#driving me off the walls

[mysicklove]

is this a safe space to talk about sounding

[dunkinbublin]

forever bitter that the sonic ova home isnt used in any sonic media

if sonic is gonna settle anywhere its gonna be where nature has reclaimed itself.

[starry-bi-sky]

i need to get this out of my head before i continue clone^2 but danny being the first batkid. Like, standard procedure stuff: his parents and sister die, danny ends up with Vlad Masters. He drags him along to stereotypical galas and stuff; Danny is not having a good time.

He ends up going to one of the Wayne Galas being hosted ever since elusive Bruce Wayne has returned to Gotham. Vlad is crowing about having this opportunity as he's been wanting to sink his claws into the company for a long while now. Danny is too busy grieving to care what he wants.

And like most Galas, once Vlad is done showing him off to the other socialites and the like, he disappears. Off to a dark corner, or to one of the many balconies; doesn't matter. There he runs into said star of the show, Bruce who is still young, has been Batman for at least a year at this point, but still getting used to all these damn people and socializing. He's stepped off to hide for a few minutes before stepping back into the shark tank.

And he runs into a kid with circles under his eyes and a dull gleam in them. Familiar, like looking into a mirror.

Danny tries to excuse himself, he hasn't stopped crying since his parents died and it's been months. He rubs his eyes and stands up, and stumbles over a half-hearted apology to Mister Wayne. Some of Vlad's etiquette lessons kicking in.

Bruce is awkward, but he softens. "That's alright, lad," he says, pulling up some of that Brucie Wayne confidence, "I was just coming out here to get some fresh air."

There's a little pressing; Bruce asks who he's here with, Danny says, voice quiet and grief-stricken, that he's with his godfather Vlad Masters. Bruce asks him if he knows where he is, and Danny tells him he does. Bruce offers to leave, Danny tells him to do whatever he wants.

It ends with Bruce staying, standing off to the side with Danny in silence. Neither of them say a word, and Danny eventually leaves first in that same silence.

Bruce looks into Vlad Masters after everything is over, his interest piqued. He finds news about him taking in Danny Fenton: he looks into Danny Fenton. He finds news articles about his parents' deaths, their occupations, everything he can get his hands on.

At the next gala, he sees Danny again. And he looks the same as ever: quiet like a ghost, just as pale, and full of grief. Bruce sits in silence with him again for nearly ten minutes before he strikes a conversation.

"Do you like to do anything?"

Nothing. Just silence.

Bruce isn't quite sure what to do: comfort is not his forte, and Danny doesn't know him. He's smart enough to know that. So he starts talking about other things; anything he can think of that Brucie Wayne might say, that also wasn't inappropriate for a kid to hear.

Danny says nothing the entire time, and is again the first to leave.

Bruce watches from a distance as he intercts with Vlad Masters; how Vlad Masters interacts with him. He doesn't like what he sees: Vlad Masters keeps a hand on Danny's shoulder like one would hold onto the collar of a dog. He parades him around like a trophy he won.

And there are moments, when someone gets too close or when someone tries to shake Danny's hand, of deep possessiveness that flints over Vlad Masters' eyes. Like a dragon guarding a horde.

He plays the act of doting godfather well: but Bruce knows a liar when he sees one. Like recognizes like.

Danny is dull-eyed and blank faced the entire time; he looks miserable.

So Bruce tries to host more parties; if only so that he can talk to Danny alone. Vlad seems all too happy to attend, toting Danny along like a ribbon, and on the dot every hour, Danny slips away to somewhere to hide. Bruce appears twenty minutes later.

"I was looking into your godfather's company," he says one night, trying to think of more things to say. Some nights all they do is sit in silence. "Some of my shareholders were thinking of partnering up--"

"Don't."

He stops. Danny hardly says a word to him, he doesn't even look at him -- he's sitting on the ground, his head in his knees. Like he's trying to hide from the world. But he's looking, blue eyes piercing up at Bruce.

Bruce tilts his head, practiced puppy-like. "Pardon?"

"Don't." Danny says, strongly. "Don't make any deals with Vlad."

It's the most words Danny's spoken to him, and there's a look in his eyes like a candle finding its spark. Something hard. Bruce presses further, "And why is that?"

The spark flutters, and flushes out. Danny blinks like he's coming out of a trance, and slumps back into himself. "Just don't."

Bruce stares at him, thoughtful, before looking away. "Alright. I won't."

