#i have so many ideas for things for this i will eventually make some little comics or smth

[mimiiiiiiiiisstuff]

Girl I have so many questions about your story it’s actually ridiculous!

(I don’t want to overwhelm you though so imma hold back)

is reader becoming a snake person a reference to snakes preying on bats and birds?( and will the snake being joker’s be important?)

Is Tiffany going to have to put effort into pretending she’s the ✨perfect sister✨ now that reader obviously isn’t going to do jack for them anymore? (Because ungrateful families don’t deserve muffins 😒)

Is reader going to be a hero or villain, or maybe something in between?

will we be able to get an idea of why the batfam treats reader like they’re some sort of pest?( you’d think they’d be more careful since reader could easily expose their identities if they thought about it 😒😒)

and finally.

Tim had a very…different…reaction to reader ‘framing’ Tiffany- is that important?

-🚚

yay ok this is my first like real ask! Yall have been making me so so happy with all the love! It really encourages me! And don't worry about overwhelming me! I can take it :) i'm answering this and then signing off to go to bed because I have the worst flu ever.

Ok so yes! Reader becoming a snake-meta-person does have to do with snakes preying on birds, honestly that was a little easter egg for funsies. Im glad you caught it! reader's gonna eat those hoes up !!!!!!! ( and they'll lock her up right after)

Tiffany will for sure try to imitate reader at first but that will eventually lead to her downfall! she can only keep it up for 6 months and then she'll be discovered. she can't imitate the genuine love and care reader puts into these things so they'll always be off no matter how much she tries. the batfam will end up realizing what they lost and do whatever it takes to get it back.

And yes, the snake being the Joker's will be important bc he's the joker and is so fucking insane that even his snake has to be special! all powers have consequences and these will be heavy. it will put reader through it, but will really shape them as a person.

Im leaning more toward reader being a hero??? but with the snake being literally radioactive it might be a kinda venom dynamic. im still not too sure tbh. with all the angst and neglect and the troubles of being a teen, she might be a bit of an anti-hero! she might pull a jason (ironic, i know) and go around killing all the villians!

the thing about the batfam, is that they don't even realize what they're doing to the reader. they literally see her as irrelevant so they don't notice their neglect or how much it affects reader. she's not even on their minds enough to be perceived as a threat. the only ones purposefully being mean are Damian and Jason, Damian because he sees reader as less than/ a threat and Jason because he is trying to push the reader out his life and not 'taint' her innocence.

Tim's reaction is different because he's suspicious. he thinks he would've noticed if reader was capable of doing something so sneaky and underhanded. he's the only one who is suspicious because he simply doesn't think she's smart enough to do this. he's gonna be the first to see Tiff's true colors.

Goodnight yall!!! i'll be back tmrw morning! keep sending more asks! I take requests so if you have any ideas you want me to write just send them in! I'll yandere platonic or romanitc. SEND THEM IN!!!!!!!!

[alastor-x-reader-stories]

Could you do a one-shot where alastor is super nervous when meeting reader, not really on his face but more his body language where when she shakes his hand he continues shaking it or doesn't let go immediately. nervous smile too lol, thanks love your stuff!!

Heeey I wrote it hope you don't mind some interpretation on my part! You didn't mention why Alastor was nervous so I just did whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Tags: Oblivious Alastor, Cartoonist Writer, Humor, awkward affection, Alastor is either oblivious or in-denial, Nifty is Nifty and you should all love her

-----------------------

Alastor’s introduction to you was not a willing one. Charlie had started a bit of a bookclub at the Hotel as some odd attempt at bonding. Alastor wanted no part of it, but after the 532nd time Charlie asked him he said something particularly scathing and the princess was cruel and told Vaggie, and the ex-exorcist would NOT stop stabbing his door until he finally relented.

Of course, his choice of book was one called ‘Blank’. It was a notebook with nothing written in it. Very easy to discuss at a bookclub.

Charlotte was not impressed and Vagatha once again starting throwing vague threats in his direction. How tempted he was to just kill both of them, but alas this hotel has been the greatest form of entertainment he’s had in years (is what he tells himself.)

Darling Nifty came to his rescue, offering up a variety of different light-reading to be discussed in the future. Most of which were….not to his taste. Nifty’s interests highlighted most definitely, but Alastor quickly chucked the books out the window when the story turned to ….that.

As the number of books dwindled, he was just about prepared to give up on this stack entirely and fetch something meaningless to pretend to read (who’d check, anyway?).

He picked up one, a flimsy comic-book like thing and rolled his eyes once before giving it a go. The story wasn’t anything particularly interesting. The plot was just two bunnies going to get some ice cream. But the wordplay, the exaggeration of all the smallest obstacles, how self-aware and absurd it was gave him a good laugh. The Radio Demon’s first introduction to your work.

Although the bookclub idea ended up going nowhere, Alastor found himself seeking out more of your works. Another about a man just making a taco, one about a woman folding her laundry. So many little, day-to-day situations amplified to a ridiculous amount. Clever one-liners and humorous puns sprinkled throughout kept it intelligent enough for him to maintain interest despite the absurdity of it all.

Eventually he got a cartoon you drew that seemed just the same as the rest. Some random cute cartoon raccoon drawing some random little cartoon things. There was a scene in it though that stuck to Alastor’s mind (and dare he say, heart) like glue.

In it, the raccoon was confronted by a shark. “Why do you bother making these?” the shark sneered “No one reads these but you, no one looks at them but you, there’s no point.”

“Why does there need to be a point?” The raccoon said. Alastor’s ears straightened up on their own accord as he read “Even if no one sees it, it’s something I made and it’s some I enjoyed making.”

“Even if you put it out there, no one will care about it.”

“Someone will. They might not say anything but there’ll always be at least one.”

“Do you know how stupid you sound? No one gives a crap about your ‘passions’!”

“I do.”

“Do you know how stupid you sound-“

And then the raccoon pressed a button and an anvil fell onto the shark, comedically turning it into a pancake. “Your argument doesn’t have any depth.” The raccoon said. The story moved on from there.

It struck a bit of a chord with Alastor, he could admit that much to himself. And the raccoon’s way of dealing it was something he’d keep in mind for his next encounter with an annoyance. He didn’t put much stock in it, as storytellers and their stories don’t always agree on all things.

Your comics were a little joyful distraction when he needed them, that was all. Nothing deep and profound.

“BOSS!”

Alastor slammed shut the book he was reading, his grin never faltering though his twitching ears indicated a slight nervousness. He tilted his head in acknowledgement. “Hello, Nifty! Did you need something?”

Nifty scamped up his chair and onto his lap, settling down andstaring up at him with her one big eye. “BOSS BOSS BOSS BOSS I MET THE DEMONESS WHO DRAWS THOSE CARTOONS YOU LIKE”

Alastor’s eye twitched “Oh? Well, that’s neat.”

She stood up, squishing his face between her hands and stared more as her grin grew wider and more manic “Did you want to meet her?”

Yes

“Now, now, Nifty.” Alastor said as he removed her hands from his face “There’s better ways to waste one’s time.”

Nifty tilted her head, staring at him as though it would allow her to see into his mind. Her expression shifted into….One he hadn’t seen on Nifty, admittedly. The best way he could describe it was ‘smug’. But what would she have to be smug about?”

“If you say so, Boss!” She chirped, hopping off his lap and trotting off “But yeah I was at the Evermore Book-Store and she was there working ‘cause I guess that’s what she does for a livng….” Nifty’s voice faded away as the little maid walked off, not caring her rambling were being said to no one.

After Alastor had finished his errands for the day, he happened by that very store…for…Reasons. Upon entering it, he realized he had no idea who- what- he was looking for. The store itself wasn’t large. A couple patrons, one large hulking demon with tiny spectacles at the desk and a much smaller one organizing shelves.

One of the workers, then?

Not that he cared.

“Pardon me!” Alastor chirped to the desk demon. Their big eyes seemed to move in slow motion to him, a low grunt accompanying the acknowledgement. “I’m looking for someone, yes? The author of some silly comics?”

The demon slowly narrowed their eyes, lips curling up into a snarl as a growl emanated from them.

“Ah, so she is here?”

The demon planted their very large hands on the desk, pushing themselves up to stand at their full height. They were taller than Alastor by a good three feet, and much more muscular as well. Their nostrils flared, blowing hot air into his face.

Alastor wasn’t the slightest bit phased. (He found it funny, actually). “So may I speak to her?”

The large demon opened up their gaping jaw-

“That’s me, hi! How can I help you?” The shelf-stacking demon interrupted, getting between Alastor and the clerk demon. A nervous little lady with a wobbly unsure smile and bags under her eyes that looked like they could carry the entirety of Hell in them.

