#and then more weird costume furries are chasing after him

[phantom-0-writer]

second chances don’t come for free

cw/tw: child death and child abuse and related traumas

7652 words (!?) ao3

Everyone in the family had secrets, and everyone knew that everyone in the family had secrets. It was a promise that came with the crest they all wore on their chest. Some were more open than others, like the way that Richard always avoided tight ropes despite his impeccable balance, and how Father never enters the 4th room on the west wing of the 3rd floor.

Damian had secrets too. 

After a relatively calm night by Gotham’s standards they returned to a briefing for their next big mission. Damian was one of the last to return, busy settling a mugging attempt on his return. 

“Good, looks like everyone’s here.” Father announced, gathering the attention of the rest of the occupants of the room. 

“Looks like a full house.” Richard commented lightly looking around as everyone gathered around the computer. Todd leaned casually on the railway to the changing room away from the crowd but close enough to be included, Drake was clicking away at the keyboard as usual. Brown and Cain stuffing in their last cookie before butting the container away. Thomas stood idly by waiting for Father to explain what their next operation was. Barabra likely was listening from a separate location as usual. 

“We’ve received a tip from a trusted source that the League is up to suspicious activity.” Father began, as Drake pulled up a few schematics on the screen. 

“When are they not?” Brown scoffed, lightly jabbing Richard in the arm. He chuckled lightly. 

“Naturally,” Father continued, “It would be irresponsible for us to all go and leave Gotham unprotected so Spoiler, Orphan, and Signal will stay to cover the city while the rest of us are gone. I’ve informed Batwoman as well, and she’s available to assist you if the situation demands.” Father paused to give the rest an opening to speak, when no one did so, he continued. “We’ve discovered that they’ve found a rare washup of some form of solidified Lazarus Waters. We don’t have much information on the substance itself apart from what's essentially speculation. Regardless if the League found a way to solidify the Waters, there is no telling what they would find themselves in possession of, weapons, tech, humans at a level we’ve never seen.” Damian knew all too well what the League was capable of. After all, he had been the League. Father continued explaining the details of the plan and the positions each of them were meant to play. 

It would be the first time Damian returned to a League of Assassins base since he had first left them 7 years ago and he had met his Father at his own doorstep for the very first time at the age of 10. It had only been the lifetime's worth of rigorous training that kept Damian from curling into his gut at the sight of those eyes. 

The eyes that haunted Damian the last days he had stayed in the league when Mother had ordered him to pack anything he wished to take with him. The look of terror in the eyes that look just like the one that calls him Champ while he ruffles his hair and tells him to go sleep early since it was a school night. 

Damian found himself freshly showered and comfortably under his duvet, then a moment later he was pulling them off to go through the motions of his day. Next thing Damian knew he was in his Robin uniform in a jet that would be taking him to the sight of his biggest mistake. 

The League had always kept a close record of Damian’s activities since he had been taken out of his test tube. Every daily schedule, no matter how mundane, every mission report, no matter how simple, was expertly stored in the League’s database. 

That was with the exception of the final test. The League had taken extensive measures to scrub away any traces of the final test before Damian had gone to live with Father. 

When Father and Drake had meticulously gone through every file about Damian on his arrival to the manor, Damian was told his first kill had been at the age of 4, a politician in his house in the capital city not far from the League’s Nanda Parbat base. 

Though Damian had only understood what it meant to kill - to watch death - only 3 days before he had met his father. 

“Damian.” Richard called, Damian hadn’t noticed that he had been approached, “Are you sure you're clear for this mission.” He sounded concerned. 

“Yes.” Damian responded with a frown. He had his own mission, he could not afford to be benched. 

“You seem kind of out of it. I know you don’t have the best memories with the League and none of us are going to force you to go if you're not ready,” Richard was trying to seem approachable and understanding, and perhaps Damian should be more reciprocative of his efforts. But he ‘knew’? What exactly did Richard Grayson ‘know’ about the League? About what happened to Damian in the League? 

Damian bit his tongue, there was no point in lashing out before a mission only for it to impede needlessly on their cohesiveness “Would you prefer for me to bounce off the walls in excitement?” Damian allowed the snark to roll off his tongue, and raised a brow at the older boy. 

Grayson let himself laugh at that, “No, I suppose not.” And with that Damian was alone again. 

When Damian was 3, Mother had taken him to watch the older kids train. Damian had noticed someone else there, another boy around his age. They looked similar even, but not identical. Damian remembered the jealousy he felt when he started noticing the similarities the boy shared with Mother’s features, the audacity that he looked more like Damian’s mother than Damian himself. When he told Mother, she had found it humorous and praised Damian for looking more like his father insead.

While Damian sat on the bench with mother, their escorts behind them, the boy sat alone at a bench further away. “Damian, do you know who that boy is?” Mother had leaned in to ask him.

“No, Mother.” He answered honestly.

“That is Danyal al-Ghul, your twin brother by 76 seconds.”

“What is a brother, Mother?”

“Your opponent in all that you do, Damian, he is your enemy. You must always remember that.” Damian made his best efforts to remember that, because of course Mother was always right.

Damian and Danyal had been assigned rooms across the hall from each other but they never met outside of coincidental encounters. And whenever they had, someone had always been there to remind Damian that Danyal was not to be trusted, that he would get under Damian’s skin, find ways to exploit Damian, a cheat and a smear on the al-Ghul bloodline. One of his teachers at the time had told him Mother would’ve done well to leave that one in the tube he was born from. The people of the League would not dare lie to an heir of the Demon’s Head, so Damian believed them.

 One night, after a particularly tiring day of training, Damian found he couldn’t sleep and decided to sneak out onto the roof. Damian had not been expecting anyone to be there but he was surprised to see the boy there. He considered his options, assessing his opponent like he had been taught to do. The enemy, Danyal, seemed to act purposefully unaware of Damian’s presence there. There were no weapons stored on him, and his posture was incredibly lax and he simply stared at the stars in the night sky. 

With a sigh, Damian sat silently at his side of the building, and looked into the far expenses of the League's base and the mountains that surrounded it. Though Damian had intended to be alone, he found an unfamiliar sense of comfort from the un-accosting presence of the other, unlike the others of the League who always seemed to need to say something to him. But Damian knew, regardless, the boy was not to be trusted. 

The next night Damain found himself climbing out of his window again, and found Danyal already there. For the next three months, every night Damian would sneak out of his window onto the rooftop and find Danyal already there, and the both of them would sit there in a comfortable silence, back turned to the other. 

One day Damian had been sent out for a mission, nothing he wasn’t used to. Except the location was quite far so he had to leave early in the morning and would be returning much later in the day. He had managed to complete his mission much earlier than anticipated, and so with this newly earned time, Damian snuck off to explore instead of heading straight to the rendezvous point. Easily pickpocketing a handful of cash unnoticed from a preoccupied group of wealthy looking men, Damian pursued the options. 

Perhaps he could buy a toy, a train set the other kids were ogling at. Except that would be much too difficult to hide, and needless to say Mother would not approve of such distractions. Damian overheard some others talking about the deliciousness of the sweets in one store, and he made up his mind. He bought 4 different types, not sure which would be the best, handing over his money to the clerk and heading out of the store. 

Damian found himself anticipating the rooftop of his room, and wondering how Danyal would react to Damian’s new found treasure. Slipping the chocolates out of their hiding spot, Damian snuck all 4 bars onto his usual spot on the roof. Letting the wrapper crinkle loudly as he purposely fiddled with it unnecessarily, Damian successfully earned a curious glance from his roofmate. Damian took the first bite of the bar labeled ‘Dark Chocolate’ and let himself enjoy the bitter sweetness of it, as Danyal looked at the candy bars spread haphazardly across the rooftop. 

Not liking that he was beginning to lose Danyal’s attention, and not receiving the eager response he was expecting, Damian found himself sticking a piece of chocolate towards the other boy, offering it to him. Danyal hesitantly took it, eyed it cautiously. Some of the chocolate had already melted on Damian’s fingers. “What is this?” Danyal asked him. 

“It’s chocolate.” Damian explained to the other six-year old, not that he had really known what chocolate was either. 

“Chocolate.” Danyal repeated, before carefully nibbling on the side of it. His eyes went wide in surprise at the sweetness, and he looked up at Damian in disbelief. “Woah.” He breathed, taking a much bigger bite. 

Damian, having been the one to discover this, smiled pridefully at the other boy, “There's different ones too.” He proclaimed. 

“Really?” Danyal asked wide-eyed crawling closer to Damian who turned around to face him. 

At the end of that night, they were short 4 candy bars as they tried to keep their whispers hushed and the melted chocolate on their fingers left stains on the floor of the roof. Damian wondered how Danyal was supposed to be the villainous enemy everyone told him he was, but Damian was not so easy to trust, after all he was an assassin of the League, the heir to the Demon’s Head. 

Every night they would meet on the rooftops, exchanging souvenirs, sharing snacks, telling each other stories of the stars and mountain demons. After a while Damian had forgotten what he had been warned of for his whole life, and would look forward to meeting with Danyal every night. Maybe Danyal wasn’t his brother, like Mother had said. 

Perhaps Mother was mistaken.  

One night, Danyal didn’t show. Damian waited for him for an hour, but the other’s side of the roof remained unattended. Finally, having had enough, Damian skillfully snuck over to the other side of the roof and peeked through his neighbor’s window to see if he had fallen asleep, but there was no sign of Danyal in his room, either.

Feelings Damian didn’t understand swirled in his gut, the ones he got when the mission unexpectedly goes off script, or the sharp end of a weapon comes closer than he would’ve liked. Hurriedly, he slipped down, letting himself stay hidden in the shadows, as he searched for the boy that wasn’t his brother. The kitchen, the hall, the training room, the weapons room, the barracks, the field, the river in the back, Danyal was nowhere. 

Tired, and out of breath, Damian tried to formulate a plan. Where could Danyal have gone?

“Young Master Damian.” At the voice Damian instinctively reached for his sword only to find it not there. Had he forgotten to bring it with him? Damian assessed who had caught him, and easily recognized by the uniform that it was one of the servants. 

“What are you doing here?” Damian demanded, frustration at his futile efforts at finding his… -at finding Danyal.  

“I am cleaning the walkways, as we are to do every 10 days, Young Master. It is more convenient to do it at night, since there are less people around.” The servant explained, bowing his head. They seemed scared of what Damian may do to them. But when Damian did not respond, the servant hesitated before speaking again, “If I may ask, Young Master, what are you doing here at this late hour?” 

Damian turned to the servant again, if they had been out cleaning as they said for the previous hours past curfew then perhaps they had seen or heard where Danyal had gone. “Do you know of Danyal al-Ghul?” Damian made sure his tone was void of emotions, it would not do either of them well for it to spread that Damian had found himself fond of Danyal. 

The servant’s face paled slightly at the name, there was a small stutter before they finally spoke, “Young Master Danyal should be in his room at this hour.” The servant began fiddling, with the handle of the broomstick.

Why was he lying? “Where is he?” Damian kept his voice even, demanding respect. 

“I- I do not know where the Young Master is.” The servant pleaded, but Damian didn’t believe him. 

Anger growing at the situation, “Tell me.” He demanded. 

“The Demon’s Head, and The Lady Talia were to speak with him.” The servant spluttered out, caving under the pressure. 

Why would Mother and Grandfather seek out Danyal at this hour of the night? The feeling from before only strengthened as Damian rushed to find him.

“Damian.” Mother asked surprised, catching him easily at the door, “What are you doing here?” Damain tried to get a look inside the room, but Mother had positioned her body to block his view. 

“Mother, shouldn’t you be asleep by now.” Damian asked, trying to find the casualness in his voice despite feeling like every vein in his body was being controlled to squeeze his chest. 

Mother looked down at him in amusement, “I should say that to you.” Damian tried to force his way through the door, but he was no match for Mother, “Why are you here Damian?” She repeated. 

“I would like to speak with Grandfather.” He tried, lies slipping easily out of his mouth. 

“I’m sure it can wait till the morning, your Grandfather is tired from a hard day's work.” When Mother pushed her hair behind her shoulder, Damian wondered why there were splotches of fresh blood on her hand. 

Damian stood there in defiance, and Mother seemed to consider him for a while. “Perhaps since you're merely a child you wouldn’t understand.” Mother thought aloud. 

“I am seven, Mother, nearly eight. I am hardly a child, and have far surpassed the many of the teachers you’ve assigned me. I can understand.” Damian demanded. He needed to find Danyal. 

Mother straightened, and with a nod, moved from the entrance allowing Damian to enter. There on the floor was a trail of blood, that led to one of the darker corners of the room, and Damian couldn’t tell what the heap on the floor was. 

“Damian, you should be in your room.” Grandfather chided, sitting in his chair by the fireplace. The darkness of the room finally became accustomed to Damian, as he began making out the details of the room. Grandfather didn’t have his cane, instead it was left closer to the heap in the corner. The heap had its hair cut messily just like Danyal’s always was, and its hands were smaller than an adults, as it tried to bundle itself together. The heap moved slightly, it’s head turning to look at Damian. Damian drew in his breath, at the sight of Danyal’s fluttering consciousness on the floor. 

Mother was right, Damian didn’t understand. 

Grandfather followed his gaze, and nodded understandingly, placing a lit pipe between his lips. “Danyal is simply being punished.” Grandfather explained. Damian couldn't find the word to ask what for, but Grandfather explained anyway. “He seems to think he is your equal, in the way he speaks and acts. As if he is one of the respectable heirs of the Demon’s Head.” Damian didn’t understand what that meant either. If Danyal was meant to be his brother, would he not have equal claim as heir as Damian did. 

“He is my equal. Mother said so herself.” Damian stated, not sure the source of his deep rage at his Grandfather and Mother at that moment. 

Grandfather turned a questioning look at Mother. Mother turned to Damian. “What are you talking about, my son?” 

“You said that Danyal was my brother.” Damian said, it was true that Mother had said this, regardless of whether Danyal should be considered Damian’s brother, “A brother is an opponent, someone waiting to strike me down at any moment. My enemy in all that I do.” Damian recited Mother’s own words, though he could not put his faith in them. Danyal had always listened to Damian, understood Damian, laughed at his jokes and added with his own, always the first one to comfort Damain. They weren’t brothers. “If he is to be my enemy, should he not be on the same grounds as I, as a true equal in skill?” 

Grandfather considered what he said, and shared another look with Mother. “I suppose I see the reason in your words.” Grandfather turned to him again, “Why have you come Damian?” 

“I simply was taking a late night walk since I couldn’t sleep, and I thought I would perhaps feel better if I came to visit you. I did not expect to see Mother here.” Damian was surprised how easily it was to lie to the only people he had trusted for the previous year of his life.

Grandfather let his hand rest on Damian’s shoulder “Take him back and dress his wounds.” He ordered Damian, “And do not trust his words, he simply wishes to get under your skin. Manipulate you.” The doors to the room shut behind them as Damian carried the body of his battered enemy back to his room, and patched up his wounds. 

Danyal was sitting on Damian’s bed, fluttering on the line of consciousness. “What you said before,” his voice was barely above a whisper and he spoke slowly as his words meshed together. Damian listened raptly, “to Grandfather, do you-” Danyal seemed to be having a hard time forming the question, but Damian understood. 

“It was the truth.” Damain said easily, Danyal's face fell at the admission, but Damian was quick to explain, “It was true that Mother told me what ‘brother’ meant, and that was the true meaning of brother. But I do not think of you as my brother.” Danyal examined him for a moment, trying to determine if he was being honest. 

“I trust you.” Danyal said with more conviction than Damian thought he could possess in that moment. He trusted Damian’s words and actions when not even Mother or Grandfather did. 

Finishing with the last bandaid, Damian looked at Danyal. “I trust you, too.” Trust seemed to light a word for Danyal, but Damian was not sure what word he should have used instead. 

That was because Damian did not know what love was, and because Damian al-Ghul loved his brother.

“Mother you called for me?” Damian sat in the chair opposite of Mother’s study. 

“Damain, you’re here.” She greeted, not looking up from her screens. Damain waited for her to finish what she was working on, arms crossed impatiently. “You do remember who your father is?” Mother started, turning the screen with two of Father’s well-known persona on display. One of billionaire Bruce Wayne greeting guests at a function, and the other of the Batman perched near the head of a gargoyle. 

“Of course, I remember, Mother.” Damian sighed in resignation. “Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman.” He recited. 

“Good. You are a decade old now, and there is not much the League has left to teach you. So, in one week's time you will be going to stay with your Father.” Mother said bluntly. 

Damian’s brows creased together, “For how long?” 

Mother looked at him with authority as the next in line for the Demon’s Head, “For the foreseeable future.” 

“What!” Damian stood in indignation, “Mother that's unreasonable, how could you make me-” 

“It is an order Damain.” Mother said with finality. 

Damian frowned, “And what of Danyal then? He is Father’s child as well, I doubt he would sit by knowing he has another child here.”

“An intelligent conclusion.” Mother praised, “That is why you and Danyal will have a final test, the victor will be the one who is sent to your Father.” Damian’s eyes lit up at the concept, Danyal never talked about how he trained or what skills he best utilized, other than once slipping that he prefers to use katanas too, Damian did not know much of Danyal skills. This was finally Damian’s chance to see how capable of a fighter Danyal is. Despite whoever won, Damian was sure, even without knowing his father yet, that he would come back to retrieve the other.

“When will the spar be a mother?” Damian asked. 

“In 4 days, you will be expected in the main courtyard by noon.” Mother said dismissively. 

The day came both faster and slower than Damian would’ve liked. Wearing his usual gear, and his swords by his side he headed towards the field mother had instructed him to be at. Damian had waited in anticipation for this day, making sure all his swords were properly cleaned and sharpened. Of course they always were, but he had taken extra care that they would be in their best condition. His attire had been carefully selected by himself, a measure he usually wouldn’t take. 

Danyal and Damian stood facing each other, waiting for the signal to begin. Mother and Grandfather watched them closely from their spots in the audience, as the two exchanged blows, swords slidinging across each other, dodges and blocks, evasive flips, feint attacks, Danyal punched him in the gut once when Damian hadn’t been prepared. Damian let the battle engulf his senses, body moving in flow with his weapon, switching seamlessly between offense and defense until Damian found the perfect opening for an attack and he took it, knowing he would be named victorious. 

Damian’s katana sunk into Danyal’s chest, a gasp of pain escaping the other boy, as he looked down at the point of impact. Confusion filtered across his face for only a moment, and before Damian could question it, Danyal’s expression slowly morphed into fear as Mother and Grandfather approached them. 

“Damian, congratulations are in order.” His Mother praised him, stepping in between him and Danyal. “I knew from the beginning you would come out victorious.” 

“Thank you, Mother.” Damian tried to look at Danyal. “What now?” 

“We will be taking your brother to the Lazarus Pits, and let Fate decree any value to his life.” Mother explained, turning to Danyal and pulling Damian’s sword out of his chest, Danyal yelped in pain. 

Damian wondered if Danyal had been hurt during their fight. 

Damian bent down to load Danyal onto his back and carry him to the mystic waters and let him heal so he could join him at Father’s later. Perhaps Father would not be as keen as Mother on fostering their brotherhood, and they could train and fight together like they always talked about. 

“Damian.” Danyal croaked out lowly, if his face wasn’t already positioned near Damian’s ear he likely wouldn’t have heard. 

“Shh.” Damian chided, “Mother will notice.” 

“Damian.” Danyal called again, “Promise, you won’t forget about me.” 

Checking to see that Mother was still occupied in a conversation with one of the servants, “Don’t worry, I'm going to take you with me. Or I’ll come back to get you.” 

 “Promise.” Danyal asked again. 

Damian sighed, Danyal could be so stubborn sometimes, even with strange requests “Fine, I promise.” he rolled his eyes. Danyal didn’t say anything after that, instead resting his head on Damian’s shoulder. 

“Place him in the waters, Damian.” Mother instructed. 

Danyal’s body floated in the waters lifelessly for a bit, and Damian wondered why nothing was happening. And then suddenly, as if it were the mouth of some vicious beast, a gaping vortex circled around Danyal swallowing his body whole. Just as suddenly as it had erupted, the vortex disappeared and the waters returned to a deathly still seconds later. Everyone surrounding the waters watched in anticipation, but when nothing happened and enough time had passed, everyone headed back to their tasks. 

Mother stayed for a moment longer, “It seems even Fate, too, was eager to be rid of you.” she muttered, before heading off. 

Damian was the only one left there, waiting for Danyal to walk out and tease Damian for getting worried that it was taking so long. But the sun was beginning to set, and the waters had not moved at all, and there was no sign of Danyal. 

“Young Master, Lady Talia says that you should return to your chambers.” A servant stood by the gates holding a plate of food for him. Or was it for Danyal? There was only one serving.  

Damian turned to the servant, and he asked in a voice shakier than he had been expecting of himself, “Why hasn’t Danyal come out yet?” 

The servant seemed taken aback by the question, before their face morphed into something sadder that Damian didn’t understand. “Young Master Danyal will not be returning to us.” They explained softly. 

“Why not?” Damian demanded, confused and angry. His eyes were beginning to burn. 

The servant hesitated before answering him, “Because Young Master Danyal is dead.” 

“What difference should that make, people die all the time?” 

“It is as easy for the dead to return as your grandfather may make it seem, Young Master.” The servant spoke again, their voice gentle and tone careful. “Usually when people die they are gone for good, and they don’t get to come back. Not even with the Lazarus Waters. Second chances do not come for free, after all.” 

Damian let the words sink in. Danyal- Danyal wasn’t coming back? 

It was dark out now, almost the time the two of them usually met on the rooftop. Danyal would be waiting for him there, like he was every night. 

“You're lying.” He accused the servant, as he ran to his room, food left forgotten as Damian quickly made his way onto the familiar rooftops. 

Damian waited there, the servant’s words echoing in his ears at every second Danyal didn’t show up. An hour passed, and then two. And Damian considered for the first time that the servant had been telling him the truth. 

For the first time since he made his first visit to the roof of his room, Damian al-Ghul sat unaccompanied. 

After six years of carrying out various missions as an assassin, Damian al-Ghul cried when he learned what death meant. 

For the first time in his life, Damian al-Ghul cried when he realized he was alone.  

“We’re here.” Red Robin announced, as the plane landed silently about 15 miles away from base like they had planned the night before. 

“Oracle, testing comms and visuals,” Nightwing spoke into his earpiece. 

“All good on my end.” Her voice echoed in all of their ears. 

“Okay, just like we discussed, Robin and Red Hood will head to the surveillance room and get a location for where the experimentation is taking place. Nightwing and I will be on standby until the information is provided, Red Robin collects samples and information in the time that we have.” Father went over the plan again. 

