#i was taking a break from working on the comic

[bluelotuswrites]

2024 fic rec list :)

So here's a list of fics/authors that I read in 2024! A lot of them are Batman-related, and Jason-centered :P

Six Degrees of Separation by @oliocelottafanfics. It's a Criminal Minds crossover with Batman, where Penelope Garcia is the one to find Jason after his resurrection and adopts him. This is one of those fics where I didn't know I needed it until I saw it, and now it's stuck in my brain.

The Right Substitution is Key by Addicted Apple. A fun what-if story where Batman and Nightwing go missing, so Robin recruits Red Hood to fill in as Batman while completely oblivious to the fact that Red Hood is Jason Todd.

Five Reactions to Pepper's New PA by @gladdecease. Short, but Bucky ends up becoming Pepper Potts' personal assistant. It's very funny and wholesome.

@cdelphiki's Three Terrors Cinematic Universe is a top fic that many probably already know. Talia tried to escape the League with Jason, Damian, Anathasia, and Mara al Ghul. She didn't make it, leaving Jason to be the one to protect them.

Along with that is cdelphiki's The Time Before. Jason got sent back to the past by Black Mask, who wanted to kill him before he became Red Hood. Jason goes to Bruce for help and ends up healing and learning more about Bruce.

A League of Her Own by @comebackolivia. Immediately after the UtRH, Talia finds Jason in the rubble, kills to Joker, and takes him back to the League, where they try to take over and rebuild it with Nyssa. Jason becomes one of her generals. You might recognize them for their work on Not-So-Outlaw :)

VermillionFlame is another more recent author that has been working on Arkhamverse Jason. For Want of a Savior and Hold Fast (Don't Let Go) are two of my favorites.

For Want of a Savior has comic Jason wind up in Arkhamverse, and saves AK!Jason. He then helps him heal and the Batfam is in a panic after realizing Jason may be alive.

Hold Fast (Don't Let Go) is another AU where Jason shot Deathstroke while working on his revenge plan that would be seen in Arkham Knight. He then shows up at Wayne Manor for protection, throwing the family's peace into chaos as so many things come to light and people butt heads.

Echoes of Future Past by orangesky37 on AO3/ @kindlingkeen. Immediately after Jason's throat got slit in UtRH comic, he gets yeeted back to the past and is found by authorities. James Gordon brings Batman onto the case, not realizing Batman is Bruce Wayne. He gets protective of Jason when he tells Gordon that 'his dad did it.'

Going Down Like the Titanic by @sunnylighter A shortish Arkhamverse AU where Joker succeeds in getting Bruce to succumb to the Titan virus by showing Jason still alive in Arkham Asylum.

Bruce Wayne Must Die by @reginalusus. Jason wants to kill Bruce, only to find out that he's missing. He teams up with Harvey Dent to find him, and there's father-son bonding vibes between Harvey and Jason.

Do Unto Others by @romiress. Arkhamverse again (listen, I'm a sucker for that storyline when it comes to Jason. It's maximum angst potential). Khalid Nassour (Doctor Fate in DC comics) worked at Arkham Asylum under the payroll of Joker, albeit reluctantly. He was brought on to fix up Jason, and eventually he sneaks him out to help him heal.

Don't Let Them See You Cry by @daisyapples. Oh my god, you guys. Let me tell you. This series is vibrates in my brain to an insane degree. Shortly after Bucky breaks free from his Winter Soldier programming, he finds Jason and adopts him. It's so good, y'all. I literally drop everything to read this whenever it updates.

The Glue by sleepynarwhal. Daredevil is the one to mentor Spiderman instead in the MCU and it's very adorable how much Matt goes from reluctant mentor to embracing it, as well introducing him to the other Defenders.

the road home by @drakefeathers. Jason is homesick during his Lost Days Era world murder-tour and ends up returning home.

I'll Catch a Break Someday by @victory-in-the-skye. Fullmetal Alchemist crosses over with the MCU. It has Fem!Ed, which might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it definitely contributes to the story in a way that makes it interesting. The author does a fantastic job of capturing Ed's voice, even in first person! It's a series, but it hasn't been updated in a while and I hope the author is doing okay!

Arkham Compendium by @lananiscorner. If you're a fan of Arkhamverse, I cannot recommend this series enough. Focusing on Jason before, during, and after Arkham Knight, the author does a fantastic job of delving into Jason's psyche during the course of his life. Ill Weeds Grow Apace is my favorite of the series, focusing on Jason healing after Arkham Knight, and slowly reconnecting with his siblings. Lanani also has many other fantastic fics in DC, especially with Jason. While the author might not be in the fandom anymore, I will always be grateful for the fics that were written because they are masterpieces.

(If you're one of these authors on the list and I missed your tumblr @, let me know and I'll edit them in!)

[spinchip]

Just Don't Call Me Late For Dinner

transgirl Zane and picking out a new name.

“So,” Cole asks with an air of curated nonchalance, like asking the question he’s about to ask might be uncouth, “Do I still… call you Zane, or have you um, picked out a new name?”

She glances over at him, pausing the mental calculation she and Pixal had been working on to pin him with a soft smile. The question was meant in good faith, an effort to be supportive, but they were currently held prisoner in the dungeon of a madman, “Zane is fine. I have not had much time to think about my name, and considering our current situation I do not think it’s wise to split my attention.”

Cole chuckles a little at that which is good, she was trying to add a bit of levity to her words with the inflection of her voice, “That’s fair. Just let me know if anything changes, yeah?”

“Of course.” She goes back to work, the conversation sitting in the back of her mind for her to examine later.

I would be happy to take a break and consider the matter of your name, Pixal informs her in that familiar matter-of-fact way, It could prove a good mental reset, though i imagine that term does not accurately ascribe itself to AI.

Thank you, but really, I am okay. I would prefer not to pick out a new name while in captivity. She thinks back at her, a dungeon is not quite conducive to the process. I would prefer something so important not be sullied by this experience.

Understood. Pixal says simply, and they move on from the topic.

Later, after everything is over and done and mostly-processed, Cole glances up at her as she enters the living room with a curious smile, “how was the mall?” He asks her.

“Looks like you got a lot of stuff.” Lloyd comments from his spot on the carpet in front of the TV. He’s laying flat on his back and reading a comic book above his head casually.

“It was a total success!” Kai answers for her.

She supposes that is alright, considering he did most of the heavy lifting when it came to her new fashion choices. He had an eye for clothing- it was the main reason she’d brought him along. Before she’d rebuilt herself, everything she owned was bulky and big and picked out for how it hid her silhouette. With her new body, she found her old wardrobe… lacking character. Boring. But having been so ignorant to the fashion world, she’d enlisted the resident stylist for his help. Thank the first master for all those magazines he got every month. She’d done her homework before they went out and knew somewhat what was in style and what she liked (they didn’t always overlap) and Kai had helped her build outfits and pick out several cornerstone pieces in her new wardrobe.

“I am happy with our trip.” She says with a smile, setting down several bags. Kai took the liberty of showing off a few of her new things. Dresses, skirts, jeans and tops, sweaters and shoes. It had been a long day, but she felt exhilarated by the experience instead of exhausted and sad like she always had when shopping in the mens section.

“Speaking of new things, given any thought to your name?” Cole asks again, the question much more casual than the first time he’d asked.

She wasn’t completely unobservant to social cues, and she’d certainly noticed and appreciated that they were all somewhat avoiding the name Zane for her since she’d informed them of her new identity. Her life as of recently was full of a myriad of nicknames.

“I am… still thinking about it.” She admits a bit bashfully, “I’m not sure where to begin.”

“It’s a big decision. Do you need any help?” Jay says without looking away from the video game he was currently horribly losing at.

She takes a moment to ponder that before she sits down on the couch next to Cole, “I would be open to suggestions.” She says agreeably, “Are there any names you think would fit me?”

Cole humms and flips his sketch pad to a new page, scribbling Possible Names? On the top, “Well, that depends. What are you wanting? Something that starts with the same initial?” he thinks for a moment before he starts writing things down as he says them aloud, “Zinnia? Zoey? Zuri?”

“Zinnia sounds too similar to Nya,” She says with a shake of her head before shooting the girl a smile, “I mean no offense.”

“None taken,” Nya says with a shrug, “I get it. What about something more technology based? Perl? Ada? Siri? Maybe Julia or Ruby?”

Jay curses as his character dies on screen before throwing his two cents in, “Tera or Zetta, like the bytes?” He starts the level over again, “We could get weird with it. Circuit? Mimo? Variable?”

