#gus infodumping is actually something that can be so personal

[kindofsortofmaybe]

maybe gustho stargazing for the prompts <3

(also hiiiiii)

HIIII ESME!!!! thank you for the prompt!!! i'll be honest, this is super sappy and self-indulgent, but... oh well. it's also unedited so read at your own risk

Constellations

“Did you know that constellations are different in the human realm?” Gus said, breaking the comfortable silence between him and Matt.

“No, I didn’t, cause I’m not a nerd,” Matt shot back, never one to pass up an opportunity to tease his friend. He leaned back onto the blanket they had laid out in the looking glass graveyard, shifting from sitting to laying down for a better view of the stars through the trees. He glanced sideways at Gus. “Tell me about them, though. So I can use your facts to impress everyone, obviously.” An absolute lie. He wanted Gus to tell him about human realm constellations because he could listen to Gus talk for hours. Gus shot Matt a crooked grin as he laid down beside him. 

“Whatever you say, Matty. For starters, their sky isn’t as purple as ours at night. It’s more like a navy blue. And it’s absolutely bright blue during the day, which is weird. And you can’t really see the stars from most places anymore, because of all the lights in their cities.”

Matt frowned. “But we have lights in our cities, and I can see the stars just fine.”

“Yeah, but their lights work different than ours. It’s a whole thing. But that’s not the point! Anyway, we went camping while we were there, and out in the woods, you can see a crazy amount of stars. Luz taught me some of the constellations.

“The famous ones are the big dipper and the little dipper, which are called that cause they both look like spoons. And they’re also both part of bigger bear constellations, I think. And a lot of their constellations have stories, like this one called Gemini. It’s also called the twins, because it’s of two brothers that were put in the sky because one died and the other one was so sad that he asked their—well, this guy who was kind of like their Titan—anyway, he asked him to make him and his brother immortal, so the Titan made them a constellation. There’s lots of interesting stories like that, and I think I want to go back sometime so I can find a book at the human library about them. I want to know every story of every star.”

Matt soaked in every word of Gus’s rambling. He had long ago stopped gazing at the stars, opting instead to gaze at the boy beside him as he spoke animatedly. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was aware that he must look stupidly lovestruck, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. It was true, anyway. Suddenly, Gus turned to look at him, and Matt felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“You should come with me.”

“What?” 

“Back to the human realm,” Gus clarified. “You should come with me sometime. I can show you the constellations.”

“Oh,” Matt said dumbly. He could feel heat rushing to his cheeks. “Alright, loser, it’s a plan. Me and you. The human realm will never recover.” 

Gus laughed, turning his eyes back towards the sky. “Yeah. Me and you. It’s a plan.”

Matt continued to watch him, unable to look away. He couldn’t help it; Augustus was magnetic, electrifying in an addictive way, and to be honest, he was downright gorgeous. Matt couldn’t get enough of him.

But what if Gus could get enough of Matt? Matt wasn’t stupid; he knew the chances of Gus feeling the same way about him were slim. What if Gus got tired of him, or found something—or someone—better in the human realm? Was Matt worth coming back to?

Matt chewed the inside of his cheek nervously, struggling to ask what he wanted to ask. Eventually, he bit the bullet, and softly said, “Will you come back?”

“What do you mean?” Gus replied. He again met Matt’s eyes, his brow furrowed. Matt cleared his throat.

“From the human realm. I know it’s full of all your favorite nerd stuff and you have friends there now, and their constellations are probably way cooler than ours, but… When you go to the human realm, are you gonna come back?” Will you come back to me? 

“Oh.” Gus’s face softened. “Well…” He took Matt’s hand, and the older boy felt his heart beat wildly against his ribcage at the feeling of Gus’s palm pressed flush against his own. “There’s kinda this guy on the Boiling Isles… He’s annoying and rude and waaaaay dramatic, but I kinda…” Gus hesitated. “I kinda like him. So, y’know, even if I found everything I ever wanted in the human realm, I’d at least come back to see him.”

Matt didn’t know what to say. He was rendered speechless, his face bright red. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked back up at the purple sky, breaking their prolonged eye contact.

