joyandthephantoms

[joyandthephantoms]

My favorite partners in crime💞

Below the line is the same exact drawing twice, but I liked the way the sun hit my sketchbook page so feel free the check that out!

[joyandthephantoms]

genuinely, honestly, I wish fandom could move past "depiction isn't endorsement".

because it's really meant to be sort of the baby beginner step to media literacy but in fandom spaces it usually acts like a trump card to shut down critical discussions. it's one of the thought terminating cliches of fandom that discourages learning how to interrogate the text beyond "fiction isn't reality, dummy".

yes, the popular whump fic in your fandom isn't endorsing torture, but also, can you tell when the canon for your fandom is endorsing a message? how do you then choose to interact with that canon, and do you get defensive when people are critical of the source material?

depiction isn't endorsement, but can you tell when fandom trends are misogynistic or racist? can you see how killing off a black female character to "punish" her in fanfiction with the framing that she deserves it, and the popular narrative in a certain fandom that a heroic black man is a possessive liar and a white villain is a good man deserving redemption, is endorsing a message in fanfic? do you argue that it's "just fiction" when people get very understandably upset at misogyny and racism in fandom spaces?

yeah, depiction isn't endorsement, but do you think this is where it starts and stops as the only thing you really need to know? do you think people who are critical of things aren't engaging with it properly, or being mean, because they've forgotten the golden fandom rule of "fiction isn't reality"?

nbc hannibal isn't endorsing cannibalism as a dietary choice, but top gun maverick and call of duty: modern warfare were quite literally sponsored by the us military as propaganda for recruitment.

I'm not saying don't enjoy the ip that's making you happy or calling for moral purity in your media habits or whatever. just saying that there's a lot to media literacy beyond the feel good affirmations that periodically circulate fandom, and those affirmation posts both lack necessary nuance and discourage people from engaging with said nuance.

[joyandthephantoms]

Some jatp sketches to get back into drawing for non freelance reasons

[joyandthephantoms]

like a father

okay this is purely. PURELY. based off the Slade and Robin episodes from the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon. so it's a little self indulgent. but. bear with me. im writing this directly onto tumblrs post bc i couldn't get the idea out of my head since i thought of it like a month ago. also no knowledge of the cartoon necessary, this is purely jatp.

It's only him and Caleb on the stage.

Luke can't even see past it. It's like the dark room. He can lean forward and squint his eyes and peer into the blackness as much as he wants, but whatever lies beyond or within it is out of view and swallowed by ink.

The stage, scuffed from chairs and shoes and instruments, is clear and cool under Luke's hands and knees.

Caleb is, unfortunately, just as perfectly in view. He's lit up from above, stage lights from a ceiling that exits in the darkness throwing Caleb into unflattering harsh light. His eyes are shadowed, his brow casting them into darkness, but the pupils gleam from within nonethless. Like they're little spotlights from the ceiling just for Luke.

He's perched on the floor in that stiffling suit, kneeling over and panting for a breath he doesn't need.

"Shame about the other two," Caleb hummed from above him. He's standing only a few feet away, hands perched on the knob of a cane, feet spread wide. "You were the most unpredictable. The most fight within you. I suppse it's just as well that I kept a tighter hold on you."

Luke squeezed his eyes shut.

He didn't make it back. First Alex had disappeared. Then Reggie. And then the notes of Stand Tall had weaved into his head through Caleb's song and Luke had tried to follow the path back out. He'd flickered, fighting against Caleb and the tightening of the noose, appearing on the stage of the Orpheum.

Only to lose. Only to fail.

He's alone now.

His heart clenches. He doesn't even know if Alex and Reggie really made it. Did they crossover? Did the jolts get them in the end or, when they disappeared out of HGC, did the jolts disappear too?

And Julie.

Luke can't bear to think of Julie.

"One of you is powerful enough," Caleb sighed. He reached forward witht eh cane, stepping toward Luke. His shiny dress shoes gleam in the spotlight. He took the cane and lifted it to Luke's chin, forcing him to look up.

Luke jerked away, tears brimming in his eyes, turning his face away.

Caleb tutted. "You'll learn soon enough this is where you're supposed to be, Lucas. Of course, it'll be... factual... conceptual. You'll understand that this is where you're supposed to be. I only hope you'll come to believe it. You're a ghost, Lucas. And a performer at that! Where else should you be if not performing for eternity?"

An eternity with Caleb made Luke's head spin and his non-beating heart ache and it sounded like hell. Twenty-five years and an hour in purgatory are nothing to Caleb's gleaming smile and false promises.

Luke kept his head down, even when Caleb touches his cane to the side of Luke's tear streaked cheek.

"Eternity," the ghost sighed. "That is the problem with child ghosts. They stay children forever. Really, Luke, it wouldn't have worked with your life friend anyway."