“Variable!?” Kai repeats, looking at Jay like he’s grown a second head.

“Var is a beautiful name for a girl!” Jay insists instantly, defensively huddling over the controller in his hands.

“I’m not sure about that one Frosty.” Kai says frankly before his eyes light up, “Hey, what about names having to do with ice? I’ll look some up.” He says excitedly, pulling out his phone.

While he’s doing that, she leans over to see what Cole has written down so far and to also stage whisper to him, “You do not have to write down Variable.”

“It’s not that outrageous!” Jay pouts.

“Okay, what about Winter? Neve? Noelle?” He clicks over to another article, “This one says Frostine but that feels a little heavy handed to me. Ooh, I like Ivy and Holly if you want something more nature-y. Aurora is nice too.” He narrates as he scrolls through different lists.

“Neve feels like something my Father would have picked in another life,” She says wistfully, “But I am not certain it feels quite right for me in this one.”

“How about Lena?” Lloyd offers up, peeking over his comic.

“Isn’t that Fritz Donnegans love interest in starfarer?” Nya asks suspiciously.

“Actually she’s his twin sister.” Jay corrects, “Well they made her his sister in the third movie, before that it wasn’t canon.”

“I thought the third movie was about Fritz Donnegans dad turning evil.”

“No, those are the prequels. That’s the sixth movie they made.” Lloyd says as he flips his comic book back open.

Nya rolls her eyes, “If it’s a prequel then chronologically that is the third movie.”

“We’re getting off topic.” Cole interrupts before the conversation can devolve any further. He holds out his sketchpad for her to examine, “Do any of these speak to you?”

Zinnia Zoey Zuri Perl Ada Siri Julia Ruby Terra Zetta Circuit Mimo V Winter Neve Noelle Frostine? Ivy Holly Aurora Lena

“I like Perl?” She offers.

“That didn’t sound very confident.” Kai points out with a raised brow.

“Okay, so that’s the closest. What do you like about it?”

She rolls the name around her head for a long moment, trying to figure out why it stood out to her, “It is one syllable, like Zane. It does not end in an ‘a’ sound.”

“Short and to the point. I can work with that.” Nya tilts her head to think, “Sage. Elle? Skye?”

“Skylor” She reminds Nya with a shake of her head.

“Jade?” Jay suggests, “Oh, too similar to Jay.”

“And Harumi. Jade princess?” Lloyd points out with a cringe.

“Oh, right.”

“Wynn? Oh, hey, Wren? You like birds.” Cole scribbles down the new names while she mulls over his options.

“Wren is closer.” She says slowly, “A high contender for sure.”

“Birds!” Kai says excitedly, “What are more one syllable birds?”

Lloyd closes his comic book again so he can think better, “Lark?”

Nya taps her fingers against her chin, “How about Dove?”

“Raven?”

“That’s two syllables Jay.” Kai groans.

Jay throws his hands up in defeat, “I’m not good at this!”

“Dove.” She repeats suddenly into the room, the name tasting sweet and comfortable on her tongue, “I think my name is Dove.”

“Nya you got it!” Kai whoops before he deflates, “Aw, I'm jealous she picked your suggestion.”

Nya sits back with a smile, preening at her choice.

Cole’s smiling ear to ear as he straightens up on the couch, “Alright, let’s try it out! A little role-play.” He turns his body to face her and pretends to hold a cup in one hand and a marker in the other, “Alright, Ma’am, i’ve got a Venti Oat milk latte with toffee nut and pumpkin.” He spins off the top of his head.

“I would not order that.” She interrupts, “I do not like toffee.”

“Can I get a name for your order?” Cole railroads on, giving her a meaningful look.

She doesn’t roll her eyes at his shenanigans because this whole thing has been incredibly sweet, “My name is Dove.” She tells him, the words fitting perfectly in her mouth. There’s a joy bubbling up her chest making her giggle as he pretends to scribble her name down on an invisible cup.

“It’s spelled D-O-V-E.” Jay explains slowly as Cole writes.

“Just in case you weren’t sure.” Lloyds plays into the bit.

“Shut up.” Cole rolls his eyes, but there’s no real heat to it before he offers her a genuine smile, “That’s a great name.”

“It suits you.” Kai adds and Nya nods along.

“Thank you.” Dove says, unable to hide her bright smile.

[luimagines]

Android Au Warrior

Another commission!

They asked for Warrior this time, helping Reader after a nightmare and realizing his purpose for being there after all. It's... not exactly that. But I thought I did a well enough job on it. :)

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

The house in which he was stationed was... strange, to say the least.

The WARLKN model was used for higher security and working with a team of other like-minded WARLNK models who all had the same purpose. 

Given that this house only held one human, he failed to see why his specific role was needed. The human in question already had other androids in their service. One was a child WNDLNK model and the other happened to be a repurposed SKYLNK model for general upkeep around the house.

His charge was also… strange, to say the least.

This whole situation was illogical.

While he could understand the need for multiple androids, it wasn’t as if the human was in need of his specific security skills.

He had been given to you through a friend. It was likely the same friend who had given you the same SKYLNK model and had continuously done maintenance to keep the outdated WNDLNK model functioning despite its decades-old parts. 

You called affectionately called him Warrior, after the first incident when you had encountered a bug and had all but lost it. He charged into the room to defend you from any threats that may have broken into your home but calmly took the poor creature outside to be released onto the nearest tree.

Given a new designation was no easy thing to assimilate into his programming. There was no space in his code for any personalization or any domestic nomenclature. He was built and designed for professionalism and maximized security risks. The lack of any nefarious activity in his current protectorate was grating on his nerofibers, the very biocomponents to be likened to stainless steel mesh.

But never let it be said that the WARLNK model as a whole was known for their flexibility and ability to work beyond the parameters of their mission.

And right now?

There were a lot of things beyond his mission that ‘Warrior’ found himself needing to learn to adapt to his current assignment.

The beginning challenges were nothing short of brain-breaking, such as getting used to his new name. Not to mention getting used to the names of the other androids within the premises.

In his previous deployment, he was supposed to refer to each and every model by their serial number and post. However, seeing that he was the only android in charge of security, that was no longer an option. Not that they seemed to know what their serial number was, to begin with.

‘Warrior’ couldn’t get over how… lax the procedures seemed to be in this two-bedroom studio apartment. There was no set morning shift, no set time off- actually, retract that earlier statement. There weren’t any shifts at all.

Not that he expected much from a busted-up domestic android and what was clearly a child’s sentimental attachment to an out-of-style, breaking down, obsolete droid that was working well enough beyond its years. ‘Warrior’ didn’t expect those two to be able to stop a break-in from happening should the issue arise. This meant that any and all security would have to be left up to him to take into account and hold up the standards his protocol deemed necessary.

As an android, this wasn’t a problem.

The problem was that his chief and commander seemed to be purposefully getting his way from doing his job!

It didn’t matter what he did or at what time. The chief always had something to say about the execution of his protocol. He was constantly being called ‘overbearing’, ‘dramatic,’ and what was more insulting- ‘extra’.

He was not extra! 

Nor was he overbearing!

Granted, his model had the tendency to overindulge in performance and to exaggerate in the more comical sense for the sake of a human’s nerves, so perhaps by definition he was ‘dramatic.’ Not that he was ever going to agree with the charges, but ‘Warrior’ was well-versed enough in his model to know better than to open his mouth in that regard.

His commander and chief had made it abundantly clear that ‘Warrior’ was not needed. They refused to rehouse or relocate him to be put to better use, but they didn’t hesitate to outwardly tell him that he had no purpose within the apartment.

‘Warrior’ had half the mind to agree, as damaging to his code and sense of accomplishment that would be. The parameters where he worked were small enough as it was, and he was mostly confined to the inside of the apartment. Checking the perimeter was an easy and fruitless endeavor when he could have done a quick scan with his visual biocomponents and gotten the same results.

The neighborhood was quiet and there were mostly elderly living in the complex. The streets hardly had anyone on them at any given point in time and the most activity ‘Warrior’ could say that he witnessed was when the mailmen would come to drop off the archaic paper mail still in circulation. 

There was that one time that a dog had escaped one of the apartments through a door with a faulty lock and began to chase after the mailman. ‘Warrior’ had acted quickly to defend the droid and had returned the dog to its proper place. If it was within his programming, he would have deemed it humorous to think that a tiny cocker spaniel had attempted to defend its home from an LGNLNK model droid.

That was the first time ‘Warrior’ had completed any sort of security task outside of the house.

