#static scale figures
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#figure collecting#wonhobby#wonhobby gallery 2023 autumn#doki doki literature club#ddlc#yuri#figure announcements#concept art#videogames#static scale figures#pop up parade
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Tableaux Automatique: Wallflowers (Still) - 1″:1′-0″ diorama - mixed media - robert matejcek - 2023
“This moment will just be another story someday.”
- Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Tags:
#robert matejcek#diorama#miniature#small scale#dream worlds#uncanny valley#photography#digital media#mixed media#interior#architectural#figurative#night#nocturnal#tv static#60s#70s#americana#art#my art#artists on tumblr#grunge aesthetic#dark aesthetic#neon aesthetic
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Listen, you were given one wild and precious life, please do not waste it by dividing yourself and others from community.
I have this friend, who was in the process of figuring out some things around their identity, and again and again, they separated themselves from the queer community for some reason or another, giving distance as a form of imposters syndrome, and it broke my heart because they were a part of my queer family. Not in the static way of knowing a person's exact set of labels and being able to quantify where they may have landed on the Kinsey scale, but in the way that mattered.
They were my queer family because I knew I could rely on them to listen and reshape their view of the world again and again to make room for me. They were my queer family because they loved me and my wife fiercely and with an ardent devotion that is usually saved for biological relations. They were my queer family because I knew I could rely on them to fight for my queerness and be outraged when I was just exhausted.
Just as I believe that you can be a queer person and never choose to connect with the queer community, I also believe that you can be deeply embedded in the queer community without ever having to identify as queer.
Anyways, so much love in my heart for queer family today. From the past, the people who have known and kept secret, who have known and loved, who have known and learned. From the present, the people who are working to understand, the people who care so much, the people who are angry when we are scared. And, of course, in the future, thank you for joining us, thank you for being family, thank you for holding the world to a higher standard.
#queer history#queer#lgbt#lgbt history#gay history#lesbian history#transgender history#making queer history#transgender
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I love the atmosphere of the Metroid games and a huge part of that is the music and sound design. The first game has one of my favorite NES soundtracks, and establishes the franchise’s musical identity as sounding very “alien”; there’s a lot of chromatic notes, compound meters, and eerie silences.
The Game Boy sequel is much weirder, with frequently changing time signatures, no apparent keys, and intentionally discordant intervals. The Metroid battle theme cuts off the phrase halfway through at seemingly random, so it makes it seem like game glitched and skipped 2 beats, but the fights demand so much attention you can’t figure out the pattern to it. The Chozo Ruins theme alone drove me nuts, because despite not being catchy at all it became stuck in my head, especially with that echo across 3 octaves.
Super Metroid’s soundtrack is perhaps the highlight of the entire series. Samus Aran’s theme, which would appear across many titles, is so darkly triumphant, a perfect motif. The ambience of many of the “safe” rooms sounds like nothing you would ever hear on earth. Ridley’s theme is in 5|4, with the mission impossible style “2 long beats, 2 fast beats” that makes it seem like the track is speeding up halfway through each measure then laying off the gas again, which makes for a frantic fight. The “item obtained” jingle is as memorable as Zelda’s, but darker.
Metroid Dread, the most recent Metroid game, has some great themes as well, like Ferenia’s theme, where the bass and left hand piano eventually become deliciously out of sync, and it carries the tradition of ominous ambience and tense battle music, but I truly think the prime trilogy nailed the sound design in particular. Everything - from your footsteps, to the creature noises, to the charging of your power beam, to the scanning noise or static, sounds exactly the way it should. And the music itself is so damn good. Honestly, I think Magmoor Caverns is perfection. It’s a revamp of Norfair from Super Metroid, using the Phrygian scale (yum!), dramatic chanting, and it just keeps building up, and up…
Man, I love Metroid’s soundtrack.
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MC Teaches the Brothers to Pole Dance
Inspired by me taking pole lessons. No real warnings - some of them are a bit suggestive, but that’s it.
Mammon
Most likely to injure himself. Not out of lack of strength - he’s just way too eager to impress you, so he tries more showy moves without getting the technique down first.
He also tends to throw himself into the spins more, which works fine when the pole is static (fixed), but when the pole is on spin he ends up with way too much speed.
Can get frustrated easily, but is also pretty quick at picking it up.
Tends to prefer moves that look impressive, regardless of their actual difficulty.
To show off, he sometimes shifts into his demon form mid-performance to stretch his wings and show off more interesting shapes.
Levi
Most nervous to start out with.
Needs a lot of encouragement to even give it a go. Won’t practice in front of his brothers - luckily, private lessons with you are a pretty good selling point.
He actually practices mostly in his demon form because his tail makes him feel more stable.
It actually does add a pretty good grip point to the pole. His scales are naturally inclined to hold on.
The more revealing clothing that’s kind of necessary for pole is another thing that makes him uncomfortable at first, but again, seeing you in just as little or less is another good selling point.
Once he gets past his initial nerves, his tail actually gives him a lot of flexibility on what he can do.
He tends to do variations on moves that allow him to rely more on his tail, since it’s his strongest limb.
Beel
Beel’s a natural and dedicated athlete, so he takes to pole very well.
He does need a few reminders on his technique - he can brute force his way through most things with sheer strength, and is often more focused on completing the move rather than performing it.
He sees it as a great way to bond with you. Once he figures out what muscles are most important, he’s really eager to discuss other ways to strengthen them so you can both improve.
He’s a really good doubles partner, since he can take the extra weight of you half hanging off him.
Prefers arm-based moves - while he can grip with his legs, he never feels as comfortable.
His wings don’t help too much with anything, but they can look very nice in the right lighting for a performance.
Asmo
Asmo is way ahead of you.
Well, sort of.
He has a good idea of the basics, but he’s generally only used it for fashion photoshoots and… private shows… neither of which really focused on a variety of moves.
That being said, he’s really enthusiastic to learn more with you!
He buys a lot of cute, very expensive pole outfits. He’s really eager to shop with you, too. Would love to match.
Asmo is a very fast learner. He’s stronger than he looks, so he’s able to physically do most of the moves right away. Mostly he just needs to refine his technique, and Asmo is a natural performer.
Anything that shows off his best angles is a good move in his book. He likes to have one arm free to blow kisses.
His wings are a wonderful accessory, and they’re also small enough not to get in his way.
Satan
Satan doesn’t really understand the point… But he’ll go along with it. It’s a good opportunity to learn more about you, and human world art forms.
It takes him a while to get the hang of it. His analytical mind is a blessing and a curse, helping him understanding the techniques and moves but often leading him to overthink in the moment.
Most likely to study up outside of your interactions - he’s the least thirsty guy following a bunch of pole dancers.
He tends to prefer slower routines that allow him to plan ahead and show off both technical skill and artistry. He’s also a surprisingly decent choreographer, probably only behind Asmo (with Levi being the other pretty good one).
He is banned from demon form on the pole. His tail is too hard and sharp, and could end up scratching it.
Belphie
It’s too much effort. And if it’s something Asmo’s that into, it can’t be worth much…
But if it’s that important to you, sure, he’ll give it a go.
Belphie is almost annoyingly good at pole once he starts taking it semi-seriously. He’s a fast learner, and keeps a cool head even when in weird and uncomfortable positions.
The biggest risk is when he falls asleep while on the pole and just… drops.
For this reason it’s best to avoid moves that are too stable or horizontal. He ends up being really dynamic just because otherwise he risks dozing off.
While putting this much effort into anything isn’t his usual style, he’s glad he gets to show off for you.
His tail isn’t grippy enough to be all that helpful, but it can be useful as a little extra support for some of the weirder positions.
Lucifer
Lucifer will not go to a group class with his brothers.
He will scoff and roll his eyes at the suggestion of a private practice.
But every time you’re with his brothers, he’s taking a close look at the moves.
In the evening, he returns to his room and summons a pole from the human world.
He practices every evening, sometimes giving up sleep. He keeps watching you practice, picking up more ideas and refining his skills.
Then, one day, while you’re trying to teach one of his brothers a certain move, he’ll walk up.
“It’s simple. Like this.”
He will do it perfectly. First try. And somehow in gloves and a full suit.
He is going to be smug about it for weeks.
#obey me#omswd#obey me headcanons#obey me x gender neutral reader#obey me x reader#demon bros#my writing#obey me mammon#obey me leviathan#obey me beelzebub#obey me asmodeus#obey me satan#obey me belphegor#obey me lucifer
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G/t Reference Masterpost
There's a huge ammount of resources for all things G/t, most of them not well known, so I figured I'd compile a list of all the ones I regularly use and have saved, along with some submitted to me (Thank you to everyone who helped!)
If you have a resource like this and would like me to add it, or your resource is on here and you'd like it removed, just let me know!
And also, thank you to all the wonderful people who create and upkeep these tools! I really, really appreciate the hard work you put in to make size difference a little easier on all of us!
Height Comparisons
Comparing Heights by Mr. Initial Man - a website that allows you to input two heights and compare them.
Comparing Heights (Version 2) by Mr. Initial Man - a website similar to the previous, but this one allows you to compare up to six different heights.
Height Comparison Viewer by Giant Dimensions - visual comparison of up to four characters with customizable heights. You can also upload your own images to scale.
The Measure of Things - a website that you can input any height or size measurement, and it gives you other objects that are the same size. Great for finding references for giant and tiny scales.
Height and Proportion Calculators
Giantess Calculator by Fifteen1413 & LabbaArt - a website that allows you to input an average human height and convert them into a giant by scale. It also allows you to see how big varying body parts would be, comparisons to large landmarks, even how big their articles of clothing would be. (Note: giantess focused, some stats may be seen as NSFW.)
Giant/tiny Proportion Calculator by @thundering-susurrus - a website that gives you the proportion of body parts relative to the giant or tiny's height.
Giantess Converter by Byl and AbsentStar - a website that allows you to input human measurements and desired giant size to get their body proportions as a giant. (Note: giantess focused, some stats may be seen as NSFW.)
Modeling Software
DesignDoll - a downloadable, free to use modeling program that allows you to fully customize models, and scale them as needed. Their models also have fully posable hands, and you can view them from any angle to get foreshortening references.
JustSketchMe - a posable reference doll, usable in browser. You can have multiple models and scale their heights.
Static Image References
Handy Size Guide by Gt-Kindii - Image reference of tinies from 1 inch tall to 7 inches tall, next to a hand for scale.
#g/t#giant/tiny#size difference#extreme size difference#this is more sparse than i'd like it to be but its been sitting in my drafts for too long#PLEASE feel free to add on resources along these lines!#or send them to me and i'll edit them into this post!
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Not a Chance in the Realms
October 8: Outnumbered (Whumptober)
A 1-1.5 on my whump scale (see the series definition for the scale)
Chatter broke out as soon as the static filled the screen and continued as Batman and Constantine moved back onto the stage. Back at the chairs, Nightwing could see Wonder Woman messing with a remote and a moment later the video clicked off as Batman stepped forward to speak.
“So, as you can see, we’ve got quite the situation at hand. Now I’m sure many of you are wondering if what he said was true. I know that was my first question. To answer that, I’m going to let Constantine take the floor.” That said, Batman stepped back some as Constantine stepped forward. And it was in that moment that Nightwing realized just how serious this was. In all the years he’d known Constantine he’d never seen the man look this serious before. And, if Nightwing wasn’t mistaken, the man was completely sober. Which was worrying in and of itself. This was big.
“It’s true alright.” Constantine’s gruff voice cut across the room. “The Infinite Realms is just as the king said. It’s the place where all afterlives reside as well as the glue that holds all of reality together. This means that the dead of every world in our universe, and the dead of every other universe in existence go there. If they decide to go to war against us there’s very little we could do against those numbers, especially since most of our weapons and abilities won’t even touch a being of the Infinite Realms, let alone end one. And those that die on our side just add to their numbers. And that’s not even mentioning King Phantom himself.” Constantine shook his head with a grimace. “Phantom is a young king. By my reports he’s had the throne for less than a decade, but the Realm and its people love him. The previous King, Pariah Dark, was a tyrannical dictator that ended up having to be sealed away for the safety of the Realms as well as the mortal planes. It took several Ancients, beings of immense age and power, to seal him away. But he was somehow freed several years back. That’s when Phantom took him down. From what I heard it took King Phantom under half an hour to take the old king down. Single Handed. He’s not someone we want to mess with.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” A voice Nightwing didn’t quite recognize from the front of the crowd called. Constantine huffed and crossed his arms.
