#THIS WAS ABOUT GUNPOWDER TIM ALL ALONG

[mushroompoisoning]

not sexually attracted to this guy not aesthetically attracted to him but a secret third thing

edit: fuck you captain

#this is about. no comment. #you guys know. you guys can guess. #wallace says shit #this is the only way i can explain my experience with attractive people #the mechanisms #you FOOLS. #THIS WAS ABOUT GUNPOWDER TIM ALL ALONG

[dropitdoeeyes]

i am asking you about mechs birds ! if you want a specific mech then I'm asking about Drumbot Brian. But I'd love ve to hear about all of them if you want to

(On the verge of tears, covered in blood, out of breath, and surrounded by boards of red string and thumbtacks) I am SO glad you asked

Jonny: A shrike. Small, violent little critters. OR a chicken, because the cannibalism thing. (I also just think it’s really funny.)

Ashes: Whistling kite! They (along with a few other species) take burning sticks from forest fires and spread it to flush out prey. Arsonist bird, just like Ashes!

Drumbot Brian: Canada goose, since they travel long distances (like a pilot might!) this is also one of the birds that just Is Them. Just look at him. Look me in the eyes and tell me that man isn’t a goose. Soft, round, they look good to hold but they’re simultaneously full of violence.. silly goose Brian….

Raphaella: Wandering albatross. Yet another one who really truly just is. Look at that bird. It's her.

Marius: Common kingfisher! He's the one who originally sparked this idea, after we saw a picture of one and immediately got slammed by the idea of anthro bird mechs. The colors. Just look. That bird is Him.

Ivy: Rock ptarmigan, pigeon, or a mourning dove. She's just a soft round bird like Brian. They all have fitting coloration in a way, too.

Toy Soldier: European nightjar. The freaks my one true love. Nightjars look so fake., like they’re one of those puppet animal plushies you put your hand in to move the mouth.

Tim: Steller's jay. He inexplicably reminds me of one, similar mannerisms and everything. Tim is really truly such a corvid, also considered a blue jay for him. Deep down in my heart of hearts Gunpowder is a seabird like an osprey or petrel, though I have no reasoning for those ones.

Nastya: Eurasian magpie. Shiny blue smart bird. Looks mildly disappointed in you. Love u nastya

#there are so many other alternatives #we joked about a blue footed booby for jonny. because. haha booby. #ashes. i cant explain this one but they feel like a turkey sometimes #or some other big fancy bird #phoenix. would be really cool #rising from the ashes. elbow jab elboe jab haha get it #as previously stated #ivy is also very much a pigeon or mourning dove #also considered several owl species for nastya #mostly barn owl #snowy owl. and great horned owl #bc. birds that look like they’re mildly disappointed in you #might also find birds for them that’re fitting for the general regions the mechs are based in #didnt include them in this but lyf is a secretary bird to me. tall grumpy bird. yeag #the mechanisms #the mechs #jonny d’ville #ashes o’reilly #drumbot brian #gunpowder tim #raphaella la cognizi #marius von raum #nastya rasputina #the toy soldier

[bracketsoffear]

Slaughter: Gunpowder Tim (The Mechanisms) "Ignoring his present day role as an immortal murderous space pirate, roving through the galaxy having “fun, violence” his origin story ballad, Gunpowder Tim vs the Moon Kaiser is basically world war 1 on the moon, with an Achillean inspiration. Tim is in the place of Achilles in this story, and after his best friend is killed, descends into a violent rage, and to include some convincing lyrics: “We’ll murder all the Lunar Men with fury heaven sent/And we’ll carpet Lenny’s tunnels with the rounds that we have spent/they tried to shake our firm resolve but haven’t made a dent/and their blood will run like wine.” “Take no prisoners give no quarter/show them all the color of their entrails on the floor/the Kaiser’s men are cattle to the slaughter/and their blood will run like wine.” “Their existence is a mad disease there needs to be a cull/upon their rancid soldier flesh out bayonets will dull.” The statements of wine, while a literary reference, show the delight and almost decadence Tim is viewing violence with, wanting it to be as abundant as wine. A later description of him by the First Mate: “So Gunpowder Tim cut a bloody red path/Through cannon and through infantry, dealing out his wrath/Battalions were gathered/and charged with his destruction/but all of them fell to his maddened corruption.” And, as if the battlefield origins and enjoyment of brutality isn’t enough, he is also musically aligned, both in lyric, with “the brutal hymn of gunpowder” as his “favorite song” and the slightly meta piece of info, the pirate crew he’s in is in-universe, a band.

Corruption: Bugsnax (Bugsnax) "The game starts with you finding out about the existence of Bugsnax: fascinating, mysterious and wonderful creatures of legend with big googly eyes that are shaped like food! They taste like the meals you imagine they do, but far better than it had ever been, satisfying you easily with a single one but still leaving you wanting more. As you progress, the inhabitants of the island where they're found ask you to find more and more of them to give them; they're enjoying them, and for each of them, these bugsnax signify something deeper than what it seems at first glance. It isn't just food: for some, they're like family; for others, they're mysterious creatures they grow obsessed to research about; and for others they're the sources of stability in their otherwise intensely unstable lives. One way or another, eating or just being near bugsnax can easily get a hold of you and make you completely dependent on them, making you believe they're the solution to all of your life's problems. The fact that by eating a single one it affects your body structure and turns your limbs one by one into food shaped skin also adds to the horrors that everyone seem to be too blind to, too focused on their own dependence as it builds and builds until, eventually, you're fully food shaped and then your body structure weakens, destroying you and turning you into another of the island's victims, and so become a meal of the meal you had been eating all along. At the end of the day, you find out what they really are: parasites, made in cute shapes with adorable or funny sounds for the sole purpose of convincing you to having them nearby, eat them, and so slowly build up to eating you from the inside out. You are what you eat, and all life is Bugsnax."

#the magnus archives #poll #the slaughter #the corruption #the mechanisms #bugsnax #winners' bracket

[lostonehero]

More of the new mech au

Because I'm thinking about it and I'm stuck at home with pneumonia

It's an absolute shitshow when the mechs (minus Nastya because she has her limits but did warn Martin beforehand because he made her a matching blanket and taught her how to get Jonny to drink tea) start working at the Institute

Jon is furious he was not informed of new assasitants he didn't approve of and he fucking hates Jonny to no end.

Martin blames himself but does appreciate GP Tim bringing in homemade bread pudding, saying it reminds him of home.

Jonny doesn't have his guns on him because he would never risk hurting Martin, but he is ready to grow out his horns to gorge Jon, and he despises growing his horns out.

Tim didn't realize GP last name was also Stoker, so he's very confused, and GP isn't helping anything by telling the truth. Tim honestly just thinks he's insane.

Sasha thinks this is hilarious but is also grateful to have other people to experience the weird things and maybe have someone check out that appearing yellow door. She has bo idea that they are aliens nor that they are immortal.

Martin only knows they are aliens.

......

New archive chat

Jonny D'ville has been added

Gunpowder Tim has been added

Jonny D'ville changed his name to Jonny

Gunpowder Tim changed his name to GP Tim

Jonny: the cooler Jon is finally here.

Jon: Why did you even get a job here? Why did Elias hire you?

Jonny: don't care

Martin: Jonny, please be nice. Also I brought your favorite mug don't steal Jon's.

Jonny: ok

GP Tim: Man, killed with kindness

Martin: Oh, right, Gp, I also baked a tray of biscuits as a thank you for the bread pudding. I'm almost done with the sleep Mas you requested.

Tim: dude don't tempt Martin. He got rid of all the starters shit in the breakroom when I accidently mentioned I was allergic.

Sasha: to be fair strawberries would actually kill you.

Tim: at least I can handle kindness I can see Gp and Jonny covering their faces. I think Jonny threw his phone.

Martin: he did. Although I didn't mean to embarrassed them. Oh, right, I do crochet and knit, so if you guys want anything, I have an overabundance of yarn from TS who doesn't understand what restraint means.

Sasha: can you teach me to knit?

Tim: Oh me too we can have a knitting club.

Jon: I know how to sew it, and it can't be much different. I shall join you.

Martin: I sure yeah that can be fun.

.....

Marius is sent down to check on everyone. He's in a posh suit, and his hair is barely able to cover his pointed ears.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" Jonny raised his brow putting down a statement.

"Mr. Bouchard requested that I uh change my wardrobe. I'll be honest I don't enjoy it, and having my hair slick back is quite er.... unfortunate." Marius can see a small twinge of sympathy from Gp Tim, who knows he had nerve endings in his hair. He found out by accident giving him a surprised haircut as a prank, and there was a lot of blood and screaming. "He asked me to come down and observe how everyone is getting along. Raphella is in artifact storage, I don't know how she got there."

"Figures." Jonny rolls his eyes.

Marius waves at Jon, who heads out of his office. "Oh, Mr. Bouchard also asked me to tell you that TS in artifact storage needs to give a statement. It said that a ring master ripped their voice out, and it was uncomfortable to grow it back."

Gp Tim mumbles. "Why would someone steal a voice?"

Jon nods. "I will head over there."

Sasha raised her brow. "Who are you?"

Marius opened his mouth and then shut it. "Marius, I'm Mr. Bouchard new assistant. How are you doing with new coworkers?"

Sasha hums. "It's fine. Weird having two Tim's."

"I'm the original Tim. Thank you very much." Tim smirks tossing a crumpled ball of paper at Gp Tim.

"Just because that's true doesn't mean anything." Gp Tim smiles, catching the paper ball.