It was after that event that multiple elders had gone to his commander and chief, thanking them for his presence. The elderly had felt more at ease knowing that a capable droid, designed to serve and protect was nearby on the off chance should anything happen to the neighbors. ‘Warrior’ felt his biomechanical component swell with the closest thing to pride that he was able to duplicate.

After that, he was given permission and the privilege to expand his duties from apartment 231 to the entire complex on Baker Street.

“Back already?” The commander and chief chirped when he had finished his rounds around the apartment complex. He had gone around the perimeter three times and had checked every individual floor for any suspicious activity before returning to his duties within his docking suite.

The commander hadn’t even turned to see him enter the apartment. They were too busy finishing a marathon of horror games that they had started by the time he left.

“Yes,” He nodded toward them. “I have returned. Everything is in the clear and in working order. The grass appears to have grown a millimeter taller already. I planned to contact management and inform them to call a set of TWILNK models to do the landscaping of the complex.”

“Yeah, yeah- that’s great.” They said, eyes glued to the screen. “I already had dinner so need to wait up.”

He nodded.

He was made of metal and silicone substrates. Unlike them, he had no need to consume energy. Even if they seemed to forget that more often than any of the other models seemed to mention. ‘Warrior’ wasn’t about to go out of his way to remind them though.

He entered further into the apartment and saluted the SKYLNK model who smiled in that awkward still-learning phase that most non-adjusted android tend to do when they’ve been socially stunted. ‘Warrior’ passes the WNDLNK model next.

“Hi, Warrior!” His voice is strained and the speaker will need to be replaced soon if he’s not careful with his volume.

“Hello… Wind.” ‘Warrior’ says pleasantly. The nomenclature was foreign but he found that it rolled off his artificial easier and easier than before. His own voice was new and undamaged. It was designed to be pleasant to the human ear if he ever needed to placate or seduce, depending on the mission he had been given. “Have you behaved yourself today?”

“I did my homework and now Sky says that he’s going to let me make dessert.” ‘Wind’ cheered. ‘Warrior’ smiled at his enthusiasm. Whoever had programmed him had done extensive research on the behaviors and mannerisms of children because it was uncanny how his programming reacted to the smaller android in front of him.

The urge to protect and defend until his ‘dying breath’ was a core part of his ultimate purpose.

“Don’t burn down the kitchen,” ‘Warrior’ told him in jest. The smaller droid laughed and ran off to join the chief and commander in front of the television to backseat game during their marathon.

With his duties and obligations done for the day, ‘Warrior’ retreated to his post next to the coat closet, beside the front door, where he could watch all points of entry to the apartment and keep an eye on all the individuals under his care.

A small blue dot appeared on the side of his vision, an icon meant to inform him that he was in need of a proper recharge if he intended to continue with his duties and shift.

The idea sets him on edge.

‘Warrior’ knew better than to ignore the necessary protocols on his upkeep, but he was in charge of all safety measurements and was the only one capable of carrying them out. In order to fully recharge his energy banks, he’d need to be offline for a total of seven hours, 46 minutes, and 12 seconds and counting. 

He ran the numbers of the off chance of intrusion or structural collapse. He knew the building was up to code with the current safety measures that the modern age could offer. The apartment was high enough in the complex and furthest from all entry points so an intruder wouldn’t likely come inside without serious intervention. Chances of a fire or any medical emergency were unlikely but possible. However, in such cases, ‘Sky’ was equipped to deal with first responders and likely had the appropriate coding to assist the commanding chief in a practical sense. ‘Wind’ was likely to be more of a moral support player to keep them calm enough for ‘Sky’ to handle it if such an event were to occur.

With that in mind, ‘Warrior’ moved from his post by the door and went into the docking room. It was a space that he and the other androids had shared. There was only one bed, but it had been agreed upon by the droids that ‘Wind’ should receive it, seeing that the other two had no need for such concepts whatsoever.

He walked over to the furthest wall and stood by the charging dock. Unlocking a latch in the palm of his synthetic skin, he steps onto the platform and presses his hand to the exposed outlet. It’s always felt a bit strange to be charged this way. The sensation was cold and he was never able to stay online continuously while he charged.

It was one of the many reasons he was discharged from his original post.

They called him faulty.

Still, as his body and circuitry began to settle and go into sleep mode, he didn’t feel the usual concern with losing consciousness. ‘Wind’ and ‘Sky’ could be heard in the kitchen, using multiple power tools for whatever food they were trying out this time. The Commander was in the living room and he could hear the muffled curses and shouts of concern for whatever game they had decided to play this time.

He found it in himself to smile and his mind turned off.

After the needed time had come and gone for him to fully recharge his energy bank, ‘Warrior’ came to consciousness in a dark and silent house. It was jarring. The silence wouldn’t have been unwarranted if it hadn’t been for the noise he had fallen into sleep mode with.

He undocks from the charging station, fixing the panel on his palm and stepping away from the wall. ‘Sky’ had stepped into the second change station beside him, likely also in sleep mode given the lack of reaction and closed eyes from his fellow android. ‘Wind’ was lying down in the bed, likewise also being charged for the next day. He had a cord that had to be plugged into an outlet that connected to the back of his head, hidden from human eyes with his synthetic hair.

Unlike him, they had the option to be offline while charging. They claimed that it helped the time go by faster while The Commander was sleeping. They claimed that it helped them feel more human.

‘Warrior’ had no need to feel human. He wasn’t one. And he wasn’t going to pretend now.

However, despite knowing this ‘Warrior’ had half the mind to be annoyed with them.

He had trusted them with the safety of the Commander. And they abandon their posts with such ease.

He steps out of the room post haste.

A single glance at a nearby clock informs him that the hour is promptly 4:30 am. A rather unfortunate time for him to return online. His charging had taken him longer than the timer had told him. Something he would have to mention to The Doctor next time she visits. His meticulous examination of the apartment started at once, checking for anything suspicious or faulty that might have taken place while he was offline.

It was in the middle of this inspection there a sudden scream from The Commander’s room that captured his attention at once.

He rushed to the room with no time to waste. Without knocking, he opens the door with a hand on his utility belt to reach for his mandated baton. 

…There was nobody in the room.

Aside from the commander and chief.

‘Warrior’ however, took pride in his work ethic and quickly did a scan of the room regardless. His sudden bulldozing of the door hadn’t gone unnoticed by you. You had nearly screamed again when he entered.

The sight of him was enough to get you to calm down. ‘Warrior’ noticed it, but didn’t call attention to it. The last thing he needed was The Commander thinking that he didn’t trust their judgment. 

Nothing.

There was no appearance of even a bug in the room like the last time this had happened.

Satisfied with the lack of results but confused with the need for intervention, ‘Warrior’ turned to you. You were obviously shaken. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have screamed the way you did. The sheer terror in your voice had never been heard before.

Moving slowly to not startle you further, ‘Warrior’ stepped closer to your bed and sat on the far edge. “Are you alright?”

You were shaking and breathing heavier than the normal pace that would be considered normal for a human. A quick scan told him that your heart rate was higher than normal as well, not to mention the subtle sweat that lined your brow and neck.

Panic.

Pure unadulterated panic.

You couldn’t even answer him. You were too focused on the nightmare still lingering in your mind.

‘Warrior’, not about to leave you to your horrors, scooted closer and pulled you close to his body. Surprisingly, you latched on without a second thought. You shuddered and began to cry quietly on his shoulder.

“Warrior.” You whimpered. “There- There were so many of them. They were all chasing me- I couldn’t run fast enough-”

“Shhh…” He says softly. “My job is to protect you. To protect this family. I won’t let anything hurt you. They have to go through me first.”

You gulped but didn’t refute his claim.

The silence stretched for a moment before he decided to run his hand through your hair. “I’m not the type to give orders to my Commander but don’t play those games so late into the day. No more horror games after dark.”

“...They’re in the shadows…” You whispered. “They’re everywhere.”

‘Warrior’ didn’t know what they were, but he wasn’t about to let a threat enter this apartment or your mind. “Show me,” He says firmly, leaving no room for argument. “Point them out, Chief. I’ll take care of it.”

You shook your head and took in a shuddering breath. The sound ricocheted through the room, breaking the delicate silence behind the force of his words. 

“You can’t fight these demons, Warrior Mine.” You shook your head.

“Watch me,” He challenged. He hugged you a little tighter. “I’ll protect you. That’s my purpose. That’s why I’m here.”

You fall silent.

