So I watch Legends of Tomorrow occasionally while my sib is watching (it's already so chaotic but watching things with zero context makes it 10x more chaotic and it's so fun to watch it this way with my sib but back to the point of this post) and so basically I don't even go hear but this cover this cover made me feel things. Like I don't ship it I don't really know who Zari is and barely know who Constantine is but my heart, my heart was so soft and I am listening to this on repeat right now.
I am soft, I am putty in the hands of whoever decided to put everything together like this, and they look so soft for each other in this episode and the episodes after it (cause me and my sib watched multiple episodes in a row which is rare but oh boy am I soft). And their voices are so good and mix so well, and the rawness of Zari's voice in the beginning of this vs the first song she sang which I as a very musical person who very much reads into the singer's vocals was just like 'ah fake it, not showing true emotions or laying bare the soul not as interesting as putting the soul into this but is good'. Then came this and I was like 'oh soul, laid bare for a specific person in response to them laying their's down? Just raw vocals instruments being added later first just the guitar from Constantine (showing his reaction to her response in music as well, being equally as soft) and after the background characters join in (making it go from pain to oh soft understanding to upbeat and joyful). And after that he is singing along for her, he doesn't care for fame and prying eyes but he'll deal with it to show support and care and the mix of styles going into harmony (which is hard to do) and Zari, she is singing for him, her first performance shows that (flip I wrote this part out and switched to YouTube and tumblr ate it) she postures for the public, she gives them a persona that is her but not (not fully, not really), her first song uses heavy auto tune (in a half singing half talking tone) whilst hiding her soul and self because that isn't for the public, the public gets glitz and glamour not a raw gemstone (I did this better the first time curses tumblr) vs the second where he voice is raw (I don't really detect auto tune in her voice here like at all but I could have missed minor tweaks), her soul laid bare for all to see because he asked her for it (only for a conversation between them but he asked for her to tell him how she truly feels essentially) and she does, mainly by using a song they had heard playing the other day when they both weren't ready to bare their souls using her whole voice and putting her soul into her singing hoping he understands and then he does and you hear her voice shift from pain (fear of rejection and not understanding) to tentative hope to joy and it's on her face as well, no mask to hide herself (from the public or him). And I this is the stuff that makes me weak and soft (I had a bit more of an deep dive into Zari's part before tumblr ate it, that was all of Constantine's part but I might have had a bit more in Zari's part that I don't remember).
Okay so Jaskier traveling with other Witchers and writing new pro Witcher songs, just basically being like "Hello I'm Jaskier the bard, the first song I shall sing for you is my latest song about a Bear Witcher who was kind enough to tell me the tale. After that is Burn Butcher Burn, a song about the man who broke my heart whom I will forgive when I see him again most likely because I can't stay angry at him. Until I forgive him enjoy this pointed fuck you. Now I shall sing for you The Small Bear's Might."
Also Vesemir befriending Jaskier and inviting him up to the keep but Jaskier being "look I'd love to stay with you and your cubs for the winter but I don't want to see Geralt. Eskel and Lambert are dear friends of mine and I love Ciri and Yennefer but I'm ready to see Geralt yet."
This happened for like 3 years and Jaskier finally gives in and gets a chance to tell Eskel and Lambert but not Ciri and Yennefer that he'll be in Kaer Morhen for the winter. Dinner after everyone has arrived all on the same day basically just had Vesemir sitting at the table and tell them something along the lines of "Geralt we have a guest that I don't want you to bother so stay away from X area. Lambert, Eskel he arrived days ago and has been expecting you. Ciri, I was told to tell you to 'remember where your fingers are' and that he hopes 'you wished on a flower or this would be awkward'. Yennefer apparently your husband sends his regard. One you will have to bring him dinner and remind him to eat, he barely picked at his lunch."
Geralt being so confused, everyone else is excited.
