#but itll be out there eventually

[bloggerspam]

A Christmas Carol AU

Inspired by a prompt found in the @haunting-heroes-creative-games :) (i.e. back on my shit again)

When a 15 year old Jason, pissed at Bruce for taking Robin away from him, finds his birth certificate he realizes Catherine Todd is not his real mother.

Just as he resolves to go out and search for his birth mother, Jason finds himself accosted by three ghosts in his room, talking about A Christmas Carol of all things.

===

"So, what? We're gonna Christmas Carol him?"

Dan scoffs, crossing his bulky arms with an unimpressed look. "We hated that movie."

"I didn't." Dani chirps, disturbingly cheery, "I didn't see it!"

"We hate Christmas," Danny corrects, "But the movie was alright, and the logic is sound."

"I don't hate Christmas," Dani once again interjects cheerily, "I've never participated!"

"Sound my ass," Dan growls over her, throwing his hands up. "We don't even know this guy!"

"Minor detail." Danny insists, "Tuck can look him up."

"He's a fucking Bat, Danny." Dan scrunches up his face, pinching the bridge of his nose just like Vlad does when he's disgruntled with any of Dad's shenanigans.

"He's a Robin, actually." Dani pipes in, "And he's just a kid. How hard is it gonna be to pretend to be this kid's Ghosts?"

"You're a kid," Dan reminds her, crossing his arms, "And you didn't believe me when I told you sticking a fork in the outlet would shock you."

"I believed you," Dani sniffs haughtily, crossing her arms and pointing her nose up with a snooty voice, "The warning simply did not deter me from doing it anyway."

"We don't have to convince him we're his Ghosts, or even that we knew him before," Danny reasons, needling, "We just have to convince him that we're…"

He hums, pointing at Dani. "Past."

He points at himself, "Present."

He points at Dan, "Future."

Dani does a little cheer, arms up and twirling into the air before landing with her legs over Dan's shoulders, hands and head settling atop Dan's fiery, but harmless, hair. It flickers, before going limp into long white strands that Dani messes up by gently scrunching up the strands and running her fingers through them.

Dan lets her, huffing and looking weirdly like a downtrodden, wet cat. "Why am I future?"

"Because." Danny doesn't continue, because he knows it makes Dan annoyed. True to form, his scowl gets worse, like sucking on a lemon. They all know why anyway.

Dani grins, triumphant and knowing, letting her voice go real deep, "The future," she intones into Dan's hair, "is here."

"The future is now," Danny corrects her, but doesn't lose his smile, floating up to tuck a strand of her hair back behind her ear.

"The future is already here," Dan mumbles his correction, or is it a follow-up? "It's just not evenly distributed."

"How about you distribute some of those muscles, Gibson," Danny sighs, shaking his head "Waiting for puberty is such a drag, and we both know you didn't get the mass from Vlad's side of the family."

Dan makes a moue of disgust, but it serves him right. The consequences of his own actions, and whatnot. He looks up at Dani, who simply shrugs. "I think you'll do great." She leans down to give him two pats on the arm.

"So how's acting out A Christmas Carol gonna help us stop this Jason guy from blowing up?" Dani fiddles with Dan's hair, tongue poking out as she attempts a braid, "Will he even see us? Ghosts in this dimension taste funny."

"He'll be able to see us, it's magically rich enough for some ghosts to maintain a semblance of themselves," Danny explains for the third time. Dani and Dan hum at different pitches, and even though Danny is the common denominator he kind of hates that Vlad has more of a lasting impression on them. "The ectoplasm here is scarce and mostly corrupted, though, so it's rare."

"So there's lotsa bad ghosts here?" Dani eyes the messy braid she's made, proud, even as Dan's silky hair immediately causes it to fall apart, "Or 'mentally unsound' or whatever Frostbite called it."

"No," Dan grumbles, annoyed and indulging all at once, "Corruption begets ecto-rot, but the scarcity means they're not strong enough to actually retain their sense of self enough to rot."

"Shades," Danny explains when Dani looks even more confused, "There's lots of shades."

"Is this one of the Olympian dimensions?" Dani groans, flopping over Dan's shoulder as he sits down on the sofa, "I love Pandora and all, but if I see Zeus again I'm gonna lose it."

"It's one of the hero dimensions," Danny hums, taking over braiding Dan's hair the way Jazz made him when they were little, "There's a couple of Amazons walking about, but on the whole no Olympians."

