#i wonder how do they get their job done XD

[tongjingnian]

I was on pinterest all night and these are what i found there, guys..🤣

× supernatural

√ superobscene

[luimagines]

Not sure if this has been asked already but scenario with the chain where reader is asleep but randomly calls out Link/one of the boy’s name. Would the guys think it’s cute or be embarrassed wondering what reader is dreaming about?

Oh this one is good!!! XD Let's see what I come up with.

Masterlist

Part one will include Warrior, Sky and Wind.

Content under the cut!

Warrior

Warrior had taken the fourth shift of the night. It was early. By the time his shift would be over the sun would be coming up. He hopes that he'll fall asleep fast enough to catch the last two hours of the night before they set up to leave the for the day.

He yawns and shakes himself awake. He's so tired. But a job has to be done.

You turn over in your sleep. The movement catches his eye and he smiles subconsciously. You're adorable. Your hair is messy from your sleep and your hands are curled by your face. You looks peaceful.

Warrior sighs and runs his hands through his hair. He's being creepy, watching you while you sleep. He needs to get a grip and look elsewhere. His only consolation is that you're asleep and so is everyone else. So no one can call him out on this.

"Mmm..." You grunt and hide your face with your arm. "...Link..."

Warrior sits up straighter in an instant. Well, nevermind. All forethought is thrown out the window. He's no longer going to hide that he's watching you.

He tilts his head and leans close to you. Who are you thinking of? It can be any number of them. It tells him so much and yet so little.

No, no, no, no- He's looking away. He's ignoring it. He's not going to get his hopes up. What hopes? That you're dreaming about him? Weird. Besides- no one said it was a good thing. He's not going to pay attention, he swears it.

"...Captain..."

Warrior curses in his head and winces. He's afraid to even breathe. If he so much as makes any noise it might wake you up.

He starts frantically bouncing his knee, looking the other way with his fist in his cheek. He has so many questions. He wants to be nosey and ask and wake you but that would be literally the worst thing he could do in this moment.

His mind starts to run with the idea of what you could be dreaming of. Is a good dream? He hopes it's a good dream. He would feel horrible if you were thinking of him in a negative light. (A small voice tells him, that logically, it could be a dream with him in it. It doesn't have to be about him. He ignores it.)

You makes another small grunt and turn around again, pulling the blankets over your head.

Warrior curses under his breath, feeling his blood rush through his body. He needs to get his mind and body under control. It wouldn't do anyone any good for him to be out of his mind throughout the next day.

He can kiss goodbye the thought of sleeping again after this. Warrior whines in the back of his throat, wondering how on earth something so innocent so go far into the gutter so quickly.

It's not fair! How on earth is he going to look you in the eye tomorrow? It's not like you're aware of this!

Warrior takes in a shaky breath and picks up his sword. He can do one last perimeter check before he has to wake up Wild for the last shift. That should help, right?

It doesn't.

Sky

He was so tired.

You both had been traveling in this dungeon for what felt like eons. With little progress to show for it, Sky called it about time that you both took a break.

He thought he was going to fall asleep any second, but it seems like you beat him to the punch.

Sky watched over you, keeping his sword out just in case any monster decided to break their walk pattern and walk in on the two of you. His head is lulling to the side with the need to keep watch over you, he finds himself unable to sleep.

You roll over and sigh. Sky sighs with you, letting a small smile grace his face. He understands. Even in your sleep, you're still frustrated with this situation.

"....Link..."

He sits up straighter.

"Yes?" Sky tilts his head and waits for you to respond. Were you awake already? Did you need something?

You don't reply.

You were talking in your sleep, he realizes. Which should have been a more comforting thought- had you not said his name. But that begs the questions, doesn't it? Are you talking to him? Or one of the others?

Sky can feel a blush slowly take over his face. He looks away from you. It's probably someone else. What would be the odds that you were calling out to him in your dream? There's a lot of Links these days. No need for him to get his hopes up, rig-?

"Sky... Please..."

Sky covers half of his face with his hand. He accidentally drops the sword.

Oh, it's him. You're dreaming about him. You're talking to him in your dreams.

All sense of fatigue leaves him in an instant. Spurred on by embarrassment and endearment, he feels as it he could take on this whole dungeon- just to avoid the emotional conversation he would no doubt have with himself in regards to this.

By Hylia, why do you talk in your sleep? Have you always talked in your sleep?

Do you always dream about him?

He hopes it's a good dream at least.

Wind

Wind was bored. And so were you. Enough so that you fell asleep on his shoulder.

Wind felt bad. He didn't want to wake you up, but he also didn't want you to get caught for falling asleep during the very important briefing that did not have to be so early in the morning.

He sighed and tucked you closer to him, wrapping his arm around you. He pats your head and rests his head against yours.

He huffs and puffs and closes his eyes, trying to not fall asleep either.

It's hard. He can hear Time and Warrior sharing ideas in the background about their next moves and how they would try to split the group up into the traveling groups, with quiet input from Twilight and Sky every now and then. It's boring stuff.

He starts to feel himself nod off before you shift from under him.

Wind blinks his eyes open and looks down to you. No, you're still sleeping. Maybe you're uncomfortable? He shifts you again, laying you back against the wall, trying to cushion your head as much as he can.

"Nn... Link..." You mutter, not once opening your eyes.

Wind freezes and waits to see if you'll wake up. His heart starts pounding. It feels weird, hearing his name after so long. He pokes your forehead and waits.

You don't wake up.

Wind lets out a breath and tries to reorient himself against you and get comfy again. He's so sleepy. A little cat nap wouldn't be too bad right?

"Wind..." You whisper and Wind can feel himself be jolted awake once more. "...Pirate..."

Wind tilts his head and watches you for a moment. You frown in your sleep and turn your head away. A nightmare?

Wind won't chance it.

He shakes you by the shoulder and doesn't stop until you wake up. "Hey."

You take a startled breath and look around. "Wha- Huh? Where am I?"

"Oh good." Time calls out. "We need your opinion on this. Come here."

You nod and rub your eyes, standing without missing a beat. You pat Wind on the head and yawn. Wind frowns some more as he watches you engage with the group, it's almost as if you weren't asleep at all. You slip into the conversation easily.

What were you dreaming about? Why did you call out to him?

Wind is nervous to ask.

Part 2

[sheep-from-rad]

Spicy Imagines (ft. Alhaitham and Kaveh) Genshin x Reader 

Note: I had these ideas as separate fanfics but it was too short so I just made them into one. I would have published it earlier this week but I have fallen down the Alhaitham/Kaveh angst rabbit hole and wasn’t able to get up from it until this afternoon. Anyway, enjoy!~ Extra note (please read): I will be entering the big city soon meaning I will be leaving some of things here at home. I might not be able to go publish a fanfic for weeks and weeks because it will be a clinical internship. Still, I will try my hardest to make content!~ Warnings: spicy, mentions of bondage and toys XD <Masterlist 1> ------- <Masterlist 2>

Kaveh 

Being an architect and being named as the Light of Kshahrewar, being meticulous and having an eye for detail is something that Kaveh is very talented with. 

Whenever Alhaitham is out, he makes his merry way to make the shared house more ‘homey’. He’ll decorate it with paintings, with flowers, and with furniture, which sometimes lead to petty fights whenever the scribe is home. 

Having an eye for detail is probably one of the things why after one magnum opus, he found himself down in debt and still drowning in it. Well, it’s not like he can just make a building and that’s it right? 

He takes the habits of looking out for detail everywhere especially inside his room once the doors have closed and his roommate is out. 

Kaveh will take his time typing you up with the ribbons that he soaked in warm water beforehand, making sure that it won’t leave a mark on your skin. That after all is his job to do and not the ribbon’s job. 

He’ll fix the lights inside his room, making sure that it will show the awaiting flower fastened with ribbons on his bed. 

Kaveh is taking longer than usual. His eyes already darkened by the dim lit room looked like predatory glances at the corner of the room. His hands skillfully erased and redraw the lines in his sketchbook, taking notes of every detail present in front of him. It’s fascinating how he never seemed to miss any detail at all. From the ribbons that tie your thighs apart, to the sweat that drips from your neck down to your chest, to the way your eyes roll from every thrust the hand operated toy gives you, and to the wetness that pools and is slowly staining the sheets beneath you. 

It’s a shame that the paper and charcoal can’t capture your whines and pitiful whimpers but that’s for him to savor once he puts his sketchbook down. 

Alhaitham 

Theoretical and then practical. It is one unwritten law that every scholar learns once they enter the Akademiya. A lesson that became a practice to Alhaitham even after his days as a scholar. 

While it is a standard, it is not really something that should be done in everything. If it wasn’t for Kaveh noticing his attempts for courting and then for sure Alhaitham would still be spending his nights wide awake reading books about courting and planning the best possible scenario to make you say yes. 

Alhaitham was very vanilla behind closed doors. He’ll make sure that both of you are satisfied and properly cleaned every night you lay together. If he makes a mark that sure will bruise, he’ll look at the ice crates and make sure you’re treated properly before he can go to sleep so you won’t worry about covering anything when morning comes. 

It all comes to a stop when a tired student accidentally passes a folder with an erotic book instead of his thesis proposal. This man hates novels, he just reads them for the sake of reading and then forgets they exist afterwards. 

He’ll rather stick with boring and nonsensical drafts made by students than read a romance book but here he is spending his whole night trying to make sense of the book and a mind full of thoughts on how he could make use of the book. 

You wondered what happened. The best guess that he’s stressed out from the ‘junk’ that the scholars are passing on his desk. There was never a time where his office was clean and lucky for him the ceilings are high or else the room will really be flooded with papers by now. One particular harsh thrust pulled you out of your head evoking  a loud moan at the same time and knocking you off your hands and knees. 

“Oh god !” 

The said man only let out a miniscule smile as he continued the rough pace. “There is no god here darling, you’re calling the wrong being”, he said, emphasizing each word with a thrust. HE snaked his hands underneath your form, scooping you up from the sheets, before resting it on your throat. 

“You know my name right? Why don’t you call it that?” As he felt your heartbeat tripled in pace, Alhaitham mentally thanked the student that accidentally passed the book. Maybe he should consider their thesis proposal.

