#ramblings does this make sense

[realbeefman]

charden to me is like Sure Okay Yeah i guess. they can have sex and love each other and hold each other close in the dead of night. and maybe dennis clings on to charlie because he’s groggy from all the cat food and glue and he needs a little comfort because all of the cats screaming is freaking him out and he’s always been sensitive to loud noises. and maybe charlie holds him back because he understands what it’s like to be afraid and desperate for comfort and he wants his best friend to feel safe and loved. what the fuck ever. im chill and calm. (is not chill or calm or normal)

[antivancathedral]

(continues to be insane) I can’t get over the fact that Spite asks for help.

Spite is often treated childishly by several characters—Taash, for example, and even Lucanis depending on your dialogue choices—but I actually…don’t think Spite is all that childish. He’s been put into a situation he’s never experienced before, in a place where reality doesn’t work like it should, and been put through torture that he feels doubly through Lucanis on top of it all. Any person would through a “tantrum” under these circumstances. Spite’s behavior is reasonable.

He never tries to hurt Lucanis’s companions, not once. He only ever tries to leave, as Lucanis promised him he would be able to. Even Lucanis, he only hurts once outside of the Ossuary, when he must have felt unbelievably confused. Calivan is dead and Lucanis has gone home, has allies, and yet to Spite, he simply refuses to leave the Ossuary. And still, he asks. He could wrestle control from Lucanis, but instead he asks (or demands) to talk to Rook. And all he wants to say is that he wants to be free.

All and all, Lucanis does not reach out to anyone to ask for help with his depression or PSTD. Spite is his problem, he says, and says often. His burden. He never intended to let anyone in, even though he admits that he doesn’t know how to start healing. He asks for Rook’s help against Zara, against Illario, but no one is privy to his mental and emotional struggles.

Spite, on the other hand, asks immediately. Or he wants to ask. And finally, when Lucanis is in the middle of a spiral, it's Spite that says "Help us." Not demanding, just asking. Pleading. And still only to Rook. While I think at first, Spite wants Rook specifically because he knows Lucanis will listen, I think that has grown into something more by the time Inner Demons comes around.

"Help us," he says. Not just 'make him listen' or 'help Lucanis'. Us.

This is all to say I think that while Spite may not understand or feel romance (yet) he most certainly feels love. He loves Lucanis, whose image he takes ("They wouldn't dare, Lucanis is mine.") and he loves Rook ("Rook is my favorite." "Smells like...Rook." "Help us." The WINGS.) And that's all trust is, isn't it? A kind of love? Showing vulnerability to someone close to you?

When Spite is finally allowed to communicate, he shows plenty of maturity. He gives Lucanis space, he asks Emmrich to teach him fire, he's willing to try new things, and he loves.

Determination is a kind of love too, when you think about it.

[puppyeared]

learned something about myself lately

[violetsandshrikes]

one thing very important i have relearned over the past few years is that you really have to go out and contribute in your community and do activism in person (if you can)

because the online sphere and the irl sphere are usually very, very different. the vibe is very different. the composition of people both giving and receiving support tends to be different. priorities and solutions tend to be different.

i think it’s also important because online everyone can easily try and position themselves as a leader/the authority on an idea or topic, but in person you usually have to be okay with doing one task that’s part of something bigger, guided by people with more experience. and i think that’s also incredibly important and really grounding.

[pro-sipper]

Genuinely asking because I want a real answer for once but HOW can antis say with a straight face and no sense of irony that two characters stabbing each other is just silly fun times but rape is what's weird and gross?

BOTH are criminal acts, BOTH are harmful, where does the distinction really lie?

[randomminty]

Five billion octopath 2 scribbles i feel sick

[lazylittledragon]

lately i've been drinking orange juice and eating fruit and going outside in the sun and coincidentally 10-20% of my depression has vanished. must be witchcraft

[st4rfckerz]

when he has a wide torso so he can’t help but keep your legs spread wide open when he’s got you in missionary

[lackpenny]

a broken man's last effort, all for nothing

[cashmoneyyysstuff]

having scary dog privileges when going out in public with Bakugo

Except people only avoid him because they’re afraid of getting rabies 😭😭

he’s just so chaotic he has to be infected

LMFAOOO UR IN MY BRAIN BC I THINK THIS !!!!

