#but if they keep bringing him back as a villain like. what new ground can we even tread here?? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

idyllcy · 8 months

Text

baby, you can find me under the lights

word count: 9.1k

warnings: slow burn, mentions of drugs

summary: Ah, it feels good to be loved.

Hard. This is. Hard.

Jaime stumbles over his words as Khaji Da warns him for his spike in heartbeat, his head spinning as you stare up at him, blinking owlishly. You look pretty. Seriously, you look gorgeous. He's stumbling over his words just to ask you where his building was. It wasn't even as if he was asking for your number! Seriously, do people like you even exist—

You tilt your head at him, blinking.

asking you to repeat yourself.

nevermind. you do.

"Ah, uh, dios mio—" He pauses. "do you know where the school of biology is? It's my first day here, and—"

You point at the building on the other side, and Jaime sighs. "Oh my god. I'm stupid, so sorry—"

You wave your hand dismissively, smile on your face.

smile holds no menace. seeming to say 'me too'

"Thank you, but really—"

You raise a brow at him.

"Not you. Well, thank you, yes, but not the latter part." He sighs. "I've had a long morning."

You wave bye to him as you rush off into the building.

"Is she mute?"

no signs of vocal cord damage

"So she just." Jaime glances down at his watch, cursing as he realizes he's about to be late to class. "I'll ignore it. Put a tab on her."

got it. unusually high levels of dopamine and adrenaline detected in bloodstream.

"Ignore it." Jaime mumbles. "I just think she's cute."

In retrospect, Jaime has no idea why he would need to keep a tab on you, but he finds it especially helpful when he's met face to face with who the scarab calls you, except it's not really you, it's some person with flamboyant makeup drawn over their face, and Khaji Da insists it's you. All Jaime can notice is how you're a metahuman, a voice as honeyed as a siren's. He shakes his head to try and break free of your voice.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" You tilt your head at him, setting him down as you soar back to the supervillain. His jaw stays open before he closes it, realizing the situation.

"Khaji."

a metahuman

"Well, I can't have her fight alone, can I?" Jaime sighs as his armor clasps on, flying next to you, lending you a hand as he blocks a punch. "Having trouble?"

"Appreciate the help." You smile, landing a kick to the villain's face, stepping on it as you send him into the ground. The back of your heel causes a crack to ring and the man's face to cave in, and Jaime stares, eyes wide as Khaji Da tells him that the man's alive and has a high chance of survival. "Are you visiting? Does my city owe a member of the Justice League something?"

"No," Jaime shakes his head. "I... I live here now. I just moved."

"You... alright." You mumble. "For all I know, you could be moving here for retirement."

"Hey, I am not that old." Jaime gasps. "I'm—"

Khaji Da stops him before he can reveal his age. A smarter choice. Jaime really needs to fix his blurting problem.

You raise a brow at him, leaning closer, tilting your head. "You're...?"

"Uh, top secret information." He smiles, trying his best to focus on your face and not the way you were practically sticking on him. It was bad enough that he thought you were cute. He did not need another reason for being head over heels in love with you. Seriously, he's not the type for love at first sight, what kind of witchery do you have?!

You huff, leaning back. "Alright. You do you."

"Are there many villains here?"

"Not really. Just pigface here." You point at the man under you. "Though, you'll probably bring in your fair share of supervillains, huh?"

"I don't have that many."

"Still have some." You hum. "Alright. See you around, beetle boy. I wouldn't recommend sticking around. The police kinda hate us."

Jaime looks at the unconscious man as you fly. "Wait, do we—"

The police arrive as he's cut off, and he races off himself. He did not want a bullet shot at him, but he also did not want to deal with the police so early on in a new city. That could be saved for some time that wasn't right now.

Besides, he has his bio seminar to get to. Seriously, what is with him and arriving late to class?

Turns out, Jaime bumps into you much more than he thinks is coincidental.

First, the two of you bump into each other at the cafeteria, then the two of you meet at the library, then at the gym, and then you share a building at the dorms? Seriously, what is with the two of you and meeting? At this point he might as well call one of you a stalker, and it is most certainly not him. He doesn't think it's you either, especially with how unnerved you are while bumping into him. All you do is wave hello with a small smile and head the other way. Seriously, he was looking creepy. You were cute, he did NOT want to be scaring you off before he could even befriend you. Besides, it's not like his body is— it's... Khaji Da, isn't it.

"¿hermano, la estás acosando?" Jaime mumbles to the scarab. boy, are you stalking her?

I don't know what you're talking about

"'kay, can we cut it down? Seriously, I'd like to not see her every day."

I thought you liked her.

"Thinking someone is cute does not equate to liking them." He groans, swiping his student ID to get his lunch.

I am simply creating more opportunities for the two of you to meet

"Can you not control my body for something like this?" He takes his salad, running a hand through his hair as he crashes into someone. "Oh, I am sosorry—"

You blink up at him, shaking your head.

she says it's fine

"Are you sure? Let me know if I can do anything to make it up to you, really." Jaime nods.

You wave your hand, dismissing him as you head upstairs to find an empty table.

increased heart rate detected

"Oh, dios, please be quiet." Jaime rushes out of the cafeteria, embarrassment all over his face, cheeks flushed with blood.

As he reaches his dorm, he hears the sound of something going off almost comically, and he freezes. Didn't you mention that there weren't many supervillains other than the guy that was arrested recently? Come on.

The cafeteria you were just at. No signs of human damage. The girl is fighting.

Jaime sets his salad down, opening the window, and jumping out, his suit sending him straight to the cafeteria, blasting a piece of wood out of the way as your hand finds itself around the man's throat as Jaime sets down next to you.

"I thought you said there weren't many supervillains here?" Jaime's arm shifts into a taser as he presses it to the man, knocking him out.

"But plenty of frustrated college students." You smile at him. "this one tried bombing the building."

Jaime blinks.

heartbeat steady. Not lying.

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, beetle boy." You roll your eyes.

"Do you not have a name?"

You tilt your head at him. "And if I do?"

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Who knows. Maybe you'll commit identity fraud." You smile, tapping his chest twice. "Though, you seem a little too tall to steal my identity."

"I won't, so could I please know the name of the partner I'll be working with to fight crime?" Jaime holds his hand out for you, leaning down slightly to stare at you.

"Kinda hard to tell sincerity through those gorgeous yellow eyes of yours, beetle." You give him your hand anyway, shaking it. "Unidentified. Though, the police like calling me Euterpe."

"Like the greek muse?"

"Yeah. In charge of music and stuff." You shrug. "You're just blue beetle because of the suit, huh?"

"Yeah." He pauses. "Are the police coming?"

"They always are." You hum. "Two minutes, maybe."

"How do they know when you don't call?"

"I don't need to." You tilt your head slightly. You point at the students outside the building that Jaime had passed. "They do."

"Are you the school mascot or something?"

"Time's up." You smile. "Alright beetle boy, time to get going."

You speed off into the air as Jaime chases after you. "You didn't answer my question!"

"You have a lot of questions for someone who's just arrived." You come to an abrupt stop as Jaime freezes into place.

"Seriously, how has the Justice League not cataloged you? They sent me a list of everyone in the city and—"

"God, B's just as crazy as I remember him being." You grimace. "I'm not on the catalog— too secretive for his liking. B would really rather not catalog me."

"Why's that."

You pause. "I have a handful of mutant genes instead of just one. Weird superpowers come with all of them. If you really want my file, go find Red Robin at the Titans' tower. He ran a whole sampling of my DNA and everything. The Titans Archive has my file."

"Why doesn't Batman have it?"

"Mm..." You pause. "No time?"

"That man is retired. You have to have a better explanation than just that."

"Can we take it to the dorms? I'm at the point where I think you know who I am anyway." You sigh. "You keep bumping into me on a campus this big. You're practically stalking me."

"I'm not—"

"You're going to have to prove that to me. I see you everywhere." You sigh. "I have a single complex, come on."

"Did you win the lottery?"

"You can do a lot with a voice like mine." You drop onto the roof, suit coming off as you do.

"How'd you get that off?"

"Illusion magic."

"Seriously, you're practically a green lantern." He grimaces. "Or a magician."

"Your suit just came off too, you know?" You raise a brow, swiping your ID. "Does the beetle do that? Can I see the beetle?"

"Next thing I know you'll be asking me to strip for you." Jaime jokes.

"Oh, well, not that I'd be against that, but—" You shut up when you pass a student.

"At least you have a filter." He mumbles.

"How old are you anyway? I was going to ask if you were a fourth year, but from the way you don't know where the bio building is, there's no way you are." You glance at the signs.

"First year."

"Oh, so like, fresh out of high school?"

"No, I took a gap year." he hums. "Now I'm trying to finish college and get into dental school."

"Oooh, big dreams." You mumble. "I'll let you practice on me when you're in dental school."

"It isn't cosmetology, you know?"

"Eh." You shrug. Your keys materialize in your hand as you unlock the door to your dorm. "The fake teeth can only last you for so long. Welcome to my dorm."

"What kind of luck do you have?"

"I told you. My voice." You smile. "Would you like to see it in action? Have the scarab read my lips for you. You'll need earplugs. What's your Starbucks order?"

"A cappuccino. Wh-what are you doing?" Jaime chases after you as you step out of your apartment again, knocking on the door across the hall. You toss him earplugs with a wink, knocking on your neighbor's door. Jaime puts them in as he watches you.

"What?" A guy opens the door, visibly annoyed.

Your lips part, sickly sweet words spilling down your tongue, and Khaji Da speaks.

"could you get me a grande cappuccino and sweetened peach green tea from the Starbucks downstairs? Set it by my door and knock when you finish, please?" You bat your lashes at him twice, and the guy blinks back.

Jaime watches in shock as something glazes over the guy's eyes and he nods at you, heading inside and coming out with his phone in hand, locking his door as he heads down the hall.

"That's one of my abilities." You smile. You reach for the plugs in his ears, and he flinches back slightly, pulling them out himself. "Sorry. Am I too much?"

"It's really hard to have a normal heartbeat around someone like you."

"Honored you would think of me as hot." You smile. "Do you want anything to eat? I cook."

"You got tamales?"

"Oh, I do! I just dropped by one of the cultural clubs' president's house, and she came back with a bag of them. I just don't know how to cook them. Care to help?" You rummage through your freezer, brows furrowed. "Here. Yeah?"

Jaime holds his hand out for you to hand it to him, and he hums. "You got a steamer?"

"Top cabinet on the left of the stove." You hum.

"Do they make you pay utilities here?"

"No." You hum. "Which is why I keep the lights and AC on the entire day. I only turn off the lights in my room when I sleep."

"How much... is it a year?"

You visibly freeze, closing the fridge. "I'd rather not discuss that."

"A lot?"

"I don't look at the bill when I send all of it as fake invoices to Wayne Enterprises." You laugh awkwardly, pulling the steamer out.

warning: rapid heart rate increase.

"Yes, Khaji, I know." He mumbles through his teeth.

"Hm?"

"No, not you." He smiles. "How do I put this? I have a scarab in my back."

"Oh, I know." You smile. "It's pretty... visible when you're at the gym. there's like a huge bump on your back."

"You look at me at the gym?!"

"Hard not to when your back muscles look like that. You got a routine I can follow?" You wiggle your brows jokingly.

"Um, lifting seven hundred pounds worth of metal when a skyscraper falls over."

"Oh, I don't need to do that." You shrug. "I just tell the metal to get out of the way."

"Your voice works on more than just humans?"

You puff your cheeks, looking to the side. "Yes?"

"Do you have like, some cosmic control over the universe or something?"

"I could pull a my little pony princess celestia and tell the sun to go down right now." You bat your lashes innocently.

Jaime blinks owlishly, fear in the back of his mind, confusion on his face. You can what. What in the Mary Sue self insert is that voice of yours? It was like God himself made you extra special, even down to the genetics. A metahuman could have powers that strong? Though, how did you even discover that you could make the sun set? Something else snaps at the thought of your voice being so powerful. Can you command... food to cook?

"Couldn't you just cook the tamales with your voice?"

"I've never really tried that." You pause. "I don't know what works and doesn't work, I just know that I can make the sun set and moon rise."

"YOU'VE TRIED!?"

You ignore him, pulling out a tamale. "Cook, please?"

You toss it in the air as it gets hot instantly, and before Jaime can react, Khaji Da is sending his body to grab a plate and catch the tamale. You blink as Jaime catches it (just barely) and the two of you exhale in relief as Jaime sets the plate down. You blink at the bag and then at the piping hot tamale on the plate, jaw-dropping.

"I never have to cook ever again." You mumble. "Oh my god... this is a revelation. This is so much easier than I ever thought it'd be."

"Though, it might be better to cook it on a plate next time." Jaime mumbles, setting the plate down.

burn detected on left hand.

Jaime grabs your wrist, unfolding your hand as he stares at the wound. "It's hurt."

"Oh, I can just—"

"Do you want me to wrap it for you?" Jaime stares at you, eyes gentle, and your heart soars. Holy fuck he's cute. Yeah, screw the voice thing, he's wrapping it up for you. You're gonna take advantage of this. God, you're going to combust. Holy shit, was someone allowed to look this cute? You need to go outside and touch grass, holy shit.

"Y-yeah! Sure!" You blink, eyes wide. "Please. Thank you. I'll uh, give me a second." You stare at the cabinet. "Open, please."

The cabinet door opens.

"First aid kit, land on the counter, please?"

The kit lands, and you call to close the cabinet as there's a knock on the door. Jaime lets go of your hand, turning to go to the door.

"I'll get i—" You place a hand on Jaime's shoulder, shaking your head.

"Stay, please."

Jaime finds himself stuck in place as you open the door, a smile on your face as you take the drinks.

"Do you need anything else?" It's the same guy as before.

"Nope." You smile. "Thank you."

Jaime watches as the man's eyes return to normal, a confused look on his face as he raises a brow at you.

"Should, I, uh, pay you back for the drinks? How much was it?" You blink prettily at him, and Jaime's heart stops when the guy waves you off.

heart rate quickened. indicated attraction to her.

Holy fuck, were you using pretty privilege on your flatmate?

He leaves eventually, and you place the drinks on the counter. "A hot cappuccino during summer?"

"There's AC in your dorm." Jaime mumbles. "Did you use pretty privilege on him?"

"Oh, silly boy." You laugh. "Everyone thinks I'm the most attractive person ever."

"How?" Jaime tries moving, realizing you had put him in place. "Can I be freed?"

"Thank you for staying still." You smile.

"You don't want a tamale?" He opens the first-aid kit, pulling out the bandages and gauze.

"After I burned myself? I'd rather not." You wince as Jaime disinfects the burn.

"How'd you manage to burn yourself?"

"Erm... not sure!" You hum. "but I cooked the tamale."

"Let's cook it the normal way next time." Jaime mumbles. "You want me to cook anything?"

"Can you cook?"

"Yes, most definitely." Jaime wraps your wound gently, brows pulled into a worried frown. "worked at my tía's diner over summer during my gap year."

"Wow, sounds fun." You hum.

"You ever worked?"

"No." You mumble. "My work is my superhero business. I have a gofundme to help. You'd be surprised at how long of a way a little fanservice goes. Can you just boil me some soft eggs?"

"Runny yolk?"

"Semi." You hum. "I have a sauce in the fridge to marinate the eggs in. Thank you."

"Do you enjoy cooking? You have every single sauce and spice I can imagine." Jaime rummages through your cabinet. "Also, what did you mean earlier by everyone thinks you're the most attractive person ever?"

"Beauty is subjective— yeah, I like cooking— so if I tell myself that I want to be the prettiest person in the world, then everyone sees me slightly differently. It's a little manipulative, but it gets the job done." You mumble.

"What about the creeps?"

