#forth character could be cass maybe | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silentcrowsilentravens · 2 years

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Heya Raven! If you're still doing requests I'd love to see the the resident evil ladies (and maybe magnet man) with a fem!S/O who's basically Himiko Toga from My Hero Academia? Like drinking blood and becoming someone else and if they have powers being able to use them... I had a hell of a night last night. Power was out, no sleep, huge storm, sirens everywhere... I'd appreciate the comfort if that's ok

Hope everything's okay where you are. <3

I'm assuming you're talking about the RE 8 ladies, but if not, feel free to drop another message in my inbox. Cut Mia from this one since my character limit is 8, and she's technically a RE 7 lady anyway. Sorry, Mia.

Daniela Dimitrescu, Cassandra Dimitrescu, Mother Miranda, Bela Dimitrescu, Alcina Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, Elena Lupu, and Karl Heisenberg with a s/o who takes the appearance and powers of others after drinking their blood.

(Fem reader).

Warnings: blood, mentions of violence.

Masterlists here!

Daniela Dimitrescu

So... If Daniela grabs a bottle of vintage and you drink a glass, you'll turn into the maiden whose blood was used to make it, right?

That's so cool!

The things the two of you could get up to together... The chaos!

What would happen if you drank the blood of multiple people mixed together? Will you only turn into one? Will you turn into one, then another? Will you become an amalgamation of them? Do you want to test it?

...Do you want to drink Daniela’s blood? Wouldn’t it be romantic if you both drank each other’s blood?!

(Everyone in the castle dreads days when there appears to be two Daniela Dimitrescus running around).

(You can’t help it if being able to dissolve into insects is a fun time). (And Daniela can’t help it if her energy level is always cranked up to eleven).

Cassandra Dimitrescu

Ooh, Cassandra's never been with a woman that drinks blood. She’s fairly excited when you tell her.

I feel as though Cass isn’t usually into the idea of her partner drinking her blood, but if it’s you...? Go ahead.

Occasionally, she’ll try to bribe you to turn into a particular person because wants to screw with someone.

The two of you do this thing where you borrow somebody else’s face and Cass tries to track you down.

She gives you one of her knives. That way you always have a way to spill blood. : )

She won’t lie, there’s something particularly attractive about you when your face and clothes are smeared with red.

Mother Miranda

Miranda deduced what your whole schtick is before you even told her, piecing together subtle accidental hints you dropped here and there.

Also, one time, she literally walked in on you downing one of the blood units she keeps in her lab.

You turned around, having taken on the appearance of a villager that’s now deceased. Your eyes are wide with surprise, explanations about to spill forth.

But Miranda simply greeted you with a “hello, dear”, an unamused look, and directed you to a different drawer, filled with units closer to expiring. You can dip into those. Hands off the fresher stuff.

As a woman of science, Miranda is mildly fascinated by your ability. She’s going to ask you loads of questions.

Would you allow her to run a few tests on you?

Bela Dimitrescu

As expected, Bela is delighted to hear about your love of blood.

She asks a decent amount of questions about your power. She thinks it's interesting, and she wants to fully understand!

Unlike her sisters, Bela doesn't encourage you to cause loads of trouble with your power.

...For the most part, that is. Hunts can be so much more fun when you're added to the mix!

Alcina Dimitrescu

Ah, another woman with a palate similar to Alcina’s.

It never stops catching her slightly off guard when you steal a sip of her wine, and she turns back around to find someone else in the spot you were once occupying.

Your power never fools her, though. She always knows when it’s you.

Donna Beneviento

When you tell Donna, she seems entirely unfazed by the information.

(A part of her is jealous of your ability to change your appearance, to be honest).

She thanks you for trusting her with the knowledge, asks a few questions, and that’s mostly it.

No, wait. Donna asks one thing of you. If you’re going to approach her while wearing someone else’s face, please tell her that it’s you. She doesn’t want to assume and end up being wrong. That'd be mortifying!

Angie is endlessly entertained and interested in your shapeshifting antics.

Elena Lupu

You don’t tell Elena until after the two of you have been dating for a while.

You were planning on telling her sooner, but when you saw how she got when the Lords came up in discussion? Specifically Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters? ...You couldn’t do it. You didn’t want to scare her off.

Elena won't lie, it does freak her out a little bit at first. The blood-drinking part, that is.

The whole thing takes her some getting used to.

One day, she cuts herself while cooking and decides to let you try her blood.

Seeing herself standing in front of her is certainly a bizarre experience for Elena. Especially when the second her stands like you, talks like you, and looks at her the way you do. She isn’t sure how to feel.

Karl Heisenberg

When he first met you, Karl thought he was gonna have to essentially deal with another Dimitrescu.

But he ends up finding himself fond of you. Very, very fond.

Although you aren’t a vampire, Karl does manage to find plenty of vampire-esque nicknames for you.

He builds you a lil’ something to make the whole blood extracting/drinking process quicker.

#x reader #resident evil x reader #daniela dimitrescu x reader #cassandra dimitrescu x reader #bela dimitrescu x reader #alcina dimitrescu x reader #donna beneviento x reader #mother miranda x reader #elena lupu x reader #karl heisenberg x reader #fem reader #daniela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu #donna beneviento #mother miranda #karl heisenberg #elena lupu

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zahri-melitor · 7 months

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1 and 18 for the 20 questions to hate?

1. You have to make one Robin (Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Damian) not exist permanently and never have existed. Choose which.

Look I've gamed this out before (publicly even) and it's Steph. Steph is the only one of the five I can easily remove from the timeline without disturbing things too much or knock on effects I'm concerned about.

Dick is fundamental. You remove Dick and Bat comics look unrecognisably different. DC comics look unrecognisably different. Superhero comics looks unrecognisably different. Plus I love Dick so much. No Dick is a timeline divergence in 1940 that I don't think anyone can envisage the entire shape of.

Jason? Jason's death is the third most important thing ever to happen to Bat comics storytelling (the first is the death of the Waynes, the second is the death of the Graysons at Haly's Circus). It's a fixed point in the narrative that all storytelling revolves around. No single other event in Bat comics outside of the two origin stories listed above has had so many knock on effects. Prior to Jason's death, Bruce's entire story was about the loss of his parents. After Jason's death, it is also the story of losing a child, and how that changes you. It's heartbreaking to me that, for Bruce, the trolley question of "would I save my parents or my child" is both everpresent there and also in most incarnations, is answered "my parents". (Bruce's kids all believe he would answer "parents").

Tim I can't give up for two reasons: one because he's my boy, but secondly and more importantly, because part of my deep love for Bat comics is about the wide network of characters who revolve around Gotham and Bruce. It's about my love of the Bat family. And these are concepts that did not exist in the way you think they do, which were not developed properly, until Tim walked in and became the Team Up Robin. If you love the Bats as anything more than Batman & Robin (and maybe Batgirl, maybe occasional forays of Selina and/or Talia and/or Nocturna to helping out B&R), you need a Tim shaped character to pull that together.

Damian is the other one I go back and forth on removing, but I think at this point he's tied into enough storytelling that ripping him out as the most recent still does a lot of storytelling damage, plus there's the situation that Damian does allow for a different style of storytelling with Bruce that is different to what Dick and Tim brought.

The benefits of removing Steph is that, despite everything she brings to DC, as a supporting character for almost all comics she has ever appeared in, the only things you really need to rearrange are the precipitating incident of War Games (which actually interestingly could be transferred over to a lead in to Jason's return if you tried; also I suspect they would have killed Holly Robinson instead), and the Batgirl 2009 run (which would either go to Cass or to Babs, heroically I am assuming Cass would get it for my own sanity but we might have been cursed by Babsgirl two years earlier). She's actually not a participant in many wider events; her appearances are usually character work in lighter issues. Pretty much all of her plot relevance or character beats could be absorbed by another character and her loss wouldn't be noticed. Deleting Steph doesn't fundamentally alter the shape of the Bat comics like any of the other four do.

18. Best supergirl.

I have read at least a few appearances of all the major Supergirl candidates at this point, I believe. I think my favourite so far in what I've read honestly has to be Kara Zor-El, a child of Krypton, sorry to everyone else. I particularly enjoyed the storytelling of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow in terms of the frame of what a Supergirl character could be. I enjoy the loss that exists at the centre of Kara as a character - she's one of the last survivors of Krypton who understands the loss felt. Clark is the story of an immigrant raised in a new culture, never able to quite understand where he came from. Kara, on the other hand, understands the loss of her home. It's an important difference in their characters.

#dc ask meme

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roobylavender · 1 year

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Honestly Jason and Tim convo always remind me why i want to claw off dc. The different treatment the two of them received from dc make me mad lol. The possibility of dc making Jason and Tim dynamic interesting is close to none with how often they resent Jason and give Tim a main character moment for their own power fantasy

it's incredibly frustrating and the thing is even beyond the issues with how jason is treated and the classism involved in that i fail to see how it helps tim as a character in any way. like that's the most infuriating thing to me about tim fanon really is that i don't even think the people who perpetuate it like tim as a person. they're not ready to contend with the fact that however well meaning tim was about stepping into robin's shoes he was incredibly naive about what that actually entailed and to a degree even arrogant as to the change he could effect simply by ensuring batman and robin continued to exist. fanon treats him like a child but in all of the wrong ways bc instead of focusing on his naivete and inexperience wrt violence and how that in turn might imply this is maybe not something worth risking his whole life and childhood for, you get people stopping short in their analysis and fixating merely on the fact of how "he doesn't deserve this". like the point is that no one deserves this! none of them do. but dick has been raised in this world for too long to extricate it of his own identity; jason's death has rendered him irrevocably tied to the failures of the work; cass's trauma and upbringing have given definition to her defiance of base violence by way of the symbol; and so on and so forth. and i think tim fans are simply unprepared to acknowledge that (at least pre jack/kon/steph deaths) he doesn't have anything like that. there is nothing tying him to the work but his own idealism of it and i think that is precisely why the above characters were killed bc as one of dc's most popular figures at the time they couldn't afford to admit that there was nothing tying him to vigilantism other than his own stubbornness and belief that if he stopped the machine of it all would fall apart. i truly believe at his best tim could have been a character who signified that good intentions while appreciated are not enough to sustain a commitment that takes over your life wholesale and that while it can sting to be faced with your own privilege it is also a blessing in disguise bc he doesn't have to do this. at all. he can live a normal life and be a child and grow up and not have to worry about the world falling apart if he's not in a mask bc it is what any normal child deserves. fanon tim advocates are obsessed with infantilizing him bc they think it's a failing to acknowledge that he shouldn't have to be a hero and he has a way to get out. they don't want to acknowledge his privilege bc they don't want retirement to even be a possibility

