#is what I can understand from what I've found out

[hms-no-fun]

also let's be real. "just get a library card" really doesn't take scarcity into account.

i live in seattle which has a big & relatively well-funded public library system... in which i have found it chronically difficult to get access to any of the things i've gone to the library to find! which is perfectly understandable on the physical media side-- if the library has 13 copies of ursula k leguin's left hand of darkness and they're all checked out, well, that's just how it is sometimes! it sucks to want to read one of the great classics of speculative science fiction for free only to find that it's not available and has 20 holds on it besides, but whatever, that's fine, i don't need to read the physical version, i can just get the ebook and it's not a big deal at all---

wait. hold on. wait. i'm sorry, what? hold on, excuse me?? what do you mean they only have 33 "copies" of left hand of darkness on ebook? it's a freaking ebook! there's no material scarcity here, it's a digital file and not even a particularly big one that can be reproduced via the complicated process of hitting ctrl+c and then hitting ctrl+v, at no cost to anyone. this was in fact the liberatory promise of the ebook, and much digital media besides-- in a data environment without scarcity of materials, access to information is instantaneous, infinitely reproducible, and virtually cost-free.

which is of course a great deal for readers but a terrible deal for publishers. i mean, shit, it's not even that bad a deal, they just think it is because at the end of the day they have no values except the one value that is shared by every business, profit. it doesn't matter that cheap or no-cost ebooks are a social good that encourage people to read more (and more readers is good for publishers), it doesn't matter that basically everyone i know who pirates shit goes out of their way to pay for what they really care about when they can afford to do so, and of course it doesn't matter that digital files saddled with DRM are a bald-faced absurdity that reek of shameless greed at a glance. for publishers (as with all businesses), maintaining the rate of profit exceeds every other conceivable obligation. and tbh if they had their way libraries wouldn't exist. the idea of free access to anything is deplorable to capitalist firms.

and it's not just ebooks. kanopy is a streaming service that libraries nationwide are hooked up to, and the depth of its collection exceeds basically every other streaming service by miles. and all you need is a library card! ah, but here's the catch-- your library membership doesn't grant you unlimited access to kanopy's offerings the way a netflix subscription lets you watch everything on netflix forever. instead, you have a set number of "tickets" allotted to you per month (the amount you get depends on what kind of library you're using) and once you've used your tickets, that's it. my library card gives me 15 tickets per month. most movies cost 2 tickets, shorts cost 1, and seasons of tv cost 5. now, am i using all 15 tickets every month? nope! i basically never use kanopy because the very notion of the ticket system causes me to question every choice-- what if i pick something and don't like it, that's a waste of tickets! which is objectively silly, but that's what happens when humans are confronted with scarcity. and this is helped none at all by the fact that upon spending your tickets on a movie, you've got 72 hours to watch it before it expires. for a season of television, you get a week. a week! for an entire season of television!! sorry babe but i just am not the binge-watching type, you give me this kind of limitation and i'm going straight to the pirate mines out of sheer spite. and no, before you ask, your tickets don't roll over from month to month. obviously.

it's the same story with every type of digital media that libraries seek to provide-- publishers/labels/studios demanding enforced artificial scarcity, a functional means test against letting the poors get too much for free. and yet! you can get a spotify subscription for basically nothing! you can get a netflix subscription for basically nothing! you can get an audible subscription for basically nothing! and such services certainly have their fair share of copy protections built in, they are far more generous than the library-accessible alternative. and you know what those platforms all have in common? THEY'RE THE ONES STEALING PROFITS FROM THE PUBLISHERS. it's not libraries giving out too many ebooks, it's all these tech company grifters middle-manning their way into already-corrupt industries to pocket what little profits those publishers weren't already stealing from the creators whose work they sell. but that's okay because they're big corporations that have signed licensing agreements and at least they contribute some profits unlike those mooching libraries. anyway let's sue the internet archive into oblivion, let's throw the book at libraries, we need to curtail piracy, we can't have these welfare queens strutting around etc etc etc. it's the same old story. fuck poor people for being poor and wanting access to things they can't afford. fuck libraries, fuck social services, fuck food stamps and healthcare and rent assistance, i have to get mine and if you've got a problem with that then i'll see you in court.

by all means, get a library card if you can. use your library if you have one and support it whenever and however possible. but understand that piracy for many is the only remaining alternative, and it is unfortunately often better than what's offered by libraries precisely because they're hamstrung by the greed of corporations. this is a big, complicated, messy issue with no one-size-fits-all solution, and finger-wagging at people pirating books just is not the way

as a fellow Public Library Enthusiast i am begging people to consider the fact that not everywhere has an accessible public library or indeed public libraries at all. just saying “get a library card” at strangers when you have no idea about their background or their life isn’t very helpful. let them pirate in peace

[pulgarcito-perro]

Curly's moment of realization is soul crashing, it's perfect, but what about Jimmy's? When did he understand he was in love (if he ever was) and how did he react? (I just know bro was not happy about it)

Btw, I love your style sosososo much. It's perfect, they way you draw these two. Respectfully, bark bark, woof woof.

// THIS HAD AN ERROR WHEN I FIRST POSTED IT SO IF THE IMAGES ARE MESSED UP THAT'S WHY!!!//

Honestly the fact that I could make them hot to you might just be the best compliment on my art I've ever gotten.

So here's how it went:

Headcanons:

- Jimmy was probably feeling the crush too and you're right, he was not happy about it.

- Jimmy was generally just pissed. Be it from his insecurities, envy or percieved weakness, it all manifested in loathing for Curly.

- Our guy went off the deep end and began spiraling. His benders got more frequent and he began to self isolate.

- When Curly found Jimmy (plot twist!) mostly unconscious on the floor of his apartment (here) and in a bout of helplessness just hugged him, in his numb state Jimmy decided to give in to the weakness just a bit and accept the comfort.

- Turns out that was his first mistake because now Curly has taken it as a task to kick Jimmy's life into gear. Much to Jimmy's chagrin, he finds himself going along with it.

- Turns out it feels good to be taken care of.

- Jimmy's life and their relationship both improve. Dare I say there are a few downright romantic moments shared.

- Curly takes this as his invitation to confess his feelings to Jimmy.

