#unfortunately they would not have been viable anyway

[severalmoremutants]

Hi, yeah, thank you for bringing this up. I really like Puck as a character and my intention with those tags wasn’t to be ableist at all, but looking at them again, I can see how I came across that way. Im sorry to have upset you

To clarify- I don’t think it’s strange that Puck finds himself attracted to Heather, it’s a completely reasonable thing to happen in their situation and honestly he would’ve been a much better partner for her than Madison Jeffries (or Mac tbh). What’s happening in the panel is a healthy discussion between friends, something that rarely happens in Alpha Flight because everyone is usually bickering, hence why I said Puck and Shaman are the only chill members. It’s an example of Puck not being, to use my own words, ‘weird’ about Heather.

What reads as him being weird about her, to me, is that super intense inner monologue you mentioned. While it’s totally understandable for him to be sad because he feels she’ll never see him as a viable partner because of his dwarfism, he also does spend the majority of his time thinking about her, even in situations where she isn’t present or relevant. The undeniably ableist writing in Alpha Flight is definitely in part to blame for this, like surely the character with dwarfism would have more interesting things to think about all the time than his crush and the fact that he has dwarfism. It’s also a reflection on how melodramatic romantic feelings can be written, especially in older comics.

There’s also probably something to be said about how, via the demon sword retcon, he is at least 50 years older than Heather, which does make things weirder. I understand why people might want to ignore that retcon though, as it does kind of erase his dwarfism and turn it into something magic and fantasy instead of something real. Logan/Wolverine is another character that’s lowkey weird about Heather and he’s also 50+ years older than her, but I would definitely say he’s worse about it. Logan’s fixation with Heather feels more like an extension of his general thing for married redheads, while Puck’s feelings are definitely more genuine, they’re just written unfortunately.

A better way to say what I said in the tags would be that Puck is usually written as quite an intelligent character- not necessarily calm but more level headed, especially as the story progresses- and he, like Shaman, can often serves as a contrast to some of his more intense teammates like Sasquatch or Northstar. But that often goes out the window when Heather becomes involved and Puck’s entire mind switches to revolve around her.

So really it’s not Puck being weird, that was wrong and I apologise, it’s the writers being weird.

Anyway, sorry to rub you the wrong way, hope this clears things up a bit

still thinking about that time where shaman and puck were talking and Michael sat his ass down to talk to puck easier

[sysig]

hands shaking, teeth grit, sweat on my brow: It doesn’t have to fit the timeline perfectly, it’s okay if some of the details don’t match, no one’s going to care if this one thing happens just a Little later than it would have anyway

[gia-d]

Back in October last year, I started reading This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja.

By the time I had made it to chapter 5, I had already started typesetting this story as I read because I knew this would be one of those stories that I needed to have on my shelf.

When I finally caught up to the story at chapter 31, I begged the author to let me bind this when it was finished.

Nearly a year later, and what is probably the most important bind of my life is finally finished. Check out these glamour shots, and if you want to hear more about the actual binding process and about how this fic actually changed my life, see below.

So funny story, before I get into the technical side of this bind, but this fic actually changed my life. Not as in I was greatly emotionally moved by the story, though don't get me wrong I absolutely was, but genuinely this fic introduced me to some of the best people I have ever had to privilege of knowing (Hello Class, you know who you are 🩷), and also, it introduced me to Freyja, the incredibly talented author, who, as I type this, is curled up in bed next to me fast asleep after flying half way around the world to go on a two week long date with me.

Moral of the story folks is comment on the fics you like. You might accidentally meet the love of your life on, and I can't believe I'm saying this, AO3.

Anyways, about the bind!

This bind was a challenge from day 1. I had to do the typeset for this 300k word fic 4 times, and had to split it across 2 volumes. This was the longest fic I have ever attempted to bind, and it was so thick I couldn't get it in the paper trimmer.

To make this book as durable as possible, I attempted a few techniques. I secured it with 3 tapes, I made an Oxford hollow, I rounded the spine, I made a slipcase and I used 2.3mm boards where normally I use 1.8mm.

The slipcase is covered with embossed faux leather, buckram and plain ribbon, and lined with gold satin fabric. I've never made a slipcase before so this was an experience.

The books are covered with an emerald green silk finish bookcloth which really gave the books the luxury they deserved. I foiled custom end papers as well as every chapter title page using heat reactive transfer foil on toner ink (never again I am never doing that again omg it took days). Huge thank you to @la-sera for letting me use her artwork which helped inspire this fic!

The grey flashback chapters I had to use HTV for the border decoration and I'm very happy with how that turned out because it was so easy and straight forward, unfortunately it just wasn't viable for the whole book.

It feels weird to finally have these books done. They have my blood, sweat, tears and my heart poured into them, and I've been working on them for so long that it's odd to actually have them finished. I'm so proud of this bind, and feel like I've grown so much as a fanbinder by making these.

Anyways, if anyone has any questions about the process, please don't hesitate to ask!

(and if you are an Linked Universe fan and haven't read Adjuration yet, this is your sign!)

[sincere1ystar]

Cursed From the Start

coriolanus snow x fem! reader

The odds were never in your favor with you and Coriolanus. Not in the beginning when he was a mere peacekeeper working his way up the ranks and not now that he’s to be engaged with someone else.

What if your legs carried you to the woods instead of the market that day? You wouldn’t have been pricked by one of Coriolanus’s roses, if you never met him maybe you would still be whole.

You were younger back then, bright-eyed with dreams that were only personified within the stars despite being from the districts. Fashion had been your form of self-expression for as long as you could remember, your dresses were your art. You had dreams of making it as a fashion designer, the first step you took towards that was setting up a stall in the market where you would sell your dresses at. The long hours were gruelling, but you would do anything to get your name out there.

One night business went on for longer than usual and when you finally wrapped it up with your last customer, the sun was long replaced by the moon. It would be fine, you just had to get home quickly. Quickly, quickly, before the shapes in the dark started to morph into your fears.

You’re broken out of your spell by the sight of a peacekeeper with buzzed blonde hair. “It’s quite late, isn’t it miss?”, the boy asks.

You quickly nod in return, clutching your belongings close to your chest. “The marketplace never sleeps.

He smiles at your wittiness. “I’m guessing you’re heading home now?”, which earns a nod of approval from you. “I’ll escort you back, walking alone at night is not exactly the safest thing to do”.

You accept the request. He introduces himself as Snow. Coriolanus Snow. It rolled off nicely from your tongue, as if the structure of your mouth was created to only chant his name. It was easy to converse with him, and you couldn’t deny his charm either.

Oh if only you knew the nervous wreck Coriolanus was on the inside. He was enamored, meeting someone who was just as driven as he was. You held your head high, just as motivated to move up the ranks as he was.

“Well this is my place!!”, you call out as the two of you approach your modest cottage. You didn’t need much space anyway, being the only one left alive in your family.

You thought that encounter would be the first and last sight you would catch of him. Unfortunate. You were hungry for more.

Little did you know, Coriolanus seemed to mirror your starvation. He would be damned if he let your story start and end with a simple walk home. He stops by your little section at the market during his time off. It was unusual to see a peacekeeper at a dress booth out of all places, but his heart never felt more at home.

You should have been cautious of him, he’s a peacekeeper after all. His character should have left a bitter taste in his mouth, but instead it filled your senses with sweetness. You couldn’t help but indulge in his little conversations.

“Do you know your constellations?”, you ask him one night when the two of you lied together under the stars.

“Not as well as I should”, he admitted, “Astrology was never my strong suit”.

You giggle at his confession before pointing to two of the more viable constellations. “That one’s called Perseus and the one right there is Andromeda”.

“An old legend?”, he asks looking over to you.

“It’s Greek mythology”, you correct, “A love story between Andromeda and Perseus forever immortalized by the stars”.

“A love story”, he acknowledges. He wanted to share a great love like that with you, one that would be forever written in the stars.

Your late night talks with him turned into something more. You would have never guessed that your friendly encounters would blossom into love, after all you had more important things to worry about, like your future career. You had dreams of runaways filled with your designs and your dresses being shown in public displays, companionship that ran as deep as the one you had with Coriolanus would be a distraction from reaching your goals. You weren’t going to let Coriolanus just have you, he would have to work for his chances.

Coriolanus had a feeling that you thought your deep driven motive to succeed in the fashion world, but your ambition didn’t scare him away. He had goals too, it wasn’t like he was going to stay a peacekeeper forever, he longed to be one of the country’s elite.

You couldn’t help yourself, you were falling for him. Every instinct in your body told you to stop, but you just couldn’t help yourself. His words swayed you down a different path, with him love didn’t feel like weakness.

He gave into the attraction first, the two of you were taking a stroll in the forest like you always did. You were collecting berries from the bushes, carefully placing each one into your basket. You looked up at him to make some sort of witty comment like you always did, but this time all be focused on was your parted lips, and before you knew it be was kissing you senseless in the woods.

You thought it was a spontaneous act of love, little did you know that on Coriolanus’s part it was all calculated. He would kiss you in the woods because there would be no eyes to catch the act. Maybe that should have been the first sign.

You had been with men before, but never like this. They were merely used as distractions from the stress of your attempts to get your name out there in the fashion world. But with Coriolanus, you felt something. You weren’t sure what it exactly was yet, but the feeling had made a home within your heart.

For a few months you thought Coriolanus would be the closest you would ever get to heaven. You raptured the small things: the little kisses he would give you, the way he would cling onto your waist during the early mornings, the way his touch would linger when the two of you would go on late night swims.

The two of you wanted to get married. You would often spend the last hours of the day lying on his chest while the two of you conversed about rings and cribs. Maybe to others it seemed like the two of you were moving too fast, but marriage was more than just a piece of paper and a ring to you. You wanted to spend the rest of your life with him, and marriage would allow you to do that. It was a far fetched dream, you couldn’t even publicly declare him as yours because of his role as a peacekeeper. If holding hands with Coriolanus was seen as a crime, then marriage would be treated as a sin.

