#is free of toxins

[lurukifennecfox]

so, Amity Parkers fit in in gotham.

plus the city is so rich in ectoplasm it's almost like at home! in fact they probably only need their ecto-sups because it's so cursed.

the fear toxin works like caffeine for liminals. they found out accidentally while Wes was mid-rant and forgot his gas-mask like a dumbass he is.

Wes being Wes figured out the Bats identity in the first month since moving but he learned his lesson, kept his mouth shut and corkboard hidden safely in the realms having joined the Team Phantom a while ago.

Val visits some of her friends here sometimes, with the suit being part of her body now she's basically halfa-adjacent (she has suspicions she's one major near death experience away from actually becoming one) and she's getting major "Fuck-off it's my haunt" vibes from Crime Alley. maybe Red Hood's a ghost? not gonna check now.

Paulina is having emotions about Nightwing's ass and no one wants to hear them, curse liminal ability of ghost-speak.

all things considered? life is well. tho it might be a matter of time before the bats start getting annoying.

[jamandjazz]

The Curtis Brothers Getting Fear Gassed

Okay so for those not familiar with Batman fear gas/toxin is something one of the villains use that causes the victims to hallucinate their own worst fears becoming a reality. They can’t see it’s not real and you’re pretty much seeing/hearing/in some cases feeling your worst fears happen to you. Okay now that that’s out of the way here’s what I think would happen if it ever happened to them:

Darry:

I think if Darry was hit with fear gas he’d see Soda and Pony just absolutely HURT yknow? He’d see them far away, bleeding out, crying for someone to help them but he wouldn’t be able to move. He wouldn’t be able to reach them no matter how hard he tries, which he is. He is trying! But they keep asking why he won’t help them, why he’s just watching them, and he can’t do anything but watch. Then it would change and suddenly he’s in front of four graves instead of the usual two. And he can hear everyone around him ask why he didn’t save them. Why he didn’t keep them safe. Telling him that he failed. That it’s no wonder they died because look at how much of a mess he is. He can’t even keep himself together obviously he wouldn’t be able to hold what was left of their family together either.

And the whole time the gang is trying to stop him from just running, having to listen to the strongest person they know break down sobbing calling out for his brothers. Begging them to just wait for him. But they’re right there! They’re right there and they just need to calm him down so he can be still enough that they can stick the antidote in him!

Sodapop:

I think Soda would have to watch everyone he loves leaving him. They aren’t hurt, they aren’t even mad, in fact they’re perfectly fine! They’re just done with him. This is a choice they’re making deliberately, this isn’t one of them leaving because they died which is completely out of their control, they’re choosing this! He has to listen to them all say he’s just too much of a hassle. That he’s just not worth staying for. That everyone knew they were gonna leave eventually. That he was just too clingy, too annoying. That nobody wanted to deal with him. They wouldn’t even turn back as he called for them, begged them to stay, to just give him another chance, that he’ll be better, he swears! He’ll be better if they just come back! But each one of them without fail will just keep walking. He’ll hear conversations between them about how much they just can’t stand him. He’ll hear Pony will say how he doesn’t know how he ever looked up to someone so pathetic. Steve wonder if he really thought they were friends. Everyone will be talking about how stupid he is, how he’s completely useless and no one with a brain would ever want to keep him around. And Soda won’t even get to chase after them and hold them and plead and cry because he can’t move. Oh my god he can’t move, he’s stuck, he’s stuck and no one will come save him because they all hate him.

And all everyone else hears is him sobbing and begging them to stay as they hold him down, mostly to make sure he doesn’t suddenly start thrashing but also because when he finally comes out of it he’ll know they’re there. That they aren’t going to leave and that they do love him.

