razorberries-art

[hippydippydruid]

Imagine being a child, and your whole family dies, and it’s just you and your dad. And he starts locking himself in his office, claiming he has work to do, so you sit and you wait and you grieve. And then one day your mother is there like nothing ever happened, making breakfast and cleaning the house and homeschooling you just like she used to. And your dad is acting like this is completely normal. And this works for a while, but then this twisted version of your mom stops just cooking breakfast and cleaning the house and begins trying to have hobbies. And suddenly your mother is gone again and there is a new mom in the kitchen the next morning. And you realize that you will never get the closure of fully losing your mother, but you will also never get the satisfaction of having her back. And soon your mother, who used to adore you, is pampering these two new children that behave so well and aren’t sad and angry like the poor little .5. And you watch as every new version of your dead mother begins to view you with more and more disdain as you look into the lifeless eyes of a woman who used to sing you songs before bed every night, and you know there is no one who will ever believe you. Imagine being Timmy Trout.

[roxygen22]

Still Here (Chapter 12)

Summary: Timothée spends Christmas with you and your family. A happier chapter than the last two.

C/W: Brief mention of parent's death

Catch up on previous chapters here.

Both you and your mother insisted that Timothée come over and spend the night on Christmas Eve so he would not wake up alone Christmas Day. It had only been three weeks since his father passed, and you knew the holiday was going to be hard for him.

Timothée showed up as you and Madison were making cookies in the kitchen. Long past the days of knocking, he let himself in. "Where are my favorite girls?" he called out in a sing-song voice as he made his way through the house. "Aha! Found you!" he shouted when he popped his head into the doorway, sending Madison into a fit of giggles.

He gave her a side hug and a kiss on the top of her head, then walked around to your side of the island counter. "You, uh, got a little something right...there," he said as he swiped the dot of flour on your nose with his index finger.

"Oh yeah?" You grabbed his face with your flour-coated hands and pulled him in for a kiss. "You have something - there," you snickered as you gestured to his entire face. Madison's laughter continued to fill the air.

"And what are you laughing at, missy?" You turned to her. "Seems like you are the only one with no flour on them. I think we should fix that, Timmy."

Timothée grinned ear to ear. "Seems only fair." You each grabbed a handful of flour and playfully stalked toward her. It turned into a messy game of tag as you all chased each other around the kitchen island.

You skidded to a stop when you spotted your mother standing in the kitchen doorway. She stood with her hands on her hips, just shaking her head.

"Oh, uh, hey Mom."

"We'll get this cleaned up, Mrs. [Y/N]," Timothée added, ducking his head in embarrassment.

"Where's the fun in that?" She quick-stepped to the flour jar to grab a handful herself and dumped it on your head.

Madison gasped, "Nana!"

"What? She was the cleanest of all of you. Figured she needed to be brought down a peg or two." She looked at you and winked.

You narrowed your eyes playfully. "By that logic, you're next!" You and your mom stalked each other around the island until until you caught her in a big hug and patted flour all over her back. You both could barely breathe from laughing so hard. The two of you had gotten much closer since you moved back in, and after Timothée lost his dad, you were determined to make the most of the time you had left with your parents.

<><><><><>

After you got yourselves and the kitchen cleaned up, it was time for Madison to get ready for bed. She came prancing out of her room in her footie pajamas to give goodnight hugs to her grandparents. She stopped at Timothée.

"Will you be here in the morning?" she asked.

"Of course! There's no place I'd rather be."

The girl smiled. "Good." She hugged him and headed toward her room. You started to follow when she turned back. "Can Timothée come, too?"

You looked at him and shrugged. "If he wants to." You held out your hand to help him up from the couch, knowing he wouldn't turn her down. He was wrapped around her little finger.

The two of you followed Madison to her room and flanked each side of her bed. You tucked her in as Timothée sat on the edge of the bed. She held out her arms for one more hug from each of you, to which you gladly obliged.

"Now, you better go to sleep or Santa won't bring your presents," Timothée said cheekily.

"Silly. Santa's not real," she stated.

He faked a gasp and pulled a horrified face. "He's not?! Hmm, I guess that means I can have the cookies you left out for him."

Her hand shot out from under the covers. "NO! No. Please don't, just in case I'm wrong."

"Uh huh, that's what I thought," he said as he booped her nose. "Good night, kiddo." He leaned down for one more hug, then stepped out of the room. You kissed her forehead, turned off her lamp, and followed suit.

You spotted Timothée at the end of the hallway where apparently your mother had sneakily hung some mistletoe while the two of you were occupied. He pointed upward and smiled at you. "Join me under the mistletoe?" You sauntered up to him, not expecting him to spin and dip you before kissing you yearningly. "Our first Christmas together. Again."

"Merry Christmas, love," you replied as he stood you upright again and nuzzled his nose against yours.

<><><><><>

The next morning, Timothée sat next to you on the floor by the couch, coffee in hand, taking in the scene as Madison dove into her stocking and the first of her presents. He leaned over and whispered to you, "I never quite understood why my parents got so excited about Christmas morning, even more excited than me, until now. All that joy on her little face. It's addicting." You squeezed his hand and leaned your head on his shoulder.

After a bit, once everyone had opened at least one gift, Timothée brought out a package that he had been hiding behind the couch and set it in front of the girl. "Don't try to pick it up. It's heavy. This one...," he paused to clear his throat, "is from my dad." She looked at him, then you, puzzled. "He was going through some boxes in the shed a couple of months ago and came across something of mine from when I was a boy that he thought you might like to have. He...he asked me to set it aside for Christmas."

Madison gingerly opened the wrapping paper to find a round brown leather bag.

"Go on, unzip it," Timothée encouraged her. She slowly unzipped the bag to reveal a blue bowling ball. "You'll need to grow into it a little, but it's yours if you want it."

Madison's lip wobbled as she wiped her tears with her sleeve. "This...this is perfect." She launched herself into Timothée's lap for a hug. When she pulled away, her face lit up as she looked at you. "Mom, help me find my present for Timothée! Please!"

"That's okay, kiddo, it can wait until we get down to it."

"No, it can't. You'll see." You and she dug through the piles of presents until she spotted what she was looking for - a rectangular present haphazardly wrapped in shiny blue paper and three different colored bows on top.

"I wrapped it myself," she said proudly.

Timothée carefully slid his finger under an edge of the paper in an effort not to rip it. Once he opened one side, he gently slid the gift out. It was a picture of him and Madison together at the bowling alley in a frame that she decorated herself. On the back was a short, handwritten note:

Dear Timothée,

I'm glad we found you at the grocery store. Merry Christmas!

Love, Maddy

Timothée wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I love it, and I love you, too, kiddo." He pulled her in for a hug and buried his nose in her hair. "So, so much."

<><><><><>

Chapter 13

FYI: I am expecting for Chapter 13 to be the last one.

Masterlist

Tag List: @croatianprincess, @bluizh, @jindongdongie, @groovyqueer

[envysparkler]

I'm curious about this Uno reverse batfamily adoption fic idea. What is it going to be about? All the batkids parents are alive and try to coparents Bruce and the robins?

The story starts when a newly minted Batman goes to a circus. He runs into a panicking baby Dick before the show starts, who claims that there's a bad man doing something to the ropes. Bruce rushes off to stop him, gets lightly stabbed, and decides to buy Haly's Circus so this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

The Grayson family happily adopt him. No amount of persuading will convince Dick Grayson that Bruce is not his new older brother. Alfred is happy to have more people looking out for Bruce. Bruce is defeated and resignedly accepts his new parental figures, since it appears that Haly's Circus is going to stay in Gotham.

[you can insert subplot about court of owls here or not.]

Bruce Wayne is in Crime Alley on the anniversary of his parents' death. He gets mugged, which causes a flashback and a panic attack, and a kind passerby coaches him through it while her son scowls at him the whole time. Catherine Todd invites him up for a cup of tea and Bruce meets her husband. He can see where Jason gets the scowl from. Willis gives back Bruce's wallet and keys without saying where he got them from. The car's tires, however, are a lost cause.

[honestly the dramatic tension here from Batman running into Willis as one of Two-Face's lackeys would be delicious. also feat Willis finally revealing Catherine's medical issues which of course leads to Bruce paying for treatment and Jason starting to trust him.]

This Batman has no Robin. This does not stop little Timmy's fascination with nighttime photography, which Janet encourages. Children need to spend time outside, she can brag about her baby's talent, and honestly all the traveling means she's up at odd hours when she's in Gotham anyway. But all that Bat-watching gets Janet thinking and she figures out that Bruce is Batman in a couple of months. Tim is his mother's son, after all. Janet, previously very annoyed with Brucie Wayne, now realizes the whole thing is an act, and is very amused. She can use this to troll Gotham's snooty high society and get a good laugh out of those stuffy galas. Jack is always game to go along with a good joke.

[The Drakes, frequent visitors to the circus ever since little Dick Grayson picked up baby Timmy and proclaimed that he'd do a special flip just for him, find out that the Graysons also know Bruce. They meet the Todds on another trip. If Bruce knew that there were three different sets of Gotham parents conspiring about him, he'd probably flee permanently to the Watchtower.]

Talia...well, it would be a bit awkward for Talia to adopt Bruce. But you don't have to change much to have Ra's be the kind of father that's obsessed with that One Boyfriend you brought for dinner five years ago and won't stop asking when he's coming back.

[Why, yes, Ra's does join the monthly meetings of the Bruce Wayne Protection Squad. If only to weigh in on the "who should Bruce date" debate. They're going to be his future in-law after all.]

Batman runs into David Cain and Lady Shiva on two separate missions, both of which end in injuries for Bruce, but a little girl sticks bandaids with colorful print on him so he guesses it's okay. Her parents have split custody of Cass and now apparently Bruce too, if the way they grouse at him about the proper way to take on assassins is any indication.

Batman ends up in the hospital and Crystal Brown is the nurse that's assigned to his care. The only thing that stops a delirious Batman from trying to get out of bed is Stephanie Brown's detailed stories. Some time later, Cluemaster kidnaps Batman--not to unmask his identity, but to interrogate him on his postoperative care because his wife and daughter were worrying.

Gordon's already pretty much adopted him, so nothing has to change there.

Bonus: Bruce is a fantastic babysitter. He's attentive and careful. Also, all the kids think he's super cool because he's Batman, which is very flattering. And whenever one of them starts making noises about joining him in fighting crime, he can drop them back off at their parents.

[butterfly-winx]

I've always found it strange that Winx/Specialist/Trix etc don't have surnames, In your Au they have them and if so which ones.

Me too, so I have of course given them names to match their family history. Let's go in order of appearance (roughly)

Bloom Peters, later Bloom Peters-Aglissier

Born: Virna Aglissier, which also means "bloom, blossom" and baby bloom magically projected her name which her adoptive parents 'translated' into their native language. Briefly also known as Varanda of Callisto

--

Stella XXXVI

Is the actual name she is born with, since royals on Solaria have a title name only, no personal one. Luna being an outsider and with common sense gave Stella a civilian name: Mariella Pregioni (Luna's maiden name is Giulia Pregioni)

---

Flora Augmenta Lisahani

Flora has no last name, all three of her names are given names. Her sister is called Miele Concordia Jojoba

---

Tecna Rahman, officially Tasha Rahman

Tecna adds their nickname to her official record after graduating Alfea

---

Yu En Musa

Musa has a two-syllabylic elf surname from her mother (Yu En Maylin) and not her fathers family name (Zhang Haobai)

---

Skyvian man-do Erendor, or Brandon Essikva (when undercover)

Among nobility, last names are comprised of their father's name, essentially meaning "son/daughter of someone"

---

Brandon Sanna, or "Prince Sky"

He also gets a Solarian title while courting Stella: Prince Consort Hector XVII

---

Tim Aubach

Self explanatory. The family of Timmy's father emigrated to Callisto from Earth a while ago

---

Riven El Falong

Uses Riven Sok on his visa and related records because his family name is a minority ethnic one and he feels safer that way. (Sok is like the most common last name, think Zuko saying Li)

---

Icadora Grimae, later Belladona Icy

All the Trix later adopt a mix of their current and past name (from Aegoda Belladona) . Icy's sister formerly known as Saphire is named Glissandra in butterfly verse

---

Dareena Darcei, later Padraigna Darcei

Darcy goes by a nickname formed from her last name interestingly. (ancestress: Padraigna Lyssis)

Alastormia M?, later Stormy Čestyl

Stormy lost most of her memories when Tharma (Čestyl Tharma) took over, so she doesn't know her last name actually

---

Layla Aisha Aghebe

Layla mostly just uses her first name and only Tritannus and Ligea still call her Aisha, becuase back when she was chosing her name she couldn't decide between the two

---

Helia Salador, born Helia Erica Mnemol

When Saladin sought asylum for him on Magics, he thought it was better to give him an official last name. The clerk made a mistake reading Saladin's handwriting and thus 'Salador' was created

---

Daphne Brelain Agglissier

Daughter of Oritel Vanu Aglissier And Marion Fiere Niancey. The royal family's name comes from one of the languiages that no longer exist on the planet due to their extreme cultural globalisation

---

Honourable mentions:

Roxana Birchfeld (Roxy) (Klaus Birchfeld and Morgana Pendragon)

Krystal Arancia Nadrujena Vigo (does have a last name)

Mirta Wingert

Lucy Luckhurst

Nova Berzanetti

Varanda Fiona de Numor

Diaspro Ien-do Drogo

Vanessa Vicenzio and Mike Peters

Nabu Tteke

Xiang Galatea

Paula "Poppy" Faragonda

Misandra Griffin

Mary Griselda

Farin Ebenezor Saladin

Kriszta DuFour

Ophelia Erhart

Antonio Wizgiz

Camilo Avalon

Feid Palladium

[allthetropes]

CHILD BENEFITS 101 (and why they aren't misandrist)

The idea behind child benefits is that children should have the Quality of Life afforded to them by the totality of both parents' incomes.

Let's say, 2 parents are together. Father makes 500k/year. Mother makes 30k/year. The children have a quality of life that's afforded by a cumulative 530k/year. They have this quality of life 24/7.

When the parents split up, the kids are supposed to still have the quality of life afforded by a cumulative 530k/year, 24/7.

If the kids live with mom, then they do not have that Quality of Life. They have a Quality of Life that fits within 30k/year. Even if they live with mom 50% of the time, they have to live within a 30k/year life 50% of the time.

To remedy this unfairness to the child, the courts tell the father in the scenario to pay up (although in 50/50 custody this is less common). The father, who makes sixteen times more money than the mother, needs to allocate a share of money for his children to maintain a quality of life that they would have had before the parents split. Benefits are calculated to be a % of the parent's income, and typically, we put a cap on how much child benefits can be taken out, because, well, there is a limit.

Is there a moral/ethical burden on the mother to make sure all the child benefit is spent to actually benefit the child? Sure. But people underestimate how much rearing a child costs.

It's not just that little Timmy needs new clothes cause he grew out of his new ones; he'll need new shoes, new gym clothes, if he does sports or music he may require new equipment. Timmy also has school fees and lunches that need to be paid, school trips, possibly babysitting/daycare/after school care/what have you. Besides that, keeping a roof over Timmy's head, having his own room (as much as possible) and food in his stomach also requires a sum of money. Timmy uses electricity to keep his bedroom light on and his phone charged, water to clean himself, Timmy benefits from the electricity that powers the fridge. Timmy may require extra tutoring to get through school. Maybe a bit of pocket money to go out with friends and get an ice-cream on a hot summer's day. Some day he will apply for universities, he will get a driver's license, a car. He will likely require medical aid at some point.

A lot of people will say 'well the dad should just pay for things only little Timmy uses, and the mom should still be on the hook for general bills and rent/mortgage', but... Timmy still needs the bills and rent to be paid. The house that the rent money is paying for, is a house Timmy uses. And those bills and rent could be a lot less if miss ma'am was in a studio apartment by herself. She isn't. She's got little Timmy.

