#nothing too bad tho!!!

[adarkn1ght]

ahem *cracks knuckles* special interest rant INCOMING!!!!! This is long and confusing so bear with me guys (SPOILERS FOR ARKHAM KNIGHT AHEAD!!!!)

also this is only the basic lore so when I ramble about theories n stuff, they make a little bit of sense!

Arkham Knight is the third and “final” installment of the Arkham trilogy! Story wise, you don’t really need to play the past games to get what’s going on, but here’s a quick summary of important points anyways

Arkham Asylum - Joker takes over Arkham Asylum!! He plans to use special green juice (Titan, a variant of Venom, which Bane uses to get big and scary!) to create a big army but fails. He ends up injecting himself with Titan, though! During the story, Scarecrow attempts to poison the water supply with fear toxin, but gets mauled by killer croc. Not really in the game outside of silly little hints, but important to the lore— Warden Quincy Sharpe and Hugo Strange are making plans for a mysterious the Arkham City! Jason Todd (:D) has been missing for a while at this point and Batman has adopted Tim Drake as Robin.

Arkham City - Arkham City has been created! Inmates of Blackgate and patients of Arkham are all put into Arkham City as a means of… treatment? I suppose? The Arkham City project was advertised as a positive for the inmates and for Gotham as a whole, but obviously it was all an evil plan. Hugo Strange created Arkham City so he could put all of the criminals in one place to blow them up (he did this by inciting a riot and then starting Protocol 10, the plan to eliminate all inmates in case of emergency), but Batman stopped him! Meanwhile, Joker is dying from the Titan he injected himself with! He forces Batman to help him get a cure but giving Batman some of his blood, infecting him with the deadly disease. Batman finds the cure, but it was too late for Joker and he died. Even though Batman cured himself, something is still super wrong with him, something he wouldn’t realize until the events of Arkham Knight! Batman saves the day, but is changed by the Joker’s passing. Extra important lore thats not necessarily important to the plot but I think is important to the themes of the games - Talia al Ghul, Batman’s love interest at the time, dies at the hands of the Joker :(

Now onto Arkham Knight!!!

Remember Scarecrow? He’s back as the big bad and blamed Batman for what happened to him in the asylum! His whole deal was that he wanted Batman to suffer, so he held the city hostage with the help of the mysterious Arkham Knight! By threatening to release fear toxin, they force the entire city to evacuate, and the Arkham Knight brings an entire army to fight Batman! The first plan was to turn the Ace Chemical Factory into essentially a big bomb that would disperse fear toxin, but that didn’t work. When Batman got hit with the fear toxin, though, he started hallucinating the Joker! Dun dun dunnnn! Turns out, Joker has been kept alive in Batman’s mind because of the blood transfusion that took place in Arkham City (a little bit confusing, but Joker is actually very real in Batman’s head and is constantly trying to take over). Batman does his very best to ignore the Joker’s presence as he moves on to thwarting Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight’s next scheme, the Cloudburst. The Cloudburst is a code name for a tank that would disperse an even worse strain of fear toxin! Nothing could protect a person from the effects! BUTTTT, the Arkham Knight had kidnapped one of Batman’s allies, Barbara Gordon aka Oracle aka the former Batgirl! Unfortunately, Batman wasn’t able to save her :(. At this point, from Batman’s perspective, he has failed a LOT of important people in his life— Jason Todd, Talia al Ghul, and now Barbara Gordon and subsequently Jim Gordon, her father. As the game continues, Batman stops all kinds of crimes, but drives himself crazy with trying to discover the Arkham Knight’s identity. Why? Likely because he already had a good idea of who he could be based off of his impossible knowledge on everything to do with him, but he didn’t want to admit it. Batman isn’t able to stop the Cloudburst to stop exploding like he was able to stop the Ace Chemical factory from blowing up, though! Fear toxin covered Gotham City and Batman got another dose, which definitely wasn’t helping his deteriorating mental state. The only good thing he got out of trying to stop the Cloudburst was that he managed to scare off the Arkham Knight, who quickly stopped communicating with Scarecrow! With Poison Ivy’s help, Batman was able to neutralize the effects of the fear toxin, but he still had a bunch of criminals to take in!! First he went after the Arkham Knight, who had retreated back to the his headquarters. Before the final fight with him, it’s revealed that the Arkham Knight was�� dun dun dun, JASON TODD ( :D )! When he was “missing,” he was actually being bullied by Joker in Arkham. Joker manipulated him into thinking that Batman ruined his life, so he wanted to get rid of him and become a better Batman!!! His plan was to get rid of him and then become Red Hood, but it didn’t work out that way and Jason fled before Batman could help him (Batman still cared about him, even though he did bad things!) Next Batman went after Scarecrow, but, another plot twist, Barbara Gordon was aliveeee!!! Batman and Barbara escape, but Jim Gordon doesn’t (he was taken by Scarecrow).

