#phantom square 2

[nitrateglow]

Spooky Season 2024: 12-22

Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (dir. Richard Friedman, 1989)

The opening of the new mall is hampered by one thing: a Phantom hiding in the air vents, and committing robbery and murder. It turns out this Phantom is really a teenager named Eric (Derek Rydall) disfigured in a fire set by the mall's developers to clear out any remaining houses impeding their dreams of commercial development. Now, Eric plans on having his revenge and watching over his girlfriend Melody (Kari Whitman), now an employee of the mall. But what will he make of her burgeoning romance with a journalist?

Talk about pure '80s cheese. This film feels like it was made to capitalize on the slasher cycle and the popularity of the Andrew Lloyd Weber Phantom of the Opera megamusical. It's not a particularly good movie, but it is dumb fun. I love how this Phantom makes free use of the goods available in the stores and how he spams his spin kick attack like he's in a video game.

Also, Pauly Shore is in this. He has a great scene talking about subliminal messaging in department stores, but is otherwise the usual Pauly Shore.

Hangover Square (dir. John Brahm, 1945)

Musician George Harvey Bone (Laird Cregar) is disturbed by long sessions in which he blacks out. He fears he may be committing murder, but is reassured by the police when he goes to them that isn't likely. Detective Dr. Allen Middleton (George Saunders) advises the overworked George take a break from composing. George does so by going to a pub where he meets the lovely Netta Longdon (Linda Darnell), a music hall entertainer who dreams of fame. George and Netta enter into a toxic relationship in which she uses him to advance her career while seeing other men on the side. When George discovers her treachery, his blackouts return-- this time in a far more violent form.

I'm starting to become fascinated by John Brahm, a director best remembered for his moody, macabre dramas in the 1940s. Hangover Square was his second and final collaboration with the talented but doomed Laird Cregar, who died two months before the film was released. It's as much a noir as a horror picture, drenched in that chiaroscuro lighting and urban dread so common to the classic cycle.

Cregar is astonishing in the lead role. Though handsome, he was a bigger man, so Hollywood refused to allow him to transition into leading man parts. He is marvelous here, passionate and sensitive, yet also sinister once his jealous rage takes over. I've seen Cregar in multiple films and he was truly fantastic, able to be comic as well as dramatic. Hollywood didn't deserve him.

Lastly, Linda Darnell's character sings this really catchy song when Cregar first sees her. I saw this film weeks ago but it is STILL STUCK IN MY HEAD.

The Sealed Room (dir. DW Griffith, 1909)

In some nondescript time period (everyone's dressed like it's either the early 18th century or the middle ages), a king (Arthur V. Johnson) learns his mistress (Marion Leonard) is smooching with a musician (Henry B. Walthall). Jealous to the point of rage, he has the couple sealed in a small room where they suffocate to death.

The Sealed Room is a gem from the nickelodeon era, though I admit my liking for it comes from how extra all the performances are, even by the standards of the early silent period.

It also has one of my favorite instances of what I like to call "silent film logic"-- that is, scenes featuring action that would be very loud in real life, but in a silent film, you may not think about it as much. Here, the king has the lovers walled up alive in a small room, where they lounge unaware. And yet, there's workers slapping up a brick wall not ten feet away from them! It's very amusing.

Frankenhooker (dir. Frank Henenlotter, 1990)

When his girlfriend Elizabeth (Patty Mullen) gets hacked to death by an automatic lawnmower he built, medical student Jeffrey (James Lorinz) decides to resurrect her by killing sex workers for their shapely body parts then sewing Elizabeth's severed head on top. He does this by having his victims smoke explosive crack.

No, I'm not making this up.

I first heard about Frankenhooker from James Rolfe of Angry Video Game Nerd fame. It sounded so insane that I knew I had to watch it. It's-- well, it's definitely a bizarre movie with lots of crude humor and pitch black jokes.

Would you believe me if I said it was kind of an unsung feminist work? I definitely did not expect THAT angle coming in, but that messaging is definitely there. Jeffrey is a villain-protagonist through and through, even before he starts committing murder. We learn he was already demanding Elizabeth modify her appearance to suit his tastes before she got killed. He views women as more a collection of body parts than proper people. However, his misogyny does catch up with him in the end and his fate at the resurrected Elizabeth's hands is the very definition of irony. I don't want to spoil it.

It's definitely not for everyone, but if you have a sick sense of humor and some friends that share that humor, you'll have a good time.

Friday the 13th: Part 2 (dir. Steve Miner, 1981)

A summer camp close to the infamous Camp Crystal Lake is about to open. Little do the young, horny counselors know, Jason (Warrington Gillette and Steve Daskewicz)-- the boy that allegedly drowned long ago-- is still alive and he's mad his mama got decapitated in the previous film. Lots of people die.

I confess I have a hard time getting into these Friday the 13th films. I've read it took a few entries for the series to find its footing as gloriously dumb schlock, but the first one and this sequel were mostly boring for me. About all I liked was the last twenty minutes, when the heroine's background in child psychology comes into play. Otherwise, this gets a big meh from me. Not horrible, but nothing I can imagine I'll ever rewatch.

Corridor of Mirrors (dir. Terence Young, 1948)

A party girl (Edana Romney) becomes involved with a Renaissance era-obessed artist (Eric Portman). Their fetishistic relationship leads to heartbreak and murder.

Already discussed this one is great detail at my Wordpress blog. It's a great romantic thriller in the vein of Vertigo and Rebecca.

The Old Dark House (dir. James Whale, 1932)

During a thunderstorm, a group of unwary British travelers are marooned at the crumbling mansion of the Femm family, a collection of eccentrics who may be insane. Everything goes wrong: the hulking butler gets drunk and preys on the women visitors, the area may flood, the lights go out, and there may be a homicidal maniac imprisoned in one of the rooms upstairs. Will anyone survive the night?

I have raved about this film for a long time now. It's truly a favorite of mine in general, not just for the Halloween season. Both witty and chilling, it's an atmospheric masterpiece. The damp and mold are palpable.

What fascinates me most is the Femm family itself and the gaps in their backstory. This is one movie where I feel like there's a Tolstoyan novel's worth of drama with the Femms. It's hinted that the 102-year-old patriarch of the house (played in drag by actress Elspeth Dudgeon) used to host orgies there. The death of the seductive sister Rebecca at the age of 21 may or may not have been due to inter-family foul play. Morgan the butler has a close, even weirdly tender relationship with the homicidally insane brother Saul, suggesting a myriad of possible connections between them. It's very interesting-- I like that the movie doesn't fill in all the blanks.

A Game of Death (dir. Robert Wise, 1945)

Don Rainsford (John Loder), big game hunter extraordinaire, finds himself shipwrecked on a mysterious island. The owner is Erich Kriegler (Edgar Barrier), an urbane German who also enjoys hunting, though with a slight difference-- he likes hunting humans. Teaming up with other shipwreck survivors Ellen (Audrey Long) and Robert (Russell Wade), Don tries finding a way to escape before they become Kriegler's next wall trophies.

This movie is a pallid, watered down, shot-for-shot remake of The Most Dangerous Game, one of the crown jewels of 1930s horror, so of course, I am not fond of it. And yet, I rewatch it every few years, so it must have something going for it. So instead of tearing into it as I normally do, I'll list a few things I think are actually good about it:

I like that the main character initially tries tricking Kriegler into thinking he will hunt people with him. Very pro-active.

I think Kriegler is a good villain. Not as memorably deranged and campy as Leslie Banks' Zaroff in the original film, but chilling in a more low-key way. His "the strong deserve to prey upon the weak" philosophy fits in nicely with Nazi ideologies-- no doubt what this wartime horror flick intended.

Um... I think Audrey Long is really pretty. I like her flow-y outfits.

... Yeah, that's it.

The Most Dangerous Game (dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel, 1932)

All-American big game hunter Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) is shipwrecked on the unlisted island of Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks), a Russian aristocrat and master sportsman who claims he now hunts "the most dangerous game" of all. Being a himbo, it takes Bob a while before he realizes that game is human beings. Unwilling to hunt alongside Zaroff when given the offer, Rainsford and fellow prisoner Eve Trowbridge (Fay Wray) wage a game with Zaroff: let loose into the island's thick jungle, if they survive the night without Zaroff or the terrain killing them, they'll go free. If not, Rainsford dies and Eve will become a rather different kind of quarry for the evil count.

Now, here's my favorite "hunter hunts people" movie! While "The Most Dangerous Game" has been adapted and ripped off multiple times for a century, the original is still hard to beat. The castle set drips with gothic grandeur. The jungle soundstage is thick and suffocating, and once the chase intensifies, it becomes like something out of a nightmare.