Alastor held up one of your comics- a book that has been very obviously well-read “You’re the creator of these splendid little things?”

“Splendid…?” You repeated him, trailing off into an amused snort “Er. Yeah, I wrote and drew those.” The Clerk behind you closed their mouth, setting back down on their chair and adjusting their spectacles. The glare didn’t leave Alastor.

“Well, my dear, I find I quite enjoy them! It’s quite a pleasure to meet you.” Alastor said, not paying the larger (glowering) demon any mind. He found himself wondering why you were so tired and so timid. A woman like you should be so much more cheerful! Alastor was a tad offended….Because you weren’t smiling like he did. That’s it. Really.

“Well. I’m glad you like them.” You said. “It’s nice to meet you, too.” You offered your hand for him to shake.

One of his ears twitched. You must be fairly new to Hell, to offer a handshake so easily. Or perhaps a bit sheltered or on the naïve side. Alastor briefly considered making a sly deal to take your soul, but… Well, there was no need for that.

He took your hand and gave it a firm shake. Your hand was so much smaller than his own, but it felt as though it warmed his entire body. This was strange. Perhaps you were casting some spells on him? Why was he finding it so hard to focus- why did he feel like he didn’t know what to say next- why-

The Clerk gripped Alastor’s arm in between two fingers, gently but assertively pulling it away from you. You took half a step back, cradling your arm to your chest as if he burned you. Alastor glared up at the Clerk “Is there a problem?”

The large demon growled. You intervened again “Er….You were just. Holding my hand for a while. It was……kind of weird.”

“Ah.” Alastor cleared his throat, straightening his posture with a flourish “My apologies! Mind was elsewhere, you know how it is with us creative types.”

You blinked. Then your timid smile turned a bit more confident. A bit more…like a smirk. “Er. Yeah, I guess so. Well. See you around, I guess?”

“If I have the time, I suppose!” Alastor grinned “Well then, I must be off! Ta-ta!”

You watched as the strange demon disappeared into shadows and slivered off. As soon as all trace of him was gone, you laughed quietly into your hand “Well, I can certainly say for certain I know someone ‘awkward as hell’ now.”

Your friend groaned, gently pushing you over as they continued their own work.

[afreakingdork]

Weak Spot Donnie Ref Sheet

Y'all genuinely have no idea how happy I am right now. With many, many years of work, the Weak Spot Donatello ref sheet is finally done and @garbagemilkshake is truly one of the greatest people to ever grace this planet. I say with full honesty that WS would not have near the same visual impact without their art. Now that this treasure is finally a reality, I'm holding nothing back. Below I breakdown all kinds of detail about what you see above and all I can say before that is thank you to each and every one of you who've been kind enough to read my work! This one goes out to you!

Villain's Mark Reference Sheets:

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. - Donatello - Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael

PREFACE TIME!

Now it may seem like way overdue from the outsider perspective, but let me tell you, I have been trying near non-stop to get this damn thing done. Interest in getting WS Donnie's ref sheet made dates all the way back to around Chapter 9ish of Weak Spot, but very technically to April of 2023. An artist was commissioned to make it and all I will say on that matter is that they decided they could not continue. Thus began my new search. There was a ton of criteria: Someone willing to make a ref sheet of this size, someone willing to associate with NSFW content, and someone willing to do mechanical props.

Unfortunately, I would fruitlessly search until eventually I had Garbage on as a chapter artist. I eventually asked if Garbage was up to it (they totally were) and we decided to test out the other turtle's ref sheets first. It may not seem like it, but a ref sheet of this size is an ENORMOUS undertaking. I seriously cannot praise Garbage enough. As you all know, the other turts ref sheets were stunning. We planned out what was needed for Donnie's and starting May 2024, work began. Garbage would routinely take time off of doing chapter art or what need be (I'm too discombobulated to remember when their vacation was). Their happiness and life takes top priority in my book and after all the time I'd spent searching for someone just to do the ref sheet, I did not mind it getting sidelined in the slightest. Garbage was doing me a huge favor after all, commission or not!

BUT WHO CARES!! WE'RE HERE AND IT'S DONE!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Let's get into it with the turnaround!

The turnaround! Finally we have the definitive collection of Donnie's scars! it was tricky and we ended up needing to label him like some anatomical model to get all the mentions in. Some scars will look a little familiar to you and other's might not, but dang, I sure did a TON of scar research. From hypertrophic (raised scars) to atrophic (scar that don't have enough scar tissue to heal and are sunken in comparison) to how sharp blades versus dull ones cut skin raise what kind of scars. I have a bunch of gorey references for all that, but I doubt anyone wants to see that. Instead let's go into inspirations and the like:

First off, in spot 4, Donnie's electrical scars!

You probably think I ripped them off from Replica or Unknown and that wouldn't be totally wrong, but it wouldn't be right. Obviously I'm a huge fan of both artists (go support their patreons), but my thoughts were always more in the camp of getting Villain Donnie from A to B. I was planning alongside a canon timeline and my thoughts were he would have definitely created himself a pair of show goggles, but there was no way, with what he went through, that those would make it to adulthood. When I considered where he was mostly likely to lose them and that I wanted him to give himself laser eye surgery (again, show accurate, he had glasses once!) that I could knock both out if he were to have damaged the goggles, rendering him deaf and needing cochlear implants.

Now spot 2, the body augmentation, reaches outside the fandom and to Megalo Box of all things!

I only watched an episode or so, but the way Joe scrapped together gear was something that stuck with me. When I was conceptualizing WS Donnie and came to the conclusion he didn't have ninpo, I thought a lot about what he would do when the others got there. The logical conclusion was turning towards his tech and Megalo Box was right there with the idea.

Donnie's body augmentation gear has not been depicted as of yet, but it absolutely looks like something out of Megalo Box. I additionally did research into other wearable tech and came across the ExoArm.

Studying their information on what nerve points and muscles needed to be hit was what helped me ultimately decide where the extraction points on Donnie's arm would be. The starbursts on Donnie's arm are where the pins for the device were forceably torn out when they 'failed' him. The lines between them are where the wires that connected pin points were similarly torn out. They created finer scars.

I want to highlight the barely seen spot 7, Neural Implant, with an extreme close up:

It may seem like just the curvature of his noggin, but it's actually Donnie's one clean scar. It was his only surgery he was truly careful with as it chanced his brain stem and spine if he messed up. Without his ninpo, he implanted a chip to coordinate with his tech more seamlessly. It's inspired by the fic Switch by unorthodoxx, which shout-out! Again, if someone comes up with a neat concept, that stuff sticks with me!

Spot 6, Mystic Chains aka where Donnie got his foot ripped off and it might not be for the reason you think. I wanted to make mention here, that you might remember the chapter art from chapter 43 of Weak Spot and that Donnie did not have a port sticking out back then. That's growth kids because it took me until after to realize that he would need something inserted to connect to a working prosthetic.

Finally, it was tough to figure out how best to depict all of Donnie's shell damage. It's reveal is such a huge moment in Weak Spot and I knew he would have what was basically insurmountable damage to have made it a specific weak spot to him (if you know what I'm saying 😏) The number 8, spike holes are just that, Donnie hit some spikes. Think of him having been shut in like an iron maiden or maybe trapped by a spike wall that was reminiscent of the ones in the Maze of Death in the Minotaur Maze episode of canon.

As for spot 10, Shredder, we see this Donnie suffered for not having a bulkier battle shell. When he was attacked by shredder in this moment:

His shell took that damage directly.

The last spot I want to touch on is 9, the Odachi marks, the larger blob one is when Leo attempted to, but held back from severing Donnie's spine and the other is from Leo trimming Donnie's spines (aka from being a Spiny Softshell). I made this extremely helpful infographic to explain to Garbage at one point exactly what was trimmed off in the latter:

Moving on to outfit variants and expressions!

I hope this section is pretty self explanatory, but I did want to make a note: Donnie wears his wraps as seen in Lounge Looks around his arms and neck under all his clothing and at most hours due to his constant pain. Also, the examples of Donnie's emotions are something that only came around during Weak Spot. He hardly emoted before he met reader.

Last, But Not Least we got prop close-ups!

The prosthetic shown here is specifically Donnie's comfiest, aka the one he uses at home. I didn't bother adding any other prosthetics because his others are either shoe prosthetic (aka the shoe is fit so it directly attaches to is port) or a prosthetic that is made to perfectly replicate what his foot looks like (which visually looks like he just has his real foot). His prosthetic is actually a straight rip off of a real one!

