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#fic: Work Problems
le-skye · 1 year
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More sky pirates! Kat and Cathy, chilling at some point in time after Work Problems
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bizarrelittlemew · 6 months
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calling it right now that season 3 starts like this
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idkaguyorsomething · 6 months
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it’s thinking about the last battle time again
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areyoudoingthis · 4 months
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I am SO grateful that ed and stede exist as characters exactly as they are. I'm so grateful for these two men who are traumatized and messed up and struggle to even like themselves, who are terrible at communicating, who make enough mistakes between the two of them to fill an entire ocean. I am so grateful to watch them struggle and be seen and be loved and reach out for the things they want and are maybe starting to believe that they deserve. I'm so grateful that the show lets them fall in love and get together exactly as they are, that it doesn't say they need to wait until they've become some unattainably perfect version of themselves before they have permission to have that. i am so grateful for ofmd
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apalapucian · 27 days
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it's lily who finds him. he's lying on the topmost bench on the quidditch stands, drenched and on his back, eyes open and narrowed against the rain. he's crumpled that leather jacket he loves so much into a lamentable pillow.
"i don't need your pity party," he says when she reaches him. she almost doesn't hear over the downpour. she wouldn't have if she hadn't seen his lips move, if she didn't know his voice so much that she can pick it up from anywhere.
she rolls her eyes. "you need a fucking umbrella," she points out, casting a drying spell and then sitting on the space beside his head.
sirius glares at the overly bright yellow umbrella now blocking his current best friend: his stupid, unforgiving ocean of nimbus clouds. lily waits for the cutting remark, the blunt admonishment. it doesn't come. he just huffs, and then closes his eyes.
eventually, he says, "my god, i am a drama queen," the ice not quite melting, but noticeably chipping at the edges.
"yes, you are."
"my brother's a fucking death eater though. that's got to be worse, isn't it?"
"regulus is not a death eater."
he flinches at the name. "not yet. but like we all just fucking heard, he's clearly — "
"that's not your fault."
he clenches his jaw. "feels like it is."
"it's not."
"how do you deal with all that shit with your sister?"
lily keeps her eyes on the pitch, but the umbrella sags an inch. this. this is why she sought him after that whole regulus fiasco. because he gets it. maybe she needed the pity party. she says, "well, not by storming off to brood in the rain alone, for sure."
he opens his eyes to raise an eyebrow up at her. when she perfectly mirrors his expression as an answer, he breaks and laughs. "why're you even here," he asks irritably, but he's sitting up now, and he's slackened, and lily doesn't need to answer his question because they both know that he knows why she's here.
he pries the umbrella from her hand and holds it up for them because he's taller. more on her side than his, she notices, but that's because he's already mostly rained down on. when she puts her head on his shoulder, he says, "stupid. i'm wasting effort here holding this up for you and you get yourself soaked anyway."
"shut up."
"if you get sick, james will kill me."
"if i get sick, i'll kill you myself."
that makes him chuckle, at least.
they stay like that until the rain softens to a drizzle, neither of them saying anything. when the mist has thinned and all the greens start coming back through, lily straightens up. "sirius."
"what," he says, in that eternally irate, snobbish tone of his.
"you have more than one brother, you know that?"
sirius thinks, i've got three more, yeah. i do know that.
he also thinks, and an annoying sister, seems like. do you know that?
and: thanks for being here. i feel like i'm losing my head.
and: it's not my fault it's not my fault reg's an idiot and that's not my fucking fault.
he says, "your hair makes my neck itch."
lily laughs.
james, remus, and peter see that laugh. they don't hear it, being too far down, but james knows exactly what lily's laugh sounds like, that one and all the rest, so he, at least, might as well have heard it. he pockets the map and starts walking back inside to the changing rooms. remus and peter exchange a glance before following suit.
"we're leaving?" asks peter, craning his neck while he talks, reluctant to wrench his eyes off sirius and lily.
"yep," says james brightly. "kitchens. let's go."
"but there'll be dinner in the great hall now," says remus, checking his watch.
"those two won't be feeling like dinner in the great hall tonight," says james. "we have to get them the good stuff before they run out."
"but i'm hungry," says peter.
"we can eat there, we don't have to wait for them," says james. "come on."
he slings an arm each around them, and off they go to the kitchens, james smiling to himself all the way.
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ganseysglasses · 11 days
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Neil Josten is such a problem child I want to see how he interacts with normal people. Imagine being in a group project for your 8 AM class and you’re paired with Neil Josten of all people. I love him but I would drop the class before working with him on any assignments.
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i had a worm wiggle it's way into my head when 'work song' came on on my way home today.
pairing: steddie | word count: 2,949 | rated: T
cw: major character death (no gore, nothing descriptive, though it's stated that Eddie was sick and getting weaker, then implied that he dies.)
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Eddie Munson’s mother was a witch.
He didn’t know this until he was stricken with the same sickness that took her from him years and years before, but he knows now.
He knows from the small chest he found buried deep in his and his Uncle’s attic one day after learning of his ailment, and the handful of months he should expect to have left, from the local doctor. 
The chest was brimming with scrolls, tomes, candles, stones, herbs, vials, even a small pewter cauldron.
“I shoulda known,” was all Wayne had said, heeding Eddie’s beckoning call that hazy afternoon. 
Eddie sorted through everything he had found; spending hours every day flipping through each book and journal, deciphering his mother’s handwriting and the spells she had inscribed onto the pages. 
He even started to try a few; his mother’s ‘powers’, per sae, had come from the earth around her, writing in the largest, most disheveled of the journals that all she had needed to do was to listen to Mother Earth herself, listen to what she had to tell her.
So, Eddie practiced.
