#Nightmare Dork University

[sylphidine]

Seeing some new faces that ***aren't*** bots interacting with my posts here, so have some links to my most often-updated multichapter AO3 works-in-progress, for new and new-ish Tumblr followers.

If you're a RISE OF THE GUARDIANS movie / THE GUARDIANS OF CHILDHOOD books fan: try A CITIZEN OF THE UNIVERSE AND A GENTLEMAN TO BOOT. It's a Boogeyman redemption story, no pairings, suitable for all ages, with a few crossover characters from other media.

If you've followed me for ROTGOC content and have found yourself falling into the AU vortex that is Nightmare Dork University: the story that is currently taking up most of my NDU brainspace is ECDYSIS, otherwise known as "the unsnobbing of Piki Black". Rating is probably teen, more to do with angst than with situations.

I'm in the midst of writing a human!AU story, based on the events and characters from the videogame DELTARUNE, titled CALL SIGNS. This is the first of a planned series of works, and you do not have to be familiar with the game to enjoy the story! This one's definitely mature in its themes, since it deals with relationships and with recovery. A fair number of Nightmare Dork University characters make appearances alongside Swatch, Spamton, Tasque Manager, and the Addisons.

Thanks for reading!

---Sylphi/AuntUncle Macabre

[sylphmacabre]

Somnos Scherzo

Fandom: Nightmare Dork University, an AU of RISE OF THE GUARDIANS that has become its own subfandom

'Verse - Collegeverse

Characters: NDU Piki Black, NDU Jack Sickle, NDU Pitch Black

Pairings: StageFright [Piki/Jack]

Rating: General

Summary: The sleeping habits of Piki Black, hyperbolic playwright.

Notes: If you are wondering what the devil Nightmare Dork University is, and what it has to do with either the movie RISE OF THE GUARDIANS or the GUARDIANS books by William Joyce, please visit the NDU 101 page on Tumblr and its accompanying tags. It's a wild and woolly ride involving four different versions of Pitch Black and a very different version of Jack Frost, all of whom either room together or "fraternize" in a college / university AU. And let's not forget a taxidermied ferret named Mr. Pickles.

Originally posted on Archive Of Our Own on May 15, 2016.

A clinical observer would note that Piki Black succumbed to sleep in sections.

He did not snore, precisely, but his breathing had a sharp difference between inhale and exhale, a staccato rhythm on the upbeat of air leaving his nostrils which would then fold in upon itself as he more softly took air in.

He would most often lie on his left side while sleeping alone, his left hand tucked under one of his two pillows, his right arm wrapped around himself, his right hand grasping his left shoulder.  Occasionally the right hand could be seen to twitch, opening and closing spasmodically.

Once Piki’s breathing settled into a more even pattern and his arms relaxed, there would usually be some erratic scissoring of his legs, with the occasional backwards rabbit-kick, before he gave in to letting sleep take him entirely.

==================

Jack Sickle liked to sleep on his right side.  Piki had noticed that, the very first time the younger man had stayed over at the apartment of iniquity his brother shared with the brute and the horror.

His Jack, his dear, dear Jack, was worth any sacrifice.

So for years, both before and after Jack moved in with him, Piki ignored the constantly pinched nerve in his arm and the eternally pulled muscles in his neck that were a result of him sleeping curled around Jack, while both slept on their right sides.

His leg movements diminished until they barely happened at all, since Piki seldom now descended into utter relaxation.  How could he, when he had all of earth and heaven too in his embrace each night?

The dark shadows under Piki’s eyes deepened more and more during each year that he and Jack lived together, but he brushed aside Pitch’s concerns about sleep deprivation.

==================

Pitch stayed in Piki’s room on an airbed for a full two weeks following Piki’s breakdown, after Jack left.

Never the deepest sleeper himself, for the first ten nights he watched his tormented brother insist on sleeping on “Jack’s side” of the bed.. on what was, in his opinion, the wrong side.  Pitch observed Piki repeatedly try to mould his body to fill an imaginary hollow, contorted into a space that covered barely a tenth of the surface of the mattress, right on the edge and perilously close to falling on the floor.