A lot of people will say 'well the dad should only pay 50% of total costs', but that's going against the first issue - 50 per cent of what costs? The kid is supposed to have the same QoL. Mom and Timmy have to live within their means, so if the father supplies 15k/year, then is Timmy getting the QoL afforded by 530k/year? No. He's getting the QoL afforded by 30k/year.

-Besides which, if the dad is only paying 15k for his child, and let's say the mom is allocating 15k too, then Timmy's Mom is sacrificing 50% of her income for her kid, and Timmy's dad is sacrificing 3% of his income for his kid. Does that seem fair and equitable to you?

---

Recently I saw a ruling of a man who was required to pay 9200/month in child benefits. He lost his shit, and quite frankly, the comments also collectively lost their shit because of how much money he was required to pay, the judge was a misandrist, a man hater, so was the ex, how dare they require him to pay so much money? The ex was just going to pocket it all anyway!!1!

9200 was less than half his monthly salary (he would have had to pay more if there hadn't been a cap on how much child benefit can be taken) and was to benefit his four children. 9200/4=2300. So, per child, he was spending 2300. 1/4 of rent of a 4-bedroom house/apartment, bills, and school costs, you know damn well, is easily going to rack up to 2k. Add on childcare, clothes, dental care... do you see where I'm going?

And. The. Same. Would. Happen. If. It. Was. The. Mom. Making. More. Money. And. The. Dad. Had. Custody.

(you just don't see that a lot because how many times do you see a father having full custody with an ex-wife who makes more money than him?? not often that's how many times)

There are, of course, extenuating circumstances. The courts can decide that other things are of influence on the situation. Like, in cases where parents share custody equally, there is usually no child benefit, or very little. Alimony is a whole other creature entirely. If a child's paternity proves to be different from originally stated. If there was abuse in the house. The age(s) of the kid(s) in question. All kinds of things can influence child benefits. The point is that -

The child's quality of life must not be affected by the parents splitting up.

That's it.

[yandere-ac]

Can I request parental Yandere! Tom with a young Y / N? Y/N has been on the island for a long time, and Tom is like their father figure. I'd like to see a scenario where Y / N meets Redd and due to their innocent and naive nature, wants to befriend him, meeting at night time just because Redd says it's better this way, probably not to alert Tom that he is there.I love how you write! Sorry for my bad English.

Yandere Parental Tom Nook X Child Reader

Little one

Tom had always considered himself good with children. It might have been because of all the late nights he spent up with Sable, taking care of Mable back when she was still very small. Even as a child, Tom swore to protect and help the ones who could not defend them self’s. It was a trait that, even though as he grew up became less and less prominent, was still a core instinct that he had. Sure, he’s the first to admit that he wasn’t exactly the most charming guy back in the day. Many seeing him as intimidating and mean. And yeah, Tom could see how people could have gotten that impression. Back then, he’d been so angry and lost. He was angry at the world. Angry at himself. Angry at...him...those where the days when he was hellbent on not letting anyone ever take advantage of him ever again. He’d locked up his heart and pushed everyone he loved away. But then...something quite peculiar happened.

It had been late at night. Tom was walking alone on the sidewalk, only the dim light of the tall streetlights illuminating his path. With hands in his pockets he picked up his pace. He wanted to get out of the city as quickly as possible. He had been spending some time with family and was currently going home. But to get to his flight he had to walk through the big city. Tom didn’t like the city, it brought back bad memories. He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard the sounds of a loud crash coming from one of the alleyways nearby. What was that? Was someone hurt? Tom knew he shouldn’t...it would be dangerous and stupid. But he had to check to make sure nothing sketchy was going on. Looking back at it now. Tom was so happy, overjoyed that he decided to investigate. Approaching the alleyway he could see the silhouettes of two small creatures. And as he got closer he realised what the silhouettes were. They were two children, tanukis, looking no older than five cowering together, clutching onto each other like there was no tomorrow. They looked up at him, shaking from either the cold weather or because they were scared. Probably a mixture of the two. Tom made sure to stay completely still as he tried not to scare the two boys.

"Hello? Are you okay? Why on earth are you two out here alone?" He asked as he slowly crouched down so that he would be on the same level as the kids, still keeping his distance. Tom however did not get a response. Letting out a small sigh he tried to continue. "Can I at least get your names?" He said, making sure to keep his voice gentle. "We’re not supposed to talk to strangers mister..." one of the two said, clinging onto the other tighter. "Okay then. Hello there. My name is Tom Nook. Who are you?" Tom tried again. At this point the other one has stopped shaking and looked at Tom with more curiosity than fear. "We don’t have names mister." Tom felt his eyebrows furrow. These poor kids. "Why don’t you two come with me? It’s about to start raining and I don’t want you catching a cold." As he said this he extended his hand to the two. And carefully, the first one reached out his tiny paw to grab it. The other one was much more hesitant about the whole thing but after a quick glance at the first, he soon grabbed Toms hand. Tom led the two away to a hotel nearby where he bought a room.

That was the first significant change that led Tom to the road to redemption and recovery. After calling the police and telling them about the situation they had come to investigate with a social worker. After they had intervened and the social worker talked to the two and did confirm that the two children had no home or guardians. And even though it had only been maybe two days with the boys, Tom had grown very attached to them. And so, he offered to adopt the two. And after settling the whole thing in court, Tom was able to happily bring two small tanukis home. Of course the final decision was left up to the kids. But lucky for Tom, they too had grown attached to him and agreed to the adoption. Tom gave them the names Timothy and Thomas, Timmy and Tommy for short. And rest assured, the boys were gonna have a good life, Tom swore of it. But that, like stated before, was only the beginning.

A year later, was the second significant change that Tom went through. That year, a new villager moved in to his town. A boy with Brown hair and a red shirt. And what a mess he was. After having bought a house from Tom, he didn’t have close to the amount of bells that he needed to pay off the house loan. In fact, he only had 1000 bells in his pockets. Seeing this was almost humorous to Tom. How can you move into a new home WITHOUT bringing more than at least 30 000 bells. And yet. Something about the boy. It almost reminded him of how he used to be back when he first moved to the city. Now, he had enough common sense to bring with him more than just a few bells. But he’d still make PLENTY of screw ups and stupid decisions. And in a way, he’d wished that he had a person to help him during that time. Someone to be kind enough to extend their hand and give him assistance. Maybe if someone had, things would have turned out differently. Who know what could happen to this villager, if he’s stupid enough to not bring enough currency, then he’d sure be stupid enough to be tricked or manipulated. Tom couldn’t knowingly let that happen, especially if he could prevent it.

And so. Tom offered him a job at Nooks cranny. Just to teach him some responsibility and give him a chance to pay off his loans. But even after he paid them off, he still took some time to visit Tom every once and again. He brought a sort of warmth and life to the town. He interacted with all the other villagers and made sure to fix it up a little as well. Although very silent and kind of strange, Tom grew a certain fondness of the boy. But ultimately, it didn’t matter what he though of him. Because one day, he never showed up. Tom just assumed that he had been sick or just tired. But after a week and not a sound from him, people started to get worried. They searched his house but he wasn’t there. And that weeks turned into months, which turned into years. Tom still worried what had happened to him. But he tried not to think about it. The thought unnerved him. He couldn’t have moved out because his house still remained in the village. But, ultimately. It really didn’t matter. He was gone, and Tom had to move on.

That was years ago. During that time, human after human moved into the town. And they were all just as incompetent. Tom had started to wonder if it was a human thing. But Isabelle had been quick to insist that he help them. And he did. He always tried to teach them how to survive and make money. All while giving them a roof over their heads. He couldn’t just let them wander around without a home, they had to live somewhere. He didn’t set any dates as to when their debts had to be paid either. They could pay him off whenever they wanted. He didn’t want to cause them any stress. And just like always, he got attached to the humans, and just like always, they all eventually left him with no explanation. He didn’t understand why or how. But it was simply just how it went. But no matter how many times it happened, he never got used to it. It was always so hard to accept the fact that the human that was usually eagerly running around had left them. Had left HIM. He felt oddly protective over them all, they were like his children, his small, gullible, human children. So when he met you, that was when his instincts really went into overdrive.

He remembered it clear as day. Timmy and Tommy had ran up to him with the three residents behind him. Immediately he noticed something was odd about one of them. One of them was a human, more than that, the human looked much shorter than any other human he’d ever met. And he’s met a lot of humans in his life, a privilege which very few get. At first he thought the human, you, was just short. But as soon as he heard you speak it became clear to him. You weren’t just short, you were much younger than any of the humans he’d ever seen before. You were a child. Tom started to wonder why someone as young as you was all the way out here. Were your parents gonna come on a later plane? No, no that couldn’t be it. There where no other planes booked to the island. Maybe you were a child to one of the other residents? Interspecies adoption has recently been legalised so that could be it. Yes. That’s probably it. But that theory popped once he gave out the tents and you asked for your very own. Wouldn’t you be sleeping with your guardian? For a moment Tom panicked. What if you were just a very small human and he has misunderstood your age. So he asked you. And to his relief and confusion you answered with "ten". Didn’t you have parents? Why were you out here alone, he needed to know if he should contact somebody. So while everyone else went about looking for a place to put their tents, Tom took you aside to ask you a couple of questions.

As it turns out, you had come here completely alone. Without parents or anything. You had handed him a letter from your mother, she was the one that sent you here with the little bells she had left, because she couldn’t take care of you and hoped that an adult on the island could handle you. When Tom read the letter he felt conflicted, he felt bad for you and your mother but he also thought the action of sending away your child to a deserted island was pretty irresponsible. But whatever he thought of the situation didn’t matter, because you were here and he couldn’t exactly kick you off or anything. He was sure that you would manage life here on the island, there was lots of things to do and food was also easy to come by. So, he’d have to make sure you were comfortable here on the island. He had given you your own tent and even payed the loans that came with it.

And you were the tipping point, you were the thing that turned his redemption into something much, much more twisted.

It had started small, with him feeling a kind of protectiveness over you. He figured it was since you were both a human and a kid. This feeling, it was much stronger than any of the instincts he felt about his previous humans, it was about as strong as how he felt for Timmy and Tommy. He just wanted to scoop you up and carry you away from all your troubles. He helped you fix up your tent and when you asked if you could upgrade it, he’d offer to pay for those house depts as well. But you had refused, saying that you wanted to pay for it yourself. It seems your mother had taught you plenty about responsibility and how to take care of yourself, which came a bit as a shock for Tom. Most of not all of his previous humans had been pretty clueless about things like this, so to see a child being more mature than them was almost a bit funny. But he knew deep down that your maturity probably stemmed from having to take care of yourself without any help. And there was nothing funny about that. Surprisingly, you handled your situation very well, you picked up weeds, planted trees, fished and caught bugs which you sold to Timmy and Tommy. All to pay for said loans. And when Tom told you about his plan to get K.K. Slider to perform at the island, you put your incredible work ethic to the max. Everyday, he could see you running around the island, planting flowers and placing furniture. It came out very good considering your age and soon enough the island got a three star rating. It baffled Tom beyond belief that you were able to do all of this. Especially at your young age. He made sure to give you credit for all the good you contributed and even made sure you got the front seat when the concert began.

And that brings us to today. You had been running around the island, collecting sea shells and fruit. Anytime you ran past one of your fellow villagers you made sure to greet them and talk with them for a while. And when you did so, one of them told you about seeing a shady boat by the hidden beach. The hidden beach. You liked going there, it was a nice place where you could just relax, far away from everyone else. So hearing that there was some boat there, it’s sparked your curiosity to say the least. Where did it come from? Who was at the boat? Why were they here? You just had to go see!

So that’s what you did. As you made your way to the beach you were stopped by none other than Tom Nook himself. He was outside of the plaza with Timmy and Tommy when the boys had their break. He gave you a smile as you stopped and turned to him. "Ah if it isn’t Y/N! Why don’t you come and join me, Timmy and Tommy to our picnic. We were just about to head there." He asked, Timmy and Tommy looking at you with hopeful eyes. "Yeah Y/N! Will you? Will you?" You had to stop to think before making your decision. "Sorry but I can’t. I’ve gotta go do something!" You said. "Alright then, but if you change your mind you know where to find us." Tom said as he walked away with the two boys. You ran all the way to the secret beach and sure enough, there was a boat stationed right there on the beach. As you made your way to it, you started to feel a little hesitant about going in. What if this person was dangerous? But you’ve already come this far, so you might as well try. And so, you took a deep breath, and opened the curtains to go inside.

Dark, that was the main word that popped into your mind as you walked down the metal stairs that descended into the boats cabin. As you reached the bottom and looked around the room a strange sort of dread filled your stomach. The room was darkly lit, only a select few lights illuminating what seemed to be paintings and statues that stood on small wooden podiums. Your curiosity started bubbling as you approached the paintings. You silently admired the art, but your moment of calm was soon ended when you heard a loud creak come from the far right side of the boat. Turning around swiftly you saw the source of sound. It was a big metal door, there was an orange fox exiting the door when he suddenly froze up. His eyes met yours, and for a moment the two of you just stared at each other. As he eyes you up and down you could only look at him with big wondering eyes. You’ve never met a fox in real life before, so this was certainly an experience. The silence finally broke when he spoke up.

"Umm...Hello and welcome aboard Jolly Redds treasure trawler!" There was a bit of uncertainty in his voice, like he wasn’t sure if what he was seeing was real. "Hello mister! I’m Y/N, what’s your name?" You asked him, a smile making its way onto your face. "The names Jolly Redd, as the name of my boat would imply." As he introduced himself to you he gave you a mischievous smirk. He seemed to drop any uncertainty and suspicion as he looked at you. "Say, were you checking out my paintings just now?" He asked you while walking closer. "Oh yes! I think they look really beautiful!" You answered enthusiastically, bouncing up and down slightly as you clasped your small hands together. "Ohoho, why thank you. I made them myself you see." Once Redd told you this, you let out a gasp of both surprise and delight. "Wow! For real? I have to tell Mr. Nook and aunt Isabelle about this!" All of the previous pride and confidence that Redd felt disappeared the moment you mentioned "Mr. Nook". He couldn’t let Tom find out he was here. Especially when he’s talking to a human child. Redd knows about Toms protective nature when it comes to humans and children, so the thought of what he might do if he found him near a HUMAN CHILD, it’s scared him. "A-ah! Let’s NOT tell Mr. Nook or Aunt Isabelle. I’m actually a uhh..." think Redd, think! "...secret artist! Yeah! A secret artist! We don’t like to be seen or talked about. So could you do me a favour and not tell anyone about me kid?" Redd said. You however, not knowing he was bluffing, let out yet another gasp and nodded your head vigorously. "Of course mister! I’ll never tell anyone I promise!" Redd let out a laugh as he saw your enthusiasm. He liked you, he wasn’t usually fond of children. But you, something about you was different. You were cute but not to the point of being annoying. Maybe he’d stay here for a little while.

"I like you kid, you’ve got good taste. Us art lovers gotta stick together ya’know. So how about this, can you meet me here again tomorrow at night? It’s a lot easier for me that time." The question made you unsure. You’ve been told not to trust strangers, but he seemed so nice. He seemed trustworthy enough. You didn’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to trust him. "Okay, I’ll do it."