Small things at first, like seamlessly re-attaching the snipped off head of a daisy back to it’s stem, snipping it off again only to regrow an identical one in it’s place. Even starting a broken branch of the pine outside the Munson home on it’s way to a new green version of what was lost.
Eddie counted himself very lucky that Wayne was not one to believe the church’s nearly unhinged ramblings about witchcraft being the work of the Devil, and let Eddie practice a couple of the other simpler things on him.
“Jus’ don’t go thinkin’ I’mma let you chop my head off, boy.”
Wayne’s body aching from following their ox around all day with the plow? “Here, drink this, it should help.” It did.
Couple of Wayne’s fingers get snapped under the same ox’s hoof? A little harder, but he managed; the digits sore and achy that night, but good as new come morning.
“There a hair spell in that book, Ed?” Wayne joked one morning over breakfast, a good three quarters of the way through the six months the doctor gave Eddie, and a couple after finding Maggie Munson’s secret.
“Hmmmm….I dunno Uncle Wayne,” Eddie flips through his journal absently, “I think a Get Your Hair Back spell is too close to a love charm to work right. You could end up with hair all over your body and not just on that beautiful, shiny, head o’yours.”
“Love spells are touchy,” Maggie’s journal had said, “There are a rumored few that work, but only for the truest forms. I’ve tried some simple potions and charms…Al still left..and if they didn’t work…” the rest was easily filled in. 
“Oh yeah? Then how's about a Cure What Ails Ya spell? Got one’a those in that there book?”
“Why? You feeling sick, Wayne?” Eddie half-jokes, trying to veer away from having this conversation with Wayne again.
Wayne’s quiet as Eddie focuses intently on the book infront of him, trying, and failing, to scoop up a bite of egg onto his fork without looking away.
“Ed,” his uncle starts, soft and pleading once again, “Is there really nothin’ that can help ya?”
Eddie huffs, dropping his fork onto his plate and pushing it and the journal away from him. Definitely something a younger boy would do, not the nearly 25 he is now. “Why don’t you give them a look, huh? ‘Cause I already have.”
“Ed–”
He snaps his head up to glare at the older man. “What is it Wayne? What?” Eddie snatches the journal back up off the table without looking. “I’ve looked okay? Through Mom’s and through every damn book in that attic. And there was nothing. Nothing! You think she would’ve left if there was?” He stands sharply, knocking the small faded blue table away as he does. “Would’ve left m—”
His free hand wraps around his middle, nausea and the spins taking him for a ride a the sudden movement.
“Hey, Hey, sit back down son.” Wayne stands as well, coaxing him back into his chair. 
The nausea spells have become more frequent, the dizziness even more so, as the months have worn on, so Wayne ties up Eddie’s hair (growing thinner by the day), walks the short few steps to the pitcher of water he’d pulled from the well that morning, and pours some into a bowl, grabbing a clean(-ish) rag on his way back. 
Wayne smoothes the cool damp rag over Eddie’s face and neck, slowly and deliberately until the nauseous feeling passes.
“‘M sorry, Uncle Wayne, I know you’re just worried.”
“It’s alrigh’ boy, I shouldn’t’a pushed.”
“I’m still doing better than most,” Eddie says, voice tilting up at the end, “I think it’s ‘cause of the magic.”
“Thoughtcha said there wasn’t no cure in that book.” Wayne states, moving to empty the bowl. 
“There’s not,” Eddie closes his eyes, relaxes back into his chair. “Doc thinks Ms. Wilson had the same as me and Ma, and you saw how quick it took her.”
“Mrs. Wilson was nearly 70, Ed.”
“Then how about that boy Carver? He was my age, and Doc gave him six when he came down with it too, was gone in two.”
Wayne shrugs, “The devil wanted him back sooner.”
Eddie barks out a laugh, lifting his head to catch a glimpse of his Uncle’s ‘desperately-trying-to-hide-his-smile’ smile.
Wayne jokes, but Eddie’s been contemplating this for a while now. When he had hit his second month, he was about the same as he was, steadily growing weaker, as what was expected, but nothing like how Ms. Wilson and Jason had looked in theirs. 
Hell, Jason had worked on the docks with Eddie since they were boys; both fit and lean, healthy young men with the musculature to show for their work.
That was when he’d found his mom’s books, and ever since, his health had slowed to a crawl. 
“I think using mom’s magic is helping me.”
Wayne is quiet, cleaning their plates from the table and dumbing the leftover eggs out the window to the pigs. 
“I think it’s your magic now, Eds.”
—---
And so it went.
Eddie’s given six months turned into a year, his magic growing from healing fingerbones, to mending their ox’s broken femur with ease. 
His year didn’t come without worsening symptoms though, and his previously well filled out overalls hung loose around him, his calves barely filling out the tops of his boots tied all the way tight. 
Wayne always kept the faith, so to speak, not a religious man by nature, but Eddie could hear him sometimes in the early morning and late night praying to “Whoever’s got their ears on up there,” to keep Eddie safe, to keep him in their sights when the time came. 
Eddie had been doing work of his own, too. Writing down anything new he found out while sitting with the Earth, listening, watching….
Mother told him through the whispers of the trees, the soft humming of the grass, that he’d know when it was time. 
And that time was within the next few days. 
He felt it in his bones, he felt it in the air when Wayne passed him his birthday gift (a flaky scone with the biggest chunks of chocolate in town, an amazing treat he got once a year) on the morning of his 25th year, he felt it in the very ground he walked on…
He was ready, though he did harbor one regret. One thing he knew he missed out on.
He’d never fallen in love.
Over his last year, Eddie would sit with Mother; amongst the trees, lain back in the field of grass on the hill behind their house, and tell her about them. 