“Well, that’s super embarrassing.” His voice was too loud. “But… I bet he likes you too. And I bet he’d be glad to see you, if you did decide to visit.” Matt gave Gus’s hand a gentle squeeze. Gus squeezed back.

“Good. Cause I think I’d always come back for him.” He paused. “But I wouldn’t have to, if he came with me.”

“I think he’d go anywhere with you,” Matt said, almost too quickly. He didn’t mean to; it was just true, and the words practically fell out of his mouth. 

“I’ll hold him to that.”

[grinning-reaper-black-pearl]

Sibling and I introduced our mother to Overly Sarcastic Production’s ‘Trope Talks’, and she will often wander over to talk about the episodes and try to match the tropes to characters she knows since often the examples given go over her head as a person who doesn’t watch cartoons. She does, however, occasionally watch videos her overly-excited children insist on showing her. 

Obviously. That’s kind of why she started watching these.

But after watching the “Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass” episode, she immediately identified Shawn Spencer from Psych as a detective edition of this trope and talked about how one of the ways they let Shawn be badass without compromising his clownery was to have his partner Gus also act as (a different variant of) comic relief, so they can also have individual characterization aside from being funny. It works well enough for her to willingly rewatch the show, which is rare because usually she finds comedy characters exhausting.

Then she turned to me and asked, 100% seriously, trying to make this a proper conversation instead of infodumping, “Is Etho also this since he doesn’t know why people are scared of him?”

I made a noise somewhere between “what?” and laughing, which did not help because she just repeated it, but she does actually have some scattered evidence from pure osmosis (read: all of her children like Etho). 

I’m still laughing, because she essentially went ‘the narrator talked about the kung fu panda and I thought it sounded like the ninja Etho’ but she does also know some things like “Etho can’t spell shenanigans, pranked everyone with free glass, and didn’t know why people ran from him when growled” vs “Etho is the best at Among Us, regularly makes complex redstone machines, everyone is terrified of his PVP ability.”

So I say something to the effect of “Mum this is very well thought out but he is a person. I feel like calling a person you don’t know a moron by implication is weird.” 

Before Mum can say more than “I meant that the way everyone treats him is like this,” my sibling - the other one who watches Trope Talk - pops up.

“Etho is a legendary Pokemon with the ability Oblivious.”

So I’ve been having a weird night.

[toh-tagteam-au]

*inhales bc your AU is everything I didn't know I needed and more*

OKAY BUT, couple of questions and thoughts there:

Do Luz and Hunter have teasy nicknames for each other? (maybe something like "Luzer" and "Hunty Duncey"?)

Is Amity able to bond with Luz more easily here? From your Insta, seems Luz's in a love triangle with her maskless self and her masked persona with Amity. And at least, Luz could certainly relate to having annoying older siblings?

I just pictured the scene of Hunter pulling the curtain on King in "Separate Tides" and just imagined if Luz was with him with her mask on, asking if they can't keep the little guy around instead of throwing him into the boiling waters

How is Lilith dealing with not one but TWO protégés of the Emperor?

Is Luz still into Azura stuff? Is Hunter into it as well? Does Luz have a theory board in her room she invites henchmen in to share headcanons and make fandom material when Hunter doesn't want to?

You think Luz ever feels insecure about being the only member of her "family" with round ears?

oh my gosh that’s a lot of questions im so honored!!! I’m glad you like my stuff! I’ll try to answer all of these as best as I can.

1) They don’t use teasing nicknames super often – Their sibling banter is more bickering/targeted insults than nicknames. However, they avoid saying their real names around anyone other than Belos and MAYBE Kikimora to keep up the mystery around their positions. They use titles like “Partner” or “Sister/Brother”. Otherwise, they stick with their usual names (in private), although if Luz wants something from Hunter she’ll get creative, like in canon when she asked Gus for his library card in Looking Glass Ruins.

Also “Hunty Duncey” one shot me the second I read it. She WOULD call him that. It’s probably an inside joke. 

