#ACTUALLY now that i think about it the divide has been kinda specific

[shinesurge]

i don't wanna reblog it again but the amount of people showing up on a 15k note post to let me know tumblr IS Dead actually and i MUST only think otherwise because i'm clout chasing by posting about The Most Popular Fandoms is killing me because any joke I make about it isn't as funny as their comments existing on the post itself lmaooo. anyway yeah i'm definitely only seeing engagement because i post about my weirdass webcomic all the time, by all metrics kidd commander is the most popular fandom i've got it so easy compared to real artists

[obbystars]

Drop some random sebastian headcanon u have in mind fics related or not if u ever had one pls drop itudulfyldyostoakakak😇😇

(ALRIGHTY LET’S SEE IF I’VE STILL GOT IT IN ME TO MAKE A HEADCANON POST)

CONTENT WARNING: cannibalism in post-experimentation section

Notes: Sebastian Solace x GN!Reader / General Relationship Headcanons + some general Sebastian headcanons / kid you not pulling this up i realized i did not have any headcanons for sebastian thought out so i spent a good while thinking LSJDJSNX / i hope you guys know this is written by someone who has not dated before (has no idea what they’re doing) / wishing this could’ve been longer

Credits: dividers by @cafekitsune

To be honest, when it comes to entering a relationship with Sebastian, I can never see it happening when you meet during the events of the game. Like, obviously he only sees all of expendables as research collectors (and possibly food) and that’s pretty much it. He does not give two shits about us.

If you knew him before he got arrested, or even knew him while he was a prisoner under Urbanshade (specifically another prisoner), then yes I can see it happening. Of course, if you knew him beforehand and became an expendable for whatever reason after, then yes I can also see it. It’s because you knew who he was before he became what he is now, y’know?

Anywayy…

He’s a teasing type of partner. Often making sarcastic comments whenever he sees the opportunity to, pushing some of your buttons just for the fun of it, all that stuff. He can tone it down if you ask though, or if he sees it’s actually bothering you.

Sebastian does like cuddling but he is almost never the one to initiate it. It’s not that he’s uncomfortable (well he kinda is sometimes), he’s also not sure if you’re comfortable with it unless you voice it to him. Will that change anything? Not really, you’ll still need to initiate most of the time.

It’s probably obvious now that I see a relationship with Sebastian will require quite a bit of communication, but there’s nothing wrong with that. As long as you can respect his boundaries whenever he voices it, there won’t be any problems. Be sure to voice yours too, he doesn’t want to overstep any of yours either.

He’s a listener. Ramble about the most random stuff to him and he’d unintentionally take in the information. Sometimes you just going on and on about stuff makes it easier to work on his homework even if what you’re rambling about is related to your own work. If random factoids aren’t exactly what he’s looking for, playing music also helps. You can take turns playing music. He rambles too but not all the time. Usually it’s something relating to his engineering class.

Sebastian can cook up something really good whenever he feels like it. It’s not super fancy but he can recreate some of his mom’s recipes. When it’s not that, it’s just a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something microwaved. It really depends on the mood he’s in. If you cook, try making something he hasn’t had, like a dish from your country. He’s always willing to try.

Quality time type of partner. You don’t really need to be doing anything, he’s happy just being in the same room as you.

You two are watching YouTube videos on his laptop in bed late at night until you both fall asleep. One of you sometimes wakes up to put the laptop away, while other times it was almost kicked off the bed. Thankfully it hasn’t happened yet.

Game date nights. Whether it’s PvP or Co-op, you’re both playing. Local or online, doesn’t matter. As long as it’s multiplayer. Sebastian does strikes me as a rogue-like, souls, shooter type of gamer though. He probably picked up Sims at some point and got way too into making houses rather than actually making Sims. Sometimes he playa horror but it scares the shit out of him most of the time.

He sometimes plays his guitar for you, even asking if you have any requests. If you ask nicely enough, he’d help you learn how to play if you don’t already. If you actually end up getting your own, he’d be so down to play with you.

Meeting with his family is pretty much a must (his mom wants to meet you). His big sister embarrasses him by telling you just how much he “gushes” about you. In reality, he talks about you to them whenever they ask and if you two are going out just so they know and to not call or text him or anything until then. Still, his family likes you and that’s all he wants.

Post-Experimentation

Remember how I said Sebastian isn’t exactly uncomfortable with touch? Yeah, now he is. He has a bubble around him and he does not like it when someone gets too close whether it was intentional or not. His reaction to it can vary from shoving them away to a more violent reaction that may lead to a serious injury or even death.

Upon finding a corpse and being so terribly hungry, he had to try and force himself to eat it. The idea of eating another person made him want to spit it all out, to regurgitate all of it out. Flesh, bones, intestines, lungs, liver, heart… “Keep it in your stomach. You won’t find much food after this.” Eventually, he was able to stomach it. Eventually, it became natural.

If you’ve known him before all of this and he meets up with you while the lockdown is still happening, yeah he has questions cause what the hell. He wants to keep you safe, but if you stay around too long, Urbanshade might get suspicious that they lost an expendable’s signal. It’s already bad enough that they want him dead, and the scrambler can be a dead giveaway if their operatives suddenly can’t contact HQ. Just don’t die while you’re out there, please. It’d also be best if they don’t find out about your much deeper connection with him, so there’s another reason why it’d be difficult to stay in touch with each other in the facility.

He’d try to get in touch with Painter just to let him know about you. Lead the Good People away, shoot down a wall dweller that you haven’t noticed yet, all that stuff. He can’t do much about the bull shark, squiddles, and the anglers but he can try to do something about Pandemonium. Unlike the anglers, it’s not a cloud of smoke and is really just rotting flesh.

Physical touch with him in this case is still complicated. He’s very uncomfortable with it and it may take a while for him to warm up to your touch again. He’s not gonna hit you or anything, god no. If you were anyone else, one he doesn’t know, absolutely. He’ll try to express that. The topic itself is sensitive and he never likes bringing it up.

Assuming Mr. Lopee has taken an interest in you and allows you to keep coming back after every death, Sebastian is more willing to help you. Will he give you a discount though? No, especially not if there are other expendables with you. (he will slip in a battery or two though) It’s also a little less worry for him since death isn’t the end for you, but he wonders just how long it’ll take for Urbanshade to realize one of their prisoners is capable of coming back to life. You’re not supposed to have access to the Ferryman Tokens. The expendable protocol was specifically made so that Urbanshade didn’t have to use so much of them.

If you happen to come across something rare or something he usually sells at a high price, he’d appreciate it if you allowed him to take it off your hands and sell it to one of the other EXR-Ps. More intel from them means a higher chance of escaping (hopefully). You two will likely be stuck here for a while as long as no one else takes the crystal before then.

yeah uh

that’s all i got 🧍

[spaceagebachelormann]

This can probably be with any version of Shaggy so do what you will 😎

Shaggy x gn!reader who has crow brain and gives Shaggy little rocks/shiny things because they like him but are too shy to say it straight out.

Cue jealous Fred: “…Why don’t I get any cool rocks :(…”

shaggy rogers with a reader who brings him things.

-> ft. shaggy rogers.

-> warnings. none!

-> mars thoughts. i kinda just merged all the shaggys together so it’s not a specific version!! been waiting for a request for him for forever now <3 divider by @/benkeibear

-> links. m.list || scooby doo m.list || nav.

okay so he’s not the brightest

he doesn’t realize you’re giving him the stuff as a way to show him you like him

even though daph and velma have hinted it like several times

he’s a little dumb <3

when you give him a rock or something he’s like “uh. thanks!”

and he puts everything you give him on a shelf in his room! <3

lets say daphne is coming to your aid on trying to show him that you like him so like she comes to his house and sees the shelf and her heart is racing cause of how cute that is and she asks him “why do you think they give you these?” and he’s like “idk but i love it”

she was so close to shaking him and screaming

anyways moving on

after awhile he starts bringing you things back!! like pennies, rocks, shiny stuff he found on the floor

and it melts your heart

and it starts to become a little trade you guys do everyday

like you’ll be sitting in the back of the mystery machine together and you’ll shyly hand him a butterfly pin

and he’ll hand you something like. idk a quarter?

and daphne turns around in the middle of y’all doing it

and she’s like “awww! you give eachother stuff! that’s so cute!”

she’s your guys #1 supporter

anyways this is where fred gets jealous

he starts pouting in the front seat like “they don’t give me any cool rocks or anything :(”

daphne lovingly hits him and whispers “THEY DONT HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU FRED.”

and just like that it all clicks in fred’s head and he starts helping daphne get you guys together

i feel like after a little while shaggy starts to actually realize that you’re only giving him stuff and not anyone else

and he tells scooby about it first

and cause scoobys also kinda oblivious to everything he’s like “maybe they just appreciate you as a friend”

and shag agrees but still goes to daph and velma about it cause he needs another opinion

he comes to them like “why do you think y/n gives me all kinds of shiny stuff?”

velma hints it to him at first

he doesn’t get it

so daphne gently lets him know you like him (she full on yells “OH MY GOD THEY LIKE YOU!!”)

and everything in his head just clicks and he has a not silent epiphany

he’s so happy!!

the next day he like awkwardly gives you a rock that has something unreadable on it

so later that day you go to fred who enlightens you that it says he also likes you back cause he’s the only person who can read shaggys handwriting

and then uou go find him

and you both start awkwardly rambling and it’s so cute omg

someon manages to cut though that yes, they like you/him, and it’s like a moment of understanding

and y’all become a couple <3

amd you continue bringing eachother random shit because it’s fun

and daphne and velma and fred are all your biggest fans

might come back to this later idfk

hope u liked it!! <3

scooby doo taglist: @presidentroarie

[powerpuffobsession]

It's been a while since that interview where Vivziepop said some vague things about killing off characters and wishing she spend more time with Adam. Instead of saying directly - "Adam will come back", or "Adam won't come back". There is no knowing what to make of it until we see the actual future seasons. Vivzie sounds like she's avoiding spoilers

And I'm kinda tired of people already jumping to negative conclusions and shoving them down the throats of anyone who hopes for Adam returning, all the while calling Adam irredeemable and saying he has no purpose in the plot anymore

Here are my thoughts about those points:

The fact that the fandom still goes on with "Adam is an irredeemable monster because he genocided defenseless sinners and enjoyed it", shows how much hazbin howl sucks at not sugarcoating it's setting and Charlie's radical ideas of forcing criminals into heaven

Like... boo hooo, poor little defenseless rapists, pedos, murderers, nazis, bullies, drug dealers, violent drug addicts, scammers, and other people anyone would normally be happy to see get hurt or die because they have hurt other people? Let me play the wold's smallest violin in their honor

Adam did the right thing and he had the right to enjpy murdering sinners, fight me about it

His actual sin is that he wasn't picky enough about who he was going after and that he attacked Charlie who is innocent

But you know what? We are literally being shown that decent people in hell are VERY few and rare. The majority is just a crowd of psychopaths who actively tell Charlie to f off with redemption

And if you spend your afterlife living in heaven, of course you are going to think that all of hell's population is dangerous

However, Adam has a potential to get redeemed if he interacts with Charlie in a more grounded way and learns that she's not dangerous, despite being a daughter of two people who stabbed him in the back. Sins of parents are not a child's sins, and Charlie's life has a big worth. As well as lifes of more decent sinners who make an effort, like Angel, Vaggie, Husk and sir Pentious

Through Adam other characters can be developed. There are a lot of them who have connections to Adam - Charlie, Lucifer, Lilith, Eve, Emily, Sera, etc... Showing flashbacks just won't be the same as having Adam himself in the plot

And do not get me started on how bringing Adam back is not logical and ruins the cartoon's quality. I've got a lot of not pretty things to say about hazbin hotel's "logic"... There are already a bunch of plot holes and lazily slapped on character changes. Finding a way for Adam to return won't be hard

Have you seen the way Stolitz and Sir Pentious, for example, ended up, compared to what they were claimed to be at the start of the series? Or the way fan theory about Vaggie being an exterminator suddenly got added into canon last minute after she had been a moth sinner for so many years and lot of people got used to it? I won't be surprised if Vivziepop will actually retcon the lore or come up with something to resurrect Adam

Maybe, "if a soul of a redeemed sinner gets into heaven, which is a rare occasion and didn't happen before the events of hazbin hotel, - the dividing system finds a sinful angel soul to take their place in hell". There you go. The lore about angelic blade murdering for good still stands, but now there is a loophole for Adam specifically to be lucky enough to survive

[hollowed-theory-hall]

what’s your opinion on draco x hermione as a couple? sorry if you’ve answered this before but i haven’t been able to find an answer 🤔

Hi, and no I don't believe I have spoken about Dramione before.