The night came when you rested your head onto Coriolanus’s chest. This was the only time of day you were allowed to love him freely. “I met with my commander today”.

“Oh yeah? What did he say?”, you ask hopefully.

“He gave me an opportunity to move up the ranks…”, he swallows nervously. His heart broke at the hopeful look on your face.

You squeal in excitement at his words. “Does this mean we no longer have to love in secret anymore?” You were ecstatic at the mere thought of just being able to hold his hand publically.

He doesn’t answer, instead he looks away to avoid meeting your gaze. “Why’re you so quiet.. if this is about the possibility of you moving to a different district”-

“I would be sent back to the Capitol”, he quickly interrupts. You’re quiet for a moment before you slowly sit up as Coriolanus notices the distraught look on your face.

“Hey, hey it’s nothing to worry about”, he desperately added as his hands started to cup your face. “I’ll meet you there”.

All you can do is shudder out a breath as you attempt to prevent tears from leaking out of your eyes. “How?”

“You’ll make it as a stylist, do you not think people Capitol will want to see your designs? We’ll reunite there”, he says in between peppering little kisses onto the top of your head.

“You really think so?…”

“I know so.. I’ll wait for you daring”.

When Coriolanus left back to the Capitol he took your heart with him. The only thing you had to celebrate his memory was the ring he made for you out of a string of rope. It was supposed to be a makeshift for an actual diamond ring he planned to get you one day.

Your heartbreak fueled your work even more, dressmaking was your escape in order to avoid your feelings. It was better this way, it’s not like you lost him forever and the thread of rope around your finger reminded you of that. It only took a year for your dresses to be noticed by Capitol society.

As you were welcomed to the Capitol as a new and upcoming designer, Coriolanus was moving up the ranks as well. You would see his name in every paper and the words “Panem’s Next and Upcoming Politician!” under every picture posted of him. Reading his interviews that were published to the public showed you that his words had became stale and flavorless, you were sure it was just formality and the boy you knew was just hidden away.

You made your Capitol debut by attending the flashiest gala of the season, wearing a dress you intricately designed yourself of course. You knew Coriolanus would be there, anyone who meant anything important would be there.

You were nervous, but your excitement overcame your anxiety. You made your rounds around the Gala and made your way to reside in the garden outside the ballroom. Your hope was dimming inside you as you walked around the rose bushes, it had been hours with no sight of Coriolanus.

You were ready to drown in a sea of embarrassment, maybe you were wrong after all. Tears of shame blurred your vision and you hadn’t even noticed that you’d accidently bumped into someone on your way out.

You shakingly turn around to offer your apologies, but your flow of tears suddenly stopped when you realized who it was. “Coryo?”

He’s stunned by the sight of you before he smiles and pulls you in for a kiss. You hadn’t missed the way his eyes darted around anxiously before he leaned in, but you chose to focus on the emotions of reunion.

“I missed you..”, you mutter with your forehead against his. His buzzcut had grown out

Taking a clear look at him, you noticed that there was a lot about Coriolanus that had changed. You weren’t too surprised, it had been a year since your eyes last took him in. He no longer dressed in simple clothing. His buzzcut had grown out. And his ring-

His ring made out of torn up rope that he used to symbolize his promises to you was gone and replaced with a shiny silver wedding band. Coriolanus must have followed where your eyes were looking, and he sheepishly hid his hand behind his back.

“I’m sorry-”, he starts with his voice filled with remorse before your anger gushed away any sort of chance to offer an apology.

“You’re engaged”, you stated. If you questioned it he would have just offered you his side of the story and you were just too hurt to hear that now. What happened to waiting?

“I had to do it”, he says too calmly for your taste, “To be respected, I needed a wife to soften my image. You of all people should understand”.

You couldn’t fathom the words spewing out of his mouth. This wasn’t your Coryo. Your Coryo would have said that no amount of wealth or status could make up for your presence and that he didn’t even want to make it to the top if you weren’t going to be by his side.

He gave you reassurances as he kissed your forehead, muttering things about how the two of you could still be lovers but in secret. He slipped off his engagement ring as he cupped your face, but all you felt was disgust. This wasn’t the man that promised to be eternally yours.

You were praised by all sorts of prestigious fashion magazines: “From Rags to Riches!!”. All your wishes had finally come true hadn’t they?

Almost all your wishes. You flip the page of the magazine to find various pictures of a wedding dress, the one designed for Coriolanus’s wife-to-be.

[free-luigi-mangione]

i've been seeing a lot of people talking about how Luigi might actually get sentenced to prison for life or for a long time (like 15/20/25 years) and that they'd be okay with it????? because at least he'll get to be alive and hopefully get out???? this sounds absolutely insane to me for a few reasons

do y'all realistically think he wouldn't be killed some other way if they're unable to kill him by death penalty??? that boy has no safety in any prison anywhere, he'd be killed within a year or two max!!!! don't let him get Epstein-ed y'all!!!! he deserves better

killing him would unfortunately be very very easy for the government and justified from their end, he's become a symbol of resistance against the oligarchy and is already being seen as a martyr for the people's causes. but he is no martyr!!! he is not a symbol!!! he's a human being!!! he's like any one of us!!! he doesn't deserve to have his right to life taken away from him by some greedy assholes who want no good for anybody in this world

given what the public loves to speculate on his mental health issues (by this i mean depression and possibly suicide ideation), it'd be very very easy to do away with him and make it appear like he killed himself and the worst bit is that the public would probably accept it as the truth this shouldn't happen y'all

given what we know about his health issues and what we know about the fact that he loved travelling and would defo want to live life to the fullest, taking away his freedom and giving him the possibility of growing old in prison and then maybe, at best, getting out years later would absolutely crush him. and even if it didn't, the authorities would have a very viable excuse to say he killed himself and honestly i think he might too if it comes to that

people in New York, please don't let him be killed in any way he deserves to live and whether you believe in his innocence or not, i think we can all agree he did a good thing, he shouldn't have to suffer more than he already has have some compassion and kindness and try to look at him as a fellow human and not whatever the media wants you to believe

anyways go find out about JURY NULLIFICATION!!! the power is in your hands, especially New Yorkers. don't let us down :)

[a-minke-whales-tale]

Failure

I did finally manage to complete or partially complete the stiffness test. Every single step of this process has been fraught with failure.

The first major struggle is with the new printer I have (Comgrow T500). In some ways it is brilliant as it is such a large machine capable of printing very large parts. However the machine really struggles with cooling and this causes the parts ot have issues with thermal stresses and warping. I will need to experiment further on how to manage these stresses. But parts either kept not coming out right or would snap and twist easily because of so much thermal stress already within it. I did though eventually get further along with it. However right now I can only make the parts with walls one thick or the additional walls seem to put too much heat into the part leading to warping and a buildup of thermal stresses. I finally managed to get parts printed and yesterday went to do the poor which was really just a comedy of errors. There were so many mistakes one after another after another. First part of the pour had not enough material, and was so incredibly viscous I struggled really to mix it and certainly could not cast it via the pour tube and eventually just took off the top and poured it in directly but I did keep dripping everywhere and got stuff all over my shirt. I then had to prep a second batch which I did not make enough and so had to make yet a third batch. But finally after much frustration and exhaustion I did finally finish the pour.

This test was to explore if the hardness would be enough and how thick these inner sections of the fins had to be as the current concept, though a good thickness for the whalesuits is not as viable for commercial production as they would be simply very expensive (around 320 euro excluding VAT which is comparable to a fantasea fin IV which is most comparable depending on what the values of the euro and US dollar are doing) but also be very heavy on the foot which is not ideal for many people. Also as we will shortly see, would not be stiff enough regardless.

Anyway trying to get the parts out was an absolute nightmare. It is always a bit difficult but these larger parts are particularly hard. Silicone quite famously does not well bond to other materials. I had found that it bonded poorly enough to the PLA that I could separate the moulds with even the need for release agent. This worked very well at small scales, though as I have been doing large casts the bonding energy, even though weak, is sufficient is it extremely difficult to seperate the halves of the mould and often results in their destruction.

Unfortunately though the final part, though it has a significantly higher hardness, the stiffness is simply not enough. The part is very floppy under its own weight and this is not sufficient for usable flukes.

This is without any loading and at this point the fin should stick out more or less straight with little deflection. Having retaken that picture though so it does not show my human body at all, it has become a lot stiffer than two hours ago, I might just let it sit the rest of the day and see how it comes out.

One thing though this level of flexibility might actually do pretty well for making something like ike's fin (especially how it was a few hours ago) in it being a bit floppy, as well as our own fins wiggle and waggle a bit when surfacing or breaching.

I did label this about failure and frustration and how I will have to redesign my approach, but I may yet not actually have to. I guess I will have to see how it goes and how it will stiffen up.

In any case I will take the day to rest and consider other options and see how exactly this material turns out. It is some updates and progress and a lot of struggle to design this all. I will get there though! I do not always post on what I am doing but this is a pretty continuous amount of work and struggle going on with this project. I do hope soon I will have a full fin.

Kala

[suzukiblu]

i am literally for real obsessed with your timberkon pink kryptonite fic so i definitely would love to see another sneak peek, but i'm also loving all the superfam stuff you're putting out!!! something that i wish you would write because i love your works (and have since the darcy lewis stucky days) and i think you would do amazing things with the pairing is jaytim, but i know thats not everyones cup of tea

(i realize now that you were probably aiming for an ask rather than a reply so here it is in your inbox too hskdhsh)

Thank you! ❤️ And oh, asks and replies were both fine for this, no worries. I try to just specify in-post whenever I have a preference but it's not gonna bother me either way.

I DO like JayTim to read, but I've never really felt a particular bug to write it myself? At least not yet, anyway, that may one day change. Though I miiiiight still put Kon in the middle because I am who I am and all, haha.

