#I'm not a ghostwriter

[reginrokkr]

So, do I go ham yet with Dain and Irminsul—

[kettlefire]

Prepare for the unexpected. (DPxDC)

Everyone knew about the reign of Pariah Dark. Even those who did not dabble in those realms have heard the tale of the tyrant. A power-hungry man who ruled over the dead with an iron fist.

Following the rise of Pariah Dark, his realm had been effectively cut off from communication. Many mystics and magic users knew better than to open the door of nightmares that could arise if Pariah Dark's reach went further than his own realm.

Except, the universe had plans to bring the realm of the dead back into the cards.

A new opponent, one that had all of Earth's heroes scrambling for options. A being with powers of a god over weather, destruction was on the horizon. A world ending threat.

It's the only reason the Justice League was doing this. In a deep bunker, far from close civilization as a precaution, the heroes looked on with grim expressions.

The world was already being threatened. It would be destroyed regardless of what the league did. So it only made sense to make the last ditch effort. To summon someone strong enough to defeat the threat.

No one wanted to do it. No one wanted to be the one to pull the realm of the dead back to the living. The consequences were untold if this succeeded. If Pariah Dark was freed and defeated the threat, whose to say he won't want control?

That was a problem for later. For the aftermath. For now, the league could only watch on with bated breath as Constantine completely the summon ritual.

They watched on as the shadows in the room seemed to darken and grow. As the sigil sputtered to life with a glow that was growing increasingly brighter. A sudden gust of wind rushed through the room, the temperature began to drop with eaching ticking second.

And then it was all gone.

The room stood perfectly still. Just as it had been moments before. Nothing changed. No giant king standing before them, no sign that the ritual worked.

The room stood deadly still for another beat before the murmurs started. The team trying to make sense of the situation, figure out what went wrong.

Constantine swore up and down that this was the correct ritual, taking offense that they would even think the problem was on his end. It only made it better when it finally happened.

A loud sound ripped through the room, pulling everyone's attention back to the summoning circle. Just in time to see a tear appear in the space above the circle.

A thin tear that ran the length of eight feet. The fabric of the dimension seems to curl at the edges, pulling back to reveal a deep glowing swirl of greens. A dark gloved hand reached through, fingers curling around the edge of the tear, stretching it even further.

A portal. The ritual had worked, but there had been a delay. A delay that had every hero nerves on edge. Each team member tensed, weapons at the ready as they watched the being stretch the portal to the right size.

Then, a foot stepped out with a heavy thud. A dark boot that looked otherworldly despite its similarity to mortal clothing. A deep black that seemed never-ending. A second foot quickly followed before a full body emerged from the portal.

Not many people in the room have ever seen Pariah Dark, let alone know what to expect. Based on what Constantine and Zatara had said, this wasn't Pariah Dark.

A man had stepped out of the portal, standing at almost seven feet tall, and built like a brick house. One glance at the glowing white hair, deadly red eyes, and shard teeth was enough to know this being was not to be messed with.

But there was no giant show of armor or royal garbs. There is no large crown at the top of his head or jewelry from the infinite realms laced around his neck.

Instead, the man stood before them in combat boots, worn-in ripped jeans, a graphic t-shirt, and a spiked leather jacket. Despite his almost normal clothing choice, the man's jacket seemed to be a never-ending depth of the dark night sky. If one was to look closely enough, the cosmos could almost be made out in the sea of darkness.

None of that would have prepared them for when the man spoke. His tone sounded more bored than anything as he took a step forward.

"Oh, so now you need the help of the dead." The man had spoken, running a hand through his hair. When Batman took a step forward to speak, the man raised a hand. Immediately commanding silence in the single gesture. "I'm on babysitting duty and have yet to have a cup of coffee. I'll be right back."

Just like that, both the man and portal vanished into thin air. Leaving behind a group of stunned heroes. Not only was the man not Pariah Dark, but he was also supposedly babysitting.

"Did that just-"

The Flash had been the first voice to speak up, his eyes trained on where the man had once stood. Except he had barely made it through the first few words before the man was suddenly back.

The man that now had a child hanging off his shoulders and another teen being held up by his scruff. Unlike the man, these kids looked human.

Too human for Bruce's liking. The dark black hair and bright blue eyes had every heroes eyes flickering to Batman for just the briefest moment.