Brief break before the big finale— Deathstroke, usually known as Slade Wilson, has taken over the Arkham Knight’s army! He’s a big ole meanie, but Batman locks him up!

OKAYY back to the main story! Batman realizes that Robin (Tim Drake) had been kidnapped by Scarecrow! Scarecrow told him to give up his gear and turn himself over, basically. Batman doesn’t want to lose another Robin, so he complies. Scarecrow unmasks Batman in front of life TV and says a whole buncha mean things to try to break him, but it doesn’t work! In the finale moments of the game, Batman beats the Joker in his head, taking full control back of his body. Jason ( :D ) comes back as Red Hood and frees Batman, Batman beats up Scarecrow and locks him up, but he can’t continue being Batman anymore with his secret revealed.

He initiates the Knightfall protocol, which means he blew up Wayne Manor, faking his and Alfred’s deaths so they can live their lives in peace and so no one can possibly find out the identities of his allies. Super sad ending to a perfect game!!!! I love the Arkham games so much because I used to watch my dad play them alll of the time! They mean a lot to me!!! I don’t really identify with this particular version of Jason most of the time, but Arkham Knight is still one of my favorite characters ever!!!!

[inkskinned]

this is just my opinion but i think any good media needs obsession behind it. it needs passion, the kind of passion that's no longer "gentle scented candle" and is now "oh shit the house caught on fire". it needs a creator that's biting the floorboards and gnawing the story off their skin. creators are supposed to be wild animals. they are supposed to want to tell a story with the ferocity of eating a good stone fruit while standing over the sink. the same protective, strange instinct as being 7 and making mud potions in pink teacups: you gotta get weird with it.

good media needs unhinged, googling-at-midnight kind of energy. it needs "what kind of seams are invented on this planet" energy and "im just gonna trust the audience to roll with me about this" energy. it needs one person (at least) screaming into the void with so much drive and energy that it forces the story to be real.

sometimes people are baffled when fanfic has some stunning jaw-dropping tattoo-it-on-you lines. and i'm like - well, i don't go here, but that makes sense to me. of fucking course people who have this amount of passion are going to create something good. they moved from a place of genuine love and enjoyment.

so yeah, duh! saturday cartoons have banger lines. random street art is sometimes the most precious heart-wrenching shit you've ever seen. someone singing on tiktok ends up creating your next favorite song. youtubers are giving us 5 hours of carefully researched content. all of this is the impossible equation to latestage capitalism. like, you can't force something to be good. AI cannot make it good. no amount of focus-group testing or market research. what makes a story worth listening to is that someone cares so much about telling it - through dance, art, music, whatever it takes - that they are just a little unhinged about it.

one time my friend told me he stayed up all night researching how many ways there are to peel an orange. he wrote me a poem that made me cry on public transportation. the love came through it like pith, you know? the words all came apart in my hands. it tasted like breakfast.

[evercelle]

2024 art summary! it sure has been a year

[pixlatedvampire]

i killed myself with a phonograph like 6 times in a row.

perfect game no notes 🫶💗✨

[sugarcoatednightshade]

thinking about how Humans Are Space Orcs stories always talk about how indestructible humans are, our endurance, our ability to withstand common poisons, etc. and thats all well and good, its really fun to read, but it gets repetitive after a while because we aren't all like that.

