#and not just snippets on YouTube

[malachitezmeyka]

@katkastrofa The very NWT-coded scene I was talking about the other day :D

["Nigar Kalfa! Ayşe, you will prepare the sultan's chambers, and make sure everything is the absolute best!"

"Oh, you're lucky!"

"You'll get to see the sultan's room"

"Wanna switch places?"

"Enough laughing, stop gathering around and clucking all day. Ayşe, let's go. Come on, Nigar Kalfa, faster. Faster, faster faster!!"]

[neon-kazoo]

A Simple Mistake

(A little drabble based on a YouTube short I watched by brittanyrcoates, captions from the video at the end)

“Sorry I’m late, traffic was crazy.”

Sidekick swung open the door with a careless push. The metal creaked and groaned in response as they swept into the room. They spotted their mentor standing in shadow peering out the window, so they quickly approached to get a hold of the situation. They scanned outside the window, locating what they presumed to be the target easily; a figure partially concealed on the opposite rooftop.

It matched what the hero had sent in their summons. Meet at the old textile plant, new info places Villain on the rooftop across after 4.

“Is that him? Is that the villain?” They questioned while practically pressed against the glass. They didn’t want to risk taking their eyes off him for even a second, lest he take the opportunity to slip away and disappear. Like he usually did.

“No,” their mentor spoke, and it startled Sidekick enough that they started to turn around. “That would be me.”

A heavy hand landed on their shoulder as their eyes widened in pure horror.

Belatedly, Sidekick realized their mistake. Info placing Villain at the textile plant, meet on the rooftop.

“I guess I know who’s on the roof, then.”

Sidekick swallowed. Hard.

Villain leisurely glanced out the windows, framed with rusted and flaking metal. Sidekick stood stiff and darted their eyes around the abandoned room.

Unable to protest, they were pulled deeper into the plant and further into the darkness by the very same villain they were meant to be spying on.

Next time, they would be sure to read much more carefully.

(Video captions: The new sidekick arriving late and going to the wrong location/“Is that the villain?”/“No, I’m the villain.”/Before realizing they’re standing beside the villain they were sent to spy on/*realizing their mistake*/“shhhh.”)

[rusty-courage]

Out of sheer curiosity, are you planning on making a design for yourself on Woven Life? Like a specific design for it- yknow

[and would it be ok if I make one for shits and giggles despite knowing nothing-]

My Woven Life design is just this character, but the flowers, scarf, and eyes change color depending on the life amounts, and on red the scarf will be tattered and torn.

[thepiecesofcait]

Here's a look at the opening of the Cafe scene from our production of Les Mis last year! (a behind-the-scenes of the set up before the curtains open can be found here!)

[hanarchy]

because this is to this day maybe my favorite thing he has ever done i feel the need to post it again for his birthday:

[despazito]

File under: incredibly obscure earworms

[aturnoftheearth]

i still remember her playing this at red rocks and ohhh my god when it officially gets dropped i’m gonna lose it

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Stephen Fry - "Into Ukraine" (Documentary)

Trailer

Snippet

Link for the Premiere

[luvo27]

oh yeah i like this one. i think it's closer to something i'd like to read vs enjoy writing, but i like the concept!!! i especially like the joke of it: the title for this fic is The Signal and it's a duke thomas joins the batfam early fic!! the beginning of this is actually pretty much finished which i had completely forgotten about. maybe i'll post the beginning of it on ao3 as the first chapter of an abandoned wip? anyways here's 1.8k words:

There is something wrong with the signal. It’s considerably dimmer than usual. The bat symbol in the center is slightly off, the wings crooked in a way that they never have been before. The position of it in the sky is different too, likely being projected from a different location rather than the roof of the police precinct in Tricorner. The facts create the most likely hypothesis: this is not the bat-signal.

Or at least, it isn’t the official signal. Not the one Gordon usually uses, and not in the usual location.

Hypothesis: Gordon is somewhere in the city and unable to access the signal for one reason or the other. A possibility that would be worth considering if Bruce didn’t already know where Gordon is tonight; having dinner with Barbara.