Ponyboy:

Ponyboy would see the gang living their lives happily without him. He’d chase after them, as the image of them shot farther and farther away but he could never just catch up. He wasn’t fast enough. Wasn’t good enough. He’ll see them not even realize he was gone, like he never existed. Darry will seem happier, less angry and stressed like not having Pony to worry about made all the difference in his life. He’ll see Sodapop happily talking to Steve, without him in the way. Without making him worry because that’s what he did to Sodapop. But he didn’t mean to! He didn’t mean to have nightmares so bad he woke the house up with them, he didn’t mean to make Sodapop move rooms because he was too much of a baby to handle sleeping on his own! He didn’t mean to make everything about him! That wasn’t what he was trying to do, so why were they all so much happier without him?! Why was Johnny so much more confident without him around following him everywhere? Was he bothering him? Did he just not realize that Johnny didn’t talk around him because Pony made him uncomfortable? How come no one had noticed he was gone?! …was this how it would’ve been if he just never existed? Would everyone have been happier, less stressed? Would that be better, he’ll wonder as he slows down and stops chasing after them. Crying and mumbling that he was sorry. That he didn’t mean to be the reason no one could be happy.

And the gang will be out of breath as they finally catch up to him, they’ll have been worrying that he’d run into a busy street because he just didn’t know what was going on but thank god because he finally stopped. They’ll have to listen to him apologize over and over for ruining their lives, wondering what he meant by that because he didn’t do anything!

[bluevelvetea]

30.04.2024

go read marriagetoxin I need someone to scream about how pretty Mei Kinosaki is

reference here

(happy early marriagetoxin Tuesday to those who celebrate)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Also: "chemicals"/"chemical free," "all natural" and "organic."

[itspneu]

the whole "kinosaki is actually a girl twist" thing has been stuck in my head this week. on today's rant: i understand consuming a midia for entertainment but can you even be entertained if said midia doesnt align with your taste and/or believes ? (prefacing this ill be talking in a general level and am not claiming this is every "kinosaki is a girl" believer, i just fell deep in the pit)

bc like its a thing people tend to consume what they already established they agree with and like. so i really dont understand why someone who: doesnt care for queer living and visibility ; believes in the "blood is thicker than water", "family above everything else" and "you should always forgive and respect family despite anything" ; doesnt care about breaking cycles of trauma and abuse ; doesnt care about dismantling abusive systems of power ; doesnt like progressiveness in general:– can truly enjoy marriagetoxin, bc the manga does all that like it follows these themes. gero chose to take his lesbian sister's burden of forming a family by the abusive clan's demands, despite not thinking he can even have that he's actively looking to form a healthy and loving family of his own on his own terms – with some clan members already being against him getting married –, he's accompanied by an openly queer gnc crossdresser guy (who he has romantic tension with) on his quest, and he's been dealing with the other clans since the beginning even helped on the falling of one of them, and this is just the beginning just this past week we reached the 100th chapter. and most of the themes were established within the first 10 chapters, if someone doesnt like any of that they cant even say they werent warned they knew what they were going into. knowing all that and still reading when you dont agree with the core of the story, is it really worth it ? is it even entertaining ? even if the visual style is appealing is it worth it to just visually enjoy it when you cant even relate with the story overall ?

just some thoughts (again im not describing the believers or anyone really, i dont remember personally encountering someone like this)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Image: St Margaret of Antioch beating the devil with a hammer The image is a detail of a painting called "Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine," Barna da Siena, c1340, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

* * * *

Veterans of war who've been wounded by shrapnel often find that years later, some of the metal fragments eventually migrate to the surface and pop out of their skin. The moral of the story: The body may take a long time to purify itself of toxins. The same is true about your psyche. It might not be able to easily and quickly get rid of the poisons it has absorbed, but you should never give up hoping it will find a way.

[Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology]

[beastwars-transformers]

MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER NAMED THE FIGHTING MACHINE

[toxintouch]

I hate moving and having responsibilities I want to spend a whole day writing fanfiction again. 😌💭

[sadsongsandwaltzes]

To any of my crunchy/all natural/zero waste/toxinfree type followers: how do we feel about those reusable beeswax wraps and food storage bags? Do any of you actually use them? And do they work well?

