So he’s very literate in both of the languages he speaks. He may be from the undercity but from his accent I want to make the guess that he may have moved to the undercity when he was very young. Maybe the place he was from actually had a decent school system where he learned to read and write in both his mother tongue and English. Seems like a fan of French novels and poetry books. You give him Frankenstein and he gets excited as hell.

Mel She comes from Royalty so she is very very well educated. Speaks several languages that her mom made her learn and can probably read and write in atleast 4 different languages. Traumatized girlboss polyglot!!!

Once she was no longer living with her mother I think she really started to indulge in fiction while before her mom would rarely allow it, saying it was a waste of time or that it promoted degeneracy (off topic but if Ambessa was a politician irl she would 100% use woke unironically). Seems like she’d be a big fan of Jane Austen and Emily Dickenson.

End of thread!!

[shaarlslec]

Ahí! Just saw that your request are available, so I thought maybe give it a chance. May I request: b,7,8,9 with Mick pls!! If you can if not there’s no problem at all. Thank, Love your job btw!!

Prompts: I think I am in love with you. & You don't get it - I have never said that to anyone. (I went with two cause I have another one in making for the 7a);

thank you so much for your request!! honestly just send me mick requests and I will stay up all night doing them; let me know if you liked it!!!

masterlist

prince charming

short-summary: you mistake mick for your blind-date, turns out he is your prince charming;

words: 6400 & warnings: none, pure fluff in the form of mick schumacher;

Growing up as a naive young child who was fortunate to be raised by the most lovely parents in the whole wide world who were also your first-hand example on how healthy love between two people really is and looks like and how that can be fully projected on the third party of the family, you were subjugated in buying the whole “meet-cute” and “fairytale type of a love” tropes from all of the movies you have watched and all the sugar-coated stories you have heard from the adults around you.

Your parents met in college studying the same subject, and they felt in love at first sight irrevocably so. Hearing the story countless time, you would have wished to have this type of a love story for your children to hear when the time will come for you to have them, but then again, not everyone has such a lucky love as your folks. 

What your parents managed to do was to inspire you in believing that love can be randomly found one morning of a late breezy autumn day just like it happened to them, and yet they mistakenly failed to protect you from the reality of the harsh dating word that you were confronting after the edge of twenty – that most men are shit and they treat you good for the first couple of weeks before they ghost you while you end up falling for them and cry over a glass of wine with your best friends. 

That sadly had been you luck so far as a twenty-something woman navigating the world of dating in the search of that love at first sight that your parents had. You had quite a few boyfriends up until now (high-school was your prime), but none of your relationship lasted for more than a couple of months, and you had never told anyone those three little words that everyone seemed to be so eager to mutter to their significant other, leaving you all wondering if you were the “wrong” one for not getting the “I love you”s out of your mouth so easily like everyone else around you did. You heard the words coming from between your father’s smiling lips towards your mother when she was cooking his favorite dish, and then from your mother to your father when he was fixing a lightbulb or when he was helping with the groceries. You heard your friends when you were out muttering or slow mumbling the words to their significant other across while deeply gazing into each other’s eyes as if they were the only ones standing on the surface of the earth and oh, how you envied them for that, and how much you would have loved to – at least for once – be in their shoes. 

You wondered how that must felt, you had known love and loving coming from your family and friends your whole life, but you had never experienced that warm feeling within that chest of yours engulfing your torso whole as you guessed people feel when they are told that someone loves them back, noticing how their eyes soften and eyebrows slightly crumple up while the chest barely lifts to make room for the emotion to navigate their chests, shoulders, arms, and then within the whole body from the crown of your head to the tips of your feet. Must be nice, you often thought. 

You never told one of your boyfriends that you loved them because you never felt like doing so in the first place as being untruthful has never been your forte, and each time one of the boys that pretended to be in love you love bombed you with these three words and the variations of them, you bolted – literally bolted out of the relationship at the first exit you could take. You wanted to say the words out loud too and to be sincerely honest when doing so, especially when everybody around seemed to be in their happy fairytale type of a love story (family, friends, even that one co-worker that you despised and never understood how he got that beautiful and smart girlfriend of his) while you were spending most of your days alone, and yet you were getting exhausted to wait for your fairytale or to want to make it happened by any means. 

The whole idea of searching for love became too much for you after many failed trials of talking phases and unsuccessful first dates, and you grew extremely sickened in putting on your best clothes, doing your hair and make-up just to spend – out of politeness – one to two hours with random men telling you about their hot takes on the most boring, obnoxious subjects that have ever existed. You had accepted that dating might not be your thing for now at least, and that if dying alone was what was fated to you in the stars, then so be it. You will build your own house, adopt two or three pets and live into your cool divorced aunt without children phase for the rest of your days. Not a very bad narrative indeed, you considered the thought. Men were stupid, anyways.  

You had finally decided to take a break from the dating scene, to delete Tinder and to refuse any other offer for the blind-dates that your friends has been arranged for you in the last couple of months. Damn, those were the most atrocious tries of hook-ups that you have ever had. Your friends that settled you up for dates in the past time meant nothing but good, they all wanted you to find someone better than your exes, and yet somehow, they ended up pairing you with sore losers all the time. Just your luck, once again.

“Come on Y/N, just one last time!” Your friend cried over the phone after already talking with your blind-date partner that you will make it to the date without letting you know ahead of getting him all excited, “I know this guy from work, and he is nothing but amazing – he is blonde, tall, buff and he has amazing blue-greenish eyes that I know you have a thing for! I can send you some steamy pictures if you want.” They pleaded in a perverted tone, making your eyes heavily roll up to your brains, “I know you said that you will take a break from dating, but let it be after this one last guy!”

“You have already told him that I am going, have you not?” You scolded her through the speaker, grabbing your forehead into your hand as that little part of you that always wanted to not cause any conflict even with people you never laid eyes on and especially with your friend who already talked in your name, activated within that anxious brain of yours – your friend promised, you must then go. 

You heavily sighed, “Ok, good. I will go only because you put in your word, but that is the last time I am agreeing with one of these.” You answered with a frown feeling the little creases of your forehead with the tips of your fingers, “Is he really that handsome as you are describing him?” You wondered for a second, thinking about how she always talked that highly about the other guys she set you up with before only to exalt you to the maximum for a little while before your blind-dates and then for reality to crush you down to the ground the minute you arrive at the meeting point with your partner for the evening, “You know what?” You paused after yet another sigh, “Do not send me any photos – I want a surprise for my last blind-date.” You decided then, “You will be the complete matchmaker for this one.” You added, setting the conditions of her choosing the place, day and time. 

