#(he is incredibly bitter about it)
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seven or eight times now ive watched the episodes in which they take the andromache and this is the first time ive realized that during the initial battle, after they board, every time the camera is from dufresne's perspective it's blurrier than otherwise because. he took his glasses off for the fight
#real velma hours#i have a soft spot for s1 dufresne that i dont have for s2 & 3#part of it is that jannes bore a passing resemblance to a longtime mutual of mine so i feel like im watching someone i know#the other part is . well its like andy whitfield versus liam whatsisface when they were on spartacus#i dont know for sure bc they passed and that's the reason their characters were recast. but the actors have a different energy#from seasons one to seasons two and three. and i really wonder what jannes would have brought to dufresne's betrayal#roland reed's take is extremely bitter and self-preservationist#but from what we did get of jannes' performance i imagine his version would've been more confused and fear-based. jaded/feral#and i always think it really wouldve been something#black sails#q#everything about this battle sequence is a masterpiece. from the shot of joshua getting his false fangs ready to put in#to mr beauclerc's pile of like a dozen muskets up in the crow's nest. because it's 1715 snipers can't reload . he has to shoot#a different gun every time#to the way most pirate media glosses over the minutia of battle or even priacy in general because it's about the vibe the aesthetic#but sails' piracy is a means to an end and so its pirates are just like. guys with jobs#the minutia of their battle sequences even in their comparatively less insightful first season are INCREDIBLe. like o'brien levels of detai#and the camera work in this sequence! even on my thirteen-inch laptop screen where my show is on a nine-inch window#i am right there in it i feel like im watching it in 3d
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what is spn about if not humanising the monster (people who do objectively violent and wrongful Things) vs. villainising the humane (people who are labelled inherently wrong and sinful and therefore mistrusted and ostracised again and again . Regardless of what they do. they are not granted the grace of mistakes, or imperfections—they are held to a standard of ideality so strict it’s disturbingly cruel. Every thing they do Has to be about making up for what they are. The only way they r accepted is if they accept this rhetoric and use it to self-flagellate and overcompensate and beat themselves up again and again—)
#like of course sam was mad about benny . the unfairness and hypocrisy of dean’s actions are incredibly clear here#sam doesn’t understand why and how dean could trust a vampire when the same grace has never ever been extended to him BC of the rhetoric of#you are what you are are and not what you do#and you Believe that because your brother does . Except then he goes and does this and it doesn’t make any fucking sense . and you try to#understand but you’re just so angry . bc why wouldn’t you be?? why wouldn’t you be . the anger of course is misdirected because it’s not#actually benny he’s mad at but dean . He hasn’t even met benny and when he does#he accepts that dean was right but dean never accepts or admits to anything ever#and he never says what he means and he always assumes what sam means instead of considering/ trying to empathise w what he’sactually saying#and sam is right . He’s always right dean can only ever trust himself completely. there’s an axe over everyone else’s head ready to drop#when they do something he does not even slightly approve of#he’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop and it makes him into a mean bitter person#who hates everyone else because he hates himself but in a way that he’s convinced himself he’s doing more right than wrong so that makes up#for it#but he’s wrong. He’s wrong because intentions can never ever usurp actions and hurt#using powers that r Deemed inherently wrong to save people is Good actually . inherent badness/ sin doesn’t exist hope this helps !#sol.txt
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You feelin' fired up now? Make way for the undefeated Champion! —Welcome to New Eridu!— PS5™/iOS/Android/PC | Version 1.3 "Virtual Revenge" of Zenless Zone Zero, HoYoverse's urban fantasy ARPG, is out now
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TW for talk of drugs, alcohol, and general phobias and ptsd (HCs about Akira and the effects of the interrogation scene)
Thinkin about Akira having ptsd about the interrogation manifesting as something fairly Mundane, as in, something that doesnt come across as a ‘traditional’ symptom that strangers can clock. Takemi assumes hed be averse to needles or doctors, or perhaps hed become claustrophobic or uneasy in specific areas like courthouses or police departments; shes not a psychiatrist but she IS a confidant, and shed like to believe she knows him Enough to try and be of some help wrt Akira and his mental health (along w his physical health).