#outbox #this is probably the most i have spoken on tim in months but i genuinely have. SO much to say about this #i am truly a tim retire advocate until i die like he SHOULD NOT be here and if you tell a tim fan that they will take it as an insult #and it's literally like NO like other than dick and cass i think if any member of the bats knew they could retire a #and the world wouldn't subsequently fall apart they would. they do it bc they care and bc they have a duty but it is nonetheless #a huge and painful burden and tim can ESCAPE. he can literally get out and he should #and his fans don't even want him to they would rather he drown in misery so he can stake his rightful claim or whatever

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cass-evans · 1 year

Text

intro / cass evans

//// BASICS

full name: cassian evans (he never uses his full first name, despises it and probably won't tell you it)

d.o.b: december 19, 1999 (currently 23)

zodiac: sagittarius sun, gemini rising, scorpio moon

p.o.b: sheffield, england

nationality: american and british

species: werewolf

occupation: mechanic, bolt's

faceclaim: elijah hewson

//// PERSONALITY

positive / witty, loyal, imaginative

negative / philophobic, defensive, hot tempered, callous

descript: cass is an actor. one who is very, very good at portraying one specific character, but he’s been doing it for so long that he can’t quite tell where the character ends and where he begins. the character in this instance is the cass evans most people in opulence know and despise. cass has created a narrative for himself where he’s the bad guy, and he finds increasingly more excessive ways to display this narrative. cass is fuelled in this by his own entertainment. what does he gain from each interaction? he has no interest in being liked, no interest in genuine social connections, all he’s doing when he socialises is scouting out ways to entertain himself, whether it’s through casual sex or more often through manipulation, making people think he’s their friend so he can use it against them, through teasing people, low blows, hitting them right where they’re the weakest. because he’s good at delivering verbal punches and making them sound amusing, he’s witty, and he doesn’t give enough of a fuck about his own safety to mind any consequences.

partially, this character is in place for cass’s own self preservation. part of him believes, deep down, that if he keeps pushing people away and never lets anyone in and covers himself with a thick layer of sarcasm and bullying, he’ll never be hurt again. and then maybe a little bit of him wants other people to be hurting as much as he is inside. because truthfully, underneath it all, cass is wracked with guilt and constantly blaming himself for so much of his mother’s problems and his own abandonment that he can’t quite keep it all inside and needs to throw it onto the world around him. he doesn’t allow himself to have connections, because he doesn’t think he is deserving of them. he has never quite felt understood by another person, and he never thinks he will.

//// BIOGRAPHY

descript:

t/ws: drugs, neglect, death, abandonment cass was born in england, the only son of a single mother and absent father. his early childhood was pretty much defined by his mother’s immaturity and various addictions - she was a teenager when she gave birth to him, and an alcoholic, although by the time cass was five she had graduated to heroin. as a result, he was shuffled back and forth between the care system and family home, eventually being permanently removed from her care at the age of ten. since cass’s birth father was not known, he ended up in the first of a series of foster homes - unfortunately, since he has a misguided amount of adoration and idolisation for his mother, none of these lasted long as cass began to raise hell and act out in an attempt to force them to send him back to his mother.

after being passed back and forth for a few years, much to cass’s dismay he ended up in the care of his now adopted parents, with no amount of acting out seemingly enabling him get rid of them the way he had so many others in the past. they seemed (the audacity) to actually want him around and want to give him a chance at life, formally adopting him despite his displeasure at it and moving the family to his adopted mother’s birthplace of new york when cass was sixteen to give him a “fresh start.” and at first, even if he didn’t want it to, it seemed to work. and for once, he started to allow himself to feel attached to them, like he could finally settle down.

except that didn’t end up lasting long, either. in his senior year of high school, cass fell hard and fast for a girl. so hard and fast that it didn’t even cross his mind that she seemed off, vanishing every month, or that there were certain red flags surrounding her that his eyes just couldn’t pick up on. the night of his eighteenth birthday was a full moon, and all he wanted was to ask her out. so he followed her into the woods, intending to be a romantic. when he got bitten by what he presumed was a wild animal and showed up in the emergency room for a rabies shot, he presumed it was just going to be an amusing anecdote to tell her when he saw her again. he didn’t know that everything in his life was about to change. when he saw her again and went on about his bravery and how he’d injured himself in her pursuit, she told him if he had any sense he’d get the fuck out and run away, that opulence would be a better place for him and that she was sorry. he chalked it up to her being crazy and went back to his everyday life, until the next month.

his first time changing into a wolf happened, of all times, in the middle of his adopted parents wedding anniversary dinner party, at a restaurant outside. and if he’d thought he wanted them to leave, the moment they actually looked at him in fear and told him to get the fuck out, he realised he was wrong. but by that point, he was too late, and all he could do was pick up a few of his things and run away, keeping in mind what his crush had told him a month prior. he was stuck in a country which wasn’t his, with no idea what to do, no friends to call, and the only thing he could think to do was show up at opulence with his minimal savings and put his teenage hobby of carjacking to use in a more wholesome way. having been abandoned by everyone else in his life, he grew to value the pack he joined beyond anything else - but he never quite learned to let anyone else in.

//// MISCELLANEOUS

so for plot purposes he's been living in opulence for just over five years now, but he recently up and left without any warning for a month so if your chara knew him they probs thought (hoped) he was gone for good.

very loyal to the pack. wants to fight anyone who disses a member of the pack. has to be held back bc he definitely can't win said fight but wants to try regardless. yappy chihuahua energy.

absolutely despises his birth name and the only reason he hasn't changed it is for his birth mother's sake. but if you ask him what cass is short for he won't tell you. guess.

90s britpop aficionado

vape lord

i hate him

(ok continuing now)

likes to attempt poor graffiti on public buildings and will definitely eventually be caught

thinks he's the coolest ever (is not)

thinks he could take the entire population of opulence in a fight (could not)

is willing to put that theory to the test (is an idiot)

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deadletterpoets · 2 years

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I’m sorry but that last ask sounded really aggressive and a stretch. The Gotham Knights game only happen recently and even that has been rightfully called out. The other media isn’t even as big as well. It feels like they are trying to absolve the Nightwing comic of any blame.

Maybe, but frankly I talked about all of this a lot yesterday so I just wasn't in the mood to give a full response to that ask. I don't keep up with sales numbers for non main canon books and we've all been saying how outside media tends to only push Babsgirl despite Cass/Steph needed to be seen as Batgirls more in adaptations. So frankly if Nightwing, one of the most popular main canon DC books, was using BabsOracle proper seeing as she's a major support character in that book, hopefully, other books that use Babs would follow suit. But the back and forth of Babsgirl and Oracle makes it writers/editors choice which is half assing all the way. Now outside media still takes years to catch up, but it could bring in a wave of modern BabsOracle fans that then ask for her more in outside media which then might make more adaptations look to other girls to fill the Batgirl role (assuming they want that. As we know it's also possible just nobody is Batgirl if Babs isn't Batgirl and we still just get OrphanCass and SpoilerSteph anyway. Which some ppl will see as a win since that means they showed up, but ...idk)

#barbara gordon #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #batgirl #oracle #dc #dc comics #nightwing

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nukaberries · 2 years

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Hi again! Thanks for the reply I really loved it! Expect to hear from me more cause I’m really into new Vegas! Could you do the companions + yes man and Benny reaction to Six having incredibly good hearing. Like can hear a dog whistle kind of good (bonus points if six is the “you talking shit” kind of person) thanks!!

Hey!! Don't worry, I adore New Vegas so it's always an honour to write for it!! This is such a fun idea and you know for sure that Six is gonna be like that! Whenever I write about Six/Sole/Lone etc. I always do it with my own characters in mind and my Six is DEFINITELY that kind of person LMAO

New Vegas Characters React to the Courier Having Incredibly Good Hearing

(Includes: Arcade, Boone, Cass, Lily, Raul, Veronica, Yes Man and Benny)

Arcade

When you first bring up your hearing to Arcade, he assumes you're joking. There's no way anyone can hear that well, he's sure of it. You prove him wrong soon enough, and he finds himself grumbling an apology for doubting you. He doesn't think much of it at first, just being sure not to mutter any complaints about you under his breath - you'd already caught him the last time he did that and threatened to sic ED-E on him. It's only when you're scouting out a location for Legionaries that he actually realises just how helpful your hearing can actually be. After battling it out and winning against a group of them, it seemed as though the area had been cleared out, with Arcade completely unaware of the Legionary that had survived sneaking up behind him in an attempt to slit his throat. It was only for the fact that you'd heard his quiet breathing and were able to turn around and shoot him before he could take out your companion that Arcade even survived. He found himself swallowing his pride and thanking you and your peculiarly incredible hearing.

Boone

Upon first joining up with you, Boone doesn't pay all that much attention to you or anything you have to say, truth be told. He doesn't want to get attached, after what happened to Carla and his child, assuming that this arrangement will also end in a death, whether that be yours or his own. It takes him a while to notice your hearing being far superior to his own, but when he does, he instantly points it out. By this point, he knows enough about you to expect you to take offense, assuming he's making fun of you for it, but you're more surprised when he points out it could be a useful skill to have. As the two of you travel together more and begin to fight better as a team, he often makes sure your hearing is used to your advantage, having you listen out for nearby targets that he can't see from the blind spots in his scope - something that saves his ass more times than he'd care to admit. You'd never considered your hearing to hold much value, yet now Boone makes you feel as though it's something to give you both the upper hand in combat.

Cass

At first, Cass doesn't really understand what's so interesting about your hearing, she's more annoyed when you complain about how she breathes too loud or how she's practically deafening when she's drunk. It'll likely become something the two of you argue about a lot, you'll tell her to be quieter when she eats and she'll tell you to "Shut you ears". It's nothing serious, just back and forth bickering between the two of you and you exclaiming that you heard her whisper how you're a moron. While Cass likes to voice her frustration about your particularly annoying talent a lot, she does find it pretty cool when she needs you to listen into whatever the Van Graffs are saying about her. She figures, eventually, that maybe it's got its perks too.

Lily

Quite early on in your travels with the Nightkin, Lily starts to notice quickly how sensitive your ears seem to be to loud noises - whether it be gunshots or even just someone speaking to you fairly loudly. Lily eventually asks you about it, not wanting to seem rude or hurt your feelings, but wanting to help you if you needed it. Ever the caring grandmother, once you explain to Lily that your hearing is extremely above average, she takes it upon herself to find a way to help you. The next time you speak with her, she presents to you a pair of earmuffs, ones that she'd knitted almost a forever ago for her Jimmy and Becky, so they wouldn't get cold as winter came in. She doesn't expect you to be thrilled with them, you're probably getting a little too old for your grandma to be knitting you things anyway, but when you seem so deeply touched by the gesture, she can't resist wrapping you into a tight hug.

