#(There's not really any way I can restore my old site to what it 'used to be' pre Xros Wars + Young Hunters days because essentially)

[crevicedwelling]

So, I'm going to be moving back with my parents, who have recently obtained a farm sized property in rural Nova Scotia. And I'd really like to make some changes to the property to help out native biodiversity (they're okay with it)

The only stipulation they have is that I can't do things that would encourage ticks, because their dogs already attract a few too many of those things.

So, given your most recent post, I was wondering if you knew of any way to encourage the moving in of native bee species? To make hives for them or things of that sort on the far ends of the property so that they can have their space (and native flowers ofc) far enough away not to cause problems, but still having space.

I’m not the best person to ask this since I haven’t gotten the chance do as much habitat restoration as I’d like to. I also am not familiar with what bee or plant species live in your area. if anyone has any relevant experience, please feel free to share!

good general suggestions are to plant as many different native (and habitat-appropriate) plant species as possible, and leave their dried dead stalks in the ground over the winter and into spring, since native insects often overwinter in hollow stems or other debris. keeping preexisting bare patches of soil might help burrowing bees and other digging wasps (like the kinds that hunt biting flies! nice to have those about). leaving out piles of old wood, maybe with added drill holes, can encourage the many native bees that nest in wood to move in, along with tons of other deadwood-dependent invertebrate life. there’s probably tutorials on how to drill holes that bees like online! I will caution you against using commercial bee houses though, since such dense populations can attract more predators and parasites than natural nesting sites.

[stevecoven]

⭐️ for the directors cut thing, tell us whatever juicy details you have on the fic of your choice 🫶

Ask for a Director's Cut/deep dive of one of my fics!

I don’t have a ton of super juicy fics out at the moment (more to come) but here’s some Steve lore from go back to bed, love about how he treats work/taking time to rest

“But nothing , mister. You’ve worked like ten hours a day for the past two weeks without any breaks.”

“Three weeks, actually.” Steve corrects them instinctively then winces at how big that number is.

“Exactly! You're exhausted. You’ve been complaining about your back for ages but it won’t get any better if you don’t actually stop working.” As if on cue, Steve’s back - lasting damage from an old injury - twinged painfully. Lying in bed, nestled in the pillows, he realises just how much his whole body aches, actually. He figures it’s probably felt like that for a while, he just hasn’t had the time to stop and actually notice it.

“And,” Murph continues, “I hardly get to see you. You’ve barely said a word to me the past few nights, you come back super late and just go straight to bed.” Murph sticks their lower lip out in a pout. “I bought new underwear the other day and you didn’t even notice.”

“You did-?! Oh, babe, I’m sorry, I didn’t-” Steve sinks further into the pillows and pressed a hand to his face. “I’m sorry. I’ve just been so wrapped up in this build, I haven’t been thinking about anything else.”

The tendril has stopped fussing now, content with burying Steve as much as possible, and gives Steve a cheeky caress on the cheek before retreating back into its original form. With two perfectly formed arms again, Murph puts down the last almost-neatly folded shirt and looks over at him, more worry in their eyes than annoyance. “You gotta take a rest day, buddy. Please. You’re not in the Emperor's Coven anymore, you don’t have to work yourself to death like that. Nobody's going to yell at you for taking a day off every once in a while.”

The mound of pillows and blankets are silent for a moment. “It’s a hard habit to break, I guess.”

“Yeah, I know. And I know your work’s important, it’s great that you’re so into it, but you’re important too. I don’t want you to make yourself sick.” Murph’s voice is tinged with genuine concern and Steve’s heart pangs with guilt.

Steve sighs. “Yeah, I know you’re right,” he says, a little reluctant to admit it. “That sleep was the best I’ve had in ages, I guess I really did need it.” Now that he’s back in his cosy nest of blankets, Steve’s eyes are starting to feel droopy again. “M’sorry I made you worry about me. And that I made you feel lonely. I guess I didn’t think about that.”

-----------------------------

Steve is a chronic overworker, even after he’s left the coven. Once the initial chaos post-Collector has calmed down and people slowly return to normal life, he joins the Constructionist’s Guild as one of their Buildmasters and helps with the more long-term restoration and rebuilding projects on this Isles; not just people’s homes and public buildings, but also historical sites that were neglected or even demolished under Belos’ rule. This includes old temples from the Savage Ages, which would have been forbidden for worshipping the primitive and uncivilised ways of wild magic. I want to write a bit more about my ideas of them some time soon, and get Lilith involved as well for the historical aspect

I can see Steve going two ways after leaving the coven; either he just embraces the ability to do Nothing and relishes in being a little bit lazy and slobby and taking things at a chill pace (how I write canon timeline!Steve) or he throws himself into his work and gets a little bit consumed by it (how I write Sturphy!Steve). He still carries a lot of guilt over what he did, directly or indirectly, as a member of the Emperor’s Coven and he desperately wants to redeem himself by helping other people as much as he can. He feels that by helping to repair the damage caused by Belos he can make up for his past mistakes, and help him come to terms with it a little better. He is also incredibly used to working horrendous hours in awful conditions, constantly being berated by his superiors and asked to do impossible tasks (jump into that chasm, Steve). Sick days were not a thing that existed, you either worked or got punished, no matter how ill or injured you were. A normal 40 hour week feels like nothing to him and he always feels like he could be doing More. He doesn’t want to stop and relax while there’s still work to be done, if not in part because then he can no longer keep himself busy enough to keep his thoughts at bay and stop his worries creeping up on him. As long as he’s working, he’s distracted, and his other problems can be ignored. Not something his therapist would be particularly pleased to hear about.

Steve was like this with his schoolwork too, so Murph knows the patterns and spots them early. They also recognise them from their father, who was also a tireless overworker who spent many days, sometimes weeks, away from home on Construction projects, leaving a teenage Murph in the house all by themselves. In the months leading up to his departure for the Emperor’s Castle and subsequent imprisonment and execution, Murph and Flint barely saw each other and Murph will always regret not being able to spend more time with him. They don’t want the same thing to happen between them and Steve where they end up drifting apart. Steve will have immediately made this connection as soon as Murph points it out, and he’ll remember just how miserable and lonely Murph was every time their dad left for another job, worried he might never come back. He knows how much their dad meant to them, and how much they hate feeling lonely, and he’s horrified at the revelation that he’s ended up doing the exact same thing to them all over again. Murph isn’t mad at him, they’re glad Steve seems to have found his calling and is doing a really good job (in the same field of work as Flint as well. He would have been so proud of Steve), they just don’t want to see him work himself down to the bone anymore. Steve’s guilt over his relapse into bad habits and the fact that his poor back Really Does Hurt are what finally make him stop and realise he needs to chill out. He still works hard from then on, but he’s a lot stricter about not doing overtime/volunteering for extra shifts when he doesn’t need to.

I also have the half-finished scraps of another fic somewhere that also covers Steve’s post-canon work life and how he’s treated by society as an ex-scout, and it looks a little bit more at that idea of using work as a way to distract him from his guilt and worries. Maybe I’ll dig it out and finish it soon!

[laurenfoxmakesthings]

Attention everyone in the replies and the tags that are grieving the 'death' of special features. They still exist. Don't get me wrong, they're not as mainstream as they were in the DVD boom (like Disney wants out of physical media entirely, trying that with my home of Australia, please sign petitions and complain through the Disney Australia site by the way).

They are a niche now (so you probably won't find the latest box office hit amongst these), and us collectors of boutique blu rays have been doing okay. Boutique blu rays have way more special features packed in than even DVDs from the 2000s. Yeah, some brands are expensive (Criterion is pretty much the top of the bunch for a reason), but some aren't and ebay is a godsend for trying to find cheap secondhead ones. I know facebook is the devil, but facebook groups of such collectors has been helpful in finding cheap copies.

Sites like Deep Discount, WOWHD, and Oldies also help, and whatever most local middle man boutique home media website bops about in your country. And check out local fairs. Probably won't have the boutique stuff, but they often have DVDs from the DVD boom.

And I will admit, first tip, get a blu ray player that can change what region code it can play. Region code is the bane of any collector. Or if you can't afford one, get an external blu ray player for your laptop, VLC can bypass the region lock.

Anyway, the point of my reblog was to list boutique blu ray and DVD labels that are worth checking out if you want to have physical media in your life instead of assuming streaming killed it outright.

If anything, I learnt that you'll find more of the movies you want on physical media than on streaming (like I got into collecting before everyone else noticed streaming's slow decline because Danger Diabolik kept disappearing on streaming platforms).

I also want to recommend them since quite a number of them are also restoration efforts and archives that could use more support. Some I bought from before, some I haven't but heard good things.

Arrow Video/Films: Mainly horror cult films, but also a mix of classics. Very prolific. Packed with special features. Often cheap on eBay, unless it's the rare out of print ones *eyes Killer Klowns from Outer Space*. And due to some brands like Arrow wanting to get into 4K UHD, some collectors are selling their regular blu-ray copies, which is great for those of us who find 4K too uncanny valley (like it's really great time to get an Arrow edition of Blood and Black Lace blu ray that used to be so expensive to get).

American Genre Film Archive: Essentially Something Weird's successor. A non-profit all about hunting, conserving, restoring, and distributing exploitation films that wouldn't normally get this treatment. Some of you may raise an eyebrow at that, but think about how many old school indie shorts and films would've been forgotten in low quality limbo if not for these loving efforts. Queer films, for instance. Like, the AGFA is where I got my blu ray of the Gay Girls Riding Club's series of 1960s drag shorts.

88 Films: I haven't gotten anything from them yet, but I heard this is a great goody bag of Hong Kong cult action films. Along with other varied niche films and a lot of special features. Ever wanted a commentary of Street Fighter? They have that.

BFI: Pretty much Britiain's Criterion. Sometimes even having films that are also in the Criterion Collection, so pretty good option when it comes to cost. They're a charity all about preserving film and TV in the UK. They have a massive archive of not only British films but also international films, and sell blu rays of them with lots of special features *eyes that rare out of print BFI copy of Funeral Parade of Roses*.

Criterion Collection: I mean...no introduction needed. They invented the movie commentary. They've been THE top tier DVD distributor. They defined what a boutique blu ray is. So I'll just give a tip. Because they've been at it for so long, like as far back as laserdiscs, some of their editions...are a bit out of date. What I mean is if you have a specific film in mind that Criterion has, it's best to check what other companies did with their edition of the film most recently. Like, I got Eureka's 2014 edition of Youth of the Beast instead of Criterion's 2005 edition of the film because it had more special features. That would also help cut down cost.

Discotek: Basically the best go-to for those into anime that isn't recent, including shows and movies deemed license rescued. Like, a lot of Lupin III specials on here for one. Often found on RightStufAnime. It's affordable depending on where you live. Like, out of reach concerning shipping for us Australians (*eyes the blu ray of Mystery of Mamo*), but you Americans will have a great time. And I heard they're great when it comes to subtitles.

Eureka: This is the most classics company to ever classic'ed. Although there some vibe outliers. Like, they're releasing a special feature packed edition of Valley Girl.

Imprint/Via Vision: My first. It's where I got my boutique blu ray copy of Danger Diabolik (not to say I never had blu rays or DVDs before then, just that this was the first I got with this awareness of boutique blu rays). And they're Australian, lots of copies are found in JB Hi Fi. So, yay, affordable boutique blu rays of old school movies and TV shows without shipping BS for us.

Indicator/Powerhouse: Stunning blu ray collection of underrated vintage gems, cult films, and kitsch films. They got film noir. They got Ray Harryhausen. They got William Castle. They got the best edition of Sweet Charity. All packed with as many special features as Arrow, sometimes maybe even more. And honestly, this is the one boutique blu ray company I would recommend getting directly rather than through a middle man. The blu rays that aren't boxsets are pretty affordable. And they provide region free copies.

