#i'm also not sure if he has a canonical eye color so i just chose blue

[golden--doodler]

Okay, so there's a Roudise warmup prompt (Cult classic / Picking out Costumes) for Halloween over at @roudiseshipweek, and I knew after reading that prompt I just had to sketch out something for it (yes, I did coloring and simple shading, but no lineart! seriously, this keeps happening)!! I know I already posted a drawing today, but I couldn't help myself, I wanted to participate!! I had the idea to draw Rudy and Louise as Jack Skellington and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, as that is one of my absolute all-time favorite movies, especially for Halloween time! I also wanted to draw them kissing because I don't draw them muppets kissing often enough 😌

Happy Halloween again, y'all!! 🎃 👻 🍫

It has basically become my mission to draw the muppets as characters from different movies, especially Disney movies. Also, I headcanon that Tina, Gene, and Louise went as Lock, Shock, and Barrel for Halloween once. It just seems very fitting for them.

[vivi-blue]

IT IS FINALLY DONE!

God, this took me way too long...xD

After days of work I finally finished the challenge that I set for myself: Sending out props to a lot of artist here on tumblr that I really enjoy! (Actually there are way waaay more people, but I really had to set myself a limit, I'm sorry fellas ;w; I still love you!)

These people inspire me every day with their creative concepts, stories, humor and passion for art and give me the drive to continue drawing myself. With this little collection I wanted to say "thank you" for all that you do and create. You rock, guys!

(I really hope I didn't mess up any of the tags and I apologize if I might fu**ed up your designs/characters ;3; I know I'm not the best in proportions and all, but I really tried. <w<´´ Also I really hope Tumblr compresses the text by itself, so that you don't get smacked by this wall of text. I'm still a rookie on tumblr, so I don't know what to do ;w;)

Okay, heeere we go! THE TAGS!

@tv-tower / @uuberwachen - with PB aka Swap Pizzahead (I really love the idea of the au and adore the character designs. PB sure is one of my favorites -w- He is literally the most reasonable of them all XD)

@technically-a-kiwi - with Cosmic Peppino ( The design of Cosmic Peppino is simply beautiful and the idea that this chef has strong star powers and needs to take care of Cosmic Noises shenanigans is super funny to me XD )

@sirtotallynotatimetraveler - with Mel Sproutbloom / Sagebloom (I'm sorry, I wasn't sure which name is canon ;w;) ( I loooove Mel! He is such a gentle, colorful guy and looking at him makes me all happy <3 )

@alextydaisuda123 - with their version of Vigilante ( I can't repeat enough how much I adore their artstyle. I love Vigi's design the most. I don't know it's just...THAT'S Vigi for me, you know? Simply fitting, cool, but also stylish -w- )

@alice-the-demon - with Vittoria ( I was first thinking of drawing Archangel Peppino, since this guy is the softness itself, buuuut I have to admit that I love the lively and passionate personality of Vittoria. She is great -w- )

@misdreavusplush - with Eyelashes ( I can't help it. I saw that character and was in awe. How adorable can you be?? I was barely able to draw her eyes as pretty as they are xD <3 )

@creature-of-pizza - with Pepp ( Seriously, the idea to see a "Fake Peppino" with more cat dna is such a win for me. He is dynamic, sassy, derpy and so damn cool! >w< Also love how colorful their pictures are.)

@eskariolis-con-salsa - with Gnocchi (I was thinking about drawing their version of Fake Peppino first, but...*looks at picture* ...let's be honest, you can't get pass that little guy. ;w; He purifies my soul. Have some soap, little guy.)

@oddpizza - with Caramel Jam aka CJ (Such a creative and powerful character! I've seen so many artworks of them and I adore them. You need more joyful people like this ^^)

@pizza-tower-secrets - with Lycheecheechee ( A small, adorable bundle full of surprises and of course secrets! I love their drive and colorful design. Simply a delight! :3 )

@rhaytronik - with Red ( A dynamic and enjoyable character with their love for adventures! Not only a great character but also the Pizzasona of my best friend. Thanks to them I was brave enough to start a tumblr account myself. So thank you for being there for me <3 )

@cutechan555 - with Mage Gustavo (To be honest, I had a very hard time to pick a character here, since their account is full of stories and ideas. I chose mage Gustavo, since I love his design and story. I'm currently into "Delicious in Dungeon" and to imagine that he goes dungeon crawling with his bros to safe Peppino is such a cool idea XD)

@bigbeastcyruspt - with Trion (I have to be honest, at first I was very startled of Trion, since his design is very mighty and scary. I mean, it's his chase form after all. But the more I learned about him, the more I grew to like him. Very damn cool design! Also couldn't help to add dah baby ;w;)

@lunar-dal - with Pizza Cruise Peppino (Another au I simply adore! The design of the characters is colorful and bright, and to imagine Peppino as a singing gondolier brings me great joy. Also I'm a big fan of otter Brick ;w; )

@smalltimidbean - with Pea Pod, Sugar Snap Pea and Snow Pea (Believe me, I never before had such a hard time to pick ONE of so many wonderful Peppi clones! THAT was torture XD But in the end I guess I picked my favorite. Such a tired, but very cute one. Not to forget about the little ones <3 To draw a PT character with 4 fingers and 2 thumbs on one hand was quite a challenge lol )

@tinderboxofsillyideas - with Coffee Peppino (Probably one of the most adorable au versions of Peppino. Seriously, if I had the chance to get my coffee in his café, I totally would! Give that guy all the tips! <3 First thought of drawing their wizard Peppino version, but the adorable barista won lol)

@xbeih - with Metal Peppino (One of the first au's I started following. Seriously, how cool can one person be?? I mean, the whole au is amazing and I enjoy every person in it. But damn...Peppino takes the cake. ówo He is so badass, you can't imagine <w< Also I'm very sorry, it was my first time drawing a guitar and aaaaaaa )

.....*looks left and right* ...ok, we did it. Wow!

God, I'm exhausted now...XD

Well, thank you very much for reading and sorry for the wall of text ówq I can only recommend you to check these people out. They are all very talented and should be appreciated!

Have a pleasant morning / day / evening / night everyone. (Depending your timezone lul .w. )

See ya next time! Vivi out!~

[jurassicshields]

I tried to redo Kenji's design and make it look a little better. I'm just going to list what his canon design made look bad. Note that I wanted him to look a little bit more scruffy, and not so colorful. He just lost a friend and isn't taking care of himself as well.

The hair. He just looks so funny with their haircut. It's like a strange bowl cut that goes too low on his forehead. And I looked at the design they chose to make his model off, and that version of the hair looked fine. So to fix it, I just gave him a haircut similar to his Camp Cretaceous one. I think them not giving Kenji the same hair made him seem really different(same with Yaz). And also made sure the hair wasn't TOO shinny.

When I erased his hair and gave him a forehead, it made everything look better. He didn't look so squashed. And it also fixed his eyes being so big.

Adding a beard fixes his face. The original version makes his face look round and almost child-like. Here giving him facial hair gives it definition. And also a him having from facial hair would fit with his poor dealing of Brooklyn's death.

Change the color of that green jacket. For starters the green with the blue looks terrible, nothing matches. So I changed it to a dark red/brown that is easier on the eyes and fits how his life has become dull. And making the clothes blend together makes his proportions not look so akward.

This isn't really something I added, it's just he now looks like an adult. Like he's in his early 20s and dealing with some unfortunate events, so making him look more mature and scruffy helps with the presentation.

In summary, all I really changed with his hair, outfit, and added facial hair. The only other thing I messed with was making his eyebrows a little bit more sharp. But really, his canon design has grown on me. After reading about how the people making the show did everything on purpose, I appreciate it more, knowing it wasn't just some careless accident.

[gwyns]

E/riel’s like to use fawn a lot (death and his lovely fawn), but the first time fawn is used, isn’t it actually connected to Lucien?😂 sounds more like Elucien than E/riel to me.

i went through my ebooks searching for the first use of fawn and it seems to be in acomaf when describing a fawn legged faerie however the first use of it outside of elain was indeed in relation to lucien and his iconic fawn brown jacket. so i will put it firmly in the elucien pile because what do you mean lucien has a jacket the same color as elain's eyes?? i'm going feral

i truly don't understand that death and his lovely fawn quote and since i currently have acowar open here's the exact quote:

"I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two."

so not only is that quote a straight up lie, i've always seen it as feyre remarking on just how much of a contrast they are, it doesn't have anything to do with ships in my opinion. like yeah it may look pretty but once you actually look, is it good for either of them? also it ends with this, my personal favorite part:

"The only bridge of that connection... the knife."

truth-teller was the only connection they shared and guess what elain did after hybern was dead? she gave it back, ending their connection

also! since they like to discredit elucien so much how about we look at their interactions at the end of this book?

"Are you hurt?" he asked, coming toward us. Spying the blood speckling Elain's hands.

"I'm fine," Elain said quietly, And then asked, noticing the gore on him, the torn clothes and still-bloody weapons, "Are you--"

"Well I never want to fight in another battle as long as I live, but... yes, I'm in one piece."

A faint smile bloomed on Elain's lips.

huh how interesting that elain was concerned for lucien and how he was the first person to make her smile since being made. moving on...

I spared Lucien the torment of debating whether to touch her, and linked my arm through his as I began to walk away, letting my sisters decide to follow or remain--if they wanted a moment alone with that burnt grass.

Elain came.

Nesta stayed.

very curious that elain made the choice to go with feyre and lucien instead of staying at the grave of her beloved father, but oh yeah she absolutely hates lucien

Elain fell into step beside me, peering at Lucien. He noticed it. "I heard you made the killing blow," he said.