Your friend was more excited than you the evening of the date while you were already made an excuse in the back of your mind to leave as soon as you exchange politeness with the man, and then act crazy for him to want to leave too. You were doing it for your friend, and yet on your way in you had decided that a little spoon of entertainment for you on the side will not ruin her friendship with him. 

She sent you all the details after texting the one you were supposed to meet first, doing her matchmaker chores perfectly up to that point. You should make a job out of this, love – you texted her in the middle of your ride. She told you the name of the restaurant, and that you would have to meet him at 19:30 sharp, along with the details of what he was wearing and at what table you two shall be seated. 

Taking a deep breath in as the last from your friend came through, you exited the cab and walked straight into the beforehand restaurant of your blind-date’s choosing. White t-shirt and checked blue flannel, washed-out blue light jeans, the second table next to the right window right before the bar and a smile to die for – that was what you were in searching of after your eyes relaxed underneath the warm-yellow dimmed lights of the restaurant after you went through a literal blizzard outside. 

It took you a short while, and after moments of looking surprisingly disoriented right at the entrance of the place – you spotted the white t-shirt and blue flannel guy seated at the nearest table close to the bar and without thinking about that twice, you went straight for it without checking the distance from the bar to the table twice. 

You took a big gulp of air into your lungs. Let’s finish this quick. You thought, cleaning your throat by coughing twice before taking a seat at the table as you took your first full glance at the one in front of you. Your friend was right for the very first time since she begun to set you up with these random men. The one who was now slightly confused as he was looking at you casually take was diviningly handsome. 

Blonde, tall, buff (as your friend described him), and yet without any hint of green into his eyes but rather a spectacle of clean blue waves hitting the shore on a slow and lazy Sunday’s morning at a wild untouched by human presence beach in a place close to the edges of the Mediterranean Sea far away from the heavy winter outside the window at your left in Switzerland.  

“Exc-” The beach boy spoke, and yet interrupted by your first attempt to pretend to be crazy in front of your blind-date. No matter how deep you had leapt for a second there into the shimmers of his eyes, you wanted to stick to your plan, exquisitely handsome men that you met so far on your dates in the past couple of months were usually jackasses most of the times anyway – nothing could have convinced you in that very moment that the beach boy was far different from the others, you were not lucky like that. 

“Ok pretty boy, look how this is going to go.” You breathed into his direction, watching him watching you back with even a more puzzled look, sign that you should have taken before diving into a long monologue that was meant to scare him enough to take his little rucksack that was laid next to him and leave, “I am going to tell you my name, and then you will ask for mine and then some nonsense about what we both working, and we will pretend that we are listening to each other when in fact I am thinking about the lamest excuse to be back into my comfortable bed with my two cats while you are thinking about ways in which you are going to leave me three months from now that is if we go on a second date or – that is if you already find me attractive – how to lure me into your pants tonight.” You bluntly reverberated, speaking quite loudly and too rapidly for the stranger in front of you to fully comprehend your words as they were spoken, “Heads up – we will probably not be having a second date, and for the sex part,” You paused, taking a chug of water from the glass half-emptied already that stood in front of him while giving him a scan from head to toes quickly, “I might consider it for now.” You finished, hands now clasped together on the table in front of your chest, “Questions?” You inquired, spotting the half-smile that the man had on since your first words went out of your mouth spreading in a short giggly one. 

“I am flattered by the words, miss.” He then uttered, calm wave-like eyes following creasing due to the smiling, “But,” The stranger paused, slightly looking over his shoulder for your eyes to follow the trajectory of the man’s look only to find at the end of it what you were looking for when you entered actually – the second table to the bar at which a man dressed in a very much similar outfit composed of a black t-shirt and checked blue flannel was enquiringly eyeing into your direction as he was recognizing you from the pictures your friends sent to him, the type of pictures that you should have asked for as well. 

Your heart raced for a two good seconds as the beach boy ended his sentence with a chuckle as he turned back to you fully, “I do not think that I am the one who you are supposed to meet here.” He added while leaning back into his chair with both arms crossed at his chest and still an amazed grin sprinkled on the entireness of his face while you embarrassingly switched your glare from your actual blind date to the one seating in front of you, “Don’t sweat it pretty girl, I also got confused when I got at my table and saw the man next to it almost in the same outfit as me.” He chuckled once again, “What a coincidence – right?” 

What a fucking coincidence that was, indeed. You cleaned your throat with a dry and embarrassed cough; your cheeks immediately went redder than they were once you entered from the cold outside, and yet you tried to look calm and concealed as you straightened your shoulders at your back and silently left the seat you so confidently assumed it was yours just minutes ago. 

The beach boy blinked his eyes at you twice and that was when you noticed that they had attached the most beautiful pair of long light eyelashes that you have ever seen a boy carrying, and as you nervously touched the surface of the woodened table with your fingers to have something tangible to sustain yourself on during what was most probably one of the most embarrassing moments lately, the stranger’s look went around your fingers that for a moment there he felt the instinct of holding to return the feeling of comfort and confidence you had when seated first in front of him. 

“That was embarrassing.” You articulated with a nervous chuckle, that was reciprocated by the stranger’s comforting lift of lips and a nonchalant hand waving in the space between your bodies, “I apologize, I think I should go now.” You awkwardly added, titling your head to the other table direction where you were supposed to be right from the beginning. 

“No worries, that was fun.” He then softly spoke with a slight grin playing on the top of his rosy lips, “I think you should, your date looks impatient.” The beach boy smiled after a quick turn of his head, and for a minute there you would have hopped not to be wrong when you first sat in front of him rather your actual blind-date partner – the boy’s smile was nothing but astonishing, and there was something so soothing flickering in the calm blue irises of the guy that you once again associated with the calming foaming Mediterranean waves that you never got to see up until that very moment. 

You excused yourself with a nod of the head, and the stranger did the same. Taking another full breath into your lungs, you finally took the seat that was rightfully yours. 