The ‘they’ that he’d likely never meet, the they that would love him for nothing but his love in return. 
Nothing was ever specific, only the vaguest feelings he’d get about them, about the way they’d love, the humor they’d possess, the love for Eddie’s stories they’d have.
And every time he’d speak of them, Eddie’d leave with something that he didn’t realize he had picked up until he was nearly back home. 
A chain of daisies Wayne had plucked from atop his head when he sat down for dinner, a scrap of dark blue fabric he’d found walking through town, a bouquet of bright yellow daffodils, the tiny sun bleached skull of a bat.
And he’d write. Over and over, never quite getting it right, but there was something he knew he needed to get out of his very being before he left for good. Something that felt like a promise.
The morning came, and Eddie awoke to a silent house. 
Wayne out on the fields already, most likely out helping the folks on either side of them with whatever they needed doing, with only the hens’ clucks and pigs’ snorts keeping him company with the calls from the birds in the trees. 
Eddie got up, slow as slow could be, got himself into his clothes, shuffled down the hall to the kitchen to their small blue table, tore out a blank page of his mother’s notebook and wrote.
Pouring all of what remained within him, Eddie thought of the Earth, of his mom, of Uncle Wayne, and them. His unknown love.
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-x-X-x-
Steve Harrington’s mother was not a witch.
But for the last few years, he’s had a suspicion that his Grandmother is.
Everyone says that their food tastes so good because “It’s made with love!”,  but with Mama Harrington, it was real. The love and intent she imbued into her meals was there. And she could cure any ailment.
She would always go on and on about the importance of food, each recipe’s ingredients’ healing powers, and of the recipes and their stories that had been passed down through the years from her mother, and her mother’s mother, all the way to now, where they ended up in a cookbook that’d gone untouched since it was given to Steve’s mother in the late 60’s.
“A gift! Unused for so many years, Steven!”
“I know, Mama,” he nods again, dropping some green something into the pot of sauce bubbling on the stove. “Almost 25 years.”
“Aye! You have catching up to do.” she says, shaking a thick wooden spoon at him.
“Me?” he scoffs, “I don’t know the first thing about cooking, Mama!” Baking? He’d hold his own. Cooking? If his grandmother wasn’t there to help him of on the phone to guide him through a recipe? Kitchen would go up in flames.
“Bah! Watch closely, dear.” she says, shuffling to the pot that stands nearly as tall as her where it’s perched on the stovetop. “It is always your intent behind what you are cooking. You can make anything be anything as long as the intent is there.”
“Even eggs?”
She nods, her nearly fully white bun flopping back and forth on top of her head. “Even just eggs.”
“So if I want a carbonara to help get my friend a passing grade?” he asks, incredulous, but immediately thinking of Robin, who’s coming up on her finals in a couple months (for her doctorate! A PhD! Can you believe that!).
“The intent! Put it into the eggs, into the pasta, I don’t care! But make it for That!”
She throws a concerningly large handful of pepper into the pot on the stove, and gives it a stir.
“Now, this is my Mama’s recipe, and it will help your Pa’s back.”
“How so?”
“Because I told it to,” she growls, glaring at the pot and raising her spoon as if she was going to smack some sense into it.
“Alright, Mama,” Steve chuckles, “What do you need me to do?”
He spends the next hour helping his grandma roll out some of her premade dough for some fettuccine looking noodles, grabbing a wrapped up blob “from the top shelf, Steven. That’s the stuff I made for you.”. 
He rolls, folds, and cuts it as he’s told, then goes to pick Robin up from campus while she finishes everything.
“It won’t take long now, dear, and you shouldn’t either.” Mama scolds, waving her spoon around once again.
“Got it, Mama, be back soon.” He slips on his shoes, looks in on his grandpa in the living room as he passes, grinning at the loud snores he hears from the direction of Pa’s recliner, and slips out the front door to his car. 
In no time, he’s picked up Robin, stopped for a movie from Blockbuster, and is home to the smell of fresh bread.
“We’re home Mama!”
“I’m just setting the table, grab your Pa!”
“Come on Pa, Mama’s got some pasta for you.” Steve says, coaxing his grandfather out of the chair and into his slippers. 
“Ah, perfect, my back’s been real achy lately.”
“That’s ‘cause you sleep in the recliner, Mr. Harrington.”
“How many times do we gotta tell you, Robin? Just call us Ma and Pa.”
Robin plops down in her designated spot across from Ma, “Hey, you should get used to it now; Once I finally get up the nerve to Chrissy out, she’ll come over here all “Mr. Harrington” this and “Mrs. Harrington” that.
“And how’s that coming, Bobs?” Steve asks her, sitting down beside his grandma and immediately passing the plate of bread across the table to Robin’s waiting hands. 
She starts going off at a million miles a minute about her longest standing crush, while Steve shares a look with his grandma, both smirking conspiratorially as Robin takes a bite of the bread.
That’d been Steve’s suggestion, a bread imbued with luck.
It wasn’t a “Love Spell”, Mama said there was none in existence that were worth the pain. But the minimal luck that she had sown before into countless baked goods (especially near February), have had a surprisingly great track record.
With everyone but Steve.
She couldn’t quite figure out what it was that kept him from getting the benefits too, every time she had tried, they had tried, it was an astounding failure. 
First with Tommy Hagan, the carrot cake cookies Steve had presented him with as a special birthday treat back in middle school ended with two missing front teeth and a broken arm.
Then again without even thinking about it, he’d added some luck and hope to homemade chicken pot pies he’d whipped up when he and Nancy were on the rocks. 
It had somewhat worked with Billy Hargrove, but that one hadn’t even been intentional, and he shudders to think about it to this day.