"I don't know why he didn't just dump me in a Norse dimension." Dan leans back and closes his eyes to their ministrations. "Especially with my current occupation."

The three of them are sitting in Dan's apartment, a large loft studio located somewhere in the UK of the aforementioned hero-dimension. Alber-something, Danny can't remember. Doesn't need to, it being a different dimension from his anyway.

Dan doesn't have a lot of things: a sofa and TV, a bed in the corner, a decent but small kitchen. They're still trying to figure out decorations, but Dan on the whole is a minimalist so it's been slow going.

He's working as a bartender these nights, whiling away his odd existence now that his form has stabilized.

And wasn't that a trip? Learning that hey, adult lightning halfas shouldn't really be mixed with teenage ice halfas, actually!

Apparently, ectoplasm can become corrupted if you try to combine incompatible sources.

Apparently, side effects include (but are not limited to) unmitigated violence and a devastating need for vengeance.

Sound familiar?

"This dimension has a lot of time continuity errors," Danny reminds him, "Dropping you here gave the least amount of pushback."

"Yeah, yeah," Dan flaps a lazy hand, "Praise be the speedforce and flashpoints and whatnot."

"Plus," Dani adds softly, absent-minded as she watches Danny finish up the braid, "Lotsa heroes to help out if you relapse."

Dan heaves a slow, controlled sigh. Danny and Dani both pretend they don't notice.

"Is it bad?" Dan doesn't open his eyes, his voice is so low Danny can only hear him by virtue of his ghost powers, "Like me levels bad?"

"No." Danny shakes his head, leaning into his older self, his older brother of sorts, "He decapitated eight crime lords, killed a couple of assassins, maybe an innocent or two depending on your definition of things."

"Past tense?" Dan scrunches his nose. They all hate how confusing Time Shenanigans are.

"He's living as Red Hood, right this very moment."

"Red Hood?" Dani questions, "That his hero name?"

"Crime lord alias." Danny corrects her, "But he's more of a vigilante these days. Has a bat on his chest and everything."

"But it's bad enough to warrant a trip to the past." Dan points out, "Bad enough for us to try and persuade him. Does he relapse?"

"Not…exactly." Danny scrunches his face, not wanting to explain Clockwork's ambiguity.

Dani floats to spread over Danny and Dan's laps, sprawling out and purring like a cat. Self-soothing, though it's more for their benefit than hers.

"Like Dani said, there’re lots of heroes here, and he doesn't have powers." Danny continues, petting at Dani's soft hair, "The world doesn't end. He doesn't have the means to, even with the ecto-rot."

Danny pauses, and chooses his words deliberately and carefully. "And deep down, Jason Todd is a hero through and through. Relapse would be…difficult. His Obsession is similar to yours."

Dan lets that sit for a moment, but nods, Danny moving a little with the motion. The tension slowly bleeds out as they wait like that, enjoying each other's company.

"If the world doesn't end," Dani whispers, "Why is Clockwork sending all of us?"

Danny thinks on that, on his meeting with Clockwork. The Ancient's voice when he explained what would happen.

He thinks about Jason Todd, about Bruce Wayne, and Catherine, and Sheila. He thinks about Batman, and Robin.

He thinks about Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, about Damian Al Ghul, about Cassandra Cain, and all of Jason's Outlaws.

He thinks about a tattered uniform that stays up in a glass case for a long, long time.

Most of all, he thinks about Dan.

He thinks about regrets and one bad day away.

And then he stops thinking about it, because sometimes the past is the past, and other times, it's the future that never happens that haunts you instead.

"You know, Dani." He settles on, "I'm not sure. He probably has his reasons."

Dan leans heavier onto him, and they lean together like that, with Dani in their laps.

Ghosts of decisions made, unmade, and never to be.

Follow the story on AO3 here!

[puppyeared]

me when the laikas comet. is this anything

@laikascomet

[tubbytarchia]

hey so how do you feel about jimmy running to Joel to protect him from the ravavger during this episode

Why don't you also ask me how I feel about Joel going to Jimmy to congratulate him for making it this far. And giving him a diamond "only because you made it to the final session". How I feel about Joel not questioning or doubting Jimmy when Gem was on multiple occasions including when Jimmy led the Ravager to their base and Joel defended him from it. It's the one source of solace I get from this series is these two abysmal losers. But Don't ask me how I feel about Jimmy not making it to the top 10 let alone top 5 when that's what Joel had expressed hope for and his ability to do so

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

[scarewulf]

