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silverwhittlingknife · 1 year

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How do you feel about Jack Drake?? What are your thoughts on him and Tim’s relationship?

Anon, I hope you were interested in a novel, because look, I am fascinated by Jack Drake. He’s key to a whole lot of what I find compelling about Tim as a character, and if I were in charge of DC, I’d bring him back to life. This would make Tim unhappy but would IMO make for good plotlines.

Jack and Tim’s relationship is Complicated (TM)...

Jack and Tim hug in Nightwing 20 / Jack impulsively yanks a TV out of the wall in Robin 45 / Tim grieves in Identity Crisis

“I could tell the truth. But I don’t.” - Robin 66

...and it involves a whole lot of Tim lying, and feeling guilty about lying, and thinking about telling the truth, and choosing again and again to keep lying.

And I think that’s great.

Below the cut:

Shorter version - key points about Jack

Really long version - my gentler take (vigilantism is choir and Jack loves sports) vs. my harsher take (Jack has some major flaws)

Final thoughts

Shorter version - key points about Jack:

He’s a bad parent. He’s self-centered, he consistently prioritizes his own comfort and interests over his son’s, and when upset, he does things like order Tim off to boarding school.

But he’s never a bad parent in an actionable way. He’s not like David Cain or Arthur Brown, who are abusive monsters. Jack’s not a monster! He just...kinda sucks.

He genuinely loves Tim. If Jack’s aware that Tim’s disappeared or is in trouble, he’s always worried and upset. He periodically resolves to be a better dad, and IMO he’s always sincere.

And Tim loves him, a lot. Tim’s protective of him and worries about him when he’s kidnapped or in danger, and when they’re reunited, Tim’s really relieved and usually hugs him (and Jack hugs back!).

...But they have very little in common, and that’s a problem. Jack doesn’t value the things that Tim values, or respect the people that Tim admires, or care about the things that Tim’s interested in. Tim lies to him a lot, but that’s partly because he correctly guesses Jack wouldn’t respond well if he knew the truth of what Tim’s up to.

The Batfamily is a surrogate family that Tim’s drawn to because of the ways his real family doesn’t meet his emotional needs…but also he feels guilty about that and disloyal. (And to the extent that his dad recognizes what’s going on, he's jealous and resentful!)

Very long version:

(LISTEN I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS)

Okay! So first: Jack’s a character who IMO is pretty up for interpretation. You can interpret him very charitably, and make excuses for the bad behavior, and fill in the blanks sympathetically when situations are ambiguous; or you can interpret him uncharitably, and emphasize the bad behavior. I don’t think either approach is invalid - it depends on what kind of story you’re interested in! I have enjoyed Bad Dad stories and also stories that redeem Jack.

My personal take on canon is that Jack and Tim’s relationship is in a gray area. Jack's definitely neglectful, and he does prioritize other things over Tim, but he’s never so bad that Tim can easily reject him, and he's never so bad that Bruce could justify taking Tim away. He's just...not great. Tim loves him, and feels loyal to him, but it’s a very mixed-up complicated love.

I have a gentler take and a harsher one which I switch between as the spirit moves me. xD

My Gentler Take (tl;dr: vigilantism is choir and Jack loves sports)

Here’s the core conflict: Jack and Tim are very different people with different values. Tim idolizes Bruce and Dick and vigilantism, and secretly gets involved, knowing his dad will hate it. He gets increasingly wrapped up in his secret world and lies to his dad...because if his dad finds out, he’ll make Tim quit.

This is a great setup for an ongoing comic. It’s practical, because it provides endless potential for plotlines, and it’s nicely thematic, because it maps closely onto relatable real-life situations with extracurricular activities:

Tim the drama nerd whose dad thinks he’s playing football and not in the school play;

Tim the closeted-queer kid secretly getting involved in his school’s politically-active Gay-Straight Alliance;

Tim the choir kid whose dad only values making money and wants him to go into the family business (and Tim keeps promising himself he'll give up choir soon, definitely soon, but maybe he'll stay in just a liiiittle longer, because they need him, you see, the last tenor left town, so...);

Tim the computer geek with the sports-obsessed dad (this one’s just canon);

etc. etc.