Taglist: @uchihaeirin @eccedentesiast-sapphic @tinandabin @chihawari

[lionlena]

1. New job, new problems... (PedroPascalxreader) - one shot

Ok, so here's the first one shot of: one shots week. As I wrote, I was inspired by my problems, but don't take everything literally, because of course I changed some things, but generally yes, my new co-workers are mean bitches. But I've come to terms with it. At least instead of talking to them, I write ff xD

Summary: co-workers at your new job treat you badly. You try to hide it from your boyfriend, but even from a distance Pedro senses that something is wrong.

Warnings: little sad but later fluff and loving, caring Pedro

This can be considered as a continuation: ♡Just let it go…

You were happy when you got a new job where you made more money. No matter how many times Pedro told that you could have his money. You felt bad about it and wanted to prove to him that you weren't with him for the money.

However, you soon found out that your new job was a nightmare. And it wasn't the job itself, because it was easy and fun for you. Your co-workers were the problem. You ended up in a three-person team consisting of all women, and you felt their hostility from the very beginning. They had trouble giving you the simplest of information, like where the bathroom is. They responded with annoyance to your every question. But you thought they'd get used to you over time. You were polite and tried to have little chats with them, but it was not effective because they ignored you. With each passing day, you felt worse and worse, and as if your misfortune wasn't enough, Pedro flew to the set in Morocco.

You sighed heavily as you sat alone at a table during your lunch break. You've been scrolling through the photos fans have taken of your boyfriend. It always made you feel a little better and made you forget everything for a moment. Your boyfriend looked pleased, though you could see he was tired. You wanted so much to hug him and make sure he was taking care of himself.

Of course, Pedro wanted you to go with him. At least for a few days, but you couldn't take free time from your new job so quickly. Another minus.

And of course, every time you spoke to him, you said everything was fine. You didn't want to worry him. You knew he should be focused on a movie set.

You were just looking at a photo of Pedro wearing a white t-shirt that was visibly wet at the bottom. You smiled and started to wonder what your beloved had done. Knowing him, he probably spilled something on himself. Pedro was so clumsy sometimes. But you loved it about him. You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn't even notice your co-workers walking past you. Their sudden giggles made you jump and almost drop your phone.

"Seriously Y/N," Jane said. "You'd better focus on your job, not on dreaming about some actor who doesn't even know you exist."

You had to bite your tongue not to say that unlike her, you work instead of filing your nails half the day.

"I don't know what these girls see in him," Michele said.

You perfectly saw how a few days earlier she was drooling at the monitor when she was reading an article about your boyfriend.

Before you could answer anything, they walked away laughing like crazy.

When you talked to Pedro in the evening, you could hardly keep your composure. He asked you several times if you were okay.

"Honey, you really do sound kind of weird," he said sadly.

"I'm really fine... I've had a busy day today and I think I'm having a migraine."

"My poor baby," he cooed. "Maybe you should lie down."

"That's what I'll do."

"Do you want me to talk to you on the phone until you fall asleep?"

You wanted to cry. Your boyfriend was so sweet and caring.

"Yes," you whispered.

You only felt worse for the next few days. Even during lunch, you didn't look at pictures with Pedro because your co-workers always sat at the table next to you. You were sure those bitches did it on purpose. It was ridiculous and you felt like you were in high school.

You started wondering if you should just start going out to some restaurant for lunch. You would have less time then, but you would gain peace of mind. Suddenly you heard some commotion behind you.

"Is that him? It's impossible," Michele murmured.

You turned around and your heart leaped. You couldn't believe your eyes. A smiling Pedro was walking towards you with a small bouquet of your favorite flowers. You couldn't take it any longer and ran over to him. He welcomed you with open arms and hugged you tightly. You pulled away from him after a while, to look into his eyes. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the silly faces of these three bitches.

"What are you doing here?" you choked out.

"Did you really think I wouldn't sense something was wrong?" He stroked your cheek gently. "I'm back only for two days, but I hope it's enough."

You nodded and murmured, "I still have a few hours left at work."

"I know, but I couldn't wait to see you. I'll pick you up in the car so you don't have to take the subway back and we'll spend a wonderful evening together."

You blushed involuntarily, and he chuckled and whispered in your ear, "Yeah, I'm thinking about that too."

You shook your head and groaned as you realized you had to get back to work. You kissed Pedro on goodbye.

Suddenly your co-workers wanted to talk to you, but this time you ignored them. It was really sweet revenge.

Pedro has come for you as promised. On the way, he picked up food from your favorite restaurant. At home, he lit the candles and asked, "Dinner first, or bath first?"

You looked at him lovingly. "Dinner."

After you ate, he prepared an aromatic, warm bath for you. The tub was big enough for both of you to fit comfortably. You sat between his legs and rested your head on his chest. His big hands traced patterns on your breasts and belly. You finally felt relaxed. You closed your eyes and sighed heavily. You felt Pedro kiss you on the head. "My love, can you tell me what's been making you so sad lately?"

You nodded and squeezed his hand tightly. Though you tried to be calm, your voice trembled a few times as you told him about your job and how your co-workers treated you.

Pedro listened to you carefully, and at the end of your story, he hugged you tightly and kissed your shoulder.

"I'm so sorry babe. These stupid women should be glad to be working with someone as great as you." He placed a kiss on your shoulder again. "I know we've talked about this before, but you don't have to work. You know that. Why do I need money if I can't make the people I love happy?"

You smiled and squeezed his arm. "I know baby. But I want to go back there and watch those bitches die of jealousy because I have the most amazing and handsome boyfriend in the world."

Pedro chuckled and hugged you tighter. "Can this most amazing and handsome boy take you to bed and enjoy your body?"

"Yes!" you squeaked.

A week later, your boss appreciated your work and decided to transfer you to a new, more experienced team. Your new co-workers turned out to be very friendly and communicative. Enjoyed your job again. Though it was nice knowing you had a great boyfriend thanks to whom you don't have to work. And you don't have to worry about money.

Taglist: @creedslove

[moodymisty]

Not the same anon but you remember that Death with cold and cynical s/o after the Well of Souls thing? I'm kinda intrigued about how that works, so can I request a oneshot for that?

Btw, after reading that entire thing, it sounds a bit like "Just Look My Way" from Helluva Boss.

Author's Note: Hello! I had a bit of trouble with this one, but I hope you still enjoy it :3 I'm trying to get the last few of the SFW requests done since the NSFW ones are becoming so long XD I'm proud of them, but they tend to take longer and get drawn out.

Relationships: Death/Gn!Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1374

Death wouldn't consider himself unfamiliar with the feeling of death, as joking as it might sound to himself.

However the Well of Souls however had felt, different. It feels like no time has passed at all, like a blink of an eye; Though he can tell by the leaves on the trees and the structures around the Tri-Forge than more than a fair bit of time has passed.

A part of him had considered not even making this stop. His 'death' at the Well of Souls could serve as a perfect severing point between him and the Makers realm. He could just add it to the list of places he's traveled through and throw it behind him.

But he just couldn't do it. Against his better judgement, he just needs to make sure.

He'd never said goodbye to you, never told you where he was going; He'd just left you at the Tri-Forge, and had trusted in the Makers to keep you safe. He's sure they've done a fine job of that, in his absence. As much as he might've complained, he can't think of many at all that he trusts as much.

Death dismisses Despair and walks into the Tri-Forge, and within moments he can feel as if something is off.

He's quite familiar with feeling unwelcome in any place unfortunate enough to have him present, but even this is a bit... intense.

The Makers on first glance can't contain their surprise at seeing the Reaper again, before it quickly sours. Death wonders how long he's really been gone; He imagines not much longer than a season, if the weather is anything to go by. It had been quite warm the last time he'd been here, and now the Makers realm is quite a bit colder.

He continues forward, and it's not longer after he passes the outer forges that he crosses the old warrior he remembers from the beginning of that long journey that led him to the Well of Souls.

Valus gives him one cold look; For once the reaper might've preferred seeing Alya.

"You have quite the pair to come back around here again after what you did."

Death lets out a quiet scoff. He knows what the Maker is referring to, but decides to beat around it. Why he can't hazard a guess, it slips from his lips behind the mask before he has a chance to really stop it.

"After what? Attempting to save War? I believe you all helped me in that endeavor, last I remember."

Valus crosses his arms across the expanse of his chest, and nods in the direction deeper into the forge.

"You have a lot to work on, Reaper. You might be able to talk like that to me, but you ain't gonna do that with them."

So you're still here. That fills him with more relief than he'd ever dare utter out loud. He doesn't know why he even thought you would be gone- the Human realm is still off limits, as well as a crumbling wreckage.

Valus, as much as it seems to physically hurt the Maker, directs him in your direction before not giving the reaper much more than a scornful parting glare. Death takes it in stride- it isn't the first time- and keeps moving until he finds you.

But he can't contain the raising of his posture when he sees you, your back turned to him. You don't seem to know he's here as of yet, occupied with something else.

He notices in your lap is Dust; He'd put the bird in charge of keeping an eye on you shortly before he had 'died'. He'll give the bird a piece of carrion for sticking though with it. Though he isn't very much surprised, as the bird had taken a liking to you quite quickly. It helps that you were more than eager to snuggle and give the bird scritches, unlike himself.

You tenderly scratch the bird on the back of the neck and earn an appreciative warble, before the crow notices him and abruptly begins to squawk, jumping on your thigh and flapping his wings. You look down at him and pinch his beak for a moment, trying to distract the bird.

"Quiet Dust, geez." The bird fluffs up and continues to caterwaul, until his old master finally speaks up.

"I don't appreciate you yelling at me, bird."

He notices your body tense up and raise suddenly, and you look over your left and see him, eyes wide and lips slightly parted. The crow lowers his tone and still warbles deep in his throat, but stops the flapping and alarm bells.

And then your face drops back to neutral, and you turn away.

Dust hops gently on your thigh and looks up at you, taking a chunk of your clothing in his beak and attempting to pull at it. He gets gently brushed to stop doing it, and settles back into a fluffy black loaf.

Death takes the hit to his pride a bit harder than perhaps he should have, considering his attempts to feign nonchalance for anything other than your fragile mortality. He had expecting you to have that brightness to your eyes and jump up and run to him, like you'd had the myriad of times he'd left you for even the shortest while. He'd thought it was annoying, but now he finds himself almost craving it as your back faces him. He misses the happiness, the energy. It's like it's all evaporated from you now.

This is what Valus was referring to, it seems.

"Quite the greeting," He says, gesturing with his hand for his crow to finally return to his master. His duty is done after all, he did what Death asked of him.

