#so even though he was protecting robin it still caused her harm in the end bc of his own selfish desires.. literally homura..

[thatrandomsarahchick]

DC x DP short

I'm picturing Danny moving to Gotham once he's an adult. He came out to his parents, and it went fine. More than fine. They listened to how he was struggling at school because he kept having to chase down the ghosts they let out by leaving the portal open. Jack was super proud of his son for being a ghost hunter even as a ghost, but Maddie understood his concern and set up some new protocols for the portal.

It now automatically closes after two minutes unless a specific command is put in by Danny to keep it open while he is in the Zone, and the shielding around it actually works to stop ghosts coming trig without hurting them now.

The shine of the mortal world has worn off for most of his regulars now, and those that come through have figured out compromises so they can still fulfil their obsessions without hurting others. The meta-protection act officially disbands the GIW, and Red Huntress is given a very thorough speaking to about personal bias and vendettas. She's not allowed back in the field until she comes to the realisation that ghosts are people too, and that she been the bad guy by hunting them the way she did. Phantom is officially recognised as a Hero, but he turns down working for any teams or joining the Big Leagues. He agrees to act as a back up though, in case of any world ending event.

By the time senior year rolls around, Danny has gotten his grades up enough that he can go to a pretty decent university if he wants to. He chooses Gotham University for his engineering degree because they're a feeder school for Wayne Enterprises, who in turn are a feeder company for working for the Justice League as a civilian engineer. Tucker also chooses GU for their tech program, while Sam elects not to go to university straight away.

Tucker and Danny move into an apartment right on the borders of Crime Alley and The Narrows. Tucker manages an impressive 4 months as a local hacker before Oracle notices him, but Danny only manages 3 weeks before he's spotted by a Bat.

He's lying down a foot above his building's roof, looking at the stars. It's a very rare cloudless night, and the power is out in his area. Poison Ivy had launched an attack earlier in the day that had taken cut the power lines, with her mutant plants feeding on the smog and pollution to get stronger.

Duke was up late, finishing the day shift by a quick loop of The Narrows, when he noticed a slightly glowing teenager(?) floating on one of the roofs. He takes note that the man isn't causing any harm and is just peacefully stargazing, before calling it in to Jason. He was technically supposed to be off the clock an hour ago, and besides, the building was on the Crime Alley side of this street. It's Jason's problem now.

Jason, on the other hand, is exhausted and just wants to have a quiet patrol before collapsing in bed. He hadn't been hit by Ivy's plants, but had taken a couple of tumbles while dodging them. He heads over to the address Duke gave him, to find the guy still floating there staring at the sky. He gets it, he does, he would float above the grime that coats Gotham rooftops if he could, but it's dangerous for a meta to be so unawares of his surroundings like this while obviously displaying his powers.

Danny, meanwhile, had clocked both of the vigilantes coming near him, but was really hoping that they would leave him alone. It had been a very long day for him. He'd finally managed to get to campus for his class, only to find that the place was covered in overgrown plants. He'd had to freeze a few to get into the building, and had then spent most of the afternoon in the library due to his class being cancelled. Unfortunately for him, his nearly finished assignment that he'd spent the day working on was eaten by one of the giant flowers on his way home. He'd been 'saved' by the stabby Robin, which had caused him to then also lose his laptop as they crashed to the rooftop a few streets over.

Thankfully, he had an amazing best friend in Tucker, who was doing his best to recover as much data as possible. On the downside, though, Tucker was mad at him for now having saved a backup of his files since they left Amity. He'd fled to the roof to escape his wrath, plans of bribes in the form of food running through his mind, when he'd caught sight of the Stars. Holy shit. It was so clear tonight!

He didn't even realise he'd begun to glow and float, too caught up in naming all of the stars and constellations he could see. His Obsession was feeling very satisfied tonight. Usually he had to invisibly fly above the cloud cover to see such a sight. Sure, the light pollution was still bad, but his mind was able to fill in the blanks across the sky.

The moment Jason landed on his roof, Danny heaved a great sigh. Damnit. The fun police were here. He wrenched his eyes from the sky, only to notice that - oh, shit - he was floating again. He fell to the roof with a light thump.

"Heeeyyy stranger, come here often?" Danny asked, as he rolled over to his side, propping his head up on his hand.

[cogentranting]

TTPD and Tortured Poets

The Tortured Poets Department applies that title to its subject matter in a variety of ways that I would like to sort into four categories:

Tortured Poet used in it's most typical understanding as an artist/performer of some sort who is tortured by their own fears, heartbreaks, demons etc.

Tortured Poet as a tongue in cheek description of someone who views themselves as an Artist in the vein of category 1, and as a result is dramatic and somewhat pretentious

Tortured Poet as a criticism. A variation on 2, but instead of just poking fun at that attitude it looks at the harm it causes.

Tortured Poets taken to mean an artist who is being tortured, not by their own demons as the phrase typically means, but actively by someone else (the public, the Industry, the nature of fame itself).

Category 2 is best seen in "The Tortured Poets Department" the song. There we have the contrast of self-image and reality which is called out in the chorus, but in a affectionate, sort of tender way. The speaker and the subject are both included in this ironic self-description.

Category 1 is essentially the baseline for the album. By naming the album after track 2 there is an acknowledgement of sorts that perhaps the whole thing leans a bit into the melodramatic, but naming the album with just a bit of irony allows most of the tracks to completely commit to just being earnest, unselfconscious, full-throated expressions of whatever emotions they're trying to convey. "The Black Dog," "loml," "So Long, London," "I Hate it Here," "The Prophecy," and "The Albatross" all demonstrate this approach pretty clearly.

Category 3 takes the song's subject and says essentially, "you see yourself as a tortured poet, and here's how that broke us." "The Tortured Poets Department" has elements of this with lines like "But you're in self-sabotage mode/ Throwing spikes down on the road" and "But you awaken with dread/Pounding nails in your head"-- though it ultimately comes to a less critical conclusion because the speaker is willing to embrace that because she sees herself in the same way: "Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be/ 'Cause we're crazy." However, songs like "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" and especially "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" exist more fully in that critical mode.

Category 4 is summed up by what Taylor said about "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" in her Apple Music commentary: "I felt bitter about just all the things we do to our artists as a society and as a culture. There’s a lot about this particular concept on 'The Tortured Poets Department'". The poets are being tortured, but this time it's not by themselves, or even by their fellow tortured poets (as in the Category 3 songs) and other people in their personal lives; this time it's right up on stage and in public. "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" "I Can Do it With a Broken Heart" "Cassandra" and "Clara Bow" are most strongly about this, but it's also present to varying extents in "But Daddy I Love Him," "The Albatross," "I Hate it Here," "How Did It End," and "thanK you aIMee."

And then there's the secret fifth category. Category 5 is for the non tortured-poets. "Robin" is about protecting a child from that side of the world. The speaker in this song is still a tortured poet, but she's viewing the subject (Robin) who may or may not be a poet, but certainly is not tortured, and the speaker is reflecting on that innocence. "The Alchemy" also retains a Tortured Poet presence-- the verses present the speaker in that way-- but the love interest has no such characterization. Instead, he's the opposite. He's not a poet, so he gets sports imagery, and he's not tortured, so he's joking and celebrating, and his arrival brings this sudden sense of lightness and triumph into the album with him. This is taken even further with "So High School" which has no trace of any tortured poets anywhere (with "I know Aristotle" we might get a glimpse of poet, but at this point she's not tortured). The whole song is the antithesis of the idea of the Tortured Poets Department. And following all the turmoil that the speaker has experienced in the rest of the album both by being a tortured poet and by dating them, this song comes as a much-needed release. It's ease and relaxation and a sort of joyful simplicity in stark contrast to "cyclone" of the Tortured Poets Department.

[staywhelmedbatfam]

Reunited

~Damian Wayne/Reader~

Summary: You had thought things were going well between you two. That is until he up and left the city without a single word. When he suddenly appeared one night, you made it your mission to get answers.

Hello all! It's been a while since I've posted any fics. The spring semester was kicking my butt and my work is really lacking in employees (as I'm sure a lot of other places are) so I didn't really have time nor the energy to get a lot written. On top of that, I've got plenty of one shots started but no idea how to end them😅

I wasn’t really sure how I wanted to end this one, but I think it’s satisfactory. Enjoy!

***

“Damian?” you asked in a tone of disbelief as you stared at what you thought was his back. He stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn around. A blade quickly found its way to your throat, dangerously close to breaking the skin.

“You will only address him as The Demon’s Head,” the blade wielder growled.

You kept your focus on the person unknown to you, watching from your peripherals, as Damian turned around. Many emotions overcame you now that his identity was confirmed. He raised his hand and made a gesture while walking forward. The blade lowered, the wielder taking a step back from you. With your life no longer in immediate danger, you shifted your gaze to Damian.

His eyes bored into yours as he got closer and finally came to a stop a foot in front of you. He briefly looked away while he spoke to his subordinate, “Leave us.” As they were leaving, Damian’s senses remained alert until he was sure they had exited the room. Now that the two of you were alone, his facial expression softened as his hands came up to hold your face.

“Dam–” you started, only to be cut off by lips meeting yours. Melting into the kiss, you squeezed your eyes shut and your hands found their way to his chest. Tears began to run down your cheeks.

He pulled away all too soon for your liking. Wiping the tears from your face with his thumbs, he continued to hold your face and you stared up at him. “(Y/N)… I apologize for leaving so suddenly. I should have told you. I’m so sorry, Beloved.”

“It’s been months, Damian. I thought something terrible had happened to you, but I never heard from your family. When I finally asked them, they told me you’d left. They never mentioned anything to me because they thought you had said something to me already,” you expressed, eyes shining with new, unshed tears. “And they didn’t get into specifics either. Then I see you and, suddenly, I have a knife to my throat. What in the world is going on?”

“I never imagined this would be how I tell you about any of this. Me leaving without a word was supposed to be the best way to protect you, but I ended up hurting us both instead.” He shut his eyes in anguish for a moment and let out a sigh before continuing. “My mother and grandfather were part of a group called The League of Assassins. I was raised in the League, training to become the perfect soldier and succeed my grandfather as leader. As you know, I went to live with my father at ten years old. The only reason I did was because of an attack on the League’s compound. Mother thought that was for the best at the time. Father never even knew I existed until we showed up in Gotham. While I lived with him, he showed me a better way than what the League had instilled in me. I ended up patrolling the city as Robin alongside him.

“When Mother came to take me back, I decided I would remain in Gotham. The first couple of years in Gotham were rocky, to say the least, but I eventually came to like it. Then you came along. I was instantly drawn to you, no matter how much I told myself I wasn’t interested in any kind of relationship – romantic or platonic. You lit up every room you walked into with that bright, gorgeous smile. I was in deep before I even realized it. You were the light I needed to counter all the darkness in my life. Then, a couple of months before I left, my mother insinuated that she would harm you if I didn’t return to the League. I tried to delay it as long as possible, but then I realized I was only hurting you more.”

Learning all of this new information at once and overcome with emotion, you stammered, “I–I would have come with you–”

“That’s precisely why I didn’t want to tell you. The League… it’s not a place for someone as generous and kind as you, Beloved. Had you come with me, there is no doubt in my mind that my mother would have done something to you anyway because you didn’t meet her standards. Regardless, I didn’t want you to waste the rest of your life being involved with a group of assassins when I know you are meant for so much more.” He leaned down, touching his forehead to yours, and closed his eyes. You shut your eyes too, relishing in the closeness.

Opening your eyes, you sighed before speaking, “So what happens now? I don’t want to lose you again.”

“I have to leave for now, but I promise you – this won’t be the last time you see me.” Damian lowered his voice as he continued, “It’s going to take some time, but I’m working on disbanding the League.”

“Just… be careful. Come back to me in one piece.”

“Your wish is my command.” He brought you in for another kiss, this one lasting a bit longer than the first. “I love you, (Y/N).”

“I love you too, Dami.”

***

After Damian told you about everything he had been keeping secret, you talked to his family. Since then, you’ve gone to the manor on occasion for dinner or even to help with their nighttime activities when they asked. At least the help you provided them never required you to leave the safety of the Batcave.

Even though you knew the details of Damian’s whereabouts now, you were still anxious. He had promised you that you would see each other again. That didn’t stop you from worrying or missing him. You felt empty without him beside you but pushed through each day with the thought that no news was good news.

As time passed, so did special occasions like birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and your anniversary. On the day of each occasion, you received a bouquet of your favorite flowers. Sometimes there was no occasion. You would cry every time, but the flowers weren’t the cause of your tears. No, it was the hand-written note that always came with the flowers. Just seeing Damian’s handwriting was enough to bring tears to your eyes. His words made you cry even harder.

After the first couple of notes, you bought a keepsake box and a journal. The notes got put in the box and you wrote a new entry in the journal after each one. Sometimes you would write an entry even when there was no letter – when you felt like you missed him more than usual.

Your coworkers tried to set you up with someone at one point until you told them you were in a long-distance relationship. They seemed to understand but were confused since you never talked about him. The longer this went on, the more skeptical they became. Questions were asked and you tried to answer them as best as you could without telling them anything they shouldn’t know.

“Seriously, it’s complicated. The circumstances we’re under don’t really allow me to share anything. I appreciate your concern though,” you told them right before leaving work for the day. They all watched you leave and gave each other worried glances.

When you returned to your apartment and unlocked the door, you set your purse and keys down on the entryway table then kicked off your shoes. Letting out a heavy sigh, you entered your bedroom and changed out of your work clothes into something more comfortable. That ended up being shorts and one of Damian’s sweatshirts that you took from his room a few months ago when you were at the manor. You tried not to wear it too often so his scent would last longer. Today, you just felt like you needed to be wrapped up in it.

Exiting your room, you headed for the couch to sit down and watch one of your weekly shows. You almost made it to the couch when a voice made your anxiety skyrocket and your heartbeat speed up.

“You always did look better in my clothes than I did.”

Whipping your head in the direction of your balcony, your eyes began to water. Damian stood inside your apartment, dressed as Robin. “I’m not dreaming, am I? It’s really you?”

“It’s really me, Beloved,” he replied with a serene expression on his face.

Running to him, you wrapped your arms around him and buried your face in his chest as the tears spilled down your cheeks. He hugged you tight and placed a kiss on the top of your head.

“I’m sorry it took so long,” he whispered against your hair.

You shook your head against his chest. “You’re here. That’s all I care about.”

***

I was thinking about doing something extra with the notes and the journal. Is this something you guys would like to see? Let me know! I appreciate any comments!

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[vln-vibes]

Unwanted, Unreliable, Unstoppable (2)

Holy shit this did better than expected.

Summary: When one of their own gets harmed by the one who should have protected them most, how will the Team take it? Not lying down thats for sure!

Tags: @abrx2002 @bigpicklebananatree  @jardimazul  @lozzybowe 

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

When Dick Grayson became Bruce Wayne’s ward that fateful night he hadn’t known what to expect.

Of course he had heard of the Waynes while on his travels with Haly’s Circus, they were probably part of the Top Ten Richest families in the world if he had to guess. Though no one really knew much about the lone Wayne, Bruce, other than the fact that he was an airheaded philanthropist party-goer. Everyone would pretty much be surprised if he hadn’t just wasted away his family’s money by the time he was in his mid 20s.

He never thought that his new guardian would be doing things like this.

“So….You fight crime dressed as a bat?” Dick found himself asking as he looked around the “Batcave”, as he’d been mentally calling it when Batman started talking about hideouts.

“Something like that”

Dick hadn’t thought much of the training Bruce made him undergo when he said he agreed to take him along to defeat Tony Zucco. He thought it as just regular training like he had done before, granted it was a lot of how to redirect knives back to the enemies, avoiding gunshots, dismantling or disarming guns, sticking to the shadows and how to throw proper kicks and punches.

Was it strange that he had not heard of Batman when people actively talked about heroes like Superman or Red Tornado or Wonder Woman, well no. After all Bruce said he did more detective work, stuck to Gotham and was ‘just’ human.

He hadn’t thought much of it, he needed something to get his frustrations out.

When they took down all of the goons and had Zucco tied up Robin didn’t know how to feel.

“Do what you want with him” Batman had told him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Let it all out; your fear, anger, sadness, let it all out on the man who caused this”

Dick never thought of himself as a bad person even as he began to beat Zucco bloody with his armored fists.

Death would have been too painless for a man like him.

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“Ugh just look at her” Alya grumbled.

In front of them was Kagami talking to a rather attractive teen with rich tanned skin and piercing emerald eyes. Neither she nor any of her friends had any idea who he was and she only got close enough to hear the tail end of their conversation.

“... Exhibition match is going to be the most enjoyable challenge since first dueling with Adrien” she said in her normal stoic voice. The boy seemed to not notice or care as he just nodded along with her.

“Yes, my brother has insisted he come and watch as well. I reckon your mother will also want to?”

“Oh Alya, I just don’t think Kagami is good for Adrien” Lila cried out, snapping Alya from her stewing anger, the girl instinctively hugging her friend in comfort.

“Ever since she’s joined our school, he’s done nothing short of physically lashing out on his father. He even said that if we don’t stop bothering his Kagami that he’ll make me pay!”

“That𑁋That guy is gonna see what it means to mess with my BFF!”

“O-Oh but don’t blame Adrien… after all it was Kagami who started this nonsensical feud within the class as well”

Alya never saw the smirk grow on Lila’s face as everything was going to plan.

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“You shall not make fools of the Tsurugi. We Are Perfection”

Kagami elected to stay quiet as her mother continued to monologue, as though Kagami hadn’t heard the same conversation play out ever since she could remember.

During the sessions she had with Dr. Quinzel, Harley Quinn the psychologist had told her she preferred to go by outside of the office, she had come to realize that what her mother was doing to her was not alright. Her mother continued to enforce her ideals onto Kagami, as though she were trying to live vicariously through her. Kagami couldn’t fathom why; her mother was trained by her grandfather, a kendo Hachi-Dan, all her life and was already a world renowned and record holding fencer… So what did she want out of her? Why was it so important for Kagami to be seen as superior to all others?

“Show him no mercy, that he is nothing against a Tsurugi '' her mother finished much to Kagami’s relief.

“Mother, you are aware this is merely a friendly exhibition match, correct?”

Smack

Oh, Kagami had forgotten who she was talking to; she was not in Gotham, hanging out with her friends or training with the Bats or even talking to Dr.Quinzel or Dr.Isley.

She was in Paris where her mother and Hawkmoth were; Where both her civilian and hero self had unrealistic expectations for her.

The current sting on her leg reminded her of that fact.

“Watch your tongue you insolent child. Now go before you prove to disappoint me further”

“Yes, mother” Kagami gritted out, trying the breathing exercise Luka had taught her as she walked up to the field of play, a mat having been laid out to indicate all the boundaries.

“Are you ready, dragon girl?” Damian questioned, walking back from where Richard, Dick he had insisted, stood alongside her friends. She was too distracted to realize he had an alarmed and analytical look towards her and her mother. 

“Only if you are, Chīsai tori-chan”

The two made their way to their positions, M.D'Argencourt waiting for them in the middle before starting the match.

"En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

Kagami had been using her anger to lash out on Damian, some may call it unfair but she looked to think it was a good use of her pent up energy.

“Point to Miss Tsurugi”

“Oh I thought you were better than that?” she smirked underneath her mask. She couldn’t see his expression but she just assumed he rolled his eyes or scowled.

“You merely caught me off guard”

Kagami felt herself smile as she heard her friends cheer for her, Damian shaking his head before going back to their original position.

She was not expecting the events of the day from that moment, she hadn’t realized and would not want to hear her birthgiver’s explanation after that day.

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“Unbelievable!” Robin cried out in frustration, next to him Speedy looked like he was ready to punch anybody who’d stand too close to him.

“Sorry, uh Robin” the ginger speedster looked flustered.

“It’s just too dangerous for people like you to be involved with us” the new ‘hero��, Miss Martian, they recalled, said apologetically. “Your physiology is too susceptible to injury, it isn’t like our own”

“You think we want to be part of your stupid daycare club” Speedy laughed harshly, “We just saved your sorry asses because we were around, because you’re on our turf”

“And you still want to call us fragile and weak? You’re just as underwhelming as they said you’d be” Robin snapped, frustrated at the continued degradement from Metas and the Justice League. 

He remembered when he first met Speedy and the League, Batman having been sent a request to help with some world ending thing; definitely above their pay rate but Batman also didn’t trust them to get it done so they agreed.

He remembers working his ass off to make sure these people made it out alive, live to see another day, and help defeat the big bad. Then the comments came rolling;

“Isn’t he too young? Why did we have to call in the human? Is the Bat insane? It's bad enough that we got the man involved, now we have to deal with his kid too? We could handle it without them. Now we have to play babysitter for the humans”

He understood why the Batman didn’t even stand working with the League after that.

“We-We were here by League orders!” Miss Martian cried in outrage.

“Orders to spy on us” Speedy sarcastically remarked as the ‘Young Justice’ flinched “You lot really think you were that slick?”

“Whatever the hell it is they were supposed to do is over” Robin nearly growled out, batarangs at hand, “They’re officially persona non grata”

“You can’t just do whatever you please” Wondergirl began “The League just wishes to know if your mentors are up to any… questionable activity”

“Shitty excuse for shitty behavior” Speedy responded, clearly getting on the nerves of the Young Justice.

“Just let us do our job and we’ll be on our way” Cyborg tried placating though the duo was not impressed.

“Or we can just kick your asses and send you crying back to your bosses” Speedy took out his quiver and pointed straight at them, the group divided between offended and surprised.

“We do not need to result in such behavior, we mean no harm” Starfire tried getting in the middle, only to be pushed back by Kid Flash and Miss Martian. Aqualad seemingly about to do the same but realising it was a fruitless endeavor and just got in a fighting stance.

“You don’t even believe that princess” Robin felt his eyes rolling, the Young Justice tense considering Starfire being princess of another planet was supposed to be a secret.

“You- You shouldn’t know that! See, this only proves what Superman feared! That the Batman has gone rogue!” Miss Martian said in a near panic.

“What do you mean by go rogue; We’re not even part of the League!” Dick was getting real tired of these pretentious metas already. From the corner of his eyes he could see two shadows waiting for their signals and staying in position.

Dick didn’t think of himself as a bad person but this Young Justice really had all of this coming.

“Young Justice, action!”

And really he was sure he could come up with better names than them.

At the end Dick and Roy kept their word, the Young Justice scattered all around them in various states of consciousness on a Central City rooftop. Kid Flash groaned as he looked at their ‘fragile’ assailants, only to see two new figures with them, a blonde girl with an arrow pointed at Miss Martian, and a shorter boy wearing Robin’s costume that just electrocuted Wonder Girl with glorified knuckle busters.

“Oh and Wally,” the speedsters heart began to beat faster as he looked at the cold smile on Robin, ex-Robin?, now wearing a black and blue bodysuit….when did he change? “Tell Superman I’ll be using the name Nightwing from now on”

Nightwing did not think he was a bad person as he, the new Arsenal, Tigress and the new Robin dumped the unconscious bodies of the Young Justice back into their ship, sending it on autopilot after typing in the ‘secret coordinates’ for Mount Justice.

The Justice League would understand loud and clear that they would no longer be expecting help from the Bats or Arrows at a moment's notice or preferably ever from now on.

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“Umm are you Mmd. Tsurugi?” Tomoe Tsurugi turned, indicating her attention was caught by the young lady next to her. She sounded vaguely familiar but they said it was easier to recognize someone by their face than by their voice; she wouldn’t know.

“Who are you to ask?” she responded curtly, wanting to refocus on the match her prodigy and some American boy were engaging in. From what M.D'Argencourt had told her, his name was Damian, a prospective transfer student from America, who wished to check out the school’s fencing team. D’Argencourt had insisted that the boy was one of the best he’d seen, on par with her own prodigy. How could some average boy be on par with her own prodigy of the Tsurugi name?

It simply would not do.

Thus they had arranged this exhibition match, to show just how leagues above the Tsurugi were from this common boy.

“ My name is Lila Rossi, a classmate of your daughter and model, I work for Gabriel Agreste” the girl’s self-praising was not missed by Tomoe but she had ignored it for now, it would be best to quickly get to the point lest she miss a second of the match.

"En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

“I’ve heard of you from M. Agreste. What is your business with me?” Tomoe was getting quickly irritated, as her own prodigy had taken longer this round; the rapid movements of the sabres, swishing in the air and clashing into one another, both opponent’s feet moving across the mat in quick and small intervals.

“ I know I’m not supposed to say things without letting M. Agreste know first but,” she starts to tear up, at least Tomoe could hear that from the hiccuping of her voice. “Your daughter has been influencing Adrien to rebel against his father”.

Her prodigy did what?