"I can fight." You hum.

"Is there a reason you need to come off as that way?"

"Only when I'm in suit." You hum. "I look perfectly plain when I'm out of the superhero face."

"And what's this fanservice of yours?"

You smile, your cheeks pulling up but your eyes unchanged. "My onlyfans is linked on my twitter."

Jaime chokes as he turns off the sink, neck-snapping to look at you. "W-what?"

"That was a joke." You hum. "It's just a gofundme. I'm... I'm close with a good number of fans. It's like Superman, you catch my drift?"

"He does have a good relationship with the citizens of Metropolis."

"Yeah, and Batman's hated by all." You snort. "That's a joke. Gotham would kill for that man."

"They would?"

"Ask a Gothamite what they think about Batman and you get an annoyed grunt, but lasso them with the lasso of truth, and they'll admit that they're actually grateful for the man." You lean on the palm of your head. "Thank you for making me the most attractive person ever."

Nothing changes for Jaime as he blinks at you. He blinks a couple more times at you, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him, but you look the exact same. The realization causes a smile to break onto his face slowly, eyes warm and affectionate as he looks at you. You're already pretty to him. How beautiful.

"So? You like how I look?"

"You look the same." Jaime hums, jumping when the water nearly boils over, opening the cap as he places the eggs in. "shit."

You laugh, chest flushed with warmth, shy smile on your lips. Your chest feels overwhelmingly full, like a piece of it that had been lost was returned to you, making you whole again. God, he can't just say that to you and expect you to not fall for him. You grimace inwardly. Falling at the slight sign of affection. How classic of you. Though, your chest is warm, and that was always a good feeling to have. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He blinks at you.

increasing heart rate—

"Please, not now." He hisses.

"Does the beetle speak?"

"To me." Jaime mumbles. "He's like a voice in my head."

"Could I suggest putting an earbud in to pretend you're on the phone so you don't look insane?"

Jaime pauses. "Huh. I've never considered that."

"Yeah." You mumble. "It gets people off your ass."

"How come you don't speak when you're walking around?" He raises a brow. "I thought you were mute until the scarab identified you as the hero."

You shrug. "It's easier."

"Easier for what?"

You shrug. "People don't talk to you much when you don't speak."

"Do you want me to peel the eggs for you?" Jaime lifts the pot into the sink.

"Oh, no, it's fine. Thank you." You hum, getting out of the seat. You wave him off as you pour the water out, focusing on the eggs. "Peel the shell off cleanly, please."

The eggshells detach perfectly, and you open your fridge, pulling out the sauce.

"Are you in any clubs?"

"Acapella Choir and Writer's United." You mumble. "I also hang out with the kids in musical theater."

"I forgot that was a major here."

"We're a surprisingly art-oriented school for one with such a good stem program." You seal the container again, putting it in the fridge. "Clean yourselves, please."

The dishes turn clean with a swirl, and you place them in the dish machine to dry.

"What's the magic word?" Jaime raises a brow.

You smile. "Can't say it."

"Why not?"

"Then it'll come true." You hum. "I think you've listened enough times for it."

"How come you don't fight crime with it?" He hums. "Your voice would do wonders."

You hum. "It wears my voice out."

"Do you speak to your professors?"

"Yeah?" You raise a brow.

"But you don't speak to students?"

"I speak when necessary." You shrug.

"So telling me where the bio building wasn't necessary?"

"No." You sigh. "Of course not. Oh, right. I never learned your civilian name. I can't just keep calling you beetle boy."

"Jaime. Jaime Reyes." He holds his hand out for you, and you take it, your own name spilling past your lips.

Jaime finds that you're not as much of a red flag as you came off as. You bump into him every now and then, nodding as you do, and then you rush off for your classes. Jaime only ever gets to speak to you while on duty, wrestling the criminals to the ground as you knock them out. He doesn't get to speak to you very much— the police have gotten much faster with arriving at the scene of the crime. Usually, by the time he's chased after you, you've already detransformed and gone to class. Seriously, your schedule is appalling. How many units are you even taking?

"Alright, I know you're in there. Come on, open up." Jaime knocks on your door for the nth time, and you finally, finally open it, sighing at him.

"What do you want?"

"To hang out? Seriously, I haven't made any friends since coming here other than you, and that's only because you and I fight crime together!"

"That does not sound like a me problem." You deadpan.

"I brought tea."

"Oh, why didn't you start with that?" You open the door fully, letting Jaime in. "I'll let you chill for a bit, but I have somewhere to go in a little."

"Where? It's 7pm on a Tuesday." He sets the tea on the counter, raising a brow.

"Frat party starts at 8 but you're technically supposed to get there starting 9. No one ever goes on time." You hum. "Did you want to stay the night?"

"No. That'd be a little..." He pauses. "Mami raised a man better than that."

You bark out a laugh. "That's sweet. Thank your mom for that, please. Not many women end up with such sweethearts of children."

"Are you calling me a sweetheart?" Jaime grins.

"Mm, sure." You hum. "Much better than half of the men on campus, that's for sure."

"Why are you going to a frat party?"

"For the vibes." You hum. "I also got news that something was going to happen there, so you gotta be prepared, you know? It's halfway across campus."

"Should I go?"

"If you want." You hum. "Give me a sec, I'll move everything to the island."

"Do you need help?" He cranes his neck as you disappear into the corridor.

"I'll be fine." You call.

Jaime watches as you move a bag and mirror onto the table, and he watches in silence as you start your makeup.

spike of dopamine in bloodstream. hermano, do something. ask her out.

"No!" Jaime hisses. "she's going to think it's creepy!"

"What's creepy?" You raise a brow at him, amusement on your lips.

"Nothing! Khaji is speaking." Jaime avoids your eyes.

"Is that the beetle's name?" You go back to the makeup.

"Yes."

You hum back, finishing with your makeup, pausing.

"Couldn't you have the magic do it?"

"Yeah, but," You sigh. "it only knows how to do my hero look."

"It's taught?"

"I can make it copy images on a screen, but I dont have that many products to work off of." You hum. "You want me to do your makeup?"

"I'm good." Jaime mumbles. "Is a frat party even safe?"

"Depends on the person. Is it icky? Yes. Is it fun to feel individualization in a crowd of strangers? Also yes." You hum.

"Don't you get hit on if you..." He pauses. "no. you're not in costume."

"I sure am going to get hit on if I transform, though." You hum. "It's happened before. They like spiking poison or toxins in frat party drinks. Can Khaji Da scan water for toxins?"

yes.

"He said yes." Jaime mumbles.

"Then go with me?" You smile at him awkwardly. "Please? Maybe you'll make friends there too. Hm? Didn't you come in complaining about how you didn't know anyone here?"

Jaime sighs. "I'm not drinking, though."

"Oh, yeah. Your boundaries still matter, obviously." You pause. "Don't Mexican families throw huge parties and drink there?"

"Sorry, let me rephrase that. I'm not drinking frat house beverages." Jaime corrects himself. "Someone's saliva could be in it for all I know."

"'kay, yeah, that makes sense." You mumble. "Are you just going to go in that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Mm." You think for a moment, staring at Jaime. "You know what. Yeah. The shirt's fine. Unbutton two buttons and you'll be fine."

"Huh?"

"Do you need me to do it?" You raise a brow. "They won't let you in if you look too formal, but they also won't let you in if you look too casual. Well, that's a lie. They'd let you in if you were in a tank top, but since you can't... at least try and look like a frat boy."

"I'm hurt." Jaime scoffs as you step close to him.

"Can I?"

"Do what you must."

You reach a hand into his hair, messing it up first, blinking slowly at his face. Jaime holds his breath as you're practically stuck on him, chest pressed to his, and he swears his heartbeat is scarily quick right now. He stares down at your eyes as you stare at his hair, fingers pulling gently to mess it up more than it was. In fact, he should be—

warning: quickened heart beat.

There it is.

Jaime curses under his breath, and you stop, blinking up at him as he leans back.

"Hm?"

"That's the scarab. My heart's beating too fast." He avoids your gaze again, looking up at the ceiling.

"So like, a defense mechanism?" You tilt your head. "Can I... unbutton your shirt slightly?"

"Yeah, uh, sure." He holds his breath as you slide it open slightly, freezing in place when you stare at his chest for a little too long. "You alright?"

"Yeah." You mumble, pulling away, hiding your face. "Yeah. I'm fine. God."

detected increased heart rate.

"You sure?" He tilts his head to get a better look at you, noticing your skin has flushed darker. Ah. So you were flustered too.

"You wanna go?" You finally speak up. "We should get going. It's across town."

"We can fly there. Well, you can."

"I'm not flying for a frat party."

"And you'll walk?"

"At least I won't be drunk." You mumble. "Besides, I can just sleep on one of the benches here. At least we don't have anti-homeless architecture on this campus."

"What's with all the crime on campus anyway?"

"Oh, you didn't know? Everyone here is tied into crime in some way." You smile, opening your fridge. "there's correlation between creativity and sociopathic tendencies, after all."

Jaime blinks slowly. "What."

stable heart beat. Not lying.

"Heros end up desensitized too." You pull out the whipped cream, squirting it right into your mouth as you swallow. You lick your lips as you set the bottle back into the fridge."Come on."

The school is shaped more and more like a prison, Jaime thinks. The architecture is shooting proof, and all the windows are bulletproof. He wasn't sure if it was because of safety worries or the amount of crime. The school wasn't known for crime, so it was a little strange being told that petty crime was common in the school. Well, maybe it was. It's probably less than whatever's going on in Gotham anyway.

"Is... petty crime common here?" Jaime winces at how uncertain he sounds.

"It's..." You pause. "It's not that common, actually. It just seems that ever since you came, our crime rate has gone up."

"Pinning the blame on me?" Jaime fakes offense.

"Yeah." You joke. "Any plans on how to make friends?"

"Any tips?"

"Find the people who are in the corner." You mumble. "Or something. I don't know. Get to know people over drinks. Just have the beetle scan the drinks for anything bad for you."

"What should I not touch?"

"The punch. The beer is usually fine. The beer tends to be canned."

"And the vodka?"

"It's alright. I take a shot of punch for liquid confidence, though." You hum. "But today I can't. I'll just have to shoot straight vodka."

"Or you could just, not drink?"

You shrug, getting to the door of the house, a guy greeting you.

"Ay! You're back!" He grins.

You grin back. "I brought a friend today. That's alright, right?"

"For you, sugarlips? Always."

You lick your lips, winking as you step into the house, Jaime in tow, his hand in yours.

half of the people here's bloodstream have high concentration of alcohol already. beware.

"Got it." Jaime mumbles, following behind you as you squeeze through the crowd. He gets a couple of looks, raised brows in interest and flirty winks. He wonders if you get this often too. Well, if you came and went looking like that, then surely you would. Maybe that's why everyone calls you a nickname. Jaime grows frustrated as he thinks of it. Did you have someone else?

"Sugarlips!" A guy wraps an arm around your shoulder, smiling. "Come back for more?"

"Brought a friend today." You point at Jaime.

The guy doesn't even bother looking at Jaime. "Your boy?"

"Not quite." You smile. "Hands off of him, though. You wouldn't mind telling the girlies that, would you?"

"No worries." He gives you a wink. "Should I tell the boys to keep their hands off too?"

Jaime nods at you, squeezing your hand gently.

"Please." you lick your lips, a smile on your face.

"Watch the punch for me, will you? Don't want anyone drugging it."

"We'll watch the punch." You nod.

"Of course, sugar." He laughs, nodding at Jaime as he heads back into the crowd.

"Well?" You tilt your head at Jaime as he stares at the punch.

Stick your finger in it for more thorough analysis. I can't tell anything without contact.

"Need a cup."

You grab a red solo cup, scoop the drink without the ladle and hand it to him. Jaime blinks twice at the liquid before giving up. Oh well, it's a frat party. What can he do about it?

"Is it always this messy?" Jaime sticks his finger in, waiting for the analysis.

"Occasionally it's worse." You hum. "So? Did you find anything?"

Unknown aphrodisiac toxin detected. Rohypnol drug detected. Liquid alcohol content 37%.

"Rophynol and an unknown aphrodisiac." Jaime repeats. "Alcohol content is 37%."

"Remove the flunitrazepam from the punch, please." You mumble quietly, the water swirling slowly from people's drinks. The powder hangs in the air as you open a plastic bag. "put the flunitrazepam into the bag, please." The powder swirls into the bag, and Jaime watches as you tuck it into your pocket. The crowd of people with drinks don't notice at all, not even when something bubbles out of their drinks.

"Then?" He raises a brow.

"Go have fun." You hum, flicking the cap off of the vodka. "Or have Khaji Da scan the people to figure out who decided to put the date rape drug in the punch, but not my problem." You pour yourself a shot. "I already figured it out when I walked in."

You tilt your head as you watch the vodka pour into the glass, eyes glistening as you do, eyes gentle and tired, and Jaime finds something in your eyes. He's not quite sure what it is, the spotty lights in the living room painting your skin different colors, but there's something about you, he supposes. Even in the way he takes your outfit in, finally, staring too hard at your face. Reds and greens dance across it, leading down to your shoulder. Something glistening on your arm catches his attention.

"You have powder on your shoulder." He reaches to wipe it. "who was it?"

"It's fine." You brush him off, putting the vodka back on the table. "Want a shot?"

Jaime furrows his brows, your name slipping past his lips. "who was it?"

Your name sounds like honey coming from him as you down the shot. God, you were down bad.

"Seriously, who is it?" Jaime knows at this point, only one person had touched your shoulder, but he wants to hear it from your mouth.

"Guy who had his hand on my shoulder. That's why he asked me to guard the drinks. Be right back." You smile at him, slipping into the crowd, going to find the girl he had his hands on.

Jaime tries following after you but loses you in the crowd, grimacing. You were probably looking for the guy who drugged everyone. "Khaji. Find her."

upstairs bedroom second on the left.

Jaime squeezes past the crowd to try and find you. If the guy was capable of drugging the punch, then god knows what he was capable of doing to you if you went alone. Sure, you can fight, but what if something does happen? He didn't want you getting hurt, even if he knew you could fight without a problem.

sounds like you like the girl

"Khaji, can you please," He slams the door open, staring as you have the man on the ground, heel pressed on his windpipe, the girl still unconscious on the bed. Jaime lets out a breath in relief as he steps over to you, Spanish spilling past his lips before he can think too much. "gracias a dios. ¿mi vida, qué demonios estás haciendo? ¡No huyas solo!" thank god. my life, what are you doing? Don't run off by yourself!

You blink in surprise as he breaks into scolding in Spanish, grabbing you by the arms, tilting your head to get a proper look for any bruises that could have landed on you, cursing you out for running off on your own, and you blink trying to keeping up with his words. At some point you press a hand over his mouth, pointing down at the man under you. Jaime follows your finger, remembering that you're stepping on a man's neck. You... crazy. Only you. He hears Khaji Da laugh in his head.

"We've really got a knack for speaking when you have a man's throat under your foot, huh?" Jaime mumbles, furrowing his brows. "Let him go."

"You called me mi vida." You press your chest to his, staring at him, batting your lashes. The pet name sends blood rushing to your head, drunk on the way it sounded so sweet falling from his lips. Did he mean it? Did he mean it when he called you his life? "Did you mean it?"

"It slipped out."

from your unconscious maybe.

"Khaji, shut up." Jaime hisses, face impossibly flushed. "Get off the man before he dies."

You step off of him, the man long passed out.

"Is he still breathing?"

breathing: stable

Jaime exhales quietly.

"So? Mi vida?" You smile cheekily, pointing at yourself. "Am I tu vida?"