Also also same vein, Vesemir and Jaskier plan to meet up for a special wine tasting and plan to travel to it together. Jaskier tells a person in the last time he was in that if a Witcher with grey hair arrived to ask him if he remembers the nickname he told him about and that if he did to tell him which way he went. The only problem is the person miss remembered and accidentally told Geralt instead of Vesemir and only realizes after Vesemir arrives in town and asks about Jaskier, the person tells him about the mess up and how they hope they haven't sent trouble Jaskier's way. Vesemir is just like Jaskier just doesn't want to see him because he broke his heart, maybe this will finally bring them together.
Anyway this is a very random string of ideas I had on the shower
Every Time I watch Scorch Trials I just go "Man Minho has like horrible luck with electricity" first he turns on the power which wakes up the cranks in the abandoned mall, then he gets struck by lightning, and after that he gets stunned and rounded up, then he gets stunned again and taken by Wicked and is in their for like 7 months before Death Cure. Minho sweetie, I'm so sorry that they gave you such shitty luck with electricity.
So I saw a post (that I'll reblog in a sec cause tumblr hates links for some reason) where its was like how all the different versions of Geralt greet their Dandelion/Jaskier all of them aside from Netflix Geralt were like I greet him in a way that shows I care and see him as a friend and Netflix Geralt's is literally just "..." with someone having reblogged that quote that says "well now I'm embarrassed to say". And I was like wait fic where Netflix Yennefer sees how the different versions of Geralt greets Jaskier and is like "you know what, if he doesn't start treating the bard right it's free bard. That's my bard now." (I've seen a couple where after the mountain they are friends and stuff but I need more, send any recs you have)
More thoughts and ideas under cut
And because I've seen a bunch of @penandinkprincess 's stuff (as well as some fics by other people, I need more other Witcher schools befriending Jaskier send me any recs you have for this too please) I was like wait but also the Witcher schools being like "wait wait Geralt's crimes have nothing to do on us we get dibs on the bard." And so you have all the Witcher schools and Yennefer fighting over who gets the bard while Jaskier is like "this is sweet and I'm honestly very touched but I'm my own person thank very much. Maybe later I'll join you on a journey and make you a ballad, and yes I mean that for all of you all Witcher schools and Yennefer, but I just wanna travel alone and sing break up songs for now."
And that's only if he knows about it otherwise I want him to be oblivious while Yennefer is threatening 3 Witchers from different schools while a fourth one tries to befriend Jaskier while she's distracted (the befriending part goes fine the getting Jaskier to travel together goes wrong).
Meanwhile either way Geralt is also (not at the start because he is a self loathing idiot, Ciri knocks his brain loose) realizing he messed up and wants Jaskier back as a traveling companion and significant other but he doesn't fully register that yet and decides to find Jaskier and apologize. While trying to do this he finds out that not only are his brothers trying win Jaskier, not only are the other Witcher schools or Yennefer but basically the entire continent went it's free bard. This helps him realize his feelings for Jaskier but it also stresses him out very much, because what if Jaskier decides he prefers to travel with another Witcher, or falls in love with another Witcher, what if Jaskier decided he prefers the finer things in life, etc on the what if scenarios but it also makes it harder to get Jaskier alone and apologize which was already a hard task but everyone keeps redirecting him away from Jaskier.
Because unlike Geralt they recognize how gone on him Jaskier is, and sure eventually they'll help get them together but right now it's punish Geralt hours, and they want Jaskier for themselves at least for a little bit, partly cause there's a bet for who can keep him the longest (aside from Geralt, bet goes for both school and individuals, and includes Witchers, Sorcerers, nobles and other Bards [for the broader part of the bet which is separate but also not; town /city for nobles, Sorcerers and Bards that have taken root in places like Oxenfurt, again schools for Witchers, for those that haven't put down roots its for how powerful and known they are which they put into 3 levels. Also another bet separated by Magic user, noble, Bard and Witcher. So like two broader ones and one highly specific one]) and mainly because they like the bard.
Anyway so Geralt spends a few months trying to find and apologize to Jaskier with Ciri who is excited to meet her dad's friend who she never got the name of (I like the idea that Jaskier played for the Cintra court a lot and is close to Ciri, also they view each other as family, they are also father and daughter in my brain). Jaskier meanwhile us singing breakup songs in taverns and traveling either parallel to them or in the opposite direction they are.