The extracurricular metaphor works pretty well for Tim’s relationship to vigilantism. Tim's involved in his "extracurricular" because he genuinely thinks it's important and fulfilling, and he values it and wants to be good at it. He idolizes Bruce and Dick because they're good at it. He's been collecting information about it since he was a little kid, and hiding it from his parents because he knows they wouldn't approve. And mayyyybe there's also an element of low-key rebellion against his dad, and maybe that's secretly part of the appeal. And yet also as Tim gets more and more invested, he starts to daydream: maybe I could tell my dad and he'd be proud of me and supportive. But he doesn't, because actually he knows his dad would be upset and angry and make him quit.

And - again, just like with lonely kids and extracurricular hobbies - one of the things that happens is that Tim starts getting his unfilled emotional needs met ... by people he knows through this secret hobby. And people like Bruce and Dick start turning into a surrogate family. Which Tim feels guilty about. And also as Tim gets more and more wrapped up in their world, he has to lie to his dad even more, which means the distance between Tim and his dad gets bigger and bigger and more and more unfixable.

I love this dilemma. It's simple, it's recognizable, it provides endless sources for conflict, and there's no obvious solution! Tim can't tell Jack: he'll make Tim quit! And Tim doesn't want to quit, because he loves choir / art / theater / whatever. Yeah, it’s difficult, and there are challenges, and sometimes he has doubts...but at the end of the day, he cares about it a lot. And everything he values is there, and all the people he admires and cares about are there, and all he wants in the world is to feel like he's one of them and belongs there. So he has to lie, even though he doesn't want to lie, and he feels guilty about it...

...but also he ends up lying more and more.

(Sidenote: I think it's important that Tim chooses to keep lying - Tim's narration often glosses this as "I have to lie to my dad," and that's certainly how it feels to Tim, but this... isn't quite true. He has to lie to his dad, because if he doesn't, his dad will get mad at him and try to stop him, not because he literally has no choice about it.)

Other Reasons Why I Like The "Secret Extracurricular" Interpretation

(tl;dr it complicates not just Tim's relationship with his dad, but also all his other relationships)

Tim's problems have some obvious parallels to Steph and Cass, who both become vigilantes while rejecting their evil supervillain dads. But Jack isn't evil. And that means the Tim-and-Jack relationship is ambiguous and complicated in ways that I like. Steph and Cass can just leave their Bad Dads in prison, and say good riddance, and feel very righteous and triumphant about it! Tim’s more complicated. Tim gets into vigilantism ostensibly out of duty and altruism, but secretly, he's also involved for straight-up selfish self-fulfillment reasons. He's lonely, and bored, and his life feels pointless, but he thinks that Bruce and Dick are cool and amazing and he wants to be a part of the things that they do. When his dad gets jealous of Tim’s relationship to Bruce, and feels like Tim’s looking for a surrogate family, he’s... not wrong.

And the ways in which Jack is not Actionably Bad complicate things from Bruce's POV. If Jack was a straight-up villain, it’d be an easy call to keep in touch when Jack finds out and makes Tim quit...but he’s not a villain, not really. So what do you do? Do you try to surreptitiously stay in touch with Tim even though you’re ignoring his dad’s express wishes and thus forcing Tim to sneak around? Do you respect his dad’s wishes and stay away from Tim even though you have a years-long relationship at this point?

Again: a bit similar to the extracurricular analogy. Say you’re the choir director and you’ve built this whole relationship with a kid in the choir, and you’re an important mentor to him and you care about him etc. etc. etc.... and then right before a big performance, his dad finds out he’s been secretly involved, and yanks him out. How would you react? Well, maybe kind of in some of the ways Bruce reacts. You replace him. You’re annoyed with him. You miss him. You want him to come back. You’re also worried about him. You’re upset with his dad. But also... what should you do, exactly?

Bruce and Alfred and Dick care about Tim as if he were part of their family, but he’s not part of their family, and there’s a lot of interesting tension there.

My Harsher Take

Jack never hits his son. But his temper is a big deal.

In his worst moments, he takes out his anger on Tim’s stuff - wrecking his room, or ripping his TV out of the wall and confiscating it. When he’s worried about Tim, he usually expresses that fear by yelling at him / punishing him / sending him away - threatening to send him to boarding school in Metropolis in Robin III, or threatening to send him to military school abroad in Robin 92, or actually forcing him to go to an all-boys' boarding school post-NML.

This is bad behavior! It is Not Good!