"i'm not a child," Luke gritted out between his teeth, a bitter feeling rising up in his throat. It's almost the first thing he's said since Caleb struck him to the ground.

Caleb laughed, delighted. "Not a child! Luke, do you think seventeen is both too old to be a child but is too young to die? Only seventeen? Don't be foolish. Look at this way, you were already seventeen. And you will be forever."

Luke never expected to get the harsh reminder of his (however limited) immortality from Caleb of all ghosts. Of course, he's dead. Immortality means living forever. This isn't living. It can't be. So Luke isn't sure what this is, but he knows he isn't immortal. He won't age. That's about all he's got going. It's the sad reality that he and the boys never would have aged.

And Julie would have.

"It won't be all bad."

With that, the cane dropped from his cheek to the floor. Luke eyed it warily, nervous. It had felt cold against his ghostly skin. And he still felt the burning in his collar bone from earlier.

Caleb plucks his gloves off his hands, tossing them to teh scuffed floor of the stage. He shrugged, the velvety fabric of his coat shimmering in the too bright light above them.

"I see it like this. As inconvenient child ghosts are, never growing up, always children, there is something so admirable in your world views, your wants, being so unflinchingly persistent."

The thought makes Luke ache. Is Caleb right? He must be, on some level. Sure, finding unfinished business probably led to some sort of personal growth, right? But, then, Luke is dead. He'll never age.

His mind and thoughts and emotions... they'll stay at seventeen. With a seventeen year olds understanding. Willie had been dead for ages, for all the boys had been able to tell. And he was still just as much a teenger as when he'd died.

(It's a painful fear to see realized. In the back of Luke's head, sure, maybe he was dead and couldn't age but maybe he could still grow. He already felt like he'd changed as a person since he'd died. Surely there was truth to that? Surely he could be better, even if he was seventeen and stuck with a seventeen year olds brain forever? Surely, with Julie, he could've grown?)

Caleb began to circle him. His steps are slow, deliberate. As he circled, over and over, Luke is able to count them out. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11 and so on until Caleb is back in front of him and Luke can start over at one. He was still facing away, toward the floor, looking at his hands that look foreign against the stage.

Above him, Caleb spoke. "You must realize what this means, of course. Lucas. You'll always want the stage."

"Shut up," Luke mumbled, but his heart isn't in it. Alex and Reggie might've been jolted out of existence, might've even crossed over. Julie... Julie is a lifer. Her whole life is ahead of her. Luke looks like he's going to be facing an afterlife of eternity.

"Not very nice," Caleb tsked, but continued anyway. "You'll always want that connection. That presence. To stay and soak it in. To be recognized for your talents. For them to be nutured like they never had been."

Luke's head snapped up, fury brimming in his eyes. The tears burn like the anger is making them turn to fire. "You don't know what you're talking about!" he snarled.

Caleb's grin is wide, white teeth gleaming. "Don't I?"

He doesn't, because Luke... because his parents... they were apprenhensive about rock. They were worried about Luke skipping school and being irresponsible and making rash decisions all in his pursuit of a dream and they'd been right but they'd never, not once, thought he wasn't talented. They hadn't trusted his decision making, sure, but they hadn't trusted the industry either.

Luke knew - knows - his parents loved him. Love him. He knew it so deeply it almost ached. He's, well... he's lost them. But more correctly, they've lost him. His mom had loved to hear him sing. She just didn't want him to skip school to get better at it.

"You don't," Luke snapped.

"But they certainly never encouraged you," Caleb said thoughtfully, his head tilting to the side like a confused animal. The spark in his eyes that persist despite the shadow of his brow makes Luke nervous. "You crave that affection. That connection. Aren't I right?"

Luke faltered.

"Here, where you're meant to be, I can give you both, Lucas. I can give you the audience and the connection. You won't disappear, you won't be forgotten. You can have it."

Luke knew he craved it. He had missed lingering. He had missed talking to groupies and audience members and staying around and chatting after a gig. He missed being alive. He doesn't think he ever will stop. And, if Caleb's right, if Luke really can't grow, can't change. Won't he want those things forever?

For eternity?

Caleb came to a stop before him, smiling so wide it almost makes Luke's jaw hurt. "You can have that. And you can have the affection, the support, from me. We have a deal."

"It can't last forever," Luke found himself saying, a furrow in his brow at Caleb's words. He's not sure he understands. But the deal... he has to believe he can change. If he can want to leave and if Caleb can tempt him back, Luke should be able to change. To resist. To fight back.

"It can and it will," Caleb said, shrugging as if Luke's opinion was of no consequence to him. "Don't disobey me, Lucas. I've already destroyed your friends. I can so easily bring you to the same fate."

Luke's resolve crumbled. That's it. There it is. He's alone. Reggie and Alex haven't crossed over. They don't exist anymore. He choked, tongue stuck in his throat. He slumped, shoulders and hands shaking, and tears prick his eyes that have already cried so desperately all night.