“I overheard them talking about how the two planned to help each rebel against M. Agreste and you. She said she’d throw the match in order to disgrace you”

Tomoe had trained Kagami better than that! There was no way the insolent child would be so foolish as to𑁋

“ Point to Mister Damian”

She began to metaphorically see red as they called for the final round of their little exhibition match. Kagami was made to perfection; this should have already been a settled deal instead of dragging out for almost five minutes now. Kagami better not disappoint her in the final match lest she have to discipline the girl.

“ I know this is an inopportune time to inform you of this but I fear of what else she’ll do and what she’ll make Adrien do if she keeps this up… With such influential families it would be dishonorable to let this continue further”

Tomoe was so deep in her head that she missed the rapid footsteps running across the mat or the sound of liquid falling on it.

"Final round. En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

The match had lasted just as long as the last, almost using up the full three minutes. She could hear the two make their way onto Kagami’s side of the mat when Tomoe realized that she was disgracing the Tsurugi name on purpose.

The child slipped backwards, she could already hear the announcement before D’Argencourt could.

“Point to Mister Damian. Match goes to Damian”

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“Again” 

Dick took out his escrima sticks once, panting and sweating profusely but did as his instructor told. He felt himself repeat the same movements over and over again, he was going solely by muscle memory at this point.

“Alright Grayson, you’re done for the day” Dick resisted the urge to sigh in relief as he gave a slight bow and took a drink from his water bottle.

“So how have the kids been Slade?” he asked nonchalantly, knowing if it were any other person they’d be dead for even bringing up Slade Wilson’s children.

“Joseph is doing as well as always, focusing on the fine arts and being a good kid. Rose just enrolled in the same private school as him so they’re looking out for each other” the mercenary said with a huff, one Dick saw through.

“Why, I’d say you sound like a proud father!”

“As if you and Bats don’t talk about the birds like that”

Dick knew he had him there.

When he was 9 years old, a year after debuting as Robin and being adopted, he met Bruce’s ‘girlfriend’, if they could call whatever game those two were playing an actual relationship. He did not like Talia al Ghul, even less who her father was but he kept his opinion to himself, he wanted Bruce to be happy. Then it turned out she was pregnant.

Talia had decided to stow away from Ra’s, definitely not defecting from him anytime soon but she also knew that the man held too many secrets; few which she was able to discover. She was already aware that Ra’s had contingency plans if the Lazarus Pits stopped working on him, he was planning on possessing the body of someone of his blood. She knew the child would be the perfect vessel in his eyes. 

So she lied to Ra’s, stating that she was going on a deep cover mission for the League, dismantling or infiltrating some country from the inside instead of just killing their way in. Instead she hired Slade as a bodyguard and to help maintain her cover while she stayed at Wayne Manor. He had to admit that it was the softest he’d seen her.

Then when he was 12, they found Jason Todd. Well more like they caught him trying to steal the wheels from the Batmobile in the middle of the night at Crime Alley. The kid had spunk and a not great life living in Crime Alley’s streets so they took him in as their own. At the same time Dick was outgrowing Robin and didn’t think the mantle should gather dust as they waited for Damian to grow up; Jason was the perfect candidate.

That same year Batgirl came out of nowhere, a new shadow that hunted down corrupt cops specifically. Dick hadn’t really been all too surprised when it turned out to be his friend and classmate, because he was bored and decided skipping two grades would be a good idea, Barbara Gordon. That or the fact that they immediately took her in and gave her real training.

He was 15, nearing 16, when Tim Drake literally barged into their lives.

He was a scrawny 9 year old that had apparently been stalking them while they went around Gotham beating up very dangerous people and had found out their identities by seeing him perform a quadruple somersault. Seriously what the fuck had been the only thing in his mind at the moment.

It turned out that Tim had come to them in need of protection as he found out his parents were involved with the Court of Owls, something Bruce had tried to uncover but even he was beginning to believe was a myth, with his parents soon scheduling for him to be tested as a potential Talon. They were fully willing to sell their son’s soul for their cause and not caring that he would lose his humanity in the process. It wasn’t hard to open a case against the Drakes as concerned citizens for child neglect and embezzlement that may or may not have been discovered while they raided their place in the night and took anything they owned pertaining to the Court of Owls the week before the police began their investigations.

Which led to now.

Joker had decided to attack the new Robin, his perverted mind finding it unfair that he wasn’t told of the new change. Not only had he been surprised by the fact that Jason survived but he also got his ass handed back to him by Batman and Nightwing when they found out. Jason was borderline dying and the closest place they could go was, unfortunately, Infinity Island; aka al Ghul palace.

Ra’s was fortunately not on the island however David Cain was not informed of the fact that the Bats and Talia al Ghul had a strange alliance, sicking his living weapon aka his daughter out on them. She had stopped when she saw how close to death Jason was, freezing as though she could physically see his string of life snapping, and when David was readying to retaliate against her, he found himself knocked out by Talia. A few hours later the Batjet was sent back and the Batplane returned with Alfred, Barbara, Tim and Damian inside.

Once Jason was well enough, a day or two hopefully, they’d be leaving the island with a new sister in tow.

Dick would stop at nothing to keep his family safe.

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“Oh my god, Kagami”

Marinette had been hanging out with Damian, Dick, Marc and Alix in her room when her skylight window opened. Now this itself was a common occurrence after she and Adrien revealed their identities and when she began to give Miraculous full time.

However, the sight in front of her was one she had never expected to see before.

“I hope I’m not interrupting”

Kagami had dropped the transformation the moment she opened the window, Longg floating besides her in concern.

Her normally impeccable fair skin was littered with bruises of various shades, the most notable being a dark purple one on her cheek close to her eye. There were others she noticed on her hand and few popping up from underneath her ripped leggings. 

Marinette was snapped out of her stupor as Kagami stumbled down the window, her bookbag and two carry-on bags on her back.

“What happened?” Marc asked, right beside Kagami as Marinette took the other side, helping the Japanese girl with her bags and sat her on Marinette’s chaste.

“... My mother was not happy with my performance today” the girl winced as she sat down “She seems to have gotten it in her head that I sabotaged the match and have disgraced the family name”

“Kagami,” she looked up to see Richard, Dick, with his deep sapphire eyes full of concern and unrelenting fury. “Do you feel safe at home?”

Had she been asked a year ago she would have said that she did or that it was irrelevant and did not matter. She has since learned that ignoring the blaring issue and suffering in silence would do no good for anyone.

“No, I do not”

“Do you want to open a case against your mother?”

“... I do”

“That’s all I needed to hear”

While Marinette went to get her parents, scrambling up an explanation for how Kagami got to her house, not that her parents would ask once they saw her friend, Damian took photos of Kagami as evidence for a domestic abuse case.

They all took notice of her missing ring and the patch on her blazer.

Dick Grayson was not going to let this go.

But he knew that the woman did not deserve his time as Nightwing for this. No. She would just twist it with her reputation; they needed to destroy that to truly break her.

He may not have jurisdiction in Paris but he was still an officer and vigilante dammit! Not to mention he had a billionaire dad notorious for adopting kids left and right.

“Hey dad, y’know how it's my birthday in like ten months; how would you feel about giving me another sibling or two?"

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“Who are you?” In the middle of their stakeout for a potential safehouse in Happy Harbor, Nightwing and Robin turned to see an eerily familiar looking teen floating next to them, arms crossed but not looking ready to make a move. Yet.

“The better question is who are you” Nightwing quipped “I know Boy Scout did the Devil’s Tango but his kid definitely shouldn’t be as old as you are”

“Oh my god, shut up Nightwing” Robin groaned, Tim wondering what his odds would have been if he had just run away from home instead of going to the Bats.

“... I’m Superboy” the teen looked at the two curiously, he had heard hushed whispers of the Batman and his sidekicks, Nightwing and Robin. He also knew that for some reason the name Nightwing had caused discomfort and righteous anger to Superman.

“Superboy, huh.” Nightwing questioned as Robin began typing on his wrist computer “So you’re the secret member of Young Justice”

“How do you know that?” he hovered defensively, confused at Nightwing’s hand wave.

“Chill Superboy. I’m sure you’re all aware of the not so secret dislike between us and the League” his smirk told him there was more there… not that he’d know. None of the adults really talked to him other than Black Canary, and she was only a temporary member at that; she had mentioned to Superboy how she usually works alongside the Arrows of Central City and was part of The Birds of Prey.

“Especially after I stole the name from Superman”

“Stole from Superman?” Superboy was never aware of the fact that Nightwing was a name Superman ever used, it wasn’t part of the data fed to him through Cadmus or even personal studies he did in the Mount Justice library.

“Hasn’t big blue told you about his heritage?” Robin asked, an air of nonchalance and judgement around his statement.

“... No. Superman would rather ignore the fact I even exist” Superboy hadn’t meant to sound so pretentious but he couldn’t help it! It was getting on his nerves, how everyone just saw him as nothing more than a mini-Superman or a clone or even a weapon the enemy made… He wanted  to be more than all that.

“Do you have a name?” Nightwing asked, his cheerful demeanor gone and replaced with a serious and protective one.

“I am Superboy”

“Noㅡ I mean a name for the teen underneath the ‘S’. Not a codename” Nightwing asked gently “People don’t call me Nightwing when I’m not wearing the mask”

“... I’ve only been called Superboy, even in Cadmus”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me for fucks sake” he heard Robin’s angry huff, he couldn’t exactly turn off his super senses. 

“Well that’s dehumanizing” Nightwing was suddenly all smiles again, gently pulling Superboy down and sitting on a city bench, oddly there was no one near their general vicinity.

“How about I give you a Kryptonian history lesson, straight from the Fortress of Solitude’s archives! The story of Nightwing and Flamebird”

That was how Superboy became friends with the “dangerous enemy” and got a real first idea of what it meant to be Kryptonian.

That was also the night he gained the name Conner.

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When Kagami didn’t show up to school the next day no one thought much of it, at least no one that wasn’t Lila Rossi and Alya Cesaire.

People began to grow curious when Marinette and Chloe were also gone or the fact that Marc  and Alix had huge eye bags under their eyes. Depending on who asked they’d say that it was something personal or none of their business.

People began to get concerned when Sabrina’s dad, officer Raincomprix, asked to speak to M. Bustier, Adrien, Marc and Alix.

When the class began to pester Sabrina for answers she gave them a lost look and said “I can’t tell you anything, I’m not even supposed to know about the case but dad asked for some information… I think it's best we back off”

Of course that didn’t stop Lila or Alya from gloating over their victory, hoping that Kagami had been pulled from school or even sent back to Japan.

They never realized how much their act of revenge had impacted the Japanese girl or her group of friends.

Bruce Wayne would arrive that same day and head straight for the Dupain-Cheng household along with his daughter Cass and sons Tim and Jason.

“I didn’t think we’d have to start this whole process until after December but being early never hurt” Tim tried to joke, helping lift the somber mood just a bit.

After Tom and Sabine offered them refreshments before having to head downstairs to the bakery, the group began to think of logical backstories before Officer Raincomprix was due to arrive.

“... So you can just say after that poor excuse of a birth giver did what she did to you” Jason made sure to keep his cool, he knew these kids didn’t need a fucking Akuma right now “ You already had bags prepared and managed to leave when she went to sleep and went to your friend’s house. You knew you’d be safe there and that they’d be able to take you to the hospital to get your injuries looked at”

“I think that’ll work” Tim nodded along, invested in his laptop as he looked through Parisian surveillance for any other instances of public domestic abuse or even covering Kagami’s tracks as Ryuuko from last night, not that he blamed her for trying to leave as soon as possible.

“I know I said I’d help you with Gabriel but, “ Bruce began before Marinette shook her head.

“Right now Kagami’s case is more urgent… besides this may be beneficial with our case against Gabriel for associating with Tomoe and praising her form of parenting. Maybe we can even get them both in one go”

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Amidst the laundry list of paperwork and things to get done there were two important things happening;

First was the announcement of the Flying Grayson’s Foundation, a scholarship for international students to travel and study at Gotham Academy and any other high ranking schools around the country; they were looking for children who were either of lower income who could take advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunity or students who displayed great talents and could use the enriching environment these schools had to offer.

In other words it was a cover up to get the Miraculous Team away from Paris and in Gotham.

Should Bruce really be using his fortune to do these sort of things? He was rich with money to spare, if he used it to help teens that were left to their own devices by most of the adults in their lives then who was to say what he could or could not do with his money.

The second was the Hawkmoth investigation finally going guns ablazing.

Bruce and Marinette had both decided to let their teams handle tracking Hawkmoth for now as they strategized on ways to get Adrien away from Gabriel and secretly Nathaniel away from his parents.

With the later they had more luck by the name of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

Within the months they had spent together the duo had gotten attached to the teens and were protective even as they ‘attacked the city’ to keep their criminal cover. When hearing about Nathaniel's situation the two had begun to think of ways to get him away from it, having had similar experiences growing up, along with Bruce.

They hadn’t realized there was a much simpler solution that wasn’t killing/arresting the Kutzbergs or kidnapping Nathaniel.

“You know you can just Matilda this and just give the adoption papers to them, right?” Duke said from the couch one day. “From what Nat says its likely they won’t give a shit or even protest”

It had worked.

Nathaniel was now officially Nathaniel Isley-Quinzel.

Barbara had worked with Tim and Max to perfect the laters algorithm for tracking down the Hawkmoth (along with some upgrades on Markov and maybe creating other sentient A.Is they hoped wouldn’t cause the apocalypse in the far future). Thankfully Tomoe Tsurugi had proven a valuable pawn as they managed to track down the one mile radius from where the Akuma could have come from when she was arrested for child abuse, physical abuse and child neglect.

Luckily, Tomoe had tried to attack Kagami when she heard her ex-prodigy and former daughter on her way to the police car. Dick had intervened, giving her a nerve punch and rendering her unconscious. Of course he brought up that it was for self-defense and could easily be proven by the cop cameras, though it was still seen as overkill.

That Akuma was quickly captured by Ladybug, who had already seen it coming, as she and the new Bee, Abeille, were watching the arrest from a nearby rooftop.

Money made things work much more faster in terms of the adoption process. It helped that he already had four adopted sons, an adopted daughter and biological son as proof of his competence as a parent. They’d laugh at him being a ‘great parent’ but he was a tired man who was secretly trying to change the world for better by dressing up as a Bat furry at night and was trying to be good for them and also had six legal and two technical children, so really they’d take what they could get.

Gabriel Agreste and Natalie Sancoer were doing their best to cover any violations of child labor laws, even going so far as to try to ground and pull Adrien out of school again.

Of course when Bruce and his three oldest sons showed up they had all the evidence they needed for a major scandal to break and ruin the Gabriel brand. They did make a very nice offer at a not so nice expense;

Give guardianship to/let Bruce adopt Adrien and the press would never have to find out.

Gabriel had nearly yelled at the man to leave his home the instant he subtly suggested it, even going so far as to call the “Gorilla”, which not only did not work but also gave the Wayne’s an even harder dislike of the man.

As it turns out as soon as Adrien told Gorilla, damn it he would find out the man’s name one day! About the plan against his father the man gave Adrien a flashdrive to use as part of the evidence.

“It's up to you Mister Agreste” Tim said in his CEO voice, cold and with business only in mind.

“You could just listen to our offer and just renounce any custody you have of Adrien and give it to us” Dick practically sang through his eyes but still held a hard look.

“Or you could face the backlash of not only exploiting, but also keeping him captive in his own home and overworking your son all for the name of your brand… Not to mention your questionable business practices or bias towards an underaged model” Jason added as nonchalantly and non threateningly as he could. It did not work, which was the whole point. “Losing your reputation and your son anyway”

Gabriel knew he was in over his head but was no fool.

Adrien packed up his things the next day, beginning his process of shipping his belongings off to Gotham. Coincidentally, Gorilla had given his letter of resignation and had gotten a job as the main caretaker of one Alise Anciel-Pennyworth.

Gabriel swore he’d get his revenge against Bruce Wayne one way or another.

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Conner did not know what to do.

He knew he did the right thing in distancing himself from his team, he didn’t know them well enough to consider them friends. But it still hurt to be alone…

Superman had been nothing but a pain in his ass with his Boy Scout routine and higher than thou personality.

Ugh just thinking about it made him want to shoot him with his heat vision. He had no idea how Superboy, because yeah the kid asked him and how could he say no to him?, could be related to that man. It must have been the Lois Lane of the kid.

Conner didn’t know who to turn for, there was no way he’d go to any of his biological donors, so he'd just spent the past few days flying endlessly.

He had stopped by Star City to see how Black Canary was, and for a quick session, but as much as she and Green Arrow offered he didn’t want to overstay his welcome. Not to mention he had a feeling he needed to go somewhere else.

The only other person who had given him the light of day was….

“Are you Superboy?” Conner looked up, which he didn’t do that often now that he thought about it, and saw a male figure standing on a lightpost, his features hidden by the Gotham night.

“Not anymore, who the hell are you?” the guy hoped down, with the light he was able to see the blonde hair and leather catsuit… did Catwoman get an apprentice?

“Well you should know the big bad Bat doesn't like metas. Any reason you’re here or should I escort you out right meow?”

“... I’m going to ignore the pun for now. I’m looking for Nightwing”

Conner noticed the twitch of the leather ear against the honey blonde hair and began to wonder if the guy was either trustworthy or meta. Just as Conner was about to fly away the guy tapped his ear, he recognized Nightwing’s voice before the guy nodded and ended the transmission.

“Well looks like Nightwing is vouching for you” he sat down on the park bench where Conner hadn’t realized he had spaced out for most of the afternoon. “He says to stay put, he’s kinda busy right now but shouldn’t take too long. Anyways I’m Chat Noir, Parisian superhero”

“Never heard of you before but it's nice to meet you” Conner shook his hand even though Chat Noir scowled, dropping the whole playful demeanor.

“No surprise there. You know we spent years asking for the Justice League’s help and they didn’t do shit, they didn’t even open our messages” the half Kryptonian experiment thought that he must have been mistaken.

Sure the Justice League had Superman and was full of a bunch of enhanced beings/meta-humans who would rather have brawns than brains according to his #2 Sperm Donor and refused to allow ‘regular’ humans or even only slightly enhanced on their team even though they knew how to kick ass but they weren’t terrible enough to not answer distress signals, right?

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“Nightwing and Batman told my team”

“And you trust their words, just like that?”

“Don’t you?” Chat Noir seemed to stare him down before Conner sighed, hand raking through his naturally curly hair.

“Yeah, I do. Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust him. Never met the other Bats and Birds though”

“Trust me, it’ll be chaotic in a fun way” Chat Noir grinned, a knowing twinkle in his eye. “So, why are you looking for Nightwing? Sorry if its invasive but well, you know what they say about cats”

“Curiosity killed the cat?” Conner questioned, the shit eating grin on Chat Noir’s face grew, like the cat who caught the canary.

“But satisfaction brought it back!”

“It’s kind of a long story, I doubt you’ll want to know the knitty gritty” Conner showed his gloved hands into his leather jacket, sighing.

“I’m all ears”

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“So you’re telling me that you were genetically engineered to replace and destroy Superman by using his stolen DNA and the one of his arch enemy Lex Luthor while also being planted with trigger words to make sure Luthor had a way to control you. Superman never even liked you even when he thought you were just a clone of him even though his own kid was pretty chill with you and he met you after the whole Daddy #2 reveal. Which also he used the triggers to make you attack your teammates, the Young Justice, so even though you got the triggers removed you quit and decided to take a break from the hero biz but you don’t really have anyone to trust so your best bet was Nightwing, who you’ve talked to every now and then since he likes messing with Superman and taught you about Kryptonian culture”

��Well yeah basically”

“Holy shit you need to see Dr. Quinzel or something”

“What about you leather boy? What are you even doing in Gotham?” Conner asked with a smirk, feeling comfortable with the feline boy after letting out his whole life story to him.

“Well do we want to start from when my mom died or when I was chosen to be a superhero at thirteen or when the whole city of Paris just expected my partner and I to be able to defeat the full on grown man terrorizing the city all on our own with no help whatsoever?”

“Daddy issues?”

“Pot calling kettle”

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“Ugh I can’t believe Ladybug didn’t show up to the fire yesterday” Alya ranted to her classmates, the ones that were still worth talking to that is.

“Dude you do realize that the fire department was there and had everything handled, right?” Nino looked at her skeptically, the two had broken up a few months or so ago now but they still treated each other with decency. At least most of the time.

“Think of all the lives they risked by not showing up!” Lila cried out “How could they leave Paris at their most vulnerable state?”

“I- I’m sure they were busy” Rose squeaked out, trying her best to console her friend. She still held some hope for the heroes of Paris after all!

“Yeah it's not like the firemen were doing their job or anything” Alix rolled her eyes at the group.

“Sabrina!” the ginger girl tensed at her name, turning to see the very much in danger of being akumatized again reporter “Didn’t your dad and the police department have to deal with those bank robbers last week without help of Paris’ heroes?”

“We-Well yes but my dad does that 𑁋”

“They’re just being so selfish! Think of all the people who risk their lives everyday with no magic bulletproof suit. They think they’re above Paris’ everyday problems and only show up when we can’t handle it”

“Surely you aren’t such a fool, Cesaire” Max stated cooly as he typed away on his laptop “Or do you not remember how everything used to function before their arrival”

“Listen here you little nerd!”

“N-No Alya… I know I shouldn’t say this but the truth is… Ladybug is over Paris” Lila began to tear up, hiding her face within her hands as she started to choke up “She and I had a fight a few weeks back; she said she’s tired of dealing with all of Paris’ problems even when I begged her to reconsider! I- I think she’s planning on abandoning us altogether… and we all know we’re doomed without Ladybug there to keep her sidekicks in check”

The room was full of looks of shock and surprise, including that of Miss Bustier who was sitting at her desk. Suddenly that grieving silence was interrupted by laughs coming from the back, Adrien trying to reign in his laughter.

“Oh god,that’s probably the only lie you told that’s partly true Rossi '' the blonde sunshine child had gotten more cynical the longer he spent time in public school. There were rumors he threatened his father with a lawsuit through a third party about child labor laws, something Alya tried researching and asking him about. Apparently Adrien was officially out of the fashion industry.

“She really is a lost cause” Alix had not so subtly whispered to Kim, who nodded along.

“What would you lot know! Besides anyone whose friends with the Ice Queen, Tsurugi is𑁋”

“Actually, Alya” Marinette interrupted “As class vice-president you should be aware that Kagami had her name legally changed. She now goes by Kagami𑁋”

“Oh dear, did you get disowned Kagami?” Lila framed it as an innocent concern but those who knew the real her recognized the mocking tone.

“I owe you no explanations, Rossi” the girl responded back, going back to ignoring the class with Marinette. They still remembered the day she came back to school, most of the class, not including a select few assholes they decided not to name, had looked at her in worry as she branded various bandages and some healing bruises; she had all but ignored them and continued on her regular routine.

Meanwhile that night Bruce Thomas Wayne made a press conference at Wayne Enterprises’ building, with his two oldest Richard John “Dick” Grayson-Wayne and Jason Peter Todd-Wayne.

“Mister Wayne are you really saying you’ve adopted another child?” Lois Lane stood up as the microphone was given to her “What warranted the newest member of the Wayne Clan? Is it a sensitive matter like that of your daughter Cassandra or perhaps like that of Damian’s?”

Bruce made sure to give a flustered look, especially since her husband, one Clark Kent, otherwise known as Kal-El or Superman, was with her.

“Why I must say, those are excellent questions Miss Lane” he started off with a smile “ However, to answer your questions they’ve been a family acquaintance and then friend for some time. It’s not my story to tell but their home life was not the healthiest, it got to the point where my family offered to help them get out of that situation. They were admittedly reluctant to do so but… I suppose a line had been crossed and they asked for our assistance”

The members of the press seemed to deflate at the confession, all drawing up their conclusions to what his words meant and what the newest member had experienced in their life.

“Yes, Ms. Grant?” Dick asked, pointing for them to hand over the microphone for Cat Grant.

“Will we be meeting the newest member of your family anytime soon?”

“They will be properly introduced to the public during the Wayne Gala next month in Paris, they’re still attending school elsewhere but they’ll be transferring to Gotham Academy and properly moving into the estate this upcoming semester”

They were sure the new Wayne would be making headlines when the time arrived.

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“You’re serious” Conner asked in awe, “You’d really do that?”

“Oh kitty,” Selina began to brush her fingers across Conner’s curly locks as she held the hurt boy closer to her.

After arriving in Gotham and getting to talk with Nightwing, who when learning about the situation the teen was in had recruited the help of the Gotham Sirens to host the boy as the Wayne’s had a lot of eyes on them after the announcement of an adopted child; Conner didn’t need the attention right now. 

