#the one friend i asked was like why not keep it as ur doc title

[stardustandash]

I'm just about ready to post the first chapter of Cal's Memory Loss Adventure™️ but i am once again faced with my nemesis...

[waitimcomingtoo]

Imaginary Friends

Pairing: Dad!Tom Holland x Reader

Request submitted by @karaannejones

Synopsis: Tom thinks you’re his sons imaginary friend until he meets you or as I like to call it  FBI OPEN UP...ur heart lol

Masterlist

“FBI! OPEN UP!” Spencer softly kicked the door to Tom’s room with his little fingers in the shape of a gun.

“I didn’t do it! I’m innocent!” Tom held up his hands as he son pointed his finger gun at him. He got out of his chair and tumbled on the ground to get away from Spencer.

“Pew pew! Pew pew!” Spencer followed him and chased him out of the room. Spencer grabbed an FBI hat that was way too big for him and put it on his head before tackling Tom. Tom pretended to fall to the ground and threw Spencer in the air a few times until he noticed his hat.

“Where did you get that?” Tom asked as he held his son above his face.

“The pretty lady next door.” Spencer answer as his hat fell into his eyes. Tom set him down on the ground and fixed the hat to sit better on his sons head.

“The pretty lady next door?” Tom furrowed his brows. “I’ve never seen anyone in or out of that house.”

“Because she’s a secret agent, duh.” Spencer giggled as his hat fell down again. “No one can see her unless she wants to be seen.”

“What does this lady look like?” Tom played along, thinking Spencer just had an imaginary friend.

“She’s beautiful.” Spencer gushed. “She wears all black like a ninja and has a shiny badge. She lets me hold it sometimes.”

“Wow.” Tom pretended to be impressed. “What’s her name?”

“I can’t tell you. It’ll blow her cover.” Spencer said like it was obvious. He began to roll around and pretend to shoot things with his finger guns

“Right.” Tom chuckled. “She sounds really cool, buddy.”

“She is. She fights bad guys.” Spencer did a karate pose. “And sometimes, it’s bad girls.”

“Like Doc Oc and Venom? Daddy fights those guys too.” Tom humored him.

“Like kidnappers.” Spencer replied to Tom’s surprise.

“Kidnappers?” Tom questioned. “Where did you see that?”

“The pretty lady next door told me.” Spencer said. “She also told me to keep the doors and windows locked at night.”

“How long have you been talking to this lady?” Tom wondered. Spencer’s imaginary friend was pretty detailed for never having been mentioned before.

“A few months. She’s away a lot for cases.” Spencer explained as he began to play with some toys scattered on the carpet.

“Okay, buddy.” Tom laughed in content. “Maybe you can introduce her to me sometime.”

“Okay daddy.” Spencer smiled happily as Tom came over to play with him.

~

A few weeks later, Tom walked past Spencer’s room and heard him talking to his toys.

“You can never talk to strangers. Don’t let them buy you any candy or ice cream, even if it’s a fudge pop. You can only talk to adults that you know.” Spencer explained you his toys. Tom smiled to himself as he listened to his son babbling. He walked into his room and took a seat across from Spencer.

“Who told you all of that, buddy?” He laughed curiously.

“The special agent next door.” Spencer repeated. “She said we need a code word in case a stranger tries to pick me up from school.”

“A code word?”

“If they don’t know the code word, I won’t go with them.” Spencer explained and Tom realized he was right.

“That’s a good idea, buddy. What do you want the word to be?” He asked his son.

“Y/n.” Spencer said immediately.

“Y/n? Why that?” Tom wondered. They didn’t know anyone with that name, to Tom’s knowledge. He had no idea where his son would learn that name.

“That’s the name of the lady next door. She said I could tell you since you also fight bad guys. Can that be our word, daddy?” Spencer asked as he ran a toy car over Toms leg.

“Sure.” Tom agreed. “That can be our word.”

~

“Look daddy! I got a gold star on my report.” Spencer ran into the house, waving a piece of paper around in the air.

Tom greeted his son with a smile and scooped him off the ground, giving him a big kiss on the cheek before taking the paper.

“Who I Want to be when I grow up by Spencer Holland. Aw, buddy. Good job.” Tom praised as he read the title of the paper.

“I’m gonna go play.” Spencer told him and ran to his room.

Tom sat down at the kitchen table to read his sons paper.

“When I grow up, I want to be like the lady next door. She’s a secret agent for the FBI and brings home lost children. Her job is very dangerous because she fights bad guys. I think she is very smart and brave and that is why I want to be like her.” Tom read. He wasn’t disappointed that it wasn’t about him, just concerned. It was one thing for Spencer to have imaginary friends, it was another thing to write about them at school. Spencer could talk about the lady next door all he wanted at home, but that’s where it should stay. Tom was raising him all on his own, and he didn’t know if six year olds should be talking about their imaginary friends to other people. He decided to talk to Spencer about it as he made his way to his room.

“Hey, buddy, can we talk?” Tom asked as he knocked lightly on Spencer’s doorframe.

“Okay daddy.” Spencer smiled at him from his bed.

“I see you wrote your report on the lady next door.” Tom began.

“I did. I’m going to give it to her when she comes home next week.” Spencer bounced your and down in excitement as he brushed the hair on his police Barbie. Tom laid the report on his bed and sighed.

“Spencer, I had imaginary friends at your age too. It’s perfectly normal.” Tom began. “You just can’t write about her at school like she’s real.”

“She is real!” Spencer protested. “She lets me work on cases with her and let’s me hold her briefcase.”

“Do you think maybe you saw her on TV and got confused?” Tom asked gently. “Nobody lives next door, buddy.”

“Yes she does.” Spencer whined. “I’ll prove it to you.”

“You don’t have to prove anything to me.” Tom assured him. “She can be real at home, but it’s different at school.”

Spencer was about to say something when he heard a car door slam outside. He looked out his window and broke into a huge smile.

“She’s home!” Spencer cheered and ran out of the room. He ran all the way outside and tackled you in hug. Tom watched this from the window with a shocked expression. His son was hugging a woman he had never seen before, and he looked completely comfortable with her. Tom was about to go outside when he noticed a gun strapped to your hip.

Could Spencer had been telling the truth?

“Spence!” You hugged Spencer tightly before setting him down. “How are you doing, buddy?”

“I missed you.” He smiled wildly. “Do you have any cuts from the bad guys?”

“Nope.” You said proudly. “We took him down and ended the case a week earlier than we thought. Thanks for helping me work the case.” You cupped his chin fondly and dug in your pocket. “If you’re gonna keep helping me with this, you’re gonna need a badge of your own.”

You handed Spencer a tiny badge that said FBI on it and his eyes lit up with joy.

“Wow!” He beamed. Thank you! Now I can be just like you. I even wrote about you in my report.”

“You did? Can I see?” You asked him and he handed you the paper.

“Here. I was just showing my daddy.”

You took the report from Spencer’s hands and gave him a grateful smile. You read the paper a few times, almost teared up from how much it meant to you. He grinned proudly at you as you rubbed your thumb over the gold star.

“I love this. Can I keep it for when you’re a famous FBI agent?” You asked him as you pinned the badge to his chest.

