#he's like; a guy- but like there is infinitely more to that; in kind of a literal sense
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March for More: Not so Markless After All
MASTERPOST
For as long as Bruce could remember, he'd never had a soulmate. There were no loops or twisting vines inked on skin, no murmur in the back of his head, or a timer on his wrist. By all evidence found, he was alone.
It wasn't anything too tragic. The Markless is a small but welcoming community, dedicated to spreading awareness that not everyone needed or wanted such a bond and Bruce liked being a part of it. However, he couldn't shake the disappointment even with the rationalization that a soulmate would only complicate his nighttime activities.
Which is why, in the middle of a meeting to prepare for the council with the King of another realm, Batman was shocked to see a red string on his finger. It hadn't been there a moment ago when he was talking to Superman, appearing in the moment he'd turned to address Flash, then solidifying as he caught sight of it.
He knew, okay, that the red string was rare. That of all the bonds one could have, a red string was equally the luckiest and unluckiest bond to have. Because if you weren't close—approximately 50 miles at most—then you can't see it. You could go your entire life thinking you're Markless then all of a sudden your soulmate takes a vacation or a road trip. Like Bruce did.
Except, Bruce is in space. In space, where no one knows about or can get to without having prior authorization. So who the hell is his soulmate and why are they getting closer.
In the time it took Batman to find the direction of the string, the rest of the room had gone tense at the Dark Knights' sudden intensity. So, when a body casually floats through the walls of the Watchtower, the heroes are all prepared to fight.
"Ah— oops, didn't mean to spook ya'll!" A midwestern voice accompanied by an undertone of whispering that Batman can't make out calls from the body. A man, with white hair floating like clouds and a face pale like snow with only startling Lazarus green eyes to accentuate. Batman is intrigued, wary, and uneasy all at once.
"Who are you?" He calls out, eyes avoiding the red he knows is there. The man startles, eyes shooting across the room to find Batman, then stills. Oh, he hadn't noticed, then.
There's a long stretch of silence before a laugh falls from the mans lips—don't look at them, don't—as he removes himself from the wall. "Oh, this is hilarious," the man calls out, "I can't believe this is why Clockwork wanted me to hear you guys out, that fucker."
He shakes himself off and now that he's standing— floating upright, Batman can see the man wears an outfit of black and white, a bodysuit that looks eerily like a hazmat with a black cape overtop. The cape, as it flairs out behind the man, reveals a void of black that is splattered in the expanse of swirling stars and galaxies.
"I'm Phantom, King of the Infinite Realms and all that jazz. And you, poor unfortunate soul, are stuck with me it seems."
It sounded like a threat to Batman's hard-wired brain, but in the King's sickly green eyes was a sense of trepidation. The council had been planned with much of the same feeling—like the King didn't know if he could trust the word of humans from a world that was actively hunting and experimenting on his kind.
Bruce, in some strange way, thought it reminded him of his kids. Of Dick, who had lost his parents and home, and had found a place with Bruce to heal. Of Jason, who was so bright and so good, but couldn't find what he needed with Bruce. Of Tim, hardworking and desperate to save anyone he could, no matter what. Of Damian, angry and confused that Bruce wanted him to be a kid for once.
"Hm." Batman can feel the smile on his face, can feel the stares of his confused comrades, but that doesn't matter. King Phantom is another in a long line of people that need Batman's help—what right does he have to walk away now.
#my march for more#fanfiction challenge#writing challenge#danny phantom#batman#dcxdp#dp x dc#spirit halloween
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i think my biggest problem with the pirate game is majima's absolutely unhinged emotional sheltering being presented as like. a good and healthy and normal thing. which. like. i SUPPOSE the only acceptable situation to do that in is with a child youre responsible for. but its still not acknowledged at all that its unhealthy..? but then again this is how kiryu saga has been for years too. youre just supposed to look at it and know better. they dont really spell it out. at least they didnt until infinite wealth
#its just like. these guys are making the best of a really bad situation#the really bad situation is. themselves#it was i think more obvious with kiryu because his life was ruined over it#and so was majimas but we didnt See majimas life in those games#so it feels like. the game is kind of. approaching majimas coping mechanisms uncritically...?#sure theres lessons to be learned from that but its like. not something to try and emulate#there IS stuff that is genuinely like. good. and healthy. and that i appreciate the writers for presenting in the way they did#especially the stuff with how. you can and WILL make mistakes. you will fuck up beyond your wildest dreams#and sometimes the consequences will be irreversible. but its never too late to start doing the right thing#majima does have a really good grasp of this. he always has its one of his biggest strengths#but his codependent relationship with kiryu IS like. actively ruining his life and his relationship with saejima#and he just does it all over again with noah. except its kinda warranted this time because it is an actual kid#but are we supposed to look at it and go aww. thats so nice of him#like. majima. you are not normal#tbf the stuff with saejima does make me think they are aware of this and want us to be aware of this. its just not the tone they wanted to#take with this game#i guess i wouldve preferred an infinite wealth style deconstruction of majima and his coping mechanisms#but its also SO majima to do. All Of This instead of. actually facing his problems#like hes stillllll running#thats the point#and saejima knows this. hes made peace with it#yapping#majima gaiden
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Infinite 16 & 23 :]
16. A childhood headcanon.
So I haven't thought too deep into Infinite’s past (I’ve definitely thought more into his mercenary days above all else lol), but I do subscribe to the headcanon that he’s an orphan. I feel like he doesn’t know his parents (or family) at all, but simply doesn’t care because he found a family in what became his Jackal Squad. Details like that don’t matter because he had home in the people that fought beside him.
In terms of him being a kid though? I like to think Infinite was getting by as a thief to keep himself fed and make ends meet, which is totally fair and impressive of him, but he was DEFINITELY a little asshole about it LOL I feel like he was a talented liar even back then and used to get out of trouble with absurd amounts of charisma if he wasn’t just straight up getting into really vicious fights?? Good at being cute if necessary, but also has an awful temper. 😂
23. Future headcanon.
Now this, I’ve thought more about. When I think of an Infinite who is still alive and capable of escaping Null Space, I have a LOT of thoughts about his own mental placement in a world that moved on without him. I feel like he’s full of negative and vengeful feelings that he doesn’t even know how to sort out, so he starts brewing some absolutely absurd plans to just burn it all down himself and leave everything in ashes.
But as time progresses and he realizes how… absolutely insane and vague that is, he quickly realizes that there’s not much to go off of with those thoughts.
Kill the world and then what? Himself?? That’s an extremely tempting idea, but what would it achieve after everything he’s been through and how far he’s gone to get where he is? Also, what about the very few people he’s unfortunately met along the way since his return that changed him a little in less negative ways? Do they die, too? They’re useless mortals, but he does find them entertaining in some ways and losing them isn’t the most entertaining idea. Okay, fine, so he’ll destroy the world, rebuild it, and bring the ones that amuse him with him as a benevolent ruler. But does he really care to dominate the world in his image? Would the people he wants to bring with him want that, too?
It’s too much pressure, too much baggage, he doesn’t care that much, he wants the world that rejected him gone but he also likes some parts of the world and he doesn’t want to lose what he cares for but also he doesn’t want to care it’s too much and he can’t keep this up—
A lot of time passes. In his attempt to bond with others to trick them into his favor, he’s unfortunately come to like a number of them. His “acts” of kindness become less and less disingenuous as he realizes he does like the smile he gets when he does good on that person. His intent to hurt others becomes muted as hollow in his mind as his threats thin out into simple “whatever, screw that guy” type statements. Instead of destroying, he’s found himself building and creating more, which feels nice and real and tangible.
