#there would have been if jason had leaked the video.

[haveihitanerve]

Guess who!! Yes I'm back, tis been a while

A video of Bruce singing gets leaked and his kids find out he's an amazing singer, and now they won't stop pestering him to sing for them

okayyyyy- see i am one of the firm believers that Bruce will sing only for his kids- so Dick was raised on Bruce singing him to sleep, sometimes on patrol when Dick would burst into song, Bruce joins in and harmonizes, all of his kids have been serenaded by him, either for bed or like hospital visit or just because bruce sings at home sometimes/while hes working... but i do likey-

It wasn't even something that he had done on purpose. It was just natural, sometimes, to sing. He would hear a good song on the radio and hum along. Play music while working a case. He didn't make it obvious he could sing- cough cough dick cough

But Selina. She had an obsession with it. Trying to catch him singing. Trying to record it.

"You're so good!!!" She would gush when he cut off whenever he spotted her recording. Bruce would shake his head. Wave her off.

But she must have caught him at some point. Because now there was a video. Bruce bit his lip to stop his scream as the late night host showed it off. This would not end well for him.

"Yo! Guys! Get in here!" Tim bellowed through Wayne Manor. He was already on the phone with Barbara and Dick, and they were heading to their apartment as fast as possible to watch.

"What's up?" Jason asked, entering the den where Tim was sitting on the couch.

Tim gestured to the TV. "B's on." Jason rolled his eyes, but flopped onto the couch next to his brother. Tim was the only one who consistently watched every Bruce interview. A habit that never died from his obsessive stalker observant stage before Robin, and now was even more prominent as he was actually connected to Bruce. Wanted to check he wasn't getting asked stupid questions.

Jason snickered as he spotted his brothers laptop open to the hosts persona information. Any wrong move, and Tim would destroy him for Bruce.

"Why did you call Drake?" Damian sniffed, entering the den with Cass. Tim shushed him, pointing to the screen.

"Just watch- I went back." There was a scream as Steph fell from the window, breaking in as always. She straightened, landing with the ease of someone who had trained with both the Batman and Catwoman, and hurried over.

"Did you see it?" She gasped excitedly, taking a seat next to Tim.

"I'm showing them." He hushed her hurriedly. Intrigued, the others took their seats, Duke strolling in last. He cranked the volume up higher and they leaned forward, eager.

"Now, recently, a particular video has taken Gotham by storm," The host was saying. Jason cocked his head, tugging his phone from his pocket to search for said video.

"Just wait." Tim coaxed, hands rubbing together like an insane man.

"We're watching." Barbara mumbled through the phone.

"Oh dear, I do hope it's not that one." Bruce was saying, chuckling, fake nervousness and smile on his face. The host laughed along, waving his hand to gesture the video play.

Jason choked on his tea and Steph's fingers dug half moons into Tim's arm as she watched with baited breath.

The video was of Bruce, in the manor, light instrumental music playing in the background. The video quality left something to be desired, crouched behind the couch, blurry, and audio a bit scratchy, but it was undoubtedly him.

"Am I blue? Am IIII Blue? Ain't these tears in these eyes-" The video ended abruptly, most likely because the recorder had been caught, but the damage had been done. Bruce looked near the tears he had been singing about.

Steph's grin was blinding. Dick's cackle erupted through the speaker of Tim's phone. A slow smile spread across Jason's face. "Oh this is going to be fun." Damian murmured.

"Damn it!" Jason cursed as his foot connected with the table.

"Language." Bruce immediately responded, more impulse than actual chiding.

"Yeah yeah." Jason grumbled. "Sorry. It's just... I've been a bit blue lately. Can't think straight."

He hurried out of the room before Bruce could see his grin. Bruce, on the other hand, was gripping his spoon tightly.

"Man," Dick complained, scrubbing at his eyes underneath his mask. Bruce frowned at him from the nearby roof, leaning closer.

"You okay?" He rumbled, reaching for a tissue or something to offer his son. Dick waved him off, dabbing at his eye with his gloves.

"Yeah- I'm fine. There's just something in my eyes. Probably tears." He winked, falling backwards off the roof. Bruce's jaw cracked from the force with which he was clenching it.

"Fu-" Steph grunted as she slammed into the floor, hands reacting too late to protect the hard landing.

Batman landed a step behind, hands moving immediately under her arms to lift her. "'m fine." She grumbled, wincing as she attempted to put weight on her left foot.

"Clearly." Bruce agreed, wrapping an arm more firmly around her waist to take most of her weight.

"B!!" She whined, but let him take it. "I can walk." She muttered. Bruce huffed a laugh, herding them both back into the cave.

"Of course you can. Think of me as a cane." That got a laugh from Steph, even as she let out a yelp as he let go to grab some gauze. "Sorry," Bruce murmured, helping her onto the med table. She waved him off, letting him prop it up and feel around.

"Sprained. Should be fine in a few days." He started to wrap it and Steph let herself recline, letting out a heavy breath as his fingers brushed a little too hard against her ankle. "Sorry." He mumbled again, but she just nodded back.

"You gonna be okay?" Bruce asked, helping her sit up. "Your room is still set up. It won't ever not be. You're staying here tonight, at least." Steph nodded her agreement, not willing to fight over it. Besides, she wanted to stay needed to torment him.

"You know what would really make me feel better?" She asked as he carried her up the stairs after they had changed back into civvies.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "What?" His voice was flat, suspicious.

Steph smiled sweetly, wrapping her arms around his neck so he couldn't drop her and escape. "If you sang for me."

Bruce groaned, and as suspected, his arms relaxed marginally, prepared to drop her and make a run for it, though of course he didn't actually let her go. Steph grinned.

"Its really your fault," She pointed out. "If you had just told us-"

"I never kept it a secret." he grumbled, bringing her into the den, where, as planned, the rest of the kids sat. Dick smiled at his father, accepting Steph from his arms and setting her down next to Tim. He smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her closer.

Jason cleared his throat, holding up a microphone from Dick's twelfth birthday. No one said a word, just blinked expectantly at him.

Bruce sighed. They'd all gotten those damned puppy eyes from Dick, he was sure of it. As if to confirm, his eldest batted his eyelashes extra, and Damian even rubbed his eyes, sticking out his bottom lip. Unfortunately, being aware of the source did not lessen its effects in the slightest.

He snatched the mic from Jason, cleared his throat, and began.

@jellynber

[lcrk]

.

[demonic0angel]

Another Anger management idea:

Jason is going through his own First Burn, but unlike Hamilton, he didn't do it. The evidence, though fake, is damning. Hopefully, Jason can get Vicki Vale to give up her sources easily, or there will be hell. He just wants his wife back.

(… did you want comfort, bc it’s only angst tbh. Also, I’m assuming that Jazz doesn’t have Shadow, because this would’ve been fixed so fast otherwise lmao)

Jazz didn’t turn to face him, as she just hugged her plushie, a little plush toy of Red Hood. She sat on their bed and just curled around the toy, her brilliant hair scattering over the sheets and covering her face.

“Jazz, please. Please listen to me. I don’t know how this was taken, but it isn’t real. I didn’t cheat,” Jason said, almost begging. He moved forward to be in front of her so she could face him, but she turned her head away, tucking her face into the plushie and clutching at it.

Not for the first time, he was horrifically jealous of the toy he had won for her.

“Princess, please. I love you,” he said urgently, “I love you so much.”

Jazz shook her head softly, and he could see a peek of her face through her curtain of hair, horribly blank and empty. She didn’t cry, she would not cry while he was here. She was strong like that, and hated showing weakness unless she felt safe. She hadn’t shown such strength in front of him for years.

“I know,” she said, her voice tiny.

It broke his heart in two.

Jason clenched his fists and tried to breathe.

Just a few days ago, Vicki Vale had released news of him cheating on Jazz with another woman. No matter how much he could deny it, the evidence was so damning that he had nothing to say. But he didn’t really have an excuse. He knew he hadn’t done it, but the evidence all pointed towards him.

Even his family were giving him odd looks. Only Jazz’s warnings had prevented her own siblings from brutally murdering him.

There was no alibi he could give, no witnesses to see where he was, nothing to show that he hadn’t done it.

But he really hadn’t done it! He knew, because he had been in the midst of a reconnaissance mission alone. But he had no excuses, because the video was so well done, the photos were so clear, and the information was so detailed that he couldn’t say a word.

“Jazz,” Jason said, his voice cracking as he felt the lump in his throat grow, “I didn’t do it. Please believe me. I promise, I didn’t cheat on you. I swear on my life. I love you, please.”

Jazz still didn’t face him. Her hands tightened on the doll and then she said slowly, “I need time to think. Can you call Dick and Dani please?”

Jason wanted to grab his guns and start shooting up Gotham, or better yet, sink the whole damn continent into the ocean. His rage and frustration was so strong that he almost felt blood leak up through his throat. He wanted to kill Vicki Vale more than ever, but if he did that now, it would only make him look more guilty.

“Okay,” he said comfortingly. He did not reach out to touch her. If he did, he knew she would’ve shut down further. “Do you want me to call Valerie too?”

Dick, Dani, and Valerie were often part of Jazz’s counsel. Dick and Dani would’ve been too nice to immediately leap to Jason cheating, but Valerie was ruthless enough to be a good voice of reason and if he offered, then maybe Jazz would think that he was being honest.

Jazz nodded silently and Jason immediately called them up as he moved to the kitchen to make the calls.

Dick agreed instantly and told him that he would come over as fast as possible. Dani was clearly disdainful of him, but tried to be polite and agreed the moment she knew that Jazz wanted her presence. Valerie cursed him out for a whole fifteen minutes before he could get a word in, but eventually agreed without hesitation when he asked.

Jason hung up the phone when he was done and buried his head in his hands as the soft sounds of Jazz crying alone in their bedroom filled his ears.

The urge to kill Vicki Vale grew more and more tempting.

He didn’t know why he was being targeted. Or how she had gotten such good falsified photos. Hell, he hadn’t even done anything in the last few weeks to deserve this.