And that got me thinking about why this trope is so common in the first place, and the conclusion I came to is actually kind of obvious if you think about it. Not everyone is allowed to go into space. This is true now, with the number of physical restrictions placed on astronauts (including height limits), but I imagine it's just as strict in some imaginary future where humans are first coming into contact with alien species. Because in that case there will definitely be military personnel alongside any possible diplomatic parties.

And I imagine that all interactions aliens have ever had up until this point have been with trained personnel. Even basic military troops conform to this standard, to some degree. So aliens meet us and they're shocked and horrified to discover that we have no obvious weaknesses, we're all either crazy smart or crazy strong (still always a little crazy, academia and war will do that to you), and not only that but we like, literally all the same height so there's no way to tell any of us apart.

And Humans Are Death Worlders stories spread throughout the galaxy. Years or decades or centuries of interspecies suspicion and hostilities preventing any alien from setting foot/claw/limb/appendage/etc. on Earth until slowly more beings are allowed to come through. And not just diplomats who keep to government buildings, but tourists. Exchange students. Temporary visitors granted permission to go wherever they please, so they go out in search of 'real terran culture' and what do they find?

Humans with innate heart defects that prevent them from drinking caffeine. Humans with chronic pain and chronic fatigue who lack the boundless endurance humans are supposedly famous for. Humans too tall or too short or too fat to be allowed into space. Humans who are so scared of the world they need to take pills just to function. Humans with IBS who can't stand spicy foods, capsaicin really is poison to them. Lactose intolerance and celiac disease, my god all the autoimmune disorders out there, humans who struggle to function because their own bodies fight them. Humans who bruise easily and take too long to heal. Humans who sustained one too many concussions and now struggle to talk and read and write. Humans who've had strokes. Humans who were born unable to talk or hear or speak, and humans who through some accident lost that ability later.

Aliens visit Earth, and do you know what they find? Humanity, in all its wholeness.

[frstk]

Best Served Cold VS Best Served Hot

[frobby]

i think a core component of the okumura twins relationship is that if you told them before the series what happens in the future, they would worry about each other before themselves

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Kavik: Nooooo, she didn't! Rangi: She did! She stuck me in the ground and pranced off to do spirits no what! Kavik: Ugh, they really don't appreciate us do they? Rangi: She thinks I can't handle it! I'm her bodyguard, and a lieutenant in the military! I can do anything! But what I can't do is guard a body that's not there! And, she keeps losing pieces of it! I won't have a body to guard at this rate! Kavik: Does she have trouble sleeping too? Rangi: Sleeping. Eating. Functioning! Everything! I have to have Jinpa keep an eye on her for me! But she doesn't listen to him! Kavik: At least she listens to you sometimes! Yangchen doesn't like being told what to do. It's sooooo hard to convince her to do anything! I have to beg her to sleep! She's like a toddler! Rangi: They're both overgrown toddlers! Ugh, they are just the worst I tell you! Kavik: I know! E-especially when they get too-ahem- friendly. *starts to blush* Rangi, blushing too: I don't really mind them taking the lead tbh, just not when my face is busted up! Kavik, blushing harder: I just don't want it to be in the middle of an assembly! Rangi: Same! Kinda, we- Yangchen and Kyoshi, barging in:

[rednite-dork]

i love the way you draw your sebastian !! i don’t know if this is weird to say but i can definitely imagine him having some stretch marks on his stomach or arms

THANK YOU! ♥️ and oh my god I love this little detail YES 😭 I had to implement this in a drawing

Sebastian fresh out of shower and wondering where the f are his clothes (his wife hid them)

[luxaofhesperides]

Please continue ghostlights multiverse constant au with Earth 0 having a happy ending together cuz halfa Danny is impossible to really kill anymore pleaseeeeeee 😭

(part one)

Danny is destined to die once he meets Duke. He knows this; he’s seen how their friendship leads to Danny’s death is so many different lives. There’s no doubt in his mind that the only way to ensure Danny lives a long life is to stay away from him.

Which is why the universe decides to make Danny pop up constantly. It’s clearly trying to get him killed, and Duke refuses to let that happen!