The Sirens had agreed after learning about everything the boy had gone through, Harley agreeing that he needed stability and offered sessions or even having Dinah come visit, while Ivy made sure their place was secure enough to withstand an attack and kept vigilant in case the boy scout decided to come looking for Conner, even if they doubted he’d’ try. Selina tried to get the boy to open up, sharing her own childhood backstory and how she became Catwoman.

That’s when Selina realized that Conner had no family name, he’d even only gone as Superboy until fairly recently. No one bothered to give him a name.

So she offered her own.

“Of course I am. In fact any one of the people in this apartment and even the Bats would offer their name if you asked”

Conner knows that Jon called him an “honorary Kent” on the basis of being his dad’s clone and a Krytonian but Conner never felt like he had earned the name. Clark certainly never offered.

“Conner Kent, they said I should feel free to use that name” Conner sighed “But I don’t think it’s right”

“Well whatever name you choose it’ll be yours. Though I suggest making up your mind soon, Oracle is working on making you some legal documents so you can finally have a ‘normal life’ if that’s what you want”

“What even is normal?” the duo looked behind to see Nathaniel, graphite smudges on his face. The red headed boy was staying over with Harley and Ivy as his new moms and they were working on some more “family bonding time”. If all went well he’d be transferring to Gotham Academy for the new school year.

If Selina remembered correctly his boyfriend and Alfred’s great-nephew would also be moving to Gotham while Alfred’s sister would be placed in a senior center or given a caretaker.

“What happened to you?” Conner muffled a laugh as he took a look at Nathaniel’s state.

“Deadlines” the boy in question said, chugging what they thought was hot coffee, Trixx sleeping on his head, almost camouflaging in the red. “I’m about to go in a 12+ coma, night”

“But its 2 pm?” Conner asked amused, Nathaniel walking out of the room with a wave of his hands before peeking back inside with a smirk.

“By the way, Chat Noir has a thing for black hair and blue eyes”

Selina was amused by the flush Conner was quick to gain and decided that she’d tease him about it another day.

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“Chloe, Nino hey!” Adrien waved at his friends as they made their way around the enormous amount of rich/influential people that were attending the first ever Flying Graysons Scholarship celebration in Paris. All of Dupont Francois was allowed to attend, though Lila insisted it was thanks to her connections, because of the amount of students that would be receiving their awards/scholarships that night.

The whole Miraculous team was clad in images to their hero persona via Miraculous by MDC line that Marinette had been working on ever since she quit being class president almost a year ago. They were her most popular designs on her website, even internationally which they had found odd.

Nino was wearing an Anselm inspired bomber jacket along with a standard white button up and black jeans. Chloe was wearing something a bit more formal with a two piece dress with a black top and honey gold pencil skirt with little bees stitched at the hems and some high heels, her hair was let down for once with a pearl hairclip keeping her bangs up.

“I’m guessing you got here with the rest of your not yet adopted family?” Chloe asked while the boy grinned. Adrien had decided that the first thing he would do as a not yet Wayne was to wear other designer clothes that were not from the Gabriel design, and what better clothes than those of his platonic soulmate. Marinette may have gone over the top but he loved her for it; deep emerald dress pants and tie, the tie having subtle cat paws travelling from the top to the bottom where a cat was stitched, a black button up with the same shade of green as the pants on the underside, showing up as he had rolled his sleeves, standard black vans and her iconic bowler hat.

“Well yeah but I also got a date” Adrien smirked at their surprised and offended looks

“And you didn’t tell me!” they both said outraged.

“Guess the cat’s out of the bag now, babe?” the two turned to see Conner, whom they met a handful of times since he tended to hang out alot with the Sirens; he was a cool and overall good guy who just had shitty adults in his life according to Nathaniel, who’d see him when visiting his moms.

“Well at least you have good taste” Chloe gave Conner a one over; he was for once not wearing the same leather jacket he wore as not-Superboy, though he wore a ruby button up with rolled sleeves, a black vest and black jeans making the outfit more of a business casual sort of vibe though his brown combat boots definitely it lean more on casual.

“Thank you, your highness” the Kryptonian bowed much to their amusement “Though I don’t think I got a bad catch either”

“Damn I don’t think we had any betting pools for that” Kim laughed as he walked along with Max. Kim was wearing mocha dress shorts and a beige dress shirt, a mocha bow tie and gray suspenders with little monkeys tied the whole thing together. Max had a more average short sleeved white button up and khakis combination though with the addition of a coffee bowtie and deep coffee formal jacket with small silver horseshoes on the collar it definitely spiced up the look.

“By my calculations you guys were the most unpredictable pairing though it doesn’t surprise me that you got together before LadyRobin”

“LadyRobin? I thought we were going with Daminette or Maridami?” Nino asked amused

“Whatever their name is, those two are taking forever to make a move! For kwami’s sake RedScales/LukaTim already got together months ago” Chloe huffed in annoyance causing the group to laugh in good nature.

“Conner?”

The group took quick notice of Conner's sudden stiffness, looking up to see a besticaled man with an overbearing aura, as though his mere presence could overpower you. They had assumed that it was because of his large figure. Until Bruce made his way towards them.

“Clark Kent, right? With the Daily Planet?”

That got reactions from the teens; they were well aware of who the man before them was.

“Right you are sir. It's an honor to meet you in person mister Wayne” Clark laughed politely in a very obviously superficial way.

“I’d hardly call this the first time, after all I know the Daily Planet has a tendency to send you and Miss Lane when covering cases in Gotham” Bruce smiles before looking at the group of teens, as though he had just noticed them, “Ah! I see you’ve met some of the recipients of our Flying Graysons Scholarship”

“Oh, really?” Clark gave a skeptical look as he looked at the teens who were subtly moving Conner away from the center of attention.

“Yes; We have Kim Le Chien as a training olympian swimmer and overall athlete, Nino Lahiffe who’s been getting recognition on short films he’s created for school along with some original soundtracks he’s made and Max Kante and his talent for coding and robotics”

“And what of the others?” the reporter pestered on, though they knew he just wanted to know what Conner was doing there with them,

“ Well,  Adrien Graham de Venily is a family friend, while Chloe Bourgeois is daughter of the mayor and of the fashion mogul Style Queen” he gestured to the two blondes gave cold smiles at the besticaled man “Both they  and Conner Kyle here” he patted Conner’s shoulder, the teen relaxing at a familiar touch before glaring at Clark, “The adopted son of a family friend, will be transferring along with the award recipients considering they’re all friends to Gotham Academy; I rather think its touching how deep their friendship runs”

“Conner… Kyle?”

“Yes. It's my legal name on my birth certificate, Mr.Kent. Do you have a problem with that?” Conner puffed up his chest towards his genetic donor.

“... None at all Mr.Kyle” Clark had then been quickly swept up in a conversation that was truly about nothing that Bruce had distracted him with, allowing the group to leave towards the balcony for some much needed privacy.

“Are you alright, Kon?” Adrien looked up at his boyfriend in concern before the boy sighed with a tired smile.

“I will be”

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“I can’t believe Adrien blew me off like this!” Lila cried out on her ride to the Wayne Gala. She didn’t care for the stupid scholarship, her mother’s job could easily send them to wherever the hell they wanted anyway. Alya seemed to believe that she had a chance of getting the award and scoring an interview with the Wayne’s newest member. If Lila had her way then she was sure she would get one of those rich idiots eating out of the palm of her hand by the end of the night. Especially if they were as much of a playboy as Brucie Wayne was.

“Lila you need to realise that Adrien isn’t worth it” Alya soothed “He’s done so much shit to you, he doesn’t deserve your time. I bet you can totally score a better man at the gala than anyone Adrien could hope to be”

“Tha-Thanks Alya, I don’t know where I’d be without my bestie”

The two girls met up with the rest of their school during the reception, though a few noticeable people were not with the group.

“Thank you, everyone for coming today to support this wonderful new foundation” Richard’s voice echoed as he made his way on stage, the audience applauding as he reached the table with all the awards.

“I remember before meeting Bruce I’d travel around the world along with the circus with my parents; we used to perform gravity defying tricks as the Flying Graysons. We’d see the different places of the world but I noticed the differences in the culture and state of living. So now I’d like to honor their memory with the help of dad by giving different gifted and talented kids around the world a chance to flourish and further polish their talents”

Alya was already streaming on the Fox Tea as the crowd clapped. Lila wasn’t impressed though; he may look like money but he was just a circus monkey after all. Though his body certainly looked like a million dollars.

“And to help give out these awards I’d like to invite my family, including my new little sister; Kagami Wayne!”

Lila would feel her nails stab into her palms as the Waynes came out from behind the curtains, a familiar Asian girl with them.

She hated the fact that her dress was as gorgeous as it was.

Kagami hadn’t wanted to go over the top but according to her brothers and sisters she needed to stand on her own lest the media try to brush her off or even try to start shit with Bruce neglecting them. Marinette had worked long and hard on the dress she wore, swearing it was her magnus opus of the Miraculous by MDC summer formal line. A raspberry red thigh high figure hugging dress with a silk skirt and golden embroidery with a dragon wrapping up to her waist. It had been months since Kagami began to rebel against her birthgiver and had grown her hair out enough to curl it and clip it to the side of her hair with a golden hair ornament Bruce had gifted her when the papers went through, pairing nicely with the golden heels, belt and choker she wore.

The rapid flashes of light nearly blinded Lila but somehow none of the Wayne’s seemed affected by them as they just stood and posed for the paparazzi.

“Now we’d like to present the Flying Graysons Scholarship to the following people from Francois Dupont; Marc Anciel, Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Nathaniel Isley-Quinzel, Max Kante, Alix Kubdel, Nino Lahiffe, and Kim Le Chien”

If it weren’t for the fact that she spotted Gabriel earlier in person and could currently see him glaring at the Waynes, Lila would have been counting on Akuma to appear.

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“Oh my kwami, please tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing” Marinette stated as she rolled her suitcases behind her, her friends in similar states as they saw the building before them. It was now the end of August by the time they officially moved into their new dorm… or rather new apartment building in which they were the only residents besides Mrs.Anciel-Pennyworth and “Gorilla”. Adrien had sworn all of them to not tell him his former bodyguards real name because he was a big boy who’d investigate it himself.

“Holy shit this man literally just flexed at us” Conner said in awe, lowering his sunglasses to get a better look at the place, it seemed like Bruce had thought ahead and coated certain rooms in lead paint, enough to keep Boy Scout from snooping but to be safe for his friends to not face health issues.

“Okay he’s clearly showing favorites now unless he did the same for the other winners” Alix looked unimpressed.

“Though he certainly did a 180 of this place” Max nodded, as it turned out those months ago this had once been the building where the now extinct gang was keeping their “merch”. Since then they knew Wayne Enterprises had bought it out but they hadn’t realized that Bruce would refurbish it and make it into their new living place.

“Seriously, Mr.Wayne you didn’t have to spend𑁋” Nathaniel began, looking as the man came out with his own kids to help with the move and to get Kagami, Marc and Adrien settled.

“Don’t worry about it. It was like spending money at the dollar store for him” Jason ruffled his hair before picking up some boxes and taking them inside.

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“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were trying to buy us out” Luka said as they finished up the tour of the glorified dorm/ mansion.

The building had what they called six visible floors;

The rooftop had an indoor pool and was fully furnished to hold campfires or even barbecues if they wanted as well as a collapsable roof.

The sixth floor is where the music studio and labs were. Both were soundproof, reinforced and had monitors linked up to Big Sister aka Hecate ( the artificial intelligence Barbara had worked on to reassure Bruce that the kids wouldn’t die in their dorm. She was no replacement for Alfred however Guillaume ‘Gorilla’ Durand promised to do his best in taking care of the children’s well-being and that of Alise.) who would warn them if their activities were reaching dangerous levels.

The fifth floor was called the Artist Alley. Half of it was occupied by Marinette and Chloe as they developed Lady Luck (trademark pending) by MDC while Marc and Nathaniel occupied the other half with their studio to develop their series “The Adventures of Illustrator and Reverser”. They thought it was good but both had realised that they wanted to try making a more mature, probably teen targeted, series; (Teen) Titans was their current working title.

The third and second was what they called the residential floors, the right side holding the girls’ dorm while the left had the boys’.The second floor also had rooms they would use for guests though each room also had a pull out couch just in case. Each dorm had a private bathroom with a full bathtub, sink and toilet, full sized room, closet, and computer desk with a comfortable amount of space to rearrange or add their own items. Each floor had their own entertainment system, kitchen and dining room that helped separate the rooms. On the third floor was Marinette, Kagami, Chloe and Alix on one side while Adrien, Luka, Nino and Conner were on the other. The second floor had Alise and Gorilla on the right while Max, Kim, Nathaniel and Marc lived on the left. 

The first floor was the entrance, the first part looking like your standard lobby though it still had a mailbox for all its residents for the mailmen to drop off their letters and packages, fully equipped with a detector just in case anything passed any screening before. People could only make it to the elevator if they were accompanied by one of the residents or were identified as welcomed/ not persona non grata by Hecate. The other side of the first floor was the game room; different game systems, DDR system, pool table, darts boards, foosball table, and chess/checkers table were scattered around the remaining space of the room.

The basement was a fully dedicated gym. It had about every machine one would find at a regular gym along with a basketball court and a place for practicing gymnastics though there were nets and safety mats installed along any area where they could have accidents on them.

The first secret floor was where their special gym was, the floor hidden by thick lead underneath the basement. There they had equipment that they could use to train their extraordinary abilities. Any equipment in it was super strength resistant for Conner to blow off some steam without fearing he’d ruin it for his friends. Training dummies were also in their own section for them to train without having to go to the Batcave. There was a place to meditate and find quiet amongst the chaotic building, soundproof but monitored by Hecate. The room was also made to withstand any natural disaster, including a disaster caused by Superman or a rampaging Joker. 

Beneath the building was also an underground tunnel, it was connected to the Batcave and could be used to escape in case of an emergency or for a direct route from the cave without having to go out on the surface. There was also another one that was connected to a safehouse where they would meet in case shit really hit the fan. It was big enough for them to use their hidden motorcycles, leave traps for any followers or to run; whichever they had the liberty to do .

“Brucie didn’t pay for everything” Dick laughed

“Yes, Jagged insisted he help with at least the music and art floors” Damian informed them in a monotone voice, though he did try stealing glances from Marinette.

“Plus Lex Luthor may or may not be missing some hidden money that may or may not have been used for all the gym equipment and the labs. Y’know evil guy pocket change” Tim laughed as Luka just snuggled to his little evil genius of a boyfriend.

“Well if he was buying us out I’d say it’s working”

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“He’s conspiring against us”

“How?”

“He’s making his own team of teenagers”

“So you’re saying that Wayne is the Batman? And that he’s making his own teen superhero team?” Flash, Barry Allen, found himself questioning their leader during yet another Justice League meeting at the Hall of Justice.

“Well there have been more vigilante reports in Gotham” Wonder Woman, Diana, added on, looking through the newest blurry photos that the internet was able to scavenge up. Like the other photos they were all blurry and covered them by shadows. 

“And Sup— Conner was amongst the children that transferred into Gotham Academy “ he admitted reluctantly, their screens showing the list of all Flying Graysons Foundation Scholarship before narrowing them by those who would be staying in Gotham.

“Conner? But I thought—“ Martian Manhunter asked from his seat.

“All these papers look legal enough,” Barry said as he took a closer look at the copies of the birth certificate and school records for one Conner Kyle.

“We can’t even say these are fake or forged because he never had one to begin with” Diana further admonished though Kal brushed over it.

“And you suspect that the other scholarship students are in on it?” Aquaman, King Orin or Arthur Curry, asked skeptically. The children who had won the scholarship seemed about as average as normal children could go other than the fact that they had different specialities or talents, awards already to their names in recognition and that they attended the same school as the newest Wayne, Kagami.

“Well there’s no evidence that points towards that” Hawkwoman, Shayera Hol, admonished “These are merely children; accusing them of such things is most dishonorable if we have no evidence against them”

“We are well aware of the animosity between the League and the Batman” Red Tornado informed in his normal monotone voice.

“And we know you and Conner had a hard falling out after… All that happened those months back” Starfire, Koriand’r the alien princess of Tamarand and supervisor of the Young Justice, stated as diplomatically as she could.

“Are you sure you aren't blowing this out of proportions? This could just be Superboy moving on with his life. Perhaps he found someone to adopt him as their own” when certain people failed to was the silent addition most could hear out of Diana’s voice.

Barry Allen knew they had a reason to fear these rumors.

If the limited, and he meant the bare minimum, information Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, had told him of the secret alliance of heroes who weren’t part of the Justice League was anything to go by.

He just hoped that they hadn’t done anything to anger these new blood.

AO3 Ko-Fi

[danwhobrowses]

Why Tashigi Deserves More Respect

I really gotta remember these other things I plan on writing XD Often I get reminded though by people around me criticizing something I realise ‘that’s a little misunderstood’ and then get compelled to write about it. For today we’re looking at the female Marine of One Piece, Tashigi. Now before we start, I want to make a point that Tashigi is still an underused character brimming with potential that Oda seems to shy a lot from. Oda can still sincerely do a lot more with her and I for one have been disappointed by her lack of use in Stampede and lack of appearance in Wano. However, I get a lot of people who feel that Tashigi is ‘useless’, and I’m going to say that this isn’t really the case.

Argument 1: Her Battles

Of course, a lot of strength regarding a character comes with their ability to come out victorious. It can harm any character in a show to constantly be on the losing side of a fight and it does hurt Tashigi (and Smoker) a lot that they do end up that way. While I would love Tashigi to have her first clean win since those guys in Loguetown I’d like to remind you that Tashigi’s fights do have a bit of defense to them, let’s look at all of Tashigi’s named opponents

Zoro (Loguetown) - We always knew that Zoro was winning this, while she was bested by Zoro the purpose of the story wasn’t ever going to be Tashigi being stronger, instead this was Zoro having to confront her similarities with Kuina in personality rather than skill.

Nico Robin/Miss All Sunday (Alabasta) - While Tashigi was unable to even strike Robin back in Alabasta, Robin’s devil fruit allowed her to be perfect for such a situation. A trained and deadly assassin, Tashigi’s physical confrontation was never going to succeed, but what was key to this battle was Tashigi’s realization in regards to the failure of Justice. In the end she had to rely on Luffy to defeat the Pirates the WG had assigned to maintain the balance.

Luffy (Marineford/Punk Hazard) - Luffy and Tashigi briefly crossed paths in Marineford, Luffy swiftly dodged her but again, Tashigi was never going to defeat Luffy and was merely a doorway to put Smoker and Luffy into a fight. It’s also worth reminding that Tashigi must’ve been capable enough to hold her own against Whitebeard’s lesser forces, since she was uninjured from Marineford. They also crossed at Punk Hazard, but then they were both weakened by being in unfamiliar bodies, something which Luffy even acknowledges.

Trafalgar Law (Punk Hazard) - as pictured above, Tashigi’s defeat to Law was another gateway for Smoker to enter the fight, but this one had more purpose in showing Tashigi’s willpower, which we will get to. As you can tell, there’s a theme: Tashigi would never have beaten Law in terms of the narrative, why do we hold it against Tashigi that she lost to the guy who later did this?

Ceasar Clown (Punk Hazard) - while listed as a fight, she fell the same way as Robin and Franky due to his DF being unrevealed, again this being a gateway to sell that Ceasar had a danger to him, I wouldn’t actually count it as a fight.

Vergo (Punk Hazard) - the Donquixote spy is one of Doflamingo’s deadliest subordinates. The original Corazon, Tashigi’s conflict with Vergo brought Sanji into the fight and once again highlighted to Tashigi the corruption within the Marines themselves. Like Law (and the next), we can’t be too harsh on Tashigi losing to Vergo, the guy easily fended off Sanji to the point of almost breaking Sanji’s leg, he also was able to beat Smoker

Monet (Punk Hazard) - Monet is a mixed one, because Zoro quickly defeats her she was quickly overshadowed by the fact that she struggled to even get on the offensive, broadening the gap between them. But, I’d like to remind everyone that Monet was able to force Luffy into fleeing their battle and was handling Robin, Nami and Chopper at once. Tashigi hadn’t completely lost either, I would bet that she’d fight without an arm, maybe not successfully but she would, and she got the finishing blow on Monet - her second offensive attack against Monet put her away and while technically this doesn’t count as a W for Tashigi she did not technically lose in this fight either

As you can see, while it’s easy to say that ‘Tashigi never wins her fights, so she’s weak’ it really undermines the opposition she willingly puts herself against. Narratively there’d be no reason for Tashigi to win these fights, doing so would lead to confusion and disbelief (for instance, would you have seen Luffy beating Kaido solo back in Bakura Town? No, obviously). Tashigi is still strong, she’s able to survive the Grand Line, easily deflect cannon fire with her sword and use Haki, the latter cannot be said for Main Characters like Nami, Chopper, Franky, Carrot and somehow Robin (like girl you spent 2 years with the Revolutionaries, where’s your Haki?). While we would love a win to validate this, Oda always puts her against an opponent that would be difficult for her to win against, and we thus mistake her inability to win as weakness. So that leads to another argument. Argument 2: Tashigi always punches above her weight While this is very much true, One Piece has often told us that being the strongest doesn’t always mean that you will win. Consider 90% of Nami and Usopp’s wins, Luffy’s wins over Crocodile, Enel, Lucci, Magellan, Cracker and Katakuri, the weak may not be able to choose how they die but that doesn’t mean that the strong can either.  I’d also like to argue that Tashigi’s motive on fighting strong opponents is not because she feels that she is stronger, she fights them because they are the enemy that needs to be stopped, her motives are pure in her pursuit of justice just as the Straw Hats fight stronger opponents because it fulfills a just cause such as saving Alabasta, their crewmates, people who had their shadows stolen, Camie, Fishman Island, the Punk Hazard children, Dressrosa, Zou or Wano. Tashigi really gets criticized for it because it doesn’t yield the results it does for major characters, often needing help to get the victory. In that I wanna point out a harsh truth as well; Goku - the people many anime fans will compare power scales against - almost never beats the main villain on his own in DBZ or DBS. Freeza - required damage from Krillin, Gohan, Vegeta and Piccolo before the win, and he didn’t finish him off, Cell - tags out to Gohan, who also needs Vegeta’s help to win, Buu - needs Vegeta’s help via fusion and a full power recharge by the Dragon Balls, Beerus - he lost, Golden Freeza - he got jumped by Sorbet and needed Whis’ rewind, Hit - he gave up, Fused Zamasu - lost, and needed Zeno to wipe him out, Jiren - needed Freeza and 17′s help and Vegeta’s energy and finally Broly - needed fusion. So maybe, if even Son Goku cannot win on his own, we can cut Tashigi a little bit of slack given that she’s not even a main character.

Argument 3: ‘She does nothing’ I don’t really like this insinuation. Often Smoker and Tashigi are the ones that pick up the mess after all the enemies are defeated, but for some reason that equates to ‘doing nothing’. I think because people see Tashigi as interchangeable with any other character she is thus useless because she is not mandatory. However, Tashigi’s role is much more complex than that.

