Characters: Jason Todd; Bruce Wayne; Original Female Character(s); Original Gothamite
Additional Tags: Whumptober 2025; Whump; Life in Gotham City (DCU); POV Outsider; Concussions; Disorientation; True crime is instructional; Vomiting; Very light PG cursing; The New York of Gotham really popped out in this one; Fluff and Hurt/Comfort
——
Brielle definitely knew who she was staring at, even if she'd never seen him in real life before. The Red Hood was either the bogeyman or the Santa Claus of Gotham, depending on who you talked to. She wondered if she could turn and bolt up the ladder before he got closer.
Synopsis: Danny arrives in the Clocktower one day to find Clockwork with green eyes. It turns out that ghosts also enjoy a few mortal delights.
About my Moments in Time series.
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This gem was written for Phic Phight 2025, for @reading-wanderer's prompt:
"Are you high right now?" Danny demanded.
"Frankly, I'm not sure why you thought I'd do this sober."
I've been wanting to write this one since two weeks before Phic Phight even started, when Wanderer sparked this utterly cracked-out idea. Hope you and the #dissec crew enjoy!
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Danny came to the Clocktower for some reason. There was definitely A Reason; he wouldn't have subjected himself to Clockwork's cryptic maxims and knowing smirks otherwise. But the problem is that his brain, already addled by the shackles of sleep deprivation and puberty, underwent a full factory reset the moment he rounded the corner and saw Clockwork with green eyes.
The two of them are currently in something of a standoff. On one side is Danny, frozen in a state of Lovecraftian horror, and on the other is Clockwork, smirking that stupid knowing smirk that Danny knew he'd be forced to see.
Clockwork breaks it first. "Danny," he sings, "it's good to see you—"
"Your eyes," Danny interrupts, his voice somewhere within the octave of just saw a murder in real life. "Why are they green?!"
"Oh yeah, about that. You see those pipes over there?" Clockwork gestures toward a rack that Danny has somehow never noticed, which is full of what looks like tobacco pipes. "Mind lighting one of those up?"
Danny looks at the pipes. And then at Clockwork. And then at the pipes. And then at Clockwork. This cycle repeats itself a few more times until Clockwork, barely holding back laughter, takes pity on him.
"Do be punctual. Even the Master of Time prefers some things to be done promptly."
Danny's legs drag him unwittingly over to the rack. He picks one pipe up at random and turns it over in his hands a few times. It's quite pretty, despite the absurdity of the situation; it's white and has been etched with motifs of mountains and snow. The rest of the pipes are decorated in a similar fashion, sporting different types of scenery.
Feeling unsure of himself, he casts a glance over his shoulder at Clockwork. The smarmy bastard looks like this is the most entertaining program to have debuted on Ghost Zone TV in the past decade. Danny grimaces and gets to work figuring this whole disaster out.
He fumbles open an ornate box and finds what looks like tea leaves inside. He has no idea what he's doing — no one in the Fenton family smokes — but it can't be that difficult, right? He fills the pipe with what looks like a reasonable amount of leaves and then looks around for something to light it with. There's a device nearby that seems like it could be a lighter, but it also seems like it could be from the 22nd century, and despite his best efforts, he can't figure out how to get it to work.
He casts another glance at Clockwork. Throughout all of this, the ghost's "most entertaining program on Ghost Zone TV" look hasn't faltered. If anything, he has gotten closer to devolving into ugly guffaws with each second. Now, he's practically on the brink.
Danny's cheeks go frigid with the chill of his ectoplasmic blush. He opts to light the pipe with his own powers to save himself from further embarrassment.
Thankfully, by the time he brings the haphazard concoction over to him, Clockwork seems to have gotten a rein on his laughter. He wipes his mouth — probably trying to wipe the smile off his face — and then takes a puff.
Danny can't help but be enchanted by his behavior in the moments that follow. Clockwork closes his eyes and leans his head back, and the wrinkles and worry lines seem to erase themselves from his skin — and not because his body is moving backward through time. Once the last of the stress ebbs away, he releases the smoke through his nose and opens his eyes.
And, to Danny's shock, his eyes are red again.
He sputters. He wants to say something about this bizarre transformation, but somewhere between his brain and his mouth, the words get twisted, and what comes out is, "Are you high right now?!"