Sasha sighs. "Boys, please."

"An assistant?" Jonny snickers.

"You're one too, Jonny." Marius huffs. "Please try not to hurt your coworkers."

"I make you no promises." Jonny scoffs crossing his arms.

Martin smiles softly, handing Jonny a mug of tea. "Hello Marius, don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on him. And Jonny finish that you need to drink more fluids."

Jonny smiles softly sipping his tea the heat not bothering him.

Marius smiles. "Are you adjusting well, Martin?"

"Oh, it's quite nice having Jonny and Gp here. Although Jonny can get a bit jealous, which isn't bad but it wouldn't really matter if he didn't keep trying to fight Jon, our boss." Martin smiles sheepishly.

"You're word than Jonny." Gp raised his brow.

Tim slides his chair over to Gp. "Tell me everything."

Sasha does the same. "Our soft boy Martin, who couldn't hurt a fly, gets jealous?"

Martin covers his red face knowing damn well he would kill for Jonny if he asked.

Jonny matches the blush, hiding his blush with his mug.

#tma podcast #the magnus archives #tma #the mechanisms #the mechs

[bugsinthebayou]

okay how do i get into the mechs ... i would like to know about these robots now i think

GRINS. HI. HELLO.

The Mechanisms are a steampunk space pirate storytelling band!! they are compromised of 9 members (up until one of them left). they retell myths n legends in space, tragic, and queer

they have four main story albums, a single, and two extra albums for extra stories

for the four main albums, you have to listen to all the tracks in order so i recommend listening on youtube

Once Upon A Time (In Space) is their first album. its fairy tales retold as an intergalactic war

Ulysses Dies At Dawn is their second one. this one is greek mythology

High Noon Over Camelot. oh boy high noon over camelot. my favorite mechs album and my favorite album just in general. arthurian legend retold as a space western

The Bifrost Incident. norse myth but eldritch horror

their single is Frankenstein (frankenstein except the monster is an AI), and their other two albums are Tales To Be Told volumes I and II. theyre both collections of extra songs that either work as standalone stories or fit into the same setting as one of the main albums but doesnt follow along the main plotline

they also have Death to the Mechanisms, which was a performance of some of their songs live plus a song of the same name as the album that describes how they died a final time. this was because they split up. no more mechs music </3

out of all of them i recommend hnoc the most. cuz its my favorite <3

i apologize for not explaining the albums further, but you asked about the mechs themselves so im gonna put more focus into explaining those guys

the mechanisms themselves are 9 immortal space pirates. they are immortal due to their mechanisms, mechanical replacements of certain body parts. they travel the galaxy on the starship known as Aurora, who is infact sentient and also dating the ship's engineer. they like to "have fun, violence, adventure, violence. violence." according to jonny

Jonny d'Ville - he/him. he's claims he's the ships captain. hes the first mate. he is the narrator to all of the albums and plays a number of characters. King Cole (ouat(is)), Ulysses (udad), Lancelot (hnoc), Galahad (hnoc), and the void (tbi) are a few. there's more, but theyre more minor. hes pretty shooty and has canonically committed every crime (that existed on a planet) except the sexual ones. his mechanism is his heart!

Gunpowder Tim - he/him. master at arms! hes another one that sings often. he also plays the guitar. a few characters hes been are Oedipus (udad), Gawain (hnoc), and Loki (tbi). his mechanism is his eyes. hes also on the violent side. he blew up the moon, as detailed in the song Gunpowder Tim vs The Moon Kaiser from the ttbt vol 1

Ashes o'Reilly - they/them. quartermaster. they sing often and their voice is beautiful <3 they play bass aswell. some characters theyve played are Hades/themself (udad), Mordred (hnoc), and Sigyn (tbi). their mechanism is their lungs. theyre also a mob boss and arsonist and have been since they were 12 years old, described in their backstory song Lucky Sevens

Drumbot Brian - he/him. pilot. he doesnt sing as often but its great when he does! he plays a few different instruments. a couple of his characters are Merlin/himself (hnoc) and the robot spouse in Stranger (ttbt vol 2). everything except his heart is mechanical. he was thrown into space because he brought someone back to life

The Toy Soldier - it/its. its just there!! it sings often and plays the mandolin. some characters are Cinders (ouat(is)), Orpheus (udad), and Guinevere (hnoc). its a toy soldier. it was never human it just started walking one day

Raphaella la Cognizi - she/her. science officer. she is another singer!! and pianist!! her voice is heavenly tbh. notable roles are Ariadne (udad), Ygraine (hnoc (one song but it Slaps)), and Odin (tbi). her mechanism is a pair of wings!

Marius von Raum - he/him. doctor (not even a doctor). he sings and plays violin. and mandolin the wiki says. Heracles (udad), Arthur (hnoc), Thor (tbi). his mechanism is his right arm

Ivy Alexandria - she/her. archivist. she plays a few wind instruments, no singing. her mechanism is her brain

Nastya Rasputina - she/her. engineer. she is in gay love with the sentient starship <3. she plays violin, no singing. her mechanism is her blood, which is mercury. she decided to go Out (she believed that aurora was no longer the same starship she fell in love with because of all the repairs over the centuries theyve been alive, so she takes the final piece of the original aurora and exits out of the airlock, never to be seen again) sometime after hnoc

and there you are!! them!!

despite me giving some examples to who they play in the albums, thats not all the characters they play. theres also extra characters in narration i didnt mention (ivy and nastya both have been in narration tracks before) and theres also characters they play in the extra songs in the tales to be told volumes

i hope you end up liking them <333 heres a photo of them all together for u

[ID: A group shot of the Mechanisms. End ID]

#this was longer than expected sorry anon ahdjsnd #you activated the autism #answered #anon pog #id from princess-of-purple-prose

[socdarlings]

how do u think the members of the gang would feel about/react to fireworks?? love ur page btw!!!

hi i’m aware this is like 18 days late sorry anon

How the gang would react to fireworks:

Pony:

wouldn’t really care tbh. he doesn’t enjoy the sound but he likes watching it explode

tries to take a pic of it and ends up crying cuz it looks like shit (never take pictures of fireworks. it never looks good)

ends up attempting to draw some from memory. he’s not great at painting but he actually, surprisingly, manages to get a good firework painting going

overall he likes them. wishes he could capture them though. 8/10

Johnny:

this poor boy. doesn’t like fireworks at all

he likes watching them from far, far away but going near one while it sets off? he’d rather die

also don’t bring him to where a bunch of fireworks are going off while it’s crowded. sensory issues to the max

i just know the gang’s gonna get their own firecrackers and light some off in the street. johnny is NOT getting involved. he stays in the house while it goes off and tries to listen to music or smth to distract himself. the loud noises scare him

3/10. doesn’t like em

Sodapop:

this dude loooooves anything that explodes. too much of a wimp to set it off himself though but he loves being there for it

he likes them going off, loves the colorful explosion it gives, loves the popping sound some of them do too. he’s not an artist by any means so he’ll ask pony to draw some. cue him failing

will go with steve to light them up after work. they’ll try and find a place and when they do, he’ll be giggling uncontrollably like a little kid

10/10. he’ll have a blast (had to do it)

Steve:

like soda, he loves these things. he’s more interested in setting up the fireworks than seeing them though.

he’ll try and make it from scratch too. also will try to get a car engine so he could make a “MasterBlaster5000”

does not fucking work. he does rig something so they set off all at once though. (he was planning on making a firework bomb)

steve reminds me of those guys on Minecraft that sets up elaborate redstone systems. would not be surprised if he got gunpowder so it could, in his words, “make more booms”.

also 11/10. too excited. have the fire department on standby.

Dallas

Oh he hates these things. absolutely fucking hates them.

doesn’t like seeing them, hates hearing them, and will go somewhere else if somebody’s lighting them up. he goes to buck’s when they do, because the bar music is loud enough to block it out. or to the shepard’s house because it’s far away

he knows the difference between fireworks and gunshots, but being around them is a whole different story. any type of explosion reminds him of New York, and he tries to forget anything about that place

even if the gang or the shepards try to invite him over with beer, he refuses. prefers to sit at home and get drunk by himself

him and johnny bond over their dislike of fireworks, even if he knows johnny likes seeing the patterns

-11/10. fuck the 4th

Two-Bit:

his favorite activity is sitting by and watching them explode while wasted. will be that drunk uncle that brings two 12 packs and a lawn chair

will set them off with steve as well. even though he’s not really into the process, he likes watching steve build stuff

will also be that annoying uncle that hollers and claps. if he knew how to grill, he’ll bring a Foreman too

one time him, steve, and soda (dally did NOT wanna come along) set off a bunch of fireworks in the street even though darry told em not too. cut to the neighbors calling the cops and they all took off running. two-bit was unlucky enough to get caught and spent his july 4th locked up

10/10. thank you uncle Keith for bringing the beers

Darry:

lord help this man

despite half the gang begging him to come, he only does because he wants to grill. and bring little sandwiches

and he does admire them, somewhat. again, he’s mostly there for the food

if the shepards come, tim’s by his side. somehow both him and two-bit managed to persuade him to drink, and he only got down one. someone needs to bring back the gang after all

if the gang sets off firecrackers in the streets he’ll be. livid is one word. he’ll pick up anyone that gets arrested for setting them off *cough* cough* twobit *cough* but now he has to talk to the cops. will be furious if he finds out either pony or soda was there

5/10. meh

Tim:

Like Darry, he’s mostly there to watch his siblings. when he does get him to drink, it’s the first time he starts genuinely laughing in a while

he does not care. he’s there for the drinks.

lets dally stay at his place if they’re setting them off. his house is the farthest from everyone, and away from the explosions

if the gang sets them off and curly’s there, he’ll egg him on. but if it gets too bad, he’ll pick up curly and haul ass outta there

2/10. bring on the beers

Curly:

don’t get me wrong. this kid loves fireworks. he’s just particular on who he spends it with

he hates the noisy people who yell and scream when it goes off, but he does like seeing the explosion. or the person that tries to take a picture of it with flash when they’re all crowded together. feels really angry abt it for some reason

if he does wanna look at it, or if he’s even in the mood to do so, he’ll bring along somebody quiet. to him, fireworks are supposed to be observed

eventually it does get boring to him and he wants to go home.