I'm planning to update the pink K fic on AO3 tomorrow, though I'm pretty sure I've already posted enough of chapter two in excerpts on Tumblr to have posted basically all of it by now and I'm trying to avoid doing that with chapter three, sooooo instead please accept the beginning of this very niche Superfam omegaverse pack dynamics AU instead. I've been looking for an excuse to post this whole big long thing anyway, lol.

Read-more for length, 'cuz there's kind of a lot here, haha.

.

The representative from the wet nurse agency shows up fifteen minutes early with an unusual-seeming omega who can't be a day over nineteen, being generous. Bruce makes a note to look into the agency's hiring practices a little more closely. The current situation is something of an emergency, unfortunately, and he's only had time to run the intermediate-level background checks so far.

Maybe this isn't the prospective wet nurse, he halfheartedly hopes, and they're just another representative; one who's in training or just here as backup. The kid smells like milk, though, and also why the hell would the agency send out an omega representative? Omegas are typically secretaries and clerks and almost all do in-office jobs, where they're "protected" from the outside world.

The practice is stupid and demeaning and borderline abhorrent, but it's a step up from the days when an omega couldn't get any job that wasn't as a nanny or a sex worker or some fucked-up combination of the two. Clark being an actual reporter is something that was practically unheard of two lousy generations back, and even now Clark is still an unusual exception in his field. Typically, an omega writing for a newspaper would be doing gossip or advice or something domestic, not investigative journalism.

So no, there's no way that this particular omega is anything but a wet nurse candidate, unusual-seeming and concerningly young or not. And Bruce had insisted on the candidate coming to meet them in person, even when the agency had very unsubtly implied that it would be better to just have the milk delivered.

Bruce is absolutely looking into this agency's hiring practices. An omega this age should barely be presented. One who's already allegedly producing enough milk to be a viable wet nurse for what they're requesting . . .

It's concerning, yes.

"Master Bruce, the representative from the Waterton Agency and her associate," Alfred introduces politely, gesturing between Bruce and their guests. He doesn't look or smell disapproving, even in the mildest notes, but Bruce knows he is.

Of course he is, with an omega who might be being either abused or taken advantage of or outright trafficked in the manor.

Bruce should've run a better background check.

"Hello, Alpha Wayne. My name is Ellen Travers," the agency representative greets tightly as Bruce steps into the parlor. She's a harried-looking blonde beta with graying hair who looks very unhappy to be here and is doing a very bad job of hiding the nervous dissatisfaction in her scent.

She doesn't introduce the omega.

Bruce puts on his stupid "Brucie" grin and strides right up to Travers, sticking a hand out to shake. She puts on a weak attempt at a polite smile in return and takes it.

"Hello there, Beta Travers, thanks so much for coming out here on such short notice!" Bruce greets her with a lie of cheerfulness, but Travers continues to smell nervous and upset and her smile is no less forced. And the omega . . .

The kid smells downright sullen, which is not a typical scent to catch off an unfamiliar presented omega and doesn't do anything to make him seem any older.

And yes, he's definitely unusual. He's much taller than Travers–about Bruce's own height, in fact–and has a very broad build and a surprising amount of muscle on him on top of that. Bruce knows full-grown alphas who'd kill to be built like this kid. He's also much more "handsome" than "beautiful", and frankly couldn't look less like the kind of sweet and pretty little things the agency had advertised on their website if he tried, much less the soft and maternal type Bruce had been expecting to actually have show up, given the specific requests he'd made.

Well, it does make sense. Bruce obviously wasn't going to provide the agency with either a Kryptonian genetic profile or a Kryptonian pup's exact dietary needs in search of a suitable wet nurse, but the nutrient requests that they'd made would likely necessitate an omega of a similar build to Clark's to supply–hell, the kid even resembles him a bit, funnily enough. They've already had four agencies tell them that they simply didn't have an appropriate candidate on staff, and the milk samples they'd been able to provide hadn't proven very helpful.

Bruce has no idea how the Kents ever fed Clark, but Martha had at least had the advantage of having a pack bond with him. A packmate's milk always does miles better by a pup than a stranger's or any kind of formula ever could.

Though she'd had some very odd cravings while nursing him, she'd told them. And Clark had still grown up underfed, even with formula and yellow sunlight to supplement–the Fortress had observed marked evidence of childhood malnutrition in him, he'd said.

Occasionally Bruce wonders what a properly-nursed Kryptonian raised under a yellow sun from infancy would've actually turned out like.

The thought is . . . well. A thought.

A thought that still makes him leery of how Jon Kent might grow up, sometimes.

Those concerns aside, though, the really unusual thing about this omega isn't either his physique or his face. Bruce is perfectly used to omegas with "nontraditional" looks after knowing Clark and Diana this long, to say nothing of various other Justice League members or other superheroes and villains he's known, or of both raising and reuniting with Jason. But this omega isn't as demurely dressed as mild-mannered Clark Kent would be; he's wearing opaque sunglasses and an alpha-cut studded leather jacket and alpha-style jeans and an inconveniently inaccessible plain black T-shirt with no sign of a nursing bra underneath it, nothing soft or appealing in either his clothes or his posture. If anything, he looks aggressive; tense and guarded and ready to start some shit. Even Jason usually puts up a temporary illusion of traditional omega mannerisms when he's meeting strangers as a civilian, if only so he'll be underestimated. This kid isn't even pretending to make the attempt.

And the kid smells completely and undeniably stray, too. Bruce can't catch a single note of packscent coming off him. Not even the scent of whatever pup got him milked up enough to qualify for this job. Unbred omegas sometimes lactate in heat or when under stress or if someone in their pack either has or adopts a pup, but a stray who doesn't smell particularly distressed or anything like he's on his cycle shouldn't be producing any milk at all.

At least not without using the kind of stimulants that Bruce explicitly forbade when filling out the agency application, anyway. Those medications are necessary for some omegas, obviously, but in this situation . . .

Kryptonian pups don't respond well to getting anything like that in their milk, they've already very thoroughly learned.

The omega also has spiked stainless steel piercings in his ears, snake bites under his mouth, and two curved barbells in his left eyebrow. All his other jewelry is heavy alpha-styled rings and bracelets, and his nails are painted a chipped black. And he is, notably, not wearing any kind of collar or necklace, and his neck is completely unmarked.

Bruce is in no way oblivious to the obvious message that an uncollared and unbitten omega's neck presents when left so obviously bared. Especially on a stray one who's dressed like an alpha and standing like he's expecting a fight.

He cannot imagine why this kid is working as a wet nurse.

None of the theories that come to mind bode particularly well, though.

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

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

Much more thoroughly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Never.

And Kara and Karen are both alphas, and Jon's a beta and only ten anyway, and the only other living Kryptonians they know of are either remorseless criminals imprisoned in the Phantom Zone or the sickly little pup who's slowly wasting away upstairs.

Formula and concentrated yellow sunlight haven't been enough. Clark can't get milked up anymore. They haven't been able to synthesize any appropriate supplements either in the Fortress or in working with the Justice League or STAR Labs or even in collaborating between them.

And the pup is just getting weaker, and quieter, and sicker.

A human wet nurse probably won't even help that much, at this point, but . . .

Well, it's the best chance they have to keep the pup alive until they can synthesize something. Maybe the only chance, now.

"We strive to provide to our clients' convenience, Alpha Wayne," Travers says, and the omega rolls his eyes again. Bruce is less and less convinced of him being an adult in any way but the presentation of his pheromones.

It's rude to address an unfamiliar unpacked omega directly, especially as an alpha. Technically Travers is chaperoning them in a professional situation, though, and Bruce has increasing suspicions about this omega's personal standards so far as "manners" go anyway.

And everyone knows Brucie Wayne is stupid and shameless, of course.

So he flashes the kid a grin, and he says, "Well, it's great to meet you, we appreciate you making the trip! What's your name, Mr. . . .?"

The kid blinks at him, clearly surprised both to be spoken to and to be called "Mr." instead of "Miss" or "Ms." or even "Omega". Travers looks absolutely scandalized.

Bruce really doesn't approve of the kind of traditionalists who won't introduce an omega or use their stated pronouns, though, so fuck if he cares.

"Her name is Carly, Alpha Wayne!" Travers interjects quickly, her tone a little bit too bright to be genuine. "Short for Caroline."

"Just Carl," the kid corrects, shaking his head. Travers's mouth tightens again. It's not a very typical omega name, so no surprise.

It occurs to Bruce to wonder if Carl might be a trans alpha, which he probably should've thought to wonder as soon as he saw how he was dressed and got an impression of his personality. Obviously the kid's at least not currently on HRT if he's working as a wet nurse, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of him being transgender all the same.

Actually, affording gender-affirming care is definitely a reason that a kid like this one would be working this job, especially if said kid's family weren't supporting them. Wet nurses make more money than most other fields that omegas without a diploma can expect to get into, at least short of sex work, and Carl is very obviously too young to have graduated college yet.

Actually, Bruce still isn't even sure if he's old enough to have graduated high school yet.

He's going to burn down this whole damn agency if they're knowingly employing a minor as a wet nurse.

"Nice to meet you, Carl," he says easily. Carl's eyes narrow consideringly, and then he folds his arms and smirks, crooked and casual.

"Sure," he says. "Nice to meet you too, Wayne."

Travers looks agonized. The last non-alpha stranger who called Bruce "Wayne" instead of "Alpha Wayne" was a beta terrorist who was in the middle of kidnapping him, and he's not sure any omega who wasn't an active supervillain ever has, so he's not surprised by her reaction.

Carl is still watching him with the same cocky smirk, though, an obvious challenge in the expression and his posture both. Bruce puts another point towards the possibility of him being a trans alpha, though he's not stupid enough to actually ask if he is, especially not in front of someone the kid works under. Presentation aside, Carl might not be out, and Travers is currently at least professionally following traditional manners, so Bruce doesn't have much hope for this agency being all that progressive and doesn't want to accidentally get the kid fired.