As with all shipping things, ship whatever you want these are just my opinion.

With that out of the way, I honestly, I have a little soft spot for Dramione. Now, do I think it makes sense in canon, not really, but I don't mind them as a side pairing. Like, you won't find me reading/writing fics specifically for Dramione, but I'm fine when they are there.

You see, Dramione hits a very particular spot for me. That spot is that I like both characters about the same amount (which is I think they're written alright for what they are, but I find them kinda annoying in the books). That places them as equals inside my head and makes shipping them with each other easier than shipping them with characters I like more than them. This is just how shipping works for me sometimes.

As for the character personalities themselves, I think Draco and Hermione have a surprising lot in common with each other.

Draco is implied to be a top student (he's in Potions NEWT class, for example), like Hermione, meaning he's also very academically inclined. But neither of them is some brilliant strategist and while they can come up with creative solutions, they don't think very far ahead with these solutions. They don't necessarily complete each other intellectually, but I think they're about equal to each other, I think. Both are brave when the situation calls for it. Hermione hangs out with Harry and Ron, who never really had money growing up, but her family goes on ski trips. She's the only daughter of two dentists. You just know she lives well and is used to comforts at home.

Both, while having very loving parents, feel isolated from their peers growing up. You can tell Hermione was likely bullied in her muggle primary school and while Draco hangs out with Crabbe and Goyle, he isn't actually close to any of them. Both of them also share the experience of loving their parents, and yet having a great divide between them and their parents. Hermione's parents love her, but they could never connect to the wizarding world fully. Lucius and Narcissa love Draco, but once Voldemort returns, I think Draco feels more and more distant from his parents because he isn't actually a blood purist. We see that when he's truly alone and seeking comfort and a friend in year 6 he talks to Moaning Myrtle, who is a muggleborn.

I think, like Myrtle, Hermione could appreciate that Draco is sensitive. This is something I feel might get on Harry's nerves on occasion considering how he hates Cho being all weepy, but I think Hermione would find it sweet.

I do like that Hermione is the more ruthless one between the two. Like, she is the more willing of the two of them to come up with some crazy idea that is most difficult illegal (like trapping Rita in a jar or setting Snape's robes on fire). Like Draco would be horrified at the thought of breaking into the ministry, Hermione would consider it a challenge. This dynamic could be really fun.

It's a dynamic that doesn't exist with Drarry or Dron in the same way since Harry and Ron, while both are more ruthless than Draco and also break into the ministry do so out of necessity and usually would try to avoid danger. Hermione, on the other hand, is more willing to go in headfirst into crazy dangerous shit like the Gryffindor she is. I think Hermione is less hinged than Ron, and Harry is what I'm saying, and it's one of my favorite aspects of her character. And while Hermione can be ruthless, and even violent, she's also weird about violence. She has a certain line she is terrified of crossing; that line is around killing and Unforgivable curses. I think terrified is the right word because I think she knows she could cross it and it scares her. We see Harry cast Unforgivables, and while I think Hermione could cast them if she was pushed to it, it wouldn't be something she tried on her own accord. I also think she'd be more horrified with herself for succeeding than Harry is. Draco is similar in that he can cast Unforgivables when pushed to, but he's disgusted with himself over it and feels sick. What I'm saying is that Hermione is softer in that respect (but also wackier in her plans), which I think would be very interesting when paired with Draco.

Both of them could be incredibly stubborn, which I think they'd both enjoy. Both Hermione and Draco are very verbal characters, they love talking and blabbering on and that would help them connect to each other because they would just start talking about something, and just, never really stop talking because both of them are like that. I think Draco would also enjoy bantering and arguing as a playful pastime the way Hermione and Ron do, which is also a point in Dramione's favor.

Hermione is less forgiving than Harry is, though, but she is capable of forgiving Draco, I don't think it's beyond her. Yes, slurs and all, I think it's in character for her to forgive him under the right circumstances.

So, like, while they're not a pairing I read all that much, they do compel me a bit. My main problem with Dramione is that often when they're paired up, both of them are too out of character for my liking.

[hypnoneghoul]

when you listen to the rhrn album can you please give your thoughts about like the mixing? Live albums typically don’t always have the greatest mixing but this one like confuses me

alright anon, I'm using your ask to make my official HYP TALKS RHRN SOUNDTRACK post

tag list: @devilsandstarlight @jazz-bazz @skele-bunny @azureseacloud @lilhoechlinsbae @delusionalbitchinthehouse @fallen-iii-ghost

A disclaimer, any negative-leaning take is not hate or "I would've done a better job" (because I would not), it's only my opinion that I was asked for multiple times due to what I do here on tumblr

Okay so I can divide the tracks in two categories when it comes to mixing and all that stuff:

1. Awesome mixing – more depth, better instrumental and vocal balance – Spillways – Cirice – Call Me Little Sunshine – Twenties – Marry On A Cross – Kiss The Go-Goat – Dance Macabre – Square Hammer

2. Less fortunate mixing – some flatness and chunkiness, less balance – Kaisarion – Rats – Faith – Absolution – Watcher In The Sky – Rats – Miasma – Respite On The Spitalfields

I’m not putting If You Have Ghosts into any of these categories because it’s a different world entirely. It’s actually just brilliant, but it’s not as hard to find balance with so few and such instruments as with the other songs on the album. I think Copia is a little too sharp for this vibe and I'm pretty sure they tried to help with reverb. It was a nice touch, but I think it could’ve been more smoothed out. But also I kinda hear Terzo in the second half of it, not Copia, SORRY. The vocal ghoulette could’ve been put either fully on the middle or all stretched all around to surround Copia and the instrumental and fill the space, if that makes sense

In general the mixing is strange in some places, even in the better made songs, it’s just like they lose the plot sometimes. It's possible (and very likely) that it was prepared with vinyls or CDs in mind, not headphones, but that doesn't explain why sometimes it's better and sometimes worse. Some general stuff about mixing I picked out:

1. Dew isn't really on the right, he's more to the middle than Aeon who's totally to the left. Dew could be louder actually in some places, Aeon could be stretched more to the middle 2. Bass has a great definition, we can finally hear how nice some fillers are and how good Rain actually is 3. The girls got some very much deserved highlights, but they did Swiss dirty. I’m outraged for my bbg, but not only because I love him. It would be a genuinely better technical decision if he was louder and/or placed somewhere else. The entire thing is very off balance. It's lead guitar and strong female vocals on the right, and rhythm and basically nothing (Swiss) on the left. It just doesn't make any sense!!!

Now some stuff about specific songs:

1. Rats – So dirty, the mixing failed a little here, the audience just sounds like noise instead of actual good background – DEW DID A PINCH HARMONIC (I manifested it) – Cirrus!!! It’s hard to hear her most of the time and she rocks here – Aeon and Dew had a very good harmony, they work so good together wtf (sorry Aether but they win here)

2. Faith – Aurora and Cumulus completely slay – I adore Dewdrop’s little addition to the 1st solo – But he missed a note in the 2nd solo heh

3. Spillways – FINALLY Swiss in Spillways – It’s the best mixed song in general and I’m not only saying that because of Swiss (who I love), all the instruments and voices are balanced so much better and so much more fluid – There’s less tone definition on bass though

4. Cirice – Dew does some fancy lil harmonic tricks in Cirice, I LIKE – It’s also very well balanced when it comes to instrument, SWISS IS AUDIBLE – Something went WRONG with Cirrus’ synth here, like omfg they did my girl dirty

5. Absolution – I talked about Absolution extensively here

6. Watcher In The Sky – Love the synth on it, why not do that setup for Cirice pls – But also Swiss is always the loudest at the beginning, why not here!? – It’s on the worse list, but it’s not horrible, the backing synths fill it nicely so it’s not as chunky as Rats for example – I think someone forgor Dew is lead, not Aeon, but at least we can appreciate the bug’s skill some more like that – Mounty slamming those bitches at the end, go baby!

7. Twenties – Very glad they highlighted the drums and the bass so much in this one, it’s what Twenties is FOR – Both Dew and Aeon’s palm muting game is so yummy here – Oh, Swiss how I love you – But what are they doing with the solo mixing, why is the bitch moving at the beginning? It’s like someone was late to press some buttons (It might have been on purpose but trying to do some fancy effects doesn’t always work)

8. Miasma – Miasma lands somewhere between the worse and better mixing category but that might be the lack of vocals which takes away some of the needed balance, but it is rather chunky – I don’t like the synths shoved totally into my left ear but that’s just me, not an actual flaw – But then what are they doing at c. 3 minutes??? Again, more fancy doesn’t always mean better and Miasma is fancy and full enough as it is – I think the mixing in Miasma changes from worse to better along the way because the ending is so much better and smoother, around when the sax comes in so they might’ve adjusted some things just to fit it – OMG RAINY GO FANCY AT THE END (the tiniest solo ever <3)

9. Mary On A Cross – Cumulus oh my fuckckk – The vocals before the chorus is such a good touch, nice ascend into the change in melody, love it – Same with Aurora’s solo part the next time, it’s so good that they put her on the middle for that, it’s perfect – The girls do slay the end but Swiss could balance it nicely if only he were just a tiny bit loudeeeeer – And again what are wed doing with these weirdly sustained layered synths??? That’s just slightly unnecessary

10. Respite On The Spitalfields – Swiss should be louder here, too – Respite is in the slightly worse category because this one sounds very flat to me for most part, it’s like only the drums and bass give any depth (or rather force some depth into it) – Once again Aeon’s palm muting is top tier – Girls slaying as usual – I’m not sure why the strings are just forcefully shoved behind Dew but okay… – The mixing here is a crime!!! It’s so flat and this is a song that deserves to be all around and fully immerse you. I’m actually sad about that one – And where are the solo vocal parts???

