#at least unless its super polished

[stlangels]

Oh ok wait i think i finally got it ok

#grahambles #this is about like 'transandrophobia' as a useful term #and also how like gender and the patriarchy work. #like sometimes i forget how complicated some of the nitry gritty ideas are #but i did a few days of thinking and i think i have a conception of it #not actually posting a take. #at least unless its super polished #but like basically. yes the transphobia transmen and transwomen face is different #however trans men arent opressed for being men #maybe a better way of putting it is tbat trans men are opressed for being trans men #or that the way trans men experience transphobia is tied to the patriarchy (because the gender binary and patriarchy are inherently linked) #but trans men are oppressed in the way that patriarchy sees us as 'not man enough' #so we arent oppressed for our maleness but for our transness and our failure to adequately embody patriarchal masculinity or femininity #idk if im wording this well #basically its like how the racism black men experience is colored by the fact that they are men but they aren't oppressed for being men #their maleness allows them to attempt to approach patriarchy in a way black women areny allowed to #in a similar way trans men experience the social pressure all men experiemce to fit the idealized patriarchal man #and that ideal man is a man who has and enacts power over women #even if the world beyond doesn’t accept a trans man or it sees him as a woman he will still be influenced by that social pressure #trans men don't want to be excluded from manhood so we may attempt to approach power seeing it as masculine #of vourse we will still be excluded from holding this power because we will be excluded from manhood #however we can still access this power a little. #idk if this makes any sense #and i do think trans men can access patriarchal power sometimes but not in tge way cis men can #this is rambly as hell thats why its staying in the tags #these are half formed thoughts

[annabtg]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @squintclover, thank you so much!! ❤️❤️

AO3 username: AnnaBtG

1. How many works do you have on A03? 55 (plus one unreleased)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 233k (about 7k of which are other people's writing in co-authored works)

3. What fandoms do you write for? My AO3 only has HP stuff, and most of it is Jily.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Nom De Plume

The Great James Potter

Mistletoe Mishaps

AO3 Is Down

As If By Magic

5. Do you respond to comments? Always!! I am the staunchest advocate of commenting on fics and replying to comments is the least I can do to show a reader how appreciated their comments are. :)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I'll say Fixed Luck, because it pretends to give you hope even though in reality all it does is fill you with dread.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I have a lot of fluffy and happy fics! Maybe Nom De Plume, because it's a no Voldemort AU and by the end everything is settled and they live happily ever after!

8. Do you get hate on fics? I wouldn't say full-on hate but some people have objections with the ways I portray Sirius and Lily's relationship, both in romantic and platonic contexts. :p

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? A bit, yeah! Most of it is loving, tender and not super graphic.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Not really! Though I still want to finish writing that "Lily is a Lois & Clark fan" story. xD

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Over Spilt Coffee has been translated in Russian (and I've also written a Greek translation). The translations are linked in the author's notes. There was also a Spanish translation of Birthday but it's been deleted.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? A couple! I've collaborated on taller than the trees with @eemolu, and there are also the two Jily Express Jilytober fics, Soups and Broom Closet Shenanigans and The One Where All The Smut Had Already Happened.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Jily, obviously!!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Through Times Of War on FF.net.

16. What are your writing strengths? Being evocative with few words, and a very polished style with attention to detail.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Coming up with ideas! Particularly for longer works. Elaborate plots are not my friends.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I've done it in the past, and I think it served its purpose, but I would rather avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? The answer changes depending on various factors, including the definition of favourite xD but My Best Friend's Girl is one of the stories that are dearest in my heart!

Tagging @abihastastybeans @charmsandtealeaves @chierafied @eemolu @fiendishfyre @ginnyw-potter @jamesunderwater @kay-elle-cee @nodirectionhome-ao3 @roalinda!

#20 questions

[strangesickness]

i've been thinking about the losers and religion a lot lately because i think it's a pretty interesting topic that would impact them a fair bit.

eddie was actually the one who got me on this tangent because i think he's the least religious of all the losers so welcome to me rambling.

everything is pretty vague and i'm not really talking about actual religion and more talking about geography and historical context and stuff but figured i'd put a cut here in case this isn't something you want to read about <3 also its long oops

so we do actually have some canonical information about eddie's religion. he was raised methodist*, and his grandparents (at least on frank's side) were polish catholic. he becomes non-practising as an adult.

*(which is the same denomination as richie, which leads me to believe there was a methodist church in derry, and the town was largely methodist, since it seems strange that the kaspbrak's would convert to protestantism when frank's side of the family was catholic, especially since even though methodist is the second most common denomination of protestant in the USA, it has less than half as many followers as southern baptist, and also maine has a pretty low methodist population compared to other states according to this site, so i think it stands to reason they didn't have access to a catholic or southern baptist church. although i'm not super educated on christianity so this could all be wrong. i also haven't finished IT so maybe king talks about this in the novel idk) (also in case y'all weren't aware theres beef between catholics and protestants, which is why it's kind of weird they converted, unless sonia's family was protestant and she convinced frank to convert, which seems unlikely to me)

anyways thats great and all, eddie's protestant like everyone else, but consider! he's actually non-practising his entire life. i think it makes a lot of sense. sonia watched frank die of illness, then she watched eddie nearly die of illness, if anything could shake someones faith in religion i would think that would be it. she's clearly unwilling to leave anything up to god, with how obsessive and controlling she is over eddie's health and safety. i think a sonia that either does not believe in or does not trust god makes a lot of sense.

i think they'd still attend church on sundays, as to not stand out, and if asked they would both say they're christians, but i think there is deep seeded doubt in the both of them, and i don't think they pray, or read the bible, or bless meals, or avoid meat on fridays, etc. etc.

i don't think of any of the losers as holding their faiths in particularly high regard, i think it's likely they were all raised religious to some degree considering the historical and geographical context, but weren't heavily religious. i think they were the kind of people who didn't follow their religions very strictly (i know this is not the case for the uris' in the films but it is in the novel). however, i think of eddie as someone who quite frequently questioned god outright, "if there is a god why did my father die?" "if there is a god why am i sick?" "if there is a god is he kind?" etc etc.

i don't really have a plotline or point to go along with this, i've just been thinking about it. this headcanon might make an appearance in a fic someday, idk.

#also i'm a little confused because the stephen king wiki says richie is catholic but it also says he's methodist but methodist is protestant #i will have to take notes when i get to that point in the book to figure that one out #eddie kaspbrak #sonia kaspbrak #it 2017 #it 2019 #it chapter 2 #it stephen king #it novel #red's research #red's ramblings #posts afflicted with a strange sickness

[whumpster-fire]

Dumb RWS Headcanons: How Do the Faces Work?

I know it's kind of silly but I really like the idea that the engines' faces are actual physical objects.

Vehicles' faceplates are in theory a single piece of metal other than the eyelids, but it changes shape and moves.

Faceplates are manufactured as "blanks" with nondescript features. The first time an engine is steamed or otherwise activated and able to move under its own power, their face warps itself into shape. Within a class there's usually some family resemblance, but no one truly knows what an engine will look like until they're fired up! Twins sometimes happen when two or more engines are built at the same time and place, but identical twins are a small minority of engines, especially steam engines! They're more common the more standardized and mass-produced a vehicle is. Maybe 10% of steam engines and 20-30% of older diesels and electrics are twins/triplets - but this number has risen as multiple units and trainsets become more common. Sometimes engines call themselves twins even if they're not identical - Tallyln and Dolgoch's faces might not be the same as their Sudrian counterparts!

The face is not the center of an engine's sentience, as evidenced by the fact that some engines get on just fine without them! Why do people bother putting faces on them, then?... Honestly it's tradition. Modern people might be more comfortable having a conversation with a machine, but steam locomotives were invented not only over a century before computer-synthesized voices but several decades before the phonograph! Victorian-era British people were not comfortable entrusting their lives to an expressionless machine capable of speech and malice unless they could make eye contact with it.

The reason engines' faces are usually pale grey is because they're made of metals like white bronze, white brass, cupronickel, or nickel silver (note: this is a copper/nickel/zinc alloy and does not contain silver). These alloys are highly corrosion-resistant. Steam engines' smokeboxes are usually painted black because black paints are cheap, IIRC at the time were the only thing heat-resistant enough, and also coal dust and soot are less obvious on it. But the movement of an engine's face will cause paint to flake off very quickly. Theoretically making an engine's face out of colored metals or polishing it to be super shiny is possible but it's not done much, at least in the anglosphere. Some diesel and electric engines have faceplates made of anodized aluminum, (which lets them be the color of the surrounding bodywork), or stainless steel

Yes, you can remove and replace an engine's face! Usually this doesn't need to be done unless they're in a severe crash: steam engines' faces are made of thick metal and are supernaturally strong and ductile, and very corrosion-resistant, and will be just about the last thing to go if an engine is left to rust. If it is replaced, usually a blank won't warp to the right shape until the engine's fired, so the one time faceplates are specially sculpted for a specific engine is with preserved engines whose boilers can't be fired any time soon.

You shouldn't put an engine's face on a different engine. It will end up looking like the engine "wearing" it is supposed to look, but it's painful and results in the face developing cracks prematurely.

Also don't mess with the face of a scrapped engine. Don't use it on another engine, don't mount it on a wall or put it in a museum, just don't. Just lay it to rest by melting it down. You don't have the luxury of "not being superstitious" with the remains of a being that demonstrably had no physical means of speaking, moving, or changing its facial expressions. Human ghosts may be scary but relatively harmless specters of mist, wind, and whispers: the ghost of a machine is a poltergeist with the same power over fire, metal, electricity, inertia, and building-leveling amounts of pressurized steam that it did in life, but no longer limited to influencing its own body. The vengeful spirit of a departed steam engine doesn't rattle doorknobs or knock vases off tables, it causes unexplained gas leaks, failed pilot lights, broken chains or cables or hydraulic jacks, glitched carbon monoxide detectors, and water heaters or boilers that won't shut off and the emergency relief valves inexplicably jam.

Usually faces for non-powered rolling stock are made of carved wood or are painted on. Putting metal faces on them is mostly a Sodor thing, and possibly the GWR.

I'm not sure what engines' eyes are made of... maybe glass, or maybe they're hollow metal spheres? Either way the pupil is actually transparent and the inside surface of the eye is black. Faceless vehicles can see without eyes moderately well, but ones built with faces aren't used to it and can't see at all or very little if their eyes are covered or removed. Some engines' eyes light up (if an IRL engine's headlight is on the front of the smokebox, it probably has glowing eyes).

There isn't any mechanical device that moves an engine's eyes, but they do have physical support. They're kind of like a trackball computer mouse. They need to be lubricated and kept clean, and there is a real system for this. Some engines use condensed steam (usually coming from the source of steam for other accessories) or other water-based liquid for tears, but some might use mineral oil?

By the way these eyes can be big! Some of the largest American engines have eyeballs well over 2 feet in diameter!

Yes, the face swings open to access the smokebox/grille. The face itself may be on the smokebox door or be in front of it and on a separate hinge. The catch for the faceplate hinge is typically on the side of the smokebox. And then there are the Cab-Forwards and Garratts.

