#keeping us safe

[gold0venice]

Oh my god I have so many thoughts, but I am running on four hours of sleep, so here we fucking go *screaming, sobbing, crying*

1. Determination vs Desperation

I know that Ivan made a very big and impactful decision in the previous round, and honestly I can see that through Till’s expressions during the video. Mizi might have been a symbol of salvation to Till, but Ivan (and his death) was his reason to go ahead, fierce and determined and powerful. However, Ivan’s death is also a testament of momentum as well as desperation. Till is determined and desperate to survive and live. But this is made also absolutely obvious by the appearance of Mizi, which I will get into soon. Anyways, also in sense of colour scheme, Till switches from green to yellow/orange. We have also noticed the pattern of red, orange and yellow with Ivan’s and Ivan vs Till rounds. It’s as much as a homage but also a haunting, “the fiery thrill blazes out to the sky”. It’s like Till’s and Ivan’s memories and their lost future haunt him, and have left him “(leave no) regrets”. Perhaps not leaving with Till? These regrets and memories are both his strength and weakness, but Ivan gave him the will and reason to fight back. In this way, Till also seems to be wearing a branded armband of his segyen (sorry if it’s misspelt 😭). In a way he is literally playing the game like Ivan did.

At the same time, these are very bright, memorable and fierce colours that stand out, which made me (sadly) believe he would survive. This is also a contrast to the blues and violets of Luka, which are more mellow, but we soon see it is a growing determined movement. It is mellow because it is unassuming, and this sneaks up on Till twice, when Luka imitates Ivan. In a way this is sadly ironic, as Ivan never thought he would be a traumatic point for Till (lmao babe said what to Sua???), but that pain was exploited anyways by Luka 😭👋🤧

2. Musician’s choice

Till playing the guitar in this video made me blush (please don’t judge me, I love him so much), but more than that I love the implications of the instruments here. Firstly, both Till and Luka play strings instruments. The violin is classical, the guitar here is electric. They are already in juxtaposition with genres (and personalities lol), but they are still strings (singers for the competition), and fit together very well. You could say that the instruments resemble and are metaphors for Luka and Till. What I most like about this scene is that it is more like a battle between music prodigies, which was very exciting, because we have never seen these two interact before.

While both Luka and Till are amazing and well recognised artists, you can see the differences that separate them. Luka is all out confident, in control and powerful vocalist. Till is the same, but there is sense of desperation and a crippling anxiety, even as he plays the guitar. It looks like a fake confidence as much as a hidden fear. Both instruments work well together but the musicians are in different positions. I also have an inkling that Luka picked the violin on purpose. It is a contrast to Till’s already seen powered playing with his guitar in his round, but we have never seen Luka playing the violin, which gives the element of surprise, and a first step to shake up Till.

3. Grief on Stage

Alien Stage is merciless. Luka himself is a result of this system as a merciless manipulator. Luka imitating Ivan is terrible, and also turns on Till’s not fully registered trauma from Ivan’s death. Ivan is haunting Till, even after his death, and it has been clear for quite a while that Till actually cares for Ivan quite a lot. About haunting, figuratively and literally, Ivan’s red pupils resembles the red glare of the camera that follows Till in all his moments, his strength and weaknesses. The same red is reflected in Till’s pupils, which is so funny (I am in tears) because it really emphasises the pressure, stress and panic, but also letting go because it’s overwhelming him. Till’s pain and grief is an open wound that he tried to patch up too fast, and now it’s bleeding out and over the bandage.

The song title and lyrics also play into this idea as “in a blink gone” is quite literate. Till blinks and Ivan is shot. Till blinks and Ivan dies. It’s the shock of his death, and adrenaline that makes his body language so interesting in this round. Here in this scene Till is hunching over in pain and grief and haunting, and Ivan (masqueraded by Luka) acts into this. A well imitated Ivan with no look of love or adoration or even obsession, an empty shell, that Till falls into, relaxing for a second into the touch, just a for a second, “don’t miss the moment” . Till falls into a cobweb that he can’t get out of (maybe he doesn’t want to)

4. Death on Stage

Now to the part that made my heart blow up. In Alien Stage there are only winners, losers and those who manage to get away. The thing about Till’s death that made our hearts stop and my legs to give out is that Till was actually close to be one of those who got away. Till sees Mizi in the audience (also noticed the detail of the red glare becoming pink?) and he immediately jumps back into focus. He was almost there, just for one second. It is tragic and unfair and depressing. Till becomes a loser in the game on stage, one among the countless victims and dead in Alien Stage. Mizi actually had a chance to be his incarnate salvation, his saviour, but time gets away from them, “the clock goes tick tock tick tock blink, gone”. Mizi was there to catch him, she was reaching out to him, ready to get him away. It’s too late, in a blink he is gone in front of her like Sua.

