#as long as yOU DON'T KILL PEOPLE THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!!!

[somnoir]

Damian's future husband

Got inspired by this specific line in a Tumblr thread and my brain went to work

Phantom was a strange hero—a vigilante that often worked with Justice League Dark. Constantine was always so antsy around the man, while Phantom himself often muttered about taxes and blasted fragments whenever said trech coat man was in the vicinity.

The Bats were, of course, initially apprehensive of the death defying being that could rip a man skeleton out of their body, manipulate space itself to rip open portals to different dimensions, and vanish better than they did. They were wary, mildly hostile after realising that Phantom had now issue killing.

But then time passed and Phantom was proven to not be a serial killer but only used killing as a last resort. Though Batman wasn't too pleased, he was—begrudgingly—tolerant of that. Because, yes, Phantom was a nice guy, a very likeable person in general. He made sure that the environmental damage during battles were kept to a minimum, he chose civilians over the enemy whenever it came to hostage situations, he was tactile and kind, and he cared so much for the innocent that he was willing to lose his innocence to keep theirs.

Of course Batman was fond of the young man, especially when he found out that Jason of all people had some sort of crush on him. A very big and almost pathetic one that he and Alfred would watch while sipping tea.

Seriously, Jason was his son! Has he not learned anything from his Brucie persona? The poor thing was like a Victorian maiden and would be scandalised at the mere thought of showing an ankle.

It was embarrassing how he'd practically start blue screening the moment Phantom was in the vicinity. As a father, Bruce was gracious enough not to bully his poor son whenever it came to Phantom. His siblings, on the other hand, held no such qualms and mercilessly dug into Jason.

In all honesty, he pitied Jason after hearing that Phantom assumed that Jason just didn't like him.

He really had to talk to him.

"You fucking hypocrite."

And that was a failure because Bruce forgot that he was just as constipated as his son.

"I'm not taking advice from the man who couldn't even try to be softer in his secret crush!"

With that, Jason slammed the door and left.

Okay... Plan B?

But what the hell was plan B?

Right.

Dick Grayson.

Bruce: About your brother...

Bird child #1: OH MY GOD

Bird child #1: THANK FUCK YOU FINALLY MENTIONED IT

Bruce: it's become an issue

Bruce: Alfred has commented that it's pathetic now.

Bird child #1: Wait wait

Bird child #1: I'll add you to the group chat!

And this Bruce Wayne found himself in a GC named 'Phantom of the Watchtower'. Along with all the complaints expressed by both family and friends when it came to Jason's bullshit.

Ah well... At least he wasn't alone in the suffering.

(Jason did not need to know that there was a video of him grappling through Gotham, Phantom passing by and waving at him, and Jason proceeding to hit a wall mid flight.)

Dick knows that his little wing has had trouble in relationships for a long time. His resurrection changed him, changed how he perceived his relationships. Dick didn't have the heart to be mad about it.

Phantom's arrival was a breath of fresh air for them.

But he suspects that Jason's attraction began with the fact that Phantom had died young as well. Fourteen from what was said. He had died much younger than Jason and had came back a hero, willing to protect the innocent and do what was best for those around him. Sometimes Dick suspects that Jason not only wanted to be with Phantom, but also to be similar to him.

Now he's watching Jason fumble with his words again, immediately going quiet once he realized that nothing coherent was coming out of his mouth. The helmet most likely hid how red his face was.

"Are you alright?" Phantom asked, frowning up at Jason. "You don't feel too good. Is the corrupted ecto acting up again? Oh, I knew I should have sped up the process of removing it but then it'd be very painful if I did it at once. And Frostbite recommended that we went slowly so we could monitor the side effect... And, and—"

"I'm okay." Red Hood immediately assured, his hand practically flying to Phantom's cheek then he shoved it down before he could even touch Phantom. "It's been a long day."

"Is the Joker out again?" Phantom's frown deepened.

Another thing Dick has learned about the dead and the undead! The fact that their murderer was still active unsettled then greatly and affected their entire mentality and behaviour.

"No. No. He hasn't tried escaping."

Phantom hummed, "I see. So what's bothering you."

"It's nothing." Jason grunted, sounding a little too much like Bruce for Dick's liking.

Okay, nope, he wasn't going to let this continue if his baby brother was going to continue making Phantom assumed he didn't like him. Nightwing to the rescue!

"Phantom! Hi!" Nightwing quite literally dropped into the alley, running his fingers through his hair and smoothly directing Jason away from whatever catastrophic misunderstanding he was walking into.

"Hello Nightwing! It's nice to see you again? How's Kori? Oooh! I wanted to invite her to a space date again—" He rambled on and on, eyes practically starry. Wait, nevermind. His eyes really were starry.

(Meanwhile, Jason was cursing his older brother for taking the attention from but also very thankful that Phantom didn't have to witness his stupidity again.)

Tim had noticed that the Joker hasn't attempted to break out in a long... Long time.

It's not a bad thing, no. It was great, in all honesty. But of course, Tim was paranoid, almost batshir crazy (pun intended, in the words of his damn boyfriends). The surveillance feed on Arkham was updated a long time ago, watching it very closely until static overtook the screen.

"Replacement," Tim startled, blinking before he saw Jason peering at him with a questioning look. Practically interrogating him on the spot. "The hell is that?"

"I don't know." Tim clicked his tongue, "This hasn't happened after Babs and I updated those damn cameras. Fuck, give me a second..."

"Did the Joker get out?" Jason practically growled.

"No, no. I'm sure he didn't. He would have been causing trouble by now." Tim reassured, clicking his tongue again before the feed went back to normal. Joker's cell seemed perfectly fine, with the Joker fast asleep on his little cot. "See, just some static. Maybe Phantom passed by."

The mere mention of Phantom has Jason blue screening, instincts kicking in as his older brother shoved his helmet over his head again. Then the idiot gets on his bike and speeds out of the cave.

Coward.

Tim whipped his head around, quickly surveying the area.

The static wasn't random. Phantom always had to be in front of the camera to directly affect the feed. So thank fuck when he made friends with Phantom's teammate—Pharaoh—and figured out how to fix any distorted imagery.

He sees Phantom standing over the Joker's unconscious body, plunging his hand into the maniac's chest and pulled out a glowing green orb. A core, from what he remembered. Holy shit, was the Joker a ghost too?

But he saw how Phantom seemed to put restraints around it, literal chains before shoving it back inside.

Slowly, Phantom turned to the camera, his entire figure still distorted, but he could see that fanged grin that his brother seemed to swoon over.

(The Joker was still alive, very much, but no one could understand how he was stuck in an almost permanent coma. Tim wasn't going to give Jason even more reason to start giggling over Phantom, unless he wanted to ruin the entire Dead on Main operation.)

Damian did not quite understand the insanity that was multiple individuals (including those that were not of their brood) attempting to matchmake Todd with Phantom. He didn't understand what was so great about Phantom, in all honesty.

He was heroic, powerful, and quite intelligent. Many people held similar traits. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a deathly being that attracted Todd in the first place.

"Hello, Robin!" Phantom greeted one day, eyes shimmering like the stars in his cape. "Superboy said you had something to tell me?"

Damian shifted slightly, "Yes. Are you aware of the Lazarus Pits?"

"Ah... Yes, of course. My court and I have been trying to destroy all of them. The Lazarus is corrupted ectoplasm that has been mixed with filth of all kinds." Phantom hummed.

"Filth of all kinds... Disgusting." Damian frowned, nose scrunching up at the memory that he's bathed in those pits before. "But I digress. I would like to assist in the destruction of the pits. Father and the rest of the family has fretted over my grandfather's pits for many years and we have barely grazed the surface on what the Lazarus truly was."

"I see! I was planning on asking Batman to help out on that. But since you've already asked, would you like to come to the Realms? I'm sure you can interrogate some of the ghosts your grandfather has wronged." Phantom grinned, already offering Damian a hand. He was floating, while Damian stood in the roof and stared at the hand.

It reminded him of the kryptonians. But Phantom's hand was cold and he didn't yank Damian the same way Jon often did.

No, Phantom took Damian's hand and then proceeded to hook an arm around Damian's waist, pulling him of the roof and into the air. And then they were flying into a glowing green portal that reminded Damian of the pits.