He sat there in the kitchen, eyes clenched tight as he resisted the urge to go into the bedroom to pull his wife into his arms and hold her. He wanted to bury himself in Jazz’s hair, hold her tight to his chest, feel her heartbeat and her warmth, and settle her in his embrace as if they could somehow merge themselves into one.

Jason opened his eyes.

He knew what he had to do to clear his name.

He would have to find Vicki Vale’s sources and investigate for himself. He’d be damned if some hack reporter tore apart his blissful marriage with his wonderful wife. And god only knew what lengths Jason would go to for Jazz.

[eyeheartboobiez]

-> 𝗃𝖺𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝗍𝗈𝖽𝖽 𝗑 𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗋!𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

-> 𝗌𝗈𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅 𝗆𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖺 𝖺𝗎!

-> 𝖺/𝗇: 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗌 𝗄𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝗈𝖿 𝖺 𝗌𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗇𝖽 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗌𝗆𝖺𝗎 𝗂 𝗐𝗋𝗈𝗍𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝖻𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗎𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾. 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗂 𝗋𝖾𝖿𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝖺𝗅𝖿 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖺𝗇𝖺 𝗀𝗋𝖾𝗇𝖽𝖾'𝗌 𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗄𝖾𝖽 𝗌𝗈𝗇𝗀 "𝖿𝖺𝗇𝗍𝖺𝗌𝗂𝗓𝖾" 🫶🏿

liked by y/nforeal and 972,336 others

@rred_hood: gm yall

View all 9,112 comments

user1: never wanted to be a towel so bad

user2: so i see y/n liked his post… interesting

user3: y/n bro just take him atp

⤷ user4: sis never beating the dating allegations😭

user5: i need him in the worst way bro please

@bigdickgrayson: put a shirt on skank

⤷@rred_hood: a bit much coming from bludhaven’s resident whore

user6: idk why yall always so quick to jump to conclusions. all she did was like his damn post have some decorum guys🤦‍♀️

⤷user4: DICK RIDAAA🗣️🗣️

⤷user7: girl he is NAWT gonna pick you💀

— load more comments —

Y/N Y/LN's leaked music continues to give fans hints about her relationship status, completely against the artist's wishes (8/17/2022 3:27 PM PT)

Many listeners of the singer woke up to a great surprise this morning when an anonymous twitter account posted a link to one of Y/N Y/LN's unreleased songs.

For the past few months, fans have been speculating when the artist would release more music since having been in a rumored relationship with the proclaimed gotham elite, Jason Todd. The lyrics "Boys blowin' up my phone, They just ain't you" and "I'd give this pussy to you, nine-to-five, five-to-nine" give us a clear hint of what may be going on between the two, and fans were quick to catch on.

Much to the artist's dismay, however, the song’s chorus found it way over to tiktok with over 700,000 videos having used the audio already. Many users of the app have participated in a dance trend that has already seemed to be created.

Despite all the positive feedback directed towards the singer, Y/N was not hesitant to express her irritation for the invasion of privacy. After seeing the topic trending on twitter this morning, a post was made to her account stating:

@y/nforeal: Now who tf leaked my shit?? This why yall dont ever get any music outta me😐

After doing some digging, inside sources have come to the conclusion that Artemis Grace, singer and former girlfriend of Jason, played some part in unconsentually releasing the song. Even though the two artists work under the same record label, Artemis wouldn’t do something this crazy, right?

But to nobody’s surprise, it seems that the vengeful ex has a long history of being senseless. Jason has stated in the past that the main reason he ended things with her was because she liked to have constant "control" over him. In an interview last year, he made it very clear how unhappy he was with Artemis, saying:

"She was known for taking extreme measures to make sure I stayed tied down to her. I don't really wanna get into it, but she's always had an obsession with being in the star of things, and our relationship was no exception."

While both Todd and Y/LN have yet to clear the air regarding their rumored love affair, sources still firmly believe that something is going on between them to have inspired such a song. Still, whether they wanna admit it or not, they really are super cute together. ;)

i really didn't wanna make artemis the bad guy here but i needed a plotline dawg😭

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Revisiting information from Tom Bower's book Revenge and current events in the House of Windsor.

Misan Harriman: All Roads lead back, to Soho House & the person Rachel described as her "gay husband," Markus Anderson.

Anglo-Nigerian photographer, Misan Harriman, was instrumental in Meghan’s 2014 post-Trevor re-brand from Deal or No Deal Briefcase Girl to faux philanthropist/humanitarian.

Allegedly he's also gay, along with the other "boys" in MEgain's Soho House Circle. All in "contract" marriages with female "beards" like Rachel Meghan Markle. All liars.

According to Tom Bower's research (Revenge p. 63), Meghan was determined to use One Young World as her launching pad to celebrity philanthropy.

She was unknown to the OYW founders and event staff so she contacted Misan Harriman to ask for an introduction to his friend, tennis star, Boris Becker.

Becker was already scheduled to speak at the Dublin conference and Misan pitched the idea of Meghan's participation.

Becker referred Meghan to HIS AGENT, Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne.

If I remember correctly, in Gina's pre-wedding articles and interviews, she mentioned that Meghan contacted her office in 2014 to express an interest in helping with the OYW conference(s). I had no idea that Meghan and Misan were friendly while Meghan cohabitated with Celebrity Chef Cory.

MEgain did not choose Misan for her engagement photographs. Misan has only been in the photography business for five (5) years.

Soho House members, the York Sisters, invited Misan to capture the moment Edo proposed to Beatrice. (sigh & smh) SAME Eugenie who told the press, "we really like her..." when someone (OMIT & Jessica) gave Camilla Tominey permission to publicize their affair. Camilla repeatedly writes that William MUST forgive Sparry. Tominey cares nothing for the Wales family or the country. Her interests are rooted in greed and irresponsible reporting to sell papers.

Notice The Meghans began paying Misan during MEGXIT. He captured the stills and video footage for Megflix. He is also paid by Invictus. There's a lot of cash flowing into Misan's bank account via The Meghan and their archeficicial business ventures. IRS, where you at???? 🤔

I'm not sure why I included the following in my original 2022 post: "Allegedly, during Harry's 2 nights in Tornto (babysat by Jason Knauf), just before he flew to the US-FL IG, Meghan (while cohabitating w/Cory & just back from spending Mother's Day weekend w/Cory's parents) Meghan told Harry about her interest in helping him with the Invictus Games."

One thing that stands out to me is how much both Meghans lied during the engagement interview:

Sparry & MEgain admitted (on international television) that they were secretly dating for 5-6 months BEFORE Tominey received the story.

Do the math. If they met in July of 2016 and had 5-6 months together in secret, Camilla's article would have been published in December or January, not October/November.

Camilla's article was published at the time of their Toronto (soho house) Halloween party with Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank: October 2016 = only 3 dating months.

If they began dating during Sparry's Spring promotional visit to Toronto for Ingriftus, then YES--- they were "together" (like spooning bananas) for five (5) months before MEgain leaked the details to Tominey

Sparry is just as much of a compulsive liar as his wife. He lies about the unnecessary details:

"we had to announce your megnantcy for the tour because you were showing..."

"It's true, you did blend in-----‐until our farewell week..."

I have future content coming about Victoria Hervey and Dan Wootton's despicable behavior during kategate. At the moment I wish she would stop extending open invitations for Sparry "to come home," when he's repeatedly been clear that America is his home & America is where he feels safe.

In my opinion, Sparry and MEgain deserve to be married to one another FOREVER!! Initially I viewed Sparry as her victim but just because Sparry is mentally & emotionally unstable and intellectually "sub-educational" (as Lady C would say), does not excuse his character issues: lying, cheating, stealing, grifting to achieve fame and fortune in America. People all over the world with low IQs know the difference between right and wrong. There is no excuse for Sparry's crimes.

Royal Families cannot expect their people to look past bad behavior. Charles got what he wanted, "Camilla." Despite the good press she receives, the majority of the world sees Charles as spoiled and feckless. I do think he will be surprised to learn just how many Brits wish he & Camilla would just go on a permanent holiday.

In a world of meritocracy, we have watched Meghan Markle, Sparry, and Andrew get away with murder. Zero on the job consequences for bad behavior------>Out of touch with everyday people.

Andrew & Sparry have caused permanent damage to brand BRF. When Charles chooses tone deafness over humility and shame, they are begging the people for a Republic.

Normal people pay a price for their unwise decisions. Selfish Charles chose Jesus' resurrection day to rub Andrew into the faces of the British people and global royal watchers.

People won't take these moments of pure contempt for the will and opinions of the people and just let it all go due to cancer. Charles is still seen as a feckless king who will ultimately destroy this monarchy because it appears he cannot or will not manage his household.

Go to church Andrew & Fergie, but not in front of the cameras and not at the expense of the taxpayers. These are not difficult situations for Buckingham Palace. Does anyone have a working brain? It's as if Charles is deliberately destroying everything his mother & father worked so hard to preserve.

I agree @sassyfrassboss and don't get me started on Sarah's health related virtue signals. Why is it so difficult for Fergie to stop talking? And why won't Andrew go away and live out a solitary life? No one wants to shake hands with Epstein's pal. No charity wants to be represented by Epstein's pal. Consequences.

Andrew is reviled and despised because he refuses to accept responsibility for his unwise choices. He has no remorse for choosing "sleazy e & co" over his family and his country. It's not complicated.

I have drafts of future content about the York's. Surmise it to say, Andrew and Sarah are just not bright people. What's worse is they are selfish and refuse to step out of the limelight to give their daughters & grandkids a fresh start.

Unfortunately, like The Meghans, Eugenie was willing to exploit the identities of other people's children while concealing the face of her own child with stickers.

Ultimately Eugenie used the Jubilee to change course. She finally held up the child to show his face. Cute child. What's not cute is the elitist mindset that "blue blood makes us extra special."

After visiting Davos, Eugenie was quick to parrot her elitist, WEF talking points. There was no critical thinking about the issue(s) (like, "hmm, my husband wears glasses"), just a regurgitation of elitist talking points.

No one wants to see Andrew on Easter Sunday or for that matter at any other holiday. Seeing him jolly on parade is a slap in the face to all who had a deep affection for Queen Elizabeth's virtues and basic human decency. It's past time for him to retire from public life.