Even if she’s not strong enough to fight the biggest fishes in the pond, she still manages to grow and prove her worth. If Tashigi was replaced with any generic marine captain a lot of what happened would be different. It was Tashigi who identified Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu for Zoro, Tashigi who (albeit reluctantly) directed Luffy to Crocodile, Tashigi who kept the Straw Hats safe from arrest in Alabasta, Tashigi who convinced Smoker that he needed to swallow his pride and side with Law and Luffy to stop Ceasar and it was Tashigi who convinced Nami to entrust the Punk Hazard children to them. Through her experiences she also cultivates her own unique sense of Justice. While she follows Smoker’s doctrine of ‘A Pirate will always be a Pirate’ and that the Shichibukai system and the World Government as a whole is flawed, she has also learned for herself that there are times that pride must be set aside, in a way Tashigi’s sense of Justice has become a combination of Smoker’s and Fujitora’s: in order to rebuild justice, the navy itself must become strong enough to not depend on pirates, but pride cannot supersede the greater good. In addition, implying she does nothing also implies that she doesn’t practice her own sense of justice either. She stepped in on Zoro twice to protect her men from harm, before even arriving at Punk Hazard we learned that she had a good relationship with the parents who had their children kidnapped as they asked specifically for her which in turn led her to personally strive to reunite the children with their parents and she even protected the truth of Vergo from G-5 so that they didn’t feel betrayed and demoralized. Of the things Tashigi does, nothing is not one of them, she displays compassion, fairness and determination in definitive moments. Argument 3: She’s too hung up on her Feminism

So, one of the major dynamics of Tashigi and Zoro is her misconception that Zoro wouldn’t cut her because she was a woman, a belief that women have to prove themselves more to be seen as strong against men being one of the beliefs she shares with Zoro’s childhood rival Kuina. While it can be a tad irksome that she’d hang onto this with Zoro, until Monet Zoro never actually demonstrated the contrary to her. This is mainly a complaint by hindsight, we only dislike the opinion because we’ve seen Zoro more than Tashigi has, and she’s not 100% wrong, Zoro himself has been a bit of a traditionalist, in Skypeia he angrily chastised Enel for attacking Robin since she was a woman, and he only does step in on Monet to save Tashigi - not even finishing her off despite being very capable of doing so. Outside of Zoro, Tashigi’s feelings that she gets treated differently due to her gender is proven and reflected in how G-5 treat her with little authority, only really listening to her because she’s pretty. You can’t be too hard on Tashigi given that she is constantly faced with this truth on a daily basis, and her desire to be seen for her strength and skills are still an amicable one, it’s worth noting that even Law recognized that her mentality and warrior’s spirit was far greater than he swordsmanship, but he only thought this internally. In Tashigi’s case it would help her confidence to be given validation, and not in the condescending way Zoro usually talks to people.  While it can be annoying that she immediately thinks that she’s being treated differently because she’s a woman, this also shows that she wants to be treated as an equal; if she is defeated in combat she wants to be cut to preserve her honour, it is the mentality all Great Samurai have, including Zoro. Oda does something with Tashigi he rarely does with any woman in One Piece in making her less sexualised and body-confident to reflect her goal of being recognized by her spirit and actions rather than her appearance, but he also makes that complex for the character which in a way this is most important for.

Argument 4: She’s not a good Rival for Zoro

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Tashigi’s character is that she is meant to be Zoro’s rival, in a similar manner to how Smoker and Luffy are embroiled in a Garp/Roger-esque cat and mouse chase. Because of this, people expect Tashigi to advance at a similar scale to Zoro to keep him on his toes, to make sure that he doesn’t end up complacent in his strive to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman. Her former likeness to Kuina also adds to this misconception, since because Kuina was Zoro’s rival with the same goal and always stronger than Zoro himself, Tashigi must be similar.

But this is not why Tashigi and Zoro are always put together. Tashigi is not Zoro’s rival, no other character we’ve met has the same goal as Zoro, and this keeps his story free to develop with different challenges. Tashigi’s pursuit of strength is not for the same reasons as Zoro, she doesn’t want to be the World’s Greatest Swordsperson, she only wants to protect the sanctity of the Meito and keep them out of unworthy hands. Her pursuit of Zoro was both because he dishonoured her in their fight and so she could claim Wado Ichimonji. In the New World however we don’t see that as much from Tashigi, even when she sees Shusui she doesn’t make a point to declare taking it from him because he’s unworthy (like Kin’emon would later do), this is because she does acknowledge his strength and worthiness of using these Meito, her personal conflict now though is to be seen as worthy to him as a swordsperson rather than a pirate to a marine.  In reality, Tashigi is instead Zoro’s and Kuina’s foil. She is similar in looks and perspective to Kuina but different in everything else from clumsiness, skill and ambition, the fact that Zoro struggles to handle this leads to the two becoming entwined in their respective journeys. No person gets under Zoro’s skin like Tashigi does, even to a point where he was reluctant to even be in eyeshot of her - how many people have you seen Roronoa Zoro hide from? They are each other’s foil because they are both stubborn people out to prove something but put on two different sides that conflict. That is the true purpose of their dynamic, their confrontations expose one another and show places where they can still grow and I still feel that we haven’t scratched the surface of this relationship.

Argument 5: She’s not Important

A combination of the earlier arguments, Tashigi gets a lot of flack because people think she’s not important enough as a character to have the screentime she gets. While it’s not hard to see why people feel that, it usually comes with people giving up on the idea that there’s a greater plan for her. It may just be me, but I am reluctant to believe that Tashigi appears in several forms of merchandise including calendars, games (as NPCs, Bosses, Supports or playable characters) and even figurines and not have a purpose in the greater scope of the story, do we really expect that from Oda? I doubt that very much! Granted, Wano would’ve been a perfect placement for her to push herself given the views on women in the country and it being the homeland of famous Meito. And yes, she could’ve had a much greater role in Stampede given how well they managed Smoker in it. We are allowed to be disappointed by this, but the fact that Tashigi has remained as consistent in presence as she has been in the show does hint at a bigger role, even if it’s being that wave of revolutionizing the Marines with Coby and Fujitora, her own origins or finally proving herself to the audience and to Zoro, Tashigi is not done and thus she is still important. “Just because they say a bird cannot fly, doesn’t mean that it never will” - Oda SBS 17 on Tashigi and Kuina’s names being named after flightless birds So, Why does Tashigi deserve more Respect? Tashigi as a character is one of Oda’s more subtle progressions. In contrast to Zoro who we see grow, we don’t see how Tashigi gets from A to B, we can also contrast to Coby whose rise becomes as magnificent as his puberty that Tashigi’s growth is much less abrupt and more steady, we see her struggles more than we do Coby where his successes are only heard in passing. Tashigi can also act as the ‘normal person’ in the marines, we compare her to Zoro in strength because she uses a sword but we never give her the benefit of the doubt that Roronoa Zoro is a bloody superhuman, plus not everyone has the great luxury of being trained by Dracule Mihawk for 2 years...furthermore, her challenges against Devil Fruit users are always filled with good intentions and strong willpower, but still self-doubt and shame, if anything Tashigi is one of the most human characters of One Piece for this reason; she learns, she suffers, she grows and she does it all without the luxury of Shonen perks such as superhuman power or endurance. Also she is a good person, she has a strong sense of morality and will, an altruistic desire and even in the situation she gets put in she makes a step that leads to the plot going in a positive direction. And for a character that has been in as many arcs as she has, there is still so much potential left to be untapped that fans are still after 2 decades eager to see from her.

Tashigi is a strong, valiant and just person, who is still really powerful if people stop trying to compare her to the likes of Luffy, Law and Zoro. Even when she fails she picks herself up and can still come out with a small victory from protecting innocents, arresting criminals and escorting children to get help. She is a lot stronger than people give her credit for and it’s for that she deserves respect.

[thebookwormfairy]

What if Marinette had a Retired Police Dog as a Pet

@ozmav

This is going to be another Daminette with an au of an au, but Damian doesn't come in until a ways in the story just bare with me.

It's been 2 years since Lila the Liar came back to class and she has successfully turned all of Marinette's classmates against her

Her crush on Adrien has officially fizzled out thanks to him doing absolutely nothing to stand by her as he once promised

She couldn't even turn to Chat because of his increasingly bad attitude towards her when ever she rejects him

He's not even showing up to half the akuma attacks

It's a good thing the attacks are becoming more spaced out

But the Akumas seem to be stronger the more time that passes between attacks

On the bright side with all her new free time she was able to work more on her designs that lead to more work worh Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale who after seeing Marinette's work with Jagged decided that she needed a piece done by her too

Her parents noticing that their lovely daughter who once was full of sunshine was getting duller by the day so they wanted to try and do something a little bit crazy to cheer her up a bit

So one Saturday they went to the local animal shelter to get Marinette a new friend

Marinette didn't know what to expect when her parents were going to take her but she wasn't expecting the animal shelter

She has to say she's not mad about it

Her life has gotten really lonely lately

She usually would just hang out with Luka and Kagami her only true friends but they've been pretty busy lately

So when she saw the animal shelter she got pretty excited

Marinette: really?

Tom: Really you can get any animal you want?

Tom and Sabine were expecting her to get a cat or maybe one of the rodents that people dropped who didn't realized how much work they were but know so some reason she went to the scary looking German sheperd that was laying in the corner

Marinette couldn't explain it but she just felt drawn to this dog

He seemed just as sad and lonely as she was

Marinette slowly walked up to the giant dog

Marinette: hey there buddy

The dog just raised his head gave her an unimpressed look before laying his head back down

Marinette: I guess you've been here a while huh. I've been alone a while too, but maybe we can be alone together.

The German sheperd looked at this funny little girl that's sitting next to him, not many people even bothered giving him a second look.

They mostly just want to see the puppies the older dogs rarely get adopted, and he wasn't sure he wanted a human not after what happened to his last human

But looking into this girls eyes he saw something in them that was similar to his own. She has seen some much stuff just like him

So even though he may not have wanted a human but it looks like he has one now

He gave the girl a lick on the cheek to show that he wanted to be her dog

Marinette: I'll take that as a yes

Marinette gave him a big hug

Tom and Sabine could see the writing on the wall Marinette has found her dog and he's huge

Sabine waved down an employee to let them know they found the dog they wanted

Employee: oh are you sure? That's Captain he was a police dog.

Tom: Was? What happened?

Employee: He was on the force for 2 years before he lost his partner in a drug bust gone bad. After that he kinda just shut down he wouldn't work with any other officers. And nobody would take him so he ended up here.

Tom and Sabine were a bit worried after hearing that but hearing their daughter laugh as Captain plopped down on her lap washed away all their worries

Tom and Sabine: We'll take him

Captain's bond with Marinette only grew since that day

They did everything they could together

He would even wait for her outside of school when they got out for lunch and to go home

Tom even put a doggy door in so that Captain can pick up Marinette from school

He even has his own dog bed in the bakery where he would lay down while Marinette was at school

Marinette would make him tons of bandanas

Each of them different

A lot of them are police themed

His favorite is a black bandana with a yellow sheriff's badge on it but instead of saying sheriff it says Captain

Captain enjoys just laying on Marinette's lap as she sews and design new clothes

He can always tell when Marinette is down, and would give her a kiss to cheer her up

Captain has tons of toys

He loves squeaky toys and hard toys

He does have a few plush toys but he is a known toy destroyer when it comes to them

Kagami and Luka love him

He tolerates them in return

They make his girl happy so they're okay in his book

Captain loves Tikki though and vice versa

Tikki loves cuddling on top of him and Captain enjoys her belly rubs

She also sneaks him treats when Marinette isn't looking

The class also knows about Captain but they don't like him because he growled at Lila once

Captain can tell a bad person when he sees one he spent his whole puppy hood learning to do that.

He also really doesn't like Adrien

A year and a couple of months after Marinette and Captain found each other Marinette's class was chosen to take a class trip to Gotham

They'll be there 2 weeks at the end of the school year so that they wouldn't miss much work

Marinette was so excited

She gave Luka and Kagami their miraculous to hold for the 2 weeks while she was gone just in case an akuma shows up, but that would be unlikely considering there was an attack just the weekend before she left

The only downside is that she couldn't take Captain with her

They really haven't been separated from her for more than a couple of hours apart, and he is super protective of her so that might stress him out if she just wasn't there one day.

It was decided that Captain would come with her parents to say goodbye at the airport

Captain knew what was going on

They were sending away his girl for who knows how long, and he wouldn't be there to protect her.

Well Captain wasn't having it. His girl isn't going anywhere without him

While Tom and Sabine were distracted he slipped out of his collar (keeping his favorite bandana on) and slipped onto the plane with the TSA agent that was walking on the plane.

He made sure to stay close enough to make it look like he was with the agent but far away enough that the agent didn't notice him.

After he hid under the table in the back of the plane

Captain didn't make his presence know until 2 hours into the flight

If asked he would say it was his plan so they couldn't turn around and take him off the plane but in reality he fell asleep back there and just woke up at the time.

There was chaos when Captain came out

The class was not happy and Lila was crying about how Marinette was just looking for attention and snuck her dog on the plane

Marinette: He's more than half my size how exactly would I be able to sneak him on the plane? How did nobody notice a big random dog on board?

The flight staff feeling a bit embarrassed about being called out on such a big mistake decided to leave it there for now, and luckily for Marinette she had an open seat by her that Captain could sit on.

Once they landed Marinette had to be held back at customes the make sure Captain wouldn't cause a plague to any dog he met while there

One of the teachers stayed behind with her so she wouldn't be alone at the airport in a foriegn countey

After 2 hours and a fax from her parents, and a bathroom break for poor Captain she and Captain was free to go, but thanks to the hold up Marinette missed not only the group dinner they were going to have but was also forced into a room by herself cutting herself off from her classmates even more.

After Marinette had everything unpacked she found her teacher and asked if she could go to a near by pet store so that she could pick up stuff that Captain needed

Ms. Bustier said she could go if she got a buddy to go with her

Marinette tried to ask her classmates

She thought for sure Adrien would at least come with her but no

Everybody said no

Nobody took pity on her

They all agreed with Lila and thought she snuck Captain here for attention

Adrien even lectured her about trying to cause problems for Lila

Well fine then she'll just go by herself

Captain WAS a police dog

He would be able to protect her if something happened

Not the mention she was ladybug she could take care of herself

So leaving the hotel with Captain by her side Marinette felt no fear going out on the night

It was a bit of a walk to the closest pet store, but when they got there it was worth it

The store had absolutely everything that Marinette needed, a collar, leash, dog bowls, dog food, poop bags, dog shampoo, and even had enough money to get him a squeaky toy in the shape of a robin

Marinette spent a lot more time in the store then she thought she would so by the time she left it was way past the time it was consider safe to be out on the streets of Gotham especially when you're a 16 year old girl with her dog and arms full of bags

That's what Damian Wayne was thinking when he saw her walking on the street

He was on his patrol root when he saw the most beautiful girl he ever seen with a dog connect to her hand via a leash

Well Damian couldn't just let a beautiful girl like this walk to wherever she's going by herself so he swung down to the alleyway so he could escort her

Marinette was on high alert

Gotham was a lot different then Paris, while she felt safe even comforted walking through the Parisain nights

But here all she felt was jittery and scared

While passing one of the many dark allies in the city Captain started growling

He got in front of Marinette and growled at the person in the alley

Captain refused to let anybody harm Marinette while he was still around

Damian: Hold of your dog I come in peace.

Damian walked out of the alley with his arms raised to show that he didn't mean any harm

Captain kept growling

Marinette: Oh your Robin aren't you one of Gotham heroes

Captain kept growling

Damian: yes can you please call off your dog

Marinette:oh of course! *Marinette bends down to pet Captain* it's okay Captain he's a good guy. You can stand down

Captain stopped growling but he made sure to stay between his girl and the boy in tights

Damian: you know miss it really isn't safe to be wondering the streets alone at night maybe I can walk you to where you're going

Marinette: Well I wouldn't say no to the company

As they walked back to the hotel the talked about everybody and nothing the conversation just seemed to flow between them. Though Captain made sure to stay between them he was happy that Marinette seemed to found a companion even if it was just for one walk

They said goodbye once they reached the hotel as Marinette went up to his hotel room Damian raced home to hack into her school's itinerary and see if he could somehow meet her again

Jason: What are you doing Demon Spawn

Damian: None of your business Todd

Tim: it looks like he's hacking into some sort of school's schedule

Dick: A French school at that. Are you planning to leave us little bird?

Damian: No and it's still none of your business.

Dick: I know let's hack into into the street cameras and and see if something came up on his patrol

Damian spun around

Damian: YOU SHOULD NOT SO THAT

Jason: Now we have to do it!

Damian: No!

Dick: I'm in! Oh ho who do we have here a little girly stole dear Damian's heart

Tim: Oooo a pretty girl too, and french going by the schedule

Dick: and with a dog definitely an animal lover

Jason: What's her name Demon Spawn?

Damian: Stay out of it you idiots!

Dick: Wait I recognize that school I'm giving them a tour on Wednesday of Wayne Enterprise

Damian: So she's going to be at the building this Wednesday?

Jason: Aw Demon Spawn so happy to see his girlfriend

Damian: SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!!!!

Tim: but you want her to be

Dick: you know since she has a dog with her she'll have to walk him, meaning she'll head to the closest park which is just across the street

Jason: And according to this schedule they have a free day tomorrow probably to sleep of the jet lagged

Damian got a look on his face like he was coming up with an evil plan

Bruce who has been in the bat cave with them all this time just shocked his head

That poor girl has no idea what she's accidentally got herself into

The next day Marinette took Captain to the park across the street to give him a nice walk

There she ran into one Mr. Damian Wayne who have been there for an hour now hoping to run into her.

Captain recognize this boys smell from last night and was a bit more calm around him

Damian and Marinette spent hours in the park talking a getting to know each other

It felt like they've know each other all their lives, and not just a couple of hours

Captain even warmed up to him enough to let Damian pet him on the head

For a minute

That's it

Their meet up at the park lead to a coffee date, which lead to an exchanged of numbers

Marinette: Maybe this trip won't be as lonely as I thought

Bonus

Of course Damain's brother were spying on him at the park

Jason: OMFG I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW WELL THIS IS GOING!!!

Tim: I know it seems like she really likes him

Dick: Shut up they're going to hear us!

Damain did hear them and when Marinette wasn't looking he glared in their direction with the clear message that they needed to leave

Bonus Bonus

At one point Marinette and Damian were in a mugging situation with 2 guys

Captain looked down one and Marinette took down the other

At that moment Damian knew he had to marry this girl

[black-streak]

Saturday night's alright for fighting (but Sundays are meant for rest) - A Little Perspective

Part 12

This actually takes a bit of a different tone to what the rest has been and is more of a reflecting inner monologue than anything else. But! We finally get a little more insight on Tim. Those who were there when this entire story idea sparked for me on the discord might recognize what this set up is leading to! And let me say, that bit is coming very very soon. Like, in the next three parts. Which means the main plotline is almost up! Anyways!

Tag list: @emjrabbitwolf @mystery-5-5 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @fandomkitty8 @dast218 @silvergold-swirl @shizukiryuu . @my-name-is-michell @kurogaya913 @elspethshadow @thecatnipmademedoit @shamefullove @ladylucina28 @crazylittlemunchkin @rayray384 @cassiejaydee @yuulxd @ladysblackcat @naclychilli @caffeinetheory @persephonebutkore @fertileleaf @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @weird-pale-blonde-person @st0rmy-w1th1n @littleblue5mcdork @dudet @naoryllis @disneyfoxuniverse

~---~

Sometimes, old hobbies come back from the dead. 

'Like many things in my life,' Tim snarked to himself, meticulously cleaning each detachable lens and placing it back in the small carry case for his camera. 

The old camera hadn't seen the light of day in nearly 7 years, when suddenly it became an almost weekly guest star to his life once more. Normally on a night where patrol fell to someone else or early in the morning after a quieter night out. Occasionally it would sneak out during a date or after waking up with a warm body pressed to his. And while Marinette supported and encouraged his newest endeavour, he never informed her that she'd been the inspiration. Or rather, Vixen.

It started when she first moved into Gotham, before Damian had brought her home and formally introduced them all. A shadow started descending on the nights of the city, but unlike most, this one seemed determined to make a positive impact, even if it never played by the rules. 

Thugs didn't find themselves unsure of how they arrived at a police station. Civilians were never found being helped by sweet, gentle strangers. Stray animals wouldn't stalk people around without an ounce of fear in their step. And Gotham villains did not fumble into their own traps so inexplicably as to knock them unconscious and be easily transported back to Arkham.

And yet, the entire family had come reeling to the fact that all of these things were exactly what was happening.

And as usual, the job of figuring out who exactly decided that rules were flexible fell to Babs and himself. 

That went downhill fast.

Cameras, street or self planted picked up nothing. No amount of hacking, research, or heat detectors could scrounge up an ounce of proof to even confirm the shadow was real. They often found Babs cursing under her breathe in those days, unable to comprehend what type of magic bullshitery this nonsense was.

Tim… well Tim thrived on the challenge. At first, he cursed and bemoaned the lost hours to no results, only to find himself being stalked one night. Shivers ran rampant down his spine as hair stood on end. The warehouse looked empty, but he knew better. He sensed eyes following his every step through the place. Taking the risk, he left to see if the feeling continued, only to find to his delight that it did. The shadow was tailing him. 

While nothing else came from that night, the idea started to form that perhaps if he kept its interest, he could study it as it studied him. Sure, the creature learned his behaviors as well, but his backup outnumbered it if things came to a head.

Two weeks after, Marinette barrelled head long into their lives. The tiny woman seemed timid at first glance, but a keen eye could see the sharp, intelligent gleam to hers. With the hunt for the shadow still in motion and the little woman's attachment to the coldest of the bats, Tim kept his distance. He felt no dire need to pursue any connection to someone perfectly content staying by his little brother's side. Especially if that gleam was any clue as to how dangerous getting close could be. Marinette was beautiful and intelligent and if the muscles coating her body were to be trusted, most likely vicious in combat. In other words, ridiculously attractive. And completely off limits. For as much as Damian might have believed otherwise in their early days, Tim wouldn't compete for someone his brother was so obviously endeared to.

However, that never stopped her from approaching him. Randomly at times, he'd find her by his side, asking questions or offering random thoughts to whatever project he laid out in front of him. Eventually, the object of his newest obsession came to light. Not that she knew they were speaking of the shadow, but Marinette had helped nonetheless. She took one look at his research and made an offhand comment about things being easier to decipher and look back on when provided with pictures and suddenly he was off, rooting through the closet in his old room, hunting for a camera case.

Suddenly, proofing the shadow followed him became easier. He patrolled until his senses alerted him to a new presence and worked around it until he found himself facing towards the entity, pulling out a camera and snapping a series of pictures. It became little things he clamored to: the way something shifted, how random little flickers of movement happened in the edge of photos, how a perfectly steady camera somehow had a haze to half of it's pictures. It threw him back to his days following Batman and Robin and then later, Nightwing through the streets, practically studying them under a microscope until he eventually uncovered their identities.

 In retrospect, that's probably how he gave himself away. Suddenly the shadow became more present, constantly showing up for all his nights as though it knew his schedule, despite not being consistent.

 In retrospect, that's also how it gave itself away. Or rather, herself. 

Vigilante talk had always been heavily coded for the family no matter if they were alone or not. Only the Batcave allowed freedom to speak openly. So who could possibly hear enough of their conversations to not only decode the meaning, but for long enough to use the scheduling to stalk him for more than three weeks now? The answer: Marinette. 

And yet, Tim couldn't bring himself to give her away. His shadow never caused any real harm. Always cleaned up after herself and honestly was doing hero's work when she branched off. The only real problem the bats had with her was that she was an unknown. But now? He knew her, so it became okay. Plus, he hadn't any proof, so really, it was self preservation that led to him not accusing Damian's little girlfriend of being the hidden creature in their night. Or so he told himself.

Suddenly, he found himself sneaking photos of the young designer, comparing her movements and stature to anything he could from the photos of his shadow. He never found anything concrete, but the pictures continued. If only because now he found that Marinette made an excellent subject and never seemed to mind the few times she noticed his lens pointed in her direction. They still kept distant, but it was too late. Tim knew too much and only became more fascinated and drawn in until a startling realization hit: he wanted her. Only he couldn't and would not pursue her, for she was with Damian. 

But suddenly, that was thrown out the window. Because she wasn't with Damian and the two had no interest in one another. Because she pressed herself into Tim's side and coerced him into sleep and flirted with intent. Because suddenly his shadow in the night followed him in the day and called herself his.

He found himself in the precarious position of hiding her secret from his family and protecting her from those who did find her all the while watching her freely laugh and tease with the same people in the light of day. He took photos of it all. From her laughter at the antics of his brothers, to the content look upon her face as she baked with Alfred. From the soft smile on her lips as she slept in his arms to the mischievous look she shot him from the folds of her transformed suit. Obviously he couldn't carry the camera on him at all times, but the collection grew nevertheless, tucked away in a compiled folder on his desktop, only labeled Mari.

Soon after, the subject changed and expanded, moving to capture the Gotham skyline at dawn or the gothic cathedrals as the sun set behind them. Cats stalking in the moonlight, Dick swinging from a chandelier. Jason with the softest smile he'd ever seen the man wear. Titus playing with Ace in the front yard. The view from his office chair at work. Damian hanging from the ceiling, trying to coerce a bat into letting him take it down below to treat a small nic in its side. Alfred relaxing in the garden. All pleasant memories he no longer wanted to take a chance of forgetting. And of course, the lens found its way back to Mari, but it was so much more now.

Closing the camera case and tucking it away as a small knock sounded at his door, Tim could only smile a little to himself. Maybe Vixen the mystery had started all of this, but truly, the outcome made all the sleepless nights and headaches and confusion worth it.

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

The Batfam reacting to Batsis dating Roy Harper...(HC)

Requested by an ever-lovable-Anon Headcanons for batfamily being protective of batsis 'cause she's dating Roy Harper? Like what their reactions and stances would be

Short A/N So first off, this is kind of a different variant off Headcanons, more like preferences (you’ll see what I mean), and secondly, this kinda works like a second part for those Headcanons, but you can read it completely individually. Lot’s of Love, Brina. 