“Okay.” Spencer nodded eagerly. You took your eyes off him for a moment when you heard his front door open. Tom came running out of the house and bent down next to his son.

“Spencer, what did I say about talking to strangers?” He scolded before looking up at you. You gave him a kind smile and his heart nearly stopped. Spencer really knew what he was talking about when he called you a pretty lady. Tom flushed in embarrassment and gave you a shy smile back.

“She’s not a stranger. She’s a secret agent.” Spencer insisted and you chuckled. You and Tom stood up and you held out your hand.

“Hi, I’m Special Agent L/N.” You introduced yourself and shook his hand. “You can call me Y/n.”

Tom opened his mouth to speak but found himself star struck. You were exactly as Spencer described in your all black outfit and pretty face. He couldn’t believe he had lived next to you for so long and had never seen you.

“See, daddy? She’s not a stranger.” Spencer said as he tugged on Toms hand. “She fights the bad guys like you do.”

“Oh, are you in law enforcement as well?” You asked Tom and he immediately forgot what he did for a living. Spencer tugged on his hand again and Tom snapped out of it.

“My character is.” He answered. “I’m an actor.”

“Have you been in anything I would’ve seen?”

“Depends.” Tom said. “Are you into natural disasters or superhero’s?”

“I can’t say I am.” You laughed the most beautiful laugh Tom had ever heard. “You mean like Marvel?”

“Yeah. I play Spider-man.” He answered, beginning to feel more confident when your eyes widened in amazement.

“No way.” You gasped. “I didn’t know I was living next door to a superhero.”

“Neither did I.” He laughed softly. You looked at each other for a moment and smiled.

“What do people call you when you’re not playing Spiderman?” You realized your never caught his name.

“Sorry, I’m Tom. I’m Spencer’s dad.” He looked down at his son and noticed the badge on his chest. “What’s that?”

“It’s a badge. Y/n said secret gents need a badge.” Spencer said proudly as he tapped on his badge.

“It’s true. Now you’re official.” You nodded at Spencer. Tom looked between the two of you with a pleasantly surprised smile. Seeing you be so kind to his son warmed his heart. Spencer didn’t have the easiest type making friends in school because he was shy, but he seemed extremely comfortable with you.

“Cool.” Spencer wiggled with excitement. “I’m gonna catch an unsub.”

“I bet you are.” You winked at him before he ran off.

“So how do you guys know each other?” Tom wondered once Spencer had run off.

“Oh, Spence is the smartest guy I’ve ever worked with.” You laughed and folded your arms. “He helps me with cases all the time. He’s loves reading the case files.” You shrugged and Tom smiled at you fondly.

“He talks about you all the time. You’ve taught him a lot.” Tom said in appreciation. It was nice to have someone else looking out for his since he was raising him all alone.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped.” You said suddenly. “The badge is something they sell for agents with kids. He always asks to see mine so I thought I’d get him his own.”

“No, it’s fine. I really appreciate it, actually.” Tom assured you. “This whole time, I thought you were his imaginary friend.”

“Really? That’s so funny.” You smiled in delight. “I usually see him in the yard and ask him for help with the case I’m working on. Don’t worry, I’ve never shown him anything graphic or violent. He actually helped me crack a case the other week when he suggested that the unsub could be a woman.”

“Unsub?” Tom questioned.

“Sorry. Work talk.” You laughed shyly. “Unidentified subject.”

“And he helped you find the person?” Tom asked in amazement. He couldn’t imagine how his 6 year old helped the FBI.

“Absolutely.” You insisted. “My team was only looking at male offenders until Spence said it could be a woman. He’s actually really good at this stuff. He told me he wants to be an agent when he grows up. I hope you don’t mind, I gave him one of my hats.”

“I don’t mind at all. He thinks you’re a secret agent, though. Like a spy.” He chuckled and you shook your head with a smile.

“I told him I was a special agent. He must’ve thought I meant secret.” You explained. “It’s okay. He still understands what I do.”

“I know. I hear him teaching his toys about safety all the time.” Tom said and you put a hand over your heart.

“Does he? That’s so cute.” You pouted. “I just taught him a few safety precautions he should always take.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” Tom said sincerely. He couldn’t help thinking about how motherly you already acted towards Spencer. Tom didn’t date because of the thought of having to introduce Spencer to random women scared him, but you had already formed a bond with him. Tom couldn’t help the butterflies he was feeling from being around you. Everything about you, from your independence to your bravery, was drawing Tom in.

“Of course. It’s my job to keep people safe.” You nodded. “I also just like talking to him. You have a really great kid.”

“Yeah, I know.” Tom smiled proudly as he looked over his shoulder at Spencer.

“You and your wife did a great job with him.” You said quietly as you looked down at your boots.

“Yeah, uh, no wife.” Tom scratched the back of his head and you tried to hide your smile. “It’s just him and I. And apparently, you.”

“I see a lot of horrible things on the job. Your sons smiling face makes me remember why I do what I do. It’s all for the kids.” You said sincerely.

“What do you do, exactly?” Tom wondered.

“I work for the FBI and I specialize in child abductions.” You told him and he looked impressed as it all made sense.

“Oh. So that’s where he’s getting all his information from.” He realized. “I think you taught my son more than I ever did.”

“He was always happy to learn.” You smiled brightly. “You’re lucky you don’t have a daughter. I would have a lot more safety precautions to teach her.”

“I’m sorry. Your job can’t be easy.” Tom frowned. You had to spend all day looking for missing children, and he was sure you didn’t always find them. That couldn’t be easy, yet you still faced the world with a smile on your face and kindness in your heart.

That only made Tom like you more.

“It’s not.” You agreed. “But every time I get to reunite a child with their parents, I remember that it’s worth it.”

Tom opened his mouth to speak and closed it. He had never been so star struck around a girl before.

“Sorry, I’m just a little speechless right now.” He laughed shyly and scratched his head again. “You’re just kind of the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I, um, wow.” He shook his head to regain focus as you laughed.

“Thank you, Tom.” You smiled. “I’m really glad I got to meet the man who raised my favorite kid.”

“Do you think we could maybe continue this meeting over dinner?” He made a bold move to keep you on the line.

“Are you asking me out, Spiderman?” You cocked your head and squinted your eyes at him.

“I’m trying to. I’m not very good at this.” He said sheepishly. You took a step forward and straightened out the collar of his shirt as he watched you with wide eyes.

“Well I think you’re doing a great job.” You but your bottom lip and looked him in the eyes. “How does 7 work for you?”

“7 is good.” He squeaked and you smirked.

“I’ll leave my gun at home. Unless you’re planning on getting fresh. Then I’ll have to arrest you.” You said seriously.

“I-“

“I’m teasing.” You cut him off with a laugh. “I’ll see you at 7.”

Spencer ran back up to you and Tom and Tom picked him up.

“See, daddy? I told you there was a pretty lady next door.” Spencer insisted. “I wanna be just like her.”

“Aw. You’re gonna be the greatest FBI agent the world has ever seen.” You pinched his cheek. “I hope you’ll invite me to your induction ceremony.”

“Maybe you can come as my date.” Tom shrugged and you shot him a smile.

“Yeah. Maybe I can.”