And they fall back into silence.

Danny, when he leaves, turns to look at Bruce, "I mean it." He says; soft like he's telling a secret, "Don't make any deals with him. Don't be alone with him. Don't work with him."

He's scampered away before Bruce can question him further.

(He never planned on working with Vlad Masters and his company; he's done his research. He's seen the misfortune. But nothing ever leads back to him. There's no evidence of anything. But Danny knows something.)

At their next meeting, Danny starts the conversation. It's new, and it's welcomed. He says, cutting through their five minute quiet, that he likes stars. And he doesn't like that he can't see them in Gotham.

Bruce hums in interest, and Danny continues talking. It's as if floodgates had been opened, and as Bruce takes a sip of his wine, it tastes like victory.

("Tucker told me once--") ("Tucker?") ("Oh-- uh, one of my best friends. He's a tech geek. We haven't talked in a while.")

(Danny shut down in his grief -- his friends are worried, but can't reach him. When he goes back to the manor with Vlad, he fishes out his phone and sends them a message.)

(They are ecstatic to hear from him.)

It all culminates until one day, when Danny is leaving to go back inside, that Bruce speaks up. "You know," He says, leaning against the railing. "The manor has many rooms; plenty of space for a guest."

The implication there, hidden between the lines. And Danny is smart, he looks at Bruce with a sharp glean in his eyes, and he nods. "Good to know."

The next time they see each other, Danny has something in his hands. "Can you hold onto something for me?" He asks.

When Bruce agrees, Danny places a pearl into his palm. or, at least, it's something that looks like a pearl. Because it's cold to the touch; sinking into Bruce's white silk gloves with ease and shimmering like an opal. It moves a little as it settles into his hand, and the moves like its full of liquid.

Bruce has never seen anything like it before, but he does know this; it's not human. "What is it?" He asks, and Danny looks uncomfortable.

"I can't tell you that." He says, shifting on his foot like he's scared of someone seeing it. "But please be careful with it. Treat it like it's extremely fragile."

When Bruce gets home, he puts it in an empty ring box and hides the box in the cave. He tries researching into what it is. he can't find anything concrete.

Everything comes to a head one day when Danny appears at the manor's doorstep one evening, soaking wet in the rain, and bleeding from the side.

[al-luviec]

ninjago s11 redraw

[shugthedug]

Insane to me that people, including other film makers, are so ready to throw down against Scorsese. If the trolley problem was the entirety of marvels output on one track and one more Scorsese film on the other, I’d ram that bitch through the mcu so hard it would obliterate every trace of iron man from time and space. God bless ‘em but I would 💖

[drowning-moonlight]

I don't think the consequences of Ace's death have fully been realized in the story yet.

I can't stop thinking about the Wano flashbacks when Yamato is reading Oden's diary and we see that part where Roger says that he wants his son to be the one to find the One Piece. His son that's not even born yet.

This is so intriguing to me. What did they learn on Laugh Tale that made Roger think that he needed to have a biological child?? Why did he want his son specifically to be the one to find his treasure? Is this just a dad wanting great things for their kid or something more?

And I don't think it's a coincidence that he has this kid with a woman that also has the "D" initial. Rouge was the first female character in the series to have the D in her name (I know Vivi was introduced before Rouge and has the D too but we didn't know that about Vivi until recently). My point is, the fact that both of Ace's biological parents have the D initial has to mean something. I refuse to believe it's just a coincidence.

So what was the reason that Roger decided to have a kid? It's made very clear that he wanted his own kid to be the one to find the One Piece. That obviously can't happen now with Ace being dead so I wonder if there will be any repercussions to this? If Roger specifically had Ace with a woman who also had the D initial and he specifically wanted Ace to find the One Piece and thus be the next Pirate King, how will Ace being dead change whatever plans Roger had for the future??

I truly believe that Ace is absolutely not done haunting the narrative. I think he still has a role to play in the story despite being dead. I think his death itself will come back as some plot device that will impact the narrative going forward once we finally get to Laugh Tale and learn what the One Piece and the D initial really are.