Though if Carl is a minor, Bruce is going to have to see if he can't slip him a business card and find him another job. Especially if he's going to be burning down the agency he's working for.

"Why aren't you available for direct nursing, if you don't mind me asking?" he asks in a curious tone, because he still can't smell a pup on the kid and most wet nurses who aren't nursing their own pups do direct nursing, and he wants intel about the agency's typical practices. Carl shrugs.

"Stubborn tits," he replies, pushing his chest out as he gestures at himself with no apparent sense of shame or self-consciousness, and Travers looks increasingly agonized. Bruce is just increasingly missing Jason, himself. "Milk flows too slow and the pups always get all fussy and stress out about it. Which, whatever, pups are weird anyway, they're not really my thing."

"'Weird'?" Bruce repeats, carefully noting the lack of possessives in reference to any potentially dysphoria-triggering anatomy. Still not a confirmation, but another point. Carl shrugs again.

"I'm afraid Carly doesn't bond appropriately with pups, Alpha Wayne," Travers interjects quickly, and Carl scowls at her. "She has an unfortunate detachment disorder."

"I 'attach' fine," Carl grumbles sourly, jamming his hands into his jacket pockets. "I just don't like kids."

Travers grimaces. Bruce keeps pretending to be an oblivious idiot. He has met omegas who don't like children. They exist.

They're just all deeply, deeply traumatized people. Or clinically insane.

Or both, frequently.

So . . . "detachment disorder" seems likely, yes.

Bruce doesn't consider either sex or gender to be the end-all be-all of a person, of course, but there are certain biological imperatives that no one can deny as existing, and a lactating omega faced with a theoretical hungry pup–really, just about any omega faced with a theoretical hungry pup–is not ever going to say they "just" don't like kids. Usually the problem with omega wet nurses is them liking kids too much, in fact, and getting distressed or depressed when the parents wean the pups and they won't be seeing them again. The decent agencies have psychological support for that in place and typically offer paid leave between long-term clients. The Waterton Agency does up to a month, which is one of the reasons Bruce chose it.

So yes, Carl is almost definitely traumatized.

Though really, a wet nurse who won't be around much isn't the worst thing, considering. Neither Clark nor Jon started developing any especially noticeable powers until they were older, but they can't assume anything based off a sample size of two, especially when said sample size is made up of biological relatives. And even if they didn't have to worry about that, well, the manor is frequently full of vigilantes and the cave is right underneath it. There's a lot that a regular guest could notice, especially over however long they might need to be nursing. Especially because nursing is a quiet, out-of-the-way activity that takes a while, and it would be very easy for someone to forget to keep their voice down or to not do a damn quadruple-backflip off a chandelier at the wrong moment.

And there's a reason Clark and Lois brought this problem to the shadows of Gotham, as opposed to staying in bright and sunny Metropolis with it. They've got something to hide right now, and a lot to figure out.

Plus if even a molecule of kryptonite gets involved in this situation, even secondhand . . .

Power Girl and Supergirl and Steel are the ones taking shifts watching Metropolis right now, and everyone is just going to leave it at that. Superman isn't coming out for anything less than the apocalypse.

"Well, the Lane-Kents will probably want you to meet the kiddo either way, if you don’t mind," Bruce tells Carl, offering an easy shrug. "Peace of mind, you know how it is."

"Not really," Carl says. Bruce debates slipping the kid a psychiatrist's business card, but he'd probably take it as an insult.

"Er, yes, Alpha Wayne," Travers says awkwardly. "Actually, we were expecting Alpha Lane to be with you . . . ?"

"Lois is currently stuck in Metropolis traffic thanks to Metallo bashing up half of downtown this afternoon and Clark is upstairs getting the kiddo around. Little guy just woke up from his nap," Bruce replies with a pleasant smile, making another note of how Travers left off the omega member of the couple's last name, and also apparently doesn't expect to be meeting said omega at all. He is increasingly regretting choosing this agency, though he may yet manage to do some good in the world by subtly dismantling it. Or maybe just by buying it outright and doing a little restructuring.

Or a lot of restructuring.

"Wait, it's not your kid?" Carl asks, wrinkling his nose with a puzzled expression. Travers looks pained. The Waterton Agency isn't Gotham-based, so Bruce isn't sure why she apparently expects Carl to be up on the Wayne pack's current members, especially considering how she keeps talking over and outright ignoring him. Bruce has a hard time picturing her bothering to provide the information herself, at this point.

"Oh, no, just doing a favor for some visiting friends," he replies smoothly, still wearing the same pleasant smile. Which is a lie, of course, because actually the Lane-Kents are part of his secondary pack and "visiting friends" therefore in no way covers what they are to him. The Wayne pack is both his primary and his family pack, obviously, and the Justice League is a loosely-connected tertiary pack, but his secondary pack lacks both an official name and public recognition, because explaining to the public why Brucie Wayne's secondary pack is two award-winning reporters from Metropolis, a random museum curator in Gateway City, a decorated Navy SEAL, and occasionally a cat burglar with commitment issues is just not going to work out for anyone's secret identities.

And that even without counting how everyone knows about Lois Lane and Steve Trevor's respective very public connections to Superman and Wonder Woman, much less ever explaining anything about Selina. Bruce, meanwhile, still isn't sure how he ended up in a pack with any of these people. Clark and Diana definitely have a lot to answer for either way, though.

Mostly he blames Clark. Diana has more decorum. Clark is just . . . Clark, so now Bruce gets a scarf and cookies from Martha Kent every Christmas, never mind that he's technically Jewish, because God forbid he ever tells her that and she starts sending him Hanukkah presents instead. He cannot handle eight nights' worth of Martha Kent's colorfully-wrapped scarves and lovingly-packaged cookies. That's just not a thing he can do.

He doesn't even celebrate holidays, except when Dick cons him into it. Which admittedly he's been doing more often again the past few years, but–

This is off-topic, Bruce reminds himself, but then gets distracted as Carl cocks his head a little and frowns over something. Bruce instinctively wants to brace himself for trouble at the sight, because that frown actually very strongly reminds him of Clark's "what the hell weird and concerning thing did I just notice with my super-senses" frown, but A) Carl doesn't have super-senses and B) Bruce just heard the stairs creak, which means the actual Clark is finally on his way down to meet them. No one else in the manor would ever make the steps creak any way but deliberately except for Lois or Jon, and Jon is out on a walk with Damian and Titus while Lois is, again, currently stuck in Metropolis traffic. So: Clark, definitely.

Also Clark tends to make the stairs creak a lot louder than either Lois or Jon do, given the very notable size difference there.

"Has Alpha Lane authorized you to make decisions for his pup's care, Alpha Wayne?" Travers asks with another forced smile. Bruce is resolving to check specifically her background too, at this point.

"No, no, that won't be necessary, good ol' Clark's right here," he says, waving a hand dismissively. "It's his pup too, and he knows much more about ones this age than I do anyway."

"Yes, well, omegas tend to get a little . . . irrational about the idea of sharing their pups with a wet nurse," Travers says "politely", like she thinks she's stating a fact. Bruce would say something cheerful-sounding and subtly insulting back, typically, but Carl's frown is deepening and he looks a little bit . . . odd, maybe, or . . .

There's a strange little pup-call from the stairs, very quiet and echoing in unusual registers but still recognizably one all the same, and just as recognizably resigned-sounding. It's a pup-call that clearly expects to go unanswered, at this point, which is something that Bruce would like to never hear again in his life, given the option.

Though it's better than a pup who's given up on calling at all, he supposes.

He tries not to grimace at that thought, though he's sure Clark's grimacing enough for the both of them right now after hearing a call like that. The pup is starving, and they just can't feed him properly. At this point sending him back where he came from might be kinder.

Honestly, if Bruce didn't know exactly who his parents were, he might've already insisted on that.

It's just–

The pup calls again, even quieter. Travers looks perplexed.

"Er," she says. "I apologize, Alpha Wayne, but is the pup ill? We can't be around them if they are, it's against agency policy."

"Oh, the kiddo just sounds like that," Bruce replies dismissively, and then lies, "Vocal chord deformity, apparently. We're not sure what caused it, pediatrician thinks it's something genetic."

Well, it is genetic. Jon calls in exactly the same registers, and according to Martha and Jonathan so did Clark.

So it's genetic, yes. Just not a deformity.

Carl's expression looks–odd, still. Bruce isn't sure what to think of it, but it makes him a bit wary. A detachment disorder doesn't imply an actual negative reaction to the presence of a pup, obviously, but . . .

Clark steps into the parlor with Lor-Zod sitting on his hip, the pup no older than two or so and looking small and listless in his arms, his dark skin all washed out and his previously bright eyes gone dull and tired. When he first crash-landed in Metropolis in the rocket he'd been wrapped up inside, Clark said he'd popped out of it energetic and excited and clamoring for attention in toddler-level Kryptonian, but he's been slowly fading ever since, wasting away without the nutrients that they just can't provide him. He's probably only made it this long thanks to the sun.

Again, Bruce has no idea how the Kents ever fed Clark, though he was already at least three by the time they got him, which probably helped. A pup Lor's age is capable of eating solid food, obviously, but milk or formula is still a major part of a pup's diet until they're four or five, if not older, and the longer the better. Hell, most kids still at least semi-regularly nurse for as long as their dam can manage to stay milked up, or even until they present themselves. No one can wean a damn toddler and expect them to thrive.

Or even survive, in Lor's case.

Lor opens his mouth in another weak, resigned little pup-call, and Clark's own mouth tightens as he restrains himself from answering it and giving the pup false hope for milk he just doesn't have, and Bruce steels himself to–

Carl croons.

Travers startles. Bruce is . . . surprised, a bit. A detachment disorder doesn't really imply the kind of omega who'd croon at a pup they've never seen before in their life, after all.