The moment they were in the infinite realms, Damian felt the overwhelming pressure of the dead. He swallowed the bile that rose from his throat as Phantom set him down on solid ground. The entire place felt eerie and strange, of course it was. This was the afterlife.

"Right, I forgot." Phantom cursed, "You're not as liminal as my family. Give me a second, baby bat." He murmured, his hand glowing green before it's gently pushed into Damian's chest. A sudden wave of warmth overtook his entire body and Damian stared at the ghost.

"I'm giving you a bit of Ecto to reduce any discomfort here in the realms. It'll flush itself out in 24 hours so don't worry about becoming overly liminal." Phantom smiled softly, before he offered his hand to Damian again. "Let's go? I have to stop by my keep to check the records of Al Ghuls victims."

"Of course."

And instead of being carried like a cat, Phantom picked him up bridal style and flew past what seemed to be floating islands and towards a large red and purple castle.

Is this was Todd feels? Damian asked himself, oddly enjoying this experience.

The moment they landed—

"Your majesty!" A floating eyeball yelled, rushing towards them. "You've brought an outsider—"

"Away with you." Phantom snapped, a crown and cape of stars suddenly appearing on him. "This is Robin. Ra's Al Ghul's grandchild."

"The Demon's head..."

"Yes, now shoo." Phantom snapped, before leading Damian away from the eyeball. "I'm sorry for my Observants. They're a conservative bunch."

"You are a king?"

"Mhm... Though I don't like to advertise it. The last king was a tyrant and I defeated him a little while after my death. I never intended to be king, in all honesty. But here I am." He gestured to the crown of fire and ice and the cape of stars. His grin was strained and quite troubled but he didn't mind leading Damian towards a large room filled with bigger files.

"Now, would you like to search yourself or do you want me to have someone else do it?"

Damian grimaced at the sight. "I'd prefer for someone else to suffer."

And that's how Damian found himself touring the realms, with Phantom happily bringing Damian to the arena where a ghost named Skulker awaited them. The man was a hunter, respectful towards Phantom yet troublesome as he challenged him. Phantom looked utterly annoyed, before he turned to Damian with sparkling eyes.

"What about you, Robin?"

And then Damian was fighting everyone and everything in the realms at the behest and amusement of Phantom. The ghost king provided him with different weapons each time an enemy switched.

It's only when they returned to the land of the living that he's informed that any weapon he's used is now his.

And he has a cat with him! The ghost of a small yet ferocious kitten that had his under Phantom's cape whilst Damian and other ghosts fought to glorious battle. Phantom kindly offered her to him, naming her Astra with the star shaped pupils in her eyes.

Damian is quite sure he has fallen in love.

Damian returns to the manor, utterly awestruck and infatuated. Thankfully (unfortunately), Todd is in attendance when Phantom carries him out of the portal, still held in a bridal carry with Damian actively clinging to Phantom like he had hung the stars (maybe he did).

"Sorry if we worried you! Robin wanted to help with our Lazarus problems since it's also your problem too." Phantom quickly explains once he saw Batman's troubled expression. "Don't worry about your gifts. I'll figure out a way to make you a dimensional bag."

Damian stared, "May I visit the realms again? If you would be amendable to it."

"Of course! You're my favorite, so why wouldn't I?"

Hah! Hear that? Take that, Todd!

Phantom vanishes into his portal seconds later, leaving Damian with the most beautiful and intricated sword in his hands. Blinking quietly, he whirled around and pointed the sword at Jason, who instinctively went into a battle stance.

"You may be my brother, Todd, but if you have not married Phantom once I am of age, I shall fight for his hand in marriage himself."

(Jason knows very well that Damian isn't joking and proceeds to practically plan the most novel-esque confession to date. Jane Austen might just be proud.)

Masterpost

[jadeazora]

A follow-up to this post. I decided to do one for the villains and team leaders too.

I'm pretty sure what we see of Cyrus in DPPT and other games is basically one big, long crash-out moment from him. He has a low view of humanity's inclination to maim one another due to their emotions, and when he's jumped by Break in a somewhat similar moment to Lysandre getting jumped by Rocket, the game clarifies that they were only injured. I think to him, they'll be wiped out when he resets the world anyway, so there's no point in taking it that far and killing another person.

I feel Archie accepts some human death from his plans, but he wouldn't actually kill someone himself. He even puts himself between a defenseless child and rampaging Legendary Pokemon in his Masters event. (Same with Rose except he would just battle you. Some casualties from raging Dynamax Pokemon are inevitable, but he wouldn't kill someone himself, he would just disarm his opposition in a battle. He's doing it to help Galar, we're just misguided trying to stop him in his eyes.)

Lysandre has boiled two people alive in Masters (but given the secret police vibes Flare has, it wouldn't surprise me if he had already disappeared some people of the side), and Malva is an accessory to murder at least. Ghetsis has definitely killed before and feels like the type of guy who would enjoy it, plus the Shadow Triad are loyal enough that they would follow any orders from Ghetsis, including assassination. With Giovanni, if it's better for business that you're dead, well, nothing personal, but you're dead. He's not a sadist about it tho.

(As an aside to the Flare scientists, Malva tells us to prepare to face death if we go to fight Xerosic, and the team goal is genocide, so I think they're all willing to kill, but probably just haven't done so yet. Celosia is a big bundle of nerves tho so her a bit less so than the others.)

Colress doesn't have much regard for empathy (tho isn't malevolent about it either. I think he is just oblivious towards the feelings of others, like watch his Sync Story in Masters or the Magearna event, he doesn't recognize how uncomfortable he makes Sonia or how angry Gladion is) or morality, and is responsible for the pic below in Generations, and states that if the world should be destroyed, then so be it, he just cares about the results of his research. And Masters has him potentially working with Volo. I don't think Colress hating Ghetsis was ever a moral issue with the man, I think Colress just thought he was a dickhead.

[syrupyy]

end of an era (10/27/2021-01/07/2025)

cookie run fans,

it is with sadness in my typing that I announce the end of the original (pre-Comic Studio) Cookie Comic Creator. the hosting company killed it b/c the debit card that was paying for it expired, and I completely did not see the payment failed notice in the flood of spam emails they send me every month - I have so much more I could say about why this company sucks, but point is I do not have all the files as they were before, and it would be too much hassle to bring it back when the site has been all but replaced with Cookie Run Comic Studio

if I don't forget to (and can find it all), I will add the last few changes I made to its code to github.com/syrupyy/cook... but, as it hasn't gotten new cookies or updates in a year+ anyways I just redirected it to Cookie Run Comic Studio, which is better and you really should be using it anyways...

thank you all for making comics with the stupid site I made for my friends to celebrate crob's 5th anniversary for so long HAHA. I know some people (in South Korea and China especially) still prefer CCC over CRCS, but the host has basically forced my hand here - and it's for the best IMO! we've put so much work into Comic Studio over the past two and a half years, and if you haven't tried it I highly suggest you do :')

also, it's worth mentioning that Comic Studio is doing great and is not going anywhere for as long as it pays my (and my friend and helper, illbloo's) bills. I keep daily backups of all its content, and HyperHimes has been keeping the Cookie Run studio up to date for me, so rest assured this will not affect anything on that front!!! we're also working on Scene Studio, and a whole bunch of other projects under a company I recently started - expect to hear more about that soon. for now though, we mourn the site that put us on the map; the idea that started it all with 600 lines of hastily assembled JavaScript.

(note: the official tag for posting comics on Tumblr will still be #cookie comic creator. this is for legacy reasons, but I also think it's cool to keep the original name going in spirit - you can always just set the panel size to Classic and pretend nothing has changed, after all!!)

so long and thanks for the unicorns, syrupyy

[nerdyydragon]

Also notable: I rarely see anyone say this about, like, romance movies (at least in earnest; there are soooo many other discourses about romance as a genre, but this isn't one I've seen).

Nobody says "noooo, don't go into the quaint little small-town café, Miss New York Businesswoman Protagonist! No, you're so goddamned dumb for talking to the guy who literally collided with you walking in the door!! You're so effing stupid for allowing him to pick up the papers you dropped!