‘Warrior’ kept running his hand over your head, using the other one to rub soothing circles onto your back. “I’ll protect you,” He repeated. “You don’t have to be afraid. Nothing is going to get to you while I’m here. I’ve always done my job. And I’m very good at my job. I will protect you.”

You nodded and eventually relaxed in his arms.

‘Warrior’ had assumed that was the cue to let go of you and return to his surveillance, but at the very instant he lessened the pressure on you, you had latched back on. You whimpered again, burying your face deeper into the crook of his neck. “Don’t. Don’t leave.”

“I won’t,” He said at once. “Never. I’ll stay all night if I have to.”

Another small beat of silence on your part.

“...Promise?”

“It is my duty and purpose to ensure your safety.” He said again. “Do you trust me to do my job?”

You didn’t lift your head. Your voice was a wisp of a whisper against his audio receptors. “Yes… You’re borderline obsessive with your protocols.”

“They are to ensure your well-being and safety-”

“Yes, yes, yes…” You cut him off, relaxing once more in his arms. “...Stay anyway? Just until I fall asleep?”

“I will stay by your side until you wake up again, Chief.” He says softly, adjusting your position o rest more comfortably against him. “I will fight for you. Forever and always.”

“I named you appropriately.” You mumbled. 

“I am Warrior after all.”

[homestuckreplay]

Homestuck with a Different Starting Character

In some video games, players are given a choice of which character they’d like to begin the story with. Homestuck doesn’t allow this – Act 1 begins with the player as John Egbert, and Rose Lalondegets seamlessly folded into the story – but Acts 2 and 3 take us back in time to the moment the story starts, and give us a glimpse of what a Homestuck starring Dave, Jade or even the Wayward Vagabond would be like.

Starting with Dave. This means beginning with pages 309-333, 337-357, 381-384, 443-466, 562-613, and then Dave’s full strife with Bro (p.665, 836, 871, 1070). During this whole time, both the narrative and Dave’s friends would be talking about Sburb and stressing the importance of Dave playing it to save Rose’s life, and as readers, we would either have to take it on faith that Sburb is capable of that, or we’d be skeptical and ultimately very surprised when Dave eventually boots up the game and sees Rose. In other words, we would get an immersive Dave experience. Dave also really loves John and makes that clear in his earliest pages, so as readers we’d be excited to meet this even cooler guy that the existing coolguy loves so much. However, Dave’s resistance to reader commands such as ‘retrieve arms from cinderblocks’ wouldn’t stand out in contrast to other characters, and the Midnight Crew would be the second characters we meet visually, making this comic within a comic feel plot crucial.

Starting with Jade. The story would begin at the start of Act 3 and continue uninterrupted to page 835, followed by several other Jade sections scattered throughout the act leading up to ‘Jade: Pester John’ (p.1073). This would be out first glimpse of ‘real’ John, but we’d actually see him sooner in the Midnight Crew intermission, which would call into question his entire character arc when we met him for real – does John suck so bad at his sylladex because he’s just escaped from a comic into the real world? Jade is the weirdest character who breaks narrative patterns, but her fourth wall breaking, naming herself, interacting directly with the reader, and having multiple fetch modi, instruments and home decorations would feel like the norm. Going from the weirdest to the most surface-normal character could be an interesting story, but I think it’d work better if it was done intentionally. Jade has a life filled with exciting things like her dreambot, radioactive pet dog, and mystic frog ruins, so we’d be waitingfor the other shoe to drop with similar weirdness for the other characters, and it never would. Also, Jade’s story is so interlinked with WV’s that I think introducing them consecutively was a really good move, so it’d have to be Jade and WV before meeting the other kids.

Starting with the Wayward Vagabond. This would mean beginning with the ‘Years in the future…’ pages (p.248, 271, 439, 509), followed by WV’s extended sequence creating Can Town in the bunker (p.666-756) and ‘WV: Ascend’. This would introduce us to John through WV’s command terminal and an incomprehensible list of past/future commands, telling us right away that John is being commanded in-universe as well as out, and to Rose, Dave and Dad through brief glimpses of their positions at the end of act 2. I actually love this idea, and think this would be a fascinating prologue. The first glimpse of Skaian cosmology would come from WV’s wall drawings and chessboard, and we’d unearth Sburb like an archaeologist, piecing together that something very bad happened centuries earlier and that a very small number of humans might have survived. It would probably raise a lot of curiosity about the meaning of ‘captchalogue’, which is mentioned only for WV to say he doesn’t know what it means. It would also emphasize the role of timeloops and paradoxes much sooner, and begin with an already large-scale, zoomed-out story, instead of the slow build we currently have.

Starting with Rose is challenging, as her story begins already very entwined with John’s, but here’s some bonus options instead.

Reading Homestuck chronologically by when its pages are set would (right now at page 1088) mean starting with pages 999-1000, which take place on December 1, 2008. This begins with Jade’s birthday instead of John’s, and keeps the focus on birthday gifts that starting at page 1 has. It hints at Jade’s powers, and the supernatural elements of the story, right away, and it shows the reader John’s graffitied and clown-covered walls before we see his blank room, so we know something weird is going on with this kid from day one. The trolls are discussed more than Rose and Dave in this conversation, so starting here makes it seem like the trolls will be much more important to the kids’ adventures than they are so far.

Reading Homestuck at one page per day, an update schedule more comparable to other webcomics, would take almost three years to read everything that’s been posted so far. It would also dramatically change the story’s pacing. Jade Harley would spend five days picking up fruit (p.781-5) but ‘WV: Ascend’ would still be a single day. Flash updates such as ‘Dave: Abscond’ would help avoid a common problem with webcomics (including Problem Sleuth) where fight scenes take up a lot of out of universe time, but weeks of an extended sylladex joke would probably frustrate more readers into quitting.

Reading Homestuck with just the pictures. I have heard about people doing this, and it makes sense – most webcomics keep their text entirely within the strips, and external text is optional. Following John’s actions early on is okay without text, but it’s almost impossible to get a sense of his character.

Reading Homestuck with just the text. I think it would be nearly impossible to get to grips with captchalogue mechanics this way, which are already lots of people’s least favorite part of the story, plus it would remove all the interactivity and music, which are a big part of what scratches the brain.

Reading Homestuck by randomly sorting the numbers 1-1088 and reading the pages in that order. DO NOT DO THIS.

[artbyblastweave]

Re: WW84 and Maxwell Lord

What didn't you like about how that movie did the character, and what do you view as the essential parts of the character?

So, I've gotta lead with the caveat that my understanding of Lord's character arc in the comics is informed by a very scattershot sampling of comics from across his publication history, acquired piecemeal via thrift stores and inheritance. I'm not the world's foremost Maxwell Lord Understander.

With that out of the way, my understanding of the shape of his character arc is that he was a originally well-meaning but morally-flexible Trump pastiche who was bank-rolling the Justice League during a nadir in their perceived legitimacy, before an eventual pivot to antagonist status after a retcon that he had become disillusioned with superhumanity during his stint with the League and had been maneuvering to purge them for some time. Or something. Eventually he escalated in the threat he posed until Wonder Woman wound up snapping his neck on live television because he'd established irrevocable mind control over Superman through years of subtle psychic conditioning. Or something. My understanding is that how well this pivot and the attendant retcons were executed is up for debate.

But, regardless of your judgement of how it was actually executed, the idea of the League falling in with a snake in the grass during a lean season and not noticing the threat he poses until it's too late- or that threat not even coming to exist without the snake's inside access to, and experience with, the League- is a really rich one, pulling the angels down to earth and forcing them to interface with questions of Money and Marketing and how that can backfire on you and your lofty ideals. The idea of the funny 80s tycoon gradually swelling in threat in the background over the course of out-of-universe years until he's in a position to fuck the entire planet is an idea that has some resonance for. Reasons. The fallout of an A-list superheroine having to put him down on live television because he's working Superman like a muppet could be really interesting. Basically you can point to any iteration of Lord, describe to me his role in the universe at any given point in his publication history, and it would sound cooler to me, more embedded in the world and the worldbuilding, than the WW1984 version, where he was an 80s Fantasy-Comedy Protagonist who Needs to Learn An Important Lesson About The Value Of Family, haphazardly stapled to a superhero plot. And it was, I don't know, fine. No better or worse than the movie it was embedded in (not very good). But there wasn't a lot of room to take that implementation of the character anywhere. You can't retool him as a Machiavellian manipulator executing heroes gangland style once he's Learned About Family. He did his thing, he's done.