#Railway Series Fandom #dumb headcanons

[ind1c0lite]

hemlo ik u animate a bit do u know how to make animating hair not the worst thing in the world

ohh that actually depends on what ur trying to do!

if you're drawing hair blowing in the wind, I'd recommend this tutorial, it's pretty good!

if you're just animating hair in like- a more subtle way (like the character is turning their head or something) the best way i can show it is with this! (unfinished animation meme from last year, I'll leave the link to the unlisted video if you want to see the motion ((ignore the fact that I had to screenshot from the video i dont have te frames on me currently HJGKHLJ) (also keep in mind I tend to animate in lower framerates, typically around 8fps)

this is just ur initial pose, its just ur resting pose

As mems head moves down, his hair moves with it, it follows with his head motion

there's a jump up here, and so his hair goes back alot more, as the motion is supposed to be more aggressive, its supposed to give the impression that his moving his head back really quick and thus the hair is going to be sent back a lot more

the second rest, his head rests into the pose and so the movement is more subtle, but his hair goes back into its "default" state, similar to how it was in the first frame, the movement is more subtle here because his head isnt moving as much

a thing to keep in mind with hair is that it has volume, and is going to move when a person moves their head (unless they have like, slicked back short hair, there's not gonna be much movement there) it doesn't have to be extreme, but at the very least there is going to be SOME movement, you don't always have to show it though especially if it's super small, it just depends on the hair length and what kinda hair you're dealing with

a good thing to have is to have a small turnaround of your characters hair if you're struggling with how to draw it at different angles (it doesnt have to be polished or anything)

this is a turnaround of trucys face that i made to keep track of both her face and her hair! it keeps it consistent and is the base of like- any hair animating you may be doing HGJKHL

#I hope this helps im not used to giving tips HJGKHL #feel free to ask me anything else!! I know animating is very daunting to get into but i believe in u!!! #asks #theoneandonlyyeti

[banana-breadses]

holy shit your object show as a whole sounds so interesting if you woulnd't mind i want to hear more

okie lets go! (long ramble ahead)

My show is called Roll Credits!

plot wise its just your standard object show with challenges eliminations and a huge plot thing later in the season! the characters is where it gets fun ;-)

here are the first drawings of most of the characters. its not the best, but they're all here! lets go in order:

Water Bottle(she/her): Athletic! likes sports and excersise. complete opposite of Towel.

Towel(she/her): Lazy! likes television and sleeping. complete opposite of Water Bottle.

Textbook(he/him): Smart! is a green book! i have since updated his design, and added glasses and some blocks of text on his cover. also BAD AT TALKING

Rubik's Cube(he/him): Organized! basically my younger brother's self insert. dont know much about him but hey he seems cool.

Sugar Cookie(she/her): My girl! love her! first character of them all,an oc before i wanted to make a show. Ive talked all about her before, and I love her <3

Snowflake(he/him): honestly he's the one ive thought the least about. cool guy, really chill(pun intended)

Drum(they/them): Likes music i guess. I love them but all conversations end up in an argument because of the ~transphobic family~

Bowl(he/they/it): Cool guy. also a god. this was drawn before he was a god. doesn't talk i also have an original drawing for God Bowl that i dont really like anymore but if you wanna see it... (more lore to come!)

Bill(he/him): Rich! Bowl's best friend, and talks a lot. makes up for Bowl's silence.

Sunglasses(both he/him): the hosts! individually their names are Sun and Glass. Sun is excitable and energetic, and Glass is a cool guy.

Measuring Tape(she/they): Mom friend? i think? no matter what I am in love with their shape!!! she's so cute!!1

Glow Stick(she/her): rowdy teenager! likes to party and have fun. Her emotions do get really big(like me!) and she changes mood really intensely really quickly.

Flashlight(she/her): Cute girl! love her! she's the youngest of the group. kind to everyone, knows everyone, but doesn't have any real friends. Until now! with compassion she and Glow Stick become good friends :)

Speaker(he/him): didn't have a personality, but now he still doesn't! yknow how Rob in TAWOG forces his way from a background character to the villain? Speaker's kinda like that. doesn't have a personality, but hacks into the settings of the show to give himself one.

Pinecone(he/him):!!!!! the angry one!!!! used to be a criminal. he has been cloned!! and he doesn't really know it. as far as Pinecone knows, he got hit with a sciencey beam and thats it.

Marble(he/him):uuuuhh a last minute addition. dont know much about him. :/

Key(he/him): very calm. Kinda like Candle II. his eyes are always closed because when he opens them theyre so shiny it would blind everyone. why? you'l never know(unless you ask him(he polishes them(with bleach)))

Twig(she/her): TWIG!!!! Love her!!! very soft spoken and loves her leaf. doesn't understand people all the time, but she tries :o)

Mushroom(she/her): the mediator. Likes gardening, and tries to keep her alliance from falling apart.

those are all the main characters! there are a few side characters like the mafia, their parents, and the gods.

okie the mafia:

Coney(he/any): Pinecone's clone. wants to distance themself from him a lot, so he became a criminal! leads a band of friends despicable objects.

Poinsettia(she/her): tries to stay calm. Tall. super cool

Butter Knife(they/them): anxious to all tomorrows. i have never seen them not anxious.

Tie(he/she): chaotic. has maybe killed someone for real......? she wont tell.

honestly the mafia is just Team Rocket level evil, but Coney honestly tries to be bad.

their parents are just a few things ive thought about. Sugar Cookie's parents are Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cake, Rubik's cube's parents are Puzzle and Paint Pallet, and Measuring Tapes parents are Ruler and Tape. Ive come up with more(not all of them).

TAPE!!!! LOOK AT HIM!!! HE IS SO SHAPED!!!

the gods are still a bit of a mystery to me. there are twelve of them, (all dishware) but the only ones that are really important and fleshed out are Bowl and Plate. Plate was Bowl's caretaker when it was young, and after Bowl ran away, she got really depressed and holed up in the gods' realm. they all have varying numbers of eyes and wings.

here's a picture of Plate and a ladle guy i might make a god.

okie those are all the characters! (not even all of them I still havent mentioned Doll or any of the alliances ;))

#nimbus speaks #nimbus arts #ocs #Roll Credits

[jascurka]

hello! i got your loid dad pun recommended to me and looked through the rest of your art (very cute art style by the way) and i wanted to know, why do you write your "y"s backwards? 0: i hope this isnt read as rude or anything, i write my "e"s as backward 3s, i was just curious on the reasoning even if its so much as "i just think its neat" ahaha

Hi! Actually I never really noticed that I'm writing my [large] Y backwards but I do have a theory after a whole day of thinking about it and analysing my handwriting.

I looked at my comics and I do in fact usually write Y's like the red one, so backwards means just horizontally flipped in this case. I'm writing Y backwards even in my diary from 2013 so I'm writing this way since at least 10 years lol Weird occurrence but that's how I write, even though there aren't many opportunities in the Polish language to write large Y's, since almost none polish words start with the letter Y.

In my comics I write in this "print" style with only large letters. So an ideal Y in that case (to me at least) is symmetrical and doesn't lean left or right.

The problem is that I love to take shortcuts. I tend to write in a rush because I'm impatient and don't have the energy to draw all the shapes. Writing a symmetrical large Y is a pain for me haha, Here is how I simplify the green broken line.

I think I'm trying to balance it as much as possible, I'm usually keeping that green line as close to vertical when I'm writing in a rush but if I'm taking more time to write the sentence (like in a comic), I usually go for the last option because it's more balanced and the V shape of Y looks more even and symmetrical. The V shape is the most important part to me in a neatly written text.

But there are some cases when I write something like this in one speechbubble:

In this particular case I tried to make all the letters as even as possible (cuz my handwriting is super ugly usually </3) and I did the same thing with Y basically but I took the other half and simplified it but I usually don't write it that way unless I concentrate.

I tend to draw the long shape first anyways but with the correct way of writing Y I would first have to draw the shorter \ shape and then the longer / shape. But I'm not doing that because concentrating makes my brain go ouchie and I forget how I normally write then.

So to summarize: i take shortcuts that are the most comfortable for my brain and the fastest way to write, I write in a flow that won't require my hand to move the opposite direction. So I go ➡️➡️➡️ all the way.

I feel like a crazy scientist trying to study the weird creature in a jar while also being the weird creature in the jar...............

Also you writing E as a flipped 3 is pretty cool, this is actually how school taught me to write this letter, even though I don't stick to it anymore.

#sorry i seriously had a little crisis because I didn't know why I did it once you pointed it out haha #it was fun doing research on myself #this must be an INTP thing to do #craziest thing is this never happens to me when I write in small letters so like in a notebook or something #handwriting is pretty fascinating #answered

[lostacelonnie]

Surviving is one thing but befriending the alt girls? Now thats thriving congrats on the friend acquisition. Oh yeah absolutely thats super cool of your mom. To be so chill. More parents should aspire to be so chill. Birds are just chill dudes who exist & you can see them & its great. Fuck gulls though. They're nice to look at but will be bastards if you have food in some places. Ive been trying to learn german here & there and it is. Something. Mood but for english. Who needs grammer rules fuck em. I dont know polish so i definitely cant say. You probably mentioned it that sounds familiar but dang. Well it at least wont be as bad? My joke answer is gay sex would be less gay than whatever bronya/seele & march/stelle have goin on. My serious answer is that but also that was really well paced & written. Svarog my bro. Love him. Cocolia confrontation had killer music & the interaction with preservation was cool too. Love fire stelle abilities. Mobile is tough but just gotta fuck it we ball through it. Ill definitely have to add rain world to my list. Dredge is like. Lovecraftian horror fishing sim. Its really neat. River city girls is a simple beat em up adventure game where you fight through town doin little quests on your way through the main one. Real fun easy controls & the soundtrack is real good. Please do id love to hear your exploits. Yeah i have work a lot & so does she plus her kids so i dont talk to mine much either. Im getting to the point in star rail where i am catching up like genshin so ill probably log in less on that too unless more story happens or an event catches my eye. After next planet story anyways. Im not far enough in simulated universe to do swarm disaster sadly. Just gotta. Level them characters as usual. Ps5 star rail gave me gepard which he's good but like. I want bronya

