Forever Alone

Yo good to see you the name’s Akuma I go by She/they, I’m an artist and make AU’s and story’s! I tend to make art of my most recent interest’s. This is now my Spam/private blog. Art blog is here: https://www.tumblr.com/little-akuma-0ni

[sizvideos]

This campaign defies censorship in social media to raise awareness for early detection of breast cancer

[iamanemotionaltimebomb]

this is actually super fucking smartass of them

[snake-lady]

Reblogging as this is so important everyone! My mum had breast cancer and that shit is not nice so please check yourself ladies and gents! 💕💕💕

[tkthegoddess]

Always a reblog. 💋

[lyra-invisa]

I will forever reblog this when I see it because its so important

[hagihino]

[littleakuma0ni]

LOOK AT THEMMMMMMMMM THE LIGHTING IS SO PRETTTTTTTTYYYYYY

[johnny-depp-is-loved]

Please, spread this for those who might need it right now

U.S. suicide hotline: call or text 988 (available 24 hours)

U.S. trans lifeline: [phone] (when you call, you’ll speak to a trans/nonbinary peer operator. full anonymity and confidentiality)

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) – provides 24/7 confidential support and referrals for individuals and families facing mental health and substance use disorders, including panic attacks and anxiety.

LGBT National Help Center: [phone]

Trevor Project: Call [phone], text START to 678-678, or chat online.

Take care of yourself and each other. Please stay safe ♡

[littleakuma0ni]

Tumblr’s reminder, PLEASE STOP SAYING TERRY IS A CLONE HES AN ATTEMPTED BIOLOGICAL CLONE BY TRYING TO GET THE EXACT VARIABLES THAT MADE BATMAN HAPPEN, WHICH FAILED, HE ISNT A LITERAL CLONE OF BRUCE. WALLER LITERALLY SAYS HE ISNT, TERRY IS JUST BEING A DRAMA QUEEN TO WHICH WALLER SHUTS HIM DOWN MULTIPLE TIMES.

OH AND HE HAS A BIOLOGICAL BROTHER THAT IS EXACTLY LIKE HIM! NO. HE WASNT BORN IN A LAB, HE HAS A FATHER AND MOTHER! PLUS THE ONLY REASON HES RELATED TO TERRY IS BECAUSE TERRYS DADS DNA WAS ESSENTIALLY TURNED INTO BRUCES.

This is like saying Damian is a clone of Bruce because someone raised him with two parents kinda like Martha and Thomas therefore he’s his clone.

Please justice for Matt just existing and Terry being Bruce’s son.

Also Wallers plan sucked in the first place due to the fact she was trying to make a second Bruce but failed at the first step, BRUCE IS A BILLIONAIRE TERRY ISN’T, HE DOESN’T HAVE ANYONE LIKE ALFRED PLUS HE HAS A LITTLE BROTHER.

She was likely to get “yeah I have other responsibilities, mainly the fact I’m taking care of a kid” and “I am vengeance” Jason Todd style rather then Bruce.

Thank for coming to my “justice for Terry” Tedd talk.

[jayla-fire-gal]

I need to share this because I need other people who love the character to see this series and know it's happening.

Noah Beyer has taken it upon himself to make the content the fandom needs and started a series about Red Hood. He's working hard to deliver a high quality project with very little in the way of budget and, honestly, he is succeeding!

Red Hood: Resurrection has a based take on Jason Todd's origin story and a cast that breathes life into the characters in the way that you always need in a live action adaptation. In the two episodes out so far, they have consistently been revealing parts of the background goings on of their universe while keeping you engaged with the characters and the story they wish to tell.

Noah made a video talking about the series and how he got started, give it a watch if you'd like to know more:

[luxvinova]

Dear mutuals and followers, sorry for the politics in your dashboard but in some homes today we cannot afford to "ignore the problems".

