#and also @far-from-perfection

[b-lessings]

To have someone so patient with you, so low-maintenance, someone whose existence feels like a light warm blanket or a feather caressing your heart, with no expectations no restraints no temper no gaslighting no guilt-tripping whatsoever no stressing you out, someone who is just there for you, always, standing in the corner of your chaotic life waiting for you patiently to sort out whatever you have on your hands and check in with them whenever you are ready, or free, or in the right headspace to do so, and never blaming you for the late replies or the unavailability.. just them being there, understanding as ever, empathetic, open, kind, is the most precious possession in your adult life.

Life is hard enough, please try to make it easier for your friends and loved ones, we're all doing our best 🤍.

[totally-here]

3 times Phantom's Guardian was Mentioned + 1 Time He Showed Up

One

Phantom’s introduction to Young Justice wasn’t as dramatic as Empress’ or Slobo’s, or even Arrowette’s first introduction to the cave. No, it wasn’t during the Olympics, or on a battlefield, and he didn’t come in injured and looking for help. 

Impulse just brought Phantom in one day and insisted that he should join because he’s their age, interested in justice, and now that Greta’s human again they need another ghost member. So Phantom stayed, popping in and out for missions but never really sticking around all that long. 

Today is one of the days that Phantom’s with them on a mission, that being looking around a lab of the Brain’s that had an energy surge recently, despite it being presumably abandoned. 

Kon got paired up with Phantom to check the rest out first, since they both have better hearing than Anita and Tim, who were both still in the main room working on checking the computers for previous activity. 

The room is dark except for the light green ball glowing slightly above Phantom’s hand. He waves it around enough for it to reflect off of glass, then throws it up to the ceiling. The light expands enough to illuminate the room. 

Phantom mumbles about not knowing he could do that. Kon ignores him and moves closer to inspect the glass tubes to the side of several monitors set up. 

“Looks like cloning equipment,” Phantom says, casually. He drags a finger through the dust gathering on one of the monitors. “Don’t think they’ve been activated recently, though, so that’s good.”

“What? You got a problem with clones or something?” It’s a quick and defensive answer, and Phantom puts his hands up in surrender. 

“Not in concept.” He shrugs and joins Kon near the tubes. “But not a lot of people ask before making clones.”

“So I don’t need to sic Superman on you?” Obviously Kon could chew Phantom out himself, but few can do a “not mad, just disappointed” face better than Clark. 

Phantom scrunches his face. “Why would you need to?” 

Kon stops pretending to inspect the tube and stares at Phantom. “You do know I’m a clone, right?” The blank look on Phantom’s face tells him that no, he did not. “Well I am. Clone of Superman, though we’re pretty much brothers now.”

“Cool,” Phantom says, not a bit less friendly. He hesitates for a second before continuing, “Could I maybe ask you how you got there? Me and my clone have landed on cousins, but that was also, like, given to us by her evil dad. So.”

Phantom trails off. Huh, that makes three members of the team that have been cloned. Not a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened three times. 

“You’re making sure she feels accepted, right?” 

“Yeah! Well, whenever she’s around. She,” Phantom waves his hand around, looking for the right word, “She’s a wanderer. Exploring the world and stuff. But Richard has a room for her at home, and I remind her of that whenever she does stop by.” 

“Well, first of all, don’t push it so hard,” Kon says. Phantom nods enthusiastically. “And second, who’s Richard?”

Kon doesn’t know a lot of Richards, and he doesn’t think that Phantom ever mentioned one before. Or even if he remembers his living life. 

“Oh, he’s my, uh, guardian? I guess that’s the best term. The guy I’m living with who forces me to go to school sometimes.” Phantom looks away and back to the tubes. 

Before Kon can ask for more details, Robin and Empress come in with a report of dead computers and wanting to know where they’re at with the cloning room.

They’re unimpressed with their lack of progress.

Two

Wally doesn’t really need to come by the Hamilton Lodge that often, not when that’s Young Justice’s territory and he doesn’t want to get involved in all of That.