“I don’t know my dearest, maybe it is because you are already tied to someone else?” She had said after her tried and true pot pie recipe failed.
“But it didn’t even work with the one I was already with!” he yelled, sighing deep and pinching the tears away from the bridge of his nose. “She jumped right into Byers’ arms.”
Mama had just given him a pitying look, which was worse, honestly.
Now, he stays far away from any of Mama’s lucky foods, especially with the weird twisting feeling he had gotten the few times he’d tried over the years after leaving Hawkins.
He and Robin came up to Indy for Robin to go to U of I, a year after she graduated, and when Steve was fired from the job that had been paying the majority of their apartment's rent when he was spotted kissing his then boyfriend by his manager….they came to live with Steve’s grandparents, taking to them both with open arms and hearts.
He comes back to the present when his third bite of pasta clears away the last of his headache.
Steve shoots his grandma a knowing look, which she ignores with a sip of wine. 
They’re nearly finished with dinner when it happens.
Steve’s listening intently to a story Pa is telling them, something he’s sure he’s hears a dozen times before, when he absentmidedly picks up, then takes a bite of the bread Ma made for Robin.
It’s more than he’s ever felt before.
In the past, whenever Steve’s tried to gain some luck in love, he’s been inundated with flashes, feelings, words, a warmth in his bones that he’s wanted to hold onto forever. 
The feelings grew stronger the older he got, and now, Steve finds himself sitting on a rolling grassy hill. 
It’s not a flash of a vision like before, he’s sitting in the tall soft grass, and his hands are already making a chain of daisies. Nearly done, in fact. 
He finishes it off, turns it around in his hands, then when he goes to put it on…
He’s back at the table with his family, the slice of bread in his hand, and Pa still telling his story.
Steve jumps up, startling the other three, and beelines it to the kitchen, flinging open drawers, searching for just a damn scrap of paper. 
Mama follows him, “Steve, the bread?”
“I was on a hill, chaining daisies, and now I have to get these words out.” He probably doesn't make a lick of sense, but he doesn’t want to lose them.
Suddenly, a pad of paper and pen are passed into his line of sight. He snatches them up, and starts scribbling down as much as he can.
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He and Mama stare down at the words on the page. 
“Mama, what is this?”
She is silent for a handful of breaths.
“This is why the luck never worked.”
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now with a part 2!
also: i don’t know the first thing about being a witch or anything of the sort, nor do i know anything but the basics about cooking; hope im not way way off on anything!!! this is all in fun 😅
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starlitcrows · 3 months
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to obtain, something of equal value must be lost.
happy birthday to my kiran!
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thepetesimp · 5 months
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Me being totally normal: I can surely figure out what page he's at if I stare at it for too long
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Also me, staring at it for too long: Wait...is he reading....the foreword...? I can't believe it took me this long to realize Vegas is reading the first page here. It might not even be the foreword, it might be info about the author, it's so funny. But don't worry, the good news is that he's actually reading the book in this scene:
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which, of course, you can make the claim that beforehand, he was not in a good mental state (Vegas? not being mentally well? No fucking way right?) so he was trying to distract himself from whatever the fuck the whole thing he's doing at the safehouse is, but after him and Pete talk and bond and all of that good stuff, his mind can focus and actually read the damn book. Sidenote Because I'm a bit insane and very committed in finding things to obsess over with my hyperfixations, I estimated the possible percentage of the book he might be currently at, then went to the appropriate page and found this line there: "He felt very gay and light-headed, and quite forty years younger, as he walked to the door."
I swear to God, it was there, and I laughed so hard they must have heard me over in Thailand.
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Grab a card. See you Wednesday.
Our favorite therapists from @mouseonamoose
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le-skye · 1 year
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Sky Pirate!Anne, Captain of the Felix. Posting here because AO3 won't let me insert the bLOODY IMAGE
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new-revenant · 1 year
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A so Called Tamaranean | Part Two
So, people seem to really like this little story I made, so I guess I’ll continue it! Part 1 if you haven’t read it yet or forgot something from it :) Also I am going to put both parts onto Ao3 in like, a day or two.
Edit : Ao3 Link! Also unsure if I’ll continue this because I don’t want to stress out over it. This was partly inspired by the “Grudge Match” ep from the JLU cartoon(go watch it it’s so good). Don’t ask what continuity this whole fic is set in, because I am making it up as I go. Warning for mentions of blood, I think there’s slight dehumanization, and mild elements of horror. There’s a fight scene. You know, regular superhero stuff.
Tag list since people wanted to be tagged(there are many of you ๑╹ω╹๑):
@spectralstardustandphantomnights - @skulld3mort-1fan - @ballzfrog - @toomanyfandoms11 - @blueflipflops - @everest-nightshade - @terzatheunderscorerima - @thegatorsgoose - @mnemovoid - @ace-aro-as-shit - @pikakaistudios - @phoenixcatch7 - @alice-hazelwood - @idfk-man20 (I can’t tag this person for some reason???) - @keimiwolf - @cankoking - @dxrksong - @learning-to-fly-on-my-own - @chaoticmistake - @ectoplasm024 - @akikkobara - @nerdypaintbrush - @worthlesswall - @stargirl1331 - @treepainting - @that-awkward-fae-nerd - @kawaiikenna - @raspberry-muffin
♥︎♡♥︎
“Alright kid, this is one of my safe houses,” Nightwing said, “We’re going to stay here for a while until I figure out what to do,” they muttered the last part. They both were in a small apartment in an abandoned building. It was stocked with some med kits and rations, with a mattress tucked into a corner. There was a single window that they used to get inside, facing another building.
“Small house,” Danny commented, trying to hide his smirk.
