#edit: forgot to include reference

[daily-dr-ratio]

WIP...dr ratio my beloved

Reference:

[donutfrost]

playing around with the idea of noise form neku

[intuitive-revelations]

Semi-live/retrospective analysis of The Well!

Another semi-liveblog / semi analysis of episode 3! Again, I watched and wrote this early using the iPlayer release, but am posting when the BBC 1 airing ends. I'm scheduling it, so hopefully the football doesn't go long and knock it off-time.

As a warning, while comments are generally made in chronological order with the episode, note that I do come back and make edits in some cases based on later information, which may include spoilers. So maybe don't follow along with these comments while watching the episode for the first time (not that I expect anyone is doing that, but just in case)!

I love we're picking up right off from Lux with these costumes in the TARDIS. We could have had the Doctor and Belinda change first, but this sets us right up after the TARDIS left. Not that unusual for the first few episodes of a series, but I do like it when it happens.

"swatted by a giant moth" Kill the Moon thoughts intensify...

"and your mum will whistle at my behind" Interesting again to see how Fifteen is particularly aware of the power of attraction and how to manipulate it. I would say it feels a little iffy doing that with the first black Doctor (though I'm not black, so I don't want to get too carried away speaking about racial implications myself), but we have seen plenty of bits like this sexualising the Doctor with previous incarnations. See 9 and 10's relative flirtiness, 11 too, although while seemingly being less aware of it, with his relative asexuality (though I'd argue he still enjoys the game of it all, given his relationship with River etc., even if he's sometimes a bit less aware of when he's led someone on - Amy, Nefertiti, Marilyn etc.)

The return of Toxic! 20 years later!

A little silly the TARDIS had exactly the same (military?) uniforms. Couldn't we have had the orange spacesuits or something?

The crew not reacting to the Doctor and Bel straight away is a little weird, but I assume we're just at a point with the jump where there's no return and they need to pay attention.

My astrophysics nerd heart loves the spacescapes we're getting this era.

(Future comment: wait, does this mean Midnight is actually a Moon, based on the proximity of that ringed planet? Or at least a binary system? I really need to go back to that episode and see how things match up.)

Carbon 46 - I assume not "Carbon-46" right? That would be impossible. The number must have a different meaning than isotope - maybe the atomic configuration? (Future edit: YUP!)

A lot of specific numbers this series. Some of them stood out previously (e.g. that six-six-six-sixteen) but I'm not sure any mean anything. An interesting point to note though, given the later discussion of 13 being unlucky as an Earth superstition. Could be hinting at future significances.

"Hope is irrelevant." Interesting. We just had the Doctor discussing the idea of the TARDIS bringing hope last episode (very DotD, since I didn't say it before), so this may be starting to form a theme. Was there any discussion of hope in The Robot Revolution?

"It's not appropriate to call me 'babes'." This is obviously meant to be antagonistic, but honestly... hell yeah, speak back to your "higher-up".

Hmm... more emphasis on heart beats, here as a life sign. But not the Doctor's this time. I'm still adding it to the list though.

Yay, another deaf character!

Interesting choice to have part of the signed conversation untranslated. Was there any significance there? Also is this recognisable BSL/ASL? I think I recognised a bit, with the thank you, but don't know about the rest.

Nice also to have the Doctor be more confident at it, after some of Twelve's mistakes last time.

So everyone else went mad? I assume it was caused by something sound related then? But then why the mirrors?

"A nurse who can't sign? That's against the law." "Well, we have different laws. But you're right, it should be the law."

In retrospect, I like the detail that Aliss didn't react to the door opening! She was facing the other way, and of course she didn't hear it. I was wondering at first why she was so nonchalant to it opening.

Mercury... so another source of reflections?

"I can still lip-read."

Between Bel's struggling as a nurse and the Doctor's questions, I'm kinda struggling to buy that the crew will keep buying their authority. This is a common DW trope, so I'm not sure why I'm so sceptical this episode... (Future Edit: Given who the enemy is this episode, no wonder the writing has got me feeling so anxious about this! Genuinely quite a compliment to Angel Walfall, RTD, and the show crew on making me feel this way without even knowing why!)

The well itself gives strong "Satan Pit" vibes. Maybe this is why we didn't bring back the orange, as it would have felt too similar?

I like some of the world-building we're getting this episode, with regards to the 'wildlands' and entering the force as a teenager. Far more than we usually get for "generic interstellar space mission".

OH? So something has happened to Earth. Presumably not erased from time given last episode, but perhaps its future history has been, depending on what's happening in the present. I can't remember if I said this before, but this all feels surprisingly Lawrence Miles "Book of the World" so far (or just the stolen planets arc I guess), not that I'm saying it's more EU (or in this case, unofficial writing) cribbing, just a similar vibe with the mystery of Earth somehow being missing.

Interesting to have two explicitly human-like alien species this series already. Not as common in New Who compared to Classic. Feels a little bit of a shame we're not getting some prosthetics or something though, given that Disney+ money, to give a least a little bit of an alien appearance. That's always been why I've quite liked aliens like the Singers of Akhet, or the Drahvin (BTW RTD, can we can get the Drahvin back, pretty please?).

That jump scare took a couple repeats to see what happened. Something was behind Aliss. Is she possessed, or carrying something with her? Maybe something to do with that wound?

"What's that thing?" "Magic" lol (Another point for the Magic vs Science unravelling laws of rationality theme in this show, plus how the Doctor fits into it all)

Maybe I'm so sceptical of the authority thing because of this guy's (reasonable) doubts.

Feels quite Series 4. 'There's something on your back'

"But it's just a grey star now. Nothing special." "Well, a grey star is a star that's collapsed." Hm, a grey star isn't a thing. Is it meant to be a fading white dwarf (i.e. between a white dwarf and black dwarf?) or maybe a neutron star or something? Maybe something between a black hole and neutron star? That would better fit the "collapse" description.

"It was an Xtonic Star. But that's ancient history, 400,000 years ago." Wait, I know that star...

"Carbon 46" "And the definition of that is?" "Diamonds. This is a diamond mine. The entire surface of this planet was once made out of diamonds" WAIT I KNOW THAT PLANET...

Holy shit, so this is a Midnight sequel?! No wonder the sceptical tone felt so strong (also tbf I saw something comparing the episode to Midnight, but didn't realise how strong the connection was going to be!)

The monster perked when it heard the Doctor was an expert, didn't it...?

Oh, this soundtrack! With the trumpets blaring. Was that from Midnight or another episode? It sounds kinda Twelve era, but I expect I'm wrong. (Future edit: I checked, it's definitely from Midnight. It's part of the same named song on the Series 4 soundtrack.)

I wonder... if Earth's been destroyed/erased, were the events of that episode effected? How many of the Midnight passengers, if any, were actually human again? If none, maybe it's uneffected?

This is some interesting development for the Midnight entity. So it's some sort of 'perspective'-based creature, always behind the person it's attached to. Feels very Weeping Angel-like, though it's clearly not just a matter of sight. It seems to be linked to the direction Aliss is facing.

"It can't be behind from every angle." "Try telling it that" YESSS, non-euclidean creature, let's go.

A shame this episode kinda kills the "dying TARDIS" theory of it though. Though worth noting this is the same episode Belinda had the translation circuit introduced to her, which is key to that whole idea?

"If it was a clock face, then you die at midnight."... that's a little bit of a stretch... I get it from their perspective, but surely hands at 6 o'clock would be a better comparison?

Side note... did we ever find out when Midnight took place exactly? Right now, I assumed if was the 51st century, but I don't think that's canon. We know it was around 400,000 years ago at a point 500,000 years in the future. So it's a bit further forward than we thought. Actually halfway towards the 200,000 future of human empire era of Series 1 now I think about it, though still 100,000 years away so it's not significant.

Side note 2: 400,000 years isn't a very long for a star to die in? It's fictional granted, but I wonder what type of star Midnight's sun is meant to be. I guess it could have already been in its last days? But the process of dying is meant to be slow in most cases. It presumably would have to have been quite a big star, as the larger they are the quicker they burn out. This seemingly rules out the fading white dwarf theory, since it takes forever for that to happen (fun fact: we believe there isn't a single black dwarf in the universe yet!). A neutron star / black hole intermediary state is a bit more likely, which might place the star right around the Chandresekhar limit which JWST and other telescopes are searching for bodies around. That's still not that much more massive than the Sun though, so the star really must have already been old in Midnight.

