#or even do its own thing

[blood-starved-beast]

Some keep calling melnem megzag redux and just. That's not right. At least not 100%.

Maybe in the most superficial sense but arguably melnem has more similarities to thanzag than Megzag. As much physical altercations Melnem has, I never get the impression that Nemesis wants to kill Melinoe dead. Like placed with the opinion to fight to the death ala Meleris beach fights, I think Nem would find an excuse to not take the final shot. Play it out as it being beneath her or something but the ultimate true reason is that she cares too much in her own way to kill Melinoe for real.

Megaera's fights with Zagreus remember were something both were forced into cause of Zagreus's insistence that he had to get out of the Underworld/find Persephone, and that as a Guardian of the Underworld, Meg was put to fight him cause she worked for Hades. They both did not want this, for various reasons, and the violence did not start out as sport. It becomes that with time, but what doesn't change is that their fights are to the death regardless. And the reason they did not want to fight isn't cause of taking it too far (heck they start out flirting with one another referencing their past BDSM relationship), but simply cause the other is being an obstacle they don't want to deal with and don't want to associate with the other cause of that past failed relationship.

By contrast, while Melinoe assumes her and Nemesis's relationship has fallen apart and tries to "remedy" it, Nem throws out the offer cause in her mind, what they have going on isn't broken. She and Mel both clearly get off to their rivalry thing, but it's clearly a rivalry, not anything more serious than that. Which Megzag is. And even one could argue that some of Nem's "tests" are ways to get Mel stronger for the task. How can she defeat Chronos if she can't deal 1000 damage* to Nem??? Or beat her in a 100 gold wager? Or take a hit for 20 blood? Either way I cannot see it escalating as much as Nem says it could. Otherwise, she'd be a boss like Eris. And Nem doesn't want it to be.

Nem's whole deal is that she's extremely emotionally constipated so her care manifests in her acting in seemingly obtuse or counterproductive ways. Her whole deal complaining about it isn't "fair" that Melinoe gets the task isn't really about her getting the task per se (at least, not 100%), but also cause it's not fair to Melinoe. Melinoe who has done nothing in Nemesis's worldview to warrant it. Nem decides to remedy this by seemingly taking it out on everyone, Melinoe include, cause as @lililasagna aptly points out, she has the emotional intelligence of "a slab of concrete."

*Doubling as Nem getting the edge off cause she clearly gets off to it.

[hinamie]

I'm always pushing you away from me / but you come back with gravity / and when I call, you come home

[coddda]

I wish we could have met in some other way.

Lawlight Week Day 2: Soulmates

If you saw me repost and re-edit this several times uh No you didn't </3

Still frames/Individual gifs:

If you know what every frame is from you get a free cookie. by the way

[all-my-ocs-are-evil]

[insert poetic title here]

fun fact: this did not start out as isat fanart

(rambling in tags)

[lucabyte]

some thoughts on Claude

alt title: diversity win! this Butch Nun is crafting bombs in an unventilated room in her convent while actively courting Mother Superior! Do Not Give Them Access To Unlimited Power No Matter How Nice They Are

+ bonus

[densewentz]

trying to enjoy Veilguard in the ever-incendiary Dragon Age fandom like

[starry-bi-sky]

on a completely separate note; shizun luo binghe with a disciple shen yuan who fell into the abyss??? *thinks about LBH canonically stealing SQQ's corpse for 5 years* he'd hallucinate i think. like, like visual and audial hallucinations.

Keeps thinking he's seeing SQQ in the corner of his eyes, or wandering between the trees, amongst a group of disciples. Thinks he hears him calling for him, but its just the wind or another disciple.

Gets Xiu Ya reforged but patently fucking refuses to make a sword mound. Because his disciple Is Not Dead :))) There was No Body. He's Not Dead. And If You keep Insisting That He Is, He's Gonna Skewer You :). He's holding onto Xiu Ya so he can return his most favored disciple's sword when he returns. It's on his hip right next to Zheng Yang where it's supposed to be.

Also this motherfucker?? does not sleep btw. He has the image of SQQ, wide eyed and hysterical and standing at the mouth of the abyss burned into his fucking eyelids. Can't use the dreamscape to escape it either because he keeps trying to save him and either he does and it's an incredibly cruel trick to wake up to, or he doesn't and he gets his heart broken in several different pieces again.

