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zombiesbecrazy · 5 years

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with enough will and enough might

Summary: “Friends don’t let friends fly home drunk, rookie.” Or Kyle Rayner gets drunk and calls Guy Gardner for a ride home.

AO3

Guy’s bleary, sleep riddled eyes stared at his phone for a few seconds before he even registered that it had been the thing that woke him up. His brain finally kicked in, but didn’t help to clear anything up because he didn’t know the number and there was no name popping up. The screen faded to black as the called ended, but something in the back of his mind was trying to convince him that the 818 area code was, heh, ringing a bell.

California? Maybe? It wasn’t Hal though. Not that he and Hal were really on speaking terms right now and they were more texters than phone calls at bullshit o’clock in the morning. There were a few others but he couldn’t think of anyone who would call him out of the blue like that, not if it wasn’t work related. Stewart’s contact would have popped up, and even so Jon and Hal would have contacted him through the rings if it was a real emergency. No one else would be bothering him this early except...

Shit. The new kid? Kirk? No. Kyle. Kyle Rayner. New Lantern who he had only met once with less than a month under his belt straight out of Kilowog’s boot camp. Jon had said something about giving him Guy’s number but he didn’t think that the kid would actually use it.

“Kyle?”

There was some fumbling with the phone on the other end, and it was a terrible connection, all hollow and echoing. “Mr. Gardner? Is that you?”

“Yeah. Call me Guy, rookie.”

“Thanks for calling me back.” The kid chirped, sounding way too chipper for being so late or early depending on which side of the bed you found yourself on. “I need… Damn it. This is embarrassing.”

“Dude, it’s 4:30 in the morning here. Spit it out.”

“You’re on the east coast? Fuck.” There was an awkward silence before the kid giggled. Was he drunk? “Sorry, I didn’t think about that. I wouldn’t hav-”

“But you did. Spit it out. You said something about embarrassing?”

“Yeah.” Kyle shuffled around again on his end, the echoing getting louder before tapering off. “I need a ride. I sort of need an adult.”

“Did you mistake me for Uber?” Guy sighed, because Kyle definitely sounded drunk and he already knew that he was going to have to get up and deal with this problem. “I’m pretty sure you are an adult.” He was, wasn’t he? He knew Kyle was young, but as far as he was aware he was an adult. Or at least adult enough to know how to call a cab.

“I can’t.” His voice got loud, the type of loud that only happens when someone is trying so desperately to be quiet and failing miserably. “I’m naked and in a playground and I’m not sure but tv shows have taught me that is illegal so I need help now and I definitely can’t call my mom or Alex. I need an adultier adult than me right now.”

“What kind of night are you having?”

“One where things escalate quickly. I was at a buddy’s for poker night and it went downhill from there. There was some karaoke involved.”

“Where’s your ring?”

“Out of juice and at home?”

“You are such a poozer, kid.” That got a snort out of the other end of the line and Guy sat up and swung his leg over the side of the bed, using the light from his ring to figure out where he had put his sweats. “Text me your address and give me ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Guy.” Kyle sounded relieved and before Guy had a chance to hang up, he quickly threw in, “and can you bring me some clothes?”

Eleven minutes later, Guy was suited up, across the country and floating on top of an unremarkable lonely playground in North Hollywood, with no sign of Kyle anywhere. He checked his phone to double check the pin drop that Kyle had sent him and he was in the right place. He did not have the patience to track down a tipsy nude acquaintance in the middle of the night so he was hoping that Rayner hadn’t just wandered off.

“Ring, find Kyle.”

“Green Lantern Kyle Rayner is hiding in the curly slide.”

“What? Why?”

His ring didn’t answer, apparently not very interested in Kyle’s rationale for being in the slide. Instead, Guy landed beside the play structure and pounded twice on the roof of the slide. “Wakey, wakey, Rayner.” There was some shuffling in the tube, a bit of groaning and then a topless Kyle Rayner popped out the top of the slide and shot Guy a goofy grin.

“Mr. Gardner!”

“Guy.” He leaned against the slide and looked up at the kid, drunk as a skunk, though nothing dangerous. He could see why he didn’t want to call his mom or girlfriend, but surely he had better options than a random work colleague who he didn’t even know at all. “Why’d you call me?”

“Something the other guys said.”

“They all think I’m a jerk.” That wasn’t exactly true. Hal definitely did, though the feeling was mutual so it didn’t bother Guy too much. “They aren’t exactly wrong.”

“Maybe.” Kyle shrugged, and Guy wondered what else they had said, though it couldn’t have been too bad if Kyle had still called him over them. Jon was off planet, but Hal was around. “But they all said that you were the guy to call if you needed help with something crazy, no questions asked.”

“I think that they may have been referring to something more life or death.”

“You haven’t met my mom. She’d kill me if she found out about this.” Kyle frowned, looking at Guy’s hands. “Did you bring clothes?”

“Nope.”

“What? You flew out here from the other side of the country in the middle of the night and didn’t bring any clothes? You are meeeeeean.” He dropped his forehead onto the slide entrance with a loud whump and moaned. Guy winced. The hangover tomorrow would not be pretty. “I regret every single one of my life choices.”

“Consider it a chance to learn a valuable lesson.”

“Don’t drink sambuca shots after midnight? I think I learned that one, thanks.”

“Rayner.” Kyle lifted his head to look at Guy with unsteady eyes. “Did you ever consider asking your ring to find you?”

“I can do that?”

“Maybe. It doesn’t work for everyone and they don’t teach you it on Oa because they aren’t big with work-life balance.” It varied from species to species. There were some, like the Earth Lanterns who had personal lives and other things going on, and then there were others who never took the rings off, a sacred calling until they die in battle. “Does your ring like you?”

“Yeah, I mean, I guess so.” Kyle’s face scrunched up as he thought about it before shrugging, eyes looking confused with the question. “How would I know?”

“You’d definitely know if it didn’t, so let’s assume that it does.” Guy’s ring had a tendency to be a jerk if he wasn’t focused enough on what he was doing and his wasn’t the worst that he had seen by far. “Picture it clearly in your mind where you left it and call it.”

“Ummm. Okay.” Kyle looked around the park, and then threw both arms in the air and yelled “RING!” at the top of his lungs, looking around as if he expected it to just magically appear in front of him.

Guy bent over laughing, big belly laughs until tears were streaming down his face, and he had to hold himself up on the slide until the fit subsided. “I meant in your head, but sure.” He wiped the moisture from his eyes, and caught his breath. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had laughed that hard. “Try again. Will it to come to you. Focus on it. Track its journey from here to here.”

“How do I know if its working?”

“You’ll feel it.” He raised an eyebrow and looked up at Kyle in the tube. “How badly do you want to not be naked right now?”

“I have never wanted anything more in my life.”

“Should be easy then. Will it to come to you.” he repeated. It wasn’t something everyone could do, but it was an easy enough concept. If he could wield the ring well enough to pass training, he understood what Guy was saying.

Kyle closed his eyes, breathing in slow and deep several times, before reaching out his hand to the east and waited.

And waited, nothing but some creaky swings moving in the playground.

“Kyle, I think you have to try again.”

“Shh. It’s coming.” As soon as he said it, Guy could see a green glow whip around the corner and join them in the playground, flying up the slide and settling on the new kid’s finger, uniform settling over his skin. Kyle whooped in glee in and slid down the slide to meet Guy at the bottom.

“Awesome! Thanks!” He held out a fist to Guy, who laughed and bumped it. “Aren’t you going to ask about why I was in the slide?”

“Nah. You were right I’m the guy you call when you need a no questions asked favour.” Guy didn’t really care why he was in the playground or where his clothes were gone; it was none of his business. “And now, you just have to remember that you owe me one. Let’s get you home, kid.” Guy pointed his ring at Kyle, green bubble surrounding him and they took off into the air.

“Take a left on Sunset.” Kyle said and then placed a hand on the construct around him. “Why am I in a bubble?”

“Because friends don’t let friends fly home drunk, rookie.”

#whumptober2019 #no.25 #guy gardner #kyle rayner #I make up my own green lantern timelines and relationships #because i can #i do what i want

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finalfrontierpioneer · 2 years

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2021 Fic Recs

Alright, this year SUCKED- except for the fic! I don't wanna dwell on the misery that was this whole year, but I do wanna celebrate some really talented authors who kept me going this year. So here are 21 of my favorite fics from 2021 :D

They're all from assorted fandoms and authors, and different ratings/ genres. The only hard rule here is that they were all completed in 2021. So no WIPS here!

Here they are, in no particular order!

First off, some Halbarry:

Five Times Hal Complains and One He Shuts The Hell Up by ChocolateTeapots @chocolateteapotsvis (Teen and up)

The world’s ridiculous, and Hal’s going to tell Barry all about it. Oh, and hopefully they'll get together at some point.

It’s not like Hal really has a plan, but that's never stopped him before. Let the whining and dining commence!

i died a sinner, you died a saint (a look from you and I would fall from grace) by DynamicDuo @halifax-jordan (Teen and up)

Will-they-won't-they-should-they-shouldn't-they, could-they-would-they-will-they, the five times Hal and Barry almost and the one time they did.

It goes like this: Hal can't stop looking in broken mirrors, and Barry can't stop with the what-ifs, and together they can overcome death but somehow intimacy draws them up short.

(5+1 fic!)

I Second That Emotion by CapedCommissioner @leftsmitteninbritain (Teen and up)

Hal’s report is simple. The Guardians tried to make some upgrades to the Central Power Battery, and they went awry. All Green Lanterns are, currently, at the mercy of their emotions - ones that are, in fact, amplified by that fuck-up with the Power Battery, and perfectly visible through the rings.

Barry decides to keep him company while he's under lockdown, and Hal's ring decides to force his heart onto his sleeve.

The Bigger Picture by Kestrealbird @teatitty (Not rated)

Barry Allen has to die. That's completely unacceptable.

Through the Smoke and Mirrors by ChocolateTeapots @chocolateteapotsvis (Teen and up)

It had seemed so simple: take part in a dangerous experiment for the chance to fly again. Instead, his feet are frustratingly on the ground and the closest he gets to the sky is the promise in Blue Lantern’s light.

But whether it’s chasing the impossible or staying ahead of all the forces threatening to crush him, Hal has an advantage. After all, he’s the fastest man alive.

Jeronica!

The Ward and Her Protecter by bothromeoandjuliet @kindnessinpain2000 (Mature)

After her father's kingdom is overthrown, Princess Veronica of York is invited to become King Harold's ward in the Riverdale kingdom. Upon her arrival she learns that her safety is not as certain as it appears to be; for there are forces of evil that conspire against her; forces of darkness, and perhaps the most dangerous force of all; her own heart.

those who can't, teach by thefudge @thefudge (Teen and up)

How on Earth has he become her closest friend in town? (or Jeronica bonding as teachers in Riverdale/S5)

put my name at the top of your list by an_expensive_imagination (Teen and up)

“Was I really just revenge sex for you?” Jughead asks quietly, staring straight ahead now to avoid eye contact.

Veronica cuts her eyes towards Archie and Betty for a beat. She turns to face Jughead, arms crossed over chest. “Revenge sex was all I could afford, Jug,” she replies, tone much too soft and a half-smile on her lips.

your best kept secret by Krewlak (Mature)

the core four part ways when they graduate. life moves on. they each think that they’ve left the past in the past until they all receive invitations to the ten-year reunion.

against their better judgements, all four attend and are reunited for the first time in a decade.

as they struggle to come to terms with their fractured relationships, the voyeur (who isn’t done with them just yet) sends them into fox forest on the night of a full moon where jughead and veronica stumble upon a dark ritual meant to fix the broken timeline of a different town.

a much belated gift for @half-ok and a s5 au

Stucky!

if i'm evil, still you're right beside me by lacunalady @wincestplease (Explicit)

“How can you say that?" Steve shudders, turning away. "I know the things you’re capable of. You’re not...a good person.”

There is a beat of silence after that. Steve is afraid for a moment that he’d angered a powerful man, one to whom he had his back turned. “You don't know me,” Bucky says finally, his voice very soft. "I can prove myself to you."

****

Steve Rogers didn't mean to stumble into mafia business that night--but stumble he did. After saving the life of infamous mob boss James Barnes, Steve finds himself trapped in a Brooklyn alleyway with a target on his back and nowhere to run. That is, of course, until Barnes offers him a deal; in return for saving his life, Barnes will offer him protection from Rumlow's retaliation. The twist? They have to convince the rival mob (and all of New York's juiciest tabloids) that they're madly in love.

my kingdom for a kiss upon his shoulder by steviepie @gayavenga (Explicit)

“I’m planning on taking a journey soon.” He straightens up even further when he realizes his shoulders have begun hunching in. “A quest,” he corrects just to make his intention clear.

James blinks again. “A quest?” He says slowly.

“Yes.” Steve’s heart feels like it’s beating straight out of his ears, but he forced himself to go on. He’s too close to finishing to stop. “I’m going on a quest.” He pauses to lick his lips, eyes still locked with James' own. “And if you’re willing, I’d like for you to go with me.“

(alternatively: the prince steve and knight bucky au that no one asked for but me)

What lies they told us by darter_blue @darter-blue (Explicit)

Steve spins around and has to put a hand out to the bar to steady himself at what he finds. The voice belongs to a guy that shouldn't be real. A guy with long dark hair falling across his shoulders in waves. Eyes that catch the light and flash through shades of steel and blue. And cheekbones that shouldn't exist outside of a magazine. A guy that is staring at Steve and smiling. 'Um, hi,' Steve says, breathless and fumbling to sit back on the stool behind him, 'Uhh...' He's trying to speak but his brain won't cooperate.

'Oh, he's shy,' the guys says, stepping into Steve's space. He makes an elegant hand gesture to the bartender and then leans his body into the bar, 'Must be my lucky day.'

An AU where Steve and Bucky have a forgotten history, an undeniable attraction, and are about to lose everything except each other.

For my Bucky Barnes Bingo square: C1/ AU: Mobsters

1938 Rom Com Special by littleloon (Explicit)

See, the biggest disappointment of Steve’s (entirely hypothetical) dating life isn’t the constant rejection from every girl he’s ever been set up with, it’s letting Bucky down.

Buddie- This whole pairing is completely new to me this year!

Your Fingerprints Smeared on My Heart (Lead Me Back to You) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Explicit)

In 1880, Evan Buckley of the arriviste set is sent out west to oversee his family's railroad and recover from a broken heart - and meets Eddie Diaz, cowboy. When fate tears them apart, they make a promise: find each other again.

In 2018, Buck walks into his fire station in Los Angeles - and meets Eddie Diaz, new recruit.

eddie diaz vs the pta agenda by mmtion (Mature)

Really, Eddie doesn’t care that the PTA aren’t his biggest fan. He knows he misses too many meetings, and it’s not like he’s best friends with any of the other parents. It doesn’t affect Christopher, so it doesn’t bother him. He’ll pay for the annual fundraising mugs and consider his duty done.

But then Buck picks Christopher up from a class trip and it all goes to hell.

Like, of course Buck is everyone’s dream guy. He’s responsible with kids, and kind, and funny and interesting and hot to touch. That’s obvious. But now Eddie’s fighting to keep the PTA moms, teachers, and dads, all off an unsuspecting and tempting Buck.

Because Eddie is a good friend. Right?

the heart beat so loud, we could not ignore by wonderfool (foolmetal) (Teen and up)

Post 4x06/4x07, speculation for 4x08

“Change can be scary,” Buck says, “but we want your dad to be happy. Adults can get lonely too sometimes. He has a lot of friends at work, but he might be looking for someone who...can be a partner. Someone who worries about him and supports him when he’s feeling sad. Someone who loves him.”

“But he already has you.”

the dream you wish will come true by woodchoc_magnum @woodchoc-magnum (Mature)

In which Christopher Diaz cannot understand why his father would want to date his former teacher when Evan Buckley is right there.

A couple spideypool recs:

this is the life by jilliancares @jilliancares (Explicit)

An up-and-coming masked hero is revealed to be a serial killer, and the public is terrified. Everyone's demanding that Spider-Man reveal his identity for their own safety, and as if that isn't enough, Deadpool is hired to make sure it happens. Peter's stressed enough as it is with work and rent and school and a new super villain cropping up — he just doesn't have time for this. He especially doesn't have time for Deadpool accosting Peter Parker, wanting Spider-Man's photographer to help track down the elusive hero.

Or:

Everything seems to be going wrong all at once. It's a miracle Peter hasn't had a breakdown.

You Stay On My Mind: Part I by harrytipotte @harrytipotte (Mature)

Basically a rewrite of the first Deadpool movie mixed with The Amazing Spider-Man movies (AKA what if they were the love interest in each other’s movies).

What if Wade had changed his plan and Peter had been the one delivering pizza to Jeremy the stalker.

Annnnd some rollisi bc THEY’RE CANON:

Feels Like The Truth by electrictoes @electrictoes (General audiences)

Sonny hadn’t thought all that much about the implications of his name being where a father’s usually would be on Jesse’s school paperwork until he heard the assumption - he found himself nodding in agreement, going along with it much as he had allowed a nurse to assume he was Amanda’s husband just so that he could stay by her side when her father was hospitalised in the Spring.

Evidence by SwordsandPens (Teen and up)

Amanda and Carisi's relationship affects a case they work, and they get busted.

#fic recs #halbarry #jeronica #stucky #buddie #spideypool #rollisi #2021 fic recs #honestly i was so tempted to rec more by chocolateteapots but i felt like it would be blatant favoritism lol #here's to 2021!

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inhumanescreeching · 3 years

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tgcf au but we're making heaven officials the Calamities (thank u to the one post i lost in my dash about calamity! hualian and beefleaf)

recap, we have four calamities namely: crimson rain sought flower, black water sinking ships, night touring green lantern and white no face. i have a non-existent vocabulary on chinese characters so im making up these names for both the feels and the little tale i thought up

tgcf spoilers ofc, uve been warned

xie lian: white silk rope

- yes it's because of ruo ye. if book four ended with ruo ye's creation scene (iykyk) and he became a vengeful ghost i would like to think he'd terrorize only the wealthy who had a similar lifestyle as his past one hence why he only targets them. he'd leave threads and trails of white silk around his victims' necks

mu qing: poisoned lavender tea

- lavender tea for the aesthetic and the calming?? benefits but also imagine mu qing's ghost upbringing tale being about him dying by poisoned tea, offered to him by one of the servants who hated him during his time in xianle as xie lian's attendant

alternatively, i also thought of: broomstick crushed lavenders

- mu qing tending to lavenders in the royal xianle garden (owned by the queen of course) and a group of cultivators approach him, taunt him, throw him a broomstick because he should be sweeping, and amidst the fight he ends up crushing a grove of flowers. he also ends up stabbed through the chest by a broomstick, and he rises from the dead to take revenge. lavenders wilt in his presence

feng xin: molten gold arrowhead

- gold because of his character color but also flashback to book 2 and 4, when everyone struggled with money. im thinking maybe a group of new performers who wanted to lessen the number of rivals, approach feng xin with a challenge. the winner gets a gold ended arrow, which would cost a lot (spoiler alert, it's fake and the whole thing's a scam). while he's focused on tryna hit the apple on top of someone's head, an enemy shoots him with that very same arrow, right to the chest. he rises from death to make these bitches repay him, so he can help his highnesses

alternatively: broken gold belt

- where it's the canon timeline with feng xin and jian lan except when he gives her the belt (that xie lian gifted him out of guilt) she refuses and breaks up w him. he's killed on the way home by a group of bandits tryna take the belt. now he targets those in miserable relationships so no one suffers the fate he had

i kinda like imagining how the story woulda went if heavenly officials were ghosts and calamities instead anyway send tweet start thread i beg

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flashfuture · 3 years

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So I just wanted to ask how you would best “sum up” Hal? Like, what are the key traits to his character? I pretty much only read Flash comics so I have no idea where to even begin with on an accurate assessment of him 😔

A chance to rant about my disaster boy? Yes please

Okay so Harold “Hal” Jordan aka Highball aka the Green Lantern

He is seemingly a man of contradictions. Which I think is actually different writers thinking that Hal is who he presents himself to be and others thinking Hal is putting on an act so it differs

But Hal is a very complex character.

