#psy why are you like this

[abyssmal-skies]

Lanterns and conversations - words you can't say to their face

@xianyoon for the summer festival challenge.

[psychologeek]

do you really think you're the victim in this situation? children are being bombed every day, do you think they're less human than you?

Children are bombed every day? Wow. Shocking. I had no idea.

(One of my first memories is the sound of explosion, and the way my home shook. I was seven.)

I don't think others are, as you put it, "less human" then me. But apparently YOU seem to think that way.

See, all I do is writing about *my* experiences, and things that actually have a matter to my own life. So yes, I'm self-centric.

You, on the other hand?

Completely unrelated to the situation. Yet, all you have to do is to complain about.... what exactly? That I share my fears, and pain, and struggles? That I have PTSD? That I'm alive?

But again, I shouldn't be surprised. If "not talking" about something is bc you think they aren't human.

Well.

(Your attempt to silence me says it all.)

~

(ID1: sky with smoke-dots. Those dots are missiles. I took this photo from my home.)

(ID2: a newborn on window pane. Screenshot from news.)

This is 10 days old Kay. His parents hid with him as their house was burnt and their friends and family were murdered. When the shooting got quiet, they opened the door of the smoke-filled room and placed him on the window pane to let him breathe. Then, when the shooting got back to the area, they closed the door and got back to pretend to be dead.

(When I was 17, I hugged my 4 yo sister under my grandma's staircase, as we waited for the explosion.)

א.ט. *אזעקה מוקלטת*

This is me and some of my neighbours on a usual day.

Now, this is pretty old - my area, personally, wasn't bombed in a while.

The area I grew up in, where some of my family still lives, can't say the same.

But hi, it's all depending on the context, as was said.

Not like I'm human or anything.

[skitskatdacat63]

helloooo you haven’t heard from me in a while but since i consider u an f1 historian i just saw on tiktok a video of an intro (before the 2012 korean gp i assume) where they had the drivers with gangnam style as the music… i was wondering if you might have it since that has been driving me insaaaane 😭😭 thank you sm catie have a lovely day 🫶

Hallo!!!! Nice to see you again! I'm glad I can be held in such high esteem 😭 But please anon, we def saw the same tiktok, this one, right? A great thanks to the op on tiktok who linked me the video!!

Why did you have to force me think again about all the Gangnam Style stuff in F1 in 2012 though????(ex. BBC vid with PSY, vid/pics of Seb and Mark with PSY, both learning the dance, as well as other clips of drivers such as Felipe and Nico dancing)

[aaronwarner]

Ivy’s sweater slipped off her left shoulder when she leaned forward, baring skin of golden cream to the morning sunlight. “Okay, I get that.” She didn’t notice when he nudged the sweater back in place with [telekinesis], the temperature too cold for her to be so exposed. [...] “How did they know your subdesignation so fast?” Her sweater slipped again and he nudged it back. “It usually takes time to be certain, even with genetic markers.” [...] Vasic glanced at her shoulder, nudged the sweater back up. This time, she noticed, color on her cheeks as her hand went up to the spot. “How many times?” “Five.” He got to his feet before he could make it six. “I need to rest.”

SHIELD OF WINTER by Nalini Singh

[beauzos]

just saw a Mother character poll from last year that pit Leder against Salsa and Salsa beat him handily. yall have no damn respect for Leder. Leder is the best character in Mother 3 and i am not joking and NO ONE RECOGNIZES IT!!

[imwritesometimes]

I had to pay eye watering prices for them but look what I encountered today (finally)

[machidielontheway]

hurting myself by wondering why i'm the only one who got a thumbs up emoji reply instead of a heart emoji reply, and also not sure of getting the meaning of the reply i got after, especially with another emoji added where i'm ??? what does it mean here

[gameclam3]

One of my mutuals posted a list of games they plan on playing and psy///nauts 2 was on there... stomach literally dropped

[woundedheartwithin]

I’m so serious if the rumors are true and Far Cry 7 is set in Korea they should AT LEAST get Namjoon in the booth if not all of BTS