Tag List 🏷

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[maxwell-grant]

So that ask about a Doc Savage/The Shadow crossover (which as an aside, I agree that Doc is probably the worst of the archetype he is functionally the Ur-Example of that isn’t an intentional deconstruction focusing on his worst eugenicist/borderline-fascist aspects to create a villain) has me thinking: what exactly would be the boundaries for a good, well-written crossover between the Shadow and different genres or eras of what we all collectively call pulp? Could someone do a crossover between the Shadow and Indiana Jones that didn’t rely on one or the other being little more than a glorified cameo in a small portion of what was essentially the other’s story, or reducing the former to his lamest two-dimensional “gun-toting homicidal maniac” interpretations? Could the Shadow ever functionally exist in a universe shared with a space opera setting like the Lensman series? It seems like one could theoretically do a crossover between the Shadow and a character of the same era like Nero Wolfe or Sam Spade, but would it strain credulity to attempt it with characters from an updated form of the private detective archetype like Thomas Magnum’s Hawaiian noir or Rick Deckard’s cyberpunk dystopia? Obviously not expecting answers to each of these hypotheticals specifically, just as examples of the kind of thing I’m wondering now.

I will be going through some of your hypotheticals though, you clearly gave a lot of thought to this and it's only fair I respond in turn. I am always eager to respond anyone who wants to ask specifics about writing The Shadow, because much of what I strive to do through this blog is to just inform people about the many, many things that made The Shadow great, the things that have been neglected, and to provide paths anyone who wishes to write the character may take. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to write The Shadow someday, but the least I can do is spread knowledge as I work my way there. I'd like to think I've done allright so far.

It's a fairly big question though so we're gonna through it by pieces...

...not THAT way

what exactly would be the boundaries for a good, well-written crossover between the Shadow and different genres or eras of what we all collectively call pulp?

Part of the reason why I did a post yesterday on The Shadow's influences is because looking at them, looking at a character's influences and history, I think are always essential to the prospect of tackling them. And in that regard, The Shadow doesn't actually have much, if any, boundaries stopping him from crossing over with just about anything. The most that's stopping the pulp heroes currently is, besides legal issues, their time periods and obscurity, but The Shadow is the most famous of them all, and a lot of stories have already worked with the idea that he's immortal (which I have my misgivings with, but for better or worse is clearly not going anywhere, and it's not a unworkable concept).

Right from the start, The Shadow was designed to be a long-running, versatile character that could partake in whatever adventures they felt like telling, and part of this is due not just to an incredibly strong personality not afforded to most pulp heroes or characters in general, even those who tried imitating him, but also the fact that he often takes a narrative backseat to the agents and proxy heroes, which means he doesn't have to carry a narrative by his own (and is in fact best suited not to), can blend in to just about anyone's story, and still stand out and be the center of sprawling mysteries. Actually, I'm gonna let Walter Gibson answer this one for you:

While his major missions were to stamp out mobs or smash spy rings, he often tabled such routines in order to find a missing heir, uncover buried treasure, banish a ghost from a haunted house or oust a dictator from a mythical republic.

There was no limitation to the story themes as long as they came within the standards of credibility--which proved easy, since The Shadow was such an incredible character in his own right that almost anything he encountered was accepted by his ardent followers.

Widespread surveys taken while the magazine was appearing monthly showed that a large majority of newsstands sold nearly all their copies within the first two weeks of issue. While other character magazines might show an early flurry, their sales were either spread evenly over the entire period or gained their impetus about the middle of the mouth and sometimes not until the third or even the fourth week.

From the writing standpoint, this made it advisable to adhere more closely to the Cranston guise and to emphasize the parts played by The Shadow's well-established agents, since regular readers evidently liked them. Also, it meant "keeping ahead" of those regulars, with new surprises, double twists in "whodunit" plots, and most exacting of all a succession of villains who necessarily grew mightier and more monstrous as The Shadow disposed of their predecessors.

Always, his traits and purposes were defined through the observations and reactions of persons with whom he came in contact, which meant that the reader formed his opinion from theirs.

This gave The Shadow a marked advantage over mystery characters forced to maintain fixed patterns and made it easy to write about him. There was never need for lengthy debate regarding what The Shadow should do next, or what course he should follow to keep in character. He could meet any exigency on the spur of the moment, and if he suddenly acted in a manner opposed to his usual custom, it could always be explained later.

The Shadow’s very versatility opened a vast vista of story prospects from the start of the series onward. In the earlier stories, he was described as a “phantom,” an “avenger,”, and a “superman,” so he could play any such parts and still be quite in character. In fact, all three of those terms were borrowed by other writers to serve as titles for other characters.

Almost any situation involving crime could be adapted to The Shadow’s purposes

The final rule was this: put The Shadow anywhere, in any locale, among friends or associates, even in a place of absolute security, and almost immediately crime, menace or mystery would begin to swirl about him, either threatening him personally or gathering him in its vortex to carry him off to fields where antagonists awaited.

That was his forte throughout all his adventures. Always, his escapes were worked out beforehand, so that they would never exceed the bounds of plausibility when detailed in narrative form. And that was the great secret of The Shadow.”

In some regards, The Shadow is a mirror. He presents himself to people the way that's best suited to them, the way they'd like him to be, the way he needs to be to affect them. They want money, he has it. They want honor, glory and purpose, he gives them that. They want to fight and turn around social systems for the better, he funds their dreams. Gangsters want the underworld's greatest hitman on their side, he becomes that and lets it be their doom. The story calls for a rich aristocrat who can rub elbows with politicians and kings and presidents, he can do that as long as it suits him. Kent Allard can be a world famous celebrity in one story and a disfigured, broke and faceless nobody in the next. You want a kind janitor with unexpected fighting skill to spy on police and assist the homeless, he has a little someone named Fritz for the occasion. You want an evil monster to be defeated, bring out Ying Ko. Hell, James Patterson's upcoming Shadow novel, which by all reviews seems to be pretty lousy, apparently features The Shadow transforming into a cat. Why? Screw you, that's why! But you'd never see James Bond or Batman spontaneously transforming into a cat without outside interference. He's The Shadow, he's got a face for everything.

(Okay to be clear I don't actually want the Shadow to literally transform into animals, at least not without a good explanation which the book clearly doesn't provide, but I do think it illustrates my point about how generally weird he is)

He is a shapeshifter who can be just about any character in any given narrative who only reveals himself when it's time to materialize into a cloaked terror or a familiar face (whether it's Cranston or Allard or Arnaud and so on). War stories, romance stories, sci-fi stories, globetrotting stories, parody stories, he's done all of them and then some. He doesn't need to be the protagonist of a story, he doesn't need to be invincible, and he doesn't really have any set rules regarding powerset. Gibson stressed credibility a lot, but for over 70 years now, that's clearly gone by the window of the character's writing. By design, he was always meant to be able to smoothly integrate into any existing narrative. Frankly, the only thing that's really holding him back (or saving him, depending on how you look at it) is the fact that he's not public domain (yet).

I think for a start, it's not so much boundaries, because in make believe land boundaries are just things to be overcome on the way to telling a story, so much as it's a good working knowledge of the character and of how far you are willing to stretch your storytelling limitations to include him, because he can account for just about all of them. Now, obviously there's stuff that works for the character better than others, a lot of Shadow fans don't like it when they take the character too much into fantasy, there's debates on how superpowered should he be if at all, and so forth. I have my own preferences, but one of the bigger tests of long-running characters is how can they succeed and thrive when placed outside of their element, and The Shadow can do that.