“I really hope you have not heard that.” You nervously still spoke, your focus now on the man you were supposed to date – a knock-off of the one before. Still blonde, still tall, and still buff and yet nothing but peering eyes on you. Your date declined with a shake of head telling you afterwards that he was paying attention to his phone up until now and that he hates ears dropping to people’s conversations, giving you a sort of relief that – although you spoke quite loudly – you did not embarrass yourself twice that day in front of another stranger whose name you learned was Mikael, and whose name was carried through the spaces in between your tables to the beach boy as well whose lips were still plucked in a short smile. Even our names are similar, Mick thought. 

Mick was the type of person who strangely believed in coincidences, and the boy believed that they do happen for a reason and nothing is random within our lives. Much like yours, the hopeless romantic’s mind imagined that fate must have brought you to his table first, and that there was something more to be unwrapped there that evening – and if it was not fate after all, Mick thought about giving it a chance still.

You were so pretty, unutterable pretty for him – rosy cheeks, lined red lips, and with that huge scarf covering most of your neck only to reveal the sweetest tone Mick had heard in a while talking to him, just to scold him seconds after in a rasping demanding octave; and then telling him that he might have had a chance of going home with you.  

The beach boy – Mick – was there to meet some of his friends during a quick return to Switzerland for a couple of days, and those friends of his were late to the hang out for just enough time for him to have one of the weirdest, yet somehow interesting interactions in a long time with someone who was not aware of who he was or what his deal was. When you took the seat in front of him confidently and convincedly so, Mick thought that you just might be one of his fans who has no idea of what personal space meant and he slightly panicked. But then, you begun to speak and that was when the fun started for him, putting the pieces together as he strangely noticed the man at the other table being so close-looking with him right when he arrived at the restaurant. 

Too many coincidences, way too many – that intrigued Mick the most, besides your trembling fingers on the top of the table and the way you called him a pretty boy in that honied tone of yours. As Mick was waiting for his friends to arrive, he took the time to focus his listening on your discussion with Mikael and oh boy, what a boring conversation that was. 

Mikael let you talk only for the first couple of minutes, and that was all. You introduced yourselves, you made small talk about the weather and then a few questions about your common friend. Then, Mikael unlashed – talking about him, and only him. You knew what he was doing, you have been on the market for way too long to not figure out the “let-me-impress-you” speech right at the beginning of the date. You nodded, and nodded, and nodded. “Yeah”, “That’s so interesting”, “I see”, “I understand” being your most used lines. You even slightly rolled your eyes two or three times as Mikael was talking to you about the finance world and how much money you can get investing and cryptocurrency. You had no idea what he was talking about, and yet you let him talk thinking that at some point Mikael will get bored and annoyed with you not participating at all at the conversation, and that would be your cue to go home and relax back into your bed. 

From time to time during your already awful date, you peeked into Mick’s direction. You were not to blame at all; those kinds of eyes do not tend to be forgotten so fast, hardly ever if we were to be honest. Mick’s friends had arrived ten to fifteen minutes after you left his table, and you noticed them sharing drinks, joking around and overall having much more fun rather than you. You sighed, noticing one of the girls present rubbing Mick’s shoulder as he was telling a story that had happened to him on the track last season in which he crushed the car and was cautioned for ripping it in half. Not being able to hear the conversation clearly, you neither got the story and the reason for which the girl was comforting him, and neither the beach boy’s name which you regretted not asking the first time now that Mikael turned out to be just one of those many guys that go on dates without any effort to make the other person contented into their seat but only talk, and talk, and talk about themselves. 

Mick noticed your sigh and the roll of eyes as he shortly glanced over his shoulder to look on how your date was going while his friends were having a heated argument at the table over what type of bread is the best bread for sandwiches. 

“Mick!” One of the uttered, slapping the table in such a fashion that it made everyone around you attentive towards the group – even you, “Toast or baguette, which one do you prefer mate?” He then asked, but Mick’s eyes were now locked with yours rather than giving a slight to no attention to whatever was discussed at his table. 

You caught his glare on yours, and your cheeks went back to pink. You smiled silently, both of you as an understanding that the space in between the two of you was larger than it should have been and that you should have stayed at the table with him instead of going to the next one. 

“That’s my cue.” Mick announced in a loud tone, and without saying any other world he got up and came straight to your table. You, Mikael and Mick’s friends were taken aback by the boy’s swift move, and what followed made you even more surprised. 

“I cannot stand it anymore, sweetheart.” Mick then spoke, faking an enduring accent while gathering both of his hands at his chest, “I am standing over there while you are having a date with another man?!” Mick busted in a loud theatrical sigh, “How can you be so cruel to date someone else when we just broke up last week?” He then added, and that was when you figured out that he is planning a way to get you out of your date. 

You laughed, “Oh, now you are jealous?” You spoke, immediately getting into Mick’s play although you had not even the slightest idea about his name even, “Pretending to care now after we broke up looks great on you, tough.” You inquired, clicking your tongue and leaning back into your chair now to switch your focus from Mick to Mickael who was a mere confused witness of your juvenile performance. 

“Is he your ex-boyfriend? That’s why you talked to him when you arrived?” Mickael questioned, thinking that he put two and two together as he was already taking his jacket from the chair’s rest to cover his shoulders with.

You and Mick both nodded at the same time, in a perfect synchrony about which you were both proud of judging by your grins and stolen looks from each other in front of Mikael whose chest pumped in front of Mike as if he wanted to protect his marked territory now, thinking that you were in the perimeters of it, “Look my guy,” Mikael spoke, “I thought she has been single for a long time, her friend told me that she had not had any boyfriend recently and I thought tha—” 

“I was kept a secret, my fellow friend.” Mick attend with a sob, “She is a cruel woman, this one.” Mick spoke, looking down at you who were barely able to hold in your laughs – the beach boy made the scene all so credible, “Why you think her friend picked you to date her – she is into pretty boys that can be easily manipulated.” Mick then continued to lie, pointing to him and then to Mikael, “We even look alike.” Mick declared while getting his blonde locks all ruffled with one of his palms, as the other one rested on the table next to yours. So close next to yours. 

“Oh my god,” Mikael admitted after scanning Mick from head to toes after a long glance, “You are right, you do have a type Y/N.” Mikael added with a sense of repeal into the tone of his voice, grabbing now his jacket fully on him while getting up from the seat, “I cannot be part of this – I think I better go.” 