Jaime tries avoiding the topic. You're a little tipsy right now. "You literally had a single shot. How are you already–"

blood alcohol content from breath: .06

"Seriously?!" Jaime grimaces as you stare up at him, expecting an answer, cheeks puffed out and frown on his face. "Will you get off of me if I say yes?"

"Depends if you're being honest." You grin, pressing your ear to his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "Push me off if you're uncomfortable."

"Seriously, you're drunk. You're probably not even conscious of half of the stuff you're doing." Jaime peels you from him, throwing you over his shoulder.

"EEK!! I'm being carried like a sack of potatoes!" You shriek, laughing. The alcohol is really messing with your brain. "I'll stay in the room. Go call for the guy at the door we greeted earlier. He'll know how to deal with this."

"I thought frathouses let things like this slide?" He sets you down on the bed next to the girl.

"Not this one. Especially not when he actually planned on doing something." You beam at him, eyes closed, lips quirked upward. "So, could you?"

"If you say the magic word." He tilts his head. He could have a little fun with you.

"That would make it a command." You mumble. "How about something I can give you? Go make a friend downstairs. Give him a friend, p—"

Jaime presses his hand to your mouth. "I don't need the help, thank you."

You blink slowly at him, licking his palm.

"Where'd you even learn that?!" He pulls his had away with a grimace.

"Go get the guy at the door." You groan. "I want to leave if you aren't going to make any friends."

"I'll take you home and then come back to make some friends if you really want me to." Jaime mumbles.

"It'll be too late by then. The police are coming soon."

"Huh?"

"Noise complaints." You shrug. "They break up around 1 or 2 am, so it'll be soon."

"It's been that long?!"

"Go get the guy from the door!" You land in the bed with a thud, sighing. "God, before I kiss you or something. Hurry up."

"Huh?" Jaime freezes in his tracts, turning around to stare at you.

"Don't you wanna know why they call me sugarlips?" You pout, resting your pinky on your bottom lip as you jut it out. You pull it down with a pop, blood rushing to Jaime's head as you do. He needs to leave before he does something to you. God, his self-control could only last him so long.

"That's definitely the alcohol talking." Jaime mumbles frantically, shutting the door behind him. His ears and face feel eerily warm despite being sober.

Ugh, you were a force to be reckoned with.

He hauls you out eventually, flying you to the dorm instead of walking, worried that you'd get hit on, even as he unlocks the door with his ID, you mumble quietly, half-asleep, half-conscious.

"Wake up. I don't know where your key is." Jaime shakes you gently. "Come on."

"Call me mi vida again." You whisper.

He complies, setting you down, a hand around your waist for support. "Mi vida, get your key, will you?"

You fish out the key, unlocking the dorm room. "Wanna stay the night?"

"I'm two floors down. It's fine." He mumbles.

key replication made

"What." Jaime freezes at Khaji's update. "excuse me?"

"Hm?" You raise a brow, door half-open.

"Not you. Shower and go to sleep when you get in." He sighs. "Yeah?"

"Can I have a goodbye ki—"

Jaime shoves you into your dorm, slamming the door closed as he holds it in place, heart racing, cheeks flushed, lips parted as he desperately tries to catch his breath. God. You are such a force to be reckoned with. He's going to get a heart attack with you around sometime. You're twice as bad when you're drunk. But hell did he want to kiss you. Too bad you were drunk. He couldn't think of taking advantage of you like that, even if you were the one who asked.

Jaime makes a mental note to keep you away from alcohol next time.

The next time you see Jaime, the two of you are actually fighting someone again. Your suit is on, your voice stopping the metal from slamming onto the civilians as you evacuate them. Jaime focuses on the man himself, hand transforming into a blaster as he shoots at the villain. Didn't you say most of the crime was minuscule in comparison with other cities? Well, this was minuscule compared to how many beetles he's fought because of who he was. At least there weren't other beetles in the city.

"I thought you said there weren't supervillains in this city!" He yells at you, voice coming out altered.

"They don't come often!" You yell, turning your attention to the metal. "Fall, please."

The metal slams down onto the ground as you tackle Jaime out of the way.

"Why did you let it fall?!"

"I can't hold things up for too long my throat hurts!" You shriek, turning to face the floating criminal." Pass out, right now, please!"

The supervillain drops on the ground with a thud, and you exhale, faceplanting into Jaime's suit with a sigh. You stay there for a couple of seconds, catching your breath, groaning as you finally sit up straight. Jaime can feel the plush of your skin despite the suit's barrier, and it is not something to feel while the adrenaline after a fight dissolves in his system.

"It was that easy!?" He rests on his arms, suit scanning the unconscious criminal.

"My throat hurts." You mumble, walking over to where the criminal was passed out. "Two minutes until police come."

"I'll fly you." He sits up with you, linking his arms behind your back and under your legs, wings fluttering as he soars into the sky. "Who pays reparation fees?"

"Taxes." You cough. "Ow."

"Stop talking!"

"Stop asking me questions— heUG." You reach to grab your throat, grimacing.

"Alright. Stop talking until we can figure out how to get your voice back without killing you." He groans. "At this point we might as well live on the dorm roof."

You grimace.

"Was your throat damaged when we met the first day?"

You shake your head.

"Oh, so you just hated me."

You lunge at him, annoyed.

initiating rough translation... "Are you crazy!? Do you know how much energy it takes to knock a supervillain out with my voice? You think I'm superman?! I didn't hate you the first day, I just didn't think it was worth the effort!"

"Don't lunge at me while I'm flying!" Jaime shrieks, nearly dropping you as he lands on the roof with a crash. "I didn't know! I can't analyze your entire genetic structure just from looking at you, you know?!"

"would you like to see me naked, then?"

"NO!" Jaime yells, leaning back as you shift on his lap. "Dios, now everyone's going to know that I landed on the roof. Hurry up on back to your place now."

"Jaime, pretty boy."

"What?" He tries to ignore the way the back of his head rushes with warmth at the pet name.

"I can't detransform without my voice."

Jaime freezes in place, blinking at you slowly as he lunges to grab you by the shoulders. "Speak. Detransform right now—"

"I CAN'T."

"You know," Jaime pauses. "I'm impressed that you can tell, Khaji. How are you reading her body language so well?"

unlike you, I have been observing her body language. she is a suitable person for you to date.

"WHAT." Jaime chokes, coughing to get the spit caught in his throat out. You jolt as he rests his head on your chest, coughing profusely.

Jaime, I need to see her in order to translate. Though, her heartbeat is abnormally fast.

Jaime looks up at you, where you're looking down at him, lips parted in embarrassment, eyes wide with confusion, skin flushed with warmth. Jaime probably doesn't look much better under the suit right now, his own heart fighting to break through his ribcage. You're just... so pretty. He stares at you a little too hard, eyes drinking in your figure, forgetting how close you are to him.

"Can I kiss you?"

That cuts Jaime out of his thoughts as he leans away from you. "I did not need to hear you ask if you could kiss me with the scarab's voice."

You blink at him owlishly, mischief dancing in your eyes.

"No." He answers. "Not with Khaji's voice asking me."

"will you go on a d—"

"NOT WITH HIS VOICE ASKING ME!" Jaime cries.

You grin at him cheekily, scooching close to press yourself to his chest again. You rest your cheek on his chest, lips curling upward as you bat your lashes. You like messing with him, he finds.

"Then my own?" Your lips pull further up, and Jaime swallows while staring at your lips.

"You didn't lose your voice?" He stumbles over himself as you blink.

"Not quite. It hurt for a bit, but my self-healing ability is quite impressive too. So?" You hum. "Can I?"

"Yeah, sure, mi vida," He mumbles, the helmet on his head coming off as he presses his lips to yours, lashes fluttering as your body arches to sink into him. His hand wraps around your wrist as he leans a little more in to get a better taste of your lips, another hand moving to the back of your head, tilting it as he stares at you through his lashes. He understands your nickname now, your lips do taste sweet, even when you haven't downed whipped cream. Ugh, he could spend eternity just making out with you, slowly, gently, without a care in the world. He pulls gently on your hair, leaning further in as he licks your bottom lip, exhaling more as his tongue darts past your pretty lips into your mouth. Your hand moves to press on his chest, whimpering as he tugs on your hair a little too hard.

You're just so pretty to him.

He lets out a sigh of satisfaction as you pull away for air, lips parted, eyes glazed over, a strand of saliva connecting your mouths.

Jaime reaches to wipe the saliva from your mouth with his thumb, smiling gently as he does.

God. Shit. He's in love with you.

unusually high levels of dopamine and adrenaline detected in bloodstream. quickened heartbeat warning.

"Can I kiss you again?" Jaime whispers.

"Yeah." You whisper back, smiling so hard your eyes crinkle.

Fingers in your hair and lips slotted against yours, Jaime thinks this is heaven for him. Even as the two of you have detransformed, still stuck on the roof of the dorms, your hands on his chest as he sinks further into your touch, smiling against your lips as you hum, the vibrations of your chest traveling to his as a pleasant buzz. Jaime closes his eyes all the way, and he only pulls away when you do, the gentle fondness still present in his eyes as he looks at you.

Yeah. That was what this is. Love.

The same love that was present in his mother's eyes, yet different from the love that was for his family. This love was newer— it made his skin crawl and his heart race, but it wasn't unpleasant. He felt giddy and boyish, falling for someone like this— he felt like it was having a first love, your cheeks flushed and ears red, shy glances stolen in a room full of people, only seeing you under the spotlight when other people existed. Jaime wanted to relish in this forever— the feeling of your skin pressed to his, he would stay with you forever if he could— If you'd let him.

"So?" You smile. "Know why now?"

Jaime pauses to stare at the way the sun shines through your hair and coats you in a glow of gold, his hands still on you as he looks up, a smile on his face. A laugh breaks past his lips at your smile, the happiness from finally having you in his arms sending blood through his body and genuine bliss through his system. Ah. Right. This was heaven to him— to have you in his arms and a smile on his face, the sun not even as bright as the way your eyes crinkle while looking at him, adoring him to the ends of the earth. Ah, it feels good to be loved.

"Mm..." Jaime hums playfully. "Maybe I'll know if you kiss me again."

"God, I think I just unleashed a monster."

"Your fault for being so irresistable, mi vida." He goes back to your lips, humming happily as he does.

Your relationship doesn't change much at first. The two of you are exclusive, yes, but neither of you have put a label on the relationship. Other than the making out in your dorm and occasionally while fighting, not much has really changed. You both have your classes, and you both have things that you are busy with. You wonder if you guys are just friends with benefits, then. Though, judging from the way Jaime looked at you, there was no way the guy thought you both were just friends.

Then, Jaime starts bringing food over to your dorm, clinging onto you while the two of you huddle on the couch with a movie playing in the background. You find yourself in his arms as you listen to his heartbeat at night, and suddenly the single dorm is a double, Jaime squished on your bed next to you, sprawled out with an arm around you lovingly as the two of you sleep. You're... definitely not friends with benefits. You're practically dating, huh?

"I'm here!" Jaime calls from the door, holding a bag of takeout with a bouquet in the other arm.

"What is it today?" You take the flowers from him with a smile.

"Bart visited today." He hums. "Said there was a good bagel place downtown he visited before."

"Ooh." You mumble. "Did you try it?"

"No, but I ordered something I figured you'd like." He takes out the boxes, sliding yours to you, smile on his face.

"Jaime, can I call you mi amor?" You tilt your head.

"You can call me whatever you want, mi vida." He hums. "Just you."

ew.

"Khaji, shush." He hisses at the beetle.

You open the takeout box, grinning at the bagel. "We should make this here."

"We should." He hums. "You'd probably make a better one too."

"Should have Bart judge it." You chew on the bagel, pausing. "Are we... dating?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't we be?" Jaime pauses. "Oh. I forgot to ask you out, huh? Wait, I can prepare something nice and then as—"

"Jaime, go out with me?" You tilt your head, smile crinkling your eyes, your cheeks pulled upward with a foolish grin.

"Yes." he breathes. "Yes, mi vida. Forever and always, it's a yes."

You hum, pulling a flower out of the bouquet and tucking it behind his ear. "There. Now we're actually dating."

"Mi vida." He spins your chair to face him, arms gripping both sides, smile on his face. "Can I have a kiss?"

"For you? Always yes." You set the bagel down, wrapping your arms around his neck. "Though, I probably taste like bagel right now."

"You always taste good." Jaime mumbles, pressing his lips to yours.

And it's gentle, the way that Jaime loves. He presses his fingers into your skin and wraps his arms around you, relishing in the warmth you give him, and to him, you can do no wrong. Even if you make mistakes, he's there for you, slowly, gently, always there to anchor and weigh you down. You'll do the same for him, fingers threading through his hair, skin warm on his, a smile and voice reserved for him.

and god did Jaime love you for it.

#btw for anyone who wants to know: I have requests open if anyone wants a jaime fic :3 #im rearranging the queue for this I can NOT stop thinking abt Jaime I need to kiss him rn #GUYS DAN MORA MY BELOVED LITERALLY HE LOOKS SOOO GOOD HERE #god i hate (love) writing slow burn mutual pining ugh #jaime reyes x reader #blue beetle x reader #blue beetle imagine #jaime reyes imagine #dc x reader #☾.fics

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see-arcane · 10 months

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Today’s entry is one of many that really drives home why I can never quite bring myself to get into softer ‘uwu he’s just misunderstood and sexy-liberating’ versions of Dracula. Just. I can’t. I really really can’t.

Up to this point, he’s already had a monstrous moment in bringing the ladies their first on-screen kids meal crying and squirming in its sack. He’s had outright predatory back-to-back moments in imprisoning, coercing, robbing, and getting increasingly threatening and handsy with Jonathan. This, capped with the fact that he plans to kill/drink/gift him to the Undead Girl Gang by the end of June.

‘But what about his, “I too can love,” huh? He’s just loving as best a monster can! He could be tearing everyone around him to ribbons for annoying him, Brides and Jonathan included! Instead he goes out of his way to feed the ladies, albeit gruesomely, and has no retort when they laugh at and insult the lonely old bat. And he isn’t planning to kill Jonathan. He wants to keep him! Sure, it’s a sick version of it, but to him conscripting and collecting Jonathan rather than executing him outright is the height of affection! Surely that’s grounds for some of the more ~romantic~ takes in warped gothic flavor?’

To an extent, yeah.

But he also just dressed up in Jonathan’s stolen clothes to cover up for the man’s own abduction, imprisonment, and undeadifying, while also increasing the odds of Jonathan already getting mistaken for a vampire, bringing home another child for the ladies to devour, and then ordered a pack of wolves to eat a grieving mother alive for making noise at his gate.

And this? This is just the tip of the iceberg for how downright hellish he gets as the novel progresses.

Dracula can absolutely be a nuanced character within canon, offshoots, retellings, re-imaginings, and so on. And he should be! He’s a very interesting bastard who’s got so much more going on than a few one-liners and a taste for good cloaks and yummy company. But his actual actions in the book--even the smallest ones--just automatically torpedo 90% of my audience enjoyment when I run into yet another ‘Oh, but he did it all because he was in love!/misunderstood!/depressed!/unfairly maligned by the eeevil human Victorian characters in their journals and newsprint and body count records!’ version of the Count.

Even sillier takes that try to heroify him for kids like Hotel Transylvania just kind of make my brain trip and fall into a pit of ???

‘Look kids, Dracula is really a nice guy and a sweet dad who runs a fun little hotel for his misunderstood Universal Horror monster buddies! Isn’t he neat?’

It leaves me biting my tongue and holding this mental grimace as I think about the sacks full of weeping children, the slaughtered mother, a young man imprisoned for making the mistake of endearing himself so much to a sadistic monster that the latter has decided to keep him as a tortured toy and undead pseudo-slave for eternity, with an entire blood buffet of human cattle still waiting to fill out the rest of the novel with trauma, horror, and death.