I think hed just have an issue w anything that impairs his cognitive function in ANY way. This includes alcohol, recreational drugs (weed), medications that induce drowsiness (allergy meds and pain meds), flu or fever induced hallucinations, and general anesthesia. Lack of awareness of his surroundings, and an inability to recall even basic short term memories will send him into a slight spiral that he tries his best to avoid by any means.
He comes off as just some dude whos just abstinent about alcohol and drugs, and generally people are super chill about it. He goes out to parties and mingles with everyone, he makes sure his friends get home safe, and hes chill about them doing whatever around him as long as they dont hurt themselves. But its absolutely hell for him and others when hes horribly sick. He WONT go to anyone but Takemi, no matter how much she insists shes just a general pcp. He shies away when its suggested he goes to emergency rooms, and he fights when they try to make him go by force. Hes bearable when hes got a minor cold or virus, but he panics when he gets sick enough to forget where he is. It gets better with age, but whoever hes with has to deal w his meltdowns for a very very Very long time.
One of his biggest fears is falling unconscious, and waking up with a gap in his memory so wide, he forgets who his friends and family are Again. The hands on his person and needles sticking him this way and that are nothing to him when he thinks of the extreme physical duress the metaverse put on him and his team. But it didnt take his memories away, the one thing that made his year in Tokyo worth it, and the threat of having it taken Again always overrides the logical part of his brain that tells him that the circumstances that led to it happening in the first place will never happen again.
#chattin#akira#i feel like he would also have some long lasting chronic pain#probably nerve damage in his hands or flareups in his legs#GENUINELY wanted to have him w broken or fractured fingers after the interrogation#but i think thats TOO long of a heal time for the events of the game unfortunately#pain flareups feel more reasonable#he hates to have a permanent reminder of those days in anyway and it makes him a bit bitter about it#Takemi is happy to know that she can at least help him in this way#pain management and recommending specialists for him#since he trusts her judgement over any other doctor#so i dont think it would be an incredibly impeding force in his life#but it IS there and hes frustrated by it
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y'all can all cancel me (again) for this, but if there's even a SHRED of 'who should I pick?' from Penelope in season 3, I am tuning out SO fast because like. . .sorry not sorry, there IS no choice. Debling is some crusty OC suitor she barely even knows and Colin is a man who she has been so supposedly in love with to the point where she'd ruin her entire family's reputation to have a potential love story with him. Penelope and Colin have background, years of knowing each other, intimacy that few people in the Ton can boast of having (letters, conversations about purpose, fights and arguments and makeups) and her and Debling have. . .a dance or two at a ball because he's a rebound for Penelope's broken heart. he means nothing. he has no nuance, he has no weight to the story, he is such an afterthought to me. either I wanna see Penelope going 'you know what? I don't even LIKE this dude. he's. . .fine, but I don't care about him even a shred as much as I care about Colin' or the INSTANT Colin's like 'you know what? we should get married' if it's not an immediate 'say less, you're already my husband, try returning me without the receipt, Debling whomst?' then I don't want it!
like. . .it's just so frustrating to see all the 'I hope Debling sweeps her off her feet and she rejects Colin's proposal and she makes him work for it and and and-' nonsense from the fandom and it's always tagged and no matter how many times I block it, it just keeps popping up. I go into the Polin tag for POLIN. I don't give a SHIT about a male love interest other than Colin. Not one. Not a shred. Not an iota.
and also. . .Debling has the 'benefit' of not having depth, or character traits, or HISTORY, so peeps can project onto him however they want, but I'm calling it now, there is NOTHING he could do or be that would make me like him more than Colin. Colin will always hit different, and I will always love him more. and if Pen's not on that same page? lol bye
you want me to believe Penelope and Colin are soulmates and it's romance for her to hem and haw about how difficult a decision it is for her to marry a stranger who knows barely anything about her. . .
when Marina was out here dropping banger lines like 'You were the only man with which I could see myself being happy' and 'I do not care about any of these men, where is Colin?'? like hello??? and she wasn't even fully in love with him!!!! but we'll demonize her until the cows come home in our fandom and make her the villain in Polin's love story for DARING to get in between Polin, yet Debling, a white man, is a darling dear perfect prince for getting in between Polin? existing in our fandom solely so Penelope can be like 'lol, Colin ain't shit, let me entertain any and everyone else'?