And you can easily connect the dots to a bunch of Tim’s terrible coping mechanisms, like the constant lying and or the fact that Tim’s go-to methods for dealing with interpersonal conflict are 1) repress it and pretend it never happened (most of his fights with Bruce), 2) withdraw from the relationship until he can pretend the conflict doesn’t exist (when his friends get mad at him in YJ, he quits the team for a while), or 3) literally run away from home.

Also, Jack is a Manly Man with firm opinions about how men behave vs. how women behave, and he thinks boys shouldn’t be scared and thinks Tim should date hot girls and pushes Tim to work out and wants him to play football and expresses period-typical sexism, etc. etc. etc. ... and though obviously this wasn’t what the writers had in mind at the time, all of that is certainly interesting to read backwards in the light of Tim as a queer character.

More Disorganized Thoughts on Jack Drake

Tim’s our hero, so we’re naturally more sympathetic to him, but it’s also true that relationships are a two-way street, and Tim doesn’t value any of the things his dad values, either. Jack at various points is shown to care about grades, business, money, boarding schools, archeology, football, a kind of macho bragging-about-dating-hot-women ethos, and a very public and performative kind of caring. Tim tends to respond with discomfort or disinterest or even disgust. When Jack gets on TV to try to rally the government to save his son from No Man’s Land, Tim isn’t touched—he’s mortified. When Jack makes some bad investments and loses money, Jack’s deeply upset and his self-image is majorly impacted, and far from being sympathetic, Tim’s annoyed and kind of contemptuous of the idea that this is a problem. Jack thinks fishing in the early morning and going to tennis matches is a fun father-son activity; Tim finds it exhausting and tedious. And so on.

This means that Tim often longs to be closer to his dad in theory, but this longing is more tied to fantasy than to reality. He rarely seems to enjoy spending time with His-Dad-The-Actual-Person. So for example, when Tim’s deadly ill with the Clench, he has an extremely poignant fever dream about telling his dad the truth and getting hugged…even as he insists in real-life to Alfred and Dick that he does not want them to tell his dad what’s going on.

The same is true of Jack, who IMO genuinely wants to be closer to his son and is continually declaring that he’s going to turn over a new leaf and get closer to his son…and just as continually backs out of activities or loses his temper when faced with spending time with his actual son.

Tim and his dad sadly get along best—by far—in Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder situations. When Jack gets kidnapped or is in danger, Tim worries for him (and Tim grieves him deeply when he dies). When Tim disappears or runs away, Jack’s genuinely worried about him. So e.g. they have a really moving emotional reunion and hug when the earthquake hits Gotham, and Tim panics about his dad’s safety and comes running home (and meanwhile Jack’s been panicked about Tim’s safety!). It’s the day-to-day, regular life stuff where they don’t connect.

Jack's written quite differently by different writers. Mostly, Tim's parents are at their least likable in his early appearances and early miniseries (this is where you get, for example, Jack and Janet being nasty at each other while a pained employee looks on, and Tim disappointed to once again get news of where his parents are via postcard - "I guess that sums them up! Never know where they’re going to be–or when–or even how long!” - and Tim alone on school break, and Bruce and Alfred thinking there's something weird going on with Tim's parents, etc. etc.). Jack's more sympathetic but still often unlikable in most of Tim's Robin solo, and he's almost invisible (but positively treated if he does show up) in Tim's team books.

For obvious reasons, Jack's remembered way more sympathetically after his death. Tim's completely devastated by Jack's murder, which he arrives moments too late to prevent, and he basically never gets over it. We see him grieving Jack again and again in Robin, and also in Teen Titans, and also in Resurrection, and again in the Halloween Special, and again in Batman: Blackest Night, and all the way up to the end of Red Robin. Tim also grieves for an extended time over Janet - he hallucinates a happy reunion with her when he's feverish in Contagion, and hallucinates her in the final issue of Robin, and the reveal-your-buried-emotions song in Robin 102 brings up his grief for her too (meanwhile, other characters dance or laugh or otherwise get giddy). Tim’s grief over his parents’ deaths is intense and long-lasting.

I'm not going to clip comic panels because this is long enough, but if you're curious, here's a nice and fairly lengthy compilation of comic panels with Tim and Jack.

