starsintheskyandtheeye

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

that ‘pakige?’ post but me, a couple hours after posting a fic, like ‘comints?’

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

Phantom Lane

Danny Phantom and Lois Lane are an under utilized combo.

One of Lane's sources in a story she was following comes to her with a tip that LexCorp has found a new, and steady source of kyrptonite. Well there's nothing else for her to do but to go the source, one Amity Park- smackdab in the middle of nowheresville.

"No Clark you have your own story and I don't need my partner with me 24/7. Go work on your mysterious expose on the lead levels in underprivileged metropolis neighborhoods."

Only when she finally gets there, after a very uncomfortable flight, in an actual plane for once, she's not a fan. She finds a very confusing situation.

LexCorp employees seem to be disguising themselves by dressing in white and pretending to be government employees, already a story. But they are using this "disguise" to abduct what look like ghosts?

"No Perry I'm not saying ghosts are real, what do you take me for, Clark? No, I'm saying that Superman is an alien so it's not such a reach that these beings are as well. And well, if they are ghosts, then I'm going to be the one to break the story that ghosts are REAL"

So she's going around interviewing the "concerned citizens, once a terrified town now a collection of people just trying to go about their day in this strange new normal." It makes a good line but really that is the vibe she gets. There's ghostly updates along with the weather (and a Fenton? driving update??) but most everyone seems to be fine with working around the occasional ghostly drama.

Her pizza is delivered in a bowl.

Her main sources end up being very convenient for her, at least in terms of location. It's important to be unbiased so she finds sources willing to talk to her with opinions across the spectrum. Including, two doctors Fenton - negative, one Danny Fenton (son of the doctors and without a named credit to protect privacy) - positive, one English teacher - neutral. Danny Fenton is also able to point her towards one Valerie Gray (no comment) who is able to get her in contact with the most commonly seen "ghost" in the town.

"Your name is Phantom correct? Is that how you would prefer to be addressed? A little on the nose considering your alleged ghostly nature, no?"

"So your claim is that Kryptonite is a byproduct of ectoplasm, something that makes sense when you believe in ghosts, which apparently I do now. Although I will need independent verification of course.

"But you're saying that when ectoplasm crystalizes it becomes what is commonly known as kryptonite, something that is famously toxic to Kryptonians. How exactly did these "Guys In White" come to learn and harvest this dangerous material. And less important but confusing to me personally, how can a material that has been proven to be sourced from astroids be supernatural in origin?

"Right, death of a planet imprinting on ectoplasm, no makes total sense."

She leaves Amity Park with enough material to write three separate articles, four bruised ribs from a particularly violent escape from alphabetically challenged weirdos, four new sources to draw upon for said articles, two new superhero contacts, and a new found respect for rectangular shapes.

She is going to get some scientists from Star Labs down here to get a tertiary verification and then she is going to write the biggest article since the introduction of Superman.

And Clark can be jealous since he may have gotten the Superman Saves Metropolis from Raging Wildfires story but she's going to take down a pseudo-government agency, announce the existence of ghosts, AND open up extraterrestrial relations all with one article.

Beat that sweetheart

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

I just heard another writer trying to figure out which self-publishing route to take, and all I'll say is that I'm glad I found Draft2Digital. (More accurately, I'm grateful to my more knowledgeable writer friends who told me about it a couple years ago.) I don't even use the free services as much now that I've learned to do fancy formatting etc on my own, but it sure is nice that the option is there.

TL;DR: you upload a manuscript, they make it presentable and available everywhere from Amazon to your local bookstore, and they charge you zero dollars, only taking a cut of the profits they helped you make. A small cut.

They are run by Writer People who want to help other Writer People succeed, and it shows.

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

some of my favorite woven tapestries, by Cecilia Blomberg:

Point Defiance Steps

Mates

Rising Tides

Vashon Steps

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

A Secret from the Bly

The canopy sailed over the horizon line.

The mother looked out the window, snapping the sheets as she folded them. Her clear gray eyes were the same color as the morning sky and just as gloomy.

“Closer,” she muttered. She seemed surprised she had spoken, and her hands slowed, fingers lingering on the fraying edge of her own bed sheet. She wet her lips. Said again, “Closer.”

“What’s closer?” the daughter asked.

The mother didn’t jump, but the air changed as if she did. Her shoulders stiffened. Her hands went back to work. “Nothing,” she said. Then, not being able to help herself, “The forest is growing quickly.”

“Teacher says that trees don’t grow fast. Only an inch or two a year.”

“You couldn’t see the Bly when you were a baby,” the mother said. Her heart stung. She knew her daughter wasn’t calling her foolish. Lately, when the little girl spoke of her teacher, something she never had, it makes something sour in her want to lash out. “Now look how tall it stands!”