"It has fun. Oh, it played games" Interesting. This fits, but gives the creature an even more malevolent feeling, than its learning state we saw (though it was clearly more malicious when it fully took over Sky and possessed the Doctor). The mention of games almost makes me think this will link back to the Pantheon or similar creatures in some way.

As if Midnight wasn't dangerous enough, now everyone's got guns.

Cassio you moron...

...though deliberately killing him via the creature is crazy! WTF Shaya

Is Aliss even still 'her'? If so, it seems to be a change in MO for the entity.

"Please don't turn your back on me." Oh, you know that was an "a-ha" moment at the writing desk!

"My old friend. You have waited 400,000 years. Who are you? Are you there? What are you?" Are we about to get something crazy?

"It knows my name." WHAT. LIKE, 'NAME' NAME? Now I want some to analyse those whisper and see if they can discern anything. If the whisper we hear here is what the Doctor's hearing, it almost sounds just like two or three syllables. Could just be "Doctor" but doesn't sound like it. Sounds closer to "Theta" if anything...

On the other hand, it's clearly more than what we hear, so there's not much to conclude. The Doctor reacts a LOT more while we hear nothing, so there might be some telepathic contact taking place too.

(Does that mean Series 4 now has three episodes in a row with characters who know the Doctor's name? River and the entity?)

"Oh yes, there it is." Ah, for a second we were seeing the Doctor get possessed again! Can you imagine if the Doctor turned and suddenly started acting like the released Sky did at the end of Midnight? I know some of y'all have theorised it could happen in a way involving the Master, but I would love to see Ncuti get a villainous moment, like the Cyberplanner or in 42 (speaking of which, there was a brief second I thought we were talking about that star earlier!).

Ha, I knew the Mercury was significant. So it destroyed the mirrors itself then? Quite "Little Nightmares"-y, plus I swear from something else too, but I can't remember.

"Mercury 16" Oh come on, that isn't an isotope either. I guess it must be some configuration of Mercury, based on the diamond thing (maybe this is why Mercury vapour isn't an issue when it gets spilled - though I suppose even if it was, both the soldiers and the Doctor and Bel have whatever they'd need to heal the exposure).

Oh, so is it attacking something behind it involuntary? Weird... If so, that might explain what happened to the cockpit in Midnight. But did anyone go behind Sky in that episode. Although actually, there have been a few points where it seemingly could have struck previously (e.g. as Cassio walked to the other side of the room and Aliss turned), so maybe there is some control to it? The rules are a bit unclear, but that comes with non-euclidity I guess.

It seems interestingly to be linked to the line of sight specifically? The Doctor told people not to look earlier, so maybe not looking at it when you're facing it is enough to be safe? That would explain the screaming before gettng thrown too. It's like some sort of defensive mechanism to hide and avoid being seen, which is apparently harmful even to itself - very Weeping Angel-like again. Like the entity only attacks when it can gurantee it can kill whatever sees it. But apparently its peripharies (e.g. over the shoulder) aren't so vital.

"I want to see it" How very Listen of you, Doctor. At least he only seems to get a glimpse in the shadows and isn't attacked the same way.

I didn't see it first time watching, but just realised they did actually reuse the orange spacesuit! Aliss wears it when they escort her out, though it's clearly been retouched in grey to serve as a miner's spacesuit. I wonder how many of those suits have actually been made and reused? Given it fits Aliss's actress, maybe this is one of the ones fitted for Jodie, Jenna, or Mandip?

I knew everyone just getting out felt a bit too easy...

Jesus, something tells me this is going to remind Belinda how dangerous this is again, after the relatively comfortably story last time. The Doctor's sacrificial play probably helped solidify her trust of him, but I don't think she'll be as carefree about sticking around as it looked like she was going to be.

Interesting no-one questions if Belinda nearly dying would be enough to move the entity to Shaya. (Future edit: knowing it didn't actually go to her shows how flimsy this really was. It's also a nice reminder that the thing is intelligent, and doesn't have rules it needs to follow. After all, why should it go to the killer? It probably only did so previously because they were the most convenient nearby body. Or actually, in retrospect, I guess that, like it looked for the most intelligent person in the room in Midnight, this time it's just looking for its safest way out. In the past, that's been sticking with whoever kills the previous host - "survival of the fittest", after all (not that that's what that phrase really means) - but here, it knows Shaya is ready to sacrifice herself, so there's no point leeching onto her. It also doesn't go with the Doctor, as this time he's too smart, and would catch and stop it. Belinda was a good try, but her odds now probably seem to low (plus maybe her being shot would have effected it too?). The better option is to pick someone else in the room: not a soldier - but the group's quieter nurse.

I feel like Shaya running away face forwards could have been done a bit more carefully, given she was almost throwing everyone behind her. (Future edit, again: given the final twist, this makes more sense...)

Also, she kinda comes across as another Doctor parallel doesn't she? Like with Mr Pye last episode, here "running across the galaxy" to bring hope (again that theme). Feels like the kinda thing that could be setting up the Doctor to sacrifice himself some way in the final episode this series.

This music as she sacrifices itself sounds familiar again? I'd assume from Midnight, but it sounds more like something from Girl in the Fireplace. A lot of repeated soundtracks this year so far. Mostly reasonable choices, but Amy's theme and the This is Gallifrey bit feel like they could be arbitrary choices. I hope Murray Gold put some thought into it and it's not more of a Time of the Doctor situation where they had limited recording time and had to reuse some themes (as much as I love the Long Song / Infinite Potential returning for Eleven's regeneration). I wonder if there's more subtle Midnight callbacks in this episode's soundtrack I missed? Whether there are or not, I will say I did love the soundtrack this episode, including the more original bits. (Future edit: Again, I checked this. I don't think it's actually Madame de Pompadour, which is what I was thinking. I think it's just a similar sounding theme, either original to this episode, or possibly unreleased from Midnight.)

Mrs Flood again. So the use of the vindicators IS important, including to whatever she's thinking. Again... is my theory that they're accidentally messing with Earth's position in the Web of Time correct?!

Actually defeating the Midnight entity (albeit not killing it), rather than just surviving felt a little bit of a shame, so it actually sucessfully getting out does boost this ending quite a bit! Now I just kinda hope we get a third story to complete the trilogy, as it's quite a cliffhanger. Maybe that could be the one to actually reveal more about it?

Ooh, the credits give the entity a name (or lack thereof) for crediting. "It Has No Name". It seems to be a male actor, maybe whoever did the glimpses of it on set? The whispers sounded more feminine to me.

Overall thoughts

I really liked this one, even if it was a bit of a disappointing follow-up. Definitely doesn't match up to Midnight in terms of the tension and anxiety, even if I was feeling it early on. Maybe more should have been done with Cassio's coup - we could have seen more and more whispers among the crew members over the story? The room most of the action takes place in is also way too big, so you don't get the same claustrophobia. That being said, between this and the entity's behaviour itself, I get you don't just want to do Midnight, but again. I still think it was a good and creepy story, but the comparison to Midnight kinda makes it look worse by comparison. We also don't get the same breakdown of the Doctor's character behaviour, though again I understand you can't just do the same thing again. It more just happens in the background here, mostly via Cassio. On the bright side, I'd argue we've gotten a similar breakdown of Fifteen from Belinda just a couple episodes ago, so I'm not too upset.

Meeting the entity again is cool though, especially with it seemingly recognising the Doctor. The implication that it learned the Doctor's name is a bit of a bombshell, even if it sadly didn't amount to anything. Its shows of force are neat, quite poltergeist-y, and matches up with the cockpit getting torn off in the previous episode, but overall it didn't really match the creepiness of that episode. I'm kinda shocked we never got a point of it mimicking someone again (can you imagine if it was doing so throughout, and when we got to the airlock Belinda suddenly started repeating people's words!). It seems a lot more physical rather than psychological / mental in this episode. On the otherhand, the MO change does kinda make sense. It's been 400,000 years after all - it was only really doing what it did in the first place to learn! Probably doesn't need to learn anything else at this point. Learning more about it, like its connection to perception, was pretty cool too.