- Jimmy panics.

- He ran ALL THE WAY home and spent the day DEEP in denial. Then deep in the bottle.

- You can see how that ended. :)

[dark-bakura1]

Okay lovelies, now that the year is almost over and there are only a few hours left, I have to use this time to get something off my chest. It's just been on my mind for a while and I want to end the year with a few nice words.

When I found my way into the DCA fandom by coincidence last year, I never expected to find a digital place where I feel so comfortable - besides various communities in the horse art role play game, in which I have been more or less active for years. I never expected to start REALLY enjoying drawing again, but these two characters just made that happen. For years I've been drawing just thinking about how many points I can get out of leveling my horses, how much effort I have to put into an event picture to have a chance at one of the top three places and somewhere along the way I totally forgot to have fun with this hobby. Fun has turned into a compulsion to always aim for the best possible result. I started to overthink pictures for so long and wanted to create something so complex that I ended up not starting at all: Because I could never have realized it the way it looked in my head.

But since I stumbled into the DCA fandom myself - by pure coincidence, I'd like to say again - and started being active on Tumbr, I've found my way back to the 'origin' for myself: Having fun with what you do. This fandom has captivated me so much that I started reading English fanfiction about our two beloved robots - something I NEVER thought would happen. Simply because my concentration is totally limited and it's hard enough for me to read and understand texts in German. For me, it was never even conceivable that I would read something in a language that is not my mother tongue: And now here I am, doing it more often than I thought. Not only that, I've even started writing again myself, have an account on ao3 and upload stories there myself. I take the trouble to write, translate, proofread and upload things… and some people even think it's really great :3

And do you know why? Because behind the DCA fandom there is an incredibly large group of people like me: Who carry around a lot of problems themselves and seek refuge with two fictional characters in a fandom that is incredibly cozy, understanding, lovable and friendly. Of course, I could also create things in a fandom that isn't that… but for me it makes an incredible difference. I have an anxiety disorder around people. Even the monthly supermarket shop is a huge challenge for me. Every trip out the door is exhausting and I don't really have contact with anyone in RL. I have my mother and grandma. I go to the doctors, to Ergo therapy and I have BEWO people on hand to support and help me… but I don't have any friends. Not because I don't want to, but because friendships are incredibly stressful for me. I can't maintain them. I haven't said a word to the person I would most likely call a 'friend' in a year - because I simply don't have the strength. Talking, listening, reacting… it's all incredibly exhausting for me. But as soon as I open Tumblr and especially Discord, I see a bunch of great people. I can join in if I can and want to, but I don't have to. And to top it all off, I see so much self-insert stuff that makes me think, 'Man, you're not so alone after all' - and on top of that, even more people who also think it's good and can relate. I know that not everyone in the DCA fandom is so nice either, but the ones I've had the privilege of getting to know are just balm for my soul.

If someone had told me at the beginning of 2023 that I would find my way into a great fandom with even better people at the end of the same year, I would have declared them crazy. I don't have it in for people and since I've almost exclusively had really shitty experiences so far, they're welcome to stay far away from me. Most of them have expectations: Expectations that I can hardly, if at all, fulfill. But there are so many great people behind Sun and Moon who are simply supportive. Not toxic, not mean, not patronizing. No. They are people who are super wholesome. I don't need someone who pushes me, teaches me, corrects me or otherwise wants to educate me with phrases that they themselves don't live by. I don't want someone who puts even more pressure on me. I want people with whom I feel safe and comfortable. people with whom I can get what other people don't want to give me. When I think that I didn't like Sun or Moon in the game, I find it amazing that they are now my refuge and straighten me out mentally so many times a day. And thanks to them, I found you. Yep - YOU. Anyone who wants to may now feel addressed. Even if we've certainly never had any contact with each other: You are part of the community that I have come to love and that I am addressing here. There is so much hate, I love a Safespace that simply has love for everything and everyone. I've been here for a year now… and I hope for MANY more years with one of the greatest communities I've ever been a part of.

Hugs to ALL of you, lots of love goes out to everyone. Happy New Year, stay healthy and I wish you and your loved ones all the happiness in the world. Thank you for existing and just being amazing people. please keep that forever <3

[linnetagain]

I'm still not sure if this is the right thing to do, but I also feel like I have to say something. It's going to be a little truncated because I haven't heard from some of the people I've reached out to and therefore don't have their permission to explain their role in this, but I'm going to do my best.

A few days ago, just after Christmas, I finished a temp work contract. In doing so, I had more time than I'd had in a while, and wanted to reach out to some friends that I hadn't heard from in a while, to thank them for being part of my year and hoping that they were having a lovely holiday season.

That was all the inkling I had that something was going on. People had been quieter than usual, I missed them, I hoped they were okay and we'd speak more in 2025.

The following days were... Not fun. At first I saw lots of accusations, lacking detail and evidence, and I couldn't make heads nor tails of what was going on.

I have since found out. I have been very close friends with MJ for nearly a year. He's been a beta for Season and a sensitivity reader, but more than that, he's been someone I leaned on and who leaned on me in return. He was one of my best friends. He has helped shape who I have been, this past year. And he lied to me. Based on those lies I made decisions I now regret, and caused harm to people who no longer want to speak to me, which I understand. There's nothing I can do to change that. I acted to protect my friends and myself, but I was acting on flawed information. I didn't think to question it. If you can't trust your friends, who can you trust?

I've spent the past few days trying to come to terms with what's happened. I've lost one of my closest friends and many more people I loved, respected and valued. I have had my trust absolutely shattered. Outside of MJ, there are other people I trusted and respected who have behaved in ways that have left me feeling unsafe in spaces that previously felt like home and were a precious community to me. That's why I'm still not sure if this is the right thing to do; I'm hurt, I'm sad and angry, and I can't fully explain everything that happened without breaking the trust of more people and potentially doing more damage. But I also feel like I have to say something, because there's so many unanswered questions hanging around right now, and this is going to be a moment that I step back from. I'm not the most active in the fandom at the best of times, but right now I need to take some space. Especially from Season, which was something that MJ was so much a part of, and which I now no longer know how to continue with. I want to, but I've also felt much more like an author and a bargaining chip in some kind of trade war these last few days than a person. I need to spend time in my life outside of fandom, which has been neglected these past few days especially. I need to spend time with my partner, my friends, and focus on my work and my studies.