11. Kiss The Go-Goat – Now why is KTGG deeper and more melodic than Respite??? We’ll never know ig, but yeah, it’s on the better category – Did Nihil fucking mix this album or what??? – Cirrus’ solo in KTGG should be as loud as Dew’s, period

12. Dance Macabre – Dance Macabre is on the better category too, you can even hear Swiss – Glorious bass here

13. Square Hammer – Now Squammer, very good mixing for the finish but I still think that the girls should be more to the middle and wider, especially in backing vocal heavy tracks like this one – YES Dew bestie go ham on it at the end, slay, make your tech angry – OHHHH AEON’S THING UGHGFHNGHGHHG (he was probably wobbling his pickup switch with one of them turned off so it was basically sound on–off–on–off)

Also not really from the technical side but they cut out some strong tracks and it's honestly a big shame :(

Some gear stuff nobody will hear but me (/hj): 1. Rain definitely still has steel strings ‘cause COME ON, the TONE!!! 2. Aeon’s palm muting skills rock 3. The difference between Aeon’s ceramic humbuckers on the Fantomen and Dewdrop’s Hot Rail single coils is on the Strat so prominent AHHH 4. Aeon missed on the CMLS solo a little but Dew covered him up hjfgsdh 5. Slightly funny addition, but I love that Aurora’s voice and Dewdrop’s guitar can be mistaken for one another sometimes because of the tone and pitch lmfao

And that's it heh I'll gladly elaborate on some aspects or answer any questions that might come up so you know, my askbox and dms are open :3

[might-be-tiny-gt]

Last year I wrote a story about a streamer who shrinks based on chat donations. I meant it as a one shot, but guys…. GUYSSSSS.

I think about this story ‘s universe a lot. I have lore notes just collecting dust and I need to share it or I might go absolutely mad XD Made these visuals charts to get the basics across but if you’re interested in my lore and semantic ramblings, feel free to read below the cut.

Consider this my unofficial pitch bible for Down Played.

General premise: Monica Diaz is Twitch streamer with steadily growing fan base. Her tag is MiniMushroom and her aesthetic is cottage core. She loves all things magical and tiny, especially toadstool mushrooms, that’s the image most associated with her “brand.” She’s approached by a mysterious benefactor who has developed technology specifically for Monica to test and utilize for her streams. It’s called Byte-Syzed Tech and it connects to a user’s twitch stream and based on the user’s preferences, gives the audience the ability to change the user’s height. The one shot I wrote takes place during Monica’s first live use of Byte-Syzed tech on stream. If I were to develop this into a full story I’d probably go back a bit and start around when Monica is first approached about using Byte-Syzed tech then continue to follow Monica adjusting to using Byte-Syzed more often. How she deals with the size change on camera, off camera, how her social and personal life are affected, all that good stuff. I think it would like a slice of life feel good kinda story.

Characters:

- Monica - Main character and primary user of Byte-Syzed tech. Surprisingly enough, she’s actually a law school grad who probably would have put her degree to use if she didn’t accidentally gain a massive following on twitch. Funny how life works out. She stands at 6’4 and always was fascinated with the idea of being small (Basically, she’s a g/t nerd who doesn’t know what g/t is) so being gifted Byte-Syzed and being able to use it on stream is kinda a dream come true.

- Kim - Monica’s girlfriend, roommate, and stream moderator. Kim and Monica were high school sweethearts but drifted apart in college due to personal matters in Kim’s life including having to drop out of college. Kim and Monica rekindled their relationship a few years later and Kim cites Monica and her encouragement as a big reason why she’s been able to get her life back together. She’s currently back in college working on getting her degree in Mathematics.

- The Twitch Team- Moni hosts solo streams but also very often collabs with three of her online friends. Ariel (@Lifeisthebubbles), a Vtuber who is the only one Moni has met in person. Corey (@McDonuts) an NB asmrist on youtube who started streaming games for fun. And Phin (@UrguyPhin) Corey's bf and the competitive gamer of the four. All three of them were streaming with Monica when she first used Byte-Syzed and have since gotten used to pausing their games so an ever shrinking Monica can adjust her set up.

- The Benefactors- Keeping their (Plural, there are two of them) exact identity to myself for the time being, but basically they’re mad scientists with the best intentions. Their antics have garnered attention across the internet as they have created and gifted inventions to up and coming online creators that seem to defy all laws of physics. Anti Gravity chambers, a literal money tree, a mask the morphs the wearer’s face, and now the Byte-Syzed size changing tech. Despite their inventions going viral, their identities have remained hidden. So what is their deal? They’re just big fans of these creators and for lack of drawing skills have gifted them weird inventions instead. Nerds… Due to the nature of Byte-Syzed and the possible effects it can have on the human body, Monica and Kim remain in close contact with them.

How Byte-Syzed Works in Universe: This I wrote tons of notes about when I first thought of the idea. Byte-Syzed can be divided into three key components; The program, the arm band monitor, and the sync suit.

The Program is installed on the user’s computer and connects directly to the arm band monitor and sync suit. The program has user friendly set up that allows the user to input the direction of height change (Shrink or Grow), The minimum or maximum height change, How height change occurs (By views, chat commands, donations, etc.), and rate of height change (How much height is gained or lost with each instance of viewer interaction.) EX: If height is based on donations, the user can set it up so they lose 1 inch for every 10 dollars donated. They can set the minimum height to 6 inches, so once they’ve received enough donations that they have shrunk down to 6 inches, Byte-Syzed will hold at that height. More donations may come in after, but the height will remain at 6 inches for the duration of the stream.)

The Arm Band Monitor, is the device the physically changes the user’s height after connecting to the Byte-Syzed Program. It also monitors and display’s the user’s current height and vitals. All data collected from the arm band will then be saved and can be referenced later if the band is connected to the computer. The arm band must be kept on at all times during active use and active reset of Byte-Syzed. Active use is the time in which Byte-Syzed is being used in a stream and the user’s height is actively changing. Active reset refers to time after the stream has ended and the user is either set at their new current height or in the process of returning to their normal height. After a stream has ended the user will remain at their changed height until they press the reset button on the monitor. Once the reset button is active, the user will return to their normal height at 1.5 times the amount of time it took to change to their current changed height. EX: A user has finished a stream that was 4 hours. They hit the reset button which will return them to normal over the course of 6 hours. (4x1.5=6) This only applies for time Byte-Syzed was in use, not how long a size change occurred. EX: If the user’s stream was 4 hours, but they reached their minimum height in 3 hours, the reset function will account for the 4 hours the stream lasted. This is a safety procedure to reduce stress on the user’s body. Note: If the reset button is not pressed, the user will remain at their changed height for a period of 12 hours. After 12 hours, the reset function will kick in automatically.

The Synchronized Suit or Sync Suit is directly connected to the Byte-Syzed program and will grow and shrink with the user at the same rate as the user. Normal clothing can be worn above it but they will not change size with the user, only the sync suit. The sync suit Monica received came with the suit, shoes, and a headset with a built in microphone to keep audio input even over the course of her size changing. More sync suits are in the process of being designed and produced, with the goal of making sync suits that resemble everyday clothing like t shirts or skirts.

Fun Story Ideas:

- Origin story. How Monica met the benefactors and was gifted Byte-Syzed, her and Kim’s gripes about using it, actually going through with it and the pros and cons she noticed, the end of her first size changing stream and dealing with being tiny in her own room and her girlfriend’s hands. Etc etc

- Monica finished a late night stream using byte Syzed and forgets to press reset when she goes to sleep so instead of growing back over the course of the night she wakes up at her tiny size. After realizing her mistake she begins the growth process but now has to do it while attempting to do her regular day time activities.

- Monica is approached by a doll company to collaborate on a new doll based on her, only issue, their studio is several hours away and they want her to model at both her full height and at the height of the dolls. After some consideration Monica and Kim decide to take a road trip to the studio and use Byte Syzed at the studio under Kim’s careful supervision. What could go wrong?

- Months have passed and Kim and Monica have grown well adjusted to the major size difference between them after Monica finishes a byte syze stream, however curiosity has gotten the best of her and Kim wonders what it would be like to be the tiny one for a change.

If you have read this far, you have my eternal gratitude. Thanks for reading this far, I really hope you liked it XD Maybe if time and motivation allows I can flesh the story out.

[spork-supremacy]

saw a post about how cliquey the fandom can be, can’t find it for the life of me to reblog but thought I’d share some observations I’ve had over the years of basically being a ghost on here. Granted this is less on behaviour and more on how we can section ourselves naturally.

I find that the bigger the fandom the easier it is for it to get divided into little subsections, especially if it has a lot of content in season variation, characters, and location. Ninjago is a very big prime example of this with around 17 seasons, 2 specials and the pilots, many with themes attached to them. there’s a lot that you could cling onto and make it your one big focus on the show.

It also has a giant cast especially when you include roles that are either small or season specific, once I just tried to see how many I could name alone from memory and I got a little over sixty and I’m sure there’s more. When it comes to location we don’t have too much in mainland Ninjago that begs to be further explored considering most people we actually take notice in live in the main city. But add in the 15 other realms and we have a whole host of interesting locations to explore.

To circle back to characters we also have a lot in our main cast, with a standard of six ninja, now three students, and if you still want to count Pixal, Misako and Wu because you are in denial, and Garmadon’s two season stint in the title sequence, we have 13 who’s been included in the main cast at some point , creating multiple dynamics we can work with and latch onto.for me personally I have always gravitated to the Jay focused side of the fandom because that was where I was most comfortable, looking over character studies, art, headcanons, general Jaya stuff because I have a favourite ship dammit, and skybound analysis because despite how strange of a season it was it was also somehow my comfort season, my favourite one I dare say. I admit it was mainly because I didn’t really think about themes and subtext back in the day and just always loved a romance heavy season of anything. I was simple sue me.

But now I love it because as much as I don’t wish to admit it I can see a lot of myself in early seasons Jay, not necessarily a good thing but watching him grow out of specific negative behaviours helped me to do so myself. With the season itself it’s just fun to pick it apart and notice what exactly was so off to me when I was younger.

And something like this can apply to everyone in the fandom, which is why they stick to their own corners, because that’s where they’re most comfortable. They may stick to a character like Lloyd because he has a lot of angst attached to him to play around with, or someone like dare that because he’s a completely comedic character and prime for crack scenarios, or Nya because of her journey of self discovery. There are definitely still people obsessing over SOG or TOE, or possession. And what I do see is people happy to share their thoughts on their own “fixation season” as I call it.

This is at least how I sort pretty much all media in my own brain and I think it’s kinda neat how the internet can work like it. With a whole branching system that if you take certain doors can have you starting off in the surface entirety of the show to looking over really obscure details like how much the word wish is used every season (great post if you can find it).

this definitely became way more in depth than expected but this is what I have noticed. I very much like how much the internet aligns with my thinking patterns and the imaginatory map of my brain.

Now I just need to figure out if this is neurotypical behaviour .

[quendiviner]

what's the universe of cynosure like?? the involved corporations etc, what do they do / what are they famous for, what's the level of technology like, how would you describe the universe's aesthetics? 👀

OUGHHH THANK U FOR ASKING HEHE <3

Cynosure happens in late 2200's and obviously the world has. well. changed a lot! But not that much and they even still have like, actual phones and some even still use wire headphones.