Bruce is torn. On one side, you’re his little girl and he wants to protect you from all the evilness in the world (besides the kind you basically fight against every night), but on the other side, he saw how happy Roy made you and he was completely sure that you knew what you were doing. You were not a child anymore. But still...you were one of Bruce’s princesses.  When Roy and you went to Bruce to reveal your Relationship, he was completely frozen for a few seconds. Was that it? Were you an adult now? Did you still need him? Those kinds of thought plagued his mind and you were starting to believe that his silence meant that he was angry at you. Which he wasn’t and, when he realized that you were starting to retract yourself in nervousness, he told you so. He told you that he was happy if you were happy. In the end, he did not not allow it, but he certainly had four eyes on Roy and maybe (or maybe not) three different ways in mind how to revenge your heart if Roy was to ever break it. 

Alfred tries to keep himself out of your and your siblings love-live, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t protective of you. He has the heartbreak-kit hidden for you, with everything you’d need in case Roy’d broke your heart.  He was also one of the first ones to know about you and Roy since you trusted him completely. Like Bruce, he made sure you knew he supported you but other than that he also made it clear to Roy that if he was to ever hurt you, he had never promised Bruce anything related to not-killing and has quite the high kill count... He was the first, but long not the last to threaten him. 

Dick’s reaction was pretty mild. You told him alone since he was thinking out loud about trying to play matchmaker for you and you thought it was time to tell him about your boyfriend. He just nodded and changed the topic. He knows Roy and he trusts you, so he doesn’t really see the need to make a big thing out of it, even though he can’t help himself, and gives Roy the big-brother-’if-you-hurt-her-I’ll-burn-your-house-down’-shovel-talk. All in all, he most likely has the ‘chill’-reaction from all the batfam members, but if Roy’ll ever hurt you, he’s gonna be one of the first ones to call for drastic measures. 

Jason finds out before both of you even are a couple. One night, Roy, Jason and You are in Jason and your apartment, chilling with some booze, but you, being a pretty cheap drunk, were gone way before both boys and your drunk self decided to just blatantly admit that you were in love with Roy.  Your brother was furious about that (not in the sense that he was angry at you and more because that means that there is some sort of romantic-connection between Roy and you). Roy wasn’t even able to blink before there was a gun aimed at his head. Your (not yet) Boyfriend tried to explain everything to Jason and prove to him that he loves you too, but that got kinda hard since Jason was either shooting at or punching/kicking him.  Even though you weren’t as good as you were sober, you were still a somewhat good fighter drunk, helping you to stop their fighting long enough for Jason to listen to Roy. In the end, your brother begrudgingly accepted that his best friend and his favourite sister were now dating. 

Tim literally acts like he doesn’t know Roy and he basically questioned him like Roy is America’s enemy No.1. He does the whole background check-up and talks to everyone in the league who has worked with Roy in the past. Until he is completely sure that he can trust Roy with your happiness (which can take up to two months), he’s always somehow spying on Roy.  But after he trusts him enough, he’s super chill. He might not be the greatest fan of seeing PDA, but other than that the both of you can always count on his support.

Damian actually found out as one of the last. Why? Because even though he’d never admit it, Roy is a tine-tiny-little big bit afraid of Damian. You tried to convince him that your baby-brother wasn’t that bad, but every time you suggested finally telling Dami, he found some excuse or, occasionally, just jumped out of the window (he did that three times until you told him that if he’d do that again, there would be no reason to tell Damian the two of you are dating, because by then, you wouldn’t be dating anymore).  In fact, you didn’t really tell him. He more likely caught you...making out on your couch. He was on Patrol and decided to give you a short visit since you’ve been acting weird lately. Well, you can guess how surprised he was to find Todd’s best friend with his tongue down his dearest sisters throat.  Only thanks to your quick reflexes and you knowing the exact sound your window made when Damian broke in, Roy wasn’t impaled by one of Robin’s  Katanas. Just like Jason, he fought Roy, but other than his brother he really wanted to kill the redhead. How dare he lay a hand on you.  No matter what you did, he kept on fighting, only stopping when you threw yourself between the both of them in a do-or-your-boyfriend-dies-situation. The cut into your side wasn’t deep enough to harm any important organs, but that didn’t keep Roy from fussing over you like you were a freshly-born-baby. He was so close to taking you and carrying you all the way to the manor just so that Alfred could take a look at you and seeing Roy being so worried for you, gave Damian another inside on him. That and the fact that he was so blinded by rage that he did one of the things he swore he’d never do, hurt you, made him overthink his stance.  Now, he may accept the fact that Roy and you were together, but he does! not! accept! Roy himself. He may not fight him anymore, but he sure as hell tries to make the time they spent together hell for Roy. The problem, Roy knows that that won’t ever change, he could be married and have three kids with you and Damian would still basically hate him, and the only other way out, would be to break up with you, but that...well...wouldn’t really help, would it? Nope, he would have an army of Batkids, Batman and a very angry Butler on his butt. But that would not even be the scariest thing for him in this situation. The scariest thing in that situation would definitely be you. If he’d dare to break up with you for something so stupid as your little brother not liking him, you’d f**king end him. 

Steph is ecstatic about you finally having a boyfriend, that said boyfriend is Jason’s best friend doesn’t really change anything for her. She loves to gossip about Roy and talk about all the romantic stuff he does for you. The blonde is just kind off disappointed that you didn’t really tell her. She found out because you made a cute picture of Roy and you kissing and even though you wanted to send it to Roy, you accidentally sent it to her, ‘causing a massive load of messages from her to basically crash your phone. She’s most likely the only one who would, if Roy and you broke up, try to get you back together instead off trying to kill him. 

Cass is confused. What exactly is going on? Why is it such a big deal? While your brothers, your Dad and Alfred are on one side and Steph on the other side of the extreme spectrum, she was pretty much in the middle. She was there for you if you wanted to talk and she was your go-to if you need help for date preparations, but she was also the one who would poison Roy the second he only thinks about leaving you with a broken heart.  She’s also one of the ones who you didn’t really tell that you were in a relationship. While Damian caught you making out and Steph found out through an accidental message, she just came to you and asked you if you were dating Roy, since she noticed the way you looked at each other on the pictures you (Jason *cough* *cough*) uploaded to Instagram. After you confirmed, she just nodded, gave you a weird hug, and left. 

Babs found out because Dick told her accidentally on patrol. At first, she was kinda wary, but she trusted Bruce and Dick’s judgement and being the supportive mom-friend she was, came to you and talked to you about...uhm...the importance of...consent. That was a conversation you’d never ever forget, even though you wished you could. It was nice to know that she was there for you, but there are some things you’d rather keep to Roy and yourself. 

Duke was one of the first ones to find out. The day after your “little” drunken fight, you and he had a new-brother-sister-lunch date and he noticed how happy you were and how you basically glowed. It didn’t even take him ten minutes before he got you to tell him about Roy and your new relationship and even though he hadn’t been your brother for very long, the bond between you and him was one of the more loving ones for him inside the family. So he was really happy that you were happy but other than your other brothers, he didn't have an already made murder-plan for the worst-case-scenario. He, Steph and Babs would be the ones to console you in case the breakup is a messy one.

[thepurplebutterflythings]

Kitty Cat & Tweety Bird (Part 9) - Jason Todd

Gif: Unknown on Tenor

Word Count: 3.7K

Paring: Jason Todd (Titans) x (f)Reader

Summary: While looking for Y/N, Harley feels responsible for The Joker kidnapping her beloved niece. As Joker and Y/N are face to face, The Joker wonders why he didn’t know about Y/N beforehand, especially considering he and Bruce are ‘connected’.

Warnings: Mentions of Abuse.

A/N: This is a little series I am doing about Jason Todd in Titans. I don’t know Comic!Jason very well so I’m taking all of this from the show, and at the moment he hasn’t been in very often, so please forgive any mischaracterizations.

Tagging: @bella-0104-123 @ninergirl1d @httpfandxms @rosybrock @attackonnat @reclusive-chicken-nugget   @demoiselle-en-detresse00 @young-psychos @thesleepykaijuu @thescottpack @nightlygiggles @rougestorms @sinon36​ @loxbbg​

Kitty Cat & Tweety Bird Part 8  | Masterlist |

________________________________________________________________

“Well, well, well.”

Y/N stirred with discomfort at the voice, low and gravely and gave the same effect of nails being dragged down a chalkboard with teeth on edge and bones wanting to escape the flesh prison as the noise drilled through them. It sounded as though they always had something in their throat they were trying to cough up, but could never rid themselves of. When she opened her eyes, Y/N looked around her and realised that she was tied up and being hung from the ceiling above her by chains. She was still dazed and so wasn’t fully aware, but when she looked below, she snapped out of it, for she was being hung carelessly above a vat of green, bubbling chemicals that glowed in the darkened room. The voice from before laughed manically, and Y/N looked around to see where the sound came from. As she looked, she gathered more about her surroundings, realising she was in Ace Chemicals. Footsteps echoed as the owner walked on the gantry above the chemicals, and Y/N saw her capture. The Joker.

Despite her Aunt Harley once being in a relationship (if you could even call it that) with the mad man, Y/N had never met him. He wasn’t even supposed to know she existed as Harley was frightened the man would harm her.

“You!” Y/N seethed.

“Ah! So you’ve heard of me,” Joker crouched down. There was still a distance between them, perhaps three or four metres. “That’s… interesting, for you see it wasn’t until earlier that I heard of you, Miss Wayne! You’re daddy and I… we’re connected so you would have thought I should know about you, but alas I did not.”

“You’re supposed to be in Arkham,” Y/N said, “how’d you get out? Why isn’t any news you’re out?”

“Smart little Bat Pup, aren’t you, Y/N,” Joker wagged his finger as he pulled a pocket watch out of his purple coat pocket and looked at it, “They should be finding out right about… now!” Just as the Joker said ‘Now,’ the siren from Arkham that signified a break out rang loudly through the air. “But that doesn’t mean they’ll catch me.”

“Why are you doing this?” She asked as she shifted in the chains, trying to loosen herself.

“Because,” Joker just shrugged, “To get at Bruce, I need to get to the one thing he loves and cares about more than anything – family.”

________________________________________________________________

The group, upon realizing that Joker had kidnapped Y/N, all suited up and went to search Gotham to find where he was holding her, reluctantly revealing to Harley and Ivy who it was beneath the mask of Batman. Neither were totally surprised, to be honest, and there were bigger things to worry about than Bruce Wayne being Batman. After Harley and Ivy got their protective gear on, they stopped at Wayne Manor were Jason and Bruce suited up, and then they went to Selina’s who pulled her Catwoman suit on. Alfred monitored their search for Y/N from the Batcave while Ivy and Selina went one way, Harley and Bruce went another and Jason went separately.

As Harley and Bruce finished searching yet another warehouse in Joker’s name, Harley fell against the wall and slowly ended up on the ground, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest. Bruce turned around and saw the woman curled in upon herself and frowned, walking up to her.

“Harleen?” Bruce said gently, “What’s wrong?”

“I kinda feel like all ‘a this is my fault,” she muttered as she ran her fingers over her knee.

“What makes you think that?” Bruce asked, sitting next to her to comfort her. Harley sniffed a little and turned her head to look at Bruce. She was holding back tears and her bottom lip, painted a brilliant shade of red that reflected the lights back from its gloss, quivered like a leaf.

“I had a chance to kill him,” Harley explained, “I coulda killed Joker, but I didn’t, and now he’s kidnapped a girl that I love and care for like me own.”

“What?”

“I left Joker when Y/N was ten,” She began, “Not many people know this, only Y/N, Selina and Ivy, but Joker… he used ta hurt me, hurt me bad, physically and mentally,” Harley confessed, “I know, I know, that’s what I get for dating a villain like Joker,” she sighed.

“God no,” Bruce said, “no, no, no, you never deserve anything that he did to you, ever, regardless of him being a villain, regardless of what you’ve done. You should never have been abused by him.”

“Thank you, Bruce,” Harley smiled tightly, “The night I decided I was gonna leave, he hurt me worse than he ever had before and I ran to Selina’s. She patched me up, and Y/N came out her bedroom, all in her jammies and everything – they were Batman one – and she saw me bleeding on the sofa and asked what happened. Well, at this point, Y/N/N just found out her mama was a thief, and her aunties were a criminal lunatic and an eco-terrorist, so there wasn’t much we could hide from her. She pretty much put two and two together , and that’s when she started wanting to be a vigilante, to take people like Joker and Penguin down. I decided then I had ta leave” Harley sighed and pushed her hair back. “Selina and I went back to Jokers, Selina as Catwoman, obviously, and we got my things, and Joker tried and stopped me, said he could be without me, he threw Selina off the stairs and tried ta grab me, so I grabbed my mallet and I started hitting him again and again and again. Selina stopped me cause Joker had called his henchmen and we didn’t have a chance to finish the job cause we didn’t have a gun, so we had to go. I shoulda stayed, I shoulda finished the fucking job, but then Selina said how upset Y/N would be if I did go through with it, saying 'Babes will be heartbroken'. She said it like that so Joker wouldn't know. And she was right, just thinking about Y/N finding out about what I was bout to do – it killed me. Y/N/N… she knows we were villains, that we’ve done bad things, that we have killed before, but this was different, cause me killing him would mean Joker’s men would kill me. That would break her heart, so I didn’t, and we left, went back to Selina’s. But I shoulda done it, I shoulda killed the bastard, gone down in fucking flames with him, cause if I did then he wouldn’t have taken Y/N.”

“Hey,” Bruce said, putting a hand on Harley’s shoulders, “you aren’t to blame here. The only one responsible for Joker’s actions is Joker. And Y/N had a much better and happier life with Selina, Ivy and you raising her.”

“Really?” Harley looked at Bruce and wiped her eyes.

“She’s incredible, and that’s partly because of you.”

“Thank you, Brucie,” Harley said kissing Bruce’s cheek, “you’re a doll, now, let’s go kick my ex’s ass!”

________________________________________________________________

Y/N watched from her spot above the chemical tank as Joker paced up and down the gantry. He seemed befuddled, gnawing on his thumb and occasionally huffing and pointing at Y/N before carrying on pacing.

“Explain to me, Ms Y/N Wayne,” Joker finally said, “why your father kept you from me, me, me of all people,” he gestured to himself and threw his arms in the air, seething and spitting as he worked himself up.

“I’m not the person to talk to about this, Joker,” Y/N huffed and turned her head away.

“Well, who else is there to ask?”

“My parents come to mind.”

“Do you know what it feels like?” Joker asked, “the chemicals?”

“No, and don’t really want to – let’s go back to bitching about my dad, can we?”

“Uh, uh, uh,” Joker tutted, “let’s go and talk about the chemicals, cause if dear old daddy can’t rescue you, then you’ll be plopped into a nice green bath of acid, how’s that sound?”

“Like dinner with The Mad Hatter sounds a lot more pleasant.”

“Oh, he’s a nightmare to spend ten minutes with really, Ms Y/N Wayne.”

“Please stop calling me that,” she sighed.

“It is your name though, Ms Y/N Wayne,” Joker said, “Anyway, back to the chemicals. It crawls under your skin and makes it feel as though every vein is on fire, that your skin is pulling itself from your bone and even when cleaned, you feel as though you are still coated in the substance, it’s… horrendous, never-ending torture. How does that sound, Ms Y/N Wayne?”

“Like high school, really.”

“And what kinda high school did your mama send you to?”

________________________________________________________________

Jason adjusted his Robin mask as he landed on the car roof. This was the last place on his list, Ace Chemicals. Bruce wasn’t sure if Joker would ever return there after the previous two times he was there and how bad those turned out, but Joker was a creature of habit, so it made sense to check. If Y/N wasn’t there, he had no idea where else she could be. Slowly, Jason crept up the ladder outside the building to the top, peering through the window. There she was, Y/N, tied up in chains and dangling over the vat of chemicals like a fish on a hook while Joker paced up and down and ranted as he did. Pulling his phone from his pocket, Jason called Bruce.

“Jason? You found her?”

“Yeah, Ace Chemicals, come quick,” Jason said.

“On my way, I’ll contact Selina. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m not planning on doing anything that would put Y/N in danger, Bruce,” Jason said before hanging up. He climbed back down and walked around the perimeter of the building, finding a door and opening it quietly. There was no one down there. It appears that Joker got so caught up in his plan to kidnap Y/N that he didn’t contact any of his men to watch the surroundings. Jason quickly walked away from the door and back to the car, opening it and checking, seeing the keys were still in there. He took the bag he had on his shoulder off and put it in the car, on the passenger side, then he walked into the building and slowly walked up the stairs, listening as he did.

“And here is the thing that bothers me the most, Ms Y/N Wayne,” Joker ranted on and on, “that I didn’t sense you,” he said, “after all your father and I have gone through, I should have sensed you – the daughter of Bruce Wayne, of Batman – but I didn’t, why?”

“Cause you’re not a fucking psychic,” Y/N groaned, “cause you’re a delusional lunatic.”

Jason bit back a chuckle. Only Y/N would be tied up over chemicals, her life in danger, kidnapped by The Joker, and still remain level headed and calm if a little irritated and bored. Jason tried to step forward, but something creaked beneath him.

“Wait,” Joker lifted a finger, “we aren’t alone here. Come out then, our unknown audience.” Jason gulped and walked out from his hiding place. His eyes moved from Joker to Y/N. Y/N was biting back her smile of relief of seeing Jason as Robin. Thank god someone was there to rescue her. “And Bruce didn’t even come himself to rescue his beloved offspring?” Joker tutted as he wagged his finger in disappointment. “But his pet bird instead? What does that say about the man?”

“We’ve all been out searching for her,” Jason said, keeping his eyes on Y/N.

“We?” Joker frowned, “Not just The Bat?”

“No,” Jason shook his head, “me, her father, her mother, and her aunts.”

“Mother? Aunts?”

“Oh, please tell me you aren’t that stupid,” Y/N said, moving her eyes to Joker. “You know it takes two people to make a child?”

“Of course I do,” Joker snapped, “her mother?”

“Oh my god,” Jason said, “you idiot. You don’t know who her mother is, do you?”

“Who is her mother?” The Joker asked, “and aunts? She has aunts?”

“Wow,” Y/N started laughing from her trapped place, “this is brilliant, oh my god, you have no idea what’s going to happen next. Fucking hell. Talk about karma being a bitch.”

“Someone explain to me what is going on!”

“Not only is Batman her father,” Jason said, almost laughing, while Y/N was howling with glee as she realised Joker had just trapped himself in his own trap. How brilliant. “Her mother is Catwoman, and her aunts are Catwoman’s friends – The Gotham City Sirens.”

Y/N and Jason didn’t let their faces reveal that behind the Joker the window had opened, and Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy had both snuck and were quietly behind the Joker, waiting for the right moment.

“What?” The smile on Joker’s face dropped for a second, “The Sirens?”

“Which means, dumbass, that your ex-girlfriend, and her new beau, both helped in raise Y/N,” Jason said, “meaning not only Batman is on the way, but Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn are also coming here.”

“Seriously, mate,” Y/N laughed, “if there was an Olympics for bad luck, you’ve got Gold, not only that, but you fucking smashed the world record.”

“Uh oh,” Joker said.

“Uh oh is right there, puddin’,” Harley said from behind Joker, baseball bat in hand. She swung it hard and hit Joker in the side of the head. Joker yelped loudly and stumbled back. Bruce and Selina, still in costume, appeared from where Jason walked out of. Ivy then punched Joker in the gut while Bruce went for his face. Selina kicked the Joker in the chest. All the adults started beating the Joker as Brue turned to Jason and yelled.

“Robin, get Y/N and get out of here.”

“On it,” Jason yelled back with a nod as he climbed onto the railing and carefully, quickly, moved past the fight and to the other side where the chain holding Y/N was linked up. Jason grabbed it and looked at Y/N, “Ready?”

“Fuck yes,” she nodded as Jason unhooked the chain and started pulling, lifting Y/N higher and higher. As she started moving, she shifted to loosen herself, and once her hands were free from the chain, she grabbed it and shifted her, so her body was then free, still keeping a firm grip. When Jason pulled Y/N high enough, she started swinging, throwing herself forward and flying into Jason’s arms. They crashed onto the floor. Y/N pulled back and looked into Jason’s eyes.

“Didn’t know felines could fly, Kitty Cat,” Jason chuckled.

“Learnt from the best, Tweety Bird.”

They got to their feet, and Jason grabbed her hand, throwing a look at the group before running. He dragged her down the stairs and out of the building. They both ran so fast that they were nearly tripping over their feet, looking over their shoulders constantly as they did. When they had finally reached the car, they stopped, but Y/N pulled away from Jason for a moment, gasping for air and looking behind her as she did.

“What is it?” Jason asked as he opened the door.

“We can’t just leave,” Y/N said, “we can’t leave them, we have to go back, we have to help. Did you bring my suit?”

“Bruce told me to get you out of here,” Jason said, “I’m doing what he told me to.”

“Jason, I know you,” Y/N folded her arms, “where’s my Lynx suit?”

“No, we’re going back to Wayne Manor, and they’ll meet us back there.”

“Jason, where is my suit?”

“No.”

Y/N sighed and walked forward, arms still folded. She leant against the car, next to Jason, and lifted her eyebrows.

“Where is my suit, Jason?”

Jason sighed and groaned, rolling his head back before ducking into the car and grabbing the bag he put on the passenger seat, pulling it out and handing it into Y/N.

“You’re explaining this to your father.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she rolled her eyes as she climbed into the backseat and started changing, “now, no looking.”

“Now all I wanna do is look,” Jason huffed.

“Tell you what,” Y/N teased, “you can watch me get undressed after all, this is over.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

________________________________________________________________

It was as though the adults were all taking turns in beating the Joker, but he was fighting back, not going down easy. If Batman wasn’t there, then the Sirens would have easily killed him by then, but Bruce was adamant to return the lunatic to Arkham.

“My daughter is not a pawn for your fucking games,” Selina hissed as she scratched his cheek, nearly reaching his eye but just missing, “come after her again and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

“I shoulda killed ya way back when, ya cunt,” Harley kicked him in the back, causing him to fall to the floor.

“You’re lucky I let you breath clean air,” Ivy yelled as she slapped him.

“My child,” Bruce picked Joker up by the collar of his jacket and leaned into his face, “has nothing to do with me and you. Leave her be.”

“Or what? MMM? Throw me into the acid? We both know you won’t. We’re connected, you and I, you know it too.”

“You delusional fuck,” Selina pulled Joker from Bruce and kneed him in the stomach.

“What did I ever see in ya?” Harley threw her arms up, “seriously? How’d I ever think you were a good match for me?”

Joker took this moment and grabbed Selina and dangled her over the edge near the acid where the broken railing was.

“Come any closer, and the cat gets it.”

“Like hell she does,” said a voice. Y/N ran in as Lynx with Robin close behind her. She launched herself at Joker, who pulled Selina from the edge and fell backwards. Y/N punched him in the face. Joker got to his feet and started trying to fight Y/N. Y/N was quick, dodging his slower movements. Jason quickly came to Y/N’s side, and they started to fight against the Joker in sync, when Y/N kicked him towards Jason, Jason would punch him in the face back towards Y/N, falling to the ground, and Y/N would lift her knee, clocking him in the chin, pushing him towards Jason, who would shove him to knock him off balance. The adults all watched them in awe as Jason and Y/N moved in sync with each other, beating the Joker relentlessly. They didn’t even need to intervene, Jason and Y/N had it all under control. Eventually, Y/N grabbed the chains previously used to hold her over the acid and wrap them around Joker’s wrists, letting him balance on the edge over the acid, holding him carelessly by the chain.

“Y/N!” Bruce said out of instinct.

“No one goes after my family,” Y/N growled, “no one.”

“Well, talk about a punch line,” Joker whistled with a laugh, throwing his head back. He recognised the Lynx costume. They still got newspapers in Arkham. “That Bat’s Pup is a Cat after all!”

Y/N looked The Joker dead in the eye. She looked at him coldly as he laughed on a loop. Jason stood behind Y/N, ready to support Y/N in whatever she did, and the adults just watched.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t drop you into the acid and let it finish the job.”

“It didn’t work the first time,” Joker said, “what makes you think it’ll work the second?”

“Cause half the job is already done.”

“Ooo, low blow, Pup-Cat.”

“Y/N, don’t,” Bruce said, “You’re better than this.”

“Am I really, though?” She asked, “And don’t tell me you haven’t thought of it yourself, of letting the bastard die. The world will be a far better place without him.” The Joker pulled a hurt facial expression before laughing again.

“I mean,” Jason coughed, “she’s not wrong. The world would be better without him.”

“Think of how many people he’s killed. This is his retribution.”

