#not all who wander

[farsi-calligraphy]

"Not all those who wander are lost." ليسَ كل مَن يتجولون ضائعين Arabic calligraphy by S Joon Thomas https://worldcalligraphy.com

[mostly-paper-kind]

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost.

[asha-mage]

22 and 23 for the ask game

22. do you have a fic that has some deep lore you never explained?

Quite a few actually! It's kinda impossible not acquire some Deep Lore writing in as many world building heavy fandoms as I do. (Sworn is FULL of stuff like this that I can't yet explain because a lot of it is spoilers). For now, I'll go with this bit: the monsters from Not All Who Wander are actually the manifestation of souls burned out of the pattern with Balefire, which is why they bleach/wash out everything they touch, draining it of life. Once the monster is destroyed, that soul is released back into the cycle of reincarceration.

23. are any of your fics awaiting a sequel you haven't announced?

Yes. Both The Ancient Blood, and Prince of the Morning have sequels in the works if I ever buckle down and write them. Both would be 'zoomed out' versions of EotW, telling how it plays out with their respective AU changes.

[vals-wonderland]

Time stood still the way it did before, it's like I'm sleepwalking

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 271

“Grandmother is visiting,” Damian suddenly said with no warning and with his usual not-quite demanding tone. 

“Who?” Tim wasn’t the only one to startle, seeing as Bruce had practically froze, a downturn to his lips in a silent show of confusion. 

Damian scowled. “Are you deaf Drake? Grandmother is coming to Gotham to, quote, make sure I am being properly cared for.” None of them had known that Ras was with anyone actually. At least Tim was pretty sure that would have been in the files. 

“Oh?” Dick didn’t quite crouch to Damian’s height but it was a near thing. “She-” “He,” Damian corrected, interrupting him. They all exchanged a glance before Dick continued. 

“Is he coming to the Manor or…” 

Damian scoffed again, a tiny bit of a flush against his face. “No, Grandmother will most likely be staying with Akhi-”

Now wait one moment-

“YOU HAVE ANOTHER BROTHER?!” 

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bonus 8: How met your mother (CSSR design by @qourmet!)

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[bet-on-me-13]

Unknown, the Wandering Hero

So! We all know the typical Vivisection AU, right? Danny is revealed to his parents and they take it in all the wrong ways. They capture him, Vivisect him, and eventually he manages to escape with the help of his friends.

But what about his Rouges?

Sure, we all like to think of some of the more friendly ones like Ember, or Sydney, or Johnny 13 and Kitty, but he has WAY more Evil Rouges than good ones.

Without Danny there to reign them in, the Rouges spread out across the world to fulfill their obsessions, unhampered by the Heroes and Villains of the world that have no means to fight them.

And Danny? He feels responsible. He was the one to open the Gate, he was the Sacrifice, the one to let them through. And when the going got tough he just up and left? No, that won't do.

His Obsession is Protection for a reason, and nothing has changed. All he needs to do is expand his area of focus a little.

Danny, after healing up, starts wandering the world in search of the Ghosts who have escaped into the Mortal Realm. He battles all of his old foes, as well as many new ones who he hadn't met before.

His travels take him far and wide.

He defeats Skulker in Metropolis, as he is trying to hunt down the Super Family for their pelts. They are the last of their race after all, so he is inclined to try and hunt them. Honestly dealing with Skulker was easy, dealing with the Rich Asshole who was funding him was a nightmare.

He chases down Spectra in Gotham as she tries to feed on the misery of an entire City. (Thanks to @impyssadobsessions for the idea, this Prompt specifically). She is actually a very tough fight, especially powered by both the Misery of an Entire City as well as his Own Misery, but he manages.

He defeats Technus is Central City, as he tries to Raid Star Labs for their advanced Tech. It actually took a while to beat him after he amped himself with all that Power, and he did need help from the Local Hero to deal with him. He's just thankful Technus is one of the more "Harmless" ones.

After every Victory, he sends them back to the Realms using the Banishing Spell that Sam taught him a while back (the only bit of magic he ever really managed to master).

He knows they'll eventually find their way back out, but it's all he can do anymore. It's his eternal Punishment for unleashing them out into the World in the first place. He was the Catalyst for this Situation, now he was tasked with Fixing it, no matter how long it took.