"This isn't fair! I'm not even the king. Why do I have to be here!" The teenager had been complaining the moment the man had reappeared. Arms crossed tight over his chest and seemingly used to being held dangling. "Besides, who brings kids to a show down! Wait til I tell mom about this."

"Aw, come on, Danny. This is gonna be fun!!" The younger girl seemed in much better spirits than the teen, Danny. She had climbed up the large man, sitting on his shoulders and resting her arms on the mess of glowing hair. "It's like take your kids to work day! Ooo, Dan! Can we fight too!?"

Unlike the two kids, the man looked purely exhausted and annoyed. The man, Dan, dropped Danny like a sack of potatoes as he took a long drink from the travel cup in his hand.

It didn't take a genius to recognize the look of an exhausted parent in Dan's expression. A look many of the league members were well acquainted to. A look that even had Batman grimacing with sympathy.

"Can it, little shits. You two were grounded, remember." Dan had growled at the kids before shifting his focus back on the team of heroes before them. His glowing eyes set in a deadly glare. "Pariah Dark isn't coming, and he never will. He's been dethroned and banished. We're the best you've got."

A summoning that started with a group of on edge and scared heroes looking for the ghost king, ended in a way no one expected.

No one was even sure if it made any sense. They weren't sure if they should feel hopeful or in despair.

Because truly, what was a ghostly man with two seemingly human children against a godlike foe with the control over the weather?

The unspoken question of power and ability seemed to vanish following Dan downing the metal travel cup of coffee, and crushing it in his fist.

He tossed it to the side, straighting up his posture as he looked over the heroes. Dan might not be a hero, but he's been playing family for too long.

An almost feral, bloodhungry grin spread across the man's face, sharp fangs on full display. The look made the man suddenly look even less human. He looked closer to a demon from the pits of hell rather than the exhausted parent he looked just a few seconds ago.

"Point me in the direction of this bastard. It's been too long since I let loose and had some fun."

[helenofblackthorns]

oh so when Lucie Herondale, a 16 year old shadowhunter with unusual powers, raises her boyfriend from the dead it has no major consequences and when she goes to Edom with her bestie and future parabatai the worst thing that happens is that they have to share a secret but when I, Clary Fairchild-

[doesnotloveyou]

"I'm not a writer but I've read books on how to write so now I know everything and can tell you you're doing it wrong"

[finemealprompt]

DP x DC Prompt #24

The Ghostwriter finds himself bored. He wishes to cause some sort of chaos with his writing, but knows he can't target Phantom directly. At least, not in any way that the half-ghost will notice.

Watching Phantom, he sees the ghost join some sort of hero team. The Justice League?

Smiling to himself, Ghostwriter gets out his keyboard. Surely, Phantom wouldn't mind a love story between him and that Green Lantern, right?

[rinadragomir]

I spent 3 days colorizing Chain Of Thorns arts, please tell me it looks good🙇🏼‍♀️

I know that someone has already made a similar post and they inspired me to make my own version, but I don't remember their username😭pls let me know if you remember, so I can tag them

[mac-lilly]

Can this fic please write itself? I want to post it.

[florbelles]

sometimes the worst part of finding books you worked on out in the wild is seeing wtf the publisher did with the cover art

[mementokore]

I gilded Dredgen 8 times

I know what pain is

[spookieloop]

Fighting for my LIFE to not write a fic where Durge and Ascended Astarion approach Enver Gortash to join their world domination polycule.

[darcyolsson]

sometimes i randomly remember that in thule simon and jace are the only members from the tmi gang left alive meaning cc has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever. multidimensional jimonbaiting please cassandra please

[murdlygirly]

⚠️ HUGE Spoilers for SoM (Case 39) ⚠️

I need to wrap my head around the revelation case 39 dropped, so it’s ponderin’ time. And the ground that supports all of my thoughts rests on these bits of Exhibit F:

Because Logico wrote SoM to be an alternate prequel. Where he creates a different backstory on how he met Irratino isolated from how it really went in Volume 1. More notable information for later includes how he wrote SoM after Volume 3 of Murdle. 

