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britcision · 8 months

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*blowing a horn* sorry my friends! For some ungodly reason for the past couple weeks Wednesday has been my busiest day/night? But never fear, I have not forgotten you and the new chapter is more than half done!

(Also got to go see a friend before she flies back to Newfoundland, climb another waterfall in 3” platforms, and do a photoshoot at said waterfall! Busy weeeeeeeek!)

So here is this week’s belated WIP Wednesday, with some more good news for y’all! Wonder Woman is here to save the day!

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Well You Did Get Down On One Knee part iii

There was not a single thing on Earth or the Watchtower that he wanted less than to stop and talk to John Fucking Constantine and Diana after the meeting.

To be completely fair, Constantine clearly didn’t want to have that conversation any more either; Bruce had not been wrong about how well the magician would take the news that the United States had declared war on an entire dimension.

He was visibly green, had actually ground an unlit cigarette into a grainy mess against the table in lieu of lighting up, and looked about ready to lick up the tobacco.

Diana did not look happy either, but she never had. Her face was as stony and grave as Bruce had ever seen it, concern writ large even as she caught his eye.

The sure knowledge that her lasso would follow if he tried to leave was the only thing that kept him from ignoring her.

But since the only thing he wanted in the world at this moment was to have his son in his arms, and there was no chance of that happening until they were in the same dimension once more…

Bruce shot a quick, questioning look at Clark as the traitor made his way to the exit along with the rest of the Justice League. The Kryptonian at least had the grace to look a little guilty as he shook his head, stepping quickly out the door.

Wonder Woman hadn’t specifically told everyone else to get the fuck out. She had simply molded herself into an immovable force, concluded the meeting, and instructed Bruce alone to remain and discuss these… complications.

Bruce considered making an argument for Superman’s inclusion. They were the original three, and they’d probably need at least his and Aquaman’s help to handle the diplomatic situation.

Possibly the Oa, and Bruce was quite sure Green Lantern wasn’t looking forward to that possibility any more than he was. Hal Jordan talked a good game, always far too flippant, but he’d been pale enough by the end of the lecture that his suit made him look frankly unwell.

Unpleasant times would be in all of their futures it seemed. It was no real comfort as he slipped into a seat across from Wonder Woman and the slumped form of John Constantine.

The magician didn’t even look up, but clearly noticed.

“Didn’t fuckin’ think anyone’d fuck this up worse’n you, Bats,” he groaned, face still pressed into the table.

Bruce grunted, uninterested in his judgement.

“There are new complications we should focus on.” A vain hope, and one Diana instantly crushed.

“One that makes the contents of our discussion all the more vital,” she corrected sharply, piercing blue eyes narrowed as she watched his face. “It seems we have already caused unintentional offence.”

Which was an extremely light way to phrase the declared genocide, but Bruce didn’t bother arguing that position. Not when Constantine would do it for him.

But the mage just let out a long, hearty groan.

“Offence. Yeah. Maybe if we saw off the United States and toss it through a portal the rest of us will be fine,” he snarked, raising his head just enough to bang it off the table. Repeatedly.

By the third bang Diana gripped the back of his head, holding him in place against the table.

“Whatever the situation,” she growled, her tone daring either of them to comment, “we must deal with it as it is. You believe we would have noticed any countermeasures from the former Ghost King?”

She released her grip a moment later, and Constantine rolled his head just enough to glare at her through one eye.

“Pariah Dark? Sister, it wouldn’ta been a single town bein’ pulled off the map. We’d have lost the continent, and probably the world. You wouldn’t miss it,” he added with a bitter laugh, clearly considering banging his head off the table again.

Diana placed a hand on the table. Constantine set his head back down gently.

“And the new king?” She prodded, all icy control.

Bruce had to admit, even he felt calmer watching her.

He knew all the follies and foibles of gods, had no delusions about the limits of her power. He also knew her strengths. Her wisdom. Her ability to cut through complex issues with sword or words.

Whatever he missed, she was removed enough from this mess to catch.

Constantine shrugged, still not rising.

“No fuckin’ clue. All I know is they’re better’n Pariah, which is the lowest damn bar I ever saw. They call them Balance, and we’re not gonna fuckin’ like when the scales come due.”

Bruce’s brows furrowed. What could be a sufficient counterweight for demanding a whole people be hunted and experimented on until extinction?

The dead always vastly outnumbered the living.

Diana cut across his thoughts, her tone as sharp as her blade.