Anyway, the upcoming version seems, at a glance, like it's synergizing a lot of the ideas I like about the character in a way that aligns with Gunn's worldbuilding sensibilities. This is a guy who's rich but not Lex Luthor rich. This is a guy who's throwing his weight around to get in a say in the superhero game but his sponsored team is a bunch of second-stringers, he doesn't have Vought-levels of corporate monopoly over the space. This guy is an aspirant player in an established field, a guy who could break in a bunch of interesting directions from the opening status quo (or just die in his first appearance like a chump, who knows.) This is a kind of public figure who would plausibly exist- if superheroes were quotidian enough that they're back to being just another kind of job, how many real life overly online businessmen do we know that'd jump to scoop a handful up as corporate mascots?

[toringo]

i’m OBSESSED with your anti tulpar comics, i’ve been rotating them in my mind nonstop for the past few days! how do you think a!curly feels about a!jimmy?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

You have no idea how happy it makes me to know, that people really enjoy those. I know it's not even my au, but I've been genuinely hyperfixating on it for some time now, and making up my own lore (obviously the creator doesn't mind, they said it's all up to interpretation).

My take on A!Curly's opinion of A!Jimmy and some A!Curly background and hcs:

He thinks Jimmy is weak, pathetic, and simply put a loser. He's annoying, easy to push around, and doesn't put up too much of a fight, which is good, because - hot take - A!Curly is just as much of a pushover as the canon one.

He puts on a mean face and abuses his power to put down the others, to make himself feel better (feel important and in control), but if someone shows that they can snap back he loses the fight quite easily.

He's a people pleaser, the top student with no personal life kind. It's just that he's looking for approval as a 'tough leader' now. You know, the epitome of masculinity with nerves of steel and 0 sensitivity.

People usually need 10 years of experience to become a captain, he got the title in half that time, unlike canon!Curly (If someone asks how it was totally natural and due to his stellar performance! Don't question it too much!)

He doesn't have anything much going on back on Earth, also unlike canon Curly. He distances himself from his family (never truly satisfied with his achievements) and has no close friends. He sees no point in making any now that he spends most of his time in space. Doesn't really believe in love, either.

He didn't pass the psych eval twice in a row and is on Pony Express approved (questionable) antidepressants/mood stabilizers. Still fit to fly!

With all that being said; he considers Jimmy an easy target and abuses him primarily because of that. He can't stand this weakling stumbling around all pathetic and apologetic, while he has to work so hard to keep up his reputation.

It pisses him off that some guy just… doesn't care that others see him like this. Curly would care, it would break him if anyone thought of him like they do of Jimmy! So it's annoying that this janitor doesn't even try.

A perfect excuse to make himself feel bigger, too; it's not like he's a bad guy. This loser needs to learn, after all, that people like him don't survive in a place like this.

It gets worse when he starts realizing, that Jimmy is putting up a front and is actually way more cunning and capable than people think. Makes him feel on edge, paranoid. Like Jimmy is there to make him spiral; like he was sent by his higher-ups to check on him.

Then he finds out Jimmy is actually an emergency pilot (not on any papers Curly had access to). Yeah, he hates his guts.

When they enter their 'relationship' (it's mostly very humiliating hate sex ngl), Curly gets to know him a bit better. He still resents him, even more knowing that Jimmy can be a cold and cruel man under the mask of submissiveness. And even more, when Jimmy shows just how little respect he has for his captain.

But it's… a relief, having someone know how you really are, seeing your 'worst self'. He kind of feels like with every small thing he reveals to Jimmy, he gives up a bit more of control and gives him more ammunition, but well. Bitches be lonely.

So they have this weird thing going on, where Curly abuses Jimmy in front of the crew and during work hours, to unwind and reassure himself about his position and vent the abuse he experiences from HIS higher-ups, and Jimmy abuses him in private (for many, many reasons. Also bc he's sadistic).

They both think that if they hurt the other enough, he will stop hurting them. They're wrong. Although Curly gives up more easily, and Jimmy goes overboard quite a lot (as he has nothing to lose, is an obsessive weirdo, and was keeping his mouth shut about what Curly was doing for so long that at this point all the years of hatred are spilling out. He also has a personal vendetta against Curly, because he admired him and wanted to befriend him before he became a captain (and had any power over him) and Curly just started treating him like trash soon after getting the title).

YEAH sorry I will talk more about it later, sorry for being chaotic - they're just awful and disgusting and need to be put on some kind of meds (Curly's pills don't count)

[questionablecuttlefish]

Timebomb and Lightcannon (and why we're tugging at the same oar in the same boat)

Okay, this is good, let's talk about this too. I think this raises some interesting points.

Starting with the end here a little bit, yeah, looking back, the fact that she jumps is interesting to me. I've seen it interpreted as her both trying to avoid hurting him more and as her trying to circumvent whatever he's doing to stop her by getting farther away, but I lean more toward the first point. It's subtle, but it is an interesting point.

She was still fine with blowing him up at least the first few pulls, though, so my point still stands, too.

I would caveat that I don't think their stories taking different directions would be 'throwing out the groundwork' at all. Because all of that groundwork is character development, too, and, together or separate, both characters carry that with them, wherever they happen to go from here.

So an Ekko/Jinx reunion and romance could build on that, yes, but so could a return of the Powder AU (I get a nagging sense we haven't seen the last of AU!Powder, her knowledge of the Z-drive, the art Ekko made of grown-up Vi and the gems in her drawer feel like a whole battery of unfired Chekov's guns), so could future relationships with Lux, Ezreal, or Zeri, whatever those might be, and so could non-romantic, non-shippy storylines of Ekko growing into his own as a Zaunite leader and Jinx going on her journey of self-discovery and self-redefining.

It's all valid and possible from here.

Moving on though, i think it's interesting what you said about the "had a crush" line because this takes me to another thing I Feel Strongly About which is: the relationship between Timebomb and Lightcannon.

Because y'know we're in the same boat, right?

Timebomb had "I had a crush, until you started talking to the gun" and "Powder..." and "I miss you" in LoR. And more recently that Wild Rift trailer of them fighting together. And Chroma Crash!

...but meanwhile, Lightcannon had "Lux makes even boring beautiful" and "don't forget to miss me, Lux" and "This almost breaks my heart Lux" and a bunch of others in Star Guardian. Lightcannon also had a whole ass sapphic music video:

Lightcannon also had this:

And this:

And even this:

Which was one of the first teasers for the mysterious new punk Zaunite champion and apparently the first thing that inspired/teased the Jinx/Lux ship before Jinx was even released as a Champion.

So it's not only an older ship than timebomb, older than Ekko, it's older than Jinx, and that's freaking nuts.

At one point we even had an official Riot artist (who still works there) drawing off-the-books comics and art with Lux and Jinx kissing both in the SG and mainstream universes.

But my point here is not to try to 'gotcha' Timebomb or make it seem like Lightcannon is more legit. It's not. We are talking about ships from league of legends here guys.

I'm pointing out that until Arcane S2, we were both in the same boat. We were both non-canonized crack ships based on a couple of voice lines and a few ship teasy bits of promo art and videos.

And in some ways, we still are, because of where S2 left Timebomb off.

So you'll have to forgive Lightcannons for being a bit cynical when people come at us about 'canon'. We've been at this for ten years. We've had our thing teased and yanked away and teased and yanked away from us by Riot, again and again.

Star Guardian, yay! Burning Bright, they're childhood friends turned comrades turned rivals, tsundere Jinx who took the oath to protect Lux leaving the team and Lux pining for her until she returns to save the day!

Next SG comes out, suddenly Ezreal.

And they never share a skinline again until - but we'll get to that.

Oh wait, there's Wild Rift! Look at the two cuties adventuring together! Jinx rescues Lux from her boring life and they're running and fighting together and Jinx watches Lux unleash her light with 😍

Oh they're releasing all the Timebomb/Ezlux skins on Wild Rift? Oh okay. Valoran Town, Jinx is Lux's only friend, she's helping Lux sneak away from Demacia to move on with her and THEY WERE ROOMMATES and they're hugging and Jinx is on Lux's phone background screen and they're so cute toget-oh there's Ezreal again.

Oh, they're sharing a skinline again? Oh, it's Lovestruck? Oh, it's another Ezlux/Timebomb skinline, with paired hetero valentines skins? okay.