Kino Lorber: Hit or miss when it comes to inclusion of special features, but they are expansive in what films and such they have, from all over the world. Films that were once forgotten because they weren't box office hits or artistic classics? Yep (What A Way To Go, Modesty Blaise, there was Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine which was out of print...I managed to get that white whale). Lesser known silent films? Yep. Documentaries? Yep. 1950s PSAs? Apparently yes. There's just so much. And because of that, there's overlap of subjects I think will interest you. Like it's where you will find queer silent films, or queer documentaries like The Queen.

Network: They've recently shut down, being liquidated at the moment. But hopefully you'll find copies on eBay and such. Blu Rays of British movies and shows. Was the go-to for British sitcoms and Gerry Anderson shows.

Olive Films: I just learnt today they aren't selling anymore, but you might still find them through the middle men. They would just be rarer now. Overlooked vintage cult films around the world. Bit hit or miss when it comes to inclusion of special features. Eg: a lot in A Bucket of Blood, barely any on The Great Spy Chase or The Brain (1960s French one, not '80s horror one). I mean, the original French DVDs of the latter do have special features, but those special features don't have subtitles so I went with Olive Films' editions since I do like the films anyway.

Second Run: High quality and artistically fascinating world cinema, you can find them with decent prices on BFI's shop. I don't know how many people would've heard of the films they distribute, believe me, I'm in the same boat. But I think this is a good opportunity to check out films that intrigue you, but you never heard of. Like, seeing these has gotten me intrigued about checking out Karel Zeman's work.

Severin Films: Into video nasties or films similar to video nasties? That's what they do with high quality and special features that you rarely got to see back when these were on VHS. They also do relevant documentaries and a few outliers that are still cult films.

Shout Factory/Scream Factory: Shout Factory distributes a lot of cult TV shows (including cartoons, lot of Nickeloden shows) on blu ray and DVD, MST3K fans like me are very familiar with it. Scream Factory is pretty much to America what Arrow is to Britain, providing special feature packed blu rays of horror cult films.

Vinegar Syndrome: The most cultiest of cult films, to the point where they include vintage porn. They restore them as well as distribute them, so this will be the clearest you'll ever see Hobgoblins, Killer Condom, and Sex World.

A honourable mention is collectively the 'studio vaults' of the original big studios. They do still have blu rays, usually with special features, especially commentaries, of their vintage and classic films. Under labels like thd Warner Archive Collection.

And since a lot of labels have distributed the same film from time to time, I recommend checking DVDCompare to see which edition has more special features or more of what you specifically want.

I welcome any other collectors out their to recommend labels they know, it's more than likely I missed some due to inexperience.

You know the biggest loss of the decline of physical media and the rise of streaming? DVD special features.

[tabooporrn]

I don't think I have at whatever point been to Babylon

I don't think I have at whatever point been to Babylon. Nonetheless, in the event that clearly I got found out and taken there while I was resting and mixed neglectful. Regardless, Babylonian women ought to be fine, so I wouldn't see any issues with being huge chief or a ruler in a spot like that and having the choice to examine in any event fine pussies and butt openings as I can find a use for!

Regardless, we are not collected here today for a discussion Taboo young sister brother incest, its women, their pussies, and crap openings. What brings us here is an overview of an escort site with the astonishing name of Escort Babylon. Better present yourself with another glass of ale and take a gander at my Escort Babylon study

What Occurs In Babylon…

Basically, Escort Babylon is an escort amass nearby. It ends up being influential for utilize an escort or two and should endeavor to fathom that they are on a very basic level essentially as unimaginable as is generally said they are and won't take from you blind once you screw them silly and drop.

Goes with are regularly smooth and fine creatures who take outstanding thought of their body and smell genuinely fair. That can't really be said for the Escort Babylon site, which is several 10-year olds with an additional two hands drank camouflaged juice, had themselves a right magnificent crap, and used this to cultivate the site!

It couldn't be any more undeniable, the site plan is basically in general around as dated as offense, but I don't really recognize that that is palatable inspiration to kick Escort Babylon into the compartment yet. Right when you come to the site, you will be stood up to with an overall clear page, with a sales bar joined to its most raised point. Fairly way under are decisions to see escort focuses on by their date, power, or how current they are. A red button awards you to take a gander at escorts and escort frames in a particular city and this consistently ends up being critical.

Right when you click on the actually alluded to red button, you will be drawn closer to pick your locale and this can be Oceania, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. Tapping the first of these decisions awards you to examine among Australia and New Zealand. Similarly, tapping on Europe will convey a few European countries you can scrutinize, while tapping Canada or the US will convey an overview of states in these countries.

I picked the U.S. decision, tapped on Arizona and in this way Phoenix, cos I have heard that young women in Phoenix have cunts that are fixed with fur and rambling with champagne! Go during a period with these dears and your chicken will be supervised like a ruler on his birthday!

Right when I had picked Phoenix as my city of choice, my screen got stacked up with picture thumbnails of Family inbreeding hd video and their reviews and these were continually restoring so that managing it was everything except for something clear. Near the most raised indication of the page are decisions to pick another city, or sort the outline things by date, greatness, and how current they are. Unintentionally you can tap on each escort picture thumbnail and have the choice to see content on her, for instance, pictures, information concerning where she is, her old posts, comments made on her profile, and reviews.

In any case, you can't take a gander at an escort focus on Escort Babylon with the exception of anticipating you at first present your own special overview. That doesn't sound wonderful to me, yet I get just a technique for overseeing showing you nothing is free and you got to give something to get something. Notwithstanding, you can't irregularly introduce a review. Notwithstanding, you genuinely need to pick and pick a mystery word and selection is a free endeavor.

To post an escort study, that is cool. Why is it cool? Mark of truth, as I said ahead of time, escort profiles here have content like pictures and most of these are X-surveyed. That suggests you can see a few wonderful chicks uncovered or half uncovered and waste two or three hours fantasizing about extra it in them till their things opening can't persist through much else and have to detonate itself or something like that!

In any case, I truly do a lot of need to watch out. So I picked and finished a couple of studies of a couple of chicks I had never met or banged, to guarantee I could check out at reviews by other site clients. The review plan is clear, as you essentially have to click boxes and data nuances like the name of the chick you are examining, the date both of you got together for some terrible business, and whether it legitimized the work. Then, you get to rate her drawing in quality, orderliness, character, execution, and consistency.

Then, at that point, you ought to sum up your experience, portray what the escort looked like and her demeanor and some time later give a two-sentence organization of everything. Generally speaking, there are 4 pages of a survey that you really need to wrap up. I wrapped up mine with counterfeit crap. Don't you fucker's rat me our or my record there will be limited.

My Perspectives

I shared evidently on Escort Babylon. It had a lot of chicks worrisome to show you what they look like uncovered, and okay with fucking you insane if you are in their state and got the money they are referring to. Regardless, to be perfectly honest, the site setup is perhaps the most extraordinarily unpleasant I have tracked down in a truly broadened timeframe. That and the way that you can't plunk down and read the escort focuses on that the site was set up for without first picking and making something like one study recommends that I am not unequivocally a really superb tremendous fan.

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[the-iceni-bitch]

A Good Foundation

Pairing: Curtis Everett x shy!fem Reader (Timber and Flower, No Love Like Your Love AU)

Words: ~1.6 k

Summary: You finally achieve your dream of owning your own bar, but the contractor you hired may be dangerous for your health.

Warnings: explicit language, meet cute, brief view of some of our other couples, fluff, reader is clumsy, Curtis is a giant, they both smell good, no minors due to the AU

A/N: Well, continuing with the extremely soft mood I’ve been in, here’s some more fluff! I threw in some hints about where certain other couples are heading, as well, but it’s really hard to not refer to ninja in the second person, I almost messed that up so many times. Anyway, enjoy these to cuties!!!

I am no longer doing taglists so if you want to stay up to date on all the latest filth, follow my sideblog @the-iceni-library and turn on notifications!!

“This is a fantastic proposal.” You smiled nervously at Ari when he gave you a warm grin, tugging on the edge of your sleeves as he and Ransom flipped through the folders you had brought with you. “And I know this is just for the downtown property, but gorgeous mentioned you had ideas for some other sites too?”

“Ye… yes.” You took a deep breath, huffing out a short laugh when Ransom’s wife gave you a thumbs up from where she was looking over her own copy of the proposal she had spent so much time helping you with. “I know there’s an old Mason��s lodge on Plum Island and a church compound in Framingham that could work for some different things.”

“What were you thinking?” Ransom flicked his eyes up from the folder and gave you a reassuring smile when he saw you take a shaky breath. “Hey, it’s ok, you’re doing great.”

“Um, the lodge has some old thermal pools as well as a sweat lodge that could maybe be a spa?” You shrugged and tried to keep eye contact with them. “And the church would make such an interesting restaurant and bar, plus it’s in a really nice area that could lend itself to a bed and breakfast with all the different cottages. Obviously I’d have to completely retrofit them to add plumbing for bathrooms and stuff, but I think it could be really popular. Plus the gardens would be beautiful once they’re a little more manicured.”

“And you’re able to put up half of the capital?” Ari whistled when you nodded, grinning at Ransom and his wife after he closed the folder. “I don’t feel like there’s any way we can pass on this, you really did some fantastic research. Do you have a contractor you’d want to use?”

“No, I don’t really know anyone.” You couldn’t believe this was actually happening, a grin splitting your face as you let yourself relax.

“What, you thinking Everett?” Ransom smiled at Ari when his wife came and wrapped her arms around his chest so she could kiss the top of his head after congratulating you.

“Yeah, he’s been looking for jobs in the area to get more established, and you know he loves restoration projects. I’ll give him your contact info, sweets.” Ari winked at you as he rose to his feet, wrapping you in a big hug that made you let out a happy squeak. “I wish I could go out with you all to celebrate, but I’ve gotta meet the fiancé to go over the menu for the reception, and if I’m late at all we run the risk of ending up with nothing but cookies and candy.”

“I mean, I would be good working up some dessert themed cocktails if it ended up being that.” You giggled when he rolled his eyes with an indulgent smirk. “Let me know either way once you finalize the menu so I can work up some prospective beers, and some cocktails where you can’t taste the booze for your lightweight fiancé.”

“Thank you, sweets.” Ari gave you one more squeeze and the peck on the top of the head before heading out the door. “See you two at the fittings Saturday!

“Give my blondie a big kiss for me!” Dr. Drysdale beamed when her husband stood up and pressed his lips to her temple. “I told you this would go great, you were so nervous!”

You couldn’t believe how fast Ari and Ransom had gotten everything pushed through. It hadn’t even been two weeks and you were already meeting with the contractor at the library you were going to be renovating so it could be your very own bar, it was crazy. Even the fact that the bombshell wasn’t going to be there with you to act as a social buffer wasn’t totally freaking you out like it normally would, you were excited. You tucked yourself in a little isolated reading nook on the second floor, losing yourself in sketching your plans for everything while you waited for this dude to show up.

It was easy to lose yourself in your plans, so engrossed in your sketching you didn’t even hear him come in. Curtis spent a good five minutes looking for you when he got there, finally walking up the stairs and sighing when he caught a glimpse of you all hidden away. He couldn’t even be mad that you hadn’t acknowledged him even after he’d called for you, the way your nose was all scrunched up in concentration and how you kept pushing this one lock of hair out of your face absentmindedly. God, you were cute.

Curtis leaned on the door frame and ducked his head as he watched you continue to work, finally clearing his throat when you still didn’t acknowledge him after a few minutes and biting his lip to avoid chuckling when you let out an adorable little squeak.

“Cur…Curtis?” Oh god, he was huge, he filled the whole doorway and even then he had to duck so he wouldn’t crack his head against the lintel. It was making you lightheaded. “I… I’m so sorry, I got distracted. Have you… have you been here long?”