4/10. this could’ve been a video.

Angela:

I’m stuck on if she likes seeing them or not

like curly, i feel like she has to get in the mood. otherwise it’s just boring to her.

if somebody brought weed, she’ll smoke it and watch. if somebody brings booze, she’ll drink and watch but eventually she’ll just fall asleep.

she feels like fireworks is something to watch when you’re not sober

would she go by herself to watch? no. would she go with others? absolutely.

7/10 when drunk, 2/10 when alone

#did they have fireworks in 1965 #it was prob dynamite back then tbh #the outsiders #johnny cade #ponyboy curtis #dallas winston #darry curtis #sodapop curtis #two bit mathews #steve randle #tim shepard #curly shepard #angela shepard #luci’s rambling #the outsiders hcs #requests

[fanartbyherd]

So these drawings are from around the time I was first introduced to the mechanisms.

I had started listening to the band, and made my way through the four main story driven albums and some of the other mechanisms albums.

And I thought to myself, what do the, immortal villainous canabalistic, time traveling, dimension hopping, space pirate crew of the aurora do when they are not having fun! Violence…. Violence.

When there are no tales to be told.

What do they do then?

So I drew that!

Mischief what else?

Johnny being impatient when gunpowder tim paints his nails because Johnny has less coordination with that.

Brian and Ivy realizing that they have left the toy solider somewhere on some market planet when it got interested in some shiny trinket or weapon or what not.

NOW! to the main part. so bottom picture from the first image, and the large picture at the top of the second image. this was my solution to part of the questions on what they get up to in those more boring or sluggish times of existence. they hibernate... Wait! I actually wrote something for this! wonder what mindset I was in when I wrote it? I'll share what I wrote after the main post. it is mostly just fluff (???)

the next two images are stacked onto of each other one is of Johnny being absolutely awful at chores as he breaks all he touches. below that one is the toy solider braiding hair.

the final picture in the second image is that of Ashes scolding Brian, Johnny and Tim about tricking the Toy solider into doing their chores, mostly by that it follows any order. (now that im more familiar with the characters I think Brian was the wrong choice for this picture, perhaps raphiell or Ivy would have been a better choice, but this was one of my first pieces of mechanisms fanart.)

the final picture is of The toy solider painting a portrait of itself on a mirror because it has trouble with internal visualization.

along with the first planning and world building this (/pc) mess of an AU:

Alright as promised, I'm going to share the messy little thing I wrote about the mechanisms taking a nap. better context to the picture, whole found family in some twisted way.

(also I do in fact misspell all the names)

The mechanisms, domestic reprise. Featuring: Johnny De’vill (captain), Gun Powder Tim (explosions expert), Ashes O’reilly (quartermaster) Raphael La Cognizi (scientist), toy solider (itself), Ivy {red} (archivist), Nashtya Rasputin (shipwright), Drumbot Brian (pilot), Marious von Raum (“doctor”), the sentient starship auroura.

Ch1 (Johnny) there’s this rather interesting thing that happens when you are an immortal space faring pirate, it’s called downtime, never been much of a fan myself, but its unavoidable. Space is vast and sometimes it just takes a dame long time to get anywhere. Other times it’s just that the mortal people out there aren’t doing anything interesting, no wars, no disaster, no nothin’. I mean there’s technically something always going on, but that something doesn’t always involve us. the absolute atrocity.

So it is here we find ourselves on occasion…

Ch2. That time the mechanisms took a nap. (Johnny) Bein’ immortal and all we really don’t need to sleep, gee some of us like the toy solider, can’t. though things that it can’t do has never stopped it before and the same thing can be said about sleep. (Toy Solider) very true.

(Johnny) so even though none of us need too, on occasion we will still fancy ourselves for a nap. Some of us more than others.

(Nashta) We’ve in-fact made a rather nice room for it, deep in the bowls of the ship. With her permission of course.

(Johnny) of course.

(Brian) Yeah, made a good space too, stole a bunch of mattresses and jigsaw them together to cover the entire floor, threw some comfitures, sheets and pillows atop it.

(Ashes) Yes, it is quite cozy. The ship did have crew cabins at some point.

(Nashta) When we do sleep, we sometimes do it individually, though usually we do it as a group.

(Ivy) Quite rare actually for all of us to sleep at one time, the common thing for us is that half of us or a few more sleep, sometimes just three of us.

(Ashes) Though sometimes all of us just sleep together. Keep your mind out of the gutter Johnny. Either way we are all fixing to take a nap here soon.

(Johnny) O’reilly you flatter me, my mind is always in the gutter and you know you love me for it.

(Ashes) phfht, Shure if you say so.

(Brian) how long of a nap are we thinking this time?

(Ashes) a year or two.

(ivy) -looking at a book- our records is fifty years.

(Brian) Rumors say those where some of the most peaceful -if tense- fifty years the galaxy had known in a long time.

(Ivy) I for one am looking forward to being cozy. Ash makes a great pillow.

(Raphael) Agreed.

(Ivy) you also make a nice pillow. several of the other long naps were nice too. 

(Ashes) It did get much comfier when we decided to leave our weapons by the wall and not bring them to bed.

(Brian) yeah, I’d fancy not getting shot in the face by a misfiring again when we are supposed to be sleeping.  

(Tim) -walking in- yup, try getting shot three times by Johnny’s trigger-happy finger even in sleep.

(Johnny) Ah, well Tim, you liked it did you not?

(Tim) I…I’ll…

(Raphael) Oh! Oh! Remember that one twenty-year nap?

(Ivy) which one?

(Raphael) that one where all of us actually slept, even the toy soldier was doing it’s best pretending to sleep. (Marious) ah yes, the one where we were interrupted just a bit more than halfway through? (Nashta) Fools thought  Aroura was abandoned, just because something looks empty, dose not make something a piece of junk! (Ashes) Calm yourself Nashta. (Nashta) they were going to sell her for parts! (Ashes) yes, yes, but they are a red spot across the wall, can’t hurt aurora any more.

(nastasiya grumbels) (Brian) Also why we stay up in shifts now, that and to keep Toy Solider company. (Toy Solider)Yes! (Raphael) Don’t you get lonely toy solider?  (Toy Solider) No! of course not, I have all of you around me. Your presence keeps me company. (Tim) you ol’sap (Toy Solider) all of you also agreed to let me braid your hair as you sleep. (Ivy) *monotone* you also braid the hair of corpses on the battlefield. (Johnny) ‘bit of a curiosity if ya’ ask me. (Toy Solider) If I have nothing to do, I join you in sleep.   (Johnny) well you try. (Ashes) Toy Solider tries its best to pretend to sleep (Toy Solider) I do. (Tim) Yes, yes, Are we ready yet? I for one am eager to sleep, where’s a pillow? (Johnny) all the preparations are ready? (Marious) Finishing touches captain’ (Tim) *cough, co-captain, cough* (Jhonny) Ah Tim (Tim) what? (Johnny) Want to go a few rounds before turning in? (Tim) hmmm…ah Sure why not? (Johnny) Anyone else? (Ashes) Nah. (Toy Solider)… (Ivy) I’m good (Brian) next time by me (Raphael) Busy with marious preparing the nest. Giddy* (Marrious) Odd way to phrase it Raphe, I’d accept but as she stated. (Nashta) busy with the aroura  (Johnny) suit yourselves, come on Tim. (Ivy) I think a year nap will do us some good. *places down a handful of books. (Brian) I think so too. (Toy Solider) Agreed. (Ashes) we ready then? (Johnny) We were, once me and Tim finished our rounds we joined in the warm group, this was how we showed our greatest trust, we turned in. once we did the aroura dimed her lights and slowed her speed, as if she too joined us in our sleep. Of course, I don’t personify the ship. I’m not nashta, the dork.

-- I do believe my writing has improved slightly since this, but regardless this is fun for me. I also remember

#fanart #the mechanisms #silly stuff #cw scorpion #cw swearing #fanfic

[flowers-all-around-me]

Yeah, I'd love to know which mechanisms songs you think I should start with, or if it's a particular album. I actually went and listened to a few seconds of one after reblogging the post. They remind me just a little of The Amzing Devil. I'll be honest, that specific specific song didn't keep my interest too long, but I'm sure someone who knows their music could point me toward the better ones. :)

Ahhh! Thanks for reaching out :3 (and also hope you don't mind if I make this public, just in case someone interested might see it :'>)

I'm going to assume you know nothing about them just in case (and also since I know some songs are less good for casual use/can take a little warming up to :'3)

The gist of it is that it's a storytelling cabaret where every band member is in character as an immortal space pirates; as such, their albums are retellings of "actual events" they have "witnessed" during their travels in space.