Thank you to everyone who's sent messages of kindness and support. To those who've sent me messages of hate, I would ask you to reconsider calling someone who's just discovered they were manipulated by someone they trusted 'stupid' and 'shallow'. This isn't about my ego or my work. It's about people who were endangered, a supposedly 'safe' space that wasn't, and people that I thought were my friends who didn't feel they could trust me.

I'm not okay right now, but I'm not in any active danger, from myself or others. I will be okay. I just need time, and space, and I ask for your compassion if you're willing to extend it and the respect of your silence if you're not.

[aishangotome]

[Ring Schwartz] I Can't Return to a Time Before You Premium Ending

Ring ran alongside me as I chased after the kidnapper.

Kate: Ring!? Shouldn't you be getting Dari's judgment...?

Ring: That's what I thought at first. But... I can't just leave my g-g-girlfriend when she's about to jump into danger.

Ring: I'll go with you. ...Is that okay?

Kate: That's reassuring!

-

We arrived at an old clinic.

The man was nowhere to be seen; he must have gone to another room.

Ring: There are some documents over there. I can't understand difficult English, would you mind reading them for me?

Kate: Understood. ...The cover says "Research Report."

––It was a document that gave us a glimpse into why the man had committed the kidnappings.

The man had a daughter, but she suffered from heart disease.

The only way for his daughter to survive was to have a heart transplant.

It seems the man had been kidnapping children of similar ages with the intention of replacing his daughter's heart with theirs.

(This is a record of that...research...)

Ring: Human experimentation on children was being conducted here too...?

Kate: The child who was just kidnapped can still be saved. Let's search!

-

The clinic had several rooms, and we decided to split up to search for the girl.

A little while after I parted ways with Ring, I discovered the tied-up girl in a storage room.

Kidnapped Girl: Who...?

Kate: I've come to help you. You're safe now...!

I desperately tried to untie the tightly bound ropes.

However, while I was doing that, the kidnapper found me.

Kidnapper: What are you doing!?

Kate: ...W-wait, please listen!

I stood protectively in front of the girl and faced the man.

Kidnapper: What is there to discuss? Hand over the heart of the girl!

It seemed like the man's mind was so broken that he no longer saw the kidnapped child as a person, but just a heart.

Kate: I know about your daughter's illness. It must have been very difficult for you.

Kate: But...this child is also someone's family, a precious person they don't want to lose.

Kidnapper: That's...

The man's eyes wavered. The remaining conscience in his heart was trying to stop him from committing any further crimes.

But at that moment.

Kidnapper: Ah...gh!

The man groaned and vomited blood from his mouth.

Kate: Huh...?

I saw a sharp sword piercing the man's body from behind.

As the sword was pulled from his body, the man collapsed.

Ring: That was close.

It was Ring who had approached from behind and stabbed the man with his sword.

The man lay motionless in a pool of blood. I could tell at a glance that he was dead.

Kate: Why...did you kill him...?

Ring: "Why?" you ask... Isn't it obvious?

Ring: If Dari orders me to, I'll kill anyone.

His cheeks, wet with blood splatter, showed no trace of doubt about his heinous act.

It was then that I finally realized.

He, too, was––pure evil.

Ring: Dari told me before we went on our date today...

Ring: That if you were in any danger, I should eliminate the obstacle without hesitation...

If something were to happen to me while we were out, it would cause a rift between Crown and Vogel.

What Darius said was extreme, but not wrong.

(But...)

Kate: He was trying to change his mind. There was no need to kill him...

Ring: I can't make that judgment. Dari's orders are absolute.

I was questioning Ring when he made that firm declaration, and then...

Kidnapped Girl: Waaahhhh!!

Perhaps overwhelmed by what had happened before her eyes, the girl started crying as if a fire had been lit.

Kate: I-I'm sorry. You must have been so scared...!

I desperately tried to soothe her by stroking her back, but she wouldn't stop crying.

Ring: ...Let me hold her hand. I might be able to calm her down.

Ring timidly offered and took the girl's hand, connecting it with his own.

Then, the girl stopped crying in an instant and relaxed her expression as if relieved.

-

Soon after the girl stopped crying, the Crown members arrived at the scene.

Liam had noticed that Ring and I hadn't arrived at the Scala Theater even though we said we were going, and he had been searching for us, thinking we might have been involved in an incident.

Leaving the aftermath to them, we started on our way back.

On the way, he explained what had happened.

Ring: I can turn the emotions of the person I'm holding hands with into joy.

Kate: That's why she stopped crying so quickly.

Ring: Yes. ...Since I killed the culprit, this incident had to be handled internally.

Ring: If she had continued crying, there was a possibility that ordinary people who heard the commotion would come running...

Ring: I'm glad I was able to make her stop crying with my power and settle things peacefully.

Kate: It's not just that things were settled peacefully that's good.

Ring: ......?

Kate: Being kidnapped, seeing someone killed in front of her... The girl was panicking.

Kate: But I think you calmed her down, Ring, and made her feel safe.

Kate: Your ability is a wonderful one that can make people smile.

Ring: ...

Ring: I had completely forgotten...that my ability could make people smile.

(Come to think of it, whenever Ring acts without hesitation, it always involves Darius's orders.)

The reason for acting like a lover, the reason for following me when I chased after the kidnapper, the reason for killing the kidnapper...

Everything is based on Darius's orders.

(Complimenting my clothes, calming the girl down...)

(Whenever it's Ring's own judgment, he always seems unsure of himself.)

––Ring is like Darius's puppet.

(It's fine now because Ring's will and Darius's will seem to align.)

(But if there comes a time when Darius and Ring's opinions clash...)

(...I'm worried that Ring might suppress his own will.)

Ring is a kind and warm person who cares about others, so it would be a shame if he killed his own will.

Ring: That reminds me... There was something I wanted to ask you.

Kate: ...? Please, ask me anything!

Ring: Did you chase after the kidnapper because it's Crown's duty?

Ring: You're not strong, and I don't think you're used to violence.