“So you believe we’d notice.”

Constantine sighed heavily and flopped back in his seat hard enough that he nearly toppled over. Diana steadied the chair with one hand, eyebrow rising archly.

Constantine stopped flailing, went to fold his arms, and instead stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Probably’d be pretty hard to miss too,” he agreed gruffly. Diana nodded, having received the answer she wanted, and interlaced her fingers.

“Then we have time to rectify matters before word reaches his ears.” She paused, brow furrowing as she recounted John’s words. “Do we not know if the King is a man?”

Constantine shrugged again, pulling something unidentifiable from his pocket before hastily shoving it back in, coming out again with a lighter. He spun it between his fingers, eyes fixed on the metal lid.

“Nah. “King” is just a loose translation to living tongues, for what yer used to. Easier to say than “Supreme High Ruler, Core of the Realms”. Not even likely that they were ever human; not even the Ancients could take Pariah solo to take the crown, so a human ghost wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Huffing out a mighty breath, Constantine looked from the lighter to Bruce, his gaze somehow immeasurably more tired. Bruce had imagined that talking about Amity Park made the man look ancient.

He looked haggard enough to be an ancient ghost himself now.

Raising his other hand, he began counting off points on his fingers.

“We know they’re young. Everything agrees on that. Could be any time in the past few centuries, but it’s still a timeline. We know they’re tougher’n Hell and all its demons put together, cuz they put Pariah down single handed. Had to to get the throne. Might not have Ended him, the Casket of Eternal Slumber’s not turned up looking for a new occupant.”

The magician stared at his two fingers for a moment, then sighed and raised a third.

“And we know ghosts like them. They’re less scared, though most of ‘em never knew shit about Pariah. Didn’t even react to him waking, which had to happen for the change in power. That or it all went down too fast for the shockwaves to reach us here; not bloody likely. Wouldn’t take more than a day, and ghosts fight for decades on a whim.”

He hesitated for a moment, considering that last finger. Finally he sighed and shook his head.

“Can’t rule it out though. Pariah waking up’d be as much an emergency for them as it’d be for us, putting his ass back down is an all hands on deck situation on either side of the veil. If this new king is Balance, Pariah’d be their opposite,” he finished gruffly, glaring at all three digits before stuffing both hands into his pockets.

Bruce nodded, drawing a deep, calming breath in through his nose and then out through his mouth. Even this much discussion had something itching in the back of his mind, a building tension that he had to Get Away.

He was in control of it though. Could tell the difference between his own unease and the burning ember of the oath.

Turn and run right away his ass. Magic could never hold out against cool, calm logic.

“And this new king, Balance, has stamped a damn mark on Jason.”

And his breath hitched.

Sharp, white hot panic flared behind his eyes, every muscle clenching with the effort of not leaping straight from the table. The only reason he didn’t was because he had no idea where to go.

What would he even do? Run to Jason’s side? The boy was in another dimension, far beyond Bruce’s reach.

Again.

He was losing Jason again. Losing him to this Ghost King, this Balance, this-

Diana’s hand clamped firmly over his, the Amazon’s grip immovable steel. Bruce felt his bones grinding together before he even noticed he’d stopped breathing, before he managed to look up enough to meet her eyes.

Stern, determined, brilliant blue locked with his. Her grip tightened a little further, the ribbing on his gloves creaking with the pressure.

She wouldn’t break them… probably. They were designed to hold up against any of the supers the League dealt with. Prolonged contact was another thing entirely though.

His attention now locked on her face, Bruce managed a deep breath in along with her. Held it when she did. Let it out.

She didn’t release him for another few repetitions, until he was breathing mostly on his own again. Then she returned her attention to Constantine.

“What.” It wasn’t aggressive. Just a completely flat, completely toneless statement.

Constantine gave her an entirely hopeless smile, pulling his hands from his pockets to give her jazz hands.

“And that’s what he’s not ready to hear yet. Your boy, Jason, Red Hood, has gotten himself personally warded by the Ghost King. He’s the next thing to invulnerable right now,” he added bitterly, as if that made any of it better.

An icy hand clenched in Bruce’s chest again, but he forced himself to still. To breathe through it. To not turn and run, run until he found his child and tore him away from whatever influence had him.

The Ghost King had a hold of Jason. Jason who’d all but ordered Bruce to let him go.

“And Jason must have been in direct contact with the King to receive these wards?” Diana asked sharply, and Bruce’s head snapped back to her.