Rolling up to Easter service as though the York's are respectable members of society who serve Jesus Christ is absolutely shameful.

Not because of a liar named Virginia and her fake photo, but because of Andrew's REAL Central Park, NYC photos and the video footage of Andrew coming and going from Epstein's NYC home. Not to mention their big Epstein dinner with guests like Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos and Woody Allen---- to name just a few.

Andrew used tax payer's money to travel in support of Jeffrey Epstein upon his release from prison.

A man who was convicted of sexually assaulting under age girls served about 12 months in prison and upon release he threw a NYC party for his royal pal Andrew! The Palace was "too honorable" to reply, "No thank you. Have a nice life." Andrew seems too self centered to concern himself with the commandments to "avoid even the appearance of evil" and to "honor" his mother & father's legacies.

[defibrillism]

thoughts on designated survivor now that i'm 11 episodes in

hannah and jason (but especially hannah) have jumped up to my top characters list right alongside seth who was already there by default

i seriously love hannah so much. she's messy but she's COMPETENT. i've been rooting for her since the first ep when i saw jason underestimating her and everything post-car crash has just been insane to me. what do you mean you almost fucking died yesterday and today you're back to your investigation. she's crazy!!! she does NOT fuck around!!! i am obsessed with her!!!!!!!!!!

i honestly didn't like jason much at first because he kept putting hannah down but NOW? THEY'D BETTER FREE MY MAN OR ELSE I'M GONNA START KILLING

mike is cool i like him. i like the stunt he pulled while hannah was in custody to show her she could trust him to not let foerstel (idk how to spell his name) in on whatever she wanted done. also he just has a nice rapport with the kirkmans, especially leo

the macleishes are such an obvious analogue for the macbeths right from the names- the same mac- prefix and also. peter's wife is literally called Beth- to that line from her which goes something like "blood doesn't wash off, it stains, which is why we keep moving forwards" and peter asking how many more good people had to be taken down before they reached their goal. just, the ruthlessness in her and the guilt in him. hate them but i'm fascinated by them. What Do They Want.

i really don't want to believe that aaron had a hand in all the catalan shit. LIKE. it would explain why he leaked the al-sakar video unprompted earlier but it wouldn't explain why he opposed peter's instructions to kill catalan...? he was very firm on his opinion there even if nobody agreed with him. i want to think he's being staged but idk what to believe

speaking of aaron i wonder when seth will ask emily what she knows about him, because there's no way he didn't notice something was up in that scene where she's crying and goes in to hug him and then turns totally unemotional when aaron enters the room

[phantoms-lair]

Batman Exalted Triple Event - Part 1

(So as a note Tim has already Exalted by this point, however his scene does not want to be written, so we're skipping ahead. But for reference he Exalted in his Red Robin identity and almost killed Mr. Freeze on accident)

Bruce did not have a hunch or bad feeling. He awoke knowing that something was very wrong in a way he couldn't have before his exaltation. He rolled out of bed, instinctively folding space in a way he'd think about later. All the knew at the time was his feet swung from his bed in Wayne Manor and landed on a rough floor in Crime Alley.

He had no time to think about that because in front of him struggling on the ground was Jason. It wasn't an enemy or sickness, Bruce would know how to deal with those. Instead Jason seemed to be flickering in and out of existence. And with each flicker Bruce could feel as if something was in his mind, trying to pry the very memory of Jason from him.

It couldn't have him! Whatever was trying to take his son from him again couldn't have him!

He heard a soft clicking behind him. He glanced back to see a mechanical spider the size of a hamster, but still kept most of his focus on Jason.

"I am bound by Kejack's will." The spider clicked. "I can not undo what he's done."

Rage burned inside Bruce. So this was Kejack's doing. If he lost Jason again he swore-

"But I can do what he hasn't thought to forbid." The spider continued, unaware of how close Bruce had been to lashing out at it. "I know a way to save him."

Rage turned into a nearly suffocating hope. "How?" Bruce demanded, the power of his exaltation flowing from his voice.

"Time is our enemy. His inner strength and your will made manifest through your exigence have bought some time but he will soon fade regardless. If I take time to explain, he will be lost."

"I don't care what it takes. Save my son!" Bruce roared.

"Pick him up and follow me through the gate." The spider skittered away through a portal that hadn't been there a moment ago.

Bruce lifted Jason up. He felt lighter than when Bruce had lifted him as Robin. Had his exigence made him strong, or what whatever happening to Jason left him lighter. Bruce prayed to god it was the former as he followed the spider and once again vanished.

~

"Master Bruce has vanished." Alfred's urgency in his tone drawing her away from the work she'd been doing.

"I thought he was done for the day, is he not answering his coms?"

"Pardon me, I was unclear. I was not referring to Master Bruce's habit of taking off without a word. I'll send you the bedroom footage."

Oracle couldn't understand how someone could be comfortable with a security camera pointed directly at their bed. She understood the logic of it. Bruce Wayne was a kidnapping risk, and if the combat butler didn't interrupt things it wasn't like he could pull out his Batman techniques to save himself.

But the thought of a camera on her while she slept made her skin crawl. Maybe because she knew once something was created, how easily it could be let loose. Honestly Bruce probably had some crazy fans who would pay top dollar for video of him sleeping.

...if they were in Gotham he probably knew exactly who they were now. Privately pitying Bruce for getting the worst superpower, Oracle watched the video, thoughtfully trimmed to the relevant parts. Bruce sat up straight from sleep as if he'd had a nightmare, his eyes glowing blue as his power leaked from them. He swung his legs off the bed and as he went to stand... Well, Alfred was right. He vanished.

"After reviewing the footage I think it's safe to say his exaltation was doing something. From his his sense of urgency I think he became aware of something and was sent there. Which means, given the nature of his exaltation, he's likely still in Gotham. I'll start combing for him."

"Very good, Oracle. May I alert the others?"

"Please do." She didn't know the situation that would lead Bruce to be so upset, but having Bats on standby to react would only be a good thing. Her program to autoscan the multiple cameras in Gotham (from security to traffic to bird cams) had just started going full bore when Alfred contacted her again. "Master Hood cannot be reached."

"Refocusing my search on Crime Alley." Oracle immediately switched gears. Something happening to the son already he lost once would absolutely bring out that level of urgency in Bruce. Flecks of green light sparked from from her fingers to her keyboard as she searched. Code she had never seen popped up and she instinctively knew what it was, knew she shouldn't have been seeing it, and knew what the fact that she could see it meant. But that was a crisis for later. She had friends to help. She wove through the code representing fate and destiny. She saw someone else had accessed the code and...that fucker was going to pay. He didn't seem to have full access and now she could make sure he never did. Not after trying to delete Jason.

"Ketchup tried to run a wiper virus on Hood's existence. B intervened and now I can't find either of them."

"He did WHAT!" Nightwing snarled. He must have been outside, the wind was fierce.

"Greyson calm down." came Damian's matter of fact tone.

"I will not calm down! That bastard-"

"You're hurting us." Tim's voice interrupted.

"I - oh fuck. Oracle keep us informed. I've got to deal with this."

Nightwing's voice cut off and she dearly would have loved to know what was going on, but it was taking all she had to try and find Bruce and Jason.

[princess-nell]

“It was remarkable and strange how much of the season seemed to be occurring in between episodes or scenes. The worst offender of this was the storyline about Nate, whose rise from kit man to assistant coach was one of the first season’s most successful arcs, and whose descent into aggrieved villainy in Season Two was well-plotted, even if it upset many viewers. Given the empathetic messages of the series, it was obvious that Nate would return to the fold by the end of this season. But pretty much every choice on that journey was mystifying. Rather than show him gradually recognizing what an abusive person he had become, how terribly he had betrayed Ted by leaking his private medical information to the press, etc., the show seemed to view his redemption as a matter of Nate learning to love himself. And the writers’ method of doing that was a bizarre love story involving Jade, the hostess at Nate’s favorite restaurant, who had no personality and no apparent reason for wanting to go out with Nate other than taking pity on him after another woman was mean to him in front of Jade. (Nor were we ever given any reason why Nate was so hung up on Jade, given how repeatedly cold she was to him prior to that moment.) Eventually, it turned out that all Nate really needed was for his emotionally-closed-off father to acknowledge Nate’s genius, and for Nate to play the violin, and suddenly everything was OK. Nate quit his dream job as head coach of an EPL team in between episodes, with no explanation other than his discomfort at club owner Rupert trying to get Nate to cheat on Jade. Early in the season, we saw the entire Richmond squad so incensed by video footage of Nate destroying Ted’s homemade “BELIEVE” sign that they spent an entire half of football being penalized for assaulting various members of Nate’s team. Yet last week, we saw three representatives from the team — two of them, winger Colin and replacement kit man Will, among the most frequent targets of Nate’s abuse in Season Two — arrive at the restaurant with smiles on their faces to tell him the team had voted unanimously to invite him back. Even if you believe Ted’s ethos that forgiveness should not require redemption or atonement, how do you not show a scene where the team — who are in the midst of the winning streak of their lives, have been shown to be a deeply superstitious lot wary of shaking up anything that’s working, and, again, are all furious with Nate for one reason or another — gets together to debate this and vote on it? How do we skip over Nate’s actual return to the building, or the moment when he’s told that he will be — or chooses to be — Will’s assistant, rather than rejoining the coaching staff?”

This whole article, start to finish, sums up everything that had me grinding my teeth about S3. The Nate arc, however, was the worst in my eyes. I rewatched S1&2 over the last week, and I was struck by how well plotted the show was for the first two seasons. Everything was carefully set up and very well acted. Then everything just deteriorated. Nate’s entire arc was set up from the get go — you can see hints of his inner toxicity early on in Season 1. And then, they wasted all this time without showing him doing any of the work. I’m all about a good redemption arc, and I thought Beard’s speech to him was beautiful. But…Nate ends up being the one character who gets everything he wants and needs, and does nothing to earn it. The writing just wasn’t there for it. Why wasn’t he in therapy along with Roy at the end? Of all the characters in Ted Lasso, Nate needed therapy the most.