If you're interested in a Jack-centric story with a softer-but-still-recognizably-canon take on Jack, I really like the way Jack’s narration is written in the one-shots Heart Humble (set shortly before Jack dies) and Never a Hero (Ra's resurrects him during Brucequest, and Jack's archeology skills turn out to be unexpectedly useful).

#tim drake #jack drake #ask tag #i wrote this ages ago and now i can't remember what i was going to add to it so oh well draft amnesty? sorry for the long wait anon!! <333 #anyway i kept this carefully on topic and virtuously did not derail into talking about the other blorbo but tags are for disorganization SO #for me this kinda half-in half-out place where tim is with the batfamily is SUCH an interesting part of his relationship with dick #and i never stop turning it over in my head #he's kiiiinda replaced dick in that he's robin - but in a very real way he *hasn't* - he's NOT bruce's new son the way jason was #and early!tim makes a BIG POINT of how bruce is not his dad #and i think this relative distance from bruce is a huge factor in why dick is able to build a close relationship with tim at all #(because dick's still pretty estranged from bruce!)#and there's such interesting tension there when dick starts jokingly calling tim ''little brother'' or when villains call them brothers #because they're NOT. increasingly they would both LIKE to be brothers! but dick has zero official standing in tim's life #if tim got hit by a car in his civilian identity bruce and dick wouldn't even be able to visit him without his dad's permission #which jack would be pretty unlikely to give! jack doesn't like or trust bruce!#or like. this is morbid. but if tim died. dick wouldn't even be invited to the funeral you know?#and there's such interesting tension there for me in the contrast between this vigilante relationship that's very very close #but in their civilian lives no one would assume they're anything in particular to each other #anyway the 1st half of tim's robin solo has this thread of tension between tim's family life vs. his vigilante life (plus his mom's death)#and then the second half + red robin has the thread of struggling with grief in a world that's not fair + feeling lost/alone #and these two threads are a big part of my interest in tim as a character! jack's the backdrop that makes a lot of stories possible

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redriotinggg · 6 months

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Luffy’s lovesick crewmates need a little push. He’s more than happy to give them a necessary shove.

—

Luffy is grumbling as he approaches Nami and Robin on the uppermost deck. They watch curiously as the rubber man mutters to himself, an unhappy look on his face as he drapes himself along the railing.

“Is everything alright, Captain?” Robin asks. The women come to stand on either side of him.

“I wanna play with Usopp, but he’s busy talking with Sanji.” His frown deepens. “He’s always hanging out with Sanji. It’s like they love each other or something.”

Nami’s eyebrows raise, a mischievous smile spreading on her face. Robin just shakes her head, silently telling her to stay quiet.

“What do you think?” the archaeologist asks. “Do you think they love each other?”

The pirate captain hums thoughtfully. All three of them are watching their two crewmates sitting on the grassy deck below them.

Sanji and Usopp are sitting together, close enough that their knees are touching. Sanji is uncharacteristically talkative, all smiles and sweeping gestures as he keeps his eyes on the marksman.

Usopp is listening raptly, a fond grin on his face and stars in his eyes. He’s nodding along, asking questions and making jokes.

As they laugh and converse, the duo seem to unconsciously lean toward to one another, as if drawn to their respective energies.

Sanji’s hand, the one closest to Usopp, comes to rest on the grass. As he adjusts, his fingers brush Usopp’s. Both men freeze before leaning back and snatching their hands away, averting their gazes with red-tinged faces.

“They do that all the time!” Luffy exclaims in exasperation. “They get closer and closer but then they pull away, like they’re scared. Usopp shouldn’t ditch me if he’s not even gonna do what he really wants,” he pouts.

“So, you think they love each other but they’re too scared to admit it?” Nami clarifies.

“Yeah! And that’s stupid. If you love someone, you should tell them.”

“Y’know Captain, I agree with you,” Nami says, a false sweetness to her voice. “But it seems that Sanji and Usopp haven’t gotten the hint.”

“I think the two of them need a little push,” Robin suggests. “Perhaps their Captain can help them get their affairs in order?”

Luffy stands with a decisive nod. “I’ll do it. I won’t let anyone stand in the way of my crew’s happiness. Not even my crew!”

Without another word, Luffy hops onto the railing and stretches his arms downwards. He gets one hand on Sanji’s shoulder and the other on Usopp’s, startling the two men. They don’t even have time to protest before Luffy is launching himself at them, knocking them all over.