I liked the characters in this episode - while some crew members were clearly more "redshirt"-y, a few of them like Cassio, Shaya and Mo stood out, as did Aliss. I really loved how you could feel the different communication barriers coming across through the episode, between the discussion of signing, the soldiers turning off their captions to speak without Aliss hearing (though, as she says, she can definitely lipread some of it) and the Doctor making an effort rather than just relying on the automatic captioning. The latter in particular feels like a bit of a relevant topic, given I've just recently seen "anti-DEI" talk turn to the idea of getting rid of interpretors and just having subtitles available. Again, I'm not audibly or visually impaired (just shortsighted), so I'm probably not the best person to talk about it, but there've been plenty of discussions especially on Tumblr on why this is a bad conclusion to come to.

One thing I'll say, less about the current episode and more in general - maybe this is just me, but do modern DW episodes tend to feel a bit underdeveloped? Not in terms of editing (though I'd argue some changes could have been made to the last few episodes, as much as I liked them) but in terms of plot pacing? It feels like a lot more happened in older episodes, whereas nowadays I check the time part way through and am surprised how close we are to the end - it sometimes feels like we could have done more with the concepts, scenery etc. Maybe it's just a matter of growing up and your attention span / information processing changing (if anything, I'm glad I seem to be going that way in terms of paying attention, rather than the opposite!). On the other hand, maybe this is evidence we need to bring back mid-season multi-parters, or at least the 50+ min episodes we got more of in Capaldi's run.

Ruby next week! I'm surprised it's a Ruby episode with the Doctor and Belinda actually on Earth, I thought it was going to be more of a Doctor-lite episode with her. When is it going to be set? I assume last year or something - too long for Bel to hang around on Earth? Also, "boyfriend", "pheromones", what is this, Torchwood?

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

i'm halfway through updating my vatican trio spreadsheet with the official TL, and i'm laughing bc the difference is just so

[conflictedkismet]

Days 1 and 2 of Chulip Week

Day 1: Rocketman. Characters: Love Interest (canon) and Caramel (mine)

Day 2: A Daytime Stroll in Scarecrow Field. Characters: Scarecrow (canon) and Em (mine)

[beefy-the-stronk]

THE GANG'S ALL HERE LETS GOOOOOO

Finally colored them all 😭 Like I said before, feel free to take any inspo or reference I don't own these chucklenuts

Alrighty design explanation/hc time:

[Edit:] I added an extension cus I forgot to earlier aaa, don't want this huge wall of text to be unchecked

Sam:

- He's partial heterochromatic

- I hc him as mid 30's so he's got some Grey's

- Chubby, but decently built arms

Joel:

- Shirt is ripped because of mouth, i noticed this in his sprite and other people's observations

- gave his shirt stripes cus I wanted him and Sophie to have more distinction in their warthdrobe

Sophie:

- butterfly etching on her pants

- She is missing a tooth, makes sense with her age and rowdyness. Also has a bandaid on top of that.

- she has a big overlayer shirt cus again, helps distinguish her

Dan:

- Fingerless gloves, he's cold but he needs his fingers free to record or play games😩

- he has NO hair anywhere, maybe even has Alopecia

- Wear's a sick denim vest hell yeah

Hellen:

- TALL and also very build like a heavyweight champion (so muscular and a bit of pudge)

- also greying, I personally think hc her as 40

- I am obsessed with how everyone gives her coveralls, so I'm including them. Tho, she mostly wears them during excursions. At the apartment, she takes it off and wears her normal turtleneck and sweats

Xaria:

- she has a nasty scowl and sharp teeth, basically she both a barks and bite.

- some makeup too cus GOTHHH

- she's taller than Dan with the boots on, and is decently built too with strong shoulders

Monty:

- short and it's hard to tell, but I made him chubby under the coat. Unlike Sam tho, his arms are thinner.

- also has sharp teeth, and a scowl

Leigh:

- she has a huge head 😭 yes that was on purpose, her sprite had a beeg head

- she's taller than she looks, but hunches over and crawls a lot

- fun fact: I made her avert her gaze because she looks absolutely horrifying looking forward like everyone else

Rat Baby:

- gave him a lil bandana cus why not

- I think he's relatively big here, like a small dog

Papineau:

- he's not as tall as hellen but he's still huge

- AURA

- no constructive comment but I do find him handsome VuV

Ernest:

- bundled up in many layers

- very thin underneath tho

Roaches:

- he's a bunch of roaches can more can I say lol

Morton:

- he's def just a huge cricket underneath the layers

- he is quite fond of the colorless rubiks cube sksk

[charliemwrites]

Hiiiii! So I’m not super thrilled with this but I’ve been having a time of it at work so I worked on this when I could 🙃

Not sure if there will be a second part yet tbh we’ll see!

Edit: almost forgot to add that the gorgeous divider below is by @gildui they have some absolutely beautiful cod themed dividers.

Carrion

Reader comes back Wrong

Content: implied/referenced torture, injury, suicide reference/implicated “pact” (by background character), lack of wound care

The breakup was bad.

Not in the top 3 of Simon’s worst nightmare-inducing memories - but likely top 5. He certainly wakes up chest aching and eyes burning often enough for it to be a solid contender. He’s haunted by tears that dripped like acid and the cracks in your voice deafening him.

On bad days, he thinks he can still see you shuffling down the halls, eyes sunken and red-rimmed, dark circles and chapped lips. Anger giving way to resignation giving way to pain and sadness. The rest of the team tight-lipped and wincing, no sides taken, shoulders and ears offered equally in commiseration.

Your misery wanted no company, though.

You didn’t tell Simon that you were leaving. Gaz let slip over a subdued but obligatory game of cards, you’d be gone for a long time - loaned out to Laswell.

Simon didn’t go to see you off. Didn’t ask why you were leaving or accuse you of being too immature to be on a team with him. He didn’t wish you good luck, stay safe with the rest of the team on the tarmac at 0-dark when you took off.

He should have.

Price says you’ll be gone for six months. Just six. It’s better this way, he reminds them when Johnny balks. His eyes are on Simon, though, when he adds that you need to get your head on straight, and you weren’t able to do it with them.

So. Six months.

Simon stops expecting you on his left. Stops smelling your shampoo lingering on bits of clothes he pretended not to notice you steal. He still dreams about you begging him not to push you away.

183 days come and go.

On day 184, Laswell sends word - your temporary team likes you quite a bit. They want you to stay on for one more month… one more mission… one more…

Six months turns to ten.

312 days since you left; since you were home.

The team hasn’t stopped leaving a space for you at their tables, right between Gaz and Price. You miss your own birthday. Laswell says she’ll pass along well wishes.

The situation changes. A target resurfaces. All hands on deck, including yours.

374 days. Twelve months and some change.

They don’t spend the holidays with you, but there’s a stack of presents waiting in Price’s office. Your mugs have collected dust in the back of the rec room cabinet.

Laswell says you’re still deployed on one last mission, return TBD. Soon, though.

487 days. Still TBD. Soon. Really. Just some loose ends to tie up.

561 days. There was some trouble during exfil but you’re alright. Just a bit of recovery.

You’re coming home.

590 days. You’ll land at 0700 tomorrow.

It’s been 591 days since Simon last saw you. Since any of them last saw you.

Laswell has come to deliver you personally, a kind of apology for keeping you away so long. She’s the first off the transport and you’re right behind her.

Your hair is shorter. Much, much shorter. There’s a new patch on your jacket - memento from your temporary team, Simon figures.

Apart from that, you look… almost exactly how you did when you left. Dark circles under your eyes, mouth drawn and tight. There’s invisible weight compressing your shoulders, urging them in and down. But you’re there again. Just the way he remembers.

(Why are you the way he remembers?)

“Long time, no see,” Gaz calls, reaching for you.

There’s half a beat, you blink. Hesitate.

Then you grin and reach back.

“Missed my pretty face, did you?” you reply.

Johnny laughs and brings you in for a hug. You twitch hug him back, patting his shoulder as you pull away.

“Good to have you back, Sergeant,” Price says, shaking your hand.

You turn to Simon, nod in greeting, expression pleasant. “Ghost.”

So that’s how it’ll be? Alright.

“Sergeant.”

That night, you go out for drinks with the team and Laswell. Simon goes along to show there are no hard feelings.

(Not that you seem to need reassurance. It’s not even that you’re not looking at him. You are. Whenever he speaks, the rare times he does, or if he shifts in his seat. Your gaze doesn’t linger or jerk away, you treat him like you do Johnny and Gaz and Price.)

When Johnny mixes up your usual for Price’s, you don’t even seem to notice. But Simon does.