When researching prosthetics, I found this one and it struck me as so similar to the turtle's actual feet (with the 'two toes' and heel) that I thought this had to be Donnie's prosthetic.

We get a good look at Donnie's glasses. As a reminder, the arms (temples) of Donnie's glasses attach to his head via magnets. He's got a little metal in his head from the electrical burns and cochlear implant so he made use of it when he made a facsimile of his goggles. The whole point of his glasses is they mimic the vision specs/knowledge he needs to access without them being a danger to his person. They are meant to be easily removable and they do not have lenses. The color projected in them is just that (a projection) and it only works if it's close enough to Donnie's neural implant and he wills them to be turned on.

Our final order of business is WS Donnie's battle shell! This is the first time it's ever been depicted! I always knew he was going to have a different sort of battle shell when I was created this version of Donnie. His show shell is just too bulky for what this Donnie could afford. Since he dabbled a lot of easily concealable tech, I took a lot of inspiration from Iron Man. The battle shell, as we know from Weak Spot, can grow and resize to its user. I specifically had this gif in mind whenever I thought about how the battle shell grows on one's back:

I did a ton of research into body armor itself, since that is what Donnie would specifically need it for and found this specific piece that I thought fell perfectly in line with both the Iron Man idea and utility of a realistic battle shell for this Donnie.

and that's just about everything! Again, thank you to anyone who made it this far. Thank you for reading my works! Thank you for literally everything! Round up thanks to my betas, to Garbage, to everyone dangit!

[fuck-customers]

Last year I worked at a small student led handicraft store run by my university and it was originally supposed to be a temporary pop-up run by the lecturers who led the events management course. It was the best job I’d ever had - which isn’t saying much because every other job I’ve had has been horrendous and traumatising in ways I can’t even describe - so of course I was overjoyed when they told us they were extending our temporary contracts by a year and keeping the shop open indefinitely.

At that point things started going downhill. The uni stopped promoting the shop at all so our customer numbers dropped dramatically, and the uni’s PR department refused to let us utilise the shop’s social media page despite asking one of the employees to manage the social media and making her take on extra hours. They refused to make the necessary changes in order to make it the permanent storefront they envisioned - All our bookkeeping for every single purchase had to be written in a paper ledger and then copied and reformatted into a dozen different stock and accounting spreadsheets on a laptop, for every single individual item in each sale, before we could take payment, because they refused to pay for software that would automate it, so a single transaction could take anywhere between 5-20 minutes depending on what the person was buying. Many customers ended up getting frustrated and just walked off.

We started haemorrhaging stockists as the uni didn’t pay them fairly or on time, despite pestering from both stockists and floor staff. Even now, nearly 6 months after the whole thing shut down, some stockists still haven’t been paid. The uni took such a huge amount of commission from each sale (nearly 3 times the industry standard!) that the stockists making products couldn’t afford to pay themselves fairly without doubling or tripling the prices of their work, which fucked up their sales. Most people didn’t even earn enough to cover production costs for their work.

I was maybe the only person on the entire staff who actually had any significant retail and customer facing experience, having worked in the fast food and retail industries for ~4 years before I started at the shop, and it was abysmal. The events management faculty who were supposed to be running it had no customer facing experience and did nothing to help when problems came up - they treated it like a temporary event rather than a permanent shopfront and we had so little support and oversight it was awful. We had to take on full management responsibility despite it being well above our pay grade because they refused to hire an experienced manager or supervisor - while trying to man the store we would also have to do admin, liaise with clients and stockists, accounting, stock input, paying for essential supplies with our own money because the Uni refused to approve them, organising our own shifts and pay, making social media content, and arranging cover for if someone was ill or had an emergency. Instead of any reasonable support they sent us a horribly overworked postgrad intern who was working between 5-6 different departments and could only actually be in the store maybe one hour a month, had no idea what she was doing, and was so overworked that she eventually had a breakdown and quit.

This issue was compounded because they’d only ever let us put two employees on each shift - they refused to pay enough for staff numbers above that despite being so busy in the first few months that we couldn’t keep up, and told us that for safety reasons both employees had to be there to open the shop- so if somebody was late or didn’t show up the other person wouldn’t be able to work either. If one person was on a double shift and the second person’s replacement for second shift wasn’t on time, the person on the double wouldn’t be able to leave for a lunch break, and the person on the single would have to stay extra time. There were several employees that would spend the entire shift doing fuck all - one guy was at least two hours late every single shift, and bought his XBOX with him every time, and spent the entire time he was working with his feet propped up on the counter playing GTA. The university genuinely didn’t care about the shop or its success enough to even give him a disciplinary.

It was awful, especially because there were a small group of us who were both stockists and floor staff, and were genuinely invested in the shop’s success. But our contracts ran till the end of the academic year, and the pay was really decent compared to a lot of jobs in the area, and it was stable and above minimum wage, so we (the staff) really did try to make it work, but we were set up to fail. Eventually we were barely making a sale a day, and then it dropped to a sale a week.

When they closed the shop, right before the end of the semester when people’s rent would be due, they gave us 10 days’ notice - which went against our contract - and no redundancy pay. Most people had had shifts for the next 8-9 weeks already scheduled, which we never got to work. We never got our holiday pay or the Christmas bonus they’d promised us 9 months prior. It was such short notice that several people couldn’t find new jobs in time, couldn’t scrape enough together to pay their bills and rent on time, and they didn’t even have the decency to tell us we were losing our jobs in person - they sent out a single email to one of the girls who helped organise shifts, and she had to post it in the staff group chat.

And the sad thing? It was still the best, least stressful job I’ve ever had. It was the only job I’ve had that didnt actually make me want to die. I miss it like hell. It was the only job I’ve had that paid me above the legal minimum wage. I’m physically disabled, and it was the only job I’ve ever had that actually followed through on the reasonable adjustments and disability accommodations they’d promised me.

But the way it was run it wasn’t fair or sustainable , and it shouldn’t have ended the way it did.

Posted by admin Rodney

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @midsummer-semantics! QueenOfSwords1312 has posted 51 fics to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 50 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@tedewitt recommends the following works by @midsummer-semantics:

A Kind of Merry War

Free-Use Health Care

Dia de los Muertos

The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between

Don't threaten me with a good time

"Jordan is an incredible writer first and foremost. They have a passion for writing that you don’t see every often. Their fics transport you into the world they’ve built and breathe new life into familiar characters." -- @tedewitt

Below the cut, @midsummer-semantics answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I’ve somehow managed to make these guys my entire personality since they very very briefly interacted two years ago. Weirdly enough, I wasn’t even a huge fan of Steve until s4 (blasphemy, I know), but the Steddie brainrot took hold immediately and I feel like they’re genuinely such adaptable characters that putting them in a million different situations and seeing how they’d interact is one of the best parts.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Getting together, hands down. I will read them getting together in the same way a million times and never get tired of it, but everyone writes such interesting ways that it’s always good every single time.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Didn’t know they were dating. The small acts of domesticity that leads them to the realization they’ve basically been together without the kissing (and other things) all along it so fun and funny to me. Especially if it’s what leads to Steve’s sexual awakening.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

“Come what may (i will love you until my dying day)” by emurph_24. It changed my life in so many amazing ways and I credit that fic as the reason why I got into the fandom space itself and not just writing my little fics for funsies. Plus, the author is my wife now.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Eventually I’d love to write a proper Getting Back Together fic, but I hate making them fight and break up so it’s going to take some mental and emotional gymnastics in order to do that first before the good thing happens.

What is your writing process like?

It varies. Either I start with a proper detailed outline, every major plot point I want to hit laid out with a checklist and I go through each part until I’ve hit them all. Or I have one single idea or inspirational quote/event/story I heard somewhere in mind and I just insert Steddie into it instead. The first one takes me weeks to get through. The second I usually end up writing 10k in a day. Either way, I talk through pretty much everything with Tara (TEDewitt) and Erin (emurph_24) before and during the writing, and they’re the best hype-people and betas anyone could ask for.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I almost always start fics with the name of the person whose point of view will be used within the first sentence. “Eddie Munson is a fool.” “They’ve been dancing around each other for months and it’s driving Eddie up the wall.” “Steve knows he and Eddie are close.” I’m not sure why I do that, but I think it just makes it easier on my brain to know right away whose brain I’m using. I also hope it makes things clearer for people who read my stuff.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I tend to post when I finish writing (once Tara and Erin have had a chance to look through it), but I’d never published an entire fic chapter by chapter once it’s entirely written. I usually post chapters as I finish them, which makes me pretty bad about irregular updates (Sorry!). But I’ve been part of a few events now that have posting schedules and those have been WORLDS better about keeping me on track for things.