And most of all, to his dread upon realization, what was once a tactic to let the world’s guard down before he annihilated all life in his path has become an actual journey through growth that he never assumed possible. Infinite is changing. Infinite can change. And he hates it, hates that he’s losing a battle of stubborn pride and rage-filled emotions, but he would be lying if he said it didn’t feel better to forget once in a while. It would be a lie to say he doesn’t like being a real person and not the ghost of anger and resentment that hosting the Phantom Ruby turned him into.
From that point forward, Infinite’s future is still vague and confused, but for a good while, he realizes that life can be more than revenge, especially when he allows himself to just keep living. Life has things to look forward to, even for horrible monsters of war like him.
…He’s still a major asshole though and has broken a guy’s nose for mildly insulting him and he still steps on kids’ sandcastles for the hell of it and breaks windows just to cause problems for an establishment. Baby steps, Infinite. You’ll get there on the path to “good guy” someday, bud.
#Luna Be Talkin#supersonicslacker#Infinite the Jackal#THAT SECOND ANSWER IS REALLY LONG MY BAD#But yes it’s thoughts like that one that basically built my depiction of Infinite LOL#Fun fact but I hated the guy once upon a time#But the more I analyzed his character and what he could be with work I really came to admire his potential!#It’s kind of why I started that AU with Gadget and Barry. I feel like if there’s anyway for him to remember to be a PERSON again??#Its through Barry’s compassion and Gadget’s willingness to see the better in him eventually.
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/ Still thinking about that one scene in Paradise Lost where Adam asks Raphael if angels also make love and the text mentions how Raphael is then visibly blushing over the question but basically ends up confirming that yes, angels do that albeit differently, as there's no need of physical contact even, they can simply make that love manifest in a way a person could feel as if it's air entering their lungs
#;ooc#ooc#ITS SO FUNNY TO ME IDK#what an oddly specific angel question#but also like; what left me thinking is#imagine the purest kind of love; like a love that is of a completely different plane of existence#but still this angel wanting to comunicate this pure tenderness in a way that can somehow be comprehended#but he doesnt even need to touch ur muse like; just by tenderly looking at their eyes; they can feel in every inch of their body a#tenderness never ever felt before; like a kiss directly to every cell on ur body; every millimeter of the infinity of someone's soul-#MAN....#-SITS STARING AT THE SEA-#there was this one myth about a guy whom his wife couldn't see#but she could feel his warmth and him embracing her; like she lit could feel his love#something like that;;; or it manifests in#getting the best sleep ever because the angel in question id guarding ur rest#AAUGHGGGGGHHHHHHHH ITS SO SWEET#i dunno if;; angels in this context can fall in love like; romantically speaking; i feel like their love would be so much more#but for the sake of writing im just imagining the situation in the cintext of falling in love romantically bc im a s.ucker for that#i think the idea of an angel just being near their beloved and filling them with pure love without even the need of any touch is so wowwww#insanityyyy#u know how I mentioned that i like the imagery of infinite things and/or things that are difficult to imagine?#its that but applied to angels now#the cosmic incomprehensible love that would prob fry ur brain so there has to be another way around it
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Ok when I reblogged this last night, I picked 3rd because that’s what I’ve heard, but I also said maybe a little bit #4? Because at the time I thought ‘well something not really mattering to you = a sort of rejection” so I was a little confused as to how they were separate options?
And then when I woke up and I saw this I remembered that the ‘rejection’ idea was an antisemitic talking point. As in supposedly you saw the undeniable truth of Jesus and were like nah.
So I’m not sure how else it could’ve been worded - it was quickly visible to me after a good night’s sleep - but I wonder how many other people were thinking similarly to me when they picked #4, and how many are genuinely antisemitic. But I hope there’s just a lot of confused people.
#culturally Christian#I’m kind of agnostic but I do swear pretty religiously and kind of believe in Jesus and such just sort of out a habit. like if something#more convincing comes along I’ll go with that but currently I just have trouble with the idea the universe started spontaneously#I imagine more that there’s a higher figure and he’s been running experiments on an infinite amount of universe#like multiverse theory where every little decision splits the timeline etc#and occasionally he throws in stimulae like prophecies or small bits of him so that he can see what will happen#if something good happens to#me that I had no control over#like a free parking space or meeting a dog by chance#I send a kiss up to him just because I kind of want my thanks distributed but I don’t know to who? so I figure if he’s an honest guy#he’ll do other people favors too#also every time I see a dead animal on the side of the road I send it a kiss because i fervently wish that they died instantly and are#up in heaven and never have to worry about anything again#but otherwise yeah#my family stopped going to church when I was 4#I just remember liking to play with the holy water you were supposed to put on your forehead#and also the church had a really nice low stone wall that I liked to hold onto my mom or dad’s hands as I walked along the top#they’re divorced (not the catalyst to lack of church) so it was always either one or the other#my grandmother gave me a children’s bible and we still celebrate Christmas#so I know a lot of stories from#the kids bible I was given had a lot of bible stories in it and i enjoyed reading it but it felt like an anthology/book of fairy tales to me#more than anything. and ofc when I was little I heard lots of Christmas star#stories both secular and religious. I avoid Christmas media mostly as an adult because it’s so overblown but I figure I’ll share it with my#kids. my favorite Christmas movie of all time is about a cow who wants to become one of Santa’s reindeer and fly. it’s called#Annabelle’s wish it’s pretty cute. I think it falls under a secular Xmas movie but I haven’t watched it in a bit#we also celebrate Easter but I think that’s more because my mom really likes compiling the baskets of candy and spring themed stuff#and of course the Christian channels were always free whenever my family couldn’t afford ‘better’ tv. I enjoyed them but preferred pbs kids#because they were less preachy about their morals and I was more familiar with them.#oh also when I make I wish I address it to god out of habit.#about to run out of rags but whatever. my favorite religious swear that definitely pisses people off is ‘Jesus Christ on a pogo stick’
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Dead on Main Sugar Daddy
AKA "Ghost King Danny unintentionally becomes Jason "Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss" Todd's sugar daddy" prompt!
This is kind of a continuation of Graveyard Favors, but not really lmao.
I just love the idea of Jason coming back from the dead, wearing all Expensive Clothes and literally ancient cursed jewelry, and Bruce is just like, "Where did you get that? I didn't buy it for you. You haven't used your allowance either?" And Jason's obviously not going to admit he has the High King of Infinite Realms, Space, and the Dead as a sugar daddy. (Maybe he would, he's a dramatic theatre kid at heart, but it's funnier if he just straight up lies.)
He says, "I'm literally a crime lord, old man, keep up?? Jesus."
But the more he thinks about it, the more he actually likes the idea. Jason wants to help people, make sure they never experience the same fate he did, and where else to do it than the place he grew up? He knows there are tons of kids he can help, families who have a lack of resources. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty - he's already killed the Joker.
So, Jason calls up his Ghost King sugar daddy, points to Crime Alley, and is like, "I want that."
Danny, in Tucker's ratty Amity-U hoodie and ripped jeans, cheesepuff sticking halfway out of his mouth, "What???"
Danny declares Crime Alley as Jason's Haunt. It's officially Jason's territory in both the human realm and the Ghost Zome; conveniently, that also means that no supernatural (dead or alive) can enter the territory without Jason knowing. It also makes Crime Alley emit major Do Not vibes. Bad guys feel this Dread of being watched constantly, residents feel a bit safer knowing there's somebody who will help if they're in danger, and Jason patrols often enough that everybody starts to associate him as the local crime lord. He also uses Danny's money to invest in some social programs in Crime Alley, like open access food pantries, shelters, domestic violence & sexual assault support, a community garden, little libraries, funding for after school activities, etc.
