#dark nights: metal 2017

[tkaulitzlvr]

heyyyyy!! just wanted to start by saying i legit love ur writing so much ur one of my fav TH authors and i legit love seeing and reading ur stories. THEY R SO DAMN GOOD :)

anyways here the request if ur comfy lol IVE HAD THIS IDEA FOR SO LONG AND I NEED SOMEONE TO DO IT PLS QUEEN

soooo basically like 2017 soft dom tom and like we r in a car driving and like reader is rlly horny and hes teasing her LIKE CRAZYYYYY and resting his hand on her thigh and stuff and whispering dirty stuff to her giving her small neck kisses and pecks and like other teasing stuff (LOL IDK WHATEVER U WANT JUST SHIT TONE OF TEASING) and then when they get home he completely ignores reader and acts like it never happened and just acts normal and goes to watch tv on couch but then reader gets RLLY CLINGY and comes over and THEN STARTS TEASING TOM ON COUCH and like reader whispers stuff to him and neck kisses and the tom gets rlly nervous and then he gives up and like eats her out till shes BEGGING HIM TO STOP (so like some overstim) and then they fuck and yeah just smut smut smut. and tom and reader with praise kink and lots of dirty talk pretty pls. <3

HAH SORRY THAT WAS KINDA LONG AND DETAILED BUT YEAH ITS LEGIT MY DREAM STORY. pls only write if ur comfortable but yeah u can add whatever u want that would fit with the story and YEAH PLS MAKE IT GOOD!!! (u will ur amazing) yeah thankyouuuuuuuuu <3 :)

DESPERATE - T. KAULITZ

synopsis: you can’t contain yourself, basically throwing yourself at tom. he knows it, but wants to make you wait as long as he can, and it drives you crazy. but, he makes you realise that you should be careful what you wish for.

contents: smut smut smut

a/n: thank u so much anon i’m glad u love my work, and i hope this lives up to ur expectations. also never written for older tom before so thanks for being my first req to write him🙏

he saw the glances i sent his way, the way my legs squeezed together, palms becoming a little sweaty. he noticed my breathing becoming a little erratic, teeth sinking into my bottom lip, feet tapping impatiently against the floor. he knew exactly what i wanted. but, even when i leaned over, running my hands across his inner thighs, closer and closer to his clothed dick, he kept his eyes on the road, knowing that he was driving me crazy, and he liked it.

“thinking of ordering pizza for dinner. you down?” he asks, completely ignoring my hands which are now directly over his crotch, and my eyes on him, filled with desire. he knows exactly what is doing, the slight smirk tugging on his lips telling me that, and i know that he won’t give up his little game yet. i am in for a long night, my eyes set on feeling him inside of me, willing to do literally anything to get that satisfaction, completely aware that he isn’t going to make it easy for me.

but, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to tease me either.

“mmm, i’d rather have you instead.” i mutter, knowing that he heard me.

we stop at a red light and he turns to me, his eyes dark, a familiar look of lust present within them. that same smirk is still on his face as he slowly leans over, planting a slow kiss just below my ear, his breath tickling the skin as he whispers into it. “who says you can’t have both?”

my eyes widen, the heat between my thighs only increasing, his words quickly causing me to become flustered, my cheeks flushing a light shade of crimson. he sees this, a small laugh escaping his lips as he plants soft kisses at my neck, the warmth of his touch contrasting with the harsh metal of his lip ring as it dances around the skin of my neck, my head tilting to the side to give him better access. his actions are abruptly cut off by the sound of a horn behind us, tom’s head shooting upwards, the traffic lights already having turned green.

he quickly adjusts himself, flashing me a quick wink before pulling his head out of my neck and beginning to drive away. my eyes focus on his hand on the gearstick, the way his veins flex, fingers tightly holding onto it, wanting nothing more for them to be moving inside of me. as if he had read my mind, he removes his hand, placing it onto my thigh, letting it travel further upwards, moving closer and closer to the place i need him most, his head still facing the road as he looks blankly at it as if he isn’t teasing me to the point that i could scream.

he moves his hand flat against me, and my body jerks in shock, his fingers slowly rubbing my clothed clit, he sees the reaction he gets out of me by doing this, smiling to himself before abruptly moving his hand away, returning it to its previous position on the gearstick as i whine in frustration.

“baby why’d you stop?” i sigh, placing my hand over his and trying to move it back over my heat, but he refuses, keeping it set on the gearstick.

“stop acting so impatient, liebe, or you know you won’t get anything. be good for me and maybe i’ll give you what you want, you just gotta wait till we get home, mhm?” he taunts, watching the way i quickly nod my head, smiling at my obedience, placing his hand back on my thigh, torturing me as his thumb begins slow movements over it.

so i stayed put, trying to distract myself literally however i could, the drive home seeming like hours as each second wasted time, time that could be spent with him inside of me. the teasing never stopped, tom kissing my ear, neck, collarbone, cheek, anywhere his lips could access whenever we stopped at a red light, promising that he’d give me what i so desperately needed once we got home. so i held on, restricting myself, his words keeping me going, acting as motivation as the reward of holding back was completely worth it.

a sigh of relief escapes my parted lips once he turns onto our driveway, my hands scrambling to undo the seatbelt, literally unable to contain myself at this point. tom however, takes his time, not stepping out of the car until i have reached the front door, unable to get in as he pulls the key from his pocket, slowly unlocking the door. i expect him to move onto me the second we walk in, pushing me against the wall, attacking me with kisses, showing me that he meant his promise, but he does the opposite.

he slowly kicks his shoes off, walking into the kitchen as i stand there, pissed off and feeling completely let down. i join him in the kitchen as he stands on his phone, leaning against the counter, a smile forming on his lips once he sees me walk in.

“what pizza do you want babe? i’m feeling like pepperoni.” he utters those words so nonchalantly, as if the things he had said to me, the way he had touched me in the car were all figments of my imagination. i mumble a small ‘get me anything, i don’t care’, before trudging to the living room, sexually frustrated, completely done with his teasing.

he joins me soon after, patting my thigh gently as he sits beside me, grabbing the remote and scrolling through the channels as if i wasn’t sat next to him, bored and desperate. i had reached my breaking point.

“tom…” i trail off, leaning towards him, my lips pressing open-mouthed kisses against his neck, taking note of the way his breathing begins to quicken, knowing that i am slowly getting to him. but he doesn’t show it yet, his expression still blank, eyes still set on the tv in front of him.

“baby…” i mutter against his skin, my hand reaching for his crotch, palming him as a low groan emits from his now parted lips. he shuffles in his seat a little, adjusting himself and clearing his throat. still nothing. i reach underneath his t-shirt, my fingers tracing his abs, feeling every muscle, lips still attached to his neck. he doesn’t give in, keeping me waiting, which only frustrates him even more, but i can feel him slowly giving in, only motivating me more.

“please, i promise i’ll be good…” i slowly say, looking upwards at him before climbing onto his lap, straddling him as he has no choice but to look into my eyes. “i’ll be so good…”

i repeat my words, dipping my head so that it is underneath his chin, kissing his neck once again, sucking gently on the skin as i try to leave marks. but i am not finished yet. i slowly begin to grind against his clothed dick, moving back and forth at a teasingly slow pace. it doesn’t take long for his hands to grip at my hips, completely stopping my movements. bingo.

“so fucking impatient.” he mumbles, switching us around in one swift motion as he lays me on the couch, moving on top of me and messily colliding his lips with mine. “couldn’t wait at all could you, hm?”

i say nothing, too busy focusing on the way his lips move against mine. he clearly isn’t wasting anytime as i feel his hands move to my leggings, hooking his fingers around the hem, tugging them and my panties down, raking them down my legs and throwing them carelessly onto the floor. my own hands scramble for his t-shirt, taking it off of him and letting it find the pile of clothes on the floor, my own t-shirt and his pants following, only his boxers between us.

he reconnects our lips as a quiet ‘please’ escapes from my mouth, wanting more than just a kiss, having waited all night for this.

“please what? you know you have to use your words schatz.” he teases, his forehead against mine, waiting for me to speak.

“need you to touch me.” i whine, my hands finding his neck as i play with the loose strands of hair, watching the way he nods his head, seeming satisfied with my answer.

he crawls downwards, kissing each part of my body as he does so, nipping gently at the skin, enjoying the way my breathing is fast and heavy, low whines escaping my mouth. he reaches my inner thighs, still planting small kisses, one hand on each leg as he forces them both apart, letting his head rest in-between them, stopping his motions and looking upwards at me, his eyes meeting mine.

“you sure?” he asks, knowing full well what my answer is, using his breath to ask such a pointless question, knowing that it will only get me more riled up.

“yes tom just- fuck! touch me, ple-.” i sigh out, my pleading soon cut off when i feel his tongue delve into me, my mouth forming an ‘o’ shape as i my hands find their way into his hair, pushing him further into me.

“oh my god!” i cry, feeling his tongue hit all the right spots inside of me, knowing that it won’t take long for the familiar knot to form in my stomach, his teasing meaning that the smallest of touches had the biggest effect on me. he groans against me, the bass in his throat sending a vibration through me, yet another moan spilling from my lips, his name never being said this many times before.

his pointer finger finds its way to my clit, rubbing slow circles whilst his tongue continues to drill inside of me, my release building up inside of me.

“getting close. don’t stop, oh my god please don’t stop!” i beg, my hands lost within the thick strands of brunette hair, the previous tidy bun messy thanks to me, but he didn’t seem to mind, only focused on feeling me get to my end.

his tongue touches my g-spot, a high pitch moan unlike no other i had uttered coming from the back of my throat. he picks up on this, directly hitting that spot over and over, my vision clouding, eyes rolling to the back of my head, way too lost in pleasure to process the fact that the knot in my stomach had released, tom swallowing all of my juices. i expect him to stop, my chest heaving up and down, coming down from my high, every part of me sensitive, but he keeps going at a fast pace - if not quicker than before.

“too much! can’t take it.” i breathe out, my thighs squeezing against his head, careful not to apply too much pressure, but he only smiles against me, completely ignoring my pleas.

“you wanted me to touch you.” he mutters into me, replacing his mouth with his fingers so he can speak more clearly. “so that’s what i’m gonna do schatz.”

and he sticks to his words, his tongue moving back inside me, the overstimulation quickly taking over, my entire body jolting when he hits the sensitive spots inside of me, unable to take the pleasure.

“please…i can’t…too much…”

my words are incoherent, not able to form full sentences as i feel another release building up.

“not stopping until you say the word baby.” he mumbles against me, referring to our safe word that i have only had to use once. he knows that i won’t say it, secretly enjoying the pleasure despite the pain that comes with it, taking all of it in. “you can give me one more, doing so well.”

i take in every single word of praise he gives me, using it to work through the pain, focusing on the pleasure, using it to guide me to my release, my eyes squeezing shut, head falling backwards as it takes over, my back arching off of the couch, this one much more powerful than the last. he swallows everything, planting a few kisses on my lips as i wince, completely spent. my body lays limp on the couch, his moving upwards so that he is hovering above me. he kisses me softly, his thumb reaching upwards and wiping a few tears that i hadn’t even realised had fallen.

he sits up, taking his boxers off, stopping them at his knees, not even bothering to fully remove him. he lifts my body, sitting me on top of him so i am straddling him.

“you did so well baby. you think you can handle just one more, for me?” he asks, running his hands up and down my hips, watching as i tiredly nod my head, a small smile spreading across his face.

i position myself onto him, slowly sliding downwards as he fills me up.

“fuckkkk.” he drags out, his head falling backwards and resting on the top of the couch, his hands tightly holding my hips, fingers digging into the flesh.

i stop about halfway, feeling completely full, not sure how i will be able to take all of him. he sees that i am struggling, kissing my cheeks gently , moving down to my collarbone.

“you feel so good baby, keep going, you’re almost there. shit- so fucking good.”

low groans escape his mouth as i nod my head, continuing to sink onto him until i am fully sat on him, my mouth dropping open, wincing a little at the pain, his fingers nothing compared to the size of him. i place my hands on his chest, trying to steady myself as i begin bouncing up and down, tom moaning loudly, his hands never leaving my hips, watching me move on him.

“so fucking tight, oh my god…” he sighs out, his teeth sinking into his bottom lip, eyes fluttering shut as i speed up my movements, whining as he hits a totally new angle, never feeling so good, so full before.

his forehead glistens with sweat, muscles flexing every time he squeezes my hips, his fingers leaving marks into my skin, but i don’t complain, the feeling only increasing my stamina. my walls clench around him unconsciously, tom groaning whenever i do it, the feeling only bringing him closer to the edge.

“just like that.” he groans, his voice deep. “yeah, shit baby- feels so good.”

after my two orgasms, it doesn’t take me long to become tired, my movements slow and sloppy. my body collapses onto his chest, frustrated as i am getting close, unable to get there myself. he notices this quickly, beginning to thrust upwards into me, loud moans echoing throughout the room as i try my best to meet his movements, rotating my hips a little, feeling him deeper inside me than i ever have before.

“i’m close. don’t stop.” i manage to say, messily colliding his lips with mine, his tongue exploring my mouth whilst his strokes remain strong and deep, hitting all the right spots.

“me too baby.” he mutters between kisses. “almost there, you’re doing so so well.”

his dick twitches inside of me as he thrusts in and out a few more times, before his cum shoots into me. his head quickly falls backwards, eyebrows furrowing, mouth falling open as a long groan falls from it, his release triggering my own as i clench around him for the last time. he thrusts a few more times, riding out our highs, our heavy breathing and skin slapping together the only thing sounding throughout the quiet room.

he kisses my lips once more, pulling apart as his forehead leans against mine, arms holding me within his embrace, skin pressed together.

“you did so good meine liebe. took me so well.” he whispers, still trying to catch his breath as i am unable to respond, totally worn out, my body weak as it rests in his for support.

his lips gently kiss my forehead, one hand running through my hair whilst the other gently strokes my back, his breathing calming down as he utters sweet nothings in my ear until i fall asleep within his embrace, completely exhausted.

requests are open! getting through them as fast as i can, there are quite a few to do but i’m working through them, keep requesting!!