It was a good question. Important, obvious, there was a connection there that he should be making, but he couldn’t think. His head was spinning, heart pounding, and every shadow seemed black as pitch.

Constantine grunted an agreement, shooting Bruce an almost sympathetic look.

Could. Could this be the oath? Not his own instinctive, natural panic?

Bruce couldn’t tell, he’d been so afraid for so long, ever since he held Jason’s broken body in his arms. Ever since he buried his son.

It felt the same. But he had mastered that fear long ago, so this would not control him now. He had to be better.

Frowning at Diana, he leaned forward.

“Explain.” She’d probably assumed that he’d made the same connection. He probably should have.

There was just a brief flash of surprise on her face before her expression softened, her hand gentling over his.

“Jason was the one who told you of these Anti Ecto Acts, was he not?” She asked pointedly, a dark brow arching delicately.

Bruce about managed a grunt of agreement, his jaw clenched too tightly to speak. She waited a moment longer, watching his face, and then sighed.

“Then is it not likely that either he has told Balance of these Acts, or that Balance was the one that told him?”

Constantine jerked and got halfway through a bellowed curse before she cut him off with a glare. Her tone brooked no argument as she continued with a firm, frosted patience.

“Jason is a principled young man, even if not of the exact principles you prefer. Either he has warned you because he believes we have time to fix this, or because the King would prefer we handle it,” she said bluntly.

It sounded so simple, put like that. Far too simple. Bruce shook his head, leaning in.

“We can’t know for sure-”

“Batman.” There was nothing harsh in her tone. Nothing so overtly aggressive as the glare she kept giving Constantine. Just a calm, cool statement that sucked the air from his lungs.

The weight of her own mantle, the Amazon princess who would one day be Queen. Not his friend Diana; Wonder Woman.

Once she was sure he wouldn’t continue, she fixed him with a sapphire stare.

“Do you believe Jason Todd would condone the end of the world?” She asked simply, and that at least was that plain.

“No.” It didn’t even require thought; whatever he feared ever since his son took his first life, Bruce knew that.

Jason was fundamentally a good boy. So kind, so giving, ironically he had been the most well adjusted boy Bruce had ever given the mantle to.

Which was what made what he’d become so painful. It was everything he never should have been.

Wonder Woman nodded as if that solved all the rest.

“And yet you called the meeting, not him. He has known for several days already and did nothing to alert any of us. Therefore, he does not believe this is an urgent threat.”

It sounded good, and Bruce almost believed it before Constantine snorted.

“Yeah, great, except the kid has no fuckin’ clue what he’s dealing with. Didn’t even know he’d been fuckin’ marked or that sellin’ his fuckin’ service was the dumbest fuckin’ thing he coulda done,” he grumbled and Bruce’s heart fell.

Wonder Woman was not so easily swayed. She raised an eyebrow slowly at the magician.

“And could those protective marks have been placed on Jason against his will?” She asked pointedly, like she knew the first thing about magic.

Constantine hesitated. Frowned a little, thinking hard. Finally he threw both hands in the air and leaned back in his chair, scrubbing them down his face.

“Technically, yes, alright? But I can’t think of a damn reason why they’d bother. Like I told the old Bat, it’s technically a good thing; I couldn’t even get a basic diagnostic spell off, he’s completely fuckin’ magic proof an’ anythin’ that can read that ward will run like fuck.”

Something in Bruce’s chest flickered hopefully. Wonder Woman nodded firmly, then redirected her stare to him.

“Then until we have reason not to, we assume that Jason Todd has control of this situation. He has assigned us to deal with these Acts, either before his king discovers them or on their behalf. You, Batman, will defer to his experience along with that of our experts,” she declared with all the ringing command she was capable of.

It chafed. And yet… he could hear the echo of Harley’s words in her voice.

What if Jason was wrong? It was the kind of thing he always thought about, the kind of thing he couldn’t stop thinking about. The kind of thing that had the Batman able to stand and go toe to toe with gods.

But what if Jason was right? What if Harley, Diana, Constantine were right, and his usual measures would spell disaster?

He had a dozen contingency plans that any member of the League could use to take him down.

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Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai i @greenpyrowolf @frivolous-pastel @honeysuckletook

Thaaaaaat’s a whole lotta new names that can’t be properly tagged, have I missed something?