Dust distinctly hesitates for a moment, before eventually giving in and flying back to rest on the top of Harvester. Meanwhile you turn around and give him a venomous look, crossing your arms.

"You gave so little of a shit about me you couldn't even say goodbye, Death." You just shrug your shoulders and turn away, like you can even tolerate the look of his mask. "Now that you picked up your bird, you can leave. I'm sure you have somewhere much more important to be. I'll be fine with the Makers." "Though I doubt that was ever a concern for you."

He supposes that you aren't wrong to think that. He never did tell you more than what he absolutely had to. In that moment, and the many times he'd neglected to tell you things beforehand, he thought he was doing the best thing. And keeping his feelings at arms length.

Keeping yours at arms length too; He could tell you were getting more and more attached to him, and that he needed to keep it from happening before you ended up too entrenched in something that would only end up getting you killed.

But he hates the way that your admittance to thinking he doesn't care about you hurts.

He does care; Far too much, if Death had any say in it.

He gives far too much of a care for someone as old and dejected as him. One of the first things that came to his mind when he left the Well of Souls was you.

He supposes this was bound to happen. Everyone eventually comes to hate him, in the end. It's his lot in life.

Though this one hurts far worse, and he finds himself wishing to fix it far more than any of the others. To make matters worse, his crow hefts himself off of his scythe and returns to you, as you get up and move to walk away.

As you pass he raises his hand ever so slightly to grab your arm and stop you- he doesn't even know what he'd say to you if he did- but drops it. You don't notice, and keep walking away right past him.

Death supposes he deserves this.

But while he finds himself unsure on what to do, he knows he has to do something. He isn't going to let you go like all of the others that have wandered through his life. He just doesn't know where to start.

[tatekane]

I've been reading the comments on reddit about the megabases and burnout, and the take that megabases are "facades", just there to look pretty with no function. Read that continuously it gets exhausting.

I don't know how to form my thoughts I'll just dump it all here:

First eyyyy Scar giving props again to Pearl and Bdubs that they aren't MC builders anymore they've ascended to great artists.

That leads me to the thought of megabases, there are ppl in HC who treats MC as a canvas, they genuinely enjoy building and if making megabases is their thing let em, no need to harp on that it has no function, yes it does it's their outlet and most importantly their art. If someone is building something big just to follow an imagined template in HC that's their misconception and if a viewer is complaining about this, there are hermits they can watch that has a different take, like Zed (have you seen the zedvancements?! amazing), Joe (tho he was building the massive pinball machine this season, it was a passion project for him), Etho, xB, Beef (his maps were mega xD, he loves doing it tho).

I remember Bdubs in s7 he was building his wonderful town and Grian told him it wasn't a megabase so he built his mountain and massive castle (btw is this why ppl thinking HC is about megabases?) Bdubs never appears to burnout when he's building. His solo series "Building with Bdubs" he's even challenging himself to build massive... my point is, there are ppl who geniunely likes building and ppl thumbing their nose at it are hurting the builders of HC.

Grian is the most prominent one who has megabase burnout, he always enjoy building when they are novel or is tied with lore. Grumbot, his bottle under the ocean, his stores, treesa, Cherry Tree in a pot, etc. Maybe stick with that (these are mostly relatively smaller builds).

The burnout comes from self-inflicted "rules" like megabases and what "content" will make the viewers engaged. Content is something they have to deal with because it's their job... they just need to do content that they enjoy. I'm pretty sure the hermits are brainstorming in their meetings. They will come up with something good.

AND I see this a lot too on reddit, ppl who are asking "Isn't HC vanilla?" passive-aggressively pointing at DO2's doors, cards, keys etc. now if you made Tango do those too in map form or have him make more farms for unique items for the treasure/shards, imagine the restocking... Tango would definitely burnout especially with how much those doors/custom items made him happy. He has done A LOOOOT for season 9. It irks me when ppl question if they are vanilla.

Let the hermits have their custom item models for their hats/elytra/weapons it adds something to their content and those simple things invigorates them and we enjoy their silliness with it.

*cue Bdubs gasping* "but we're vanilla!" when they requested for rain/snow to be shut off when they were ice racing.

[the-final-sif]

I am. So hyped for your new au!!!!!!

It has me giddy, oh my god. Incredible worlbuilding Sif, it really drew me in. All the gods killing children so they can stay immortal forever...

I wonder how much XD tells Dream growing up. If Dream is fully aware of the plan.

Oh XD tells c!Dream absolutely fucking nothing. Literally nothing. Dream has no idea he's a godling. He barely knows gods exist. He only finds out XD is a god midway through the Dream SMP. Dream thought XD was jut a weird guy.

It's not out of forgetfulness or not wanting Dream to be prepared, it's a matter of survival. Part of how the mask works is it separates Dream from his own budding abilities as a godling, and it's more effective because he doesn't know that power is there. If he did know it was there then he might knowingly or accidentally reach for it. Even if he just did it for a moment, it could be enough for the other gods to take notice or worse, for the mask to be broken. XD can't take that risk, so he tells Dream as little as possible and invents excuses to get him to do what needs to be done.

XD also kind of accidentally is always shittalking other gods and talking about them very, very casually. It leads to Dream having a shit ton of hubris constantly but not even on purpose, it's just like, how he grew up. And because literally no god wants to fuck around with a human favored by XD and risk getting on his bad side, he 100% gets away with his hubris every time. Gives Phil a fucking heart attack the first time he hears Dream called the God of Death "Kristen" because that name is only known to a few people, and even Tommy & Wilbur still call her "the God of Death" when around other people. He assumes that Tommy must've slipped up, but in reality Dream just listened to XD bitch about "Kristen" being nosy for most of his life. Phil asked Kristen about it once and she just laughed and said she's not offended. She actually prefers Kristen if anything, but it's easier to do her job when humans see her as a mythical figure.

[irlcats-bracket]

Bracket 5 Semifinals 2

Blackie vs Maccabee

check their descriptions and catpaganda (new for blackie)

BLACKIE

This is Blackie, submitter's little one-eyed wonder. He lost his eye to glaucoma quite a few years ago, but he's doing a lot better now, and still likes to play with his sister, Artemis. His name is Blackie because that's what the shelter named him and submitter's family couldn't agree on a new name for him so it stuck, but submitter themselves call him 'Big Boi' because of just how massive he is. He was once very timid, but with time and love and patience he is now a certified lap cat who will come right up to strangers to demand pets. He has a wonderful squeaky meow and when he purrs it sounds like two cats purring at once. He likes to have people watch him eat and he will guide submitter's mom over to the couch and make her lay down just so he can sleep in her lap. Also, when he lays on his back, he covers his belly with his tail. Pictured is him in his signature polite boi sitting pose

MACCABEE

- weird old man

- known to bite people's elbows when prompted

- frequently sleeps with one (1) limb stretched in a random direction

- the reason submitter can't have pineapples in the house

- knows the word "treat," meaning it cannot be said out loud around him

- they got him for chanukah (hence the name). diversity win! this cat is jewish!

- they paid $150 to buy him a half-page ad in submitter's high school yearbook because he's worth it <3

CATPAGANDA

MACCABEE

has a post made by his human as a separate propaganda piece. it has bribery. the offer as far as i know still stands

also has agitational posters!!

BLACKIE

So glad to see Blackie still in the competition! His response so far has been "aow."

Truth be told, I'm running out of propaganda. If he make it to the next round, I'm gonna try my darnedest to capture his meows on video, which I haven't been able to do before because he sees me coming with the camera and starts purring XD

For now, more assorted Blackie facts!

Very rarely, when he gets the zoomies, he'll laugh. Like "huhuhuheueheHUEHEUE" kinda laugh.

I like to let him sniff human food/whatever I'm holding just to make sure he feels included (still doesn't like anything but pizza crumbs). But he has gagged on pickled ginger, banana, and CBD rub. He always gets really embarrassed when he gags tho

Ever since I got a job, he has been following me to bed and jumping on my chest to get the pets that he now lacks during the day.

If he sees you getting out the cat brush, he''ll lead you over to where he wants to be brushed.

On that note, when I had hurt my leg one time, Blackie saw that I wasn't leaning down to pet him and instead lead me over to the couch to have me sit down to pet him. He kept that up for a couple months once he saw how relieved it made me.

More Blackie propoganda! This time I bring you big boi in motion

link

Assorted Blackie facts:

A brave man when it comes to thunderstorms. But the vacuum? His mortal enemy.

The friendliest cat at the shelter. But the staff forced me to pick him up and hold him to get a picture and he got terrified and peed on me.

We think, based on how he acts, that he may have grown up in a home with dogs. But the mark on his ear is one done by our local neuter and release program, so we don't know if he was a stray, an outside cat, etc. But he's one of the friendliest cats I've ever met.

Will go up to his sister and put his head down to get it licked. But as soon as she goes to lick him and flattens his ears and raises a paw like he's gonna hit her. Sometimes they fight and sometimes they just walk away. We don't think he's trying to trick her because he acts genuinely confused throughout this process.

Sometimes he uses his back paw to scratch the back of his front leg when he's sitting down and it's so cute <3

These are old photos from when I used to hold a camera down and snap a photo when they leaned in to sniff the lens.

Blackie is our older cat and is such a gentleman. He is eager to love, he does the quickest slow blinks I've ever seen from a cat. He has a two-layered purr, it literally sounds like a cat purring as popcorn is being made in the background. He lost his eye to glaucoma when he was younger but he runs around and plays and teases his sister Artemis like a kitten. And his eyebrow whiskers grew down over his missing eye! He's not a big fan of people food but he has a fondness for pizza crumbs (NOT the crust. Just the crumbs off the plate when you're done eating the pizza). He walks like he's gingerly stepping through flowers and he's so gentle that the one time I overstimulated him and he wanted to bite me, he just shoved his closed mouth against my hand. He has a super long tongue and if you scratch the right spot between his shoulder blades he will lick the air. He's my precious boy who started out so scared but he's so brave and social and happy now just typing this out makes me wanna cry and go give him scritchies.

[the-sky-queen]

You have my full attention

KAY BUCKLE UP. INFO DUMP TIME LET'S GOOOOOO!!!

We'll go in the order that I listed the spinoffs, even if that isn't the order we came up with them. (Spectrophobia was probably the first one I think.)