“A bit but it’s fine, gave me a chance to check the place out.” He didn’t miss the way your legs squeezed together when he stepped closer to you, his hand completely engulfing yours when he reached out to shake it and helped you rise to your feet. “Are those your plans?”

“Plans? Oh right, plans, yes.” Right now you were cursing your friend for ditching you. You didn’t care how good her excuse was, how the fuck were you supposed to be any kind of coherent when this massive tree of a man who smelled like pine and mountain air was looking at you with those soft, impossibly blue eyes? “Um, maybe we do another walkthrough and I can talk through what I’m thinking for each area?”

“Sounds good.” He clenched his jaw when you walked close to him and stopped short, running back for your sketchbook and then up to him again and then huffing out a cute little flustered breath as you looked all over the room. You were so frazzled and adorable with your stammering he just wanted to rub your shoulders, but he figured that would spook you. And it would be wildly inappropriate, what was wrong with him?

“Ok…ok, so this I was thinking could be a secondary bar and some private booths, maybe?” You shuffled through your papers as you tried to collect yourself. “Like, this bar could be just for liquors and cocktails while the downstairs bar would be focused on the beers and we’d have the kitchen and everything.”

“We can make that work.” He shuffled out of the way when you scurried past him, closing his fist around nothing when you stumbled just a little so he wouldn’t reach out and grab you, because he was pretty sure if he touched you right now he wasn’t going to be able to stop. “How many of the original features do you want to keep?”

“Oh, as many as possible.” You tried to smile at him but looked away immediately when you felt heat flush your face, keeping your eyes on your feet as you walked down the stairs side by side. “That’s kind of the whole point, to preserve as much of the history as we can…”

You took your eyes off your feet for just a second and missed a step because you were looking at just how large the man standing next to you was and thinking about how big he was in places you couldn’t see, like a perv. Curtis moved faster than you would have thought possible to wind his arms around you and keep you from tumbling down the stairs, your shriek getting cut off when he yanked you into his chest and damn it, you swooned.

“Shit, are you ok?” You smelled like fresh baked bread and wildflowers and he had been right, he didn’t want to let go of you. “Maybe we put a railing on these stairs?”

“Ahem… hmm, that’s smart.” You hated how tiny your voice was, your palms pressed to his chest, his very firm chest, as you tried not to lose yourself in how incredibly warm he was. “Safe.”

“Yes, safety is very important.” He couldn’t help himself, he tucked his fingers under your chin and pushed your mouth closed. “Why don’t you show me what else you want to do, then I’ll draw up some blueprints for us to go over, ok?”

“Ok.” You sighed when he released you after giving you a squeeze, showing him to the archives section you thought would work well for the kitchen.

Curtis was just barely paying attention to everything you were saying, but he took in enough through your bashful looks and cute little stuttered explanations that he came up with a good idea of what he could work with. And he managed to make plans for the two of you to meet up in a few days once he’d drawn up some preliminaries, giving you a soft smile when you thanked him and squeaked out that you were looking forward to working with him. He was gonna have to get better control of himself, Hal would give him so much shit if he turned into a flirty idiot on the job site.

[akiragatr]

Spill about your current obsession

I have many, let me talk to you about Archipelago, my absolute most favorite Webcomic that I discovered about four years back, created by H L. Devera, also known as @thesilvertophat

On a series of islands that are mostly organic on the surface, but comprised of ancient machinery and lost technology below. Elements of steampunk submarines, melded together with magic, and spirits that are remnants of immense slumbering AI.

An old force of evil is stirring. A thousand years ago, it was sealed away by six powerful souls capable of great magic. Now, it has chosen a widely-feared man named Snow to harvest the six souls of the descendants to break the seal and restore the evil force to its former glory.

And the beginning of the resistance against it all starts with a survivor of Snow's previous cruelty- a young woman named Credenza, who stumbles upon the washed-up body of a man with shattered memories. And attached to his soul is a shard of the great evil.

This is Archipelago.

(Without any context this doesn't spoil much, but it's from about... one third of the way into the story?)

The art evolution is incredible. It starts off kind of jarringly, as the comic ran over ten years. (the first half of the first chapter was redrawn later), but a couple chapters in, the art style hits its stride, and only continues to improve from there. It's mostly in greyscale with color splashes here and there, but it's used extremely well.

The character arcs are also just. So good. Two characters in particular that I love with my entire heart (Raven and Tuff) go through big character development over the course of the story. There's themes of close bonds of friendship and found family, hope in the face of despair, self-acceptance, atonement, redemption, and learning what humanity really is.

To drive home how much I love this series, I bought the whole thing in book form.

It could be read in its entirety on SmackJeeves, but with the unfortunate shutdown of that site, so went the most convenient method of reading it. However, there are plans for it to be on Webtoons. In the meantime, you can read it (though without the updated first chapter) on TheSilverTopHat's DeviantArt page. She is also currently working on a sequel/spin-off comic currently called City of Somnus, which IS on Webtoons currently!

There's also a TV Tropes page (just beware of spoilers, lol).

I definitely intend to make fan art of it someday, when I can scrub the rust off my drawing skills.

[lucabyte]

Hell yeah!!! In that case since you've got that covered I'll give a personal flair reccomendation? which is that I have 2 pieces of fanwork that kinda, retroactively, have been canonised? (validating to me, since i already considered them as such LOL. Shan't say how they're canonised, just that they get referenced in dialogue)

So. Depending on where you are you may have already passed these points, and if your friends are archive readers they'll know the placements but...

I like to emulate the Gigapause and Omegapause by putting Theatre of Coolty and Detective Pony in the reading order in their places! So you can kind of envision a bit of the fandombrain people had stewing during both of those year-long breaks. The Gigapause caused a MASSIVE case of haitusbrain, moreso than the Omegapause despite being of roughly the same length. Due in part to coming first, I think.

Both of them are Dirk-centric. And are hardly really traditional fanfics, more like fucked up little art pieces. And both are available in video-adaptation form.

Detective Pony (<link) is a behemoth of a work. It is one of my favourite pieces of fiction of all time. Not even going to qualify it as "favourite fics". Just like favourite texts. But it is a wholeass novella. 40k words. Here's a link to the video version, which wholeheartedly also reccomend. (Link! Whole playlist!)

So. Use that for the Gigapause. (October 16, 2013 to October 16, 2014, between pages 6852 and 6853)

Theatre of coolty (<link) is far shorter at 3.6k words, so use that for the Omegapause (July 28, 2015 to March 28, 2016, between pages 7959 and 7960) (And a Link! to the video version)

if your friends have already reccomended these to you anywhere in the reading order give them a kiss from me. also feel free to ignore my placements and just read them sometime after you finish the comic in full but i think putting them in the haituses is a fun way to recreate the experience of having to wait a while between what were genuinely fucked up places for cliffhangers to be.

aaand as for unofficial collection mods and settings, turn "controversial content" on once you hit act 6 to have the funniest joke in homestuck restored. wont tell you when it is or what it is but on god that discourse was the funniest shit in the world. made all the funnier by it being completely driven by white fragility it was nuts.

there's also a port of the print book's Author's Commentary for each page (up to about end of act 5ish?) in the mods that i highly reccomend though not for first time readthrough since it doesn't hold back on spoilers. And the old chrome extention "homestuck POV cam" is a great port of an old extention for the site that lets you experience the story chronologically from any given character's perspective which is so fucked.

here's my mod list with all the ones i'd reccomend for a first time readthrough in the active list. they don't add much but the easter egg mod is highly reccomended because otherwise without an encylopedic knowledge of asinine bullshit there are secret pages you can miss that it notifies you of. though your friends may already be handling that one so 👍

i need to know if the people who are following me who are currently in the process of reading homestuck for the first time are doing it through the Unofficial Homestuck Collection because if you aren't please say so because um. Veteran homestuck here who wants to give you the best possible experience . please. <- guy who's prepping for an upcoming homestuck reread and as such has a whole list of reccomendations

[skulltrashart]

Vamptember Day 8

Funeral / Movie / Unanswerable Questions Story Summary: An old knight returns home at long last and is forced to reconcile with his past. ((OC content, mentions of death and slight violence, existential dread :), ya know the typical sort associated with vampires. Really stretching on how to apply the word funeral here, but I’m gonna do it anyways.))

Vamptember Day 7 // 

Cornwall, 2010

Near a thousand years had changed the lands he grew up on. There was practically nothing left of the stone that had once made up the keep or the fortifications. Restoration efforts had at least cleared away the encroaching wilderness and excavations had unearthed what very well could have been pieces of his own life. While he had hoped that there might be something left, to point out and tell his beloved that ‘this had been where this thing happened’ or ‘we used to do that there’, there was nothing.  Bakari walked in silence beside him, arm wrapped through his own. He had been the one to urge him to return at all, as he regularly returned to Faiyum, his own home. To keep him grounded, he’d claim, but Godwine would have preferred not to stir up thoughts of what he had missed while he was gone in his self imposed exile.  He remembered so clearly promising his young nieces and nephews that he’d return. He had promised the eldest of the boys, Cador and Madern, that he would train them to be proper knights and bring gifts for Lowenna and Rosewyn. In the absence of his own children, he had been a second father for his brother’s and he loved them as if they were his own. Cador had begged to go with him as a squire, but Godwine had refused.  And while he never saw Cador, he had encountered Madern on the battlefield near Jerusalem some twenty years later. Grievously wounded and having been left for dead, his nephew had been delirious when he found him trying to drag himself away from the field while carrion birds circled overhead. It had been one of the few times, he had managed to fight the hunger that rose in him since his rebirth and he managed to help him get somewhere safe, somewhere he’d been found by other crusaders after wrapping his wounds as best he could.  ((Madern would remember this, would recognize his uncle and return with stories that he’d encountered the spirit of his uncle, trapped still on the battlefield helping others that may suffer his own fate. Not knowing his uncle stalked those fields, driven mad by a hunger he didn’t understand for decades.)) “-my dear?” Bakari’s voice cut through the memory and shook him back to the present. “Sorry, I was...lost in thought,” he apologized and cleared his throat looking down at him. He tried his best to give a reassuring smile but it was forced and awkward. There was no way to fool someone who’d been at his side for centuries. “Clearly, you’ve stopped dead in your tracks. But it looks like their are headstones over there?” he pointed out into the gloom of night. The stones were worn with the ages, moss covered and any inscriptions were long lost. There were ropes and flags left by the archeological team, marking where each was clearly. “I don’t think the dig team has been able to identify anyone there with certainty. Records aren’t reliable this far back.” “I can make an educated guess.” He strode towards the site, trying to remember what it looked like previously, where the small chapel had stood in relation to the graves and if the foot path was the same as it had been then. While there was clearly more than previously, the stones were older the closer to the remnants of the chapel. He knew roughly where his family was to be buried, they had been barons of sorts, overseeing a plot land set aside for mining for the King. So a corner was aside for them to be kept close even in death. 

He stopped when he felt chills up his spine, as someone had walked over his own. The headstones, if there had been any at all, were little more than mounds in the earth. Bakari joined him shortly after, tucking the phone away as memory seemed stronger than genealogical records this time. 

It was surreal to stare down at them. To know one of those plots was most likely empty, meant for him. To know that his parents had passed, his brother, his nieces and nephews, their children and so on and he had outlived them all. He dropped to his knees as the weight of centuries struck him. It had been easy to ignore the fact they were gone when he had been miles away and he had never taken the time to mourn, to even acknowledge, that they were dead at all. He knew in his heart that when he returned, if he did at all, they would not be there to greet him, no celebration, no feast, no reunion. He had missed the passing of his mother and father, both had been frail already when he left, he had missed watching his brother’s brood of children grow, their laughter and smiles, teaching them, training them, cheering them on for whatever they did.  Bakari knelt beside him, leaning into him with an arm around him for comfort and he in turn, leaned into that familiar weight.  “This is...a very belated funeral of sorts,” he murmured. “A very sorry one at that. I can’t even leave flowers on their graves.” 

