#Border Conflict

[casscainmainly]

Why Duke Thomas Should Be A Dick Grayson Hater

Dick and Duke is such an underrated and underexplored relationship. Here is my pitch for why Duke should be a Dick Grayson hater.

1. The Rooftop Thing

Reason number one and the start of Duke's grudge should be the rooftop incident in Robin War. Dick, as part of his plan or whatever, leads Duke to a roof and abandons him to the cops.

LOOK AT DICK'S SMUG FACE. Tell me you wouldn't hold a grudge too if this was the FIRST major interaction you had with him?? Duke should use this against him at any possible opportunity.

2. ACAB

From We Are Robin #2. Once Duke finds out Dick used to be a cop, it's OVER for him.

3. Jason and Damian

Duke is quite close with Jason and Damian (in my head, particularly Damian - that's his LITTLE BROTHER). Anyway, these two are obsessed with Dick. You have Jason, with his miles-long brother issues that puts Dick on a pedestal, and you have Damian, who thinks Dick is the best person on Earth who can do no wrong. They would talk Duke's ears off about him. Duke would HATE IT.

4. Robin

This panel from Night of the Monster Men sums up quite nicely the difference in the way Dick and Duke approach vigilantism. Duke is the 'idealised' Robin, whose Robin-ing isn't contingent on Batman; Dick is more or less too tied up in Bruce. I think, because the Robin identity means a lot to Duke, having the original Robin be like this would irk Duke a LOT.

5. Tom Taylor

SPOILERS FOR CURRENT NIGHTWING RUN: in Nightwing #116, Dick gets framed for murder and Babs tells him to reveal he's Nightwing to clear him of suspicion. She says Bruce suggested it, and recounts everyone who agreed:

Hm. Is someone missing here? Oh yeah: DUKE. TT probably just forgot Duke, but where's the fun in that? Instead, if Duke is a Dick Grayson hater, you have the funniest scene imaginable. Everyone gathered in the Batcave, laying down their identities for Dick, and Duke is like 'I don't give a damn. He can rot in jail.' and peaces out.

BONUS points if he does this to get back at Dick for reason number 1.

6. Parallels

Duke's origin deliberately mirrors Bruce's, but that means it mirrors Dick's as well. Duke and Dick parallels go insane: they both had loving families, lost both parents at once, were in the foster system (varyingly for Dick but for the purposes of this post I'm gonna include it), were wards/not adopted by Bruce initially, have a huge reverence for family, have a thing about heights, view Robin as separate from Batman, forged their own identities, etc.

Tell me this page doesn't slap:

Anyway Duke would HATE this too. He'd be so annoyed that the person he has the most in common with is Dick, and that would fuel his Dick Grayson haterism.

Dick, on the other hand, has no hard feelings towards Duke. Duke would be glowering at him from the corner of the room and Dick would meet his gaze and be like 'ah Duke is so cute' and smile back. This would make Duke 10000x angrier.

Anyway that's my ideal Dick and Duke dynamic, feel free to add or modify or disagree with anything!!

[dkettchen]

I do enjoy dressing her entirely in canon outfits/cuts and the occasional top she's borrowed from nami and being like ye canon!sanji sure does own a pair of 3/4 pants with ballerina loafers he sure did wear that before with his whole cishet man ass and we didn't bat a single eye at it

[alwaysbewoke]

[sophaeros]

(albert plays the first three notes of call it fate, call it karma) julian: you are such a tease, albert!

the strokes @ thunder dome - thailand, 2023 / cr. infinityrepeats (x)

[fantodsdhrit]

you nod to everything of smooching nothing not even cosmic staircase

talkative outfit of blessed blooming day

st thomas hoists your brother from dead

that was then now cornfields are holy war blindfolds

take in that other force dilute yourself

resistance is only when you mountain

resistance is only flightless flight people meet at wagah border every year

naan with beef kebabs fancy some

most sacred passions lay university aflame 

black snow and your hermetic lips 

a christmas loneliness haunts dum conderet urbem after coal mines

all apostles live in that magenta tower

croon disused airport speeches et al

during riots thigh bruises of an ordinary kind claque foists authority

tell me there are utopias in expiry stars 

auctioned to narcose highest bidders

paid in emotion bubbles that spurn to ever pop like moi

[captain-price-unofficially]

Indian Army and PLA soldiers salute each other after completion of disengagement in disputed regions.

[randomfoggytiger]

What a difference in the two interviews - Duchovny's in 1997 and Anderson's in 1998.

Duchovny was super arrogant and pretentious, thinking he was the King of Cocada Preta, trying to pass himself off as an intellectual, bored with fame. Winona Ryder never came out to David because she was much more famous at the time.. Thankfully, in the years that followed, he had to tone it down. Less Duchovny, much less…

Anderson, on the other hand, looked like a working mother, working non-stop to support her daughter, zero glamor, a bit depressed, like a middle-aged woman broken by life.

