#tim: the master window breaking

[haveihitanerve]

Bruce sends his kids little notes using carrier bats. It first started when Dick moved out and he wanted to talk to his son but didn't want to call and then have dick hang up on him or decline, didn't want to see his message be left on read, so he bought a little circus bat and taught it to fly to wherever Dick’s scent was (ie he would hang a piece of dicks clothing up at one end of the cave) and built him a nest built of dicks old bedsheets and then tied a little note to its foot, just a little question about how the weather is in Bludhaven and if hes getting enough sleep and alfred misses him, nothing that can be seen as overbearing or forcing himself into his life, and the little bat flies all the way to Bludhaven and hangs on Dicks window and Dick sees it and memories slam into him full force because bats are batman and robin and he cant, not yet. So he doesn't open the window. Ignores him. But the little bat is anything if not as stubborn as the man who trained him so he stays. And after two days Dick relents because the bat hasn't moved an inch and is probably hungry, so he brings him inside and then he sees the note for the first time and opens it and then he breaks and the tears flow because Bruce cares and bruce still wants him. And dick spends time with the little bat and takes it on missions as Nightwing because they’re both nocturnal and then finally, dick attaches a little note to the bats leg and he flies off to bruce. And bruce sees the little bat on his window and opens it, when he spots Dick standing just below, smiling faintly. “Hey b.” 

Bruce gets a bat from the cave ceiling for Babs almost immediately after her accident with Joker because he has responsibilities but he cant leave her alone so he sends her notes everyday and hopes the bat is a good enough companion and when she becomes oracle the bat serves as an exchange of information and contacts and bruce still uses him to check up on her and babs rolls her eyes everytime, but its fond

And so then when Jason comes bruce finds another little bat hanging in crime alley and uses her as a therapy animal after he dies and trains her the way he trained Dick’s but the bat doesn't have anyone to fly to and bruce tries not to cry when he sends it out with notes and it returns because it has no one to deliver to… until one day it doesn't come back. And bruce is afraid and confused and a week later the bat is back, a new note attached to her leg and bruce takes it and breaks down and he gets to talk to his son again. 

Tim already comes with his own bat because Nightwing has one, but the little girl imprints on Bruce right away and Tim pouts but he cant really be angry, not when Bruce sends his bat over to him almost daily while hes in the batcave or his room or the tower with reminders to eat and sleep and coupons for coffee

When Steph arrives Bruce hates himself for firing her but he just cant right now, but he stills gets a bat from the cave and sends it to her and apologizes because he cant bring himself to leave everything unspoken between them and Steph actually adores it and every so often she’ll send him a note and bruce knows hes forgiven

For Damian theres no need for a bat because he lives in the house with Bruce, but then they have Goliath and well… he serves as a messenger when no one else can get damian out of the training area

bruce has never named the bats, thinking that was for them alone to do and he didnt want to get too attached because theres always a chance he pushed too far and his kids wont send a message back, but one day all his kids were hanging out in the living room together and bruce had just come up to join them when he hears dick say "hey wheres b? the movie's about to start?" and jason chucks a piece of popcorn in his mouth and goes "idk, ill send him a note." but tim goes "no i will!" and all together they yell "ROBIN!!!" and all their bats come flying from the cave and fly to their specific masters and Bruce cant fight the tears and when every little bat flies towards him and delivers their note he walks out into the living room and gives them the biggest hug

[neiveel3llson]

Alfred: I didn’t even realize how sarcastic I was being. It’s starting to become a problem, I believe.

Dick: I lost Damian.

Y/N: How did you LOSE Damian?!

Dick: To be fair, he is very small.

Bruce: Did you have to stab them?

Jason: You weren’t there. You didn’t hear what they said to me.

Bruce: What did they say?

Jason: "What are you going to do, stab me?"

Bruce: That’s fair.

Y/N: *screaming while holding something large.*

Dick: *Chasing Y/N, screaming at them to not throw the large object.*

Jason: *Crouching at the car window, begging Damian not to call Bruce.*

Dispatcher: 911, what's your emergancy?

Tim: We locked our baby brother in the car and people are judging us!

*Comments under an image of a really hot knife cutting bread*

Jason: Imagine stabbing someone with this knife.

Tim: It would instantly cauterize the wound, so the person wouldn't bleed, so it's not very useful.

Y/N: if you want information it is

Dick: why would you STAB a person when you can have TOAST?

Jason: What are you talking about Dick? You love it here!

Dick: I'm not sure I do, I think I've just developed Stockholm syndrome.

Damian: You need to be more careful!

Bruce, who was dragged into Damian's issue: Careful? CAREFUL?! I'LL CAREFULLY WRAP MY HANDS AROUND YOUR THROAT-

Damian: Wow. I keep stepping on a lot of crunchy twigs.

Y/N: Those are bones, Damian.

Damian: *looks straight up* Not if I never look down.

Bruce: Yeah, I find it quite emotional. In like a cool way.

Alfred: Sir, did you just say it makes you cry in a cool way?

Damian: But what about Y/N?

Jason: Don't worry about them.

Jason: I once watched them fall down 5 flights of stairs, stand up, and keep eating their hotdog like nothing happened.

Tim: Your problem is that you’ve got no common sense.

Y/N: I’ve got plenty of common sense!

Y/N: I just choose to ignore it.

*Playing house with Damian and Jon.*

Jason, at Jon: You're my significant other.

Jon: Yeah I am!

Jason, at Dick: You're my child.

Dick: *Rolls eyes* Yes boss.

Jason, at Tim: You're my bitch.

Tim: Yeah I am- wait, what?

Jason, at Y/N: My bestie.

Y/N: Naturally.

Jason, Damian: HA, GAY!

Damian: Fuck you.

Alfred: And then they ran into my knife. They ran into my knife ten times.

Bruce: You mean you stabbed them?

Alfred: They ran into my knife, sir.

Bruce: Breaking News, Dick has disappointed us.

Tim: Why do you look like that?

Damian, laying face-first on the floor: Like what?

Tim: Like you’re dead.

Damian: It’s because I’m dying. Leave me here to perish.

Alfred: Young master Damian accidentally called Y/N “babe” in front of everyone today.

Damian: *sobs into the floor*

Alfred: *Turns on the kitchen light*

Y/N: *Sitting at the table, eating bread*

Alfred: It’s four in the morning, young master.

Y/N: Turn the light back off.

Bruce: This is a judgement free zone.

*Pulls out a knife the size of their forearm*

Bruce: And I mean it.

Tim: Well you see, the explanation is perfectly simple and scientific. It was because shut up. Shut up is why.

Y/N: Listen, in the wild wild west there is always a woman in the saloon and nobody messes with her even though they all have guns.

Dick: That's because she's a prostitute.

Bruce: Tim, why are you crying?

Tim: This book is so sad!!

Bruce, picking it up: But this is my diary-

Dick: Can we talk about that mass email you sent?

Y/N: Why? It was important.

Dick: All it says is, "I'm back on my shit".

Damian, shrugging: The people need to know.

Y/N, to Jason: You're starting to forget your Spanish. You don't practice.

Jason: Lo siento. Estoy embarazada.

Y/N: You just told me you're pregnant.

Damian: Congratulations Jason, you're glowing!

Y/N: If we were in prison you guys would be like my bitches.

*When Y/N and Jason were young and new.*

Bruce: Where the devil is Alfred?

Y/N: Well, it is raining outside... Maybe he melted?

Tim: Shall I look outside for a pointy hat?

Jason: Thanks for opening my message and not responding.

Y/N: All good bro, any time.

Jason: Fuck you.

Damian, over radio: Testing. Testing. Bruce, can you hear me?

Bruce, standing next to Damian: I’m standing right here.

Damian: You’re coming through good and loud.

Bruce: ‘Cause I’m standing right here.

Alfred: Perhaps, the true treasure was friendship all along. Although, I hope not, because I cannot spend friendship on new suits.

Damian: You wanna fight?! You got one!

Y/N: Okay! *raises fists*

*Bruce runs in, scoops Y/N up in their arms, and runs away carrying them because he just didnt want them to fight. Yet.*

Damian:

Damian: What?

Y/N: Any questions?

Dick: Uh, yeah, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?

Y/N: Uh, a plan, duh...

Damian: Dick, chill, I know it’s weird, but Y/N has a point.

Dick:

Dick: THAT WAS LITERALLY A PONY DOODLE WITH A HAT!!

*Alternatively*

Joker: Any questions?

Y/N: Uh, yeah, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?

Joker: Uh, a plan, duh...

Harley: Y/N, chill, I know it’s weird, but Joker has a point.

Y/N:

Y/N: THAT WAS LITERALLY A PONY DOODLE WITH A HAT!!

Bruce, answering the phone: Hello?

Damian: It’s Damian.

Bruce: What did they do this time?

Damian: No, it’s me, Damian. It’s actually me.

Bruce: What did you do this time?

Dick: Everyone thinks you suck.

Joker: I think you have the wrong number…

Dick: Damian?

Joker: Nope. Joker.

Dick: Well, you probably suck too…

Y/N: When I first met you, I thought you were weird and annoying.

Tim: And?

Y/N: And you are.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Keepsafes

Fandom: Batman, DC Comics

Summary: AU where Martha and Thomas survive, and they adopt the batkids.

Chapters: 38/?

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Harvey Dent, Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain, David Cain, Talia al Ghul, Damian Wayne, Jason Todd, Tim Drake

Relationships: Thomas Wayne/Martha Wayne/Alfred Pennyworth, BruHarvey, BruTalia

Additional Tags: Canon Divergent AU, Hurt/Comfort, Bruce Wayne is Not Batman, Angst, Alfred Pennyworth Knows All, Bruce Wayne Only Has One Child, Bruce Wayne is Not An Only Child, Bi Bruce Wayne

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Nameless

Dick slumped over in the backseat while Thomas drove and Bruce fiddled with the radio. “I forgot to ask. How was your OB-GYN rotation?” Thomas asked. 

Bruce rubbed his palms against his eyes. “I cried in the supply closet almost every day,” Bruce replied. 

Thomas nodded and reached over to pinch Bruce’s cheek. “I had a hard time with that, too. It’s the ultrasounds, huh?” Thomas questioned. 

“Yeah… It got me thinking. Are you ever disappointed in me because I might not ever give you grandkids?” Bruce questioned. 

“Why would I be disappointed in you for something so trivial? It’s more impressive to me that I had a hand in raising someone who became such a thoughtful and unique individual. You are enough. It doesn’t matter if you have kids or not. It doesn’t matter, Bruce. I promise there is no pressure for you ever to have children. That’s a lifelong commitment, and I don’t think you should bring a child into the world to please anyone,” Thomas answered seriously, “You and Dick and Harvey are my world.”

Bruce looked out the window, watching as the sun rose. “I don’t wanna be an OB, Dad,” Bruce whispered. 

“That’s alright. I wasn’t hoping for it, Brucie,” Thomas reassured him, “Every rotation affects everyone differently. I had a friend that used to get the shakes during the overnights in pediatrics because it reminded him of the time he spent visiting his older brother.” 

The two of them sighed and stared straight ahead. “Martha threw up on me when she went into labor. I remember it vividly because we were sleeping downstairs at the time. She walked into my office to ask me if I was hungry, and her water broke. Your birth was an extremely dramatic experience from start to finish… But uh… I got up from my desk and she threw up all over me,” Thomas laughed. 

“Contractions?” Bruce asked.

“No. She said her water breaking felt yucky ,” Thomas replied. 

Bruce chuckled. “That sounds like Mom. Is that why she never had any others?” Bruce questioned.

“It wasn’t for lack of trying, Brucie,” Thomas answered as his smile faded. 

**

Martha pulled Thomas aside and pleaded with him. “Thomas, I know we’ve never had a little girl before, and I know it won’t be easy, but—.”

“Martha—.”

“I don’t think she’s deaf, but Alfred and I have tried to ask her name in every language we know. Nothing. There’s nothing. I don’t think she understands language at all. She’s a little girl. Thomas, she saved my—.”

“Martha—.”

Martha picked the nameless girl up and she wrapped her arms around Martha��s neck. “And Thomas, she saved my life the other day… And I—. I think—.” 

“Martha, I need you to breathe for a second,” Thomas whispered, “What’s her name?” 

Martha awkwardly smiled. “Martha? Alfred?” Thomas questioned. 

Bruce looked at Alfred and cocked his head before pulling Alfred aside. “What’s wrong? What happened?” Bruce asked. Alfred embraced Bruce without uttering a word. “What’s Mom talking about?” 

“I’m alright… Perhaps I’m a bit peaked but otherwise I’m fine, Master Bruce,” Alfred lied. 

Bruce wrapped his arms around Alfred tightly. “I love you… And I’m glad you’re home,” Bruce whispered. Alfred smiled as he took in Bruce’s gentle scent. Bruce always smelled so clean. Fresh and crisp, memorably so, like clean linen and green tea. 

“I love you too, Master Bruce…” Alfred pulled away and looked Bruce in the eye. “You’re shaking.”