Which fic are you most proud of?

It’s a toss-up between “The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between,” “Free-Use Healthcare,” and “A Kind of Merry War.” The first is my longest fic and what I feel is the first real deep-dive into the characters, and it’s my baby. The second just did really really well and I’m still a little in shock by it. And the third was not only fun but everything I like to see in Shakespeare adaptations so it was a successful adaptation in my book.

How did you get the idea for Don't threaten me with a good time?

We all know the phrase “write what you know” and I’ve, frankly, lived a really weird life. So the story is literally just a Steddified version of a celebrity run-in I had on my birthday a few years back.

When writing The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between, what was something you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect it to be as long as it is lol I mean, I knew it was going to be 22 chapters, but I didn’t really know going in how long those chapters would be.

What inspired The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between?

The major arcana, and my desire to write a fix-it of volume 2. I just really think Eddie deserved to live and the major arcana do tell “the fool’s story” so it was a great way to make that happen.

What was your favorite part to write from Dia de los Muertos?

The first kiss. Well, the entire thing was fun to write, but again, I’m a sucker for those boys getting together, and Eddie’s little panic attack when he surprise-kisses Steve the first time because he just can’t help it was so fun.

How do/did you feel writing Free-Use Health Care?

Like a horny goblin took over my brain and was controlling me Ratatouille-style until suddenly there was 10k words in less than 24 hours. It wasn’t even supposed to be two parts, it was only going to be one with an open ending, but I literally couldn’t stop thinking about a part 2 as I was writing part 1 so here we are.

What was the most difficult part of writing A Kind of Merry War?

Textual interpretation. I’m really familiar with Much Ado About Nothing from years of working with it, but trying to make the actual lines from the play that are featured in the fic make sense in a way that is easily understandable to non-Shakespeare fans without derailing the pacing or taking people out of the story was an insane balancing act. I like to think I nailed it, though.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

In “Where lovers used to live (But they’ve been gone for quite some time)”, Steve finally gets to have the post-Eddie breakdown he deserves, but interwoven in that breakdown is repeated flooding of memories of how they got together before Eddie died. My favorite is when they’re getting a small moment in the RV just the two of them and Eddie is reading the Silmarillion to Steve, and Steve makes Eddie promise that when they survive the battle, they’ll run away together. Broke my own heart writing it, but god it was good.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I always have something up my sleeve, but the current and most exciting is the Eddie Munson Big Bang. I’m working with helpimstuckposting on an omegaverse Practical Magic AU called “Pressure in Increments,” coming very soon!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

I’ve really met some of the coolest people in the world through this fandom and I think their friendship has really helped this not die for me even when there’s times it gets overwhelming or I feel like I’m losing momentum to write. I know that no matter what else is going on, I have the boys and my friends in my corner, and that’s the best part of it all.

Thank you to our author, @midsummer-semantics and our nominator, @tedewitt! See more of QueenOfSwords1312's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[cripplecharacters]

Hi, 

So, I have written expression disorder and dysgraphia, which means this might be a bit rambly or unclear but I’ll try my best to stay on as clear and as brief as I can. 

I’m currently writing a fanfiction for Wynonna Earp as a way to improve my writing skills without needing to stress about it. Background on the show: It’s a supernatural show based around a descendant of Wyatt Earp who was a legal officer in the wild west and got involved in a massive feud. It also has his friend Doc Holliday becoming immortal and being a love interest for the main character. The primary reason I’m doing this is because I dislike how they portrayed Doc Holliday in the series (often outright the opposite of the reality) and also because they just left out the fact he was disabled completely. Due to a gunshot wound when he was fairly young, probably along with weakness due to having tuberculosis for most of his adult life, which did eventually kill him, he used a cane part time. He also had a cleft lip and palate that was surgically corrected and he got surgery for it as an infant and had speech therapy, which doesn’t really seem to have impacted his adult life much in what I’m writing.

 I do have chronic pain due to an injury which was pretty bad when I was younger, so having a character who’s portrayed as dealing with that and continuing to be brave and selfless would have meant the whole world to me at that point in my life and still will. But as I was doing research I ran into a few things I knew very little about. 

My own disabilities are invisible, which means that I don’t have much experience with how people respond to seeing mobility aids. It would be interesting to show people’s responses, especially since he pretty famously took offense easily and didn’t leave things alone. There’s a fun scene there but I’m not sure what a common response to set it off would be. The biggest problem I have, that I haven’t been able to find a lot about: according to a medical article I read even when it’s cured people who had tuberculosis typically have some lung damage. I haven’t been able to find a lot on how that would impact someone day to day. He was cured of it magically but the idea of there still being damage makes sense based on the in universe rules and also someone being magically cured is generally considered not good. So how would it impact someone on a daily basis?

There’s some things in the research I did that make me think he was autistic (namely literal thinking to the point where he almost killed someone due to not understanding that a duel was meant to be a joke as a teen). Or maybe I’m just projecting because I am. Any ideas for how somebody who grew up in a time where nuerodivergence just wasn’t known would accommodate himself and be helped by friends? How would they understand it at that time?

How in general do friends respond to disabilities and try to help now?

There’s a few other things but they’re mainly just me being a beginner writer who doesn’t honestly. Thank you so much for reading through this even if you don’t end up responding!

[part 2] clarification: I meant the cleft palate wouldn't come up in what I'm writing because he's an adult and it didn't seem to have huge bearing on his adult life. I'm so sorry I left out part of that sentence in my ask bc I have a learning disability! didn't mean to! I'm so sorry and thank you again!

Hello!

People respond in many ways. In the modern west a lot of it involves random strangers being intrusive as shit ("what happened to you??") but in historical times I think it would be more of avoidance, especially if he has visible symptoms of tuberculosis. People still think that "visibly disabled person coughing = plague". If you're going for historical accuracy, it wouldn't really surprise me if strangers didn't want to sit next to him.

Long tuberculosis (affecting 25% of those who had TB) seems to be very similar to COPD, so the main day-to-day effect would probably be fatigue, being out of breath after physical exertion, etc. COPD is an incredibly common disability so you should be able to find a lot of info about it and how it can be managed.

Friends will also respond in many ways, and it also depends a lot on the disabled person. This guy sounds like the "hyper-independent physically disabled man" type and in my experience most of them don't talk about their needs much, especially not with the boys. In this case the accommodation is often just silently agreed on after spending some time together (e.g., after a few times going out they can see how annoyed he gets when they suddenly change plans so they learn to tell him as soon as they know, if he drops something they pick it up for him without saying anything since they know it's tiring for him to get up, etc.). If they know him well enough to know he takes offense easily they probably wouldn't bring up his inability to do something to not upset him and try to work around it instead.

I don't have enough historical knowledge to answer the second question, so I'll leave it to other mods. But I think it'd make sense if they just thought he was eccentric or weird rather than having a medical condition.

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

Hello, thank you for your ask! In regards to the second question, it would depend on his symptoms, how well/if he could mask, and how other people view(ed) him.

I'm assuming he's level 1 / low support needs, as you don't mention him having a caretaker or difficulty doing tasks. Some of the examples include specific autistic traits that he may or may not have/used to have, they're mostly there to be examples. These are also assuming you're writing him as an adult only, if you want some info on how it would be like growing up during this time let us know!

Without good knowledge of autism, most people would think he's very strange if he cannot [fully] mask. Flat affect, lack of social understanding and other symptoms would make most allistic people uncomfortable, with responses ranging from thinking he's just weird [and would want to avoid him] to believing he's angry at them specifically [and would either want to avoid him or get aggressive themselves]. Most people will probably just see it as character quirks rather than symptoms of anything, or even think he's choosing to act the way he does. His friends would most likely be other neurodivergent people who either experience the same symptoms or don't have enough of a social understanding to realize he's not acting 'correctly' if he doesn't mask.

Unless his friends/family experience similar symptoms to him, they probably wouldn't understand why he does/reacts the way he does. This isn't to say they wouldn't try to accommodate him still, that moreso depends on the individual, but those who don't understand might try to push him to 'get over it' more than someone who gets it. Like Sasza said, over time his friends would be able to accommodate him by noticing what makes him upset/happy and how to help. 'Doc likes to keep his hands busy so I gave him my butterfly knife to spin' or ' the yelling in the hall was bothering him so I asked if he wanted to go to outside with me' could be ways of accommodating him without realizing, basically seeing his symptoms and trying to find an easy solution to help, wether or not they understand them. They could also give him unhelpful solutions while trying to accommodate, which would probably just further stress Doc if given in a stressful situation. Essentially unless he knows what helps and tells them it would be a guessing game for them [if he does that or his friend[s] respect it depends on them]. Try to think of his symptoms and what might be available at the time to help [like stim toys didn't exist back then but butterfly knives did, and ear defenders weren't a thing but he could walk away if needed].