Dementophobia is the fear of going insane and it's the Psychonauts one. I hadn't heard of Psychonauts before this, so I'm still working my way towards watching the game cutscenes. I think I'm in the middle of Psychonauts 2 right now and then I'll be all caught up. If you're unaware, Psychonauts is a videogame where this kid named Raz has psychic powers and wants to become a Psychonaut, who are basically spies I think and also use their mind powers to help people get therapy.

So during Dementophobia, Niko accidentally comes into contact with the Warp Topaz (a common theme you'll see in a lot of these) and gets sent to the world of Psychonauts. He comes into contact with Raz who figures out something's up and decides to help him out. Raz goes into Niko's mind and very quickly realizes something is VERY WRONG HERE. (Also, Lily and I along with Lily's more Psychonauts knowledgeable friends have done a TON of worldbuilding around Niko's mind world and what happens there. It's so in depth and interesting and I LOVE IT SO MUCH) Anyway, Raz realizes that he's gonna need some backup here because Niko's mind is unlike pretty much anything he's ever seen before. It's that messed up. He takes Niko to his Psychonauts friends for help and that's when things really get going. Also Maple shows up at some point.

I could go on and on about what we have planned for Niko's mind world, but that might be a bit too spoiler-y. BUT TRUST ME WHEN I SAY IT'S SUPER COOL. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Alright, next up is Phobophobia which in all honesty is a silly joke AU that is really just here to have fun with. Here's what's up: Starline and Maple are married. Niko is their actual child. (Also Surge and Kit show up at some point, also being Starline's kids)

It sounds CRAZY (and it is) but it's really fun!! Niko's like 7 I think and there's not really a set plot to this one. It's just a collection of scenarios that this wacky family gets into. Also, there's like a subplot where Starline learns to be more caring and gets closer to Niko and it's kinda cute. This one got started before the Trauma Siblings became a thing, so they're not included, and I'm still wondering if I should put them in. That would put Starline and Maple at SIX kids though and I don't know if their marriage can handle that. XD

(ALSO EGGMAN AND STARLINE ARE CO-WORKERS AND EGGMAN'S DAUGHTERS ARE 6 YEAR OLD SAGE AND BELLE.)

Next up is Decidiophobia, Fear of Decision making. This is the Stanley Parable crossover, another game that I hadn't heard of before this, but I'm now OBSESSED WITH. Quick rundown of The Stanley Parable: You play as Stanley, an ordinary guy with a job pressing buttons on a keyboard all day. Then one day, his co-workers all go missing and he sets out to try to find them and figure out what's up. The entire game is narrated by the Narrator, who even narrates your actions! However, what he says you're going to do isn't set in stone and you can go against what he says whenever you want. All this leads to different paths and storylines you can take, causing multiple different endings. After each one, the game resets and you start all over again.

SO HERE'S THE THING ABOUT THIS ONE. Instead of doing another dimensional yeet via the warp topaz, we decided that The Stanley Parable exists within the regular Sonic universe. How? Uhhh, I probably can't explain that because of spoilers, but let's just say . . .

The Narrator is vaguely connected to the Time Eater and also the Phantom Ruby is here. And GUN got involved too.

So Niko shows up in side The Parable™ and confuses the Narrator, because he's not Stanley. The Narrator tries to continue on as normal, but after a particularly disastrous ending, he realizes that Niko is AN ACTUAL CHILD and resolves to help him escape The Parable™. :D

Next: Autophobia, Fear of being Alone, otherwise known as the Miraculous Ladybug one. You know the drill by now. Warp Topaz, dimensional yeet, and it's all fun and games until Hawkmoth gets to Niko literally IMMEDIATELY. (Not gonna explain Miraculous because it's a lot. If you don't know about it already, just go watch the show.) So Niko gets akumatized into THE MOST TERRIFYING AND OVERPOWERED AKUMA IN EXISTENCE, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS LITTLE ANGEL. He can make people fall (platonically) in love with him just by looking at him and it even works across BROADCAST. So like. Anyone who comes into contact with him is instantly obsessed with him. There's a bit more too it, but that's probably spoilers. :P

Anyway, Ladybug is compromised pretty much INSTANTLY. And shortly afterwards, the entire school falls to Little Angel's spell. Due to spoiler reasons, Chat Noir, Chloe, and Kagami, manage to escape his influence and start trying to find a way to fight back. (Oh also Little Angel is not a hedgehog, but he was turned into a small human child with animal ears, a halo, and wings. Yeah, he's called Angel for a reason.)

This is the only crossover we have where Niko very much does NOT get therapy. He's usually better off by the end of one of the crossovers but NOT THIS ONE. In fact, he actually gets WORSE because of this one. :D

AND FINALLY WE HAVE SPECTROPHOBIA, Fear of mirrors/your reflection. AKA THE ONE I ACTUALLY CAME UP WITH BY MYSELF. XD This one is interesting because SONIC shows up. Like, regular Sonic, untainted by Starline's influence, shows up in the facility. How? Let's just say that the 900th Adventure special didn't quite go as planned. >:) So he's able to find Starline and Niko in the facility right in the middle of a session. Sonic's like 'nah this is stopping right now,' rescues Niko, and escapes the facility! It's not as easy as it seems though because Niko freaks out as soon as he realizes Sonic's here and he took him away from Starline. I REALLY WANNA START POSTING THIS ONE. I PROBABLY COULD BUT I'VE BEEN PUTTING IT OFF. Also the Warp Topaz shenanigans are fun in this one and I've got an art I need to finish for it that no one but Lily will understand but will come up later on in the story. >:)

Kay, that's all the ones I mentioned in that post, but there's a few more. I won't talk about them though, because most of them are more Lily's expertise.

But aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa can you tell why I'm going insane now?

[mistysblueboxstuff]

Hi! I hope this isn't too intrusive but I was wondering how old are you and how long have you been painting for? I'm 30 and I took up drawing last year after having done nothing since I was a kid. Even though I'm proud of some of the stuff I've done I'm still tracing and copying a lot and I feel kinda like my progress has been really slow. I'm not sure I'll ever end up being actually good at art 🤷🏻‍♀️ How long did it take before you were like oh I'm actually great at this or was it always an inherent talent you had? Do you have any tips or advice for beginners?

Thanks for sharing your work with us, you're a huge inspiration 💕

hi! not intrusive at all! I'm 36 (god that sounds like a lot when i write it down, i certainly don't feel that age xD) and I've been painting for 7 years now - so i took up painting at the same age you did! i loved to paint and draw as a kid but lost interest along the way (and my art teacher told me I was crap so i just accepted that xD).

i wish i thought i was great at art xD i wish i was actually great at art! xD I'm quite happy with my art rn though and it's the best i can do at the moment but i wanna do better (if I'm able to idk). idk if i had an inherent talent, 7 years ago my art was trash xD evidence attached below:

It took a while before it started looking semi-presentable. i wish i had some proper tips but i always tell people to just keep practicing if they wanna get better. and i mean every day if possible, even if it's just for an hour. I've painted for several hours every day for the past 7 years (these days i paint 5-8 or 12 hours as it's my full-time job).

just keep making art and have fun, the improvement will come on its own I'm sure :')💙

[romanarose]

Get to know me tag game

Thank you for the tags @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog

1. Were you named after anyone? Rebecca from the bible for my legal name. Named myself after Romana from doctor who bc I wanted to be a time lord in high school lol

2. When was the last time you cried? Today, Heroe by Enrique Iglasias came on (spanish version of Hero) and i cried i wanna be loved

3. Do you have kids? Not unless you count my daycare children I adore.

4. What sports do you/have you played? Like kate ive done tea kwon do, made it to high red! and i did bike races in elementary school through middle and was pretty good. One of the few good memroies with my dad was doing that on monday nights in the summer. Now all i do is chase after children.

5. Do you use sarcasm? Noooooo neverrrrrr

6. First thing you notice about people? Im too busy wondering how im percived XD

7. What's your eye color? blue but like a boring blue

8. Scary movies or happy endings? HAPPY unless im like, at a theater or doing a sleep over.

9. Any talents? Im a great writer <3

10. Where were you born? Kenosha, WI (yes, of kyle rittenhouse fame BUT HE DOESNT REPORESENT US)

11. What are your hobbies? Reading and writing fanfic, crying

12. Do you have any pets? No but im taking care of my roommate/landlords cat while shes out in north dakota with her oil rig boyfriend XD i dont like animals though.

13. How tall are you? 5'9 (im willing to be taller than oscar)

14. Favorite subject in high school? English

15. Dream job? Dream job is a rich husband and I take care of our children and spend several hours a week volunteering at soe women's shelter or childrens center

NP tags @whatthefishh @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @ivystoryweaver @campingwiththecharmings

[ineffablecolors]

hey just wondering why you think Roy reuniting w Keeley post s3 would’ve been bad for him? I sort of agree but also don’t want to bash keeley in anyway so I haven’t talked about it

Heya! Thanks for the ask and sorry you feel like you can't discuss something though I do understand why. I'll preface this by repeating something I've said before - canon did such a horrible job of holding Keeley accountable for anything and wrote her as if she could do no wrong and fandom seems to have picked that up and totally ran with it.

I do love that when reading RoyJamie fanfic, I never see Keeley bashing, as you call it, because vilifying female chatacters is such common practice in fandoms. But Ted Lasso fandom seems to swing to the other extreme where I've never even read a fic where Keeley apologises for something? And you can't even quite blame the fans, they just picked what canon put down - Keeley can do no wrong.

So, first of all, I think simply judging Keeley's actions is not bashing at all, it's just treating her the way every character BUT her is treated in both fandom and show. I think Keeley, like almost every other character, has made plenty of bad decisions and mistakes and, personally, how I react to them is a mix of how well I can relate to her and something else. Jack, for example, was a very professionally questionable decision but I completely sympathise with Keeley for it because 1) she faced consequences for her mistake even if it's never acknowledged that she made one and 2) I can relate to it! Hiring Shandy on the other hand was such a monumentally stupid decision that I could never relate to, so it just makes me annoyed with Keeley and the fact that the show treated it as her just being too sweet and wanting to give another horribly unqualified woman a chance rather than as a point towards her lack of professional skills.