And that was that. Every night you would sneak out of your house and visit Redd. He would show you his paintings and such, he’d even let you paint on a separate paper while he was doing his work on his forgeries. The only drawback of this was just how tired you got later during the day. It was starting to get more and more apparent to everyone else on the island, especially to Tom. He had asked you time and time again if you had trouble sleeping, but every time he’d bring it up you would get really quiet and assure him it was nothing. One time when he was out for a stroll he found you, sleeping on a bed of flowers. He picked you up and carried you to your house to put you to bed. As he tucked you into bed he let out a worried sigh, what was going on with you? But right as he walked out he caught a glimpse of something that made him stop dead in his tracks. He quickly rushed to the little desk you had in your room and looked at what laid upon it, it was a drawing. A drawing of you and an orange fox. The drawing was labelled "Me and Redd!" with green crayon. He knew something was up. But he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

It was late at night and you were on your way to Redds boat. Unbeknownst to you, you had someone following you. As you skipped down to the secret beach you called out for Redd. And a few seconds later, Redd came out of the boat and greeted you with a hug. "Hello there my little artist. Are you ready to have some fun?" He asked as he grabbed your hand and pulled you inside. "Yes! I’m ready!" You two sat down and started to paint. You told him about everything that was happening on the island, letting out a tired yawn every once in a while. As you blabbered away Redd was in deep thought, he knew he couldn’t stay here for much longer. Every day that he was here was another day that Tom could find him, and he sure as hell didn’t want that to happen. But he didn’t want to leave you, your kindness and excitement brought him some kind of joy when he would usually be completely alone. He needed a distraction other than painting and sculpturing, something that would drown out all of the persistent thoughts of hate that he felt each day. But he couldn’t just take you...could he?

"Hey, cousin? Do you like your life here?" He said out of nowhere, interrupting your ramblings. "Huh? Yeah of course. I’ve got friends and family that cares for me. I love it here." Damn it. How would he convince you if you had that attitude. "Aha...but doesn’t it get boring? You know, doing the same thing every day? When was the last time you had some excitement in your life!" Redd put down his brush and turned to you, facing you completely. "I...well..." you truly didn’t have an answer to that, sure island living wasn’t exactly the most heart pounding life but it wasn’t really supposed to be. It was supposed to be a relaxing life, without any stress or worries. "Wouldn’t you rather just get out there on the sea? With me! We could be a team! A crew! I could be the captain and you could be my second mate. Think about it Y/N!" Redd got more and more intense as he tried to convince you, but your face was far from happy or excited. It was filled with uncertainty and discomfort. "N-No I think I’ll pass. I would much rather just stay here." The fox’s expression turned from a smile into an annoyed frown. "If you don’t come with me you’ll never see me again! Do you want that Y/N?! Do you want to learn how to paint on your own? Do you want to loose out on the best teacher and friend you could’ve ever gotten?!" You didn’t give him a response, slowly backing away from him, trying to get to the stairs. But Redd saw what you were doing. "Oh no you don’t!" He rushed towards you and picked you up rather violently, you started to thrash and scream in his grasp, trying everything to get out. But suddenly you were dropped onto the floor. As you looked up in horror you saw Tom Nook hunching over you. He had his claws out and were growling at Redd. As he looked down at you his eyes softened and he motioned for you to run out, you got the message clear and ran. You ran out, sprinting for dear life in order to get to a hiding spot. Your house!

It had been about 10 minutes since you ran from the boat. You were hiding under your bed, trying to calm yourself down as the tears dropped down your face. You could feel your heart stop as you heard the door to your house opening. But you felt a huge wave of relief wash over you when you heard Toms voice call out for you. "Y/N? Where are you? It’s okay. He’s gone." You rushed out from your bed and ran downstairs to the living room. As you saw Tom stand by the end of the stairs you practically threw yourself onto him. "TOM!" Wrapping your arms around him, you started sobbing. You thought something had happened to him. You could barely form any words as tears got caught in your throat, this has been a stressful night to say the least.

"Shh shh...it’s okay...I’ve got you. I’ve got you. He can’t hurt you now, I promise." You cried onto his shoulder while he comforted you. "Do you feel comfortable sleeping alone or would you like to sleep with me, Timmy and Tommy?" You nodded your head as you climbed onto him. He only let out a small sigh as he carried you away to his house. What a mess. He wished he’d have known sooner, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But no matter, what was done was done. He could only focus on the future.

And he swore to protect you, no matter what he had to do.

[thewickedmerman]

My Redesigns of The Specialists

Well, since I finished with the Winx Club girls and The Trix, I figured it was time to do my redesigns of The Specialists. However, not all of them are going to be just powerless fighters. I felt it would be more fun to make their team be made up of fighters, fairies, and sorcerers. Plus, they get to have their own transformations too. The fighters get transformations similar to the Power Rangers/superheroes (Because it makes no sense for there to be an emergency and they just rush off to change clothes, which is an INSANELY dangerous time waster), the fairies will have transformations similar to the Winx Club themselves, and the sorcerers will have transformations similar to the ones from Miraculous Ladybug (Honestly, I don't know what to think for the sorcerers). Why? Because it's so much more fun that way.

Sky

Well, I got the most BORING of the boys out of the way, so that's something. For his design I used Eric's body from The Little Mermaid, the face of Derek from The Swan Princess (Or at least from a specific poster), used his second hairstyle from the show because it suits him better and look less like a surfer dude, and I used the uniforms The Specialists get in the later seasons because it's BADASS. Plus, considering that Eraklyon is related to geology, it makes sense to have some armor that looks like stones. I did change the shade of blue to match his signature color, which is sky blue (I mean, it's in his name). He is the prince of Eraklyon and the son of a sorcerer and a fairy, but they still loved him despite that he had no magic. However, that made them even more protective of him since he was a child and there was a threat of him being kidnapped and held for ransom by Yoshinoya. So Sky's best friend/squire, Brandon (Who is a fairy and has magic to protect himself and Sky) was to switch places with Sky for public appearances and in school, so that no one would know who Sky really is. The only ones who knew the truth were the royal family, the castle staff, members of the royal court, and Diaspro & her parents (Who Sky was betrothed to since they were babies). Despite having no powers, Sky refused to be helpless and studied fighting hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. Sky is a boring character but could be good if put in the right hands. Give him flaws, have him held more accountable for his actions, none of the bullshit conflict that happens with him and Bloom from seasons 4-8.

Brandon

For his design, I used the face of Edward from Enchanted, the nose of Rameses from The Prince of Egypt, the eyes of Joseph from Joseph: King of Dreams, and the body of Bolin from The Legend of Korra. I've always questioned what race Brandon was supposed to be coded as because he seemed pretty ambiguous. Was he just white but with a tan? Was he Middle Eastern? Was he Filipino? Was he Hispanic or Latino? I saw someone say he was Middle Eastern and pointed out some areas in the Middle East where they have lighter tan complexions, dark brown hair, and similar features to him. So I thought for some representation, I would go with the Middle Eastern coded option. I made him a little darker than he was in the original show by giving him Flora's skin color from the original show (Since I gave her a darker skin-tone in my redesign of her), sharper eyes, and more Middle Eastern looking nose. I didn't want to use Aladdin's nose because the noses of Aladdin and Jasmine were a little too exaggerated the same way that the noses in Lilo and Stitch were too exaggerated (Polynesians don't have potato noses). I also wanted to show some body diversity by giving him a plus-sized body. NO, Bolin's body isn't fat but it's very much plus-sized. Brandon was a fat little boy growing up because he was just built differently. However, as he got older and started training, he bulked up. He's still plus-sized but is also muscular. You're probably wondering why I decided to make Brandon a fairy. I don't know but it just works. He is the fairy of geodes! I got that idea from Diaspro's fairy form and powers. They come from Eraklyon, so the magic in that world must be related to geology. So he's basically an Earthbender lol. But his powers are rooted on rocks, stones, gems, ect. so it's no wonder his body is so solid like a rock. I also modeled his wings after Diaspro's, which I noticed are solid instead of transparent like other fairy wings. I figured that must be part of the geology themed powers. As for his costume, I based it on one of the background fairies that were seen during the destruction of Bloom's home planet, Sparx. It just looked like it suited him. He and Sky have been friends since they were little and he is Sky's squire. He's the son of one of the palace guards. Since Sky was in danger of being abducted since he was a little kid, Brandon was made to pretend he was the prince for Sky's protection. Brandon's parents were dead against it, but the king demanded it. However, it was ultimately Brandon who decided to do it, even if his parents disapproved of putting their son in danger. You may ask, how would people believe that two white parents had a brown son? No idea! I guess they just said he was naturally tan lol.

Riven

For Riven's design, I gave him the face/head of Proteus from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, the body of Shang from Mulan, and the eyes of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. For his outfit, I didn't want to just give him the same outfit as Sky but with a different color because I wanted more individuality. So I gave him the outfits that were worn by Nex and Thoren (Sky's cousin). They looked less heroic and epic as the outfit I gave Sky, which suits Riven's more roughish nature and how he hasn't had an easy life compared to Sky (More on that later). It also has a bit of a low-key bad boy vibe to it. I still stayed true to his signature color, magenta, while making sure it didn't clash with his magenta hair, and giving him some purple to match his eyes. And I just had to give him an angry look on his face because it's Riven, so of course. Riven is my absolute LEAST favorite of the specialists. Sky may be boring as hell but Riven is ANNOYING as hell. He's poorly written, has terrible development, is always an asshole for no reason, has no backstory to justify the way he is, doesn't really change, and his relationship with Musa is absolutely toxic. In my version, I give him a backstory and better character development. His backstory is that he was born to a father that was a sorcerer and a mother that was a fairy while he was born without the ability to perform magic, which was a MASSIVE disappointment to his parents. They neglected him, emotionally abused him, and on occasion physically. This makes his actions and attitude all the more understandable. He's a show off because of how he never really got attention growing up from his own parents and is trying to make up for it, as well as prove that he is capable of great things and isn't useless just because he doesn't have powers. He's angry and a hothead but has more of a secret gentle side that he sometimes shows, MUCH MORE than the original Riven, which helps make it more understandable why Musa would have a crush on him. His emotional baggage also made it easier for Darcy to manipulate him, even giving him some magic (But takes it away when she dumps him). His backstory also gives him a reason for why he lashes out at his fellow teammates. In my version, Brandon is a fairy and Timmy is a sorcerer, so they can perform magic while he can't. He especially resents Sky because of how he was also born with parents that could perform magic while he couldn't but was still given love and attention despite this. It made him VERY angry and jealous because of how Sky manage to have parents that adore him, despite being born unable to do magic, while Riven had neglectful and abusive parents because of his inability to perform magic.

Timmy

For his face/head I used some old concept design of Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the smile, eyes, and body of Aladdin. I went with Aladdin's body because of how Timmy wouldn't be as masculine as the others but wouldn't be lanky. Aladdin has some muscles on him but he's not super built. I also gave him freckles because it's just too perfect for him. His outfit was tricky because of how I had to find a way of making him look like a sorcerer but also incorporate it with technology to go with his powers because of how he is the Sorcerer of Technology. For his scepter, I went with Tecna's Mythix wand, with some adjustments. Redheads look surprisingly really good in the color yellow. I decided to make Timmy a sorcerer because of how I feel it suits his personality. He's not as action-oriented as the other guys but more intellectual, even though he still fights. Imagine how amazing he'd be with technology with magic. He'd excel! No, I don't have him being from Zenith like Tecna but from another technology planet, though one that isn't considered as high up as Zenith. So this makes him feel a little intimidated by Tecna, that and him having a MASSIVE crush on her. He always is trying to prove that he is capable and isn't just some weak nerd. Out of all of the specialists, he's one of my favorite, if not my number one favorite. He's just absolutely awesome with how much of a dork he is.

Helia

Helia was the one that I was looking the most forward to doing a redesign of because of how I made him a fairy. Out of all of the Specialists, he's the one that really benefits the best from being made a fairy, especially when I got to his Believix and Enchantix. He has more of a feminine personality while still proving he isn't a wuss but rather a badass, despite being a pacifist. This gives him layers and depth beyond just being a typical good looking hero. Plus, his hair is just AMAZING! I used the body of Mako from The Legend of Korra, the eyes and nose of Shang from Mulan, and the head/face of Little Creek from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. I also gave him Brandon's skin tone to make him look more brown instead of just a light Asian. His outfit is very feminine but also clearly meant for a man because of how it's kind of toga looking. But I did his toga in a way that looks more Asian inspired instead of Greek inspired. Plus, this look suits his chill and relaxed personality. I made his outfit salmon pink with some orange because those colors just look so good on him and just suit his character. I made him the fairy of art, the same way that Musa is the fairy of music. So he can make art literally come to life, turn things like paint into ropes, can control paper (Particularly when in an origami shape), create portals, can jump into paintings to hide, and you get the point. Basically, his powers are awesome!

Nabu

And now we've come to my favorite of The Specialists, Prince Nabu. First of all, I want to make VERY CLEAR that in my version, Nabu DOESN'T die! That was a bunch of BULL CRAP! I mean, he's introduced in season 3 and then close to the end of season 4 they kill him off? Not to mention that out of all the boys, they chose the darkest one, who was also the love interest of black woman! She ended up having to suffer more than any of the other girls because of this. Not to mention that in season 5 they tried to replace him with a brown (But much lighter) man with terrible blonde hair and a terribly bland and boring personality to match, Roy. Then when that didn't work, they did a dumb love triangle in season 6 where the white man that has a personality mixture of Riven and Brandon, Nex. Yeah, all of this is TOTALLY not racist! And that's coming from a white man. Also, I wanna also point out that Nabu is NOT black! He is Indian, so he is coded as South Asian. Now that we got my rant out of the way, for his design I used the face/head of Naveen from The Princess and the Frog, the body of Flynn Rider from Tangled (I wanted to use Naveen but there wasn't a base of him to use or a tasteful nude picture of him), and the eyes of Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I also chose to keep his super long single braid instead of the two shoulder blade length braids he had in season 4. Why? Because it just looks SO MUCH better and is more badass. Non-white men just look amazing with long hair. He is still a prince but he doesn't come from Layla's planet, Andros. Why? Because that planet is water themed and his powers aren't related to water. His powers are illusions and healing, so it only makes sense that he comes from another planet, especially when the rules of Andros are black while Nabu and his family are Indian. He and Layla are in an arranged marriage, which she refuses and their relationship still goes the same way it did in season 3. Except, I'm having them meet during my Sirenix story line because that season would be about Layla, due to it being water themed. He still went by a disguised name, Ophir before revealing his true identity once they fell in love. So I'm giving true respect to the Sorcerer of Healing and Illusions.

And now for Brandon and Helia's Believix!

Just like the girls, Brandon and Helia are getting Believix and Enchantix forms. For the Believix forms I took inspiration from @teawithlemonacid, who did some fanart of The Specialists as fairies. I did make some adjustments of my own but still did take inspiration from that artist, so credit where credit is due. As I said when I did the girls with their Believix, the way they earn their Believix is pretty much the same way they earned their Charmix in season 2. They have to believe in themselves and overcome a personal struggle. I also took liberties with the Believix aesthetic because of how I want the fairy looks to be more timeless rather than dated-looking.

Brandon's Believix

For Brandon's design, I gave him a new hairstyle because if the girls get new hairstyles for each new fairy form, so do the boys. I gave him Nex's hair, apart from those dumb looking sideburns. I embroidered some stoned onto his outfit because of how he's the fairy of geodes. Since I also decided to have his race be Middle Eastern, I decided to incorporate some of that into his look as well. I gave him some curled toed shoes and some Middle Eastern inspired accessories. That was hard because of how most Middle Eastern jewelry are women's jewelry. I gave him Tecna's Mythix wings because they just really suit him for some reason. As for how he earned his Believix, well he had to overcome some hidden resentment he had for Sky that was starting to show during a trust exercise. He resented that he had to put his life on the line for Sky ever since they were kids. That really effects a child when they are having their lives in danger in order to protect someone else. Yes, Brandon did agree to do it in order to protect his friend but he also knew that if he didn't do it that he and his parents would be in trouble with the King and Queen. Sky's parents didn't really show much concern for Brandon's safety and that caused more resentment because Sky didn't really say anything to his parents about their poor treatment of his friend. Sky could tell something was up and it was only when Brandon stopped bottling up his feelings that things started to get better. It was emotional and difficult but Brandon felt better when he finally let it all out. It was then that he earned his Believix.

