#hide us in the shadows

[honey-tongued-devil]

Rain Design (huits)

As I was saying in the Phantom post, since I've resumed writing the missing chapters of "Hide us in the shadow" (you can find it on ao3 or clicking the link) , I've decided to finally post some designs of the various ghouls. The two forms of Rain are because, in my headcanon, water ghouls are the ones who, to stay on dry land, need to find a more fake solution, as if they were constantly at 25% glamour, because the body wouldn't function properly. So that's the 75% ghoul version of Rain. (not gonna say why is it only 75 and not 100%)

If you want, feel free to drop suggestions, ideas, random headcanons. Chapter 14, for those who are caught up, will be out in a couple of days (since I'm graduating tomorrow). Just a moment of patience

[bet-on-me-13]

Bruce Wayne was never Batman.

So! The night that Bruce Wayne's parents got shot, he developed an Unbreakable Resolve. He needed to get rid of the Crime that had taken his Parents away from him, no matter what.

But that night, he also developed a deep-seated fear of Death. He was face to face with his own Demise and instead of dying himself he saw his Parents die instead. He was Terrified of ending up like them.

But he still needed to stop Crime. He couldn't just let criminals go unpunished, and while he was still using his wealth to try and prevent it before it began, he knew there needed to be something to stop crime After it had been committed. And the Cops were useless on that Front.

He eventually found a solution while looking through his Parents Family Heirlooms.

Ancient Books dating back to the founding of Gotham and even before then, telling of a Creature from another world who his Ancestors had helped in the Past. A Being of Fear and Shadow, who owed a debt to the Wayne Family. He needed that Being. A Monster of Shadows and Fear was exactly the answer to scaring criminals away from committing crimes and punishing those who did.

But he needed to find the Being from another world first.

So he left home, traveling across the Globe training with the best Magicians and Demonologists in the world in search of the Monster who owed his Family a Debt. His travels took him far, from the streets of LA where he met a man named Zatara, to the Snowy Mountains of Nanda Parbat where he learned of the Lazarus Pits and the Demon's that came out of them.

While studying the Lazarus Pits, he was trained by the organization who guarded them. They despised Weakness, and while their leader was in awe of his Intelect he was less impressed by his body's conditioning. If he was to study the Lazarus Pits, he would first have to earn the Right in Combat.

He eventually managed to pass their Tests and eventually left them, having handed over a Copy of his research as the price for being allowed to Study the Pits.

Years later, he finally returned to Gotham, fully equipped to Summon the Being that owed him a Debt.

Bruce drew up the Summoning Circle as perfectly as he possibly could, he had one shot at it.

A drop of his blood and a splash of Lazarus Water later, and the Circle began to glow an ominous Green. Slowing, a shifting shadow began to emerge from the Circle, at first only a mass of writhing darkness before their form Solidified.

The Books he had found on the Spirit said that it would take the form of the Summoners Greatest Fear, which just so happened to be Bats for Bruce. The Form that the Spirit chose reflected that, with large Dark Wings falling over their form as if they were a Cape, and horns looking like the Ears of a Bat. From the Darkness, two glowing eyes appeared.

"Spirit, hear me. My name if Bruce Wayne, and I am calling in the Debt owed to my Family centuries ago. My City is plagued with crime and malice, rotting from its Core. My efforts to prevent Crime from the side of the Light have been in vain, Crime persists despite my efforts. In order for my vision to be fulfilled, the Criminals of this City must have their hearts pierced by Fear. Fear of Retribution. Fear of Consequences. Fear of Vengeance."

Thoughout bis Speech, the Shadowed Figure stayed silent.

"That is why I have called you here. I want you to stalk these streets, punish the criminals of this City and strike fear into their hearts from the shadows, so that they know to stay in the light. I don't want you to Kill them, never kill them. Let them live with that fear in their Hearts until their final days."

After he finished his speech, the Figure finally spoke.

"Your Quest is an Honorable one. You seek the betterment of your people's, and are unafraid to resort to drastic measures to achieve that goal. It reminds me of my Liege's resolve." It Spoke, it's voice low and rumbling. "Very Well. From this day forth, I shall protect your City from the Darkness in its own Heart. I shall be your Dark Knight."

...

Had this idea out of nowhere and needed to write it down. In this AU, Bruce still wants to protect his City from crime, but is understandably traumatized from seeing the Deaths of his Parents. He has a deep-seated fear of Dying, so he chooses to forgo fighting crime himself.