It starts innocently enough. They cross paths briefly at a bus stop, bumping into each other as Duke gets off the bus and Danny moves to go on it. He recognizes Danny immediately, feels a little spark go through him when their shoulders brush against each other. Something in him says I know you. I miss you.

He pulls back a step and offers a quick apology. Danny waves it off and looks at him as through searching for something. He opens his mouth to say something, but Duke can feel the threads of fate tighten around their throats and hurries away. 

He waits until he hears the bus pull away, then glances behind him to watch it go before he slows down to a normal walking pace and heads for the mall where he planned to meet his friends. 

Duke’s heart pounds in his chest. He can’t get Danny’s eyes out of his head; so painfully blue, so nostalgic, so doomed. 

This is for the best, he reminds himself. This is so Danny can live. That’s all that matters.

The moment’s passed, anyways. They’re still strangers, and they’ll stay that way. 

He takes another minute to collect himself, then plasters on a smile and heads into the mall to find his friends.

The next six times, Duke has to save Danny as the Signal, appearing just in time to stop a mugging, an armed store robbery, a car trying to run Danny over, and fighting off Man-Bat who, for some reason, took one look at Danny and went fuck this guy, actually.

Duke is stressed. He’s Stressed™ and if anyone tries to take out Danny again he’s just going to start screaming. 

For whatever reason, the universe is just out to get Danny now that they’ve run into each other once. Duke’s life is a cosmic joke, and he’s stuck in the center of it all waiting for the moment comedy turns into tragedy. 

It’s gotten to the point that Duke expects to find Danny in some sort of dangerous situation as soon as he starts patrol. He’s starting to dread going out, but he needs to; Gotham needs the Signal to keep the streets safe during the day, and Danny needs Duke to save his incredibly unlucky ass nearly every single day.

The first two hours go fine. He stops an armed robbery and a car jacking, chases away some creeps from the working girls, and gets a blueberry muffin from the bakery that’s been around forever, on account of the old woman running it thinking he’s a good lad who needs to eat more.

Duke begins to hope that he’ll have a quiet patrol. He begins to hope that Danny is safe and not in mortal danger for once.

His hopes are immediately dashed when he spots Danny on a rooftop, standing way too close to the edge.

Heart in his throat, Duke crosses the space between them in an instant, slingshotting himself forward through shadows.

He intends to pull Danny back, to say something, to try and shake some common sense into him so he actually has a chance at living a long life. Duke doesn’t get to do any of that; as soon as he steps out of the shadows, Danny turns to face him with a tired smile.

“There you are,” he says. “I knew you’d find me.”

“What? I—listen, can you step back from the ledge for me?”

Danny steps back, keeping his eyes on Duke. He doesn’t seem to mind that the Signal is so hesitant in this moment, keeping his distance. 

“I wasn’t sure at first,” he says, as if he never stopped talking, “But I had a feeling. You’ve probably had it too, right? It’s why we keep being pushed together, and why my luck has been so awful ever since I came to Gotham.”

He knows, is the first thing Duke things. But how can that be? If Danny knows about all those other universes where they had each other, then he knows how it ends. If he knows, then he should be trying to keep his distance from both Duke and the Signal before he gets killed.

“It’s you under that mask, isn’t it? Duke.”

The way Danny says his name brings him back to all those other lives where they had each other from the start. He sounds so sure of himself, as if he’s always known Duke.

It’s only when Duke says, “How?” that Danny falters, fear briefly crossing his expression before it settles into something more neutral. His fingers begin to pull at the cuffs of his jacket sleeves, confidence melting away. 

“Do you… not know me?”

The quietness of his voice, the fragility of it, breaks Duke’s heart. He doesn’t stop to think before he answers, “I know you. Of course I know you, Danny.” Then he blinks, shakes his head, and says, “Wait. No. I know of you. We haven’t really met this life.”

“It’s the dreams, right? They make things so confusing.”

“You’ve been getting them too?”

“I may be the cause of them,” Danny says with a wince. “Due to some, uh… ghostly magic shenanigans. It wasn’t on purpose! But it is kinda my fault.”

Ghostly magic? Okay, sure, why not. Who is Duke to judge the bizarre things that exist in their world. He has superpowers and his biological father is an evil immortal. He has absolutely no leg to stand on when it cames to the weird and the unexpected. Might as well roll with it, since this is his life now.

