#edited for flow

[vi0lentquiche]

Bryan Fuller on The D-Con Chamber podcast

Some actual revelations here, I gotta say!

We went to a lot of actors and they all said no, and Mads said he wanted to do it. And I was like, here's a person who wants to do it, who is amazing, and they're like, he's sort of weird? He just seems very Euro-weird, shouldn't he be sexier? And I'm like, he's sexy as fuck! There's nary a sexier!

The casting process is so degrading for everybody, but I reached out to Mads and said, "Would you audition? I hate to ask you this, but I just can't get them there." And he said of course, came in and auditioned, was amazing, and they went, nah, he's sort of creepy. ??HE'S EATING PEOPLE. And finally the last person had said no and I called Jen Salke who was running it and said, "Jen, I have to write this, I have to craft this show and believe in it. I believe in him, that he can do this, I see him in the role, it's hard for me to see anybody else." And she said, "I trust you, I trust your vision, let's do it." So that was her response. Her boss's response was, "Well, you got what you wanted, you're on your own." And they halved our marketing budget. It was a little spiteful.

Jen was amazing, she kept us on the air although we didn't have great ratings, but Jen, who is now running Amazon, thought the show was great. They were paying nothing for it, the licensing fee was the smallest that they had. And the show was very cheap, our budget was 2.25 million in the first season (we turned everything dark so you couldn't see how cheap everything looked), second season was 2.5, third season was 3.2, so it was a very economic show, and our scripts were like 33 pages long. Because all that atmosphere, and also Gillian Anderson made the most fantastic unnerving choice to speak very deliberately, so you could give Gillian a page of dialogue and it was 6 minutes of screentime, and you don't want to cut away, because she grabs you and doesn't let go.

So it was economic for lots of reasons. But Jen said, "I'll keep you on the air, it doesn't cost us anything, do whatever you want. Do the show that you want to do." And NBC didn't give us a ton of notes! The Standards and Practices was one of the best relationships that I had. Joanna was our S&P executive, and I would say, "Hey, Joanna ☺️, we have to have a guy cut off his face and feed it to dogs ☺️ howwww do we do that?" and she'd say, "Just make the blood black and turn down the lights." The only thing she didn't know how we could do was, Eddie Izzard had hooked someone's intestines up to a ceiling fan while they were still alive, so when somebody came into the room and turned on the lights the ceiling would disembowel them. And she said, "I just don't know how you're gonna do this!" and production said, "We can't afford it, you get one shot and if you don't get it there's no way for us to do a reset." So she was willing to let us try the ceiling fan disembowelment, she was the coolest lady. My assistant at the time made a book of all the S&P emails, like "When you're doing this please keep in mind that the blood needs to be black," because the redder the blood the less likely that you can put it on TV. So if you darken the blood, even if it's a dark burgundy, you can get away with it. The food that looks like blood is fine, because you're gonna eat it and it looks like meat, and Jose Andres is helping you out.

Hannibal was creatively a great experience because the stakes were so low that Jen was like, "How great for me to be able to tell you to do whatever you want!" We should have been cancelled after the first season, because our ratings were so low. I think we had 3 million, and that was at a time when 3 million wasn't enough. No, we started with 5 or 6 and it got down to 3 by the end of the run. But it was great that she gave us the opportunity, and was a great executive who supported the show when her bosses didn't because we didn't cast who they wanted.

Pushing Daisies was actually more of a struggle creatively with the network, they would say it was too weird and to make it more mainstream. And they were probably right, we would probably have had more numbers, but it wouldn’t be my show. I really don't mean to be difficult with a lot of executives, but when I resist those notes it's becase I don't know how to do them, like my brain doesn't compute. I've gotten better the older I've gotten. I've also gotten more like, it's perhaps not a hill to die on? Whereas before I'd go, noo, the art must speak for itself! It's that singular understanding for something, where it comes out and you accept it for how it is. And it's probably a little bit about being raised in a Catholic environment where you're told how to be, it’s the rebellion, and it's the intrinsic queerness of choosing something that's different, or relating to something that's different and that being a guiding principle more than an edict.