Because the former Ghost King is absolutely loaded. Danny has eons of old stuff piled in his throne room in the Ghost Zone from Aztec Gold to alien technology. He's not using it and nobody's gonna miss it, so if Jason asks for it, Danny gives it to him. (Does he know Jason is selling it for an absolute shitton of money? Maybe, maybe not. He doesn't really care where it ends up as long as it won't cause the apocalypse.)
So, yeah, that's how Jason actually becomes the crime lord of Crime Alley.
#dpxdc#danny fenton#danny phantom#jason todd#red hood#batfam#dead on main#sugar daddy au#dp x dc#frantically typimg this on my phone like ive been possessed#i NEED bratty jason todd#jason “extorts several grand from bruce everytime he visits” todd
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Guys. Hear me out.
Remember when in Cyberverse everyone got their minds transferred into fake artificial digital simulation of an infinite fucking parade while their bodies were imprisoned? Now. Imagine Shockwave trying to pull that kind of move on First aid.
Under the cut:)
First aid feels wrong.
Which isn't weird, but this kind of wrong is brand new. It's not nausea from drugs or weird withdrawals after neural connection. It also doesn't feel like a concussion.
It feels like he's a lab mouse running through a maze.
There's the cheese. There's the electric shocks. There's no way out and never has been.
He thinks it might be the fault of Pharma's new drug. Or his fucking pilot position is finally eating away at him, or Vortex is finally done playing with him and just broke his brain.
There are people running around him, each of whom definitely knows what their place is and where they need to go. Everyone has a purpose and a position and some important job to do. They hardly even talk to each other, just nod and run on.
Amazing synchronization.
First..Felix feels like a kid lost in the mall.
He has. He has to do something, right? What does he need to do? Fuck. What day is today anyway?
He heads over to the schedule board and stares at it like an idiot for a couple minutes. It's Tuesday. The work day is in full swing. All the shifts are here. But he doesn't recognize the names of the employees. All the pilots are accounted for, but his name isn't on their list.
Must be a mistake?
He turns away from the board and looks around the room once more, this time more carefully. He just needs to find someone to ask. Preferably someone familiar.
He can’t recognise anyone.
The feeling of strangeness doesn't get any less.
The uniforms on the people around him are similar. But not the same.
The badges are all another color.
And he's surprised by this, but at the same time some part of his brain tells him that it's all familiar and he's seen it before.
“.... then I thought, we could do something different, you know?”
Felix flinches as Swindle and Onslaught walk past him. They are clearly in the middle of some sort of discussion and don't notice Felix staring at them.
Swindle is wearing a pilot's suit. Onslaught is wearing one, too.
Screw the weird schedule. THIS is wrong.
Onslaught frowns, but when he opens his mouth there's a strange amused respect in his tone
“You slippery eel.”
Swindle smiles. His smile, Felix notices, is not the same at all. He doesn't look like an actor from a commercial. He looks like a worn-out but proud of himself man.
It's wrong, but he's seen it before, it's strange but it's familiar. He wants to go up to Swindle and ask what's going on. He wants to understand the damn schedule. He wants to...
…
First Aid feels wrong.
Which isn't weird, but this kind of wrong is brand new. It's not the nausea from the drugs or the weird withdrawals after a neural connection. It also doesn't feel like a concussion.
It feels like being a lab mouse running through a maze.
You got the cheese. And here's the electric shocks. No escape. Never has been.
It's all the same.
He's not sure where he's going. Everyone around him seems very busy. Running about their own business, not paying attention to him and--
What is he supposed to do? He can't remember what day of the week it is. Shit. Is it Tuesday? He can't remember.
Does he need to find a schedule?
Everything feels weird.
By the schedule board, he almost crashes into Swindle.
“...You realize, if we can both get out of this shit, we can get others out too.”
Onslaught...still looking strange in his pilot suit instead of his usual uniform. Swindle pokes him in the side with his elbow as they both walk past Felix, completely ignoring him
“You just. Think about it. Even if you can't fire Offy from the pilots, you can at least free him from these disgusting experiments.”
Felix wants to go over and say hello. Politely and unobtrusively. And also kindly ask, “what the hell, boss?”
But you see it every day, his brain tells him. Have you forgotten?
It makes him feel wrong.
Here's the board, here's the schedule, just lift your stupid head up and see what you're supposed to be doing.
He looks at the board. It's Tuesday. It's dumb sheets that don't have his name on them. He wants to go up to Swindle, he should go up to Swindle, right?
…
It's all wrong, but it's a new kind of wrong. It's not from drugs or neural connection. And it's almost certainly not a concussion.
He's feeling.... hell, what day of the week is it? Tuesday right? He looked at the blackboard yesterday.
He stops. And makes a titanic effort to concentrate the jelly his head is now filled with instead of his brain.
Today is Tuesday because?...because yesterday was Tuesday? And the day before that, too? This is some kind of trippy shit, not a broken neural connection….
He's not looking for the schedule. He's seen the schedule a million times and he knows what's gonna be on it.
He's not sure where he's even going. The layout of the base is different. Not much, but enough to confuse him. He's still stubbornly checking out every familiar place he can find.
He doesn't get it, he doesn't get it, he doesn't get it, he doesn't get it, he doesn't.
He still doesn't see a single damn familiar face.
Ambulon's gone, Pharma's disappeared somewhere too. No Tailgate or Wheeljack anywhere to be seen. And the layout is a little different and all the badges are the wrong color and Felix can't even read what's written on them because every time he tries all the letters blend into an indistinguishable blur.
He's trying to talk to someone. Anyone. But everyone either brushes him off or straight up ignores him. It's like he's a ghost or a lunatic or all of the above.
Everything is so familiar, but at the same time it isn't and his brain frantically clings to the last possibly familiar thing.
Vortex. He needs to find Vortex.
Even if it is him who is going insane and not everyone around him. Vortex is insane in his own, unique way, but he won't ignore him. He may get a good laugh, but it's still better than blindly poking around every corner by himself.
First Aid feels wrong.
Which isn't weird, but this kind of wrong is brand new. It's not nausea from drugs or weird withdrawals after neural connection. It also doesn't feel like a concussion....
He snaps at himself. NO. Hell no.
Vortex. He needs to find Vortex.
The hangar looks surprisingly dark. The people look unfamiliar. And another schedule board beckons him to come over and check to see if it really is Tuesday, but he ignores everything and heads straight for his Mech.
Vortex hasn't changed a bit. Even the radius at which people avoid him is exactly the same.
And looking at him doesn't give Felix that fucking sense of wrongness.
He sees Vortex a lot. He just knows it. The thought is natural, in contrast to the others. That's good, that... It may sound strange, but Vortex is the most normal thing he can perceive right now.
He feels like he's grown little wings. His feet carry him up to the open cockpit and he barely notices the steps beneath him.
Vortex is here and he will understand and even if he doesn't, at least he won't ignore him. Vortex gets bored too quickly so he never minds distractions, no matter how absurd and...weird..they…
Huh…
Felix almost climbs into the cockpit, but freezes, right on the way in.
It's empty.
He crashes into that realization like an invisible wall.
The cockpit.... is clean.
It doesn't smell of chemicals or scrubbing agent. There are no thin streaks of old browned blood in the seams and crevices. There are no dents or stains on the edge of the visor.
The cameras are dead still and the screens are off.
There's no smell of stale blood or decay.