Helia's Enchantix

homeworldHelia's Believix was A LOT of fun to do. I loved getting to have his hair loose because it looks amazing. I didn't make too many changes to the outfit I modeled this after. I love how the gold has a paint-like feel to it. It really adds to his powers being art based. I used Flora's prototype Bloomix wings for his Believix wings because they just seemed to suit him. I also had the magic coming from his hand looking even bigger and more powerful than it was during his Magic Winx form. The way he earns his Believix was different from how others earned their Believix. instead of mainly being an emotional struggle, it was also a physical struggle because he had to overcome his passive nature. He has a lot of power but he holds himself back because of an accident that happened when he was a kid. Because he didn't restrain himself, a friend of his got badly hurt. The friend lived but his parents wouldn't allow him to be friends with Helia anymore. After that, Helia kept to himself, chose not to be aggressive, and wouldn't live up to his true abilities because of that accident. His grandfather, Saladin (The headmaster at Red Fountain), has been trying to break him out of it and live up to his true potential. It was only when his friends, specifically Flora, were in danger that he finally overcame his passive nature and started using his full power. This caused him to earn his Believix.

And finally for Helia and Brandon's Enchantix

We have come to Helia and Brandon's final transformations, Enchantix. Just like the girls, they must earn theirs by saving someone from their homeworld by making a big sacrifice. The boys were hard to do, due to how there wasn't really anything for me to go off of. However, I think I managed to do a pretty good job. I also wanted to have them be in revealing outfits just like the girls. I mean, fair is fair, after all. Let me know what you think.

Helia's Enchantix

For Helia, I wanted to do something that had an Asian influence to it that also showed his art powers being influenced. I gave him something that was very flowing to go with his sensitive and feminine personality while also having a rainbow theme to go with his powers. I didn't use the colors of the rainbow because I didn't want him to just look like a Pride themed look, which ended up looking awkward and busy when I first attempted it. So I limited the colors to the ones in his wings to make it look better. I still wanted to include his two main colors, salmon pink and gold while still making the rainbow colors pop. I went with a very Asian inspired hairstyle, which actually shows both of his eyes. The eye that is usually covered is actually blind, which goes with the childhood backstory I gave him that helped him earn his Believix, which will also play a part in earning his Enchantix, which I will get to in a little bit. I felt it would show him embracing himself while also showing the Asian culture. I took some liberties with the jewelry because of how most jewelry is meant for women, which is why most male looks are boring. I tried to butch up his shoes to make them look less girly and making the gems resemble a paintbrush. For his wings, I used Stella's Mythix wings because they look like a rainbow, which really suits Helia. I made his powers in his hand the biggest and strongest they've looked out of all his fairy forms. As for how he earns his Enchantix, I had him save his old childhood friend, who Helia had accidentally caused to become permanently blind because of his powers, which also caused Helia to become blind in his right eye. He had seen him but was avoiding him because of his guilt, despite his old friend trying to reach out to him during this time. He saves his old friend from an avalanche that was caused by The Trix, specifically Stormy. Helia not only almost died but his wings were crushed, so he wouldn't be able to fly. He said that he lost his friend once because of something he did and wasn't going to lose his friend again when he could do something about it. However, it was due to this sacrifice that he was able to earn his Enchantix and gain a new and MUCH stronger pair of wings. Not only that, but he had his old friend back after all this time. Helia apologized for what he did to his friend when they were kids, but his friend forgave him and said he missed Helia.

Brandon's Enchantix

Brandon's Enchantix was even more difficult than Helia's because of how Brandon's not as feminine as Helia. I took some inspiration from Tynix because of how Brandon's powers are related to geodes. I made his vest and best/waist thing look like diamonds. I even incorporated gems into his sash. I took major liberties with jewelry because Middle Eastern (Which is the race I decided Brandon is) jewelry is very limited in jewelry for men, at least from the google search I did. I love the one sleeve look I gave him with his emerald vest/armor. I even gave him some gems on the bottom of his pants. I gave him very Aladdin looking pants, only without the crotch being so low lol. I gave him the hairstyle of the character Thoren from Winx Club and Stella's Tynix wings. The way he earns his Enchantix was by saving Sky from being eaten by one of Valtor's minions, causing Brandon to be eaten instead. This cause Brandon to earn his Enchantix and his powers were enhanced to where he could destroy the creature from the inside. This earned him not only his Enchantix, but also finally getting respect from Sky's parents, who, AT LAST, apologize for how they treated him. Yeah, this is simple but you get the point.

ENJOY!

Credit for the character bases goes to SelenaEde, Credit for the backgrounds goes to SparxGuardian, credit for Helia's Believix wings goes to darkfairyofmadness, and credit for the Enchantix wings and Brandon's Believix wings goes to AstralBlu. All of whom are on DeviantArt.

[kinsey3furry300]

A very confused Star Wars Fan desperately tries to justify their belief that “Caravan of Courage” shows the way forward for the franchise. No, really.

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved Star Wars. And I mean, all of it. The books, the games, the Lego, the spin-offs: I even enjoy the Holiday Special in a The Room so-bad-you-just-need-to-see-it sort of way.  But particularly the films. But here is when we run into the big problem: I’m just the wrong age. The original trilogy launched before I was born, the prequel trilogy hit cinemas when I was already a teen and while I went and saw them and enjoyed them, I was at that age where I was self-conscious about seeing a “kids” film, and hyper-aware of how silly and cringy those films were in parts. So my indoctrination, my inoculation with the Star Wars bug didn’t happen in the cinema, and it didn’t happen with any of the main franchise works. It happened on home video, on a skiing trip in the French Alps in the early 90’s. I’d have been about 6, and this was the first time I’d ever been abroad other than to see relatives in Ireland.  And I loved it: to this day I love skiing, but more than that, I have very, very fond childhood memories of this trip. This was shortly before I lost my biological mother to cancer, she’d have received her diagnosis just after we got back from the trip. This was when my younger sister stopped being an annoying screaming thing and became and became an actual person I could talk and play and share ideas with, this was before the combination my mothers long illness and my father having just launched his own IT start up meant I didn’t see him or her any more, despite the fact they were in the same house as me. This was this wonderful, nostalgic child-hood bubble when my family was intact, and nothing could ever go wrong. I skied all day with mum and dad, and would come back to the chalet in the evening. It was an English speaking chalet, I met my first real-life American there, and having grown up in the 90’s in the UK nothing was cooler than making friends with an actual American my own age. He had a hulk Hogan action figure with springs in the legs so if you put him on a hard surface and punched his head down, when you let go he’d jump really high in the air. We used to play with it together in the bath, back in that weird 90’s time-bubble when it was possible to convince two sets of parents that this kid you’d just met was you best friend in the world and of course shared bath time was, somehow, normal and appropriate. And fresh from bath time, tired from the day, the parents would give us some hot coco, dump us kids in front of the tv and grab the first shitty low-budget VHS they could find to keep us distracted while they went to the bar. In this particular time, in this particular place, that shitty low budget cartoon was the  complete set of the 1985 Lucasfilm/ABC Ewoks cartoon, plus the two spin off movies, and to this day that cheap, kitschy, kind of bad series has a special warm and cosy place in my heart. I remember being enthralled by the world, in love with the characters, applied by the bad guys and the injustice they caused (to this day I’m still irate about that time Wicket lost his set of beads documenting his progress towards becoming a full warrior and the older Ewoks basically said, tough, you need to re-earn all those merit badges from scratch. This struck me as exactly the sort of bullshit an adult would pull, and pissed me off) and on tenterhooks about what would happen to the characters.

It was also, by a coincidence, the first ever Star Wars media I was exposed to, and the above combination of events probably explains a lot about me.

So I was surprised, the other day, when scrolling Disney+, to find they’d added Caravan of Courage AND Battle for Endor to the roster in my region. Surely Disney wouldn’t want their slick, cool brand associated with this old trash? Surely there could be no place for this in the post-Mandalorian Star Wars cannon? Surely this is a horrible mistake some intern made, right?

Unless…. What if I’ve miss-remembered? What if it’s not just rose-tinted nostalgia goggles, and it’s, in fact, secretly really, really good?

I rushed to my comfy chair, got a blanket, dimmed the lights, made some coco (with rum in it, because why the hell not?) and sat down to re-examine this lost gem.

And wow: it’s every bit as shit as you’d expect.

It has aged exactly as poorly as you’d expect a cheap, mid 80’s direct to video spin-off to age. Caravan of Courage? More like Caravan of Garbage, am I right?

And yet… I still enjoyed every moment.

And it was sitting there, in my pyjamas, watching a cheaply made direct to video cash-grab from just before I was born, seeing it again for the first time in nearly 30 years, and I realised something.

It doesn’t really matter if this film is bad, so long as I enjoy it. And if it doesn’t really mater if this is bad, then I, like many Star Wars fans, wasted a huge amount of time and emotional effort on being butthurt about stuff I didn’t like about the Rise of Skywalker and it’s ilk. Because somewhere, right now, a tired and frustrated parent is putting Disney+ on to keep their kids quiet for two hours. And they won’t think too hard about what they put on, so long as it keeps little Timmy busy for a bit. Somewhere, right now, a kid is watching Rise of Skywalker, and it’s the first Star Wars media they’ve ever seen.

And that’s okay. Because we don’t know what that kids home life is like. We don’t know if it’s good or bad. Maybe it’s great, maybe it’s about to take a dramatic plunge like mine did, and this moment here will be the cosy, warm memory they look back on in 30 years time, and that’s beautiful.  They’re getting introduced to a fun, wonderful fantasy world that could be with them all their lives, through good times and bad, and as fans we should be happy about that.

Star Wars will never, die: it’s too darn profitable, Disney will never let it. And while I hope they learn from their mistakes and make sure every future Star Wars is a timeless gem of story-telling, statistically, if you keep making enough films, some of them will be bad. And while I’d like them all to be great, it’s still okay if they’re bad.

Because nothing can take away my memories of that week in that chalet. Nothing can take-away my memories of when they put the original trilogy on in cinemas for the special edition and I had my jaw hit the floor with how good it was on the big screen, not knowing or caring who shot first. Nothing can take away you memories of the Original Trilogy, the Prequels, or the Clone Wars. Nothing can tarnish the bits of the sequil trilogy that you like, and there are good bits in there.

But wait, what about continuity? What about the sacred, perfect written time-line that used to exist?

Well, what about it? Have you seen any other big, epic fantasy universe before? They’re all a mess. A work of fiction, particularly fantasy, can be extensive, or tightly written, but not both. Harry Potter is only seven books, and the last two feel, tonally, like they’re from an entirely different series. I love them, but the grim-dark kicked in so fast you’ll get whiplash. The Hobbit is a perfect written self-contained novel, and LOTR is *The* big boy high-fantasy trilogy: fast forward 50 years, and Christopher Tolkien is desperately squeezing every last drop of money out of his father’s corpse by finishing and publishing every unfinished note JRR ever wrote right down to his shopping lists. Even Dune goes of the rails with sequels. I can only think of four fantasy works that are both extensive and consistently tightly written, Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, Malazan: Book of the Fallen and Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe. And even then, the prequels and spin-offs mess with the timelines: the Dunk and Egg novella’s change some character’s canonical ages and timelines, Wheel of Time was going slowly off the rails even before the Jordan died, Forge of Darkness made what was a good metaphor for the creation of it’s world into a literal war deep in the past, and Sanderson’s first Novel Elantris got a re-write to bring it more in line with the rest of the shared universe. The MCU, oft held up as the modern example of tightly planned, well thought out ongoing storytelling, is a lie: it was never as pre-planned out as Disney wants us to think; the first Iron Man, apparently, barely had a script, with Downey ad-lib-ing most of his scenes. None of the MCU films are direct sequels to each-other other than Infinity war and Endgame. There are three Iron Man films, and Three Thor films, and none continue an ongoing story line across multiple films, and the Cap films barely continue an arc, but only where Cap’s relationship with Natasha and Bucky is involved.  Much like these, Star War’s cannon is a complete, nightmarish, confusing, tangled, illogical mess. And it has been since 1984, as Caravan of Courage proves. It was never consistent and well planned.

And that’s okay.

I used to care about plot holes. I used to care about which works were cannon in Star Wars lore. I’m over that now. I’m happy to imagine the books, films and games not as a blow-by-blow historical account of a galaxy far far away, but as campfire stories from within this fun, imaginative world that we’re all invited to listen to. Stories that are in-universe myth and folklore, that we can all snuggle up and listen to while drinking highly alcoholic rum and remembering better times, knowing that wherever the future throws at us, no matter how the world goes to hell around us, we’ll still have the memories, and the ability to make our own new stories in the wonderful Star Wars world we all share.

And that’s okay. No, more than that: that’s beautiful.

Also Star Wars is completely unambiguous on the fact we’re allowed to kill fascists no matter how many times they keep coming back with a new logo, so that’s timely I guess.

So, there’s my hot take two-years after everyone else stopped caring about this stuff, as per bloody usual. Tell me why I’m wrong below, and does anyone else have any truly awful spin-off shows that they kind of have a nostalgic soft spot for?

[chronicbatfictioner]

"Overall, it wasn't so bad..." Tim commented.

"Except for the fact that Bane roared like a constipated bear and literally lunged at Damian and Jason threw him out the window..." Barbara quipped, her face serious but her lips were still twitching. "I... am highly amused. Twice."

"You were laughing until you bent over double that if you weren't in a wheelchair, you've probably knelt on the floor laughing." Dinah deadpanned. "It was hilarious."

"Yes, it was. The fact that Jason could actually lift Bane and throw him out... Did you guys see Bruce's face, though! Oh my god! He... he looked at Jason as if he'd seen the lord savior Jésus Todd or something!" Tim crowed. "Like, the dude Bane got thrown out a bay window twice. I get the awe, I was a little star-struck myself. But I can't believe dude actually wanted to try the third time until Alfred pointed a damn shotgun to his forehead! I can't even!"

"This thus solidifies my thoughts that the Waynes may be trying to figure out a way to get rid of this... brute without... I dunno..." Barbara pondered.

"Gotten themselves broken in half?" Tim suggested. "He sure insinuated that he would do such a thing to Damian."

"Oh, gee, Tim. Which part of his speech insinuated that? 'You lying bastard!', or 'I'll break you in halves!'?"

"I'm partial to the 'bastard' remark, really. I mean, pot, kettle?" Tim replied, giggling.

"Technically," Helena Bertinelli - The Huntress - sighed as she chimed in; "and ironically, at that; the 'bastard' would be Bane since he claimed to be Thomas Wayne's son and is younger than Bruce. Which means he was 'conceived' while Dr Thomas was already married to Mrs Wayne..."

"Right? Bruce and Talia were two consenting adults, albeit under 20 years old; and were wed in a local ritual witnessed by locals, according to Jason. You should see Bane's face when Jason presented copies of the marriage's registry." Tim continued.

"Oh, we saw, all right. Harper's drones worked quite well." Dinah replied, snickering, referring to Harper Row, one of their tech 'consultants'. "Even at that height, it still delivered crystal clear pictures. I vote we use them again."

"No vote needed, the drones are on stand-by at the Wayne Manor permanently at this point. I'm more interested in his reaction when Damian offered them a DNA test." Barbara told her.

"I'm more interested in Bruce Wayne's reaction, really. He didn't seem too surprised, as if he was expecting this to happen or something." Helena pointed out.

"Maybe he did," Barbara replied absently. "Dude has been swingin' more than the roarin' 50s, there has got to be some juniors out there that even he didn't know of."

"Ugh, while I'm not a fan of Bruce Wayne's womanizing ways, I personally don't think he's that reckless. He's not a drinker or a junkie, as far as I know. He has virtually no vice other than extreme sports." Helena argued.

"I agree," Selina, who has been quietly watching from the corner, chimed in. "This is a guy who got visibly antsy when some sexy girls in bikinis come up to him - I thought he was gay. But if he'd been... wedded to Talia Al Ghul all these times, that would make sense. He knew exactly where he stood, and what would come up if he screwed it up."

"Has Jason or Dick said anything of the Doc and Mama Wayne's reaction?" Helena asked.

