#bc it feels so weird like what do i say what do i do?

[dreadpirateella]

I promise we will get back to our regularly scheduled turtle posting soon but guys I have to yell about Sonic 3 bc ohhhh my gosh

Sonic 3 spoilers below!!!

this movie, y'all. I should preface this with the fact that I know next to nothing about Sonic outside of the live action universe, so a lot of my excitement comes from my limited knowledge of this franchise

Shadow is so much different than I thought he would be! Keanu did a phenomenal job voicing him imo. He made him seem a lot more like a person with actual feelings than I thought he was before I watched this. I kinda had an idea in my head that Shadow was this emo angry kid and didn't know why but this was an incredible subversion of those expectations and I'm so glad his character is the way he is!! He's so interesting to watch. His realization at the end that this definitely isn't what Maria wanted (or what he wants) was just so incredible. I loved his team up with Sonic!

Honestly the entire story of Shadow and Maria was just so devastating to watch. It's so important for how the audience views Shadow for us to see that past and how happy he was so that we can understand why he wants revenge so bad. It's so so so good and his sacrifice at the end of the movie was incredible. The fact that he was willing to give up his life to fix his mistake just says so much about who he is.

and Maria's line of how the light still shines even after the star has died was beautiful. That sentiment is just so heartwarming <3

Also I'm an "always watches the credits" girlie so YES I SAW THAT SCENE AT THE VERY END MY BOY IS ALIVEEEEEEE

and SPEAKING of credits scenes, THEY'RE MAKING ANOTHER MOVIE???? WITH AMY???? HELLO????? let's freaking go I'm so pumped

Knuckles and Tails were more of sidekicks in this movie than in the ones before, which was a tad bit disappointing. I know that with as many characters that are in this universe it can be hard to balance screen time between them all, but still. I think watching an entire show focused on Knuckles skewed my view a bit too, so that could just be my like weird warped perception throwing me off idk (and my love for Knuckles is definitely throwing me off haha)

I loooove the way Robotnik's story ended!!! He died doing something good, and I just rly like that. The closure of the plot line between him and Agent Stone was wonderful too!!

Maddie and Tom were (as always) absolute MVP's here! I love that they give the boys freedom to go do what needs to be done, but they're also always willing to get involved and help. It's wonderful I love them a lot <333

SPEAKING OF TOM????? dude I was PANICKED OHHH MY GOSH and Shadow's immediate regret at seeing how upset Sonic was GAHHHHH :(((((( SO glad Tom's okay bc omg I woulda lost it. I loved how Sonic was fueled by his grief and OH the part where Knuckles was gonna fight him over the master emerald but backed down bc he wanted to keep his oath???? that stabbed me in the heart I love him

Ok I'm done yapping thanks for reading my nonsense <3333 I actually can't express my excitement over these goobers I just love them so so so much

[bugflies00]

hi alex im too scared to post this nromally so im dumping it here but do u ever think abt . cfundy and ctommy and cwilbur . becaus thafs gotta be awkward . im trying to figure out their dynamic inmy head . obviously fundy and tommy are pals . probably. it would be awkard though..,, firm believer tommys the kinda guy to be like. Youre replacing me? Yknow . And wil and tom have thar whole. Codependency stuff . Soryr for rambling its tommy rpcrimeboys . Bythe way ����

my issue is i have brainrot over my own au so sometimes i forget that canonically cfundy is not like ctommys weird little sibling nephew that he buys cereal for and takes to disneyland HAHAHG

it WOULD be awkward but even more bc i think it wouldnt be tommy getting worried about getting replaced but the other way around…. something something how cfundy always came second for cwil after ctommy. wheres that brilliant post someone made about cfundy being like a kid living in their older sibling’s shadow except the older sibling is the beautiful nation of lmanberg. and well l’manberg equates ctommy. which is part of the problem for fundy because it was his nation too but at the end of the day its not him that cwilbur told “to me, its you” to.

its also part of why cfundy and cwils parent/child relationship is so odd, since it was born out of a bit, and it was barely given the narrative significance an actual parental relationship would have had. cwilbur has his Moments about and with cfundy, especially in pogtopia, but they are so strongly related to lmanberg and tommy and his self image. i do think they have a very fleshed out and interesting dynamic but the parental aspect of it feels so disjointed or absent sometimes (apart from the ‘my champion’ or ‘my son’) especially age and maturity wise (theyre too close together on that front).

and don’t get me wrong thats not AT ALL me saying cwil shouldnt be considered cfundys dad on the OPPOSITE the fact that their relationship is so strained and struggles to be what it ‘should’ be is part of why its so interesting. cwilbur is cfundys dad but not really. his own son doesn’t come after a guy he found on the street and called his little brother. and yet theyre all somehow friends because of l’manberg even though theyve all tried to kill each other or kill themselves to get out of talking to each other (cfundy finale. god). awkward sure is one word for it

[mylove-thresher]

(didn’t reply for a while bc this week was. Way too much for me. Felt like shit physically and mentally. Especially mentally. And I wanted to wait for the weekend to decompress and finally have like. Actual interactions and that kinda stuff lolz. Feels good to feel more like myself after this week. Also if anything I say sound weird or whatever it’s bc I been having a headache this entire week 😭)