5. Time and Winners in Alien Stage

Now, there are clear winners in the rounds, but in the long term of it, there are no winners. You can’t win. Mizi tries to win the game by saving Till, but Alien Stage wins, because it needs a winner and a loser. His death is like an afterimage of Sua’s death. Mizi getting saved by the rebels is out of luck and element of surprise. Till not getting out was intentional and foreseen by Alien Stage. In our case it as foreshadowed by All-in,covered by Till. The green splatter of paint (or should I say blood?) was a clear indication as well as the red taped name on his neck.

Till does not get freedom until after death. Till, Ivan, and Sua manage to escape the system only in death. None of them had enough time to actually live, they have always been on borrowed time. The “leave no regrets” also heart wrenching. So yeah the title ‘Blink gone’ plays into the idea of death and morals very well. Mizi is left last standing. Mizi’s friends are dead, they are gone in a blink.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I love you Safety Wizard.

(Inspired by @keroascrazy)

[phantominzie]

EVERYONE.

DONT FORGET TO LOOK UP #cutewinterboots ON TIKTOK! THERE'LL BE SOME BIG BITS OF ICE ON THE ROADS FOR QUITE SOME TIME, SO BE SURE TO INVEST IN SOME CUTE WINTER BOOTS.

That is all, y'all have a good one and stay safe during all this ICE!

edit: fascists, racists, nazi's, homophobe/transphobes, and trump dick riders can politely fuck off on this post. I'm tired of dealing with y'all, stop trying to be edgy in the comments of this post, I will just block you so piss off.

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

i know that when people say "hey we made it through the last four years! we can do it again!" it's usually because they're just trying to tell themselves it'll be fine because they're scared too so I don't want to be a dick about it but like. they didn't have a guy make a fucking nazi salute to a fucking cheering crowd in his inauguration on day fucking one eight fucking years ago. i mean not to damper down the optimism or nothing but. i feel like it's important to point out that it's not just going to be a Repeat of 2016-2020 All Over Again. it's probably going to be more like the Fucking Worst of it that we got in 2020 (or the 2021 Fucking Insurrection) will be the Starting Point for whatever the fuck happens next and we should. idk. plan for that

[comfymoth]

i’m mad this is my most liked post right now so look at my cat instead lol

[ed-recoverry]

I’ve seen quite a few people this past week ask something along the lines of ‘how to be up-to-date and properly informed about current events and politics and also not get super depressed?’

While most of these were phrased in a joking matter, it actually is a really good question. Being able to balance awareness of the shitty things happening in the world, but not letting that shittiness destroy you is a skill.

Being well informed is vital. However, if you become so informed that it’s starting to effect your life, you’ve gone too far.

The point of being aware of current events, especially bad ones, is so you can do something about it. Read about it, post about it, donate to charity, volunteer, etc. Something you can’t do if your overwhelmed with (rightful) anger and sadness.

So the answer to the original question is that you become informed enough that you want to do something about it, but do not overload yourself to the point where you feel too depressed to take any action.

Burying your head in the sand isn’t good. But neither is doomscrolling into oblivion. Find that middle where you are actively interested in what is happening in the world, but not to the point where it becomes a hinderance to regular life.

Being aware of the world around you is super interesting, but don’t spiral. Misery loves company. Stay informed, stay active, stay hopeful.

[suntails]

winter

[potassiumprincess]

i think marinette is worse at resting when she's sick but adrien is worse at sitting things out if he's injured. i have no explanation, these are just the vibes

[science-lings]

I feel like ppl focus on Bruce training the robins to kick ass from a young age when that’s definitely not all that was. He had to teach them field medicine and how to pick locks and sneak around silently and how to notice things, sure he taught them how to hit things with sticks of multiple sizes, but he also taught them how to grapple around and land from a fall.

They probably had intimidation lessons and interrogation lessons and sessions where they just meditated for hours straight. They’re taught how to calm down civilians and to train their voices to sound different in costume and so many things that would make them the most terrifying children to live with.

Bruce is actively training them to be good at bothering him because they like trying out their new espionage skills at Galas and trying to sneak around him while he’s asleep to prank him.

When we think of training to be Robin it’s easy to think of sparring and gymnastics equipment when it’s fun to remember the other parts of it. Some days Bruce would probably just give the kids a Hunt a Killer box and a time limit.

[cordycepspog]

Love love LOVE the focus on Joel’s boots during his rampage in the hospital. Because it’s not in a fit of rage, or desperation. Joel’s face is blank. He’s not thinking about consequences of his actions. He’s thinking “you took away my daughter and now I’m getting her back.” It’s a skill he picked up from Tess. He knows what’s coming. There’s no need to get emotional about it. It’s the simplest thing in the world to him: “You don’t get to take her away from me. Not again.” Hell, he doesn’t even look at the doctor when he shoots him! He’s looking right at Ellie, his entire focus and purpose laying in front of him! Mans is straight up on autopilot!

