I'm Not Sure If I Know Full Context Here (I Know Enough To Say This Flag Is Great) But Some Countries

I'm not sure if I know full context here (I know enough to say this flag is great) but some countries have amazing and interesting flags (Greece is pretty, Nepal is super cool (they played with shape!), Macedonia is great (like Alexander III, you got this? *awkward jazz hands*) and Man Island makes me question things but you can't say it's not interesting)

But, for some reason I feel need to infodump, so here it comes

Flags are symbols of of countries/states/cities/whatever, that have to be easily recognized preferably no matter what size they are. In this department, this flag is doing amazing job.

However, unlike coat of arms (I hope it's the right word), flag doesn't simply hang on the wall is sew on a pocket over the heart or whatever. Flag is hung on a flagpole and has to serve it's purpose of being recognisable even on windless days when it's all sad and sagging. If I recall correctly, Czech flag is good example of what parts are visible enough to be recognized and work as a flag even if there is no wind. Though I'm not sure and I'm to lazy to look it up right now.

However, there are multiple flags that say "fuck it" to the previous paragraph altogether (Fidji, China, Montenegro, Slovenia and Slovakia I guess) or to the previous, previous one (Slovenia and Slovakia fit here too, USA, Liberia and Malaysia look like three kids that copy homework from each other but change it enough to pass under "we had the same question" excuse BUT, have you seen the absolute shit show of Monaco, Indonesia, Singapore and Poland flags?! I mean, let's give Singapore credit for moon and stars thing and Poland for 180 but Monaco and Indonesia are literally the same thing, I think they even have same proportions (I'm not sure if everywhere but I'm like 70% sure in my country it's sanctioned by law what are our flag's proportions), how do they want people to recognize it?! It's not even copying each other's homework, it's straight up printing photocopy of you friends essay, glueing to your notebook and expecting it'll pass!)

I think I got weirdly worked up on this topic and I don't even really care hah

Anyway, so while there are some rules that should be respected when creating a flag, as we all know, rules are made to be broken and no flag can be worse that third one of state of Georgia (there is at least one worse but I don't have enough brainpower to look it up right now), so this is pretty good flag and could probably be used.

Sorry for jumping to assumptions, but if this is a flag you made for fantasy/sci-fi world I would say go for it, it's awesome

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk or something

The fact that this flag isn't sweeping is a travesty to me. It could use maybe a little bit of work but it's really good and looks east to make too. Those other ones just look so bland and corporate to me. Why do flags always have to be minimalist??

Ghostlight!

"You came?" "You called."

Danny in trouble, Duke to the rescue! (Or it can be reversed!) Maybe they've been online friends or met in person once and bonded over both having all these unexpected powers. Slightly angst.

There was never a point when Danny thought he would need the panic button Duke gave him.

It was a sweet gesture, a way for Duke to show that he cared for Danny and wanted him to be safe. Never mind that Danny can take care of himself, heals quickly from most wounds, and has been the protector, not the protected, ever since the Accident. If it makes Duke feel better, than Danny was more than happy to keep it on him as a token of affection.

The cultists, however, caught him off guard. 

Danny would be embarrassed about being nabbed off the streets so easily if the people who took him weren’t cultists lead by the daughter of a GIW agent, one who disapproved of the scientific approach the GIW took towards ectoplasmic entities and had turned to mystic arts as a way to defy her father. Which, usually, Danny would be all for striking out against the strict expectations of parents and their unwillingness to listen to their kids in any serious manner, but not this time. Not when it ends with him slowly waking up after they chloroformed him, curled up in some magic circle, surrounded by black candles and blue flame, and something in the air that smells of blood blossoms.

There are voices speaking, but he can’t make out what they’re saying over the pounding in his head, his heartbeat stuttering in his chest with each gasping breath he takes. 

Whatever they’re doing, whatever’s got him bound in the circle, makes his blood feel like its been lit aflame, agony coursing through his veins. He tries to grit his teeth and bare it, but it doesn’t become any more manageable.

No, it gets worse the longer he’s awake.

Danny tries to move, tries to get to his feet, but all he can do is curl up tighter, a sob forcing its way out of his throat.