The biggest difference between Timebomb and Lightcannon is that Timebomb has a champion. Timebomb has Amanda Overton. Let's not be blind here, until she decided it was her ship and she was going to make it canon within Arcane, Timebomb wasn't 'canon'. Ekko's spinoff game, his comics, his short stories, never had a whiff of timebomb in them, even the boss fight in Convergence and that's the only time in the pre-Arcane lore he actually interacts with Jinx outside of the voice lines, and his line there is: "We interact a perfect amount, Jinx! Never!" Before Arcane, timebomb was in the same boat as Lightcannon. Just a fun cracky ship based on a few crumbs and a couple of voicelines.

That's where Lightcannon still is. We don't have Overton, we don't have a champion trying to tell our story. In fact, call me cynical, but to me the above evidence suggests someone at Riot actually hates our ship, or is afraid of it getting in the way of Ezlux, despite their bizarre avoidance of actually making Ezlux in any way a legitimate romance and not a weird one-sided stalker crush played for laughs.

But they don't hate us enough not to string us along. Not to give us Star Guardians and the WR trailer and Valoran Town and even to make those new Lovestruck skins actually kinda match each other's partners more than the hetero pairings.

Why? Well we're still a demographic, we might make them some $$$. They don't want us to leave, heavens no.

So you'll have to forgive us if we look at the new crop of Timebomb fans screaming and crying about not getting their endgame and tiredly thinking:

"You got most of a 40 minute spinoff episode, a dance sequence, a French love song on the soundtrack, and an onscreen kiss? And one of the showrunners loves you? And now you're getting future spinoff teases, a bunch of voice lines in the $250 Jinx gacha bullshit and a Valentine's skin?" "And it's not enough? You think you're hard done by....? Really?"

We survived a decade on crumbs and spite, and you won't let us have the faintest, slightest possibility that just this once, just in one universe, Jinx might even meet Lux?

Because make no mistake, Lightcannon shippers are only dreamily sighing at possibilities when we talk about the airship going to Demacia.

Now would be the perfect time, Demacia show on the way, Jinx on her way to new horizons, a calmer, sadder Jinx in desperate need of healing, a Lux unsure of her place in the world, a beautiful bond possible between two young women struggling with their identities in a world that hates them.

It would be perfect. Now or never.

But we don't have hope. Not really.

Because Riot has burned us, over and over again, Riot has lined up that football and yanked it away

Timebomb has Overton in its corner, so we will very likely never see our thing. We're most afraid of course of someone getting pilled on the "Game of Thrones" possibilities in a Demacia show and forcing Sylas/Lux canon, despite them being only a broken platonic friendship turned enemies in the existing canon, and the truly messed up age / power dynamics inherent in that ship.

To be Lightcannon is to suffer. Old Timebomb fans understood this. The new ones cannot comprehend. They've been indulged and inundated and then had the slightest taste of disappointment and can't handle it.

But we get it, we do, because we've lived it for ten years. Welcome to our world, even if you're just passing through.

We'll still be here.

But that doesn't mean we're not still together in that boat, for now, with one hand each on the paddle.

Maybe we can even listen to each other while we're at it.

Okay Fine Let's Talk Timebomb and Season Two.

I do want to talk about this because I have a Lot of thoughts and feelings and it has been building up and building up, not only based on what's happening in other social spaces, but what people keep bringing into mine despite my best efforts to avoid it.

This isn't any kind of hatepost, I don't think I could hate Ekko or the ship if I tried, I just want to explain my very mixed feelings about the whole thing.

My likely-to-be-very unpopular take on Season Two's Timebomb romance is that it left me feeling uneasy and uncomfortable.

Not with what was in the show itself, I feel like that was perfect. Powder and Ekko sold me completely. They made me feel things. I even liked how Ekko and Jinx's story ended. I think it was beautiful, poignant, perfect...

...until.

'The Discourse' since, the way the fan culture has exploded around it, and particularly some of the creators' commentary on it, has made me sour on the whole thing.

It feels like I'm suddenly part of an increasingly small subset of people who saw what they did with S2 Timebomb and applied our media literacy to what was on our screens and got something very different to what the fandom consensus seems to be.

For context, I semi-shipped TB before this. Though I've always been Team Lightcannon, I had a lot of respect for timebomb, I understood it, I had read a few very good fics, I was just in the space of "Jinx has hurt Ekko too much for him to ever fully forgive her for murdering his friends, they might come to an understanding, and there will always be a silent undercurrent of love beneath the hurt, they may fight together on the same side again someday, but whatever bond they had as kids is broken and they can't go back, and both know it."

I respected, and still do, people who shipped them romantically, but I've always seen them as a broken childhood friendship being a much more interesting dynamic, and being hot for each other lessening that to an extent and not really adding anything to it.

All of his interactions with Jinx in season one are violent; she murders five Firelights point-blank in front of him in her intro scene, and Ekko reacts particularly upset to the pink-haired girl, Eve or Eva, whom Jinx shoots in the back. It's clear this isn't even the first time she's fought them. We don't know how many of Ekko's found family she's put on the Memorial Wall or how close he was with any of them.

Ekko is clearly convinced that "Powder" is gone, and the person who replaced her is a cold-blooded killer who can't be reasoned with. Leading to the Bridge confrontation, and this:

This is the first time Ekko catches a glimpse of "Powder", yes, but more importantly, this is the first moment he recognizes Jinx's humanity. He's hurting her, killing her, and he can't do it.

....and she knows he can't do it.

So, to save him the weight, she pulls a grenade, with the intent to kill them both, foreshadowing quite neatly where Ekko/Jinx (but not Ekko/Powder) is going to go in S2.

Fast forwarding from Season One here, Ekko disappears for 2/3rds of the second season, completely offscreen.

When we catch up with him he's woken up in the S2E7 AU; the Powder Timeline.

Here's where I start to get a little confused by the fandom take. Because, you know, I've seen enough Star Trek and Stargate and Supernatural and Batman the Animated Series and Quantum Leap to know exactly what this is.

This is the 'bottle episode', this is the 'Perfect World' trope, where the protagonists find themselves in an alternate universe - or trapped in a dream - or they've died or think they've died and this is their 'heaven' - where they have everything they ever wanted.

This is familiar storytelling and E2 follows a familiar pattern, the protagonist struggles to adapt to the surreal new circumstances, they are seduced by the illusion, particularly falling in love with someone in the Perfect World, but eventually, they start noticing something incongruous - something isn't quite right - (In this case, it's Vi's death, and Powder holding back her genius and hiding her grief to be support girl for others) - that reveals the Perfect World to be not as perfect as it seems.

And the hero has to choose to go home, because he realizes that this isn't real, it doesn't belong to him, he doesn't belong here.

Which is exactly what happens with Ekko in E7.

Which brings is to AU!Powder and Jinx.

And here's where I really start to struggle with the seeming consensus that the romance between Ekko/Powder automatically leads to Ekko/Jinx, like you can just transfer the one to the other.

I'm sorry, fam, I thought my basic media literacy was telling me that this girl:

Is not the same person as this girl:

....and I am not getting into any debate about "Jinx" vs "Powder" as identities within our current Jinx. I'm talking about Powder in the E7 AU.

AU!Powder is literally a different human being.

She may have been the same person up until the explosion in Jayce's laboratory, but from that fork in the timeline, she becomes a FUNDAMENTALLY different person to Jinx, shaped by different experiences, different relationships, different life events.

Powder's physicality with Ekko, as you can see in those GIFs, the casual intimacy, the clear affection, the way she touches him, looks at him, her awareness of him in her space, is so utterly opposite to the way Jinx interacts with him that if anything, it nailed home to me how savagely absent this kind of feeling is from his relationship with Jinx.

Powder loves Ekko. She leans on him, snuggles into him, touches his hands, dances with him, kisses him.

Jinx cares so little about him she barely makes eye contact and would casually kill him without blinking.

And I thought that was the point.

I really thought that was the whole point of E7. Being in the perfect world, getting his perfect love story with his perfect Powder, the girl Jinx could have been, but can never be, drove home for Ekko that his feelings for Jinx, both romantic and resentful, were tangled up in his illusions of "Powder", and it took living those illusions as a physical reality for Ekko to see his mistake.

To be true to himself, and true to her, Ekko had to let that go and go home.

To face his world's Jinx, and be there for her in her darkest moment, even if it meant giving up the love he'd found with Powder, a love that belonged to a different Ekko, for someone who could never love him back.

To me that was Ekko's most heroic moment, an act of selfless sacrifice. But that's what it was - a sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Season Two Jinx is not aware of any of this. The last time she saw Ekko was on the bridge where she nearly killed him, and for all we know she might have thought she succeeded.