I also have to say the rewatching the whole thing reminded me of what a toxic, petty little man he was. He didn’t do any real work to work through that and deal with his major relationships, which were always with his father, Ted, and Rupert. Instead he learned to love himself through Jade’s love…and I’m sorry, she has no real personality. What do we know about her, other than she’s sardonic and supports Nate? Oh, and she’s Polish. That’s it. There was a gigantic hole in the middle of that storyline.

[niamhsmajorproject]

Summer Research

The start of my summer holiday began with motivation and excitement for third year. I feel as though i have decided i would like to steer my work in the direction of video game development and learning about the industry.  My initial ideas for things i would like to explore within my final year would be character design (physical making and digital) i feel this would also dip into dress making/design as i would like this to be my second career option. I envision making life size costumes with mixed media and having people model them to add another layer to the creation before making a game. This initial creation would be great to generate content for a trailer for the game. It would be very ambitious to have all three of these elements within one project however I think it would create a well rounded project that explores multiple aspects within game development. 

My idea for using cardboard elements within my character design stems from using lower gsm card for the costume i made in the performance lab in first year as well as the cosplay community using this technique for years for lower cost costumes that have the ability to mimic elements like armour. Gundam/mecha have good tutorials for making cosplay this way which can be adapted for my needs. The design for performance students also had a module where they created headpieces just from corrugated card. I also think that this method wold push the creativity of the overall character designs as the material limitations may come into effect [check gcse textbook for material properties]. All of these points add to the benefit of using corrugated card to create an in real life character. Combining corrugated card with textiles creates a juxtaposition, well which could be interesting to explore rigidity and fluidity in reference to character personality types. 

Media that i have been consuming that is relevant to game development:

blood sweat and pixels by Jason Shreier

TopicArlo on YouTube (leaks, hiring, announcements)

Research on game studios/companies

Studios under Nintendo

Next level games

Retro studios 

Possible job roles:

Environment or CharacterArtist III (NST) https://careers.nintendo.com/job-openings/listing/22000000EN.html?src=CWS-10000

Epic games has payed internships- apply September- march keep eyes peeled

Activizion (/blizzard) has September applications - software development currently

Epic mega grant is funding for students by epic games (unreal engine) to create games

Pick your own path game inspired by the club penguin pick your own path books

I have spoken to Jasper Marr who is a musician i know to see if he would be interested in creating a soundtrack for the game that i create in the final semester of next year. 

Problems with the gaming industry:

taking too long to develop quality AAA games

Layoffs particularly by Xbox

Xbox’s mess of a business plan

Exclusivity vs accessibility for games

What is the future of games?

AI

Women having a space in the gaming industry

Questions for Zion/ other games faculty memebers:

What do you think the future of gaming will look like?

What role do you think Ai should play within game development?

What mistakes do you think Xbox/ Microsoft are making with their company?

How interdisciplinary is the games industry?

Do you think being an interdisciplinary practitioner will benefit my employability skills or the industry?

What do game studios look for in their hiring process (in terms of portfolio etc)

Anglia Ruskin university

[yeah-yeah-beebiss-1]

I feel like if people had any sort of common sense at all, they would've realized that Nintendo firing a voice actor over an apparent pay dispute but then hiring someone that costs much more might have meant that there was more to the story than just money. Perhaps unrelated, Hellena Taylor is a TERF.

Thing is, “video game voice acting pays like dogshit” and “companies can and will use lowball offers to get contractors to leave of their own accord” are both commonly-known facts. With this in mind, I don’t blame people (myself included) for taking Taylor’s initial claims at face value because they were plausible. The multiple-session rate that it turned out Platinum actually offered was still low in a general sense, but it was at least consistent with union rates in the field. From what I can tell, if this new information is correct, it seems like it went something like this:

-Platinum approached Taylor with an industry-standard offer, five several-hour sessions at $3-4k each. VAs absolutely should be getting more than this, but it isn’t a lowball offer by current industry standards.

-Taylor declined and asked for six figures plus residuals, which is frankly unrealistic in the current industry (even if game VAs absolutely should be getting residuals).

-Platinum opted to bring on a new VA who would take the standard union rate (Jennifer Hale). Platinum initially announced to the public that the change was due to “scheduling conflicts.” They still offered Taylor a cameo role that would be a single $4k session.

-For whatever reason, Taylor took to the social-media warpath and spun the cameo offer as her being offered $4k for the entire game. People took her at face value because, again, plenty of VAs have been paid less for similar projects. Other VAs in turn speak up about some of the dogshit rates they’ve been offered for games that are frankly much bigger than Bayonetta.

-When Taylor’s story went viral, rather than hunkering down and letting PR do their thing, Hideki Kamiya went on his usual hyper-abrasive Twitter routine. When people started roasting him online over the allegations, he made very angry vaguetweets about the situation and blocked so many people that the Twitter suspicious-account-activity algorithm flagged his account. This is, as the kids say, not a good look for someone whose studio is facing scrutiny.

-Someone within Platinum or familiar with the project leaks documents showing the full situation to journalists, Jason Schreier is the first to break the story. He’s generally been pretty aggressively pro-worker when reporting on stories related to labor issues in the games industry, so the fact that he’s vouching for these documents suggests that he’s pretty confident in their legitimacy.

-Taylor doubles down on her side of the story. Jennifer Hale has mostly been silent on the matter (likely due to NDAs), but has liked tweets alluding to the idea that there are two sides to the story. Platinum has yet to issue a direct statement about the situation beyond the initial “scheduling conflicts” claim.

This is just my attempt to piece the situation together based on the public information available right now. For all I know, some new development may crop up that completely vindicates Platinum or proves Taylor correct. We’ll watch this space, I guess. My gaming time is still being consumed by Xenoblade 3 so I’m in no rush to get the new Bayonetta at launch, as much as I love the series.

(And yeah, Hellena Taylor’s dodgy politics don’t strike me as surprising in retrospect; I’m already on a “probably transphobic until proven otherwise” attitude with any Brit over the age of, like, 40. But if her claims of being offered $4k for the lead role of the whole game are true, then her being a shitty person doesn’t change the fact that Platinum made a ridiculously low offer.)

[lcrk]

motion and change!

( meme )

motion: How does your OC move? How does their clothing help or hinder their range of motion? Are they flexible, coordinated, clumsy?

Having grown up competing in pageants -- and having been enrolled in dance classes and movement classes -- Dorothea is pretty coordinated and aware of her body and how it moves. She isn't necessarily graceful naturally the way that she perceives dancers to be 'naturally graceful,' but she doesn't often trip over her own feet. She's spent a lot of time in heels -- both in pageants and on screen -- and she's perfectly capable of functioning in heels, even though she prefers sneakers (as much a personal preference as fashion statement). She doesn't really see herself as either being noticeably graceful or as quirkily clumsy, she tends to think she's just kind of... there.

change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change?

She's dyed her hair a wide range from bright blonde to dark brunette to strawberry/honey bronde. Her natural hair color is a warm light brown or dirty blonde, but she's changed her hair for roles. Typically she always kept her hair fairly long; often almost to her elbows, but always below her shoulders. Rebelling against her boss's preferences, she dyed her hair very dark, almost black, brown over the hiatus for an indie movie project, and got in huge trouble for it when the show came back to film and the dark dye would not come out easily, including getting yelled at in front of everyone on set for several minutes. Her character then had to be brunette that season, progressively getting lighter as the hairstylists could do so without frying her hair off; the extremely dark color didn't necessarily flatter her coloring and features, but she liked it just because of how much Jason hated it. The only reason she didn't do the exact same thing over the next hiatus was so her hairdressers on set wouldn't keep getting berated for not getting her hair lightened fast enough. Even with that, though, she kept her hair at a below-shoulders length. The most drastic change she makes to her appearance is after the video of her and Jason is leaked, and shortly thereafter she impulsively chops her hair into a chin-length bob, and dyes it bright red. It's not a very good cut or dye job, since she does both the cut and the box-dye color herself, but it feels at least a little empowering. She ends up keeping the length and color for a year or so (after visiting a professional to get the cut and color fixed) before growing her hair out again and softening the red to a more strawberry bronde.

[talkingharrystyles]

🌌 Also didn’t Ms. Thing just have a magazine release just last week that was ridiculed? Not to mention how her and her crowd have been eating their threats of “we have nothing to be worried about darlings”.

I’ll quickly discuss how this should had been crafted to align with logical and reality. What Jason and Olivia should had claimed was that her sudden interest in her appearance once Harry joined. Yeah we already have evidence of her dressing like a slob on set, but they could had claimed that she become fixated on wearing sexy lingerie contrary to her normal undergarments. She purchased new perfumes that were seductive smelling. We already know she was wearing her engagement ring when she was supposedly “besotted” and “giddy” over Harry. So they need to address why she was still holding on to something sentimental to one man when she was seriously involved with another. They can’t claim because it was hard to let go, because it contrasts the narratives they already have circulating. The discovery of flirty texts via forgotten Apple Watch was such hogshit. When people are cheating their communication devices become their additional limbs. They will go to sleep clutching their phones and bags before “accidentally leaving it behind”. Olivia might be stupid but she’s trained in how to be sneaky. Instead, they should had claimed that she started “working late” and when she would be around her mind was always elsewhere. She also started erratically encouraging Jason to be more social. So much so that it felt like she was “trying to get him out of the house.” Also, if she and Harry were “fucking” this much, she should come home and smelt faintly of an unfamiliar, masculine and earthy scent. Interesting how Jason’s “jealously” stayed dormant when Holivia was creating their significant moments for marketing but now that DWD has premiered, and Ted Lasso is returning, it’s coming out full force. The icing on the cake would had been Jason claiming that during one sexual encounter, he noticed that Olivia was unusually sexually active than her normal. We already know that Olivia is excessively vain and wants to be praised as this priestess of the sex. Don’t people know that if she was truly doing the hanky panky with Harry, Jason would had been the first to notice her impulsive and abnormal acts that they never did before to where it felt like she was making love to someone else? Because hello, when people are cheating, they want to relive those thrilling moments and will react the techniques they and the new partner are doing with their unaware partner. Cheating is an addictive rush and people want to feel that euphoric high over and over again. Harry’s personal life is rightfully private- but anyone can see that Olivia was NOT and still IS NOT dickmatized. She’s just drunk off of the attention she’s been getting.