"They seemed truly confused, a little apprehensive, but didn't seem to be opposed to the idea that Damian is Bruce's child. Dr Wayne said that a DNA test wouldn't be necessary, but Jason insisted it." Tim replied, and added a little absently a few heartbeats later. "But why would he, a physician with more specialties than a truck stop, would not question the biology of anyone claiming to be his biological descendant?"

Barbara glared at Tim, "excellent question, Tim. If my dad has someone coming out of the boonies saying he's related to me, the first thing dad would do is draw blood."

"They... don't care?" Dinah suggested. "Maybe the Wayne men were less... chaste than they appear?"

Barbara glared at her this time. "Of all the women Bruce Wayne has dated, I've only recorded a handful who would end up in a second date. Less than a handful who were actually mentioned beyond social media photos; and you know how I feel with social media photos: generic, unverifiable, and showoff-only. Dates with Bruce Wayne generally would start with the pick-up, dinner, and then some form of jewelry. I..." she looked at Selina and Helena, "you've both dated him at one point or the other."

Selina shrugged, "I went for a gala dinner, and was honestly there to scope the homeowner's safe, really. I wasn't interested in a follow-up date." she replied. "Helena?"

"Social arrangement. My people called his people and boom, we were on a red carpet." she elaborated. Helena was a part of a mafia family, until she decided that the mafia way would not be the best way to make Gotham a happy place for all, and donned the costume of the Huntress to hunt down wrongdoers. Barbara had decided to let her join to prevent her from going over the line and murder anyone out of overzealous-ness; but also in order to get a line-in into the mafia families.

"No second dates, either, huh?"

"No, I'll have to check, though. I think his people called me again, but I wasn't interested in a vapid playboy, even if he has more money than Jesus."

"Vicky Vale," Selina reminded. "She has had a... somewhat lengthy relationship with Bruce some years ago."

"Sooo... the next answer in our mystery could probably be answered by interviewing an investigative journalist." Tim commented.

"Oh, no..." Barbara grinned mischievously. "Not this investigative journalist. I know just the journalist to talk to when it comes to gossip among themselves."

Dinah snorted a laugh. "I thought you didn't like her."

"I liked Vale less," Barbara griped. "Plus, Vale is already getting news on Bruce's probable child; why shouldn't I send Lois Lane the allegations of the Bane Conspiracy?"

"Conspiracy with who?" Dinah asked curiously.

"Oh, the Waynes, of course, to get rid of the Court of Owls," Barbara smirked. "Why should we be the only ones racking our respective and collective brains when we can have someone else on the ground doing the grunt work?"

"Babs, you can be... pretty evil sometimes," Selina remarked. "I know there's got to be a reason why I like you."

"I'm also awesome with technology and can launder your ill-gotten money and make it legal and undetected." Barbara pointed out.

"Oh no, that's why I liked you." Helena quipped smirking. "Seriously, how many mob family can say their ill-gotten money is accountable by law?"

"As long as it is within the facets of the law, and so on and so forth... Anyway! Tim, you're quiet for more than two seconds. I'm always nervous when you're quiet."

"Just thinking..." Tim said, looking a little lost in his own brain. He often does that when he has at least a dozen scenarios running through his mind. Through the time of Barbara knowing him, Tim would probably be the only person whose claims of 'just thinking' wouldn't immediately be picked on by anybody.

"Care to share with the class, kitten?" Selina prompted.

"It's not fully mapped yet... but I was thinking. What if the Waynes aren't... didn't cooperate with Bane in order to destroy the Court of Owls, and they're literally being hostages in their own home? What if Bruce Wayne has predicted something like this could happen, and has gotten himself all prepared all the way to ten years ago when he wedded Talia Al Ghul? I mean, who would have had enough firepower to defeat Bane other than the Al Ghuls? Look at Jason," Tim pointed out. "He threw Bane out the window as if he was a fly. While Jason is as solid as a rock but isn't a metahuman - Bane is. He was assigned by Talia herself - out of Gotham - to protect and guide Damian-- why? What's so special about Jason Todd? Why did Talia choose him? Why didn't Bruce Wayne - at least - act shocked when Damian said he was his son? Surprised, sure. But not shocked or in denial.

"Who's gonna win if Bane turned out to be Dr Wayne's son? Who's gonna lose? What will they lose? Who is Bane accountable to? If none, who planted the idea of him being Dr Wayne's son? Because from what I've read about him, he was born and raised in a prison with his mother - no mention of a father. His mother was an insurgent of Hasaragua, fighting against US-condoned democracy. And while there was a record of Dr Wayne being there, there was no exact date and length of stay, because he was there privately and not as a part of Médecin sans Frontieres or something like that.

"What about Mrs Wayne? She wasn't a poor or uneducated woman, since she was a Kane. Society-wise, do you think she would have tolerated her husband's indiscretion, both then and now? Yet she kept quiet for nearly two months. She has a Ph.D. in psychiatry, and would she be the ones to keep quiet about DNA testing and all that? Personally, I don't think so. If my mother - a little 'lesser' society lady compared to Martha Kane-Wayne - ever got a word of a child that 'probably' got fathered by my dad, she would have demanded a divorce right away without bothering with a paternity test, sure. But my dad, who was also a society man, would have at least attempted to convince her that it was a mistake and/or it was a lie. What best method to decide a child's paternity than DNA test?

"The criminal front in general - especially the costumed criminals - has been pretty quiet since Bane eliminated the Court of Owls. Why? That's rather stupid since we know that the Court's Talons were the ones who made moves to 'discourage' the costumed freaks. Annnd... that's where I couldn't map out things further." Tim rambled.

"Keep talking, even half sentences are better than none, Timmy." Barbara prompted. Tim might have had a brain that worked a mile a minute, but he was still very young and would often get flustered with himself. Barbara, on the other hand, has an eidetic memory, and things Tim said tend to stick to her brain and would fill the gaps in any puzzles she might be thinking about. Even half sentences.

"Right, I do the fact spreads, you do the jigsaw-puzzling." Tim nodded. "The murders of Talia and Ra's Al Ghul. Jason said they were deliberately murdered in a way that they would never be able to be resurrected through the Lazarus Pit. The perpetrators would be the League of Shadows, a rogue splinter of the League of Assassins. Lead by Lady Shiva. Why? Why were they murdered? Why now and not - say - next year or last year? Who benefited by their death? Aaand... I'm done, for now, I think..."

"I... can feel a headache brewing," Dinah admitted. "You and your conspiracy theories." she rubbed Tim's head fondly. Tim gave her a half-smile, still trying to articulate the thoughts in his head.

"That's why we need him, he takes the most random input and makes a theory out of it, and some of them would actually make sense. I'll start a search string based on some of your questions. If you have more, don't hesitate to tell me, Tim." Barbara realized belatedly that her tone sounded dismissive, and turned to Tim. "Want me to call up for Chinese and powwow a little more?" she added.

Tim shook his head, still glaring blankly. "Thanks, I gotta go... I've some... things to look into. Thanks, Babs," he replied, ending it with a genuine smile as he got up.

"Want to come home with me, Kitten?" Selina asked, worry for Tim apparent on her normally-blank face.

"No, thanks, Ma. I gotta go back to the mansion, just in case, right?" Tim pointed out.

"Then Dinah should go with you," Selina decided.

"She's coming there later, right, aunt Dinah?" Tim asked. Dinah nodded.

"I'll get home with food, so don't worry about that, kiddo." she said. Tim waved them all and then walked out.

Once he was out of the door, Selina sighed. "Ah, young love..."

"Right? Remind me to check in on him before going to the House. I don't want to walk in on something and have him traumatized." Dinah agreed.

Barbara glared at them quizzically, and then at Helena, who shrugged. "Grayson said it first, I think. Our kitten is growing up. I just hope that Jason guy is worth his firsts..."

The memory of Tim gawking at Jason when he thought Barbara wasn't watching flashed in her mind.

Oh.

And then of Jason blatantly checking Tim out just before Oracle made her appearance, and at times when her Oracle projection was turned off.

"Oh boy," she sighed.

"That's about it in a nutshell. Good thing I've told him of the birds and the birds..." Selina grinned slyly.

"Millennial parenting at best, Ms Selina Kyle." Dinah grinned. "Come on, let's go patrol and induce the fear of goddesses to Gotham's low-lives before inducing maternal fear to our little kitten."

"...or to the big tabby. We'll see," Selina added, waving as she and Dinah walked out of the room.

Suddenly Barbara felt a little sorry for Jason. Just a tiny, teensy, weensy bit of sorry.

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke's Holiday Reviews: Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome Back To Duke's Holiday Reviews..

Well, There's No Doubt About It, The First Remake Of The Grinch Is A Holiday Classic, Jim Carrey's Hilarious And The Sets Are Imaginative, Yes, Everyone Loves It, Through And Through, But The Critics.... On Something Called The Internet Do Not!

Now, Please Don't Ask Why, No One Quite Knows The Reason, Perhaps It's Because They Have No Lives To Brag About, Perhaps It's Because Their Shoes Are Too Tight, But I Think The Most Likely Reason Of All It's Because Their Brains Are 2 Sizes Too Small...

Ok, Screw Rhyming From Here On Out, What Is Wrong With You People!?!

The Grinch Is One Of The Perfect Remakes As Far As I'm Concerned, But It As Bad As Every Moron On The Internet Believes It To Be?

Let's Find Out As We Watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas...

Our Tale Starts Inside Of A Snowflake Which Leads Us To The Town Of Whoville, Where The Whos...

Who Look The Way Whos Should Look In This Reviewers Opinion...

Are Preparing For Christmas As We Come Across Cindy Lou Who (Played By Taylor Momsen Before She Went Insane And Her Taste In Style Got Thrown Out The Window) And Her Father, Lou Lou Who...

Everyone Of Course, Except The Grinch (Played By Jim Carrey) Who Soon Finds He Has Visitors In The Form Of Drew And Stu Lou Who And Their 2 Girlfriends Who Want The Brothers To Knock On The Grinch's Door...

But When They Do, They're All Scared Off By An Animatronic Controlled By The Grinch's Dog, Max...

Realizing He Could Use A Little Social Interaction, The Grinch Heads Down To Whoville With Max Where He Causes Some Trouble With The Mail But He's Soon Confronted By Cindy Lou, Who He Scares Into A Pile Of Boxes But He Saves Her With A Little Push From Max...

But Not Wanting To Look Like The Good Guy He Wraps Her In Wrapping Paper...

Eventually Finding Cindy Lou, Lou Takes Cindy Home To Her Mother (Played By SNL's Molly Shannon) Who Is Putting Up Christmas Lights As Her Neighbor, Martha May Whovier (Played By Christine Baranski) Puts Up Hers.,,

As Cindy Gets Ready For Bed, She Sings One Of The Only 2 Songs In This Movie...

And All I'll Say Is It's Better Than Anything That Comes Out Of Taylor Momsen's Mouth Nowadays, Seriously, Taylor, You Call That Crud You Sing Music?

This Message Brought To You By The Taylor Momsen Get A Life Foundation

Returning To His Lair, We Get A Couple Of Funny Scenes With The Grinch Before We Cut Back To Cindy Lou Who Is Visits 2 Biddys (One Of Them Played By Frau Farbissina) Martha May, The Mayor (Played By Jeffrey Tambor) And His Right Hand Guy (Played By The Ice Cream Man) Who Tell Cindy The Origin Of The Grinch...

Yeah, Seems That The Biddys Raised The Grinch From When He Was A Baby To When He Was A Child (Played By Timmy From Passions RIP) And He Hated Christmas Even Then...

But When He Fell For Martha May, He Finally Got Into The Christmas Spirit, However, When He Was Bullied By The Mayor, He Shaved His....Beard?...(I Never Considered It A Beard But...) Everyone Laughed At The Grinch To The Point He Went On A Rampage And Ran Off To Crumpit...

The Next Day, The Holiday Whobilation Begins As Everyone Votes For A Holiday Cheermiester, This Leads Cindy To Vote For The Grinch At The Mayor's Behest But With Cindy's Words Touching The Town, The Mayor Says Screw It But When The Grinch Doesn't Show He'll Wear The Crown By Default...

So, Cindy Goes Up To Crumpit To Tell The Grinch That He Won To Which He Has Mixed Reactions To, And By That I Mean He's Glad Alot Of People Lost But He Still Doesn't Want To Go...

But After A Long Funny Scene Of Him Figuring Out What To Do, The Grinch Eventually Shows As He Lands In Martha May Whovier's Boobs First...

To Which Some People May Go...

But I Go...

Despite The Grinch Wanting His Award, He Goes Through All The Contests Before They Get To A Gift Exchange Where The Grinch,..Gets A Razor... As The Mayor Proposes To Martha May...

To Which..,You Can Probably Guess What Happens From There....

The Grinch Goes On A Rampage In Whoville Before Heading Back To Crumpit And The Town Blames Cindy Lou Despite Her Just Wanting Everyone To Spend Christmas Together...

With Tomorrow Being Christmas, The Grinch Decides To Stop Christmas From Coming By Disguising Himself As Santa Claus And Max As His Reindeer, Leading To Our Last Song...

And...While Carrey Is No Thurl Ravenscroft He Does It Well, But Hey, Anything Is Better Than That Dumb Grinch Rap In The Illumination Animated Grinch Movie...

Seriously, Illumination, What The Hell!?!

Going Down To Whoville, He Starts Swiping Gifts Starting At The Lou Who's Where He Swipes Everything But When He Goes To Swipe The Tree, He's Caught By Cindy Lou, Who He Tells A Fake Story Before Getting Her Water And Sending Her Back To Bed...

With Everything Swiped At The Lou Who's He Moves Onto The Other Whos Houses Including The Mayor Who He Gives A Interesting Gift Which Makes The Me Too Movement And Myself Laugh, Despite Other People Asking "Really, You Had To Go There?"

With Everything Swiped He Takes Everything To The Tip Top Of Mount Crumpit To Dump It, But Before He Does He Goes To Listen As The Town Cries Boo Hoo...

To Which They Do At First, With The Mayor Blaming Cindy Lou For Ruining Christmas But Lou Stands Up For His Daughter Saying He's Glad The Grinch Stole Christmas As It's Not About The Gifts, Contests Or Fancy Lights But About Family...

Hearing The Whos Sing, The Grinch Puzzles Until He Realizes Christmas Doesn't Come From A Store, But Means A Little Bit More To Which His Heart Grows 3 Sizes...

And I Do Got To Admit This Scene Is Hysterical...

But With The Sleigh Starting To Move, The Grinch Goes To Get It But Is Unable To, But Seeing Cindy Lou On Top Of The Sleigh As She Didn't Want Him To Be Alone On Christmas...

The Grinch Manages To Lift Up The Sleigh So Him And Cindy Lou Can Take It Down To Whoville Despite Losing Their Brake, But With The Help Of Martha May, Lou And Cindy's Mom, They Manage To Stop It...

With The Grinch Apologizing, He's Let Off Easy Before Martha May Refuses The Mayor's Marriage Proposal From Earlier As She Loves The Grinch...

So, As The Town And The Grinch Sing, They Head To Crumpit Afterwards For Their Feast As The Grinch Carves The Roast Beast...

And That's How The Grinch Stole Christmas And I Ask Again, How Is This Movie Horrible?

Carrey Is Hilarious As The Grinch, The Makeup On The Whos Are What Whos Look Like In My Opinion, The Sets Are Fantastic With Some Still Up At Universal...

Why People Complain About Weird Angles And The Film Being Smokey Is Completely Ridiculous, And The Reason The Whos Are Corrupt And Materialistic Is A Mirror Reflection Of Us At This Time Of Year, So It Makes Sense To Make The Whos That Way...

So, Yeah, Despite Internet Critics Hating It So Much, I Love The Film And I Honestly Say Don't Listen To Those Morons And See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[nicolacoughlanbigheartfanpage]

LILY-ROSE DEPP

New interview from a Italian article from the night after Venice Film Festival. 