if that's the direction it goes then, ten toes down and on my mama, she doesn't deserve Colin and she can move because I'm on my way to court him my damn self
and that's that on that
#you know what? lol it's been a bit since i've posted a controversial opinion#tagging it#polin#sorry not sorry i ship polin. . .so i wanna see. . .polin. . .and i'm getting damn sick and tired#of all the bullshit pen/oc pen/other dude theories and stories in the polin tag#and i don't want polin to lose screentime over a frankly bleh male oc#you can't change my mind#if i don't see at least marina's 'you've seen him with the little bridgertons!' level of squee and 'i only want to talk to colin'#levels of devotion then i don't fucking WANT IT!!!!!#yeah definitely try out the marriage market#realize that NO ONE has a good time on the marriage market#try to get over him w/ whomstever#but then be like 'i don't even LIKE this dude where's colin i miss him' about it!!!!!#because otherwise i am not here#i am asleep#and i am courting colin in your place pen#i'm coming for your man#anti debling#if debling has 100 haters i am one of them if he has 10 haters i'm one of them if he has 1 hater i am the hater if he has 0 haters i'm dead#it's incredibly obvious that 'pebling' is half rooted in a revenge storyline fueled by anger at Colin and his complexity#and half a projection of wanting Penelope to have 'choices' because she is a representation and manifestation of the fans themselves#and so people think an OC that can be 'perfect' for them- whoops I mean Pen (because he doesn't have any real depth or interest)#he's a cardboard cutout we can throw whatever you want onto#so we can make him 'perfect' instead of the much more meaningful storyline of pen and colin both being messy and loving each other more#and part of it is bitterness over Polin not being insta-love#which. . .if it was i wouldn't like them as much as i do#anyways y'all ain't slick#and it's fucking WEIRD to be in a fandom that's like 'i ship this couple but i hope she gets with ANYONE else'#maybe you. . .don't ship the couple??#like. . .to the point of wanting her necklace to be from debling. . .and her wearing it everywhere??? WHAT??
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just gotta wait 16 years, hang in there 🤞🤞
#incredible just HOW meta this story is. in a bitter cynical pissed-off ‘just cancel the show already let it die’ sort of way#the giggle said … bet👀#nothing i love more than media about media. tv about how evil tv is. theatre where the characters look up into the audience and say#you’re keeping us dancing against our will for your own entertainment. let us go. it’s cinematic sado-masochism#love all the side characters. captain cook with his ‘specimen’ as an obvious doctor foil (the pith hat and RP and general#demeanour of an imperialist ‘explorer’ is a surprisingly lucid deconstruction of the#colonialist underpinnings of the explorer archetype in british media; the doctor included. he’s not a#god of ragnarok or a creepy clown; he’s a perfectly amiable english gentleman with stories to tell of his travels and tea to sip; but he’s#arguably more evil than any other side character in this serial)#jamie catches up#dw#doctor who#the greatest show in the galaxy#doctor who meta#seven#seventh doctor#sylvester mccoy#ace mcshane#sophie aldred#jamie.txt
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i really truly believe that kim dokja is short. i think hes the shortest of kimcom barring the kids and when he comes back from those three years he spent away lee jihye is taller than him to. and she DOES tease him about it and he is totalllyyyy not bitter about it
#orv#omniscient reader's viewpoint#(he is incredibly bitter about it)#(hes on the dokkaebi market typing in shit like 'growth serum now' 'pill to make you taller' 'skill that makes your legs longer' etc)
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Vegetta heard that some members of the server are scared of him and he was like "Why? I'm not even a tryhard, I was the last person to get slime armor" and I'm like... Vegetta people are already scared of you, WHY would you respond to that with "But this isn't even 1% of my true power''
#i talk#qsmp talk#Vegetta be like ''This isn't even my final form''#Vegetta be like ''well if you're going to be scared of me at least let me give you a good reason for it /pos'' lmao#It's always so baffling to me (as a KarmaIand fan) seeing how Vegetta's depicted in Fool/igetta fanworks#because the way people often depict Foolish as this incredibly powerful demigod (only sometimes incorporating his actual personality / lore#is how people depicted Vegetta (minus the ''we're disregarding his personality'' part that sometimes happens) in Karmaland#Like it's almost a perfect reverse uno in terms of how people depict Vegetta in KarmaIand vs Q.S.M.P#I'm not mad about it or anything I'm just genuinely amused by how people manage to underestimate him and STILL are afraid of him#like oh