“You can speak to them though,” Bakari suggested. “At the very least apologize for keeping them waiting for so long. Just...talk. I could go take a walk if you’d prefer-” “No, no...I very much would rather you here. I fear if I’m left alone with my thoughts I’ll want nothing more than to crawl into my own grave,” he confessed, shaking his head. “It is...difficult to put into words though and while I know this is your idea and you want me to do this to...I don’t know, what is it that you want me to accomplish here?” “Anyone with a brain can tell you’re fucking depressed, love,” he put blatantly. “And your unwillingness to come to terms with things is certainty at its core. You avoid your own feelings, you *run* from them when you can. And what you just said further proves that. You are a gentle soul and the world has not been kind to you, I get it, but for fuck’s sake, its not a bad thing to let yourself feel something, anything.” Godwine listened but didn’t look at him any longer. He ran his fingers through the grass and let the feeling of the wind blow over him. “I do let myself feel-” “If you’re going to say you feel love for me, or for Abigail, that doesn’t count. That’s not what I mean and you know it.” Bakari let their be a silence for a moment, waiting for further argument. When it didn’t come, he turned to kiss Godwine’s temple, “You don’t have to speak out loud. We can sit here in silence until you’re ready to leave.”

[albertserra]

this might be a stupid question but i was just wondering how you find the movies you decide to watch? is it from research or recommendations etc. you watch such a large variety of film and im trying to get more on that!!

Ofc there’s the obvious ones like watching for a director or actor or occasionally even writer (and even rarer but I have done it.. a composer!) and watching what people recommend to me. Outside of that it’s really just research from like any random sources. Lists like the top #xyz for letterboxd/imdb etc are occasionally useful but those can get old quick and always have clear biases. User made lists can be much more exciting to look through tho. If you like a filmmaker do some googling and maybe they’ll cite some references or inspirations, or you’ll see people recommending other works in reviews. I like to explore regions I haven’t watched as many films from or ones I take an interest in- Southeast Asia obviously, but I also like a lot of western African film and want to get more into Western Asia/North African (the night 1992 from Syria!) and south asian film. Googling or sometimes I’ll literally just click on a country on letterboxd and click random movies and see if they look interesting. Or like if you like a certain theme or subject (like gay subtext or post colonialism are ones I really take an interest in) do research that way, or just ask people for recs. My post colonialism list has gotten a lot of input which has been endlessly helpful for me to discover more. I also like to keep an eye on sites like blu ray.com bc they’ll announce new restorations of older films which can be really interesting (provided someone rips it for online viewing, or some company decides to stream it etc). If you’re open to reading theory (or just books in general I guess) books and essays and articles on topics can sometimes reference movies. That’s what I did with my mid century British binge and thai cinema uncensored etc. And of course the more you watch the more reference points you have and exploring from those different branches becomes easier and easier. Tumblr has honestly been an invaluable resource for me too tbh. This answer is all over the place sorry but I really don’t have any kind of concrete methods it’s literally just a combination of all the factors above plus more im forgetting to mention.

I’ve gotten this question before and I lost my answer so I’m tagging this one to hopefully be able to find it later. Let’s see if I remember to use this tag

[mkstrigidae]

Current WIPs and Fic Concepts

I promised I would do this yesterday, and then I forgot!!! (I was very sleep deprived). Anyways, here are a bunch of the WIP premises that I have in my 'unfinished drafts' folder. Most have at least a few pages written for them, but I love them all! ☺️💕

- A Santa Clarita Diet AU (Jonsa) Takes place in sunny southern California, where a shitty dinner at a mediocre restaurant turns into a huge problem for Jon and Sansa when Sansa's heart stops beating. Although she seems fine, Jon is flabbergasted several days later as he watches his wife- who alphabetizes their pantry and refuses to let anyone wear shoes in the house- rip the throat out of one of the sleazy new partners at their law firm, eating half of him before anyone processes what's going on. Hilarity ensues as Sansa's inhibitions and filter disappear, Arya ropes an extremely confused Gendry into helping figure out what the hell is going on just because he moderates the zombie forum on reddit, and Jon tries to deal with the fact that the woman he loves more than anything is now a humanitarian. He really could use a drink. (This one is actually mostly complete, but i need to refine a few things- i really love it. It's as gory and irreverent as the show, so viewer discretion advised, but it's a BLAST to write).

- A Thor/MCU AU (Jonsa, Steve Rogers/Sansa)- Asgardian prince Aegon is banished to Midgard after one too many arrogant decisions, and is promptly hit by a van containing Dr. Sansa Stark, Dr. Barristan Selmy, and Margaery Tyrell- two astrophysicists studying wormholes and Sansa's best friend and pseudo-intern. Marg yells at him, he yells back, Sansa tases him, and Barristan didn't sign up for the kind of heavy lifting that getting a 200+ pound slab of muscle into the back of a van takes. And then Aegon's younger brother, Jon, shows up, in the middle of an identity crisis because, apparently, he's adopted. He wasn't intending to stay, but he's rather drawn to Dr. Stark and her brilliance, and against her better judgement, she starts to trust him, and maybe even like him. This story is in about three parts so far- the first is based on 'Thor' and the second on 'The Avengers' and are fully Jonsa, and the third started as a family bonding story between the Stark kids and Tony (Ned and Tony are second cousins, and Ned was really supportive of Tony in rehab without expecting anything in return), and accidentally turned into a Steve Rogers/Sansa Stark story, which is a pairing i am HERE for. A lot of this one is written, but it needs some fill in before publishing, although it's one of my favorites that i've written to go back and actually read.

- A Star Wars AU (Jonsa) where Sansa and Arya are Alderaanian princesses who are off planet when Alderaan is destroyed- Sansa as a senator and Arya as a pilot, both working for the rebellion, and jon is a smuggler who does not know how all of these people got on his ship and why two princesses are sassing him. His copilot, Tormund (yes he's a wookie), thinks it is hilarious. I started this one just the other day, and it's already thirty pages long, most of them involving Sansa and Arya sassing people. Dany is a leader in the rebellion, Roose Bolton is the emperor, and Barbrey Dustin is a disgruntled former jedi trying to live in peace on a remote planet until another Stark crashes into her life and harangues her into teaching again.

- A witches/magic AU (Jonsa) where the Starks run an apothecary and spellcasting supplies shop. Jon had been completely in the dark about magic before his mother confessed to being born into a family of witches. He finds himself traveling to her hometown, trying to understand her world more clearly, and what it means for him. On the way, he develops something of a crush on the red-headed shop clerk who brews the best headache potions in town. Featuring lots of magical shenanigans, this is one of my favorites in the folder :)

- A 24 hour diner AU (Jonsa) where Jon is a local mob boss, and Sansa works the late shift at Seaworth's diner to buy textbooks for the PhD she's working on in botany. Sansa's running from memories, and Jon has a soft spot for the red-headed waitress who always remembers how he likes his coffee.

- An East of the Sun, West of the Moon AU!!! (Jonsa) This is one of my fav fairy tales, and of course i couldn't resist Jon as a direwolf striking a deal with the starks!

- A Roomates AU (Jonsa)- Arya, Jon, Tormund, and Sam have been renting the same house together off Winterfell's campus for years- but when Sam moves in with his girlfriend, they need one more person on the lease. Sansa, about to relocate to Winterfell for grad school, finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her and that her housing plans have fallen through, all on the same day. Needless to say, she's a bit upset when she calls Arya to relay the news. There's a simple solution here, if Arya and Tormund can stop teasing Jon about his crush for five minutes. (any excuse to write tormund and arya roasting jon, tbh).

- A Fae AU (Jonsa)- When Sansa, a baker living in the city, washes her face in an enchanted spring on a camping trip, she gains the sight as a result. Suddenly able to see the fae underworld all around her is disorienting and terrifying. Sansa tries to conceal it- afraid of what might happen if the fae around her know that she can see them- but slips up, and catches the attention of Jon Snow- one of the lords of the unseelie court.

- A nuclear winter wasteland AU (Jonsa)- (?? I don't even know how to describe this premise, haha) where the Starks are living and running the Free Winterfell settlement in Siberia after a worldwide nuclear meltdown. Before the fallout, Sansa was one of the world's preeminent researchers in plant genetics and pathology, and works at the settlement to create newer, disease and radiation resistant crops to distribute for free to other settlements, aiming to break up the monopoly that Lannister Corp has on the market. Jon is a scavenger, searching throughout Siberia for his sister Rhae who disappeared several years previously. When he runs across Arya Starkovna, helping her fight off another band of radiation ravaged scavengers is just instinct- he doesn't think twice about it. In thanks, she brings him to the Winterfell settlement, where her brother Robb offers Jon sanctuary and resources, in exchange for serving as a bodyguard for Sansa when she travels to other settlements. Sansa is not particularly thrilled by this arrangement, but given that multiple parties seem to want her dead, she doesn't have much of a choice but to accept his company.

- A reincarnation AU (Jonsa)- of sorts. Robb is an archaeologist who finds a strange set of runes at a site up north, and immediately calls in Jon Snow- a historian and expert in said ancient language, as well as an old university friend of Robb's. When he arrives though, Robb shows him their most valuable finds- two mysterious ice blocks, with what appear to be perfectly preserved bodies from over a thousand years ago. No one could ever have imagined that either of them were still alive, but when the ice melts, revealing two very alive girls, the entire crew is instantly buried in NDAs, and given an assignment from the Westerosi government to figure out what the hell was going on. Sansa and Arya wake up, extremely confused about the world they live in, trying to adapt and mourning all that they've lost, even as the people around them wear familiar faces.

- Soulmates AU (Jonsa)- (Yes, another one, I love this dumb trope) Trauma surgeon and medical resident Sansa Stark is having a very bad day, and ends up meeting her soulmate during what she thinks is a mugging gone wrong. Fortunately, he’s not the one mugging her, just an intervening bystander, but she ends up slightly shot nonetheless. Sansa’s fretting about bleeding on the upholstery in his car, but Jon is a bit more worried about her injuries than the blood stains. He’s a bit confused when she threatens him if he takes her to a specific hospital, nearly has a nervous breakdown when she insists on doing her own triage, and is very charmed when she insists on ice cream after taking pain meds at the hospital. On Sansa’s part, she’s a little less concerned about being shot, and a bit more concerned about whatever weird first impression she’s making to her soulmate while high as a kite on pain pills. (this one just needs some tweaking to be postable- I'm not sure if it's going to be a oneshot or a series, but i love what I have already)

- A Demon/Archivist AU (Jonsa)- where Sansa works in the university's historical archives in Oldtown, and is learning to restore old texts with her fellow student and friend, Alleras (Trans Sarella is an amazing concept). When Joffrey Baratheon shows up with a pile of old books from his family's library to donate, Sansa is eager to get away from his sleaze, and accidentally takes one of the books home with her in her rush to leave. Unbeknownst to her, it's more than it appears, and when she leaves it open overnight, she accidentally summons forth Jon- an ancient, powerful, and extremely annoyed demon who is under a curse, and now hers to command. As Jon and Sansa try to get used to this new normal, the Lannisters (unaware that Joffrey had donated the tome) try desperately to find the book and it's owner, wanting Jon's power for themselves, and putting Sansa in considerable danger unless she can figure out how to break Jon's curse. Fortunately, she's a pretty good researcher, even if Jon is initially a bit of a grump. (This is based on a total wish-fulfillment mary-sue type premise for something I wrote when I was thirteen, and I revisited it and wanted to see what it would look like if i took it very seriously, and i am really enjoying it so far. It's a love letter to the terrible, heartfelt writing i was doing in middle school that created the foundations for my writing today, and so much fun).