But Red Tornado said that the team has a file on a planet that’s very quickly becoming a league problem, and he figured it might be a good time to try to check in with Bart, anyway. Make sure he hasn’t run any cars off cliffs again and all that. 

So he stops by Manchester to ask Bart about the file, then they both head East to actually find it. 

When they arrive at the hotel minutes later, Wally’s surprised to actually find it… clean? There’s no visible trash or overturned furniture or anything else he’d expect from an abandoned hotel filled with teenagers. Well, maybe not filled, lately. He doesn’t think anyone’s living here currently, with Greta at Elias’ for the school year and Slobo gone. 

Still, the room smells slightly of artificial pine scent, and Bart perks up before disappearing and reappearing rapidly, holding a teammate up by his armpits. Said teammate just accepts this, his legs folding into a wispy tail, and head rolling against his shoulders. 

“This is Phantom!” Bart holds him up higher. Phantom waves. Wally’s only heard of him through Max’s updates, the same way he would hear about Preston or Carol, but with more wariness about the supposed ghost. 

Actually looking at the pale face and glowing green eyes contrasting against the darker than dark jumpsuit, Wally’s a little more ready to accept his claim at being undead. 

“He stress cleans,” Bart explains, moving to carry Phantom under his arm. Wally bites down the urge to tell him to put him down, but only because Phantom doesn’t resist the hold, only moving to get into a more comfortable position. His hands are touching the floor. “So what happened?” 

Bart directs the question downwards, and Phantom heaves a very dramatic sigh. Definitely a teenager. It does raise the question of who exactly this kid’s mentor is. Hopefully he does have one. Maybe he’s the Spectre’s kid?

Phantom phases through the arm holding him only to lay on top of Bart’s hair. “I accidentally called Richard dad. And then fled.” 

Bart nods sagely. “Classic. One time I accidentally called Max dad, so I had to start a fire to distract him.”

Phantom sighs again, almost dreamily. “Genius.” 

Wally doesn’t have time to unpack all of that. Well he does, but he’s not going to, because there’s really only one Richard that comes to mind that might have the heart to take in a dead kid, even if he doesn’t go by his full name.

But surely Dick would have told him, or any other Titan, if he had adopted a kid. Right?

But there’s still a little shadow of doubt. Maybe Dick wanted it to be a secret, or it was really new or had a rocky start. Phantom doesn’t seem to hold himself like a Bat, but it’s not a guarantee Dick would have trained him. 

“The lodge looks nice,” Wally offers out loud, which Phantom shrugs at and wraps his tail around Bart’s head to keep secure. “Anyway, Impulse. The file on Myrg?” 

“Oh yeah!” Again, Bart disappears then reappears a few seconds later with a paper file. They really need to start digitizing more of these things. “That’s the planet where we played baseball so that they wouldn’t destroy Earth!” 

“You what.” 

The prospect of Dick following in his dad’s footsteps is forgotten in the face of what the hell Young Justice got up to on Myrg. 

Three

Tim may be in a…Predicament. 

It’s not his fault. Really. He knew what he was doing. He couldn’t let a civilian fall for the trap. But they were already so close, so he just, kinda, pushed himself into the rope instead. 

So there Robin is, tied upside down in a warehouse, with the Joker below next to an overly complicated control panel. The clown’s rambling about bombs hidden all over the city that Tim knows Batman is already tracking down with Batgirl. 

Tim’s not really paying attention to the rant because of that, more focused on wiggling enough to get the spare mini-birdarang out of his glove to cut the rope without notifying the Joker. 

“Yikes, bad time?” Asks Phantom’s voice beside him. Based on the source and accounting for the slight echo, he’s floating with his head near Tim’s, likely upside down. “Want some help?” 

Tim gets the birdarang out and starts sawing at the thick rope. They should be fine anyway, but stalling the Joker for extra time would be helpful. “Can you possess the Joker? Just hold him still.”

“The correct term is overshadow, but sure.” The voice disappears, and a few seconds later the Joker freezes. 