It's an unusual and unpracticed croon, as if it's a sound Carl doesn't make very often, which Bruce supposes would make sense. Lor responds to it immediately, though, shifting weakly in Clark's arms and pup-calling again.

Carl, with absolutely no manners or decorum whatsoever, sweeps right past Travers and Bruce and Alfred and just plucks Lor straight out of Clark's arms. Which–forget the kid calling him "Wayne"; that's a damn etiquette breach. Hell, Clark probably only didn't take Carl's head off for snatching up his pup without permission because he's so clearly dumbfounded that he actually did it.

Bruce is slightly less dumbfounded due to having spent five seconds in the kid's presence, but still, what is he–

"Carly!" Travers chokes in horror. Carl very obviously doesn't even hear her and just starts purring at Lor and cuddling him close in a way that really doesn't even slightly imply "detachment disorder".

And then Bruce figures out what was "odd" about Carl's expression, before.

"Huh," he says, a little bemused. "Did he just go into feral drop?"

"Alpha Wayne, I assure you, this is not the Waterton Agency's standard of behavior!" Travers sputters, sounding even more horrified, and Clark just blinks and tilts his head.

"I think he did, yeah," he says, looking perplexed. Carl continues ignoring everyone in the room except for Lor and just purrs louder at him as they both nuzzle into each other. Lor makes more very distinctly Kryptonian pup-calls at him, and Carl croons back with no apparent concern over their strangeness, sounding absolutely goddamn enamored.

That is definitely not a detachment disorder, Bruce thinks. There is no possible way that an omega with a detachment disorder just went into full feral drop over a pup at first sight.

Or possibly first sound, he's realizing.

Bruce is perfectly aware that omegas can feral-bond with distressed pups whether they mean to or not, but he's never seen it happen this fast outside of a warzone or a natural disaster. He's heard hearsay and read studies about particularly compatible sets that have done it under less stressful circumstances, but distressed and starving pup or not, he wouldn't have even expected a human omega to be capable of bonding with a Kryptonian pup like that.

Or at all, frankly. Deliberately created and carefully cultivated pack bonds are one thing, but . . .

Lor chirps, the sound still a little quiet and fragile, a little weak, but also undeniably hopeful, and Carl gives him a low, rumbly purr in reply and yanks up his inconveniently-cut T-shirt to expose his chest with no trace of hesitation or modesty. He's already leaking sweetly-scented milk, already adjusting his grip on Lor to let the pup get at his chest as easily and comfortably as possible, and Lor latches without a moment's hesitation and immediately starts to nurse.

And then Lor purrs. Carl just watches him with undeniable adoration, still paying no attention whatsoever to anyone else in the room.

Alright, then, Bruce thinks carefully.

Well, that just happened.

"Thought you didn't like kids, Carl?" he inquires casually, putting on an easy grin, and Carl finally seems to come up enough to remember that the rest of them exist, though he still doesn't actually take his eyes off Lor.

"I would literally become a supervillain if this kid asked me to," he replies dreamily, keeping Lor cradled in one arm and tracing a finger down the pup's cheek with a soft, besotted expression that's unmistakable for what it is even with the sunglasses on. He looks like he might just burn down the world if someone tried to take Lor away from him right now, and his pheromones are so all-encompassing and so cloyingly sweet that Bruce genuinely might need to see a dentist after this.

"Well usually I'd say we keep Batman in the loop on that kind of thing around here, but if the kiddo asks, it only seems fair," he jokes with a laugh.

"I would drop-kick Batman off a roof for you," Carl informs Lor lovingly as he strokes his cheek again and then skims a fingertip along the little barely-visible scar splitting his eyebrow. Lor keeps purring sweetly and Alfred coughs to conceal a low chuckle. Clark looks a little pained to be watching one of his pups nurse from another omega so easily and eagerly, but his mouth quirks in amusement at the comment anyway. Bruce doesn't dignify any of them with a response, because he is an alpha with dignity and also is in no way threatened by a passing comment from a barely-presented kid who clearly isn't even combat-trained.

. . . although he also isn't going to be stupid enough to try coaxing Lor away from the omega he just feral-bonded with just yet either.

Then Tim walks by the doorway, takes one look at Carl with Lor, and trips over literally nothing and into a full faceplant on the foyer floor. Bruce pauses, then raises an eyebrow.

"Alright down there, Timmy?" he asks. Tim scrambles back to his feet, looking more genuinely mortified than he's ever seen him.

"Fine!" he blurts. "Fine. Everything's fine. All the things are fine. Uh. What? Who?"

"This is Carl," Bruce says, gesturing to the kid. "Wet nurse from the Waterton Agency. And his escort, Beta Travers. Carl, Beta Travers, this is my son, Tim Drake-Wayne. And also Clark Lane-Kent and his pup, Chris Lane-Kent, who I'm assuming you've figured out are your prospective clients."

"Yes, Alpha Wayne," Travers says with a grimace. "We gathered."

"Ngh," Tim says, looking at literally everything but Carl and Lor. His face is bright red, which is an unusual amount of embarrassment for him to be showing just over tripping. Typically he masks that kind of thing a lot more effectively. Bruce would almost think he was actually embarrassed by watching Carl feed Lor, but Tim's literally never been affected by anything but passing curiosity when seeing a pup nurse before, so that seems unlikely. And he's a male beta, if still an unpresented one, so it's not like he's got any reason to care all that much about it anyway.

So his reaction does seem a little odd, yes.

Hm.

"Chris," Carl coos adoringly down at Lor. Bruce is in no way stupid enough to think that he absorbed any of the rest of that introduction or has even noticed Tim's presence at all. He wouldn't even put money on him having noticed Clark's presence, in fact, except as a pup-delivery system. The kid is very clearly in love with the pup in his arms and doesn't give a damn about any of the rest of them at all.

Detachment disorder. Sure.

[fickleminder]

bound by blood (2)

Prev | Next

Kirana had been fully prepared to pass the encounter off as a bad dream if not for the persistent knocking on her front door.

"May I come in?" Her visitor flashed her a closed eye smile.

"…No?"

"Too bad, I'm coming in anyway."

Unfortunately for her, vampire rules didn't apply to demons. She instinctively stepped aside while he walked in like he owned the place.

"What do you want?" Kirana asked warily. The door remained open, just in case. Not that she was sure she could outrun a literal demon, but it was a viable escape route nonetheless. "I thought we were done."

"Why, you make it sound as though we had a nasty breakup instead of a mutually beneficial arrangement." The demon gave her modest apartment a cursory glance, looking utterly unimpressed. At least he didn't seem hostile. Yet.

I never asked for your help, she dared not say, because she had needed it in the end. Whatever magic was supposedly in her blood in exchange for freedom. The second the demon had vanished back to whichever layer of Hell he belonged to, she had hightailed it to the nearest road without looking back.

"I'll cut to the chase. I want more of your power, and I'm willing to strike a deal with you to get it." The demon turned to her. "My name is Satan, and I am the Avatar of Wrath. Giving you riches beyond your wildest dreams isn't really in my domain, but I can make sure anyone who crosses you won't live long enough to regret it."

"Call him off, please!" Wendy begged on her knees, dripping with the blood of her sisters. "We're friends, aren't we? I wasn't gonna let anything happen to you, I swear—!"

Kirana backed away in horror, her hands clasped tightly over her mouth. It was taking everything in her to not throw up at all the carnage. So long as she stayed quiet and out of the way, so long as she didn't interfere or attract any attention to herself, she would be safe, right?

Wendy reached for her, only to be jerked backwards by the tail that suddenly appeared around her neck. Kirana flinched hearing a loud SNAP and squeezed her eyes shut.

They had been classmates back in school. Wendy often helped her out during art class, and Kirana remembered admiring the way her hands flew across canvases with ease, bringing color and life to her projects.

Wendy's outstretched fingers were the last things Kirana saw of her. The screams of the coven would echo in her ears for days to come.

"The Satan?" Kirana's throat went dry. Nothing good ever came out of making deals with demons, let alone the Devil himself. "…I think I'll pass, thanks."

Satan frowned. "I don't think you understand. If I can't tempt you into it, then I can certainly make your life very, very difficult."

Kirana didn't doubt his words, but no meant no. "I'm not making a deal with you," she repeated, more firmly this time.

"Tch, fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." Satan's face twisted into an ugly scowl, and then he was gone in the blink of an eye.

The front door was closed, locked, and checked twice over before Kirana allowed herself to breathe again. Saying no to others had always been a struggle for her, but she knew she'd done the right thing.

Now, she could only hope it wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass.

.

.

.

Kirana was going insane.

It was like she had lost all sense of patience. Every little thing from the tiniest smudge on her bathroom mirror to a neighbor's squeaking letterbox made her extremely irritable. She would have the insatiable urge to throw hands over the smallest slight, even if it was bumping into the corner of her dining table. Her furniture had never looked so breakable.

Sometimes she swore she heard Satan whispering directly into her ear like those cartoon devils. "Aren't you tired of being nice?" His sultry voice taunted her. "Don't you just wanna go apeshit?"

She couldn't calm down, couldn't relax at all, and it was driving her crazy. Normally she would let things slide and just live and let live, but now it felt like the world was out to get her and no one had her back. Her brain refused to rationalize her experiences and constantly sent her thoughts into overdrive.

Kirana tried talking to her family and friends (leaving out her demonic encounter of course) and hitting the gym more often to work out the stress, but the itch crawling underneath her skin only got worse. Her nerves were completely frayed and it was getting harder and harder to function in polite society by the day.

The was all Satan's fault and if she ever saw that bastard again, she'd— she'd—

She still wouldn't give him what he wanted and he would happily continue to torture her for the rest of her days. Fuck.

Then one day, everything stopped. It was like the world had become silent, or she had gone deaf. Kirana dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, it was over and she could finally move on.