‘Ohhh, but look at Francis’ tragique sweetheart version who stole all his redeeming qualities from Jonathan Harker! Ohhh, but look at the funny silly Adam Sandler cartoon and his new everyman-settling daughter! Ohhh, but look at how #cool and modern-sexyedgy an antihero/villain he is when penned by every projecting director and their grandmother! Lighten up, it’s just a different interpretation!*’

*Of the character whose whole deal is psychological torture, being a predatory creep, casual murder, and worse-than-murder of innocents.

I know it skews me towards being a whiny purist. I know. Let folks have fun. I know. But still, it feels so wrong every time I see someone try to ‘awww, he’s not so bad!’-ify him in new media when. No. He is exactly that bad and probably worse. If he’s not, then that’s not fucking Dracula.

tl;dr: Can people just make some new fun/sexy/antihero vampires instead of stapling Dracula’s name on all of them? Can Dracula just be an interesting villainous monster again?? Please??? (Please save me Renfield 2023 and The Last Voyage of the Demeter, you’re my only ho--)

#ranting and whining this morning #dracula #re: dracula #dracula daily #jonathan harker #adaptation #bastardization

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cantsayidont · 6 months

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October 1966. You can't keep a dead butler down. About two years after killing off Alfred the butler in 1964, editor Julius Schwartz was faced with a problem: William Dozier, the producer of the forthcoming Batman TV show, wanted to include Alfred in the show, and wanted him reintroduced into the comics as well! Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox struggled with this challenge and finally came up with the utterly preposterous story presented in the issue above.

Even for a Silver Age Gardner Fox comic book, this story is exceptionally convoluted, so it's best considered chronologically. We begin with a flashback sequence involving iconoclastic "all-around scientific genius" Brandon "Plot Device" Crawford:

This is already straining credulity a little because the story in DETECTIVE COMICS #328 in which Alfred died (helpfully recapped elsewhere in this issue) showed that he had been crushed to death by a giant boulder. That did not seem survivable at all, and even if it were, this would imply that neither Batman and Robin nor whatever doctor who filled out Alfred's death certificate nor the mortician noticed that he wasn't actually dead! Anyway …

So, Alfred wasn't actually dead, he wasn't embalmed, and he was buried in a refrigerated coffin (that's what the purple cylinders in the last panel previous page were for). A stretch, but we'll allow it. However, upon discovering this, Crawford, instead of calling an ambulance like a normal person, seizes on the opportunity to do some Frankenstein shit with Alfred's maimed, broken, mostly dead body, as one does (if one is a reclusive "radical individualist" who dropped out of college to pursue unorthodox, dubiously ethical scientific experiments, I guess).

One of the initial objects of Schwartz's tenure had been to rid the Batman books of the fantastical aliens, monsters, and bizarre transformations of the 1957–1963 period in favor of something a little more grounded. All that goes out the window here, despite the rather defensive editorial footnote, which says:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Physics professor Robert Ettinger, author of "The Prospect of Immortality," has said that death can only be defined in relative terms. He points to the hundreds of persons revived after drowning, asphyxiation, electrocution, and heart attack. "Biological death depends not only on the state of the body," Ettinger says, "but also on the state of medical art!"

Okay, then. On to the Frankenstein shit:

So, Crawford's experimental cell regeneration machine has restored Alfred's broken body, but in the process transformed him into an unrecognizable, rather hideous-looking being who is also evil. Check! The regeneration effect we see Crawford panicking about then transforms him so that he looks like Alfred, while leaving him in "a catatonic trance." The Outsider, rather ungratefully, puts Crawford's unconscious body back in Alfred's coffin to cover his tracks, and uses Crawford's various machines and his own "increased mental power" in his new quest to destroy Batman and Robin.

This was not the first appearance of the Outsider, who had actually been hounding the Dynamic Duo on and off since DETECTIVE COMICS #334 two years earlier, although he had never appeared on-panel, and his identity had been a mystery. Where Schwartz originally intended to take that plotline is not clear (Schwartz's own account doesn't say, and Gardner Fox said later that he didn't think Schwartz had a solution in mind at the outset), but it doesn't seem likely that revealing the Outsider as Alfred was the plan, particularly since subsequent Outsider stories had shown that the villain had superhuman powers, including the ability to bring inanimate objects to life! In this story, the Outsider really does transform Robin into a wooden coffin, as the cover indicates — it's not a hypnotic illusion or some other such dodge. Fortunately, the effect is reversed after the villain is defeated:

Batman's determination to keep these events secret from Alfred is bizarre, since Alfred's death is a matter of public record: As seen in DETECTIVE COMICS #328, Bruce Wayne started a charitable foundation in Alfred's name, with its own building in Gotham City! Batman suggests that they can rename the charity the Wayne Foundation (as of course they subsequently did), but how he expects to resolve the various problems created by Alfred having been legally dead for months without his finding out is unclear. They do take the time to retrieve Crawford (who has miraculously not suffocated or starved to death in Alfred's coffin) and use his machine to return him to normal, after which Batman suggests that Bruce Wayne will give Crawford a job at the renamed foundation.

If you're wondering, "Wait, does this mean Alfred now had super-powers?" the answer is yes! Since he didn't retain any conscious memory of his death and resurrection, he was normally unaware of this, but Alfred's evil Outsider personality resurfaced several times, and he sometimes spontaneously reverted to the Outsider's form, in which he once again had supernatural abilities:

Notice the background, with the buildings burning like candles? The Outsider did that with his mental powers, along with a bunch of less grandiose but equally impossible feats. Fortunately, they reverted to normal after he split into separate good (Alfred) and evil (Outsider) selves and defeated himself. The Outsider resurfaced once more in 1985, battling the Outsiders and nearly killing Superman by transforming the Batcave's giant penny into Green Kryptonite.

I guess this whole saga did resolve the problem of resurrecting Alfred for the TV show, but in what I think can fairly be called the most ludicrous way possible. (And you thought the PENNYWORTH show spun out of GOTHAM was silly …)

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crusherthedoctor · 8 months

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Get a Load of Traits - PART 1: Sonic the Hedgehog

Way back during my Tumblr infancy, I made a series by the mouthful of What Makes For A Good Incarnation, in which I listed the main noteworthy traits that I consider integral for crafting, at the very worst, a still above-average portrayal of the character in question. By "series", I meant I did exactly three of them, then forgot all about it. In the words of Moneybags, I seemed to have temporarily forgotten.

In the years since however, I've went back and forth on going back and redoing them - as well as providing entries for those who didn't get one the first time around - because shall we say, a few recent portrayals have caused me to believe they're in need of some additional points or further elaboration. So now here I am to actually do it.

For the DX: Director's Cut, and for the sake of not dragging them out too much, I've decided to keep it all thematically consistent by sticking with 9 main points per character, in terms of what I personally consider the highest priorities for each of them. These will usually not be listed in any particular order of importance or relevance unless stated otherwise, and while there may be other major traits that might not get mentioned (in which case, feel free to bring them up yourself if you see fit), this keeps things simple and focuses on the points that have the most flexibility with how much of the character they encapsulate.

It should also be noted that these posts will be made with the game portrayals in mind, because the games mark the core of the franchise, and as such, they objectively contain the purest essence of the cast. Adaptations generally like to play by their own rules, some more gratuitously and inexcusably than others, and this will inevitably crop up with certain entries. All that being said however, I'll attempt to stay focused rather than devolve into another rant about this adaptation or that adaptation, only directly referring to them if I feel it's necessary for the point being made.

So without further ado, for today's installment, we're jumping right into the main Crush 40 enthusiast himself: Sonic.

Since Sonic was one of the characters covered in the past, much of this will be retreading old ground. If you know me well though, I'm sure you'll be able to tell which of it is new or expanded upon.

He's meant to be fun.

"Psst, the mandates don't exist."

We'll start with one so easy to get that you'd have to be purposefully contemptuous of the franchise and the character to suggest otherwise: Sonic is a fun character. He's all about having fun. He looks at virtually everything, no matter how precarious, as a thrill ride first and foremost. He is perpetually filled with a carefree love for all that life has to offer, has never been shy about it, and is known to enjoy fighting the baddies as well. Nothing keeps him down.

It's a large factor into why the franchise itself commonly boasts a sense of energy and wonder. If you don't acknowledge this aspect of Sonic's character... what are you even doing here? Why are you writing for him? What character are you seeing?

But he also knows when it's time to get serious.

Oh look, Super Sonic when it still had milk left in it.

Sonic's knack for making snarky quips of debatable quality can lead some into thinking he's incapable of taking anything seriously at all. This is how we get writers who seek to humble him for it... but unfortunately for them, they're not breaking any new ground: Sonic does get down to business when the situation calls for it, and even when he's joking around with whatever villain he's currently facing, he's always got his wits sharp, never going out of his way to be sloppy. And no, this isn't limited to the one-off villains and Godzilla-type Pokemon we know and begrudgingly tolerate: he more than acknowledges the very serious threat and crimes of the deceptively jovial Eggman's actions as well.

After all, do we not recall some of the near-death situations that Eggman has found himself in upon defeat, and how Sonic usually shows no concern over whether he survives or not? Do we not recall Sonic interrogating Zor over what happened to Tails? Do we not recall what he did to the Erazor Djinn when he refused to YouTube Apologise for abusing his former lover?

Sonic takes a lot of things quite seriously. More than he tends to let on. He just also likes to have fun at the same time.

He does not loathe technology.

"You're telling me this board was made with... SCIENCE...?"

Yes, Sonic is the nature foil to Eggman's scientific scheming. It's been a constant with the franchise since its inception, all the way to modern entries like Colours. But if Sonic hated technology itself, he wouldn't be best friends with a tinkerer. Nor would he own a plane.

The series as a whole has always been sensible about the matter compared to other green aesop-spewing media of the 90's. Rather than demonize technology outright, it understood the strengths it had, and how it could be used for nature's benefit rather than its detriment. Sonic CD visualized this wonderfully, as the Good Futures were fond of showing them side-by-side, in perfect harmony, with no cost to the land's health and beauty.

So with Sonic, he doesn't oppose technology. He opposes Eggman, whose methods involve technology. If you want Sonic to preach about the evils of tech as he drops a mahogany log in the woods and scrambles for a leaf to wipe his ass with, just go on DeviantART. Or watch SatAM.

He has selfish needs, but he's not a selfish person.

"Shit, I forgot the third paragraph of my principle monologue."

Sonic knows what he wants, and that something is his freedom. He's not going to be anchored down, he's not going to live a mundane life, and he's going to adventure and explore the world and beyond for as long as he can. This goes both ways: it's further reason why he confronts oppressive sorts like Eggman, but on the other hand, it can be hard to keep up with him at times, and since Amy has a clear vision on how she would want their future lives to be like as a couple, it's no wonder Sonic hasn't shown much serious interest in his friend in that particular way.

Don't get the wrong idea though; this doesn't mean Sonic is a selfish person full stop. In part thanks to several adaptations, a common misconception with the Blue Blur is mistaking him for a pure egotist through and through, who only cares about his adrenaline-fueled ecstasy and nothing else. Cause y'know, he's firm about his needs, and he has a cocky side, therefore he's full of himself, right?

Well no, not at all: his opposition to big bad villains would surely be enough on its own to confirm that he cares about everyone else's freedom too, so long as said people aren't doing anything malicious themselves. Yes, he fights villains because it's fun to him, but he also has a genuine hatred for injustice. He doesn't think like a typical superhero, where he fights evil and saves lives because he feels he has an obligation to do so, he does it simply because he wants to. How is that not selfless?

But it's even more than that: he's proven himself to be humble in spite of his cockiness, right down to dismissing any and all formal terms for himself when others use them. Half the time he tells the people he's saved to not sweat it, and the other half, he's already bolted before they can even thank him. Sonic largely doesn't care about the fame and attention that comes with being a repeated world saviour, and in more intimate situations, he's full of compassion there too. Hell, even in Black Knight, despite initially intending to slice Merlina in half in a furious response to her betrayal, he was later willing to show empathy to her defeated self, recognizing that she was an extremist, but not like the other villains he had faced.

Also, he doesn't have a history of treating his friends and accomplices like garbage. He might not see them all that often due to his globe trotting ways ("Long time no see!"), but he clearly values each of them. Even the ones he pokes light fun at on occasion, like Knuckles and Shadow.

He's impulsive, but intelligent.

Remember when Eggman had a conch? Starline didn't.

Like any character, Sonic does indeed have faults. Sonic is a guy who, when he sets out to do something, he'll do it, no questions asked. If Sonic thinks he knows the solution to sorting everything out, then that's all there is to it. This has worked in his favor more often than not, but it can also just as easily lead to mishaps, like the moment pictured above from Lost World. His cockiness has also been taken advantage of on several occasions, like in SA2 and Unleashed. Both of those were by Eggman, by the way. Just wanted to throw that out there.

However, Sonic is not an idiot. Just because he's a speedster doesn't mean he can't think straight, and his moments of recklessness are often born out of not knowing the full story rather than blindly charging in after already knowing better. If he makes a mistake, he'll acknowledge it and attempt to rectify it as soon as possible, and if he thinks someone else has good advice, then he'll be willing to hear them out, especially if it's coming from his life-long buddy, Tails.

To put it generously, Sonic's intelligence is prone to be heavily downplayed in certain adaptations, most notably in SatAM and Prime. This is usually done for the sake of forcing him to learn a lesson that a character like him doesn't really need to learn, or to prop up another character as the brains behind his operation. Or because Hurr Hurr Vroom Vroom Character Dumb. In reality though, Sonic is actually very intelligent: certainly not a super-genius like Tails or Eggman, but he's quick to pick up on details, and experience has taught him how to optimize his speed and acrobatics effectively and gracefully, while making it look completely effortless. He's also emotionally intelligent, being able to read a room with little issue, and when placed in a new situation, it doesn't take long for him to adapt.

So Sonic is a very bright person who just so happens to occasionally make impulsive decisions, for better or for worse. This does not translate to him being a Funny Penis Man. That's a vast simplification that tends to come from people who take the archetype that describes him at face value.

He only cares about how others perceive him when it's based on deception.

"Surrounded by evil knights and a girl I've never met before... better inhale the worst cuisine they've ever seen with my goatse mouth."

To paraphrase the hedgehog himself, he doesn't mind having to play the bad guy if it's necessary to do what he thinks is right. This doesn't apply in a meta sense - WE know he's doing the right thing - but what it means is that in-universe, he understands that some people might think he's the villain due to their perspective on the situation. And he accepts that, because he doesn't care about how his true blue self is perceived by strangers one way or the other. He doesn't expect or demand the rest of the world to live by his own personal beliefs unlike some iterations, but since they're his own, he holds no shame in sticking with them personally. He can only be who he truly is, and if some people have a problem with that, then he'll just have to take it smoothly with a Winston break.

But, as proven with Shadow inadvertently framing him in SA2, he does care when it involves Shit That Isn't True. Because if you're going to judge him, it better be for stuff he's actually done, and for who he actually is. Sonic doesn't care about attention, but he does evidently care about his identity.

The real super power of teamwork.

"Because... we're Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric!"

Sonic Heroes is a game that frequently gets referenced in side-material, which is an impressive feat considering it condemned itself by dressing Metal Sonic like a wanker. Yet for some curious reason, despite all the Heroes referencing, writers have trouble remembering the entire theme of the game, because their idea of Sonic needing to learn the benefits of teamwork and friendship is... lol...? Lmao...? Dare I even say... rofl...?