(him n my oc r like this cough coiugh cough)

i mean,, look at him..💀 sure, he's scary and big n buff n whatnot but also he looks like a damn dog with rabies the way he walks around shoulders slouched n saggy n with that impossible frown on his face. (plus his little waddle) and if you catch him on a good day he's even scaries cus hes walking upright like he does when he has those big ass gauntlets on his arms and hes just smuch more imposing and scary😭😭😭 (🤤)

and the way he practically snarls foaming at the mouth at the thought of anyone daring to approach you with any typa romantic intent,,very scary stuff indeed. goosebump inducing.

like he's scary in the way hes intimidating and also he looks like a freak😭 plus he's just soo loud when he feels threatened. like if he thinks someone (god bless their soul for even having the balls big enough to walk up trynna flirt) is trynna start something with you hes all GLARESS. the pressure in the room goes hard and when the person doesnt get the hint he will very much start talking for you. he'll lean over your shoulder where he was walking next you and full on get in ppls faces😭😭

"HAAAH???!!! you can't hear or somethin' ?! we're fuckin' busy !"

he'll be so pissed off about the interaction he'll keep mumbling about some "tch,,damn extra..trynna start shit with me.." he'll keep doin this till you kiss his boo boo's better

[tojisun]

johnny breaking in your pussy to prepare it for a bigger cock (simon’s) :(

[aingeal98]

More Jason and Cass thoughts (sorry but also not sorry) but if I was magically given full control over DC and could write what I'd want obviously I'd make Cass Batman but I've been thinking of what sort of reaction and role Jason would have in response. I think I'd write his version of "Congrats on the new job!" as a test, involving the Joker and civilians and gangs and Red Hood and a ton of explosives. Bruce failed me, and now he's given up. You're his successor, let's see how you handle this dilemma that freaked him out so badly he threw a batarang into my throat rather than let me avenge my own death in front of him.

So obviously Cass will overcome the traps and the puzzles. That's the fun part to show how competent both of them are and sprinkle in little character moments as we go. But then we reach the emotional crux of the matter, probably laid out as some sort of saw trap because it's Jason. Here I am, a victim of murder. You say nobody dies tonight but I did, and I want the man who did it dead. Not only did Batman fail to avenge me but he failed to stop the Joker from going on to create even more victims. What right do you have to stop me from getting justice for myself? What right does this man have to life after what he's taken from me and from countless others? I'm not trying to kill a random stranger, I'm specifically demanding justice for my own death that I never got while I was gone.

There are two ways this could go. The straightforward route if I knew my time on this run was limited would probably be a pyrrhic victory like the ones Cass's og series was so fond of. Just like Bruce in utrh, she acts on instinct and saves the Joker (and Jason this time) . A win technically, but she fails the test. Jason is once again vindicated but with nothing to show for it. The story ends with Cass sending the Joker back to jail and going back to the batcave, where the old Robin costume looms judgementally, highlighting her failure. It would be the most fitting end given their character molds, all tragedy and conviction and unstoppable force meets immovable object etc.

However... I think the option I prefer would be a little different. Cass levelling with Jason, a killer talking to a murder victim. She has no right to stop Jason from getting justice, she has no love for the Joker but she knows any death she allows to happen like this would devastate her, just like that death row inmate long ago she tried to break out but ended up letting go once the family of the victim talked to her and demanded justice. I think... In this specific situation, she'd just be honest. Morally she has no right sure. Personally she just really really doesn't want anyone to die. Give her one chance, please. Let her try it her way. Not demanding, not lecturing or insisting, just... Please. Don't do this. Let me try another way.

And then what? Jason asks.

In the end a deal is struck. Cass will take the Joker and lock him up, ensuring he never harms anyone again while also trying to rehabilitate him. But the second she fails and he gets free, Jason kills him and she won't stand in his way. It's the kind of deal that leaves both of them mildly disgusted and dissatisfied with themselves, neither of them naturally creatures of compromise when it comes to this specific topic. But Cass is willing to do anything to avoid death and Jason did not expect the new Bat to be so... Flexible? Kind of? Of course maybe she won't actually hold up her end of the deal and when the Joker gets loose she'll try and stop Jason from killing him and he'll get his miserable vindication, but right now this is something strange and new and he's mildly confused and curious about where it will go. He doesn't believe in her ability to contain the Joker forever but he's willing to let her try because her reaction to that future failure interests him. She's given him a sword of damocles to hang above her head and he didn't ask for it or expect it. It's the type of power he never thought the Bat would just... Hand to him.

The conflict ends with neither of them fully winning or losing. They both don't really know what to feel about this.