Ring: If you're being forced into danger... Maybe you should quit Crown.

(Ring really is a kind person. He's worried about me like this.)

Ring: If you want to quit, I could ask Dari to pull some strings...

Kate: ...No, I chased after the culprit of my own free will.

Kate: It wasn't because of a sense of justice or anything grand like that... I just didn't want to have any regrets.

Kate: I didn't want to be the kind of person who turns a blind eye to someone in need of help.

Ring: ...I see. You're different from me.

Ring murmured, looking at me with dazzling eyes.

-

A few days after that date... I was once again summoned by Darius.

Darius: Now then, Ring. Try asking the Fairytale Keeper.

(Ask...? )

As I tilted my head in confusion, Ring stepped forward with a nervous look.

Ring: I request a date with you!

His enthusiasm, as if he were challenging me to a duel, made my eyes widen.

FIN

.

.

.

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

Notes: OMG Ring is so freaking adorable. I love him so much and didn't expect to because I thought Nica would have my heart. Now I can't wait for Ring's route T_T

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

From some of the books I've read on Diana and Charles (from their married days) it's quite evident that the boys had their own RPOs from very early on. Ken Wharf, one of Diana's most well known RPOs, started out as a PPO from William and Harry (I think he started when either William or Harry was only 4 years old). That was the arrangement back then since the boys were sons of the Prince of Wales (heir) and William was actually a future king (heir to the heir). I think Harry took that arrangement for granted and assumed it's his birth right. From a very young age on, his normal was having an RPO with him at all times, even when they were at home.

So, I do understand Harry's cognitive dissonance that doesn't let him understand why his security was taken away once he stopped being a working royal.

But I also think it's entitlement. Remember when they first released their manifesto and then the court cases, they gave examples of their relatives who seemingly enjoy perks of BRF association ie , security and titles and hold jobs. They cited Eugenie, Bea, Andrew, even the Prince Michael Kent. That is the loophope they wanted to exploit, and that thinking is all Harry. It has to have been Harry to thought it was ok to go along with Meghan's schemes because the others were doing similar things (acc to him).

He is just mad that that the unwritten rules seems to have changed only for him. (Which lets be honest, they sort of have) And he thinks it's because of the Meghan hatred and their need to dim his star so that they (Charles, William) can shine brighter (Very Diana way thinking, tbh).

From everything that's been coming out about Andrew and Fergie, it seems that exploiting royal association isn't a new thing. Some like Michael Kent do it in an official capacity as "business consultants", which is legal. And some like Andrew, Fergie do it by acting as shady go-betweens and taking financial cuts like a brokerage.

It is a bit a curious that the rules did change for Harry in such an obvious way. Makes you wonder, how bad things with him and Meghan must be that they got such a definite push back, when slimy Andrew manages to still in part of the inner fold.

Was it a pre-emptive strike against Harry because BRF his potential to be such a train wreck) or did they shut doors in Meghan because they realised she is a gold digger? Or did the couple actually do something really egregious behimd close doors that caused this massive reaction? Or was it that the deciding vote, for Harry and Meghan, were William and Charles, who are image savvy, smart, circumspect and willing to listen to advisors? Whereas for Andrew the authority was mainly the queen and Phillip who preferred to put it on the back burner and not talk about it at all?

It's because the Sussexes publicly announced their intent to commercialize their titles for personal profit and subsidize their lives on taxpayer funding while not living in the UK and not working or doing anything to benefit the taxpayers for using their money.

All Harry and Meghan had to do was keep their mouths shut and they probably would've gotten most of what they asked for.

Keep your mouth shut, keep it out of the press, and everyone will look the other way. But the second it becomes public, then it's game over because once it's public, the public will demand accountability and force The Queen to impose consequences. Because that's what happened to everyone else. Andrew, Sarah, Prince Michael, Edward, Sophie, etc. kept their mouths shut and they got their half-in/half-out perks till the press found out and when the press found out, the public demanded counsequences and accountability:

The Yorks were forced to divorce after Sarah's actions were found out.

Andrew was forced to leave his trade envoy position over controversies about his expenses and the relationships he made with certain questionable people in the Middle East, but he still kept his royal position. Then seven years later, Andrew was forced to leave public service and lost all honors after his continued connections to/with Epstein were revealed.

The Queen was forced to pay real rent for Prince and Princess Michael when an inquiry revealed they were living grace-and-favor at Kensington Palace despite not being full-time working royals.

Prince Michael was forced to leave public service after his Russian connections and pay-for-access schemes were publicly revealed. (The Queen saved face by letting him retire.)

Sophie was forced to leave her PR firm after the sheik scandal when her negative comments about the BRF were published. Around the same time, Edward was forced to leave his production company after it was discovered his company stayed in St. Andrews past a hard-stop deadline when William began at the university. Then after some quiet time out/off, Sophie and Edward both rebranded as full-time working royals in support of The Queen's golden jubilee in 2002.

All this to say that if the Sussexes had kept their mouths shut this whole time and let the BRF handle their resignation, the world went through COVID (and they didn't give any interviews or make any comments or write any editorials at all), and Prince Philip died, they probably would've been back in some unofficial capacity by the end of 2021 to help with the Platinum Jubilee in some form.

Also, exploiting royal association has been a thing for as long as the monarchy has existed. It's not new to the contemporary BRF.

[klara-v-klyare]

Never thought I would ever think (absolutely not post) anything like this here. But, fuck, I have this disgusting thing to ever acknowledge about myself, but I've *never been in the group where you acknowledge your shit and people support you, 'cause I don't live in the country, where anyone pretends to ever care*.

Okay, my reason to ever address this is my irritation. So, if you haven't figured out, I'm talking about a severe case of alcoholism. Like, no jokes,I've got like 8 years strong and you all irritate me writing Logan like some amateur pussy. That he is vomiting after all this time. Sorry, I'm fucking laughing at this (and at myself, but it's sarcastic and desperate, 'cause, I guess, nothing fun about being despised by yourself and the people you know). But, well, it's still okay, you just live and try.