Bruce smiled with tears in his eyes. Something felt wrong, but he couldn’t get an answer out of Alfred. In the pit of his stomach, he felt something resurface in him. Years worth of dormant anxieties rising up like bile. “I’m just tired… Just tired,” Bruce sniffed. But he wasn’t the only one feeling upset about the strange goings on.

Dick hugged himself until Alfred noticed him and ran to embrace him. It caught Dick off guard, but he melted into it. “I missed you so much,” Dick whispered. 

“I always miss your company, Master Dick,” Alfred smiled.

**

Dick followed Bruce to the home gym and quietly did his morning drills. “Something’s strange,” Bruce announced. Dick stopped and stared into space at the parallel bars. 

“They’re gonna forget about me,” Dick mumbled.

“They’re scouting you for the Olympics… Dick, you’re a star in this family. No one’s gonna forget you. You’re my baby brother—.”

“But now they’ll have a girl… And Mom’s crazy about her. I just started calling them Mom and Dad, Bruce—.” Dick’s phone rang, and Bruce motioned for him to answer. Dick answered and put the phone on speaker. “Hey…” 

“Dick, sweetie, where are you?” Martha asked.

“I’m in the gym with Bruce,” Dick answered. 

“Can I talk to you in the living room in a minute? It’s important,” Martha whispered. Dick looked at Bruce. 

“I’m sending him over right now, Mom,” Bruce replied. Dick frowned at him. “He’s going. Right, Dick? ” Bruce hugged him and sent him away. 

Dick sighed as he kept Martha on the phone. “Dick, I failed to realize something important this morning. I forgot to give you your gift. I got you something while we were in Dakota City, and I know green is a big nono in the circus but this is just for gymnastics,” Martha replied, “I was thinking about that story you told me about your mother, and I—. There was this ballet and gymnastics store, and I saw the cutest little—. Oh, Dick, you’ve just gotta see it.”

“You got me something? You didn’t have to get me anything, Mom—.”

“Nonsense. You’re my baby boy. I couldn’t come home for you without a gift. I got something for Bruce, too, but he’s preoccupied. I can tell,” Martha replied. 

Dick entered through the foyer and took off his shoes before meeting Martha in the living room and hanging up his phone. Martha smiled and gave him a gift box. He sat on the arm of the couch next to her and tore off the wrapping paper before removing a yellow and green gymnastics singlet and a color block sweatshirt. It was beige with a round burgundy collar and cuffs and little yellow letters for the logo. “Alfred helped me stitch on the letters on the back. You don’t have to wear it if you don’t—.”

Dick choked back tears as he read the big letters on the back. “Robin,” Dick whispered. 

“If it’s not okay for me to call you that—. Is it too—?” 

“You can call me Robin. I love it, Mom,” Dick whispered as he embraced her. 

**

The little girl followed Alfred to the gym, holding a glass of juice in one hand and his arm in the other. She had one of Martha’s college sweatshirts on as pajamas. Alfred stopped by the door and crouched beside her, taking a single finger to tap her nose. “How I wonder what you are,” Alfred whispered in a little sing-song voice. Her lips twitched into a little smile. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you, but I’m very grateful that we crossed paths.” 

He stood up straight and escorted her to the gym where Bruce worked on the heavy bag. She set her juice on the ground and tugged the bottom of Bruce’s shirt. Bruce pointed to the heavy bag, and she pointed to him and held her fists up. Bruce threw a playful punch and she blocked it before sending a punch his way. He caught her fist, smiling at the shock of the force behind her tiny fist. Bruce got low and tried to see if she could hold her own as well as Alfred said. 

“Master Bruce!” Alfred exclaimed.

“It’s alright. I won’t hurt her,” Bruce reassured him. 

Bruce tried to knock her off balance and after a few minutes of sparring with him, the nameless girl knocked him on his back with such force that it knocked the wind out of him. She curled up by his side on the floor, and he smiled once he could breathe again. He turned toward her, and she stood up and helped him up. “Well, I think I found out what language she speaks,” Bruce half-joked as he squared up.

[samgirl98]

Forgotten Demon Twin 7/?

Prev | Next

“So, does that mean you can get us that sweet, sweet new Wayne tech,” Tucker asked.

Sam hit him in the back of his head.

“Ow, what was that for?”

“Thanks, Sam.”

“No problem,” she said.

“Betrayal from my only two friends!”

The three teens were in Sam’s basement/entertainment room. Danny had just finished giving them an unabridged version of his family’s history. Barring a few things. Like the fact that Bruce Wayne was Batman and his kids were the other Gotham heroes.

“So, what now,” Sam asked. She still couldn’t believe it. Danny was raised by assassins! She wanted to be disgusted; she couldn’t condone any life-taking, but she was also aware enough that it wasn’t Danny’s fault.

Besides, he has stopped, and he was a hero now.

“Now, I tell my parents the whole truth about Phantom.”

Sam and Tucker stared at each other.

“Are you sure, dude,” Tucker asked.

“Yeah, what if they don’t accept it and attack you?”

Danny shrugged, “They took it just fine when they found out during the whole reality gauntlet fiasco.”

“Yeah, but that was then; this is now. Danny, you just told them a cult raised you. There’s only so much you can dump on people before they break. Especially parents. Why can’t you accept me for who I am, mom?”

Sam was breathing hard at the end of her little rant.

“Okay,” Danny drawled, “Your parents aren’t my parents, Sam. I would have to tell them eventually. I might as well get it over with.”

“Are you going to tell them about the Ghost King thing, too,” Tucker asked.

“I’m not the Ghost King yet,” Danny said. Tucker rolled his eyes, “Fine, crowned prince.”

“Yeah, I am,” Danny said. For it to work, he had to be fully honest with his parents about Phantom and everything it entailed.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other.

“If you’re sure,” Sam said, “Just know we will always be here for you.”

“Yeah, dude, the three of us are a team.”

“Thanks guys.”

The three friends sat in silence for a while.

“So, are you really not going to ask for that sweet new Wayne tech?”

“Seriously, Tucker?”

“Boo,” a pillow hit Tucker in the face.

“Hey! A guy should be allowed to ask.”

____

Vlad Masters sat in his office listening in to the three friends.

He was glad he had the foresight to bug more than the Fenton’s home. (Daniel always found the bugs, anyway.) What he had just learned had him reeling. Daniel wasn’t Maddie and Jack’s biological son. Not only that but that buffoon Bruce Wayne was Daniel’s father.

What’s more, Daniel had been raised by assassins.

This changed things. He got up and looked out the window.

Daniel was a valuable asset just for being a half-ghost like him. But now, he was not only the crowned prince of the Infinite Realms, but he was also the biological son of Bruce Wayne. If he could get Daniel on his side, Vlad would have more power than he could have thought possible. Daniel would be his son, and Maddie would be his.

It was time to scheme.

____

Damian got out of the car and left as soon as they got to the hotel room. Bruce was glad he had called Dick to meet them in front. His eldest followed Damian, even if it was from a distance.

Bruce sighed. He had no idea what to do. How do you deal with a long-lost child forgotten by his mother and brother? A child who had been abandoned by the only family he had ever known? A child who Bruce had no knowledge of?

“God, I wish you were here, Alfred.”

As he exited the car, he could’ve sworn he heard the older man speak, “I’m still here, Master Bruce. Always.”

He turned and saw an empty car.

The city must be getting to him.

____

Tim had not slept since he got to Amity Park. Now that the firewalls were gone, he had done research.

What he found disturbed him.

“Duke, come here for a moment,” the newest member of the family walked up.

“Tim, you should really sleep.”

Tim took a gulp of his energy drink, “Read this.”

Noticing her brothers’ tense posture, Cass came up to read whatever had caught their attention.

“That can’t be right,” she said, “that violates the Protection Meta Act.”

“Well, it’s there and it exists.”

The Anti-Ecto Act laws were laws that carried out government-approved genocide. They allowed ecto-entities to be hunted down, studied, and exterminated without prejudice. Not only that, but the way the laws were written allowed for any ectocontaminated human to be classified as an ectoentity and stripped of all rights.

How had the Justice League missed this?

“Bruce is going to be pissed,” Duke said.

“Our new baby brother is in danger,” Cass stated.

Tim kept the tab on the Anti-Ecto Act open and took notes to present to Bruce. He was also able to find fights between Phantom and other ghosts. The kid mostly fought in the air.

Tim took more notes of every power Phantom showed. The list was extensive. He whistled when the kid gave a well-placed kick to a vampire-looking ghost. Tim could easily see the League training. It was easy to notice when you knew what to look for.

He found blogs of teenagers praising the teenager and articles claiming that he was as big a menace as the ghosts he fought. Over the years, though, it seemed that the perspective had shifted on Phantom.

He cataloged the shift after Amity Park had been sucked into an alternate dimension and Phantom had helped save the city.

There were more articles.

Phantom Saves the City from an Eternal Sleep.

Phantom Stop Giant Plant Ghost from Eating Amity Parkers.

The more he read, the more Tim learned. The more he worried for his new brother. He was different from Damian. There were no articles of decapitated people or people stabbed by a sword. Danny didn’t seem to be as violent as Damian had been.

It made sense. Talia and the League didn’t truly raise him. He had had a chance of a semi-normal life.

Tim also looked into the other hero, the Red Huntress.

She seemed more like a ghost hunter than a hero to Time. She shot any and all ghosts. There was an interview of her saying that all ghosts deserved to be exterminated. Yikes.

There was a knock on the door. It was the secret knock Bruce had taught them. Cass opened the door.

“Hey, Bruce,” Tim looked up and saw the weariness on Bruce’s shoulders. The guy must really be going through it. It made Tim feel a bit bad for what he was about to show Bruce, but the man deserved, no, he needed to know what was going on in Amity Park.

“Tim. Found anything?”

“Oh, I found plenty. You might as well get comfortable. This is going to be long.”

So, I'm better from Covid, which means I'll start working again. I won't update as often as I did the past few days but I'll try to update at least once a week.

I hope you liked this chapter.

[sharp-silver4795]

Creepypasta’s Halloween

Dungeon~

The dungeon likes to bring havoc on Halloween!

I haven’t talked much about the set up of the Dungeon- but they have “sections” like the mansion.

They all like to do different things and cause chaos in their own ways.

Sometimes they’ll even team up with members of the mansion to make the ultimate mischief!!!

Casters

Judge thinks she’s too good for Halloween 🙄

Scarecrow will usually pretend to be an eerie corn maze decoration and snap her jaws at children to scare them shitless

Silent Borders

Ani has fun going to the park and giving people a chill. Sometimes, she’ll kill them with frost bite for little to no reason.

Zero likes to just break things: store windows, car windows, house windows, bones, etc. It’s her favorite way to spend Halloween.

Edges

Bloody Painter usually stays in and paints spooky pictures.

A Truce for The Night

Slenderman and Zalgo will let them have their fun

Bloody Angel, Candy Cane, Candy Pop, Laughing Jack and Laughing Jill, will all go to the Laughing Clowns’ Fun House of Death. Sometimes Jason or Vine will join them, but it’s not often.

Ani and Zero go to the DR’s party 🤭

Chess Master, Dark Link, Glitchy Red, and Kagekao have a tradition of having a giant game tournament! Lost Silver just kinda watches from the sidelines.

Kate will try her hardest to meet scarecrow in the corn maze. But she usually fails.

Proxies

Most of them don’t go anywhere, they have to make sure a few of the non-proxies don’t kill each other-

Rouge and Wilson spend a couple’s night watching horror movies and eating chocolate <3

Kat doesn’t celebrate Halloween. Instead he’s making Una Ofrenda for El día de Los muertos.

X-Virus will go trick or treating with Toby and Sally. Brian and mostly Tim don’t trust them all to be out together XD

Defensive Rebellion

Nathan and Puppeteer practically do teenager level pranks 🙄

Clockwork, Nina, and Jane are setting up for a Halloween Party!

Offensive Rebellion

Liu and EJ just have the house to themselves. They put on some scary movies and end up napping instead 😴

Divider Creds: Sister-Lucifer ; adornedwithlight

Header Creds: MEEE!!!!

[cryptidcircuswrites]

WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE

!- angst, confrontation, guilt, Tim feels helpless and ignored, Brian is still technically dead, DID/OSDD implied Tim/Masky, no comfort we cry like men

Brian Thomas was dead, and in his place stood The Hooded One.

Tim Wright was still alive, and by his side, sharing his body, lurked The Masked One.

The Masked One was a silent and effective servant, loyal like a dog at the heels of its master. There was no humanity to him, just blind devotion.

There was humanity left in Tim.

He’d beg, and cry, and plead with the thing that looked, sounded, felt like his Brian, only to be met with nothing.

“Please, Bri, I’m scared and I don’t understand what’s happening anymore. I followed you out here, I-I keep having those gaps in my memory still—“

That same cold blue-green stare as always. No emotion on his face.

Tim started to break, voice raising in the hopes of something.

“Why won’t you just fucking listen to me?! Why won’t you help me?! Nothing, I get nothing from you!”