I think I will put the rest under a Read More though because! I went off a bit! Sorry about that :'D

I recommend listening to their albums as they interest you to get the general gist of the stories. Once I got that, I added them to my shuffle playlist and listen to my faves - that way it's not confusing to me and I don't have to "suffer" through the other parts when I don't wanna listen to a whole concept album.

The "main" four albums all follow a similar structure of switching between narration/song, with varying amount of information relayed in the song (as in, sometimes it's just about a concept of the story, sometimes it's more akin to a musical piece where the story moves as well). The songs themselves are often based on various extant, mostly folk, songs (e.g. Bella Ciao, WW1 songs, and I can't think of any more rn because my brain is cooked).

If you want the cliff's notes version of these albums (none of which have a "happy" ending, so be aware of that going in):

Once Upon A Time (In Space): their first album, Grimm's fairy tales but it's about a space rebellion against an immortal, tyrannical king with an army of clones.

Ulysses Dies at Dawn: greek mythology but it's a noir cyberpunk planet-wide city. Contains (in my unbiased opinion lol) very good and interesting takes on how the setting would influence some of the myths we are familiar with today. Fair warning though: will contain references to the original material you might miss if you are unfamiliar with the OG characters, but it's still enjoyable

High Noon Over Camelot: Arthurian legend but it's a diesel-punk desert space station with bike-riding cowboys. SPECIAL MENTION TO THE MOST BANGER BANJO (again, in my opinion), specifically in Peacemaker. It's going wild in there.

The Bifrost Incident: Norse Mythology but told as a space-train noir mystery. Notable for not being narrated by an outer character, but actually told as a "recording" of the police officer investigating. Features a very good banjo in "Expert Testimony" (which is narration) (also the banjo is in a genre I like to call "bastard" because oh yeah, what is happening in-story is that a character is being A Bastard <3)

As for Tales to be Told I and II, they contain smaller stories (either relating to the main albums, origin stories for in-universe band members, or self-contained ones)

There is also a standalone single, "Frankenstein." Guess what that one is about lol. It, along with "Alice" and "Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser" are "songs" on the longer side that contain shorter narration/song segments.

Lastly, there's Death To The Mechanisms, which was the band's farewell concert in 2020 when they disbanded. It's been recorded and put together as a live album and contains fun banter and character lore regarding their deaths.

IF you want my favourite songs, regardless of album, it's probably Red Signal, Peacemaker, Blood and Whiskey, Thor, Rose Red, Alice, Acatea and Lyssa, Lost in Cosmos, The Ignominous Demise of Dr. Pilchard (which also has fun banjo), Elysian Fields, Ragnarok II: The Calling, and Riddle of the Sphinx.

ANYWAY! Extremely long, heatwave induced rant aside, I do hope you'll check them out! Feel free to reach out and let me know how you liked the songs/stories, I am always down for recommending the band to more people :3

Lastly, allow me to link the unofficial YouTube channel TheVoidSings (here!) which has all their albums with lyrics and in neat playlists so you can listen to them in order!

(I would link the band's channel so that they'd at least get some youtube cents from it, but it got demonetised under the new guidelines a few days ago, so that's fucked and yes, I am mad about it :'D)

#flower answers

[gigglingauspice]

houghh driver hikeback or drumbot brian mechanisms for character ask meme

Drumbot Brian.

Sexuality Headcanon: Shrug! This drumbot likes men and is aromantic. I can’t get more specific than that.

Gender Headcanon: Bigender. Which two genders? Shrug! He’s got ‘em.

A ship I have with said character: Ough. Gunpowder Tim/Drumbot Brian in a distinctly alterous fashion. Also Galahad/Brian. He’s got.. a taste in men.

A BROTP I have with said character: DBB/Aurora

A NOTP I have with said character: uhhh. DBB/Carmilla I guess? not the Biggest fan of him paired romantically with anyone.

A random headcanon: I feel like he has tattoos. Well, not quite? More like… You know how some instruments have gorgeous botanical engravings? Yeah. He has nine roses trailing down from his shoulder, one for each member of the crew.

General Opinion over said character: I Know Him.

The Driver

Sexuality Headcanon: Bisexual.

Gender Headcanon: He’s just some guyyyy, in a distinctly transgender fashion.

A ship I have with said character: Driver/Hiker. Banned from the timeloop from saying what Hiker did to that weird man.

A BROTP I have with said character: there’s total three characters so we’re gonna have to delve outside of canon unless I pair him with the Hiker again. I think he could get along real well with the Waitress Of The Diner Outside The Narrative.

A NOTP I have with said character: driver/Her.

A random headcanon: I think he catfishes people with his pre-transition selfies. It’s not /not/ canon.

General Opinion over said character: I want to bite into him like a delicious slice of cake. I think about him all the time.

#dbb #drumbot brian #driver hikeback

[trisshawkeye]

3 and 12 for ao3 wrapped!

[ao3 wrapped]

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

I think I'm most proud of Pilgrimage (Horizon Forbidden West). It was the most deliberate about story structure I've been for a while and I planned it out pretty carefully—plotting an in-world journey between the journal entries left by Fashav, and joining up their contents both with flashbacks to significant moments of Kotallo and Fashav's relationship, and the journey of grief and acceptance Kotallo makes in the present day. Due to the linear nature of journeying from place A to place B, the actual journal contents were then delivered out of order, which meant I got to play around with a non-linear kind of storytelling in the flashbacks, ending at the beginning and closing out the epilogue with a final, long-awaited glimpse into the moment their relationship was at its best, before misunderstandings and circumstances drove them apart again. I also had a couple of people who commented along as I posted up chapters, which was extremely encouraging, and I loved the community of it all.

I'm also very proud of my Yuletide assignment, which I shan't admit to yet because we're not at reveals, but suffice to say my recip is very pleased and I've been gleefully rolling around in their happy comment all morning. It's always nice to know you've delivered what someone wanted. :D

12. How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year?

I have a third entry in the A Safe Pair of Hands series to finish, and I have In The Footsteps Of Our Fathers still on the go (Jingrui is back in town! He and Yujin are Talking Stuff Out! Hopefully I'll get a new chapter out before February????) And then I have a collection of fic outline docs, some of which have been sitting around for a while, that I have every intention of sitting down to write at some point, though it may or may not be this year:

And Their Blood Will Run Like Wine - The Mechanisms. Gunpowder Tim as Achilleus in the Ulysses Dies At Dawn pre-canon, the cyclic tragedy of his existence as told via riffing off The Iliad.

Forget-Me-Not - Doctor Who. Donna Noble secretly works in a subdivision of UNIT heavily inspired by the Antimemetics Division SCP fic, and is the only one who can help when something turns up and starts eating memories of the thing she knows she can't remember. I'm crossing my fingers that nothing vital gets jossed by the latest special, but otherwise this one needs me to do another pass or two at detailing all the plot beats before actually sitting down and writing due to how complicated it gets.

Untitled Witcher Geralt/Olgierd casefic. I started writing this about three years ago and I'd still like to finish it but lol

Original fic?? I have two or three ideas that I've planned out but haven't written yet. There's a bit more of an on-ramp required for ofic, making sure to do all the story/character establishing you can kind of skip over for fanfic. And the lack of a pre-built audience makes motivation a little trickier. But if I can give myself enough momentum I'd still really like to write them.

What's actually going to happen, of course, is that I'm going to watch/play/read new things and get inspired and write stuff for them instead of anything in particular I have planned, but I have learned to just follow where my inspiration takes me. It's a hobby! I should do whatever I'm having fun with at the moment!

#writing stuff #ao3 wrapped

[rusted-sun]

Hey, the Mechanisms seem cool, wanna talk more about them to me?

DAMN RIGHT I DO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am like. listening to them on loop. nothing else jsut these silly space pirates. oh my god.

highly HIGHLY recommend them!!

the main gist of them is that theyre immortal space pirates who like go around and sing about fucked up events and tragedies in various worlds and universes!!

the story albums are basically retellings of actual stories/folklore but everyones some flavor of queer and its always explicitly stated in the lyrics or narration bits in-between songs!!

all of the band members have their own character lore as well thats mentioned troughout all the albums. i believe most of it is in tales to be told vol 1 and 2? but a ton is also dropped in the other story based albums where theyre included in the plot to just fuck shit up!!

speaking of the albums, theres 7 in total (8 if we count frankenstein but its just a single) and imo, the best way to get the full experience is listen to the albums in order of release (aka start w once upon a time in space and end with the death of the mechanisms) and read along the lyrics. at least thats what my autistic ass did so i can get every single lore crumb absorbed into my veins like crack cocaine dhgfjkghdsk

i have like. no clue what to talk about cuz theres SO MUCH but anyways best band member is the toy soldier, i love it so much, og reason i use it/its pronouns. its just a little freak and i love it for that <3 and also gunpowder tim but hes for more trans reasons because ngl, transition goals

also this is them (but without of marius and raphaella). this is how they did concerts, fully decked out in their character outfits. full on LARPing and i adore it its so silly and theyre so real for that

#response #villainsally #id do a better job answering more concrete questions instead of just generally rambling cuz i am in that stage of obsession where i #i dont know anything anymore unless prompted to know #i am so so unwell about them i am eating up any crumb of information i can get about the character lore or the demo songs #ROSE RED DEMO MY BELOVED BY THE WAY 10/10

[thedreadvampy]

speaking of Mechs deep lore and centripetal force, here's a drawing Nastya's performer gave me in 2011 of how she thought the Aurora would be (in keeping with the character, Nastya's performer was the person who set most of the canon about Aurora)

(sorry for the pins, I have a board of Mechs pictures that I use as a necklace pegboard)

[Image description: a sketched pencil drawing of the starship Aurora, partially obscured by a zig-zag pattern of thumbtacks along the top. It is a torpedo-shaped ship with fins at the back and a string emerging from the nose, leading to a huge spiderweb shape which goes off the edges of the page in every direction. The nose of the ship is patterned with a checkerboard pattern and has some sort of geometric shapes protruding forwards from it. The belly of the ship is encircled by a sort of collar, out of which extend six spokes. At the end of each spoke is a cylindrical pod. There are arrows drawn around it to indicate that the whole structure of collar, spokes and pods is rotating clockwise around the ship. The drawing is heavily annotated in neat cursive handwriting - the labels are as below]

The note pointing to the tail of the ship says "limited rocket propulsion for intra-system manoeuvring"

The note pointing to the pods (partially obscured by a pin) says "Living pods rotating around the core to generate low gravity. One crew member lives in each pod" (obviously this was done in 2011 when the band was 7 people, not 9)

The note pointing to the nose of the ship says "Gribblies (Nastya's fault)" I have no idea what that means.

