#overdue for some of these myself

[uy8hg-art]

Happy Pride, fellow aces!

[bandaidfingers]

anyone interested in sketch page commissions similar to these? :)

one character in two-four different poses and outfits, visible colored pencils sketch lines underneath (you get to choose the colored pencil color) and more lose/ experimental inking (I get to play around with my bag of half-dry pens <3)

I’m thinking $60 for two poses, $100 for four :) but we could negotiate lower if youre fine with even messier line work. + shipping if youre interested in having the original

Once you send references for the character, poses, and outfits there won’t be any adjustments, just sketch and done. Super quick turnaround.

[rotationalsymmetry]

A Spoonful of Sugar

I'm a teenager. It's a school day and my alarm just went off. 20 minutes later one of my parents sticks their head in my room to complain that I'm not up yet.

I'm a kid, not sure what age exactly. My dad comes in and pretends to be a dog to wake me up. (This has happened many times. He does it with the exact same phrasing and intonation and pretty much the same set of behaviors each time. Probably got it from a parenting book or something.) Kid-me finds this hilarious and an excellent way to start the day.

I'm an adult, early to mid 20's, with a group of other mostly young people in New Orleans post-Katrina, to tear down houses contaminated with black mold at the request of their owners (mostly black people) so that even if they don't have a house any more at least they own the land. If we don't do this, the city will hire people to do it at the owners' expenses and seize the property (ie the now vacant lot) if the owners don't pay it back. Anyways, point is, someone comes around with a guitar and a song when it's time to wake up.

I'm thinking about all the things parents of babies and toddlers and otherwise very young children do to cajole them into doing things. Stickers and little prizes. Oh, you aren't sure you want to eat that? What if the spoon was an airplane flying around, what then? Which toothbrush do you want to use, the red one or the blue one? (I loved getting to choose my school supplies, what cartoon characters the pencils had on them, the erasers shaped like fruit that didn't really erase, all that.) Bedtime routines. Bath toys.

Little kids are still young enough to make it everyone else's problem when they're forced to do something they don't want. So, everyone else finds ways to make it so that it isn't being forced, so that the kid wants whatever has to happen. Gummy vitamins. Chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs.

But adults, teens, older kids, have enough self control for that fight to be strictly internal, and often when other people stop cajoling us into doing what's best for us we don't pick up the slack ourselves, we push instead of finding ways to pull. And one thing I love about this site is the genre of posts that are about finding ways to get yourself to want to go into the carrier.

I've been pretending I'm in ninja training while brushing my teeth. Do not ask me how tooth-brushing prepares me to be a ninja. I got the idea to stick though. I've been using mnemonics -- ridiculous association mind games -- to practice remembering people's names, something I've always been bad at to my embarrassement. I have so many things I don't really want to do but that I think I should do. Sometimes it's not fun silly stuff, sometimes it's more sort of stoic reframing, like "ok I'm dreading this doctor's appointment because I'm telling myself it'll be frustrating and a waste of time, I can't make sure it's not a waste of time but there is some chance it won't be a waste of time and if so then showing up is doing the right thing, and I can make sure that I show up" (and so I give myself a good grade in showing up to a doctor's appointment, something that may or may not be normal to want but is in fact possible to achieve as long as you're doing the grading yourself, or can convince someone else to do it for you.)

I'm trying to notice intrinsic joy more. Taking a shower feels good so I get free "reward" as long as I'm noticing that it feels good. Physically moving my body, stretching and using my muscles, at least some of the time, feels good. Resting can feel good. Routines like having tea in the morning feel good and give me something to look forward to and some sort of continuity in my life, predictability. This feels good. This feels good. This feels good. This feels good.

[bookwyrminspiration]

Following in Cath's footsteps since there's some new people around--hello! I'm Quil, aka Dira (no/its pronouns) and I've been in the tumblr fandom since about 2018--if you've ever looked at the kotlc tag, you've probably seen me around

Most people know me for character analysis, knowing too much about canon, and accidentally causing chaos--as well as my fanart and writing! I wrote a 350k wings au set after Unlocked that you can find here :)

It's lovely to see new people in the fandom, so please don't feel intimidated by any of us or the fact a lot of us already know each other! We're a small corner of the internet, but a welcoming one I'm quite fond of--and my ask box is always open! I read and post about a lot more than kotlc (e.g. I love language/linguistics and am a no sabo kid) as well, so maybe I've read some other series you like we can chat about!

anyway, welcome and nice to meet you all (once I finally get my hands on that graphic novel -_-)!