Elain studied the trees ahead. "Nesta did. I just stabbed him."

then we have elain peering at him, clearly she's not that uncomfortable around him if she not only chose to stay close to him but also openly stare. and look at that! lucien giving his mate credit and recognizing she's capable of more than other, more broody bats, seem to think

then of course we end the chapter with elain asking him to stay in velaris, with a bit of a push from feyre yes but realistically... she didn't have to say a thing lol. the text says she blurted it out and that typically means saying the first thing that comes to your mind, it's not your filtered thoughts

anyway what was the point of all of this? not sure other than me showing canon proof that supports elain not hating lucien and him actively showing an interest and displaying "mate like" behavior so... antis can kiss my ass

[flamedraco]

c!Wilbur Redesign

This is my compromise to the current situation regarding Shubble and the speculation surrounding Wilbur. This is coming from a fanfiction writer who has always, and always will, see the CCs as nothing more than voice actors for their characters. Buckle in, this is going to be a long one. But please read all the way through. If you don't know, recently Shubble came forward with a video about how she was in an abusive relationship. And she dropped some hints because she wants people to speculate about who it is. Wants to make sure that a person with bad intentions can't get away with more bad things. A lot of people are speculating that, due to said hints and previously established crush that he had on her, Wilbur is the person who abused her. Now personally? I do not believe this. It's hard for me to believe that Wilbur would do something like that. I don't like the idea of hopping on the hate train or immediately jumping to cancel someone. So I will be waiting for real facts and confirmation before saying anything regarding the CC. A lot of the speculation doesn't make sense to me logically and I also never got the chance to see the video before it was deleted. This is not me calling Shubble a liar. I 100% believe her and my heart goes out to her completely. She doesn't deserve being treated horribly, nobody does. The situation I'm hearing she went through is a wretched thing and I will not TOLERATE people insulting her or saying that she should just say who it was. That shit is not okay and never will be okay. HOWEVER! I will NOT stop writing Wilbur's character. A little fact about me is that when I came into this fandom, it wasn't because I watched the CCs. It wasn't because I was interested in MCYT. The reason I came here was because a very close friend of mine asked me to cowrite a fic with them. At the time the only fandom we really shared even vaguely was DSMP. I knew very little about it but I knew some things. I let my friend choose the ship. They chose TNT Duo. And it's thanks to that friend that I wrote Arsonist's Waltz. That I started to adore Quackbur and wrote my most well known fic, You Were Never Meant to be a Hero. And thanks to YWNMTBAH I made so many cherished friends. It's all because of these two little characters that still have me in a chokehold even though I've been writing them for quite some time now. And that's why I can't simply let go of Wilbur's character. But regardless of my ability to separate the Cs from the CCs, for some people that distinction is harder. The CCs to me are just glorified voice actors. For other people it's harder. They can separate the characters from the content creators just fine, but this situation hits them close to home. And it hurts. So, this is my proposed solution, brought to my attention by a friend who was heavily affected by this situation, but loved the work she was doing and didn't want to have to let it go. C!Wilbur doesn't have an actual canon design. When you think about it, the only thing we have to go off of is his Minecraft skin. Something that, when you think about it, doesn't tell us much about the character at all. There is no canon design because most of what we see as "canon" is based on the CC, not the character himself. When you look at c!Wilbur, the skin, does he have an eye color? Do we know his height? What about his hair length? His build? What do we actually know about this character outside of the clothing on his back and the personality his actor gave him? And when you make an AU everything changes. From now on? My c!Wilbur design that I'll use as a baseline for most of my fics is a 6ft man with heterochromia. One eye blue, the other teal. He's going to have brown curly hair that dips just below his shoulders and a light scar over one of his eyes. Sometimes he'll have freckles because what the fuck can we tell from a Minecraft skin anyways? He wears black nail polish because why not? Slay.

I already treated him and c!Quackity like glorified OCs already. Why not further OC the glorified OCs? So what if they aren't a faithful adaptation? How can anyone say what is and isn't "faithful" when we're talking about BLOCK MEN. Make them eldritch. Make them supernatural. Make them whatever kind of hybrid you want them to be! I'll die on my Magpie!Wilbur and Shrike!Quackity hill! Give them different eye colors and let them dye their hair sometimes, I'm going to make the white streak PINK because TWINS DUO and CHERRY BLOSSOM TRIPLETS! Give your Phantom!Wilburs green eyes and glowing blood! Give your Shapeshifter!Wilburs more hair and eye colors! Do what you want because the character has no actual canon design. Go wild with your AUs and remember that you're doing this for fun. For your enjoyment. Don't conform to what someone else wants from you just because your adaption, your interpretation, "isn't the real Wilbur". The characters are what we make them. Because the reality of the situation? They are literally just blocks in a cube game. There is no canon design. Don't let the actions of some asshole ruin what you love.

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

Tell me some of your favorite headcanons for the boys ?

I mean... I'm afraid of answering this for BDOR spoilers, because I have put all of my favorite head canons into that fic, obviously. Oh well, I figure most of my readers don't follow me on tumblr. So here's my head canons both for LU and my specific story Blood Drops on Roses.

Twilight -- used to have "anger issues" when he came back from his quest as a teen that was really just him being hurt and lashing out (I already had this idea, but it evolved a lot with your fics where he gets overwhelmed @somer-writes XD). He just... feels a lot, and feels it genuinely.

Sky -- I think this guy has gone through some /trauma/ compared to the other heroes. With his sunny nature and calm disposition---I think it's borne of a greater understanding of himself and his own limits. I do kinda hate the "trauma made them stronger uwu" trope, but for Sky that's true, because he put in the work and chose to be kind after all the horrible things that happened to him. Also, he's not bad at cooking traditional Skyloftian meals, like hot drinks.

Wind -- I think that he doesn't have all the inherent qualities, especially bravery and self-sacrifice, that the others have because they were "destined to be heroes" while he was not. Now, he's learned them, sure, but I think that jumping into battle still doesn't come as easily to him as it does to some of the others. But that also comes to my HC about the Triforce and its effects on its wielder (I've also got a fun thing for Wild on that one).

Hyrule -- I think that his healing magic isn't exactly... light. A lot of people HC that his magic is fairy magic, and I think that's partially true, but for him to be able to transform and access it in human form... I think there's something else going on there. But yeah, I've changed this guy's backstory a lot, I hope I don't have the Hyrule stans coming after me XD

Legend -- I think that he's a lot more chill about Koholint and things being "not real" than a lot of other people HC. Sure, it's always there in the back of his mind, but he'd rather have helped and fought and even fallen in love and it not be real than to hold himself back from that for fear of getting hurt again, because he's tried that. Also, I think he's slotted Time into the Uncle role in his mind, but that's not really plot important (or is it?)

Time -- @needfantasticstories >:D you know what's up with this poor guy. But yeah, I HC (and I've said this before), that he and Wind met in Mario cart, sometime before this adventure for Time, and sometimes after for Wind. There's not a lot of evidence for that, I'm just making up stuff as I go. Watch out for an author's note for that on the chapters near Too Quiet I'm tryna set up a joke XD

Warrior -- I think he's so teasing of the other heroes because he wants to hold them all at arm's length. He's still a bit traumatized from being betrayed, so he keeps that charming front of his up and keeps anyone from getting too close and seeing the real him. I think even Time (or at least, what we know of him) hasn't seen that genuine side of him, at least in a while.

Four -- I can't say that I have anything unique for him, when it comes for head canons that differ from LU norms. He is good at interpersonal conflicts, I also think he's good at self-reflection and helping others through their emotions. I do think he has four people in his head at all times, but they work around each other. I kinda go on and off about whether his eyes change color. He does have blue screen moments if he's startled or confused, and the panic of needing to move suddenly or choose quickly just makes it worse.

Wild -- currently multiple emotionally stunted gremlins in a trench coat. No, I will not elaborate :D

I'm turning the question back on you @wanderlustmagician and anyone else who wants to join in---what are your head canons for the boys?

[sage-nebula]

For the character ask game: Whisper the Wolf!

Thank you so much!!

How I feel about this character:

Summed up in a single image:

She can do no wrong in my eyes. And even when she does do wrong, that's OK and I forgive her 💜

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

I headcanon that Claire (from the OG Diamond Cutters, RIP) was her first girlfriend. And then of course, Tangle is her current girlfriend.

But I also like shipping her with Lanolin. 👀 Don't get me wrong, I don't think this would be a particularly healthy relationship. I think they would both enable each other's worst tendencies without realizing that's what they're doing, even as they tried to help each other in terms of coping with their respective traumas or whatnot. But not all ships have to be healthy, and in a situation where the Restoration Civil War arc I've been imagining came to pass (which I'm starting to lose hope will happen in canon, but I can always write it myself if it doesn't), I could definitely see this happening since I do believe Whisper would choose Lanolin's side while Tangle would choose Sonic's, leading to their breakup.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Her wisps! My biggest gripe with how Whisper is portrayed in canon is how little thought is given to her wisps. They aren't even given proper names, which is why I had to do find a way to do so while still adhering to how their colors are used in dialogue most of the time. But the wisps were partnered with the original Diamond Cutters; they were as much part of the team as the mobians were, and now they and Whisper are all that's left. So whenever I write stories where Whisper is the POV character, I make sure to include them as much as I can, because they're all she has left of her family, and she's all they have left, too. :(

After the wisps though, I also like how her relationship with Sonic has been portrayed. As much as I don't think she'd take his side in the Restoration Civil War arc (because she'd align more with Lanolin's "take the fight to Eggman and take him out" beliefs vs Sonic's "wait for Eggman to do something and then stop that and let him go" beliefs), she still clearly appreciates him as a friend, because of how respectful he is of her boundaries. Their moments together are always kind and soft, and it's nice. :)

My unpopular opinion about this character:

It's not really an opinion, but I guess just noticing and pointing out that Whisper has an attempted murder count of four in the comics so far? Because I remember getting into an argument with someone because they wanted to insist that Whisper wouldn't be able to kill Mimic, of all people, and so Silver should be the one to do it instead, when Whisper has canonically already tried to kill him twice and only didn't do it the second time because Tangle shielded him with her own body. (And only didn't do it the first time because she had to choose between killing him and saving Tangle, and she chose to save Tangle.) And she's also tried to kill Eggman twice, only stopping the first time because Cream shielded Eggman with her body, and the second time she did shoot him through the heart, but it didn't take because of Eggman's trap sticking her eeby deeby. I got accused of wanting to see Whisper as a brutal killer or a murderer or whatever, and it's just -- no? I'm just recognizing what is textual for her character, which is: if she determines that someone is an irredeemable villain, and she has a chance to kill them, she WILL take the shot. This is especially true if she has a personal vendetta with them, as she does with Eggman and ESPECIALLY with Mimic. I don't know if it's because she's a female character, because she's ordinarily soft-spoken and shy, or both that make some people want to ignore that about her, but it's nonetheless true. There are two characters generally aligned with the heroes (as in, against the villains) in this series who can be counted on to take the shot, and those characters are Shadow and Whisper. And apparently that's an unpopular opinion, but IMO it's not an opinion. It's just fact lmao.

(One could also argue Omega, but I think Omega only destroys badniks, so I'm not sure that really counts here. I think Whisper and Shadow are the only ones who'd take out humans / mobians like Eggman and Mimic.)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

Aside from her wisps getting to have actual names / be more present characters as mentioned above (it's not like it's unheard of -- Lanolin's wisp is named Maggie!), I had to write a fix-it fic after the debacle of making her apologize about being upset over Tangle using the name Diamond Cutters for the new squad that Lanolin set up. Don't misunderstand, there was something Whisper did need to apologize for -- namely, trying to leave without saying goodbye prior to the Trial By Fire arc -- but she had every right to be upset with Tangle for using the name Diamond Cutters. That wasn't her name to use, and I think that it was glossed over too quickly, even though I do understand that they couldn't spend pages upon pages of comic space discussing it, lol. (Oh, and I had to show the wisps having opinions about it, too, because again, they were part of the original team, this affected them, too!)