“As far as I’m concerned we evacuate who we can, but if the United States is dumb enough to refuse to repeal this mess then we let them lie in the bed they made.”
“And these Ecto Acts?” Another vaguely familiar voice asked, sounding a bit desperate. “Are those real too?” There must have been some sort of discussion earlier about who would explain what, because Constantine didn’t bother looking to check before he stepped back to let Batman take over once more.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Batman informed them grimly. “I’m not sure how they slipped by us, but about five years ago a set of laws were quietly passed that labeled all so-called ecto-entities as non-sentient and dangerous. Under these laws the Ghost Investigation Ward have the right to do whatever they deem necessary to understand and deal with the threat posed by these beings. And they deem anyone with a reading of 5 or higher on their meters as an ecto-entity. No matter if they’ve got a beating heart or not.”
Unsurprisingly, this did not go over well with the crowd. It was one, already horrid, thing to say that these beings from another dimension were all non-sentient, but to tack on that any one of their own people who were contaminated enough were also non-sentient was just insane. How had this gotten passed?
“How do they measure that?” That was Cyborg’s voice, probably wanting to get ahold of the tech so they could figure out who all would fall under this category.
“We’re still working that out, but—“
Read more Here
#october prompts#whumptober 2023#whumptober#dpxdc#dcxdp#ghost king danny#dani is danny's kid#dani joined young justice#dani phantom#danny phantom#nightwing#Damian and Conner are fond of Dani#Dani is called Spirit#Like ghosts#but also Spirit the stallion from the movie#and while spirit#and all that#she's fond of freedom
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Four Can Keep A Secret
Secret trio plus Red Robin fic where Danny is captured by the GIW and Jake Long, Randy Cunningham, and Tim Drake end up rescuing him together. AO3
Chapter One
Due to a case, Tim had been patrolling the area by the docks more recently. It was within his territory, so it didn’t take long for him to notice something strange going on. The past few days, any time Tim patrolled the area, his comms glitched. The air was cooler here, and it felt like there was some sort of static in the air that put him on edge. It was almost like the weather reflected the bad vibe Tim was having about the location, and based on past experience, he figured nothing good would come of it.
After doing some research on the surrounding buildings, Tim was able to narrow it down to one of the bigger warehouses. It had access to Gotham Bay, and from the blueprints he scrounged up it looked like a sizable basement as well. It was clear that they needed a big space and access to water, so whatever they were carrying to and fro wouldn’t be noticed by boat. Both were bad signs, so Tim had to get a closer look. From there, it didn’t take long to do research and plan for a reconnaissance mission.
The purchase of the warehouse went through shell company after shell company, and any transactions were firmly shielded and rerouted enough that even Tim couldn’t bypass it. Which led to tonight, where Tim was scaling the surrounding fence to get in to see what was going on. He approached the side entrance, one he’d mapped out through the blueprints earlier, but stopped in his tracks when he heard voices.
“Dude! That’s not stealthy!”
“We don’t need to be stealthy, we need to get into the-”
“And breaking down the door is gonna alert the guards!”
“But we’ll be inside!”
“Inside and in danger!”A tall guy in a ninja uniform exclaimed, probably louder than he meant. Both arms were gestured wide as he towered over a smaller figure in red.
At first glance, Tim thought it might be the League of Assassins, but the type of outfit paired with the red accents made him think otherwise. Not to mention an assassin would be much more subtle, not arguing loudly with a teenager in front of a warehouse they wanted to break into. It was unlikely that the league had sent what seemed like a kid Tim’s age on a mission as well.
On the other hand, the kid arguing with the ninja was short, dressed in regular civilian clothes with spiky black hair with dyed green tips. He wore dark blue shorts and a red jacket, crossing his arms with a scowl as he squared up to the taller ninja. As much as he was curious about how a civilian got involved, Tim was under the impression the two teenagers were about to start brawling if he didn’t do something. To keep them from getting caught, Tim dropped down from the AC unit he was perched on to land closest to the door.
The two nearly let out a shriek before covering each other’s mouths. “What the juice dude!” The ninja scream-whispered, throwing his hands in the air again.
“Holy shit, you’re one of the bats,”The civilian teen said, albeit a bit more nervous. He scowled at Tim a second later.“What are you doing here?”
“Breaking in,”Tim said, hoping for nonchalant while connecting his wrist computer to the security panel on the doorframe. It was already open, most likely from the other two, so he only had to plug in his code to get it working. “I’ve been monitoring this place. Do you know what’s going on in there?”
“Not really.”
“Yes,”The guy in red said at the same time the ninja shrugged.
“Great, care to fill me in? We’re on a time limit and I’d like to get in and out as fast as possible,” Tim asked, looking at the guy in red pointedly.
“A government agency took the Ghost King captive,”He explained reluctantly. “I was sent to return him to his dimension before a war broke out between this realm and theirs.”
Tim paused, turning to him in surprise. It sort of explained why the guy was dressed covertly, but he didn’t seem to have any weapons on him, just a small satchel looped around his chest. It was perplexing to think about how this guy had connections to the ghost king.
“Oh. That makes more sense,”The ninja perked up. Tim was surprised at that, because while magic might be involved, surely someone on the JL would have noticed a missing King.“I was told to rescue someone inside, something, something, he’s guarded by guys in white, by a magic book.”
Of course it was magic, Tim groaned internally. He’d have to reach out to Zatanna or Constantine about this. For now, he’d keep an eye on the two teens with him. If they had any ulterior motives with the rescuee, Tim would be able to stop them and get the King to safety. Before Tim could ask another question, the Ninja asked,”Which bat are you?”
“Which ninja are you?” Tim countered, unlocking the door. He slipped into the hall silently, glad that the ninja seemed to excel at stealth when he barely heard any footsteps following him. He was less impressed with the guy in red’s attempt.
“I’m previously known as the Norrisville Ninja, now just the Ninja,”He introduced himself with a whisper. “I go on magical quests given to me by a cursed book.”
“Awesome,”Tim grimaced. He couldn’t help it when magic was involved, especially now that the Ninja was in Gotham. He hadn’t heard anything about Norrisville or Ninjas. If he remembered correctly, Norrisville was around Arizona. It was a long way from Gotham. Tim hoped the guy would be able to get out of Gotham before B caught wind of him. “You can call me Red Robin.”
“Yum,”The two of them chimed, and Tim wanted to smack something. Preferably the two idiots behind him.
“Just call me Jake. I’m an ambassador for magical creatures in America,”Jake added quietly. Tim turned to give him a look, but he didn’t elaborate. He could almost feel the need to unravel Jake’s secrets vibrating in his chest, waiting to burst and ask a million personal and invasive questions. But he refrained, like a normal person. “Someone’s coming on the left. Two people.”
Trusting the supposed magical ambassador, Tim pulled the three of them into a supply closet. Judging by the rescue mission and tense look in the two, Tim figured they were telling the truth. He couldn’t help but wonder what exactly he’d stumbled upon though, given that he’d never heard of Jake, the Ninja, or the Ghost king before.
Tim turned away from the door to find Jake and the Ninja whispering furiously with each other. “You’ve met before?” Tim asked, raising an eyebrow. The two stepped apart.
“Unfortunately,”Jake grumbled. “We’ve met before, once or twice.”
“Cut the cheese, man, I saved your butt a bunch of times and you know it,”The Ninja said. Tim could tell he was grinning through the mask.
“If you don’t shut up about it, I’m going to roast you like a marshmallow,”Jake retorted, his last words verging on a growl. Tim looked over at Jake subtly, wondering if that was a normal habit or if the guy was a meta. The two quieted down when Tim put up a hand, everyone now serious, and a few seconds later he opened the door to find the guards gone.
Red Robin didn’t have to say anything to get them moving, and instead followed the blueprint in his head to the basement level. “Woah,”The ninja breathed when they reached the lower level. Everything was white with eerie glowing neon green lights that reflected off the three of them.
“This is so creepy,”Jake muttered, glancing around. He was a bit paranoid that he’d be the one trapped in something like this one day. With how his old highschool teacher always tried to capture him, it was a very real concern, and he dreaded to think of what might’ve happened if his teacher was even a bit more competent. The eerie white walls and secret scary basement had been a fear of his growing up, especially during those times when he was being hunted. Clutching the strap of the satchel around his chest, he followed the two boys in front of him with a little more urgency. He couldn’t imagine what horrible things the Ghost King was going through here.
While Jake couldn’t wait to get out of there, he wasn’t leaving until he found the Ghost King. His grandpa and the council of Dragons had been alerted to the danger when the ghosts started going crazy. Apparently, the Ghost King had a reputation for maintaining the balance between the ghost realm and the human realm, and not only was he good at keeping the peace, he was held in high regard by almost every ghost out there. Speaking of ghosts, they were coming in from the realms at a higher, more alarming level than ever before, searching the earth for their stolen king. A few made their way to the dragons with the news of war and Jake was tasked with finding the King to prevent it. Jake shuddered at the thought of a whole dimension of ghosts attacking the living. He wasn’t even sure what side the Dragon council would pick in that fight, but hopefully they wouldn’t need to choose sides.
After Jake was sent on the mission, armed with a satchel of ghostly ectoplasm- said to heal ghosts from any physical ailment- he made his way to Gotham. Spud helped him track the King to the warehouse, but whatever software they were using at the place couldn’t be cracked remotely. He’d been told about the GIW, a government agency hell bet on eradicating the ghost population, and was upset that none of the magical community had learned about them before. It certainly made his job as the American Dragon more difficult, but at least he was here now.
Jake glanced over to Red Robin, who seemed to know where they were going. The guy led them confidently down the spooky hallway with no hesitation, so Jake followed easily. While he was nervous about being on a Bat’s radar, he was glad Red Robin was there to get them in quickly. From what he knew about the Ninja, he didn’t have any technical skills either. Red Robin was still a better choice than the Bat himself, but Jake was hopeful he wouldn’t have to reveal his powers to the guy. If he did, Jake figured it would be a little more difficult than usual to get him to keep quiet about the existence of the Magical community.
The Ninja definitely knew he was the American Dragon, but Jake was beyond grateful that the guy hadn’t revealed Jake’s secret to the Bat. He’d only met the Ninja twice before, both when he was on some odd quest from whatever cursed book he was attached to. The first time he’d saved Jake from being revealed to a crowd of paparazzi after a battle with a well-timed smoke bomb. The lanky teen had disappeared so fast Jake thought he was hallucinating until he saw him again during a mission with unicorns. Some overeager college kids had come across a group of them outside and the Ninja had helped him round up some of the unicorns that ran closer to populated areas in the scuffle. Jake was pretty sure the guy knew about the Magical community, but since he seemed to be on their side, he didn’t see the point in alerting the council to the Ninja. He was a good ally to have, even if Jake wasn’t sure of his motives.
Jake shook his head, focusing on the task at hand. Looking around, he saw containment cells, a vat of glowing green liquid, and various tools that gave Jake more than a bad feeling. The sooner they could get out of here the better, he thought with a shiver. The place gave him the creeps, and he was sure that it would be haunting his nightmares for the rest of his life.
“How do you know where you’re going?” The Ninja piped up, looking over Red Robin’s shoulder. It seemed like a genuine question, but Red Robin shifted the screen away anyway.
“I have the building schematics, and I downloaded their files,”Red Robin reported, taking a left turn out of the area with containment units and down the hall to the scary lab. “According to this, they have one current captive, labeled PH-01. Nothing in the containment cells we passed so I’m betting the guys here have him in a lab.”
“This is so rank,”Ninja grimaced, looking around. He seemed to talk when he was nervous, Jake observed,”How come this place is so empty? I thought we’d have way more guys to fight by now.”
“I set up a distraction at the other end of the building,”Red Robin grinned briefly before covering it up with a blank smile. He pointed, coming up to a bigger locked door at the end of the hall. Green light seemed to shine through the cracks at the bottom of the door. “It should give us enough time to get whoever’s inside and get out.”
