A reblog spot for and ongoing celebration of Nightmare Dork University - the AU of a RISE OF THE GUARDIANS AU that spawned [and continues to spawn] an infinite number of AUs of its own. We host several fandom creation events per year: * The month-long one in April called 30 DAYS OF NIGHTMARE DORKS * The week-long one in October called NDU AUTUMN CARNIVAL * The two-week-long one from late December through mid-January called DORK THE HALLS Our inbox is open to asks and submissions.
My faceclaims for NDU Pitch Black’s godparents, Uncle Gilen Russell Black and Aunt Annelle Deauville-Sands Black, as introduced in Your First Memory of All, now edited and up on Archive Of Our Own.
As cited earlier, Nightmare Dork University can always use another BlackSand pairing.
Instead of doing my usual “30 Days of Nightmare Dorks” in April 2025 over at @366daysofnightmaredorks, I’m going to try to write something every day on ECDYSIS, and try to actually finish the dang thing.
Progress will be logged here, as well as over on @sylphmacabre
Written for Day One of the 2023 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS Halloween Challenge.
AU: Nightmare Dork University
Characters: Piki Black, Pitch Black
Setting: Pre-NDU, while the twins are still in prep school. Takes place synchronously with events in Chapter 17 of CALL SIGNS.
@rotg-halloween
“You do know that there’s no such thing as a place where gravity reverses itself, don’t you? Don’t listen to Proto.”
“That’s not why I wanted to walk you through Epping Forest, Pitch,” retorted Piki. “I thought you just might appreciate old growth, something older than Father’s money and Mother’s bloodlines.”
“Oh, I do. And I can imagine that this will make just as good a term report as the Houses of Parliament would.”
The brothers Black strolled side by side along the woodland path. The rest of their Elwood School classmates who’d done the international trip with them had opted for the more touristy sites in London, but both twins had shuddered at the notion of being trapped on a bus with an ignorant guide for hours. So Piki had taken the lead in bribing their chaperone to let them do an independent sidetrip, as long as they were back at the hotel by suppertime.
Pitch wasn’t fooled by Piki’s casual demeanor. He’d seen the legend “Hangman’s Hill” marked on the Epping Forest walking tour map, and although he outwardly scoffed at his brother’s excuse, he inwardly admitted that it might be amusing to see the “car-rolling-uphill” phenomenon himself.
Years later, when Pitch’s screenplay for the movie A HILL TO DIE ON was nominated for several awards, he made sure to send Piki a framed print of Seraphina’s pen-and-ink illustration of the misty ancient woods where the two of them had walked so long ago, the ghostly figure that they’d fled from indistinct but recognizable in the foreground.
40 days and counting down to this year's autumnal RISE OF THE GUARDIANS thirteen-day-long fandom event, starting on 19 October 2023 and concluding on 31 October 2023.
2023 EVENT GUIDELINES
13 days, 13 prompts.
Visual, aural, textile, and literary works are allowed - fanart, fanfiction, gifs, edits/manips, cosplay, fanmixes, crafts, or ask-and-answer.
Unlike other fandom events, reblogs of previously created material are welcome IF THEY FIT THE PROMPT, but creation of original material is preferred.
Inspiration can be drawn from the GUARDIANS OF CHILDHOOD bookverse, the RISE OF THE GUARDIANS movieverse, and any and all associated AUs.
OCs are welcome and encouraged to interact with RotG/GoC characters.
Crossovers are welcome, but please make sure that the focus POV is a character from RotG/GoC.
Works in progress are welcome and encouraged, as long as they fit the prompt. No reason not to celebrate Halloween all year ‘round! No need to worry about having to have something complete before posting.
Don’t feel like you ***must*** post a piece Every… Single… DAY, and/or fill every single prompt. Burnout is not fun. But do try to post at least ONE piece during the 13 days of the challenge.
Be sure to tag your works with @rotg-halloween, and list #rotghalloween in one of your first 5 tags.
Please tag works accordingly, and be sure to use any warnings for sensitive and potentially triggering subjects.
Reblogging this in @366daysofnightmaredorks because I'm self-indulgent [Sylph-indulgent? :-) ].