Other than that, it would be nice to get to see Whisper having fun and being happy more often, as she was in the Endless Summer issue. She has been through so much; she deserves to actually smile and enjoy herself sometimes :') it would be nice to see that again.

Thanks again for sending this!!

[nabtime]

Our Empty Graves XII

Fandom: Danny Phantom / Batman: Under the Red Hood

Pairings: Danny Fenton/Jason Todd (Dead on Main)

Rating: Mature

Tags: batfamily, hazmat AU, Nobody Knows AU, Mute!Phantom, potential ghost king danny, slow burn?, DC means Disregard Canon, AU means AU nothing is exactly the same, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, more than canon typical violence, danny is a Halfa and also a Fetch, no beta we die like basically everyone

Summary: They say that Red Hood has a loyal mutt. The man rules his territory in Crime Alley with an iron fist and a guard dog at his side. They say that Hood calls him Fetch, sometimes Fetcher. No one's ever heard him speak. Anyone who's ever seen him says he looks like an experiment gone wrong, that Hood picked him up somewhere unspeakable. They say he'll do anything Red Hood asks of him and he'll do it well. That he's strong and fast and probably inhuman. The girls say he's sweet; quiet but charming in his own way. Rival gangs say he's vicious; that he'd sooner rip your throat out than let you go.

Jason just wants to help him.

Chapter 12: with my eyes wide open im dreaming (darling do I deserve such a break?)

Chapter Summary: Recovery, cooking lessons, and an odd dream.

Chapter Notes: title from With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming by Patti Page Links: AO3 // Chapter 1 // Chapter 11 // Chapter 13 // Spotify

They got back from Doctor Leslie’s clinic after she’d kicked them out in the early hours of the morning. Danny couldn’t really tell you which day or how long they’d been in her clinic, but he could tell you it was early. Too damn early for anything, let alone traversing the back-streets of Gotham and hoping no one tried to jump them while Red’s hands were tied. He carefully directed Danny down the streets and made sure he didn’t get lost as they made their way to one of Red’s safe-houses. From what he was able to tell it looked like the same one he’d first been brought to, the one he was most familiar with. The one that looked the most lived in.

They both collapsed on the couch and didn’t move for a long while, neither of them dropping off to sleep like they should have- just trying to process everything.

Danny chose to stare at the ceiling, the colors of everything around him seemed so bright- no matter how often he’d had his tinted visor off lately, it was still something he wasn’t used to. He’d... existed, for so long, with everything in shadows and bathed in a sheen of darkness. His face felt naked and vulnerable to the world.

He didn’t want to put it back on, though. Which was a new and terrifying feeling.

He chose to ignore it and bask in the silence of the apartment, the only sounds being the hum of the appliances and the distant hustle of the city. There was a surprising lack of screaming and sirens that usually plagued Gotham, probably from the ungodly early hour. Even the terror of Gotham had to sleep sometimes- the rogues and the bats all tucked away all nice in bed while the normies went about their day.

What a wild place he’d landed in.

He hoped that explosion hadn’t hurt anyone else. He’d been far too distracted by making sure Red made it out okay that he didn’t even think to look for any other casualties. Although, he was pretty certain no one else liked to hang around the carnival themed area of the docks so the likelihood of any others getting caught in the blast was low. But not zero. Whatever the case, it was too late now- the cleanup and aftermath having long since passed. Whatever bodies there may or may not have been weren’t something he could help with now. It wasn’t something he particularly want to think about either. (There seemed to be quite a few things that he didn’t want to think about.)

He thought, instead, about what to do with Red’s hands. As a ghost, Danny had some semblance of accelerated healing. So, theoretically, since Hood was also ghost-adjacent, he could have accelerated healing too. Maybe Danny could jump-start the process? Figure out a way to blast his hands with enough regenerative ectoplasm that it fixed them all shiny and new instead of making them radioactive? He also needed to take care of that poison pooling in the other’s chest. He didn’t like it. He’d never encountered ectoplasm that was so rancid before. Usually you could tell the intent of the stuff by the smell or the taste- some instinctual sense ghosts had to tell one type of goo from another. The stuff Hood had felt like nothing but pure malice. It had no other purpose but to hurt.

It was close enough to ectoplasm to bring the other back to life (if that’s even what did it in the first place) and give Red some ghostly attributes (like purring!) so it stood to reason that pure or at least regenerative ecto would fix it. But would flushing his system with it work? Would it eradicate the poisoned ecto or would that have to be removed first for it all to work? Would anything even happen at all? Would any of it help or would trying to do any of that just kill him all the way? Red had been alive with the bad-goo for this long without much consequence, who’s to say it even needed to be removed at all?

Danny didn’t know. Danny didn’t even have the slightest clue. He wasn’t a doctor. He wasn’t an expert. All he had were questions and shoddy speculations. Nothing he could test. Nothing he would dare mention to Red in case it went horribly, horribly wrong.

It would be fine as it was for now. Probably. Hood would just have to deal with his hands healing at a normal human rate, no matter how long and terrible that was.

They sat for a good while longer. Danny in a slowly growing panic and Red nearly dropping off to sleep right there on the couch a few times.

Then the awkwardness began. The first hurdle they’d have to jump while Danny cared for the other during recovery.

Red pulled himself from the couch with a prolonged groan- movement slow and likely agonizing. He didn’t move further, just shuffled from foot to foot in discomfort and looked into the distance with the most despondent look he’d ever seen on the other man’s face. Danny sat up and studied him, waiting for a cue to guess where he could help.

“I have to go,” Red whispered, voice wrecked from his sore throat and the pure helplessness in his tone.

They had a silent stand off. Hood glared at his hands, then Danny, then the bathroom door just down the hall before he circled back to his hands. He didn’t appreciate Danny’s silent huff of laughter at the action.

Danny rolled his eyes and held up a hand, holding up one finger and then two and tilting his head in question.

Red sighed. “One,” he said tersely.

Danny shrugged a bit, hauling himself up from the couch. Then he stepped closer, looking up into Red’s widening baby-blues with a smirk. Gently, he undid the tie to Red’s sweatpants and loosened them, then stepped back. He waved toward the bathroom and then mimed shimmying pants down using his elbows and then sitting, trusting Hood would get the message without him having to spell it out.

Red squinted at him before the light-bulb seemed to go off. “Fucking genius,” he muttered before speed-walking for the bathroom- happy he could do that by himself at least.

(How he got his pants back on without Danny’s help was a bit of a mystery, but none of the bandages had been disturbed so he let it go.)

Red Hood was a stubborn man. Danny already knew this, but trying to take care of him and make sure he didn’t use his hands only made it clearer. Hood was a stubborn bastard dead set on self-sabotaging his recovery.

He refused help wherever he thought he could get away with it and tried to sneak in doing tasks that he knew he couldn’t do on his own anyway. Danny had caught him multiple times trying to do things he shouldn’t- like attempting to get plastic over the wrappings on his hands in order to do dishes when Danny wasn’t looking. Kudos to him for thinking to protect the wrappings from getting wet, but he was still in trouble because he was putting undue pressure on his broken hands. Danny had also caught the man trying to put on his Hood Helmet™ and crawl out the window! He’d had a very stern “talk” with him after that- Danny threatened to take Red’s hands off himself if he tried that again.

It was all incredibly awkward at first. There were quite a few things you couldn’t do on your own if you didn’t have hands- not if you weren’t used to it- not without tools. And Danny had to be there to help him with all of it. He didn’t mind it- not really. It was a little odd with how intimate it felt, but he liked taking care of Red. That protective part of his core hummed with satisfaction at being able to keep Red healthy and safe. He was also perfectly happy to let Red have as much independence he could manage without using his hands- if he could use his elbows or feet or whatever other appendage or makeshift tool for the task then Danny would let him. He was surprisingly resourceful so long as Danny made sure he wasn’t trying to push himself past his limits.

Their second big hurdle came with dinner.

Danny caught him trying to fumble with cooking utensils in the kitchen. He knew his cooking wasn’t that great, but come on! It wasn’t that bad! None of his food reanimated and he took that as a win.

“Ghoul boy,” Hood said after Danny had thrown a tantrum and pushed him into one of the rickety kitchen chairs and glared at him with his hands on his hips on accusation, “I’m tired of take-out. It’s been two weeks. And I don’t trust you to cook on your own after what happened with the bagels last Wednesday.”

Danny silently scoffed and threw a careless hand to the side. So I’d burned a few bagels. So, what?

Red glared. “You destroyed my toaster and nearly set the apartment on fire. The toaster isn’t even supposed to get that hot, let alone burst into flames that can’t be put out by a regular fire extinguisher. We had to toss it out the window and hope for the best! I don’t even know how you did that!”

Okay, so, maybe it was a bit worse than burning the bagels. But still! He could do something simpler! He huffed and threw his hands in the air. I could pour cereal without setting it on fire! Probably!

“You absolutely would find a way to set cereal on fire and you know it, Spooks,” Red retorted, irritated but also vaguely amused.

Danny deflated a bit before flopping into the other rickety old kitchen chair, scratching dejectedly at the sleek dark wood of the itty-bitty table the chairs surrounded. It sat in a small corner of the kitchen and was what counted for a dining room in the small apartment.

The apartment itself was small and cozy- it felt a little lived in- even if it was still pretty barren. The kitchen was well stocked with utensils and appliances (fancy ones that Danny definitely never wanted to touch for fear of either breaking them or them breaking him), if not always stocked well with ingredients. There were extra blankets and pillows for the second-hand couch- all in bland colors and made of cheap material. It screamed of a temporary place, something put together with minimal thought and expense- always meant to be a safe-house instead of a home. Not to mention the cache of weapons and tools that took up the entirety of the guest room. And the industrial strength first-aid kit supplies stocked in with them. He’d only glimpsed the room once, Hood showing him briefly when he’d apologized about not having any extra space. Danny’d shrugged- he slept in a tree most times, he could stand the couch.

Red interrupted his wandering thoughts with a question he didn’t particularly want to think about. “How’d you manage to be so bad at cooking in the first place? You eat, even as a ghost, so have you just been foraging around the forest all this time, like some undead squirrel?”

Danny huffed some semblance of a laugh before sighing. The question had an answer, there was absolutely a reason he was so bad in the kitchen, but did he want to share it? Show such a sad piece of himself to Red Hood? He stared down at the table as he tapped a slow rhythm on the wood. He couldn’t feel it under his fingertips, even without his gloves on. He debated for a bit before pulling the marker and whiteboard from his chest. He hesitated, fiddling with the cap and making no move to write.

There was a soft hum from Red and he looked up to see the other staring at the ceiling with a frown on his face.

“I’ve always liked cooking,” he said, voice soft and distant. “Even when I was bad at it, even when I didn’t know what I was doing, and even when I was only doing it because if I didn’t then I wouldn’t be fed.”

Danny felt his core let loose a small mourning croon before he could stop himself, the sound not unlike a dove’s churr. He quickly slapped his hands over his mouth (like that was even where the sound had come from) and tried hard to fight off a blush.