“When did you start drinking whiskey?” he wonders.

You used to swear you’d never like it, claiming it tasted like boot polish and the “Boys Club” wasn’t worth the indigestion it gave you.

“Someone from my other team,” you say by way of explanation.

You don’t ask for another whiskey. Laswell gets the rest of your drinks for that night.

Simon turns into the rec room two days later and finds you already there. There’s only the light above the sink on, and you’re staring at the steady drip, drip, drip from the faucet. A cup of black coffee cools in your hand. You’re already wearing gloves.

“Sugar’s in the left now,” he calls.

Your head twitches, something pops in your neck.

“Oh, thanks,” you chirp, turning for the cabinet. “Sleep okay, LT?”

“‘Bout as well as I ever do,” he replies gruffly, sidling up next to you for the kettle.

You hum. There’s a yellow packet in your hand. (Didn’t you used to like the blue one?)

“I get that,” you sympathize.

He snorts. Since when?

“Do you?”

When he glances down, you’re not looking at him. Instead, you’re trying (and failing) to get the sink to stop dripping.

“You know that’s been broken for ages,” he says.

At least as long as the 141 has been around. You tried to fix it once when you first joined up, too, with no luck.

“Right,” you say. A little too quickly, a little too agreeably. “Well, anyway, enjoy your tea, Lieutenant.”

You leave the packet of sugar behind. Unopened.

You’re back and it’s like it used to be - not just before you left, but before the breakup. Before there was ever anything to break up.

Your time away seems to have given you whatever space from Simon you were hoping for, because you act like there was never anything at all.

He’s half expecting, dreading, that you’ll pull him aside at some point. Ask for a word after dinner, or swing by his room before bed. Talk about the break up now that cooler heads prevail and 19 months have sanded down the rough feelings. Seek closure, maybe.

But you don’t. The weeks pass until a month has gone and you never exchange more than easy pleasantries with Simon. You give him space, give him privacy. Things you never used to give him much of before, for better or worse.

You fool around with Gaz and Johnny, trade quips with Price, and follow Simon’s orders. Train recruits. Write reports.

You’re back, better than ever.

So why does it feel like Simon’s still waiting for you to return?

You’re always dressed now, head to toe. Day or night, rain or shine. From the neck down you’re in full sleeves, long pants, boots and gloves.

It doesn’t occur to anyone until you’re sweating through your compression shirt in the gym. Wipe your shiny forehead for the dozenth time before Johnny says, “why not just take it off?”

“It’s not that bad,” you laugh, waving him off.

When you lie down to bench press, Simon notes the bottom of your shirt tucked tight into your waistband. He exchanges a glance with Johnny - he’s seen it too.

You used to dress in shorts and sports bras during exercise, a towel over your shoulder. In the common room, you’d mill in tank-tops and boxers. Even used to trot down the hall swaddled in a towel or robe, mumbling that you forgot a razor or some other toiletry before showering.

“What, did ye get an embarrassing tattoo or somethin’?” Johnny asks finally.

You blink at him, expression bemused. “A tattoo? Why do you think I have a tattoo?”

“Yer covered up like a nun on Sunday. It cannae be comfortable.”

You snort. “Just because you’re allergic to clothes, MacTavish…”

“Allergic?! Wha’s tha’ s’posed t’mean?!”

Gaz barks a laugh. You grin and continue your workout.

Simon tries not to be disturbed by the name “MacTavish” coming off your tongue for the first time since you met.

It’s your first mission since you’ve been back. You have new gear, a new handgun. Something’s been carved into the side of the barrel in Cyrillic, Simon can’t read it. A new callsign.

(“What kind of a name is Carry-on?” Johnny teases, but he doesn’t quite hide the unease in his eyes.

You snort and lace your boots tighter. The edge of you sleeve inches up, revealing the curve of a glossy scar that wasn’t there before.

“You’re one to talk Mister Maybelline.”)

Someone painted an upside down cross on the temple of your helmet with their finger. You thumb it before stuffing it over your head.

“You ready for this?” Gaz asks, knocking his knee into yours. The two of you have been paired together for this mission. (Was it Simon’s imagination, or did you look annoyed that you would have a partner?)

“Always,” you reply.

Simon doesn’t hear what happens, but Gaz looks shellshocked when you haul him into the helicopter during exfil. You shake him a bit once everything is secure and the bird’s in the air.

“Garrick,” you shout, “c’mon, where did he get you?”

It takes him a second but he blinks, offers his arm for your inspection. You move with a speed even Simon is impressed by, tearing into the nearby med kit almost viciously. Gaz is patched up in record time and you sit back with blood on your hands, barely even seem to notice as you wipe them carelessly on your pants.

(You used to be more squeamish, weren’t you? You used to be the last one they asked for medical care because seeing your teammates in pain made you nauseous.)

“What about you?” Gaz asks after a small eternity.

You yawn. “What about me?”

“You got nicked too, didn’t you?”

Simon takes a second look at you and now that Gaz mentions it, you’re soaked in blood. Wet patches on your vest, your pants, dripping down your boots. It takes him a moment to notice the tear in your thigh, shredded flesh visible when you rock with the wind turbulence.

“Did I?” you wonder, glancing down like you only just noticed it.

Johnny curses, reaches for you - but you wave him off.

“It’s just a scratch,” you reply. “Barely even feel it, no worries.”

Then why is it still bleeding?

When the team lands, you hop off the heli without so much as a wince. Droplets of blood lead all the way back to your room.

(When Simon asks Nikolai about the hand-etching on your gun, he says the word means “promise.”)

In the after-action report, your callsign isn’t “Carry-On.” It’s Carrion.

Laswell takes you off the mission two months later, a joint assignment with KorTac. They send three operators to work with TF141 - Stiletto, Konig, and Nikto.

On the transport to infil, Simon notices the Russian inspecting his handgun in a seat separated from the rest of the squad. He recognizes the Cyrillic carved into the barrel this time: Promise.

It’s an eerie, creeping suspicion. An anxious fog rolling in.

It’s not one single thing that trips an alarm in Simon’s head, but a steady collation of oddities over months. A single arhythmic beat, a note off key. Just once or twice, but over and over until he can’t notice anything else.

You act just like yourself except for all the minute ways you don’t.

You smile big and wide, sunshine bright, when they make a good joke. Your laugh is still the same, bubbling up in your throat, head thrown back. You smell the same when you pass Simon in the hall, shampoo and soap that’s haunted him for a year and a half.

It’s insidiously subtle; he can’t pinpoint what it is for the longest time. Your mannerisms are almost too practiced, the cadence of your voice too measured. A missing turn of phrase you often used, replaced by something unfamiliar.

Simon dismisses it as guilt-laden paranoia. The two of you ended on bad terms with a year and half worth of space between. He’s hardly one to gauge what’s normal for you anymore.

And besides, the few times someone else has noticed at those tiny yet all-too-obvious inconsistencies, you shrug it off as something you picked up while away.

But he catches Johnny’s brows furrow one afternoon as you light up a cig (after swearing for years that you’d never pick up the habit) and Simon knows he’s beginning to see it too.

“You ever notice,” Gaz begins slowly. You’re the only one missing from the rec room this evening, retired with a drawn-out yawn. “That Carrion always mentions being away, but never talks about it?”

Simon stills. Johnny’s eyes fly to Price, who’s grimly tapping at his crossword puzzle.

“The file’s redacted,” he says. He’s seen it too then, tried to investigate for himself.

“That’s normal for a mission like that,” Simon reasons carefully.

“I don’t mean the mission,” Price says. “I mean Carrion’s file.”

“This is a good movie,” you mumble from the armchair you’ve stolen from Price. “What’s it called?”

Simon exchanges glances with the rest of the team. No one points out that this is (used to be?) your favorite.

Price looks into the team you were loaned out to. All were KIA or remain MIA. All but one. His file has been scrubbed too, the only documents readable are discharge orders and a PMC contract, both associated with the callsign “Nikto.”

They’re running out of time.

Less than 36 hours on the clock with only one lead, and it’s a zealot with a suicide pact. Price and Laswell both took a crack at him with nothing to show for it. Even Ghost has gotten hardly anything and he’s running out of nails. With time, he might get something useful, but they don’t have much of that left.

In the anteroom looking into interrogation, you’ve been observing through the one-way glass with your hands in your pockets, head tilted, expression serene.