“Usopp! Sanji!”

“What’s the big idea, Luffy?!”

They all sit up, Sanji and Usopp glaring at their Captain while he frowns back.

“I’m mad at you two!”

“What? Why? What’d we do?”

“You two aren’t being honest!” Luffy accuses.

“We aren’t being honest about what?” Sanji asks, frustration obvious in his tone.

“Your feelings! Usopp loves Sanji, and Sanji loves Usopp, but neither of you will say so! It’s dumb!”

Luffy continues his rant, unaware of how he’s rendered his red-faced crewmates speechless.

“Don’t forget that we’re pirates! We’re supposed to be free and take what we want! And we’re nakama. We’ll always be there for each other, no matter what. Do you get it? If you love each other you should say so!”

“B-b-but Luffy—”

“No buts! Get your shit together, Captain’s orders! In fact, you guys should kiss right now.”

“We are not kissing in front of you, Luffy!”

“But you will kiss, right?”

“I-I mean, if Sanji wants to…”

“I want to! I really want to.”

“Great! So go kiss, lovebirds!”

Usopp and Sanji sit in stunned, embarrassed silence for a few moments. Ultimately, Luffy’s expectant look is what spurs them into action.

Sanji jumps to his feet. He’s practically glowing from how hard he’s blushing, but he pushes through his overwhelm to extend a hand out to Usopp.

“Come with me to the galley?”

Usopp blinks up at him in astonishment for a moment before he takes Sanji’s hand, allowing him to pull him to his feet. The sniper grins shyly at the chef, softly twining their fingers together.

“You really want to kiss me?” Usopp has to ask, bashfully batting is long, dark lashes.

“I do,” Sanji smiles. He looks at Luffy, then up at Robin and Nami, who he’d noticed are watching them. He cringes at the attention, returning his gaze to Usopp. “Just, not in front our crewmates. At least, not the first time. And I’ve got some things I want to tell you that are probably better said in private, for both of our sakes.”

“Me too,” Usopp whispers.

“Well then, looks like we’re in agreement. Shall we?”

Sanji leads Usopp to the galley, both of them ignoring the cheering from the nosy trio. The door slams behind them, muffling the sound of shared laughter and whispered confessions.

Luffy launches himself back up the ship so he can peek inside the window and check on his handiwork.

“So, Captain?” Nami asks, leaning over the railing above him. “Did they keep their promise?”

Luffy giggles happily. “They sure did! They look super happy now. Problem solved!”

He takes a moment to observe his crewmates as they seal their bond. Robin and Nami watch as a look of panic overtakes his face as he seems to realize something. “Wait! Now that they’re in love, will Usopp spend even less time with me? And will Sanji be too busy to make me meat and snacks? No!”

Nami shakes her head and Robin chuckles as the Straw Hat bursts into the galley, loudly interrupting the union he insisted on.

Neither of them try to stop him to protect the moment for the newly established couple. Their Captain needs his food and attention, after all.

#sanji and usopp curse luffy to hell and back for interrupting them. and luffy is like right but remember when i made sure you guys kissed??#luffy wants the best for his nakama but then remembers that might not be in HIS best interest. bc he needs food and attention always #sanji and usopp are embarrassed they got called out by their captain but mostly they’re overjoyed that their feelings are finally out!!#they can’t shake luffy off until after dinner which KILLS them they just wanna touch and kiss and LOVE #it has to wait until usopps night watch shift #they can finally be alone and close the distance between them #sanuso #one piece #black leg sanji #god usopp #usosan #red’s fic #monkey d. luffy #strawhats

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spectral-honey · 2 years

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Tim never becoming robin but his parents still dying and him taking over Drake industries as a teenager which turns out to be actually very successful somehow and then uses that exclusively to fuck up lex luthors evil plans

“Oh, did you want that weapons contact? Turns out I made a deal with those guys last week, better luck next time!”

“Lex! You wanted to hire that tech specialist? I just set him up with a great job working on a project overseas, oh I can't quite remember where he's located now! Looks like it'll be a while until you can get in touch with him!”

“The company I just bought was producing an important machine piece for you? Unfortunately we had to discontinue that item due to some errors, you know how quality control can be.”

“Guess what! I just bought the rights to a very important type of laser technology and I'm suing everyone who uses it without permission! Just business, you understand!”