The thing is, the second Cass let's Jason kill the Joker she's hanging up the mantle. She's staking the Bat on this, because it's always go big or go home with her when it comes to saving others, even someone like the Joker. In this magical universe where I have unlimited power, Cass would lock the Joker in a secret bunker and have Leslie Thompkins talk to him daily, mostly because I think her pacifism speeches and debates in the comics would make a fun contrast to the Joker's evil sadism. (But what about his rights? Doesn't he deserve a trial and to be held in a regular prison? I'm going to be honest I think Cass would be very comfortable bending the rules on this specific situation. Morally questionable but I'd have fun with it. She's going to let Leslie treat Joker like her personal pet project to save his soul because yes she wants him to change but also she's got a city to save every night so go crazy Leslie, have fun.)

And the Batman series would continue with Cass as the lead, new challenges and new antagonists and every twenty issues or so for the first hundred we'll cut back to the Joker briefly if his chats with Leslie can help highlight some thematic element of the current arc. But bit by bit he'd slowly fade away onto oblivion, maybe getting referenced every hundred issues or so until eventually no one remembers or cares about him because there's so much else going on. Meanwhile Jason's got a good thing going as Red Hood, primarily based in Park Row and a tentative ally on the occasion when their vigilante work aligns. Unlike Joker he's a much more frequent character in the comics, and after say 10 years (this is my magical fantasy universe Cass's batman run is going to last for a very long time alright) when people think of DC characters they think of Red Hood long before they think of the Joker.

Is any of this realistic? Right now of course not. It's why I'd go with the pyrrhic victory if I actually got the chance, because it would be the best way to tell the story in the larger context of the Bat narrative. But it's my fantasy DC editor and writer daydream and I'm going to dream big. They're never going to be normal happy siblings, their personal demons will never fully let them be free and the looming possibility of losing everything they currently have narrative wise if Bruce comes back as Batman will always be there. But it's maybe the closest to peace they'll ever get. Unsatisfying and tame compromise that probably violates several laws and ethical codes but whatever. Cass has never read the Geneva convention and Jason's not going to shed tears over the Joker. Let him die relevancy wise if not physically.

[ups3tti]

Yall ever think about the ice chapter and how Cole had a nightmare about how he dropped the travelers tea and had to go back into the teetering bounty to retrieve it after all his friends had escaped, something that would've killed him had it been real. And how badly that nightmare shook him (he ran off entirely on his own to get more tea, and got upset at his friends before doing so). And then compare that to the very real life time where he dropped an important scroll and went back in to an unstable temple after all his friends had escaped to retrieve it, an act that did actually kill him (ghost-ified him). Because I do. I think about it a lot

[reesiereads]

I feel like the connection between Liv and Kingskin comes down to control and communication.

Liv is a young Stanford-bound seemingly honor roll girl who is told by nearly everyone she meets that she will “bury them all” and is bound for better than where she is. She is drowning in expectation and has very little control over her life—the most she has is stealing small useless items she doesn’t even want from the goddamn Walgreens. Despite this however, Liv is amazing with people. She’s encouraging and sympathetic and quick to offer support. She’s work best friends with Paula and has Russel’s number, Wendell has a crush on her and Usha thinks she’s adorable and her and Dang are down to have fun. She has a way of getting to the crux of people’s problems and helping them and growing close to them through just communication.

Kingskin on the other hand is a man with nothing but control. He’s one of if not the most dangerous and powerful crime lord in Los Angeles. He’s so strong he can crush people with his bare hands and he has doors for specifically that. He leads his people with an iron fist and fear—so much so that his men believe him punching them is sign of their own fault. Because of this ironclad control Kingskin is incredibly powerful but I assume he also lacks close connections; it’s lonely at the top. Kingskin does not seem like the kind of person to have a significant amount of communication skills or experience with vulnerability. He does not have the ability to disarm and encourage people the way Liv does.

Liv thrives on communication and has little control while Kingskin has all the control but struggles with communication.

[omegamoo]

i’m rewatching scott’s double life for the first time in two years. and his first episode is The aromantic experience. everyone around you is asking if you’ve found your soulmate and you point to your best friend and say “well yeah we’re soulmates now” and they say “HA! FAKE SOULMATES!!!” and then “well i just can’t WAIT until you find your REAL soulmate, i’m having SO MUCH FUN with mine!” it’s like when someone walks up to you and tells you that someday someone will change your mind. and you watch everyone around you get happy and comfortable and settle down with one other person in a tight-knit way that you don’t understand and they’re in shock and disbelief and they stare at you weird when you point to your best friend and tell people that you live together

[cardsharksplayingames]

I just think in the last year and change we have watched Taylor become peak Taylor again