#unfortunately this has consequences

[envysparkler]

When Jason died, he’d still been a runt.  A black dog that could barely reach Bruce’s knees, more fur than shadows, eyes that had not yet started turning red.  He easily fit into the lap of whoever was holding him, wriggled into nooks in the Manor that Batman would never be able to follow, had an unerring ability to stumble upon dead bodies.

Jason had felt his own death before he ever laid eyes on the bomb.  It was a horrible thing, knowing you were going to die but not knowing how or when.  Knowing that Batman would be too late.  Knowing that this was the end.

A Grim’s power was always stronger closer to death.  To someone else’s death.  To their own.

The Joker left, not because he was done playing games, but because something in those blue eyes had begun turning red and there was a flicker of fear amidst that carefully calculated crazy.  The Joker left before Jason Todd started leaking shadows.

The bomb went off.  A baby Grim died.

But you couldn’t kill something that belonged to Death.

Jason woke up.  Jason came back.  Jason opened eyes of liquid green fire, and fully transformed, he stood higher than most men, a terrifying amalgam of shadows and fear.  A giant canine, solid black and reeking of Death.

Because that was the thing about Grims.  Their full powers only kicked in after death.

~#~

Tim shuddered as he walked towards the control room, fighting the subconscious chill.  The thermostats all registered the temperature as a balmy seventy-four degrees, but he’d been shivering for the last ten minutes and he was determined to find the source of the problem.

It was dark, the sky outside so cloudy it looked like night, and even the lights seemed dimmer than they usually were.  Just perception, Tim tried to convince himself, darting glances over his shoulder at an empty hallway, but it didn’t quite stick.

The darkness closed over him like molasses, sticky, slow and inextricable.

~#~

Tim woke in a rush, like someone had jolted him, and struggled blindly up in the instinctive reaction to an alarm, before his mind woke all the way up and helpfully pointed out that he was restrained.

Before Tim could register anything more than an increased heartbeat, the binds tightened, and a low voice said smoothly into his ear, “Calm down.  Deep breaths.”

Calm down?  Calm down?  Tim felt like he’d gone five rounds with Crane, and he was being restrained, and the room was too dark to make out any significant details, and—

Something slid through his hair, pressure on the right side of a massage.  “Shh,” the voice instructed.  “Your heart rate is too high.  Robin, slow down.”

Tim instantly untensed, the reaction ingrained after years of hearing the same words in Batman’s growl.  The voice was on the edge of familiar, and it was enough to bypass his climbing anxiety and drop him into a lull.

Had he been hit with fear toxin?  He didn’t remember—and then Tim went very, very still when his mind pulled up what he did remember.

“Robin?” the low voice asked.

Tim started, voice scratchy, “There was a—” A dog?  A wolf?  What could he even use to describe such a monster?  “A creature.”  Tim swallowed, and opened his mouth again, to try and detail specifics, but they were nowhere to be found.

Red eyes.  Tall, taller than him, filling the entire corridor, black and shadowy and Tim had been unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to think—

“Robin, calm down!” the voice cursed right into his ear and Tim felt himself being pulled up.  The restraints across his chest was a pair of arms, one hand pressed flat above his heart, the other stroking through his hair.  His legs were pinned by a boot-clad leg clamped around his knees, and Tim became aware that he was half-reclined in someone’s lap.

“The creature’s gone,” the voice said.  “He’s gone and not coming back, stop panicking.”  The voice sounded on the verge of panic itself.  “Just—just breathe, goddammit.”

Tim obediently breathed.  In and out, slipping into the breathing pattern Bruce had taught him—a breathing pattern mirrored by the man holding him, and things gradually began to break through Tim’s spiral.

Details.  Facts.  Conjecture.

Detail—the voice sounded very, very familiar.  Hoarser than he remembered, but familiar.

Fact—Tim was still in Titans Tower, still in one of the most fortified bases on the planet.  There was no one else visible.  They appeared to be alone.

