#BUT THEN HALFWAY THROUGH THE SUMMER

[emo-sunshine42]

.

[elyasdoodles]

🥞 That one scene at Denny’s in ACSWY 🥞

@campbyler @astrobei @wiseatom @andiwriteordie

[antebunny]

a summer is sold

[part six of my fae!Tim AU. masterpost here]

~

Bruce returns to the Unseelie Queen. He steps through the fae circle with the trusty protections of salt and iron. It is quite unlike Batman to use tools that are so low-tech, but he will not deny the efficacy of that which has protected humankind from the fae for thousands of years.

“Unseelie Queen!” Bruce shouts. Last time the forest of mushrooms simply melted into a clearing where he placed his protections and conducted his business. Today, the poisonously red caps simply grow and grow until the mushrooms tower over him.

The smell of organic matter decaying and a swirl of turquoise leaves. She arrives in her usual fashion. Ten feet tall and dressed in a gown of rushing rivers and starlit nights. A gray face and the smile of nightmares. The Unseelie Queen attempts of human beauty and misses in a manner so violently unsettling, so uncanny-valley-upsetting, that even Batman feels fear.

“I have come to make a new deal.” Bruce shows no fear. Rule number one.

“Oh?” The Unseelie Queen bends down until her back splits in four places and they are eye to eye. Screams dance madly in her silver-violet-smoke black eyes until Bruce drops his gaze to her chin. “Do you wish for me to take back my gift?”

Not Jason. It is love that pangs around Bruce’s heart, love that morphs into fear when she threatens Jason’s life out of curiosity. 

“You overreached,” Bruce accuses. He will not acknowledge her threat. Rule number two: admit to no emotion but rage. “You made a deal with Tim for humanity. If he fails, he leaves.”

This is once again educated guesswork on Bruce’s part. He’s still not sure what the Unseelie Queen is getting out of all of this. But Tim clearly wants to stay in the human realm. How else to punish him but to make him leave? 

“If he leaves, you’ve failed your bargain with me,” Bruce continues. 

The Unseelie Queen gnashes row after row of teeth to dust until her frustration works itself out. “You cannot make a deal on his behalf.”

“And you can?”

Bruce’s bargain with her depended, from the very beginning, on her right to bargain Tim away. He had believed, when she first handed Tim over, that Tim was a subject of the fae, a member of the Unseelie Court, and therefore hers to do what she liked with. A loyal subject. A spy meant to serve as the Unseelie Queen’s hand in a realm she could not otherwise reach. 

But Tim delights in the cuisine explorations Dick and Jason take him to. He soaks up Barbara’s computer crash courses, which is quite unusual for a fae; they are notoriously tech-averse. He yearns to be human. If there is any chance that Tim truly wants to turn away from the Unseelie Queen, then it is the morally right thing to do to keep him away from her. Batman has offered hand after hand to the most irredeemable villains; what is one more to a strange little creature who may still be a child by the standards of the fae? 

Moreover, it is in Bruce’s and his family’s own best interest to expedite Tim’s process of becoming human. If Tim’s deal with the Unseelie Queen doesn’t work, he may attempt to become human by eating one, or by stealing the skin of one, or whatever else a fae’s mind might think up. Suppose, even, that the Unseelie Queen has no jurisdiction over the humanity of her subjects. It made sense to Bruce that she could de-fae whoever displeased her, but he knows now that she makes promises vastly out of her reach. Perhaps she has no humanity to offer Tim. Then it is still in Bruce’s best interest to keep Tim away from her and teach him the morality of humans. 

“Very well.” The whistling shriek of wind in the trees escapes the Unseelie Queen’s nostrils. “What is your proposal?”

“I keep Jason, no strings attached.” Bruce doesn’t need Jason one slip-up away from dying again. “I keep Tim. If he fails his bargain with you–”

“Do you love him?” 

Bruce, caught flat-footed, adheres to rule number two.

The Unseelie Queen cycles through a magnificent number of eldritch recreations of faces, yet maintains the air of leering. “Do. You. Love. Him.”

Rule number three: do not lie to the fae.

“No.”

Another hiss akin to howling wind issues from the Unseelie Queen in fits and spurts. Not until she calms does Bruce realize she was laughing.

“He may be your responsibility now,” the Unseelie Queen concedes, “but he will always be mine before he is yours. You may keep Jason. But if dearest Timothy fails, he will return to me.”