Price and Laswell are discussing strategy, contingencies. Gaz and Johnny are throwing in their two cents, but Simon… Simon is watching you.

Like medical, torture used to be your Achilles. You were trained like the rest of the team, but there was never any need for you to step into the room yourself. Hell, you were a last resort even for observation or emergency resuscitation. No one blamed you for having a weak stomach for information extraction.

But today, you glance over your shoulder and make eye contact with Laswell.

“I’ll handle it,” you say with an air of finality.

The room goes silent. Price opens his mouth, but it’s Laswell that speaks, voice hard with resignation.

“Do it.”

You don’t blink. “Yes, ma’am.”

You walk out the door without a backwards glance, shoulders loose but each step steady and purposeful.

“What the hell is going on, Kate?” Price demands.

Kate sighs, looks away as you enter the interrogation room.

“Let’s do this outside. It won’t take long to get that intel.”

The only thing she’s able to share is that you and your team were captured. For a long time. And then you’re already stepping out of the interrogation room, wiping your bloodied hands off on an old rag.

There’s an unusual glint in your eye, an unnatural stillness in your expression.

“Got what we need,” you announce cheerfully.

[xitsensunmoon]

Got Little Nightmares brainrot the other day and this idea was born...

Edit I forgot to include: little info on Moon if he was a LN monster hehe. The stars on his pants and hat camouflage him pretty well in the fog full of levitating fake stars; thin and lanky body is hard to see. The endless limbs help him climb and jump from bed to bed, find awake children and punish them. The star on the tip of his hat is meant to be a reference to anglerfish - you don't see him until it's too late :)

[djpachipikachu]

TO CELEBRATE 4K FOLLOWERS AND THE UPCOMING ANNIVERSARY OF MY FIC !!

we’re hosting a dtiys babey!!!

RULES/GUIDELINES

the only thing i ask is that you draw them in these outfits and choose any song to theme ur entry after !! i chose “too sweet” by hozier :]

be sure to include the song into ur piece however you’d like (for example: just writing the lyrics, referencing the album cover, drawing the music player thing like i did, etc !!)

you can change the pose and colors and general vibe however you’d like ! you can also change what design yuichi has on that underside of his cape thing to whatever you’d like :]

the deadline is february 6th (aka the anniversary of graves !) however if you’d like an extension, just comment or message me or anything and ill extend the deadline

MAKE SURE TO TAG UR ENTRY WITH #gravesanniDTIYS and tag me in the post itself so i can be sure to see it!!

have fun <333

edit forgot to mention there are prizes !

FIRST PLACE: fully rendered bust/waist up of 1-2 characters SECOND PLACE: flat color sketched bust/waist up of 1 character THIRD PLACE: clean sketched bust of 1 character

good luck everyone!!

and here are some references and stand alone shots of the guys so the outfits can be seen :] i accidentally left the sword in leo sorry

anddd some regular old close ups:

THANK U GUYS SM FOR THIS MILESTONE AND I HOPE THIS DTIYS IS ENJOYABLE <33

[ardienothesieno]

taking notes on the hermitcraft charity livestream for my friend @pookapufferfish and also just anyone else who had to miss it 👍

these are going to be all over the place lol

i started my note-keeping like an hour or so into the stream so i dont have a lot of stuff from the beginning...

but: grian and scar opened the stream, showed off some of the items up for auction (like real wild life snails. i want one so bad but they're MASSIVELY out of my price range...)

POST-POSTING EDIT: I FORGOT THERE WAS AN IMP AND SKIZZ PODCAST. it wasnt really a traditional podcast though, martyn was asking them questions, a group of hermits would vote on who they thought had the best answer, and whoever lost got shocked by grian.

my most notable takeaway from the shock-cast is that if impulse could have any superpowers he'd want control over time, and skizz would want the ability to heal people. mmm yes food for the superhero aus

and then ren busted out this custom hermitcraft guitar that's also up for auction and played a song by green day

and then we got treebark content.martyn and ren ran the main stream for like 20 minutes

also we hit ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS really freaking fast. and they spun the wheel of chaos and it landed on ✨hermit boxing✨

ROBO-CLEO

okay now all that follows is liveblogging

i keep recognizing people in chat. like not even from mcyt spaces ive seen like three people who i know from skurry streams

martyn using they/them for cleo pog!!

THERE'S A JELLIE MURAL IN THE MINECRAFT OFFICE AWWW

irl guess the build / drawing... drawing things on whiteboards or building things and then guessing

cub is wearing a bob ross wig.

jimmy has built skizz's giraffe...

SKIZZ GIRAFFE REDEMPTION ARC GOES HORRIBLY WRONG

pearl has gorgeous handwriting

grian has obtained a cat keyboard and jimmy is beatboxing along

GEM GIRAFFE REDEMPTION ARC GOES INCREDIBLY RIGHT

they're gonna auction off the terrible drawings. i want one.

round two of guess the drawing / build has the most unhinged prompts ever. including the cursed creature mumbo built in the last permitmaster

it has gone off the rails incredibly fast

grian is just torturing everyone with nerf guns and whoopie cushions

jimmy is left handed

martyn's doing a dollar drive and it's not letting me donate because it doesnt take debit cards. now i need to somehow convince my dad to let me use his credit card... i'll pay him back but. gah. the hassle.

pearl and some person fighting in the background (who was apparently karn, her partner!)

TWO HUNDRED THOUSANDDDDDDDDDDDDD

joe and cub are boxing!! cub is still dressed like bob ross

it's been like 20 minutes and martyn is still going strong with the name reading. and about 30,000 dollars have been raised in that time alone

dimension 20 reference!

martyn's free from yelling names for now... in half an hour we raised SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS

zed and tango hosting the QUIET GAMESSSSSSS. 3 teams of two, imp and gem, ren and skizz, GRIAN AND JIMMYYYY. basically just a bunch of weird minigames where you have to be as quiet as possible. scored on how quiet you are and how well you do

first minigame is moving marbles with spoons but the spoons are attached to a cowbell

gem and impulse did good. skizz and ren did better then i expected. jimmy and grain instantly dissolved into anarchy. jimmy and grian had the most marbles, skizz and ren were surprisingly the quietest

okay the next game is so weird. knocking around ping pong balls with party popper blow kazoo things. but you hold the kazoo for your partner so it's weirdly intimate

someone in the chat described it as nightmare blunt rotation and that the most accurate description yet

someone else in chat has named skizz and ren team rizz and i hate everything

also i realize now that if theyd have done this with commonly shipped pairs the fandom would never shut up

despite the absolute chaos that was happening grian and jimmy won that round on both number of balls and quietness. grian may have slapped jimmy at one point. (he totally did)

the last one is EVEN MORE COMPLICATED. one person blindfolded navigating a minefield of bubblewrap and rubber chickens. another with jingle bells on their ankles and a big stick to smack their partner around.

gem immediately has grabbed the big stick with an evil look on her face

impulse is INCREDIBLY clumsy and gem is just whaling on him

"IT'S ALL BUBBLES!!!?!?" -- impulsesv

ren and skizz have a STRATEGY

ren is doing adorable little shuffley step-steps. "Robo-penguin Ren... Renguin" -- Zedaph

JIMMY IS MOUTHING "HELP ME" OMG.... GRIANS GOING TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM...

but theyve got the best strategy yet actually grian's only kinda beating the shit out of jimmy... they might win this...

GRIAN AND JIMMY TAKE THE WHOLE THING HOME!!!!!!!! SKYBLINGS VICTORY!!!!!!! THE ONE NO ONE EXPECTED!!!!!!

wheel spin for 200,000 landed on "tortilla slap challenge" whichll be weird

the artworks from guess the build have gone up on the auction site and scar is very horrified over something skizz drew... a "sentient sock" that looks very... sus.

speed TCG time!!!!!!! i dont know much about TCG so im gonna try and maybe try and study a bit during this part (also also every 1000 dollars donated each player gets an extra item card)

joe is doing live TCG sound effects

neither joe or ren cant flip a coin to save their lives

pearl v cub. ren v joe. ren v cub.