I actually think the climactic hunt is among the greatest sequences in all cinema. The editing is so dynamic and the images are brilliant. And when you consider this is still an early talkie, when films were still trying to rediscover their footing after silent cinema came to an end, it becomes even more remarkable.

Going on Letterboxd, I was shocked to find a lot of people on there have mixed to negative opinions about this movie, largely because they think it's too over the top and that it's messaging is too on the nose.

I mean-- yes, these things are true, but I don't see them as flaws. It probably helps that I love camp and melodrama, and am not ashamed to admit it. And regardless of the fervent camp on display, I still think the trophy room scene is creepy and the chase is super intense. I have probably seen this movie close to a hundred times and yet, the chase still has me shouting at the TV, willing the characters to run faster. That's damn fine filmmaking.

The Haunting (dir. Robert Wise, 1963)

A researcher of the paranormal brings a motley crew of ordinary people into the allegedly haunted Hill House. Both potential ghosts and the neuroses of the visitors bring on sinister events and ultimately tragedy.

I love this movie more and more. I already wrote a bit about my reaction this time around, though since then, I started rereading the source novel, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Obviously, the book delves more deeply into Eleanor's psyche, but the film does a fantastic job of this as well. Given film is a visual medium, it can be a challenge to depict a character's interior state without delving into expressionism and this film does that well.

The Phantom of the Opera (dir. Terence Fisher, 1962)

Aspiring songstress Christine Charles (Heather Sears) and producer Harry Hunter (Edward de Souza) are drawn into a mystery at the London Opera House. A phantom is sabotaging any attempt to produce Joan of Arc: A Tragedy, a show allegedly written by the cold, snobby, rapey Lord Ambrose (Michael Gough). After some investigating, it turns out the Phantom (Herbert Lom) was once the meek-mannered Professor Petrie, whose music was stolen by Ambrose. Now, he wants only to see his opera done justice and only Christine's voice can make that happen.

I am very fond of this version of The Phantom of the Opera even though I think it has a myriad of dramatic flaws. Let's get the flaws out the way first. I think the film is a bit repetitive in retelling us Petrie's story over and over, at first through onscreen description and then through filmed depiction. I also think the ending is anti-climactic, like the writers didn't want to go the usual route of making the Phantom a homicidal maniac but they weren't sure how to make a properly dramatic finish without that characterization.

That out the way, this is a unique, even refreshing retelling in many ways. The Phantom/Christine relationship is no longer one of unrequited love-- in fact, Petrie seems wholly uninterested in romance or sex at all. He views Christine and himself as victims of the truly despicable Lord Ambrose: Petrie had his music stolen and Christine was sexually harrassed. Therefore, it is up to the two of them to wrest the opera back from Amrbose's influence and make it the production Petrie wanted. Petrie is one hard taskmaster. He is relentless in training Christine and at one point throws filthy sewer-water in her face when she faints.

But the Phantom is hardly an out and out villain here. He doesn't even kill people-- he has a convenient hunchbacked assistant to do that. No, the real baddie is Ambrose, among the nastiest villains in the Hammer canon. Ambrose never even kills anyone, yet he makes the blood boil with his wanton cruelty. Michael Gough (who I always remember best as Alfred in the Tim Burton Batman movies, as well as Batman Forever and Batman and Robin) is so good at being bad.

This version of POTO also has my favorite version of the Phantom's compositions. Usually, he writes a "burning" piece called Don Juan Triumphant, fitting his romantic obsession with Christine. Here, Petrie writes an opera about Joan of Arc, a virginal saint persecuted by powerful men-- a fitting subject for Petrie given his own persecution by an aristocrat. Joan's aria "I Hear Your Voice" is gorgeous and always brings me to tears, it's that beautiful.

Not a perfect film, but still a very good one.

[oktaviaslabyrinth]

The Phantom Ship // Dragon Quest Builders 2 (2018)

[zootbur]

phantombur still has a lot of bird tendencies from before he died, a big one being preening. he has no wings to preen now, and neither does ghostbur, so his "preening" is nuzzling through ghostbur's hair with his nose to "straighten it out".

[brawler1993]

The Entertainment Dome Episode 227 - 19 Inches of Venom

This week on The Entertainment Dome, James is thrilled to hear updates on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, we discuss the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI‘s DLC and various Final Fantasy rumours, and we mourn Saints Row developer Volition being shut down.

[deadsetobsessions]

Fae adjacent! Danny pt. 2

Timothy Drake hadn’t figured out what Danny Fenton was. The shop keeper had been kind, something the nine year old hadn’t expected when he walked into Danny’s shop, willing to trade away his name and soul to get Jason back.

As the young man tilted his head at Jason’s grave, something distinctly inhuman crossing his face as he smelt the soil, Tim had the slightest inkling that he didn’t want to know.

Tim, despite what most people would say, had some kind of self preservation instinct. He wouldn’t have survived traipsing after vigilantes in Gotham this long if he didn’t.

He did not want to find out what kind of creature Danny Fenton could be when enraged. (Despite the fear, something in Tim trilled in Danny presence. Safety, it said. Acceptance.)

——

Danny hummed. The soil here had been disturbed. The dead had not stayed dead. Danny smirked. He knew a bit about not staying dead.

“Your Jason isn’t here, little Sparrow.”

“What?”

“See the soil?”

The little sparrow- Tim- curiously looked down. Danny was sure the kid was smart and a few seconds later, he was proven right.

“The soul’s fresh. Overturned. Someone dug him up? No. An indent. No soil on the outside of the burial, it’s not square- he dug himself up?”

Danny sent the little sparrow an approving smile. “Well, Gotham was never known for its rule abiding citizens, dead or not.”

The little sparrow sighed. “Great. He’s a zombie now?”

“Not quite. Come, we will find your brother.”

“He's, uh, not my brother.”

Danny blinked, pausing. “You would give your name for someone who isn’t family?”

Tim flushed. “He’s- he’s my hero!”

"He'd better be thankful for this, then. What a good friend you are, little sparrow."

Tim lowered his voice, "He doesn't know I exist?”

Danny stared at him and wondered if Phantom ever had anyone who would give their names for him. He also wondered if the standard for human stupidity had lowered since he woke up.

“You see how that's worse, right?"

"Can we get this done, please? Preferably before Batman comes out at night?"

"There are worse things than the Bat, but yes, we may. This way."

As Danny led the way, following the scent of a newly retethered soul and trace amounts of what this world called Lazarus Pits, he found himself wondering who taught this kid his self preservation instincts because they needed to be fired. Tim had followed him, through shady alleys and darkened roads, without a thought for his own safety.

They reached the door of what clearly was a pixie den. Before Danny entered, he turned to Tim. "You, little sparrow, would be the first to be murdered in a poorly done horror movie. Now, stay here while I get Jason."

With that said and satisfaction taken from Tim's flabbergasted and insulted face, Danny headed inside the pixie den to collect the wayward soul.

——

"It's Danny!"

"Danny!"

The pixies in the room cheered as he walked in. Their teeth were a bit too sharp, ears a little too pointed, with shirts that did not fit quite right at their backs.

"Hey, guys." Danny strode to the room, following the scent of Jason's soul. "

"Ah, interested in our fresh catch?" One of the more... prolific pixies sidled up to him. "I think we'll make good entertainment of this boy yet. Maybe even the king would like a gift. His soul's pretty strong, mind's almost dead though."

Danny turned to the pixie and smiled. "I'm coming to collect on my contract, unfortunately."

The bar fell to complete silence. The mist and haze of the bar settled and drew back from the tinge of green in Danny's eyes. Oberon might have ruled his court but Danny's court was above even his.

"Oh- I. Yes, of course, please." The pixie stepped back hastily. Danny strode the rest of the way, content in the unnatural silence of the normally chatty pixies. He picked Jason up from the seat, frowning as he caught the scent of mind numbing herbal paste in the food in front of the kid.

"The children," he uttered commandingly. "Are off limits."

"But-!"

Danny clicked his tongue chidingly as he began leading the unsteady kid out the door.

"It isn't quite the days of old anymore, where people are aware of normal trickery. If an adult falls for your schemes, then that is on them. Children? No. To pick on a newly tethered soul is too far into my court for me to turn a blind eye."

"How are we supposed to do anything with the bat watching the skies?"

"Then fly below him," Danny drew his lips back, allowing Phantom to flicker onto his human face and warping it to something more inhuman. Like them.

"We understand," the bar's proprietor agreed. "Your word will be heard and heeded, king of another court."

"Much appreciated."

——

"Jason!"

"One second, little sparrow." Danny focused, drawing upon the chaotic magic that laid beneath the thrum of ectoplasm. He, oddly enough, has had enough practice returning memories to make this process as easy as a twist of his hand. Jason went limp.

"Jason!" Tim's cry had a little more panic in it.