And of course lex tries to kill him but he keeps being saved just in time by various superheros (he probably has someone's personal cell number or an alarm he wired to go to oracle & the watchtower)

Just civilian Tim doing mental warfare with lex and heros being like "stop antagonizing supervillains!!!!!" And Tim being like "what? I can't hear you over the sound of lex coming to kill me again because I outbid him for his security chief"

#tim drake #red robin #batman #without a secret identity in need of protecting tim fully commits to being a chaotic force as CEO #the heros are like WHY are you doing this #and Tim is like well I'm emotionally stunted and walking on the wire edge between bad decisions and dying makes me feel alive #the bats are like okay that's valid #and the rest of the JL is like 'NO!! ITS NOT!!'#personally I like Tim being rescued the most by the bats and core 4 (3?) YJ bc. Batfam and also core 4. Also timkon. Or timbart.#I don't ship Tim/Cassie but I love them being close friends who get sad and emotionally vulnerable together #Mostly bc I always think of them hardcore trauma bonding when Bart and Kon die #But tim casually calling heros civilian phone numbers like hi flash im in keystone rn and some guys beat me up and threw me in a trunk #I think they're gonna drive it into a river could u come pick me up #also I'm sure Tim could fuck with other villains too #I just was thinking abt how funny it is to have a teenage tim as CEO and being peers w lex bc of it #tim keeps copywriting symbols/color schemes Gotham villains #he buys some carnival grounds the joker likes and turns it into a water park instead #silly au where tim is kind of op #but in a fun way #dc

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moe-broey · 3 months

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Winter concpets.....

(these first ones are At Least a year old 😭😭😭)

First up, a Winter Sharena concept!

And a little comic about it

The last panel would have been Sharena begging to "steal Alfonse's body warmth" while Alfonse subtly/sarcastically teases her about it, Moe trailing behind them (I lost steam/focus though 🥲)

This was The Year Of Bruno as well, and I was testing out/playing with the scenario presented (From the Tempest Trials and from what Winter Bruno says, it seems Alfonse and Sharena spent the holiday together while the Summoner was spending it with Bruno the Envoy)

(funny aspect of this is I don't even really enjoy "why does so and so call you babygirl" jokes anymore LMFAOOO like. Nothing wrong w em and was a decent set up here, but Moe would Not Fucking Say That skskksk) (also you can Tell this is Early On in Moe's development bc its fangs aren't even piercings 😔)

This year I Did revisit Winter Concepts, espp wanting to redo my Idea of a winter Moe who's helping out Bruno with Envoy Duty

All it needed was to become more of a furry and some loose BDSM gear inspo 👍 I was also thinking about a few different things! Like how Bruno's fit is literally just his regular outfit with some Santa suit on top LMFAO. But I was also thinking about how Moe is probably not meant to be recognized here? If it is hanging out with Bruno? Who is actively avoiding being seen by Alfonse and Sharena? So Moe keeps the shoes/tights, but little else!

Final version would have most closely resembled this one!

And another little comic

Once again I'm parsing how okay well how are they interacting with each other. What's the vibe here?

I wanted to draw a bigger piece of them hanging out, maybe spending the night together by the fire with hot cocoa after a hard day's work (again thinking about how it's implied the summoner spent the holiday separately from Alfonse/Sharena). I may revisit the concept again, I feel like there's a lot of potential story-focused comic wise here.... and a lot of set up for some funny conflict later.

#fire emblem #feh #to elaborate on the babygirl bit like. i think moe's complex relationship w gender and esp #discomfort w being misgendered would play into it avoiding that completely.#it's more likely to (affectionately intricate ritually i see you the way you see me you are me and i am you) call alfonse a faggot.#WITH. permission LMFAOOO #and boundaries. alfonse voice Not beyond closed doors #for me i guess it's the difference between emasculation being a punchline vs celebrating/embracing #complex/nuanced relationships to gender identity/presentation/performance. ect.#it is NOT that deep LMFAOOO it's just how i've come to feel!#anyways i think if i did write a story about spending a night w bruno i think the ONLY way to end it #is to have him gone by morning. i think he has Always done this.#and i think it's fascinating to consider him Still doing this ESP w someone who isn't of askr blood #it is just so deeply fucking ingrained in him.#and i imagine it almost being an odd comfort to alfonse. as well. (upon hearing about it)#moe is a bad liar but if it's Required to keep a secret it will try its absolute damnest to #esp to honor bruno's wishes. i think moe does manage to keep this under wraps for Surprisingly long #which i think sets up ANOTHER really fascinating scenario. where moe IS honest to a fault #but somehow managed to hide something Like That. the sense of shock and betrayal must be INSANE #i do really wanna revisit it someday #fe alfonse #sharena #fe bruno #moe tag #summoner oc #my art #my concepts

