#chasing rabbits

We sat by the lake long after the city had gone quiet

The water looked like black glass holding the moon like it had something to prove

You were talking about something I don’t remember what

Your mind was always running ahead of itself jumping from one though to another like a dog chasing rabbits through the tall grass

Half your stories never finished

You’d start somewhere a song you liked a strange dream you had a memory from childhood

Then suddenly you were somewhere else entirely laughing at a thought you hadn’t explained yet

I didn’t mind

I liked watching the way your hands moved when you talked the way your eyes caught the moonlight every time you turned your head

A mosquito buzzed past my ear you swatted the air and missed

“Damn it,” you said then leaned back on your elbows like the night belonged to you

Somewhere across the water a fish broke the surface the sound echoed longer than it should have

We fell quiet after that

Just two shapes on the edge of the lake listening to the slow breathing of the dark

You nudged my shoulder with yours like it was nothing Like it didn’t mean the small electric thing it did

I remember thinking

If this moment could stay exactly like this if the night would just hold still for a while

I wouldn’t ask for anything else

But your mind was already chasing another rabbit

You stood up suddenly pointing up at the sky like you’d discovered something

“Look,” you said

I did But I wasn’t looking at the stars

I was watching you lit softly by the moon half smiling already somewhere else in your wandering thoughts

And even then I had the quiet feeling that someday I’d be sitting by this lake again

alone

4/6/23

Don't know if I can explain it well, but:

Bailey gets the armor, and elects to be a hero with her civvie ID a secret. She has family she wants to keep safe and far away from this danger. Niblings who deserve to grow up living normal lives and not having a crisis about being part space-alien and free of the responsibility that acknowledging their superpowers would give them.

The armor is reported lost, and likely stolen after the fight at the end of Takeoff (I'm working on it, I promise) wrecks the museum.

Bailey is now running around as Golden Eagle, helping old ladies cross the street, saving kittens from trees, and foiling the occasional Rogue's plot when she gets the chance. (You can't swing a cat without hitting a speedster in Central-Keystone. Not a lot of space to do the hero thing...)

Unfortunately for Bailey, she's forgotten one loose end. Nightwing had offered to help figure out this mystery, via a "contact" he was enlisting.

So now a new superhero shows up on the scene, in armor that seems awful close to Bailey's descriptions of the missing museum piece. Dick has seen connect-the-dots pictures on cereal boxes that were less obvious than this. But... There's always room for an incorrect assumption, as he's learned. And what would he even say? "Hi, I know your secret identity?" No! He has to be subtle about this.

Bailey is grinning like an idiot in the face of victory, when Nightwing melts out of the shadows like the weirdly attractive vampire he is and scares the daylights out of her. And then he's questioning her about the armor, where she got it, when she got it, does she know about the recent events in Keystone...

Bailey panics. I can't tell him the truth! The more people who know about Bailey Adler, the more danger my folks could be in. Besides, what if he thinks he has to reciprocate? That's way too much trust and responsibility, he doesn't know me, I don't know him, nope, no way, time to lie my ass off. Sort of.

The armor is hers. (Technically true!) She decided Earth was a decent place to live during the Thanagarian Invasion and decided to stay. (Also true! It just implies a Big Fucking Lie!) She's been quiet until now because... none of your business?? Why do you want to know her personal life?? She has to leave now for totally non-suspicious reasons that don't have anything to do with anything. Goodbye and good day, sir!

...Lying to him would be so much easier if her brain worked properly when he was around. Stupid charming jerk with his stupid pretty hair and stupid fucking smile... Ugh.

Dick, a little relieved by the fact that she has some kind of cover story and/or improv skills even if he doesn't understand where this sudden hostility came from, decides to try and have her defend from the other direction as well. He shows up at her apartment in Keystone with everything he can find on this new hero, the armor, Thanagar, and Andrew Fell.

Bailey tries to kick him out because she still can't stand Richard Fucking Grayson, but relents when he points out that he crossed half a continent on the request of their "mutual friend" -- not Wally, the other guy -- and gives him the space of a cup of coffee to make his elevator pitch.

And suddenly (because like hell is this jackass gonna figure out her secret identity) Bailey has to start insisting that there's no connection between Thanagar and her family, the necklace and the armor were a funky coincidence, such a shame it was stolen after the museum exploded -- no, no, it didn't look anything like the armor the lady in the photos is wearing, something was clearly lost in the game of telephone, oh look your coffee is empty time to get out of my house forever goodbye now!

mike is 90% more dead now

For Every 🧠 I Receive I Will Reveal One Fact About My Muse

Alistor- If suddenly startled or taken aback Alistor is will a loud record scratch sound…at least that’s what the rumor is.

Angel Dust- Under his boots, his feet look like white and pink spider paws

Alexanders- Alex is quite good with machines during his more lucid moments

Yandere-kun- Yanteru wants to become a house husband someday, completely devoted to caring for his spouse their future children by all means.

Liam- Originally French and bitten by a vampire in the late 15th century. 

Cecil- Despite living in the desert Cecil loves when it rains, and just getting wet in general. It’s instinctual.

Kevin- Where his double was tentacles, Kevin as long black spider’s legs, considerably less flexible but far more deadly.

Alois- He took up dancing to help relive some his excess energy, and ballet is by far his favorite