Raul

Raul notices your hearing early on too, similar to Lily, but he decides to never bring it up to you, figuring that if you wanted him to know about it then he already would. Inevitably, you mention it in passing conversation like it's the most normal thing in the world and when he's taken aback by your casualness, you assume he's going to make fun of you. He clarifies that it's actually impressive and something he's almost envious of. Now a ghoul, Raul's senses are nothing like they used to be. he'd give anything to have hearing even the slightest bit like yours. Your own hearing ends up having its way of helping Raul out, when he can mumble something quietly enough for only you to hear - usually when someone was speaking to him and he didn't catch the end of their sentence and needs you to step in for him. Raul doesn't want you to feel like he's constantly depending on you, or that it's the only reason he travels with you so often, but it's nice to have someone help him here and there.

Veronica

If Veronica didn't think you were cool already, the fact that you can figure out where the Brotherhood bunker is based on the inaudible - to her - sound of an engine humming is definitive proof of that. It isn't long before she's showing you off like she won you at a fun fair, telling everyone how her buddy Six can hear the Lucky 38 slot machines from all the way in the Mojave Outpost (totally not true, by the way. She insists on you playing along) You have to admit, it leads to you winning a lot of bets against over confident NCR soldiers and drunken gamblers, but you do find yourself frequently insisting that one day, Veronica is going to get the both of you in trouble. Still, you can't help but enjoy the ego boost as she gushes about you to anyone and everyone who'll listen.

Yes Man

Somehow, Yes Man is already completely clued up on your hearing, but frankly it doesn't come as much of a surprise to you. You've met weirder Securitrons, shockingly enough. He refers to it as a "neat trick" as though it wasn't something you were born with before he continues to discuss the factions you need to check out. Of course, if he thinks that your hearing could be useful in certain situations, maybe around enemies with Stealth Boys, he will make a point to let you know before you go anywhere. He offers helpful advice, but knowing your hearing is superior to that of the average person's doesn't really mean much else to him.

Benny

You already know he's going to make a joke about how you should've heard him sneaking up behind you before he got the jump on you, maybe then he wouldn't have had the chance to shoot you in the head. You respond to this by practically rolling your eyes into the back of your skull and gifting him a broken nose. He immediately decides you owe him a new jacket, since this one is now covered in his blood. Knowing full well that Benny is a gossip who can't keep his mouth shut, you aren't surprised when he starts asking you to listen out for people talking about him behind his back. You're pretty sure it's your fault he had that argument with Swank in the middle of the Tops lobby, but you decided that's just karma getting him.

#thank god i decided to add a cut to this one #scrolling is becoming PAINFUL #writing boone and lily was so fun though <33 #fallout #fallout new vegas #fallout x reader #fallout courier six #craig boone #arcade gannon #rose of sharon cassidy #lily bowen #raul tejada #veronica santangelo #courier 6 #benny gecko #fallout headcanons #fallout imagines

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stxleslyds · 3 years

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You always seem down on the idea of the Batfam. I mean, it is hard to take seriously when writers make Bruce hostile or downright abusive towards his kids, or when Batfam members never interact. But do you think the concept itself is good, and it's just been the victim of bad writing? Or do you think the Batfam is a bad idea that can never work?

Hi there Anon! Thank you for the ask!

Hmm, this is a difficult question. Maybe I can answer this better if I do it in parts because the concept of “Batfamily” is used in different ways currently. A way to separate them can be, DC’s Batfamily, Fandom’s Batfamily and Fandom’s Batfamily lore being introduced in comics’ canon.

DC’s Batfamily:

My rejection of this version of Batfamily comes from all angles, it is not a good concept within comics lore anymore, it’s badly written and used to hide and move on from truly horrendous actions done by Bruce towards the rest of the family, and DC uses the concept of “Batfamily” that fandom has become so attached to, so they can profit off of it without writing anything of real essence with it.

Why did I say that the Batfamily isn’t a good concept anymore? Well, because the Batfamily that I first came across in comics included, Bruce, Dick, Alfred, Barbara, Tim and Cassandra. It was rather small and their books interconnected and had pretty solid relationships with one another. Dick and Tim got along and spent time together, Barbara mentored Cass so she could become Batgirl and so on and so forth. The family was smaller and more connected. But they still had problems and bad habits then. So, I liked them as a group of people that worked together and the name they received was “Batfamily” as a way for DC to profit from it.

Right now, the Batfamily is huge, I don’t know if you have seen those splash pages with all the members of it for Rebirth and Infinite Frontier, but those promotional pages were crazy big, characters like Harley and Clownhunter are now considered part of the “Batfamily” and all that. Then there is the kind of characters like Cass, Steph and Kate who are all connected to Batman but that haven’t been appearing in books for very long, so putting them on that page really feels like DC is trying to prove that their “Batfamily” actually has women on it, but it’s just for show.

And then there is Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian, the most recognizable faces of the Batfamily aside from Bruce and Alfred (but Alfred is dead now so he doesn’t really count), all of them have had issues with Bruce or are indifferent to the existence of one another. Yes, Tom Taylor has included Tim in Dick’s book but here is the thing, it feels like he put him there just to make fans shut up about the lack of content with both of them acting as they used to do. But its false and lazy, Taylor just brought Tim to the book but we don’t get to see Tim and Dick interact in ways that can explain why they drifted off, it kinda seems like all those years where Dick and Tim were pulled apart never happened to DC and that makes me think “cash grab”. I would have loved to see them interact again if it meant that we would have some solid story for them to develop their relationship once more.

At the end of Rebirth, Damian was pissed off at Bruce and they had a fight and Damian left the manor completely. Bruce beat up Jason, then gave him a hug but still told him that he was banned from Gotham and all that abuse and manipulation was swept under the rug when DC came out with Urban Legends: Cheer, all they did with that story is lie and made-up stories about Jason wanting Bruce to go on a killing spree so Gotham can finally be the home to his beloved family (lies, lies, lies).

On top of all that we have the neglect, abuse and manipulation that Bruce had going on with Dick, ever since Bruce manipulated Dick into joining Spyral his actions haven’t faced any consequences (the family still believes that Dick was the one who lied about dying). And as recently as the end of Rebirth, Dick suffered from a head injury that left him amnesiac and Bruce absolutely didn’t care enough to look after him when he was so vulnerable and alone. DC had the audacity of having Bruce say that he was looking after Dick while Dick went from one villain manipulating and hurting him to another, and if we look at Batman’s run, we can see that he spent some of that time in a weird pit or playing catch the pussy with Selina in a tropical island.

So, taking all those things into account, I honestly believe that the Batfamily is a concept that absolutely does not belong in comics. If it were to be taken seriously then DC should come up with (organic, not forced) stories that make these characters connect once again, but they have to be careful, just because they can connect it doesn’t mean that everyone gets along and they have group chats and eat dinner together of Fridays, that would be a blatant lie and just too out there for their kind of dynamic, so, they should take things slow, start re-building what once was an make it better (if they want to make it work and feel like less of a cash grab).

I heard that there is a book with Cass and Steph being mentored as Batgirls by Barbara coming out in December, that to me is a good thing, what was done in Robin #5 was awful, Jason didn’t have or want to be there, Tim, what the hell was Tim doing there? The only ones that have gotten along with Damian and have had a solid relationship with him were Dick and Steph. Dick had a very nice moment with Damian in that issue, but Steph didn’t, they preferred to have Jason wanting to hug Damian instead (what the actual hell was that?).

Fandom’s Batfamily:

Fandom is a place where people can take any concept from anywhere and transform it into whatever they please. This fandom is just like any other in that matter, but I have noticed that sometimes the Batfamily Fandom tends to blur the lines between what’s fanon and canon. Their lore is so deep and established among people that they sometimes (willingly or not) make new readers or other people believe that how things and perceived in fandom is how things actually are in comics, and that is a huge problem.

Things like “Dick sent Jason to Arkham when the Joker was just a cell away”, “Jason has pit madness and when he gets mad his eyes turn glowy green”, “Dick was a horrendous brother to Jason before Jason died”, “Jason would be good friends with Tim and Cass”, “Jason is the only one that sees the world differently from Bruce and the other robins because he is the only one that comes from a life with no luxury” and so on and on and on…

All of those things are sometimes treated as the absolute truth by fandom and no matter how many times people have debunked and explained that those things aren’t part of comics’ canon because they are simply not true, fandom stills treats those things as the basis of their Batfamily lore.

That lore would be actually fascinating if people didn’t lose sight so easily of the fact that at the end of the day none of that lore can be applied to comics’ canon.

When you enter this fandom things can be extremely confusing and the way some of the characters are characterized are completely different to their canon characterizations, I knew that the Dick fandom was writing about was not real, but I had no idea that Tim being a coffee addict that hasn’t slept in five months and is an absolute genius in everything and anything that he does was completely out of character for him, I just thought that was true to his character in comics too. Something like that happened to me when I took a peek at Jason’s side of fandom, by that time I had read Red Hood/Arsenal, UtRH and New 52 RHatO (yeah in that order, Red Hood/Arsenal wasn’t finished yet though), with the already conflicting characterizations of those books, the first look that I had at fandom’s Jason confused me even more. After considering all those I decided that the Jason that I wanted to see and actually looked appealing to me was UtRH Jason.

Not all people in fandom read comics and that is ABSOLUTELY VALID, I have zero problems with people not liking the comic characterizations of the “Batfamily” characters, but that in itself also creates a rift between fans themselves.

Fandom’s Batfamily lore being introduced in comics’ canon:

This is obviously the intersection of the other two points and this is the biggest problem that I have with the Batfamily concept. The fandom lore has been leaking into comic’s canon for a while now but right now we are kinda drowning in it. Decisions that have been made recently in DC like, Jason giving up his guns, the group chats in Nightwing issues, the family dinners that were hinted at in Cheer #6, and Bruce having had at the ready a Red Hood suit for Jason with a Batman logo in its chest, have been proof enough that DC is planning on skipping any kind of solid writing for these characters to actually get along. We are never going to see these people sit down and talk about their differences and respect each other’s work ethics.

We are never going to get stories of actual essence that prove that these characters understand and care for each other, we are just going to be told that “all is good” and now everyone loves one another and they will build from there.

That is a problem for me.

And it also takes away duality from Gotham’s vigilantes, I know I say this too much but it’s the truth, putting all these characters under the ruling of Batman makes them all bland. Jason shouldn’t be part of any sort of group that involves Bruce! My god, I don’t want to see them interact anymore! Bruce has been absolute trash to Jason ever since he came back from the dead and I am tired of DC trying to make them be on good terms!

Jason and Bruce not getting along can co-exist with the fact that Jason isn’t a villain to Batman’s legendary hero. Jason is his own character, with his own morals and he doesn’t need a bat symbol on his chest or book logo to be relevant. Same with Dick, Tim and Barbara, let them be characters that can stand on their own because they have already done that!