#dpxdc #wip wednesday #belatedly #danny fenton dead and loving it #dfdali #well you did get down on one knee part iii #chapter 16 part iii

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extraaa-30 · 1 month

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broke: crowley tempted the senate to stab caesar

woke: crowley tempted the senate to stab caesar because aziraphale was upset about the library of alexandria

bespoke: aziraphale was in rome as part of the arrangement. he's the one who tempted the senate to stab caesar (and ten billion burned books cried out for vengeance) 😇📚😌🔪

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*yes i know this was pre-arrangement but for the sake of unhinged delight no it wasn't

post inspired by this art

#baroque: it wasn't even az's turn to tempt. crowley got a commendation & went to investigate like #what human nonsense am i taking credit for now?#only to find aziraphale chilling in rome #eating oysters. living his best life #crowley: oh hey angel. did you hear they stabbed caesar?#az: ah. how terrible #random senator: here's your knife back mr. fell! thanks again for letting me borrow it!#az: ...#crowley: ...#az: lOOK if anything it was a SMITING who tf burns down a library???!?#go #good omens #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #ides of march #happy ides of march #belatedly #extraaa

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burningvelvet · 3 months

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so yesterday was lord byron's birthday and i missed the ghost party because i was busy editing a work i did and going to a play reading... but anyway as one of his top fans i'm obligated to wish him a happy 236th birthday on the blog i'm always raving about him on, so this is that.

"Though the ocean roar around me,

Yet it still shall bear me on;

Though a desert should surround me,

It hath springs that may be won."

#happy birthday #belatedly #lord byron #byron

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distant-screaming · 2 months

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the nepotism at x-hunter is insane btw

#'let's get charlie instead of dean' alan baby please #dee watches pit babe #belatedly #pit babe the series #pit babe

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talxns · 16 days

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my dear friend @guroshitsuji tagged me to make a picrew, i’ve never made one before. it’s quite cute <4

hmm let’s tag @heart-bones @crimsonkingart @ohcherry-art @fleetsparrow @rabu-kaa @cozywool @tarucore @bundtcakee @cieldelarose @wormsin @reddiamond29 @littleriverbunny @tsukiyamers @wingmotif @chasinthesatellite

#tag game #i uh realized #belatedly #that i didnt choose a skin color #i guess #im corpse

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thebookewyrme · 6 months

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Meant to post these yesterday, but got distracted and forgot. Anyway, got both Binghe and Yuan into their Halloween sweaters at the same time and took some photos. Neither minds the clothes, but Binghe is too tiny and his little paws slip out and it slides down him. Yuan fits it better, but he eventually just slipped out on his own too. They were really stinking cute though!

[Image ID: Image 1: An orange kitten on a sofa wearing a black sweater with a white ghost and orange trim. Orange letters say “Boo”.

Image 2: a grey kitten seen from the top of the head wearing a purple black and goldenrod sweater.

Image 3: Two kittens wrestling on a sofa. The Grey one is on top and is wearing a purple black and goldenrod sweater with words and stars on the back it says “Happy Halloween”

Image 4: Two kittens on a sofa, both wearing sweaters. The grey kitten is biting the tail of the orange kitten. /end ID]

#caturday #belatedly #kitten Binghe #kitten yuan #kittens #kittens of tumblr #cats of tumblr #cats with clothes #kitten adventures

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mbrainspaz · 3 months

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my MLK day tradition is finding old white christians posting MLK quotes about love as their statuses for MLK day and commenting one of his radically socialist or anti-racist quotes that they like to forget about.

#happy mlk day #belatedly #I was busy being a little sh*t

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vivantesopales · 2 years

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do not go gentle into that good night

—

Where is the end, is Now upstream from the end?

Cycles are inherently causal, or so you’ve heard, from the rain, from the flowers and the butterflies that breathe life into storms.

But why does the sea deny you when it was gravity that pulled you down that river? Why can’t living just be living, instead of a long meander towards the beginning?

Living should be easier, you think, when dying is so damn hard.

—

☕️ This is a gift art for @m0srael , who is an actual writing god if I’ve ever met one.

🐑 Message left on AO3 because formatting is a nightmare here.