#tom kaulitz #tokiohotel #kaulitz twins #tom kaulitz angst #tom kaulitz smut #kaulitz #tom kaulitz fluff #tomkaulitz #tom kaulitz x reader #bill kaulitz

[celaenaeiln]

whatre ur thoughts on superbat !!!

I like them! I don't actively ship Bruce with anyone but I so passively ship him with people and Clark pushes the passivity.

I don't like Batcat or Brutalia but I can go with superbat

Sometimes it feels like Superbat is the ship DC secretly wants us to ship them together.

I swear it feels like Bruce and Clark are having a parental argument and we just asked a question to which Bruce and Clark are like "what?" and the rest of the Justice League is glaring at us as if to say shut up don't you dare interfere.

Also the way Clark holds Bruce and talks to him

Dark Nights: Metal Issue #2

...is this supposed to be brotherly?

In the Superman: Up in the sky comic where Supes has to go find that kid, the other heroes are fighting an alien invasion they lose against. But the heroes he displays are only heroes that Superman loves the most or is closet to. There's 5 and guess who's the main panel:

Superman: Up in the Sky Issue #6

The other four are:

Superman: Up in the Sky Issue #6

Also the world's finest comics are all Dick, Clark, and Bruce going on adventures together. Dick is like the love child between Clark and Bruce. He has all of Bruce's intelligence, tactical abilities, and fighting skills, and he has all of Clark's charisma, warm-heartenedness, and good standing. He literally the mix of the two of them.

They're already a family. I think there are way bigger reasons to ship superbat than there are for batcat or brutalia. I still love Clois though but if you wanted a canon reason for why they should exist, well, DC is offering them up on a silver platter. Besides they have like three entire comics titled Superman/Batman.

The super-sons comic!

If Dick is their blood son then Jon and Dami are shared custody.

Super-sons (2017) Issue #5

They're kinda more like brothers here but still. Even if you don't ship them together, you still have to admit they care deeply about the other. Their banter's funny.

Also can't forget this

Superman/Batman Annual #1

DC literally went "...and there was only one bed."

#bruce wayne #batman #clark kent #superman #dick grayson #nightwing #superbat #damian wayne #robin #jon kent #superboy

[devine-fem]

i am BEGGING you to make that jondami ship guide. not because i need anything to make me ship them more than i already do but because they deserve to have their good moments highlighted

Jondami/Damijon shipping guide.

A collective guide to any cute moment between Jon and Damian in DC comics or motion pictures. Any moment that could make a reader like them more as a ship will be put all here in one Tumblr post.

• Superman (2016) Issues #10-#11

This is the first time they meet each other and they immediately knock heads. Jon’s lighter than life personality clashes with Damian’s cold personality and they don’t seem to get along but you can tell there’s something growing behind the eye rolling and tongue clicking… a friendship?

• Super Sons (2017)

This is the first of the Super Sons series, the series is really short but gold nonetheless. No Super Sons comic that I don’t like but this one is my favorite. They still are knocking heads and refuse to call each other partners but they grow and learn to be heroes together.

• Adventures of the Super Sons (2018)

They slowly start to get used to each other and this comic shows that Damian isn’t just straight up mean but is starting to somewhat ‘like’ Jon.

• Challenge of the Super Sons (2020)

The last main Super Sons comics. This one is fine but I love the others so much. These comics are essential to know Jon and Damian period, it’s the main comics of each others story and in a way they are important to each others development.

• Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons (2022)

Now after all that reading treat yourself to a movie because Jon and Damian got their own movie. This is what started Jon and Damian for a lot of people and this is probably where a lot of you are from. This movie is great and fun. They made Damian wayyy nicer than in the comics and their friendship easier.

• DC Rebirth Holiday Special (2016)

Please find and read this. It’s so cute. I love it so much.

• Dark Nights: Metal issue #3 (2017 -2018)

They make a rock band in the beginning, its so cute.

• DCeased (2019)

• DCeased: The Unkillables (2020)

• DCeased: Hope at World’s End (2020)

• DCeased: Dead Planet (2020)

• DCeased: War of the Undead Gods (2022)

This is such a good series, and story in general please read it. DC peaked with this one and its so angsty. I don’t care what comphet was happening, Jon was there for Damian like no one else. I think Damian ends up with Cassie which is weird to me because Damian has never shown interest in anyone before but I excuse it since it’s not really gonna happen again since they were in a relationship just for the story to be more high stakes and sad. Jon and Damian’s relationship was at the forefront and for comic book readers DCeased made people see the potential in Jondami.

• DC’s Terror Through Time (2022)

This is so cute, please read this. It’s a halloween special and they switch uniforms <3!!

• DC Saved by the Belle Reve (2022)

They help a nonbinary person navigate school and it’s so damn cute.

• The age up incident.

(Disclaimer: You can pretend this never happens and I wouldn’t blame you for doing that.) A writer named Brain Micheal Bendis comes into the writers room for DC and ages up Jon in short. The story is that Superman goes missing (He travels to War World and gets stuck there) and Jor-El comes back to meet Jon and he takes him on a trip to explore space, then they get trapped in a wormhole, Jon gets stuck on Earth-3 and has to fight Ultraman. He’s stuck in a volcano for five or six years and becomes seventeen (we think) when he comes back. This was sad to me because it took away all the potential interactions for Jon and our ability to see him grow up, it was rushed and purposely so. Jon takes up the title of Superman somehow and starts to date some guy named “Jay Nakamura.”

• Superman: Son of Kal-El (2021) Issues: #1, #3, #6, #13, and #14.

He does get a boyfriend here and I think it’s amazing the fact he simply gets a boyfriend but no one really likes his bf so… and the are real reasons why Jay as a character is problematic BUT if you just don't want to see him with someone else than every time you see a pink haired twink, quickly skip.

• Super Sons (2017) Special

This is them reuniting after the age up and it shows how Damian reacts to it. I can’t actually find this and if anyone can please let me know where it is. I can only find bits and pieces of it scattered across the internet. All you need to know is that he doesn’t like the age up anymore than us since he says “I miss my friend.” which is really sad to me because the age up ultimately really hurts what people like about their dynamic as well as tarnish Jon’s character almost completely.

UPDATE: found it, it got attached to

• Dark Crisis (2022) till Issue #5

This is fine, after issue four Jon and Damian are not there anymore and if you read half the story just for jon and damian you might as well finish it.

• Green Lantern: Blackstars (2019) issue #2

They hug here. You’re welcome.

• Action Comics (2016) issue #1030

This is the best thing to come from the age up. This is so cute of them.

• Teen Titans (2016) Issue #45

i didnt really like this, im not gonna lie but it has some damian and jon interaction worth noting with jon being protective over damian.

• Flash (2016) Issue #797

jon defending damian. this is such a cute moment for them. jon talks damian up and says how hes the strongest person he knows and how hes misunderstood.

• Superman (2016) Issue #21

iconic damian and jon sleepover, so cute. so flipping cute. damians outfit is adorable.

• Legion of Super Heroes (2019) Issue #3, ?, ?

dont read this. its rlly bad but this is full of jon being the number one damian apologist, quality jondsmi moments over quantity. worth mentioning • Wonder Woman (2023) #3, #4, #5, #6, ? literally them raising a child together but their ages are a bit wonkey, i still dont personally know what age either of them are supposed to be there...

DC MEETS HANNA-BARBERA - Super Sons x Dynomutt

I’d say they aren’t exactly written right, well over all they are but their personalities are more relaxed and they care about each other a lot and will go out of their way to make sure the other is okay and protect them from danger, make them laugh etc, theres nothing wrong with this, its really cute but you can tell its not the typical jon and damian writers is all. I like it.

- Fandom

Artist that draw Jon and Damian:

(I don’t know any of these accounts intimately so if they’re problematic in any way than I am sorry in advance)

Sheiya Vlad

Pechaghtlecha

Corinthianrm0

Hobiiiebrown

spider-jaysart

arunneronthird

Twitter

Hokke

Gozer

@_1209E

YouTube

Justice Lords Animation

Japanese Animation

Super Sons Meme Animation

- Fanfics

Trust fall by Ididloveyou_once

Those Who Wait by InsaneTrollLogic

moving in stereo by TheResurrectionist

Reasons to Not Fall in Love by nanami

Growing Pains

These are fics I read and liked, I don’t have much. I don’t read a lot of Jondami fan fiction so I insist that you recommend your own fanfiction in the comments. (Don’t hate me for the self promo)

- Music (A silly lil playlist I made for them)

END

#jondami #damijon #damian wayne #damian al gul #jon kent #jonathan kent #superboy #dc comics #damian x jon #damian x jonathan #jon x damian #damijon fanfiction #damijon shipping guide #reading guide #super sons #robin #supersons #slash ships #battle of the super sons #dceased #damian and jon #challenge of the super sons #adventures of the super sons #batman and superman: battle of the super sons

[calciumcryptid]

Things Duke Thomas Has Done in the Comics

He has fought Jason, and kicked him in the face. (New Talent Showcase 2017)

You know how Jason makes death jokes? Duke literally makes them right back at him. He has also shit talked Damian, he isn't afraid.

He has kicked Hal Jordon in the face. (Dark Days: The Road to Metal)

He then took Hal Jordan's ring and used it. (Dark Days: The Road to Metal)

He has been arrested for wearing the color red, and his reaction to that was to jump out of a police cruiser's window and off a bridge. (Robin War)

He has gone toe to toe with Damian Wayne, and saved him from mind control. (Robin War)

Ra al'Ghul, the bastard, sees potential in him and changed Duke from seeing light to seeing darkness (The Outsiders).

He has been trained by Lady Shiva. (The Outsiders)

He finds out he has both light & dark powers. (Dark Nights: Death Metal)

He unionizes. (Batman: White Knight)

In a Elseworld, he is the only hero remaining and kills the villain making it difficult. Then he takes said villain's skin and bone and forges it into armor and aquires the Parallel-Axe. (Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Dark Nights Metal)

Duke inherits Katana's sword that has the soul of Black Lightning inside and becomes one of the most powerful mages. (Future State)

He has gotten excited by being shot. (We Are Robin)

#duke thomas #the bat family #dc

[distort-opia]

The level of intertwining between Batman and Joker as characters at this point... is utterly insane.

Joker has been Joseph Wayne, Bruce's long lost brother in Batman/Lobo (2000) -- leaving aside the implications of Joker (2019).

Joker has been Bruce's alternate personality twice, in Batman: Two Faces (1998) and DC: House of Horrors -- Last Laugh (2017).

The Batman Who Laughs is what Bruce turns into if he kills Joker, a version of Batman who believes in what Joker believes, as shown in Dark Nights: Metal (2017).

Joker has been Batman's other half in the existence of Bat-Joker/Jokerborg as well, with them literally being stitched together (as in Joker's face is on the back of Bruce's head), in The New 52: Futures End (2014).

Joker has been Alfred in Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader.

Joker has been Batman's wife and Bruce's mother, Martha Wayne, in Flashpoint.

Joker became Bruce's Robin in Batman: The Last Knight on Earth (2019).

And now, apparently Joker's son has been Bruce's Robin, as revealed in New Golden Age (2022).

Joker's literally been everything to Batman. From his worst enemy to his own self to a combination of them both to his mother to his brother to his surrogate father to a son to a wife.

#...it makes me want to walk into the ocean. how much more entangled can two characters GET!! #technically Bruce briefly saw Joker as a father figure in Journey Into Knight. that did happen #but I hate it so I am mentioning it here only #batman #batman meta #bruce wayne #joker #batjokes #batjokes meta #my meta

[socially-awkward-skeleton]

All Along the Watchtower (Chapter 11)

[Can also be read on AO3]

Pairing: Captain John Price x Fem!OC (3rd person POV)

Word count: 5.2 K

Warnings: Minors DNI - No major warnings this chapter. smoking, swearing, British slang, relationship drama and personal angst. Also, some emotional manipulation from Price because he's like that

Summary:

They've kissed, what the hell do they do now?

Rory and Price deal with the giant elephant in the room and it does not go smoothly

A/N: Rory Sinclair is a dual citizen (both Canada and the UK) who's been living in the UK since she was 14. She is 28 at the time of this fic, Price is 32. This series is set in 2017 before the events of the first MW game. Rory's thoughts are bold and italicized, other italics are used for emphasis

(starting the tag list late with this fic sorry)

taglist: @carlosoliveiraa @cassietrn @finding-comfort-in-rain @justasmolbard @cloudofbutterflies92 @amalkavian @inafieldofdaisies @aceghosts @marivenah @v01dthefae @clicheantagonist @statichvm @josephseedismyfather @la-grosse-patate @peachiicherries @strangefable @nightbloodbix @theelderhazelnut

The steam curled out from around the door, misty vapor pouring across the floor and floating up through the opened window into the frosty night. Stepping out of the bathroom, the cool air hit her and goosebumps speckled her still damp skin. Her hair dripped, trails of water rolling down her chest and past the edge of the towel wrapped around her, the bruises on her face and neck steadily growing more visible with all the blood removed. Price’s gaze fell on her, lifting from the tablet he’d been trying to focus his attention on. His eyes lingered just a little too long, only to quickly rush back down to the screen in his lap as her stare – marred by sore, red rings under her eyes – fell upon him. 

Rory held the towel around her and moved to the foot of her bed to take a seat, sinking into the mattress as heavy as a rock. Beads of water trailed down her shoulders and back as she slipped her panties up her legs and under the terry cloth wrapped around her. Looking back at him from over her heavily bruised shoulder, she shook her head as she lifted her hips. “You know, you don’t have to look at me like I’m entirely fragile.”

“I’m not.” His voice was deep, made heavier by the nearly oppressive weight that hung in the room.

“Is that so?” 

Sighing, she moved to the side of the bed and pulled back the covers, climbing in under them and tossing the damp towel to the foot of her bed. Rolling over so her back was turned to him, the sheets clung to her still damp skin as she looked out the window at the hint of the city skyline and the twinkling lights that cut through the darkness. She tried to shut her eyes, to keep her breathing slow and steady, even as her throat continued to sting and scratch, but it did little good. The adrenaline might have drained from her system, but that sense of fear still remained. What had happened, even with the shower washing away the last reminders of it, wouldn’t leave her. The taste of blood, the metallic tang, remained in her mouth no matter how many times she brushed her teeth – though that may have been her own bleeding gums at this point. The feeling of hands around her throat, the sensation of choking, fighting for her last gasps haunted each and every rasping breath she still took. The vision of dark eyes staring into hers with no remorse, belonging to a man who had taken lives before and had never let it hinder his mind, if he even had a conscience to begin with. She had never felt so weak, so powerless in all her life. She had always overcome everything that crossed her path. Every loss, every obstacle she managed to power through. A determined woman who stopped at nothing in her career, doing the things others wouldn’t to get the job done. Yet tonight she almost died. Too confident in her own abilities. 