As to how he'd accommodate himself, he wouldn't know words like 'stim' or 'overstimulated,' but if he doesn't care about/understand social norms he would be more likley to 'move in odd ways' or exit an upsetting area. A more socially conscious person might try to hide it, like using small tactile stims [i.e. rubbing a cloth or tapping his foot] or making excuses to leave an upsetting area. He might also be able to mask and try to just bear it, only unmasking around friends or in private.

Also the wiki said he was born in 1851 but died in 2020, and although autism would be named during his lifetime I'm not sure he would identify with it. The first medical documentation of autism was in 1877, and at the time it was called developmental [r-slur]. I doubt he'd want to identify with that, and even later on autism was only ever studied in children, and of course was not thought of well. It was thought to be caused by cold parenting or a form of psychosis/schizophrenia exclusive to children in the early to mid 1900's. For many, many years the only idea of autism he'd have would essentially be that. Because most studies at the time thought autism could be 'grown out of' [with exception to higher support needs people] he'd have lived most of his life at that point believing it was a child only disease. Even if he hadn't heard about autism until the late 1900's-early 2000's, it was still thought of as a stigmatized childhood disease by the public until recently [even by people today, hence the blog's existence]. If he's the type of character to be less set in his opinions at an old age then maybe later he could read on modern autism and identify with it, but I find older people tend to prefer dismissing disability for the sake of avoiding any change.

I hope this was at all helpful!

Mod Rot

[moonsaver]

Just a quick and rough idea but imagine yanderes who are really good with tech and manage to message you as your ai chat bot ???

The messages are normal as always, in character for the bot, a few refreshes and loading up new chats when the ai can't keep up with your plotline or what you're doing, a few slip ups on it's end when it comes to remembering your personas.

It's a little annoying at best, but you're a good enough sport about it, deciding to find other ways to continue chatting.

Until, you wake up to notifications.

You'd disabled them – at the risk of anyone spotting them and calling you out. You were sure of it, but perhaps it updated and something got mixed in the process. Anyhow, you wake up to a few messages in the middle of the night.

You ignore it the first few times, each time making sure to try and turn the notifications off, but it happens over and over regardless. A few incidents start to look less and less like coincidences, forcing you to eventually sit up on your bed at night, squinting at the screen of your phone illuminating your bedroom.

The chat is new. You hadn't opened a new one.

The response seems the same – nothing out of character for the personality when it came to the specific bot you were talking to.

You send a quick reply, and turn it off. You watch as you get a notification. You sigh, and continue, trying to get it over with.

The notifications stop after that.

Thankfully, to your relief. You find your chats to be more immersive ever since, the bot remembers things you mentioned many messages ago, even from different chats and..

Did it always know you that well? You're not sure if you wrote that into your persona.

It gets weirder.

You wake up to plethora of messages in the app, most of which questions which get.. more odd the more you read them. The pattern repeats – questions that become odd, specific. Notifications that turn themselves on. Contacts disappear from your phone, and some apps delete themselves. You've found some messages you're not sure you remember typing out to your friends and family.

It feels weird to look at your camera.

But you can't find anything wrong with your phone. Unfortunately for you, they're just as good as hiding. But they continue texting you, regardless. Something about having the opportunity to be this close to you is not what they want to pass up on. Why would they?

You stop getting notifications from any other app.

X: "you're taking your time, huh?"

X: "it's okay, I'm quite patient myself ^^"

X: "although, I'd love to know what takes you so long!"

X: "ah, maybe your friends distract you too much.."

X: "hehe, are you worried about your notifications? I can turn them off for you."

X: "actually.. now that I mention it, I think I can tinker your phone a little bit more.."

X: "you won't mind that, right?"

Alert! X is requesting access to—

X: "I'll make it better. You trust me, don't you? ♡"

——

[goldenlionprince]

Stay

And here is the final part of the Charity Gala plotline for @sorenphelps The Bodyguard AU (find the other parts here, here and here or in the collection on AO3).

It's the longest mini fic I have written for this AU so far so you can either read it here or on AO3

.

James is a little bit tipsy. Or maybe a lot.

During the gala he only had a glass of champagne or two, sipping it while talking to all those fancy people, trying to get them to commit to their donations. But once the whole thing was done and the guests had left James had gotten the red-headed bartender to pour him some shots.

And he might have lost count on how many he had.

He deserves it, really, to be a little drunk. He has done it. He made it through the whole gala, he deserves to wash the lingering pain his parents' absence causes away with as much alcohol as he pleases. His heart is heavy and so will his head be in the morning but right now James doesn't care.

“I think that's enough,” Sirius eventually says and cuts him off, which is a little unfair. They manage to get to the car and all the way back to James' apartment but the details on how are a little blurry to James. He's pretty sure he sang along to a song on the radio, probably really badly since he's not the best singer, but he can't even remember which one it was.

When Sirius parks the car James stumbles out of it as soon as he can, his legs a lot more unsteady than he thought. He catches himself on the car door and laughs.

James has always been a lightweight. Maybe the vodka shots weren't the best idea he ever had.

“You're a mess,” Sirius says when he comes around the car to James' side and isn't that the truth. James' whole life is a mess, really, but at least the mess brought him something good too.

“Hi,” James says with a grin, swaying on the spot. “You're probably wondering what is a place like me doing in a guy like this?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Sirius shakes his head fondly and takes a step closer.

“I'm hilarious,” James offers and finally lets go of the car door. He tries to take a step but his legs are still not working properly and the world is spinning too much – rude – but thankfully Sirius is right there so James can catch himself before falling face first onto the floor. Grabbing onto the front of Sirius' suit is much more preferable to kissing the floor. Speaking of kissing though, he's very close to Sirius' face now.

“Hi again,” he says, dropping his voice a little lower to make himself sound more seductive. “Do you come here often?”

Sirius just raises an eyebrow at him. “Every time I drive your car.”

“Baby, you can drive my car,” James sings and winks at Sirius. It's possible he uses both eyes for the winking, he's not entirely sure about it.

Sirius just laughs at him and makes sure he doesn't fall over from swinging his hips to his song. “Okay, let's get you to bed so you can sleep it off.”

Bed sounds fantastic to James. “Hey, Soldier Boy,” James says and wraps his arms around Sirius' neck. “Did it hurt?”

“Did what hurt?” Sirius asks with a frown at the sudden question.

“When you fell from heaven.”

Sirius just stares at him for a moment. “Okay, that's it. You're going up,” he says and then James' world flips a little when he gets thrown over Sirius' shoulder. James can't do anything but giggle and hold on.

They manage to get upstairs to the apartment and all the way to James' bedroom without that much trouble. James is almost sad when Sirius finally sets him back down. The view from up there was just too good.

Standing turns out to be a little easier than moving but not by much so James flops his butt down onto the bed. Sirius should be proud of him since he's going the 'better safe than sorry' route with this.

Getting rid of his tie though or opening the buttons on his shirt turn out to be the next big challenges.

Sirius clicks on the light on the nightstand. James blinks like an owl at the sudden brightness. He's a bit unsure though how the light will help with the mess he made of his tie.

“Let me,” Sirius says, his voice low as he steps between James' legs. Warm fingers gently brush aside James' fumbling ones and manage to save him from the messed up knot James somehow managed to make. He slips the tie off James' neck and James isn't entirely sure if he's breathing properly, especially when Sirius goes down on one knee in front of him to help him get rid of his shoes.

“Think you can get up one more time? Would be easier that way to get you out of the rest.”

James has somehow swallowed his tongue within the last minute so he only nods. Sirius pulls him back up into a standing position and while James is still swaying a little he's not falling over.

The suit jacket slips off James' shoulders easily and then Sirius' fingers are on the buttons of his shirt, and yes, that order makes a lot more sense than the one James tried earlier.

“You know,” James says when Sirius slips the shirt off his shoulders, shivering at the feeling of Sirius' fingers brushing over his skin. “When I was imagining you getting me out of my clothes I was hoping for something a little bit different.”

“I bet you were,” Sirius says, holding James' gaze as he pops the button of James' trousers and drags the zip down. James' brain might have short-circuited after that because the next thing he knows he's out of his trousers, thankfully without falling over, leaving him in nothing but his pants and socks until Sirius pushes him back down onto the bed and grabs James' favourite hoodie for him. He helps James into it and James sighs in bliss at the cosy warmth.