Barbara as Oracle worked WITH Batman if she wanted, she had her own logo and had passed on the mantle of Batgirl because he had grown out of it.

Dick is Nightwing and has become an even better hero than Batman could even aspire to become, he has contacts with everyone in the DC universe, has led countless teams, he doesn’t NEED a batman logo on his book or to be constantly dragged back to him just to make the Bat more compelling.

Jason, my sweet Jason, he had his own logo! It was gorgeous and then Lobdell had the audacity to stamp a Batman logo in the middle of the book name and in Jason’s chest! Have we gone absolutely mad? Why did they do that? Lobdell’s constant back and forth with Jason and his feelings for Bruce, he respects him and he doesn’t, he kills and he doesn’t… each issue felt like a new take on the character! It was crazy!

And that has happened with everyone in the “family”. I will end this by saying that Bruce/Batman being at the centre of this “Batfamily” dynamic is the most laughable thing in the DC Universe. Batman isn’t family to any of the people that they constantly surround him with, he is a piece of shit.

Anyway Anon, I hope this answer doesn’t ruin your day and that you understand that even though I really don’t like the “Batfamily” concept, you and everyone else are allowed and encouraged to think differently!

Hope you have a marvellous day Anon!

#jason todd #red hood #dick grayson #nightwing #tim drake #damian wayne #batfamily #batfam #dc comics #asksss

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the-shared-brain-in-retrograde · 2 years

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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

(Or What If... Tony Stark was a Con Artist?)

A joint review...

We met last night for a preliminary discussion and things took quite the turn. Namely the Shared Brain is very much split on this film, and maybe not in the way you would think. We also had a heated argument about Tennis (which @cassandrafey cares a great deal about, and @becksxoxo does not, even though she is the only professional player of the two) and then we got into Cass' inner horse girl (inspired by the My Friend Flicka mention, a horse phenomenon that Becks as a normal person had no reference to whatsoever and has had to google and is chuckling scornfully as Cass tries to defend herself and her interests), which is a place we wouldn't recommend, and Colin Farrell was involved, we shan't repeat it for your sanity and for our own.

But on to the film...

The big surprise of the evening was how much @becksxoxo loves this film, and how indifferent @cassandrafey was to it. It's as though we have watched two very different movies, which I don't think has happened since The First Avenger.

@becksxoxo: Another film Cass is very wrong about...

@cassandrafey: I could say some things here since I have control of the proofread and edit, but I won’t cos I think someone can dish it but not take it…

So as in Captain America: The First Avenger we shall start the review with all the bits we did enjoy together.

Firstly, that little girl's acting at the start was very good. We were both very worried this film was going to take a dark turn very early on, and other than a threatened smack round the face for lil Harmony, it did not. That screaming was brilliant. Good work child. We also have both agreed we do not wish to attend a fair in Indiana in the past, due to both the worry of clowns and the hideous colour scheme.

The narrating and the narrator of the film were also a brilliant touch. Becks really enjoyed the chaotic ramblings of Harry as he flitted back and forth from the various backstories to the current plot, the re-winds, the artistic pauses. It felt very comforting for some reason. It was also one of the many clever ways that they intertwined the pulp crime style of the books that inspired the plot into the plot itself. Also it's nice just listening to RDJ's voice sometimes isn't it, in a none bossing people around sort of way (the way @becksxoxo enjoys him most - a little bit submissive 😉 - she will discuss this again a bit later, you'll be glad to know.)

The flashbacks were a fun way to get to know our protagonists, although is it lazy storytelling? Who knows? Not us. We do not think that Harry makes a very good burglar in practise. He clearly is very good at the thieving things, but he seems very conflicted about the whole thing. Who's looking in the discount bin when you're robbing a place? Someone who doesn't feel comfortable with that he's doing. And he was so devastated when his partner got shot, that breakdown in the audition was so very sad. The neighbourhood watch is quite extreme in New York... We really think that the criminal lifestyle just isn't for him, but then that wouldn't have made a very good film would it. Also, pull your hat down Harry, you look like a gnome.

Harmony's backstory is even sadder still, such a dark and distressing early life that she escapes from using fiction and a single way ticket out of the shit hole town she grew up in. The darkness in Harmony's life winds its way through the whole plot and its truly terrible, but never fully gets addressed, at times even joked about, that only broken girls make it to Hollywood. It’s hard to know if not addressing it is a choice made by the characters as a way of coping, or if it’s just a bad writing choice that stops the characters and story from becoming whole. It's something we're split on ourselves.

We think we'd like to go to a Hollywood party, but we're not sure we'd be invited. @cassandrafey would definitely like to hangout with Harmony, hidden away reading pulp books. I guess that leaves @becksxoxo looking a bit lost, getting drunk, and making up shit stories to strangers with Harry. What a night.

Cass would also like it to be known we are treated to her favourite line in the film here (and as it turns out her favourite part of the film as a whole):

B-Movie Actress: So what do you do?

Harry Lockhart: I'm retired, I invented dice as a kid.

Harry does try to be a good person. He does try to stop that pervert harassing Harmony, and he does try to fight him, but he doesn't really achieve any of these things fully. Becks got in a little Cap reference during the fight in her notes that pleased Cass no end, you'll all be happy to know. "You just had to get him in somewhere, didn't you?" she hissed. It's not Becks' fault that RDJ just gets beat on a lot...

It's also at the party we're introduced to Perry, who Cass was suspicious of the whole damn film, but Becks loves with her whole heart. Perry the PI - Becks suggested we should be private detectives, but Cass quickly shut it down. So that's another stream of income lost to us.

We will address here that the homophobia and 'gay jokes' in this film were not it. We know it was the past, but it has not aged well and did leave you feeling very awkward. It wasn't fun, and it really took you out of the film each time with quite a start. Honestly, we hate it.

Now on to boobs. @cassandrafey says she would let RDJ touch her tits if it was to remove a spider, @becksxoxo countered that she wouldn't mind if the spider wasn't involved either. Giggling ensued. The spider situation was horrible, and the thought of a massive spider climbing around on you is the worst and its was a big fat no from both of us. There was a lot of breasts just out and about in this film, and for the most part I think it was just to show that Harry was a good person for trying to not look at them, although he did usually get a peek in.

He also pissed on a dead woman, so we don't know why Becks loved him so much, but she did. He is definitely a man, written by a man, trying to show women that not all men are bad people. Becks is now have a slow worry about internalised misogyny... She's trying to defend herself now, but words are hard, and sometimes you're allowed to love the problematic fictional people, right Cassandra? (Cass here, as the authority on living problematic fictional people, can confirm that it’s a perfectly normal thing to succumb to). She does think she loves Perry more though.

Perry. Perry, Perry, Perry. We agree that Perry is very competent, and in control, but that has incited very different feelings from both of us. Abject delight and love from @becksxoxo and utter distrust and grave suspicion from @cassandrafey. Cass has also just said that she missed something at the start of this film that may have made her misjudge Perry, but instead of finding out more about this she went in feet first, 'doesn't that man have a large head, isn't he suspicious', and then just ran with it for the rest of the film. Becks on the other hand just loved him. She loved how good he was at his job, how he bossed Harry around and showed him how much of an idiot he was.

Perry: Look up idiot in the dictionary and you know what you'll find?

Harry Lockhart: A... picture of my face?

Perry: No! The definition of the word idiot which you fucking are!

In fact, he was just generally very quotable, and if Cass brings up his giant head again, Becks will use her giant head to put a stop to it.

Cass should be more grateful, because it is also Perry that brings up Colin Farrell in the first place. The Colin Farrell reference also brought up two very different reactions from the Shared Brain. One of us was confused that RDJ and ol' Colin were contemporaries, and the other half was ready to put on half a pantomime horse costume and some lingerie and get to it, if you know what I mean (none of us know what she means, we really went down a tangent that even for us may have been a step too far...)

@cassandrafey: He's just right handsome, I'm just very fond of him.

@becksxoxo: Are you? You should mention it more. Ooooooooh the moral high ground, I haven't been up here in a long time...

@cassandrafey: Am I morally wrong for saying he's handsome?

@becksxoxo: I mean I was really referring to the horse and knickers situation, but...

@cassandrafey: Oh, I forgot about that.

@becksxoxo: [wheezes]

@cassandrafey: Take advantage of this, because it’s not something I say often, but I think we should stop. We've talked about Colin Farrell too much for a film he doesn't appear in.

So back to the actors at hand. Becks has never experienced Val Kilmer before, but she's enjoyed it. (Cass pointed out he was once Batman, but Becks says she doesn’t know who that is…) He was very funny, and he really dominated Harry at times, and that was nice to see...

We should probably mention the crimes and that, which to be honest we sort of got confused by. We think Becks kept up more than Cass, but we were definitely lost at times, and so were the characters. It did get a bit messy, and we did take umbrage with Harry asking us if we had guessed the twist, when we felt it was unguessable.

I guess SPOILER ALERT:

Is it a known fact that people in mental hospitals don't wear underwear? Perhaps we're perverts but we think there might be other instances where people don't wear underwear to go about their business. It seems a part of the plot that came as a surprise quite late on in the film for us. Although I guess it was another point to show Harry wasn't a pervert for being so bothered to check the state of undress of these ladies.

Two more quick points we really enjoyed:

Frying Pan and Mr Mustard. One of our friends once told us she likes to listen to us talk, but she doesn't understand a damn thing we are on about. So we really got Frying Pan and Mr Mustard on a very deep and meaningful level. We have no real idea of their point in the film, or really what they were on about either, but we enjoyed it and we felt represented.

The electrocution of the Harry's balls. It was at this point in the film that Cass was checking her watch to see how long there was left, but Becks was *cackling* with laughter, and desire to also electrocute a man's balls. We did both enjoy Perry's tiny penis gun, although Cass' train of thought had really left the film by this point as she began thinking of tiny bullets and their effectiveness.

We were both very worried that we were in for a sad ending. All of them just lying there, covered in blood, but even as Harry joked they really did turn it around. When Perry wheeled himself in Becks made such a noise. And then the outro to boot, a thousand chef's kisses. Cass really got in her head that they were married, and Becks just wanted more, and would quite happily watch her two new favourites solving crimes and having the good bants.

Cass gave this film 2 stars. The same rating she gave the Eternals. Take that as you will. Less even than The First Avenger. IRL we're starting to have an argument about Steve Rogers. But we shall stop. Becks on other hand has given it 4 stars, and was even contemplating 4.5 but calmed herself down.

We're both a bit startled by our own reactions to this film. Who knew Robert Downey Jr could be so polarising?