I’ve had shitty friends before (they were more like bullies to me tbh). I cut all ties I had with them a few years ago to move on and honestly I’m too scared to even get in contact w them ever again bc I seriously don’t think they changed at all in during that time 😭 (I think one of them tried resending me a friend request on discord but she was possibly the worst one of them all so I’d dint even consider accepting it). I don’t believe in irl redemption arcs when it comes to them 😔. Maybe ur friend could’ve changed tho

tbh I’ve been desensitized to a lot of stuff for a solid part of my life but it’s mainly horror and all that stuff not THAT 😭 I think I’d quit the internet if I read that a few years ago 💀

those Pokémon games were so good I’m going to tear my entire room apart because I never got to play them ughhhhghhhghg 😭. 10 year old you was going through the hardest times vro smh 💔/j. (I will… You’ll be seeing it all over the news… I will steal one of the libraries near you……)

tbh I feel like no character in jjba completely represents me so I kinda just kin a whole bunch that share fractions of my personality?? (I am a bunch of worms in a trench coat) And omg I just remembered she ra. I LOVED she ra. Now I don’t remember any of the lore (or at least most of it) 💔. I remember my dad just doing the Dad Standing Up Watching TV Pose™️ and just when I was watching it in the living room. And then a very Homosexual™️ scene came up and my dad just LEFT 😭. My ma actually loved he-man a lot she kept saying the intro part in Spanish like she a soundboard 😭.

but yeah it probably is canon that Bucciarati is the favourite. I mean. Why wouldn’t he be. He has sm good rep and tha banger ass fit Fr fr

I do not know what the musk rat man is and I’m scared of knowing 😭 (or maybe ik but don’t remember). Honestly thinking about posting art there kinda scares me? Posting art on here scared me at first too but… different kinda scary vibe idk…….

I feel like my friends are on the same wavelength as me (brainrot) but they just don’t coordinate things well bc sometimes I be telling them to lock in and go to the school library quickly during dinner (lunchtime 😭) to advance on a project or whatever and they just yap or get caught up in meaningless stuff. (Also a new girl joined our friend group and she’s super funny and I like her as a friend but they just leave me behind to hang out w her? I’ve been acting a bit cold lately bc of that but I feel lonely :( ). It’s just kinda annoying how we can’t get shit done w seriousness instead of ultimately avoiding it and doing it last minute. It feels like I practically have to be the group mom around them and I just wish they were a bit more responsible

My friends just don’t listen that much 😞. Like I could tell them the same thing in the same day thrice and they still would act like I never told them. (Also you just made me remember Heaven’s Official Blessing exists 😭. One of my friends read that years ago and I did not understand anything) I listen to them yap to me ab their fav books even if I don’t know anything ab them bc I don’t read their booktok stuff and I definitely think it’s not the best writing but I still gaf yknow. If you ask em what book they’re yapping ab tho? I could never tell you bc they all sound the same 😭. My friends watched part 5 during the breaks and none of them finished bc they had “other stuff to do” even tho they procrastinated the homework we had during the holidays. (Few days ago they said they were watching other series instead of part 5 even tho they promised they’d watch) (I just want to be friends irl w a jojo fan bro :( ). Oh and that’s kewl lolz it’s kinda like a gift exchange but it’s series instead of gifts (I have never done a gift exchange idk what I’m saying rn 😭). (Bro is on that mischievous tomfoolery antics)

You should totally ramble to me about ships you like :3 However many you like I’m just curious uwu

(I didn’t answer this as soon as I got it bc I was thinking about what to say lolz 😭)

tbh I like most ships as long as it’s not problematic or I find them weird/that they don’t have much chemistry. I also don’t mind poly or platonic ships (duh). I’d be sitting here all day yapping ab the ships I like/am okay w bc frankly it doesn’t have to strictly be character A X character B, I think it could also be character A X character C, etc. as long as it’s not any wrong. I won’t be going apeshit(/neg) over ships that I don’t like as much or have like a 2 year age gap. I mean, I think it starts to get weird when there’s 4 years of difference. I think people do too much when they hate on less popular ships smh if it’s nothing weird then let ppl have fun w their little kitty witties smh 😞