You nodded, “I do have a type.” You continued with a swirl of your tongue, “You would have been my next victim, yes.” You chuckled, sounding exactly like you wanted to sound – a crazy insane person. 

Mikael left right away without saying his goodbyes or leaving any money for the bill, while Mick’s friends erupted in laughter after they went quiet as the whole play developed right before their eyes, wondering what the hell was their friend up to. Once they spotted you and your red painted lips, all smiling and giggling at him now as Mick took Mikael’s seat as a turn of events – they understood what was going on, and they were going to play their wingmen roles accordingly to the plan. 

“Thank you.” You laughed, seeing Mikael’s feet stepping out of the restaurant for good, leaving the spare seat for Mick to fill, “Why did you do that?” You then asked, hands apprehensively clasped on the table in front of him now. 

Mick’s shoulders shrugged as his lips were spread into that pretty smile he already got you used to; Mick was as clueless as you about how did he came up with the whole story in the fractions of seconds in between the two tables, and yet what thing Mick knew for sure, “I thought you were giving me a sign from across the table, you seemed like you needed a little bit of help to get out of that boring conversation.”

You smiled back to him, “You were ears-dropping?” You inquired, your feet accidentally touch his underneath the table – making Mick’s heart jump, and one of his eyebrows twitched as you two had your first slight form of contact of many more to come. Your lips plucked together in a straight line, picturing somewhere in the back of your mind how the one standing in front of you were to react if you were to touch him more, in many other places and with less to no clothes on you. 

“Who does not?” Mick spoke, “Those who say that they do not, they are just trying to pretend they are better than anyone else around them.” Mick added as he followed your example and had laid his hands clasped together in front of yours, slightly leaning forward as if he would have wanted to take a better look at you. 

You agreed with a nod, the picture of Mikael showing into your brain for the very last time, “You are right –” You paused leaning forwards too, “Excuse me, I do not think that I got your name – and you just got mine.” You spoke, never breaking the eye-contact in between you and the blonde, no matter how intimidating you wanted to seem and no matter how far the waves of carrying you. 

“Mick.” He simply replied, “What are we going to do now? Talk about our jobs?” He then laughed, glaring for a short while to his table, “Or perhaps – would you like to join us?” Mick inquired with a soft smile, cracking you whole right from the start as that was the very first time you had realized that it would be quite impossible to say no to him in any matter whatsoever while he was looking so dearly into your eyes. 

You joined Mick’s table and his group, and you joined many of the tables and groups you were invited to from that evening on as Mick’s girlfriend, but that happened a little bit of later down the road.

The attraction between the two of you was obvious right from the start, all of Mick’s friends told him that after the first dinner you two shared together in their presence. 

Rosy cheeks, shaking legs underneath the table, short, muttered excuses when one of you would accidentally touch the other hand while eating, long interminable arguments about silly subjects (baguette was the winner), and eye contacts that seemed to be impossible to break by someone else’s interruption. Everyone at the table sense it, and they hoped for you two to get it too – and fast. 

You did, but not as fast as they would have thought. You were just friends at first, although friends do not text for hours, go on “hang-outs” such as long walks in the park during a harsh day of December just to warm each other’s hands by rubbing them together in a bar where you got completely drunk on liquor just to go and watch Christmas lights late at night after that, sillily embracing each other’s bodies to sustain both of your stabilities. 

You made a habit of hanging-out every single weekend while Mick was in between seasons (and some weekdays too), and you were making excuses to leave your job earlier on Friday just to go and meet him. Tell anyone one example of a just platonic friendship where that does happen – where both parties want to spend each day of the week together, and they will tell you that the involved parties are insane for not admitting their feelings. None of the things you and Mick did were friendly, especially when the man’s hand was on your waist holding dearly for his life as your body was glued to him in a crowded club. 

“Uhm,” Mick breathed right into your ear as he let yet another person pass by his back while trying to shield you from the crowd, keeping you safe within the space between his chest and his length of arms, “Coming here might not have been a great idea.” He chuckled, looking down at you all flustered being this close to him for the very first time – this close to his lips, and with those eyes of his looking down at you. 

You gulped, and then nodded at the man’s words, “Want to go home?” You had asked, not mentioning either of your places in replying, bumping Mick’s confidence in believing that one day you two might share a home. 

He smiled back to you, “I will drive you; I only drank non-alcoholic beer.” He admitted, taking your hand into his so he can easily guide you through the crowded pub. 

You watched the man’s wide back as you were passing by all those strangers, those strangers who had no idea what you were holding in between your fingers and how right it felt for you to hold your Prince Charming’s hand. The tingles in your palm went up into your arms, lengthened their stretch up to your chest and found their place and spot there forever from then on. That warm, loving feel make its nest within your ribcage, extending throughout your whole body as days and nights in the presence of Mick’s followed. 

Mick made you feel safe, extremely safe in all matters. There were no bad bones into that body of his, and no bad intentions within his brain. You were not believing your eyes each time you saw him smiling what it can do to your heart, and how much such a mere movement of lips can make you feel. You loved when that happened, and you began to think that maybe it was not just that that you loved ardently – but Mick in all his completeness. 

“Mick,” You paused as the car’s engine sound slowed down in front of your block of apartments, “I think I am in love with you.” You muttered in a whispered voice, your eyes aiming from the clutched hands sitting on your lap to the man’s face who was already staring at yours with an innocent grin spread all over.   

Mick took one of your hands into his, both sitting now on your lap before he unclasped both of your safety belts for him to lean towards you with more ease and for you to wrap your other arm around the man’s neck just for the tips of your fingers to play with the hair at his back while Mick begun to talk before a lick of his lips that immediately drove you insanely crazy, wanting nothing more but to have a bite of that too. Inches away from each other, almost being mouth to mouth, Mick’s whispers set the mood even better – his confession came through in the somewhat the same words as yours. 

“Y/N.” Mick paused too as his gaze longed into yours for a while, the tingles of your palms basically burning at this point as the waiting period of your lips on him prolonged with every warm and hot breath of him that you felt on your face, “I know I am in love with you.” Mick then spoke, and that was enough for both of you to cut the chase and for your mouths to finally press-stud on each other just as they should have right from the beginning. 