There's no one here.
But the back of his neck still tingles with the sensation of someone else's eyes staring at him.
“The fuck do you think you're doing?“
First Aid flinches startled and turns around.
There is a pilot standing a few feet away from him with a cigarette in his hand.
“..I’m..”
“I wouldn't stand there if I were you” smiles the stranger eying him with a suspiciously bloodthirsty smile “those things are glitchy as fuck. Might chop off something important.”
First Aid continues to stand just under the open visor. Maybe it's surprise or maybe he's too used to the idea that Vortex won't cut him in half. The pilot in front of him looks.... geez, where has he seen him???
Has he ever seen him at all? That green suit looks awfully familiar.
And the voice. There should be more mechanical notes in that voice, First Aid thinks. It should have more static and reverb and squeaks and rumbles and clicks and that quiet hum that sounds when the cockpit systems are turned on...
First Aid jumps off the Mech.
“Vortex...?”
The pilot casts him only a slightly surprised look at first, but a moment later recognition flares in his eyes.
“What the fuck....AID??”
First Aid instantly takes a swing and punches him in the face hard enough to send him wiping the dust on the floor.
“You!!!”
“Ha,” says Vortex from the floor. “Hahahahah ooooh Do it again! ”
First Aid kicks him. Vortex laughs like he's been told the world's happiest joke.
He sounds…alive. Alive and human and there’s no metal in his voice and
“What the fuck?”
Vortex stops laughing, but still doesn't get up off the floor
“What's the last thing you remember?”
First Aid still does nothing but stare at Vortex stunned. The human Vortex. Victor? Shit
“Until Tuesday, you mean?”
Vortex hums
”Till Tuesday.”
What was before Tuesday?
Another Tuesday. And another and another and another and another.
Someone from downstairs bangs loudly on the railing and berates Vortex for a safety violation, ordering him to put his cigarette away.
Vortex points his middle finger down somewhere and throws the cigarette over the railing.
Oh god. Oh shit.
First Aid swallows nervously.
“Shockwave...he used something...to control you-Mech...I mean. He did something, I think. I remember I couldn’t move couldn’t do anything. And now I’m in this hhhhplace? I don’t really recognise it.”
Vortex twitches the corner of his mouth and finally rises from the floor.
“Well I do.”
He looks like he is sick, First Aid thinks. He looks sick and he looks human and he has arms and legs and eyes and that stupid curly strand of dark hair sticking out from under his helmet and the dark eye bags.
“The bastard made up some sort of dumpster to transfer your consciousness in while he does shit to your body.”
First Aid clenches his hands together
“But there were two of us in the neural connection. And it took two of us to transfer here too...”
It suddenly dawns on him
“Wait. This base, these, everything. This is what the Mech project looked like in your time?? And Swindle and Onslaught and the staff is different and...”
Vortex raises his eyebrows smugly.
“...Here you are ...you're a human...” finishes First Aid.
Vortex pulls a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.
From somewhere below, a loud angry bang is heard again
“Tex, you bastard stop smoking in here.”
“Fuck you, Off,” Vortex yells back.
Then shrugs his shoulders
“I've always been human. No matter how hard Shockwave and his science shithole try to change that.”
He holds out an opened pack to First Aid
“Want some?”
First Aid feels awful. Terrible as if from the drugs, terrible as if from the neural connection. Terrible as if he had a concussion times two.
But Vortex is here and Vortex believes him and even if it turns out they're the ones who are crazy and not the world around them, at least they're crazy together.
First Aid takes a cigarette
“Thanks...”
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#transformers#texaid#wait….is this a texaid fic that doesn’t need trigger warnings??#is that legal??#vortex#first aid#tf mecha universe#mecha writing#mecha ta writing#swindle#onslaught#blast off#on/off#mecha kef writing
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regarding Measurehead

I've been watching a max-stats run of Disco Elysium's fascist political vision quest - cuz, hell no, I'm not disappointing Kim myself - and the portrait it paints of Measurehead is fascinating. in the base game, Measurehead is just a comically contradictory roadblock to meeting with Evrart: the philosophy of white supremacy spouted from a massive Black body. most players will interact with him early in the game, usually in close proximity to meeting The Cuno, and he's part of what makes the early game seem so unreprentantly edgelord. the kid said the f-slur! the Black guy is a racist! har har!
I've never loved that this is the foot Disco puts forward first, but, on deeper engagement, the game always has more on its mind.
properly speaking, Measurehead is, at his core, a genuinely good and kind man. he gives Harry good advice about not living in the past; he loves and adores his mother; he has an unhealthy respect for his hard and distant father but recognizes he learned strength and self-respect from him, while nevertheless refusing to repeat the cycle of abuse; indeed, he recognizes the balance he feels in himself, the mix of masculine and feminine, of soft and hard, was only possible because his parents lacked that balance in themselves, that his father saw the loving softness of Measurehead's mother and pivoted to its opposite, denying himself softness and embracing the rigid and cold so that Measurehead could experience both; Measurehead has chosen not to have children perhaps because he knows he could not retain this perfect balance, would have to follow his father's example and embrace only one side of himself to provide balance to a child; and he knows this self-possessedness, this full knowledge of who he is, is what makes him appealing to women, far more than his physique or philosophy; and, by all accounts, he eats pussy like it's going out of style.
what makes Measurehead such a batshit character is how he has to contort his philosophies to make room for this, how malleable fascism and race supremacy ultimately are. he can't just not want kids cuz he doesn't want to repeat daddy's patterns, he has to embrace a philosophy of "semen retention" and deny himself orgasm, and he fits that with race supremacy by insisting the real legacy is perpetuating ideas rather than flesh. he can valorize his devotion to his mother and the sexual consideration he pays his partners by insisting this makes him desirable to women and is how he outcompetes lesser men. the philosophy of "balance of soft and hard" is how he can exalt his father as a masculine ideal while still distancing himself from his father's abusive behavior.
one could argue these are all perversions of fascist rhetoric, if fascism had any coherent rhetoric to begin with. Measurehead has grasped the nonsensical nature of race science and authoritarian logic and put them to his own ends, and, being a giant specimen of a man, he can more or less get away with it.
I don't write this as a defense of Measurehead, because, of course, he is spreading a fascist rhetoric that encourages all kinds of violence and bigotry in the world, and a man who is good and kind in the privacy of his mother's office but is a champion of subjugation when in public - especially when he is, in his bizarre way, a true believer - is no kind of decent. but I see it as a look into the utter emptiness of fascist thought.
the four emissaries of fascism we meet on the vision quest - Gary, Rene, the racist lorry driver, and Measurehead - speak a lot of the same words but, at their core, have nothing in common. they have all latched on to the rhetoric and bent it to different ends - Rene yearns for the monarchy, Gary wants a pat on the head, the lorry driver is an incel, and Measurehead is trying to self-actualize within the confines of hypermasculinity. the only rhetoric that can encompass all four is one without substance, one of infinite flexibility, that offers nothing more than the promise that you will get everything you want, and that directs your rage at something other than yourself.
in that respect, despite being perhaps the most emotionally healthy person in the game, I find Measurehead pitiable.
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Miguel w/an Innocent S/O
Warnings: Protective Miguel, Slight Yandere Miguel (if you squint), Implications of Smut, Fluff, More Fluff, Spooning, Mentions/Implications of injuries, Insecurity, No Pronouns used for Reader Except 'You'.
Him being fiercely protective of you 24/7.
If someone even so much as looks at you wrong, he stares them down until they either break down and start apologising, or their heart gives out.