The next day, the other shoe dropped.

"Please tell me you aren't a demon" was the first thing she blurted out to the dark-haired man standing at her doorstep. She wanted to smack herself; who went around asking people if they were demons?

"I'd be lying if I did." The stranger smirked. "May I come in?"

"Are you going to come in anyway even if I say no?"

The demon arched an elegant brow. "I see one of my brothers is in dire need of a lesson in manners."

That wasn't answering her question, but what the hell. Kirana sighed and stepped aside.

"Much appreciated." He walked in and turned to address her with a hand on his chest. "My name is Lucifer, and I have a proposition for you."

[oceandiagonale]

Sooo...recently it has been very heavily implied that Penny's father is Peony, which would make Rose her uncle. Which would make her taking her girlfriend, Spare, to a family party even more awkward than normal for various reasons.

"Spare, this is my Uncle-"

"Rose, Ex-Chairman of the Pokemon League of Gallar."

"...of course you already know who he is. Anyway, please don't attack him. Uncle Rose, this is my girlfriend Spare DelRosa, a champion rank of Paldea and Ex-Hero of Arceus."

"...Ex?"

"Dad is an asshole so I quit. Still waiting on child support for Mom, the bum."

okay, I finally looked up where people were pulling that from and whoops, I should probably play the . team star backstory and mochi madness things sometime huh. 😳

anyways this is incredible tbh, can't believe Spare's not only following the Protagonist tradition of dating a former "villain" but also adding onto that by having one of them be her girlfriend's uncle FKJDSHFKJDS

(also this sent me down a thought rabbithole. Is Rose still allowed to stay in Galar? Did he get a trial even though Interpol/The United Regions Court doesn't have jurisdiction over stopping villains? Who decided his sentence? I'm so sorry I'm derailing this and rambling about Rose but it made me think a lot 😳)

I like the Star Trek concept of "jail" only being used as a last resort for people who are currently a danger to people around them and only as a temporary measure while working out some other supports, since the current prison systems all over the real world suck in unique and horrifying ways. But more importantly, I never ever saw that as a viable sentence for any of the villains anyways -- not even Lysandre, so certainly not Rose.

(................jury's still out on Ghetsis, but he's allowed to just wander around Pasio without much fuss so I guess he's fine too as long as someone's keeping an eye on him.)

More importantly, Gene was there to vouch for Rose's honesty about wanting to make it up to Galar. He definitely got community service, but what KIND? And were Archie and Maxie precedent, or did they even get a trial? None of the villains BEFORE them did, and Rose was the first one AFTER them to let himself be "caught."

When Guz first finds out that Archie and Maxie are undermining Lysandre, he says that Gene was happy that they stepped up to do environmental work, which means that the League was the organization taking responsibility for them, NOT Interpol.

But there's never any mention of paperwork regarding them, so I'm pretty sure Steven was just keeping an eye on them from there on out (especially since he was invited to their wedding later).

By the time Rose does his thing (checks watch) 6 years later, there ARE forms for each kind of incident. I'm pretty sure Gene wrote those himself.

So here's my thought: the League was still the organization that "caught" Rose. They were the ones that pressed criminal charges against him, mainly to set a precedent for future incidents (at Rose's request), and he met the same fate as Rose does in the Pieces AU: working in Hoenn as a scientist with Archie and Maxie's team on their environmental project. (Unfortunately, those two are too busy with Ultra Flare to be there much atm.)

After a while, he's able to go back to Galar to work on the energy crisis (with non-League personnel in the Villain Cleanup Division keeping an eye over his shoulder just in case and generally keeping him away from Leon so as not to distress him).

All that to say, yeah. Canon encounter.

[copperbadge]

Have we found a tumblr replacement yet? Apparently the latest “live” shenanigans were the thing that it took to break me. I’m not trying to stir shit, I’m just mostly here for you and a couple other blogs, so I’m going wherever you go.

I wish, but unfortunately not so far. I mean, I've talked a little about how I'd like to find one but there aren't really any viable ones right now, and there may not be a fandom mass-migration for years still. I'm more likely to follow the crowd than blaze a trail in this case, so it may be some time. For now my only real tactic is to simply not engage with staff or support at Tumblr in any way, and accept the changes as gradual steps towards the site's demise with as much serenity as I can muster.

I've already accidentally opened Tumblr Live twice while trying to navigate the app, which I'm sure is intentional, given I've now suddenly opened Tumblr Live twice since its inception instead of Zero. Relatedly, I would love to see them redirect that passion into making the "Mute Notifications" button actually work, but mine is not to reason why.

Anyway. There are options available, like obviously there are other social media platforms, but none have quite the combination of "easy to use" and "has a lot of people on it" and "Offers the same functionality" (photo and video hosting, an app, etc) even with an "ease of use" and "functionality" that are as crap as Tumblr's.

For example, Dreamwidth is great, but it's a Livejournal code fork so it's a very different format from Tumblr, more labor-intensive to make and share posts (no reblog function, image embedding can get a bit complicated, etc). CoHost is new and very promising but a bit of a ghost town right now -- I'm there and I've had a bunch of people find me there but still exponentially less than are on Tumblr. Pillowfort I still need to re-investigate; I'm there as well but it's been a while since I looked in, and I was struggling with the functionality previously. I had a look at Mastodon, but as positive as decentralized servers could be for the future of social media, I actively dislike the idea, and it also seems difficult to set up and complex to maintain. Discord is....there, and a lot of fandom stuff has shifted there, but its structure is very different and it's also decentralized, and also I hate it passionately and refuse to use it, so that's a no-go for me, though I suspect it's where fandom might end up.

If you're struggling with accessing tumblr directly, you might consider feeding the blogs you follow to an RSS reader -- I know people who do that and find it pretty functional, because then if they want to comment they can just pop open the specific post and deal with it directly. I don't know how much you know about RSS and I don't have the energy to fully explain it right now, but NetVibes is a pretty decent free RSS reader and it's what I use for certain blogs outside of Tumblr.

In any case, if I do find a place, or if I see the migration beginning, I'll sound the alarm :) In the meantime I'm still reading through my tumblr, stashing away posts to save off when I leave, even if that'll be a while.

[cloudgremlin-creations]

Grafted Branches (rise?)tmnt AU

Separated AU? In my turtles??? It’s more common than you think 🫵

Introducing the sillies who have been knocking around in my head for like. … Fiiiiiiiive months now? Anyways, behold ~*

Generally inspired by the worldbuilding of RotTMNT, but takes a lot of inspo from ‘03 as well. Mixed, of course, with a heavy dose of Cloud Patented Faerie Shennaniganery. Also Leonardo is a golden leucistic color morph because why not at this point!

Am I a little gone mad scientist with power that I can do this with my mind and then subject y’all to it? Yes. Yes I am. Apologies for the barely controlled autistic special interest yelling. More under cut

Long ago, all those beings now referred to as “mythological” or “magical” fled the earthen realm to the space in-between worlds, running from some now lost to time threat so great even the dragons stumbled before it. Since the in-between was almost completely open empty space, entrances and thresholds of all sorts were created in the weave- the fabric holding the earthen realm together- and soon vast cities and wild forests started to flourish. Even so, the folks’ numbers dwindled, and the weave that held the world apart from the in-between and the worlds beyond frayed and stretched thin from constant travel. This way of life would not be viable much longer.

In the city hidden by the frayed weave under NYC, an alchemist works to recreate what has been lost. Something of great power both physical and magical, something to save folk-kind from fading away from existence, something to re-knit the knotted and torn weave and stop the in-between from crumbling into the earthen realm. Though no samples of the great dragons remain, many tales do, and the alchemist is as smart as he is stupid in his pursuit.

Four of twelve subjects survived the unfortunate incident of the live human sample ruining everything. Each leaving the wreckage of the alchemist’s lab, each tumbling into different lives, spread out amongst both the hidden city of folk below and the New York City of humans above.

[simmingwormly]

Wormville: Rotation 10: Gere

...ladies, gentlemen and everyone both, neither and in-between, it's attempt no. 2! About 20% of this post has debuted prematurely, then I panic-nuked it, and now it's back and five times as big :3 (and with the old parts enhanced!)

It's about Genevieve and her clan ceasing to exist. Well, Vivi herself is fine, the clan just wasn't economically viable anymore, so she spent this round preparing to merge it with their much bigger neighbors, the Celwitches. How did it go? Come and see! And while you're already going, why not take a guided tour?

(I swear if it gets posted too early AGAIN, I'll eat my keyboard key by key.)

Exhibit 1: "Wall of [REDACTED]"

Genevieve's father, Ace Anora, was a very accomplished painter. He painted portraits of many of his contemporaries, including his lovers, Antoinette Gere and Andreas Kent. See them immortalized in their prime on the wall behind Vivi. They were beloved socialites, known for their beauty, effortless charm and amorous adventures. What? Why is it called the Wall of "Groomers"? Sorry, we don't have time for questions now.

To your right, you can see Antoinette still going through the motions today. She might be half-way into her grave, but that does not prevent her from maintaining that beach-ready bod! [You can purchase her fitness supplements in the gift shop.] This part of the exibit was originally meant to be interactive, but she's been in a foul mood as of late.

Exhibit 2: "The Photo Gallery"

The clan Gere has always been the patron of photography, amassing a breathtaking wall of pictures. Unfortunately, someone [you follow my eyes and see that I look at Antoinette] has vandalized most of the pieces lately, since they contained Andreas. What remains is this piece of Wormville's history! A flattering picture of Ares Beldine, the prolific entrepreneur and a bit of the town's own cassanova. As you can see in the photo, him and Antoinette used to be great friends! In fact, they used to be bethrothed, however Antoinette broke off the engagement to teach Ares a valuable lesson. What? It's not her in the picture? It's Genevieve? Nonsense! You're lying. You're seeing things. Let's move on, shall we?