SoM being a non-canonical story in the murdle-verse makes more sense as to why SoM Logico had a whole “the lamp looks weird” moment with the impossible triangle. Because the world around him literally doesn’t exist in the canon that the main three volumes established. And the dialogue in case 39’s answer section nods in this direction. If you need a refresher, here’s how that went:

I theorize that this dialogue isn’t only representative of SoM Logico but also our Logico from the original three volumes since he wrote him.

How? Well.

As he spirals, SoM Logico pinpoints a more vivid story from what I think were other potential directions this alternate prequel could have gone based on author Logico’s memories. Yet, this identified story remains vivid because it’s the real one, the truth. Logico and Irratino didn’t speak at Deduction College. Logico was too shy to get Irratino’s name. Logico would eventually meet Irratino in Volume 1.

But Logico didn’t want to meet Irratino later. It wasn’t “soon enough.”  

Our Logico is the one who “thought about this time so many times,” most likely while brain-storming SoM. Because our Logico wishes things had gone differently. That the story he tells in SoM was how it actually went. Maybe that’s even why he wrote it to begin with, despite Volume 3 ending in an “emotional cliffhanger.” He neglects to continue the canon story to tell this one. It became a higher priority.

Going at it from the perspective that Logico wrote SoM exactly like we have it, I imagine the blurb of dialogue in case 39 was something he intentionally placed to preserve continuity. It acknowledges that the two didn’t meet this way but moves on quickly because the rendition isn’t over yet. This might be why SoM Logico suddenly wakes up with a ruby pin the next morning. This pin, and the fact that it’s actually made of garnet, continues the plot Logico setup, so SoM Logico needs to have it. 

This explains why SoM Logico still talks to SoM Irratino at graduation in case 40 like they've known each other. The “we never talked at Deduction College” doesn't apply to them, so they continue the story like they normally would. 

Like how Logico intended.

[dobismuted]

Kendrick Lamar

4 diss tracks in 5 days. Bruv, you might as well just release a diss album. Well, he did warn Drake. Let's see if Drake turns up to Kendrick's yard like Stormzy did when Chip dissed him. Chip had that grown man acting like a roadman.

Granted, it's almost feeling like this...

Oh well...

[wanderingmind867]

My take on Anarky (Lonnie Machin):

Lonnie Machin was born in sad conditions. He grew up in Crime Alley, raised by his single mother, Jean Machin. Jean was poor, so she relied on Lonnie for many things. He had to pull his weight and help his mom make ends meet. She was also sad often, living in her past constantly (since she'd attempted to have a kid before Lonnie, and it had ended with her nearly dying, and then with her losing her husband).

If you can't tell where i'm going with this, let me spell it out: Jean used to be the wife of Jack Napier. She did almost die in an accident with a bottle heater, and her unborn child did die in the womb. But she fell into a small coma (and was briefly mistaken for being dead). Around a week after her accident, she wakes up. And then she learns her husband's gone missing, and she's also lost her baby. So she just sits in the hospital crying.

But she slowly moves on, and she finds a new man. She fell in love with a man named James Machin, who was charming when she first met him. But James tried to keep Jean stifled, living as a homemaker while she raised their baby, young lonnie. Jean wanted to be an engineer, but her husband wouldn't let her be one. She had to be a homemaker. So when lonnie was six or seven, Jean finally gets a divorce, and she lives James far behind (taking lonnie with her).

In a few short years (when Lonnie is nine or ten), Jean goes back to school and manages to start training to be an engineer. Lonnie is in awe of his mom, and he follows her around reverently. As she leads union meetings, as she tells lonnie about how her bosses and coworkers treat her like a second class citizen, as she talks about how she lost her ex-husband jack, how life has been nothing but unfair to her.

Despite being a single mom learning to be an engineer and a proud union member, she always encourages lonnie's interests. They play chess together (and lonnie learns all about strategy), they talk politics and machinery and tech. Lonnie learns he loves to read, and the library becomes his second home. Whenever his mom is off at work (and lonnie's home early from school), Lonnie goes to the library and reads everything he can.

Lonnie ends up obsessed with politics, reading all sorts of books on communism and anarchism. Marx, Proudhon, Bakunin, Engels, etc. He also reads a lot of fantasy novels, stories of underdog heroes working their way from the bottom to the top, all just with their wits and cunning. It inspires Lonnie to dream of being a heroic rogue, saving society from itself.