[fivesillydandelions]

STRAUME / FLOW (2024) — dr. Gints Zilbadolis

for @madworld-bbs

[melody-sy]

what if clover remembered their neutral routes

Images: A 7-panel comic featuring Clover and Martlet (from Undertale Yellow), taking place on the apartment complex's rooftop. The two are silhouetted by ominous lighting throughout.

Panel 1: The two are seen from the side and are facing each other, with Clover on the left of the frame and Martlet on the right. The image is animated to show wind lightly blowing their hair, feathers, and clothes. Martlet says, "You've gone through so much more than any child should." "And I think you can change for the better." "You can come stay with me and live a happy, violence-free childhood..."

Panel 2: Martlet is now drawn from Clover's perspective, from the front. Her eyes are visible now, and an animated gust of wind blows some golden flower petals behind her. She says, "What do you say, Clover?"

Panel 3: Clover from the front; they're looking away from the viewer mournfully, and no facial features are visible. The background is animated, and changes rapidly between TV static, many red silhouettes of Martlet being impaled by thorny vines, and the outline of a giant Flowey with a creepy smile.

Panel 4: Return to the side perspective. Clover runs towards Martlet with outstretched arms. Martlet says, "...?" "Clover, what are you..."

Panel 5: Clover is now hugging Martlet. The now-empty space on the left shows a conversation between the two. Clover says, "Please don't leave me again." Martlet says, "Huh?" "Clover, you know last time was a mistake!" "We don't have to go on the raft again if you don't want to." Clover says, "I just want both of us to be happy." Martlet says, "So do I."

Panel 6: Martlet is walking away to the left. Clover drops to the ground, facing away from Martlet and looking devastated with their hands on the floor. Martlet says, "Come on, Clover. Let's go to Snowdin."

Panel 7: An animated gif; the background turns into TV static, and a thorny vine comes in quickly from the right as the image fades to white. After this, Martlet's limp silhouette is visible, impaled by the vine. Clover is still on the ground, looking away. Martlet turns into dust, leaving the vine empty. end id!

[blanketfortz]

like looking in a mirror

[redgbasp]

@hadalzonee Splatober 2024 Day 3 - Favorite Shopkeepers

[thesmollestsnek]

Death echoes

So a while ago, i found this dp x dc post that had a really interesting lore headcanon for Danny’s ghostly wail. Idk if I’ll be able to find it again, I’ll link it here if I do, but essentially it posited that every ghost has something called a “death echo”, which is an ability unique to them based heavily on their deaths. These echoes are the most powerful move in a ghost’s moveset, but they’re also extremely volatile and draining, typically damaging the ghost in some way when used, with Danny’s being his Wail because he died screaming. The original post then went on to some really cool halfa!Jason ideas based on these death echoes, but for this lil snippet with an extremely long intro I’d like to focus on Danny a bit more.

Edit: Apparently I may have extrapolated a lot of the actual lore behind these death echos myself? The inspiration post was a lot longer in my memories. Or I might've mushed multiple posts into one mental box and then forgot lol. So a lot of the actual detail from this point on is seemingly mostly original material? I think? Idk man, sometimes my brain spits out information without giving me any clues as to where it got that information. Anyway, this post got kinda long and since I'm... decently sure this is where I shifted from summarizing @ailithnight's post to writing all my own thoughts I figured here would be a good place to throw the cut lol.

So! with all of the context-for-the-context out of the way, let’s move on to the actual context for what I’m writing cause I can’t be bothered with writing an intro XD