Robin stealthy led the two of them through the LoA’s familiar layout, and the mission went smoothly. Within the next two hours they had the location of the experimentation site. It was on base, but a further location, so Nightwing and Batman headed there, ready to collect whatever information they could. Downloading the files for the surveillance and sending the access over to Oracle, their job should be done, and they were set to wait at the rendezvous point until further orders, or back up was requested. 

“Where are you going, Brat? We’re supposed to head that way.” Red Hood chastised as Damian took them off course. 

“Then go that way, if you wanna be such a goody-goody.” Damian shot back easily. Knowing the route to his destination easily. Damian kept to the least used route. 

“What’s with you, today? Pissy about not getting to see your Mommy?” Red Hood snarked, still following behind him. 

Damian wasn’t going to justify that with a response. The green of the Lazarus Waters came into view. A shiver went up his spine but he ignored it.

“Robin. What the hell are we doing here?” Red Hood demanded, eyeing the familiar green with contempt. Damian bent down to pick a handful of stay dandelions from the corner of the unused ally, and easily jumped over the gates surrounding the water. “Damian.” Jason hissed, “What are you doing?” 

“Relax.” Damian sighed, bending down near the waters, “I just came to give my greetings to… someone.” To his brother. Danyal was is his brother. Despite the mask hiding his face, Damian could see Jason’s posture soften. 

“Make it quick.” Jason huffed, letting Damian have some pseudo-privacy by turning his back to him. Damian set the flowers he had picked near the edge of the water, only noticing that the temperature had dropped when the wind blew a slight chill at the exposed skin of his face. It wasn’t temperatures Damian couldn’t handle, Gotham was often dreary and chilly even in her summers. But they weren’t in Gotham. They were in the Middle East, where they would consider themselves unlucky when the winters got this cold. 

“Hood, do you-” Damian was cut off by the loud acidic bubbling of the previously calm green waters. 

“What the-” Red Hood balked, turning around alarmed. 

Damian backed away in alarm, the edge of the waters expanding to swallowing the flowers he had laid down. The two brothers could do nothing but watch in suspense as the waters started swirling into a vortex garnering attention they had been trying to avoid. Just as suddenly as it had started the waters returned to their previously calm state, only for the surface to be broken by what looked like a young child, trying desperately to keep himself afloat and get to land. 

Damian and Red Hood were too busy holding off the assault from the small force the assassins had managed to form together to help the child. The second either of them turned their back to the assaulters, the assassins would take the opening to finish them. By the time they had dealt with their attackers the boy had already brought himself to shore, hacking up water. 

Familiar choppy black hair, and blue eyes Damian could never forget. “Danyal.” Damian found himself gasping, body frozen not from the cold. 

“Don’t mean to ruin your meet cute, but look like they brought their friends.” Red Hood warned as more assassins surrounded them. 

“We need to leave. Now.” Damian told him decisively. 

“Wow I never would’ve guessed.” Red Hood snarked back. 

“Call for an extraction.” Damian huffed annoyed, blocking an attack from the left. There weren’t many well trained members currently aware of them, but they knew better than to wait for backup to show up. 

“Red Robin, what’s your eta to the jet? Team 1 needs an emergency extraction.” Oracle spoke through the main line of comms. 

“I can be there in 10 minutes.” Red Robin responded easily, “What’s the situation?”

“We’ve been made.” Red Hood reported back disarming his attacker and knocking them out. 

“Will likely need medical attention.” Damian added, looking back at Danyal, who only now seemed to be registering his surroundings. 

“What happened?” Nightwing asked, concerned at Damian’s statement. 

“Not for us, for our new little stowaway.” Red Hood explained finishing off the last of the assassin, before turning around to face Danyal.

“Explain.” Batman demanded

“Perhaps now is not the best time or place for that, Father.” Damian snapped back. 

Danyal stood scarily still from the bay of the Lazarus Waters, wet and dripping, and despite the chilly temperature and his wet clothes he didn’t seem cold. If Jason had not tried to approach Danyal as well, Damian would’ve thought he was simply a figment of his imagination. 

“Hey, kid.” Red Hood put his arms out to show he meant no threat. “Do you know how you got here?” He tried to make his voice soft and approachable but the voice modulator of his helmet was not doing him any favors.  

Danyal didn’t respond, eyeing the both of them carefully. They let him, not making any movements that may scare him. The world seems to go still around Damian. Go colder. 

“I’m in the jet, heading your way.” Red Robin reported over the comms.

“We’re coming to find you too.” Nightwing added, Father presumably with him. 

Neither Jason or Damian made any moves. 

“Team 1, do you copy?” Oracle asked when neither of them sent a signal for receiving the message. 

Damian wondered what he should do? How was he supposed to approach Danyal, and begin to explain what was happening? Damian wasn’t even sure what was happening. 

“Team 1?” Father repeated. 

Do something, Damian.

“Copy.” Red Hood clicked into the comms and everything rushed into motion. 

At Red Hood’s response and the rapid movements of the wind at the approaching jet approaching overhead, Danyal dashed away alarmed. 

“Wait-” Damian called, running after him. But Danyal only seemed more distressed at being chased. He ran through small crevices Damian was too large to fit through, trying to deter him. But Damian followed regardless. Finally catching up to him where he knew that alleyway to come to an end, Damian caught sight of him, reaching out to grab his arm. Only for it to fall through as if nothing was there. 

As if Danyal wasn’t really there. 

After the failed attempt at contact from Damian, Danyal was only able to get so far before he seemed to trip, his foot catching on something that Damian couldn’t see. 

Why had Damian’s hand just gone through him like that?

Damian began to question whether Danyal truly was in front of him or if it was just some sort of illusion. Damian was quickly reassured of the validity of his vision when a sharp rock Danyal launched let blood drip on his skin. The hiss of pain was real. And so was Danyal.

Damian didn’t stop his domino from falling off his face, from the rock’s impact. Danyal stared at him. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me?” Damian tried to laugh, but it sounded pathetic. 

Danyal analyzed Damian’s features, confusion washing over him. It made sense, the Damian Danyal had known was a 10 years old assassin, not a 17 year old Robin. Danyal was smart, smarter than Damian had been. Damian waited for him to figure it out.

But the world did not wait. Red Hood, Nightwing, and Batman dropped in from various rooftops, as the jet hovered loudly above them. Spooked by the sudden appearances, Danyal quickly started backing away. 

“Excretion ready. Preparing Medbay.” Red Robin reported. 

“I was wondering when the news would reach you, Beloved.” Another familiar voice grabbed their attention. Damian looked to the sound to see Mother with at least 10 of her personal guards staring them down. Although Damian couldn’t see the others, he knew they had been surrounded. 

“Talia.” Father hissed, a cold anger in his voice. 

Damian's eyes shot back to Danyal who looked like he was trying to find a way to make an escape, exhaustion seeping through him. Deciding to take his chance, Damian approached him while Mother was occupied with Father. 

“Who are you?” Danyal asked him, hesitantly, trying to keep the distance between him and Damian. 

“I promised I would come back for you, didn’t I?” Damian said in lieu of an answer.

Danyal’s eyes widened in recognition but before he had the chance to respond, an arrow was launched landing between them. Looking at the source, it was Mother. At the signal attack, all the other guards swarmed in from their positions and started attacking. Damian, blocking a sword, aimed to slash his side, before another sword came for his shoulder. 

Occupied with his two attackers, Damian didn’t notice Danyal trying to escape by climbing the side of the brick building. Fortunately, Mother still hadn’t noticed him yet thanks to their surroundings, and Danyal’s insistence to stay in the shadows. Danyal’s progression was decelerating, the weight of his still wet clothes and exhaustion slowing him down. 

Damian tried to keep an eye on him so he could follow after, once he dealt with his attackers. Disarming both of them and knocking them unconscious, Damian was able to turn around just in time to notice Danyal on the brink of unconsciousness, and losing his grip on the stones he was using to climb. Damian moved quickly, just in time to catch Danyal as he fell and his eyes rolled back. With Danyal in his arms, Damian only registered the on coming projectile without enough time to dodge or block. Damian braced himself for the hit, using his body to shield Danyal as much as he could. 

Only for a familiar black cape to flutter in front of him, blocking the attack before it hit either of them. “Go,” Father ordered, tipping his head towards the jet, “We’ll follow.” 

-

“So basically, correct me if I’m wrong,” Steph started incredulously, “Damian had a twin brother that died, they dunked him in the pit waters but then he didn’t come back. So, they were like ‘welp, lets tell no one about this, ever’. Except the water ends up literally throwing him out when Damian goes back and does this huge water show grand entrance thing. And now we have another 10 year old Wayne child.” Steph summarized arms moving wildly. If there wasn’t a kid that looked a lot like Damian lying unconscious in the bed two feet away from her, and the body cam footage from both Damian and Jason, Steph would’ve thought they were pranking her. Though, she hadn’t entrily ruled that out yet either. 

Tim nodded in conformation, leaning back causally on his chair.

“You were gone for 36 hours.” Cass added exasperatedly. 

Damian still hadn’t said anything other than explain who exactly Danyal was. They were twins, apparently, and they had been forced into a battle to the death a few days before Damian had been brought to the manor. He hadn’t told them why, but Steph suspected it was for some stupid successor business. Some of the other’s had tried to get more information out of Damian, demanding answers for why he never said anything before, never told any of them, why there weren’t any files of Danyal in the League’s databases. But Damian hadn’t answered any of them, so they had been forced to give it a rest- for now. Looking back, Steph could see the signs that Damian was dealing with grief when he had first come to the manor, but no one had been looking for that, and it had gotten swept under ‘weird assassin cult child’ behavior. 

It had been about an hour and a half since the jet had landed in the cave, and Steph, as a certified medical practitioner, had been called in for an emergency. She had thought it was strange that Oracle hadn’t specified who, and now Steph understood why. 

Danyal didn’t seem injured, other than a lower than average body temperature and a slightly slower heart rate, which was likely due to the body temperature, he seemed in relatively normal health. That was if he hadn’t been a 10 year old who had been marinating in Lazarus Water for seven years. Most of the bats had experience with Lazarus Water, and it had never been pleasant. But they hadn’t been in the prime years of their physical and mental development, and at most had been in the pits for an hour. 

Steph, Cass, Tim and Damian were in the medical room with Danyal. Jason had gone to his apartment, and said he would be back later, and to let him know if anything happened. Bruce had changed and gone straight up stairs, not taking the news of having a second kid who Talia had hidden from him and a second kid who had died very well. Dick had stayed for a while but he had an emergency work call and had to leave. Duke was still patrolling, since it was earlier in the day, but was being kept up to date on all news thanks to Oracle.  

Danyal was due to wake up any moment, and none of them knew how to feel about it. Not liking the morbid atmosphere of the whole manor, Steph decided to change topics. “Did Cassie tell you about what Conner and Bart did last week?”

Tim turned to face her happy for the distraction, Cass humored her with an intrigued look. “What?”

“Okay so basically- it was so cringe-” Steph let herself laugh “They were at the mall right. The one near Mount Justice, y’know-”

“-yeah it’s the same one they go to all the time.” Tim interjected, rolling his eyes. 

“Right, so-” The door opened, as Alfred walked in, cutting off her story but not unwelcome. 

“You’ve all been in here for quite some time, so I brought you some snacks. Sandwiches, fresh cookies, and water, juice and milk to drink. All your favorites, do indulge.” The old butler explained, rolling the cart through the door. 

“Thanks, Alfie.” Tim went to grab a glass of water, and a sandwich. 

“And anything for our newest addition?” Alfred questioned. 

“He’s not awake yet.” Damian said quietly, sipping at a glass of warm milk. Like a weirdo. 

“Is that so?” Alfred said with a thoughtful drawl to his voice, as he walked closer to the kid. “Hm…” He stroked his chin animatedly, slowly bringing himself closer to examine the boy’s face, but still keeping a comfortable distance. Steph was about to question what he was doing, only to see the boy’s eyes shoot open, and stare back at Alfred like a deer caught in headlights. Alfred straightened, as Danyal seemed to realize that he had been discovered. 

“What? How long was he faking being asleep?” Tim asked, baffled. 

“56 minutes.” Cass answered, easily. 

“Wait- you knew this whole time?” Steph asked betrayed, only for Cass to smile back cheekily. 

Damian didn’t say anything as Danyal sat up in his bed slowly, examining every one in the room. Steph tried to make herself seem non threatening but stayed ready in case the kid lashed out, not knowing how he would react. If it was anything like how Damian had been during his early days, it would pay to be ready. 

After a long moment of no one saying anything, Tim decided to prompt, “So, how’re you feeling, kid?” 

Danyal didn’t respond right away, instead watching Tim, Steph and Cass from his spot on the bed. Steph was beginning to wonder if this was another case, like Cass, where the kid had never been taught how to speak. Danyal opened his mouth hesitantly, looking over at Steph hesitantly, then Damian before answering. 

“Cringe.” There was a flat blunt honestness to his tone that added to the sudden comedy of the situation. Damian choked on his milk, and the room burst into laughter at the unexpected response. Danyal looked a little embarrassed at the reaction, but there was still a small smile on his face. 

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad afterall. 

“Do you want some?” Damian asked, breaking a cookie in half and offering Danyal a piece. 

The younger boy took it, curiously, “What is it?” 

Damian took a bite, chewing it before responding, “A cookie.”

“Cookie.” Danyal repeated thoughtfully, before taking a little nibble of it. His eyes widened at the taste, “Woah.” 

“There’s plenty more of those, Young Master Danyal, I’m glad to see you enjoy them.” Alfred smiled happily at the reaction. 

“Really?” He asked hopefully. Steph tried to remember if Damian had been this cute when he had first come to the Manor. “Who are you?” Danyal asked again after a moment. 

“I’m Alfred Pennyworth, you can call me Alfred. I'm the butler at Wayne Manor, your father’s home where we currently are.” Alfred took a pause before speaking again, “Now, I hope you all will excuse me as I go fetch Master Bruce, he’s been quite excited to meet you, Young Master Danyal.”

-------

guys this was just suppose to be an itty bitty little thing. WHY DID IT TAKE ME 3 WHOLE DAYS??? im sensing a pattern and i'm not liking it.

I was suppose to be studying for physics :/

#danny and damian #character death but its danny #please someone help these poor traumatized kids #the mother gothel references go hard #danny is going thru it #first he gets stabbed/killed by the one person who's ever cared about him #gets dunked in a bunch of nasty green water #wakes up to find people in weird costumes chasing him #tries to get away from them when his powers start kicking in and tripping him and not helping at all #and then his mom find him and hes kinda scared out of his mind #and then more weird costume furries are chasing after him #but apparently its aged up damian and his father??? #he deserved that cookie #yes that was totally parallelism from when damian first offered him chocolate and they started becoming friends #ngl idrk how i feel abt the end #damian ate the cookie first to prove it wasnt posion also y he ate the chocolate first #but also he was eavesdropping on them for almost an hr so he kid a had a vibe check on them #his ghost powers let him pick up on languages faster which is why he said cringe lol #he was trying to assimilate and get them to like him so they wouldn't get mad at him #also kinda explains y damian was so aginst having brothers #becasue he had a rly twisted understanding of what that is #damian the one (1) time he tries to socialize: yah i had a twin once #rando: oh wow thats so cool what r they doing now #damian casually: oh he's dead #rando: oh- oh wow im so sorry #damian: yah anyways have i told u abt my brother damian #also damian: idk y pple think im wierd #i actually want danny to be the older twin #just for the unhindged conversation of a 10 yr old turning to a 17 yr old and being like im older than u #and dami responding completely seriously yah but i lived longer than u

[pinkcherrybombs]

✨How Much It would Cost Me to Babysit Each BTS Member ✨

So I saw this trend on Tik-Tok and thought it would be perfect as a headcanon! This was so much fun to make, feedbacks always appreciated! (also this is a re-upload bc I accidentally deleted the first one💀)

Masterlist

Jungkook

Price: $120/hour (plus an extra $30 every time he asks if I have games on my phone)

• Will want to try some extreme sporting indoor household parkour challenge he saw on YouTube “for fun”

• The only one on this list that I’m truly scared of

• Is gonna force me to watch him play video games, and then witness his rage quits which are like full mental breakdowns

• He’ll throw hands if I let him know that I’ve only watched one marvel movie

• Will also throw hands if I tell him that I think I have better thighs then Namjoon

• Honestly tho if I distract him with exercise activities or banana milk, we’ll be solid

• His toe socks are enough to make me quit babysitting all together

• 100% is gonna attempt to steal my food off my plate tho after eating his

• Is going to make every single thing into a competition, from who eats the fastest , to who can rinse their hands off after the quickest. But it’s a one sided competition that only he knows is going on, which makes this 10x more awkward

• Probs will fall asleep in some weird ass position like upside down on the couch. The type to snap his eyes open all serial killer like if you even whisper his name or check if he’s breathing

• Will randomly add me to a video game match after babysitting, then will call me if I decline and yell at me

• I 100% see him being the type to like randomly do a WWE wrestling choke hold- body slam combo and then laugh as if it was nothing while I’m wheezing on the floor

Taehyung

Price: $80/hour

• Will be the type to play hide and seek without telling me, so I’d just be freaking out thinking he’s lost for hours

• This man will bark at me. End of discussion

• Probs has some secret furry memorabilia that he keeps hidden under his bed, but will pull it out and ask if I can play it with him

• 100% will teach me how to take nice monochromatic photos, even going as far as to let me use his camera

• He’s gonna blast Jazz music through his speakers and critic me on my classical music knowledge

• Will make me cry, by chasing me around in the furry costume I mentioned before. And then will laugh when my ass trips and falls

• Is gonna teach me Korean swear words and tell me it’s formal ways to introduce myself

• Will try and teach me different vape tricks, but might silently judge if I start coughing from his 80-nic

• Falls asleep on the floor, no clue how he got there. Might growl if I try and put a blanket on him, so I’ll probably just chill on my phone and wait till he wakes up (at a safe distance)

• Is going to convince me to buy one of his paintings, thus taking all the money I earned back

Jimin

Price: $65/hour

• I’ll be confused if he’s trying to flirt with me or not for majority of the time

• This man's level of physical affection will drive me crazy, will literally wrap himself around my leg while I’m trying to walk

• I don’t know how and I don’t know why but we will throw hands at some point , probs because I call him my short king

• Will sass me to the point I’ll genuinely have to reconsider all my life decisions , and self esteem

• Honestly the one I’ll get along with most on the list tho, I feel like he’s knows all the tea about everyone

• 100% will physically tap his mouth shut after the first twenty minutes

• Competition to see who has a fatter ass( he’d obviously win)

• Will definitely break something expensive and brush it under the rug then blame me after for it

• The type to have a twelve step skincare routine and will literally gag if I tell him it’s not necessary

• I’ll need at least 2 Tylenol’s and a solid 36 hours of sleep to recover at babysitting him

Namjoon

Price: $20/hour (plus an extra $10 every time he breaks something)

• Damage deposit ahead of time for any property broken

• Also damage deposit for emotional distress after this man completely outsmarts me in literally every subject

• Majority of the time will be spent with either him explaining philosophical ideas he’s read in books or care instructions for his plants

• Will throw hands when I jokingly say I might accidentally kill his plants. Key word being jokingly

• We’re gonna spend a minimum 3 hours looking for his airpods

• Probs will get into a insightful debate about aliens and the meaning of life, is definitely not gonna make me feel stupid if I say something dumb

• He’ll definitely help me with my homework, I might even owe him back some money by the end for tutoring me

• Is gonna be the most responsible one out of the bunch to actually prepare himself for bed. Do a proper skincare routine before playing some light rain sounds and knocking out

•Can’t cook for shit tho, and will probably destroy the kitchen if I’m not looking

• We're starting a book club, he gets first pick!

Hoesok

Price:$15/hour

• Just Dance will be on for literally hours

• Will genuinely throw hands with me if we don’t get mega superstar ON EVERY SINGLE SONG

• His energy levels high key intimidate me, I know for a fact I won’t be able to keep up

• Probably will let me have aux and sing along to whatever music I play, maybe even teach me to the rap for daydream

• FASHION SHOWS, dude his closet is so incredible, will be the type to let me leave with a souvenir

• I just know he gives good pep talks, like whatever’s on my mind he’ll sit and talk about with me. Babysitting will turn into a makeshift therapy session

• If he’s in a good mood might let me paint his nails matching colours with mine

• Old school Disney movies for sure, especially with chocolate chip cookies. I’m envisioning Hercules, Mulan and the Princess and the Frog , he likes his soulful soundtracks

• The type to fall asleep on the couch during the Disney movie marathon, but will pout if I try to turn off the screen. Will for sure snuggle into his blanket like an adorable little bean

• Were scheduled for dance lessons next week, which means I’m basically means I’m giving the $15 I earned back to him

Yoongi

Price: $10/hour

• Easiest one to babysit off the list , no doubt about it

• The ten dollars is literally just to cover food and drinks, no actual payment is needed for my boy yoongles

• The type to sit me down and show me what track he’s been working on , maybe even ask for input if he’s stuck

• This man’s a literal angel, I know for a fact he will try his best not to laugh at my horrible attempts of rapping Daechwita

• Worst part probably would be if I disturbed him while he was napping or working, definitely would be a little worried when homeboy turns silent and gives me that death stare

• Will steal my phone to play piano tiles

• The longest rants about capitalism and government corruption, like full university style professor lectures

• Will be prepared to fight me if I even dare mention my plan to kidnap and marry Hobi

• Probably will fall asleep in some random spot in the housw, so I’ll bring him a blanket and some water so that at least he’s somewhat comfy in whatever weird position he passes out in

• Wouldn’t hesitate to babysit him again, or even just hang out whenever

Seokjin

Price: $25/hour

• I already know we’re gonna have a roast off over who’s the prettiest and my ego will get hurt multiple times by this man when I lose

• Probably will try to teach me the Super Tuna dance, and then judge me if I fucked up the choreo , will force us to do it on repeat until it’s satisfactory

• Definitely will offer to help cook and will make incredible food which is super sweet and helpful

• Will sass the shit out of me, especially if I do something he doesn’t like or tell him no

•Dad jokes from start to finish, every 5 minutes on a loop

• Will throw RJ at me full force if I say anything to piss him off, and then be more concerned if RJ is hurt then if I am

• 100% will be the type to pull the “let me do it” for every little thing even though I’m supposed to be the one babysitting him

• If I cook will say my ramens dry and likely fake throw up, dramatic ass

• At the end of the night I will definitely end up tucking him in, while he protests that he’s a grown man and doesn’t need to be tucked in. (But the whole time he’s stuttering with red ears because he secretly loves being taken care of)

• All in all a wonderful experience, he’s already organizing a fishing trip for the summer

#bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts x reader #bts x you #bangtan smut #bts fanfic #jeon jungguk x reader #kim taehyung x reader #park jimin x reader #kim namjoon x reader #jung hoseok x reader #min yoongi x reader #kim seokjin x reader #bts drabble #bts preferences #jungkook imagine #taehyung imagine #jimin imagine #namjoon imagine #hobi imagines #yoongi imagine #jin imagine #bts fluff #bts angst #bts network #jungkook fluff #jimin fluff #taehyung fluff #ot7 imagine

[ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole]

Stop them!