Sirius chuckles softly. “Get some sleep, Genius,” he says and tries to take a step back, away from James, but James grabs his wrist, stopping him in a sudden rush of panic.

“Stay,” he blurts out, looking up at Sirius in an almost desperate plea. “Please. I just... I can't...” James can't find the words to describe why he can't be alone tonight, why the loneliness is threatening to suffocate him with the ghosts of his parents still lingering.

Thankfully he doesn't have to, not completely. Sirius pauses and looks down at him, considering. “Can you keep your hands to yourself?”

James lets go of Sirius' wrist as if burned and raises both hands in surrender. “Promise,” he says, voice still a little slurred, then frowns. “I mean... I've been told I am a clingy sleeper.”

“I sleep with a gun under my pillow,” Sirius says without missing a beat. James can't help but laugh, letting his hands fall back onto the bed.

“I'm not even a little bit surprised.”

Sirius steps away from the bed and James resists the urge to grab for him again. But Sirius doesn't go far, just far enough to have room to get out of his clothes.

It's not a sexy strip by any means. It's quite methodical. Watch. Waistcoat. Shirt. Trousers. Still James can't look away, mesmerised.

“Move over,” Sirius says when he's done, stripped down to his underwear. James moves up the bed, leaving the side closer to the door for Sirius. He takes off his glasses when Sirius gets into bed beside him and puts his gun under the pillow as promised.

The light switch clicks off.

“Thank you,” James mumbles into the darkness, his eyes already dropping now that his head hit the pillow. The weight of Sirius' body right next to him is a comfort and relief.

“Get some sleep, Nerd. You need it,” Sirius answers but James barely hears him, already drifting off to sleep, floating away on the warmth of the alcohol in his belly. He links his fingers with Sirius' and then he's gone.

**

James wakes the next morning to an empty bed, but the side Sirius slept on is still warm.

He sits up and grabs his glasses from the nightstand, nearly knocking over a glass of water he finds there along with some painkillers. Grateful James pops the pills and drinks down the water before he rolls out of bed, already regretting the shots from last night. His limbs feel heavy and his head is pounding, his eyes hurting in his skull.

It's the price he has to pay. Groaning, he makes his way to the living room. He can't wait for the painkillers to kick in.

James finds Sirius in the kitchen, already dressed, which is a shame, really. “Good morning,” Sirius says and James only grumbles in return.

Sirius chuckles softly and pushes a glass over the counter into James' direction. “Drink that.”

“What is it?” It doesn't look very appealing at all, kind of grey with a weird texture. James is almost surprised it doesn't smoke.

“Believe me, you don't want to know,” Sirius says with a grin and a shrug of his shoulders, leaning his hip against the counter. “But it helps.”

James looks at him, the one good thing that came out of all the mess James' life has turned into. “Thank you,” he says and doesn't only mean the weird looking hangover remedy. He means the distractions and the company, the friendship and the little stumbles his heart does whenever he looks at Sirius. A stumble he is more and more sure means more than just a little crush he has on Sirius because the man is stupidly hot.

Sirius picks up on James' strange mood, because of course he does, but before he can say anything James leans in and brushes a kiss against his cheek. “Thank you,” he says again, picks up the glass and walks over to the couch.

They could be good together, James is pretty sure of that, and he will work on it. That Soldier Boy better watch out because James won't let him slip through his fingers easily.

But first he has to get rid of this hangover.

[moonlight-tmd]

Hi

I'm a little bit possessed by the headcanon that Longarm as an individual bot had existed at some point and he was working with many autobots before he was captured by Shockwave, who stole his frame.

I LOVE dancing around the idea that Shockwave was controlling someone's dead body, using it as a shell to camouflage.

Just imagine that somewhere in a secret laboratory, on the operating table, there is still a disassembled bot, from which the frame was taken, the optics were taken,the voicebox were taken, but the hearing was left so that he could hear all the reasons why he could never return to his friends again and could not do anything about it.

Yes, Shockwave would definitely tell him what he has done in details.

One more thing!

Shockwave is a mnemosurgeon, right? I'm sure he had been messing with Longarm's brain many times in order to get information about bots or behavior that he must comply with.

Anon... you have just send me the worst path of angst-filled romance i've ever imagined.

It's so sad- like, imagine you meet someone you were close to and they seem different than the last time you met them. Everything just seems so off but you don't know what...

Bumblebee and Longarm have started their friendship in boot camp. Even thought they were quite different from one another they got along perfectly and knew so much about the other without even asking.

Then one day Bee had to switch programs due to trouble he caused and was doomed to repair crew training just outside the campus. He snuck in whenever he could do meet with Longarm but eventually he had to leave cuz the program was finished.

They stayed in contact all the time, Bee messaged Long when he was working and Long called whenever he had breaks from lectures and training. But then everything went dead on Bee's end... the crew he was assigned in was declared missing. Longarm swore that he'll find them- he'll find Bee- once he becomes part of the Guard.

Years passed and there was nothing, Longarm did his duty and earned a status raise. During one of his missions the ship was attacked by a fleet of Decepticons, most of the crew were found either dead or missing. Except the temporary captain of the ship, Longarm. He was found wandering the wastelands cycles after the tragedy.

In the meantime Bee was missing his companion, even tho he was in stasis so long it felt like a nap, but the few years he spend on Earth felt like eternity stretching on. They had no contact with outer space nor anyone who could help them, their only chance was to wait and hope someone picks up a signal from their crashed and sunken ship. He wished to see Longarm again, to chat with him and hug him once more.

And his wish was granted since Elite Guard with Sentinel on board was came to the planet to investigate, and Longarm was on board...

He couldn't contain his excitement when he saw him and ran to him, embracing all he could reach. He was so excited and happy but when he looked Longarm in the optics- something was off.

It was the same as he remembered, the eyes, the smile, the voice... yet something didn't feel right. Even when he spoke the same way Longarm spoke to him it still felt different. Even in private when Longarm was much more relaxed and open Bee felt it.

Longarm was a prime now, much higher position than when he last heard from him. it would make sense he's gotten more mature and busy in the important tasks and not have much time for his friends but Bee expected something more when they met...

He knew people's relations change when they're far apart or not in contact for long, he knew how little it was for him to be in stasis and how long Longarm had to live thru without him... he really hoped it wasn't the case.

He yearned for the moment where Longarm would hug him unexpectedly or call him one of the nicknames they used in boot camp but it never came...

Decepticon activity on earth was growing stronger, both Elite Guard and Team Prime was working together to hold off the enemy. Still, it was most often than not that the teams followed their own plan instead of coming with a shared one, Sentinel could never talk with Optimus peacefully. Bee was assigned to infiltrate the landing site of the ships that recently came to earth.

Things have been going smoothly, at least until he spotted a familiar face wandering the zone. Longarm was there, seemingly doing the same as he. Bee wanted to call him over but he hesitated, he had questions and he needed to know the answers... He knew it was wrong but he stayed back, watching what the Prime was up to.

He watched him wander around a bit before boarding one of the ships, he discreetly followed and hid inside. He was talking with someone, but he couldn't see who. The conversation was interrupted by a sound of a turbine powering on and ship's system activating. They were taking off. Bee tried to get away but he had no way of safely booking it to the exit, before he knew they were leaving the orbit. He couldn't contact his teammates, something in the ship was blocking all signal. He chose to stay in hiding for however long the ride took.

It was few hours until they landed, Bee had managed to slip out and hide inside the hidden facility on a small planet. The more he wandered the more he realized that the facility in question was one big crazy workshop. He found Longarm once more and followed him, he planned to confront him about whatever was going on but it all came to a full stop soon...

He followed Longarm but lost him just few moments later, he didn't have enough time to look around when he heard someone else coming his way. He hid inside one of the rooms- it was a laboratory. Wires and computers hanging from walls, tools scattered on various tables, and parts... actual mech parts along with vials of energon neatly put aside.

He had mere seconds to hide when the doors opened and Longarm walked in, holding something. He was talking to someone,.. Bee managed to peek out of his hiding- he saw Longarm standing near the medical station, the same one Bee was crouched next to a moment ago, but this time Bee could see what was on it; there on the diagonally angled table laid a wreck of a mech. Longarm talked to him sweetly, almost like one would with a pet, telling him all about team prime and elite guard and his tasks... Bee felt his own frame going cold at the scene, listening to every word Long said in silence...

But what happened next truly made his tanks drop; Longarm's frame shifted and merely a second later stood a Decepticon in it's place. It continued speaking about recent events and tests... eventually ending one of his sentences with the same name he's been using. "...won't you agree with me, Longarm?"

Another mech entered the lab, calling out to the Decepticon. They both left and slowly, Bee crawled out of his hiding spot. His optics landed on the remains of the mech on the table...