Sonic is the last person on the goddamn planet who needs to learn this, and you'd know that even if you weren't familiar with Heroes. Other games have shown time and time again that he appreciates the contributions of his allies, and gives them the appropriate kudos with no shred of reluctance, all without placing himself above them in the process. And while he may not be quick to ask for help, he's usually willing to accept it when it's offered to him. Like in '06, in which he casually allowed Trunks the Hedgehog to help out despite his attempting to kill him when they last met.

Sonic knows the super power of teamwork just fine. It's in his business card. Him of all people needing to learn this aesop is a non-development, a cheap way to make it seem like the writers are doing something ~deep~ with him. Giving back something he should have had to begin with is not character development.

His thing about emotions.

"A tall girl. My weakness."

Despite his outward demeanour, Sonic has a lot of introversion deep down, what with showing himself a contemplative side on a regular basis, and most of his dialogue being fairly straight and to-the-point. As it happens, this extends to how he manages his emotions, aside from his alleged temper. Sonic is obviously not stoic, but you're not likely to see him break down in hysterics, or publicly show tears at all unless it's in private.

Some writers and artists - or should I say, certain writers and artists - consider this an abominable sin that must be rectified. They'll get it into their heads that Sonic shows no emotion at all, but never fear boys and girls, they'll fix that pronto. They'll give him the emotions that SEGA couldn't. And what do you know, the end results end up looking absolutely ridiculous, and simply not in-line with who and what our hero is. Fact of the matter is, not everyone wears their emotions on their sleeve, and not breaking out the waterworks is not the same as being an unfeeling machine altogether. As it applies to real life, it applies as well to fictional characters. Because they're not all going to be the same.

His introversion doesn't just relate to himself though. It also seeps into his visible discomfort in dealing with the complex emotions of others, especially those who can't shake themselves off as easily as he can. Notice how, during moments where someone else is upset by something he can't easily fix - such as Tails lamenting Emerl's demise, or Shahra grieving over Majin Ganondorf despite him being a terminal shithead - he often finds himself at a loss, needing a moment or two to think of what he should say or do to console them.

It's possible that, with his canonical tendency to not be all that open about whatever might be troubling him, under the belief of not wanting to make his problem their problem by extension, he might not consider himself the most well-equipped for someone else's anguish. Or maybe that's just a Game Theory. Either way, whatever awkwardness there may be on his part, he always does his best regardless, as he would for any other situation.

...unless it involves one-sided sadness. Then he's not as sympathetic.

He's an ideal.

"Fuck sake, another argument over voice actors."

Sonic is a static character. Deliberately so. He is also not meant to be a relatable character, at least not in the sense of what Twitter members who have never played a Sonic game in their life consider relatable, which is basically making the character exactly the same as them, beat for beat, including the mismatched haircut, announcing their pronouns every three sentences, and the compulsive thirst to speak to the manager.

Needless to say, this doesn't work with the fastest thing alive. Everything about Sonic - his refusal to give up, his refusal to let distress overwhelm him, his freedom to go where the wind takes him - all of it, and more, serves to make him an inspiration. And guess what? Characters are allowed to be that. Inspirational characters are just as important as relatable ones, because by seeing what they can accomplish, we can strive to become our best selves. Why would you want to take that away?

Every character, the good ones anyway, have a defined purpose. Sonic has his. Other characters in the series might be considered relatable, but that's not where Sonic himself lies. It's better to leave that occupation for others, such as those who were inspired in-universe by Sonic himself, like Tails and Amy.

------

If you understand all of these points, and if you can take to them, then I believe you should have what it takes to write a good, or even great, portrayal of Say Yes to the Dress the Hedgehog. No portrayal is going to be one-and-one with that of another, there'll always be subtle distinctions depending on the writer, but you'll be fine as long as he's not a holier-than-thou dipshit who speaks more words than The Great Gatsby.

#Get a Load of Traits #Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog

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max-nico · 4 months

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Super_Charlie_001

Am I (32M) the asshole for declaring a hero of our village (16M) my new nemesis?

This all started around 4 years ago. I live in a small secluded village on the coast, I'm talking about less than 100 people living here. We all do our part to keep our little town running and at this stage in my life I had just become our Village Fruit Carrier (a very important job to have). The job wasn't the most fulfilling, but it got food on the table and it was how I met my wife, so I have a bit of a soft spot for it. Anyway, the 'hero of the village' (let's call him Red) and he got me FIRED from my job. why? Because he just couldn't stop himself from stealing my baskets, dumping out my fresh clean fruit all over the ground, using my baskets as stilts, and then disappearing right before my boss came out to check on me. In the kids defense, he's a little... Slow, so I really didn't hold it against him too much. Especially because after getting fired from that job I managed to land my absolute dream job around 6 months later. I really felt like it was fate or something. I was happy, my wife was happy, everything was good.

This brings us up to speed basically.

Recently, Red got me fired AGAIN years later from my wonderful job. I worked as an archeologist/excavator and made good money doing it, especially since our little town is built on top of ancient ruins and tech nobody's really seen before. Apparently Red wasn't trying to get me fired, he was genuinely trying to make up for making me lose my job the first time. At first he seemed a little dimwitted, but well meaning so I didn't have much of a problem letting him stick around, but I also didn't have much of a backbone at the time either.

Then things got worse, between him picking up important artifact markers, breaking multiple artifacts, breaking one of my toes, and even throwing my lunch away, I just couldn't handle it. One night, he even showed up at my house before I got home and made friends with my wife, and despite telling her I was uncomfortable she let him stay. So I'm sure you guys can tell, by this point I'm boiling with rage. This kid just cannot take a hint and I have had it up to here with him.

Then all hell breaks loose. He somehow manages to brush an artifact just right, causing a laser to fire and destroy an entire dig site filled to the brim with things we haven't even begun to study. Then he has the audacity to yell at my boss for yelling at me and gets me FIRED!!! AGAIN!!! THEN HE CALLS MY WIFE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!!! AND SHE THROWS ME OUT!!!

At this point he can't just be dumb right? This has to be malicious. So I freak out at him, and do you know what he says? "Don't worry. I'll make it up to you, just as soon as I'm done making it up to you for the other thing I did." Wtf.

So I start to torment the guy. Can you really blame me? I go back to my old job and dig around for the old mech suits the ancients had lying around, like huge rocky things that shoot fire and laser and all types of things. I only use it to do things like steal his lunch money and knock him around at first, nothing super out there just protocol villain stuff.

So Red starts acting like I'M the crazy one after this. He acts like HE'S been the bigger person when he's the one who made me this way. He even made me a pie (which I shoved in his face of course), and I proclaimed myself a supervillain, and by proxy his nemesis. The whole village even gathered around to watch our fight, I felt like I was a cool kid in a school yard, and it was objectively the best feeling I've ever had.

Unfortunately I lost, not without a fight but still. Now the entire village is weird towards me (except my wife who took me back because she was proud of me for getting a new job and also a backbone) and they all act like I'm some lunatic just because I tried to destroy ONE GUY!!! so aita?

EDIT 1: Yes not even Dr.Eggman knows how this tech works I live like a couple miles away from the guy. Trust me I've asked

EDIT 2: Why does everyone know this guy and his friends? Are they famous or something?

EDIT 3: I found out that Sonic the Hedgehog, my nemesis, and their friends, are actually the heroes of Mobius and not just the heroes of my village. Small world I guess.

#sth #sonic the hedgehog #i have the mic #knuckles the echidna #sonic shitpost #unreality #sonic boom #sonic fandom #sonic fanfiction #sonic #this episode is ridiculously funny to me i hope you enjoy reading this lol #am i the asshole #aita #sonic social media #sonic posting #this is based off of Sonic Boom EP: Counter Productive #idk if this is niche but i think it's hilarious lol

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niki-phoria · 1 year

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pairing: dabi x male!reader (one mention of he/him pronouns, could be read as gn) genre: fluff word count: 781

cw: blood, slight gore

reblogs (with feedback) >>> likes

a/n: i’m so bad at ending fics 😭😭

dabi knows he shouldn’t be knocking on your door, especially at this hour, but he doesn’t know what else to do. he can feel the blisters on his skin against the fabric of his hero suit as he holds a hand against the cut on his side. he hopes there isn’t a trail of blood on the carpet lining the hallway, but he can’t bring himself to look. he’s about to knock again when your door swings open.

“dabi!” you gasp when you see him. “what happened?” you wrap an arm around his waist, supporting him as you help him into your apartment. his blood is hot against your hand as he leans into your body. you slam the door shut, almost dragging him into your bathroom.

the tile is cool against his body as he lays on the ground. “my arm,” he whispers. you pull his arm away from his chest, careful not to touch it directly. you rush to press a towel against his side.

“when did this happen?”

“couple minutes ago.” his words slur as you apply more pressure against the open wound. he winces, closing his eyes. “didn’t know where else to go.”

“if this doesn’t stop bleeding soon, i’m calling an ambulance.” dabi nods, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“‘m sorry.”

“no, don’t be.” you leave the bathroom for a few minutes, returning with a first aid kit and a few more towels. “you’ll need stitches.” shouto’s breathing only becomes more shallow as you prepare a needle and gauze. you throw the now bloodied towel to the side, pressing your fingers against the sides of the cut. “this is gonna hurt. a lot.” dabi forces his eyes open to meet yours, nodding. you bite your lip when you begin the first stitch. dabi yells out in pain before his consciousness finally gives out and he falls into darkness.

when dabi wakes up, the warmth of your blankets are the first thing that registers. it encompasses his body like a hug. it’s a foreign feeling despite the many nights he’s spent laying in your bed next to you, feeling your body heat pressed against his. he’s wearing an old pair of his sweatpants, probably left haphazardly on your floor at some point. the stinging in his side remains, albeit dulled significantly. a bandage is wrapped tightly around his arm. the skin underneath doesn’t hurt anymore, something dabi is grateful for.

slowly, he shifts, pushing to sit up. he groans, pressing a hand against his side. underneath the bandage he can feel a neat line of stitches. he pushes himself to stand on his feet, making his way toward the doorframe. the air chills his skin when he leaves the warmth of your blankets despite his already high body temperature.

“doll?” he calls out. there’s a shuffling from further inside the apartment, followed by a ‘meow’. dabi chuckles, using the wall to support himself as he makes his way to your couch. your shared cat stands in the living room, blinking at him. dabi sits down on the couch, leaning back against the cushions. he sighs. his side burns from the pain but the feeling of your cat jumping onto the couch and curling up next to him makes it better. he pets her with a half-smile, running a hand along her back. “where’s your dad, hm?” your cat meows at him before stretching out against his thigh.

dabi leans forwards to grab the tv remote, flipping through a few random news channels. the stories are nothing particularly interesting, consisting mainly of low level villains being caught and information dabi can’t bring himself to care about. he lets a random sitcom rerun play in the background as he leans back against the couch, letting his eyes fall shut as he chases a few more hours of sleep to pass the time.

the sound of your apartment door closing wakes dabi from his nap. “hey doll,” he calls.

you gasp, setting your bags down and rushing to the couch. “dabi!” the man chuckles, holding his arm out. gently, you wrap your arms around him. “how are you feeling?”

“i’m alright.” you pull away from his chest, moving to check his bandages.

“that was a hell of a cut,” you murmur. “what happened?”

“just a fight.” his hand rests on your back as you move onto his arm, looking over the healing blisters. “thanks. for… taking care of me.”

“of course. your side will be okay in a few weeks.” dabi hums, pulling you back into his arms to lean against his chest. “i love you.”

“i love you too, doll.” dabi whispers, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

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yesimwriting · 11 months

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Spiderverse huh 👀 how uh

How do you feel about spider-punk 👁️👁️

a/n ohhh he's so boyfriend idc, but i feel like in an accidental way?? like his official stance would be something like 'defined relationships mainly exist in order to further consumerism and marriage is just a way for the government to be more involved in daily lives, etc'

and he'd probably also say he doesn't like consistency so he doesn't believe in dating, but the second he has a crush on someone he's so done for,, like if anyone asks about the person he likes he'll be like wdym??? we're literally married? but to the actual person he'd do nice things but pretend it has nothing to do with them lmao

i feel like he'd be so supportive too, like you could do anything and he'd be like wow, amazing, show stopping, what a way to fight against the establishment!!

anyways here's a little blurb bc i love him (in this one, the reader works in the news world, nothing too specific, just that they have a camera and a reason to go out of their way to risk their safety to take pictures of an active villain attack/crime)

warnings: me writing a character for the first time (so potentially a little ooc), a person that knows nothing about british people writing a british character, mutually pining besties

----

The whole thing had been an abrupt burst of chaos, and what no one ever talks about when it comes to any type of sudden disaster is the aftermath. Adrenaline starts to dwindle and you're forced to take in and process what happened.

You force yourself to breathe slowly as you examine your surroundings. The building across the street from you has sustained some major damage, but everything else still seems stable. Everyone you can see looks like they're safe and in the distance you can hear sirens. First responders are already making their way to the scene. That's a good sign, yet you can't bring yourself to feel relieved.

Not until a familiar blur of motion catches the corner of your eye. You step back, furthering yourself from the edge of the rooftop to give him some space. Knowing that he's okay enough to be swinging like that eases that tension in your chest. A fact he can never know because of how you ended up on this rooftop. So instead of smiling and greeting him the way you normally would, you cross your arms and keep your expression steady.

"Everythin' alright up here?" He keeps his tone casual, a subtle reminder that your best friend isn't your best friend right now.

You tilt your head, giving him a pointed look. You want to be as mad as you were at first, but seeing that he's uninjured always makes you lose any edge. He doesn't look like he's been hit or injured and he's standing in a way that doesn't favor a particular side of his body more than the other. He is, however, making a point of keeping an arm behind his back. Because he doesn't seem to be in any notable pain, you decide that your questions should wait until later, when you're somewhere where you can be concerned openly.

"Everything was alright on the ground." You lift the camera that's hanging from the strap around your neck. "...When I was doing my job."

He takes a step towards you, angling his head downwards and lowering his voice like someone might hear you even though you're stories above the people attempting to get through the aftermath of the incident. "You got plenty of photos before...I checked."

The last part is tacked on almost sheepishly, like there's something embarrassing about the admission. It takes you a second to get why. You didn't see him before he swung onto the scene, all business and not in the mood to even hear your justification for staying close to the action. That means your abrupt kidnapping relocation wasn't as sudden and unreasonable to him. He didn't just pluck you from the ground and place you on a rooftop he deemed safe enough at the first sign of increasing trouble. He had trusted you to take care of yourself until things escalated.

You fight to not soften. "Still." Tilting your chin up in an attempt to appear stern, you speak slowly. "You could've asked."

He sighs, shaking his head. "You would've said no."

"Yeah, and I would've been entitled to," you mumble, arms finally relaxing. "But...thanks." The second he pulled you away, the wall to the building you were standing closest to crumbled. Maybe you should give Hobie some credit for that.

"Y'know there was a barricade, and the authorities were saying somethin' about no press."

Ah. You knew he'd bring it up eventually. "I um--didn't notice."

He takes a step forward. "Didn't notice?"

"No, I was...busy."

"Doin' what?" He angles his head to one side and you're struck with the feeling that he finds this a lot more entertaining than you want him to.

You sigh. "Sneaking in through the back alley."

He lets out a breath that's suspiciously close to a laugh. You can picture his smile. "Atta girl, ignoring the regulations of a bureaucratic system that wants to keep the truth from the people."

A part of you is pleasantly surprised that he didn't take the opportunity to poke fun at what could be interpreted as a bit of hypocrisy. From time to time you like to gently remind him that nothing bad will happen if he doesn't go out of his way to break a rule because sometimes it's risky, especially with a secret identity. His response is always something along the lines of where's the fun in that?

"So I should have stayed down there?"