Somehow got trapped into writing a prompt based fic. Here is my offering @mochegato

Prompt:

"Get back here" yelled the villain as the thief stole their knife. They turned to their nemesis. "Well? You're a hero, aren't you? Stop them!"

Pairing: Konette

Masterlist

…………………………………………

Marinette was staring at the battle over the lip of the roof, tracking the major players and a few minors. She'd spent weeks tracking down this particular miraculous. It was the final one of this particular set and she needed to get it before anyone triggered the hidden kwami.

As a particular piece of masonry flew towards her hiding space she ducked out of sight to reassess her information. Klarion seemed to be engaging the Young Justice team in battle for some reason she didn't care about. Robin and Wonder Girl were heavily distracting Teekl where Klarion was being targeted by Superboy and Impulse.

Teekl… Teekl… Tikki… Trixx…

Glancing about to check there were no witnesses she calls her sprite companions out of her bag.

"Is Teekl a kwami?"

The pair glance at each other.

"Marinette…"

A loud bang and shouts could be heard as the heroes regroup.

"Tikki, it's an easy question. Is Teekl at kwami and Klarion not actually realised this?"

"Yup! Good decoding Guardian. And don't look at me like that Tikki. She got the info without us telling her and outing them. She's observant. What are you planning on doing now Guardian? Still planning on saving Teekl?"

"Well, I have an idea but I'll need all your guys help. You in?"

The worried look versus the elated mischief she got twisted her insides. This was the missing piece though and she needed to do it. It was her kwami forsaken job to do this. With another quick glance around she explained to the pair her idea with them assisting in refining elements.

……………………

Kon and Bart dodged Klarion's temper tantrum strikes trying to capture him or at least contain him until Shazam could get here to help. Kon ignored the rant streaming from his mouth as he caught a stray flying piece of roof that came his way and dropped it to the ground so it didn't hurt any civilians. As Bart whizzed past, carefully moving stray straggling civilians from the current battlezone, Kon was drawn out of his musings by Klarion changing his tone to yell in the opposite direction to Bart.

"GET BACK HERE!!"

Turning Kon could see a feminine fox dressed figure darting away carrying what appeared to be Klarion's knife. Klarion turned to Kon, throwing him a toddler-like pouting look.

"Well? You're a hero, aren't you? Stop them!!"

Kon paused at this assessment as yes he was a hero but where did stealing from a villian sit. Which was the greater danger? Witch boy or this mysterious unknown figure. What was weird is that the figure he could see roof jumping away had no heartbeat that he could hear but going in the other direction there was a heartbeat with no body. He frowns in confusion.

"TEEKL!!!!!"

A broken sob escapes from the villain before him as Robin and Wonder Girl appear with Teekl mysteriously vanished.

"SB, chase the unknown, we'll handle it from here. Call for backup if you need it."

With Rob's commandment Kon chased after the potential illusion while paying attention to the mysterious heartbeat.

He turns a few corners to find the illusion disappearing in a puff of orange smoke. Now certain it was all a ruse Kon sped towards where the heartbeat had stopped reassured that they wouldn't be expecting him.

Floating a roof over Kon watched the mysterious fox figure. Their ears twitched in his direction in an unsettling manner, like they were really and not just part of the costume. Making them a real life furry. They stayed focused on him for a moment or two before they returned to the activity they were doing beforehand.

"I'm sorry Teekl, are you ok? You weren't hurt in the transition were you? Tikki has some cookies she can share with you until we can't get your favourite. I promise you I won't hurt you. I've got some more of your friends here too."

The fox carefully placed the stolen knife in an intricate box with reverence with other obscure items as Kon began to float closer with curiosity. He had made it to the roof when they whipped round at speed getting into a defence stance. Their belt swished like an agitated tail. Ears twitching, hand tensing and relaxing on their *flute* of all things.

What caught Kon's attention most was the storming blue eyes of the fox. They held so much emotion but told him very little. The fox was pretty. More than expected, causing him to smirk.

"Wasn't expecting to catch someone so Foxy today. I'll need that knife back though, Gorgeous."

"'Fraid not Supes. This is above your pay scale. I've been after it for a while so no take backsies."

She twirled her flute, much like Rob did with his staff, confidently.

"Look I don't want to hurt you but if I need to I will. These can't be let loose to get into the wrong hands."

"How do I know you aren't the wrong hands?"

……………………

Marinette had thought she had gotten away but had forgotten about the super hearing element of Superboy's power. Up close she could see the rippling muscles of his arms as he crossed them as he smirked at her. How dare he try to use his looks to try and distract her.

Given her original underestimation of him she wasn't planning on doing it again as she tightened her grip on her flute. She could feel Trixx's agitation growing as she felt cornered and glanced around the roof to see what she could work with. She could feel her time limit on transformation approaching after having to cast illusion and invisibility cloak at the same time with a kwami she was less intune with.

It was the phone line wires that finally brought Tikki's logic to the forefront of her mind rather than Trixx's attack approach.

"You can't but Diana Prince will vouch for me."

She returned his smirk as he seemed to take that comment by surprise allowing Marinette to feel like she'd leveled the playing field again.

"Wonder Girl hasn't mentioned you before."

"Diana isn't my mentor, Wonder Girl and I haven't met. Diana *will* vouch for me though. Ask her. Tell her you met a Lucky Bug dressed as a fox who's almost finished her task. She'll tell you to back out."

He seemed to contemplate her request before having a muttered conversation with himself. She suspected with some other supers to check out her claim. She relaxed some of her stance subtly and checked Superboy out. Despite her confident tone she knew she would struggle if it really came to a fight. He was strong. He *looked* strong with the muscles all on show with his tight outfight. He was fast with how quickly he managed to find her. And he was hot! He wore bad boy looks with ease and it was distracting however much she wished it wasn't.

His eyes weren't green, thankfully given her spotted past with men who wore that colour, but a sky like blue. He really was the temptation of the moment. It was when he husky voice spoke she felt caught, like he *knew* she had been ogling him.

"That checks out." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, causing Marinette to try to suppress her growing blush, "Seems like you safe hands for the moment but Diana has asked for you to join us back at base for a check in. Apparently *you've* been radio quiet for longer than you said you'd be."

"*Sigh* she would ask that! How long will it take for her to arrive?"

"Few hours, maybe a day Foxy. Or is it Bug? You're as cute as a Bug."

Marinette sighed, rolling her eyes as she slipped completely out of her defensive pose as she was confident he wouldn't attack. She went back to sort out the miraculous she had originally set on defending, turning her back to him.

"Kitsune in this outfit. Normally I go by Ladybug Supes."

"Errr cool. Which should I call you gorgeous?"

She could feel the exhaustion taking hold now that she was safe. She murmured her detransformation to save herself the pain of having it ripped from her.

……………………

Kon squeezed his eyes shut as a bright light flashed across the roof. When he opened his eyes again in place of Kitsune Bug was a petite dark haired beauty. Her heartbeat was the same as the hero previously but she'd basically unmasked herself, surprising him.

"Nettie."

Her face was partially obscured with a mask and she pulled her hood masking her hair more. Damn it! She was like Rob and this 'unmasking' was nothing of the sort, just an illusion of trust. Kon felt like throwing his hands in the air with frustrating with these paranoid people he was surrounded by. Instead of screaming he ran his hand through his hair and smiled at her, internally knowing that this was likely a huge level of trust given Rob as a benchmark.

"Hmmm, Nettie's nice and all but doesn't really have the same ring to it as Foxy I think."

The groaned sigh he got from her was worth it as she finished packing her items away and seemed to send them to a infinite magical portal dimension as it was crazy how much fitted in her small bag. Nettie turned to him with her blue eyes still shining, so not a mask illusion, at him.

"So, where we heading Supes. I guess technically you got me and I definitely don't want to wait for Diana up here."

He blinked at her complete acceptance to the situation and rubbed the back of his neck realising he'd not thought this far into the plan. He ought to have contacted the rest of the team while she packed rather than eye up the fellow teen before him in her tight leggings and sports bra barely covered with her open oversized hoodie.

"I'm just gonna inform the others and then take you back to base. I can carry you but I'm gonna have to blind folded you."

"Kinky! Usually wait until I've gone for at least a meal with a guy before we get that far Supes."

Kon choked up a laugh not expecting her response and grinned at her while trying to relay the situation to Rob to give and the gang a heads up.

"You hungry Cuteness? We can grab some pizzas before we head back if you want."

That had Nettie giggling lightly with amusement, any tension she still held evaporating completely as she sauntered up to him.

"Sure why not Hot Shot. Let's get some pizza and head back to yours. Also are you going to give me a name to use other than Supes? Hot shot works for the moment but it'll be nice to know whose behind the steel mask too. Especially as you've got mine."

Kon wraps his arms around Nettie pulling her close as he starts to lift them up to get them off the roof and to go get a ridiculous order of pizzas to satisfy Bart's insatiable cravings along with Rob's unusual and specific order. He smiles down at Marinette as her hands slowly move up to loop around his neck from resting on his chest.

"I quite like Hot Shot to be honest. Means you like my body and it could mean you like me."

He could hear heart pick up, whether from him picking up his flying speed or his comment, he liked to think it was the latter.

"Conner, Beautiful, I'm called Conner."

#maribat #dc x mlb #maribat au #ml x dc #mlb x dc #dc x ml #marinette x kon #kon x marinette #konette #konetto #maribat prompts #prompt based fic

[cutietobio]

HC’s for Ushijima, Bokuto, Kageyama, Nishinoya, & Kuroo with an S/O who fosters kittens / has lots of pets cats. Like sis just can’t seem to say no to an animal in need. How would they react?

Sure, anon! Hope you like it :’) I apologize for the inconsistent length, but I get more ideas for some characters than others at a time.

USHIJIMA

- He’s a dog person (confirmed by my group chat, very reliable source) so he’s used to more energetic pets. He does admit that your cats are very calming, and he finds himself smiling at the sounds of their purrs. All of your cats are drawn to him like a magnet, he doesn’t understand why and he sits with a stoic face, hands on his knees while dozens of cats are rubbing up against his legs, chest and one even found its way upon his head. He would remain as still as possible, hoping they find it comfortable up there.

- He’s not very talkative when playing with your cats, but you see the soft smile which graces his features at the funny antics of your furry friends. It’s all very calming, your favourite moments is during a rainy evening when Ushijima cuddles with you upon your couch and all your kitties join in on the love. (catch me crying in the club rn, your head is resting on his chest, legs intertwined, blanket over the both of you and your cats are scattered everywhere. One is nestled upon your feet, a few on the armrests and on top of the back while a very tiny kitten is curled up on Ushijima’s sternum, underneath his warm hand)

- He would spoil them a lot, bringing over treats and exotic-sounding food. The once he came over with cotton candy flavoured meat treats and you soon realized his obsession with strangely flavoured items. Each week he comes back with something weird and you fear that your cats won't like it but you give it to them anyway, to your surprise, they almost never turn their nose to it, and if they do, Ushijima is able to get them to eat it just by holding it out for them.

BOKUTO

- He’s surprised upon first visiting your home, only to be greeted by seemingly dozens of cats staring back at him. He lets out a sudden noise of excitement, causing all your furry friends to scatter in multiple directions. Yeah, they’re kinda scared of him and yes, Bokuto looks extremely dejected about it. The whole visit he attempts to warm up to your cats who keep a wary eye on him and pouts when none of them warms up to him. Feeling bad for him, you brought him your newest addition to your cat family which had been a tiny little kitten which you distanced from the rest. It had no power to fight back and instantly curled up into Bokuto’s chest. You swore his eyes grew misty and his smile was absolutely contagious. 

- Eventually, your cats warm up to him after his constant visits and he never fails to bring them gifts. These include treats, toys and even costumes. He buys these all unironically, he’s genuinely so excited to see what they will look like in the cute sparkly dress he bought because his heart swelled upon first seeing it. Unwilling to disappoint, you dress up one of your more tamer cats in the outfit and Bokuto is almost brought to the verge of tears at how cute they look. He’s very enthusiastic when it comes to your babies :’)

- Frequently questions when you’re considering getting your next cat. You make the mistake of asking him if he would like to tag along with you and pick out a cat to foster, you return home with four additional kittens all snugly asleep in Bokuto’s arms. (...can ya’ll imagine seeing him carrying a bunch of sleeping kittens in his muscular AF arms... I-) 

- Your love for cats is so endearing to Bokuto, he catches himself staring at you whilst you play with them, admiration gleaming within his eyes. Seeing you so gentle towards them makes his heart swell with pride at the thought that he managed to meet and date someone as loving and caring as you. He doesn’t even play his staring off as something else when you catch him and instead he openly admits what a lovely person you are. (your cat is sitting there like...human...proceed giving me attention with the delightful chase of the feather string...why do you love this owl-head anyway)

KAGEYAMA

- The only experience Kageyama has had when it comes to pets is his own fish which he sometimes forgets exists. This is proved canon by my group chat members and I. He’s pretty overwhelmed by the sheer amount of cats you have and finds himself awkwardly stroking one who comes up and rubs themselves against his legs. He looks a bit uncomfortable, not sure what to do. You help him ease up by putting your hand on top of his and guiding it over the soft fur of your cat. 

- Kageyama finds your will to help cats admirable, not that he would do something like that himself, but he can tell a lot of hard work goes into it and he thinks you’re amazing for being able to cope. Many times he finds himself willing to help you clean up or even help bathe one of your cats. His hands are full of scratches afterwards and you feel sick to your stomach with guilt, only for him to offer you a small smile of reassurance and tell you he didn't mind - it was fun, in fact, seeing as he never had the opportunity to take care of his own pet in such a way before. 

- He’s only close with one of your cats. For some reason, this cat eases him and whenever he comes over, he’s instantly greeted by the cat upon stepping through the door. The one time, you caught Kageyama falling asleep upon your bed with the cat curled up against his chest, both of them with seemingly content smiles. You managed to snag a picture and it will forever remain your profile picture because what on earth can top a sleeping Kageyama with his favourite cat snuggling on top of him. (me thinking about Kageyama cuddling with a cat.)

NISHINOYA

- Your poor cats.

- In the beginning, Nishinoya is in awe at how many cats you have. He doesn’t make an attempt to rush towards them but he definitely thinks their cute. He’s more interested in how he can entertain himself by playing with them. You show him some tricks they can do and he’s immediately hooked, oohing at every minor thing they do. 

- “Whoa! that was so cool,,” 

- “Uh..that wasn’t a trick.”

- Lowkey terrorizes your cats ngl. He’s gonna test out the theory that cats are afraid of cucumbers like he’s seen so many times on youtube and laugh his ass off when one of your cats jump nearly ten feet into the air. He records the whole thing and likely uploads it to social media. He likes to set up pranks for them. The one time you wanted to walk into the kitchen, only to find the entrance blocked off with clingwrap and all your cats sitting expectantly before it, their heads bouncing around in sync. Peering around the doorway, you find Nishinoya sipping on a milk box as he waves a toy around, holding back the snickers at how funny your cats look trying to get through.

- Overall, he thinks its really cool of you to do such a thing. Despite pulling pranks on your cats, he’s really endeared by them. Knowing how much you want to help, he often sends you posts he finds from animal shelters who are looking for foster homes. It makes you happy knowing he keeps your interests in mind when you’re away from each other.

- He’ll come over with catnip one day, saying he wants to see how high your cats can get. “Damn, pass the joint du-” *hiss* “I just want my hit, man.”

KUROO

- He’s in his element whenever he comes over to your house, your cats literally swarm around his feet upon barely taking a step inside the door. He’s their cat daddy, and you have zero say in the situation. Your cats probably like him more than you and you can’t even be mad at them tbh. Of course, you get a bit salty when your cats, which you have handpicked and rescued from a terrible fate, turn their nose to your cooing and tempting treats and instead find comfort in curling next to Kuroo who is watching youtube videos, not even making an effort to coax them into doing so.

- You have that one cat, the true OG, your loyal disciple who refuses to leave your side. They turn their head at Kuroo like he’s a walking infestation inside your house and they refuse to look at him with their nose up in the air. You don’t pick favourites, you love all your kitties equally, but you do find yourself loving that specific cat more during those moments. Kuroo doesn’t really mind, he just ruffles your hair teasingly and sarcastically comments that it’s good at least one of your cats love you. (yes, you did attack him with a pillow afterwards.)

- He truly doesn’t mind your mild obsession with cats. He loves them and they love him, with the exception of one. He doesn’t encourage you out of the blue but if you talk about potentially wanting to rescue a new cat he’s totally there to support you. This dude buys you so much cat food! You hardly need to go out and buy any, it’s like an unlimited supply. The one time he burst your front door open, carrying two bags of cat food over his shoulders whilst posing theatrically. “Come to me, my sweet children,” he says loudly over the deafening meow’s of your cats that circle his legs.

- He would likely ironically buy your cats these stupid looking costumes and dress them up with literal tears of laughter in his eyes. He lowkey makes fun of your cats and even YOU feel personally offended. But you gotta admit, he brings home really funny outfits and you feel bad for laughing at times. Kuroo is there for all the fun things, but as soon as it comes to bathing your cats or cleaning out litter boxes, he’s outta there.

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #kuroo #ushijima #kageyama #nishinoya #bokuto #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu headcanons #kuroo x reader #ushijima x reader #kageyama x reader #bokuto x reader #nishinoya x reader

[illusionlock]

romeos huge rant on comedy, horror, and how they interlap

ok, so. full disclosure, what got me to make this post was this joke post right here.

so the initial premise is funny, haha okay. yeah. oh youre a kid and your punishment at school is that you have to stay at a room full of wasps. its funny because its absurd. it couldnt happen irl. youd think it wouldnt happen irl. youd hope so.

the thing about comedy and horror though? is that they actually operate on very similar concepts.

and that is, the absurd. the uncanny valley. what youre expecting the least. what youre not seeing and not registering. jumpscares are effective if at least to get you to jump, even if they are cheap. meanwhile, jokes where they completely twist your expectations to get you to laugh do the same thing.

it may be hard for you to believe me, but in the end, the bad ending of tattletail is the other side of the same coin as a joke that goes “i swallowed a tablet with some water. everyone on the apple store was terrified of me.”

i have not read the wasp story, but i can guaranteee you, i CAN imagine it being scary, if the right tones are used and suspense is built up nicely. with the right twists and turns, knowing when to keep things quiet and when to blow things out of proportion.

OR it can end up being unintentionally hilarious, if the characters in it are way too cliche to be real and feel more like caricatures of teachers and students, if things are rushed and details lose their meaning and value, if we are just to focus on being an audience watching a kid get chased around by a swarm of wasps, instead of putting ourselves in their place.

im neglecting to mention something though. horror is not the TRUE other side of the coin to comedy. no, thats tragedy. and im sure many more people have heard of that. the two masks used in theater, one happy, the other sad.

and now we come to two very interesting modifiers. im sure youve heard of the term ‘horror comedy’ to refer to a subgenre of horror that does have jokes and silly things still happening, and may not take itself all that seriously. but why is it a specified subgenre? because MOST horror is tragedy.

this is why, despite liking many horror games or even stories, in the end i still dont consider myself someone who actually likes horror as a general genre. most horror focuses on the seriousness of the faults of humans, on our fragility, on all we can lose or are even bound to lose, on the fear that what we feel so confident about having close to us can be snatched away in a second, that our sense of reality can crumble. most horror? doesnt end well.

comedies in general tend to focus on the absurdity of life, on how many silly, strange, or even uncanny situations can happen that can challenge us, but not in a harsh way, but in a way that, despite so many bad things happening, we still get to point and laugh it off and be okay at the end of the day.

literally, all it takes for a tragedy to become a comedy, and vice versa, is a tonal shift. when i told of my idea to create this post to my boyfriend, he backed me up, and told me “the difference between horror and comedy is in the soundtrack and silly sound effects”. hes right.

of course, there are things that you should have the decency to not laugh at, still. to keep your mouth shut and know when to reject. but good comedy knows how to stray away from that, and good tragedy knows how to handle it respectfully without making it torture porn.

so, as horror hinges on tragedy, on the fear that we all know we must face in our lives, because a scream is as natural as laughter, so horror comedies are born as an interesting paradox.

a year or so ago, i got the opportunity to watch the banana splits syfy movie. i was a huge fan of the banana splits as a kid, and would often watch their reruns. those silly furries meant a lot to me. but im not stupid, i know thats a horror movie, i went in kinda knowing what to expect.

it was a gore fest, and for about two or three nights i had trouble getting to sleep. i wasnt actually scared of my childhood friends in animal costumes, as i knew how absurd and irrational my fear was, but just the images of the massacre being fresh in my mind were enough to send me into a panic if i lingered for too long, which can happen, you know, when youre about to sleep.

(TW FOR DESCRIPTION OF A MANS DEATH AND GORE, IF YOURE SQUEAMISH JUMP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH)

i think a scene that perfectly blurs the lines between comedy and tragedy, as well as just plain horror in it, is the scene where a man gets killed by being put in a magicians box and sliced in half as a ‘magic trick’ by fleegle, the dog. as he pleads for his life, and his soon to be wife watches in horror and pleads for the robot dog to stop (yeah theyre robots in this, weird), fleegle continues to slice him in half and blood spurts out, until he is dead, and fleegle just happily and proudly showcases what he has done, as if he just did a real magic trick.

