#merfilly

[kbirbpods]

[Podfic Link] | Length: 1 minute

Original Work: Setting It Up by Merfilly

Star Wars: Finn/Poe/Rey | Rating: General Audiences

Summary: 

Finn figures it's okay if he just is clear about what he is thinking.

Notes: podded for @polypodweek 2025!

[svgurl410]

wip game

@creativityobsessed tagged me to share a piece of your WIP.

Here is part of my Clois role reversal fic:

He eyed her curiously. “What do you think about her? Superwoman?” 

She blinked, thrown back by the question she hadn’t been expecting. “Why do you ask?” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Clark replied, a little too casually. “I just realized that I never even asked- you’ve been hearing a lot about my thoughts, but you haven’t really said anything, one way or the other.” 

“Is it going to be a make it or break it moment in our newfound friendship?” Lois asked, heartbeat speeding up. She was stalling and she knew it, but she had to come up with a pretty bland answer. While she had been pretty good at shrugging off the Blur or giving vague responses to anyone who asked at her old job, she found that it was harder to do the same with Clark. 

Plus, she wasn’t quite sure if he would just get away with it. 

And she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to let her get away with it either. 

“Nah, I promise I’ll still like you,” Clark said, and she felt reassured, which didn’t make sense. “I mean, I will have to silently judge you for your frankly terrible taste …”

“Fair enough,” Lois said, letting out a half laugh. “She’s fine.” 

“Just fine?” Clark questioned. “I mean, you don’t need to give me an essay, but I also don’t want to bug you with my … well, Lombard would probably call it fanboying …”

“The only person who cares about his opinion is himself,” Lois muttered, drawing a grin out of Clark. “And I’m okay with your … fanboying, Smallville.” The return of the nickname caused his grin to widen. “Heroes aren’t a bad thing; not my thing, but she is doing good for the world, which is all you can ask for. I’m just here to report the news.” 

“Then I guess we should get back to reporting the news,” Clark responded.

Tagging:  @finnicks, @merfilly, @hiraeth-doux, @stellaluna33, @htbthomas, @loismagic, @dollsome-does-tumblr, @sunflowers-and-iced-tea and anyone else who wants to do this (I always forget who writes fic when I do these things lol so if you do, consider yourself tagged)

[nokomiss]

J. When words aren’t enough. (if you still do DC, 2 Robins or a a Robin and a Bat of choice?)

(I definitely still write DC! I have come around fannishly full circle and that’s all I’ve been writing the last few months! ♥)

*

Dick was in the middle of a fight with a handful of Two Face’s henchmen when an alert started buzzing in his ear. He swiped it away on his communicator between punches, scarcely taking the time to note what it was before returning his full attention to the fight at hand.  Four months into being Batman and he already understood why Bruce had been so dour and convinced that vigilantism was only for the best of the best -- everyone that came at Batman came twice as hard as Dick was used to. There absolutely were downsides to the legend preceding you. 

He was dodging a burst of gunfire when familiar colors flew by, and Robin was kicking the henchman with the gun in the face, sending him sprawling to the concrete floor.  

Another henchmen got a lucky hit on Dick’s side, and he focused on the matter at hand, though something about what had just happened bothered him.  Familiar colors, familiar grin, the flash of bare thigh as Robin kicked the henchman---

Oh, shit. Dick punched the henchman he was fighting with more force than necessary, knocking him out cold as he turned to stare at Robin, who was finishing up with the last goon

“You’re welcome,” Robin said, giving the goon a nudge with his green pixie boot.  Yellow cape, red suit, green panties, and Jason’s unabashedly bright smile. He’d forgotten how that smile had looked.

Dick continued to stare, then looked back at his communicator.  The alert he’d brushed aside was still flashing. Temporal anomaly.