“I’m not him.” The sudden soft voice cuts him off. “I’m not him anymore. That thing, it changed me. Your Brian is dead. He died in Benedict Hall, you killed him.” The Hooded One ran a hand through his hair, muscle memory. Brian had done that too. “You killed him and now I’m stuck in this hellhole and I don’t understand why you didn’t leave and get out while you could!”

“I tried to! I tried to get out and I always ended up back here a few weeks later! I don’t remember how, I don’t know why, I lose contact with everyone from wherever I was before and I end up right back here with you!”

Tim lights a cigarette. Old habits die hard.

“Your memory gaps,” The Hooded One said with such a quiet intensity it reminded Tim of Brian’s theater performances in High school, “are there for a reason. You don’t want to remember. I remember what happens. It’s not a nice memory, Tim. We’re monsters now.”

Tim scoffs. “Yeah. Now. We’re monsters now, like I wasn’t one as a kid when they locked me up, or when I got everyone sick because that thing followed me around and latched on to Alex. Now I’m a monster, not when I got Jay killed or when I pushed you out of a window and killed you, or when I stabbed Alex in the neck—“ his voice breaks a little.

A gloved hand finds his shoulder, a small comfort.

“Tim. I’m not Brian.”

[hux-and-gay]

The Domhnall House

master post

(I typically call it the main house)

I don’t rly know how to build in sims nor did I particularly want to take the time so I moved my sims into the Cypress Terrace located in Willow Creek

I then edited the layout and customized the bedrooms to fit the characters. I left the common rooms untouched

——————————————————————————————

Hux’s Bedroom

3rd Floor Master Suite

his room has sense been edited to have space ship style windows.

As you can see his room is primarily black with pops of color in white gray red and an occasional blue, meant to resemble the interior of a first order ship as well as his own style. Everything is very classy, clean and modern looking aside from the more Victorian style furniture to add to the overall expensive feel of the room. There is also a tactical map above his desk again to play into the sci-fi theme, and his computer chair is meant to represent a throne which he very much deserves. he also has a large bathroom with a tub because I believe he deserves a bath and would enjoy them. He also has a coffee maker in his room for easy access. He will abuse it. And of course, the famed ice blue couch.

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Tim’s Bedroom:

3rd floor. Across the hall from Hux

His is just pretty basic. I didn’t really know what to put in his other than a clock and a wardrobe that would be big enough for him to stand in. So that is pretty much all I did. His room has since been made smaller. If anyone has any ideas of what to add to his room, please let me know.

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Bill’s Room

Second Floor

his room was one that I added entirely to the layout. I am aware that Bill is probably the Weasley that could most pass as a Muggle, so his room probably wouldn’t look as much like it was from the wizard world, but I just really wanted to give it that Harry Potter feel so I leaned into that. I also got a lot of Harry Potter custom content for making this room. I decided on Red because Bill is a Gryffindor though I could see him liking a deep blue or purple. I tried to make it look as if it was a part of the burrow. He has a nice antique desk where he can work on his curse breaking, a broom over by his bed, a snitch on the table, a chocolate frog on his drawers, a Gryffindor pendant on his wall, amongst many other Harry Potter Easter eggs, including Ron Weasley’s bed. I know that doesn’t make much sense because he’s not Ron but it fit the vibes and who is to say Ron’s bed wasn’t hand me down. he also has a bi flag on the wall because I headcanon him as bi, he has a dragon plushy because he rides one in deathly hallows and his brother Charlie works with them, and I was actually able to get the Weasley family photo as CC so you can see that on the top of his dresser.

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Stensland and Techie’s Room

second floor across the hall from Bill

starting off with Stensland‘s portion of the room. I wanted to make it look well, lived in kind of eclectic and retro. he has a couple weird things scattered around like the gnome on the flamingo that I just think gives Stensland vibes. There’s also some clothes on the floor because let’s be real it Stensland. and he has his vintage TV so he can watch Dawson’s Creek, as well as a jukebox so that he can do all of the dancing that he wants. My friend also suggested getting glass Bongs as CC so I did and they apparently came with other weed related things hence the weed pillow by his couch.

Then we have Techie’s corner which they were apparently sleeping in when I took this photo. I kept everything quite yellow to fit their color scheme even if they probably did not have much of a choice in wearing yellow but I digress. They also have plenty of electronics and a tactical map, and of course, cute fairy lights, and a little projector of a planet, because it’s both pretty and fits in with the sci-fi tech vibes, and I think they would like a nightlight like that to help them fall asleep. Their corner is quite small because I feel they would feel safer in a more confined space.

for their bathroom I tried to combine their styles by making it look retro, but also sci-fi esc, obviously continuing the pops of yellow as it’s next to Techie’s corner. I also made sure there was a large bath. because Techie deserved a nice bath. ——————————————————————————————

Thomas Mcgregor’s Room

First floor suite

Thomas kind of has his own little apartment. I tried to make everything look very cottage core, and like it was part of an older home to try and fit the vibes of the McGregor house from the movie and also just the vibes of Peter rabbit in general. You enter his room from the kitchen and there is a little mudroom that leads to the bathroom, his bedroom, and out into the garden. Which I thought was perfect for him. I did not change the layout of this bedroom. I made sure to include lots of nature related things, especially rabbits obviously. Even though he has a love-hate relationship with those. I also gave him an easel and canvases. I know that was Bea’s thing but it’s for the vibes. He also has a lot of children’s toys in his room because he wants to start his own toy store. And a telescope because he likes birdwatching and there weren’t binoculars so that was the next best thing. The doors on the wall next to the telescope lead out to the outdoor pool. He also has a punching bag because of the boxing scene in the second Peter rabbit movie. I also later got custom content of a bunch of vegetables, and I didn’t even know that so I now have vegetables littered around his room. But overall, everything is pretty neat and in place because we know Thomas would lose his mind otherwise.

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Ash’s Room

the basement

I wanted to add an attic to the house because of something that happens in the episode that I won’t spoil, but it wouldn’t let me so if there’s a way, I couldn’t figure out how to do it. So instead, I added a basement because that seemed close enough. I tried to make it look pretty dingy and old looking. I didn’t really include much personalization because he’s an android. But I did put a robot head on the table to pay homage to that.

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Thomas Burberry’s house

his house is still on the property so it’s still considered part of this building even though it’s separate. I did this partially because the house was getting crowded and also to make a joke of how little we know about Thomas Burberry because he’s a character from an ad so I separated him from the rest of the characters. this is the first ever building I built from scratch on Sims so I did not know what I was doing. I didn’t even leave enough room for a bathroom so there’s like a separate outhouse type thing behind it.

I tried to make it look like it was part of the 1800s very industrial and very elegant with dark colors to fit the vibes of both the add And the time period. I included things like the ship in the bottle and folded piles of clothes because based on the ad, it seemed like this guy was doing some thing with trying to make waterproof clothing for the Antarctica or something? I could be wildly wrong. I have not researched the actual Thomas Burberry. But I think everyone will agree when I say that that ad should’ve been an actual movie.

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@dragonflies-draw-flame

@blackberry-command-cap

@lavendergarnet

@huxkisser

@rommonoch

@misbon-god-of-mischief

@fizzydreamz

@sariastrategos

@saint-baph

@fives-ren

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 11

Chapter 11 Ensnare

Yugi and gang arrive in California and meet Mai who gives them a ride to Industrial Illusions, but they may have wondered into a trap…

The plane finally landed at the airport, Yugi and his friends all looking out of the window to see all the parked planes that waited on the ground. Excitement washed over them all as they departed the jet and walked into the airport, waiting by their gate was an old familiar face. Mai was wearing her sundress with laced high heeled sandals complete with matching hat and sunglasses; she smiled and waved at them before racing over to the group. Arms opened wide she jumped and grabbed Joey by the head putting him in a headlock and ruffling his hair.

“There you are! It's not nice to keep a lady waiting, Joey!” she jested.

“Gr-Great to see ya Mai!” Joey was surprised by her actions but allowed her to keep his head locked for a bit before pulling away.

“Mai!” Tea yelled and hugged Mai warmly, as Tristan gave Mai a high five “Great to see you're doing well!” he said.

“Wow you look like your ready for a vacation!” Tea smiled “You look fantastic!”

Mai gave a slight pose and threw her hair to the side a bit before commenting “Oh just a little something I threw on!” she chuckled before looking down at Yugi.

“Yugi! You look-” she shouted before getting a very good look at him and blinked “Like hell…wow did you sleep last night?” She then bent down a bit to get a better look at him.

He looked up at her and forced a smile with a laugh. “Y-yeah! just had some nausea on the plane this morning…I'm doing better now though!” Yugi rubbed the back of his neck a little.

His friends all looked down at him quietly, something was defiantly thick in the air…Mai was just about to ask what was going on when the tension was suddenly broken by the same suited men back in Japan approached them with their luggage and announced they had arranged a ride for them.

“Oh! But Mai was gonna-” Yugi started but was interrupted by Mai herself who stepped in.

“I was actually gonna give them a ride to Industrial Illusions myself.” Mai announced to the man.

“That is unnecessary madam, Master Pegasus has arranged a ride for them you see.” The man spoke again.

“Oh man but Mai already went through all the trouble to come and get us!” Joey yelled disappointed.

Mai smiled slightly “It's fine Joey. Tell the suits to toss the baggage in my car. I'll tag along behind.”

They all looked at Mai, Yugi spoke up first “Ar-are you sure Mai?”

Mai waved her hand a bit “I already said I'd come so no point of leaving now, besides once you're done with your meeting I'll take you guys out to eat on me!”

The main man among the suits nodded “If that's what you wish.”

They all existed the airport together and walked to where Mai parked her car. Normally she drove something a little more sporty and portable but this time she had a large white Jeep Wrangler with a flatbed in the rear, followed by a trailer holding something under a tarp. All the gang was floored by the luxury car Mai was sporting.

“Get out! You got something that fancy!?” Joey was drooling along with Tristan, Tea was amazed by it's creamy white colour and Yugi seemed dazed.

“Well when I knew I was gonna pick you guys up I needed something more spacious! Besides this is California you need to travel in style.” Mai chuckled giving her hair another flip.

As the men loaded the luggage into the flatbed Tea noticed one of the bags seemed out of place so she asked who it belonged to. None of them claimed the bag as their own, so one of the men took the bag back inside the airport since they assumed it must have been taken by a mistake. All the while inside the bag Rex and Weevil were barely conscious after the turbulent journey they took in the cargo bay of the jet.

Mai had gone to Tea and asked her “Hey Tea, I was hoping you'd ride along with me instead. The trip is gonna be long and I could use some company. Besides I think you could use a little girl time after a flight with boys.”

“Hey! How come she gets to ride in the fancy truck?” Joey pouted prompting Mai to shout “You can ride in it after you have a shower!” making Joey grumble.

Tea was surprised to be asked so suddenly “Oh uh… I could sure! But-” She then looked over to Yugi and was about to reject the offer only for him to look up at her with a smile.

“Go on Tea! We'll be okay!” He smiled again and Tea's face became softer so she looked at Mai and nodded “Sure!”

Yugi and others were escorted to a black limousine and sat inside, the car took off and just after them Mai and Tea followed behind.

--

As they cruised along the city they took note of all the famous sights around them; the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and more sights around town. Joey and Tristan couldn't help but look at all the amazing sights they passed. Eventually they existed the city and headed towards the dessert road; Tea was enjoying the feeling of the chilled conditioned air blowing past her brunette hair, Mai looked over and smiled at her.

“Guess you're loving the city sights huh?”

“Yeah, I can't wait to return to New York City!” Tea beamed.

“New York City?” Mai asked, she had no idea Tea was going to move so far away form her friends.

“Yeah, I plan to move there to study dance after I graduate…” Tea looked down a bit rubbing her thumbs together biting her lip a little “It's gonna come up pretty soon actually…”

Mai could see she was acting nervous now and looked back at the road. “You know I'm surprised you really wanna move so far away form your friends, but if it's what you want to do then go for it.”

Tea looked over to Mai for a moment and smiled lightly “It's crazy I know and I may not even make it out there but…I want to try.”

“Nothing wrong with that, life is about heading out, making mistakes and finding your way. Hell I was working on cruise ships for years before I discovered my love of Duel Monsters.” Mai started to reminisce about her life before and how playing Duel Monsters gave her a sense of power she always wanted and how it helped her pick a new course for her life.

“I think you're gonna do great Tea, and if you need any help while your in NYC just look me up, I find my way all around the world at any time. So I wont mind dropping in and checking in on you.”

Tea's heart fluttered a bit hearing that; sometimes Mai could be a very hard person to be around that's what she thought at first when meeting her back in Duelist Kingdom. Then she stated to see Mai only needed to be tough because she was on her own so much and had to be hard to survive alone. Now it seemed like she was starting to get softer…more approachable almost like a older sister.

“Thank you…it really does mean a lot to me.”

Mai smiled back at her “Anytime.”

After a while of silence between them Mai's tone shifted a bit to more serious one.

“Tea, I had another motive for taking you with me…” Mai gripped the steering wheel a bit more, her eyes becoming harder.

Tea was a bit worried since she could feel the seriousness of her voice so she knew it was big…

“Yeah?”