I think I said something about it being a soft scifi story with cyberpunk-ish vibes which kinda explains it? Well. The technology isn't that much different than ours due to some big problems Earth had to deal with first before getting back to making consumers suffer fulfilling individuals' needs. They have more cleaner energy now, and space travel, and stuff like that, yay! But the state of society has also started to go in a not-that-good direction, causing inequality to rise again little by little, while the power struggles have also caused the corporations to gain more control over what's happening in society and politics, which also makes them (maybe a bit too violent) rivals.

This turned out very...um...long. So I divided it into parts that are

Technology (+ side tracking to societal reasons)

What to expect if you were to live there

State of society in late 2200's

State of society in late 2200's but this time it's about corporations

Happy reading 🤍

Technology

Since I mentioned phones and all, I should probably start with technology JFBNGBFBFJFN UM. It has developed a lot, but the technical development (especially during mid 2000's - late 2100's period) have largely been concentrating on things that are more community/society related than on individual consumer items like phones and shit like that. One of the biggest breakthroughs was finding a specific mineral in space that functions like an extremely big solar panel and has thus advanced the clean energy sector. No one wants another climate catastrophe hahaha. ough.

The phone network is now everywhere, so there won't be a "oh no there's no signal in these woods" moments. or will there. and why is it so necessary anyway, hm 🤨 Public transport is thriving but so are the cars and bikes for some reason. Bikes and electric scooters have obligatory sound they make so people will get less driven over by them and vehicles will be less prone to not notice them and drive over them. No flying cars for consumers but ppl like paramedics and firefighters have helicopter-car combos that are 1) quick and 2) capable of carrying tons of stuff.

Another thing they've learned is quick space travel. Earth has many colonies in different parts of space, though some are actually ex-colonies (like Mars). This doesn't really show back on Earth in any way other than "hey my friend's friend's uncle's cousin's etc moved to x planet". Many people seem to want to move away bc there's this idea on Earth that the colonies are doing much better (they're not in most cases). People moving back to Earth is very rare and is viewed as, well, very weird.

Now, you may wonder why did I phrase the network part like that. Well! Like I kinda mentioned, there was a climate catastrophe. While people did manage to get to safety (some also just moved to the first colonies on other planets, either bc they wanted to or. well. bc they were chosen to 😬) and survive, what followed was chaos because of all the danger and new things that everything started bubbling over. Tons of crises at different parts of the world, and the inequality going sky high. A united planetary board was created, which then managed to allocate resources in a way that would calm the population and solve the problems. They made sure that from now on the budgets corporations and institutions get for their research will be based on how important their idea/innovation could be for the people, which then led to actually rebuilding the whole Earth society into something more united and more healthy.

One of the other things said board decided on, though, is the surveillance. Every person has a little device in a wrist (of non-dominant hand), containing their personal information, ability to pay, and also working as a small data disk. Peiple can choose what info they want to make public (for example, name and pronouns and stuff line that), and also share files with each other. While most opt to use their phones/tablets/laptops etc to confirm payment or see the data they have, later on people developed a modification that allows a small hologram of "screen view" to appear after a specific finger tap sequence. A small minority even manages to do their work stuff somehow... ANYWAY where was I. Right. That sounds somewhat easy, right? Yeah, well. The thing is, whenever you walk into some public building, the scanners at the door scan the device to identify who's inside or who left. It can also, in some situations (legally) be used to pinpoint a person's location when they, say, break a leg on a forest walk. I say legally bc while that was originally the idea, by the time Cynosure happens things are a bit different. :))

As for individual, consumer use related tech, companies started to pay attention to developing it again starting mid 2100's when things got much better again. Personal devices like computers and phones were made more durable due to the directives the Board had set, and also started to have even more powerful processors/graphics and larger amount pf data storage. Of course, most of these upgrades hit the markets much later after the institutions & corporations had them for years, partly bc solving world problems requires devices more stronger and powerful...

Cybernetics are not popular, but aren't rare either. They're expensive as hell and are mostly available through needs based programs (in which situation the government pays for the most of it). Most are health related, and other popular ones are more like devices that monitor person's health and medicine use etc. Health influencers are also big fans of these.

Later on (~early 2200's) some big corporations started to offer some special cybernetic implants for their workers, like hormone and medicine controllers to be more productive. Or things that will give advantages in *looks at notes* violent work encounters. Those are mostly offered to people who work a lot with other corporations or who have a higher risk of getting assasinated.

Unlike cybernetics, what actually are popular are new solutions to change certain parts of one's looks, like hair color, eye color and height (this one requires expensive cybernetic implants though :/). You can now have pink hair without going to the hairdresser every month.

Other things still seem almost same as nowadays, though there is more "smart" tech available. As in, the "your fridge knows you're running out of eggs and you planned to make an omelet for dinner. it has taken its liberty to order new pack of eggs. the grocery shop bot will be there in a moment."

OH THAT REMINDED ME! there are in fact robots and androids in there, most of them also used as some kind of employees. They're usually used at places with possible danger to humans, but some places have also started to use them as waitresses/baristas/customer service, alongside actual human workers. AI is highly regulated and it is illegal to make an actual, human-like intelligence paired with a very human-like body. G*ner*tive AI (censoring simply bc i don't want this to show up in search 🤪) is mostly forbidden, not counting occassional smarter chatbots.

There's also fun plasma guns and specific non-lethal weapons. People find a way how to make them lethal though.

What to expect if you were to live there

There are some things that are better! All education is now free (unless you want to/your parents make you go to some fancy university that thinks it's hotter than others) to make sure that people will have a lot of knowledge to have better chances at getting by in their life. The Earth Board has also made a directive of universal social security, additionally with some special needs based benefits. Cities/towns are walkable and mostly connected by public transport. Cities also tend to sprawl into big areas to make sure there aren't too many people living in the same area. There's also lots of parks and many trees and plants planted in the middle of the streets.

Despite the social security and knowledge, there's still inequality, and it started growing even more since early 2200's due to the local political power slowly sliding to big corporations. :/ They tend to pay more but also tend to choose people from more prestigious universities and schools, often also having preference on people's earlier careers. That leaves most people to work in smaller corporations or public institutions. While robots or androids do many blue collar jobs, some people also choose to work there, and their salary is very good due to the nature of such jobs.

Farming and overall agriculture has become popular, too, due to tech that makes it even more easier :)

While most of the climate catastrophe problems have been solved, there's no denying that weather has changed and became more extreme. Where Cynosure happens, it is a normal thing to have rainstorms at least twice a month, some very severe and often resulting in people having to stay at home. Summers are hot but quite humid, making them not so bearable. There's no "snowy winter" anymore, and many of those who's lived there since their birth have never seen snow in their life.

Pets are still allowed! But, well. You need to take a course of pet care practices to get a license to do that, mostly to prevent pet abuse, illegal/unethical pet adopting practices and easy spread of animal-borne illnesses.

Schools tend to have additional classes that teach children and teenagers about adult life (to make sure no one ends up not knowing how to do x bc their parents didn't/couldn't teach them etc). Many hobbies are made more accessible, though some parents still find a way to get their children into more expensive ones that require a lot of time and tend to be more professional...

Dealing with officials and bureaucracy has never been easier. Is it the fact that your personal info is always with you or is because customer experience is a number one priority for them? I don't know, man.

Health care is more accessible and doesn't cost a lot, but the "downside" is high progressive taxes. There's still enough money to live well though, most of the times. Big corporations tend to have better health insurances and thus their workers are able to get more higher quality med care than others. Some even have their in-house doctors. Some non-big corporate entities try to fix this by having their union give discounts on those for their members.

People tend to be more liberal about sexual & gender identities, partly because Earth doesn't want people to mass move to Mars bc of its more progressive views. HRT and surgeries are available, some corporate headhunters even try to get some young people come work for them by promising full coverage of those + paid leave for gettting better.

Alcohol and weed are available for sale to people over 18. Nightclubs and bars are popular, some streets being just full of them. Working for a corporation in a stressful environment? They might also prescribe you some other stuff if they think it would help productivity/worker's wellbeing. Public sector workers don't get that due to strong regulations.

Media is a big part of how people spend free time. There's tons of tv shows and movies, comics, books and video games. People also love talking about them. Fast food is also still a thing and all. The food is almost the same too hehe

um nothing more comes to my mind rn so. well. maybe i'll come back or y'all can ask abt something u want to know :]

State of society in late 2200's

Before I go into actual state I need to explain how government works probably? Like I already mentioned there's this United Planetary Board (aka the Board) that's made up of different specialists from different scientific fields who represent their own field for 2 years (chosen by scientists in their field and brings whatever said field comes up with on their own meetings). The Board's idea is to decide on the main points & directions for Earth's development and sometimes make up law directives which is probably the only practical thing they do that ppl should care about.

Then we have national governments that basically function in a night-watchmen state-like way to see that the laws work etc etc. They also make some specific laws sometimes that overrule local governments' decisions.

Local governments are more, well, local, and decide about things of a specific area. Due to their importance and heavy effect on basically whatever is going on in the territory, some big corporations have started getting their own representatives there, and also mayhaps pay the other representatives to support their ideas as well.

Like I mentioned before, despite all the social security/nordic welfare state stuff, inequality is starting to rise again bc some people just want more for themselves and manage to charismatically get into local governments., making social security services poorer and lowering taxes etc etc.

This then shows a bit in the crime rate. Crimes haven't been that visible for a century, but are now resurfacing back to the streets. Gangs and organized crime is also getting more and more foothold and starts to be visible. Some big corporations also tend to (unofficially) support some of them bc they help each other. Homicide rate is still a bit lower, but a somewhat big part of it happens between corporations or in corporations...........

Corporations in 2200's

Remember when in the beginning I said that the Board decided to fund those institutions and corporations that pay attention to Earth problems that need to be solved? Yeah, well. Bad idea in the long run.

This decision led to certain corporations becoming awfully big and power hungry, allowing them to throw their competitors off the market and also become incredible lobbyists.

Most of the big ones specialize in biotechnology, defense, pharma and energy, or a mix of those. There are smaller ones that hang out in such fields, too, but they're not that important. Public institutions also still do research but they're not as popular and often looked down upon as "less important".

Obviously back in mid 2000's the Board also made rules that help people see how exactly does a corporation spend money, but century and a half later most of the transparency has been lost and corporations are back on their secretive path. This also means that things like anonymous whistleblower channels are also often forgotten or not paid attention to in big corporations, or they're just not that anonymous. Lucky ones who manage to contact media to bring something up are often left with ruined career and barely any safety. Corporates have their own "investigations" for a few months if not years, and they mostly end in favor of the corporate or the worker who has more friends there.

I gotta admit I need to work more on corporations bc I only have one (1) planned out a bit. Will probably do some kind of intro for them later hehehe <3

[mcyt-rarepair-tournament]

please tell us how Brutus is a c!Karl song i would love to hear you out

Okayokayokayokay. So I understand that a lot of people never watched c!Karl’s lore pre-TFTSMP however there is a really good analysis video of him on YouTube that explains it really well, and it was made before doomsday even happened.