The note pointing to the ship's body says "core of Aurora, an ancient Cyberian battle cruiser, now predominantly engine space as [unclear..."allowed"?] by Nastya, but also contains the bridge and some other communal areas; also Gunpowder Tim's guns. Zero gravity."

The note on the webbing says "Sun-sail (biomechanical semi-sentient spiders maintain this web of metallic fibres 100s km square). Can collapse, be angled etc"

The note in the bottom left says "Average speed: 1% speed of light"

From this what you should take is while we continue to respect Nastya's performer's wishes to not be identified, we all know they're the biggest nerd in the band and that's saying a LOT

#the mechanisms #the aurora #nastya rasputina #mechanisms deep lore

[irradiatedsnakes]

[ID: two collaborative digital canvases on which every practically possible space is filled by drawings- including mechanisms and magnus archives catboys, many drawings of gerry keay as a bat, furries of all sorts, along with numerous other drawings and doodles of many sorts. (for a full ID, check below the cut). end ID.]

HERE THEY ARE!! this was SO much fun i can’t wait to do this again. thank you SO much to everybody who came and drew! also very nice that it took maybe a minute and a half to two minutes before the catboys started. i definitely recommend, especially for the first one, viewing the full image and taking a couple minutes scrolling through everything.

i don’t know the urls of everyone who came and participated, so if you did and you don’t see yours here, reply and let me know! artists included: @fox-guardian @alientoastt @transmikecrew @lesbianlotl @demonicxiconic @weredragon @onedragontorulethemall @topazastral

massive image ID below the cut.

Canvas 1: almost every single space on this canvas is chocked to the brim with doodles. some are just sketches, some are colored to various degrees. starting from the top left: the label “nyarchivist” among multiple people’s drawings of jon sims as a catboy, all in green. in the very top left, he is more an actual cat with glasses and hair than a catboy. below him is a catboy jon who looks confused to be here, with a “:D” face by his head. to his right is a much smaller catboy jon labeled “he”. below and to the left is a catboy jon looking deviously to the right. where he is looking is a drawing of drumbot brian as an anthro horse, with eboy style makeup and piercings, he is looking confused back at the catboy jon. between the two of them is a sign with “gay rights” written on it, and a drawing of a cat labeled “the admiral”. below them are another set of doodles: there is a very, very small benry shaped like a little blob with the text “so small.... no room” with a sad face. below him is a drawing of marius von raum with vampire fangs, sticking his tongue out, labeled “he’s baby”. below him is a very small drawing of jonny d’ville, labeled “manlet”. below him is a small doodle of a one-eyed minion with incredibly buff arms. to the right of these three is a larger drawing of jonny d’ville as a catboy, looking deviously up at one of the catboy jons. he is holding a gun in one hand, from which a flag reading “bang!” is coming from the tip. he is labeled “he’s a catnnibal”. below these are two drawings of martin and jon. to their right is a small drawing of danny stoker, labeled “danny stonks”. to his right is a doodle of raphaella la cognizi with an octokitten on her shoulder, holding up a finger and smiling, saying “the experiment was a success! catboys are real now”. to her right is a colored drawing of marous von raum as a catboy, labeled with hearts and “this dude is trans and there’s nothing you can do about it”, with a small trans flag doodled beside. below him is a drawing of raphaella with a golden crown. to her right are two different artists’ martins, waving to one another and saying “hi!”. the one on the right is labeled “tiny”. above them, near catboy marius’ trans flag, are two shrimps. above is a drawing of tim stoker, with a wario mustache drawn onto his face. above him is a doodle of waluigi and wario, labeled “stoker bros”. to their left is a purple octokitten with yellow eyes. above it is a doodle of gerry keay, labeled “gerry :)”. above him is a drawing of an anthro calico cat, wearing a red hoodie and holding a tablet pen. to their left is a drawing of an anthro axolotl, smiling. to the right of these is a very large and very detailed drawing of gerry keay as an anthro vampire bat. he is wearing a “the ocean” band t-shirt and a leather jacket with various pins on it. he is holding up a lighter with an eye symbol with one of his wings, and is labeled “accidentally sets his patagium on fire bi-annually, probably” and “this fucks”. to the right is a doodle of gerry keay as a catboy, labeled “nyarson”. above him is a drawing of fire, labeled “arson.” below this is a doodle of gerry keay as an ghostly anthro bat, with “ghost stuff” labeled next to him. to the left is a green octokitten with purple eyes. below it is another drawing of gerry keay as an anthro bat, with a neutral expression. left is the final gerry keay as an anthro bat. he looks happy and is waving with one wing. there is a small drawing of sollux captor next to his wing. below is a tiny drawing of jon sims being comically, extremely buff. to the right is a small drawing of sasha james wearing a nonbinary flag skirt, labeled “compressed sasha”. to the right is another very small sasha, labeled “small your sash”. throughout the whole canvas are little aqua stars. end ID for canvas 1.

canvas 2: this canvas is much less densely packed, and is comprised of mostly more finished drawings and less sketches. starting from the top left is a doodle of catboy elias’ head, looking smug. below him is a drawing of a character with blonde hair and blue scelera in their eyes. below is a drawing of nastya rasputina, who has a neutral smile on her face. to the right is a colored drawing of a dragon’s head. it is aqua with purple eyes, a pink blush, and blue shading. next to it is a doodle of jon sims, as well as of a small blue planet with green rings. below is a drawing of danny stoker smiling and doing a finger gun, labeled “danny banany” for his yellow shirt. to the right is a doodle of a mushroom person with a yellow and blue cap and a spear, labeled “pax” with a heart. below is a drawing of gerry keay as an anthro bat, with a small smile. he is holding one wing out, showing the way his leather jacket connects between the membrane of his wing. to the right is a doodle of gerry keay, with a neutral expression. beside him are three doodles of an anthro cat- one looks distressed, one looks happy and is blushing, and the third says “i know none of these characters i just like furries and skulls”. beside is a drawing of another anthro cat, and a doodle of a very small octokitten labeled “yall like these right” to which someone has replied “yeah :D”.  to the right is a small doodle of raphaella la cognizi, with a devious kitty face. to the far right is a drawing of nastya rasputina, holding a wrench and smiling. above her is a catgirl nastya, drawn in monochrome pink. she is smiling. above in the same color is a catperson toy soldier, also smiling, labeled “luv them”, a smiley face, and “it” with a heart. to the very top right is a spotted octokitten. down and to the left is a catboy michael distortion. he is smiling with spiral blushes on his cheeks, labeled “@demonicxiconic”. to the left of him is a drawing of a raccoon looking behind it with a golden halo above its head. there is a trans flag doodled between them. above is a colored drawing of gunpowder tim as an anthro coyote. finally, to the left of this, is a full-body drawing of catboy gunpowder tim. he is sitting with a neutral expression, looking upwards. there is a though bubble coming from him, that reads “gay thots”. end ID.

#the mechanisms #the magnus archives #magmastudio #art #idk what else to tag this as. #catboys #sure. #tma #mechanisms

[bugsinthebayou]

also what is the mechanisms. i have no idea what they are yet somehow.

the mechanisms are a steampunk folk storytelling band of immortal space pirates!

they recreate fairytales/mythos/legends, making them 1. in space 2. more sad and 3. more queer

Once Upon A Time (In Space) is their first album of their main storyline albums, and its fairytales. its about Cinders, Rose Red, Snow White, and tells of a war against the brutal and cruel tyrant Old King Cole. there are space lesbians.

Ulysses Dies At Dawn is their second main album, and one of my favorites. this one is greek mythology. it follows along ulysses and the suits. ulysses is referred to with they/them. the concept of this album is really, really fucking cool but i cant summarize it well

High Noon Over Camelot is their third of their mains and one of my favorites. this one is arthurian legend. its like a western. arthur/lancelot/guinevere cowboy polycule. mordred is trans. galahad did nothing wrong. literally every song is a banger (<- he says that about every album)

The Bifrost Incident, the fourth and final of their proper storyline albums. this one is also one of my favorites. its norse myth, and tells of old lady odin building a train (the ratatosk express) to go through the bifrost to cut travel between planets time from three months to three days. unfortunately, the train, with all high-ranking asgardians on it, doesnt come out the other side. lyfrassir edda my beloved. loki and sigyn are space wives.

now for there other albums !

Tales To Be Told Volumes I and II. these are extra songs that takes place in the setting of the last four albums but weren't part of the storyline, are just extra little stories, or are backstories to the mechanisms themselves.