On the eleventh night, Pitch awoke to hear Piki shifting restlessly.  Keeping his own counsel, he pretended to be asleep himself until the rustling ceased, and then ventured a look over to the bed.

Piki was lying flat on his back, in the center of the mattress.  Tears were leaking from beneath his closed eyelids, as they generally did every night, but tonight Piki’s breathing was deep and even; he was finally, finally sound asleep, and looked more peaceful than he’d been in ages.

Pitch felt his own eyes fill, briefly.

==================

New bed with a double bookcase headboard, new sheets, new pillows.  

A night-table for each of them, rather than both of them sharing Piki’s.

A new double reading-lamp light fixture for over the bed, with switches on each side within easy, independent reach.

Reading aloud to one another became their nightly ritual.

Some nights they slept back to back, Piki on his left side, Jack on his right.

Sometimes Jack curled around Piki, or let Piki pillow his head on his chest.  

Jack never minded the occasional kick in the shins, since he knew that it meant that Piki was actually on his way to a good night’s sleep.

[sylphidine]

...and those poor followers are STILL, years later, being bombarded by my love of Nightmare Dork University, to the point where I wrote Nightmare Galleon, Proto and Mister Pickles, Piki being his hyperbolic self, AND the disappearance of Jack Sickle, into multiple chapters of a DELTARUNE fanfic.

me continuing to make terrible posts about my extremely niche interests instead of anything people actually followed me for:

[gretchensinister]

Daily (Spooky) Fic Highlight: Samhain

"Samhain" is a short fic set in the Nightmare Dork University (NDU) AU, which is a college AU involving several different versions of Pitch and one Jack. This is a collective AU that spawned within the Rise of the Guardians fandom; if you see it mentioned anywhere else, there won’t be continuity among the stories.

Within the fic, I am working with the idea that the human NDU characters have attracted the notice of their inhuman, eldritch/cosmic counterparts, leading to very strange things happening to them. 

Among the various NDU manifestations, sometimes there is a version of Sandy named Ole Lukoje in a relationship with the Proto version of Pitch. They are the predominant ship in this fic, which was written for a Blacksand Halloween event in 2014. Here, the NDU group is getting ready for a party, or at least putting on their costumes. 1207 words, T, M/M.

Sample:

“Ta-da! Say hello to Dr. Doom!” Pitchiner says, stepping out of his bedroom. Neither of the Black twins look over at him. “It looks great,” Jack says quietly, twisting his fluffy fake tail in his hands. “At least someone can spare a glance at me,” Pitchiner says, beaming at Jack. “Turn around, and I’ll pin your tail on.” Pitch scoffs at him, tying Piki’s tie more easily than if he was tying his own in a mirror. This was how they both had learned, after all. “I know what your costume looks like—I know what both your costumes look like. I’m sure they’re the same as they were when I helped you put them together.” He shoves a scarf at Piki. “And the same goes for you.” Piki drapes the scarf around his neck. “I suppose thanks are in order. This doesn’t really feel like a costume at all, and you did arrange for it to be film compliant, unlike your own…”

[sylphidine]

I... have no real explanations or regrets. Sometimes things just happen. But my love for the ferret was real.

This is so lovely, like all your work.

Pitch is not the only one to have a bit of nostalgia stuck in his eye.

Thank you, @blackbeeno3569

[sylphmacabre]

Fandom: Nightmare Dork University, an AU of RISE OF THE GUARDIANS that has become its own subfandom

'Verse - Wardrobeverse, Metaverse

Characters: Icicle Jack, Meta!Proto, Wangst Pitch [mentioned]

Rating: Mature

Summary: Watching and wanting what cannot be had. Set in the RotG AU known as the Wardrobeverse, originating in the "Wangst Comics" by ask-pitchs-wardrobe on Tumblr. Companion piece to "Somewhere Deep Inside Of These Bones".

Notes: Written as a request from @twistedxsaiyan

Originally posted on Archive Of Our Own on February 25, 2019.

You watch from your corner as the man who mirrors your lover sweeps your own mirror image into his embrace.

That clasping looks so much warmer, so much more solid, than the fierce and spiky couplings you and your lover subject one other to.