The country where I come from, Venezuela, has had an election for president that has resulted in fraud. Mr. Nicolás Maduro has proclaimed himself President although the votes have said the opposite. This regime has devastated the lives of its citizens, resorting to violence against those who opposed it. It has brought ruin to a nation once celebrated as a pioneer of Latin American independence, yet many choose to overlook its plight. Venezuela, a country that once extended support to immigrants and provided aid to others, is now dismissed as insignificant by many.

If you are an advocate who values the dignity and needs of individuals, we urge you to raise your voice alongside us. Don't ignore us because we are Latinos, this is also a war. It is a conflict against an individual who has controlled his armed forces, law enforcement, narcotics syndicates, and citizens, rendering any attempts at reform futile despite our vocal protests. I have family members who are unable to depart through legal means, and if they choose to leave unlawfully, they face harsh judgment from people of the outside.

If you are interested, here are more information you may read:

Twitter Thread Summary // What is happening in Venezuela

[punnifullife]

Based off this post. funny doodles i took too seriously.

[littleakuma0ni]

So like, can we appreciate the different animated Tv shows interpretations of Dick?

OG animated series: He’s just a funny sweet goofy gaffy guy, ain’t he cute! Aww look at that face! until… oh… oh no… turns out murder was an option.

Teen Titans: Serious leader, will fuck you up, yet kinda dorky at times who keeps getting compared to Slade for some reason yet very much just acts like Bruce and is blind as hell. Also ✨TRAUMA✨:D

2004: You like your bones? :3 Oh you do? Thanks, I needed to know what to take first… *melts into the shadows* hehehehehe >:)

Young Justice: I make it my personal mission to be a menace and a manic with a smile and radiate annoying little brother energy to EVERYONE

I love how absolutely UNHINGED this man is, but it’s fascinating seeing every interpretation leans more into one of his traits more then the others depending on whose writing. But the murder always stays.

Honorable mention:

The animated movies: So I was here too. Okay byeeee~!

Edit: I completely forgot about young justice because I haven’t really watched it yet

[littleakuma0ni]

Yah ever take a break from reading a comic and kinda dread reading the rest? That’s Batgirl year one for me rn. I put it down a week ago and I haven’t picked it up again.

Oh yay misogyny and sexism wooooo~!

Not gonna lie I like reading it for Barbara’s half but knowing it was written around when in the mainline comics Dick and Barb just got together, his actions in it give me the massive ICK why did they write him like that?! I know Dicks two-faced at times, usually those cases have a reason and I accept them cuz Dicks not perfect. But, it’s low key creepy when you know what was happening in other comics during this one and then this one.

Like, am I supposed to feel grossed out? I know the main idea is to so how much sexism Barbara faces on a daily basis, but from the guy she’s supposed to be dating later? I don’t think I am? Maybe I am? Like if that’s the idea, yah failed to make me like him so far from her prospective or the reader. He doesn’t come off as “coy” or “cute” it’s just something about his behavior in how it’s as a cis female reader in 2024 just gross.

It’s not reading what? 14? 13 year old boy at this point? It’s reading I don’t respect you at all and you might as well be a toy to my own ends.

Note: these are my personal thoughts and they are subject to change, thank you… also no I’m not dropping it just taking a break cuz reading that stuff can be tiring even if writing it can be therapeutic.

Edit: Also this isn’t a hate post for Dicks character just SPECIFICALLY this comic presents him as a character. Robin year one was great but then you read this one and your like “what the fuck happened?”

[littleakuma0ni]

So as someone with glasses with VERY poor eyesight I actually want to know if this is acknowledged in the older comics, Barbara’s eyesight. Babs is honestly a badass already but I want to know if the comics acknowledge her eyesight, at first I thought her glasses were like computer or reading glasses then I remembered Barbara never really takes them off unless she’s Batgirl.

If someone like me with a lazy eye and horrible astigmatism, you know you basically kinda are flying blind without your glasses. Honestly it’s not as bad as some shows make it out to be but it’s still hard to see. I also assumed if she has bad eyesight maybe she was wearing contacts but that would mean she could never let anyone punch her in the face because they’d get in her eyes.