"Worry not, he's simply sleeping. Regained memories tend to be quite taxing." He shuffled Jason a little closer to Tim. "Here you are, little sparrow. One Jason, whole and generally unharmed."

Tim glanced at Jason and then at himself. He sheepishly looked at Danny. "Would you mind helping me get him back home?"

Danny tilted his head back and laughed.

[ririblogsss]

Danny the park crazy guy

Ok this follows Danny with him deciding he needs to get out of Amity Park cause he's parents are getting more and more obsessed with catching Phantom. And the plans he'd over heard were sending him into panic attacks. Not only that a new management was placed for the GIW, and with that they had become more brutal and accurate with their capturing. Danny couldn't make sure ghosts were safe and protect civilians, so Danny made a deal with Technus in exchange for most of the tech Danny has made in the past 6 months Technus has to hack into the portals that his parents and Vlad owned and permanently destroy them. Technus also made sure to wipe all the information on how to re-build the portal and planted a bug that will corrupt any file trying to mimic the portals code/mechanics. 

At first Dannys plan was to play the part of the defenseless boy who just witnessed his parents whole life work go down the drain, and pretend that ghost never happened. He's parents were sad (understatement of the century) but they soon found something to hyper focus on, before becoming ecto-biologist, they were trying to find ways to make liquid that would dissolve plastic in a non-lethal and non-toxic way. So after 2 months of not doing anything and only staying in bed eating ice-cream and fudge its like a light bulb turned on onto of their heads, and Madeline and Jack went back to their old selves. They still had moments were they would gaze back at their projects with heartbroken eyes, and Danny could help but blame himself for his parents suffering. 

Its like one day everything was close to normality (as normal as amity park could be) people weren't mentioning ghost in fear that one would appear out of spite. Classes went uninterrupted people were actually happy for that. 

But then the GIW started making moves, as they were getting more and more restless with no ghost sightings in the last 6 months. 

Then 3 months ago everything went to shit......

Danny could only explain it as if the Salem witch trials had started. But instead it was the 21st century and people were being accused of being / cooperating / aiding ghosts. The GIW had stormed into the town hall and had claimed that Amity park was in full quarantine. No one in no one out. Vlad was taken in for 'investigation' accused of working with the ghost because he never helped the GIW or offered funds, hence committing treason the US government. 

After that People would be taken out of their homes and obligated to take tests to prove they weren't with the enemy, if they passed they went back to their homes traumatized. if they failed.... Well no one really knows, but one might guess from all the screaming. 

Ironically. Dannys parents were the fist accused of cooperating with the enemy. The GIW stated that they seemed suspicious from the start as they never truly caught anything. he hadn't seen them since they were drugged and stuffed into the back of a van. Danny was thankful that Jazz (for collage) and Dani (traveling in Bangladesh) were out of Amity, but it wasn't like he could contact them and tell them what was happening. 

The GIW had cut all contact to the rest of the word from Amity Park probably because what they were doing was considered illegal and definitely were crossing human rights. 

Luckily Sams and Tuckers family were able to come to an agreement with the GIW so they could be exempted from the quarentine (buy themselves a way out). Unluckily Danny like most families didn't have those types of resources. 

But Danny isn't a Fenton for nothing, craziness, gull and genius ran through his veins. So every morning when they were obligated out of their homes and made to sit on the grass of the park square while the agents searched for any 'evidence' in their homes. Danny would use his core to emit a frequency that only other ghost and some metas could hear. But that wasn't what Danny was communicating to no. 

He was sending commands to all the animals he had befriended the last 15 years of his life. You see ever since Danny was a kid he loved how one could be able to domesticate any animal as long as you had food. So Danny when he was a kid applied The Operant conditioning to all the animals he crossed paths with. 

A few weeks after his accident (death) when Danny was making his daily feeding times for the animals in exchange for trinkets and money he realized something. He could understand what the animals 'spoke' and the animals could understand him through the vibrations of his core. When he asked CW about it he only told him that ghost speak allowed him to communicate with anything and anyone if he had a close enough relationship towards them. 

Basically this meant that Danny had hundreds if not thousands of animals (rats, street dogs and cats, pigeons, squirrels ect.. ) at his disposal. The only reason he never used them when fighting Ghosts was obvious he wasn't going to risk the life of his friends. 

And right now his friends were making underground escape routes for all of the Amity Parkers. The plan was already being set in motion. Everyone knew their part. 

One group would be distraction, a group of kids would scream and point in the opposite direction of the escape route and say they had seen a ghost and it was trying to hurt them. The GIW would be guided into a wooded area were they would be attacked by the more predatorial animals. Making them call for back up. 

One group would composed of the most athletic adults / young adults would go into the main base of the GIW (check for survivors and help them get out). 

Another group (the elderly) was in charge of checking that everyone was accounted for. 

Mothers, would be evacuated first with their children, they would be the get away drivers. Different drivers would take different routs. Some left the country other the continent itself. Some when to larger cities for hiding amongst the crowd. But the main goal was stick to your family and preferably if you can go alone. The less people the less likely you are to getting caught. 

And the teenagers from casper high, would ensure all their traces were lost making sure all phones and gadgets were left behind, as to avoid getting tracked down. 

And that's how Amity Park became a dead town (pun intended) in less than 60 minutes. 

This leads us to the present. 

It had been 7 months since Danny had left Amity park. he hadn't seen anyone or contacted anyone from there since. The over all consensus was that everyone had to go no contact with one another as to not raise awareness as to why so many people from different places were constantly calling one another. Danny was certain that Jazz and Dani had been contacted by Sam and Tucker about the situation in Amity. What he wasn't sure of is if they knew he was out of Amity or even alive for that matter. 

Danny was not dealing with what happened well. One of the guys who went into the Town Hall pulled him a aside for a second when they were evacuating to tell him. That he had seen both his parents bodies. They had not survived. Not many who were taken against their will into the Hall came out spared. 

Danny was devastated with his parent untimely death, he only hoped they had a humane one. 

So no Danny was not ok. he knew Jazz would criticize his copping methods. But if taking over a park in the middle of a crime riddled city was sooooo bad then why did he have the support of the Bats. (not the vigilantes the actual cave bats). 

Danny had gotten to Gotham not too long ago (about 4 1/2) months, and decided that the GIW wouldn't dare on their life go into a city were the 'wolds greatest detective and most feared man live'. Danny made an abandoned building overlooking the park his own. he quickly became allies with the fauna there and soon his rein over the part began. 

---

It started slowly, honest to god not a single local though anything of the bony kid laughing his ass off as he oversaw birds and other critters alike help him build what looked like a greenhouse. They did what any Gothamite would do mind their own damn business and go on with their day. 

It wasn't unlit the trees and torn plants started to build a wall like structure around the park that they started to think that the kid was going to be the next Poison Ivy. Worst of all they some have speculated seeing Pamela and Harley go in and out of the park... both smiling like proud parents. Some say that the kid was an ex Wayne kid that was sent into an asylum, and was kept quiet. Some speculate that the kids a meta that controls all animals. Some state they saw the kid talk to the animals and the animals actually listened and did word for word what he asked. 

But Gothamites weren't that worried if they were honest. The kid (Danny as he was now known) brought more entertainment (of the good kind) to Gotham he fit right in. The only thing that made him stand out was his mid-western accent. When asked where he was from he would only stare at you while an animal (different every time mostly racoons) would chase you away. Other than that the kid was a sweetheart he would often bring the veggies and fruits he cultivates in the park to homeless shelters so that the residents would have a 'more nutritious and full diet'. 

The kid would send animals to keep watch on kids and be alerted if any were at risk he would drop in and help in a very unusual way. And he always traded money for little things and bottle caps anything handmade (especially by kids) was infinitely rewarded with money and an automatic meal. 

Danny was known as the Gotham parks crazy. But he was their crazy and no government (illegal) agency of a brigade of bats and birds was going to take him away from them. 

(waaa this was way longer that expected I only wanted to write a sentence of local crazy Danny, and I just ended up writting mostly art other stuff)

[aviiarie]

Hi avieee! I am making a request this time. So uhm I really really like your that lost & found platonic arle x reader. So I am wondering if you can do a part 2 of that? Like what happens after reader is rescued? The Fontaine trio reactions? Does Arle go into overprotective mama bear mode?

😶‍🌫️

⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ AFTERWORD. platonic fonatine siblings, arlecchino & reader !

synopsis. (sequel to lost & found. read that one first.) [name] is reunited with their siblings. contents. PLATONIC. aftermath of kidnapping. gn!reader. they/them pronouns used. fluff. 1k words. notes. i wanted to make this a sort of epilogue, so apologies if it is a little short!

“[Name]!”

Their eyes opened with a flutter, still in a haze halfway between sleep and consciousness. The call of their name was their only warning before they were tackled in their hospital bed by a blur of black and red, crying out in alarm at the sudden weight falling on top of them. In their daze, it took a moment for them to realize who it was.