honey....... whatever Foolish's ties to immortality and godhood are pale in comparison to Vegetta's#(This is nothing against Foolish BTW his lore on the previous server was fun and I'm bitter we never got to see more of it)#(The entire death totem thing was sick and also the concept of totem gods is so interesting)#The way Vegetta is depicted in Karmaland is very strange#he seems like a being (not necessarily a god but definitely something powerful)#who made their world then stepped back so he could be a part of it#So even though he respects the guidance of elders like Merlon#(to some degree)#and talks about the ''gods'' (admins) as higher powers#the world still bows to him#and that includes the QSMP world#realistically we know this is because every single admin adores Vegetta and grew up with him#but we're looking at this through a lore lense#I can get into this more later - I feel like I should elaborate on my thoughts here and add some canon backing to explain myself a bit more#but you get the jist#Me: let's post a silly little thought about the minecraft series I'm watching#Also me: LET ME CITE MY SOURCES -#Listen man you can't unlearn some things#I'm a professional writer it's in my nature
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Imagine you have a character, a broken, vicious man who bites and spits venom even at a person he loves the most, who pushes the buttons of his love just because this toxic familiarity is all he knows, just because it's all he feels safe doing. And then his love finds another person who brings out such a different part of them, a part this character never could or maybe just long forgot how to do. He drowns in jealousy, in his bitternes, he hurts his love, he hurts his love's beloved, their crew... And finally gets what he wanted. Finally has his Blackbeard back, finally can forget about the part of Ed he can no longer reach... But suddenly Blackbeard is unpredictable even to this character.
And suddenly everything changes as he slips and can no longer even enjoy the familiar toxicity because he saw something better and kinder and selfishly wishes for it too, despite it all. And suddenly he understands people around him, people who never saw the evil in Edward, and suddenly he realizes it's his fault. All of it, just a part of it - doesn't matter. He caused this and nobody is happy, not even him.
And then, despite everything, others start to care for him. They tell him "We think you're in a toxic relationship" as if they didn't know it was him who brought Blackbeard back and they hug him tight as if he wasn't the once to sentence them to this horror and they hold his hand when he panics. They experience kindness and hope in a miserable place, maybe a glimpse of what made Blackbeard so soft for a moment there. And when everything falls apart, when he takes the final tumble in this horrible dance he has with Blackbeard, somebody is there to hold him up. Somebody is there to criticize his drinking and make him a new leg and call him their unicorn. The character is "their bastard", he is part of them. He is part of something kind and accepting and he shyly embraces the new familarity-that-might-be, even when he still insults and retreats and bottles stuff up because maybe if he seems fine he can help others, maybe in the end he can be loved in a way as kind as theirs. Maybe he can have a family.
So once they are again in danger he takes the chance and speaks boldly and captures the ominous attention of the enemy. He takes a risk for them. He takes a bullet for it. He rests in the arms of his love and tells him he's sorry even when he could never accept the other's apology. He never gets the chance to try more and forgive more and try to be forgiven more. He can only ever serve as a tool for another character, can never evolve to existing on his own, to healing on his own.
You are Izzy Hands. You are drowning in your mistakes and the toxic familiarity you're too afraid to get out of. And once you dare to try...
The show would rather have you die than give you a chance at healing and happiness.
Your death doesn't prove a point and it doesn't mean anything. It's just cruel.
#Izzy hands#yes i am dramatic#yes i may be a spoilsport#whatever i am is also so incredibly bitter#because the way this story ended is disrespectful to us all#because even if we never fell as low as Izzy#this is still Our Flag Means Death#the show which never gave a damn about historical accuracy or brutal reality#a sit-com about silly gay pirates who get to joke and adventure and open up to each other and heal#so why does a character who has only just begun healing in any way has to die#what is the point?#why can't he leave the stage with the rest of his crew-family#finally opening up to them?#why does Ed and Stede deserve a happy ending but not Izzy?#ofmd#ofmd critical#i wish it wasn't
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“Deliverance,” Marvel Zombies: Black, White & Blood (Vol. 1/2023), #1.
