#between the pages of a book

[iambookseater]

Books to Read: My Three Favorites

The year has started on a good note. I read twenty books in total, five of which are novellas. And among these are three books I know will stay with me for a long time. I love reading, that’s no secret. For me, reading fiction is very much like breathing, with no exaggeration. Yet, most of the time I read and I forget. The characters blur into one another, and stories merge together, making it…

[quatregats]

This quote is so funny but also like that is literally the most efficient summary of the difference between these books sdhfjhds

[starry-bi-sky]

I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

[moghedien]

HONESTLY the most annoying take from season 2 I see book readers having is people complaining that they supposedly did Nynaeve dirty because they made her not being able to channel an actual problem. Like as a Nynaeve stan, I was THRILLED that they weren’t rushing it or just letting her be OP at the most convenient moments. Like they were very clearly establishing her arc and for me that’s great and makes me super excited for all we know she’s gonna be up against next season but also like

Where we are with the TV show

Where Nynaeve learns how to control her channeling:

[plutosheaven]

i wonder if Charles ever chanced upon a book at boarding school with initials scribbled in the corner of a page and wondered, just for a moment, about the story behind them.

[buttercupshands]

rewatched Kurogiri's holiday story from ultra impact (not related to sketch at all)

(but it did inspire me)

on another note

finally!!

[entropyvoid]

Golden Hour (+ lineart below cut)

I took a picture of the lines for once and did some basic crappy photo editing on my phone, so you could probably print this out and use it as a coloring page or something if you so wish lol. Do with it what you will.

[theimpossiblescheme]

Staging concept: Ophelia carries around a book that she uses to press different flowers and plants. At one point we see her actually pressing one of the flowers Hamlet's given her before, and we get the impression that she wouldn't part with this book for the world. During the "Get thee to a nunnery" scene, Hamlet rips the book out of her hands, and she goes diving after it to make sure he didn't damage it. And during her final "mad scene", she starts tearing out the relevant pages (rosemary, pansies, fennel, columbines, etc.) to give to everyone present. Laertes is the only one to get the significance of his sister giving away parts of her prized possession, and it adds an extra layer to his grief.

[code31-onthedancefloor]

dont get me wrong while uli learning disco dancing and other horrifically outdated ways to pick up dates with harry is absolutely fucking hilarious i feel as if he would naturally gravitate towards kim more. not just because of the nilsen parallel but because he wants to be taken Seriously. and here is this very Serious (lonely) man who is Serious (repressed) about the way he loves and he drives a car despite being legally blind (stubborn) and has beaten the odds of survival time and time again (at the expense of others; which he feels as if he does not deserve). ulixes will learn Something from kim but it certainly won't be related to how to get steban to like him.

[iambookseater]

Month in Review: August 2022

Month in Review: August 2022

So, August has been my lucky month. I came across so many amazing books. Some of them gave me the worst book hangovers I have ever encountered. I recommend all these books and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. P.S. Excuse me if at times it feels like I’m gushing because I totally will be. The Puma Years by Laura Coleman is a non-fiction story about a writer, artist, and activist, Laura…

[sapchats]

sapnap's habit pf placing cats right under his chin, so close to his chest, within smooching distance

like 😭💗🫶

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Saturday vibes 🌺

[pheonixrainbow15]

THE SUN AND THE STAR SPOILERS

"'That doesn't sound like me,' Nico said, trying to play a deadpan, but Will gave him a stern look. Nico laughed. 'Okay, Okay, fine. Maybe that sounds like me.'"

Page 88 of tsats

"'That doesn't sound like me.' [...] 'Okay, perhaps that is true,' the god (Hades) allowed."

Page 439 of tsats

Like father like son.

[rebouks]

Wyatt was relieved upon reaching the safety of the next plateau; he’d underestimated Brynn, subsequently setting off unprepared for such an ascent. The climb was as treacherous as he’d warned but they’d made it – just about – and thankfully, she didn’t seem intent on going any further.

As soon as she’d safely scrambled her way onto the ledge, she’d headed for the outlook over the valley below, drawn like a moth to a flame. Wyatt half expected her to drag him with her to enjoy the view, or throw her arms wide and laugh, rejoicing in her accomplishment for the day, perhaps even rub it in his face that she’d made it this far. But she hadn’t done any of that. Instead, she’d stared in silence, lost in her own world; until eventually, she sank to the ground and cried. It wasn’t a soft, quiet sob either. It was deep, guttural, and full of pain, echoing through the emptiness below.

Parked beneath a gnarled tree with his arms folded, Wyatt thought she might have forgotten he was here. He didn’t exactly know Brynn, but he hadn’t expected this; she always seemed so mischievously upbeat. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who was adept at maintaining a certain visage-.. maybe that was why he’d found it so difficult to read her; she was wearing a mask. He couldn’t know for sure without asking what was wrong but he didn’t particularly feel like intruding. It didn’t feel right.