Could someone do a crossover between the Shadow and Indiana Jones that didn’t rely on one or the other being little more than a glorified cameo in a small portion of what was essentially the other’s story, or reducing the former to his lamest two-dimensional “gun-toting homicidal maniac” interpretations?

would it strain credulity to attempt it with characters from an updated form of the private detective archetype like Thomas Magnum’s Hawaiian noir

Well regarding the first question, the latter portion I think is very easy to do. Just, don't write him like that. Just be aware of why that's a mischaracterization, why the character doesn't need that to work, why he works better without it, and so on. It shouldn't be that hard.

Regarding Indiana Jones and Thomas Magnum, I think these two actually lend themselves very easily to crossovers with The Shadow. On Indy's case, he already is a Pulp Hero operating in the same time period, who's got a heavily contrasting niche and personality to build a fun dynamic around. Indy is more story-driven, in the sense that the Indiana Jones moves are all centered around his experiences and point of view and growth as a person, compared to The Shadow's stories, which are not really about "his" story as much as they are about the stories of the people he comes in contact with. Indy is a blockbuster superstar while The Shadow lurks and slithers through the edges and cracks of a story until it's time to strike. But if anything that just makes even more of a case as to why they could team up without issue, since there's a further built-in complimentary contrast to work with.

I have never watched Magnum P.I so there's definitely stuff I might be missing, but looking him up, past the necessary explanation as to why The Shadow's hanging around the 80s, it wouldn't strain credulity at all for the two to team up. The Shadow has had Caribbean/beach-themed adventures and one unrecorded adventure in Honolulu, he has a beach bum secret identity called Portuguese Joe that he could use for this occasion, and Magnum seems like exactly the kind of character who could star as the proxy hero of a Shadow novel. He's lively and friendly and can look after himself, he has a job that leads him to trouble and puts him on contact with criminals as well as victims, he's got secrets and a dark past and a laundry list of character flaws, he's perfectly capable of carrying a story by himself but can be out of his depth in the schemes that he gets caught up in.

Could the Shadow ever functionally exist in a universe shared with a space opera setting like the Lensman series? Or Rick Deckard’s cyberpunk dystopia?

I'm going to tackle parts of this question more throughly when I answer one in my query that's asking me "How would you do The Shadow in modern day?", which I still haven't gotten around to answering because it's a tricky one. I won't go into the specifics for the two examples you listed because I've never read the Lensman books and googling about them hasn't helped much very much, and Deckard's a fairly standard P.I character mostly elevated by the movie he's in, there's not really much to discuss regarding him specifically interacting with The Shadow. The question you're asking me here seems to generally be: Could The Shadow functionally exist in settings so radically apart from the 30s Depression era he was made for?

My answer for this is a maybe leaning towards yes. Starting with the fact that the concept of The Shadow is more suited for allegorical fantasy along the lines of space operas and cyberpunk, than the gritty realism he's been saddled with for decades, which I'll get into another time. For some reason, a lot of people seem to harp on about how the Shadow's costume is impractical and unworkable for modern times, and said James Patterson novel mentioned above ditched it all together, which as you can guess was a massively unpopular decision. Matt Wagner talked once about how cities don't have shadows and men wearing hats anymore and that's part of why you can't have The Shadow in modern times (as if The Shadow was always supposed to be dressing like an average guy, and not cowboy Dracula). But nobody seems to have a problem with characters dressing up exactly like The Shadow showing up all the time in dystopian future cities with fashion senses where they stick out like a sore thumb (and really, they should stick out, otherwise what's the point of being all weird and dark and mysterious?)

Although The Shadow is specifically suited for urban settings, is conceptually rooted in 1930s America, and there are important facets of his characterization related to history like the Great War, there are not the be-all end-all of The Shadow. It's part of the character. Other parts integral to the character are, as mentioned above, the versatility and metamorphous nature he was always intended to have. His nature as a character who exists to thrive in narratives not about him and not centered around him. His roots on Dracula and King Arthur and Oz and Lupin which are concepts that have had so, so many drastical revisions and turnabouts that still stuck to the basic principles of the icon.

Besides, The Shadow's already been there. He's already been to space, he's already been in alternate dimensions, he's already reawakened in modern/future times several times now (when he doesn't just live to them unchanged). He's been a cyborg twice, and between those, El Sombra, Vendata, X-9, the Shadow-referencing robot henchmen from Bob Morane and Yu-Gi-Oh's Jinzo referencing the movie's bridge scene, it's enough to constitute a weird pattern of The Shadow and Shadow-adjacent characters turning into robots. Perhaps one positive side effect of The Shadow's decades-long submersion in fantasy is that it's opened the character for just about anything, and I think this could be a good thing if it was married to an adherence to the things that made him such a juggernaut of an icon in the 30s and 40s.

Really, The Shadow partially works on Predator rules. And by that I mean, the big secret of the Predator that filmmakers don't seem to get is that the best way to make a Predator film is to just put the Predator somewhere he's not supposed to be, and let that play out. Because the Predator is, by design, a trespasser who invades narratives and turns the power dynamics around, and that works for any narrative you put it into.

The first movie is all about setting you up for a jungle action movie with Schwarzenegger's Sexual Tyrannosaurus Crew as the biggest baddest death squad around, only for the Predator to appear, turn the tables on these shitheads and pick them off one by one until Arnie scrapes a victory by beating it at it's own game. The 2nd movie is about a drug war between cops and gangs in L.A, until the Predator shows up and suddenly he's the big problem again that's gotta be put down. All the other movies fail because they try to be "about" the Predator, but the Predator doesn't work that way. He's a ugly motherfucker who's here to fight and kill things in cool ways for the sake of it's warrior game, who already has a specific structure to how his story's meant to play out, and that's all he needs to be. What you do is just take that character, take the structure he carries around, and throw it somewhere that works by different rules, and let the contrast play out the story.

Obviously there's a lot more to The Shadow than this, I write a billion essays on the guy after all, but much of what makes The Shadow work, much of what made The Shadow such an icon at the decade of his debut and such an interesting character to revolve any kinds of stories around, was because of the great contrast he posed to everything surrounding him, and the ways he can both be at the forefront as well as the backseat of any story.

Going back to what Gibson said:

Almost any situation involving crime could be adapted to The Shadow’s purposes. He could meet any exigency on the spur of the moment, and if he suddenly acted in a manner opposed to his usual custom, it could always be explained later.

The Shadow was such an incredible character in his own right that almost anything he encountered was accepted by his ardent followers.

advisable to emphasize the parts played by The Shadow's well-established agents, since regular readers evidently liked them.

The keyword here isn't that the Shadow should be realistic, frankly that's always been a lost cause. He was never really that realistic, and it's unfair to expect writers to keep pace with Gibson who had lifelong experience with the in and outs of magic and daring escapes and whatnot. The keywords I want to stress here is "accepted by his ardent followers".

