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starspatter · 4 years

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Heroes and Thieves, Ch. 14

Title: Heroes and Thieves Fandom/Universe: BTAS, pre/post-RotJ flashback

Summary: A story about second chances, healing, and having hope.

Rating: PG-13, for references to character death, child psychological torture and trauma.

Genre: Romance/Family/Friendship/Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 2,526 Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Also on ff.net and AO3.

Lies, lies, lying little beast Lying little man on the corner of the street Singing "Why, I can't come out to play Can't come out and say that I'm afraid of what they'll say"

-Run River North, "Lying Beast"

————————–

Then.

Stephanie walked purposefully down the dormitory hallway towards her destination, which she had learned of through Cass after the other had shockingly announced she was now… “involved” with someone and asked point-blank for her advice. Steph had been surprised (not to mention maybe a tad jealous) that she had been granted visitation rights before her – especially when she herself wasn’t even sure if she had reached an official “dating” stage yet with her suitor- er, tutor (although they had undergone several “study sessions” together by this point) – but nevertheless was happy for her roommate. …Besides, her profile’s “single” status would hopefully change today.

Checking her hair and outfit, she nervously fixed and fidgeted a little in front of the doorway, before taking a deep breath and knocking on the entry. After a moment, it slowly creaked open a crack to reveal a rather confused-looking Tim.

“Steph? What are you doing here?”

“Hey! I just came to ask you something quick, if you’re not too busy.” She beamed her best and brightest.

Tim’s eyes darted anxiously aside as he swallowed.

“Uh, now’s not really a great time…”

“Who’s that, Tim? A friend of yours?”

Stephanie blinked as a stunningly beautiful woman unexpectedly emerged from behind Tim, ravishing red locks and coquettish lips smiling cordially.

“Ah, you must be Stephanie! Tim’s told me a lot about you.”

Steph’s gaze shifted suspiciously to Tim, who looked like his world had just come crashing down around him.

“…Has he now?”

The stranger grinned widely as she extended her slender palm, revealing twin rows of perfect pearl teeth.

“I’m Barbara Gordon. Pleasure to meet you.”

Tentatively, Steph took it.

“...Nice to meet you. Wait, ‘Gordon’ – as in the new Police Commissioner?”

The woman nodded.

“Bingo, you’re looking at her.” Her voice abruptly took on an authoritative tone. “I’m here on official police business, conducting a top-secret investigation. You wouldn’t happen to have seen any suspicious individuals around, would you?”

“Babs,” Tim cut in sharply as Steph started to sweat and panic. “That’s enough. Quit frightening her.” (Although rather than relieve her apprehension, it only increased further at such informal address.)

…On a first-name basis?

“Kidding, kidding. I’m giving a guest lecture on Criminology over in the West Wing. Speaking of which,” Barbara glanced at her wristwatch, “I should probably get going. Class starts in 10 minutes. I just came by to say ‘hi’ to Tim.”

She began to gather up her things, bustling out the exit with a wink to Tim on the way, who only winced and shrank further in response.

“I’ll leave you two kids alone. Take care, Tim. I’ll stop by again some other time.”

Steph watched her figure’s wake until it was gone, silently envying sophisticated style and… mature body shape as it sashayed away.

“She’s awfully pretty,” she mused aloud, suddenly feeling even more self-conscious. “What exactly is your relationship with her?”

Don’t tell me he’s actually into older women. There’s no way I can compete with that.

Tim rolled his eyes with a sigh.

“It’s not what you think. She’s like an older sister.”

“…Seriously?”

How strangely ‘convenient’ all his supposed ‘relatives’ seem to be gorgeous supermodels.

“Trust me, there’s nothing like that between us.”

She gauged his earnest expression, before accepting assurance.

“All right, I believe you.” Her smile returned as she relaxed. “In that case…”

She fished around in her pocket, pulling out two tickets she won at the Theta-Kapa-Gamma Harvest Festival last week.

“Ta da~! Tickets to see the monster movie marathon at the old Monarch Theater on Saturday! You are free, aren’t you?”

Tim blinked as she practically shoved the tiny pieces of perforated paper in his face, fanning gleefully in invitation. Temptation.

“I am, but…”

He gulped, hesitating as he seemed to desperately search for an excuse.

“I’m… not really a fan of old films…”

He mumbled lamely, appearing extremely uneasy for some reason.

Oh crap. Don’t tell me I screwed up again.