2) Luz and Amity’s relationship is a more “casual flirting in a professional setting” situation, and both of them have fun with it bc there’s no strings attached to the interactions (Luz wants to be friends with the talented pretty girl, Amity is flustered bc Luz doesn’t interact with a lot of people her age and has no ruling for how many compliments are too much). A friend of mine and I actually talked about how Amity’s parents would react to the “beneficial pairing” of setting up their kid with the Emperor’s Personal Guard, so that has an affect on how they interact later on. 

For the record though: some of the stuff on my instagram so far save for the actual comic posts is,,, VERY early development and subject to change (as I’m finding out as I script farther and farther). So idk how Lumity will evolve as I write, or if the identity love triangle will even be a thing (as much as I want it to). Disclaimer!

3) Oh there’s a scene coming up with Luz and King in the same room and I GUARANTEE you that Luz is struggling to withhold her cooing the WHOLE time. Luz’s love for King encompasses all universes.

4) Lilith is definitely not having a great time lol. Especially since Luz makes Hunter a bit more laid back (re: chaotic) and independent than in canon. She is in hell.

5) Only Luz is into Azura stuff! It’s one of the things she bonds with Amity over at first. It’s important to note that her creation of fandom material is heavily restricted and limited (there have been... incidents). Hunter lets her infodump to him partially to get her creative energy out/reduce the chances of more incidents happening. Otherwise he hasn’t read any of them.

6) YES she is ABSOLUTELY insecure about being human. There’s a WHOLE theme with Belos and how he is “proud” that she steps away from her human upbringing to become stronger (ie: a witch). And she knows everyone in the coven would look down on her if her ears were ever revealed to anyone who didn’t know. Growing up in a place where Human/unable to do magic = Weak doesn’t do great things for self esteem. 

[drabbles-of-writing]

Reverse Au! Dump

Don’t mind my idea dumping here. Brain decided to have fun while I was at work and I have too many wips as it is, so… Thought I’d ask before I dumped, experience. Used morningmark’s comics as a base, so if you want reference. Now this isn’t all that well compiled, but here it goes.

~

Magic in the Other World is varied as it is crazy. So many styles over the generations and not a lot of organization. There are some that try to categorize it all, but that works as well as you’d expect. Some were lost, some erased, some weren’t passed down/recorded because “the power is all mine! Ahahaha!” It took a lot of time and collaboration, but eventually a sort of system was installed to help out. Still a lot of work to do, but its a step forward. Nowadays the term Wild Magic is generally reserved for those that aren’t all that well documented and understood.

Some Magics are very powerful and desirable, but also tend to be very high risk/high reward, kinda pass/fail, pretty literally Do or Die most times. So not a lot of people can use those or are even willing to. Story says this one guy named Odin hung himself on a massive tree by his own spear for nine days, no food water or rest in constant pain before he could unlock the secret of Runes. But it’s also said he gouged out his own eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom so… 

There are lots of different ways to channel magic too: wands, staves, jewelry, certain gems, familiars, potions, enchanted armaments, chants, scripts, etc. Each tool has its own advantages and disadvantages and play into a Witches’ style. Every Witch has at least two methods of spellcasting. Only children have one. Haven’t thought of how Luz gets her Palisman though. Maybe its one of those magic Artifacts like Dr. Strange’s cloak, Elder Wand, Thor’s hammer, or a Green Lantern’s Ring. Something that can’t be recreated because the secret is lost, materials no longer exist, too hard/dangerous to make, accident that can’t be recreated, etc. Happens more often than people like.

Camilla is sometimes called the Blue Witch. She’s a healer by heart and trade, but push her and she will become a one Witch Battleship. Bismark who? Aaaaand she just deleted a whole battalion. And the fortress behind them. Hide me. There are the very rare occasions, like count on one hand rare, when someone near and dear to her heart is in trouble that she takes up her other job. She’s especially terrifying when she decides to torture, those who know how to heal the body know best how to break it. Many shades of Blue, some are very close to Black. She doesn’t necessarily hate Humans exactly, but doesn’t have the highest of regard from past experiences.