Conjecture—Tim let out a slow breath and kept his limbs relaxed, waiting for his captor to release his breath before Tim twisted as fast he could.  He wasn’t aiming to break their grip, just to see—

Green eyes in a surprised expression.  A random white lock of hair.  A familiar, set, stubborn jaw.

“Jason?” Tim felt like he was drowning again.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girl found dead in a hidden room.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[doodlepede]

how long before they blame this on the Jewish vote do you think lol

[aliusfrater]

similar cinematographic choices to portray the same imagery with insanely different circumstantial contexts

[jeeyunspetrat]

oh okay I was like. wtf kind of power does apple have 😭😭 why not just leave the cliffhanger though. let poppyian live in fanfiction ...

watching the final cut it really does like. defang the finale in my opinion lol. like the show ends with them getting back together (platonically) but then it's just back to business like usual. nothing has REALLY changed so it ends up just feeling like the whole season was kind of for nothing

[grimalkinmessor]

Fucked up Mouthwashing fix-it AU where Jimmy is able to grapple with his homo/bisexuality properly but instead of this making him healthier or more normal it just causes him to noncon Curly instead of Anya. As a result he doesn't crash the ship and they all make it safely to their destination and Jimmy manipulates and guilts his way into living with Curly afterwards even as the rest of the crew goes their separate ways. Everyone is happy except Curly :)

[qiu-yan]

based on this poll it seems we don't want lan wangji as chief cultivator

someone help him he's too morally good for politics :(

[esteemed-excellency]

New character sheet for Hiram 🌹

@t6fs thanks for the template!

[shepcdr]

i know that Shepard asking about aliens and about literally every new piece of intergalactic info you come across is supposed to be for the player to be able to learn new information. but for Yishai I like the take that he just fucking sucks

he was taken into the alliance on account of biotic potential. he was raised on the streets and has a very basic grasp of reading/writing/arithmetic that he came into on his own. he at least took advantage of alliance enlistment incentives whilst trying to manage enlisting "the right way" ... got some studying help so that his asvab scores went from "abysmal" to "not great and still non-qualifying" until they were waived on account of his LE3 implants operation, and then he was training to be put on the front lines.

he joined the alliance with hopes of getting away from the gang he was heavily entangled with and until then reliant upon to survive. with no intention of ever becoming a commanding officer or goals for any position that requires that sort of knowledge. he aimed to be stationed near or in the Skyllian Verge and especially only started pushing for a large role in the operation targeting torfan, and by then he had some n7 training to show for it.

he has had supplemental education since joining the alliance as part of his benefits, and help from VIs ensures he can navigate the more paperwork oriented parts of his job. without VI help he can recognise and jot down basics esp military jargon/abbreviations. but he is to some degree functionally illiterate outside the alliance. he Is capable of reading materials, given a lot of time and patience. he is not used to it and does not often want to do it (he is not going to stand for more than 10 seconds in front of a direction post on the citadel to figure out what it says. instead we're wandering around in the presidium in circles for another half hour!)

how realistic is this for an executive officer? Probably not very, and I need to learn more about how the alliance operates and the irl military equivalent, but this is the future and VIs and other developments have likely made these things easier to navigate and are integrated in ways that make it Possible that Shepard ended up where he is, in this situation. simply because that is how I want it to be for his specific case

when people talk about intergalactic politics and history and about only knowing "what they learnt in school," shepard is at least 10 steps behind because history class? he didn't take those. And he is not cracking open history books in his off time or listening to audiobooks. (his life is about the silly little personal missions and quests that he does in relation only to his work in the alliance and to the original Yishai shepard I made for his backstory.) the Normandy crew are educating him from almost nothing and he loves them for it. Hugely intense cultural exchange. Unfortunately weird sometimes when the commanding officer that took you onto his ship is like "so the genophage what is that? 🤪" but he is always learning smth new...