“L-Lyn—Lyney?” they managed to stammer out, wheezing as he squeezed them in a much too tight hug.

“[Name]! You’re back!” Lyney clasped their face in his hands and peppered kisses to the top of their head, like an overly affectionate grandmother who hasn’t seen their dearest grandchild in years. They shoved at him weakly, rolling their eyes at his over-the-top show of affection. He wasn’t fazed, laughing hoarsely through his tears. “You’re alive. Gods, I’m so glad you’re alive.”

“Don’t be a pest, Lyney,” Lynette scolded as she entered the room as well, but she was barely looking at him. Her focus was set squarely on them, tears brimming in her eyes. “[Name]. I am… very relieved you are back.”

“I’m never letting you leave my sight again,” Lyney whispered, pressing his forehead to theirs. There was a shakiness behind his melodramatic display, a fragility behind his theatrics. The experience seemed to have shaken him far more than he was willing to admit. He moved off them, giving them room to breathe as Lynette hurried over to their beside.

“Never,” Lynette promised, settling on their other side. She leaned down to bump her head against the top of theirs, curling her tail around their leg.

“Is there… room in there for me…?” a quiet voice sounded from the doorway. They all looked up, as Freminet nervously knocked on the already opened door.

“Of course, come here!” Lyney stood abruptly, stepping back to make room for Freminet to squeeze in. He slipped into the space between them and Lyney, turning the four of them into something that was partially an awkward huddle, and partially a group hug. Lynette was still on their left, shoulders brushing. Freminet had circled their waist in a clumsy hug with his cheek pressed against their shoulder. And Lyney settled himself on the edge of the bed, draping an arm over the bed board.

“I really don’t think there’s enough room for all of us—” They tried, but Lyney shushed them.

“There’s room enough,” He said, patting their cheek. “And don’t think for a minute you’re getting rid of us so quickly after what happened.”

The siblings all seemed to stiffen up at his mention of the ordeal, himself included. For Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet, it was sharp and clear in their memories, along with the lingering feeling of dread that came with losing one of their own for so long.

But for them, the entire experience was a haze. There was a distant pain throbbing in the back of their head, the phantom feeling of someone hitting them with something hard. Beyond that was a blur between being dumped on the cold, hard floor, and feeling warm hands pull them into a familiar set of arms.

“…Good.” They said quietly, resting their chin atop Freminet’s head. “I don’t want any of you to leave, just yet.”

-----

Arlecchino’s heels clicked loudly, sounding an alarm to all of the children loitering in the halls. After years in her care, they had learned to predict her mood from just the sound of her shoes, and the hurried clacks echoing off the walls told them clear as day that she was not in the mood for anything to interrupt her.

She brushed past the eyes that peeked out from the doorways, vanishing as soon as she grew close. She didn’t care to scold them for being nosy; they didn’t matter to her. There was only one person who mattered in that moment.

When she opened the door, Lyney was the only one that looked to be awake. The other two were curled around [Name], all three fast asleep in a pile of limbs and blankets. Lynette was lying on top of the blankets, one arm thrown over the other two siblings, while Freminet was clinging to [Name]’s waist so tightly that it was a wonder they were still breathing.

They looked like a pile of kittens taking a mid-morning nap together. The sight was endearing enough for the corner of her lips to twitch, almost forming a smile.

Lyney had settled himself in the chair beside them, resting his feet on the edge of the bed. His arm was stretched out to carefully run his hand through their hair, in the same gentle routine he used to help his sister fall asleep when they were young. The sound of the door opening made him look up, and he greeted her with a nod.

“They’re alright?” Arlecchino asked quietly.

“They’re alright.” Lyney answered with a tired smile, pulling his hand back to rest on his lap.

“Good.” She swept into the room, standing over their sleeping form. The blankets hid the majority of their injuries, but there was a flash of white bandages peeking out from where their skin was exposed.

Arlecchino brushed her thumb across their forehead. She knew they most likely were too deeply asleep to hear her, but it didn’t stop her from murmuring, “I’m never going to let anyone hurt you.”

The words made them stir slightly. It was slow at first, a small furrow in their brow and a twitch of their lips, but it was soon followed by a murmur. Their eyes opened a crack, meeting hers.

“Father…?” They mumbled lowly.

“Shh…” Arlecchino hushed them with a whisper, still tracing her thumb across their face. The slow, soothing motion had its desired effect; their eyes were already sliding shut. “Quiet, get some rest. You’re safe now. They won’t ever hurt you again.”

She leaned down and kissed their head, leaving her lips hovering above their skin for a moment to whisper, “Never again.”

© aviiarie 2024. do not copy, repost, translate or use my work to train ai.

[emlovessid]

@jegulus-microfic may 2, delight, 472 words for @pupmotif <3 may our love story live on forever

When he looks back on it in years to come, it’s hard to believe that this all began in an online server with just a simple message, a message that would change the trajectory of both of their lives forever.

But what starts as just one message, becomes another, and then another until Regulus finds himself pavloved into smiling whenever he hears the telltale ding of a notification. James’ messages become such an integral part of his day to day, an endless stream of I just spilled my coffee, this is the worst day ever and nevermind, I just saw a squirrel to why are you online, shouldn’t you be asleep and pot calling the kettle black, we’re in the same timezone, idiot.

When James tells him that he’s going to be in town for a concert, the very same concert that Regulus himself is going to be at, Regulus is perhaps a little too eager in agreeing to meet up.

“Hi,” Regulus says, eyeing up the James standing in front of him compared to the James he’s only ever seen through his phone screen.

“Hi.”

“You’re taller than I thought you’d be,” he blurts out, which makes James laugh, and it’s all over for Regulus then.

If he thought his obsession with James was bad before, it’s nothing compared to this. Now that he knows what his laugh sounds like face to face, what his body feels like pressed against his as they hug, what he smells like where Regulus has his nose tucked into his chest, he’s not sure that words on a screen will ever be enough for him again.

“Is it crazy that I miss you, when we’ve literally only met for five minutes?” James says one night on a voice call.

The delight he feels at James’ words hits Regulus square in the chest where he’s lying on his side in bed, his phone on loud speaker on his pillow beside him.

“If it’s crazy, then I’m crazy too,” Regulus whispers.

What’s perhaps more crazy, is flying across the country to go to a concert with someone you’ve met literally once for barely more than a conversation. But here Regulus is, after months and months of messages and phone calls and the phantom touch of a hug Regulus wishes he could live in forever, standing at a train station in James’ home city.

The world seems to slow down when he sees James through the crowd. Regulus is about to make a joke that he can’t believe they actually went through with the matching t-shirts, but James doesn’t break his stride for even a second as he steps right into Regulus’ space, hands coming up to cradle his face between his hands as he pulls him into a bruising kiss.

Maybe it’s not so crazy after all.

[deadonmayn]

In case you missed it in the boopening and dannypocalypes, we released the prompts! Thank you so much to everyone who submitted, there were so many good ones! We tried to provide a range of moods and prompts that we hope inspire you!

You can use any of the prompts for a day, none of them, the bonus prompts, or go for broke and use every prompt for a day! Remember that fan art, fic, moodboards, playlists, etc-- it's all game! We can't wait to see what you make! Here is all the prompts as one sheet. The text version is below the cut!

Dead on Mayn Week Sun May 19th- Sat May 25th

Day 1 - Sunday

Trope | Courting Rituals Word | Flickering Situation | Dinner is interrupted by a rogue/gang fight. Dialogue | “Are they gone yet?”

Day 2 - Monday

Trope | Jason Has Magic Word | Ritual Situation | Danny and Jason are abducted by the same cult. Dialogue | “You were never monstrous to me.”

Day 3 - Tuesday

Trope | King Danny & Knight Jason Word | Blood blossoms Situation | Jason and Danny get stuck in a coffin together. Dialogue | “We may have come back wrong but at least we came back.”

Day 4 - Wednesday

Trope | Mistaken Identity Word | Inertia Situation | Love square (Danny/Jason/Phantom/Hood) Dialogue | “Don't call me that name.”

Day 5 - Thursday

Trope | Soulmates Word | Pretend Situation | Jason and Danny were childhood friends. Dialogue | “I never thought I'd see you again.”

Day 6 - Friday

Trope | Ecto-hunger Word | Core Injury Situation | Danny 'rescues' hood from the Bats. Dialogue | “Careful, he bites.”

Day 7g - Saturday

Trope | Accidental Child Acquisition Word | Ecto-parasite Situation | Jason is in Amity Park and meets the mysterious local hero. Dialogue | “I’m starting to understand why you didn’t want me to meet your family.”