“He ain’t got any humanity in him,” Harley said quietly, “it’s something I shoulda done a long time ago, but,” Harley sighed, “Y/N, I don’t want ya to become a killer. Ya Daddy’s right, you’re better than this, than me.”

“And me,” said Selina.

“And I,” Ivy nodded.

“Don’t become a killer like us,” Harley said, “cause it’s a line you can never go back from.”

“Trust me, if I could,” Selina sighed, “I would never have pushed that guy from the window,” she whispered, “even though I had a good reason and was protecting someone else,” her eyes flickered to Bruce, who lowered his eyes as the image of Young Selina shoving Alfred’s army buddy out the window came into his mind.

“Y/N,” Jason put his hand on Y/N’s shoulder, “let’s take him to Arkham.”

Y/N looked Joker in the eye. Everything he did to Harley, nearly killing Selina, dangling herself over the chemicals, the torture he inflicted on her father over the years (it wasn’t a secret, everyone knew about The Joker Versus Batman), and he was going to live. It wasn’t fair, but they were all right, Y/N didn’t want to be a killer, didn’t want to cross that line.

“Fine,” she sighed, but instead of being gentle, Y/N yanked the chain quickly, pulling Joker forward and kneed him in the head with such force it knocked him unconscious.

As The Joker laid unconscious on the floor, Y/N took her mask off and looked at her family.

“You did the right thing,” her mother told her softly.

“I hope so,” Y/N sighed.

“Hey,” Bruce said, brushing the hair from Y/N’s eyes, “I’m proud of you,” he told her with a soft smile.

“Thank you, Dad.”

[thecomicsnexus]

BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT #1-8 DECEMBER 2017 - JULY 2018 BY SEAN MURPHY AND MATT HOLLINGSWORTH

SYNOPSIS (FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Batman corners Joker in a pharmaceutical warehouse, beating him excessively as Nightwing, Batgirl, and the GCPD look on in horror. Joker boasts that medication would let him do more good than Batman, prompting Batman to force a bottle of pills down Joker's throat. With a recording of the beating leaking and the Batmobile causing huge collateral damage, debate is sparked over whether Batman is doing more harm than good. Barbara and Dick learn Bruce's violence stems from Alfred being near death, kept alive only by Freeze Tech. Joker, now stable and using his real name Jack Napier, wins a case against GCPD for insufficient evidence and for non-intervention in his beating.

Freed, Napier visits Harley Quinn, who attacks him and insists he's not himself. Saved by a second Harley, Napier learns she is the original but was replaced: with Joker's obsession culminating in Jason Todd's torture, Quinzel left to try and help Batman save Todd, and was replaced when Joker unwittingly adopted an obsessed hostage named Marian Drews. Bruce and Victor Fries develop a treatment for cryogenic illnesses. Despite not being fully tested, Fries attempts to resuscitate Nora; anticipating this, Wayne hooks the system up to Fries' suit, curing him but aging him to his natural elderly state. Running for councilman, Napier funds construction of a library in poor district Backport and befriends Duke Thomas, an ex-GCPD officer who runs a local youth group. Meanwhile, Bruce discovers that many of his fellow billionaires have been profiting off of Batman by purchasing properties destroyed by Batman's battles and then flipping them after the city repairs them; Bruce is left shaken by this discovery. Using the Mad Hatter's tools to control Clayface, Napier gives Gotham's Rogues Gallery drinks secretly laced with his dust to control them by proxy.

Making the villains rampage across the city, Napier uses the distraction to access restricted documents and discovers a tax fund for Batman's collateral damage. In an attempt to move the villains to a less-populated area, Batman baits them into attacking Backport and Napier's library, thinking that they wouldn't attack a property owned by the Joker; the villains proceed to damage Backport and raze the library. Injured when Napier's library crumbles, Bruce later collapses at Alfred's bedside; waking to find himself stabilized on Alfred's life-support, Bruce finds Alfred dead in the bedside chair. Dick and Barbara discuss whether to intervene in Bruce's developing obsession in convicting Napier.

Drews, now Neo Joker, recovers the Clayface's remains, taking the Rogues Gallery into her control. When Batman intervenes in his protest, Napier goes willingly to GCPD. Warning he knows of the collateral fund, he offers to reallocate it to GCPD as councilman, giving Gotham a culpable Batman equivalent known as the GTO - the Gotham Terrorism Oppression unit.

Neo Joker attacks the GCPD, prompting Gordon to side with Napier and place an APB on Batman. Batman asks Quinzel for help taking down Napier, convinced he's pulling a long con; Quinzel refuses, certain Napier is legitimate. Bested by the GTO, which has recruited Duke, Nightwing and Batgirl and has built their own makeshift Batmobiles, Batman is arrested by Napier. Neo Joker uses a revealed superweapon to freeze Gotham harbor, demanding she be given Joker. Earlier, Bruce discovered Thomas Wayne funded Fries Sr. to create Freeze-Tech, circumventing US laws by tunneling under Gotham's German embassy; Fries Sr. later cut ties with Thomas to build the superweapon against his wishes.

Napier's medication becomes ineffective, making him periodically revert into Joker. Napier frees Batman, asking for help stopping Neo Joker in exchange for a confession (provided Quinzel isn't arrested). Napier, Batman and the GTO organize an assault on the freeze ray, piloting a fleet of Batman's Batmobiles. During the assault, Napier attempts to focus on Joker's memories and recalls that Todd is alive: Joker drove Robin to hate Batman and reveal his identity. Napier explains he already knew Batman's identity as all collateral taxes indirectly come from Wayne Enterprises. Making peace with Dick, Barbara and Gordon, Batman races through Gotham tunnels with Napier, who has reverted to Joker. The GTO bests Neo Joker's forces and reverses the freeze ray, flooding the tunnels. Overpowering Neo Joker, Joker releases Clayface and undoes the mind control. With Batman protecting him from Clayface, Joker and Quinzel pursue Neo Joker in the Batmobile; Napier returns and professes his love for Quinzel. Approaching a closing floodgate, Napier launches Quinzel through the gap in the Batcycle, causing him to crash. Quinzel beats and apprehends Neo Joker, and Batman saves Napier.

Confessing to his crimes, Napier surrenders and is granted a nicer Arkham cell and a wedding to Quinzel; as he finishes his vows, Napier permanently reverts to Joker. Using Napier's remaining funds, Quinzel begins restoring Backport. Confronting Quinzel, Batman reveals she manufactured Joker's medication and orchestrated events so the chase would end in the factory and be recorded. Explaining he only learned the truth from Joker, Quinzel explains she did it to break their stalemate before they destroyed Gotham.

Meeting with Gordon, Batman gives him the keys to the original Batmobiles for the GTO and confesses that Napier was right about him. Revealing that he's realized that he's been taking pleasure in harming criminals and that he's allowed himself to go too far in his war against crime, Batman unmasks himself in front of Gordon to earn back his trust.

REVIEW

To say this story is about role reversals would be an underwhelming generalization. There is more to this story and it is a product of our current times.

The first thing that comes to mind while reading this story is the how Trump got to be a president and how the UK voted for a Brexit. It’s about trust in the good guys, and how when that trust is broken, people will trust anything but the good guys. I’m not saying that Trump is a villain, but, you know, he wouldn’t be in power had he had better (trustful) competition. And coming from a third world country, this happens a lot, in many countries, with politicians in particular.

But it goes beyond that, when you feel like the authorities (like the police or the army) acts like a bully, you do not trust them anymore. You second guess all they do. That is actually a very good practice though, you SHOULD think rationally about motivations and goals of those you trust. But it doesn’t help institutions, it breaks apart trust in other things that may be actually good for society, and you open the door for crazy conspiracies and hoaxes that do more harm than good (like anti-vaccination fanatics or climate change denialists).

So it is fitting that this story ends with Batman revealing who he is, because had the people known he was paying for his own destruction all along, the Joker wouldn’t have had the upper hand. And people were eager to believe in the Joker, who in the shadows, was still doing evil (even if it was for a good cause).

And that is another thing to consider, that no one is right in this story (just like in real life). All these characters are wrong at some point, the Joker is right in his views most of the time, but the alternative is also flawed.

I am saying this is a story of our times, because it feels like the good guys are not as trustful as they used to, and they really need to step up and be more transparent in order to stop hate and corruption from coming into power (many countries seem to go for fascist ideas at this moment, last time something like that happened was before World War II).

Going to specifics of this story, Jason is alive (but thought dead) and he was also the first Robin. Dick is not the loyal partner here and Barbara is a bit less mature than we are used to. The whole story feels like a remix of the Batman movies and the animated series, but it is clearly not in any of those continuities. It also introduces a second Harley Quinn, who looks pretty much like the new 52 version of the character.

And of course, the stand-out of the series is the original Harley Quinn, and how he was the actual mastermind behind everything... for a good cause. That kind of reveal was justified and throws mediocre mystery arcs like Hush and The Long Halloween out the window.

There are a lot of easter eggs in the art, and it helps create this big landscape that is Gotham City. You can feel these backgrounds as being a very important part of the story.

It also leaves some unanswered questions to justify a sequel.

I give this story a score of 10.

[currentfandomkick]

thank @stareyedmoonchild and their post  Mid Day Thoughts for the quick fic

It started out as a joke in class--since she managed a collection around the Chinese new year and all the known miraculous (courtesy of Alya asking Ladybug and Chat in an interview), for their Gotham trip it was a challenge to do an outfit for each member of batfam the students could identify.

as it stood, she had a list of the following: Robin, Red Robin, Batgirl, and Batman. They decided Nightwing was more of a general hero since he kept jumping cities, while the others were deemed “uncertain’’. The Sirens.were a toss up, Red Hood was deemed a murdering vigilante and the others were only whispers on the internet. 

Marinette would have done one for what must have been a Batman inspired hero going by Black Black in China, but her challenge was Gotham-active only.

Day one was Robin day. She had done her research and combined what she liked and altered it to her taste while still being distinctly ‘Robin’. First layer was a black thermal. Next was a short sleeveless  red cheongasm with detailing to mimic the current Robin’s tunic, with the signature R in its usual place. Next was the cape, gold interior with an iridescent black exterior that fluttered past her waist, with a quick release just in case, all with a hood attached because it does get cold in Gotham.. Lastly thick dark green tights and a pair of green tinted black boots completed the look for her first day in Gotham. 

The class did ooo and ah over the end result, until Lila called it cosplay. 

Ignoring the challenge was issued by the head of the school’s fashion program.

She was not expecting to get grabbed by Riddler and Two-Face during lunch. Or for pair to broadcast it to Gotham.

“Batman, if you want your Robin back, come and get her!”

Riddler was issuing his clues while Two-face and his goons kept watch over her.

She could feel Tikki shaking in her hood, but couldn’t talk back without getting unwanted attention.

--

Bruce didn’t know what to do with the broadcast. He didn’t have another Robin? Damian was the only one that wanted the mantel.

That didn’t stop his family from running into his office with various levels of confused and betrayed faces.

“Again!”

“Master Bruce, it would be wise to cease the surprise adoptions and tell us when new family members have been acquired.”

“Damnit Bruce! You can’t help yourself when it comes to blue eyed raven haired children! Stop fucking up their lives!”

“B, what the hell.”

Bruce pinched his forehead.

“Father I will not stand to be replaced!”

That did it. the room was silent at the now fifteen year old Damian’s accusation.

“I haven’t adopted anyone.”

“Yet” grumbled Jason, watching the feed over Tim’s shoulder.

“Say, do  you go by Robinette?” one of the goon was heard asking.

The girl scrunched up her nose at that. “qu'est-ce qui ne va pas avec les américans? je ne suis pas un "Robin" ou l'un de vos héros.” (What is wrong with Americans? I am not a "Robin" or one of your heroes."

Tim rubbed his head. “She’s a foreigner.”

“Leave in 5,  Babs and Tim watch the feed.”

That settled the group, for the most part. until the girl said something very long that caused TIm to start wheezing.

“"Bien que vous ayez le même QI collectif que mes camarades de classe. Ce qui n'est qu'impressionnant dans le fait que le bambin moyen a plus de sens qu'eux lors d'une bonne journée."  * ( Though you do have the same collective IQ as my classmates. Which is only impressive in the fact that the average toddler has more sense than them on a good day.)

“She just dragged her class and her captors!”

the group paused at that. Bruce decided he’d look into it after the girl was out of harm’s way.

“Can we please just save the poor girl, She must be terrified.”

“Don’t think so. She just told Riddler ‘i have seen better color coordination from baby August, whoever that is, than from this poor excuse for grown men’ Are we sure we’re not getting a new sister?”

“I will begin preparing the room Master Bruce will inevitably request.”

--

Marinette rolled her eyes as the ‘batfam’ entered and Riddler and Two-face turned between her and Robin.

“Batman, I think you might have a case of Serial Adopter worse Bruce Wayne.”

That caused Red Hood to cackle. 

It distracted the man holding her just enough for her to get out of his grip a kick the man in the face. here

The room froze as they saw Marinette huff, turn to face Two-Face and grabbed the gun from his hand and threw it elsewhere. “Si tu vas me battre ce ne sera pas avec ça!”

“Uh, Red Robin, translate.”

“ ‘If you are going to fight me, it won’t be with’ that.”

They watched  during their own battles as the girl then threw Two-Face over her shoulder like it was nothing. 

“Father, I change my mind, she may join us.”

The girl looked over at that and raised an eyebrow. “J'ai une vie.” (I do have a life.) she took down another goon as she said, “mais merci pour l'offre.” (but thank you for the offer). The girl wiped her hands as she said “Mais Paris est ma maison, et quelqu'un doit aider avec le problème d'akuma.” (But paris is my home, and someone has to help with the akuma problem.)

Damian walked over to her, offering his hand. “Robin. Why are you dressed like me?”

“Marinette. Je dessine, et on m'a dit de faire des tenues pour les héros gotham choisis par mes camarades de classe.”  Marinette shrugged then gestured to her outfit. " Celui-ci était pour ta journée.”

“Hey, Replacement, translate.”

“She designs, had to make outfits inspired by us.”

“Non, choisis par mes camarades de classe. Sinon, j'aurais dû concevoir pour chaque membre du batfam et Sirens"”

“My mistake, her classmates chose who. apparently she’d have siren designs and one for each of us otherwise---speaking of, who did you design for, out of curiosity?”

Red Hood tried to move closer to her then, suddenly seeing into her hood. “Oh my--MDC!”

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Oui.” 

Red Robin began.... hyperventilating? She wasn’t sure. 

Nightwing was swearing then, something about a bet--her English was good but not enough for fast mumbling.

Robin rolled his eyes. “I apologize for my father’s other partners. Now, you said something about an akuma problem....”

the rest of the night was spent with Marinette talking to the Gotham Police about the incident, with Robin staying close to her to translate as Red Robin was too busy acting like her over Jagged Stone before she met him.

“est-il toujours comme ça?“ Marinette pointed to Red Robin, who had yet to calm down from the earlier revelation.

“No, he’s usually a professional zombie.”

Marinette laughed at that. Somehow Robin ended up escorting her back to the hotel.

“Girl, we were so worried!” Alya hugged her. “You shouldn’t go off on your own just because you’re jealous that Lila’s dating Damian Wayne and you can’t even confess to Adrien without something going wrong, or him dating someone else or--” Alya then noticed Robin, right there and still hadn’t given her the time to point out she and Adrien were friends now or that Lila lied to get her expelled once and that she didn’t go off on her own, Bustier didn’t do a head check before leaving the coffee shop. “Can i get a picture!”

Robin was glaring... she didn’t know why though. “No. I hope you don’t get caught up in anything else during your stay here Marinette.” with that he left.

Marinette rubbed her temples, eventually making her way to her room.

--

Later Damian would snap at his brothers about Marinette not being his girlfriend or dreaded crush, and that she already has someone she likes and can they please focus on the akuma problem the girl mentioned?

--

Marinette tuned out Lila as she gushed about dating ‘Damiboo’ while Adrien thanked her for not causing a scene despite wanting to with his eyes on their way to their next destination. Only because she wanted a peaceful day.

During their hour of the Wayne Gardens Poison Ivy--one of the Sirens--walked over to her.

“So do I get an outfit too?”

Marinette sighed, twirling slighting in the batgirl outfit. “Outvoted on that one. If you feel any better, only the Robins, Batgirl and Batman were deemed real and heroes.”

Ivy hummed at that, watching Marinette work out a design. “But if i did, this I think a formal dress like this is what iId do.” 

the dress used Ivy’s old plant bustier as the base for a ballgown’s bust. The bustier on it was black with various shades of green vines and leaf patterns embroidered onto it. the skirt was an explosion of various plants and flowers found in the Wayne Garden.

Ivy smiled, walked off and sent out a tweet. 

Gotham, I elect we keep #notRobinette. If Batman won’t train her, I will.

--

It was later in the day that Marinette and her class would find out the #notRobinette tag was not only trending, but that there was now a twitter war between the Sirens and the entire Batfam for custody of Marinette.

Lila glared at her for it. 

--

A day later Lila was apparently sent a cease and desist from Wayne Industries and a warning that if she continued lying about the Waynes, she would be sued. 

Apparently Robin mentioned what Lila was saying to Batman, who is known to be the Wayne’s savior, and probably told them.

Marinette says probably as Damian appeared with Dick Grayson-Wayne to deliver them, and noted his measurements were awfully similar to Robin’s... and he was glaring at Lila identically to how Robin had glared Alya.

Before the pair left, Dick asked if his family could commission her, and if she could come in the Batman outfit for that one, please?

Alya answered for her. “She’d love to, right, Marinette!”

--

Somehow Adrien weaseled his way into coming with her--”For protection. And to stop you from getting adopted--there’s already two groups after m’lady, I can’t bear the thought of them taking you away from us all!”

“No kitty, “ Marinette booped him on the nose. “You can’t stand being stuck with Liar Rossi, your father and facing Hawkmoth without my baking.”

“And creative commentary on their outfits.”

“Hawkmoth is a terrorist and can’t handle even basic designs. He will rue the day he akumatized Nino, almost killed the adult population AND forced us all to witness that atrocity that was Bubbler’s outfit.”

The limo driver, Alfred, raised an eyebrow at that comment.

“Okay, that one was bad. Still want to know what he’d put you in though.”

“And if only for that reason, i refuse to be akumatized. Lila can try, but she is not going to get me there again.”

“Again?”

“uh, confessions later, work now?”

“M’lady...”

“Another time Chaton.”

--

Somehow the Waynes were easy for her to handle... Once Bruce was not staring at her like she was a ghost  and the howling clan that made up his kids (oddly the same number as the extended Batfam... and many with similar measurements to).

Except for Damian who was not answering her questions for his suit.

Instead he was glaring at Adrien, who was destroying Tim at a fighter game in her stead while asking “Why is he here?”

“Kitty, care to explain yourself!”

That had the room looking at the pair. 

“What did i do this time?”

“Follow me to work.”

“I am not letting you end up in a three-way adoption war in Gotham. When we’re in Paris its my job to deal with  being the fouht-over adoptee with yours and Nino’s families, and the Couffaines, and yours to watch father and Audrey and Aunt Amele argue over who discovered you while we sneak off to check up on how Kagami’s holding up.”

That had the room stare at them.

“There you have it, my best friend is convinced if he lets me out of his sight, one of the hero groups will kidnap me this time.”

“To be fair, it isn’t your first time being kidnapped, its just, not Paris so its worse.”

“Not your first time being kidnapped!” Dick yelled

The pair shurgged. “Akumas.”

“I’m pretty sure that Evillustrator started the kidnapping trend.”

“Does it count when its a date and I’m tricking him to get his akumatized object?”

“I think so, but Sabrina’s better on legal things like that.”

The Wanyes exchanged a look. 

“Plus, you get damseled more than me. especially is Lila’s involved.”

“We do not speak the devil’s name, it summons her.”

“We’re not in Paris, whatever magic side effects of  working with Hawkmoth isn’t around Chaton.”

When the Waynes (eventually) were caught up on the conversation, Bruce and the others exchanged a look.

They were adopting both of them. And the pair were definately the Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Dick patted Damian’s back when they left. “First heartbreak is the worst.”

Damian punched him.

--

Robin visited Marinette before the class left. 

“I was told to inform you i will be in Paris to assist your heroes. Please inform them however you communicate with them.”

Marinette nodded. She texted Adrien what happened, unaware they confirmed the batfam’s suspicions.

--

In Paris Robin was shocked to learn that Chat Noir was dating Ryuko, and that Ladybug set them up as civilians. He also learned that Ladybug and Marinette saw Adrein and Chat as a little brother.

And Chat and Adiren may have told both Robin and Damian that if they hurt Ladybug or Marinette, he would disappear.

It didn’t stop him from asking her out, or her from saying yes.

And it definately didn’t stop Alfred from telling Bruce that he cannot adopt her as Damian is handling her joining the family (over Dick’s cheers, Jason’s taunts and Tim and the girl’s teasing while Duke whispered “since when can he have a crush? i thought he said those were distractions.’)

--

Years later Damian did propose. In front of where they first met as Robin and #notRobinette.

---

Hope you enjoyed!

[fandom-butterfly]

TV Meme

Tagged by @verecunda. Cheers, sis! :D

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. Tag 10 (or however many) people.

1. Wallace & Gromit 2. Chernobyl (HBO miniseries) 3. Attack on Titan (Yes, I count animes as TV shows. Whatcha gonna do about it? ;P) 4. Ghosts (BBC series) 5. Yu-Gi-Oh!

Who is your favourite character in 2? Valery Legasov. Seriously, you can’t help but admire the guy, fearlessly putting himself in harm’s way just to discover the truth about the cause of the reactor’s explosion so he can save as many lives as he can, completely going against the paranoia and corruption of the Soviet government to try and get the truth. He willingly dealt with a lot of danger, both from the radiation and the constant surveillance from the KGB, with only one goal in mind; to save Europe. I don’t think many of us would be living today if not for his bravery and determination. Thank you so much, Comrade Legasov! You are a true hero! -salutes-

Who is your least favourite character in 1? Would probably have to say Piella. It’s heavily implied that she had abused Fluffles. Bad enough that she was a serial killer, but anyone who willingly tortures and torments their doggo is definitely beyond all redemption in my book! >:(

What is your favourite episode of 4?  TBH, kinda stuck between Happy Death Day and Moonah Ston, simply because of all the feels I get from Pat and Robin in their respective episodes. :,)

What is your favourite season of 5? I like Season 5 best. I know it’s badly animated compared to all the previous seasons, but I loved all those episodes back in ancient Egypt. :)

Who is your favourite couple in 3?  Well, apart from Levi/myself (Heehee… XD), the closest thing I have to an OTP in this anime is Ymir/Historia. So touching to see how they’re always there to support each other. Also, so cute how Ymir’s always so protective of Historia. I wish they could together. -sniff sniff-

Who is your favourite couple in 2?   Vasily and Lyudmilla Ignatenko. Their love story is probably one of the most heartbreakingly tragic ones I’ve ever seen. Though I wish she could’ve obeyed the doctors’ warnings of not to touch him, I can’t help but understand why she didn’t. That was her husband, who she loved after all. I’m so touched how Lyudmilla stuck by Vasily during his stay at Hospital No.6, taking care of him, even as he gradually deteriorated as he got weaker during his final weeks. During their last scene together, it’s impossible to be grossed out by how badly disfigured he’d become, you’re too busy breaking your heart over these two characters deeply in love spending what little time they have left together, as she still sticks by him through his agony. I think that’s when she tells him she’s pregnant too, the last happy news for him to receive before he passes. Vasily’s burial scene at the end of episode 3 is just too tragic for words. Lyudmilla’s face as her husband is bagged up, nailed into a wooden coffin, sealed inside a zinc sarcophagus which is then lowered into a ditch outside the cemetery, along with the other firemen who arrived at the reactor and received lethal doses of radiation, which is then filled with concrete. I just can’t even begin to imagine just how heartbreaking it must be to see the one you love being sealed up and permanently entombed like that, knowing that’s the last time you’ll ever see them, can’t even get a normal burial because their body is still dangerously radioactive. Then her baby had to go and die four hours after being born, due to the high levels of radiation she’d received from her dying husband. I mean, first your husband, now your baby too! No, that’s gotta be too much! Happily, despite being told by doctors she could never have another child, she now lives with her son in Kiev. So hopefully, despite her whole heartbreaking experience that was depicted in the show, she’s doing okay now.

