#life in the darkest timeline

[messythoughts007]

If I've learned anything from life, it's that sometimes, the darkest times can bring us to the brightest places.

I've learned that the most toxic people can teach us the most important lessons, that our most painful struggles can grant us the most necessary growth;and that the most heartbreaking losses of friendship and love can make room for the most wonderful people.

I've learned that what seems like a curse in the moment can actually be a blessing and that what seems like the end of the road is actually just the discovery that we are meant to travel down a different path.

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

watching the righteous gemstones and nodding sagely while saying “just like on succession” like five times per episode is giving me life

[drawnkitten]

Where in the timeline did we go wrong?

Like why do we have all these cool ideas and media depicting VR but instead of this^ we get Ma'am ma'am in the living room getting jump scared by gifs of cursed teddy bears?

[blujayonthewing]

I was trying out variations on colorways for aubree's outfit and, with a few of them, realized that her outfit has trended slightly less colorful over time, and specifically less yellow (originally a green and yellow striped vest, then a green vest over a yellow short sleeved shirt, and now possibly a white shirt and green vest, with only small amounts of yellow embroidery). this wasn't intentional, but nonetheless, the concept that, as the adventure has worn on, she's outwardly losing color-- and specifically in favor of browns and whites, the colors associated with the halfling god of death-- is compelling to me. I mean, I suppose if I had been doing it on purpose, the shadowfell arc immediately following our literal deaths and mysterious rebirths would have been a really good time for the most muted palette... but, then again, aubree was still relatively fresh then, confused and traumatized but also still powerfully and stubbornly alive where it counts; vibrant, burning, shining light into dark corners just by existing. but the more we learn, the heavier things weigh, the fewer outlets she has, the less she feels like she can relate to the people who should understand better than anyone... she's still righteous and angry, but she's also just... sad, and tired, and growing more tired the more she feels like she has to keep herself together for everyone else. and gradually, quietly, her colors are washing out.

[lieutenant-amuel]

fallen leaf for the best man valerio pls

Yay, think you so much!! I’ve waited for the ask about Valerio <3

🍃 [FALLEN LEAF] What's the darkest period of time your OC has been through?

Okay, I’m not quite sure how I can answer it without spoiling everything akjskdkd. Anyway, since I want to write but I can’t write anything for Was Born To Lead now, here’s another bad drabble from me, which is either too clear or too vague, I have no idea XD

Valerio was sitting motionless on his bed. It’d been five days since he’d moved into Matías’ house and all that time his luggage stood untouched in the corner of his room.

The usual surge of warmth he felt in those walls had dissipated with the thoughts escaping from his mind. It was empty. As was his soul. He couldn’t think of nor feel anything.

Leticia.

He lost her. Many years ago. Her death left a hole in his chest that would never be filled again. Her soft caramel eyes that sparkled with an undying passion for everything she was doing. Her radiant smile that could illuminate his life in the darkest hours and be the beacon of hope in his directionless journey.

She inspired him. She changed him. She was his everything.

But he had to move on. Because he had to stay strong. For her.

Those short five years of peace. The years when Valerio was truly happy. The years when he had nothing to worry about, when he thought everything was in the past and he would find a way to build a new, better life.

But he had to leave. Against his will. Again. He couldn’t do anything but succumb. He did. And he regretted it.

Smoke.

Fear.

Fire.

Pain.

Weakness.

Darkness.

He opened his eyes and saw his hands. His burnt skin and his scars. He heard surprised voices saying that was a miracle he survived.

He didn’t remember what happened to him until a shadow that heated his blood flickered in his eyes. His mind was clouded by the rage boiling inside of him, and the only thing he remembered that night was a deafening howl that still echoed in his ears.

You’re insane!

Valerio came back. And despite everything that had happened to him, he was happy. The chains that had been holding him back had been broken, and he could finally spread his wings and start a new life. And bring it to her.

But then she breathed her last breath, and it set Valerio’s wings on fire. He fell, and as he kept burning from the inside, he couldn’t fly up. Not that time. He didn’t have anything to live for.

Despite Valerio wiping his tears away, they kept streaming down his cheeks. He didn’t know what to do. And he didn’t want to know it.

OC Ask Game.

[serenityscribes]

New, New Earth (2023)

Goodbye to the ego The ideas that lead To calamity The thought that there Was any competition And we aren’t all meant To play for the same team Be the type of people Who root for each other Rather than tear each other Down, piece by piece Who believe in the good In hope and humanity That we aren’t in any way Stuck in the darkest timeline Instead, on the one That, against all odds, Finds a way to prevail

E. Ecker, January 2023

New, new Doctor.

[lewisbian]

who is mass producing these porn bots...