"Frankly, I'm not sure why you thought I would do this sober." Clockwork idly flips through timelines in one of his looking-glasses.
Danny's still sputtering. "But— but you— you're Master of— you watch— timelines—"
Clockwork unleashes a great sigh and pats Danny heavily on the shoulder. "You'd be high all the time too if you had to be at the Observants' beck and call." He takes another puff.
Danny's mouth is hanging open, but he can't find it in himself to close it. "Do they know?"
Clockwork blows a smoke ring. "Of course they do, but they know better than to complain. It's either this Timekeeper or no Timekeeper at all."
Danny has no idea what to do with this information, so he spends the next few moments in a stunned silence. After a bit, Clockwork breaks it with, "Oh, and you should know that red eyes aren't natural in the ghostly world. Any time you see a ghost with red eyes, they're high, too."
Danny's brow furrows as, with growing horror, he mentally checks off the list of ghosts who have red eyes. He doesn't always pay attention to those sorts of details in the heat of a fight, but he thinks he may have seen red eyes on the Lunch Lady… and Princess Dorathea… and Skulker… and Spectra… probably Technus, too, if he were to remove the shades.
Oh. Oh no.
He lowers himself to the floor, at once too overwhelmed to continue standing. In a daze, he asks, "What is it you're smoking, anyway?"
Clockwork's eyes twinkle. "I'll keep that to myself. It wouldn't do for me to poison the mind of an impressionable youth."
Later, when Danny is heading home, definitely having not fulfilled whatever purpose brought him to the Clocktower in the first place, it occurs to him that his encounters with the Box Ghost are about to make a lot more sense.
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Don't mind me, just gonna slide a last-minute Phic Phight submission right in there--
He knows he is, but the sight he woke up to was surreal.
Nestled in layers of blankets, cuddled between Luigi and Junior, there was an egg.
An egg.
After calming down his human and son, and practically smothering them in blankets, he had nearly chalked up the egg as a figment of his imagination- something that was hard to do as he could see them curl around it.
He knows how this happens. Heck, it’s how he got Junior, but…
Why now? Why Luigi?
Not that he didn’t deserve a family of his own, but babies are usually delivered to couples- aren’t they?
And the fact that one was delivered to Luigi, his lover…
“Oh Grambi-”
He’s barely given time to comprehend the idea before he hears a small groan. Snapping his attention to the blanket pile, he could see Luigi shift into the blankets.
“Freddo…” He sees him stretch out for more blankets, but ends up patting the top of the egg in confusion. “Hm?”
And there his head pops up, looking like what Bowser’s feeling as he stares at the egg.
“Cazzo.”
“Language.”
He’s amused to hear the human squeak and struggle to flail with the blankets, but the sight of the egg being tugged out from them had the human freeze again.
“Um…”
Luigi looks at him with puppy eyes-
“Help, please?”
And Bowser realizes that he is horribly weak to them. “Sure, sure.”
And it’s a blessing that Junior is still asleep, because Bowser isn’t proud of the way he nearly fumbles in extracting his lover from the nest (or nearly acts on the instinctual urge to bury him in there).
Once out, he notices how quiet Luigi is.
Seeing that he was also staring at the egg, Bowser couldn’t blame him.
…
“I-“ Bowser doesn’t need to look at him to know how anxious the human is, not by how he speaks. “It’s mine… right? There wasn’t…“
“Storks don’t make mistakes like that. It’s weird it’s an egg instead of a baby, of course, but- yeah…”
“… Bowser?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“We’ll, you got it warm, so I’d say you are doing pretty good-“
“N-not just that!” And Bowser finally looks at him, and feels pinned by his greyscale eyes. “I- don’t know how t-to raise a baby! Or- or know what they need, or- or anything!”
He’s starting to breathe fast and shallow, and it’s all Bowser needs to scoop him up and hold him close.
"What- what do I do?"
"… Do you want to keep them?"
"I-"
“Even if you don’t know what you’re doing.” And Bowser allows them to part, just a little, just enough to look Luigi in the eyes. “Would you love them? Would you want a child if you knew what to do?”
"I- I would. I do!" But? "But- I don’t want to mess up! I don’t-" and Luigi looks down- away- "I don’t want to mess them up."