The one that I am MOST excited about though:

- A Pacific Rim AU!!!! (Ned/Cat, Gendrya, Braime, Sansa/Jon Umber)-Twins Sansa and Robb Stark have always been completely in tune with each other, and when your parents are Jaeger pilots and your mother invented the neural handshake, what option is there but the Jaeger academy? Sansa studies to be an engineer, but ends up copiloting the Jaeger 'Winter Wolf' with her twin brother, after they lose Ned Stark to cancer. When Robb is ripped out of the conn-pod and killed by a kaiju while he's still connected to Sansa, she barely manages to kill the creature before stumbling back to shore, traumatized, grieving, and swearing that she'll never pilot again.

Unfortunately, the Kaiju don't stop just because Sansa does, and when the end of the world is imminent, Marshall Catelyn Stark orders both her daughter and former pilot Jaime Lannister (who lost his twin and copilot, Cersei, several years previously) back to Hong Kong for one final stand. Forced to face both her demons and an irate Arya, furious that Sansa had abandoned the rest of them after Robb's death, Sansa and Arya have to figure out how to pilot Winter Wolf together before the apocalypse comes for them all.

Featuring Marshall Catelyn Stark (commander of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, inventor of the neural handshake, former Jaeger pilot, and BAMF), Sansa x Jon Umber (Yes i know it's a rare pair but i've always kind of loved the idea of them, even though we know so little about him), Kaiju parts dealer and smuggler Petyr Baelish, bickering kaiju biologist Dany and theoretical mathematician Jon Snow, LOCCENT officer Theon, lots of snark, lots of angst and heartfelt conversations, and a weird friendship between snarky-grieving-asshole Jaime Lannister and kind-quiet-grieving Sansa Stark, who are the only two people in the world who know what it's like to lose a copilot and a twin in the drift.

Thanks for reading guys!! There are more, but some of them I just don't know how to explain quite yet, haha. I'd love to hear what you guys think about these!

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children Ch. 3

In which: Danny getting yeeted into the Lazarus Pit yields anticlimactic consequences and Bruce Wayne converses with a fruit loop.

AO3 | Prologue | 2 | [ 3 ] | 4 |

DANIEL BARELY HAD TIME TO SCREAM before he’s plunged into the green depths of the Lazarus pit, primeval waves crashing against the walls of the pool. Talia flicked her wrist, signaling the ten League members hidden in the shadows to approach. Each one spaced equally apart around the pit with smoke pellets synthesized from blood blossoms held in their hands, ready to drop at a moment’s notice.

Pit madness rendered the majority of the living uncontrollable, with even the weakest of humans imbued with a strength that could only be induced by the purest of rage. The League was not taking chances as to how a being like her son would react to it.

The waters stilled.

Then—

A bright flash of light. Then, faster than the eyes could follow, a figure erupted from the waters. Bone white hair that twisted and curled as if it were still underwater. Skin lightly tinged frostbitten blue and clad in a suit of black and white and shrouded in an aura of blinding light. Phantom appeared from the depths, floating above the pit like a god reborn.

His eyes burned a toxic green.

“What the fuck was that?”

But not pit madness green.

Talia ordered her assassins to at ease with a raise of her hand. She slowly walked to her father’s side just as her son—Phantom—landed at the edge of the pool. Idly, Talia noticed how different Phantom seemed in comparison to her son. Physical attributes aside, Daniel tended to make himself smaller. What venom that may coat his words and the vitriol in his glares dampened by the way he held himself. Shoulders hunched and head tilted down. Non-threatening. Hands always needing to do something, whether it be holding his arms or shoved inside his pockets or constantly brushing it through his hair. No matter how she and his instructors taught him how to hold himself like a warrior, like a soldier, he still tended to present himself as a skittering little animal.

Phantom was different. He squared his soldiers and lifted his chin high, unafraid to stretch out to his fullest height and use his defiance of gravity to make himself look bigger. Stronger. His arms held steady at his sides, curled into tight fists. Green eyes—green as the Lazarus pit yet without that spark of madness that so consumed everyone else—burning with righteous fury.

“You fucking threw me into the weird green pool. What even—who does that?”

Ra’s tilted his head. “Fascinating. It seems you have a resistance to the pit madness.”

Phantom blinked, caught off guard. “Pit…madness,” he echoed. A statement, though from the wrinkle in his brows and the look he shoots Talia, it was more a question than anything else.

“It is one of the side effects of the Lazarus pits.” Talia approached her son with caution, holding his face with both hands and inspecting for any differences. “While the waters rejuvenate, restore, and even temporarily imbue one with supernatural strength, it also tends to inflict users with temporary insanity.”

“Insanity?” His eyes widened, trembling hands coming up to hold her wrists. Strangely, Daniel did not pull away from her touch. “I could have gone insane?”

Those bright eyes of his looked so frightened. Haunted. Pupils dilated to mere pinpricks of blackness, lost in a sea of Lazarus green. “Oh habeebi, only temporarily.”

“Like that’s better!” He yelled. “Even temporarily, I’m—” He staggered back, breaking out of her hold. Harmless Danny Fenton bleeding into proud Phantom as he ran his hands through his hair, unwilling to look at anyone.

Ra’s continued to watch, his arms crossed beneath his sternum, muttering to himself. Her father had prided himself on being one of the most knowledgeable about the Lazarus pits and its effects. Now, faced with a new mystery, the scholar within the Demon’s Head emerged as he observed his grandson.

“No,” Ra’s said, mostly to himself. “Perhaps less of a ‘resistance’ and more of an ‘immunity’ to it, given how both Daniel and the Lazarus pit have similar compositions. It would be a fascinating tangent to follow.” He chuckled to himself. “How droll. The life-restoring Lazarus pit holding a connection to the land of the dead.”

Talia turned to her father. “So, Daniel will not feel any of the pit’s side effects, then?”

Daniel perked up at the sound of his name, halting in his pacing. “I…might not go insane?”

“Perhaps, though it is too soon to tell. You have the waters of the Lazarus pit flowing through your veins, Daniel.” Ra’s smiled; eyes gleaming with the sparks of pride. “You and it are made of the same chemicals, the same reality-defying compounds that can bring the dead back to life.”

“Well, great. I have the same chemical makeup as a glowing hot tub, what else is new—” Her son staggered, and she caught him. Impossibly bright rings formed at his abdomen and then split, transforming Phantom back into a human. Mortal. His face haggard and sweating from the temples, eyes back to her beloved’s pale blues.

Her father did not bat an eye. “The pit’s healing effects are slowed down, then? Or perhaps it is because he has no wounds to heal?” Ra’s hummed; chin cradled in his hand. “Set him back into the pits, Talia. I believe young Daniel has yet to absorb all his needed energy.”

“Sure, yeah, that’s fine. Put me back in the crazy water, why not?” Daniel tugged at her shoulders. “Just…gently, please?”

Talia smoothed down his dark hair with a smile. “Of course, habeebi. I will even stay with you as well.”

When he looked at her, it was something almost akin to gratefulness.

------

In Gotham City, the upper echelons of society gather together at the Gotham Expo Center. The shining halls, which had been used as the site of a week-long exhibition of new scientific research, was reoutfitted to serve as the venue for the exhibition’s final event.

A gala. The hunting ground of the nouveau riche and old money families. Corporate moguls and debutants made their rounds across the floor, chatting with heirs and politicians and the who’s who of the upper class.

Scientists and researchers attempted to step out of their shells and dazzle the crowds. Wanting to fish a willing patron with deep pockets to fund their next project. Reporters huddled together like schools of fish, warily approaching the predators in their midst for a question or a photo. Both things many of the wealthy and affluent are easily ready to give, as long as it only showed off their best side in tomorrow’s society papers.

Bruce Wayne, the Prince of Gotham, and society’s darling observed everything as he always did, in that most people believed he barely noticed anything beyond what’s right in front of him. He raised the flute glass of champagne to his lips, pretending to take a sip as he listened to the chatter of sycophants around him. A few were even some promising researchers of which he made a mental note to pass along to Lucius.

Two nights ago, Bruce received a tip of unusual movements from the League of Assassins. The organization had been quiet as of late, and while Bruce had been very carefully monitoring their activities in the background, the sudden tightening of their security prompted him to take a closer look.

There had been sightings of the League of Assassins centered around a small town in Illinois—Amity Park. A rural tourist trap championing itself as the most haunted place in America. Something that Bruce would normally scoff at or zealously research about if not for John Constantine’s warning to “never go within a ten-mile radius of that hellhole.” With similar sentiments from others in the occult community, the Justice League decided to take that warning to heart. Bruce’s curiosity may have been piqued, but even he was tactful enough to avoid courting more trouble.

Suffice to say, Bruce—and especially Batman—could not afford to ignore Ra’s al Ghul’s movements. Whatever his plans were involved whatever anomalies were going on in Amity Park. And wasn’t it simply serendipitous that one of the guest lists for tonight’s gala was Vlad Masters, the mayor of Amity Park?

“Vlad Masters, is that you?” Bruce, slapping on his signature Brucie smile, masterfully detached himself from his previous group, quickly heading towards the nearby bar where he spotted Vlad getting another drink.

“Why, Bruce Wayne, it’s been so long!” The two shook hands, of which Bruce was slightly surprised at how cold to the touch Vlad was. A health condition, perhaps. Then again, there was something in Vlad’s appearance and stature that spoke of a deeper reason.

“It’s been, what, two years? What brings you to Gotham?”

“Business; the usual really.” Despite whatever friendly aura they’re projecting, Bruce Wayne and Vlad Masters weren’t friends. More acquaintances that have been forced to mingle a few times because of the nature of their business and the demands of high society. From what Bruce knows, Vlad is a business tycoon that’s as blindingly charismatic as he was infamous for his quick rise to wealth and a few rather shady dealings.

Bruce stuck his hand in his pocket. “Well Vlad, last we all heard was you dipping your toes into politics. You’re a, uh, what, a governor?”

Vlad let out an obviously fake chuckle. “Oh nothing as grand as that. I’m only a small-town mayor, really.”

“Right!” Bruce snapped his fingers. “So, what’s that like?”

“Oh dreadful work, really. So much paperwork, so many things to do or oversee, but rewarding in its own way.” He puffed out his chest. “Many of the people in Amity Park do rely on me, you know. Though I’m afraid my schedule’s busy enough that I barely have time to go home!”

“Well, we’re very happy that you made room enough to visit us here in Gotham.”

Bruce sensed Damian coming to stand beside him and instinctually placed a hand around his shoulder. Though his youngest had been steadily adjusting to his new life here in Gotham, he still preferred to stick to his father’s shadow than mingle with those of his own age groups at galas. (Then again, Bruce was very similar when he was younger so perhaps it was a genetic thing).

He smiled down at Damian—frowning as he’d rather be patrolling the streets in uniform as opposed to schmoozing with people he hardly cared about. “Have you met my son, Vlad? Damian, this is Vlad Masters, a business partner and a, uh—” He scrunched his face, pretending to remember what Vlad’s current occupation is. “Mayor of some small town out west.”

Bruce turned to look at Vlad, expecting to see some variation of ‘insulted but trying to keep up a polite façade’—only to freeze.

Vlad’s face paled considerably. His beady eyes comically wide as he looked at Damian, the fingers curled around the stem of his flute glass bone white. Damian, unnerved, steadied his stance but shifted minutely closer to Bruce.

Well, this was interesting. “You alright, Vlad? You looked like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Vlad jerked his head towards Bruce. Surprise—and fear? —contorted his features for a brief moment before smoothed back down into a proper mask. “Mayor of Amity Park, yes. My apologies,” he chuckled. “Young—Damian, was it? —only reminded me of someone I knew once.” He shifted his gaze back to Damian. “The resemblance is actually quite uncanny.”

Damian furrowed his brows. “Amity Park?”

“You’ve heard of it, Damian?”

“I would be surprised if you did.” Vlad masters took a small ship of his champagne. “Then again, it should be expected that you might have heard of it. The town does love it’s ghosts.”