“He’s the Ghost King,”Jake reminded with a frown,”Probably glowing. He can float, turn invisible, that sort of thing. If they caught him he’s going to be restrained in some way.”
“Magic book told me he has white hair and green eyes,”The Ninja added helpfully.
Red Robin filed the information away as his wrist computer got the door unlocked. It slid open with a hiss, and bright, white lights turned on overhead, making the two without a domino mask wince. Whatever the trio was expecting, this was worse.
In the room was a bunch oh medical equipment paired with what looked like torture devices. In the middle of the room lay a metal exam table with a small figure strapped down. Tim was surprised to find that the ghost king was around his age, smaller than he’d expected. It made the situation worse in a way, knowing that the people here were experimenting on a kid. Experimenting was sadly the best word Tim could find to describe it, given that the boy had heavy duty restraints on his wrists and neck. No restraints on his legs, but he figured it was because one of the legs looked bent at an unnatural angle. The beginnings of incisions adorned the King’s bare chest, and what looked like needle marks in his arms as well as the IV attached led Tim to believe that the guy was being sedated.
They stood frozen at the entrance for a few seconds before bursting into motion. The Ninja, surprisingly, went to try to get the cuffs off while Jake went to patch up the unconscious figure with Tim. “I don’t think I can use anything to heal him until the restraints come off,”Jake said, pulling out bandages out of his bag. He didn’t know how ectoplasm would mix with the ghost-proof restraints, so since there was nothing he could do magically, Jake started making a makeshift splint to hold the crooked leg together.
“Nothing I have can break these,”The Ninja said, frustrated. He went to the other end of the room, snooping for weapons or keys to unlock them before standing watch instead.
Meanwhile, Tim tried to get the collar off. He figured out quickly that breaking it with the laser on his utility belt wouldn’t work, and set to hacking it instead. Almost immediately, he knew this was going to take longer than they had, and shut his wrist computer with a snap. “I need more time to get the restraints off. We need to move, now,”Red Robin said, moving to help Jake finish patching the kid up. He detached the IV and other restraints keeping him to table, while the smaller teen finished wrapping his leg.
“There’s a bunch of people coming, any ideas on how to get out of here?” The Ninja said hurriedly, rushing over to help the two get the unconscious boy up off the table. Since the Ninja was the tallest out of the three of them and closest to the Ghost King’s height, they carefully situated the ghost onto the Ninja’s back. Red Robin took up the lead, taking the four of them out a back entrance away from where the guards were coming from.
“This leads up to the roof,”Red Robin directed, a little surprised at the Ninja’s ability to carry the boy up three flights of stairs without breaking a sweat. “From there we can take him to the Batcave or-”
“No, he’s staying with us,”Jake growled deeper than before, and shouldered past Red Robin. “None of us want the Bats involved in this more than they already are.”
“I’m not saying you have to,”Tim placated, not letting any of his frustration bleed through his voice. “It’s just an option if he needs more medical attention than we can give him.”
“I have a safe house close by,”The Ninja offered, and Red Robin wasn’t surprised when Jake readily agreed. Tim agreed though, given that the Ninja seemed to be the closest thing they had to neutral. Alarms blared behind them as Tim kicked open the rooftop door.
The four of them got onto the roof, Jake closing the door behind them. He broke off the door handle in a surprising show of strength that Tim did not have time to process. “Here, I can take him and grapple-” Red Robin started before getting cut off.
“I got him,”Jake growled again, and Tim was about to argue when the Ninja just handed the Ghost boy off. Sighing quietly, he resigned himself to just follow along as Jake held the boy easily in his arms despite his small stature. Jake turned to Tim,”Don’t freak out,”He said, accepting it with a bit of suspicion when Red Robin nodded.
Then, to the surprise of the vigilante, Jake transformed into a giant red dragon. “Get on,”Jake grumbled, securing the ghost king in his arms as gently as possible. The Ninja whooped, climbing onto Jake’s back gently despite his excitement and gestured for Tim to follow. Red Robin refrained from spouting all the questions he had and followed. He’d definitely seen weirder, and there was no time for introductions again with the guys in white banging on the door behind them.
“Hang on!”The dragon called with a sharp grin before he stretched his wings out and leapt off the roof. Snuggled securely in his arms was the unconscious Ghost King, while the Ninja and Red Robin were holding on for dear life on Jake’s back. They tried to be mindful of the guy, but it was hard not to grip too tight when they were flying so high. “Got directions for me?”He called, and Tim was surprised they could hear him over the wind.
The rest of the ride went by quickly, with the Ninja giving directions to a small apartment not far from Gotham University. Meanwhile, Tim was trying to take in every detail of the two boys in front of him. Riding a dragon was something he’d never done before, and he had to restrain himself from running his hands over Jake’s ruby scales. He wondered if they were like armor. Was there heat resistance? Tim found his mind racing with the wind around him.
The Ninja on the other hand, was surprisingly muscular despite his lithe, tall figure. Since Tim was seated behind him, he had no choice but to hold on to the boy in front of him if he wanted to stay on the dragon. Despite knowing that the Ninja had multiple weapons on him, he couldn’t spot a single one. Did the Ninja have magical powers too? Tim had a lot of questions, but he knew now was not the time. The most important thing right now was getting those restraints off the Ghost King and preventing a war.
The two riding the dragon didn’t waste any time getting off once they landed on a rooftop. The unconscious King was passed to the Ninja again and Jake transformed back to human. Tim supposed it made more sense that Jake was an ambassador of magical creatures now that he knew he was a dragon. Or part dragon, Tim wondered. This was not his expertise, so he followed the two with the most experience into the apartment, keeping his eyes peeled for anything suspicious while fiddling with the codes on his wrist computer.
“Mi Casa es su Casa,”The Ninja grunted, tossing some keys to Jake while keeping a steady hold on the boy on his back, who caught them and easily opened the door.
“I thought this was a safe house,”Tim said absently as they walked in, still typing. The more time he had to crack the code the better, just as long as he was in the same vicinity as the ghost he could keep working.
“Well, it’s safe, and it’s where I live, so,”The Ninja added, unable to shrug with his arms full, and brought the boy over to a table near the kitchen. “Can you clear off the books?” He asked, and Jake scrambled to clear the table, helping the Ninja set the Ghost king down gently. The unconscious boy’s head lolled to the side and his white hair drifted over his face. Randy paused, helping him into a more comfortable position before brushing the hair out of the way. His face remained relaxed, not stirring in the slightest at the movement. Randy grimaced when he caught sight of the blood smeared on his neck under the collar, and he hoped they could help him.
“Do you have any medical supplies? Towels?”Jake asked, getting back to work on fixing up the guy passed out on his table. Randy went and got them, pointing Jake to the kitchen to grab some warm water. He rushed to the bathroom, reaching under the sink to pull out his first aid kit and snatching a few towels off the counter. He was glad to have washed them the other night.
Making his way to the kitchen, he saw Red Robin in a chair next to the Ghost, typing away on the tiny computer on his wrist. He only paused a few times to lean over and look at the collar or fiddle with it, but Randy figured he’d get it off soon with that determined look. Bringing the supplies, Randy spent the next two hours cleaning and dressing the boy’s wounds with Jake. He paused briefly to get Red Robin a bigger laptop to work from, but stayed by Jake’s side to help secure the ghost’s broken leg..
Halfway through, he pulled off his mask, letting the rest of his suit retreat and revealing his unruly purple hair. Red Robin hadn’t even noticed, still typing away, only now he was using Randy’s laptop that he’d gotten for school. It helped to have room to type with both hands, he’d said when he thanked him.
Jake on the other hand was speechless for a moment, staring with wide eyes before grinning. “Want me to keep calling you Ninja?” He snarked, and Randy rolled his eyes.
“It’s Randy, actually, but you can call me anytime,”Randy winked, and Jake threw an unused rag at him. Randy dodged, snickering, but got back to work.
Once the Ghost was bandaged and no longer bloody, they got him in some of Randy’s pajamas and moved him to Randy’s bed. It just so happened that the pajamas were blue and had little polar bears on them. Despite the bandages and makeshift cast, the kid looked more peaceful laying on the comfy blankets. “I’ll keep an eye on him,”Jake said, rolling Randy’s spinny gaming chair to sit next to the bed. He still had the satchel on him when he plopped down on the chair, and held it tighter when he got restless or nervous. Randy assumed he was carrying something important for their guest in there, so he left it alone. No doubt it was something magical and very hard to obtain, and Randy was well known for clumsiness outside of the mask. He was going to avoid messing with it.
“I’ll make some food then,”Randy hummed, but before he left he rummaged through his drawers to find some extra pajamas for Jake and himself as well. He tossed them over to the shorter teen and left the room before Jake could yell at him for it.
After getting changed in the bathroom, Randy meandered his way past Red Robin, who still had his head in the computer, and into the kitchen. He figured the guy could use something to keep him awake. Opening the fridge, he found a grape flavored Zesti energy drink and brought it to Red Robin. The guy almost flinched at Randy’s presence, but zeroed in on the energy drink and relaxed. “Thanks,”Red sighed, reaching for the drink. He paused, finally noticing the absence of a ninja suit. Randy wanted to laugh at how wide the eyes of his mask went but took pity on him. It was late, and they needed Red Robin to get the collar off.
“Call me Randy,”He grinned, then turned to the kitchen. “I’m making food if you want anything or have allergies. Let me know if you want another energy drink, I have a bunch.”
“Yeah,”Red Robin rasped, then cleared his throat and reaching for the drink. He got back to work a few seconds later, keeping the can between his arms as he typed. Tim wished he had a straw to drink while he worked, if only to keep him distracted from the cute boy in the kitchen.
Back in the kitchen, Randy was busy making breakfast sandwiches, because that was one of the only things he knew how to make and had enough of those ingredients. He wasn’t quite sure what the others wanted on their sandwich but he’d make it pretty plain in case they had weird tastes. Glancing back at Red Robin hunched over at the kitchen table, he didn’t feel as nervous as he thought he should be at the bat. Randy didn’t mind sharing his identity with the two, and to be honest, either one could figure out his name just by knowing where he lived.
He had known Jake didn’t trust the Bats, so Randy suggested his own place. It helped that he wasn’t far away, considering he was going to Gotham University for a Media X major. His apartment was neutral ground when it came to magical creatures and the vigilantes, and he was sure the nomicon predicted things working out this way. It definitely wasn’t because he was lonely, no. Randy only just moved to Gotham, away from his friends and family. He was doing fine making friends in college. Sharing his apartment with other heroic teens was just convenient. It was just a normal, college apartment, and he hoped the ghost at least would be more at ease with the surroundings when he woke up.
Soon enough, Randy plated the sandwiches individually, adding a bit of avocado, tomato, some onion, sriracha, mayo, ketchup, and bbq sauce to his own. He paused, then found the bag of chips on top of the fridge to add to the side of each plate. Going back to the fridge, he pulled out another energy drink and took one plate to Red Robin.
The guy didn’t even notice Randy dropping off his food, but he seemed to be concentrating so Randy let him be. He left, taking the empty can with him. The purple haired teen hoped the plain egg, sausage and cheese muffin was fine. It was one of the only things he could cook after working at McCluckbusters for one too many summers.
Grabbing the other two plates, he made his way to the room with the sleeping ghost. “Your dinner awaits, milady,”Randy bowed dramatically, holding out the plate to Jake.
The dragon boy snorted, but dug in gratefully. It was almost 6am already, and Randy was sure all three of them had been up the whole night. He himself was used to late nights gaming, but Jake looked tired. Randy took a bite of his own sandwich, putting some of the barbeque flavored chips inside it to add a crunch, but paused when he saw Jake staring at him.
“Yo, what did you do to that sandwich, man?” Jake asked, setting down his own sandwich and looking at it like it suddenly had a bug in it.
“It’s delicious,”Randy said with his mouth full. “Why, do you want some? I left yours kinda plain in case you didn’t like other stuff.”
“Okay, I do like the avocado but it looks like you have ten different sauces on there,”Jake judged. “You couldn’t just pick one?”
“It adds to the flavor,”Randy defended,”And it’s only like, four. I was out of ranch.”
“Oh my god,”Jake sighed, exasperated, “Next time I’m cooking,”He added,”I’ll show you real food.”