Second hypothesis: someone is trying to lure the Batman to a specific location. Likelihood? Bruce thinks for a moment. To his knowledge, the most likely Gotham rogues are being held securely in Arkham. Joker, Harvey, Riddler. It’s possible that it’s the Penguin, but attempting to lure the Batman would be extremely unexpected behavior from him. The same goes for Black Mask. It’s not very likely that any of the lesser criminals would attempt to summon him. Bruce tucks this line of thought away for further consideration and continues to swing through the city to the location this signal is being projected from.

Third hypothesis: it’s a joke, or a dare. There are still a large number of people in Gotham who don’t believe the Batman exists, daring youths among them. Given the projected location and the crooked wings of the symbol, it’s entirely possible that a daring group of youngsters cobbled together an imitation of the usual signal. Perhaps they hope to disprove his existence, or gain status among their peers. Bruce lets a small smile come to his face. Whatever these hypothetical children might expect, he’s sure that he will deliver satisfactorily.

Fourth hypothesis: someone needs help. The smile falls away to his usual determined grimace. It’s likely that he doesn’t need to hurry. The fact that whoever set up the signal had both the time and resources to do so indicates that whatever it is they need help with, it isn’t time sensitive. Still, Bruce pushes himself to be a little faster.

The signal is being projected from somewhere in the Narrows. Bruce continues to calculate its exact point of origin as he gets closer, until he’s right on top of it in a narrow alley behind an apartment building. He drops down to the street, keeping to the shadows because it could be a trap, it could be a trick, it could be—

A child.

There’s a child sitting next to a bat signal. There’s a child. Sitting next to a bat signal. Bruce entertains the thought that the child is a trap. The child could be a trap. He could be bait. There could be a group of criminals waiting to jump out the second they see the Batman has actually responded to their signal. Surely that’s more probable than a child building a bat signal to summon him. The child is probably a trap.

There isn’t a world in which that would change what Bruce does next. He steps out of the shadows. The child’s eyes widen. Bruce clears his throat.

“Hello,” he says. “I’m Batman.”

“I know that,” the child says. He sticks out his hand. “I’m Duke.”

Bruce bends down slightly to shake Duke’s hand. “Hello, Duke,” he says. “It’s nice to meet you.” He looks over at the signal. “Did you build this?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s constructed very well,” Bruce tells him. He’s not lying. The metal is cobbled together from uneven sheets, and the signal itself might not have the precise accuracy of the one at the precinct, but it’s welded together perfectly. It’s extremely structurally sound. 

“I mean, I didn’t do it all on my own,” Duke tells him seriously. “My friends helped me.”

Under his mask, Bruce feels his eyebrows rise. “Your friends?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Duke nods. “Izzy and Riko and Dre.” Bruce nods, filing those names away. Most likely nicknames, but extra data collection never hurts. Duke continues, “And some people they knew, and some people that those people knew.”

“Was it their idea?” Bruce nods at the signal. “To build this.”

“No, it was mine. They all helped a lot, but I told them what to do, you know? You’re asking a lot of questions.” Duke tilts his head at Bruce, eyes glinting. His gaze spears through Bruce. He asks, “Aren’t you going to ask why I did it?”

Bruce feels the corners of his mouth tug up slightly. He asks, “Why did you build this?”

Duke nods seriously. Whatever he had planned, it’s working out exactly as he expected. “I need your help,” he tells Bruce.

And that’s what Batman is for, isn’t he? To help people. To make it so no one needs to feel like Bruce did, all those years ago in Crime Alley. To be the person Bruce wished was there for him, when he was younger.

Bruce crouches so he’s on the same level as Duke. “Whatever it is that you need help with,” he promises, “I will do all that I can.”

“Commissioner,” Bruce says as he climbs through the window to Gordon’s office. It speaks to the trust that they’ve built between them in the last few years that all Gordon does is sigh, rub his face, and turn in his chair.

“Batman,” Commissioner Gordon greets him.

 Bruce’s cloak settles around his feet as he stands up straight. “I’m looking into a missing persons case,” he tells Gordon.

Gordon snorts. “Really? Which one? If this is another mass trafficking case—”

“No. Two people. Elaine and Doug Thomas.”

“Ah.” Gordon gets up from his desk and rummages through a large file cabinet, pulling out a folder and handing it to Bruce. “Knock yourself out.”

“Thank you.” Bruce takes the file and tucks it inside his cape as Gordon settles back at his desk.

“Any particular reason you’re interested in them?” he asks.