“We need to go,” he said gruffly, turning on his heel and letting his cape swirl around him as he headed out of the warehouse.  He wordlessly typed in a request to Oracle to call the henchmen situation in to the GCPD as he went, unwilling to say even that much aloud.  Jason didn’t know who Oracle was. Jason’s Barbara was still Batgirl, was still running around in those yellow boots---

He nearly stumbled as he thought of all the things he could say to Jason, of all the things he could keep from happening.  He glanced back, and Jason was following, earlier brightness dimmed somewhat. He looked suspicious, Dick realized suddenly.

“Hey, Mr. Grumpypants,” Jason said loudly, as though he was reading Dick’s mind. “What was that back there?”

Dick didn’t want to turn to face him. He’d forgotten how whip-smart Jason had been even in the early days, how Bruce had bragged on him in their phone calls while Dick had been trying his damndest to leave Gotham and the Bats behind.  

He led them up a fire escape, onto a rooftop. A few jumps and they were on a building that was mostly abandoned but still within sight of the warehouse so they could observe if something went wrong before the GCPD arrived. By the time Dick perched on the ledge, he could practically feel the suspicion radiating off Jason. Off Robin. 

God, he was tiny. Bigger than Damian was, but contrasted with the Jason he knew now, the Jason that had reached his adult height? This Jason was scarcely more than a baby.

“What do you remember from before the fight?” Dick asked, and braced himself. He knew there was no way Jason would think he was Bruce, no matter what he was wearing.

“What do you-- wait,” Jason said. The narrowed-eye look he gave Dick was all too familiar; Dick saw that one regularly on the Jason that had grown up. “You’re not Br-- You’re not Batman.”

“I am Batman,” Dick said, voice as gruff as it always was when he said those words. Bruce would have known how to handle this. Bruce wouldn’t have been tempted to alter things. “What happened before you entered the warehouse?”

Jason moved away, fists tight at his side. “Nothing. Just patrol. Who are you?”

“Batman,” Dick said again. “Just not Bruce.”

Jason’s fists slowly raised, held in front of him defensively, and he barked out, “What did you do with Batman?”

For the thousandth time since he put on this suit, Dick wished Bruce was still alive. “Jason, I was asking what happened before you joined the fight in the warehouse because this isn’t your time.”

“Isn’t my-- Are you fucking kidding me? Time travel?” Jason said, fists dropping back to his sides. He looked out over the Gotham skyline, and Dick knew how much it had changed. 

“We need to figure out how it happened,” Dick continued, watching Jason’s expression shift as he realized the truth of what Dick had said. “Do you remember anything?”

“There was a light,” Jason said slowly. “It’s why I went into the warehouse, I thought it was a flash-bang.”

“Anything before that?”  

Jason paused. “Batman-- My Batman -- mentioned seeing something strange. An orb? He was going to investigate and I was supposed to stay put.”

Dick had been Robin, too. He knew perfectly well what Robin did when Batman insisted he stay put.  “You followed him?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Obviously. I’m here, aren’t I?  I went after him, and when I came around the corner, I saw the light, and then I was in the warehouse kicking ass and taking names.” He illustrated this point by doing a kick in the direction of an imaginary bad guy.

Dick refrained from pointing out that Jason hadn’t, in fact, taken any names, though he had done an admirable job of kicking ass.  “We should go to the spot where you traveled through. Get some readings. Figure out whether it was magic or tech.”

Below, the GCPD finally showed up at the warehouse, sirens blazing, and officers rushed inside to secure the henchmen and evidence. 

“As soon as they’re gone,” Dick amended.  

They sat side-by-side, Jason keeping a healthy distance but Dick could feel his eyes on him. Trying to place his visible features, most likely.  Finally, Jason burst out with, “What happened to him? My Batman?” 

He was unwilling to use Bruce’s name, even though Dick already had. It hurt, seeing a Jason who loved Bruce wholeheartedly, without reservation. Who hadn’t yet been dealt the blows that had turned his relationship with Bruce sour.  