Steph’s confidence sank in disappointment, recalling how she had once enthusiastically tried to engage Tim in a spontaneous water pistol fight going on in the campus courtyard (despite the season being somewhat ill-suited for the sport), having snuck up on him whilst the victim was reading unawares underneath the shade of a nearby tree, hitting him with a lighthearted squirt. He had sat there, stunned, as he stared at the childish toy weapon in her hand, before wiping his soaked cheek with the back of his sleeve. Slamming his book shut, he stated with such startlingly quiet, intense anger it took her aback:

“I don’t like guns.”

…Before standing up and stalking off in silence.

Still, she had hoped this would make up for it, that it could be something they’d both enjoy, spend some real quality time doing together (besides studying anyway, which she was starting to get sick and tired of as tests approached). Who didn’t care for a good old-fashioned camp scare around Halloween? …Maybe he just needed to give it a chance.

“Hey, don’t knock it ‘till you’ve tried it. Have you ever even seen Dracula or Frankenstein?”

He shook his head.

“Whaaat, you’re missing out on some classics! Come on, it’ll be fun. We’ve both been working so hard, we deserve a break. Cass has a pair of passes too, so she and Conner are going to be there as well. We can totes double together.” (Incidentally, it had been a little odd how her partner had been so fortunate as to receive the exact same prize at the booth’s trivia guessing game right after her, but she’d learned not to question Cassandra’s keen – if sometimes creepily uncanny – sense of intuition.)

Tim bit his lip, but acquiesced at her pleading puppy eyes, which shone with eager stars of anticipation.

“…Okay.”

“Great! It’s a date then.” She exclaimed excitedly as she handed him his half of the voucher.

“A… date.”

He repeated robotically, surveying the stub as if in disbelief.

“I’ll see you on Saturday then.”

She waved as she skipped off, emboldened by sweet success. In her jubilee, she accidentally ran straight into Conner as he coincidentally came round the corner, heading back to his room as well.

“Whoa, watch it there!”

He caught her just before she fell (unlike before, this sturdy target was obviously a lot harder to knock over), and she blushed a tinge as she felt his huge, strong arms wrap around her shoulder.

Man, what is it with me and bumping into hot guys recently? …Not that I’m complaining, mind.

She wasn’t sure whether to be overjoyed or embarrassed by this recurring situation, but settled for leaning towards the former. Conner, on the other hand, seemed a little less thrilled upon realizing the person in his grasp.

“Oh, it’s you. …Actually, good timing. I want to talk to you about Tim.”

He raised her up, but kept a firm grip on her collar as he drew her back round the bend. …It was almost a little painful, the amount of pressure his paw was putting on her petite stature. His countenance was severely solemn as he stooped forward to meet her level.

“…Look, I’m just gonna come right out and say it so you don’t get the wrong idea. Tim’s… ‘delicate’. I mean, really delicate.” He frowned, icy blue irises flaring dangerously as his dense, digging fingers deepened into the folds of her blouse, contracting and contacting to the bone. “You need to watch what you say and do around him. I swear, if you ever do anything intentionally to hurt him, I will never forgive you. You got that?”

She recoiled, reasoning he was likely referring to the gun stunt.

Is he… making a genuine threat?

Steph was somewhat scared now as his shadow loomed over her, backing her against the wall. She nodded meekly.

“U- understood.”

“Good.”

He released her, and she rubbed at the sore spot on her skin, wondering if it was going to leave a bruise. She was also starting to wonder what the heck Cass saw in this big dumb brute. He was admittedly attractive, sure, but personality-wise he was Tim’s complete opposite: loud, brash, obnoxious – not to mention arrogant – basically your stereotypical jock. And yet…

“You really care a lot about Tim, don’t you?”

Conner sniffed. “Of course I do. He’s my best friend.”

…’Friend’, huh?

The way he behaved seemed to go far beyond mere “friendship” though. He was almost acting like an overprotective guardian. …Or a possessive one.

“Could it be that you’re… jealous?”

“Me? Jealous? Of you?” Conner scoffed. “Why on earth would I be jealous? Just because you’re the one getting him to finally open up and trust you, participate in a bunch of social activities he never normally would, even though I’ve tried so hard to motivate him to be more outgoing over these past few years? To convince him to talk to me about his problems? To be the kind of stupid-ass cliché you huma- people find so damn popular just so no one else would dare to mess with him?”

He laughed like a bark, though it sounded slightly strained. Pained. Stephanie softened at such a display of devotion.

…Maybe he’s not such an oaf after all.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’ve done a lot more for him than you give yourself credit for. I’m sure he appreciates having you as a pal.”