Anyway!! The something else is important for my answer. As much as I love discussing my favourite shows and try to be objective, I very rarely am. Once I pick a favourite character, my opinion of almost every other character is informed by how they treat my favouriteTM. Is that fair? No. Do I do it without fail? Yes. Do I feel bad for it? Umm, no, that's my baby, nobody is allowed to be mean to them xD

And this is how we get to the Roy Kent of it all (finally! christ, this is gonna be long, sorry but also thanks!). Roy's my favourite, my baby, my grumpy, old, emotionally constipated and physically aching romantic. Roy can and has done wrong, I'd never claim otherwise. But I'd still claim he's the best chatacter and one of the best people on the show. And he's always gonna put himself last on his list of priorities.

Which is why I fully admit that I judge Keeley extra harshly when it comes to her and Roy. For brief context - I totally shipped Roy and Keeley and think they were good for each other, for the most part, in s1, I was ecstatic they were together in s2 and still shipped them like hell on my first watch (which was binged with s1!) and less and less on every consequent rewatch, part of me still wanted them to be together and then to get back together in s3 until I actually watched it all and completely changed my mind.

Shall I finally answer your question? I don't think Roy should reunite with Keeley because he gives too much of himself and she gives too little. I don't believe they are well balanced and I dont believe he'd feel loved with her again.

That WAS brief! But if you'd like more detail...

I think as sweet and good-hearted as she's portraited, Keeley is inherently a selfish person. Now, we circle back to bashing and judging. I'm doing neither. I'm myself a selfish person in many ways, that's not the worst thing to be in some regards. But I think Keeley is especially selfish in her romantic relationships and that simply does not suit someone like Roy. When paired with a selfish partner, Roy would just give and give and blame himself for not getting as much back.

I'm not saying there haven't been some great moments between Roy and Keeley, full of affection and care from Keeley, such as the scene at the end of s1. That's probably my favourite moment of theirs. But there have been some pretty shit ones too that for me outweigh the good and, more importantly, came once they settle into the relationship.

As early as their first kiss, Keeley got so annoyed and impatient, she immediately slept with Jamie. I know the show took it as an opportunity to have a kinda feminist moment but can you picture that turned around? Roy and Keeley kiss after tons of flirting and build up, and the day after Roy sleeps with a girl Keeley has a proper (however childish) feud with just cuz she told him she was busy that night. That would've never been fine. Again, I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm saying it's the response of a person who only cares about what they want and doesn't plan for the future.

Then, we have the infamous "Roy is a fridge magnet" episode which I still can't wrap my mind around so gimme a sec here. Your boyfriend is too into you, is perfect (by Keeley's own words) but not giving you the space you haven't asked for. So, instead of talking to him - don't even get me started on people writing Keeley as a character who's good as communicating - girl, where?? - you talk about it to his boss, a bunch of his coworkers and your ex who has an antagonistic relationship with him, and eventually as you're spending time together and he's trying to share one of his interests with you, you start screaming bloody murder at him about how clingy he is. Do I have that all correct? All of this would have been forgivable ofc, miscommunication happens, people aren't perfect, etc, etc, expect... forgiveness was asked by the wrong person. What on earth did Roy have to apologise for? This is the #1 example for me of that show trying so hard to make Keeley a perfect sunshine girl boss that they made 0 narrative or even logical sense. Honestly I hate that whole episode with a fiery passion.

Then we have the funeral shenanigans, which I won't even get into because I think Roy was 100% hilarious in that and Keeley was 100% overreacting (and yes, that's a heavy term to use towards a woman but here's the thing... she was). I guess this would be a good place to talk about their ILYs as well. Roy's ILYs always come with an acknowledgement of Keeley's feelings and his own fault for hurting them in anyway. Keeley's first ILY though has absolutely nothing to do with Roy. She's happy about her own success and he's celebrating her. That's it. That's the first time we see her say I love you. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Roy's aren't better but I think that just proves why he couldn't be happy with Keeley. Every time he's said ILY, it's been tinged with sadness and guilt and self-incrimination. Why would I want him to be with someone who constantly inspires those feelings in him?

This is now definitely too long so I'll try to wrap up with s3 very quickly and mainly the fact that the episode Keeley is drinking alone in the pub is one of the only ones where Keeley faces consequence for her actions (in this case, sleeping with her boss - again, not something I blame or begrudge her for but also something she should've probably considered can get her funding pulled when it ends, see: never thinking about the future (and why I don't see Keeley being successful without people like Barbara or Rebecca but thats a different topic)). Keeley responds to being made to face the music by using Roy to make herself feel better. I'm sorry but there's no other interpretation of their hook up for me. He's just read her a very heartfelt apology, ending with another guilt ridden ILY and then he was leaving. Except she chased him down, not to say it back ofc, but to use him for sex.

Thanks, I hate it.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to the fact that I think Roy was right to break up with Keeley. Not because she's not a great catch and not because there was anything wrong with her being successful or needing time for herself but because they're not right for each other. Roy is too selfless and ready to blame himself for everything and Keeley is too focused on herself and ready to take advantage of that.

Roy is the kind of romantic that would tell his cabbie to date his wife and compose a playlist for the girlfriend who treated him horribly yesterday. He's the kind of guy that's had to bottle up all his emotions forever and never talks about himself with people and has had his fucking watch stolen by his fucking hook ups. He deserves someone *cough*Jamie*cough* who is absolutely obsessed with him! Who will appreciate the things he does for them and the time he spends with them rather than take them for granted at best and be annoyed at worst. Who will make him feel like he's been struck by lightning! He deserve someone who cares about his feeling and frankly, in season 3 at least, I don't think that's Keeley or should be again.

[chubsonthemoon]

Binderary 2023 Wrap-Up!

Binderary 2023 is over, and I come bearing some stats, thoughts, and a compiled list of my QOTD answers! :3

Stats:

Books planned: 7

Books completed: 7/7 (woohoo!)

Fandoms: 3 (Yuri on Ice, Harry Potter, and The Sandman)

Total word count: 340,654

List of books (from left to right):

Maybe sprout wings by @moorishflower

Flower King by @landwriter

The Politeness of Princes by @aboxthecolourofheartache

Uncertain Results (also by Box!)

I'm caught inside every open eye (also also by Box :3)

Not pictured (on account of them being given away as gifts!):

My Immortal by Tara Gilesbie (aka xxxbloodyrists666xxx) (community typeset by @renegadepublishing)

Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches by @kazliin (typesetting by @ziezie13 <3)

QOTD answers under the cut (and these are copied directly from our DW post, just with added tumblr @'s!)

1. What does Renegade mean to you?

Renegade has, in all honesty, probably changed the course of my life! That's not hyperbole--it's had such a huge influence on my hobbies, my friendships, my academic trajectory, even my career. I was still in undergrad when I found ASH's post on fanbinding, and I was very lost as to what the next steps would be. And like so many others experienced, the pandemic only made things even murkier and more isolating. Then I found ASH's manifesto in June 2020, worked up the courage to join the Discord in July 2020, and found a community of like-minded weirdos who were just as passionate (if not even more so!) about their favorite stories, and a craft that I fall a little bit more in love with every day (well, most days. fuckin printers man XD). I wrote my honors thesis thanks to Renegade; I've made lifelong friends thanks to Renegade; I have my current job, in a field I love, thanks to Renegade. (My first Rocky Horror Picture show at Havencon 2022? All thanks to Renegade :D) This really feels like my forever fandom home-- even when I jump around from fandom to fandom, there's always a wonderful and supportive community to fall back on. In short, I really love it here, I'm so pleased with what we've done so far, and I can't wait to see where we go! ❤️

2. Favorite Fic

As everyone else who answered this, this question is IMPOSSIBLE. However, if you put a gun to my head and told me to answer right now, I'd have to say Tell Me About the Big Bang (my binding of it here!) It's one of the fics that has touched me most deeply and which has probably had the greatest influence on my writing. It was one of the first fics I'd ever bound, and I really wanted to rebind it to see how far I've come!

3. One thing you'd like to learn more about

GOD SO MANY THINGS. Backing! Headband techniques. Chisel trimming. Edge gilding. Tiny books. More advanced Cricut techniques. More cohesive and professional-looking graphic design. This hobby is really a dozen hobbies in a trench coat, and there's so much to explore.

4. Paper!

For my textblocks, I use 20 lb. cream Hammermill paper! I order it in 11"x 17" and get it cut in half for short grain, like a lot of other folks at Renegade. Recently I've started experimenting with quarto-sized Legal (8.5"x 14")and fell in love. I also want to try a bunch of the other paper that folks have suggested (looking at @robins-egg-bindery Mohawk Via o.o). For my endpapers, I usually use scrapbook paper from those scrapbook paper packs you can get at Michaels and Joann's (and when they're on sale...WOOF)

5. Cloth!

DUO BOOKCLOTH MY BELOVED. God I wish I'd gotten in on the Renegade group order - but ah well. Big fan of making my own though! There are just so many options to choose from, so it really expands what you can do (again: a dozen hobbies and crafts in a trench coat)

6. The Glue War

LOVE me some PVA! I know that it gives you less time to do things, but I get impatient XD. Plus it's cheap and easy to find and ready to use right out of the bottle, which is great. I've tried my hand at making starch paste + PVA with very mixed (ha!) results, although I had a wonderful time with some methyl cell that @simply-sithel gifted me at Havencon last year <3 So mayhaps will have to buy more of that for a future project!

I also love my Cricut Explore 2, Charlotte! She holds up very well, although I think she's due for a blade refill soon. I've just been setting my pressure higher and higher LOL

7. Machines

Love my Epson ecotank! I recently bought it--for the first two years I was going to my local print shop because the quality was great and I had a discount card. Unfortunately the discount card eventually expired, so I decided to bite the bullet and get my own printer. I really love it! I didn't want to have to deal with laser and printing in color can get pricey--the cartridges are just so goddamn expensive, although I do think laser prints in higher quality. Mayhaps a future purchase, because I'd really like to experiment with foiling!

8. Favorite binding technique

Ooh this one is interesting! I know which part of the process I enjoy the most, which is sewing! Kettle stitch my beloved. ALTHOUGH I am a sucker for the French link too--it's just so pretty! And we just had a wonderful workshop put on last week by @queercore-curriculum on their...embroidered binding/long-stitch binding (??? I don't know if there's an official name for it yet), which I LOVE. Glueless bindings are SO cool and I would love to experiment more with them.