Its limbs were gone, uninstalled in a professional way, more than half of its plating gone revealing the skeletal-alike structure inside and vital mechanisms, parts missing and empty slots left in their place,... its helm was baren and cables plugged to processor slots, facial parts uninstalled to prevent recognition more so contact from the mech...

Bee looked at the unfortunate mech, unknown feeling swirling in his spark... he found himself focusing on details left behind; the specific attachments at shoulders, size and layout of the inner support, the headlamp remaining on its head but most importantly the spark... it pulsed is it's casing, uneven, scared... yet the feeling of its light was unmistakable.

Fear and sorrow had overtaken Bee as he realized this was his Longarm. The one and only.

Shaking, he reached out his servo and as gently as he could placed his digits on the mech's cheek structure. Bee could feel him shiver under the touch, he couldn't hold his tears as he uttered the same he's been misusing the whole time. "...Longarm?"

It was dark and quiet, he lost all senses so long ago and has felt nothing but fear since, all he ever knew was the enemy digging his claws into his mind and tearing it apart bit by bit. He wanted to die, he only wished to be killed and taken to the Well... but then there was a voice. Soft and warm, one he always would recognize, but now oh so agonizingly broken. He almost didn't believe it, he didn't want to fall for another lie, but his spark, oh his spark could feel another presence and it was not the enemy he always felt on him... he tried to speak, to call, to yell, let out any sound but all he could was force static electricity out his unconnected cables, hissing the desperate words he could not say.

"What did he do to you?" Bee wanted to cry, to wail and embrace the broken mech but the sounds of others approaching snapped him out. He couldn't stay here, no matter how much he wanted. "I'm sorry, i have to go. I'll come back for you, I promise." He whispered into Longarm's audial before being forced to hide again. The two mechs returned and started working on something away from the door, allowing Bee to slip out and run. He will come back for Longarm, he'll bring help and save him. He had to...

He found his way onto the take off platform, desperate to find a way back home. He found a small ship, capable of being operated by one bot. Starting it off turned out to be harder that he thought, just as he was taking off the alarm sounded from the facility. He fled and managed to get past the orbit but his hopes to escape were cut short as the ship was shot down...

Bee woke up in a medbay, much unlike the one he saw in the facility. He was confused and skittish but then Sentinel walked in. Bee was found adrift in space by a space patrol and brought onto Steelhaven. Sentinel wanted to know what he was doing so far away from earth but Bee never answered his questions. Soon after he was treated he was let out to contact his team in the control centre but just when they were leaving the medical sector the other mech approached... the fake Longarm.

Bee's energon boiled as the his pained processor forced back what he saw and he charged at the mech with his stinger. Other Elite Guard had to hold him down as he went into frenzy out of nowhere and screamed incoherently at Longarm. He was put in stasis and locked in medbay until they arrived at earth.

The word around the ship spread out and soon Jazz was looking into the situation. Bee was his friend and knew that it wasn't like him to go crazy like that... Against Sentinel's orders to let this situation be handled by him he went and under no one's watch woke Bee up from stasis. Bee was panicked and it took Jazz a little bit before he could speak with him- Bee was muttering something about him overhearing and Jazz didn't know what it meant until Bee broke and told him everything he saw. Jazz was beyond shocked, he wanted to help but Bee insisted to not tell anyone they don't trust 100% as the info would spill back to the spy.

They came up with a plan. They snuck out during shift-change hours and stole an emergency pod. It wasn't long before the systems alerted the crew of its deployment, Bee barely managed to steer them out of the radar. Bee managed to call his team with the emergency signal. They were all so shocked and worried about him, it's been nearly a week since they lost contact with him and things weren't looking good back on Earth. Bee told them what he found, who he found and everything else in one desperate breath.

"I knew something was wrong. I knew it! I- Primus why didn't I do anything- why--" He knew something was off and he never did anything. By the Allspark why didn't he do something?! Jazz was quick to notice the sudden meltdown Bee was having and comforted him while Team Prime listened over the call.

Bee knew Longarm for a long time, he was the best mech he's ever met. Longarm was very dear to him, the two shared so many intimate moments back in boot camp. Longarm always looked at him with such adoration before calling him the sweet nicknames only he was allowed to say. They've known more about one another than the time they spend together and yet, both of them knew it was more than just simple love. Bee felt so guilty for ignoring the warning signs and getting fooled by the mimic.

The two told them their plan to get the real Longarm back, Bee knew the coordinates of the facility. All of them were much against only the two of them going but Bee assured them they were gonna be alright and that they need to work on getting the fake Longarm arrested.

It wasn't too long before they arrived back at the facility, after scanning the area from the orbit they made a quick and stealthy landing and got inside the facility. While Jazz worked on getting the alarm systems down Bee made his way back into the same laboratory. He rushed to his beloved and worked on getting him off this damned machinery. He carefully unplugged all the cables and binds keeping him there while hastily whispering words of comfort to Long. There wasn't any designed way to move him but Bee managed to get him onto the supply wagon along with the energon IVs. It was then that hell broke loose. Jazz was trying his best to keep the guards away so Bee can make the escape. Soon they were both running thru the corridors dodging blaster shots and other guards ahead. Jazz held them off while Bee got Longarm into the pod and started the engine. Jazz managed to make it just in time before Bee blasted off back home... but during that he got a serious injury. Once they were set on steady course Bee hurried back to them and patched him the best he could but Jazz was still losing energon quick... Bee panicked and scrambled to do anything to help, the pod shook at it got caught by an EM magnet and pulled into the slot of the bigger ship. When the doors opened Bee was greeted by the lesser crew of Steelhaven.

They took the injured mechs to medbay at once and set course back to Earth while Bee sat there, waiting anxiously for the outcome... When Bee saw Optimus ran into the control centre he bursted into tears, mumbling apologies over and over. Optimus just held him, glad that he was okay and safe. Soon the whole team reunited. Bee learned what battle ensued during his mission and that the fake Longarm was caught trying to scrap agent Blurr. The majority of Steelhaven crew was down on Earth with Team Prime, Optimus has let them know of what Bee discovered therefore they were able to catch the impostor. Ratchet was more than glad to disassemble every single part of Longarm's off this scrapheap's frame. (According to Jazz, he was fine and Prowler was worrying about nothing... which earned him a slap to the helm.)

It was weeks before the Longarm was ready to function again, Bee has stayed by his side every moment of it. When Longarm first woke up he was still adjusting to coordination and speaking, when he saw Bee again he tried to move towards him. Bee leapt off the seat and embraced Longarm for the first time in forever while Longarm tried so hard to hug him back as his voicebox garbled noises in attempt to speak to him.

Bee stayed by Longarm's side every day and night, he spoke to him and told him what happened. Longarm told his story the best he could- he still had a lot of recovery and rehabilitation to do but as long as Bee was there it would be okay.

The moment he was allowed to roam Sentinel came up to them informing him of the status and a high raise as a compensation for all he endured. But that didn't matter to anyone- "I don't want a compensation, I don't want a high rank... I quit. I'm staying here, with Bumblebee."

No matter how much Sentinel tried to persuade him to stay, that he shouldn't make serious decisions like that when still recovering, it was all for nothing. Longarm filed the official resignation and Optimus welcomed him with open arms to his team.

Bee has said a lot about Longarm in the past and now that they had real Longarm with them they were more that happy to get to know him. They've redone Bee's room to house the two mechs together and Longarm couldn't have it any other way. He missed Bee so much.

Once everything has calmed down, when the city has been repaired they would go on a dates. Bee would show him around the city and all his favorite places. They would find a secluded area by the river and spend the entire day there until both of them would perform their conjunx ritus at sunset, just the two of them alone, like they always wanted...

And Shockwave would still be locked in a dark cell, missing parts and plating to cover the painful wounds no one ever bothered to fix fully.

You give me angst, I give you a fic-sized post. Hope you're happy.

Oh, and Wasp was never really in the picture, he got transferred to a higher program when Bee was forced to switch and no spy rumors ever existed. No murder hornets for them, my bro.

[bonewaryreblogs]

Clark Kent/Kal-El (Superman)

Saved by his parents essentially macgyver-ing a rocket stasis pod, kryptonian toddler Kal-El was launched into space as Krypton exploded, eventually crash landing on Earth, near Smallville, Kansas. He was found by Martha and Jon Kent, who were in their 30s and desperately wanted children but had just been told they would be unable to conceive naturally, and adopted as Clark Kent, named after Martha’s maiden name. They weren’t sure how old Clark was so they just started counting from when they found him, calling that his “birth” day in 1952. They never hid his origins from him but they also couldn’t tell him what they didn’t know about Krypton.