But to sum it up: c!Karl really wanted to be involved in the lore. He was always trying to be a part of the big stuff, and he even comments on it during c!Niki’s birthday party, when c!Wilbur is about to blow Manberg up (You can actually hear him say ‘wait, am I part of a big event for once?’) Sad-ist’s meme animatic Dre Smp was made because there was a whole bit about Karl wanting to be included.

Later, c!Karl made Rutabag-Ville while the Pogtopia war was going down (this is actually the context in which c!Techno chased c!Quackity and gave That Speech) and eventually annexed it to c!Schlatt. Why? Well, he’d wanted to join Pogtopia, but had been turned down, I believe it was even specifically by c!Quackity.

Later, c!Quackity and c!Tubbo confronted him over this decision, and he eventually said that he sided with c!Schlatt because he felt welcome and c!Schlatt was nice to him. Now, obviously, we all know this was manipulation, and it’s my own little headcanon that c!Karl knew subconsciously what he was doing, but wanted to be accepted so badly he didn’t care.

This also extends beyond the Pogtopia war. I think not a lot of people actually know that Karl was part of the New L’Manberg government as its creative head, but he was left out of every discussion by the rest of the cabinet (we got ROBBED of butcher army c!Karl). He expresses bitterness over this readily! One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that he actually did try to get people on Manberg’s side back in the war by giving them gifts, but they always burned them when he left.

He also founded El Rapids during this time with c!Sapnap, c!Quackity, and c!George. Some drama happened, and in order to assert their nations independence, Karl sacrificed one of his lives by blowing up part of his country in order to frame Eret for it.

(side note, but fun fact; c!Karl was the one who snitched to c!Dream about c!Eret helping Pogtopia, which is what got c!George on the throne. Just a little fun fact.)

Of course, his lore does kinda peter out after that. His CC began streaming TFTSMP, and we know how that went. Not to say he never streamed at all, but they became a lot rarer since a lot of the server began to think they needed more scripted lore, thus their standards for streaming became higher.

I also agree with the headcanon that he has FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and while you could say that this was just his CC wanting to be in more lore, you would be right, but if we brushed off character’s lore because the CC wasn’t 100% in-character, we would have very little characterization left. A lot of Karl’s characters comes from before the 4th wall had really solidified on the server, plus it comes from late-2020, while a lot of newer fans got into the smp around early to mid 2021.

Basically, Brutus is a song about envy, hatred, and a whole lot of mixed emotions based on the assassination of Julius Caesar. While c!Karl never went to the extremes Brutus did, it’s not really hard to see how closely the song echoes his treatment on the server.

I tend to divide c!Karl’s characterization into three parts; first is his more immature and young personality that is set during the Manberg to El Rapids era, second is his transitioning phase between that and someone a bit more mature, which I put from Doomsday to The Pit (the eighth TFTSMP episode), and third is his more mature characterization, where he is burdened by his time traveler duties and has grown into his own person, past the need to be important and make an impact, though the shadow of Manberg and El Rapids loom over him.

In short, c!Karl is a nuanced character who faced the curse of fanon and lost. But hey, so did everyone else. I’d argue he got some of the worst of it, though C!Ranboo is a tough contender. So is C!Sam, actually. And c!Fundy. Just… a lot of characters got the short stick by fanon.

This is my first shot at making an essay, so it’s a bit messy. A lot of this can be found on vod channels, however, so if anyone wants to give links feel free to do so! Also you can correct me if I got anything wrong, it has been a hot minute since I’ve watched a DSMP vod.

That’s my two cents, anyhow. I just really like c!Karl and feel like he got done dirty by a lot of fans. They really did take a nuanced character who was both selfless and selfish, kind yet a bit of a sadist, loved to mess with his loved ones but also hated when anyone touched them, and turned him into a little soft boy who can’t defend himself against anything or One Of c!Quackity’s Mean Crazy Ex-Fiancés. No, I am not exaggerating, I saw someone legitimately call c!Karl crazy because of the Kinoko argument. Y’all…

That’s pretty much it! My fingers are getting tired so I’m sorry if it got a little messy at the end or I got a bit off topic. If anyone needs more clarification I will happily oblige. There were even a few details I left out because I wanted to cut down on this post’s length. C!Karl is a fascinating character and he’s been my No. 1 for nearly two years at this point. Thank you for listening!

[purplecatghostposts]

I’ve got you! 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 14 please! 🪶

THANK YOU NINA <3

4. A Story Idea You Haven’t Written Yet

As previously mentioned, I have So Many, but one of my favorites that I wanna do one day I refer to as the ‘Akuma Apocalypse’ where Monarch has trapped all of Paris in a bubble they’re unable to get out of, many many Akumas run wild and cause chaos in the streets, and the Miraculouses are scattered.

Both Ladybug and her earrings are MIA, meaning currently, Akumas can’t be purified, Chat Noir has been Akumatized into Chat Blanc but isn’t fully following Monarch’s orders, and the remaining Heroes only have a few Miraculouses on their side, having divided Paris in half and fiercely protecting those under their care while trying to figure out how to gain more ground and beat Monarch.

And in the middle of it all, Argos and Queen Bee, or Félix and Chloé respectively, end up as allies with neither side trusting them and having similar goals: Finding Adrien and Zoé respectively, both of which have gone missing in all of the chaos.

There is. A LOT of Hurt/Comfort and a couple identity things I wanna do so naturally I wanna put it all together one day!!

5. First Sentence Of The Fifth Paragraph Of An Unpublished WIP

His biggest fan however, was his Aunt Amélie, who never failed to ask about his progress anytime she visited.

From the beginning of Chapter 9 of Consider The Spare ;)

6. The Word That Appears The Most In Your Current Draft

Nothing exciting unfortunately! Just ‘Félix’ which. You probably could’ve guessed-

8. If You Had To Write A Sequel To A Fic, You’d Write One For…

I’ve already mentioned wanting to write an Amélie Follow Up to ‘The Monster Who Loves You’ but I am currently writing a ‘Sequel’ (though more of a Prequel) to ‘Sub-In’ because a few scenes wouldn’t leave me alone, especially regarding how Adrien manages to pull off keeping being Chat Noir a secret with Félix in the same house as him!

12. A Trope You’re Really Into Right Now

KWAMI SWAP! I loveeee Kwami Swaps and exploring how different characters use different powers. It’s really fun to say ‘Hold on, this character would actually fit with this Miraculous really well if you think about it’ and just getting to go nuts with it! The ONE swap I struggle with So Much is trying to give Kagami the Fox. She’s very direct in battle and the Fox is all about being anything but. Beegami my beloved however 🥰

14. Where Do You Get Your Inspiration?

The short answer is… Kinda everywhere.

The long answer is that I like applying my current obsession to literally anything and everything I come across and as a result, I see where it takes me and sometimes the end result gets wildly out of hand. Sometimes it’s as simple as ‘What if [X] happened instead of [Y]?’ or just, ‘I wanna write more Félix and Chloé interactions specifically because I think they’re an interesting duo’ but sometimes it’s more like ‘I wanna see [Trope] so I’m gonna pull it off somehow’ and running from there. You get the idea!

Thank you again for the ask <3

(Fic Writer Ask Game)

[haptronym]

Hey!! This is the anon from a while back who had that convo with you about quirkless discrimination with your cannon vs fannon posts. The one who sent a way too long ask haha.

I still haven’t picked back up BNHA, just still dinking around in the earlier seasons with my writing after dropping it so long ago due to the exact reason you outlined; I stopped watching due to a certain character stagnating while saying they’re changing. Which I find amusing how prevalent that problem is in so many arcs that it’s the reason I stopped watching the show actual years ago (though not solely, it was that + a combination of other things with that arc but it really exasperated it) and you’re now talking about the same exact issue for the end of it. I don’t even feel like I can say it’s due to external pressures rather then just a weak point of the writer at this point tbh.

But, besides that, on the topic of why I initially started this ask, I just wanted to say it’s interesting to hear the story has still done squat with quirklessness, really goes to show the whole glaring divide in exactly what we where talking about so long ago. Full circle kinda?? It really is such a shame the show never went into it and kinda failed to scratch the surface of anything with how compelling it would have been and how easily it could have tied into the whole of the series’ themes.

But hey, like you said, there’s always fanfics. Just thought I’d send in an ask about it since it was fun talking to you about it last time.

Now that it’s over, I might give the show another shot, for old times sake, we’ll see!

Oh as an add on, as the fannon vs cannon anon, I do want to put a note that since I haven’t seen the thing myself I’m not making too strong opinions on it or agreeing with everything in that post, just contemplating the specific stuff I talked about in that previous anon ask as a sort of now outsider to the series.

This isn’t a “oh you’re wrong!” but making sure people know I’m not blindly following things I’ve read about a series rather then forming opinions around it from first hand cannon, HA! I’ll do that when I maybe start watching it again…one day…

-

(The post under discussion)

Hello again! Glad you're still enjoying the fandom space and haha, it's ironic that this issue is why you dropped the show. I'm also going to caveat that I'm not trying to dunk on Horikoshi or be a bitter hater. The issues I'm bringing up are par for the course for most serial writing, way harder to avoid than they seem. I really liked MHA overall and have huge respect for Horikoshi's writing, art, and ability to keep his sanity while bringing this behemoth to life.

Anyway, a response.

I mentioned a few aspects where quirklessness got brought in later in the story, but overall, yeah, it still felt kind of… vestigial. To me it felt like the author threw it out there at first thinking it was a cool idea, then later went "ugh, shit, that's not actually where I want to focus. I can't retcon it, so let's just... minimize it and move on." A lot of times when big series start, they toss out a whole bunch of possible story hooks and then narrow down to just a few that they're actually going to spend serious time on... anyone who gets hooked on a premise that doesn't end up being developed further can be left feeling disappointed.

I suspect this is exactly the reason why MHA has such a giant fandom. The show's clown-car cast means that pretty much no character really gets "deep" treatment. Instead we get 1,000 tantalizing flashes of really, really cool possibilities. We get sucked in by an awesome idea, get frustrated when the cool character/premise barely gets touched again after that, and then feverishly fill the empty space with fanfic and fanart. (I'm lucky that my favorites, Izuku and All Might, were about the most main of main characters, and even they felt somewhat shallow. I can't imagine the agony of being, say, a Momo fan.)

Unfortunately when a story does this, it also means that it's inevitably going to disappoint its fanbase. It tossed out 1,000 awesome ideas but it only has space to cultivate a small handful of those into proper plotlines… not only is it sad to see all the unused plot threads peter out, but usually the realized story ends up outright contradicting at least a few very popular fan theories and hopes. This doesn't mean the story's bad, far from it. But in these weekly-chapter stories where fans have years or decades to get attached to their interpretations and predictions, praying each week that yes, it seems like a long shot, but maybe the story will veer off into X… things quickly spiral into enormous bitterness when those decades of hope are finally snuffed out for good. (This same phenomenon makes me dread the eventual end of One Piece…)

MHA had a lot of people going "it's not like other shonen!" because it had lots of promising ideas. But it turned out that… yes, it is just another shonen. Shonen are tons of fun, and I love MHA overall. But man, it got hit hard by those high expectations.