YEAH ITS GREAT and thank you!! we have different groups this year and im very happy ab this bc most of the popular girls im scared of that i shared a group with last year are in the other one now. so im chillen. yeah shes VERY epic hehehehe!!!!! love her. YEAH frfr i agree.... ab the gulls as well i almost got Physically Attacked by one when i was on a trip on an island near alicante cos i was hanging out in the sea and went towards a small island not far away from the shore. not knowing there was a gull nest on it. but i took the hint when one started Screaming at me like halfway through. god i am scared of these things. theyre cool but from a safe distance. and ahhh good luck with learning german!! i took 4 years of it in primary school and still dont know a thing. but its a very charming language so maybe when i get a solid hang of spanish, ill revisit it. tho it Is funny to joke with my friends ab how i didnt allow ppl to germanize me. german was mandatory under the nazi occupation and theres this one patriotic song with the lines "nie będzie niemiec pluł nam w twarz / ni dzieci nam germanił" [the german will not spit in our face / nor germanize our children] but these days its often used for jokes ab having to learn the language. and yeah i suppose thats true!! it is what it is. anyway. YEAH i actually agree with both the joking and serious part andkfnjjb ESPECIALLY the cocolia boss fight. GOD that was cool. i honestly dont use fire trailblazer abilities that much but yes she does come in handy. good luck with surviving on mobile o7 also keep me updated if you do end up playing it!!!!!! its unbelievably hard but like. in a good way. OOH BOTH OF THESE SOUND VERY FUN!! speaking of which i have so many games i wanna play..... but i literally just spent around 200zł [a bit under 46 dollars] two days ago [wait im gonna tell you how in a second]. which actually connects to dye update: i redid my hair since it washed off pretty quickly [but ah i look so nice in red] for the very event i ended up spending way too much money on. and yeah fair rn im actually going onto genshin more often than star rail bc the fontaine exploration + catching up on sumeru exploration is just. So fun. havent played swarm disaster yet either...... no time...... i have a Lot of stuff to do for school recently. its been like what. 2 weeks. and we already finished the first chapter from history and were gonna have an exam soon. which im Dreading btw bc for some reason i went for extended history in school despite being physically unable to remember dates. but hey at least extended geography is easy [so far]. so fuck it we ball. anyway ah congrats on getting gepard!!! hes pretty overpowered yeah but i want bronya as well [i say barely ever logging into the game]. which is pretty funny bc i already got 3 5* things on standard in star rail while being like 150 pulls in and they were two claras and GEPARDS LIGHTCONE. which i cant even use on march since i run her in clara teams in which i need the taunt on clara. Lol. but whatever. ANYWAY ABOUT THE EVENT uhhh you Might recall that i went to like a. con-adjacent thing last year. its actually just mainly for buying merch but a Lot of people go in cosplays. anyway i went this year as well and got a bunch of prints [of focalors, fischl, signora, silver wolf, kafka, and miku], and some other stuff [charms of himeko starrail, silver wolf, and kafka, as well as bronya honkaiimpact3rd and kafka pins]. and a very cute choker. so YEAH for the sheer amount of stuff i got id say its a very good price but i still feel bad ab spending so much money in one go sjdkgkgjh

#but oh well!! a small price to pay for my anime niunie #asks #pen pals

[meandmyechoes]

since there's no serial star wars until august and it's a series i'm not sure i can sit through i'm gonna turn this into sentai brainrot.

i like kingoh this much i've watched every episode at least three times and trying to piece together all the information. i love rita so much i'm planning kingoh FLT and dissecting their costume and sewn a plush and possibly will buy a toy during its run

now i'm just racing to finish kingoh brainrot before May 4 so I can concentrate on Visions vol 2. After Sixth debut I probably had to put things on hold for real to do school work. I hope.

it's plot-heavy and serial unlike your typical sentai but almost typically anime/shonen with a heavy fantasy setting and character designs. but do you need more reason than 'rita kanisuka' to watch it. and the tokusatsu action/direction is so good.

practically:

i started a toku sideblog @mofffun anyway so i will be free-r over there. kinda wanna post opinions here and gifs over there lol. maybe polished gifsets here and random gifs over there. my queue is low in the tens but i certainly have many SW stock. i won't remove that completely just, not actively going for it? i'd still do regular tag searches on top of what came on my dashboard, but i might not write/talk about SW for a while? i still have a couple books to read

it feels weird because i became an SW centric blog since I came back 3 years ago. Not to say I didn't have other stuff chimed in but it's been 95% SW running non stop for 3 years. It's weird to have a sudden shift that stays. It's even weirder when you think when i first started this blog in 2012, it's as multifandom as you can get with 5 regular ones. so fuck it. i care about followers and feel a duty to provide? like an editor to a magazine? but probably just overthinking it. i won't force anyone to continue following if they are not into what i'm putting out. it feels weird but i'm just gonna talk about kingohger as much as i want to now. maybe change the blog description in a bit so that i don't feel disconnected. it's MY blog.

Talking about fixating on kingoh. I love the thrill of collecting clues and unraveling its plot. I love thinking again. I love that it gave me a reachable goal to work towards. Though half the time i'm just shouting RITA KAWAII/KAKKOUI i don't really pay attention to what's being said. It's been saccahrine the past 48 hours and i'm exhausted and elated. they got me crawling my ass up sunday at 8 to watch nitiasa live again.

compared with star wars it's just, ₻₻₻ (<- scribble). Mando s3 was a letdown and nobody cares about tbb. i can't stand how hype ppl are for the ahserka series and it feels like a minefield getting to know others with that hanging. sometimes i had to listen to ill-informed forum bros dissing, and when i look at official stuff, i begin to question who's actually keeping the lore.

it's not all negative. i still haven't done a totj!togruta analysis (even though i don't really want to think about totj itself because all it is to me is episode 5). i'm still super excited about SWC2025. i still love ahsoka (yes holding that throne against rita). I know I will be blown away by Visions as well. But I've been letting that define and govern me for too long it's time to let somebody else have a chance.

I'm crazy scared i won't be able to finish work this time. i'd hate that. i'm working the courage to tell my fam i need some space but, every time i actually said that, it's no use anyway. because i'm special. i'm responsible. what i do will never be enough.

i also try not to think to much about the society or where i will be in five years. it's like, some of the things i ultimately want can't happen unless you give it a few years of effort but i don't dare to dream that far. eh

well good thing ko let me think all that. i like thinking. i like writing.

#myechoes #echoesdiary

[comradekatara]

a question we've all been dying to know: katara's hair/skincare routine?

okay so here's what we canonically know: katara has a special seaweed lotion (where she got it from, and how she intends to get some to aunt wu, we don't know), and her skin is very smooth.

considering the fact that she can constantly heal any minor cuts or bruises on her skin probably further contributes to its flawlessness.

before she figured out how to remove pimples with healing, or on days when her cycle is so adamant on making her break out that even waterbending cannot reduce the zits that hath appeared violently upon her pubescent visage, she freaks out and acts as if it is the end of the world, and tells aang that she'll kill him if he looks at her!!!!! even though he legitimately has no idea what katara is talking about because the zit in question is tiny and basically indiscernible unless you are looking for it really closely. but she's also mastered the art of positioning her hair loopies just so, so that said pimples are less noticeable, either obscured by her hair or the shadow it casts. the ones smack bang in the middle of her forehead, on her chin, or on the tip of her nose are the real troublemakers. and the fact that like 98% of the time she has flawless skin is what makes those outlier pimples (that last three days at most) so egregious. it's only when she complains loudly in the company of zuko, who's like "oh no, having a tiny, barely noticeable blemish on your face.... how horrifying...." that she's sufficiently mollified.

as for her haircare routine, i can only imagine she also has a special shampoo & conditioner that she uses to get her hair so luscious and perfect, but i think it's also just a matter of lucky genes. as someone with very similar hair to katara, i don't actually do anything in particular to get it the way it is, i just let it dry naturally and it does what it wants. that said, i definitely think katara uses waterbending to speed up the process of washing and drying (and even potentially cutting?) her hair, so that it's always washed to perfection and contains the exact right amount of moisture.

the hot, dry desert air made her hair feel all stringy and greasy and heavy and gross, further cementing that day as one of the top 5 worst days of her entire life. she's also not a fan of fire nation humidity in general, because she's not used to having to manage her hair under such conditions and it took a long time for her to figure out.

she often offers, out of the kindness of her heart, to wash toph's hair with her super special conditioner, but toph adamantly refuses every time due to the fact that katara will be sure to wash all the dirt out, which is one of toph's worst nightmares actually.

some other important things to note: katara does not shave, and in fact takes pride in having longer leg hair than suki (they measured it, and she won by a hair); she does not wear makeup regularly, but has been known to enjoy it on occasion when she is feeling fancy; upon acquiring access to nail polish (which canonically exists in atla bc mai wears black nail polish in book 2!) she is constantly applying and reapplying blue nail polish, which is the best nail polish color in her humble opinion because a) it matches aang's tattoos b) it represents the water tribe (duh) and c) it matches zuko's nails, which are also painted blue (that is, at least every time he is in katara's presence, because painting each other's nails is a cornerstone of their friendship)

and finally, here are some images of katara enjoying a spa day:

#id in alt text #katara #oh to be a teenage girl...... #aang&katara #katara&toph #katara&zuko #katara&suki #asks #beangods #was gonna just link to a couple drawings of zuko w blue nail polish but then i realized i have like a million.... so i linked .... uhhh.... #many ... #anyway thank u for this ask i love an excuse to talk abt this #katara the most beautiful girl in the world <33333

[caramel-sandiego]

Custom pencils with nail polish tutorial

Like I said, I wanted to try and make more craft tutorials, and this time I have a slightly more complicated one. Its still a fairly easy craft, however. I’ll try to do more tutorials once I get ideas for them as well

These pencils are super easy and cheap to create, and are a great way to transform boring pencils into something more fun.

What you’ll need

Plain pencils, preferably unsharpened

Solid colored nail polish (I used what I had around, the brand doesn’t matter)

Glitter or confetti polish (optional)

Top coat (optional)

A way to keep the pencils still while they dry (I used a piece of Styrofoam)

Step 1

Paint your pencils with a coat of solid colored nail polish. Darker colors are better, and lighter colors will likely need at least one more coat. Hold the pencil by the metal part while painting.

Step 2

Allow pencils to dry. I did this by sticking the eraser ends in a piece of Styrofoam so that the painted part wasn’t touching anything, but there are certainly other ways to do this. Just make sure the painted part isn’t touching anything as it dries or the paint may come off. Alternately, you can hold them as they dry, but unless you’re using quick drying polish, your hands will probably get tired.

Step 3 (optional) 

Add a coat of sparkle or confetti polish to the dried pencils for a fancier look. Allow to dry as you did in step 2.

Step 4 (optional)

Add a coat of top coat. Its unlikely the paint will chip, so this is more to give them an extra shine. Again, allow to dry as you did in step 2.

Step 5

Once the pencils are completely dry, sharpen them and use them as you would regular pencils. As long as they are completely dry, there should be little to no worry of the paint coming off.

This is a pretty easy craft, and if you wanted to, you could add striped or other details. I would recommend using painters tape for stripes, and nail art kits for other details. 

I’ll try to make more tutorials in the future when I have time and ideas since they’re fun to make. If you have any projects you’d like me to make a tutorial of, just tell me.

#crafts #handmade #diy #tutorial #pencils #nail polish

[solomonish]

How To Keep Your Demon Entertained At A Walmart

Congratulations! You've earned yourself a few demon date days up in the human world! But what's this? You have errands to run? Well, we all know these demons can't function without you for more than five minutes....but an entity that's thousands of years old gets a little bored and restless in the hyper-market wasteland of a Walmart...

Nowdateables: coming soon!