[gibbearish]

i wish there was a way to find every kid out there who Never Wants To Accidentally Say Slurs and teach them the easily typoed ones bc like if you taught Everyone then ppl who want to say slurs will just be like "oh boy new slurs to use" but theres also no feeling quite like getting a message saying "hey uhh i know it wasnt on purpose but you really gotta be careful abt watching your fingers when you type xyz because cyz is actually a really horrible and well known slur that you just happened to never hear before" when using slurs you shouldnt is the very last thing you want to do. and thats in the event that someone who knows you well enough to know it wasnt on purpose and can recognize it was a typo is the one who reaches out, the alternative is just yknow. getting blocked and/or yelled at for being an asshole because "well everyone knows thats a slur so you MUST be saying it on purpose and saying you didn't know it was one as an excuse"

[johndonneswife]

my sister needs a job omg

[psychologeek]

Your defense of Israel murdering or displacing all the Palestinians is disgusting.

You defend the government’s actions over the whole course of its existence and deny is subjugation and occupation of Palestine.

Israel is a colonist nation. Regardless of who your ancestors are from thousands of years ago, you do not get to go to another country and forcefully expel its current population out of some inane sense of birthright.

I am African American. My ancestors were stolen from their homelands, sold to slavers, and shipped across the sea where then endured torture in every meaning of the word for generations. The African American community is still recovering.

But that in no way gives me the right to return to the African country of my ancestors and demand that whoever lives there (and has lived there for centuries) leaves and gives their land to me so I can make a new country. And I’m talking about a crime that happened only 300 years ago, not thousands.

The Israel government is currently committing war crimes at unprecedented levels in modern times. And their only goal is to expel all Palestinian from Gaza (and the West Bank). They don’t care about the hostages, they just want land.

October 7th does not exist in a vacuum. Even if it did it would not justify the thousands of children that have been murdered as a result. Over the course of 75 years of occupation Israel have murdered countless children and other innocents, all far before October 7th.

Antisemitism is an incredibly serious problem in the world. But antizionism is not antisemitism. What right do westerners, regardless of who their ancestors were and regardless of what they have been through, to forcefully claim an already occupied plot of land in the Middle East. The answer is none. If they do so they are colonizers. Just like if I were to forcefully claim land in Africa today I would be a colonizer.

Real nazis exist. White supremacist exist. And many of them actual support Israel because they recognize it as a facist state that kills brown people.

True antisemitism exists and it is being largely ignored so Zionists can attack Palestinians and other Arabs for refusing to give their own land to Western transplants.

You should reflect on the empathy you have for Israel soldiers and the lack of empathy you have for the Palestinian children (the nearly 10,000) who have been blown up, shot, and starved to death of the course of the last few months.

You justify their deaths at every corner and talk about the fear of violence you feel, but not the actual violence they endure.

You have the nerve to write about a complicated middle eastern child like Damian when if he were real, you would be justifying his murder at the hands of western fascists.

Anon,

first of all - I do have to thank u for taking it to my Tumblr instead of the comment section on ao3. I appreciate it.

For those interested - this is the fic anon refers to at the end of the comment, when saying "You have the nerve to write about a complicated middle eastern child like Damian"

TL;DR:

Me (literally was a Middle Eastern child who grew up to be a ME adult, and have a complicated family relationship)

me: writing "Hi, Intifada is actually a bad thing. Bombs are blind, you know" in my A/N of one of my fics.

Anon from the USA: HOW DARE YOU VIOLENT WHITE FACIST!!!!!

me: ?_?

*********

now for the actual reply!

1."Your defense of Israel murdering or displacing all the Palestinians is disgusting."

Where, exactly, did I say I support murder/displacement of people?

(And yes, I mean ANY people)

2. "You defend the government’s actions over the whole course of its existence"

Umm, what?

I definitely disagree with (many many MANY) things the government did. 'over the whole course of its existence' - wow. You really went on with it, huh?

3. "and deny is subjugation and occupation of Palestine."

"subjugation, occupation " - again, what?

And, how do you enslave a LAND?