Bonus Prompts

Trope | Danny heals the pit rage Word | Fangs Situation | Danny starts a fan blog featuring Red Hood. Dialogue | "Oh, it's probably a terrible idea. But it would be so funny."

[poisonous-honey]

Red In Stones

Who’s Here! Reader/Player, Paimon, Aether, Bennett, Zhongli

Contains: SAGAU (Not the Cult), nothing else really, there’s like 2 curse words idk, Player sucks at redstone, Player is only referred to with “you”

You can read on AO3!

Note: Holy moly. I have no memory of writing this despite it sitting in my docs for quite a while lol. Looked it over and thought it was simply dumb fun so here it is :)

It's been a while since you've been transported to Teyvat, your Teyvat, and even longer since you've learned they were all self aware. Travelling the world of Teyvat first hand with characters people you adore has been the best thing you could've ever hoped for. Though the longer you stay here and the more you get used to the place, the more you start to wonder, What would it have been like to land in another one of your games? To travel the land of Hyrule with Link, solve crimes with Phoenix Wright and Maya, steal hearts with the Phantom Thieves, hang out with Papyrus and Alphys if Sans and Undyne don’t kill you first… beat the shit out of a certain purple guy. The possibilities were endless!

Everyone had caught you daydreaming about it at this point, but no one had made any attempt to bring it up in conversation. That is until Aether offhandedly said that they could enter other parts of your device. Including all of your video games.

After a lot of begging and promises of farming (and swearing to a few you wouldn’t just up and abandon them the first opportunity you got), they finally agreed to let you explore other game worlds. As long as a few of them came with you and you had to start with a simpler game within your library. Not that you were complaining.

Now you’ve been having a blast in Minecraft for a few days with a handful of other people who were willing to join you for your journey. Unfortunately, you broke your only way to communicate with the others so you've been forced to stay at base.

You feel like your head is spinning as you look up from the vague instructions you wrote on your piece of paper (that very much just amounted to a couple of scribbled squares with red lines and the words “GOOD LUCK” off to the side) to the mess of a contraption you have sitting in front of you. A tower strategically placed dirt and heaps of redstone dust lay in the middle of the main hall, taking up a majority of the space in the room. The rest of the place filled with discarded blocks of various redstone uses and an excess amount of redstone itself litters the floor. 

Walking over to the other side of the room and jumping over a tripwire you still haven’t picked up off the floor, you grab what you hoped was a repeater. Lifting it you notice a third torch attached to the stone slate and realise it’s actually a comparator. At this you get lost in your own head, trying to remember what it did and if you could use it instead of looking for the repeater, when the front door bursts open behind you.

“Hey have you seen- HUH!? What happened here? Why is everything such a mess!”

The sudden shrill from Paimon startles you as you nearly fling the comparator across the room. Unfortunately you end up tripping over the wire on the floor and falling into the rest of your test, making the dirt tumble over and breaking all the redstone connections you spent the last few minutes trying to figure out.

“OH, Paimon is so sorry! Paimon didn’t mean to freak you out, are you okay?”

Looking up you see Aether lending you a hand to help you out of the pile of contraptions you’ve ended up in. You gladly accept his help and take his hand, letting him pull you up from the wreckage. Once you're standing to your full height you start to dust yourself off as you reply to Paimon.

“Yeah I’m fine. I was using more redstone than necessary, so that ended up cushioning my fall.”

Thinking about it now, you don’t think a heaping pile of redstone is a good idea anyway. If you powered it, would it explode or would it act like a regular block of redstone? You huff, it was probably for the best that the idea was destroyed, that’s a test for outside the house.

“Well at least you’re okay, but this wouldn’t have happened at all if you kept the room orderly! There’s a ton of blocks in random places and so much of our decorations are missing and there’s redstone everywhere! It’s even on the ceiling! How did you even get it up there!?”

Hearing that you look up and see Paimon is actually correct. Splotches of red dust cover sections of the ceiling and slowly fall back to the floor as small red particles. It almost makes the room look like a redstone sand cave or like a tornado came through here. You have no idea how you managed that.

You shrug and give Paimon a halfhearted smile, “I couldn’t tell you. I wish I could though, that’d actually allow for a lot of possibilities-”

“That’s not the point! What were you doing to cause such a disaster in the main hall?”

Paimon questions as she interrupts you, causing you to drop the attempt at a smile to sulk instead. You look away from them to the mess you’ve made of the whole room. It’s now hitting you how long it’s going to take to clean all of this up.

“I was trying to remember how to use redstone.”

Paimon looks absolutely flabbergasted at your response and Aether tries and fails to keep his giggling to himself. You glare in his general direction which gets him to try a little harder to not laugh in your face. 

Paimon starts waving her arms around to bring your attention back to her,  “And you were doing this inside why???”

You shrug again, not able to think of an answer. At least not a satisfying one when all you can think of is ‘the old man thinks i’ll freeze to death’ as a reply.

Zhongli had asked you not to leave the house when he received news of your communicator breaking and left a while ago to fix it. It was the only way to send messages and receive updates from everyone else in this world, as well as checking coordinates, so not having one put you at risk. Especially since you often walked off on your own at any slightly interesting thing you saw in the distance. He feared you’d get lost without it and end up stuck in a snowy peaks biome… somehow.

You would’ve just burrowed under the floor to explore the lush cave nearby, but he grew wise to that after you created a bit too many hidden exits for the fun of it. He ended up layering a ton of obsidian underneath the floor.

(You: Yo Zhongli what the fuck??

Zhongli: It’s an attempt to stop you from creating pitfalls in the house. There has been one to many occasions where Bennett has fallen into one of the many holes you’ve produced.

You: Okay fair, but where’d you even get the obsidian from? Only the Traveller has a diamond pickaxe at the moment.

Zhongli: :)

You: HELLO!?)

“No one can find me if I wander off on my own, so until my communicator gets fixed I’m stuck here.”

Paimon shakes her head, “Paimon guesses that makes sense, but that still doesn’t explain how trying to learn would cause such a mess!”

You pull out the page with your instructions and wave it around, “I was trying to recreate my magnum opus!”

“No offence, but your ‘magnum opus’ currently looks like a blood bath.”

That was the last straw to break Aether’s self control as he starts laughing. He bends over with a hand on his knee and a hand covering his mouth. You scowl at the both of them and cross your arms, “Laugh it up why don’t you.”

Aether quickly stands up straight and waves one of his hands in front of him as the other stays rested on his chest, “No no no I’m not laughing at you. This is just such a bizarre situation to witness.”

You sigh, guess you can’t argue with that. It’s not like this could happen in Teyvat. Well, you guess it’s more like they wouldn’t allow this to happen in Teyvat. Some of them go above and beyond to make sure you know you can talk to them whenever you want and always have the means to do so.

Aether calms down soon after, though you can still see a bit of mirth in his eyes, “Back to why we originally came back, have you seen Bennett anywhere?”

Paimon's eyes light up as she also remembers their original purpose coming back and swiftly turns bashful, “Oh yeah, we were supposed to ask for Bennett’s whereabouts.”

You shrug for the third time in this conversation. In the back of your mind you hear someone threaten to chop your shoulders off, but you wave it away. If they wanted a better answer they should’ve asked a better question.

“The last time I saw Bennett he ran out of the house before I could stop him. I assume he went to find a cave, or a swamp.”

They look at each other in confusion for a second before Paimon asks another question, “Why would he want to go to either location? Paimon gets wanting to go mining, but what does a cave and a swamp have in common that both will do?”

Aether speaks up right after, “We did find a swamp not too long ago, but it’s pretty far away. I don’t see why he’d want to go there either.”

He looks at you curiously, probably also wanting to hear your answer for Paimon’s question. You sigh and turn away from them to dig through one of the many chests you’ve laid next to the walls. You don’t exactly need anything at the moment, but just standing there talking to them surrounded by dirt and redstone was making you restless.

“Slimes. Slimes can either spawn in a swamp or in a slime chunk underground. Seeing as there’s no way for us to see if an area is a slime chunk or not, and you guys actually found a swamp already, I imagine he went there.”

Paimon, “Okay that’s one question answered, but that just raises another! Why does he even need to find slimes?”

You have a feeling someone is not going to like your response. At least now they're asking questions you know the answer to.

“I was complaining about not having enough slimeballs to make the number of sticky pistons I wanted and having to wait for Zhongli to get back, when Bennett suddenly said he’d be glad to get them and ran out the front door.”

As you predicted, Paimon instantly starts to get aggressive again. Before she can go on a tirade again you turn to them and raise your hands, trying to defend yourself.

“I didn't ask him to go! I didn't even know he was there until he was gone! Believe me I would not have asked him to go look for slimes, especially on his own. They’re such a pain to find, I'd have at least wanted to be there with him so it wasn’t so unbearable.”