“They have a son.”

“Oh,” Gordon sighs. He takes off his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose. “Duke.”

“You know him?” Bruce asks. Gordon spreads his hands.

“He’s a flight risk,” he says tiredly. “His current foster parents called us three times to report that he’d run away. I’m just thanking god that they’re good enough people to not send him back into the system.”

“Hm.” Under his cape, Bruce runs a finger along the edge of the file.

“Do you know him?” Gordon asks.

“Yes,” Bruce says. 

A beat. Then, “Are you going to elaborate?”

“The signal,” Bruce says, “a couple hours ago. That wasn’t you.”

“No, it sure as hell wasn’t.”

“It was him.”

“The kid?” Bruce nods. Gordon nods, impressed. “Damn. Brave kid.”

“Smart, too,” Bruce says. Gordon’s mustache twitches upwards in a grin.

“He can’t keep that signal, you know,” Gordon says.

Bruce lets himself grin for a moment, imagining a child’s grin, lit up by the bright yellow of the signal. Imagines that same child calling Bruce to help him with small things, like homework, or to help tie his shoes. The things that children ask adults for help with. Bruce wishes that the only thing children needed Batman for was to tie their shoes. Bruce wishes that those children were able to call on him at a moment’s notice, like Duke. Bruce wishes that he wasn’t needed to chase down murderers and criminals for the police.

“I know,” Bruce says.

Gordon clears his throat and turns back to his desk, shuffling through his papers. “So,” he says, “you’re trying to find his parents for him?”

“Yes,” Bruce says. “Jim. Thank you for your help.”

“It’s no problem.” Gordon sighs. “Unfortunately, their case isn’t a priority. A lot of people still haven't been accounted for.”

“I know. Thank you anyway.” Bruce turns back towards the window. He starts to take a step forwards.

“Batman.” Bruce stops. Behind him, back turned as he hunches over his desk, Gordon says quietly, “The kid might not like what you find out.”

“I know,” Bruce says. He does know. Either one or both of Duke’s parents could be dead. They could be injured, they could be in comas, they might no longer be able to care for a child. The way that Joker venom works, they might never make full recoveries from its aftereffects. The way that disasters in Gotham work, they could have any manner of injuries. New disabilities, head injuries, personality changes, trauma. Bruce knows that if Duke’s parents hadn’t found him yet, they’ll have reasons for not doing so. He knows what those reasons are most likely to be.

He slips out the window. As he leaves, he says to Gordon, “He should know regardless. Whatever it is.”

In his now empty office, Gordon sighs and says begrudgingly to the night, “I guess you’re right.” He knows that Batman is already gone. He says it anyway.

Bruce clears his throat. The nurse continues typing, holding up one finger in a gesture for him to wait. Bruce waits.

Eventually, the nurse looks up at him, face deadpan. She asks, “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” Bruce says. “I’m looking for Elaine and Doug Thomas. A black man and woman, in their late thirties, and would have been poisoned—”

“What’s your relationship?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Your relationship with the patients? Are you family, friends?”

“I’m…” Bruce trails off. He clears his throat again, stands up a little taller. “I’m Batman,” he tells the nurse.

“Okay, Batman,” the nurse says dryly. Bruce wonders briefly if it’s possible she thinks he’s joking. “So, are you a friend?”

“Yes,” Bruce gives in. “I’m…a friend.”

“Okay, then.” The nurse starts typing again. “I don’t think we have anyone matching that description,” she tells him after a brief search. She lets go of her business-like demeanor for a moment and looks sincerely sorry that she can’t tell him anything better.

And it was a long shot. Bruce knows that if it were this easy, Duke would be with his parents instead of at a foster home, but it still stings.

Bruce deflates. “Okay,” he says. “Thank you. For your help.”

Duke scrambles up from the ground. “You came!”

“Of course.” Bruce lets his cape settle around himself. “It’s the bat signal. It lets me know that I’m needed.” He shifts awkwardly. He doesn’t want to do this. “Duke…”

“Yeah, I know,” Duke sighs. “Probably not gonna be able to keep it, right? I don’t have anywhere to put it in my room either.”

“No. You can’t keep it. I’ll take care of it for you.”

“That’s pretty cool. Where’re you gonna put it?”

“My batcave.”

“Woah. You have a cave? A batcave?”