I was a bit harsh (and incorrect) in my post, saying Izuku/All Might haven't changed at ALL, and that quirklessness meant NOTHING. It gets outright confusing when there are characterization backsies like the ones I described. Which is canon: the single panel where a character says "quirklessness is a big deal to me!" or the way that every other character behavior and plot point screams "sure doesn't seem like it"? They're both real. And this discrepancy depends on the reader's interpretation too: I'm extremely picky about characterization, while someone less anal might not see any contradiction at all. So we get All Might fans insisting that the show made quirkless issues into a huge enormous part of the plot/characters, and meanwhile I don't see it, and get annoyed and preachy because it feels like the narrative is being unfairly ascribed depth and profundity that I really wanted but never actually saw from it. How dare!

ANYWAY, I highly recommend checking out the rest of the show. I have a feeling the final arc is going to look amazing in animated form once it's finally done. The final section is a combo of delightfully over-the-top shonen insanity and surprisingly weighty outcomes. We can debate whether it really earned those outcomes, but I'm at least pleased that it tried.

[riacte]

Part of the weirdness about m/f ships feels like this kind of performativity from insecure queer teens? At least I think so based on my own experiences. I've always been a big multishipper who likes f/f m/m m/f and any other kind of ship equally but there was awhile where I felt kinda ashamed if I liked a m/f ship "too much" bc I felt like I wasn't gay enough. Like I wasn't queer enough if I didn't ship gay ships enough. Even now (tho I've gotten better) I still feel this obligation to keep the ratios of ship fics I read "even" so I can prove I'm still a good queer. I think in my case it's probably part of my internalized biphobia (since I feel a similar obligation to make I prove I have attraction to all genders and am really bi "enough" in my actual daily life) and it's a similar feeling of stress at having to constantly police your own identity/attraction/interests.

It's unfortunate that this kind of insecurity in how queer we are seems so common in queer people especialky those of us who are young one w/out much actual dating experience (who make a large part of this fandom. This sort of "who even ships m/f lol gay ships only" I've seen others in this fandom doing feels very much like a way of coping with that insecurity, by proving you're gay enough through your ships. I'm sure there are plenty of people who simply are just not interested in m/f but I'm sure there are also others like me, trying to prove we're queer enough by carefully curating our fandom interests.

My thoughts on m/f ships is that the end of the day, shipping is just shipping. It doesn't actually necessarily say much about your sexuality or what you actually want in a relationship and certainly doesn't mean you're less queer.

(Obviously there are other factors too in the weird attitude ppl in the mcyt fandom have about m/f ships, but this is one that has affected me a lot and I've never seen anyone else talk about it so I wanted to bring it up. Idk I hope I made sense)

Thanks for the ask! It was really nice seeing this as a bi person who heavily mains m/f and sometimes feels bad for it (I also main friendships but I mained m/f reallllly hard pre 2020 aka. before this fandom).

Yeah, I feel like it could also be like "we see so much m/f in real life so we should go hard on the other options to even it out". This fandom specifically there's been problems of irl truthing in comments so I completely understand why people shy from it, but it's 2024, we're quite developed in the character vs cc divide, shipping m/f isn't the end of the world.

I do feel guilt over maining m/f (then liking f/f and m/m, in that order, yes Treebark is the exception and my first m/m that I really got into), like for a looong time I was pretty sure it was just terrible heteronormativity that I needed to kill, but now I feel like it's a mix of heteronormativity (which I fight like daily lmfao) and just. being attracted to men and women both. Because when I write m/f, I can write about being attracted to women and men all in one neat package. And it feels "equal" to me. I do tend to prefer pieces of media with an equal gender ratio, or at least the leads are (eg. Miraculous Ladybug (my ex fandom lmao), Kagerou Project (ex fandom, stares into the distance), Spy x Family, Assassination Classroom) so I can love male and female characters. When reading fics, I like reading about loving a man from a woman's pov and loving a woman from a man's pov. Even in HC with its highly uneven gender ratio, this manifests in the corner I've tucked myself into (False, Ren, Stress, Iskall, etc). Although I do also like media with mostly female characters - Love Live (another ex fandom lol), Precure, Madoka Magica, Nikkiverse - and I do read stuff, I just don't really write for them because I wanna write about girls AND guys. Shippy or not. And this leads me to main m/f a lot. That's my personal taste.

Side note: as a kid, I was frustrated by media aimed at boys which had like a whole cast of boys and one token (cardboard cutout) girl AND media aimed at girls which had a whole cast of girls and almost no boys. 9yo me in co-ed school was like "well this doesn't feel very pro gender equality, I want books with the same amount of boys AND girls :((((( oh wait. I can just write it." And.... it ended up defining what I write now? Even outside of shipping, I like m+f friendships a lot. Because I still get to write about a guy and a girl even if they don't kiss or whatever. Idk. Am I cursed with an extreme case of heteronormativity and / or internalised homophobia or am I bisexual. Maybe both. Idk.

Maybe I do have boring stupid milquetoast hetero taste whatever but I'm having a good time in my fandoms and my ships / dynamics. I like writing about my guys and girls and I'll keep on doing it. And I am queer. I am bisexual. This doesn't change.

Anyways watching HTTYD at a young age changed me. Hiccstrid you will always be my origin story <3

Thanks for the ask again! We don't have to prove our queerness because we are queer. Everyone has different tastes. And m/f does get a bad reputation in queer spaces because oftentimes it's done badly and ofc the enemy.... heteronormativity [evil].

Final note re sibling fanon: if you have to turn friends into siblings just to show you're not shipping, you are coming back to heteronormativity. Why can't a (straight) man and a (straight) woman be friends only. What assumptions are you making?

[namesnamesandmorenames]

Okay, so since my last post I have decided to make a few previously select or multi-select properties into separate database relations properties– I've also completed separated my fanfiction and old library databases and I am letting myself put fan art banners and more fun icons on some pages lol. One of these projects– you'll be able to see which because I haven't finished it– is going to be incredibly time consuming 😞. Again, this is starting as a speech to text voice note so it's going to get really conversational and probably have typos even though I'm going to edit it later. So sorry about that. I already typed it out once I can't.

Short spiel– I'm a library science grad student who is using notion to create a person fanfiction database. It's for fun but it's kinda interesting how my classes impacted what I do with it so I decided to make a post or two. I'll do a line brake now so you don't have to read more if you're not interested 🙂

Okay so the first section I consider a like Retrieval Information section– It answers questions like have I read this? Where can I find it? Who wrote it? Is there a podfic? Who recorded it? What stage in the writing process is it (One Shot, Multi Chapters, Work In Progress, Abandoned)? Was it written for a challenge/ is it in a collection (excluding personal favorite collections which there are so many of on ao3 I swear- pet peeve but I get it I was once one of those people, now I have a database that I've sunk too much time into lol)

The sorting section is actually automatically filled out based on the Creator information, I explained my tbr sorting is based on favorite, prolific, or new to the fandom authors so it's easiest to trust pull that information from the Creator record in a roll-up property because then I can move everything in a group if I miss something at the end of the week when I'm adding things.

Story info is pretty self-explanatory in my opinion, I pulled all of it from ao3 though I will fudge the information if I read a fic on Tumblr that isn't cross-posted. The pages it's not really useful per se. Just something that I think is interesting. It's also based on the PDF versions that you can download on ao3 and even then not really because I just averaged out the pages on one fic and have been dividing page numbers by that number for ages lol. Timeline I mentioned in my previous post. It's all based on 911 because I am currently hyperfixated on it to a degree that is genuinely… not great.

Authorized Tags… I'm still working on this. This is the time consuming project. I decided to make the multi-select property Tags– which has an insane amount of tags in it, which are all kind of jumbled because I was using different language for all of them like for instance “Evan Buckley is a Teacher” and “Bartender Buck” are both tags in that property but also it's just in that section so I can't even see everything that's in there and at this point there's over like 200+ tags that I can't really search very well and I can't really browse fics in the tags easily so it limits use in that way. Also, there's no real organization so everything that could be tagged wasn't there- also creators all use tags in very different ways so a lot of that was me tagging fic as I read them because this is a personal database, it's just what I want to do. But basically Authorized Tags is *loosely* based off of Authorized Heading from my cataloging course lol. Basically I've cleaned up the language and created more of a type and tier organization (“Evan Buckley is a Teacher” and “Bartender Buck” are now “Teacher! Buck” and “Bartender! Buck” respectfully and are specific character tags under the broad character tag of “Not a Firefighter! Evan Buckley”) so I'll be able to find things easier… when I finished retagging the like 3000 records that I've been tagging multi select up until now 😭. This is also giving me the chance to pull my OOC/Bashing tag into a little alien 👽 check box- like I said the tags are mine some creators tag way more extensively than me, others imo under tag– bashing isn't a DNF for me and I just ignore it when fix are tagged “Specific Character! Bashing” because sometimes people will tag that when it's just canon accurate behavior in my opinion? And again actual bashing doesn't bother me *most of the time* but it is one of the things that I want to know about effect on first glance if I'm going to reread.

Series was a single select property up until my last post actually… it was much easier to convert because unlike tags not every fic is in a series lol. But also I am going to go back and see if there were any fics that aren't in what I would consider a series but are how some creators use series like a place where they collect their one shots or a bunch of fic that they wrote with a single trope or even personal entries to fandom challenges, I also decided to use this database to track works that were inspired by other works if it's a very direct correlation– like if there's a sequel or one shot in the same world written by another Creator. The previous/next relations direct to other related works within the database, if Fic 1 is previous to Fic 2, Fic 2 is next to Fic 1. You'll be surprised how long it took me to add these fields or you'll think it's overkill– it's both. Part of the reason that I really needed these is because both the tags and the series properties were select properties. I could tag a fic as a sequel fic but that didn't directly connect me to its predecessor, I can see that'll work as part of a series but I would still have to leave the record to then go and look to see what else is in that series. It's kind of a non-issue. Obviously all of this is non-issues. This is way too in-depth for what it is. But it's going to be even more of a non-issue now that Series is a separate database but I'll probably still keep it for conveniences sake because if nothing else it is convenient.

Housekeeping– when did I start and when did I finish the fic? Was it a favorite? Was there a quote that I took note of while reading it?

Meta-Metadata (I had that labeled as just metadata for an embarrassingly long time considering literally the entire record is metadata…) I used to have a record created property but it broke somehow. I don't know I want it back. I'm going to try at some point. I just haven't gotten around to it. It's not like a useful thing. It's just interesting to see how long after a record is created I back get around to reading it you know? But the two check boxes there are formulas attached to the read status. The first one includes up-to-date works as read And the second one only includes read read works as read– I like keeping up to date with a few authors so if they have work in progress work that I am keeping up to date with, I want it included in their tally on their record. So I have two separate roll-ups for read lol.

You'll see on the completed record that the only thing that I have written in the bottom part is reread dates. I don't know, I've never felt the need to take notes outside of the records? Or if I do, it's very rarely. I haven't really figured out a way to record reread dates in a way that doesn't seem clunky to me so I just put it there.

But yeah as you can see way too extensive lol a lot of these properties won't apply to every fic and are therefore hidden when empty (a few are always hidden in the collapsed view (Next/Previous notably) because if I'm looking for that information I'll look for it, you know?)

So here is a completed record of one of my favorite fics!