He is incredibly stubborn which he gets from his mama. Hal wanted to fly and he knew his mother would stop talking to him if he did. But he chose his path over a relationship with his mother

Hal got his love of flying and freedom from his dad.

Hal is always going to go for what he wants. His determination is what makes him such a strong lantern.

One thing people note is his string of girlfriends lol. Hal is incredibly charming. He’s got an aura around him that makes people just wanna be with him or be his friend even. He makes friends with all sorts of people. His friendships can vary from antagonistic to warm at any given moment but he’s still very close to everyone he spends his time with. For example Hal and Guy Gardner bicker all the time but they’re still very close friends who do love each other.

Here is another contradiction as well. Hal is very against the idea of getting married because he doesn’t like the commitment. But he’s committed his life to flying and to the corps. And even in the relationship front he told his buddy Tom that Barry could count on Hal’s friendship till they died. So it’s the romantic entanglements Hal isn’t sure he wants the life long with I guess

Hal is incredibly confident in his abilities. Say what you will about his self worth but Hal knows he’s the best of the best. Hal knows he’s gonna win cause he’s Hal it’s just in him. Some would call is show boating which is a part of it. But Hal tends to lead the charges in fights because he wants the guns pointed at him.

Which leads into the next point Hal is extremely protective. He is protective of his brothers and their kids. He’s protective of his fellow corpsmen Kyle most notably who Hal treats like a kid brother. He’s protective of the corps as a whole.

Hal will always do whatever it takes to get the job done even if it veers into grayer territory. He’ll kill if he thinks it’s the best course of action. Hal can go to extreme lengths to do things. ie pre the retcon Parallax was Hal trying to reset the universe to the pre crisis timeline because he thought that would be best for everyone. Coast City would be back, Barry would be back etc.

Now let’s circle back to that self worth thing I mentioned. So Hal is very much aware of his worth as a superhero and Green Lantern. Even as a pilot. He’s never doubted his own skills really

But as a person that’s where Hal’s insecurities come into play. Hal from a young age was being compared to his older brother Jack who to put it as nicely as I can is an asshole.

Hal then started comparing himself to other heroes like Clark and Barry. Most notably Barry who Hal believes to be the very best not just of the heroes but of humanity itself. Hal has made comments that make it clear he doesn’t think he measures up to Barry’s level of “goodness”

(Which I like to think as a bit of meta play because in the late 50s every character was changed or created to model after Barry for sales purposes so no one is gonna measure up lol)

Anyways yeah now onto the fear thing. Older comics bought into the Man with no Fear thing but I think Daredevil has that trademarked. Hal having no fear was one thing that was said to have annoyed Bruce the most.

Hal was very reckless not because he had any death wish but because he wasn’t registering the inherent danger of a situation. It wasn’t so much not looking before he leapt but more not thinking that he should look or looking and then going. A gun pointed at him for example he knew could kill him but that didn’t scare him even when he was a teenager and didn’t have his ring or anything.

Hal could be afraid in the moment that’s for sure when Barry is in danger for example. (It’s that one fear t-shirt meme with them) Or if one of his nieces or nephews might be hurt. But it’s more like a panicked state than having fear

Like there was a complete disconnect in his mind which is a very interesting psyche I’d wished they’d explored it a little more

Modern comics would have you believe Hal is pretending to not be afraid because they really want to push the overcome great fear thing. But I think they went a little far saying Hal is scared every time he flies because if there is one thing about Hal that’s always consistent it’s that he loves loves loves flying.

I have thoughts here if you wanna read more on that rant lol

But yeah so Hal is stubborn, determined, protective, charming, reckless, self assured in his abilities but self deprecating in his personality, willing to walk those lines of morality, and depending on the writer fearless or a damn good actor

Hope that helps lol. His character varies a lot cause writers aren’t so sure how to handle him all the time so yeah.

Any other Hal readers/fans can feel free to jump in if they feel like I’ve missed something or got something way wrong but this is what I’ve got from reading Hal

#dc comics #hal jordan #green lantern #ask

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knights-past · 3 years

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Stargirl Spring Break Special: Reaction

This will not be a full review of the Stargirl Spring Break Special, but more a quick capture of my immediate thoughts after reading it. Keep in mind, there will be spoilers.

I’ll be honest, it’s kinda weird that the Seven Soldiers of Victory are this idea that keep getting revisited in the context of this character. I get why, and it worked when they were revisited in the original Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., but how much mileage can we really get out of a team who, while all being interesting characters on their own, don’t really have much of a *thing* when they gel together. Still, this brings back some characters who had been lost to limbo like Greg Saunders/Vigilante, Sir Justin/Shining Knight, and the second Crimson Avenger, the latter of whom made me more interested than anything else as she was a character that never really caught on when introduced and was sadly left to flounder.

One thing that I though was interesting is the way the presence of Green Arrow and Speedy is addressed. While the post-Crisis takes opted to simply retcon them away (replaced by the Spider and Stuff the Chinatown Kid respectively), in the spirit of the post-Death Metal, “everything counts/it all matters” stance, it’s established that the contemporary Oliver Queen and Roy Harper were sent back in time early on in their careers. In fact, it’s even posited that the events of that time travel are what eventually lead to their growing apart as seen in the events of Green Lantern/Green Arrow by O’Neil and Adams. Admittedly, I’m not entirely sure that works, timeline or meta wise, but hey.

Beyond all that, it’s a fairly simple story featuring the Seven Soldiers reuniting in an effort to save Lee Travis the original Crimson Avenger from a time-travel plot involving Clock King and Per Degaton’s time machine. It’s worth noting that Emiko Queen/Red Arrow fills in for Roy Harper much like how Courtney fills in for Sylvester. And honestly, that’s one element that I really like and will probably appeal to some fans who are in this for the young heroes of DC - Courtney and Emiko’s meeting and forming of a relationship. The pair bond over their shared experiences as younger heroes, particularly after the Crimson Avenger bars them from participating in the mission for fear of their safety. I admit, I’ve not read much with Emiko Queen, so I can’t say how much it resonates with her character in other books, but it works here. It retreads some ground we’ve already seen with Courtney, but as this is supposed to somewhat serve as an introduction to the character for new readers, it makes sense to revisit.

In fact, that aspect of “the dangers of superheroics for young people” is kind of at the forefront of this issue, with the topic of the original Crimson Avenger’s sidekick/Eight Soldier Wing (who for some reason is drawn with a question mark on his chest) and his sacrifice being a key plot point and the revelation that Wing, Secret from Young Justice, and Dan the Dyna-Mite all being trapped by something called the “Childminder” along with other lost children. Obviously this is set up for a future plot point that will be continued in the teased Stargirl #1. Now when will we see that? Only *time* will tell.

Speaking of teases, the book ends with Per Degaton appearing before Clock King and revealing that he has a plan that will hurt the JSA - in not one, not two, but THREE iterations!

And of course we see a fancy group shot of our new JSA, featuring several of the members that returned during Doomsday Clock (though not all of them; Ted Grant/Wildcat I, Sandy Hawkins/Sandman, and Jesse Chambers/Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle are all absent). And several members also have updated designs, most likely designed to reflect upcoming media appearances. I’m a bit mixed on them, but easily the worst are Mister Terrific and Hourman.

Overall, while I enjoyed this issue as a fun superhero one-shot, it felt more like a “Seven Soldiers of Victory Spring Break Special” than a Stargirl Spring Break Special. While it makes sense to use Courtney as a viewpoint character to learn about these older characters, it places far more import on those characters than Courtney herself. And frankly, when it *is* placing the focus on Courtney, she comes off rather flat, more akin to how she was in the early bits of Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. than as the more rounded, take-charge character she became throughout that series and her later appearances. It’s emblematic of Geoff Johns (*sigh*) and his tendency to focus on past stuff rather than building new things going forward, a tendency that only got worse with Rebirth. And with the tease for Stargirl #1 hinting that it’s gonna be all about Courtney looking for Wing and the others, it looks like that streak will continue. Even the teaser for the new JSA story focuses more on the JSA’s past than on building a new future. Don’t get me wrong, I love my continuity bs, but after a while it becomes old hat.

Oh, also of note: this issue sees a number of elements from the Stargirl TV show have made their way into the DC comics canon, the biggest of which being the semi-sentience of the Cosmic Staff. Now they also continue to reference Sylvester Pemberton as “the Star-Spangled Kid” and never address him as Starman or as the previous owner of the Staff like the show (and the New 52) presented. Given that they also make references to stuff from the original Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. run, this implies Jack Knight was still the one to give her the Staff and the mantle. Will this be followed up on? Probably not, but it’s at least interesting to think about.

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prancing-uboot · 4 years

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Satsuma Dads Timeline

You know how Golden Kamuy is an awesome manga full of amazing (and super-hot) characters and a great main storyline? So what do I do with it? Naturally I obsess over those two old gremlins: Koito Heiji and Hanazawa Koujirou the fathers of Second Lieutenant Koito and Ogata.

It's probably the most niche pairing ever, and I thought it was just me fixating on that one panel where Tsurumi mentioned they were close friends from Satsuma. But the more I read about the history of Satsuma and the times they lived in, the more I’m becoming convinced that there’s so much of their story written between the lines and that their relationship and tumultuous past is what actually caused and keeps together most of the GK plot. But nobody else seems to see it!

So what do I do with that? I spent my nights in front of my crazywall of historical research, trying to recreate an entire universe of events 50-years before the gold plot starts, just to be able to present to you:

The Satsuma Dads Timeline

Why you Should Care for Heiji and Koujirou

~1850

Koujirou and Heiji* were born around 1850** in Kagoshima.

Heiji might have been older then Koujirou, but not more then 5 years. They were both sons of high ranking samurai (noble bloodline), serving the Shimazu clan.

* Most likely they went by other names in their youth and then changed them a bazillion times to make stuff confusing, but let's skip that.

** That would make them around the same age as Tougou Heihachiro and Nogi Maresuke ** - the chief players in the Russo-Japanese war for the navy and army. Both share a lot of biographical motives with Koujirou and Heiji and Noda might have modeled them a bit after them so I'll include the parallels where possible. I'm not sure Nogi even exists in the GK universe or was he replaced by Koujirou completely. Tougou was recently confirmed to exist. He was also a Kagoshima-boy, and grew up in the same circles so it's impossible that he and Heiji didn't know each other from childhood.

1856-65

Koujirou and Heiji train in the same gochu in Kajiya-cho*. Gochu was a Satsuma-specific education system, relying on small neighborhood study groups in which the older samurai spent a part of their time teaching the younger everything they knew. Starting from penmanship and Confucian doctrines and ending with swordsmanship, and the unstoppable Jigen-ryu.

Teenage Heiji develops a Koito-crush*. on Saigo Takamori (20 years his senior) and follows him around like a lost puppy. Koujirou makes fun of him, but in reality he feels a bit jealous.

* Kajya-cho was a Kagoshima district known now as "Home town of Revitalization" as most of the influential Satsuma leaders of the Meiji Revolution came from there. That also meant that they directly taught the younger generations as part of the gochu. For example Tougou also came from that area. I'm not that sure Heiji and Koujirou were actually from Kajiya-cho, but it being 3km downhill from the Nanshu Cemetary would fit in nicely to the place where Tsurumi and Otonoshin first met so it's likely.

** Gochu was a completely male oriented environment, so homoerotic relations bloomed and were even encouraged (think ancient Greece), hence the term "Satsuma habit" was later used as the synonym of homosexuality in Japan. But for them then it was just a natural thing they sometimes did, and not really an orientation. Koito Otonoshin crushing on Tsurumi might be a bit old fashioned but it's just a Satsuma thing, so of course his dad is cool with that.

1866-67

Both go to Kyoto to serve Hisamitsu Shimazu and there they experience the tension of the Bakumatsu period first hand. They soak up the patriotic moods of the Sonno-Joi fraction, they hear of the the assassinations by the Shinsengumi, they feel a revolution brewing. Being a hot-headed youth in those times made keeping out of trouble very difficult.

1868-69

The Boshin War breaks out. Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa fight to abolish the Tokugawa shogunate. Heiji and Koujirou join up and dispite their young age are given officer commissions*. Coming from a long line of Satsuma’s military commanders it is what they were raised up to do. This war however is nothing like the stories they grew up on. Instead of swords it relies more on modern weapons guns and artillery. What was supposed to be a short battle with the Shogun's forces, turns into a lengthy nationwide campaign of crashing shogunate loyalists long after the Shogun himself resigned. Koujiro and Heiji fight side by side and survive all the way to see the end of it in Hakodate.

* Only the oficers wore the super cool Satsuma black koguma wigs and I definitely do need fanart of that.

1870

Heiji and Koujiro come out of the war victorious. Most of the positions in the new government are taken by Satsuma and Choshu men, so practically any career path is open to them. Koujiro stays with the Imperial Guard while Heiji joins the Imperial Naval Academy in Tsukiji, Tokyo. They compete for the most ridiculous facial hair* and spend their off nights “drinking green liqueurs under red lanterns”

Ogata's grandfather fought** on the other side for the Mito clan (the last shogun was from the Mito-Tokugawa branch). After the defeat his family falls into poverty. They sell their daughter to an okiya because they cannot support her ***.

* The Haitourei edict from 1871 allowed samurai to cut of their chonmage and encouraged them to experiment with western haircuts.

** I’m guessing he was active in the Boshin by the fact that he had an old gun lying around.

*** This "Ogata's mom comes from a fallen samurai family" theory has been going around but I'm not super sure about the time frame here. Usually maiko get promoted to geisha when they're 20-21. That means to already be a geisha when she gave birth to Hyakunosuke she must have been at least 12 when she was sold. That's quite late for a geisha to start her education. Or I might be wrong about Hyakunosuke's birth date, but I'd really like it to be 1879, so I'm in a pickle here.

1873

Heiji finally finds the guts to propose to Yuki, his Kagoshima sweetheart. They marry and a son is born to them - Heinojou *.

Koujirou's family chooses a wife for him **. She's from a good family, likely Choshu to have some useful connections. Heiji comes to their wedding in his fancy navy uniform to congratulate them and say goodbye. He'll be going to study abroad in the France ***. Koujirou feels like it's his funeral wake.

* Heinojou's birthdate is the first solid date we have for them from the canon, so I'm basing the whole “born in the 1850s” on the fact that the expected age of a man to marry was their early 20s.

** Arranged marriage was the most commonplace in Japan then. The families picked the brides because they were most likely to spend more time with her then the husband, taking care of the house and such.

*** In 1871 Tougou went to study abroad with 14 other cadets to Greenwich Naval Collage and that would fit so nicely. The problem is that they went 1871-1878 and Heinojou was born in 1873 *shakes fist*. There were also individual exchange programs though and since in canon Heiji is mentioned to have some french friends I figured he was sent to France.

~1876

Koujirou is stationed in Tokyo, while his wife stays in Kagoshima, taking care of the family home. He begins an affair* with Tome**, a geisha from Asaskusa. With Heiji gone she's the only person he can open his heart to.

After abolisment of the clan system and privileges of the samurai, the dissatisfied Satsuma samurai quit the Imperial Guard en-masse and go back to Kagoshima to gather around Saigo Takamori and brew a rebelion. Koujiro - by then a major - is faced with a choice: to go back with his childhood friends, or to stay loyal to the government. He chooses his career.

* I'm guessing he must have been married already when the thing started, because marrying a geisha wasn't that unheard of and wouldn't really cause a scandal or hinder his career. All three of the Meiji prime ministers Hirobumi Ito, Taro Katsura and Yamagata Aritomo ended up marrying geisha. So Tome being a geisha was not a problem - Koujiro already having a wife was.

** Tome is a random name that Ogata used in his Sugimoto self insert fic. I love the headcanon that it's his mom's name. Because of course he makes everything personal.

1877

In January the Seinan War breaks out. Koujirou fights against his clansmen and his former war comrades *. By September most of them are dead. He is there at Shiroyama where Saigo makes his last stand. Heiji is never going to forgive him that.

When he comes back to Tokyo, Tome doesn't ask, she understands and prepares him angler nabe while he sulks.

* Koujirou's situation is by no means an unusual one. Many of the Satsuma samurai landed lucrative jobs under the new administration and didn't share the dissatisfaction of their disenfranchised clansmen. Even Saigo's own younger brother Judo stayed as a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Guard.

1878

In May, Okubou Toshimichi, the lord of home affairs, who took personal command of surpressing Saigo's rebelion is assasinated, branded in Satsuma as traitor.

Koujiro is not welcome in Kagoshima anymore*. His wife moves to Tokyo to avoid harassment. Keeping his affair with Tome is becoming more difficult. Especially when he learns that Tome is pregnant **

In December Heiji comes back to pick up the pieces.

* Both Okubo and Saigo Judo moved their families to Tokyo because of this situation, so I'm guessing that was a thing. They received some backlash from their compatriots but eventually things normalized (for Judo at least, because Okubo was, you know, slashed up dead in an alley). By 1898 Saigo was acknowledged by the government as a tragic hero and bygones were bygones. Yet Heiji still talks with the Satsuma dialect, while Koujiro doesn’t even have a trace of it left.I wonder if he still used it when talking to Heiji.

** Geisha were not supposed to have sex with their patrons. The fact that she chose to give birth to Koujirou's son tells that she dared to hope that he'll at least acknowledge him.

1879

In January Hyakunosuke is born*

* Ogata's birthdate is a shot in the dark. He could be anywhere between 1878 and 1883. I just really like the idea that he was born right into the middle of such a chaos.

EDIT: GoldenKamuyHunting pointed out that Ogata had to be born after 1881, since Noda placed him as Older than Usami. This ruins the timeline a bit, and I’ll have to think of the way to reorder it to fit. For now, treat the 1879 as canon-defying :(

~1881

After pressure from his parents and from Heiji, Koujirou comes clean and learns to make his official family work. Koujirou's legitimate son, Yuusaku is born*.

From now on he effectively ghosts Tome. Her mental health** begins to waver. Tome quits being a geisha and moves back to her parents in Ibaraki ***.

* Also a shot in the dark. This would make him 23 when he died and 2 years younger than Ogata.

** Before the 20th century the white makeup geisha wore was made out of lead, making them more likely to develop lead poisoning, the first symptom of which is the decline of intelectual ability. Fun fact: lead gets passed down in breastmilk in quantities super-harmful for the baby, so if we go with the theory "Tome went crazy because of lead poisoning" than that would explain so much about Ogata...

*** This is likely due to her health, not due to giving birth. She could have just sent Hyakunosuke to her parents and kept working. God knows how they made ends meet after that. Before they were be so poor that they had to sell their daughter. Now they were much older, she was sick and unable to work, and her child was another mouth to feed. Not to mention the cost geisha education was worse then US collage loans so she most likely had a large debt she barely started to repay. Was Koujiro at least decent enough to pay child-support? Oh god *realises* it was Heiji who was paying them, wasn’t it? *heart breaks*

1886

Heiji and Yuki's second son, Otonoshin is born, 13 years after the first. What's up with that, Heiji?

1887

Koujirou goes to Germany* to study military tactics.

Hyakunosuke (8) feeds his mother rat poison. Koujirou doesn't come to the funeral.

As a result Hyakunosuke is brought up by his grandparents alone. He likes his grandma. They might instill in him the same kind of dislike for the new government as in the case of Kadokura. They definitely install a dislike for his deadbeat dad.