(END TW FOR DEATH AND GORE DESCRIPTION)

watching that was horrifying, of course it was. but at the same time, it was what i wanted and expected when i thought about “banana splits horror movie”. fleegle just did something completely absurd and entirely uncalled for. and what doubles the uncaniness of it is that it was supposed to be something harmless, a magic trick. think about this if it was in an adult swim cartoon. the same thing could still happen, but be treated as just a weird, gross joke. fleegle could even swear, say ‘heres your fucking magic trick damnit! oh you dont like it, well i quit!’ n then throw his hat on the ground and step on it.

they are essentially the same scene, but the cartoon version of it is presented in a way that shows full on just how absurd and unexpected it is, without any seriousness to it, probably without any moody music to accompany it. meanwhile the movie one focuses on the fear, grief, and horror of putting us in the shoes of a woman who just watched the man she loved be killed, with the shots being extra impactful.

in the end, the banana splits syfy movie is a horror comedy though, because most of the movie is spent finding the most creative, absurd, borderline funny ways for people to be killed off. as you watch it along, you dont know whether to laugh at the weirdness and absurdity of the events or to genuinely feel grief and fear over the bodies piling up.

i could also just go over a million other examples available to me right now. in fact, as of the time im writing this, i have the latest vinesauce corruption stream pulled on youtube. during corruptions, the most bizarre and absurd things happen, and often times, things get scary. we see the video game characters we love be deformed and twisted in ways that you can only imagine hurt, but they still act as if thats normal! so you cant help but laugh.

earlier today, i watched a gameplay video of bonbon. its a short horror game, with a very... different antagonist. i wont spoil much, because, i dont want to deter people from buying it. but i will say, there is a reveal at the end, which slaps you in the face with the realization that you have been played for a fool all along, and the developers would probably laughing at you if they saw you after youve beat the game. its a joke, and the fear that they cultivated so lovingly, is the punchline. your fear becomes a punchline. to me thats one of the highest forms of blurring horror and comedy, and one i prefer to some more gory and harsh attempts.

and i mean, i have to mention fnaf here, dont i? its a great example too, particularly because, if you look at the games by themselves, they generally take themselves pretty seriously as horror stories, minus a few odd cases or references. but they just have enough wiggle room that, if you look at them from afar, as an audience, you can take these characters youre supposed to be afraid of, and have fun with them, because it is pretty damn absurd, and even funny at the end of the day, that youre expected to be afraid of essentially big, robotic childrens toys. and thats when many fun, fan renditions that focus on lighthearted situations pop up. vanny herself is pretty funny even! the idea of a person who dresses up in a full fursuit to do crimes is pretty hilarious.

all in all, i think i just really appreciate how horror and comedy can converse with each other and how that says something about how we, as humans, are easily made impressed, made to be surprised and shocked, to jump or to laugh. and we are always looking for that thrill, it just depends on if youre looking for laughs or screams.

so yeah, maybe ‘wasp room’ can be a pretty good story. is it a horror story or a comedy? we wont know until we read it. (also if you made it to the end reading this holy shit i love you , i fully recognize i talked way too much)

#don't be scared. i am here with you.

[mollysfoundfamily]

Could we get some Easter hc's please

Yes, yes you may sorry for the wait  Molly’s had to build those pre made Easter baskets and the shop the last few easters so she didn’t really get to do all the fun stuff so they’re gonna make this one extra special!!  Giovanni vows to be the best Easter bunny of all time for her!!! He orders one of those big fluffy Easter bunny costumes from online hoping to surprise her and reignite her childlike wonder!!!  unfortunately it’s only after it comes that he realizes he accidentally ordered a giant bunny fur suit with weird fuzzy abs and pecks by mistake. 

He scrambles as fast as he can the night before throw something together he’s cool with furries but he really didn’t wanna answer any questions about bunny anatomy

He comes up with a not as fancy but still pretty soft and cute bunny onesie and bunny face paint!! She of course knows it’s him *she would have either way* but that just makes it better!!! His hugs are extra soft and squishy and they snuggle together napping on the couch because he was up all night putting that thing together!  plus one for her too!! He knew bears were more her style but he just couldn’t pass it up!! She is the cutest little bunny baby ever!!! And they have the most adorable pics together!!  Gio was on Easter bunny duty so it’s up to indus to make Easter dinner all by himself!! And he is ready for the challenge!! this holiday is a dangerous time for mera, she had to stay as far away from  from all egg painting activities as possible!  last time she tried to do It she spent a week washing yoke out of her hair... and they were hard boiled!!! 

But she ends up helping Indus chop up veggies it’s not the same  but it was still great to spend time together just the too of them and make some holiday  memories  sylvie thinks he’s a little too old for the kiddy Easter stuff until Molly and the others drag him to the park for the big Easter egg hunt and like always make him have fun. Trixie and Feenie are there too Feenie’s got an Easter bonnet and bunny dress and immediately hugged bunny Molly and Gio.  Easter is Feenie’s favorite day of the year. 

At some point he makes a couple of sheep to help look for more eggs and some little kids come up and ask if the can pet them... next thing you know half the park is caught up in a giant sheep petting zoo leaving Molly, Trixie, and Gio to find all the eggs they want!! *Feenie was busy is a sheep pile*

Percy was actually volunteered to chaperone the whole thing and got Ramsey to do it to! No better way to spend a holiday then to keep children safe while enjoying  their sweet playful innocent shielded from the corruption of the world. She was so exited she even wore bunny bow tie instead of her regular one for the occasion!  Ramsey was stationed on the other side of the park away from the others and was board out of his mind, yet another lonely holiday for old Ramsey Murdoch... until he noticed some girls harassing a bunch of littler kids and stealing their eggs.

He immediately stepped in because it’s not cool to steal from someone weaker than you and scared them off by tricking them into thinking he was the Easter Rat!!! come to punishes bad children on Easter with rotten eggs and melted chocolate *an Easter Krampus is you will* 

The kids all thanked the Easter rat by giving him some of their eggs and big hugs!!!! so it was a pretty good holiday after all! 

It wasn’t until the end of the day they finally saw Zora they were a bit confused they would have thought egg hunting would be right up her ally... Percy even thought she was going to have to spend the whole day chasing her down to give the other kids a chance! 

Which is specifically why Zora didn’t show up to this egg hunt because she knew it was the one they where going to and didn’t wanna ruin it for them... but that also ment that there was no one to stop her from hitting every other egg hunt in the city. 

When they get home there is and egg pile bigger than the house in the backyard. 

#Epithet Erased #Headcannon #Epithet Erased Headcannon #Easter #sorry this is so long and late #Molly Blyndeff #Giovanni Potage #Indus Tarbella #Mera Salamin #Percival King #Ramsey Murdoch #Zora Salazar

[vera-simik]

Digging up some old graves, pt. 1

😅 OK, so when I said I’m going to show you some of my art from 2011-2014/15? I lied... kinda. 

It’s because I found something EVEN OLDER  😄

Brace yourselves, “artistic archaeology” is coming”:

#1 A Golden Cat (2004)

Cat goddess, maybe? I don’t really know what that “aura” (??) is supposed to mean  😅 But look at it, she even has a water bowl  😄

#2 A Mermaid (2004)

My 7 y.o. self was obsessed with The Little Mermaid series, what more can I say?

#3 W.I.T.C.H. - Taranee (2006/7?)

Another old obsession... I wanted to learn how to draw these girls so much...

#4 THE Lemur (2009)

Mom went with me to the ZOO in Prague, and they had an “open” lemur pen. This guy here was chilling at the bench and I couldn’t take my eyes off him, so mom took a photo & I later did this:

#5 Lorraine (2009)

Short time after our visit in the ZOO Prague, mom took me to see the CZ musical Dracula, the first musical I’ve ever been to. I fell in love with it & been browsing through the programme for a long time afterwards, ‘cause there were amazing photos of costumes. So here’s Lorraine, one of the main characters.

#6 (I don’t wanna call this “furry art”, but I guess I have to?) (2009)

I was drawing this “catwoman” character a lot. To my defence, I didn’t know what “furry art” was back then  😅 I think her name was Cobra...? Or something like that...

#7 “Spring 2009″

This is NOT the same character as above! They were just kinda similar...  😅  

#8 “Manga Mania Occult And Horror”, page 62 (2009/10)

Yeah, another victim of these “Learn How To Draw” books by Christopher Hart  😅 (starring: Blackie Lesley-Ibarra, my OC)

#9 An Orange Cloak (2007/8)

I already made a redraw of this in 2018, although I don’t remember if I posted it here...

and finally...

#10 “HEEEELP! THE TREE IS CHASING ME!” (2006/7?)

Yes, it is a skiing chinchilla. Yes, the tree has a snowboard. And a knife. And an axe. Yes, I refuse to explain it deeper. Yes, I was a pretty weird kiddo  😅

I’ve got A LOT MORE of these “treasures”, so if you had fun, I’ll post some other bits later  😄

#my art #digging up some old graves #part one #my ocs #oh my... #i just 'socially awkwarded' myself to hell #didn't i? 😅 #bonding over old art

[thorongil82]

Forgotten But Not Gone

Fandom: Pokémon

Chapter: 1/?

Chapter Word Count: 5,631

Can also be read on FFN and AO3

Summary: Ten years have passed since Ash disappeared from Pallet Town, with none of his companions and rivals knowing to where he vanished to. Now, the Pokémon Masters League, an event held every 20 years, is on once again, to find the strongest trainer in the world. Hosted in the Seishi region, who will be selected to compete in such a prestigious tournament? Will the event go ahead without a hitch, in a region still feeling the effects of the ravages of war? And will a certain young trainer resurface from the void to face what has happened?

--------------

AN: So, here’s the story I mentioned in my update. 

Decided to try my hand at one of those 'Ash disappears for x amount of time and returns for a tournament' stories, with a bit of a twist to both that and the 'Ash betrayed' concepts. It's not my first Pokémon story, though technically all that's been uploaded of the other is a prologue (over on FFN), so … more or less a new endeavour.

Now, to give a quick little bit of info, the events of this story start 10 years after the end of Ash's journey in Kalos, which is where this'll deviate from canon. We are starting from that 10 years later point, and I'll be drawing back to the events in that 10 year gap throughout, whether just as an allusion or an explanation, or as a flashback. I'll explain what happens with his Alolan journeys in the story too.

I'll have a bit more to say afterwards, so, please enjoy!

-----------------

Chapter 1 - The Frontier Is Set

The Seishi region; a land that had been ravaged by constant battles and war several years ago. Yet now, they stood in a shaky time of peace. A peace where, though the battling had come to a standstill for a few years, the people are still left recovering from their ordeals. But now, a new set of battles seem poised to engulf the region …

-----------------

The brightly lit stadium at the base of Mt Daybreak illuminates the surrounding buildings and landscape, with multiple coloured beams of light shining up into the night sky. Inside, many people are excitedly chatting with one another as they shuffle their way throughout the areas, collecting tickets, food, merchandise, or simply talking about who they believe will win tonight's oncoming battle. 

Through this bustling crowd walks a group of five people. Leading at the front is a rather rotund man, clad in an aqua shirt with white Pokéballs and floral patterns typical of an Alolan design. Hanging from his neck is a pristine red Pokénav, folded down and compartmentalised, though not as shiny as his tinted sunglasses. A big grin is plastered on his face as he takes in the many people.

“Looks like we've arrived on fight night,” he grins, nodding in approval at all the spectators as a couple of kids dressed up in costumes – a girl in a small suit of flimsy fabric armour and a boy with wings on his back – dash in front of the group chasing after one another.

“Seems like it,” says one of the men behind him. Despite the slight wrinkles starting to grow on due to age, his yellow hair still stands wild, while he also wears a long sage green trenchcoat , a white turtleneck underneath and a pair of brown trousers. “Think there's any chance we can join in?”

“NO!” bellows the other man beside him, causing some people around the group to jump and glace at them. Meanwhile, the former just smirks unfazed as he grabs at his gloves and tightens them. “We are not here to battle with the locals, Palmer. We are here on business.”

“Aw, come on, Brandon,” Palmer says, looking towards the loud gentleman, adorned in a big buttoned cider green jacket and matching trousers, with thick brown hair with a few strands of grey threading through. “We're here as Frontier Brains. Surely if it's a tournament, we can just register and compete as well. We are supposed to be on the look out for strong trainers to challenge our branches wherever we go. Right, Scott?”

“Well, we shouldn't have too much trouble finding strong trainers here,” the round man leading the group chuckles. “Seishi's league has built up a reputation in its short lifespan for being strong. The gym leaders are known for being tough as nails, and the Elite Four even moreso. But, I don't think that tonight's battle is one you'll be able to join in on.”

“Come on, Scott,” Palmer groans. “It'll be fine if we take care of this business quickly, right? Then we've got all the time in the world to battle.”

“Those boys and their battles,” a woman sighs, trailing behind her companions as they continue bickering. The tallest in the group, she's donned in an outfit reminiscent of a Seviper, consisting of a purple halter neck crop top that shows off her slender figure, with long purple gloves on each hand, long black pants with a golden diamond pattern around her waist, and her long jet black hair cascading down her back, save for the red lowlights in the sides down her front.

She then turns back to the last member of their group. Another woman, her long shiny lilac hair is tied up at the base of her neck with a black ribbon before billowing out down her back to her waist. She wears a slim black blazer and matching tie, with a formal white shirt underneath, with skinny pants, shoes and gloves matching the rest of her jet black clothing. The woman is glancing around, her eyes quickly moving from one person to the next, as does those of the Espeon walking beside her, occasionally brushing her tail up against the woman's legs.

“Are you alright, Anabel?” the tall woman questions, dropping back slightly to walk beside her companion.

Anabel gives her a small nod in response, still keeping her eyes focused on the people around them.

“Epee?” calls up the Espeon at her feet, looking up at Anabel.

“I'm fine, really,” she reassures her Pokémon, all the while as a gloved hand slowly reaches into a pocket in her blazer. “Just a little anxious around this many people.”

Espeon lets out a purr and brushes herself against Anabel's legs, getting a small smile to cross her trainer's face, as her companion glances around, taking in the people who were getting more and more interested in their group. Though most of that was to do with the constant groans and insisting coming from Palmer, and the occasional bellowing denial from Brandon, the two women were also picking up some of the curious gazes due to them being part of the same group.

“Yeah, there's too many eyes on us,” she sighs, closing her eyes while clenching her hand into a fist. “If only Palmer could think of anything other than battling.”

She looks over to see Anabel give a short nod as she takes her hand out of her pocket and brings out three metallic balls, before holding the arm by her side and dropping the balls. They start to drop, only to hover in mid-air in a straight vertical line.

“Are you sure you're okay?”

“Yeah, Lucy,” she nods as the balls start slowly moving in small circular motions as her fingers individually curl and flex.

The group continue moving on until they reach a desk with a few people standing behind it, while a couple of others quickly move away. One, a man with slicked back ashen brown hair and buzzed sides, catches Scott's eye as the group approaches.

“Hi, can I help you?”

“Yes, my name is Scott, and these are Palmer, Brandon, Lucy and Anabel,” he replies, gesturing to each person as he says their names, them giving a polite nod as they are introduced, before reaching inside his shirt and pulling out a document. “We were invited here by the champion for a certain meetup.”

The attendant nods as he takes the papers and quickly looks over them, before looking back up at the group.

“Of course. If you'll all follow me?” he says, getting up from his seat, quickly leaning in to whisper something to another attendant at the desk before walking off, leading the group over to a side door and through.

The group are lead up into a lift and then through a few winding corridors until they are brought before a large door.

“Please wait in here,” the attendant says as he opens the door for them. “Someone will be with you shortly.”

He gives them a short bow and walks away, leaving the group of five to walk in.

Inside is a large room that looks a little like a repurposed conference room, with a few couches spread around the sides of the room along with several chairs set up around the room. A few tables had been pushed together in the middle, with different bowls of snacks and glasses for drinks sitting atop. Positioned at the far corner of the right wall of the room from where they came in was another door, with a tinted window stretching out along the wall, while directly opposite was a third door that seemed to lead out to a viewing box for the stadium. Finally, hanging on the wall opposite the entering group of Frontier Brains is a muted TV broadcasting someone, with a round face, a flat cap on top, and four weird spiny growths growing from their cheeks, giving their analysis of the battle to come, with another couch sitting underneath.

Also, sitting around the room are seven people. The first, a woman sitting on her own with long blonde hair stretching down her back and covering her left eye, draped in a long black cloak with jet black furry cuffs and trims, a tear drop shaped ornament hanging from the base of the v-neck, a black shirt underneath, and black formal pants. She is sitting on a couch happily licking a double scoop ice cream cone and ignoring the constant flirtations of the second, a man with red and brown hair fanned out in a spiky mane, wearing a tanned poncho-style cloak with a large collared black shirt, white pants and a chain of Pokéballs hanging round his neck. The third and fourth, a man with spiked scarlet hair and dressed in a navy blue tunic with blood orange trims and black cuffs, with matching pants and a long charcoal black cape draped over his shoulders, sitting on a couch talking to an old man with a long white bushy beard and long frizzy hair, wearing a crimson vest with a light and dark blue stripe across the middle, and a pair of khaki shorts.

The fifth, a man with teal blue hair, adorned in a white beret and cape, a teal shirt with white sleeves, and purple pants, leans up against a wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed, softly humming to himself. The sixth, a woman with a light brown star-like hair design, wearing an all white outfit consisting of a long sleeved blazer with golden trims scattered throughout with two lacy wing-like bulges sticking out of the back, a pair of short shorts, and a choker from which dangles a golden swan-shaped necklace encompassing a dazzling stone, closes her violet shadowed eyes as the seventh, another woman with pine green hair and red rimmed glasses wearing a grey suit, a white shirt underneath tied off with a thin cherry ribbon tying it off, continues to talk as she gestures to the leather-bound book in her hands. All heads swivel round to the group of five as they enter, as Scott gives them all a small wave, before a few return to what they were doing beforehand, if they were doing something in particular in the first place. With a nod to the rest of his group, Scott walks over to the scarlet haired man and the bushy bearded old man, leaving the others to their devices.

“Ah, Palmer, I take it you've been training hard since our last match?” the blonde haired woman says, looking past the man with the spiky mane.

“Of course, Cynthia,” Palmer replies, walking over to the two. “I wouldn't hesitate to challenge you to another battle. Even here and now if it would take your fancy?”

Both Brandon and Lucy sigh at Palmer's challenge as The Tower Tycoon integrates himself into the conversation with Cynthia and the Unova Champion, Alder. Brandon then heads over to join in with Scott, the joint Kanto and Johto Champion Lance, and the head of the Pokémon League, Mr Goodshow. Anabel moves over to an empty chair and sits herself down, giving her Espeon a pat with her left hand as she jumps up into the Salon Maiden's lap, while using the right to keep the three metallic balls orbiting round through the air beside her. Finally, Lucy takes up a space nearby by an empty space on the wall, keeping an eye on the room and on Anabel.

After a few moments, the door by the tinted window opens up. First through is a giant hulk of a man, large in bulk and height. His arms are as thick as tree trunks, with winding braided and rune covered tattoos weaving along each arm, while wearing a sage green jumper with rolled up sleeves, thick brown gloves on each hand, and beige overalls sitting across his chest and legs. Sitting around his forehead is a thin golden band, while his golden hair with strands of grey is slicked back, along with his neatly brushed golden beard.

The second through is a young looking woman with tanned skin and shiny silver hair tied up into a ponytail. Wearing a thin white crop top and short jeans with an aqua blue sarong wrapped around her waist, she bounces in with a smile, looking around the room. Her eyes seem to light up even more as she spots Anabel, though, when she notices the lack of recognition from the Salon Maiden, it returns to the still energetic beam from before, as she leaps over the arm rest of the couch underneath the TV and lands at the same time as the giant before her.

The third and final through, as he shuts the door behind him, is a man with dark brown skin and braided chocolate brown hair, wearing a loose sky blue t-shirt over a skintight black undershirt and baggy black tracksuit pants. He takes his place between the two that came in before him, though he remains standing up.

“I'm sorry for the wait,” the man says with a short bow. “On behalf of the Seishi Pokémon League, I welcome all of you to our home. If I may begin the introductions, the man to my right is Sheamus, one of our Elite Four members.”

He gestures to the large burly man, who gives a nod and a grin as he raises his hand in greeting.

“To my left is Hikaru, another of our Elite Four members,” he replies, gesturing to the young woman on his other side who gives everyone a big wave and flashes a large shiny smile.”

“Hiya! How're you doing?!” she beams.

“And I'm Raphael, Leader of the Elite Four and Former Champion of Seishi,” he finishes with a bow. “Should we proceed with the other introductions, or are the rest of you acquainted?”

“Oh please, allow me,” Scott says as he stands up. “If you fine folk are not aware, I'm Scott, the head of the Battle Frontier. The people I came in with are the Tower Tycoon Palmer, from our Sinnoh branch, along with the Pike Queen Lucy, Salon Maiden Anabel, and Pyramid King Brandon, all from our Kanto branch.”

Each of the Frontier Brains gives a short nod and a wave as they are mentioned, before Scott continues on with his speech.

“I would have brought someone from our Johto branch as well if I could, but I'm afraid they were all busy with challengers,” Scott chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “As for the rest, beside me is the head of the Pokémon League, Mr Charles Goodshow, and the joint Kanto and Johto Champion, Lance.”

Both give a polite nod, letting Scott get on with the introductions.

“Over by our battling veteran Palmer is the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, and the Champion of Unova, Alder.”

Alder gives a chuckle and a wave, while Cynthia gives a kind nod before returning to her ice cream.

“Continuing on, leaning against the wall over there is the recently recrowned Hoenn Champion and Top Coordinator, Wallace.”

“Guilty as charged,” Wallace says with a smile.

“And last, but certainly not least, the duo sitting over there is the Kalos Champion and superstar of the big screen, Diantha, along with, if what I've heard is correct, her manager, Kathi Lee.”

“Yes, that's correct,” Kathi Lee confirms as she snaps her book shut, while Diantha gives a simple smile to the rest of the room.

“Now, unless anyone has anyone else to say, I'll pass over to Mr Goodshow to explain why we're here.”

“If I may,” Alder interjects as Scott finishes, leaving the many powerful trainers in the room to look over at him, “I believe we were all summoned here by the word of Seishi's Champion. So, with all due respect, why is he not here to meet with us?”

“Ah, yes, well, that was initially the plan,” Raphael begins.

“However, the plans seem to have changed a bit thanks to tonight's battle,” Sheamus continues with a low, gruff voice.

“Is tonight's battle a title match?” Wallace questions, pushing himself off the wall and standing upright.

“No, it's a battle with our absent Elite Four member,” Hikaru explains. “It just so happens that he's giving her a hand with some last minute battle preparations.”

“Our hope was that he would still be ready to discuss terms with the rest of you, but it seems like they're taking longer than expected,” Raphael continues as he takes a seat between his fellow Elite Four members. “And besides, I tend to be the one who is more involved with any administrative work anyway, so it's not too big of a loss.”

“Alright then,” Wallace concedes. “Mr Goodshow?”

“Thank you,” Mr Goodshow says as he stands up, though is cut off as Lance holds up a hand to cut him off.

“I'm sorry, Mr Goodshow, but if you'll excuse me, I'm wondering why Scott decided to bring four Frontier Brains along with him for our talks,” the Dragon Master cuts in, looking towards the slightly rotund individual.