He sounds small, and Bowser hates it and loves him and by the stars it is like Junior’s arrival all over again.
He gently grabs his chin, and their eyes meet again.
“You won’t mess up. I think you seem to forget that kids tend to take two and-“
Their noses touch, and the coolness reminds him of the important part.
“You won’t mess them up. Not when you have been great with Junior- and not just for storms, Luigi.”
The fear in his eyes is ebbing, but the utter vulnerability and trust is almost overwhelming.
“You’re not too shabby with the Koopalings, either. Hell, you’re one of the few people they actually like.”
“But-“
“And-“ he interrupts, with the intent to nip that concern in a bud. “There’s nothing wrong with you either.”
He doesn’t say anything for a while.
“… Can you- will you help me? Maybe as-”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
And it was quiet, almost peaceful-
Then the muffled sound of footsteps and arguing was the only warning they had before the Koopalings burst through.
Luigi still didn’t know what he was doing, but he at least knew that he was doing things right.
Bowser's help was needed and appreciated for the preparations of when the egg does hatch, things that seemed just like human baby stuff- until he realizes that the teething rings are made of what felt like industrial rubber, or that the diapers have tail holes.
On a related note, the baby itself seemed to be doing fine. In fact, every little change, whether it be the suggestions of feelings coming from it or the growing mass of consciousness he could feel, Luigi kept tabs on in a little notebook for future reference should he- should they-
Still, feeling those emotions respond to him as he stroked their eggshell was indescribably overwhelming.
It’s reassuring in a way- proof that the baby is still alive and growing.
Weeks have gone by after another Royal Announcement about the egg, but the opinions of other people (and their emotions) have been relatively manageable to handle.
(He felt it best not to acknowledge the general confusion made as people look between him and Bowser, though).
The moment he's waiting for is undoubtedly going to come to the castle soon, if the Koopa Courier doesn't daddle-
and it seems they were prompt when he hears more than sees his brother burst down the castle's doors, run past multiple people (including an irate Kamek, bless his tired heart), and then bust down the door to the new nursery (since Junior was adamant to keep his room just his.
“HAI AVUTO UN BAMBINO?!?!?!"
"Mario! At least close the door!"
He doesn't close it- instead, he rushes up to Luigi, taking him by the shoulders and looking him over.
"STAI BENE? Non sembri pregnante..."
"I'm fine, Mario. Sto bene." And, to at least introduce them before Bowser comes- "And il bambino is over there."
And he sees the moment Mario catches sight of the bundled egg, sees how he seems to stop short in any and all thought processes as he stares.
Which, okay, same, but still-
"They're not hatched yet, but it should be next month."
"So... in a month, I'll be an uncle- a zio?"
He's taking it well so far... "Yep!"
"Mama mia." And then the Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom fainted.
(Later, after Mario comes too, they take over three hours to stop gushing over them- even as Bowser watches on from the doorway).
When the egg finally hatches, its first cracks hadn’t even appeared before Luigi was fussing over its bedding and the recently added heating blankets.
The only reason Bowser even knew about it so early was the bouts of anxiousness-anticipation-protectiveness Pulses that were radiating throughout the castle.
And, well, it's a familiar enough combination to have him close meetings early and make his way to the nursery.
And of course the kids beat him there!
"Scoot, brats! And give them some room!" And not just the egg, but the frantic soon-to-be-parent looked like he was seconds away from passing out.
He is able to nudge his way across the rowdy group of Koopalings, reaching over to pick up Luigi and sit a bit away from the egg.
"Love, calm down. You're broadcasting again."
Luigi stills from his squirming enough to concentrate- and while the Pulses are reined, he could still feel them just radiating from his human.
"I- do we need to help them- or?" Bowser fondly nuzzles the top of his head, nearly purring as Luigi calms down a bit more.
"We just wait. From the look of it, they might bust through faster than Junior." Of course, he says that last bit quieter, since said Koopa was two feet away from the crib himself.
And then they heard the crack.
In a matter of minutes, the whole family watched in silent anticipation as the baby made that crack bigger, chipping away at it with gradual ease as they saw their first few peaks.
The baby looked a bit like him, or Junior, but the baby had blue eyes and a lighter green shell- almost the same shade Luigi used to wear. Once its head poked out, they could see that its hair was a more brassy red, but the attitude it aimed at the remaining eggshell was enough to know it had a similar temper to him.