[autisticlancemcclain]

As someone who accidentally got back into voltron after thinking I left it behind in 2017 I always look forward to fic rec Friday because I forgot about some absolute BANGERS that voltron fic writers put out so thank you for your service 🫡

happy to be of service!! and welcome back!!

[urloveangel]

[405blazeitt]

i'm very happy with this dragon, i gotta say

[mythicalcoolkid]

After too many years here I've final what hornets' nests I am not brave enough to kick

[poemsonmars]

Do you have a favorite type of poetry (ballads, free verse, haiku, etc)?

i tend to prefer free verse prose i think, but ballads and sonnets are fun if i want a bit more of a challenge!

[yourlocallygood]

Bug Repellent

100% Natural, non-toxic, vegan, and keeps all bad bugs away for at least 4 hours! It utilizes 10 different top quality, therapeutic grade essential oils, to let you enjoy outdoor activities without getting eaten alive. We’ve been making this product for 20+ years now, and a little goes a long way!

Ingredients (most organic, but all 100% Natural and non-GMO): Sunflower Oil, Avocado Oil, Essential Oils of Frankincense, Lavender, Bergamot and Tea Tree.

100% All Natural, just as ALL of our products are! Free of: parabens, phthalates, sls (or any variation of surfactant), or any other toxic/harmful chemicals.

2 oz - $ 10 4 oz - $ 16 8 oz - $ 26

[cluescorner]

Thanks so much for the recap because like...I have been actively keeping up with this bullshit (/pos AND /neg) and I literally forgot about Tim getting shot in the neck then fucking walking it off.

What the heck is going on in Batman/Gotham War?

I know a lot of people in fandom are confused and/or upset about what's been going on in Gotham War - why is Bruce acting like this, what is Selina doing, why are the Batkids taking sides. So I figured I would fill you all in on what's been happening in Batman and Catwoman since Chip Zdarsky took over with Batman #125, because it has been BONKERS and I have been enjoying the hell out of it.

Below, the quickest summary I can manage while still being comprehensive:

[Content warning: mental illness, abuse, suicide (...ish), LOTS of violence.]

The first arc, "Failsafe," starts with Batman and Robin (Tim, in this case) in pursuit of the Penguin, who is on a killing spree. In the very first issue, Tim gets shot in the neck. Bruce has to take him to the hospital, but first he has to strip him out of his costume and put him in civilian clothes to preserve their secret identities, triggering memories of when he had to do the same to Jason's dead body. There is LITERALLY NO PURPOSE TO ANY OF THIS EXCEPT WHUMP (Tim is back in action with a fucking BAND-AID on his neck very quickly), which is how I knew this was going to be good. Beat Tim up! Make Bruce cry about Jason! I want these men to suffer! (There is also SO much to be said about Tim's own Poor Mental Health Decisions throughout the entirety of Zdarsky's run so far, but that's for a separate meta post.)

Anyway. Bruce leaves Tim in the hospital and goes to confront Penguin, who turns out to be dying of mercury poisoning. He kills himself and makes it look like Batman did it, forcing Bruce to flee. (Penguin actually faked his death and is alive elsewhere under an alias, but that's not important right now.)

In the Batcave, a massive robot called Failsafe emerges. Failsafe attacks Bruce, who usually eats killer robots for breakfast, but he can't seem to get the upper hand on this one. Duke, Cass, Steph, and Dick show up to help, but Failsafe beats them all too, while Tim gets an injured Bruce away and to the Batcave.

In the Batcave, Bruce puts on a weird purple and red Batman costume and a new personality takes over: the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Now, Zur has a very complicated history going back to 1958, but for the purposes of this story, all you need to know is that when he was younger, Bruce decided it would be good to hang out in a sensory deprivation chamber until his mind created a secondary personality, Zur, who is essentially Batman without Bruce. Zur is pure efficiency who does not care about anything but the mission. He created Failsafe, for one purpose: to kill Bruce if Bruce ever crossed the line and killed someone. And right now, Failsafe believes that Bruce killed Penguin.