You’re the only person he shows any affection to. You’re also the only person allowed to touch him. Period.
He’s so touch starved; please hold him and tell him he’s your big guy :-(
Goes FERAL when you rake your fingers through his hair; his eyes roll into his skull and he can’t help but moan a little, even if the context isn’t sexual.
Don’t bring it up or he’ll punish you for it later 👀.
He finds your innocence both endearing and worrying.
On one hand, you believe in the good of everyone, which, considering how insecure Miguel can be, is what initially drew him to you; your ability to empathise and sympathise with others, to not judge them.
However, he knows people would take advantage of your kind and giving nature.
One time, he found out that one of the Spiders – a Victorian England era ‘gentleman superhero’ – had tossed you a used coffee cup and told you to dispose of it on his behalf. When you tried to say something, to tell him you were busy and had better things to do, he just dismissed you.
Of course, Miguel had seen this. He has eyes on you every second of the day.
You never saw that Spiderman again. Nor did anyone else. All that seemed to remain of him was his suit thrown haphazardly into the storage room, where a great big tear edged with blood was ripped into the chestpiece, the hero’s signature top hat abandoned and crumpled beneath it.
He also broke another Spider-Person’s arm when they tried to steal one of the fairy cakes you’d lovingly baked for him; poured your heart and soul into.
Miguel also growls at people he thinks are looking at you strangely. Full-on bares his fangs like a rabid dog and watches them cower.
He purposely grows his fangs out and lets you play with them.
He’s careful to make sure you don’t get hurt, though, guiding your hands away from the pointed tips.
His guilty pleasure is when you kiss his fangs and tell him he’s “The coolest, most handsome man in the world!”
“Just the world?” He says, smiling, raising an eyebrow. His heart melts in his chest as your smile widens, eclipsing your eyes into crescents.
“In ALL the worlds!” You say, throwing your arms around his neck and hugging him, laughing. He brings his arms, thick and muscular, around your waist and pulls you into him, pressing ticklish kisses into your neck, revelling in your laughter.
Intimacy-wise, Miguel is horrified at the prospect of hurting you.
He’s ever so careful, as if handling glass, holding back his strength.
It’s worth it, though. The strain.
Especially when he hears you mewl and try to hide your face in his chest.
“Oh no, Sweetheart,” he says, tangling a hand in your hair and pulling your head back. His pointed fangs flint as he gives a smile. “I want to watch you like this.”
Loves your gentle kisses – they give him life.
Nothing can get him down when you’re around; especially when you’re sitting in his lap.
Though, issues have arisen as a result of your oblivion to…compromising positions.
More often than not, Miguel’s had to bite his lip and tongue when you shift in his lap, catching him, making his heart start and his breath shutter, electric anticipation jolting through him.
He takes you aside in the bathroom to deal with the issue you’ve unknowingly caused, but you don’t complain. Not that you can with your mouth full.
He looks at you with eyes which have seen the deaths of countless individuals, yet when he finds yours, he sees love and light spanning infinite universes within them. And they give him hope that there is more to life than loss and grief; more to him than his failures.
He revels in the feeling of you hiding behind him whenever you’re scared.
Sometimes he takes you to areas of the facility where he knows you’ll be easily frightened – for example, where captive villains are held – so he can feel your hands tightening around his arm or gripping the back of his suit. It makes him feel useful, like he can take on the world.
And he gets off on being the only person who can truly protect you. But he’d never tell you that, of course.
Loves demonstrating his strength around you. He can pick you up single-handedly and carry you anywhere without so much as thinking of breaking a sweat.
He prefers to be the big spoon, curling around you like a shield and protecting you from the outside world, his warm, broad chest to your back.
Tells you how much he loves you through hushed post-intimacy whispers and soft touches. Shows it through acts of service and the insurmountable adoration that fills his eyes whenever you’re around.
He can’t imagine being with anybody else. He can’t even remember the last time he felt anything save for contempt before you showed up.
And he’ll do whatever it takes to protect you. No cost is too great for the love of his life <3.
Reblog for more content like this! It helps creators like myself tremendously and it is greatly appreciated :-)
Masterlist Masterpost
Yandere Masterlist Juicy Original Content <3
#across the spiderverse#miguel o'hara#miguel o hara#miguel o'hara x reader#miguel o'hara x you#miguel o'hara x y/n#miguel ohara x reader#miguel ohara#miguel ohara x you#miguel ohara x y/n#yandere miguel ohara#spiderman astv#spiderman#spiderman 2099#spider verse#into the spider verse#spiderman 2099 x reader#spiderman 2099 x you#spiderman x reader
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Fae adjacent! Danny, pt. 3
Jason returns to consciousness with a scream trapped before it could come to life. He twisted his neck back and forth and back and forth.
It was the last thing he did before he died. When the Joker left and told him to say hello to the big guy, Jason could not muster up the energy to make a single sound.
But Bruce… Bruce was here this time, heavy head making the mattress by his leg dip.
The scars that ran over his face stretched as he blinked.
“…B?”
Bruce’s head shot up, eyes bloodshot and bags heavier than a Gotham socialite’s solid gold Dior purse.
“Jaylad.”
Jason- Jason was alive now. Bruce’s hug felt warm, the tear spot on his shoulder was damp as his dad cried while hugging him.
And Jason should be happy. He’s alive again. His dad loved him.
But all he could think about was the cold of the coffin, the squelch of mud and dirt, and the unerringly wrong feeling of knowing he came back but he came back wrong.
——
Tim had wandered Gotham in the weeks following Jason’s reawakening. He wasn’t avoiding Bruce Wayne. He wasn’t. But Tim knows he’ll have to answer questions soon. He just wasn’t ready.
Tim looked up at the den of pixies- pixies were real!- and squared his shoulders. He did his research. Tim Drake walks into the den with nothing but foolish hope and Gotham-brand audacity. He’ll get answers about Danny today. He will.
——
Soul-Plucker, they called him. Danny Fenton, the proprietor of Fenton Artifacts. The High King.
“I thought King Oberon was the High King?”
The pixies chittered at the little human that could have been kin. Their wings fluttered at their backs, muffled by cloth. It’s not often they find kindred. It really is too bad that Fenton had his mark on the child. How they would have loved to whisk him away. He would have made entertainment that would last a millennia! Or until the court decided to cut of his tongue, at least. How well he had tricked them!
“Of course! Of course! King Oberon is our king, see?” A younger pixie swirled her drink, a shining red and blue thing. “But he’s the High King of another court!”
“The High King of the Infinite Realms, encompassing far more than King Oberon and Queen Tatianna could ever reach.”
Another pixie chimed in, on their fourth glass of amber colored nectar. “The Soul-Plucker!”
“The Beginning of the End.”
“Afterlife IRS department!”
“He who wanders.”
“Death-Caller.” Another one said, grave and serious.
“The Arbiter.”
“So, he’s like, the boss of bosses?” Tim asked. What kind of entity did he make a deal with? Why was he kind to Tim? What motives did Danny have?
“Uh huh!”
“Then what’s he’s doing here?”
“Who knows? The whims of the most powerful are unknown to us.” The pixies clustered around Tim. “Won’t you play another game with us, Alvin? You’re so good at it! Oh, how about a drink?”
“Can’t. I gotta get home. Also, I’m a minor.” Tim slipped passed their fluttering wings and manic smiles. They move to let him past, waving drinks at him in a tantalizing manner.
“And where is that, sweet one?”
“Somewhere, Liltri. Somewhere.”
Tim Drake was a child of pure will, pure hard headed foolishness, a mind sharper than any blade, and luck more terrifying than the creatures he now dealt with. And so, he stepped out of the Pixie Bar with more questions than answers but he stepped out unharmed.