Lucifer

if you don't want him getting passive-aggressive about how you should've done this before he got here (yeesh Lucifer some of us have jobs or responsibilities that we can't shove onto our siblings for a day to see our precious mc) then you better be ready to make conversation

definitely not the type to allow you to even think about sending him off so you can get stuff done. he's not even that bothersome, so he'll get offended if you even think about it, but also wouldn't you rather keep him around to reach the top shelves?

basically if you don’t want to keep Lucifer entertained, you have to be the one he needs to keep entertained

do that thing where you roll around on the cart like a skateboard and he’ll be trying to put a stop to it immediately

put random things in your cart that he knows you don’t need and let him take it out and put it back where it belongs

stare him in the eyes as you put that party size brownie mix in your cart then speed walk away. he will come up from an aisle in front of you and silently pluck the box out and take it back. he will come back to see seven boxes of corn dogs and momentarily considers breaking up with you

does not need a treat as a bribe, but will definitely forgive your antics if you bought something from the bakery to snack on as you go home (especially if you did it without him noticing, considering the eagle eye he’s had to have on your cart the whole time)

just don’t have the nerve to complain about the crumbs in your car after that

Mammon

I would say to ask him to scan the area looking for dropped coins on the floor but he'd probably knock down shelves trying to look beneath them so....maybe don't?

also please keep an eye on him or he WILL be shoplifting. human jail is (probably?) a step up from demon jail but like. let's aim for no jail, ok mammon?

instead, give him a pre-portioned off list and tell him it's like a scavenger hunt. he'll scamper off to explore the walmart and his duty to keeping you happy has like a 70% chance of preventing him from stealing anything too important

make sure the stuff you put on the list is kind of hard to find but not too hard. you wanna keep him occupied without risking him freaking out because he can't find this super specific spice you want

either that or only make a really vague list like. tell him you need bread and he'll stand in the bread aisle trying to remember if you like white bread or whole wheat bread until you come to retrieve him

bring money for a treat. if it's near st patrick's day go in the seasonal aisle and hope they have chocolate gold coins

he's not too hard to deal with, but figuring out what's sneaky enough to put on the list is a chore of its own so going by yourself is less work anyway

Leviathan

taking him to walmart was your final fatal mistake

seriously? he has to go in? you could have just left him in the car!!

you take him intending to have him pick out some normie snacks (since you don't have any limited edition whatever-the-fucks in your house right now) but he looks so uncomfortable you make a detour towards the games

just leave him to play on the trial device and go pick out a few things for him to choose from when you circle back to him

arguable the least stressful trip for you until you have to wade through the pool of kids surrounding him and watching him play when it's time to pay and leave

you won't have to buy him anything but you will have to wait for him to finish the level he's on before he lets you drag him away. and he'll probably complain a little bit in the car about how terrible it was to go in in the first place, which a treat would help minimize.

so i guess just pick your battles with this one?

Satan

satan is a refined individual with startling amounts of self control. he does not need pointed in the direction of the books. he can entertain himself on a grocery run.

point him in the direction of the books anyway

their selection is always small (because it’s a walmart not a bookstore) and half of it is children’s anyway so he’ll probably wander off real quick

satan doesn’t need to be entertained, no, he’s past that. he needs to be kept on a leash

you have no way of knowing where he’ll end up. sometimes he’ll be somewhere that makes sense like in the stationary but sometimes you’ll find him staring at the paint samples like it’s a masterpiece in a museum or over by the fishing hooks reading up about local fish populations and how to get a fishing license and you’re just like “???? i’ve been looking for you for twenty minutes???? don’t give me facts about salmon???”

will ask you why you need to buy tires in the same place you get your food. isn’t that suspicious? what do they specialize in?

answer him only with the word “bargains” and he’ll stop asking once he understands or gets annoyed

you don’t need to buy him a treat unless he finds a book he wants. then come on mc, you dragged him out here and you’re NOT gonna let him get this one thing??

Asmodeus

he's fine with making an errand run with you actually!

he's up on the human world for you baby, just make sure to hold his hand so he feels appreciated

asmo is far too entertained with the concept of a walmart for his own good. don't go with him if you want it to be a quick trip because he'll want to go around the whole store

thinks at first that it's kind of nifty that humans just dump all the things they need in one store but is quickly turned off from the novelty when he realizes how short the distance is between the clothes and the nearest package of raw chicken

even if the selection is small, he will want to spend time in the makeup department. probably goes on rants about how he can’t imagine this quality of product is good for your skin

will still buy nail polish though if you let him

overall? not terrible to have around, but make sure you don’t have anywhere to be in the next hour when you take him

Beelzebub

pack a gallon bag of cheerios like he's a toddler and get ready to fucking book it in and out of there

you know how you should never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry? what were you thinking bringing Beel around??

another brother who’s good for reaching tall shelves if you need it

Beel also has this talent where he can just list off the ingredients you need if you happen to forget your list

if you want, you can distract him momentarily by just throwing out random dishes and he’ll get the ingredients right every time (even though they’re human dishes!!) but you’ll end up giving him like five different cravings by the time you leave

only take him if you want to speedrun grocery shopping, because he will start eating food you haven’t paid for if you take too long

bring extra money for that too, just in case he gets caught :(

Belphegor

bringing belphie to walmart isn't a matter of keeping him entertained moreso than keeping him awake

which you will inevitably fail to do

so even if you only need like three things, get him a cart and let him fall into the basket

he’ll try to stay awake (and he’ll give very self-satisfied grins to the people who stare at him ((and especially the ones who say “wow i wanna do that”))) but he can only fight off his sin for so long

stop by the blankets so he can stuff a few soft things in (bc he’s gotta be uncomfortable cramped in the little basket) and he’ll make himself a tiny nest

the good news is you can put anything on top of him and he won’t complain. just don’t drop any gallons of milk on him or anything that’ll wake him up

go to a self check-out so the employees don’t yell at you

after you put your groceries in your car, just dump his ass on the pavement. he’ll forgive you if you bought him the blankets.

#this came to me in a dream and i thought it was funny #walmart is just such a weird place.... #obey me #obey me shall we date #shall we date obey me #obey me swd #lucifer #mammon #leviathan #satan #asmodeus #beelzebub #belphegor #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #long post #lucifer hcs #mammon hcs #leviathan hcs #satan hcs #asmodeus hcs #beelzebub hcs #belphegor hcs #my fics #lucifer writing

[bubblegumbeech]

Haunted Towers and Hidden Truths

Phic Phight prompt by @lexiepiper

Write a more traditional ghost story. How would things change if ghost powers weren’t super powers, but closer to old horror movie tropes?

“We shouldn’t do this Danny,” Sam said, ever the voice of reason. “This place isn’t like our usual haunts.“

But Danny shook his head, “No Sam, I have to do this. I have to know what that dream meant, if it was really a dream or something else.”

He moved to take a step forward when his other friend, Tucker, grabbed his arm, “I don’t know man, I think she’s right. There isn’t a possessed item to destroy, or an overactive ghost to try and calm down, heck even Vlad has a weakness we can exploit, we don’t know anything about this place. What if we don’t make it out of this one?”

“Come on Tucker,” Danny argued, his own confidence nothing but a mask, “It can’t be as bad as the haunted video game right? You die in the game you die in real life!”

Tucker didn’t laugh, “this is serious Danny, I know that dream had you messed up, but what if it was just that? A dream?”

“Or,” Sam cut in, “What if it’s a trap? Remember how Desiree tried to get us with that monkey’s paw when she realized we were getting involved with every scary story and urban legend in town and she didn’t want us to find out about her?”

There was also the time a ghost discovered Danny’s secret and decided to haunt him personally and make his life a living hell until he and Tucker were able to exorcise it. It had involved a gorilla, a lot of research into dead safari hunters, and one of his parent’s inventions that they rigged to do what they needed before destroying it so it couldn’t be used against Danny himself. 

“We made it through all of those things together, remember when we first saw Cujo? And we thought he was to blame for Valerie’s mother?” Danny said.

Sam deflated, “and then we did research and discovered that Cu Sith only foretell death, not cause it… But Danny, we tried to research this place, remember? We found nothing. It’s like it doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah man,” Tucker scratched the back of his neck uncertain, “I couldn’t find so much as a blueprint. No building plans, nothing. The only thing we have to go on are stories from reckless kids trying and failing to spend the night.”

“You don’t have to follow me, the last thing I want is to put you both at risk. Especially after last time.” 

Tucker groaned, “Danny you know we aren’t going to let you do this alone right? Especially not after Walker’s prison. Who knows what would have happened if we didn’t come in and save you?”

Danny smiled, “I probably would have starved to death to be fair, but yeah, I’ll try to avoid getting locked in any metal cages, deal?”

“To be fair,” Sam said, returning his smile with one of her own, strained though it was, “you probably would have died of thirst first.”

Chuckling at his friends' attempts to lighten the mood once they realized his mind wouldn’t be changed, Danny finally let himself look up at the place in question. It was a tall, crooked looking clocktower with old, brittle wood and peeling paint. In the low light of the evening it looked almost purple and with the dust and cobwebs covering it, it was clear no one had been inside for quite some time. 

The Clocktower was a recurrent presence in his dreams, the ones he’d started having since the accident that made him the way he was: different from any person, but not quite anything else. It was always there in the background, but he’d never gone inside. 

Once, during a particularly dull recurring dream where he relived the life and consequent death of a warehouse worker, he’d walked away from the endless piles of boxes and tried to go inside the clocktower instead. But no matter how far he traveled, it was always the same distance away. He just couldn’t get to it. 

Danny couldn’t shake the feeling though, that something inside might have the answers he’s been searching for. So he stepped forward, and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, of course, and  Danny almost felt foolish doing it, but also, ghosts and spiritual beings all had their own rules and perceptions of what is or isn’t polite, most of which Danny had stumbled into learning the hard way, and it really didn’t hurt to check.

“No answer,” Sam said and Danny nodded, turning the handle. It was old and brass and when it turned it made a loud grinding noise that vibrated along his arm. But it did open, and without Danny needing to persuade it, so that had to be a good sign right?

Unless it really was a trap. 

“Maybe we should leave someone outside, in case it really is like Walker’s prison.” He offered, but both of his friends shook their heads and stepped past him. It was dark, musty and smelled in a weird way, like a library. If a library had locked its doors and not let anyone enter for a good century or so. 

Sam took the lead, her flashlight catching on unfamiliar shapes and shadows. “Do you know what we’re looking for?” she asked, her voice uncertain. 

Danny shook his head, “Not really, just… answers.”

They looked around the ground floor at first, but if it held anything particularly supernatural or important, it wasn’t going to be found. “This just looks like my grandma's living room.” Tucker complained, taking the sheet off of one of the couches, “we need to go further in if we want to actually find something.”

He wasn’t wrong, Danny looked over to the spiralling staircase in the back of the room, and then to the other doors that surrounded it on the first floor. “It’s probably better to do this systemically right? Go through every room on each floor and move our way up?”

“You mean like in a video game?” Sam asked, “sure, we can do that.”