Huge yapping starts here vvv

Some ships I like tho r a lot of Ghibli movie couples in general bc they’re just super cute and I love the writing Ghibli does for its characters (I want what they have.). I also like Yukito/Yue X Touya and Syaoran X Sakura from CCS but that doesn’t mean I don’t also like Tomoko X Sakura (pretty sure Tomoko implied to like her anyway). I also like some other side ships from CCS but I barely remember their names bc it’s been so long since I’ve watched it and Netflix took it down 💔. CCS ships r cute in general I think, I’ve never seen any problematic ship (except that one girl X her fucking teacher. Pookie. You’re like 13. Don’t date ur teacher. And she was so pretty too bro why did they make her a questionable character 😭). And now. Getting to jjba my beloved. Since I unfortunately focus so so so much on p5 those are the only ships I’ll yap ab 😢. Huge honorable mention to Jonathan X Erina (jonaeri) tho they’re super cute together even if a lot of ppl said they barely have screen time and stuff :3. Anyway. Part 5. I honestly don’t care much about ships in la squadra as long as they had some form of interaction y’know (I don’t pay too much attention to La squadra anyway 💔). Usually ppl get really divided when it comes to Bucci gang ships tho. Honestly I’d rather see them all as a friend group that see each other as siblings to avoid all that shipping, but I admit I really like some pairings, like fugonara, bruabba, giotrish, futrish, naratrish, etc. I really don’t mind it that much (I don’t rlly ship mista w anyone bc I just don’t think there’s anybody matching his freak 😭). I mainly ship fugonara as you can see just bc to me it makes a lot of sense even if I also see them under platonic light. If there’s fugo, there’s narancia, and if there’s narancia, there’s fugo. I just find that rlly cute :3. I also like their backstories and how they tie together and the narancia death scene ripped my heart out in the anime so (IM CRYING AGAIN JUST FROM THINKING AB IT STOP 💔). Again that doesn’t mean I dislike the other ships, I just don’t pay much attention to them or think they had as much chemistry or time together. I love seeing my fave characters tho, so it’s not like I won’t like the content if there’s like gionara or something. Honestly I like seeing ppl have fun w their cutie patooties as long as it’s not too controversial, once again. It’s rlly a shame that ppl can jump at each others throat bc they disagree on a mere ship. It’s literally not gonna alter your life. Also, bc I say a ship some bucci gang characters doesn’t mean I don’t also ship them platonically. (I’ll type it like it’s ao3 tags lolz. Pretty sure & instead of / is for platonic, right?) I rlly like Narancia&Mista&Fugo (torture dance trio is literally the best friendship ever to me bc wdym you did a coordinated dance w ur homies to torture someone that’s so cool). There are also a few others, but they don’t come to mind rn (and there’s a f,y in my room annoying me.) You know what I think I gave jjba way too much attention. I also like Mimi X Sheshe (my fav lesbians fr 😍) from mermaid melody pichi pichi pitch. They tried censoring them by making them “sisters”, but they were blatantly and very obviously lesbians. Like vro. They are touching each other so homoerotically and have complimenting colours. And I think that’s most of it…

I don’t wanna make this any longer than it is so um. Yeah. This was a ramble. I didn’t realize it was so long lolz. But yeah it’s basically that :3

[papanowo]

i think dan should get to be a little weird too. as a treat

[02mila]

.

[thequasarwinds]

Okay so I obviously can’t share ALL as that’d take to long (<-A very busy person here) but me and my twin do plan on making a full blown analysis video at some point!

But here’s a VERY poorly worded and articulated analysis on (*)this short clip. Please keep in mind that I was like barely awake when I wrote this so it’s really…weird? But I DO plan on making a more in-depth articulated post about this

(Copied and pasted from discord)

“ Okay but like this is so interesting to me Bc like

Wooly complains (like a kid) about it being dark. But it’s interesting to note his wording and emphasis “Well I still think. . .” Considering his very *fawn like nature- it’s just very interesting to see him express his own opinion like that. I feel this shows a level of comfortability with Amanda- as one usually doesn’t outwardly “complain” like this to someone they dislike or are super afraid of. There’s more I can say about this but I’m a little to tired to formulate it at the moment

Amanda replies with “You can go back inside if you want. You don’t have to be out here with me.” And I find this SO telling and sad :(( because Wooly never really mentioned them specifically- or being with Amanda specifically- just that it was dark and he didn’t like it. But Amanda brings it up- because it’s obvious she’s upset with him and doesn’t exactly want to be around him. I know this is like super obvious I just wanted to point it out

It’s almost in a “why are YOU the one complaining, when I’M not the one forcing you to be around somewhere/someone you don’t like. YOUR the one CHOOSING to be by me (when I don’t want that.)” Or more simply “I’m not forcing you to do anything- YOUR the one ‘forcing’ ME to be around YOU.“ Which I think is most notable when she emphasized “have” as well as her expression change when Wooly emphasized “I”

Especially with the way she turns away from him. She’s showing him her back- which is universally known as a way to 1) express your upset 2) cease or limit communication

It’s acting as barrier and creating (emotional distance) through purposefully turning your face away.

on Wooly’s end it’s very sad. He very clearly recognizes what she’s saying. When she turns it’s clear he wants to bridge that distance she creating- hence why he reached out. But as soon as she’s fully turned As soon as she emphasizes “have”, he just stops trying to reach out and solemnly accepts the emotional distance Amanda created

It’s sad because it’s clear he’s staying for Amanda- that he wants to be by Amanda And it’s kind of expressed by him through the fact he expresses dislike to being outside Of course he didn’t say that thinking “I’m going to express my intention in the most annoyingly vague way.” But the fact he remains makes his intentions clear. But Amanda herself doesn’t want him there and that clearly saddens/hurts him

Human communication is all about the underlying messages being told ESPECIALLY in scripted dialogue in stories (I do sincerely apologize to all neurodivergent people because of this 😭) So BASICALLY what’s happening here is

Wooly complaining about it being dark but still remaining (expressing that to him being by Amanda is more important) This sentiment gets rejected by Amanda- probably in part that she feels hurt by him as a result Amanda creates this distance which hurts Wooly

“

(*Screen recorded by my twin and posted on her account)