“Can you tell me whats the deal with Yugi? I don't mean why he's looks sick right now, I mean in general. I know there's more to him then meets the eye… and I know there's some kind of crazy magic or something about him. So give me the whole story.”

Tea paused for a bit, her blue eyes looking up then down to her hands again. She took in a deep breath and let it out again.

Turning to her she said “It's a very long story…”

Mai kept her eyes on the road and answered back “We have time, so spill.”

--

As they drove along in the limo; Yugi was absent form everything his mind was so flooded with worry, not just for himself but for Pegasus. Something inside of him was eating away telling him something bad was coming and he was in danger.

Joey had noticed Yugi's absentmindedness and decided to ask him.

“Yug, everything okay? You're not feeling sick again right?”

“N-no! I'm just…” he sighed “I'm worried about Pegasus…he was so scared on his video…”

Yugi remembered the video and how panicked and afraid Pegasus was. He knew Pegasus was a powerful man and even after losing his Millennium Eye he still was a strong duelist…so who could these people be and why are they so hellbent on silencing him? What did he know about them?

“Yugi it's gonna be okay, I'm sure old one eye is fine, and once we meet up with him we'll get the skinny on what he knows about these biker guys and I know we'll find the other half of your soul!” Joey spoke with his usual confidence which made Yugi feel a bit better.

He nodded now “You're right Joey…I'm sure Pegasus is fine.” No he didn't fully mean what he said but he didnt want Joey or Tristan to worry more, if anyone should be worried it should be his burden not his friends…

Yugi shivered a bit before he felt something in his deck belt shift and move, he had taken out his Timeaus card since he did sense it was glowing and it was! For some reason the card was glowing.

Joey and Tristan both looked at it and wondered why it was glowing all of sudden; Yugi remembered there were still two other crystallized dragons still frozen back in the duel monsters world. Could it be? Has one of them been released?

--

Back in the Jeep Tea had just finished explaining everything she knew about Yugi, the Pharaoh, the Millennium Puzzle, and Yugi's destiny after solving it. The car ride for a quiet for a bit while Mai tried to properly process everything she was just told. It made Tea nervous since she knew it sounded like and insane plot of some kind of tv show but no this was real, all of it was real.

Finally Mai broke the silence.

“So…There are two Yugi's one whose the quiet childish one and the one who duels is really the spirit of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh with no memory of his former life or name, who exists inside of the Millennium Puzzle and uses that Yugi's body as a host.”

Tea nodded.

“And in Battle City he won the three Egyptian God cards because using them would help him unlock his memories of his past which he will then use this knowledge to somehow save the world form some kind of great evil like he did in the past.”

Tea nodded again.

“And when he tried to use them to do that; somehow it made all these monsters who are not holograms appear all over the world. Then a group of bikers stole the god cards then challenged the little Yugi to a duel, who won but still lost the god cards. Then a giant eye appeared over Domino City, attacked Yugi and stole half of his soul but not before Yugi used some kind of super powerful dragon card named Timeus to defeat the monster.”

“Y-yeah….” Tea muttered out.

“And now Pegasus has sent for you guys since he knows who these bikers are, and he may know the key to getting Yugi's soul back and stopping whatever evil monster is causing all this madness world wide.”

“Okay yes, I know it all sounds insane and I know you think I must be crazy, and trust me after hearing it all out loud I'd so agree with you too. But I promise I'm telling the truth!” Tea looked at Mai hoping she could try and convince her that this was all real.

“Tea, relax after everything that happened in the Battle City Semi finals, my duel against the psycho path Marik I believe you.”

“Y-you do?” Tea blinked.

Mai nodded and continued “Of course! I have first hand experience don't I? That nightmare I lived through…”

Mai recalled her loss to Marik and her punishment for losing a shadow game; the torture and torment that still haunted her heart. She shook her head quickly trying to snap out of it, she didn't ever want to go back to that horrible place. Never again…

“But it's in the past now… either way I believe you! I just don't trust Pegasus…” Mai glared at the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly again.

“If he's up to something I don't want you or the others to get any deeper into this ancient evil magic junk! You guys have dealt with this kind of thing for a long time, but it still doesn't mean you should put yourselves in danger.”

“Mai…” Tea watched her with worried eyes, she didn't realize until now how right she was; putting themselves into danger like this seemed like the norm at this point, but it really shouldn't be should it?

“I may not have magic, but I have other skills so maybe I can help you guys out more…If Pegasus is up to something sinister I'll have your back.”

Tea smiled, it felt good to know they did have her to help if things did start to go south, but she was still worried about Mai's safety too. Everyone could be in danger and Tea was the most worried for Yugi…

“Mai…Thank you.” Tea finally said and Mai only smiled and kept driving.

--

Inside Industrial Illusions both Raphael and Valon were waiting in the lobby up high on a balcony that over looked the area. Valon was leaning against he guard rail with his back turned while Raphael stood beside him with his arms crossed.

Raph got a message on his phone and looked it over with a smile.

“They've just arrived in front.”

Valon grinned “Finally! Some action!”

The limo had stopped right in front of Industrial Illusions HQ with Mai's Jeep pulling up just behind it. As Yugi and the others existed the vehicle the driver of the limo come out and closed the door after them, before returning to the driver's seat starting the car and driving off. This confused the boys since up until then the staff had been very helpful and pleasant to them but this time he seemed to be in a bit of trance and he left not saying a single word.

“I guess he's off the clock?” Tristan remarked.

Tea had emerged form the Jeep and gone to greet the others and make sure Yugi was okay, Mai had gone into the back seat of the Jeep and took out her duel disk strapping it to her arm.

Joey had noticed her actions and gone to her to ask.

“Wow, you brought you're Duel Disk with you?”

Mai nodded “Hey I'm still a duelist and vacation or not I'm always ready for a battle.” she smiled.

Joey gave a thumbs up and with that the group of five entered the building together. Inside it was empty no employees were present and everything was quiet…too quiet. They all called out trying to see if anyone would come out to greet them. Tea had gone to the phones sitting at the front desk to check them only to discover they were dead.

As if on que steel gates started to drop from the top of the windows and main door planting themselves firmly on the ground. Everyone let out a yell of confusion before realizing they'd been locked in. Each of them sprinting to a different side of the lobby trying in vein to lift the steel gates holding them in but it was no use, the gates were too strong and there was no way out for them now.

“Urgh! You gotta be kidding me!” Joey shouted pulling at the steel.

“Theses things wont budge!” Tristan yelled out trying to lift the gates

“We've been tricked!” Tea shouted.

“There has to be away out!” Mai pulled at the gates as well but with no luck.

“Oh no! is this-” Yugi was then interrupted by the sound of a new voice from up top forcing all of them to stop and look up at the source.

“Well well well 'bout time you lot showed up! It's rude to keep people waitin' you know!” Valon chuckled.

Yugi 's eyes widened in fear as he felt a chill run up his spine, he recognized him right away

“It-It cant be…” Yugi's voice cracked “Not you two!”

“Oh but it can be! Long time no see short stuff remember us?” Valon sneered down at Yugi making him take a small step back.

The others gathered to Yugi's side and looked up at the two new faces that waited their arrival.

Joey growled and stepped forward.

“Hey! Are you the guys who took the God cards!?”

“Maybe we did, you got a problem with it?” Raphael said coldly.

Joey snarled “As a matter of fact I do! Now how about you step on down here and allow me to validate the ass kicking ticket you purchased the second you laid a hand on my best friend!” He empathized his words by smacking his fist into his open hand.

This caused Valon to laugh out loud and smack the railing a few times “Oooh boy! I knew you were gonna be fun Wheeler!”

“You think this is some kind of a joke you googled headed freak!” Mai yelled up at Valon which made him stop and stare down at Mai, after he studied her for a moment he pulled back his spiked hair a bit and leaned in.

“Well now who is this gorgeous goddess who happens to be hanging out with a bunch of twerps? You got a name beautiful?”

Mai growled and shook her fist at him “Yeah it's 'noneofyourbusiness!' psycho!”

“Whoooo scary~” Valon grinned with a wink. “You can call me Valon, dove~”

His grin made Mai sneer in disgust which also made Joey grind his teeth a bit.

Yugi finally decided to step in and yelled up “What have you done to Pegasus! Where is he!?”

Raphael chuckled a bit “Sorry but Pegasus can't see you right now…he's feeling a bit stiff at the moment.”

Stiff? What did he mean by that? Before he could even ask Raphael had gone into his pocket and pulled out a card. Holding it up they could tell it was a magic card, but not just any magic card it was a Seal of Orichalcos card and in the center trapped behind the circle was Pegasus's screaming face.

Everyone stared in disbelief at what they were looking at, the creator they'd all come to see had been trapped in a card of his own making. How could this have happened? Did the bikers do this? Did they really have the power to trap souls into duel monster cards? These questions were running through everyone in Yugi's group but Yugi himself looked the most guilty, almost as if he knew the answer but asked anyway.

Yugi swallowed a lump in this throat. “D-did you do that to him?”

Raphael only chuckled putting the card back inside his pocket. “I'm not the one who did this…you are.”

Everyone stood in disbelief and surprise at the tall blonde man's claim especially Yugi; He did this? But it couldn't be! It didn't make sense! How could he have-

“I…I couldn't- no! I never- I- I” Yugi was stuttering in a panic, he couldn't form the words he wanted.

“Aww whats the matta kid? You blocked out that little stint you had that night? We remember like it was yesterday! But really it was more like 2 nights ago.” Valon rubbed under his chin.

Yugi felt a lump in his throat again; two nights ago? That was when he and Dartz…his eyes widened when he realized this. Was his duel with Dartz posing as Pegasus…real?

“Gotta say for someone with such a baby face you're a stone cold killa! Ripped the soul right outta that one eyed pretty boy you did!” Valon cackled as he watched Yugi stumble a bit.

“What's wrong Yugi?” Raphael said coldly “Having a hard time handling the truth?” he grinned.

Yugi's head was spinning as his breathing got more strained; How? How could this happen? It was a dream! It was only a dream! His heart was pumping harder as he felt sweat start to flow down his face the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. All of his friends could see Yugi was starting to have a panic attack, Tea came to his side and held his shoulders to keep him stable. Joey looked at Yugi then glared up back at the men on the balcony, he was fuming with even more anger now.

“Enough of you're crazy talk! No way Yugi could have done this!” Joey yelled.

“That's right! Yugi was all the way across the world! You expect anyone to believe he did this?” Tristan folded his arms glaring up.

“Exactly! You people are the ones going around snatching souls!” Tea added squeezing Yugi's shoulder a bit.

“And you got some nerve accusing him of this act when you're holding the soul card, gruesome!” Mai glared putting her hands on her hips.

Yugi felt some relief after hearing all this friends defend him so much, he heard the voice of the Pharaoh now come through the puzzle.

//Yugi! Let me take over I'll deal with them.// Yami said confidently.

After a very long bout of silence from the spirit it made Yugi happy to hear him speak again, he nodded and decided in this case it may be better for the other Yugi to handle them. With a flash of light from the puzzle they swapped places the Pharaoh now in charge. He glared up at the two older men and pointed.

“Alight! I think we've all had enough of you're mind games! If you think you can pin this on me you're sorely mistaken!” Yami shouted before folding his arms in his classic stand off posture. “Time for you both to come down here and answer for your crimes!”

Raphael kept his current pose and glared down at the Pharaoh “So you've finally come out of hiding Nameless Pharaoh?”

Yami smirked and glared right back up to him, he unfolded his arms and wagged a finger to him “Now now I'm not the one who ran off the first time we met now was I?”

His smug attitude and response made Raphael furious but of course he didn't show his emotions very easily so he stayed more or less stone faced, Valon on the other hand was quicker to anger and let them all know it.

“Big talk coming form such a puny little king! Comin' in the save the day only once you got your friend group to back you up!”

“That's right goggle brain! We always got each other's back! So how about you both come on down for the two for one sale! Second ass kickin' is on the house!” Joey stood beside Yugi with his duel disk out and ready for a fight.

“That's right! Enough lies come down here and duel us! And when we win you're going to give back the rest of my partner's soul, free Pegasus form that card prison and return the god cards you stole!” Yami Yugi got his duel disk set as well.

“You're still calling us lairs… Okay since you're so keen to fight maybe a demonstration is in order.”

Raphael looked over to Valon giving him a nod.

Valon grinned widely and rummaged through his pocket excitedly before finding what he wanted; the orichalcos shard Dartz had given him earlier dangling it over the ledge. Yami looked up and recognized the shard but before he could verbalize anything Valon let the shard drop.

As it descended to the ground below a bight flash of green light burst out of the shard blinding everyone in the room. Joey and Yami being the closest to it held their arms up to help block out the bright light. It soon started to take the form of a person the same person it took the form of before. A perfect copy of Yugi stood before his friends, and just like before he was missing the Millennium Puzzle around his neck and on his right ear the shard of the Orichalcos hung like an earring.

