fanfic

in the shadows

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

whetstonefires:

whetstonefires:

hey guess who has two thumbs and just spent 5 hours straight writing another batman AU?

–

Batman wasn’t a person.

He faked it very well. When the League gathered, the line of his mask against pale skin looked natural and human, a little more perfectly fitted than the Flash’s but not quite as perfect as Green Lantern’s, which was an energy projection and not a real object and thus lay against his face flawlessly, without shift or gap.

His mouth didn’t bend into many expressions and his body language wasn’t voluble, but the emotive gestures that he did make were pretty normal. The rare smile seemed honest. He had a heartbeat, perfectly steady. His shadow (almost) always matched the shape that was blocking the light.

The stories that came out of Gotham, about the Bat—those could be exaggerations, born of terror and manipulated perception. Clark, of all people, knew how much you could convince people to believe things that weren’t real, because they made a better story. Even the scraps of photography and film showing a towering thing of black fog and long fangs could have been some clever trick with projectors.

The fact that Superman couldn’t see through his suit just meant it was well made.

He’d had to pool his observations with Diana and J’onn before he’d been sure he wasn’t imagining things. But Martian Manhunter knew shapeshifting, and said the block against his mind when he tried to touch Batman’s thoughts did not feel quite human. And Superman knew what posing as human looked like. And Wonder Woman knew truth, and its absence.

Batman wasn’t human. Which wasn’t the problem, of course.

The problem was that he was pretending he was. Pretending it rigorously in a situation where there shouldn’t be any need, unless he had something worse to hide. Pretending it in a way that overlaid on a certain inhuman predatory grace began to look very dangerous indeed.

Superman could see both things in him now, watching narrow-eyed through a roof into the room where Batman bent over a child’s bed, cape swirling up larger and darker than he let it get around them. The man and the hungry creature, flipping in and out of focus, neither ever gone but superimposed, like a trick picture that was two things at once.

Knuckles ghosted over the boy’s cheek, claws turned inward, and the child sighed softly, and sunk deeper into sleep. Batman’s heart wasn’t beating, but Clark could monitor the child’s vitals easily from here.

Batman drew his hand back, and tipped his head up—looking back at Superman as though the roof was no more a barrier to his perceptions than to Clark’s. Waited a beat, as if making sure his attention had been noticed, and then passed soundlessly between the other beds to the window, slid it open, and launched himself out through it and up onto the roof.

He didn’t bother to restrain himself to even a plausible approximation of human limits, now. The arm he reached up to the edge of the roof to pivot himself up by was too long, and his shoulder rotated further than it should have been able to, and he landed with impossible soundlessness in a billow of cape that was far, far larger than any cape that only reached to his heels should have managed, and which faded out at the edges into shadow. He knew he was found out.

Superman took the obvious invitation, and sunk down to join him. It was better, sitting like this, facing the same way on the ridgepole of a two-story building. Batman hadn’t hurt that child, that he could tell. There was no need to make this a confrontation.

“I don’t understand why,” he said at last. Out of deference for sleeping children, he kept his voice soft—he would have worried about a human being able to hear it, but now he knew he didn’t have to worry about that with Batman. “Why go to so much trouble to deceive us? We haven’t kept secret what we are. Not from you.”

Alien, alien, user of alien weapon, magical princess…

Batman sighed. He spoke almost as softly as Clark had, and his voice sounded the same as ever, except for the fact that a human voice couldn’t get this quiet without falling into a whisper. “I’m not like you.” He turned.

He’d let some of the details of his human mask fall away—what must have been the exhaustively rendered texture of skin, the flakes of dry skin on chapping lips, a crease at the corner of his mouth that had suggested he scowled or smiled more, outside of his costume. There was no pretense of a jawbone, under the skin, though the jawline externally hadn’t changed. The cowl still looked like something he was wearing, but Clark knew it was not. It flexed like skin when Batman narrowed his blank white eyes and said, “I can see you know that.”

“You’ve visited that kid every day for weeks,” Clark said. “Why?”

Batman stared at him. “How long have you known?”