He pauses, not liking the turn this conversation is taking. Of course you can handle yourself and a bit of justified rebellion would never cause you any harm, but he can't exactly Spider-Man to the best of his ability with you there. It makes his attention drift back to you, to make sure you're okay. Was stranding you on a roof top the best solution? Maybe not, but you're stubborn and he had to act quickly. Besides, you never take these news reporting spats too seriously.

The corner of your mouth turns up, happy that you're winning this one. "You're sending mixed messages."

"You know how I feel about consistency."

You're about to say something else, a half thought out joke that never gets to develop because a nerve-inducing shout steals the moment. Your head snaps forward and so does Hobie's. "You're gonna have to..."

"Yep." He's approaching the edge the roof, but before he can leap off and into action, he turns. "Oh--before I forget--"

Hobie extends the arm that was tucked behind his back. He's holding something shielded by slightly crumpled, waxy paper. After a second, you realize the mesh of colors peaking out from it are flowers. Some of the stems making up the outer part of the arrangement are slightly bend and a few of the longer pieces have lost their petals. That does nothing to take away from how delicate they look. Your eyes grow wide at the gesture.

you reach out for them almost dumbly, "You got me these?"

He lets you take the bouquet, your fingers brushing against the fabric of his suit. "I uh--yeah." You grin as he clears his throat. "Snagged 'em from that soulless, corporate shop that drove out the last of the good ones. Thought they earned a bit of trouble and these reminded me of you."

Aw. He makes it so hard to be mad at him over abandoning you on a random roof when he does things like this. You look down at the flowers, smoothing out the edges of the paper they're wrapped in.

"They're a little outta shape, I co--"

"No," you shake your head, pulling the flowers towards you defensively, like he was trying to snatch them away, "They're mine and I love them, back off."

He holds his hands up in defense, "Alright, love, no one's taking 'em."

Your smile grows even fonder. "Good."

Another concerning yell reaches the two of you. "Gotta go."

"Wait!" He turns his head, but keeps moving towards the edge. "How am I supposed to get down? You webbed the door shut."

"I did do that," he pauses, but another loud yell echoes around the two of you before he can do anything. "I'll come back!"

"Don't--!" It is so hard to not call out his name sometimes.

He jumps, swinging away, "I'll make it up to you!"

You roll your eyes, adjusting your hold on the flowers. "Yeah," you mumble, knowing there's no way he can still hear you, "You better."

It doesn’t matter anyways, he always does.

----

a/n this was really fun to write! so if you like this and want more spider punk or spiderverse from me, feel free to send an ask

#hobie brown x reaer #hobie brown x you #bobie x reader #spider punk x reader #spider punk x you #hobie brown drabble #spiderverse #spiderverse x reader

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hushimstressed · 9 months

Note

Hi, rat anon here again! Your response to my last ask has given me just. SO many thoughts about a post juanaphlipa confrontation. Let me set the scene:

It’s been about two, three months since juanaphlipa’s death? Mariana doesn’t know. They say time heals all wounds but he’s become so lost in his grief he can barely keep track of it. He barely keeps track of a lot of things these days. Doesn’t eat, doesn’t sleep, just throws himself into being spiderman because maybe if he were better juanaphlipa would still be it helps. But he’s getting sloppy. Taking more hits, landing less in return. And it’s fine! He’s fine. Maybe if he weren’t so careless he would have noticed it sooner. The flash of green out of the corner of his eye, the claw marks, the ooze on his windowsill- maybe he didn’t want to notice. Until he’s not. It’s not even one of his main rouges gallery - just some up and comer trying to make a name for himself by putting Mariana in the ground. And he thinks this is it. End of the line. Bleeding out while some asshole talks about… bananas, maybe? The blood loss is making it pretty hard to understand if he’s being honest. So it takes him a minute to realize banana guy’s talking to someone else.

“Hey, this one’s mine, so back-“ a green blur cuts him off. And then the screaming starts. A lot of screaming. So, despite the hole in his side, Mariana pushes himself up, ready to face his new opponent please let this one finish it. He just wants to see juanaphlipa again. Only to be greeted by an unexpected sight. There, in all his bulked up slimy glory, stands his ex-roommate. And he looks pissed.

He knew, theoretically, that Slime was dangerous. He ate people! But this is different. Brutality on an unfathomable scale. He watches his former best friend - where did he even come from? - tear the wannabe villain into pieces. And when the noises stop, and Slime turns, stalking towards him, he thinks, oh. This is it. A fitting retribution for failing to protect his niece, he supposes. Should have expected Slime’s revenge. But then the slime retracts, and then Charlie, his Charlie, is barreling towards him and cradling his face in his hands.

“Are you okay? How bad did he hurt you? Do you need the hospital? Is-”

Mariana cuts him off. “Charlie? Wha- are you crying?”

He is. He looks panicked too, but Mariana can’t imagine why. Surely he’d be happy to see the end of spiderman? But- “Why am I- you’re all I have left, Mariana!”

It pierces through his thoughts like a lightning bolt. He stares into Charlie’s eyes looking for deception, and finds nothing but sincerity and devotion. He feels hands tighten on his shoulders.

“You’re all I have left.” A slightly manic gleam enters Charlie’s eyes. “And nothing is going to take you away from me.”

🐀

Holy shit rat anon!!!!!!

There’s a ringing in Mariana’s ears as Charlie rambles to himself in circles, she thinks she’s about to pass out from the blood loss before what Charlie says next is sharp against the white noise.

"i've found a way to bring Flippa back to us."

#insane writing rat anon I commend thee #these cubitos are gripping each other’s faces and covered in blood #<- favourite brand of queerness #btw there will be Consequences if they manage to revive Flippa #this isn’t some deus ex machima #slimeriana #spiderman au #slimecicle #el mariana #juanaflippa #my art #my fanart #rat anon #ask #qsmp #qsmp au #mcyt #now they can be insane freaks together <3

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swiftyangx12 · 10 months

Text

🕷️The Adventures of Agent Arachnis!🕸️

[Ep. 1: Two Sides of the Universe]

[Valorant x Marvel]

[Synopsis]: Just your friendly Valorant agent who tries to balance both sides of the same coin.

[Gender Neutral Reader]

[TW]: Some cursing, little violence, may be OOC with the characters

[(A/N)]: You can go back and check the first post about the Valorant x Marvel crossover.

[Earth-2020-2]

[Location: FRACTURE]

Arachnis: *Hiding at Site B and reloading their Frenzy* These Omega asses…

[Their Multiverse watch starts alarming the Spider Radiant, annoying them in the process.]

Arachnis: Oh my god. *Answers the call* What? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?

Miguel: Nice hearing from you, Arachnis.

Arachnis: Oh, O’Hara. I’m busy trying to save my world right now. What is it this time?

Miguel: Another variant leaked into your dimension and it’s moving fast.

Arachnis: What? Now? *Sighs* Guess I’m shooting it down then.

Miguel: Don’t. You barely managed to not kill off that Doc Ock variant from last time.

Arachnis: Right. Tore that bastard to pieces.

Miguel: Just trap the anomaly and bring it back to HQ.

Arachnis: Got it, boss.

Jett: Was that your boss, [Y/N]?

Arachnis: Yes and I’m starting to feel annoyed around him than fearing his existence lately.

Jett: He looks cute.

Arachnis: Excuse me? He’s built like a tarantula on steroids. *Spider senses triggered* It’s here.

[A portal opens in the sky, some unidentified object flew out and about to cause havoc.]

Phoenix: Uh guys?

Sage: Arachnis, I believe you have some business to take care of.

Arachnis: A Vulture variant? Get it distracted.

Jett: Will do! *Updrafts high enough to distract the Vulture* Over here, ugly! *Throws her kunai knives at it*

Vulture: *Barely dodges the attack* What are you doing?!

Arachnis: *Places their gun down and shoots web at the Vulture* Full spider mode! *Yanks themselves towards their enemy*

[The Spider Radiant first lands a punch at the Vulture and then kicks it down, falls ungratefully to the ground. Everyone tackles it down from escaping.]

Vulture: *Struggles to be released* Let go of me!

Arachnis: *Cocks their Frenzy* Uh uh! No way. You have wings, I have a gun ready to shoot your feathered-ass head.

Vulture: Do it! Shoot me!

Arachnis: *CLICK!*

Vulture: *Flinches* Oh my god, you were about to shoot me!

Sage: [Y/N].

Arachnis: I’m sorry. *Reloads the gun* But it needs to cooperate. Now, calm down and I’ll help send you back to your dimension. We’ll release you if cooperation is present. *Nods at their team*

[The Valorant agents cautiously release their bonds against the villain.]

Vulture: *Pushes everyone off* Finally! I’m free!

Arachnis: *Punches it out cold* Nope. *Encases it with the holographic trap*

《🕷️》

[Earth-928, Spider Society HQ]

Arachnis: *Drags in the unconscious Vulture variant* Anyone order chicken?

Miles: *Surprised* You took down the Vulture all by yourself?

Arachnis: Actually, my team aided me when we were on a mission at FRACTURE. Brimstone and everyone else are keeping this on the low so hopefully people back on Earth-2020-2 won’t mistaken these villains as Rogue Radiants.

Gwen: [Y/N], you sound concerned. Did something happen back in your dimension?

Arachnis: *Nods and shakily sighs* Non-Radiants called us freaks after the First Light and blamed our existence for the unnatural occurrences that happened. Some of us had to go low-profile and Radiant related crimes skyrocketed over the past months. Even Kingdom was under suspicion during those times while responsible for the Radianite development.

[Miles and Gwen look at each other with concern for their friend.]

《🕷️》

[Spider HQ-Lobby]

[Arachnis was alone watching old news clips of the Venice incident and other covers of the First Light on their phone.]

Arachnis: *Sighs in solemn*

Peter B. Parker: Hey [Y/N], why the long face?

Arachnis: Oh, Peter. It’s nothing. Just today I realized how much a disaster would be if I didn’t catch the Vulture.

Peter B. Parker: Gwen and Miles told me about your world’s history. *Sits next to them* Wanna talk about it?

Arachnis: *Shrugs* It’s only that I don’t want anymore people to misunderstand Radiants like me or others I care for. I still remember the first time I received my powers. Just me, working at my old job while minding my business until that event happened. I got so spooked that I jumped high enough to stick to the ceiling. Everybody around me freaked out and I had to flee away from the sight.

Peter B. Parker: Oh kid, I’m sorry you experienced that.

Mayday: *Crawls into Arachnis’s arms* *Looks up worried for them*

Arachnis: Oh Mayday… *Pushes the hair out of her face* I’ll be okay so don’t worry too much about me.

Peter B. Parker: Oh! How about this? Everyone tours around your world and show us a fun time. Maybe introduce us to your Valorant buddies.

Arachnis: Are you sure? My colleagues can be unpredictable at times.

Peter B. Parker: Come on. We dealt worst things on the job.

Arachnis: Alright. Don’t complain that I didn’t warn you.

《🕷️》

[Earth-2020-2, Valorant Protocol HQ]

Arachnis: Guys, this is my Valorant team.

Valorant Team: Hey/Sup!/Greetings/Hello!/Hi.

Arachnis: Team, these are my Spider colleagues.

Spider Gang: Hey/Sup!/Greetings/Hello!/Hi.

Brimstone: I hope you kids are treating them fairly and respectfully.

Miles: Of course, sir! They’re really amazing at their job and taught us so many things. Look! *Attempts to twirl a practice switchblade*

Arachnis: Yep. I’m an awesome instructor.

Pavitr: You should see how they sparred with our leader.

Hobie: Never knew the boss could fly.

Arachnis: I forgot to control my enhanced strength and I apologized to him after the session.

《🕷️》

[Everybody who was present at the base were getting along with Arachnis’s new colleagues.]

Reyna: Show us your fangs, araña~

Arachnis: Reyna, I don’t want to scare the kids.

Peter B. Parker: It’s fine. We see villains with fangs all the time.

Arachnis: You sure about that?

Peter B. Parker: *Nods*

Arachnis: *Sighs* *Carefully removes their mask and bares out their fangs leaking venom*

Peter B. Parker: *Taken aback* Whoa! You produce venom?!

Viper: They donate the venom to researchers for medical-graded anti-venom.

Arachnis: Turns out it’s CDC approved, despite the venom coming from me.

《🕷️》

[Earth-928, Spider-Man 2099’s office]

Miguel: Lyla, where’s the goober?

Lyla: You mean gizmo, right?

Arachnis: *Just arrived to drop off some papers* Everything alright, O’Hara?

Lyla: He can’t find his gizmo.

Miguel: Goober.

Arachnis: *Pulls out a hard drive* You mean this thing? *Tosses it up to his platform*

Miguel: *Catches it*

Arachnis: And who calls anything a goober? Should’ve been called a thing-a-ma-jig or something.

Miguel: *Confused* What?

Arachnis: I don’t know. My other colleague, KJ calls some things like that. If I didn’t fear you as much, I would’ve called you a goober for saying that word, Goober.

Lyla: Pfft Hahahaha!!! I like your style, [Y/N].

Miguel: *Rolls his eyes* Very funny. Anything more to say? “Tarantula on steroids”.

Arachnis: *Falls silent and squints at Miguel* …The call didn’t end, did it.

Miguel: That’s why the hard drive exists.

Arachnis: … *Shoots some web up and swings themselves to the platform* *Lands on platform and glares up at Miguel* Get rid of it.

Miguel: *Smile smugly* I don’t think so.

Arachnis: … *Cracks their knuckles*

《🕷️》

Jessica Drew: Miguel, there’s something you need to look into- *Looks up* What is going on here?

[Miguel and Arachnis were fighting while Lyla was recording the whole fight.]

Miguel: *Head-locking Arachnis while stretching out his arm away where he’s holding the hard drive* It’s not what it looks like.

Arachnis: *Elbows Miguel hard in his stomach*

Miguel: *Hunches forward in pain*

Arachnis: *Grabs the hard drive* He recorded early audio of me for no reason! *Gets tackled down*

Miguel: *Grabs it back* It’s classified.

Arachnis: *Grabs it back with their web* You could’ve end the call.

Miguel: *Picks them up from the ground*

Arachnis: *Internally panicking* Do I even weigh anything to you?

Miguel: No, it’s like holding a couple of grapes.

《🕷️》

[Earth 2020-2, Valorant Protocol HQ, Workshop]

[Arachnis, tweaking up their Web-Shooters and random thoughts occurred.]

Arachnis: “Don’t have thoughts of O’Hara. He’s nothing but an uptight, aggressive, emotionally unstable, traumatized Spider-Man variant. He’s not worth your time…”

[Arachnis then thinks of domming over him.]

Arachnis: FUCK!!!

Killjoy: *Startled* Arachnis, is everything okay?

Arachnis: No! I can’t stop imagining how to kick my boss’s ass!

[Nice save, [L/N].]

🕷️[Reblogs helps creators and creates for more content]🕸️

[Tagged]: @theladyheroine @hhurric4ne @l0serloki @neonviolet

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sarucane · 6 months

Text

OFMD Spiral Parallels 34: Manipulative Pirate Buddies 5

Intro: What I love most about how season 2 builds on season 1 of OFMD is the spiral narrative structure. Ground is repeatedly and explicitly re-trod from season 1 to season 2, but in season 2 everything goes deeper than season 1. Symbols appear and reappear, transformed. Meanings are shuffled, emotions are stronger and truer, and transformation is showcased above everything. The first season plucks certain notes, then the second season plucks the same ones--but louder, and then it weaves them together to create a symphony.

---

Each of these episodes has subplots that bring home the themes of “the past as a villain” and “the past as chaos and transformation.”