9. Your best tip/trick

Ooh! Hmmm...I'd say: never bind while you're super tired/hungry LOL. I've made many a preventable mistake very late at night because I wanted to get something cased in or glued before bed when I probably should've waited till morning XD That being said, on the flip side I think you should never be afraid to experiment! Go hog wild!!! Use those glitter pens!! Try out that fancy silk for your endbands!! Try that new binding style! And if you fuck up, remember that's okay too! These are handmade objects and those mistakes are proud proof of that, and of your journey as a fanbinder. Stick 'em in the channel on the Discord, laugh and (maybe cry a little XD) about it, and then keep going. tldr; ya live and learn!

10. Favorite Detail

Ooh, this one's hard! I love leaving little Easter eggs in my designs. I'd say my favorite is putting my maker's mark on things! My imprint is Moonham Press (a fun mix of my usernames, chubsthehamster and chubsonthemoon), and the logo includes a little crescent moon. I'd actually been binding for about two years when I finally made the imprint--I used to think that it was...idk, kind of weird to put myself in the book? Like I was taking away from the story inside it. But then I got to thinking--well, hey, I'm the one who made this book, right? If nothing else, putting my mark on it tells someone who may pick it up one day that I was connected to this story. Some conversations with some folks at Renegade during Havencon 2022 also helped me embrace this. So these days I put my imprint logo in the typesetting, and I also put it on the cover somewhere! My favorite spots are either on the spine, between the title and author name, or on the back cover, in the bottom left corner :D

11. Spines

Spines are the bane of my existence. Haha, jk. They're mostly just tedious, since they're one of the only parts of the process that still require precise measurement (I've cut templates for everything else by now, and I use my guillotine to cut boards, so that goes super fast). For my thicker books I use Bristol board; I actually still use the same sheets I bought in 2020 when I first started binding--I didn't know how much I would really need so I think I ordered four massive sheets which will probably last me for ten years LOL. For my thinner books, I use Davy board, which is a pain to cut but gives the book a really nice board feel. And for my paperbacks, the spine is just the cover, which I make out of kraft paper for the backing + the decorative paper (usually scrapbook paper or something I've designed and printed)

12. Mistakes/Fails

Ooh BOY are there many. My most recent was my experiment with making a hardback quarto letter. I made the hinge waaaaay too small so when I tested the case the textblock was sticking out of it LOL. But I've been pretty lucky--this is only the second case I've had to remake in my time as fanbinder *KNOCKS ON WOOD*, but my printer fuck-ups when I was trying to figure out how to print on legal sized paper (since my printer doesn't duplex) probably make up for the luck I've had in the case department XD. Casing in, though--I think I've had maaaaaybe...two or three case-ins where I was completely happy with the results. A large part of this is because my guillotine doesn't cut completely straight, so my squares are never even LOL. But hey, I'm not getting paid for this, and I'm having fun, so eh.

13. Process

Ooh, interesting! My process has remained largely unchanged--I think the only thing that has really changed is now the frequency at which I print. I used to print at a print shop, so I'd make typesets in large batches--usually two to four books, sometimes more (I think the most I've done at a time is five?), and I'd make a day out of it. Now that I have my printer at home though, I can do things in smaller batches! I can also test print things, so I've been able to get a lot more experimental with my books sizes and my covers. Everything else has remained largely the same--the first book I did I typeset in MS Word, but everything after that I've all done in Affinity Publisher. I typeset > print > bind > take pictures! I really like how different each step is (like I said, twelve different hobbies in a trench coat), so there's always something different to do if I get bored. My favorite parts are probably designing covers and sewing the signatures!

14. Storage solutions

OUGH. I have one of those rollaway drawer thingies for all my tools, a dozen scrapbook paper containers, several large baskets for my vinyl and cloth, a hanging stand for my larger sheets of decorative paper, a standing desk which holds my Cricut and printer (a few of the aforementioned vinyl baskets are under this desk too), another rollaway basket thingy that holds my printing paper and my press (also under the standing desk), another desk which holds both my two guillotines and cutting mats (and under that desk are all my scrapbook paper containers and Cricut mats), and a final third desk where I keep all my sewing stuff and where I do my typesetting and other sitting-down parts of the process. And of course my shelves for all my books! This doesn't really give a sense of where everything is, but it's actually fairly organized, and for the most part I know where everything is (except for my FUCKING bone folder god that thing is always ending up in places I do not remember putting it XD)

15. Your Workspace

Ah, see my answer to 14! I'll probably upload a photo here later XD

16. Dust jackets and covers

Oooh, I've never made a dust jacket before--I don't think my printer could handle the wonky paper size that it requires, but they look really cool and I'd maybe be up for making one someday! And covers! Both my greatest love and my greatest enemy. They're super fun to design, but this is one part of the process that always feels like an uphill battle for me! There are so many skilled and talented folks in Renegade with GORGEOUS covers, and it's always a mix of being incredibly inspired and getting some design envy--but either way it's very motivating to keep me out of my comfort zone and to always keep trying new things. I use decorative paper and scrapbook paper mostly for the base material (although I've begun experimenting with designing things digitally and printing them out on Epson matte presentation paper), and then the rest is fuck it, we ball. I usually design the cover last, so I have an entire typeset and title page already when I begin, which makes things a little easier since I have an already established aesthetic to work with. My font selection is kind of determined by how small the text for the title/author name is, since my Cricut isn't great at cutting super small sizes (Times New Roman, funnily enough, is one of the only fonts that it can do at smaller sizes LOL so a lot of the text on my covers/spines are in TNR). I'm excited to keep improving and experimenting in this area!

17. Published inspiration

Ooh!! This one's fun--when I first began making my Master pages in Affinity publisher, I literally grabbed the first few books I saw on my shelf and said 'alright, this looks good' and haven't looked back since LOL. Those books were Vintage's editions of Toni Morrison's novels, Picador's Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, Vintage's edition of Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark, Fall River's omnibus editions of Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes's works, Penguin Classic's Deluxe edition of Jane Austen's novels, and a few others that I can't remember. I looked at all these books, found what they had in common (for example, a simple title page before the decorative title page, the use of a single graphic or design at the beginning of each chapter, etc.) and went with that! I don't usually take inspiration from specific books, EXCEPT for a project I'm currently working on which I'm super excited about :3 More TK here eheh (ADDITION 3/7: I was talking about Maybe sprout wings here LOL)

18. Illustrations

FANART MY BELOVED. I LOVE including fanart in my books, because it's such a lovely demonstration of the communal nature of these stories and it's so fun getting to collect all the pieces. For free use graphics my favorite sites are Adobe Stock images and Heritage Library. Heritage in particular has a beautiful selection of free vintage graphics packs that I've used for years now. And very occasionally, wingdings fonts will have something I really like XD

19. Favorite tool

Despite my gripes earlier about always misplacing it, I ADORE my bone folder. It's a funky lil dude and it makes all my edges nice and crisp! I can't wait for the retreat bone folder fufu :3 Also a very big fan of my guillotine, which despite its flaws makes my life a hell of a lot easier in the long run, as well as my presses, which were handmade by my dad and do their jobs very well (squiiiiiiish)

20. Favorite part of the binding process

Oooh, this one's fun! I really like the actual construction of the book--sewing sigs is always relaxing and has been one of my fave parts since the very beginning. Recently I've started to really enjoy designing covers, especially if there are a lot of physical elements (like layering scrapbook paper or playing around with Mod Podge).

I had the absolute privilege to hold @clovenhoofbindery's copy of Away Childish Things at Havencon last year. Literally every book Space makes I fall in love with, and her designs are a HUGE inspiration for me. Everything from the typesetting to cover design to physical construction--I lose my marbles every time.

21. Inspo: The binder that inspired you!

Ohhh this one's so hard! Literally every time I check the #show-off channel in the Discord I'm struck by so many beautiful books. I'm going to cheat and name a few people here, but this list is by no means comprehensive and doesn't even begin to cover everyone I could name.

Everything @pleasantboatpress binds is just so beautiful. Their color choices are always inspired and their headbands make me want to cry! Their bind of Unconditional in particular had me foaming at the mouth.

The quality of everything @zhalfirin-binds makes, likewise, always blows me away. Her books are so polished and professional, and her photos make me feel like I'm in a museum when I'm trawling her blog for inspo!

@simply-sithel's tiny books are literally the coolest things ever! I'm still working my way through the Binderary vids and I can't wait to get to hers. Six plays with form in mind-bending and truly innovative ways, and her blog is wonderland of tiny and fantastical book creatures.

@teleportbooks's binds are the definition of classy and refined. They're so good at designing their books according to the contents of the fic--their binding of Thirty-Three Lashes in particular is just the best design centered around fic content and title I've seen. Their designs always make me melt a little when I see them!

@no-name-publishing's endbands are to DIE for. Like fr I am in awe every time!!! And Kam's cover + title page designs are a huge source of inspo for me--forever in love with this bind of theirs, with the beautiful painted cover + matching endpapers T_T

And of course!!! I (and everyone else) wouldn't be here without our beloved leader, @armoredsuperheavy. He's the first binder that ever inspired me, and he continues to do so today!

22. Inspo: The fic that inspired you!

My original answer was also my answer for 27 ("First bind"), but I'm gonna say something a little different here! I usually know pretty quickly whether I'm interested in binding something, but very rarely has a fic gotten me hook, line, and sinker the way @that-banhus's King of Infinite Space did. Like, from the first line I was like "oh god I need to hold this one." And eventually I did! :3

23. Author spotlight: Someone you've bound

AHHHHHH this one is so hard too! I've bound a good number of authors over the years, many of whom are my dear friends, and to spotlight only a single one would be impossible. So I'm just going to poke @dodici12, whose killugon fic See You Upside Down is one of the best killugon reunion fics ever in my very humble hamster opinion. Hiiiii Tessa ilysm <333

24. Author spotlight: Someone you'd like to bind

OOOOOH. Many, many fics are in my queue. I'll keep them to myself for now, since I prefer to ask for author permission via DM, but atm I have my eye on a few Good Omens authors whose work I adore!

25. Favorite bind by you!

THIS ONE IS SO HARD AJLSKDJF. I love all my babies so much and I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish and what I learned from each of them. However, if you put a gun to my head and asked me to choose right now, I'd have to go with my most recent bind of Maybe sprout wings by @moorishflower. I'm really pleased with both its construction and particularly the curation of its contents, which includes the work of nearly a dozen people. It was my attempt at capturing the communal nature of fanfiction's creation and dispersal, and it was also my Big Project this Binderary. I'm ridiculously fond and proud of it!