...

The Justice League is caught in a tricky situation a the moment.

In the past few months, they have been encountering more and more of these Extra Dimensional Beings known as Realms Ghosts across the World.

Justice League Dark has had some success in battling them, but even they are getting tired of having to deal with every single incident alone.

They did get approached by a Government Agency known as the Ghostly Investigation Ward that seemed to want to help, but it didn't take long to realize that their main Aim was to Genocide the entire Race. The JLA had quickly cut ties after realizing that, and took what little Tech and Information they had been able to gather.

Still, it wasn't easy to deal with these Entities.

Thankfully, they have had some outside help. An Unknown Being has been routinely showing up whenever a Realms Ghost appears and defeating them, before using a (as described by Constantine) "Rudimentary Banishing Spell held together by willpower and luck" to send them back to their home Dimension. There's honestly no way it should be functional, but he did make it work either way.

They don't know much about this Unknown, aside from the fact that he seems to be the only one able to consistently damage the Realms Ghosts. His Powerset leads them to belive he may be from the same Dimension, or at least drawing his power from the same Source, but as he actively avoids the League and takes every opportunity to not talk to them, they know they aren't getting any answers any time soon.

Over the past few months, they had affectionately started referring to him as Unknown, creative they know, because they could never get his Real Name. Sure, some of the Realms Ghosts seemed to recognize him, but they always called him stuff like "Whelp" and "Punk" and "Usurper", which were not very good names to use when referring to him. Although the last one was a bit concerning.

They had only managed to trade a few quick words with Unknown in the past few months, but it was enough to get the Gist of it. He was just doing his job, sending the Realms Ghosts back where they belonged. There was apparently a Tear in Reality letting them through, but he seemed hesitant to reveal what he knew about it.

After a few months of sparse interactions, they eventually managed to convince him to at least take an Emergency Communicator. Just in case. They even let him take it apart to look for any Tracking Devices, which earned them a small bit of trust. They took whatever wins they could.

Fortunately, it seemed he never did need it. In fact he was getting more and more efficient with every battle, defeating his foes in half the time it would have taken before.

Unfortunately, it didn't last forever. One day, the Communicator went off, a distorted voice quickly saying, "Need backup, some of them decide to Team Up" before cutting out.

They quickly rushed to his location, finding an active battlefield with no less that a dozen Ghosts battling Unknown. And he seemed to be on the ropes.

With their arrival, the combined force of the Justice League and Unknown eventually managed to defeat the Group of Ghosts. Justice League Dark volunteered to work on the Banishing Spells while the others cleaned up the damage from the Battle.

One of them approached Unknown to make sure he was ok, and froze.

During the battle, Unknown's Mask had been Torn off, and they could finally see the face of the Hero they had been working with for the past few months.

And he was a Child.

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[randomlifeunit]

“Where The Path Leads”

Rating: Mature

Chapter 2

[Previous Chapter]

The next few days on the trail passed uneventfully, and the five travelers began to see a few signs of civilization as they approached the next town. Wes strode along the road, animatedly recounting a story to Rune, while the others listened. A small smile played over Ransom's features as Wes spared no details of just exactly why he couldn't tolerate squid anymore. He lifted the hem of his bright green shirt to show a scarred area that bore some barely-discernable black markings.

"And that is why you never let your adoptive brother give you a home-brewed tattoo," he warned, his woeful expression making Rune snicker. "Hey, I'm serious!" he admonished her, which only made her laugh harder. She signed, I know. I never get tired of this story.

"Well, we didn't know back then that I was allergic to squid ink. It wasn't very funny at the time!" He stated loudly, with Rune and the others dissolving into helpless laughter. He joined them reflexively. "Naw, I'm just messing with you. It's definitely hilarious now. I will never live this down." He chuckled and tucked his shirt back in. "Hey, at least I can say with confidence, 'I lived.'"

Anya snickered. "No one doubts you there, love." He reached for her and tickled her mercilessly for a moment, then took her hand and tugged her along as they kept walking.

It was late afternoon when they finally reached the outskirts of the town. It seemed unnaturally quiet, which made Ransom's ears perk up. "Let's be careful here, friends," he said softly to the team. Wes drew Anya close, and Rune's hand hovered on the handle of her knife.