Lowering their arms Yami and Joey and soon everyone else could now see this new being standing before them was a doppelganger of their friend. All of them looked in confusion and horror, how could there be two physical Yugi's in the same room? The one most vocal about it was Joey of course who pointed from the copy Yugi to the Yami Yugi who stood beside him.

“Whoa! What the- he you- your over here and now there's another you over here and what is going on!?” Joey was panicked trying to figure out what had just happened.

Yami on the other hand felt a chill run down his spine as he looked into the eyes of the copy of his partner. It was almost like looking into a mirror but with cold emotionless eyes of the figure looking back at him it made his heart skip. Yugi was silent but also just as shaken by all of this, was this how they were using his separated soul?

Yami growled then glared up at the two men on the ledge and yelled out.

“What is this! What have you done?”

Valon chuckled as Raphael looked down at Yami like he was a bug beneath his eye line and answered coldly.

“You wanted a demonstration well now you have it. Joey will be the first target!”

[maggotfurby]

Crazy Caryn vs. Jeff the Killer

Written by MaggotFurby

(short story)

Ticci Toby and Crazy Caryn arrived at the main proxy location deep within the eldest parts of the Colorado forests. Hoodie(Brian) was fixing/modifying an mp3 player while having it connected to an old Windows 7 laptop, and Masky(Tim) was sitting on one of the larger rocks having a smoke break.

“Look who finally showed up? You're an hour late, Rogers” Masky said in an obviously annoyed tone.

“Shut up…We've only taken a little detour, besides the woods can easily make someone get lost if taken the wrong step” Toby rolled his eyes at Tim's nagging.

“I don't think it's easy to get lost in, maybe try placing down shiny colored rocks on the ground. Finding the rocks can make paths easier with that.” Caryn bluntly replied.

Masky was impressed with her response. “Say, kid. you're quite smart. Maybe that'll sure help Rogers out.” he exhaled through his nose while doing a tiny throat chuckle.

“...You fucker…!” Toby was offended by the comment but Caryn placed her arm in front of Toby, preventing him from getting aggressive with Tim. “Hey, Hey…. it's only a small joke, Toby.”

“Shit, you're right…sorry” He cleared his throat and stepped back to his original position.

“Don't mention it, Rogers. Just remember not to take things so seriously” Masky forgave Toby as he finished his burning cigarette.

Caryn nodded her head in agreement, because she was also learning not to take jokes too seriously; due to her neurological condition, she often had slow reactions or her being puzzled of how to respond to normal interactions. Although Tourette's and high functioning autism are two different medical conditions, there's ways to tell through professional research.

Slenderman arrived just in time as he teleported behind Toby and Caryn, spooking Toby during the process. “Oh shit…!” Toby fell towards the ground as Slender's deep dark voice spoke to him from behind. “Splendid, you two finally made it this far. Despite you being late, I will make an exception.”

“Hi, sir!” Caryn looked up at her faceless master, “Is there any other mission I might attend to?”. Toby got up from the ground, dusting off the dirt.

“Not quite at the moment, child. But when I have something available, I will notify you.” Slenderman looked at Caryn at eye level and proceeded to explain further information. It appeared there had been countless murders near the woods that did not belong to the proxies, the bodies were spread around and left to rot. His suspicions geared towards a possible answer that it could be a certain individual that he encountered in the past. Someone…who's bloodthirsty.

Toby, Caryn, Masky, and Hoodie listened to Slender's warnings as the meeting came to a close. “Who in the world would get killed by a guy named Jeff? He doesn't sound too threatening to me” Caryn stated.

“Oh no, Caryn. He's not the type of guy to mess with, he's unpredictable” Hoodie sternly replied. “He would definitely gut you like a fish.”

“Listen to Brian, he and I met with Jeff before, he has a raging temper”. Masky calmly commented. “The best we could do is avoid any encounters with him and he'll probably move on to another part of the woods.”

“ok, understandable.” Caryn nodded.

“Toby, how about you go with Caryn and keep her close? Sure enough you both will be just fine” Hoodie said as he handed Caryn back her mask and machete.

Soon after, the gang split up and went their separate ways, Toby and Caryn were a tag team. They walked towards the deepest part of the forest, where the sky was shaded by the thick branches, making it seem like it was night-time despite being morning. The air was freezing and damp, the lighting intensely dim. Caryn huddled closer to Toby, having a small unnerving feeling like something or someone was following them.

Toby didn't mind her getting close with him, it was enough for them both to stay in the clear. Until a loud snap of a thick branch clicked behind Toby as he turned his head around, thinking he heard something out of the blue.

Out of nowhere, some man jumped Toby out from the left side of the woods, the darkness made the figure barely noticeable at first glance from Caryn. The crazed figure tackled him to the ground, holding what appeared to be a large kitchen knife, old but well sharpened. “Hey, what the Hell…?!” Caryn shouted at the figure as he knocked out poor Toby unconscious.

Caryn squinted her eyes through her mask to try to make out who attacked him. The man was about to raise and plunge the knife into Toby but stopped by Caryn's yell.

The only light source from above the covered sky was a small opening, it gleamed down on the figure; revealing his true form. He looked absolutely horrid. He was wearing a blood soaked white hoodie with black dress pants along with black combat shoes to match. But his face…dear God, the face. He had a snow white face full of burns and scars, one eye was blinded and with long mangled jet black hair, both his eyes were sunken and dark. The worst part about him was his knife carved smile across his mouth, jagged and rough around the edges.

Caryn at first was horrified by his wretched appearance but she stood her ground and started to act tough.

“Excuse me, can you tell me why you attacked my friend? Ya know that was quite rude to tackle someone down.”

The grotesque man slowly stood up and gave off a confused yet angered look. “Oh…! Tryin’ to act tough, huh? You think you're tough shit?” his dark, groggy, raspy voice spat back like venom.

“What makes a retard like you, telling someone like me what I'm doing…?”

Caryn's face flared up with anger when he mentioned the word, one of the things that the bullies used to call her back in middle school.

“I beg your fucking pardon…?” Caryn angrily questioned.

Jeff laughed harshly at her reaction, “Oh, this shit boutta be fun…!” He tightens his grip on his knife and he instantly charges at her. Caryn moved out of the way, away from his fast reaction, she pulled out her machete from her back holster and placed her defensive position.

“Fuck, you're a fast one, but not for long!” He swung his blade from behind, Caryn dodged it and by landing on her knees and bending her head back.

“HEY…HOLD STILL, MOTHERFUCKER!” Jeff wrathfully shouted at her.

She got up and kicked him right in the stomach with her knee, causing Jeff to fall to the ground on his ass. groaned in pain.

“Nobody messes with my Toby…” Caryn sternly shouted at Jeff before he got up and attempted to jab his knife into her. Caryn blocked his knife with her weapon and the knife fell to the ground. Her blade just underneath Jeff's chin, the sharp metal tip lightly pressed on his throat.

“Well…aren't you gonna apologize for what you did to Toby or you just wanna continue this game…?” still holding the machete.

Jeff ducked down and sidekicked both her knees in, causing her to yell in pain by the unexpected move. Her weapon fell from her hand as Jeff locked her in a headlock, his one arm holding her hostage, the other holding the sharp blade inching close to her head.

“I ain't saying sorry for shit…but I have something to say to you though” Jeff evilly chuckled under his breath.

“W-what…?” Caryn struggled and couldn't get out from his strong grasp.

“GO…TO…SLEEP…!”

He was about to stab her through the skull, ‘til he was interrupted by an irritated loud yell calling him out.

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” Toby was no longer unconscious and tackled Jeff away from Caryn, making her drop to the ground unharmed. Jeff landed on the ground as well once more while having not one but two hatchets surround his neck.

“Well…Well, if it isn't the retard’s retarded boyfriend who came to rescue her. I was close to fucking up her skull, Rogers…!”. Jeff rudely said to Toby.

“Your words don't affect me, Woods. …Luckily, my master is nearby and he will tear you apart along with me BUTCHERING your legs off in the process… now get up, and leave…” Toby replied in a dark serious tone.

Jeff had no choice but to get up and brush off the dirt and twigs off of him, giving Toby a murderous stare. “This isn't over, Rogers… I'll be back.” He ran off into the darker parts of woods, his footsteps echoed through the wind.

“Are you alright?” He ticked as he reached out his hand to Caryn and she grabbed onto him.

“Y-yeah, I am, thank you…” Caryn stumbled into his arms while Toby held onto her, preventing her from falling down.

“C’mon, let's head on back…you definitely need some rest” Toby gently said as he carefully walked Caryn back to the hideout

[cape-starling-official]

Purpose

((not open rp. Written in collaboration with @timblrdrake

This is kind of a special thing because Timbler mun dosen’t necessarily like to rp on their account. I had an idea and I know them irl and we wrote it together. 

Word count: 911 words

Tw: mention of blood and violence.))

Tim was on patrol, it had been a pretty slow night but he spotted some movement in an alley and went to go check it out. 

When he arrived he saw a mugger on the ground with a knife loose in his hand and spotted movement in the shadows. He bristles, holding out his staff defensively as he approaches the obscured figure. He catches a glimpse of the light reflecting off of the lenses of Harper’s mask, familiarity un-tenses his shoulders. “Are you injured?” He asks, narrowing his eyes into the dark. Tim sees a figure hunched over in the corner of the alley. Harper retreats against the wall further, feeling threatened by his presence. The yellow eyes on her mask stare blankly at him but her body language gives away how uncomfortable she is. 

“I don’t need your help,” she says sharply, but he can see her holding her side and it doesn't take a master detective to tell she's in pain. “It seems like you do,” he remarks, stepping close enough to see the extent of her injuries. A gash through the right side of her torso seeps blood through her suit. “What do you call that? Not needing help?” he creeps closer with his hands out placatingly, “Let me get you medical attention.”

She watches him intently. “I can find my own way to a medical centre,” she says dismissively as she tries and fails to get up. The pain in her side causes her body to sink back onto the ground. “...fine…” she mutters reluctantly. 

-

The way to the safehouse is filled with a pointed silence, both Tim and Harper not willing to be the first to break it. They reach the empty apartment, he ushers Harper in through the window behind him. It’s dark and empty but seems comfortable enough. Tim gestures wordlessly to the couch as he hunts for what he needs to stitch Harper’s injuries. 

She walks over to the couch and flops down. She sinks into soft cushions, they cradle her sore body. She closed her eyes listening for Tim to come back. 

Tim doesn’t take long, returning with bandages and a suture kit. He sits himself down next to Harper with a sigh, her wound has stopped bleeding and upon closer inspection it doesn’t look particularly deep, much to Tim’s relief. Harper watches Tim as he moves. Once he starts to stitch her up she winces. Tim could feel her staring holes in the top of his head through the whole process. Once he’s done she moves away from him. She stays quiet, not thanking him in the slightest. 

“Thanks Red Robin,” Tim mutters in a high-pitched voice, mocking Harper, “You’re welcome,” He huffs when he’s met with silence. 

“You should be more careful.”

She glares at him “I don’t need advice from you when I'm picking up your slack.” 

Tim looks at her incredulously from below his mask, “Picking up my slack? Seriously?” he scoffs, “You’re screwing up my investigation, I’ve been watching those guys for days…” he runs a hand through his hair, “You have no idea what you’re doing out there.”

“At least I'm doing something! There are so many people that you guys miss, I'm trying to help them.”  she retorts. 

“So what, B and I are out there doing nothing? Do you think we go out at night just to sit around?” He stands and gestures exasperatedly, “We’re doing our best, Harper.”

“Well it isn’t enough.” she says sharply. “People get hurt. Kids get hurt. And you don't even know about it. So I made it my job to know.” 

Tim’s eyes narrow at her from beneath the mask, she can’t see his scrutiny but she can feel it. “This is about you, isn’t it. About them,” he sighs. 

She hesitates. “No- ... .You were my idol…you were the coolest thing in the world…you made me feel safe in a city that wasn’t…but when I needed you, when I called to you…no one showed up. I had to drag myself out. I had to face it by myself, And i'm not the only one.” 

Tim’s breath hitches, he's not sure how to respond to that. 

“Look, I’m sorry about what happened to you- we’re only human, Harper..”

“You should be sorry. Now I'm not going to stop. I'm going to avenge my parents, and in the meantime I'm going to pick up your slack.” 

Tim chews the inside of his lip, he chooses his next words very carefully, “Your parents’ killer is dead. You know that, right?”

That stops her stream of thoughts. “....what?” she was not aware….this was her single goal. The only thing she honestly lived to do…and now she couldn’t complete it. The killer being dead wasn’t enough. She wanted to, she needed to do it herself…and now she never could.

“How long has he been dead.. Why didn't you tell me!? You obviously know who I am. You're smart and you never thought to tell the angsty girl her life mission couldn't be completed!?” 

“How is this my fault? They died years ago! I thought you would already know!” 

“Well I didn't know!” She was having a really hard time. This news has thrown her through a loop and honestly this argument would probably go nowhere with the way her mental state is at the moment. 

Tim inhales sharply, “You should go home, Harper.”

She nods. Deciding fighting him wasn’t worth it anymore. 

[hanahaki-disease]

What Would You Do For Me?