Okay, what I wanted to tell you first-handed, that after some time you would never experience your usual signs of hangover, if you really drink THAT much. No throwing up, no headache, no nothing like that. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Nah, you've got a completely new thing, because your body starts to get used to the alcohol tolerance. Like you can drink a lot of shit and you don't get drunk. You still feel sober, like awful, but still sober. Until you aren't.

And then you start going throw a very interesting thing, where you start missing the usual hangover routine. You never gonna vomit again, never gonna have a descent understandable headache.

All you're gonna feel like for 15 hours when it's starts to really happen is really not knowing how to fucking breath. You're gonna feel, like your consciousness is trying to leave your body and you have to control every fucking breath you take and try to not lose control. Your blood pressure is going to stratosphere. Yeah, you pretty much feel like you're dying and you can't do anything about it. Just try to breathe. Gotta feel so fucking interesting with the healing factor.

If it's getting worse you get to the point of delerium tremens (fun, been there, done that). Hallucinations are fun like for few seconds, then you want to kill somebody around or come off through the window to make it stop. Imagine this happen to unkillable Wolverine, who can kill whoever and never gonna die. Fuck, my dear precious everything.

So, what I'm talking about really. Search the withdrawals and all this shit for Logan's fictional sake. Yeah, sounds stupid, but I'm pretty sure he's got it much and much worse than me, after like hundred plus years.

Okay, all I want you to get out of this is kinda an understanding from people who never faced it that alcoholism is not what you know of it from your party time experience, just because you've got few fun nights, where you don't remember things you did.

It's unraveling and more difficult and, I don't know, maybe you want to be a little more authentic about our favourite fucked up Wolverine.

I'm absolutely sure, his alcoholism after all this years is even more difficult than he himself is.

And, yeah, it's pointless post, but I feel like no one really get it. The Worst Wolverine aka Logan made me feel kinda understood for being fucked up in the alcoholic way.

He is just a loser after all, despite his incredible potential abilities. But he's doing good, he's found a whole family in a new fucking universe after years of shit.

He gives me hope, that I can go better about my life, even if it's shit.

Maybe, we can all do better.

[l1v1ngd3dgrrl]

I was summoned at the speed of gay for Anya requests! How about a small chaotic adhd partner with our brilliant nurse? Is her partner swinging from a pipe on the ceiling? Yep! Did her partner fall asleep in the closet? Yeah and she’s in a cardboard box what are they a cat! Does Anya have to catch their partner when they see her and get so excited they sprint and jump into a hug? Please her poor shoulders. Did they try to bite jambalaya when he was annoying everyone by simply existing? Yes and they’d do it again for free.

an: i'm sooooo sorry for the wait! I wanna preface this by saying I don't have adhd so i'm not 100% sure how to properly write it (yet) sorry for how short these areeee

CW(s): Author does not have adhd (...or I don't think?) so the depiction may not be entirely correct (please correct me if i've gotten anything wrong!) Jimmy as a cw too i guess? he's barely mentioned but y'know.

good ol' sfw comin' right up. [MDNI still because i'm an 18+ account]

Anya with an adhd! partner hc's

Being a nurse and all she understands how things can be for you and offers you ways to kind of manage the not so fun parts of it.

Does get a bit of a kick from your hyper activity. Brings that lil spark of joy that's very much needed on the ship. Tries really hard not to laugh when you accidentally (on purpose) annoy Jimmy.

You know that one scene from back in the barnyard where Otis is mocking the mailman when he has his back turned only to return back to normal? yeah that's you.

Has found you passed out in the most random locations. Supply closet? yup. That spot outside of the cargo hold? bingo. In one of the spare cots in medical? you got it! There have been multiple times she’s found you asleep on the floor too

does worry if you're uncomfortable though...how do you.. bend like that?? (imagine the family guy death pose)

She obliges in what you call 'floor time' where you sit on the floor and just...stare off into space, probably thinking about 9million things at once. Sometimes floor time is changed into sitting-in-a-box-on-the-floor time. and you know what...hell yeah.

she's very patient with you when you talk to her and get side-tracked. You start one story and she gets nine, that's one hell of a deal!

May or may not have picked up a few of your vocal stims so when you two hang out one on one its like parrots pinging nonsense off of each other. (for shits and giggles Daisuke might join in and its just chaos.)

[velvetvexations]

the fact that i've seen multiple transmascs happily reblogging/supporting the "bomb that kills all transmascs" thing makes me so fucking sad. i feel like we've understood with other issues how "ironic" edgy humor can desensitize us to the bigotry within it- but now we're just happy to let people joke about wiping a group of trans people out of existence? we have no problem with this? we're gonna normalize hatred based solely on identity and not behavior (like how theyfab claims to only target transmigoynistic transmascs)? the bomb kills all transmascs honey that includes you, TMpickmEs i never want to hear people criticizing transandrophobia theory again if this is what passes for transfeminism

It's exactly that kinna person who I was talking about when I was posting about identifying when I was getting victim blame-y and too hostile towards someone being self-destructive, because they make me sad and it's easier to hate them than sympathize. I hope they get better.

Transmasc: acts transmisogynystic because they see individual transandrophobic transfems Everyone(correct): that's bad and reactionary, you can't blame an entire group for a small portion of traumatized individuals who lash out at your group who may have been hurt by individual members of your group Transfem: acts transandrophobic because they see individual transmisogynystic transmascs Everyone (double standard): that's valid, if you've been hurt by individual members of a fellow minority group that gives you free reign to act reactionary and generalize a whole group based on the worst of it's members (this is not a universal thing, but it does exist and I've seen the double standard. I encourage calling out transmisogynystic transmascs, I just don't like the double standard in certain trans spaces. Treat reactionary thought as what it is: reactionary. No matter who it's from or against)

they fundamentally do not care about other people

why is it called transradfeminism instead of radical transfeminism?

Ask Thalia Bhatt.

I love transmasc mabel (and also transmasc ophelia) headcannons cause it's very comforting to turn the characters I related to hard when I was a kid into transmascs.

Yeah! Love that for you anon.

I wanted to thank you for your level-headed support and the platform for respectful intra-community discussions you've provided. I hope you're taking as much rest and recovery from the stresses of the Disc Horse™ as you need <3 (also, idk if you bake, but I found a really good recipe for snickerdoodles that definitely chased away some of my lingering holiday stress www.ambitiouskitchen(.)com/brown-butter-snickerdoodle-cookies/ )

oooh thank you anon!