“Batman…”

“You’re confronting me now because you’re worried about my intentions toward Dick. He changed your mind about something. Ergo, you’ve been sitting on this for a while. How long have you known I wasn’t real?”

Keep reading

second part here!

Tags:

#fanfic #Batman #Superman #death tw #h/t kaylin881; reblogging version with link to part 2

~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

brawltogethernow:

I know it’s 2020 but Merlin AU where Uther notices a bunch of problems that could only be solved by magic ~spontaneously~ getting solved around Arthur, and concludes that this must be a side effect of Arthur only existing due to magical intervention. An intense bigotry-versus-parental-love internal conflict commences, followed by some that’s-pretty-hypocritcal-of-you-isn’t-it-dad screaming external conflict, generally upending everything. Merlin is standing in the corner the entire time holding a serving jug of mead and sweating.

 

brawltogethernow:

Morgana, dramatically slamming open the throne room doors with both arms: I’M ALSO UNWILLINGLY MAGIC.
Arthur: What????
Morgana, raising one fist at him: Solidarity, motherFUCKER!
Arthur: What????????

 

brawltogethernow:

What’s Uther gonna do? What’s he gonna fucking do???? Execute his secret Scottish child, but not his nonsecret blond heir child??? They’re ganging up on him now. He’s fucking cornered.

 

outshinethestars:

#what a way for Arthur to get dumped into this drama#I’M PRETTY SURE I AM NOT MAGIC#“you keep killing things that can only be killed by magic tho’#…full disclosure i often don’t remember it#so sometimes you black out and accomplish magical feats?#NO!  ( @whetstonefires )

 

brawltogethernow:

This is about the part where Merlin escalates to chugging the royal mead.

Tags:

#BBC Merlin #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #story ideas I will never write #fanfic #embarrassment squick

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~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

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glumshoe:

A new Star Trek series but 90% of the dramatic tension comes from each of the characters believing themselves to be the Outsider archetype.

If YOU’RE the new Spock, and I’M the new Data, and HE’s the new Seven of Nine, and SHE’S the new Odo, and THEY’RE also the new Spock…. then who’s piloting the ship?!

 

protectspock:

Sometimes a family can be five autistic-coded characters flying a starship through space. 

 

glumshoe:

Kermit Nod

 

alarajrogers:

A Vulcan, an android, an ex-Borg, a Founder, and an autistic human? I’m on board for that.

Seriously, I’m on board. I’ll make a self insert just for this show. :-)

 

glumshoe:

And then when the bog standard Relatable Everyman character joins the cast he realizes that HE is now the awkward Outside archetype who makes humorous social miscalculations.

 

glumshoe:

I can’t stress enough that the narrative must not present the Relatable Everyman as a relatable everyman. He is not the audience proxy, the de facto protagonist, OR the token normie. He is the Outsider and he is presented as such, and he gets special bittersweet episodes dedicated to exploring his attempts to figure out his place in his community.

 

trekmemes:

‘Relatable Everyman’ doesn’t come on until S4, and all their attempts at humor and flirting and friendship making are jarring and confusing and uncomfortable. Their jokes don’t seem to land. All their social norms get chucked out the window. They spend a lot of time confused and alone until the benevolent crew deigns to try and teach the Everyman how to fit in.

 

glumshoe:

Exactly.

I also want to emphasize that Mr. Everyman isn’t treated as a joke. He isn’t just some pathetic doofus among impressive titans who ends up the butt of every joke. The narrative must have genuine compassion for him and present his struggles with sympathy and optimism. His social accomplishments are celebrated but assimilation should not be the ultimate goal of his character arc; for as much as his differences cause pain and humor and complications, the crew comes to accept and appreciate that his uniqueness is valuable in its own way. Every now and then he has a particular quality that helps to save the day, but ultimately Mr. Everyman is part of the family and forcing him to change would be unthinkable.