“Well, as I said I was hoping to have a member from each branch here, to make sure whatever concerns they had, if there were any, were taken care of,” Scott explains. “As it were, there was another reason for us to come.”

“Yes, I'd heard from our Champion that you were hoping to open a Battle Frontier branch here in Seishi,” Raphael responds. “I take it you were hoping to find strong candidates through this upcoming tournament to take the place of the Frontier Brains here?”

“Indeed I was,” Scott chuckles in good nature.

“Perhaps we should explain that the people here aren't that fond of outsiders,” Sheamus points out. “Particularly if they feel they cannot trust them.”

“I have been made aware of that, both by Brandon and others who have travelled here,” Scott responds. “That's why I was hoping to build it out of people local to the region, to keep the trust of the people. At the absolute most, your Champion and I were discussing the possibility of transferring one of our Kanto branch over to help set it up, and potentially be the final challenge.”

“You were?” Lucy pipes up, the three present Kanto Frontier Brains looking over to Scott in surprise.

“Indeed,” Scott confirms. “In truth, we were going to pick between one of the three I brought here, if it was needed. Though, admittedly, there were some complications with each of you.”

“Such as?”

“Well, Brandon still wants to continue on with his research into the many ruins around the world. It would be a bit difficult to set up a new branch around a man who may not be there for a decent amount of the time.”

“That is true,” Brandon concedes.

“As for you, I'm well aware that you aren't too comfortable around a lot of new people, despite how you like to hold yourself,” Scott continues, getting a slight blush from Lucy as she turns her head away. “I'm sure you'd come if I'd ask you to, but you'd probably prefer to stay at the Battle Pike right now.  Lucy doesn't give much of a response other than a short hum, keeping her head turned away to try and hide the slight blush dusting her cheeks.

“Now, Spencer was also an option, but he is starting to get on in his age, though you better not tell him I said that,” Scott finishes with a laugh. “I believe it'd be a bit rough asking him to move over if he's not wanting to, or able to, keep competing in a few years time.”

“So, that leaves Anabel,” Scott concludes, with the many eyes in the room turning towards the Salon Maiden. “Had it been quite a few years earlier, I don't think there would be any question about her capability in fronting a branch here. But, as some of you know, there are some … hurdles that still need dealing with.”

Despite the number of eyes on her, Anabel shows no sign that she heard anything that Scott had said about her, instead focusing purely giving her Espeon some scratches underneath her chin, getting a delighted purr from the Sun Pokémon while still absentmindedly spinning the three metallic balls above her gloved right hand.

“But, perhaps that conversation should be continued with the presence of the Champion,” Scott concedes, turning back to the others. “So, are there any other questions?”

No one else raises any objections, leaving Scott to turn towards Mr Goodshow.

“Well, then, Charles, if you would?”

“Thank you, Scott,” the elderly man says as he stands upright. “And thank you to the rest of you for turning up.”

“Now, as you all know, we are here to discuss terms for the Pokémon Masters League coming up in a few months. Seishi is intended to be the hosts, and for the most part the preparations will be organised between us in the Pokémon League and Seishi region authorities, along with the Wallace Cup that's to be held.”

“Yeah!” cheers Hikaru as she leaps up from her seat. “I'll be working alongside Wallace to take care of that, if that's okay with you?”

“Of course,” Wallace says with a simple nod of his head. “I'd be glad to work alongside a fellow Top Coordinator to bring this prestigious contest to life here.”

“Awesome! We're going to make this the greatest contest ever!”

“As for the rest of you, you are brought in to make sure that the conditions work with the expectations of your own League members,” Charles continues on. “Each region will take care of nominating the participants coming from their own regions. If there's someone else from another region that you believe should be a part of the competition, then that's up to you to negotiate with their corresponding region.”

“I'm guessing that, because no one from Galar is here, that you weren't able to come to terms with them?” Cynthia pipes up.

“No, I'm afraid not,” Mr Goodshow answers says with the shake of his head. “Unfortunately, Chairman Rose refused to budge on his insistence of having portable Power Spots built here in Seishi to accommodate the Dynamax phenomenon that's prevalent in Galar. As it was, the professors and scientists here opposed the decision, as they can't say what kind of effect the energy dispersed from such an energy source could have on the surrounding area.”

“Especially as they aren't too sure what the continuous effects are of the energy the land gives off anyway,” Raphael adds on. “One of our Gym Leaders is leading the research into the full effects, along with our own Pokémon Professor.”

“Wouldn't that make Seishi a dangerous place to hold the World Championships, then?” Wallace inquires.

“As far as we can tell, it doesn't seem to have any major affects on either people or Pokémon, beyond expanding the move limit a Pokémon has from four to eight,” Raphael explains.

“It also appears to make the local flora blossom at a quicker rate, and at greater levels than other regions,” Sheamus adds on. “Of course, that is purely speculation based off of my own experiences in the field.”

As the talks continue on, Anabel starts to tune the others out as she keeps her focus on her Espeon, continuing to scratch her under her chin while also floating the balls above her hand. She keeps this up for a few moments, the noise of the others' conversations fading away into the void of her mind, before a small spike seems to emanate from her mind.

'… Anabel …' a soft male voice reverberates through her head, causing her to grimace as she grabs at her temple with the hand that was rubbing Espeon. The floating balls falter in mid-air, the wider arcs tightening up as they begin to spiral back into a vertical line.

“Anabel?” a different soft voice comes from outside, as Lucy suddenly places a hand on Anabel's shoulder, also getting the attention of Brandon and Scott. “What's wrong?”

'… I'm sorry ...'

“I ...” Anabel gasps, before whimpering as her head is racked with a sudden severe pain, coursing through her brain like an intense thunderstorm constantly striking her over and over with lightning bolts.

The metallic balls floating above her hand seem to shake in the single line that they currently hold, before, with another sharp gasp of pain, they shoot off quickly in different directions, a few of the others in the room quickly diving to the ground as they hurtle away.

“Espee? Pee! Espee!” Espeon cries out, her front paws pressing up against her trainer's waist. Her cries fail to get through, though, with Anabel crouching over and placing her other hand on her temple, as the sharp jolting pain continues to surge through her brain.

“Anabel?!” Lucy calls out as she crouches next to her fellow Frontier Brain, gripping onto her shoulders with both her hands. Ripples of energy start to emanate out from the Salon Maiden, as the pulses shake and vibrate the air and ground. “Talk to me.”

“I-I … I … Ah!” Anabel manages to sputter out before another wave of pain crashes through her. In a flash of light from Anabel's belt, a Pokéball pops open with a shiny sparkle, revealing a Gardevoir of an abnormal colour; with aqua blue skin where there would normally be green and orange where there would be red.

“Gardevoir?!” Gardevoir cries out as it appears, before quickly taking its place beside Lucy, placing her hands upon her trainer's temple, the lithe limbs delicately sliding underneath the gloved hands of Anabel. “Gar? Gardevoir?!”

“It just started happening again,” Lucy explains desperately, while all she receives from the Salon Maiden is a shaky nod. Gardevoir then closes her eyes and starts to hum, as a circle of light pink energy radiates out from her.

“It's using Heal Pulse,” Diantha observes as the glowing energy created by the Embrace Pokémon starts to wash over Anabel. Her pained whimpers and gasps quickly fade away as the healing power takes hold, the pulsating pink light slowly fading away. With the last of the energy dispersing, Anabel straightens back up, a small smile on her face as a hand reaches up to cradle one of Gardevoir's.

“Thank you, my friend,” she whispers.

“Voir,” Gardevoir nods, standing upright before gliding behind her trainer. Anabel reaches down to scratch Espeon's ears as the shiny Gardevoir rests her head atop the Salon Maiden's and wraps her arms around her from behind, gaining a slight squeeze from Anabel.

“I'm alright now,” she says, albeit a little shakily, moreso to her Pokémon than to anyone else. However, as she finishes giving both Pokémon a gentle squeeze and scratch, her eyes drop down to meet Lucy's, who's still looking up at her with a worried expression.

“Are you sure?” she presses, ignoring the other eyes on them as she gets a nod from the trainer, along with an affirmative confirmation from both Espeon and Gardevoir. “Do you know what triggered it this time?”

Anabel takes in a deep breath and closes her eyes, before quickly opening them and sharply gazing over towards the tinted window.

“There's someone behind there,” she declares, causing the others to look over to the same place.

With a sigh, Raphael stands up and says, “If you'll excuse me for a moment,” before heading walking across and through the door by the window.

“Is there a problem?” Cynthia puts to the two remaining Elites as the door clicks shut behind Raphael.

“No, not at all,” Sheamus replies with a boisterous laugh. “If I had to guess, I'd say our Champion has finally arrived.”

“I guess Jeanne's preparations are done,” Hikaru muses, shuffling her body round so she is sitting with her back against the seat of the couch and her legs resting on the back.

“Was that the hurdle you were talking about?” Lance quietly asks Scott, leaning over as they keep an eye on Anabel.

“That's part of it,” Scott admits, shifting his legs back flat against the chair to get out of the way of Espeon, having jumped down off of Anabel's lap to collect up the balls that had been sent flying around the room.

“Part of it?” Lance repeats, hoping to press for more, only to be left without an answer as the door opens up again. All eyes in the room head over to the entrance as Raphael walks back in, followed closely behind by another individual.

The person accompanying Raphael has wild shoulder length hair that spikes out at random angles, with a large bang that covers the left side of his face. The right side is partially covered by a wide-brimmed hat tilted down over it, obscuring the eye while still showing off some of the scars, gashes and burns spread across his right cheek and jawline. Draped over his shoulders is a midnight black cloak with a small golden outline, closed up over his chest and stretching down to his knees. Peaking out underneath the cloak is a worn and slightly ripped pair of navy blue pants.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present our Champion, Aaron,” Raphael introduces, who wordlessly greets the room with a tip of his hat with his right hand, revealing a seemingly sleeveless arm and a fingerless glove with a small round cerulean gem embedded into the back. Anabel almost swears she sees his head shift slightly in her direction while he had his hat tipped, only for it to return upright in the blink of an eye.

“Jeanne's all ready to go?” Sheamus asks, getting another silent response as the Champion nods.

“Well, it is nearly time for the battle to start,” Raphael muses aloud while glancing over to the TV screen, the camera image having switched to the battlefield as the noise of the crowd outside starts to pick up. “Seeing as we've pretty much taken care of everything we need to, why don't you all stick around and watch the battle? There's a private viewing box through that door that we Elites tend to use for challenges here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alder accepts, along with the Frontier Brains and Champions, save for Diantha who glances towards her manager. “I guess it can fit in our schedule,” Kathi Lee says after a short beat, having looked through her journal. “But we're leaving if it starts to take too long. You need to get back for a shoot in Lumiose City tomorrow.”

Diantha lets out a little giggle as she gets up, along with the others, and they start to make their way over to the door, with Sheamus opening the door for them. Both Alder and Palmer dart over to the tables to grab some food, both getting a bowl of different flavoured chips, while Lucy grabs a cup of tea for both her and Anabel. Diantha also skips back over to the table and cuts herself a big slice of the chocolate cake sitting there, much to the dismay of her manager, before being joined by Cynthia.

“You guys go ahead,” Scott says, mainly addressing his Frontier Brains as he and Mr Goodshow move over towards Aaron and Raphael instead.

“We've still got a few more details to go over with our host here,” Mr Goodshow explains.

The others all nod as they walk on through. Anabel lags behind at the door, as does Lucy who is keeping an eye on the Salon Maiden, as she pulls out a Pokéball, enlarges it, and starts to aim it at her Gardevoir, only to stop as Gardevoir shakes its head.

“You want to stay out?”

“Voir,” Gardevoir answers with a nod.

“Okay,” she concedes, before minimising the ball and placing it back on her waist.

“Espee,” Espeon pipes up as she comes over, eyes gleaming in a pale blue light as the three metallic balls that were scattered earlier float back up to Anabel, each outlined in the same blue light.

“Thank you, Espeon,” Anabel says with a small smile, taking the balls and pocketing them inside her blazer. As she does, she glances back over her shoulder, spotting Aaron expressionlessly looking in her direction along with Raphael and Scott, the latter giving her a smile and a nod, while Mr Goodshow seems to be caught up on the footage on screen.

'You were the one in my head, right?' Anabel contemplates as her eyes seem to catch with Aaron's, barely seeing his left through the thicket of hair obstructing it. There almost seems to be a slight shimmer flickering in that eye, as their gazes lock onto each other's.

'Why? What do you-?'

“Anabel?” Lucy speaks up, breaking the Salon Maiden out of her thoughts.

With a shake of her head, she lets out a breath before walking out into the spectator box, accepting Lucy's offered cup of tea with a short thanks as they pass through together, with Hikaru the last to leave, sliding the door shut behind her. With that door shut, the door by the window opens back up, with a Pikachu swinging in by the handle. Dropping down, the yellow Mouse Pokémon darts across the floor before climbing up Aaron's back, sitting up on his right shoulder.

“Pika pi,” Pikachu sadly says, his ears drooping down as he glances to the Champion. “Pikachu?”

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Aaron softly answers, giving his partner a nod and a short pat between his ears.

“Pika …”

“Couldn't help yourself, eh Champ?” Raphael sighs.

“She hasn't …?” Aaron inquires, directing it towards Scott.

“No,” he replies with a shake of his head. “Anabel still hasn't regained her memories.”

--------------

AN: Well, I wonder who that could be …

So, yeah, part of why I was wanting to write this story was to play around a bit with the concept of Anabel having amnesia, which was brought in in S&M. With some differences, of course. 

Now, the next chapter was going to be people - particularly Ash's former companions - finding out if they've been invited to compete in the tournament. That'll still be a chapter, but maybe not the next depending on what you guys want. I'm giving you all the option as to if you want the planned next chapter to be next, or if you'd rather read the battle between the challenger and the other Elite Four member, Jeanne. The challenger was initially going to be between 3 people, but now down to 2. Alder was one of my options, but I decided against it. Otherwise, there would have been a different champion representing Unova. 1 guess as to who that is. So, by all means let me know if you've got a preference. 

Also, please feel free to let me know what you think so far. Thoughts, feedback, analysis, predictions, suggestions, all are welcome. I'm happy for people to suggest OCs for contenders in the tournament - I can't promise that they'll last - or even if there's a particular ship you want to see. I make no promises it'll be there, and I'm not budging on 2 ships that will be happening in the story. Beyond that, anything could happen.

I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Obviously that'll depend on what's coming next, so, until then, adios!

#pokemon #fanfiction #fanfic #ash ketchum #pokemon fanfic #my writing #forgotten but not gone #anabel #lila #satoshi #pikachu #battle frontier #abilityshipping

[etlunainmorte]

❄ Three Wishes ❄

***

***

"This,... is no time to be joking around." V was suddenly wide - eyed upon hearing Griffon's statement.

V seriously has no idea what turned him into that of all things in the first place. All he knew was that Avery and Roman were planning for something truly special for the kids in the neighborhood of Swan Lane for Halloween. Ideas were discussed, plans were formulated, even some weird props were bought from the local store.

What happened next was easily the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to the poor, clueless poet.

And that was almost seven weeks ago.

Despite that, V would still cringe from time to time whenever someone reminded him of that. But, it doesn't matter. All he knew was that, in spite of wearing heavy makeup and some form of unspeakable costume, you were there.

You were there.

And he could still remember the moments and every bit of conversation he had with you that day.

It all started when Avery and Roman transformed their mansion into a haunted mansion. Not only that, everyone he knew was commissioned ( not asked or invited ) to show up on that day in their most impressive Halloween costumes. Kyrie and Nero, being the two biggest suckers in the world when it comes to children, graciously accepted, and made costumes of their own. Dante, whose water and electric bills were due on the first of November, reluctantly accepted, and declared that he made a costume that would end all costumes. Nico also answered, and her participation involved effects such as different colored - spot lights, creepy sound effects, and a fog machine. Even Shadow and Griffon were given roles of their own.

And V? Let's just say he has no other choice but to go along with Nico's idea, since he didn't have enough time to buy or make a costume of his own ( unlike Dante, who chose to lie around the shop all day, the poet accepted jobs left and right, even though it pushed him to his limit most of the time ).

They had one job: to scare the children who dared enter the mansion and give rewards to those who could make it to the last room.

And Nico, being Nico, invited you of all people.

"This,... is no time to be joking around." V was suddenly wide - eyed upon hearing Griffon's statement.

"I'm serious here, V! She's already skulkin' 'round the courtyard." Griffon declared, his eyes were as wide as V's. "She'll be here within a few moments!"

Meanwhile, as you walked cautiously about the courtyard that was cutely decorated with skeletons, scarecrows, and graveyards, you felt someone stalking you from behind. You couldn't help but giggle, fully expecting something to jump out of the bushes and try to scare you.

And a few seconds later, as expected, something did jump, not from the bushes, but from one of the Styrofoam tombs. It was brown, it was furry, it has frightening claws, it has yellow eyes,...

... and it was wearing a pair of Fortuna University jerseys with the numbers 007 in it.

"Huh?" The werewolf thing mumbled as he scratched his head in confusion. "Were you even scared?"

"Umm, what are you supposed to be?" You asked the Wolf - man with an apologetic smile.

Nero was able to smile despite the few pounds of makeup and prosthetics on his face and flexed before you, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. "I'm Bond. James Bond. Teen Wolf Bond, actually."

"Oh. Okay,..." you nodded. Not wanting to disappoint the young Devil Hunter, you added, "Oh, but, hey! That's a very creative costume!"

"I made it with Kyrie. The idea is mine."

"Well,... I like your creativity. Good job!"

"You do? Hehe, thanks!" If Nero could wag the fake tail that was attached to his bottom, he could very well do it multiple times in happiness after hearing your compliment.

"Go get 'em, Teen Wolf Bond!" You said, saluting him. Nero saluted and went back to where he was hiding to wait for his new victims.

Then, you made your way towards the mansion. Before you could even enter the premises, however, the door opened by itself, allowing you to walk freely and wander about the place.

Hmm, this must be the Artisan, Nico’s idea, you thought as you smiled and accepted the invitation. Nice touch,...

However, even before you could take a few steps inside the room, something jumped from one of the Grecian statues and howled with the full intention of scaring you. But, you didn't. Instead, you felt yourself bursting with muffled laughter at the sight.

With hair severely slicked back using some kind of cheap one - dollar wax, face hilariously pale with pharmacy - grade foundation, and a blue coat done with the worst stitching possible, Dante made quite an impression.

The smile on the Legendary Devil Hunter's face vanished as you finally let out the suppressed laughter that was quite literally killing you.

"That's not the desired response,..." Dante mumbled as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"I told you! No one's gonna get scared with that." Avery, who just came down from the second floor dressed up as Morticia Addams, scolded.

"You're wrong there, señora." Dante retorted. "My brother is the creepiest, most frightening creature I've ever met."

"I'm sorry, who?" You asked through your uncontrollable fits of laughter.

"My brother, Vergil!" Dante proudly announced. "Scariest of the scariest douchebags I know. He's away on a mission right now."

"Well, I'm not scared of him." You answered after catching your breath and finally calming down. "Unless he's a zombie who raids local pharmacies for cosmetics like how you're portraying him, that is. Then, I would definitely get scared. Of the real one."

Dante's pout almost made you hysterical with laughter once more, and before he could further embarrass himself in front of the children who would come and explore the house, Avery stepped in and intervened. "Think of a different strategy. I know you can do it." She said with a mighty tap on Dante's shoulder.

And with a smile, you left the two and headed for one of the rooms on the right. Skipping the life - size portrait of an evil - looking doctor with a moustache ( Avery placed Lancaster's portrait back on its former place for added horrific flair ), you entered what looked like a living room, complete with a sofa, a glass top table, and an old television in front of it. Thinking that the person here could be emulating a scary scene from a popular horror movie, you sat on the sofa and glanced at the television, which was currently only airing some weird static.

With a feeling of sheer anticipation for what's to come, you drummed your fingers on your lap and waited. And a few moments later, you noticed something coming out of the television's screen.

Nice detail, you thought to yourself as you watched a hand pop out of the screen. How are they doing this?

You continued to watch as another arm popped out of the screen, and inch by creepy inch, the lady in white finally managed to come out of the television.

So, she's doing the girl from Ring! You thought as you watched the lady convulse and hiss at you, her rotten face actually doing a good job of unnerving you. She didn't do anything else aside from that, however. She remained where she was, rooted to the ground and convulsing.

And so, as you thanked Nero's girlfriend for doing a marvelous job on her scary prank, you got out of the room just in time to hear some childish screams coming from the great hall. 

Dante must've changed strategies now,...

As you were about to leave the hallway, you noticed something blue and shiny on the ground. You grabbed it right away and realized it was an exquisite feather that seemed to glow and cast light to the dark hallway. You looked ahead of you and noticed more of these blue black feathers scattered on the floor, clearly leading towards another room.

Rightfully thinking that this could very well lead to an interesting discovery, you followed the path made of feathers that was made solely for you. Picking the beautiful feathers one by one and collecting them, you felt the temperature in the mansion clearly dropping by the second, and when you reached your destination - a door which was being pointed by that last feather - you heard someone running about on the other side. You even heard some voices, not one but, two.

Smiling and feeling excited, you opened the door,...

... and saw nothing, aside from the three or four bookshelves and the old grand piano in the middle of the room.

Taking a step inside, you cautiously looked around the place, waiting for something to come out and chase you around.

The door closed on its own, and the temperature dropped even further. You closed your parka and took a few more steps. Then, you noticed something on the stool in front of the piano - a steel pot.

Raising your eyebrows, wondering what a steel pot was doing there, you walked towards it, and before you could even grab it, you noticed something that looked like a dishcloth next to it.

A steel pot, and a dishcloth,...

Do they want me to rub this thing clean?!

Rolling your eyes and chuckling at the simple thought, you carefully placed the feathers you collected on a small table nearby ( you wanted to make something out of those ), took the steel pot and the dishcloth and started rubbing it, waiting for something to happen,...

"Oh! Now?" You heard a whisper from behind one of the bookshelves. "Okay, here goes!"

All of a sudden, something like a weak electricity ran through your whole body and startled you, making you drop the steel pot on the floor, and when you bent to pick it up, black smoke rose from it, engulfing it and swallowing it whole.

Where did - ?!

"Greetings, my lady." A low voice spoke. You slowly looked up and saw,...

... that gentleman you met at your cousin's wedding.

Now, who was this man again? Oh! It's V! His name is V. Although,...

... what’s that funny – looking turban doing on top of his head? Why was he standing like that, all proud and mighty, with his arms crossed over his chest?

