#powersandplanetaries

[suzukiblu]

Ask game: alien

"He showed me some stuff from Krypton," Superboy says, and that grin turns just a little bit shy and soft and somehow even more distracting than usual. "And I, uh–and he gave me something, too."

"What did he give you?" Tim asks, praying to God that the answer is "an emergency number" or "an allowance that can cover a semi-decent Metropolis apartment" or "an offer to live literally anywhere but Cadmus, including in the thirtieth century or on a hostile alien planet or inside an active volcano". He's technically an atheist, so the praying thing is probably moot, but times of desperation are times of desperation.

"A name," Superboy says, and his grin widens. "Like, you know, a real one."

Tim might hate Superman, he thinks. That might actually be a thing now.

Yeah, he's definitely going supervillain after Bruce dies and doesn't need an emotional support sidekick anymore. Better start stocking up on the kryptonite.

"That's great," he says with a very carefully not-forced smile instead of anything more along the lines of "wait, you've been alive and active as a superhero for all this time and no one ever actually named you?!" Superboy would probably take it the wrong way, not in the least because that never actually occurred to him as being a thing before. Like–he really did just assume Superboy was keeping a lid on whatever his real name was for personal reasons or Superman reasons or something. "Are you allowed to tell me it, or is that a no-go?"

"Oh, yeah," Superboy says with a sheepish laugh. "It's like, a Kryptonian name? Not like a secret identity one. It's, uh, Kon-El."

Of course it's not even a damn secret identity, Tim thinks in absolute frustration and abject loathing. Of course not! Why would it be?! Fuck forbid!

"I like it," he says, because he lies to Batman and therefore there is no fucking way that he's going to let Superboy–Kon–see any sign whatsoever of the metaphorical 9.9 on the Richter scale that is currently happening in his psyche. "It suits you."

"You think?" Kon grins all the wider. Tim can't even calm down enough to want to kiss him, except in the sense that he always wants to kiss him.

"I do," he says, and smiles at him.

Kon smiles back.

Tim hates everything. All the things. There is nothing that Tim doesn't hate right now, except maybe Alfred's snickerdoodles because he might be having a nervous breakdown but he's not, like, criminally insane or whatever.

Yet.

[clonerightsagenda]

powersandplanetaries

Oh don’t worry, as of brief mentions in Backpacking Through Bedlam, it is NOT going well! :)

Hell yeah I want this to be an existential nightmare

[the-art-student-in-221c]

Hey just checking in, but is this a “post life-affirming things because I’m happy”, or a “post life-affirming things because I’m in a rough place and need the reassurance” type of day?

this is such a lovely ask to get, thank you so genuinely. turns out it was a "post life affirming things cause i have a double ear infection, a sinus infection and a low grade fever" type of day. i literally dont remember last week. i am now on three types of antibiotics and going back to work in the morning

[marypsue]

tag six (6) people you'd like to know better! (I was tagged by @greyselkie, thanks!)

last song: Turn Me Loose, by Loverboy (it's all classic rock radio in the car, babey).

currently reading: I've still got Grady Hendrix' How To Sell a Haunted House on my nightstand; I've been putting off starting it for a time when I know I have several hours to get sucked in and finish it in one sitting and then cry about it. I also found out that Stephen Graham Jones' Don't Fear The Reaper, the sequel to My Heart is a Chainsaw (which I looooooved) actually came out in February and is not coming out in September like I'd thought, so a double feature of those two books is next on the agenda. And Caitlin Doughty's From Here To Eternity after that.

currently watching: Again, nothing yet, although I've been catching What We Do In The Shadows in reruns and I'm going to start watching I Am Not Okay With This any day now. Annnny day now.

current obsession: Recreating mid- to late-80s fashion trends to my personal tastes. The original fiction project I'm working on with the current title Fearleading Squad (I'm a chapter and a half + epilogue away from finished drafting it!). Trying to figure out how to assemble a crew of people I actually want to play a tabletop roleplaying game with, without having to immediately navigate the steep learning curve of learning an entire game system and how to run it for other people from scratch while having barely ever even been a player. (Maybe learning an entire tabletop gaming system and how to run it for other people from scratch while having barely ever even been a player. Haven't decided yet.) The band Rush.

(A very wise @gothiccharmschool once told me to embrace your cliches so hard they squeak, and, dear reader, I took that advice to heart.)

Tagging @rocketnebulas, @amethystunarmed, @sayitwithsarcophilus, @runsquidling, @powersandplanetaries, @officialqueer, and @definitely-not-a-bug! If you'd like to do it and don't see your name here, then you can also consider yourself tagged.