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gwynrielendgame · 3 years

Text

Gwyn x Nesta

This is not as edited as my other fics but I was just too excited to post. I would like to comment that I pretty much think every character is bisexual unless stated otherwise lol. I also recognize this piece could come off problematic (ppl thinking this is fetishization) I personally don’t think it is, but I welcome constructive criticism. I am bisexual and a SA survivor so I felt comfortable writing about those topics considering I have personal experience with both.

Thank you for the idea: @mercurianbisous @genya-berdara

“Hey Nes.”

Nesta jumped from her spot on the couch, closing her book as she did so. A small smile graced her face as she realized Gwyn was standing at the entry of the House of Wind library.

“Hey Gwyn, you scared the shit out of me.” Nesta chuckled as she put her book away. She patted the spot next to her, beckoning for Gwyn to join her. Gwyn knew she looked awkward standing there, twisting her fingers. Gwyn hesitantly took the spot.

“I have a favor to ask.” Gwyn managed to spit out. She needed to start somewhere and knew that Nesta would never judge her for what she was about to ask. She might turn her down, but she would never laugh.

Nesta simply raised a singular eyebrow at Gwyn. She leant back on the couch and flourished her hand as if to tell Gwyn to continue.

“I am only asking you because I know you are not interested in women, which is precisely why I cannot ask Emerie-“

“You are interested in Emerie?” Nesta asked nonchalantly. Gwyn felt relief at the lack of judgement, but annoyed at the interruption. She needed to get this out now or she never would.

“No. Listen to everything before you answer.” Nesta gave a shrug which Gwyn took as her agreement.

“I want to practice kissing, but there are no males that I trust enough to ask and I cannot ask females from the library. I figure if I practice enough it will not be so anxiety inducing for me. With everything that happened to me, I think it might be easier to start kissing females and work my way up to males. I think once I can kiss a male then I will know my trauma does not have that power over me and this is my really convoluted way of asking you to kiss me.” She snapped her mouth shut the second she finished rambling. She searched Nesta’s face for any emotion that might give away how she feels about the matter.

“ I did not think you fancied women.” Nesta said plainly.

“I suppose I have not paid much attention to any romance. But I would say I value the person over body parts.” Gwyn shrugged but her face was bright red from embarrassment.

“Okay, lay one on me.”

She gave a startled look to her friend, who was handling this much better than Gwyn was. The ease with which she accepted this made Gwyn inherently suspicious.

“Do you fancy women?” She looked at Nesta through narrowed eyes.

“Not particularly. But I love you Gwyn, and Cass won’t mind especially if it is to help you.” A very rare, coveted soft look blessed Nesta’s face. Gwyn found herself wanting to cry. She had not felt this type of companionship in years.

“I do not want you to feel obligated as my friend. I understand if you want to say no.”

“Do I appear as someone that feels obligated often?” Nesta asked with raised eyebrows. It made Gwyn giggle a little. Nesta grabbed Gwyn’s hand, forcing her to look at Nesta.

“Lay one on me, love.” Nesta’s face was beautiful as she smiled. It made Gwyn start to feel a little nervous. They were really doing this.

“I am going to start with my eyes open. It is easier to remind myself who I am kissing.”

“Okay.” Again, a soft smile graced her face as she used a soft voice. Normally Gwyn hated pity, but she appreciated Nesta being sensitive to the situation.

Even though her heart was beating out of her chest, she set her hands on Nesta’s shoulders and focused in on her lips. They were a standard set of lips. Medium sized, and smooth. Gwyn took one last deep breathe and shoved her lips against Nesta’s. They both could admit the kiss was awkward at best. Gwyn would take awkward over horrific any day though. She kept her eyes wide open while Nesta’s were closed. One may not even call it a kiss, really just two pairs of lips not touching. Neither of them moved a muscle. Gwyn realized it was because Nesta was letting Gwyn have complete control over the situation and that made her smile through the kiss. Once Gwyn was certain that no unwanted memories were waiting to overwhelm her, she puckered her lips and actually kissed her before pulling away.

“How was that?” Nesta asked.

“Terrifying.” Gwyn said with a grin. “Let’s try again.” She gave a sheepish look after a moments thought. “If that is fine with you?”

Nesta rolled her eyes before closing them and comically puckering her lips. Gwyn once again giggled before going in for a second kiss. Once again she started with her eyes open, but once her heart calmed down and she stopped worrying about the past, she closed her eyes. There was something comforting about kissing Nesta, it was not attraction or chemistry. Perhaps, love though. An intimate expression of platonic love that squeezed at Gwyn’s heart. It was easy to ignore the past when the scent of Nesta and books were so overwhelmingly comforting to Gwyn. When the feel of Nesta’s hands were so familiar. Or when her even breathes were so recognizable. Gwyn knew there was not a safer spot in the world than right by Nesta’s side. Gwyn decided to be bold and flick Nesta’s bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. It caused Nesta to squeak and open her eyes for a second before settling back into the kiss. Slowly, they both started deepening the kiss. A swipe of a tongue here, a turn of the head there. It was a nice kiss, mostly exploratory. Simply, Gwyn discovering her boundaries, deciding what might be too much. Gwyn lifted her hands to grip Nesta’s face, so that the kiss might be less awkward. Nesta kept her hands in her lap which Gwyn was grateful for.

The doors to the library burst open with an exuberant Cassian. Gwyn all but threw herself against the opposite side of the couch.

“Nes, I was thinking for tonight-“ he stopped abruptly at the sight he just walked in on. Gwyn thought his brain might be malfunctioning from system overload based on the expression on his face.

Gwyn suddenly felt very guilty. This must have looked much worse than it actually was to him. Gwyn briefly glanced at Nesta. While Gwyn was stiffly sitting on the sofa, Nesta was nonchalantly leaning against the arm of the chair from her spot. A small smirk rested on her lips. Cassian’s head had been comically bouncing back and forth from Nesta and Gwyn before resting on the latter.

“Are you trying to steal my mate?” He was trying to muffle a laugh and failing. Gwyn hid her face behind her hands as it flamed a brighter red.

“This is not what it looks like!” Gwyn muttered into her hands. Cassian sauntered right over to the couch and plopped himself between the girls.

“Do explain.” He nudged Gwyn with a smile on his face. She was glad he was not angry, but the last thing she wanted to do was explain. She looked to Nesta for help who ended up sighing very loudly.

“I was helping Gwyn with some intimacy problems.” Was all she gave as a response. Cassian dropped the smile and looked at Nesta with such a serious look that Gwyn wondered if she misinterpreted Cassian’s emotions. Maybe he was mad after all.

“Is Gwyn a better kisser than me?” He said it so seriously that all Gwyn could do was groan. Nesta giggled, which did not happen often, so Gwyn knew Nes was highly amused by the situation while Gwyn was mortified.

“Gwyn is the best kisser.” Nesta said earnestly.

Gwyn rolled her eyes as that as she continued to try and press herself as far into the couch as she possibly could. Cassian’s wings were still almost touching her and all she wanted was to disappear from this mortifying situation forever.

“Damn, now I want one. What do I have to do to get a Gwyn kiss?”

The teasing was too much for Gwyn to bare.

“Stooooop.” Gwyn whined as the mated couple tried to mask their laughter.

“Please, Gwyn?” He even puckered his lips at her. She knew he was joking, but she wanted it to stop and knew exactly how to get him to stop. Besides, this is the next level up on the intimacy scale for Gwyn with Cassian being a male and all. She quickly pressed her lips against his and pulled away just as fast.

A second later she realized how impulsive it was. She began forming an apology to both of them when she noticed they were both smiling genuinely. Gwyn rested her hands on her burning cheeks and looked away.

“I agree, Nes. She is the best.” Cassian replied as he threw both arms around the females shoulders.

“You two are the worst.” Gwyn whined as she realized they had teamed up against her to get her to kiss Cassian.

“I think this is means for celebration Gwyn.” Nesta ignored her complaints and continued smiling. “You kissed two people today and one was a male. Big accomplishments.” Gwyn huffed but could not stop the small smile that spread her lips.

“That is good.” Gwyn relented. Secretly she was glad that neither of them were upset.

“Before you know it, you will have made out with the entire night court inner circle.” Cassian joked. “I bet you could even manage to steal a kiss from Azriel’s shadows.”

“Well, they do like me.”

“Everyone likes you Gwyn. You are awesome.” Nesta held Cassian’s hand as they all sat on the couch.

Gwyn felt a punch to a stomach as she looked at their hands. It was longing, she discovered. She wanted to sit on a couch holding someone’s hand. She wanted to be so comfortable with a person that every move they made was in sync like Nes and Cass seemed. She sighed. One day she would get her happily ever after. There really was no rush.

#nesta acheron #gwyneth berdara #cassian #acosf #acotar

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darthslaydr · 3 years

Text

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” “YOU’RE A MONSTER.” PART 5

Suggestion- “The reader is a famous hunter (maybe a Winchester sister?), and she arrives in Beacon Hills to hunt. BUT then she meets Derek and have a lot of chemistry between them.BUT she’s a hunter.”

Word count- 1.2K

Characters- Reader, Sam and Dean Winchester

Pairing- Derek Hale x reader

Warnings- Scared Winchesters, Angst, Fluff, possible indication of Omega- Alpha

MAIN MASTERLIST | You are a monster series masterlist

----------Chapter-5

Y/n’s pov

I woke up to a cold compress on my head, my eyes opened up to a lightly dimmed motel room. My whole body felt numb, especially my side. My eyes looked towards the blurry image in front of me.

“Hey kiddo,” Dean said.

When my eyes finally adjusted to his face, his eyes were puffy, he was sniffling, and he had a red nose. He had cried.

“Why are you crying?” I could not my own voice come out properly, but the tears in his eyes were the only thing I cared about.

“You would not wake up, I was scared.” He said.

I started to sit up and adjust my back to the headrest. Dean got ahold of my arms and helped me. Dean always put up a strong face but this time he felt defeated. Almost like he lost a fight. I looked around the room and asked him where Sam was.

“He umm, went to get some medicine for you, he just left.” He said while he rubbed his eyes, he seemed completely exhausted.

“How long was I out?”

“ Long enough for me to worry. About 34 hours.” He said with a faint smile, then suddenly he teared up.

I pulled his face into my hands and I struggled to find his eyes.

“I thought I lost you, and that fear took over every part of my body. I cannot lose you, I cannot feel that all over again.”

My heart ached, he was not only worried but frightened. He was my big brother, I have seen him worried, but never saw him defeated.

“What do you mean again?”

He took a second to breathe out and got his hand to hold my hand. He took the time to share this story, I did not force him, I let him take his time.

“ When you were about 9 years old. Dad had brought you, me and Sammy to a motel because he was doing a Wendigo case. You were hungry, dad had not left much money for me to feed you both adequately, but you never showed me or asked me to feed you. You concentrated to feed me and Sammy. We are your big brothers but you always took care of us like we were our big sister.” He let out a small smile before he continued.