There is no convincing this man that Shen Qingqiu is dead. Absolutely nothing at all. He is buried so deep in denial that moles would be jealous of how deep he is. He keeps making tea for two in the bamboo house only to remember that it's just him. SQQ's fans are hiding everywhere, little reminders of his presence. He goes to wake up SQQ on the mornings he sleeps in-- only to find the room empty.

[puppppppppy]

act 4 :(

@chipper-smol and i came to a realization

[rotteneldritchhorror]

Eddie obviously knows how to sew (hes not only dirt-poor living off of a single consistent paycheck and whatever he earns selling drugs, but hes also a punk- theres no way he DOESNT know how to sew), but steve most definitely does. not. one of his shirts get a hole and he throws it out.

When eddie first witnesses this, hes fucking MORTIFIED and ends up digging a t-shirt out of the trash and sewing the hole closed and fixing the loose stitching on the hem and gives steve a lecture about not wasting fabric and money.

And from then on, steve just shows up at the munson household every now and then with various clothes in his arms, asking eddie to fix them for him.

[is-this-even-relatable]

Misfortune Teller

tldr: An older Danny, apprentice to Clockwork, does a lot of field work across dimensions, resetting the timeline, queuing future events, and who knows what else. Occasionally, he warns people about such upcoming possibilities, to set them on the right path. How, you might ask? Well in this case... as a wandering fortune teller.

Crack-fic (oh god, it's getting long and my logic brain won't let it remain as crack) where Danny becomes Clockwork's apprentice after getting his GED. Living his infinite afterlife to the fullest. Inspired by this tumblr post.

Working for Clockwork had been... interesting so far. At first, Danny got frustrated by how vague and cryptic Clockwork was. He'd just shunt Danny off to some ancient time with a few words, his own time medallion (Danny carried it everywhere with him now), and then pop back into the portal, leaving Danny with only the faintest idea of where to go.

Eventually, after enough time (ha!) spent around Clockwork, Danny figured out that it just basically meant that he had free reign and to do whatever he wanted. Because if he went on the wrong path, (like that one time in Pompeii when he had almost caused the volcano to explode a few years too early), Clockwork would just pop on by, say another few cryptic words, and then it'd all be fine and dandy, or as he liked to say, "All is as it should be... Now stop practicing your wail by an active volcano."

After telling Jazz about that (it was supposed to be funny, not concerning), she just sighed and shook her head, with a forlorn "think before you act, Danny!" but hey, it'd turned out fine so far, so who cares how he does what Clockwork asks him to do, as long as it gets done, right? Even if it's with a liiiiitle more mischief than strictly required.

Besides. Danny was the one who had been doing time shenanigans across millennia, not Jazz. And he thought he'd been getting pretty good at it too! He'd actually started giving himself a different made-up background for each universe he visited. Sam and Tucker were helping him keep up with the identities on a spreadsheet, so if he had to go back to one he'd already visited, he'd remember who he'd said he was supposed to be.

---

He was on a call with them one evening while haunting Jazz's apartment, doing just that, when he felt a familiar tingle in the back of his throat, as well as a heightened awareness of the seconds passing by, that always accompanied his mentor's appearance.

Sam was talking about his past stint posing as a god of death when he cut in. "Hey- sorry to interrupt, Sam- Clocky's here, guys, I gotta dip."

"Aw, come on! We hardly talked any this past week since you passed your certifications, man," Tucker complained.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, yeah. Partly on you too though, you've been caught up outside of class, and Sam's schedule is nearly the opposite of yours."

Sam hummed in agreement despiter Tucker's scoff.

Danny missed hanging out with them as much as they had in high school, but hey, life goes on. Or at least, theirs did, to college. After finally flunking out of Casper High, he'd taken some time to get used to his responsibilities in the ghost zone, and when he had, he realized that he didn't really have much enthusiasm or timeleft for his human life.

And he didn't really want to go back home either.

But Jazz had made him tie up any loose ends before he noped-off to god knows where, which frankly, he had to thank her for. Getting his GED took a few years, but it was an accomplishment that could be attributed to Danny Fenton, no ghostliness required. Then he was able to let that tether go free.

Pulled out of his musings by a few more grumbles from Tucker, Danny said his goodbyes, promising to call the next time they were all available.

After hanging up, Danny swiveled around, anticipation already lighting up his eyes an ethereal green.

Clockwork, for his part, had been waiting patiently through Danny's lengthy goodbyes. Although he supposed that it tracked for the watcher of time to be patient. With his job, it'd be a nightmare if he wasn't.