“Yeah it’s supposed to be small-now I need to call Starfire for the first time in a few months,” Nightwing groaned, “Man I’ve been busy.”
Danny sat on the mattress while Nightwing out a phone to call this “Starfire” person. Danny was sweating bullets, because surely she would notice that Danny is definitely not a Tamaranean. Maybe he should just come out and say what he really is…Nah.
He hasn’t even told his own parents that he’s actually…whatever he is, so he certainly isn’t going to be telling this stranger who he is. Maybe once he can find out how to get back home he’ll tell them. He’ll just have to keep his secret to himself, which shouldn’t be toohard. And Danny’s stuck in his ghost form now, for some reason. But that means that it’ll be easier to pretend to a Tamaranean! And he could just say he wasn’t raised wherever Tamaraneans were from, and was experimented on by the people who raised him. Not too bad of an idea from a C-student.
Danny was humming happily as he came up with his plan. He had to ignore what Nightwing was saying because he was pretty sure Tamaraneans weren’t supposed to know English. Honestly he was sure of nothing and probably should’ve eavesdropped on Nightwing. But once he thought of that idea, Nightwing finished their phone call.
“Okay Nightgale, Starfire’s going to be here soon, and you need to eat don’t you-of course you need to eat, what am I talking about?” Nightwing sighed, “Do you have any preferences? Like, sweet or sour foods since you probably don’t know any Earth foods.”
“I will eat anything and everything you give me,” Danny responded, “I have no preferences other than survival.”
“That’s…so sad oh my god. I wish I could give you like, a honey crisp apple or something other than granola bars and military rations.”
“Food is food I guess. Oh, do you have any water my throat’s kind of sore.”
“On it,” Nightwing went and grabbed a couple of granola bars and a bottle of water and nearly tossed it over to Danny before stopping and just handed it to him.
“Thank you,” Danny said as he smiled innocently, before wolfing down the granola bars and chugging down all of the water in less than a minute. Nightwing could only watch in horror as when they tried to make Danny slow down, he tried to bite them.
“So,” Danny made direct eye contact with Nightwing after he finished eating “What’s Starfire like?” He was oddly proud of himself for this rather simple question.
“Oh! Well, she’s the Princess of Tamaran and-“ Nightwing was stopped by a sudden knock at the door. They froze and swiftly went over to the door.
“It’s me! Starfire!” a muffled voice said from behind the door. Nightwing let out a visible but silent sigh of relief before they opened the door.
“Starfire, you got here quickly,” Nightwing commented.
“Of course! There’s a baby Tamaranean here who needs help! Plus, I was nearby already,” Starfire floated a few inches off the ground as she went inside the tiny apartment.  Nightwing pointed her over to where Danny was, and she gasped happily with a gleeful shine in her eyes. Danny tried his best to hide his grimace and prepare for whatever was going to happen.
“Hello! Hi there!” Starfire shot over to Danny-which he thankfully expected to happen this time-speaking Tamaranean. Starfire had long, red, fire-like hair, flickering at the ends like a flame. Her skin was an unnatural shade of a bronze-like orange-but it was probably very natural for Tamaraneans. She was also wearing this odd, purple jumpsuit-looking outfit. Not only were her irises were green, but her sclera had a green tint to it. Danny could swear that she was glowing slightly.
“Can you not do any sudden movements Princess?” Danny said, fully grimacing, “Or get too close.”
“Oh! Sorry young one,” Starfire backed a few away from Danny a smile plastered on her face, “What’s your name?”
“I assume that Nightwing already told you but I’m uh, Nightgale. It’s…nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too Nightgale! I’m Princess Starfire of Tameran, but you may just call me Star or Starfire.”
Starfire went over to Nightwing and spoke to them in English. Danny thought this would finally be a good time to eavesdrop.
“He doesn’t know any Earth languages right?” Starfire asked.
“Nope and he seems far too touch-adverse to do…that language acquisition thing,” Nightwing answered, sighing and rubbing their temples, “He’ll shoot anyone who so much as attempts to even reach out a hand to him-I should know, because that’s what happened to me.”
“Oh no! Are you okay?”
 “Yeah I just got shot in the face but it only hurt for a moment-actually, it hurt Nightgalemore, his powers seem…unstable.”
“Unstable?”
“His arm was in a lot of pain both times he shot a starbolt at me, so I’m pretty sure his powers are at least somewhat unstable. God how-what are we going to do-WHERE did he even come from?”
“He could’ve come from anywhere I think-but! I think we might need to get him some sort therapy for the touch-adversity. So it’s a good thing that it is just physical touch in general that makes it so we can learn other’s languages, so he could just poke someone and boom! He learns English!” -Starfire spun around a little bit- “I…also think we might need to get the Justice League involved.”
“Yeah, we probably do,” Nightwing leaned up against a wall, probably pondering about what to do next. Danny was also wondering about what to do next. He could probably just punch someone in the face and pass that off as a language-acquisition thing. He looked out the window and right at that moment, a green bird landed on the windowsill.
Danny made direct eye contact with the bird. Its eyes were the normal black void of sparrow’s eyes, but the entire bird was green. It wasn’t glowing so it probably wasn’t a ghost.
“Oh hey! So you’re that Tamaranean-“ the bird said, it spoke, and Danny blasted it on pure instinct, obviously. He screamed, it screamed, but it swiftly dodged and flew inside. Its body shifted and grew, turning into a human-a green skinned human with dark green hair, but human nonetheless.
“WOAH! Never seen a talking bird before?” The green person chuckled.
“Beast Boy, are you okay?” Starfire asked.
“Yeah, but that kid seems jumpy.”