26. Favorite bind by someone else!

THIS ONE IS SO HARD TOO HELP. Okay this is only one of my many many favorites, but dragging Space back out here again to say that her bind of Away Childish Things permanently altered my brain chemistry. Like, the cutout!!! The patronuses!!!! The title page cutout???? THE KEY??? Again, I held this book in my hands IN PERSON last year and I'm still not over it. The quality of the work is absolutely bonkers crazy incredible and I think about it Often.

27. First bind

The very first fic I ever bound was On Stranger Tides by @theroyalsavage. It's still one of my favorite fics ever today--it has the perfect blend of action/adventure, romance, humor, and fantasy. It gives me the good ol' "roaming the high seas with found family and magic and pirates" ache. It holds a very special place in my heart!

FINAL THOUGHTS

28. Latest bind

See 22! But for funsises, I'm also ridiculously fond of the binding before that, of @aboxthecolourofheartache's fic The Politeness of Princes, because I got to do lots of fun arts and crafty things with the cover!

This was my first year doing Binderary, and I had such a blast! It's so crazy seeing how far Renegade has come, from a little Discord for book shop chatting (ASH mentioned in one of the talks how it was just called, like, "Bookbinding Discord" at the beginning LOL) to now. We're well on our way to a proper organizational structure, with several yearly events, in-person meetups, and thousands of members all over the world. And we have so much more planned! It feels truly special, and I'm so grateful to everyone who makes this possible.

Okay!! That's all from me for today, folks. If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading! <3

[nowandthane]

7 snippets, 7 people

thank you @vakariansvixenand @stormikins for tagging me!! <3<3<3

no pressure tagging @xoshepard @poetikat @sweetmage (feel free to not read this it's all mass effect jsdhfg) @illusivesoul @westernlarch @sillyliterature @mxanigel @menacingmetal @grim-starling

These are all gonna be from Sarani's longfic because I'm not writing anything else atm. Mostly rough and unedited too so beware xD

cw for suicidal ideation in the last two

She turned to look at him, shocked at the outburst. His eyes were wet with tears that stubbornly refused to fall. He glared back at her, as if challenging her to defy him. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought that she really should. This was insubordination. But she felt so relieved that someone else was making the decisions that she just relented, turning to look back out into space in silence.

“How could I have left him behind?” she whispered, long minutes later. Her face was wet. Joker was quiet for long enough that she stopped expecting an answer — what could he have said, anyway? But he did answer.

“You were doing your job, Commander. I… I’m sorry.” And he really did sound sorry for her.

“This job fucking sucks.”

-

Finch sneered. “I can find a dozen Reds who’ll swear they saw you kill aliens for fun. Who’s going to believe you then?”

His grey eyes caught hers, and held them steadily. The world slowed down as she seriously considered whether he really did know. Even without proof, anyone who had known her then could put two and two together and figure out what she did — no one else could have done it. But no one ever cared before.

Now it was something they could use against her. And they were threatening to.

Was that was he was doing? His words saying one thing, but meaning another?

I know you killed her, but I won’t say it in front of them. As long as you do what I say, no one else will ever know.

Was that what was behind his words?

The image of her, of Nazia, crying and begging Shepard for forgiveness intruded on her mind. Her screams echoed in Shepard’s ears, her blood sticky on Shepard’s hands.

-

“Do you compare yourself to your old Captain a lot?” Garrus asked.

“Not really. Not anymore.” Shepard shook off the thoughts rattling in her head. “I know I have a screwed up moral compass. That’s just a result of my ‘upbringing’. But I don’t let that turn me into monster. I don’t want to cross any more lines, but I keep stumbling over them anyway.”

Garrus looked at her, his thoughts and emotions inscrutable. She was getting better with reading turians, but he seemed closed off to her at this moment. Silence became heavy in the air, and she did nothing to break it.

“I wonder…” Garrus finally mused, “if I killed Saren, would I be struggling with it now as you are about Finch? I don’t know what the answer to that is, and that — that kind of scares me. Am I a monster, Shepard?”

“No, Garrus.” She smiled at him a little sadly. “You’re not a monster.”

“Yet,” he said. “Don’t you ever think that it takes a monster to stop a monster?”

“Sometimes,” she answered. “Mostly, it feels like an excuse.”

Garrus nodded. “Why did you get so angry when he called you by your name?”

-

“How about a new name?”

“What’s wrong with Shepard?”

“No, not that. Don’t you want to change Jane?”

“What’s wrong with Jane?” She frowned.

“Well clearly the orphanage just named you that because they couldn’t be fucked to actually care about you. Don’t you want a name more fitting for who you are?”

“I don’t want any connection to the people who threw me away like I was trash,” she said curtly.

“It’s not about your parents,” Nazia insisted. “They suck, but you have a whole culture that you come from.”

“I know nothing about it.”

“So? Don’t you want to reclaim it?”

“Well, you clearly want me to.”

“Just think about it. It can be like… like a new start for you!”

Considering it. Maybe it is better, to have a new name, one untainted by the dirtiness of her beginning. And if Nazia was the one renaming her, so much the better. She was the one who made Shepard feel like a human. And if this was important to Zi, then it was important to her.

-

“You think you know me so well?” she asked, sneering. She regretted it almost immediately when the animation that had taken hold of Garrus abruptly left him. He had seemed more alive for a brief moment there, much more like the angrily passionate man who had argued with his superior at the Presidium, or the one in Dr. Michel’s clinic, ready to take on a group of thugs alone.

As his commanding officer, it didn’t feel good to have made one of her own people feel so small. But even outside of that, she felt bad because she did think he was a good person, just misguided. And this conversation they’d just had was their first real one. They had been getting to know each other.

He was turning to leave when she said, “Wait. I’m sorry.”

He turned back to her, expectant, but now that the apology had come out of her mouth, she floundered for what else to say.

“I was trying to compliment you,” Garrus pointed out, breaking the awkward silence. “Didn’t think you’d take it so badly.”

-

“Do you still want to die?” Shepard asked.

“Do you?” Thane returned.

She had to turn away. “Sometimes.”

Leaning against the viewing window, she turned her gaze on the drive core below — pulsing, powerful, dangerous. Peripherally, she noticed Thane standing and coming to her on silent feet, but she still couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

“I don’t.” His presence behind her felt like a weight she couldn’t shake off. “I agreed with you, once. That perhaps those of us who have died should stay dead.”

“You never really died,” she said.

“In all the ways that matter, I did.” He touched her shoulder, so softly that she barely felt it, except that there was no atom of her existence that could ever be unaware of him. “Will you not look at me, siha?”

-

The dream begins as it always does: with the fall. Falling through the nothingness of space, the alarms in her armour chiming as she gasped desperately for oxygen. There is a breach somewhere. Probably around her torso, where pain and warmth radiated.

She flailed helplessly, heat and hurt building. But it never did reach an unbearable point. They faded away as she fell, and with them went the burdens she carried. Her legs stopped kicking and her arms stopped reaching. She fell looking at the vastness of space, that blanket of mystery she had watched so often when she was stuck on Earth, so determined to get away.

And she did. The choices she was presented with had been unacceptable to her, and so she had found another way. She became more — made herself more. She had explored the galaxy, helped people, saved lives… She’d made a difference.

For better, not worse.

When she lost consciousness, it was without pain. Without worries. Peace was not something she had ever been familiar with, but she learned what it meant, right there at the end.

If only it really was the end.

[irlcats-bracket]

Bracket 5 THIRD PLACE BATTLE

Handsome Stinkerbutt-Jones Boy vs Blackie

check their descriptions and propaganda below!

HANDSOME STINKERBUTT-JONES BOY

BLACKIE

This is Blackie, submitter's little one-eyed wonder. He lost his eye to glaucoma quite a few years ago, but he's doing a lot better now, and still likes to play with his sister, Artemis. His name is Blackie because that's what the shelter named him and submitter's family couldn't agree on a new name for him so it stuck, but submitter themselves call him 'Big Boi' because of just how massive he is. He was once very timid, but with time and love and patience he is now a certified lap cat who will come right up to strangers to demand pets. He has a wonderful squeaky meow and when he purrs it sounds like two cats purring at once. He likes to have people watch him eat and he will guide submitter's mom over to the couch and make her lay down just so he can sleep in her lap. Also, when he lays on his back, he covers his belly with his tail. Pictured is him in his signature polite boi sitting pose

CATPAGANDA

BLACKIE

So glad to see Blackie still in the competition! His response so far has been "aow."

Truth be told, I'm running out of propaganda. If he make it to the next round, I'm gonna try my darnedest to capture his meows on video, which I haven't been able to do before because he sees me coming with the camera and starts purring XD

For now, more assorted Blackie facts!

Very rarely, when he gets the zoomies, he'll laugh. Like "huhuhuheueheHUEHEUE" kinda laugh.

I like to let him sniff human food/whatever I'm holding just to make sure he feels included (still doesn't like anything but pizza crumbs). But he has gagged on pickled ginger, banana, and CBD rub. He always gets really embarrassed when he gags tho

Ever since I got a job, he has been following me to bed and jumping on my chest to get the pets that he now lacks during the day.

If he sees you getting out the cat brush, he''ll lead you over to where he wants to be brushed.

On that note, when I had hurt my leg one time, Blackie saw that I wasn't leaning down to pet him and instead lead me over to the couch to have me sit down to pet him. He kept that up for a couple months once he saw how relieved it made me.

More Blackie propoganda! This time I bring you big boi in motion

link

Assorted Blackie facts:

A brave man when it comes to thunderstorms. But the vacuum? His mortal enemy.

The friendliest cat at the shelter. But the staff forced me to pick him up and hold him to get a picture and he got terrified and peed on me.

We think, based on how he acts, that he may have grown up in a home with dogs. But the mark on his ear is one done by our local neuter and release program, so we don't know if he was a stray, an outside cat, etc. But he's one of the friendliest cats I've ever met.

Will go up to his sister and put his head down to get it licked. But as soon as she goes to lick him and flattens his ears and raises a paw like he's gonna hit her. Sometimes they fight and sometimes they just walk away. We don't think he's trying to trick her because he acts genuinely confused throughout this process.

Sometimes he uses his back paw to scratch the back of his front leg when he's sitting down and it's so cute <3

These are old photos from when I used to hold a camera down and snap a photo when they leaned in to sniff the lens.