Make a good explanation, an explanation that fits the character, an explanation that works, and the rest will follow. And if you can't, make us like the character. Make us accept that he can do and be all these things. Give us something to be invested in. And if that can't be The Shadow himself because he has to stay at arms length constantly to be mysterious, Gibson cracked the code almost a century ago through the agents. Make us invested in them, and through them, we will become invested in The Shadow.

The pulp Shadow would get tired, get injured, need rescuing, need to stop and rest and catch his breath, would need to think and plan and make split decisions on the spot and sometimes would make the wrong ones only to reverse them in the nick of time, and it made the fact that he was achieving all these things all the more impressive. The pulp Shadow was a creature of fantasy grounded in the history of the world he was a part of.

If you can make people care about The Shadow, be truly, genuinely invested in him and his world and the people he comes in contact with, be as invested in those as audiences were back then, you can and maybe should put him anywhere, doing anything, as long as you know what you're doing. As long as you understand what makes The Shadow tick, what makes him work and what doesn't, and whatnot.

Which is a lot of words for "do whatever you want, just don't fuck it up"

[binniesthighs]

miss ro!!! ur jeongin fic was so cute that letter with all the misspellings made me cackle low-key - really can imagine 바보 빵 (fool bread(?) not sure how they render that nickname in english for him) writing it 😭 him and mc were so cute no lie

so like i swear dpr ian used to have a soundcloud that i would listen to but for some reason i can’t track down the stuff anymore ?? but equally maybe i’m getting confused bc i listen to a lot of k-artists on soundcloud (i remember the day i discovered got7 jb’s music on there and completely lost my shit lmao but that’s a diff story) i’m honestly such a sucker for soundcloud artists why am i like this 💀💀 but he literally dropped off the grid apart from his insta after his idol group disbanded and his spotify is basically empty apart from zombie pop (which is p cute it’s in the dpr archives album) and his new album. i honestly love all the tracks on it bc have been listening to the singles since they dropped but nerves and scaredy cat are my faves i think of the new ones?? i low-key suck at song recs lmao bc usually I just queue the entire album start to finish / listen to ppl’s curated spotify playlists for like kr&b/indie&chill etc while i’m doing work so i usually hear stuff i like but don’t know the titles ?? last year i was heavy obsessed with dpr live’s album tho “is anybody out there” and also ph-1’s 2019 album “halo” is still one of my faves. i can try and dig through and find specific songs i saved tho if u want!

also i’m watching the making of the album documentary now and it’s honestly spectacular (and only 13mins it needs to be longer 😭😭😭) - he goes into the back story of each song and talks about his life too and there’s clips of him filming the MVs and laying down the tracks. it’s low-key getting me v emotional especially when he was talking about dope lovers and how he had some p bad relationships bc he tends to push ppl away when he’s going thru stuff and he was recording the lyric “it was all for a kiss” and then he said “was it for a kiss or was it from a kiss because honestly, i think a lot of shit happens after the kiss” and ooft that hurttttt

british insults are honestly the best - i love them bc they’re like super snarky/get to the point but they’re not actually like properly derogatory names? like i rly get uncomfy when ppl properly swear at someone even if I like hate them with a burning passion lmaoooo

omg snow day??? we haven’t had snow for a while now :(( my friend lives in mass tho and she said it was snowing yesterday too i’m jel :(( i thrive in the night too lmao but man my insomnia’s been kicking my ass lately 🥲🥲 i deadass live my life like chan and i rly thought this would stop after uni but i guess it’s just my state of being 😭😭

i love reading ur replies they rly brighten my day 🥺🥺 i get a bit in my head sometimes lmao gotta love that anxiety/depression mix 🤪🤪 and rly worry i’m being annoying/ saying too much / blocking up ur feed for other readers also 🥲🥲 i hope other ppl aren’t getting annoyed by how long my asks are 🥺🥺 mayb one day i’ll reveal myself n we can just msg instead or sth idk 😭😭

n e ways i’m gonna dip now but i hope you have a good day/night/week too, miss ro!! my life is spiralling low-key so might be gone for a bit but in the meantime i hope things go well for u!! and do lemme know what u think of MITO !! (and honestly check out the making doc if u have time!!) -😖

😖 awe heck, my responses make your day? 🥺 that makes me so so happy!! i know how ya feel, I tend to have hot and cold weeks, and my writing is what tends to keep it at bay :) as well as talking to all you cuties! You don’t annoy me at all sweets!! however ya feel like talking is fine with me!! ;) also don’t ya worry about dipping either! life gets crazy and I totally get ya! <3 

more under the cut! 

also thank you so much about my new jeongin fic!! writing his lil letter was my favorite part actually hahahah i was trying to channel my inner awkward teen boy for that one LOLLL to suit his character being super sweet and loveable and a lil shy on the side I knew that he would make some cute lil mistakes hehe 

I’ll def listen to your recs!! I really need to listen to more kr&b tho! I have like two or three playlists that i listen to allll the time and am in dire need of new music haha the other week I discovered Kali Uchis’ new album and that’s been on repeat for me like crazyyyy recently FRICK its so good haha so that is my recommendation hehe 

That sounds like a really interesting documentary tho!! I actually really like music documentaries! hahah I watch them with my dad sometimes about classic rock artists etc. it super cool to me to hear about everything that goes into an album as well as the creative process behind it too! like when skz do their little interviews and stuff before an album releases I lovvve that haha for the same reason I love hearing about why authors write what they did too! gahhh i’m ramblin but the creative process is so cool to me! I’d love to check it out! 

whats funny abt swearing is that (oddly) even at nearly 21 years of age I am still not allowed to swear around my parents hahaha but when I’m not around them??? i will say anything and everything lolll but never at people like ya said haha i remeber a while ago I heard “bucket of fucks” and I thought that was pretty funny haha, also yay for snow days!! its funny bc I’m currently not in the state where I go to school so the weather was just fine here but there was like two feet of snow on the actual campus haha i heard that the students got together to have a snowball fight on our soccer fields (i just hope they were safe ooP) 

[carbootsoul]

i was tagged by @katarahairloopies!!! thank u :mwah:

name: leo! @/zeitgeistofnow on ao3, @lazypigeon & @timetohope on here, altho i’m considering uh switching back to not having an art blog :/ i have to think abt it.

fandom(s): ace attorney is my main one rn bc i’m replaying the games with a friend of mine and it’s reminding me how invested i am in the characters!! a lot of my recent fic is atla stuff, altho i’ve been distancing myself from the fandom bc i’ve kinda exhausted my interest in it. finally i’ve been reading a lot of mp100 fic but i don’t think i’ll ever write for it. i just love how dumb all the characters r (with the dubious exception of ritsu)

where you post: ao3!! tbh i always get suprised when people say they write/read fic on any other platform like i haven’t messed around w wattpad or ff.net since middle school... catch up........

most popular oneshot: going just by “one chapter” as the definition of a oneshot, the firestarters, bc it’s fluffy and modern au :) i wouldn’t necessarily call it a oneshot tho bc to me a oneshot shows like, one scene? so like by my definition and your sweet sweet sun makes me crazy (i wanna lay you down and see how you amaze me is my most popular!! (also @ kit u thought UR fic titles were unnecessarily long??? i’ve hit the ao3 LIMIT for characters in titles. it’s about the aesthetic

most popular multichapter fic: sdkjflakjlkj it’s two crowned kings; and one that stood alone, which is a w359 fic i wrote back in late 2017. it’s literally the last fic i haven’t orphaned from when i actually wrote podcast fic (i have 4 other podcast fics but they were all borne out of nostalgia and written after i stopped participating in the fandom). i rewrote all but the last chapter? the last two? about a year ago and i fucked up halfway through so like chapter 6 and 7 are repeated and there’s something missing but i’m too lazy to fix it. no one’s going to read it now anyway :) it WAS the top minlace fic for a little while tho which i take great pride in.