And in none of the interviews did the geniuses who interviewed them talk about Mulder and Scully, who were the soul of the show.

I'm slowly working on a progress-through-Season-8-based-on-the-burnt-out-interviews post, so this was timely. :DD

To be fair, David was suffering. Both of them were. The X-Files was simply a job to DD and GA; and they coped with its insane hours and insane stresses differently. For Gillian, she internally imploded: eating disorders, panic attacks, anxiety so bad she wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy. She was afraid to put a foot wrong because she'd gotten pregnant so early on and could have threatened the longevity of the show; but she kept putting a foot wrong due to a shoot-from-the-hip personality. Then she was a divorced co-parent trying to do everything herself. David, meanwhile, didn't have that stress; but instead of marrying quick to escape the unbearable loneliness (like Gillian did), he tried to escape by getting outward attention... or through porn, joking in Playboy that his favorite pornstar had gotten him through some very, very lonely days. He also outsourced constantly, making connections with other entertainers and etc. to try to establish himself in Hollywood away from the show. Part of that persona-- that he had everything together and was living the dream-- was part and parcel of selling himself to the business for, in turn, more work.

Secondly, DD WAS arrogant. It wasn't until AA that he learned gratitude, per his own words. Until that time, he'd overachieved into such heights of success that he, naturally, developed an ego. But that wasn't enough-- it never is-- and he kept devising other ways to get attention. Per his old interviews, he described being 'shocking' or 'funny' or etc. as a way to keep others' eyes (and attention) on himself. He always feared they'd lose interest in him and walk away, otherwise (still does.)

That mindset, he's stated here and there, was a result of habits he'd formed in his childhood-- the middle child caught in a turbulent divorce: father suddenly gone, mother heartbroken, and older brother and younger sister taking sides. He had to become intermediary for his siblings and shoulder-to-lean-on for his mother. He became his mother's pride and joy: a shy kid who thought he wasn't a looker when he was younger, who transferred to a better school on a scholarship, who was "captain of the basketball team and the baseball team and a straight-A student, and I was in my last year of high school, and I'd applied to four schools–Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Brown–and I got into all of them." Who was, in short, an over-achiever; and became arrogant because he achieved everything through his own efforts. But he was also a kid who fainted in senior year, breaking his front teeth, because the stress was too much.

And he was also a man who spent long hours overworked on a show he wasn't particularly passionate about. One who spent long, isolated hours alone (in the bathtub) in Vancouver when not working. And one who always had to be "on" when he was out with his friends or spotted by people on the street. Further, no one wanted (wants) to hear the rich and successful complain about the hardships of their success. So, he turned on the charm for attention, instead; and resented having to "sell himself" for people to care about his work. And his performance, on and off screen, earned him fifteen years of public backpatting and"Fox Mulder"ing everywhere he went.

He didn't deal with the stress perfectly, and created his own problems that had to be worked through later on. But Gillian did, as well (per her own words); and they've both owned up to their mistakes and have, seemingly, moved on from the past.

Lastly, there are other interviews where his truer self comes through: those are sadder, pre-marriage; or more stable and happy, post-marriage. Gillian had happy interviews, too; but her life was much more accelerated than his (marriage, pregnancy, divorce on close heels), and thus sounded more burnt out than he was.

I don't like to pit or compare faults because I'm sure they both handled global fame and nonstop work better than a lot of people would have (David was rock-bottom depressed and Gillian was afraid she'd quite literally go insane; but they made it.) And there are always interviews where he looks like a cherub and she a hag, or he an arrogant scumbag and she a hard-done-by saint. Neither were either.

About the Winona Ryder speculation:

Even in interviews from the early days, DD kept personal details close to the chest, not referring to romantic partners as "my girlfriend" unless his significant other had an established public persona (or an upcoming project.) The person he spoke the most about was Tea-- and that was after their marriage, and only during interviews to promote their next tv series or movie. Tea was a talker, and she didn't mind when he talked about her; so, she rubbed off on David for a good chunk of their relationship-- even after the rehab stint-- until their divorce. (Now, she's taken a vow of silence and enforces it strictly with Tim Daly, as stated by both.)

I'm not up-to-date on Winona, but I'm sure the relationship wasn't serious enough for either to really acknowledge it. She looked happy in their picture together; and I don't think she's the type to deny a relationship because it might not be advantageous to her "brand." But what do I know? XDD

Those are my thoughts, anyway~ :DDD

[sprainedankleproductions]

fuck you *foils your c!clingy and c!emerald*

[lilyberyls]

The situation is very dangerous. My children’s lives are in danger. Their skin is melting and peeling from diseases. There are no medical points or doctors to treat them. There is no food available for them. Israel is killing us. Please do not help it with that, but rather help me. I have nothing left but my children. After I lost my family, my home, and everything I have, I have no hope left but you. Imagine that you In my place. Please, with a heavy heart, I ask for your support

PLEASE SUPPORT !! PLEASE HELP !!

it's killing me to hear what palestinian have been through. I'm truly sorry because i can't bring you any support or help but i'm sure people out there, will. I'll spread this to the world, hoping they'd help and donate any support and bring justice to palestine.