Red let out a short laugh at him, his eyes focused on Danny now instead of some long-away point in his past. Red’s grin slipped, though, as he continued.

“Growing up in Crime Alley is tough. Even tougher with a shitty dad and a mom that couldn’t control her drug use. She tried her best, but her good moments- where she was coherent and cared- were few and far between,” he said before smiling a bit. “The neighbors would step in, sometimes, if I bugged them enough. If they were friendly enough. Learned a lot of different recipes that way, too. All kinds of folk can end up down here, on the ground floor of Gotham.”

He sighed. “Really had to learn to fend for myself when I was inevitably orphaned.”

Danny didn’t like the way he said that. Like it had only been a matter of time before he was left to the mercy of the streets. Like it was the expected outcome. Like it was an everyday occurrence. Or- like he had deserved it. Like the circumstances had been his fault. He crooned again, lifting up from his chair and reaching out.

He placed a hand over Red’s forearm, wanting desperately to hold his hand instead, but trying to give comfort where he could anyway. Hood laughed softly at his efforts and smiled at him.

“I wasn’t orphaned for long, Spooks,” he said, using his wrist to pat at Danny’s hand to let him know it was okay. “I got picked up eventually.” And then his face twisted into a grimace, a complicated series of emotions flashing across his face before he shook his head to clear it. “B wasn’t ever allowed in the kitchen, but Alfred taught me all kinds of tricks and tips and dishes to make. I miss it sometimes, honestly.”

Danny floated closer, lifting fully out of his chair to lean against Hood’s side, offering silent support. He didn’t ask, not wanting to bring up bad memories and knowing full well how painful it could be to think back on the good times before you died. Most times it was worse than thinking about the bad times; because you knew it would never be the same. That you could never, ever, go back to those times. Death, even temporary as it had been for both of them, was a force of finality. A curtain closing around your life as you knew it. Dying changed you.

Red smiled and leaned down to press his forehead to the top of Danny’s head where the foggy wisps of his hair licked at Hood’s shoulder. Danny just nuzzled him further before pulling back and picking up the board again. He wouldn’t share everything, but he could share a little. Just like Red had. He tapped the board for a bit before deciding on what to write, appreciating the quiet patience of the other beside him as he waited.

My dad was really bad at cooking- unless it was fudge. And my mom wasn’t too bad at it, but she’d get distracted a lot and end up burning things. And then she and dad would hole up in the lab most days anyway. It didn’t help that they would store specimen samples in the fridge next to the food either. My older sister tried her best, but she was too young for most of the big appliances at first and no one was around to teach either of us most of the time.

He decided to leave it at that. He didn’t want to go into the times the food came back to life. Didn’t want to think about how many thanksgivings and holidays had been ruined from the turkey reanimating and besieging the house or the cookies going up in flames and almost burning everything to the ground. Didn’t want to think about all the times Jazz had burned herself trying to keep them fed with something decent or how often she’d had to beat the blender into submission with the Fenton Creep Stick. He couldn’t look at a toaster without shuddering- probably why Red’s had combusted like that, actually- not after one had tried to eat him alive when he was five.

Red nudged Danny’s arm with his elbow, offering a silent comfort just like Danny had done for him. He also didn’t ask further, letting the knowledge sit between the both of them. Red hadn’t had a good childhood and Danny hadn’t had a particularly stellar one either. It’d taken time and perspective for him to come to that conclusion- about how his parents hadn’t been as good as they probably should have been. And that wasn’t even to mention what happened after the accident.

He caught Red looking thoughtfully down at the main jumpsuit of the hazmat he still wore, and heard the soft murmur of, “A lab, huh?” before Red sighed and slumped over the back of his chair. His huge muscley bulk made it creak ominously.

“Alright,” Hood declared, pushing himself up from the table and attempting to put his hands on his hips before thinking better of it. “Cooking lessons it is, then.”

What? Danny stood fully and moved to stand in front of Red while drawing a frantic question mark in the air. How the hell did he expect to do this without hands?!

Red shrugged. “I’m going to tell you what to do and you’re going to do it. Carefully and with strict supervision. And you might want to go ahead and grab the fire-extinguisher.”

Danny stared. This was not going to end well.

Oh well, it wasn’t his kitchen at risk here. He did grab the extinguisher, though.

“Open up the fridge and the cabinets, Jellyfish. I gotta see what we’re working with here.”

Danny did so, floating a little bit in order to reach the top shelves and ignoring Hood’s soft snicker at the action. Damn tall people. He stood back and watched as Hood went around, muttering to himself as he compared different ingredients- what little they had- and only occasionally asking Danny to pick something up and check its expiration date.

“The andouille’s still good, we have rice, and the spices are all in date- even if they’re not fresh,” he heard Red murmur as he paced around the small space in the kitchen, Danny now floating over the table to keep out of his way. “No aromatics, though. Didn’t have a reason to keep fresh produce. Miracle at all that I even had sausage and broth.”

He paced back towards one of the cabinets, lifting a hand before pulling it back when Danny made a move to lunge and stop him. He grumbled before using an elbow to shift the cans around himself.

“Tomatoes,” he said, nudging a can to the front and picking it up between his elbows to place on the counter, “so creole style.”

Danny would forever be impressed with how much Red had learned to improvise in the two weeks without his hands so far. The man had been put out at first but he was quickly learning everything he could and couldn’t do and what he could manage in more- creative ways.

The table was already littered with several ingredients, ready to be put to use once Red was finally done obsessing over having everything they needed. Oil, sausage, a bag of long grain rice, a box of chicken broth, a bottle of hot sauce and another of worcestershire, and several different spices and seasonings. One was labeled Cajun, so he assumed they were cooking something spicy.

“Fetch!” Hood barked, causing Danny to startle out of his floating and almost fall- barely catching himself before he hit the table. He looked up to see Red grinning at him and stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

“Grab my phone for me, would ya?” Hood asked before turning back around and assessing the bare cabinets yet again.

It had become a pretty common thing between them, Hood trusting Danny with his phone to text and help make calls. It was the only way Hood was allowed to still run his criminal empire- from a distance, and in turn Danny was trusted with the passcode and access to everything. Red had a surprising amount of numbers saved in there- always a person for something or another. Just as many numbers for Grannies around the Alley as there were for the gang members in his crew. Danny knew Hood was trying to build a community- trying to make things better in every way, but it was still astounding to see.

He’d called Nadi early on that way too. Yes, Hood had had to do the talking and Nadi had chewed him out real good before busting down the door to the apartment to make sure Danny was okay, but he hadn’t wanted to let her worry. She’d taken Red by the ear and chewed him out some more after fussing over Danny- telling Hood that the only reason she wasn’t tearing him a new asshole was because he’d already done that himself. He’d been surprised that Red had been willing to let her see him without his helmet- he’d still slapped a mask on but still. And even more surprised that he’d let her know the address to the apartment. It spoke a lot of the trust he had in both Danny and Nadi. He was in a particularly vulnerable spot with his injuries- yet he’d let them in.

He grabbed the phone from corner of the living room that had a tiny little table next to an open outlet with a charger plugged in. Hood had multiple phones- most of them burners- but this one was the main one so it got it’s own special little place. He popped it off the charger and skipped back into the kitchen, unlocking it and holding it up for Red to see.

He nodded and said distractedly, “Call Mama Pourciau for me, please? I’m hoping she has some of the ingredients we’re missing.”

Danny did as told, scrolling through the frankly huge list of contacts until he got to Mama Pourciau and clicked the call icon. He put it on speaker and held it close to Hood so he could talk comfortably. He wondered idly what they’d be making.

Well, he wasn’t about to find out through the phone call because Red was not speaking English while talking with Mama Pourciau. If he had to guess, he’d say French- but it also sounded different to any French he’d heard before. He’d have to ask later what language it was.

He zoned out while watching Red talk, his voice nice as it wrapped around words he’d never heard before- the accent of them pleasing in a way Danny never thought he’d have a thing for. And then the call ended on Mama P’s end and Hood was smirking at him over the dial tone.

He shook his head and gave Hood a sheepish look, floating back over to the living room to put the phone away in order to avoid the teasing light in his eyes.

“She’s going to be bringing a few ingredients by, so keep an ear out for the door. She didn’t have everything but it’ll do in a pinch,” he said and then paused and hummed thoughtfully. “Go find those blankets that Mrs. Almeida dropped off the other day, too. Mama Pourciau’s daughter had a baby a few months ago and those should do as payment.”

Danny grinned and gave a jaunty salute before hopping away to hunt down the downy-soft blankets Mrs. Almeida had knitted and brought over for them in thanks for paying her son’s bail last week. Joao had done nothing wrong and Mrs. Almeida had been beside herself when the GCPD had tackled him and taken him in. Danny himself had gone down to the precinct and haunted the shit out of them in retribution.

Most people in the Alley seemed to work within a complex network of barter and trade, working with each other to cover each other’s needs. At least, now that Hood was making sure there weren’t any trouble-makers to disrupt it they were. And he kept the cops away from things that weren’t their business. Before the Alley had seemed to be a free-for-all. An every-man-for-himself type of place full of cruelty and despair. Now, slowly, it was building into a community. Something beautiful.

When Mama Pourciau knocked on the door, Danny answered with a grin and an armful of brightly-colored blankets. The older woman-stout and dark skin lined with age- had cooed and kissed his cheeks and traded burdens with ease. She hadn’t flinched at all at the sight of his fangs when he smiled. Hadn’t even hesitated to hug his colder body, her warm one smelling like coco butter and spices. She just patted him on the cheek and told him he was a sweet boy with her pretty accent and then told him to tell Red Hood that she’d be happy to send him recipes any time.

He nodded, awed at her response to his monstrous nature and waved with his hands full of groceries as she left. He felt dazed as he made his way back into the kitchen.

Red laughed at the look on his face when he came back. “Komik,” he said softly, shaking his head before gesturing for Danny to put the bags on the table to join the other ingredients.

“Cooking one oh one,” he started. “Fancy cooking, at least, starts by making your mise en place.”

Danny stared blankly and waited for Hood to explain what that was. He didn’t know any French, thanks. He’d barely learned any Spanish in high school before he’d had to drop out. Thankfully, Red knew full well he was an idiot already.

“You gather everything you need, measure it all out, and have it handy for when you’re ready to put it all together,” he continued without any judgment in his tone. “So lets see what Mama P was able to scrounge up and put it all together.”

Danny pulled everything out one by one, Hood naming each ingredient as he did so. Onions, green and red bell peppers, celery, garlic, dried oregano and thyme, okra, and even a small amount of shrimp.

“Ooh,” he said when Danny’d pulled out the shrimp. “I’m gonna have to get that woman something more than blankets for that. Didn’t ask her for any shrimp, sneaky minx.”