The neon light from the sign outside the window flashed through the thin skin of her eyelids and it made her stomach twist. Squeezing her eyes shut tighter, the phosphenes danced in a bath of red. Her fingers gripping at the cool material of the pillowcase her head rested upon. Somewhere, right now, Zorokov was in a hospital bed getting treatment. Patched up, left with a physical scar as a reminder of what happened when he tried to kill a special forces soldier with his bare hands. She, on the other hand, would have to live with the near-death experience in silence. The bruises would fade, her throat would stop aching, but the memories would live on forever. Trapped inside to swirl within the walls of her skull until the moment of her last breath. God, she wished she went with a better choice of words.  

Her breath shook as she swallowed back the wave of anger that simmered through her. It was as if she was going through the stages of grief all within the confines of her safehouse bed. The turmoil of having to deal with people’s reactions to what she had been through crawled into the back of her head, knowing there would be yet more therapy for her after the Captain’s mission report was complete. Pity. Remorse . A look people gave that she hadn’t been able to escape since she was fourteen years old at her mother’s funeral. Told over and over again how she had everyone’s condolences. Forced to recall how everyone would look at her as two stereotypes in one: the sad, little rich girl and the broken soldier. Add on top of all that the swell of embarrassment that infected her, dreading the coming conversation the next morning, having to face the fact she had made a move on Price like nothing at all had happened that night. Hell, maybe it was just the stress. She certainly hadn’t been acting like herself since the start of this mission. What was it about him that made her stop thinking clearly and act so impulsively? 

A bundle of raw nerves, exposed, stinging with the slightest touches of air. Pulling the covers up tighter over her shoulder, keeping the night air off her, she tried to bury herself under the blankets, staving off the darkness that wanted to settle upon her – what little good it did. The shivering didn’t seem to want to stop, a trembling that had moved past just her hand and arm and now shook her entire body. Suffering in self-imposed isolation. No one wanted to know the things that hurt her inside, not when she could carry on, slap a smile on her face and pretend she was alright while burying herself in work. That was the Rory Sinclair way and it had gotten her this far. Why fix what wasn’t broken? Or maybe she was just too broken to fix. 

Price couldn’t help but watch her. Laying across from him, only feet away. That protective instinct kicking in like she was his to look after. He had fallen for the ‘Lamb’ and was suddenly treating himself like the sheepdog who needed to keep her safe from the wolves – despite how she belonged right along with them. Every part of him begged to wrap around her, to shield her, and remind her she wasn’t alone. But his mind, the logical and sound part of him, the part that controlled every muscle in his body, restricted him to his own bed, refusing to allow his emotions to override its authority. He was a captain, goddammit, he couldn’t just give in to his desire like that. Didn’t change the fact that it was a special kind of torture having to stand by and watch her shoulders lift and fall with each breath, every little shift of her head against the pillow as she tried to settle squeezing at his gut. Trying to sleep off what had happened like it was a bad hangover, closing off from what had actually happened to her. She didn’t have to act like it was nothing, that she was perfectly fine. He would understand if she needed the release. He had seen soldiers go through horrible things, left changed by it, waking up in cold sweats either reminded of a friend they lost in a battle or one of the many things they had been forced to do in the line of duty – innocent lives they couldn’t protect, those they had to let fall by the wayside to save others. It was never an easy thing to move past and he was aware she had already carried a burden on her shoulders and in her head. 

He needed her to trust him, to rely on him, to know that he would never let any harm befall her like this again. It was only right. This was his mission to lead, it would be a failing to let her fall prey to the viciousness of the world. Someone soft like her needed to be guarded, lest she be broken entirely. 

Placing the tablet on the table beside him, he slowly pulled away from his bed. His brain rapidly fired at him every reason why he should stop, turn around and just go to sleep. How the mission was more important. How she would pull through. Redirecting his thoughts to the moral dilemma of it all as her superior officer. How getting close to her was wrong, how it was dangerous, how it could be the downfall of his entire career – but none of that much mattered to him now, not as he drew nearer to her bed. There was a small portion of the double she was resting in left available, the cold shoulder of the mattress, an empty spot begging to be filled by his warm body. Biting his lip, he ran through a list of pros and cons of his next move and then made the snap judgement to lay on the bed beside her. 

She tensed as he got close, going as rigid as she had when he had first found her. Rory was as stiff as a board as his arm wrapped over her, pulling her into him as his broad body curled around her. Finally, allowing herself to settle against the curve of him, a quiet sigh was breathed out into the room. “Thought you said we’d leave this for the morning?”

He knew he was sending her every mixed signal, confusing the poor woman when she was still coming to terms with what had happened, but he couldn’t help himself. The sound of her strained breathing in his ear, the gasps and groans over the comms, they replayed over and over again in his head like a haunting song. He hadn’t realized just how much it had affected him all the same. He had dealt with fear and stress, listened to the wails of people in pain, those last gasps of someone’s dying breaths, but hearing her fighting for life cut through deeper than any of those sounds ever could. 

“Maybe I’m not quite ready to do that.”

Tugging her arm free of the blankets, her hand trailed down the length of his forearm until she met his hand, lacing his fingers with hers. Her touch was so light it was barely there at all as her fingertips grazed over him. He had forgotten just how smooth and slender she was, how soft her skin felt. Looking down at their entwined hands, he noticed how his seemed to swallow the entirety of hers as he held it tight, fitting together perfectly. Rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, feeling all the little tendons that she used to precisely control her weapons, he lowered his head and pressed his nose into her hair, nuzzling against her, choking back a soft groan. Being beside her was no longer enough for him, he needed more. He craved her. 

Turning over in bed to face him, her eyes rolled slowly up to stare at him, deep and dark in the night, doe-like as she looked up at him through her lashes. Her hand trailing back up his arm, then over his shoulder, and cradling his face in her palm. So gentle, maybe more than a man like him deserved, certainly more than he expected from a woman who clawed herself to safety. He couldn’t help but lean into her touch, his forehead pressed to hers. “I know we shouldn’t,” he spoke in a quiet husky whisper. “We could both lose everythin’, but –”

Rory’s fingertips drifted through the whiskers on his jaw, until her thumb rested over his lips. Silencing him. She pressed her head to his chest, under his chin, and she didn’t move, simply resting there. “That's just the guilt talking.” Her voice was still hoarse, raspy and low.

Brow furrowing, the lines in his face grew as deep as the pit in his stomach. It wasn't that, he was sure of it. Positive. It was her . He wanted her. His hand came to the back of her neck, giving it a tender squeeze. Protective . “I wish I'd been there to make that bastard pay. Hearin’ that fear in your voice…I wanted to tear him limb from limb,'' he growled.

She sighed. “Didn't think I could defend myself, huh?”

Price exhaled slow and deep, his breath fanning through her chestnut hair. He would never admit that. She didn’t deserve to be questioned like that; her skills disregarded. She was a soldier; a veteran like him. But there was still that nagging part of him that just wanted to keep her safe at all costs. “You’re under my command. ’S my job to keep you alive.”

Shaking her head, she huffed out a laugh. “Do you also cuddle up to everyone under your command?”

He lifted his brow and looked down at her, a small smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. “That one seems to be reserved solely for you, love.”

Her eyes widened. Dark, puffy circles gave her raccoon eyes as she looked up at him. “ Love ? That’s not exactly professional.”

“No, ’s not.”

With an exasperated sigh, she ran a hand down her face and muttered under her breath, “This is such a fucking mess.”

She was right. It was. They had gotten attached. Rules were bending. He had already broken protocol by taking command of an SRR operator and letting her march herself into the middle of a lion’s den. He had made this all personal after promising he wouldn’t let their past compromise the work. It should have been easy to just cut himself off, to not get tied up in whatever he was feeling – he did it with everything else – but he couldn’t justify doing it with her. 

“I know this isn’t perfect. ’S hardly some fuckin’ Hollywood romance, but the thought of losin’ you …couldn’t live with it.”

Rory went quiet for too long, silence cast over the room like being in the eye of a storm and he had no shelter to hide in. Left out in the open, vulnerable to attack. His heartbeat started to pick up.

“If I hadn’t already dealt with him, you would have killed Zorokov.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, as if she already knew the answer.

His jaw clenched, flexing all the little tendons in his neck, his nose scrunching as he pursed his lips slightly. Christ, this was the last thing he needed . A low growl emanated from deep in his chest and up to his throat. “I would’ve done it ‘cause he fuckin’ deserved it.”

“Because he hurt me?”

He sighed again, brushing his fingers through the soft, slowly drying hair that had begun to form tousled waves. “Yeah, Rory, ‘cause he hurt you.”

A gentle smile pulled at the corners of her lips, the first time he’d properly seen her smile in hours and his whole heart seemed to melt at the sight. She was goddamn beautiful . 

“You know that goes beyond what a CO is supposed to feel for one of his soldiers, yeah?” She looked up at him, pulling the blanket tighter to her chest. “That if the brass heard that they’d strip you of everything?”

“Yeah,” he sighed, his eyes lifting to look at the ceiling. “I know.”

“I’m not worth it, John. I can promise you that.”

He curled his fingers under her chin, lifting her eyes to meet his. “Why don’t you leave that up to the Captain to decide, eh?” He pulled her in closer to him, letting her head rest against his chest once more as he leaned down and pressed his chin to the top of her head.

This was better. This was how it was supposed to be. Nothing could hurt her now, not with him around…

… This was all moving faster than he could control … 

He was making a decision for himself that could have long lasting and dire effects. And yet, it was the mere thought of her pain earlier that night that made him feel entirely justified in doing this. She could have died. It was a very probable outcome that might have been a reality if she hadn’t fought for her life. Hearing that rasp in her voice only made the sounds of her choked noises replay in his head once more. She needed him. He needed her . Damn the consequences. 

Sometime in the middle of the night, after resting up against the almost too calmly beating heart of Price, listening to his god-awful loud snoring, her eyes had finally shut. Falling asleep, giving into what her body needed desperately. Rest. 

Peace. 

Wrapped in his arms – the arms of her Captain, her superior – she had somehow found a safe haven after all she had been through. The nightmares still came, she still kicked out in her sleep, tossing and turning under the covers, the cold sweat dampening her skin and the sheets, but then strong arms would circle around her, pulling her towards him again while half asleep. Body heat reminded her that it was all over, that she wasn’t alone, and in this state, she gave in, stopped fighting – submitted.

It was hauntingly quiet, in the room and outside. like waking up in a fog, the noise was blanketed. Even the thoughts in her head had paused their neurotic rotations. Outside the window, the dark of night had passed and the lights of the windows had all gone out. It was just dim and gray, lifeless. Her hopelessness from the night before seemingly permeated the very world around her, seeping out into the sky and the ground, turning the coming dawn barren. 

Each little movement of hers caused Price’s mustache to twitch and she found herself simply watching him as she lay pressed against his rigid form of muscle. Waking up in the same bed as the man who gave her orders, who was responsible for the success of the mission she had been selected for, who had left her alone in that bathroom stall after they had agreed to a one-time thing and parted ways was an odd sensation. Yet here she was, spooned up against him as if they had been lovers for years. Strangely intimate, yet wildly awkward. A walk of shame would likely have been easier on her heart and on her head. This was radically out of her comfort zone. 

She pulled away as he continued to sleep, trying her best to free herself of the big bear hug of Captain John Price, and the near sweltering heat she felt as guilt and nerves all started to twist at her for what she had done. There wasn’t even sex involved this time. It was more innocent than that and yet the weight of her actions was more vividly clear. This was more dangerous. This was vulnerability. This was feelings and emotions and trust, and it was something she wasn’t so sure she was ready to give or even offer someone. Least of all, someone whose entire life might be upheaved along with hers if they gave into whatever it was that was happening between them.

Slipping out from the blankets, she crossed the room to where her black duffel still sat waiting for her, checking for her pack of cigarettes. Tossing clothes aside, rummaging in as deep as the bottom, but she couldn’t find them. “Goddammit,” she rasped under her breath, combing her fingers through her hair as she tried to retrace her steps. Hardly a simple task when she’d been borderline catatonic as she was brought into the room last night. Sitting on the foot of her bed, pressing the butts of her palms to her eyes. She could barely remember much of anything at all, time slipping from her in that blank space between the attack and winding up with her mouth on Price’s. “Fuck,” she whispered.

Price’s snoring came to a stuttering stop and his eyes slowly opened, smacking his lips after having his mouth hanging open for half the night. “Rory?” Her hands were quick to slip from her face and she turned to find him staring at her groggy, his fingers running through his bedhead. “Somethin’ wrong?”

“Can’t find my fags.”

“They're on the nightstand. Brought ‘em in and put ‘em down for you.”

She sighed. “Thank you.”

His hand patted at the nightstand and grabbed her pack of cigarettes and lighter, tossing them towards her at the end of the bed. “Sleep alright, sweetheart?”

“Eventually.” She swiped up the cigarettes and the lighter and placed one between her lips, lighting its tip as she inhaled sharply. The cold air brushed against her flesh, a shiver coursed down her back, and she realized that the only thing covering her were her panties as she sat on the towel she had tossed there last night. Swallowing thickly, she turned once more to catch Price’s eyes on her figure, but he no longer seemed embarrassed being caught by her. “I suppose I should put some clothes on, eh?”

“You don’t have to on my account.”

Rory laughed and the smoke sputtered out of her mouth, coughing a few times to clear her lungs.

“What? I’m serious.” His grin grew and every line on his face came to life with the same warmth his eyes had. 

“Of course you are,” she said, giving him a sideways glance and a smirk. 

“It's not like I haven’t seen you –”

“I’m aware.” Her tone was short, cutting him off before he could dig the grave any deeper for himself.