“Hey, I learned these secrets the hard way,”Randy said, adding more chips.
“What, from a fast food place?” Jake asked, mentally planning what dishes he could make with ingredients that a midwestern college white boy would have in his fridge.
“Yeah, exactly,”Randy grinned, and Jake just rolled his eyes.”So if you want breakfast sandwiches or cake fries, I’m your guy.”
“Cake fries?” Jake repeated, looking at Randy in disbelief.
“Just wait til you try it,”Randy pointed out. Jake just rolled his eyes, but Randy could see a small smile on his face.
They ate in silence after that, talking about random things and watching the sleeping boy between them. Randy took Jake’s plate when they were done, walking out to put them in the sink and check on Red Robin.
To Randy’s exasperation, the guy had drunk the energy drink, but left the food with a few bites next to him. It seemed obvious that Red Robin had barely taken a break from trying to crack the ghostly restraints, and Randy didn’t know if it would be more or less helpful to remind him of the food. He decided to leave it for now, and took the empty can. He was worried that Red Robin was pushing himself too hard trying to crack the code, but for now he’d help out however he could without bothering his work flow.
Randy admits, he is a bit restless with no emergency going on, and two strangers in his house. He ended up doing the dishes, giving Red Robin another energy drink, and started on cleaning around the house when he noticed Jake starting to fall asleep in his chair. Cracking his knuckles, he approached with the subtlety of a younger sibling.
“Come on, get up,”Randy shooed, much to Jake’s confusion and annoyance. “Don’t give me that look, you’re practically falling asleep.”
“I’m fine,”Jake growled, but let Randy herd him out of the room.
“Go take a nap on the couch, I’ll keep watch on him and wake you if anything happens,”Randy assured, leaving Jake to settle on the couch without tripping on the too long pajama pants to go grab a spare blanket. He draped it over Jake, grinning in satisfaction when he seemed to drift off in seconds.
Randy glanced over at Red Robin, who had eaten a bit more but was still hunched over the laptop, and figured the guy was still doing okay. A thought came to him though and he grabbed some more pajamas and a glass of water to set next to Red Robin. Randy was never so grateful of his mom’s Christmas Pajama Tradition. He got a new pair every year and since he’d stopped growing he never needed to throw them away unless they got super old or beat up.
Randy made his way over to the ghost king and took over Jake’s chair. Plopping down, he grabbed a blanket on the floor to wrap around his cold feet and leaned back to watch the sleeping boy in front of him. All the blood and cuts were cleaned and bandaged, so the little King would have looked almost peaceful if not for the bright green collar around his neck. Throughout the escape and getting settled in the apartment, Randy hadn’t actually gotten a good look at the guy before now. His skin was pale, with almost a hint of blue in it, and his short hair was almost ethereally white. Leaning closer he could see his eyelashes were white too.
Sitting back, Randy huffed. He definitely had to skip school tomorrow. Considering he and the others had been up all night now, Randy hoped he’d be able to stay awake. Spotting his switch on his nightstand, he leaned over to grab it. Starting it up, he figured he’d play some Animal Farm to try and stay awake. It was a kind of mindless game so he wouldn’t miss anything if the Ghost King moved at all.
Meanwhile, Tim was nearly done. He had hacked into the files he downloaded to try to find the key to unlocking it, but it turned out that the GIW had gotten the invention from some scientist named Fenton. It was even harder to find blueprints for the collar, but from what he could tell it was running on some sort of alternate power source. The glowing green energy didn’t seem to run out, and reminded Tim a bit of kryptonite.
Given that it ran independently, the restraints were stuck on the ghost until someone deactivated it with a similar device. It was like the thing was half magic half technology, and Tim was only good with one of those things. What Tim was trying to do was unlock the restraints without the key, and to do that he needed to try and mimic the power source on his own end. To do that, he was trying to get the devices to register each other as a key, but it was slow going. Tim hadn’t done something like this before, but he knew he could do it with enough time. Time he wasn’t sure the ghost king had.
Then the vigilante frowned. He looked up from the computer, wondering why Jake and Randy were being so quiet, only to find Jake sleeping on the couch. Tim blinked, but figured Randy was keeping watch on the Ghost King, while Jake slept. Looking at the clock on the laptop, he could see why. They’d been up all night, and it was nearly 9 in the morning now. With all the energy drinks he’d had, Tim wasn’t even tired. He couldn’t be tired if he wanted to get the restraints off the boy in Randy’s bed.
Tim sighed, reaching for the can on the table but instead brushed fabric. Surprised, he turned to see a pair of space pajamas with a soft Nasa t-shirt. Next to it was a glass of water and Tim frowned. While he was getting a bit uncomfortable staying in his suit for so long, he wasn’t completely at ease around the boys. Reluctantly, he took a sip of the water, hoping that they didn’t run out of Zesti.
Glancing back at the screen, he figured now was a good time to take a break. No one else was around, so he quickly and quietly stripped out of his armor and into the soft pajamas, but kept his utility belt, boots, and mask on just in case. Folding his suit and placing it on the chair next to him, he took the time to stretch out his muscles, relishing the way his back cracked.
Sitting back down, he was glad for the clothing change into something more comfortable. The pants were a bit long and the shirt too big, but they were soft and smelled like some sort of flowery laundry detergent. It was nice. He took another sip of water and started typing, hoping to figure out how to get the power source in the restraints to mimic the type of key needed to trick the system.
Jake jolted awake with the imprint of the sterile, white lab and eerie green lighting on his eyes. He swallowed down the flames in his throat and rubbed his eyes. When he was no longer afraid to set something on fire, he yawned, stretching. He looked around, seeing Red Robin now sporting space pajamas a few sizes too big, and he could just make out Randy playing a game on his switch in the chair through the doorway of the other room.
Yawning again, he set the blanket aside and got up. Jake scowled when he almost tripped over the pant legs of his borrowed pants. Despite the tripping hazard, he made his way to the kitchen to look through Randy’s cabinets. Looking at his phone he saw it was nearly 11am and figured the others would appreciate some food. He was surprised to find rice in one of Randy’s cabinets, and figured he could make some fried rice with some of the vegetables in the freezer. Nevermind that the rice looked untouched for months, but it would be easy to make a large amount of food for everyone.
Jake was pretty sure that ghosts didn’t need to eat, but he figured the guy might appreciate being saved a plate just in case. He placed the satchel with the ectoplasm inside on the counter, and got started cooking. It was calming his nerves to focus on cooking rather than the vigilante at the table and the unconscious Ghost King in the other room. Randy seemed chill, but Jake was paranoid that one wrong move and Red Robin might contact some other heroes to take over. Looking at the guy now, knowing he’d been hunched over the laptop covered in various stickers for hours and not calling anyone because Jake asked him not to, he felt like the guy deserved some trust. And rice.
Almost an hour later, Red Robin stood up, ignoring the now cooled bowl of rice at his side. “I got it,”Red exclaimed, making his way to the Ghost King. Jake and Randy perked up from their chairs, sitting around the bed.
“You got it?” Randy asked with a grin. He stood up, switching to hover around the boy on the bed.
“Just let me get this ready first,”Jake muttered, pulling out the vial of ectoplasm. Tim nodded, making his way over to the collar. He only needed to activate his program with a push of a button. Once Jake was ready, he nodded to Tim.
Red Robin took a breath and pressed the button, hoping it would work. Abruptly, the Collar’s bright green light cut out, and after a moment it seemed to pull apart, dropping into two halves on the side of the boys neck. The three watching gave a sigh of relief, but tensed back up when the white haired boy started to stir.
A weak groan filled the room, and the ghost’s face twisted in pain. Jake was all but ready to use the ectoplasm when suddenly a bright light filled the room. Looking away, the three covered their eyes as it seemed to get brighter and encompass the boy on the bed.
Red Robin was the first to look back when the light faded, and held in a gasp when he saw a very human boy in place of the ghost. “He turned human?” Randy exclaimed, looking from the other boys in the room and back to the ghost king turned teenager.
Jake, still holding the ectoplasm, was gaping. “Will this still help him?” Jake asked no one in particular. He had no idea if the human part would reject the ectoplasm.
“I’ll get the medical supplies,”Tim threw out when he noticed the kid’s appearance. The others, just now looking at he tattered clothes and fresh injuries, blinked in confusion and panic.
“How does he have different injuries now?” Randy complained. Even the pajamas were gone, replaced with tattered jeans and a t-shirt that used to be white.
While the ghost version of the boy had a broken leg, this kid’s arm was dislocated, horribly bruised, and possibly broken. Further inspection led to a few nasty burns that looked like something like a blaster hit him, and based on the new rattling sound when he breathed, they were pretty sure some ribs were broken.
Another thing they learned was that the ghost king might also be… a ghost queen. In their human form, at least. Red Robin took point on getting the… teenager dressed while Jake and Randy averted their eyes in embarrassment. Tim’s cheeks had turned red, but he was at least used to clothing mishaps and more unsavory situations while being a hero. This hardly phased him, but they were all confused about how the Ghost King thing worked when one was a human girl at the same time. They all more or less agreed not to comment on it and stuck with the Ghost King’s he/him pronouns. At least until the teen was able to explain.
Jake however, was still trying to decide if it would be a good idea to give the teen the ectoplasm or not. He’d received limited information about ghosts and that to do with the ectoplasm, but he had no idea if it would help or hurt the human part. He sat in the chair with a huff when they finished patching up the kid and got him in another set of pajamas. This time they had little dogs on them.
“I can find out for you,”Randy said, looking at the ectoplasm meaningfully. He waved an old looking book in his hand for emphasis. Jake however, did not know what Randy meant by that.
“How-?”Red Robin asked, but cut himself off. He clearly didn’t know what he was allowed to ask about or not, and it was very amusing for Jake.
“Sure, go for it,”Jake said, thinking Randy was just going to read the book. He was unprepared, however, for Randy to open it and immediately collapse.
“What the-” Jake exclaimed, rushing to catch Randy before he hit the floor. Red Robin joined him and they carefully lifted the purple haired teenager onto the bed so he laid next to the other unconscious teen. “Geez,”Jake breathed.
“Did you know he was gonna do that?” Red Robin asked absently, and Jake shook his head.
“I knew his book was magic but- man he coulda warned us that would happen,”Jake scoffed. Red Robin let out a small laugh, sitting on the edge of the bed. They were a little overwhelmed, but it was a relief to be able to have someone else to talk to about it.
Seconds later, Randy woke up with a gasp, startling everyone but the unconscious kid. “Jesus, man, you coulda warned us!”Jake exclaimed, but Randy largely ignored him in favor of pointing to the ectoplasm vial that Jake was still holding.
“S’good! All good, give him the stuff,”Randy got out, climbing out of the bed and pacing the room. Jake hesitated, but started getting to work while he watched Randy pace. “So- the nomicon was pretty vague about why he’s human in the first place but basically the green stuff helps both forms. Basically.”
“Basically,”Tim repeated, while Jake gently coaxed some of the ectoplasm down the kid’s throat. He hoped it worked.
They hovered around the bed for a moment, then watched in awe and surprise when most of the injuries started to heal. It didn’t heal the bigger injuries as much, but most of the bruising and smaller wounds disappeared, leaving little scars.
Bright blue eyes suddenly opened, and the teenager lurched forward with a cough, huddling in on himself. Unsure what to do, Jake and Randy stepped back to allow Red Robin to come forwards and reassure the kid. “Hey, it’s okay, its alright,”He said softly, but nothing he did seemed to calm the kid down.
The human ghost king tried to crawl away from them, moving until his back hit the headboard of the bed. He was obviously still in pain, and his eyes were darting around frantically but not seeming to recognize anything. Tim bit back a retort when he was shoved backwards as Jake moved to be right in the kid’s line of sight.
To Tim’s surprise, Jake transformed into a dragon again, and it actually seemed to calm the kid down. “You’re safe now. The humans won’t hurt you anymore, okay?” Jake said, and Tim understood. Having a more magical creature around would help the kid recognize there were no more agents around. It was smart.
“I’m out?’ The kid croaked. Tim was amazed at how quickly he seemed to trust Jake, but he supposed it made sense. Meta solidarity or something like that.