They started on the left, but that room wasn’t much better when it came to finding any kind of clues. It held a kitchen, a very old kitchen, with a stove and oven that Danny had only ever seen in period movies. But…

“Why does it smell like cookies?” Danny asked, turning to his friends who both looked at him like he was crazy.

“Cookies? Yo, Danny this place smells like straight up death. Not cookies.” Tucker said, backing away from the oven and starting to open up cabinets. 

Sam rolled her eyes and did the same on the other side of the kitchen, “it doesn’t smell like death you dolt, it smells… like a graveyard.”

Danny walked to the middle of the room, towards the oven- he always made sure to be the one seeking out the more dangerous or suspicious things in the haunts they went to- while the two of them bickered. They tended to start these smaller, petty arguments when they were scared, it took the edge off. 

“Duh?” Tucker said, and Danny heard him slam one of the cabinets shut, “graveyards are death? What does it smell like to you? Your Mom’s perfume?”

“No, it smells like someone dying, you know all hospital chemicals and gross stuff.”

There wasn’t anything in the oven, but oddly, Danny had felt a wave of warmth when he opened it. Almost like it had just been used. But, ghosts didn’t need to eat, right? And there couldn’t have been a person living here, they’d notice that. At least, Danny hopes they would notice that. After being in dozens of life or death scenarios hinging on whether they noticed important but minute details, they’d become pretty good at that kind of thing.

“Ugh! Don’t talk about hospitals, I’m still not over North Mercy, that was horrible,” Tucker turned to Danny, leaning on one of the counters and ignoring the cabinet he opened right behind his head. “What do you think death smells like Danny?”

Danny walked over and closed the cabinet, he didn’t want something to suddenly appear inside of it all twisted limbs and empty eyes or for something to crawl out and scare them, or even have it slam shut on Tuckers head, like some ghosts were known to do. He didn’t have to put much thought into his answer, “It smells like burnt flesh, electricity, and polished wood.”

Tucker paled, “oh… right. Sorry.” 

He shrugged, “anything yet?”

“Not unless you count cobwebs, dust, and deteriorating cooking books,” Sam answered, walking over to both him and Tucker. 

Danny looked around at the kitchen, it looked normal, even some dying light shone in from the one window along the outer wall. The only thing weird was the shape and that was because it was at the bottom of a spiralling clocktower. There was nothing particularly scary about the place, and frankly Danny didn’t know what to do with that.

“Let’s move on, this place is giving me the creeps,” Sam said, crossing the room and going to the next door. 

Danny and Tucker followed, unwilling to be left behind, or to let her go on her own. The next room was the same size as the other two, but it had an extra window and was crammed absolutely full of books. Just books. Stacks and stacks of them where they didn’t fit on the shelves, which were completely packed themselves, and Danny had the thought that this was probably what he was smelling when they first walked in. 

It was a library. A personal one, but without any room to sit or anything to sit on despite the genuinely impressive display of books and Danny found himself gently stroking his hand against the cover of a book on the top of the nearest stack, When Ghosts Speak: Understanding Earthbound Spirits.

“Please tell me we aren’t reading all of this,” Tucker whined. Danny frowned, why wouldn’t he want to read these? It was a treasure trove of information, these books could have countless, researched, answers to questions they’ve been asking since the start of everything! 

What if one of these books could tell them why Amity Park seemed to attract the supernatural, why they seemed to gain power within the city’s boundaries, why Danny wasn’t dead. He wanted nothing more than to grab any one of these books, walk into the next room, with the couches and comfortable chairs, sit down and read and read until he found something, anything he could use. 

These books might even be able to help him deal with the supernatural threats that plagued their town. Mostly they’ve been surviving through luck and half baked internet searches with the occasional trip to the town library. And while it had been enough so far, Danny was practically salivating at the thought of being properly, genuinely prepared for something for once. 

“Of course we aren’t,” Sam said, dragging Danny out of his fantasies of maybe knowing what he was doing, “they’re completely deteriorated. If we even tried to open one it would probably fall apart.”

Danny frowned, and then looked down at the book he’d subconsciously grabbed. It didn’t seem as bad as Sam was describing, but he also didn’t want to risk it either. He’d realized early on there was a difference between what he was seeing and what was actually real. He set it down gently and looked around the rest of the room with his friends. 

“Are we so sure this place is haunted?” Danny asked. By then, the sun had set entirely and the only light left was their flashlights. High powered and with fresh batteries they were still little use against the encroaching dark and Danny wanted to move on to the next floor already if he wasn’t going to be able to open a book. 

Tucker stood up from behind a precariously leaning shelf and dusted himself off, “Dude you’re the one that said there was something here and we needed to investigate. Remember, like an hour ago when the two of us were trying to stop you from going inside?”

Danny scoffed, “that’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean then?” Sam asked, stepping closer so she could meet his eyes. There was something in her expression, curiosity or suspicion, Danny couldn’t quite parse. 

“I…” Danny stopped to think, what did he mean? Was it just that the place didn’t feel haunted? There wasn’t anything here trying to scare him away, no ominous winds or loud knocking, but they’ve gone into haunts before that took a long time to start actually reacting to them. “There’s no, I don’t know how to explain it. Usually when we go somewhere haunted, that a ghost has a claim to or whatever… there’s this feeling that I’m trespassing? I don’t feel like I’m trespassing here.”

That probably didn’t make any sense, and despite everything they didn’t usually act on Danny’s gut instincts as a group without evidence. The issue with the circus and it’s terrifying owner was a lesson too well learned after all. 

True to expectations neither Sam nor Tucker looked convinced. They shared a quick ‘what now’ look between each other and Danny resisted taking a step back and sinking into the wall. Not that he could do that, as far as he knew he couldn’t do that. Only actual ghosts could do something like that and despite everything Danny was still human- well, still had a physical form. 

Permanently. 

“Let’s move on upstairs,” Sam reasoned, “if Danny’s right there won’t be any harm in it, and if he’s not we’ll find out once whatever’s here starts actually reacting to us, right?”

Perfectly reasonable and logicked as always. Danny nodded and walked to the next door, if he was right it would lead into the room they had first entered with the staircase that twisted and climbed higher and higher into the heart of the tower. That was the next place to go. He knew that.

Tucker gently patted his shoulder as they walked towards the base of the stairs, “yeah, maybe the ghost doesn’t consider this bottom part his haunt? Maybe he just likes the clock on top?”

Danny smiled, “like the hunchback of Notre Dame?”

Smiling back, Tucker nodded, “exactly! Oh man, we gotta find out if that guy is real one of these days.”

“We have our hands a bit tied with Amity Park without going after disney characters,” Sam said, pushing the two of them from behind so they’d actually go up the stairs. “Now let's get a move on, I want to be back home before breakfast so my parents don’t realize I snuck out again.”

There was something Danny could say but he bit back the comment about how at least her parents would notice and quickly walked up the stairs instead. As soon as his feet touched the first step a bubbly feeling lifted in his chest, and it made him want to go higher as fast as he could there was someone up there waiting for him-

“Danny!” Sam called out, grabbing him by the arm, “calm down!”

Her grip on his arm was tight and Danny looked down to see what had her panicked only to find his feet had left the stairs entirely and he’d started floating upwards instead of walking. Like a human. Like his friends. Like what he was supposed to be. 

He swallowed and let himself sink back down, forcing the feeling in his chest back as much as he could. It was like trying to kill the fizz in a shaken soda by screwing a cap back on it and he struggled with it for a moment. He’d never felt like this before- sure, most ghosts and other supernatural entities tended to broadcast emotions to a higher degree than humans, and with them also being natural empaths and Danny’s unfortunate situation it often led to him being overtaken by emotions that weren’t necessarily his own. 

It’s just, they’ve never been this overwhelmingly positive before.

Even with Vlad, as human as he was, his emotions were always tinted with obsession and desperation. His need to have Danny and his mother for his own colored every interaction he’d had with the man and it often left a bitter, strained feeling in his chest. Right now, Danny felt almost giddy. And he wasn’t even sure it wasn’t just his own emotions, reacting to the environment around him. It was a nice environment after all. 

But Danny was good at ignoring things like that. 

“My bad. I’ll try and keep my feet on the ground from now on.”

Sam looked conflicted, “Danny you know we don’t mind you using your powers,” Danny nodded, they’d told him so many times over and over again, “But we don’t want to lose you to them. You promised to stay with us, remember?”

Danny smiled, “I remember. I won’t end up like that, I promised. That’s why we’re here right? To stop it?”

Sam nodded and let him go. 

The second floor was similar to the first, in that it had three rooms leading into each other with the spiral staircase in the center. Danny started with the door on the right. It was a study. There was a desk, paperwork, and a bottle of ink with a quill and Danny found himself wondering just how old this clocktower really was. And how long it had been since its occupant was truly here, alive, if ever. 

They split up and started looking around, eagerness exposed in their movements. This was the most likely place to have something useful, especially if whoever spent their time here was as studious as the lower floor suggested.  Danny went for the desk. 

There was a note on it, in perfect, looped handwriting and the ink was still glistening, fresh from the bottle if the smell had anything to say about it. Danny ran his hand across the words hoping to smudge it, but it had dried already, if barely. 

It’s nice to meet you, little anomaly.

Danny grit his teeth. 

“Guys,” he called out, holding the paper, “It knows we’re here.”

Sam and Tucker rushed over, and Sam grabbed the paper from his hand to read for herself. “Little anomaly? Isn't that kind of insensitive?”

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed, “you just have weird ghost powers right? Vlad’s the same way it’s not like you’re the only person on the planet like you.”

Hesitant to correct him, Danny bit his tongue. It was true that Vlad was a person who had unfortunately gained the abilities of a ghost, things like floating, making objects move with his mind or using his spirit to control people while he slept safe and sound at home. And he’d gained them in a similar way to Danny as well, trusting the wrong people and delving into things he never fully understood and still didn’t. 

It was just … less true for Danny was all. 

But he wasn’t going to tell them that, he wasn’t going to tell anyone that. So how did whoever, or whatever this was, know? Or was it just saying things to get under his skin, that was pretty par for the course when it came to ghosts. So why wasn’t it doing anything else? Trying to get them to leave? Was Sam right? Was it really a trap this entire time? What would happen if they went back downstairs and tried the door, would it open?

He grabbed the paper and shoved it into one of his jackets pockets, there was plenty of time to freak out over it later after all. “Let’s keep looking around, there has to be something here that it’s trying to distract us from.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything more useful than there had been downstairs. Just what one would expect from a normal office. What papers he did find had detailed extensive notes, yes. But they were in a language Danny couldn’t read and neither Sam nor Tucker even recognized. It was infuriating!

Almost like whoever was haunting this place, was telling them it had all the answers they wanted but wouldn’t give them any. He just wanted to know how - Danny shook his head. There had to be something. He wouldn’t have been led all the way here, had all those dreams, if there was nothing he could do at all. 

He threw one more frustrated look around the office before he threw the stack of papers he’d been digging through on the floor and marched over to the next door. It was unlocked, again, just like all of the others and it only served to increase Danny’s frustration. 