His body jerks forward, then backward, and a laugh chokes out of his throat. His hand claws over his mouth at the noise and he hunches over. All movement halts before he rights himself, shaking out his hands and rolling his shoulders. Phantom looks up at Tim and his eyes are glowing. 

Tim cuts through the rope, kicking and using the momentum to right himself and land on his feet. He brushes past Phantom in Joker’s body to handle the control panel. He turns off the radio broadcast and dismantles the bomb strapped to the panel.

Threat handled, he turns to Phantom and holds up some handcuffs. “Let me arrest you?”

Phantom obliges, turning the Joker’s body around and putting his hands behind his back. Tim lets him walk by himself out of the warehouse and moves the handcuffs around a lamppost. The Joker’s body jerks again, then slumps forward, just as Phantom reappears next to him, scowling down at the unconscious body. 

“That felt really slimy. Zero out of ten, would not do again,” Phantom grouches. 

“Why’re you in Gotham?” Tim asks. It’s not like Phantom makes a habit of visiting. The last time he came into the city, he complained about feeling the dead under the streets. Fortunately, that let Tim uncover a few tunnels that Talons travel through. Phantom, however, was unnerved by the Talons and left quickly. 

“Oh, Solomon Grundy’s back in our sewers. Richard said I should probably tell one of you Gotham heroes, since you keep track of those guys.” He shakes out his hands like they were cramped in the Joker. 

They hadn’t seen Grundy in a while. Tim assumed he was currently in a less violent personality. “What’s he doing?” 

Phantom shrugs. “Just chilling. Mostly underground. I tried to talk to him but he only grunted back at me. He also tried to pick me up, dunno what that was about.”

“Maybe because you’re both dead?” Tim guessed. That would be a surface level connection. Ivy and Woodrue have had more luck working with Grundy than anyone, and Phantom definitely doesn’t have the connection to the Green that’d help with that. 

Police lights turn around the corner, and Tim shoots a grapple to get to the roof above them. Phantom follows, but disappears as soon as they’re on the roof. Going back home, probably. 

Cass drops down from the roof she was listening on. “Richard?”

“Not the same one.”

They both stick around long enough to watch the Joker get put into the cop car. 

Plus one

A spaceship landed in the forests of New York, and Cassie’s team was the first to respond to it. Technically not respond, but check it out, since there wasn’t any alert or anything. 

Still, Wonder Girl has Empress, Robin, and Superboy on the other side of the ship, watching what looks like the back door, while she, Impulse, and Phantom watch the other door and main window. She has binoculars, but the windows are so tinted she can’t quite make anything out. 

No aliens have come out yet, and she hesitates to have anyone go in, in case whoever inside does turn hostile. 

Impulse has offered to run through a total of five times already, and it’s a testament to his restraint that he hasn’t, and a testament to Cassie’s that she hasn’t yelled at him yet. Phantom at least isn’t being annoying, but he’s not necessarily helpful, either. He’s not even watching the spaceship anymore. Now he’s trying to make a flower crown out of dandelions. 

“Door’s opening on our side,” Robin says from the comms. “But no one’s coming out.” 

“Alright, good enough to try to get in,” Cassie decides. She turns to Phantom, who’s closing off the circle of flowers. Beside him, Impulse has since pulled out a gameboy. “Phantom, go in invisibly through the open door and report back. Try to see what their plans are.” 

“Oh, sure. One second.” Phantom finishes the crown and tries to put it on Bart’s head. It doesn’t quite fit over his mane of hair, but Phantom shrugs and leaves it sitting there anyway before going invisible. 

“Maybe I should shave my head again,” Bart says as his game character dies. 

He gets a resounding no in response. 

Half an hour later they have a very annoyed Green Lantern lecturing them about league jurisdiction and knowing when to call someone else. 

Apparently, the alien ship was just stopping to complete some maintenance, and did not appreciate any spying on them, and especially did not appreciate who did it. Green Lantern was more than happy to explain that Wonder Girl’s team is not really a part of the Justice League and he can help with their maintenance. They denied his help and left to find a place with less people in it. 