“Yeah, you’re out,”Jake reassured, helping the kid lay back down. The kid seemed to lose all strength when he recognized he wasn’t in a lab. “You’re the Ghost king, right? What’s your name?”
“Danny,”The kid sighed, going boneless in Jake’s arms. The dragon was nice and warm, and he hadn’t felt warmth like that in… what felt like forever. Looking around, he saw just a normal bedroom. “Where..”
“I’ll explain everything when you’re feeling better, but you don’t have to worry about them finding you. Just relax and heal, okay?” Jake said, pulling some blankets over Danny without disturbing the injured arm. The teen was still out of it, obviously exhausted from his earlier panic and trauma, but he laid back down easily enough. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Danny was asleep before Jake could even finish his sentence, and all three conscious boys breathed a sigh of relief. “Poor guy,”Randy whispered, plopping down on the chair again. Tim hummed in agreement, and looked over to Jake, who was still holding Danny’s hand in his dragon form.
“You okay?” Tim asked, and Jake turned to look at him.
“Yeah,”Jake said, shaking his head. “It’s just. What happened to Danny could have easily happened to me, or any one of the other magical creatures out there. I’m.. It’s my responsibility to protect them from things like this, but I didn’t even know…”
Tim patted Jake on the shoulder reassuringly. “You still saved him, and he’ll get better thanks to you.”
“Yeah,”Jake said, turning back to human form in a dazzling show of light. Tim was fascinated, but he swallowed back his questions to not make the guy feel uncomfortable. He ended up yawning, and Jake looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You should take a nap, you’ve been up for like, two days.”
“I’m fine,”Tim yawned again, refusing to tell him that it was more like three days he’d been awake. With Danny in the clear, most of the adrenaline keeping him up was draining out of him. Jake hummed in a way Tim knew he didn’t believe him.
“Hey, you can just take the couch over there, “Randy piped up, and Tim was wholly unprepared for the guy to foist a handful of blankets on him and drag him over to the couch. “We’ll wake you if anything happens.”
“I’m not tired,”Tim tried to protest, but once he was laying on the couch piled high with blankets, he really didn’t feel like moving.
“Sure, just rest your eyes then,”Randy said placatingly, and Tim was already on his way to dreamland.
#jake long#randy cunningham#tim drake#danny fenton#danny phantom#ninth grade ninja#red robin#american dragon#dcxdp#dcxdpxjlajxrcngn#secret trio#plus tim#four can keep a secret#if one of them is dead#see its a pun#kinda
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wip I'm working on about Rain being dried out and not knowing how to care for himself topside since he's had no water ghoul as a mentor.
Sfw, might be body horror (its super light!), ghouls caring for each other.
Rain’s doubtful, and he’s not really in a position to say no. Something prods at his head, something that’s like pins and needles. His skin feels charged with static. It hits, and the aching tension in his skin is gone, but he doesn’t like it. Rain fights this foreign feeling in his head and thrashes like a fish on a line. He's terrified. He's so vulnerable, and he can't see what this person is doing. The feeling is too foreign, and if he could shout for him to stop, Rain would. Immediately it’s gone.
“Okay. Okay. So none of that.” The person groans and there’s shuffling as he kneels. The towel at Rain's neck is shifted and tied loosely around his throat. There’s more shuffling and suddenly sharp claws are pressed against him, though on the dull curved side. “I’m going to tear this shirt off. Sorry. Then we’ll get these wet too.”
Rain can only assume he means his gills along his ribs. The towel is starting to feel just a bit too dry against the delicate membranes, and he wants to thrash again, but a large hand that’s much cooler than the fire he felt earlier holds him still.
“M’not gonna hurt you.” The voice says as he feels his skin exposed to the dry air and the sound of fabric tearing. Rain can only really tense his fingers in agony. Every breath feels like hell.
There’s footsteps, large heavy ones, and a smaller steps following.
“The bath’s ready, Aeth.” The voice is deep and rumbling like before, though it sounds a bit mumbled now.
“Okay. I can lift him but he squirms. Mind helping?”
There’s a silent exchange Rain can’t make out and suddenly there’s hand on him. Two at his shoulders and one under his back and hip. They lift him up and immediately Rain doesn’t like it. Not being able to see makes him feel ill as they situate him. They’re trying to help, he knows this, but the touch of their hands makes bile rise in his throat. Not that he could vomit anyways, his lips are stuck shut.
The two carry him and halfway through Rain gives up fighting. He hears the change in scenery, going from large and dampened to small and echoing. Voices bounce off tile and the footsteps sound louder.
“There’s going to be some water. It’s a small tub.” The smaller voice tells him as his tail touches something cold and wet. Slowly he’s lowered into it first from his feet and then to his shoulders. He flinches when the hands leave almost afraid he’ll keep sinking, but his ass smacks the bottom and leaves his head afloat.
Rain sinks lower and frowns when his knees are exposed to the air so that his head can sink. Immediately he can feel his dry skin loosening. Some of it comes off in large scales and his fresh skin all but sucks in the water. It’s more comfort than he’s felt in weeks.
His face finally frees and he opens his lips first. Then his eyelids finally release and he can see. The light is an assault on his eyes and he quickly closes them again with an image of the bathroom stuck behind his lids.
Voices above him reverberate to the water. They’re muffled but he can distinguish them. Slowly he opens his eyes to make out the distorted figures from under the water.
One of them is a large man with several peircings in his ears. His hair is short and well trimmed. A dark chinstrap beard lines his jaw. Rain can guess that's 'Aeth' from the thick dark bands around his fingers.
The other is taller than the rest. He’s lanky with defined features of an underbite and a prominent nose. His thick hair is tied in a low bun, but what catches Rain’s attention is the color of his horns. They’re white and black, the inverse of each other, but maybe that’s a trick of the water.
The shortest one has long platinum hair pulled back over his shoulders. It blocks most of his face, and Rain can only see him once he turns around to glance at the tub. It must be Dew. His footsteps sounded lightest.
His nose has a bump in it and it looks crooked, but that’s hard to tell under water. It looks like he’s been through more than one fight. What’s terrifying is the black scarred thin flaps of skin on his neck. Rain’s gills flutter seeing it and close against his own skin. They cause little ripples of bubbles in the water, and the big one with the rings looks towards the water.
“Feeling better, fish?” The shorter one slaps him in the chest and he lets out an oof. “Sorry, Rain. I'm sorry that we didn't catch this sooner, it's just that none of us knew.”
It's not his fault, and Rain knows that. He should've known too, but he didn't know what the strange feeling of his skin meant until it was too late. Slowly he comes to the surface of the water laying on his side trying to keep as much of himself submerged as possible. His tail makes small languid movements in the water. He pokes his eyes out without blinking, just letting the water drip off his eyes, which is more relieving than it looks. It’s a bit unnerving for the tall one who visibly raises his shoulders.
“S'okay,” he says with water bubbling at his mouth. Dew laughs a bit before his face drops again.
“How’d you get so dried up?”
The question sends Rain dropping back to reality. The reality that he’s not among his old pack, that he’s not among fellow water ghouls. That these people smell like dirt and smoke and oddly cranberries. They don’t smell like saltwater and sand. They have two tone horns, and rings that fit on web-less fingers. They have blonde hair instead of dark black. They aren't like him.
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skinship - backaches
in a relationship where your boyfriend finds physical affection rather awkward, you’d best believe it would’ve taken some time for him to warm up to the idea of skinship- skin to skin, a hand on his, cheeks crashing together as close as possible. but the patience comes at a good cost- mark has several ways to close the distance between you.
it’s clear mark pays close attention to what you say and do- after hearing you perpetually complain about your back aches and seeing you slump down into a structureless figure on your desk chair, he begins to notice the fact that you are always very slightly hunched forward.
not that it was ever too noticeable, but after realising this, everytime he sees you slouch it awakens an innate desire in him to straighten your back, like one wishes to remove any kinks from a wire.
one day, as you stand in the kitchen waiting for your food in the microwave, he creeps up behind you, poking you right smack in the centre of your spine.
“you should try improving your posture.” he says, as a matter of fact, “it’ll probably help your back pain.”
you arch your back like a cat, wincing from the discomfort.
it’s sweet that he notices, and even sweeter that he consistently tries to look out if you’re standing or sitting up straight. sometimes he pokes you in the side when he’s sitting next to you in the library- which might’ve caused you to yelp a few times. you glare at him, but it does the job in making you flinch and aligning your spine as he points out your hunched back.
once, he even lightly taps the pads of his fingers down your spine, sending you shivers down that very bone. he drums on your back playfully before casually landing his hand around your waist as you stand side by side, waiting at the bus stop.
when you queue in line to buy food he puts his hands on your shoulders to bring them backwards and literally fixes your posture himself- letting out a brief, muttered reminder to “stand up straight, babe.” you can hear the small pout and whine in his voice even though he sounds so nonchalant.
he gives you multiple massages even if he isn’t particularly good at them, but he’s improving and tries to remember the perpetual, specific points on your back that are culprits to your pain, rubbing, kneading with tender care into the knots.
“woah,” he chuckles, “this one feels so stiff i can feel your pain.” his fingers are going deep into your skin, one hand holding your bare left waist in place while the other pokes its knuckles into the crevices of your back.
mark also likes to survey for your customer experience- “does it feel better? rate my performance on a scale of one to ten, y/n. i feel like i was more helpful than i was the last time.”
“not bad, mark! i give you a seven this time. where’d you learn that thing where you pressed down with your elbow? it felt really good.”
“i watched a youtube video on it. you know, when i was looking, i stumbled across this back massage asmr channel. it’s really weeeird. but it’s kinda cool at the same time.”
his antics hit a soft spot that melts you into a puddle of joy and a constant state of gratitude that he wants to do so much, wants to relieve the persistent tension in your spine even though he carries a massive weight atop of his own shoulders.
you feel that the distance between you two is the smallest it’s ever been in these moments- you feel him most intimately when he grabs your shoulders to pull them back and his fingers graze your neck after it taps your chin gently and slip away. moments like that. they feel better than even the static shock when your pinkies link, an electric force that binds your hands together.
maybe it’s because there’s a clear intent to look out for you. in comparison to mere fingers pining to and reaching out to intertwine, it shows a deliberate effort to care. maybe mark wants you to stop whining about your pain. maybe mark just wants you to stop hurting. maybe mark wants for you not to damage your backbone so your health isn’t affected when you grow old together. maybe that’s a reach.
but what you know is that it’s more touching to have someone care this way- maybe more touching than a meaningless peck on the lips or a hug that could last forever.
next (facewash)
a/n: here’s mark fixing haechan’s posture lol i think it’s the cutest thing ever
#mark imagine#mark fluff#mark lee#mark au#mark blurb#mark drabbles#mark oneshot#mark fanfic#nct au#nct dream fluff#nct 127 scenarios#nct imagines#nct#nct oneshot#nct fanfic#nct blurb
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man this is fun, I never get to nerd out about genetics anymore unless I'm trying to think about opto. brains are so static, man. cellularly speaking anyway.
(before anyone starts to "no actually" me about that, please consider that my default frame of interest in a brain is not electrochemical syapses (boring! haywire! fast!) but rather the "genetic action potential" of cellular processes and protein regulation that unfolds through your brain in the form of different proteins and "housekeeping genes".)
if you hear some lout describing c-fos as "brain activation," this is essentially what they mean; c-fos is a "housekeeping gene" or a transcriptional factor that is associated with changes in a whole lot of other loci downstream. So people interested in changes in the brain on this scale often use IHC stains for this protein to look for places where there are large-scale changes in protein expression happening as a result of behavioral experience abouuuut 60-120 minutes ago.
generally I am the only person in the room asking graduate students awkward, unpleasant questions like "so do you know what c-fos is or what it does?" when they are airily talking about 'brain activation' , cruelly making them explain how they are calculating and observing the phenomena they are trying to sell me on. half the work of my grant right now is figuring out how to craft a narrative to hook an audience that a) I barely understand and b) is way lazier than I am about standards of evidence.
receptor gene expression is such a sexy little focus point I must say. like fine tuned behavior is really my comfort zone but I do let a little nice IHC turn my head now and again. maybe working in brains isn't the worst thing in the world.
no, too late, it's totally the WORST. ugh and I want to make an argument about leptin signaling in the ventral striatum facilitating action initiation and I'm like, two to three grant-steps out from really pushing that idea to a grant panel that doesn't know me from Adam or meaningfully believe I can complete science. Which to be fair, my CV is just about drenched in ADHD; no single paper covers the same topic...