They passed houses, many looking run-down. Some seemed utterly abandoned. Smoke curled from the occasional chimney, but shutters were drawn and doors closed.

Warily, the five continued down the path, eyes and ears open. Ransom kept at the front of the group, and Wes held the rear. They walked quickly through the area, wondering if coming here was the best choice.

After a time, the homes began to thin out a bit, and the five friends breathed a little easier. They continued to make their way as the sun dipped low towards the horizon. Wes stepped forward to Ransom. He said lowly, "Do you think we should just leave and give this place a wide berth? Or keep going?"

"I've been asking myself the same question," Ransom answered. "I feel that our best bet may be to push on. I'm hoping this town isn't that big." Wes nodded, falling back next to Anya, who looked a little spooked. "I don't like this," she whispered to him. "Same," he whispered back. "Don't worry though, babe. I gotcha." He reached behind his back to touch his gun holster, and winked at her. She relaxed a little and smiled at him.

They continued their forward trek, the houses appearing more and more infrequently, and looking well and truly abandoned the further they went. Rune stepped forward to Ransom and tapped his shoulder. He stopped and spun to face her. We should find shelter. It will be dark soon. She signed. "Yeah, you're right, Rune. I don't know if we're going to find anything better than this. I just hope no one will mind us scoping out a place." He glanced around. "Let's go just a bit further, huh?" he asked the whole group. They all agreed.

Finally, they ended up at a dilapidated shack on the edge of town. It sported a tangled, overgrown garden, and an outhouse with the door hanging half off the hinges. The front door of the house looked as though it had been attacked with an axe, and most of the glass window panes were broken. It didn't seem it had been occupied for a very long time. Inside, it was tiny, just one bedroom and a kitchen/dining area.

Sean felt his heart sink a little at this turn of events, but he pushed the sensation aside and found a place to set his rucksack on the dusty floor. "Well, it sure isn't home, but it'll have to do," he said in a light tone. Wes snorted and brushed away stray cobwebs before he plunked his bag down on a scratched wooden table. "It's better than nothing," he agreed.

Rune tapped the tabletop for attention and signed, Let's eat, sleep, leave early tomorrow. Wes quickly translated for Anya, who was still learning Rune's language.

Trail rations were the fare for the night, and they all ate in silence.

Afterwards, Rune volunteered to keep watch for the first half of the night. Wes made her promise to wake him so she could get some sleep.

The bedroom didn't look very appealing, with a worn mattress the only option besides the floor. Anya pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, then went and located a frayed broom from the kitchen. She swept the bedroom, disturbing a few spiders in the process. They met their end by her booted foot, and she nodded once and put the broom away, satisfied enough.

Late that night, Rune sat crouched near the front door, sharpening her knife slowly and meticulously on her whetstone. The motion was repetitive and soothing, and she listened carefully to the outdoors through the gouged-out holes in the wooden door. Nothing seemed amiss, but Rune still felt better knowing her knife was honed to perfection. Replacing the stone in her pocket, she carefully felt the sharp edge with satisfaction.

Sometime in the night, Wes startled awake when Rune shook his shoulder, and he rubbed his eyes and sat up. He pulled a shirt on and stood, and she curled into the warm spot he left behind. He chuckled quietly at her, grabbed up his gun and holster and exited the room, ready to take watch.

Stretching and yawning, he muttered about a severe lack of caffeine in the place, and made himself comfortable at the table while he inspected his weapon and loaded it with care.

The sky was just barely beginning to lighten when Wes woke his friends. "Should be hitting the road soon, mates," he urged them. Rune moaned and curled up more tightly. Wes chuckled and shook her shoulder again. "Sorry, darlin,'" he told her, amused but sympathetic. "If it helps, you can kill me later, okay?" She frowned, a hint of a smile peeking out as she sat up and rubbed her face. She satisfied herself with socking him in the arm, and though he squawked in protest, she counted it a small victory.

[Next Chapter]

[ecoplasma]

The Nightbird prevailed

[turtleblogatlast]

Something I love to think about is every iteration of Leo’s relationship with Splinter and how Splinter’s interests always define how a Leo presents himself.