“Of course he’s jumpy, he just fell from the sky not even an hour ago,” Nightwing sighed, “Also why are you here Garfield?”
“Oh, she texted the whole group chat about the little Tamaranean here, didn’t you see it?” Beast Boy-Garfield was probably their real name but Danny could only think about a certain orange cat-pointed over to Starfire.
“Kori why?” Nightwing groaned, “So do just the rest of the Titans know?”
“Yes it’s just the rest of Titans, I’m sorry I was just so excited!” Starfire apologized, “He’s a fellow Tamaranean with powers nonetheless!”
They continued to argue and Danny knew that this was his chance. He had to get out of here. He’ll come back obviously, but he really didn’t want to keep looking at people’s mouth to figure out if they were speaking English or not.
He stood up and placed his hand on the windowsill, looking back for a moment before jumping up and bolting out of of there.
He turned quickly, just barely scraping his arm against the other building. He focused on just going faster and faster, constantly taking wild turns and changing his altitude.
He kept going and going, ignoring everything else, and he felt like he was reaching his limit in no time at all. He shoot high into the sky, spotting docks nearby. Shooting back back down like a lightning bolt, he almost slammed into the ground nearby. He didn’t make a noise or dented the concrete, so it was a win in Danny’s book.
The docks seem unused and abandoned, but oddly enough the warehouses didn’t. There was one warehouse that was bigger than the others, and it had a clearly visible side door on it. Danny looked around both at the sky and the docks. The skies were clear, but he could definitely hear something coming from that big warehouse.
Danny looked at his hands. Yeah, there might be some criminals in here. If not? Well then he’ll just give some poor folks a handshake or something. Taking his gloves off and tying them onto his belt, he noticed his veins were glowing a bright green. Danny did not know if they always were like that, but it was probably for the best to not use his powers, which was completely fine as he could still throw a mean punch.
Walking up towards the door, he had to take a deep, deep breath. What was he doing? Why was he pretending? Why does he always have to be constantly lying? He could go back now, tell them all the truth before things get more and more out of hand.
‘But it’s too late,’ he kept repeating to himself. The same thing he had always repeated to himself whenever he thought about telling his own parents who-what he was.
He gripped the handle of the door, already able to hear fighting coming from the inside. It didn’t fully sound like normal humans fighting, but a bit like ghost fighting. Shooting, burning, the ground being ripped apart and crushed. People with superpowers exist in this world, Danny could see that much from what he’s noticed so far. He felt like he was definitely not ready to fight anyone who can punch as hard as Shulker per say, but he was already here. He had to do something.
Danny looked around for those heroes who helped him out. Seeing no one around, he took in another a deep breath, and opened that side door.
♦︎
Nightwing really did expect the kid to run off at some point. He just did not expect the kid to just be gone after he looked away for a single second. Just one second, he just wanted to talk with Kori and Garfield, but no, now he has to search for a glowing, physically andprobably mentally unstable Tamaranean child. If it was only as easy as it sounded because Nightgale was gone gone. Which meant that everyone was freaking out, obviously.
“Starfire! Do you see anything?” Nightwing called out from a rooftop nearby the safe house. Starfire was high in the sky so she could probably see a glowing person much more easily, and she shouted out ‘NO!’ which did wonders to Nightwing’s sprit.
“Beast Boy, how about you?” Beast Boy swooped down as an eagle and shook his head no. Nightwing sighed, “Well, we’ll need to split up then. Beast Boy you go west, I’ll go north, Starfire will go-“
“Nightwing,” Oracle’s voice had suddenly spoken from Nightwing’s earpiece, interrupting him. He put his hand on his earpiece to answer.
“What’s going on Oracle?” Nightwing responded instantly.
“An illegal meta fighting ring has been reported coming from the abandoned commercial docks in Blüdhaven. Do you think you can check up on it?”
“If I had a nickel for every time a meta fighting ring has happened here-yeah I’ll deal with it quickly.”
“Even with the Tamaranean child?” Batman’s voice interjected.
Nightwing’s face dropped. Of course Batman knows about Nightgale, he’s Batman. God damn it.
“Yep, even with them.”
“Their name?”
“They said their name was Nightgale. Now, I’ll get back to you later goodbye!” Nightwing took his hand away from the eyepiece and groaned.
“So we have to deal with a meta fighting ring as well?” Beast Boy asked, “Oh wait! What if the kid got caught up in the fighting ring?”
“Nightgale got caught up in a fighting ring?!” Starfire had come down and was very concerned.
“No-well,” Nightwing thought of how likely it was that Nightgale could actually get caught up in a fighting ring, “There could be a chance-“
“We have to go! Where is the fighting ring?” Starfire eyes were filled with determination.
“Yeah! Let’s save those metas AND that Tamaranean kid who’s name I can’t remember. Sorry,” Beast Boy nervously chuckled a bit during that last part.
“It’s Nightgale,” Nightwing repeated. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more strange it was that the kid’s name was Nightgale. It was pretty close to Nightwing, and there was also the problem of accidentally mixing the two names up. Maybe he should call them Gale, or Night Jr. Damnit, he was turning into Bruce wasn’t he?
Nightwing shook off that thought process, focusing on the matter at hand, “Now, let’s go to the docks!”
“Yeah!” The other two exclaimed. They all bolted towards the docks, towards Nightgale.
It didn’t take too long to get over to the docks, especially since Nightwing knew the way there by heart and the other two could fly. The trio still looked around for Nightgale on the way there, but had no luck with that. Nightwing really hoped that Nightgale wouldn’t be at the docks. He felt like there was a good chance that they would’ve gotten hurt, or worse.
Once the trio did get to docks, they saw the biggest warehouse had a giant hole in its side. People were running away from it, screaming and tripping over themselves.