Nobody says "Character is ridiculous for not trying to avoid freezing to death by huddling for warmth in the cabin!"

Nobody says "but they should know better!" about romance plots, unless it's some "love thine enemy" thing where logically the character should know better than to fall in love with the tragic, handsome villain who just tried to have them killed/kidnapped/dethroned/etc., but even then. The characters in a romance plot don't somehow miraculously know they're in a romance, they just know that they've encountered a [charming stranger] [mysterious rival] [new understanding of their childhood bestie] [any and all trope pairings that apply] and that, as they go about their day, Shit Happens. Compared to other genres it might be comparably low-stakes because nobody's in danger of getting stabbed (maybe, who knows, it could happen), but they don't posses foreknowledge of the events because they're not aware that this sequence of events is something like "A Duke for the Holidays" instead of "just another goddamned Tuesday".

We know.

We're supposed to know.

While part of me rails against an easy reliance on trope marketing, primarily when it supersedes any and all notions of telling me what the gods-damned book is about, as an audience we are, consciously or otherwise, aware of tropes and trends and patterns. We know, as the audience, that in a small-town romance film Miss New York Businesswoman Protagonist is going to break up with her boyfriend who never has time for her and shack up with the hunky father of two who works as a conservationist for a near-extinct, totally-not-made-up species of butterfly that only reproduces every six years under the light of a falling star, or something*. That's how the plot works.

Half the fun is figuring out how it happens.

Half the scare is figuring out how it happens, because horror, like romance, has a pretty defined end (though it isn't always death, but that's pretty clear from the beginning when that's the case).

I'm a spec-fic author. I'm working on a gothic sci-horror novel that, in its alpha stages, has scared the bejesus out of my reader to the point where she thinks the monster is going to appear in her house. She keeps feeling like she's being watched. We're 2/3 of the way through and she's paranoid to the point where she can't actually read the thing for long stretches of time even if she desperately wants to. I also write fantasy, and there are tropes and expectations that I rely on there, as well. But gods, I'm so tired of people (beyond the half-terror under a blanket "no, don't go in there!!!" response, without acknowledging that it must happen) not applying the same logic to horror protagonists as they do to those of other genres. They're not dumb.

Horror isn't dumb.

It's profoundly, utterly human in its terror.

And to the main point of the post: nothing Jonathan Sims (Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London) could have done would have averted the ending to his story. He's a brilliant mind cracking under strain, attempting to wrangle forces well beyond human comprehension that prey on his being a brilliant mind attempting to wrangle them. The Entities, on occasion, give him what he wants. He learns. He grows.

Until he becomes a monster himself.

There are so many versions of the story, littered with alternate choices and voltas and changes in patterns. "No" instead of "yes" that eventually becomes "yes", anyway, because it has to.

A big-city businesswoman, visiting her aging father for Christmas, walks into a coffee shop and runs headlong into her widowed highschool sweetheart after years away.

A gallant knight, stripped of his armour, raises a sword to protect the princess and slay the dragon.

A PI cracks a cold-case that's been haunting the local police for years after they stumble on new evidence, almost by accident.

Almost by a miracle.

A brave starship captain lays down their life to save an entire planet, millions of lives, because it is right, and at the last second is retrieved by advanced technology created by a society that cares.

Jonathan Sims does the best he can with the information he has, and he almost makes it out in the end.

Until he doesn't.

There is no other version of the story.

----

*I was being mostly facetious in this claim but a part of me actually really wants a low-stakes cozy romantasy in this setting. I can't write that type of stake to save my life (even my fanfiction has to have something life-threatening, so no butterflies for me) so if that prompt strikes your fancy, feel free to steal it and modify however needed. Just... let me know if you ever finish it.

JONATHAN ARCHIVIST IS NOT STUPID SQUAD I WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU

[marzipanandminutiae]

I really loved nosferatu because in the interpretation i have of it is that it deals heavily with the way survivors can sometimes end up eroticizing their abuse and seeking out that treatment throughout their lives, and the final scene is the culmination of so many things going wrong and in the narrative, being the easiest way out. But trying to interpret it as a dark romance about forbidden love and repressed desire, itd be kinda mid and requires so many like "trust me bros" to work

Also like if ellen 100% was down to submit to orlock why would she kill him? If her goal was to realize a destiny and eternity with a monstrous lover, why would she trick him into being destroyed by the sun? Like i can understand the idea that she may have loved orlock and wanted to give this man suffering as a monstrous undead some form of peace but most of the romance fans dont really reckon with the final scene beyond the submission and the beauty of the final shot

So, I think we disagree on a few points here:

I don't see any of it as erotic for Ellen after that initial encounter when she's younger turns nightmarish. I didn't see any evidence that she was into it in a way that counts- physical arousal is involuntary, so that means nothing on its own. I saw that element as dealing with the shame victims of sexual assault can feel if they became aroused or orgasmed during the act. The "I abhor you" scene read to me as her confronting and taunting Orlock- getting as close as a kiss and then revealing that no, he doesn't have her under his control and he never will, because he can't force her to want him. But I guess YMMV as with everything here.

The killing part is one of a very small number of places where I get the Dark Romance interpretation, actually. If she's resigned herself that they can Never Be Together In This Horrible Repressive World(TM), she might decide that murder-suicide is the best option- they get to die together, and they can both finally be free. It would be an interesting twist, too, where she goes from being the submitting and succumbing ingenue to revealing a bit of her own active darkness- because uh Orlock was clearly not expecting it to go like that. I could totally see it...

...if the entire rest of the movie hadn't utterly failed to demonstrate any romance between them, in my opinion.

(Also like I haven't said this before but it would be easier for me to see it as a romance if Orlock...had a personality? Was a fleshed-out character? Seemed like he wanted Ellen specifically, for herself and not just because she was a Thing To Want and he was a Thing That Wanted?)

(I don't know anything about Orlock besides Vampire and Wants To Fuck/Kill Ellen, and he doesn't even really seem to want her for any reason besides "she's there!" Give me SOMETHING to work with!)

I'm also not really down for criticizing people who DO interpret it that way, which you're dancing on the edge of at the end there. It's not that I'm pooh-poohing them; they're free to do what they want with it and if Eggers' apparent intended message landed for them, great! Different interpretations are fine with me as long as you're not an ass about them and you allow that other people may see it differently (which I fully do, as you can see)!

It's the filmmakers where I'm a bit baffled and "unblock me I just want to talk."

[tea-and-secrets]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to confess this, but I really need to get this out of my chest. Feel free to make a post redirecting me to another confessions blog if you'd like, in the meantime I'll just spit out what I wanna say. This will also be a long post, please excuse my ramblings.

on May of this year, a movie from A24 came out called "I Saw The TV Glow", a horror/drama film based on transness created by a transfemme individual. I didn't hear about it when it came out, I haven't seen any trailers or anything, but as soon as it started airing on local theaters on the US, everyone was talking about it. My TikTok FYP kept showing me dozens of videos of trans people crying after they watched the movie, how it was a beautiful touching and anxiety fueled movie that resonated with so many people from the trans community.

I was interested and my expectations were high, I like horror movies and I haven't seen many movies tackling on transgenderism. I told my partner (who doesn't label themself but they sure are every But cis) about the movie and they actually heard about it and was also interested. Since we're a super long distant couple (I live outside of the US while my partner is from there) we couldn't watch it on theaters, but we planned on watching it online at some point.

Well, that "some point" was a week ago. We got on call and watched the movie and... I was kinda disappointed. I didn't Hate the movie, I still think it was good and my partner thought the same, but we didn't see it as a amazing film like so many people were claiming. We both agreed it was a 7/10 movie with a great message, but in the end it was nothing special.

The confession comes from me feeling guilty about this. I feel bad for not liking this movie as much as a trans person compared to every other trans person that loved it. My partner and I read articles about it and even watched videos covering the ending that left us confused and unsatisfied. Later on I searched the movie tag here on Tumblr, and saw many posts of people (trans people) criticizing those who laughed at moments and questioned the movie and started picking it apart after the movie ended instead of staying in silence. I think that's kinda ridiculous considering that was our first reaction to the ending, but apparently everyone on the notes were agreeing with the original posters, even accusing those that did those as "ignorant cis people".