[spite-and-waffles]

I know we've all had a pretty rough few years by now, but thinking of Tim Drake helps keep it all in perspective. For instance, if you were 17-year-old Pre52 Tim this year, it means that Bruce died in 2022. Steph, Connor, Bart, Dad all died and Bludhaven had gotten nuked with Dana in it in 2021. No Man's Land happened in 2020, Knightfall in 2019 and your Mum died in 2018, before you'd even properly got the job. And you still can't vote.

[starspanner]

*Gene Roddenberry facepalm*

[paulsebert]

[messythoughts007]

I never thought breathing would be so hard when you're having an attack.

It sucks to live a life with so many thoughts that suffocates you.

[secretinasecret]

Here are some the canon information we now know after the Book of Bill and the strange website Soos FINALLY FIXED:

Saclene and Euclid are Bill’s parents.

Stanford’s middle name is Filbrick.

After spending only one day in Gravity Falls, Dipper and Mabel debated escaping through the window and calling the FBL on Stan. Mabel shook an 8-Ball, and they decided to stay. Stan overheard everything, and he considers it one of his lowest moments in life.

There is a high possibility that Dipper and Mabel’s parents got a divorce while they were in Gravity Falls, and that is why they wanted to send them away in the first place.

Bill feels remorse for destroying his dimension and wears his father’s hat, or a similar one.

Dipper’s legal name is Mason.

Back at home, Dipper once overheard his parents argue, and it gave him a nightmare.

Bill tried to make a deal with Pacifica before Blendin.

Eda Clawthrone was only one of Stan’s ex-wives.

Stan once considered to blame every crime he ever committed on Soos, and it is his darkest thought.

Bill cannot get over the fact that Stan was the one who threw in the final punch and saved Gravity Falls. He never will.

Soos hopes to have children with Melody, very soon.

Gideon still has feelings for Mabel.

Dipper and Mabel only survive in one timeline out of infinite. (The wildest one)

Mabel once tried to send her mother a videotape of her sticking gummy worms up her nose.

Stan wears a male girdle.

Dipper and Mable were born in 1999, which would make them 25 years old today.

[darkfrog24]

And everyone who didn't vote for Harris because of Gaza? Please watch what Trump does to Gaza.

If it makes any of you feel better, Donald Trump will have an uphill battle to change the constitution. He will need:

-2/3 of Senators (60)

-2/3 of the House of Representatives (290)

-3/4 of the states (38)

In 2026, 33 senate seats will be up for grabs, and we’ll be able to vote for people who are against Trump and his ideals.

Breathe and remain hopeful because it’s not over. We can still fight and make Trump’s last four years hell.

[strangenewwords]

I do this move regularly now. One of these days I'm going to do it in a session, and a client is going to know.

And then I'll be really sad, coz we can't be friends.

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP fanfic idea: Fishbowl Bones

Jason Todd regrets a lot of things in life. He regrets how he hurt others in his Pit Madness and how he made Tim's eyes turn weary, filled with unease, like the younger boy is watching a bomb timer tick down.

Regrets how distant he feels from his family and from his friends like the part of him who knows how to socialize stayed buried in that blasted grave.

Regrets that his stupid teenage decisions lead him to his death.

Sometimes, in the darkest corner of his heart, he even regrets being taken in by Bruce. Hewonders what life would have been like if he had stayed on the streets, if he had lived as a regular unfortunate boy.

An earlier grave, maybe, but one that didn't have him come back broken like this. He would have just been another lost soul in the city, forgotten and remembered by no one, but free of the torment of fighting all his life.

It's not good to think like that, he knows, but Jason can't help the thoughts from racing through his mind on the roughest of nights. When the smell of gun powder, copper and sweat cloat him, as screams ring in his ears.

When his soul is soaked in blood.

It's hard not to think that.

Jason has so many regrets that when he stumbles across the Bracelet of Reverse on a mission in the Infinite Realms, he slips it on without second thought.

He knows the myth surrounding it. Apparently, it belonged to the old Ghost Queen, the unfortunate wife of the old Ghost King, who abused her for years with his ring of Rage and Crown of Fire. She created it to flee to a world the King could not reach.

This is a world in a timeline similar to the moment of her biggest regret—accepting Pariah Dark's proposal. She could correct the moment and live a whole new life in that timeline, trapped in a fantasy as Clockwork closed her in, caging her within her new life.

The time god made it a punishment for her overstepping into his domain, cutting that world off from the multiverse and letting it float in its solution.

"You gain what you wanted." The Ancient of Time said, "But you will lose what you had and could have had."

No one knows how her new world went—if Pariah was sealed or not, seeing as the Queen was the one to gather the Ancients in all other timelines—but the idea of correcting the biggest mistake of one's life was tempting enough that people scrambled for her bracelet, even if the world was a trap.