“Anyway, I was cooking the food and the music was loud. I guess you had noticed that the food was less for the both of us, so you grabbed the money that you used to keep in your pencil box, I think there was about 6 dollars or something in there. You grabbed the money and went out, you didn’t tell me or Sammy. I bring the food to you and you weren’t there. I looked everywhere in the motel. Headed out and walked a lot, I heard your little voice scream, so loud, I swear if I was nearer, I would’ve gone deaf. I came across a convenience store, towards the alley beside it and an older guy, a-a real pervert, grabbed you and held you. You try to squirm away, but you were so tiny. Slowly, I noticed his teeth, a werewolf. Oh and for whatever season his ears were bleeding. I walked over him and pushed him, fought him, I don’t even know.”

The thought entered my mind, screaming, Banshee. Was I a banshee?

He had started crying by now, he was truly afraid.

“ You saved me, Dean” I started crying too.

I got a hold of him and hugged him, something very rare for the Winchesters. “I love you”

“I love you too,” he replied.

“Did he hurt you? Did Derek hurt you?” he asked in a stern note.

I shook my head and said, “He saved me.”

Confusion covered his face, he did not know how to fathom that statement. He was a monster to him.

“ I drove myself to him, a group of alphas attacked us and he saved me instead of himself.” I continued while wiping the last tears on my face.

Before Dean could say anything, the door flew open, Sam’s face covered with the same fear. He was carrying medicines and water bottles. He did not look towards us but just started saying, that he got whatever her could find. His eyes soon found my face and his shoulders fell as he walked towards me. He grabbed my face and kissed my head.

“How is her fever?” he asked Dean

“ It is almost gone.” Replied Dean

“Good” Sammy and I replied in unison.

“Who-who saved me? I am pretty sure, I had. A huge gash from an alpha” I said

“Cass” Dean said

My Lil guardian angel.

For a few minutes, we just stayed, appreciating our sibling bond before I went to take a long shower. I felt the warm shower from the top of my head to the crevices of my back. Washing away every bloodstain and bruised marks getting washed away. My mind raced on a lot of thoughts, from Derek’s worry to why he saved me. From Dean’s fear to how much I was loved. It was overwhelming.

I hopped out of the shower, wore my clothes, mainly loose clothes so that my bruises and cuts won’t hurt more. I walked out with a towel in my hand, rubbing my damp hair. Sam and Dean were sitting at the table with a beer in their hands. They passed one cold one to me.

“You cleaned up well.” Sam Said

I scoffed and said “Thanks.”

I pulled the chair towards me and sat on it.

“Hey guys, I think we are looking at a much bigger issue than one alpha or one pack. I think we are looking at an alpha pack.” I said

I could feel the atmosphere and the air around me escaping. The sudden silence and the only sound of the electricity echoed the room. We all clenched the cold beer bottle, this was big and now we- I am middle of it.

“What should we do?” Sam said, breaking the tension.

“Well, we start off killing the first puppy, Derek and then make our way to the other pack,” Dean said.

“No no no no, no way you are killing him. He saved my life, he is fighting the alpha group too.” I said.

“Y/n what is it with you and that guy?” Sam asked, there was a clear tone of indication, an indication that I did not like.

I remained silent, perhaps not my finest minute or hour, I should have answered him, that he saved me, why would he save me? If it did not mean anything to him? A banshee, that word entered my head again, why were Scott, Stiles and Derek resonating to me. As these thoughts raced in my head, I paced back and forth till the thought that came into my mind, was I in his pack, is that even possible, I am a hunter. I soon dismissed that thought and raised the compelling issue to the table

“Guys, what the fuck is a Banshee?”

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unnursvanablog · 2 years

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for years now I feel like I have been waiting for Ji Chang Wook to get out of some kind of rut and star in something that I a). want to watch and b.) might actually enjoy watching (because I do actually try or want to watch the things he is in) and maybe just maybe The Sound of Magic is the drama that will finally do just that.

It's a magical musical that's only six episodes long which is just an odd genre and a length for a kdrama (but maybe for the better so it does not drag like dramas tend to do) but that can also be beneficial to it. It will stand out. And once the first musical number started I had the biggest smile on my face.

the thing about kdramas that are only 8 or six episodes tho is that they have to do a lot in those episodes, and really pack a punch with the way they convey the story and build up to things and the character arcs which I have often found lacking in other dramas with similar length.

A lot of 16 or 24 episodes dramas do feel long and draggy, but I am not sure if only 6 or 8 episodes for the kdrama format ether because I often feel like things lack a bit of depth because things aren't explored enough and kdramas just have a certain way of telling stories that does need more room than that where six or eight dramas manage to do everything with the story that needs to be done and the story can feel a bit empty. 12 episodes dramas like Youth of May do however and seem to be able to get everything done.

But I am always ready to be proven wrong. There is an okay buildup in the first episode of The Sound of Magic even if it does feel a bit too much like a here is a brief setup of the characters, their situations and all of that sort of episode and by the end of it the story feels like it's just about to start rather than it started right away like The Killer's Shopping List that's only 8 episodes (I thought it was 16).

It's a pretty straightforward setup though, which helps. There is magic, people sing randomly (which you don't question because magic), there is a lonely magic man that steps in to help and is just a bit odd and a poor girl in some very bad situations that lives alone with her sister and is just about to get kicked out of her house. It feels very been there done that, but not in a bad way. It's not doing much that makes me go... oh this is new.

Except for the musical bits, which truly are great. I love those bits. I love Ji Chang Wook's singing. It's a great role for him, although a bit empty maybe.

I am hoping for no romance between this high school student and the magician. They might age her up or something later on, but it's still a trope that I hate in these sort of more fantasy setting kdramas. I would hate for the magician to be some immortal being and she being destined to cure him or whatever. I do not like those types of romances in YA books or in kdramas. It just makes me *sighs*

So far the drama doesn't seem to convey any romance whatsoever between Ji Chang Wook's and Choi Sung Eun's characters and the magician dude just seems to be very lonely and just strikes up a conversation with anyone that just stumbles upon him really. He just wants some human company. I could more see some high school romance between Ah Yi and her classmate Il Deung, which could be quite sweet.

The characters feel like standard kdrama characters at this point. The poor girl with a good heart, the reserved smart boy in cass and so forth. I am not getting too much depth from them at the start of episode one... but it's only episode one after all and a lot of time was spent on setup. And the same goes for Ji Chang Wook's character. They work well within the story but they are also just kinda there at this point. That would not bother me at a start of a story necessarily, if I didn't know that we only had five episodes left once that one ended.

The actors are great. It's just there isn't that much material for them... yet.

I do worry about this feeling fantastical, because the drama is pretty and well produced and acted, and fun and the musical aspects are neet. But it's going to leave a bit empty because the story just doesn't pack enough punch or get it's time to develop properly or build up (sort of like The Witch's Diner) and it's all going to be surface level in the end. Pretty and fun, but not much else.

I would love to be proven wrong tho.

#first impressions #the sound of magic

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roseworth · 2 years

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22 for any fandom

salty ask list

22 - popular character you hate?

i dont really HATE hate any character but im gonna say cass tangled because i like her potential but.... chris

in my heart i love her and she has a great character arc and motivations but in reality her arc is just "my abusive mother kidnapped you and im mad at you for it!" and her personality throughout season 3 is so back and forth and it bothers me. she should have been such a good character and her villain arc could have been GREAT but instead they fucked up her motivations and made her do a lot of shit that felt extremely ooc and weird

like the whole thing with the mind trap??? like,, straight up taking people's agency away from them to make them mindless soldiers doesnt rly feel like something cass would do? her whole thing was that she hated being a lady in waiting and she felt like she was always forced to listen to what rapunzel wanted so then when she turns around and just mind controls a bunch of people to make them fight for her (AND she wants to prove herself and show everyone that shes independent so why would she even want other people to fight her battles in the first place?) doesnt seem right for her.

maybe its just me! but i think that her dad instilled Strong Morals in her throughout her life that we see in the first couple seasons then she just kinda throws them away in the last season after learning about gothel :/

anyways. i dont really hate cass. but i hate what the writers did to her.

#fuck i have so much to say about cass's character arc #she could have been so good and every day i mourn what her character could have been #but thank u for the ask i love excuses to rant 🥰

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vallerygallery · 3 years

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Young justice season 4 theories

Alright so this is gonna be one heck of a post. I’ll be theorizing about what could potentially happen or who could appear.

Young justice season 4 has the title of Phantoms and we could have that be either a literal or figurative meaning. And considering it could be the phantoms of their past we could look towards the memorial the team had at mount justice. That considered we have the following as heroes who have passed away as far as they team is aware:

Wally West

Jason Todd

Ted Kord

Tula

So I have a few theories concerning each though the only one I feel doesn’t have much substance to come back is Tula. And other than these characters it could be more closely tied to the phantom zone and/or the legion of superheroes. Similarly, we could get an idea from some of the episodes considering the series was fully planned out before it aired. That being said I’ll make actions to this post.

Wally West

Ok so we’ve all been waiting for Wally to come back and I think it could happen one of three ways; he could be stuck in the speed force, have gone to a different dimension or wound up with the legion of superheroes. In any case we could see him come back faster due to an altered connection to the speed force and given that he’s been the slowest speedster here it could be a cool way to link him to the comics where he is reliably the fastest.

So if Wally is stuck in the speed force we could speculate that time passes differently or that the speed force refuses to let go of Wally. Both are possible and would explain why he just disappeared at the end of season 2. After all they say he would just cease. No other context given. Here it would be likely that Wally’s top speed is altered due to the time he spent in the force and could show some character growth. Otherwise he could have come to know about Bart’s future and is trying to correct it. If that doesn’t happen we could potentially see Wally having been trapped and trying to contact his teammates which could explain the sheer amount of Wally hallucinations and moments that we see in season 3. I honestly think that this could be something to be looking out for.

Having Wally go to a different dimension seems unlikely to me but we do know young justice is part of the multiverse occupying earth 16 so that could be a thing. Even if I’m not sure the writers would do this it had to be included. Also I feel like this is a lazy way out and too simple for what I’ve come to expect of young justice.

It could be a case of having Wally trying to do something similar to Bart and try and correct the timeline or simply go back. And even though Wally has never been part of the legion it isn’t far fetched to say he could be since at one point Bart was indeed a legionnaire. We could see the fatal five becoming allies to Darkseid, the light or both; similar to what happened between the reach and the light. Either way it could have Wally being a member and trying to save his own timeline or perhaps even Bart’s. Or if he didn’t maybe someone got out of the phantom zone since we hear Granny goodness refer a “ghost pit” which could refer to what we know as the phantom zone. So this could be a different take on why the legion is coming to this time.