#opal does things #drarry art #hp fanart #drarry #belatedly #wheel of drarry #have been struggling to finish my wod fic for so long even though i love it so so much #it's just that coming home every day groggy and irritated makes it impossible for me to write anything with a coherent plotline #and with some stupid mental health thing going on i don't think i will be able to #in the near future either #and i am so sorry #but please allow me to express my love and appreciation for you through another form of art!#i hope this makes up for it a little #love opal xx

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joshuaalbert · 6 months

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on one hand huge day for tumblr user joshuaalbert on the other hand rude of them to not use my precise design specs 🙄

#I know they can’t I’m joking but we must understand that I am not giving up the version in my head he’s been there since february 2022 #lwd liveblog #belatedly

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faejilly · 11 months

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@jadesabre301 requested "gladiolus for cullen" ages ago via [flowers and prompts] and look! WORDS?!?

Gladiolus- you pierce my heart

Cullen thought he'd gotten used to seeing this new Hawke in Haven. She carried her unusual status easily, but more softly than she used to; she was clearly still herself and yet somehow bore little resemblance to the refugee turned Champion he'd known all those years, what felt like a lifetime or two ago.

It was something in her posture, he thought, more than her softer clothes, her vanished tattoos, in the set of her chin even more than the glint of green under her gloves or the staff on her back in place of a set of too-sharp daggers at her belt just waiting to be used on herself to make something terrible happen.

To be fair, most of the terrible things he'd seen her do had been justifiable in theory, if not always to the degree she'd indulged them. He did not miss Kirkwall, he rather thought there was something wrong with anyone who did, and he didn't care how disgruntled that made Varric.

He even thought he and Hawke were progressing well towards something that might actually be friendship, this time, so much more honest than anything they'd had before.

But then Isabela showed up as a new recruit.

And for just a moment, for possibly the first time since he'd been introduced to the impossible sight of the sole survivor of the Breach, he saw Theia. Her eyes opened wide, soft and desperate and delighted and afraid, the fear she never let anyone see but he knew she always carried, and there was a hint of a smile, something almost happy in a way he'd never earned from her, even back when they'd been almost fond of each other and their mutual orgasms before they'd either of them realized just how poisonous Kirkwall was.

Her face was a smooth mask barely half-a-heartbeat later, but she was pulling Isabela into a hard embrace and there was no mistaking how tightly they both clung to each other, how bright and loud Isabela's laugh was a moment later, still echoing up into the snow-kissed sky as Hawke escorted her back to her cabin.

Hawke had not been that relieved to see him or Varric, not allowed herself to like any of this new Council forming in the wake of the Conclave in the way she had her former band of misfits, in the way she clearly still cared for Isabela, despite the way the Captain had disappeared from Kirkwall after that mess with the Arishok.

Cullen was glad for Hawke, of course, no one deserved to be as alone as she had been and yet-

He hadn't realized until just now how much hope he'd still held onto for this, their second chance, until he caught a glimpse of how much she was still hiding.

It hurt, so much more than he'd expected, because he couldn't even blame her, couldn't think she was wrong, not with how he'd greeted her, how Cassandra kept an eye on her, how everyone in Haven watched her, glancing and sidelong, desperate and despairing and determined that they'd get what they needed from her, regardless of what she used to be, of who she might be now.

He made himself breathe, watched the way his breath floated away from him, white and harmless in the cold air. He inhaled again, ignored the way the cold cut into his face, his lungs, still less painful than the realization that, for all he insisted he was more than Meredith's former lapdog, more than a lyrium addicted Templar, more than a victim of Kinloch's devastation...

He had not ever let their survivor be anything more, or less, than Hawke of Kirkwall.

He closed his eyes, let himself sigh before he opened them again. If he was willing to accept the second-chance Cassandra had given him, the one he in no way deserved, he had to do the same for her, whoever she turned out to be.

He felt his shoulders ease a little, despite the cold, and allowed himself another sigh, something that was almost a smile as he squinted against the snow-glare, surveying as much of Haven as he could see.

Whoever they all turned out to be.

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ladyofthenoodle · 1 year

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For the fic title ask game: Back to You or Please Forgive Me 😊

answering this SO LATE but i am answering it!!

back to you: ladybug gives chat noir a gift. for whatever reason, he cannot keep this gift, so he gives it to marinette that same night. marinette is kinda upset about it so she gives it to alya, who ends up giving it to nino. nino thinks adrien might like it. adrien, confused, gives it back to ladybug, thinking maybe she won’t realize it’s the same gift and since she picked it out, maybe she’d like it for herself. she immediately bursts into tears. why does this gift keep coming back to her. adrien eventually manages to put some things together from her devastated rambling and clears up that he actually loves the gift and loved it when ladybug first gave it to him, but his father simply will now allow him to wear a sweater with a cat eating a banana in public and he thought maybe if marinette wore it he could at least see it again. marinette wears it to school the next day and adrien kisses her on the mouth.