Death To The Mechanisms. the final album, in which they all die.

so yeah! the mechs are super fuckin' cool. they have lore and stories themselves!!! and its!!!! argh!!!!!!! <333

their mechanisms are what makes them immortal !! they commit So much crime

jonny d'ville - captain first mate - he/him - little feral bastard. he has committed every crime in existence except for the sexual ones - i love him so very much - mechanism is his heart

gunpowder tim - master at arms - he/him - he blew up the moon <3333 king <333 - gender. - his mechanism is his eyes

ashes o'reilly - quartermaster - they/them - woowoo arson !!!!! - mechanism: lungs

the toy soldier - we arent sure what it does but its here - it/its - its just like me fr - mechanism. uhh. ig everything but voice box? idk if it counts because it wasnt mechanized by the doc.... like its still a mechanism but does it Have a mechanism

marius von raum - doctor - he/him - his poor kneecaps... - mechanism: right arm

raphaella la cognizi - science officer - she/her - shes so pretty its unreal. would let her do unethical science on me. - mechanism: wings

ivy alexandria - archivist - she/her - shes the reason i cut and died my hair !! she does the least amnt of crime, i think - mechanism: brain

nastya rasputina - engineer - she/her - QUEEN i miss you so much. shes dating the starship they live in. - mechanism: blood

aurora - the starship they live on !! - she/her - beloved i adore her. shes sentient. - mechanism: she is a starship.

drumbot brian - pilot - he/him - BRIANNNN ILYYYY WHY DON'T YOU SING MORE. why did the mechs leave you melting in a sun for 200 years. - mechanism: everything except his heart

aaand yeah! thats all ive got to say for now :]

#oh fuck i am so sorry this was so long #the mechs are one of my special interests and whenever anyone gets me talking abt them i Do Not Shut Up #answered #finnegan!!

[dcnatural]

The Dominoed Daredoll

Word Count: 3656 

Pairing: Arkham Knight!Jason x Reader

Rating: Explicit

Synopsis:  You, the hero Flamebird, thought you would never find love again after your first love, Jason Todd died. In a attempt to rescue Oracle, you run into the mysterious Arkham Knight.

I should’ve waited for Bruce. That was the last coherent thought that crossed your mind before everything went black.

You woke up what could have been minutes or hours later, hands cuffed together behind your back and your ankles tied up preventing you from running. Your head still pounded where you had been hit and you could feel the dried blood that clung to your scalp. 

It all had happened so fast: in one moment you were jumping from building to building following the trail that the Arkham Knight had left behind and in the next he had been upon you. You could only hope that, since you were still alive, maybe there was a chance Barbara also was. She had been your mentor from the moment you entered the world of crime fighting and you couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. You still hadn’t healed from the death of your best friend years ago, you couldn’t lose her too.

And so, you had sprung into action the moment you heard Oracle had been kidnapped, ignoring Bruce’s orders to stay away from the militia. You wouldn’t let anyone take anything from you again; as long as you were breathing, you would protect the ones you loved. But it seemed you wouldn’t be breathing for much longer, unless you could find a way to escape.

The room you were in was completely dark and you couldn’t see anything. The floor and wall behind you were made of cold metal and you assumed they had taken you to an abandoned warehouse. The only sound was that of your own erratic breathing; they had left you alone.

Except you weren’t. You heard the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking and felt the muzzle pressing up to your forehead. Whoever it was, had approached you in complete silence. Not only that, but they had been able to see you, even without any lights. It must be the Knight himself, you guessed.

“Look who finally woke up,” his modulated voice announced, sending chills down your spine. He loomed over you and even though you couldn’t see him, there was something familiar about his presence. Like the two of you had met before. 

“I swear I’ll beat the fuck out of you when I get out,” you hissed in return. Even being at an extreme disadvantage wouldn’t stop you from getting mouthy.

He laughed dryly. “You surely talk a big game for someone who can’t even defend herself.” And as to prove his point, he slammed the sole of his boot against your ribs, causing you to growl in pain. He kicked you again, stronger this time and you felt the air leaving your lungs. You bit your tongue to avoid screaming, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. 

“Fuck you,” you managed to curse as you coughed, blood spurting out of your mouth. “You’ll see. I’ll get Oracle and we’ll defeat you.”

“Keep dreaming, daredoll.”

You flinched, the nickname hitting you harder than any punch could ever have. A wave of nostalgia rolled in as the memories flashed in your mind. 

You and Robin, fighting side by side against Two-Face and his thugs. You and Jason, getting ice cream downtown. You and your best friend, taking out drug dealers. You and your first love, swaying in the gym during a school dance. You alone at his funeral, watching as the empty coffin was lowered into the earth. And echoing through the memories, his voice calling you his daredoll. 

“My dominoed daredoll. The Batgirl for my Robin,” you remember him saying on the first night you donned your cowl, draping his arm around your shoulders and tugging you closer to him as you both watched Dick and Barbara, now in their new mantles of Nightwing and Oracle, kissing in the Batcave. You had blushed, wishing he would kiss you like that.

“Don’t call me that,” you said through gritted teeth. You focused on your breathing, refusing to let yourself cry in front of him.

He snickered. “I think it suits you, don’t you agree?”

You ignored him and tussled against the restraints, desperate to escape. If you could only free your hands, you knew you could disarm him.

“I asked you a question, daredoll .”

You felt a silent tear running down your cheek. There was something about the intonation he said that stupid nickname that was so like Jason. Annoyed by your lack of response, he pressed his feet to your injured ribs, threatening another blow. Finally, you gave in and slowly you shook your head, the gun's barrel sliding down your cheek until the muzzle was caressing your mouth.

“I hate it. It reminds me of someone I once knew.” Another tear fell down your face and your captor crouched in front of you, using his free hand to wipe them away. His touch was cold and harsh, a mockery of what should have been an endearing gesture. This close to him, you could hear his heartbeat and the faint buzzing of the circuits of his suit.

“Why so sad? I thought bats didn’t cry,” he taunted.  

You shook your head again, feeling the cold metal sliding across your lips. “You know nothing about us. About what we have lost.”

He chuckled, amused by your answer. “I know more than you would think.” There was an edge of sadness in his tone, the first emotion he had shown since you woke up. Or perhaps you had only imagined it.

Either way, he couldn’t possibly know what it had felt like after losing Jason. You couldn’t even look at your Batgirl outfit without feeling guilty. Guilty that you were alive and he wasn’t. After Tim came along, it became too much. You didn’t blame him for taking Jason’s mantle, you saw it as a way to honour him, but you simply couldn’t be another Robin’s Batgirl, and so, you abandoned the purple and black suit to adopt a new one. Following the step of your older brother, you moved to Bludhaven and began to call yourself Flamebird. Not only the kryptonian bird was a perfect match for Dick’s Nightwing, but it also symbolized rebirth. Just like a phoenix, you had been reborn. It did nothing to quell the ache in your heart, but at least it was easier than to be constantly reminded of your deceased love.

A new idea seemed to cross his mind and, grabbing you by your chin, he pressed the pistol past your lips. Before you could react, it was already half buried in your throat and you choked on it, struggling to breathe around the large intrusion. 

“Suck it,” he ordered and, not seeing another alternative, you did as you were told. His finger was on the trigger the whole time while you shoved your tongue inside the barrel, the taste of gunpowder and metal coating your tongue.

There was a fire building inside you, not of anger, but of excitement. It was dangerous and thrilling and you wondered how it would feel if, instead of his gun, he had placed his cock in your mouth. You quickly dismissed the thought, he was a criminal, for God’s sake.  When he pulled it out, you couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed.

“Damn,” he exclaimed as he looked at you, drool dripping down your chin and cheeks flushed red. “I wonder if you’ll be as good when sucking my dick.”

His words affected your body in ways you refused to acknowledge, the mere threat of what he would do to you making you squirm. You knew your arousal was building up and really hoped he didn’t notice.

Even in the dark, you felt when he got up and walked away, causing your heartbeat to quicken. You feared what he was going to do, thinking that perhaps he would try to assault Barbara too. Please don’t harm her, you begged mentally. You would take whatever he threw at you, as long as it meant your friend was safe. She needed to survive, she had Dick waiting for her, she had someone to return to. You had no one. Perhaps if he kills me, I’ll see Jason again, death will reunite us for all of eternity, you thought hopefully, recalling the words engraved in his tombstone, a line from one of his favorite poems: “No more let life divide what death can join together.”

You were blinded by brightness when all of the lights lit up simultaneously, your eyes, already accustomed to the darkness, struggling to adjust to the change. The Knight came back and now you could see him properly. He wore an armor with the symbol of Arkham Asylum on the chest and his physique was in top shape, not even the metal protection being able to hide his muscles. On the holster, his pistol still glimmered with the wetness of your mouth. As you analized him, your eyes stopped a second too long on his thighs, your brain already starting to think about how it would feel to straddle one of them.   

The light also allowed you to inspect your surroundings. Like predicted, it was indeed an old warehouse, a rectangular space empty except for the wooden boxes piled up under the mezzanine. You caught sight of your utility belt tossed on top of the boxes. If you could escape the binding on your feet, you could reach it and use one of the many tools it stored to open the cuffs and escape. The only problem would be doing all of that before you got shot. 

“Much better this way,” he said, looking around at the lit up room. “You look much better without the night vision lens.”

He sat on your legs, pinning you down even harder. From a pocket, he pulled a sharp knife, which he ran across the skin of your neck, erupting goosebumps and leaving a faint red line across your skin, blood barely prickling through the cut.