“Wait, Danny,” Sam noticed him leaving and quickly followed, the door slammed shut behind them, locking Tucker inside the office.

“No,” he whispered, this was all his fault, he shouldn’t have let this ghost get in his head like this! He never should have let his emotions take him over, he knew better. It led to bad things. Horrible, terrible, things. 

There was a loud bang on the door, someone was pounding against it and Danny flinched. Was the actual haunting finally starting? Was everything really just a way to lure them deeper into the tower and away from each other? 

“Guys?” he heard Tucker call out from the other side of the door, “did you seriously just leave me behind? Don’t we have like, a rule against that?!” 

Danny sighed in relief, it was just Tucker. “Are you okay Tuck? Did anything happen over there when the door shut? Any oozing walls or flying papers-”

There was another thump, probably Tucker banging his head against the door, “I know what to look for Danny I’ve been doing this the exact same amount of time as you.”

“Yeah yeah,” Danny acquessed. “Just get to the stairs and we’ll meet you there.”

He exchanged a glance with Sam, she was glaring a hole into the side of his head and he felt guilty for being the cause of everything going wrong, again. So he apologized and ignored her exaggerated eye roll when she said he should have known better, because well, he did. But what was he going to do, apologize twice?

The room they were in was a simple one, likely some kind of storage space that he and Sam could dig through for hours on end, but it was more important to get to Tucker than to try and make sure they didn’t miss anything. 

Which, in hindsight, was probably exactly why they’d been separated. 

A cold breeze tickled at Danny’s hair and he felt himself relax despite it all. It felt nice, the cold, and Danny liked when the haunts they went to leaned towards the chillier side like this. Sometimes, especially if Vlad was involved, it felt like he was walking into an overwarm swamp when he entered a haunt and it made him itchy and uncomfortable the entire time. Vlad never seemed to notice, and his friends complain equally about both, so Danny had mostly kept it to himself. 

The entire tower felt nice, cold dry air, the smell of books, ink, and cookies, even the playful, excited feeling that seemed to permeate throughout the tower. Like someone had designed it to appeal in every way to both sides of Danny’s instincts. 

It was unnerving. 

He followed Sam out of the room and back into the middle where the stairs were, but Tucker wasn’t there. 

Sam pulled out her phone, and Danny held his breath as it rang, once, twice, and then a click and Tucker’s familiar, annoyed voice came through the speaker and Danny sighed in relief. “Uh guys? I couldn’t get out the door so I tried to climb out a window, and there was uh, a ladder. So I’m outside right now. Come get me?”

Danny met eyes with Sam and nodded, they headed back down, “we’re coming Tuck,” he said.

“Cool, cool, actually rather than coming to get me, can we just go home? Come back later, like in the day time? How come we never do these things in the daytime?”

“You know that’s not how ghosts work Tucker.” Sam said, bored, as they walked to the front door. Danny felt a tug, something like a hand on his shoulder and turned to see what was behind him. There wasn’t anything there. 

He turned back around to see that Sam had already walked outside, and was holding the door open for him, one of her eyebrows raised. Awkwardly, Danny jogged a little, so as to not hold them up too long. But before he could actually walk outside the door slammed shut.

Sam screamed.

“Danny! Are you okay!” Tucker asked, his voice panicked and muffled from the other side of the door.

“I’m fine,” Danny said, gritting his teeth and turning around. The room didn’t look or feel any different. There was nothing screaming at him to get out or anything else malicious. If anything it seemed even cosier than before, and Danny didn’t really know how to react to that. 

He looked back at the door. There was a way, no. He couldn’t do that. Danny pinched at the bridge of his nose, the only thing to do, really, was to see who had invited him in. That’s what it was right? Some kind of weird ghostly invite?

“I’m going to go check upstairs,” he called out to his friends before walking back towards the staircase. 

They pounded on the door, “Danny don’t you dare go up there without us! Just wait, we’ll find a way in! It’s dangerous alone!” 

Ignoring their protests Danny took the stairs two steps at a time, fighting the rising excitement in his chest and firmly planting his feet against the polished wood. There were answers waiting for him, he knew there were. He just had to find them. 

The third floor had a bedroom, it was nice, cozy and the bed even looked inviting. Danny didn’t bother to stay long. Whoever it was that called him here wasn’t in this room, nor were they in the next or the one after that. Just two bedrooms and a bathroom on that floor and Danny quickly made his way to the next. 

This room was different from the rest. For one there were windows, everywhere, that seemed to play different scenes of different people from all over the world. If Danny strained his ears, he could even hear them speaking different languages. On the other side from the windows was an entire wall of clockwork that chimed and churned as the gears moved, keeping the face of the clock on the outside ticking along in sync with the rest of the world. 

When Danny stepped into the room properly the carpet sunk easily underneath his feet and he felt a nice, cold breeze that came from a purple flamed fire housed properly in a fireplace in the middle of the room. He hadn’t even noticed a chimney from outside. 

There was a man in front of the fire. He was tall and hooded and he carried an equally tall and gnarled staff in one of his gloved hands. Danny felt himself freeze, he had never seen a ghost this solid before. There was always a little bit of transparency, no matter how powerful, they didn’t have physical forms afterall. Not like Danny.

“Who are you?” he asked. His voice was dry and soft and Danny was thankful when it didn’t crack on his question. How embarrassing would that have been? 

The man turned around, his face changing as he did from old and aged to a younger one, closer to his parent’s age, a large jagged scar marking it’s way through one of his eyes and down his cheek. He smiled, “I am Clockwork, Master of time. All that was, All that is, and All that will be. I understand you have many questions for me. I hope to answer them.” 

A thousand questions ran rapidly through his mind, why did you call me here? Did you call me here? Why get rid of my friends? What are you and why haven’t I seen anything like you before?

“How do I prevent myself from becoming that.” Danny asked the most pressing question first, desperate. The man-ghost-Clockwork, sighed and gestured for him to sit. There was a comfortable looking couch with an equally comfortable chair across from it and a plate of cookies set on an elegantly carved coffee table between the two.

“That’s easily answered, sit, have a cookie.” Clockwork floated over, crossing his legs and settling into the chair before grabbing a cookie for himself. 

Danny glanced at them, uncertain, before taking a seat. The couch was even more comfortable than it looked and he found himself sinking back into it, confused. The room was a nice, cold, temperature as well, despite the fire clearly burning in the fireplace. 

He grabbed one of the cookies, “can I eat these?” he asked, looking over at his host.

“Of course,” Clockwork smiled, taking a bite of his own before leaning back, “I made them for you. Though your friends would have to be more careful, I’m not sure what food like this would do to a human.”

“I am human,” Danny argued, placing the cookie back on its plate. He had to, denial was all he had left at this point. 

Clockwork frowned, “yes, well, I suppose we’ll get there next. You wanted to know about your dreams.”

Finally, Danny nodded, “they’re different ever since- uh well… ever since the incident.”

“It’s natural to not want to talk about one’s death,” Clockwork said, he leaned forward and tilted his head, “or one’s birth.”

“My dreams,” Danny asked, avoiding that conversation with all the grace of a blind hippo, “why are they different. You know right?”

Sighing, Clockwork nodded and leaned back, “yes, I know everything. They’re different, frankly, because they’re dreams. It’s unsettling to you because it’s new, you’ve never dreamed before.”

Danny scowled, “that doesn’t make any sense, I had plenty of dreams when-”

Clockwork interrupted him, disappointment plain under his hood, “You can lie to your friends Daniel, but I already know the truth. Just as you do.”

“I was astral projecting. Like what Vlad does… but then why-?” Danny bit his tongue. He couldn’t say it, not outloud. It was too difficult, he’d spent too long hiding it, pushing it away and doing everything he could to keep anyone from noticing. 

“Why can’t you do it anymore?” Clockwork answered for him, Danny nodded. “The simple answer is that you aren’t like Vladimir, despite what he believes and would like you to believe as well. But that’s something else you already know. Ask me a question you don’t have the answers for.”

Danny grabbed another cookie, biting into it fiercely just to have an excuse not to speak. It tasted really good, better than anything he’d had in a while and Danny wondered if maybe there was something in it meant to sate his less human cravings. The thought didn’t help his inner turmoil. 

Clockwork smiled softly at him though and sighed, “Fine, in order to answer your question, first I have one of my own.”

“Didn’t you just say you know everything?” Danny mumbled before shoving more cookie in his mouth. 

“What good is a teacher that only lectures?” Clockwork said in retort, “do you remember how you died?”

He did, of course he did. “Kinda hard to forget that. Lab accident, electrocution, nothing fancy.” he said, curling in on himself. Clockwork had been right before, it was painful to talk about. But he wanted, no, needed the answers to his questions. He’d survive this. 

“Well, that’s where your first mistake lies. Yes, that is what stopped your heart, and likely the most memorable part, but you didn’t die from that Daniel. What killed you came after.”

Danny frowned, “that doesn’t make any sense? What happened after?”

“Your spirit was never particularly bound to your body in the first place, likely due to your parents dabbling where they shouldn’t for as long as they did before you were ever born. There was a summoning, I think you remember, that your parents were holding when your accident happened on the floor below them.”

It was frustrating, that he was right. That he knew it. “I remember them recognizing me, my spirit. I remember them finding my body and shoving me back in. I remember the pain, and waking up and seeing-” Danny choked on the realization. It couldn’t be...

“Seeing the world in your dreams?” Clockwork asked, “the way you saw it when you were a spirit, free from the confines of your body, correct?” He floated over the table, sat next to Danny, and placed a hand on his back. Danny realized he had been shaking. 

He grabbed the fabric of his jeans in a tight grip and tried to stop, “It’s all real, right? It isn’t… I’m not still dreaming? Please, I need to know.”

The hand on his back pulled him close, tucked into Clockwork’s side and Danny felt comforted despite himself, he fought to blink away tears that had been building behind his eyes as he tucked himself into Clockwork’s side. He was so solid, unlike any other ghost Danny had ever met and he seemed to radiate comfort where most just gave off fear and hurt. 

“You’re not dreaming Daniel, you never were. The world is different when you see it  through our eyes, that is all. When you woke up, you weren’t human anymore. Of course you wouldn’t be limited by a human’s sight.”

Danny curled into himself tighter, despair clouding around him and likely leeching unpleasantly into the air. It would be a wonder if Clockwork didn’t feel it. “So I’m a ghost.”

“Hardly,” Clockwork said and Danny stopped breathing, “Do you think the world is so simple it is split between what is ghostly and what is not?”

“I…” Danny had actually assumed that. So far everything they’d dealt with so far, short of Vlad, had either been a ghost or spirit of some kind, or a human that used magic or ghostly artifacts. Even Vlad had simply been a person who had learned how to control his own spirit the way a ghost would. If Danny wasn’t a human, and he wasn’t a ghost, then what was he?

Clockwork ruffled his hair, “I suppose you’re young. It is easier, afterall, to think of it that way. But Daniel, ghosts don’t have physical forms. They can possess one, or control one, and sometimes even mimic one, but they are spirits.”