Exhibit 3: "The Roommate Ubication"

The Roommate Ubication is known as one of the pinnacles of worm architecture. Experts argue it might even compete with the likes of the Vampiric Pool! The best feature of this beautiful property? Definitely the dedication to privacy.

Some also sing odes to the house's comfortable porch. It has been voted the buyer's choice for reading your granddaughter to sleep in the middle of winter. [The siren call of the toilet.]

THIS EXHIBIT IS NOT AN AD! It has nothing to do with Genevieve being about to vacate the house. Anyway, inquire about the low, low price at your nearest worm estate agent.

Anyway, you might've noticed two locals arriving. It is Genevieve's sister Hannah Devir and her brother (Hannah's, not Vivi's), Krystal Celwitch. Krystal, as the pillar of the community and Genevieve's friend, is there a pearl of wisdom you would like to share with our visitors?

"Both General Aranni and Ashley Fiera were in remarkable physical condition for their advanced age. Reanimating their corpses and putting them to work would cheapen the cost of labor significantly."

Nevermind.

It seems like Genevieve and Krystal have plans and are just leaving. Do not worry, we will accompany them in the trunk of their taxi. No, it's okay. I'm sure we can leave Antoinette alone with Hannah. She will surely act normal and won't do anything inappropriate around her defacto step daughter.

Exhibit 4: "Worm to Worm Courtship"

The taxi stops in front of the Crypt-o-Night club, Downtown.

"I believe I have a profitable proposal for you."

"I'm glad we speak the same language."

"The best deals are made on the clan level."

"I'm listening. What is even your political interest?"

"You. I offer all my clan has to enhance the earning power of yours. In return, I request to become a part of your clan and share in the prosperity."

"I would tell you to buy me a dinner first, but you actually just did that."

"I know you like joking around, but if you don't give me an answer, I might run away. I don't handle humiliation well."

"You won't be humiliated. I've been frankly thinking about the same thing. I need someone, you need someone. I like you, you like me. You're a hard worker, and hard work is my middle name. It's obvious we'd benefit from getting together."

"One more plate of spaghetti for my new best friend, please."

"Co-parenting is not an issue. In fact, my experience allows me to master advanced techniques of toddler training."

"Appreciated. Payton never had a father before."

"That's on you for being with an outsider."

"Yeah. An outsider, yes. Everybody makes mistakes."

"But you're fixing that mistake with me."

"We should wait until nobody's looking and skip the bill."

If you pay close attention, you might observe the moment Krystal Celwitch fell in love.

"We are being watched! No free suggestive content!"

The date night, of course, ends with taking a picture to immortalize the occasion.

Upon returning home, Genevieve seems to have just enough energy left to catch up with her sister during a dance session. And with that ends our tour. I hope you've enjoyed the exhibits and learned a lot about the worm way of life!

"Are you done playing tour guide, Vivi?"

"I've told you it was for my mockumentary. It's satire, mom."

Antoinette will, however, not get to witness her daughter's spite project. In the middle of the next night, she meets Death Himself. Goodbye, you were a real one. (except for the thing with Hannah, shame on you)

Genevieve had Krystal over - she anticipated her mother dying soon and didn't want to be alone only with little Payton when it happens. Plus, there was work to do to distract her from the grief. What work, you ask?

"Networking."

In the morning, Payton aged up to a child. She inherited a lot of her facial features from her father, which, to be honest, was hands down the best thing Andreas had to give.

Her personality is 4/2/10/0/4 and her 3t2 traits are Excitable, Neurotic and Likes Warm Weather.

Different kind of Gere/Celwitch networking also took place! The classmate Payton befriended is Kaidan Celwitch, one of the children of Krystal and Elphius, and therefore her future step-brother.

Speaking of children...

"What would you do if I got pregnant, Krystal?"

"...by me?"

"There's nobody else currently in my life that I would even consider sleeping with at the moment. So, what would you do?"

"I'd say that geniuses like the two of us can never have enough progeny. And I would make room in the house for another child."

"Sweet. I'm not sure yet, but I might as well be."

"You're now a part of the grand plan the universe seems to have for me."

"You're a weirdo, Krystal."

"...I thought you understood."

"No, I do. I like it about you. That you're a weirdo."

"..."

"What?"

"No. Wait. I want to tell you what I like about you, but I must think."

"Seriously?"

"No. It's the opposite problem. There are too many things for me to choose from."

Genevieve laughs softly.

"What?"

"I didn't know you were such a romantic, too."

"I am. But I honestly thought I'd forget about it. After Elphius..."

"Yeah. I know. Are you sure you're okay dating again...remarrying... this soon?"

"Well, he's dead, so it's not like I can be with him, and it's not like he can complain. And tomorrow, it could be us in the fire. So we must act today."

"Romantic, but pragmatic. I like that about you, too."

Soon, it was time for Genevieve, Payton and the newly born baby Cyan Celwitch to move to Krystal's, to the house called The Celwitch Compound. It's an old house - and when I say that, what I mean is that that it screams for a reno, especially now that it has been devastated by fire.

Similarly to The Roommate Ubication (from which all paintings and photos moved with Vivi, of course), The Celwitch Compound contains many memories. Here's for example Krystal's cousin, Wynn, when they were a teenager. I can't remember who the other Sim is. Probably a random townie. Doesn't matter.

And this is The Celwitch Compound now, after Krystal and Genevieve put their savings together. It has a pool!

It has horrible, dorm-like boxes for up to 6 children!

And a color scheme truly only a Krystal would pick.

The house wasn't the only makeover, though. Krystal and Genevieve both reached the middle point of their adult lifespans, and you know what that means!

And last but not least, I want to introduce Cyan. There he is!

His personality is 0/7/8/10/4 and his 3t2 traits are Good and Loves Warm Weather. A suspicious amount of the gen 2 enjoys warm weather. I predict the lake and the pool are about to get insanely popular.

I hope you enjoyed this round, even though it wasn't that eventful. I was personally really looking forward to some werewolf action, however the wolf didn't even spawn this time, not even once. I swear that thang only visits when it's the least needed. This is truly the last rotation for the Geres, and we'll meet Genevieve and her kids again when we play the Celwitches. But that's rotation 11. Next time, we'll continue... and finish... rotation 10 with the Hanson clan!

[thebxghag]

Arts professional to garden blogger pipeline? LOL anyway...

It's very early in the year, but I live in an area with an extremely short growing season, so this year I'm trying to start as many of the plants that would need more love inside as possible. Last year, we planted tomatoes directly into the garden boxes and unfortunately the plant had only started producing fruit at the very end of our viable growing time.

We had to harvest them all still green, as a result, and we had way too many tomatoes for us alone to eat, so the majority of them got given away and we didn't really get to enjoy them over the entire summer.

This year I'm hoping we can start enjoying tomatoes way earlier by planting the seeds indoors now!

Anyway, we get roasted chickens a lot, and it's a lot of plastic waste, and I needed a greenhouse but didn't want to buy a big one because of the cost. These little containers are kind of perfect tho??? They've got venting abilities too which is great.

I'm starting these five plants now and then I still have broccoli and squash to start later in the season, as their indoor starting times don't have to be as long as these ones. I'm doing a pollinator/native plant garden in addition to my vegetable garden this year, and the marigolds are for pest control.

(Not pictured here, a secret sixth plant: the green pepper package since I finished it and tossed it before I decided to do this, oops xDDD).

I have a bunch of other flowers as well, but they can all be direct sown. I'll be planting sweet peas, sunflowers (red and yellow), cosmos, and I have hollyhock but since this area has a lot of small children and people wandering between backyards when you wouldn't want them to, I don't think it's probably safe to actually plant it outside of a balcony garden here so I won't be sowing them this year (I'd gotten them for last year when I was on my own at an apartment, and so my flowers wouldn't have been accessible to anything but birds and pollinators from my balcony).

I've planted mouse melons before in this area, but they were from a mature seedling -- we had a huge yield, and I want to try pickling them still, so I've started them indoors myself this year. Very excited.

Also exceptionally excited about the blue cherry tomatoes if only because I find it very novel when vegetables aren't 'traditional colours'. Hehehehe.

anyway long story short I started all my indoor greenhouses and I don't have like -- grow lights or anything but I'll do my best. LOL Guess this counts as planting day one.

[cowabungacarl420]

So, what's TMNT: Aftermath?

TMNT: Aftermath is my TMNT iteration! It exists mostly in my brain right now, but the goal is to make more posts about it and maybe eventually make some short comics or fics around it. General plot summary and character bios under the cut!

What happens when your entire life leads up to one battle, and then before you know it it's over? You're 18, your entire life stretches out ahead of you, and you realize you have absolutely no plan from here. The Shredder has been defeated. Now what? It's just you and the aftermath.

Characters

Splinter - A year after the final battle, Splinter developed a series of tumors and became mostly bed-bound. He is aware that he likely doesn't have much time left. In theory, he should be at peace. He lived long enough to watch his sons triumph over the odds and defeat the man threatening their lives. So why does he feel so much regret?

Leonardo - Leonardo often wakes up in a cold sweat. He delivered the killing blow in the final battle, and while it's something he knows he should be proud of, there's something about beheading someone that fundamentally changes who you are as a person. To soothe his guilt, Leo dedicates most of his time to meditation and caring for his ailing father.

Michelangelo - Mikey sustained a serious leg injury in the final battle. He tried to hide it, but eventually it became clear that he just couldn't continue training. And hey, he didn't see the point anyway. The Shredder was dead, right? Why should he keep practicing stupid moves and waking up early for meditation? Mikey's life is his, and he's going to do what he damn well pleases with it. Like, uhh.... Okay, maybe he left without much of a solid plan. But he has a hut on the beach front to crash in. And a group of late night partiers have been nice to him. Maybe they could be his new family.