* Japan sent most of the promising officers abroad to soak up the knowledge how to run a modern nation. The army was mostly modeled after Germany (the Japanese were impressed by their recent victory against France) so it's the safest bet that Koujirou went to study there sometime in his life. In 1887-88 Nogi and Soroku Kawakami were sent to Germany. So it still depends if Nogi exists in GK universe and Koujirou just tagged along with them, or are they completely interchangeable.

1888

A new division is formed in Hokkaido. Tasked with guarding the north and developing the land.

1889

Heinojou (16) passes the Naval Academy entry exams with highest marks, determined to follow the footsteps of his father.

1894-95

The first Sino-Japanese war breaks out.

Heiji and Heinojou take part in the Battle of Yalu River. Heinojou is stationed on the flagship Matsushima under admiral Ito Sukeyuki. Matsushima gets badly damaged. 57 men die (including three officers) and 54 more are wounded.

Heiji silently watches his son burning from his ship. Comes back a wreck of a man. Gets awarded a title of Baron under the kazoku system *.

No clue what Koujirou could have been doing then. It’s likely that he was part of the army that conquered Port Arthur (back than still called Lushunkou) the first time around in only 3 days **.

* I need to double-check that with the raws since I'm not sure Tsurumi calling him "lord" is meant to imply he had a noble title, or if it's just a honorific. Many of admirals had titles so it would be highly likely someone with a lineage and a service record like Heiji also got one.

** this experiance would make him a pefect choice for later leading the operation in 1904 so this would make a lot of sense, but it would also be a pretty heavy take, since that would mean he was present during the Port Arthur masacre. And as a senior officer too, so it’s hard to find any excuses for him if that was the case. Did witnessing the atrocities there influence his later opposition to the Japanese expansion into Manchuria? Was his instruction for Yuusaku not to kill anyone motivated by trying to protect his son from sharing his guilt?

1895

Tsurumi comes back from the war and joins the 7th (actually more like he’s demoted out of the 2nd). By then Koujirou is the head of the division *

* I’m guessing Tsurumi had to have enough time to work on him, to be able to learn all about the Koito family troubles and come up with the plan how to use them. Did he get into Koujirou’s confidence? Or was he just reading his private letters?

1900

Heiji stays in Kagoshima and spoils/neglects his second son. Tsurumi "accidentally" meets Otonoshin and they visit Saigo's and Heinojou's graves.

Later that year the whole Koito family moves to Hakodate and Heiji takes control of the Ominato torpedo division *.

* The Ikazuki was a new class of light destroyers specifically made not to repeat the tragedy of too large and too slow Matsushima. No wonder Heiji was willing to move across the country for that.There were 6 of them made in total. Cool factoid: One of those destroyers sunk after a crash with a civilian steamship off the coast of Hokkaido in 1909.

1902

Ogata (24) joins the army and specifically volunteers for the 7th division planning god-knows-what. By conscription he would have landed in the 2nd (Kantou region).

Koujirou doesn't acknowledge him. Tsurumi does.

The Great Hakodate kidnapping takes place. Koujiro sends his best intelligence officer from Tsukisappu to help his friend and keep things discreet. Afterwards Heiji learns to appreciate the son he has left.

Later that year Otonoshin passes the exam to join the Army acedemy.

Fresh out of the academy Yuusaku (21) joins the 7th division. His father, plagued with guilt and bad life choices instructs him not to kill people and not to sleep around.

Yuusaku meets Hyakunosuke. Hyakunosuke tries to get him to kill people and sleep around.

1904-05

The Russo-Japanese war.

In February the war starts with Japan launching night torpedo attacks on the Russian fleet stationed inside Port Arthur. Heiji leads the third destroyer squadron aboard the Sazanami*. They continue the attacks over the next months trying to impose a blockade. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the victorious Japanese Combined Fleet effectively traps the remaining Russian warships inside Port Arthur. The Russians can't get out, the Japanese can't get in. Heiji can only wait and watch as the Japanese Army struggles to capture Port Arthur by land.

Koujirou leaves the 7th division behind when he is promoted to a member of staff of General Nogi’s 3rd Army. They land in Incheon in April and reach Port Arthur in August to start the siege. It is a drawn out blood bath. After wasting tons of lives in pointless assaults, the Japanese realize quite late that the key to victory lies in capturing the 203 Hill overlooking the harbor. Koujirou is made chief of staff for this operation.

In October they get the news that the Russian Baltic Fleet has left Tallinn and is on its way to reinforce the besieged Pacific Fleet. The race starts. If Koujirou fails to capture the hill before the Baltic Fleet arrives, the Japanese Fleet will be annihilated, and Heiji along with it.

In November the 7th division arrives in Port Arthur. They don’t get special treatment from their former commander and they’re sent head first to the 203 Hill. They capture it on 5th December, only after the artillery stopped caring weather they hit their own or not**. From their new position they destroy the whole Pacific fleet.

The death toll is 80 000 soldiers. More than half of the 7th is gone. Among the fallen are second lieutenants Hanazawa Yuusaku and Nogi Yasusuke - general Nogi's only remaining son (the first one died earlier in the same war).***

Hyakunosuke thinks that the losses wouldn't have to be this high if they just had more snipers like him. But nobody listened.

* All of the Ikazuki-class destroyers were quite active during the war. I placed Heiji on the Sazanami just because there’s the most info about what she did and when.

** The winning strategy was implemented by Kodama Gentarou. He was sent to Port Arthur with the authority to replace Nogi. He had enough guts to sacrifice soldiers falling to friendly fire in one coordinated assault instead of bleeding them out by continuous suicidal frontal assaults. He didn't officially replace Nogi though, and he let him take the credit for the victory, because they were friends. It's a really cool story.

*** Interesingly enough Yasusuke, was also shot in the back of his head. His father when he saw his body asked only “Was it after he had completed his task, or was it before?”

1905

The 7th move on to Mukden. Koujirou and Nogi along with them.

In May the Baltic Fleet arrives. Without Port Arthur, they try to get to Vladivostok to resupply. Tougou's fleet intercepts them in the Tsushima strait and despite their smaller number, crushes them decisively. Heiji's destroyer Sazanami, captures the destroyer Buyini with the wounded admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky **.

In September the Treaty of Portsmouth is signed. The Trans-Manchurian Railway gets handed off to the Japanese. Later Koujirou strongly opposes the plan to develop it ***.

** Heiji's torpedo division was also responsible to delivering the finishing blow to the flagship Knyaz Suarov. Later this was written on Knyaz Suarov's last moments "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice. If there is immortality in naval memory it is hers and theirs". Gives me the chills.

*** Did he see that it would lead to more war? Mantetsu was the reason behind the Manchurian Incident in 1931 and later for the breakout of the second Sino-Japanese war, where a really ugly face of Japanese imperialism saw the light of day. So, was Koujirou a good guy all along? This I hope will be explained in the manga.

1906

In January Nogi returns to give a victory report to the Emperor *.

Koujirou "commits seppuku" by his son's hand. "Writes" a sappy goodbye letter to Heiji (probably also by Ogata's hand).

Heiji gets seduced by his son's dashing young commander and does some stupid-treasonous things for him, convinced that Central Command was to blame for pushing Koujirou to suicide.

In November Mantetsu is established.

* Nogi breaks down while making the report and asks to be allowed to commit seppuku for allowing such high casualties. The Emperor forbids him. Nogi waits 7 years until the Emperor dies and commits seppuku on the day of his funeral.

Disclaimers

I would say half of this consists of what already is in GK canon (even if it’s written between the lines) or history. The other half are my free guesses for what I personally think would make a better story ;)

I tried and tried to do thorough research, but in the end I’m just a humble fangirl, and not a historian, so if there’s something I got wrong, missed or misinterpreted please correct me - learning history is a never-ending story.

Sorry for linking directly to the scanlations. Support the manga by buying the volumes if you can.

This list will most likely be growing since I will eventually figure out what Koujirou did during the Sino-Japanese war, and I’m only starting digging in to the details of the Boshin War, so I’m sure I’ll expand upon that.

If anyone ever wants to use this information for a fic, please do. Copy it all if you want to. I don’t mind the slightest. I’ll love you to pieces for writing anything for them at all!

#golden kamuy #hanazawa koujirou #koito heiji

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Will an “Aggressively Anti-Snyder” Warner Stop the SnyderVerse?

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Say what you will about Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but the eponymous director’s streaming superhero redux managed to branch the DC Extended Universe movies off into its own tangential timeline, which has since been dubbed the “SnyderVerse” by the fandom that now passionately hashtags for its restoration in the studio’s main continuity. While recent revelations about Snyder’s rough relationship with Warner make said restoration unlikely, the director doesn’t entirely shut the door on such a notion.

We know that Snyder, once the driving creative force behind Warner’s DCEU, was already the odd man out with the studio by the time a personal tragedy incited him to relinquish the director’s chair of 2017 megamovie Justice League to the controversial tenure of Joss Whedon, but a recent comment from the director has stamped the idea with a powerful punctuation. While Snyder’s focus right now may be this month’s release of his new feature, Netflix-bound horror film Army of the Dead, one promotional interview in particular, with Jake Hamilton, saw him field the inevitable SnyderVerse question with an answer that’s rather inauspicious for its advocates.

“Warner Bros. has been aggressively anti-Snyder, if you will,” reveals Snyder. “Clearly, they’re not interested in my take. But I would also say that they certainly weren’t interested in—I would have said originally—in my take on Justice League. They certainly made decisions about that. I love the characters and I love the worlds and I think it’s an amazing place to make a movie and it’s glorious IP, so there’s that.”

Indeed, Snyder’s status as persona non grata with Warner was bluntly revealed, rendering the mere existence of Zack Snyder’s Justice League even more of an industry anomaly. The film, a four-hour tour-de-Snyder streaming offering that hit HBO Max back on March 18, was the culmination of nearly four years of persistent tagging of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut by fans of Snyder’s darker DCEU vision to press Warner to release the director’s pure vision of the film to contrast with the trimmed-down Whedon-directed theatrical release. Ultimately, proponents hailed the once-mythical manifestation of the Snyder Cut as a triumph—opacity of its streaming metrics notwithstanding—and their efforts have switched to a new hashtag campaign, #RestoreTheSnyderVerse, since it was revealed that Whedon’s film, not Snyder’s, was still considered Warner’s canonical version. It’s a development that obviously didn’t sit well with Snyder’s vocal fandom, which has become empowered by its achievement of essentially having willed the Snyder Cut into existence.

“I don’t know what could be done as you go forward other than, I think the fan movement is so strong, and the fan community is so—the intention is so pure, and I really have huge respect for it,” Snyder muses on the significantly narrowed chances of his return to the DCEU. “I would hope that cooler heads would prevail with them and that they would see that there’s this massive fandom that wants more of them, but who knows what they’ll do.”

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Snyder does seem to offer his fans small silver lining for some kind of reconciliation of the SnyderVerse. However, it’s important to remember that his fallout with Warner was the culmination of an initially auspicious working relationship that saw him tapped as the primary creative fulcrum for efforts to concoct a lucrative, Marvel Cinematic Universe-like franchise of shared-continuity DC Comic movies beginning with his directorial tenure on 2013’s Henry Cavill-starring Superman reboot, Man of Steel. While that film’s worldwide gross of $668 million worldwide wasn’t especially impressive against its $225 million budget when all expenses were taken into account, the studio still stuck to Snyder’s plans. Indeed, Snyder was going bring Batman into the fray, played by a big star in Ben Affleck, for a crossover-setting quasi-sequel that would become 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, that film’s $873.6 million worldwide take wasn’t a significant improvement to its Batman-less predecessor against an upped $250 million budget.

Consequently, the backs of studio suits had effectively turned by the time Snyder got to work on follow-up Justice League. Warner’s once-accommodating approach was significantly altered, resulting in the tightening of Snyder’s creative leash, since the studio had attributed the poor performances of the previous films to the director’s bleak, iconography-imbued approach. Thusly, since Warner wanted to protect the increasingly-expanding budget it had invested, production of the ensemble-driven third film became a battle between Snyder’s movie moroseness and the studio attempted to lighten his tone by injecting comic relief moments to make it into a popcorn-friendly crowd-pleaser. Therefore, the studio habitually nixed many of the ambitious, plot-diverging concepts that would eventually surface in the Snyder Cut. Deepening the divide, DC Entertainment creative chief Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. co-production head Jon Berg were deployed to “babysit” Snyder; a dynamic that became irreparably damaged upon the death of his daughter, Autumn.

Of course, even on the back of team member Wonder Woman’s solo film success earlier that year, Whedon’s 2017 Justice League movie fatalistically flopped, having grossed $657 million worldwide, failing to make a lofty $750 million break-even mark. While Warner would likely have preferred to leave that film in the past, especially since they’d found success and acclaim in the solo movie arena with Wonder Woman and, a year later, with Aquaman, the eventual manifestation of Zack Snyder’s Justice League came about due to substantial support—notably from the film’s stars—and possibly a “in for a penny, in for a pound” mentality to salvage the $300 million-budgeted box office boondoggle in some manner. While said cinematic salvaging would cost Warner an additional $70 million to complete its visuals, the Snyder Cut certainly got people talking.

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Consequently, one might be left to wonder if Warner—perhaps after a few more years passes in the rear-view mirror—eventually returns to the mentality that, having already invested an insane amount of money in the SnyderVerse films, that there might be something salvageable. After all, Snyder recently revealed his plan for the never-realized proper Man of Steel sequel to bring city-bottling cyborg Brainiac to the big screen for the first time. Considering how Warner’s plans for its DC live-action films and television shows (e.g. HBO Max’s Green Lantern) are broad but rudderless—especially on what’s considered canon—there remains an ever so slight chance that someone at Warner might just revisit the SnyderVerse. For now, though, such a notion is dead on arrival.

The post Will an “Aggressively Anti-Snyder” Warner Stop the SnyderVerse? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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dc-earth53 · 4 years

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#0003: Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Age: 48

Occupation: Intergalactic law enforcement, former fighter pilot

Marital status: Single

Known relatives: Martin Jordan (father, deceased), Jessica Jordan (mother, deceased), Larry Jordan (uncle, deceased), Helen Jordan (aunt), Harold “Hal” Jordan (cousin), Jim Jordan (brother), Jack Jordan (brother, deceased), Janice Jordan (sister-in-law, deceased), Jason Jordan (nephew), Helen Jordan (niece), Sue Williams Jordan (sister-in-law), Howie Jordan (nephew), Jane Jordan (niece), Arthur Jordan (nephew).

Group affiliation: Green Lantern Corps, formerly Justice League of America

Base of operations: Oa, Sector 0000

Height: 6’2”

Weight: 186 lbs.

History:

48 years ago: Hal Jordan is born in Coast City to Jessica and Martin Jordan.

33 years ago: Hal meets Carol Ferris, daughter of Ferris Aircraft CEO Carl Ferris. The two have an on-and-off relationship through the years.

30 years ago: 18-year-old Hal enlists in the US Air Force, following in his deceased father’s footsteps and becoming a fighter pilot.

25 years ago: Hal leaves the Air Force and becomes a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft.

20 years ago:

28-year-old Hal comes across the dying Abin Sur, Green Lantern of sector 2814. Jordan is chosen as Sur’s replacement and reports to Oa for training.

Jordan exposes his mentor Thaal Sinestro’s dictatorial subjugation of his home planet. Sinestro is expelled from the Corps and banished to the anti-matter universe.

19 years ago: Jordan becomes a founding member of the Justice League of America after helping to repel an alien invasion.

17 years ago: Jordan first comes into conflict with Carol Ferris, possessed by a violet gem and calling herself Star Sapphire. Afterwards, Jordan and Ferris end their relationship for good.

16 years ago: Jordan travels the United States alongside Green Arrow and Black Canary, helping to tackle social issues.

14 years ago:

Jordan falls in love with Arisia Rrab, Green Lantern of sector 2815. The two of them develop a relationship over the years, but are forced to break up by the Guardians.

Sinestro returns to the positive matter universe, armed with a yellow power ring, and attacks the Green Lantern Corps, only to be fended off by Jordan.

12 years ago: Jordan is exiled to sector 3599 as punishment for failing to protect the rest of his sector outside of Earth. Once he returns to Earth, he resigns from the Corps, leaving his ring to John Stewart.

10 years ago: Hal returns to active duty after an attack from Sinestro. Sinestro is imprisoned in the Central Power Battery on Oa. While this is happening, the yellow fear entity Parallax begins to influence Jordan’s thoughts and actions.

9 years ago: Coast City is destroyed by Mongul while Jordan is off-planet settling a dispute with the Darkstars. Driven mad by grief, Jordan re-creates Coast City with his ring and is brought to trial by the Guardians for selfish use of his powers. Jordan kills the Guardians, Green Lantern Corps, and Sinestro in search of more power, succumbing to the influence of Parallax.

8 years ago: Parallax allies himself with Monarch, conspiring to restart the universe in their image, and is stopped by Earth’s heroes.

7 years ago: In a moment of lucidity, Jordan brings the deceased Oliver Queen back to life and sacrifices his own life to kill a Sun-Eater and re-ignite Earth’s sun.

3 years ago: Jordan is restored to life by the Life Entity following the Blackest Night. He returns to the reformed Green Lantern Corps, but is distrusted by many.

2 years ago: Hal and Sinestro find themselves unlikely allies in fending off an invasion from the anti-matter universe, led by the imprisoned First Lantern, Volthoom.

1 year ago: Jordan finds himself embroiled in a war between the various Lantern Corps and the New Gods of New Genesis, who seek the Life Equation held by the Life Entity to combat the reborn Darkseid.

Present Day: Jordan goes undercover, infiltrating the black ops organization known as the Blackstars to root out a double agent in the Green Lantern Corps.

Commentary:

In weaseling out Hal’s timeline in this universe, there weren’t a ton of roadblocks - New 52 blessed us with a general continuation of Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern story, and that is preserved in part here, although with significant changes. Green Lantern: Rebirth is a fine story, but in sticking to my self-imposed rule of “minimal resurrections”, Hal’s return got pushed back until this universe’s version of Brightest Day, leaving the Sinestro Corps War and other stories around that time period primarily to Kyle Rayner and John Stewart. Hal’s time as the Spectre is also omitted - here his penance for his actions while under the influence of Parallax comes during Final Night and afterwards, when he’s revived by the Life Entity.

Jordan is defined by being kind of a maverick - he’s got willpower to spare, which makes him a great Green Lantern, but that same willpower gives him an independent streak that annoys the Guardians to no end and ultimately leads to his downfall and corruption by Parallax. After he’s brought back to life, this same fierce independence leads him to be distrusted by the Guardians and used only on their most dangerous black-ops missions.

I also decided to keep his relationship with Arisia intact, although it’s less questionable in this timeline, as Arisia is a legal adult from the outset - although there’s still an age gap between them, as Hal is the oldest of the founding Justice League members aside from J’onn. Ultimately, Hal doesn’t have any long-term romantic relationships here, as they tend to end in disaster - a trait he shares with his successor, Kyle Rayner.

As for Hal’s costume, there’s really only one option, and as it’s survived the test of time, it remains here with no notable changes.

Have any questions about Hal or anyone else? Asks are open!

Coming up:

#0004: Aquaman

#0005: Barry Allen

#0006: ????

#dc #dc comics #earth 53 #hal jordan #green lantern #profile

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valhallanrose · 4 years

Text

Peachy Keen

5,079 words

A letter from an old friend sends Miriyam back to Prakra and down beneath her streets, into a familiar world of burlesque and bloodshed.

Peachy Keen takes place approximately a year after the bargain struck in Court of Swords. CoS is not necessary to understand this piece, but I’m using it to establish a timeline for Miriyam’s story.

Court of Swords can be found here.