Luz has training and is a proficient Witch for her age. Camilla and her father were adamant about having a general knowledge/skillset alongside her specialized skill. Jack of all trades and a master of none, still better than a master of one. She has gone through the system for her magic with varying success. Oracle magic? Zero talent. Bard classes? She can play an instrument, but can’t sing at the same time. When she does sing she tires too hard and messes up. It’s only when she doesn’t try, like absently singing along with a song or playing by her heart, that she’s good at it. Beasts? Can use them, but would rather play with them. Bleeding heart and all that. She does have a good handle on healing magic partly due to Camilla drilling necessary skills into her and partly osmosis. Her father arranged for some CQC lessons from an old friend of his which the girl loved. You get the idea. It wasn’t until she discovered Glyphs that she found her niche and her skills took off. Glyphs are one of those ‘eccentric’ or 'archaic’ styles since they haven’t been used in so long after being lost and are barely understood. She still has a long way to go, but she is on her way.

Luz never really had much in the way of friends, partly cuz of high profile parents which leads to certain pressures and a target on her head, partly because of her magic style and personality, and partly because of the trouble been going on. Luz grew up her whole life with this tension of a group of anarchists trying to burn society that’s just trying to do the right thing. The anarchists started small, but have been a growing problem the past few decades with talk how to 'reshape the world’ in not a good way. Anyone with critical thinking skills can tell this is a bad idea, but they are too brainwashed to notice. They harass anyone who doesn’t follow their rhetoric and attack anyone who even questions them. Luz’s parents put a real kink in a lot of their plans for years, which makes Luz guilty by association. 

Luz got caught in one of those sudden larger scuffles and was accidentally chucked/blown through a portal created by an attempted tactical retreat that went off course. Hence why she can’t go home because she hasn’t learned how to do portals yet. Those are high level anyway so how did these guys pull it off so easily? Luz has a hard time blending in obviously. Learning how to use a phone was a fun endeavor. Internet was a trip. Luz is amazed how these people can do all this cool stuff without magic. Keep a low profile sure, she can pass off as a weird out of town kid. Keep the beanie on, underperform in gym and stuff because some things don’t change, like genetics. Someone sharp eyed will see discrepancies. The Beanie has a small Glamor spell built in that covers her witchy traits but she forgot the ears which is why it sits like it does. Luz can erase memories in case she has an accident, but it’s less of a 'remove my face from this picture with a scalpel’, and more of a 'lemme just hack off the past hour or three from your brain with an axe.’ If she tries to take any more then she starts burning into some more dangerous territory and those Wiped are groggy and disoriented for a while after already. Then the magic attacks start happening and her heroic instinct/anti-bystander complex kicks in and there goes that. It runs in the family so Camilla isn’t surprised in the slightest when she finds out.

“Oh titan, why did you curse me with another me?” “I’m right here Mami!”

Eda has a shack very akin to Grunkle Stan. Lots of junk that Lilith can’t believe that people are dumb enough to buy. She’s also involved in some not so legal dealings on the side. Well, Eda isn’t actually hurting anybody and the tax dollars she should be paying would only go towards some politicians’ next yacht or another pointless overseas 'investment’ instead of where it’s supposed to go so. Eda does give some good intel on occasion and a place to vent so Lillith overlooks her. Lil’s more of the secret police for witches and a petty crook isn’t part of her job anyway. Eda understands Luz’s predicament and is willing to help. The cover story is that Camilla work in hospitals and has to work crazy hours while her dad passed away so is living with Eda for a while. King is that kind of critter that grew up weird and acts like ten different animals all the time.

Gus is the nerdy kid who infodumps on everybody, even if they’re not listening. Loves anything fantasy/sci-fi related and plays Minecraft too. A good kid at heart, but needs some social skills. Keep him away from anything more sugary than tea. Luz learned a lot listening to him. Not all of it is entirely useful, but still. Some of his ramblings give her some good ideas for magic and stuff, like putting Glyphs on cards.

The Blights are the cool rich kids obviously, and have some discipline and social issues. Big family name makes them intimidating for normies and a meal ticket for the unsavory. These kids need real friends. They decided to act out to get some attention from the parents who then decided to ignore them. “If you’re going to act like a child tantrum, get treated like one.” Ed is perfect for Drama classes, if he were allowed to partake. Can’t decide what Em is great at, hacking perhaps? Amity’s car is an inheritance from the only family to treat her as such Twins aside, even if she’s too young to remember it. She only remembers that she has feelings surrounding the car. All three of them were pretty impressed with Luz for standing up to them, calling them out on their shit, and not giving a crap about their family name. Being treated like a normal person is pretty weird. Can we get her to do that again?