Hell or High Water - Percy Jackson/DC cross over

Summary:

“He knows that Dick will never be Jason, no one could ever replace him or even hold a torch to the brotherhood they had with each other. They were each other’s best friend, their partner in crime—Jason was there for Percy when there was no one there for Jason. But it was so comforting to know that Percy could have Dick be like that for him too, that Dick wants to be like that for him. That he was able to push aside whatever animosity he had, or still has with Bruce, to be better for Percy.”

****************************

“Hello?”

“Hello, Master Richard.”

“Oh! Hey, Alfred! What’s up?”

“I was inquiring if you could return to the manor soon,” Alfred asked.

“I’m heading over tomorrow, I promised Tim I’d help him with his one-handed back springs,” He answered. “I should be there around lunch, why? Is there something wrong?”

“On the contrary, master Richard, there have been some wonderful news that has happened, and it is urgent you return soon.”

“You’re making your famous chocolate chip cookies for dinner?”

“Master Perseus had returned home.”

“…”

“Master Richard? Young master Richard, are you there?”

“I’ll be there by dinner.”

—

It was quiet in the manor now, the silence a somewhat welcome chance of pace from the constant shuffling and movement that was camp. When Percy and Jason first moved into the manor, the silence was frightening. It kept them on edge. Quiet on the streets was never a good sign; it was the moments before a fire, before a mugging, before a gunshot. Quiet was the muffled melody of death in the winter, when the snow absorbed both heat and sound. They hadn’t liked the silence back then.

As time wore on, they found that they had rather liked it. They didn’t need to jump awake at every car honk or revved engine, the scuffling of feet didn’t make them turn their heads quick behind them. They could sleep with ease in the manor. They could simply be in the manor.

Jason had taken advantage of the quiet. His refuge in the labyrinth of old wood and generational decor was the olive green, hand embroidered chaise in the library. Gold thread wove in and out of the decades old fabric in beautiful leaf shapes all across the bronze branches of the artistically done tree. Azure birds and amethyst flowers broke up the sea of gold and green, glinting like the gems they emulated. Every time Percy saw his older brother on the chaise, legs wrapped up in a thick knitted blanket, nose in a book with the sunlight behind him, he would say that Jason mimicked the birds on the chair.

His brother would look up from whatever it was he was reading, mocked offense on his features, before throwing the pillow he had commandeered at Percy. Their laugh would echo in the quiet of the library, but it wouldn’t be so daunting. It wouldn’t sit heavy in the rafters and in the spaces between dusty covers and worn leather. It’d settle in the loved novels stacked by Jason’s side, in the bright windows that illuminated the room.

The library didn’t seem all that bright anymore.

A gloom that mirrored the gray clouds over Gotham dulled the library now, dragging the dark corners of the ceiling down. Pulling at the shadows in between the aisles, at the ashes in the fireplaces, in the cold that overtook that lingering warmth. Even Jason’s blanket couldn’t keep the cold out. It was a heavy, solid weight on his limbs, sinking Percy further into Jason’s chaise. His head resting on the arm rest, watching the dust mites float around in the gray light of the Gotham sun.

He knows why Jason liked this chaise in particular. It was near the window to be bathed in a healthy amount of light, enough to let him read comfortably without it being too bright. It was somewhat tucked into one of the corners of the room, hidden behind a tall bookshelf, away from sight lines in the improbable case of a break-in. That doesn’t mean that Percy didn’t have a perfect view of the entrances. The main doors were straight a head of him and he could see the spiral iron stair case that went up to the second floor. There was also a fireplace nearby for when the winter snow and wind beat against the window, the cold trying to weave between the grains of wood and the stone of the walls outside.

How many hours had Jason spent in this chair? Just, content to sit in the piece of furniture that Bruce’s grandmother had bought more than a century ago. How many of the books here had Jason read through? Light hands turning the delicate pages as blue-green eyes scanned the inked words, letting them paint their world in his head. Watching the characters dance and act to the tragedies and fortunes long dead authors created.

Percy picked up the top book on the stack beside him, the cold biting at his arm as soon as it left the minimal warmth of the blanket. It was Pride and Prejudice. The hardcover old and beaten, the corners rounded and the spine was creased with the white lines of use. The edge of the pages were soft, the way that old books were, and there was a water stain towards the back half of the book. No doubt from an accidental spill when the book was getting too good.

Inside, Percy ran his fingers over Jason’s name. “Return to Jason and Perseus Todd if lost” was written in blue ink beneath the dedication, the hand writing perfectly looped and curved to create their names that only could have belonged to their mother. Very different to Percy’s quick and uneven chicken scratch or Jason’s half print, half cursive scrawl. It was hard to read what he wrote in the margins, not because he couldn’t understand it, no, Percy has been told everything and anything about Jane Austen’s books. He’s practically read the book without having read the book. But he couldn’t seem to make heads or tails of the words in his brother’s handwriting, his dyslexia making it look like Russian cursive instead of English.

He didn’t mind it though. He was perfectly content to just gloss over the worn and loved pages, delicately tracing the scribbles of thoughts and predictions written in the margins and various colored sticky notes.

Percy missed his brother, the thought weighing heavy in his chest much like the blanket. He missed hearing him ramble about the book he was reading or whatever he learned at school. He missed waiting for Jason outside of Brentwood academy on the days he had basketball practice, the squeaking of sneakers on polished light wood floors and the inconsistent ‘thud’s of the balls. Missed the unimportant arguments they had about the most stupidest things in the back seats, at the dinner table, in the Batcave. He missed teaming up with him to go after Dick on the few moments he bothered to show up, laughing and screaming when he chased after them. His own smile a mix of annoyance and joy.

He missed Dick and he’d never thought he would. After all the guy was hardly home, retreating all the way across the country in Jump city with a team of heroes to call his own. He was angry all the time when he was in Gotham. Yelling at Bruce, ignoring him and Jason, only Alfred was able to bypass the cold shoulder he gave everyone.

Because despite the reluctant interactions and the tolerance he had for them two, Dick had still cared for them. He would still send the two of them birthday and Christmas gifts from Jump city. He would still make sure they were taken care off, pestering Bruce with questions about their health or their grades. He would still protect them should anything happen on patrol while he’s there. Nightwing guarding Robin’s back in the throes of rogues and villains, protecting him as much as he could while still letting the younger hold his own.

It had also been a while since Percy had even saw Dick in person. Video chats with his Nightwing mask on and the Titans behind him weren’t exactly considered a family call. And when he did come back to Gotham, it was because of a case and Percy did not want to don a uniform and fly around the rooftops. Last time Dick and Percy had been in the same room together was Thanksgiving almost two years ago. Jason and Percy on one side of the table, Dick and Alfred on the other side with Alfred acting as a buffer between Dick and Bruce. The tension then was as thick as the turkey and could probably be carved like one.

Still, Percy missed Dick. He wondered if Dick missed him too. Wondered if he felt at least a little guilty for how he treated them before everything that happened, happened. If he had been as heartbroken as Alfred and Tim had been when they found out he disappeared. If he regrets all he hadn’t said or did.

Percy traced one particularly small note in the book, his nail scratching at the ink ever so slightly as he let his thoughts consume him. Blind to the figure in the door frame, deaf to the scrambling and shuffling of feet as whoever they were searched the library. He had a feeling that there was something else in the room with him, like a sonar radar made of pure vibes beeping away in the general direction of the other entity. Maybe that was a demigod thing, a way to sense an ally or enemy while his head was preoccupied. Or maybe it was the bat-training he had, of just simply knowing he was being followed or in the presence of something else, to be on guard for whatever happens. Perhaps it was the Wayne fame that he gained over night all those years ago, the steady group of paparazzi that followed them to every gala and event or even when they went to the mall.

“Percy?” His head shot up at the sound of his name, letting the library around him come back into focus.

At the corner of the bookshelf that separated this little section and the edge of the main sitting area of the library, Dick stood wide eyes and out of breath. One hand holding the back of the couch beside him, the other open and at his side. There was a frantic feeling on him, as if he had run around the manor in some kind of craze, searching for something. Or someone. The muscles in his legs tensed, he wanted to get closer but something was holding him frozen.

Something washed over Percy when he realized who it was. It came crashing down on him like a tidal wave, clenching at his heart and glossing his eyes. The book in his hands forgotten and the blanket an annoying obstacle as he jumped off the chaise and towards Dick. That seemed to unfreeze Dick because it only took him a few steps till he was able to wrap his arms around Percy.

One arm wrapped around his back, the other at his shoulders, squeezing him tight and refusing to let go. Not that Percy minded, he held his own arms tight on Dick too, his hands fisting the jacket he wore as he buried his head into his Dick’s neck. He couldn’t stop the tears that stained the older man’s shirt, couldn’t stop the stuttering breaths in his chest or the trembling hands and arms clinging to Dick like a lifeline. It seemed like Dick was the same. Head bowed down, in Percy’s shoulder, a hand carding in the curls on the back of Percy’s hair, and Dick’s own tears leaving wet spots on Percy’s shirt.

“Oh my god,” He whispered like a mantra, voice cracking and breaking and he rocked them side to side. He pulled back from the hug, his hand holding tight to Percy’s shoulders and arms, and if confirming he was actually real and not some tangible hallucination. “How—how…what happened?”

“Long story,” Percy breathed, trying to get his lungs to keep the air it was taking in.

Dick grabbed hold of Percy’s head, his hands shaking as he cupped his little brother’s cheek, turning his head around looking for any scars or injuries he skipped over in his haste to hold him close. Percy wrapped his own hands around his wrists, grounding him where he stood. He needed to make sure this was real too, to make sure that Percy wasn’t dreaming and that he hadn’t fallen asleep on Jason’s chaise.

Red-rimmed blue eyes met red-rimmed green eyes before the corner of his mouth twitched downwards. He wiped away the wet streaks of tears on his cheeks, “I’m so sorry, Percy.”

“For what?” He asked.

“I was a shitty brother to you and Jason,” Dick confessed and it felt like a lump a built in Percy’s throat. “Neither of you deserved to be treated how I did, and I am so sorry. “

“No, it’s okay,” Percy shook his head. “I understand, I get it, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, Percy, it’s not,” Dick said. “I was an asshole. Point blank. No arguments—but I want to be better. Do better. For you, you deserve it.” Percy’s eyes began to well up with tears again, his own mouth contorting as the clench around his heart tightened. “And I know I’ll never be as good of a brother as Jason was to you, but I’d still like to try.”

Percy dove back in for another hug, pressing his face into Dick’s chest and his big brother held him tight. It felt like part of an impossible weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he could finally relax., knowing that he had someone in his corner, someone to support him when he himself can’t. Relief was the word he was looking for, secure was what he was feeling right now.

He felt so safe, and protected, and loved. Gods, he didn’t think he’d be held like this ever again.

And isn’t that a sad thought? To believe that he was never going to feel the same way he had with his brother ever again, to allow himself to crumble and break knowing that he had his big brother there to catch him and help him stay steady. That he had someone who’d stand up for him and with him no matter what.

He knows that Dick will never be Jason, no one could ever replace him or even hold a torch to the brotherhood they had with each other. They were each other’s best friend, their partner in crime—Jason was there for Percy even when there was no one there for Jason. But it was so comforting to know that Percy could have Dick be like that for him too, that Dick wants to be like that for him. That he was able to push aside whatever animosity he had, or still has with Bruce, to be better for Percy.

“Just…” Percy began, his throat dry from crying and his lungs stuttering in their attempt to even. “Just promise you’ll try to be there when I need you, okay?”

“Of course, Percy,” Dick answered. “Whatever you need, I’ll be there.”

“Promise me, say it.” Percy pulled away, his green eyes locked with Dick’s in a serious gaze. Last time someone had promised him something, they had only done it for a personal gain, not caring about Percy’s little heart in the process. Bruce had abused the fragile trust Percy had placed in his hand. He didn’t want Dick to do the same. But when Dick looked back at him, his pinkie finger outstretched towards him, something told him that Dick would never do that.

“I promise to be a better brother to you,” Dick wrapped his little finger around Percy’s, holding tight to him. “I promise to care, worry, and love you like a big brother should, like I should have the day Bruce brought you both home.” When Dick moved his finger away from Percy’s, he pulled him in closer and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head, wiping away the few stray tears left on Percy’s cheek.

“Now, c’mon. Alfred made cookies, lets get some before the others.” He wrapped his arm around him, placing his hand on Percy’s opposite shoulder as he led them out of the library.

****************************

I promised, didn’t I?

PSA: BRUCE DOES LOVE PERCY. Percy is just blind and doesn’t see it, so in his mind, Bruce doesn’t care. (He does.)

Next installment is gonna have a little moment (a good moment) between Percy and Bruce that makes their relationship a little bit better. They don’t get a proper talk like this until later, but it’s something.

Thank you for reading!!!!

