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Let there be random!

@ebonyheartnet

*waves in plz ask before tagging in things*
Ebony | They/Them | 20s
My Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/ebonyheartnet Here to drop off Cryptic Comments, but the short and long of it is that this blog follows the paradox of tolerance: You are welcome so long as you remember that having an asshole doesn’t mean you have to be one.

Hey, hi people who have started following me for some reason. I have no clue why, but welcome! :D

If you need something tagged, my asks are open, and general questions are fine too! NSFW content is tagged as “lemon” or “citrus” btw, and I do ask that minors don’t interact with that content, though anything tagged “sex ed” is fine for all ages.

Also! If you would like to opt out of me being a bigger sap that a maple farm w/ my partners, “courting the jester” is what you’ll need to blacklist

Aside from trigger tags and such, I also have my general content tags, which are the following:

  • “ebony writes the thing” for all my writing; originally there’d been a plan to split between a serious writing tag and a fiction tag, but ADHD be like that sometimes
  • “ebony makes the thing” for cooking (mis)adventures
  • “ebony answers the thing” for asks
  • “ebony sings the thing” OG lyrics, parodies, and the occasional Actual Recording
  • “ebony crafts the thing” might be crochet related babble, painting, sketching, or anything thereof
  • “ebony goes to the ER” or “wee woo wagon wailing 🚑” is pretty much what it says on the tin; just a semi-live blog around my hospital experiences in general. It can get really triggering, so I do ask that y’all be safe and blacklist this tag if you need to.

Individual projects that are gonna take multiple posts will have their own dedicated tags, which I will actually make a post about (eventually ^^’) but, for now, just check the first post and you’ll see what it is. :3

Also, a very important request: Please don’t tag me in ask memes or send chain letter type asks, especially positive ones, as it’s a particularly bad trigger. I’ll reblog ask memes I’m comfortable with, and it’s okay to ask me privately if I’m okay with being tagged in something, but please, this is the one thing I really need.

Once again, if there are any questions or requests, shoot me an ask and I’ll be quite happy to get back to you as I can! :D

I was reading a comic where Clark is at this point where he just... straight up unconsciously does full body scans using a combination of X-Ray vision and super-hearing when he picks up on people's stress levels rising--and he's a lot better at picking up anything unusual health-wise in people he's close to because obviously he'd have a stronger sense of their day to day biological baselines. Of course he knows this is weird and invasive, but it's also reflexive, so he very much keeps it to his internal dialogue. Still, I feel like it would unconsciously affect his decisions with other people.

Clark: *holding up several takeout bags* Brought breakfast for the office!

Perry: *opening a box* Spinach egg bites and pumpkin seed bran muffins? What are you, my doctor?

Clark, internally: Everyone here is on the verge of anemia from all your coffee consumption, please take the iron.

Clark, externally: I'm just a big believer in protein!

Perry: *looking him up and down* ...Clearly.

I just think Frostbite deserves a husband so I'm gonna keep drawing him.

His name is Hailwind and he's something of a sculptor/healer-- he's just really good at shaping ice. He made Frostbite's arm and maintains upkeep on it. (If you are interpreting Winry Rockbell vibes-- yes.)

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I love him!

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I feel like you’ll appreciate this flavor of feral brain rot as a true delicacy.

Ghostly Courting 101

1.) When you have someone you like, you politely sneak into their haunt and leave a gift that hints at your identity. If they’re interested, they’ll start hunting for you. If not, it’ll be removed without the other party feeling any societal pressure.

2.) For ghosts who died a violent or wrongful death, one of the most meaningful things you can do is avenge them. Attack their murderer, haunt their negligent doctor, etc. It’s not guaranteed to win their affection, but it’s a hell of a display.

Now, per the laws of unintended consequences, Danny finds Red Hood rearranging his freezer.

It’s 3:00 AM. He just wanted some water. Why is Gotham’s favorite son trying to leave him a fuck off huge casserole?

“Are you trying to propose or something?” Danny asks the liminal.

“Maybe???”

“Ghost weird or fruitloop weird?” Danny snatches his boo-berry ice cream and starts digging for a spoon.