[sabraeal]

1000 Followers Update!

Due to some super fun chronic health shenanigans, the posting for the 1000 Followers Celebration is being postponed a month! Posting will start on 2/2 with to all the ghost still standing in this room, and continue as previously planned from there. Thank you guys for bearing with me-- I struggled with the idea of even postponing for a week, but it became very clear on Monday that I would not be able to catch up with the schedule unless I took an extended break to recover. Can't wait to show you guys what I've got up my sleeve!

[papermatisse]

📂 - hello! it's machi!

I think I'm done writing for now :) I might return later on, so I'll just say it's an indefinite hiatus. I'm sorry for disappointing the ones who were looking forward to any wips of mine. I also thank everyone for their kind messages which kept me afloat throughout this endeavor.

until next time! thank you for reading ❤️

[cookinguptales]

Spilled Ink, Chapter 1 WWDITS | Nandor/Guillermo | Mature | 5k words While wandering through the Vampiric Council archives, Guillermo finds a cache of old journals written by slayers. As he consumes the wisdom of slayers past (and adds a bit of his own), he comes to a startling conclusion and has to ask himself -- what was all this for, exactly? (Written pre-s4.) tags: epistolary elements, guillermo can't be turned, not s4 or s5 compliant, slayer lore, academia, soul bond, flangst, dual POV, s3 era, canon divergent, more tags to come

So I'm finally posting the fic I started writing pre-s4 back on my road trip a year and a half ago. It's pretty clearly canon divergent at this point (and was even when I wrote it, tbh) but I think it's finally time to get these thoughts out before the show josses them. lmao

This fic is deeply self-indulgent and might get updated somewhat irregularly once the new season starts, but I'll try to get it all written as quickly as I can. I learned with Smoke that posting it as I'm writing and getting feedback does help me write, so I'd say that experiment was a success -- and I'll keep doing it! The fic has about 15k written thus far and is dual POV, which is also how it'll be split up. It's not something I've experimented with much, but I think it's a good way to do this.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy. 💜

[the-random-phan]

"A Field Trip" Chapter 4

aka Ectoberhaunt Day 12- Way of Life

Ao3

FFnet

Chapter WC: 2,013

Overall WC: 10,673

Summary:

Danny's class goes on a trip to the Grand Canyon. It's all fun and games until suddenly it isn't.

“What hit me?” Dash asked groggily and to no one in particular. Immediately everyone’s attention was drawn to the jock, and he looked immensely startled when 20 sets of eyes suddenly swiveled to look in his direction. He gaped like a fish for a solid 30 seconds, before he saw a floating Danny Phantom only a yard away.

Danny, in his defense, had almost forgotten that Dash had been unconscious for most of the reveal discussion. And did not react accordingly.

“What the heck were you thinking, Dash?” He said, trying to sound more concerned than angry. Dash’s eyes went wide and he tried to start talking 5 different times but kept stammering over his own words. Meanwhile, Sam got out of her seat and shoved her bottle of water into his hands.

“You passed out a few minutes ago. We’re on a field trip to the Grand Canyon, you fell in and dragged Danny with you. Luckily he’s Phantom so he saved both your butts. Drink up.” Well, that was one way to catch him up on current events. Danny was not looking forward to another spiel of questions. He just wanted to be home already.

Dash took the bottle of water and chugged at least half of it. Sam gave him a glare with one brow raised and he sheepishly handed it back. Even for her small stature, Sam could be imposing. Kwan came over, taking Sam’s place as she retreated.

“Are you ok dude? Anything hurt?”

“Aside from my pride? Not really.” That made Kwan laugh, and some uneasy chuckles spilled out from their classmates. Dash wasted no time in tackling the next subject, turning to Danny.

“Everything's kinda fuzzy. So, wait- did you like, catch me and Fenton? Where’d he go?” He questioned, confused. In lieu of an answer, Danny reverted to human form, sitting solidly on the back of his seat.

Dash’s eyes just about bulged out of his head, even more so than a minute ago when he woke up to his ‘hero’ berating him. The jock's jaw dropped to the floor, and for a solid minute of time he just stared blankly.

“How the heck?” He yelled hysterically. Dash grabbed a handful of his own hair and tugged, as though trying to wake from a bad dream.

“Long story short, accident in my parent’s lab. Yes I’m still the same person as Phantom, yes I have all the same powers in both forms, and yes you pulled me off a cliff and I had to reveal myself to save the both of us.” Danny deserved a bit of salt. Just a tad. Maybe a pinch.

“You almost killed us both with that kind of stunt. What were you thinking?” Dash shrunk back for a moment, but the sheepishness disappeared as he puffed out his chest and broke eye contact.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Dash said haughtily. It would seem that he had pushed aside the novelty of learning his classmate’s secret in favor of putting on a jerkish front.

“Oh you kinda do,” The audacity-

“remember the whole almost murdered me thing?” Reminded Danny. Dash paled, and looked anywhere but Danny’s face.