Essentially, this is an au where Danny is an established member of the Justice League, or maybe one of the teen hero teams? I’m a slut for eternal teenager Danny, but maybe he’s enough of a powerhouse to be on the main team despite him both looking and acting like the dumbass fourteen year old he died as. Either way, he’s on a League/League-sanctioned mission and things go bad. Like, everyone-almost-dies bad. And so as a final desperation attack, Danny uses his Wail, a power he’s never told anyone on the league he even has. And it works, and they make it out, but after the fact everyone has. Questions. And because in this au death echoes are deeply personal, Danny dodges those questions, but the league coughbatmancough isn’t satisfied with that. So they push for answers. Answers Danny’s not willing to give, because. In my mind death echoes aren’t just based on how a person died, but also their experience of that death. What their last thoughts were. When Danny died the only thing that he could process beyond just an all-encompassing painpainpainpainpain was the sound of someone screaming. His screaming. And so his death echo is the sound of a fourteen year old child screaming in deathly pain and terror weaponized, which definitely gave the league Even More Questions than they would’ve had already. Which finally brings us to the actual snippet, which is a conversation between John Constantine, who was brought in for his experience with the supernatural once it became clear Danny wasn’t going to talk, and Danny himself. 

~~~~~~~

“So, kid. Batsy tells me you’ve been hiding some of your abilities, wanna tell me what's up with that? Call it an occultist's intuition, but somethin’ tells me you’re not just being stubborn for the hell of it.”

“It’s... complicated. And not anyone’s business, either!”

“Kid...”

“Why does it even matter?! It’s not something I want to or am even able to do on a regular basis! I saved the mission, can’t they just accept that and move on???”

Sighing, Constantine reached up to start massaging his brow. “Kid, you and I both know that ain’t gonna be enough. Now I know that some things are better left alone, but the rest of these idiots? They can’t accept that, Batsy especially. That man’s never left bloody well enough alone in his life”

He looked up just in time to see the otherworldly teen shrink into himself, looking every bit the child he was. “I know but... why? Why do they need to keep asking questions? And why do they only ask the ones that hurt to answer?”

A sharp glance. “The fuck kinda questions are they asking? Batman was speaking in more grunt than word, so I didn’t really catch all the details of what this power you’re supposedly hiding even is.”

Phantom shrinks even more into himself at that, and responds in a voice so small it’s more sigh than speech. “I... I can scream. And it breaks things and pushes people back. But it, it sounds. Bad. And it brings up bad memories and I don’t like to do it or listentoitoreventhinkaboutitandtheywon’tletmeforgetand-”

“Breathe kid. I know you don’t need to but just take a deep breath with me. Don’t you go getting lost in your own head on me now., Constantine reassured the kid automatically, the sheer hopelessness prompting action long before the words themselves could be understood. Then the rest of him caught up, and he had to pause. Looked up at the kid, saw just how distressed he was. A picture was starting to form in the back of his head, and Constantine didn’t like what he saw one bit. A last-resort power that the normally open Phantom was strangely reticent about. A scream so horrible sounding the rest of the league would not to stop asking questions about it. Terrible memories to match said scream. And one truly miserable child who couldn’t bear to even think about any of it. 

“Phantom... is that your Echo? Screaming?”

A miserable nod is his only response, the tears that had been welling up in the kid’s eyes finally starting to fall. Cursing softly to himself, Constantine stood to leave, bracing himself for the Bat’s inevitable questioning. “Well then you just take all the time you need love, and leave the rest to me. I’ll make sure the rest of those idiots know not to ask you about this ever again.”  And with that Constantine turned and strode towards the door, leaving the quietly sobbing child to collect himself in privacy.

~~~~~

I had a whole-ass lore dump conversation between Constantine and Batman planned here, explaining how death echoes are deeply personal, and asking about one is a taboo on par with, potentially even worse than, asking a ghost about their death outright. Because they are formed from an amalgamation of how a ghost died, their last thoughts, and their final emotions, in some ways asking a ghost about their Echo is like asking them to describe their death in painstaking detail. But uhhh... inspiration bug left. So yea. Side note, I’d like to apologize if my depiction of Constantine’s accent was Bad, I’m but a lowly USAmerican whose only exposure to British accents is through tv ^-^’

[beaulesbian]

ONE PIECE ep. 1026 || "There's something I have to do."

[flushwithdarlings]

"Here, Rook, try this."

"Lucanis Dellamorte, I will gladly eat anything you give me."

It is an act that knocks Lucanis off guard, the way Argentei catches his wrist with an elegant hand and dips down to take a bite of the flaky pastry held between his fingers.