This is past the point of lame. Lame was when the video leaked of Harry backing up when Olivia was walking up to him during the honeymoon pics. Lame will be this upcoming shows, where she’ll be attending.

Like I wrote a few times back:

https://mobile.twitter.com/allreactionvids/status/1564655684943323139

https://mobile.twitter.com/allreactionvids/status/1422767421652406274

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[gardenerian]

hi mel! i’m not sure if anyone has came to your inbox yet and updated you on the don’t worry darling drama, but i’ll try to cover everything for you! (i also apologize in advance for this being super long, i wasn’t sure how much knowledge you had coming in and i’ve gotten way to invested in following this.)

okay, the general background: the film was originally set to star shia labeouf (who has been accused of being abusive by many women, including his ex-girlfriend fka twigs) and florence pugh as the lead characters jack and alice. shia left the film because he didn’t feel there was enough rehearsal time, which upset olivia wilde, the film’s director, who begged him to stay on. nevertheless, he left, and they had to recast jack. olivia really wanted harry styles to play him. somewhere in this time, olivia broke up with her long term boyfriend jason sudeikis and started dating harry, and some people believe there may have been overlap. florence pugh also happens to be a good friend to jason sudeikis. there were some (unconfirmed) rumors during filming that olivia was behaving unprofessionally on set (specifically in regards to harry) and that florence essentially was doing a lot of the directorial work, so there were definitely rumors tension on set. later, olivia was onstage at cinemacon when she was served custody papers for hers and jason’s daughters. florence pugh is also known for enthusiastically promoting the films she’s in, but has basically done very little for this film, even going so far as to promote other projects on days when trailers for dwd drop, which is around the time people started to wonder if there was tension between olivia and florence. florence said in an interview that she was disappointed by the marketing of the film, which focused heavily on the sexual aspects of the film, and had olivia made a huge point of emphasizing that the film was about female sexuality and whatnot, at the very least they didn’t seem to be seeing eye-to-eye when it came to this. meanwhile olivia has been heaping praise onto florence in interviews and told variety in an interview that she fired shia because of the abuse allegations and because she was trying to protect florence… to which shia responded by sending an email to her which denied that he was fired and reiterated that he quit and then a video was leaked of olivia begging him to stay on with the film and at one point she says that if he could make it work, it might be a “wake up call for miss flo” and she rolled her eyes, further suggesting there was tension. i’ve also heard that around this time harry and olivia’s relationship started to get a bit rocky? it’s unclear. shortly after the video came out, florence announced she wouldn’t be taking part in the press tour for the film and would only be participating in the press stuff at venice, citing that she was filming for dune during that time— later, she amended it to only showing up for the red carpet and the screening of the film. however, a lot of people questioned if this was the real reason because timothée chalamet, who’s the lead in dune, was there pretty much the whole time.

okay, finally to the film festival itself! so first of all, while olivia and most of the cast were busy doing press for the film (with olivia at one point talking about how florence was busy filming and avoiding any questions about the rumors/drama), florence shows up in venice with aperol spritz, seeming to indicate that she wasn’t really needed for filming and just didn’t want to be there to promote dwd. there was also some fun moments where chris pine seems to be disassociating throughout at the press interviews (especially one funny moment where harry styles is saying that “[his] favorite thing about the movie is that it feels like a movie.”) the next day is the red carpet, where there seems to be a concentrated effort to keep florence, harry, and olivia away from each other, which was achieved with gemma chan, chris pine, and nick kroll standing/sitting between them at all times. i’m not sure why harry and florence were kept apart, but as for harry and olivia i’ve seen speculation that either a) olivia and harry don’t want attention put on themselves/their relationship (especially with all the other stuff going on), so they were purposefully keeping a distance to avoid fueling gossip or b) they have broken up. there’s video before the showing of the film starts where it appears that harry styles spits on chris pine when going to sit by him (i’m pretty sure chris pine’s rep confirmed he didn’t but it’s been a huge thing and honestly kind of funny). the film recieves four minutes of applause at the end, with florence pugh desperately trying to leave (presumably to make her flight back to the set of dune), and at some point during the applause harry kissed nick kroll.

and i think that’s it! obviously a lot of this is speculation and can/should be taken with a grain of salt, but this is most of what i’ve seen so far! love you and hope you’re doing well!!! 💙💙

oh my god darling anon, this is the greatest day of my life asdjkfh THANK YOU! i'd done some sleuthing but this is truly above and beyond! i had no idea about the custody papers thing that is ICE COLD. also the aperol spritz moment, may we all live to have one - this is an absolutely wild ride and i am completely in your debt for this comprehensive overview! also sudeikis >>>>>

[zackcollins]

love you like there’s no tomorrow || mitch marner

masterlist

Author’s Note: Hi! I know it’s been a while and I apologize for that. I’ve just been in a rough spot mentally so I’ve been having a difficult time focusing on writing. The words haven’t really been flowing, ya know? I’ve been having a better time focusing on playing video games because that numbs my mind more and makes me have to think less and less about what’s going on around me. Anyways... I hope that didn’t feel too real for anyone or depress them too much. sorry if it did. I didn’t mean to upset you. GIF credit to naivelystan!

Warnings: I don’t think there’s anything. But feel free to let me know if you disagree. As always, I’ll happily add a warning for something if you feel something needs to be warned about!

Word Count: 3.6k+

Title: Nobody by Dylan Scott

Additional: Even though the reader is portrayed as being a goaltender for the Leafs, they are gender-neutral! This is my fic and I do what I want. I hope you guys are okay with that. Enjoy this and let me know if you have any ideas for future fics. My ask box is always open for requests!

It was a television timeout nearing the end of the third period. You had skated over to the bench to see if the goalie coach had any advice for you. When he shook his head at your asking, you nodded in approval and turned to your teammates. 

 Mitch, who was sitting right in front of you, immediately pointed behind his goaltender. You lifted your mask and turned to see what was there. You saw a couple of the in-arena employees looking at you, both of whom quickly turned away when they noticed that you were looking at them. You weren't certain but you thought you saw a blush rise on one of their cheeks.

 You raised an eyebrow as you turned back to Mitch.

 “What was that about?” You asked. You took your bottle out of your glove and squirted it over your face, shaking off the excess liquid. 

 “What do you mean ‘what was that about?’” Mitch asked, looking at you quizzically. “The in-arena staff look at you all the time.”

 “I mean, yeah? I do play on this team.”

 Hutch reached over and swatted you with his glove. You looked over at the other goaltender and frowned. “What was that for, Hutch?”

 “They look at you because you’re attractive, you idiot,” Hutch said, rolling his eyes. “That girl Mitch pointed out was talking to her friend about asking you out for drinks after the game.”

 You felt your face heat up as you skated back to the crease. You glanced over to where the girls had been. When you met their gaze, one of them winked at you and the other waved and smiled toothily. You did your best to smile in return but you were fairly certain it came across as awkward or goofy. You certainly knew that your stomach felt awkward or goofy from that exchange, though you couldn’t exactly pinpoint if it was from excitement or from the strange look you could see on Mitch’s face as he lined up for the faceoff to your left. Sighing, you pushed those feelings aside and focused on tracking the puck after Edmonton won the draw.

 The puck cycled along the boards for a few minutes, leaving your teammates hemmed in their zone for a long shift. You heard T.J. say something about how he had been out there for close to two minutes and that everyone else was in a similar boat. You took a deep breath and leaned around Leon, Alexander, and Joe to try to see the puck where Tyson had it at the point. Alexander tapped your left pad, which was the telltale sign that the shot was coming to that side. You mumbled a quick thanks as you readied yourself in the crease. 

 When the shot came, it hit Joe’s ankle and shifted to the right. You stretched your pad and goal stick in that direction hoping that either would make contact with the puck. You looked over after a moment and noticed that the play had continued on to the corner boards. You blinked as you assumed proper positioning to watch the play progress.

 ice save.” You glanced over your shoulder and noticed the referee, Graham Skilliter, standing behind the net. “That’ll make some highlight reels for the next month or so.”

 “Oh,” You said, shifting to the other side of the net to follow the play. “Thanks, bud. It must’ve hit my stick because I didn’t realize I saved it.”

 Edmonton turned the puck over to Hyman who tried to exit the zone but got Tyler Ennis’ stick directly to the skates. He fell and the puck instead skittered over to Mitch who passed it back to Justin, who was standing only about five or six feet in front of your goal crease.

 “I’m sure there'll be a replay on the Jumbotron in about two seconds. Furlatt is calling Ennis for a trip as soon as Edmonton touches the puck again.”

 You nodded and not two seconds later Eric Furlatt blew his whistle because Ethan Bear had touched the puck. You turned to grab his bottle, taking a quick squirt through the cage on your mask. When you turned back around, you glanced up at the Jumbotron. The save was replayed from three different angles, all of which made it look more impressive than the last. You felt a small sense of pride wash over you as you shifted your attention from the video to the score clock. It told you that there were barely over three minutes left in the game. You took a deep breath and readied yourself, even though the faceoff was in Edmonton's end of the ice.

 As soon as the puck dropped, Wayne cycled it around to Jason who passed it back to T.J. T.J. toed the blueline for a moment before he found a lane to shoot. The red light behind Mike Smith lit up and the powerplay unit swarmed T.J. at the sideboards. You banged your stick against the ice a few times as you watched everyone skate down the bench for their fist bumps. T.J. skated over to you, tapping both of your pads with his stick.

 "Figured you needed a goal to win the game," T.J. said, chuckling. "Can't finish a game nill, nill. This isn't soccer."

 You tapped the seat of T.J.'s pants with your goal stick, smiling and chuckling. "Thanks there, bud. I'll do my best to make it count."

 T.J. smiled, leaning in to press his helmet against yours. "That's all any of us ask, bud. For you to try your best. We love you regardless. Mitch especially. I hope you know that."

 A large knot had formed in your throat so all you could do was nod and smile weakly; you hoped that T.J. found that sufficient enough thanks. When T.J. smiled and squeezed your shoulder, you got your answer.