Bruce laughed. “What, like Casper?”

“Something like that, yes.” There’s a tightness to Vlad’s voice. “Amity Park is its own breed of strange. We’ve handled things well enough on our own in the past, and quite honestly you get used to all of the spooks eventually. Though I must say the shadows are quite new—I’d often ask myself if I should petition your city’s vigilante and put him on the case.

“Shadows?”

Vlad easy smile shifted into a faint grimace. “They have a rather nasty habit of snooping.”

------

Despite Bruce and Damian’s attempt at plying Vlad for more answers, Vlad kept his mouth shut, evading questions and changing topics skillfully. Something that only raised Bruce’s alarm that something was going on.

“So,” Bruce unbuttoned his suit as he stepped into the car, “How did you hear of Amity, Damian? Ghosts and ghouls don’t exactly seem like something you’d be interested in.”

He waited for Damian to buckle his seatbelt before shifting the Bentley into drive and pulling out of the Expo. They had stayed at the gala long enough, making their rounds and giving the media enough for a headline in the society pages.

Damian rested his hand against the window. His face scrunched as he watched the looming facades of Gotham’s architecture pass by. “Mother mentioned the name once or twice,” he said. “I was not…privy to every operation that happened in the League, so I don’t know anything despite that my grandfather took an interest in Amity.”

“And I’m sure that from Masters’ odd phrasing, Ra’s didn’t just magically lose that interest either.” He narrowed his eyes. “Contact Oracle and have her dig up everything we need to know about the situation in Amity Park. I think it’s time Batman made his introductions to some out-of-town guests.”

[x0401x]

Los Amigos

A short story from Tsujimura-sensei’s site for Henry’s birthday. Was actually published months ago, but I decided to post the translation today to celebrate the date. As always, feel free to message me about possible corrections, and please consider supporting the creators by purchasing digital copies of the official releases.

T/N: To the Spanish speakers reading this, I know that the lyrics of the happy birthday song aren’t quite right, but that’s how Tsujimura-sensei translated them. She’s trying, guys. She’s trying. _(:’з」∠)_

Someone from the distant past once said, “You come to know who your real friends are as you grow older”. Shimomura Haruyoshi’s actual feelings were that he didn’t want to know.

In short, he thought, this means one thing: although you meet a relatively large amount of people when you’re young, you only manage to keep in touch with a few of them after you get tossed about by time, by society and by individual people. This was nothing but a general theory, and he wished he could retort with a “that’s none of your business”.

Having left Japan and come to the remote countryside of Spain, he had but a handful of “friends” who he could keep in touch with. His days of being chased by lessons that seemed to keep on rushing and rushing no matter how fast he went were fulfilling, and though the presence of his school mates who played music with him in the same institute was stuffy, if he let himself go even just a little easy, he would be attacked by a sense of loneliness. It felt as if he were alone in the world and was doing things frantically.

“That’s why I’m really grateful to you, Enrique.”

“That aside, it would be great if you could improve your English a bit more.”

“English is hard... I’m already buried up to the neck with Spanish; my head would burst if I tried to study English too. It’d burn up, dude, burn up.”

“Ooh. That would be a problem.”

“Right? So let’s talk in Japanese and Spanish.”

“But if we do that, your English won’t improve. Just as you gave me assignments in Japanese, I gave you assignments in English. It’s okay, you can do it. I believe in you.”

“Enrique, you’re surprisingly spartan.”

“Not at all. Compared to my step-brother, I go as easy as it can get.”

“How many assignments does your step-brother give?”

“Let’s see... firstly, he would make you do a three-minute speech. After that, he would comment and make you do another speech based on it. And then comment again.”

“Oeeh. My mistake. Enrique-sama-sama. I like my curry sweet.”

“I like any kind of curry. Now, please do your best.”

Haruyoshi Shimomura fidgeted in front of the video call screen, and after hesitatingly saying, “All right, all right”, he slapped his cheeks as if he had made up his mind.

“Eh... I’m gonna do last time’s task, ‘short speech’.”

When prompted with a “go ahead” the young man began to speak.

His dream was to become a guitarist. There were many types of guitarists, but his goal was to become a guitarist who could do live concerts in Japan. He also wanted to invite his family and friends to his concerts. He would be happy if they could listen to his music and enjoy themselves.

That was it.

After saying this much, the young man’s words trailed off.

“Eh~, we still have quite a bit of time left, so for the rest, I’m going to do a ‘speech’ now,” saying so, Shimomura Haruyoshi reached his hand outside of the screen and took his guitar. And then, while playing the strings, he began to sing.

Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you I hope this year will be Good for you, Enrique Happy birthday to you

As he finished singing Cumpleaños Feliz, he put away his guitar and clapped his hands.

The blond man on the other side of the screen was bewildered. “Why...?”

“‘Why’, you ask? Today’s your birthday, ain’t it? November 9th.”

“Forgive me if I forgot, but when did I tell you that?”

The young man smiled back at the man who asked him in English as politely as usual, except a little quick. “I asked for a telephone game. When I went to that party, I wanted to ask a lot of stuff since I had gone through the trouble, but we didn’t have much time to talk in the end, right? I wanted to at least ask about your birthday.”

The one that the young man had asked about it to was not the birthday person himself, but instead an old friend of his who had organized the party, Nakata Seigi. After saying, “Wait a bit”, Nakata Seigi went to ask his employer, who prided himself in a refined beauty that resembled Mount Fuji at the break of dawn, and then quickly came back with the information.

“My bad for asking it without telling you. But I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Do you know what my relationship with that person is?”

“Eh? With Nakata’s boss? Nope, nope; you a client of his?” While saying that he should have asked how Richard knew his birthday, Shimomura Haruyoshi gave himself a forehead slap.

As Enrique smiled and said nothing but “is that so”, he once again expressed gratitude for the courteous celebration of his birthday. The Asian young man shook his head with a “no biggie, no biggie”.

“Y’know, I... I’m aware that I’ve walked a thorny road when it comes to building up relationships with other people, and it’s not like I’m gonna be in Spain forever, but even if I go back to Japan, I also don’t think I’m gonna settle there forever. Even if people say that ‘you come to know who your real friends are as you get older’, it’s just a matter of having less friends with time, isn’t it? That’s why,” Shimomura Haruyoshi laughed, “Enrique, thanks a lot. I’m grateful to you. Thanks for being my friend. When you seem to be having fun, I have fun too.”

Enrique made a completely exhausted face, then gave an embarrassed-looking, bashful smile after moment and applauded him. “That was a wonderful speech.”

“Ah, the one just now? It counted as a speech? Lucky me.”

“Haruyoshi... you are... pretty frivolous... sometimes.”

“Sorry, sorry. Wait, Enrique, when did you learn such a difficult word in Japanese?”

“I read it in a book.”

And so, Enrique began speaking in English once again. He talked about not knowing the saying “you come to know who your real friends are as you get older”, but he knew the following words.

Shimomura didn’t understand very well the proverb that he recited torrentially from memory. He was only able to catch the words “friendship”, “wine” and “milk”.

As he titled his head with a “so, in short, what do you mean?”, Enrique gave an elder-like smile and said in Spanish, “‘Friendship is like wine. Raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man’s milk and restorative cordial’ - these are the words of Thomas Jefferson, one of the presidents of the United States.”

“A brewing of friendship, huh.”

“There are no true or fake friends. Friends are just friends. They’re not an universal medicine that can solve anything, be it uncertainties towards the future, homesickness or other such things. But I believe they’re something limitlessly similar to that. Haruyoshi, please cheer up. We are music pals. I’m here with you.”

Shimomura gave a strained smile. He, who had the natural disposition of a youngest child, was fond of the sometimes fastidiously straightforward side of this man named Enrique. If anything, he was the sort of companion that made Shimomura want to follow him.

“Thanks, Enrique. I feel like I’m gonna cry. I’m counting on you from now on too.”

“Same here; please take... care of me.”

“Hehe.”

And so, the two brought the language study to a close and moved on to talking about briefing sessions for new songs like usual. “By the way, about those Yakuza-like lines used for threats that I had to teach you a while ago, why on earth did you want to know something like that, and surely you didn’t actually have to use them, right?” was a question that Shimomura Haruyoshi forgot to ask.

[inheritorofmemories-archive]

Andromaquynh Tomb Raider AU

I keep seeing those Indiana Joe fics and Mummy au post for joe/nicky and they are all very nice and cool but you know which galaxy brain idea no one has explored yet? Tomb raider AU for andy/quynh. Luckily I have nothing but time on my hands so strap in.

I re-watched the first tomb raider the other day (yes, the 2001 movie. Yes it’s 20 years old.) and the Croft universe can actually fit pretty well with Andy and Quynh with some tweaks and changes. I’ll preface this post by saying that raiding tombs and any ancient place really is not ethical At All and stealing artifacts shouldn’t happen in any way and the black market for cultural goods is an enormous spider web with ramification all over the world that is actually incredibly nefast to pretty much everything from sciences to culture to human societies and economy (look it up, it’s way bigger than just a stolen vase sold in a small market) so I’ll refer to this AU as Tomb Raider but know that what I really mean is Andy and Quynh protecting ancient sites and relics from companies and museums and the likes.

Go under the cut to read the rest of my detailed idea of what it would look like.

As much as I like the sci-fi and magic elements of the series, I really think a more grounded feel for this AU would fit them better. So no gods or illuminates or magic relics, sorry. Instead, I see this as them being adventurers who decide to put their skillset to good use and protect sites and places and objects and cultures from capitalism, stealing, overexploitation, appropriation and destruction.

Andy is Lara Croft obviously. She’s the daughter of an archeologist who mysteriously died during an excursion and fueled her will to go in the same field as her parent. Because we like complex characters in this house, I want Andy to start by actually raiding and selling from ancient sites at the beginning of her career because she's young and never learned better before she comes up close to the direct consequences of that particular market and she decides she wants no part of it. It allows for an exploration of real-world issues but it also gives her a deeper backstory and a proactive choice in being the character she is because I’m a sucker for the idea that you are not born good but you chose to be. After that, she'll keep the exploring part of her job but instead of stealing relics she’ll find lost places and give the coordinates to scientists. Daytime she uses the fonds of her family to support initiatives to protect places and restore art and goods to their rightful owners, the rest of the time she goes on cool adventures all over the world to get her hands dirty when legal means cannot get it done.

This is where Quynh comes into the picture. She’s one of Andy’s associates but not really they're in love and married. In the series, Croft has numerous allies that help her out either by giving tips or identifying objects, etc... I can totally see Andy going to Quynh for information about a particular site or object and them sticking together for the rest of the adventure and not leaving each other. Or, even funnier, Quynh has her own little business of going in the field to get things done, they run into each other and then keep running together. I really want Quynh to be a marine biologist and environment activist that also has a background in law because I think she deserves the right to legally bankrupt assholes, as a treat. Andy is exploring an underwater temple when she runs into Quynh doing plant analysis right there, they realize the site and the entire ecosystem is endangered by X industrial complex throwing their waste in the water and they bring it down while flirting and then it takes a year of adventures together and Andy who keeps finding excuses to go seek Quynh's counsel before they get together. And then, power couple who by daytime do activist work and advocate for the protection of sites and the environment and who by night dress in black and go sabotage factories, steal info to leak as whistleblowers and give various object and art back to their owners.

As a side plot that (kinda) follows canon, one of their mission goes wrong and Quynh doesn't get out with them, she's missing and they cannot find any trace of her for months/a few years and they think she's dead until Lykon locates her and they find out she's in prison somewhere. They go break her out and there's angst because Quynh believes she was forgotten by them until they talk it out and also deal with the trauma by going to therapy and bringing down the corporation that had Quynh thrown in jail. Power of love and bombs baby. After that they are much more careful but they keep doing it because they believe in the good of their work.