I'm sure people will say: "You didn't like it because you're not a trans woman/trans femme". And you're right about one part: I'm a transmasc non binary person, but that can't be the reason since I've seen trans men and transmascs enjoying and relating/resonating with the movie. "Well clearly You didn't have to hide your identity" I Have to hide my identity to so many of my family members. I can't even get the haircut that I want, I don't have the clothing that will make me feel like im dressing myself, I don't have access to top surgery or testosterone injections. I know who I am, I just can't fully be that person yet. "Maybe you didn't get the message and symbolism" I watched the movie Knowing the symbolism, people on TikTok weren't being really vague about it lol. It's about suppressing your gender identity, suppressing who you truly are and the dangers of doing so. Not transitioning can kill, and Has killed, so many people. No matter who you are or how old you are or where you live, there's still time. There's still time for you to dig out your suppressed identity and turn into your true self. I think the message is Beautiful and So Important, it's just Something in the Execution that didn't work for me, I can't even explain it.

I know that in the end it's not that deep, it's just a movie that a lot of people Love while I just mildly enjoyed. I just wish I cried and adored this movie like everyone else did, I wish I connected to this movie like everyone else did. Maybe one day I will not care about this anymore, but I don't know when this guilt will go away. Hopefully soon.

This is just a me issue btw, my partner feels fine with just finding the movie okay.

.

[duchessonfire]

Savior Carl!AU re-read Part 1 Chapter 4

Follow-up of my re-read of Part 1 Chapter 3. If you're not interested and don't want to have your dashboard spammed, you can block the tags Duchess reads and Savior Carl AU reread.

Commentary for Part 1, Ch 4 below the cut (spoilers for part 1 ahead):

I've been delaying writing this one, not just because life is hectic, but also because I have so much I could say about this final chapter, I'm not even sure where to start.

First of all, Carl's training with the rifle outside the Sanctuary. I'm really really happy I thought of that because it allowed me to show a lot through this simple activity. It might sound silly, but I always struggle finding Carl things to do around Sanctuary. Let's be real, I have no idea what people do in the apocalypse aside from the usual scavenging for supplies, growing food, fixing broken things and going through weapon training. It's especially hard to think of things at Sanctuary because most of the supplies they get is brought in to them from the communities Negan has subdued. When you're writing a long fic, the challenge is always to find new things for the characters to do, especially in a setting like the apocalypse. The Savior Carl AU is very much a huit-clos, a narrative taking place in a defined and limited space. Carl isn't allowed to go outside in part 1, so the whole story is limited to the space of Sanctuary.

This is both a strength and a potential weakness for the story. Because Carl is the focus of the story and because he stays inside the factory, things will get boring very quickly if his role doesn't change, if the parts of Sanctuary he explores are always the same. This is why the shooting practice in the parking lot was so useful to me: it gave Carl something new to do aside from the guard duty he had done until now and it allowed him to start interacting with the cast of background characters that make up the Saviors and workers of Sanctuary. Same goes for Carl's new job as Negan's assistant.

Now that I'm re-reading this last chapter, I do regret not paying more attention to the fact that Carl entered Negan's room for the first time in this chapter. It's not something I highlighted in any way and I am a bit sad about that. However, I am still very happy with the scene where Carl is looking at the bookcase in Negan's room:

His finger trails over the spine of a book decorated with a bird’s silhouette. “Good choice,” Negan says approvingly, suddenly right behind him, and Carl snaps his hand back. They’re alone in the room now, Simon gone and Negan’s leather jacket draped over the bed, leaving him just in a white t-shirt as he stands behind Carl. It’s truly messed up that all it took was two weeks for Carl to lower his guard around Negan completely, to the point where he can get distracted and snuck up on without any real effort. He remembers Shane telling him about something like that once, how the best way to lull someone into a false sense of safety is to give them a routine, a pattern to repeat day after day at the exact same time, until they lower their defenses, their brains already anticipating the next step in the schedule. He saw first-hand how true that was when Rosita managed to kill her way inside Sanctuary just by memorizing everyone’s guard rotations, armed with nothing but a knife and a gun with one bullet. He wonders suddenly if that’s why Negan gave him a schedule of his own, practicing every morning and then meeting him every day at noon. Was that part of the plan? Giving Carl a false sense of safety, making him lower his guard around him? But Negan just looks relaxed, perfectly at ease with his hands tucked in the pockets of his dark jeans, Lucille forgotten against the coffee table. He smells like soap and spicy aftershave, and his hair is still a bit wet from the shower he took after visiting Sherry upstairs.

This scene is so important to me. If you've been following my end-of-the-year wrapped up posts on Tumblr, maybe you'll have seen that the reason part 1 is tagged Carl & Negan and pre-Carl/Negan is because back when I was writing this story in 2021, I had seen a lot of awful people on Tumblr harassing Cegan shippers and so I was very afraid of writing a fic that was full-on Carl/Negan. Instead, I wrote part 1 as a story that would eventually become shippy, but not yet.

This scene, however, the bookcase scene, is one of the shippiest of part 1. I really wanted to show the new intimacy between Carl and Negan. Carl isn't just in Negan's bedroom, in Negan's private space, but he's comfortable there. So comfortable, in fact, that he doesn't even notice Negan walking up behind him. This is such a huge leap compared to where their relationship was before, the cat-and-mouse schoolyard bullying of the previous chapters. There is no animosity from Carl anymore, no cruelty from Negan. A symbolism that comes back over and over again in the Savior!Carl AU and which I've taken directly from the series is that Negan's leather jacket is an armor and a work uniform all at once. When he wears the leather, he's Negan the Savior, leader of Sanctuary. When he doesn't, he's more ostensibly Negan the man, less guarded and gentler to others. You can see that at several points in the series (he removes his jacket when he's with Carl and Judith in Alexandria but puts it back on when he's playing pool with Spencer, he doesn't have a jacket when he kills Davey to protect Sasha in the cell but he has it back on when he comes to check on her and sees that she put down Davey's corpse).

Carl and Negan have both lowered their guards around each other, and the personal space they keep around each other is similarly reduced:

“You can borrow it if you want. Nothing like a classic.” “It is?” Carl can’t help but ask, frowning back toward the drawing of the bird on the book’s edge. The design makes it look like a children book to him. Negan stares back at him in disbelief. “You don’t know To Kill a Mockingbird?” Carl shrugs, embarrassed at Negan’s tone.   “Seriously? You’ve never heard your parents talking about the book? Or the movie? None of your teachers?” “I was thirteen when I stopped going to school,” Carl says defensively. Negan blinks before sighing dramatically. “Well, at least you’ve never had to sit through a high school analysis of Gatsby. You dodged a serious bullet on that one, kid.” He stretches his arm past Carl’s head, and for a second Carl is trapped, enclosed between the bookcase, the wall, and Negan’s naked arm around him, every single one of the tattoos dotting his skin on display without the armor of his jacket. He takes the book out and hands it to Carl.

That single moment at the end is really the shippiest part 1 gets. Carl is already so aware of Negan's body (his tattoos, his smell, how close they are) while at the same time being in full denial that this awareness comes from sexual attraction. The more time these two spend around each other, the harder it becomes for them to stay apart, for Negan especially. If you look over part 1 (and parts 2 and 3 as a matter of fact), you'll notice Negan is the one always seeking Carl out while Carl has a tendency to find places away from everyone else to brood. This is how the sandwich scene happened in the previous chapter and this how another one of my favorite scenes happens: ✨the rooftop scene.✨

I'm not even going to attempt quoting it here because I'll just end up copy/pasting the whole thing. I love everything about this scene and it still stays with him as one of the most visual moments of part 1, right up there with the moment Carl was shot in the eye and he hallucinates the candy cane Christmas decoration while Negan carries him to the infirmary. Like the eye, the scene of the rooftop is a really pivotal one, and it shifts the entire dynamics of the fic. It's also one of the times in the Savior!Carl AU where I go off-script from canon and fill in the blanks of Negan's past.