She never talks about, thinks about, refers to, or even has scribble-nightmares about Ekko, not even once.

Season Two Jinx is, instead, having a love story of her own.

And Isha was and is a PUZZLE to me. Because she's more plot device than character, she isn't necessary except as a way to give Jinx a villain-to-hero arc and a way to reconnect to her humanity.

But she could have been Ekko.

If they really, really wanted us to have Timebomb Canon, instead of confining the entire arc to a bottle episode in an alternate timeline with a literally, physically different girl, they could easily have given all of Isha's considerable screentime to an Ekko and Jinx romance.

I'm sure Amanda Overton would have been on board with that. But that's not what we got. It's almost like reading two different fix-it-fanfics for the same character, put into the same show and running in parallel.

I'm not crazy, this is what's happening for Ekko in s2;

While this is happening for Jinx at the same time.

But Jinx's love story, too, ends with a tragic sacrifice.

And here's where the two stories finally intersect.

When Jinx is in her darkest moment, her absolute rock bottom, Ekko comes back into her life, a miracle, impossible, a Boy Savior.

But she's still ready to kill him.

Because she didn't dance with Ekko. She didn't invent a time machine with him. She didn't sit and watch the city lights with him and share a tender kiss and a heartfelt gift.

That was Powder.

Jinx and Ekko are resuming right where they left off on the bridge, right back to "I pull this pin and we both blow up".

They've both loved and lost, but their stories are absolutely unknown to each other. Ekko Doesn't Know About Isha. Jinx Doesn't Know About Powder.

It's only when Jinx (a genius, a reminder here) sees monkeys of her own design inside the Z-drive - recognizes her own handiwork, but knows SHE didn't make those - that, I think, sheer curiosity stirs her out of her darkness.

She has to know what that was about. She hesitates, just long enough for Ekko to speak. And, though offscreen, he tells her his story, and maybe she tells him hers.

And it's enough, just enough, to set Jinx back on her Redemption Arc, to become the hero Isha always saw in her.

Maybe even the hero Vi and Ekko saw in her, too. Her new costume is full of references to all of the people in her life who never gave up on her.

(side note, the yellow stars and crowns puzzle me, though - they're quite prominent, but who are THEY for? Isha? Maybe? Yellow isn't a color associated with anyone in Jinx's life, but that crown's identical to the one she scribbled on Demacia in Fortiche's map, is... this a very subtle future Lightcannon tease? Nah. I'm not that crazy.)

I mean her costume is also almost literally both a Fishbones and a Fiddlesticks cosplay, with her hair as Fiddle's tongue, so take from that what you will.

It's clear Jinx and Ekko war painted each other for the battle, but the Firelights are also similarly painted up, and (with Linke even confirming this) there really wasn't time to develop anything else, guys.

And I am, honestly, fundamentally angry at anyone who would suggest that, even if she'd been in any space to want it, our boy Ekko, one of the most genuinely good men in recent fiction let alone in Arcane, would take advantage of a girl he just talked out of suicide.

Moving on. During the battle, Ekko is knocked out and lying not far from Jinx. She doesn't even look at him, she leaps up to defend Vi instead.

And that's their final interaction on the show.

Instead of returning to Ekko, Jinx chooses one final act of sacrifice.

Ekko's final shot of the show is this.

He's sitting, alone, burning a mourning paper, where he sat with AU!Powder - where he and AU!Powder kissed - a place that has no significance to himself and Jinx, whatsoever.

It's little wonder who he's thinking about here, and which name he's burning on that paper. The girl he truly loved and lost.

For all he knows, Jinx is dead. But it's not only her he's mourning.

Or maybe he does know, or suspect, she's alive.

But either way, he's making one final act of sacrifice, too, with that paper burning into the breeze.

He's letting her go.

He's choosing his own story.

He's staying where he belongs.

Jinx may have become a symbol of the revolution, but it's Ekko who is, and always will be, the true hero of Zaun.

And this is Jinx's final shot.

Because let's face it, we all know she's on that airship.

She's "breaking the cycle". She's "walking away". She knows that Jinx has left too many scars on the people she still loves - on Vi, on Ekko, on the cities of Piltover and Zaun - for her to pick up the pieces.

She knows that if she's going to find out what "Jinx" might stand for now, she has to go very far away from everything and everyone. She has to leave it all behind and find something new.

Maybe even someone new?

And ultimately, that's why I feel the Timebomb we got was perfect, they shouldn't touch it, they shouldn't try to force it to be "Endgame", not because it couldn't have worked, but because that's the opposite of the story they told.

For the rest of my analysis, lol, this got a bit long but i have FEELINGS.

Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't buy Jinx and Ekko as a love story if they had actually told that love story. But they didn't. It had no screen time. They have less interactions in S2, maybe even in both seasons added up, than Vi and Loris. Let that sink in a bit.

We know it's Amanda's favorite ship, so she may have intended more, and may even actually give us all more at some point, but please, dear god, let's stop pretending they fucked or kissed or even held hands offscreen.

That's honestly a bit insulting to both of these characters, to insist hell or high water that this very important milestone in their relationship happened, but they just didn't even bother to depict it. That an entire love story (because it would be a whole one, remember, Ekko and Powder had a romance but Jinx did not experience any of that, she and Ekko are back at Square One) would just be cut for time.

They both deserve better than that.

Let's stop pretending there was some grand, horny, Forever Love story with 60 minutes of cut footage, all of it timebomb content, somehow left on the cutting room floor of an animated show where every single frame has to be deliberately hand painted.

Because if in some insane universe they had written, storyboarded, voice acted and animated an entire 60 minute additional timebomb storyline and then cut it from the show, that would itself be a searing indictment of the quality of the storytelling in that imagined arc, but that's not what happened. Anyone who knows how filmmaking works would shoot this one down, and the showrunners already have, so let's leave it behind.

I know Timebomb blew up hard, and I get it, but what we got on the screen is not confirmation that there is any relationship at all between Ekko and Current Timeline Jinx. If anything, Ekko and Powder's beautiful romance only highlighted the tragic 'never to be' of Ekko and Jinx.

And it's absolutely fine to look at the art book, look at the creator comments, and imagine what could have been. Draw the fan art, write the fanfic, imagine the what-ifs and the fix-its, those are all beautiful and valid expressions and deserve their space.

But don't go insisting it's "the canon" and going after the shippers of other ships for these characters as "not canon" or somehow offensive theirs, some ships that, yes, have been around much longer than timebomb, is uncool.

I think this is mostly people who are New From Arcane, it's Baby's First Ship and they don't know how to share space. The timebomb fans I knew pre-season two didn't do this, at least not often enough for me to notice or care.

But I'll just say to them, if a Timebomb follow up happens and they actually tell a good love story for Ekko and Jinx, I will accept it. Grudgingly, because I think Lux/Jinx is an untold, untapped story full of incredible character dynamics that would complete Jinx's story in ways that as much as I love Ekko, he's too tied to her past, he can't.

But I love Ekko, and I love Jinx, and I will accept it.

But I'll also say to them, if the followup doesn't eventuate, if things take a turn you don't expect, if Jinx's airship is heading for Demacia, maybe they'll have to experience just a taste of what it's been like for Lightcannon fans for ten long years.

And maybe that's healthy. Maybe that's okay. Maybe our endgames don't need to be 'canon' to have value and that's a lesson we should learn.

Maybe there's a new Light on her horizon, and that's okay too. Maybe Ekko won't be alone forever. Don't forget - until Arcane - his story had nothing to do with Jinx, and there was a whole lot of it.

More with the firelights, the lost children of Zaun, his inventions, his parents, all could yet be in his future. Who knows? He might find a way back to AU!Powder - or she might rebuild what they worked on together, and come to him, no matter what butterfly effects that could set in motion...

But if Jinx is heading for a Light on her horizon, maybe Ekko might Explore some of his possibilities. Find a new Spark of connection. Just saying. Jinx isn't his only ship, either 😌

And it is okay for people to move on, and let go. Maybe, for two characters whose themes are letting go of the past, living in the moment, redefining their identities, and moving on, that's what their story should be.

[eleventhhourfactor]

First day of 2025 has been good so far. So good, in fact, that I've decided to actually make a self-reflection/look to the future post, as much as I'm trying not to be vain.

Anyway...2024. There was a lot happening there.