[pansyfemme]

for a looooong time now i’ve had this particular… thing? (i know it’s related to my psychosis/being schizospec bc. thats what my therapist says. but i don’t know what’s the right term..) everytime i wear headphones at night where i swear i can hear people i love talking badly about me but can’t quite make it out over the music but it completely disapears when i take them out. ive been dealing with it since middle school and it used to drive me fucking nuts but now it’s all just part of the music listening experience for me… hashtag i lov e music

[subtle-as-an-earthquake]

like a little wet kitten :')

[timetohop]

I want to wring Mu Qing's neck. I want to shake him and study the wrinkles of his brain. I want to iron him until there's something straight about this man.

Everything he says has five layers and for every action you have to jump through three hoops to reach his real motives. He has more wrinkles than a Shar Pei.

"I hear the Heavenly Emperor is not in the north at the moment, so this is probably a call for assistance from His Highness the Crown Prince, am I right?"

At first glance, a call-out - he's exposing to everyone that it's Xie Lian looking for help, effectively stopping anyone who might have wanted to help from doing so (plus another jab at Xie Lian).

But he's also helping Xie Lian here because XL is right - if another official had agreed to help only to then find out they'd been tricked, it would have put XL in a bad spot. So MQ is nipping that possibility on the spot, and I don't think that was accidental.

Thirdly, he's also confirming to himself that it's XL asking for help; while he doesn't get it openly, the refusal to answer speaks for itself. This is a minor point but still. (Also of course the sheer fact that he's lurking in the array all day just waiting for XL to enter it - Ling Wen's "these days" implies he doesn't usually spend so much time in the array)

He could've just said "I'll help" but no. I'm sure he had like a list of 100 reasons why he can't openly offer his assistance and they range from reasonable to ridiculous and are all equally important.

[kalincka]

When Basim said to Roshan “You let me struggle alone”, when Basim let his past define him entirely by fear of loneliness, when Basim was terrified of ending up alone because he experienced total loss in his earlier life. When Roshan said to Basim “I am the daughter of no one”, when Roshan denies her past to define herself as an individual with no bound, when Roshan ends up leaving Basim behind despite loving him so much she almost gets killed trying to prevent him from losing himself. When Hytham said “Everyone is worthy of our love” to Eivor, when Hytham defines his life entirely on the Hidden Ones' creed and on Basim's teaching after losing his mother, when Hytham is left behind by Basim even though he was like a son to him. Roshan going on her own, leaving the Hidden Ones. Basim going through the ages, leaving everyone. Hytham staying in Ravensthorpe with a new family, never getting closure.

When Roshan taught Basim the leap of faith, when Basim taught Hytham the leap of faith, when Hytham taught Eivor the leap of faith. Roshan's “embrace the fear”, Basim's “you simply need to have faith”, Hytham's “my faith proved stronger than my fear”. Do you get it.

[baselicoc]

i know that atsv and spiderverse in general is probably not including Gabe for various reasons and therefore when Mig took his alt selfs place he wasnt actually leaving anyone behind. he said something along the lines of “i found a universe where i was happy” which kinda screams that something was fucked up with his home one, i’d like to think more than usual because the other explanation is that he just left like all his family behind. Which is extremely messed up but also on the other hand a little funny

like imagine being gabe here. Imagine your older brother fucks off to another universe because of his depression and comes back with even worse depression ranting some shit about canon events. You have to be told where he went by his AI because god knows your brother has all the communication skills of a rusty spoon. Have to be told he fucking left with no intention of coming back

[fischiee]

the lack of communication in red vs blue drives me up the wall like what do you MEAN the reds and blues (and wash!!!) don’t know that the director is carolina’s dad!! they don’t know about tex’s history!! they don’t even know that epsilon tried to blow himself up in wash’s head!!!!!

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

Same with "could've"

And "would've"

Any contraction with the word "have" really

Just because it sounds a certain way doesn't mean it's spelled like that 👌💙

[catboy-cabin]

sleeptober day 5 - symmetry

yet in reverse you were all my symmetry / a parallel i would lay my life on

on today's installment of Lyrics That Make Me Fucking Insane

yes i know this isn't actually symmetrical but if you mention sleep token and symmetry to me i will immediately think of these two. sorry i don't make the rules

this isn't gay but it could be

alt version bc the colored line art makes some parts hard to see:

[likeabxrdinflight]

tired of early 20-somethings acting like harry potter was never good or had no value in its day like shut the fuck up half of you weren't even there when it peaked

[brosif40]

Once shattered, now whole

Once whole, now united

Once united, now eternal

"It feels like all of them only loved that happier version of me, no longer wanting the miserable old man I am now."