[dubiousculturalartifact]

#Some people didnt watch the desert ecosystem episode of Magic School Bus and it shows (via @powersandplanetaries

I watch a ton of great youtube videos about halting and reversing desertification but now youtube recommends me a ton of videos of people using those techniques to turn desert ecosystems into farmland. If you see these too, please downvote them. Going to desert ecosystems and planting food forests is not a trend we should be starting. Many plants and animals are endemic to those areas and those ecosystems are worth protecting. Deserts are not wastelands. These videos mislead people into thinking that this is a good thing for the environment just because there is more green. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are so many actual forest ecosystems that need to be restored, we should not be wasting energy foresting deserts that have been deserts for millennia.

[suzukiblu]

ask game: reveal

(also sorry if I’m sending too many of these lol)

For the record there is no such thing as "too many of these", lol, you have nooooothing to be sorry for, friend, send away. ❤️

Usually Kon just doesn't mention the whole "genetically designed to fuck Superwoman" thing, since a) it's personally embarrassing for him and b) he's personally embarrassed for Cadmus. They were trying to make the ideal mate for Superwoman and they made him? Really? He was their best design for that?

That is so far past embarrassing that it's coming back around the other way.

When Kon's sixteen and not even "Kon" yet, that fact's just a casual mortification that he occasionally feels when he gets inadvertently reminded of the "education" uploads that were supposed to make him consider Superwoman the hottest piece of ass on the planet and also make him want to "keep her in line", but otherwise it's irrelevant to his life. Because, like–he's sixteen, and she's Superwoman. Even if he did want to bang her, there is literally no way in this or any reality that it would ever happen. Like, ever. The chance is so far less than zero that it is literally in the negatives.

Also, if Kon did want to bang Superwoman, he cannot imagine that ever making him want to keep her in line. Given his dating history, in fact, he's pretty sure he would've been cheering her on in literally every altercation she ever got into and actively advocating for her to throat-punch any implication of the line into the stratosphere. Like, that seems much likelier an outcome there.

Look, Kon has a type, and that type is "can kick my fucking ass and make me fucking like it". He is not ashamed of that fact in any way whatsoever.

So Kon gets older. Fills out, gets stronger; develops more Kryptonian powers and stronger TTK and better control of both. Gets a whole lot bigger than Superwoman, after a few very uncomfortable growth spurts, but still continues not to want to fuck her even after Kalura Jor-El gives him a real name and even after he meets Clara Kent and her demurely pleated skirts and geeky glasses and even after his first time seeing her rip open her neat little button-up to reveal the bright and bold "S" stretched tight over Superwoman's aesthetically perfect tits.

Like, Kon can acknowledge that Clara's goddamn gorgeous, whether she's wearing the "S" or the geeky glasses or even just beat-up farmgirl flannel. He's not blind or oblivious. Just he just genuinely has no interest in fucking her and honestly? Thinking about the idea of it kinda grosses him out. Cadmus was way too detailed in those education uploads that frequently function more like intrusive thoughts, though, so he figures pretty much anybody with his style of rebellious nature would feel similarly.

Anyway, a Kama Sutra's worth of creative ways to get a female omega off is not the worst thing anyone ever put in Kon's head.

Possibly the creepiest, but not the worst.

[bixbythemartian]

Hey, would it be cool if I made an audio version of your superhero daycare short story?

yeah, it seems that a lot of people are being moved to do that and like I’m going to put a transformative works policy at some point this week, but I’m fine with that so long as I get credit and there’s a link back to my original work

[marypsue]

Nine people I'd like to know better

I was tagged by the lovely and talented @hauntingyourself! (Do yourself a favour and go check out their art right now.)

Last song: 'Broadway', by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Favourite colour: Green!

Currently watching: I've been trying to keep up on AMC's Creepshow as it comes out, does that count?

Last movie/tv show: The Hunger! David Bowie is in far less of that movie than was represented to me.

Spicy/savoury/sweet: Savoury, usually.

Relationship status: Nope.

Current obsession: Sleep all day. Party all night. It's fun to be a vampire.

Last thing you googled: Michelle Monaghan.

I'm tagging @thelibrarybat, @maddie-grove, @amethystunarmed, @rocketnebulas, @thestuffedalligator, @officialqueer, @powersandplanetaries, @whim-without-gumption, and @sayitwithsarcophilus!

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

req’d by @powersandplanetaries

okok i’ll get on the fridge

text: You know very well that this is a “Kill Fight Die” household

[suzukiblu]

kryptonite?

Fuck, they should've done this years ago, Kon thinks. Tim said he knew Bernard from way back in high school, right, so they absolutely could have just christened the Justice Cave first thing.

Red Tornado admittedly might've kicked their asses for it, but still. Kon would've taken that particular hit. Getting his hands on pink kryptonite might've been an issue too but whatever, Tim's always been a plan guy and Kon's at least semi-resourceful, they could've figured something out.

And Kon definitely would've done this years ago, if he'd known this was something he could actually do.