What is your favourite episode of 1?        Kinda stuck between The Wrong Trousers and A Matter of Loaf and Death. Trousers, purely for nostalgia as that was the one I’d always watch as a toddler and Loaf and Death for Gromit/Fluffles OTP feels. X3

What is your favourite episode of 5?    Waaaaayyyyy too many to choose from. XD

What is your favourite season of 2? There is only one season. :P

How long have you watched 1?    Since I was born practically. :D

How did you become interested in 3?   I saw WatchMojo’s “Top 10 Saddest Anime Deaths” video on YouTube, which included the death of Carla Jeager in the very first episode, being eaten by a Titan as her son, Eren (the main character) helplessly watches while being carried away to safety. That scene gave me some serious chills, so I guess you could say it was a morbid fascination for me. Then as I watched it, I became engrossed in the story and always loved watching the adrenaline-pumping scenes of our main characters fighting Titans, even though such battles could get jaw-droopingly violent and depressingly tragic at times. These days, I just watch it for the sheer love of seeing the smexy badass that is Levi Ackerman. XD

Who is your favourite actor in 4?  The whole cast. XD

Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?  …No, that’s too hard. They’re all such different shows.

Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?  Attack on Titan, simply because that has more episodes than Wallace and Gromit. ;P

If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be? Funnily enough, I actually had a dream once were I could see and speak to all the ghosts in that show, just like Alison could. XD

Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?  Um… no. XD

Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?  Um… I dunno. Possibly Piella Bakewell and Victor Quartermaine? Maybe they could pair up through their shared hatred for Wallace? I dunno. They’re both scumbags, so… X

Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?  I’d probably have to say Attack on Titan. Sorry YGO, but you simply cannot beat a story in which our characters have to learn to fight to survive and protect their loved ones in a dystopian fantasy world.

Which has better theme music, 2 or 4?  Chernobyl doesn’t really have a theme tune to speak of. Ghosts, however, has a very cool myserteous and gothic vibe to its opening theme. Does that answer your question for you. ;P

I tag: IDC, whoever wants to do this. XD

[qvill-s]

Hiiii! May I request for M!grima robin?? Angst ask no. 11 and 17 combined please I need something to fuel my angst needs :") thanks in advance

NOTES: angst for my dragon boy ??? absolutely !!!

WARNINGS: injuries; kidnapping

WORD COUNT: 1.7k

m! grima + “nobody’s seen you in days” &&. “if you don’t hug me right now I think I might fall apart” under the cut !!!

Grima can’t help but feel a little proud of himself as he returns triumphant from the solo mission you sent him on. It was long and hard, and at times a little trying, but he managed. After all, you were the one who told him that you couldn’t entrust this task to anyone other than him. Thus, armed with the memory of your words and your hands on his shoulders and the determination and trust in your gaze, how could he possibly fail?

Where he expects your smile and your warmth and your praise, he finds only the Order of Heroes in a state of panic and the loss of your presence in the halls.

Immediately noting that something was off, he confronts Commander Anna, a soft hiss of your name punctuating his unasked question. Where is the Summoner?

She shakes her head, looking more haggard than he’s ever seen her, replying with, “Nobody’s seen the Summoner in days.”

It’s strange to see the Fell Dragon so agitated over another’s life, much less the life of the insolent worm who summoned him here and disrupted the chaos he was creating in another world. Though Grima tried as hard as he could to continue to hate you, to loathe you for bringing him here, he very quickly failed in the face of your kindness and genuine concern and how easily you accepted who he was despite of all he’s done and destroyed.

(“If Breidablik says you’re a Hero, then that’s good enough for me,” you announced when he was summoned, your tone holding a certain sense of finality that said that that was the end of the conversation.)

Naturally, of course, he draped himself all over you. You were his prey, after all; his and his alone. There was never a moment since he was summoned that he wasn’t by your side. He was with you when you oversaw the training for the Heroes and went over the Order’s inventory. He accompanied you when you summoned new Heroes to join Askr’s cause, scowling at the new additions all the while (his scowl was particularly nasty when you summoned a wielder of the Falchion). He sat in tactic meetings even though they bored him to no end, but secretly, the small part of Robin still left in him delighted in these meetings, and Grima would often end up offering a particularly clever maneuver that had you sending a bright smile his way.

The one time you needed him, however, the one time he could’ve protected you, he wasn’t there.

Suddenly, an overwhelming anger fills his body. There’s an ache that builds up in his chest, strangling his lungs and his words, right where his shriveled heart should be. He swallows the growing lump in his throat, ignoring the pain and ignoring the ache, as he snarls, “You better find the Summoner, Commander, before I end that worthless life of yours.”

Anna looks unfazed as she nods tiredly. That was not the first threat she’s received since you’ve gone missing, and frankly, it wasn’t the worst.

With a harsh exhale of breath, Grima turns on his heel and seeks solitude in the place where your scent is the strongest—your room.

He lets himself in with the key that you gave him not so long ago—“Just in case you get lonely,” you told him playfully—and the pain in his chest increases as he’s hit with you and how you’re no longer beside him. He staggers over to your bed, sinking down into the plush covers and clutching a hand over his chest.

As he looks around, he sees phantoms of you hovering around your room. There’s you sitting at the desk by your window, turning to see if he was still listening to you talk about your stupid problems and concerns (as if he could be troubled with hearing them). There’s you huddled under the blanket beside him, having taken a nap after he forced you to. There’s you looking out of the window and into the world, watching the sunset, highlighted by the orange glow of the sun, or watching the stars, the constellations imprinting themselves into the color of your eyes. He sees you sitting beside him in the light of the moon, watching the moonlight caress your features as if it, too, were fascinated by you and the curve of your cheek or the quirk of your lips.

The ache in his chest multiplies tenfold at the sight of your ghosts flitting about your room, the forms of you he can’t touch and can’t talk to, and he can’t help but feel the slightest bit annoyed with his annoyingly human body. He’s the Fell Dragon, the destroyer of Ylisse and the cruel master of destiny. He is able to strike fear into the hearts of men and erase futures in a single blow.

But here he is, unable to cope with the loss of the presence of one measly, mortal life. He even feels a pressure behind his eyes, and he paws angrily at his closed lids. He should be happy that you’re gone, should be happy that you’re no longer there to command him, to tell him what to do, to control him with your stupid divine weapon, and yet…

Why does he feel so alone?

He sags even further into himself. Curse this weak, human vessel. Curse the emotions it makes him feel, the wrenches and tugs and pulls at his heart, the single tear that manages to slip through his iron will and streak down his cheek. 

Suddenly, he feels a ghost of a touch across his shoulders and a whisper of a voice—your voice—

Come and find me, you tell him, cupping his face between your palms, come bring me home.

He wipes savagely at the tracks his (wretched, weak) tears left, and nods to himself.

I will.

❛ ━━━━━━━━━･❪ ❀ ❫ ･━━━━━━━━━ ❜

It takes Grima less than a day to find you again, following the dredges of you that linger in the air and all around him. Your perfume here, strands of your hair there, and once, a splatter of your blood against the trunk of a tree.

(The latter made him livid—the thought of another harming his human, enough to make them bleed—and he’ll make sure to return the favor.)

He finds you in an abandoned watch tower a long ways away from the castle. Quite honestly, he almost missed it, with how well it was hidden into the forest and blended in with the trees, had it not been for the waves of your scent emanating from it.

He doesn’t bother with stealth, with quiet, with finding cover, because he plans on taking them all.

He busts down the hidden door to the place, startling the petty criminals that litter the area and interrupting their plans of what to do with you. Once every eye has turned to watch him, his mouth curls into a smirk, flashing the barest hint of his teeth. “Did you worms really think that this would work out?”

He gives them a moment to think it over.

Then, the real fun begins.

❛ ━━━━━━━━━･❪ ❀ ❫ ･━━━━━━━━━ ❜

Your unconscious form lies in a room just up the steps. Some of your hair is matted with blood, sticking to the wound on your forehead that disappears into your hairline. Your wrists and ankles are raw and angry from the ropes that dug into your skin. He growls, ready to turn back to the corpses that decorate the other room, livid and ready to tear them apart piece by piece when—

“… grima…?”

Your lashes flutter against your cheek as you force your tired eyes to open and see him, framed by the wooden doorway and darkened by the early dredges of sunlight shining behind him. He stands, frozen in place, fists clenched, and covered in blood.

You cough, trying to free your voice from the confines of your scratchy throat. “G-grima, is that… is that you?”

Your voice is barely a whisper, but he can hear you loud and clear over the pounding blood racing in his ears. He crosses the room in a heartbeat, kneeling in front of you, tearing through the ropes and setting you free. You look at him like you can’t believe he’s here, that he’s come to save you, that he took the time to find you, and he feels the words stab through his heart.

You repeat his name again, feeble and wobbly, stretching your now free hands to cup his face. Once the tips of your fingers brush his skin, once your hands follow the curve of his jaw, you burst into silent tears.

Grima doesn’t ask if you’re alright, if you’re okay, because even a complete idiot could tell that you weren’t. Instead, he lets you cry, watching as the tears stream down your face and wanting to wipe them away. He doesn’t know how to be gentle, and the Robin side of him—is there even a difference between the two anymore?—is terrified of hurting you any further.

You’re the first to break the silence, to fill the quiet with your voice.

“Can… can I have a hug…?” You ask him wetly, speaking through the tears that line your face and the inside of your throat.

He startles. The “What?” that leaves his lips sounds harsher than he intended, and you flinch, drawing your touch away from him. He misses it immediately. He wants to capture your fleeting fingers and place them back to where they were before, please don’t go—

“I-if you don’t hug me right now, I t-think I’ll fall apart…” Your voice sounds even smaller than before as you draw your knees to your chest and wrap your arms around them. He hears the silent plea in your confession, the I need someone to keep me together that comes from your words.

Carefully, slowly, he wraps his arms around your shaking form, one hand against your back and the other under your knees, lifting you up into his arms. He holds you a bit tighter than necessary, but you don’t seem to mind, because your tears fall with renewed vigor and you throw your arms around his neck, tucking your face into the crook of his shoulder.

He doesn’t know how to be gentle, he admits, but he thinks he can learn for you.

[fairestmusesismoving]

Rumple

Welcome to my second TED Talk….hahaha sure to get me in trouble with so many people. This is even more loaded than Ruby.How I feel about this character?I mourn Rumple and all his potential because there was so much there. So many things that could have been done. All of it was wasted for what felt like a whispy teenager soap opera that had no real merit or consequence. Because deep down…I did like Rumplestiltskin. I hated his fans with a deep passion because they wanted to turn this interesting character into a defanged whimpering whisper of what Robert Carlyle actually gave us. Rumplestiltskin was this interesting “universal glue” who kept popping up everywhere to make everything work as the strangest deus ex machina storytelling device that worked… And he worked very well because he was established early on, established to have a certain set of powers, motive, and even a few limits. This was really great! We had some rules so we couldn’t go into the realm of the over powered mary sue! That was fantastic! Rumple was realistic as a powerful character and the fact his interests were aligning with certain groups at the time? Hey, we had a real neutral character!And then by S3 we had to jam on the breaks cause “Wow what do we do when we remove all drive for Rumplestiltskin since he has Belle and we killed Neal?””I dunno! No idea!”It was infuriating because had all of this been drawn out and everyone focused on different aspects of Rumplestiltskin rather than mashing him and Belle together like that scene in Space Balls , we could have had something that was worthwhile and not like some drastic whiplash from S1 that really doesn’t make sense considering the trauma of Neverland and Oz then….pretty much everything else. There’s trauma and then just using a character because you’re bound to pay that person since they’re still under contract and “well the viewers love them and we want money”.Rumplestiltskin is a victim of “too much, too soon”, and fans who tried to demand too much and realized way too late that maybe Rumple needed slower reveals.All the people I ship romantically with this character:By default I have to say Belle, even though I hated what Rumbelle became in the final seasons. It needed work. Both Rumple and Belle felt like they were hurting each other in ways that made no sense given the previous seasons. I’d detail in depth, but that’s not the point of these little evaluations, is it? Also I’d need to make an entire blog to contain every single moment evaluated to show each action and which character does what. It’s a lot.In the end I still have to give it to Rumbelle even though I wanted a lot more for it.I ship no one else romantically with this character. I especially do not ship Milah with Rumple. Sorry if that rustles jimmies. I am disabled. The behavior Milah displays around Rumple is abusive. Despite what some people may tell you on tumblr, ableism is offensive and acting in this way towards a person is abusive.You really can’t escape abuse in OUAT which boggles the hell out of me. When Milah engages in her acts of spousal abuse and ableism, it’s enough to make me go grab my inhaler because it really is how disturbing just how close and realistic her microaggressions are and how much they build up. There’s another scene in OUAT that sends me into this state, but Milah is in the second place position. Bolded because if you’re angry about my thoughts on Milah, maybe go read up on disability, ableism, and how couples treat disabled spouses after they’ve become disabled. It’s a huge topic and one that people don’t talk about. Considering I’m most likely to be abused by a loved one and that person will always be my spouse, it’s a healthy fear to have. Milah is that walking boogeyman.My non-romantic OTP for this character:I love Archie’s interactions with Gold. I love Henry’s interactions with Gold, especially in the “deleted” scene where Henry seeks Gold out to talk about Regina’s isolating him after Robin’s death. Honestly, Rumple needed to have more casual scenes with other characters because Robert Carlyle plays very well with other actors.Shots fired? Because Robert Carlyle acts in circles around Lana Parrilla, it often left her scenes seeming very childish and immature. It made the forced romance (it was Regina sexually assaulting Gold because he didn’t consent unless he was trying to get something form her but okay) even more uncomfortable due to her inability to stop yelling in an uncontrolled manner. Where Carlyle can channel and keep himself calm (or hell, any of the cast because I’d be redundant), it made pairing him with Lana a very poor choice very often.Why wasn’t Gold/Rumple utilized with other characters more? He was paired with the one-offs or guest characters fairly often, but never with anyone but Regina. This really did make the scenes look awkward. I’m saying that as an actor who has been trained to know what to look for. I noticed. It looks bad on the writer and director.My unpopular opinion about this character:I hate this strange Rumplestiltskin that people try to promote that’s weirdly romantic and mushy. I remember when there was an app on Facebook for Once Upon a Time and the Dearies RIOTED because Rumple wrote a letter to Belle shortly after the flashback events of Skin Deep. it was raw and very in character. He hated her but he loved her and knew that if he lost his powers, he couldn’t protect people he cared about. It was a good letter.The “Dearies” rioted until Adam and Eddy apologized and changed the app to have a letter that included instructions on “How to Use a Toaster”.Toaster Rumple is a Rumple I don’t want to exist and anyone who prefers Toaster Rumple? Butter my toast.One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:I want to fix everything about Rumple. From S2 and onward. Finding Neal so soon/intertwining Baelfire’s plot with Emma’s/giving Regina a happy ending ruined Rumplestiltskin as a character. That’s VERY shots fired. I’m going to get unfollowed immediately for that and I don’t know if I should be happy about that or what…Baelfire needed to remain independent. The key to Emma and the Charmings was how Rumple manipulated the curse caster to get to A Land Without Magic and was counting on Emma to break the curse. That’s where it stops for the big involvement. Baelfire should have remained as Rumple’s own plot and for something to keep driving himself that he could eventually invite people into as he slowly became comfortable with others.But the worst of it truly is Regina. Rumple often warned Regina about her own morality and while that seemed hypocritical of her, he wasn’t wrong. As the series went along, she never actually changed her ways and we were introduced to a growing body count to her name that complimented S1′s rape, child abuse, various instances of inflicting bodily harm (some with the intent to murder), and so much I’ve lost track of. Having this person being handed a crown while Rumple gets a death so he can be “united with Belle” but he gets a kiss from the woman he was never interested in but continued her incredibly predatory advances?Yeah no. But Regina can’t have that ending unless you get rid of the one reminding her “All Magic Comes with a Price.” I guess that price was getting rid of the person saying that magic might cost your morality. A Mary Sue Palooza!

[tartareus]

CAOS MUSES CANON DIVERGENCE; not unlike many here, i too found the third act of sabrina’s adventures a bit…lacking, to say the least. bad writing got me more and throwing character development to the bin made me finally decide that i am not going to accept most of what happened as true -  i will, however try to keep the changes to mininal as a say to make canon complying muses’ interactions with mine run smoothly.

for starters: my edward, salem and my della are primarily based on the comics (the chilling adventures of sabrina and sabrina the teenage witch) + my own head canons, therefore do expect their nature to be a bit darker\different than the show presents them. with that in mind…

edward did not die - he was in a circle of hell trapped inside a tree. once lucifer’s power over hell waned, the prision that kept the warlock there started to weaken and, thus, eventually he got out, finally free… only to find himself in…

queen lilith’s hell - yes, i am not going for that idea of lilith not being their queen, more than anyone else she does deserve the title, she worked for it and there is no point to not make all the effort during pt1 and 2 to go without a reward; for that to happen, though, i still accept the plot that sabrina went after nick, but instead of just taking satan back to earth…

edward becomes the morningstar’s host - besides being more than capable of taking him, edward is a known, talented, conjurer, had a somewhat deal or even relationship with empusa (a shape shifting demon), he knows how demons work. he knows what to expect and, other than that, he knows the boy will struggle. he won’t. although his very own existence is kept a secret from sabrina, in a similar fashion of b.ckwood, instead of struggling for dominance, edward will try and strike a bargain with lucifer (unknown to anyone else), if only to be sure that everything goes along with his own secret agenda…

he still helps zelda, though - as he is in hell and is not dead but trapped there, he makes use of some of lucifer’s powers to cross the veil and go for their aid.

della still remains a head witch - that is, still works for the council in rome, but with a slighly different twist. she herself is a hedgewitch. i’ve thought about this, and what it would mean for her character (originally in the sttw comics as sabrina’s mentor and the one that tried to guide her to the path of night, and them also as the queen of sabbath in the tcaos comics) and it seems that it just might fit her character altogether. hedgewitches are, after all, very old, powerful, lone witches who are but a few - which was what i was going for her originally. with that in mind, i have come to an hc that

della has her own very unique abilities - much like gryla, sycorax, and pesta, della possesses her own abilities as her own deal was slightly different. instead of having an aggressive ability like pesta and sycorax, she has a spiritual one - although not too similar from gryla’s ability to gather the spirits of her lads - that is very subtle: she can walk through the veil between the living and the dead, roaming in the in between without the fear of never returning (unless, of course, it is her time). that means that in her astral projections the psychopomps do not acknowledge her presence at all, one of the reasons she was hired by the council.

her age is hard to determinate -  she is clearly younger than the members of the council, but way older than the spellmans. to maintain her youth and looks, and not require a powerful glamour that would make her tired and weak if she kept holding for years, della consumes babies, mostly mortal orphans, in order to survive. that ritual is only required after some centuries (if it is a witch baby) or after the lifetime that mortal would’ve had. for that, it is needless to say that…

her relationship with gryla is of mutual hate and disdain - for the two of them are rivals in their quest for younger souls. although gryla herself has no choice but pick orphans, della prefers them because it usually avoids the whole ordeal of stealing a child. imagine how complicated it must’ve gotten when she answered the distress call from the coven in greendale…

although she is part of not coven, per se, della goes to their aid - or rather, is summoned against her own will, but she’s never going to admit that. particularly taking great joy at hunting the pagans, chasing them off greendale in the timeline that was fixed. in the broken timeline (aka the end of the world), not unlike ambrose (however using slightly shadier strategies) she managed to survive and remained hidden, safe in a witch’s cell in the vatican’s necropolis. sadly, she does end up going a little mad, but before she loses it all…

she manages to send ambrose some books that once belonged to the council - in hopes that these unholy scriptures, that had never been to the access of other witches and warlocks other than the scholars of rome, would help, hoping that he would be able to do what she had failed to: figure a way out of this mess.

salem is not a goblin but, in fact, a mortal curse by a witch he scorned centuries ago. cursed to become her familiar, after the witch he was forcibly bound to died during the salem trials the dark lord himself appeared before him, telling him that he would only lift the curse if he sold his soul to him - which he did, however what samuel (his mortal name) failed to realise was that he had not been specific as the date he should be free and, as such, the father of lies told him he would only be free once he had met, served and protected a white haired witch that was and was not daughter of night. it took centuries for him to find her, but when he saw sabrina he knew inside his old bones that it was her. 

he has come to terms to his current situation - he used to be a good christian, yes a bit reckless and an asshole with how he treated women, but he changed.  it was a hard lesson he had to learn. as he learned to repent, he also learned to understand the nature of witches better. they reacted with what they had. as such, he started to grow fond of sabrina and her family, even her friends (although he does not fancy being treated like an ordinary house pet).

he never liked robin nor lilith (when she was pretending to be ms wardwell), hissing soundly at them as he deemed them a probably threat to his witch.

lucifer granted him a couple of gifts to endure his long life - magical abilities akin to a warlock’s (but never enough to turn himself into human again, at least not for a long while) and speech (although he spent such a long time silent that he wonders if his throat still can produce anything other than a felinesound), as well seven lives. he is currently on the begining of his last life.

in both timelines salem tries to protect the spellmans - in the broken timeline, salem is dead (with satan no longer on the throne to secure his powers, the cat, much like the witches he served, started to weaken), probably trying to find sabrina and failing miserably. in the fixed timeline, he stays with zelda and mambo, refusing to leave her side. as they escaped, salem found that a good way to distract them was by attacking blackwood with the last remnants of his strength, unaware that faustus beared the mark of cain. wounded, he hides behind vinegar tom, trusting that the protective magic surrounding zelda’s old familiar (which she insisted that was still alive, just his vessel dead), would keep them from fiding him. he eventually recovers his strength and rejoins the spellmans, but feels something off, as if there was something wrong with sabrina.

overall, my main pet peeve with this season was how poorly handled some archs were. as much as i love the new order of hecate (which btw sounds very pagan to me but okay), i wish they had kept the church of lilith and, as such i will accept both realities and place them in different timelines, especially for hilda. 

i do hc that she still prays for her, away from zelda’s hearing of course, because when she was in the pit (unaware that they were praying for hecate) and in the in between when zelda and edward left, she prayed for her even though she is not the religious type, and came out of it alive. it was only after all that mess that she realised that maybe her prayers were in vain, but she didn’t mind at all.

i also hc that, after her spidey-incident she's been getting a bit uneasy near her own familiars (and they seem to notice that too, being slightly worried for her), she also decides to take a break from her relationship with cee; even though she loves him, and he proposed, she almost killed him ( and may or may not have tried to make him fertilize her eggs , unholy fuck that sentence shall haunt me for some good while) and that starts to make her realise that their relationship might be too dangerous for him, as a mortal. he already faced a witch hunter to protect her and now this? the last thing she wants is to cause him harm.

with mambo being around to look after zelda, hilda just might look for a place of her own, perhaps a little cottage in england as she so desires. it's not that she doesn't want to be part of the coven, or better the order, but even for her, non-religious and almost skeptical, bouncing off from deity to deity is not proving to be a good thing. besides, she's grown quite a backbone (about damn time) and she will no longer endure how she has been treated by her sister - i will elaborate further on the domestic abuse and the ptsd hilda suffers from being killed so many times and the mutual codependency of her relationship with her sister on a separate post, eventually

sometimes hilda puts a few drops of a soothing draught on zelda's food, because apparently if she asks for her sister to take a deep breath or watch her blood pressure it is a reason to receive a dark look. Sl instead of fretting and being pushed away, she just gets it done anyway. it is also comforting for her to know how easily she could kill zelda by putting something lethal on her food. whilst she does entertain herself with these thoughts, she knows she would never be able to kill her ow flesh and blood.

she raised ambrose almost mostly by herself, back when she lived in England. as her first child,she did spoil him rotten. Hilda never really thought of having kids herself, being demiromantic/demisexual she couldn't find it in herself to partake on the coven's festivities and enjoy lupercalia with a random witch or warlock, zelda was the baby crazy one, who had held sabrina almost possessively. she spoiled sabrina as well, perhaps due to Edward's recent death or because she knew how much her murders took their toll on her young niece, but not enough to "ruin" her as zelda always made sure.

although she could easily wear glamours to look more like the rest of her family (tall and slender), hilda learned with time to love herself, being more positive both inside and out.

[b-does-the-write-thing]

Teach Us Something Please

I was deeply honored (and terribly excited) to get @thestraggletag for Secret Santa this year. I really wanted to write something worthy of my deep admiration for you and I hope it comes through in this little (okay not so little as usual I got carried away) Hogwarts Professor AU. 

It has a lot of callouts to the books and I formatted it to fit the same story structure so I hope you enjoy it! Happy Rumbelle Christmas in July, straggle. Sincerely, one of your biggest fans. 

(Note: I did not get to brit-pick this as well as I would have liked so if you see something, say something and I’ll update!)

Chapter One: Summer

June

There was a light deep in the heart of the Forbidden Forest.

In this forgotten place, there were trees older than most civilizations but it had been eons since anything unknown to them had strayed this far into their dominion. Around them, the night was ripe and ready, potent with promise. It was just minutes from midnight and magic hung in the air as tangible as a summer berry ready to be plucked.