TCG IS TOO CHAOTIC I CANT FOCUS ON TRIGONOMETRY LIKE THIS

also i need to learn how to play this it looks so fun

this is HEATED. and ren keeps getting armor stands and is so pissed about it

REN TAKES THE VICTORY!!! and they raised like 20,000 dollars in the process holy cow "THIS IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE GAME OF TCG EVER TO BE PLAYED" -- Joe Hills

ONE MILLION DOLLARS RAISED FOR GAMERS OUTREACH IN TOTAL

THREE HUNDRED THOUSANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

300k wheel spin has unlocked NERF GUNSSSSS

also it's "donate x amount of dollars get your name on a sign on hermitcraft" time

cleobot is back!

scar is having a fantastic time running the main stream

GRIAN HAS COME IN AND BARRAGED SCAR WITH BULLETS.

it's tortilla tiiiiiiiiiiime

twich has a personal vendetta against me. it gives me ads right when the exciting things are starting.

scar is apparently on the board of directors at gamer's outreach now!!

IMPULSE V JIMMY. a draw. they are both invulnerable to tortillas.

TANGO V ZED. tango loses through laughter

IMPULSE V ZED. zed didnt get a single slap on impulse. a draw.

also all the hermits really really like to play scissors. in rock paper scissors.

"she removed both of my heads from my body..." -- RentheDog

THE GIRLIES ARE FIGHTING (ren and false)

SKIZZ V GRIAN TORTILLA FIGHT. skizz wins lolol

...im buying a sign

gem signed pearl's ankle.

OKAY I GOT REALLY DISTRACTED FROM MY LIVEBLOGGING. THERE WAS WAR. THERE WAS A MASSIVE NERF GUN WAR. IT INTERRUPTED THE SIGN PLACING.

and yeah... i bought a sign <3

but i dont even know how to cover the half of the nerf war. but there was a lot of hotguy and cuteguy action

grian was even using two pistols instead of a bigger nerf gun... just like cuteguy in ddvau... omg...

at one point scar became a tank. and jimmy wheeled him behind enemy lines and he sniped four people and won the round

and theyre starting to wrap up now, martyn's doing another dollar drive. we're at $375,000...

everyone is signing the pc in the background of martyn's mad line-spitting

TEN HOUR MARK

we need 10,000 dollars... then we'll hit 400k and martyn can rest his vocal cords...

SPARKBIRD GOT MENTIONED

since it's been brought up like 13 times on the stream today. hey. you. you, the person reading this. you just lost the game :3

FOUR HUNDRED THOUSANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

holy cow. that wraps up day one!!!!

im gonna reblog this post in a bit with all the screenshots i took. because i took a lot of them lol.

link to my day two liveblog

[hychlorions]

TSUM PATTERN!!!

retested it after digitizing to make sure all the seams are in order, and everything's looking fine imo :3 here's a tsum made with this pattern with susato tsum for comparison:

here's the pattern, formatted for A4 size paper :>> guides are for lining the pieces up + ears/limbs placement

if you wanted to be really accurate with printing out the pattern: in my experience, setting the custom scale to 100% in the page setup will get the ruler on the page to be 1:1 with a real life ruler

additionally: if you want the tsum to be as close as possible to official ones, they use non-stretchy fabrics for the underside part of the tsum. i only have minky but ironing on some lightweight fusible before sewing the pieces together made it non-stretchy ^^

it looks to me like they used a very thin faux suede with fusible interfacing for some structure (i could be wrong though as 1) i am not an expert in identifying fabrics and 2) i only took apart klavier tsum and no one else. but everyone else that i own seems to use the same fabric for the underside).

they also have a little bag of filler beads inside that weigh around 14.5g (bag they were in included), and the stuffing was ~8g if you wanna be REALLY accurate. anyway. enjoy!

EDIT: forgot to add that the collar pieces are more of a size/sewing guide so they'd fit onto the tsum in case your character has any clothing with lapels/collars and are meant to be changed according to your design! the smaller piece is the little piece between the face and the underside while the bigger piece is for the "lapels" (so in retrospect i should've named it that but whatever.) here's how they'd look like on the tsums for reference in case i'm not explaining well LOL

[kindaasrikal]

The writers of ninjago thought they were so subtle with their little foreshadowing for Dragons Rising season 3 part 2 huh.

Cole barely being in the season yet his first few lines included him mentioning his own past as a ghost, and his last being more focused on Jay’s situation. This could mean they’re hoping to get us deprived of Cole so when he gets more scenes next season it’ll be more effective, where he will likely venture out into the spectral lands and possibly help with the Morro and Thunderfang situation, likely by first reporting it happened, and to him helping Nya a bit in getting Jay more comfortable.

The constant references to the element of wind. Wind blowing around people hair like Kai and Nya’s, leaves, the sounds of whistling winds in the Spectral Lands, the mentions of unstable weather, tornadoes, and the wind constantly being mentioned as ‘chaotic’ and Morro’s return and the heavy lack of Euphrasia shows that unlike what they did in Seabound by mentioning wind and never actually using that at all, they’re gonna do all this to show how big of a role Euphrasia will have next season (I hope please i need her back) and how the wind itself might have a bigger influence, as it is the only element so different from the rest.

The mentioning of Wu and hinting about how he’s not dead? Somethings telling me we will definitely get more of Wu’s lore and part in the merge next season. I’m beginning to think he’s even in some form of danger.

Anyways just some speculations on what could happen but i do know for a fact with some old leaks Morro WILL be coming back so.

Edit: I FORGOT TO SAY THAT ED AND EDNA ARE DEFINITELY MAKING AN APPEARANCE SOON I KNOW THEY ARE

[kitkat-the-muffin]

Some things I loved about Once Upon A Studio (in no particular order):

Tinkerbell and Mickey interacting as dual mascots

The long-shots following characters through the studio (most notably from Peter Pan to Moana)

TREASURE FREAKIN PLANET

Everyone in that elevator was a character with little patience

The robot from Meet the Robinsons! I forgot his name 🥲

MILO THATCH FROM ATLANTIS

Gaston singing to himself about himself

The Mad Hatter making puns

Tiana correcting Pinocchio that the photo was happening right now and not tonight

Prince Charming losing his shoe on the staircase

Prince Eric’s dog stealing Prince Charming’s shoe and Charming yelled “Eric! Get your dog!”

Cinderella shouting “go Max go!”

Jiminy Cricket being the last solo during the group cover of When You Wish Upon A Star

The first Disney Princess singing with the last Disney Princess (and also Mulan who represents the middle of the Disney Renaissance)

Feed The Birds from Mary Poppins playing in the background of Mickey looking at Walt’s photo 🥲

Mickey saying “After you” to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Oswald was Walt’s first character, so everyone in this lineup came “After Oswald,” including Mickey)

DID I MENTION TREASURE FREAKIN PLANET BTW

Belle and Beast singing together 💕

Winnie The Pooh!!!! And all his friends of course!

Don’t think I didn’t see those Black Cauldron characters lol

The 101 Dalmatians watching that one Chernabog animation and being warned that they’ll get nightmares XD

Kronk

Quasimodo’s beautiful singing voice

Minnie covering her eyes in the boy’s bathroom

The dog from Oliver & Company (I forgot his name 🥲) driving around with Vanellope

Tarzan and Jane!

KIDA FROM ATLANTIS

Timon calling Olaf “frosty”

Genie helping Olaf while making a joke (🙏 Robin Williams)

Lucille from Meet the Robinsons drinking coffee with the tea gang (that Cogsworth was berating)

BOLT! :D (you can also see Penny in the crowd at the end)

The brooms from Fantasia!

THE SKELETONS FROM SKELETON DANCE

Absolutely zero Pixar characters 😔 this is a Disney Only event

There’s a LOT to talk about in this short but this is just a simple list of things that I really liked :3

I hope someone on YouTube makes a list of every cameo cause I wanna see them all identified

Also I didn’t see any references to A Goofy Movie so if anyone happens to find Powerline in the crowd or something lemmie know

Edit: I’ve been informed that A Goofy Movie was straight-to-DVD and therefore doesn’t qualify as real Disney 😔

[roseletterchan]

So I decided to redesign Gabriel and his Hawkmoth form again for the Never Met AU since I realised that the old one would maybe be a bit too complicated to draw repeatedly

and I just couldn’t stand his duckbutt hair anymore, he just can’t pull it off like Sasuke. And well for his hair colour, I’m honestly just screwing around dark brown or blonde, saving the grey/white for Hawkmoth since it matches the design more. For the suit, chat(as in stream chat)said that I should go with grey since if I did beige he would look like a beige mom-

Edit: Also someone asked about the problem of him going into public, since the mask has less coverage if he would get recognised

Well to answer that firstly, in this universe that are different rules for the camouflage the miraculous does for its user, so the possibility of people recognising each other based off of appearance is basically impossible. Though regardless, I do have a version of him with a hat since the man is paranoid as hell. I just forgot to include it before since it was a hidden layer and I wanted to see his face-

But also I completely forgot that this man used to be a brunette like what, I found this while looking for references of the man.