Writer: Ashley Allen; Artist: Justin Mason; Letterer: Clayton Cowles
#Marvel#Marvel comics#Marvel Zombies: Black White & Blood#Moon Knight comics#latest release#Moon Knight#Marc Spector#Khonshu#so yeah this is yet another story that ends on the incredibly bitter note of Marc fully handing the reins over to Khonshu#(with the added bonus of being zombified and eating former comrades)#but idk this page in particular got me thinking (on multiple things) so bear with me#firstly I find it increasingly interesting how in these short stories a reoccurring theme if the creators are going for the horror angle#is Khonshu taking full control and yeah that’s terrifying considering how much of modern MK comics are about restoring autonomy#both in the literal sense (shaking off Khonshu’s influence and kicking him to the curb) and in a more ephemeral sense (proving that#while categorically neurodivergent MK’s not just «some loony» but a dependable hero in his own right#so I guess it just gets me that in this case it’s a matter of sacrifice#that Marc would give up something he fought endlessly hard for to save civilian lives (although the creators succeed in making this#still feel like not a complete victory)#the other major things for me is Khonshu’s «faith has never needed rationality» which is…something I take personal umbrage with#that’s a common understanding of the term but arguably the strongest faith is born of rationality#the idea of logically coming to the conclusion that «I have combed through everything on this Earth and determined that there are something#outside the human understanding and thus I’ll hold strong to a faith in something not of this world#the fingerprints/evidences of which are still apparent even in this world too»#thus personally I see Khonshu’s statement there as another example of his oft-used manipulation: his attempts to convince Marc that#his mind and consequently Marc himself are unreliable and useless without Khonshu’s guidance#(i.e. overbearing and uncaring control) and tbh that’s pretty horrific
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I drew the silly little cookies that I run with 🥰
#imo caviar is best freinds/exes with all the water legendaries /LH#frost queen is included#he’s best friends with fq sea fairy and oyster#and black pearl is his ex and they’re both bitter about it#I will accept caviar x oyster bc they’re fun#I mean I’ll accept anything healthy tbh but u know what I mean#caviar jump hugs frost queen and she tolerates him#wildberry is rough and stoic but mango and custard are his best friends#they put flowers in his hair shut up I’m right#mango and custard will beat you up with the power of friendship and an oar (incredible violence)#anyways this is my lineup look at them pls#cookie run kingdom#cookie run#cookie run kingdom fanart#cookierun kingdom#crk#crk fanart#frost queen cookie#caviar cookie#captain caviar cookie#mango cookie#wildberry cookie#custard cookie iii#custard cookie the third
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Okay I finally have some finished drawings of them haha. I swear I have a regular art style, chibis are just easier okay!!!!
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#let it be known to the court that they are not that 'sunshine x grumpy' trope#but rather 'man who is incredibly annoying x man who is incredibly bitter'#alternatively: unstoppable force x unmoveable object#THEY ARE VERY SPECIAL TO ME!!!!!#AU so good that i draw for 8 hours straight-#my blog this past week has turned into just them! sorry not sorry!!#i guess i just really love them a lot as well bcs its brought back a type of creative drive i havent had in years?#this is why im drawing chibis so much tho!! they dont make me nearly as frustrated as my regular style#like i just sketch them on paper and its super easy to transwer to digital#and its def preparing me for a fuller sized drawing so im happy about that!#but otherwise also love them very much bcs i love writing their lore and talking about their lore and drawing their lore ;;;;;;#and the historical research is so fun!!!#okay oops anyways its 7 am and my hand hurts#vettonso#fernando alonso#f1 fanart#formula 1 fanart#f1 art#formula 1 art#f1#formula 1#catie.art.#*also very important to me that fernando *is* shorter in this au like irl but he wears heels all the time#boy king au
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I will never get over the fact how incredibly isolated Dirk was. Literally the only living thing for MILES was fish & sea gulls. Half of the kids grew up without a guardian, but Jade had Bec, Roxy had the carapacians, Jake had the tinkerbulls (possibly other lusii?) and spoke fondly of his grandma before batterwitch killed her.
But Dirk had nothing. Dirk was so sick of being alone that he cloned himself, and then realised he STILL only had himself for company.
And let's not forget the fact he was attacked by drones regularly. That he was literally fighting for his life. That people talk about & draw Dave's scars. But dirk would be covered in them too. Both for them were forced to fight for their life on that damm roof top.