In like shows like the 2004 series Babs has the white out lenses like Dick and Bruce so I assume she has lenses in her mask. But in the comics the batgirl suit doesn’t have that so I can only guess she’s not wearing anything.

If that’s the case Babs has become like 10x cooler for me and kinda a missed opportunity to see her struggles with poor eyesight on top of her legs.

Idk if anyone really cares just me as someone who struggles without my glasses thinks it’s really cool. Just because you have glasses doesn’t mean you’re magically fixed but your not helpless ether, and I love it when stories acknowledge it.

[littleakuma0ni]

That moment when you realize Bruce Wayne’s canon “favorites” aren’t his favorites… their his ideal selfs.

Bruce isn’t a ‘girl dad’ or ‘loves Dick because he’s his eldest’ no. That’s not it. He likes Cassandra because she’s has his exact moral code with little to no differences, she follows it to a tee. He likes Dick because Dick is his perfect version, his ‘success’ the best version of his exact situation. He loves them sure, but he doesn’t favor them because of love. It’s to further his own ego.

This is proved with Jay, to take care of Jay he had to push his own feelings onto Jay. To ‘fix’ him. Jay didn’t need ‘fixing’ or an outlet, he needed compassion, GENUINE compassion. Not self imposed compassion or understanding by grafting his experiences over Jason’s and making it more about himself then Jay.

He needs to keep making others ‘better’, that’s why he keeps Jay around. But shuns him too. Bruce needs to fix Jay, but Jay is imperfect, a stain on his legacy. So he can’t.

If you think about it from this perspective, Gotham War starts to actually sound completely in character. He succeeded, he ‘fixed’ Jay in his mind.

Same with Damian, not exactly, but close. He just couldn’t be the one to ‘fix’ him. Yeah he values Damian because he’s his son, but paying attention to him regularly? Nope. Damian’s been ‘fixed’.

Tim doesn’t need to be fixed, he fixed Bruce so Bruce ignores him. Any attempt at fixing would be met with a wall.

As for Stephanie he couldn’t twist her story to fit his narrative, so he just completely rejects her. 

Cass and Dick are his legacy. They were ‘fixed’. That’s why he values them.

Some food for thought, I personally don’t like this, I like good dad Bruce Wayne that values all his kids equally and tries to reach out to Jay because he genuinely wants to help his son but won’t put Gotham in danger because of himself. He pays attention to Damian, praises Tim, wants the best for Steph even if she isn’t his daughter.

But, when you think of the wider scale of Bruce’s actions in the comics (without thinking of the hand of the author) this pattern is a thing. I REALLY want to be wrong.

PLEASE COMICS LET BRUCE BE A OKAY DAD! NOT EVEN GOOD JUST OKAY IS FINE! JUST LET HIM LOVE HIS KIDS EQUALLY AND WITHOUT ANY STRINGS ATTACHED!

[littleakuma0ni]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: DCU, DC Robins (2021-2022), DCU (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & John Grayson & Mary Grayson, Dick Grayson & Mary Grayson, Dick Grayson & Anita Jean, Anita Jean & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Dick Grayson’s Parents, Batfamily Members & Dick Grayson, Batfamily Members & Bruce Wayne, John Grayson & Mary Grayson, Jim Gordon & Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Anita Jean & Alfred Pennyworth, OC & Batfam Characters: Anita Jean, Jenny Wren, Robin (DCU), Batman, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Mary Grayson, John Grayson, OCs, Jim Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, OC - Character Additional Tags: Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Bruce Wayne Has Issues, POV Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Hurt Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Gets a Hug, Romani Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Protection Squad, Dick Grayson is Not Robin, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson is Not Okay, Anita Jean is Robin, Dick Grayson gets an older sister, Anita Jean-centric, Bruce Wayne Tries, Dead John Grayson and Mary Grayson, Long-Suffering Jim Gordon, Soft Jim Gordon, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Relationships, Bruce Wayne is Brucie Wayne, Bruce Wayne is Good With Kids, Bruce Wayne is complicated, Anita Jean is messed up, Anita Jean cares about Dick Grayson, Batfamily (DCU) Feels, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily Dynamics (DCU), Domestic Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily-centric (DCU), Nerodvergent Batfam, Batfam and OC, Fluff and Angst, Awkward Conversations, Awkwardness, Angst, Domestic Fluff, Complete, Complicated Relationships, Batfamily is a Mess (DCU), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Mental Health Issues Series: Part 1 of Fairy Wren Summary:

Summary: Batman and Robin go to the circus. Robin doesn’t care for the trip but goes anyway. Tragedy strikes, a young couple is dead, while Robin might gain a new brother.

[littleakuma0ni]

EXTRA EXTRA I POSTED SOME FUNNNNN STUFFFFFFFF~!

[littleakuma0ni]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: DCU, DC Robins (2021-2022), DCU (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & John Grayson & Mary Grayson, Dick Grayson & Mary Grayson, Dick Grayson & Anita Jean, Anita Jean & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Dick Grayson's Parents, Batfamily Members & Dick Grayson, Batfamily Members & Bruce Wayne, John Grayson & Mary Grayson, Jim Gordon & Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Anita Jean & Alfred Pennyworth, OC & Batfam Characters: Anita Jean, Jenny Wren, Robin (DCU), Batman, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Mary Grayson, John Grayson, OCs, Jim Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, OC - Character Additional Tags: Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Bruce Wayne Has Issues, POV Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Hurt Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Gets a Hug, Romani Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Protection Squad, Dick Grayson is Not Robin, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson is Not Okay, Anita Jean is Robin, Dick Grayson gets an older sister, Anita Jean-centric, Bruce Wayne Tries, Dead John Grayson and Mary Grayson, Long-Suffering Jim Gordon, Soft Jim Gordon, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Relationships, Bruce Wayne is Brucie Wayne, Bruce Wayne is Good With Kids, Bruce Wayne is complicated, Anita Jean is messed up, Anita Jean cares about Dick Grayson, Batfamily (DCU) Feels, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily Dynamics (DCU), Domestic Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily-centric (DCU), Nerodvergent Batfam, Batfam and OC, Fluff and Angst, Awkward Conversations, Awkwardness, Angst, Domestic Fluff, Complete, Complicated Relationships, Batfamily is a Mess (DCU), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Mental Health Issues Series: Part 1 of Fairy Wren Summary:

Summary: Batman and Robin go to the circus. Robin doesn’t care for the trip but goes anyway. Tragedy strikes, a young couple is dead, while Robin might gain a new brother.

[aroace-boyfriend]

13 y/o dick grayson, holding 9 y/o jason todd like a stray cat: bruce, i got a little brother!

bruce, doing paperwork for WE, not paying attention: that’s great, chum

. . .

bruce, several hours later: wait, what?!

dick: it’s okay, alfred said we can keep him!

[chaos-bringer-13]

@littleakuma0ni @sentariana

It would be so funny if they just kept doing it in that exact order though.

Bruce (went to the circus, returned with Dick): Alfred, can we keep him?

Dick (went on a walk, returned with Jason): Bruce, can we keep him?

Jason (was away from Bruce on patrol or a gala for two seconds, returned with Tim): Dick, do you think Bruce will let me keep him?

Tim (went to grab a coffee, returned dragging older-than-him Cass): Uh, guys, can we keep her?

Cass (literally disappeared for a few days without warning, returned with Damian): Baby.

Damian (no one is aware what he was doing but he returned with very confused Duke): I believe it is a family tradition to bring in a new sibling. Can we keep this one?

[littleakuma0ni]

@sentariana @chaos-bringer-13

Tims goes like that smoothie meme

Bruce: Tim, what do you have there?

Tim: *Holding a homeless mute assassin girl in one hand and a coffee in the other*

Tim: a coffee.