 

alarajrogers:

1. Everyone on the ship engages in perfectly normal levels of social activity, which is to say, they work together and then they retreat to their quarters after work for solitary pursuits, or get together for one-on-one interaction, like playing a board game, because in the future everyone loves board games. The Neurotypical Outsider (NTO), an extrovert, tries desperately to get everyone together to play a game and is always trying to spend time with everyone off duty. Everyone politely blows them off because that level of social neediness is kind of embarrassing. The NTO shows signs of being deeply unhappy, maybe even depressed. The ship’s doctor discovers that extroverts literally require the presence of social interaction with others almost constantly to support their mental health. No one wants their friend to suffer, so they apologize for how they’ve been blowing off the NTO and agree that they will get together for a weekly board game as a group, and that everyone will try to spend at least half an hour socially interacting with the NTO after work every day. Also, the mysterious comet turns out to be a generation ship from an ancient race of aliens.

2. On a diplomatic mission, the aliens serve the crew a food containing a substance that is bitter to humans. The autistic human refuses to eat it on the grounds that it tastes awful, but the NTO bravely chokes it down and pretends to like it. The autistic human does not understand how this is possible and questions it, leading to the NTO admitting that they lied. Danger! It turns out that on this world, lying is a crime punishable by death! The NTO pleads that they were just trying to be polite, that where they come from refusing someone’s hospitality or admitting that their food is awful is incredibly rude. The crew present character witnesses of what a great person the NTO is and how they’ve been such a good friend and helpful crewmate. The aliens admit that they have never encountered the concept before of someone lying for the benefit of others; on their world lying is always assumed to be malicious and intended for selfish gain at others’ expense. The captain gives a beautiful speech about how every culture in this universe is different and we must make allowances for the differences of others in order to find wonderful friendships. The NTO is released. Everyone has learned an important lesson today. Also, the problem with the warp core is discovered to be caused by space squirrels that phase in and out of reality.

3. The NTO’s parents are diplomats and the ship is tasked with taking them to a conference. It turns out that they are even more extroverted than the NTO, loud-mouthed to the point where they freak out the autistic human who has perfectly normal sound sensitivities, who shouts at them in response and then they yell at the autistic human for shouting at them and cause a meltdown. They are vaguely racist to the Vulcan, condescendingly tolerant to the android, and outright blatantly racist to the ex-Borg. The NTO tries desperately to play all this off as if it’s harmless jokes or ignorance because the NTO loves their parents and does not want to suffer their disapproval, but is in truth utterly sickened by it. Finally the NTO musters up the courage to challenge their parents and tell them how obnoxious they are being and how they do not approve of this treatment of their crewmates and friends. This is as they reach the conference planet, so the parents flounce off in a flurry of “well I nevers” and entitled anger. This makes the NTO miserable, even though they know they did the right thing by standing up to their parents. Then the parents call from the planet to apologize for their behavior, but it turns out, they still have no concept of what they did wrong– they assume the problem is that the NTO has to work with “these people” so of course has to stand up for them because it’s not like Starfleet lets its officers pick their own ships, and they totally don’t get that the NTO was genuinely offended on their friends’ behalf. However, the NTO accepts this apology and doesn’t challenge it because they want their parents’ approval. Then they feel guilty, but the other members of the crew reassure them that they understand, because they are Starfleet officers and thus contractually obligated to have terrible relationships with their own parents. The episode ends with the crew telling the NTO amusing anecdotes about their own conflicts with their parents. Also, the aliens who have been trying to shoot the ship down as it goes to the conference location turn out to be highly advanced energy beings who were just testing the Federation’s commitment to peace.

Tags:

#autism #story ideas I will never write #Star Trek #embarrassment squick #fanfic #oh look an update

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

cakesandfail:

So I was just thinking about those posts you get in the Discworld tag about the way belief works on the Disc and how Vetinari and/or Vimes is so integral to the way Ankh-Morpork works that they might just sort of… not ever die.

You know, the ones like ‘Vimes is going to become a god of policemen and he’s going to hate it”.

Well. What if it happens to both of them? There are two parts to the city, after all. ‘Proud Ankh’ needs taking down a peg or two (or seven) by Sam Vimes, and if anyone can terrify ‘pestilent Morpork’ into being better then it’s Havelock Vetinari. And they can drive each other mad with stealth puns for centuries, if they want.