“-and you!” Green Lantern rounds on Phantom next, but Cassie knows none of them are really listening. Sure, they messed up by freaking out the visiting aliens, and yeah maybe they should have contacted the league about it, but they’ve dealt with stuff worse than this! It’s not Cassie’s fault she thought that this would have stuck to the formula. 

“Who even are you?” Green Lantern runs a hand through his black hair, stupid green gauntlets shining in the sunlight. “Do I need to call your mentor?” He frowns. “Or do they know you mess up alien technology by just being around it?” 

Phantom scoffs and rolls his eyes. “How was I supposed to know their tech would go all fuzzy when I came in?” 

“You wouldn’t have to know if you just stayed out of the spaceship!” 

“Hey!” Cassie cuts in. “Technically that was my call. It’s not all on Phantom.”

“I still could've been more careful,” Phantom says to her, ignoring Green Lantern as they argue about blame. 

“Cut it out for a second, okay?” Green Lantern puts a hand between them and they stop to glare at him. He pulls the hand back. “Look, can I just talk to one of your adults about this?” 

Robin glares. “We don’t need an adult. We have this under control.”

“Only because I’m here now.” 

“I’ll call my mentor,” Phantom says. Kon opens his mouth, most likely to offer to call Superman instead in hopes of a lighter sentence, but Bart covers his mouth, smiling like he knows something Cassie doesn’t. Tim and Anita share a look, and don’t intervene as Phantom pulls out a phone from his chest. 

It rings once before it’s picked up. Cassie can’t hear the other side of the conversation, but Kon’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “Hey, do you think you can pick me up? Green Lantern wants to talk to you.” Phantom looks Green Lantern up and down then says, “No, this one doesn’t have a cape.”

Phantom says goodbye after rattling off their coordinates, hangs up, and stares at Green Lantern in silence for a few seconds. 

And then a swirling mass of black seeps into the space next to Phantom. The end of a cane steps out of it, followed by a leg, then the rest of the immaculately dressed man holding the handle of the cane that’s shaped like a bird’s head. 

“Phantom,” The man says. His voice drips with condescension in only a way a british accent can, yet Phantom smiles up at him. The shadowy portal behind him disappears. “What, exactly, happened?”

“That’s the fucking Shade,” Anita hisses to Robin, who shrugs noncommittedly at her. Green Lantern seems to recognise him too, taking a step back and clenching his hand that holds his ring. 

“Well, the team and I were staking out this spaceship–super cool, by the way–and I went inside to check it out, but my presence messed with their tech–which was an accident–and they freaked out, so I freaked out, and then we kinda got into a little fight until Green Lantern came to mediate.”

“Hm. Is that right?” The Shade asks Green Lantern, who nods slowly, still anticipating an attack. “It seems like the problem’s fixed, then.”

“Well, yes, but–”

“And it does seem about time for these kids to get home, doesn't it?” The Shade pulls out an actual pocket watch, chain and all, from his suit pocket and takes his time in checking it. “I’ll see them home.” 

Shadows grow from behind the team, swirling until they become a giant, gaping maw that swallows them up and spits them out in a different forest, or maybe just a different part of the same forest. 

Either way, Cassie has to take a moment to make sure she doesn’t throw up from the sudden vertigo the shadow portal caused. 

The Shade looks at Phantom, and raises an eyebrow. “You can’t expect me to always bail you out.” 

Phantom shrugs, looking guilty. “I know. Thanks, Richard.”

Oh, so that’s who Richard is. Annoyingly, neither Tim or Bart look surprised by this revelation.

[vaxxildamn]

finally…… the legendary Level 20 Scissor Gal-adin

[mellosdrawings]

Love your wingau out of curiosity if Leona and vil was in this au what kind of wings would they have?

Vil is the Black Swan to Neige's White Swan. I know I could've gone for peacock since Pomefiore has a lot of peacock details, but I thought the Black/White Swan story was better. (Though the Black Swan would've fit Neige best for the intuitive facet of it while the White Swan would've fit Vil better for the hard working version of it, buuuuut... anyway.)