I also think he has some decent improvements in reading/writing without VI assistance throughout me1-me3 but that's my silly little headcanons there. maybe I'll expand on this, format it and make it look better to repost down the line but for now this is self-indulgent Runo rambling, tbd

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

Something about Izuku I keep thinking about is how much he's a downright hypocrite and the only reason he isn't called out on it is because he's one for himself and not for others and at the core of it all it boils down to his pending childhood issues and the *vaguely gestures* "relationship" he and Katsuki have- I mean, just out of the top of my head:

Wants to be a strong and dependable hero but is at his weakest when he's alone.

Says to Himiko he would never hurt someone he loves but was the reason Katsuki was forced to dance with death until his own sacrifice. Hell, I'm expecting him to actually accidentally hurt Katsuki (Physically? Emotionally? You decide) next time they talk.

Wants to save people with a smile but barely cracked genuine ones during his battle with Tenko- I can think of two(?), and even then those felt more like a resignation (379 and 412 iirc) than actual smiles.

Being aware Kacchan's a jackass, fine, but the entire "Imitate the people you love/admire" themes, having an attitude when heated or absolutely Done with anyone's BS (makes sense for someone who grew up besides a kid in the Inferiority-Superiority Complex but still) and "This is a battle between All For One and One For All, you can't keep up" is still very much pot calling the kettle black (it's because his "arrogance" is rooted in selflessness and desire to be useful but that's for another day)

Deadass called All For One out for being a lonely man pretending to be a "Demon Lord" yet will not admit he himself thinks a he's just a lonely kid pretending to be a hero; and by the time he seemed to be growing out of it: Paranormal Liberation Front.

"IT'S YOUR POWER, ISN'T IT?!" Cool, nice of him to comfort Shoto and try the same with Touya, now if only he could do the same in regards to himself and OFA-

Wasn't able to connect with Tenko at all and that's why he failed but it's wild to me he'd still the one who even at surface level could relate to):

Spinner, because they're nerds who were ostracized based on Quirks/lack thereof looking for a purpose and were unable to help him because of AFO's interference;

Himiko, because they want to be like others (because they hate themselves at least a little bit) but also show love in a way others wouldn't accept and;

Touya, because they wanted to prove they could be useful to others and be heroes to the point of actively harmed themselves while using their own Quirk.

Hell, when you think about it he related to the crying child but he could've used Literally Anything from his relationship with Katsuki to try and reach Tenko, but of course he didn't, that means he'd have to think about his own issues and yet he saw Tenko's issues no wonder he didn't get the job done-

Also can we talk about him saying he relates to Ochako confronting Himiko but she actually succeeded- Or even Shoto wanting to forgive Endeavor; I keep recalling both Ch. 322 him saying he won't forgive Tenko for anything he did (understandable but still) and Tenko going "And I won't forgive anyone". Connecting these three instances are huge stretches, I know, but really, he hasn't addressed the apology he got- combined narrative punishments for empty platitudes.

Kept saying he needed to improve in his control with OFA: had to get beaten up during his internship and in the Summer Camp for that lesson to stick... Then he heard the words "Control Your Heart" and decided to Not Address It At All.

Supposed to surpass but he's really All Might's successor in every way that counts: Smile so nobody will worry, keep fighting even though you are destroying yourself, be so selfless you'll make your friends desperate enough to make you stop for your own good, hide every single thing you can about yourself, the only difference is in the bed they made: Toshinori lies in omission most of the time, and Izuku thinks he lies in white when almost every other character's in the dark, but as long as there's a dream of bright smiles in the future, who cares they're now forcefully entangled in this nightmare, right?