“My first time was when I was nineteen,” Negan finally says, breaking the heavy silence left by his confession. Carl finally looks at him, surprised. Negan’s eyes are fixed on the horizon, obviously lost in memory. “I was in college. I had just gotten a scholarship to play football. I played everything back then, football, basketball, baseball, fucking ping-pong, you name it. As long as I was allowed to throw a goddamn ball I was happy. But I got a full ride to Ohio State and it was one of the best moments of my life. I was finally away from my asshole father and doing what I liked. It was the first friendly game of the season, and we were playing against some rich fuckers from a liberal arts college not far. Of course, it was college, so we’d all met at some frat party the night before and the trash talk had gotten out of hand before the game even began. Everyone was playing rough, and I mean it as in, it was a fucking bloodbath. So many players got injured that even my freshman ass got called on the field to play. We’re all riled up, the ref keeps threatening to cancel the match, some fucking cheerleader is crying in the background because her boyfriend lost two front teeth, it’s basically hell and I’m loving every second of it. And then… I tackle this guy and we both fall hard. I actually heard his vertebrae snapping when we both hit the ground. They stopped the game for good after that. I got taken to the hospital, because my fucking collarbone was shattered, but the other kid? Paralyzed from the neck down. And that was only if he was lucky enough to wake up from the coma the docs had to put him under.” Carl can’t help but be fascinated by this story, by this whole new side of Negan, without an ounce of sadistic delight for once, eyes still staring ahead, his face basked in the orange light of the evening. “He died the night before I left the hospital. I could hear his mother crying herself to death down the hall. It was messed up, for them, for me, for everyone involved. I mean, this wasn’t like how things are now. Back then, you were supposed to die at seventy of prostate cancer, or at fifty in a car accident, not playing fucking college football at twenty. After that, I couldn’t play because of the metal plate they put in me. Still have it,” he says, rubbing absentmindedly at the lapel of his leather jacket, right underneath his red scarf. “I lost my scholarship. So I went back to Virginia, got a degree from community college and went to teach P.E. in high school.”

Don't mind me going back on my word and quoting you this whole part. It's always a gamble when you're writing a fic for a on-going series because you never know if the headcanons you're adding will be disproved later. For example, when I was writing part 1, the 'Here's Negan' episode hadn't come out yet (it aired less than a month after I posted chapter 4 and finished the fic) so I had no way of knowing whether the past I gave Negan would have to be retconned later on. I'm glad to say that it holds up so far, Negan's reluctance to killing walkers in the flashback episode (which he says is because he's afraid to grow used to it) could very well stem from the traumatic event I gave Negan in the Savior!Carl AU. However, something that I was a bit disappointed about when Dead City season 1 aired last year, was Negan sharing a memory of his dad being a salesman and promising to take him on a trip to NYC as a child. This is in complete contradiction with the past I made up for Negan in the Savior!AU, where Negan's own relationship with his father is contentious to say the least. I haven't shared anything about that yet, but it will appear if I ever post a Negan's pov fic of the Savior!AU.

This post is running very long already so I'll wrap it up with one song: You're My Sunshine. Obviously this song is a very powerful moment in the Cegan canon so it felt very right to use it for the end of part 4 because it is both an echo to the Sing Me a Song episode and a reminder of Carl and Lori's relationship while, at the same time, the lyrics are very much reminiscent of Carl and Shane's relationship:

I'll always love you and make you happy, If you will only say the same. But if you leave me and love another, You'll regret it all some day. You told me once, dear, you really loved me And no one else could come between. But now you've left me and love another. You have shattered all of my dreams.

I wasn't sure at first I wanted to integrate a song in part 1 because song fic are a sort of commonplace in fandoms and I didn't think it would fit the vibe of my fic. However, when I paid close attention to the lyrics, I realized how apt they were for this moment of the story, for Carl and Shane's relationship to be severed for good, after Shane has chosen to escape with Sherry and baby Lori and left Carl behind. I also really loved the idea of such a romantic song being superimposed on what is arguably one of the most dramatic and disturbing moment in the whole of part 1.

Several people have pointed out in the comments that Shane has all but served Carl on a silver platter for Negan. The manipulation, the secrecy, the violence, all of those elements that Shane used to control Carl, those are the same elements that Negan uses in his relationship with Carl, making Carl go from the arms of one abuser to another. The difference being, of course, that Carl and Negan have a romance a true bond aside from Negan's mindfuck, while any real relationship Carl and Shane might have had died long ago.

Conclusion; tldr: This final chapter of part 1 is a gradual build-up of all the tensions that have been boiling so far. The more Carl separates from Shane, the closer he becomes to Negan, until the eventual killing of Shane by Carl became inevitable. The Savior!Carl AU is a dark romance but it is a romance, and to me what makes this story is great is how the dark and angsty aspects of Cegan are conterbalanced by true moments of bonding and kindness between the two characters. Some people in the comments have very rightfully called part 1 a corruption story or a 'start-of-darkness' plot. That is indeed what is happening, with Carl gradually falling more and more into the possessive clutches of Negan. Those clutches, however, also stem from a true care and affection from Negan to want to provide for Carl and to adopt him as his own.

PS: in chapter 4, Carl remembers Rick's favorite book being In Cold Blood by Truman Capote while Lori's favorite book was The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne. Those are little Easter Eggs I thought people who have read those books might appreciate when compared to Rick and Lori's actual storylines in canon (senseless violence in a small town being investigated and the lack of motive haunting the narrative versus a sexual affair that dooms its female protagonist and destroys her reputation and has lasting consequences in her community).

You can find the commentary for part 2 chapter 1 here.

[cindersnows]

agreed with flareboi your honor hes just a silly. but also

dark from creation was just a tool for alan. he was never afforded his own identity, he existed just to do alan's dirty work; kill chosen. and he did fairly well! he worked with the other apps properly, he went out of his way not to destroy anything unnecessarily, and it was only when tco blew up minesweeper that he lost at all. tdl wasnt destructive until he started working with tco.

he was convinced chosen would kill him, but they didnt. and he realised that the very person he was made to kill was giving him more sympathy than the one who made him, the one who he was defending with his life. so of course he'd choose the person who actually cared about him.

it was only after joining with tco did tdl get as destructive as he is, because he was just following tco's lead. tco was destructive from the start; tdl only started being so reckless because he felt that was what he had to do based on tco's example.

this extended to the attacks on the internet. tco and tdl eagerly blow up anything in their way, and even if tco was simply hurting the dangerous things (as a chosen one would be expected to do), that doesn't change the fact that they're hurting people.

(i have a few things to say about the "tco only attacked things they thought were bad" theory, which i personally agree with but still judge tco for because i dont think anyone should get to decide who's "bad" and who's "good".)

ok so just a disclaimer; i know you said dark defenders but i need to make it clear that i don't think dark didn't do anything wrong, i just think he's not beyond redemption.

tdl's faults come to light when he doesn't stop to see the harm he's doing to other sticks. obviously, harming anyone is bad, but dark joyfully destroys the homes of other stickfigures, beings just like him, and isnt shown to feel any regret. this is what marks the start of him and chosen growing apart.

i think it's safe to presume that between 2011 and 2018, chodark don't go on any rampages/attacks at all, since the newgrounds attack is shown to be the end of their destruction in the flashback. during this time, dark learns how to code and build robots (a very useful and constructive hobby!), deepens his bond with chosen, and makes some sort of plan for destruction. if chosen attempts to communicate their guilt or tell dark that killing sticks is Bad actually, it's not shown, and that would be a fairly important development in showing dark's character, so i think it's safe to assume chosen didn't do anything like that.

i think the flashback and the showdown make it clear that chosen and dark are both spectacularly terrible at sharing their feelings. dark clearly made the virabots as some sort of gift to chosen, a way to purge the internet of the humans that hurt chosen (and him) for so long. we can extrapolate this from the fact that all the websites dark attempted to send the virabots to near the end of showdown are social media commonly frequented by humans. he doesn't attack scratch, or newgrounds again, or flipnote hatena. it's limited to places like twitter and discord.

chosen, on the other hand, assumes that dark intends to use the virabots to kill sticks exclusively. but many fans take this assumption to be reality; we have to remember that this was chosen catastrophizing, and entirely their own imagination.

now, dark did go and kill all of the cg without any remorse whatsoever. in his eyes, he was just killing the kids getting in the way of his goal; kids working alongside alan. it's not difficult to assume that dark still hates alan for what he did to him and chosen, and has been plotting a revenge for years, the same way victim has been doing from 2018 to 2023. it might just be me but i feel like the fandom gives victim a lot more sympathy than dark, and did so even before ava 11, even though victim is shown to be just as brutal and tunnel-visioned towards revenge as dark is. if we got a dark backstory episode explaining his point of view, i wouldn't be surprised if people started defending him more too.

there's a lot more i could say; like for example in showdown chosen was the one betraying dark, not the other way around, or how dark could understand that what he did was wrong if he was exposed to literally anyone other than the one person who taught him destruction and then felt too scared to tell him they were wrong, but this is long already and i'm in school

so that's why vriska i mean the dark lord did nothing wrong

A message to all Dark Lord defenders

As someone who is vehemently against the idea that Dark is in any way sympathetic, I invite you to try and change my mind, I want to have a conversation with you all, because I genuinely think it's interesting that so many can look at a character who I think is a completely irredeemable asshole and see something more charitable.