Dirk is so deeply unstable. To act calm and collected about killing yourself, then kissing your dead friends. That's not someone with a normal sense of self, a normal sense of life. After the game it would take Dirk decades to deal with everything wrong with him.
Bitter isolation and the constant looming threat of death does not make for one healthy man.
#im sorry i am always just so unwell about the fact dirk had nothing but the robots he built#dirk strider#if u disagr33 i kind do wanna hear ur thoughts#i fucking love meta#cw sui mention#from and outside perspective i f33l incredible sadness about dirk and how lonely he would of b33n#then the part of my brain that kins dirk turns on; then its just bitter self loathing#i think dirk is a tragic character but i could never love him; because i dont love myself; and dirk could never love himself; and im dirk#i could never explain how much i HATE that dirk is one of my major kins#there is something deeply with him(me)/me(him)#bwah bwah bwah heart players man -holds up meulin- i am so normal#homestuck#talking lollie
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#David Tennant#Alec Hardy#Broadchurch#my gifs#I love how he looks around at the sound of her steps#and the first thing he asks her is about her dad#both in commiseration and to check up on her#I love their bond so much. It was forged in so much pain#and shared work#and an incredibly unique fusion of loneliness and bitter yet dogged determination to keep going#and common goals and values WHERE it MATTERS#and having so many common enemies and being pariahs#and the mentor teacher thing Alec is to Ellie throughout season 1#Like this is an unbelievably sturdy and stunningly beautiful basis for something more to grow#because the love? human love? PRECIOUS platonic love? It's already there#It's already watered and fed and tended to simply through their existence#Sigh. Alec and Ellie I love you.#Chibnall I love you for ending it with that beautiful 'See you tomorrow'! <3 <3 <3
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sometimes you read something for a fandom you were crazy over years ago and you encounter one of the ships you loved back then and you just think ���yeahhhh…. this is still great :) way to go younger me you were so based about this actually :)”
#anyway I still care a lot about Obitine apparently#their respective commitment to their respective ideals and moral codes… the way they love each other more than life#(literally. they’re so willing to die for each other.)#and yet that never leads them to violate who they /are/ or who the other person is#Satine is willing to never see him again rather than ask him to leave the Order. he is willing to leave the Order all she has to do is ask#they are able to rest in their love for one another bc they know the other loves them in such a way that they would never ask#for their compromise#idk this makes very little sense it’s 2 a.m. I’m delirious I have church in the morning but I wanna rewatch some Clone Wars now#hfhfhfhhdhdhdhehdhdhdhfbbdsjsjfhfj#gurt says stuff#edit: wait actually this is so funny—bc I just realized that Din Djarin and Obi-Wan are quite similar in a lot of ways#so the parallels here are incredibly funny to me for some reason. the Kryze women just have a Thing for reserved men who are#completely devoted to their religious values and would do practically anything for their adopted family huh#(ftr I don’t know if I ship DinBo or not but I do understand the appeal and I am open to the possibility of the writers play it right#still bitter about losing Cara tho. bc I was SO curious to see how Misters Filoni and Favreau were going to develop that#n I had a vague suspicion based on my knowledge of how Filonis brain and stories work that ~something~ may have been meant to happen there)
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I think it's real obvious that if you actually like Colin you don't belong in the Polin fandom. y'all are all so ableist about him and think the absolute worst of him and a huge number of the posts and fics are romanticizing Penelope straight up abusing him
we should make a new tag because this one is NOT it
#polin#bridgerton#penelope featherington#colin bridgerton#there's a fun new trend in fics where instead of 'just' emotionally and mentally abusing him Penelope is now hitting him too#and the narrative justifies it and colin thinks it's his fault she hits him and everyone cheers in the comments isn't that great?#oh did i say great? i meant fucking awful#you can tell this fandom is painfully tradwife levels straight because they think women who do this shit is cute or harmless#us queer women who have been abused by other women know damn well fanon penelope is the kind of girl you run away from with a swiftness#but colin's just a big stupid dummy for 1 (one) comment and not assuming her feelings for him so he needs to be slapped around i guess#i hate it here#burn the whole fandom to the ground and start from scratch#and we're SURPRISED there's an anti-polin blog? WE'RE anti-polin ffs#everyone and their mother knows 'Polin' actively hates half their ship#and are incredibly hostile to anyone who doesn't slobber all over penelope's shoes as she mistreats her supposed love interest and friends#and yeah i'm bitter about it#also i'll say it: the way we talk about Luke Newton is fucking unacceptable too#he's a neurodivergent man and some of the shit y'all say is DISGUSTING#this fandom is actively antagonistic to nd peeps
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Reverse Batgirls AU.