He could barely remember the last time he’d cried, but he remembered the way his father had vehemently chastised him for it, despite the fact that he was a mere child at the time. Of course, he’d realised over the years that men felt the same emotions as women, and had just as much right to express them; but it was too late. Try as he might, he couldn’t shed a single tear. He hadn’t cried when his father died, or his mother, or when he’d left Darien behind-.. or countless other times he’d felt like weeping. He found himself wondering how long it’d been since Brynn had cried like this. Was it a regular thing, or was it a rare occurrence he’d accidentally fallen privy to? It was easy to assume the latter, given the depth of her appeared anguish. You could only hold onto your grief for so long without breaking.

Shivering, Wyatt’s teeth began to chatter involuntarily, distracting him from his sprawling thoughts. The wind had picked up considerably since their arrival; they ought to get going before they got stuck up here for the night and froze to “freedom”.

“We should probably head back before it gets dark…” he said, tentatively approaching her.

Brynn nodded, wiping her nose on her sleeve as she struggled to her feet. It’d gotten cold since the sun began to set; he wasn’t surprised she’d stiffened up.

“Are you-…”

“I am sorry you had to witness that-.. is not normal.” She interrupted.

Brynn frowned apologetically as Wyatt shrugged it off, gesturing for her to take the lead instead. He was almost tempted to ask if she meant normal in general, or normal for her, but he didn’t.

Staring out over the precipice, Wyatt hesitated, struck with the sudden realisation that he hadn’t enjoyed watching Brynn cry. Peoples tears usually entertained him for multiple reasons; either he had caused them - which always produced an odd sense of gratification – or perhaps their face contorted in such a way that made him want to laugh, or it was over something ridiculous and pathetic which was equally fun to observe-.. then there were the classic crocodile tears, especially hilarious if they didn’t work, which they rarely did with him. As wrong as it was, Wyatt couldn’t help it, watching people cry was fun-.. at least, it usually was. He’d analysed Brynn the same as he would’ve with anyone else, but he hadn’t found it amusing in the slightest.

“Do you have parachute?” Brynn called over her shoulder as she trudged through the snow.

Wyatt snorted. “No.”

“Come on then!” she tittered.

There was that laugh again…

Previous // Next

[hooked-on-elvis]

SOMETIMES FANS COULD BE A LITTLE INCOVENIENT ALRIGHT... EP TREASURED THEM ANYWAYS.

To illustrate the story, pictures of Elvis with fans in 1957.

CONTEXT: Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee during Christmastime 1957 -- One day, Elvis and his gang were driving down the gates on their way to the Rainbow Skating Rink. Arlene Cogan was sitting on the passenger seat next to Elvis, who was driving his big black limousine while other friends were on the back seats and a few more on the line of cars following them close behind.

Elvis eased the long limousine into the swarm of fans around the front gate. He stopped directly by a girl in a wheelchair and rolled down his window. He reached out his hand to her and she touched it. "How you doin', darlin'?" he said with a big smile. She said something but all the talking around her drowned it out. People began shoving pieces of paper through the window at him. The caravan of his cars behind us stopped, headlights in a curving line down the hill. Elvis didn't carry a pencil or a pen. People gave them to him and he wrote his name and handed them back. Every kind of piece of paper came through the window. Torn out pages of books. School notebook paper. Department store bills. Novels. Pictures. Candy wrappers. Autograph books. And everybody was asking questions about Elvis' tours, his movies, his girlfriends, his Christmas plans - everything. Girls kept telling him how "gorgeous" he was. Elvis looked across at me. He shook his head. "Can you believe all this?" he said. Girls even stuck their arms through the window for him to write his name on. Elvis was not annoyed in any way. He just loved it all. "If it wasn't for these people," he said, "I wouldn't be where I am today. I'll never forget them." A bare, dirty little foot came through the window. It nearly hit Elvis in the face. There was a pen stuck between two toes. Elvis took the pen, wrote his name on the bare leg and shoved the pen back between the toes. The leg withdrew through the window. Elvis rolled up the window. "Thanks," he said. "Merry Christmas." Fans stayed pressed up against the window. From the other side they stared curiously at me and tried to see who else was sitting in back. Elvis eased the limousine forward through the crows and out on the highway and headed north. The caravan of headlights followed him. "It's unbelievable," he said. "It never ceases to amaze me."

Excerpt "Elvis, This One's for You" by Arlene Cogan; Chapter 4: "A Call From Memphis"

[clawsinsodeep]

Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich for So What!, 2003. Lars’s caption:

Hey Kirk, I am sorry, dude! I couldn’t resist! Nothing personal, you know that. Please don’t be mad.