And, most importantly, why was his skin blue?

"Umm,..." You began, uncertain how to respond. "Y - your steel pot,... I don't know what happened. It seemed so real and - "

"You have set me free from a hundred years of slumber." V spoke in what he hoped to be a mystical kind of tone. "And to show you my gratitude, I shall now grant you,... three wishes."

"W - wait a second here, three wishes?" You asked, finally figuring out what V was supposed to be. "Do you mean to say you're a Genie,... trapped in a steel pot?!"

V felt his face heat up at your words but, due to his heavy blue makeup, he was most definitely certain that you couldn't see through his shame of being a Genie for Halloween. He knew you have every right to laugh at him, to mock him for going through such a foolish thing, however,...

... you only gave him a gentle and understanding smile as if you sensed his discomfort.

And it warmed V's heart.

"Wanna sit down for a while?" You offered, and a few moments later, you were laughing at his stories of how he ended up here doing Avery's bidding once more.

"Stand in a steel pot, she said." V said, his words making you laugh harder. "It'll be fun, she said."

"I'm glad you didn't stand in a steel pot, though." You answered as you gave the man an apologetic look. "One comic relief for a Halloween attraction is enough. We don't need to add another."

V hummed in agreement, not saying any more words to add to the conversation.

For a while, V just sat there beside you, appreciating the quiet and peaceful moment between the two of you. No words were exchanged between you for a while, and yet, despite that, V truly felt at ease next to you.

It was like,...

... he was back during that time when he first met you. Not during the wedding, no, but, way back.

It was right here where he saw you after wandering about in the dark for so long. You played the piano for him, and you even gave him words of encouragement. And those words were the very weapons he used against the evil that once imprisoned the innocent souls here in this mansion for its own gain.

It was also here where he kissed you for the very first time.

And he was well aware that, unfortunately, you couldn't remember a thing about him, only that you knew you have seen him before but, couldn't remember when or where exactly. He confirmed this, himself, when he started observing you from the moment you reunited with him during Avery and Roman's wedding.

And now, as he observed you in the corner of his eye, he noticed the subtle look of sadness in your face. You may have shown him that you were happy and well, when, in fact, you felt the opposite. And it unnerved, no, worried V, a lot.

He desired nothing but your happiness, he didn't need to see anything else but your smile. After everything you've been through in your past life, he knew he must give you what you truly deserved and more. He will give back everything he owed you, for saving him, for making him see the truth in the face of evil, for making him believe that he's strong,...

... for believing in him despite everything.

Right then and there, he made up his mind, and he swore he would never repeat the mistakes of the past.

He vowed that he will make you the happiest woman on earth.

As he stroked the antique locket in his pocket, he turned to you and quietly uttered your name.

"Hmm?"

"Have you thought of them?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your three wishes." V clarified. "Have you thought of them?"

"Oh! I,..."

V helplessly watched as he saw you fidget on your seat. Did he say too much?

"What I mean is," V added. " ... you've set me free from the confines of the evil steel pot. I feel it is only fitting that I should return the favor."

And to this, you giggled once more. You found it simply cute and adorable that, despite his discomfort in playing the role of the Genie, he still managed to be in character.

Somehow, you felt that he's doing you a kindness you don't deserve. Would it be like taking advantage of his kindness?

"Oh, Mr. V, you don't have to. We're basically just playing trick or treat, right? I mean you don't have to go to so much trouble,..."

"But, I insist." V answered with that disarming smirk of his. Damn, that smile! "And you can call me V. No need for such formalities."

Just like how V felt a few minutes earlier, you felt your face getting hotter with just that killer smile of his. However, unlike him, you're not wearing any makeup, save for some light lipstick and mascara. You could never hide your true feelings from him.

And so, with a sigh, you decided to just play along. "I suppose you will have a negative reaction if I ask you to turn me into a millionaire,..."

"Is it what you truly want? Wealth? Then, I could - "

"No! I mean, I'm only joking." You smiled nervously, feeling shocked after learning that V truly meant his word - that he really wanted to fulfill your three wishes. "It's not what I want."

"Then, please, tell me your deepest desires." V urged, his insistence actually making you a bit nervous and excited for the wrong reasons. “And I shall turn it into reality.”

With a deep sigh, you contemplated on what to say for a while. And when you finally decided on what to truly wish for, you spoke once more.

"Okay, first of all, I want you to have a rest day every once in a while." You noticed the look of question in his face and immediately clarified your statement. "Ah, I didn't mean this in a bad or hard way, believe me! It's just that, I noticed you work too hard, you barely have enough time for yourself. Maybe eat outside or cook something. Have fun with friends. Go to the mall, shop for clothes, or watch movies. Or if you want, you can drop by our house anytime you want and gran and I will prepare something for you. Or maybe, ahh, hang out?"

"Is that," V mused, a look of fascination in his gentle features. " ... an invitation, my lady?"

You swore he could kill you with that sultry voice and that devilish smile of his! You were even positive that you were blushing quite madly and shamelessly right before him. "I g - guess so. Yes."

"Oh, my. How generous of you. Well, then, what about the second wish?"

"Umm, let's see,... I want to," You muttered as you looked up at the Victorian style ceiling. " ... I want to have a proper rest."

"Hmm, and what does the lady mean by those words?"

You smiled guiltily at him. "I’ve been having some difficulty in sleeping for a month now. I just toss and turn around in bed, and I still couldn't sleep."

So, that explains the dark circles underneath her lovely (E/C) eyes,... "That,... must be really,... bothersome,..."

"Oh, you could say that again." You agreed, then sighed as you allowed your posture to slip for a slouch. "I miss those days when I could easily sleep like a child."

V hummed, then, a few moments later, he cleared his throat and went on. "And the third wish?"

"I want to move on."

The words came too fast that it almost slipped past V's radar.

What,... did she mean by those words?

"You,... want to move on?"

"Oh! Ah, scratch that, please. It's a joke, n - nothing too important,..." You stuttered, fully knowing that V would see through your lie.

And see through it, he sure did.

The desire to go out and have fun with friends. The longing to have a peaceful sleep.

And wanting to move on.

He knew, or at least figured out, what was really going on.

With a simple smile, he raised his metal cane that once belonged to Victor Blake ( not William Blake’s descendant ) and gently tapped your head with it. Then, as softly as he could, he raised your chin with his long and slender fingers and made you look him in the eye.

"Your wish,... is my command,..."

After your talk with the mysterious V, the rest of the day went by without so much as a ruckus. The host and hostess Avery and Roman, dressed as Morticia and Gomez Addams, graciously welcomed all the guests at the gate. Almost everyone who visited the house had their photos taken with Nero as the Teen Wolf Bond. However, he was not the most popular Halloween attraction. Dante, who finally made up his mind to chuck out his cheap Vergil cosplay, decided to just throw all pride and pretense aside and simply morphed into his Sin Devil Trigger form to scare people. And he became an instant hit. V declared he was too tired of granting people's wishes as the Genie after your conversation and decided to let Griffon and Shadow ( who only scared and bullied the hell out of the people who made out of Dante's prank without so much as a tear in one eye ) take over as his wish - granting familiars. Nico, who was staying in one of the rooms on the first floor, enjoyed the hell out of frightening people with her awesome effects.

And Kyrie? Apparently, she was stuck in the kitchen, waiting for someone to get lost in there so she could offer them the magical potions she made as a Good Witch.

There never was a Girl From Ring in the first place,...

***

❄ Snippets of V and Reader's conversations were based on a real - life conversation with @la-vita . ❄

***

❄❄❄

***

#devil may cry 5 #vitale sparda #three wishes #v x reader #v x you #prologue

[kathyprior4200]

Behind the Innocent Mask

(Evil Niffty AU)

 With a snap of Alastor’s fingers, a fire blazed to life with a whoosh in a small circular fireplace. A dark figure fell into the flames, the head poking out and one dark claw resting on the side. He Radio Demon walked over and picked up the figure with his hand. A large yellow eyeball opened up, taking in the curious faces of Angel, Charlie, and Vaggie.

With a poof and a squeak, the smoke and ash cleared and the demon was revealed.

“This little darling is Niffty!” Alastor introduced before letting go. She landed on her feet. The short cyclops demon wore a bright pink 50’s dress with three white polka dots near the top and a poodle off to the right. Her arms and legs were stick thin. Her short hair was fiery magenta with one portion of it yellow. Like other demons, her teeth were razor sharp.

“Hi! I’m Niffty!” she greeted with a wave. “It’s nice to meet you! It’s been a while since I’ve made new friends! Her pupil grew smaller and darted in circles.

“Why are you all women?” she asked. “Have any men here?! I’m sorry, that’s rude,” she added quickly.

She briefly picked up Charlie, while Vaggie angrily pointed her spear at her. Angel flinched back in surprise. Due to his feminine appearance, Niffty thought Angel was a woman.

She darted behind an overturned couch. “Oh man, this place is filthy!” she exclaimed. She lifted up a couch cushion and spotted a spider dangling from a string of web. She chomped on the spider and continued talking. “It really needs a ladies’ touch, which is weird, because you’re all ladies, no offence.”

She rushed toward stained glass windows with a dust ruffle.

“Oh my gosh, this is awful! No, no, no…” She darted around, removing cobwebs. She ran forward and poked at a piece of cloth with a sewing needle, then continued to clean the room. Alastor grinned in amusement and wondered away while the others stared in disbelief.

The blue piece of cloth which looked like a bug was, in fact, one of many Voodoo like critters that Alastor summoned. Or, in this case, he had stabbed it with a sewing needle before Niffty picked it up and delightfully gobbled it down before continuing her work. It was Alastor’s ways of rewarding her for both being polite and being a source of entertainment.

Later on, Niffty had finished tidying up the room. She walked into the lobby and happened to find Alastor pulling Vaggie and Charlie close and remarking, “This is going to be very entertaining!” Pricks of jealousy stabbed through her mind. Ever the hopeless romantic, Niffty had an obsession with men for as long as she could remember. In her life as a human, she had fantasized about meeting the love of her life and going on various adventures with him. But working as a maid and chimney cleaner to make ends meet in America wasn’t particularly ideal. There were the additional problems of discrimination against women and the Japanese. Indeed, the Pearl Harbor military strike happened in her human lifetime, traumatizing her and her family for many months. If that wasn’t enough, Niffty had been molested by her conservative uncle. That event became one of her angst-filled poem themes she kept in her hot pink notebook.

Things went from bad to worse, when as a young teen, she died in a house fire, after a bad incident while serving an upper class European-American family. It occurred in the 1950s.

Niffty soon ended up in Hell, but could only witness events while living in fire. Fortunately, Hell was full of fire and brimstone, so the servant demon could wonder around. From afar, she admired all the powerful overlords, eventually working for Alastor after he charmed her and offered her a deal. To gain a physical body and meet new friends, assist the Radio Demon. She eagerly accepted.

 Sewing, cooking, cleaning, reading and writing were Niffty’s favorite hobbies. She did all of them when she was a human and still enjoyed them in Hell. Additionally, she could speak some Japanese.

  When Niffty was cleaning the room, she could see concern in the eyes of Vaggie, Angel, and Charlie. She figured that they weren’t used to seeing a demon so hyperactive, with strokes of a chaotic nature thrown in. (With being summoned by Alastor several times, she was bound to pick up a few of his traits).

 Niffty watched from a distance as Alastor changed Charlie’s outfit and shoved Vaggie aside. She briefly looked down at her dress and admired the poodle design. Every time Alastor looked at it, disgust would reach his red eyes, but Niffty also sensed some deeper discomfort. It was amusing during the few times when he let his guard down like that.

 Back when she was human, short with black hair, Niffty would often slip into other characters to practice her acting. Dressing up and “being” other characters was a fun experience, and practical, too. In her spare time as a human, Niffty would sew costumes for herself and even play instruments such as the piano, harmonica, and saxophone.

In many ways, she was similar to Alastor; almost always smiling, energetic, enjoying the thrill of theater. It was so easy for Niffty to get immersed in the realm of fantasy and romance.

 After all, fantasies were better than hell-filled lives of low self-esteem and self-doubt.

 Even now, Niffty was putting on a happy face after dusting off the old grandfather clock in the corner. (It always seemed to stay dirty no matter how hard she tried to clean it). With more demon guests supposedly arriving, she would have to prepare some meals soon. Cooking was fun most of the time, but being pressured to serve fast without any form of gratitude from customers, was tiresome.

 Although Niffty wouldn’t admit it to anyone, she had an awareness of the social structure of Hell, based on her observations hidden within flames. When putting her mind to it, Niffty could be quite manipulative. In fact, she wasn’t hesitant to concoct plans by herself for her own ends. It gave her something to think about while her hands were busy.

When Niffty was cleaning the room, she could see concern in the eyes of Vaggie, Angel, and Charlie. She figured that they weren’t used to seeing a demon so hyperactive, with strokes of a chaotic nature thrown in. (With being summoned by Alastor several times, she was bound to pick up a few of his traits).

  As Alastor sang his reprise, Niffty happily looked at her new outfit conjured by Alastor’s magic: a black and pink dress with a round hat with daisies on the top. Alastor pulled the residents into a hug as Voodoo spirits appeared from the darkness. Niffty admired the show, briefly wishing she had powers like that.

There was a quote that Alastor used that stuck with her: “The world is a stage, and a stage is a world of entertainment.”

If only she could create that worldly stage for herself.

 Alastor kicked a skull away and Niffty rushed to clean up the pieces with a broom and dustpan. A boom rattled the hotel and blew out the windows. Niffty, mesmerized, soon witnessed a door flying straight into her face. Knocked back by the force, she knew that no human could survive that.

Niffty soon appeared outside with the rest of the group, watching as Sir Pentious arrived with his blimp. She watched with a small smile on her face as Alastor wrapped the blimp with black tentacles and causing everything to explode.

“Well, I’m starved!” Alastor exclaimed to the shocked group. “Who wants some jambalaya?”

Niffty darted around Alastor, a big smile on her face. Despite resenting being ordered around by him, she still blushed whenever she got close to him. She skipped up to the hotel with the others, imagining what Alastor’s soft red and black hair would feel like in her dainty hands.

 Niffty headed to the kitchen to prepare jambalaya for the group. She was used to making this New Orleans cuisine for Alastor several times a week when she was summoned. (It did get pretty boring in the fire.)

Niffty poured a tablespoon of oil in a frypan and then cut up slices of chicken and sausage. She removed the tails from shrimp and used another cutting board to chop green onions. Stirring in the tomatoes, meat, and vegetables, she added all the hot sauces: hot pepper, Cajun, and Worcestershire.

Finally, she added rice, chicken broth and the shrimp on top. Before long, she brought out five hot steaming plates for the group at the bar. Husk was drinking the remainder of his booze on his stool, still pouting at not being able to win his prizes. Vaggie looked around at the bar in disgust, clearly appalled that alcohol wasn’t going to be removed from the hotel. Angel Dust lounged on a pool table, drinking a Shirley Temple in a glass while sucking on a straw. Charlie was chatting with Vaggie about new plans for the hotel.

“Oh, this is exciting!” she smiled. “Now that we have a maid and a person to welcome the guests, I’d say things are looking even better.”

Husk scoffed. “Fuck that bullshit. Thanks to that talk show clown over there…” he mentioned to Alastor leaning smugly against a nearby wall… “…I’m stuck here doing a stupid charity job. If I had my bets, I’d say I’ll go insane spending several more hours here.”

“Oh don’t be such a sourpuss,” Charlie said. “Alastor said you’d make a great addition to the hotel.”

“Stuff your mockery, princess. You know how annoying and deceitful he is. I’d fare better being chased by hellhounds than being stuck here with him.”

“Just give him a chance, Husk,” Charlie said. “You’ll see that even the most sinful among us can be redeemed.”

Husk rolled his eyes. “With your singing and cheer? Good luck with that.”

Charlie glared at the cat demon, Vaggie holding her back.

“I, for, one, welcome our new Hazbin overlord,” Angel remarked, from the pool table. “He’s classy and has those cute furry ears…”

Vaggie stomped over to Angel and grabbed him by the collar. “Don’t let him hear you say that!” she hissed. “You’ll be vaporized in an instant.”

“Geez, calm your tits, Vag,” he replied, backing up and hopping off the table. “Though his eyes and smile are kinda creepy. I wonder how it would feel for him to make work of me with those claws of his…”

He sighed in content and sucked his straw again.

“Fuck you,” she spat in revulsion. “You have a messed up death wish.”

“You mean, a double death wish?” he asked with a laugh. “Double Hell, here I come!”

Vaggie growled and stormed back to the bar table.

Niffty came into the room, holding up the plates of food.

“Ah Niffty!” Alastor exclaimed, moving from the wall. “What perfect timing! Jambalaya, just how I like it.”

Niffty placed the plates in front of the five individuals. Another plate of dead voodoo looking rats appeared off to the side, Niffty eagerly gobbling them down, much to the shock of Vaggie, Angel, Charlie, and Husk. Alastor winked at her, causing the maid to blush, a rat tail hanging from her mouth. She slurped it up and ran off with a nervous giggle.

“Such a sweet little darling, isn’t she?” he mentioned. Charlie smiled nervously while the others remained silent.

“Well, dig in everybody! This food won’t eat itself. Unless you’d like me to demonstrate…”

He wiggled his fingers while Husk, Vaggie, and Charlie rapidly shook their heads.

“Aww, come on,” Angel murmured, almost to himself. “It’s been a while since I’ve watched vore…”

“I’m gonna be sick and I haven’t eaten yet,” Vaggie groaned. Husk, too, was picky about the mesh up of food in front of him. Charlie, and Angel, however, dug in in delight. Angel ate with four hands.

“Oh, Alastor! This stuff is marvelous,” Charlie exclaimed. “So spicy and full of flavor. I haven’t had spicy food like this in a while.”

Alastor laughed. “It’s my mother’s special recipe. She made it so well, it almost blew her straight into Hell. Ah, memories of times so swell. I figured you’d like it. A charming belle, eager to try new things.”

“Rhyming asshole,” Husk scoffed, staring at his empty green bottle.

Angel sat on a bar stool with his tongue hanging out, red from the heat of the sauces. His eyes were shining.

“Wha…what are you doing now?” Vaggie asked, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

“The tingling feeling of the heat, seeping into my taste buds. Fantastic. I’d love more of this from that musical strawberry pimp.”

“Angel!” Vaggie seethed under her breath.

Angel shrugged. “What? That’s what he looks like to me.”

Vaggie tentatively tried a taste of it, as if it were spiked with poison.

“Not too bad…” she began. Then the heat of the sauces kicked in.

She swore in Spanish under her breath then rushed off for some water.

Alastor was already almost finished with his meal. “It can be pretty intense for some people.”

Vaggie came back and glared at Alastor. “Are you trying to kill us?”

“Did you not hear what I said earlier, dear? If I wanted to hurt you all, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“How do I know you won’t try to kill us in the future, huh?” she asked, pointing her weapon.

“You know it’s rude to have weapons present at dinner,” he added.

“What? You afraid of this or something?” she continued, holding it out.

“Vaggie!” Charlie called, lowering her friend’s arm. “There no need to get into a fight like this. Alastor’s been nice to us so far. At the very least, he’s trying his best.”

“Trying his best?!” Vaggie asked. “He’s nothing but a talk-show pervert lord.”

Charlie turned to Vaggie and thought for a moment. “Are you jealous that I danced with Alastor?”

“No!”

An awkward silence.

“We were just having fun,” Charlie said. “It was his way of livening things up for the Happy Hotel. You were more than welcome to join us.”

“I’d rather fall from grace again than dance with that son of a bitch.”

“Wait…” Angel Dust asked. “What do you mean by ‘falling again’?”

Vaggie paused. “None of your business!” she snapped.

Niffty sat in the corner, giggling at their confrontation. Oh how she loved seeing people embarrassed when their dark secrets and thoughts came out.

 “You girls done?” Alastor asked. He wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Yes,” Charlie said, taking a deep breath.

“I’m out,” Husk muttered, heading toward the back to search for more booze. After stumbling, he heaved and vomited the contents out. Then he groaned and promptly passed out on the floor.

Charlie gasped, hands covering her mouth. Angel stared in shock. Vaggie face-palmed with an “oh, no.” Alastor turned his head backwards to look at the giggling Niffty. He tilted his head and Niffty’s giggles fell flat. Without a word, she rushed over and helped Husk onto a nearby couch before cleaning up the mess.

“Well, that was a satisfying supper!” said Alastor breaking the silence. He got up and held out his arm to Charlie. “Now, how about you give me a tour of your hotel and I can provide you guys with some entertaining dad jokes?”

“How wonderful. I’d love that,” Charlie replied. She turned to Vaggie. “I just want to make sure that my friend is okay.” She looked at Vaggie with concern.

“I’m fine, Charlie,” she said with a sigh. Charlie looped her arm with Alastor’s and held out her hand to Vaggie. Reluctantly, Vaggie took it and the group headed off down the hall.

“Say,” Alastor said as they walked. “The graveyard’s getting overcrowded, don’t you think?”

“What?” asked Angel.

“What graveyard?” asked Vaggie, her eyebrows raised. She shuddered at the thought of Alastor posing in a graveyard of his murder victims.

“You know, the one where people are just dying to get in. Hahaha!”

“Oh, I get it! Good one, Al!” said Charlie.

“Ha ha,” Angel said with sarcasm. They arrived in a larger room with tables and a stage off to the side. Alastor turned to shadow, then materialized in front of the microphone.

“Uh, nobody asked for this,” Vaggie said. Charlie, Angel, Niffty, and Vaggie took their seats.

“Let’s just see how it goes,” said Charlie. “Jokes will surely remind demons of the good things in life.”

“Besides drugs?”

“Yes, Angel.”

“Besides dancing in the nude?”

“Yes, Angel.”

“Besides steamy sex?”

Charlie sighed in frustration as Angel laughed.

 Alastor tapped the microphone. “Testing, testing, is this thing on?” The mic made a screeching sound that made the viewers cover their ears.

“Apologies for that,” he said. He chuckled and summoned a black tentacle from the ground. It tossed the metal microphone to the side before vanishing. His own vintage microphone appeared in front of him.

“Thankfully mine always works.”

“You ready?” Alastor asked, speaking into it. The microphone came to life, and the being inside it rolled his eye.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

He cleared his throat as a spotlight shone on him. “Did you hear about the guy who invented the knock-knock joke?”

“Yeah, what about him?” Angel asked in a bored voice.

“He won the no-bell prize! Ahhahaha!”

Charlie smiled. Niffty said “ha…ha…ha…” bored too.

“What did the buck say to his traveling doe? ‘Come home soon, dear.’”