By Stefano Monti

https://www.artslife.com/2019/11/06/the-king-intervista-al-regista-david-michod-e-a-lily-rose-depp/

Presented at the 76th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, the film ( written by David Michôd and Joel Edgerton , which in recent years is proving to be not only a great actor, but among the best authors of our generation: The Gift , Boy Erased ) narrates the exploits of Prince Henry V of England during the delicate passage in which he is crowned King of England. Forced after his father's death to put a stop to his unruly attitudes, his trusted Falstaff, who is interpreted (impeccably) by Edgerton himself, lends him his hand, but above all the beautiful Catherine of Valois, who in this gigantic Netflix production has the face of another star: Lily-Rose Depp(daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis), muse of Karl Lagerfeld and face of the maison Chanel ... as well as (at least, so they say) also off-screen girlfriend of the small Timothée. 

Not only history: in spite of the matter by its very nature dark and gloomy, The King , available all over the world from 01 November on Netflix, also means a lot of glamor. In the cast many other superstars: Robert Pattinson , Ben Mendelsohn, Sean Harris . Not even the big names are spared behind the scenes: along with Netflix , Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment is one of the producers . A megagalactic production, which on 2 September 2019 attracted fans and the press from all over the world to the Lido of Venice. An affectionate public that has had the pleasure of enjoying one of the most glittering red carpets of the last years of the Venice festival.

The occasion was delicious. For this reason, the day after the premiere of the film, I could not miss the chance to snatch a few statements from it’s protagonists. Here, then, that I was able to have a chat with the director David Michôd and the irresistible Lily-Rose Depp , who - taking me by surprise - makes me the first Question: How are you? I'm a little tired, if I'm honest, I'll answer . Tired out? What did you do last night? She urged me. And nothing, Lily-Rose has already screwed me.

So, you're fresh from last night's premiere. How did this world preview go?

DAVID MICHÔD: It was ... incredible. It went bananas. It was all so big, the audience went crazy, the stellar cast ... After years and years of hard work (which sometimes made me crazy), it's finally out. I have no idea how it will go ... if it will be well received by the public, or if instead it will be hated. On the other hand, now it's out, it doesn't matter what I think anymore. Help, I'm already talking. I'm very excited. To tell you the truth, after all this carousel, I would just like to sleep, sleep, sleep.

I turn to Lily-Rose instead: it's not your first time in Venice. How do you feel about returning to the Lido to present this gigantic film?

LILY-ROSE DEPP: It's simply wonderful. The Venice Film Festival is an extraordinary, beautiful, exciting event. But the biggest thrill is being here with the whole crew and the cast of The King, representing a film I'm so proud of. Venice ... no complaints, whatsoever!

Indeed, the tradition of the Henry V is infinite: from the original text of Shakespeare to the most recent cinematographic transpositions [the last of Kenneth Branagh, in 1989, with Christan Bale as Henry V of England and Emma Thompson in the role that today is Lily-Rose]. Where did you look for your inspiration to play the character?

LILY-ROSE DEPP: To interpret each character, I personally love stealing from the experiences that I really lived. I'm not special, many actors do it! But every so often, it happens that a character gives you the opportunity to have experiences that you would never have done in your real life. This is the case of Catherine of Valois. The most fascinating side is its "calm strength": it required a lot of work, because when I read the script I immediately realized that its vitality and its energy are channeled into a wonderful calm, a tranquility that sets it apart every reaction ... and that I don't have! It's a quality I've tried to steal from them. So, paradoxically, I was inspired by her.

Indeed, Catherine of Valois is a very strong female character, surrounded by violent men and often toxic masculinity.

LILY-ROSE DEPP: This is why I am very proud to have dressed her clothes. She is a fantastic character, in the film but above all in a historical perspective. Catherine of Valois came from a family that already had a great tradition of strong women: on the other hand her father was Charles VI of France, passed into history as "the Fool" - and already her mother was forced to govern family and court behind curtains, always being careful to hold off and not anger her husband. Plus, she also had lots of sisters. If we are to look for models of great femininity at a time when it seemed impossible for women to claim any right, Catherine and her family are a perfect example. This is why it was very important for Joel [Edgerton] and David [Michôd] to write the character as rigorously as possible,

Whether you like it or not, you're used to working with great celebrities - and this film is certainly no exception. Do you think the star's role still has value?

DAVID MICHÔD:I don't know, honestly, if there is any particular power in being a "star". As for me, a director, I am always fascinated: I don't know what makes the star ... a star, I just know that when I set the camera on one of them, I feel it [you can feel it, ed] . All those people we call "stars" have something incredibly special, a little mysterious, but always based on great talent. On this set, for me it was absurd to look at Timmy Chalamet at work: I was starting to think that movie stars were a concept anchored to the past and that the last, big stars of our time were that group of young boys in the nineties and that today face the fifty (like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise). And I was wondering: where are the new "movie stars"? I have not had time to find an answer ... that Timmy has arrived. In him I felt that thrill that I didn't feel for a long time in a young American actor.

LILY-ROSE DEPP: It's a complex question. For me, as an actress, being surrounded on a set (like that of The King) by so many great actors [actors, not stars!] Is the best school that exists in the world. At first it can be a bit intimidating, but working with so many professionals - of which you admire the work and of which, often, you are also a fan! - can only improve you. As for the value of a "star" ... I think that the moment you start thinking of yourself as a "star", as a "celebrity", you're already going in the wrong direction. Personally I don't know if I can really define myself like this: I can only tell myself very grateful and grateful to the people who believed in me, public and colleagues.

One last question to David. Before I leave, I have to ask you. And please, don't hate me for this question, but ... how do you deal with the Middle Ages after Game of Thrones?

DAVID MICHÔD: [laughs, enthusiastic and not at all offended]: For me it was actually quite easy, because I never saw it. Or rather: actually I saw the last episode. Well yes! It was very strange, because I was at the home of friends who are hardcore fans and had to see the big finale. I've never seen Game of Thrones , but I know how it ends. What can I say? While I was looking at it I had only one thing in mind: The King will be very very different. Indeed, already from that moment I hoped that for the public too it was more ...

He thinks for a moment, before deciding (unfortunately) not to say too much and smile a little mischievously.

I EDIT AND TRIED TO SOLVE THE BEST I COULD WITH TRANSLATION, IF I LOST ANYTHING, SORRY, AND I KEPT A FEW PARTS OF DAVID AS WELL THAT I FOUND INTERISTING. BUT IT CAN BE READ EVERYTHING IF YOU WANT ON THE LINK ABOVE.

[littleindigochildx]

t a s k ♡ 2 1

1. Talk about your character’s name. What is it, and how is it pronounced? What does it mean? Does your character have any nicknames?

Name: SAVANNA

Pronounced: Sa-van-na

Meaning: It is of Spanish origin, and its meaning is "treeless plain” or “from an open plain.”

2. Post a picture of your character or describe what they look like in detail. Note any distinguishing facial features.

Her most distinguishing feature is her blue eyes. They seem to change with her mood. Sometimes they appear so light they almost look grey, sometimes they look green, but for the most party they’re a beautiful shade of crystal blue.

3. Describe your character’s personality.

Savvy is a free spirit with a big imagination. She loves all animals and being one with nature. Victoria and Declan often have a difficult time getting the seven year old to come inside, especially when the weather is nice. She is a compassionate child who loves to help people any way she can. She enjoys baking with her mom and her aunt or spending any free time she has with family. She inherited her creative abilities from her mother and grandmother so she loves any project that involves coloring, painting, drawing, or sculpting. Savanna also loves to read.

4. What is your character like in relationships? Are they clingy? Faithful or unfaithful? Do they jump from one relationship to the other?

She is single. Her father said she’s not allowed to date until she’s 30. (Vic agrees with this).

She’s fiercely independent, but faithful to any commitments she makes.

5. What kind of things does your character like? What do they dislike?

Likes: Dogs are her favorite but she loves all animals, especially the ones they have at their house. She also loves flowers (like her mom) and gardening with her grandmother. She also enjoys movie nights at the home, baking with her family, riding her bike with her brother Timmy, Disneyland, and going to the beach.

Dislikes: The dark, people saying negative things about her family, math, scary movies (but she watches them because Timmy and Clara love them), and brussel sprouts.

6. How does your character treat their friends and family? How about strangers? Enemies?

Savanna loves her family more than anything else. While they don’t always see eye to eye on everything, she would kill for them in a heartbeat. Nothing matters more than family.

She is the same way towards strangers. Her mother always tells her, “treat people how you want to be treated.” If there’s one thing the seven year old has learned in life it’s that everyone has a past and sometimes that come with baggage, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.

She doesn’t have enemies. Savvy genuinely likes everyone.

7. What kind of people does your character surround themselves with? Why?

She surrounds herself with inspirational people. Most of them are family. Savanna idolizes her mom and dad, her big brothers, and her big sister. They are the most supportive, positive people in her life.

8. Where was your character born? Where have they lived since then? Where is the place that they call home?

Limbo, NV (born and raised).

Savvy is a little girl who loves adventure, but at the end of the day nothing makes her happier than being home on the farm. She loves being able to help her parents (Vic mostly) take care of their animals. It's one chore she never complains about.

9. Where does your character go when they are angry?

The barn. She finds it therapeutic to be around her animals. They’re the best listeners and she knows they’ll never share her secrets.

10. What is your character’s biggest fear? Who have they told this to? Who would they never tell this to? Why?

At this point in her life, her biggest fear is Declan going back to prison. She knows how devastating that would be for Victoria and she doesn't want him to miss out on anymore milestones in her life or Timothy's life.

She hadn't told this to anyone.

She would never tell her parents because she knows they don't like when she worries about "grown up" things. Especially when it's something that is out of her control. They want their youngest children to enjoy being kids.

11. Does your character have a secret? If so, what is it?

She does.

She and Timmy like to pretend they’re spies, so she knows more secrets than she’d care to admit. Savvy knows she’s not supposed to be spying on adult conversations, but curiosity always gets the best of her. She can’t help herself. Because of this, she knows there is something wrong with Declan, but she had yet to figure out what it is.

12. What makes your character laugh out loud? What makes them angry?

Libby always makes Savanna laugh, no matter what kind of mood she’s in. The two just get each other. Her parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings make her laugh too...just not like Libby.

When she’s told she’s ”too young.” She always wants to do what the older kids are doing, but she often hears that she can’t because she’s too young or too small.

13. Has your character ever been in love? Have they ever had a broken heart?

She has not been in love yet, but she does have a crush on Junior. He gives her comic books and has been teaching her about the superhero universe. He also shares his arcade tokens with her.

14. Does your character have any flaws? What are they?

Everybody has flaws. Savanna's is that she trusts too easily and she doesn't always have filter. She can be brutally honest at times which can get her in trouble. Especially at school. Trusting too easily often leaves her open to heartbreak.

15. What is in your character's refrigerator right now? On their bedroom floor? On their nightstand?

Refrigerator: milk, juice, eggs, yogurt, veggies, fruit, lunch meat, cheese, spring mix, leftovers, half & half, and water. Victoria likes to keep the house stocked with healthy snacks for her kids and various lunch meat to make the kids school lunches.

Bedroom floor: slippers, coloring supplies, books, and dirty clothes that didn’t quite make it to the hamper. Usually Savanna’s floor is clean. She and Timmy get paid a weekly allowance to keep their rooms clean and their beds made. They also help with other household chores.

Nightstand: a book, tissues, a glass of water, and a butterfly night light.

16. Your character is walking home in the dark when they hear some noises around the corner. What do they do? How would they react if they heard someone crying out for help?

Savanna is afraid of the dark, but it’s not because she gets the sense that she’s alone. She’s afraid of the dark because she’s worried that she’s not alone. Anything could be lurking in the shadows.

If she heard a noise walking home, her immediate reaction would be to run and hide.

If Savanna heard someone crying for help, she would do whatever she could to get them help. She’s seven, so there’s not much she could do to carry out a rescue mission on her own. She definitely wouldn't leave someone in a life threatening situation. It's not in her nature.

17. When your character thinks of their childhood kitchen, what smell do they associate with it? Sauerkraut? Oatmeal cookies? Paint? Why is that smell so resonant?

She still is a child and it isn’t uncommon for their kitchen to smell like fresh baked cookies or Victoria’s delicious homemade dinners. Whenever Savanna comes home from school there’s a snack on the table for her and Timothy with the scent of fresh basil or herbs from their garden lingering in the air. Usually the aroma is from dinner on the stove or in the oven. It’s enough to make her mouth water.

18. Your character is doing intense spring cleaning. What is easy for them to throw out? What is difficult for them to part with? Why?

Clothes and old toys are easy for Savanna to part with. There are only a few pieces she insists on keeping because of sentimental value.

Pictures and old art work are difficult for her to get rid of. Each piece is tied to a memory she doesn’t want to forget. She gets this from her parents. Victoria and Declan also have a tough time throwing away the artwork their children give to them. Both of them still have some of the scribble drawings Savvy made when she was a toddlers. They're safely tucked away in a box in Vic's studio.

19. It is Saturday at noon. What is your character doing? Give details. If they’re eating breakfast, what exactly do they eat? If they’re stretching out in the backyard to sun, what kind of blanket or towel do they lie on?

When the weather cooperates, she and Timmy like to take their lunch outside. Victoria will spread out a camping blanket, pack lunches in their school lunch boxes, and the three {four if Declan isn't at DRMC} of them will have a picnic outside.

When the weather is poor, they move their picnics to the hayloft (that’s where the kids like to play) or their living room floor. It's Savvy's favorite thing to do on the weekend.

20. While driving down the road, your character hits a dog and swerves off the road into a tree. Do they get out to see to the car first, or the animal?

Savanna loves all animals, but dogs especially.  While crying hysterically, and without hesitation, she would check on the dog before worrying about her car.  She would do everything in her power to make sure the animal was okay because cars could be replaced... Pets can't be.

21. Your character is in a relationship and they come home to find their partner in bed with another person. How do they react? How do they feel?

She would walk out to give herself time to process things. She would probably end up at Victoria's house. Savvy is very close with her mom and tells her almost everything. She would want her mom's opinion on the matter.

Savanna would feel betrayed, but she’s a reasonable person so she’d definitely give her significant other a chance to explain before kicking them to the curb. Trust is earned, and once it’s lost...it’s very hard to get back.

22. What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?

The most powerful memory was Declan being released from prison. It flipped her world upside down, but in a good way. She got her father back. She and Timmy no longer had to wait for visitation day to spend time with him. They had a lot of lost time to make up for now that he was home.

23. Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?

A night out for a seven year old usually consists of a trip to the arcade or the roller rink.

Savanna loves sparkles so she would likely put on a sparkly dress or skirt. Accessories are a must. She never leaves the house without a necklace or two, bracelets, rings, and a purse to complete her outfit.

She isn’t old enough to hang out with her friends without supervision, so Victoria is usually there. Declan has been spending more time with the family so he tags along a lot of the time which she loves. When Savvy is lucky...her big brothers and big sister are there too.

24. Your character gets into a discussion about death and dying. How would they describe the perfect death? Do they believe in life after? Are they afraid of death?

Savanna is still young, so she’s not that familiar with the dying process. She knows there is a Heaven and a Hell.

If she had to describe her perfect death it would be peacefully, in her sleep, when she is very old.

Savvy isn’t really afraid of dying, but she is terrified to lose a loved one. The only deaths she has experienced are with the animals she’s tried to rescue. She has never lost a family member...at least not that she can remember.

25. A friend of your character calls, they want to hang out. What do they do? If they stay home, what will your character suggest they do? If they go out, where will they go?

Savvy doesn’t have many friends, but she does hang out with her cousin Libby pretty often. If someone called to hang out, it would most likely be Liberty Deschaine. The girls love going to the roller rink and the arcade, but Vic always comes up with fun activities for them when Libby comes over to play instead.

Both children love making forts and they’ve gotten really good at it. Sometimes, if Timmy is lucky, they’ll let him come play with them too.