 "What's…" you coughed, clearing your throat. "What's taking them so long to drop the puck?"

 "Smith tweaked something in his knee and needed the training staff to go attend to him."

 "T.J.! (Y/N)! We're ready!" Bogosian called from somewhere behind them.

 "Remember, we're proud of you." T.J. tapped his helmet against yours one last time before skating back to the bench.

 As you readied yourself in the net, you swallowed every emotion that had surfaced during that conversation with T.J. You didn't need to have a breakdown about this right now. Not while you were trying to preserve a 1-0 lead with two minutes fifty-eight seconds left in the game. You could have a breakdown about this when you were in the comfort of your bed at home.

 The last two fifty-eight went by in a blur. You couldn't even tell anyone anything that happened, save for the fact that Edmonton didn't score. How they didn't score, you didn't know. You were almost on autopilot because of how unsuccessful you had been at trying to push your emotions aside. They had crept back in and they were all you were thinking about, no matter how much you should've been focusing on the game. But you were only human. And humans aren't always going to be one hundred percent invested in their job, no matter how much they love it.

 When the team swarmed you at the end of the game, you felt overcome with emotions. It had been an incredibly long time since hockey had made you have such positive overwhelming feelings. Being with Toronto was more than you could've ever hoped for. They loved you more than you could've ever hoped for; you loved them more than you could've ever hoped for. You and the Toronto Maple Leafs were a match made in Heaven.

 "(Y/N), hey," Mitch said, placing his hands on your shoulders. "Why're you crying, bud?"

 "Hmm?" You mumbled, only half tuned into your surroundings. "What was that, Mitchy?"

 "Crying. Why're you doing it?"

 "I'm no--" you stopped when you realized that your eyes were watering and leaking. "Oh. I guess I am, aren't I?"

 "Is everything okay? You're, like, the most brave dude ever. Seeing you crying makes me want to cry." Mitch frowned, grabbing your glove as you both skated off the ice.

 Once you both were down the tunnel, Mitch led you into the empty trainer's room, closing the door behind you. You sat in one of the office chairs and Mitch knelt in front of you, sliding his gloves off and placing them at your feet. Mitch hovered his hands over your pad straps and glanced up at you; you removed your helmet before nodding your approval.

 As Mitch unlaced the straps, you slid your hands out of your glove and blocker. You placed them in your lap, running a hand through your hair and shaking it loose of sweat when it came out.

 Mitch moved your pad off, placing it on the ground to his left. He moved his hand down to your skate, carefully working on unlacing the boot.

 "I asked you a question, ya know," Mitch said without looking up.

 "You did?" You replied, genuinely confused. "I must've zoned out between getting off the ice and now because I don't remember what it was."

 Mitch patted your knee before he slid your skate off. He placed the skate sideways on top of the pad before moving his attention to the straps of your other pad.

 "I'm not mad at you. You did look really out of it." Mitch fumbled with one of the straps, cursing sharply as he tried to unlace it. When it finally came unlaced, Mitch flipped it off and stuck his tongue out at it. "Fuck you, you stupid strap."

 You scoffed and kicked Mitch with your socked foot. Mitch looked up and stuck his tongue out at you.

 "This is why I never became a goalie," Mitch mumbled as he went back to unlacing the straps. 

 A few moments passed, filled only by Mitch cursing obscenely at your pad straps. Once the last strap was unlaced and the pad was off and to Mitch's side, Mitch puffed his chest before reaching down to start unlacing your other skate.

 "Anyways. I asked you before if everything was alright. You were crying and you never cry."

 You swallowed thickly, running a hand through his hair.

 "Ye… Yeah. I'm grand, bud," you said, though you knew even a dead man could hear that you were lying.

 Mitch looked up, pursed his lips, and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

 "Ye… no. No, I'm not sure." You slouched in the chair, dropping your head into your hands. "A few things that happened in the period confounded me at the end there."

 Mitch placed your skate sideways on your other pad before he stood from his kneeling position. He motioned his hands up a couple of times. You got the hint, raising your arms above your head. Mitch grabbed your helmet, glove, and blocker and placed them on one of the pads. When he turned back to you, he lifted your jersey over your head, draping it over the back of the chair. Mitch then unhooked your chest protector and dropped it atop your goalie pads. Once all of your equipment was out of the way (save for your pants), Mitch sat in your lap and wrapped his arms around your neck. You swallowed a nervous breath as you wrapped your arms around Mitch's midsection.

 "Care to share what those things were?" Mitch asked, burying his head in the crook of your neck. "I'm willing to listen to whatever the problem is."

 You nodded, clearing your throat. "After Hutch said that girl wanted to ask me for drinks, I made eye contact with her and her friend on my way back to the crease." You felt Mitch's heartbeat falter a little. To compensate for that, you ran your hands slowly along Mitch's ribcage. "Something weird fluttered in my stomach. I'm just not sure if it was from her winking and her friend waving or from you looking like you wanted to murder someone after seeing what they did."

 "Mmm," Mitch mumbled, his heartbeat faltering a little more. "I know what I want the answer to be."

 You ignored Mitch and continued with your explanation. "Then, at the end of the period, I was overcome by the fact that there's no place I'd rather be than in Toronto." Mitch's heartbeat began to even out a little after you said that. You hummed as you reached up and unlatched Mitch's helmet, sliding it off and dropping it at Mitch's feet. You pressed a soft kiss on Mitch's forehead; Mitch's heartbeat suddenly spiked again. You brought your hands down and ran them softly along Mitch's ribcage. "You guys all love me more than I could've ever hoped for; I love you guys more than I could've ever hoped for."

 "Some more than others." Mitch's voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke. His heartbeat had taken to a sporadic beat, almost as if he was nervous or scared of something.

 "What is that--" you started.

 "What did T.J. tell you?" Mitch cut you off, lifting his head to look at his goaltender.

 "Oh, uh…" you mumbled. "All anyone could ask of me was that I tried my best. And that everyone loves me. You especially. But what does--"

 Mitch's only response was to grab your face and pull you in for a kiss. You startled but made no move to push Mitch away. The kiss only lasted a few moments before Mitch pulled back and swatted the back of your head.

 "That. That's what it has to do with anything."

 You felt your entire face and the tips of your ears burn red-hot as you sat there and looked at Mitch. Mitch rolled his eyes and patted your cheek

 "(Y/N), Christ," Mitch said, dropping his head back into the crook of your neck. "I've been flirting with you for months. How have you not noticed yet?"

 "Flirting with me for months…?" You replied, scratching your chin. "Since when?"

 Mitch giggled, vibrating against you. "Every morning when I bring you your coffee."

 "But you--"

 "No, I really don't," Mitch mumbled. "I only bring everyone else coffee after they've asked me to. I bring you your coffee when I buy mine on the way to the arena because I know your order by heart."

 "T-"

 "Two sugar, oat milk, caramel and hazelnut shots. Yeah., bud, I know."

 You ran a hand through Mitch's hair, stopping briefly to soothe his scalp. Mitch hummed, nuzzling closer to you.

 "I know that you like your post-game shower to be exactly seventy degrees and not a degree warmer or colder."

 "Mitchy, I--"

 "Not done yet."

 You promptly shut your mouth and returned to soothingly running your hands along Mitch's ribcage.

 "I know basically nothing makes you angry. Save for people that don't know how to use their signals properly when they're driving."

 "Pisses me off to no end."

 "I know, bud. I know," Mitch mumbled, pressing a kiss to your neck. "You also laugh like a moron at those stupid cat videos on YouTube. And just stupid things cats do in general."

 You chuckled, running a hand through Mitch's hair. "Cat people see cats doing stupid things and we have to laugh. It's the law. Sue me if you don't like it."

 "I never said I didn't like it, you goober."

 "Yeah, yeah Mitchy."

 Mitch hummed, squeezing you tightly. You smiled and squeezed back. Mitch wiggled around a little and hummed some more. He huffed a breath after a moment and curled in on himself. He mumbled something that you didn't hear, prompting you to card your fingers through Mitch's hair.

 "What was that, baby?" You asked, pressing a kiss to Mitch's temple.

 "Said I was gonna love you until the good Lord comes to collect us."

 You froze, staring down at Mitch. "You… you don't even believe all that strongly in God, Mitch."

 "You're right, but I believe that you believe. And that's good enough for me."

 "Mitch, I--"

 "I said I loved you, by the way. Or did you miss that?"

 "Wha…? Oh! Yeah! Sorry," you said, distantly. "It's been a while since I've been someone. Sorry if I'm rusty."

 Mitch chuckled, his breath tickling your neck. "It's fine, (Y/N). I knew it had been a while. That's why I didn't come right out and tell you how I felt. I wanted you to figure it out on your own so you could have enough time to decide if you were ready to date again."

 "Mitch…" you trailed off after your words caught in your throat. You took a moment to gather yourself before continuing. "Of course I'm ready to date again. Nobody is ever gonna love me as you do, baby. You already love me more than my last few partners."

 Mitch sniffled, wiggling around in your lap. You ran your hands along Mitch's ribcage and pressed a kiss to his temple. "It's okay, baby. You're safe with me."

 "I'm gonna love you the only way I know how, (Y/N)," Mitch mumbled, his voice strained at wet. "And that's by doing actionable things. Like bringing you your coffee every morning. Or remembering what temperature you like your post-game shower."

 "Whatever you need to do, I'm okay with. If it makes you happy, it makes me happy."

 Mitch let out a sigh that was soon followed by soft, even breaths that sounded like snoring. You ran your hands along Mitch's hipbone and whispered sweet nothings into his temple. Mitch huffed but didn't awaken. You smiled and pressed a soft kiss where you had been whispering. Mitch mumbled nonsense and smiled in his sleep. A small smile washed across your face as you continued to run your hands along Mitch's hipbone.

 Mitch had been asleep in your lap for ten or fifteen minutes when the door of the trainers' room swung open. Justin was standing on the other side, a relieved look on his face.

 "There you tw--" Justin started.

 Mitch huffed, shifting in your lap. You looked up at Justin and gave him a death glare.

 "Quiet. He's sleeping," you said, voice hushed but stern.