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#figure collecting#natsume yuujinchou#natsume takashi#nyanko sensei#formalwear#crowns#capes#static scale figures
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Tableaux Automatique: Wallflowers (Animation) - 1″:1′-0″ diorama - mixed media - robert matejcek - 2023
“He's a wallflower. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.”
- Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Tags:
#robert matejcek#diorama#miniature#small scale#simulacra#dream worlds#uncanny valley#photography#digital media#frame animation#interior#architectural#figurative#night#nocturnal#tv static#retro#60s#70s#americana#art#my art#artists on tumblr#grunge aesthetic#dark aestetic#neon aesthetic
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All Creatures Great and Small Chapter 16: Tea Party
Surprise! Two in one day. Sometimes you just get a little excited over your blorbos >:3
In this chapter:
youtube
Story Masterpost
On AO3
As always thanks to @static-stars and @appelsiinilight ! :)
Important note: Since is the first chapter in the series that's had large portions of dialogue in Pixish interspersed within large portions of English dialogue, I decided to differentiate the two languages by putting Pixish dialogue in italics. Thistle, of course, understands both, but I thought it was important to make it obvious at a glance which language was actually being spoken because not all characters in this chapter are bilingual.
***
Marcy, a human who spoke English and a little bit of Pixish.
Thistle, a pixie who spoke Pixish and English.
Severa, a naga who spoke only Pixish.
Jewel, a merminnow who spoke English and his native underwater language, which no one else at the table spoke.
Moon, a moth fairy who spoke English, Pixish, and a number of other unknown languages.
And Violet, a borrower who only spoke English.
For someone who'd never expected to meet anyone who wasn't a Pixie, and who'd only been vaguely aware of the existence of other languages until recently, it was a lot. Especially since they were all going to be at the same table.
Marcy helped Thistle set up. They got out the biggest table he had–it was from a doll tea party set. It was always a challenge to find furniture that was scaled exactly right since there was such a variety, and this particular set he treasured both because it happened to be exactly the right size for him, and because it came with a set of usable teacups and a teapot, all made out of fine ceramic. Thistle privately thought it was too nice for a child to use for play, and any parent giving this to a clumsy child would be a fool.
He got out the plates he had too–likewise from a set for dolls. These ones were a little too big, but Thistle figured that was all right since Moon and Severa were bigger than him anyway. Marcy got him a nice, thin towel that made an excellent tablecloth, which he shook out and put over the table before putting out all the place settings. Marcy dug out the castaways from other mismatched sets that Thistle didn’t use–for Violet, a chair from a set that had been too small, and for Moon, one from a set that had been too big. Thistle had Marcy set the table on stacks of notecards to elevate it until Moon’s chair was the correct height, then do the same for the rest of the chairs until they could all sit equally level at the table. Violet’s chair was cartoonish–she would have to climb a stack more notecard than chair to get up to the table, but the alternative was making Moon sit with his knees to his chest, which Thistle didn’t want to do. The chairs were all boosted to the appropriate height in the end, and Thistle preened, so excited about having such a variety of people to talk to.
The whole setup was placed directly next to Marcy’s table setting, so she could sit at the human-sized chair to participate…and be within grabbing distance of the participants.
Teddy helped him make some small cakes, which he set out with a little bowl of jam. Colin got out the mealworms and put them in an ornamental dish, and also arranged crackers, cheese, and fruit at Thistle’s instructions. Marcy started brewing the tea so it would be hot when everyone arrived.
Teddy and Colin asked if they should participate, and Thistle apologetically told them it would probably be better to minimize the number of humans looming over them. He didn’t specify names, but he knew Moon would probably be incredibly unhappy with having three giants at the table. Teddy and Colin made themselves scarce, wishing Thistle good luck and shutting themselves in their bedroom to watch TV. He could see the disappointment on their faces, though they were happy to support him. They were good friends like that.
He didn’t blame them for being disappointed. This was going to be great.
Jewel arrived first, mostly because he arrived when Thistle instructed Marcy to scoop up some water and carry him over to the table in a mug. She set it down and pushed the cup flush with the small table, so Jewel didn’t have to lean over so much.
“Hey, bug boy!” Jewel shouted as he was set down. “This is quite a spread you’ve set out!”
“Yeah!” Thistle enthused. “Teddy helped me–no!” He cried this last part with horror as Jewel tried to take some of the cakes. “Stop! We can’t eat until everyone else is here!”
Jewel let go and held his hands up defensively. “Sheesh! All right.”
“No need to be snippish, Thistle,” Marcy chided.
“Sorry,” Thistle said, embarrassed.
Jewel crossed his arms and rested them on the lip of the cup. “Marcy… Are you…?” He looked at her from under his eyebrows, clearly struggling to get the words out. “Um.”
He’s scared, Marcy realized. She drew her hands around the cup, which caused him to flinch back, which wasn’t at all what she’d intended.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” she said. “I promise. I’ll be keeping a very close eye on her.”
Jewel nodded, some of his tension dissipating. “Right. Thanks. Maybe this will be nice…or at the very least, not a disaster.”
Violet arrived next. Petunia was dragged along behind her, clutching her leg, sobbing and wailing about how she wanted to go to the tea party too. Violet told her over and over that she couldn't because it was too dangerous, and eventually Marcy convinced her to go sit in the pink dollhouse instead.
Violet was still a little nervous about being handled, so she rappelled herself up to the top of the table with a grappling hook. “Eh,” she said. “I forgot ‘bout the fishmen.”
“Yo,” Jewel said, raising his hand. "I'm Jewel." He'd been trying to get less shy about telling people his name at Colin's suggestion, not that he would ever admit he'd taken it.
"I'm Violet," she said, looking at the food instead of Jewel.
“Don’t touch the snacks, or Thistle will bite your hand off.”
“They’re for when everyone gets here!” Thistle insisted. “It’s just–Violet!”
Violet had started taking a cracker even as Thistle had been speaking. “It’s just one from a stack,” she said, holding it up. It was the size of a dinner plate to her. “No one’ll notice it’s gone.”
“...everyone already at the table will notice, because we just saw you–You know what, fine, pick your battles. You can have one cracker, but that’s it.”
Violet slipped the cracker into her bag. It stuck out the top very visibly. Thistle walked over and gave it a kick, which broke it so the pieces slid down into a heap in the bag.
“Hey!” Violet said. “Don’t touch my stuff!”
“Your st- Violet, I-”
“It’s all right, Thistle,” Marcy interrupted. She reached over and picked him up by the back of the shirt, and he went limp like a kitten that’d been scruffed. “Don’t get all worked up, everything is fine. We have more crackers.”
She set him down in one of the chairs. Thistle looked embarrassed again. “Sorry, I just want it to be perfect.”
“Because that moth man is going to be here, is that it?” Jewel said, smiling devilishly.
Thistle went bright red and hid his face.
“Speaking of,” Jewel said.
Thistle instantly stood up, craning his neck at the window Moon had instructed them to leave open for him to enter. It was five minutes after the start time of three o’ clock, which was the fashionably late he’d warned Thistle about.
Moon alighted on the windowsill, fanning his wings and peering into the house cautiously. He wore the outfit they’d picked out together - a deep blue velvet suit with a red cravat and a wide-brimmed hat topped with a feather, the sunglasses tying the whole look together.
Thistle had warned Marcy to try and be restrained around Moon to not freak him out, so she sat at the table vibrating with excitement, eyes burning on him with barely held-back eagerness.
Moon spotted Thistle and fluttered onto the table. Thistle jogged over, smiling big. "Moon! Moon, thank you for coming!"
"Of course. It’s lovely to see you." Moon slid his sunglasses down to peer at Violet, still sitting at the table. "And who's this lovely creature?"
Violet blushed and squirmed. "V-Violet."
Moon took her hand and gave it a kiss. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he purred. "You may call me Moon."
Violet blushed even deeper and giggled. Thistle felt dread crash over him. Oh no. This was the worst thing that could have happened. Moon is like this with everyone.
Marcy couldn’t hold it in any longer. She leaned over, grinning. "Moon, it's-"
Moon cut her off with a glare. "You may call me Mister Moon."
Wow, okay, so maybe not everyone. Marcy wrung her hands, enthusiasm shot. "Right, okay…. Mr. Moon, it's great to meet you. Thistle's told me about you."
Moon pointed at her with his cane. "Let me make something perfectly clear for you. I am not here for your entertainment. You are not to touch me, ever, nor my companions without explicit permission immediately beforehand. As long as I am in the room, there will always be a nearby window open, or some substitutable manner of egress. You are not to stop me from attempting to leave, and you are not to make demands of me. You are not to touch me, ever. Do I make myself clear?"
Marcy looked cowed and chastised. "Y-yes, sir."
"Moon," Thistle whispered. "You don't have to talk to Marcy that way. She's nice."
Moon turned away from Marcy. “Never hurts to set clear boundaries.”
Thistle mouthed Sorry to Marcy, and she shrugged.
“Well, Marcy is going to make sure everything goes smoothly, and that Severa really does stay nonviolent. Um, I’m sure she’d love to talk with you, Moon, but-”
Moon pointedly turned his back to Marcy and walked over to the table.
“Right,” Thistle said. “Um.” He skittered over to Marcy. “Sorry, Marcy,” he whispered. “I want you to have fun, too, but it might be better for you to hang back and not intervene unless someone is in physical danger.”
“Oh,” Marcy said, trying not to let it show how crushed she was. “Right. I’ll…I’ll observe.”
“I’m really sorry, it’s just-”
“No, no, I get it.” She was trying very, very hard to get it and just be happy to be an observer–it really was an incredible privilege very few other humans had ever gotten–but she felt herself getting more upset with Moon. Of course it made total sense for him to be standoffish around her–there was no telling what kinds of experiences he had in his past–but could she not even interact with Thistle freely when he was around? Surely he didn’t have the right to demand that?
She kept her eyes on him. His frame was broader than Thistle’s, more muscular, and Thistle barely came up past his waist. Thistle seemed…more at ease around him much more quickly than he had been with Marcy.
Don’t be jealous. Don’t be jealous of a guy eight inches tall. That’s too ridiculous.
More than that, she was burning with curiosity. She knew even less about him than Thistle did, even less about him than she knew about Jewel and Violet and Severa. It was a significant effort to not just reach out and brush her fingers against him. The temptation was real, but she knew the consequences would be dire.
His wings were beautiful, with eye spots. He smelled nice. He fanned his wings as he stepped forwards towards Jewel, getting on with the interrupted introductions. "And who might this strapping specimen be?"
Jewel flushed deep red and sank down into the water in his mug, averting his eyes. For someone who’d been teasing Thistle about having a crush, he’d gotten awfully quiet as soon as the attractive one had shown up.
"This is Jewel," Thistle said. "He's shy."
"I'm not shy!" Jewel burst out.
"Then say hello."
He looked nervously at Moon. "H-hello."
"There," Moon purred. "See, I don't bite."
Marcy cleared her throat. "Speaking of… It seems like everyone is here now. Should I bring her out? Is everyone ready?”
The creatures on the table scuttered to their seats. Moon took the seat to Thistle’s right, leaning his cane against the chair, while Violet sat at the end of the line.
That left the other half of the table empty. A gap big enough for the largest tiny person invited.
“I think we’re ready!” Thistle said, flashing her a thumbs-up.
“Ready,” Moon announced.
“Let’s go, I guess,” Violet said nervously.
Jewel glowered and crossed his arms. "Sooner it can be over, I guess."
Marcy walked into the pantry, leaving the tiny creatures alone.
“Why are we doing this again?” Jewel said.
“If I can form a connection with Severa, she might not need to hunt,” Thistle answered.
Moon was staring at him. Thistle shrunk under his gaze. “I just–I just think it’s worth trying to find some way she can live without killing people.”
Moon folded his hands on his lap. “That’s awfully noble of you.”
“I still think this is kinda stupid,” Violet muttered. “She’s a predator.”