You laughed into the kiss at Mick’s choosing of words, of course he had to take it as a competition and top you somehow. Therefore, you decided in the spite of the moment that you will be the one to top him up in the car as you went into the man’s lap, hands around Mick’s neck while you two were hungeringly making out after all these weeks pretending that that was not the main thing you wanted to do. Fools, such fools to think that restraining will do you any good in the moment, besides only wanting now to kiss more, touch more, feel more all at once. Mick’s both hands went to your waist, and yours found their perfect spot in the curves of his neck and shoulders. 

When you departed, Mick childishly nuzzled your nose with his and then uncovered your face from beneath your deranged strings of hair with two of his hurried fingers to be back on your waist and to hold you as close to him as space permitted, and that evoked something within you that you were not expecting – sorrowful bittersweet happiness for feeling for the first time that you were able to feel what everyone else was talking to you about. That was love, and you were living it. 

“What’s wrong?” Mick concernedly quickly asked, seeing your eyes water into the thought and getting both hands on your face now to caress your burning cheeks. 

“I am in love with you, Mick.” You repeated, kissing the boy’s lips again, leaving him all confused as why were you on verge of crying if you were in love with him. 

“I am in love with you too, Y/N.” Mick nervously chuckled, “Is that a bad thing?” He then uttered, watching you vehemently declining with a shake of your head, “Do you want us to stop?” Mick worryingly continued with widened eyes, fearing that there was something wrong in the things he done, said or touched. 

Your eyes softened and your eyebrows scratched up in awe to him, “You don’t get it – I never said that to anyone else before.” You confessed, hearts beating crazy into your chest as if it was ready to break out of you at any moment now and that only to be tamed by Mick’s soft lips on the top of your head, and then both of your cheek, and lips. The soft pressed peaks on your skin as you curled into the man’s embrace put a hard stop to the tears in an instant. You had this from now on, and that meant that you will never have to cry for not being able to feel love and to think that you were not worthy of that. 

“Thank you, and I am sorry.” You whispered back to him, sobbing quietly as the man’s hands went from your cheeks on your neck, and then on your shoulder to stroke each – a mere gesture that meant so very much to you. 

“You do not have to be sorry, pretty girl.” Mick chuckled, taking your mind out of the present moment right to your very first meeting, “And, just so you know – I get it.” Mick commented, and then time stood still for a little short while in which you two have done nothing but giggle like high schoolers hiding from peering eyes under the benches to make out. 

You were patient enough to wait for your Prince Charming, and then you got a very much very improved version of one in the name of Mick Schumacher who – even after years of dating – still was shaken by your touch underneath the sheets, and whose heart raced faster than all of his cars when you softly placed one of your signature kisses underneath the man’s left ear, and with whom you learned that that warm feeling inside of your chest that goes from there throughout your whole body never calms down, and never fades, but it only grows with each “I love you” and all its variations.  

[alice-ness]

*holding my hands out aggressively*

GIVE ME THE HEADCANONS

Please I am so content starved it is not even funny, I want the hight school headcanons PLEASE

I love all of them but it I had to chose for only a few I would say gimme Chip and Leaf please

Also I like that one fic u have with Logainne, and Chip, and Leaf, it's really awesome, I'm that one person who commented begging you to please continue the fic and not drop it

K that's it, hope u have a good day byeeeeee

:p

hi!!! tysm for asking here's highschool headcanons for chip and leaf! ((and sorry it took a while) 🙏🙏 ALSO im so glad u like the fic i will try to finish it but it might be a little while #busybee

in this au they all are in similar grades bc i thought abt trying to make it work in canon but it just doesn't rip

chip tolentino

- goes to highschool with marcy, leaf, and marigold

- yes he is incredibly tortured by seeing her all the time lol

- in his freshman year he had a random slump and kind of just did nothing and sulked around all the time (post child boy scout burnout/gifted kid burnout)

- like his grades were... whatever but he didn't talk to anyone and didn't do any extra curriculars

- his parents got tired of him being so suddenly lethargic-teenager so they made him join track

- he's actually really good at it, and eventually (not freshman year but eventually) he's semipopular in an awkward way where people know him but he doesn't TALK to all those people

- does really embarrassing dares with his track teammates. He's not necessarily pressured so much as he gets really into it in the moment LOL

- i put this in the fic but he ran into leaf at a club fair and they hang out now lol

- and leaf hangs out with logainne so he started hanging out with logainne

- and he has some classes with marcy and they were both in a school-rut so they bonded

- wasn't for a while that leaf naturally got the whole spelling bee group hanging out together but that was incredibly weird for chip ... bc... it's kind of weird in general

- especially hanging with barfee but they make up and they're homies (who play argue and play brawl)

- had to do a creative writing unit and discovered he's really good at that too but he's kinda embarrassed about it

- he likes like typical story writing and also nostalgic poems but he's even more embarrassed about that

- he and olive once made eye contact at a creative writing contest he went to without telling anyone and now she wards his secret

- one summer marcy got really into skateboarding and chip tried it out too to be supportive but he ate shit every. Single. time.

- chip learned to drive his junior year and really wanted a sports car but he got a shitty hand me down dad car

- one time marcy called him like "hey can you pick me up" nd he was like "from where" and she's like. "from san francisco?'

- bro how did u even get there

- he does it anyway tho

- they're like besties and they go on a lot of late night snack missions

- if they watch scary movies he will be screaming and crying and she'll be like "oh my god pay attention"

- has a crush on like every single girl he talks to

- sometimes they overlap with logainne's crushes and it's very awkward, especially bc he listens to her disaster lesbian rants at every sleepover

- he grows a really shitty puberty stache he's very proud of and EVERYONE (minus leaf who is unconditionally supportive) BEGS him to shave it

- his dad sits him down like Son. What are you doing.