Red Hood takes off his helmet to make sure Danny can see the Eyebrow of Judgment.

“Fruitloop then,” he says between bites. “We haven’t even sparred, and I sure as shit didn’t avenge you or anything.”

Oh. Oh no.

“Hood, why are you blushing?”

He couldn’t make out much from the outraged sputtering, but Danny nearly shat his fucking core out when it clicked.

“Is this about Joker???”

Danny was gonna take the stuttering as a yes.

Cool, cool, cool. He was calm. He was so fucking normal, it was fine, it was fine, it was—

Ancients take him, Danny beat the shit out of this guy’s murderer or something. He basically did a fucking flash mob proposal!

“Why the fuck am I even here?!” Red Hood screamed.

And the other guy’s fucking clueless!

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I see, I see.

1: Which casserole. This is important. What casserole could the hindbrain of Jason Peter Todd's ghost instincts think is marriage material?? Is this like a comfort food can-of-cream-of-mushroom based casserole dish or like one of those newfangled sushi bake type things?? What did Jason whip out to prove he's marriage material??

2: What does JASON think is going on?? Did he hunt Danny down?? Did he just wake up in a stranger's apartment with a casserole in his hand?? Did he go to the grocery store with a list in mind or did he get home and realize he (for some reason) had every ingredient to make tuna casserole??

3: Wait. So does this mean that Jason thinks that casseroles are a good enough hint at his identity??? Does some part of Jason think that his most essential and core part of his identity is his tendency towards caretaking?? YO

4: It's in a vintage pyrex. Look me in the eyes. This is not just Pyrex it's gotta be the old style pyrex that doesn't shatter in the oven without a pan underneath it. I am a connoisseur of white people culture and this is deeply important to me. It could even be one of the patterned ones. This is part of the gesture.

5: Danny is emotionally moved and it sucks considering that this was a complete accident

6: Jason is emotionally moved and has no idea what the fuck is going on. He wakes up at his safehouse one morning with bridal magazines in his hands which he apparently bought himself?? He's going insane. Is he cursed?? Did that twink who kicked the Joker's ass curse him??????? Curse him into...matrimony???????????????????

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That casserole is a King Ranch casserole in the best Pyrex Alfred gave him as a housewarming gift and you will NOT change my mind. One bite and if Danny hadn’t already decided to, he’d be on his knee holding a perfectly formed, never gonna melt engagement ring made of his own guaranteed never to chip or melt ice.

Food is, I think, very much a love language for Jason Todd because of being a street kid growing up before becoming Robin. Like, Jason himself could argue and it wouldn’t change my mind.

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Alright lemme google what that is *furious googling ensues*

Oooo, Tex-Mex! Looks heavy too. Yeah, that's a good casserole for proposing to get to know someone better. Between that and a heritage casserole dish... Jason is proposing that they live out the rest of their afterlives together and he has NO idea why all these impulses are firing simultaneously skxjhxjsjs

I was thinking Le Creuset originally, because you can get ones that are freezer-to-oven safe, but Alfred’s vintage housewarming gift PYREX? Fuck me, Jason’s down bad. 😂

As for the casserole? I’m thinking either Marry Me Come Back From Patrol Uninjured Chicken or something his mom, Catherine, taught him on a good day.

Oh yes, definitely the second one, actually.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Jason attempts to parkour out the window because What The Fuck.

For a moment, Danny’s too busy thinking the same thing to react, but then he remembers he can fly.

Recent ATLA Fics I’ve Read

What is says on the tin, stories that I’ve read over the last month that I loved and wanted to share. Some of them are new, some old, some popular, some not but I’ve enjoyed them all and want to recommend them. As a heads up they’re either gen or Zukka.

In the Soft Light by CHSfic and VSfic

As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city’s walls in nearly a century. He’s determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe’s spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him. Moon Spirit Sokka, Zukka and Katara/Yue.