“I know you’ve got some connection to Phantom,” he hears someone say, both by his ear and so far away he can barely make out the words. Danny whines, trying to insist that they’re wrong, he’s got nothing to do with phantom, but the voice continues. “Come on, cooperate with us and this will end sooner for you. You can’t lie about this; you wouldn’t be feeling anything if there was no connection.” 

A hand brushes against his forehead, burning hot, and Danny turns his face towards the ground trying to move away from it. 

“I knew ghosts had to have some tie to the living world. And a living anchor would make the ghost stronger… If only dad would listen to me.” The voice sighs, and the words help him put the pieces together and realize this is the daughter of the GIW agent that came closest to finding him when he first ran to Gotham. 

It’s been close to a year since then. He thought they’d stopped looking. 

Really, he should have known better.

The hand leaves his forehead and he hears the leader bark out an order. Voices surround him, chanting, as they rise out of the dark. 

A red glow begins to fall on everything, enough that Danny can see it through his barely open eyes. A shudder runs through him, and he feels his transformation try to begin.

NO, he thinks desperately. He tries to force it down but it fights against him. It’s agony, pain on a molecular level, the feeling of dying over and over and over again.

NO, he thinks, STOP I DON’T WANT TO DIE SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.

And then, unbidden, a single word rising in his mind. Duke.

Duke will help him if he knows Danny needs help. Duke has been kind and welcoming and helped Danny find his footing in Gotham, never judging and always quietly offering a hand in support. He’s the person Danny’s closest to in Gotham, someone dear to him, a light in the dark. 

He gave Danny a panic button.

Contrary to popular thought, Danny isn’t an idiot. He knows Duke is the Signal. A few too many incidents where Duke had disappeared and the Signal appeared to save him tipped him off. It didn’t help that Duke acted the same in and out of costume, and he always, always grabbed Danny first at the elbow, then slid his hand down to his wrist. 

Besides, who else gives panic buttons to their friends? Danny would have done the same to Sam and Tucker if they weren’t always attached at the hip. He’s a (former) teenage vigilante too, he knows how being involved in this kind of thing invites trouble into the rest of his life.

Duke can help him. He’s a hero. He’s saved Danny before.

He’s his friend. Danny trusts (wants to trust, so badly) that Duke will help him even when he’s not fully human, fully alive.

With trembling hands, he reaches into his jacket, to the panic button. It’s a simple necklace with an unassuming metal rectangle dangling off of it. It’s flat and thin, but the top gives way to a button that Danny clicks three times in quick succession. 

He waits a moment, trying to breathe through the pain, and clicks it three times again.

Please hurry, Duke, he thinks, hand falling limply to the ground. 

“Let’s try this, instead,” the leader says, and the chanting falls to a quiet murmur to give way to her voice as she begins reciting something.

It starts at his feet. They cramp up suddenly, then pain crackles up his bones like lightning, digging deep into him. It feels as if a thousand knives dig into his abdomen, cutting in deep and twisting.

Danny chokes on his breath, then screams, trying futilely to scramble away. All it does is make him writhe on the ground, back arching enough that he can feel the strain of it on his spine, but it doesn’t matter because he’s forcing down his transformation again, smothering Phantom as much as he can.

His breath mists out before him. His fingers go numb, frost spreading across the floor.

Tears slip down his face as Danny pants for breath.

It hurts. It hurts like nothing has ever hurt before, but he refuses to give in. If they find out he’s Phantom, they’ll only do worse. 

Please, he thinks again, deliriously.

As if hearing him, a window shatters above him and the cultists break off in screams. 

Forcing his eyes open, Danny squints through he tears and watches as the shadows around them rise up, roiling, and crash against the cultists. The force of it knocks them down, leaving them to claw desperately at their faces as the shadows cover their nose and mouths, cutting off their air. The leader is yelling, rage clear in her voice, shooting out magic spells at the Signal.

The Signal is usually a friendly figure. He’s safe, something whose meer presence makes people feel safe. His smile means everything’s alright and when it’s directed to Danny, he feels like nothing bad can ever happen to him again.

The Signal isn’t smiling now. 

He’s furious, expressionless and stone cold, bashing away the spells with shadows or light, advancing on the leader like an avenging angel come to deliver justice. 