Failsafe nearly kills Tim, which Zur is okay with writing off as an expendable soldier's death, but this causes Bruce to take control of the body back because "Tim isn't my soldier...HE'S MY SON!" (Tim Nation, why are you not ALL OVER this story? It's catnip.)

Babs calls in the JLA (SuperBat fans, you will also want to read Bruce's adoring description of Clark when he shows up), but of course Failsafe has kryptonite, which it stabs Clark with. The League dumps Clark and Bruce into the JLA jet and distracts Failsafe while Tim flies Clark and Bruce to the Fortress of Solitude. Bruce tells Tim he's a good boy and jumps out of the jet and into the ocean so that Tim and Clark will be safe from Failsafe. He's rescued by Arthur, who takes him to Atlantis to heal. THIS HAS ALL ONLY BEEN FOUR ISSUES SO FAR.

Two weeks later, Bruce wakes up to discover that Failsafe has taken over Gotham. He teleports up to the JLA Watchtower on the moon to lure Failsafe there, then blows the Watchtower up, hoping to catch a ride on one of the Javelins. But Failsafe has already destroyed them, so Bruce RIDES A BOOSTER ROCKET BACK TO EARTH, OXYGEN MASK CLAPPED OVER HIS FACE. The whole thing has some powerful Scooty-Puff Jr energy.

The only tricky part is reentry, when Bruce starts to burn up - his costume is fireproof, of course, but his chin is exposed. SO HE TAKES OFF HIS LITTLE BAT-PANTIES AND PUTS THEM OVER HIS HEAD. I swear to god this happened in a real comic book and the entire "Bruce falls off the moon and survives" sequence is utterly delectable goofy nonsense and I truly cannot recall a time I've had more fun reading a comic book.

Anyway, Bruce lands directly outside of the Fortress, BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES, and runs inside to find Clark and Tim. While Clark keeps Failsafe distracted, Bruce and Tim program nanobots to inject compassion into Failsafe. I SWEAR TO GOD. They zap him with the nanobots, but Failsafe pulls a high tech space gun out of the Fortress and shoots Bruce with it anyway, apparently disintegrating him. Tim falls to his knees in the snow, weeping. TIM NATION, WAKE UP, THIS RUN IS CANDY FOR YOU.

But of course Bruce isn't dead! That wasn't a killing gun, it was a "zap you into another dimension" gun!!! THAT was the compassion!

So Bruce finds himself in a dystopian alternate Gotham, and I'll be honest, I didn't love this arc ("The Bat-Man of Gotham") as much as I loved "Failsafe," but it has its moments. In this Gotham, Bruce Wayne is dead, so Regular Bruce is like "Oh boy, time to Batman this place up." Also he's plagued by hallucinations of a skeleton version of Jim Gordon who is still wearing a trench coat AND A MUSTACHE. Like I said, it has its moments.

This Gotham is controlled by Arkham, and anyone who is diagnosed as "crazy" is locked up. A new villain, Red Mask, is in charge, and Selina and a Venomed-up Harvey Dent work for him. Bruce teams up with an orphan kid (of course) named Jewel and goes after Red Mask, who turns out to be some guy named Darwin Halliday and ALSO...the Joker. Well, he's the Joker who hasn't been Jokerized yet. But one time he breathed in some chemicals that let him see into the main reality of the DCU (???) and glimpsed Regular Joker and now he wants to build an interdimensional machine to mentally connect with Regular Joker across universes which he assumes will make him insane, NATURALLY.

Bruce attacks Red Mask, who sics a Venomed-up Ghost Maker on him. Ghost Maker cuts off Bruce's right hand. Bruce cauterizes it with an electroshock machine and ties some spikes on it (SERIOUSLY) and goes after Red Mask again. Meanwhile Red Mask mentally connects with an alternate dimensional Joker...but instead of it driving Red Mask insane, he's what drives the Joker insane. Desperate to become the Joker somehow, anyhow, he jumps into the interdimensional portal, and Morally Dubious Alternate Universe Selina kicks Bruce in after him.