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isfjmel-phleg · 1 month

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Before Tamett and Josiah leave for school in Book 3, it has been an established rule that they do not travel together. Not that they travel to the same places but separately, but that Tamett does not accompany the royal family on any trip they may take, whether for public appearances, or state visits, or vacations. The reason for this is that he is simply not needed at these times. He is there primarily to do lessons with Josiah, which are less of a priority while traveling (but still done if possible! Josiah is typically expected to squeeze in some serious reading and an essay or two while on the road). There is no point in his being present for public appearances or state visits because he is not a member of the royal family. Which also disqualifies him from family vacations--he is not being paid to enjoy himself by the sea or in the mountains, and these times are usually when he gets a chance to go home.

As much as he enjoys going home, he has low-key resented getting left out of going anywhere potentially fun or interesting.

So there is one advantage to being sent away to school--he gets to take a steamship for the first time, gets to see more of the world...gets to learn that Josiah is a) extremely prone to motion sickness and b) extremely embarrassed about it, especially in front of Tamett, whom he currently hates, and therefore deals with it by being particularly impossible. And it's now solely Tamett's responsibility to look after him at these times.

This is not overly important. I just felt like mentioning it.

#The Blackberry Bushes #The Blackberry Bushes OC facts #Tamett Lockridge #Josiah Callon #I want to get back to writing these two and their relationship because what even is it #Tamett is paid to be friends with Josiah but they're not really #they've been raised together almost like siblings but not really #they're like classmates but there's a hierarchy between them even though they're close to the same age #Tamett is technically not too far removed from Josiah socially - he's a duke's nephew - but has to act as a servant #Tamett knows a lot of very personal details about Josiah's life & sees him every day but still isn't allowed to call him by his first name #or use the informal 'you' with him although Josiah can and does use it with *him*#but even though he's known Tamett for years he really knows very little about Tamett's personal life and family #Josiah hates him but relies on him but shuts him out but knows Tamett's the closest thing he has to a piece of home at school #Tamett resents him but puts up with him but can't stand him but almost feels sorry for him sometimes

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nativehueofresolution · 5 months

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are we ever going to circle back around to talking about this? bc i think about it a lot.

(4x09 script)

#kendall roy #rava roy #kenrava #succession #i don't think kendall has been physical w her before but rava certainly does not seem surprised at the idea that he would #like during their low points there were maybe some close call incidents that have made rava had to consider this penny may drop one day #kendall can also tell she's concerned about this which alternates between making him feel very resentful and angry #and very guilty and conciliatory #his relationship w the sibs is obviously quite different but he very much does try to attack his pregnant younger sister.#and the whole roman can of worms #so clearly hurting family members is something he is capable of #kaitlin speaks

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cabbagequeen323 · 17 days

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I feel really happy and content about my decision to have my bilateral saplingectomy! It's great!

#no more babies for me #it is sad #its moving on its closing a door #but i got to close it gently and with wisdom #it gives me the space to give in ways that i am called into and cannot were i to have more kids #i LOVE kids #all the ones i encounter and help can be mine in the way i love them!!#if i magically had more support i would have like ten lol #i get to be that support!#and i get to be support to my mother and all i encounter #it feels like peace and passion and love #grief will always embrace as you move between stages in life #but joy has carried me in this

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thegirlwholied · 4 months

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not to have a grudge against all books written in a certain POV but first-person alternating, we meet again, my beloathed

#one 2024 goal is reading more (as well as writing more) the way I used to #but #jesus christ #i am making allowances! i am not setting down the books on this account... in all cases...#but this is the *3rd* series since December to have some degree of alternating first person #now: i know some people don't like first person at all #i feel this comes from fan fiction where it usually only feels natural if a fan fic of a first-person book #i like first person!#i like third-person alternating!#i like close third person!#i can love all three depending on how they are deployed!#some stories call for one or the other #and some stories call for present tense #and i firmly believe this as a writer as well as a reader and want to be able to comfortably jump between them #but chapters alternating between first person #...i can tolerate it when there is good reason #but ye gods not in romance novels where it seems to be a popular choice oh no

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dracolizardlars · 2 months

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The poeticism of one of the final four remaining Mario Maker 1 levels that have not yet been completed by anyone except for their own maker being titled "The Last Dance".