Instead, he finds out about a Spirit that his Ancestors helped long ago, and decides that the most logical next step out be to Summon a Demon to protect his City. Instead of training his Body for a decade to become Batman, he trains his Mind and Studies as much about Magic and Demon's as Possible.

He still knows how to fight because he trained with the League. He approached them with an offer to study the Lazarus Pits and give them his findings, and they accepted. But Ra's didn't want a weakling on his Base so he also required Bruce to train his body. He saw his potential for combat, and was so disappointed that Bruce had chosen a different path. He could have been Great!

Bruce still has a thing with Talia that produces Damian, he is still a point of interest from Ra's since he is insanely smart and has huge potential, and he knows how to fight pretty well. Albeit not as well as in Canon.

Bruce becomes the Benefactor/Guy in the Chair for Fright Knight (who is the one he summoned if you couldn't tell), who looks like a "Bat Man" because of Bruce's fear of Bats. Fright Knight agreed to this because 1.) He had a debt to pay, 2.) Bruce reminded him of Danny, and 3.) He respected Bruce's ballsyness to Summon a demon and command it to protect people.

Bruce still adopts his Kids, but there are some changes.

Dick is adamant about fighting Crime, and eventually Bruce is forced to let him go on patrol with Fright Knight, who has started going by Batman. Thankfully Frighty managed to give him some blessings so he had minor powers and would be safer.

Jason is mostly the same, and he is so excited that Robin actually IS Magical. When he dies, Fright Knight, who had gotten attached to their Family, goes into the Zone to search for him. He is unsuccessful unfortunately.

Tim is kind of funny. He figured out that Dick was Robin, and Jason was the 2nd Robi , but assumed that Bruce was Batman. When he approached Bruce about becoming Robin so he would stop going down his violent Cycle, Bruce Redirected him to talk to Fright Knight, who was not taking his failure to find Jason well.

Damien grew up knowing that his Father was a Genius, and the Master of the Batman, which gave him a bit of an Ego. At first he thought of Fright Knight as a Servant, and tried to command him like he did with Alfred. Frighty corrected him quickly enough.

Any more ideas for this AU? I have so many, but I think I need to stop for now.

[cptnbeefheart]

last year in my sketchbook: can representational art be more sustainable for me if i take it less seriously? can i balance the two? | my art

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

The Fantasy High player characters get in so many combat situations where I would just leave. I would just be like 'this isn't our problem' and encourage the rest of my party to withdraw as quickly and safely as possible. They're teenagers. Apologies to all my GMs but if I don't have to be in a fight and there's no clear benefit I simply will not be. I would've prioritised getting my party out of the nightclub and left the zombie DJ to his bloodbath. Now they're facing a concrete golem, fuck that. I would just leave.

[bri-cheeses]

personally I think that all queer books should have a “special edition” with a subtle cover (and a code name if it’s necessary) for all of the people in homophobic areas

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

How I've seen most people write Rangi coming out to her mom:

Rangi: Mom, I have something to tell you.

Hei-Ran: Go on.

Rangi: Kyoshi and I.....are.....together.

Hei-Ran: Oh I'm so happy for you.

*they hug it out, much wholesome*

How I think the coming out scene went:

Rangi: Mother. I need to tell you something, Kyoshi and I are together.

Hei-Ran: Oh thank the spirits. It finally happened.

Rangi: ???? You knew????

Hei-Ran: Sweetie, everyone in the mansion-no, all of Yokoya knew about it! Well except for Kyoshi.

Rangi: ????!! WHAT?!

Hei-Ran: I'm pretty sure Jianzhu thought you were dating, that's probably why he kidnapped you, you know?

Rangi: WH-HOW?!

Hei-Ran: Oh please, we saw your gay little ass running all over the damn mansion just to be near Kyoshi and to impress her. We were mute, not blind and deaf!

Rangi, having a crisis: I-wha-but-

Hei-Ran: Well, you aren't very good at hiding your emotions sweetie.

Rangi, flipping a nearby table: The fuck you mean I'm not?????!

Hei-Ran: Oh curses, go get Atuat, I owe her $5.

Rangi: YOU BETTED ON THIS????? WITH YOUR DOCTOR?????

Hei-Ran: Well Kelsang is dead, so I had to keep our bet alive somehow.

Rangi: I-*inhales* YOu know what? Doesn't matter! Do you accept Kyoshi or not?

Hei-Ran: Anybody who gives my girl that much cardio is 100% welcome into our family. In fact, I already added her to our family registry 2 years ago. As far as the Fire Nation is concerned, you two have been married for a while.