Blackie is our older cat and is such a gentleman. He is eager to love, he does the quickest slow blinks I've ever seen from a cat. He has a two-layered purr, it literally sounds like a cat purring as popcorn is being made in the background. He lost his eye to glaucoma when he was younger but he runs around and plays and teases his sister Artemis like a kitten. And his eyebrow whiskers grew down over his missing eye! He's not a big fan of people food but he has a fondness for pizza crumbs (NOT the crust. Just the crumbs off the plate when you're done eating the pizza). He walks like he's gingerly stepping through flowers and he's so gentle that the one time I overstimulated him and he wanted to bite me, he just shoved his closed mouth against my hand. He has a super long tongue and if you scratch the right spot between his shoulder blades he will lick the air. He's my precious boy who started out so scared but he's so brave and social and happy now just typing this out makes me wanna cry and go give him scritchies.

HANDSOME

HE WAS AN OUTSIDE TRASH CAT AND NOW HES AN INDOOR TRASH CAT THAT LOVES HIS PARENTS SO MUCH!!! Hes so sweet and lovey but a bastard. he also likes to bite lick toes.

Want even more? Handsome has an additional catpaganda post!

[keirou-kun]

So because I have zero self control and no one told me not to, I'm gonna scream about my favorite story from the original 1960s Teen Titans comics. This is Issue 14, the story entitled 'Requiem for a Titan!', and it is my go-to example for how Dick Grayson has just always been Like That™. A lot of the stories from this era are a little cheesy for my taste. Not bad! Just clearly products of their time. This one, though, with a little updating of the language, could have been written in a more modern series and I adore it. This got long, so I'm just gonna hide it under a cut.

So! Let's begin with the set-up! This story starts in medias res, with our bad guy meeting Robin in a creepy-ass graveyard and no information on how or why they're even there. Our bad guy, by the way, is called the Gargoyle, for obvious reasons.

that is, indeed, a fucking gargoyle.

The open grave is Robin's, of course, and Gargoyle has Robin throw in his cape, his tunic [revealing that beneath the tunic Dick Grayson is wearing what looks like a freakin' onesie with scale armor on the lower half, good lord XD] and - after some serious hesitation on Dick's part, bc secret identity oh no! - his mask. During this hesitation, we also find out that somehow Gargoyle has not only captured but somehow turned the other three Titans [Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad] over to his side, because they get used as a threat to force Dick's hand: do it, or fight your friends, basically.

not my secret identity...! fine, you win, Gargoyle.

So he does it and then has to focus on…something, we don't know what, but whatever it is makes him look hideous for a hot second before Gargoyle beams him off to a place called Limbo, where the Gargoyle rules supreme, oh no!

nice Two-Face imitation there, Dick.

Now we flash back to see just how the fuck Robin ended up in this predicament to begin with. So, in this run, there's various ways for people to get in touch with the Teen Titans directly, and one of them is apparently via a thing called Titan Hook-Up, where anyone can demand a five minute spot on TV if they have a message for the Titans. Apparently the Titans themselves pay for it, but since they're all literal teenagers who probably don't have part-time jobs due to, y'know, being junior superheroes, I gotta wonder who's actually footing the bill.

it's probably Bruce, let's be real here.

So the Gargoyle goes on, gets his time, and immediately claims to be an ex-con the Titans not only unjustly accused but deliberately withheld evidence of innocence of just to ensure they'd put him away. Not all of them, though! Only one of them did this dastardly deed, because only one of them actively knew. The Gargoyle threatens revenge on all four if the guilty party doesn't fess up. Of course, none of the Titans have any idea who this guy is or what the hell he's talking about, especially since he doesn't match the description of any of the bad guys they've caught so far, but, uh-oh…trouble in paradise; Wally, Garth, and Donna all immediately jump to Robin as the potentially guilty party!

gee thanks guys

An unspecified while later, the team gets called out to go deal with a potential riot at a theatre over a concert that got canceled. That bit of suspicion has been growing in the minds of Robin's teammates, though Robin himself apparently has no concerns of his own on that score.

thanks for that vote of confidence guys.

Unfortunately for the team, it turns out the theatre is empty and the whole thing was a ruse; they've been lured straight into a trap by the Gargoyle, oh no! Robin, naturally, starts doing what he's always done, taking the lead and trying to get the team to jump into action to deal with their enemy. Unfortunately for him, his teammates' suspicion paired with the Gargoyle reminding them that only one of them supposedly screwed him over means that…well…

nice to know you care, team.

At which point the Gargoyle uses his magic ring - just go with it - and a beam of energy transports everyone but Robin to a place called Limbo, a plane ruled by none other than the Gargoyle. He'd wanted to trap all four of them in Limbo, but it seems that our Boy Wonder hadn't harbored any doubts or suspicions about his team at all! Typical Dick Grayson tbh.

that's our boy tbh

Robin, intent on trying to defeat the Gargoyle on his own and get his friends back, immediately goes after the guy, only to find himself suddenly attacked by each of his former teammates in turn; turns out, anyone in Limbo hates everyone in the real world. Even worse, they're all somehow giant-sized. Kid Flash literally flicks Robin across the theatre, Wonder Girl uses the power of her bracelets to throw him into one of the balconies, Aqualad chucks him right back at the stage where Wally's waiting to turn this into a game of catch. Things are not going well for the Boy Wonder, especially since in amongst all this is the Gargoyle egging them on.

Ultimately Robin manages to break his momentum by grabbing a cable, but a poorly-timed sandbag knocks him out, leaving him helpless. Meanwhile the cable he grabbed turns out to be a high voltage cable which starts a fire, driving the Gargoyle away before he can kill Robin himself and leaving Dick unconscious as the fire spreads through the theatre.

that can't be good.

Fortunately the fire trucks are already responding and Robin, of course makes it out while everyone else assumes the other three are dead in the fire. I mean, their helicopter even explodes [it was parked on the roof] and there's no sign of anyone but Robin coming out of the blaze, so why would they? And Robin can't tell anyone the truth, because who'd actually believe it? So he gets to walk all the way back to their secret base trying to figure out how he's going to keep on crime-fighting as a solo act.

you couldn't find a better nickname for wally? come on.

Except, guess who's waiting for him at the secret hideout! Gargoyle and the others, oh no! The Gargoyle's going to take his now-evil Titans and start doing crime and evil, and probably use this as their base, which of course means they can't have Robin interfering. Rather than stay and fight, Dick dives through an escape hatch - a convenient laundry chute, actually; unsurprisingly his own design - that the others can't use right now because their phantasmic Limbo-created forms are too big.

whoops.jpg

So now Dick has no team, no base, and no idea what to do. His costume's torn, he's narrowly escaped death by inferno, he's just really not having a good time of it right now. So what's a Boy Wonder to do? Call it quits and go home? Oh hell no.

he's just always been like this, okay.

He takes on a sudden crime wave - spiked by the apparent death of three of the Titans - on his own, because of course he does. And it doesn't really go too well for him, because this boy is probably all of fifteen years old and not exactly used to being a solo act right now but he's too damn stubborn to stop and ask for help. Things come to a breaking point when he's got civilians feeling sorry for him.

dick honey no

And that leads us to that hill with the gravestones and the Gargoyle, so now we're all caught back up. The Gargoyle now has all four Titans in Limbo and, therefore, under his control to begin a crime wave the likes of which the world has never seen…

Or does he?

you sneaky son of a bitch, Grayson.

Turns out this is just part of Dick's own plan to find his teammates. He's exactly where he wants to be, and it doesn't take him long to find the others. Takes him even less time to start fighting them, knocking Aqualad for a loop wth a single kick and throwing Kid Flash at him a second later. Wonder Girl, however, takes a little more finesse than Robin apparently has, considering she not only lands one hit on him, she lands several.

dick is now really the time...?

But this, too, is all part of Dick's plan, since what he needed was for her to get angry enough for Limbo to start resonating with her emotions, thereby bringing the Gargoyle back from the real world so Dick can actually fight the real bad guy. Because Dick has managed to come to Limbo without being twisted or changed by doubt or suspicion or evil, even though that's the only way the ring can send people from the real world to Limbo. So how did he manage this?

He faked it.

HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS. fuckin' "That's what spies do. We lie." energy right here.

Dick fucking Grayson managed to fake out a magic ring by faking evil thoughts…and he did it by focusing on his anger, I guarantee you, considering he himself states he did it by concentrating on how good the Gargoyle would look behind bars. He did this with spite and anger and somehow managed to look more evil than any other human the Gargoyle has ever seen before in the process.

So now Dick takes the fight to the Gargoyle. Or tries, anyway. He might not have his cape or mask, but he does still have his utility belt. Unfortunately, in Limbo, everything is the reverse of the real world, so a smokescreen automatically disperses, magnetic repulsion actually attracts, and nothing's really working. The Gargoyle finally manages to sever the belt entirely, which not only removes Robin's access to his gadgets but also reveals the truth about what he wears under that red tunic.

that's a fucking leotard. he's wearing a onesie. not even short-shorts, it's a onesie. Dick why XD

However! Robin's not out of the fight yet! He manages to grab his belt and use it as an impromptu arm guard, while also pulling out one last gadget that will save the day!

no, tiny tools, my one weakness!

The pliers are used to break the Gargoyle's magic ring - the one that transported everyone to Limbo to begin with - and doing that means that neither the Gargoyle nor Dick - nor the others - can stay in Limbo any longer. Unfortunately, since the Gargoyle is currently stuck to Dick's arm that means that they're both getting sucked into the space between worlds…until the release of energy throws the Gargoyle clear. Too far out of reach for Robin to even try to grab hold of him again. Not that he wants to.

dick pls

Fortunately, our heroes all reappear on that creepy hilltop in the real world, and even more fortunately none of the three who got caught seem to have any memory of what happened or how they got there. Dick gambled on destroying the thing that brought them into Limbo and it paid off. And he was willing to reveal his identity to his teammates to do it.

okay technically she has back in issue 11 but shh we'll just pretend that never happened it's fine >w>

Are some plot elements a little ridiculous or cheesy? Sure, but no more so than some of the shit we see; cheesy and ridiculous is a comic book staple, after all. It's mostly the dialogue being used, but give it a bit of an update in terms of phrasing and slang and possibly nicknames and honestly this story wouldn't be at all out of place in a modern run. I really kinda love it.