I used to abide by the idea that a Leo will simply emulate his Splinter directly, and to an extent I still believe that to be the case, but moreso I think Leos have a tendency to mold themselves into what they believe is their Splinter’s ideal son - someone who embodies all the traits Splinter has explicitly shown to admire or value in a person.

Most of the time, they try to be a dutiful and honorable boy abiding by the full extent of ninjitsu teachings. Then you have Rise Splinter, who very much still has undeniable prowess in the art of fighting and being a ninja, but when it comes to how he shows his interests to his boys…one thing reigns supreme.

Acting. Shows. One liners. Flamboyance in the name of gaining an audience’s attention.

He showcases Lou Jitsu movies on repeat for the boys, passing down the morals and words from those movies to them with no small amount of pride. All while fully expecting them to respect these teachings.

So, of course, Rise Leo picks up on this. He’s a Leo, after all, as much a daddy’s boy as any other variation of him, only he clocked his father’s interests to be different than most others. He picks up on the art of showmanship, of keeping things to himself so as to be a more exciting twist later, of treating the world as a set to act in.

He’s an actor, not just because Splinter himself was one, but because Splinter likes acting and showed one particular actor (unknowingly to the boys, it was himself) as the pinnacle of all his teachings. As someone to value and admire. And even more than that - Splinter focuses on the character the actor is portraying rather than just the man himself.

And I think this is all even more interesting when taking the turtle tot short into consideration, because very, very briefly, just as with many times else throughout the series, we see how easily Rise Leo aligns with his other selves, seeming to pick up the sword easier than his brothers do their own weapons - after quoting Lou Jitsu of course. After emulating his idol - the person who his father seems to admire so much.

Point being, it’s so interesting to see how Leos tend to mold themselves in one particular way throughout every variation - that being, what their father is shown to value most in people.

[mostly-paper-kind]

Got lots to do but still working away at my tengwar.

[gotalottalegs]

The fact that Gerard went “this stupid fucking nostalgia bait festival is bullshit, and half the people coming to see us HERE instead of our own shows don’t care who we are now and only want to dig up the shitty miserable corpse of what we were” and was RIGHT !!!!!

Half the crowd leaving after Black Parade would’ve been such a kick in the face if they were dressed & playing it genuine like a real MCR show. Instead it just proved their point

[bethfuller]

the wayfarer and their destination

follow me on instagram ! :)

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 177

Now Dan is no coward. He’s not. 

But this stupid child body does have an effect on his reactions to things and honestly it’s a horrible thing that’s too small and too weak for him to use all his abilities. He could barely manage a fireball if he concentrated, yet everything caught fire with a mere outburst! His control was utterly gone, and a tantrum resulted in having to wear a stupid child leash backpack. 

It wasn’t like he was really a child, and it wasn’t like he’d get lost or some stupid shit that Danny would insist. Ugh, this isn’t even fair, technically he was older than him yet was stuck in a smaller body that he kept tripping over! 

Urgh, he’s even insisting on rewarding ‘good behavior’ and shit- must have talked to Jazz or something- because… Oh. No he wants the constellation bear, give! His star bear now, no takes back and, urgh, stupid baby body! 

Well, on the other hand, it’s utterly hilarious how much Danny sputters whenever he calls him Mom, not to mention strangers’ utter befuddlement. He ignores how Danny seems to be trying his best to live up ro the title. 

But! As he was saying, he’s no coward! He’s also not an idiot though, and having no control over his powers isn’t exactly a good thing. It’s really not a good thing when there’s a murderous-looking hero that he thinks he might have maimed in the future- which they apparently remember- staring down at him. So, he has to call in the big guns to fix this. 

“Mom, there’s a creepy fruitloop staring at me!” “There’s WHAT?!” Hah. Take that hero he doesn’t remember the name of.

(Behold the Grumpiest of Babies)

[maudiemoods]

I REMEMBERWONDER OVER YONDER THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD SHOW I WATCHED IT ALL THE TIME AS A KID!!!!! congrats on the new hyperfixation btw

It's one of my FAVORITES!!

MUSTARD OR MAYO MUSTARD OR MAYO MUSTARD OR MAYO