The daughter came to the window. Her clothes were ill-fitting. She looked as if she tumbled in and then out of fresh laundry only to come up wearing a whole bedspread. The dress she wore used to be the mother’s from when she was young. Her eyes traced the horizon. “That’s faster than teacher said.”

“Not even a teacher knows everything,” the mother said. Her own mother’s voice rang through hers. That made her jump. She thrust the laundry away from her and finally looked at her daughter. “Some truths are only learned while living—”

The daughter stared at her bare feet. Shoulders rounded. Lip jutting out so far the mother could see it through her hanging, flaxen hair. The mother’s heart stung different.

“The Bly is…different,” the mother said. It’s her own voice this time. Softer and more yielding. She kneeled so that the daughter could see her right away when she chose to look up. “It’s a secret I’d like you to keep.”

The daughter’s eyes darted up, meeting the mother’s. Her lip contracted a centimeter. “A secret?”

“Just between us two,” the mother agreed. Was the little girl old enough? She would give anything to bring her daughter’s chin up again. “Your teacher is right that trees grow slow. The Bly is different here. Only here.”

“Only here?”

“On our land. You see, the Bly is home to another kind of creature. Like us, but not. They are mischievous and kind and cruel. More importantly, they’re magic.”

“Fairies,” the daughter said confidently.

“The Good Folk,” the mother said in her own mother’s voice. Then to soften it, “And that’s not the secret.”

The daughter reached out to put her hands on her mother’s shoulders. She jumped in excitement, using her mother to steady herself. “Tell me! Please, tell me.”

The mother smiled and placed her hands over her daughters. She tilted her head forward and was rewarded when her daughter stopped leaping about and pressed her own forehead against hers. She whispered, “The secret is that once, a long time ago, I stole something from them. That’s why the forest grows so quickly over the horizon. They’re looking for what I took.”

“What?!” The daughter was amazed. “You said never to steal.”

“I did. I needed it very badly, mustn’t I have?”

“Yes,” the daughter said. Her quick mind tumbled through her mother’s confession. “So you’ve been in the Bly? What was it like? Teacher says there are wolves in there. What did you steal?”

For a moment, the mother was not there. She raced through dense old growth with her feet cut to ribbons and her skirts sticking wetly to her legs. Her breath came in cold clouds in front of her and she ran through them just as quickly as they formed. She could use only one hand to shield her face from vines and branches. Her other arm was curled around the bundle in her arms.

“One day,” the mother said. She stood but wrapped her hands around her daughter’s so that she knew it was only a necessary retreat and not a complete one. “One day, when you’re older, I’ll tell you all the stories I have.”

The girl’s lower lip was out again. “How old?”

“When the Bly hits the edge of our land,” the mother said. She held out her pinky. “Promise.”

The girl was suspicious. “It grows fast?”

The mother’s heart stung differently again. “Very fast.”

“Deal!”

---

Thanks for reading! If you'd like to read more short works like this, longer stories, or longer works from me, please consider checking me out on Patreon!

(Patreon)

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

Booster Gold was being escorted to his own time, to get in trouble again for messing with the timeline, only for his transport to be jerked to a sudden stop. The guards are frozen in place, unmoving and unblinking. There's an old man sitting across from him that wasn't there before.

"Booster Gold," he says, abruptly shifting into a young adult. "This is the name you prefer, yes?"

"Uh. Yeah. Is this gonna get me in any more trouble? Cuz I'm already in some hot water and..."

"I am handling your sentencing from here," the man interrupts, shifting into a toddler. "The proper authorities in your time have been notified."

"O...kay? So then I guess. We should..." Booster motioned helplessly with his shackled hands. "I dunno, have a trial?"

"It has already been held."

"But I wasn't there for it?"

"Irrelevant," the toddler answers, shifting back to an old man. "I am Clockwork, Keeper of Time and He Who Watches From the In-Between."

Booster has never, ever heard of this guy ever.

He tries not to let it show on his face.

He fails.

'Clockwork' just lets out an annoyed sigh.

"I am going to send you to a point in time. You have a small window of opportunity to get this done properly; there is a switch on the inside of a large, metal arc. It is not properly installed. You must install it before anyone else comes to the device."

Booster waits for the other shoe to drop.

It doesn't.

"...That's it?"

"That is all."

Then Clockwork snaps his fingers, and Booster is standing alone in a homemade lab.

He makes quick work of finding the switch, and fixing it almost takes too long.

But he does it!

Just in time to hear the door to the basement start to open.

Looking around, he finds a hiding spot behind some old, discarded cloning equipment, and manages to dodge behind it just when three teenagers come down the stairs.

He...starts to get a bad feeling about it.

Booster starts to realize this is the other shoe dropping, right now, in front of him.

But for some reason, he cannot move.

The kids talk to each other, laughing and joking around, and Booster struggles as hard as he can and...oh. Oh that bastard, oh that fucker!

Clockwork!

The sick son of a bitch wanted him to watch!