That is a very interesting claim you're making here.

(Not to mention that, Palestine was the COLONIAL name of the reign. But who cares?)

4. "Israel is a colonist nation."

Do you know what "colonist" means?

I'll give you a hint - it requires having a country in a first place, and expending.

5. "Regardless of who your ancestors are from thousands of years ago"

No, but you see - it DOES matter.

That statement means that heritage doesn't matter. That 'homeland' has an expiring date.

A. Since many of those who consider themselves Palestinians today do it bc THEIR ancestors lived in the reign, it is a crucial thing. And an interesting claim.

B. Does it apply to other places as well? I mean, are you also against "land back" and independence for Puerto Rico (which is, btw, ANOTHER colonial name).

C. There have always been Jews in Israel. Judaism (which comes from "Judea" - you know, the old southern Jewish kingdom? in the Jerusalem area?

6. "you do not get to go to another country and forcefully expel its current population out of some inane sense of birthright."

I agree. I don't support any expel for anyone. I believe there's enough place for anyone that wants to live IN PEACE. About 20% of Israel's population are Arabs-Israelis. I had Muslim roommate in the past, and where I study, about 25% of my class are Muslims.

7. "I am African American. My ancestors were stolen from their homelands, sold to slavers, and shipped across the sea where then endured torture in every meaning of the word for generations."

Yes. So were my ancestors. (Guess who built the Collosum?) And my people are still being harrased and murdered.

7. "The African American community is still recovering."

So does the Jewish population worldwide.

8. "But that in no way gives me the right to return to the African country of my ancestors and demand that whoever lives there (and has lived there for centuries) leaves and gives their land to me so I can make a new country."

There is no demand for anyone to leave.

About the "lived here for centuries" claim :

In the first quarter of the 19th century, Israel population was about 250k (about 25% Jews.)

overall population according to year. origin mentioned.

Then, in 1948, the arab population in Israel was 1,237,000 (67%) and the Jewish population was 608,000 (33%).

for example, main cities population 1860-1946:

Jerusalem (over all, Jews, Muslims, Christians) ,Jaffa (over all, Jews, Muslims, Christians), Haifa (over all, Jews, Muslims, Christians)

Same origin also cites a lot of immigration (mostly from Egypt and Lebanon).

****

[So, you go by the right of conquer? as in "if you live there, then it's yours"? So, do you support the Jewish return to Hebron (Jewish community constantly, until 1929.) and Gaza (same)?]

Of course that you, as a single person, can't do that. May I remind you of decision 181 of the UN? about 2-state solution?

In fact, the first accords, the UN ones? said "we'll give 80% of the land to 70% of the population" (Arabs) "and 20% of the land to 30% of the population"

Jews said: ok!

Arabs said: umm. Nope. We want everything, or there'll be blood.

You can probably read about what happened to the Jews that were left in Gush Etzion and other off-border Jews after Israel declared independence.

[Why am I using the term "Arab" and not "Palestinian"? well, that's what they called themselves:]

Arab leaders like Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi told the Peel Commission in 1937: "There is no such country as 'Palestine'; 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented!" During the 1930s, anti-British and anti-Jewish riots were enflamed by the newly created "Arab Higher Committee,"( Arab - not Palestinian!) the central political organ of the Arab community of Mandate Palestine .In 1946, Arab historian Philip Hitti testified before the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that "there is no such thing as Palestine in history.” In 1947, Arab leaders protesting the UN partition plan argued that Palestine was part of Syria and “politically, the Arabs of Palestine (were) not (an) independent separate … political entity.” In 1947, the UN proposed a "Jewish" State and an "Arab" (again, not Palestinian) State.

9. "And I’m talking about a crime that happened only 300 years ago, not thousands."

Yes. If you want to know why the Jewish population is/was suspicious about living under arab/muslim authorities, feel free to look up the Hebron massacre (and ethnic cleansing - the eareser of the Jewish people in 1929. Also the EC of the Jewish community in Gaza in 1929, several exiles before. Also massacre of Zfad 'what year?' - ALL OF THEM).