The devotion in the dark-haired human’s voice makes you weep when you think about the desperation you hear in your own voice, when you respond to similar devotion from your lover.  You hear the same desperation in the voice of your human doppleganger.

You do not understand why neither can hear the common threads of fear and loneliness that bind each other’s speech, the inchoate terror that marks the cadences of each other’s words.

“Oh, but they do hear themselves, little stalactite, but they’ll never admit that they do,” murmurs an unwelcome voice behind you.  Without turning to look, you know there will be a tall, smokily indistinct shape with too many limbs, a pale smooth unfurrowed face, and eyes of a violently incandescent blue, hovering at your shoulder.

Without being either booming or scratchy, the voice of that most dreaded, that most inscrutable and indefinable companion in your shadowed world reminds you, as it is meant to do, of the loud silence of anticipation of the next thunderclap as the last one rolls away, of the frantic skittering of insects as they flee from the disturbed safety of overturned loam in the forest.  That voice is meant to be feared, and fear it you do… but not as much as you fear the sound of disappointment in your lover’s voice.

You make an effort to suppress a shudder and to act as though your unwanted companion is not there, as you turn your attention back to the humans, one tall, one small.  The murmurs of “stop, hush, of course I’ll…” are a counterpoint to “thank you” and the hitching of breath that usually presages sobbing until emptied.

The familiarity is painful.  Your lover commands as often as he comforts.  You acquiesce far more often than you protest.

You want these two to be different, but the odds are that they will trace the same path of futility that you find yourself on.

You sigh and turn away, noticing as you do so that your dreaded companion has disappeared.

You do not know why that leaves you aching and lonely.

[gretchensinister]

Daily (Spooky) Fic Highlight: Facets

"Facets" is a groups of seven true drabbles that all center around characters in the Nightmare Dork University (NDU) AU, which is a college AU involving several different versions of Pitch and one Jack. This is a collective AU that spawned within the Rise of the Guardians fandom; if you see it mentioned anywhere else, there won't be continuity among the stories.

These drabbles were written for an NDU Halloween event, and the event's theme is why the prompts all reference Coney Island rides. Within these drabbles, I am working with the idea that the human NDU characters have attracted the notice of their inhuman, eldritch/cosmic counterparts, leading to very strange things happening to them. 700 words, G, M/M.

Here's one of the drabbles as a sample:

Onyx-studded bridle. Smooth and jetty coat (of paint). Too absurd to be a temptation or a terror. And yet. It is perfect as memory would have such horses, as out of place as himself in his family’s house. An object, a prop: if so, what role is he playing? If Chekov’s rule applies, should he ransack the attic for his riding helmet? Sift through the change jar for bitter-smelling brass? Of course he shouldn’t. A kelpie is a kelpie. But how it shines at the edges of the orange glow of streetlights! How it shines! Ah, except for the eyes.

[vanweezer]

that type of person who you think you'd be friends with in every universe - expressed through jim & corey - id/transcript in alt text

so this is a kind of not-so-surprise for my friend @sinclarsupremacy , bc they were the first person i showed this two and was on the phone with me the whole time while i made it. didn't give a single thing away until everything was scanned and done. five dead pens and one reliable sharpie later, i show him this. wanted to get used to drawing the slipsour guyz more but also wanted to articulate something i have troubles saying to important people. this is kind of an ode to all my close friends ive made who i definitely wouldve hung around some graveyards with, and an ode to some bands i didnt know id like as much as i do 🫶

[sylphidine]

[NDU] Scratch Spins And Shadow Dances

Written for the annual Rise of the Guardians Stocking Stuffer event for 2023.

@rotgsecretsanta

Prompt 30 - NDU Verse (Pitchiner and Pitch)

________________________

“Skiing?” “Good God, no.”

“Ice fishing? Snowshoeing? Tobogganing?”

“I haven’t a clue what that last one is, but it sounds truly vulgar.”

“Oh, come ON. It’s like a long flat sled that’s got a big curl up front, but no runners. You can fit like four or five kids on it, you shoot down the highest hill you can find, and you all jump off before you fall into the ravine or hit a tree.”

“Then I certainly haven’t participated in such a thing.”