I like how jokes about killing all transmascs are fine but TRFs are still harping on about that one guy that said something about - (not that I thought the original post was in good taste but. I do feel like jokes about killing all transmascs are worse actually) Now that I type it out it's kinda horrifying that there's so many people that are theoretically supportive of trans people that think those joked are okay actually.. somehow internalized it as normal till just now

TRFs would say that post was code for something worse but idk if "we're open about wanting to murder an entire group of marginalized people" is a W

- was just stirring shit up with the gravity falls discourse to distract from her only answers to questions about 'tme/tma' language is to call people stupid and tell them they are lying about their experiences.

As usual.

The thing with “Dipper can’t be trans because then Mabel would be transphobic!!” Is that I’ve seen so many posts on this site that have had no problem intentionally interpreting a characters actions as transphobic for the purpose of transfem headcanons? That’s usually don’t get push back? Even though I’m usually against intentionally trying to portray a character who isn’t bigoted in the source material as bigoted for no reason other than headcanons or jokes I don’t understand what the difference is here?

the difference is that it's a transmasc headcanon

My hot take is that both Dipper and Mabel are transmasc, but Dipper has always known and socially transitioned very early, and Mabel will be hit with the "oh fuck I am also a man" realization in his 20s in the same way a Looney Tunes critter would be with an anvil or perhaps a piano.

such a funny image lmao and very in-character

[mifluffy-thoughts]

MLQC & LaDs Comparison: Sylus and Gavin

This is the first post in my planned series comparing the LIs of LaDs to the ones from MLQC. I am doing this as InFold has already shown they have a few things they tend to gravitate towards in their writing, and common themes between the two stories can help better understand both and possibly even come up with theories. Originally, I planned to do a comparison between Sylus and all the MLQC LIs, but I just had too many things to talk about with these two so I'm going to do it one by one. For clarity's sake, the MLQC MC will be referred to as P!MC (producer MC) and the LaDs MC will be referred to as H!MC (hunter MC).

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING FOR BOTH GAMES

General Stuff

Sylus and Gavin are practically polar opposites if looked at from afar. Sylus is a criminal, Gavin is a cop. Sylus loves fancy suits, Gavin absolutely hates them (even if he looks great in them :3). Sylus's main colors palette-wise are black and red, Gavin's are blue and white. Sylus has very particular tastes and will barely touch anything he finds to not be "good enough" (you will not catch this man wearing Shein) meanwhile Gavin just wants his stuff to be functional. Sylus does not have the best musical abilities, while Gavin can play the guitar and sing on-tune. I could go on and on about the things they are complete opposites in, and they are on a surface level, but there's a lot more to look at with these two. Dates and Birds

The first thing that came to mind while I was thinking about this is the fact that they have dates that are terrifyingly similar in concept. When I was reading Sylus's Nightplumes memoria, my jaw hit the fucking floor. The concept is fairly simple. H!MC finds an injured dove and asks Sylus to take care of it when she has to leave Linkon. When she returns, they have a cute romantic moment when they meet up and when they free the dove.

Now, let me tell you the concept for Gavin's Brilliant Date. This date is attached to a card from an event in which the player had to log in daily and do a small task to eventually get the free SSR card. The story behind the event is this: Gavin finds an injured dove and begins taking care of it, however he gets a mission and has to leave, so he asks P!MC to take care of it. The date attached to the card shows their meet up once Gavin comes back and the romantic moments that takes place before, during and after they release the dove.

Sound familiar?

While the romantic moments that take place in the dates (as in, the scene with the snow and fireworks for Nightplumes and the window and rooftop scenes for the Brilliant Date) are very different, the overall concept is practically identical, the roles are just switched. And listen, I don't know if "nursing an injured dove back to health while the character who first found the bird is out of town" is a common trope in Chinese VNs (I have only played LaDs and MLQC. I tried Tears of Themis, it wasn't my jam), but in all other otome games that I've played, and I've played a lot, I have only seen this happen in these two occasions. Please correct me if I'm wrong, tho.

Now, what does this imply about the connections between these characters? Well, I feel like this was mainly just to strengthen both of the characters' bird connections, as they are both associated with birds. Sylus's bird association is much more concrete, with the crow imagery basically being yelled at us every other second. Gavin, on the other hand, is much less connected with one bird but rather all birds (that can fly). Gavin acts a lot like a bird- he eats everything with little complaint, he prefers to enter P!MC's apartment through the window, he is very curious and often gets into shit he shouldn't. As such, these two dates serve to highlight these two characters' "birdiness". Tracking MC and Protectiveness

You read that right, both of these characters track MC (with her consent, ofc), albeit in different ways. Sylus tracks H!MC via Mephisto and Gavin tracks P!MC using his Evol (although at first he tells P!MC it's through a GPS tracker in the bracelet he gifted her, probably because this was only a few hours after she found out Evol existed and didn't want to freak her out even more and to have a easy way to identify her). The reason they track MC is the exact same, to keep her safe. Both of them know their MC is being targeted by dangerous forces, and they are unwilling to risk her getting into danger.

However, there is one major difference in the ways they track MC that show a key difference in their protectiveness. Due to Mephisto having a camera and microphone, Sylus doesn't just know where H!MC is, he also knows what she's doing and what she's saying. This gives him a perfect image of what she's up to and, more importantly, who's around her. Sylus knows H!MC is in extreme danger not just because of her Evol and the aether core and whatnot, but also because she's involved with him. She's a target for countless of people. Not only that, she's a hunter. Her job puts her life on the line constantly as she fights to protect Linkon from wanderers.

Sylus knows how reckless H!MC can get if it means saving others. He's experienced that first hand. He knows the lengths she went to just to save him. Of course, we all know how that ended, since he was willing to do the same. But H!MC way back when they first met didn't love anyone aside from him. Now, there's so many people she loves, and he's terrified of that being used against her in any remotely similar way to how it was used in the past. Gavin, on the other hand, only knows where P!MC is. From what I gather, his Evol lets him "feel" what's in the wind. The bracelet was probably just a way for him to easily know that it's her since it's one-of-a-kind. Once he got used to how she felt, he didn't need it anymore. And while he may be protective of her, and he may be terrified of what could happen to her, he has much less to fear than Sylus.