Previous | Masterlist | Next

[drrealityslenderverse]

Danger Lurks

Searching for Jay with some help, Tim meets several other groups that aren't very friendly. MH x Whispered Faith x DarkHarvest00 crossover. Small note: The Operator and Slenderman are two different entities, the characters however, aren't aware and believe they're the same This is also lightly based on a distant future scene in the fancomic I've been posting

Back to Contents || Back to One-shot Contents

Ash gritted their teeth beneath the mask as Sean snickered beneath that shiny mask he always wore. She hated being anywhere near the Family let alone going to the group for help. 

Her head tilted back to Tim. Two other members flanked him, one holding a gun to the man’s head. He was injured—they both were—and far from home in search of Jay. The Family was the only place she could think of to escape the winter air and recuperate. 

“Should I repeat myself, proxy?” Sean sneered, finally glad to have one of the Tall Man’s pets coming to beg for the Family’s help rather than demeaning them for following the Speaker. 

“I said… beg!” Sean’s mask scraped against hers as he pressed closer. “Or I kill both of you.” 

They took a deep breath before swallowing their pride. “Please, we need your help.”

“Better than that.” 

A hand pushed down on her shoulder and Ash grudgingly sank to her knees before him. If Tim’s life wasn’t in danger, if it was only her, she never would’ve brought herself to this level of self degradation. In her peripheral vision, Ash could see Tim shifting with a glare directed towards Sean.

“Ash—”

“Quiet.” Sean snapped at him. 

Ash shook her head when it appeared Tim was about to argue further. There was a brief pause before she let out a breath. This couldn’t be held off too long without further repercussions that could get them both killed. 

“Please help us. We don’t have anywhere else to go, you’re our only hope. Let us stay and I’ll do anything for you and your Family. I promise, whatever you ask, just help us out for a day or so. You’ll never see us again.” 

Sean laughed. “Anything? I guess your master really did abandon you if you’re this desperate.” 

A sick feeling went through Ash as the man’s hand slid beneath her hood and gripped her hair, yanking her back to her feet. They winced in pain, though restrained themselves from retaliating. At least she couldn’t see what was probably a smug look under his mask. 

Sean stared a moment longer before his attention turned to the two guarding Tim. “Lexx, Michael, take our guest to a spare room. The proxy and I are going to have a little… talk about their half of this deal.” 

That was the last time Tim had seen Ash before being taken to what looked like an old office. While he’d been left alone, he was sure there were guards outside. At least he had a window. He watched as a car returned, frowning when their leader stepped out and Ash didn’t. The bad feeling that had been simmering in his stomach since he’d witnessed the scene earlier came to a boiling point. If his guide through this madness while trying to find Jay was gone… What would happen to him? 

“Will they go back on the deal and kill me?” He pressed an ear to the door, trying to hear anything that would give him answers. 

He couldn’t hear much, this was a big building, but he could hear muffled voices in the distance and… Footsteps? Were they coming his way or was he imagining it? Tim looked over at the window, it wasn’t meant to open but he had plenty of things he could use to break it and escape. 

The glass broke with a loud crash. Knowing there would only be seconds before someone came to check it out, Tim jumped out and ran for it. He took cover where he could in hopes they’d lose track of him but he didn’t stop running until the cold once again began to make his old leg injury ache. 

“If I could punch Alex again…” But whatever had been left of Alex was long dead, wasn’t it. And it was his fault. Just like Jay going missing and now Ash potentially being dead. “I couldn’t admit Jay was likely gone and now someone else might be…” 

He limped onward, keeping the road in sight as he tried to figure out where the man in the shiny mask had taken Ash. It wasn’t easy and mostly guess work, as the road was now mostly cleared of snow. For all he knew he’d already passed a side road or arbitrary spot on the side of the road where her body could’ve been dumped. 

Tim continued in silence… And then he paused as a sound caught his attention. Had he actually heard something? His eyes turned towards the trees, spotting someone in the distance with a dark jacket. From here he couldn’t tell who they were but he could hear them calling out to someone as they looked around the area. That unease filled him again. 

Pushing it aside, he began creeping closer. After earlier, he didn’t want to give away his presence too quickly until he knew exactly who it was and whether they were with that group or not. Tim ducked behind a tree as he closed in on the stranger, watching as a young woman dropped a white mask on the ground to join him. His focus fell to the limp figure the man stood over. At first he’d thought it was one of the many lumps of black fabric scattered about—something else that was putting him on edge—but his gut twisted when the man grabbed their collar and Ash’s masked face was jerked upward into his view. 

“What do you know about Alex? Where is he?” The man in the black striped jacket was blunt, getting right to the point with barely restrained aggression. “Tell us!” 

“Chris, give them a chance to speak.” The woman next to him spoke up. 

Tim tensed. Whoever these two were, they were clearly looking for someone named Alex—presumably not his Alex considering he’d never seen either of them on the tapes nor could he recall knowing them. They also looked ready to kill to find their third group member. 

“What made them target Ash though? Does she know them too?” 

A quiet response Tim couldn’t hear came from Ash. Whatever they’d said, Chris apparently didn’t like the answer. Within a second, the man had shoved her back onto the ground and pulled out a gun. 

“Tell us what you know, or I’ll kill you like all those other Order fuckers.” 

“No!” Tim charged, unwilling to stand by and let yet another person in his life die. 

A loud bang rang out as he rammed Chris away, pinning the man to the ground. The two struggled for a moment, pain lacing through him as the tussle aggravated his injuries from other mishaps that landed them here to begin with. Another click came from behind him. 

Beneath him, the man tilted his head to look over Tim’s shoulder. “Heather, shoot him.” 

She was kind enough to give a warning first. “Let him go.”

There wasn’t much choice with a gun pointed at him. This seemed to be a running theme as of late. Tim raised his hands and backed off, shooting a glance at Ash to see them lying unmoving. As much as he wanted to see if they were even alive, he had to keep his focus on not getting himself shot first. 

“Who are you?” Chris stood, his voice slightly less venomous than when questioning Ash. “Are you with The Order too?” 

“Who?” 

“The Order.” He gestured to a nearby body wearing a black cloak and white mask. 

“I don’t—”

“Your little friend there mentioned Alex when we found them. Where is he?” 

“We aren’t part of The Order… I’ve never even heard of it.” Tim shifted his gaze between the pair of them. “We were looking for someone. His name’s Jay.” 

The two looked at each other but remained quiet. The guns in their hands lowered slightly when Heather gave a small nod. Tim took the opportunity to move to Ash’s side, immediately applying pressure when he saw the blood soaking into the snow from her shoulder. 

“Why are they in a mask?” 

“To pretend she was a proxy for this… thing.” He wasn’t sure mentioning specifics was a good thing. Tim didn’t know what this new group was tangled in but he wasn’t going to tell more people about the entity stalking them if he could avoid it. They might think he was crazy or he could end up getting them involved. 

“Is it… tall and wearing a suit?” Heather’s eyes went to the surrounding woods. 

Tim’s heart sank. Even here, so far from home, people knew about that thing. Maybe there really were thousands of others out there. “...Yeah.” 

Chris slid off a bag, making a silent decision, and nudged him aside as he pulled out some supplies. “Here, I have some first aid experience. Heather, get the car ready, we might need a hospital.” 

She ran off. Tim watched her go before looking back at Chris. He was wary of trusting the man but now that the situation was somewhat cleared up, the pair did seem more trustworthy than the group Ash had originally gone to. Maybe they could help each other. 

“Looks like your friend’s in rough shape.” The man commented. “...Sorry, I made it worse. The Order is just… not good news and we’re really worried about what they’re doing to Alex. They said his name when I came over and I just assumed…” 

“The jacket maybe.” Tim helped pick Ash up, carrying her on his back. “We, uh, knew another Alex with a similar one that was blue. He… he’s dead because of the guy in the suit.”

“Fuck.” 

Well that was a simple way to put it. 

Tim let out a breath, wanting to talk to avoid the uneasy tension between them. “Yeah. Him and some other friends of mine. That’s why I want to find Jay. Ash had some potential leads but things went bad. Some maniac with a machete tried to kill us and I just got away from this other group who said they’d help. It’s all… a lot more than we knew about.” 

“I hope you find him.” Chris opened the car door for him to get in the back with Ash. “I’d say we could try helping each other out but, not exactly a good idea. We’ve had a lot of people stab us in the back and to be honest, The Order doesn’t fuck around. You’re safer without us. Once we drop you guys off at a hospital we part ways.” 

Something about that made him relax. He wasn’t sure he could trust them but at least Chris was willing to do this much and go in peace—although this situation was now partly his fault. Tim nodded in acknowledgement and pulled off Ash’s mask before going back to applying pressure. They just needed to hang on a little longer. Tim hoped Jay, wherever he was, could do the same.

[miles2g0]

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

Thanks for the tag @a-canceled-stamp for another tag! 💕💕💕

For this one, I’ll post a snippet from each of the WIPs in the last post. Asks are still welcome for more info. :)

- Tim red hood, reverse robins His—he’s—Jason’s talking about his photos. Of Batman and Robin. They were in his room when he died. Hidden in a compartment in his closet. “Alfred found them,” Jason explained. “He has a bunch framed, all over the Manor. Damian kept some—he keeps them in his apartment. There’s one on his damn fridge, Tim. He does miss you.”

- Renegade au "I also trained Red Hood when he was working with the League of Assassins." He didn't know where the sudden pettiness came from, but he couldn't help but add details. "I gave him his first gun. Taught him how to hold it, how to shoot. An FN 509 compact tactical. He liked the size and weight—he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet, his hands were still so small—" "That's enough."  It took a minute for Batman to compose himself. Renegade felt a rogue flare of satisfaction. 

- all birds have talons 2 - edited: He'd killed those two men right in front of her. He'd killed them, and that poor, broken little girl looked back up at him with stars in her eyes. Sasha had stood there with someone else's blood splattered on her hospital gown and looked at a remorseless murderer like he'd hung the moon.  And she hadn't stopped following him around since.

- villains win au Dick found him in Roman's office. He was—he was in a dog crate. A large one, but Jason was big. There was no room for him to fully sit up or stretch his legs, so he lay curled on his side. There was no lock on the cage and—that meant that something was very wrong.

- homeless Tim That winter had scared him so bad he'd stayed home for a full six months after. It was the longest Tim had been home since he'd turned twelve. He'd paid for it, but it was better than dying in the cold. But it, inevitably, didn't last. It took his dad breaking his arm to have him climbing out his window this time. As soon as it had healed enough that he didn't technically...probably need it in a cast anymore, he'd sawed it off on his own and found himself right back across the bridge to Gotham proper.

- blurred blue bleeding But the pain was a cleanse. He understood, after. It was a necessary evil. He'd grown up away from the Court, where he never should have, and it had sullied him. It made him too soft, tangled him up with too many people. Relationships outside of the Court were a weakness, a liability. The pain had cleansed his mind and soul of all of that. He felt like a weight had been lifted, like he could think clearly for the first time. So now he obeyed because he wanted to. Because the Court was all he had, all he needed. And if he disobeyed he would be decommissioned, and he didn't want to be rejected by his family. He wanted to be useful to his masters. He couldn't disappoint them. So when they sent him after Jason Todd, he just nodded and picked up his blades.

- mazes in our minds He was startled awake again by the jarring sensation of something touching him. Hands burning against his cold, paper thin skin, and he bucked away from them, flailing wildly again for the walls, for his safe corner. But it wasn't there and the hands came back again following him but he was too weak to fight, muscles atrophied from lack of use. He tried to scramble away but his arms and legs wouldn't take his weight and he rolled uselessly against that terrible, soft ground. There were sounds assaulting his ears—frantic voices. Jumbled words swimming around his head, but they didn't mean anything, words hadn't meant anything to him in a long time.

- bar hopping Jun slid his arm closer to where Tim's was resting on the bar so that their forearms were almost brushing. An invitation for contact, but not a violation of boundaries. Tim could easily move away if he wasn't comfortable. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Jun said simply. Tim pressed his lips together. Then he shifted and his arm was pressed against Jun's. His raw nerves chafed at the contact, but he forced himself to breathe through it and the warmth of Jun's skin slowly began to overtake that feeling. He hadn't really known the other boy long enough for this kind of intimate contact yet, but he was surprised to find that it didn't feel... uncomfortable. The power of tequila. And vodka. And whatever was in that shot Jason had pushed into his hands earlier.

[soysaurus]

It starts simple: Jason grits his teeth and lets a teasing grin flicker over his enamel. It shines with every stupid wannabe villain they take down, and it's going to shine even brighter now. This rogue is a knock-off, a copycat, someone who Jason can take down in his sleep.

But Tim sticks his nose where it doesn't belong. And then Damian follows suit, sniffing with his nostrils upturned, and then the next thing Jason knows, Steph is flinging herself onto his sofa, Cass is pulling leftovers from his fridge, and Dick fucking Grayson is talking through a PowerPoint on their Great Master Plan.

And that's how Jason is currently strapped to a chair, some old balding man breathing too heavily as he tries to scare the great bad Red Hood with a crowbar (please, have some fucking originality). Jason didn't insist on this, but Tim's a little shit and is still missing a spleen, Damian is a child, Steph just got her hair done, Cass is an angel, and well, fuck Dick Grayson. Jason's better than him.