“He’s away,” Dick said vaguely. 

“Away like hurt? Away like with the Justice League? Or away like--” Jason’s voice cracked on the last word. “How far in the future am I, anyway? Things don’t look better.”

Things look worse, he clearly wanted to say. It was true, too -- Gotham, for all the work they’d poured into her, remained resolutely corrupt and vile. Dick almost admired that about the city.  

“Away,” Dick said firmly. The temptation was still there -- he could warn Jason about his mother, could keep him from making so many mistakes, could keep so many terrible things from happening.  

The only problem were the good things intertwined in there -- if he warned Jason, if Jason never died, would Tim come into their lives? Would Cass?  What about all the lives Barbara had saved as Oracle, what about all the things they’d all done-- was the future a house of cards that could crumble with a single warning?

Dick had dealt with time travel plenty over the years and the same questions always lingered. He hated the choice he knew he had to make. Hated that he was essentially going to condemn this bright, caring boy to death when he sent him back to the past unwarned.

But he just couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t speak up.

Jason scoffed at him. “You’re not him, you know. I knew immediately.”

“Not trying to be.” That was mostly a lie, too. Dick wished that Jason would steer to more comfortable conversation topics so he wouldn’t have to skirt the truth so much, but then it really wouldn’t be Jason, would it? “But I am trying to get you back to him.”

“Worried about fucking up the time stream?”  Jason pushed himself up, began walking along the edge of the ledge with his arms held out to either side, looking like an amateur tightrope walker. Dick resisted the urge to correct his form. “That’s why you’re not telling me shit, right?”

“...Right.” Dick seized the chance to actually tell the truth for once. “It’s inadvisable. Part of the time travel protocol.”

“You knew my name, so that means you know me,” Jason continued, easily ignoring concepts like time travel protocol. “Or will know me? Either way, that means this can’t be too far in the future, since you definitely recognized me.”

Dick tensed, even though Jason had no way of knowing how accurate that statement was. Or why. He was still at the age when your own mortality was something you took for granted.

“So that means Batman should still be Batman. He isn’t that old.” Jason narrowed his eyes at him. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

There was no way in hell that Dick was answering that question. “If you figured out that much, you know there’s no way I’m going to confirm or deny that. He’s away from Gotham at the moment. That’s all you need to know.”

Jason sat down heavily. “You have to tell me something so I can save him. You can’t… you can’t send me back now knowing how to save him.”

Jesus. Dick was at a loss. He’d been so preoccupied with worrying about Jason’s impending death that he hadn’t thought about what the presence of a strange Batman -- and Bruce’s absence -- would mean to the kid. Bruce was his world.  

Words failed him.

“You have to tell me something, you bastard!” Jason snapped, realizing that Dick wasn’t going to cooperate. “You have to. He saved me, I can’t let him… I have to change whatever went wrong.”

His breath was coming fast, and he looked like he was ready to punch Dick if he didn’t say something soon.  Dick knew that particular snarl, that arch of his eyebrows-- it was the same fury as when he talked about his own death.

Dick briefly, intensely hated Bruce, for leaving him to face all these mistakes, but that feeling couldn’t last in the face of all of Jason’s love and righteous anger in honor of the man.  

“I-- There’s nothing you can do,” Dick said, finally. “You’ve always done everything you can.”

It wasn’t enough, but nothing could be.  There were no words to bridge the years, to fix things preemptively. Dick knew he couldn’t change things, not without-- 

Not without sacrificing everything they’d all become, the people they all were.  

Jason seemed to deflate.  He looked desperately in need of a hug, but Dick didn’t have that right. Jason didn’t even know who he was, didn’t need reassurance from a stranger.  Dick knew what he needed. 

Below, the last of the cop cars were pulling away from the warehouse. The diagnostic he had run on temporal signatures indicated that the orb Jason had seen was still there, and likely still active. It should be a simple thing to return him to his time.  