Jason Todd

Given we’ve seen that Jason is alive I think it’s a given we’ll see him reappear at some point. Jason could appear in a story similar to under the red hood or what I think may be more likely is that we’ll see some relation between the league of shadows and one of the teams. Especially since we know Ra’s is no longer a memeber of the light. This could also tie in with the appearance of Cass Cain. I don’t think we’ll see Damian be robin but we could see him being a bigger part in Jason’s life.

Legion of Superheroes

At the end of season 3 we get a view of a legionnaire ring which leads basically everyone to think that they’ll be major players in season 4. So we could get an entire back and forth with the legionnaires. This could lead us to meet Kara Zor-El and Brainiac. And again we could see Wally returning with them or superboy going off to join them like he does in the comics. It might also be good to note one of the legionnaires is called phantom girl although I really doubt she’ll be the focus. I think that we’ll see the fatal five when the legion does appear and they could form an alliance with the light just how the light and the reach formed an alliance. Honestly I’m not sure where this would go cause I’m not super familiar with the legion so please tell me if you have more theories!

Greta Hayes (Secret)

There’s one seemingly throwaway episode in season 1 called secrets where we see Greta Hayes (secret) who in the comics has been a member of young justice. Moreover, she’s fought Klarion who is a current member of the light. ALSO her brother Billy Hayes (Harm) is allied with Darkseid which we know will continue to be important players in the future as they try and find the anti life equation.

Greta is also linked to the magic side of DC and we see further evidence or at least an Easter egg with Abel’s house of secrets which had it’s own run. Swap thing makes an appearance here and we could go as far as to link her to justice league dark. It also helps that she is a literal phantom in my opinion that we could get a storyline with her here. So if we got more magic users the story could unfold in a bunch of interesting ways.

Bart Allen’s Future

We’ve seen so little of the future Bart came to stop and they left it too open ended for me to believe they won’t continue with this storyline. So it could be the phantoms of Bart’s failed mission come to haunt him. We could go a step further and have this link to characters like Booster Gold (and by extension Ted Kord) or maybe Wally West. The writers might also link it to the meta human trafficking rings we see in season 3. Honestly they could use the Justice League Beyond or Future state timelines although I doubt the future state one being used. If they used the Justice League beyond would be similar to the episode in Justice league unlimited where they find themselves in an apocalyptic future. So we could be seeing an entirely different justice league maybe even. One that’s allied to a version of the legion of superheroes.

Ok so this is the end of the post but I’m in the middle of adding to these theories so PLEASE tell me if you want to add cause I really want to try and guess what will happen in season 4. Til my next young justice post... Stay whelmed!

#batfam #comics #dc comics #young justice #young justice phantoms #season 4 #Wally west #Jason Todd #legion of super heroes #bart allen #damian wayne #speed force #greta hayes #secret #phantom zone #keep binging yy #stay whelmed #i took too long on this #i wrote this instead of sleeping

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danny-chase · 3 years

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Big Brother instinct, Dick and either Cass, Gar, Danny Chase, Steph, Kara, Rose, or anyone else u want

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Batgirl (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson & Cassandra Cain, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne Characters: Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Dick grayson centric, Fire, Burns, hair styling, Ice Cream, Hurt/Comfort, Late Nights, Fluff and Angst, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily (DCU) Feels, Batfamily Dynamics (DCU), Missions Gone Wrong, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain is bad at feelings, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings Series: Part 11 of Bad Things Happen Bingo Summary:

Dick talks with Cass after a mission doesn't go as planned.

Fic under cut

“Argh!” Dick snaps back to attention as Bruce’s angry grunt rattles through the cave. The few bats still in for the night stir, their wings rustling in the distance. An avalanche of papers fly off of Bruce’s desk, and his grizzled form slumps forward, hands firmly planted on the table. His shoulders sag under some unknown strain; as if he’s carrying the weight of the sky.

“Hmm.” Dick blinks back another wave of exhaustion, he’s not working on a case – but Bruce is – and company always makes working more fun. Besides, Bruce is on a time limit and Alfred can’t stop him from escaping his room. So. Here he is. He took an oath - it’s his job to help.

Dick’s eleven and Bruce’s a pillar of reassurance – a precariously stacked pile of rocks constantly on the verge of crumbling. He has no idea how to pick up the pieces. No idea how to seal the cracks. “Bruce?” He mumbles, swinging his legs off his spinny chair. Bruce doesn’t look up, his mouth drawn in a tight line. The ghost of tears well in his eyes. Not good.

Dick scoots off the chair, lightheaded for a moment. He shakes the stars out of his eyes, nodding back and forth, up and down, like Bruce does when he’s sleepy. It’s late. He has school tomorrow. Not that it matters. Bruce will let him skip if he asks the right way. He jogs in place for a few seconds, readying himself, warming up his muscles.

There’s not much he can do to help, but he can at least put on a little show. He runs forward launching into a cartwheel, picking up the papers as he goes – Bruce likes his tricks, sometimes they even make him laugh, sometimes –

Bruce snags his ankle out of the air, his quick reflexes saving Dick from crashing into the edge of a counter. He finds himself hanging, the world stuck upside down as his hands dangle inches from the floor. “Thanks.” He looks up at Bruce’s weary face.

A yawn escapes his lips, and the corners of Bruce’s mouth twitch. “I’m going to have to child-proof the cave at this rate.” He tries for humor but it falls flat, his hearts not in it all.

He stares up, sticking his tongue out. Bruce’s frown doesn’t fade. “Are you okay?” He asks. Bruce’s hands fumble, and Dick swings dangerously low to the floor before he’s recovered. Not willing to take the chance again, he curls up, grabbing Bruce’s forearms and pulls himself up through his arms, settling himself on sturdy shoulders.

Bruce drops his feet. “I’m fine. Why would ask that?” He sounds almost hurt and Dick’s too tired to figure out why.

He slides down easily, Bruce gently deposits him on the floor. “You looked sad.” A yawn leaves his mouth without permission, he stumbles slightly, and a hand clamps down on his shoulder. He reaches back up, and Bruce throws him up against his shoulder, wrapping him in a hug.

Dick yawns contently, his eyelids fluttering without his permission, as Bruce starts walking towards the stairs. “I’m sorry…” The arm around his back pulls him a bit tighter. “I’m just not enough.” A shaking hand combs through his hair and Dick squeezes back because he doesn’t know what to say.

Bruce grunts as he takes a step up the stairs. “Sleep on it?” Dick suggests, resting his eyes for just a moment.

“Mmhmm. It’s bedtime.” Dick’s half asleep by the time they reach the top. He’s not sure he hears Bruce whisper, “You’re a great kid, chum.”

It took Dick years before he really understood the feeling. And even more years before he made the connection that that was how Bruce had felt on late nights spent scouring for clues that just didn’t seem to exist, having worked for days straight on three hours of sleep, and watching Gotham send all of it up in flames setting you back months on an investigation.

He’s learned there’s nights it’s impossible to save everyone – hell, he’s seen Clark get his ass kicked, and Clark’s damn near close to god. Dick would know – the Titans have fought their namesake. But the Titans have fought humans and lost despite half their members being godlike, and besides that most days now he’s alone. It doesn’t matter how hard he tries, how much he plans, how prepared he is; sometimes things just go to hell and a handbasket and there’s nothing he can physically do to prevent it.

Most of the time, he’s fine with that. It’s fine he has limits. Logically, he knows he can’t be expected to everything. Logically, he knows it’s a waste of time to worry about it. Logically, he knows it’s okay to take a night off, watch a nature documentary, invite a friend over, stay in and spend the night simply existing.

But it feels like he could be doing more – should be doing more. He feels that restlessness overtake him, and springs to his feet “Bruce I-”

Bruce gives him his patented bat-glare from where he’s sitting, looking up from a familiar pile of papers. Once it would have intimidated him into sitting back down. Now he just returns it with a patented one of his own. “-I think I’ll suit up and head out for the night, Tim could probably use some back up with-”

“Dick.” There’s this exasperated tone that Bruce can only ever seem to muster when saying his name. He pauses for a just a second, his eyes flickering down to Bruce’s clenched fists and tight shoulders. “Let me handle it.” It comes out as an order, but reading between the lines, it’s a plea.

Bruce would never admit it out loud, worry practically bleeds out of the man. Guilt gnaws on the inside of his chest, though, he’s not sure what it’s even from; the guilt of making Bruce worry or the guilt of being a useless sack of broken and bruised ribs while people need Nightwing’s help. Being benched sucks, but he knows enough to compromise. “Let me run the comms? Babs could use a night off.” She sleeps less than him and Bruce knows it.

The gray streaks in Bruce’s hair stand out all the more as he lets out a bone deep sigh. Dick rolls his eyes – he doesn’t get to do this right now. “You literally let me go out last night I don’t understand why-”

“Last night was an emergency. I didn’t have a choice.” His frown widens, his face etched in an eternal look of pain, mixed with disproval. “Two nights ago… you almost…” His mouth seals itself shut, unspoken words hanging in the air between them. It’s Bruce that breaks the gaze first. “Run the comms, don’t overexert yourself. It should be a quiet night…” He stands, hesitates before walking off “And get to bed early.”

Dick bites back a laugh, Bruce hasn’t talked to him like that since he was thirteen. “Alright.” He resists the urge to poke fun, and follows Bruce through the passage behind the grandfather clock.

“So Ives was talking about the Pirates of the Caribbean movie with me the other day, and we might go see it this weekend if I have the time. Gee- I can’t remember the last time I saw movie in theaters or even really hung out with him.” Tim’s endless chatter helps him stay awake in the dimly lit cave. His throbbing ribs help too, maybe he shouldn’t have tried doing push-ups. “Dad and Dana want to drop me off, but Ives has a car now, though dad’s still worried cuz of the time some wacko tried to stop us at a traffic light.”

Dick hums, a smile creeping its way up his face. “I can drop you off if it’s an issue.”

“Really?! That’d be awesome, you could stay for the movie if you wanted to, but I don’t know if you’d like it, I mean are pirates really your thing? I always figured you’d be more into Vikings or probably aliens actually, or something like-” A red light flashes on the screen, and Dick snaps to attention.

“Hold that thought.” Tim’s chatter ceases immediately as Dick furiously types on the terminal. He punches into the main line. “Batgirl how fast can you get to the corner of 16th and Murphy’s Ave, there’s a building on fire and you’re the only one anywhere near the Upper East Side.” A 911 operator calms down a hysterical woman in his left ear, Cass asking direction in the right.

He pulls up a map. “I-I can’t find a way out!” The woman shrieks. “I don’t know what happened, I was sleeping and-” she breaks off into raspy hacks.