[lacrimosathedark]

Bat-Family Nicknames and Insults

So I went off the other day because fans keep having people who aren't Roy Harper call Jason Todd "Jaybird" and now I'm thinking about all the other nickname misconceptions so here's a probably non-comprehensive list of nicknames among the Bat Fam.

(Special thanks to @sohotthateveryonedied for a bunch of my data, she made a whole powerpoint with actual comic panels! Go check that out! Also got some info from @kiragecko who was writing some lists with more specific references.)

This list is an active document and will be edited in the event I find more nicknames or have more to say

Addendum note: I'm more than willing to add something I forgot, but you must have receipts. I'm not just going off of memory. Nothing will be added to this list without proof. If you don't have a source, please don't make a suggestion.

This is aside from assorted common insults and nicknames like jerk, ass, shorty, dude, idiot, etc.. Sidenote, every not-Steph Robin has been called “Little Bird”, “Birdboy” and/or “Wonder Boy” at some point. It’s kinda part of the job lol Secondary side-note, the only ones who REALLY use nicknames for people are Barbara and Jason. And Tim specifically in reference to Damian. Everyone else pretty much uses their names 98% of the time. Final note (sorryyyyyy) generally unless they're funny to me, I'm not including things used only once unless I have gotten vibes that it's a trend. This is an attempt to compile recurring nicknames. So ones noted to be used once are either I can only confirm it happened once but could happen multiple times, or I think it's hilarious.

Alfred Pennyworth

Al/Alf Seems to be a common nickname among the boys.

Alfie Dick, Tim, and Jason have all called him this.

Alfredo Jason called him this at least once and I think that’s funny. Not sure it’s exclusive though.

Mom Dick seems to have referred to him as such once…I’m sorry but that’s so funny.

Alfred also has specific ways of referring to everyone: Bruce: Master Bruce, Mister Wayne, Lad, Bruce, My Son Barbara: Mistress Barbara, Miss Barbara, Miss Gordon, Miss Oracle Dick: Master Dick, Master Richard, Master Grayson, Dear Boy, Young Sir, Young Man, Richard, Dick Cassandra: Miss Cassandra, Young Cassandra, My Dear Jason: Master Jason, Young Sir, Lad, Jason Tim: Master Tim, Master Timothy, Young Master Tim, Lad, Young Sir, Young Man, Timothy, Tim Damian: Master Damian, Young Master Damian, Young Sir, Young Man, Son, Damian

Bruce Wayne

Spooky Oliver Queen calls him this, others might as well but I legitimately have no idea.

Batsy Everyone and their goddamn dog, but Joker uses this notably a lot.

Detective RA'S AL GHUL EXCLUSIVE. I think? But this is how Ra's generally refers to Bruce.

B-Man HARLEY QUINN EXCLUSIVE...I think. She calls him this a lot though.

While Dick and Jason will internally think of Bruce as their father, Dick rarely says so and extremely rarely calls him “Dad”. Jason would only say so mockingly or under pain of a second death. Tim rarely even thinks of Bruce as his father (he didn’t become Robin to be Bruce’s kid, and he doesn’t want to replace his own father—much the same way Dana didn’t replace Janet) and never refers to him as such outside of WE work (where he very much uses that to his advantage). Damian almost exclusively refers to Bruce as “Father” but has called him "Dad". Steph sometimes calls him “Boss”. Everyone usually calls him "Bruce".

He refers to ALL of the boys as “chum” and “lad” at some point. It’s just how he used to talk honestly. He DOES NOT call them “sweetie” or “honey” or anything like that. He DOES, however, speak to small children this way. There are multiple instances of him using "sweetheart" and similar terms when dealing with young children. This differentiation I think is for two reasons. One, Bruce is emotionally stunted and being open with anyone outside of actively comforting is difficult for him, and two, the youngest child he has ever had himself was 9 years old so he's never had a small child he'd be likely more inclined to be extra super soft with.

Barbara Gordon

Babs Most people call her this. Bruce doesn’t seem to though, oddly enough.

Babsy/Babsie Both Dick and Jim Gordon have called her this. Very cute.

Barb/Barbie Nearly exclusive to Jason Todd, actually. I think her dad calls her this once in a while, but specifically Jason calls her this.

Babes A few of her friends call her this, but mostly Luke Fox when they were dating.

Red A few people call her this, but mostly Jason and not real often. Probably cuz we already have a red-head often referred to as “Red” (Pam Isely by Harley) and as to not be confused with the other two Reds in the family (Red Hood and Red Robin).

The High Priestess of Tech More of a reference than a nickname, but I think it’s funny. Dick referred to her as such.

O For Oracle!

Dick Grayson Exclusives because Boyfriend Baby Love Beautiful

Richard Grayson

Dick Everyone calls him this. Almost no one calls him Richard.

Dickie His parents also called him this, along with other people who knew him from Haly’s Circus, but otherwise it’s mostly just Jason.

Dickster I…hate that this is canon lmao. Dick has thought this one in his inner monologue, but Jason has also said it at least once. It’s…Something.

Circus Boy Common insult, Jason uses it a few times.

Tight Ass No comment.

Rob Kinda rare for him and more a Tim thing, but his Titans team call him this sometimes. I specifically remember Wally doing so, and Roy too I think.

Boy Wonderful Not marking this as exclusive because Babs probably used it at one point but, shockingly (or not) this comes from Wally West! Wally has also called his Titans team as a group “Dear Hearts” at least once which is just so fucking cute. Neeeeeerd.

Kid Not exclusive to him, but consistently called this by Slade Wilson/Deathstroke over most anything else.

Marcia TIM DRAKE EXCLUSIVE. A joke between him and Tim, assigning each Bat-boy a Brady Bunch member.

Little Robin MARY GRAYSON EXCLUSIVE. This is where the hero name Robin came from; Dick’s mom used to call him this.

Dickie-Bird JASON TODD EXCLUSIVE. Jason calls Dick this a lot during his weird appearances in Nightwing that I pretend never happened because it was weird and dumb. But it is a canonical nickname. And it’s funny.

Amy Rohrbach Exclusives because Partner Rookie Stud Cowboy Sherlock Mr. Confident

Barbara Gordon Exclusives because Girlfriend (and because she’s funny) Flatterer Boyfriend The Brightest, Sweetest, Most Handsome, Wealthiest Young Bachelor on the Entire East Coast Buckaroo Bucko Candy-Gram Darling Lover Love Hunk Wonder Man Wonder Hound Wonder Former Teen Wonder Twenty Something Wonder Blue Wonder Poor Lovable Naïve Dope Pixie Boots

Cassandra Cain

Cass Pretty much everyone calls her this.

Cassie Some people call her this, specifically the people closest to her; Stephanie, Tim, Barbara, Bruce, and Duke. It’s generally used sparingly, especially considering Tim is close to ANOTHER Cassandra who goes by “Cassie” almost exclusively, so Cass is generally preferred to avoid confusion. But Cassie is tossed around.

Batghoul Possibly Stephanie Brown exclusive, though easy enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if others called her that. She is notoriously spooky.

Bat-Babe KON-EL/CONNER KENT EXCLUSIVE. These two are actually good friends and dated for a short time. They’re very cute. And they met at the time Kon was just…Like That.

Jason Todd

Jay Literally everyone calls him this sometimes. It’s a common nickname.

Jace/Jase Also pretty common, but seems to mostly be among family. Dick and Bruce have at least both called him this.

The Toddster Was called such by Danny Chase, implying they were friends somehow? (Jason didn't have many Titans missions so idk how they were close enough for him to call him that). He calls him that when he discovers Jason’s status in the system is “unknown”, leading him to find out he’s dead.

Rojo Referred to himself as this once while he was still a crime boss, so presumably some of his gang called him this too. Obviously Spanish for red because Red Hood.

Little Bird Possibly exclusive to Barbara Gordon, she called him this in a flashback.

Jan That Dick and Tim Brady Bunch joke. Just imagine one of them looking Jason dead in the eye and saying “Sure, Jan.”