Also, a thing you don’t see really in the movies but is very present in the game series, about half the story if not two-thirds is spent on resolving enigmas and mysteries, not action. Sure Croft knows how to shoot and is a good fighter but the most important part is her brain and knowledge and associate in various fields (and that she seeks the help of, she's not a mary sue she has limits and has people who assist her). She thinks more than she fights and I really want to see that on Andy and Quynh, them thoroughly researching a subject, planing their op, getting info on people, going to recover intel and tools and associates and also using legal means to get things done and only going to the illegal method in last resort, and even then I want to see stealth mission with no big fight like Sudan in the movie rather than going in with a boom. Basically, show how important their brains are to the overall plot.

I also really want to add Lykon to the mix because their dynamic seems really cool from what we've seen in the movie and also from fanon and he deserves nice things okay. So he’s the tech genius that comes in the team a few years later when they're well established but technology starts to evolve and they're not the best at navigating it but Lykon is, he's the best at electrical systems and robots, internet and all the new tech. He'll help them break into places and do recon op. And then they become this tight-knit family of multiple doctorates and scientists and activists that also have a side business no one knows about (except the world knows there are people protecting the environment and cultural goods from destruction and their nickname in news press totally is The Old Guards okay).

And to end it beautifully, Andy Quynh and Lykon are a badass team for 20 years until Lykon decides to have a family so he cannot keep getting in danger and he retires to teach (happy AU, no death) and Andy and Quynh at 40 and some years old stumbles upon Nile who is starting in the field of archeology and art history and they’ll work together, thus passing the torch down to the newest generation. And you can even have a crossover with Indiana Joe and Nicky doing their things in their corner and they met on one mission, Booker can be a forger they hire from time to time to get false papers, all of them can meet and work together to fight Big Bad Guy Merrick, the possibilities are endless really once you get into the Archeological Actions Cinematic Universe (which is a genre on its own apparently).

Maybe one day I'll get to write this who knows, but I really needed to get the idea out of my head so this post shall be enough for the time being. Feel free to write or draw something from this, there's never too much Andy/Quynh content. And also, add to this post! These are just my thoughts and ideas but I would love to hear more if you have them, consider this an open discussion board about this very specific AU that has been living in my head since late summer.

[soranis-sunshadow]

Someone else’s words on the whole clone slave thing

While browsing reddit, i found this interesting take from a user called :  spiderqueendemon and i felt the need to share it because it was  so good.

Here’s the link to it

“I was feeling exactly that, too. I was even a little squicked out by the shipping at first. But then I remembered that clones...they tend to be programmed. That makes a difference, a big one. And then, in one of the fandom sites, someone pointed out the proximity of the vitrines to the programming creches where Bow accidentally zapped Wrong Hordak. Theoretically, clones are grown to full-size in vitrines and then get all their toxic, creepy Prime brainwashing just, uploaded into them via the neck ports, right? So Wrong Hordak, sweet cinnamon roll that he is, yeah, bro was literally born either that day or yesterday.

If Hordak's defect was found, what, a few cycles of the Velvet Glove in before Prime decided "oh, yuck, a broken one," and sent him to die on the front lines, despite being full-sized and cognitively adult-seeming, to look at things experientially and physically, he could have been essentially as young as days or even weeks old when he got dumped on Etheria. Utterly toxic upbringing, no positive support, no positive role models, no positive guidance, plenty of abuse, self-loathing by the bucketful, just an innocent who's been weaponized and dumped by the plot to see what happens.

Meaning...he's basically just an uncute Catra with no blonde best friend. Boys aren't as forgivable as girls, even if they do like backless dresses and eyeliner with their armor like adorable non-genderconforming Goths. Bats aren't as cute as cats. Stoicism in the face of a physical disability isn't as sympathetic as emotional turmoil and PTSD from serious abuse. There's none of that purring or pining or miscellaneous cuteness that lets Catra get away with what she does, being like 17 and a cute, hot-mess lesbian. Hordak presents as like 30, looks like he shops at the Hot Topic of the Evil Overlord Mall and the only being he seems to have any connection to whatsoever is this thing he apparently made in his spare time and treats as a beloved pet. Everyone else thinks Imp is creepy. Hordak pets him and lets him have snuggles on his lap. Nobody else even talks to Hordak except to give brief reports. Nobody else is close to him. Nobody else would want to be. Perhaps he likes it that way, or perhaps the Prime programming just has him convinced he doesn't deserve anything better. He takes an interest in his people, though, and seems to like it when Imp repeats what his Cadets and Force Captains are up to. He knows what's going on in his organization, Force Captain orientation is well designed, they're an equal opportunity employer...and for all the other princesses didn't think much of Scorpia's kingdom even before the Horde, by her own explanation, Hordak thinks enough of her to include her technical princess status and the fact that she is nonetheless a respected part of the Horde in Force Captain orientation.

Bad as he is to face on the battlefield as an enemy, Hordak is not a bad boss.

For such an intensely lonely person, he really does show signs of liking people. It's really like he doesn't consider himself to deserve them, or as if he fears what will happen when someone else finds out about his 'defect' and rejects him all over again. Just like Prime.

If we can excuse Glimmer for being a teenager who lost her mom, if we can excuse Catra for being a teenager and having the most shitty mother-figure ever, knowing what we learn from Wrong Hordak, I think we have to reconsider exactly how culpable Hordak is. Never excusing his actions, of course, (for one thing, I don't think he'd let us even if Perfuma herself were his defense attorney and argued for that with a bouquet of literal bleeding heart flowers,) but there's definitely a mitigating factor you could drive a spaceship through. Even the mess with Shadow Weaver...of course he wouldn't have known to stop her from treating Adora and Catra the way she did. How was Shadow Weaver any different from Prime? If Prime was right and correct, well...yeah.

Hordak is a terrifying villain at first because he's scary. Then he's scary because he's frightening and yet also competent. Then you find out what's going on and see that he's competent in spite of so damn much, and that makes him scarier. But then you find out what built him...and Hordak was never the problem.

Hordak was basically just a fairly advanced, bioengineered bot doing what bots are told to do by their programming. No wonder Entrapta looked at him and saw potential. Taking a bot someone else built, upgrading them to actual sentience and setting them free to be an actual, autonomous character who can do as they like and choose to be friends with her if they wish? That's...kind of how she rolls, you know? Emily's literally in the scene, being foreshadowing on three legs, one of which sticks. It's all right there.

And given that technological innovation can cut both ways...yeah. Why execute a guy who built V2s to bomb London when you can keep a close eye on him and put him to work on the Apollo space program? So long as Hordak fixes what he broke and sets the kind of example of reconciliation and restorative justice the rest of the clones will need (and we've seen that as far as Reasonable Authority Figures, logistical competence and tactical capability goes, he's got a country mile on everyone else save Netossa,) yeah. With time and supervision, I could see him turning it around in the end.

That is, if Mermista doesn't drown him first for sacking Salineas. Heck with Beast Island, I think the community service should start right there. Sea Hawk and Entrapta will be up to their ears keeping their significant others under control, between Mermista's entirely justified anger and Hordak's dignified but destructive self-loathing, but in the end, I think they'd get things fixed and upgraded. A bot that senses negative emotions and dispenses soft-serve ice cream would be a good innovation for this project.

...good God, if my kid doesn't put on a different show soon...”

[sheliesshattered]

This Isn’t A Ghost Story extras for Chapter 8: The Temple

The eighth and final chapter of This Isn’t A Ghost Story has been posted! You can find it here on AO3 and here on Tumblr. Below the cut are extras for this chapter and a few things for the story over all. I’ve had such fun writing this fic, and hope you’ve all enjoyed reading it and following along with the writing process here too!

Like the previous chapter, chapter 8 is named for the location where it takes place, in this case the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, which is near the Valley of the Kings, Thebes, and modern Luxor, on the west bank of the Nile.

As mentioned in both this chapter and previous chapters, several sections of the temple have stars painted on a blue background on the ceilings:

The ‘towering statue’ Clara comments on is one of a line of statues depicting the pharaoh Hatshepsut as the god Osiris, only a few of which are still standing:

Here’s a short video showing both the exterior and interior of the temple from earlier this year.

I came across the Temple of Hatshepsut fairly early in my writing process, when I was looking into what archaeological dig sites were active in the 1910s and 1920s. This photo from the late 1920s shows the continuing work going on in the area (that’s the Temple at the back left), and served as part of the inspiration for Clara’s memory of finding the Doctor at a dig site in Thebes in 1921:

About a month into writing This Isn’t A Ghost Story, I was grappling with the detail of Clara’s wedding ring, based on the poll results you guys gave me. I had been toying with going with an emerald for her ring, since emeralds have some interesting ties to ancient Egypt, but I also really wanted to go the route of a TARDIS-blue sapphire, and in particular a star sapphire really appealed to me, for its look and its symbolism. The results of that little impromptu poll clearly pointed to a star sapphire -- but also suggested I tie it into the world-building somehow.

Those two elements came together in my head rather abruptly when I remembered the star ceiling at the Temple of Hatshepsut, and after digging into the history of Hatshepsut, I realized it worked almost too well. On 28 June this final epilogue chapter sprang into being in basically the form you see it in here, baring a few edits I’ve made to it in the three months (!!) since then.

As the Doctor says in this chapter, the Temple was designed and overseen by Hatshepsut’s head advisor Senenmut, and many modern Egyptologists do in fact believe that the two may have been lovers during Hatshepsut’s time as pharaoh. While there are many stylized statues of Senenmut (including a few of him with Hatshepsut’s daughter, to whom he served as primary tutor), archaeologists have also found ostracons, chips of limestone that ancient artists used as throw-away sketching surfaces, that depict Senenmut in what he more likely looked like in life:

Please tell me I’m not the only one who sees this resemblance: 

And then there’s Hatshepsut herself, who is depicted in numerous different ways throughout art and statuary, sometimes shown as more typically male in her role as pharaoh, but more often shown in what Egyptologists believe she looked like in life -- large eyes, full cheeks, and a small chin:

I mean:

Once my brain made that connection, I really couldn’t let it go.

I had originally planned to end the story with the sequence in the Cairo museum that eventually became chapter 7, but the connection between Clara and the Doctor and the real historical Hatshepsut and Senenmut -- with the added parallel of Senenmut as tutor and guardian of Hatshepsut’s daughter corresponding to the Doctor watching over Margot in Ghost Story, even -- was just too good to pass up. 

Senenmut’s tomb is as the Doctor described it, with the oldest known astronomical ceiling of any tomb or temple in Egypt:

His tomb is very near to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, and tunnels into the cliffside such that it is extremely close to Hatshepsut’s own tomb, which is entered from the Valley of the Kings, on other side of that mountainous area. This has only further fueled speculation that the two were very much in love -- as pharaoh, Hatshepsut had to have her tomb built in the Valley of the Kings, and as a commoner Senenmut couldn’t be buried there. But they could design their tombs such that they would be as close as possible to each other, even if the entrances are miles apart.

Part of my goal with this final chapter was to give a hint at a larger story that this version of Clara and the Doctor are just a part of. I left the possibility that they had once been Hatshepsut and Senenmut intentionally open-ended, so the reader can make their own decision. They might have been, they might not have been, but in the end what matters is that they are together and in love now. 

Similarly I also wanted to make allusions to both Doctor Who canon -- Senenmut as an ancient astronomer, and Clara’s comments about travelling the stars together in their next life -- as well as the wide variety of fanfiction that exists for this ship. In a way there are thousands of versions of them scattered about out there, finding each other and falling in love over and over again. This Isn’t A Ghost Story doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s part of a much larger multi-layered story that is constantly being told and re-told. And in many ways, that’s what I love best about fanfiction versus any other genre of fiction.