[cloudparadox]

Remnants || Chapter 1 - A Familiar Face

Summary: AU in which Tim can see things others can't.

As he got older, it became less and less, to the point where he thought his "ability" had disappeared completely, until one day it comes back full force and Tim is forced to come clean to his family about it, which ends up putting more strain on their already delicate relationship. And then there's Jason who'd never really been about delicate. 

Words: 1686

Warnings: Angst, death, ghosts, teeny tiny bit of gore (nothing explicit), mental health issues, bad parenting

Pairing: Tim Drake x Jason Todd (eventually)

Notes:  So this is my first Jaytim fanfic and also first Batman-related fanfic altogether. I'm absolutely not sure about anything here, really, but I'll try my best. This first chapter just kind of happened, but I really like it, so I thought I'd get my shit together and actually post it, rather than letting it sit forever in my drafts. I'm sorry for any spelling errors or the likes. Thank you for every like and reblog and especially comment! I appreciate it <3

Taglist: @sweeetsummerchiild  (please tell me I remember correctly that you told me to tag you for this >.<)

Tim had been but a young child, a tiny little thing, with chubby cheeks that bloomed cherry-red at the smallest amount of affection and attention, when he saw the first one.

The first ghost. Spirit. A revenant. Spectre. Whatever you wanted to call them. The dictionaries had fed Tim many words for what he was seeing.

His younger self had been naive enough to tell his mother about it later on. About the woman that was never noticed by anyone, always trying to get them to see her. The woman had then realized he could see her when she caught him staring. She was nice. In fact, she was the first ghost that talked to him. She was beautiful and young. Too young to have died. Not much older than his own mother.

It was weird. Some ghosts looked utterly horrifying. Torn, bloody clothes, wounds all over their skin, or worse. One ghost, he remembered in vivid detail. He had aimlessly wandered through a creepy alleyway that Tim and his parents walked by one evening, in late December. One of his eyes was missing and he was so thin and so frail, barely older than forty, maybe.

How he died, Tim didn't want to know. Mother often told him about the bad people in this city. Father did, too. What terrible things they did and that only people who did said bad things suffer because of it. 'Bad things only happen to bad people, Timothy'

Tim didn't believe that, not even as a young child. Maybe it was his intelligence that he was so often praised for, or maybe just the fact that he just knew differently, that he'd seen things that proved that statement to be false.

But this woman looked nothing like that. Not a single injury, no blood, nothing. In fact, she looked eerily familiar, yet Tim's tired brain failed to catch up properly at the moment since he'd just woken up to see a ghost in his own room.

Her smile made Tim's insides feel all fuzzy, as did the warmth in her green eyes as she beckoned him to come closer. Not once before had a ghost followed him into his house.

"Don't be afraid." her voice made the boy jump which caused her to smother a grin. "I won't hurt you. I am just here because I'm running out of time, and I think you're the only one who can help me with this."

"B-but I-. How am I supposed to help you, ma'am?"

The way he addressed her made her laugh. It was gentle, almost sounding like the faraway Christmas bells he loved listening to in the evenings. "You can call me Mary, sweetheart."

Tim's cheeks flushed brightly at the nickname and he allowed himself to relax and ease himself back on his bed, kicking his legs a little to get rid of the remaining tenseness of his body.

The woman- Mary, continued. "I don't have much time left, sweetheart. I know I'm not supposed to be here anymore. But I need to make sure it's alright for me to leave." her smile dimmed and she gingerly sat down on his bed, how that worked Tim didn't want to try and figure out right now, and brushed some of her dark hair behind her ear in a way that poked and tugged at Tim's brain because her face seemed so familiar and-

"You're Mrs. Grayson, from the-"

"Circus. Yes. I'm surprised you remember."

"But- You- that was months ago! I- how?" his voice became smaller as he tried to take in the fact that someone he'd seen dying, seen the death of, was here, in his house, his room, sitting on his bed and asking for his help.

"It's been that long?" a frown worked its way onto her face and Tim felt bad for telling her.

"I'm sorry." Tears gathered in his eyes as he recalled that night, the one that was supposed to be happy, and it was, if only at the start. He thought of the screams, the blood, about the young Dick Grayson crying over his parent's bodies and-

"Don't cry, silly. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything it should be me apologizing. No child should have to see that."

Dick had to, Tim thought bitterly. More proof that what father said was wrong. None of the Graysons were bad people. "But, how can I help you? I'm just a kid."

Mary sighed and it was heavy, like she was hesitant to go on. "I know. And I'm sorry that I have to burden you with this, but- I need to know what happened to my son. I need to make sure it's okay for me to leave, that he's fine and not-" the woman choked on the words and Tim's little heart hurt, his chest feeling heavy.

"You couldn't find him." It wasn't a question but she nodded anyway. "Dick was adopted by Bruce Wayne." Coincidentally they were basically neighbors. Something like that, with more distance. "I didn't meet him or anything, but he seems fine. Happy, even." Well, as happy as a boy who lost his parents could be. "I'm sorry," he said again. Why, he didn't know. There was a lot of reason to be sorry.

"Thank god. I- I thought-" she stopped, clearing her throat and wiping at a few tears that had dropped. "I know this is a lot to ask for, but can you keep an eye on him?" the request shocked Tim and it must've shown on his face. "Just make sure he's not- not in any danger at home? I doubt anything would happen to him there, but..."

"Okay. I promise," he swore, already debating how and what and where and thinking about all the ways when Mary shocked both him and herself by carefully touching his shoulder. "How are you-?"

"I don't know, sweetheart. I've never been able to touch anyone, even by accident. It was just a reflex to reach out. But I guess you're just something special, huh?" her soft smile was back and Tim's cheeks were once again crimson. It made her laugh, in a way she hadn't since that day. "Thank you, for this, Timothy."

"You can call me Tim if you want." In his head, he sent out a silent plea that she would because with his parents it was always Timothy and Timothy was everything they wanted him to be and not always what he actually was. "You don't have to thank me, though. I didn't really do anything."

"You did, sweetheart. I know my place isn't here anymore. But I could not leave without making sure Dick is safe and thanks to you, I know that now. Know where he is. So, thank you, Tim."

The emphasis on his preferred version of his name made him grin before it faltered. "You're leaving then?"

"I have to. I'll just make sure to see my son one more time, now that I know where he is. Maybe I'll finally see his father again, wherever I'm headed to after...moving on."

"Are you scared?" Dying and then having to leave for the unknown sounded terrifying to him.

"Not anymore." she got up from her seat next to him, green eyes alight with hope and love and more Tim couldn't identify. "You're a very special boy, Tim. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I'm sure you'll do lots of good in the future with that bright mind of yours." she playfully tapped his head before gently ruffling his messy black hair. "Goodbye, Timmy."

Tim blinked and she was gone with a last smile directed at him. "Bye," he whispered after what felt like an eternity.

Tim had shared some of this occurrence with his mother after a lot of debate. He definitely regretted doing that.

Some of the dictionaries also told Tim that he might simply be insane. He knew the word well after all father used it a lot when he talked about other people, especially from work. But that would mean Tim was a bad person, and he couldn't be bad just because he saw things others didn't, right?

That's what he told himself throughout his mother's scolding, his father's lecture about not ruining the good family's name and then the regular meetings he had with a "specialist". That didn't help him at all. The man had declared him completely sane. That day, after the doctor had told him he wouldn't come back as it wasn't necessary, father had a long talk with him. Tim had managed to hide his tears well behind his bangs, only speaking up to agree with what his father said. Something along the lines of 'my son will not be one of those crazies'.

Tim wondered if his father knew about mother's own struggles. She was sad a lot. Sometimes it seemed like she wasn't there with them at all. Her body was, but her mind wasn't. Mother loved him, that he was sure of. Her hugs were always so warm. Even if they became rarer and rarer over time. Now his parents were gone more and more, leaving him alone in this big, cold house. Mrs. Mac was still there though. Sometimes. Not enough.

Still, he kept seeing the ghosts. He started calling them Fades at one point. Now he learned to ignore most of them, save for the ones that took note of him. Most didn't.

He tried to pretend he was normal. That he couldn't see these things. Sometimes it worked. Most times it didn't, not in the beginning anyway. Tim didn't want to be crazy. He didn't want to make his father mad, didn't want to disappoint him or make his mother even sadder.

He had tried explaining it, tried to find actual help, but no one listened. He was alone with his fears and nightmares, kept captive by what others didn't know, didn't see, or simply didn't want to acknowledge.

Maybe it was no fear, but madness.

And Tim learned over time, if you're crazy, you don't exist anymore.

[sofiazuhairin-blog]

One in Each Hand

"She's too weak, her heart cannot beat on its own now but the machine keeps her alive." Adrian's voice is shaking a little even though he tries so hard not to show how weak he is. Isabelle is there beside him and she is holding his hand tightly as if Adrian would collapse if she let him go.  And I am speechless for so many reasons but if you want me to list down a few, first, I can't believe that Addelyn is seriously going to leave me even when I have given to her every reason to stay. Second, it's our 5th anniversary tomorrow and I want to propose to her but Addelyn is actually dying. Third, Adrian looks so sad. It's obvious that he has stopped hoping. 

Adrian hopes for so many things but most of the time he hopes for Addelyn to recover quickly so that she can have a normal life. It's a nonsense wish and wishful thinking because we all know that it's impossible because Addelyn is dying and it's so damn obvious - but we want to live, we want Addelyn to live so we don't mind lying to each other, we don't mind lying to ourselves. Addelyn knows that we lie to her too but just like us she doesn't mind us lying because that's better than spending her last days with the truth that she's dying. I smile a little when Addelyn crosses my mind. It's so easy to smile when you can picture her smiling perfectly inside your head. I look back to Adrian, he is now sitting on the bench and his head drops so low as if his life has been taken away from him. Isabelle is still beside him, she's hugging him as she whispers comforting words to him.

I am always grateful that Adrian dates a girl as sweet and as kind as Isabelle. Isabelle never complains whenever she has to take care of Addelyn. Honestly, she can leave. She can date guys who don't have a dying younger brother but no, when she met Addelyn for the first time she actually fell for her. Of course, I fell for Addelyn the first time I met her too. Addelyn is just so lovable. You cannot resist her smile, her laugh, especially her eyes that are deeper than the ocean. Maybe, Isabelle fell for her because of one of those three reasons and I don't mind about it because I always want Addelyn to know that she is loved by many even when she is bald, even when her lips are chapped and she's as skinny as a skeleton. I want her to know that she is loved not because she's dying but because of the fact that she's beautiful and she is as kind as an angel.

I met Addelyn six years ago when were both eighteen. She happened to be my classmate and I was happened to be a jerk. I wasn't actually a jerk but as an eighteen years old boy it was so odd to have my heart beat like a drum whenever she was around so I chose to be a jerk. That way, she will hate me, and she will stay away from me but this is Addelyn we talk about. She is sassy, she won't back away unless you tell her what her fault is for you to treat her like a dog. This happened a year after we met, Addelyn just got back from a party the night before and his lips were so swollen that morning when I met her at class as if she was kissed by someone and I just can't stop thinking about how mad I was at the man who dared to kiss my Addelyn like that. Yes, my Addelyn, in my mind and heart, she is always mine. So I actually called her cheap for kissing around a random person and she glared at me and said: "What the fuck did I do to you that you won't give me a break? Did you realize that you act like a total jerk now?"

I remember myself smirking. "Give you a break? No, I hate you, remember?" I replied, confidently but she took a step forward and I lost half of my sanity upon seeing her flawless and beautiful face up close even when I have seen it thousands of times already, I mean, we were classmates so it was normal to see each other's face. 

"Listen, Noah," she called me with my name and I was actually feeling so nervous that I broke into cold sweats because I never thought that my name was going to sound so magnificent slipping out from her lips like that. "If you like me, man up," she continued and I was gaping in disbelief. I was about to ask her where the hell she got an idea that I actually like him but she was fast to talk again. She said: "You call my name in your sleep as if your life was depended on me when you passed out on the field three months ago. Stop acting like a jerk because I like you too. I like you a lot! Because I’m just a normal girl who loves a jerk like you." and I didn't even wait for her to catch his breath because the next thing I remember she was panting and we were kissing as if there was no tomorrow.

Long story short. We became boyfriend and girlfriend. It was two years ago when Addelyn was diagnosed with stage three of myeloma. Myeloma is a rare type of cancer that develops in plasma cells. Normally, in our body, plasma cells are responsible for recognizing and fighting off invading germs and infections but in Addelyn's body, the cancer cells overtake the healthy plasma cells and this causes a depletion of much-needed white blood cells. The thing about cancer, it's a fast and silent killer - and it's so damn unpredictable. Cancer is evil. Addelyn eats a lot of medicine, I can't even name them. She underwent countless of chemotherapy sessions. But since cancer is evil Addelyn is now lying on a hospital bed with a machine by her side that keeps her heart beating.

To be frank, I want to cry. I want to curse our fate for being such a jerk. I want to shout. I want to kick things. I want to kill myself. But Addelyn made me promise to her that I won't shed a single tear in front of Adrian for he is her pillar of strength so I don't cry. Yes, Addelyn loves me a lot and she hates to see me cry but she loves his brother more than she ever loved anything. Adrian is her mother and father. Adrian taught her to read. Adrian worked so hard to take care of her. Adrian is all she has - so seeing him cry is the last thing she wants to see. That's why I never cry in front of Adrian. I have to convince Adrian that Addelyn is alright, that I am alright.

I take a deep breath as I seat beside Adrian, he quickly looks at me with his teary eyes and he hugs me. "How come you're not crying, she's your whole world." He remarks.

I smile. He's right, Addelyn. You're my whole world but I am not going to cry because I have seen you suffer enough. No offence, but I'm actually glad that God is going to take you away soon. As much as I love you, I want you to be happy too. I don't want you to be in pain just because I want you to stay by my side.

"Of course, she is my everything," I reply. "But I won't cry. Not now. Not when she can listen to us. Not when she's hoping for us to send heraway with a smile on our face."

"But it's so hard," Adrian sobs. He sobs so hard that I can barely understand what he's trying to say.

"It is, but let's do this for one last time for Addelyn. Okay?" He nods his head. "Now smile," I add and he smiles, as wide as he can.

    Adrian is inside with Isabelle, they are talking to Addelyn but she isn't replying to anything they say, she can't. The clock strikes 3 in the morning and I am so damn tired that I can't even eat. My body is sore. My mind is blank. My heart is breaking. It's finally here, the Grimm Reaper is probably somewhere looking for Addelyn's ward and I couldn't even take a breath without thinking that in a few minutes (hours if the Grimm Reaper couldn't find Addelyn's ward) I will live without her by my side. Doctor Kim called us a few hours ago and told us that she is too weak, weaker than she was three days ago. So he asked us to get ready emotionally. Doctor Kim is silly. No one will ever be ready to lose someone they love but we nodded our head without much talking because we know that sooner or later Addelyn will leave us for a better place.

I take a glance on the clock again and it's 5 minutes past 3 in the morning now. Adrian is not going to leave Addelyn anytime soon, he has so much to say to her. So I take out my phone from my backpack which is packed with my dirty clothes but I find the tiny red box that I am about to give Addelyn two days ago instead. I open it and I see the ring that surely will fit perfectly on her finger. Of course, I am sad. No, I am beyond sad because she will never have a chance to say 'yes' but I know that if she can he will say it loudly, proudly and surely - and automatically a smile appears on my face. There's no way she will reject me, she loves me so much. I keep the tiny red box back and I take out my phone. I open my gallery and I am not surprised that I see a lot of photos of her.

I love taking photos of her. She's just so beautiful. Addelyn is like an ocean, she is beautiful from any angle. I come across a photo of her with my cats, I hate my dogs for loving her more than they ever loved me but then again no one and nothing can resist Addelyn, so they are forgiven. In that photo, she is smiling as Timmy licks her face and Jimmy is biting the hem of her tee shirt. She is wearing my tee shirt actually and I remember everything perfectly. It was on the 25th of June, she wanted to sleep at my house and I had no reason to turn her down. We kissed a lot that night. It turned out to be that she missed me because she was away for a few days for her chemistry decathlon. I thought that she was cute, so I kissed her hard on her lips before I told her that I missed her just as much.