"You cannot interfere," Clockwork's voice whispers, barely audible. "But you should witness the creation of Balance, as a reward; this one act of yours will save countless, though you do not know it yet."

That's when the black haired kid presses the switch Booster just fixed, illuminating the basement with green as the kid screams and screams and screams.

And Booster?

Booster can only let out a muffled version of his own scream as Clockwork drags him into a rip in reality, neatly depositing him at Blue Beetle's feet.

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

A secret rendezvous in the castle halls! 8) 

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

I want less of "the Drakes were terrible people and parents and Bruce rescues poor sad Timmy" (not knocking the trope it just got old for me)

And more of Bruce suffering a hell of his own creation as he tries to figure out how to parent Timothy "latchkey kid" Drake, who doesn't respect the concept of having parental supervision in general and more specifically Bruce's authority as his new guardian at all, because Tim was basically his caretaker for the entire beginning of his tenure as Robin

Any kind of Parental Action would have Bruce choking in his own hypocrisy. Like... imagine trying to get your teenage son to go to bed when he's been putting your ass down for naps for like, years, by that point. Imagine telling him to eat healthier when at 13 years old he was helping your butler with designing your meal plan 'cause you were too depressed to eat

Bruce gently tries to get him to stop working on a case to take a break, and Tim raises a single withering eyebrow (he learned this from Alfred) and Bruce immediately shuts up. Tim only listens to Bruce when he wants to and being legally adopted by the man hasn't changed that

(And I want fics of the rest of the batfam reacting to this dynamic soooooooo bad)

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

A zillion hours of hammering, skiving, dyeing, and Angelus paint later, finally finished my rapier hanger.

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

THE MURDERBOT DIARIES: A Fan Animation

Subtitles in English, Spanish, French, and German.

In early 2021, as talk of a Murderbot Diaries adaptation was underway, fans of the series started asking each other questions like, "What would we want to see from an adaptation of our favorite book series?" and "Wouldn't it be cool if this or that scene was animated?" and "Hey, don't YOU know some things about animation?" and "What if a bunch of fans got together to make a Murderbot fan animation?"

Two years of teamwork later, the Murderbot Diaries Fanimation Project presents our labor of love: a fully realized animation adapting scenes from the first four novellas into a trailer, dedicated to showcasing everything we love about the story of our favorite rogue SecUnit.

Make sure to leave a like and share the video if you enjoyed our animation! And tell us what you liked about the video on our social media:

Ask the team on Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube

CREDITS

TheSteelChimera @thesteelchimera - Voice of Murderbot, Production Coordination, Script

Alex from Mars @imaginariumgeographica - Voice of ART Kebi/SpiralofDragon @spiralofdragon - Voice of Mensah, Character Design

Verso - Voice of Ratthi, Social Media

Kes @kesbeacon - Voice of Gurathin

brokenRAmodule @broken-risk-assessment-module @contakaidigon - Production Coordination, Backgrounds, Animation, Script, Storyboard, Character Design, Editing, 3D, Sounds & Music

theash0 @theash0 - Production Coordination, Animation, Editing, 3D, Graphics & Effects

Cephei - Backgrounds

ChimaeraKitten @chimaerakitten - Backgrounds, Graphics & Effects

Jude - Backgrounds

Livyatan @groovyleviathan - Backgrounds, Character Design Lue - Backgrounds, Animation

Nirelaz @nirelaz - Backgrounds, Animation, Lighting, Sounds & Music

sometimesihaveideas @sometimesihaveideas - Backgrounds, 3D, Sounds & Music

TechnicalToad - Backgrounds

Vanessa - Backgrounds, 3D

Alex van Gore @alex-van-gore - Animation, Storyboard, Lighting, Sounds & Music

audzilla - Animation, Lighting, Graphics & Effects

Mar @souldagger - Character Design

Sound & Music References

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

realizing people care about you a lot is emotionally taxing okay!!

(it really really loves the blanket)

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

You are a person who covers your counter space in clutter and inadvertently makes a shrine to a long forgotten god who shows up to thank you.

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All the torso animated studies.

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By the way, Mermaidia by @crowkeeperthesimmer is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! It's so detailed and beautiful and the color palette is just 👨‍🍳💋 like everything is so perfect. Y'all need to download this world right now!!!!!!

I'm probably gonna do glamor shots later because wow, it's just incredible. 😍

[starsintheskyandtheeye]

# Dcu x Dp 193

Batman and Robin had broken into Vlad Masters Hotel because they found something that was extremely similar to Lazarus water as Damian looks around he ends up in the bed room where he finds a crib that has a sleeping baby in it underneath the crib he finds injections filled with Lazarus water and comes to the conclusion that he is experimenting on this baby. Damian decides that he needs to take her when he leave.

After creating Dani Vlads decided not to age her up and raise her himself. Vlad is using ecto injection keep her stable until he find a permanent solution.