In Season 1, Jim has left the ship to chase revenge. Their present and future is being controlled by their past, and it’s not bringing any joy whatsoever. Jackie points out to Jim that focusing on the past like this is going to destroy their present, and for nothing really: one of the men who killed Jim’s family just died in front of them, and it didn’t change anything. And in the meantime, Olu is wallowing in pain and losing track of everything important to him.

In Season 2, the reunion of the crew is no smoother than the reunion of Ed and Stede. The part of the crew that stuck with Ed, like Ed himself, fears betrayal. They’ve been damaged by the past, and that threatens to destroy their present. On the other hand, Stede’s crew—like Stede himself—wants to “get back together,” wants the other part of the crew to feel safe again.

In between them we have Izzy, who feels that the past is utterly swamping him, destroying his present and closing his future. He rages at the unicorn, which was destroyed because of his actions. He feels he’s worthless now that he’s a “cripple” and he’s “already gone.”

He’s disconnected from his past and himself, asking his reflection “what even are you?” It’s impossible for Izzy to just “get over this,” as Jackie once told Jim to do. And Ed and Stede can’t just start over and be in easy 14-year-old boy love again. Going forward requires change, transformation that honors and acknowledges the past without being controlled by it.

And so, each plot of the Season 2 episode ends with a transformation. The crew of the Revenge put aside their past hangups to create something new out of a piece of their ship. Izzy accepts the invitation to transform, to become the “new unicorn,” a mythical creature that includes the past but looks towards the future.

And then, there’s Buttons. Who, in “We Gull Way Back,” had his heart broken by the death of a seagull. And who, in “Fun and Games,” turns into a seagull himself. In the first episode, he uses magic for destruction, but in the second he uses it for transformation. Something old and something new, at the same time.

And Stede and Ed demonstrate their own transformations.

When Ed left and came back, he and Stede never talked about what happened. It didn't matter: all that mattered was how they feel about each other right then. The present conquers the past and the future in one go.

Adult relationships keep going after moments like that. They hurt as well as heal, they create chaos as well as triumph. They require the acceptance and embrace of change.

And at the end of the s2 episode, Ed and Stede demonstrate just how much they have changed. They decide to try again, to hope that the past can be lived with and integrated into a future.

After all, if Buttons can turn into a seagull and Izzy can become a ship’s unicorn, anything is possible.

Previous posts in this series

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

#ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers #ofmd meta #ed teach #stede bonnet #blackbonnet #oh my god the expressions they make at the end of the second episode #holy crap these actors are hilarious

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destinysbounty · 1 year

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HELLO i am in your inbox because your post about ninjago cycles made me drop my phone, ive literally been thinking about this idea forever!

around when i watched s8, i literally started reading the entire show as one big time loop because of all the repetition and cycles in the show. i dont know if that phrasing holds true, but i think the idea itself holds up

i think what really drives the entire cycle of the show is the need for balance. i interpret ninjago the place as created by fsm to be a reflection of his worldviews: dragon vs oni; good vs evil; light vs dark. the fact that the overlord keeps coming back, and his descendants will have to keep fighting him is a part of a larger system put in place (accidentally or purposefully) by fsm. when one person is defeated, a power vaccuum appears that HAS to be filled, usually by a new villain

basically, balance is the mechanism by which all these cycles come to pass. its kind of a law of physics in ninjago, good will always win, but evil can never really lose. everyone has to keep repeating history, personal and global because the world literally will bend itself in order to achieve that balance.

(i hope this makes sense i wrote it very quickly lmao) thank you sooooo much for bringing up cycle symbolism in the show,,,, once you start looking for it its everywhere!

(Here's the cycle post in reference)

Thank you for sending this ask! I apologize for the belated response, but I wanted to wait to respond until I had the chance to get ahold of some screenshots that would be relevant to this discussion. With that out of the way, let's get into the meat of the issue!

First off, you are absolutely right! I think the circle motif represents a few key themes: balance, as you mentioned; recursion; and inheritance. And all of those things, in a way, tie back into the show's interpretation of destiny and the way fate is baked into almost every aspect of the story.

Balance is the most obvious interpretation, of course, and perhaps the most compelling. Like, not just because the circle is by design an incredibly balanced shape, simultaneously having infinite sides yet at the same time only one. But also because there are so many instances of circles appearing in the way in which the balance between light and dark is visually represented within the series - especially with regard to the creation mythology.

(On an unrelated note, I think it's actually kind of a cool detail how the FSM is represented as a grey being - not Oni of darkness, not dragon of light, but something in between. The child of both worlds.)

The world was created by the FSM, and while I can't remember if it was ever outright stated, I think there's enough evidence to at least assume spinjitzu was used alongside the Golden Weapons to create Ninjago (I'm happy to elaborate on this if asked!)

On this note of balance, I also think it's worth noting the attention drawn to the splitting of circles. As seen above, with the creation of the Dark Island, but also with the Battle Between Brothers! Now, I'm definitely overthinking this, but bear with me for a sec.

The Monastery of Spinjitzu is, quite iconically, arguably circular in shape. Well, it's really more of a hexagon, but you get my drift. And the sons of the FSM, each representing light and dark, were friends for a long time. But when Garmadon finally succumbed to the venom's influence and was banished to the Underworld, a crevice was torn into the ground, splitting that circle - and likewise splitting the two brothers in the process.

And again! The Lloyd v Garmadon fight in sesaon 8! Despite loving each other very deeply, they have both been forced into conflict by the forces of destiny time and again. Lloyd knows the drill at this point. "I've saved you once, I'll save you again." The fight itself takes place in a circular structure - the Kryptarium Prison panopticon. Lloyd enters this fight assuming the established cycle of fighting and redeeming his father will be reinforced. But when Lloyd is thrown through the wall, thereby breaking through the prison's circular structure, so too is this cycle broken as well (and with it like half the bones in Lloyd's body as well as his heart).

And of course, we can't forget the most iconic example - when the FSM created the Dark Island, banishing the Overlord and his Stone Army for the protection of the world he created, the circular continent was split in two. The destruction of the circle.

The destruction of the circle is also how the Oni are introduced in Mystake's story - the dragon creates a circle, and the Oni destroys it.

So to recap: a circle is balance, balance is stability and unity, and the dissolution of the circle is the loss of stability.

That in itself is a cycle - creating something, destroying it, creating it again.

Kinda like the show itself, in a constant loop of the world facing ruin and building itself back up again and again. Like how the Overlord can never truly be defeated, dying and coming back like the ebb and flow of the tide. Like the snake eating its own tail, a cycle feeding itself endlessly. Like how a circle has infinite sides.

That's interesting enough as it is, right? Just wait! It goes deeper!

As mentioned before, the FSM arguably created Ninjago to some extent using spinjitzu. Spinjitzu, which is both a martial art and a lifestyle that utilizes circular motion to create a tornado around the user. The quintessential example of the circle motif. Spinjitzu is quite literally the foundation of the show's identity and worldbuilding. This show is, on both a narrative and a meta level, built on the concept of circles. And according to the Core shorts, one of its principle values includes balance.

Which, in the end, boils back to what you were saying about how cycles are a law of reality in Ninjago. I agree!

If I have my lore right and Ninjago was created through spinjitzu in some degree or another, then that means it was created through circular motion. The world was made spinning. The world was made as one big cycle. So to some extent, I do definitely think that good and evil must constantly fight. If the world isn't constantly repeating itself, if this cycle of recursion ever stops, then the world will stop spinning. And what happens when the world stops spinning?

Chaos, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Although, we also have to consider that the Overlord said "there will be peace in the dark". Now, since he is a villain and also the embodiment of darkness itself we should take his words with a grain of salt, but it definitely raises the question of what it would look like if darkness or light truly did prevail over the other, or if such a thing is even possible in the first place. Will there be peace in the dark? Or does the Overlord have an arguably more compelling motivation - that is, as an immortal being incapable of death, locked in an eternal limbo between victory and defeat, he knows that the only way this deathless hell will end is if the balance is destroyed and the universe falls to pieces. Maybe that's what the Overlord means by 'peace in the dark'. That theory has a lot of holes in it, of course, but I'm certainly intrigued by what that would mean for the Overlord's character. This might also hint at the origins of Darkley's, but that's a weird little tinfoil-hat tangent that we're not gonna worry about right now.

Now, I mentioned earlier that there are three main themes that the circle motif draws on: balance, recursion, and inheritance. And those three themes all tie into destiny somehow. So far, we've talked about balance and recursion - how history must keep repeating itself, how the whole world must remain in eternal conflict between light and dark or else the circle will dissolve and chaos will reign. But what about inheritance?

This is the fun part, but also a bit obvious. First, inheritance comes through elemental powers - not only because powers are passed on from person to person, as well as the legacies of those powers, but also because the elements of creation all tie back to the Green Ninja. They all manifest in him, and while the other ninja are capable of wielding those powers independently they all tie back to Lloyd in the end. Like convection cells but instead of circulating wind currents it's magical powers.

And, of course, I'm not the first person to comment on how elemental powers can be seen as a metaphor for generational trauma, and how each character inherits the legacy and loss of prior generations vicariously through their powers. Other people have elaborated on this idea far more eloquently than I ever could. But it's still worth mentioning in this discussion, so here we are.

And!! Then you've got things like the Yin-Yang Eclipse (which, imo, didn't look much like the Yin-Yang symbol at all. It looked more like a funky Z if you ask me). With Yang telling Cole to "close the circle" - the curse of the Airjitzu Temple requires that someone always remain behind as the master of the house. Yang needed Cole to take his place as the temple's new prisoner. He needed Cole to complete the cycle of inheritance. He needed Cole to close the circle.

And that right there is the base essence of this show, isn't it? Closing the circle. Completing the cycle. The sins of the father laid upon the son. History repeating itself. Repetition and recursion.

This all pertains to destiny in ways I hope are quite apparent at this point. The scholars in the Cloud Kingdom write destiny. They choose what happens. They designed the Prophecy of the Green Ninja. Perhaps they're doing all this, perhaps they're putting the ninja through all this trauma and suffering, perhaps they're creating this history and this world to be endlessly recursive, in an effort to maintain the balance and protect the universe from spiraling out of control. Or maybe they're just doing it to get their sick kicks. Who knows? We've only seen the Cloud Kingdom for like one whole episode so at this point who's to say.

But a bit more blatantly to the point, according to Lloyd in 2.12 "Return of the Overlord" the below images show the symbol for destiny. And what do you see??? Circles!!!!!!!! Circles as unity! Circles as balance! And in the latter image, circles represented through colors, which denote their roles in destiny and likewise the powers they inherited from their ancestors! It's circles all the way down!!!!

Oh and before I go, here's some food for thought. The Overlord once said that "destruction comes from the eternal struggle between light and dark." And Oni have the power of destruction. Garmadon, once he's reached his true potential, is powered by conflict. "It's the fight that fuels him." Which does seem to corroborate with what we know about the Overlord himself - as Misako said, "where there is light, there must also be darkness." Conflict creates darkness, and darkness creates conflict, just as light creates shadow.

God, I'm losing my mind over this. Balance is the struggle between light and dark. Destruction is a byproduct of this struggle. Destruction causes darkness. Darkness plays a pivotal role in the existence of the balance. The balance is creating itself. The cycle ultimately cycles back in on its own self. We've come full circle. It's the freakin' ouroboros! The snake eating its own tail! Endless consumption with infinite return! Circular motion causing its own endless perpetuity!! It's a fight you can never truly win but also can't lose, because the existence of conflict creates conflict, and without conflict there cannot be peace! You cannot escape from the cycle because you are the cycle!

So, to conclude:

Thanks again for the ask! <3 God I sure hope this rant made at least a teensy bit of sense.

#overly convoluted 15-season toy commercial my beloved #ninjago #long post #ask #destiny post

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theladyofbloodshed · 2 years

Note

I'm new to the fandom and very confused over something so I'm hoping you can explain: why is Tamlin blamed for Nesta and Elain being thrown in the Cauldron? He's a very shitty person, but he wasn't involved in their becoming fae? Didn't he yell at Ianthe in ACOWAR for involving Nesta and Elain? I'm so confused. Is there like a bonus scene I missed or something?

Hello, so in order to get Feyre back from Rhys, Tamlin worked with Hybern. However, from Tamlin’s pov:

Feyre was ready to marry him because she didn’t communicate with him about her trauma (neither did he with her)

His enemy who had made Feyre dance drunk and naked for months had stolen her. Like rhysand and tamlin killed each other’s families. Why would he not panic that Feyre is back in his clutches after what he subjected her to for months?

She sent a note saying she wasn’t coming back - but Tamlin knew she was illiterate and also that Rhys is a daemati capable of going in people’s heads.

Tamlin believed Rhys was the villain so did what he had to in order to save the woman he loved. He was not to know that Feyre genuinely was happy and was with Rhys 🤷🏻‍♀️ If he didn’t do anything to get her back, he’d have been villainised for “not doing enough” because for Feyre stans, if people aren’t kissing the ground she walks on, it’s not enough. (See Lucien not doing enough when he had known her for a few months, had been Tamlin’s friend for centuries, worked for him, offered sanctuary by him and still did what he could for Feyre at the risk of his position - and Feyre being happy to manipulate situations to make tamlin paranoid which put Lucien at risk).

Further, his court was severely weakened due to Amarantha. Doesn’t he have like a handful of sentries on his grounds at one point? His court is not in a position to fight against Hybern. Working with them served his courts interests. It would have kept the bulk of his people safe. Rhys did the exact same thing with Amarantha to save one city that nobody knew about. Tamlin did it for his entire court. More than that, he was also using Hybern’s intel against them, acting as a spy.

Ianthe was the one who encouraged the king to turn Nesta and Elain. She is shown to be manipulative and conniving. Even Azriel is made uncomfortable by her. Rhys knows she is in spring and doesn’t warn Feyre about her.

Feyre was the one who told Ianthe all the information about her sisters. Rhys promised to keep soldiers on duty when the sisters decided to remain in their home rather than come to Velaris but Feysand are never blamed for it. Despite bringing war to Nesta and Elain’s doorsteps and entangling them with the mortal queen. One of whom then has a vendetta against Nesta 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

It was not Tamlin’s fault. He just gets the blame because feysand stans have a weird obsession with vilifying him like they do with Lucien and Nesta.

#anon asks

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shueith · 2 years

Note

How about? A reverse role for shadowpeach. Macaque is Monkey King and Wukong is the villain!

(Sorry for the wait on a response -)

This is by far one of my favorite aus!!

I haven’t worked out the logistics yet, but just for the sake of going straight into it and writing shadowpeach, I’m going to leave the entire premise of the reverse au for later (I’ll make a separate post explaining character roles, backstory switches, etc).

Macaque spins on his feet, doing a loop around and landing backwards on his hand as he kicks his leg out into the other monkeys stomach.

Wukong, mid-lunge and grab, let’s out a strangely deep, mangled sound as the new force hits hard against his ribs, sending him flying backwards into a mess of rocks and leftover rubble. For a second he mistakes his fatigue for death, as the air is forced from his lungs and the jagged surface scrapes unkindly against his back. That is, until a hand snakes soundly around his neck, dragging him back to reality.

Macaque towers tenaciously above him, keeping him pinned in place against a nearby wall belonging to the mountain range as he snarls and mutters strange-sounding comments to himself. Comments, no doubt, about Wukong, though it doesn’t peak his interest as much as the steam descending his teeth does.

“Well, this hasn’t gone exactly as I thought it would - you’ve become more agile on your feet since the last time we fought.” Wukong smirks, ignoring the way his head spins and the world momentarily turns a colorful shade of pink and yellow.

Macaque growls violently, his grip around Wukong’s neck gradually tightening. “Why are you here, Wukong, and why are you coming for my successor’s neck?” He spits, cold and uncaring, giving Wukong no time to speak before he’s diving back into his endless pot of queries and insults. “You always have been a dirty player, coming for peoples’ prizes and all. I’d even go as far as to call you a cheater, if I didn’t know you’d like that.”