Miriyam’s burlesque routine can be found here.

CW for implications of assault and violence. Some not safe for work content ahead, but not graphic.

Parts of Prakra were illustrious, all shining marble and high towers that breached the clouds far overhead. At night, when the moon hung heavy and full overhead, its light would illuminate the mist on the canals with a sort of ethereal glow that clung to the gondolas that passed through them.

Miriyam preferred the darker underbelly, raucous in comparison to the gentle quiet of the streets overhead. She felt at home among the warm red glow of the lanterns and the scent of smoke thick in the air, blending easily among the gamblers and the drinkers and the rest of those with less savory habits.

She found herself tucked away in a corner of a bar that night, cigarette burning low between her lips and an empty flagon set before her on the table. Her mind was elsewhere as she tugged the letter from her pocket, skimming through it between glances up toward the door. The page was well worn and heavily creased, as if she’d opened and closed it a thousand times before despite the simple message.

* * * * *

Miriyam,

I know it’s been a long time since we’ve spoken, but I find I’ve been reminiscing lately. I implore you, come to Prakra as soon as you can. I’ll wait for you in our favorite haunt beneath the theater. I’d love for you to buy me a bottle of Golden Goose.

Anika

* * * * *

Unassuming as it was, Miriyam had dropped everything and raced back to Prakra nearly as soon as this letter was in her hand.

Anika had been her lover, years ago, but the two had wanted different things from their relationship: one wanted to move forward, and the other was content where they were. So they split semi-amicably, and before she left, Miriyam had offered a balm for them both - should Anika ever need her, ask for a bottle of Golden Goose.

It seemed silly at the time, but Miriyam had still been working for Adelram, and she was afraid of their letter being intercepted by prying eyes - and neither of them could reasonably afford it at the time, anyway. She swore she would come as quick as she could, no matter the cost or reason, but she hadn’t heard from Anika since.

And for Anika to use that now, after all this time...it make Miriyam’s stomach clench to think she was in any sort of danger.

When Miriyam looked up again, she caught the door easing open, and an indescribable feeling crept down her spine as she caught the familiar shade of emerald green, the lilies woven into the braid that was pulled over the woman’s shoulder.

She watched those wide brown eyes flick over the patrons in the bar, the way she pulled her cloak a little tighter, and felt her heart leap up into her throat before Miriyam managed to shove herself out of her chair to wave Anika closer.

Gods, she hadn’t changed a bit.

Anika’s eyes landed on her, narrowing slightly before recognition flashed beneath her lashes. Miriyam was hardly out of her seat before Anika rushed her, throwing her arms around the taller woman and burying her face in her chest with a trembling sigh of relief.

“You really came.” Anika whispered, voice trembling as Miriyam’s arms fell around her shoulders and pulled her in close. “I thought you would have forgotten.”

“There are a lot of things wrong with me, but my memory isn’t one.” Miriyam teased gently, earning a quiet laugh from Anika before the two eventually settled back into the booth. She reached out, clasping Miriyam’s hand tightly in both of her own as the silver haired woman put out her cigarette with the other. “Tell me, Anika, what’s going on?”

Anika shrugged, stroking her thumbs over Miriyam’s gloved knuckles and refusing to meet her eye. “What if I just want to catch up? It’s been so long, after all…did you do something different with your hair?”

Miriyam sighed, reaching out and gently tipping Anika’s chin up with the side of her hand. She wasn’t surprised to see the tears welling up in Anika’s eyes, but she shifted her hand anyway, letting Anika lean her cheek against her palm as she spoke.

“Anika, there was a time I knew you better than I knew myself. I’d like to think you haven’t changed that much in six years.”

The green haired woman laughed and closed her eyes, a few tears dampening Miriyam’s palm before she wiped them away. “Yeah, you always did see through me. One of the things I loved about you, you know.” She sighed heavily before she continued, squeezing Miriyam’s hand lightly. “You...you remember my place, right?”

“Dove and Orchid? Yeah, I remember, you worked your ass off getting that thing off the ground. It’s doing alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s doing alright. Great, actually, up until recently.” Anika straightened, rolling her lip between her teeth. “I, um...Miri, someone’s hurting my girls.”

That caught Miriyam’s attention.

Dove and Orchid was a dancer’s club, built for more...promiscuous entertainment than some preferred. Anika hadn’t cared - she was the first performer at Dove and Orchid and had done everything she could to create an environment that was comfortable for patrons and dancers. As far as Miriyam understood, that was the reason for Anika’s success. She treated every dancer like her family, made sure they felt safe and secure so long as they were under her employ.

And that’s how she knew it broke Anika’s heart to think anyone would hurt any of her dancers.

“I don’t know who, but apparently it’s been happening for a few weeks - one of them came to me just a few nights ago and told me a man she didn’t recognize broke into her dressing room after her performance. He…” Tears began to fall hotly down Anika’s cheeks again as she spoke. “I tried to ask the city guard to come, post someone to keep them safe, but the one I spoke to told me they were asking for it and just laughed me off. Four of my girls have been attacked, Miri, and nobody will help us. I don’t know what to do, or who else to turn to, and I know you have every right to go back to wherever you came from - ”

Miriyam hushed her carefully, taking both of her hands and grasping them tightly as Anika tried to catch her breath. “Hey, hey, Anika - I’m not going anywhere. I told you a long time ago that if you ever needed me, I would help you, no matter what. Nothing will keep me from that now, you understand?”

Anika nodded slowly before she lowered her head, bringing Miriyam’s hands to her mouth and pressing a shaky kiss to her knuckles. There were no words needed - the gratitude cascaded off Anika in waves as the two sat in comfortable silence.

* * * * *

Several weeks had gone by since Anika’s initial approach, the pair having decided the best approach would be to bring Miriyam in as a dancer to keep her from any suspicions. Her tattoos and scars could be easily hidden - Anika was an adept illusionist - but they had to bring her up to speed on the aspect of performance.

And by the gods, Miriyam had never been more grateful for the grueling training she had undergone to gain her flexibility and endurance.

Dawn till dusk, she found herself in the rehearsal space, all while the club remained on a temporary hiatus. Anika had loosened just the right set of pipes to flood the space enough for some renovation to occur, buying them enough time to build Miriyam’s cover.

The night before the Dove and Orchid was set to reopen, Anika approached with a bottle and a pair of champagne flutes, their voices low as Miriyam let her tug and lace up parts of her costume between sips of the sparking liquid.

“So...you still need a stage name.” Anika mused, deft hands lacing up the skirt at Miriyam’s hip.

The silver haired woman snorted, arching a brow and glancing down at the other. “You were serious about that?”

“As the grave.” Anika playfully smacked Miriyam’s hip before retrieving her champagne flute. “Some of the girls have been tossing them around. They seem to like ‘Silver Fox’ for you.”

Miriyam groaned and laughed, her head falling back so she could look up at the intricately painted ceiling. “Dear gods, that’s awful. Please tell me that’s not what I’m going under, I might just leave the country.”

With a soft giggle, Anika shook her head, refilling their flutes before she answered. “Thankfully, no, but I am taking one of their other suggestions. You know how you always hunt down peaches for breakfast?”

“Breakfast without fruit is poor breakfast indeed.” Miriyam shrugged, leaning into her hip as she watched Anika drop into one of the armchairs. “What about it?”

Anika raised her glass, as if in toast, a playful smirk pulling at her lips. “Welcome to the Dove and Orchid, my dear Peachy Keen.”

Anika took a long swig of her champagne, leaving Miriyam to ponder the name for a long moment. Golden gaze fixed on the wall, one hand ran down her side, smoothing over the intricate embroidery and the pearl beading. She pulled at one of the thigh high stockings before closing her eyes, heaving a deep sigh and emitting a single word in response.

“Fuck.”

* * * * *

It took about two weeks before any real changes occurred.

When the Dove and Orchid reopened, business had been a little slow as the word spread. It took perhaps a week for all the seats to fill again, another three days for even standing room to be hard to come by.

Miriyam spent her nights rotating between dancers, one night on stage followed by another night on the floor as a waitress of sorts to get a handle on the crowd. Whenever she wasn’t on the floor, she was backstage with Anika, eagle eye watching over the dancers as they moved about the building.

But the nights on the stage…

She hadn’t ever considered burlesque as an option for herself. She didn’t believe herself to be an exhibitionist, and the idea of anyone she knew finding out was fairly mortifying, but there was a different sort of thrill she got from being up under the warm glow of the lanterns as her body moved to the thrumming music that filled the hall. It was easy to separate her nerves by viewing her body as a tool, another in her arsenal, as a means to an end - it made it easy to lose the self-consciousness that came from stripping down on stage.

Despite the fact that she was technically on a job? She had a fucking blast.

But the job always came first. Early on she’d spoken to each of the girls, getting details from each about the man they had seen, sketching face after face until she finally got one all four agreed upon. She knew who she was looking for, was always on the lookout, but that two week mark was the true beginning of the hunt.

It started small - the hair on the back of her neck rising at the feeling of someone lingering beyond her peripheral, things moved around in her dressing room, pieces of her costumes going missing. It was irritating and - though she’d never admit it - nerve-wracking, but she could do nothing until they showed themselves. Too soon, and she might scare them off completely. All she could do was wait and be wary, wait and watch for the inevitable slip of the man who cast a long shadow over the Dove and Orchid.

And slip he did.

* * * * *

About a month into Miriyam’s time performing at the Dove and Orchid, she slipped out onto a darkened stage, dressed in her personal favorite of the costumes Anika had pulled together for her. The outfit was layered with fabrics of gold and peach, the bust trimmed with freshwater pearls. There were laces at her back and her left hip, cream colored gloves pulled up above her elbows, and sheer stockings pulled up around her exposed thighs.

The music began before the lights started to warm, casting the stage in a pale pink glow and illuminating the bits of shimmer Anika had dusted on Miriyam’s collar and high cheekbones. The silence grew into wolf whistles and shouts as she cast a cheeky wink out to the crowd, dragging a hand lazily up her exposed thigh before she truly began to move.

Lip caught between her teeth, she slid down carefully from the carousel horse, hips swaying in time with the music until the backs of her thighs touched the sparkling stilettos Anika had all but forced onto her. As soon as they did, she was up and moving, body swaying as she made her way across the stage.

Hips rolled, gloved hands slid down over her breasts, down to her hips and over her thighs while a teasing smile pulled at her lips. She grasped the front of her skirt, buttons popping as she bared her thighs and pulled the split fabric up to her hips in favor of showing off her well-toned legs.

She always did like her legs.

With a flick of the wrist, the rest of the buttons popped, allowing her to cast the underlayer of the skirt aside. A playful smile over the shoulder, a roll of the hips, and she strode toward the carousel horse settled centerstage. She pushed down on it, where it tipped on its rocking base, then caught her glove between her teeth at the tip of her finger.

One of her legs lifted, the inside of her ankle skimming up her knee and high on her thigh as she worked that silken glove down her arm until her wrist. She turned, grinning as she kicked a leg up, wrapping the glove around the rod set through the wooden horse’s back and pulled it down the metal surface with a laugh.

There.

A man, light eyes and dark hair, the dim lighting of the Dove and Orchid just enough to let her see the distinct curve in his nose. The second girl had broken it - the third and fourth pointing it out in their own descriptions that led to the final image. There wasn’t a doubt about it in Miriyam’s mind.

He was here again tonight.

There you are, you motherfucker.

Steeling her nerves, she kept up that playful look, tugging on the laces of her skirt at her hip as someone near the front let out a loud whistle. She easily pulled open the wrapped fabric, briefly showing off the garter belts holding up her stockings before the skirt swung shut again. Miriyam turned her back toward the audience, lowering the skirt briefly to give them the briefest glimpse of her ass, laughing as she saw a young woman choke on her drink and repeating the motion when she saw her blush.

Despite her outward calm, Miriyam was keenly aware of the man’s eyes now that she’d seen him - and she knew as soon as the hair rose on the back of her neck that there was no chance she’d made an error.

The skirt was tossed aside, quickly followed by each of her sparkling stilettos before she eased herself up onto the wooden horse’s back. She swung her leg over, pitching her hips forward against the gold plated rod, setting the prop into motion as her legs swung with it. One hand grasping the pole, she leaned back, shooting Anika a wink when she saw her in the back before she pulled her legs beneath her.

Kneeling on its back, her hips lifted, bumping forward against the metal before her hand connected with her ass in a solid slap. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Anika snort, shaking her head as Miriyam dismounted and dragged a hand up her thigh before her hands traveled up to her back.

The corset was relatively easy to unlace - the cords were just long - and came off in moments, swung in a circle over her head before it too was tossed aside. She laughed when it slid and someone grabbed for it, knowing Anika would be a bit displeased to have to track it down, but her mind was elsewhere in the moment.

The practice had paid off - her body moved easily in time with the music, but her mind was set back into her mercenary ways. She was taking in each exit behind her playful smile, each glance cast over her shoulder ensuring her target was still there and still attentive throughout her performance. Perhaps it wasn’t the most conventional method, but...it certainly seemed to be working.

With the garter belt gone, Miriyam leapt up onto the carousel horse’s back, its base tipping dangerously before her weight settled. She stripped off her stocking, swinging her leg out in time with each beat of the music, down until the very tips of her toes before it came off and fluttered through the air.

She eyed the crowd, gesturing to the metal rod, raising a brow and grinning when the whistles grew louder. A few huffs of breath, and she playfully polished it with her balled up stocking, earning her a few goading shouts as she gestured to it again. When it grew louder, she grinned, then leaned forward and dragged the flat of her tongue up the cool metal as languidly as possible.

It fogged under her the heat of her breath, and she pulled away, laughing as she threw the first stocking down and began to pull the other off. Her hips rolled against the pole as she did, and as soon as the stocking was off, she reached for the ribbon at her hip - then shook a finger at the shouting crowd as if to scold them.

Her eyes shifted toward her target for the briefest of moments -

Good. He was still there, still watching, but...there was this look in his eye like he wanted to devour her where she was. And not like the other looks she got when she did this - something behind his eyes, behind that ravenous gaze, set her on the razor’s edge as she reached to unhook her brassiere.

As her routine drew to a slow close - her chest rolling, her hips swaying as she pulled the last layer before the barely-there panties she wore away - her mind was already in the dressing room.

She was cataloging the knives bolted to the underside of her vanity, how much time she needed to get there and how he could get in, but she managed a smile as she leaned down and pressed a light kiss to the wooden horse’s nose in time with the last note of the music behind her.

And as the lights in the room dimmed, she saw him slip away, toward a passage that she knew led backstage and eventually to her dressing room.

And so the hunt began.

* * * * *

Wrapped in a silken robe, Miriyam quickly settled in at her borrowed vanity, taking off the heavy necklace and earrings she’d worn as she lifted her knee into the hilt of the dagger fastened to the surface. Her eyes were focused on her reflection, but her senses were cast elsewhere, searching for any disturbances in the room as she tucked the jewelry away.

Her shoulders tensed imperceptibly as a floorboard creaked just beyond the sight of the mirror, off to her left, but she simply maintained her outward focus as she reached to unfasten her hair from Anika’s careful style.

Then the hand settled on her shoulder, seconds before an arm wrapped around her throat and yanked her back off the stool at the vanity.

Legs tangling with the stool, Miriyam was thrown off balance, her assailant pinning her arms under his other as the first tightened around her neck. Her knee slammed into the bottom of the vanity as she clawed at the arm at her throat, her vision going terrifyingly spotty as she found herself unable to pull in a full breath of air as it pulled tighter and tighter.

With what strength she could muster, she thrust her elbow back into the man’s stomach, catching him low enough to make him shout and loosen his grip on her arms.

She tried to step out of his grasp to make a grab for the knife, but he grappled for her, hand shredding her robe before her right elbow flew back into his jaw. She let out a shout as his hand fisted in her loose hair, but she quickly threw back her left elbow, his hand ripping free as she turned over her shoulder and grabbed the back of his neck. Her knee slammed into his pelvis, and he dropped, giving her time to reach for the vanity before he grabbed her ankle and tried to pull her back.

But it was enough. She pulled the mirror free, hefting it over her head and slamming the silver-backed object down over his head.

Glass splintered and showered around the pair, but the weight of the mirror was enough to knock him down for the count and give Miriyam the chance to catch her breath.

Slowly, carefully, she picked her way around the broken glass and unstrapped her dagger from the underside of the vanity. With an eye on his prone figure, Miriyam slowly opened the door, calling out to Anika from within the dressing room.

Unfortunately, in a place like this, restraints were not quite an immediate find.

Anika was there in moments, a few of the other girls whispering behind her as Miriyam held her shredded robe shut over her breasts.

“Careful, Anika, there’s glass everywhere.” Miriyam murmured, gesturing loosely to the remnants of the mirror all over the floor. “I’ll reimburse you for the mirror.”

The emerald haired woman waved a hand, eyes fixed on the unconscious man hardly ten feet beyond the doorway. “Don’t worry about it, I always thought that mirror was ugly. But...this is him?”

A silent nod, and Anika stepped into the room, shutting it behind her to leave herself and Miriyam alone inside.

“What are you going to do?” She murmured, and Miriyam shrugged, lifting the dagger held in her left hand in a wordless answer. Anika nodded, heaving a deep breath before she locked the door behind her and folded her arms over her chest. “Good…good. What can I do?”

Miriyam picked her way through the glass, her hands passing over the thick fabric hung on the wall before she dragged her knife through it. When she had four thick strips in her hand, she nodded to the man, then one of the chairs tucked away in the corner. “Help me get him into that. You want answers, don’t you?”

Anika nodded, the pair making quick work of his wrists and ankles with a bit of effort to actually get him to sit upright in the chair. The emerald haired woman dusted her hands off and shot Miriyam an amused look, then tugged on one of the knots she’d tied at his wrist. “Well, this is familiar. Last I remember, though, I was the one tied down.”

The silver haired woman choked on a laugh, shaking her head as Anika started to kick the broken shards of glass under the vanity. “Different circumstances, I’d think.”

“I hope. I have pleasant memories of that time.” Anika sighed dramatically, turning the stool over so it sat upright as Miriyam rolled her eyes. She leaned back against the vanity, lip caught between her teeth as Miriyam checked each of the knots, mulling over something before a raised brow prompted her to speak.

“Are you going to make it quick?”

With a feline smile, Miriyam stepped forward, carefully making her way toward the man and stroking a hand through his hair as he started to stir. After a moment her hand tightened into a fist, yanking his head back and exposing his throat to them both. “Not if you ask otherwise.”

Anika’s gaze was of matching intensity, and Miriyam’s eyes flashed an unearthly gold in the darkened room. “Make him answer for my girls, Miri. They’ll sleep soundly knowing they’re safe again.”

With a predatory grin spreading across her lips, Miriyam rounded on the waking man, the sounds of screams and the scent of blood thick in the air when she descended on her prey.

It would be hours before the final spray of blood splattered against the wall and her blade split his throat in two.

* * * * *

Anika’s girls were exceptional at body cleanup, Miriyam soon learned. They were all too eager to help dispose of him, removing all traces from the place that had been their sanctuary long before his presence tainted the boundaries of the Dove’s walls.

The silver haired woman had chosen to lay low after the fact, but a few days later, she found herself in Anika’s office with a glass of wine in hand. They sun hung low in the sky beyond the stained glass window, casting their faces in a rainbow of warm color as they spoke quietly between themselves.

There had been a long silence before Anika spoke up again, her words making Miriyam tense behind the glass raised to her lips.

“Miri...I know things didn’t end well between us…” She started, staring down into the ruby liquid. “There are so many things I didn’t get to say back then or that I didn’t say right. And seeing you all these years later...I think you made the right choice, as much as it felt like you didn’t at the time.”