[samwisethewitch]

Excellent, excellent addition, and I 100% second everything @powersandplanetaries said here. How To Keep House While Drowning is excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone who struggles with cleaning.

One other thing I would add: if you live in an older home or one that has been poorly maintained by previous owners, you'll have a fourth category of tasks that you might call "Structural Maintenance" or "Managing Wear and Tear." Our house was built in the 1970s and has had some shoddy "repairs" done by previous owners, so we occasionally have to do things like fix a leaky faucet or patch a crack in the ceiling. I want to emphasize that this is normal for older homes.

For me, this category of tasks is lower priority than Health and Safety or Utility tasks, but higher priority than Mentally Restful tasks. Dealing with small wear and tear before it becomes a bigger (and often expensive) problem will take a lot of stress off both you and your home. It's much easier, cheaper, and less stressful to replace caulk on a bathroom faucet than to repair water damage from an unmanaged leak, for example.

It's 110% okay to pay someone to do these fixes if you have the funds, and if you're renting your landlord or building maintenance should really be taking care of these things. But you can do a lot of home repair tasks yourself! I have ADHD and multiple chronic illnesses and zero experience in this area, and I've managed to teach myself how to do a lot of these small, simple fixes. It's been really empowering for me to know that I can repair my own living space.

A resource I've found really helpful is the book Safe and Sound by Mercury Stardust, who you might know as the "Trans Handy Ma'am" on TikTok and Instagram. It's a really thorough and compassionately written guide to the kind of basic maintenance I'm talking about, and has lots of gorgeous illustrations!

*takes your face gently in my hands and looks sincerely into your eyes* listen. your home does not need to look like a showroom. homes are meant to be lived in, and that means a certain amount of mess. it's okay if there is clutter on your desk or if you don't remember the last time you cleaned your oven. mess is morally neutral. but at the same time, you deserve to live in an environment that is safe and comfortable, and that means someone has to clean sometimes. things like mold, spoiled food, and dirty litter boxes are genuine health hazards and need to be dealt with before they make someone sick. think of cleaning less as "my home needs to be completely spotless" and more as "I am an animal and I need a habitat that is free of hazardous material." it's okay. *kisses you on the forehead and tucks you into a blanket*

(and of course it is always acceptable and even good for you to ask someone else to help you with cleaning if it's physically or mentally difficult for you. even if you're paying them to do it.)

[suzukiblu]

ask game: quiet

"Okay," 105 says before crying a little more. A decent person would have hugged the kid a good dozen times by now or maybe just picked him up first thing and then never put him down again, but a decent person also wouldn't have made him to begin with.

Tim thinks about Harry Harlow and the wire mother monkeys.

And the cloth ones.

He steps around the side of the kitchen island and very carefully wraps his arms around 105.

105 holds himself very, very still.

"I'm sorry," Tim says quietly. "I'm so sorry. I'm not going to put you back in a tube. You don't have to be Kon. I never should've tried to make you think that you were."

"But I'm too little to do anything," 105 says, glancing up at him nervously. "And if I'm not gonna be Kon, then what am I gonna be?"

Tim's capacity for self-loathing could power every Gotham in the entire goddamn multiverse at this point.

"I don't know," he says carefully, doing his best to look the kid in the eye even with as much as the sight of his face hurts. "But that's up to you, okay? Not me. And I'll make sure . . . I'll make sure someone takes care of you, alright? You're not going to be–alone. Or anything like that. And no one's going to make you be anything you're not. Or . . . anyone you're not. Not if I can help it."

105 stares up at him for a long moment. Blinks a few times. Then he hunches his shoulders and ducks his head and cries some more.

Tim keeps his arms around him, because it's the only thing he can think to do.

He has really, really fucked up here.

[bettinalevyisdetermined]

When a student copies an essay online instead of writing it and then painstakingly changes every word to a synonym until the text no longer makes any sense...

call that the Ship of Thesaurus

[suzukiblu]

ask game: liar

"I knew I wasn't good enough for them," Jason murmurs, feeling all dull and distant. Feeling like he could tear himself right out of his own damn skin, if only there was anything actually inside him. "But I still thought they wanted me. Thought they'd . . . thought they'd let me stay." 

"What's your name?" Dick asks again like it even fucking matters, very obviously struggling to hold back his alpha voice. Very obviously upset at hearing all that.

It's funny, still. 

"Who gives a shit?" Jason retorts, closing his eyes and burying his face in his arms. He can't look at Dick right now. Not when Dick can look at him and have to ask his goddamn name. "Not like there's anyone who wants to use it." 

"I do," Dick says, the fucking liar.

"Maybe you don't deserve to," Jason says instead of lying back.