He takes her out with hard hits, striking methodically. It’s not quick. She doesn’t get the kindness of being knocked out; no, he snaps a wrist, breaks her nose, slams her down on the ground and cuts off her air with a knee until her struggles die off and she’s left limp on the floor. 

When he rises, surrounded by shadows still moving restlessly, illuminated only by the flicker blue flames of the candles, he should look terrifying. 

All Danny feels is relief so sharp it worries him that his chest was cleaved in half without him noticing until now. He shivers against the floor, too weak to reach out to the Signal.

It’s a good thing he doesn’t have to. 

The Signal picks him up with careful hands, checking him over for injuries.

“Duke,” Danny murmurs, slurring a bit. The torture is definitely at fault for it, but the sudden absence of all that pain doesn’t help him sound any more coherent. “You came.”

“You called,” Duke says, “Of course I came. I’ve been looking for you for hours. You never showed up for our study date and I know you always try to reach out if you can’t make it. I’m just sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”

“S’okay, ‘m not mad. Was scared, but you made it better. The panic button…”

“It’s how I found you. I’m so glad you were wearing it today.”

Danny tries to smile, but the most he can manage is a twitch of his lips before his head tips forward to rest against Duke’s armored shoulder. “I always wear it.”

Duke’s grip on him tightens for a moment, then he begins walking, taking Danny away from the magic circles and the prone bodies of the cultists who had watched him be tortured and decided to keep going. Danny shudders again, his entire body aching. His transformation is still fighting to come out, but it’s not as strong anymore. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Duke says into his ear. “I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“No! No hospitals, please. I can’t let them know… they’ll find me…”

Duke shushes him soothingly, tucking him more securely against his chest. “Alright, Danny. No hospitals. But I am going to call Batman for a pick up to get you to one of the people we trust for medical care.”

“But Batman doesn’t work in the day.” Danny’s too exhausted to sound confused, but it must go through anyways. Duke laughs lowly, and the sound helps unwind the last of his nerves coiled up tight in fear. 

“Danny, it’s well into the night. You were gone for hours. Longest hours of my life.”

“Sorry,” he mumbles, 

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault. Hang on, Batman’s nearly here.”

In any other circumstance, Danny would be excited to meet another hero. Especially Batman, one of the original heroes of the modern age. But all he wants is to go somewhere safe so he can curl up and cry, then sleep for three days before he pretends to be a normal human again. Ideally, he’d stay with Duke until he felt safe again, but he doesn’t want to take Duke away from the city that needs him.

His ears perk up a bit when he hears the smooth rumble of an engine stop in front of them. A door opens with a click without Duke needing to grab the handle, and then Danny is carefully being deposited in the back seat.

“Wait,” he says, trying to grab for Duke’s arm only to have his fingers fumble and grab nothing. Duke doesn’t move away, though, and instead grabs Danny’s seeking hand. “Stay? Please? I just—” his voice shudders, cracks, fractures apart. “I just want to feel safe.”

There’s a pause, a stillness in the air, before Duke says, “Okay. I’ll stay.” And then he’s sliding into the backseat, pulling Danny in to lean against him, curl into his embrace.

“Signal,” Batman’s low, gravelly voice says. There’s something in his tone that makes Danny tense up, prepared to take off, and his transformation pushes at his skin, ready to come out.

“He knows who I am, B,” Duke replies. “He’s trustworthy. Besides, just because he knows me doesn’t mean he knows you.”

“We will be discussing this later,” Batman says, dark promise in his voice. It’s just how he talks, Danny’s sure, too used to years of making himself the scariest thing in the dark. That doesn’t change the fact that Batman can be terrifying, and Danny can’t imagine he’ll take kindly to the fact that Danny knows Duke’s identity.

Fear slithers up his spine, and he can’t stop the transformation this time. The rings of white light flash over his body in a second, leaving Phantom in his place. 

Danny lets go of his legs first, glad to be free from their aching weight, and without a body made of flesh and bone, the hurt begins to fade away until it’s just an unpleasant memory. 

“What—” Duke starts to say just as Batman says, “Signal—”

They must have some sort of silent exchange. There’s only a heavy tension in the car and the barely audible rumble of the engine as they drive towards their destination, whatever it may be. Danny sinks into Duke some more, sighing in relief as a hand comes up to card through his wispy white hair. 