Stephanie Brown starts out young and angry, wanting to put her father in prison. That doesn't change - but what does, is the name she picks up to do it. After all, Batman is... untouchable, he's justice he's power - what more can she want as a vigilante?
A whole lot, as it turns out. But still, she wears the name with pride, patrolling with Robin (Damian!) and Cassandra, making friends with the latter. Signal's farther afield, away in Bludhaven - still, he drops by now and again to play games of rooftop tag.
Cassandra has been doing work as a vigilante in all but name for a few years now. She ping pongs around - saving enough lives to have earned herself a reputation. A reputation strong enough to have made its way into circles that knew her father. These are the people who pick her name for her, seeing her father's legacy - Orphan is not a name she chooses. But after she settles in Gotham, after Bruce comes to her one day, telling her the meaning - she cannot bring herself to call it false.
Damian still ends up leaving for bigger things. A position is open, and Bruce doesn't think it needs filling - but Stephanie has lost one teacher, and for all that Cassandra is good at violence she is not very good at teaching it. He takes her under his wing, and eventually passes down a mantle.
Steph has her own mantle to pass down. "I don't know that I can tell you who you are - who your family is. But still - I don't think me or Bruce or Damian or anyone considers you an Orphan, not anymore. Batgirl isn't - she's not as good as Orphan is. But I wanted to give her to you anyways."
Cassandra takes the purple suit with a gentle sort of consideration. It's not the suit she wears, three weeks later - but the Bat is there, golden against the dark black. Bruce smiles when she steps out of the Batcave, shrouded in darkness except for the sign of her ideals, their ideals. Robin and Batgirl and Batman fly again, capes trailing through the darkness.
Steph gets to be Robin for a while - gets to carve out her own reputation. Her and Damian fight, and the reconcile, and fight again. It takes her a little bit longer to figure out why he's so angry, takes him a little longer to realize why she wants it so bad.
It helps, that Stephanie is two years older than Cassandra, but still its difficult for them to fight together. She still perceives her own presence as superfluous, and Cassandra still thinks it is her job to take bullets so no one else has to. They have a chat, under a dark alcove when Stephanie is bandaging her wounds, about pain, and the taking thereof. About balance. About how Robin was a superhero too.
Cassandra leaves Gotham, on occasion - she partners with Signal, Katana, and Black Lightning. She meets her mother there, for the first time. She won't know it, not until later, but they clash, fists against metal. This is the first time she dies, and she comes back to life with the worried eyes of her teammates.
She still gets shot. There's no gang war, but there is Roman Sionis with greedy hands and eyes, and five days followed by two clicks, two bangs. The hospital tells her she's lucky to still be standing. The word luck curls on her tongue, like something bitter.
Cassandra still tears through the city looking for her. But when she finds her, when she recovers, something settles into Stephane's skin - something bitter and angry. Cassandra can see it, even when she pretends at lightness, the jealousy and rage. Stephanie knows she sees it. This does not make things better.
Bruce takes the injury... badly. His hold tightens on all four of them. Damian and Steph take it with no small amount of anger - Bruce is not allowed in the Brown family home and Damian leaves for the Titans, again. Cassandra follows Duke to Bludhaven, pulling on his operations to set up her own. The end result is Duke's home being slowly invaded by a girl who becomes his sister.
This does not help Bruce - with no one to keep him steady, he spirals, paranoia whispering into one ear and rage into another. Tim still comes out of the woodwork, with memories of the way a dark haired kid twisted out of the hold of a particularly pushy partyguest (followed by a silent swordfight through a different hallway) inspiring a half-decades worth of trying to scratch an itch, before coming across the perfect answer.