*I was referring to the fawn response here. Which is a particular trauma/fear response characterized by appeasement behaviors and a noticeable lack of boundaries (among many other things). There’s a LOT I can say about this and Wooly (as well as the flight response)

but that’s like too much to get into

So yeah! Get my substance-less weird and vague analysis that I sent to my twin at 3am

I was mostly pointing shit out

I REALLY have to take this and actually put down my thoughts and theories in a clear and concise way

Quick sort of random theory

Okay, so throughout the first and second game, Wooly appears to be compliant in their situation. Until the final two tapes. In "We Can Fix It" Wooly says he doesn't like this game anymore and he can't handle this anymore. Which is really weird for him. Because Amanda is following along with how the tape is supposed to go, so how can him not liking the game anymore (though it is brought on by the opossum's antics) still is strangely different from the Wooly we know. And then to say he can't take this anymore is even more strange, because we haven't really seen Wooly complain about their situation before. He'll complain about Amanda making him uncomfortable, about weird smells, about having to get up early... but never about the show itself. Then he tries to go back to his old ways in "Do you feel safe" but it's clear Amanda's comments are starting to get him thinking.

When Wooly says that the neighborhood feels safe, Amanda questions him and the city turns dark and Wooly becomes unsure. The rest of the tape he starts talking about how UNSAFE this area seems. He works together with Amanda to beat the opossum and then they go home.

We've seen a distinct change in behavior... I think Wooly might be changing sides.

However, his demon seems completely allied with Hameln.

When Amanda's demon spots us, it reaches for us for a second but turn it's attention back to Joanne. It could've lunged for us like Wooly's demon did but it didn't. I suspect since it's protecting the tapes, it probably trusts us more with them then Joanne.

However Wooly's demon appears to have a vendetta against as as well. As soon as it notices us, it seems like it would've gone after us as well if we hadn't closed the door.

So here's a little theory: Could Wooly's demon be made at us as well, not only for trying to stop Hameln... but because we are slowly changing Wooly's mind about Hameln through helping Amanda? Wooly has always been obedient and the company probably likes that... but if Wooly starts to question alongside Amanda, that won't be good.

Could the next game have us try and convince Wooly to rebel against Hameln?

[inkskinned]

she says he won't let her get a dog, which is fine, because they're in an apartment, and that's the kind of thing people say about their partners. he won't let me get a dog. and you're at a dinner party and you tilt your head a little to the side just like that dog he won't let her get, because is this the thing that's going to upset you? you don't know every corner of their relationship, she could be joking, they could have had so many healthy conversations about the dog, right, and maybe she's not letting herself get the dog because of money and time and whatever. but, like, she did say let

and she wants to move away from his hometown and he wants to stay and then he tells you with a wink and a conspiratorial stage whisper don't worry i'll convince her and she laughs about it - so clearly this is something they laugh about. but you do just stand there and stare at him like what the fuck, man. you can't say what you want to say which is why do you get the final say on everything because they're both obviously aware of the other person's stance on this and have obviously had private conversations about it and what are you going to do about it except make a scene and then he'll be mad at you and call you one of those bitches behind your back and she'll cut you off, which is a loss that doesn't feel worth it just because he makes you a little skeeved out every 3rd comment

and they both agree he just isn't the type to get flowers which is fine because everyone shows love differently, and are you really gonna judge someone based on their sense of individual relationship responsibility? maybe he's constantly cleaning her car and writing her poems and making her furniture or something. maybe she doesn't even like flowers and this is perfect, actually. and no you couldn't date him, obviously, ew; but like, she tells you she's happy. you almost send her a tiktok that says don't be 25 and the cool girl that doesn't need anything, you'll hate not getting flowers at 30, but that's like, starting drama & you shouldn't start drama needlessly.

and you're a little older than her but not so much older you can pull the whole trust me on this one babe thing and besides that wouldn't have worked anyway (when does it ever) and besides you have trauma so you and your therapist both agree that you're always looking for a problem even when there isn't one. and you tell yourself that just because you see them for 15 minutes every month does not mean you can identify every single red flag based on a single shitty half-joking(?) comment

and besides, what are you going to do? she says i actually wanted another stand mixer but thankfully he stops me when i'm about to spend too much money and you're standing there like are you okay? is this normal? is this just something people say? and again - what are you going to do?

to your therapist you try to language it - it's not, like, any of my business. but sometimes, doesn't it feel like - you should do something. there's got to be something, right? you've tried dropping little hints but they sail right through and you've tried having a single serious conversation and she got upset because why does it matter to you, yes it's different but we're happy, it doesn't need to make sense to you and you're like. really unwilling to push a boundary about it anymore; because the truth is that you know logically it shouldn't matter to you, as long as both parties are happy.

and besides, you've been wrong before. it's just... like, every time you see them both, something else happens, some kind of shiver down your spine like do you even hear each other when you talk. it's their strange, bickering orbit. just the way he's on his phone through dinner or watching sports instead of helping in the kitchen or, fuck, another one of these little throwaway comments he makes about we'll see about that, babe. she laughs when he calls her passions stupid shit and meanwhile she gets him tickets to see the knicks and he tells you well at least she's smart about something and still! it's none of your business.

you say get the dog anyway and she laughs. like, this is is you being funny. and not you saying - no really. get the dog. get the dog and get out of here. pack up and start running.