She cautioned a comforting pat on his broad muscle.

“Don’t worry, it’s not like I’m trying to steal him away from you or anything. Besides, you’re doing the same thing for Cass, aren’t you? Trying to help her break out of her shell? Heck, I’ve noticed she’s been a lot more vocal ever since you two started seeing each other.”

Conner rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“You think? I mean, I guess you could say that. I dunno, it feels like I’m not really right for her… She’s so serious and deep, and – and next to her I feel like a total doofus most of the time…”

Stephanie couldn’t help but sympathize. They were a weird couple, to be sure, but then the same could easily be said about her and Tim.

“Hey, far be it from me to judge, but even if it doesn’t seem like you’re made for each other off the bat, I think you owe it to yourselves to try and explore those feelings at least. You never know, maybe it will work out.”

…It might’ve been her imagination, but the margins of his mouth seemed to twitch a bit at the word “made”. He coughed as he replied contritely though.

“Thanks. And, uh, sorry about being rough earlier.”

“It’s all right.” She smirked. “You were just defending your ‘delicate’ flower’s honor.”

A humiliated flush crept onto his visage.

“Oi, despite what you may have heard, it’s not like that.”

“It’s okay,” she giggled in understanding. “I feel the same way about Cass. …I suppose you could consider it even then?”

“Um… I suppose.” He looked confounded by the straightforward confession, but shrugged, not wanting to think too hard about it anymore, lest things get overly complicated. “So… We good then?”

She smiled.

“Yeah. We’re good.”

…

When the weekend rolled around, Stephanie dragged Cassandra clothes shopping before the big day, insisting on doing her hair and makeup as well. By the time they arrived at the cinema, the boys were already there waiting, checking their watches out in the cold. While she sheepishly apologized on both behalves for being “fashionably late”, Steph figured it was worth it when she saw their slack jaws at how much fashion had transformed them. The guys were dressed decently to impress as well, both sporting smart leather jackets (although Tim’s looked a size too big for him, and Conner still had on that ruddy black Superman T-shirt underneath that seemed like it came from a little kid’s closet).

She took the initiative in lining up with Tim to order snacks and soda, in the meantime telling the other two to go find four seats together. Luckily they didn’t have to wait long, as there didn’t seem to be many customers despite it being a Saturday. (To be fair those tickets were probably pretty cheap and undesirable to given away free at some college fest.) Although she kept chatting cheerfully to try and pass the time, her other company seemed even more uncomfortable than usual in the lightly crowded lobby, hardly able to carry a conversation – let alone the food – all the way to the viewing room. She began to worry if this had been a mistake to bring him here, and prayed the darkness and drama onscreen would at least be able to distract him enough to loosen up a little.

Cass and Conner had saved them two seats near the edge, and she sidled in next to her girlfriend (for moral support) while Tim took the one closest to the aisle. He kept glimpsing tensely around though, still just as jumpy as before.

“Hey, chill out a bit, will ya? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he muttered. “It’s just, in my experience, this is usually the part where the place catches fire, or some punks try to rob the box office, or…”

She stared at him, shaking her head.

“You fret too much. Just try to relax and enjoy, okay? Here, have some popcorn.”

He passed on the salted kernels though, and she pouted as she popped one in her mouth, chewing over whether she’d made the right decision after all. He looked almost claustrophobic, stressed. In distress.

Things didn’t improve much as the motion picture started to play. The first feature presentation in the lineup was indeed Frankenstein, and although Tim managed to remain relatively calm enough throughout the monochrome, monotone introduction, he started to stiffen at the famous “awakening” sequence.

“Quite a good scene, isn’t it? One man crazy, three very sane spectators.”

Out of the crook of her eye, Steph sensed her companion cringe every time there was a thunderclap, as lights flashed and machinery sparked with mounting electricity, while the movie madman merrily turned the wheel to “adjust the batteries”. Together, he and his assistant unrolled the cloth covering the table to expose a humanlike form strapped to it, albeit with limbs limp and lifeless. Tim’s claw clutched at his armrest as the stretcher was gradually lifted up through a hole in the ceiling towards the stormy sky, where pulses of galvanizing lightning presumably struck the subject repeatedly.