When Lonnie is 15, his local library starts getting harassed by conservative parents, who get all the LGBTQ+ and Left-Wing Political books banned from the shelves. Around the same time, Lonnie's mom loses her job as an engineer, since her boss hired a dumb male who did the job worse, but who was willing to work without a union. All these things happening at once solidify to Lonnie that the world is unfair, and it leads him to begin planning his revenge. He owes it to his mom, and he owes it to all those society has oppresed.

A few weeks after the library gets censored of all "filthy material", the conservative city council members find everything is going wrong for them. Their appliances don't work, their computers are all broken, and lewd LGBTQ+ imagery has been plastered all over their homes. Similarly, his mom's old boss finds his home defaced with the hammer and sickle of communism, as well as quotes from all the great anarchist and communist thinkers. And his home has no power or electricity either.

Lonnie didn't view this as bold enough to get his message across, however. So he starts hacking into all the TVs throughout Gotham, and he starts preaching and leading people in union songs. He hides behind a cloak and a mask, but he goes by Anarky and he begins to form a popular front. In the end, he becomes a hero to his mom, and to working folk everywhere!

For his biggest and boldest stunt, Lonnie hacks into the Wayne Enterprises websites, and he successfully manages to steal all their records. All of it. He exposes the company for hiring scabs, for paying below minimum wage, for being a capitalistic machine of evil! And then he begins realizing that Batman must somehow have a connection to Mister Wayne. He never figures out they're the same person, but he quickly learns that Batman is a puppet of the status quo.

Angry and outraged that a superhero could be such a sellout, Anarky begins messing with Batman. He destroys his tech, he almost shuts down the Batcave, Lonnie comes very close to destroying Batman for good. It's only due to speed and luck that Batman manages to track down Anarky before he can find out Batman's true identity.

Now caught and exposed, Lonnie is sent to juvenile hall. But his name is still whispered in proud tones amongst all the poor and downtrodden of Gotham. The name of Anarky is still more popular than Batman in some circles. Because he represents real heroism. This 15 year old boy stood up for our rights, when no one else did. Anarky is revered as a modern robin hood, and he's stunned. But when he gets out of juvie hall, he knows there's still work to be done. He will stop the bat. And he will save this city from the festering rot of capitalism. So says Anarky, the voice of the voiceless!

PS: Yes, the story of Jean Machin wanting to be an engineer was stolen from a union song i've heard before. I've been listening to union music nonstop as I write this. So y'know, that helped me get in the mood for the character.

[fictionadventurer]

After very little research into the other writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane, my hypothesis about the Little House authorship question is that the writing is mostly Rose's, but the heart is Laura's.

In Laura's newspaper columns, the parts that sound most like Little House mostly come from the extracts she shares from Rose's letters (incidentally, it's kind of adorable how proud she is of Rose: "My daughter's in France!", "My daughter's in Albania!", etc.) The prose of Old Home Town, Rose's inspired-by-my-childhood-home novel, has some of the same concise descriptive prose that I've come to associate with the Little House style (I could hear passages in the voice of the Little House audiobook narrator).

Yet the Little House soul is all over Laura's columns. She's fascinated by the simple tasks of life, believes in home and family and hard work, believes in holding onto the goodness of childhood and looking forward with hope toward the future. There's an optimism, almost a romanticism, about life. The children's series that bears her name clearly comes from the same woman.

Rose, by contrast, is much more pessimistic. When writing about childhood, she's almost cynical about the life of a small town. She highlights the dark stories underlying the wholesome exterior, is extremely sensitive to the pitfalls of the social scene around her. Part of the difference is that Rose is writing for adults, but there does seem to be an essential difference in the personality behind the pen, despite the stylistic similarities to Little House.

(At the risk of pop psychoanalyzing people long dead, Rose seems much more neurotic and introverted and sensitive than her mother. In her writings and in the books about her childhood in Missouri, she comes across as child of a fairly comfortable modern life, with all the modern anxieties, in contrast to a woman who grew up starving on the prairie and knows that there are much worse things to endure than small-town gossip).

It's not much of a thesis, but I'm just fascinated by the fact that the Little House series can share so many stylistic similarities with Rose's writings, yet feel so much more like Laura.

[calyroco]

How did Satan finally making his first appearance with a speaking role in the series that started with the horror of a woman being unknowingly manipulated by a satanic cult end up so...meh?