“We can at least try!” Thistle insisted. “If you had to eat people to survive, I’m sure you’d love for someone to try and help you! She’s hurt and trapped and scared and she has no way to help herself! You’ve been there!”
Violet’s ears lay flat back against her head. “I-I guess.”
Thistle nervously looked back at Moon, searching for approval. Moon looked surprised, if anything. “You really mean it. You really have compassion for her despite being terrified of her.”
Thistle fidgeted with his fork, unsure if he should try to confirm or deny it. He certainly felt something, and there was definitely both compassion and terror in his maelstrom of emotions.
Marcy came back, mercifully cutting the train of conversation off. She set the cage on the table and said in awkward Pixish, “All right, Severa, ready to exit?”
Severa tentatively uncurled, looking up at Marcy, and nodded.
“Remember, if anyone says she goes back in, she goes back in,” Marcy said to the others in English. "I’ll grab her as soon as you give the word."
“Your kind certainly are good at grabbing,” Moon commented darkly.
Marcy waffled back and forth on how to handle the rude comment, before she decided to just ignore it and unlock the cage then lower the door open.
Severa hauled herself out of the cage, slithering her long body over the door. Despite their agreement, all the small creatures at the table fidgeted. Jewel’s eyes were wide. Violet flinched repeatedly. Thistle’s breathing picked up. Moon’s face was cool and collected, but his ears twitched.
Severa didn’t seem bothered. She curled her coils up underneath her to use as a seat. "Hello,” she announced. "I am Severa."
Thistle suddenly realized he would be stuck translating if he wanted Jewel and Violet to understand Severa. "She’s introducing herself."
“Uh, h-hey,” Jewel said in English. "I’m Jewel."
Violet opened her mouth to speak, then clamped it shut, grabbing the tablecloth.
“You may call me Moon,” Moon said in Pixish. He reached out and lifted her hand up as though to give it a kiss. She was the only one big enough to have hands significantly larger than his.
She looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “What are you doing?”
His eyes flickered up to her, eyebrows raised. He quickly turned her hand sideways to give it a handshake instead. “Just–just a greeting, darling!”
“He’s just being friendly,” Thistle said in Pixish. “These are my friends Jewel, Moon, and Violet.” They weren’t his friends yet, not really–he didn’t make any magic with them. But he was patient. He’d get there eventually. “Jewel and Violet only speak English. But I can translate for them.”
Severa nodded. "Thistle intends for us all to be friends. I am willing to give it a try, though I do not think it will work." She put her enormous, scaly hand on the table. "How do we have…a tea party?”
Thistle perked up. "Well, you sit around and talk nicely and drink tea and eat snacks." He switched to English. "I told her your names, and I’m explaining to her what a tea party is." He’d known this wouldn’t be easy, but he hadn’t even considered the logistical difficulties. He’d never had to serve as a translator before. This was going to be…cumbersome.
"Wonderful," Severa said. She never had any enthusiasm in her voice, or much emotion at all. "May I eat, or will that upset your little friends?"
"Yes, go ahead!" He switched to English. "Everyone take some yummy snacks now! Dig in!"
"Finally," Jewel complained. He took a cake and bit into it. He got sparkles in his eyes immediately. It looked like he was about to cry, enraptured by the taste.
"You've never had cake before?" Thistle asked.
Jewel shook his head.
"Well…what do you think?"
Jewel swallowed quickly, face burning. "It's….fine." He quickly reached over and took two more.
Thistle beamed. “Yeah, it’s– Violet!"
Violet had been shoving food into her pack without even eating any of it. "What? You said we could have the food!"
"To enjoy with each other! Not hoard for later!"
"I'ma borrower! We hoard and save for later! It’s kinda our whole thing!”
Severa reached out towards the table, and everyone fell silent. Her enormous hand dipped into the bowl holding the mealworms and emerged holding one of the wriggling creatures. She simply opened her mouth and swallowed it whole, in one smooth motion.
Thistle tried to convince himself it wasn’t scary. He reached into the bowl and took one of his own. He bit the head off–that was as big of a bite as he could get. We’re not so different. See? We even eat the same food! She’s just big enough to eat the whole thing in one bite! Oh God oh God oh God-
“Is it working?” Thistle said, voice shrill. “Does anyone feel anything?”
Violet’s tail thrashed. Jewel nibbled on his cakes, rendered speechless. Moon lifted his teacup up and spoke in English. “I feel thirsty. I thought this was a tea party? Hm?” He waggled the cup.
“R-right! Marcy, can you pour the tea?”
Marcy’s mind was filled with horrible images of her spilling the hot liquid all over the tiny people at the table. Don’t think about it, don’t spill it, holy shit. She took the teapot in the center of the miniature table and brought it over to herself, then filled it with tea from the larger teapot.
“There you go,” she said, setting it back. “Enjoy!”
Moon ignored her and picked up the miniature teapot, pouring himself a cup. “My, this smells delicious! I haven’t had tea in ages–not since I lived with those borrowers back in Louisville.”
Violet’s tail curled upwards. “You lived with borrowers?”
“Yes, indeed! And I know what you’re thinking, how could that have possibly worked? Considering our, ah…” He gestured to Violet, tracing an imaginary line from her head to his. “Differences.”
“Wha’sthasupposestamean?” she demanded.
“I’m simply referring to the fact that I’m nearly thrice your size, darling.”
Violet looked a bit mollified.
“But to answer the question, I simply used magic to make myself smaller!”
“You can do that?” Jewel said, astonished. “The most I can do is make myself look like a fish, but I don’t actually turn into one.”
“Yes, I know a number of spells I can use to modify my appearance!”
Thistle’s mind ran off with that thought. Was this…was this what Moon actually looked like?
"What is he saying?" Severa said.
"He, uh, he said he lived with borrowers for a while, and he can do magic to alter his appearance, including shrinking himself down."
“That’s fascinating,” Severa said, voice as flat as ever. “All of my magic is for helping me hunt.”
Moon looked nervous. “Erm…right.”
“Although I suppose for certain kinds of creatures-”
“That’s enough about hunting,” Moon said. “Magic is fascinating, and it has many uses beyond hunting.”
"You don't have to be scared," Thistle whispered to Moon. "Marcy will stop her if she tries to hunt us."
Severa took the teapot and poured some into her cup. “You know, Thistle,” she said, lifting the cup in her enormous hand. She was able to fully close her hand around it. “I’m surprised you’re so tense around me, but perfectly at ease around Moon, considering he’s an ukubó.”
There it was again. A word he’d never heard before in Pixish. Thistle was faced now more than ever with the realization that his knowledge was limited to whatever his hive had known about magic, and whatever knowledge gaps Mother’d had, he now had as well.
Whatever the meaning of the word, Moon didn’t seem to like it. He stood up, slamming his hands on the table and rattling everything on it. “Do not say that in front of them,” he growled.
Thistle, Violet, and Jewel drew back fearfully.
“They don’t know what it means,” Severa said, amused. She lifted her teacup to her mouth and took a sip. "Two of them don't even speak Pixish."
Had…had Severa just called Moon a slur or something? “Severa, please be nice,” Thistle whispered. He’d have to ask later what that word meant.
Her mouth turned up in a wry smile. “Fine.”
Hackles still raised, Moon sat down.
"What exactly is going on?" Jewel said, irritated. "You're all just yelling at each other in Pixish."
"Sorry," Thistle said. "I think Severa called Moon a rude name or something."
"...huh, I didn't expect her to attack us emotionally."
Moon crossed his arms. “But, yes, to get back to the point, I’ve interacted with a number of species of magical creatures and learned a number of magical spells.”
“Well lah-de-dah,” Jewel said, burying his nose in his teacup. “Mr. Cool Guy over here. Thinks just because he smells nice he’s God’s gift to the table.”
“He does smell nice!” Violet piped up. “Like hickory and cured meats and cheeses!”
Questioning eyes fell on her. “What?” Jewel said. “No he doesn’t. He smells salty, like ocean water.”
“That’s you,” Violet insisted.
Moon’s frame shook with laughter, and he leaned in towards Thistle. “What do I smell like to you, my dear?”
“You smell like…honeysuckle. Wildflowers.”
Moon smiled, eyes soft. “You all have discovered my pheromones.”
“Ph…eremones?”
He picked up a cube of cheese and weighed it in his hand. “I smell different to everyone. It has to do with my magic, you see.”
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a grappling hook catching on the table and distant grunting sounds.
Violet leapt out of her seat and rushed to the end of the table, peering over it. Of course it was Petunia hanging from the line of the grappling hook, shimmying her way up it in her prettiest dress.
“Petunia, get down!” Violet shouted. “Go back and play!”
“No!” Petunia shouted back. “I’m coming to the party!”
Severa uncoiled herself and slithered away from the table. Marcy hesitantly raised her hands as though to stop her, but nobody told her to, so she didn’t. She let Severa go over to the edge and lean over to look down. Violet’s knees buckled, and she fell, shuffling away from Severa but refusing to leave the grappling hook.
What Petunia saw was her sister’s face looking down at her, then the much larger face of a scaled predator leaning into her field of view. She froze halfway up the line, letting out a scared meep.
“You-you see!” Violet yelled. “It’s dang’rous! Get back!”
Petunia’s gaze stayed frozen on Severa. Severa stared back, eyes misty, tears brimming. “Oh, oh my God,” she breathed. “That baby is so small. Whose baby is that?”
Thistle got up and got between Severa and Violet. “That’s Petunia,” Thistle said. “She’s Violet’s little sister. They don’t have parents. Violet is taking care of her.”
“No parents?” Severa said, heartbroken. She put her hand over her heart. “Can…Can I hold her?”
Thistle bit his lip. He already knew what the answer was going to be, but he had to translate it anyway. “Violet, she’s asking if she can hold Petunia.”
“What!” Violet stood up ramrod straight, fur on end. “No! Definitely not!”
“Violet, if she wanted to hurt Petunia, she wouldn’t ask to hold her.”
“Maybe it’s just to get her up on the table.”
“She wants to hold me?” Petunia’s distant voice said. She cautiously restarted climbing up the rope. “Everyone else is up there and nothing bad happened!”
“Please,” Severa said desperately. “I would never hurt a child. Please let me hold her.”
It suddenly clicked for Thistle. She had an egg due. Either she was hormonal, or she had a soft spot for children. Maybe this could be the key. This was the first time she’d expressed any strong emotions about anything at all. Even during hunting her general demeanor had been passive chagrin and dull acceptance of the situation at hand.
“I can’t,” Violet said, starting to cry. “I can’t let Petunia get so close to a predator. I can’t. Thistle, even if your humans are here to watch, they won’t be able to stop her in time if she hurts Petunia while she’s holdin’ her.”
That…was a very good point. Thistle had no counterargument. “Okay, you’re right about that… But what if we just let Petunia come up on the table? She doesn’t have to get close. Severa’s been here long enough that we can see she’s not going to just ballistic for no reason.”
Severa kneaded her hand, still looking at Petunia.
Violet hesitated. “All…all right. But only if Teddy comes and sits at the table too.”
“No,” Moon said instantly. “Having one human here is bad enough.”
“Would you all just calm down!” Thistle said, stomping. “Nothing is even happening. I’m the one she tried to kill, not any of you! And none of the humans in this house have done anything except try to be supportive right now!”
Moon flushed and turned away. Violet fidgeted with the hem of her shirt and muttered.
Petunia’s little hands finally appeared at the edge of the table, dragging herself up. She wound her grappling hook line behind her. “I’m here!”
Severa made a motion to start towards her, but Thistle stood in front of her, despite his own hands shaking with fear. “Severa, wait.” Marcy is here, Marcy would stop her if she attacked.
She stopped, eyes still on Petunia. “I wouldn’t hurt her.”
“I believe you, but Violet is uncomfortable with you holding her.”
Severa flexed her hand, looking anxious to interact with Petunia.
“Violet?” Thistle prompted.
Violet’s head swung from Thistle to Severa to Petunia. “I…Okay, she can sit at the table. But she has to be at the seat farthest from her.”
“Thank you,” Thistle breathed, having no idea how to resolve this otherwise. “I promise she’ll be safe.” He turned to Severa. “How about you sit at the table together for a while before we talk about holding her?”
Severa backed up slightly, coils wrapping around herself. “Yes. Okay. Thank you.”