——
“Who are you?” The shadows shift as Lady Gotham unveiled her knight.
Danny felt his eyes cool, glinting green and blue. Lady Gotham forgets who her liege is.
“Haven’t you done your research? You who walks along the edge of shadows, my shop is not a place to dismiss decorum.”
“You brought… you brought him back. How. Why?”
“You want answers? Then give me something in return.”
Danny gestured to the circle his clients have come to know as the deal-maker. Danny doesn’t ask for much in return. Just… something equal to the request.
“Ah,” Danny pointed up at the sign. “I am legally able to deny you my service, so don’t get any ideas.”
Batman was studied up on myths. But he was not a believer, and that both hindered and helped him. What was a god, in front of the faithless? What was the faithless in front of power?
The vigilante stepped into the circle, unable to see the subtle shimmering of magic but remained unbound by the virtue of his disbelief.
“What do you want for answers?”
“You do not often deal with the occult, do you?” Danny tapped the counter. Batman remained silent.
“I have a soft spot for vigilantes,” Danny continued. “And so I won’t ask for much. Just… your cape.”
“Not my hair? A body part?”
“If you were dealing with the fae, you’d probably would lose something of that value, yes.”
“You aren’t fae.”
Danny merely smiled. “Do we have a deal?”
“My cape in exchange for honest answers to my questions.”
Danny huffed, approval glinting in his eyes.
“Your cape for honest answers to three questions,” Danny pointed at the sign, still hanging above them. “Three questions or nothing.”
Batman grimaced. “Deal.”
“Ask your questions, protector.”
“Why did you bring Jason back to life?”
“I didn’t.” Danny grinned. The Bat should have stipulated that he must answer elaborately. He looked like he realized that. Oh well. His mistake. Well, not like there was actual magic binding Danny, so technically, Danny could lie off his ass.
“…Will Jason stay alive?” Danny had a heart and this man was a much better father than Jack ever was.
“Yes. Barring unnatural causes, his soul is firmly attached to his body and will not shuffle off the mortal coil without warning.”
The lines of Batman’s shoulders slumped. Relief. He paused.
“What are your intentions in this city?”
“To run my shop… and to enjoy retirement.”
Danny laughed at Batman’s stoic face. “Disappointed I am not up to nefarious deeds, little knight?”
“No.”
Danny tapped the table. “My payment?”
Batman shucked off his cape and handed it to Danny.
“Why my cape?”
Danny smiled a fanged little thing. “Because your costume looks stupid without it and I could use a laugh.”
Batman grumbled and turned to leave. Ha paused, eyes catching on the glint of camera lenses.
“How much for that?”
“For the little sparrow’s camera?” Danny sighed, eyes fixed on the form of a vigilante who was more kind than angry for once. “Two thousand dollars.”
“That’s a huge markup.”
“That’s how much it means to me, compared to the rest.” Danny slid beyond the counter, a ghostly air about him. He pinned his newly earned cape up. “My shop, my prices, little knight.”
Batman silently handed him two thousand dollars and left with the little sparrow’s camera.
#fae adjacent danny#danny phantom#batman#jason todd#tim drake#dc x dp#dpxdc#my favorite trope is actually Danny selling things to Batman at a markup
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Dani wasn't the only clone that Danny saved.
There were 3 other clones that were prematurely made, kind of stabled, but didn't look how Vlad wanted and were going to be terminated, in which Dani was desperate in the first place.
Three clones varieties mixed between his dna and ectoplasm between ages of 1-5 The panic danny had felt holding toddler that look like him except for a star birthmark his cheek while looking at Sam and Tucker with big pleading puppy blue eyes along with Dani.
Thankfully, Sam had a backup backup bunker plan already refurbished and full of food using her three month allowance in case things went bad with his parents, along telling jazz because she will full murder him if he kept four little possibly now his children/cousins/clones? away from him.
The juggling and balancing between fighting ghosts, raising little kids, and school alongside the GIW, Beating Pariah King, his future self and revealing to the town that he was Phantom to save the world was brutal to him, Sam, Jazz and tucker.
Thankfully, his parents accepted him, but the paranoia scratched at his brain to hide about his clones/kids and overpowered him to not say anything about his kids to them yet.
Then came clockwork and his crytic words and Crown of Fire and ring of rage nonstop appearing floating rather innocently following him.
He has tried everything at this point, stuffing it in his locker, putting it in a fenton ghost proof chest and dumping it into the distant deep lake, freezing it which only made it a crown of ice that drips snowflakes and the ring of rage into a ring with a aurora instead of a skull.
It took him half a day to figure out he accidentally became King of the Ghost Zone, which is also known as the infinite realm of the dead due to conquest after he accidentally commanded Ghost writer to tell him why the crown of fire kept following him like paulina before she knew he was Phantom.
Apparently, since he was the last one to take the final blow on Pariah King using everything he got, the crown took a liking to his protection/space core and decided that he would be king whether he like it or not.
He was clearly king material after he balanced everything he went through alongside raising 3 baby ghostlings, which was rather proud achievement.
Leaving Danny in control of an infinite realm of the dead alongside a much more infinite amount of paperwork now streaming to him, half of them being complain about a guy name constantine with overdue summonings now set to him instead of Pariah King on paused time.
What's next? Is the Justice League actually real?
#dpxdc#dc x dp#danny phantom#dp x dc#dp x dc crossover#dcxdp#dc x dp prompt#danny is the ghost king#what if other clones survived#danny became a parent#Danny's core is space/protection#danny didnt ask to be ghost king#but the crown and ring said sike you feel like a great king candidate with that protection core#he is secretly enjoying that he can command the ghosts to leave him and his 'haunt' alone#hating the paperwork of the infinite realm even with tucker's help#he just wanna be in the bunker playing spaceman with his kids#Constantine on his list to met after reading the 129 contract this guy because this guy a genius to scam gods like that#jinxing his own words about the Justice league
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It seems the most popular not-Adrian not-Greg Vigilantes Amongst Comic Readers are Patricia and then Dorian, which makes sense since they both got so many appearances in other peoples shit. I think they might also be the only ones who got a real chance to be characters instead of not really getting any appearances like Vigilante!2005 or getting their miniseries canceled 3 issues in like poor Donald
#Also kind of tragic because theyre both the ones made by Marv Wolfman again.#So like of course they got to stick around because I think DC just let Wolfman do whatever he wanted#You write crisis on infinite earths you get to have your 20 ongoings about your edgy antihero guys whos wives hate them#I still think we can have a non-Adrian affiliated Vigilante done right I think it can happen.#Also actually one more thing maybe Dorian's more popular then patricia.#I see more fanart of Dorian I might just be getting tricked by Patricia being on all the deathstroke covers#Being able to get on a cover is the biggest measure of a characters popularity to me.