Healing Balm by burglar_bird

“Prince Zuko,” Iroh began, but the prince wasn’t having it. He stormed away and before he knew it he was in his quarters, flinging sparks from his fingers and hissing steam. When that passed, he aggressively lit his meditation candles and tried to calm down. It was difficult because unlike combat meditation came easily, which added insult to injury. Gentle flames licked the air and formed in his palms as well. They were warm and soothing, unlike how fire was supposed to be. Instead of stinging his skin with small burns, the flames numbed the scraps on his palms and the aches in his joints. He knew that by the time his meditation ended he would feel invigorated and new.

His heart burned with shame; no wonder father had discarded him. There was no greater disgrace than having a son who was a healer.

Zuko’s Evil Eye by exectutivedoughnut

Zuko is given a new chore to perform, which he does - to the best of his abilities. But just because he’s losing a fight with a needle doesn’t mean he’s blind (or at least, not blind-blind).

The Good Vanilla by Haircrescendo

Sokka’s beautiful friendship with Zuko doesn’t start with breaking Dad out of jail. That’s just what he tells people.Sokka’s beautiful friendship with Zuko started the day he realizes that he knows how to cook.Feat. breakup cake, an attempted assassination, and eating out of the pan like dirty heathens. Zukka

Blue by blacklipscurse

Iroh insists they create a new life and identity in Ba Sing Se. Zuko wants nothing more than to bide his time until his next opportunity to return home, until he realizes ‘Lee’ can get away with things Zuko never could. Zuko dons the mantle of the Blue Spirit again only to lose his focus when the Avatar comes to the city. This time, however, his attention is drawn to the annoying Southern Tribe warrior. Zukka.

WitchofEndor literally everything by them.

I’m obsessed with While Mighty Oaks Do Fall  and have read it no less than 3 times.

High Sage Kenji blesses Fire Prince Zuko with the resilience of the reed, who bends in the wind and never breaks. When he is done, Fire Prince Ozai narrows his eyes, seemingly displeased by this blessing. But Kenji does not speak for himself; he is only a vessel. 

The newly-crowned Fire Lord Ozai offers his firstborn son to service in the temple. This turns out to be a catastrophic mistake.

Her daughter is five years old when Ursa realises what she and Ozai have been doing to their children. By each choosing one to bestow with their approval, they’re pitting them against one another. Perhaps Ozai is doing it on purpose, but Ursa isn’t. She resolves to heal the damage she has done. In which Ursa tries to be a better parent to Azula, and it doesn’t change very much. And then, quite abruptly, it changes everything.

When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko’s life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn’t naive. She knows what happened to them.

Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.

In which Zuko’s advisors won’t stop harassing him about suitable candidates for Fire Lady, and Zuko’s friends hatch an ingenious plan: pretend courtships.

Zuko’s soul marks have been regularly burned away since before he knew what they meant. He knows that he cannot be loyal to his father and his nation while also being loyal to a soul family, so he doesn’t look for them. Unfortunately, that means that he doesn’t know when he’s found them. 

The Family You Choose by TunaFishChris

Some people are born with soulmarks. Zuko has them, but his grandfather burned them off because they “make you weak.”

Team Avatar has a few things to say about that.

(“You’re not sleeping,” Mai says softly. “How’d you know?” Zuko asks.

To be honest, he’s kind of gotten to the point where he’s surprised that anyone can perceive him outside of his necessary functions- he exists solely to sit in council meetings and shoulder the blame for genocides and famines and the suffering of one-hundred years. Doesn’t he?)

The war is over, but the fallout is just beginning. And where lightning strikes, thunder is bound to follow.

Divergence of Destiny by Fernandidily_yo

This is his life now, here on this ship, serving tea with Uncle and the crew. Traveling the world and staying far, far away from the ongoing war.

The Jasmine Dragon is Zuko’s home.

Meeting the Avatar does not change that.

It changes absolutely nothing.

  (Until, inevitably, it does.)

Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup. 

With Agni on Our Side by fanficreader5

After the fateful Agni Kai, instead of sending him off on a ship, Fire Lord Ozai decided to remove his son’s title and relegate him to being part of the Palace staff.

Zuko’s pretty sure he’s going to go back to being Crown Prince any day now.

Just a few more days.

And then the Avatar and his companions are captured.