“What can I say?” Wukong splutters, licking at the blood stroking his lips. “I always did know how to work my way around you.”

Macaque’s cheeks flame a hot red. Though he doesn’t allow Wukong as much time to see it, as he discards his hold from around his neck, the monkey still manages to scrape a little glance.

The Sage lifts his foot high into the air, bringing it back down and slamming it into Wukong’s chest with a heavy hand, shoving him further into the stone; one swift motion. “Go back to the dirty, decaying cavern you came from!”

“I’d rather die twice than go back there!” Wukong retorts, his smile (somehow) never ceasing to exist, despite this awfully familiar predicament he’d managed to entangle himself in.

“I might not give you a choice.” Macaque grinds, pushing his heel harder into Wukong’s chest as his back arches, building himself bigger in an attempt to scare the other off.

Wukong hastily grabs at his ankle, tilting his head off to the side as his cheeks tint a sinister pink. “Plums -”

“Don’t -”

“Sugar,” Wukong presses, grin widening as Macaque’s flaming cheeks and scorching, purple eyes come into clearer of a view. “Why don’t you hear me out before you do something rash?”

“Why would I listen to you?” Macaque growls, bringing a clenched fist up to rag the scarf around his neck further over his face. “I don’t care about your sob story.”

“My sob story,” Wukong’s grin finally falters. He glares hot, hateful daggers, veins visibly pulsing in his fist as his hold around Macaque’s ankle tightens. “Might just save you. Your successor too; if she’s really lucky.”

Macaque pauses, carefully removing his foot from it’s place against Wukong’s chest as his gaze shifts to the girl behind him.

Mei - who lays tired, beaten and idle on the beaten ground - becomes the new centre of all his attention. All thoughts, future movements, all trust in Wukong, now centers around her.

Maybe he should think this through a little.

“Alright,” Macaque starts, mumbling slightly under his breath. He turns back to Wukong with a look of intent, crouching down to his level as his arms drape lazily over his knees. “What do you know about the Gentleman Bone Demon?”

Wukong smirks again, bringing a hand up to brush against Macaque’s cheek - who watches with untrusting precision. “Where do I even start?”

Or not.

#monkie kid #monkie kid macaque #six eared macaque #monkie king #sun wukong #shadowpeach #lmk mei #lmk reverse au

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pigeonwhumps · 1 year

Text

Brynn and Gemma

Immortal Cannon Fodder masterlist

@extrabitterbrain @wolfeyedwitch @actress4him

Brynn and Gemma's relationship over the years.

Brynn's supervillain whumper is now called Sovereign.

2.3k

CWs: mentioned controlling whumper, broken ankle, muzzle, touch-starved, implied abusive parental figure/child abuse (no explicit minor whump), past parental death, mentioned betrayal, self-esteem issues, internalised ableism (courtesy of Sovereign)

"I am–am B–b–black D–d–d–death, and I wu–will r–r–raze your city to–to the g-g-ground an-and ru-ru-rebuild it as-as m-m-my n-new p-p-palace!" shouts the small figure squeakily, and Gemma bites back a laugh, grateful that the kid can't see her face properly. They have a mask made from black sugar paper and a black tablecloth as a cape. A hawk is hovering just above them.

"Isn't that Sovereign's line?"

The kid puffs out their chest. "It-it's m-m-mine n-n-now. I w-work w-w-with him. An-and y-y-you'll n-n-never d-d-defeat us!"

They kick forward sloppily, and Gemma backs up, dodging the blows easily. The hawk swoops forward, and Gemma pretends to fall.

"You're right, kid. You're very strong. I can't defeat you."

"Ha-ha! M-m-me an-and Ho-ho-horus are st-stronger th-than you!" The kids holds out their hand. "H-h-h-however, I-I am a b-b-benevolent v-v-v-villain an-and wu-wu-will not k-k-k-kill you."

Gemma takes their hand and pulls herself up, pushing off the ground slightly so they don't try and take all her weight. Well, that line isn't from Sovereign.

Speaking of the supervillain...

"Br- kid, what are you doing out here? Home, now. It's well past your bedtime."

"B-b-b-but–"

"No buts. I'll play tomorrow."

Gemma can almost see the kid's pout under their mask as they stomp off. She has a million questions, none of which her nemesis will ever answer.

"My apologies for the child. Shall we get on with it?"

Brynn digs her hand between the bricks, scrambling to find enough purchase to keep herself upright. It doesn't work, and she can't put any weight on her ankle, dropping to the floor of the dingy back alley.

She needs to get back, but she doesn't want to crawl the whole way.

"Hey there. I saw your fall earlier. Do you need help?"

Bryan turns around to see a woman standing at the end of the alley, silouhetted by sodium-yellow streetlights. She narrows her eyes as the woman takes a step closer, hands in the air.

'Horus,' she thinks in her hawk's mind, 'investigate.'

Horus swoops forward, circling the woman, who watches him calmly. Brynn doesn't get any sense of imminent danger from him, and she doesn't really react, even when he perches on her head. Horus thinks she's no threat. A civilian, then?

"Can I help you?" asks the woman, and Brynn nods, watching warily as the woman approaches. She crouches in front of Brynn and pulls out a torch. In the light of it, she can see the woman putting the pieces together, realising who she is. Will she leave now? Swipe out in disgust and try to arrest or kill her?

To Brynn's surprise, she does nothing of the sort.

"You're Black Death, huh? Nice mask." Brynn flinches internally. It is certainly not a nice mask, but Sovereign doesn't trust her to stay silent without it. She can't correct the woman though, not without cutting her mouth open on the spikes – and even then, sound probably wouldn't come out. "I'm Gemma. What have you injured?"

Brynn points at her ankle, and Gemma examines it, wincing. "That's a nasty break. I'll splint it for you, but make sure you get it treated properly later, yeah?" Brynn nods, already knowing she won't. Gemma pulls out a first aid kit and cleans Brynn's ankle with antibacterial wipes, her touch gentle as she splints it.

The care brings tears to Brynn's eyes. The last time someone was this soft with her, she was much younger, Sovereign had just taken her in. He's not like that anymore, though, when he even bothers to treat her. And no-one else ever comes near.

She doesn't need care, she's not a baby anymore, but it's nice.

"I'm just going to find you something to use as a walking stick. Take some painkillers from the first aid kit if you need them." Brynn nods, and as Gemma strides off, pops two pills out of the packet, swallowing them dry.

She leans against the wall and watches Gemma for a while, stroking Horus absently. Who is this woman? Why is she so willing to help? Brynn's done terrible things, not at her own behest, sure, but nobody knows that. She still did them. Why's Gemma helping?

"Alright, this should do. Try it out."

Brynn takes the stick and levers herself to her feet, putting all her weight on the stick and her good foot. She doesn't fall this time.

She signs a quick, "Thank you." Gemma smiles.

"Glad I could help. Anything else?" Brynn shakes her head. "Okay. Well, take this, in case you ever need anything."

Gemma hands her a slip of paper, with an address and phone number on it. Her address? Why would she trust a villain with her address?

Brynn thanks her again and stows the paper in a secure pocket. She'll just have to make sure Sovereign doesn't find it.

It seems to burn a hole in her pocket as she limps off, and all through her meeting with Sovereign. As she collapses onto her bed, splint gone and a new pain in her ankle, she knows she can't leave. Sovereign would be sure to hunt her down if she did. So there's no point in keeping Gemma's address.

She does, though, slipping the little piece of paper under the mattress. She's not sure why she doesn't just throw it in the fireplace, let it go up in smoke, but for some reason she can't bring herself to get rid of the one piece of evidence she has that people will, occasionally, be kind.

Gemma resists the urge to get up as the kitchen window slides open further and a person drops inside with a small thud.

The little thief's back.

She hears rustling outside her bedroom, and knows that when she goes out in the morning, she'll see an empty plastic box that held snackd from last time they 'burgled' her, slightly rumpled bed clothes on the sofabed, and a wide-open window. Possibly a few feathers too.

She worries about Black Death, sometimes. They've gone from an excitable, dramatic small child to a wary young adult who barely talks. And who sometimes ends up in a near-stranger's house for food and sleep. She thinks Sovereign probably has something to do with it, given that they're his sidekick. It's worrying.

But she can't confront Black Death. She doesn't think they're ready to leave him, and she doesn't want to accidentally chase them out of the only place they're definitely getting food and rest from.

She just hopes they get the courage to ask for help sometime.

Brynn bites her lip as she hears the key turn in the lock. Gemma's here.

She was nervous enough about tonight anyway, but now she thinks this might be the same Gemma she's been stealing food from for years. The woman who helped her out, before she'd realised it was a bad idea to let anyone except Sovereign help. And now... she has to own up, right? To stealing? But what if Gemma hates her for it? The team all look up to Gemma, what would happen to her then?

"Hi Gemma," says Lian, out in the hallway. "Kai told you we have someone new, right?"

"Yeah. He and Aaron are still buying snacks, by the way, I came on ahead. She used to be a villain's sidekick?"

There's a glimmer of hope in Gemma's voice, and Brynn wonders who she's hoping to find. Can't be her. She feels a little guilty, for not being the person Gemma clearly wants.

"Yep. Sovereign's, as a matter of fact. Her alias used to be Black Death."

Gemma gasps. "She's here?"

Morfydd gives Brynn a knowing smile, and she squeezes further into Phoenix's side. She's not scared, far from it, she just... wants Phoenix. On Phoenix's other side, Santhiya groans as they fall onto her.

Oops.

Gemma enters the room then, and Morfydd gets up, running to her and throwing their arms around the retired hero. Gemma chuckles lightly, stroking Morfydd's hair.

"Missed you too. Been a hell of a fortnight, I'm guessing?" Morfydd nods. "Do you and Lian want to come and stay over soon? Get away from it all." They nod again, clutching Gemma tightly. Brynn looks away guiltily, aware that it's her sudden move that's caused all this. And what Sovereign wants her to do will make everything worse.

Eventually, Morfydd pulls away and sits on Lian's lap, where she originally was before Gemma arrived.

"Why does no-one here ever use furniture?" she asks, sounding faintly amused, before turning to Phoenix and Santhiya. "Hey Phoenix, Santhiya. How are you?"

"I'm controlling my powers well, and me and Phoenix went on another date!" replies Santhiya excitedly.

"Finally," mutters Lian. Santhiya flips him off cheerfully, contentedly sitting partially under Phoenix.

Phoenix kisses the top of Santhiya's head, then gives Gemma an exhausted smile. "It was a good date. I think I understand why everyone was so concerned when they first met me now. I'm good, though. Kai says having someone to look after is good for me, and I agree. This is Brynn."

Brynn shies away as Gemma focuses on her. "H-h-h-hi."

"Hey there. You're the newbie then, I take it?" Brynn nods. "Please say you're the same little thief whose ankle I treated a few years ago."

"Y-y-y-yes. Y-y-y-you wwwww w-w-want me to-to be?" Brynn's perplexed. Why would Gemma want to see her again?

Gemma shrugs. "You vanished, I was worried about you. Did I have a good reason to be?"

Brynn shakes her head. "I-I-I'm f-f-f-fine. I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry I st-st-stole f-f-from you."

"It's fine. I wouldn't have left the window half-open and snacks packed into tupperware if I didn't want you taking them, would I?"

Oh. Oh. Brynn's heart swoops. Sovereign was right. She really is thicker than two short planks.

"Oh. Of c-c-course. Sh-sh-sh-should've known I'm-I'm to-too stupid t-t-to b-b-b-break in." She takes a deep breath, trying to stop the incessant babble that comes out whenever she's upset. If she can't even speak properly she's not fit to speak at all.

"Hey. That wasn't what I meant, little thief. You broke in successfully the first time. The sofa was slept on and some food gone, and there were hawk feathers left behind. Deductive reasoning. It was only after that that I started leaving the window open for you. You're not stupid, far from it. You're just very brave."

"D-d-desperate," she corrects, heart in her throat. "I wu-wu-was d-d-desperate, n-n-not brave."

"Mm. You were both, I think. Do you want a hug?"

Brynn nods, ensconcing herself in Gemma's arms. She hasn't been hugged like this since her parents died, and she finds herself relaxing involuntarily.

That is, until Morfydd speaks, soft but amused.

"Does this mean that Brynn's the child you told us tried to fight you dressed in a sugar paper mask and a tablecloth?"

Brynn goes bright red as the others giggle, pressing closer to Gemma to hide her face. Damnit.

"Yep. That's Brynn."

Gemma looks up and covers Brynn's old mask with a tea towel when she walks into the room, wrapped in a green fuzzy dressing gown. Now Sovereign's in jail, Brynn's finally had a chance to collect the rest of her old things, and the mask is frankly horrifying. Gemma's not sure why she chose to keep it, given the obvious fear it inspires in her, but she doesn't plan on bringing it up unless Brynn does.

"Hey. Come and have some food." Brynn pours herself a small bowl of coco pops and takes a seat, the overlarge dressing gown making her look tiny. "How are you doing?"

Brynn nods. "Ffffff f–f-f-fine. I–I–I llllike th-th-the bu-bu-bu-bed." She inhales a spoonful of cereal. "Wu-wu-wu-when you ff-f-fixed m-m-my an-an-ankle, Ssssssss Sovereign re-re-re-rebroke it. I-I sh-sh-sh-shouldn't have g-g-got help f-f-from an-anyone bu-bu-but him. So-so I d-d-d-didn't kn-know h-h-h-how to-to lu-lu-lu-leave. I'm-I'm s-s-s-sorry."

Oh, god. She should've gotten Brynn out of there years ago, damn letting her make her own choices.

"Hey. It's okay, Brynn. Sovereign was my nemesis for years, and although I didn't know just how awful he was, I know you didn't have a choice. In fact, you're the one who defeated him in the end."

"It-it wu-wu-wu-wouldn't have b-b-been necessary if-if I w-w-wasn't a-a c-c-coward. C-c-can't I j-j-j-just h-h-hand m-myself in-in?"

"No. That's why you're staying with me, to stop you from doing that. It's why Phoenix tied you down at first. You're not going to prison, I don't care how much you think you deserve it."

Brynn squeezes her eyes shut, tears spilling out from under her eyelids. Gemma squeezes her hand gently.

"I m-m-miss them. Ph-ph-phoenix th-the m-m-most."

"You can call them if you like. You won't be disturbing them, if they're busy they just won't answer."

"I'm sc-scared," she whispers. "Y-y-y-you d-d-d-didn't see th-the others' ffff f-f-faces. Th-the b-b-betrayal. Wu-what if th-they– wu-what if Ph-ph-phoenix an-and San-santhiya are-are are-are-are-are–"

Gemma waits, but Brynn just slams her mouth shut and shakes her head, unable to go on. "You won't know until you speak to them, and you have to speak eventually. If it helps, I don't think Phoenix has it in them to hate you."

Brynn picks her phone up and unlocks it with shaking fingers. She stares at the screen, unmoving.

"Do you want me to give you some privacy while you call?" asks Gemma quietly. Brynn shakes her head, squeezing Gemma's hand in a death grip.

Eventually, she presses call, then puts it on speaker. The phone barely has a chance to ring before Phoenix picks up.

"Hello? Brynn?"

"H-h-h-hey."

"Oh, thank god, you're okay. You haven't handed yourself in. How, um, how are you doing?"

Phoenix sounds exhausted but happy to hear from one of their partners, and Brynn smiles tentatively, loosening her hold on Gemma.

Gemma's relieved, and not just for the regaining of feeling in her fingers. It's good to see Brynn smile and talk. Gemma hasn't seen enough of that.

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