He sighed, “you are something entirely different. You’re something remarkable.”

Danny leaned back, using the sleeves of his hoodie to quickly dry his tears so he could look Clockwork in the eye, “What am I?”

“You’re new.”

Danny shoved him, “Agghh, I knew that you jerk!” It was probably a bad idea to attack or antagonize someone as clearly powerful and knowledgeable as Clockwork, but really he’d been asking for it. And Danny’s patience was only so strong. 

Clockwork didn’t fight him back though, nor did he get offended. Instead he just smiled that soft smile that Danny was starting to realize was affection, and said, “did you? Weren’t you trying to read my books to find out if there was anyone else like you?”

“Well yeah-” Danny stopped, “Oh. There wouldn’t be anything would there? If I’m the first?”

He groaned, that really was just his luck. He’d never figure out anything at this rate. Clockwork, the bastard, just hummed and grabbed another cookie, offering it to him. “No there wouldn’t. But you’re not the only one who was the first or only of their kind. Who had to figure out on their own, who and what they are.”

“You mean Vlad?” Danny asked, the thought left a sour taste in his mouth, wow he really hoped he didn’t mean Vlad.

Clockwork’s smile turned brittle, “I don’t mean Vlad.”

Danny chuckled, his thoughts turning mischievous, “I don’t know, he seems pretty unique, what with all those different abilities he has and the way he can choose to be human or ghost-”

“Oh please,” Clockwork interrupted, “there’s plenty of humans like Vladimir Masters, you were fully capable of astral projecting like that from birth, no black magic necessary. Just because he found a way to twist-”

He stopped, then looked down at Danny who was trying and failing to hold back a shit eating grin. All at once the air seemed to leave him and he deflated, the irritated look on his face replaced with open and honest affection and Danny felt it sing in the air around them.

“You were messing with me.”

“To be fair I didn’t think it would work, all knowing and everything.” Danny said, unable to fight the bubbling feeling in his chest as it rose to meet the affection around them. Usually it sucked having the empathy of a ghost and being near one or at least, something with the same traits. The negative emotions tended to bounce between him and them and amplify and it always made Danny struggle to parse his own emotions from theirs. But right now, in the top of a clock tower with the most powerful entity Danny had ever met, he felt happiness and joy to a degree he’d long forgotten. It was dizzying. He was almost giddy with it.

Clockwork patted him on the head, purposefully messing his hair, “yes well. I think in time, it will be more obvious just how different you truly are, how crucial every small coincidence was that came together that night to create you. But until then, you had another question? I can answer it now.”

Danny frowned as he realized what Clockwork meant, “You! I asked that question first! How did you only answer the one you wanted to!!”

“It was important,” Clockwork said, relaxing into the couch next to Danny, “to answer that question I had to be sure you knew what you were.”

He sputtered, “But I don’t?! I’m just something new! Something different!”

“Something physical that exists with the laws of the spiritual.”

“Yeah!” Danny said, “Wait, what?”

Clockwork nodded his head, “a physical entity that exists within the realms of spiritual possibility. It must be such a struggle, to deal with both sets of instincts like that.”

Danny’s head hurt, it was too much to try and understand the details of all of this. Maybe Tucker was right and he should just have let it be, learn to live with the new normal his life was now. Wasn’t that kind of what Clockwork was suggesting anyways? Then again, unlike Tucker, he did seem to thrive off of all of Danny’s questions, whether he actually answered them or not. 

“Yeah, I have to fight my more ghostly instincts all the time. It’s exhausting.” he said, leaning into Clockwork. It should have been embarrassing, seeking comfort like that, but he’d already cried into his shoulder and there wasn’t really any way to come back from that so Danny did as he pleased. 

He felt Clockwork’s hand return to his back, a solid comforting presence, “Now why would you do that?”

Danny tilted his head in confusion, “what do you mean?”

“Why would you fight against one half of yourself so thoroughly? But embrace the other side entirely?” Clockwork elaborated. “Did you think there wouldn’t be any consequences in fighting against your nature?”

“But,” Danny struggled to speak, pieces of the puzzle he’d thought hopeless putting themselves together in ways he had never expected and didn’t quite understand, “my nature is bad.”

Clockwork frowned and turned to look at Danny properly, “Daniel, it’s your nature. There is nothing good or bad about it. It is only as it is. Everything is as it’s meant to be.”

This was too much, Danny sat up fully and turned entirely towards Clockwork, “are you saying, the way I become that thing from my nightmare, is by… doing what I’ve been doing to avoid becoming that thing?!”

“Yes,” Clockwork answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

He blinked, the answer really couldn’t be that easy. “But in my dream, I, my instincts-”

Clockwork grabbed a cookie and placed it in his hands, “even humans react poorly, when they starve themselves. As you exist now, you simply need a different kind of sustenance. One you’ve been denying.”

Danny felt dread crawl down the length of his spine, “what kind of sustenance?”

“Spirits exist for reasons, and they exist differently from humans. In order to keep existing they need emotions, experiences, something to keep them held together. A spirit that has no reason to exist will simply disappear, you’ve seen such before it is relatively common after all. But you can’t do that, since you are physical in a way that they are not. You can starve yourself endlessly, into madness even if you’re desperate enough.”

“I do it to myself?” Danny asked, flustered and frustrated. It was true then? He really was his own worst enemy? 

Clockwork shook his head, “it is not inevitable Daniel. As you were, it was the most likely path forward. Yes. You would have noticed the symptoms, seen yourself losing control and then, in reaction, suppressed yourself further. Starved yourself further.”

Danny cringed, yeah, that sounded like him. “How do I stop it then? I just embrace what makes me ghostly? What about my parents? If they think they failed the resurrection, that I’m not human anymore, they’ll kill me for real! Or worse!”

“That is indeed troublesome, and the paths of the future where they know your truth are twisted and sharp, every small decision every tiny change causing a greater effect on their reactions as a whole. But you do not need to reveal yourself to your parents to live your truth.”

Relieved, Danny fell back into the couch. He hadn’t even noticed he’d floated off of it, was that good? Bad? He shook his head, this was all too confusing. “How then?” He asked, maybe this time he’d actually get a straight answer. 

Clockwork ruffled his hair and stood up, er, well, floated up and over towards the fire. “You continue doing what you’re doing with your friends, protecting your town and interacting with the truth of the world around you. And…” He turned around, “you can come visit me. It’s quite lonely in the clock tower they trapped me in, and there is much I can teach you about becoming. I had to learn such things about myself once after all.”

“You’ll let me come back? To visit you?” Danny didn’t know what to say. He could come visit, ask more questions, get more answers. It seemed too good to be true, and Danny found himself eager and excited at the prospect. 

For some reason, the entire conversation, he’d thought this would be a one time thing. That the clocktower would disappear behind him and leave any question he didn’t ask unanswered. To find out that wasn’t the case, that he had somehow, against all odds, made some kind of ghostly ally, was beyond expectations. “You’ll help me?”

The answering smile had Danny floating out of his seat, “Of course Daniel. I’ll even bake cookies.” 

#Danny phantom #Clockwork #clockwork dp #Phic Phight #phic phight 21 #sam manson #tucker foley #op #Bee's writing

[neonphoenix]

When Dick Grayson originally bought his apartment in Bludhaven, he had exactly two pieces of furniture: a couch and a coffee table. He owned one bowl, a coffee mug, a disposable fork, spoon, and knife that he made reusable, and a pan. He also owned a coffee maker and all of his vigilante gear, but those were in the “Super-secret hidden room in the back that No One will ever find.” Eventually he caved and bought a larger spatula/wooden stir spoon so that he could cook things without melting his only utensils. 

He led a remarkably minimalist life. Until Jason, that is.

Jason showed up out of the blue on his doorstep one day and forced himself in, all sharp elbows and opinionated observations about the sparseness of the interior. Once he started spending more time there, Dick invested in a second set of dishware and cutlery. The mug and bowl were ones he specifically picked out for Jason at a yard sale, both the same garish red as his hoodie.

When Dick complained about Jason’s habit of abandoning his shoes and hoodies in the middle of the living room, he cited the lack of place to put them. So Dick bought a hallway tree for the entryway. Also because of Jason, who kept abandoning books at Dick’s apartment, presumably in an effort to make him read more, “Sensible literature,” Dick acquired a small, two shelf bookcase. When Jason died, Dick put his mug and bowl and various photographs into the bookcase, before moving it to a storage unit with some of his parents’ old things.

When Tim popped into existence in his life, Dick found him a mug and bowl of his own, just like with Jason. These were a less garish red on the inside, and black on the bottom. More tasteful pottery seemed to fit Tim better, so Dick put a bit more time into finding it. With Tim came a game console and monitor, with the coffee table being repurposed as a tv stand.

Tim made him get a proper dining table with, “At least two chairs because you should be able to have guests over in a proper manner.” Alfred said something similar, and pointedly gifted him a tea seat to go along with it. Neither of the chairs matched the table or each other, but Dick liked it better that way.

When he heard about Spoiler from Tim, he made a prediction and bought a mug and bowl, specifically glazed in her trademarked eggplant.

Cass showed up, and at first she was strange, but Dick was used to strange. She left brightly colored post-its with doodles all over the place when she visited, but he rarely saw her, at least for a while.

And then Jason was back, and Dick thought about the storage locker, but never got around to collecting his things. Then Tim wasn’t Robin anymore, and his apartment got blown up, and Blockbuster, and the rooftop... And then Stephanie was dead and he hadn’t even known her.

It was strange, to mourn someone he’d never known.

He got a new apartment, and replaced everything that had been in his old one. He bought a proper bed this time. His back was only so forgiving, after all. And then he tracked down another eggplant plate and bowl, and put them in the storage locker.

Barbara sent him a plushie of herself in a wheelchair, and he laughed and set it on his microwave. He reminded himself to find some green dishware for her.

A month or so after one of Clark’s visits, he received a black and blue quilt from Ma Kent, and a reminder that he was always welcome at her farm. He pinned the reminder to the fridge, next to the post-its from Cass. He wasn’t sure what their relationship was, she still didn’t stop by for long periods of time. Then one day, he was at an art fair, and he found a black kintsugi mug and bowl that reminded him of her costume.

After they appeared in his cupboards, she began staying longer. He took her to the Nutcracker, and taught her how to fly, the same way his parents taught him. In turn, she left him more post-its. There was an entire wall in his living room covered by them.

Damian arrived and Bruce died, and everything fell apart. Stephanie came back, and Dick got to meet her this time. But Cass was in Hong Kong, and Tim was who knows where, and Dick didn’t know how to fix it, and he was worried that he had lost any hope of rebuilding things with Jason, and Damian was just so young. Too young. 

Dick tried his best.

He got Damian a mug that bore a hand painted robin. When Dick first offered it to him, he turned his nose up and huffed about it. Dick shrugged and put it in the cupboard. He wasn’t living in his apartment anymore, and he had moved most of his things to the locker. It seemed strange to buy Damian a bowl when Alfred served them their meals on matched sets daily.