[legowerewolf]

L - Lock Me Up by The Chalkeaters

E - End Up Here by 5 Seconds of Summer

G - Glitter & Gold by Barns Courtney

O - Old Me by 5SOS

W - Werewolf Boyfriend by Disko Warp and Fright Ranger

E - Everybody Talks by Neon Trees

R - Ready to Run by One Direction

E - 18 by One Direction

W - Welcome to Jurassic Park by John Williams

O - The One Moment by OK Go

L - Legends Never Die by League of Legends and Against The Current

F - fake town baby by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN

and now to @ folks... @farisyawritesfic @notdeadjack @wolfina-darkmoon @souldagger @photosynthefish-12 @darkestday828 @copper-and-smoke @powersandplanetaries @elrond50 @chibi-chaos @blessphemy @empyreanwilliwaw

Rules: pick a song for each letter of your URL and tag that many people.

Tagged by @sailforvalinor, and thank you this looks like fun!

Remember and Proclaim (Andrew Peterson)

All I Ask of You (Jackie Evancho)

Innocence (Nathan Wagner)

Níl Sé'n Lá (Celtic Woman)

I Still Need a Savior (Billy Sprague)

No Strings (Ed Sheeran)

Take Me Back Road (Tim & the Glory Boys)

How Great is Our God (Chris Tomlin)

Everything Sad is Coming Untrue (Jason Grey)

El-Shaddai (Amy Grant)

Voice of Truth (Casting Crowns)

Endlessly (Amaranthe)

Not Alone (Red)

I'm an Open Road (Paul Brandt)

Never Leave Your Side (Sam Tinnesz)

Good to Be Alive (Skillet)

Hoo boy, can I think of sixteen people?

@griseldabanks @kraytwriter @kingofattolia @catkin-morgs @clawedandcute @nerdychristianfanboy @steampunk-archer @sergeanttomycaptain @smhalltheurlsaretaken @scribblermerlin @authortobenamedlater @stainedleather @mrtobenamedlater @mrgartist @get-loved-nerd @a-fount-of-blessings (Ignore if this is a repeat tag. Unless you want to do it again. Up to you. :)

[suzukiblu]

Ask game: donate/donor

"This omega is our most fitting candidate for your needs, Alpha Wayne," Travers says, her smile turning increasingly forced. Bruce thinks he can safely translate that expression as that of a beta who did not in any way agree with that assessment but was stuck following orders. "She fulfills all of your nutritional requests, including the necessary iron content and the prioritized fats and proteins, and, of course, is not taking any manner of lactation-inducing stimulants or supplements."

"He," the omega corrects, sounding dubious. Travers's mouth tightens. Bruce knows a lot of old-school traditionalists who won't call a male omega "he" or a female alpha "she", no matter what said omega or alpha's preferences happen to be, and makes another note about looking into this agency more thoroughly.

Much more thoroughly.

"She isn't available for direct nursing, unfortunately, but her milk is a perfect match to your requests and she produces both excellently and reliably; her supply will be more than enough for your needs," Travers continues as if the omega hadn't spoken, and the omega's lip curls in obvious annoyance as he rolls his eyes with no attempt to hide his exasperation even in the presence of an unfamiliar alpha.

Bruce thinks of Jason with a brief pang, and pushes the thought aside. It's not the time.

Maybe he could've asked Jason for help with this, if he'd been a better father. A better alpha. A better . . .

But he wasn't, so now there's an annoyed stranger standing in his parlor instead of a content packmate curled up in their nest.

"Really?" he asks, tilting his head and blinking down at Travers with a deliberately surprised expression. "The consultant made it sound like you'd need multiple donors, for the amount we're asking."

If one goddamn barely-presented kid is actually producing enough milk to even half-feed a Kryptonian pup . . .

"This omega produces sufficient quantities for your needs, Alpha Wayne," Travers replies with another forced smile. She must know how ridiculous a statement that is, when she's talking about a stray kid and not a fully mature omega with at least a couple of litters under their belt who's well-established in a stable pack, but she says it with conviction all the same.

"Oh, good!" Bruce says brightly, because he's supposed to be a stupid knotheaded playboy who wouldn't know a damn thing about nursing either way. "That'll be convenient, then."

Frankly, he only wishes one omega could produce what they need right now, but requesting that much milk from one agency for just one pup would be immediately flagged as suspicious, and definitely turned down outright. They're still looking for other candidates under false names, but at the rate they're going, they're going to need to keep supplementing with formula, which already hasn't been going well.

If Clark could get milked up himself, this wouldn't be a problem, of course. A Kryptonian omega could easily produce more than enough for one Kryptonian pup, especially under a yellow sun. Clark nursed Jon without a problem for years and was actually overproducing when he was, Bruce knows very well.

Unfortunately, that's not an option anymore. Not since . . .

Clark would never forgive himself if something like that happened again.

Never.