Dick could only hope that he hadn’t screwed up this interaction too badly, that Jason hadn’t been altered by the conversation they’d just had. Maybe for once things would be merciful for Jason and he wouldn’t remember any of this.

“Come on,” he said, gesturing. “Let’s get you back to your dad.”

Jason nodded mutely.

[beatrice-otter]

🌹

A fic I wish somebody else would write.  Oh, man there are so many of these.  The ones I most deeply want are the ones in fandoms I don’t write and don’t follow enough to write.

Here’s one, it’s from Downton Abbey which I only watched sporadically:

Season 1 AU where Mary got pregnant in that mess with Mr. Pamuk.  And her mom knows but her Dad doesn’t, so the Countess and Lady Mary and O’Brien go off to America “to visit Granny” and then come back with a baby that they pass off as the Countess’ baby.

Featuring: Edith is now the eldest daughter at home and gets a chance to shine, and the Countess promises her a trip on her own the next year to keep her from being hurt.

Featuring: O’Brien has no sympathy for Mary, and doesn’t bother to conceal it from her (though she does from the Countess) because if Mary tries to have her sacked, O’Brien can ruin her.

Featuring: Mary learning a lot more about what life is like outside of upper-class English Nobility.  I mean, she can’t go out and meet people who might know who she is and later ruin her, but she’s still away from home for the first time as an adult.

I’m not sure whether it would be a girl or a boy, but each has interesting AU possibilities.  If it’s a boy, and they successfully pass him off as the son of the Earl and Countess, he becomes the heir and Matthew goes back to Manchester.  Mary is not going to be Countess, but her son will be the Earl.  How does that affect things?  If it’s a daughter, well, there’s still Matthew, but having a child that she can’t claim is going to have an effect.  OTOH, Mary is the least maternal of the sisters, so perhaps not much.

Anyway, to me this is the most obvious jumping off point for an AU in the first half of the show, and ... nobody’s written it.  I would like a long, long fic that really explores all of this, but I would take anything.

[mysteriouslypeculiar]

Character meme: Will Byers (Stranger Things)

favorite thing about them

what about Will isn’t my favorite thing about him? He’s so sweet and caring I love him with my whole heart and soul. 

least favorite thing about them

He’s too loyal, and he cares to much about other people. He always puts other people first. This isn’t something I don’t like about him (I love this quality about him), it’s just one of his flaws that I think he could work on if the Russos actually cared about writing a satisfactory arc for him. 

favorite line

I really don’t have one tbh. Not off the top of my head. 

Maybe the “I’m not going to fall in love” he says to his mom, because that was me in middle school. 

brOTP

Him and Dustin and Him and Lucas. They are Best Friends! I love their relationships so much and wish Lucas treated him better in the second season. 

Also, he and El. Holy shit I wish the Russos would just let them be friends. PLEASE. They would be best friends and I can’t believe it’s up to me and my rp partners to make it so. They get it, you know? They’ve both been to the upside down, they both had abusive fathers, they both were/are in love with Mike Wheeler. They would just get each other. And El could help him with his budding superpowers. 

hmnngmh now I’m thinking about Will coming out to El fucknnhgn I’m gonna write it I won’t I will. 

OTP

Byler. If Mike will get over his repression and internalized homophobia, that is. I think Will’s already forgiven Mike for the whole “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” but idk if Mike would forgive himself, once he realized what he’d said. 

I still stand by that season 3 did them dirty and season 1 and 2 Mike would be disgusted with season 3 Mike. 

nOTP

Will and any girl. Will and El. Even before they were siblings, I found it ew. I think that they would make amazing friends tho. Will would help El figure out her emotions, like if she really liked Mike or if she even likes someone else (*eye emoji).

random headcanon

I have a lot of sad headcanons for him but for now…hmmnm…

He plans coming out to each of his friends and family individually, has it all planned out, but then ends up spilling it all out to Lucas or Dustin in a moment of Gay Rage.