Miriyam sighed heavily, leaning back in her chair and letting the heel of her boot fall onto the heavy mahogany of Anika’s desk. “Oh, so we’re going there? Thought I might be able to dodge that…”

She set the glass aside and folded her hands over her abdomen, closing her eyes in thought.

“I’ve had a lot of time to reflect recently. Mostly on my life and how I lived it, if I’m honest, and I’ve been thinking about us long before I got your letter.” She waved a hand loosely before it fell back against her stomach. “I loved you, Anika, and I think a part of me somewhere still does. But I don’t think I ever could be the woman you wanted, and I would have been an awful wife back then. We were just a couple of stupid kids caught up in each other whenever the room was dark enough to get our hands down each other’s blouses.”

Anika laughed softly, standing and circling the desk to perch on the edge of the armchair Miriyam was seated in. “As much as I wanted you to say yes back then, I know you’re right. But by the gods, you were this passionate little thing, and I think I was so worried about losing you that I drove you away on my own.”

Miriyam felt her lip tug up at that, huffing a laugh through her nose. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re too kind. I was a disaster, you can tell me that. Nineteen year old Miriyam needed a swift kick in the ass and I’m shocked nobody gave it to her. It would have been well deserved.”

With a laugh, Anika leaned down, kissing the top of Miriyam’s head. The gesture was laden with unspoken affection, but not the romantic affection they’d once had. Slowly, Miriyam opened her eyes, golden eyes meeting warm brown as Anika smoothed away a few pieces of silver hair from her face.

“You’re a good woman, Miri, even if you were a hellion as a kid.” Anika teased, folding her arms over her chest. “And if I know anything about you, it’s how quick you are to depreciate your own value. I just hope that one day you can understand what you’re truly worth.”

Miriyam was quiet before she surged out of her seat, reaching for her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. She kissed Anika’s forehead before giving her a raucous grin, one hand shoved into her pocket.

“Maybe. We’ll see what plan the gods have laid out for me.” She mused, striding over to the globe Anika had perched on her desk. She tapped a point on its surface, the gold leaf lettering bright in the setting sun. “I’ve got a contract. Ship leaves tonight, bound for Vesuvia. I’ll be there for about six months before the contract ends and I move elsewhere. I’d like you to write to me sometime, preferably before another six years goes by.”

Anika nodded, wrapping her arms around Miriyam in a loose embrace until the taller woman returned it.

“I’ll try.” She whispered, then leaned up and pressed a kiss to Miriyam’s cheek. “Are you sure you’ll be alright? You can always stay in Prakra a bit longer.”

Miriyam couldn’t help the grin that spread across her lips, shrugging her shoulders as she slipped from Anika’s arms and toward the door of her office.

“While such an offer warms my cold, dead heart...I think it would be good for me to move on.” Miriyam laughed as Anika punched her in the side, grumbling to herself about idiot women as she continued. “Don’t worry, Anika. I’ll be...how shall I put it? I believe the term is ‘Peachy Keen’?

Anika slammed her glass down, shoving at Miriyam’s back with a sound of disgust. “That’s it, get the hell out of my building. I don’t know why I thought I missed you, I hate your puns, I hate your face, get out - !”

Miriyam grabbed the doorframe as Anika tried to force her through it, grinning over her shoulder when she saw the smile pulling across Anika’s face. “You love me.” She crooned, then stumbled when Anika’s knee planted itself against her ass and knocked her hands free of the doorframe. She just laughed and turned, walking backwards and giving Anika a two fingered salute as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “See you around, Ani!”

“Never will be too fucking soon!”

Miriyam’s laughter would echo back to her, a fond smile on the woman’s lips and her heart lighter than when she had arrived, leaving the Dove and Orchid behind for the very last time.

#miriyam #miriyam von helvig #arcana oc miriyam #writing #the arcana game #the arcana #it's ten am and I'm making it spicy on main

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astranne · 4 years

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Crossover Idea Transformers/Voltron

So, another idea. Boy- today is the night of story ideas. I’m totally writing an oneshot about this, probably in german.

This one is about Voltron, yk rainbow paladins, flying giant robot-lions and fighting some aliens as a big robot-angel. And the transformers, yk big robos who can transform in cars and such stuff. But the storyline is from the new Voltron serie of Netflix.

Anyway. So, Primus has the Primes, his warriors, so who says, that his brother, Unicron (chaos himself) can’t have fighters too? And I imagine, that even if Primus and Unicron are trillions of years old, are still brothers and they still care about each other and all that. Even when they are fighting. So, if anyone has seen Transformers Prime, the serie, Megatron was a servant of Unicron. And after all this shit happend, Unicron realised, that you can’t rule with hate and fear and all the bad stuff. So he talks with Primus, (Primus a proud bro, that he finally sees his mistakes) and they search for a candidate. But nobody is good enough and time flys by. Cybertron is in peace, Megatron came back and is now friend with Team Prime.

(Probalby should also mention, that Unicron’s earth is not the earth of Voltron... yk. It has similarities, but the humans of Unicron are much stronger and all like that. Like a super soldier.)

In meanwhile the Galras take over the KNOWN univers. You see the capital letters? KNOWN UNIVERSE. They have no idea about Primus/Cybertron and Unicron and all that. The bots and cons and all my robos are living in peace, absolut bliss and stuff... until a girl lands on a near planet. Naturally they notice and find her in a escape capsule from the Galra. She isn’t even human anymore, almost all limbs are replaced with a ‘high-tech’ protese. But worse, she’s dying. The bots/cons, (like they are in groups but one race? I’m just calling them bots, like for every race, decepicons and all the ones) can’t do much, they could heal her, if she would be totally a robot/machine, but she still needs blood and food and yeah. So Optimus goes to the core of Primus, because he knows, she is important. He can feel it. (spooky)

Primus heals her, makes her fully human again but he knows, that she’s the one. The warrior of Unicron. (And Primus, but that comes later) And from the timeline... she’s from earth, like Voltron earth in the year 10 or something. Like in the middle of the Romain Empire. She was kidnapped by Galra, because why not. And they are assholes. Most of them.

So now this girl, Diana, lives on Cybertron. She draws her energy from Primus, so she can live with the bots. She becomes friends with everyone, but her favourite is Predaking. (Is like the kindest girl but absolut badass. A little bit naive, but still cute) They have a father/daughter relationship and it’s just fluff. But one day, she dies. Team Prime went on a mission and because Diana can fight, she went with them. Predaking is mad and doesn’t want to belive that she’s dead. So again, she was brought to the core of Primus. Primus could save her, but now is the time, she becomes his brother’s warrior. He tells Predaking of his plans. Predaking just wants her to life, so he sacrificed himself for Diana. Diana becomes a bot/predacon. Unicron gives her some of his powers and since Primus transformed her, she’s now also a Prime. And because of that, Primus creates a new star saber, Unicron too. Diana, now bearing the name Predaqueen to honor her ‘father’, united the two swords and became the first CRON (A Unciron warrior) and a PRIME. So her name is now Predaqueen Prime.

When she comes back to the surface, everyone is losing their shit. But after some time they can accept, that she’s not Diana anymore, she’s Predaqueen, a leader, a fighter, a warrior.

Megatron becomes the second Cron, names himself Megacron and is like the right hand of Predaqueen. She improves the whole army of Cybertron, becomes an ambassador, unites the two races of Primus and Unicron and is the voice of the gods/primordal beings or what ever they are. Everyone knows, there will be a fight, and they need to be prepared.

So yeah, fast forward to the Voltron serie. Primus and Unicron tell Predaqueen that soon Voltron will be activated, so she needs to be prepared. She goes to earth (Voltron earth), goes to the Garrison and meets Shiro there. (Totally not a hint to her ship. Can you feel the sarcasm? Anyway) Her name is Diana Prime and she’s the best pilot, becomes a professor? instructor? Idk what the name is, she’s teaching the kids, while Shiro prepares for his mission. Totally sexual tension there (she’s an ancient warrior, but not dead), totally Keith losing his absolut patience, like everybody else. Before Shiro is leaving, the sneaky boy (Keith) forces them to kiss. (He’s grounded but it was totally worth it) There are some cheesy farwell words, Diana tells him to be careful. She knows, this is the start of Voltron, and it’s not going to be nice.

Diana looks after Keith, she promised it Shiro after all and is still teaching. (there are totally many of the students crushing on her.) (Is the look important? Because, I imagine her as a tall woman, slim but athletic, her hair ridiculous long and bronze broun, with blue and violett streaks. Her eyes are golden and she has tattoos on the shoulders, the sign of predacons. (like there where all the bots have their marks/signs.) On her back are all symbols of all the races of Cybertron, in the middle the sign of Unicron and Prime.) Ugh-

Anyway. She meets the next paladins of Voltron and can only sigh. She took Keith under her wing, teached him some moves so he’s a little bit prepared, but the rest? Pidge is alright, she’s a smart girl. Hunk will do okay. But Lance? Oh boy- He’s totally like Knockout, he wont take it seriously until some one dies or is hurt. And then it’s most times to late.

When the three sneak out to rescue Shiro, Diana just watches with a smile. She waites until the next morning. And I can totally see this scene.

Keith talks with Shiro about his time in the galaxy and then Shiro says:

“How did you know to come save me when I crashed?” And Keith answers, “You should come see this.” They walk to his house, until Shiro stops.

“Wait, Keith- what... what about Diana?” Keith smiling softly and walking backwards.

“If you want, I can call her. She’ll be glad you’re back.”

Ugh, soft Shiro-

Anyway

The five find the blue lion, Shiro or better Keith forgets to call Diana and when he remebers, he’s somewhere in the universe. They form Voltron, kick for the first time Galras ugly ass and begin to train. Some days after Diana stands before the castle, Allura panicking, because this is a human and-

“Shiro, darling, we need to talk about your disappearance in the fucking universe.” Lance, Hunk and Pidge are confused, because that’s General Prime? In the universe?

Shiro tries to explain everything, but Diana/Predaqueen just smiles adn tells him, she knows already. He’s naturally confused and then she tells him about her mission, who she is and all that. He has a big mindblow but is happy, that Diana is back. Some fluff, because why not and Diana decides to tell the team.

“I am a Cron and a Prime.” Everybody is just blinking, because she says it like it explains everthing. With a smile, she connects herself with the castle and shows the story of Unicron and Prime.

“And then I became a warrior of Primus and Unicron, their voice and the leader of their children. They sent me on this mission, to watch over Voltron, over you and nudge you in the right direction.” Again some blinking, until Lance speaks up.

“So, you are basically another Voltron? And there is a whole planet of Voltrons like you?” Pidge facepalms, while Keith sighes. Coran has stars in his eyes, while Allura is glad, that others fight with them.

“No. Every bot has his own mind, they are like humans, but instead of flesh, blood and a heart, they have metal, enagon and a spark. The Primes, Optimus and I, and the Crons, Megacron and I, are the strongest. We lead the Cybertrojans in war, we are the voice of Primus and Unicron.”

So now the storyline is pretty much the same, Predaqueen is with Allura in the castle, when Voltron fights, because she’s their secret weapon. When they fight in the centre of the Galra Imperium, Predaqueen transforms for the first time. She’s normally as big as Voltron, but transformed as a predacon probably five times so big. She activates the space bridge and calls all the other predacons (her people, Shockwave cloned a few more and Primus also created new sparklings) They attack the Galra force, completly surprise them but still don’t win. Voltron barley escapes, but Predaqueen detransforms and attacks the wive of Zarkon, Honerva. She know’s that many will die and the universe will probably be destroyed, if she doesn’t kill her. Honerva goes nearly mad, this beast just attacks them? To be a bit dramatic, Predaqueen summons the presence of Unicron. She’s in her bot-form, but in human size. She glows with pure power, everything near her just dies, explodes and is destroyed. In her hand is the dark star sable, pulsing with chaos and death. Unicron totally roasting the Galras, calling them petty beings and such. Honerva is killed and you would think, the Galras would stop now, but no. Lotor is wants revenge. So he still takes over the Galra Imperium and builds this ships. But this time Megacron is making his life pure hell. Ah, so Lotors new ships are made out of a rare komet or what ever? Hmm, Megacron has the enagon of Uncrion and that’s chaos himself. Bitch, wanna try again?

So now Voltron is freeing the known universe, while Predaqueen helps. In the end, Cybertron is revealed, the Cybertrojans are now like the green lanterns? Keeping peace in the universe, because they are the ‘children’ of Prime and he’s creation himself. (I think so... or did I understand something wrong?) Voltron is still active, but now a symbol of peace and union.

Shiro and Diana/Predaqueen love each other dearly, but she still outlives him, sees how her family grows, how her children have grandchildren and so on. But still, Shiro will be her only lover, just because fluff. And basically the reason of this crossover? Because I think he deserved better.

Yikes... ugh, so if someone wants to write a story about this... I don’t mind, just tag me so I can read it and also reblogg it.

I didn’t second read it, it’s almost midnight and yeah... if something doesn’t make any sense, I’m swiss.

Masterlist

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dccomicsnews · 4 years

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Review: THE FLASH #750

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: Joshua Williamson, Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato, Marv Wolfman, Scott Lobdell

Artists: Rafa Sandoval, Stephen Segovia, Scott Kolins, Francis Manapul, Riley Rossmo, David Marquez, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund

Colours: Arif Prianto, Michael Atiyeh, Ivan Plascencia, Alejandro Sanchez, Luis Guerrero

Letters: Steve Wands, Rob Leigh, Joshua Reed, Deron Bennett, ALW’s Troy Peteri

Reviewed By: Derek McNeil

Summary

The Flash #750: Beginning: “The Flash Age”! The story we’ve been building toward since issue #50 comes to a head! While a supercharged Speed Force wreaks havoc on Barry Allen’s life, a new threat appears on the horizon in the form of the deadly Paradox. Destined to destroy the Flash’s legacy, Paradox sends his herald, Godspeed, to trap the Flash family! Plus, in this special anniversary issue: tales from across the generations of super-speedsters by an all-star lineup of writers and artists!

Positives

In honour of the 80th Anniversary of the title, DC has reverted back to legacy numbering. Thus, The Flash #750 hits the stands this week instead of the expected 89th issue of the series. “Legacy numbering” means that if the title kept the same incremental numbering through every relaunch of the title, then the number would have naturally progressed to issue #750 with this very issue.

This covers the tenures of DC’s primary three Flashes, Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West, and appropriately, all three are well represented in the six stories included. As the current star of the title, Barry merits three stories, while Jay and Wally each get a single, yet important story each.

This first, and main, story is the first chapter of regular series writer Josh Williamson’s “The Flash Age”. I really liked this story, as it mostly gives a break and allows us to catch up with the current status of Barry’s world and the people in it, before pushing into the next big conflict. This makes the story a nice jumping-on point for new readers as well as providing a neat wrap up of the previous story arc.

Most importantly, it shows that Barry and Iris are back together and that their relationship is as strong as ever. In fact, things seemed to be going so well, that when Iris said, “I have something to talk to you about. A surprise”, I was expecting that she might propose to Barry.

Positives Cont.

Unfortunately, this is where the impending conflict cut into the story. Godspeed interrupts this moment, taking Barry to face Paradox. Paradox then gives Barry a choice between giving up being the Flash or fighting for his life against Godspeed. This is where the story leaves off, giving us a rather effective cliffhanger to bring readers back for the rest of “The Flash Age”.

I also love that this story includes several instances of Central City’s citizens showing their gratitude to the Flash for saving their lives or helping them in other ways. It’s a nice touch for an anniversary story. Plus, it provides a nice counterpoint to Paradox’s claims that Barry has been endangering everybody by the effect his powers have had on reality itself. Hopefully, this will help Barry realize that the good he has done outweighs any damage he has caused.

In the second story, Geoff Johns bring us an interesting little tale featuring Captain Cold, set during Wally’s tenure as the DCU’s primary Flash. In this story, we see that what Wally assumes that Cold goes on a rampage for the sole purpose of infuriating Wally.

However, the story shows us that the “rampage” came about unintentionally. Cold merely stumbled into the midst of an armed robbery when shopping at his local corner store. Through a series of misunderstandings, he finds himself in the middle of a confrontation with the Keystone City Police. While this doesn’t excuse Cold for his crimes, this does show how easy it is for events to quickly get out of control for a villain in the DCU.

Positives Cont.

The next story, by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato features Barry examining the question of whether the Flash has to be Barry Allen. He does this by using a previously unseen power to send his consciousness through other timelines where somebody else became the Flash instead of him. In each timeline, he finds that someone admirably fills the role of the Flash. He arrives at the moral of the “Even if it doesn’t have to be me… I”m glad that it is”

However, I have to wonder why the examples of Wally and Jay aren’t enough evidence that that someone else could serve as the Flash other than Barry. I would have thought either would be proof enough to settle the question.

Marv Wolfman, the man wrote the story of Barry’s death in Crisis On Infinite Earths, returns to the character to tell of an interesting encounter between Barry and the Mirror Master. The interesting conceit of this story is that the Mirror Master’s mirrors in the story enact various transformations upon the Flash’s body. These transformations allow artist Riley Rossmo to revisit some of the bizarre transformations over the years, such as the time Abra-Kadabra turned Barry into a walking wooden puppet.

Next, regular writer Joshua Williamson gives us a story of Jay Garrick, set in the title’s inaugural year, 1940. The story centres around an encounter between Jay and the Thinker. However, the most intriguing bit of the story is when a mysterious figure, presumably the Reverse Flash, whispers in Jay’s ear, “They’ll forget you Jay Garrick. I’ve seen your future…”.

Positives Cont.

This seems to be setting up a future storyline involving Jay and the Reverse Flash, which is further borne out by the blurb at the story’s end. This blurb promises, “To be continued in The Flash in 2020″. Unfortunately, this seems to imply that we won’t see the followup immediately, but it is coming relatively shortly.

Also, I noticed that the image on that page also shows Wally and Bart. I hope this means that we will be seeing a full reunion of the Flash Family when this story continues.

Finally, the entire creative team for the Flash Forward miniseries returns to provide an epilogue to that miniseries. Writer Scott Lobdell continues where that story left off, creating a bridge between it and the upcoming Generation Zero: Gods Among Us and subsequent Generation One to Five specials.

While little is known about this upcoming event, it has been speculated that it will involve a major shift in DCU continuity. That speculation seems to be borne out in this story, where Wally, now wielding the power and knowledge of the Mobius Chair, exams the current state of the DC Universe’s continuity.

It has been my theory for a while now that the time itself is unravelling in the DC Universe, and this story confirms that. Wally looks through his own personal timeline and sees that multiple contradictory events seem to concurrently exist in the current continuity. The original Silver Age origin of the Teen Titans happened as Wally remembers it, but the New 52 Teen Titans also exist as the first group to call themselves by that name.

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

The Flash #750 1940s Cover

The Flash #750 1950s Cover

The Flash #750 1960s Cover

The Flash #750 1970s Cover

The Flash #750 1980s Cover

The Flash #750 1990s Cover

The Flash #750 2000s Cover

The Flash #750 2010s Cover

Positives Cont.

I must also interject that it’s great to see that Wally remembers the original Teen Titans costumes, and not the New 52/Rebirth re-imagined versions of the original outfit – even down to Robin’s short pants.

Wally confronts Tempus Fuginaut about the state of the DCU, stating, “Everything. Time. Space. Reality. It’s all broken. It all risks collapse”. And if there is any doubt about the severity of the situation in the reader’s mind, the story itself drop many significant keywords that indicate big reality-changing events in DC history: “Crisis”, “Flashpoint”, “Doomsday”, “Rebirth”, and others.

Truly, the DCU is reaching an important turning point. But there we are given ample reason not to dread this. When Fuginaut asks if Wally is up to the task of repairing this damage, Wally West, the DCU’s symbol of hope and rebirth replies, “My name is Wally West. I’m the Fastest Man Alive. I sit on the Mobius Chair. The power of a God races through me. So yeah. I got this”.