Unlike Sylus (so far), Gavin knows he's not the only one looking out for MC. At the bare minimum, he knows Lucien will protect her, and implications from chapter 18 show that he might also be aware that Victor and Kiro are also looking out for her. And those are just the strongest. Minor and Anna are also keeping her safe in their own ways. Gavin will protect her the most he can, and is willing to go to any lengths to keep her safe, but his worry is much less about who could be a danger to P!MC, it's about what. When P!MC is about to get shot, who saves her? Gavin. Because he knew where she was and he could feel both the sniper and the bullet. And this happens twice. When P!MC is falling from Loveland TV Tower, who saves her? Gavin. Because he could feel her falling and could save her quickly. And in all but one of these situations, Gavin isn't the only one keeping P!MC safe. The first time someone tries to shoot her, Lucies further protects her with a force field. When P!MC is falling, Kiro is making sure Black Swan doesn't get to her.

So yeah, this is something where they are both extremely similar and also very different.

MC Saving them Through Music

The way Gavin's Evol awakened is pretty iconic (if you're in the MLQC fandom). For those who are unaware, Gavin fell off the roof of his and P!MC's high school. Unless something miraculously broke his fall, he was going to die. But then he heard P!MC playing the piano. Something about the tune she was playing awakened the Evol within him, allowing him to fly by controlling the around him. This made a ton of gingko leaves fly around him, and he was able to survive. Had it not been because of P!MC's song, he would have died.

Then there's Sylus. The way her song saved him is in a much less physical sense, but it was because of her song that he was not only able to begin understanding human emotion, but also get the will to survive for long enough to save H!MC. When he first hears the song on the organ, he is genuinely moved. Up until that point, he thought he was basically unable to feel anything aside from desire. Whether it was the desire for acceptance, the desire for gold or the desire for revenge, that was all he knew. But the song made him feel something different. When he was injured to near-death, it was that song that gave him the will to live. Of course, we all know how this story ends.

Honestly, both of these moments are extremely heart breaking. Neither Sylus nor Gavin really cared about their own lives. Sure, Sylus pretended he was happy just collecting treasure and getting revenge on those who trapped him, but he was absolutely hated by everyone. As soon as his horns started growing, his world fell apart. Everyone attacked him, everyone thought he was a monster and he hated it. And then Gavin was made to feel like dirt by his father. The only reason Gavin was alive was to protect his mother and his brother, but eventually he lost them both. And as soon as his father saw any potential in him, he became just another pawn in his games. Music reminded both of them that there's more to life then just surviving.

Other Stuff

To wrap it all off, I'll just list some other things I noticed about these two that are worth mentioning but don't have enough juice for me to write paragraphs and paragraphs of.

Both of them went through some kind of "rebirth". Gavin had his rebirth with his Evol awakening (keep in mind he thought he had no Evol as far as I'm aware) and Sylus had his dragon rebirth

Both of them learn that justice isn't as simple as it's made out to be in the worst way possible. Sylus through how he was hated by everyone due to being a dragon and how P!MC was tried in court and Gavin through basically his entire arc in S1

Both of their backstories are heavily linked to a plant. Gavin has the ginkgo while Sylus has the datura

Both of them are often perceived to be cruel or monstrous by others, especially when they were younger

Both of them have several occasions where their MC has to patch up their wounds

And that's it! Hope you enjoyed this very thorough comparison. Up next will probably be Zayne and Gavin because I just cannot stop thinking about their similarities. No promises, tho! -Fluffy

[starry-bi-sky]

I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

Me, when Sebastian joins my party for the first time: Okay, this time I'm not going to forget about you, Sebastian. I'm going to make an effort to use you a lot this playthrough so I can better understand you.

Also me, immediately forgetting about Sebastian while finishing Act 2 and making it halfway through Act 3 before I finally notice his Faith quest: ......................Oh. Right. My bad.

[tortoisesshells]

if you were in control of a dark shadows adaption (or, hypothetically, could alter the original; whichever you find more interesting to think about!) what does your ideal version of 1795 look like? are there things you would change? things you’d want to keep?

Let me preface this by saying I do genuinely like or appreciate a lot of the 1795 arc! When it's at its best, it's a tragedy born out of hubris and the terrible things we'll do for the people we love (or the terrible things we'll do to hold on to love. or the problem of love without respect). I'm up to episode 741, and the confrontation between Joshua and Barnabas over the latter's coffin is still one of the best scenes in the show, for my money. That said; Broadly speaking, most of my problems with 1795 either have to do with characterization, or with historical context: that DS's unwillingness to delve into historical realities undercuts its ability to talk about monsters, and that it completely mishandles Vicki to the point of functionally ruining the nominal main character (who, to be fair, was already being pushed out).

Historical Context: DS loves the past, conceptually, but it really doesn't deal in historical conditions, and that's on full display in 1795 - witchcraft trials? zippers? claiming a house built in the early 20th century, with the attendant architectural style, was actually built in the years leading up to 1795? okay. I forgive that, because we do live, narratively, in a world with witches and vampires and curses and passenger rail service north of Portland, ME after 1965 - and in a make-believe world where the costumes are as good as a budget of a crisp single and a pb&j can make 'em. I say this mostly lovingly: DS simply is not the kind of show that cares about historical plausibility, let alone accuracy. Plus, Reverend Trask was great, and on the basis of giving Jerry Lacy scenery to chew on, the witchcraft trial plotline is excused.

More seriously and damningly, I do think it's a glaring omission on a show being made and aired in the late 1960s to have three characters said to be from the (fictional) wealthiest family of planters and enslavers on Martinique and have that go unexamined and unpacked, especially when commentary on class in Collinsport has been a constant undercurrent (sometimes more of an under-trickle, or under-vague-breeze) since episode one - and because Joshua Collins is very explicit about how beneficial the connection between the two families will be for the Collinses, who always need cargo for their ships. [Since David Ford's here, you'll forgive the reference to 1776: "Molasses to Rum" playing vaguely in the background] But that's the problem with Post-Barnabas DS. Since there's a Collins running around befanged and literally drinking the blood of others, the show's lost interest in discussing how, exactly, the Collinses became wealthy and powerful, beyond the odd occasional reference to the fishing fleet and cannery or, in 1795, the shipyards. We've got a real vampire, what do we need all that metaphorical monstrosity and class/race/gender analysis for?