[aetherean-alchemist]

QSMP February drawing of the day

Day 2: Q!BBH updated design/concept art

An agent of destruction and a reaper of death

[skrunklyprisonprincess]

more 'jefftember' art I HAD TOO MUCH CAFFEINE can you tell when it hit. This was a mistake. My poor lineart… But it seems fitting doesn't it. DAY TWO 'moustache' First time drawing Dino Bob it finally happened. My god the hair THE HAIR

Ignore any inconsistencies of that there are many. This was supposed to be the warmup sketch and then it wasn't and then the energy drink I had kicked in and its bad but- but- finger guns and dino bob yesyesyes

How does one draw reflections

Things will only get worse from here

[kmesons]

the fact that dakkar was making sure it wasn't 'you-know-who'—presumably kal—posing as rose during their first meeting with the added context of two sides of a coin makes the interaction both intriguing and really funny in retrospect

[imanopossum]

i never tire of henry and alice having a sibling dynamic like this

[iwillstabyou]

I’m never not thinking about DS Sean Stone. He is the man of all time. Is the autistic detective trope overused? Yes. Am I still a sucker for it every single time? Also yes. I love this man so much. Reece Shearsmith, you have done it again. You have played yet another autistic guy that lives in my head rent free.

[honey-tongued-devil]

Phantom design (huits)

Since I've started writing "Hide us in the shadow" again (click here for the ao3 link), I've decided, albeit very late, to bring my design for Phantom/Aeon. I'm the biggest preacher of ghouls with black/gray skin, so all my designs have in common just the palette changing for the hair and eyes.

If you want, feel free to drop suggestions, ideas, random headcanons. Chapter 14, for those who are caught up, will be out in a couple of days (since I'm graduating tomorrow). Just a moment of patience

[harpuiaa]

made a shadow android oc bc i love to have fun and be silly. Her name is alloy and she thinks she's a copy of neo metal sonic (she's not very smart)

first one is a style mimicry, and the rest is in my normal artstyle.

the orange shadow android in some of these is @id-f87's maria

[randomartmaker]

Alas I'm done

[cygnahime]

Bioware made some Decisions about softening factions/moral disagreements/etc in Veilguard, but to me the one that's simply bizarre is...Tevinter slavery???

Because it's so incredibly unnecessary. Because the faction you connect with is the Shadow Dragons, abolitionist agitators. You really wouldn't have to deal much with people who think slavery is ok, because they are hardly going to be your allies. Neve is your Shadow Dragon contact, so whatever else, she shares those beliefs enough to be in good odor with them.

(And there is nothing unbefitting of her noir nature in "fighting the injustice in the very structure of society that one person cannot overcome". Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown Minrathous.)

They wrote Dorian as having pulled his head out of his ass and incorporated "you can't treat people well and enslave them" into his worldview, which isn't much of a stretch considering. He and Maevaris are, in fact, abolitionist politicians, not powerful enough to get anything done but just too powerful to easily get rid of. Real life has had plenty of those.

So...why bother to soften or erase that Tevinter is a slave state? It's not like we have any friendly characters who support it, including the Tevenes, unless I've missed something. They could not have party arguments about slavery the easy way!

So - I made an elf mage Shadow Dragon, okay, because that seemed interesting, but in practice the game doesn't give me much to work with. No conversation about what happens to elven slaves who manifest magic. About how far just "mage" doesn't get you around here. Hell, in the backstory they had her bust up an underground Venatori slave market, which is, frankly BS of the highest order! There don't need to be underground slave markets; there are regular markets for that! The whole point is that she and they took down completely legal places of business, because the law in Tevinter is evil! The Venatori don't have to coup Minrathous to go after them; the government already should be.

Softening it is so wildly unnecessary compared to e.g. the Crows, to the story they wanted to tell, that I'm just ??? confused more than anything.

[ipcearn]

I was also continuing my rewatch of Justified earlier and gosh darn, s2 is just peak, forever and ever my favorite

Mags Bennett (and her sons) are such great antagonists - though I will always maintain there is no true antagonist except for Harlan itself

Also Boyd in the beginning just trying to live an honest life and drinking his whiskey and mining coal, and everyone just keeps interrupting him and dragging him into their shit (Walton Goggins in glasses is doing something to me, I just can't pinpoint what)

And then him outsmarting Carol who just wants to use him - and his whole build up with Ava

And of course, introducing Loretta, who is also just, such an amazing character (and I am definitely picturing her building a weed empire after all is said and done, almost as revenge against the Bennetts, taking over that legacy and replacing it with hers "stay out of the weed business, that's Bennett territory, always has been")