Now it is Bruce’s turn to gnash his teeth. But he follows rule number one and hides it behind the stiff line of his cowl. “Three-fourths,” he suggests finally. “He’s done that much. Cancel the bargain you have with him right now and take one fourth. You’ll have him in the summers. I’ll take him the rest of the year. And I keep Jason.”

He waits patiently as an awful cacophony of bird calls, the clicking of beetles, and all the untempered rage of nature arises to spite him. The Unseelie Queen sways, collapsing into an eight-legged beast rampaging around the mushroom forest one second, then whirling into the purple sky the next. A tempest. A temper tantrum. The Unseelie Queen throws a hissy fit when she realizes that she cannot get away with her double-bargaining this time. That because of her habit of trying to have her cake and eat it too, her favorite toy is at risk of slipping away. Bruce always offers second chances, but in this instance he finds himself entirely out of sympathy.

“Fine,” the Unseelie Queen hisses once she finishes throwing a tantrum. “I accept.”

Bruce does not love Tim. Tim is not his son. He acts on moral imperatives. His heart opens glacially slow. If they had more time, perhaps Bruce would come to love Tim and see him as one of his kids. Perhaps he would not have had to fight the Unseelie Queen for 75% of Tim’s life. But the summer is escaping, and Bruce knows when compromises must be made even if he detests them.

Now he just has to tell Tim.

[sunshine-zenith]

Random thing that just hit me — wouldn’t Peri’s birth year actually be 2002 in universe, not 2001?

(Not to apply a coherent timeline to a franchise that literally has two of its main characters go on a ten thousand year long vacation, casually has dinosaurs be electricians, and had that one seemingly controversial episode dedicated to using magic to hand wave the floating timeline in universe, but the ANW did it first by having Cosmo canonize 2001 as when he and Wanda became Timmy’s fairies)

There was that entire special in the original series where the entire plot was kicked off by Timmy having Cosmo and Wanda for an entire year — Abra-Catastrophe. If Timmy got them in 2001, had a fairy-versary, and a hand wavey amount of time later wished Cosmo and Wanda could have a baby, that would logically put Peri’s birth in 2002, even with the timeline breaking/fixing magic the from later in the series

Putting aside the in universe weird ways fairies age and time passes in Fairy World and going off in universe birth year to in universe current year, that means Peri is 22, not 23. Not a big difference at all, but still neat to think about

[prrcyjacksons]

THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY 2.01 — “Love Lost”

[nordsea-horizons]

16.08.23 - villagers in summer🌱

[kirisclangen]

Zelda

She/her, 65 moons, cis molly

[yoomschoocs]

Part 2 of the @rosebird-week doodle dump, in which I catch up on missed prompts! I wasn't lying when I said this part was the angsty part. I'd say I'm sorry but.. I'm not-

Like part 1, below the 'read more' you can find the days and prompts and how I used them (as well as the last artwork I warned for): Doodle dump Part 1 Rosebirdweek Day 8

Day 1: Red Thread of Fate From being ignored, to being loved, to loving someone new together, to being left. Fate will go how it pleases, and it won't continue to lead someplace nice for Summer. As the thread of fate continues to guide her path, it becomes damaged and thin, until her story ends :')

Day 7: Grieving/Loss Losing Summer weighed hard on Raven's heart. After their final mission, she brought back Summer's cloak to bring her some sense of comfort, though most of that comfort is drowned out by sadness and guilt. This day is also a small nod to my Raven animatic, where I portrayed the same scenario (except I've had a few years to improve lol).

Day 6: Final Mission Everyone knows by now that Summer's final mission did not end well. But aside from the headcanon that I think Raven was there, I also sprinkled in another headcanon I've been thinking about for a while; that this might be the moment where Raven got her Maiden Powers. 👀

And that's all of rosebirdweek 2023!! Despite being a bit late to the party, I'm glad I still got to participate. I'm definitely looking forward to next year!