“Danny,” Duke says, “What’s this?”

“It’s why they hurt me,” he mumbles against Duke’s chest. “It’s why they keep hunting me down. I want them to leave me alone. I’m tired.”

Embarrassingly, his voice cracks on the last word and more tears fall down his cheeks. He hears Duke move, and then hands, bare and gloveless, wipe his tears away with a gentleness that makes his heart ache.

“They won’t be able to hurt you again. You’ll be safe from now on, Danny, I swear it.”

“S’okay if I get hurt,” he says, “It always happens. Promise to save me if this happens again?”

“I’ll do whatever I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But if it does, then I promise to always save you. I gave you that panic button, didn’t I? As long as you keep it, I’ll always find you.”

“You’re a good person, Duke,” Danny says, voice falling quieter as his exhaustion catches up to him. “I’m glad I met you.”

He thinks he feels a soft touch to the top of his head. A kiss, maybe, though it’s not likely. But he wants comfort, and he’s endured a lot a pain so he allows himself to hope and be delusional. With the warm that spreads through him from Duke’s soft kiss to his head, Danny gives in to the siren call of slumber.

“Get some sleep, Danny,” Duke says, voice hushed. “I’ll stay with you as long as you need.”

I know, he doesn’t say, too tired to open his mouth again, You’re always here. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

He falls asleep easily after that. There’s nothing in the world that can hurt him while he’s in Duke’s arms. He’s never been safer.

Yorick

I made him last night. He is 2.5 inches tall and I love him

a dumb grammatical thing that bothers the shit out of me and does not matter in the least in the grand scheme of things:

when you say "x, let alone y", the y should be the bigger thing. "let alone" means "how much more", i.e. "if i can't do x, which is a smaller deal than y, how much more can i not do y". that is, "if even x is an issue, then forget about y".

example: "the newly-sentient alien slime is not used to having complex emotions, let alone articulating them." -> just having complex emotions is a big deal that the slime is not used to; articulating those emotions is even harder.

motion capture actress 曦曦鱼sakana shows how to move in games

About Amity black out, movie style

It's a great idea, I like it as a way to explain why JL never came to checki it out/why Amity Park never asked for help if we go with two way route.

But.

There is no wall that's perfect. And whoever had put up a black out (probably before JL was formed or else older people would probably try to contact them after bigger attack) had to know this. Some info would slip and if it was truly iron curtain, no info in or out, people would realize something was of.

So they did they best to filter out stuff that people shouldn't know, i.e. heroes and later, ghosts.

And if some article or message somehow slipped through anyway?

It's about movie. It's a way to sell a new superhero/supernatural movie.

I remember few years ago I watched YouTube video about movie from late 90' or early 00' that was announced like this. I'm, like, 70% sure it was "Blair Witch Project' but I have no idea. Point is, instead of trailers or anything like that, marketing team or whoever got this idea started making articles and stuff around the internet about things that happened in the movie/were clearly connected, framing it as a truth. A lot of people bought it. Actors weren't well known at the time so before premiere they went missing for like two weeks or so.

Whoever put a black out around Amity does the same but in reverse. If some smallest bit of truth gets past their defences, they put all their efforts into making it look like innovative marketing idea though with not as great execution since it's obviously a marketing trick.

Unless someone who shouldn't met hero/ghost on their vacation out/in the city, they could assume that this place is milking this upcoming movie like a golden cow or something. In some circumstances, even meeting the hero/ghost could not break their belief.

I'm not sure how to go about when ghosts affected world outside, like Ember or Undergrowth thing (though, in YJ cartoon was this thing about Poison Ivy getting some boost and sending some weird plants all around the world maybe it happened at the similar time and they never realized there were two plant villains at that time, idk, I know norhing more about these fights other than that these two things happened xD). I'm sure someone with actual knowledge about both universes would manage to find something

But yeah, that's the idea. Every info about JL and hero/villain bullshit looks like movie trailers in Amity while ghost mess when it happens, looks the same to the rest of the world.

Up to you is how the containment is breached (though, how about it's not Bats or Constantine? I like them lot but maybe let's give others time to shine)