And that before mentioning the EC of jews from MENA countries - arab/Muslims countries (there's a nice song about it. Feel free to listen.)

10. "The Israeli government is currently committing war crimes at unprecedented levels in modern times."

Uhm.

The Holocaust? Buko Haram? Hamas? Iran-Balochistan? dam, SYRIA?? Hello?

Funny how EVERYTHING can, all of a sudden, become "the worst thing in modern history".

(There are, probably, war crimes going on. Which is terrible, and should NOT happen, and there's a lot of ppl in Israel calling against it. But just bc you don't like something, or bc it's bad, doesn't mean it's a war crime.)

11. "And their only goal is to expel all Palestinian from Gaza (and the West Bank)."

No, hun. I'm sorry you fell for the propaganda.

Their goal is to return the quiet to the area. Since, you know, we STILL HAVE MISSILES FIRED AT CIVILIAN AREAS as had been in the 20+ last years. Not to mention terror attacks (hi, remember the 07/10?) And THE KIDNAPPED PEOPLE, MOSTLY CIVILIANS.

(Which is a WAR CRIME, btw. In relation to no.10).

12. "They don’t care about the hostages,"

I'm sorry, what?

Right. You say it as... someone who never been in Israel, and get news from Al Jazeera (funded by the same ppl who fund Hamas), I guess.

(Literally some of those who currently fight has family and friends that were kidnapped.)

Though, about the government - idk. I honestly lost any try to understand what the current PM trying to do.

13. "they just want land."

Of course. Which is EXACTLY why Israel has tried to make peace agreements 5 times before, willing to give away land. EXACTLY why Israel had exiled every last jew from Gaza Strip in 2005, during the disengagement. Exactly why, during the peace agreements with Egypt, Israel gave away Sinai (which is about the size of the rest of Israel.)

14. "October 7th does not exist in a vacuum."

Love this comment. Such a great idea.

I bet you'd say the same thing about Floyd, won't you?

I mean, it didn't happen in a VACCUM. That officer felt threatened and I'm sure he was very sad afterwards.🥺🥺

15. "Even if it did it would not justify the thousands of children that have been murdered as a result."

aaaannd we reach the part of PROPAGANDA. I'll be honest, I'm tired of it.

I'll only say - according to international law, and the laws of war (LoW), hiding in civil population is a WAR CRIME. So is using child soldiers, hiding HQ and ammunition under hospitals, religious places, schools, and kindergartens.

16. "Over the course of 75 years of occupation Israel have murdered countless children and other innocents, all far before October 7th.

check your resources about: 75 years. "murder countless children"

Antisemitism is an incredibly serious problem in the world. But antizionism is not antisemitism. What right do Westerners, regardless of who their ancestors were and regardless of what they have been through, to forcefully claim an already occupied plot of land in the Middle East. The answer is none. If they do so they are colonizers. Just like if I were to forcefully claim land in Africa today I would be a colonizer. Real nazis exist. White supremacist exist."

Love that you claim me to be westerner and\or white, as I'm neither. Go back to no.8. Jews ALWAYS lived here. wanting a state, when *all countries in the area started becoming their own countries* isn't the problem. Claiming that only THAT country has no right to exist - yes, it is antisemitic, sorry. Or are you also against Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, etc. as their own countries?

Also - not forcefully. UN decision.

"Real nazis exist. White supremacist exist." - funny how they BOTH agree that Israel is bad. Almost like they have 1 thing in common

(Hint: this isn't a strong urge for world peace)

"And many of them actually support Israel because they recognize it as a facist state that kills brown people."

- Dog whistle!

"Jews are white killing brown ppl" + "jews are the REAL nazis"

"True antisemitism exists and it is being largely ignored so Zionists can attack Palestinians and other Arabs for refusing to give their own land to Western transplants."

"Jews are white colonisers that came to kill all the nice PoC who lived peacefully!

"You should reflect on the empathy you have for Israel soldiers and the lack of empathy you have for the Palestinian children (the nearly 10,000) who have been blown up, shot, and starved to death of the course of the last few months."