So, yeah, maybe Jason did insist. But Roy said he looks hot tied up, and well, he might be at Lian's school production right now but Jason will for sure enjoy snickering as he tells Roy what he's missed.

(They're friends. They've always been friends. This is what friends do because they're great, great friends. Sometimes Roy calls him 'babe' and sometimes Jason calls him 'babe' back, but it's ironic because they're friends.)

The person that is here, though, is Bruce. He's a buzzkill, but whatever. Jason's the bait, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

The balding old man steps closer with rhe crowbar, leering in a way that shows off his coffee-stained teeth that Tim will definitely end up replicating, and Jason prepares himself.

He takes a deep breath, thinks about that one mission that required he first take singing lessons, and lets his throat sing.

All that comes out is a screech, horrible and sharp with the bite of fangs and the slash of claws. Jason screams as if a crowbar really is the thing he's most afraid of, even if he walks around with one strapped to his back. He sees the glint of Tim's staff getting into position in the corner of the room, he knows Dick is somewhere similar, and Cass is nowhere and everywhere. Steph is outside, ready to smash through the window, Damian is taking his anger out on some dumbass goons, Oracle is their eye in the sky, and Batman is nowhere close.

It's going well. It's going as per the stupid PowerPoint plan. Everyone's in position.

Ready.

The crowbar raises, Jason screams louder. He doesn't have time to cut himself off with one of Roy's cocky smirks before a loud SMASH shatters behind him. Jason gapes, twisting his head, because goddammit, Steph, it's not yet time!

A goon's yell is strangled as they arc through the air, slamming into the ugly bald Joker wannabe, and all hell breaks loose.

Batman, fucking Batman, stands in the one place he shouldn't be. Tim and Dick and Cass and everyone else who is actually part of the plan can't move fast enough. The goons swarm Batman, and then they're running away. Batarangs are flying, along with other gadgets. Heads hit the concrete warehouse floor in a quick staccato rhythmn.

"What the fuck, B?"

The ropes around Jason fall away and he glares, thumping his finger into Bruce's armoured chest with enough force to make him almost stagger.

He's about to scream, about to open his throat and swallow every morsel of green he hasn't ever been able to quite leave behind. Thick arms choke the sound from him instead. They wrap around Jason, caging him in a hug he hasn't felt since he was ten years younger.

There's a sigh behind him.

"Told ya he'd cave," Steph's voice says.

"Tt." There's the harsh slap of money changing hands. "I expected better from Father. Alfred will be hearing about this complete lack of professionalism."

Jason freezes. His mind works fast but not fast enough for this. His eyes slip to the side and he sees Tim failing to hide his laughs. He sees Dick looking so much like a proud Dad. Or older brother. Or whatever he is to Jason and Damian and everyone else in this messed up family.

And then there's Cass. She holds her hands up in a heart sign.

Jason's chest tightens. His armour is too much, Bruce is too much. He's still hugging. Jason tries to shove him off.

Bruce just clears his throat. They're standing opposite each other, because what do you say when what should've been a group mission turned into one man going ballistic?

Bruce pats Jason's shoulder. It's stiff. One pat. Two.

Then he grunts and disappears as if nothing ever happened.

Tim groans. "Great, he's going to cry and eat all my ice cream now."

Steph gasps, and she's gone too. "I JUST MADE BROWNIES."

Everyone slips into the night, each protecting their own treats that are going to soon be consumed by tears until it's just red and blue. Red and blue surrounded by dark, stiffling black.

"What?" Jason snaps at Dick.

Dick still has that smile, the small curve of lips that he holds whenever Jason appears somewhere with Roy. "Nothing."

Jason's eyebrows furrow, tight knots that he'll never be able to smoothen out. "Shut the fuck up."

Dick squawks, arms flapping. "I didn't even say anything!"

"You're thinkin' it."

Dick's smile grows. "That means you're thinking it too."

And Jason isn't. He works alone. Kind of. Sometimes.

He most certainly doesn't work with Batman.

"Fuck off."

He disappears into the night too.

But Alfred's making his favourite for Sunday-night dinner. And Roy's coming down to Gotham. And Bruce doesn't say sorry but he says other things instead.

Jason almost punches Dick's smile off when it keeps growing, even when the main course is finished and they're well through dessert.

Prompt:

Jason insists on being the bait for a joint mission with the Bats. But the moment he starts “screaming” during the interrogation process, Batman calls the whole thing off and smashes right through the window and into the first thug.

Absolutely nobody is surprised by this development. Except Jason.

[starseedfxofficial]

Master Price Action Trading: Avoid the Dead Cat Bounce Trap! The Price Action Ninja Guide to Spotting a Dead Cat Bounce: Avoid the Traps! There are few things in life that evoke the same mix of hope, despair, and the haunting realization of a costly mistake quite like a 'dead cat bounce.' If you're thinking this is some weird financial version of Schrödinger's cat, I assure you, it's much simpler (though no less frustrating). It's the market's cruel version of getting your hopes up, only to pull the rug out from under you—like that time you bought a new pair of designer shoes on sale, but they turned out to be two sizes too small. This is where price action trading can be your best friend, guiding you through the minefield with the skill of a Forex ninja. What Is a Dead Cat Bounce (and Why Should You Care)? Let’s start by demystifying the term ‘dead cat bounce.’ Picture a cat, thrown off a cliff (don’t worry, it's just an analogy), and even though it’s… well, no longer with us, it still bounces when it hits the ground. The “bounce” is a deceptive recovery in price that happens during a downtrend—a little uptick that makes traders think, “Oh, we’re going back up!” Spoiler alert: we aren’t. In the world of Forex, recognizing a dead cat bounce can save you from throwing good money after bad. Price action trading gives us the tools to analyze these movements, helping you know whether the bounce is genuine… or just a market glitch trying to ruin your day. How to Identify a Dead Cat Bounce Like a Pro Alright, let's get to it. Imagine you're watching a currency pair in free fall. Suddenly, it jumps—yay! But before you grab the champagne, consider this: is this a new trend, or just a “dead” market trying to lure you in? 1. Watch the Volume: Real market reversals come with a roar. A dead cat bounce is more of a timid squeak. When you see that little price uptick, check the trading volume. Low volume means it's more likely that this is just a bounce. A proper reversal should have volume that could rival a rock concert, not a sleepy Tuesday afternoon at the library. 2. Look for Price Action Patterns: Price action trading is all about using what the market is already telling us. If you're seeing candlestick patterns like “weak pullbacks” or small ‘inside bars’ after a drastic down move, you might be witnessing the dreaded bounce. As much as we love an underdog story, a minor pullback doesn’t always equal a comeback—sometimes it’s just the prelude to another plummet. My Favorite Price Action Trick to Dodge the Dead Cat Here’s a nifty trick: use the ol' “trendline test.” Imagine you’ve drawn a trendline along the recent downtrend. The bounce breaks above it, everyone cheers… but what happens next? If the price fails to hold above that line and falls back quickly, it's a fake breakout. Just like that time I thought I had won a free vacation but ended up on a mailing list for “double-glazed windows”—sometimes, things are too good to be true. Price Action + Dead Cat Bounce: A Cautionary Tale Imagine this: You wake up to see EUR/USD finally bouncing after weeks of heart-wrenching downtrend. You think, “This is it! Reversal!” You’re ready to hit the buy button. But, instead, you do what every seasoned trader would do—you look deeper. Suddenly, you notice that volume looks like it’s on a caffeine break, the price action seems feeble, and… oh no, it just failed the trendline retest. This is a classic dead cat bounce. If you’d bought in, you’d soon find your position dropping faster than my hopes at a Friday night speed-dating event. Moral of the story: Trust price action, not false bounces. Why Most Traders Get It Wrong (And How You Can Avoid It) One of the biggest mistakes traders make is ignoring the bigger picture. They see a short-term bounce and think they've struck gold, without realizing they are holding fool's gold. Price action trading is about listening to the market’s whispers—not just seeing what you want to see. Consider the daily timeframe alongside the lower ones. Is the dead cat bounce part of a major bearish trend? Is the “bounce” being rejected at a key resistance level? If you keep one eye on the larger context, you’ll spot these bounces for what they really are—false friends. Advanced Insights: Ninja Tactics to Outsmart the Market Let’s dive into the fun part—advanced strategies that make you the hero of your own trading movie. 1. The Dead Cat Divergence Check Use indicators like RSI or MACD. If price action is bouncing upward but RSI isn’t confirming that strength—ding ding, it’s likely a dead cat. It’s like seeing someone brag about running a marathon when their fitness tracker says they barely walked 5k—talk about a disconnect! 2. Quarterback Your Entry Points Here’s a technique that will make you the Peyton Manning of Forex (without the football helmet, of course). Wait for the dead cat to play itself out. Once the bounce fades, and the price resumes its downward journey, look for bearish engulfing candles or strong price rejection at resistance. These setups allow you to enter when momentum is in your favor—plus, you get a better risk-to-reward ratio. What more could a Forex ninja ask for? Conclusion: Sidestep the Bounces, Master the Moves Dead cat bounces are deceptive, lurking like cleverly disguised pitfalls ready to grab your capital if you don’t pay attention. Price action trading, combined with the tricks and insights we discussed today, will help you identify these fakeouts and avoid buying into market traps that have fooled so many others before. And hey, remember—if you see the market jumping after a nosedive, double-check before you celebrate. It might just be a cat that had one too many lives… and not enough bounce. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated Read the full article

[timothyvalihora]

How Red Hat Open Shift Unifies Cloud Development

Timothy Valihora is a longtime executive in data management and IT development who has extensive experience in the warehousing and conversion of organizational data assets. One of the platforms that Timothy Valihora use is Red Hat Open Shift (RHOS.)

A single-purpose container operating system, RHOS provides for the effective management of hybrid technologies and applications in ways that bring existing applications to current demand and capability requirements. RHOS accelerates the development of next-generation cloud-native applications, which enables the infrastructure-agnostic delivery of data at scale. Essentially, IT operators and developers are provided with a consistent app platform for managing the complexity of deployments across the cloud.

A unified and enterprise-ready platform, Red Hat Open Shift is built on Kubernetes and functions seamlessly across variation iterations of the cloud. These include the on-premise, hybrid, and public cloud, as well as edge architecture that enables optimal cloud functionality. The result is that every environment and application can be built, deployed, and supported by internally directed developers and DevOps teams.

Tim Valihora is an industry leading expert with respect to Collibra Data Quality, IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management, IBM InfoSphere Information Server - DataStage, QualityStage, Information Governance Catalog, FastTrack, Stewardship Center (BPM), Information Governance Dashboard - featuring Cognos (IGD), Watson Knowledge Catalog, Enterprise Search, QualityStage address standardization + certification, Subscription Manager, the Grid Toolkit for DataStage (GTK), Information Services Director (allows a DataStage or QualityStage job to be explosed as a web service), the IBM IIS "Rest API" and DataStage "Balanced Optimization."

Mr. Valihora is also an expert on Collibra Data Quality (formerly "OWL Data Quality." Advantages of Collibra Data Quality include the leveraging of "behavioral data quality rules" which use proprietary algorithms to auto-generate "behavioral rules" which can - then in turn - utilizing a "base" input data set (or disparate data-sets) in order to isolate day-to-day - anomalies i.e. as input data changes. Once setup and operational - the OWL Data Quality workflow can analyze data on a real-time (or near-real-time) basis - devise data quality rules (either coded manually or automatically via the behavior rules functionality)- then trap rule breaks, outliers, duplicates, pattern (or rule) breaks, "shape" anomalies and - as such generate meaningful - data quality "scorecards" etc.

Mr. Valihora is proficient at installing IBM InfoSphere Information Server on Windows, Linux, Unix and Red Hat Open Shift (for the "MicroServices" tiers of IBM IIS v11.7.1.4 (IGC New, IA lite, Watson Knowledge Catalog and Enterprise Search.))

Tim Valihora has conducted over 5 installations of OWL Data Quality (on Red Hat Linux and Apache Spark clusters.) Over 200 installations of IBM InfoSphere Information Server (on Windows, Unix, Linux and Red Hat Open Shift.) And 6 installations of IBM MDM.

In addition Tim Valihora has coded over 6000 DataStage and QualityStage jobs, 200 OWL Data Quality rules, 80 Collibra Data Quality Rules and dozens of Information Analyzer Data Quality Rules using IA "Workbench" and the newer "MicroServices tier" of IBM IIS (i.e. the IA "thin client data quality UI") which is deployed exclusively on Red Hat Open Shift technology.

Tim Valihora has over 2000 hours of consulting done on various IBM "Cloud PAK for Data" (CP4D) environments and over 46000 hours of ETL, Data Governance and Data Quality consulting - spanning 24 years and 78 large scale IT projects in Europe, Japan, Canada and America.

Mr. Valihora - President and CEO of TVMG Consulting LLC - is one of the penultimate ETL, Data Governance & Data Quality performance tuners in North America and currently resides in Vero Beach, Florida.

Tim Valihora - in terms of hobbies - enjoys Motorcycle riding, Snowmobiling, boating, fishing, tennis, golf, squash - and is an avid guitar player.