 Justin chuckled, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms over his chest. "Does that mean you finally got your head out of your ass and noticed that Mitch is in love with you?"

 You groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose. "How many of you knew?"

 "Literally everyone. Except you. Even T-Bear knew. And he's an Oiler now."

 You shook your head and chuckled weakly. "For a goalie, I have a hard time seeing what's right in front of me."

 T.J. appeared beside Justin and smiled triumphantly. "There you are! Keefe is going crazy looking for you and--" T.J. paused and blinked when he noticed what was really in front of him. "Keefe told me Mitch would be with you. But did I believe him? No. Idiot, I am."

 "Yeah, yeah," you mumbled. "I finally got my head outta my ass so Mitch and I are dating now."

 "We… we are…?" Mitch chimed in, his voice groggy from sleep.

 You looked down at Mitch and kissed his forehead. "Yes, baby. We are. I'm gonna love you like there's no tomorrow."

 Mitch lit up as he reached up and grabbed your face to pull you in for a kiss. You smiled into the kiss, holding onto Mitch's jersey for traction. When you both pulled apart, Justin and T.J. were smiling softly at you from the doorway.

 "We'll tell Keefe we found you," T.J. said, turning around. "But we'll also tell him that our starting goalie and Mitch finally unstuck their heads from the holes in their asses so they need some private time."

 "Th… thanks, Teej," you said, your face and the tips of your ears burning red-hot.

 T.J. turned back long enough to smile before walking away. Justin watched him walk away before he turned back to you and Mitch. He smiled fondly at you both as he pushed off of the door frame.

 "I should get back too," Justin said, motioning over his shoulder. "I don't need Keefe mad at me next." He smiled as he took two steps down the hallway.  "Just know everyone--myself included--is proud of you for tonight's game, (Y/N). You did amazing." Justin walked away but stopped just before the end of the hallway and turned around. "Congratulations on the relationship as well. Everyone is gonna be so stoked for you two.."

 "Thanks, Hollsy," you and Mitch mumbled at the same time as you both watched Justin walk away.

 Once Justin was out of sight, Mitch looked up at you and smiled fondly. You looked down at Mitch and returned the fond smile. You both stared into each other's eyes for a few moments just gazing at the fondness and pure emotion you could each see staring back at the other. When you both looked away, you brought one of your hands up and cupped Mitch's chin, tilting it up and bringing your lips together with Mitch's.

 While they kissed, you felt your entire world coming together. You were happy in Toronto because you loved everyone here more than you could've possibly imagined. Because you loved Mitch more than you could've possibly imagined. You were happy here because everyone loved you more than you could've possibly imagined. Because Mitch loved you more than you could've possibly imagined.

 Everything about Toronto was perfect because everything about Toronto involved Mitch. Mitch was everything to you. You were willing to admit that. Even if it had taken you a while to realize that in the first place. 

 Mitch was everything to you and you were going to love him like there was no tomorrow.

[jaalismyhusband]

Roommates (part 5)

Title: Roommates

Pairings: Bucky x f!reader

Warnings: stalking, language, smut smut smut

Wordcount: 1.8k

Catch up: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Masterlist

Part 5

After the fight, Bucky had his breakfast in silence. Steve tried to talk to him, only to fall on deaf ears. After a half an hour of Bucky not responding to his attempts to make a conversation, he gave up.

Bucky knew he had to act quickly or he would lose the chance to get together with Y/N. And just when things were going so well for them! But no, he had to fuck up monumentally. Although, he wasn’t losing hope, yet. He just had to eliminate competition.

Determined to succeed, he left the kitchen and made his way to Y/N’s room, only to find her already gone. She must have snuck out.

“Two can play this game, doll,” He muttered under his nose and followed her to the café.

He parked his car two streets away, in order not to get recognized. Putting a black baseball cap on his head, he blended with pedestrians. Seven minutes later, he found himself just across the street from the café, with the perfect view through the glass windows. That’s when he spotted Y/N. She was about to finish ordering. Good, he wasn’t too late.

As he was watching them, he tried to figure out, if and how should he intervene. He couldn’t just show up at their table. Hey, uhm, so I have been stalking you for a while and I really don’t appreciate how close you are to my almost girlfriend - there was no way in hell he could come up to them, without compromising himself. He knew he had to stay calm and keep his distance.

However, the sight of Y/N holding hands with Jason had him fuming. In a way, he envied him. Jason had something, or someone, he wanted. And from the looks of it, Bucky won’t get his hands on her in a near future, if he doesn’t do something about it. But now, the only thing he could possibly do, was to continue to watch them. Mostly, they were talking and laughing, whilst holding hands.

After what seemed like unnecessary number of laughs to Bucky, Y/N finally stood up, as well as Jason. Bucky clenched his jaw, when he saw them hug. Although, what really hurt him, was a subtle kiss, that Y/N planted on Jason’s cheek. After they pulled apart, Jason looked lovestruck and Y/N gave him a heart-warming smile, that Bucky adored. The fact that he wasn’t on the receiving end of it, stirred something in him. He couldn’t stand watching them anymore. He got to get away. Looking around him frantically, he felt a rush of what he thought was an anger and fled the scene.

He decided to finally make her his.

Y/N felt good after the talk with Jason. Their closure brought her much needed relief. She was ready to come home, take a bath and munch on some snacks. She totally deserved it. As soon as she got to the Stark Tower, she filled her promises to herself. Warmed up after the bath, dressed in comfortable clothes and armed with a controller, she camped on the couch and took out her frustration shooting hostile aliens in her favourite video game.

There was only one piece missing of her serenity. Bucky. She hadn’t seen him throughout the whole day and was getting progressively worried and tad bit sad. Making peace with the fact that they will only stay friends, she sighed and made way to her bed. She succeeded in distracting herself from the drama, but nonetheless, her thoughts started wandering Bucky’s way anyway. No matter what happened between them, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

She changed into her pyjamas and got under covers. Laying on her back, she zoned out, whilst looking at the ceiling. Ugh, why can’t I get over him, she huffed. Turning on her side, she fell asleep.

Bucky was miserable. He almost lost Y/N today, for good. He could always kidnap her and keep her with him, but he didn’t want to take such an unnecessary measure. If there was a chance to get her willingly, he would try. That didn’t mean, he wasn’t tempted to do so. As much as he wanted to give her space and time, he wasn’t cool with fucking around and not doing any progress in their relationship. They were stagnating during her whole fling with Jason and just when he thought, they took a step in a right direction, he made them take two back. He basically rushed her to Jason’s arms, again.

“Fuck,” he let out a frustrated sigh. He had to do something, right now.

And so here he was, standing over Y/N’s sleeping form. He learned, that she was a deep sleeper. For many nights, he tried to be as stealthy and quiet as possible, but as the time went on, he found out, that even his mumblings aren’t enough to wake her. So, he talked away the nights spent next to her. He told her about his day, then proceeded onto his dreams and plans for the future – many of them involving her. Oh, how he wished to tell her about those, while she was awake. He couldn’t help, but took her sleeping form in, admiring how her nose scrunched, when she dreamed. Sometimes he stole a cheeky kiss. Other times he tried his luck, touching himself right in front of her. Maybe he wanted to be caught in the act. He dared her to wake up. Although, she never did. But tonight, he was going to stay here long enough for her to wake.

Morning sun invaded her room, landing its rays on her face, stirring her from her slumber. Feeling refreshed, she moved to stretch her rested body, only to be restricted by handcuffs.

“What the hell?” she mumbled to herself, as she tugged on her wrists once more.

“You’re awake. Good.” A deep voice startled her. Bucky.

“What is this? Uncuff me, right now.” She wanted to sound confident, but her demand came out as a pathetic whimper once her eyes met Bucky’s dominant gaze. He was standing in front of her bed only in his underwear. Y/N zoned out, admiring his godly body and her mouth watered at the visible bulge. He was big.

“I think we both know, what will happen.” A cocky grin plastered over his face.

“Yes, you’ll untie me and then I’ll kick your ass.” Y/N said, trying to resist the wetness pooling in her underwear.

“Feisty. I like that.” Bucky smirked as he climbed on her bed. “We’ll see how long you can keep that attitude on for.” And with that, he kissed her. Y/N was in pure shock. She had to remind herself to move her lips and not only gawk at her beautiful best friend, who was finally kissing her.

So, it wasn’t one-sided after all! Or this is another dream. A very cruel dream. But Bucky’s warm calloused hands exploring her body were, for sure, real. They pulled away to catch their breaths, staring each other right in the eyes.

“I’ve wanted to do this ever since I first saw you.” Bucky cooed. Y/N replied by pulling him for another heated kiss. Bucky then descended down to her swan-like neck, marking her for everyone to see, who she belonged to from now on. She moaned desperately, as Bucky started grinding his hips against hers, while simultaneously playing with her nipples.

“Bucky, please, I need you.” She looked at him, with her eyes hooded. Hearing her beg made something in him snap. He lost control, turning feral. Tearing right through her clothes, he moaned at the sight of her bare body.

“My pretty little girl.” His words made Y/N blush.

“Please…” She squirmed under him, impatient for his touch.

“Tell me, what do you want, doll?” He wanted to make their first time slow, to devour her, to make her go crazy by the time he would finally enter her. All that was forgotten after her reply.

“I need you inside me, Bucky,” she said, her voice timid, just above a whisper. Although it was all the consent Bucky needed for wrecking her tight aching hole.

Quickly, he slipped out of his boxers, making his cock sprung free. Y/N gasped at his size, worried look in her eyes as he reassured her, that he’ll go slow.

He reached between her legs, only to find her dripping and needy for his stuffing. He plunged his two metal fingers in, making her gasp at the sudden cold sensation. Coating them in her wetness, he scissored her, while watching her face expression intently.

“Stop teasing me and fuck me already!” She huffed, clearly frustrated with him, while he only laughed and withdrew his fingers. He smeared her juices on his throbbing cock, mixing them with precum, that was leaking from his angry red tip.

Not wasting any more time, he lined himself up with her entrance. They moaned in unison as he slowly split her in half. She cried out at the impossible stretch, but soon accommodated to his girthy length. His hand wandered to her clit as to ease her pain. Soon enough, he started rocking his hips back and forth.