You’re suddenly struck with a thought and go to reach for your communicator, only to groan when you remember Zhongli still hasn’t come back with it yet. Instead you turn back towards the two who are still standing near the doorway to the house.

“Now that I think about it, he hasn’t died yet has he? Cause I haven’t heard anything around the house. I think I’ve been the only person here since he left.”

Paimon shakes her head and Aether pulls out his own communicator to check the chat messages. He scrolls for a bit before shaking his head too. Paimon is about to comment on how strange it was to not hear anything from him for so long, when the door slams open behind them and they both immediately jump out of the way. 

Bennett himself comes barreling through the doorway, a bunch of slimeballs bundled in his arms as he laughs triumphantly.

“Hey! I got your-”

As quickly as he came in, his smile drops just as fast. Without missing a beat Bennett ends up tripping over the wire that was still left on the floor and plummets. He falls face first into the floor, promptly getting covered by the piles of redstone on the floor, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Everything that was in his inventory scatters across the already cluttered room, and the slimeballs he was holding bounce in your direction. Once they get close enough, they’re absorbed into your own inventory, showing you he ended up collecting 5 stacks of them.

“Well… that was probably a record for him, right?”

Both Aether and Paimon stare at you, which you elect to ignore, and that’s when you realise Zhongli is standing in the doorway. One of his arms crossed over his torso while the other is covering his face in what you assume is disappointment. Maybe he’s the reason why Bennett lasted this long. It would be a bit of a shame, since that would null his new record, but at least he didn’t die hundreds of blocks away from the base.

Ignoring both the looks being given towards you from the peanut gallery and the slight disappointment radiating from Zhongli, you try to be as pleasant as possible. You hope that a little bit of him at least finds this situation amusing.

Clasping your hands behind your back you try to radiate the perfect image of innocence, “Why hello Mr. Zhongli! What a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you back so soon!”

You notice his lips quirk a little, but his eyes still glance around the room and come to a stop at Bennett’s items still hovering on the floor.

“I haven’t been gone for long and yet you’ve still managed to make a mess of the place.”

You sigh and droop your head, “In my defence, I was left unsupervised and unable to leave to take my creative liberties elsewhere.”

Zhongli looked like he wanted to say something in response to that, but decides against it and hands over your fixed communicator instead. A small tired smile rests on his face as he lets out a sigh and steps closer to you, cutting the string on the floor with his spear in the process.

Finally with the communicator back in your possession, you skim through the messages you missed (noticing that Bennett indeed hadn’t died until now) and send a grateful smile towards Zhongli.

“Thank you Zhongli!”

He nods in acknowledgment, “It wasn't a problem. I’ve reinforced it, so It should not break on you again. Though…” He pauses to take in the full extent of the wreck you’ve turned the room into, “It appears you have much to fix before you can set off on another one of your journeys. I shall help you clean this mess.”

You deflate, but don’t argue since this whole thing is your fault in the first place, “Thanks Zhongli…”

You hear Paimon giggles at the predicament you’ve landed yourself in from behind you before speaking directly with Zhongli, “It’s a good thing you were actually with Bennett. Who knows what kind of trouble he could’ve landed himself in that far away from the base.”

Ah, so she was thinking the same as you.

Zhongli shakes his head at that thought though with a smile, “I only met him on the way back. Most of his voyage was done on his own. I saw him running away from a coven of witches with the bundles of slime already in his possession. I merely helped him escape the witches and escorted him the rest of the way.”

Both yours and Paimon's brows raise upon hearing that. You keep forgetting Bennett is still an experienced adventurer despite his luck. You need to remember to give him more credit. As you think that Bennett finally comes tumbling down the stairs. His face is beet red as he collects all his items that littered the floor. He ends up tripping again, on air this time, and yet again gets covered in redstone. He lives this time though and has to deal with it until he can wipe it all off.

You and Aether reach your hands for him to grab at the same time which has both of you chuckling. When Bennett looks up he grins wide and just grabs both of your hands. You and Aether end up using a bit more force than necessary to lift him up and he nearly crashes into you guys, but he rights himself pretty quickly.

“Are you alright?” “You good man?”

Bennett beams, his smile is so bright you think you’ll die, “Yeah I’m perfectly fine! Fantastic even! That was one of the best solo adventures I’ve ever been on and I ended up getting a lot of those slimeballs you wanted- Wait, where are they!?”

He starts to pat himself down and frantically looks everywhere on the floor for a hint of where they could be. You place a hand on his shoulder to stop him before he runs out of the house in a panic thinking he dropped them somewhere.

You hold up a stack of slimeballs for him to see, “Don’t worry man I got them. Thank you by the way. You really didn’t have to do that for me.”

He just looks at you again with another smile that you swear rivals the sun, “It wasn’t a problem! I’m glad I could be of help!”

Paimon puts her hands on her hips as she looks him over in concern, “That’s great and all, but isn’t the swamp super far away? Why didn’t you even tell anyone you were going?”

Bennett scratches the back of his head, “Yeah, it was a pretty far trip, but I got to see so many cool things on the way! Like, there was this one mountain I found and it was full of goats-”

He continues to ramble on about his adventure and all you can do is sigh. You know you need to give him more credit for all the effort he puts into his adventures, and you definitely will, but it really does feel like the world is out to kill him sometimes. Personally, you don't think getting punted off the side of a mountain, or getting spit on by llamas, or accidentally falling into the deep dark would make for a fun adventure. Knowing he went through all of this just to get you slimeballs makes you a tad guilty. They should be more concerned for Bennett's safety over yours cause this is ridiculous.

Then again the reason he even died wasn’t because of any of that, it was because he tripped on some string you left on the ground. You guess you won’t bring it up in fear of either Zhongli lecturing you or Paimon rattling off in your ear again.

It’s when Bennett finally gets to the part of his tale where he reaches the base he remembers the room is currently a disaster zone, “Oh yeah! Why is there so much redstone on the floor anyway? Does it have to do with what you needed the slimeballs for?”

You nod your head at his question and reply before you can think, “Yeah. I was trying to remember how to make an automatic door. I need sticky pistons for it.”

You didn’t have any time to react before Paimon was on you.

“Wait, WHAT!! That’s your magnum opus? An automatic door!?”

Groaning, you bang your head into the wall. It seems you didn’t get to escape a lecture afterall.

[powdermelonkeg]

Echoes of Wisdom Trailer Analysis: Part 1

I'll tell you what, a new Zelda game, especially one this year, was NOT what I was expecting. I was hoping for a teaser a la "the sequel to BotW is now in development," but to have a full on main-series game come out? That caught me completely off guard.

But I've got my bearings. And I like what I see. So let's break down what we DID see, shall we?

Our opening shot has Link in some ruins, looking over at what appears to be Soldiers (as in the enemy, a lesser version of Darknuts), which are a staple for Fallen Timeline games.

However, they usually aren't this color, restricted to red, blue, and green. And they usually have swords or tridents, not axes.

The axes are a new development, as are the black armor and white capes. Maybe they've taken on the red -> blue -> green -> black -> silver difficulty pattern that BotW and TotK had?

Moving on.

Link here has a dark blue cape with teal geometric patterns on the back. Tempting as it is to connect this to the Zonai with the recent game-

-I'm going to abstain for now, because Zelda games like their teal geometry.

Looking around, the ruins Link finds himself in are unique.

We have eye patterns on the walls and double helixes framing the door. We haven't seen any pattern like this before, to my knowledge.

Link rushes in, sword drawn. The floor is plain square patterns on cracked tile.

We get our first glimpse of the Hylian Shield

As well as a clear shot of his sword. Oddly enough, it's not the Master Sword, or anything like it—it looks too plain to be something final, like the Four Sword or Phantom Sword:

And yet, it still very distinctly matches Link's current aesthetic, with the teal geometry.

Honestly, it looks more akin to a beginning sword that needs to change, like the Goddess Sword of Skyward Sword:

It's basic, it's easy to look at, but it's distinct and memorable.

Immedaitely after the cinematic run, the camera snaps to an overhead view, in which Link attacks. So there's at least a little gameplay as Link.

We see Princess Zelda in her crystal prison. Nothing unusual so far, but she definitely has a new look to her, even if her dress is distinctly Toon/Oracles/AlttP style remade.

Then we pan down to Ganon. Fallen Timeline's beast Gan, as we're used to seeing him. So far, he seems to look the most like his ALBW iteration, with the spiked cuffs around his wrists.

Link enters the scene. Purple mist is there for ambiance.

The pattern on the ground feels...ornamental. It doesn't stick out much or have enough detail on it to be the usual big-bad-evil-ritual.

Link throws his cape away dramatically.

Again, we get a camera-snapped view in which Link's attacks seem very much in the player's control.

And blocking Link off from escape, we have a magical barrier, though this one is emitting particles.