“It would be so easy to kill you right now. No one would miss you. Hell, they likely haven’t even noticed you're gone.” 

You knew he was just trying to get under your skin, but there was some truth to his words: with everything going on, your absence would take a while to be noticed. Especially since you had been doing exactly what Bruce had ordered you not to do. He probably thinks I’m patrolling Bludhaven like he asked.  

The Knight then pressed the blade to your shirt, cutting past the yellow and red kevlar from your suit and exposing your breast to him. He tossed the pieces of fabric aside and cupped your boobs with his gloved hands. You ignored the sensation running through your body as he pinched and twisted your nipples, focusing solely on reaching one of the shredded bits. You took advantage of his assault to wiggle a little, making it seem you were only reacting to his ministrations. When you finally felt the cut material under your fingertips, you began to peel away the many protective layers in search of the metal wires, knowing that you could use those to unlock the handcuffs.

Unfortunately, he soon got bored of your chest and your red skirt became the next victim of his knife, followed closely by your leggings and panties. Your heartbeat quickened at the realization of what he was going to do and you began to work faster on freeing yourself. You closed your eyes in a pathetic hope that, if you couldn’t see it, then it couldn’t be really happening. However, you sprung them open again when you felt a cold object being pressed to your pussy lips. His gun. 

“Please, don’t,” you croaked, eyes tearing up again. “I’ve... I’ve never…”

“Oh, don’t tell me you are a virgin. With such a pretty face, it’s hard to believe that.”

“It’s true. I'm in love with a dead guy,” you said in almost a whisper. After Jason died, you promised yourself to never be with anyone, and so, despite the many admirers who were constantly asking you out, you always declined, knowing they were nothing compared to your deceased beloved.

He seemed surprised at your confession, and he hesitated for a moment. But just as you took a breath of relief, his demeanour went back to what it was before. “Liar. Everybody knows you are a slut for your stupid boyfriend.”

You frowned. “I swear it’s the truth. I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

“Do you think I’m stupid, daredool?” You muttered a ‘no ’. “I’ve seen you and him together. Nightwing and Flamebird. Crime-fighters and lovers.”

You shook your head vehemently. “No, you got it all wrong. He’s my brother, I’m telling you. The boy I loved died years ago. So, please, I beg you, let me have this last symbol of loyalty to him. Don’t touch me where he never had the chance to.”

You wished he wasn’t wearing a helmet so you could have seen his expression as he pulled away the gun. You didn’t understand why he cared about this detail, but mentioning Jason seemed to have affected the Arkham Knight in one way or another. Perhaps this could buy you enough time to escape.

“Tell me more about this boy,” he demanded.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

You had to suppress a cheer as you finally pulled free a wire from the discarded armor. “Okay. His name was Jason. We were the same age,” you began, thinking carefully of what you could say without giving away your secret identity. “We were adopted by Batman at the same time. He trained to become Robin and I, Batgirl. Jason was smart, handsome, strong and passionate. I was in love with him for the whole time, but he only saw me as a friend. And then he died.”

“How did he die?”

By that point, you were crying freely. “The Joker… the Joker killed him.”

“If you loved him so much, why didn’t you avenge him?”

You didn’t know what to reply. The truth was that you had wanted to do just that, a life for a life. But Bruce always stopped you, saying you wouldn’t have been able to live with the guilt. “I couldn’t. Batman didn’t let me. But I should’ve. At least the Joker is dead now.”

You had opened up thinking that he would change his mind, but that hope was crushed as he spread your lips open and pressed the muzzle to your entrance. “If your Jason hadn’t died, would you have allowed him to do this to you?” he asked, a hint of playfulness in his voice, as if it was a private joke only he understood.

“Yes,” you told him, not missing a beat. “If he was alive, I’d let him do anything.”

“And if I offered you a deal... You cum for me once and I’ll return him to life. Would you take it?”

“Yes. But you can’t bring him back. He exploded, not even Ra’s Al Ghul with his Lazarus pit could bring Jason back.”

“Just remember that you consented to it,” he gave as a last warning before shoving the gun into you. It slid in easily, the path well lubricated by your arousal. Still, it hurt. The barrel was wide and it felt like it was splitting you apart. The metal was cold and it was a sharp contrast to your own warmth. You wanted to shout to the Knight that you hadn’t consented to anything but you couldn't find your voice.

And then he began to move in and out of you. The pain melted into pleasure and your hips rocked automatically to meet his rhythm. His thumb circled your clit in ways that made your whole body shake with passion. Moans left your throat against your will and you knew he was smiling behind his mask. His pace quickened and you felt your orgasm building up.

You climaxed with an explosive scream, its sound covering the noise of the metal handcuffs hitting the ground. You were unable to move, your limbs were heavy and your vision blurred. Besides, in that very moment, you had no wish to leave.

The Knight holstered his gun and brought his hands to his helmet, slowly removing it. At first, you thought you were imagining things. But there was no denying it was him. You would recognize those blue eyes anywhere.

“Jay,” you yelled in joy, jolting up to throw your arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug, the context of your reencounter completely erased by the sight of him. Your hands roamed his face, assuring you he was real.

“That’s me, daredoll.” Without the modulator, his voice was exactly the same as it had been when you had last seen him and you were flooded by a mixture of emotions. 

New tears began to fall from your eyes, this time out of happiness. They were mirrored by his own as he reassured you time and time again that it was really him. He placed soft kisses all over your face and whispered secrets only he could possibly know. When your mouths finally met, it was everything you had ever dreamed of and more. You were lost in pure bliss. When you finally broke away you had a giant smile plastered onto your face. It was like all your dreams had come true.

He looked older, of course, but other than that, it was the same face from before: from the disheveled dark hair to the crooked smile. Then your gaze fell to his left cheek, where a “J” shaped scar marked his otherwise perfect skin. Your eyes widened in shock, and his smile faltered, a dark shadow crossing his face.

Your hand raised upwards to touch the scar and he turned away. “What happened to you?”, you asked quietly. The euphoria of finding him alive had run out and the situation once more hung heavy above you. And by hugging him, you had thrown away the chance of catching him by surprise, as he now knew you had freed your hands. Stop, you told yourself, he’s not the enemy anymore. There must be an explanation to it all. He would never intentionally hurt any of us. We are family. 

“The Joker happened,” he stated simply. “He didn’t kill me, no. He kept me prisoner at Arkham this whole time. And none of you came looking for me.” There was anger in his voice, but also disappointment.

“That’s not true. Bruce tried to-”

“I DON’T CARE!” he shouted and stood up, his helmet tucked under his arm. “He tortured me, daredoll. The Joker did things so awful I can’t even put it into words. And no one stopped him. No one. Not you, not Bruce. Bruce. Bruce fucking Wayne. You know this is all his fault right? If he had gone to a fucking terapist instead of dressing up like a bat our lives wouldn’t be this messed up. I’m just trying to fix what he ruined.”

He began to walk away, his heavy steps echoing in the metal walls. He did have a point. If it wasn’t for Batman, there would be no Joker. Besides, who in their right mind would train children to fight? You had once thought that being chosen to be Batgirl was the highest honour possible, but right now, you felt like you had been manipulated to take on a duty that wasn’t yours.

You untied your legs and followed after him, grabbing his arm just before he could open the door. “Where are you going?”

“Away. I need some air,” he ran his finger through his hair, “I need to think. I-”

You shut him up with a tender kiss. “Don’t leave me. Not again,” you pleaded.

“You were the one who left me.”

His words shattered your heart. It hurt that he thought of it in that away. He’s not wrong, though. I should’ve done something. I shouldn’t have sat back and listened to Bruce.

“So tell me how to make it right. Please, Jay. I just want you. I don’t care if you are trying to kill Batman or to destroy the city, I wanna be with you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Let me show you.” Your voice broke as you spoke, words being cut in half by your sobbing. You didn’t know when you had started crying again, but now you couldn’t stop. “Whatever you are doing, you can count on me.”

You could see the doubt in his eyes. “You would turn your back to the only family you ever had?”

“ You are my family. Besides, I told you. For you, I’d do anything.”

He pulled you into his arms, hugging you tightly, and placed a kiss on your forehead, like he used to do when you were kids. “I love you, daredoll.”

“I love you too, Jaybird.”

And with that, he escorted your out of the warehouse, careful to cover your exposed body with his on the way to the car. An hour later you stood in his headquarters dressed in an outfit matching his. He didn't admit to it, but the fact that he had an armor waiting for you proved that he had never given up hope that you still loved him. 

Outside, a mass of soldiers waited in a semicircle, a fire lit in the middle of it. Your former uniform burned to ashes and fed the flames, which went high into the night sky.

“I introduce to you my partner, and your new captain,” Jason announced as you walked to his side. “Lady Arkham.”

Holding his hand, you raised your first to the sky. You glanced at him out of the corners of your eyes, still kind of wonderstruck on how it had all worked out. “Let’s make this city pay for tearing us apart.”

#jason todd #dc imagine #red hood x reader #red hood imagine #jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #jason todd x you #reader #dc #Smut

[octalove]

IV: The Dinner

(Batgirl/Red Hood)

Brief note; per demand, this little trilogy will now be an ongoing series🥺thank u all for the support! i was not expecting it at all. ur comments make my day!! i hope u enjoy this chapter bearing in mind that i wasn’t intending on a full length fic, so i hope u can put up with any missteps in the plot or writing. i’m making it up as i go. kiss kiss

Description: Reader makes an ally, and attends a tense dinner. part one, two, and three.