If we're looking at Tumblr alone, it's pretty clear that this was the year that solidified Mario and Luigi as a hyperfixation for me. Helped along by the mutuals I made along the way, I turned out a lot of stories for AO3--moreso than I'd ever done for any other fandom prior to this. It's...mindblowing, honestly. Just the year before, I'd written and deleted my works after becoming convinced that it wouldn't amount to anything and ought as well not be out there. It was a pattern I longed to break, and I think I've finally cracked it, and I've never been happier to put myself out there and be cringe and free.

The rest of 2024 was a hell of a lot of change for me--mostly good. I moved across the country, started writing for another company, found another special interest in the form of Mario RPGs. I also realized that a load of my extended family have garbage takes, and that I alone can't fix that for them. My cat needed teeth taken out, my car got hit by a delivery truck in the parking lot, and I got holed up at my in-laws' house with the flu on Christmas Day. I'm still trying to make real-life friends, which seems to be an outstanding issue for little ol' me. Outside of college, I've never been great at making and keeping friends.

But I do have my network, without which I wouldn't have been able to publish a story, plan a big move, or even doodle on occasion. And you, dear mutuals and others, are a part of that, I've come to realize. It's stupid and corny, but there's something really neat about going to the internet and nerding out about things through headcanon posts, fabulous art, and wonderfully-written tales. What's even crazier is what fanwork can drive me to do in my original little things.

So, for 2025, along with some outstanding fics I need to wrap up and work on, I also want to put some work and effort into fleshing out a long-running project of mine: the world of Astrara, the worldhoppers moving throughout, and the threads of the universe tying it all together. There's characters I've been bouncing around in my skull for nearly a decade now, and it's about time I clear the sad lack of confidence from my space and actually draw them to the life they deserve. Might I make a comic? Who knows. For the next year, I just want to draw my little dudes until I run out of pencils, and then scan it in and color digitally. I want to make more art, and I want to write out the story of Lenora, Aylín, and their absolutely batshit journey to find their way home. Or at least, get the bullet points down and go from there.

It's crazy, but I thought turning out over a dozen fanfics was insane as well, and look where I'm at. Anything can happen. The spark has caught aflame. I want to keep creating. For the first time ever, I want to keep going with whatever the heck I've got going instead of letting it sit while I grind to live.

So, follow me as I get this going. See how far I go or fall short. Maybe ask me some more about what exactly I'm working on. I'd love to brainstorm and share and get others interested, too.

A bit of insurance in the form of doodles. Lenora on the left, Aylín on the right. One's being careful, the other wants to fight.

Kinda funny how much I project onto my own little stories.

Thank you all for sticking with me. Sorry this turned from reflection to a bit of narcissist goal-setting, but I've never felt so set on a creative goal before. This project means a lot to me and my growth over time, and without stepping out and meeting you all, I'd never be able to do this. So, thank you for being there, and I hope I've been able to do half as much for you.

Under the cut special! Sending love to all the people who keep me going on here. Like, y'all are so great. You are all great people.

So, mutuals and creators I admire (as well as my frens), this one's for you:

@giddlygoat @peaches2217 @snakeeyesdraws @bberetd @itsavee4117 @silenzahra @silksongmaiden @fyreburning @akiiame-blog @megamagimugi @supergay-64 @artizonka @rainbogen @loud-kid2 @@diamondempp @dooxliss @lu1g199 @laatgag @moriouchou-radio @thegravityshark @gustygardns @vulpixfairy1985 @vbnhuet

[rhapsoddity]

...

i never knew i could draw emmett and spectrum against my will but here I am /j

[sticksandsharks]

Dualayim & Tolpan from my comic Sacred Bodies!

[arunneronthird]

actually i think they should do stupid things together sometimes, i also fully embraced the fact that none of them have any fashion sense

[builtintripping]

never forget...

read again?

no you did not see me repost this, shh

hemlo!! thank ya'll so so much for enjoying this lil comic series!! i know it's been a year since the first part, but most importantly i finished it 💀✨️

every single tags ya'll leave on me posts and past questions i recieve about this au is super appreciated, they make me smile the widest you have no clue!! im just a lil mad at myself that i couldn't expand on this au more so yall could have had more crumbs. irl stuff happened + still getting the hang of drawing and socializing again after years of doing neither of those 😭

but still, im glad i could share this comfort comic i made for myself, and for you guys too. it's a pretty personal one despite the characters not being mine 😅 i hope that you can walk away from this story believing (entirely or not) that someone out there still thinks of you, whether they're from a late/absent loved one who still wants the best for you or a dear friend who will make room in their hearts for you. life will never not be hard, but if you keep them close to your heart, adulting will be bearable 🫂

thank you so much for reading 💕

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

Abandonment Issues, Prologue (part 1)

Abandonment Issues comic, prologue: pages 1-5

I was going to finish th prologue and then post it all at once but it’s taking way longer than expected so uh. Shrug

(part 2: here!)

[forgettable-au]

[BACK TO THE MASTERPOST]

Section meant to organize all the forgettable-au-related mini-comics!

They're gonna be organized as pre-comic and post-comic because some of these were created before the main comic started, this is to clear some confusion if you see some inconsistencies with the main comic, -especially- in the ones from 2022

Post-comic era

Drinking water (This mini-comic was a continuation of another mini-comic by @o-sunny-day)

Living situation

Pre-comic era

Pride month (LMFAO the last mini-comic before the main comic started was a joke comic)

Codeword

Annoying brother

Font problems

Nightmares

Like the back of my hand!

Something off

Name

Forgetting how to write

Goopy Gaster but it`s Christmas

Shitpost

Gaster blasters

Thanks!

Something missing

Someone else...

Mini-comic dump

WD in the current timeline?

-2022 mini-comics- (These are the FIRST EVER things I did about this AU, my art style is very different now + these are not accurate to current lore)

Flamethrower

VENTS!

[angelpuns]

When Leo tells Donnie about the dream, will he only tell him about the parts Donnie was in? Or would he also say how Raph showed up and scared him awake?

Cuz I think hearing about Raph would tell Donnie just how bad the dream was tbh since it would be unmistakably Krang maybe

I like to think that he'd tell Donnie EVERYTHING- he would tell his twin everything, even if Big Donnie i different.

and ofc Donnie is gonna panic about it :)

Kid Leo Au Masterpost | First

[artbyblastweave]

Happy New Year! Looking for comic recommendations, which are your favorites? Genre doesn't matter very much, I was raised on the original run of Amazing Spider-Man

Happy new year! Some fun ones from the last couple years-

Rock Candy Mountain by Kyle Starks and Chris Schweizer- Fantasy-americana post-WW2 madcap about an unbeatable hobo on a quest to find the titular Big Rock Candy Mountain, and the washed-up screenwriter he drags along for the ride. Two volumes.

We Only Find Them When They're Dead by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo- space opera about mining crews who work harvesting tissues from dead galactus-like entities. Unlike most of these it was an ongoing I haven't caught up with and thus the only one I can't vouch to have stuck the landing. Great imagery though. Galactus Whalefall

Dead Body Road by Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera- Elmore Leonard/Donald Westlake inspired crime-revenge-rampage/maguffin hunt thing. Actually anything Justin Jordan writes but I took some effort to prevent this entire list becoming Kyle Starks and Justin Jordan books 20th Century Men by Deniz Camp and Stipan Moran- Alternate history where the USA and USSR deploy nationalized superhumans to Afghanistan during the 1980s.

Daybreak by Brian Ralph. Zombie apocalypse story with the gimmick of being told entirely from a first-person perspective.

Frontiersman by Patrick Kindlon and Marco Ferrari- a 60-something Green-Arrow analogous superhero who's gone bush is coaxed out of hiding by environmentalists to do a tree sit protest, only for all hell to break loose as all the superhuman contacts he left hanging track him down to settle their accounts. He Will Not Leave The Tree. This was supposed to be an ongoing but I think it only managed one volume.

Hard Boiled by Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow- Gonzo retrofuturistic self-parody of Miller's usual fare, about a hard-as-nails guntoting unstoppable IRS agent whose choppy Noir narration reads like a stroke-in-progress. Rife with Miller's typical derangements about women, and carried in many respects by the visual buffet of Darrow's interiors, it nonetheless convinced me that All-Star Batman and Robin might have been written that way as a deliberate gag instead of out of a complete lack of self-awareness.

Ultimate Spider-Man by Bendis and Bagley- the progenitor of the original Ultimate Marvel Line, and also the progenitor of the Bendisian house style that would eventually eat the rest of Marvel's output for the 2000s and 2010s due to how popular it was. I got about 110 issues in until I got wrenched away from it by life developments a couple months back, but throughout that run it cemented itself as basically the cohesive take on Spider-Man for me.