Danny had spluttered at the phrase, almost dropping the shrimp in the process. Who the hell called a sweet old lady like Mama Pourciau a minx?

Red laughed at Danny’s fumbling but then mumbled, “Don’t tell her I said that.”

Danny rolled his eyes before miming closing a zipper over his mouth.

“Alright,” Hood said, stepping over to the cabinets and drawers and pulling one open with his elbow. “Time to slice, dice, and measure.”

Danny pulled all the tools they would need per Hood’s instructions, making sure to follow along and pay attention. He was determined not to set anything on fire this time. Right now, thankfully, they weren’t working with heat yet, just chopping and putting everything together. Pulling out things like a Dutch oven and setting it aside. Measuring cups of rice and broth and using little spoons for the spices that were then put in little cups. It was fascinating. It was… nice.

Danny didn’t know cooking could be like this. Slow and methodical and soothing. There was no yelling here- no shouting about sentient hot dogs or being careful with the stove that he was too small to use. There was no uncertainty here- no guessing and guessing wrong about the basics and ending up with inedible accidents or stinging burns. Just him, Hood’s low, patient voice, and the food slowly coming together under his hands.

Partway through, Red had them stop and look for the small radio he kept in one of the upper cabinets, wanting to listen to something while they cooked. He had Danny flip though several different stations before landing on one that played music you might be more likely to hear play from a gramophone- soft and brassy and old. He’d wanted to question it, but watching Red’s eyes close in contentment and his hips gently sway made him pause. Maybe another time. He almost nicked himself with the knife watching those hips.

“We’re going to use the stove now, jellyfish,” Hood said softly as he nudged Danny with one of those distracting hips. “You ready for that?”

He shrugged. Maybe another time he’d be nervous, certain something would catch fire, but with Red showing him what to do and how, he felt pretty confident he wouldn’t mess up so badly this time. He bumped his own hip against Red’s and moved all the things they’d be sauteing next to the stove as the other told him to.

He browned the andouille, no problem, and then spooned it out for later. He poured in the onion, bell pepper, and celery, smiling as he stirred and relished in the delicious smell. Cooking had never smelled so good before- not when he was the one at the helm like this. It was something he could get used to if it went this well each time. It felt far more relaxing than he’d ever thought it could. He was used to the kitchen being a war-zone, full of screaming and fighting and chaos. This was nothing like that here now; just the soft sizzle of the food, gentle strains of old slow jazz, and the low murmur of Red’s instructions.

Hood hummed, pressing close behind him- chest to back, and hooked his chin on Danny’s shoulder. He was surprised at just how comfortable it all was. He leaned back into the embrace, just a bit, and felt his core rumble with a contented purr. Hood huffed a small laugh, but Danny could feel the echoing purr from the other’s chest against his back. Red had them both slowly swaying to the music and Danny had never felt so- warm was the only way to describe it- in his life.

“Garlic now,” Red said into his ear, “just for a little bit. Half a minute about. Till you can smell it good.”

Danny shivered and dutifully poured it in. The aroma in the kitchen was already heavenly, but it just continued to get better and better the longer they cooked. He could see why Hood liked this so much now. Eventually all the ingredients aside from the shrimp were added into the pot- Dutch oven- and all that was left was to wait while it simmered for awhile before adding them in.

It was peaceful and beautiful and if he could bottle the moment up he would. Just the smell of spices cooking on the stove and the rocking dance with Red to soft strings and trumpets. He didn’t deserve such a good moment. Something so painfully human and full of life. He didn’t deserve something so dreadfully gentle. But he wouldn’t tear himself away for the world. Maybe it was selfish of him, but he couldn’t bare to let it any of it go.

And in the end, well, they’d managed to make a pretty damn good jambalaya. Even Red said so.

═════ ◈ ═════

It wasn’t often that Danny dreamed. It wasn’t often that he slept in the first place, his ghostly nature allowing him to go for days without rest, and to dream within those handful of moments was rare. Nightmares, yes, they plagued him almost every time he couldn’t avoid dropping off to sleep any longer.

Dreams were different, though. Softer.

It should have been a nightmare, with what he was witnessing, but everything was distant and fuzzy around the edges. Like he was completely detached from the scene (the memory) he’d found himself watching from a completely different point of view. This wasn’t his memory, but it was of him, of something that often came back to haunt him.

He watched, in remote fascination, as his own clawed hand plunged into Pariah Dark’s prone chest and ripped out his core.

He’d been told by the other ghosts right before the battle, and in no uncertain terms, that taking the Tyrant King’s core was the only way to stop him. That without the original Council of Ancients to seal him away, putting him back in the Sarcophagus would do nothing. The only way for him to be defeated was to End him. And they’d all been fairly confident that Danny was the only one capable of doing it.

And hadn’t that been something? Every ghost that had ever kicked his ass had told him that he was the only one. The only one strong enough to defeat an Ancient King that had ruled over the Realms for thousands of years, that had previously only been defeated by being locked away by a group of powerful Ancients.

And he, an eighteen year old half-breed that they’d previously fought to hell and back, was their only hope.

He ran, at first. Scared out of his mind and fully believing that all his enemies were simply trying to get him to fully kill himself and act as canon fodder against Pariah to buy them all more time. Yes, he’d gotten stronger. Exponentially, every year. Especially after he abandoned the last shreds of his humanity and dedicated his full focus to developing his powers and fighting skills. He had no allies. Only four years of getting the snot beat out of him and a worryingly long list of powers that grew by the week. That wasn’t enough to kill a King. Not alone. Not by himself.

They’d found him and pulled him back, telling him his only choices were to either face the menace or be Ended himself. He hadn’t seen much choice there. They’d reluctantly laid out a plan to help him. They knew all their afterlives were at stake should he fail, but yet no one else stepped forward to do the job themselves.

The weight on his shoulders- his duty as a protector- had always been heavy. Especially when he’d just started out, when all he’d been was a scrappy fourteen year old just trying to survive. Just trying to protect the family that continually left him cold. Trying to protect the town that grew to hate him more and more. And when the GIW had invaded, it grew to protect other ghosts as well. It hadn’t been very hard, with the GIW being as incompetent as they were, but he still hadn’t wanted to see what would happen if they caught anyone. And it wasn’t like protecting the ghosts that hurt him had changed the status quo- he was far too used to saving those that would rather kill him than accept his help. But he gave it anyway.

And now they were forcing him. Telling him that despite all the animosity they’d treated him with, he was their only hope for survival. That he had to put what was left of his life at stake for them.

And he’d been so angry at first. Wanting to rage and scream and not being able to emit a single sound from within his suit. Because how dare they? How dare they pin this all on his shoulders? How dare they demand he save them after everything they’d put him through? After every fight, every taunt, every stab in the back.

And then Vlad, the idiot fruitloop that had started it all, had pulled the Fright Knight’s sword from the ground and transported the entirety of Amity Park into the Infinite Realms.

The people at the edges of his parent’s ghost shield had died. Humans couldn’t survive the Realms for long, and they could survive even less without protective measures like the shield. Not to mention however many casualties had happened when the ground itself had been rent apart with the transition.

And then the bastard had had the gall to tell Danny it was all his fault. That it was Danny’s cowardice that had killed them. Danny’s childishness that had caused everything to fall apart. He’d stood there, all smug and demeaning, pointing the sword at Danny’s chest as he placed the blame on someone else- completely disregarding how his own antics of tracking down the Ring of Rage for his own gain had been the reason Pariah was set loose in the first place. The Ring he still boasted on his finger.

It had never been more satisfying than that moment to punch the ass in his fanged blue face- the safety-goggles Vlad’d died in crunching under his fist.

The man liked to lord his superiority over everyone he came across, but especially Danny. Liked to claim that because he was the first of their kind, the first of the Halfas, and because he had years of experience and knowledge over Danny that he was better, and stronger, and smarter in every way and would always be so. That unless Danny gave in and became his student (his son), he would always, always be just a rash and ignorant boy. He liked to pretend, though, that it was also only a matter of time until Danny gave in. He used the fact that they were the same to twist the knife deeper and deeper. Insinuating that Danny’s path to becoming like him was an inevitability (and he refused to think about that).

But he was wrong; they weren’t the same. They were both Halfas, yes, but that wasn’t all they were. Danny was a Fetch, the ghost of a person still living. The true balance between life and death, a being both alive and dead in an even split. Vlad was a Draugr, a vengeful ghost with a corporeal body. There was still a part of Vlad that was living, however small, which classified him as a Halfa and allowed him to age the way a human would. But he was more ghost than human, even clutching to the last dregs of life within him as he was- claiming in vain he was human. Danny, on the other hand, had given up his life, denying that any part of him was still human despite the truth. Vlad was made from spite and slowly rotting flesh; Danny was made from tragedy and pure ectoplasm.

Danny had grabbed the sword from the cursing man and cut the hand that bore the Ring clean off in one vicious swipe. He’d never been so violent, never taken it that far before. And it had both felt exhilarating and terrifying. He’d shut down all feeling after that, grabbing the Ring for himself and leaving Vlad to scream and wallow in his deserved agony. They’d been lucky enough as it was that Pariah hadn’t taken the Ring from Vlad before that. With it, the King might have truly been unstoppable.

It’d been with the help of his enemies taking on the army, the Ring of Rage enhancing his Wail beyond measure, and the Sword of Nightmares slicing anything in his way, that he’d been able to fell the monster. He’d pinned Pariah to the ground with the Sword and used the enhanced strength of the Ring to dig into his chest.

(The Ring refused to leave his finger, stuck there- and forever making it impossible for him to speak without unleashing a world-ending wail. It stayed invisible most times, but he could feel it. Always.)

He watched, now, dispassionately, as a younger version of himself clutched Pariah’s core within his ectoplasm covered claws.

This was a dream, not a nightmare. He knew the difference well.

A figure appeared to his left, shrouded in a purple cloak and dark shadows, nothing of their face to be seen but deep red glow of their eyes- similar to the eye-shine of a predator in the dark. He knew the figure, but he couldn’t quite place from where. It was a memory on the edge of his mind, but he didn’t struggle too hard to grasp it. This was still just a dream.

The figure said nothing for a time, the both of them just continuing to watch the wretched memory play out. They watched Danny crush the core to dust, watched Pariah’s body melt horrifically slowly as he screamed, watched as Danny pulled the Sword from the King’s body and plunged it back into the ground. Watched as he fell to his knees in despair when nothing happened- when Amity remained trapped forever in the Realms.

“Why this?” he asked of the figure, wanting to look away, but unable.

“A warning,” the other said, voice smooth and even with the softest curl of a lisp at the edges. “A reminder.”

“Of what?” he asked, knowing he wasn’t likely to get an answer. Because that’s how all of this bullshit ever worked. Never any answers, never any real help.

“All will be revealed in time,” the other said, pulling a staff from the depths of their cloak and tapping it on the grass beneath their feet.