Meanwhile, Tim is in full "I KNOW I SAW HIM DIE BUT HE'S NOT DEAD" mode, which: bless. So he teams up with Jon Kent, which...gosh, what an astonishingly boring duo. I love Jon, I love Tim, they're perfectly nice and normal around each other, I'm falling asleep. Anyway Tim fights Toyman for a while and then makes a VERY stupid costume where the entire torso is a giant light-up R, because "I want him to see that Robin is coming to save him." GET A THERAPY, TIM.

Bruce finds himself first in the Michael Keaton Batman universe, then the Red Rain universe, BTAS, Batman Beyond (yes I know they're the same universe but I guess he goes there twice), Silver Age, Kingdom Come, Gotham by Gaslight, and more. Adam West gives him a utility belt. The Dark Knight Returns Bruce builds him a robot hand.

Finally Bruce and Red Mask reach the end of the multiverse, which is a Gotham asteroid floating in space, surrounded by giant Jokerized sharks. LUCKILY BRUCE HAS BAT-SHARK REPELLANT IN HIS ADAM WEST UTILITY BELT!!! Honestly this whole arc was worth it for that moment.

Bruce knocks Red Mask out, but now he's stuck. He has a device from Batman Beyond Bruce to get home, but it's only good for one person, and he can't leave Red Mask there to die. Of course, that's when Tim shows up in his stupid giant glowing R costume and they hug it out, thereby fulfilling but also compounding all of Tim's issues since 1989.

Anyway things are fine now, right? Sure, Bruce is hallucinating that his family is on fire, and the Zur personality is not going neatly back into the box where it's been all these years, and he still has a robot hand (Damian, hilariously, immediately announces that he wants one too), but he's FINE. He is a little bit mad at Selina, because she broke out of jail (she was in jail because she killed her fuckbuddy because he was trying to kill Bruce), and also because she didn't tell him Penguin was alive and that would have stopped Failsafe, and also because Other Selina kicked into another universe. Selina, very fairly, is like "Well I'm not responsible for Other Selinas and also maybe don't build robots to kill yourself with and not tell anyone about them???"

THEN we got Knight Terrors, the summer event in which a villain called Nightmare caused everyone to fall asleep and, uh, have nightmares. Bruce, specifically, had a nightmare that he met an eight-year-old version of himself that vomited up a man-sized bat with a gun for a head. I laughed SO HARD. Bruce also had his body borrowed by Deadman for the duration of the event, so while he endured the psychological toll of nightmares like everyone else, he also endured the physical toll of everything Deadman was doing PLUS the mental toll of being aware of what was happening in the waking world even though he couldn't control his body. As soon as the event was over, he lapsed into a coma so that his body could get some damn rest.

Okay. Now we're up to Gotham War.

(I know, I know. But for all of you who are like "How could Bruce do this???" about Gotham War...*points up* THAT'S HOW. HE IS NOT WELL.)

Bruce awakens from his coma and IMMEDIATELY decides to Fight A Crime even though Babs is like "Maybe don't?" But he can't find any crime, which is...weird. His kids confirm that Gotham's been super quiet since he's been out.

Selina hears that Bruce is awake and is like okay, time to pay the piper. She calls all of the Bats to a meeting and explains that she's the reason crime has been down. See, villains like Joker and Two-Face always have goons, right? But what if the goon supply dried up because the goons have better jobs? So Selina has trained All The Goons In Gotham to be...cat burglars. No violence, no stealing from anyone who can't afford it. More importantly, no helping Scarecrow or whoever commit mass murder.

All of the Batkids are like "Hmm...I feel uncertain about this, but it's working...I don't know what to think..." except for Jason, who thinks it's hilarious and is instantly Team Selina, and Damian, who is staunchly Team Bruce. Bruce, meanwhile, is like "No! NO! THIS IS CRIMES, AND CRIMES IS BAD!" and Selina's like "I mean, robbing from the rich is basically a victimless crime" and Bruce screams, I swear to god, "MY PARENTS WERE 'RICH'!" Inexplicable scare quotes and all. I laughed so hard.