They're gone.

Julie is alone.

And Luke is in Hell.

And Alex and Reggie are gone.

In a fit of rage, Luke lunged.

Caleb is gone from the spot in the blink of an eye, poofed to the far end of the spotlights reach. Luke snarled, his hands curled into tight fists, and he poofs forward in a half lunge to Caleb's spot just in time for the cane to connect to his jaw.

CRACK.

Luke was slammed to the ground, a single point pressing on his chest.

"We solve our problems with words, Lucas!" Caleb snarled. His voice echoed, like he's speaking from inside a cave. Luke felt it crawl over his skin like slime, slick and greasy and seeping into his pours.

He groaned, his jaw aching.

The cane left his chest but Luke doesn't move. He was sprawled out on the floor, arms spread out at his sides. His eyes are closed, squeezed shut.

This wasn't how Luke's life waas supposed to turn out. This wasn't how his death was either.

"But the energy!" Caleb exclaimed, spinning around in glee, peering up at the spotlight as if it's the northern star, a guidling light, like a man expericning pure joy. "The energy, Lucas! Yes! I love it! That's what we need. That energy. You feel so deeply! Don't you understand, so do I? That thrill. You love it."

Luke had never loved rage. But he has always known it like it's coming home. A familiar street.

"You will always crave it," Caleb said eagerly, looking at Luke like he's an opportunity. An investment. A thing, an object. Not human. A ghost. A spirit. A lost soul. "You will always crave and you will love it. Soon or later, you'll see things my way. We understand each other. The stage, the audience. The applause. The awe. The admiration."

A pause.

"The approval." Caleb's voice is a sweet croon.

Luke was suddenly jerked up into a sitting postion. Caleb's hands were so tight, gripping Luke through sleeves he was beginning to despise, fingers curled in like claws. Then he's let go.

"I would understand. I would approve. I would encourage. Here. For eternity. Just like you will always want. Just like you were never given."

It's not true, but Luke cannot even sit straight. His whole body sagged, but he doesn't lay back down again. His jaw ached. His eyes were still squeezed shut when Caleb grab's his chin and Luke's whole chest stuttered in pain. He gasped, eyes flying open to meet the other ghosts.

"Who knows," Caleb crooned into his face, cold breath brushing over Luke's skin. "I may even become something like a father to you."

Luke's eyes brim with tears, his whole face screwed up. He's in so much pain, but the words bring him a moment of clarity. He's crying, but Luke doesn't care that the words come out in half hiccuped sobs and sniffles.

He glares at Caleb, mustering as much hatred as he can into his eyes and his voice, lacing poison onto his tongue. Luke hates him. Luke hates Caleb. He loathes him. Fine. If he cannot change, Luke hopes this feeling lasts forever. If he can change, he hopes that every day he will grow to hate Caleb more and more.

"I already have a father."

#LOVE this caleb writing it's so spot on #I'm obsessed #And Luke!!!! #that's my BOY #made my heart ache

[joyandthephantoms]

talking to preschoolers is awesome bc they have not fully differentiated stories into 'true stories' and 'imaginary stories' yet so you will tell them about something that happened you once (coyote came out of a bush right in front of you and got startled) and they will tell you about how one time their house was full of coyotes in every room 'including five in the garage' and they're not even like, aware i think of the idea that they are technically 'lying'. they are simply telling stories about coyotes bc its time to tell stories about coyotes.

[joyandthephantoms]

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, Warsan Shire

#Luke

[joyandthephantoms]

#look flynn its nick! #:D

[joyandthephantoms]

#saw this poll when it was still active and simply could not figure out what my answer was #but upon consideration I've come back to say I'm a lukewillie girl first and foremost

[joyandthephantoms]

Wish there was a way to use gifs as options …

#grateful luke my baby ;-;

[joyandthephantoms]

CHARACTER EMOJI ASSOCIATION CHALLENGE   ↳ @userlexi asked  🍬

[joyandthephantoms]

Chain reaction Nick Luke for the ask game?? 👀👀👀

aaaa hi Rio thank you for asking ily

from this list

chain reaction nick luke is something i've been trying to write for literally forever and it's honestly just a dumping ground for like a good 80% of my thoughts on their post-canon dynamic. it fits into my general post-possession nick series, a chain reaction in your heart, hence the working title

it's. luke feels crazy protective of nick after caleb, luke follows him around everywhere for a while, nick thinks that's because luke dislikes and distrusts him until they fight about it. they get really close really fast, probably too fast, they spend a ton of time together, luke still feels weird and upset when he sees nick around julie but he swears it's not jealousy and he can't figure out what his deal is until it clicks and he realizes he's still afraid of nick. and then he feels guilty bc that's not fair to nick, it's not his fault, so he tries to shove that feeling down and throw himself even harder at nick to compensate <3 they're a mess and i'm obsessed with them and someday i'll finish this fic for real <333

it's scattered enough that I'm not even sure this will make it into the final version, but it's the most Actually Written bit I can easily access:

Nick doesn’t know why he’s angry, only that he’s overcome with the urge to shove Luke as hard as he can, or scream at him until he stops haunting him as if he has some sort of claim to his life. 