Leona is an Andean Condor. They are birds of prey with one of the biggest wingspan on earth (even bigger than Jamil's white tailed eagle by a whole meter)

[bennetsbonnet]

I'm always baffled when I see Pride and Prejudice (1995) held up as the gold standard for adaptations of the novel and encounter claims that it is completely 100% book accurate apart from (mainly said in jest, I know) the scenes of Mr Darcy bathing, fencing and diving in the lake because, while the appreciation for damp Colin Firth suggests we did in fact watch the same series, perhaps we did not read the same book...

While a very very good period drama, Pride and Prejudice (1995) does unfortunately miss the mark on several points. Mr Collins is not a short, greasy middle-aged man; there is far too much Wickham; we miss out on a lot of Mrs Bennet's rivalry with Lady Lucas as well as her reaction to Elizabeth's engagement to Mr Darcy and in my opinion, the biggest disappointment of all, is the handling of the Rosings arc.

Proposal aside (which is to me practically perfection) we miss out on the hilarious misunderstanding between Darcy and Elizabeth of her telling him where she takes her daily walks in hopes he will avoid her (as she believes their dislike to be mutual) while Darcy takes it as an invitation to walk with her (much to Elizabeth's frustration). Instead, we merely see a brooding Mr Darcy on horseback encountering Elizabeth and just... wordlessly riding off?! An interaction which looks all the more peculiar given Colonel Fitzwilliam's hints, upon paying a first visit to Hunsford Parsonage, that Darcy has spoken much of her and Elizabeth wondering aloud why Darcy keeps staring at her. That particular scene makes both of them look a bit stupid, as Darcy hears that Elizabeth might not have such a fond opinion of him yet still proposes and Elizabeth gets a hint that perhaps he doesn't think as ill of her as she wishes him to...

And then the ending is also always a disappointment to me, as the lovely dialogue between Darcy and Elizabeth post-proposal is almost entirely omitted, in favour of more time spent earlier in the episode on Wickham and Lydia. By the time the proposal occurs, there's not time for much more than a protracted double wedding. Sigh.

Listen, there's a lot to enjoy and I am not immune to the charms of a damp man dressed in period costume (or even less...) BUT let's also be realistic about its shortcomings and acknowledge that nothing will ever compare to the wit and charm of Jane Austen's masterpiece.

[sevastiel]

A Thousand Lifetimes

Drifter appreciation piece :3

[kiatnirans]

(insp.)

[s0fter-sin]

mermay idea

mers keep their faces covered as a way to indicate social status and familiarity. warriors have intricate masks, handcrafted when they win their first battle and the more detailed a mask is, the more accomplished the wearer is. they're rarely shed and are only taken off for their closest kin and mates

warrior bull shark mer!soap seeing human!ghost, seeing his skull mask and immediately knowing he's a high ranking warrior; one to be feared going off the numerous scars covering his body

an ideal and worthy mate, so long as he can prove his prowess

so he follows him as he's deployed on a mission near the ocean and is smitten when he sees how ruthless and capable he is; bathing himself in his enemies blood. he keeps his distance, not wanting to tempt fate but ghost spies the tip of his fin cutting through the water

and he's nothing if not an opportunist; kicking the bodies off the pier to the waiting jaws below

but soap? all he sees is the first step in a courting ritual

and he has to come up with something truly brilliant to match such a glorious offering

on ghost's part, it's been difficult getting people to understand the depths of his dependence on his mask. price thinks it's something to overcome, gaz and other soldiers just think it's an accessory to help with intimidation

the few partners he's tried to have thought he was someone to "fix"; nothing more than an object, a notch on their belt to prove how "good" of a partner they were to put in so much work to make him better. it always leaves him feeling violated, more so than if they'd just taken his mask off outright. one night stands were hardly worth it either; scratching a physical itch but falling so short of the intimacy and connection he craves that he feels worse off than he'd started

when he finally meets the mer that's been hunting him across the country, sees the bright red mask so artfully hewn and attached to his face?

it's like looking at a reflection of himself

he might have finally found the understanding he's been searching for

[mikimeiko]

Étoile | Season 1 (2025), Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino

[mickules]

I missed you too

The Parent Trap

---

I ended up watching the original 1961 Parent Trap and LORD but there's a lot going on in that film. But ignoring the more . . . distressingly unhealthy 60s attitude toward marriage dynamics. . . The actual twin swap is such a good angle (and the effects genuinely hold up really well) I just wanted to capture the stress of trying to assimilate into a life so unlike your own, and that gut punch moment when they get to meet their missing parent for the first time.