But eventually Bruce came back, and Dick moved back into his apartment. He got his stuff out of storage, and this time, Jason’s bookshelf came with him.

The second time Duke came to his apartment, it was with a box of silverware from goodwill. Dick snorted and put it in his drawer. The Titans, Donna being the driving force, had gifted him a box of photos and picture frames. He put his favorite ones on the wall next to one of Damian’s paintings.

Harper showed up one day asking if she could use his apartment, “For science.” Dick figured, why not, and came back to one of the most intricately rigged lighting systems he had ever seen.

Cullen built a shoe rack in his woodworking class, and it took up residency by the fire escape window, along with a mat because people Would Not stop Dripping.

Stephanie’s lip gloss and nail polish began to take residence under his bathroom sink, and she donated her old waffle maker to his kitchen after Barbara got her an upgraded one.

Eventually he got used to new things appearing whenever his siblings decided his living space had a deficit. They treated it like a safe haven of sorts, somewhere they could go to get away from Gotham without leaving familiar territory.

He did have to put his foot down about the industrial soft serve machine. That was a batcave-only type of utility.

It started with Jason showing up on his doorstep, barely five foot and 100 pounds soaking wet. Now, he climbed in through the window, a mountain of a man, and sat down at the table across from Dick, holding his red mug.

Dick’s apartment had once been the sparsest thing known to man, but now each member of his family had a mug and a bowl in his cabinet. He even had a spare set for guests. 

He never did get more than two dining chairs.

And Jason still couldn’t put his shoes in the cabinet, because he was a massive Jerk that liked to make his brother’s life harder.

Author Notes:

My personal headcanon is that Dick doesn’t buy things unless he needs them or they have sentimental value. So he’s not against having stuff per say, he just doesn’t feel a need to get it. 

I feel like this could be interpreted as glorifying materialism and maybe I’ve just been on Tumblr to long, but that’s not what I’m going for. 

Also I thought about including all of the Titans but that was a lot and I didn’t have time for it

Please feel free to add more to this? I love seeing other people’s thoughts. 

But don’t feel pressured.

#I know I said only DickJoey this week #but I somehow got burned out on them #don't worry I'll be back #Just needed a cleanse #anyways #this was supposed to be some headcanons #it got a little away from me #batfam #dick grayson #cassandra cain #jason todd #tim drake #stephanie brown #harper row #duke thomas #cullen row #damian wayne #alfred pennyworth

[editingmadness]

Stages of Writing and What Advice You Most Need

Beginning Writer (Started writing recently, learning the ropes, writing for fun):

- Stop describing each character’s exact looks and outfit in one paragraph. At the very least, break it up a bit. The best method is to include that information A) when it’s relevant to the plot in a specific way, or B) another character is taking specific notice of it. I know it’s fun, but trust me, it comes off as super unnecessary to the reader.

- Start a new paragraph every time a character speaks. This is non-debatable. 

- Triple check your work for changes in tense. This is extremely common among beginning writers, but not only is it structurally incorrect, its EXTREMELY jarring to a reader. 

- Decide on a perspective when you start out and Stick. To. It. I know this seems like a given, but it even includes things like writing in a third person perspective and using the work “you” in a non-dialogue sentence. 

Experienced Writer (Been writing for a while, probably a lot of fanfiction/short stories, needs polishing):

- Take extra care to not use the same word/name too much in the same sentence, unless it is for emphasis (ie: She walked slowly, talked slowly, moved through life slowly, and around her, the world rushed by.) This includes paragraphs as well. Pro tip: If I’m reading a sentence and I can SEE the same word (especially nouns) in my direct line of vision in the sentence above, change it. 

- Start relying less and less on adverbs. 

- Read less. Write more. 

- Practice writing different types of stories. I don’t mean that you have to keep switching genres entirely, I just mean: practice writing people eating, people dancing, write smut if you’ve never tried it, write a death scene, write a wedding. Write different scenes and different viewpoints so that when the time comes for you to write something big and long and epic, you have the arsenal to make every scene equally engaging.

- Start using a trusted beta writer! They help so much and are good practice for presenting your work to editors and critics. 

Advanced Writer (Writing is a passion, perhaps working on a novel or serious work, want to share their projects):

- Read MORE. Probably more than you think you should, and definitely more than you are. Don’t let your writing consume you for too long, or you’ll get stuck in a rut.

- Keep Chekov’s Gun in mind at all times, of course, but begin thinking of different ways to connect everything back to the main story. Small details or side-scenes that seem unimportant at first but ultimately help paint the bigger picture are often the best part of a story.

- Tap into your senses - it makes a scene so much more vivid if we can imagine what the character is smelling, hearing, even tasting. There are more ways to perceive the world than through sight.

- I’m certain you’ve heard the rule about showing instead of telling, but remember to include this in everything- from a character’s inner dialogue to the way they interact with others. Really try to not TELL the audience almost ANYTHING. Show it all.

- Don’t be afraid of second drafts. Or third. The best part about being a writer is that you can edit and fix and revise and clean up until it’s perfect, but this only matters if you take advantage of it!

- Remember why you started writing in the first place- remember that it’s meant to be fun, exciting, and relaxing. You make your own rules here, and don’t let anything or anyone tell you otherwise. I know it can be hard to stay motivated, but remember that writing is just a way of sharing a fun story with others, and is in no way required to be perfect, structured, or conforming to any standard.

Hope this helps all you writers out there! And for now... go forth and write, my darlings!

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #writer #writers on tumblr #young writers #beginning writers #go forth and write #writing love #writing lessons

[uglifish]

How do you write long multi-chapter fics without losing steam or motivation?

Hey guys!

Been a while since I made a post answering all the FAQ’s in my inbox, and this is the one I get the most, so here goes my answer/advice:

▽ structure and continuity 

(and i still struggle with this lmao its an uphill climb)

1) outline or map out your story path. if it drags and you find yourself getting BORED with your writing or where the story is going, its time to stop, step back, and evaluate.

completely write out the storyline in short-hand nonsense as fast as possible, because its for you only, so go back to fill in the details later. if you want to see what MY outlines look like...... -embarassmentttttt-

Here’s a screencap from underwater chrysalis.

if you’ve read that story, you can probably recognize this scene was an entire chapter, but it was 5 nonsense sentences in my outline.

2) if you can sit down for X hours and write out the outline from start to end (yes, end of the story) then you have a solid skeleton to polish up :D

3) don’t worry about chapter splitting just yet. get it all out first

▽ Marathon time

1) set aside time for yourself to write it out. Find time for it at least once a week or once a day if you can manage that! DON’T leave it sitting for 2+ weeks--unless that’s your creative process--and if it is, and you recognize you get stuck here, leaving the fic alone for more than 2 weeks = abandoning the fic?? then proceed to this step→

go back to it and read it over and over, right up until the point where you stopped, ask yourself questions about where the characters are going (refer to your outline)/ why the characters are doing X scene ...etc (is there tension? is this part boring? why have you stopped writing? tired? take a nap:)

2) know when to ignore (writing) advice. and i wish someone had told me this when i first started marathon fic-writing. advice is great but its not a cure-all and maybe you’re exhausted from trying everyone’s suggestions. literally you do you, but keep an open mind to learn along the way.

3) if you run into a problem, like wanting to change an ENTIRE scene that will  affect the ending of your story, stop writing and go back to your outline. you’re wasting your own time this way. write to get to an ending.

4) know that there are formulas to long, captivating stories. its like a curve that goes up and down. (find a formula that works for you!) for me, it’s: scene start tension scene escalating tension resolve tension but then another conflict + 2 conflict + 1 romance = long 3 chapter scene :D scene resolving 1 conflict, romance + 3 yay! scene adding to conflicts and romance above tension resolution? another tension or romance resolve? which slowly helps taper to an end (which i still struggle with)

5) have fun! you’re exploring this character, this universe, don’t get too stuck up your own ass about stuff and let things go. if you finished a scene and re-read it, hate it, don’t give yourself crap about it. if you’re happy with it one day and unhappy with it another day, figure out why or just let it go. Your goal is to write as much as possible to finish your story to the outline you wrote. if you get hung up on the stuff in the middle, you’ll never reach the finish line.

▽ I’ve finished my multi-chapter my pile of crap. Now what?

1) don’t look at it, don’t even think about it. congratulate yourself and go to the beach :D get yourself a coffee and socially-distance-hang-out with your friends

2) 1 - 3 weeks later, re-read it ALL with fresh eyes. don’t tell your friends about it, don’t link it anywhere for feedback. it’s still ALL YOU right now.

3) re-read it round 1: edit it grammatically and for bulk. if you still hate that random interaction you added in, delete it entirely and set it aside. fix all grammar issues and add to more descriptions if some are lacking.

4) re-read it round 2: a week later with your own fresh eyes, make sure everything flows. did you say character X had a green shirt in ch 3 but in ch 4 they were wearing a blue shirt? fix that :O might be a genuine mistake, either you forgot or got up to leave your fic for 4 days and (forgot)

5) re-read again round 3: a week after that, read it again and find it for more errors, add more flow if some scenes have a choppy transition, and start to split it into chapters. Find natural breaks in your writing (or cliff hangers!) and cut them there. 6) recruit a friend! Ask someone you’re ok with baring your soul to and make them read your slightly less steaming pile of crap, which is now a polished turd. hopefully your friend will tell you it IS a polished turd and is OK for posting, or that you still mentioned green shirt character is wearing a blue shirt (again) in ch 56 and you missed it :P

7) post and run, or save it to re-read again 6 months later

i’ve been doing the post and run thing for a while if im medium-proud of my shiny turd, or if im really insecure about it, i’ll sit on it for even a YEAR before i even breathe about it. its not that i hate it, its that i feel it could be better and if i’m continuously writing during that time, I can go back to look at it with fresh(er) eyes.

▽ things to think about / stuff to ask yourself while writing:

- why am i tired (of this, of it?) know yourself and know your limits. if you’re tired (physically, of writing) learn to differentiate that from being mentally tired.

- who are you writing for? a friend’s bday gift fic? submission into Fanfic Award-Winning Novel Writers Club? A novel manuscript to Random House? Nanowrimo? your fandom rare-pair discord server? ....yourself?? and then figure out your motivations for the tone of your writing :D

- i suck at writing X (a violent action scene, smut, small-talk in elevator scene), so i’ll just skip it... no. if you think your story needs it, make your best attempt at writing it and then go back to edit it. you’ll be happy you pushed yourself to write it.

- i’ve never done X (been to a hotspring in Japan, gone hiking in extreme weather, gone on a blind date) how would i know what it feels like? Try your best to envision it or use the wonders of the internet to learn about it. Research is your best friend to express realism in your writing :D

aaaaaaaaaaaand that’s all i got for now :O

*btw you know what works for you as a creative mind, this is all stuff that works for me and I hope you found it helpful!

thank you for reading this super long post, and feel free to PM me if you need a “get me unstuck” buddy in your writing process :D

xooxxo Ugli

#askugli #fanfiction writing #writing in general #its super technical in some parts #writing is hard #help #writing anxiety #prideshipping fanfiction