“I don’t need a guardian angel.” Luke flinches back, and Nick hates himself. He never snaps at people, that’s just not a thing he does, he’s always been so careful to stay calm and step back and figure out why something bothered him and come back to address the problem with a clear head. But then Caleb Covington stole his body and he came back wrong and now he’s someone who flinches when his friends try to touch him and never sleeps because he’s scared of his dreams and makes ghosts cry because he’s mad they care about him.

“No,” Luke says, stepping in front of Nick and turning around to face him directly, “you need a friend.”

#thank you again! #writing about writing #snippets #asks

[joyandthephantoms]

julie and the phantoms week ▷ day five: favourite friendship ▷ julie and nick (platonically) @jatp-week

(julie and flynn were obviously my first thought bc they’re goals, but i haven’t seen julie and nick’s friendship being shown love too!!)

#i love them; did anybody know that? #this is so cool op it looks so good #nick #julie

[joyandthephantoms]

Julie and the Phantoms → Gif Meme 4 Characters: 3. Nick

#AAAAAAA THAT'S MY BOY #nick #love him :)

[joyandthephantoms]

can i hear about 'julie separation anxiety' pretty please??? :)

yes!! from this

Out of everything on that list, julie separation anxiety is probably the most straightforward, "anyone could fit this into their concept of jatp (post) canon" fic I've got, it's just Julie post-orpheum feeling really anxious when she can't see her ghosts :( last time she took her eyes off them, they almost got zapped out of existence!

Julie decides to give it a week. She just has to get through this one week, and then if it’s not any better, she can actually change something. She’ll ask the guys to come with her to school. She’ll get her dad to homeschool her again. At the very least, she’ll tell Flynn what’s up. Just one week. 

She lasts three days. 

#thank you B i love you!! #asks #writing about writing

[joyandthephantoms]

Rio what if I want to know about all of them, huh? what then? but let's sayyyy you don't own me, bobby has problems, and julie's turn to get hurt/comforted?

Then ask about them all you coward /j/t (Thank you for the ask CJ I love you/p)

You Don't Own Me was originally my big bang for this year but I decided to do something else bc this fic got so big. It's a 15 chapter song fic examining Willie and Caleb's relationship from start to end. Here's a snippet:

“William,” Caleb greets as he opens the door. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” He knows, of course. He knows everything that happens within the walls of the Club. 

William startles and looks up at Caleb with wild, terrified eyes. “There, um, there was a fire,” he stammers out. “It was an accident, I swear, I’m so sorry, but it– it was my fault and I don’t know how to control it and–”

Caleb drops a soothing hand on William’s shoulder. “Breathe, William. Was anyone hurt?” 

William shakes his head, sucking in deep breaths. “No, Dante put it out immediately.”

“Good,” Caleb nods. “Then the only thing harmed is my tablecloth.” 

Willie winces. “How did you know–” 

Caleb waves a dismissive hand. “Is that all you came to tell me, William?” 

Willie hesitates, then shakes his head, looking down at the ground. “No, I— I came to ask for your help.” 

Bobby has Problems <3 is an OCD vent lmao. I think it came from that convo in scream hole ab how Bobby would have a lot of food-based rituals and I have a lot of food-based rituals so it felt right to project :)

I don't have a snippet yet bc I haven't started writing it yet lmao but if you want a snippet from something else I can do that

And Julie's turn to get hurt/comforted is also something I don't have a snippet for yet, but it will basically be genderfluid Jules having a bad day where he gets misgendered at school and the boys helping them deal with dysphoria

(Send me a WIP from my list and I'll tell you about it and give you a snippet!)

#ohhh these are all so good ;-;

[joyandthephantoms]

WIP Ask Game

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.

Tagged by @wr0temyway0ut, tysm Rio! I write so very slowly so I think most of these are the same as the last time someone tagged me in this a couple months ago, but!

built my life around sound to keep you dancing

chain reaction nick luke

how's she supposed to keep him green when she's purple

julie and her friends get lost in the woods on purpose

julie separation anxiety

open book with a torn out page

reggie is only a good person because he got lucky

so collect your scars and wear 'em well

the ghosts are gay and sad what else is new

tagging @arolou and @septimusdotjpeg if you're interested!

[joyandthephantoms]

@rainbowgifs good things come in pairs event

↳ nick & julie in julie and the phantoms

#aaaaaaaa I love themmmmmm #!!!!!!