[invinciblerodent]

never even thought i would ever have an opinion about solas sex and head game but i agree with you and i actually think he has non not bad at it not embarrassing nope just no game at all he doesnt go down on anyone like DJ khaled lol i think he would like rub it alittle then get to pounding which as sera ever so eloquently put it "Drop 'em and rebuild the empire" and im not a solas hater or anything i like him and his story but uuh yeah

Oh don't worry, I didn't think I'd ever have an opinion on this either until I read that lol, it was that post alone that made the "oh that is absolutely incorrect" switch click on in my head.

Like, I mean this in no offense of anyone who likes him or his romance, I think it's interesting to explore and he's a very complex and fascinating figure, one of the best antagonists I've ever seen in anything, but the way I imagine sex with Solas going is-

roughly 30 minutes to an hour of flirtatious philosophizing and reminiscence about the nature of spirits and analogies to desire, in which he uses very unclear, kind of misleading metaphors, and sounds like he's somehow attempting to explain sex to you in an attempt to get you going. this is the foreplay portion of the evening.

3-5 minutes of mediocre missionary. you come nowhere close to coming, but it's okay, it's not terrible.

another roughly 30 minutes to an hour of self-flagellation that sounds like he's concerned about the potential that he took advantage of you and requires reassurance for it, but in reality he's kind of cleverly saying-without-saying that he was hit by the whole internal conflict he has going on about whether modern elves are people, and what questioning that makes him for having had sex with one of them. Like was this exploitation, who did it technically exploit (the spirit or the mortal)(is he a spirit or a god or closer to a mortal)(he can't even say 'oh god' without it sparking another minor existential crisis moment)(post-nut clarity hit him like a sledgehammer), and whether consensual sex under pretenses this false with someone he isn't totally convinced is a fully realized person would qualify as assault, or a roundabout form of bestiality, or what. this makes continuation, or a second round, entirely unfeasible.

he either sneaks out when you fall asleep (a la what Weekes said at one point), or says something like "I thank you for this wonderful evening" and leaves without cuddling, but either way he's leaving you to rub one out on your own.

that's it, that's the entirety of how I imagine it going. (during the plot of the romance in Inquisition, of course.)

I'm sorry for all this, Anon.

[martyrbat]

enough — batman secret files (2018) #1

(ID below cut!)

[ID: A short story titled Enough. It centers around Bruce Wayne being alone at a little cabin out in the middle of some woods on top of a snow-capped mountain. Bruce internally narrates throughout the entire story. The barren cabin is lonesome amongst the pristine, white snow as Bruce enters the cold, muted building. Inside there's several books, oil lamps, a stone fireplace, and candles on basic, open faced wooden furniture – indicating that the house has no electricity. The cabin is one story and has an open floorplan with a single upstairs bedroom, which has only a ladder leading up to the small loft. There's a chest underneath a window and Bruce sits on the old, yellow couch in front of the blazing fireplace.

He thinks to himself, ‘There're rumors that somewhere, in Gotham's most beautiful, snow-topped mountains, a monster is running around. I have a suspicion Man-Bat is behind the strange activity. Mountain climbers losing their camps, ski resorts with missing guests, a strange beast being seen in the dark... Something covered in hair, something remarkably large.’ He takes his parka off and sets down his large duffle bag to slowly unpack it — revealing a thermos and a bow with several large, pointed arrowheads. He pulls out his Batman gear — which includes an insulated suit that's lined with fur, his belt, and a protective face mask that reflects his eyes in the red-tinted visor. He forlornly admits, ‘I can handle large, but what I can't handle… Is how damn lonely it is up here. Alfred says I could use some alone time. Truth is, I'm not such a fan of myself.’

Outside in his costume and cape, Bruce is tracking through the icy woods and the thick, rising snow. He's armed with his bow and arrows as he narrates, ‘To avoid detection by what I assume is probably Man-Bat, I'll try to capture him using only my hunting skills. I admit I'm a little rusty. The arrows I've brought are lethal to some, but they're just enough to incapacitate a beast of his size. It should be enough.. I hope it's enough.’ But the snowstorm rages on, forcing Bruce back inside the cabin since he believes it's not worth the risk of freezing to death if he stays out. He now lays in the upstairs loft's bed. The oil lamps on the wooden bedstand is unlit, causing the bright snow through the window to be the only thing that casts any light in the dark room. It reveals a framed photo of a picturesque landscape hanging over Bruce's head on the wall. In it, there's a peaceful lake and tall, luxuriant green trees.