When she sees Jaskier she's like "Papa I missed you, where have you been? Have you meet my Dad Geralt? Wait you used to sing me all those songs about a wolf and cub when Grandmother wasn't listening, of course you know Geralt. Wait is Papa the friend you've been trying to find Dad?" Jaskier is also excited to see Ciri but is nervous about seeing Geralt again for the first time since the mountain. Ciri remembers the time Jaskier told her about the person he loves but never named and how Geralt looks and talks about Jaskier and is the main plotter of getting them to admit their feelings for each other.
The three of them start traveling together and it takes a couple months but now the continent is both trying to get these two idiots together and get Jaskier for themselves (option C being they are enemies of one or both or after one of the three in attack and harm way, option D is for dull and is don't care not my business). Getting them to admit their feelings is harder than getting Geralt to apologize and express anything verbally. They do eventually get together though without someone else's help.
People still occasionally play steal the bard whenever Geralt and Jaskier go to different places though, I feel like there should be more but this is what I got.
@penandinkprincess you opened up a can of worms by actively being curious about the Yennefer and Jaskier are pen pals idea
Should have a read more but I'm on mobile so I can't (edit figured out how to)
So Jaskier (because honestly he'd only let like maybe 4 people actually call him Julian and he makes them use it sparingly, I read in a fic that the people in his town called him Dandelion and I love that idea) is 14, he doesn't consider himself a child anymore he isn't allowed to be. (I am on team his parents, one or both were physically and/or mentally abusive or one of each) Jaskier's father is favored by their country's king and they decide to hire a mage to bless the crops of Lettenhove, enter Yennefer.
Yennefer just wanted to get her job done and get paid because she had other things to get to and was very busy at the moment. Yen is just minding her business when a child enters the study she is working in, not a young child but a child nonetheless. Jaskier was very curious about the mage who came very pretty, scary and looked kind of friend shaped, and very very powerful from the bits he overheard. Jaskier hadn't known she was in that specific study and had come in there for a specific book but why look a gift horse in the mouth, maybe he could ask her somethings.
At first Yennefer wanted him gone so she could focus, but he actually asked good questions that most didn't think to ask. Mid ramble he'd cut himself off and apologized for taking up her time and fled the study, just when she was getting interested. She basically shrugged and went back to work but like classier than normal people. This went on for the first week she was there, she was there for 2 and a half weeks total, until she overheard either him singing or him being abused. Either way her interest in the strange curious child increased and she started to subtly keep him there and keep their conversations going. Everything came to a head when she found him badly injured, she had seen him be very clumsy on his own when he thought no one was looking but that was clearly an injury made by someone else. Jaskier tried to put it off as "it's not that bad, I've had worse." and Yen is pissed but first she has to help this child get patched up, she tried to minimize the scarring but there was still a small scar left on his hip that held a hint of her chaos.
(Also immortal not fully human Jaskier in this because plot of this idea, ages normally until he's like 20 than it stops unless certain things happen, I'm not grinning all evil like what are you talking about)
Yennefer can't really do anything without proof especially because Jaskier's father was favored, but she could watch over him during the rest of her time there and teach him a few small things like sending things places with magic, only small things with no magic though. Yen was the first and only person to ever listen to the first song Jaskier ever wrote himself, his music was already frowned upon enough without it having been written by him and wasn't something he thought anyone would like. After Yennefer hears it and actually tears up a small bit (it was about heartbreak and looking for the small happy things and deeply personal) he wants to keep it to himself and her because she understood his song and she was the only person who would have listened to it in the first place.
Both of them are sad when she has to go but they have to pretend to not really know each other, otherwise people would ask questions. They promise to write each other letters and to send them via mini portal. Yennefer is heartbroken when she hears he tried to run away only to receive broken bones instead of freedom. He is almost 16 when he manages to escape and enters Oxenfurt under a fake name, but he has not yet named himself Jaskier. Jaskier refuses to tell her the bard name he has chosen, with basically a you'll see in dramatic letter exchange.
Yennefer has to stop answering his letters for some reason not yet thought and he has one of those "oh no what if they secretly hate me" thoughts and stops writing to her. It is very important to mention that the only things he dipped into his family's money were education fees and ink and paper to write to Yen. This includes food and other basic needs smh.