- you don't care about the kids!!!!

(Israelis are soldiers and murderous, VS. the Palestinians who are all innocent kids who did nothing.) don't care about the Israeli ones).

"You justify their deaths at every corner and talk about the fear of violence you feel, but not the actual violence they endure."

- YOU ARE VIOLENT! How dare you say you want ACTUAL peace, one that includes NO ONE being targeted by missiles??

[Can you, in your OWN WORDS, say what are "Nazism", "Facism", and "Zionism"? bc one of those isn't like the others.]

"You have the nerve to write about a complicated middle eastern child like Damian when if he were real, you would be justifying his murder at the hands of western fascists."

- Wow. How dare I, a Middle Eastern who grew up in a complicated family, write about a Middle Eastern child who grew up in a complicated area and complicated family situation?

really, SHAME on me!

But sure-

The problem is that I write about Damian, a FICTIONAL CHARACTER, and not that actual, real life, ppl suffer.

The problem is that I dare say "Yo, ppl, calling for Intifada, aka TERROR ATTACKS (that killed EVERYONE - Jews, Muslims, Christians, etc.) is bad and violent. Of course. No matter that rise in violence is destructive and harmful to EVERYONE.

I see you came here through my fanfic. Fanfic that part of it was trying to get more comfortable with my grandma's old culture and language. And the other part was about educating myself more about religion I'm not familiar enough with, and reminding myself that people are people. (Hoping that knowing and understanding would help me coup with my own personal prejudice and trauma, as I keep seeing the faces of the dead I knew and keep dreaming about the baby from the terror attack when I was a kid and keep feeling the ground shaking, even though I'm no longer a child in an unprotected area when all I could do was lay on the ground and pray the missiles won't fall near me)

Let me ask you something -

I was born in Israel, and so did my parents, and so did THEIR parents (except for a grandma who immigrated as a toddler from Yemen. Yes, that country that just exiled the last Jewish family in 2022, current Jewish population: 1. That Yemen.)

And it seems like you have never even been to this continent. Never had to run to shelter. Doesn't have baby photos with gas masks, or know how to find the "as protected as possible" area (since not every place has a shelter) -

so you, a random anon, who doesn't really know anything about an ongoing war\conflict that affects many lives, come and criticise me for calling for no more violence.

Let me ask you something -

What gives you the right?

[meliohy]

.

[beauzos]

Getting into a new fandom is hard sometimes. I’m very picky about following people because I Don’t Trust Like That but also I need people to scream with me about Nahyuta and Blackquill and Bobby Fulbright and alas. It is hard to find mutuals

[scientia-rex]

I feel like disappointment in Biden is baffling to me because he was always a disappointment. He was the asshole who got to ride to power on the coattails of a better man. He told bizarre and repeated lies (despite getting caught at it and his team telling him not to) about having a Welsh coal miner dad when he did not and he stole that story from actual Welsh people. I read a profile of him years back that pointed this out and told the story of the time he straight up ignored good advice from an expert not to plant a certain kind of tree too close together and flew a bunch of them out to plant, at night because he was just too fucking excited about it, and they all died. He’s not a smart man! He’s charismatic ish and lacks principles and as far as I can tell doesn’t really care about abortion rights or a lot of things we’d consider pretty critical to preserving freedom. I sincerely thought he couldn’t become President because there were so many obviously better candidates in the pool. I underestimated the sexism and antisemitism in American politics, and when he became the candidate in 2020 I gritted my teeth and voted for him because the alternative was a man who is not only an idiot but also profoundly dangerous. Trump is not ha-ha crazy, he’s Mussolini crazy. He is not dangerous because he’s stupid, although that doesn’t help; he’s dangerous because he does not care about anyone except himself under any circumstances and if that means he lets the far right push us straight into forced birth for white women and sterilization for women of color he’s going to do that. If that means conversion therapy for queers and death penalty for homosexual acts he’s going to do that. He has literally no limits. If he gets back into power, a whole lot of people are going to die, again. It’s not a hypothetical because it happened the first time and he’s only going to get worse.