She struggled against the restrains, wanting to touch Bucky. She would scratch his back, rake through his hair and pull on it, make him know, how good he was making her feel.

“Tell me, who this tight pussy belongs to.” Bucky’s growl went straight to Y/N’s core.

“You, o-only you,” she stuttered, as he hit that special spot with a pronounced thrust.

He sped up, whispering filthy things to her. She could only lie there and take it. Her brain was fogged and the only thing she could think of was her nearing orgasm.

“Fuck, I know you’re close. Can feel you squeezing my cock, you little slut.” Bucky exclaimed, making Y/N moan at his dirty talk. He thrusted even deeper, getting her closer and closer with each jerk of his hips.

“Cum all over my cock, babygirl. I know you want to.” He wasn’t wrong. Not long after, Y/N came with almost a pornographic moan, as he kept fucking her through her orgasm. Her pussy throbbed from overstimulation.

“I want you to cum in me, daddy.” She whispered. Bucky lost control after hearing the title he was given and fucked her harder into the mattress. Tears started streaming down her cheeks. The overstimulation. The pain. The pleasure. It was all too much.

Bucky’s thrusts became sloppy as he shot his seed deep into her, pulling another orgasm from her, as well. Her walls tightened, milking every drop of his potent elixir. He threw his head back, as he stilled inside of her, vein on his neck bulging out. A bead of sweat rolled down from his temple, onto his jaw and neck, making way towards his muscled torso and Y/N thought, he never looked hotter.

Still sheathed deep inside of her, his lips met hers in a breathless kiss. After he uncuffed her, they both laid next to each other, basking in the post-orgasmic bliss.

“Why? Not that I’m complaining,” asked Y/N. Bucky pulled her close.

“I needed to claim you for myself.” He flashed her a toothy grin.

“Well, mission successful,” replied Y/N as she cuddled into him.

THE END

@vicmc624​ @ok-but-loki​ 

[elgaberino-mcoc]

MCOC Wishlist Blog Character Spotlight KNULL

by Marco “Prophet of Knull” Garcia ed. Other Gabe

BACKGROUND

Knull is an ancient malevolent deity whose existence predates the universe itself, and was originally content to drift through the endless abyss that existed before time.

He used his weapon, the Necrosword, to combat the Celestials who disturbed his darkness. With this sword Knull severed the head of a Celestial. That head is now Knowhere, a popularly-known Marvel location and a battle zone in the Marvel Contest of Champions Battlerealm.

Wanting an army, Knull then constructed the aliens we all know, love, and sometimes hate, the Klyntar race of gooey symbiotic aliens.¹ Later, after a debacle with the Mighty Thor, the symbiotes rebelled against their “God” and trapped him on a desolate planet, later known as Klyntar. There the God of Symbiotes waits and plans his escape, hoping to one day lay waste and bring Darkness to the universe.

“The End is near. God is coming….”  

Editor’s note: the next several sections are designed to familiarize the reader with Knull’s worthiness to be featured in a video game, compared with the myriad other Marvel characters from whom Kabam could choose.

POPULARITY

Technically, Knull has been around since 2013, and appeared in Thor: God of Thunder Vol.1 #6 by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, as he was a shadowed figure from whom Gorr the God Butcher steals All-Black the Necrosword.

He was then revealed by name by his creators in Venom Vol. 4 #3 by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman in 2018. 

Knull has had huge fan buzz around him since his inception and his name is only getting bigger. Despite fewer than a dozen appearances initially, Knull headlined the King in Black line-wide event that began in December 2020, from the minds of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. 

Editor’s note: Arguably named after Knull, the King in Black initial release was considered critically to be a high-stakes situation, due to the perceived hype. Its comics made regular appearances in bestseller lists after the event launched, suggesting the Knull name and story, in conjunction with the strength of his creators’ reputations, was strong enough to sell books. Overall the King in Black arc has also gotten good critical reviews. 

KNULL AS MATERIAL FOR OUR MARVEL GAME

Editor’s note: these character spotlights usually explore several factors to determine whether it is reasonable to expect Kabam to seriously consider the character as a candidate for addition to Marvel Contest of Champions. Among these factors are inclusion in other similarly-marketed games, mainstreaming in comics and other media, mentions in MCOC lore, Kabam conversation, or community rumors, and pure hype among summoners.

OTHER MARVEL GAMES

Knull has been featured in other games already: first in the Spider-Man Unlimited mobile app,² then in Marvel Future Fight. In Marvel Puzzle Quest, Knull was originally only part of the backstory description of the playable Prophet Carnage character, but was eventually released in his own right in May 2021.

KNULL AND THE BATTLEREALM

Arguably no direct mention of Knull has happened in either [Marvel Contest of Champions or Marvel Realm of Champions], but it can be said he was alluded to in the motion comic that accompanied the release of Cosmic Ghost Rider and Red Goblin in October 2020.

Then, when story mode Act 7 was released in December 2020, this dialogue was revealed, which has been strongly speculated to be a reference to Knull.

CLAIM TO FAME: KNULL IN OTHER MEDIA

Knull has not enjoyed a reference in any Marvel Cinematic Universe content to date. Hel has only been mentioned in the Disney XD cartoon Spider-Man: Maximum Venom with a retelling loosely based on his comic book origins. 

UNIQUE WAYS KNULL COULD FIT INTO THE MCOC META

Knull could be a massive boost (editor’s note: synergy hub) to many Symbiote champions or champions in general. I see him as a Cosmic [based on what I was told by co-creator Ryan Stegman], with massive damage. Being the creator of symbiotes, Knull could outfit any [non-#Symbiote] champ with a “Klyntar symbiote” of their own to enhance their kit or base numbers. He could also operate with #Symbiote champs similarly to the way Apocalypse enhances Mutant champs. He could also work as a counter to Symbiotes or anyone who would have ever been bonded to a Klyntar before in canon, which would include most of the Spider-Fam!

Knull’s kit could alternately introduce a #Codex tag to add to certain non-#Spiderverse Hero champs who have famously bonded to symbiotes (paging Red Hulk or even Deadpool).³

A PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN?

No mention of Knull ever came out of the Kabam team or anyone related to MCOC. Then again, Kabam never likes to tease big-name additions like Knull would be. Mid-September 2021, one data miner claimed that Knull is forthcoming.

WHAT DO SUMMONERS THINK?

Summoners seem to dig Knull. He was the winner of the first Tournament  of Battlerealm Future, March Addness 2020, which was co-hosted by MCOC Wishlist creator Other MCOC Gabe and Unofficial MCOC Podcast veteran UMCOC Deacon on Twitter. The tournament pitted hundreds of characters against one another for votes from Summoners expressing who they would prefer to enter Marvel Contest of Champions. He cleaned house throughout most of the tournament, earning his addition to the MCOC Wishlist, where he has risen into the top 50 most wanted champions.

Due to recent ramblings by the author, and the introduction of Red Goblin to Marvel Contest of Champions, people have warmed up to the idea that Knull might actually be coming to the contest. (Even community-renowned comics expert CTMCOC agrees!)

Once below rank 250 on the MCOC Wishlist, Knull now stands as the #31 most-wanted champ, with over 550 Summoner upvotes as of this writing. 

KNULL: CHAMPION BUILD IDEAS

PROBABLE CLASS

As mentioned above, Knull is a canonically cosmic entity or deity who purports to predate the universe itself. This forms a strong case for the MCOC Cosmic class of champions.

POSSIBLE ABILITIES

Like many Cosmic champs’ builds, I can see his relying on many Active Buffs with massive damage and defensive potential due to Symbiotic Armor. Perhaps as Knull collects Codices, he gets stronger and this mechanic could be used in game as persistent charges. The more Codices he gathers, the more potent his Buffs could become. He could utilize Fury, Aptitude, Armor, Cruelty, Precision, and other critical-damage-enhancing Buffs. Bleed and Armor Break Debuffs are likely as Knull breaks down his enemies with bloodthirsty ferocity.

POSSIBLE SYNERGIES

Knull's status as the God of the Klyntar could enhance all #Symbiote champions just as Apocalypse does for Mutants.

Venom could get a unique synergy called “Daddy Issues,” allowing Venom a 2% attack boost for every Buff converted on his sp2 but as passive Fury stacks. I imagine Carnage with something like a “Prophet of Knull” Synergy allowing 95% resistance to incinerate effects, allowing him to heal from Incinerates, since Carnage has no weakness to fire when he is operating as Knull’s prophet in the comics.

Knull could also be built to spend Persistent Charges to enhance #Symbiote champions in order to increase their stats and enhance their buffs.

It would also be clever to have a Synergy with Void called “Knull and Void” allowing Void access to a non-stacking Armor Break Debuff, such as on his Heavy Attack. More debuffs for Void would be devastating. 

Knull could also enjoy a basic “Enemies” synergy with Thor and Silver Surfer. A great champ to release in conjunction with Knull would be Gorr the God-Butcher, a notable Thor villain, played by Christian Bale in Thor: Love and Thunder, and the other best-known wielder of All-Black the Necrosword.

•.•.•

Editor’s note: this concludes Marco’s commentary and notes on Knull as a potential champion. Anyone tracking the conversation about future champs knows that the name of Knull comes up frequently among Summoners, and his rise in every voting event in the community tends to support the notion he is greatly demanded by Summoners and would make an excellent addition to the game.

This article was originally drafted almost entirely in late 2020, and has been dug up and completed in September 2021 after MCOC Trucos released a purportedly datamined leak suggesting Knull “is Coming” to Marvel Contest of Champions in October 2021. -OG

________

NOTES 1. The Klyntar alien race is most popularly represented by Venom, and his fellow Klyntar aliens Carnage, Scream, and the other names associated with their stories of superhuman symbiosis and “Venomization.”  2. Spider-Man Unlimited was well ahead of the curve announcing Knull for a video game in 2018. It got there by virtue of attempting to release almost every noteworthy Spider- and symbiote character as playable video game characters. Knull was not yet a character most people would consider important for gaming. 3. A codex (pl. codices) is the term for the biological traces a Klyntar symbiote leaves in its host’s system after separating from that host.