This isn’t a headcanon, but in my future rewrite of Stranger Things s3, Will goes with Max and El after the “I dump your ass” scene and they have fun. Will comes out to them. It’s great. Max starts the “Mike Wheeler sucks” club and they hold meetings in Castle Byers. 

unpopular opinion

He isn’t a soft uwu gay. Yes, he is an artist. Yes, he is kind. But, he is angery. let him go feral. I want him to rage on Mike, to have a full breakdown in front of Mike and yell at him and go full Gay Wrath on him. Let my boy VENT. 

song i associate with them

Trees by McCafferty. (f-slur warning)

favorite picture of them

any photo of him smiling. He deserves it. 

[flaim-ita]

Fives, for the character ask

Favorite thing about him: he was literally one Palps Bullshit away from saving the Galaxy and he got there because he decided to go rogue. He’s just so very Like That, so very angry about injustice despite being a clone, where even most of his fellows just bore with it

Least favorite thing about him: he called his brothers by their numbers in Rookies and Clone Cadets and it’s OOC to literally everything about him?

Favorite line: “We are loyal soldiers, but we are not a bunch of unthinking DROIDS! We are men.”

BrOTP: Rex and/or Domino Squad!!!

OTP: Ani5 FOREVER!!!!!!!!

NoTP: RabeFives, I guess? I mean I guess it’s cute but I don’t get it at ALL.

Random HC: Fives was actually born to a squadron full of defective clones, except for him, as was all of Domino. That’s why their numbers and team cohesion are so shitty

Unpopular opinion: none about him? Maybe that I ship him with Anakin when a good amount of the TCW sub fandom has (valid, though counterable) problems with Anakin’s treatment of his men? I love this intelligent, tragic, badass, DUMBASS of a man so much.

Song I associate him with: my current song list is legit just 50 Toku songs but Excite fits him really well?

I don't wanna know

if the truth is disappointing.

I don't wanna know

ignorance is bliss.

Why? Why? Why? Why? Before I knew it, I came too far

Here’s the full song

Here’s the translation

Favorite pic:

…I have three

[alabasterswriting]

For the game, would you ever cross Stranger Things over with another 80s era fandom? (I'm coming up with The Goonies or Gremlins, but I'm old, so...)

Ohhh, you know I hadn’t thought of it much. I’ve seen a lot of crossovers with with It, but that’s mainly because of the links between the actors. Unfortunately I’m not a big fan of clowns and I’ve only seen it really done well with one other fic.

That said, I have definitely contemplated doing a crossover with Stranger Things and Beetlejuice. I have thought of Goonies, but I haven’t watched that one as recently. Plus the idea of Beetlejuice showing up and the ST gang just staring at him as if to say, “Oh great, another one,” or “Eh, we’ve seen worse” is too hilarious for my mind to let go.

Thank you!

[sl-walker]

Q. One missed call. - Breha Game of Thrones style.

The indicator for the message flashed at intervals; Bre took a moment to kick off her shoes before she answered it, and was smiling within a moment.

A last minute budget resolution had stopped her from leaving for a short holiday, but she intended to follow as soon as she finished the last of her duties.  Their chances to go to the summerhouse had gotten more rare, and she missed those days.  She told the console to play the message, and then grinned when Bail’s hologram appeared.

“I guess you’re still herding tookas in the Legislature, Dove,” he said, smiling sheepishly. “I was hoping we could put on a show for you before you got here as a warm-up, but I guess you’ll just have to get here quick in order to see the, uh, live version.”

As if beckoned, Maul leapt into view, arms thrown around Bail’s neck, knocking him off balance with a mock-growl; as Bail laughed, holding him up, he looked into the cam. “Yes, please, and hurry.”

Even though it was a recording and not live, she laughed back at them and said, “All right, all right, I will.”

She could always just take the rest of her work and do it in the shuttle along the way.