Joel is a unstoppable force in his grief. And Ellie is the immovable object that keeps him from walking straight over the ledge.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

What a lovely family portrait👨🏻‍👨🏻‍👦🏻🖼️

Enhanced image of A-Yuan's first sword flight.

[noxcheshire]

I have done a brief yandere Damian post in the past, it is now time for the next best boy.

Yandere! Tim x Danny

Tim loved watching the sun setting over the skyline of the city buildings. He loved watching the reds, the purples and blues blending until finally the night encased Gotham entirely.

He loved watching the hurried steps of strangers as they maneuvered around packed crowds through worn streets. Or small groups slipping through dirty alleys where clinging shadows whisked them away to disappear into the ever-present smog of Gotham.

He loved pacing across rooftops, quiet feet leading him from ledge to ledge so that he could peer over the edge and see the world from above.

From that point of view he could see everything and anything, the same as he had done when he was younger and chasing a man dressed as a bat and a boy adorned in reds and yellows rushed through the air with gleeful laughter.

Even now as a vigilante, named as Red Robin, the results were the same.

Tim loved people watching.

And Tim loved watching Danny the most.

Danny was different from Gotham and its people.

He was softer and warmer — a flame that crackled and flickered amongst the coldness and wariness of this city that Tim has known all his life.

Danny with skin as pale as moonlight, whose touch was as soft as a feather kiss because all he had ever known were cruel hands and tight grips. Danny with eyes filled to the brim with stars of beautiful blue that shimmered with delight, because he had never been taught to wrap himself up in masks and placid words just to get by. Danny with a smile that barely pulled up on sharp fangs because Danny always felt guilty when people would flinch at the sight of his too animalistic teeth.

Danny, Danny, Danny, Danny Danny DannyDannyDannydannydannydanny —

Tim loved watching Danny as much as he loved Danny himself.

The boy whose heart beat unsteadily, and whose heart ceased functioning when black hair turned white.

This is who he loved.

And Tim hated nothing more than when the things he loved were hurt.

Danny didn’t understand.

He was different.

He was soft.

He was damaged.

He didn’t understand the harm that came with a heart that still pumped blood in sluggish and tired bursts. He didn’t understand the harm that came when his heart fell abruptly still, cold and empty as blue eyes turned green and black hair turned white.

He did not understand the harm that came with pale skin bruised by larger hands, both young and old.

Danny didn’t understand how much harm truly came upon him from the threats within this world. Threats that not only existed in his rogues, but by ordinary, simple humans.

The harm that can exist from fellow students, from neighbors, from the GIW, and his fucking p a r e —

Danny didn’t understand.

He was different.

He was soft.

Even when physical abuse and emotional abuse littered across Danny’s flesh and sensitive ears like poison on open wounds. Even when he became Phantom, a lost soul on the brink between living and dead, who tried so hard to protect.

Even for people who didn’t deserve it.

Tim had never known someone as stubborn as Danny.

But Tim loved that about him too.

Tim loved the sheer determination to be good. To be kind… .

It was heroic. It was Danny.

And just as Tim had done, once upon a time when dogging the steps of Batman whose mourning bled into violence, Tim did what he had to.

He did what he had to.

[finifugue]

Of their five completed years of racing against each other, Lando and Charles have finished with one point between them three times. In 2020, Charles had 98 points and Lando had 97. In 2021, Lando had 160 points and Charles had 159. In 2023, Lando had 205 points and Charles had 206. If, in AD this year, Charles wins and Lando comes 2nd, they will once again end up with a one-point difference.

They both replaced a beloved and long-standing world champion at their respective teams when they joined (kimi raikkonen and fernando alonso). They both prefer the other's teammate over each other.

Their teams are two of the oldest in F1 history, and they're irreperably wrapped up in a history of scandal between each other. They both quickly became their teams' golden child, the one who was going to win the championships, the one who was going to end a decade-long deficit.

Both failed at the hands of Max Verstappen. Don't even get me started on how he fits into all this.

Both have the potential to be entirely shafted by their teams in 2025 because of the new, interesting teammate that everyone believes will win a championship before they'll come close.

They hate each other. They can't get away from each other. They're the same person. Four squared is sixteen.

[starry-bi-sky]

Blood Blossom Au: Baby's First Commissioner Meeting :)

TL:DR This Post: Danny (orphan) gets poisoned with blood blossom extract by Vlad. He runs away from him and ends up under the care of one Pre-Robin Battinson Batman! Starry is loudly pushing her batdad agenda.