As a choice the show's made, I think it fundamentally undercuts one of the show's most reliable and interesting points of commentary: how charming and human some monsters are, or that humanity and monstrosity are not entirely mutually exclusive conditions.

also speaking of monstrosity. the show excuses Barnabas for so much outright evil because he preys on sex workers, primarily, and other assorted poor men and women of Collinsport, who the show ... doesn't really see as people. but that's a separate but not unrelated rant.

Characterization: really, this is about Vicki. So much of what I dislike about 1795 has to do with Vicki's characterization changing for the worse (granted, I think this problem starts much earlier, but see digression a below) once she hits the ground in 1795, AND that the 1795 arc continuously insulates her from the important parts of DS's narrative. If the whole point of Vicki landing in the past was to explain how it all began (whether that's Barnabas's vampirism, or the opening of the great house at Collinwood - Sarah's ghostly goals are unclear here), she's party to neither: Vicki spends very little time in Collinwood, and is kept completely apart from even a hint of knowledge that Barnabas is a vampire. In effect: Vicki, as nominal main character, gets sent into the past, but not as a character - she's just a windowpane, or a magic mirror as far as her importance to the narrative goes. Which is unfortunate for her, because as a character taking up space, she's given screen-time without agency, intelligence, or inner life. The only change that being dragged by her puppet strings through 1795 effects in Vicki Winters is a rope-burn from a failed hanging, an infected gunshot wound, and a I-wish-he-were-more-permanently-dead rebound boyfriend whose response to Vicki panicking about being hanged was to slap her for being hysterical.

Forgive me for being unimpressed.

As far as fixing it goes - there's where I've been striking out. She's fatally passive in 1795 as written. Why doesn't Vicki try to figure out how to get back to her present? (and if she doesn't, perhaps ... gesture at why Vicki might feel like there's not a lot to return to in the present? She nearly jumped from Widows' Hill about 10 episodes before 1795 started.) Why does Vicki persist in making herself suspicious, when she was introduced as a character hampered more by inexperience than true ignorance? In the idea 1795 that lives in my head, why wouldn't Vicki try to figure out who the real witch was, because - given her experiences with the supernatural! - surely a witch might be any help in getting her out of the 18th century and back into the present? End of day, she needs a real plot which doesn't end with her in prison unconnected to the Collinses. Whether that's searching for an escape hatch back to the Swinging Sixties, or Sarah's ghost giving her clear instructions - some kind of a goal! - Vicki either shouldn't exist in 1795 (recycle Moltke as another Collins sibling? that would add a wrinkle to the question of Vicki's antecedents) or she has to be given something to do.

&, finally ...

Digression A: In fairness to the 1795 arc, I think the arc was only following a pattern of characterization and plot involvement that started with Barnabas's arrival: first, that Vicki initially wasn't really involved in the Barnabas plot because she was more involved with the Liz & Jason plot, and, unfortunately for Vicki, everyone still talks about Barnabas, where no one (alas for Patrick and Bennett!) talks up the blackmail thing; second, I think, that the one-two punch of the definitive end of the era of metaphorical monsters & the Burke recast meant that a lot of the dramatic tension that Vicki was carrying either got dismissed or dissipated. We're not playing Jane Eyre any more, we're doing Dracula: Vicki's relationship with Roger and David no longer bears any dramatic weight. We've completely sidelined the question of Vicki's origins, so whether or not Liz is her mother doesn't matter (and the revelation and dismissal of Liz's not-actually-monstrous conduct sort of defangs that relationship, too? oh, Liz isn't actually a murderer? so mother or not, there's no strain on her relationship with the conspicuously virtuous Vicki.). Burke's no longer threatening to burn down Collinsport for revenge, and all of his various relationships with the Collinses or Collinsport denizens have gotten abruptly normalized, so there's no tension to his relationship with Vicki any more: he's rich (don't ask where the money came from), he's in love with her, and now he's chummy with all her friends/stand-in family members. He doesn't even have conversations that are totally just about pens or guns with Roger, for god's sake. The show kicked out all the pillars Victoria Winters as a character had been built on, and it only gets worse after 1795. No wonder Moltke left.

[phoenixcatch7]

If there's one thing I like more than time travel it's crossover reincarnation, so.

Botk link reincarnated as Damian Wayne.

An incredible weapon master of all types, but especially prodigious with a sword - he was beating knights at the age of 4 and with his memories as intact as they get for him I can see that goalpost moving even further (probably with traps and tricks, a 3yo doesn't exactly have great bodily control).

He's an excellent survivalist, agile, strong, durable, cunning and creative. He can move like a feather in the breeze, strike from behind with ease. His first kill, an animal, did not stir him as it did the other children. With his poise, grace, skills, obedience, he ought to be ra'as' finest assassin in the making, a jewel in the crown of the league.

Except he never speaks a word. Half his targets escape unscathed. He skates by true punishment on the merit of his skills and achievements in other missions. Testing has shown it is not a physical deformity that prevents his speech, but not even talia has been able to coaxe a word from him past his second birthday.

It is a defect ra'as is growing more and more frustrated by, as each attempt to fix these two final flaws ends in resounding failure. Less extreme solutions are running dry.

Talia fears those solutions. Her child does too, she knows. For them, there is a possible solution, more extreme than anything ra'as would tolerate.

She sends him out of the league. To his father.

To Gotham.

[scarlettfevor]

The argument people on twitter try to make where gay men are allowed to obsess over female celebs but lesbians who do the same thing for male celebs have their sexuality questioned is kind of dishonest when you leave out the fact that gay men will often idolize female celebs like Britney and Gaga because in their eyes they're stong, confident women who can freely express their femininity, meanwhile many "lesbians" who like male celebs can only express their admiration by "joking" about how he's the only man who could turn them. The two are very obviously not the same

[sysig]

Finally doodled HL Mod Stanley <3 (Patreon)