[mossy-aro]

ultimately i think my insistence on aro positivity honestly is as much a political stance as a personal one.

when i say aro positivity is crucial and that i dislike doomer-ist posts that express sentiments like 'I hate being aro so much I wish I was dead instead’ it's not because I don’t think there can and should be a space for negativity and acknowledging self-hate, or the many ways being aromantic can really suck sometimes. i find that to be very important!

that being said. there is smth here about how self-hate posts are sometimes just arophobia that we inflict on ourselves. and when we put that out into the ether it (intentionally or not) can become arophobia that we inflict on other members of the community. i think there absolutely needs to be a place for negativity and the expression of anger and frustration and self loathing even - these are all good things to talk about because these are things that we experience. that being said, it can also be genuinely upsetting and triggering to people to have what is essentially arophobia shown to them and then have that be validated by other aspec people. your personal thoughts can affect your wider community on a level you may not anticipate. and i understand it i truly do! it took me so long to be able to recover from accepting being aroace - it threw my entire world off kilter and made me question everything about my place in the world.

but my insistence on aro joy and positivity is because ultimately i do believe that building is at the core essence of it all. that ultimately discussions and the purpose of community should be about construction, not destruction. and this is both a personal and a political stance. talking about how much you hate yourself and cultivating online discussions/spaces where negativity about aspec identity is the main and only theme is destructive - if that’s where we let the conversation end. these thoughts can and should be used as a vehicle to look for a path forward!

joy and positivity create a space where the focus can become on forging a path forward, on construction, on community building instead of tearing ourselves and others down with negative thoughts. it’s not productive or healthy when it stops at a place of negativity - it becomes actively destructive to the essence of community.

and i do think that this is especially poignant considering the fact that being any kind of queer, but especially aromantic (and/or asexual) means forging a path for yourself and making your own happiness where there is no obvious way forward. our communities exist mostly online (right now, anyway), there is little recognition of our existence in the real world, the effects of amatonormativity are both pervasive and actively dehumanising, and there are legal, economic and social structures in place actively making our lives more difficult. yes that all sucks! it’s good to acknowledge that. we need to in order to change it. but more importantly, that’s not the end. we are still here and our happiness, our future is for us to determine. even if we can’t change the laws or society, loving yourself and understanding aromanticism as a political identity (as well as personal), as a radical worldview, and as a protest against amatonormativity is essential for both community and personal well being. the personal is political.

tldr. i guess my point is that as a community, we should focus on building, improving, and nurturing ourselves and each other (construction) as opposed to destruction. we should recognise aromanticism and asexuality as political identities as well as personal ones and rely on community and self-love in the absence of anything else as a form of protest and political power. destruction (the recognition of everything that is wrong) is essential as a starting point - but where do we go from there? we rebuild.

[necrotic-nephilim]

jealousy really is the driving force of DamiTim as a ship. love that for them. love how Tim has the Robin mantle ripped away from him and he has to suffer the jealousy of watching Dick and Damian bond. how possessive over Dick Tim can be, to have him stolen by Dick.

even more so though, is the jealousy from Damian. how on earth do you cope when you finally get to be Robin, a role you've convinced is your birthright, and no one really likes you? every prefers the Robin who came before you? Dick regularly reminds you that he can always go and call Tim back when you act out? like the complex Damian has over Tim is unreal. Tim, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had everything handed to him his whole life. he never had to struggle or fight for his place like Damian did. Damian has spent his whole life fighting and proving himself, and yet he can't ever seem to truly claw the mantle of Robin away from Tim. even when Tim lets it go, becomes Red Robin, they seem to share it. Tim can slip back into the role of Robin whenever someone like Dick or Bruce need him to, because *he's* the Robin who they need. he's the Robin who was able to find Bruce. he's the Robin that Ra's wants an heir out of. he's the Robin who even Jason respects. in Damian's eyes, everything Damian has fought tooth and nail for, was handed to Tim.

so of course he's going to react to Tim with violence and aggression, especially after finding out Tim has contingency plans for him. no matter how much Damian proves himself, he's never going to be enough, especially not to Tim. and so his deep refusal to see Tim as family, to acknowledge Tim's legacy is all driven by such an angry jealousy. Tim understands aspects of Bruce's legacy that Damian doesn't, like the need to sweet talk and play nice with the elites of Gotham, even if they're corrupt. they exemplify different aspects of Robin, and the aspects that Tim exemplifies are the aspects that Damian knows he'll never fully understand and therefore holds such a deep contempt for. he wants to fight criminals, not play nice with politicians. Tim understands the side of Gotham that's utterly foreign to Damian. if anything, he represents that side of Gotham, to Damian. a pretty little rich boy who's nothing but a know-it-all and not a real son of Bruce. he can't be a Wayne. he can't be Damian's family.

and all of that angry jealousy leading to unhealthy obsession turned a weird, angry crush from Damian is just my bread and butter. that is how DamiTim should be. to me. Damian obsessed over hating Tim Drake so much he accidentally ends up sort of in love with him and that only makes Damian angrier. because he can't prove everyone right by *also* liking Tim. he can't let Ra's win like that, because frankly why wouldn't Ra's be delighted by Damian and Tim getting together. and it builds and builds with angry passive aggression towards Tim that culminates in angry hate-fucking-that's-not-just-driven-by-hate. love and hate are always viewed as opposites in shipping and i think they're the same intense passion just in different directions. and for the best ships, they're very intertwined. what is DamiTim is not the peak of that. "i put so much of myself into hating you i had no choice but to fall in love with you somewhere along the way" core. love that bleeds into hate and hate that bleeds into love. "you make me so angry i regularly passively try to kill you but not with any real effort because who would i obsess over if you were actually gone" core. murder attempts as a form of courting. contingency plans to take each other out as a love language. they're unwell.