[essektheylyss]

Okay I picked up C.S. Lewis's A Grief Observed because of that post the other day and what the fuck

[crehador]

BROTHER CRAB'S SUMMER 2024 TOP THREE

i can't believe this is happening i really can't believe it but i think i'm gonna have to go with

THIRD PLACE: NIGE JOUZU NO WAKAGIMI

for much of the season, nigewaka seemed like it was easily going to be my anime of the season. it had a banging first episode and never at any point got less enjoyable to me

the animation was consistently beautiful (yeah sure with the occasional jarring bit of cgi but in all honesty it never bothered me much) and the characters are all delightful to me

i think the mix of humor and the horrors of war depicted here, understandably, might not appeal to everyone. but it really worked for me. the fact that these characters are so lively and alive, as opposed to doomed and hopeless, in these times of strife makes the stakes feel all the higher to me

so despite it taking third place on my list, this is still solidly one of the best shows of the season (of the year, even)

a few things just happened to blow me away a tad bit more

SECOND PLACE: DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION

honestly this is so close for me that demons and nigewaka may as well be a tie, but maybe demons gets a slight edge just for being something so fresh to me

god i loved this. it's been a hot minute since i've seen something that felt so real and human. aliens are invading, the world is ending, but girls will be girls

i guess, like nigewaka, demons also mixes some good ol' humor with The Horrors, and it really works here too. the theme of "hey there's this giant alien mothership hanging over the city but life goes on" is executed so well in the early episodes of this series, and the plottier plot comes together in such a satisfying way in the later episodes

and seriously just huge props to ano and lilas ikuta for their performances in the leading roles here, they smashed it. if i didn't know, never in my life would i have guessed they weren't voice actors with years and years of experience each

ANIME OF THE SEASON: TSUE TO TSURUGI NO WISTORIA

first things first, i would not say this is objectively the best show of the season

but holy shit this is the most fun i've had all year

i'm probably more surprised than anyone that wistoria is ending up as my anime of the season, because even after a whole season, the story is just so... it's basically nothing (stay with me)

there are so many things you could call the plot of wistoria. typical, tropey, contrived, textbook, tired, etc etc etc. anyone who finds the plot boring isn't wrong. it's a fantasy magic school series like any other fantasy magic school series, with so many tropes that you'll recognize if you've watched basically any amount of fantasy at all

but for some reason i didn't dislike it. maybe wistoria doesn't do anything new, but it hits on all these familiar plot beats in such fun and entertaining ways

at some point i realized what word i really wanted to use to describe it:

quintessential

sure, it wouldn't be unfair to call it contrived or derivative or what have you. but to me, this is a quintessential fantasy action/adventure series. yes it hits on all the story beats we're familiar with, from countless series before it, but it hits each beat perfectly

the characters are ridiculous, all easily recognizable archetypes, but they're so unrepentant in who they are that i find myself enjoying them too

and then there's the animation

guys this show is fucking gorgeous. like if it weren't this pretty, i doubt i would be raving this much about it. if it had been just decently animation, i'm pretty sure i would've just enjoyed it a normal amount

but the animation is so so so good that this quickly became the number one show i was hoping for a season two of (and we are getting one!)

like the production quality just did not waver. i found myself baffled that this is the series, the story, that got this level of masterful work put into it. but then i started thinking maybe that's unfair, because really, the story is not bad. fairly simple and straightforward sure, but again: quintessential fantasy

not to end on an absurdly cheesy note, but just like how it's wistoria wand and sword, i think it's the stellar animation and entertaining story/cast that makes this series work so well. without the animation being this good, the story wouldn't have been enough to stand out. but without a truly entertaining story, the animation, however pretty, would have felt pretty empty too

very eagerly awaiting season two

[shrinkthisviolet]

It occurs to me (thanks to this post popping up on my dashboard again) that the Flash has established that Barry and Iris have been friends since they were 9, but also that Barry has loved Iris since they were 10 (this latter point is stated quite a few times, but also in the wedding crossover)

This means it wasn't insta-love, like I initially assumed—rather, they were friends for a good while, and he fell for her over the course of their first year (or at least first few months) of friendship.

And that's beautiful 🥰

[nympippi]

In honor of summer break officially starting here’s some gentan eating some watermelons!!

This was actually so hard for me to draw because drawing hands is actually so hard oml. But I hope y’all enjoy my redraw from 2020 :D

[sugarsnappeases]

guys!!!! i am reading!!!! and i am writing!!!!! and i am having visions about this cool art thing i wanna do when i get home!!!!! my zest for life is sooooo back baby oh my god

[draconic-distress]

Doodle dump yay :) I know nothing abt the games shadowside onward but I still think they’re neat

[mmaeeve]

daily dean quote #186/366:

“look, you wanted the kid here, he’s here. all right? but i’m not gonna hold his hand and tuck him in at night.”

- season 13, episode 4, the big empty

[megvmins]

I’ve been caught in a Wind Breaker (Satoru Nii) brainrot and I can’t get out of it so I might randomly drop something for it 🫣