[adreamfromnevermore]

Ghost Batfamily AU where Bruce dies with his parents and simply never leaves and slowly over time he gathers the rest of his birds as they die in Gothams dirt.

Jason dies when he's twelve, 3 years later he disappears and a boy comes back to life in a pit of green.

Red Hood takes the League by storm because as far as they're aware there has never been a hero in Gotham, Jason is just desperate to find the children that had become his family again.

[littleakuma0ni]

Would Batman, the Robins and Batgirls be like ghosts hunting Gotham everyone knows are ghosts or like they think their cryptids?

Also here’s some ideas for this how each one of the kids dies for sadness.

————

Dick’s death

Dick dies the same night as his parents, he didn’t wait and preformed the stunt with them. Bruce finds him alone and confused not realizing he’s dead.

I don’t really see Bruce aging you can disagree.

Gotham starts seeing these spectators of two boys scaring criminals and playing in Wayne manor (which has been left abandoned since the Wayne’s death). Everyone knows not to go near the place because of hearing the disembodied giggles of two boys or foot steps running through the manor at night. Sometimes they say past dark you can see two small heads peaking out of the upper floor windows.

Meanwhile Dicks having the time of his life in the manor. As it doesn’t look abandoned to ghosts. So Dick thinks only his parents died but Bruce a much older spirit knows that isn’t the case. But he tells Dick he’ll help him try to take down his parents murder. (Which really isn’t the case, it’s really avenging his own along with his parents death)

Dick does find out he’s dead eventually, mainly because no one ever seems to notice him or Bruce when they save them. So Bruce let’s the cat out of the bag, and Dick is reasonably upset.

————

Jason’s death

Jason dies little match girl style, (if you know you know) he freezes. Jason doesn’t move on the for the fact he never really got to live so to speak. So he just hangs out in the Gotham alleys, scaring poor citizens as he goes.

Jason becomes his own kinda cryptid. The spirit of crime alley.

People think he’s Bruce for a long time because Jason’s death was so underwhelming no one knew he died till some homeless people found his corpse due to the smell. Because the Wayne’s were a more prominent death to happen in that area, they all think it’s the ghost of the lost Bruce Wayne who hunts the streets of crime alley. Rather then Jason Todd, the nobody street kid who died as he lived, alone, cold, and hungry. (Don’t mind me I might low key cry at this)

When Bruce finds him he doesn’t know what to do, there’s no attachment he has other then Gotham itself, how is he supposed to help this kid move on? So Bruce just takes him in hoping Jason will just kinda, burn himself out. Ghosts can do that right? Dick tries suggesting Jason has any idea what he could be attached to or what purpose he has and Jason just shrugs. He has no clue ether, he was kinda hoping when he died he’d be free from Gotham forever to be honest.

So

Bruce makes him his second Robin in hopes Jason can find something to do while they find his attachment, that won’t make him go off his rocker. Because ghosts go crazy without something to keep them busy.

Jason gets resurrected at this time, Bruce and Dick are both sad and relieved thinking they finally found the thing Jason was attached to after the finding his mom. But that isn’t that case.

————

Tim’s death

Tim dies alone, mainly due to neglect. It wasn’t out of malice intent, but Tim died trying to find out clues about what the “spirits of Gotham” (Bruce, Dick and Jason) are. He died due to an accident, but his parents soon followed. Finding out he was missing just as they got home, going out to look for him. However Tim gets caught in a villain attack and dies. They both later die due to their grief.

Tim was actually very likely to pass on, but got lost for a split second. While simultaneously gaining a attachment to Bruce and Dick because this last thought was connected to Batman and Robin.

When Tim tells Bruce and Dick he knows he’s dead, but he can’t seem to move on. Dick asks “well what was the most important thing to you before you died?” And Tim just responds “You two.”

And that creates a new “aw crap” moment between Bruce and Dick because “how to make a kid pass on when his most important thing was two ALSO dead kids?”