And then Danny woke up, disoriented and head fuzzy with sleep, the dream slipping from his mind the longer he tried to think of it, until it was nothing but a disquieting echo.

[malaky-nightm4r3]

Hey psst, After Effect update and news after eons

After Effect's 3rd birthday/anniversary is coming up, November 16th

So in celebration, I've begun making new refurbished ref sheets for everyone, we have a new main cast that isn't JUST Night and Killer, and the story is updated and in the process of getting loosely written out so drafts can begin, though I might end up asking someone to outsource writing Dream idly, I am NOT confident enough to write him accurately.

Its been ages but, this is your regular reminder regarding AE. This is a self indulgent sort of 'hurt/comfort' story, post Nightmare getting uncorrupted and donning the name Night, treating Nightmare as no longer his name due to what was done with it, and a slow burn romance story between Night and Killer. I'm doing my best to stick to each respective's canon but I can't promise perfection, though I treat Night as demiromantic which isn't exactly canon per say. Its safe to say this story is ""ship heavy"", though its just a driving force for me to create this story in the first place, the plot is more than just that.

The name is still sort of a pun, the story IS an after effect of one big detail changed in Dreamtale, and the multiverse's, story. Nightmare getting uncorrupted. But it also works for other background or side plots. You'll just have to be patient and find out.

Our new main characters, without giving much away, are Night, Killer, Color, Blue, Lust. Only teaser regarding the new lineup you'll get is Blue and Lust are married but not legally. They chose not to. Blue isn't just any old Underswap sans, he's the same one Killer stabbed in the eye in the one comic. Its been years since that took place, though, I'm sure Killer being his husband's best friend is no issue, right? Color might have a heart attack over Night and break out his old therapy routine, he's already handled Killer once before, surely Night will be easier, right?? Right?

Night is still plagued with night terrors, and occasional hallucinations of the creature that stood in his place for centuries. It isn't real, but he'll grow numb to it eventually...right?

Dreamtale, Nightmare, and Dream belongs to @/jokublog Underlust belongs to the AU community Underswap belongs to the AU community Color belongs to @/Superyoumna Killer belongs to @/Rahafwabas

Even after all this time, I still get anxiety regarding tagging creators for these things, so I've credited and linked to their blogs.

I do not see the AMT getting completed anytime soon, it will take a long time to even start whatever production I'm deciding on, so please understand it's still not magically all done and getting revealed on the anniversary.

You get one teaser ref, and that's the man himself, the origin of this whole alternate multiverse timeline story...Night

Isn't he just so much more mature looking than my last design? These refs are not what they start with, just their mid-story refs, made mostly for me!

One final detail for this, I feel its necessary, to those who have been fans for a while, or any newcomers who stumbled across this post, I'm pushing my unspoken policy I've had for years, which is No NSFW using the alts and story I'm creating. I have no issue with it privately, but please do not share it publicly.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck by me, through thick and thin, while I built this comfort story, fell apart from it, threw it all away and started anew. Thank you for being here, and encouraging me whether outwardly or in spirit.

[indigo-flightly-falls]

Hii!! For the ask game, 1, 4, 5, 6, and 14? Thx!!

Helloooo!!!

I'm talking about the SoD AU because I can >:}

1 Do you have a backstory for [character] without one? Is it relevant to how you write them?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure empires season 1 Joel never got much of a backstory (besides maybe some x-life stuff? idk I haven't watched empires!Joel or X-Life). Which means I'm fixing that :D

Joel's upbringing is deffiently the best out of the Bad Boys, which is saying something about the others- And it reflects in how he acts! As prince, he always had to be on the lookout, for his subjects safety and for people who would try to hurt him and/or said subjects! It results in him judging people long before he meets them, and this can greatly impact how he interacts with people! He's general unhinged-ness is also something from his backstory, as his whole island relied a lot on hunting, and often times worked with wild wolves or dragons to share food! Joel would actually spend weeks in the forest, hunting or hanging out with dragons, and it's resulted in him sometimes forgetting that people don't often act like a dragon when angry or while hunting.

4 If you could change something canon about [character], what would it be?

Does the entirety of the 3rd HTTYD movie count? If not then Stormheart. I don't know if it's ever explained why she wants to keep Lumie safe? Like it just seems to oppose her established characterization of not really caring about dragons or using them as weapons.

5 Are there any particular locations, whether from the source material or your own mind, that you enjoy writing?

The Hidden World is one, and I also quite enjoy the School or Vanaheim! In the game, I loved flying around them, especially the Hidden World Annex because it was a giant circle, so I didn't need to turn around if I didn't want! And I think that carried over to the SoD AU, because I love describing how the Hidden World looks or what it's like at the School or why Vanaheim matters to Etho specifically!

6 How do you envision [character] when writing about them?

Putting this below the cut because I went on a full ramble. And the next question has a long answer as well lol

Honestly this is a bit of a hard one. I'm not great with descriptions and character design is a bit of a weak spot for me, but I'll give it a try with Etho!

I think they literally only wear one outfit unless forced to wear something else, much to the annoyance of Skizz (who is the exact same way). Said outfit is a basic white shirt under a black jacket with green patches wherever it's been torn. They also have scales sown into the jacket, if one of their dragon friends shed, you can bet Etho will have a new scale sown onto the arms of their jacket. They often wear just plain black pants, simply because it's easier to explore new islands and have full mobility. If they weren't planning to go out flying, they might try on a skirt because fuck gender roles. I genuinely think despite the fact it would be better for traveling, they do not wear boots. They stick with sandals or something a bit like sneakers. They are doing this out of spite.

Of course, they've got their mask. It's probably been torn at least five times since they've landed on Berk, but hey, it's just some fabric and can be replaced with ease. They probably also remake their headband with the mask, because consistency is important.

I chose to let them keep the two colored eyes, because it's fun :) They've still got the red left eye, and their right is really dark green! We're keeping the white/black/green color theme :D Of course, we've got white hair. I'm saying it's natural, because if there are dragons why not let somebody have white hair? It's also established in the 4th chapter that Etho knows how to make purple dye for a strip of their hair! (also it's never mentioned but they probably had long hair before arriving on Berk, cut it around the time of joining due to getting teased, and later started growing it out again a bit)

As well as that, they are probably also tall and skinny, due to the fact that they do not eat enough. It isn't on purpose, they are just very forgetful and dragons + Skizz take first priority. They also have horrible posture and look about half a foot shorter then they are :)

14 What is something you would like to talk at length about?

Well uh. I talked a lot about Etho's appearance above but also, dragons.

Etho - Starlit'Void (sand wraith) and Lumie (luminous krayfin). I gave them Starlit'Void because he was my starting dragon and I thought it would be fun! Lumie is more of a technicality, because he's not a playable dragon in game, but with how often he appears in quests, I think I can say he's Etho's now. (also because if you've seen the second httyd movie, there's this scene when Valka is riding on Cloudjumper as the bewilderbeast rises from the ice and I am imagining that but with Etho + Lumie when he fully grown) All other dragons are part of Etho's hoard and are either from quests, their and Skizz's children, or just ones that stick around for fun!

There is another dragon Etho gets, a [redacted] named Stardust! I cannot explain much due to spoilers for a not-yet released fic, but I chose Stardust because around the time the fandom got confirmation of a 4th series, everybody started trying to decide what the winner's title could be! And someone suggest Stardust if Etho won and it lives in my head rent free (It was suggested to fit with the astrology theme + redstone!).

Skizz - Gaze (triple stryke). Personally, I feel like (both 3L and SoD!)Skizz and post-redemption!Dagur share a lot of similarities and hey, why not share the same dragon species! I'll also explain Holly here because why not. Holly is also a triple stryke that Etho and Skizz adopted during Stormheart's first attack on the edge, and the two of them raised her together!

I think to a point Pouncer and Ruffrunner could be counted, but I see them less of Etho and Skizz's dragons and more of future alpha's that the two humans are helping grow!

[shriekinghavoc]

more details on the designs below the cut! very happy with how this challenge came out

So obviously the canon outfit is my interpretation of the classic dove design from the original silverage comics with the feathery cape and gloves. Very angular and sharp, and while it did sometimes have opaque eye lenses like many other cowls, Don was usually depicted with open eyes up until the 80s runs. I chose this design over his appearances in later comics because this design had the larger impact on how I see and thus draw Don today.

The fanon outfit is a bit harder, as the text implies. People just don't draw him as often as Dawn- who is also very lacking in fanart, by the way. I just know that I hate how a lot of people write his personality in fanfic and some fan comics. He's a sassy little guy and would sooner chew you out for threatening him than cry about it. It's like fanon Don has no confidence, and even when he does it boils down to being a real "baby" brother.

The design, though, is a combination of a few influences, but mainly Justice League: Unlimited and the newer comic designs, which are the designs a lot of artists seem to "Draw" from. (haha-)

The final is of course my design... but I'm sure many of you more familiar with my Hawk and Dove are noticing some things like the colors and the like are off. That's because Don went through a mini redesign VERY recently but I haven't had a chance to post anything about it yet. I'll probably still draw him majorly the same in the Titans Now comics/art, since those colors are brighter (but they are also going to be getting little color tweaks coming up) and a bit sillier so the eye mask doesn't bother me as much, and quick comics will also probably remain. I'm not totally happy with his mask, but this design is one I'm more comfortable with putting on serious pieces.

[thekingofthenameless]

I'm updating DR!Merlin's design!

(And hopefully this will be the last time.)

I’m not going to delete the original post I made ages ago because it details the saga of how I got the idea to redesign him (and then eventually make him my own version), it has a writing blurb that I still like there, and I got of a couple of really nice compliments!

I made several collages to show how he looks more instead of just describing it, and I’ll explain the reasons behind picking the images in them!

General Looks:

I made his bust in Artbreeder!

After @rule-number-3 drew him with a widow’s peak, I wanted to incorporate that into his design.

Second up is his hairstyle! I’ve wanted him to have a ponytail for so dang long, even before I started coming with ideas for a redesign! I’d always wanted it to be mid-high usually, with it tied up into a bun when he’s in his armor; and either loosened or completely down for sleep. The picture got his hair length right too! When it’s fully down, it’s halfway down his back. It’s also very thick, and he’s 6'7", so that’s a lot of hair!

His hair and eyebrow color is definitely the easiest part of his redesign, because it’s just having them match now. It was a little harder to find the photo I wanted at first. I had to keep weeding out options 😂.

I’d finally gotten down to two choices for his new eye color. I had the option I have in the collage, and a more natural looking eye. I didn’t know which one to choose, so I asked @donkeyklone for his opinion; and after what I explained what it was for, he said to go for that option! He said it looks more magical, which fits his status as a wizard and cambion. :D

He’s very sleep deprived from insomnia, nightmares, etc., so I googled eyebags and chose the worst looking ones I could find lol.

His skin color was actually taken straight from his face! I just made a little square in IbisPaintX and colored it in!