And from there I just couldn't help imagine a future parent reconciliation, with a couple of siblings added into the mix . . .

Unlike in the film where they were right to have gotten divorced (and shoulda stayed super divorced)- Takaaki and Kiyoko's seperation was very much a symptom of Toranosuke's scandal and demanded by Kiyoko's father. So when they meet once again as a result of the Twin's shenanigans, the two of them could easily develop a genuine connection, now they're older, more experienced, and freed from the pressure of expectation. And I'm not immune to making every red eyed Dangan character an Ishimaru sibling

(Truth be told, this has been on my mind ever since @puckishpal 's just marvellous fic Changed, and I really wanted to get this out in time for @mini-mecha-cowboy 's Kiyotaka week prompts AU and Lookalike, but uuuh- I managed to miss that by just a few ;; )

[hoahoahoahoahoa]

I LOVE when vampires cry tears of blood. It's a visual that goes so hard. I will never tire of it. It should be standard for vampire media. There's no excuse not to do it-- it can only improve a vampire story.

You think Edward Cullen was a little emo boy over not being able to cry? Imagine the angst he'd get over blood tears. A stunning insult to injury. He'd be a mess in every way. Gimme

[sealrock]

febhyurary, day 18: shadow

"when dad was losing his mind, he stopped seeing us. when he lunged at me with that knife, he didn't recognize me. in a short moment of lucidity, he came to realize what he had done to me. after months of watching him sink into a deep, black pit, I finally had my dad back. even now, I could feel how tight he hugged me as he wailed out a thousand apologies... but it was too late. dad was sick, he couldn't sleep and could hardly eat, he lashed out at anything and anyone. his migraines only exacerbated the issue. but mum had been so absorbed in her work back then that she was hardly home to get dad the help he needed. the constant fighting they had ended up pushing her away. she didn't want to deal with dad and how he was deteriorating before our eyes. it wasn't just her; no one helped dad, they pretended nothing was wrong like they do with gammy's 'fits'. but they don't make my blood boil nearly as hot as mum. mum treated him poorly during that period, she put her work above him and above us. when dad finally snapped, she abandoned him in that house. I hated her for it. we were just kids, we had no idea what was going on. the twins don't even remember him, they don't remember how much dad loved them, or how he wished they'd stay small forever. I'll never forget his screams, the desperation in his voice when mum snatched me away. I didn't want to leave him. we locked up any aethograph of dad from that time. we didn't want to remember dad like that, we didn't want to be burdened with those memories. but there was another reason why we stored those away—in almost every aethograph, there's a shadow."

[sysig]

Do not separate them /threatening (Patreon)

[qaanngi]

IkeVamp Drake (anng's version)

AKA me getting so pissy on personal about how he isn't kissed by the sun and sea that I decided to give him a tan myself, among other things. But I kept his hair style (slightly) and eye colour.

I just think, in my less than humble opinion, that if they're going to stick a notorious privateer into the game and make him drop a tone of seafaring references then his design should make my timbers shiver and every one of his spicy premium stories should have MC say that his beard tickles the inside of her thighs. And I just don't think White Haired Anime Boy #3 is gonna do that.

[lienwyn]

Kang Yo Han in his natural habitat, as observed by Kim Ga On

OR

You want to fuck that old man so bad it makes you look stupid

[ima-ghost-art]

Here he is!

The one

The only

Husband and Romance Partner to Cody Walsh himself

LOOSE BARON!!!

he's not exactly how I planned but I'm not going back to change it now lol

made sure to add the oogie boogie tattoo that made Cody fall inlove with him too lmao