So go on Dark defenders, go wild, explain all of your arguments and I will do my best to argue against them (or, maybe even agree with them if I think they make sense.

[gingermintpepper]

As usual I read your tags always and so you said Apollo did not ask for resurrection of Asclepius and Hyacinthus so i just wanted to share this. About Asclepius death I read it on theoi.com, that earlier authors don't make him resurrect as a god but that's a later development mentioned only by Roman authors like Cicero, Hyginus and Ovid. But still Apollo has a role in Ovid's version

Ovid, Fasti 6. 735 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : Clymenus [Haides] and Clotho resent the threads of life respun and death's royal rights diminished. Jove [Zeus] feared the precedent and aimed his thunderbolt at the man who employed excessive art. Phoebus [Apollon], you whined. He is a god; smile at your father, who, for your sake, undoes his prohibitions [i.e. when he obtains immortality for Asklepios].

So here it is actually because of Apollo the decision was taken to resurrect him as god. And with Hyacinthus, I don't think I've read about Artemis playing the primary role. I know in Sparta there was a picture of Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite carrying Hyacinthus and his sister to heaven.

This is not on theoi.com but I saw on Tumblr it's from Dionysiaca by Nonnus

Second, my lord Oiagros wove a winding lay, as the father of Orpheus who has the Muse his boon companion. Only a couple of verses he sang, a ditty of Phoibos, clearspoken in few words after some Amyclaian style: Apollo brought to life again his longhaired Hyacinthos: Staphylos will be made to live for aye by Dionysos.

So since he is singing inspired by amyclean stories it probably means in that place it was believed Apollo was the one to bring back his lover to life.

Apollo as god of order was very important so i think it shows how special these people (and admetus too) were to him that he decided to go against the order for them 🥺

ANON!! Shakes you like a bottle of ramune!! BELOVED ANON!!!!! I'm littering your face with kisses, I'm anointing you with olive oil and honey - you absolutely made my night with this because, not only did I get the pure serotonin shot of having someone interact with my tags (yippee, wahoo!!) I also got to have that wonderful feeling of "oh wow, have I misunderstood something that was integral to my understanding of this myth/figure this whole time or is this a case of interpretational differences?" which is imo vital for my aims and interests as someone who enjoys mythological content and literature.

I'll preface my response with this: Hyacinthus is by far the hardest of these to get accounts for because his revival itself, as you very astutely point out, is generally accounted for in painting/ritual format which muddies the waters on who interceded for what. I wasn't actually familiar with that passage from the Argonautica - and certainly didn't remember it so thank you very much for bringing it to my attention!

That said, what I've come to understand, both about Hyacinthus and about Asclepius is that in the accounts of their deaths, Apollo's position is startlingly clear.

For Hyacinthus, it is established time and again that Apollo would have sacrificed everything for him - his status, his power, his very own immortality and divinity. Ovid writes that Apollo would have installed him as a god if only he had the time:

(Ovid. Metamorphoses. Book X. trans. Johnston)

Many other writers too speak of how Apollo abandoned his lyre and his seat at Delphi to spend his days with Hyacinthus, but they also all agree that when it came to his death - he was powerless. Ovid gives that graphic account of Apollo's desperation as he tries all his healing arts to save him to no avail:

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book X. Apollo me boy, methinks him dead. trans Johnston)

Bion, in one of his fragments, writes that Apollo was "dumb" upon seeing Hyacinthus' agony:

(Bion, The Bucolic Poets. Fragment XI. trans Edmonds)

Even Nonnus in the Dionysiaca speaks constantly of Apollo's helplessness in the face of Hyacinthus' fate where he writes that the god still shivers if a westward wind blows upon an iris:

and when Zephyros breathed through the flowery garden, Apollo turned a quick eye upon his young darling, his yearning never satisfied; if he saw the plant beaten by the breezes, he remembered the quoit, and trembled for fear the wind, so jealous once about the boy, might hate him even in a leaf...

(Nonnus, Dionysiaca, Book 3. trans Rouse)

And the point here is just that - Apollo, at least as far as I've read, cannot avert someone's death. He simply can't. Once they're already dead - once Fate has cut their string - all Apollo's power is gone and he can do nothing no matter how much he wants to. And this is, as far as I know, supported with the accounts of Asclepius as well!

Since you specifically brought up Ovid's account, I'll also stick only to Ovid's account but in Metamorphoses when we get Ovid's version of Coronis' demise, he writes that Apollo intensely and immediately regrets slaughtering Coronis. He regrets it so intensely that he, like he does with Hyacinthus, does his best to resuscitate her:

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book Two. Apollo's regret)

And like Hyacinthus, when it becomes clear that what has happened cannot be undone, Apollo wails:

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book Two. Apollo wept.)

Unlike his mother, Asclepius in her womb had not yet died and so, with the last of Apollo's strength, he does manage, at least, to save him.

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book Two. Apollo puts the 'tearing out' in Asclepius.)

But it goes further than even that because Ocyrhoe, Chiron's daughter, a prophetess who unduly gained the ability to directly proclaim the secrets of the Fates, upon seeing the baby Asclepius, immediately prophesies his glory, his inevitable death and then his fated ascension:

(Ovid. Metamorphoses, Book Two. Ocyrhoe's prophecy. trans Johnston)

Before she too succumbs to her hubris and is transformed by the Fates into a horse so she can no longer speak secrets that aren't hers to share.

These things ultimately are important because it establishes two very important things: 1) Apollo can't do anything in the face of the ultimate Fate of mortals, which is, of course, death and 2) even when Apollo is Actively Devastated, regretful, yearning, mournful, guilty or some unholy combination of all of the above, when someone is dead, he accepts that they are gone. Even if he is devastated by it, even if he'll cry all the rest of his days about it - if they're dead? Apollo lets them go. In Fasti, when Zeus brings Asclepius back, he does not say Apollo asked him to - Zeus, or well, in this case Jove, brings Asclepius back because he wants Apollo to stop being mad at him.

(Ovid, Fasti VI. Apollo please come home your father misses you. trans. A.S Kline)

Even Boyle's translation which you used above in your findings hints that Zeus made Asclepius a god because he wanted Apollo to stop grieving. (i.e 'smile at your father', 'for your sake [he] undoes his prohibitions')

And like, Apollo was deeply upset by Asclepius' death - apart from killing the Cyclops in anger, in book 4 of the Argonautica, Apollonius writes that the Celts believe the stream of Eridanus to be the tears Apollo shed over the death of Asclepius when he left for Hyperborea after being chastised by Zeus for killing his Cyclops:

But the Celts have attached this story to them, that these are the tears of Leto's son, Apollo, that are borne along by the eddies, the countless tears that he shed aforetime when he came to the sacred race of the Hyperboreans and left shining heaven at the chiding of his father, being in wrath concerning his son whom divine Coronis bare in bright Lacereia at the mouth of Amyrus.

It all paints a very clear picture to me. Apollo did not ask for either of them to be brought back. Though bringing them back certainly pleased and delighted him, they are actions of other gods who are moved by Apollo's grief and mourning and seek to mollify him. Him not asking doesn't mean he didn't want them back which I think is a very important distinction by the by, but it simply means that Apollo knows the natural order of things and, even if it hurts, he isn't going to press his luck about it.