Also, this would potentially make them literally Law And Order, and that just seems very fitting in a way that would probably annoy them both.

 

violent-darts:

My favourite sort of riff on this is the idea that they aren’t there ALL the time, but if someone who’s taken over their authority or whatever starts fucking up, they become Active. 

Sort of like Carrot’s comment in Men At Arms: when you need them, you REALLY need them, but when you don’t, best if they just go away and get on with things (in their cases, being dead). So when things are going all right it’s very quiet and ordinary. 

And then when things start going WRONG suddenly you have things like the current patrician waking up to a Very Angry Manifestation of the Late Duke of Ankh, proceeding to remind him or her (would it be matrician, then?) about How Things Are Done (By Law). 

Or the abusive Commander of the Watch coming into his or her office to find a calm man, thin man like a predatory flamingo there to discuss the virtues of temperance and accountability and not having his/her Watch-house and/or personal lodgings being literally struck from on high by a meteor (can’t be lightning, Vimes and Io can’t even exchange a civil sentence, but Vimes has always been good at getting around these things). 

And yes in the mean time when things ARE quiet, they can watch everything and get on each other’s nerves and it’s basically like Colon’s office except instead of for old street monsters it’s for ancient legends of civil justice who can’t quite stand to even fade away and still have enough people believing and invoking them that they can stick around and growl when people get out of line. 

 

adramofpoison:

I s2g DO NOT make me ship there two

 

westbrookwestbooks:

Oh I like this! 

And now I have headcanon: 

Everyone knows when Vimes appears. There’s a scent of heavy tobacco in the air, a feeling like a thunderstorm that builds and builds and builds as he (his specter? his presence? whatever you want to call it, it’s terrifying to those who are unjust) stalks down the hall towards whomever requires a prod buttock. 

Vetinari? No one knows when he’s coming. You’ll just walk into your office, and he will simply be there. The silent, black-clad figure, sitting in your chair, waiting for you (occasionally, there will be another, silent, black-clad figure, one with a smile and a scythe, waiting for you. DEATH, more than anyone, understands duty, and he and Vetinari exchange greetings whenever their paths cross). And the manifestation of the Patrician will nod to a chair, and the perpetrator will sink into it, unwillingly, and be subjected to-something, no one can ever remember quite what happens during these moments, only that they will be sweating afterwards and the chair behind the desk will be empty. 

Tags:

#Discworld #fanfic #headcanons #amnesia cw

~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

glumshoe:

A new Star Trek series but 90% of the dramatic tension comes from each of the characters believing themselves to be the Outsider archetype.

If YOU’RE the new Spock, and I’M the new Data, and HE’s the new Seven of Nine, and SHE’S the new Odo, and THEY’RE also the new Spock…. then who’s piloting the ship?!

 

protectspock:

Sometimes a family can be five autistic-coded characters flying a starship through space. 

 

glumshoe:

Kermit Nod

 

alarajrogers:

A Vulcan, an android, an ex-Borg, a Founder, and an autistic human? I’m on board for that.

Seriously, I’m on board. I’ll make a self insert just for this show. :-)

 

glumshoe:

And then when the bog standard Relatable Everyman character joins the cast he realizes that HE is now the awkward Outside archetype who makes humorous social miscalculations.

 

alarajrogers:

I think I’ve actually seen fanfics about the lone Human aboard a Vulcan science vessel and the humorous social miscalculations that resulted, but it’d be kind of awesome to see multiple autistic-coded species interacting with each other and then the token Normal Human. (And I think it’s very important that one of the autistic-coded people actually be an autistic human; let’s not accidentally suggest that only non-humans could possibly act autistic.)