[introspectivememories]

the funniest possible thing that could happen is if mercedes keeps hiring childhood best friends for their team and everybody's holding their breath waiting for them to tear each other apart like brocedes except it doesn't happen bc everyone else is normal about each other and brocedes is just that fucked up that they would've torn each other apart even if they were on different teams

[gojoest]

pregnancy freak satoru not letting you lift a finger let alone carry stuff, be it your purse even, bc you are with his child now and you are to sit back and let him take care of everything. the way he is so overprotective is very endearing really but gets a bit out of hand at some point when he offers to hand feed you during mealtimes so you don’t have to bother with the utensils. you want to teach him a lesson, hoping he’d read the room and stop treating you like you’re on your deathbed—you refuse to hold his cock, saying it’s too heavy. but instead you give him a boner and an ego boost. now he holds it for you whenever you suck him off….

[morninkim]

that one movie sinbad did about the genie

[seiwas]

HI MY BELOVED ANGEL!!! i am sending u mattsun + campfire as well as kisses n hugs <33

SAINTTT hello 🥺 thank you for sending a prompty!! 🥹 idt i've ever written mattsun fully before so this is something new!

help me get back into the writing groove! send me a character + any word and i'll write a short blurb about it!

contains: exes, stranded-y situation, feelings are complicated, some expletives

mattsun + campfire

"i told you we should've brought the spare—"

"yeah, let me go back in time for a sec and do just that."

"asshole."

lesson #1: nothing good ever happens when you're stuck in a car with your ex on the way to somewhere remote.

you blame iwaizumi for this one. who the fuck chooses to spend their birthday weekend in the fucking wilderness?

(okay, you don't actually think it's so bad. to be fair, he did plan this a year ago. and it did sound like a good idea. then. at the time. anywhere with the boys was always guaranteed fun―at least, until you and matsukawa broke up.)

"can you pass me the flashlight?" he points at the backpack behind you. when you hand it over, your fingers brush over his as he takes it away from you.

and you hate it, because―

lesson #2: you should never be alone with your ex when you still have feelings for them.

you'd agreed to take two cars to the camping spot: iwaizumi's with oikawa and hanamaki and matsukawa's with you. there was no way you'd fit in one, and hanamaki ultimately decided to ride with iwaizumi because, "you and mattsun have shit to sort out," he'd said.

with night setting and the two-hour headstart they managed to get ahead of you, the best thing you and matsukawa can do is to set up camp temporarily and wait for them to come back for you come sunrise.

you sigh.

leaves crack underneath your feet as you maneuver around your camping space. the light from matsukawa's flashlight tells you where he is, just a bit deeper in the forestry as he looks for wood to help set up the fire.

you unload the car in the meantime, bringing out some snacks and sleeping bags while waiting.

matsukawa eventually comes back with arms full of wood, and you help in whatever way you can, clearing the space and fetching more twigs when needed.

the entire car ride here had been quiet, so it's not surprising that this entire process has been equally as silent. until―

"did you already pull out your tent?" he asks, half of his body disappearing into the trunk of the car.

"huh?" you go closer, "i only brought out the sleeping bags."

then he sighs, ducking out from the trunk with a hand on his hip, "we only have one tent."

"what?"

"makki must have gotten yours with his when he decided to move cars."

his hand runs through his hair, a habit you know well. it lights up all sorts of weird feelings in your tummy

you don't know how to feel―

"i can sleep in the car."

―but you know that you definitely don't want him to do that. all things considered, you were friends first. and you've both been trying to be friends again since the breakup. you wouldn't want to cause him discomfort like that.

so, with a deep breath, you say, "it's okay, we can just share."

"are you sure?" he stares at you.

you nod.

after setting up the tent, you eat a few energy bars and clean up from the day's events. the campfire provides ample enough heat, but with how fast the flames are burning, you're doubtful it'll last the two of you the entire night.

it’s much later on, past midnight, that your doubts are proven right when you and matsukawa are cramped together in a tent made for one. it started to get cold a few minutes ago, and you've found yourself inching closer and closer to the warmth you’ve gotten used to laying against for the past two years.

he's only pretending to be asleep, you know that much, too. the rise and fall of his chest is hardly there; you can see it, how he's holding his breath being this close to you.

"issei," you whisper.

he opens his eyes, eyelids lifting lazily as he meets your stare. the vibration of his hum reverberates to you.

"it's cold."

for a moment, your stomach drops at the thought that he could ignore you; how it would make perfect sense for him to. you broke up with him after all, and he doesn't owe you anything, much less favors as intimate as this one.

but he closes the already dwindling gap between you, wrapping an arm around your waist as he pulls you closer. it's near, far too near for exes to be―noses touching and all.