One design element that I wanted to keep from Canon!Merlin was his hands. They’re wide with short fingernails and no visible veins, but that could just be the art style. The hand I found matched what I was looking for perfectly!

And last off for this collage, I decided that his body type would be realistically muscular, give all the fighting he’s done, but it took me a little bit to find the right amount of muscle I wanted. I didn’t want him to look like a bodybuilder, but I also didn’t want him to be too lean.

TW/CW for scars! Some are these are pretty graphic!

Scars:

Some of these are more to show the texture of the scars than location. I also haven’t figured out the whole backstory behind them yet, so these are more of summarizations.

The knife scar on his neck was from a murder attempt after his magic was discovered by people who hated magic.

The claw marks on his chest are from a beast attack; not sure what yet.

His burn marks are from when he was burned with holy fire. (Burns from holy water go away; burns from holy fire don’t.)

The knife scar on his arm is actually from his wrist to his elbow, and it was specifically torture.

The whip marks on his back are from another time he was tortured.

The claw marks on his back are from other beasts.

His stretch marks are from puberty! Since he’s half-demon, he probably grew really fast during that time, and I think that he’d probably have stretch marks from it. Also yes I’m projecting.

The knife scar on his left leg is from when he stabbed during a fight.

The bite scar on his right leg is from another beast.

Cambion form:

I’m so excited to talk about this because I haven’t really done that yet, but DR!Merlin is a cambion! :D Here’s some backstory about his birth. He also has a name for his other true form:“Blood Moon!Merlin.” @donkeyklone was the source for it, as he was thinking I could call it that since his whole “shtick is the moon” according to him 😂. I imagine someone described him as looking like a blood moon after seeing him, since cambions have a wide variety of colors.

For his horns, I went through several options, but the one in the collage was my favorite photo by far. I love how big they are!

His hair color is still the same despite all the changes between forms.

His facial markings are inspired by concept art that features him with some! I tried to get the swirl-like markings as close as possible at first, but then I just chose my favorite picture.

They even show up in his human form; mainly when he’s having visions or entering his avatar state™️. I don’t know what else to call it.

And pointy ears, also featured in the above photo, are always cool!

His eye color is to match with the rest of his form, and red is pretty default for a demon anyway. 😂 Slitted eyes are always awesome too!

For his fangs, I chose a photo that had both top and bottom fangs.

I chose the photo that best matched the idea of what I wanted for his claws.

For his wings, I just googled red wings png. It was one of the first results!

His skin color was picked from another photo of red eyes, and @donkeyklone sent me the tail!

Armor:

I love his armor so much, even if it has been through a few revamps.

I made his outer helmet, faceplate, and breastplate in Artbreeder!

I found his gauntlets after googling black gauntlets.

His cape pattern is the ocean because the moon controls the tides, and I wanted him to have more general night motifs besides just stars!

I think I’ve said this before, but his armor is BIG. It’s not formfitting like Jim’s and Morgana’s, and that idea was inspired by these concept arts. I was also able to find a photo that illustrated it more clearly on Artstation!

Unfortunately Jim isn’t as realistic proportions wise, but this is the size difference between their armor!

His cape color is picked from this photo of the ocean! Besides it matching the black of his armor, it also opposes Morgana’s sky blue cape. 😉

Weapons:

These are just a few of the weapons Merlin uses throughout the DR-verse!

I made his staff, sword, and shield in Artbreeder! I wanted to keep his staff mostly the same, except making it slightly more fantasy like, because DR!Merlin is more straight up magical fantasy than magi-tech.

His sword is covered in stars with a silver handle to match his night motifs better. Besides that, a master wizard having a normal sword is so silly to me.

I gave him a shield because they’re awesome, and yes, I want to see him smash the crap out of a villain while they’re trying to talk.

I chose a bow as another weapon for him because his staff does turn into a bow in some concept art!

Sometimes he wields an axe in more close combat situations, same with the dagger.

His shield’s shape is long and angular, and it goes down to his feet when he holds it in front him.

The sword whip is for more of a long range combat situation, and his magic allows to extend as far as he needs it to.

Camelot outfit:

In Emerald Embers, he doesn’t wear his armor 24/7, so here’s his Camelot outfit design!

His earrings are full moons because of his night motif, like his armor! Since the night means safety to many magical creatures, him always wearing some version of night themed accessories is a secret way of signaling he’s safe to approach. He also finds them pretty.

I found his cape clasps by just searching for cape clasp designs on Pinterest, and they’re perfect because they remind him of Charlie. (At the start of Emerald Embers, he’s been gone for over a thousand years.) I need to make a post about his redesign too. And why they separated.

His necklace is the one he made for his sister, Ganieda, as her wedding gift. It’s very, very special to him, as it’s one of the few things he has left of her.

I was trying to make his outfit historically accurate, and I found out that bliauts were popular back then!

His pants were ones that I’d chosen for a reference when I first came up with a possible design for his outfit! That was a long time ago, but it’s still on my tablet. It’s currently broken. 💀

Him having a cape was inspired by @tenyai’s storyboards of him having one! It’s one element of his outfit that I’ve always kept, even if I did change the rest.

For his belt, I just looked up medieval belts and chose my favorite.

His boots took a little while to choose. I wanted him to have heeled boots, shamelessly inspired by Dracula in Netflix’s adaptation of Castlevania, but finding one that I could choose was another story. But I eventually did!

His ring is actually his staff in disguise! He wears it on his right middle finger.

Last off, his bracelet is more of a pretty accessory that doesn’t really have special meaning to him.

And that’s all for now! Of course, he’s going to have more outfits eventually lol.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 2: Escape to Another Planet

As much as the intro is cool, I like the GoLion one better because the song slaps

Nobody sounds distressed while crashing sodivns

Line change from last episode as they call the castle of lions the royal castle, so I guess they don't know that's where voltron is? I'm trying not to give the writing too much credit because it's an episodic show more than a story based on

At least the GG believes in the team's survival,,, which isn't much anyway

Pidge is just the absolute cutest, kind of wonder why he didn't do this during his fall last episode, but he wasn't prepared for that one I guess

"Your face is disGUSTing!" -Pidge [Hunk proceeds to spit sand onto Pidge's face] True friendship, insulting one and grossing out the other

"Leave me alone, I'll get up when I want!" -Lance Trying to cover for your ass being up in the air like hunk's was after the fall isn't working my guy

"What's next?" "How about food?" "How about we look for that CASTLE" There's the Pidge sass I was hoping for, get em pipsqueak

I've ribbed Lance a lot for being sassy and almost uncaring sometimes, but that really isn't the case for him, he really does care about the Arusians and puts himself on the line for people who are too afraid to fight back What a sweet guy, no wonder my clone likes him so much

Keith hates fog, good to know

Woop animation error, Keith's tracksuit is half blue and half red when it's supposed to be all blue because of the fog the team is in everyone else's clothing is blue too

Hunk has canonically wrestled a lion cub, I wonder if this means he's worked with exotic animals before!

Oh I never realized there was a moat around the castle, that's probably where blue lion launches, but I like the idea of blue just chilling in a lake instead

The mice are so cute, very expressive too Pidge with his jumping skills again somehow bounces his way to the top of a castle wall

Have you boys never been taught to not go into weird abandoned looking places? If you're going in at least one of you has to stay at the door like c'mon That's why you losers are trapped inside now

Coran! His official title of diplomat of Arus, interesting. Also, why would you tell a random group of dudes about voltron if that's your only hope? They're literally pointing weapons at you good sir

I'm not sure of the aesthetic entirely so feel free to correct me but Arus looked like it had a lot of Greco-Roman architecture, very nice looking but too bad it got destroy OISNV

Princess Allura at last! Very much looks like Aurora/Sleeping Beauty, but I wonder if that's what they were going for since she legitimately is a princess Pidge is smitten lol, I like to think the crush lasts like a week before it changes into seeing her as an older sister figure

Immediately she starts crying about her dead dad, like maybe I'm just being too apathetic, but I don't think you should trauma dump onto strangers princess

The legend just keeps getting more and more muddy So what's true so far is that voltron was split into 5 lions because of Haggar, but apparently King Alfor had activated it before Zarkon's attack and THAT'S when the split happened?? Yeah, uh, I'm just going to stick with Voltron was a legend on Arus and the boys weren't there to see the start of Arus's destruction because it happened years before they got there

Keith "anime eyes" Kogane

I love Allura's voice, it's so nice to hear, and she very much seems her age or older GoLion said she was 16 at the boys' arrival, so I don't see them much older than their mid 20s except for Pidge who is definitely a child at 12

And the official uniforms are on! I still don't really understand why Keith never got black but iirc I was told that red was seen as the color for a leader or something like that I also like to believe that Lance chose blue because it looked good on him lol

Oh, so blue lion IS in a lake, but the castle is basically on an island in said lake which is why there's a bridge as if there was a moat interesting it's probably a moat in GoLion but shh I'm gonna build whatever lore I want with this

Man the old control room was so cool, maybe it's a me thing but LOOK AT ALL THOSE BUTTONS I WANT TO PRESS TO FEEL THEIR CLICK

Voltron is apparently king of robots? I think that's funny considering the VA for Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) is the one narrating the show

End of Episode 2! More exposition, finally getting to see some supporting cast and settling into the main setting for the show Already getting the vibes that this dub isn't supposed to be that deep but because of its more gruesome predecessor it really can be if you pay attention to it

[shadebloopnik]

Angelic Alastor AU [Colored version heree]

"Some friends are personal Guardian Angels, don't you think?"

Only through centuries of practice did Alastor remain still, hands ever as graceful as it smoothened the picnic blanket under them.

"Whatever makes you say that, my dear?", he'd ask.

The curly haired woman hummed to herself, placing a finger on her chin in thought.

"Hmmmm, well it'd certainly explain what you are to me, don't you think? Why our very meeting came straight out of a novella! A poor damsel being saved from the maws of danger!"

Alastor chuckled at the other's dramatics, the woman having placed the back of her hand on her head, and flopping onto her back to the blanket below.

"I pulled you out of the way of a falling pot, not exactly fairytale material."

"Still!", the girl bounced back up, her curls threatening to slip out of her tie. "It counts Allie! And then you go on to accompany me and become my very best friend, imparting wisdom and guidance as I traverse this life. Guardian Angel I tell you!"

"Well, someone has to have proper common sense between the both of us.", Alastor would say. Madelaine had a good head on her shoulders, primarily a no-nonsense girl in the face of the cruel reality before her, but she was a idealist deep inside. A clever dreamer who always saw the good out of everything, even with hopeless things, like her so called mate. Alastor opted not to bring it up, remembering their numerous spats over her so called boyfriend and how he should "Give him a chance Allie! He's a sweetie just see!". Really, with how clever she was, she needed to have better taste in men, she's too good for that.