Stephanie divided concentration back and forth between the increasingly agitated boy beside her and the big screen in growing alarm as his breathing accelerated, gasping and wheezing audibly as he bent forward and put his hyperventilating head between his knees. Cass and Conner were casting concerned looks as well, while other annoyed audience members revolved around and shushed to keep it down. As her attention was arrested by the scientist maniacally screaming “It’s alive!” over and over again, she turned back one last time to ask if Tim was all right in a worried whisper – but there was no answer.

Tim was gone.

————————–

Oh Lord, whatever did I say? Whatever made me think that this was all okay? No one held me to the flame The hell if I could take the dark from my face

#TimSteph #Tim Drake #Timmy Todd #Stephanie Brown #Conner Kent #Cassandra Cain #Barbara Gordon #Batman the Animated Series #Batman Beyond #DCAU #Return of the Joker #fanfiction #starstories #*picks up all her gay kiddies and puts in a protective basket*

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pojkflata · 7 years

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all of them for embla!

I’m skipping questions that aren’t applicable

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?

Embla Blomqvist. Embla means elm tree, and it’s also the name of the first woman in Norse mythology. It might not have an apparent meaning at the surface, but who knows? Maybe it’ll be significant at some point?

Blomqvist means flower-twig, continuing the plant theme. And with such a strong plant theme in her name, her personality and the fact that she’s a changeling, you’d think she’d be a log changeling, but she is in fact a troll changeling with a somewhat ironic name. Part of why I chose it was because rhytmically, it flows pretty well because of the two ‘bl’-sounds, at least if u ask me

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory?

Her childhood was… decent. She grew up somewhat detached from people, and not always by choice, but she also didn’t have anything to compare with, so she didn’t actively suffer either. Things got better when she met Berri, tho

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents?

This is where things get… complicated. Berri kind of acts like a parental figure, but aside from him, the closest thing Embla has to a parent is her adoptive mother who is not ideal. The mother is married to her job and constantly overachieves even though money is not an issue at all, so she usually leaves Embla to her own devices and has done so on a regular basis from a very young age.

Embla never met her biological parents and they are kind of an enigma. It’s hard for even me to pin them down, so let’s just say they’re kind of all over the place morally speaking

6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate?

During the events of TFTF, Embla has just graduated 8th grade. Again, she’s not super good unfortunately. She does pick up a lot of facts and trivia, but she’s bad at contextualizing it in a lot of situations, meaning her school performance suffers. Her grades hover around Es and Ds depending on the subject, maybe a few Cs sometimes. Not sure what her fave subject is but she dislikes math and science in particular

7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood?

She doesn’t have a lot of friends but she likes it that way. She’s kind of a loner and people around her respect that without ignoring her (god I wish that were me). But at the beginning of TFTF, she has two close friends in Aminah and Berri, and she befriends more in the Faelands.

8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals?

It probably doesn’t count but with some good will, you can consider Berri to be a pet. She does like animals, dogs in particular.

9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals?

It’s a 50/50 thing. Some animals like her, but some are frightened by her.

10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect?

She’s not super fond of infants, but she definitely likes older kids and she’d probably like to have kids in the future!

12. What is their favourite food?

Okay so under normal circumstances, Embla usually eats very simple foods that somebody her age can easily cook, she is fond of anything fancy since those foods are kinda rare in her life

14. Do they have any specific memories of food/a restaurant/meal?

When Embla first met Tristan, one of the first things he did was offer her a freshly killed rabbit bc well, Tristan’s quirky like that. Embla initially declined but then reluctantly accepted the rabbit

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?

She’s decent, as I said she cooks on a regular basis. She doesn’t really cook for others, tho

18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else

She likes anything that’s engaging honestly, no matter the genre

20. Do they like musicals? Music in general? What do they do when they’re favourite song comes?

If she’s in the mood, yeah? But since she’s rather stoic, she doesn’t do much more than just bob her head to a song she likes

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper?

She’s p patient, but if she’s pushed enough, her usual reaction involves rambling and yelling

22. What are their favourite insults to use? What do they insult people for? Or do they prefer to bitch behind someone’s back?

Embla is p feisty actually! If you annoy her or do something she doesn’t think makes sense, she will make jokes at your expense and snark at u

23. Do they have a good memory? Short term or long term? Are they good with names? Or faces?

Her memory is okay in most ways except faces, she can be awful at faces.

24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress?

She’s average I guess, she doesn’t usually remember her dreams, she doesn’t snore and she prefers soft mattresses

25. What do they find funny? Do they have a good sense of humour? Are they funny themselves?

She thinks it’s fun to make fun of ppl, not in a malicious way, but when she thinks they need to be taken down a notch. So some think her humor is a lil mean spirited

26. How do they act when they’re happy? Do they sing? Dance? Hum? Or do they hide their emotions?

She might hum sometimes, but as I said before, she’s p stoic. Not that she hides emotion, but she just doesn’t show clear signs of emotion all the time

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad?