Besides, there’s more important things to focus on, such as: “Okay, so, just to be on the same page, you’ve been getting the same dreams as me, yeah? The ones where you always die? Those dreams?”

And Danny, very casually, answers, “Yeah.”

“Dude,” Duke says, pained, “If you know that meeting me leads to your death, then why are you seeking me out?!”

“What?”

“Have you not seen how you die young in every single universe? Because I have! And it’s messing me up!”

Danny blinks at him, then looks guilty, hunching in on himself. “Oh, yeah. That. Uh, yeah, so…” he trails off and bites his lip, gaze kept downwards so he doesn’t have to meet Duke’s eyes. “I do die young always, yeah, but it’s totally not your fault! I just do that!”

“You just do that,” Duke repeats, pained. 

“Yeah. I just die young.”

“Is this somehow not a problem for you.”

To his immense displeasure, Danny has the nerve to shrug and say, “Eh, not really.”

“Danny.”

“It’s okay! Really!” Danny says, a little frantically, “And also it has nothing to do with you! None of my deaths have been your fault, it’s just a thing that happens to me!” And then, in a quiet, rushed mumble, “Also I already died in this universe so it’s fine.”

A strangled sound bursts out of Duke’s throat as he tries very hard not to start yelling. He puts his head in his hands and holds back a heavy sigh because the boy of his literal dreams is stressing him out so much he’s about to dissolve into ashes and ascend to a higher realm where he has no worries. 

Unfortunately, he’s not quite there yet, so Duke has to deal with living in the reality where Danny admits he already died because that’s just what he does: die young. 

Which is, apparently, not Duke’s fault at all. Cool. 

Cool cool cool. He’s definitely not going to have a breakdown about this.

A hand gently tugs on his wrist, making him lift his head to meet Danny’s worried gaze. “Hey, you alright? Do you wanna sit down for a minute?”

And you know what? Duke does want to sit down for a minute. He’s earned it. 

He nods, and Danny carefully guides him back to where the roof access door is, so they can sit with their backs against something and be away from the edge where curious eyes might spot them. It feels easy, practiced, as if they’ve done this a thousand times before instead of just now having their first conversation. Their lives have been linked and twisted together, though only for a short time before death takes Danny away. 

He knows Danny, despite how illogical it is, and that’s what makes him take off his helmet and exposure his face to the world. 

Danny knows him too, after all. 

There is no hiding from someone who is meant to be in his life.

Danny’s smiling softly when he turns to look at him. “Hey, Duke. It’s good to see you properly. Is it weird to say that I’ve missed you even though we’ve technically never met in this life?”

“Nah,” he replies, “I missed you too. Please stop scaring me like that.”

“I make no promises. Expect for this: dying won’t take me away from you in this life. I’ve got it handled.”

“I don’t… I don’t think that’s someone anyone can have handled.”

“I’ve got it handled,” Danny repeats firmly. 

Duke shakes his head with a small laugh. He got so caught up in the guilt of leading to Danny’s death, of being unable to save him, of losing  him in every universe, that he forgot how stubborn Danny is. 

It is a weight off his chest, though. To know that it wasn’t his fault. To know that the worst has already come to pass long before they met in this universe, so they don’t have to fear the future together. 

“So,” he says, “Tell me more about these magical ghostly shenanigans?”

“At least wait until the second date for personal questions,” Danny jokes.

“Okay. Wanna grab dinner tonight?”

It’s nice to see that Danny blushes easily in this universe too. “Isn’t that moving a little fast?”

“We’ve been dreaming about a bunch of other universes where we’re together. We know each other even though we don’t know each other. We’re well past moving fast, dude.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Danny nods. “Alright. Dinner tonight, then. Take me to the best place for breakfast foods in Gotham. I’ve been craving pancakes all week.”

“Sure, I can do that. Mind giving me your number so I can figure out where to pick you up from?”

Danny nods and begins patting his pockets in search of… something. Duke means to grab his phone and hand it to Danny to get his number, but he’s quickly distracted as Danny gives up on his pockets and shoves a hand directly into his own chest. 