I am not, never have been, and never will be a fan of Biden. To pretend that he and Trump are in any way equivalent is wrong at best and another goddamn Russian psy-op at worst. To pretend that a third party candidacy is viable in the US is to completely ignore every election of your lifetime and your parents’ lifetimes, and to further ignore the lesson of Ross Perot.

You cannot save Palestinians by not voting for Biden in November; the best you can do is chip away at his margin, and the worst you can do is see Trump elected so he can decide to do the worst possible thing in ever circumstance. Biden has Palestinian blood on his hands and watching this when we could have had Bernie or Elizabeth Warren instead is maddening. (I would have preferred Hillary to Trump, but I don’t think she’d be any different than Biden here. They’re both old-school politicians.)

I hate everything about this, and I hate that saying “maybe don’t put the man who literally said he would kill his political enemies in power” is seen as supporting genocide. It’s acknowledging reality. Joe Biden as a person can eat rocks for all I care. I was kind of hoping he’d die sooner in his term so we’d have time to get used to and then vote for President Harris. (Remember when the line was “she’s a cop, don’t vote for her”? Funny how there’s always a reason not to vote for a woman or a person of color or someone you just “don’t like” and can’t put a finger on why except she “seems angry.” Oh does she. How would she not? When Michelle fucking Obama, the picture of grace , STILL got called angry for having the nerve to be a Black woman with an opinion? When Hillary Clinton lost to a man with no political experience to her decades and who openly discussed sexually assaulting women? Would you have voted for President Harris? Or would you let Trump win again because you don’t LIKE her personally and she’s made decisions and statements you disagree with?)

Biden has both less power than his critics give him credit for and more power than his fans give him credit for. He needs to do more to pressure Israel and although it’s a delicate diplomatic situation I’d rather see us fuck up our diplomatic relationship with Israel than watch more Palestinians get murdered for things like “wanting to eat” and “existing.” The line has been crossed, and he doesn’t see it. Because he wasn’t the best person for the job. Because they didn’t get elected, because of sexism/antisemitism/racism. Hell, I have no idea what bootlicker Pete Buttegieg would have done here, but I’d have given him a try. But no. We got Biden and we’re stuck with this reality where you can be as leftist as you want and still have to look at the situation and decide whether you’re comfortable contributing to a Trump victory through inaction. I want socialism—I want every single person on Earth to have clean drinking water, enough safe food, shelter, medical care, and education—and I’m going to vote for Biden, pissy as it makes me, because the only actual alternative is so, so much worse, for me personally as both a woman and a queer, and for everyone in America and the rest of the world who Trump would find reasons to hurt. What do you think the man who openly and repeatedly praises dictators is going to do when those dictators massacre their own people? Yes, we need to care about this genocide now. We also need to care about all of the other people who are at real risk, both at home and abroad. Would a Trump government agree to fund military intervention in Haiti without insisting on it being a colonial exercise in power? Would a Trump government roll back the restrictions on discriminating against transgender patients in healthcare? How would Trump respond if Orban started dragging people into the streets and shooting them en masse? How would Trump respond if China finally went for it and invaded Taiwan? There are more lives at stake here than mine or yours or even those of the Palestinians, who have deserved better for literally decades and are being mass killed in ways that should result in immediate sanctions, a war crimes trial, and the execution of Netanyahu.

The world deserves better from you than complicity in a Trump victory.

[spacedace]

Still thinking about the Social Worker Jazz concept that @gilbirda posted about and it's slowly turning into a full Anger Management fic send help

-

Jason at length - much longer than it really should have taken really - set the resume down.

The new Social Worker’s resume. Because she was there, in his office, trying to convince him to hire her as a member of his criminal organization.

Crime Alley’s new social worker. A bright eyed Midwestern transplant from some tiny speck of a place that only qualified as a city because there was nothing bigger in a hundred miles in any direction to claim otherwise. The new social worker who had a Psy D. and three masters degrees and who had graduated Valedictorian. The one that had high paying private gigs lined up all over the country with the offering companies fighting over her.