She’ll usually just stay quiet when she’s particularily sad

28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared?

She was initially pretty scared of the idea of going to the Faelands because yeah, her life may not be perfect, but she didn’t know what’d await her in the Faelands and she didn’t like the idea of giving up everything she’d known and stuff

She doesn’t really fear a lot after coming over it though

She gets kinda shaky and talks fast if she’s scared

29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective?

Okay that kinda depends

Tristan is scared of corvids because valravn are a thing in the Faelands. Embla understands why somebody would be wary of murder ravens, but when Tristan’s fear gets the best of him and he jumps at the slightest sign of corvid activity with no way to prove it’s caused by valravn, Embla will tease him

30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out?

She might take a stroll sometimes, and that’s so light of an exercise that she doesn’t have any special preparations or aftercare for it

31. Do they drink? What are they like drunk? What are they like hungover? How do they act when other people are drunk or hungover? Kind or teasing?

She’s a minor, so nah

32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like?

She wears p casual, plain clothing, usually in muted dull colors since bright colors tend to hurt her eyes.

She usually just wears her underwear to bed, she doesn’t wear makeup except on special occasions. Her hair is elbow-length and she usually doesn’t do anything special with it

33. What underwear do they wear? Boxers or briefs? Lacey? Comfy granny panties?

Lacey, most of the time. Also sport bras

34. What is their body type? How tall are they? Do they like their body?

She’s 173cm/5′8′’ and kind of average body type wise. She does have a soft tum though! Her self image fluctuates but it’s not bad, she might be a little insecure over her tum from time to time but she usually recovers quickly

36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing?

She’s like. Real good physically speaking. Not that she’s athletic or anything, but in the Faelands she has to take some punches and she takes them alright, and learns to dish some out as well

Her hobbies involve the kinda stuff you’d see a contemporary teen enjoy, stuff like movies and video games, sometimes she likes casually enjoying nature.

She can sing, she’s average, she doesn’t really enjoy singing a lot.

37. Do they like to read? Are they a fast or slow reader? Do they like poetry? Fictional or non fiction?

She’s a p slow reader, and she is inclined to fictional stuff.

38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had?

She absolutely admires Aminah’s intelligence and she wishes she were closer to her level.

39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging?

She prefers emails and IMs

40. Do they like energy drinks? Coffee? Sugary food? Or can they naturally stay awake and alert?

She’ll usually just go for a soda for her caffeine fix.

41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship?

Embla is bi. She doesn’t have any real preferences physically, but she does like people with soft fluffy hair. Mentally, she’s attracted to kind, brave people, and she 100% needs a partner who makes her feel loved and cared for that poor baby girl

42. What are their goals? What would they sacrifice anything for? What is their secret ambition?

Her main goal is to find Aminah, since she’s gotten lost in the Faelands. She does get involved with helping others reach their goals too. She’s super loyal and her devotion to her friends can reach shonen protagonist levels sometimes

43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non religious people?

She’s not religious per se, and her opinions on religion boil down to “one of my best friends is a talking winged cat-dragon, this world can be so fucking weird that I can see why somebody would want to contextualize it with faith, you do you”

44. What is their favourite season? Type of weather? Are they good in the cold or the heat? What weather do they complain in the most?

She doesn’t have any strong preferences, as long as it’s not sunny she’s happy. Sunlight doesn’t hurt her per se, but she gets sunburns p easily and it can make her somewhat sluggish.

45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves?

People will usually see Embla as a loner, sometimes they think of her as hostile due to her wit, but she believes herself to just be an average joe

46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves?

Again, her wit might leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths, that or they might think of her as a stick in the mud. Yeah, those impressions aren’t too accurate

47. How do they act in a formal occasion? What do they think of black tie wear? Do they enjoy fancy parties and love to chit chat or loathe the whole event?

God she avoids formal stuff like the plague

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend?

If she’s in the mood, yeah she might, but she’s still an introvert at heart and might just hang out on the sides with friends she already knows, and that still applies if she was forced to tag along.

50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials?

She did this in canon! She packed clothes, basic hygiene equipment, a water bottle and a knife

#sorry this took so long lol #oc stuff #tftf #long post -#nboy

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