"Phantom," Clockwork spoke, calm as always. "I have some tasks I need you to complete as my apprentice."

And Danny, always ready for adventure, didn't need him to explain any further. "Sure! When do you need me to be?"

Clockwork smiled at that. "I am fortunate you are eager. Follow me."

---

Danny popped into existence in this universe with a burst of cold air and static electricity. He found himself hovering by a clocktower above a sprawling, gothic city. Smog and light pollution obscured the stars above him, to his disappointment. He comforted himself with the fact that he'd probably have all the time he wanted to fly someplace less populated to see them later.

He started off by familiarizing himself with the city. As he flew, he followed the trail of power and met the resident city-spirit, a spooky- but kind underneath- woman draped in black lace, who told him her name was Gotham. He spoke in length with her about this universe, its heroes, and her knights. On that, she was very enthusiastic... or at least Danny thought she was, her projected emotions belaying much more than her gloomy exterior. She told him how her knights had been through a lot and would need some guidance fighting the darkness that pooled in her deepest corners, smiling with too much glee, filling lungs with fear, and terrorizing with cold hard bullets.

Danny could sense that the dangers she spoke of were growing in power, ever slowly. The longer they shadowed people's minds and hearts, an intangible thing grew that lent them more otherworldly pull than their physical forms had right to hold.

That must be what he was sent here for.

But... they were weak, pitifully so for him, infinite king as he was. And besides, he wasn't here in that sense. He was a messenger, a simple apprentice. And he could do this however he wanted.

Cue his talk with Lady Gotham, and subsequent idea to arm her knights. With what? Well, he figured knowledge would be a start. Flying high above the city invisibly, Danny noticed a sea of colors and lights by what appeared to be the city's pier. He flew down, noting that it appeared to be the setup spot for a travelling circus or carnival of some kind.

He considered what to do. One of Lady Gotham's troubles was a madman clown, right? Well maybe he'd be attracted to his ilk here... and with the danger came the knights. Maybe he could catch one of them here?

Danny was floating around at the entrance and beginning to formulate a plan when a flyer caught his eye. Looking for a mystic to read fortunes. URGENT!

Hadn't Clockwork said something about fortunes? And he hadn't made an identity in this universe yet...

A mischievous smile crept across Danny's face, splitting it in two with far too many teeth.

---

Half a city away, a man in all black, perched on the very same clocktower that Phantom had Appeared by, shivered as he felt an ominous premonition about his sanity in the near future...

Said man quickly opened his comms to check in with his many, many kids. Yet even after hearing back from each, he still felt apprehensive.

Somewhere even further, Clockwork laughed.

---

And that's how Danny found himself seated at a fortune teller's booth at a pier in Gotham, two days later, for the Tricksy Traveling Circus's grand opening.

[the-one-with-spider-brainrot]

draw these two being a cute couple

Hey fun fact, I ship them as well so have a sketch dump of them actually

[anemonet]

pro tip: you can always put the bugs in little outfits :thumbsup:

[hamofjustice]

a funny/sad thing about people who go on tirades about how penny pokemon sv is an awful selfish violent criminal who should be arrested instead of being reached out to and helped, and how they feel insane that anyone likes her is... she absolutely already feels that way about herself and they didn't notice

she spends the whole game doing what she can to protect her friends from being blamed for anything, calling herself a massive idiot under the guise of being someone else, turning herself in voluntarily, wanting to be given more punishment. it weirds her out that her friends and the school directors and chairwoman keep showing her mercy and seeing the good in her and what she was trying to do instead of throwing her in the trash she thinks she belongs in

[b4kuch1n]

study of this masterwork

[skunkes]

[bitchthefuck1]

I actually really love that we see Helena's palpable hesitation about going back to the severed floor. We know that this has all been a publicity thing for her and it's about helping Lumon, so she's really invested in the outcome, but like. from her POV, she's literally letting someone who actively hates her and everything she stands for, and also has a proven willingness to hurt herself if it means hurting Helena, who now knows who she is and her significance to Lumon, pilot her body for 8 hours every day in an environment where they've repeatedly failed to control her. If I were her, I'd be genuinely surprised to wake up with my limbs intact.

You already questioned why on earth she'd come back after Helly's suicide attempt, and the identity reveal explains the reasoning, but on a human level that's still a wild thing to have to think about. This person (who is you but also isn't) almost succeeded in killing you, and like a week later you let them pilot your body again like nothing happened. How could you not be terrified?