"Nevertheless Maddie, it warms my heart to know that i'm an angel in your eyes. Recognizing greatness as it is there's hope for you yet!", Alastor flashed her a teasing smile, a hand on his chest to exaggerated how touched he was.

"Hmmph! Certainly the most devilish one I've ever seen!", She giggles, and Alastor couldn't help but smile wider. Oh dear you have no idea how right you are.

"Devilish appetite perhaps, 'cause if you're not fast enough, I might just eat all these treats by myself." He positioned a hand on the basket, moving to grab at one of the beignets.

"Hey mister! I spent all morning on those honeybuns!!", she laughed, quickly swatting away his hands as she laid out their spread on the blanket. Allie always had a way of making her feel loose, free in a way that went beyond what was socially appropriate at the time. He didn't care for social proprieties, or gender roles, treating her as he would anyone. He acted above such frivolous things, as mysterious as he was charming. Eating pastries like this, enjoying the afternoon sun in a quiet spot at the edge of the woods, singing songs with her very best friend, there was nothing more she could ask for.

————————————

Sooooo, I can't just move past Alastor's canon mom and NOT include her in this AU- im weak okay- and I figured he'd need to have some human influence anyway for the whole radio thing.

Alastor ends up being pretty depressed and a shut-in in heaven when the two fell. Most didn't see him for weeks or months at a time. Sometime(not sure abt the timeline yet) he ends up frequenting Earth in secret a lot. He ends up meeting Madelaine, or Maddie for short.

He becomes her best friend, encouraging her free spirit, and enjoying her company, making him genuinely smile and laugh for the first time in centuries. He learns a lot on human things from her, picking up the love for radio from her as well. Its also because of her that he stuck around a lot in the human world around that time, meeting others like Mimzy as well.

Maddie thinks Allie(the name he chose to adopt), is a bit weird. He doesn't seem to fully grasp some social cues, and thinks himself above expected roles. He doesn't treat her any different despite her background and gender(in fact he never seemed to mention it at all???). He helps her with her hair, and dresses, and lets her go loose without ever mentioning how odd it was. She loves all his little quirks, even if she thinks it odd(like how he doesn't ever look any older)

[transsexualhamlet]

Moriarty the Patriot + The Final Problem

aka another unecessary essay from ya boy on how yuumori, instead of taking away from the original text, adds meaning and depth to it

So I finally got around to reading the final problem after wading through all the memoirs of sherlock holmes and yes, I am in fact reading these because of yuumori. I wanted to see how it was portrayed, what the differences and influences from the original source were. I did end up getting incredibly attached to the original series too, so yeah... I'm glad to report that the original and adaption get along well.

And yeah, I have a lot of thoughts, most of them being just me generally praising yuumori. I think it was straight up genius how they pulled so much content from... well, frankly. The Final Problem was a 15 page short story tossed off by Doyle in order to have an excuse to be done with sherlock holmes, told from the perspective of someone who wasn't even there. And yuumori still managed to make it generally very accurate and complementary to the original, while still being, uhhhhh really fucking different, let's say that.

Read more because again, long essay

Just my observations on the final problem itself is that it is so underdeveloped and told from an outsider perspective. Because of that, so many questions go unanswered, and the reader gets a sense that they are only witnessing a very small part of what actually happened. Sherlock can't afford to go into detail on what Moriarty was even involved in, Watson isn't privy to what's honestly even happening most of the time, and Moriarty just... has this extensive network of organized crime that just isn't even talked about other than Trust Me It's Bad Bro. We don't know Moriarty's intentions, most of who he is, and more questions are honestly brought up than answered within the story. Sherlock knows, oh that's for sure, Sherlock knows what's going on and he has no fucking time to tell Watson. You get a sense that Watson himself isn't even telling all that went down.

So yeah, I can see where there's so much room to expand upon here, not even to change things or make it different because it would be cool, but there's so much that could be happening just within the realm of plausible deniability in the canon.

And I think that it's amazing how Yuumori chose to market itself that way- not as an adaption or reimagining- but that this was in fact the Real story, with Doyle's final problem being... honestly a bit of a cover up, a purposeful misrepresentation of a small slice of the full story. It lends itself completely to that, and I think that's amazing.

(One thing I do find funny is that in Yuumori the story "the final problem" is depicted as a full novella that could be published on its own... man it's not nearly long enough for that but I find it funny in any way)

Of course, there are elements of yuumori that are yknow, simply not realistically something that could have happened, but most of the story is actually within that range of plausible deniability since the canon is so vague and sparse. And since they state that things were changed on purpose to protect people and the moriarty plan, it basically covers that all as simply The Truth. It's well done, and very interesting, especially with the new anime ending taking them to Reichenbach itself.

Like, yuumori didn't even truly change the appearances of the characters, from the descriptions. (we're not counting the illustrations lol) like, Sherlock was never stated (as far as I can tell) to have a specific hair or eye color, hairstyle or such.... he was described as tall, thin, eccentric, messy, with like... long fingers and stuff. Man, yuumori did not go against that. With Moriarty it's different, though he was also reportedly Tall and Thin and Built Like A Yaoi Protag for some goddamn reason, he... you know, has these weird and unattractive features as well, which... in the context of Watson trying to portray Moriarty as unmitigated evil in order to protect the plan, were in this situation made up specifically to further the idea that he was just that.

Because of this situation, the Moriarty that is portrayed as yeah, a smart guy and a threat but seriously just A Bad Dude who seems to have no particular reason behind his actions save being A Bad Dude actually make more sense as a cover up behind a more dangerous secret of him having Real Feelings than the only stated reason being "he inherited being evil from his family". (like... watson, really?)

It explains the vagueness and the events and the weird connection between those two better than the original does, and that's really cool to me.

On their own, without yuumori to back me up on these things, reading this would have left me confused and depressed. But as a half truth immortalized as the real story, you get so much more out of it.

Especially these certain scenes:

When Moriarty just pops into Sherlock's house and they proceed to have a basically wordless conversation amounting to

"you know why I'm here" "you know how I'm going to respond" "well then" "here's date and time of our mutual destruction" "thanks I'll be there" "well I'll be off nice knowing you" "wow it sucks that we're enemies he's such a civil guy"

It just really adds something to that, don't you think?

And the subject of their fall itself, simply the fact that Watson wasn't even there. No one witnessed it. No one found even Moriarty's body. No one found evidence of anything at all.

All Watson could say was that Sherlock and Moriarty had gone up to the mountain together, Moriarty told Sherlock of his plans, let Sherlock write and leave a letter to Watson, and that they never came back down. So he came to the conclusion that they must have fought and both fallen off.... like, holding each other. Not really sure how they reached that conclusion, to be honest.

It doesn't even make sense, exactly told how it is. If Moriarty wanted to kill sherlock and survive, he would have just... brought a fucking gun. Or just pushed him off on the way up. As soon as he got him alone just fucking stab the man. It would have been that easy, but no, he had a whole ass convo with the man, they went up civilly side by side, and they stayed on the cliff a long time while Sherlock wrote that letter. Even then, Sherlock could have just waited to catch Moriarty off guard and pushed him off. But he didn't.

Why would they even have fought, if it was so scheduled? You telling me to believe that after this letter was written and moriarty stood there watching him sipping tea or whatever he was suddenly like "ok im ready to fight now", knowing they would both probably die, and if they were genuinely trying to kill each other and survive, that would even make sense?

Of course, these problems in the original stem just from Doyle no longer giving a shit and slapping this together after losing motivation for sherlock, he was obviously, not hinting at some great conspiracy in the slightest.

But damn, Yuumori really does change that all for you, huh. It adds a whole new layer of context to it. And I like it a lot, I like what they've done on their own, I like what they've done for the original stories, and I especially like what they've done telling the "real story" of this short, vague, mystery that otherwise leaves you feeling unsatisfied and confused.

[3beesinatrenchcoat]

Warriors Cats Headcanon PMV/MAP Ideas I will never do anything with Pt 1.

*Spoilers for AVOS*

Two Birds- Dawnpelt and Sleekwhisker

Hear me out:

*Using full names or just the prefix

Short Version (Kinda):

Dawnpelt goes back and forth are wether or not too blame Juniperclaw and Sleekwhisker (especially) for Crowfrost's death and everything that has become of Shadowclan

This snaps her already strained relationship with her only daughter, pushing Sleekwhisker towards Darktail even more

Juniperclaw express doubt about if the Kin was a good idea, Darktail seems really cruel, Strike was already against the whole idea from the beginning, so Dawnpelt helps them plan their escape, along with other cats who are doubting the kin. Juniper and Strike make it out, but Dawn can't leave yet, not without Violetpaw (and one last look at the daughter she once had), she's caught by Darktail

Sleekwhisker is furious!! Her mother always favored her brothers, and now this apprentice, who isn't even Shadowclan, (why did Rowanstar have to chose the kit with the same fur colors and similar build to Crowfrost, why did Dawn HAVE to mentor her). So when Darktail gives Sleek one final test, she accepts as quickly as the words could tumble out of her mouth

She goes to share as he asked, there is Dawn, tied up with reeds and with Raven on her back. Was that a glaze of uncertainty over Sleeks eyes?

Sleek tried to drown Dawn, Dawn breaks through the restraints and makes up her mind, Sleek is the cat to blame, for everything, and fights back nearly escaping. She pushed back by Raven and Dark, the last thing her yowls out before her head is pushed under for the last time, is here disowning Sleekwhisker, and wishing Violetshine or even Needletail, had been her daughter instead

Long Version (more in depth on Dawnpelts side):

In canon Dawn always needs to blame a cat for issues in her life (She was a perfect potential DF trainee, but I guess only one Hell cat per litter). She blames Jayfeather for the death of Flametail and never really forgave him.

Sleekwhisker is one of Dawnpelt's lits along with Juniperclaw (Blorbo), and Strikestone. She is one of the first and main apprentices that wants things to change in Shadowclan (I.e. Darktail and his Kin time) Juniperclaw went with her while Strikestone stayed with Shadowclan first, Dawnpwlt stayed with him

Dawnpelt's mate is Crowfrost, who dies of Yellowcough, which could have been cured, if Windclan have given up the lungwort. The reason Windclan refused was due to Shadowclan harboring the Kin.

See where I'm going with this?

Dawn is devastated by the death of her mate and Shadowclan coming apart at the seems around her. She wants, no needs a cat to blame, but the only cat(s) she easily blame are also the hardest, Sleek and Juniper. But how can she blame her own kids? But they were the reason Darktail was here, why Windclan refused to give them the live saving herb, the reason their own father was dead.

Dawnpelt is stuck, maybe this was her fault? Was she a bad mother? A bad mentor ? her own apprentice (Beepaw) also led the Kin in with open paws. Sure Sleekwhisker had always been a little rebellious, but being independent was a good thing right? And she clearly had leadership skills as Juniper followed his sister's every word (Dawn love(d/s) her son, but he is a little dim). Sleek never seemed to need her as much as Juniper or especially Strike did.