Which, of course, brings us to Admetus. And I'm really not going to overcomplicate this, Admetus is different because, very vitally, Admetus is not dead. Apollo can't do a thing once Fate has been carried out and Death has claimed a mortal but you know what he absolutely can do? Bargain like hell with the Fates before that point of inevitability. And that's what he does, ultimately for Admetus and Alcestis. He sought to prolong Admetus' life, not revive him from death or absolve him from death altogether and even after getting the Fates drunk, he's still only able to organise a sacrifice - a life for a life - something completely contingent on whether some other mortal would be willing to die in Admetus' place and not at all controllable by Apollo's own power.

All of these things, I think come back to that point you made - that Apollo's place as a god of order is very important and therefore these people are very special to him if it means he's willing to go against that order but, I also wish to challenge that opinion if you'd let me. Apollo's place as a god of order is very important and therefore, I would argue, that it is even more important that it is shown that he does not break the divine order, especially for the people that mean the most to him. The original context of my comments which started this conversation were on this lovely, lovely post by @hyacinthusmemorial which contemplated upon Asclepius from the perspective of an Emergency Medical personnel and included, in their tags, the very poignant lines "there's something about Apollo letting go when Asclepius couldn't that eats my heart away" and "you do what you can, you do your best, but you don't ever reach too far" and I think that's perfectly embodied with the Apollo-Asclepius dichotomy. Apollo grieves. He wails, he cries, he does his best each and every time to save that which is precious to him but he does not curse their nature, he does not resent that they are human and ultimately, he accepts that that which is mortal must inevitably die. There is nothing that so saliently proves that those who uphold rules are also their most staunch followers - if Apollo wants to delight in his place as Fate's mouthpiece, he cannot undo Fate. And, if even the god of healing and order himself cannot undo death, what right does Asclepius, mortal as he is, talented as he is, have to disrespect it?

The beauty of these stories isn't that Apollo loved them enough to bring them back. The beauty is that Apollo loved them enough to let them go.

[musical-chick-13]

This is the only thing I'm going to say about the election until it's over:

Anyone who did not vote for Harris or who attempted to dissuade people from voting for Harris, you are indirectly responsible for whatever shit Donald Trump does if he gets elected. That blood is primarily on his hands, yes. But it is also on yours. I hope you can live with that because I sure as hell wouldn't be able to.

[thefirstknife]

New article with more details (from Jason Schreier who first broke the story). If you can't see it, I'll copy the whole text under read more.

About 100 employees were laid off in total (8%) and one of the main reasons listed is "underperformance," "sharp drop in popularity" and "poor reception of Lightfall."

So you know when for the last year and a half content creators have been shitting and pissing on the game as a full-time job and the amount of negativity and ragebait content became the only thing to make content about for them? Well they certainly won't take the blame, but I will let it be known. These people either don't understand the influence they have or they do and they're doing it on purpose, and I don't know which of these two options is worse, but I am 100% confident that their campaign of rage and hate contributed to this.

You don't base your entire community around constantly hating everything about the only game you play (despite clearly not enjoying it anymore) and somehow avoid galvanising thousands and thousands of people into perceiving the game negatively. Imagine being employees who have barely worked there for 2 years and the only community reception they've seen is 24/7 hate train for their work and then they get fired because of "poor reception" and "drop in popularity." How can they not take that personally? I am absolutely devastated for these people who delievered a banger product and who were met with an unrelenting barrage of toxic gamer children which ended up having more sway over their boss than them.

Which brings me to the next bit and that's FUCK THE CEO. He is now my mortal enemy #1. I am projecting psychic blasts directly into his brain. What an absolute spineless coward who is more willing to bow down to fucking gamers than to protect his own employees. This is absolutely rage inducing because this has happened before. From the article from 2021 about the toxic culture at Bungie:

Reading this shit from the new article absolutely fucking sent me into blind rage because I immediately remembered this. Another instance of employees suffering because of comments on reddit. And because of toxic players. And proof that leadership is not protecting employees and is instead siding with players.

Match made in heaven. Asshole gamer content creators and asshole CEOs, all of whom sit at home on piles of money made from someone else's labour. I hope they all explode. None of the people that worked on this game deserve this.

Another article with an infuriating comment from the CEO:

In an internal town hall meeting addressing a Monday round of layoffs that impacted multiple departments, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons allegedly told remaining employees that the company had kept “the right people” to continue work on Destiny 2.

"Kept the right people." Really. Veteran composers weren't the right people? Die!

Bloomberg article in full:

Bungie’s decision to cut an estimated 100 jobs from its staff of about 1,200 followed dire management warnings earlier this month of a sharp drop in the popularity of its flagship video game Destiny 2. Just two weeks ago, executives at the Sony-owned game developer told employees that revenue was running 45% below projections for the year, according to people who attended the meeting. Chief Executive Officer Pete Parsons pinned the big miss on weak player retention for Destiny 2, which has faced a poor reception since the release of its latest expansion, Lightfall. The next expansion, The Final Shape, was getting good — not great feedback — and management told those present that they planned to push back the release to June 2024 from February, according the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The additional time would give developers a chance to improve the product. In the meantime, Parsons told staff Bungie would be cutting costs, such as for travel, as well as implementing salary and hiring freezes, the people said. Everyone would have to work together to weather the storm, he said, leaving employees feeling determined to do whatever was needed to get revenue back up. But on Monday morning the news got worse: Dozens of staffers woke up to mysterious 15-minute meetings that had been placed on their calendars, which they soon learned were part of a mass layoff. Bungie laid off around 8% of its employees, according to documentation reviewed by Bloomberg. Bungie didn’t respond to requests for comment. Employees who were let go will receive at least three months of severance and three months of Bungie-paid COBRA health insurance, although other benefits, such as expense reimbursements, ended Monday, sending some staff racing to submit their receipts. Laid-off staffers will also receive prorated bonuses, although those who were on a vesting schedule following Sony Group Corp.’s acquisition of Bungie in January 2022 will lose any shares that weren’t vested as of next month. The layoffs are part of a larger money-saving initiative at Sony’s PlayStation unit, which has also cut employees at studios such as Naughty Dog, Media Molecule and its San Mateo office. TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz wrote in a report Monday that “events over the last few days lead us to believe that PlayStation is undergoing a restructuring.” PlayStation president Jim Ryan announced last month that he plans to resign. Many of the layoffs at Bungie affected the company’s support departments, such as community management and publishing. Remaining Bungie staff were informed that some of those areas will be outsourced moving forward.

[spacebubblehomebase]

And being a doctor is a demanding job. Beyond stressful even. I know, I live with one and another who's aspiring to be one. I saw that they barely get any real "off the clock" hours. That is, if you wanna save lives. How it takes everything from them. Damian already does that as a vigilante, does he really need to do that outside of it too? Everything in his life just dedicated to everyone else? Nothing wrong with that of course and it's a VERY noble goal, but there's gotta be a break. A limit. He's already known as the "artistic" Wayne. Why not be an artist? People say it's symbolic for him to be trained to kill, but grow up to heal. He showed that healing through his own journey already. Is it not also symbolic for him to be raised to DESTROY his enemies with his bare hands, but instead choose to CREATE wonder with those very same hands? Stain them with paint instead of blood? Color the world- the city -that's been so dark and dull in his own way outside of the uniform. He was never the "light" as Robin, because his Batman (Grayson) didn't need that as much. But through his eyes, he can show how brightly Gotham can shine via canvas. If not, he could even be a vet! It's still healing another, but it's also something more attuned to his own personal interest rather than someone else's. (They already did the "exact same job as my predecessor" thing to Jon. This just feels like a different flavor of "becoming like my grandfather" again but instead of on Ra's side, it's Dr. Thomas.) Isn't it better to put Damian in a job he's been showing interest in since he was younger? Be it animals or art or something else. Rather than dedicate what half of his life is left for himself to The Cause, yet again. Plus, while the idea of "being forced to choose between saving a life in his day job versus his night job or fail both" as a dramatic scenario may sound interesting, in hindsight, this entire family has enough angst to last literal decades. He doesn't need to go through any more. Alfred (R.I.)Pennyworth already gave us that extra kick of trauma. Thanks. Let's not add to that. I'm rather tired of the trope. Though if you're saying it's also for him to have a connection to Thomas Wayne, boy, he's more connected to them than any of his siblings already. They're literally blood and if I was a grandparent or a parent in general, I think I'd be happier to see my child pursue their own dreams than just be a mirror of my own when they so clearly have an entirely separate interest. I'm not forcing anyone to agree with me or anything, but I'm just saying. It is something to think about... As for the "not turning your hobbies into your job" thing, yes, it doesn't work for everyone. But I know many others who have found the most fulfillment in going for it anyway. Let's not dismiss the whole for their parts. Because reducing hard-won "passions" to mere "hobbies" doesn't seem very respectful of their efforts. I mean, if you don't hate what you're doing even just a little, then you might not love it enough to push yourself harder for it, yeah? Okay. I'll stop rambling now. I didn't think I'd have that much to say about this until I started writing. Damn... Still, this was a take that's long been on my mind, so it's kinda nice to have it out there.