As the heroes got over to them, they noticed just how scared the people acted. “P-please take us in, we’ll go to jail, just get us away from here!” One of them shouted. All of them were heavily bruised and bleeding lightly, large, but very shallow claw marks across either their chests. 
“So this the illegal meta fighting ring I’ve been hearing about,” Nightwing muttered, “Alright, I’ll cuff these guys real quick, get them to the hospital, and then we’ll-“
“Please get us away from here first! That-that monster in there will-“
“Oh! That might be Nightgale right?” Starfire asked.
“Yeah! They seem strong enough,” Beast Boy added.
“Let’s check it out. You criminals stay here or I’ll get that ‘monster’ to hunt you down.” The threat seemed to be very effective against them, which was very worrying, but right now Nightwing needed to focus at the situation at hand-someone dangerous was inside that warehouse with the metas, and that someone could very well be Nightgale.
As they rushed towards the hole, Starfire caught a criminal being thrown out of it. The criminal also had a large, shallow claw mark across their chest. She placed them down and told them to stay with the other criminals, and they ecstatically did as told. The trio were finally at the hole.
Nightwing now believed the criminals when they said there was a monster here.
He couldn’t focus on anything other than-that thing standing in the center of the warehouse. It was a shadow, fickle and dark, glowing green-bleeding green out of its hands and eyes. Eyes that stared right at him, right into his very soul.
It was pulsating with light, unsteady and bright, drawing Nightwing’s mind to nuclear waste. It’s body seemed to flicker in and out of existence as fast as a blink of an eye, small, almost invisible sparks of electricity jetting out of it.
Its hands looked sharp, fingernails indistinguishable from flesh. They were stained red, blood dripping towards the ground. Blood was splattered at its feet and the ground around it. But he couldn’t see any blood on the rest of it’s shadowy body.
This was it, this was how Nightwing was going to die. He couldn’t move couldn’t think about anything else other than the horrors that awaited him. It was all going to be over and he couldn’t even help that one kid-
“Nightgale!” Starfire exclaimed and flew inside. Suddenly, Nightwing was snapped out of his trance, and the monster disappeared, leaving a tired and trembling Nightgale behind.
Nightwing looked over at Beast Boy, and it was clear that he saw the same thing as Nightwing. Beast Boy looked at him for an answer, but all he could do was shrug slightly. Whatever affected him and Beast Boy didn’t affect Starfire, so he could easily pass this off as some Tamaranean thing, but something in the back of his mind said that he shouldn’t.
Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right about Nightgale.
But he’ll think about that more later. Right now, Nightgale and the metas needed help.
“Beast Boy, you look after the metas, I’ll deal with the rest of the criminals,” Nightwing said and then immediately sprang into action.
“R-right!” Beast Boy responded and followed suit.
Nightgale had taken care of most of the criminals involved, but the ringmaster, Roulette, had nearly escaped. 
“Roulette! I see that you haven’t changed at all,” Nightwing commented when he caught up to her. He could see that her left arm was bleeding, baring the same shallow claw marks as the other criminals had. “This is what, the second time you’ve set up a meta fighting ring in Blüdhaven? Why’s that?”
“I didn’t expect to get caught so quickly I’ll tell you that much,” she replied, “Much less did I expect to get caught by your son.”
“Okay, Nightgale isn’t my-“ Roulette took this opportunity to kick Nightwing square in the face. In retaliation, Nightwing grabbed her foot and flipped her over, and the fight commenced.
Back in the warehouse, Starfire was checking Nightgale for any injuries. And he had a lot of injuries. No cuts but a lot of bruises had formed already.
“We have to get you to the Watchtower right away-it’s basically the Justice League’s base and they’ll have everything we’ll need to fix you up okay?” Starfire told Nightgale. Only after she finished talking did she realize that she was speaking in English, so she readied herself for having to repeat that whole thing again.
“I’m okay,” Nightgale muttered, back in English.
Starfire gasped, “Did you learn English while punching all those criminals?”
“Uh, yeah, that’s why I took my gloves off, I’m sorry if I wasn’t-“
“No no! It’s okay, it great actually, because now you can communicate easier with everyone else! Good job Nightgale,” Starfire smiled at them and they shyly smiled back.
“Thank you,” Nightgale muttered, “Do we help those people now?”
“I got it!” Beast boy shouted. He had rounded up all the metas and there were a concerning amount of them.
“There’s at least 9 people here,” Nightgale commented, “Or more. I’m not good with counting.”
“That’s okay Nightgale,” Starfire lightly patted Nightgale’s shoulder, and they didn’t even flinch! Which was great, progress was being in one way or another. “Now, how about we check up on Nightwing hm?” Nightgale nodded, and Starfire quickly checked up on the metas before bringing Nightgale with her outside.
Nightwing and Roulette noticed the two immediately, and Roulette’s eye widened in horror.
“That kid-“ Roulette started, before becoming yet another person who got cut off by Nightgale shooting at them. She dodged but Nightwing was quick to knock her unconscious with his Escrima sticks. Nightwing cuffed her while Starfire helped out Nightgale, who was currently doubled over in pain.
“Are you okay Nightgale?” Starfire asked.
“I want and feel like death, but other than that I’m fine,” Nightgale groaned, “At least this blood isn’t mine.”
“Yeah you need to go get help right now,“ Nightwing commented, facing towards the warehouse, “First we just need to take care of metas, the criminals-this criminal, in particular, and then-“ Nightwing suddenly whipped his head around and faced Nightgale, “-did you just speak English???”
“Yeah I punched a bunch of people. No big deal. What’s that shadowy figure over there?” Nightgale pointed over towards their left, and Nightwing immediately knew who it was.