Little Wing DICK GRAYSON EXCLUSIVE. Called Robin Jason this in Nightwing Year 1 and it’s very cute.

Jaybird ROY HARPER EXCLUSIVE. The reason I’m making this post because no one seems to remember that Roy and only Roy has ever called Jason this. But any time these two appear together, it’s usually said at least once.

Stephanie Brown

Steph Pretty much everyone calls her this at one point.

Stephie A few people if I recall, but I know Tim’s called her that.

Blondie Pretty sure a few people call her this, but notably Harper Row.

Damian Wayne Exclusives because He Was A Brat Wench Fatgirl Girl Blunder

Timothy Drake

Tim Everyone to the point where it’s just his name.

Timmy A lot of people call him this pretty teasingly. Dick, Jason, and Babs do it consistently, but that’s older siblings for ya. Bernard has done it too.

Timbo Dick and Jason as well as his friend Ives have called Tim this at the very least. Tim notably doesn't seem to like it, though he has used it himself in a derogatory way in his inner monologue.

Timbers I’ve only ever seen Jason call him this, but I could be missing things. Would not be surprised if Dick did too, but it’s very Jason.

Rob Most of Young Justice called him that up until he revealed his name (which took a while because Bruce was being controlling and overprotective, as he does). Short for “Robin”, obviously, which is all they knew him as.

My Robin I’m pretty sure each member of Young Justice has said this about Tim, though Conner does it the most and has the biggest negative reaction to literally anyone but Tim being Robin.

Cindy DICK GRAYSON EXCLUSIVE. It’s that Brady Bunch joke again!

Little Brother DICK GRAYSON EXCLUSIVE. I didn't originally include it because it had the same vibes as like "dude" or "jerk"; something that's easily tossed around, y'know? And it feels like a descriptor, but it is actually used as a title/nickname several times, especially when Dick is messing with Tim.

Pretender JASON TODD EXCLUSIVE. Though it should be noted, he only directly called him this one time. Aside from that, he more refers to Tim as A pretender, not as like a nickname or title. It’s a description. (like “replacement” was but fandom made that a nickname yes I am in fact bitter)

Duckboy HARLEY QUINN EXCLUSIVE. She says this once, but it’s hilarious so I’m keeping it.

Detective RA’S AL GHUL EXCLUSIVE. Ra’s is very particular about titles. The only other person he refers to as “Detective” is Bruce, and Dick one time in his internal monologue, so he is acknowledging Tim’s competence. And then proceeds to get a large portion of his resources obliterated by Tim <3

Stephanie Brown Exclusives because Girlfriend Sweetie Muffin Boy Virgin

Duke Thomas

Narrows Almost Jason exclusively, though I think Harper has called him this once or twice. In reference to the neighborhood he grew up in, as opposed to Jason and Harper's Park Row aka Crime Alley upbringing.

Newbie Jason calls him this frequently, though it's likely the others have too.

Baby Bird ELAINE THOMAS EXCLUSIVE. Yeah, surprisingly Duke is actually called this by his mom.

Damian Wayne

Gremlin Mostly exclusive to Tim, but Jason has called him this too. This also seems to be Tim’s go-to for Damian when not using his name or codename.

Dami Used by Jon Kent and Talia al Ghul, so presumably those closest to him.

Little D I think Barbara Gordon exclusive but I’m not sure.

Cousin Oliver Not said to his face to my knowledge, but the Brady Bunch in-joke between Dick and Tim.

Prince/Your Highness (other royal variations) A common way to mock Damian for his haughty air and stuck-up attitude. More common in the past because Damian was The Worst and never shut up about being the heir to Batman and the Demon's Head. He's grown a lot since then and this kind of joke is used less. He is still pretty snooty though.

D JON KENT EXCLUSIVE. I have yet to see anyone else call him this at least, and this is how Jon almost always refers to him.

Baby Bird TALIA AL GHUL EXCLUSIVE. I’ve seen her call him this once, and I don’t recall ever seeing anyone else call him this. Just wanted it known that Talia is the only one to call Damian this.

Tim Drake Exclusives because Tim is Petty and Damian was a Brat Little Monster Hobbit Homunculus Little snot Spoiled, vicious and homicidal little punk Heir to the Kingdom of the Damned

Note on how Damian refers to others: Damian usually uses full first names or surnames, depending on circumstance and closeness. He occasionally calls Dick “Dick” or “Richard”, but often calls him “Grayson”. He almost always refers to Tim as “Drake”, but occasionally as “Timothy”.

Fanon names that I dislike

Replacement Jason never once calls Tim this, and refers to Tim as A replacement about as much as Dick did about Jason (Yes Dick has at least once when talking to Bruce referred to Jason as his replacement). How common it is in this fandom to call Tim "Replacement" (with a capital R like it's a name or title!!!) drives me absolutely insane. It's not canon and tbh you can do better. Hell, "pretender" is right there! And Jason's a nerd, he would do better.

Baby Bird Like…it’s cute, but given it’s used in fanon almost exclusively for Tim, and POST DAMIAN, it just feels infantalizing. Especially when the only canon uses are mothers towards their kids. I see this a lot with Dick and Jason using it, which is...just no. Like, Dick, I get it, but he's more likely to call Tim "Little Brother". Jason would never allow himself to be seen as this soft to Tim. If he were trying to be gentle with him, he'd probably call him "kid". He's done that before.

Baby Bat(s) I have seen this used literally twice. Once where a goon mockingly called Tim that, and once in an AU where Harley said it to Damian. "Baby Bat" isn't a thing. Sorry.

Big Bird More amusing than anything but a little annoying. No one ever calls Dick that in canon and whenever I read it all I can think of is Sesame Street so unless a giant yellow muppet bird is what you're going for, maybe don't do that lol

Demon Brat/Demon Spawn Not the most egregious thing, especially considering the numerous nicknames Tim comes up with, but the consistency of its usage in fanon is a little frustrating. This is never used in-canon, and if you want to use it in your fanworks, just maybe intersperse it with other more creative nicknames, yeah? It's just unoriginal at this point.

Jaylad I don’t hate this one, but it’s such a huge misconception that it’s canon. Bruce has said “Jay, lad” a couple times because he calls like every boy he meets “lad” and people made up “Jaylad”. Not the worst thing ever, but it's not canon.

Golden Boy I don't actually have a problem with this one, but I may as well clear up that this is canon as a descriptor but not as a nickname for Dick. Like calling Jason "the dead Robin". Like, people have said that about him in-canon, but they haven't called him that. The common derivative "Goldie" is entirely fanon.

Non-canon nicknames I think are funny

Dick-face/Dickhead I’m sorry, I find it hilarious whenever someone (usually Jason) in fanfic calls him this. It’s also to me just a silly exaggeration of the obvious joke that has been made at least once (but probably several times by now) in canon about someone being about to call Nightwing a dick and someone else reminding them not to use names in the field. I think it’s hilarious.

Timberly I can’t tell you why this specific deviation of Tim is funny to me but it is. And I'm surprised I haven't seen Jason call Tim this in canon.

[hoodieseasoned]

genuinely think this is my peak in digital art

season nine gem my beloved,, idk what to do with her legs so they're kinda posed awkwardly but yknow that's fine I'm so proud of this considering I'm usually so bad at doing this kind of painterly thing (digitally especially !! so difficult !!!)

reference from alphonse mucha, i have been very inspired by paintings like this one for so long, they are too good i love them so much <3

also the sketch i did in my sketchbook which i then used as a base for the lineart

anyway image description below

[1st ID: A full body digital art of Geminitay dressed in clothing inspired by her season nine skin. She is sitting on a rock while leaning her arms and head on an arch resembling her season nine castle's bridge. On her left is a tall tree with sparse leaves. The background includes a yellow sky and some blue-ish trees in the distance. Gem is smiling at the viewer, she has some strawberry plant's flowers and leaves on her head. Her hair is braided. End of 1st ID.]

edit: i forgot the second part of my ID's, sorry!

[2nd ID: a painting by Alphonse Mucha, of a brunette girl sitting by a riverbank. The pose is same as in the first image, as it is the reference. This girl is leaning on a branch. The colors in the image are soft, mainly yellows and oranges, with some green in the plants and a stronger red in the flowers on the girls head. End of 2nd ID]

[3rd ID: The sketch of gem which the first image is based on. It is done with blue pencil & gel pen on a physical sketchbook page. End of 3rd ID]