Anyway this is the basis for Gotham War and it is endlessly hilarious to me because everyone in the Batfamily is supposed to be a genius and yet not one single character has pointed out that:

There are jobs the goons could be doing that AREN'T illegal. It's not just violent crime vs. nonviolent crime. There are in fact many other jobs! I am POSITIVE Gotham needs construction workers and hospital orderlies. (Yes, I know it's hard for people with records to get jobs. That isn't addressed.)

Being Batman is SUPER ILLEGAL.

They are all so stupid.

Selina's plan doesn't even work, because one of her thieves gets killed by a rich person defending their home, and Bruce is like "See? This is why crime is bad!" and like...pretty much snaps. He's particularly fixated on Jason, even (rhetorically) threatening to kill him, which is when the other kids jump into the fray on Jason's side, all except for Damian, who like I said is firmly Team Bruce. (This makes complete sense to me, Damian has been dealing with severe trauma and isolation pretty much nonstop since 2018 and he and Bruce have finally made a tenuous peace, so I can understand why he wouldn't want to lose that.)

Also, Vandal Savage buys Wayne Manor. It's so random and SO funny.

OKAY BATMAN #138. Bruce has kidnapped Jason and injected him with a variation on fear toxin which will be triggered whenever Jason's adrenaline spikes, the idea being that Jason is no longer capable of killing - but in practice, Jason is no longer capable of even getting up off the floor, he's so terrified. I want to be really, really clear here: Bruce is like 90% Zur here, and the only reason he goes this route and doesn't kill Jason is because the remaining 10% that's still Bruce loves Jason and is trying to help him. He's just incapable of good or humane help because Zur literally can't do feelings.

Dick knows something is up and is sneaking around Bruce's Secret Other House We've Never Heard Of to figure out what it is. Damian attacks him to protect Bruce. Tim attacks Damian so that Dick can do what he needs to do, and handcuffs Damian to a parking meter:

THERE IS SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE!!! TIM GO TO THERAPY! DAMIAN GO TO THERAPY! EVERYONE GO TO THERAPY!!!!!

Dick figures out what Bruce did to Jason (it's on the computer, for...some reason?) and absolutely loses his shit on Bruce, beating the crap out of him, which tbh is the only thing that felt off to me in this run because frankly I don't think Dick likes Jason that much. BUT WHATEVER.

Tim pulls Dick off of Bruce. Bruce leaves them both tangled in a net and flees as the cops approach. Zur's like "Good, fuck 'em" in Bruce's head, because the cops will expose Dick, Tim, and Damian's secret identities and Bruce will be free of the dead weight of a family, but the little bit of Bruce still in there throws Dick a batarang so he can free them all in time.

Then Bruce leaves. Damian is devastated.

I WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS PAGE. Damian really thought he could have Bruce's love and loyalty if he turned on everyone else! Tim is going to be a therapy dog to a Wayne even if he has to settle for the one he doesn't like! That unresisting, blank hug made me SCREAM when I turned the page. Incredible. (Also the art fucking S L A P S, god bless you Jorge Jimenez.)

ALSO it turns out that Selina's second in command has been Vandal Savage's daughter Scandal Savage the whole time and they are turning Selina's cat burglar army into their own personal army WHOOPS. (This also feels very OOC for Scandal but at this point I trust Zdarsky with my life so let's see where things go.)

SO THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON IN GOTHAM WAR. TL;DR:

Bruce is unhinged because he nearly died like 19 times in a week and it unlocked the smaller, meaner purple Batman that lives inside him.

Selina is unaware that you can get money legally.

Tim is going to have a nervous breakdown if he can't fix someone, ANYONE.

Damian needs a hug but ideally from someone he actually likes this time.

Jason is so scared.

THE END.