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/ @005mins when he
#;ooc#ooc#IM CRYING SO HARD#STANDING MAN EMOJI LIT??????#when he stands#to me this looks so funny ohmygod#why was dude just standing there like that; and the scene where he's jumping just took me#my man didnt even h e s i t a t e#d.aybit lit does anything and im like; omg look at him go-#he's like; a guy- but like there is infinitely more to that; in kind of a literal sense#:twirls hair: u can check my pinned post and look at the song hehehheheh#thanking sophie again!! what a legend#it'll be t.ezca next- 👹 but i dont know when; for the time being he's here#im actually digging his b.log look as of now; but i have to change his dino icons#he is the kind of man that is cooking something beyond words#i think thats also why only t.ezca tagged along on the summoning; i think t.ezca feels the same way i do about him#THERE IS SOMETHING IN THAT GUY; WHAT THE HELL IS HE COOKING#that train of thought#ALSO!!! Yesterday i officially finished the entirety of l.b7#despite the bumps and some stuff; IT WAS SO GOOD TO ME- i at least enjoyed it a lot!; it kept me company too which i really really needed#there's also that thing where we as readers give it meaning as well;#its funny how stories can keep us company; and some characters became kind of like a warm blanket to me#n.ito; m.octe; c.amazotz; d.aybit; t.ezca#o.lga who i didnt really care about at all; i ended up liking her bc of this l.b#then other characters too like marine my son and his friendship with t.epeu; even t.laloc that i also didnt really care about much#its also my second lb! i did lb1 and then jumped straight for l.b7#next is mmmm thinking about o.beron or c.onstantine's one- or a.rju's one#i would also really like to see the one with j.ason and company!#this one took me like a month bc i chewed it at my own pace#it was lit like reading a book at night! i would go to bed at night and put on my phone the chapters and read them away
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A Coffee Heart pt 2
First Next
There's a coffee shop in Gotham that allowed him way more caffeine than Amity allowed. . .
He likes it here he can have 21 shots of expresso and all he got was an eye roll with some grumbling about a guy named Tim and twins, it's great!!
_______________________________________________
___________A table in the far corner______________
Do I have a twin. . .
No seriously does he have an unknown twin cause standing at the register is a guy that looks so much like him, but not exact enough to be a clone.
We both have pitch black hair the same thick and soft kind but his is infinitely more fluffy and wild like his Red Robin look, bright blue eyes with analytical intelligents and slightly unhinged but his are more icey in color and somehow more dead inside,both our body types are small soft and lean with muscle, small waist, and rounded in the hips, shoulders in mid range, but he has more curves with his shape he's also worriedly more skinny to an unhealthy degree even in my standards, face shapes similar but his are little more angle too it, hell even our voices are similar his being softer and a little deeper than mine
What made me really catch my attention was the fact that he's coffee intake is just as death inducing as mine maybe even more deadly. Hes eye bags are worse then mine from what I can see from here which is across the fucking room.
So I have reasonably concluded that he is my twin. I mean there was a popular rumor that Janite was pregnant with twins and gave one up to adoption as soon they came out with how big she got. Maybe it was true when I am look at someone who has to be related to me.
Though this begs the question where he has been the entire time, He may be visiting with how he has an Midwestern accent but he also holds himself like an Gotham native.
hnmmmmmm. . .
What's he doing?. . .
He's comING OVER HERE ABORT ABORT ABO-
_______________________________________________
"Um you mind if I sit here for a little all the tables are full"
Why he look familiar? Have I seen him before? . . .
Wait that's Timothy Drake-Wayne Co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises, I only know him because of the research binge for the Gothampedia and Tucker's fanboying.
He probably wants some privacy. . .
Probably to relax a little bit and be normal if he's just drinking some coffee in the back corner, alone. He looks nervous as hell too probably don't want any unwanted attention brought to himself, I sure as hell know the feeling
" No it's fine you can sit here "
Is it just me or does he look a little eager
" Cool I'm Danny by the way " sitting and taking a sip of his coffee he notices that Tim seems to be in some sort of dilemma with himself finally he asked
" So you happen to be around and about here often?" He drinks his own coffee
" No, just found this little shop" he cringed a little "I was draged here because my parents wanted to work on something here"
Tim Slightly invested slightly worried " What are they working on?"
" They uhh want to 'help make Gotham more prepared for dangers that may arise in the haunting world' their words not mine"tilting his head slightly to the left "to be fair I think the bats have all that covered, no need to interfere and cause more problems than what it's worth" grumbling under his breath " Don't want them to get on the bats radar cuz they are doing reckless shit and I have to clean it up"
_______________________________________________
Tim is slightly panicking now who are his twins adopted parents and why are they wanting to 'prepared for dangers that may arise in the haunting world'?
What does the haunting world mean?
What does he mean by causing more problems?
Are his parents escaped midwestern rouges or something?
Does he need to do a welfare check on him as Red Robin?
Also he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear that last part but that's just making him more worried.
How reckless can they get?
How many times has he had to clean up their messes?
What does he do. . .
(Thank you for helping me with the idea for the next chapter @ghostlysuitnight )
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Pls give recommendations for Odd books 🙏
Here we go, a list of literary oddity :) This post contains majestic spheres, alien taxonomies, cruel subway polytheism, a fourth-dimensional cat, disturbing earthworms, infinite space football, existential mussel terror, a Parisian absurdist time loop, and a picture of a telegraph-pole-man-cheetah. I'm not exactly recommending these books, in the sense that I won't take any complaints if you find them more odd than good, and some of them transcend the concepts of good and bad anyway.
• The Other City, Michal Ajvaz. It's all like this:
• Contes du demi-sommeil, Marcel Béalu ('Half-asleep tales') —is the book that prompted my post about stories that have no ambition or justification beyond being odd. I'm sad that it hasn't been translated :( One of the tales is about a strange opaline sphere that rolls on the road. It doesn't accelerate when the road becomes a steep slope but continues rolling majestically. At one point it floats away towards the sky. Someone wonders if it was the moon. Someone else says authoritatively "It was an angel's egg." Everyone is reassured by this explanation. The whole thing feels exactly like remembering a dream you had. There is also a man who reads too much and whose body atrophies so only his head is left and his wife puts it in an egg cup for better stability.
• Leonora Carrington�� The Skeleton's Holiday, or maybe the Hearing Trumpet. I've read them so long ago but I think the latter is the one with the old ladies and nuns? There's also a guy who was murdered in his bath by a still-life painter because he said there was a carrot in one of his paintings, but it might not have been a carrot? It's hard to remember details from this book without feeling like I might be making them up. Bonus Leonora Carrington painting which kind of feels like a short story:
• The Codex Seraphinianus, of course. I wish there were more bizarre encyclopaedias out there.
Also I love this review:
• Sleep Has His House, Anna Kavan —I really liked the way this book used language; making life feel like a fever dream even more than in Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream (which I really liked too.)
The eye is checking a record of silence, space; a nightmare, every horror of this world in its frigid and blank neutrality. The actual scope of its orbit depends on the individual concept of desolation, but approximate symbols are suggested in long roving perspectives of ocean, black swelled, in slow undulation, each whaleback swell plated in armour-hard brilliance with the moonlight clanking along it . . .
• The second half of Michael Ende's Neverending Story, where things get stranger! I remember the hand-shaped castle with eyes and the city of amnesiac former emperors and the miserable ugly worms who cry all the time out of shame then create beautiful architecture with their tears...

• The Gray House, Mariam Petrosyan. This is the one I had in mind when I talked about a 'museum of the strange, but one you wouldn't want to be trapped in after closing time'. Another book that made me feel uncomfortable in a similar (good) way was Edward Carey's Observatory Mansions, the protagonist of which is a man who curates an odd private museum and can't stand the sight of his own hands.
• Oh, speaking of uncomfortable, and hands—He Digs A Hole, by Danger Slater. To me this book was in the more-odd-than-good category but I liked its refusal to have a coherent philosophical meaning. It's about a man who can't sleep so he goes to his garden shed and saws off his hands and replaces them with gardening tools. Then he starts digging a hole. And then it gets weird. (Read at your own discretion if you have a worm phobia; there's some body horror featuring sexually aggressive earthworms. And then it gets disturbing.)