The silence reappeared in the room, and Price’s heavy swallow seemed to fill the entire space. She was sure he was trying to find the next thing to say that wouldn’t be some bullshit sympathetic platitudes he already knew she wouldn’t want to hear, the same way he wouldn’t. 

“Still sore?” he asked, head tipping to the side. 

“Yeah…” She took a long drag of her cigarette as she hunched her shoulders, elbows resting on her knees. Surprised by the shock of warm, rough hands rubbing at the bare skin of her back. She stiffened and stood up like a shot, staring back at the Captain, her arm covering her topless chest. “Dammit, John!”

Stepping away from him, her feet dragging through the carpet, he looked back at her with a little smirk, his hands lifted in surrender. “I didn’t mean to scare ya.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Her eyes flared with anger, not from the actual move itself but from being caught off guard.

“I just wanted to help, Rory.”

Bringing the cigarette to her lips again, she let it rest there as she rubbed at her brow once more. “We – we can’t be doing this.”

“Need I remind you, you’re the one who kissed me.” His head tipped forward, steely eyes peering out from under his brow at her.

She pulled the cigarette from her lips and wisps of smoke trailed over her full lower pout. “Yes, I bloody know I did that.”

“Do you regret it?”

“No.” She answered instantly, the frustration disappearing from her tone as she looked down at the floor.

“So then what’s the problem?”

“You’re my superior, John! The morals and ethics are –” She looked up at him and his brow was lifted. Okay, fair. Breaking the standards of morals and ethics seemed to hardly be a problem for either of them, and yet this one was a rule she couldn’t seem to break. Not because it was wrong, but because it was him. The idea of giving him a reason to regret all this was a giant obstacle her mind refused to leap over. She had dealt with more than enough people up and leaving her in life, she couldn’t get close just for it to happen once more. 

“Are what?”

“I am your subordinate, John. We promised each other we could be professional. We have to keep that promise. We have a mission to complete, the mission comes first.”

“Sure. But what about after?” He sat forward, resting his forearm on his thigh.

“I go back to desk duty with the SRR and you fight the threats.”

“No.”

“No?” Her eyes widened, surprised by his overly brusque denial of the situation. “Care to clarify that, Captain?”

“It doesn’t just end like that, darlin’. Not after what happened.” 

“John…” Her voice was quiet, almost pleading for him to see sense. 

He grabbed one of his cigars from the bedside table, clipped it, and flicked back the lid of his lighter. The chime of metal filling the quiet he left lingering as he lit the end. That burning orange glow at the tip as bright and clear as his intentions towards her now. He placed the lighter back on the table, his palm resting on it for a moment before turning to face her once more, barely restrained anger held in his clenched jaw. Anger she knew wasn’t really directed at her. “I let you march your pretty arse into danger and for what? Used you like bait, like a bloody tool, and it nearly cost you your life. You deserve better than that. The dress, the makeup, shouldn’t have wasted that on a bastard like Zorokov. Could’ve been you and me… still could.”

Rory huffed out a laugh. “The dress. Andrew…” She had been right about the way he was looking at her, the way he had been acting. “You were jealous, weren't you?”

Smoke drifted from his mouth in a thick cloud. “Of course I was bloody jealous, Rory. Look at you, can you really blame me? I've been with my fair share of women, but Jesus, none of them can hold a match to you, my girl.”

“ Your girl?” Her other arm crossed over her chest; the cigarette held between her fingers burning away.

“Listen, I've been trying my damnedest to keep my composure here. You think I went into this expecting to have this happen with my subordinate? 'S rule number one and I'm here breaking it for you.” He sighed. “I had to listen to you in my fuckin’ ear, Rory. It was a goddamn nightmare.”

He stepped closer to her, his height towering over her and she felt miniscule in that moment. She had always stood her ground, remained confident, nothing and no one seemed to intimidate her. His body heat radiated off of him like a furnace and she wanted that safety of being in his arms, but she couldn’t bear the feeling of being weak. She wasn’t gentle, she wasn’t needy, she wasn’t the lamb… she wasn’t .

“And so what, you want to have that be the foundation for a relationship? The fact that I nearly died and you had to pull me out of there? That’s the foot you want to start on? It’s like I said last night, John. This is a dangerous game to be playing and I am not worth the trouble. I’m not worth your career.”

“And why’s that, eh?” He leaned forward, his brows lifting causing his forehead to crease. 

“I’m a fucking mess, that’s why. I’ve got nightmares, anxiety attacks, tremors, flashbacks. I’m in no place to start anything with anyone. And certainly not with someone who’s life could be upended because of me.”

“I don’t care.” He shrugged and gave a slight thrust of his pelvis as he crossed his arms over his chest. Obstinate, pigheaded right to the bitter end, refusing to back down from anything. This was Captain John Price type behavior through and through. 

“What do you mean ‘you don’t care’?”

“You think all that’s gonna keep me away from you?”

“Well it should.”

“Why?” He lowered his head, looking up at her through his brow. Constantly challenging her. 

“Trust me, after several nights of no sleep from me waking up with nightmares, you’ll understand.”

His eyes narrowed for a brief moment, the crow's feet by his eyes creasing. “Someone else left you ‘cause o’that?”

Rory grimaced and bit down on her molars. Her eyes fell to the floor as she turned her head away from him. She didn’t have to say anything, her body language gave it all away.

Price’s face darkened at her reaction, the look of a man planning on hunting down and teaching whoever it was that did that to her a lesson. “Christ, don’t tell me someone actually did that?”

“Of course someone fucking did that, John. Most people who see that side of me either think of me like I’m holding on by a goddamn thread and if it's not that, it's the whole horde of other shit in my head.” She rubbed at her brow and slipped the cigarette back between her lips. “People don’t want to fall in love with someone like me. It’s too hard to do,” she mumbled.

“Well, lucky for you I’m a bit of a stubborn bastard. I’m willin’ to put in the hard work. I can be goddamn relentless when need be.”

Rory scoffed, “I’d expect nothing less from you.”

He gave her a little crooked grin and stepped forward cutting all the space between them, cupping her face in his large hands, his thumbs stroking her cheeks softly. “I’m only gonna tell you this once, darlin’.” Leaning down, he pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t care about how much trouble you might be, you hear me? I have to have you, Rory. I need you to be mine, yeah? Simple as.”

It was her turn to ask the question. “Why?”

“Because if there’s anyone who’s going to understand what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, 's me. I wanna protect you. I wanna make sure somethin’ like this never happens again. I can’t even take the thought of you bein’ with someone else ‘sides me.”

“I’m not willing to take the risk.”

He nodded his head slightly. “Well, I’m patient. Persistent. I can wait as long as I have to.”

“Fucking hell,” she said with a quiet chuckle, “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Not after what I saw last night.”

She pulled away, the ash from her cigarette falling to the floor as it hung from her hand. Flexing her shoulders, Rory stood up taller, trying to regain some semblance of the strength she knew she had. “I’m not someone that needs to be guarded. I’m not some bloody damsel in distress. I don’t need you chaining yourself to me because you feel guilty or like this is your fault. That’s not what I want.”

“Well what do you want?”

There was a list she could give him, one that was a million miles long. But all she really wanted right now was to be looked at like a soldier, to be trusted. She didn’t need to rely on him, didn’t need to lean on him like some bending tree in a tempest. 

“I just want to work.” 

Taking a last drag from her cigarette, she moved towards the window and tossed the smoking butt out of it before grabbing the sweater from her bag and heading into the bathroom to start her morning routine, shutting the door behind her. 

#call of duty #fan fiction #captain john price #oc: rory sinclair #ship: you are the sword to my shield #john price x oc #fic: all along the watchtower #chapter 11 #skelly writes

[kryptic-psychotic]

"Essential Reading"

"We are Robin (2015) #1-12 written by Lee Bermejo, art by Khary Randolph

Robin War (2016) written by Various Writers, art by Various Artists

Dark Days: The Forge (2017) #1 & The Casting (2017) #1 written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV art by Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, and John Romita Jr.

Batman and The Signal (2018) #1-3 story by Scott Snyder, written by Tony Patrick, art by Cully Hamner

Immortal Men (2018) #1-6 written by James Tynion IV, art by Ryan Benjamin & Jim Lee

Batman & the Outsiders (2019) #1-17 written by Bryan Edward Hill, art by Dexter Soy & Veronica Gandini

Dark Nights: Death Metal - Robin King (2020) #1 [the back-up] written by Tony Patrick art by Danial Sampere

Tales from The Dark Multiverse: METAL (2020) #1 written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly art by Karl Mostert

The Next Batman (2021) #1 & #3 written by Brandon Thomas art by Sumit Kumar

Batman: Urban Legends (2021) #8 & #9 written by Brandon Thomas art by Cian Tormey

Batman: Urban Legends (2022) #18 & #19 written by Brandon Thomas art by Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque"

#duke thomas #The Signal #Batman #Robin

[junicai]

message incoming.

| summary | woken up in the dead of night, Johnny answers a terrifying phone call. 

| part | one, part two: message received.

| word count | 1.4k

| warnings | descriptions of a panic attack, stalking

| era | circa. late june, 2017

The small hours of the morning are usually peaceful in the 127 dorms; the sun not risen enough to disturb those that spent their nights tucked into mismatched beds, chasing rest as a balm for their perpetual exhaustion. Soft breaths keep the silence at bay, the two boisterous boys gone quiet under the allure of sleep.

The scene is altogether tranquil, undisturbed by the pressures and stresses that accompany every waking hour. Still, hushed, and fuzzy at the edges like the world has yet to quite wake up alongside those that lie in repose under the darkness. 

The shadowed room flares up into brightness as the face of a phone lights up with an call. 

Johnny groans as he rolls over onto his side, hand yanking the covers over his ears at the incessant ringing blaring through the bedroom. 

“Donghyuck,” he complains, dropping his pillow over his face to drown out the light burning into his eyes. “Answer your goddamn phone.” 

Donghyuck only grunts a reply, not moving from his cocoon of blankets, face invisible from Johnny’s vantage point. The phone keeps ringing. 

“Donghyuck!” Johnny rolls over again to throw the pillow in his grasp at the ambiguous shape of the boy asleep in the bed next to him. “Pick it up!” 

Any reply offered is garbled into the pillow Donghyuck has his face buried in, but he does begin shuffling beneath the covers; a hand appearing to slowly creep its way towards the phone laid on top of the bedside table. 

But before Donghyuck’s hand can snag his phone, the call cuts out - a cool silence filling up the room once again. 

“There you go,” Donghyuck mumbles sleepily, his hand waving about aimlessly and then darting back under the covers again. 

Johnny drops his head back down onto the mattress - now sans a pillow - and sighs. His eyes are wide open at this point and his limbs are filled with the fight-or-flight response that any ringtone injects your veins with in the middle of the night. Without a drop of sunlight to speak of though, he could only imagine what time of the night it was, and contemplates the merits of just throwing in the towel and getting up to start the day now. 

Another phone ring breaks Johnny’s mourning of his sleep.

“Donghyuck!” Johnny barks, patience wearing thin. 

“S’not mine, hyung!” Donghyuck groans from beneath his pile. This is true. Donghyuck’s phone had been knocked to the floor beside the bed, the screen facing up and altogether blank. 

Johnny looks over at his bedside table, only to realise that this time it is his own phone lighting up with a call. 

His hand meets the cold metal, fingers grasping the phone and lifting it to his face to allow him to squint into the bright light to check the caller ID. Presumably, it is a spam call - or a sasaeng that had managed to get their hands on another one of his phone numbers (he had only replaced it the other week?). None of his members would be calling him at this time of the night (morning?), Johnny is certain of this. They all understand the importance of sleep in this industry, and would be reluctant to disturb another member without the wrath of the devil himself chasing them down. 

Moreover, Johnny knows that at this exact moment, all his members are in their own beds right down the hallway. He had watched them go, one by one, after finishing up a movie they had all watched together, curled up on the couches and the floor. 

Eyes finally adjusting, Johnny takes a closer look at the phone in his hand. 

Aria’s contact name flashes up at him like the glint off steel, and a cold spike of dread slips down Johnny’s back. 

He scrambles to accept the call while simultaneously shoving himself upright in his bed, the covers falling to his waist forgotten. As his thumb slides over the accept button however, the call has already ended and silence swallows up the bedroom once again. 

Johnny can’t call her back fast enough, confusion and concern melding together in a strangling blend of panic. His call is picked up almost immediately, quiet panting down the line from the opposite end. 

“Aria?” Johnny has the phone up to his ear between one second and the next. “What’s wrong? What’s happened, why are you calling me?” His voice is rough with sleep, undercut by the bitter taste of alarm. 

“Oh- oppa, thank god-” Aria chokes herself off with a stuttered gasp, the wetness in her voice causing Johnny to swing his legs out of the bed, feet on the ground before he even realises what he was doing. “Thank you for picking up, thank you thank you thank you-” 

“Aria, what’s happening? Talk to me.” Uncaring of his sleeping roommate, Johnny is on his feet in a moment, banging around the room to tug on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, one foot already out the door. “Where are you?” 

“I’m- I’m in the dreamies dorm,” Aria’s voice is hushed but still audible, like she is cradling the phone up close to her mouth. Laboured breaths accompany each silence with an ominous air. 

“Why are you there?” Johnny questions, startled, knowing full well that he had watched Aria slink back into her own bedroom in the 127 dorms at half past ten, claiming she wanted to finish up a chapter of her latest book and heading to bed early. “What’s going on, Aria?” 

“I forgot- I forgot to get something that I needed for today- for filming and it was important! So I went to go, to go get it from my bedroom here but-” Aria cuts herself off again, breath coming in much panicked gasps. 

A soft thunk sounds down the phoneline. 

“Aria? Angel, what happened? Are you still there? Aria?” Johnny has one foot in a shoe, and is tugging the other one on impatiently with the laces still tied, phone trapped securely between his ear and his shoulder. “I need you to talk to me, tell me what’s going on, can you do that for me baby?”

On the other end of the line, Aria chokes herself through the beginnings of several cut off sentences, her breath coming shorter and shorter with each wet gasp, a rasp accompanying each rattling sob. “I think- I think there’s-, Johnny-” 

“You think what?” 