A branch creaked as a tree leaned closer to get a better look. The light spun, illuminating the inquisitive tree, but also revealing a witch’s young, pale face.

Her eyes were as bright as the bluejay’s breast.

Her hair a rich brown, the same shade as the maple wand she held in her hand.

Satisfied the creak had not foretold danger, the witch turned to continue forward, following the protected path deeper and deeper into the woods. As she arrived at a grove of aspens, the witch faltered for a moment, pausing to dig out a small book from her robes. Though there was no breeze, their silver leaves shivered and shook as the trees chatted amongst themselves. Nearby, a river gurgled and bubbled in interest.

Her wand tip lowered to the pages, revealing a scrawled map. The map was still, save for one small dot that was moving rapidly across the page. Keeping the book in one hand, the witch threw a cautious look over her shoulder before she carefully placed her wand in the palm of her hand. “Point me,” she whispered.

The wand hurried to obey. It spun once, twice, three times before it jerked to a stop sixty degree to her right. Well off the path. With a weary sigh, the witch continued onward, casting occasional glances to her right but keeping the octavo open in her hand.

Bound in black leather and stitched with golden thread, at first glance, the book looked like any other Hufflepuff memoir. Perhaps why it had been left undisturbed for over a century, hidden in plain sight amongst the other books in the library.

As the Hogwart’s librarian, Belle French had numerous obligations to the school. First and foremost to make sure its students were safe. Books could be very dangerous things, and even the most unassuming book could cause lasting harm to the unwary. After all, knowledge was a dangerous thing.

The book in her hand was an excellent example. If Belle had not been searching for some light reading on Bridget Wenlock, she may not have ever noticed the small book. It had been nestled in amongst the countless Helga Hufflepuff biographies and Belle had assumed that was what it was as well. That was until she had lifted it to get a better view and felt the tingle of dark magic race down her spine.

Pushing cautiously through the overgrown branches barring the path, Belle was careful to keep on the trail. Robin had warned what might happen if she stepped so much of a toe out of the protective wards. He had wanted to go with her, but the book was clear: only a winged maiden of sound mind would be able to seek and find.

Seek and find were the words of the book. A winged maiden could have meant anything but Belle suspected it meant a daughter of Ravenclaw. She was not descended from the line but she had been sorted into the house. She hoped that would be enough. As of sound mind… she felt far from sane at the moment.

“Are you sure about this?” Professor Lucas had demanded when Belle had started asking questions about the forest. The Care of Magical Creatures Professor knew all too well what lurked in the forest during the full moon.

The attack had been two summers ago now. Ruby had been lucky to escape with her life. While parents had not been keen on a werewolf teaching their children, Headmistress Ghorm had pointed out there was hardly a better-suited teacher for the role. Thus, Professor Lucas had been allowed to stay, with some safety measures in place.

As if sensing her thoughts, there was a howl in the distance. In answer, a branch broke nearby as something hurtled through the underbrush. Belle froze, waiting until it had passed. After several long minutes, when nothing stirred, she began again, but her heart was thudding sickeningly in her chest.

She walked on for what felt like hours, occasionally stopping to check the map. The dot on the map had come to a stop up ahead but she was still a fair ways away and the path was overgrown and slick. Belle had cloaked her steps to make no noise but her feet were sore and her back grew tight. She was pressing on- when all at once, the path stopped.

A great tree had fallen across the path. The trunk was nearly seven feet high on its side. Belle considered it for a moment. She could easily levitate over it or remove it from the path entirety but she suspected that was exactly what something wanted her to do. Upon closer inspection, she saw the tree had been recently felled. She hoped and despaired all at once.

Steeling her spine, she spoke into the wind. “I seek the one who sees all,” she said to the gloom surrounding her. “Let the seer be seen.”

The wind rustled the branches, and for a moment, the only answer was the shivering of leaves. Belle bent her head back to the book, murmuring a sharp “Lumos.”

The tip of her wand flared brightly as a torch, illuminating not only the map but the face of something reptilian and cruel which sat crouched at her feet. Belle would have shot backward, and nearly did so, before she recalled nothing could hurt her on the path.

Still, she trembled when she lifted her wand out towards the creature to find it safely outside the path’s border. Belle released the breath she had been holding when it stood, revealing it to be more man than creature.

“You would look upon the seer,” it hissed. “Look your fill and then release me. I have my own business this eve that does not pertain to you, child.”

Belle’s fingers were thick and clumsy as she raised her free hand to the neckline of her robe. Slowly, she pulled at the chain at her neck until it fell free, revealing what appeared to be a small charm. It was shaped like a crooked lightning bolt but on closer inspection was a dagger. It was heavier than it should be and cold as ice against her skin despite the warm night air and her evening exertion.

An artifact of untold power with the only clue to its purpose the single word etched into its surface. Few wizards or witches would have recognized it for what it was, but Belle had delved deep into the tomes detailing the darkest of arts. When it had fallen out of the octavo’s pages, Belle had suspected it for what it was the darkest of dark magic.

“Rumpelstiltskin,” Belle said, faltering slightly as she recited the unfamiliar word writ upon the dagger. “I name you.”

A crooked smile revealed jagged, yellow teeth. “As did my mother.”

“Dark powers are gathering. War is coming.”

“It is already here,” the creature told her cheerfully. “And it will fall upon Hogwarts before the next summer solstice.”

It was as if he was stating a fact and not the end of the world as she knew it. Belle lifted her chin. “I have need of a seer. Need of you, the one connected to the Darkness but unbent to its will. I have sought you out to free you from your binds.”

“And how do you know I am what you say I am?”

Belle held up the book. It had been vague in details in some places, but rich in others. It had spoken of the seer, a creature tainted by the Darkness, bound to the Forbidden Forest.

Belle bit the inside of her cheek. “I am here to seek and find-”

“Seek and find?” he began to laugh. “All you have found is death. I see your end, child. Alone. Afraid. Surrounded by books. Blood seeping into their pages. You are still. You do not move.”

If he thought to scare her with foretellings of death, he misjudged her. “So, I will not die here tonight at your hands,” she said with a grave nod. “Good. Then, we can speak frankly.”

Belle transfigured a nearby branch into a chair. “Tell me how you came to be bound to the Darkness.”

He raised a clawed talon to his breast, raking the sharp claws down his scaled chest as he considered her. There were remnants of leather hide clinging to his arms and shoulders but they were in tatters, shredded. Belle wondered how long he had been out here.

“Four centuries,” he answered, golden eyes unblinking. “As for my origins, I sought protection from the Darkness by joining with it and found more than I had bargained. I found power beyond telling, a power that meant I would never be afraid again. The cost was madness.”

“You don’t seem insane to me.”

He cackled as he sank back down into a crouch. “Says the child who wandered into the woods alone. Haven’t you ever heard of what happens to maidens who enter the Forbidden Forest?”

“I am no maiden,” Belle said curtly. “Now, as I was saying-”

“Where did you find that?” He gestured to the book which was now open in her lap.

“That would be telling,” Belle responded just as blithely. “Why do you want to know?”

Without warning, his hand shot out as if to grab for her. Belle leaned backward, nearly toppling over in her transfigured chair. His talons stopped just shy of her.

He was grinning. “I am tied to that damnable piece of steel. I have searched every inch of this forest. I have dug through the dirt, broken stones, climbed to the top of trees. I have plundered the bottom of the Black Lake and for not. A spell has been placed upon it, binding me to this land. Even if I wished to join the gathering Darkness, I could not so long as that dagger remained out of my possession. So, I will ask you again, where did you find it, child?”

“I am not a child,” Belle snapped, losing her patience as usual. “I am the head librarian of Hogwarts-”

“The library!” Rumpelstiltskin hissed. “A dirty trick. He knew I could not cross the castle’s wards.”

“Who knew?” Belle was annoyed at herself for giving it away, even unintentionally. She would have to be more careful.

“My son,” he spat. “All I did, I did for him. But he could not see past what I had become. He bound me here, left me here to rot.”

Belle swallowed. “Then, attend me well. I have a deal for you.”

“Oh?” He sidled closer. “ I like deals. What shall it be? You wish for freedom. To see the world. You wish for knowledge. You thirst for adventure. You long for something more-”

“This is not about me,” she snapped, afraid of what he might reveal. “This is about the fate of the wizarding world.”

“Spare me,” he said with a shake of his head. “It is none to me what happens to it. I ceased caring long ago, child.” He gestured to his tattered clothing. “I have my problems.”

“Then, I have a beneficial solution for us both. Come teach at Hogwarts,” she proposed.

“Teach?” he hooted. “Teach what, child? The Dark Arts?”

“Divination,” Belle replied as the pieces fell into place. “Our divination professor foresaw her death and fled. The students leave for summer term shortly. Come on the first of July. If you swear no harm shall come to anyone who calls Hogwarts home, the wards will be open to you.”

“And why would I want to do that?” he snarled. Saliva dripped down from his curled lip. “You would have me swap one cage for another,” he murmured. “A nicer cage, true, but a cage nonetheless. Give me freedom.”

Freedom would allow the seer to return to the Darkness from which its power originated. And with a seer as powerful as the creature before her...whose very existence thrummed and hummed with secrets of the past, present and what would be...if Belle freed this being from its binds, she would condemn all of wizardkind.

Belle shook her head. “I cannot do that.”

“You could,” it sang, sliding back into the shadows.

Belle took a risk. “It very well might be swapping one cage for another, but this cage has running water.”

Rumpelstiltskin scoffed.

Belle pressed on. “If there is to be a battle, you may do as you like, fight or flee back to the forest. All I ask in return is that you give us counsel. Warn us of what you see.”

Warn you? Very well. I’ve seen you,” he said quietly. All traces of insanity and monstrosity vanished. “If you offer your hand to me, I will take it. But,” he held up a finger and wagged it at her. “Once I take it, you will never be free of me.”

Belle cocked her head to the side. It did not sound like a threat...more of a warning. “I’ve come all this way,” she told him. “If my freedom is the cost of knowledge, so be it.”

She reached her hand out across the path border.

When his scaled fingers curled over her’s, they were warm.

July

A cup of lukewarm tea was cradled in her hands. Belle had barely touched it, too caught up in searching the forest line, waiting with bated breath for Rumpelstiltskin to emerge. She had been waiting since morning. Hours had passed and now the light was fading as the sun started to sink in the western sky.

It had been a long two weeks. She had emerged from the Forbidden Forest the morning of the Summer Solstice and gone straight to the Headmistress. Reul Ghorm was one of the most powerful witches in the wizarding world as well as the wisest but it took all of Belle’s collective powers of persuasion, stubbornness and determination to get the Headmistress to agree to let the seer into the castle, much less award him a role on the teaching staff.

In the end, Belle had not been completely forthright. She had shared the book, told the story of her encounter with the Seer in the forest, and shared her plans to use his powers to continue to protect Hogwarts. But she had left out his true name and the matter of the dagger currently hanging around her neck.

Footsteps approached from around the back of the groundskeeper’s hut. She turned to find a wizard standing over her, but not the one she was expecting.

Robin hoisted his son, Roland, upon his hip and nodded toward the untouched cup in her hand. “My tea’s not that bad, is it?”

“Bad tea, Daddy,” the toddler insisted, struggling to get down.

Belle shook out of her reverie and stood. She murmured a wordless apology as she swapped the teacup for Roland, gathering the boy in her arms. His curls, so like his mother’s, tickled her nose. A rush of sorrow washed over her as she thought of Marian. She would have understood.

To hide the sadness in her eyes, Belle pressed a kiss to Roland’s forehead, and the boy giggled. “Down, Belle!” he begged but she didn’t dare let him down to run, no matter how much he wiggled and whined.

The sound of someone else approaching caused her heart to jump up into her throat. But the figure was coming from the castle, not the woods, draped in a familiar red cloak. “No sign?” Ruby called out as she neared the hut.

Belle shook her head. She should have known Rumpelstiltskin would keep her waiting. If he was even coming at all-

“Do you have such little faith in me?” came Rumpelstiltskin’s voice from behind her.

Roland took one look at the scaled creature and began to wail. Robin had his wand in his hand in an instant but Rumpelstiltskin waved a lazy hand and the wand skittered out of Robin’s grip and flew high and far out of range. For a horrible moment, it looked as if Robin meant to tackle Rumpelstiltskin, who was already grinning nastily.

“You will do no harm to those who call Hogwarts home!” Belle reminded him over Roland’s terrified cries.

Rumpelstiltskin bared his teeth at her just as Ruby’s spell hit him square in the chest. He froze before teetering backward to crash across the kitchen table at his back. Cookery went everywhere as the petrification totalus spell kept the Dark One from twitching so much as a muscle to stop his fall.

“Ruby!” Belle cried out as the Gryffindor came charging to the rescue. She accio-ed Robin’s wand as she charged past Belle into the hut. Belle couldn’t get to her wand to stop them, not with a screaming Roland nearly choking her in his terror. Small bursts of magic were emanating from the toddler, which could turn dangerous quickly. “Stop! He wouldn’t hurt anyone!”

At her exclamation, Robin and Ruby paused in the doorway, between her and Rumpelstiltskin. The two Gryffindors considered the creature bound on the floor but they did not sheath their wands.

Belle pushed past them, handing the sobbing Roland to his father. “Take him outside,” she murmured, patting the boy’s back as he clutched at Robin’s shoulders.

The groundskeeper looked as if he might argue but he only cast one last look at the creature on his hut’s floor, surrounded by shards of wood and pottery before he did as she suggested. Belle could hear him murmuring platitudes as he attempted to calm Roland down.

Belle knelt among the ruins of the table, careful to keep her face in clear view. The dagger free from her robe’s neckline “Rumpelstiltskin,” she greeted. “Took you long enough.”

“Belle,” Ruby wheedled, clearly frustrated. “This doesn’t feel right. We should get Mary Margaret. ”

Belle didn’t need a host of well-intentioned Gryffindors telling her what to do. “Give me a minute,” she said over her shoulder. When Ruby did not move from the doorway, she sighed and stood. “Ruby, please,” she said quietly, though she did not doubt Rumpelstiltskin could hear every word. “You said you’d trust me on this.”

“I trust you,” Ruby said, looking over her. “I don’t trust that thing.”

“Ruby,” Belle said softly, hearing the loathing in Ruby’s voice. “He’s not the creature that bit you.” Her hands were gentle as she laid them upon Ruby’s right forearm.

The witch wrenched her arm away, holding it protectively. “Could have been one of his pets,” she argued. “That’s just what I mean, Belle. It’s evil.”

Belle did not feel much like arguing. She had her doubts about all of this, but it did not change the facts. They had sent the students home across Great Britain and every day she woke wondering which ones may not come back.

“He can help,” was all she said.

“Yes, because he’s a great and powerful seer,’ Ruby mocked. “He doesn’t seem all that powerful if he didn’t even see a second-year level spell coming straight at him.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Belle whispered, all too aware he could hear every word. “Don’t you remember anything from Divination classes?”

Ruby bristled. “I’ve been more interested in astronomy these days, so forgive me if I don’t recall the intricacies of fortune-telling.” She brandished her hands out at Belle, palms facing upwards. “Remind me. Where’s the line that says I was going to turn into a bloodthirsty animal every month for the rest of my life?”

Belle’s temper flared. “You went out into the woods to find what was killing the unicorns. No one made you-”

“I went out there to stave off the Darkness from encroaching into Hogwarts-”

“And I did the same exact thing!” Belle finished breathlessly. “I went out in the woods, the same as you, for the same reason.”

There was no more time to cross one’s fingers and hope for the best. They had to defend themselves, defend Hogwarts. With knowledge. With foresight. With whatever they could.

“I had to at least try. We,” she added. “We have to at least try. I’m not saying you have to like this...but access to a true seer...one linked with the Darkness but not bent to it? It’s not much...but it’s more than we had before.”

Ruby stared at the creature on the floor for a long, long moment. Finally, she nodded but she wouldn’t meet Belle’s eyes. “I just hope you know what you’re doing, Belle.”

Me too, Belle thought miserably but she managed a smile. “Go help Robin?” she suggested gently. Outside, Roland’s crying was only growing louder and pops of what sounded like fireworks were starting to go off.

Ruby disappeared back out into the warmth of the early evening, leaving Belle alone with Rumpelstiltskin. Her hand went to the dagger around her neck, a constant chill against her skin.

Taking a deep breath, Belle turned to kneel back down beside the seer but she did not take off Ruby’s spell, not yet. His eyes were calculating, something hidden deep in their depths. “I hope you can help,” she said quietly. “Merlin’s beard, I hope you can help.”

She murmured “finite” and braced herself for an attack, physical or magical but none came.

Rumpelstiltskin merely raised himself to a sitting position and took a look around the hut. “What a sty,” he grumbled and with a casual wave of his left hand, everything straightened around them. The shattered table repaired itself, the crockery mending. The sink suddenly splashed to life, submerging the dirty dishes in soapy water as the soot started to scoot across the floor and out the door.

“His wife died last fall,” Belle said as she got to her feet. “She went to Diagon Alley for a pixie deterrent for the pumpkin patch. She didn’t come back.”

Belle offered a hand to help him up but the Seer did not take it. He rose to his own feet in a graceful motion, dusting off his leather breeches as if he had not been utterly at her mercy moments ago. “Explains his less than hospitable hosting skills.”

“He’s had a rough time of it.”

“And what’s the werewolf’s excuse?” he grumbled.

“She gets a bit...snappy around the full moon,” Belle said with a shrug. “We’ve gotten used to it.”

His strange golden eyes flickered to the sunlight where the two Gryffindors stood. They were both waving their wands so hundreds of colorful bubbles billowed out of the tips. Roland ran between them, his head thrown back in laughter as he rushed one way than the other.

“Everyone here has a story of being touched by the darkness,” Belle added quietly.

His eyes turned back to her. “And your story?”

Belle hesitated, just for a moment. “Ask me again at the end of this year,” she said quietly. “Come on, I’ll take you up to the castle. We set up rooms in the Divination Tower.”

August

The Charms professor was mad as a hatter.

That was the only reason Rumpelstiltskin could think of for why Jefferson had taken to coming to his office every day when most of the Hogwarts staff had decided to steer clear of him. All but the Charms Professor, the castle’s healer, and of course the librarian.

Rumpelstiltskin stood at the window, looking out across the Black Lake. The Giant Squid propelled along the surface, basking in the summer light as it had done for the past century. Behind him, Whale was reading the paper while Jefferson lounged on his back, spinning his hat idly round and round his finger.

“Someone spilled the beans,” Whale whistled as he folded the Daily Prophet and flung it over at Jefferson. The Slytherin caught it and flipped it open in one smooth motion without so much as missing a beat.

Rumpelstiltskin glanced over at the paper, and the photograph of a bombed-out building stared back at him. Flames flickered in black ink, the moment captured on magical film to be replayed over and over again for all of time. He turned away from it, back towards the sun, lifting his face to enjoy the Scottish summer breeze wash over him.

This he knew. This is he remembered. He had not forgotten the ways of wizardkind but a lot had changed since his Hogwarts days. He had spent the entirety of July ensconced in the tower reading whatever the Librarian had brought him and still wasn’t caught up.

Belle, a voice whispered in his head. Her name is Belle

She had not given him her name but he had heard it upon the lips of the others. Until she gave it to him herself, he would continue to call her the Librarian.

It had been what he had called her before he had known her.

He had known her the instant he had laid eyes upon her on the summer solstice. He had even warned her...and still, the foolish, brave girl had given him her hand. Sealing their fates.

How often had he seen her in his visions? The bright light at the end of the dark, long tunnel of his existence. He had seen their future, saw their lives entwined in ways he had not thought possible. His destiny stamped as clear as the printed word upon her fair face but he could not find the courage to give that truth voice. So, he told her of the other things he had seen: Her death. The fall of Hogwarts. Everything she was scared of.

But he left out the other parts. For those were the things that scared him.

Lost in his thoughts, he did not notice the first owl that flew by the window or the second. It may have been the fourth or even fifth owl he finally saw, but soon the entire sky was full of them. His brow furrowed at the flurry of wings. Jefferson joined him at the window, wordlessly handing him the paper.

The paper was opened to the headline “Newest Divination Teacher: Monstrous Minion of Darkness”. The article went on to explain in graphic detail how he had supposedly run off the old Divination Teacher (a young woman named Astrid Nova) and took her place, bewitching Headmistress Reul Ghorm and bending her to his will.

He tossed it aside. Ghorm had already been bent to the Darkness’s will. Even if she did not yet know it. He did not know how the Librarian had convinced that one to let him cross the castle boundary, but he suspected it was only a matter of time before the Darkness in the headmistress's heart overwhelmed her. He could see the shadows on her face whenever she gazed at him, considering, wondering. She would come to him by the end of the year with her questions.

There was a knock at the trap door. Ever polite, his Librarian. He waved a hand and the trap door flipped open for her to emerge with her daily peace offering, a tray of tea. “Master Whale,” she greeted as Victor took the tray from her. “Professor Jefferson.”

“The Dragon was just telling me my fortune,” Jefferson said with a sorrowful grin.

The Librarian knew all too well what his fortune entailed. Day after day, Jefferson only asked Rumpelstiltskin the same question. “And how does your Grace fair today?”

“Thriving,’ Jefferson answered proudly, though his sad smile did not brighten.

Jefferson and his family had encountered the Darkness early in its rise. After Jefferson had barely survived the attack that had claimed his wife, he had sent his only daughter to the continent to attend Beauxbatons, praying it would be far enough. She had not spoken to him since, nearly three years

“And you, Master Whale?” Belle asked, though not as warmly.

It was clear that the Librarian did not quite trust Whale’s interest in him. Rumpelstiltskin could have told her that Whale had lost a brother years ago and had kept his body in the hopes of finding some magic strong enough to reanimate him, to bring him back. But he doubted that would do much to alleviate her suspicions. The healer was harmless. For now.

“Happy to be here,” Victor responded flippantly. “But like all good things, my time with you all has come to an end. The Nolans are stopping by the infirmary for an informal check-up.”

The Defense against the Dark Arts professor and her husband were expecting their first. They had been going to St. Mungo’s but with the rise of violence in London, it did not surprise him that they had opted to stay closer to Hogwarts.

Rumpelstiltskin exposed his fangs in a grimacing smile. He did not care much for Mary Margret Nolan. She had been the most vocal against him taking residence in the castle and been a thorn in his side ever since. “Send along my congratulations,” he said as Victor started to descend the spiral staircase. “Emma is a lovely name.”

The Librarian sighed. “They were going to have it be a surprise,” she chastised him as Victor’s laughter floated back up to them.

“Oh?”

He wasn’t fooling her but he had come to enjoy teasing the smile out of her, it was happening more and more frequently these days, which should have worried him.

Jefferson cleared his throat. “I’ll go and give Leroy a hand with the owls,” he said with a tip of his hat. The trapdoor swung shut behind him, leaving the two of them alone.

“Owls?” she echoed in confusion. Rumpelstiltskin nodded towards the paper on the table. The Librarian picked it up, scanned the headline and groaned. “Curse her,” she muttered, tucking her hair behind her ear. He watched her from beneath his curtain of hair. The Librarian always wore her hair pulled back in a ponytail, using whatever scrap of ribbon was at hand, but tendrils always escaped to fall about her face. “I’m going to wring her neck for this. She knows how important you being here is-”

There was little love lost between the defense teacher and the librarian but he had not expected such violence on his behalf. “Pregnancy does strange things to the mind,” he said, remembering all too well his own wife’s pregnancy and the mood swings that had accompanied it back in the days before modern medicine’s miracles. “It matters not,” he said even as more owls flew by. “Hogwarts is still the safest place in England. Those who do not send their children put them at great peril.”

The Librarian poured a cup of tea, absently sending it floating over to him as she began to pour another. “I hope I was right about all this,” she said quietly, more to herself than to him.

He could have told her she was. That her destiny had been written long before she had been born, that she was following a path already laid out for her. But then she would ask him too many questions. He had did not always know when, just what would be.

So, he said nothing.

She let the paper drop to the table and sat in Jefferson’s vacated chair. Her fingers went to her throat, idly playing with the necklace hidden beneath her robes. “Why do you wear that?” he asked as he sat down across from her. “Inanimate magical objects can be dangerous things.”

“I’ve heard,” Belle said drily as her hand fell back to her lap. “I thought it better to keep it close than to risk it falling into the wrong hands.”

Rumpelstiltskin had thought the same thing. He could still remember the splitting pain...the emptiness that had never left him. To this day, he could feel the hole where his soul had been ripped away.

They didn’t say much after that. They took their tea in silence as owl after owl flew across the summer sky.

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