favorite story you’ve written so far: oh that’s a hard question akfsldkfj i honestly like most of them!! and i write a LOT so there’s a lot to choose from. tonight, we are young is def one of my favorites- it was fun to write and i got to explore the ways zuko and yue r similar, which i LOVE to do outside of a zukka/yukka view. you can lean on my arm as you break my heart  is one that i’m really proud of? the whole “cooking as an expression of bato’s love” is definitely some of my favorites. a lot of my ace attorney fics would be categoried as my favorites if i hadn’t improved, too, if that makes sense. like they’re no long my favorites because i can see where my writing is shitty and it bothers me, but if i had written them a month ago they’d be my favorite.

fic you were nervous to post: figures 1-5: killing gods def!! it’s a lot more purple-prose-y than most of my fics and it was also written before i’d kinda like emersed myself in the atla fandom so i didn’t have as good a grasp on the general understanding of zuko’s character as i do now. tbh it’s one i’m rly happy w tho!! i have a few people leave really nice comments on it and rereading them makes me really happy. also it was the start of me hating the position of fire lord and being at least passively anti-it in my fics.

how you choose your titles: they’re almost all song lyrics!! only 14 of my 50 words AREN’T song lyrics and about half of those are from before i started writing ace attorney fic lol. sometimes i go into a fic with a song in mind for the vibes and then i usually go with lyrics from that (like in ‘cuz we’re the greatest /they’ll hang us in the louvre), but otherwise i usually pick an artist i’ve been listening to and go through their songs until i find a lyric that fits. sometimes the lyric doesn’t even really fit the fic and i just chose it at random or because i searching up the word “fly” in my spotify library or whatever. honestly i like coming up with titles? i know a lot of fic writers hate it but being able to just use song lyrics is v soothing for me and while i know that most people won’t search out a song just bc it’s a fic title like.. seeing that the title of a fic is a hozier lyric does affect how i read it and i kinda like that.

do you outline? i outline my long form/multichaptered fics with varying strictness. usually anything over ~8k will have some kind of outline. sometimes i go into it with every single scene planned out, sometimes it’s just notes on the side of the google doc that say “it's about MORE family. about how it's not betraying your existing family to find more” and “scenes i want to include: [...]” and “vampires... ngl kinda hot.” i’m trying to outline super strictly less bc i’ve found it’s less fun? but i do try to keep a plot arc in mind. since most of my fics are more character-driven than plot-driven, that usually just means keeping track of what character development i want to happen or what is motiviating the characters. 

complete: um everything posted on ao3 i guess. also the MULTITUDE of orphaned fics out there asksfjldkj i always click ‘leave my pseud on’ so if u look up my username you see all of my fics and then a. lot of other ones.

in progress: - a fic titled ‘dad phoenix’ that is actually just a no DL-6 au with defense attorney miles edgeworth and single dad bartender phoenix where neither of them want to date for A While but phoenix gets wrapped up in one of miles’s cases. it’s about family. it’s about writing teenagers. it’s about the background franmaya which is ALWAYS what i’m here for in wrightworth fics - a franmaya werewolf/vampire au because i’m ~gay~ and love rivals to lovers and also franziska and maya both being angry their older brothers r dating each other. - my secret santa fic!! which i can’t talk about much but it does feature toph and zuko and also piandao and jeong jeong???? idk where they came from but they are Part Of The Fic Now also i forgot iroh existed for half the fic and wrote piandao as zuko’s father figure and now i’m in too deep. - a 5+1 bakoda fic (maybe a bato/hakoda/kay fic??? i need to decide. that’s part of why this fic is still incomplete bc i can’t decide which relationship dynamic i prefer) that’s 5 times bato said he loves hakoda and one time hakoda said it back. possibly i have already written him saying i love u back and i need to change the title a little. - retail au klapollo where klavier works at an overpriced boutique and apollo comes in to buy earrings for nahyuta’s birthday. klavier gives him a punch card (one that the store doesn’t actually offer anymore as a bid to get apollo to come back) and all of apollo’s family come in to use the punch card and also give klavier variations on the shovel talk/find out if he’s actually into apollo. - a LOT of atla fics that i don’t think i’ll ever finish :(

coming soon/not yet started:  - i want to write some blackmadhi bc they’re.. cute..... and it’s a good excuse to also write athena and i love her - my stuff for yueki week!!! i have NOT prepped enough but hopefully i’ll remember in time! i wrote the prompts in a way that kinda set up stuff i’ve already wanted to write (don’t look at me lol) so hopefully i’ll get at least two or three fics finished in time. - i want to rewrite the wrightworth fic i have about them not getting married bc it was interesting and i like what i wrote about but i think i could have written it better and made it more interesting. rewriting fics is hard tho bc i’m never sure if it makes sense to just edit in the new work or to repost it? and then if u repost it do u delete the old one? conflicting so i might just not

do you accept prompts? totally!!! a disclaimer tho i’m not super into writing atla stuff anymore (most of the atla stuff i’m still writing is  something i made a commitment to finish) so if your prompt is an atla one i probably won’t do it :/ basically anything else is fair game tho!! podcasts/aa/sa/uh i don’t remember anything else but like if you search a fandom on my blog and come up with more than two posts about it chances r i’d be happy to write fic for it!

upcoming work that you’re most excited about: oh huh i mean probably the no dl-6 au!!! it’s the longest ace attorney fic i’ve written already and since it’s wrightworth it’ll get more attention than any franmaya fic i write. my standards r so high now tho after getting to much feedback from atla fans... love u all... obviously i have no choice but to pressure my atla mutuals into playing ace attorney. pls ask abt it bc i WIll Give You A Sales Pitch about why you’d like it in relation to atla

tagging: i’m not rly tagging anyone!!! @deadflora if you still consider urself a fic writer also consider urself tagged! also any of my other mutuals who write fic i just can’t think of anyone rn

[juju-on-that-yeet]

Breathe

shut up titles are hard

Another fic about Doc and Yan, but a little, uh, less happy than before >w>

@spookyscarydarky​ because it’s got ur boy and also @peribloke, I see u ;3

Summary: First, chest compressions. Second, rescue breaths. Third, repeat. Fourth, do not panic. This step is optional.

Warnings: Drowning aftermath

-

One, two, three, four, five, six–

“Doctor–”

“Shut up, just be quiet, I need to focus–”

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen–

Dr. Iplier feels something slide, hears a pop. Dark must have heard it too, but he says nothing, and Dr. Iplier doesn’t stop pushing.

Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.

The briefest of pauses to check for an independently rising chest.

Nothing.

Dr. Iplier pulls the mouth open, leans down, breathes into the parted, blue lips.

One...two.

Still no response.

Dr. Iplier resumes pushing.