Gonna be doing Nightmare Dork University prompts for this year's challenge, rather than doing the Autumn Carnival this time around.
Artwork by Peachsweater and by Dozusumbrella, dearly missed members of the NDU creator enclave.
Athlete / history major Coz Pitchiner and theatre major / drama queen Pitch Black in the kitchen on a typical morning before heading to their separate classes.
Playwright Piki Black and hipster Proto, smug in their individual ways.
Education major / perpetually nervous sopping wet beast Jack Sickle, receiving a compliment and not knowing how to react.
I'm sure that among thirteen Halloween prompts I can generate some new NDU content.
You may be confused as to what exactly is going on. Please, allow me to explain you a thing.
It all started at ask-pitchs-wardrobe. (Well, technically it started with Rise of the Guardians and the...
Nightmare Dork University has been around for ten years.
TEN. YEARS.
My thanks to every single person who has ever made content for this AU of an AU of an AU, and has generated AUs of their own.
I had thought at first when writing this up that I could tag people, but Tumblr is not making this possible. And so I am sure I am going to miss listing SOMEONE, because I am old and tired and sad, but here goes…
First and foremost: Hurtanminttu, the creator behind Ask-Pitchs-Wardrobe and Wardrobe-After-Dark; and then in alphabetical order, with some duplication between main blogs…
amandatheangrygirl
artsysammiches
ask-ndu-sera
ask-piki-black
ask-purradox
askemmathenightmareprincess
askjacksickle
bowlingforgerbils
bringsyounightmares
celestialdeth
cenobitesquid
crackoujak
dildarium
ebuniversity
eltrkbarbarella
emeraldembers
emeraldscholar
esoterrible
fearking
gretchensinister
halibaal
incurablenecromantic
inmytimewe
itchybrownsweaterart
justicecookie666
kalael
kamika-star
kaza999
kind-of-heart
kkingkk
ksclaw
linddzz
lithefider
lunadvine
marypsue
mira-eyeteeth
mischievoustempest
monsterbrush
morbidlizard
neyiea
niccillustrates
nightmare-jockstrap
nightmareships
nxghtlight
obsessivecomplex
peachsweater
piratekingpitchblack
pitch-black-shadow-dweller
pitch-in-panties
plush-anon
porcelain-noire
puppetmaster55
random-sedan
renegade-lemon
samafox
ships-n-giggles
sinistergloom
spocklingtons
suddenlydeer
tejoxys
the-darkest-shadows
thelanabo
theotherwesley
thismightyneed
tripletrilby
twistedxsaiyan
whatgoesbetterwithcoldthandark
wildice
ymirr
I am not exaggerating when I say that I am still alive because of this rollercoaster of a multimedia shared universe.
Please excuse this rushed and cringed snippet
I just miss my disaster Nightmare Kings.....
@366daysofnightmaredorks
Pairing: Pitch/Pitchiner
AU: Wardrobeverse
Despite spending his known existence in the cold reaches of space, Pitchner surprisingly understood the concept of Seasons.
He knew there was a time for planting and harvesting, a time for work and rest. While not as particular and detailed as Earth's four seasons, the various planets he did visit actually had a natural system that affected the weather and vegetation.
But Earth was different in a way he still did not understand (although he pretended he did just to not listen to Pitch go on such a tangent). He knew the seasons from his time on this planet. He could easily say that Summer was his least favorite with the heat and bright sun that made venturing out of his cave unbearable.
The Winter season surprisingly he did not mind as much despite the vast holidays the mortals celebrated and his companion's ire over the joyfulness provided by the Guardians. The coldness reminded him of his time venturing into the cosmos and exploring the vast recess of space.
Spring- he won't give it another chance after his first and only day venturing out and about. Who knew that the dreaded Nightmare King could be taken out by the pollination cycle of flowers?
As for Fall...
"Why am I helping you again with this," he found himself asking for the third time as he reached up to pluck another apple from the tree.
His ear twitched as heard a sigh escape from Pitch's lips.
"Because you were the only one I could steal at the moment and let's be honest, you were not doing anything important."