Aria goes silent, breaths cutting out entirely. “I think someone’s here.” 

Blood frozen in his veins, Johnny abandons the idea of grabbing a hoodie and swings himself out the front door of the dorms without a passing thought for their neighbours. 

“Someone? Someone asides from the members? Someone you don’t know?” He fires questions down the phone, cursing whoever assigned the 127 and dreamie dorms to separate floors of the same complex. 

Aria whimpers, the sound soft and scared. “Oppa, what do I do, please I’m so, I’m so scared, please please, help.” Her voice cracks over the final words, begs fading out into muffled sobs as she slaps a palm across her mouth. 

Heart threatening to beat right out from between the space in his ribs, Johnny feels something in him crack at the echo of her voice down the line. “Baby, okay, listen to me. Everything is going to be fine, okay?” he sooths, trying to calm his breath while he paces down the stairs at a dangerously fast speed. “Are you safe? Are you hidden?” 

“I’m like, tucked behind the uh, the cupboard in the bathroom.” Aria whispers, sucking in small breaths between the words. 

“Good, that’s good baby, I need you to keep breathing for me. Can you do that for me?” Johnny coos down the phone at her, blood pounding in his ears. 

“Johnny, Johnny oppa I’m scared-” 

“I know you are, but I promised, okay angel? Everything is going to be okay-” 

A splintering crack echoes through the tinny speakers, Aria’s ear-splitting scream following in the next second. 

The phone call drops. 

#*aria.writings #nct #nct imagines #nct additional member #nct female member #nct 24th member #nct extra member #nct female member au #nct additions #nct 127 #nct dream #nct addition #kpop addition #kpop additions #kpop #kpop oc #nct female addition #nct female oc #nct scenarios #nct reactions #wayv #superm

[omegaremix]

Full Moon Music.

We’ve always featured darkness since our very first broadcast on Omega WUSB. By our fourth show, we came close in completing our first full-fledged darkness set in a more dis-organized era when we were still trying to figure ourselves out. Back then, ‘darkness’ meant any amount of well-known industrial, metal, and electronic acts with an evil, deviant, or negative tinge to it. Think Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA, Whitehouse, Godflesh, NON, and etcetera. We finally achieved full force during a bonus summer broadcast (#21) and since then things evolved in how we did those shows. We’ve made a point in doing at least one but no more than two of these dark broadcasts per year, usually in the winter as it’s the best weather, and that’s not including the Halloween broadcasts we’ve done. That’s a whole other class in itself.

It wasn’t until November 2017 when I attended Hospital Productions’ 20th anniversary, a night I’ll never forget. It was the culmination of nine months of benefits and stay-at-home recovery from three life-saving shoulder surgeries. It felt so good being in my element in Brooklyn (Greenpoint) with all the industrialists, goth girls, and noise aficionados dressed in black. Ten hours of paying personal tributes to Dominick Fernow and his label made me realize there was more to look forward to. It’s something never experienced on Long Island, and don’t even get me started with what that “culture” consists of.

That event left a lasting impression on me. If the label had its’ magic on me with Cocaine Death, then I was totally mystified with its’ own showcase. Even everything surrounding it - the train rides, playlists, playbacks, the weather - felt significant to me. And then some. The following month, Omega WUSB opened up the winter broadcasting season / year with more Hospital Productions and Sacred Bones music to air. Both of those labels had their 20th and 10th label anniversaries respectively and we loved what they’ve released. Philip Best’s Alien Existence and a shipment of RRRecords’ cassettes and vinyl arrived at the residence; both which made me feel proud of myself. By Year Six, Omega WUSB was more focused in playing darkwave, synthwave, soundscapes, and even witch house. As the colder months progressed, I discovered a Brooklyn goth girl who followed me and liked my posts on the regular. She was that rare person I really identified with and gave me a serious run for my money like no other.

Through all the euphoric ups, heartbreaking downs, and greyscale steadies, the show must go on. The events of Hospital Productions and identification still surround me. They are a reminder of who I am, where I’m from, what I look forward to, and who I associate with. The darkness broadcasts still go strong and we look forward in doing them like you wouldn’t believe. By now, Omega WUSB has been more organized. Of all the different genres we play, we make it a point to do these dedicated darkness sets when the weather’s suitable and as long as the music’s current. Aside from that, we still run dedicated bonus (and even our one-and-only deluxe Leap Day) noise shows and we aim to make all of our other goth rock, black metal, classic industrial, minimal, and other midnight finds when and where applicable. All of our listeners know that organizing at least 15 different genres and making them all fit is a challenge.

This past winter, we aired one broadcast of dark electronics from Avon Terror Corps and the L.I.E.S. label, doom metal, no-tech, and some textural noise. Somehow we fell into the rabbit hole of darkwave, synthwave, minimal, and EBM and we’ve had enough for a great three-hour idea. With WUSB’s ethos of independent radio and our ethos of everything new, current, and relevant, we had a case to go off-the-board.

Here’s what I / we’ve been feeling and experiencing for the past four winters. This soundtrack supplements the pristine spectre of full moons and constellations in the clear frigid black skies, plus all the positive events that still stays with me make for a distinct spell I can call my own. No Wax Trax, no Bauhaus, The Cure, The Cramps, Siouxsie Sioux, or Depeche Mode. No doubt they’re all legends, but not every tracklist or mix has to be that way. Everything found here is current and on a different level. If at any time I need to get myself up, I’ll reach back to this and know I’ll come back to something I can call what’s mine.

Drift.: “Social Front”

Body Of Light: “Let Me Go”

Beta Evers: “Move In My Body Rhythm”

Makina Girgir: “Livides Clartes”

Kontravoid: “10,000 Voices”

La Scaltra: “Rhythm Of Our Dead Hearts”

Vore Aurora: “In Out And Thru”

Void Vision: “Body Says”

Aurat: "Shaitan” 

Violet Tremors: “It’s So Good”

Popsimonova: “No Contact”

U.Z.O. / Uho Za Oko: “Medsvetovje”

Colouroid: “Eye Shadow”

Boy Harsher: “Tears”

Crazy P: “The Witness”

Molchat Doma: “Sudno (Boris Ryzhy)”

Hante.: “One More Dance”

Jennifer Touch: “Chemistry”

Minuit Machine: “Don’t Run From The Fire”

Figure Study: “Interaction”

Drift: “Calculations”

Las Eras: “La Esclava”

Gold Zebra: “Invisible Disorder”

Brusque Twins: “What Else Is There To Say?”

Schonwald: “Rays”

Dolina: “Sorrow”

Technoir: “Dying Star (Mesh)”

Sally Dige: “Forget Me”

Drab Majesty: “Cold Souls”

Opale: “Sparkles And Wine”

Boy Harsher: “R.O.V. (New Beat)”

Minimal Kommando / Andreas Ohler: “Minimal Waver”

Linea Aspira: “Hinterland”

Rue Oberkampf: “Tokyo”

Marie Davidson: “Balade Aux USA”

Xeno & Oaklander “Sentinelle”

Aurat: “Pari”

Flesh Of Morning: “Death Becomes Bitter”

White Hex: “Paradise”

Kindest Cuts: “Cold Eyes”

Phosphor: “Another Time”

Girl Pusher: “Where The Fuck Is My Ambulance?”

Debby Friday: “Treason” (f. Lana Del Rabies)

Lana Del Rabies: ”Darcy” (Lav Andula RMX)

NGHTCRWLR: “Firestarter”

Zonal: “System Error” (f. Moor Mother) Wrecked

JK Flesh: “In Your Pit”

Ciarra Black: Stasis

Filmmaker: “The Love Market”

Provoker: “Theme”

Parole E Azioni: “Karaoke Night track #1″

Aurat: “Ilzam”

Essaie Pas: “Danse Sociale”

Drift: “Say It Right”

Deep Red:“Pray For Death”

Ciarra Black: “Dupont Street”

Cabaret Nocturne: “Moon Invaders”

Boy Harsher: “Tears” (Silent Servant RMX)

Kanga: “Going Red”

Promiseland: “Take Down The House”

Lead Into Gold: “Hard Won Decay”

Rosa Damask: Heroes

Zanias: “Follow The Body”

Azar Swan: “Jungle Law”

Canal Street Electronics: “By The River”

Salford Electronics: “Deconstruction”

JK Flesh: “Trinity”

Ron Morelli: “Disappearer”

KVB, The: “In Deep”

White Ring: “Shaken To Sleep”

Pink Turns Blue: “I Coldly Stare Out”

Cabaret Nocturne: “Blind Trust”

Figure Study: “Wait”

Boy Harsher: “L.A.”

Soma Sema: “Artificial Heart”

Natural Assembly: “She Walks In Beauty”

Void Vision: “The Source”

KVB, The: “Afterglow”

John Carpenter: “Vortex” (Uniform RMX)

Emptyset: “Dissolve”

Consumer Electronics: “Co-Opted”

Alan Vega: “Prophecy”

Ninos Du Brasil: “Em Que O Rio Do Mar Se Torna”

Vatican Shadow: “Weapons Inspection”

Molly Nilsson: “A Slice Of Lemon”

Lebanon Hanover: “Babes Of The 80′s” (Tobias Bernstrup RMX)

Urochromes: “Night Bully” (Boy Harsher RMX)

Body Of Light: “Holding You”

Broken English Club: “Channel 83″

White Ring: “Leprosy”

Flesh & Peaki: “Veiled”

Ghxst: “Ride”

Strahinja Arbutina: “You Don’t Need This In Your Life”

Mirrors For Psychic Warfare: “Tomb Puncher”

Ron Morelli: “Golden Oldies”

Azar Swan: “Silent Like A Father”

Boy Harsher: “Face The Fire”

Clay Rendering: “The Pest”

Ron Morelli: “Radar Version”

Vatican Shadow: “Take Vows”

Silent Servant: “The Silent Attractor”

Ninos Du Brasil: “Vagalumes Pirilampos”

Lust For Youth: “Display”

Gary War: “Don’t Go Out Tonight”

Appetite: “Bordeaux Gallow”

Believer/Law: “Foxhole Prayers”

Ciarra Black: “Series Of…”

Silent Servant: “Dissociation”

Vatican Shadow: “Interrogation Mosaic”

Boy Harsher: “Pain”

Contrepoison: “Heartbeat”

Led Er Est: “Scissors”

Molly Nilsson: “I Hope You Die”

KVB, The: “Always Then”

Princess Century: “Crummy Bones”

Natural Assembly “Life Blossoms”

Adult.: “Dance Avoid”

Grun Wasser: “The Deep”

Believer/Law: “Ashes”

Military Position: “Babes Ov Babylon”

Drvg Cvltvre: “Waging A War Against God”

Actress: “Dancing In The Smoke”

Peaches: “Convincing People”

Grimes: “Genesis” (Blvck Ceiling RMX)

Algiers: “Death March” (Prurient RMX)

Rrose: “Surgeon General (Her Insides Laid Bare)”

#omega #music #playlists #mixtapes #synthwave #industrial #ice #darkness #minimal #full moon #personal

[green-arrxws]

📁| JACKSON HYDE/AQUALAD/AQUAMAN READING GUIDE

Who's Jackson Hyde (Aqualad/Aquaman)?

Jackson Hyde is the son of Black Manta and the Xebelian rebel Lucia. Before becoming Aquaman, he was a member of the Teen Titans and Young Justice, and used to be known as the hero Aqualad for a short time.

» PRE-FLASHPOINT

ESSENTIAL READING

Brightest Day: #4, #7, #9-11, #16, #19-20

» REBIRTH (POST-FLASHPOINT)

ESSENTIAL READING

DCU: Rebirth

Teen Titans (2016): #6-7

Lazarus Contract (crossover storyline): Teen Titans (2016): #8 / Deathstroke (2016): #19 / Teen Titans: The Lazarus Contract Special

Teen Titans (2016): #9-11

Dark Nights Metal (crossover storyline): Teen Titans (2016): #12 / Nightwing (2016): #29 / Suicide Squad (2016): #26 / Green Arrow (2016): #32

Teen Titans (2016): #13-14

Super Sons of Tomorrow (crossover storyline): Super Sons: #11 / Teen Titans (2016): #15 /Superman (2016): #38 / Super Sons: #12

Teen Titans (2016): #17-19

Aquaman (2016): #50-53, Annual #2, #54-55, #58-60, #62-63, #65

Young Justice (2018): #13-15

additional reading ↷

Super Sons: #6-7

DC Holiday Special 2017 ("Holiday Spirit")

» INFINITE FRONTIER

ESSENTIAL READING

Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular ("Father's Son" / "Foreshadow")

Aquaman: The Becoming: #1-6

Aquamen: #1-6

Dark Crisis (crossover storyline): Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis ("Survivors") / Dark Crisis: #1, #3, #5-7

Batman: Fortress: #5-8

Knight Terrors: Superman: #1-2

additional reading ↷

DC Pride ("Love Life")

Are You Afraid of Darkseid?

Tis the Season to Be Freezin' ("Break the Ice")

DC Pride 2022 ("A World Kept Just For Me")

Superman: Son of Kal-El: #7-8

DC Power: A Celebration ("Own Your Name")

» ALTERNATE VERSIONS

ELSEWORLDS

Injustice 2: #15, #17, #21-22, #24

You Brought Me The Ocean

Earth-11 (Jacqui Hyde/Aquagirl): DC Pride 2022 ("Are You Ready for This?") / DC's Very Merry Multiverse ("To Stop the Star-Conqueress") / Multiversity: Teen Justice: #1-6

POSSIBLE FUTURES

Future State: Aquaman: #1-2

» OTHER MEDIA

ANIMATED

Young Justice: S1: EP1-EP20, EP23, EP25-EP16 / S2: EP3, EP7, EP9-EP10, EP13, EP16, EP19-EP20 / S3: EP1, EP8-EP9, EP14-EP15, EP17-EP18, EP20-EP23, EP26 / S4: EP14-EP17, EP22-EP26

VIDEO GAMES

Young Justice Legacy

DC Universe Online

LEGO DC Super-Villains

DC Legends

#reading guide #reading order #recommended reading #aquafam #aquafamily #aquaman #aqualad #jackson hyde #kaldur'ahm #aquamera

[spinef0ryou]

Interview with Ville Valo in Metal Hammer magazine, words by Alexander Milas. Transcript under the cut

It’s a gloomy November evening in London and inside the crystalline bowels of the Universal Music tower there are dark goings-on under a winter moon. An arcane gathering of power-brokers, decision makers, and tastemakers, has convened to hear the first, dulcet tones of a new record in its entirety - a lyrical and melodious exsanguination called Neon Noir. Less an album, the subject of tonight’s attention is more like a swan song played in reverse or a departed loved one’s voice playing in the wind. We’ll get to that.