(Also known as "Late At Night, When The Nightingale Sings" on my ao3!)

This was a fun rough idea I've been sitting on for weeks, thinking about how Commissioner Gordon and Nightingale's first meeting might go.

---------------

Commissioner Gordon likes to think that he's adjusting to the new normal of Gotham very well, -- the new normal being grown men running around dressed like bats, in military-grade strength body armor, committing acts of vigilantism, -- and slowly, little by little, he was no longer being surprised when this new normal pops up out of the shadows like the world's most terrifying daisy. His shaving lifespan thanks him for it.

....

The kid is a surprise though.

Granted, he seemed to be a surprise to the Bat too.

There's been a string of murders lately, -- which, in Gotham, is kind of like saying there's been another storm during monsoon season. And there's just been another; in some dilapidated building down in south Gotham, with the broken, boarded-up windows and mildew-crawling walls to match. The victim is a man in his thirties, multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, left in the center of the room for the blood to pool out around him.

The place is already secured when he arrives, the building swarmed with officers and the forensic detectives. The Bat emerges shortly after he does -- or, he might've been here the whole time, hiding someplace dark and shadowy. For his own sanity, Gordon doesn't think about it too hard.

The kid is a surprise, and he appears like a bolt of lightning.

He shows up in the middle of a conversation Gordon is having with the Bat.

A whistle, sharp and loud, slicing through the air, meant for open air rather than a confined space. Gordon's ears pierce and protest the sound, and the solemn, murmured chatter floating through the room abruptly cuts off like the swing of a gavel. As he turns towards the sound -- as they all do -- he swears, up and down, that he sees Batman's shoulders jump, just slightly.

At the source, perched on the window, is a boy. A boy in a gray-blue scarf and an oversized black hoodie, one that hangs off his frame and has ace bandages wrapped around the wrists in some attempt to cinch the sleeves. The hood is up, big like the rest of it, and threatens to swallow the upper half of the boy's face whole in the fabric. What upper half Gordon can see, is smeared with some kind of opaque, black face paint. He's holding onto the side of the frame with one hand, on his hip is a grappling hook. A familiar grappling hook.

Gordon has multiple questions, and his officers tense up.

Martinez puffs up, brows furrowing as his face shapes into a frown. Shoulders rolling back. "You can't be here, kid--"

The reaction is immediate, like a spark to gunpowder, the boy yanks his fingers from his mouth and his mouth twists into a scowl. Head snapping over to Officer Martinez, his hood manages to stay on but Gordon swears that as he bares his teeth, the glint makes them look sharper than they should be. His voice is rasp and quiet and harsh; snappish in its hissing; "Put a fuckin sock in it, Martinez. I'm not stayin."

Martinez reels back, and the boy immediately veers his attention off him. Like a switch, his demeanor drops. Despite half his face being covered, his mouth twists into a cringing, apologetic smile. Slanted and off-beat, embarrassed. It'd be disarming if this wasn't Gotham, and if he didn't just hiss at Martinez like he was about to bite his head off.

"Sorry." He whispers, voice deceptively polite and softer now. Gordon has to strain his ears to hear him. "I was looking for him."

He points his finger towards-- Gordon? No, Gordon follows the direction, and finds himself looking at -- the Bat.

The Bat, who always looks stiff as a pole, now looks even stiffer. Somehow. Well, the explains the grappling hook attached to the boy's waist.

"What are you doing here?" The Bat says, gruff and unable to completely smother the stumble of surprise in his tone.

The boy still holds a sheepish smile, and slips off the window ledge. His feet hit the creaky boards with a near-silent thud, the Batman finds his feet and rapidly begins crossing the room.

Gordon notes the slight tremble in the boy's legs as he straightens. He adjusts his scarf, which droops close to his knees now that he's standing, and slings a backpack -- how long has had that? -- off his shoulders. When the Bat reaches his side, he does as he always does, and looms over the boy like a spectre. A threatening mass of shadows cloaked in all-consuming black. Standing next to him, the boy looks teeny in comparison.

The Bat is a man who terrifies even the most hardened criminals, Gordon has seen grown men shiver in fear at the mention of his name. And yet when the boy looks up at him, he doesn't even flinch.

Instead, his sheepish smile melts away like ice under the sun, holding only traces of his previous embarrassment. It remains as a shadow on his face, a small upturn at the corners of his mouth. The boy pushes his hood back just enough to reveal glinting, ice-flint eyes surrounded in tar-black face paint. He holds the backpack up with one arm. "You forgot this."

[choccy-milky]

seb vs. clora's Childhood Friend™️ 😇🥰 ((from my new chap! ao3/wattpad))

[luetta]