Amity tried dating Boscha once, didn’t work out very well. Boscha is still hurting over Amity’s comment of “I’d rather go date the new weird kid (Luz) than go back to you.” It’s one of the reasons she goes after Luz. She has that kind of Bud personality from Spider Man, feels lesser and so acts out so much. 

“Wow, this new Witch is amazing. Not as cool as the original Witch.”

“What is it with the Witch with you?”

“Oh, she’s a hero. Looks out for the city and the little guy. She inspires me. Makes me want to be a bigger person. *sees Luz* What’s up Luz-er?”

~

And that’s what I got right now. I know there was more, but it’s lost to the void right now. Might come back later, maybe not. Lemme know what you think.

............

DAMN you weren’t lying when you said you had an info-dump this is *chefs kiss* you got me intrigued now

[adw520]

Rating Some Psych Ships Because I Can

This is 100% my comfort show and I will probably never get tired of watching it. All of this is my personal opinion, and I'm not much of a shipper in the first place. I'm just bored and wanted to make a list. Also I realized after starting this post that I don't have any pictures for this list, but I'm too lazy to stop and go get some.

1. Shules

The canon main ship. Not actually bad, but could have been written better. Most late 2000s/early 2010s shows have this weird habit of slowburning the main pair and then realizing they only have like 1.5-2 seasons to fit in the rest of the relationship drama they wanted, so it just feels kinda rushed and sloppy. 9/10 they need to adopt some cats. Juliet had cats in the first couple seasons, Where Did They Go?

2. Shus

ADHD/Autism solidarity. As an aro-ace person, this is the qp relationship I want with my future partner(s) if i have any. Criminally underrated. Would work well as a romantic relationship too, I'm just too busy projecting onto both characters to think about it more. 11/10 this could be us (but i'm oblivious as hell)

3. Shassie

Has enemies/rivals to lovers vibes even though I'm pretty sure they were never technically enemies or rivals except in Feet Don't Fail Me Now. Everyone who complains about Lassiter being too antagonistic in the early seasons misses the fact that Shawn is equally assholish (I just rewatched season 2, so the snowglobe thing is the first example that comes to mind). They pretty clearly care about each other even in season 1. 8/10 one of those relationships that smacks you upside the head when you first hear about it but in retrospect it makes sense

4. Juliet/Gus

The closest thing to rational, no-nonsense people the core 4 have. Still not very rational or no-nonsense when it comes down to it. They have to keep their phones on during date nights because there is a very high chance that a) Shawn will call with an insane, barely-comprehensible clue to where/who the current bad guy is, b) Lassiter will call with a question about something they talked about 6 hours ago and haven't thought about since, or c) both of the above. 8/10 they definitely go stargazing on clear friday nights

5. Juliet/Lassiter

I personally don't like it. It feels like an attempt at Lassiter/Det. Barry Part 2. No hate if you like that dynamic, but it's not for me. Maybe if Juliet wasn't his partner? Their canon relationship reads very older brother/little sister to me, especially in later seasons, so it just feels odd. 4/10 you'd have to drastically change the story for me to root for it

6. Gus/Lassiter

Lassiter is definitely nicer to Gus in canon than he is to Shawn, but not by much. He would end up with a constant stash of snacks in the glovebox of his car instead of a handful of nuts and/or a protein bar. Not to headcanon characters as autistic or anything, but they would absolutely infodump on each other about their special interests. Equally tired of Shawn's shenanigans and hijinks about 50% of the time, the other 50% is Gus participating in said shenanigans and hijinks. 7/10 i could see it happening if they met under different circumstances

7. Lassiter/Marlowe

Included because it's who Lassiter ends up with in canon. Nobody really talks about Marlowe, but I think she and Lassiter are good together. There's definitely no shortage of love and support between them. Should have had more relationship fluff on screen to make it seem less rushed. 10/10 i wish we got to see Lily in Lassie Come Home