Ghostly magic shenanigans. This is probably part of it?  Danny doesn’t look alarmed by this at all, so Duke rolls with it and shoves away his shock at the sight. 

“Aha!” Danny holds up a sharpie in triumph. He sure did pull that straight out of his ribcage. Duke is so chill with it. 

He lets Danny take hold of his arm, removing a wrist gauntlet so he can write on the skin. The cool ink of the sharpie makes him shiver, but otherwise, he stays still. Danny writes carefully, in smooth movements. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds, then he pulls the sharpie away and blows a surprisingly cold breath against Duke’s wrist to help the ink dry faster.

“There we go,” he says with a smile. “Let me know when you wanna have our date, okay? I’m free whenever, so don’t worry about accommodating me or anything.

“I’ll text you once I’m ready,” Duke agrees. He stands up, looking over the numbers written on his wrist. He memorizes them, then puts his wrist gauntlet back on. It’s about time for him to get back to being the Signal, as much as he hates to leave Danny here when they’ve finally been able to have a quiet moment to themselves. 

“I’ll see you later, then.” Danny hesitates, then leans forward and presses a quick, chaste kiss against Duke’s cheek. Duke blinks at him, stunned, his heart skipping a beat. 

He doesn’t get the chance to return the gesture; Danny flushes red, backs up a few steps with a shy grin, and says, “Okay, bye Duke! Stay safe out there!” And then he’s gone, blinking out of sight, and it’s only his meta powers that let him see a faint wispy outline where Danny was. 

It moves, floating up in the air, then flies away like smoke in the breeze. 

Ah, Duke thinks, Ghostly. He’s a ghost. I’ll worry about that later.

His fingers brush against the spot where Danny kissed him. Then he puts his helmet back on and focuses on swinging through the streets of Gotham, ready for anything. 

The sooner he gets done with patrol, the better, after all. He needs all his focus to do that so he can start getting ready for his date with Danny, the literal boy of his dreams. 

This time, this life, this universe, they’re gonna do it right. They’ll make up for all the time their other selves lost. They’ll cherish every minute together, one pancake date at a time.

And to think, it only took a couple dozen different lives to get here.

[spuercrazycat16]

chat am i cooked if i post selfship of me and glados

Fuck it we ball

Inspired by this image from @ams-puppy :)

[charmac]

Hey I love your account and you seem so connected to sunny so I was just wondering why/how? This is totally genuine I was wondering if you actually have a connection to something related to the show or are just a really dedicated superfan? (If it is the latter how do I achieve your power)

Anyways I really admire you and ik I've had bad takes in the past (and now tbh but im working on it) I think you're really cool not to be weird or anything :3

Thanks! Just mental illness fueling this beast, really... I dunno, lol, I probably put too much into this show, but every aspect of it lights my brain up like a Christmas tree, so it makes me happy to think about and dissect and discuss and obsess over :) Kinda all there is to it!

[conkreetmonkey]

If you have a bigass “HELP WANTED” billboard out in front of your factory with a phone number on it, but it’s just the standard phone number for the property’s landline so I have to sit through all the menu options, and there isn’t actually an option for job seekers inquiring about the sign, and when I press the extension for HR because it’s the closest one, I then get put on hold, and your hold music is literally like 70% pure static, and then after only about a minute on hold I go straight to voicemail (so what was the point of the hold??), and the answering machine message is just a guy saying his first name with no context and then there’s immediately a beep,

I think you should get sent to the shadow realm for a million billion years. Personally.

[seleneprince]

Since I can't stop thinking about it, more memes about the Snape's werewolf daughter au! :

Part 1

(Because only SHE can call him out of his bullshit. Pisa off Potter)

(Basically her mind during most of PoA)

[rotten-machinery]

experimenting with symbols!! made a new passage: The Experiment (mild warning: the drawing below has some surgical tools)

dissecting grandpa today :(

[harbingersecho]

grif's surgery but just a little more... obvious?

I actually rly rly ADORE frankengrif but I don't have an in-show reason why he'd have extensive long-term allogeneic skingrafts on his face 😔