“Go straight, turn right after three blocks down.” Dick winces, as the lady continues chocking on smoke. “C’mon Cass. Get there.” He mutters off the line. He eyes his cycle sitting idly in the bay – he’s twenty minutes out; Cass needs backup. He opens up another line. “Batman I need you to follow Batgirl, what’s your eta?”

Bruce grunts back, he hears thudding over the line. “Fifteen minutes.” The woman screams in his other ear, he yanks the earbud out as a massive bang nearly blows out his eardrum. Picking it back up, he can’t hear the woman anymore, only the roar of flames and falling debris.

“Shit.” He pulls up video from a street camera. “Shit.” The building’s collapsing in on itself. “Permission to call the league?” He clicks through to their line of communications, his finger hovering over the button.

“Here.” Cass scrambles into view, bursting through a window. Shit.

Bruce learned his limits long ago. Dick’s finally settling into his. Cass? They simply don’t register on her radar. The buildings coming down in mere minutes; she’s going to get killed.

“What’s the situation?” Bruce yells in his ear.

“Batgirl get out of there!” He screams at Cass. She’s going to die – the building’s not stable, and he’s the one that sent her there. “Make it five minutes – the building’s coming down.” He yells to Bruce. “Batgirl!” He watches a few windows blow out. A firetruck careens down the street.

“Permission granted.” Bruce huffs and Dick can’t click the button fast enough.

A couple more windows blow out, and the building seems to lean to the side. Finally he sees Cass climb back out a window, holding a couple kids in her arms as she leaps to the ground. “BATGIRL GET THEM CLEAR!” His heart pounds in his throat as she runs forwards, the building groaning behind her, crumbling to the side. Chaos erupts, chunks of flaming debris cascading from the top of the building, as the second floor merges with the first.

Dick blinks, his mouth dry. “There’s more people-” he can’t hear Cass over the ensuing cacophony as he watches the building topple to the ground. “NO!” He faintly hears her scream as the screen erupts in static.

Dick slams his fists on the desk. His chest constricts painfully. “Nightwing. Report.” Bruce’s steady voice reminds him to breathe. His chest spasms. Shit. “Nightwing!” Bruce demands as he tries to catch his breath.

“Building collapsed.” He manages to get out. “One sec.” He takes a few deep breaths, leaning back in the chair for support. “Batgirl report.” He’s greeted with silence. “Batgirl, please, if you’re there I need you to respond.”

“I…” Cass trials off. Dick sighs in relief. “I’m sorry.” The line cuts off. Well. Shit.

“Nightwing! I’m headed to the location.” Bruce squawks. Dick sighs.

“It’s going to be a long night. Search and rescue, I’ll call in backup.” Shit. So much for an early bedtime.

“Hey.” Someone shakes his shoulder. He makes a grab for their wrist and misses, his mind processing where the hell he is. He blinks a few times.

“Cass?” Her hair’s plastered to the side of her head and she’s covered in soot. Nicks, rips, and tears decorate her costume. Dick wipes his eyes as the ashy smell of smoke overwhelms his senses. Cass takes a few steps back, heading towards the locker room. “Wait.” He had something to say to her, his mind racing to catch up.

She hops up onto a counter. His mind shuffles through the events earlier in the night. “Bruce sent you back?” Cass nods glumly. The rescue efforts weren’t going well when he dozed off. The JLA sent in everyone they could spare; there’s nothing they can do anymore. Not that Bruce won’t try.

Cass’s lips are sealed. There’s a haunting expression in her eyes, her shoulders slump forward, her hands firmly plant themselves on the counter for support.

And his friends think he’s too much like Bruce.

“Hey.” He starts. She gives him a weary look, tears welling in her eyes. Well, maybe not exactly like Bruce. “Look, I’m sorry I put you in that position.” Cass shakes her head. “Sometimes things like this happen. I should have-”

“Stop.” Cass pulls her feet up on the counter, getting dust everywhere. “I should have been faster.” She swallows, refusing to let the tears spill over. “My fault.”

Dick watches as she glides off the counter, yanking off her gloves and dropping them on the floor. Burn marks dot her hands and the edges of her hair are singed. “You did everything you could.” She hesitates, before taking a step towards the showers.

“Not enough.” She mutters before storming off, leaving a trail of soot in her wake.

He stands up. “Cass.” The lock snaps shut with a click as she slips into the bathroom. Leaving Dick in an empty cave once more.

By the time he returns downstairs, Cass is already out of the shower, looking displeased. “You took my clothes.” She notes unhappily, a pale pink towel tucked tightly around her shoulders.

Dick watches water drip down from her hair, pattering on the floor. The trail leading back to the bathroom is now mixed with water and soot. Alfred’s going to be pissed. “I took your costume.” He clarifies. “And I brought you clothes.” He gestures towards the open door.

Cass scowls, planting her feet defiantly. “I’m going out.” She reaches out a hand. Dick shrugs – there’s no way she can find where he hid her filthy suit before they get a chance to wash it.

It’s all too familiar, reading the lines across her brow, watching her shoulders slump when she stills, and scanning red rimmed eyes. “What are you going to do like that?” He points out, Cass angrily storming towards him. “You’re tired, you’ll just end up being in the way.” He dodges left as a fist flies past his face. “You would have hit if I wasn’t right.” She’s faster than him on his best days.

She glares at him with pursed lips, staring before turning on her heel and storming off towards the bathroom. The door slams behind her, triggering the rustling of far away wings.

Dick sighs – he hopes he wasn’t this temperamental when he lived with Bruce. “Come up to the kitchen when you’re done, I need your help with something.” The lie rolls easily off his tongue, though he feels a twinge of guilt as Cass groans behind closed doors.

Cass’s eyes widen as she enters the room. Dick offers a smile as she edges closer to the table. He tosses a spoon, she snags it out of the air. “Dig in.” There’s a carton of chocolate ice cream – double chocolate chunk brownie sundae with hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles to be precise – and tons of candy. It’s not stuff Bruce keeps around, but Dick’s has a stash at Tim’s house reserved for movie nights. He’ll restock later.

Cass vigorously stabs the ice cream with her spoon, a smile dancing across her face as she takes a few bites. She pauses, sticking the spoon back in the cartoon, looking up with a confused expression. “Why?” She’s wearing fluffy pajama bottoms, fuzzy socks, and an old worn college sweatshirt that’s frayed at the hems. Dick can almost pretend he’s back, talking to Donna after she broke up with Roy their sophomore year of high school.

She’s watching Dick carefully. He hums casually. “You had a rough night.” This is what the Titans always did. She shrugs.

“Things happen.” She shovels a few more bites into her mouth. “I want to go out.” It’s hard for Dick to find her tough and grizzled when she’s guzzling gummi worms, kicking her feet back and forth on the stool.

“Consider this a reason to stay in.” She gives him a sideways glance. “You did as much as you can, that’s enough.” Cass looks pointedly at her ice cream, not hesitating before diving back into it.

“Spar with me?” She licks a skittle before sticking it in her mouth.

Dick snorts. “If I don’t have a heart attack, I think Bruce would.” She snaps up to attention, grabbing his wrist and quickly finding his pulse point. “I’m fine, Cass.” Her hands are freezing. He places one of his on top of hers. “If you weren’t there I wouldn’t have been.” He says quietly, catching her eye. “Thank you.” She pulls back as if burned, quickly busying herself with the candy. He waits a moment before adding, “I think those kids you saved are grateful too.”

Cass throws a bag of M&M’s at him, he’s a second too slow and it pelts him in the face. “Noted.” He grins. “Uh, also, I’m going to have to do something with your hair.”

“What.”

“Cass, hold still.” She immediately stops squirming under his hands. “Thanks.” She hums back, tucked under an old blanket that never seems to leave the back of the couch. Bruce still isn’t here, but Tim checked in after his stakeout, and headed home a half an hour ago. He snips away another lock of burnt hair, tossing it into a trash can next to him.

He rests his forearms on the back of the sofa, contemplating which section of her hair to start with next. “You find one you like yet?” He asks, peeking over her shoulder at the images of hairstyles.

“Uhh.” She scrolls a bit more. “I don’t care.” She tosses the phone up to the top of the couch.

“Mmm.” He didn’t expect much else. Donna texted him a picture earlier to copy – something easy to pull back but still stylish. He attacks the next section, carefully brushing out the tangles, starting bottom to the top. He’s oddly grateful for all those times he did Donna and Kory’s hair.

‘Practice for when Bruce finally adopts a girl.’ They used to tease. ‘You’ll have a real sister, and if his track record holds she’ll have black hair and blue eyes.’ He’s never lived the irony down. Though, Cass’s eyes are a beautiful warm brown, so Donna and Kory can take that.

“You know.” He keeps his tone light. “Most hairdressers and their clients talk.” Cass remains set in stony silence. “Though I guess most people go to a salon to get their hair cut.” He just visits Joey. “Some people say it’s like free therapy.”

“You talk a lot.” Cass notes. He pulls up doodle jump on his phone and passes it back to her. She plays a couple rounds before the phone’s placed back beside him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He already knows the answer, but still asks all the same.

“No.” Bruce never wanted to either. Barbara used to talk to him… before he left for the Titans and took years to look back. Though he likes to dream otherwise, he knows there’ll come a day when Tim won’t want to talk to him anymore either.

It doesn’t get any easier being shut out. “That’s alright. If you change your mind I’m here.” He grabs the shears, snipping away another dead end.

“Thanks.”

“Dick.” A hiss awakes him, light following soon after. He squints, turning away to bury his face in a cushion. “Where’s Cassandra?”

He turns, eyes snapping open as he quickly scans the sofa. The blanket hangs off the edge, Cass nowhere to be seen. One of her custom batarangs sticks out of his armchair’s armrest, a few inches from his hand. “She must have found her costume.” He notes, glancing towards the pajamas crumpled in the doorway. His eyes meet Bruce’s as he lets out a tired sigh.

His hair’s dripping, fresh from a shower, and it’s singed at the edges. Dick nods towards the sheers on the coffee table. “Tomorrow.” Bruce decides, crossing the room, picking up the blanket as he goes. Dick pushes down the footrest, slowly rising to his feet. His ribs twinge at every move, in hindsight, falling asleep hanging off the side of an armchair wasn’t his best idea. Bruce hovers closer than normal, watching carefully, worry lines set in concern. “Bed.”

Dick’s too tired to argue. “Bed.” He agrees. And though Bruce doesn’t carry him, he accompanies him up the stairs.

#bad things happen bingo #dick grayson #cassandra cain #batfam #batfamily #nightwing #batgirl #my writing #sorry i've had this request for like 2 months but you know what we made it eventually 💀😅#thanks for the request anon!#i couldn't resist doing Cass but shout out to you remembering Danny Chase exists like dang iconic

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