A mild blue dawn was just beginning to flit through the blinds, and I sighed heavily, stretching a little, and running a hand across my face. My skin was cold to the touch. Rolling over stiffly, I glanced at the clock on my nightstand.

5:26a.m.

Nineteen minutes before my alarm. I was too cold to go back to sleep, I knew, as much as Alfred had requested I try and get more of it. Pulling myself up, the sheets slipped off my bare shoulders and folded onto themselves. Once in a blue moon, I would forego making it up again, usually accompanied by an excuse. Today, I didn’t have one. I put my feet on the floor, mind buzzing.

I was done tossing and turning, and decided to get up and shower. Afterward, I threw on my uniform, and got to work on my face. A little bronzy eyeshadow, some mascara and lip balm. I could’ve turned my face into a work of art, but I was tired from my sleepless night and doing much else seemed like a strain.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in.” I was expecting Bruce or Alfred, but I caught Tim’s reflection in my vanity mirror.

“Hey.” He said.

“Good morning.” I replied tensely. He sat on my bed. Okay. Weird. Tim was a year younger than me- but always ordained himself something of an older brother. His brainpower made learned helplessness and easy state to slip into when he was around- always fixing my PS4, or recovering lost files from my laptop. When we first met, I used to use those things as a crutch to interact with him, as neither of us were particularly forthcoming. These days, we were as close as any pair of siblings.

“What’s up?” I asked, tucking away my mascara wand.

“Oh, I just thought I’d… check up on you. Before school started.”

I was the only one of the Waynes attending Gotham Academy at the moment. Damian was still at Gotham Prep, but by the time he would attend next year, I’d be graduated. I wondered if Tim ever missed it. He garnered his fair share of attention; mostly because of his attractive status and predisposition of agreeability. Before he dropped out, I used the be the subject of mediation for every eligible teenage girl that wanted to get to know my brother- no, the other one. With the soft hair. The chem tutor.

I laughed a little. “Do I seem like I need it?” Tim shrugged. I got up and plopped on the duvet beside him. My window was open a crack, filling the room with a chilly breeze and the scent of moisture and petrichor.

“Did Bruce make you get up for this?” I tried again, keeping my playful tone. He sighed and shook his head.

“Bruce isn’t the only one who’s noticed you lately.” He said, with contrasting seriousness that made my smile fall.

“What’s there to notice? Seriously.” I questioned.

He sighed again and twisted his lip. I knew what that meant. He was about to list everything different I’d been doing for the past three weeks, either alphabetically or by severity. “You look tired. You get home and go straight to your room. You keep fidgeting during briefings. You look distracted. You’re avoiding Damian- which, I get it- but like, more than usual. Dick said you haven’t texted him all week. You usually have something to say about your day at dinner, but-“

“Okay. I get it.”

A brief moment passed, where I watched him pull a looser string from the duvet.

“I know you went somewhere. On the 21st, when we were patrolling in Otisburg. You went somewhere for forty-two minutes.”

I blinked. “Oh.”

“I’m not accusing you of anything-“ He added quickly, looking at me. “Really, I have know idea why you left. I’m sure it was nothing, I just… you’ve been acting weird ever since. Where did you go?”

I swallowed, and my intestines felt like lead. Really, I was relieved. Here I was, in my room I’d decorated with Wayne money, with my brother who evidently cared enough about me to notice my typical word count at dinner, asking me what was wrong. And a lot was wrong.

So, I smoothed my plaid skirt and told him about the night of the 21st- and only that. From Red Hood, to Hoffman, to the warehouse. Every vivid detail I could remember. I decided to leave out my little truancy adventure, along with meeting him in the alley. Lifting up his mask. Having his exposed skin close enough to touch. His gunpowder smell. By the end, Tim was frowning. The following silence could’ve crushed a coke can.

“Shit.” He muttered.

“Yeah.” I echoed. “Shit.”

He didn’t asked why I didn’t tell Bruce. Or Anyone. He didn’t ask why it was so important to me to do this by myself. All he did was take in the information and start putting it together.

“Jesus- you could’ve died. But all that Hoffman stuff. Why you?”

“Exactly!” I breathed.

Another knock on the door, and Alfred’s voice carried through, telling me it was time to go. I got up. Tim nodded and followed suit, no doubt carrying my every last recounting in his piggy-bank memory.

“Please don’t tell Bruce.” I said, some amount of fear slipping into my voice. “I know it was a stupid thing to do and it was stupid not to tell anyone. But he’ll never trust me again.” Tim hesitated at the door.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

I climbed into the backseat of the car, and stared at the cityscape running past the windows. The anxiety had lifted. One of my growing number of secrets revealed. In its wake, the sudden absence left a sense of clarity. I remembered why I had kept it to begin with.

Dick was gifted. The first. The talented boy who could fly. Babs and Tim were brilliant; genius far beyond the confines of academia. Damian was skilled. Trained from birth, the blood son. It nestled here him neatly, right where he belonged. What was I? I wasn’t born with athletic ability beyond my years, or genius intellect. Without that information- without my secrets- I had nothing else to give.

*

Thursday night was dinner. The whole family. It was Bruce’s excuse to drag Dick out of his apartment in Blüdhaven, and for Alfred to exercise a new recipe, since everyone was on a strict lean-means and superfoods regimen every other waking day. Babs attended occasionally, when work didn’t keep her busy, and Tim was only allowed to pass if he promised to rest instead.

I met his eyes as everyone was rounded into the dining room by Alfred like a herd of sheep; he gave me some imperceptible knowing look that promised to keep my secret.

We sat down and sipped water from crystal glasses as the table was set with food, muttering amongst ourselves about our days. Dick was given a coffee with the wrong name (‘Nick’), Babs met up with her friend from high school (Olivia something or other), and Damian completed a group project with some incompetent classmates (they all were- even the professors). Vigilante talk wasn’t forbidden, but generally skirted around so as to offer a small reprieve of normalcy during the week.

There was an exception to this unspoken rule when there was a particularly exciting case on the table. Unfortunately for me and my anxiety, the case of the Red Hood was a very exciting one.

“Any new breaks with Red Hood?” Dick asked through miso soup. Bruce sighed.

“He made some movements in Robbinsville. Gone before we could get there. He’s got his men on a tight leash- we couldn’t get any of them to talk.”

“Course not. There’s rumors flying all over the department. One of the Ioveanu family branches payed out a huge security detail for their private mansion.”

“He hasn’t hunted anyone in their home, has he?” I asked. I pictured him standing in front of me- maskless, in my academy uniform.

“No, it’s not his MO.” Barbara answered.

“Not yet. It’s only been six months, and he’s progressing rapidly.” Bruce diagnosed grimly.

“Are you scared he’s gonna join us for dinner?” Dick joked, throwing a wink my way.

“Haha.” I muttered. Actually, I hadn’t slept because of the very idea.

“If you’re nervous, you could always stay home next patrol.” Damian suggested pointedly. To him, existing in the realm of crimefighting was a competition, and he was always looking for others to drop out of the race. I resisted the urge to fling a pea at him.

“I’m not nervous.” I said coolly.

“You’ve been practically trembling since we fought his pathetic lackeys.”

“Damian.” Bruce warned, from the head of the table. I flipped the smallest Wayne the middle finger. He resigned, but I swore I saw amusement on his lips.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Red Hood is very skilled and very prolific. It’s a daunting case.” Bruce continued.

“Thanks, but I’m okay. Really.” I said, trying not to sound annoyed, and feeling like a spotlight was over my head, operated by the ghost of Hoffman. I almost laughed as I pictured it.

“That’s good to hear. We’ve been concerned.” Alfred added.

“Wow. I’m the star of the show around here.” I remarked dryly.

“We can’t help it, Miss Independent.” Dick said teasingly. “You’re just a good mystery.”

“Reminds me of Talia.” Tim said casually. The silverware stopped clanging.

It was a shameless subject change. Damian’s mother was an inflammatory topic for all parties. Bruce’s moral contempt didn’t reach the likes of Talia Al Ghul and Selena Kyle, immoral though they were. Beauty makes anything charming- and when paired with an impeccable taste in dress, even murder and thievery can be minimized into something of a quirk. Bruce thought so, anyway.

As for Damian, he had grappled with his dismissal from Talia’s side for what was now a majority of his life, and still possessed this deep-rooted, inextinguishable attachment to his mother. It was the hollow soreness any young boy would have in his position. Tim called him mama’s boy until he finally displayed a frightening amount of disdain for the title and actually begged him to stop. Tim agreed to, and I agreed to pretend I never heard a thing.

Dick disagreed with both of those sentiments and viewed Talia as someone who wasn’t worth the trouble. His dismissal embarrassed Bruce and offended Damian, so I knew the dinner table had been sufficiently turned into a powder keg. Tim and I shared a look as I expressed silent gratefulness, and he resigned to inspecting a dumpling, while I picked around my haka noodles.

The rest of dinner was quiet. Somehow, somewhere in the silence all had been decidedly forgiven. First by Babs who asked me to pass the pepper. Then by Dick who said the vegetables were good. Thank you, Alfred. Damian still looked pissed, and Bruce kept stealing glances at the clock.

I texted Tim under the table.

Thanks for taking one for the team.

The reply: You owe me one. I think Damian’s gonna poison my food.

We both glanced at the youngest, who was darkly mesmerized by what appeared to be Tim’s soup bowl.

He quickly added, Wait, actually tho? And we both fought laughter like two kids in the back of the class. It felt good to have an ally. Even if he still didn’t know the whole truth.

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