Keep counting, keep pushing. Keep counting, keep pushing. Count, push, breathe. Note every crack and snap in the chest, but don’t stop until it’s over. Look for independent breathing, physical responses, signs of regaining consciousness.

Those internal rules are a mantra, a simple one for Dr. Iplier. He’s performed CPR many times over the years. At this point he can do it in his sleep. It takes little effort to zero in on the procedure, to ignore outside stimulus, to quash the body’s panic response and do what it takes to revive the patient.

If he survives long enough to–No, don’t think like that, don’t think at all, keep pushing, keep moving–

This time is harder, though. This time, panic rears up inside him, thrumming behind his every thought. He doesn’t normally have to stop himself from looking too closely at the patient, or from flinching every time his pushing displaces something in the chest.

In his chest.

Yandere’s chest.

One moment Dr. Iplier was in his clinic, going through paperwork, and the next, Dark had appeared in his office and whisked him away to the edge of a pier. Dr. Iplier doesn’t know the whole story, neither does Dark. All Dark saw was a group of humans, one serving as a lookout, the others forcing Yandere’s head beneath the ocean, ignoring his twitching. All Dr. Iplier saw was Yandere sprawled on the pier where Dark had laid him, pale and cold and harrowingly still.

Even with all the pushing and breathing, that has not yet changed. Yandere has yet to respond to Dr. Iplier’s efforts. The doctor finds himself holding his own breath on every push, as if expecting it to be the last before Yandere springs back awake. But it hasn’t happened yet, and Dr. Iplier keeps pushing.

It’s not as if Dr. Iplier hasn’t seen Yandere injured before. It’s not even like he hasn’t seen him badly injured before. But those times were different.

Yandere wasn’t his son then.

Now, it feels as though the parent in him is fighting with the doctor in him. His doctor side is calm, efficient, knows exactly what to do and how to do it, and doesn’t let any distractions trip him up. His parent side is panicking, frantic, trying so hard not to break down at the sight of his son unconscious and unbreathing.

His son. His boy. His baby.

Dr. Iplier used to only remember how young Yandere was when he stumbled into his clinic delirious from blood loss, when Dr. Iplier stitched up gashes that spanned across his narrow chest, when he opened him up for surgeries and found a small heart, small lungs, small bones. Now, Dr. Iplier remembers how young Yandere is when he cries after a bad dream, when he reaches out for hugs at any opportunity, when he begs for something with a playful, whiny “Daaaaad, come on, please?” And those new memories juxtaposed with Yandere’s current still, blue-tinged face make Dr. Iplier feel like he’s the one who can’t breathe. Watching Yandere’s limp body ragdoll with each compression makes Dr. Iplier’s own chest hurt.

Ten, eleven, twelve–“Shishi, um, does this look bad to you?”–fifteen, sixteen, seventeen–“I’ll be more careful next time, I promise!”–twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three–“Arigato oto-san~!”–twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight–“I love you, too, Dad.”

One more pause, two more breaths, and the pattern repeats.

Dr. Iplier has seen other parents, other fathers, reacting to their children in danger. He’s seen it all. New fathers weeping alongside their wives over their little boys. Elderly men with shocked tears sliding their faces as they realize they might outlive their adult sons. Fathers of teenagers crying over the milestones their kids might not survive to reach. Dr. Iplier’s seen the ones who don’t cry, too; the ones who shout and scream, the ones who shut down and go silent, the ones who shake their heads and say it’s impossible, that there’s no way their boy is hurt, dying, dead.

Dr. Iplier thinks he’d be in the crying camp if he let himself think about the situation long enough to react.

Still, his mind wanders. He performs CPR on autopilot; his frantic mind can’t stay settled on it. He wonders what kind of expression Dark is making right now. Dr. Iplier hasn’t looked at him since he brought him here. He figures Dark must be keeping his composure, judging by how quiet he’s been since this started, save for the occasional crackle of his aura. Dr. Iplier also wonders how this situation happened in the first place. The group who did this to Yandere was already dead when the doctor got here thanks to Dark, so he can’t exactly ask them. They must have surprised Yandere, gotten the jump on him somehow.

One thing Dr. Iplier doesn’t, or at least tries not to think about is Yandere’s time, those numbers above his head broadcasting how much longer he has to live. Dr. Iplier could look, of course. He could always look. But he doesn’t want to. He’s afraid to. Because what if it’s gone from blue to red? What if it’s a lost cause? Dr. Iplier would rather spend a century doing compressions and breathing into Yandere, would rather push down on his chest until his organs are soup and his ribs are shattered, then ever accept that his boy is lost. Dr. Iplier knows, of course, that even if Yandere dies it might not be the end, that Yandere might come back to life in a few weeks or so. But only “might.” It’s not guaranteed, and Dr. Iplier knows better than to test death.

So he keeps pushing, keeps breathing, keeps thinking of anything but what’s right in front of him, keeps looking at his hands on Yandere’s chest and not at his time.

Five, six, seven–You’re stronger than this, Yan–eleven, twelve, thirteen–This can’t be how you die–seventeen, eighteen, nineteen–If you don’t wake up I’ll kill you myself–twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six–I love you so much, please–

He bends down to Yandere’s lips again, so blue, so cold, a little salty from the water. He forces air into him again.

“Breathe, honey,” he gasps, the first words he’s said in–how long? How many minutes? Who knows. Who cares. Yandere still isn’t breathing. His boy still isn’t breathing, his baby won’t wake up–

One, two, three–Why won’t you breathe, please just breathe–seven, eight, nine–You don’t know how much I care about you–thirteen, fourteen, fifteen–I can’t lose you, I can’t, I can’t–nineteen, twenty, twenty-one–Please, oh god, please, don’t take him from me–twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven–Wake up, wake up, I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t–

Yandere wheezes.

Dr. Iplier stops pushing, holds his breath.

Yandere wheezes, his body arches, and he starts to cough.

Dr. Iplier moves Yandere onto his side and into the recovery position, and Yandere lays there, coughing and hacking and spitting out saltwater. He shakes violently, from cold or shock or trauma, vomits out what food is left in his stomach, and starts to sob through his harsh coughing, but he breathes, he breathes, and so does Dr. Iplier.

As much as every fiber of Dr. Iplier’s body was on the edge of its seat waiting for Yandere to wake up, something in the back of his brain expected to lose him forever.

Dr. Iplier allows himself to feel relief, but he knows it’s not over yet. Yandere probably aspirated seawater, he definitely has some ripped cartilage or bone fractures, he’ll need more care until he’s out of the woods, so Dr. Iplier can’t let himself get distracted yet–

“Papa,” Yandere rasps, tears running down his cheeks.

Just like that, the world falls away, and there’s nothing in existence but Dr. Iplier and his boy.

He finally spares a glance at his time. It’s blue, thank god it’s blue, and slowly increasing, so Dr. Iplier allows himself to carefully take Yandere into his arms. One hand cradles Yandere’s head, tangling fingers through his sodden hair, the other winds around his back and holds him close.

“I’m here, honeybee, I’m here,” Dr. Iplier murmurs, voice trembling, “You’re safe, you’re okay.”