“Seriously? Nobody ever did winter stuff with you when you were a kid? That’s just sad.”

“Winter weather out-of-doors involves getting cold and wet. I would think you would know me well enough by now to realize that being cold and wet irks me."

Pitch leaned forward from where he was perched on Coz's lap and gave him a rare, affectionate cheek nuzzle instead of a spiteful ear nip. He continued, "If you can keep your mind out of the gutter, I'm sure you can guess my OTHER favorite indoor winter sport, by simple process of elimination."

Coz gave him a shit-eating grin back. "Hmmmm… pickleball?" 

That earned Coz a hard smack on the shoulder as Pitch hissed like a scalded cat. “Do you really think my mother would allow such a pedestrian, uncultured, NOISY pastime in her house?”

“Nah, I guess not. Alright, Mr. ‘I’m too sexy for my pickleball’, I give up.  What indoor winter sport does the lofty Black family approve of and you call your favorite?”

With the air of one conveying a secret for the ages, Pitch replied proudly, "Ice skating!"

Coz mulled that over, confused for a minute until he figured out that by "indoor winter sport", Pitch was referring to an actual skating rink. He responded, "Huh. We finally have something in common."

“You skate?”

“Of course I skate.  You can’t grow up on the border of The Great White North without learning how to ice skate.”

“I’m not talking about ice hockey, you oaf.”

“Neither am I! Not to mention being part Russian. It's in the blood. You’d be surprised at what I can get up to when I’m bladed up.”

“Hmmmph.”

“I’m guessing that you and Piki grew up with little silver blades on your feet, to go with the silver spoons in your mouths.”

He'd meant that to sound banter-y, but it was apparently the wrong thing to say.

“If you’re going to be rude, I’m going to skip this line of inquiry.” Pitch started to wriggle off of Coz's lap, but not before Coz saw a flash of hurt quickly cross his bedmate's sharp-featured face. He shot out one beefy arm, circled Pitch's slim waist with it, and hauled him back in, holding him close to his chest.

"Hey. Hey, hey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I was only trying to say you must have been really cute on skates when you were a kid."

"Hmmph," Pitch groused again, but sounding less annoyed this time. He relaxed a bit in Coz's grip.

"My Russian great-aunt ran a skating concession stall up in Malone when I was little," Coz continued, "and she was really patient with the kids. If I close my eyes, I can see you there, too."

"Maybe in another lifetime," Pitch said musingly. "I doubt that my parents ever wintered  north of Saratoga Springs."

Coz wisely held his tongue this time, resisting the urge to scoff at the notion of rich people “wintering” in spots that saw not even half the snow he was used to. He said instead, “So. You. Me. Ice skating. Interested?” 

“You’re on. But ***I *** get to pick where and when.”

“Anything you say, dear.”

_____________

“You do know we could have just driven down, parked at my grandparents' place, and taken the subway here, don’t you?” asked Coz a week later from the backseat of the town car he and Pitch were currently riding in.

“Yes, we COULD have,” replied Pitch smugly, “but I wouldn’t want you all tired out and stiff before we even got to the rink.” Pitch couldn’t help grinning at the double entendre he’d slipped in there, and from the grin and the “oh HO” he got as an answer, Pitchiner hadn’t missed it. 

He gave himself a pat on the back. Had this been his twin brother trying to impress Jack Sickle, Piki would have sprung for buying a VIP package with unlimited skate time, never thinking to ask if Jack even LIKED ice skating, finding out the hard way about Jack’s traumatic past experiences with frozen water, and then flailing around for the rest of the date while Jack fell apart emotionally.

Pitch had more awareness of others’ sensibilities than Piki did, or ever would. [Never mind that it had been PROTO who’d told Pitch about how Jack’s sister died.  Information was still information.] He gave himself credit in finding out what Pitchiner considered fun, and had planned this outing accordingly. 

And no, this was not a date. He wasn't in love with dating Pitchiner.

Yes, it was Rockefeller Center. But no, he wasn’t trying to make a splash with money the way Piki would have.  Pitch’s current intent was to rent some skates and to do two 40-minute skate sessions with food and hot beverages in-between. Even the round trip limo service that he'd arranged between the NDU campus and midtown Manhattan was a practical concern, not meant to be flamboyant.