“Yeah, you’d know all about deer, wouldn’t you?” Angel remarked. Charlie laughed, and even Vaggie let out a small smile.

“Hey, Charlie,” said Alastor.

“Yes?” she asked with a faint blush.

“Can February march?”

“I don’t know. Can it?”

“No, but April may!”

Charlie broke into fits of laughter.

“This is torture,” Vaggie said.

“Boo! Get off the stage!” Angel called.

“How many more jokes do we need?” asked Alastor.

“Zero!” booed Angel.

“Well, I was going to make a joke about paper, but no, it’s tear-ible!”

“Uh, god damn it,” Vaggie groaned. “I’m glad Husk doesn’t have to witness this.”

“What’s a demon’s favorite dessert?”

“Your mom!” yelled Angel.

“No, it’s actually devil’s food cake. Hahaha!”

Charlie giggled some more. “The hotel residents will love these!”

“Yeah, sure,” Niffty deadpanned, walking away.

“Hey Vaggie?” Alastor asked.

“What?!”

“Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?”

Vaggie’s eyes went wide, her face beet red. “Why…you…”

“Don’t worry, crawling up from Hell hurts like hell!”

“Why not have the best of both worlds?” Charlie asked. “I’d love to visit Heaven someday.”

“Foreshadowing…” Angel said in a stupor.

 Niffty smiled sinisterly in a dark corner. Her plan was coming into motion.

#niffty #hazbin hotel

[amplesalty]

Christmas 2019: Day 8 - The Grinch (2018)

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Eight cans of Who Hash!

In and of itself, I feel this is a fine remake even if it cutesafies The Grinch a little bit. He complains in the original that he’s been putting up with Christmas for some 50 years and both he and Max look every bit of those 50 years but here he’s much more youthful here. It’s a very appealing design, very detailed with the fur but I am a bit confused as his attire. He’s seemingly naked but wears underpants to cover his shame, only to then wear furry trousers over that? He’s a very dirty, brownish green in the original but is much more vibrant here.

The original can seem like a bit of an acid trip at times with all the Suess babble and strange contraptions the Whos use and this pays homage to that during The Grinch’s Christmas heist as he pulls out all manner of interesting toys to help with his plot.

The Grinch himself doesn’t feel as one dimensional and there are times when he is quite hesitant to go through with what he’s doing or his eyes will widen with surprise upon hearing a point of view he never considered before, almost to a fault I’d say as it does dilute the big reversal in his character at the end.

Kind of like how that remake of The Lion King ruined ‘Be Prepared’, they turn “You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch” into this sort of rap/hip-hop song which feels out of place. One positive musical number is this version of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ by way of West Side Story as this group of carolers suddenly mass and chase after The Grinch with perfectly synchronised movement and finger snaps.

I want to look at something more specific here though. I’ve mentioned it before but a lot of these Christmas movies I look at tend to be more recent releases and for once this is one I actually saw in the cinema last year. It was inevitable that I would cover it having looked at the original and the Jim Carrey version but I proffered to hold off on talking about it because I like to use the stillframes to highlight something amusing or to emphasise a point. It could almost be a fresh watch though as I really didn’t remember much about it going into it again.

Outside of the Minion short that ran before it that is, which had two Minions breaking out of prison. I dread to think what those Minions did to end up there. I think that’s included as an extra on the DVD/Blu-ray which I don’t have here which is a shame as I remember kind of liking it, mostly down to its lack of speech. I do appreciate being able to portray story and humour without using any dialogue, goes back to that whole Mr Bean kinda thing. It made for a positive entry into that franchise for me as I think it’s something people are generally a bit sour of, probably down to how annoying they can be and the watch they’ve been latched onto, especially those weird memes you get from people’s mums on Facebook.

There is some element of that here as there is some humour to be had from the reactions of the non-speaking characters around The Grinch like Max or the reindeer he takes in as part of his scheme and renames Fred. It’s nice to have those subtle moments where just an awkward glance can be funny, in amongst all the exaggerated behaviour of the Grinch and the loudness of things like a random screaming goat. Actually, that goat is pretty funny as well.

The original you obviously have stuff like the KARLOFF narration, the wicked smile The Grinch has upon thinking of his plan and him slithering through the house while enacting it. The Jim Carrey one, my big takeaway was the look of it. I’m really surprised to learn that that particular version actually got an Academy Award for Best Makeup, as well as nominations for Best Art Direction and Costume Design. The original was pretty unique with its strange colours and imagery but I just remember the remake being deepy ugly with close up, wide angled lenses and those intensely creepy looking Whos.

If anything deserves nominations for visuals, it’s this version. Very striking, bright and colourful in and around Whoville when all its Christmas lights are lit.

But you also have these great shots at times that reflect the action on screen, be it the expansive action orientated shots of the down with Cindy Lou dashing through on her makeshift sled or the more moody look at The Grinch overlooking the town from up high on Mount Crumpit.

Or this vast cave structure in which he lives but only occupies but some tiny fraction of. Like here, he and his dog sit at this grand dinner table with a relatively posh light fitting overhead and a fancy multi headed candle holder decorating the table. It adds to this sense of preteniousness and superioty he has. But, at the same time, the two feel a million miles away from one another and they both seem like small figures in this enormous room. It’s almost a reminder of how he is a small part of this great big world.

Which is another thing I like here, how it touches upon how neurotic The Grinch is. It’s something the Jim Carrey version did too with his being bullied as a child but here he’s just entirely shunned from a very early age and is extremely isolated now.

At the very start you’re dealing with his agoraphobia and his reluctance to venture down to Whoville to resupply, as well a startling reflection on all the comfort eating he’s been doing that have left his cupboards bare in the first place.The look on his face here is truly haunting.

Just being in Whoville amongst all the Christmas lights and revelers pretty much sends him into a panic attack.

Even though he does feel so cut off from everyone, there is a sense that he fails to recognise his importance to other people, shutting out one of the Whos who tries to be friendly with him and not really appreciating Max. It’s a bit of a weird dynamic, with Max seemingly at The Grinch’s beck and call, fetching him his breakfast each morning but it does seem like he’d do anything for him and even gets a bit jealous when Fred comes into the picture. Hell, Fred even comes back at the end to save the day so obviously someone cares. And what a fine head of hair he has too.

But even when you think you’ve had a Hollywood ending where The Grinch has been redeemed, and learnt that Christmas perhaps means a little bit more, he still has to deal with his social anxieties. When he’s invited round for Christmas dinner, he hesistates on the doorstep, clutching his head in his hands as he tries to talk himself out of going by proclaiming that everyone will hate him.

On reflection, despite all the colours, lights and beautiful vistas, almost like Gremlins this movie really is stark reminder of the bleaker side of Christmas and the internal battle people sometimes face with their loneliness and depression. Really not something I was expecting to find in an innocent little kids film. People like to talk about how The Joker isn’t just another comic book movie but is actually a deep look at mental illness, maybe The Grinch beat it to it a year earlier by wrapping up this sombre look at the psyche in a neat Christmas bow?

#Christmas 2019 #The Grinch #Grinch #How The Grinch Stole Christmas!

[1ooo-w0rds]

we met on ocean avenue pt 2

A/N: August fic and chapter 2 of we met on Ocean Avenue, my social media AU collaboration with @dancer-dramatic-13.  Enjoy Jason upcoming TV star pov.

Here’s part one: one

BlondSuperman: 2:31 pm Day 1 in LA. Not lost. “Exploring”. At least one of us is having fun. #ThorTheAmazingDog

Annabae: Thor is adorable with those shades! Looks like Santa Monica beach.

BlondSuperman: Mystery solved. #NotLostAnyMore #Stateside #NoMoreTravelForNow

Jason chuckled as the likes slowly grew on his daily picture of Thor. The golden retriever puppy panted from the heat as he sat beside Jason’s leg, staring out at the waves. The flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles was exhausting especially for Thor in his dog crate. Jason’s been on the move recently, living out of his suitcase as he flew to various locations for an upcoming film. He’s been traveling for three months. It felt weird being stateside again. Not bad though.

“You’re probably glad we’re home.” Jason said to Thor as he scratched the dog’s chest. Thor looked up at him as his oversized ears flopped with his long tongue dangling from his mouth. The dog closed his eyes at the belly rub, content to be outside. “Same, buddy, same.”

The beach was decently empty for a weekday. Parents lounged underneath large umbrellas as kids ran towards the water. Seagulls cawed from above as they circled the sky for free snacks. Thor lead Jason down the boardwalk, his tail wagging as he looked around. He was small for his age which worried Jason at first but Thor definitely had an appetite. “Hey Thor,” Jason asked as his ears perked at the sound of his name. “How about some vanilla ice cream?” Thor yelped excitedly, hopping back and forth at the word ice cream. Jason laughed as he walked towards the ice cream cart near the volleyball nets. He blinked for a moment, patting his phone in his pocket as he thought.

“She’s in Santa Monica, right?” Jason murmured to himself, thinking of a certain volleyball player.

Their interaction happened by accident. It was on Annabeth’s honorary Halloween Facebook post, with an Aquaman Percy opposite of her Black Canary. Annabeth had wrote ‘where my super pals at?’ with a string of superhero related emojis as her captions. A lot of responses were Batman, Spiderman and Ironman. Jason was on set, taking a break as he scroll through the post. Reyna’s picture caught his eye. Not only because she was beautiful but the Wonder Woman costume was well made complete with silver band guard and head band. ‘Wonder Woman reporting. Any Superman?’ She wrote cheekily. Jason smiled and impulsively grabbed his black rimmed glasses, snapping a selfie, and replied to her post. ‘No Superman. Just plain old Clark Kent right now.’

Jason grinned at the memory as he adjusted his sunglasses. He wasn’t able to see her reply because he was called away to shot his scene but when Jason returned, Annabeth created a group chat including him, Reyna and Percy.

Annabae: Gah how have you super nerds never met?

QueenReyna: Super nerd? Look who’s talking.

SeaweedBrain: Girls, you’re both nerdy. Reyna, this is Jason, my cousin. Jason, if you ever have a free moment to breath, this is Reyna. She won’t bite.

QueenReyna: :V

SeaweedBrain: Hey...

After that introduction, they’ve spoken often either in the group chat with Percy and Annabeth or in private messages. Jason wasn’t recognizable at that point, still doing small projects or cameos on teen sitcoms and dramas. Because of his work and travel, Jason didn’t meet people outside of the industry. It felt good having a friend who he could talk to about the latest Marvel trailer or someone to keep up with Game of Thrones with.

Jason’s phone buzzed as he stepped up to the ice cream cart, handing over his card. Thor whined as he looked at his treat as Jason struggled to hold the melting ice cream and phone. 

One does not simply get lost in Santa Monica. Reyna’s message read beside her contact photo. Jason laughed before thanking the man and walking off, tapping his response with one hand. 

This one does when jetlag. You busy? Jason looked at the last two words before quickly deleting them and tapping send. It felt too forward. Thor whined as he pawed Jason’s leg. He welcomed the puppy's distraction.

“I know buddy, let’s find a spot to sit.” Jason said as he walked towards the bleachers beside the volleyball nets.

Despite talking to Reyna on a nearly daily basis, he’d never met the girl in person. They’d done movie nights with Annabeth and Percy, all streaming the same movie at once while on a group call. He had helped her edit videos and her scripts for her youtube videos, offering advice for lighting and wording. He knew that Reyna was sharp, always quick with a witty comment in such a way that Percy would be proud. She was also extremely dedicated, balancing beach volleyball life with her active youtube channel. She was passionate, wanting to express herself and educate people. There’d been a video of her cycling around youtube of her speaking out about her roots and feelings about growing as a child of an immigrant. Jason thought of the video, feeling his heart ache as he recalled the sound of her voice, the look in her eyes, the unhidden emotions on the screen.

The need to see her after that video was strong. He wanted to gather Reyna up in his arms and hug her tightly, telling her how proud he was of her for speaking out. Jason sighed as he shook his head, not entirely sure  why he felt like this. 

“I want to see her.” Jason murmured, picking up Thor so the puppy sat beside him. Thor’s dark eyes zeroed in on the ice cream, not quite listening to his master rambling. Jason scooped a bit of vanilla ice cream for the puppy. “I’m not crazy relocating to LA, right?” For a girl, Jason added mentally.

Being near Reyna wasn’t his main reason. There’s so much potential work in LA, Jason’s agent mentioned when he described the part to Jason. It’s a recurring character in a medical drama that starred Tristan McLean. He got to work with Tristan McLean, an actor who had years of dramas and movies underneath his belt. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. Being near Santa Monica was just a convenient plus.

“AHHH look at Thor!” Jason and Thor both jumped at the excited cry. Thor spun around at the sound of his name, tail wagging like crazy. A group of teenagers in volleyball gear stood around, taking a break from their drills. A blonde tugged her friend’s arm as she shoved her phone at her. “Look at the golden fluff ball! He’s getting so much bigger. Gah, Rey, I just want to cuddle him.”

“Geez, Grace, you’re really whore-ing Thor out.” The girl with a visor said as she took the phone, leaning back slightly. Her dark hair tied up in a high ponytail. Jason’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward, trying to get a glimpse of her face. Her friend said Rey. A pair of sleek sunglasses hid her eyes but something about her face shape felt familiar. Even from a distance, Jason could see her lips curl up as she looked at the dog picture. “Thor is a real cutie.”

Hearing his names called out way too many times, Thor barked and ran over. “Thor!” Jason shouted as he tried to grab the leash but the dog was too fast. He bounced over, running along the metal bleachers before colliding with the bags. The dark haired girl reacted quickly catching the eager puppy. Thor wiggled in her arms as he licked her cheek, knocking her sunglasses. “Thor…”

“Thor?” The girl said as she held the dog up. Thor barked happily.

“Oh my god…” The blonde murmured as she stared at Jason with wide eyes. “It’s him, Reyna.” Jason didn’t hear anything after she said Reyna. He stared at the dark-haired girl holding his puppy, a girl he had only seen on screen. Beads of sweat clung to her temple from the intense LA heat. Stray strands of hair stuck to her neck, following the curve of her chin. Reyna’s eyes are just as intense in person as they were in pictures, blinking at him. Even sweaty and messy, Reyna is very pretty. “It’s your Instagram boyfriend.”

“Instagram boyfriend?” Jason repeated amused. His heart thumped rapidly against his chest like he just ran a chase scene. Reyna’s cheeks flushed as she glared at her friend, adding color to her sun kissed skin.

“Gwen! Only you call him that.” Reyna shouted as she hiked Thor up in her arms. The puppy wiggled, tail wagging back and forth in excitement by all the people. Gwen laughed as Reyna shook her head at her before looking at Jason again. “I prefer Airhead.” She said coolly.

Jason nodded his head as he took a step closer. He didn’t know where to look, nervous by how much skin her beach shorts and sports bra revealed. He focused on her face, taking in the shape of her face. “You’re taller than I expected.” Reyna said when he stood in front of her.

“Taller than you, shortie.” Jason teased back, pleased he had half a head over her. Reyna huffed, held Thor between them like a shield. Jason almost forgot about the furball that caused this mess. “Hey troublemaker, making friends?” Thor panted happily with his tongue sticking out. Jason looked at Reyna again. “Can I have my dog back?”

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Reyna hummed as she rubbed her face against Thor’s furry head. “I might have to report you to PETA for doggie endangerment.” Jason rolled his eyes but grinned. It felt good hearing her quips instead of reading them on a screen. There’s so much more interaction in person. Jason could read the teasing smile on her lips. He could hear the playfulness in her voice. Her eyes sparkled as she tried not to smile too widely. Gwen watched the interaction amused, a sly smile creeping onto her face.

“Really? I finally get to see you and you’re gonna try to steal my dog?” Jason sighed dramatically before leaning down so he was eye level with Thor. Reyna’s breath hitched at their sudden closeness. Her arms instinctively tightened around Thor’s midsection. “Sorry buddy, looks like you have a new mommy.”

“Nope,” Reyna said quickly, shoving the dog into Jason’s arms. Her fingers brushed Jason’s and he tried not to jump at the contact. “My two very loyal greyhounds at home will already hate me for smelling like a puppy. And you don’t want to lose any Instagram followers. You know they’re only there for Thor.” Jason laughed and snaked his arms around her shoulders without thinking. Reyna yelped in surprised but fell into the hug freely. She wrapped her arms around Jason’s midsection.

“Hey.” Reyna whispered shyly, looking up at him.

“Hey yourself.” Jason whispered back, inhaling the scent of sea and salt from her hair. She’s real and in front of him. “Small world.”

“The smallest.” Reyna said back with a wide happy smile.

#jeyna #jason grace #reyna ramirez arellano #pjo fanfic #mine #social media au #dancer-dramatic-13 #we've met on ocean avenue

[bnhahcs]

halloween [class 1a] hcs

Aoyama Yuuga looks like a drag queen  was a bedazzled Evel Knievel for Halloween. His classmates literally thought nothing of it, because he always dresses in similar types of fashion.

Ashido Mina is the one who dresses in a slutty policewoman outfit and does not give a single fuck about it. Recorded the whole night on her        - already - extremely long snap chat story.

Asui Tsuyu dressed up as the “no-face” or Kaonashi from Spirited Away. She stayed in character, and was genuinely creepy the whole night.

Iida Tenya dressed up a Sonic the hedgehog. Was confused when teenagers started shouting “Sanic” and “Gotta go fast” at him. 

Uraraka Ochako decided to go with the classic witch costume, and has been a witch for Halloween every single year. Threw up on a little kid at some point because she used her quirk to float on her broom for too long.

Ojiro Mashirao dressed up as the ever-classic Jason. Tried to remain inconspicuous so he could scare his classmates but his tail stuck out too much so they knew who he was. He did scare Midoriya, but that wasn’t a hard thing to do.

Kaminari Denki was a doctor who had a sign that hung from his neck that said, “Looking for my nurse”. Upon seeing his sign, Recovery Girl walked up to him and said, “Find me when you graduate.” Kaminari threw the sign out the window after, and was made fun of for the rest of the night by the Bakusquad.

Kirishima Eijiro dressed up as a red werewolf for Halloween. But with his nice easy-going personality and lack of scariness, he came off as more of Clifford the Big Red Dog instead.

Kouda Kouji dressed as a rock for Halloween. Due to his natural appearance, this was achievable. Weird, but achievable nonetheless.

Satou Rikidou was Johnny Bravo. He was originally going to be Gordon Ramsay, but could not follow through with the cussing aspect of it.

Shouji Mezou decided to stay home from his crazy classmates and pass out candy to the kids like a normal human being. His favorite candy are almond joys the candy that no one likes

Jirou Kyouka was Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She was dared by Ashido Mina to go into Mineta Minoru’s room - the dare of all dares. She will not say what was found, but has confirmed, it has scarred her for life.

Sero Hanta dressed up as Pennywise the clown from It. Gathered the Bakusquad together, and teepeed the class 1B dorms. The Bakusquad were then chased by Aizawa (who just wanted a night to relax) and several class 1B kids (who were pissed).

Tokoyami Fumikage wore a dark cape for Halloween and smeared fake blood on his beak. Unintentionally ended up scaring a lot of people. “The night is dark and full of terrors”.

Todoroki Shouto decided to accept and embrace the nickname many of his peers had given him, and dressed up as a box of Icy Hot Extra Strength Pain Relieving Cream. Will correct you if you mistake it for the other various Icy Hot products. “I’m not dressed as the medicated patches, I’m the relieving cream,” he’ll say blandly.

Hagakure Tooru was the invisible woman from the movie Fantastic Four. She may have stolen a poor sucker’s bowl of candy they left outside of their house.

Bakugou Katsuki is the type of person who leaves the bowl of candy outside on his doorstep. Was pissed when someone took all of the candy (bowl included) within 20 minutes of putting it out. He is a minimalist when it comes to costumes he prefers not to wear them at all. This year he was a bottle of sriracha, meaning - he wore a shirt that had the sriracha rooster logo on it.

Midoriya Izuku’s costume consisted of a sheet, and a bunch of other various “spooky” items and apparel. He tries to be scary, but does not have the ability to do so at all. Was told by his classmates to dress as up as a cinnamon roll, but did not understand why.

Mineta Minoru dressed as a “pimp daddy” for Halloween, complete with a  furry big-ass coat hanging off his shoulders and a cane. The night turned sour for him when he fought with a seven-year old girl over a snickers bar, and promptly got beat up by her brother and his middle school goons.

Yaoyorozu Momo was a dictionary for Halloween. This consisted of her dressing like a teacher with the words “Ask me for a definition” stitched on the back of her blazer. Was at a loss when Kaminari asked her what “fellatio” was. “Interesting, I have never heard of that word before...”

Sanic the Hedgehog, and Sonic the Hedgehog are two different entities. Know your memes!! or go on 4chan, either option is viable.

If you got that game of thrones quote, you are the real OG

if you like almond joys, im sorry but you are a monster

Bakugou should be Khal Drogo someone please draw this its inktober anyway

#i fucking love halloween #boku no hero academia #bnha #midoriya izuku #deku #todoroki shouto #katsuki bakugou #uraraka ochako #mina ashido #ojiro mashirao #momo yaoyorozu #kirishima eijirou #kaminari denki #aizawa shouta #sanic hegehog #iida tenya #jirou kyouka #aoyama yuuga #my hero academia #fumikage tokoyami #sero hanta

[thesassybooskter]

GOOD GIRLS LIE by J. T. Ellison: Excerpt & Spotlight

AVAILABLE DECEMBER 31ST 2019/ MIRA

Goode girls don’t lie…

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.

But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.

J.T. Ellison’s pulse-pounding new novel examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to to protect their secrets.

  Buy Online: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple Books

Add to Goodreads

  Excerpt

8

THE WARNING

The room next to ours looks exactly the same, like it’s out of a sleek, modern hotel. The “something” Piper offers is a black satin sheath with a black lace overlay. Simple. Elegant. An Audrey Hepburn movie costume. She hands it over, the price tag still dangling from the collar. Rents can be paid with such a sum.

“You can keep it. I have another almost identical,” Piper says.

I demur and hand it back. “Thanks. I’ll take my chances with the dean.”

 Piper shrugs and hangs the dress back up in the wooden wardrobe. “Suit yourself. If you keep your robe tight, maybe she won’t notice. It’ll be in your wardrobe with your uniform skirts—standard issue, everyone gets them. The seniors’ stoles are black with a white stripe, we lowly sophomores are blue. Freshmen are red—they stand out, trust me, I felt like I had a target on my back all last year—and juniors are dark green. Graduation stoles are different, multicolored based on your area of study, just like a college. I’m ready for the black-and-white stoles, they’re so much easier to match. Our blue—” she pulls the stole out of her gown; it is a sickly pewter blue and doesn’t work with her coloring at all “—is a pain, I look terrible in it. Though you can imagine how I clashed with the red last year. You will need to get some dressy clothes, though, we have a lot of formal events.”