The one who had, apparently, decided to take a shit job in Gotham’s shoddy social services department instead. The one that got kicked to Crime Alley - which was its own division despite technically being a small neighborhood in the grand scheme of things - within her first month. Supposedly for the sole purpose of scaring her off or getting her killed for all the questions she was asking and secret dealings she was sticking her nose into.

That social worker.

“I’m gonna need you to run this by me again.” Jason said, never so grateful for the voice modulator in his helmet as he was in that moment. It stripped out the bewilderment that had bled through into his words and made him sound stoic instead.

“I’d like to work for you.” The social worker - one Dr. Jasmine Nightingale - repeated primly. Back straight, clothes neat - if skewing more on the librarian side of professional - expression confident and hopeful. Completely and utterly oblivious of how fucking insane she sounded. “I was told that you’re the person in charge of Crime Alley.”

He resisted the urge to scrub at his face. It’d just look weird with his helmet on and not do anything to actually settle him in that moment anyway. “I understood that part.”

“Look, Doc,” She earned a doctorate and she was crazy enough to waltz into the office of one of Gotham’s most powerful Crime Lords, he’d be respectful about using her proper title at least, even if he suspected she was ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. “You’re going to have to tell me why. I was under the impression the only reason you ended up dumped on our end of the city ws because you wouldn’t play ball. But now you want to sign up for my crew?”

Nightingale frowned a little at that.

“Is that what people are saying?”

“What else are they gonna say?” Jason answered, leaning back in his seat, “Head of the department only dumps Crime Alley on folks he don’t like. And everyone knows he doesn’t like anyone that can’t or won’t play his game by his rules.”

“Alright, well. I’ll give you that.” Nightingale conceded, “Payne doesn’t like me. The feeling’s mutual. But for the record,” She added giving him a wry smile, as if sharing wry smiles with Red Hood was just something people did, “I asked to be assigned to the Park Row and Bowery neighborhoods.”

“You wanted to work here.”

“Yes.”

“Bullshit.”

Nightingale laughed. It was a bright sound. Not especially clear or pretty, but warm and welcoming in a way that carefully calculated giggles or overdone guffaws couldn’t be. Something with real and honest amusement in it, that encouraged those nearby to laugh along. Not the kind of involuntary, nervous chuckling people tended to slip into when they thought they had pissed someone that scared them off.

She just wasn’t intimidated by him at all, was she?

Behind his helmet, Jason found himself smiling. Just a bit.

“I’m serious.” She assured, blue-green eyes meeting the dark stare of his helmet without a moment of hesitation. He watched as she brushed a lock of her bright red hair behind her ear and out of the way. She’d woven it all into a practical, neat braid but a few sly pieces had snuck out to bounce around her. Gilding her quiet professionalism with a playful charm that worked well with her academia but make it cottagecore kindergarten teacher aesthetic.

“I’ll admit, Gotham wasn’t part of my plan when I first graduated. Time and choices take you funny places sometimes.” She plucked an invisible bit of lint off her soft blue cardigan, not nervous but absent as her gaze went distant for a moment. Thinking back on the events that had led her to his fine city. In a blink, those sharp eyes were back to focusing entirely on him. “But Gotham is where I am now, and I want to help.”

She looked at him, a serious, determined expression settling easily on her face. “The city as a whole has so much chaos and crime breaking out all the time.” No censure or horror in her voice, just a neutral fact to be observed. “But where the rest of the city has millions of dollars poured into it by various foundations or charities run by the Waynes, Park Row is largely ignored.”

Jason watched as steeliness sharpened her gaze, the blue-green shifting from the shine of a bird’s wing to the warning hue of something poisonous and deadly. “No one deserves that. No one.” Her chin tilted up, proud but not imperious. “So yes, I want to work here. There are people in Park Row and the Bowery who need help and I refuse to let any of them feel like they are going to be ignored.”

Jason considered her.