"warmer?" his voice comes out hoarser through the whisper.

you nod, your head shifting up and down—which, truly, is where you ultimately fuck up. you feel it, a little chapped but still pliant against your lips.

in your carelessness, you accidentally brush your lips against his, the sensation alone surprising you enough to inch your head back as you mutter your apologies.

"sorry? really?" he asks, eyes half-lidded still as he chuckles.

his question settles into the small space you're in.

your vision trails from his eyes, down to the slope of his nose, until it lands on his lips again. a little split like you've always known, but still your favorite. still the only lips you want against yours.

when you lean in again, you know you're fucked, because―

lesson #3: the number one rule is that exes shouldn't kiss each other anymore.

[silverwhittlingknife]

hi Silver! o/ because that fanart made me wonder - would you happen to know when/where Dick's stuffed elephant plush Zitka turns up in the comics?

GREETINGS CAM <3333 THAT ART WAS SO CUTE

Yeah, I think your instincts are right - it's a truly adorable bit of transformative fandom, but I'm 95% percent sure it's not comics canon. Barbara has canon plushies, but I don't think anyone else does.

I got kinda invested in the investigation (it's hard to prove a negative!) and I ended up typing out an entire History of Elinore/Zitka, so, uh, if you're curious, meet me below the cut for:

Where does Elinore / Zitka - the animal - appear in comics?

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

Where does Elinore / Zitka appear in comics?

We're gonna go in chronological order!

Dick's circus elephant friend was first created for practical reasons: in Batman 436, Marv Wolfman does a big expanded flashback to Dick's circus backstory as a way to subtly show us Tim before officially introducing him (so that we can have a technically-solvable mystery-of-Tim's-identity in LPoD). In this comic, there's an elephant named Elinore who loves Dick:

Aww. Such a cute elephant!

Batman 436 comes out in August 1989. New Titans 60 comes out a few months later, in November, and guess what? When Dick visits the circus, he is suddenly surprised by an unexpected blast from the past! It turns out that even though it's been years, Elinore still remembers him!

Here's the part where Elinore remembers Dick:

SUCH a cute elephant. I love her.

(Guess who else still remembers Dick even though it was so long ago. Guess which other character is about to be an unexpected blast from the past. Guess which character Elinore is directly paralleling guess guess guess sorry everything is about Dick and Tim in my mind but I can focus I swear)

Four years later, in 1993, Batman: The Animated Series retells Dick's origin story. They like and keep Wolfman's elephant, but they change her name to Zitka:

Wolfman doesn't return to the elephant beyond those two appearances, and a few years down the line, New Titans gets cancelled and Wolfman's not writing Dick anymore anyway. So the animal gets abandoned for a while, until Devin Grayson, a fan of both Wolfman and B:tAS, revives the Wolfman-era Titans team in JLA/Titans and then the ongoing series Titans 1999.

Grayson then brings back the elephant in a flashback to Dick's past in Titans 16 (Jun 2000), where she imports the B:tAS name. Sometimes I'm skeptical of TV-to-comics imports, but honestly, I endorse this one. You lose the alliteration, which is a shame, but IMO Zitka is a better elephant name than Elinore.

Here's Dick with the newly-christened Zitka in Titans 16:

Grayson also briefly references the elephant in Gotham Knights 20 and - in a final angsty callback - in Nightwing 88 (Feb 2004), where Zitka tries futilely to comfort Dick in the midst of his trauma conga line:

... And... honestly, I think that's it for comic appearances? The two Wolfman comics plus the three Grayson comics.

Both Wolfman and Grayson are writing multiple titles - Batman, New Titans, Titans, Gotham Knights, and Nightwing between the two of them, spanning a big chunk of Dick's post-Crisis canon - and both writers use the elephant for heartwarming moments of nostalgia, which means if you're doing a post-Crisis readthrough for Dick, Elinore/Zitka feels memorable. But I don't think she actually shows up that much.

For post-2011, I am not as well-informed - throwing this out to the dash? anyone know? - but I feel like Zitka the heartwarming symbol of Dick's heartwarming circus past is, uh, thematically very at odds with the Court of Owls evil!circus vibes, so my instinct is that this story element was almost certainly dropped in the reboot.

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

In WFA, yes; in main comics continuity, no. Technically, I have not read every comic ever published, so I could be wrong!! But I don't think so.

Below, find my rambling reasoning on the tonal vibes of pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, and post-2011, and why this particular story element doesn't seem right to me for the first two.

Pre-Crisis (...okay, mostly the Silver Age): stuffed animal, yes or no?

tl;dr no, requires too much background knowledge on the part of the reader, plus the elephant wasn't a thing until later

Elinore doesn't get created until post-Crisis, but also just generally, pre-Crisis callbacks are more along the lines of this reference in Batman 129 (published in 1960), where, wow, Batman and Robin are hunting jewel thieves - and it turns out Robin recognized this strongman! BUT HOW?!

The comic goes on to recap Dick's entire origin story in flashback, on the assumption that you may not know it.

(BTW, if you'd like to know more about Haly's Circus throughout the years, nightwingology has a great post here summarizing a lot of fun plotlines and characters!)