The small creatures all cautiously retook their seats. “Everything okay?” Marcy whispered.
Thistle flashed her two thumbs up. “Everything’s cool, calm, and copacetic!”
Petunia dashed over, giggling happily, and clambered up into Violet’s lap. The poof of her dress crinkled against the table. “Vivi! Look at all the food!”
“Yes,” Violet said cautiously. “You can have some.”
Petunia opened her bag and started shoveling food in. Ah. Well, Thistle wasn’t going to tell Petunia not to do that.
Severa watched the tiny borrower, her expression now completely different. She had a soft glow about her. She was smiling. “Your dress is very pretty.”
Thistle translated. “She said your dress is pretty.”
Petunia perked up. “Yay! Thank you, thank you! Your ribbon is nice.”
Thistle translated. Severa reached a hand up and stroked her hair ribbon. “I’m not sure why I wear it. I suppose it feels nice, sometimes, to feel beautiful, instead of only destroying beautiful things.”
Thistle’s skin crawled. Every time he’d almost managed to start forgetting Severa’s true nature, he was reminded of it somehow. He decided to only translate the Thank you.
Moon cleared his throat. “So tell us more about yourself, Severa. Do you have any children of your own?”
Thistle certainly hoped not, because they would have been keeping her from them the past few days. “No,” she answered, much to his relief. “Though not for lack of trying. My first hatchling starved to death, because I was a poor hunter at the time. Inexperienced. My second disappeared from my nest at the hands of a predator while I was away. My third egg was laid premature, small and feeble, and when it hatched it was not strong enough to survive. I’ve held off on mating for a while after that, since I could not take any more heartbreak.”
“Oh?” Moon said. “That’s tragic. I’m so sorry.”
Thistle privately thought it wasn’t tragic at all for there to be fewer nagas in the world, but he did have to admit the idea of innocent babies dying was sad, of course. Theoretically. In reality, he was struggling to detach himself from the hivemind way of thinking–that he shouldn’t feel bad about someone dying if they were a threat to the hive.
But he wasn’t with his hive anymore, he was with Marcy, and Severa wasn’t a threat to her.
Severa’s gaze came over and burned into Thistle. “But I do have an egg due soon, now. I hope it will be different from the others, but I do not have much hope. I need lots of magic to produce a healthy egg.”
“Right…” Thistle hadn’t felt the spark of magic he knew meant he was making a connection with someone else. Severa was just too scary. It was easy to say you were friends. It was harder to actually do it. You couldn’t fake it. You could lie to yourself, but you couldn’t lie to magic.
Severa picked up her teacup agitatedly. “Perhaps your plan would work, Thistle, if I were allowed to hold the baby.”
“I’m sorry,” Thistle said. “Violet doesn’t want you to.”
Severa slammed her cup down. “I would not hurt a child! I have never hurt a child! You act like I am a monster!”
You ARE a monster, Thistle wanted to say, but he didn’t, of course. “I’m sorry.”
“Uhh, Thistle,” Jewel said nervously. “What’s happening?”
Severa’s tongue flicked in and out, and her sides heaved as she hissed in air. “We both know this isn’t going to work. I’m going to die, and you’re not even going to let me hold the baby before I die. And for what?”
Marcy’s hands crept closer, alarmed by the visible increase in agitation.
“Severa,” Thistle squeaked. “Please. It’s not going to work if you get mad at me.”
“It’s not going to work at all!” Severa got up, leaning over the table at Thistle. “We both know that! You are trying to defy the natural order of things! You are foolish and naive! To think I could be anything other than a killer, a predator! I am hungry! And not for companionship!”
She lunged. Jewel splashed back in his cup, Violet grabbed Petunia and darted away, and Moon threw himself at Thistle to push him out of the way.
She didn’t reach him, though: Marcy’s hand closed around her, yanking her up into the air.
Severa writhed in her grip, squeezed her wrist. Petunia cried loudly. Severa stopped and looked down at the little girl, tears in her eyes.
“I wouldn’t hurt a child,” she insisted.
Still sobbing in fear, Petunia got up and scampered away, Violet not far behind.
“Come back,” Severa wept. “Come back. Please. If I could just hold a baby one more time, I could die happy.”
“Okay, teaparty over,” Marcy declared. “Sorry.”
***
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This was not at all the way I thought this fic was going but a certain scene took over my mind, and I literally couldn’t do anything else until I’d got it down… Virgil refused to do as he was told and got carried away and then Scott took me by surprise and got heavily involved also. It needed an external viewpoint so Gordon has now inexplicably shoehorned himself into the action… let’s just say it got very out of control.
It also doesn’t advance the plot in any way at all, adds absolutely nothing to the mystery and no hints for the solution either. So let’s call it a little interlude (chapter 3b-i perhaps) and then forget it ever happened 😂
Apologies if this gives anyone a persistent earworm, but I hope I’ve conveyed the mental image well enough to make it a fun one… and it can’t be all classical all the time, can it?
*cackles*
Release
Gordon had been in the next town over using a dozer-pod to assist with clearing some of the more major roads. The rescue Virgil had dropped him off for turned out to be fairly straightforward once he’d cleared the entrance of the old stadium and everyone had just walked out. Frankly it had been a while since he’d had a non-traumatic mission and so when asked if he could lend a hand with this more mundane task he was more than happy to make it worth the effort of configuring the pod.
The only hitch had been where his comm unit had started glitching out - he’d managed to relay a static-filled message to John with his location and that he was safe and would wait for Two to collect him. John had confirmed receipt but all had gone quiet since.
Becoming increasingly bored, and with nothing better to do Gordon figured he’d start making his way back down the road towards where his brothers were finishing off. The pod should have a few miles’ worth of juice left and it was better just than hanging around waiting in the dark. He attached a storm lantern to the roof of the pod to make sure Virgil wouldn’t miss him when he flew over.
The “make a start on the journey” soon became “make the entire journey”. Finding both One and Two dark and empty in a field outside town, Gordon sighed, left the pod there and started trekking down the road towards civilisation.
Mildly grumpy at being abandoned, he decided the best revenge would be to sneak up on them, whatever they were doing and cause some mischief. Maybe see if he could trigger that rare girlish screech both the bigger bros could emit when unexpectedly jabbed in the side below the ribs. Gordon could be immensely stealthy when required, a fact not commonly recognised by his family due to the more usual clownish strutting style of movement he favoured. He strode along, fuelled by the unique variety of adrenaline released by full scale plotting.
Gordon’s recall of the town centre itself was hazier than his older brothers’ and the pictures he did have were overlaid with the memory of his mother’s hand firmly restraining him from running out into the traffic. But he recognised the jumble of structures that made up the old school. It seemed to be the only building with any sign of life so he jogged towards it. At least someone here might be able to tell him where his family had got to.
In fact, the school appeared to have a whole town’s worth of life… as he neared it he could hear… was that stamping? And… yeah, ok that was definitely singing. All thoughts of stealth and prankage swept from his mind by curiosity he sprinted across the playground and skidded through the front entrance, into reception and was hit by a wall of sound as hundreds of voices were half singing / half yelling a line which felt vaguely familiar but he couldn’t quite place…
WHOA-OH!
He gripped on to the doorframe of the hall entrance with both hands and his jaw dropped so emphatically he faintly wondered if he’d dislocated something as he tried to comprehend the scene in front of him.
The majority of the town seemed to be gathered around the piano, stamping, clapping, banging crutches and, in one notable case, smashing two saucepans together with abandon - all singing and egging on the man at the keys. When Gordon’s eyes fixed on that figure everything else briefly faded out. He’d thought he knew this man well but had never in his life encountered this version:
Jet black hair had fallen out of the carefully constructed fauxhawk, some sticking wildly out to the side, the rest plastered to his forehead. His head thrown back, his eyes wide and wild and the world’s biggest smile on his sweaty dirt-marked face as he hammered out the accompaniment:
JUST ONE LOOK AND I CAN HEAR A BELL RING
ONE MORE LOOK AND I FORGET EVERYTHING
Oh wow, he did know this, it was some Swedish band from the 20th century that his parents had loved. But he hadn’t heard it in… so long.
Grinning, he wormed his way through the crowd only to freeze in absolute astonishment when the man standing next to Virgil came into view.
The poised Field Commander of International Rescue was passionately punching the air as he sang at the top of his voice, tears of laughter streaming down his face:
YES, I’VE BEEN BROKEN HEARTED
BLUE SINCE THE DAY WE PARTED
His other arm was around an elderly gentleman who was waving a walking cane and bouncing enthusiastically.
Virgil’s gauntlets and comm unit had been dropped to the floor at some point and Gordon noticed John’s hologram, arms folded and a smirk on his face, silently observing the proceedings. So that’s why everyone had forgotten him.
The tiny bubble of resentment popped as soon as it arose. Whatever it was that had unlocked this joy and abandon in his brothers, he wanted IN - Gordon threw his arms around a nearby group of teenagers and belted out the lyrics that had been nestled in his brain for over a decade:
MAMMA MIA, HERE I GO AGAIN
MY, MY, HOW CAN I RESIST YOU
…
If you find yourself wanting to learn to play what Virgil is, there’s another one of those cool videos here:
youtube
#thunderbirds are go#thunderbirds#virgil tracy#scott tracy#gordon tracy#thunderbirds fanfiction#Thunderfluff#MASSIVE EARWORM WARNING#Youtube#the paint mystery#idontknowreallywhy fanfic#idkrw thunderfluff
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Last Monday of the Week 2024-03-25
Can't tell if this is allergies or if I'm sick because spring is in the air
Listening: I have been listening to The Layover podcast, the behind the scenes podcast for Jet Lag The Game. I only got into Jet Lag pretty recently because I had Nebula anyway and saw it come up. Great show, both because the premise is great (carefully designed games incorporating travel on the scale of countries) and because they can actually edit this incredibly difficult pile of footage into something readable.
The Behind The Scenes is an interesting mix of talk about the on-the-ground situation of playing the game and the filmmaking that goes on after the fact, there's some cool insight into how and why they edit the way they do and it shows why it works so well.
I think you have to have Nebula to listen to the podcast? It does just spit out an RSS feed if you ask nicely though. Thank you podcasts.
Watching: Actually watched The Gay And Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, the video series that launched like two dozen reaction images.
youtube
It's funny, it's a well put together indie comedy series. You've probably seen most of the really standout bits already even if you don't know it already but it is worth watching as a time capsule of web comedy, it's less than two hours long all told.
Reading: Started Glory In The Thunder by 0xabad1dea. I don't know what her real name is. I've had GITT in my ebooks library forever, 0xabad1dea is the main reason I got on twitter back in like 2016 (her and a couple other software blogs) and is why my Fediverse feed is still like a quarter security researchers by weight. She's probably one of the most well known static analysis researchers in the world.
Anyway Glory In The Thunder is a gaslamp-ish fantasy, although leaning very fantasy on the gaslamps. Very teenage characters which is whiplash but only because it's been a moment. Lots of very loud characters who announce themselves and their intentions, some fun seven dimensional politics going on, and a lot of jumping back and forth in the histories of the various gods who are constantly hanging around in the plot.
I think @shieldfoss has bugged me to read this before so you'll be glad to know that I am now.
I like this, I'm about halfway through. It's easy to keep track of despite having enough fantasy names to choke a horse, although I should really stop worrying about that, I've read the Shadowdance series you really have to try to beat that one. It's also a free book, you can get it at @gloryinthethunder.
Playing: Got a VR headset. Fidgeting with said headset. Figured out how to do wireless linked VR from Linux and Windows which is good, I should have all the kinks worked out, I'll have to see how I square the onboard capabilities of the Quest 2 with having a PC and fast WiFi.
Making: Finally run through enough smaller prints on the new hotend to feel confident running off the final endcap, so that's done. The parts of the 3D printed NAS case are complete, and I have started my first pass sanding which is going to take a while because PETG is very slippery. Once that's sanded I'll take it in to the shared workshop and run through some primer layers and some paint.
Tools and Equipment: Flat network cable is a godsend if you're running it in open air in a house. Absolutely useless for pulling through walls or running in conduit, and completely bereft of shielding, but having a flat cord that can press up against frames and sideboards really does make it all neater. I ran flat cat6 for all of this.
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