It is sweet, it is salty, and it pulls a pleased, bordering on obscene, sound of satisfaction from their throat.

Lucanis' blown black eyes narrow down to the way the pink tip of their tongue runs across the plush of their lips, chasing a stray bead of honey.

For one desperate moment, he thinks that they might move onto the crumbs on his fingers.

Mercifully, they don't.

Mercilessly, he is sure that they can feel his pulse thrumming like a bird pinned down by their thumb.

Their hand doesn't leave his wrist.

[ionlylikemycat]

when martha jones is dying, all sorts turn up on her doorstep. mickey sent out messages everywhere to everywhen, and they all came. people she’d helped, friends she’d loved, the odd alien or two who’d wanted to whisk her away for a romance across the stars

captain jack harkness is the last of all of them

she isn’t sure how long it’s been for jack, he looks ever the same. she saw him last a few years ago when he left earth for some adventure, but martha knows time travelers, knows the look on someone’s face when it’s been a hundred years since they last saw you

sad and happy and regret and just plain old love

jack tells her stories. makes her laugh. holds her thin hand in the night when she’s shaking and cold under three blankets but mickey needs all the sleep he can get

he loves her just as plainly as he always has, because it was never about her youth or her beauty but about her, about the universal Force that is martha jones

and she loves him, because she always will, because when you fly through the time vortex with people they get stuck in your heart and never leave you

martha spends three days debating with mickey if she should tell jack. about new new york, and the motorway, and his actual, permanent death. they wonder if it would help him, that there really was going to be an end someday, or if it’ll just hurt knowing he’ll have to spend billions of years forced back to life before he’s allowed to rest

jack leaves on the fourth day. martha and mickey wave goodbye from the garden steps. jack kisses them both on each cheek and then the mouth, a last goodbye for when the word just isn’t enough

“jack!” martha calls out as his vortex manipulator beep-boops an incoming teleport. he turns back just as the light surrounds him, “you are not alone.” jack raises his arm in a salute, and that is the last they ever see of him

she dies two weeks later, home on earth with mickey and tish and leo beside her, with the sound of all the kids and grandkids playing floating up to her window from the garden below. and she knows. knows that the time will come and the universe will turn on and on and on, and one day

martha jones and captain jack harkness will be together for the final time, again

continuation of this post

[jesuis-assez]

THE ROOKIE- 6.03 ➦ Trouble In Paradise

[deimcs]

WYLL approves of valiant acts of defending the innocent or the defenceless, and appreciates kindness towards children. Peaceful, but decisive actions resonate with him, and those that take a genuine interest in him and the struggles he faces are also well-liked by him.

[akuma-tenshi]

sometimes the solution to finishing a project you hate / were struggling with really is to just not fucking touch it for a bit and then come back when you're less annoyed with it. i struggled so hard with this when i first started it but when i came back tonight it was a breeze

song is sancta simplicitas by ennn w/ dex

[fivesillydandelions]

STRAUME / FLOW (2024) — dr. Gints Zilbadolis

[thefreshprinceofjunes]

Do you remember before? We stood facing each other on opposite sides of that door. Now we stand side-by-side. Let's go home together this time.

[seance]

THE MUSKETEERS 10TH ANNIVERSARY REWATCH / fave episodes [2/?] ↳ SEASON 1, EPISODE 4 / the good soldier

[onesidedradiostatic]

Going off on your previous post, what if Adam had a deal with Val, like one provides entertainment in exchange for immunity from the exterminators?

Like you can't have your favorite industry dying on you, especially not on the one day you're actually working

Also imagine if part of the reason he wanted the exterminators twice a year was because he had ran out of material and needed more

(follow-up to this post)

LMAOOO that'd be funny

but I'm pretty sure the vees always hid during exterminations so I don't see an opportunity for them to have met unless it was before val rose to power. but this crack idea is so fucking funny hold on I'm cooking something up

one extermination later

in contrast to the other homophobe, katie killjoy, adam is actually a valentino fan.

no it doesn't make sense for val to be caught in exterminations at this point but suspend your disbelief for the joke