They were perfect, and-
He’s nearly bowled over the absolute tsunami of emotion that he knows- without a doubt- is LOVE.
Pure. Elated. Love.
He doesn’t bother (or want) to remind Luigi again.
(That day, it's said that the Pulse could be felt all the way to the Town Square, and everyone in the vicinity didn't need an announcement to know the cause of it).
Just some warnings, blood mentions, some body horror (not like hardcore or anything), light cursing.
Honestly I just got the idea for this and started to write about it. I might do a part two, idk at this point but lord knows I could. (it depends if the block stays away ya know?)
Rose was sitting in class, trying her damndest to actually focus on what the teacher was saying but that was proving incredibly difficult at that moment. There was a searing pain in her back, maybe five… no a six possibly on the pain scale? There was only a few minutes left in class. She could make it… right?
She breathed through the next wave of pain, trying not to draw attention to herself. Oh how a few minutes seemed to last forever when you didn’t want them too. The bell rang and the teacher quickly finished up. Usually, Rose would have stayed a little longer to ask some questions but not today. Fuck the rest of her classes, she’d gladly take Lucifer’s three plus hour scoldings than dealing with whatever the fuck this pain was.
Rushing home, she didn’t even get past the entrance before being hit with a wave of pain again, this time stronger and more… localized? The pain was coming from her back, she recognized which was even more confusing. She hadn’t done anything to strain her back, not like this.
Bolting to her room, she slammed the door shut, praying to anyone who would listen that no one was home before grabbing some pain medicine to combat whatever the fuck was happening with her back. Rose whimpered, becoming frustrated and considered the whole damn bottle! ‘Hot showers help’ she reminded herself and quickly went to her private bathroom. Stripping, she didn’t give a damn if she was starting the shower off a little too hot.
Anything to help lessen the pain.
Before getting in her DDD went off, causing her to look down at the counter and felt a wave of panic. It was Lucifer. Normally she would have probably squealed in internal delight in receiving a text from her crush, but the preview message informed her that this was not a good text.
[Lucifer: Where are you?]
Rose gulped, pain briefly forgotten as she considered her options. Tell the truth of the pain she was feeling or lie about it. She hated lying to him, especially after she promised after the whole event with Belphy that she wouldn’t.
Half lies, she could do that.
[Rose: I was feeling awful in the second period. I might be sick.]
Please accept it. It was a terrible excuse, she knew it was.
[Lucifer: Is there a chance you might feel better later enough to attend the student council meeting? Lord Diavolo wants to know how the medical classes are going for you.]
[Rose: I highly doubt it, I’ll try but…]
[Lucifer: That’s fine.]
Rose nearly collapsed before shoving her phone under the towel so it didn’t get foggy and clambered into the shower. The hot water hitting her back stung at first, but there was some relief. Maybe she could make the meeting?
The next wave of pain was a hard no to that thought. It was getting worse. She screamed, cursed before reaching behind her, trying to figure out if there was something wrong when she came into contact with two large welts… no there were four, that sat close to the center of her back. They weren’t directly on top of her spine, maybe the lower part of her trapezius muscles on either side of her spine.
Rose huffed, panic filling her system as another wave of pain brought her to her knees. Screaming, she clenched her fists tightly, knuckles turning white, resting her forehead against the cool tile while the hot water beat down above her.
Then, despite the noise of the shower running, Rose heard something that made her freeze. She’d seen plenty of horror movies, fuck she was a medical student so she’d heard it before too.
Skin… flesh tearing.
She didn’t even get the chance to do anything, not even scream before something gave away inside her. Rose must have blacked out for a few seconds, maybe a minute or two because when she came to, the shower was still running hot but the water around her was a bright red. Blood. Rose knew it was blood, she saw it once a month like any vagina owner.
There was however something odd. A new weight had been added to her back and the water she was starting to register was not actually hitting her back but could still feel it hitting her? Rose only had to look to the side to uncover the mystery.
They looked a little awkward and sadly squished against the glass wall but it was a no brainer on what they were.
Wings.
Upon closer analysis, she realized that there were four. Well there had been four welts on her back. Rose shifted as best she could to try and make sure all the blood was off. It took a minute to ‘find’ the new muscle. It was a sad effort but she could in fact make her new wings twitch to an extent.