Yandere lets out a shuddery sigh before relaxing and going limp in Dr. Iplier’s arms. But Dr. Iplier doesn’t panic; he can feel Yandere’s breath against his neck in raspy but steady puffs. He presses a gentle kiss to Yandere’s forehead, and his skin is still cold, but the knowledge that it won’t be cold forever in turn fills Dr. Iplier with warmth.

“Is he okay?” Dark asks.

Dr. Iplier almost jumps; he’d forgotten Dark was even there. His expression is remarkably stoic, but his wild, flailing aura gives his true feelings away.

“Yes,” Dr. Iplier says, “He’ll need to stay in the clinic for a couple days at least, but he’s going to be fine.”

He’s going to be fine. He’s said those words hundreds of times, but it’s never felt like this.

Dr. Iplier recalls thinking that he’d be the crying type of parent if he let himself process what his son was going through. But he won’t cry until later, until after Dark teleports them all back to the clinic, until Dr. Iplier examines Yandere and puts him to bed, until Wilford and Chrome each have a chance to see their friend, until Dr. Iplier is finally alone in the clinic with Yandere sleeping peacefully, breathing easier by the minute.

Dr. Iplier will cry then, pushing out all the emotion he built up, as he strokes Yandere’s hair and tells his little one how much he means to him.

[whentvsfly]

5, 13 & 37

5. Share one of your strengths.I think I’m good at getting feelings across to the audience? How a character feels, or reacts to things. Making characters Relatable ™

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?There’s probably so many I don’t think of because I’ve taken them to heart, but the best one I can think of right now is “said isn’t dead”. Using too many action-y based words during dialogue can upset the flow, and it’s ok to use ‘said’ because its accurate, and not at all distracted.  I’m glad I was taught this after middle school tried to convince me otherwise.

37. Talk about your current wips. Oh boy…Uhm! Lemme scroll through my googledoc and see what I even have started hah!Ok so there are a lot more than I realized, and some I haven’t worked on in ages, but I’ll put ‘em here anyways! I’ll organize them by how much I have written for them. (it’ll be “title (as they are in google docs. probs wont be actual title for most)”. fandom. description.)Just a rough idea (no words, only outline)(most ones here were thought up as me and @pundeserving​ texted):1. “Disney”. Mp100. Where Teru just really loves Disney movies and gets Mob to watch Bambi with him but its Sad so Teru has to help Mob not reach 100% sadness. It would be real cute n kinda gay2. “Emojis” Mp100. A short hc based piece about how Teru would use So Many Emojis and Mob would only really use ascii emotes (teru: 😎😆😭 mob:  :) :0 ).  He basically uses them as punctuation at this point. After his Gay Awakening he gets worried that it seems too extra or flirty so he tries to cut back on using them but Mob picks up on that and gets worried like “why isn’t hanazawa-kun using as many smilies? is he sick? is he mad at me?” He mentions it to teru and teru is like crying internally cause holy fuck?? he noticed smth so small like that???3. “ritsu is an ok mom friend” Mp100. Spawned from that “when a group of friends is formed, the mom friend emerges” post. It was decided that Ritsu would try to be the most responsible of them all and thus the mom friend. (Teru does his own thing, Mob wouldn’t wanna ruin the others’ fun, and Shou…is Shou). Also spawned from a hc that, in short, is Teru and Shou would be Those Friends who would be real competitive and egg each other on and, if unsupervised, would be Bringers of Destruction). He has confiscated many “Bad Idea Materials “.The story would just be Ritsu tryin to keep his friends safe heh. Direct quote from outline “”ritsus always like! how the fuck! my guy! just stop this it’s like ur trying to get urself killed!!teru and shou just “we are” simultaneously and ritsu rly cant tell if its a joke but hes mildly concerned for a week after”“. I think the part I really wanted to write is Shou sayin he had a Good Idea (read: bad idea) and then stops texting and Ritsus like “holy fuck did he die” and panics and Mob helps him calm down and they go check on him together and it turns out Shou just passed tf out because he is bad at sleeping like a normal human at normal human hours.4. WoY. I don’t speak of it to anyone and therefore it doesn’t exist. What fic? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 5. One that i have only written in my head, not even in googledocs yet. Mp100. Ritsu trying to be there for his bro throughout the arcs. After the teru fight, the mogami incident, etc.6. I also have a few in-my-head Mp100 ones based on the sexuality headcanons of mine I posted about the the other day. Really wanna write those tooPartially written ones:1. Su. It was gonna be one where Steven went to Centi and ranted to her about all the Shit that has gone down. That was a few steven bombs ago tho I could make him rant about Even More.2. “possible sewuel to long fic“. UT. A sequel to ‘There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone, Like Being A Little Too Late”. It is a whopping 3 paragraphs, compared to its prequel’s 30 pages (20,000 words). I lost motivation, although I still do have scenes of it written in my brain.3. “pidge post season“. VLD. My idea of where Pidge may have ended up after S1. Completely pointless now, although I’m still wondering if it would be something interesting to post as a ‘what if’. I’d have to finish it though and I am not particularly motivated since S2 came out. I just kinda wanted to make a cool fic about Pidge being lost on a water-based planet and trying to get their lion functional again with whatever was around so they could meet back up with the rest of voltron (also I wanted to make another nonbinary pidge fic for the tag cause those fics Give Me Life)4. “shou u little fucker open up“. Mp100.  A loose sequel to “My Parents Should Have Taken Me Back for Repairs Before the Warranty Ran Out”. Snippets of Shou bein relatable and Depressed and Ritsu helpin him out as he can. Written so far: depression meals aka being too down to go to the kitchen for food let alone going to the petstore to get your hamster more food so you text your best bro to get hamster food for you and tell him to feed ur pet for you and bein discrete enough that he thinks youre out of the house otherwise he might not do it cause theres no way in hell youre telling him you didnt do it yourself cause you didnt have the energy to get off the couch for like 20 hours5. “Awakening“. Mp100. I realllly wanna finish and post this one. Its based on those lines those claw guys said. “HQ sent an awakened brat” “What? A kid went though that?”. Shou doesn’t know how bad his dad is, he is young and loves his parents. He admired his dads powers. He wants to be like his dad. He doesn’t know what it costs. (He is weak in power, and his dad wants him to be strong, an heir, so he takes him to a branch and has him tortirued to awaken his powers fully).Fully written (but in need of revision/I’m uncertain of whether or not to actually post it):1. “Ritsu worries for Shigeo, Shigeo worries for the cats“. Mp100. A post Mogami arc fic. Ritsu knows nothing of what his bro went through, but Mob has a new habit of feeding any and all cats on their way to school. One day two of the cats are fighting and mob stops responding and goes to break up the fight but he’s already losing himself to his powers so Ritsu has to help him back down. He is more confused than ever.2.”Instinct, and the Training of“. Mp100. A fic about ???%, or about Mob’s powers, personified. Whichever the viewer themself wants to read it as, I left it ambiguous on purpose. Personally I like to think of it as ???% but I won’t make others read it as that. Every time ???% happens, or nearly happens, or is implied to have happened, from the pov of itself. Written in such a weird style, I just need to reread it and see if it sounds ok and other last review things before publishing. I’ve been too lazy to reread it and post it though.aaand thats it! hooo, that was a lot sorry hah! Thank you for the ask!