“Yes.”

“That’s so cool. Is it like your home base? Do you sleep in there? Is it booby trapped? And you’re really gonna put—you’re gonna keep my signal in there?”

“I’ll keep it safe.”

“Wow.”

[s0fter-sin]

patty walters uploading to youtube again is healing something within me

[lafortis]

I'm sure it's been linked here by now but just in case:

[s0dabeach]

i be getting invested in a couple from a show i haven't even watched yet

[raddest-laddest]

NEW FOUNDERS SONG DISCOVERED

the convo at the beginning is everything to meeee!!! it’s SO feldspar and slate

[the-writers-corner-inc]

Golden Chains

"Your Highness, the bath is ready" The servant quietly announced, looking towards the floor. "I'm coming" She languidly rose from the Divan, stretching back her long slender limbs and walked over to where the servant was standing, a tray holding expensive soaps, milk and honey balanced atop her hands. She walked into the fragrant pool of water and let her handmaiden scrub and lather her body, finally walking out after they were done, wearing a piece of cloth, body slick with water and hair dripping. She stood idly, servants wrapping silks and jewels around her. They then bowed and filed out of the room. She admired herself in the mirror. "Rajah, do you think I should put a blindfold on him, what's the point of him having sight if he doesn't like looking at me, then he'd appreciate the gifts I give him too" The tiger growled with such intensity that the guard standing at the door flinched in fright.

"Good Choice" He showed the rows of sharp teeth lining his jaw. She went to the balcony and plucked a single Jasmine flower from one of her many Jasmine plants. "Oh, and guard-" she glanced at the guard standing outside "Feed Rajah today, my Rajah got a bit hungry last time, so I need someone else to feed him" "Yes your highness" He gulped "Oh don't be scared, he is a very good boy" and bent down to pet him.

She walked down the hallway, stopping only to grab an apple which she unceremoniously bit into, the juice flowed down her chin but she threw it away. "This tastes inedible, guards, take her away" Guards rushed in and grabbed the woman holding the fruit basket, dragging her away.

She walked down the stairs into the treasury. It was filled up to the brim, with gold, crowns, gemstones and so many coins. She walked by it all, grazing her hand across the coins, towards the centre of it all. A large space had been cleared off.

There sat a man, hands cuffed to the ground, with soiled clothes and a ragged beard, an unfinished plate of rice and daal was left abandoned on his side. She dropped the flower in his lap, he didn't even so much as glance at it.

"Why Ali you used to love this bloom before" He didn't answer She grazed a nail across his jaw.

"I asked Rajah if taking away your sight would teach you a lesson, and he said yes! Such a good boy isn't he?" she grinned He looked up with wide eyes, "NO- DON'T" "Why shouldn't I ?" "I'm begging of you !" "I don't see it" He clasped his hands together in a desperate attempt to please her "Hmm, maybe I will, or maybe I won't, you'll see eventually, or well maybe not see at all" and she laughed out loud.

She turned back, lazily picking up a gold lamp. She rubbed its side and set it down on the ground, walking out as she saw blue smoke emerging from it.

[victorluvsalice]

The Cab-Angel With A Shotgun (Lyrics Video) by Music Terminal

Hello, and welcome to the first of two songs that I discovered by pulling up the Leverage fan music video for Parachute on my phone and then letting YouTube do its thing while I cleaned my room. XD This one I'm pretty sure was on an Elliot-themed music video (I'm not sure which one, sorry!), and the minute I started listening to it, I was like "protective Alice vibes." XD Seriously, though I think it fits her very well -- she is not afraid to get her hands dirty to protect what and who she loves, and she doesn't care what others might think about that. "I'm an angel with a shotgun/fighting 'til the war's won/I don't care if Heaven won't take me back/I'll throw away my faith babe, just to keep you safe/don't you know you're everything I have?" -- yeah, exactly her attitude.

And, because of the video I started from and where my mind was at the time, naturally I associate this most strongly with my Valicer In The Dark version of Alice! Which I think makes sense, as she's explicitly the best fighter in the trio, being their Cutter and all. So yeah, the music video in my head features mainly that version of Alice battling baddies on behalf of Victor and Smiler. She doesn't care what it takes or how much she has to spill -- you do NOT get to touch what is hers, Duskwall!