As you can see, a few things have been collapsed the labeling is always hidden because I don't really need it it's just so it's not a wall of properties on the back end, but you can also easily find the information that's important in my opinion?

Anyway I'm tagging @percyjackson-winchester because they asked me too if you have questions or want me to make a follow up post about the Series of Creator Databases (of the Tags Database when I finish it lol) let me know 😅

[waitmyturtles]

As part of my intensive dive into past Thai BLs for the Old GMMTV Challenge, a spirited conversation came up in the comments of my review of Love Sick/Love Sick 2 regarding if and how I should include a focus on ships in my watchlist. I haven't focused on specific ships yet -- I've been letting the historical/essential significance of the shows themselves, vis à vis the history of Thai BL, dictate the list I came up with (which I'll paste below).

@absolutebl has written, of course, a tremendous amount on the origins of the ships, especially the ones that really started the genre (KristSingto, OffGun, MaxTul, etc.), but one conversation that I wanted to highlight was whether or not Together With Me was worth watching. There seems to be a big divide regarding its toxicity vs. the importance of the birth of MaxTul as an essential couple/ship.

I wanted to lift this question out of the comments, actually, not *just* because of the MaxTul ship, but *also* because of the toxicity question. I'm not that afraid of shows with toxic factors -- I think they're fun to break down and write about, and to figure out how and why the shows were made in the first place (I'll note @so-much-yet-to-learn's INCREDIBLE comments in my Love Sick review about the nature of censorship in early Thai BLs and how that shaped the "gay for you" motif that I'm always obsessed with dissecting).

In other words: I have this feeling that some of these shows were toxic PRECISELY because of the time that they were made. We have great shows NOW -- did some shows HAVE to be toxic in order to be made back when?

Because I kinda want to play around with that question, I'm really thinking of adding Together With Me to my watchlist -- it would be in-between Make It Right and MIR 2.

But the feelings are really divided. @absolutebl, the friends in the comments (@manogirl, @clairificusrex, @aliceisathome, @nieves-de-sugui), and anyone else who wants to chime in -- what do y'all think -- watch it for the history? (@bengiyo, I know you recommend it for the Plern Pleng reference.) I'd be particularly curious for @absolutebl's thoughts on the inclusion of the ship perspective on my list -- because it's not one that I've thought about at all yet. (And I bet @bengiyo, @shortpplfedup, @lurkingshan, and others have thoughts on this, too). I've just allowed the shows on the list to introduce me to the ships, and not the other way around.

List below for thoughts. I'm adjusting it to include Together With Me for now -- the divide has got me VERY curious. I so appreciate the fam diving into this with me!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) SOTUS (2016) (review here) 3) Make It Right (2016) 4) Together With Me (2016) 5) Make It Right 2 (2017) 6) Love By Chance (2018) 7) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) 8) He’s Coming To Me (2019) 9) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) 10) TharnType (2019) 11) Theory of Love (2019) 12) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) 13) 2gether (2020) 14) Still 2gether (2020) 15) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 16) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 17) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 18) Not Me (2021-2022) 19) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 20) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 21) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 22) My School President (2022-2023)

[p-artsypants]

Paint it Black (18) Recovering

FF.net | Ao3

Beast Boy sat on his hands with his mouth zipped. Every precious moment in the Batmobile was being savored and he wasn’t about to do anything to jeopardize it. 

Though he desperately wanted to ask questions. 

“Tell me about this Billy Numerous character,” Batman finally stated.

“Oh! Ummm…well, he can divide into multiple clones of himself, like we said. He’s not super strong or fast, but divides quickly.” 

“So no other powers besides multiplication.” 

“Right.” 

“Good. What’s his M.O.?” 

“Theft. He likes to ransack a city of its valuables.” 

“Money? Art? Tech?” 

“Anything. He stole a section of the bridge once.” 

Batman frowned. “So in it for the thrill. He doesn’t particularly want stuff, but wants to see what he can take. Got it.” He reached over and hit some buttons on the console. 

Beast Boy vibrated in his seat with excitement. 

“Jump City police department,” the radio spoke. 

“This is Batman. I’m helping the Titans with the Billy Numerous situation. What locations has he hit?” 

“Oh! Batman! Uh…That’s the weird part. He’s broken into several locations, mostly toy stores, but he hasn’t actually taken anything.” 

“So he’s either showing off where he can go this time, or he’s looking for something specific.” 

“I’ll radio the other officers on the scene and let you know exactly what we know. Is this number okay?” 

“Yes.” 

“Be back in a minute.” And the call ended. 

“Lucky bastards,” Batman mumbled under his breath. 

“Who’s lucky?” Beast Boy squeaked. 

“Your team. I never get cooperation like that from the Gotham PD. Maddening.” 

“Well…I think they respect us because of you. Everyone thinks you’re the coolest. Well, everyone outside of Gotham at least.” 

“Good. The last thing I need in Gotham is a bunch of groupies asking for my autograph.” 

Beast Boy pouted, assuming he knew how the request for an autograph for himself would go. 

Just then, Beast Boy’s communicator rang. As he answered it, the Batmobile picked up the call. 

“Talk to me,” said Batman. 

“We were just at the last place Billy hit,” said Cyborg. “The biggest antique mall in the city. A security guard was there, and said he had a confrontation with Numerous.” 

Batman pulled into an alleyway. “What happened?” 

“He said Billy prattled on and on about being Billy Numerous and outnumbering everyone as the guard called for backup. Then he said that Billy actually told him what he was looking for.” 

“Lucky break.” 

“Not especially lucky, Billy can multiply, but he’s not very smart.” 

“So what’s he after?” 

“Guard said a homemade doll. All white, handmade, made of fabric.” 

Batman frowned as he pulled up the computer. “Doesn’t sound like your typical heist item. Perhaps its maker is the key here. I’m going to check auction sites to see if I can find it.”

“Dude!” Beast Boy chirped. “I think I know what he’s talking about!” 

“You do? Spill.” 

“Ah man, I totally forgot about it too! With everything with Robin…okay, so I saw it while Raven, Cyborg, and I were exploring the place where Robin was held captive. I found it on the floor while you guys were talking. It seemed out of place, but not really important, so I took it.” 

“Where is it now?”

“In my room.” 

“Did it look like it had anything in it? How much did you examine it?”

“It was kinda squishy, but it didn’t feel like cotton inside. More like…beans? I don’t know. It was just all white and ugly. Like if you asked me to make you a stuffed polar bear from scratch.”

“Hmm…”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mention it. I totally meant too!” 

“Well, if Billy is looking for it now, that means it didn’t have a tracking device. And if anyone else had seen it, they may have left it there. Now, we just need to learn the significance.” 

“About 15 Billys have been spotted by the post office. There’s a town map there, so they might be planning their next hit. The original might be there,” Raven said. 

“Then let’s go, send me directions.” 

“I’ll go there now, track me.” Beast Boy opened the door and transformed into a cheetah to run away. 

—-

“Oh where oh where has the little thing gone, oh where oh where can it beeee?!” Sang a southern choir through the streets of Jump. “He promised it wouldn’t be this hard to find, oh where oh where can it be?” 

“Need a hand?” 

The multiple Billys turned around at the familiar voice. 

Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire stood behind him, as a green blur appeared beside them, soon transforming back into Beast Boy. 

“Oh gee willikers, I was wonderin’ when you slowpokes were gonna show up.” 

“We might have gotten here sooner if you hadn’t actually tried using stealth. Which, by the way, could use more practice.” Cyborg smirked. 

“I’ll take that into consideration. Now, if’n you’ll excuse me, I got some work to do.” 

Cyborg activated his canons and Star her bolts. Beast Boy turned into an octopus, and Raven built a wall out of cement slabs from the street. 

Billy noted this all quickly, then laughed. “It’s a nice try! But y'all could barely stop me when you had a full team! How do you expect to stop me when you’re down a member?”

Just then, a black form dropped in the center of the group, before raising to his full height and glaring at the enemy. “They have a full team.” 

The Billys all took a collective step back at the appearance of Batman. “Oh shoot…the rumors are true…” Then he seemed to regain his composure. “Ain’t no Bat gonna wrangle Billy Numerous though!” 

And he instantly doubled his number, so there were easily 30 Billys surrounding them. “These good odds? We can go bigger!” 

60.

120.

“There, that oughta be fair now!” 

“I think he’s still low-balling it,” Beast Boy muttered. 

Before any actual fighting began, the giant screen on the building across the street changed from an ad to a familiar face. 

“Billy Numerous!” He called. 

“Robin!” Starfire called back. 

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Billy halted and stared at the screen, along with the heroes. “The dead are coming back to life.” 

Robin, looking almost the same as normal, appeared on the screen. His mask was in place, and his hair was spiked back. The only difference, though it was subtle, was a Glascow smile scar on his cheek. “I know what you’re looking for.” 

“Oh yeah yeah, I’m sure ya do.” Billy scoffed, coming out of his shock rather quickly. 

“A doll. White, made of rough fabric. No face. I’ve seen it.”

Billy paused and then relented. “Okay, yeah, but what about it?”

“Their offer is no good. They don’t intend on paying you. Instead, they’d prefer no one knew what they were up to. They’ll hunt you down and kill you.” 

“Shows how much you know! I’m gettin’ in on the ground floor! They offered me an apprenticeship!” 

Robin shook his head. “It’s not going to be that simple. I’ve been following their case. They won’t hold lessons. They won’t let you shadow them. Instead, if they really do let you in, they’ll make you multiply yourself over and over until you can hold their torture and poisons and not die. Tell me Billy; if one of your clones dies, does it hurt?” 

Billy stood stock still, his mouth quivering. 

“They have an apprentice in mind, you know. That’s what the doll is for. And you’re stupid to think that the Joker would make such a deal with a no-name villain that no one would miss. Think about it. Would anyone come looking for you if you went missing? Would anyone care if the Joker cut you up into pieces and left you in an alley?” 

The Titans all stayed quiet while Robin negotiated. 

“Because that’s the truth of what will happen if you return to the Joker. He’ll get what he needs from you, and you’ll be of no use anymore.” 

“So what? I’m just supposed to quit?” 

“Oh no no. I know I can’t convince you to just go home. So how about you and I make a deal?”

One Billy crossed his arms, presumably the original. “I’ll hear ya out.” 

“You bring me the doll instead, and I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll even get your record expunged so you can keep whatever it is. Taking a Ferrari out for a joy ride is fun, but can you imagine showing it off to people? Making others jealous? Driving some hot babes around?” 

“Alright deal! I want 5 million dollars.” 

“Done.” 

“Alright, you heard the man, Billy!” He started to command his clones. 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Robin interrupted. “I can’t have you tearing the city apart for hours on end. So the deal is only good for one hour. If you find the doll, you can give it to one of the Titans. Happy hunting.” And the screen went blank. 

“One hour!?!” Billy panicked. “Double time, fellas! I want my money!” And he proceeded to duplicate into an army of Billys that rushed into the city. 

The communicators lit up with a call, and Cyborg answered on his arm. 

“Sorry to butt in, but I have a plan,” Robin grinned. 

“Please, your plans are most welcomed at this time,” Starfire sang, a little too enthusiastically. 

“Rob, you gotta know—” Beast Boy began. 