The process of writing this story has been so interesting and rewarding, frustrating at times and huge amounts of fun at other points. With this final chapter posted, This Isn’t A Ghost Story is officially the first multi-chapter, non-series fanfic I have ever actually finished, in more than a decade of posting fanfiction online. This is the first time I’ve made myself wait to start posting a story until it’s nearly complete, and I documented more about my process thoughts here on Tumblr than I have for anything I’ve written previously.

It has been a fantastic nearly four month journey, and so much of that is down to the lovely interactions with those of you reading, both here and over on AO3. From the early interest many of you expressed way back at the beginning of June, to the comments and cheerleading on my #process thoughts posts throughout the summer, to all the many wonderful and humbling comments on the story on AO3, I could not have made this journey without you guys. With what a strange, stressful, and often depressing year 2020 has been, I know that when I look back on this year, this is what I’m going to remember the best, taking this journey along with all of you.

And on that note -- do any of you have any questions about Ghost Story? Anything about the writing process or the world building or really anything at all, I am more than happy to answer in as much detail as you like. Feel free to ask here, or on AO3, or use my Tumblr askbox, now or at any point in the future. ❤️

@tounknowndestinations​ had asked about the timeline I worked out for the entire story, that I’ve been keeping under wraps for fear of spoilers. Originally this started as just a way to keep straight how many years had passed -- ‘do I say eighty-six years here, or eighty-seven??’ etc -- but eventually ballooned from there to cover the entire narrative, and even some of the timeline that is only hinted at in places. This is its final form in my working googledoc:

1875: the Doctor is born

1885: the House is built

February 1899: Clara the 1st is born

13 May 1921: the Doctor and Clara the 1st meet in Cairo, she is 22, he is 46

12 May 1923: the Doctor and Clara the 1st marry in Glasgow, she is 24, he is 48

June 1925: Clara and the Doctor return from Egypt

August 1925: purchase of the House

23 Nov 1927: the Doctor dies, age 52

21 August 1928: Margot is born

23 Nov 1928: Clara the 1st dies, age 29

8 April 1956: Ellie is born. Margot is 27

23 Nov 1986: Clara is born. Ellie is 30

1991: at 5 years old, Clara tells Ellie and Margot about the ghost 

September 2000: Ellie dies of cancer, age 44. Clara is not quite 14

January 2010: Dave Oswald dies of a heart attack, age 56. Clara is 23

October 2014: Margot dies, age 86, leaving her house to Clara, who is nearly 28 

16 Nov 2014: Clara has the nightmare that begins to unlock her past life memories

13 May 2021: Clara and the Doctor return to Cairo to mark 100 years since they met, the Doctor is restored to life

18 May 2021: Clara and the Doctor visit the Temple of Hatshepsut, which leads Clara to wonder if perhaps they have met and fallen in love before

Thank you so much to all of you who have followed along during the writing process, to everyone who has reblogged chapter posts here and commented on AO3, and everyone who has cheered me on during the past four months. You have made writing this such a joy, and I cannot wait to share my next project with you. ❤️

[zutaraangtastic]

imagine your polyship adopting a cat together and everyone fawns over the cat like they’re everyone’s child (bonus if the cat is Zuko's and named Your Honor.)

Coming back to these prompts after a little break (reminder that we are not accepting new prompts; we received these before July 1). Accidentally gave this cat fic a little plot, hope you enjoy! - Mod J

While waiting for the rest of his family and a picnic lunch to arrive in the garden, Zuko notices Izumi crouched in the dirt. Normally, she’d be sitting on the bench, reading in the shade—unlike Kya, who’s laughing wildly and kicking around in the fountain, thriving in the hot Fire Nation sun.

Zuko humors her, lets her splash him and treats her to some slow and easy firebending counter-moves that make her wobbly water whips sizzle into steam. It was refreshing and cooled him off at first, but it has gotten a little tedious to keep drying his robes every five minutes. He’s not dressed for play, just stealing an hour away from the day’s endless succession of formal meetings to spend some time with his lovers and their visiting children.

(His children, in some way—they’ll have to get all that out in the air sooner rather than later, before the oldest two figure it out on their own. His daughter is too smart for her own good, and Bumi is more observant than Katara or Aang realize.)

Izumi still hasn’t moved, so Zuko tells Kya to keep practicing, maintaining a watchful eye on her as he goes to find out what has Izumi’s attention.

He hears it before he sees it: a small, rumbling growl coming from a dark gap beneath the wooden walkway and the ground. Izumi stretches out a tentative hand, but on instinct Zuko pulls her back just as a set of teeth snap near her fingertips. She yelps in surprise, and his heart jumps into his throat with panic that she might be hurt. Her hands are shaky, but otherwise unscathed. Zuko breathes a sigh of relief.

Kya arrives at the site of the commotion, wielding a tenuous rope of water. She lashes it towards the gap and misses, splattering the walkway instead. Izumi jumps to her feet and wards Kya off before she can try again.

“No, don’t hurt it! Avatar Aang says to respect all life!”

“I know that, he’s my dad!”

Zuko spots Katara making her way across the garden to them, a welcome sight amid the chaos. While she sorts out the girls’ argument, he lowers his face close to the ground so he can peer into the hole, holding a small flame for light. A ferret-cat is coiled at the deepest end, its feline eyes gleaming at him before it turns its head away and resumes digging, presumably trying to tunnel its way out. It’s hard to tell, but it looks injured, half of its ear torn, its fur dark and wet in places.

It must have wandered into the garden after a fight. There haven’t been any ferret-cat families here in a long time—after how Azula terrorized them, Zuko wasn’t surprised when they disappeared. It’s hard to believe that that childhood, good and bad, is almost 30 years gone.

He’s spent much of his time as Fire Lord working to restore relationships between the nations. Restoring one with the local fauna shouldn’t be too great a task.

After she finishes explaining the animal crisis to Kya and Katara, Izumi turns to Zuko with imploring eyes. “Can we help it?”

Zuko smiles and squeezes her hands gently in his. “Of course,” he says, and looks to Katara. “Do you know where Aang is? Earthbending might be most useful here.”

Katara nods. “I was thinking the same thing. He just put Tenzin down for a nap, so he should be on his way.”

Just as she says it, Bumi appears around the corner. He sprints down the colonnade parallel to the garden, with his father chasing behind by air scooter. Judging by his casual poise, Aang isn’t really trying to win their race, unlike Bumi, who arrives sweaty and panting. He nearly trips over Kya, earning him a sharp look from Katara, which goes ignored as he turns and waits with his arms crossed. Aang leans forward to speed up in the last stretch only when he realizes he’s being watched.

Dissipating the air and landing lightly on his feet, he ruffles Bumi’s hair and says, “Looks like you’re just too fast for your old man!”

“Dad.” Bumi pulls a face and ducks out of Aang’s grasp. “I told you not to let me win!”

“If you didn’t think you were too old for air scooter rides now, both of us could’ve won.” Aang grins, arms akimbo, and flashes a quick wink at Zuko. “Problem-solving is my middle name, just ask your Uncle Fire Lord. At least he listens to me, most of the time.”

“We’ve got one for you, O Wise One,” Katara says, at the same time as Izumi glues herself to Aang’s pants leg and tugs him to see the ferret-cat, explaining how she found it.

Zuko moves out of the way, gesturing for Bumi to wait his turn. The boy still sulks, but less so when Zuko gets him to talk about his practice training with the palace guards. Getting all fired up about it again, he reenacts some of the kicks and stances he’s learned, and puffs his chest out when Zuko nods approvingly. He barely seems to notice Katara tailing him, attempting to smooth down his hair. Zuko catches her twinkling eyes over Bumi’s head. He fights a smile and tries to stay interested in Bumi’s rambling and cartwheeling.

It’s Kya who sends up the cry when the kitchen servants arrive with lunch. Aang waves for them to start without him, nudging Izumi to go join the others. Katara and Zuko shepherd the kids to their chosen picnic spot under the shade of a maple tree, while Aang sets about fashioning an earthen cage.

Bumi and Kya chow down eagerly, while Izumi only picks at her rice. She nods when Katara encourages her to eat, but she’s distracted, watching Aang. He sits in lotus on the walkway, waiting patiently.

“I thought he was going to earthbend it out,” she says, frowning.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to scare it,” Zuko suggests. “Don’t worry, he knows what he’s doing. If you really want to help, here.” He takes the top off a bowl of steamed meat buns and hands it to Izumi. “Food might coax it out. But you have to eat some of these too, okay? Don’t give them all to the ferret-cat.”

Izumi jumps to her feet, smiling brightly. Then she pauses and looks from the bowl to Zuko. “But Avatar Aang is vegetarian. Will I hurt his feelings?”

Katara exchanges a nearly saccharine look with Zuko, her eyes reflecting the melting of his own heart. “It’s okay, honey,” she says, patting Izumi’s hand. “He won’t mind. Uncle Sokka has practically made him immune to the smell of meat, I promise. And, you can tell him we’ve got vegetable buns for him once he rescues the ferret-cat.”

Izumi nods resolutely and hurries back down the little hill. She lays down a trail of buns leading into the makeshift cage, before sitting next to Aang, painstakingly copying his position. Zuko watches, almost overwhelmed with warmth, as Aang assuages Izumi’s hesitation, gesturing to the food for her to eat. 

Across the picnic blanket from him, Katara wipes Kya’s mouth clean and chides Bumi when he burps, before she releases them, warning that they’ll scare the ferret-cat if they play too loudly. They end up in the fountain where Kya was before, within sight but a safe distance away.

Katara scoots closer to Zuko, laying a hand over his, and he leans on the other as he twines their fingers together, low enough to stay hidden.

“Izumi’s really growing up, isn’t she?” she remarks.

Zuko groans. “Don’t say that, she’s only eight. I want her to stay this way forever.”

Katara laughs lightly. “You’ve done well with her,” she says, and she sounds almost wistful. 

He wonders if she daydreams as often as he does about a life where they could raise Izumi and the rest together full-time, where they could spend the whole day like this with Aang and their children. 

But judging by the sun, edging past its midday zenith, it’s almost time for him to get to his first afternoon meeting. He’s just starting to think he won’t get to see the ferret-cat rescue for himself when a furry white-and-brown head pokes out of the hole. Izumi gasps, and Aang grins at her with a finger to his lips. While the animal busies itself with digging for the meat, he slowly raises the layer of earth it’s on and slides it towards the cage. Zuko and Katara stand to get a better view, and Katara beckons for Bumi and Kya.

The ferret-cat seems to notice the trap at the last second, but Aang earthbends the door into place before it can do anything. Everyone ventures closer once it’s clear that the cage is secure. Katara kneels, drawing water from her satchel and bending it between the gaps in the sides of the box to surround the ferret-cat in a healing blue glow. Izumi speaks soothingly to it while it hisses and squirms.

Smiling, Zuko bends to kiss the top of her head. Then he catches Aang by the shoulder, squeezing gently and resisting the urge to drop a kiss there, too. Aang’s eyes are shining as he looks fondly from the children to Zuko. It’s easy to read the gentle pride in his posture—Zuko knows that for all the world-saving and spirit-negotiating and political crisis-averting Aang’s done, he takes the most satisfaction in the small, everyday kindnesses. He’s always had this soft spot for animals especially.

“I have to go,” Zuko says, “but you know where the physicians’ wing is. I’m sure someone there has some veterinary experience.”

Aang clasps Zuko’s forearm, hand slipping up his sleeve and thumb caressing the way back down to his wrist. “You’ll find us later?”

“Of course.” Zuko reluctantly disentangles his hand and looks over his shoulder to add, “Izumi, be good and listen to Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara, alright?”

He leaves the kids discussing names for their new pet, with Katara jokingly suggesting something to do with honor and Aang interjecting that they might need to wait a while before the ferret-cat is ready to be domesticated. Kya and Izumi get into another argument over it, while Bumi unwisely sticks his fingers in through the gaps.

Zuko pauses one last time at the edge of the garden to look at his family, and knows he’ll spend this meeting daydreaming.