This speech gave me chills and reassures me that whatever the Generation special lead to, it bodes well for the future of the DCU.

Besides the amazing lineup of artists in each of the stories, there are also fine selection of pinups, as well as the multitude of gorgeous variant covers. I love the look of the decade covers. Especially, with the care taken to match the title logo and DC symbol for each time period. DC does pull out the stops to make sure these anniversary events look truly amazing.

Negatives

However, there is a nasty side to all these variant covers. This is a book with a $7.99 cover price. But with ten different covers (including the blank cover), that’s almost 80 bucks. Now I didn’t mind this when Action Comics and Detective Comics reached issue #1000. That’s a once in a lifetime milestone. Now DC is doing the same for Wonder Woman and The Flash reaching #750, which is a bit much, but okay. But DC has announced similar 80th Anniversary events for Robin, Catwoman, The Joker, and Green Lantern. That’s one or two of these expensive specials a month. Such a cash grab is excusable when it is once in a blue moon, but DC is venturing into the realm of highway robbery. Please, DC! Have mercy on my bank account!

Verdict

Review: The Flash #750 Review: THE FLASH #750 Writers: Joshua Williamson, Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato…

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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Hi! I'm new to your blog but found a few posts that were about a JayTom ship, and I was wondering who Tom was? And also you've mentioned in a couple of posts the idea of Jason having a lineup of Titans in his age range and you talked about the Ray and Damage in one. Do you have a whole lineup in mind for them and if so, is there a post on that somewhere?

LOL man, I really need to start pulling all my posts about JayTom and Jay’s lineup of Titans together for some kind of a masterlist, so thanks for the reminder haha. Like, I saw this ask and thought of various posts to point you towards but ugh, I don’t know where any of them are.

Anyway, so. The Tom of JayTom. Aka my ideal ship for Robin!Jason in the series of one-shots about an AU where Jason doesn’t go to Ethiopia in ADITF and thus never dies, that’s kinda grown out of that of a one-shot I started as a writing commission a couple months ago, if anyone else remembers that….the one that was like ‘what if Jason called Dick after the Garzonas incident and Dick sided with Jason’…that one.

Which then snowballed into ‘well, then I could give Jason his own lineup of Titans who are in the same age range as like a younger gen learning from Dick’s generations of Titans but still older than Tim’s generation of YJ and then eventual Titans.’

Sigh. Oh, me. Right! So! Anyway! Tom in JayTom is Thomas Bronson, the son of JSA member Ted Grant, aka Wildcat.

Tom and Jason have never ever interacted in canon as far as I know, as I don’t think Tom’s ever appeared outside of JSA and Jason never appeared in that book either before or after his death. BUT by the magic of winging it and Canon Has Not Definitively Contradicted Me, I think the two of them are feasibly in the same age range, so I’m going with them both being fifteen when they meet here.

Tom’s a scrappy, street smart, attitude throwing teenager with daddy issues of his own, lol, thanks to Ted’s general non-existence in his life, for most of it….and he’s also tiny, like, 5′6″ and 135 lbs even at the end of his teenage years. LMAO, I honestly don’t remember, but I think that might be the whole basis of this ship for me, or where it originated. Like, I happened across Tom’s stats as listed on one of the DC wiki sites, and was like, lol oh, he and Robin!Jason could be pint-sized punks together! And then from there, I had the inevitable thought “okay but now make them gay” and then from there I fell into my usual trap of “oh no, it was supposed to be a joke but now I’m taking it seriously and seriously pondering how it could seriously work.”

And then from there it consumed my brain and devoured my life. I swear, it was Dick/Kyle all over again. Ugh, my brain is so problematic.

So anyway, this is Tom:

He’s a werepanther, he can shapeshift into a panther form to fight, which brings up an interesting facet of his character and something I think could be really fun to play off Jason and his own issues…because Tom hates fighting. HATES it. Will run from a fight at any given opportunity rather than engage….but its not because he’s a coward, or doesn’t have heroic instincts of his own, and its not even because he’s not GOOD at fighting.

Its that he’s scared of himself, and scared of hurting whoever he’s fighting…at least more than he means to. Because he has trouble controlling his shift when in fights. His panther form just comes out in response to his own amped up levels of aggression. The fight or flight response for him is actually more like “flight or turn into a raging whirlwind of clawed and fanged fury that can’t stop won’t stop until he’s definitively won his fight….which by extension, usually means his opponent is currently bleeding out on the ground from a few dozen deep claw marks because Panther!Tom’s claws and fangs are SHARP.”

Now pair this fear of his own power with Tom’s natural belligerence and problems with authority at certain points in his life, AND his desire to follow in his hero father’s footsteps as well as his resentment and giving himself grief every time he realizes he even has that desire, because he doesn’t owe his deadbeat dad shit and can’t stand that he nevertheless admires him in a lot of ways and still feels a desire to prove himself to him…

Then pair him up with Jason during his Robin years, going through similar issues and emotions as well as a comparable dynamic with Bruce as him not dying in Ethiopia nevertheless changes nothing about the two of them likely clashing more and more over their views on how to deal with criminals and the appropriate levels of aggression when dealing with them….

And that right there, IMO, is super strong potential for a dynamic couple with a lot in common and yet occasional clashes of their own due to different opinions on which direction to go in so as to address those shared issues…but who likely would never hesitate for a second before backing each other up and presenting a united front against anyone else who tried to give one or the other shit for any reason whatsoever.

Also, I have vastly amused myself with the thought (and the occasional post here and there) of Ted and Bruce continually glowering at each other and blaming each other’s son for being a bad influence on their son, who has never done anything wrong in their life ever, CLEARLY (even if Bruce had actually just grounded Jason the day before. Whatever. Ted doesn’t need to know that).

Anyway, so that’s the JayTom I reference now and then. I’ve always maintained that Jason could really benefit from having a stronger support system of friends distinct to him and not sharing similar dynamics with any of his siblings, so then I was like, well if Jay doesn’t die, and I have him and Dick closer in this AU than they’re usually written as being, plausibly Jason would spend a lot of time at the Tower to get away from Bruce and his own fights with him.

With Dick being more than able to relate to trouble dealing with Bruce and thus happy to lend a sympathetic ear….and eventually maybe express to Bruce that it might do them both some good for Jason to make more friends his own age and have some normal routines that took him out of the house and Gotham enough that he and Bruce don’t constantly feel like they’re breathing down each other’s necks and keeping tension a constant thing between them. A little space now and then could benefit them both, give them chances to cool off after their fights and actually MISS each other before readdressing the issues.

So then I could see the Titans kinda sending out invitations/recruiting various teen heroes around Jason’s age that they’d all maybe had their eyes on for awhile as kids who could benefit from the same kind of team unity/group support that helped them so much when they were that age just a few years ago themselves.

Which leads me to where I am now which is….I still haven’t settled on a solid lineup, because I came up with too many choices, lol. Basically, my parameters were I wanted characters who could feasibly be said to be in the same age range as Jason and Tom, and didn’t have super strong associations with any other characters that would create any kind of conflict with them being on a Titans team at this point in the timeline instead. And because I’m all about my thematics, I wanted them all to have certain root issues in common that they could all bond over and actually, y’know, support each other with and through.

(The same way I think Dick’s generation of Titans actually has certain distinct themes and issues that almost all of them share and can relate to in varying ways, which I think has a lot to do with how quickly and fully they all bonded and why they created such lasting friendships and teams between them. But that’s a whole other post, lol.)

So the central shared issues I decided to focus on for Jason’s age group of Titans were: teen/young heroes from abusive homes or runaways, ones with issues and fears stemming from and regarding their own powers or tempers, etc, and misfits who were regarded warily by other or older heroes and considered potentially able to end up on either side of the hero/villain line in the sand.

Which Dick’s generation of Titans, which of course includes Raven, Kory, etc, would not be in agreement with that last part, and thus be all the more likely to recruit these specific teen heroes and be like nyah, nyah, watch how with our help and oh yeah, SUPPORT, they all become the best damn heroes that ever did heroically hero. Suck it, JLA-holes!

(And then Donna would be like, not you Diana, you know we’re cool, its just I gotta do the team solidarity thing and Dick, Garth and Roy are still being Displeased with their mentors/dads at the moment, and also we’re all kinda ticked you guys stole Wally. Btw, we’re stealing the new Green Lantern kid, because Revenge and stuff. He’s ours now, you snooze, you lose).

So, Jason’s lineup of Titans will consist of some of the following, I’m just not 100% sure which yet, because I have to whittle down the list.

1) Jason (nominally mentored by Dick, but the latter just calls it an excuse for brother bonding time and neither of them make much reference ever to having any kind of actual mentor/protégé relationship like I see the rest of Jay’s lineup having. Plus, Jason unique from the rest already has a mentor in Bruce anyway, so his situation and reasons for being part of this team aren’t quite the same from the others, especially as one of my reasons for this AU was always addressing the issues I have with Bruce’s parenting before the canon event point of Jason’s death, and like…..so like, Bruce does get better once Dick calls out some of his shit with Jason based on his own experiences with Bruce and then later Jason returns the favor by calling out Bruce for taking Dick for granted and no longer putting in the same effort connecting with his eldest and being an actual PARENT to him like he used to).

2) Tom Bronson/Tomcat (who else would act as his personal mentor other than Gar aka Beast Boy aka Changeling, the shapeshifter extraordinaire?)

3) Grant Emerson/Damage (recruited by Roy and his personal protégéand likely BFFs with Jason IMO, as I think their temperaments are complete opposites but Grant’s the kind of kid who would roll his eyes and dolefully follow his troublemaking best friend Jay into likely danger, because his power to blow things up really comes in handy with the kind of scrapes Jason gets himself into and this in turn is a really handy thing to point out in the aftermath of pulling Jason’s butt out of a scrape and then gloating but in the totally mature and “I’m much too nice to actually be gloating, you must be mistaken about what’s happening here” manner in which I see that going down. And in terms of the parameters I mentioned, Grant grew up bounced around abusive foster homes, is watched like a hawk by various groups and heroes because of the huge catastrophic potential of his powers, which he has his own fears about, and also he has no idea who his parents are either, and I imagine him and Jason going on a ‘find out who our real parents are roadtrip’ after graduation or something).

4) Ray Terrill/The Ray (potentially recruited by Kory and her personal protégé. He was briefly a member of Tim’s Young Justice team, but part of the reason he was never that close with the other members was he was a little bit older, just a couple years or so, but enough to put him squarely in Jason’s age range. Also comes from an abusive home, and spent the majority of his childhood living in complete darkness because his asshole uncle told him he had the same powers as his father which meant sunlight would be harmful to him and make him dangerous to be around. When in reality, like his dad, Ray’s powers are fueled by sunlight and he’s like a living solar battery, keeping him afraid to leave the dark was just meant to keep him passive and powerless. Even knowing his uncle lied now, Ray still has long had fears about his own powers, unable to totally shake the fears his uncle instilled in him).

5) Todd Rice/Obsidian (potentially recruited by Raven and her personal protégé. He and his twin sister Jenny-Lynn Hayden are probably a bit older than the rest of this team, but their ages aren’t definitively linked to any points in the DC timeline, so there’s no real conflict between handwaving them as aged down to be right around the same ages as the others. Todd and Jenny-Lynn are the twin children of original Green Lantern Alan Scott aka Sentinel, and the DC villainness Thorn. They grew up in separate foster homes though with Alan unaware of their existence for most of their childhoods. Todd’s childhood was notoriously rough, with him having several abusive foster parents. He’s canonically gay and mentally ill/neurodivergent, which several of his foster homes targeted him for. In addition, his shadow powers are tied to a dark dimension that’s said to prey on his mental state and led to occasional times where he’s been a villain briefly, and at all times his powers are regarded fearfully by most people and with him shunned and avoided because of them. All of which I think makes Raven an ideal mentor for him).

6) Jenny-Lynn Hayden/Jade (Todd’s twin sister, even though they didn’t grow up together for the most part. Honestly, she doesn’t share in a lot of the issues the rest of the team prospects do, and had a relatively good childhood before her powers developed and she found her brother and they started operating as heroes together. But upon learning who her brother and dad are, she’s always been committed to growing closer with them, so I think anywhere Todd goes in this AU, she’d definitely follow, and its not like the team can’t benefit from a heavy hitter like her, let alone more girls. Not totally sure who I picture as most mentoring her in specific, probably because I don’t see her as being recruited per se, so much as just going with Todd when recruited….but I’m thinking maybe Garth, actually. Garth has a lot of range and versatility with his powers and magic, which makes him ideal for mentoring someone who not only has the same powers as a Green Lantern, limited only by her imagination…..but who also might benefit from being mentored by someone who ISN’T a Green Lantern because she doesn’t share their traditional weaknesses and thus she’d be best off training with someone whose own techniques and instincts aren’t geared around weaknesses that are literally irrelevant to her powerset).

7) Courtney Mason/Anima (A metahuman runaway who was almost sacrificed by a cult before her powers kicked in….she’s also right in the same age range as Ray, Grant and Jason, and has briefly been a member of a couple Titans lineups but never for long and usually only for big event stories. But she fits the runaway/rough home environment parameter as well as fear of her own powers….she absorbs life energy from people and animals and can potentially kill them by draining too much. She also has a separate power that’s basically a connection to an other-dimensional spirit called the Animus that she can summon forth and unleash on her enemies. I’m thinking she’d make a good recruit/protégé for Jericho actually, for a number of reasons).

8) Cynthia Reynolds/Fantasia (? Maybe? Not sure yet. Not her actual codename, but her actual codename is a slur, so I’m def gonna make up a new one, I just haven’t 100% settled on what it is yet. Suck it, DC. She’s most known for being a member of Justice League Detroit along with Steel, Vibe and the Ray, but she’s the right age range to end up recruited to be a Titan here instead, like Ray. Also is a runaway from an abusive home, and often deals with mistrust and suspicion due to her illusion powers. Perfect recruit/protégé for Lilith, IMO).

9) Cisco Ramone/Vibe (Also created as a teenage hero to be part of the Justice League Detroit lineup, which makes him the right age range and he’s another runaway. The nature of his powers makes him a good fit to be a recruit/protégéof Mal Duncan/Herald).

10) Amy Allen/Bombshell (Totally self-indulgent on my part given that I basically would ignore the vast majority of her storylines and writing, which I think suck. She was in the Titans stories revolving around Tim’s generation of the team, but she was always stated to be a few years older than the rest, like in her late teens when the majority were probably sixteen, so I think she’s a good fit for this age range. Also had a crappy home life and parents, and her powers are hugely destructive in certain applications…she basically has the same powerset as Captain Atom, though she’s never had any kind of official mentor or sidekick relationship with him. Also, I think Captain Atom is an asshat and a dillhole and he sucks, but I do like his powers, so reinterpreting Amy as a character who doesn’t suck and playing around with her powers instead is solid decision making on my part and renders Captain Atom irrelevant now. I think I shall kill him. Because I can do that. Anyway, I think she doesn’t need him as a mentor but could make a good recruit/protégé for Leonid/Red Star).

11) Carla Moretti/Cinder (Odd choice, given that she’s only ever really been used as a villainous member of Deathstroke’s anti-Titans team and was easily in her twenties at the time. Pyrokinetic who happily makes bonfires out of her enemies but written with zero attempts at nuance, like a total one note villain framed as having long since abandoned her own humanity….which bugged the crap out of me, as she was given a super angsty backstory of childhood sexual abuse and that’s just ‘why she’s like this’ and I have a deep seeded loathing for asshole writers writing survivors as villains and just blaming their casual homicidal ways on their abuse while serving up said villains to just be punching bags or dominoes for the heroes to knock down on their way to the Boss Fight. So I do have inclinations towards making an actual Titan out of her, like with Amy, because surprise surprise, both these characters being written shittily and one note was the work of the same writer, shocking. So I’d just handwave her down to the right age range and have her recruited/mentored by Donna, probably…more due to me thinking Donna would be the best person to help her deal with stuff because she’s mastered the art of avoiding avoidance via having Dick Grayson as a BFF. So with them its not really because Carla needs mentoring with her powers specifically. Idk, Carla anyway you slice it I think has a lot of rage, and Donna knows what to do with that. Written right, Donna’s not a character who judges or shames a victim or survivor for being angry…she gets angry with them, and helps them find options for what to do with that now.)

12) Hero Cruz (Lesser known Titan, has a device called the Dial H device that lets him turn into a different hero with different powers depending on the setting he puts it on. Basically Ben 10, but Hero came first. Doesn’t really fit most of the parameters, other than being around the right age range, and not even sure who would make a good mentor for him though I wanna say Vic, but not totally decided yet. Mostly I just like him and think he’s underused, so whatever).

There’s also a few other candidates that I have mostly ruled out but not totally. I thought about using the aged up version of Chris Kent, and just introduce him earlier than he showed up in canon. And then Kara/Supergirl could be his mentor because I kinda handwave her into Dick’s generation of Titans anyway, even though it was the alien Matrix version of Linda Danvers that was the only Supergirl ever on the team. Whatever. She should have been a Titan all along anyway. But also Chris would fit the team well as he had an abusive childhood as well, at his dad General Zod’s hands, and again, I just like the character.

Thought of including Virgil Hawkins/Static too, even though I think he’s closer to Tim’s age range. And again, just another character I’m a fan of and think is underused, but he would definitely be an odd man out in this group because like….he comes from a happy, healthy, loving home and family, and he loves his powers. So he would constantly be just like nodding his head along while his teammates talk and like ugh that sucks, but 10/10 absolutely can not relate, my parents are awesome. Same with Natasha Irons/Steel, who really would have to be handwaved to even be in the right age range, and again has a happy loving home environment and a superhero uncle of her own so its not like she needs a Titan mentor…..but I kinda wanna see Karen Beecher/Bumblebee take her under her wing anyway, and have them be science nerds together.

Also pretty much the only reason I ruled out Connor Hawke too, as he doesn’t really match the rest of the team in any of the parameters except for feasibly being right at the upper edge of the same age range. But again, I just love the character.

So I’m probably gonna end up throwing at least one of these other characters in there anyway, lol. I do know myself).

Anyway. So that’s Jason’s lineup of Titans, or at least the candidates as they exist bouncing around in my head now. Also, they’re pretty much Team “Everyone is Gay Except For When They’re Bi.” Which, granted, is basically how I view Dick’s generation of Titans, but with them I have to be like Make It So, in my brain, whereas with this group like….canon’s actually done the work for me for the most part lol. Ray is gay, Todd Rice is gay, Courtney is bi, Hero is gay. And I can’t actually find anything confirmed Tom was stated to be gay somewhere in canon, but I SWEAR he was, like, ugh this is bugging me.

But anyway. That’s that about all of that.

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Title: Fly With Me Word Count: About 14k Genre: Fantasy-Adventure Fandom/Universe: Green Lantern, Flash (comics) Characters/Pairings: Barry Allen/Hal Jordan/Guy Gardner/John Stewart/Alan Scott Warnings: Mild/implied body dysphoria Rating: PG-ish Summary: When Watchman Barry Allen arrives to a grisly murder scene, the last thing he expects is the enigmatic dragonlords of the realm to arrive and ask for him specifically. They are handsome and charming, but the existence of enormous fire-breathing flying lizards that seem to exert some kind of... Strange emotional aura is more than a little terrifying. He is introduced to the prince of these dragonlords, Hal, and steps up to be taken back to the towering natural fortress of Oa, a massive hollowed out mountain that sits on the edge of the continent. Called the 'weyr', Oa is home to the dragons and their riders, and Barry soon finds himself welcomed inside with all the honours that a prince might receive. In the morning after a restless night's sleep he is bathed and anointed, and taken down deep beneath the mountain to a holy underground sea, where he must confront the mysterious Lord of Oa and receive the prize for which he had been chosen: A dragon egg, rare and precious. The last third of the story will be hatching the dragon, and a montage of sorts with Barry further bonding with the dragon riders and forming a... Tentative proto-romantic relationship with them. He trains in arms with Guy, learns the histories and concepts of the weyr with John, is taught about the running and logistics of Oa from Alan, and finally Hal tutors him on bonding with his dragon, and eventually flying with it. The broad aesthetic of the fic is very much generic medieval fantasy, set mostly in the mountainous fortress/castle of Oa. Characters vary a little bit from canon appearances, mostly in regards to hairstyles and the like, but a few characters are trans, which is mostly going to be a background detail. There are no warnings except for a crime scene early on (which will be edited down) and brief discussions of trans characters being trans, so there's a bit of mild dysphoria but no explicit details or transphobia/homophobia. There is implied polyamory and age difference, but everyone is consenting adults and nothing is properly established in this fic.