There are no robes here, such vestigial ornaments long since done away with to provide anonymity on public transportation, but the importance of these proceedings is in no way diminished. This is how the music industry in all its mysterious dealings determines where and when its various powers are to be invoked - an Illuminati-like network of aligned hands is this rogues' gallery of journalists, label managers and festival promoters. Even the helmswoman of the gazette you hold in your verv hands can be seen lurking in the shadows.

At the centre of the dim chamber stands a lone, flat-capped figure, his chiselled visage peculiarly, vampirically unchanged by the many years since he first graced the cover of an international publication such as this, and let it be said that he was never a stranger to these folios.

If anything can be said of Ville Valo's appearance it's that he could teach anyone half his age a thing or two about self-presentation - and, for the record, they'd be 23 at time of publication. Svelte, casually besuited and elegantly understated in his attire - all different hues of black, obviously - he's been affably chatting with the gathered conclave with such fluidity and confidence that anyone would think it's something he does every day, and anyone who knows his incongruous penchant for reclusiveness when off the stage would suspect that maybe he's changed since we saw him last.

For the record, he does not, and he has not. Ten long years have passed since His Infernal Majesty's final release, the career summation that was 2013's Tears On Tape, and it has been five years since Him played their final note on the second of two sold-out nights at the London Roundhouse in December of 2017. Their concluding song was the aptly chosen, syrupy dirge of When Love And Death Embrace, and the mortuary pallor of its refrains couldn't have been better matched to the forlorn mood of that distinctly funereal moment.

For many, it was a farewell to one of life's few constants: Him were less like a band and more like a comforting gothic world to those who fell prey to its blackened enchantments, and as if further affirmation is needed, no one in the field of music has since emerged to even remotely fill the heartagram-shaped hole left in Ville's wake. As the lights in the venue went up to reveal no shortage of streaked mascara, it would have been impossible to surmise whether we'd ever hear from Ville again - such was the finality of that tour and the deathly vibe of that night.

More desolate still was the long silence that ensued after the 26-year adventure he spearheaded under an iconic banner designed by his own hand. Eight records, ten million sales and countless fans getting heartagram tattoos of variable quality were the tallies of Ville's musical ledger.It was over. Him was dead. Their founder was gone. And then, quietly, headless blooms began to flank his headstone.

First came the news that he was blowing off the cobwebs to undertake a tour of Finland to record and perform songs by the late, beloved Finnish singer-songwriter Rauli 'Badding' Somerjoki, with Somerjoki's old band, Agents. The project smashed the charts in Finland before they eventually disbanded.

More silence followed until March 2020, when an unheralded EP was released under a new banner, VV complete with an updated reimagining of the famed heartagram. A portent of what was to come, Gothica Fennica Vol. 1 was far from alien to anyone familiar with Him's long-established sound, but it also bore the hallmarks of a songwriter unbound by the restraints of collaboration or co-writing. As the world smouldered, it was a hopeful omen that perhaps not everything had been lost to the pandemic.

We retreat from the listening session to a quieter room to shine to shine a neon light on the story of the rebirth and toil that followed, a res-erection-

Ville shoots a look as if to say, 'You're not gonna write that, are you?' Well…

“‘Promo tours are like Bullet-point for my Valentine.”

Ville has sunk into his armchair, a body deflated. We've just been talking about the sometimes less-than-rock'n'roll demands of album promotion, and how while just 10 years have passed since Him's final release, a lifetime of change in the industry's inner workings has followed. It's Thursday and Ville's already done the rounds in Berlin this week, plus a big photo session, too - rumour has it that a smoke machine for a cover shoot triggered a confrontation with security here yesterday. Whoever the photographer was that bolted the door shut so the shoot could continue remains a mystery at the time of going to press.

But despite Ville's tiredness after two days of media-based pokes and prods and his first international flight in five years, he's still exhibiting a remarkably playful way with words: the product of voracious reading and self-confessed Anglophilia that can make it easy to forget this is his second language, although as we'll soon discover there are some words that resist translation.

We're reflecting on how many times he's appeared in the pages of Metal Hammer. I produce a photo from many years gone by, taken by Mick Hutson. It's Ville, looking like a goth deer caught in headlights, sitting in the back of a limo between the late Dimebag Darrell and Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx on his way to the Metal Hammer Golden God awards. He smirks.

"It was a playground, wasn't it?" he says of the Ville of yore. "Oh my god, that was a weird one. I remember Dimebag - he'd been up all night, and there's me stuck in the middle. I gave my Golden God award to Zakk Wylde's daughter. He told me she was a huge fan and I'd had a sip too many, so…”

And let it be said that by the time Him went stratospheric - a runway stretching between 2000's Razorblade Romance and 2003's definitive Love Metal - there were few publications that weren't peppering their pages with images of Ville. photogenic but, more importantly, hilarious, his wry and dismissive self-regard tempered the styled polish of his many covershoots. In a time when emo was king, Ville brought something current but gleefully out of step with fashion, musical and otherwise, but he persevered because, arguably, beyond the music he possessed that rare quality that escapes so many whose trade is on the road and in music studios. He was interesting, and Him and their legion of fans were their own movement. For a time, if you ever stood at the back of one of their sold-out shows, it looked something like Beatlemania directed by Tim Burton.

“What would you say to yourself back then?” He smiles and takes a moment before replying.

“It isn't a horror movie thing, but my oldest self has whispered to my younger self many times. You know, I could have done stuff way wiser in the sense of trying to become more successful in terms of money, listening to record companies or whatnot, because people had a damn hard time trying to figure out what we were all about. I wouldn't do anything differently because then I wouldn't be here - that's the beauty of it."

And, tracing the course of what Ville did, what he's doing now, there's little to suggest that anything has changed in terms of his resistance to the common methods of self-promotion. In a time of compulsive micro-blogging and algorithm-feeding content, the official 'Heartagram' Instagram account posts at roughly the same rate as the Vatican. Be it about the preservation of mystery or a refusal to play the game, let it never be said that he didn't do it his way.

“I’m a slow learner. I only learned about the eggplant emoji yesterday! But as for those whispers, it's something to do with the nonlinearity of time," he continues. "I had some foresight to the pandemic, though, and found myself a house with a photography studio which I turned into a music studio. It's one big room that enabled me to spread around all the weird pieces of kit from all eras - sort of my creative central. During the pandemic, that's all I did. There was no rhyme or reason, I just thought it was time to move on and do something different. It could have been my older self whispering to my younger self in the middle of the night, like, 'Now's a good time. You'll understand it better in a few years.' So yeah, it could be one of those things."

We notice a white wall in the corridor is covered in dozens of Sharpie signatures from fellow artists who’ve passed through. Some are small, while pop groups Bastille and Westlife have gone big with huge cubital letters. Unimpressed, Ville reaches for a glow-in-the-dark V sticker from his breast pocket and wryly sticks it up at the top. Always a rebel.

Was it hard to decide which direction to go in after Him?

“Musically, I'm a pair of bell-bottoms," he says. "If you want to follow hits, you're always going to be too late. Music and art is essential for my wellbeing, it's the air that I breathe - it's natural for me, but at times I've felt like a human among the lizard people, an infiltrator from another galaxy. The only thing I can do is the thing I can do."

Of course, it raises the question of how VV and indeed Neon Noir came about. That Ville has always presided over every detail of his music is no secret - there's never been a doubt as to whose vision it all was, and the ending of Him is just as important as the beginning we're here to discuss. As anyone who's seen the end of a relationship will know, the signs of impending demise can appear long before the cracks emerge, and the conclusion of Him was no different. To paraphrase a singer named BB on the prologue to VV, the thrill was gone...

"Expiration is funny when it comes to bands," he says matter-of-factly. Whatever wounds may have been inflicted, they have long since closed, and he's at ease when prompted on what went down.

"It didn't happen overnight - we'd started having trouble after Tears On Tape. Gas (Lipstick] had left the band and we found a new drummer, which was fantastic for a time, but we just couldn't find it in ourselves - a new album. We started working on ideas, but they didn't sound very good. The adult way to approach things is that if it's something you really do love, you have to love them enough to let them go when the right moment comes. The spark was no longer there, so timing-wise, it was good - I wouldn't have minded it to happen a little earlier because now I see the end of my own career in the distance. I never wanted it to feel like a job. You'll see bands touring where it quite clearly is. Something so central needs to be full of passion and laughter and joy and tears - dramatic, like a pint of milk."

Dairy funny. Have you been in touch with the guys since then, we ask?

"I haven't been in touch with Gas in more than 10 years," comes the reply. "And Linde [Mikko 'Linde' Lindström, guitarist] is quite a solitary fellow who's not a big talker anyway. But Mige [Mikko 'Mige' Paananen, bassist] was a bit of a Rick Rubin on the album. He was like this weird guru that came by every three months and gave me a stamp of approval, like, 'Yeah, this is fine.' He's one of my earliest childhood friends and one of my best mates still, so we keep in touch - that's rare. It's been 35 years or something..."

It was that relationship that provided something of the lifeline that Ville needed. He describes the feeling after Him's final show as something akin to phantom limb syndrome, where amputees report sensation in appendages that are no longer there.

"I felt like an outsider, an outcast," he says. "[I felt like] I didn't understand myself, and that the world doesn't understand me or that I didn't belong. It's a profound feeling, you know, to existentially feel that you don't understand the world or your place in it. Funnily enough, how I got through that was writing. The pandemic really painted everyone into a corner. I wasn't suicidal, but there was a tinge of depression as well, not seeing tomorrow or the worth of the day after tomorrow. People reacted in different ways. I forced myself back to music, and music gave me the gift of song once again. I was able to pull off a couple of Sabbath rip-offs, so that made me feel better. That was a big deal."

Ville will go on to animatedly recount how the loss of purpose and trajectory coupled with the worldwide shutdown was in some sense the perfect reset post-Him, and while he hit a very low ebb, it was precisely the kind of downtime he needed and hadn't had since Him's formation when he was just a teen.

"There was no scheduling, nobody to communicate with about what I was working on, so it was very unfiltered intuition, straight to tape or whatever recording medium, and I found myself having goosebumps like I'd never had before. Well..." his eyes impishly go to the ceiling, "musically, at least. I'm scared of stuff being really repetitive - it's nice to enjoy a binge watch on Netflix, but you're never gonna get the time back. That doesn't mean, 'Don't do it! But enjoy the now, take advantage of the time. That's what we'll be doing when we go on tour with the band next year, challenging myself to do lots of things and not step into a sort of zombified existence. People are so distracted…”

At the beginning of the Divine Comedy, the main character - Dante Alighieri's Pilgrim - wrote of finding himself in a dark wood halfway through the walk of life; the straight path, lost. It was a roundabout way of describing the confusion that can come with middle age, but in his mid-4os and with the deep shadows and brilliant highlights of an illustrious career in the rear-view mirror, I wonder aloud if the same could be said of the current predicament.

Dante's come up because, as is often the case with Ville, the subjects of language and literature are never far away. I ask him to elaborate on that tinge of depression he's mentioned, and he says one thing. and lets it hang in the air: "Kaiho."

Sorry?

"Kai-ho," he says again, slowly. It's a Finnish word, he explains, that defies direct translation but describes the twist of emotions he was detangling in the wake of a lifetime on the road and in the limelight. "It isn't a negative feeling. It's a bittersweet reverie. I think Finnish people find it profoundly positive as well, because it also means that you have lived, you have loved and that you experience things that actually make a difference, at least to you personally, hopefully, for the people around you."

Did you struggle?

"I had a month where I didn't get out of bed," he states.

"Around that long, at least. I was pretty worried about it. I forced myself up and back to music through conversations with mates, you know, getting my spirits up a bit, but it was a weird feeling. It's not like you can't get up. You just don't want to get up. You don't want to do anything and you can't really do anything: just super-tired, some form of post-traumatic stress after all the years. It could be that it took a while for it to hit, and it coincided with a pandemic. I wasn't able to do anything, so my body and my mind told me to get the sleep I missed back in the day. Thankfully I slept it off, but life doesn't get any easier. It's getting more complicated, more bittersweet - a tough combo. A pint half full, half empty…”

Of course, the wrought-iron melody of Neon Noir's various paeans to love and loss wouldn't seem correct if they came from a place of emotional buoyancy, but if the slump Ville describes really was just making up for lost sleep-time, he's making no bones about his desire to get back to work.

"I'm not thinking about the end, but what I do realise is that, thinking in logical terms, it's going to be really weird if I'm 60 and still in it, which means that I have less than that in terms of album cycles. It starts to get a bit scary because I've done music all my life, but then again, thinking like that makes me smile."

So how does a 46-year-old's vision of love change from, say, a 20-year-old's?

"Well, maybe we haven't had that 'one true love' in the traditional sense in Shakespearean drama: the overwhelming one that takes over everything. You can't compare relationships and you shouldn't - different times, different people, different chemistry, different reasons. Music is still at its best when it's a soundtrack to important events."

So how does Neon Noir reflect your own life?

"It's very sincere - it encapsulates things. The indecisiveness on whether I belong to the camp of Black Sabbath or Depeche Mode, the constant struggle with good and evil. Run Away From The Sun is the first song I wrote and I didn't know if I had a song in me at all, but I had to start from somewhere. I had all these ideas. I started to do it and follow my intuition. I wasn't in a rush, I had no deadlines - I didn't even know if I was going to continue, and that was the most fruitful ground, because it felt real and unadulterated by pressure…”

As new as it all is for Ville, there are some things that have remained unchanged, or perhaps present is a better word. The heartagram was, after all, the gothic bat-signal of the early 00’s onward...