Pitchiner's brow furrowed. "You don't know that," he muttered. He plucked an apple off a tree branch, squeezing it for firmness like Pitch had shown him before.
"I didn't want to hear Piki complain about how some of the apples aren't perfect and critiquing about my uses for these. Jack is spreading some frost with his counterpart and do not get me started on what Proto would have done if I had invited him."
The taller of the pair had to control his shiver. After the incident with Proto and his idea of a child seeing a clown inside his throat, Pitchiner had taken great extremes never to be alone with their fellow Nightmare King.
"Still, you could have gone by yourself," Pitchner interjected. "Or hell, even stole a few from the humans." It wasn't the first time Pitchiner had witnessed the shorter Nightmare King's thievery- especially because so many times furniture and equipment broke.
It wasn't his fault humans create things that were so weak for a creature his strength and girth.
"Oh trust me, I am stealing..."
Pitchiner turned to see Pitch leaning against another tree, rubbing the flesh of the apple against his robe. There was the familiar smirk that indicated that the Boogeyman's actions were going to be an inconvenience to someone. Pitchiner enjoyed that reaction- when it was not directed at him.
"Tomorrow morning, the humans and one certain Rabbit is going to wake up and discovered all the delicious fruit gone. Was it the neighborhood children? Some miserable vagabond who got hungry and decided to swipe all the food away?"
A wicked grin spread across Pitch's face as he took a bite of the fruit in his hand.
Pitchiner couldn't help but rolled his eyes. But he didn't mind these acts as he knew Pitch was an opportunist and would take what win he could, even foolish ones like these.
"So dramati-" he started to say, only to find a large object pushed against his lips and his fangs scraping the skin.
"Shush. Eat one and then start back picking. I am not leaving till we have taken all the ripe fruit. Let the humans and Bunny have the rest of the harvest."
Pitchiner removed the apple from his mouth (but not before biting into the flesh) and chewed it as he watched Pitch finish his own and returned back to gathering more of the fruit.
For Day Two of the Nightmare Dork University Autumn Carnival.
@366daysofnightmaredorks
This was not how it was supposed to have worked.
His cousin and their roommate were supposed to be the ones unnerved by the lengthening shadows snaking along the ground as the arc of daylight changed from midafternoon to near-gloaming.
But Pitch and Coz had both rampaged ahead some time ago, after the last time Proto had put what he termed a reassuring hand on one or both of their shoulders, declaring that they had better things to do. “You’ve won, Proto. We give in. You’re the scariest thing in this cornfield,” Pitch had snapped out as he followed his boyfriend, but he sounded more exasperated than frightened.
The silence among the corn rows making up the maze would have been soothing if it had not been broken by a reflective “hmmmmm”, which came from the smoky thing that wore Proto’s face.
For Day One of the Nightmare Dork University Autumn Carnival event.
@366daysofnightmaredorks
“This was a wonderful idea, Jack.”
Those were the words Jack Sickle desperately wanted to hear from Piki’s lips, perhaps accompanied by one of his boyfriend’s rare full-face smiles.
His heart sank lower than the soles of his sneakers, though, when he saw the rain and fog outside his dorm window. He knew… he just KNEW… that Piki, always elegantly and fastidiously put-together Piki, would NEVER agree to go apple-picking in a downpour.
Jack had wanted to treat Piki to an outing after Piki had so graciously helped him with last week’s project. He’d wrestled with the thought that asking one’s boyfriend to do all the driving for their outing hardly counted as “treating” someone, but had gradually admitted to himself that Piki liked being asked to do things for and with Jack, and thus the pleasure would outweigh the obligation.
Now, however, he was both stumped and stuck. Piki had agreed last night to pick him up this morning at ten, and had seemed affectionately amused that Jack wanted to keep their destination a surprise. The playwright had texted, “Anywhere you take me, Jack, will be a delight, I am sure”.
Jack looked at his phone and sighed before thrusting his sweater-clad arms into the sleeves of a hooded sweatshirt. Maybe he’d think of something in the span of time between leaving his dorm and getting into Piki’s car.