Nothing extravagant, therefore. Just something that normal people did at Christmas time.

Not a date.

He promised himself he wouldn’t laugh… much… at Pitchiner’s skating. After all, The Rink at Rockefeller Center was not some glazed-over puddle in the backwoods. Indoor ice skating required thoughtful panache, not mindless brawn.

An hour later, Pitch found himself taken aback.

He was used to looking at Pitchiner with attraction and lust. And quite frankly, who wouldn’t? He was muscled in all the right places and had a handsome face, even with the crooked nose.

Pitchiner in bed with Pitch was one tasty feast of a man.

Pitchiner on the lacrosse field was an unstoppable force of nature, one Pitch had to admire even if he didn’t understand the rules of the game. Not that Pitch would ever admit to such admiration out loud. 

But Pitchiner on ice skates… well, “beautiful” was the first word that leapt to Pitch’s mind, and once having leapt there, the word “beautiful” refused to be dislodged.

Somehow Pitchiner managed to convert his formidable muscle and sinew into something tight and focused. He wasn’t showy with his axels and spins. But he stuck every landing, pulled himself into and out of crouches and slides, and dammit, his sensual movements made Pitch regret his extra layers of clothing.

Pitch had at first restricted himself to circling the outer perimeter of the rink, with occasional twirls when he could be sure not to crash into other skaters. Having seen Pitchiner in action, he made up his mind to let loose, just a little.

He put on a bit of speed and caught up to Pitchiner, pulling just ahead of him in the circuit. Wordlessly he held out one gloved hand and was relieved to have Pitchiner reaching back.

Together they skated in silence, hand in hand, keeping pace with each other, complicated feelings on both sides expressed in motion, without words.

[sylphmacabre]

Mullioned Pains

Fandom: Nightmare Dork University, an AU of RISE OF THE GUARDIANS that has become its own subfandom

'Verse - Collegeverse

Characters: NDU Pitch Black, NDU Piki Black, NDU Cossimo "Coz" Pitchiner, NDU Jack Sickle, NDU Proto

Pairings: Nightmare Galleon [Pitch/Coz], StageFright [Piki/Jack]

Rating: Teen

Summary: How friends, brothers, lovers, and... ummm, others... help drama student and theatre director Pitch Black cope with the frequent migraines he suffers during and after his time at Nightmare Dork University.

Notes: If you are wondering what the devil Nightmare Dork University is, and what it has to do with either the movie RISE OF THE GUARDIANS or the GUARDIANS books by William Joyce, please visit the NDU 101 page on Tumblr and its accompanying tags. It's a wild and woolly ride involving four different versions of Pitch Black and a very different version of Jack Frost, all of whom either room together or "fraternize" in a college / university AU. And let's not forget a taxidermied ferret named Mr. Pickles.

Originally posted on Archive Of Our Own on April 1, 2016.

Mullion: a slender vertical member that forms a division between units of a window, door, or screen or is used decoratively

=================================

PIKI - two years after graduating NDU

He couldn’t help but flinch when he heard the key in the lock of the front door of his flat, rather than the expected buzzer from the foyer below.  Piki’s momentary resentment of Pitch’s presumption disappeared when he saw his twin’s face.

A still face.  A composed face.  Not a flicker of animation, not a hint of pursed lips or clenched jaw.

But Pitch’s right hand kept opening and closing spasmodically.  Piki knew that sign.

It had been more than a decade since his brother had come to him for comfort for one of his headaches.  Without letting himself think about why Pitch was coming to him for comfort, Piki swung instantly and instinctively into the routine he and his brother had established in childhood.  He led Pitch to the couch, sat next to him. and guided Pitch’s head to his shoulder with his right hand while keeping his left arm loosely clasped around his twin’s waist.

He could feel Pitch’s breath hitching as he tried to cope with the pain.  “Ssssh, close your eyes,” Piki murmured, closed his own in sympathy, and began to hum the “Promenade” theme from Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition.  