It's almost like Ganon's torn the ground open for this.

Defeated, ready for phase two, Ganon dissipates into purple sparks, only to reappear and start his tennis volley.

And here's where we get our proper view of him head-on.

ALBW's Ganon is a bit easy to miss in-game, because Yuga takes him over moments after he arrives. But he looks like this:

This is not our Gan's design.

He has the bracers, yes, but his forehead gem isn't spiked, his eyes are red, not white, his armor is gold with red edges and has chest plates that look a lot like really old art of ALttP Gan:

But most interestingly, his necklace is different.

In every version of Ganon that looks like this, he's either had a skull at his neck

Or a gem

But our Gan has something new. Something that, given the eyes in the corridor, feels deliberate:

There's a menace in this branch of Hyrule's history that's known for three things: a horned eye, purple magic, and possession.

And I'm out of images. Part 2 here!

[incorrectbatfam]

Batfam as the weirdest Tumblr asks you've ever received?

Dick: the person in my DMs who kept insisting I'm Jewish even after I told them I'm not

Jason: the tirade that felt like it was ghostwritten by the Joker. I posted it but Tumblr's search engine was designed by squirrels

Tim: the QAnoner telling me I'm a media insider pushing Biden's leftist agenda after Tim came out (I wish)

Damian: the person who sent me a picture of their dog. That was nice. I really needed that

Duke: the person who asked if I'll ever consider taking commissions. They were polite about it but the answer is no

Cullen: the person who wanted me to promote their Batfam x Danny Phantom Wattpad fanfic

Stephanie: shoutout to everyone who asks me how I'm doing. I won't unload my problems onto you but I appreciate it

Cassandra: I think someone tried to send me emojis but they came out as squares

Barbara: someone who came pretty close to guessing where I live based on how I speak

Harper: apologies to everyone asking for the batfam as anime but I saw 2 episodes of Death Note and that's the extent of what I know

Carrie: the commenter I reported for being under 13. I'm sorry but Tumblr has an age limit for a reason

Kate: the person who asked my opinion on a Black Widow jacket they found. They're just biker jackets but it's the thought that counts

Alfred: maybe I'm old and out of touch but why do people keep sending me my own posts?

Selina: anyone who's tried to flirt with me. Not spambots, actual people who developed a parasocial bond

Bruce: pretty much every PSA, signal boost, GoFundMe, etc. I'm not doing that to my followers

dishonorable mention to all the neckbeards. why are you on tumblr?

[wolfjackle-creates]

Bring Me Home Arc 2 Part 18

Welcome to another WIP Wednesday!

Story Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.

Arc 1 AO3 Link

Arc 2: Part 1, Previous

Word Count: 1.7k

-----

From the radio station, the four traveled to the television studio for their next interview. The host had listened to their radio interview and helped summarize much of the information before asking further questions.

Tim and his teammates called into question the biases of the Drs Fenton and hoped their criticisms would bring others to think twice before taking their word as gospel.

When they were finally done, it was almost nine.

Tim shot off a quick text to Bruce for his morning check-in. He noticed Conner texting someone, too. “Who’re you talking to?” he asked.

“Sam. She says Danny’s still passed out. But her parents are talking about some sort of press release the mayor is planning on putting on at City Hall at ten.”

Cassie groaned. “Ugh, more reporters. Please say we don’t have to go.”

“We should,” said Tim. “But we can go in civvies.”

“Can we at least get breakfast first?” asked Bart. “It’s been hours since we woke up!”

“Yeah,” agreed Cassie. “I’m starving. Let’s get some food. I think I saw a diner when we flew to our second interview.”

Before Tim could consider protesting, Conner had him secure in his arms and TTK and they were in the air.

“Lead the way, Wonder Girl.”

Tim scowled to hide his smile. “Oh sure, don’t listen to your leader. Just do whatever.”

“You’d let us starve?” wailed Connor. “Then we’ll stage a mutiny!”

Cassie laughed. “Yeah, see how long you remain in charge of a hangry speedster, half-kryptonian, and demigoddess.”

Tim grinned. “Oh, but you forget I know you all very well. I can win you back to my side. Starting with Kon.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” demanded Conner.

“Easy. I’ll just bribe you with Alfred’s cookies and a great movie. If I add in a dash of ‘I need your help’ and my puppy dog eyes and you’ll be eating out of the palm of my hand.”

“That’s another square on my bingo card!” called back Cassie. “And look, we’re here!” She pointed down to a quintessential American diner with green glass windows.

The group met Bart a block away in an alley where they shed their gear.

“I’ll tell Sam what we’re up to.” Conner pulled out his phone to send the message.

“Quit wasting time! We’re on a deadline,” moaned Bart as he positioned himself behind Conner and tried to push him towards the street and breakfast.

Conner laughed and refused to budge, so Tim figured a demonstration of his power was in order.

He got in front of Conner and pouted at him. “I know I was joking about not allowing breakfast, but I’m the one who didn’t eat before the interviews. An omelet is calling my name.”

Conner groaned and ran a hand down his face. “Fuck you, Rob.” But he stalked forward out of the alley.

Tim and Bart exchanged grins.

“Seriously, Tim,” said Cassie. “This trip has been great for my bingo card.”

Tim stuck his tongue out at her and jogged to catch up with Conner.

Breakfast was simple but tasty and they devoured far too much food. Their waitress was clearly impressed with her first exposure to a speedsters appetite. Add in a super and a demigoddess and it was obscene.

All too soon, however, it was time to go to the mayor’s press conference. As they made their way there, they joined a growing crowd. Clearly many people were interested in whatever the mayor had planned.

In the crowd, he could hear comments about their interviews. It seems both had been posted online and already had thousands of views. Some people seemed to be sympathetic to them, but others were mistrustful of the “outsiders.”

“If they’re such good friends, why did it take so long for them to come here?” asked one man of his friend.

“I’ve a cousin in Central City. She says trouble always follows a superhero,” said another.

Tim exchanged a look with Conner. He’d be able to hear more conversations and could share his perceptions later.

Before long, they were entering City Hall. Already the seats were full, so they were forced to stand in the back. Jack and Maddie were sitting near the front. Jeremy and Pamela Manson sat on the opposite side of the room as them, but also were near the front of the room.

Tim exchanged looks with his teammates to make sure they saw both couples. Conner was glaring at Maddie and Jack.

“They’re complaining about our interviews,” said Conner. “Throwing around guesses that we are either possessed or have already been brainwashed by the ghosts.”

“At least we know they aren’t observant. Maybe they won’t notice us.”

Mayor Montez stepped up to the podium and everyone fell silent. “People of Amity Park, we have been faced with a threat the likes of which we’ve never before seen! And based on the events of this morning, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to rely on outside help to get us out of it.”

A stone sunk in Tim’s stomach and he exchanged looks with his friends.

“We only have one piece of business today: Defeating the ghosts that infest our town. And to do that, I'm calling for a vote to cede all ghost policing and security decisions”—he held up a photo of Maddie—“to Maddie Fenton.” As Tim watched, however, the mayor’s eyes glowed red and he winced. “I mean Jack,” he corrected, holding up a new picture of Jack Fenton. “The completely competent Jack Fenton.”

“He’s overshadowed,” breathed Conner.

Tim nodded and was already sending a message to Sam, Tucker, and Danny. “And who knows who else.”

Before they could say anything else, the mayor continued, “And we’ve located the ghost responsible for all the terror inflicted on our town.” He held up a picture of Phantom. “Whatever some outsiders may have tried to lie to you about this very morning.”

A gasp rang out among the crowd. Tim glanced at his friends. Conner was glaring at the mayor fiercely and Tim attempted to step in front of him, as pointless as their relative sizes made the action.

The mayor smiled viciously as a panicked crescendo rose from the crowd. Tim’s phone vibrated in his hand and he saw a response from Sam.

Sam: We saw Sam: Danny is on his way Sam: And we’re following as fast we can

Under his breath, Tim muttered, “Conner, you and Bart should go suit up. Cassie and I will stay and keep an eye on what’s going on. Stay close, but try not to be seen unless an attack happens.” Subtly, grateful for their places against the wall, he passed over the thermos he’d taken with him that morning.

Tim heard Conner’s sigh of relief as the two slipped away. He hated pretending to be a civilian in a crisis. Even more than the rest of them.

Cassie whispered, “I almost hate you for keeping me here.”

Tim just bumped their shoulders together.

The mayor, or rather the ghost inhabiting him, raised his arm and silence slowly fell. “We cannot call for outside help. Those who call themselves the Young Justice today proved that the so-called heroes of this world will defend our enemy over us. That they will spread lies to keep us subject to the whims of these ghosts.” The last word was spat. “So we must solve the problem ourselves. Jack Fenton, if the people of this town agree, you and those you train will be our defense force, will you do this?”