What We’re Given series by Haircresendo

Started out as a “What would happen if Zuko happened to rediscover sky bison while searching for the Avatar?” and turned into something more than that

After blocking 56 totally empty blogs with the default pictures and absolutely nothing on them, I’d like to remind new folk here to change the default profile pic and get reblogging so you don’t look like gods damned bots!

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Okay but... Imagine Arguing With A Ghost Elephant.

No. Really. IMAGINE IT.

Even STRONGER then in life, somehow SMARTER then in life. MORE single mindedly determined to Do The Thing(tm). Can phase through you and just IGNORE you.

Might have Ghost Powers now.

Can Fly.

Full size elephant. Nyooming along. Fuck your physics.

Asian Elephants live about 48 years. Less in Circus environments. Even if you take good care of them, it's just NOT a healthy environment for an elephant. Sitka, in all likelihood, would ALSO not have been a juvenile while Dick was a kid.

It's entirely likely Sitka died before being reunited with Their Human.

Elephants are on record as reacting to humans the same way we do Small Cute Animals. Where is Sitka's small cute child? The one who likes to sit on Sitka an sneak them treats and scratch their itchs? Where is Sitka's baby?!

Sitka is Upset(tm).

Sitka decides Fuck This Noise. No, they SHAN'T be dying. They are returning to THEIR BOY, thank you. Move. They have been patient ENOUGH. The baby gets upset without Sitka. Lonely!

This is unacceptable.

So IMAGINE. Literal Flying Green Glowing Circus Elephant in FULL Circus Regalia. Over Gotham. It's Tuesday. People would LIKE to say they are surprised but... yeah, this tracks, this might as well happen too.

Dick and Damian are VIBRATING with joy. Bruce is... Not. There is a HIGHLY VISABLE, Day Glow Green Elephant on his lawn. A DEAD one last time he checked. But that sure as SHIT, is Sitka.

Now there is an out of breathe TEENAGER... ALSO on his lawn. Also glowing. Asking about the Elephant. Is it THEIR Elephant? Are they aware the GOVERMENT wants to MURDER Dick's Elephant? The teenager spots Jason.

Oh, and ALSO HIS SON.

The government apparently wants to ALSO murder his Son. He hasn't even had coffee yet. His children are plotting gruesome death in their civies. There is STILL an elephant. Damian is now aware Supernatural Pets are an OPTION.

Fuck it. He's calling back up.

“I’m not going to do the thing because I don’t view it as important.” Conscious decision made of your own free will.

“I want to do the thing because I view it as important, but trying to get myself to do the thing creates the same reaction as trying to put my hand on a hot stove would.” ← Executive dysfunction, a physical health problem that doesn’t answer to your own free will.

“Trying to get myself to do the thing creates the same reaction as trying to put my hand on a hot stove would. This must mean I don’t actually want to do the thing and I’m just tricking myself into thinking I do.” ← No, that’s still executive dysfunction, but you’re having brainworms about it.

My Ben 10 OG Alien designs! These are my designs for Ben's original Aliens as he grows into a young adult, and how those forms would evolve with age.

In most cases this just means adapting the clothing, in some cases making changes to line up with how we see these forms in the episode "Ben 10,000" and hint at that progression, or otherwise 'age up' aliens, some of whom already look like full adults at 10 so idfk.

All clothing is reimagined, desaturating the Omniverse Green significantly to make the colour blend in more with the aliens whos natural colours aren't as compatible with bright green.

Otherwise the most important design feature for me was making the aliens less humanoid. Four Arms looses his neck again and gets a prominent second pair of pecs, XLR8 becomes more raptor-esque, and Stinkfly more insectoid.

I've got sketches for Cannonbolt, Wildvine, Blitzwolfer, and Snare-Oh so maybe I'll go back and finish those someday!

I've got a lot more Ben 10 Art on my page!

I've been seeing a lot of comments that are like:

  • Why do we never get interracial relationships in queer fiction where neither of the characters are white?
  • Why is the lighter skinned character always the softer and more feminine character?
  • Why is it that only white characters are allowed to be disabled?