"It was everything Him stood for," he says. "I just wiggled that one line and realised it has my initials, and that was the reason I called the project VV, and I liked that it had a 'V for Victory' kinda vibe to it, and visually it had the traditional aspect to it, a current iteration of the same idea. It's symbolic, because I didn't want to force myself to take a completely different route musically. I'm not an actor, and Him all happened very organically. I was finding my voice, or whatever you want to call it, through Type O and Black Sabbath back then, and I still am."

From the mood in the room it's a welcome return indeed. It seems that for the first time in a lifetime he's found his path -with the help of a little neon to hold back the darkness.

LIGHTS OUT

Ville Valo reveals the dark secrets behind new album Neon Noir

01: ECHOLOCATE YOUR LOVE

"I was enjoying a documentary on the navigational skills of bats and imagined their nocturnal courting calls bouncing eerily between the walls of the abyss in a gothic ping pong-fashion. To make sure I was communicating this musical vision clearly, I included a cowbell in the middle eight, just because whenever one can, one should."

02: RUN AWAY FROM THE SUN

"The light at the end of the tunnel can sometimes shine so bright it’s scary, and my running-away skills have been highly developed over the years by sweeping most of my issues under the carpet. There are also a few church bell samples ringing among all the 80s-inspired synth sequences, only to make sure the ever-fickle balance between good and evil doesn't err on the side of Skywalker."

03: NEON NOIR

“ A cheerful memento mori if there ever was one, and my first guitar solo on record. The working title was 'Vangelis Halen' and I think I managed to get fairly close in marrying the claustrophobic beauty of Blade Runner with the reckless abandon of VH, in a sort of funeral-car-crash-in-slow-motion-type setting.”

04: LOVELETTING

“ An ode to the setting sun and a tale of dancing on the razor's edge between holding on and letting go. A moribundle of joy in a patchouli garden, with handclaps."

05: THE FOREVERLOST

"The Finnish tourism board should definitely include ‘Nyctophile Shangri-La' as a tagline promoting Finland from now on instead of the worn-out Santanic slogans of yore. A menace-à-trois between Andrew Eldritch, Jaz Coleman and Peter Hook.”

06: BABY LACRIMARIUM

“Quite a traditional love song written by someone who takes the Poe in poetry a wee bit too seriously. A study on blocked tear ducts and The Cure."

07: SALUTE THE SANGUINE

"None of the ways out are easy, so taking the road less travelled is always the preferred method. 'If I could only say the same about the music,’ mutters the little Devil on my shoulder."

08: IN TRENODIA

"A world-building exercise at its bleakest, 'Trenodia' representing a highly modified utopia lit by every shade of blue, with a suitably melancholy soundtrack played at the wrong speed."

09: HEARTFUL OF GHOSTS

"Heartful Of Ghosts is essentially a heart-wrenching tale of paranormal love and supernatural betrayal. Sonically, this lies somewhere between a lava lamp and acupuncture... with fangs.”

10: SATURNINE SATURNÁLIA

"Saturnine Saturnalia is romantic doom and gloom at its very finest, and probably the most Sabbathian moment there is on the album. I dug out my Excalibur - the deranged fuzz pedal and vintage army flask-combo that Mige of Him built me many a moon ago - and tended to my tinnitus with gusto.”

11: ZENER SOLITAIRE

"Imagine if this was Phil Spector's ghost reinterpreting Goblin's soundtrack for Dario Argento's movie Suspiria in glorious lo-fi."

12: VERTIGO EYES

"When you meet someone whose eyes are as hypnotic as watching the Vertigo logo spinning on your turntable, you're either in love or your drink has been spiked. This is a nod to the ghosts of the past, present and future, and a suitably hallucinatory way to end the record."

#ville valo #him #his infernal majesty #neon noir #interview #interviews

[pluralsword]

Compiled a list of all the different scoped weapons we’ve seen Arcee use in canon, for reasons, does anybody have any to add? It’s really interesting how vastly different the designs are. Side-mounts, holosight-esque, and whatever the scrap is going on with Earthspark Arcee’s snub-scope. An image of her from WFC the videogame with any of the scoped guns would also be appreciated (or really anything of her from any of the videogames with a scoped weapon)

Close up of images in order of appearance below

IDW1/IDW2005 Arcee (in 2012, three full body reformats so far on her gender journey, currently with a cybertronian car alt-mode) with side-mount stock over shoulder two-hand rifle in Robots in Disguise #9, “Night and the City.”

Same Arcee (2013) with a massive over the shoulder missile launcher or cannon, in Robots in Disguise #23, Dark Cybertron #3, “Winners and Losers.” Honestly this thing may have a scope but it sure seems like she’s eyeballing until she has the go ahead to fire. This weapon is called the Superior Cannon in Wave 2 (2019) of the now canceled Transformers Trading Card Game by Wizards of the Coast.

Forged to Fight Arcee (present in the game at launch in 2017, basically T30 Generations Arcee but lankier with long arms) kneeling to fire her stock mounted round scope blue sniper rifle with a side mounted red laser sight as part of her special attack. The front of the barrel lights up blue when it fires... and what is actually fired is a metal bullet! A nice surprise from a G1-stylized character. Image sourced from this video.

IDW1/IDW2005 Arcee (2018, now five full body reformats so far on her gender journey, currently with an earth car alt-mode that was inspired by the Lotus Elite, this is the form she has at the end of the series we will go off about this some other time) with a fold-up/modular designated marksbot rifle looking gun with a squarish digital sight, in Unicron #2, “Stranger Eons.” It’s funny, we never see her IDW1 iteration shoot any of these three, but we do see her shoot her guns with only iron sights or none at all iirc? IDW2 on the other hand we’ll talk about in a bit, but first, Cyberverse Arcee!

Cyberverse Arcee (in 2020) in Cyberverse Season 3 Episode 13 “The Judge” readying a very large blaster with a drum ammunition barrel (when she isn’t shooting her blaster pistols or in melee, shooting a gun with a drum barrel seems to be her thing, specifically, very large guns, usually minigun/autocannon/rotary cannon sort of deal) that has a sloped forend and ridges under the front of the gun barrel, and either has a narrow scope or ?ammo counter?/probably a scope above the ammo barrel. (remembered her shooting this thanks to @arceespinkgun​ ‘s post of gifs of Shadow Striker and Arcee fighting together in this episode after seeing the G1 images they reblogged this post with, thank you!!) She also never uses the scope when she shoots the thing in her exuberant battle delight, unlike somebody...

IDW2/IDW2019 Arcee (2021, notes on reformats later)*, has a cybertronian look the whole series), aiming her blocky anti-armor rifle while crouching, the scope is kind of holosight-like, in Transformers #35, “Lord of Misrule: Sea of Rust II”. She shoots this thing several times in the series and gosh you don’t want to get hit by the brief beam of plasma that cuts through a Seeker like butter when she pulls the trigger. RE reformats: possibly one, twice if she did off-screen before series start for trans reasons? like she had a look more like Earthrise Arcee at the beginning mixed with IDW1 but then they went for the An Arcee Sort of Day look that is basically a WFC Chromia/Nightbird retool with outer armor of the backpack made into back stacks instead after Galaxies was over, maybe because she joined the Autobots and wanted to change her look or literally armor up, or the artists just felt like it, we don’t know but would like to know. In any case her alt mode went from a sci-fi convertible to an armored fighting car look. (which we are the only person we know of with a custom or toy of at all so far as of early 2023)

Then from this promotional image from Nickelodeon we have Earthspark Arcee (2023) smiling while one-handing a giant aft pistol that’s all rounded and curved with a TAIL FIN SCOPE in a way that looks like her G1 car mode she doesn’t have since she has a muscle car mode instead. Okay dear you’re cool as frag for having a gun that looks like the alt mode you don’t have while you rock the boxier one you have instead. I’m so trans that I can hold a version of my old body in my hand and shoot it. Like okay we’re just waiting for her to say she’s trans now right that’s the consensus- anyway about the scope:

HOW DOES SHE AIM DOWN THAT SCOPE. IF THAT’S WHAT IT IS. LIKE WHAT IS HAPPENING? Like this goes past what her IDW2 rifle’s scope does which lets her comfortably lean her head down a little while resting the gun against her neck guard armor- but this is like, plonking your head down to aim forward unless... unless she eyeballs the scope itself or links up with it via her hand. Which she could. Would not put past sage in martial arts, ethics, and bullshitting Earthspark Arcee to have a weapon that defies expectations while showing her history in the palm of her hand. Gods why do we feel like crying over this promo image, anyway that’s a wrap on this until y’all send us more images.

Also we found the gun thanks to @fancyrobotenthusiast​ ‘s post of the image and then we did a reverse google image search while we started compiling the other images finding that inspired, so thank you, you by chance gave our trans brain something to do for a few hours that has made us very happy after

#Arcee #arcee's scoped weapons #idw arcee #t30 arcee #cyberverse arcee #earthspark arcee #idw1 #idw2005 #exrid #thrilling 30 #forged to fight #transformers unicron #cyberverse #transformers cyberverse #idw2 #idw2019 #transformers idw #earthspark #pluralsword rambles #arcee reformats #trans arcee #g1 arcee #earthspark arcee's gun is a pistol shaped like her g1 alt mode #could it get more trans than this

[jokersexymancompetition]

Now that the Joker poll is done Im running an evil clown poll. Just for fun.

accepting clowns, mimes, jesters, etc.

The clowns so far:

Stitches (Stitches)

Gamzee Makara (Homestuck)

The Killer Klowns (The Killer Klowns from Outer Space)

Cheezo, Bippo, and Dippo (Clownhouse)

Kefka Palazzo (Final Fantasy VI)

Pennywise (It 1990)

Pennywise (It 2017)

Mr. Mime (Detective Pikachu)

Scorpion clowns (American Dragon)

Laughing Jack (Creepypasta)

Der Klown (Krampus)

The Violator (Spawn)

Quackerjack (Darkwing Duck)

The Clown Doll (Poltergeist)

This Guy (Real Life)

Fizz & Robo Fizz (Helluva Boss)

Art (Terrifier)

Krusty the Clown (The Simpsons)

Firefighter Clown (Brave Little Toaster)

Bobo Clown Doll (Real Life)

Gingerclown (Gingerclown)

Captain Spaulding (House Of 1000 Corpses)

Arthur Fleck (Joker 2019)

Clöyne (Clown 2014)

Killjoy The Demonic Clown (Killjoy)

The Laugh (Amusement)

Clownpiece (Touhou)

Cicero (Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)

Dimentio (Paper Mario)

Courtly Jester (Ever After High)

Phycomedian (Miraculous Ladybug)

Marx (Kirby)

Drunk clown (Dumbo)

Hisoka Morow (Hunter x Hunter)

Circus Baby (Five Nights at Freddy's)

Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal)

Zeebo the Clown (Are You Afraid Of The Dark?)

The Crimson Clown (Are You Afraid Of The Dark?)

Popee (Popee the Performer)

Duela Dent (Dc Comics)

Zombozo (Ben 10)

Jack the Clown (Halloween Horror Nights)

Unnamed Evil Clown (Cabin In The Woods)

Shakes (Shakes the Clown)

Plucky Pennywhistle (Supernatural)

Rakshasa (Supernatural)

Twisty (American Horror Story)

Jester Zombie (Plants Vz Zombies)

Clown Zombie (Plants Vz Zombies)

Clown (The Amazing World of Gumball)

Freakshow (Danny Phantom)

Beppi the Clown (Cuphead)

Pierrot (Sonic)

Violent J (ICP stage persona)

Charlotte (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Joker (Smile Precure)

Jevil (Deltarune)

Juggles the Clown (beanie baby)

Mr. Mime (The Powerpuff Girls)

Geiru Toneido (Ace Attorney)

Joker (Persona 2)

Jestro (Nexo Knights)

Tubby the Clown (Ape Escape)

The Jester (Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return)

Jangles the Clown (Inside out)

Krazi (Ninjago)

The Mime (Miraculous Ladybug)

Shadow Teddie (Persona 4)

Mr. Magic Pierrot (Sailor Moon)

Piedmon (Digimon)

Grunkfuss the Clown (One Night at Flumpties)

Joka (Klonoa)

The Puppet (Five Nights at Freddy’s)

Mr. Tatters (Emily Wants To Play)

Reala (NiGHTS)

Dr. Screwball Jones (Wander over Yonder)

Le Mime (Xiaolin Showdown)

The Groaner (Supermansion)

Jingles the Clown (Jingles the Clown)

Harley Quinn (The Dark Prince Charming)

Doppelganger Arle as Pierrot (Puyo Puyo~n)

Zombie Clown (ZombieLand)

#not JSM #Evil Clown Poll #not dc related #not a poll

[yanderes-galore]

Fandoms

All the fandoms I'm doing and taking a break from. Always up to date, check often :)

Last Edited: 2/1/24

Bold -> Written Before

Not Bold -> Hasn't been written before.

🔪Fandoms I am currently writing for🔪

Movies/Shows

- Adventure Time

- Arcane

- Assassination Classroom

- Attack on Titan

- Avatar (Movies)

- Beastars (Season 1 + 2 of the anime)

- Bionicle: The Journey To One

- Black Clover

- Blue Exorcist

- The Boys

- Carmen Sandiego (Netflix show)

- Death Note

- The Devil is a Part-Timer!

- Ducktales 2017

- Fire Force

- Game of Thrones

- Gravity Falls

- Halo RvB/Red vs Blue (All seasons)

- Happy Tree Friends (Anthro Animals or Hybrids/Humans [Like my OCs])

- Haikyu!