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2 Title: The Case of the Missing Son Word Count: 6,031 of 10k-ish Genre: Mystery, Romance Fandom/Universe: Batman (comics) Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson, Talia al Ghul, Damian Wayne Warnings: Minor violence Rating: NC-17 Summary: Bruce Wayne has come to PI Dick Grayson with a problem. His ex-wife, Talia al Ghul, has been sending him letters claiming they have a son. Bruce wants Dick to find the boy and bring him home. Dick gathers information from various sources before running into Talia herself, which only results in him getting beat up. He goes back to Bruce to convince him to confront Talia. Eventually, the son goes to Bruce, and Bruce and Dick get some private time together. The story takes place solely in Gotham, from Dick's office, to Wayne Manor, with one trip down into the caves of Gotham for the showdown.

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3 Title: Forth My Mimic Comes Word Count: 19k Genre: Mystery, Supernatural Fandom/Universe: Batman (mostly comics) Characters/Pairings: Gen; Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake Warnings: past canon character death, non-consensual bodyswap, thoughts that could be construed as non-specific suicidal tendencies (i.e., "I was already dead, if I die again it's no big deal," etc.) Rating: PG/T Summary: Robin saves a boy from being hit by a car, only to discover that the victim is none other than a very alive (if comatose) Jason Todd. An already unusual situation turns even more bizarre when an unfortunate turn of phrase and an errant bit of magic cause Jason and the current Robin to end up in each other's bodies. Knowing it's only a matter of time before Bruce learns of the switch and locks him up in a fit of paranoia, Jason must seek the help of the enigmatic (and familiar) Oracle to fix the problem, all the while learning far more than he ever wanted to know about the boy who replaced him. Takes place immediately following Jason's resurrection in a slightly canon-divergent timeline, primary locations being the clock tower, manor, and cave (and all of Gotham, because patrol).

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4 Title: Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? Word Count: 4,579 of 5k Genre: Mystery Fandom/Universe: Batman (comics) Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle, Tommy Elliot Warnings: Nonconsensual body modification, some torture Rating: PG-13 Summary: Selina Kyle is missing. Bruce finds mannequins and dummies of her around Gotham, each with a modified nursery rhyme about cats. Bruce follows these clues all across Gotham, growing more desperate to find her. Finally, he confronts the villains of Gotham and finds Selina, only to find Hush there as well. They battle and Bruce rescues Selina and takes her back to the Batcave. This takes place solely in Gotham, from the streets and graveyards of Gotham, to beneath Arkham Asylum, to the Batcave.

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5 Title: Daily Gab Word Count: 5776 Genre: Coming Out Fic Fandom/Universe: Batfam Characters/Pairings: Jon/Damian, Damian & Dick Warnings: Bullying Rating: PG-ish Summary: Damian finds a tabloid taped to his locker at school. The headline? "Wayne Kid... Gay?" He endures a day at school listening to the gossip from all the other kids. Dick does the brotherly thing and helps Damian sort through all he's feeling. Damian admits to Jon what the tabloid said and why he's been running scared all day, they talk about the reality of what they want together and Bruce manages to be a real father for once. Summary I'm posting when I post the fic: Damian swallowed against the bile in his throat and carefully took in his next breath, walking himself through the steps of emotional calm. Pretend this was only torture. Pretend it was only a gunshot wound. Pretend it was only his body in pain and not his heart and his mind. Remove himself from the situation and take a few steps backwards from the reality of it.

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6 Title: Stay My Tragedy Word Count: 16k Genre: Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance Fandom/Universe: Batman, Deathstroke, Red Hood Characters/Pairings: Slade/Jason Warnings: explicit sex, angst, descriptions of violence, references to self harm, slight dubcon, problematic relationship Rating: NC-17 Summary:

Soul marks can appear at anytime in one’s life -- a mark of karmic destiny that most people take to mean they’ve met the person they’re meant to fall in love with. Jason knows that’s not true. He knows because his soul mark appeared in the very last moments before he died -- marking his destiny to be murdered by the hands of a madman.

It is a world in which fate is unbelievably cruel, when Jason’s soul mark is of none other than the man who murdered him. Slade has other ideas however, and he might just be the one man who can change Jason's tragic fate into something else.

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7 Title: New Horizons Word Count: 6091 Genre: Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: Canon Divergence/AU Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake Warnings: Major Character Death, Abusive Parents, Child Trafficking Ring, Drugs Rating: PG Summary: Jason, Tim, and Stephanie meet while Jason still holds the Robin mantle. They band together to take down a child trafficking ring, all while each one is fighting their own personal battles. Stephanie's dad is a small-time crook who is major-times ruining her chances at a better life. Tim's parents are never home--he doubts they could pick him out of a lineup. Jason is suddenly thrust into life with a billionaire (and vigilante), but not everyone might want him there. Story is mostly set in Gotham and Wayne Manor, with a few scenes in Titans Tower. The Major Character Death is Jason, but it happens off screen and in the epilogue. The Abusive Parents is Tim's parents neglecting him. Drugs are a passing mention. The Child Trafficking Ring is a major plot point.

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8 Title: You’re saving Blüdhaven but who saves you? Word Count: 3457 Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Humor Fandom/Universe: Batman/Nightwing comics, Under the Red Hood Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd/JayDick – Jason Todd/Dick Grayson Warnings: child’s death, mentions of rape, canon typical violence, non consensual drug use, incest (pseudo-incest? Jason and Dick were adopted), self esteem issues Rating: T/Teen And Up Audiences /PG14+ Summary: After a kid got killed Dick, already in a bad place, decides that his only option to make a difference is to fight crime in a different way. He decides to partner up with a carefully chosen criminal and Red Hood caught his attention even if some of their morals are on the opposite sides of the scale. This somehow leads to Dick having an elusive roommate he developed an attraction to. It’s a shame no one told him Red Hood is in fact Jason. This story is canon divergence or alternate universe and takes place after the events with Blockbuster and Tarantula in Nightwing comics and intertwines with some happenings from Under the Red Hood. The action is placed mainly in Blüdhaven, but there are trips to Gotham and Wayne Manor. The story has a romantic relationship between adopted brothers. The rape is mentioned several times and one of the character is forcibly drugged. It also contains description of child’s death and violence.

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9 Title: A Bit(e) Wild Word Count: 5-6k total, 4k written Genre: mostly Angst/Fluff but some Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: Losers/Batfamily, no particular series Characters/Pairings: established Jensen/Cougar, will be Jensen/Cougar/Jason Todd later in series. Background canonical Pooch/Jolene, mention of Clay/Aisha. Warnings: Graphic violence, swearing, maybe sex in the flashback Rating: Explicit. Even if no sex happens yet, it will later, and there's also the violence to consider. Summary: The Losers have just barely taken down Max and cleared their names; Jensen's still cleaning up post-mission but they're all back home. Jason Todd's preparing to move back to Gotham and butt heads with Batman when a bit of pest control ends with him bitten by a wolf shifter. He didn't think the Pit's aftereffects would allow him to be changed, or that he'd call the Losers for backup again, but of all the people Talia had him learning from, Cougar's the only shifter he knows he can trust if this IS the dreaded change coming on. Cue frantic phone call. The Losers load up and head out immediately, but Pooch brings his family just in case, Clay rides up with Roque, and Jensen and Cougar lead the charge because they've already got the shifter genes and being bitten again isn't going to do anything to them (Jake is a recent change; Cougar was born a shifter). By the time the others arrive, they've got Jason settled and all three are in their animal forms. Jensen is a wolf, Cougs is a cougar, Jason is a snow leopard. After the first few lessons, Jason gets impatient--maybe the Pit, maybe new instincts, partly the knowledge that the Losers aren't going to just let him leave until he's got enough control over his shifter side to satisfy Cougar. He tries to slip out in the night, half hoping they won't follow him, subconsciously aware this will be much easier with trusted backup. Every Loser was expecting this, though, and when Jason slinks off to Gotham, they're still mostly packed and ready to head out. It doesn't take them long to follow.

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10 Title: where monsters lie (in dead men's dreams) Word Count: ~75k total, 47.7k written (including unfinished draft) Genre: Drama, Horror, Angst Fandom/Universe: Batman Arkham Games, and a lot of creative liberty taken with comic canon and the traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega AU Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson Warnings: Non-con, Dub-con, Drugging, Non-traditional ABO Dynamics, Bondage, Descriptions of Torture, Pseudo Incest, Kinky/Rough Sex, Intersexed Characters, Background Polyamory, Angst, Murder Rating: R Summary: Oracle enlists Red Hood's reluctant help to find Batman and Nightwing, who have disappeared during an arms bust deal orchestrated by the Penguin. They've been captured and dosed with a perverted form of the Scarecrow's latest toxin, and the effects of the toxin force the three of them to face their feelings for each other. All Jason wants to do is run away, except Dick won't let him leave. Things grow more complicated when the Penguin re-emerges with a threat none of them had expected, and Jason takes it upon himself to teach the Penguin a permanent lesson. Meanwhile, Dick has been experiencing random bouts of mania and murderous intent, ever since getting dosed with the toxin. By the time he confronts Jason about the Penguin's vicious murder, Jason sees more of the Joker in Dick than he does in his nightmares. Fortunately for them both, there's no mystery in Gotham that Batman can't solve in time. The story is set in Gotham City, 1.5-2 years post the game Batman: Arkham Knight, but also features several flashbacks of bastardized canon scenes from the comics. If you're a stickler for canon, this will probably kill you dead so please bear that in mind. Besides that, there is a single instance of non-con and another instance of molestation. There are also two implied sex scenes which can be considered dub-con. There is pseudo-incest between Jason, Dick and Bruce. The Penguin gets tortured to death but the torture occurs off-screen and only the results are described in graphic detail. The polyamory is mentioned throughout but does not occur on-screen.

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11 Title: The Sacredness of Tears Word Count: 13k Genre: Romance, character study, elements of fantasy and drama/angst Fandom/Universe: Batman comics, set in the future and using events from New Earth and the current continuity Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake/Jason Todd, Tim Drake-centric Warnings: temporary character death, pseudo-incest, canon-typical violence, discussions of mental illness, parental abuse through neglect, swearing Rating: PG-13 (maybe R for swearing?) Summary: Tim Drake Wayne isn’t weak. He can’t be. And now that he can travel through time, he has the perfect tool to make sure he’ll never be vulnerable again. Gradually, Tim’s family, friends, and his slowly blossoming relationship to Jason teach him otherwise. The story is set in Gotham with scenes in Tim’s apartment, the Batcave, a diner and various rooftops. There are scenes with multiple members of the batfamily and Tim’s team. The romantic scenes are focused on cuddling and size difference. The plot spans several years. Tim is eighteen at its beginning and twenty-five at its end. There is one detailed description of a meltdown or anxiety/panic attack. There are discussions of mental illness; some symptoms of depression are shown, especially withdrawing from the world and diminished self-worth, but nothing too bad and absolutely no hint of self-harm or suicide. Jason dies in one scene (not the canonical temporary death), but that is quickly reversed. There are descriptions of injuries. The parental abuse refers to Tim’s and Jason’s canonical backstories, not Bruce (who tries to be a good parent in this).

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12 Title: The Nightingale Word Count: ~14k total, 8.5k written Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, Drama, Healing Fic (kinda) Fandom/Universe: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd Warnings: No Warnings Apply Rating: NC-17 Summary: Crushed by the guilt of Jason's death, Dick quits the vigilante life, gives up Nightwing, begs Bruce for a clean slate, and runs away to New York City. He takes shelter at the Nightingale, a nightclub where Dick works as an exotic dancer, a stripper named Richie. Dick uses the blinding stage lights, Bloody Marys, and a mysterious man named Jay to hide his past. However, Dick's rather painful former life is slowly uncovered by Jay through a series of one night stands. Meanwhile, Dick also has some unconventional run-ins with the Red Hood, a supposed antihero working in the tri-state area and associated with the family Dick has not had any relations with for over five years. Old wounds reappear, and Dick's new life slowly falls apart around him as the truth comes to light. Set primarily in NYC, in the Nightingale nightclub and at the different hotel rooms Jay books. Towards the end, Dick and Jason will eventually move back into Gotham City and Wayne Manor. Story takes place five years after Jason's death. Dick's "new" life is an emotional roller coaster of hurt/comfort, a path of healing, a life built on lies, and identity porn woven all throughout it, until it is all untangled in the end.

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13 Title: Between Flight Word Count: ~15k, 10.8k written Genre: Romance, Drama, Humor, Alternate Universe Fandom/Universe: Batman - All Media Types Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd Warnings: No Warnings Apply Rating: PG-13 Summary: Jason is a 15-year-old orphan, living at a crappy orphanage, going to school because it is the only fun in life, and dreaming of the day he becomes eighteen. After a little altercation with a pickpocket, Jason meets Robin, and from that night on, Jason could not get rid of the Boy Wonder. Coincidentally, Dick Grayson starts at Jason's school as well, and decides to befriend him of all people. Jason finds himself being tugged in two directions - towards a charming and talkative circus boy with a past similar to his, and towards Gotham's own hero in scaly panties. Over the course of a couple weeks, Jason is dumped at a school dance, kissed on rooftops, taken on dates a couple times a week, and even glared at by the Batman himself. Needless to say, Jason finds that his life is a lot more interesting after he met both Dick and Robin. But of course things smell fishy to Jason. Especially when Robin knows tricks that only Mr. Circus Boy can do. Or when Dick uses the same girly shampoo as the teen hero. Or when their identical disarming smiles send bursts of happiness straight through Jason's heart. Batman might be the World's Greatest Detective, but Jason Todd is not so shabby either. Set primarily at Jason and Dick's high school, the orphanage, the rooftops of Gotham City, the luxurious halls of Wayne Manor, with special appearances of "date" locations around the city. Jason is 15, while Dick is 17.

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14 Title: Moon Dust On Your Lips Word Count: ~6100 Genre: Romance, First Time, Mutual Pining Fandom/Universe: Batman and Green Lantern, no specific canon Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Hal Jordan Warnings: Mild sub/Dom, explicit sex, biting and bruising, praise kink Rating: NC-17 Summary: The Justice League is trying to expand their potential pool of allies in the known universe, and with the help of their Green Lanterns, they set off to personally negotiate with as many people as they can. Everyone is involved, but it mostly falls to Bruce/Batman and Hal Jordan. The longer Bruce and Hal work together, the more Bruce let's Hal see under the cowl, and the more Hal starts to like what he sees. Bruce even accepts advice from Hal on an issue dealing with his children. Then Hal, returning exhausted from a mission to Oa, loses his temper at the tail end of a League meeting. He says something stupid within Batman's hearing, and then goes off to get decidedly drunk with Barry. Hal confesses that he has a crush on Bruce, but there isn't anyway that he can see it ever happening, so he decides to just ignore it and move on with his life. Bruce doesn't exactly get the memo right away, but as soon as Hal starts physically distancing himself from Bruce as much as possible, their tentative friendship falls to the wayside. Soon, Bruce and Hal are back to being uneasy coworkers. It culminates with Bruce and Hal on the return trip of another successful negotiation, when their escorts decide to up and leave them in the Middle of Nowhere, Spaceville in a small, cramped, one man space pod. There's an argument, confessions, and then sex, before being rescued. The story takes place in a variety of locations, including Wayne Manor, the Watchtower, Barry's apartment, and the space pod. The sex will include Bruce manhandling a very willing Hal, with some rougher edges (biting and bruising, praise kink).

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15 Title: Happy Middles Word Count: ~4600 Genre: PWP Fandom/Universe: Batman and Green Lantern, no specific canon Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Hal Jordan Warnings: Somnophilia, Dirty Talk, Praise Kink, Noise Kink Rating: NC-17 Summary: Basically a slice of life PWP about the time Hal and Bruce make for each other, specifically how Bruce's ends his nights and how Hal starts his days. Bruce comes home early from a shortened patrol and joins Hal in bed a few hours before Hal has to go to work. Hal falls back asleep, and then wakes Bruce up when he starts exhibiting signs of a wet dream. Bruce pleasures Hal until he wakes up, and then gets Hal off. Hal turns the tide on Bruce, teasing him until Hal decides he's ready to ride Bruce to their mutual completion. This takes place solely in Bruce's and Hal's bedroom in the Manor, described as having a darker color scheme with blues, blacks, and grays. All kinks are negotiated prior to the story, as this is a well established, husbands!fic. No noncon here.

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16 Title: Hold Me Tight (or Don't) Word Count: 6055 Genre: Mystery, Angst, possible supernatural elements Fandom/Universe: Batman, no specific universe Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne, Talia al Ghul, Conner Kent, Jason Todd Warnings: Medical experiments, but non-graphic Rating: Teen Summary: Sometimes, a Family is you, your Beloved's dead kid in a coma, and your Beloved's best friend's "clone" who's other gene donor is sort-of kind-of your boss off to play at politics Or There’s been a rash of robberies in Gotham, leaving Batman puzzled as to what the villains are up to, all the while seeing Jason appear to him, even though he’s been dead for a few weeks. Meanwhile. Talia takes care of a comatose Jason, while discovering Lex’s secret project taking a form no one expected. On the other side of bay/river, Clark is investigating a mysterious Cadmus fire, under a building Lex Luthor (who is now the president) owns. Not to mention the mysterious new villain who may be more connected to the robberies in Gotham that it seems.

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17 Title: untitled as of yet! Word Count: 3039 Genre: 5+1 things, fluff, probably eventual smut Fandom/Universe: dc extended universe, films 2013-present Characters/Pairings: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne Warnings: none Rating: T at the moment, will likely slide into M/E Summary: After a few months of working together side-by-side as a team while not actively trying to kill each other (even in their spare time), Clark realizes he’s developed Feelings for Bruce. He knows Bruce is stubborn and self-isolating, so he decides the best plan is to figure out a way to make things a little (incidentally) romantic without scaring off Bruce: little notes on rooftops, a dubiously agreed upon makeover by Lois, advice from Barry and Victor and Diana—even Alfred ends up in on the game. Unfortunately for Clark, Bruce is even more slippery (or oblivious) than he ever imagined. Maybe what Clark really needs is a little help from a Higher Authority… or, the five times Clark Kent tried (and failed) to seduce Bruce Wayne, and the one time Bruce Wayne allowed himself to be epically seduced.