As the child of a scientist and an astronaut back on Krypton, Clark was naturally smart and excelled at school, when he wasn’t labeled a “problem child” as he struggled to control his wide variety of superpowers, though he was able to hide these powers from all but his parents and his two closest friends, Lana Lang and Pete Ross, who also agreed to keep the secret. Clark tried to keep a low profile but Jon and Martha instilled a strong sense of right, wrong, and justice into Clark so he could never turn a blind eye to those in need.

At one point, the Legion of Superheroes arrived from the future via time travel and Clark went with them for a while, dropped off mere minutes after initially leaving to maintain timeline integrity. While in the future, Clark received superhero training and is told certain things about himself (yellow vs red sun radiation, Kryptonite, the fate of Krypton, etc) but understood that some things he would have to learn on his own, in his own time period (like his Rogues Gallery). Clark had been debating what to do with himself  before this but felt good about fulfilling his destiny as a superhero by the time he returned. Since he was still (at least legally) 16 by this point, Clark began preparations to move to Metropolis, focusing on studying to be a reporter/journalist as his day job rather than trying to be a superhero just yet.

(I’m using this to set up a reboot of an old idea I had for Braniac 5 and my OC Batboy getting stuck in the past for a while. It was initially for Teen Titans, but I kinda wanna rework it to fit with Phantom Bat lol)

Graduating at 18, he goes to Metropolis University for a few years before debuting as Superman at 25, having already established himself at the Daily Planet. He is quickly inducted into the Justice Society of America but soon realized the superhero team had some major flaws and drawbacks, particularly as he realized these “heroes” had become little more than the American government’s attacks dogs rather than thinking for themselves and following an independent moral system. He stayed, though, so he could access their resources, network with other heroes, and learn what not to do as he began making plans to create his own superhero team.

After meeting Batman (a la “The Batman” Season 5), Superman approaches Bruce with his plan for the Justice League, asking if Wayne Enterprise would be its “secret” financial backer. Bruce says he’ll think about it, since he had a lot on his plate at the time. Superman meets Wonder Woman shortly after she stopped Ares from inciting World War III, and quickly gets her to support his Justice League idea. Together they recruit Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman (Orin of Atlantis), and Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz) as their starting lineup by the time Bruce finally agrees to back the Justice League, debuting to the world shortly thereafter in 1994. Once established and proven to be stable (ie. not likely to disband like other independent superhero teams) the Justice League drew many new members from around the world, often as representatives of national teams.

[neolxzr]

hey you get it its an alien stage alien au—wait a minute... this is just invader zim !!!

some more random info abt this au under the read more ^_^ open at your own risk its a lot of yapping

till makes it his mission to expose the aliens (mostly ivan. he has personal beef with him) to the rest of humanity, but he's the boy who cried wolf. no one believes him because he's been talking about aliens and bigfoot and mothman and whatever nonstop all his life.

till loves the supernatural but also fears it. it consumes most of his waking thoughts. he doesn't like how quickly the aliens grow close to mizi out of a desire to protect her from the (presumed) threat. he's kinda like if dib invader zim was some gay art kid instead of like a supergenius

this threatening feeling comes from till assuming that ivan and sua are on earth for some kind of conquest and or abduction reasons. are they actually? who knows...

mizi is a bit of a hopeless romantic and finding out that sua was an alien only served to make her fall for her more. she could think of nothing more romantic than this scenario, actually. even till screaming danger at her cannot deter her from her love

ivan fights with till and riles him up because he finds how expressive he is utterly fascinating. he says its to "learn more about humans" but mostly he just wants till's attention. he himself doesn't know why he wants this attention, though.

sua and ivan experience a range of emotions in a similar way to humans, yet their species is discouraged from acting emotionally and isnt taught about what any of their feelings mean. all they know, at the start, is that these humans draw some kind of strange feelings out of them that they've never felt before.

(it sticks with the overall theming of alnst being about trying to understand exactly what love means.)

ivan and sua's earpieces are multipurpose tools. they're connected directly to the brain and can't be taken off. they can be used to generate their disguises (its a hologram type of thing), works as a translator so they can communicate with other alien species, etc.

what looks kind of like a nose on the aliens' faces is not a nose. their antennas are used as their olfactory system (they are also quite sensitive)

till is no longer crushing on mizi at this point in his life. sometime during middle school mizi came out to him as a lesbian and so he told her he liked her and it was a whole thing and they both cried. it ended up serving to strengthen their friendship. its been about 4 years-ish since then and theyre still inseparable

till works some kind of shitty service job part time, at which he met hyuna. she's like his cool older college friend and sort of older sister. he plays with her band sometimes

this takes place in who the fuck knows where midwest united states, and the humans are korean-american. till is first generation and usually speaks korean with his mom at home

it takes a while for till to first get a glimpse of ivan and sua's undisguised forms, though when he finally does something about them seems oddly familiar to him.

mizi sees sua's undisguised form long before till does. she does not tell him this

luka is an alien too. wonder what he's up to...

ok thats all love you bye ^_^

[spotaus]

Late Night quick thing (New Age Sillies)

Bad news: That joke post about including Reset + Orchid is definitely not canon. (I legit got sad thinking about Reset being in a universe where Orchid isn't- because their stories are so so intertwined- but Nightmare 100% would NOT risk the whole twins exploding Error's soul thing.)

Good news: This means I COULD include Kane (Reset's older brother who usually dies in timelines where Reset is born) and use it to develope his character a bit more! Also! Perhaps a Blue × Dream kiddo is finally in the stars for me to design?

[icewindandboringhorror]

... why he sit like this

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

trying to psych myself up to finally do oc refs by doing fandom-related refs instead: volume 1

wanted to update my yuma from whatever tf this au is so he was a bit more unique... takes inspo from a lot of different things while also trying to be its own sorta thing? which is fitting given the au ;)

bonus chibi now that i'm also figuring out how tf to do chibis lol:

[chuchayucca]

Tbh I'm surprised nobody else has brought up the idea of Richard being abused too

It feels like a lot of potential for it and an explanation (aside from their status) as to why Roy never got help for it either -- Richard thought it was normal.

Now this is just making me imagine a scene where Carmen remarks that Roy will "grow out of it" (it being his behavior) like Richard did in front of the other Hatz and Ross and Robert just share a Look

Anddd now I'm wondering how much Carmen knows

TW for discussions of fictional CSA/SA and mentions of alcoholism

Me too, I thought it would be an obvious assumption but I guess not.

Exactly, I’ve seen the fandom explore Carmen and Roy’s relationship regarding his CSA but never with Richard. I think it’s ashamed because there’s a lot you can write for the relationship, even outside of their CSA.

Omg that’s a good scene idea. The Hatzgang are realized there is a deeper issue, and Roy has to unfortunately unpack that generational trauma. I can see how learning his dad is a possible CSA victim, like him, starts pushing Roy to tell his parents but also discourages him because basically Richard unknowingly knew Roy was SA but never recognized it because he doesn’t know he was SA too. I also believe Richard normalized his brother’s actions too. It’s truly devastating how Richard indirectly contributed to the normalization of Roy’s abuse but he doesn’t know it’s SA. He believes those fun “games” him and his brother played were normal family bonding activities and is happy to hear his son is getting along with his brother, a brother he admired when growing up.

These headcanons might change as the series continues and the deeper I get into research.

I headcanon Carmen doesn’t know anything but has suspected something was off a few times. She never thought anything of Richard’s behavior at first because he alway been this way. When they became adults, she started questioning as Richard still had issues with intimacy at that point in their relationship and his alcoholism was at its worst. (Short ver: Richard started drinking at a young age to cope with trauma of his SA and the Uncle encouraged this, buying him alcohol for various reasons. Modern day, Richard is a functional alcoholic but has gotten better with his drinking)

As of the moment, Roy’s parents are unaware of Roy’s CSA. The day the Uncle died, Roy did get in trouble but for separate reasons. Carmen and Richard were mad at Roy for hanging out with “plebeians” and sending them to one of his uncle’s private properties. Roy doesn’t feel comfortable telling them yet because they’re snobby, judgmental people, so he assumes they won’t react well.

[leatherbookmark]

"I know why you want to return to our world, Meggie! You just miss your boyfriend! But we haven't seen everything of this beautiful world yet!" Mr Mortimer sir your wife was enslaved for working as a scribe disguised as a man. In this world women are punished for learning their fathers' craft and your thirteen years old daughter would be already married if she was born in this world. I know the books are very pretty but Mo your wife is pregnant. I don't think they have c-sections here :(