“If I look over and I see it’s Batman I will not be surprised,” Nightwing sighed. He turned around and did not see Batman, so clearly he needed to spin back around and there he was, Batman. 
“I’ve notified the League about the Tamaranean child,” Batman had began, quickly getting to the point, “You and Starfire can take him to the Watchtower with the Zeta-Tubes and preform a check-up before any questioning.”
“Doesn’t the Zeta-Tubes only work for registered members?” Starfire asked.
“And what about the bad guys?” Nightgale added. He was looking at Batman with a sense of awe, for some reason.
“Beast Boy and I will take care of it. I was able to collect a DNA sample from the initial crash site and registered Nightgale as a guest,” Everyone noticed how Nightgale very visibly flinched once Batman talked about collect a DNA sample.
Nightwing gently patted Nightgale’s shoulder, and they looked up at him with their tired, scared eyes. Nightwing gave them a little smile, “It’s going to be okay Nightgale.” But Nightgale’s expression stayed the same as the trio made their way towards the nearest Zeta-Tube.
It was going to be fine, Nightwing was sure of it. Yeah, something bad might happen because life, but Nightgale would be okay soon enough. But Nightwing could only think about what he saw before he entered the warehouse. Was Nightgale really a Tamaranean? Starfire wasn’t effected by whatever he and Beast Boy saw, and they were both human.
Nightgale wasn’t a human, that’s for sure. But what if was a human, a meta more likely. But then why did he fall from the sky? A portal could’ve opened-actually, a portal would’ve been the only way they could’ve came here, since they definitely don’t seem to have the energy to fly all the way to Earth from…wherever they were from.
So what was Nightgale? Who was Nightgale?
Nightwing didn’t know what was the truth yet, but it wouldn’t be long until he found out. He was sure of it. But for now, he just wanted to make sure Night Jr. was safe.
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chrollohearttags · 3 months
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these hoes don’t be mad at me, they be mad at No Child Left Behind.
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4lph4kidz · 3 months
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i was thinking about your dirk and hal poll and i want to mention that i think your concept for ink and iron where dirk creates hal from his reflection by enchanting a mirror is so cool 😌
thank you! hal's predicament and purpose within the canon narrative is so fascinating and i felt it was really important to find a way to explore what i find most interesting with him. i can't take full credit for the concept though i took inspiration from a few placees (one of my friends pitched the idea of the mirror accidentally dumping him onto jake's doorstop for example) but overall i think the idea is very fun and i'm really excited to write more hal stuff!!! also i'm going to take the opportunity to share this oldish doodle i found:
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the mispelling of angel as angle was NOT intentional (<- dyslexia haver) but it probably explains a lot. he's pointy
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lemonzestywrites · 1 month
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Of course I have to ask about omega Eddie
your wish is my command!!
heard the words "im a nester. i nest' and well...rightfully spiraleld
Buck does his best to calm down his overactive mind before entering Eddie's house. It’s one thing for Eddie to take a sick day or two every now and then, but a whole week? Out of nowhere, too- the whole thing is off. Because if he knew about it beforehand he would have told Buck about it, right? …Right? He shakes his head. This isn’t about him. This is about Eddie. With swift, anxious fingers, he slides his key into place and unlocks the front door, allowing himself inside. Immediately upon entering, Buck takes a half step back, physically reeling from the sudden aroma that hits him. It’s strong. Sweet. And yet oddly familiar. What the fuck? It sends Buck’s back a bit as he shuts the door behind him. It’s not a bad smell by any means, and definitely not artificial in any sense; fuck, just the opposite. Like someone took the natural scent of the Diaz home and cranked it by a thousand.  But there’s something else there. Something Buck doesn’t know, but it feels like he should. His stomach turns, and the hairs on his arms stand as sweat gathers between his shoulders. Fuck, what is happening here? He squeezes his eyes shut, quickly shaking his head. His body is overreacting, he needs to focus. Buck came here for a reason. With a deep breath, he pulls himself together. “Eddie?” he calls out, heading further into the living room. Buck ignores how the scent feels like it’s getting stronger there. He definitely ignores the way his body seems to crave more of it, too. Now is definitely not the time. There’s no sign of Eddie here besides the smell, but then out of the corner of his eye, he spots it. On the floor of the living room, where the coffee table once stood, a gathering of pillows, blankets, and sheets now stands.  Buck glances down at the pile, slowly noticing a smattering of a few hoodies and T-shirts strewn about the floor as well. The realization hits him like a brick upside the head. It’s a nest. Eddie’s nest. His mind spins, all the information swirling around in his mind wildly. The days off. The smell. The nest. Oh fuck. Eddie’s going into heat.
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Only The Strong Survive
Lockwood & Co. Big Bang 2023/24 Fic
If you were under eighteen, you were old enough to have known some of the worst horrors the earth could provide, but you still couldn’t get served in a damn Wetherspoons. When the Problem started, people barely took it seriously — mostly because the older generations didn’t believe in it. When a majority of them fell victims to Ghost-Touch, they started to realise just how in danger they really were. Safe havens cropped up all over Britain, and many people tried to leave the country. It paid to be selfish in a world like this, and few could be trusted.
The ones with Talent had the best chance at survival. The ones that weren’t so afraid they locked themselves inside their houses the moment the sun began to creep down towards the horizon. The ones who could make a living by finding Sources and trading them for supplies that just weren’t common anymore.
Individually, no one ever really lasted very long after dark. So it was a good job they stumbled across each other when they did.
Or: AU in which the Problem started later and grew out of control more quickly. Merges apocalypse tropes with the Problem universe we already know.
(link in reblog)
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