- ramen and hotpockets diet (if he wanted to cook he'd be good at it tho)

- also this is just me projecting but he's filipino cuz i say so (and my word is law bc it's AAPI month /j)

- 5'5 forever... he constantly prays it'll change

- is really good at dioramas

- goes to school dances to complain in the corner the whole time about the music and the food

- could be misconstrued as mysterious but he's just awkward

- most indecisive person of all time and makes it everyone else's problem

leaf coneybear

- not ALL of his siblings made the switch to public school for high school but some did, including marigold (and pinecone who is older than them)

- it was a hard switch but it doesn't take long to find his crowd bc he's a naturally charismatic person

- his crowd is theater kids. he really loves improv and straight plays, he loves musicals too but he doesn't have great rhythm LOL

- he also LOVES helping make costumes, and in junior/senior year he's on the board

- still likes to make some of his own clothes

- was always tall for his age but had a growth spurt before freshman year and he's like. 6'1 LOL he's a stringbean

- sneaks both his cats and logainne into his school

- yes admin is tired but damn are his cats cute

- logainne is his best friend for literal life they are inseparable and will find any reason to hang out

- kind of an energy drink addict (they're not allowed in his house but he WILL drink too many anywhere else if u don't watch out and then crash and feel sick)

- (sidenote he HAS calmed down some but he can still be distractable and is still rlly high energy. Some days he takes to just completely slow down and veg out tho which is nice) (like pretty much he just won't stomp around and roar or whatever in the middle of sentences like in im not that smart 😭)

- on the complete opposite end of that he's also an organic fruit smoothie addict

- he also loves to bake and he's REALLY good at it but his younger siblings aren't allowed sugar so he will spontaneously get a bunch of ingredients and then show up at his friends' houses late at night to borrow their kitchen

- he tries to "spread the love" by doing this equally at all his friends places

- olive is his #1 baking buddy tho!

- also speaking of siblings he's the best older brother ever and he doesnt really like to be home but he'll spend time with his siblings

- .... his parents just keep havin babies

- anyway he's not as good at cooking bc it bores him so he'll get distracted and let things burn whoops

- tons of sleepovers at logainnes he's like a son to her dads

- gets a giant van to drive all his friends around in, it's decked out

- fixes holes in his friends clothes

- they all have a million friendship bracelets bc he just gets sappy and makes more or forgets he made one

- keeps everything ever given to him

- loves interactive science museums where u get to touch stuff more than ANYYYYTHIIIING. He will get lost in the dino bones

- and loves nature and hikes but mainly to look at bugs

- is the king of poster projects in class

- wasn't allowed to watch horror movies as a kid so logainne showed him some classic his freshman year and he literally couldn't sleep for a week but now he likes them, just mostly the campy stuff

- so stuff like little shop, rocky horror, r his the musicals bc it's cheesy campy horror AND theater!

- also first got social media like freshman/sophomore year and he just posts poorly taken pictures and occasionally answers his friends dms

- junior year on, a good amount of his theater peers develop like silly little crushes on him but he's completely oblivious and chip is just so jealous bc he gets no bitches

- he's the glue of the 25th annual kids bc he sort of just naturally started hanging out w them individually again and was like Oh shit why don't we all just hang out

- he is the only person marcy will cuddle

- (on that note he's the group teddy bear)

[trekkele]

I recently saw the post about Jason and Cass not having to get along, and how that adds to their dynamic.

So I was wondering, are there any other interesting facts/headcanons about relationships in the Batfam?

Your own or some you simply stumbled across?

Because what frustrates me is the absolute lack of nuance in relationships in a lot of in most of Batfam centric fan-works.

The extent to which people write Bruce as either an absolute peace of shit, or as someone who will kiss his kids feet and beg them for the slightest bit of attention

(this being the supposedly "good" parenting- which… No? That ain’t it)

Because something I find incredibly compelling about their dynamics is the absolute loyalty Bruce often on the receiving end of.

Even when they are on terrible terms, if Bruce calls, they answer. (Usually, of course there are exceptions)

Some interesting facts/ideas about their relationships I saw were;

Dick hating Jason back when he was Robin. (Because they all a bit possessive of the Bat/insecure about their place at his side)

Tim not being Jasons fan even before the murder attempt (I read somewhere that DICK was the Robin Tim admired, and that made much more sense to me)

Cass and Dick having a tense relationship because Cass can read and understand Bruce so well, when Dick was the one who knew him best for so long.

Alfred and Bruce having a slightly more complicated relationship (I‘m so sick of 'perfect Alfred makes no mistakes' I swear. If Alfred had been as good a parent as everyone pretends (in comics or fandom) Bruce would at least be a SLIGHTLY more well adjusted individual)

Sorry for the rambling- I kinda got away from what I was asking 😅

So yeah, anyone else you feel has a more difficult relationship than fandom would have you believe?

All the kids with the justice league, and specifically Clark.

No listen hear me out, Bruce’s big possibly life changing injuries? They happen with the league most of the time, because thats when he’s fighting a minor god or a sentient star or whatever. But thats also when all his allies are super powered people, thats when he should be safest. Instead he keeps coming back from league missions with close calls and broken bones.

And Clark especially, what do you mean your best friend is Superman and your arm broke in the three places on that last mission. Where was he??

Alfred and Clark having a 😒 relationship is always fun too, because while kids wont see it or realize it Clark has absolutely witnessed how Alfred parents Bruce and how … less then ideal it can be.

Kate and Alfred, because of backstory reasons (did Alfred do nothing to keep the Kanes in contact with Bruce?? Why??) and also because it would be funny.

Cass and Jason is a good one and it makes so much more sense then the usual “cass loves her big little brother uwu” because i think what Cass would love about Jason would be stealing his weapons and hiding them and watching him lose his mind. Stop bringing guns into her dads house he doesnt like them and its his house.

I think. Oh this is going to be a hot take. I think Bruce resents when Tim tries to patronize or parent him. You know exactly what i mean right, that very specific flavor of infantilization you see in Tim-and-Bruce fics where Tim is a genius brilliant boi and Bruce is just led around by the nose? Hate it and i think Bruce hates it and knows exactly when Tim is trying it. Does he look like Jack Drake?? No?? Good because he was getting worried. (Bruce loves Tim. He loves how much Tim cares. He does not love how Tim thinks caring means permission to run his life).

Another hot take, i dont think Alfred and Jason got along as well as they did until after Jason resurrected. I think baby Jason treated Alfred the way Alfred treated him, so more like two people living in the same space who mutually respect each other them like grandparents. I think Jasons death and his anger at Bruce and Dick made him want/need a neutral person to project his happy memories onto, and Alfred was that person.

Duke being wary of Jason and Red Hood - because he remembers how many people lost people to Red Hood when he first arrived, and i dont care what comics told you there is no way he did what he did without collateral damage.