She closes the wardrobe and faces me, looking me up and down with cool, inscrutable blue eyes. She would look severe if it weren’t for the freckles. They ruin the seriousness of her demeanor. She will always look like a girl, not a woman, even when she’s fifty.

“You might as well stick to black. It goes with everything, looks good under the robes, and your coloring is perfect for it.”

“Black. Right.” The color of mourning. I’ve been in black a lot recently.

“I’ll take you shopping if you want. There’s a nice little boutique around the corner. Next to the laundry, which is part of the restaurant where we eat on the weekend, Jacob’s Ladder. It has a pool table, too. It’s not exactly couture, but they’ll have a skirt or two that will work. What else do you need to know? Oh, stay away from the handyman. He’s a creeper. And remember not to walk alone along the back path through Selden Arboretum if you take the shortcut.” Her voice has taken on the warning edge I’ve already heard several times this afternoon.

“Not another ‘I won’t graduate’ legend?”

“Oh, no. The arboretum is haunted.”

“Haunted. A path? Ludicrous.”

“Seriously. It cuts through the woods, and a girl was murdered there.”

“How horrible. When?”

“Ten years ago. That’s when Dean Westhaven—the current Dean Westhaven, I mean—took over from her mother. It’s why she’s so young. She was only twenty-five when it happened. The board sent Westhaven the elder packing over the bad PR. The student, Ellie Robertson, she was the heir to some massive New England fortune, I don’t remember whose. Her dad has serious pull and, after the whole incident, got the dean removed.”

“The incident? That’s a mild word for a murder.”

“The school’s verbiage. They’re always in publicity mode. Ellie had been complaining to anyone who would listen, the dean, school security, teachers, about a townie who was stalking her and the dean didn’t do anything about it. One night, late, the guy followed her home from the laundry and killed her behind the dorms. Raped her, too. There are varying stories about the damage he did to her face, but supposedly, he carved out her eyes and took them home with him. They found them on his mantel. Really freaky shit.”

An intense shiver goes down my spine. “I’ll say.”

“So seriously, you never walk the arboretum path alone. Even if it’s not haunted, it’s creepy and not safe. It’s outside the walls.” This last is said with such earnestness I simply nod.

“Outside the walls equals not safe alone. Got it.” “And stay out of the attics. They’re totally haunted. Supposedly, one of the secret societies found several sets of infants’ bones up there a few years ago, in between the ceiling and the wall. I don’t know what they were doing there.”

“The society?”

“The bones. They were probably the children of some of the girls who lived here, stillborns and the like. You’d think they’d bury them, the graveyard is actually pretty cool.”

“Brilliant. Haunted attics with infant bones in the walls. This sounds like a stellar place.”

“Well, Goode is old, and when you get old, you get weird. Oh, I almost forgot, be careful in the tunnels.”

“The tunnels?”

“There was an Underground Railroad through here. You know what that is, right?”

“Vaguely. To do with slavery, yes?”

“We were a safe haven from the plantations down South to the free North. Pretty cool. The grounds are littered with tunnels and old cottages, but they’re totally off-limits. They’re dangerous, and most of them have collapsed in on themselves.”

“Where would I find one?”

“I don’t know, actually. I’ve only been told to stay away.”

The deep, resonating peal of a very old bell shudders through the building, making me jump nearly out of my skin.

Piper intones, “For whom the bell tolls… Don’t worry, Ash. You’ll get used to it. Even when the hauntings happen, the bells toll and chase away the ghosts. They don’t like the noise.”

She smiles, and I feel a spark of hope. She might be a friend, eventually.

“I can’t imagine why not. It’s unbelievably loud.”

“It’s really not to chase away ghosts. It’s so we never try to use not hearing the bell as an excuse for being late.”

“Right. Brilliant.”

Camille sticks her head in the door. “Are you two coming? You heard the bells, we’re going to be late. Ash, why haven’t you changed yet? Hurry! I don’t want JPs on my first day!”

“JPs?”

“Judicial points. It’s like demerits. Get five and you’re stuck in Saturday school. Hurry!”

Mum’s voice rings in my head. Pride goeth before the fall…

“Hey, Piper? Thanks for the warning, and the offer of the dress. I would appreciate borrowing it. But just for today, until I get some of my own.”

“Sure thing,” Piper says, handing it over. I run back to the room, strip, and throw the dress over my head, careful to make sure the price tag is tucked into the collar. I fully intend to hand it back after dinner, though I should probably have it cleaned. The trainers I’m wearing will not do. I have a pair of black flats tucked away in my bag, shoved into the shafts of my beat-up Dr. Martens. I dig through the bag; the boots are at the bottom. The second dong of the bell shakes the building, and by the third, I’m out in the hall, fully clothed, gowned, and shod, and we are racing down the stairs with the rest of the stragglers, out the back of Main Hall toward the chapel.

  About J. T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison began her career as a presidential appointee in the White House, where a nuclear physicist taught her how to obsess over travel itineraries and make a seriously good pot of Earl Grey, spawning both her love of loose leaf and a desire for control of her own destiny. Jaded by the political climate in D.C., she made her way back to her first love, creative writing. More than 20 novels later, she is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with thrillers published in 27 countries and 15 languages. She is also the EMMY-award winning cohost of A WORD ON WORDS, a literary interview TV show. She lives in Nashville with her husband and two small gray minions, known as cats in some cultures. She thinks they’re furry aliens.

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  GOOD GIRLS LIE by J. T. Ellison: Excerpt & Spotlight was originally published on The Sassy Bookster

[thecorteztwins]

Reasons Fabian Cortez is a joy to read (with citations)

- Gets hit in the face with a guitar by mutant rockstar Lila Cheney (X-Men '92)

- Sneaks right by the X-Men by wearing the brilliant disguise of a baseball cap (X-Men '92)

- Lies to birds. No, seriously, he just started lying to a random bird about how he was devoted to mutant/flatscan peace now (because using an anti-human slur you made up REALLY makes that convincing, Fabs) The bird wasn't a shapeshifter or sentient or anything. It was just a random wild bird. (Magneto miniseries)

- When he came back from the dead, he made his grand re-entrace floating and sparkling...with no explanation for how he could do that, as neither is in his powerset. He then immediately creeped on the nearest woman. (Magneto miniseries)

- Just when you think he can't get any sleazier, he gets sleazier (TOO MANY INSTANCES TO NAME)

- Openly admitted his supervillainy plans included FORMING A HAREM FOR HIMSELF (Magneto miniseries)

- Was then punched unconscious by the woman he was trying to force into said harem

- No one questioned why she did this, all three witnesses just assumed he deserved it because IT'S FABIAN

- Two issues earlier, he was telling this same woman how "pure" he was and comparing himself to snow. TO SNOW. BECAUSE HE'S SO PURE. THEN TRIES TO FORCE A WOMAN TO BE A PART OF HIS FANTASY WOULD-BE SEX SLAVE COLLECTION JFC FABS

- Was willing to risk pissing off APOCALYPSE if it meant getting laid (cartoon series, he's shown with a girl in his room while Apocalypse's Hounds are trying to get a new host body for Apocalypse...which they fail to do but might have accomplished IF FABIAN HAD BEEN THERE INSTEAD OF (literally) FUCKING AROUND)

- Used a hologram projector to make pictures of himself in different outfits and with hot babes hanging off him (link)(cartoon series)

- Says shit like SO SAYETH ME and MY WILL BE DONE in the cartoon series

- Costume is a penis arrow

- Despite possibly losing said penis to Wolverine's claws (The Uncanny X-Men #300)

- Causes a 15+ year mystery because he was staring at a woman's ass (Dark Seduction series)

- Once delivered pizza to Magneto and Mystique (The Chaos Engine Trilogy)

- Is in stuff titled "Fatal Attractions" and "Dark Seduction" that sound more like bodice rippers than comic book arcs

- Told Wanda and Pietro not to fight over him. (Blood Ties)

- Was chased through a concert parking lot by a grunge band that referred to him as a "weird roadie" (X-Men '92) - Shot a horse furry.  It was when the Acolytes were fighting the High Evolutionary’s New Men in the Quicksilver miniseries. The New Men are “uplifted” animals, meaning animals that the High Evolutionary artificially evolved into sentient, speaking, human/animal hybrid forms that basically look like the anthropomorphic version of their respective animal type. So, furries.

- There's a series of artistic errors re Fabian's cape over a few issues of X-Men '92. It's left at the scene when he's captured but then when he's shown in captivity he's got it on, how did he get a new one? Then during a fight it's red but a few moments after the fight is over, it's yellow. I conclude he keeps spares on him to change if one gets lost/dirty because FABIAN IS A DIVA must be what those 90s pouches are for

- Speaking of capes, I've actually noticed in 616 that he wraps his cape around himself when he's in trouble, like a kid with a security blanket. It's like the ONE thing endearing about him. He also did this on a stealth mission because GOD FORBID HE JUST LEAVE IT AT HOME LIKE A SENSIBLE PERSON I GUESS

- “DON’T YOU PEOPLE GET IT?! This is MY LIFE we’re talking about here!” He yells this at Pietro, Wanda, and Crystal while holding Luna hostage. Fabian. These people do not care about you. These people HATE you. Like, I just love that being crazed with terror doesn’t humble him, IT JUST MAKES HIS EGO THAT MUCH CRAZIER BY MAKING HIM THINK HIS ENEMIES GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HIS LIFE oh Fabian never change, you absolute delight. (Uncanny X-Men #307)

- Once, a scheme he was doing with another villain got really out of hand and he had to team up with Quicksilver, the would-be victim, to stop it. The moment the trouble was over, Quicksilver turned around saying "Cortez, you've got some explaining to--" but Fabian was GONE. The implication is he was teleported by another villain he was working for, but I like to think that FABIAN JUST RUNS SO FAST FROM RESPONSIBILITY EVEN *PIETRO* CAN'T CATCH HIM (Quicksilver miniseries)

- He once managed to disguise himself and get past the X-Men, even when they were looking right at him, just by wearing civilian clothes, a baseball cap, and a jacket/shirt that said STAFF. No, his normal costume does not involve a mask or anything. They know what he looks like. Except when he's wearing a baseball cap, I guess. (X-Men '92)

- In X-Men Forever, the good guys happen upon him as the emaciated tortured prisoner of an anti-mutant group. He assumed they came to mock him. YES, FABIAN, THEY BROKE IN, FOUGHT ALL THE GUARDS, JUST BECAUSE THEY KNEW YOU WERE HERE AND WANTED TO SAY NAH NAH NAH

- He threw a tantrum while naked. Twice in a row. (The Uncanny X-Men #300)

- The Acolytes were losing the fight and Fabian tried to make a getaway like the coward he is. But Bishop stopped him...and Fabian FUCKED HIM RIGHT UP. Don’t you get in his way when he’s trying to save his own ass! ( The Uncanny X-Men #300)

- Is honestly such a fuckboy that he set off a rogue Phoenix flare when he manhandled Jean Grey (X-Men Forever #1)

- Claims to be "the supreme mutant" (X-Men '92)

- He's definitely not gay, Fabian's a really thirsty hetero super straight guy, but there's a lot of hilarious Accidental Gay here and there if you look. For instance, he tells Quicksilver that Quicksilver screams his name really well (Blood Ties) and Quicksilver says that he “felt this incredible rush” when Fabian touched him (Quicksilver miniseries) Psylocke calls him Magneto’s “pet boy” at one point, and at another point  Magneto is shirtless in bed yelling "FABIAN CORTEZ! ATTEND ME!" and Fabian comes running...(X-Men (2nd series) #96). Again, he’s a very straight (and did I mention thirsty) guy in 616, but there is a canon alternate universe (What If…? #64)  where he wears purple short shorts, an ascot kerchief, and has an M on his thigh for Magneto. I'm not saying this is the gay Fabian universe but... 

- He is always manspreading every damn time he sits down. The only time he does NOT sit with his legs splayed wide open like LOOK AT MY BALLS EVERYONE is this one time in X-Men '92 when he is sitting next to BOOM BOOM

- He speaks with super pretentious big fancy words all the time but when the shit hits the fan (X-Men Forever #1), ACTUAL QUOTE---"I gotta get the hell outta here!" HE CAN TALK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON FINE. HE JUST CHOOSES NOT TO! FABIAN YOU POMPOUS FUCK!

- One time a prisoner grabbed his ponytail while he was talking and yanked so hard he screamed like a little bitch in front of his followers. The quote "Because I said soOWWWWW!!" is among his best lines in my book (The Uncanny X-Men #300)

- His motive seems to basically be affluenza. Seriously, every resource says he came from a rich family of high social standing but then just got bored. I can't make this up.

- He sits in Magneto's chair when Magneto isn't around. Quicksilver walks in on this (Dark Seduction)

- Fabian ignored a female teammate's advice and as a result, literally two seconds later an actual aquarium of water exploded on him. Like a fucking HUGE aquarium too, not like a fish tank, he BASICALLY GOT HIT BY A POND. And then got carried by the flood through a building until he rained down on some very confused people. (Quicksilver miniseries)

- Exodus later promoted this same female teammate to command the next Acolytes mission and Fabian wasn’t even allowed to go. Fabian was RIGHT THERE when Exodus did this and not happy about it. (Quicksilver miniseries)

- Female teammate: "Fabian! We need you!" Fabian: "Of course you do" SHE MEANT IN BATTLE YOU SMUG CREEPY FUCKER (Quicksilver miniseries)

- He teamed up with Maximus the Mad with the intent to use/double-cross him. When Fabian was gonna do a thing, Max said no, don't do the thing, and Fabian called him an ADDLED FOOL...so Max manipulated his mind to hallucinate Magneto come to kill him. Fabian flipped out in fear, and Maximus was easily able to persuade him to boost his powers so he could save him. Once he did, Maximus LOL'D about tricking him and immediately turned the tables :D (Quicksilver miniseries)

- Magneto walks in on Fabian in Magneto's private screening room that's supposed to be off-limits to everyone except him. Fabian is playing repeated clips of when he and the original Acolytes first attacked Genosha, fought the X-Men, etc. Awwww, revisiting your glory days before you were Erik's bitch, Fabs? Honestly it's almost sad but then I remember it's Fabian (X-Men Unlimited)

-  Magneto was asleep so Fabian and the Acolytes snuck out to party I mean kill Genoshan Magistrates and then Magneto had to come pick them up like naughty teenagers when they got in trouble with the X-Men SRSLY THIS HAPPENED (X-men second series #1-2)

- They had Charles Xavier captive and he was unconscious and Fabian was all dramatically pondering “What are you up to, old man?” and Magneto just goes “sleeping?” way to ruin Fabian’s dramatics dude sheesh (X-Men second series #3)

- At one point  MAGNETO WALKS IN ON HIM RIGHT AS HE'S ENCOURAGING THE ACOLYTES TO TURN ON HIM AND HURLS HIM INTO A PILLAR. HE DOESN'T EVEN KILL HIM HE'S JUST LIKE "STOP THAT". LIKE HE JUST EXPECTS THIS NOW (bonus points, before Mags did, one of the Acolytes says "Fabian Cortez, you're talking treason!" LIKE YEAH ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THIS? ANY OF YOU? YOU ALL KNOW AT THIS POINT WHAT HE DID TO MAGS ORIGINALLY FFS) (Uncanny X-Men #379)

- Apparently, he's "deathly allergic to rainforests". We find this out because a woman teleports him into the Amazon. The same woman who he tried to put into his would-be harem after telling her how OMFG PURE he is a few issues before. I don't know how you're allergic to an entire biome, he probably just has an allergy to a single genus of common tropical plants or something, but yeah, that happened. IT'S NEVER EXPLAINED HOW HE GOT BACK. Seriously, how did he get back from the Amazon to Genosha? Did he walk? Did the locals pay to have him shipped back? I feel like there's a hilarious story here not being told!

- In a single issue (X-Men: Magneto War) Fabian Cortez: *Wore his cape wrapped up around himself on a stealth mission rather than just TAKE IT OFF what a diva * Made gross comments about a physically mutated woman being “repulsive” and a “Morlock misfit” * Painfully hypercharged one of his Acolytes against their will * Used manipulative guilt-tripping tactics (“You have failed us! You have failed the cause! You have failed Lord Magneto!” LIKE UR NOT THE ONE WHO KILLED MAGNETO, U BAG OF SHIT) * Ran away and abandoned the Acolytes to the X-Men (with his cape still wrapped around him as he fled) ALL IN A SINGLE ISSUE WTF HOW EVEN FABIAN

#xmen #x men #fabian cortez #marvel

[jodyedgarus]

Why Are There So Many Bats At Spurs Games?

There are a few things we’ve come to expect over the years from San Antonio Spurs basketball. The team will always find a way to make the playoffs, no matter how much talent and pedigree it loses during the offseason. Coach Gregg Popovich will generally deliver grumpy end-of-quarter interviews no matter how well his team is playing. And once in a while, we can expect a furry, winged menace to descend from the rafters and terrorize their home court.

The local bats of San Antonio have long held a reputation as unruly Spurs fans, occasionally crashing games and disrupting play. In recent weeks, though, the bats have claimed season-ticket holder status with the red-hot team, which has won six-straight contests. In three of the team’s past six home games, including last Saturday, one of the flying mammals has brought a Spurs’ game to a screeching halt for minutes at a time, as various team staffers furiously scrambled to apprehend the flapping intruders.

All of which raises the obvious question: Why is the arena plagued with bats so often?

After spending many sleepless nights investigating the matter — in truth, I just called a couple of local specialists — the answer actually makes pretty good sense. The AT&T Center is 25 miles southwest of Bracken Cave, which is home to more than 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats, making it the largest summer bat colony in the world.1

What’s more, it’s logical that bats would fly past the arena, particularly during the winter months. The stadium is almost directly in the bats’ migration path back from Central America and Mexico, where maternal colonies fly to have and nurse their newborns (nearly doubling in number) before flying back to Texas.

Still, the team’s proximity to the real-life Batcave alone doesn’t explain how the bats are working their way inside the venue.

There are a couple of potential factors at play. First, the San Antonio arena — a few miles outside of the city’s downtown area and adjacent to a golf course — is perhaps the closest thing to a suburban venue in the entire NBA. The massive, brightly illuminated presence that attracts moths and other insects in an otherwise quiet area might be appealing to bats2 that are looking for food on a given night, according to Judit Green, who has worked as an urban wildlife biologist for 30 years with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Beyond that, experts suggest that the 750,000 square-foot stadium almost certainly had — or potentially still has — a tiny crevice somewhere, releasing just enough warmth outside to entice bats and birds that are looking to escape the area’s colder-than-usual temperatures for a night. (The Spurs declined to comment or to make a facilities specialist available to be interviewed for this story.)

“I’d guess there’s a small vent or other opening to the outside that’s attracting the attention of migratory bats,” said Merlin Tuttle, an Austin-based ecologist who has studied bats for 60 years and founded Bat Conservation International in the 1980s. “When cold fronts hit, sometimes that’ll drive the bats wintering in San Antonio to look for a place that gets them out of the cold.”

Once a bat does make it into the arena, we’ve seen time and time again what type of hilarity may ensue. It was nearly a decade ago in 2009 — on Halloween, fittingly enough — that future Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili endeared himself to Spurs’ fans even more by swatting a disruptive bat out of the air with his bare hand.

To be clear, the AT&T Center isn’t alone in producing odd animal-related headlines. It’s nothing new for pro sports, particularly ones played outdoors, to be interrupted by uninvited animals like squirrels, cats, birds, bugs, dogs and rabbits, just to name a few. And bats have also popped up once each this year at NBA games in Utah and Indiana, respectively.

But the San Antonio arena has developed a reputation for general weirdness over the years. Aside from a pigeon that flew overhead at the arena in early January, a snake was found in the visiting locker room before a playoff game between the Blazers and Spurs in May 2014. A month later, during Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the air conditioning stopped working — a development that became controversial after visiting star LeBron James cramped, shifting the momentum of the contest away from Miami and toward San Antonio. The Spurs went on to dominate the series, and James left the Heat the following month in free agency.

While the team did hire a designated pest-control expert following the Ginobli incident, the little-desired task of removing the bats usually falls to arena staffers who just happen to be on the court — and needless to say, it doesn’t always go so well. A handful of Spurs’ employees often give unsuccessful chase to bats, usually armed with nothing more than towels. Even Coyote, the team mascot, has gotten in on it — and, in a few cases, has actually been the one to round up the bats, illustrating just how much of an all-hands-on-deck process it can be.

Rob Wicall, who served as the mascot for nearly two decades before stepping down in 2016, sounded almost envious of all the bat run-ins there have been lately. For years, well before Ginobili’s bat-swat back in 2009, Wicall kept a fishing net he’d bought and the mascot’s Batman costume accessories nearby,3 just in case a bat ever got loose in the arena.

Ginobili took care of the problem just before Wicall could suit-up and come to the rescue back in 2009. But during his farewell season, Wicall got another chance to be the hero before a game in December 2015, and he made it count. He couldn’t see that well — the costume allows little to no peripheral vision — but he tracked the bat into the painted area before somehow nabbing it with his net. When he realized he’d succeeded, Wicall — in Coyote’s full Batman attire, with the PA announcer playing the old-school Batman theme song over the speakers — lifted his arms triumphantly.

“It was one of those bucket-list things for a mascot, because you’ve not only solved a problem in the arena, but you’ve also brought entertainment,” said Wicall, adding that it took him less than 45 seconds total to dash into his changing area and throw on Coyote’s Batman accessories.

But not everyone relishes these run-ins. Spurs forward Rudy Gay sought shelter from a bat by hiding behind ref Zach Zarba last month. And Nets All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell, who has now had two separate bat experiences at AT&T Center the past three seasons, took refuge in the tunnel leading to the locker room as four bats circled over the court.

Bucks center Brook Lopez, on the other hand, would activate a Bat Signal if he could. As a comic-book aficionado, Lopez told SB Nation early in February that he’d welcome being bitten by a bat in hopes that it might make him a superhero.

“I’m just going to make myself available [to the bat],” Lopez said. “At that point, it’s up to the bat. A lot of it is up to fate in these superhero stories. But I want to give myself a shot.”

Fate seemed to be listening. A bat flew past Lopez on Saturday in San Antonio. Fortunately — or perhaps unfortunately, given Lopez’s hope of becoming a superhero — he wasn’t bitten.

  from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-are-there-so-many-bats-at-spurs-games/