The very same one Jason stumbled upon. He uses the same one, ignoring the cries of his brothers, who watch helplessly as Jason slips it on.

The bracelet picks up the regrets from the darkest corner of his heart, and in a flash sends him away. Jason blinks, from one moment to the next, his world shifts and he finds himself a homeless child with a tire iron in his hand.

In front of him, rest the Batmobile all wheels ripe for the picking.

Jason stares, the weight of his choose, hanging in the air before he turns and runs. He runs away from his future, from the pain, from his salvation and damnination in equal parts.

He eventually stops running. Surprise, his feet take him to his Red Hood safe house. Right now, it's still the broken-down and condemned arcade because it's years in the past. Because he's there is no Red Hood, defender of Crime Alley, just a lonely, underfed boy standing in the middle of the room.

Outside, he hears the Batmoible race down the street, revving its powerful engine and fading away in the distance like his fading future.

Jason Todd, age thirteen but soul twenty-five, is no longer a Bat.

Life goes on, and he learns to survive the streets again. He trains his body to move as he used to, using his skills to not be a hero but a survivor, stopping crimes if they happen in front of him.

He never goes looking for danger.

Nightwing leaves the city, and Batman no longer has his bright colored shadow. There are times Bruce gets hurt when he shouldn't have because he was supposed to have back up there to help him.

Jason ducks his head and pretends to not see.

Then, one day, Robin returns because Bruce never learns. Jason expects it, having been counting the days as they move on. He's been in this world for two years and has built a reputation for being forcefully neutral.

He won't join any gangs, but he won't let them push him around. He steals from the stupid rich with the hacking skills of his past and sends it to himself as a false insurance claim for his mother. He bought the old arcade with it- under the table in a shady deal for far more then the place is worth- and slowly build his old safe house.

He's armed to the teeth, living nocturnal, only leaving his safe haven at night. Some street kids think he's a vampire, which is amusing. Jason doesn't try to go back to school. He has the money but none of Bruce's resources.

He can't fake grades or proof of guardians. CPS is a genuine threat again, and he refuses to give them a chance to try and drag him to those houses working as fronts for trafficking or, worse, the Court of Owls recruit centers.

Jason doesn't have a plan or goal to work towards. He has no friends, family, or even small connections. He sometimes goes to cafes with TVs, watching the news while drinking coffee. He also reads the newspapers, trying to keep up with whatever mission Bruce is working on.

Crime Alley citizens are weary and dismissive of him in equal parts. They know he's little Todd, but they don't know anything else, which scares them.

How is he surviving? Where is he getting the money? How does he move like that? No one knows, but they can see it—the skills of his past life resting just underneath his skin, waiting for anyone to test him.

Jason doesn't bother reassuring them. He doesn't bother with much besides the occasional food run, laundry mat visits, gas station travel centers with showers, and TV viewing in public spaces. He stays inside his arcade- still looking bad from the outside but homey and comforting inside- filling his days with books and building machines.

He just wants to survive—nothing more, nothing less.

The entire time, he wonders when Tim will finally snap and force Bruce to take him in. It makes sense to him that the only Robin who actively makes himself a vigilante would eventually become the next Robin. Tim knew Bruce's real ID for years before his death forced him to act.

This Bruce isn't that close to the violence he was when Jason died, but he's getting there. He is becoming reckless. Tim will be forced to act sooner or later, and Jason makes bets with himself on what night will be his debut.

He is not expecting someone else completely different being the new Robin.

Jason is shocked to see the hero re-appear, rescuing Tim Drake on TV, and realizes he doesn't know who this world's Robin is. Worse, his costume starkly differs from every Robin he's known. Jason risks exposal by breaking into the Batcave, having to avoid traps never before placed and hack the Batcomputer.

When he finds Robin's file, he is even more confused by what he reads. It makes no sense, especially for Bruce to bring to this level, for a Robin to have so little information.

Even Tim's clone friend Kon-El had a bigger file when he was first found.

All he gets is a name, an age, and a meta confirmation. (Even if the word meta isn't used yet in this timeline.)

Who is Danny Fenton, age fifteen, and why does he have Clockwork's amulet on his Robin costume?

Jason prays it's not because of him. He never asked for a rescue, and he won't go without a fight. He logs out, and slips though the back caves, mentally planning on hacking Lex once more to upgrade his home against "Ectoplasm" since that what this Danny's powers are based on.

Worlds away, the Waynes wait for the Ghost King outside a swirling portal. He went in to save Jason from a fantasy world before it could trap him in his worst nightmare. Before it made him forget his real life.

He may have to follow that world's rules and play whatever role the world needed him to, but the King swore he would find Jason and bring him home.