Fuck this was going to take some work.
Rose grappled with the wall, pulling herself up as best she could. They were fucking heavy! “It’s dead weight, of course it’s going to be heavy.” she muttered to herself. After a while, the water went from a blaring red, to pink, and finally it ran clear.
She quickly turned the water off and opened the glass door before cringing as she finally took notice of the shower around her. There was blood spatter in certain areas that hadn’t washed off. At least the shower was a closed unit so she would worry about it later.
Toweling off, she began to gently press against the soaked feathers. She wasn’t even finished with half a wing before the towel was soaked. Laundry was going to be a bitch to deal with.
Four towels later, she finally managed to get her new wings unsoaked, enough to get a good look at them in the mirror.
Large. Like uncomfortably large to the point that they kinda swallowed her body frame. They looked good on Lucifer, how the fuck did he do it? Rose froze as she realized a new implication. How was she going to tell the boys this? Was she even human at this point? They often said she had the blood of an angel in her veins but these wings were clearly not that of an angel’s.
Was it because she was here living in Devildom that the wings were black?
Shivering, she walked out of her bathroom while grabbing her DDD while she debated with herself on who she needed to talk to. Lucifer would be the comfortable choice and Diavolo might know something but Barbartos could be the best option since he was so old. Rose gripped her phone, shaking a bit.
Game, makes it very obvious that this isn't the way to go:
Me, a dumbass: I see I cant walk through here but those rocks look easy to scale
Game: you cannot go this way, please go back
Me: D:
Me, thinking to myself: I wonder if I would be able to survive this fall..
Charon: be careful
Me: I'm always careful ok, lord, asdfghjkl almost fucking died fuck
"I paid 2k caps for charon to protect me, but here I am... babysitting this ghoul, bcuz one shot and hes down, I gave him 19 stimpaks but does it help? NUUUH, he just HAVE to fight every fucking bug."
Charon: this place is not safe
Me: no shit/its the wasteland, nowhere is safe/you say this about my house too/you don't say
"Did I... did I really get stuck on some fucking rocks?!? Ok no fuck you, this, this is why I save constantly. Ok well no, I save constantly cuz charon is a weak bitch."
"You have the texture of 'fuck off' written all over yourself, and yet... my marker tells me to walk here"
"Oh wow, glitchy bushes... heh bush"
"Oooh, looks like they used pavement here... or is it the game's way of saying 'please stop scaling the walls, theres npc on this road', bcuz aiit"
"Oooh I see people, they're green, better holster my shishkebab... who named that weapon anyways?"
"Hello fellow humans, how are you doing?"
"Oh god... I remember this shit place, uuuggghhhhhhhhhhh... I dont WANNA talk to some old tree fuck ok? I played Ocarina of time, I dont need anymore tree creatures talking to me... except that one in dragon age origins, hes cool."
"Noooooo, I dont wanna help youuuuuu"
Some old tree munk dude: it's been a while since anyone visited us--
Me: what, I just grabbed this note from a scavenger? I thought..
Father birch, the bitch: he doesnt like waiting
Me: well the punk ass bitch can wait forever
"Omg one of the options are 'ha ha ha! What the hell are you wearing?' This game really gets us gamers, like, thank you. You put my actual thoughts into the game"
"I've said this before and I'll say it again, why does all the old people legit look like raisins?? Its like someone who's never seen an old person, draw one based on only what they've heard... wrinkles and tired"
"Tree father birch, tha bich"
"Treeminders? Me too, I mind the trees"
" 'We're His people', like I'm sorry, treeminders is a religion."
"Ok ok ok, so, they're named after trees... and my character is called Elm, bcuz it's a pun on my name... I swear if some weak ass bitch took my name imma burn this tree bitch down"
"I've been here less than a minute and I'm already lost"
"Oh my God... its Groot"
Old man birch: he is the one who grows--
Me: like most men in the morning
"I'm actively looking for someone named Elm"
tree fetish man: we keep him safe from those who wish to exploit him--
Me: I might, I think I did once in a bad playthrough...
Old raisin dude: we shun technology and--
Me: ah, you're amish, but fucking loco.