Damian and Dick should have a messy, complicated, resentful relationship. Damian wanted his father, no matter how good a replacement you write Dick as that isnt what he wanted. Dick also wanted his dad, and he didnt want to be Batman or a parent or any of it, and the fact that Bruce was actually alive and if hed only moved faster, if the JL had only been smarter, if someone had been paying attention, he never would have had to do any of it. And im going to he so honest right now the way fandom writes their “good” relationship is so bad sometimes. I hesitate to use the word toxic because yaknow its been done to death but seriously.

Anyways i think i hit enough hornets nests here, but will leave with, good parenting does not always look like you think it should. Allowing your children to violate your boundaries, always taking full responsibility for mutual miscommunications and misunderstandings, and never letting them suffer consequences for actions they take is just setting them up for failure.

[jadeacereigen]

i also always felt like the fandom depicting reigen's childhood as abusive and neglectful never really quite fit. i know that most of it is probably just projection, and it's something i really understand because i've done it before with other characters.

i feel like there's a difference between giving a character trauma that makes sense when taking their canon self into account and giving a character trauma for other unrelated reasons, like comfort or even for fun, to be able to explore the scenarios that would come with it. both are very valid. let the people do what they want, y'know?

but something i feel like people tend to gloss over sometimes is that parents can fuck up when raising you and still not be outright shitty evil people. they can judge you on your career choices and still love you. your friends can make an off the cuff comment that ends up sticking with you in a bad way without realizing, people can suck at showing they care about you while still caring about you, they can be imperfect just as much as you are. it's their first time on this earth too. and it doesn't excuse the times they may have hurt you or made you feel bad about yourself, but it's up to you if you wanna keep them in your life. everyone can change, but that's also up to them.

it gives reigen an added charm [or should i say humanity?], to know that he is a flawed person and that it stems from the things that happened when he was younger, and the people that were in his life, and to know that things don't need to be catastrophic for them to affect and/or change you, whether good or bad. it's a good thing to remember i think. to know that there's so many greys between the white and black. that he has layers. his experiences are very valid.

anywho. sorry for the long ramble i just had to get this out there hehe.

ask game time!!!! 25, 9 and 22

Oh my god no don't apologize you're so right. I agree 100% so I'm gonna answer with my own long ramble.

(Discussions of child abuse below, though nothing that's not present in MP100 canon.)

Yes, it almost feels like people want to dismiss all flawed parenting and strained relationships between parent and child as abuse. There's certainly something very wrong with Reigen and his parents' relationship but I'm gonna be honest, I don't understand how people can find redemption in Toichiro who literally beat up his own son but then at the same time demonize Reigen's parents for the crime of disapproving his life as a CONMAN.

Yes, Reigen actually helps his clients and refuses to take money for things he cannot fix, but he's an incredibly special case and his parents are like most people who have no clue that the supernatural is even real. I personally think IRL psychics are full of shit and prey on the naive and emotionally vulnerable. If I had a kid who quit their normal job and spent all their savings to become a psychic I would not be happy with them! I would hope I wouldn't be as cold and that they wouldn't live in fear of my messages to them but I would definitely be encouraging them to stop that shit and get a "real job". To think that his parents should support his choices in life when he's pretending to be a psychic with no additional context is wild to me. (Also, I can't find the translation anymore but Reigen says in the fanbook that his mom thinks he's being tricked into doing his current job.) Again, they could go about this in a much better way but this disapproval does not inherently point to abuse.

(Sorry this rant got very long so everything else is below the cut.)

I think the biggest thing that points to Reigen's parents not being as awful as they are in fan content is that even after Reigen gets publicly exposed for being a con artist, his mom does tell him to learn his lesson from this but she also takes the time to prepare him an apology, tells him that he should come home (instead of telling him he's not welcome home/disowning him) and emphasizes that she's on his side. Maybe you could consider that the bare minimum of a decent parent but this to me just doesn't feel like she's the hateful abusive mother so often depicted. She could be warmer about it but she's obviously super concerned and wants Reigen to know she cares about him regardless of his actions.

(As for his dad, all we know is that he and Reigen don't talk to each other at all and that he thinks Reigen is unemployed. This relationship is definitely worse than Reigen and his mom's but there's little to go off of in terms of if his dad is a terrible parent or not. His mom seems to think he's worried about Reigen and that would definitely not surprise me.)

In terms of how Reigen feels about his parents, in the fanbook he acknowledges that there have been misunderstandings from both sides and that he'd like to talk things out with them and visit them more often. That's such a real thing lots of people can relate to and I'd love to see that get explored! I want to see Reigen patch things up with his parents! Maybe I'll write out my stupid fic idea for it idk.

I also don't want to stereotype but I am from an East Asian family myself and grew up surrounded by others so I feel like it's safe for me to say that Reigen's parents really remind me of your typical older generation of Asian parents. (Reigen was born in 1984 so his parents would definitely be of the boomer ilk, potentially even the Silent Generation if they had him on the older side.) Reigen also says in the fanbook that his parents are very serious people. Oftentimes with that older generation they just don't really show their care the way you'd normally see it. There may never be any "I love yous" but they'll cut you a plate of fruit without you asking or remember the show you liked 10 years ago and assume you're still into it...

Of course, parental norms in a culture don't justify hurtful parenting. (I mean just watch Everything Everywhere All At Once if you want to see the pain of having a disapproving Asian parent despite knowing they love you and just want what they think is best for you.) His mom fussing over his job and his lack of a girlfriend may be a super "Asian parent" thing, but it definitely hurts Reigen's feelings and she should cut that out. So yeah, Reigen's parents could do a lot better in terms of making Reigen feel supported and loved regardless if they approve of his life choices or not, but Reigen wants to patch things up with them for a reason and I'm hopeful that they can all reach a better understanding with each other.

One thing I also wish the anime showed was that Reigen's mom talks to him on the phone after Separation Arc! We see that in this omake:

Reigen definitely didn't tell his parents his phone number or his home address if his mom had to resort to emailing his business address just to talk to him. But I like to think that after Separation Arc he started letting his mom into his life a bit more...

God this was such a long rant, I'm sorry. One final thing before I get to your questions is that if we really need abusive parents to hate, Teru's non-present parents are ripe for the picking... Just saying.