• 17776 — Someone sent me an ask a few years back to recommend this online multimedia narrative to me and I really enjoyed it! Here's the summary, borrowed from the wiki page: Set in the distant future in which all humans have become immortal and infertile, the series follows three sapient space probes that watch humanity play an evolved form of American football in which games can be played for millennia over distances of thousands of miles. The work explores themes of consciousness, hope, despair, and why humans play sports.
• Saint-Glinglin, Raymond Queneau —the author admitted that this book presents some "internal discontinuities." I didn't like it much but I respect the talent it takes to write a novel where everything feels like a random digression, including the key suspenseful scene that matters to the plot. The one digression I loved had to do with the way the narrator is existentially horrified by various sea creatures. It's like he dreads them so much he can't help but think about them when he should be telling a story.
The oyster... This gob of phlegm, this brutal way of refusing the outside world, this absolute isolation, and this disease: the pearl... If I conceptualise them even a little, my terror starts anew. The mussel is even more significant than the oyster and even more immediately admissible in the domain of terror. Let us indeed consider that this little sticky mass whose collective stupidity haunts our piers, consider that it is alive in the same way as a cow. Because there are no degrees in life. There is no more or less. The whole of life is present in every animal. To think that the mussel, that the mussel has, not a conscience, but a certain way of transcending itself: here I am once again plunged into abysses of anxiety and insecurity.
Near the beginning he philosophises about what would happen if a man and a lobster were the only two survivors of the apocalypse. The lobster would break the man's toe and the man would say, "We are the only beings that remain on this devastated Earth, lobster! The only living beings in the universe, struggling alone against the universal disaster, don't you want to be allies?" But the lobster would disdainfully walk away towards the ocean, and "the sight of the inflexible and imperturbable lobster pierces the sky of humanity with its unintelligible claws." (I can't overstate how little this has to do with the rest of the book.)
• Autumn in Beijing, Boris Vian —needless to say the story does not take place in autumn nor in Beijing.* To the extent that it can be said to be "about" something, it's about people trying to build a train station in a desert with tracks that lead nowhere. (I just went on goodreads to check the title, and it's actually called Autumn in Peking in English. I also discovered that it was featured in a list of Books I Regret Reading. I liked this book, but I understand.)
(* French writers love doing this—like when Alphonse Allais said about his 1893 book The Squadron's Umbrella "I chose this title because there aren't any umbrellas of any sort in this volume, and the important notion of the squadron, as a unit of the armed forces, is never brought up at all; in these conditions, hesitating would have been pure madness.")
• The Library at Mount Char, Scott Hawkins—I fear this one makes a little too much sense for this list, but you can't say it isn't weird; and I loved it and recommend it any chance I get.
• The Eleven Million Mile High Dancer, Carol Hill —this book was so wacky and made me laugh. I've not yet managed to successfully recommend it to someone; its brand of odd didn't resonate with the people I know who've read it but that's okay. You could say it's about a woman astronaut whose weird cat disappears into the fourth dimension (or the quantum realm?) and she goes to space to save him—but that makes the book sound more straightforward and less messy than it is. Her cat leaves her a note before he disappears:
• The Bald Soprano, Ionesco —fun fact, there's a tiny theatre in the Latin Quarter in Paris where this absurdist play has been staged every night for nearly 70 years, with the exact same set design and costumes and everything, like the actors are stuck in a time loop. They celebrated the 20,000th performance this year! There's an actress who has been playing her character for 40 years and said joining this theatre was like joining a religion. I've been going to see this play as a New Year tradition with my best friend since we were 14, so I love it madly, though I wouldn't say it's good, necessarily—the author said it was about "absolutely nothing, but a superior nothing."
• Statuary Gardens; or Les Mers perdues (apparently not translated) by Jacques Abeille. This man is obsessed with weird statues. Unfortunately I find his writing style rather dull—I feel like he takes strange ideas and makes them feel mundane in a bad way...! But his books still have a nice, quiet, oneiric atmosphere, and images that stayed with me, like a solitary gardener trying to grow stone statues in the depleted soil of a walled garden. Here are some illustrations from the second one:




I'll look into some of the books recommended on my previous post! (and I agree with the people who brought up Cortázar, Borges, and Junji Ito. <3) Some potentially-odd books I have on my to-read list: Clive Barker's Abarat, Goran Petrović's An Atlas Traced by the Sky, Salvador Plascencia's The People of Paper, Jean Ray's Malpertuis; Jan Weiss's The House of a Thousand Floors; Brice Tarvel's Pierre-Fendre.
#ask#book recs#i know i've made some of these sound barely readable but it would be risky to oversell them#it's funny how indignant i felt when i first thought that saint-glinglin didn't exist in english translation even though objectively it#wouldn't have been a huge loss and i don't think english speakers are clamouring for more crustacean existentialism after sartre's lobsters#but they should get to choose not to read this book!
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241113 Taemin bbl live (© trans: xtmtaemin)
During our trainee days, Jonghyun hyung and I often go home together. After we’re done with training, he’ll say ‘let’s go’ and I was like ‘ok hyung!’, or he’ll say ‘Taemin let’s practice some more!’ and I’ll also go ‘yes hyung’. We’re always practicing together and leave together. If we go to Dongdaemun together, hyung oftens buy me delicious food. Infinite refill fishcakes~ the soup~ you can get it for 1000won. Back then there are lots of street stalls on the streets back then. It’s really delicious in winter. Wearing our school uniforms, eating while it’s steamy hot~ we sometimes have gamjatang too. On autumn, we ate bungeopang (carp shaped bread) and pulbang (in cast baked bread) and we often said like ‘let’s do this together’ ‘let’s make this happen together’. We had lots of dreams. Back then, there’s this show called ‘Yashimmanman’, back then there are shows like x-man and Yashimmanman. I think I’m talking about this for the first time. After eating bungeopang, we encountered really scary guys. We are really young back then and those hyungs look really scary. We happened to lock eyes and the scary guys were like ‘hey come here!’, I am so flustered but (Jonghyun) hyung wasn’t even bothered and is standing proudly. Hyung was like ‘what’s with you?’. It seems as we can just pass by them but we just had to pass by a dark alley and there are 3 more big guys there. We (Jonghyun hyung and I) locked eyes and thought ‘we’re in deep trouble, do we just run away?’ We got lots of our stuffs stolen, like ipod? Mp3? We don’t even have that much money. I almost got my ipod stolen, the guys were like ‘let me see! give it to me!’ and then Jonghyun hyung prevents it from happening. Back then, shoes are kinda valuable, the Nike Air Force shoes. Jonghyun hyung said ‘take this instead and don’t touch the younger ones’ belongings’ and then went home barefooted. To us, that was such a frightening moment back then. Well at least it is to me since we are so young. As I walk home with hyung who’s barefooted, I spoke informally ‘hyung, what do we do? what are we going to do?’ Jonghyun hyung just laughed loudly and said ‘it’s ok! my house is close HAHAHA let’s talk about this when we appeared on Yashimmanman, we got one story to tell now!’ He laughed real hard as he said it. The bottom of his feet must be wet since it was also raining then and the floor is wet. As I remember, hyung still needs to walk and hike a distance, he protected me and went home, hahahoho (laugh) and then talked about it again as we meet the next day in the practice room. There’s this kind of memory too. It’s interesting right? Did I talk about it for the first time? Or have you heard of this before? Anyways, that’s that. He’s a mate who always goes home together with me.


#SHINee#jongtae#jonghyun#taemin#kim jonghyun#lee taemin#honestly I haven't stopped thinking about this
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