Bruce solemnly stares up at the ceiling and thinks, ‘I find myself focusing closely on all the sounds of the forest, trying to learn the rhythm.’ The snow whirls on… A branch cracks… The cabin itself creaks and groans — causing Bruce to sit upright with a jolt! He squints out the window in an futile attempt to actually see something out there. He cerebrates, ‘Three nights and only the sounds of falling snow and branches. I've tracked nothing larger than a doe, there's been no news of an attack or sighting, maybe he's left the mountains… or maybe he's just hiding.’ Bruce lays back down, this time with his back to the window. He keeps an eye open — waiting and nearly hoping for any sign of life other than his own in the desolate, icy land.

We're shown Bruce outside again as he fights against the harsh wind to get back inside the cabin after another unsuccessful search for Man-Bat. He rubs his face tiredly while hunched over a small oil lamp as the stovetop coffee brews. He reflects, ‘Six nights alone, darkness lasts longer than the day and again the storm pushes me back indoors. This is beginning to feel useless. I'm really quite over myself. Maybe I'll call Alfred and ask him to—’ But his self-deprecation is cut short by a sudden thump! Then another loud crack! Again and again, coming closer and closer to him!

Bruce sets down the coffee as his mind rapid fires the possibilities of the quickly approaching, potentially dangerous loud noises! ‘Is it the branches in the wind? Or is it something else? Am I paranoid? I can't visualize what I'm hearing. There's no time to think about the cold now, I'm all alone up here. That sounds remarkably large.’ Bruce arms himself with his bow and arrow and hesitates outside the door as his paranoia continues, ‘I hope this is enough. A hunter knows its prey, but I'm realizing I have no idea what's on the other side of this door. Does it understand I'm on the other side? I am alone out here. No time to think.’ He flings the door open!

Geared in only his suit with no gloves or headgear, Bruce aims his bow blindly as he stands outside in the merciless elements. He tensely waits in the dark, thinking to the unseen threat, ‘I don't see you, but can you see me?’ There's another loud thump and crack. With one last hope that it's enough to tranquilize the potential attacker, Bruce fires the weapon.

The sharp arrow proves itself to be lethal as it pierces his unfortunate target. The threat — merely a lonesome, defenseless deer — falls dead in front of the horrified man. Bruce rushes forth and remorsefully buries the animal with the snow. He walks back to the cabin with the repeated, dejected confession: ‘Truth is, I'm not such a fan of myself.’

END ID]

[ivansbadart]

Our Blue Hours - The Bulletin Board

In my inner eye I see the fic that I wrote so vividly, and I wish I had the time and artistic talent to draw literally every single "scene" in it, but alas I do not.

New chapter of my Ghost/König fic should be up now. (Read on ao3)

this was so fun to draw, especially considering I looked like the Pepe silvia meme while storyboarding the fic;

[xxfunk1b3atxx]

Hello dear, I am Muhammad Jamal from Gaza. I live in very harsh conditions in Gaza, especially in the displacement camps. Life has become very difficult since our house was destroyed by the occupation, and we are now left without a house. My family and I hope you will help me. Your donation will save our lives from death My friend, donate $20 to help my family 🍉🥹💔

https://gofund.me/766fb5d1

if you can please donate to Muhammad so he and his family can survive. The fund is currently at €175/€15,000

[spooky-spextre-arts]

Instead of celebrating October 7th this Monday, here are a few on-the-ground aid organizations you can support:

Anera

(https://www.anera.org/)

Doctors Without Borders

(https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/)

Care for Gaza

(https://x.com/careforgaza?lang=en)

Palestinian Children's Relief Fund

(https://www.pcrf.net/)

World Central Kitchen

( https://wck.org/ )

Feminine Hygiene Kits for Gaza With the Assad Sisters

https://piousprojects.org/campaign/2712 )

The Road to Recovery

( https://www.theroadtorecovery.org.il/ )

Feel free to list more that you feel should be on this list. Stay safe, everyone. ❤️

[alwaysinbetweeninsaneandinsecure]

This family was able to escape Gaza into Egypt and the United States, which is fantastic news! AND ALSO They still need help and support. From Mahmoud (who has been organizing this on behalf of his family in Palestine): "While my family's progress is encouraging, the road ahead is still long, and they will continue to need support as they navigate this challenging journey. Therefore, I humbly ask for your ongoing help and support to reach our fundraising goal. Your contributions will enable us to cover their expenses for the first six months, providing them with the stability and resources they need to rebuild their lives and create a brighter future." Every reblog and every donation make a difference in helping this family rebuild their lives! So, please give what you can and share this