Basically: Silver Age comics are very self-consciously episodic and kid-friendly; they're not generally gonna do overly-elaborate callbacks because they don't know what comics their kid readers may have randomly picked up or remember.

By the time of post-Crisis, comic books were being written for an adult audience buying from the direct market, i.e. readers who are collecting whole runs & don't need or want Dick's origin story to be recapped to us in full every time it's referenced. That's why in post-Crisis, we get stuff like "hey, neat, this particular soda brand is getting mentioned in several different books!!" or "in order to understand this story arc, buy SIXTEEN DIFFERENT COMICS in FIVE DIFFERENT RUNS and read them ALL ACCORDING TO A NUMBERED ORDER and also you better be following the individual plotlines and recognize these five minor characters who we don't bother to introduce!! Good luck!!" But the elaborate post-Crisis plotlines - and subtler worldbuilding like a stuffed animal callback to Dick's backstory - don't make a lot of story sense UNLESS you're imagining your readers as completionist adult fans.

So IMO a stuffed animal wouldn't be a pre-Crisis thing unless it was The Episodic Story Of the Week, and I don't think a stuffed animal is action-adventure-y enough for the fast-paced storytelling of the Silver Age. (Unless it, like, came to life and tried to eat you or something.)

Post-Crisis: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr: no, Dick's a manly tough guy, he's not gonna have a stuffed animal, that'd be lame, like something Tim might do

Part of the edgy grimdark adult vibes in 80s/90s comics is that some characters who used to be kinda silly & goofy & lighthearted - like Batman and Robin - get reimagined as Serious and Angsty and Edgy in a Tough Cool Manly Brooding Way. This massively affects characterization for Bruce, Dick, and Bruce and Dick's relationship.

(I obviously love this change & love the tense Bruce-and-Dick interactions, but plenty of fans of the earlier fluffy comics really disliked the edgy retcons of Miller / Wolfman / Starlin / et al.)

The upshot is that post-Crisis is a period when you could have a recurring reference like a stuffed elephant, but you wouldn't have a stuffed elephant, not for Dick. I think a toy like that would be too cutesy / childish / effeminate to give a male character in post-Crisis, unless you were poking fun at him.

Now, you could probably let Tim have a stuffed animal, because Tim is sometimes cool but also sometimes a tryhard loser who is faking being cool and not entirely pulling it off (see e.g. the Robin comic where he practices tough-guy faces in the mirror, or the Teen Titans comic where Conner discovers his cringy Enya CD, or when he's fanboying over Connor and it's awkward, etc etc.). A stuffed animal would be deeply embarrassing, and you'd have to be careful to compensate by having Tim do something cool afterward - but Tim's character concept allows for "he's kind of a loser sometimes."

But Dick isn't!! In post-Crisis, Dick's a tough / impressive / "cool guy" character, the kind of guy anyone would want to be, even in the flashbacks where he's Robin, and even in the stories where he's more lighthearted than angsty. It'd be kinda lame for Dick to have a stuffed elephant, so he wouldn't. I feel like Dick would be more likely to poke fun at it if someone had one, like when he's making fun of Wally for liking the Hardy Boys. Dick could have a Batman action figure, at most, and if he had one he would have it ironically.

Basically: in post-Crisis, a male character hugging a stuffed elephant feels more likely to be a punchline to me, not something poignant. (Even with Tim, Tim could have an embarrassing stuffed animal, but he couldn't hug it when sad - that's too far. Maybe Booster Gold might do this. Probably he wouldn't, but spiritually, he would. Sorry Booster ilu! <3)

Instead, Dick instinctively deals with his inner turmoil like the TORTURED ACTION HERO he is: by punching things and brooding and yelling and joining the mob and sleeping on rooftops and going on obsessive secret missions and acquiring Angsty Stubble!! Just like Batman!

(Technically I don't know if Bruce ever joined the mob but you know he would.)

Anyway as you know this is my favorite continuity and I am poking fun affectionately, but uh, yeah sdfsfdsfs. No stuffed animals.

Post-2011 / Infinite Frontier / Wayne Family Adventures: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr it's in WFA! Probably not anywhere else, but it could be.

Post-2011 stuff tends to be cutesier overall, most of all in the current Infinite Frontier era. So I don't feel like this would be tonally out-of-line with IF comics. Taylor tends to go for more meme-y references rather than fanfic references, though.

So the obvious best fit is WFA, which is aiming for a rough approximation of Silver Age family-friendly vibes - wholesome, episodic plots, Teaching Good Moral Lessons For The Youth, etc. - plus lots of Easter eggs for fanfic readers and some comic references.

And look, here we are:

Aww.

Whew - that's everything I could find!

Anyway as you can probably tell, I LOVE the elephant, so this was a very entertaining rabbit hole to go down, thank you <3

[ciderjacks]

Wip

[giddlygoat]

hater has disturbing reoccurring dreams about wander crawling inside his ribcage that always have him waking up in a cold sweat [they just feel too real and hater can’t place why]. wander has reoccurring dreams of hater ceremoniously destroying him with the Disaster Blaster and it’s the one dream he doesn’t eagerly blab to sylvia about because he doesn’t know how to tell her that it never feels like a nightmare. soooo is anyone else sick in the head or is it just me