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18 Title: the weight of eventuality Word Count: 24,000 Genre: Romance, /Action, Drama Fandom/Universe: CWTV Flash (2014) Characters/Pairings: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart, Team Flash Warnings: canon typical violence, graphic sex Rating: NC-17 Summary: Life was pretty great for Barry Allen, honestly. Team Flash successfully pulled him out of the Speed Force, he still had his job, and all of his friends and family where there to support him. Eddie and Iris were expecting their first child, and even with everything that happened between Caitlin and Julian, the team worked as well as ever together. Barry didn't want to tell them that he was still slipping backward and forward in time, or that every night the Speed Force made him witness the death of Leonard Snart. Rescuing Leonard was easy. Falling in love with him? not really part of the plan. With Captain Cold back in Central City, it was hard to remember that there were other people out there who wanted to do more than flirt and steal pretty jewelry. It was just a matter of time until they made their move. This story takes place mostly in Central City, with a detour into the Speed Force. There isn't really anything to warn for, I think. There's an explicit consensual sex scene near the end of the story, and canon typical violence and injury. There's some mention of minor medical procedures. There's technically some torture, but that happens off screen and Barry is in the speed force of the entirety of it, so there's no graphic detail.

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19 Title: your continental divides Word Count: 9k Genre: Hurt/Comfort Fandom/Universe: DCU. not set in a specific universe, borrows from several continuities. Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson centric, Batfam and company, Gen Warnings: non-con Rating: PG-13 Summary: After Catalina Flores, Dick is dealing the way Bruce taught him: push it down and carry on. It's not working out very well, and people are starting to catch on. The story is set mostly in Gotham, and guests a few characters besides the batfam (mostly Wally and Roy). It's essentially just an exercise in letting Dick be comforted by the people who love him. This focuses on dealing with the sexual assault from Nightwing #93. The assault is not graphically depicted but is referenced and discussed, in addition to self-destructive behaviors and a variety of coping mechanisms.

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20 Title: Broken Wings and Notched Arrows. Word Count: Around 6-6.5k total. 4,280 written Genre: Action, Romance, Drama. Fandom/Universe: Young Justice, Batman. Characters/Pairings: Will Harper (Roy Harper's clone)/ Jason Todd Warnings: Temporary Character death, mild language, mild violence, small age gape, Rating: NC-17 Summary: The only thing Will Harper wanted to be doing that fine winter morning was to play dress up with his beautiful daughter Lian. What he got however was a surprise visit from the legendary Bruce "Batman" Wayne. And if that wasn't a big enough shock being hired by said legend was icing on the cake. So now instead of spending Christmas with Lian Will is kind of, maybe being held against his will on Infinity Island. Bright side he did find Jason Todd like he was hired to. This story takes place in multiple locations. The main set is in the Caribbeans, mostly Infinity Island and the League of Assassins HQ. It also show cases Will's home in Star City and a major fight screen in Gotham. There is no major warnings. Temporary Character death as Jason Todd doesn't stay dead for long. Some violence but nothing more then a few short details of fight scenes. No gore just a little blood.

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21 Title: Masks Word Count: 7,783 Genre: Action/Adventure and Romance Fandom/Universe: Batman Comics, post-Infinite Crisis Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Alfred Pennyworth Warnings: Incest, canon typical violence, explicit sex Rating: NC-17 Summary: Continuation of pre-new 52 canon. Jason's back in Gotham. All he wants to do is figure out how he can successfully help fix his city, without falling foul of the rest of the Bats and the GCPD again. He's even hung up his red hood in an attempt to stay under the radar. When he discovers that Alfred is in danger from the gang he's investigating, he infiltrates a costume ball at Wayne Manor in disguise as a supervillain. He ends up flirting with Dick to stop him interfering with the rescue plan. Dick doesn't realise who he is and flirts back until they end up making out furiously in a closet. Afterwards neither of them can get the encounter out of their heads, and they start to get to know each other again. Featuring conversations with Alfred, Dick attending a party in a Superman costume, Jason spray painting his red hood grey, everyone rescuing each other and lots and lots of pining. Warning for pseudo-incest between the adopted brothers, Dick and Jason when they reach adulthood.

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22 Title: Sleeping Beauty Syndrome Word Count: 9k written. Genre: Romance, Angst, Fairytale Rewrite Fandom/Universe: Nightwing, Red Hood and the Outlaws Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd Warnings: Horror, gore Rating: PG-13 Summary: Dick Grayson and Jason Todd have been living the perfect life. Happily married for more than five years with two perfect sons, they have everything they could possibly need. Unfortunately, good things don't last forever. Struck by a spell during a mission, Jason's mind has been scattered, putting him into a deep sleep and the only way to wake him up is for Dick to put his pieces back together. The task won't be as easy because each part of Jason has been hidden within a fairy tale, a world tempting Dick to make one wrong move and doom his husband and himself forever. The story will take place over multiple locations, including rewrites of fairy tales like Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood, The Princess and the Pauper, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

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23 Title: we just now got the feeling that we're meeting (for the first time) Word Count: Around 36K (34K written) Genre: Drama, Romance, Fluff, Angst Fandom/Universe: Superman and Batman, DCEU canon/movie canon Characters/Pairings: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne; Lex Luthor, Diana Prince, Barry Allen, Arthur Curry, Victor Stone Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Rating: Teen Summary: While fighting Lex Luthor for his latest weapon, a time weapon, Bruce Wayne gets hit and sent back twenty years into the past. Meeting Clark Kent on some snowy mountain side in Alaska was not exactly what Bruce thought would happen, but he’s here now and there’s nothing for him to do except wait for his team to pull him back to the future. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite know when that will be, so sticking with Clark is his best option. Of course, it would be much easier if Bruce wasn’t already pining for Clark in the future. How long until Bruce is pulled back into the future, and will he be able to stop himself from falling in love with Clark Kent in the past and potentially creating a time paradox? This story is set in a couple of locations. Most of it is set in the past in Alaska during the beginning of Clark’s pilgrimage, specifically in the Denali National Park. Other locations include the Wayne-Turned-League Manor, Bruce’s Lake-House in Gotham city, and the lake itself! Primarily it involves young versions of Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, although the very beginning section and at the last few parts of the end is focused on the present/older versions of them. There are no Archive Warnings that apply to this story. It is mainly an excuse to just write cute scenes of Bruce and Clark falling in love in the snow with the added bit of dealing with time travel, with a lot of focus on Bruce Wayne's character! The most rated this story goes is the occasional swear word.

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24 Title: Scarlet Tears Word Count: 12,914 Genre: Action Fandom/Universe: AU Characters/Pairings: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Warnings: mention mpreg Rating: M+ Summary: Leonard and Mick take a mini vacation from the Legends and head back to Central City. It is there they find out things aren't as them left it. A certain speedster has the attention of Captain Cold when an accident happen will he be able to resist staying away from this particular speedster?

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25 Title: Absent Shadows Word Count: 3487 Genre: Action/Adventure, Hurt/Comfort Fandom/Universe: Justice League Animated/Teen Titans Characters/Pairings: Robstar & Superbat Warnings: None Rating: NC-17 Summary: Starfire can’t believe her eyes when Robin sends her his resignation from the team, in fact she doesn’t believe it all. As she investigates Robin’s disappearance, she considers his similarities with his father and in the chaos, she meets a fellow traveller to this strange planet she calls home. Whilst they learn about each other, she seeks his experience when falling in love with both Earth and more specifically men from a certain family.

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26 Title: Make an Ass of U and Me Word Count: probably 10k-12k (6k written) Genre: Romance, Comedy Fandom/Universe: DCEU Characters/Pairings: Clark/Bruce, Dick&Bruce Warnings: sort of assumed incest, but no actual incest Rating: Teen Summary: Bruce neglects to tell the newly formed Justice League that he has a son, because he and Dick aren't talking to each other . Until they suddenly are. Unfortunately, he doesn't clarify who exactly Dick is to him, so Clark gets the wrong impression. Or: Five times Clark thought Dick was Bruce's boyfriend, and the one time he found out the truth. Contains lots of unfounded jealousy, misunderstandings, Dick being delightful, and Clark being a mess. Lots of domestic settings, mostly around the lake house and the batcave, with the exception of one battle scene.

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27 Title: Honey Trap Word Count: 7.7k Genre: Porn-with-plot, crime/modern AU Fandom/Universe: DCU (Comics) Characters/Pairings: Slade Wilson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson Warnings: Consent issues (consent is there on both sides, but dubious on one side due to situation), manipulation, some BDSM-style kink Rating: NC17 Summary: Slade's used to dealing with informants. Most get caught in the screening process before they ever get a hold of anything useful, but this one, 'Jason Todd,' gets as far as working in the lower ranks of his organization before Billy drops the file on his desk. Another attempt at an undercover CI from Detective Grayson, this time just some random arrested civilian, instead of a fellow officer. Billy would prefer that he throw him out now, but Todd's not bad looking, and Slade likes the idea of ruining this plant just like he ruined the last one. Modern AU, no-capes. Aside from sex scenes, one character is primarily in part/all of a suit throughout scenes. As Slade is aware from the start that Jason's a plant, the sex has some consent issues. Jason is doing it partly to ingratiate himself, and Slade absolutely manipulates him into it. However, Jason enjoys/consents to everything that happens, it's only the situation that's sketchy.

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28 Title: Don't Let Your Yearnings Get Ahead of Your Earnings Word Count: 7.2k Genre: Western, technically Romance Fandom/Universe: DCU (Comics) Characters/Pairings: Slade Wilson/Jason Todd Warnings: Some non-consensual touching, non-sexual Rating: PG-13 Summary: Slade Wilson is a bounty hunter, one of the best in the business. The contracts that specify 'alive and unharmed' are rarer, but usually worth the extra bonus that comes with. This one is definitely not. Jason Todd was supposed to be just another young outlaw with more balls than brains, not a slippery sharpshooter who Slade would have to chase halfway to the next town. And just to add to everything, he still has to get the damned boy all the way back. That's going to be fun. Western AU with bounty-hunter Slade and an outlaw-ish Jason. Most of the story is traveling, but there will be an inside-mansion scene near the end with Roman Sionis. No real warnings for this. There's some brief non-consensual touching of intimate bits, but it's entirely non-sexual.

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29 Title: [insert song lyric here] Word Count: 8084 Genre: It's a slowburn at its core, with action and drama mixed in Fandom/Universe: DCAU's Justice League/Unlimited Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Wally West, Shayera Hol, J'onn J'onzz, John Stewart, Diana, Clark Kent Warnings: human trafficking, threat of dub/non-con, language, sexual themes Rating: R Summary: Ever since their run in with the Justice Lords, Flash and Batman reached a new stage in their teammates-but-not-quite-friendship. The only problem is Flash is the only one who seems to think that, so he decides to see how far he can push at Batman's annoyance level before the Bat snaps at him. Unfortunately for Flash, their job keeps getting in the way, including but not limited to stumbling upon a human trafficking ring and a worldwide invasion. When the dust settles, Flash finds himself wanting more from the man under the cowl, and the harder Batman pulls away, the harder Flash is drawn to the man and his elusiveness. The Fastest Man Alive needs to rely on his patience if he wants to get anywhere in his quest. This story takes place throughout the entirety of DCAU's Justice League as well as the first two seasons of Justice League Unlimited, with the main locations being the Watchtower and Wayne Manor. The human trafficking and threat of dub/non-con are contained to two scenes in which a main character falls into trouble, but nothing too graphic occurs. Still, the subject matter isn't everyone's cup of tea. The R rating is just to be extra safe.

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30 Title: Anachronistic Crises Crossover Word Count: 8k Genre: Gen, Crossover, Fluff Fandom/Universe: Red Robin, Batman- All Media Types, DC Comics Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd (Post Crisis),Tim Drake, Jason "Jay" Todd (Pre-Crisis)/Rena(Pre- crisis), Jason "Jay" Todd (Pre-Crisis), Rena(Pre- crisis) Warnings: Period Typical homophobia, possible inclusions of bad mental health care later Rating: T (just to be safe) Summary: Coming off of the Search for Ray Palmer, Jason Todd reconciled with his family. Just in time for Batman's apparent death. After an international adventure that led them to finding the batman, said batman in his Hyper-Adapter crazed state seemingly vaporized them with Omega Energy. Jason and Tim wake up to find themselves stranded in Gotham, New Jersey where its somehow the April of 1986. Tim takes the lead and stalks a young person also named Jason Todd- who is very unlike the one he knows. The Alfred Pennyworth with him seems similar enough though. In there efforts to observe this world's Bat-family Tim ends up having to go to high school again- where the shear amount of brightly colored clothes that are either skin tight or falling off makes him want to claw his eyes out. Jason is comparatively having a much better time as a librarian in the Gotham Public Library to fund their tiny studio apartment with money that doesn't look fake for the time period.

Night work continues as well, with Red Hood and the vigilante named by the media as "Shrike". Their quick and calculated moves on the Gotham drug trade lead them to colliding first with this world's Robin. Jason alone is confronted by the Batman, and nearly has a panic attack though Tim will never be privy to that information.

Gotham is a not as insane back drop of retro-not-so-chic. Jason enjoys the small pleasures of being legally alive and having a job. Tim doesn't cope well without all his compact gadgetry and hates school- but likes the closeted lesbian couple he meets. A budding bat-detective trying to figure out who these new and weird people are, and who these new sci-fi like vigilantes are. Will the people back home in Tim and Jason's Gotham ever succeed in getting them home?

The entire fic takes place in either version of Gotham, with the exception of the Watchtower being there for like 5 minutes. Post-Crisis Gotham features locations like Oracle's clock-tower Jason is wearing his Under the Red Hood costume, Tim cosplays as knock off Midnighter (red robin), Bruce has blue accents and trunks, and Robin-Jay makes Jason re-live cold nights in hot-pants and pixie boots.

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31 Title: Batsons Be Crazy Word Count: 11,169 words Genre: Fluff With Plot Fandom/Universe: Batfam + Shazam basically DCU leaning towards the comics Characters/Pairings: Damian Wayne/Billy Batson Warnings: None Apply Rating: Teen Summary: The story takes place over a year, a year of Billy and Damian teaming up, falling in love, and meeting family. Damian has never liked anyone before, while Billy sees the best in everyone and will fall in love at the drop of a hat. Their romance isn't a crazy one, it's one built off of trust, comfort, and most importantly, a love of animals. Their romance brings them to many places, including Canada, Dick Grayson's apartment, and the dinner table in the manor. No warning apply except maybe underage because Damian is 17 when he begins to peruse Billy as a romantic interest, but doesn't start seeing him until he's 18.

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32 Title: The Past Still Ties You Down Word Count: 7k Genre: Angst, Romance Fandom/Universe: The Flash (TV) Characters/Pairings: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Warnings: implied/referenced violence and abuse, alcohol abuse Rating: NC-17 Summary: On another earth, Barry falls in love with the most hated man in Central City - mob boss Leonard Snart. Only, Central doesn’t know Len like he does. They didn’t grow up with him like Barry did, sleeping in the bed above him, patching up his wounds and crawling under the covers with him when his bullies had been especially cruel. Even as the years go by - where Len is no longer a teenage boy forced into a life he didn't choose and Barry is no longer the child still grieving his mother while hating the father who killed her - they can't seem to let go of each other. Set in multiple locations in Central City, including a foster home, hospital, and the West house. The violence and abuse are not actually shown, but the aftermath is (ie. patching up wounds, some blood, some discussion of specific actions after the fact).

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33 Title: Unfortunate Souls Word Count: around 8-9k total, 4958 written Genre: Dark Fairy Tale Fandom/Universe: Batman, Batfamily Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd/Slade Wilson Warnings: dub con (may have a bad ending that pushes it into non con) Rating: Explicit, NC-17 Summary: Based off of The Little Mermaid (Disney film mixed with aspects of the original fairy tale) as well as fandom-type Mer AU’s. With red-headed Jason taking the part of Ariel, Dick as Prince Eric, and Slade as Ursula. Jason, adopted prince of King Bruce’s underwater kingdom, is fascinated by all things human. One night, while stargazing on the surface, he decides to follow a ship out of curiosity. On the ship is a handsome human prince who steals his heart. After an accident, Jason risks his life to save the human, which puts him at odds with Bruce. After inadvertently challenging Bruce during an argument about his ‘hobby’, Jason flees the realm and accepts the offer of octo-mer Deathstroke, a one-time rival of Bruce’s, to turn him human. But Slade’s intentions are murky and hidden. He wants Bruce’s throne, his son, and if he gets a human pet out of the deal, that’s just one more trophy to show that he is the stronger Mer. The story is set in the underwater mer kingdom ruled by Bruce; Slade’s underwater lair; and the idyllic land kingdom of Bludhaven, ruled by Price Richard. I haven’t decided whether I want a happy ending, like the film, where Jason and Dick ride off into the sunset or a bad ending where Slade gets everything he wants. If happy, there will be some dub con between Jason and Slade when they make the agreement and later when Slade is using magic to enthrall Dick. If I go with the bad ending, there will likely be some non con.

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34 Title: You Will See Me Word Count: 6,146 Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Character Analysis, Canon-divergent Fandom/Universe: Young Justice Characters/Pairings: Arsenal (Roy Harper), Artemis Crock, Roy Harper (Will Harper), Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, Lian Harper || Oliver/Dinah, Arsenal & Artemis Warnings: Trauma, PTSD, Realistic depictions of injury, Physical Disability, Recovery Rating: PG-13 Note: Arsenal, and thus Roy, are trans men in this fic. Summary: After being rescued from the clutches of Lexcorp, a cryochamber, and no future, Arsenal struggles to find his grip on life. Between the vast amounts of anger, fear, and loss, he fights to cling to autonomy. A mentor he feels betrayed him, a clone he isn't sure how to relate to, and a couple of badass women who may not have known him, but are here for him, Arsenal is just learning to live again. A heavy introspection fic on the nature of the trauma Arsenal has been through, and his road to healing. Exploring the relationships he has with Oliver, Dinah, Roy, and Artemis especially, but others as well. The two weeks between his rescue, and his first mission with the team are rife with trouble and struggle, but he has a fire and a determination in him that will get him through. The hell of the War World and the true recovery afterwards. Learning to forgive Oliver, learning to accept Roy for himself, a separate entity than himself, getting to know Artemis and the real and true bond they form. Forgiveness, healing, and his fair share of slips and bumps, Arsenal finds closure, acceptance, and comfort in his life.

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35 Title: Build Me A Place (we'll call it home) Word Count: 6,800 story (+outline of ending) Genre: Fluff, Minor Angst Fandom/Universe: Batman, Superman, Justice League Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Louis Lane, Kara Danvers Warnings: None Rating: PG-13 Summary: Kryptonians are not human. It’s easy to forget, even for Clark. That being an alien means more than his powers. There are traits rooted into the DNA, coming out in the subconscious, until not even Clark notices. Kryptonians, among other things, build Bowers for their mates, beautiful homes to settle into. It’s more than a tradition, it’s a way of life. When Clark begins to redecorate, he doesn't know why it matters so much to him. And why it hurts so badly when Bruce doesn’t even care.

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36 Title: Little Scab Word Count: 6,246 words Genre: gen, family, found family, community Fandom/Universe: DCU, Batfam, Red Hood Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, OFC, Bruce Wayne, Batfam Warnings: violence, descriptions of abuse, non-graphic allusions to sex acts Rating: M for violence, adult themes Summary: Red Hood is not a hero to most. Outlaw, yes. Killer... yes. He and his estranged family all serve some role as self-described protectors, but only Jason Todd delivers his justice in blood. However, following one good deed and the start of a fledgling friendship, Jason finds the Red Hood tasked with leading a self defense class for some of Gotham's most vulnerable—homeless, prostitutes, and runaways. When the Batfamily members start catching on, will they approve? First appears Robin. Then Black Bat. Who next? What will Batman ultimately do about his wayward ward stirring up Crime Alley? Can Jason be trusted to keep Gotham safe? The story is set in Gotham, featuring set pieces like Crime Alley, warehouses, tall buildings, the Bat cave, and more. It features many Batfam characters as well as several OCs all taking part in self defense instruction, with a few action scenes thrown in. The story does contain graphic violence, including allusions to or descriptions of past physical, sexual, and/or psychological abuse. It deals with mature themes but is ultimately about forging friendships, building community, and becoming better stewards of Gotham.

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