JACK - November of Pitch’s senior year at NDU

Was he overstepping his bounds?  Would he just be adding to Pitch’s headache?  Would Pitch appreciate the little trinket that was just like the one Jack’s sister had given him when she thought Jack was afraid of the dark?  

Since the beginning of the semester, Jack had quietly filed away in his memory everything he had observed about the older student who’d taken him on as a stagehand, even if Pitch had done it under protest.  He knew how Pitch liked his coffee.  He’d learned when Pitch was trying to rile Koz up in a lighthearted manner and when they were poised to do one another unmitigated damage.  He was unsurprised that Pitch genuinely feared his cousin Proto, his fear an equal measure to his disgust at their being related.

He did not understand what it was about Piki that made Pitch unleash real venom at his twin brother instead of the clever drawling sarcasm he used on everyone else.

After yet another screaming match backstage at the NDU theatre, where Piki stormed out slamming the stage door behind him and Pitch sank down on a rickety chair behind the curtain and put his face in his hands, Jack was prepared, despite his self-doubts.

When Pitch returned to the apartment he shared with Pitchiner and Proto, exhausted, hungry, and bleary-eyed after combatting his stress-induced migraine in private, he found a bright blue rabbit’s-foot keychain on his desk, along with a note in Jack’s neat handwriting.

It’s not magic, but it helps me to calm down.  I hope it will help you too.

Pitch rubbed the soft fur between his fingers and closed his eyes. 

PITCHINER - Sometime after their tenth wedding anniversary

He was not the most sentimental of men on the planet, but then again, neither was Pitch.

Coz had congratulated himself on finding what he thought was the perfect getaway spot for Pitch to finish his newest screenplay.  Spooky inspiration was all right in its way, at least for Pitch, and chopping wood for the massive fireplace in the cabin helped Coz flex muscles he hadn’t used since NDU and the Army, muscles he’d forgotten he had.

But now he wasn’t so sure that a wooded mountain retreat, far from the highway and civilization, was all that great an idea.  His husband was now huddled in a rocker near the kitchen stove, face screwed up in misery, in too much pain to snark or to make a sound beyond an occasional hiss.  A combination of unexpectedly cold temperatures for May and altitude sickness from the increased elevation had conspired to give Pitch one doozy of a physical headache and Coz one doozy of an emotional one.

To distract himself and Pitch from the worrisome thoughts of seizures and blood clots and strokes and aneurysms while being two hours away from the nearest hospital, Coz gave his husband a cheeky grin and blurted out, “Do you remember when I stuffed sweat socks into that old radiator back at our dorm to stop it from clanking?”

Pitch looked back at him blankly, his eyes ringed with darker shadows than normal.  The silence stretched for countless minutes and Coz mentally kicked himself   Then, surprisingly and gratifyingly, the corners of Pitch’s thin lips quirked upwards in subdued mirth.  “Ah, the stench of true love.”

PROTO - Two months after move-in at NDU

A four-afghan migraine.  Oh dear, this WAS serious.

Proto dispassionately viewed the sleeping form of his cousin stretched out on the couch under multiple blankets, face buried in cushions so that only his distinctive crest of black hair could be seen.

Oh dear, indeed.

This called for drastic measures.

One quick and completely justifiable break-in, one cupboard rummage-by-feel, and one gently-muted whisking later, Proto placed a mug of hot gingered wheatgrass-and-chard tea and a snifter of brandy on the coffee table within Pitch’s reach.  He tenderly positioned Mr. Pickles between his roommate’s drawn-up knees and the back of the couch so that the stuffed ferret’s winsome grin would be the first sight to cheer Pitch when he awoke.

Proto ghosted away to his own room with a self-satisfied smile.

[misch3fbunni3]

A Blessing and a Curse

Chapter 56: Month 20: Homecoming – Nightmares

Once more, Wesker was awakened by a foot jamming into his ribs, but the sound that accompanied it ripped him from a deep serene sleep.

It was a pitiful cry accompanied by a shrill scream, and there was a flurry of movements as Chris’s heavy weight launched over him and onto the other side of the bed.

Jill.

[sylphidine]

I came THIS CLOSE to deleting all my works on Archive Of My Own.