- Hazbin Hotel

- How To Train Your Dragon

- Invader Zim (Original series and Enter the Florpus)

- House of the Dragon

- Monkie Kid (Lego)

- My Hero Academia

- My Little Pony (FiM and a New Generation)

- Murder Drones

- Naruto

- Ninjago

- Noragami

- One Piece

- One Punch Man

- Pirates of the Caribbean

- Puss in Boots

- Rick & Morty

- Saiki K

- Spooky Month

- Star Wars (Movies + Clone Wars)

- Steven Universe

- Solar Opposites

- Terminator (All movies)

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Media (2003, 2007 movie, 2012, 2014/Bayverse, 2018/ROTTMNT)

- Tokyo Ghoul

- Toilet Bound Hanako Kun

- Treasure Planet

- Trigun Stampede

- Umbrella Academy

- Voltron: Legendary Defender

- Walking Dead

- Watchmen

- Wednesday

- The Witcher (Show)

- X-men Evolution

Games

- Apex Legends

- Arknights

- Assassin's Creed

- Bendy and the Ink Machine

- Bioshock (All games)

- Borderlands (Including 1, 2, Pre-sequel, and 3)

- Call of Duty

- Criminal Case

- Cookie Run

- Cult of The Lamb

- Danganronpa (Games only)

- Dauntless (Creatures will all be pet-like)

- Darksiders

- Dark Deception

- Dark Souls/Souls-Like games

- Dead By Daylight (All Survivors and Killers along with costumes)

- Dead Space (1-3)

- Detroit: Become Human

- Devil May Cry

- Deltarune (Both Chapters)

- Disney Mirrorverse

- Don’t Starve (All Survivors and Costumes)

- DOOM

- Dying Light

- Evil Within

- Evolve (Creatures will all be pet-like)

- Fallout

- Far Cry

- Fear and Hunger

- Five Nights at Freddy’s (All Games, Books, Fluffy AU) (Animatronic or Android)

- Friday Night Funkin (Base game)(?)

- Final Fantasy (Primarily anything past 7)

- Gears/Gears of War (Yandere Fics)

- Genshin Impact

- God of War

- Half-Life

- Halo (Reach, CE, 2, 3, 3 ODST, 4, 5, Infinite, Wars 1+2)

- Hollow Knight

- Honkai Impact

- Human Animal Crossing

- Identity V (All Survivors/Killers and their costumes except Hastur and younger characters are depicted as Platonic)

- Killer Frequency

- The Last of Us

- League of Legends

- Left 4 Dead (1 and 2)

- Legend of Zelda

- Lobotomy Corporation

- Mario Franchise

- Metal Gear Solid (All games, although I like Revengeance the most)

- Metroid

- Minecraft (Experimenting)

- Mortal Kombat (9 through 11)

- Mystic Messenger

- No More Heroes

- No Straight Roads

- Obey Me!

- OFF

- Outlast

- The Outer Worlds

- Overwatch (All characters/Costumes)

- Payday 2

- Persona (3-5)

- Portal (1 and 2)

- Pokemon (Just Trainers Right Now) (All games)

- PvZ Garden Warfare (Mostly Platonic but we'll see)

- Ratchet and Clank

- Rainbow Six Siege

- Resident Evil (All Games)

- Red Dead Redemption (Mostly 2)

- Roblox DOORS (?)

- Silent Hill

- Skyrim

- Street Fighter

- Team Fortress 2 (All Classes and characters like Miss Pauling and Saxton Hale)

- Twisted Wonderland

- Undertale

- Warframe

- We Happy Few

- Xcom

Books

- Halo Books (Fall of Reach, The Flood, Contact Harvest, The Cole Protocol, First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx, Cryptum, Broken Circle, Hunters In The Dark, Last Light, New Blood, Envoy, Retribution, Smoke and Shadow, Bad Blood, Renegade, Point of Light, Divine Wind)

- Jujutsu Kaisen (I read the manga)

- Bungou Stray Dogs (I read the manga)

Fits in more than one category

- Alien vs Predator (Just Alien movies or Predator movies are also included. Also books and games.)

- Black Butler

- Creepypasta/Gaming Creepypasta (Not everyone, it depends)

- Cuphead (Game/Show)

- Cyberpunk 2077 (Anime/Game)

- DC Comics (Comics, Games, Movies) [Injustice and Arkhamverse mainly, but let's discuss]

- Demon Slayer

- Hiveswap

- Homestuck

- Madness Combat (Game and Series)

- Marvel Cinematic Universe (Up to Endgame)/Marvel Comic Universe (SPECIFY WHAT COMIC PLEASE-)

- SCP (Not everyone, it depends)

- Slashers/Horror in general (Please say what movie your slasher is from)

- Sonic (All games + The Paramount Movies + IDW Comics. All characters are aged up except characters Classic! Tails, Movie! Tails, Cream the Rabbit, Ray the Flying Squirrel, and Classic Amy, which are Platonic as I can't see them as aged up.)

- South Park (All aged up of course, Show and games)

- Splatoon (Manga/Games)

- Transformers (Animated, Cyberverse, Earthspark, Generation 1, IDW comics, Prime, Robots In Disguise, War for Cybertron)

- Yandere OCs I have (Look at this list)

~~💜~~

🚫Fandoms I am taking a break from🚫

-

#yandere x reader #yandere fandoms #panther fandoms

[themarginalthinker]

The Band au

(Kinda just what it says on the tin. This intro was jammed about a month ago and thanks to the drabble from yesterday, we decided it needed a little more context lol. The Boys are a modern (2017) punk metal band, and this is the first time Michael meets them :> )

-

Michael was sure that Sam was just making him drive to this club so that he could get smashed with his boyfriend. 

Or handsy, or whatever teenagers did when they went to indie concerts. He'd never even heard of the bands playing tonight, so he's basically doomed to listening to club music sober for the whole night. 

It's a normal punky night club (not that Michael is really aware of what those look like), dimly lit with pulsing light and already crowded with people. Sam almost immediately abandoned him to go hang out with his cadet-wannabe boyfriend. 

At least they were having fun. 

The music is nothing special, two bands he doesn't know play their sets. Basically identical pop-punk nonsense. He's at least 75% sure that one of them was just a cover band. And then the MC steps up to announce the headliners. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, how we feeling tonight?"

The crowd roars. 

"Excellent! Well, I hope you're ready for the main event! The group of miscreants who will show you their dark Neverland, who will never grow up and never die, please welcome to the stage, The Lost Boys!"

Wild cheers and applause erupt from the audience. Whoever these guys are, they're popular with the crowd. The band appears on stage. Four members, all dressed like they're from different eras of punk. Guitar, bass, keys and drums. It looks.. standard. 

And then they start playing.

What begins playing is. Not something Michael expects to come out of this group, not with what the club has been pedaling for the first sets. 

The lights go down, and whatever light design they'd come up with for their opener was. A lot more advanced than any other group so far. It started dark, but as the drums kicked in, a low, pulsing beat, the bass plucking a quick, steady hum atop it, the lead starts singing and the lights spill down onto him, dim, but illuminating his and the other's faces as if in a low flame. 

He starts singing. 

It's...definitely not something Michael expects. Slower, following the beat of the bass and drums, almost like reading the words as poetry rather than singing. The keys send out timed notes, discordant, but always in just the right places to make one feel surprised, startled even. Like being jumped in the dark. 

"Last fire will rise, behind those eyes, black house will rock," 

And then, the lights shift, suddenly flooding the stage in a deep, hellish red. The band's clothing casts them in shadow, and they all join in for the final line of the first verse, a single voice. 

"Blind boys don't lie!" 

The crowd...well. Michael can't really say it’s explosive, but the crowd can’t seem to contain their excitement that they must have been saving up for this. The Boys have their undivided attention. 

They’ve certainly captured his. 

The song goes on, and Michael watches. Listens. The music itself almost feels like something from a different time. An era just past, just like their clothing. The lead is the guitarist as well, carrying the melody with the wild-haired, tall bassist. The key dude (who looks like a patchwork eclectic nightmare) joins in to the harmonies. It's. Bizzare, but Michael can't help but sway along to the thumping, lulling beat, the lyrics twisted and dark. 

Eventually, it ends, and the lead takes his bow, peroxide-white hair flashing under the stage lights letting up. There's more, but Michael is temporarily distracted from his reverie by Sam scooting up to him.

"Hey!" Sam says over the noise.

"Hi," Michael responds. "Where's your guy?" 

Sam rolls his eyes. (They're a little dilated. Shit, Michael hopes it's not more than a few drinks...) 

"He went to hide in the bathroom for a while. He says he doesn't like this group."

"Mm. I think your boyfriend has bad taste. They're the best ones I've heard tonight."

"If you like metal, I guess."

"Sammy, that was not metal." He's not even sure what to call it, except maybe mesmerizing.  

His brother just shrugs. 

"Well, whatever it is, they're kind of intense and Alan isn't into it. He says the lights bug his eyes. Also I'm out of cash, can I borrow a twenty?"

"No, you may not. I think you've had enough to drink."

"God Mike, don't be a buzzkill!"

"Yeah, no. You're definitely not getting that twenty. Go sulk with your boyfriend and calm down a little."

Sam grumbled, but ambled off. Michael just shook his head and kept sipping the (overpriced, even for a smaller venue, if he was honest) cola he'd ordered. Sam had gone from a generally okay kid to something of a rowdy older teen. Michael understood, really. Highschool was still just as shitty as he remembered it being, even if it was your senior year, and their mother had been harping juuuust a tad on Sammy to get into a good college. 

Michael winces a little as he accidentally swallows a bubble. 

…College. Not smart enough for scholarships, too unfocused for a major anyway. Michael mostly stuck around the house these days, writing idly between his few odd jobs. 

He hopes that Sam actually did listen to his mother in this respect. Got to get the hell out of their hometown, got out there, saw things, have a fucking life. Hell, he was already ahead of the game - Michael certainly wouldn't have come to a place like this on his own. He should probably thank Sam for convincing him later. 

Michael certainly isn't doing anything else productive with his time.

-

The group eventually, unfortunately, finishes their set, and Michael cheers along with the crowd in seeing them off the stage. Nothing else they played had quite been at the level of the opener, but the sound of each song was buzzing in Michael's brain. So...distinct. It was all their own creation. He wondered if they'd posted any of their stuff online. 

Maybe he should ask.

He expects the band to disappear backstage. All the others had. 

Except that's not what happens, because he spots the lead singer (dressed down, but that bleach blond hair is a dead giveaway) Leaning against the bar a few feet away. He's got a drink in his hand, a dark red that almost looks black in the dim light. 

When his eyes meet Michael’s, they’re the palest blue that Michael has ever seen.

#the lost boys #drabbles #band au

[taylorhawkins]

All of Taylor Hawkins’ musical projects: a comprehensive list since Wikipedia is incomplete with links!

* I might be missing a few things but I’m still working on it!! (as of 10/2023)

• ANYONE

- The Sylvia Sessions (recorded 1993, released 2022)

• SASS JORDAN

- Live in New York Ninety-Four (1994)

• ALANIS MORISSETTE

- Jagged Little Pill, Live (1997)

• FOO FIGHTERS

- There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999)

- One by One (2002)

- In Your Honor (2005)

- Skin & Bones, Live (2006) [w/ video]

- Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007)

- Wasting Light (2011)

- Medium Rare (2011)

- Sonic Highways (2014)

- Saint Cecilia (2015)

- Concrete and Gold (2017)

- Dee Gees (2021)

- Medicine at Midnight (2021)

• TAYLOR HAWKINS & THE COATTAIL RIDERS

- Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders (2006)

- Red Light Fever (2010)

- Get the Money (2019)

• COHEED AND CAMBRIA

- Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV Vol. II: No World for Tomorrow (2007)

• THE BIRDS [Chevy Metal’s original music]

- Self-titled (2014)

• SOLO

- Kota (2016)

• NIGHTTIME BOOGIE ASSOCIATION [project with Matt Cameron]

- Long in the Tooth/The Path We’re On (2020)

• NHC [project with Dave Navarro + Chris Chaney]

- Feed the Cruel/Better Move On (2021)

- Devil That You Know/Lazy Eyes (2021)

- Intakes and Outtakes EP (2021)

• SESSION APPEARANCES & OTHERS:

- Somewhere Anywhere Everywhere - Globe Surf DVD (2007 I think) [video]

- Help Wanted - Eric Avery [tracks 1, 3, 6-8] (2008)

- Wicked In Rock - Kerry Ellis (and Brian May) [“Defying Gravity”, “I’m Not That Girl” & “No One But You”] (2010)

- Crucify the Dead - Slash & Ozzy Osbourne (2010) [Taylor credited with backing vocals]

- Tie Your Mother Down - Queen ft. Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl [Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Compilation] (2011)

- Sound City: Real to Reel - Dave Grohl (2013)

- Rush 2112: 40th Anniversary (2016) (“Overture” with Dave Grohl & Nick Raskulinez)

- I Refuse - Timothy B. Schmidt (2016)

- Butt Call - Derek Smalls [ft. Taylor and Phil X] (2018)

- Holy Man - Dennis Wilson demo, completed alongside Brian May and Roger Taylor (2019) [Taylor sings]

- Too Much For My Own Good - Phil X & The Drills (2019)

- We Could Have It All - P!nk (2019)

- Night Crawling - Miley Cyrus (2020)

- E-Ticket - Elton John (2021) [+ Eddie Vedder!]

- Turn Over the World - Perry Farrell (2021)

- Mend - Perry Farrell (Kind Heaven Orchestra) (2021)

- Party at the Angel Ballroom - Nancy Wilson (2021) [ft. Taylor + Duff McKagan]

- Patient Number 9 - Ozzy Osbourne (2022) [“Parasite”, “Mr. Darkness”, “God Only Knows”]

- Shame On You - Richard Marx (2022)

- Guess I’ll Go Away - Edgar Winter (2022) [Taylor sings and absolutely blows doors]

- Every Loser - Iggy Pop (2023) [Taylor credited with drums and piano on “Comments” + “The Regency”]

- Ian Hunter - Defiance Part I (2023) [Taylor is on “Angel,” “Kiss N’ Make Up,” and “This Is What I’m Here For”]

#if I missed something please tell me #I don’t think I did but I could have #DUDE I DIDNT FUCKING KNOW ANYONE PUT THAT OUT LOL IM LOSING MY MIND RIGJT NOW #taylor hawkins #foo fighters #anyone #alanis morissette #alanis days #dave grohl #nate mendel #chris shiflett #pat smear #rami jaffee #coattail riders #coheed and cambria #the hawk flies solo #nighttime boogie association #NHC #chevy metal #I don’t put the birds full name cos. the tags/search attracts bad vibes lol #uhhrrrrrr what else #jane’s addiction #rush #stevie nicks #brian may #roger taylor #ozzy osbourne #iggy pop #chris chaney #how sweet is it that he got to play with all his biggest faves ❤️