Really looked at her. Pealing back his initial off handed impression of her as some clueless transplant in over her head with no idea of what she was doing or what she was poking her nose into to find the real woman beneath. Her confident poise, her clear unshakable belief, her unflinching willingness to look danger in the eye and not blink. The tense curve of her frown, the lines of pain at the corners of her eyes, the simmering anger beneath it all. There was an edge to her, too. Something sharp and dangerously well hidden by the cardigan and folksy charm of her accent.

It was personal for the woman before him, Jason realized. Maybe not Crime Alley specifically, but something about the whole situation. The treatment the neighborhood and its residents received from the city at large, from those even beyond it.

Crime Alley wasn’t a place that received much in the way of charitable thought. The average joe with their house in Somerset and job at some corporate shithole hating every second of their life but thinking at least I don’t live in Crime Alley. Those asshole hoity-toites in city hall throwing money around equally between shit that’d get them re-elected and their off-shore slush funds in the Caymens doing their damn level best to pretend the black mark on the other end of the city just didn’t exist. Bruce, flooding the entire city with charitable programs and carefully constructed infrastructures shying away from the manifested grief and trauma that was the place he watched his parents get murdered.

For the most part no one from outside of the Alley gave a shit about the Alley other than as a place to avoid at all costs. And most of the time those natives that manages to claw their way out into better and brighter lives didn’t ever turn to glance back. Orpheus could have learned a thing or to from an ex-Alley Kid who managed to eek out a steady 9-to-5 and move to Burnley.

And something about that seemed to piss Dr. Jasmine Nightingale Psy. D right the fuck off.

He could see why Bill said he liked her enough to let her in.

“Alright.” He said, tilting his head, watching the woman seated across from him carefully, “Still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here. Why you’re trying to get on my payroll.”

“I’m not trying to get on your payroll.” She said, some of the glinting edge softening, but the steel remaining. Strong and unyielding. “I’m trying to get into your community outreach program.”

Jason thanked god and all the saints once again for the gift of his helmet. That baby had saved his ass more times than he could count both by keeping his head in one piece and keeping his stupefied expressions wrapped up and hidden from view. Dr. Nightingale was one hell of a woman to make him have to rely on that fact twice in one conversation.

“Wasn’t aware that was something I had.”

Nightingale, not fortunate enough to have a full face covering helmet of her own, had nothing to hide her stupefied expression behind. Jason had a feeling she might have removed it to make sure he saw even if she did though. She looked like she had caught him eating glue like it was a cheese stick.

“Yes you do.” She said, sounding deeply confused but unshakable confident in what she was saying. “I’ve seen it. The soup kitchens, the shelters, the collection boxes for donating old clothes, the after school day care.” Nightingale ticked off on her fingers, “I’ve lived here for less than two weeks and I’ve lost count of all the things I’ve seen setup to help people struggling in the area that I’ve been very reliably informed you and your organization are behind.”

Oh.

Those.

“Those aren’t part of some community outreach program.” He said, ���We are simply locals offering services for our neighbors.”

He watched as her caught-him-eating-glue expression shifted into one that said she’d stumbled upon him licking electrical sockets for a mid-day pick-me-up instead. He had to give it to her, the woman was not afraid to let one of the most dangerous men in the city know she thought he was a fucking idiot.

“Let me see if I understand this right.” She said, and he appreciated that there wasn’t any kind of condescension in her voice, even though she very clearly thought he’d been dropped on his head as a baby. Possibly from the top of a three story building. “You have a large group of people working together to plan, organize and execute multiple services in your area - your community, if you will - that provide aid and support to those that otherwise would not receive it. Reaching out with your available time and resources to offer these services, that you provide. For free.”

Alright, Jason got it. He had stumbled ass backwards into creating a community outreach program. But he wasn’t just going to let her think she won this one. He was Red Hood, he had a reputation to uphold here.

“What makes you think any of that is free?” He tilted his head at just the right angle, the one that cast shadows across the planes of his helmet and made him look hell-touched and terrifying. “Just because we don’t charge money, doesn’t mean there isn’t a price to pay.”

Dr. Nightingale, dressed like a damn kindergarten teacher, laughed at him.