My account on Archive Of Our Own has now been locked to only registered AO3 accounts, and that only AO3 account-holders can reply.

Within the last 24 hours, I came very, very, VERY close to deleting CALL SIGNS, the Swatchton story I have been working on for the last year and a half, into which I've been pouring my heart, sweat, and soul. I also considered deleting my body of work entirely... 83 pieces, eight years' worth of fanfiction brain power.

The reason why? AI story-scrapers.

The technology testing has gotten to the point that the bots can scrape AO3 for people's AO3 handles *and* leave comments on AO3 fics that sound like a human wrote them.

A post on Tumblr alerted me to the fact that two comments on CALL SIGNS were quite likely AI-generated.  The important bullet points from the post:

No mentions whatsoever of character names, settings, situations, or anything that could be tied to the story.

The usernames may be identical to people who exist on ao3, but the name is not clickable, and no profile is associated with it EXCEPT when you directly search for that name. What this means: the comments come from an unregistered (not logged in) reader, bots scrape the site for real usernames, attach that to the comment, and post.

And since I always reply to any comments I get on my fics, even if it takes a while, I fell for this scam.

[I edited out the names the the bots "borrowed". I can assure you that neither of the writers whose pseuds got stolen were involved; they write for VERY different fandoms than the ones I write for.]

I was so bloody happy to hear that someone thought I was handling really raw and angsty topics well, since CALL SIGNS is the first fic I've written that comes even close to such heavy subject matter, that I didn't even notice the warning signs.

More fool me.

So I went to bed in tears, after venting to friends on various platforms. I thought hard about deleting CALL SIGNS.

I'm not going to delete CALL SIGNS,

I'm not going to delete any of my other stories, either.

I did delete the comments.

But...

To quote a certain Tom Petty, I'm gonna stand my ground, and I won't back down.

The next story chapter of CALL SIGNS, titled "Trash Landing", is 80% done. 

It's damn heavy.

It's dark.  It's painful.

It's necessary for the healing. 

There ***will*** be so much comfort after the hurt, if you can bear with me, dear readers.

Art of "Sylph Addison", with her tasque Phinneas, done for me by Miss_Archivist @missarchivistdoodles

I'm also working on fics for RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, several crossover fics involving classic DOCTOR WHO and THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES, and various bits and bobs for Nightmare Dork University.

I will not give up on writing.

I will fight against AI.

Tagging some of the people who've influenced my writing here on Tumblr in the various fandoms I write for:

@ksclaw

@penbwl

@mira-eyeteeth

@thisbluespirit

[sylphidine]

Shockingly, I've posted far many more words than I would have expected, if one had asked me in February 2015 and had the poll function been around back then.

I saw a poll about how many works you've published on Ao3 and so then I got curious. So let's try this.

How many WORDS have you published on Ao3???

i'm talking total word count that you can see if you look in your statistics.

[sylphmacabre]

Somewhere Deep Inside Of These Bones

Fandom: Nightmare Dork University, an AU of RISE OF THE GUARDIANS that has become its own subfandom

'Verse - Collegeverse

Characters: NDU Piki Black, NDU Jack Sickle, NDU Brunhilde, EBU Jack Frost [mentioned]

Pairings: StageFright [Piki/Jack]

Rating: General

Summary: Piki cluelessly does the right thing for Jack for ENTIRELY the wrong reasons.

Notes: Based on a prompt from @bowlingforgerbils If you are wondering what the devil Nightmare Dork University is, and what it has to do with either the movie RISE OF THE GUARDIANS or the GUARDIANS books by William Joyce, please visit the NDU 101 page on Tumblr and its accompanying tags. It's a wild and woolly ride involving four different versions of Pitch Black and a very different version of Jack Frost, all of whom either room together or "fraternize" in a college / university AU. And let's not forget a taxidermied ferret named Mr. Pickles.

Originally posted on Archive Of Our Own on November 2, 2016.

The front door buzzer sounded at 3pm over the intercom in Piki’s flat; he nearly tripped over his own feet in his rush to buzz Jack in.  He cast a quick glance behind him, to make sure Brunhilde was still asleep in her sunny spot on the window seat, before opening the apartment door and waiting for Jack to round the curve of the staircase to the second floor.  