Then enters Geralt if Rivia, you know how that story goes, aside from Jaskier occasionally writing Yen letters but never letting her know he's traveling with a Witcher now of course. The whole Djinn thing starts out the same until Jaskier is tucked in bed his shirt is loose and she sees Jaskier's scar, she waits until Geralt leave to brush her hand against it and feel for lingering chaos. Upon waking Jaskier is greater by a very angry Yennefer who wants him to get some self preservation or any kind of not running into danger instinct. She mother hens him then is like make a wish or I swear to the gods I will make you regret it. Yennefer scares him and he decides to flee, because he does have some self preservation instinct Yen. He has full confidence in Yen's abilities and is kind of afraid if the consequences of someone interrupting making it go wrong and spews the lines from canon because he was automatically like "ah can't let Geralt know that I know her, and this is in character for me to do more than anything." He does actually get worried for them, continuing on following canon loosely, and sees them together and is like "hot but like no please that is MY Witcher and that is my amazing friend whom should 100% NOT be involved with each other."
Yennefer and Jaskier decide to start writing letters again and agree to not the Geralt know they are friends, partly because it's fun and partly because that's what they do in front of others.
When Yennefer says "The crows feet are new." It's out of concern, Jaskier should not be aging at all currently and very few things should make that happen. She genuinely enjoyed her relationship with Geralt though she didn't like the hurt that Jaskier sometimes gave off when he thought she wasn't looking. She left the mountain pissed off but upon seeing the state of Jaskier afterwards she was furious. That was HER emotional support bard, how dare you! It also became clear what was aging him like a human, heartbreak, which pissed her off even more. After a month Jaskier was like look we both need alone time and time to do our own things. He also wanted to play his heartbreak songs which seemed to make her angry so he didn't play them in front of her. And so they made their way to the rest of everything so far
(I say this having not watched most of the show, not having read any books or played any games, so take this as you will)
Bonus Round:
14 year old Jaskier telling Yen about the Witcher he met when he was 8 and how "most people thought he was scary but really he was friend shaped Yen! Just like you!"
Yen realization striking her "this child has no self preservation instincts and seems to try and befriend anyone who could easily kill him, he is not allowed to go near anyone like that again or I'm gonna have a heart attack"
Yen years later "WHAT DID I SAY, DON'T MESS WITH PEOPLE WHO COULD KILL YOU IN A SECOND!"
Three times Talia Al Ghul nearly became Jason Todd's Mom and how she finally became his mom
I don't know why this idea came to me but I love it.
So just a week before Jason's 8th birthday Talia tries to leave the league for a short amount of time like in a is this really what I want kind of way. Talia meets Catherine Todd who takes her in and feeds her, Talia thinks her husband is horrible and to keep her low profile but still get him away from Catherine and Jason (who activates some kind of maternal instinct in her) she calls in a tip that sends him to jail. Over the course of a month Talia and Catherine fall in love, Talia calls Catherine her heart and Jason is her dear one. Talia almost lives in domestic bliss when one day while shopping for groceries the league finds her, she leaves a note saying she'll be back for them and that she loves them both.
4 years pass with her under the league's watchful eye, Damian's birth and missions. She escapes the league's eyes to find out that Catherine is dead, and she searches almost desperately for Jason who gets adopted by Bruce about 4 days after she arrives in Gotham.
She spends multiple years trying to get into Bruce's good graces, showing up at a lot of parties for civilians, to get Bruce to let her and Jason meet. Bruce was so close to giving in when Jason dies.
2 and a half years pass and a league member finds a catatonic Jason and brings him to Nanda Parbat. Talia tries everything she can to get him better, Ra's says he's going to send Jason away meaning Jason will most likely be killed and she puts him in the Lazarus Pits. She then escapes the league with both of her sons. Well I'm not sure about the last sentence but both of them are her sons and she will fiercely protect them.
Edit: Talia's most precious photos are of her and her sons at the zoo happy, and a photo of her, Catherine and Jason eating ice cream at the park.