“But I didn’t, nothing happened. So I don’t owe you anything.” Danny tried to appear neutral, but he was livid. There was a biting response perched on the tip of his tongue, but he was interrupted by the timely entry of the bus driver.

“Uh-” The driver stammered.

“Why are you back so early?” He stood at the door to the bus, plainly confused. Mr. Lancer stood up immediately before anyone else could make up an excuse.

“One of the students passed out from the heat. I imagine it would be best to return to the hotel, I think everyone has had their fill of the Grand Canyon.” Lancer said quickly.

“Alrighty then.” Said the driver with a shrug. He took his seat at the front of the bus. Lancer sat back down and soon enough they were off, trundling down the highway.

Conversation on the bus ride back to the hotel was sparse and carried out in whispers. They were all distinctly aware that the bus driver wasn’t supposed to be let in on Danny’s secret, but it would seem that was all anyone could think to talk about. The ride was way too long, and yet also way too short.

Danny stared out the window for much of the journey. The sun filtering through the window was cozy, and paired with his frayed nerves he passed out for most of the drive. Tucker shook him awake when they arrived. Danny was still half-asleep as they trekked up to their room, and he phased right through their door without waiting for Tucker to grab the key card. Danny collapsed on the nearest bed, shoes and all. Sam and Tucker hovered over him as he slept, concerned. But the halfa slept peacefully.

Which gave them the perfect chance to get their things and sneak right past him and out of the hotel room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This doesn’t feel right.” Said Tucker. He shifted back and forth in his flip-flops as the elevator descended.

“They deserve to know more about the whole situation. Plus they’ll just keep bothering Danny if they don’t get answers.” Said Sam. She sounded confident, but really she was worried as well.

“It doesn’t feel right to do it behind his back though.”

“We aren’t really, he’s the one who fell asleep. And we’re just doing him a favor so he doesn’t have to deal with it all.” Sam picked at the frayed hems of her swim top. The atmosphere was stilted and silent until finally, the doors slid open.

It was easy enough to follow the signs that pointed to the pool and made even more so by the number of classmates that had congregated there. They were the only ones in the room, which was a plus. A few people walked past and seemed to debate coming in. But they shied away pretty quick after Kwan started a cannonball competition. Sam double-checked the class's group chat quickly, taking count of how many people they had invited for this meeting. Only about half were there already. So it would seem they had some waiting to do.

Sam sat on the edge at the shallow end, her feet dangling in the water. Tucker sat on a chair behind her, doing something on his phone. They were waiting for the rest of the class to show up before they launched into their spiel. 

Finally, fashionably late as always, Paulina and Star walked in the door. Paulina didn’t strut in like she would have done under any normal circumstances. She was quite stiff, and if the redness around her eyes was any indication, she wasn’t late simply because she was doing her hair. Star watched Paulina like a hawk as they wandered over to a chair and set their things down.

Finally, with everyone present, Sam lifted her fingers to her mouth and whistled. The change was drastic, with just about everyone freezing where they were. A few isolated conversations puttered off.

“We all saw what happened today, so I’ll skip over that. The fact of the matter is that Danny is Phantom, and everyone in this room needs to respect his request to keep it a secret. Danny does so much for other people and has so many responsibilities, imagine how devastating it would be if this got out.”

“-And not only that,” Tucker interjected.

“Danny’s world is dangerous. He has too many enemies to count on one hand, not even including the ghosts. His identity is the only thing protecting him from ghost hunters. He’s unique, and the GIW would literally tear him apart if they ever got their hands on him. And his human life is what keeps him off their radar most of the time.”

Sam picked up where he left off.

“If Danny’s secret spreads, adults will find out about it. And then so will the Guys in White. And his parents. We have no clue if they’d be accepting or not, and what lengths they might go to try and ‘fix’ him.”

“Danny’s secret has been revealed before. And the GIW hunted us across the country. Nowhere was safe. Danny managed to set everything back, but that isn’t an option this time.” That had been the worst three days of Sam’s life. Though it was even harder on Danny. And Tucker was along for the ride as well. It was tough for all of them. Sam had never felt more alone.

Tucker stood from his chair.

“TLDR, don’t tell anyone who isn’t in this room. Not even your parents. Don’t even say a word to your dog, if you can help it.”

Kim, who was standing in the shallow end, nervously raised her hand. Sam pointed to her.

“Um, why do so many ghosts attack? Why does Danny have to fight them? Can’t they just leave us alone…” She trailed off.

Sam looked to Tucker, and they had a silent conversation.