And then I see a photo of her sleeping, I click to enlarge to photo. It was taken when she accidentally fell asleep at the library. Addelyn isn't a fan of biology but her best friend, Lisa made her study the growth of cells for hours. When I came to the library to fetch her, she was already sleeping and Lisa was staring at me like: "Your girlfriend is such a lazy ass, but she's cute, so she's forgiven." I smiled at Lisa, and then I thanked her for taking care of Addelyn. Lisa told me that Addelyn got tired easily lately, I told her that Addelyn was fine, but I lied. She was not fine. She just underwent a chemotherapy cycle yesterday and she threw up a lot that morning and that explains why she fell asleep. She was tired, but of course, she hates biology too. 

By the time I click on the nth photo, Adrian is already standing outside of the ward. "It's your turn," he says. Adrian's eyes are so red, and Isabelle looks as messy as he is. I could only hug him to assure him that we will be fine. I hug Isabelle too, and she hugs me tighter. I don't know what to say to her so I entangle myself from her and give him a smile.

When I enter the ward, Addelyn is lying on his hospital bed, of course, she hasn't moved an inch since last week. I take a seat beside her, and I stare at her for at least 10 minutes without saying a word. I want to remember her face. I want my brain to remember every corner of her face, I want to sketch the outlines of her face inside my head and keep it securely so that I won't ever forget how beautiful she looks like. I want to remember the shape of her lips. I want to remember her pretty eyes. God! I want to remember every inch of her. Every line, every mole, every scar - everything of her. Once I'm convinced that I have remembered everything about her face, I dare myself to hold her hand.

Addelyn's hand is cold, so cold – colder than her hand when I held it for the first time in the winter last year. I hold it tight before I kiss it. "How are you?" I ask but of course, she doesn't reply. "You know, sometimes, I wish you can tell me that you're alright, that you're fine and you're happy but then I remember how strong you are so it's okay. You don't have to answer me. I know you're alright, and you're fine. You'll always be fine, my love."

I smile a little upon remembering how strong of a person she is. She doesn't even complain about the chemo port on her chest, but I know that it hurts a lot. She doesn't even cry when the pain gets too intense, but I know that she is on the verge of screaming on top of her lungs. Addelyn is just so strong. She won't do things that will make us worry about her. She is convinced that she's alright even if she's not. "Lately, I think about you a lot. About what we could be, about what I can actually give you but I want you to know that it doesn't mean I regret that I date a dying girl. I never regret loving you, let alone meeting you."

"But I can't lie to you. When I think about you, I imagine myself coming home and seeing you waiting for me at the dinner table, and I hug you so close that you could barely breathe. I can actually see ourselves, a few years from now with four kids. We will walk around the park together, with one in each hand. And you're going to smile at me and say: "I love you so much." and guess what? I will be saying the same thing because I love you so much. So much." I cry. I know I have sworn to her that I won't but I cry because it hurts so badly. I can't do it. I am breaking into pieces.

"I love you so much that I give you a permission to leave me. I don't want to see you like this anymore. I don't want you to hold your tears, I don't want to hear you silently moan in pain, I don't want you to go through countless of surgeries anymore. I want you to be happy, somewhere up there. I am fine here, I am fine so if you want to leave, just leave. Every day, I pray to God to not take you away from me because without you I lose my way, I lose my purpose to live but then I realize that I am so selfish to pray for something that will put you through so much pain. I know I imagine us having kids, I imagine us waking up next to each other but that doesn't mean I hate being with you now. For God's sake, I don't mind being reborn in this exact universe all over again, as long as I meet you, I don't mind, love."

"But I don't want you to go through this pain all over again, so if you leave now, I hope we will meet again in a different universe where you don't have to leave me like this, where we both can live happily as a family." I cry harder than before. I kiss her hand again, and then I slowly take off the oxygen mask that is clasped around her face and quickly give a peck on her lips. I kiss her forehead and then both of her eyes, and I whisper to her: "I love you now, as I love you even then. I will love you more each day until the end of my life." I take out the tiny red box from my backpack, and I slide the silver ring on her finger - and then I ask: " Addelyn, would you marry me?"

She doesn't answer me, but I know, she'll say yes if she can.

    Addelyn leaves me a few hours after that.

She left me a note. Isabelle gave it to me a few days after she left.

She says: "Noah, I want you to know that I am alright. Yes, I'm in pain but you keep me going. I'm sorry that I have to leave you alone but I have told your cats to take care of you. They are more trustworthy than Adrian anyway. Thank you for loving me, thank you for making me happy. I owe you a lot, I wish I can repay everything but you know I can't. But I promise you that I will keep my eyes on you up in the clouds. I'll save you when you're in danger. I'll show you the way when you're lost. I force God to make me your guardian angel. Lastly, I know that you haven't asked me about it yet but I know you will. So here's my answer. Yes, Noah I will marry you. And I love you, then, now - forever."

[v01d-ch1ld]

I am a Lion Born From Things You Cannot Be

I am a Lion Born from Things You Cannot Be

 Name changes are based on whether or not people are in costume (with their mask on).

 Breathe in and out slowly. That is the only thing Rebecca can do right now. She woke up tied hand and foot to a bed frame. The room is pitch and there are no windows. Nothing new, that’s how she was kept in that padded cell. She gave off the illusion of someone who was asleep, but she was actually thinking about how to get to her hair clip. It had a saw edge on it for this exact scenario.

She slowly moved her head to the side, making it look like she was trying to take some of the pressure off her neck and get comfier in her sleep, and once her fingertips were hidden by her hair she snapped the pin out of her hair. She let her head hang loosely from where she had suspended it and cracked open her left eye, which would have been hidden from any CCTV camera trained on her. Her hair hid the hand that was slowly sawing the ropes binding her hand to the wrought iron bed frame. When her hand was only bound by a few thin threads she stopped, making sure it looked like she was still tied. Then she readjusted her head and did the same with the other hairclip. Now that she only had a few strings holding her hands she could plot her escape.

Meanwhile, in the Batcave, there was a meeting of the minds and fists over what should be done about the girl upstairs who was still presumably unconscious. The conversation was too heated for anyone to be checking the security camera placed in there.

“I still say we take her to Arkham right now,” Bruce says in a no-nonsense tone.

“ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT!” Jason roared back at his used to be father.

“Yeah no, there’s no fucking way that’s happening, Bruce.” Surprisingly, Tim chimes in glaring at Bruce over his cup of coffee.

“I won’t let you touch her, not after last time.” Nightwing in an icy tone, enunciating every syllable.

“I agree with Father,” Damian said nonchalantly. His brothers turned on him within seconds.

“You little fucking brat- “Jason was cut off by Nightwing who sounded loudly.

“YOU SOULLESS UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHIT!” He paused and caught himself bowing his head and taking a breath, Dick looked at Damian with a look of intense sorrow. “After all she has done for you, for us all, you would abandon her for things that were outside of her control? She loved us and cared for us and made sure that we were taking care of ourselves even when she didn’t know the truth. She didn’t pry and she always looked after you and Timmy especially. She is the only reason this family even resembles a family in the first damn place.” Dick sat down and placed his head in his hands. Tim placed a hand on his back, Dick loved her like a sister. They all had.

“Look, all I am saying is that we are ill-equipped to help her as none of us have the necessary training to act as her therapist.” Damian hurriedly states, not wanting to seem his usual soulless self. “I wouldn’t abandon her. Who else would I prank you guys and play with Titus with?” The snark reminded Dick of who he was talking to. Damian did care he just had issues with showing it, but that didn’t mean that Dick couldn’t dish some back out.

“Jon. You already do all those things with Jon.” Dick said matter-of-factly. Damian sneered.

“Only because my usual partner was presumed dead.” Damian glared.

“The kid has one thing right, Dickie, I’m irreplaceable.” Everyone whipped around to the elevator leading down into the Batcave. Bruce cussed, how the hell had she managed to get into the Batcave? The boys looked on in shock as she flashed a smile and sat down on the table. “Don’t look so surprised, I was a med student. I’m nothing if not observant. I just didn’t think that the secret elevator led to the Batcave until recently. By the way, you have got to hide that better.”

Rebecca sprawled all five feet ten inches of herself across the table, laying down in a pose on her stomach that reminded them of Selina. Grinning a sickeningly wide grin she turned to the boys, rope still tied tight around her wrists, with jagged edges where she cut them from the bedposts. “Whatcha talking about?” she purrs.

“We have to do something with you, babe, you need some serious help.” Jason drawled.

“Don’t I know it. Do you have any idea how much my head hurts right now? Fighting another personality for control of your body is a living hell. Makes me pity Dr. Fate.” Selina has had a definite influence on her speech. Little do they know that she is mimicking her old voice.

“Really? You are fighting for control right now?” Tim says in awe. She was very strong, she always had been, but it only now registered how strong. She would make a freakishly strong Green Lantern.

“Yep. Hurts like a bitch lemme tell you. Honestly, I don’t know how long I have before she takes my body back. When that happens, you should Taser me.” She rolled on her back and smiled at Tim, her eyes glowing softly.

“NO! We are NOT hurting you!” Jason and Dick said at the same time.

“Guys, she wants me to jump on top of you,” pointing at Jason, “and fuck you while I dig my fingers into your eye sockets and play with your eyeballs. And she wants me to stab you,” pointing at Dick, “and play with your entrails while I lick the sweat off your skin.” She said with a tone of absolute boredom, while she dangled herself halfway off the table. She put herself into a handstand and proceeded to front flip and land in a split. She’s become less and less able to sit still lately. “Oh, and you don’t want to know what she wants me to do to you Brucie.” She stuck out her tongue.

“I shot you in the leg. You need to be careful. Don’t hurt yourself,” Jason growls from his chair.

“Please, I shot you in the everywhere else plus, if I’m not already healed by now, I would be surprised. Also, can’t feel pain anymore. My nerve endings are fucking fried, dude.” She sat up with alarming quickness. “Hey! Do you have any cigarettes?”

“Yeah, baby doll, come here.” Jason dug his hand into his jacket and grabbed his pack and his lighter. Rebecca trilled with joy and ran over to grab the outstretched cigarette and waited for Jason to give her the light. Once she had it, she took a deep drag and her shoulders immediately sagged in relief. She really needed that. Jason lit one for himself much to Dick and Bruce’s chagrin.

“You need help. You have to go to Arkham. I can call for the top professionals to try and rehabilitate you, but you can’t stay here, Jester.” Ouch. That one hurt.

“Really Brucie, not even gonna use my real name anymore? Guess I was right to say that you don’t care about me anymore. But guess what? You’re the reason I’m in this mess.” She stood up straight and began to stalk forward. “You’re the reason we are all in this mess. The reason Jason died. You know that, right? Because I was there that night.” Jester was in his face now, eyes glowing a hue that put shivers down Jason’s spine, smiling that sickening Joker smile.

“Rebecca, what are you talking about?” Damian said in a careful tone. He knew the slightest provocation and she would lose it.

“The night that my father turned into the Joker, I was there.” Bruce paled. Uh oh. “We were in dire straits. My mother was pregnant with my little brother and she was sick. The hospital bills were racking up. Dad had recently quit his job because he got an offer to be a comedian at a nightclub, supposedly guaranteed pay. Unfortunately, my dad wasn’t as funny as he thought he was. I was coming home from boarding school. I had gotten in on scholarship. My mom was hospitalized earlier that night and they were doing everything they could to save her. I went to the hospital immediately. We didn’t have the money to pay but that didn’t matter. They both died. I was devastated. So was father, but he didn’t find out until after. We still had bills to pay though and he was approached by two mafia men earlier that week. He went on the job that night. The deal was he help them break in, they split the money three ways and he was never the Red Hood again.” She paused, tears welling up in her eyes. She took a long drag from her cigarette and closed her eyes. She continued.

“You were on your first case, busting the Red Hood robberies. You came in after them there was a fight, you, having mistaken the masterminds as goons and my dad as a real criminal, ended up above the acid vats. You fought, he tried to defend himself. He fell and you could have saved him, but you let him fall. You got the goons but left me, the little girl who followed her father in there, knowing what was about to happen, trying to get to him to talk him out of it. I watched him fall and I cried for hours. I ran out of there back to our house. I cried until I passed out in my parents’ bed thinking I had lost my whole family in one night. But then there was banging at the door. A man. I panicked. I went to go get my mother’s gun from the closet, but my father had taken it to the robbery. I grabbed my old softball bat and waited for what was inevitably my death. The Joker busted in, laughing hysterically with my mother’s gun. I almost passed out. This was my father. I swung blindly, heard a crack that was the gun flying out of his broken hand and I bolted for the window. I got out and spent that night, and many afterward on the street.” The tears were falling down her face in a silent stream. Her face showing an indescribable amount of hurt. The same hurt they all knew personally.

“Jester, you know it was not my fault. Your father committed a crime.” Bruce said in his Batman voice. It didn’t work. It only set her off. She lunged at him, fag between her teeth, and before he could put his hands up to defend himself her hands were around his neck with crushing force and they were knocked to the floor.

“YoUfUCKiNgAsSHolE! YOU RUINED MY LIFE AND YOU SAY IT ISN’T YOUR FUCKING FAULT! YOU PIECE OF SHIT I SHOULD PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY, YOU SELFISH EVIL BASTARD!” Jester said while she banged his head into the floor over and over.

The boys immediately ran over to try and pull her off of their boss. Damian tried to get her fingers off of his father’s neck, but they were held fast like steel traps. The crushing force spoke of enhanced strength, one part of Bruce’s brain noted (explore the extent of this in order to detain her better in the future).

She then ripped the cigarette out of her teeth and held it over one of Bruce’s eyes, one arm and her legs enough to hold him to the floor. This prompted Dick to jump on top of her to try and wrestle her to the floor while Tim got one of his eskrima sticks and tried (and failed, he swore only Dick knew how to use the damn things no matter how hard he tried to learn) to turn on the Taser setting. Jason got in front of her face and began telling her to let go like she was a scared animal. That one, scarily enough, seemed to work and her grip relaxed. Once Jason was able to get her to calm down and took back (and subsequently finished) the cigarette, Bruce’s neck was dark purple, and he was spluttering for air. Served him right, he thought.

“Baby girl, come on you know that if you keep doing that, we’re gonna have to tie you up again.” His own slightly glowing Lazarus pit green eyes were peering into her for the parts that were still sane. She responded to him in kind with her brighter ones looking into his for permission to finish what she started. She tilts her head to the side like she was appraising him and in the next second, she is kissing him furiously.

Dick jumps thinking she had decided to bite him but then Jason groans and holds her to him tighter. I suppose this had been long coming, but to happen so suddenly. Then he remembered things about the Joker and how he always seemed horny after violence, seems the apple didn’t fall far from the deranged tree. Abruptly she stopped and Jason is left panting while they all look in in either shock or disgust. She then settles into his lap looking at them like the cat that ate the canary. Then Dick knew that she did it for two reasons. One, she wanted to and two, to piss Bruce off.

Bruce growled when he was finally done recovering, from the strangulation or the shock of what just happened no one knew. Storming over to where the current thorn in his side was gleefully waiting, he picked her up out of Jason’s lap despite him yelling and threw her over his shoulder and walked to the Batmobile with his sons on his tail. Dumping her in the passenger seat while she was still kicking and screaming, he jumped in and sped off.

Jason cursed. This is going to be a long night.

   A/N: Holy shit this took forever but hey angst works right. @nxttime @dcdweeb @batfam-imagines @dcuniversefanatic

[foxydivaxx]

Project Titans Chapter 1

What would it take for the Robins and the Titans as a whole to reunite? Well this....

Oswald sighs as he downs yet another bottle. Project Titans was an awesome dream

So there we go. I edited this chapter again.