As an assassin, he kills.

As Robin, he saves.

As a demon, he destroys.

As Damian, he creates.

Something like that. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

-Bubbly💙

Damian Wayne becoming a doctor would is so funny from 'making his own path' point of view that I've seen it framed as, because both his grandfathers were in fact doctors, and both his parents studied medicine, so we're back on the 'destined by blood' path. I understand why people are glad he's getting some life goals other than wanting to be Batman in the future, but actually we're trading one "traditional" family occupation with the other.

[floralovebot]

why do people think he was meant to be a woman? helia’s design was very clearly based off shojo anime love interests à la tuxedo mask (although i strongly believe the main inspiration for his design was actually goemon ishikawa from lupin iii lol)

exactly!!! the entire "mysterious pretty long haired boy who is gentle but can still fight for you" is lifted directly from shojo anime like ajdkajdg personally, i think he was inspired by hotohori from fushigi yuugi !! (at least in terms of visuals,, ajhgl) (it's extra funny to me cause there's an entire joke about hotohori being so beautiful that everyone thinks he's a woman aldjhg) (also helia's initial design being red instead like... bro.....)

look at this bitch!!! they stole his hair!!!

anyway this rumor is so dumb too like it's been around for Years (i remember being ten looking at forum posts about this) but no one has ever found proof or even implications. no one from rainbow has ever confirmed this. years ago, someone probably said something along the lines of "helia is so feminine i wonder if he was meant to be a girl at first" and everyone else just fucking ran with it.

i know at one point the popular rumor was that rainbow wanted to introduce two new winx members (aka aisha and helia) but decided that would be too much and just went with aisha instead and made helia a boy. which like. cmon aldhg

but it's just SO so bad like it's literally just white people going "oh wow long hair into art And poetry??? WOMAN" it's like ?? the fans who think they're being progressive for this too like ajdhglda you are Literally just doing gender stereotypes. that's what you're doing here. you saw a man with long hair and a quiet personality and went "aha! i have discovered that you are secretly a woman!" like. buddy. you sound like a right wing lugnut yelling about "we can always tell" like BOOOOOO

again i really do think a good test is if you can't see any of the other specialists (especially brandon and sky) as women or as trans men then you shouldn't headcanon helia like that. if you can't see white muscular men as "feminine" in any way, then you shouldn't be doing that to helia. (anyway woman!sky my beloved) (someone ask me about sky secretly being a girl au NOW) (LESBIAN SKOOM LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO)

anyway i'm starting a new rumor: tecna was actually supposed to be a boy specialist but they didn't want two nerds in the group so they made him a girl and put her in the winx instead. you can still see clear masculine elements in her design like her short hair, brutish personality, and interest in technology. things we all know women would never have. follow for more fun winx club facts!!!!

(that's how stupid ignorant and frankly misogynistic you all sound when making your helia was clearly a woman posts fuck you fuck you fuck you)

[autixel]

honestly i don't think i'm satisfied with tdp s7

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

.

[overnightheartbeats]

Isaac didn't comment on anything Wally was telling him. He had pulled some of this from his file after all. Graduating top of his class, the divine intervention from the late Agent Hurst. His question about becoming an agent seemed rhetorical, though it did invite him to answer. But, before he had a chance, Wally continued. "From analyst to field agent." That doesn't just happen. Isaac just found it so interesting how easily that agent maneuvered through the agency and set Wally up to exceed expectations. Isaac had seen that too. All supervisors had nothing but good things to say about his work. Even the performance reports from Karina were filled with compliments. "You've been at this for a long while, maybe at first you owed him. But he kicked the bucket, a while ago." Why was he still there?

Leave it to his timing, of course. Isaac's question being answered. His head tilted curiously at how adamant he was to not go against her. It did sound like loyalty, something that was burning on his tongue to question. "Your niece?" What the hell was he...? Ah. "She has your niece." Not holding her somewhere, he'd assume. Isaac figured Wally wouldn't be standing here talking to him if that were the case. If his initial reaction was any indicator, chances were, he'd be tearing the place apart. Isaac wouldn't blame him, he'd do the same for his own niece. "If your niece is at risk, why wouldn't her parents deserve to know? It's not about whether I blab or not, but if we're going to work against Karina, I don't feel comfortable leaving your niece on the playing board." His frown was quick to make an appearance when Wally poked his chest, he wasn't serious. "You've made your point. That's why I'm here gathering everything before we go in."

Medically induced coma, therapy, and all the other things he mentioned. Karina's vendetta against him had to be something deep, because, even from his limited viewpoint, it was clear she was trying to wipe him off. Laser focused on destroying him. "That does sound pretty damning. Canary's? I won't ask if all the information I need is in front of me. Trust me, I'm not interested in involving more people in this. Everything you say seems to end in multiple injuries. I have to say I'm impressed you're not dead yet." Did Isaac struggle just a bit to say that? Yes, maybe. Just when he thought they were doing better, he seemed to say something to irk him once again. His eye roll was impossible to hide. Ask someone to not get caught, and in the same breath tell him to not lurk. Make it make sense. "I won't lurk if I don't have to, but don't kill me if I still lurk next time I see you." With that, he adjusted his jacket before making his way out the same way they had come in.

The walk back to his car should've helped Isaac cool down and find his footing again. Sure, Wally was irritating him to his very core, but he still deserved the help. Yet, Isaac couldn't look past the insane amount of frustration he felt dealing with him. Once he was back in his car, he dialed the person who could give him some clarity. The person he trusted with advice and the wake up calls. His brother. "I don't even know if I'm calling for you to talk me out of this or to tell me to keep this case. I just can't do this. Is it crazy to think that I rather be chasing some sick criminal around the globe over being here? And no, Louisiana is not the reason I'm losing it." Though it also didn't help.

"Since I was twenty two." That was a long ass time ago. "I have an idea but nothing concrete that I can work with." He hummed as he confirmed without saying much on the matter. "He took me out of Quantico the day before graduation. Graduated top of my class. Star pupil and the like." It was almost like he was watching it replay in his mind as he talked about it. "Recruited me for a special Black Ops division. Needed someone like me and my skills. I wasn't supposed to be an agent you know that?" He didn't let Issac i interrupt. "I was an analyst. Desk duty bound. Except I had exceptional field skills. Part of the Christmas project. You guys know all about it. Your offices handed out those standardized tests to kids. Being smart didn't need to give such a sentence as this."

"I can't. Even if I wanted to. I can't and will not go against her. Not for loyalty but I can't risk my niece. Hence," he gestured around. "All this cloak and dagger bullshit. Her parents don't know so don't you go blab it." He got down from his counter and sighed. Poking his chest, "So if you got a plan. It can't be half cocked."

He hummed. "Madrid was the case I was in a medically induced coma for a month. Therapy was assigned too. My cognitive skills were not harmed luckily as I heard all of them say. But that was the only time she had a neutral stance. I can't prove she did anything to me but there's one I can. Canarys mission. You can't ask me how I got this." Another person he wanted to keep out of this was his girlfriend. Who back then was just a friend or an annoyance if you asked her back then. "Sustained multiple injuries then too. But if you're really here to help then," he shrugged and nodded. "Dont get caught." He knew he'd see this guy again. "Do yourself a favor don't lurk in the shadows I hate that.'