“Ghosts are creatures of habit. Most of them have a driving force, a reason to want to exist. And they go out of their way to fulfill it. Like Technus with technology, or Skulker with hunting, or Box Ghost with boxes.” Tucker started. He didn’t want to come right out and tell them about Obsessions. Obsessions could be easily weaponized against a ghost, Danny included. They didn’t want to give their classmates that kind of ammunition.

Sam went on to explain.

“The veil between Amity Park and the Ghost Zone is very thin, and it just so happens that we line up with the Ghost Zone’s barrens. It’s not a very good area and has a lot of people that were forced out of ghostly societies and establishments.”

“In short, we get all the troublemakers. Ghosts whose purposes in death are to cause mischief or harm.”

“But why Fenton?” Kwan piped up.

A harsh sigh was dragged out of Sam. Tucker relieved her of speaking duty. (heh. duty.)

“When Danny became the way he is, the veil was thinned even more. It didn’t used to be as easy to cross over as it is now. And even though it was a complete, freak accident, he still feels guilty.”

“And the ghost hunters in town are mediocre, at best.” Sam added.

“Also that.”

“With his powers Danny was just the one best suited to the job. And he really got in deep once ghosts started being a real threat to people. But now the ghosts expect to have him fighting back, and have made it into a game that he can’t quit. Because if he doesn’t, people get hurt. It’s just become his way of life.” Which was a horrible, twisted role Danny had been forced into. Tucker had to calm himself down. The ghosts had him in a chokehold, stuck between hurling himself at them and getting physically hurt, or being hurt by his core if he refused to engage. Tucker hadn’t fully realized the ramifications until Danny had been physically sick to leave Amity.

A wave of anger rolled over Tucker, this time directed at Dash. Sam and Tuck had just barely managed to convince Danny it was safe to come on this trip, but now Dash had to go and ruin everything and throw Danny into yet another situation. Quite literally.

“Uh, did I do something?” Dash asked nervously, ducking into the water. Tucker hadn’t realized he was staring.

“Yes.” Sam said flippantly. Tucker shook his head to clear the desire for revenge and scratched an itch on the back of his neck. Dash hadn’t known what he was doing. It wasn’t his fault. They were all victims of circumstance.

Speaking of circumstance;

A very stressed half-ghost practically plummeted through the ceiling and right through the pool. There was only the slightest of ripples in the water to indicate that he’d been there. Everyone stared, gaping, at the spot where he’d disappeared.

...

To be Continued...

(eventually)

[motherforthefamicom]

why does school actuallymake me feel like im going crazy this shit is not that difficult

[wishbonemotel]

I did the majority of my pc build today but I can’t even use it because the stupid gpu doesn’t come until this weekend. being dramatic and laying on the floor about it

[camgoloud]

things go wrong sometimes and it's painful but time only ever flows in one direction. it's hard now but no matter what you do, one day this will just be a memory in the past and it will hurt less, i promise.

! time only ever flows in one direction… thank you for writing this to me, i found it very reassuring to read ❤️

[concoctionboy]

Okay, there are a ton of things I've been meaning to do on this blog that I've been too busy for lately. A not necessarily complete list:

Update @towerquest

More Wizard Tumblr Magic the Gathering cards

More "Language Learning with Concoction Boy" posts (I said in the first such post that I'd wanted it to be an ongoing series, but so far there's only been one post)

Making a neocities page as a permanent receptacle for some of these things

Following up on some previous posts that I'd intended to follow up on but hadn't yet (like the fact that I was supposed to be waiting a week for the copy of me to replenish in size so I could turn it into a cauldron and it's been months now)

I think there are some posts I've marked to reply to later when I have time? I should find some of those posts and reply to them.

Making a Concoction Boy video game (okay, this is something I seriously do want to do eventually, but it's very much a long-term goal. I have the general idea for the game mechanics, but haven't actually started working on it yet, and almost certainly won't for some time)

I am going to start on one of these things right now, and make a post on it later today.

Hopefully I'll make some progress on another item on the list tomorrow.

[pierswife]

Oh yeah I cleaned my room today. Piers should kiss me for it and tell me he's proud of me--

[burinazar]

ohh I am worried my new meds (yes the ones that give me a funny eyebrow twitch. that mostly stopped now) actually are sort of working. “worried” bc my insurance doesn’t really cover them and the ones I’ve been taking are my psych handing me a full months’ worth of free samples

[symbiodyke]

my shift end time for tomorrow suddenly got an hour added to it. like yeah money is good I guess but i straight up do not want to work 2pm to 1am tomorrow for this stupid wedding 😭😭😭

[kananjarus]

standing still long enough to realize that after spending the last five years without the time or agency to do anything for myself (being a caretaker and student for three years each, overlapping) and I now have the ability to do whatever I want, whenever I want is the most mind blowing, freeing conclusion of that journey….I still can’t wrap my head around it