#thinking about how when the creator made that level years ago they would've had no idea it'd ever be part of something like this #btw level uploads were stopped for mm1 in 2021 and the servers are being completely shut down next month #in the time in between people have started a huge effort to clear every single level #it's called team 0% and I've been watching it closely in the last week or so as it closes out #i feel emotional abt it #a couple of those last four are fucking mental levels of rng + precision but I rlly hope someone eventually clears them in time #draco speaks

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original-missif · 10 months

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Hey I've been going through your NFHCC AU tag and I absolutely need to know when Eliot decided to tell Nate and Sophie hes a triplet. Like, did they run into them on a job and are they confused? Or did it just randomly come out one day?

Oh man, I can't believe I have an actual answer for this rather than just speculation. Thank you for asking ^u^

This is a bit of a spoiler for The Hitter Job, Extended Edition, but Nate and Sophie aren't actually the first ones to discover Eliot's blood relations. It's Hardison!

After discovering that Eliot Spencer has only existed for just under 2 years, Hardison, in innocent curiosity, digs in and discovers Eliot's real last name is Stone, and he has two brothers. He doesn't immediately go to Nate with the information, because the deeper Hardison goes the more information he gets and the picture this new information keeps getting worse. Only when Hardison feels comfortable and able to tell Nate about Eliot and his secret brothers and last name (amoung other more upsetting info) does he actually do so.

So for a while only Hardison and Nate are aware of Eliot's brothers and father, and they keep it that way. Nate is, of course, hurt that he didn't know this about one of his kids (it's a similar emotion to when he met Archie) but Eliot is almost 18 and Nate knows how easy it would be to loose the trust Eliot has in him, so he says nothing about it. I don't think it's until a job almost a year later, when the Stone triplets are all 18, does the Leverage team accidentally cross paths with both the Librarians and the Cebu trio.

It's a mess lol, but the mess ends with Eliot, Alex, and Jake all reuniting after 3 years of being apart, and the Leverage team and Librarians (as well as Kai and Ernesto) finally meeting their respective triplet's brothers and friends and guardians.

So while Nate finds out about Eliot's brothers before Sophie, and while Sophie isn't exactly happy Nate kept it from her, Sophie Devereaux (and Parker as well) is absolutely the one who understands why Eliot changed his name and never told her or Nate about his brothers. And while both Nate and Sophie aren't glad they find out by accident and not because Eliot chose to tell them, they understand why he didn't, and most likely never would have had the crossover not happened.

#the crossover event is one of the worst days of eliot's life #because it's everything he was forced to leave behind and stay away from #and he's only been able to get updates on his brothers recently when he starts therapy with col. baird #and for jake and alex he totally dropped off the map so they're not happy but are happy and it's a lot of emotions they weren't ready for #it's also the most confusing day ever for parker cassandra and zeke and kai because there's 3 of them??????#parker and zeke watched US (2019) or have met doppelgangers and aren't totally convinced one of those options isn't whats really going on #when sophie learns jacob is an art prodigy she's so happy #finally another art nerd to talk about art with. and he's so polite and such a gentleman #and thats how jacob stone outshines eliot spencer in terms of ways sophie can talk to teenagers #kai learns that eliot and the team are all criminals and has to fight every urge she has to call the cops on them or arrest them herself #all because ernesto said they were obviously very close to alex's brother and they didn't see them doing anything illegal #cassandra and hardison and zeke immediately click because science and technology nerds #and jake gives eliot the BIGGEST LOOK because zeke was bad enough before but now eliot has introduced him to other criminals #and worse still is that zeke has heard of parker and is 100% for teaming up with the criminals to do crime #i feel like ernesto is in that awkward between teen and adult stage so he just hangs back to watch out for kai and alex #who is trying very hard not to freak out and not punch eliot directly in the face #nate ford's home for criminal children au #leverage teens au #almost paradise #the librarians #ckane triplets #stone triplets #ask #takemyhand-bitch #reply

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