And these are just the examples I can think of the top of my head, there might be more, but. No wonder we've been "panicking" (let's be real his therapist already scheduled him for Ground Beta atp-) Shoto and Ochako brushed him off by accident in Chapter 425, it's the consequences of his hypocritical ass coming back to bite him-

(I am not hating on him, by the way, it's just something about him I wanted to point out. I like that aspect of his. Makes him more human. But jeez can someone call him out and make him practice what he preaches? XD)

[psychopomp-namine]

// tbhx episode 4 thoughts

conflicted over the ending for episode 4. within the context of the show/episode, it's... fine. I don't agree with the writing decision to do that, personally, but I get what they want xiao yueqing's role to be

in the greater context of lh0's writing tendencies though... lmao. I guess I'm a bit disappointed but not surprised

also, if there's anything I learned from link click, lh0's shows are infinitely better when you ignore episode previews and interviews. "whether lin ling takes a dark turn or not is worth exploring" "[shows a screenshot of nice that has nothing to do with the current episode but seems spoilery]" dudeeeee I will indulge this for link click but I'm not playing these games anymore for tbhx. I am immune to you now, lh0. stop trying to spoil your own show!! your fandom can speculate and anticipate without your help!!

[softgothbabe]

I think maybe being a person is just really fucking hard

[tabswrites]

How to create the perfect amount of manic energy in a scene:

Write it during a high fever while you’re hopped up on cold medicine

[coldblooded-angel]

There is a severe lack of wound fucking in this fandom and I am here to address that

This is for me (and for @ib3li3v3you and the handful of gore and monsterfuckers that have built this home of ours🙏)

Update: the fic is here yall

[pa-pa-plasma]

NEW DOCTOR BERATED MY MOM FOR DOWNPLAYING A SERIOUS LIFELONG MEDICAL CONDITION & TOLD HER I NEED A CT SCAN

[freakinator]

If you don’t mind, I’m gonna yap for a second.. I think another problem with Kab is how sudden the turn around was. Like in the first convo where Kab was acting “evil”, Zam fought back with the argument that she’s wasn’t really evil at all and I think he did believe that at least a little. And if Kab slowly began to turn her path around then he would be a bit more trusting cause he would have SEEN her actual emotional growth but the turn around was so fast, it feels like there was no emotional growth at all and that Kab is still the same as before, cause she basically is. She still wants Mane dead no matter the cost and she’s still, intentionally or not, trying to manipulate Zam, but she wants to be treated as if she’s had that whole long term emotional growth

yeah ii think this is where her majority experience with short-term smps really bit her in the ass, i think there are two main directions that other ppl take it tho: 1. is as what you speculate in that some ppl think that she hasnt had genuine growth and hasnt changed at all and 2. that she genuinely changes too quickly and is therefore unreliable regardless of if shes being honest or not

i think the reason zam was so receptive to her in silent scream was cause this has been a recurrent plot point for a couple streams now, kab trespassing zams base to yap while zam tries to decipher her wants and motivations until eventually she just let it all out and in that instance i think he did genuinely believed that she changed even if it was slowly/just a little bit

....but then die for you happened lol

ssee the thing about kab is that shes shes all-or-nothing, going from one extreme to the next after just a little bit of change in character which can be jarring to some ppl to say the least (unless you thought she was lying and therefore any character development shouldnt be believed i suppose) but is something that was a great asset in shorter and arena-based smps where you had to get as much advantage against your opponent as possible without having to worry about the long-term consequences of these actions ie them not trusting you while still having to interact often in mundane ways even after messing with them. while she Can be swayed this only really works with things she was already unsure of which while a great motivator and trait to keep her on track with her goals (again another great trait for short-term smps), can be really jarring and distressing for other ppl if the things she was absolutely sure about goes against their own perspective like for example her thinking that derapchu killing her constitutes zam getting payback for her as the protector of the server (The protector, not A protector like zam insists, The protector of the server)

i think shes far too used to the fast-paced instant acceptance of changed personality in arena smps that is a natural consequence of them being short-term and having a revolving door of members and teams which is why she expects ppl to accept her growth and efforts so quickly even if realistically nobody would hand over their trust that easily esp after essentially being harassed in their own home multiple times, like even in normal smps where theres a baseline amount of trust ppl still wouldnt trust you after doing that, what more in a server like lifesteal where general trust is low basically all the time?