Jack near jumped three feet in the air in his excitement. “I’ve been training for this my entire life, Mayor Montez! I’ll be honored.”

“I believe we must institute martial law! The 9 PM curfew will remain in place. No one will be allowed on the streets alone. No loitering. The park will be closed until further notice. Same with the public pool and library and a number of other locations. Drs Fenton, will you be able to set up buildings protected by ghost shields where people can gather for safety?”

Whispering broke out among the public. Maddie stood tall next to her husband, though being continually overlooked in favor of him was clearly grating on her. “We can. Fenton Works is already protected and within two days we can have another shield up and ready. Within the week, we could have five.”

The whispered were almost loud enough to drown her out by the time she finished speaking

“Order! Order!” called Mayor Montez. “All in favor of declaring martial law, and allowing the completely competent Jack Fenton to mobilize a massive ghost hunt, please say—”

But cutting off the mayor, Danny, in his Phantom form, suddenly appeared in the air in the middle of the hall. “I might be too young to vote, but I’m casting one anyway.”

Around them, everyone gasped and people began backing away even as Danny shifted to look at them. Tim and Cassie both tensed and prepared to run.

“You people have to listen to me,” urged Danny. “I’m on your side.”

Mayor Montez took a step back as members of his security moved to stand in front of him. Jack and Maddie jumped up and glared at him.

“You’re not fooling anybody, ghost kid!” declared Jack. “You are going down!” He reached back and pulled out the Fenton fishing rod, the line was horribly tangled and Jack began messing with it. “As soon as I finish untangling this thing.”

Cassie let out a disbelieving huff.

Tim shook his head. “Apparently,” he replied to her unasked question. He pulled out his phone and shot a message to Bart and Conner.

Rob: get back here now Rob: All 4 of us are needed

Before he even finished typing his last message, Bart was at his side. Just in time to see Danny mutter something and shoot an ectoblast at his parents who were thrown back with the force of it, destroying the podium and leaving a burn mark on the ground.

“Shit,” muttered Tim. “Cassie, let’s go. Impulse, try to help where you can.”

“You’ve got it.”

----

Next

And so the best of intentions go awry!

I can almost taste the end of this arc, but for all I know, that'll take another 10k to finish. So we'll see what happens. Hope you enjoyed.

I no longer do tag lists, but please check out the Subscription Post if you want to be notified of updates.

[spade-riddles]

i saw a facebook post about how the lyrics to BDILH are printed in different shapes in the booklet of each variant: the manuscript vinyl (and the phantom varient) with an hourglass, the albatross vinyl with a hexagon, the bolter CD with a circle, and the black dog CD has a square but the black dog vinyl has a diamond.

(these are the only copies i have access to, but the difference with the black dog variants makes me think there may be more shapes to discover?)

BDILH is the only song in the booklets stylized into a shape like this. i’m hoping we possibly have some geometry people in the chat? the best connection i can come up with is that each shape can be folded at least 2 different ways, maybe the same way song can be flipped to match at least two different “storylines.”

it’s very late where i am, and i’ve been pacing my room since i began this whole endeavor, so please let me know if i sound deranged ✨

[phantoms-finger-tapes]

Ghost movie predictions:

(Majority of these are just things I wanna see in the movie)

1. The movie will be one huge Chapter video. I also kinda want a mockumentary type movie.

2. Seestor telling Copia that his wish to go to Hollywood is finally coming true and that they'll be making a movie

3. Nihil convincing Papa Copia to let his corpse come on tour. "Let me play my sax. Just for one song."

4. Connection between this training montage to his boxing outfit in the LA rituals.

5. Discussion on Copia's health. And ghouls reporting back to Seestor that he's been putting ice cubes on his taint to feel better.

6. A teaser or an actual introduction of the new frontman of the band (either a new version of Copia or an entirely new character). A lot of red herring sprinkled throughout the movie.

7. Father Jim DeFroque is gonna be in the movie. Maybe even have a boxing match with Papa.

(Bonus: Father Jim visiting Ghost backstage to preach at them but ends up getting seduced by the Nameless Ghouls.)

8. Juice box contents getting poured into Papa's emotional support cup because drinking from a juice box doesn't look cool.

9. I wanna see Papa give the ghouls and ghoulettes a hype speech before the concert starts. An awkward speech of course.

10. Storyline on Swiss' behavior during Watcher in the Sky.

11. Darkness at the Heart of My Love as end credits or a montage of some kind for Copia.

[Addendum]:

12. Special Ghoul will come back

13. Context on Rain and Phantom's behavior at the end of Square Hammer.

(If any of these come true, I demand free merch or something, Tobias. Thank you.)

[fisheito]

here's your accursed tier ranking

17

sex yakumos that i had to meticulously screenshot and edit into slottable little squares

4

times i redid this list (over the course of several days)

The tiers (in words):

😔👌: Unfortunately, I Am Into That Shit (☆•̀‿•́): i quite enjoy these 🤔( ͡ಠ_ಠ)🔎: some parts i like, some parts i don't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯: ehh i'd rather watch something else

i COULD rearrange these rooms over and over and over (especially the middle tiers)

but we are nOt GOing to because if i spend ANY MORE TIME sliding yaku's horny squares around i'm goign to fmkkin lose it (it being my peanuts) I could end up rambling about specific rooms at a later date..... but not today. Today we will Restrain Ourselves.

So for now, here's 1 thing about each room that i like (same order as above)!!

Crimson Phantom R5: i can be uyuor devil

Dark Nova R2: THE FOFKIN COLLAR

Ocean Breeze R2: the way he tries to keep his voice down thru his pathetic little whimpers

Fateful Aegis R2: ENSLUTTIFICATION BEGINS **NOW**

Story H scene: ok.,, but he actually stopped. when eiden said slow down. tha't's unheard of in typical yaois

Cocoa Liqueuer R5: eiden purposely chooses the wrong dialogue option at every prompt and i'm laughing so sahgrd

Cocoa Liqueuer R2: yaku's stupid blissed out face *grips my glass so hard it shatters*

Shadow Lineage R5: *adds Snake Bondage [Quantity: 999] to cart*

Incognito Cafe R5: HOLY SHIT HE OBTAINED DICK RESTRAINT

Dark Nova R5: SNAKE TRAITS SNAKE TRAITS MONSTER TRAITS LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

SR R5: something about those big doe eyes staring up at eiden while pounding into him

Shadow Lineage R2: yeah sure crush me against a wall

Ocean Breeze R5: the ECHO 🤣

Fateful Aegis R5: eiden predicting yaku's AssPoundXXXL initiation sequence with the foreboding "i'm sorry"

OG SSR R2:

Crimson Phantom R2: b. bite.

OG SSR R5: eiden worrying about getting yaku's ceremonial robes dirty and yaku's response is an instant I Don't Care 😳 (tbhypothetical if i were wearing an intricate cosplay that i spent foREVER on, all handstitched and made of expensive silks and crafted by my own labour,, and i was about to fuck someone against a wall? I am DEFINITELY taking that thing off. NO ONE is getting cum on that. you will sit there in horny silence while i safely store this garment out of range of the Splash Zone. so for yakumo to have no regard for his FANCY CEREMONIAL OUTFIT? to IMMEDIATELY focus on sloppy makeouts with eiden? that either speaks to his textiles skill or all-consuming horny.)

~~~ and if, for some reason, u want to know why the lowest 3 are , well, the lowest 3:

OG SSR R2: the room itself is aight, but it is unfortunately a near copy of the story H scene. Ahhh, death by comparison. This one gets shrugged to the side simply because i like more things about its twin.

Crimson Phantom R2: yaku is not having a good time, y'all. he is not in the right headspace and his evident suffering is a boner killer. if i were ranking based on character development and lore, this one would rank higher (thank you, surprise tragic stories about yakumo's childhood), but. he's kinda fighting a losing battle against his self-hatred so can eiden give him that hug pls

OH!! and no lie-- his voice unsettled me here. i know he's playing big into the roleplay thing but that Uncharacteristic Vocal Behaviour mixed with Big Sad spiralling is uhhhhhhh . so where's that Eiden hug??????

OG SSR R5: i unlocked this waaay late so it had to (unfairly) compete against newer rooms that I unlocked before it.

it's similar to when I played FF/X-2 before trying FF/VII (original PS version)?! i wish i had played the older one when it first released. that way, i would have appreciated it properly? BUT!! because i played out of order, i was spoilt with modern graphics and improvements that made the old game impossible to finish. I was too warped by then...

and that's what happened with this room. although i liked the concept + their dialogue, the art was too off-model for me to fully engage. i kept fixating on the anatomy or eiden's face. sigh... it was one of the earliest rooms so of course the art's improved since then!! but i was unlucky and watched it too late :( i could not enjoy its full splendour :(