(ask game)

I'm assuming you mean Reigen for all of these btw

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Gosh I initially thought he was just a silly goofy character who could be annoying and pathetic at times, but I enjoyed his presence on-screen. Then he got deeper in the Season 1 finale and showed just how much he truly cared about Mob... That part definitely got me shook. He only got better and better from there and now he's one of my favorite characters in the story.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Jesus christ uh I definitely don't think he'd be a bad roommate and we'd probably get along just fine but I also think I'd annoy the shit out of him. I'm not the best at keeping my space neat and clean. Also the thought of meeting Reigen in person is actually terrifying... Reigen should never exist outside the world of fiction because his pure chaos would be too much for reality.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

Hmm I answered what I don't like last time, but I do like fics that explore his relationship with Mob or Serizawa. I also like seeing him confront more of his personal issues and grow as a person even if he gets a little hurt in the process-

[hwere]

I’m not gonna lie there’s a lot of weird projection going on. No one said Carmy was an evil irredeemable person who doesn’t deserve support, we just don’t want Sydney to be a punching bag for dysfunction 😭. To question someone’s morals and compassion over a tv character is going too far. If you feel personally attacked by people being angry at Carmy then you need to log off and journal or something idk it’s just unnecessary. We are literally playing with our Barbie dolls and making them kiss it was never that serious. 👀

Long ass reply ahead, so sorry.

Addressing the Carmy in the room. TL;DR: Shred to pieces this widespread mentality that the art you like defines who you’re as a person and any “attack” on that is an attack on you personally.

Here’s the thing, Anon: just like there’s a lack of balance in our favorite fictional restaurant, there’s a lack of balance in fandom when it comes to relating to fiction and fictional characters. I’m not trying to be all mighty here, since I’m also very much guilty of projecting into fictional characters, but for your own sake you need to find balance between relating to fictional characters and realizing that when people talk about your favorite comfort character, they’re not talking about you—as an individual real person—but how they themselves relate to that specific character.

The same way people talking “shit” about a character you like can trigger a response in you—because of how much you see yourself in that character—there are people who felt triggered by the character’s actions itself because they have dealt IRL with someone like this. So, shit can be serious sometimes. I’m not about to dismiss that.

But you need to understand where fiction ends and you begin.

I see a lot of myself in Carmy.

Growing up with an alcoholic parent is fucking hard and, unfortunately for me, I inherited all of my father’s bad traits and propensity to addiction. Every single day I wake up and try to be a better person, but I’m still fucking things up all the time. I’ve ghosted so many people in the past. I’ve a difficult time maintaining long term relationships of any kind because my fucked up brain always win in convincing me that people hates me and they’re better off without me. I’ve hurt others in the exact same way I’ve been hurt before.

But I understand that love doesn’t conquer all, that people can be damaged beyond repair sometimes. I also understand that everyone has the right to walk away not only from me, but from anyone else who’s doing them more harm than good.

This doesn’t mean that I seriously want Carmy dead in a shallow ditch (that was a joke). This doesn’t mean that I want him to be alone (I don’t). This doesn’t mean that I believe he doesn’t deserve love and/or to be in a relationship until he’s fully healed (I don’t).

And I don’t think those who are criticizing Carmy’s actions want or believe any of this. Let’s take a deep breath.

If you scroll through my posts, you’re gonna see that I, personally, have barely addressed Carmy or even SydCarmy. My main criticism this season has been about the writing of every other character and their lack of development. I already expected Carmy’s regression this season and I found it interesting to see this new side of him, but although the show started with Carmy, it doesn’t end with him.

I wanted to see more—and I will eventually write about the things that I loved this season—but these beautiful moments doesn’t compensate all the time spent on cameos, new irrelevant white characters, Claire and all the fucking Faks.

A lot of time was wasted on bullshit and people are scrambling around here to make sense of an average season, much more preoccupied with whether or not SydCarmy will happen and losing the plot about how Storer pissed all over the show to assert his domain. Is giving me war flashback of Twin Peaks: The Return.

I still love this show and Carmy very much, and I honestly hope the team gets their heads out of their asses and things get better in S04.

[onlyplatonicirl]

i like how your fanfic shows how horrible of a parent ink would realistically be

I’m glad :)

That’s something I try to go kind of in depth on in this fanfiction, which is taking a lot of the more “non canon” aspects of character interpretations (Ink being a parent, Error/Ink as a relationship, Fresh and PJ having a friendship, yadda yadda) and I kinda turn them on their head a bit and subvert expectations and try to see how those tropes would realistically work with the characters while keeping them actually IN CHARACTER.

Error/Ink in the tags? Oops jumpscare it’s not really an errink fic cuz they “break-up” (to put it lightly) in chapter 4 and basically hate each other for the rest of the 200,000 words. It’s not a shipping story it’s a tragedy looking into an aroace trying to better understand how other people work for his own slightly selfish motives and a man who is so desperate for company and attention after being alone for DECADES that he becomes nearly dependent on the emotional validation of the one person that actually seems to remotely give a shit about him.

And also realistically, the multiverse would not approve of them even being friends in any capacity. It’s always slightly pissed me off when I’ve read fanfic and Ink’s like “guys me and error are friends/dating/whatever” and everyone else is like “ok.” Wdym you aren’t gonna start WWIII. It’s an inevitable (har har) failure doomed from the start.

(Something I also enjoy a out this story is that with minor tweaking you can read the whole thing as them just being close friends - the “romance” is not a crucial part, but it does help emphasize character development with what I’m trying to write.)

So along the lines of trying to keep the characters realistic, yes ink would be a shit parent. Not on purpose and not because he doesn’t care, but because he just as a person with his horrid memory and low emotional tolerance/processing would just not be good for raising kids. Plus, he’s always traveling for his “job”, rarely would he actually stay at home for longer than a day. He treats his house like a fun sims project, free plot of land to build a crazy house for fun. He didn’t design it for much more than that, he’s not living in it full time after all.

Plus that fucked up both his kids. PJ’s become callous and wary around anyone he doesn’t know that well mostly due to having to figure things out and deal with things on their own. (Council. He doesn’t like them.) He’s nearly had to raise himself age 8 onward since Ink wasn’t much help. He just wanders the multiverse by himself. Unlike gray, who’s a total shut-in nervous wreck who barely leaves his room u less dragged by the ankle. PJ’s basically had to raise Gray as well. Neither of them have ever met Error (aside from PJ’s “birth” and a brief run-in on another occasion in which no words were spoken and that lasted maybe thirty seconds before Error ran away in terror).

I cant Write so many essays on these guys do not try me HAHAHA

Tldr I’m mentally ill about character development and emotional depth exploration