"Aiit so, i love this game, and you can see they're moving their lips to the words, they blink and move their eyes... they're like legit good.... but why are you a raisin, dude"
"Purification ceremony? Is it because I slept with Nova? It is, isnt it?"
Old man raisin: you drink the sap
Me: sounds like a specific kink, but with extra steps.
Nasty tree man: the sap will clear your mind and body
Me: unlike other fluidly things to drink from beings, those will give you poisoning
Birch the sap guy: I assure you, nothing bad will happen to you
Me: uhuh, that doesnt sound rape'y at all
"Can... can I sit in his chair? Imma sit in his chair. Nothing happened damnit"
Father of the sap people: please drink from the sap basin
Me: bitch, look at this! Its nasty nature soup. It looks like hermaeus mora soup
"Hey ho, let's go"
Game: the basin of purification is filled with some sort of thick, viscous sap.
Me: thanks, I hate it
"Woo my character is high"
"Does these people spawn here? Like make kids and shit?"
Father creep: soon you will pass peacefully into sleep outsider--
Me: imma stop you right there, excuse me???
"Oh cool, where am I now? Oh god, it feels like I'm on nuka shine"
"I'm lockpicking a door up that's called 'damp cave', and I won't even say the joke.... hehe vagina"
"Oh crap oh frick oh shit!! Mirelurks!! AAA KING"
"Ooo nuka quantum "
"Oooh! I didnt even see the creepy old tree dude, I was like where the fuck is he but lol, I walked past him ehehe... fuck hes creepy"
"The only time I've ever heard the word Mariposa is from my friend's nickname for her brother and also that one Barbie movie"
"Imagine your god calling you a weirdo"
"I'm not even gonna repeat that sentence, all I wanna say is that 'that's some fucked up porn shit fam' and let's leave it at that"
"Imma kill the tree dude, he wants this"
Old father raisin and his raisin wife, argue:
Me, stuck to listen: please let me move
The old raisin tree couple: yes let's ask the outsider
Me: please don't
Leaf mother: my husband is dumb, but lets spread our God's treeness into the wasteland
Me: jesus christ
Leaf mother: harold wanna save the world
Me: no he wanna fucking die, hes a millennial
"Old people don't look like this, she looks like her face is gonna slide off"
Charon: be careful
Me: CHARON WE'RE INSIDE A TREE
"I'm disappointed I have not found a single Elm"
"I see no Elm up here, but me"
"God, harold the tree is fucking horrifying... imma do what leaf mother thing"
"I swear to fucking god... charon just died AGAIN, no, you stay there I'll do this on my own, you walking suitcase"
"Mirelurk kings, or as I like to call them, sea voldemort"
"Fuck off voldemort"
"Ok either I'm remembering something different, or... oh wait shit, zelda fish, water, save the fish princess!!! Aaaa, I was like, damp nasty red place... probably tree. But no"
"So harold the tree god, said the last thing he remembered is that his buddy got knocked over and then he had a tree sapling on his head that talked to him... maybe? His friend??? Is the sapling???"
"Hehe, I let the tree man suffer forever"
"Saviour of oasis? Well, only cuz the tree dude really creeped me out tbh"
"Pff I got the 'poplar hood' and I thought it said popular"
First of all, my sister is not in any specific communities and as far as she is aware and cares, she is straight and Cis.
Her perspective on the lgbtq+ community is " be whatever the fuck you wanna be, just don't preach it to me every fucking moment of every day" She doesn't care what the heck you are and as long as you don't make comments about your gender or sexuality everyday, she's perfectly fine with you.
Her other piece was. " Do whatever the hell you want, but don't stuff it in people's faces or else they're less likely to listen." Seeing so many posts about fucking trans rights in a single day just makes her pissy, because she's just trying to see funny posts without all the drama of overbearing communities that she's neither trashing or supporting( well, she's kinda supporting. She's fine with me being Pan. She just jokes about me being attracted to pancakes because she doesn't understand or care what Pan means.)
Needless to say, don't stuff your pride content in other people's faces constantly, because some people just don't care what you like because it is your life. They're philosophy is usually just "Do what you want but leave me out"
If you add "you better reblog this" or "if you don't reblog this get off my blog" or "if you can't reblog this you're an awful person" onto post I kindly ask you to unfollow me because that's just shitty