And I just want to say, did y'all know I wrote a queer romcom that does literally the opposite of all of those things? Café Con Lychee is an enemies to lovers baker romcom featuring an Asian American ADHD main character and a brown Latine character and the brown character loves ballet and is sweet and in touch with his feelings and the Asian Am character is grumpy and into sports.

Also the cover is really gay. Just thought y'all should know.

Anyway, carry on with your day.

I just had a discussion with my friend about fanfiction and how we tend to assume that women are the writers without any actual proof. Then I said, hey, I know fanfiction written by gay and trans dudes. But then I remembered, wait, I think I know one writer who just must be cis het based on his work. Anyway, all writers, be honest, who are you?

Please reblog if you're interested in the results.

Oh please answer this poll, it might be semi-representative if the number of responses is high enough

I... I was so sure it would be a bigger pool for cis het women, tbh, haha!

One quiet day on the farm, the Little Red Hen found some wheat seeds and decided to make bread.

"Who will help me plant these seeds?" the Little Red Hen asked.

"I would." said the Horse "But I'm a workhorse, and I'm too busy moving carts around."

And so the Little Red Hen planted the seeds by herself. And they grew into bountiful golden crops.

"Who will help me harvest the wheat?" the Little Red Hen asked.

"I would." said the Dog "But I'm a guarddog, and I'm too busy keeping away burglars and predators."

And so the Little Red Hen harvested the wheat herself and made it into flour.

"Who will help me bake the flour?" the Little Red Hen asked.

"I would." said the Pig "But I'm a mother of 5 newborn piglets, and I'm too busy taking care of my young."

And so the Little Red Hen baked the bread herself into twenty beautiful loaves.

"Who will help me eat the bread?" the Little Red Hen asked.

"We would." said the Farm Animals. "But we're ashamed, for we didn't do anything to make the bread."

"Nonsense!" said the Little Red Hen. "You, Horse, helped move around the stones that built my oven. You, Dog, kept me safe while I worked. And you, Pig, are raising a new generation of Farm Animals, who will too contribute to our Farm one day. You've all helped me so much by simply being you."

"Besides," the Little Red Hen added. "I couldn't possibly eat all the loaves on my own, most of them would go to waste. Come, eat with me."

And so the Little Red Hen and the Farm Animals ate the bread together. And all saw their own, and each other's, worth.

every moment of every day i am thinking about this tiktok

Lumpfish come in a variety of shapes and colors.

[He scoops up the fish, it spits water and he turns it toward the camera]

This one is stumpy and green. Very beautiful, very powerful.

[He picks up another fish and turns it toward the camera]

This is what a normal lumpfish looks like. It is more elongated, but still a vibrant blue color. Very beautiful, very powerful.

[He picks up another fish and turns it toward the camera]

This is one of the stumpiest ones we have. Its hump is very high. It is very stumpy, but yet very beautiful, and very powerful.

[He pans over a lot of fish, all looking up at the camera]

My fish army is ever growing, and soon I will over throw the world. Very beautiful, very powerful.

because of this tiktok, i frequently murmur "very beautiful, very powerful" at myself, and i cannot recommend it enough.

I wasn't going to derail the disability pride month post for people with peanut allergies but in relation to that topic

I have never seen another allergy that has been so viscerally hated and mocked by people working in education like nut allergies. I've seen fellow teachers cringe that their classroom was the "nut free" classroom that year. Support staff that are trained and willfully don't follow cross contamination protocol in the lunchroom because it's too "tedious" or "time-consuming". Full preschools + childcare centers that refuse to accommodate nut allergies. Schools where the only free lunch is a PB&J. Before/after school programs and summer programs whose food curriculum has nuts and doesn't provide an alternative activity.

Allergy discrimination is so so insidious and prevalent. It's happening behind their back and it is everything from the exposure joke to possibly causing someone to go into anaphylaxis from willful ignorance.

Also other parents in the classroom are guilty too. The "not my child not my problem" brain rot means that those lunchboxes are like bombs for airborne exposure allergies

I do love the phrase executive dysfunction bc the image it conjures is of a bunch of people wearing business suits around a long oval conference table  arguing with each other to the point where they’re getting into physical fights, but in the background there’s just a big empty whiteboard with a To Do list with one item on it and that item is “take shower”