Raphael - With Splinter unwell and Mikey quitting, ninja training screeched to a halt. Raphael is full of energy and resentment, and he has no idea what to do with it all. He befriended Casey by chance in his early teen years, and now Raph spends most of his time in his bedroom, smoking weed and talking about the kind of vigilantes they want to be.

Donatello - When things in his family life seem unstable, Donnie turns to the comforting structure of academia. Donatello has enrolled in online college! And while his robotics course is great, he can't help but feel envious of his classmates. Long nights alone, staring at their social media pages and contemplating what life would be like if he could go out and participate. Some nights, he can't resist trailing his classmates from a distance. Just to observe.

Casey - Casey and Raphael met when they were 13. Maybe it was because he was a feisty kid who didn't admit to being scared of anything, maybe it was because Raphael seemed more scared of him, but Casey didn't run off. Instead, that was the start of a bizarre but rewarding friendship between the two. Unfortunately, being friends with a giant humanoid reptile doesn't automatically make your life interesting. Casey stacks shelves at a grocery store 3 days a week, and spends the other 4 smoking weed with Raph, and discussing what their lives would look like if they actually had meaning. Did you know that the world of ice hockey is actually very competitive? It's disheartening.

Karai - It's weird seeing your dad get beheaded in front of you. Even weirder when you kind of think he deserves it. Once the Shredder died, the Foot Clan fell apart without much ceremony. Some members went off to form their own small-time petty crime rings, but not Karai. She got an apartment, and tried to figure out what her life could be when 'accessory to a war criminal' was no longer a viable career path. It's also decidedly more difficult to put that life behind you when the guy who beheaded your dad keeps trying to invite you over for tea so you can bury the hatchet. You're 90% sure he's just lonely.

April - April O'Neil saw patterns where no one else did. Some would argue she saw patterns where there were none. But god damn it, she knew what she saw on that rooftop. And no amount of being called a crackpot conspiracy theorist would stop her from getting to the bottom of figuring out who those weird looking green guys were. She WILL expose the truth this time, no matter what it takes.

[feminist-dinosaur27]

Right, so this post is going to be two things. One half of it will be information and opinions defending Neil Gaiman, and the other half will be against him, and we will take from that what we will. (Currently, im not on his side because we don’t have enough info to make proper decisions)

1. The article where the allegations surfaced from was not the most trustworthy. It originated from a very small podcast that not many people were engaged in, so we can’t say that is a viable source. One of the victims is a known terf. I don’t want to say that she made it up, but unfortunately accusing celebrities of things for attention has become extremely common recently and is making it difficult for victims to be heard.

2. Just because it doesn’t seem in his nature to do something like this, doesn’t mean that he isn’t able to. Anyone is capable of r@pe, even the last person you would expect. The sa stuff isn’t the only shitty stuff he’s done in the past. He’s been known to say zionistic bs, and has defended a pedophile.

Anyways, that’s all that I have to say. Feel free to discuss in the comments and reblogs.

[starflungwaddledee]

clearing my inbox of a variety of asks with text replies, or ones that will get art answers later but that i still figured i could get back to now with simpler responses in the interim.

lots of anons, but i'll ping anyone who i can!

topics include: general nice words + people's theories (thank you!!), dededesign, daroach (sorry), sentient ancient artifacts, magolor (sorry...), whispy woods (SORRY...). there's also a decent scattering of awtdy and clockwork heart tidbits but they're all over the place, and a small collection of increasingly desperate asks hoping bandee will be released from morpho dee 😂

oohh this one is actually super old, sorry that i never got back to it! i get a little overwhelmed by the Nice Words ones sometimes and i'm not sure what to say besides 'thank you!!' because it means a lot to me and 'thank you!' just sometimes feels like it doesn't cut it...?

anyway, i'm very grateful!! i'm thrilled if i could inspire you to try out any constructed-language work of your own!! i'd love to see more of that going on in the kirbyverse so if you ever give it a crack feel free to lmk!

i'm glad you like the full penguin dededesign; quite a few folks seemed to enjoy that actually and i was pleasantly surprised! i haven't drawn that much of most characters besides bandee, to be fair, but the next comic will be about dedede and should answer some of the other questions i've been getting about him too!

i should say that it's likely the totally full penguin design won't make it for the comic, because it's hard to draw the sheer length of their bills from many angles or having the expressiveness i need for dedede, and i really only did that one for funsies. but i'll hopefully find a nice compromise!

aaaa the joy of being mentally unwell about The Characters and The Story. thank you, glad i can be of service! 👍

this is quite perceptive of you to notice and it's definitely something that occurs in the timeline. due to galacta knight's influence (and kirby's altered reputation) visitors and threats- both international and intergalactic- start to think twice before risking an approach.

alas, because daroach appears in the timeline before galacta knight's switch-in occurs, he would already be in contact and friendship with kirby. that unfortunately means he'd meet the same fate as the rest of kirby's existing allies.

@i-only-created-this-to-read a little similar to the above ask, yes, the intergalactic picture of popstar is definitely changed by the presence of a violent, otherworldly warrior and a ruthless hero. i also answered your questions about necrodeus previously and am not sure what else to say about him.

i have confirmed before that dedede is not dead, and more about his scenario and overall role in the plot will be revealed in comics. but i will say that he's a smart guy, despite his silliness, and a loving king. he absolutely came to the same conclusion about the frequency of his own possessions as well, through no small amount of heartbreak.

i definitely headcanon the Lor as sentient; in the light novels, bandee also speaks to her fairly directly. i actually headcanon all the Ancient artifacts as having an amount of sentience (this seem in line with what we've seen in canon, so i don't think it's a reach) and the lor herself seems especially benevolent to me.

our headcanons for the novas are different to yours, though that plays more of a role in the clockwork heart au. i quite enjoy your theories about how the ending might go and you've definitely picked up some details!! i won't confirm or deny anything, but i will say the lor is present in the AU, and that magolor has enough knowledge of artifacts to know that a wish on a wishing star could be a viable solution.

it took a while for folks to start asking me about magolor actually, which i found kind of amusing because he's the deuteragonist (second protagonist, after bandee) of the au!

i do definitely think that canonically magolor lives on the lor starcutter; though he does say he wants to buy a holiday home on popstar! however in awtdy, unlike the dream land four three, magolor's entire timeline is trashed from the get-go by galacta knight's arrival

some of these answers will take me longer to get to as i'll provide them in comics (it should be a fun reveal at least), but i will say: he hates popstar. he hates it there. he'd give just about anything to be anywhere else.

until he meets bandee, of course.

the rest of popstar fare a little better or a little worse at various points in the au, kind of like in the mainline canon timeline. for the most part, galacta knight isn't that interested in most of popstar. he enjoys living there, it's peaceful and undeniably pleasant, and frankly he'd like to continue doing so!

he can be convinced (by kirby, and the maintenance of the lie) to perform care to some of its citizens when necessary- such as rebuilding after a crisis. but in general he minds his business in dream land, and occasionally off-world or interdimensionally with kirby and bandee on missions.

whispy, who also keeps to his own in the woods and is just a cantankerous old tree, is probably fine. at least up until star allies, when he, you know. gets possessed.

@pumpkinnkidd oh absolutely.

@torrentialchaos2 that would be a different story to chrysalis au, i think! one i could write, but haven't. chrysalis au is specifically about bandee, you can't really extract him from it? 😭 but if morpho possessed magolor it would depend on a lot of things: like what is everyone's relationship to him when it happens? i think even when he comes back from his redemption arc, magolor and the gang are friends, but it's not the same as bandee, who is a core member of their unit.

we've already seen what happens when magolor gets possessed and kirby has to Beat His Ass to get him back to normal. and we've seen that when morpho possesses others who are capable fighters, kirby doesn't hold back. so maybe that? magolor is a magical little guy; he's got a better chance of getting spat back out unscathed.

i could however probably write a version of this for magicapple if i wanted, which would be much more emotionally pulverising lmao

@trainerbob23 thank you!! this one took me a bit to respond to sorry, but i'm grateful for the warm welcome! the AUs are definitely my primary investment and i'm glad that folks are enjoying seeing them develop! some of them are connected to each other (awtdy + it's various endings/alts) but others are separate.

i also do have some backstory/lore for starstruck dee, which i'll hopefully get to soon as well. i would say that she is... very much related to stars and the cosmos, yes.

@eliastheownerof0axolotls this one was part of a longer ask (that i've answered part of, and still have another part of in my queue... sorry;; ) but i think this part- especially in terms of kirby- has probably been mostly answered by now! both kirby and dedede have significant roles!

i view dedede as having a mentor-like dynamic with bandee as well as with kirby, and they all care about each other very much! but (especially because they are all adults in my hc) he also absolutely trusts them to handle themselves.

referring to this post and the (cw angst) art at the end. i will hopefully answer some other asks about the clockwork heart au which will satisfy more of its overall premise and timeline and all, but in regards to the peculiar image...

why that picture is completely normal!! bandee is super fine and normal in it and everything is great and good and fine and fine and fine and fine!!! hhahaha!!!

(something very bad is happening, lmao. entirely doomed by the narrative.)

speaking of bandee being doomed by the narrative:

some tags here as well, but i just love the frequency of these...

bandee gets possessed one time and everybody loses it... quick!! when will he get unpossessed!!! save that little guy!!! he's sad so we're sad!! (relatable. everyone is so valid.)

the tags on the main posts about morpho dee are just full of people screaming and crying and being like "NOOO I HATE THIS SM I'M IN PAIN /pos" and it's so good hahahaha

sorry to the folks who hate to see him going through the blender, he's being spun in the microwave at like 90mph on my blog. but don't worry, chrysalis au does have a predictably good ending; though obviously bandee has some capital S Stuff to unpack afterwards!!

🌟⭐✨

aaand i think that's all for now! hopefully if you've been hanging out for an ask for a while you're answer is here, and if not (and possibly even if it is), it's most likely taking me so long because i want to do an answer with art.

i'll try not to let these build up again like this, thank you for your patience!