So Tim, Dick and Bruce come to the conclusion, Dick and Bruce have to pass on or Tim is stuck forever in Gotham. Tim ends up helping because it’s the right thing to do, but slowly grows to resent the fact he’s stuck in Gotham.

————

Barbara’s death

She dies her first night as Batgirl, Dick and Bruce tried to save her but she fell to her death from a rafter. Her attachment was to Gordon, mainly to keep him safe. Because that’s something that couldn’t be resolved over night, Dick and Bruce let her stay in the manor out in the hope it will keep her stable and not wondering around Gotham.

She’s mostly content, she visits Gordon and tries to bring him some sort of comfort after her death. He’s become consumed by work.

————

Cassandra’s death

She died as soon as she made it to Gotham. It wasn’t any spectacular she died from starvation, she couldn’t speak so she couldn’t ask for help or get help. She didn’t move on because she was terrified to do so, her attachment become her want to do better then she did in life and make up for what she did.

The others get her prospective and offer that maybe if she does good maybe she’ll end up in a better place after she moves on. Cass soon learns she probably won’t ever leave. Not because she can’t, because she wants to do good. Being able to make up for her mistake is the best things she could’ve asked for.

Though she lives in constant fear that one day her father will find her body and she’ll be forced on the run again, because he wants to bring her back.

————

Stephanie’s death

Steph dies because of her dad. He ended up killing her by accident and she felt resentful of him and that resentment turned into her attachment.

She was definitely all for murdering her dad but turns out killing someone for killing you doesn’t land you in very happy places when you die. Even if it is justified. So more for her own safety, the others discourage her from killing for her own sake. She doesn’t listen at first till everyone puts it into perspective how bad hell is.

Steph eventually learns to have mercy for him, but it takes a while before they lock him up. Steph became more motivated by her father killing her making her mother fall deeper into her drug addiction.

————

Dukes death (I’m mixed on this one)

Duke actually dies during the initial Riddler attack. His attachment became his parents similar to Barbara to Gordon. He was dead set on saving his parents, creating an attachment to always keep them safe.

Turns out, metta powers work even in death.

Because they knew he wasn’t going to move on easily or sit and do nothing they made Duke one of them. He’s actually the only one people widely know in Gotham. But no one thinks the phantom is a hero, most people think Dukes a trick of the light so to speak. Or something like that.

————

Also each one of the kids have one area they hang out besides the manor.

Dick hangs out around Halys circus

Jason and Bruce of course hang around crime alley

Stephanie and Duke hang around their parents places

Barbara hangs around Gordon and the GCPD building

Cass doesn’t really have a place but she does occasionally goes to the place she died out of paranoia

And after the Drakes move in close to Wayne manor Tim hangs around it watching over his parents

————

As for Helena, Harper and Kate. They still exist there’s just no vigilante in the area that has inspired them to dawn the mask. But Kate and Harper have been inspired by the myth of the “Spirits of Gotham” before to consider it.

————

Now as for the main idea of this Au who are most for and whose the most against it?

Team: Hey I wanna be alive again

Duke, Steph and Babes

Team: I don’t know, maybe?

Tim and Dick

Team: I don’t wanna be alive again

Cass and Bruce

[bats-and-the-birds]

I want a fic or something about the Batfamily where Jason and Dick de-aged back to their Robin days by like a wizard or some shit, then Damian and Tim have to look after them... except they mix them up.

There's two little boys with black hair and blue eyes, wearing the same pants-less costume, and both answering to the name of Robin, but one is all wide eyes and wide smile and one has a murderous anger in his gaze and demeanor, so they make assumptions that *obviously* the murder-y one is Jason and the happy little boy is Dick.

Then they get back to the Batcave and Bruce automatically knows which one is which and calls them by the right names. I just think it'd be a total mind-fuck for Tim and especially Damian.

[littleakuma0ni]

PLEASE if someone writes this make Jason and Dick start fighting over whose Robin while everyone is collectively confused I will LIVE for it.

[angelsonthesideline-deactivated]

[schifty-al]

"You see Perry the platypus"