“I know. I heard the first call. Alfred still has to finish administering the rest of the antidote, but once my head cleared, I asked to have my communicator to monitor the situation. The doll that Billy is looking for is a…Talisman, for lack of a better term. During the psychological torture I endured, the Joker convinced Black that all of his goodness was inside that doll, ‘White’. I don’t know what seeing that doll could do to me, but I’m sure Joker’s trying to find me with it.” 

“So it’s your Horcrux?” Beast Boy asked. 

“Yeah, you can call it that, too.”

“So what’s the rest of the plan?” Asked Batman, “you just gave a lunatic permission to ransack Jump City for an hour. What is he going to do once the hour is up?”

“Hopefully he won’t last that long. We gotta turn up the heat on him. Make him spread himself thin.” 

“Master Richard, it’s time for the next dose.” 

“Thank you, Alfred.” He said as an aside. “Make Billy panic. I’ll check in when my head clears again. Any questions?”

“How do you feel?” Starfire asked. 

He smirked. “Never better. Good luck team.” 

—

It turned out that by time Robin checked in with the team again, Billy had already reached his limit and all the clones returned to him. Cyborg and Raven were the ones to escort Billy to jail, while Starfire, Beast Boy, and Batman returned to the tower. 

Robin lounged on the couch, IV port still in his arm. He still wore his pajamas, but with the mask and gelled hair, he looked like Robin again. 

“Wow! You look great!” Beast Boy chirped as he entered. “You look like you got some color back.” 

“Indeed! Your skin held a certain pallor about it. Was the poison causing that?”

“I think so,” he stretched. “It wasn’t until the medicine kicked in that I actually started feeling better. I’m still sore from all of the chemicals, but it’s a far cry from the pain I was in. I didn’t even realize how bad it was until now.” 

Starfire floated right off the ground as she stared at him. He finally looked like Robin, really truly like his old self. “Your scarring appears less harsh. Are you wearing concealer?” 

He nodded. “I have some I wear in case I get mask lines,” he chuckled. “Eventually, I might try to get some revision surgery, but for now, I’m only appearing as Robin, so it won’t matter. Who knows, maybe it will help with my intimidation factor.” 

“You seem to be recovering well,” said Batman. “Maybe a little too well.” 

Robin again nodded, understanding Batman’s concern. “I’m ecstatic to have my body back. I will be working on processing all the trauma I went through as my new normal sets in. It might take a little while to get back on the field.” 

“That, I would recommend.” 

“Maybe you can be our man in the chair?” Beast Boy suggested. “Cyborg’s my best friend, but I’ll never admit this in front of him. His plans aren’t always the best.” 

“It’s hard work, and I have more experience. But that’s why we’re a team. We all have our strengths. We rely on each other…and I’ll probably need to rely on you all more now than I was.”

“By the way, do you want me to get the…” Beast Boy trailed off.

“No. In fact, it’s probably best if I never see it. The four of you should find a place to hide it where I’ll never come across it.”

“Yes sir,” Beast Boy saluted. 

“What if we were to simply destroy it?” Starfire asked. 

The very thought sent chills down Robin’s spine. “I’m not sure why, but I don’t like that idea.” 

“I can make a guess,” said Batman. “Just because we treated the poison that manifests Black, does not mean we got rid of him. If Black has that much attachment to that doll, it’s likely that those feelings would persist even when dormant.” 

Robin nodded. “I understand.” 

“Hey,” Beast Boy nudged him. “How much time before your next dose?”

“About twenty minutes,” said Alfred, looking at his watch. 

“Wanna play me a few rounds in Super Mega Monkey: Ninja Brawl? It just came out last month.”

Robin perked up. “Yeah, sounds like a blast.” 

—

The Southern docks were silent and dark. Not even the waves made noise as fog persisted in all the forgotten corners. 

“Robin?” Starfire yelled, her voice echoing between the trailers. 

“Star! Starfire! Help me!” 

“Where are you?”

“I was close! I was so close!” His words carried so much pain, just like they had when he was in the med bay. “But they found me! They’ve come for me, Starfire!” 

“No!” She screamed. She attempted to fly to get a better vantage point, but it was like she was chained to heavy weights. Even her run was far too slow. “Robin! Robin please! I’ll save you this time!” 

“Starfire!” 

The fog parted, and Robin stood before her. He wore a black trench coat and ratty black jeans. 

“Robin!” 

He reached up, and dug his fingers into his face, molding his skin like fabric. Then he tore, ripping away the cool and mysterious facade to reveal bulging blue eyes, skin riddled with spider web lines, and a smile that tore through his cheek. 

“Oh poor poor little Tamaranean,” a voice said, one she felt like she had heard before. Another figure appeared behind Robin. “You’re simply too late.” The figure stepped forward, becoming visible as a Gordanian. “But there’s always an opening as a new apprentice.” 

—

Starfire awoke suddenly, flinching in her bed. 

Just a nightmare. A horrible, realistic nightmare, but a nightmare all the same. As her heart rate started to slow down, the visions became less cutting and started to fade. 

Still in just her pajamas, Starfire rose, intent on checking on Robin. Just a peek, to make sure he was there and safe. 

Of course, he would be, she reasoned as she traveled the hall. There was no reason for him to be missing. But she just needed to see him with her own eyes. 

Maybe, if he was awake, they could talk, for the first time alone since he was able to speak on his own. 

When she arrived at his door, she knocked gently, assuming that he would be asleep. When he didn’t answer, she let herself in. 

But there was no one inside. 

The images in her nightmare came back, and she began to panic. 

“No, do not panic,” she said aloud. “Maybe he is simply having problems sleeping as well.” 

So she went to the common room, only to find it empty as well. She checked his office, and even the gym, but there was no sign of anyone. There was one last place to check before she started waking the others. 

Up on the roof, the sky was clear, the air was just perfectly crisp, and the moon was full and bright. 

And Robin sat at the edge of the roof, looking at the very few stars visible in the city sky. 

Starfire breathed a sigh of relief. “I feared something terrible had happened to you.” 

Robin jumped at her voice before relaxing again, “you scared me,” he chuckled. 

“I apologize.” She approached calmly before kneeling beside him. “What brings you out here at such an hour?”

He adjusted the blanket he had on his shoulders. “Ah, my sleep schedule is all messed up. I was in and out of consciousness all day, and then when I tried to sleep on my own, my mind wandered…” he shook his head. “What about you? There’s no trouble is there?” 

“No no, nothing of the sort. I had…a nightmare. I have had many since you went missing…” she admitted this sheepishly. “But this was so vivid, I just…I only wished to see you, to make sure you were truly here and safe.” 

He smiled at her. “Well, I’m here and safe. And Robin, most importantly.” 

“Yes,” she leaned forward and rested her forehead on his shoulder. “You’re back. I missed you.” 

He reached up and petted her hair. “I missed you too. Even though I could see you and hear you. It wasn’t the same.” 

She picked her head up to look at him, before slowly peeling off his mask. 

He didn’t fight her. 

With the mask off, she felt like she was looking at Black instead of Robin. But his gaze was soft and relaxed and void of the deranged mania that characterized Black. 

“I never knew you as Robin without the mask. I never knew Richard Grayson.” 

“Yeah…” he cringed. “I was hesitant to share that part. When we first started the team, I wanted to make sure I could trust everyone before I shared. After a while, I thought I’d be fine if everyone knew, but I never knew how to come out and say it. So…I just never told you guys.” 

“That makes much sense,” Starfire nodded sagely. “I must say, I believe I am the opposite. I trusted you almost right away, or else I would not have initiated lip contact.” 

Robin felt the blush rise to his cheeks, but hoped she couldn’t see it in the dark. “Oh, yeah, you sure did that…not how I pictured my first kiss to happen, that’s for sure.” 

She leaned closer, intrigued. “I was your first kiss? On my planet, that does not hold much significance, or lip contact in general, but I have come to learn that it does here.” 

“Depends on the person, but yeah, the first kiss is kinda like a stepping stone into romance. You don’t kiss at all on Tamaran?”

She shook her head. “We are able to assimilate languages through lip contact, which is why I did it. But I was still putting myself in a vulnerable position by engaging with you. I am glad I was able to trust you.” 

“And all this time, I thought you were just showing your gratitude for me removing your shackles.” 

“Oh, I was grateful! Do not think I wasn’t. It was relieving to know the new planet I had arrived on held creatures willing to help for the sake of doing what was right. You were the reason I decided to stay on Earth.” 

He blushed more at that. “Well…I’m glad I had that much of an impact.” 

“I am too.” She scooted closer. “So I was your first kiss?” 

He chuckled. “Technically, I shared a peck with a girl in my class back in Gotham, but I hardly think that counts.” 

“A peck? Like a chicken? What is that?”

“Yeah, it’s like…well…” He leaned closer to her and placed the briefest kiss on her lips. A millisecond of contact. “Like that.” 

Starfire let out a gasp of awe, a smile taking her face, before she schooled her expression into something more thoughtful. “No, I do not believe that truly counts. I would not be able to assimilate anything from it. Indeed, I believe I was truly your first kiss.” 

He smiled at her. “I figured you’d say that.” 

She scooted ever closer, now being pressed against his side. “Robin? Did you hear the things I said to Black about my feelings for you?”

“I did.” 

“And…I saw you had written my name on the wall of your…cell. Black said that you loved me, but he does not have the same memories, and I think he was just saying that to make me feel better—” 

“He was right.” He wrapped an arm around her waist. “I do love you, Starfire. Thinking about you was about the only thing that kept me from succumbing like the rest of the boys. I was determined to get out and tell you that.”  

She rested her head on his shoulder, overcome with emotion. 

“I have a long road of recovery ahead of me, but if you’re willing to travel beside me, I think I’ll be okay.” 

She rubbed under her eyes. “I have a confession to make…” Her voice was thick with emotion. “I love you. I love you so very much, even when we had our struggles, when Slade was in your head, when work consumed you…I still loved you. But,” she turned her face away. 

“You don’t like that other personality, huh?” 

She nodded before sobbing, “yes! Yes, and I want to love him because he’s a part of you. But he’s not you, and he does not have your kindness or consideration or—” She sniffed before resting a hand on his face, covering his scar. “You have shown so much love and kindness towards me when I was at my most vulnerable. If I can not love you at your worst…how shallow must my love be?” 

“Oh Star…” he squeezed her to his side. “You’re being really unfair to yourself. Black is a personality created out of trauma. He’s a reflection of a villain, the Joker. I don’t want you to like him. I don’t like him.”

“But—” 

“Look Star,” he turned to face her completely. “Let’s just take this slowly. Hopefully, I’m cured of my DID, and now just some trauma is left. But you’re not obligated to stay with me if things become too much for you, okay?” 

“Actually…” she bit her lip shyly. “Tamaraneans mate for life. We only fall in love once, so…I would say you are stuck with me.” 

“Oh!” His eyes blew wide, before he started chuckling. “I suppose I could be okay with that.” 

“Yes?” 

“Yes.” Finally, he leaned in, kissing her gently, but nonetheless passionately. 

Starfire returned the embrace, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck and clenching his shirt. 

When they finally separated, he kept his eyes closed. “We’ll figure it out together, okay?” 

“As we always do.”