Cassandra still leaves for answers. Bit by bit, it becomes unignorable - Shiva is her mother, undoubtedly. She limps back to Duke's home to share it between shaking sobs, and stories about all the dead men she left in the snow. He tells her in return about his father - biological and not. And he's angry on her behalf, she can see that - but still, there is warmth for her here. There is always warmth for her here. Even when she leaves burn marks on the ceiling and takes up the bathroom for hours at a time, even on those rare days where he seems so tired and she cannot do anything right - still, she has a place here. Their twin gold and black suits become fixtures of the Bludhaven skylines.
It's across the dinner table that Steph realizes she might be able to get back into the game. Her father is loud, boisterous, after leaving prison. He doesn't think she can do anything about it.
She can.
After the first time, its tempting to try a second, third. Rolling into bars with a licence that gives her a few more years, chatting up men who have lips too loose. Other times, she calls up wives, asks about schedules for a date nights or when their kids will need daycare, mapping out plans and places. In the beginning she sent these files to the GCPD, for all the good they'd do. Later, she gives them to Damian, a stack of neatly arranged notes and observations that he pours through with all the seriousness of a monk. There's something important in the first time she calls up Cass and asks her to follow up on a lead. She comes by her home later, with a hello and a fruit tart.
When she asks her what she calls herself in the field, Stephanie shrugs. She keeps a lot of different names - her own amongst them.
"The GCPD asked." Cassandra had said, one cold night. "You - you do the same thing now. That we did before. Differently, not like Robin, but still like one of us." There's a heavy pause that lingers for a moment, dull and heaving. "You should have a name."
And it might be silly, might be stupid, but Steph's been doing this long enough and seen enough plans fall apart because of the way that small details, when brought into the light, can bring a whole structure tumbling down. Spoiler is born, with a purple mask over dark fabric. It's a ceremonial thing, she'll admit, but it's the principal of the matter yanno?
Part 2 (ft. Babs) coming later. This is very much long enough.
Ages:
Duke: He starts vigilanting at 16, but as he hits his 19-20s he wants to put a little bit more distance between himself and Bruce - wants to prove himself as an individual who can bring to bear his own stregnths. His mother recovers, but his dad never really does - there's a heavy sense of grief, associating with him. They love his father, together, but while his mother does her own mourning he can't help but think it's premature. He's 20 when Batgirl comes around, and 23 when he agrees, tentatively, to work with Bruce on the outsiders.
Damian: Starts at 12, and is 16 once Batgirl starts. He's much more secure in his place, ironically, but Batman and Robin is a much lonlier job than it is in a sideways reality. Duke brings some light to the job, but once he starts trying to make his own way, things grow... quiet. And while the Titans are together for the purpose of combining their shared competencies for the sake of missions, Garth, he cannot deny that his time with them eases something in him that he didn't know was aching. After he turns 18 - after it seems all his time with Robin was actually Bruce's, after years of chafing under a heavy-handing authority he's not certain he still respects, he finally decides to create something new. Nightwing is born, from a Kryptonian legend, and he leaves Robin behind to become this new thing.
Steph starts Batgirl at twelve, and is Robin halfway through fourteen. She keeps it for two years, before it falls apart at 16. Spoiler is born a year later, when she's seventeen and looks nonthreatening, but can be the exact opposite.
Cass: Starts doing vigilante work... very young. By the time she's caught up with the Bats, she's ten and experienced, and its only a few more months before Steph joins them. She takes up Batgirl at twelve, and keeps it all the way through to twenty-one, when it finally comes time to pass it down again, to evolve into something new.
#stephanie brown#cassandra cain#batfamily#reverse robins#Damian Wayne#duke thomas#except its batgirls#I did consider Steph getting Jason's life-changing Joker encounter instead of Babs's#but for a Batgirls swap it didn't feel right#that is an AU of this AU though - Barbara and Cassandra having this mantle that feels incredibly stained through the actions#of its founder#Another small detail - does Tim still do the weird victim-blamey stuff that he did with Jason in this timeline?#because with Steph alive and very bitter. That it going to come across much differently#Steph has so many complicated feelings about being replaced. Damian has feelings about Steph having feelings about being replaced#Also I want less people to make Oracle!Steph a tech person. This girlie does not have the patience for that#And medical so often feels... perfunctory. Like you think that's just where she's supposed to go.#Did not expect Duke and Cass to be as close as they ended up being but I guess that just be how it shakes out sometimes#original posts
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