#miraculous ladybug #ask #ask game #belatedly #2grinninggirls

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iztarshi · 1 year

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Febuwhump - captivity

Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

April knew the job offer was shady. Petsitting someone’s exotic reptiles in a mansion over the weekend for a huge sum of money so long as she signed an NDA? Yeah, no way did this pass the CITES law. She’d still signed the NDA, not sure how else she was ever going to get a chance to find out what was going on with those poor reptiles, but she wasn’t planning on keeping quiet. She’d figure it out, she was an intrepid journalism student and wildlife activist and she was not going to let this stand.

Of course, she’d been expecting komodo dragons or giant tortoises not… this.

Not demi-human turtles.

They stare at her from behind the bars of their huge basement terrarium with disconcertingly intelligent eyes. The one with the red eye-marks makes a trilling, clicking babble of syllables, but it has the rhythm of speech. And the little orange-spotted one laughs.

“You guys don’t talk English, right?” April finds herself saying. They stare at her uncomprehending. What is she doing? They can’t talk at all. But then the big one makes his own deep trilling comment and it feels like she’s the one out of the loop. They say isolated human children will develop their own language, don’t they? Twins sometimes do.

April steps forward and presses a hand to her chest. “April,” she says. She taps her chest again. “April.”

The stripey one looks her in the eye and she sees him get it before he huffs scornfully and turns away. The orange one tugs the stripey one’s hand and she watches him ask a question and get a response. Then the orange one turns to her and stretches his hands through the bars.

“April!” he says with the biggest smile. Then he points to himself. “Mrk.” It’s more of a bark than a word.

April points to him. “Mrk,” she says, doing her best to approximate the way he’d said it. “That’s your name, little guy?”

His smile brightens impossibly. He points to the stripey one. “Lrrr,” he says, a trilling, liquid sound.

Lrrr objects to the introductions, pulling Mrk away from her suddenly. The remaining two turtles, the big one and the softshell, crowd to the bars as Lrrr puts Mrk in a headlock.

“Rraah,” says the big one, deep and rumbling, pointing to himself. Then he turns to break up the fight by tucking Lrrr and Mrk under his arms.

“D’n,” says the final turtle, word mostly a clicking sound.

“Pleased to meet you, D’n,” April says. “Now I’d better get to feeding y’all.”

“April,” says D’n as she turns away, and, man. he says it just like one of her university teachers trying to get her attention. Then, keeping eye contact with her, he carefully bites one of the bars.

“You don’t like being locked up? Yeah, I wouldn’t like that, either.” This clearly isn’t something April’s going to solve by journalism. Either no one would believe her or she’d just get these poor guys held in captivity in a science lab somewhere. They’re smart. They can’t talk to her because no one has ever spoken to them, but they talk to each other. They’re not going to be happy in even the nicest zoo.

She looks at them again. They’re a bit scary. Sharp-toothed. Strong. Gazing at her with an intelligence that doesn’t belong in such non-human eyes. But they’ve been… polite. Even Lrrr, who clearly doesn’t like her, doesn’t seem to hate her or mean her harm. He just expects the worst of humans.

April had been assured she wouldn’t have to open the cage to feed them, but she has got the number for the lock, along with a list of numbers to call if she found one of them hurt during a check up. She’s scrolling her phone for that number now, despite her misgivings.

Where would she take them? Hide them in an abandoned building or the sewers? She certainly can’t take them home. What kind of life would they have out there? What kind of life are they having in here?

She finds the number, carefully puts it in and swings the door open.

All four turtles cheer, “APRIL!” at the top of their voices.

They rush out of the cage all at once, as if they have no doubts at all about leaving the only place they’ve ever known. They nearly knock her down but D’n catches her and puts her upright before diving into the cabinets around them, sniffing at everything he can get his hands on. Mrk comes back with his mouth full of turtle pellets to pick her up and swing her around, ridiculously strong for his size. Rraah takes a turn hugging her once he sees she doesn’t object and Lrrr pats her on the head, animosity forgotten.

April lets four feral creatures drag her upstairs, surrounded by comments in babbling turtle sounds, and has never felt more appreciated in her life.

#rottmnt #febuwhump #febuwhump day 14 #belatedly #AU

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