Now *that* was an unfamiliar expression to see on Jack’s face; Piki thought he knew all Jack’s reactions intimately.  Shy, sweet, nervous, enthused, sleepy… but this… smouldering rage?  It did not sit well with the playwright, and he was mentally cataloguing the ways he could commit justified mayhem on the person who had made his dear one angry.

But, he reflected, justified mayhem could be VERY time-consuming, and that would mean time spent away from Jack.  So, with a silent sigh of regret, Piki turned his attention towards getting to the root cause of his beloved’s distress.

“Jack?” he inquired softly as he waved the young blond man into his living room.  “What’s wrong?”

The angry look faded into an almost sheepish smile.  “It’s n-n-nothing, really, Piki.  My cousin was supposed to have met me after class to help me with a project, but he never… he never showed up.”  Jack sat down gingerly next to Brunhilde, buried his chin in his chest, and started to run his hand over the recumbent Siamese cat’s back, The stroking action seemed to require all his attention, almost as if he did not want to look his boyfriend in the eye.

Piki tried not to visibly shudder at the mention of the Anti-Jack, and instead concentrated on the rest of what Jack had said.   He lowered himself into the armchair across from the window seat… near enough to be supportive but not so near as to be intimidating.  He queried gently, “What kind of project, if I may ask?”

A few moments passed before Jack blurted out, words tumbling over one another too quickly for his stutter to catch up, “We-used-to-act-out-Nightmare-Before-Christmas-when-we-were-kids-and-I-wanted-to-do-it-as-a-skit-for-my-education-class…”

Piki nodded in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, his own mind racing again towards thoughts of revenge against the one who’d let his darling down.  He snapped back to attention as he heard the desperation and, yes, actual anger in Jack’s voice, words coming out more slowly and softly, but still rushed.

“…but now he’s always hanging out with that p-professor and the project is due next week and I still have my Zero costume and I need someone to be the Pumpkin King - “

Realization dawned.  In one fluid sequence of motions, Piki bounded off his chair, knelt before the startled young man on the window seat and enfolded him in his bony arms.  He murmured soothingly, “Stop, Jack, hush, of course I’ll help you, of course I’ll be your Pumpkin King…”

Brunhilde lazily lifted her head at the interruption to her petting, and flopped resignedly back into sleep.

And that was how Piki found himself, five days later, dressed in a snazzy pinstriped black suit with a bow tie shaped like a bat, his head encased in a mask, in a brightly lit classroom in front of twenty-five small humans who were fascinated by his long spidery hands and the way he could throw his voice as he sang “Jack’s Lament” for them..

He did not want to even CONTEMPLATE what Proto would demand as recompense for helping with his costume, nor did he want to remember Proto’s silent smile when Piki was foolish enough to ask where the costume had come from at such short notice.

The sweet timid smiles that Jack-dressed-as-Zero kept shooting at him during the skit were reward enough.

[batmanfruitloops]

Because I was encouraged to here's a few more of my favorite panels from different comics

His soul needs riddlin'

Don't know if the Lanterns are canon in this universe or not but I still love this panel

Yes, that is a baby he throws.

Riddler is just monkeying around!

Had to include this amazing wanted poster, very "dangerous"

And final one!

God, I love that one...

You don't have to do all of these, just choose your favorites to draw ;3

Good ol' Jimbo. The most tired man in all of Gotham. The lanterns are canon and by extension the Justice League but it's not a big focus and a lot still need designs.

I wanted to draw the cute little monkeys, I love to draw animals! But this would be one of Ed's worst nightmares, he's terrified of getting certain diseases like tetanus or rabies and in general has bad luck with animals. Luckily these monkeys seem used to people so he'll probably be fine physically, definitely not mentally.

The most dangerous creature in the concrete jungle.

What a dork.

-Fluffy

[sylphidine]

Reblogging for trade show season, where I need to press the flesh and keep my murderous instincts hidden behind a practiced smile.

@rotgsecretsanta​

Prompt nr. 88. Nightmare Dork University. Pitch Black and Piki Black suffering through a Black family Christmas.

Yeah, the twins are not amused.