Tags:

#autism #Star Trek #story ideas I will never write #this isn’t the same thing but: #I read a story once about a universe where Bashir’s parents were caught before they could augment him #that universe isn’t *as* different as his parents would have expected #Jules grows and develops and in the end *is* capable of becoming (and does become) DS9’s chief medical officer #but he is still very much autistic and very much aware of what his parents tried to take from him #fanfic #(this is my fourth attempt to post this: it keeps freezing up when I hit ”reblog”)

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~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

captainkirkk:

AU where Zuko realises very early into his banishment that he’s been sent on a hopeless goose chase and, actually, he doesn’t want to return to the oppressive Fire Nation and his abusive father. And he sticks with this decision even after Aang wakes up from the iceberg

Except then Aang meets Zuko – probably when Zuko jumps in to save someone, because his sense of justice is too strong to just sit back while someone is hurt, even if he is trying to remain apolitical – and his brain goes “!!!!” Because that’s a good firebender. They do exist. And now Aang knows someone who can teach him firebending without trying to kill him

Except Zuko wants nothing to do with the Avatar. He especially doesn’t want to get entangled with his father’s war. So the rest of the season is about Zuko running from the Avatar, and Aang and co trying to capture the reluctant ex-Prince of the Fire Nation so he can be Aang’s firebending teacher

 

logo-comics:

                                                                                                                                #oh how the tables have turned #ok but the thought of aang chasing zuko around like ‘pls teach me fire bender sifu!!! you’re so talented!!! teach me your wayyyyys!’ #while zuko does his best to avoid this overpowered puppy and his friends #is both hilarious and adorable #my posts #avatar #atla #atla headcanons #idk where iroh is in this AU #but he was probably a key component in helping zuko get to that point of acceptance #maybe he and zuko have a travelling tea shop

The obvious solution: Zuko’s naval vessel has been converted into a traveling tea shop.

 

captainkirkk:

They convert their naval ship into a floating tea shop oh my god

 

silverlightraita:

The Gaang ends up stopping by the tea shop one time not realizing it’s Zuko and Iroh’s ship and spot Zuko but Zuko is like “this is the busiest time of day on our busiest days at one of the busiest ports. I do NOT have time for this.” So he plays dumb. Like really dumb.

The Gaang: It’s Zuko!

Zuko, trying to ignore them: Who’s Zuko?

The Gaang: … You are? You look exactly like him.

Zuko, starts sweating: Nope. I’m Lee. Humble tea server.

The Gaang: Then how you get that scar?

Zuko, sweating more: A wild tea accident. Very bizarre.

 

jellytartkingezran:

Toph, who knows he’s lying but is an agent of chaos: Lee? I remember you! You came to visit my town a few times. Do you still carry that lovely Jasmine tea?

Katara: Toph isn’t your town landlocked?

Toph: Yes, your point?

Katara: This tea shop is a giant naval vessel??

Zuko, panicking: THIS VESSEL CAN FLY

Toph: Yes, exactly.

Sokka: …Katara, let it go. Let’s just get our tea and get out of here before Aang finds out that–

Aang, sprinting over to them: ZUKO?

Toph, without missing a beat: No, this is Lee, humble tea server who got his scar in a wild tea accident.

Aang: What? No it’s not, it’s–

Toph: I can tell when people are lying Aang. Are you calling me a liar?

Tags:

#Avatar: The Last Airbender #fanfic #story ideas I will never write #embarrassment squick #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

elidyce:

spacedewey:

I guess this is how I’m processing what we’re all going through right now. I had the stray thought, “What is Spider-Man doing during all this?” and this happened. On the one hand, it’s kinda sloppy and inconsistent, but on the other hand, I had the idea Sunday night and I’m posting this Wednesday night. 5 color pages in 4 nights is pretty good work. Anyway. Hope everyone’s safe out there.

This is brilliant and I love it.

Tags:

#this post is neat don’t get me wrong #but the *main* reason I’m reblogging it is the same reason I took pictures of all the COVID-19-related signs along my route home from work #this post feels like it’s of historical importance–helpful in giving a sense of what This Was Like–and I want to document it #art #fanart #comic #fanfic #covid19 #illness tw #Spiderman

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

autumnchild22:

“Someone’s sending all this to Dukat, yeah?” 

3839f631bf4e0ccc2baf7df5516d1b4a42d36eb2

Man, this was a blast to draw. With all the negativity in the world right now, just needed something fun to cheer me up. 

Based off @captaincrusher​‘s post.