I think one of the biggest sort-of unpopular opinions I have when it comes to being an artist is that, unless they are used in moderation, using things like references, tracing, and other little tips and tricks to help you will actually hinder you at some point if you use them too much

If you rely too much on these tools you will eventually lose the confidence and the ability to use your artistic know-how to fill in the gaps yourself....and those "gaps" could be anything from proportions and anatomy to things like dynamics and even coming up with an idea for a drawing in the first place

Using too many pinterest images for your poses will at some point result in stiff art, and unless you already know how to manipulate it in your own style (the ones who do this already know how to fill in the gaps when it comes to anatomy), drawing 1:1 from a reference pose will just make your stuff look a bit boring most of the time. If you use 3D poser programs and you trace those poses all the time so you feel more comfortable with them, then at some point, again, your stuff is just going to feel stiff and a bit boring

At some point an artist has to know how to draw a hand without a reference. At some point an artist has to learn how to draw an arm without a reference. The same goes with the rest of the body, and the same goes with posing as well

[mooreaux]

your comms are like always open and then you do patreon. do you ever get burnt out? just curious!!

I get overwhelmed more than burnt out I think. I LOVE what I do so deeply: but there's just not enough hours in the day for how much of it I want to do. If anyone has commissioned me before they're aware I always thank them for their patience and generally take a lil longer than I mean to. And it's not because I'm not working. I'm just working on SO much. But rent has to get paid and food has to go on the table and I'm not really interested in raising my prices at the moment so... *Shrug* this is the volume I gotta work with.

As to how I avoid burnout and mental breakdowns from workload drama; I've got a real active social life. DND every weekend like clockwork, friends that swoop into my house to drag me out of it. Kitties that keep me running after them all day, and a watch that beeps at me every hour to get up and move. I love video games and roleplay writing and art is also my hobby to visualize those characters I play and write about!

But for real, I'm sick constantly bc my immune system is shit, my wedding is in three weeks, I'm trying to conceive for the first time ��� - sometimes the craving to just sit and draw for 48 hours straight is a relief from how busy it all gets!!!! It's all about balance.

And five years into doing this full time, I can tell you balance is the key to avoiding burnout. Making time for people, for joy, for self care, and also for the Grind (tm) 🤣

[johnbleepingzoidberg]

you’re eyes without a face

and now it’s getting worse

[redyrmes]

something i did for bird app

[omegalomania]

ybc joe eternal mood. based on this

[skunkes]

2 moods

[svampira]

this is like art therapy to me

[bluebellhairpin]

"I think my selfships are full of love and a lot of effort is put in and that what makes them good and worth talking about," I say into the mic.

No one boos. The crowd is non-existent. I begin to walk off in shame, when a voice speaks and commands attention from the back of an otherwise empty room.

"She's right," they say. I look for the owner of the voice. There in the 5th row stands: myself.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

laying here spinning in my head 1/adaine's new gf meets riz for the first time fic or 2/riz and baron fake dating for event thing fic maybe I just wanna think abt future stuff for my guy. just pure thinkin bout him chillin kickin ass

[justablah56]

Hey if you were to just guess, what percentage of your ask box is just me yapping or asking for things?

I will not guess I will in fact check , and you are almost exactly 10% of my ask box 👍

[jacks347]

I have not been giving the Escaped fans enough attention recently so let's change that in the best way I know how shall we >:3

I fully believe that Alfonso was really torn and slightly guilty about letting Deigo become a slayer like him because he saw Deigo as his second chance. An opportunity to give himself the childhood he never had. A chance to let his son be normal in a way that he never had a choice in. But at the same time he knows that he has to teach him. With both himself and the Guest being prominent slayers, Diego has a target on his back. Shielding him from Alfonso's own lonely childhood only puts him in more danger.

He has to raise his son as a slayer, just like his father before him. Not because he wants to, but because he has to. He has to teach him how to defend himself. He has to learn about what lurks in the dark before it comes for him. And I know he beats himself up over it.

But at the same time, Alfonso is far more lax with his rules than his own father, much to his partner's chagrin who now has to wrangle two versions of their idiot husband because Deigo was definitely a teenage playboy. (He is a carbon copy of his pretty boy father, look me in my eyes and tell me I'm wrong)

"Oh my god, he's you if you weren't so emotionally stunted."

"What does that mean?"

"Don't worry about it, Casanova."

[awriternamedart]

feeling frustrated while writing sampo koski but what else is new LMAO