To sum up, it’s never really touched on that Sisko has Dukat’s old office, and the implications of this. One of the theories thrown in was that a week after settling in, a life-sized bronze statue of Dukat shows up (after being held up in Bolian customs for three weeks), and Sisko has to sign for it. They don’t know what to do with it, so it just does the rounds of the station:

  • It ends up in the rec room for Julian and Miles to throw things at.
  • Kira gets back from a week-long mission to Bajor, finds it just inside her bedroom door. Barely misses it with her phaser. 
  • She places it just so inside the infirmary doors, so it’ll topple onto Julian when he walks in the following morning. 
  • Nog looses a bet with Jadzia, has to sneak it into Sisko’s office wearing the ‘Everybody loves me’ shirt.
  • Revenge is enacted.
  • Quark thinks it’d be a great way to fool Odo. Turns out paper plates sticky-taped on aren’t the answer.
  • It ends up at Garak’s. No one’s sure exactly how or why, but the results are beautiful. 
  • Ziyal, my poor baby. Sisko’s given her a cargo bay to decorate. 
  • At one point, O’Brien has to go on an urgent mission. For some godforsaken reason, the statue has ended up in the runabout and there’s no time to unload it. So he pilots for 54 hours straight while feeling the itch of Dukat’s soulless glare on the back of his head. 

Oh, and they might have won the war by posting all these to the… whatever the Trek equivalent of the net is. 

Tags:

#Star Trek #DS9 #art #fanart #fanfic

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

fremulon:

“So,” Crowley said, stretching his legs out and taking another sip of wine, “what’re you up to these days?”

“Nothing particular,” Aziraphale said. “Although I do have to pop over to Nice for a blessing next week, but that shouldn’t take long.”

“Next week, huh? Mind covering a minor temptation for me, then, while you’re in the area?”

“I suppose so,” said Aziraphale. “What precisely is it?”

“It’s in Monte Carlo, actually,” Crowley said, “just popping in to the casino for a smidge of troublemaking. Nothing complicated.”

“Ah—” said Aziraphale, and shifted uncomfortably. “I’m afraid I can’t go to Monte Carlo.”

Crowley snorted. “What, are you too virtuous for gambling now? Don’t go using that line on me. I’ve seen how you get over baccarat.”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Aziraphale said. “It’s just—I can’t go to Monte Carlo.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve been banned,” Aziraphale muttered.

“Sorry, what?”

“I’ve been banned. From Monte Carlo.”

“What did you do?”

“In my view,” said Aziraphale primly, “I wasn’t doing anything wrong at all. I simply took the time to implement a bit of strategy and mathematics. Anyone could do the same. It’s hardly cheating.”

Crowley took a second to parse this. “You got kicked out of a casino for counting cards.”

“Not before I’d accumulated several thousand pounds doing it,” said Aziraphale, in a most un-angelic fashion.

Crowley had a sudden image of him, all buttoned up in waistcoat and bowtie, spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose, sitting at a blackjack table, his soft hands laying down the cards, the complete sincerity in his voice as he’d say oh, dear me, it looks like I’ve won again, fancy that, the canny glint in his eye that anyone looking less carefully than Crowley would miss.

It was a remarkably compelling image, and Crowley let out a low, inadvertent whistle.

“So, I can’t help with your temptation, I’m afraid,” Aziraphale said. 

“Yeah, no, that’s all right,” Crowley said, “but, uh, have you been…banned anywhere else?”

Aziraphale went pink. “It is possible,” he said, carefully, “that I might find myself unwelcome at several establishments in Las Vegas, as well.”

“You’ve been on some sort of casino-defrauding world tour, and you didn’t tell me?” 

“Don’t make fun,” Aziraphale said. “It’s only a hobby.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Crowley said, “getting booted from gambling establishments, right up there with manuscript collection on the list of your notable hobbies.”

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you—”

“Look,” Crowley interrupted, “have you, ah—ever been to Atlantic City? In America?”

Aziraphale shook his head. 

“Well,” Crowley said, “pretty sure New Jersey could do with a bit of divine intervention.”

A small smile crept onto Aziraphale’s face. “It’s a tempting thought,” he said. 

Tags:

#Good Omens #fanfic #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #gambling