#spellcheck...shit

[poisonous-honey]

Child of the Otherworld

Who’s Here: Reader/Player, Aether, and a bunch of others with roles so small it’s not worth saying lol

Contains: SAGAU (Not Cult AU), Child!Reader, Barely proofread I got tired and busy

Note: Hey Anon! Sorry, but I don’t write for the cult AU. I consider any mention of the reader being the creator the cult AU. I haven’t written or read about that AU in forever. I still got inspired and wrote the rest of this though! So here’s a short intro and then a few small bits at the end (╯▽╰ )

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

They don't really care if you’re a child or not.

They're happy both living their lives in their respective roles (for the most part) and acting it out on the grand stage that is your device. It's simply the nature of their existence, whether you're young or old matters little to them. What matters is that you continue to play.

Cause if the player stops playing, do they really exist at all? What would you do if you eventually got bored of them? Will their world come to an end if you ever decided to delete their game?

Even if it didn't, they would feel terrible to not put their all into their respective roles. To some, it's fun and exhilarating. To others, it's just their job, an important aspect of their life that they take pride in. Your enjoyment is key, whether keeping it has dire consequences or not.

So when you suddenly stopped playing one day, without any kind of forewarning or hint that you might be taking a break, they panicked.

The first day was odd. You didn’t normally skip any, nor did you verbalise if you wouldn’t be able to play that day. At least to the Traveller’s and Paimon’s knowledge since they’re the only ones that can hear you. Maybe you had somewhere to be last second or your device got confiscated. They could live with that.

The second day they got antsy. They tried to keep a level head, maybe you got hooked onto a different game for a bit, or you were being forced to study or do homework. Two days still wasn’t much to go off of, you could be fine. They can wait.

Well they hoped they could, but their resolve didn’t last for very long. The third day with nothing from you they sent out notification. They weren’t even hoping for you to use it to open the game, well they were, but they mostly just wanted to to interact with it. Opening the game, silence it, swipe it away, anything. Their nerves grew when it sat untouched for the whole day on the shelf.

The fourth day they sent an email. They didn't know if it was you in charge of the email account or someone else, but it was one of the only ways they could communicate off the device. Nothing came of the email as far as they knew.

With the lack of interaction with any form of direct contact by the time of the fifth day, some started to think that something bad had happened to you. Not everyone, but enough to try and see if anyone from any of the other games on your device knew anything about your disappearance. Unfortunately, none of them did.

After getting nothing from them, they scoured for information on any other application you may have on the sixth day. All they found out was that none of them had been opened since you first stopped showing up.

The seventh day they're scrambling, trying and failing to look for information anywhere on your whereabouts. By this point it's made clear you haven't even touched your device since you left them. Most of them now are worried for your safety and the potential danger their whole world is in with your absence.

It's when Aether is taking a mental break from all of the searching and worrying that he finds you in Whispering Woods. You’re trying your hardest to collect the apples in the tree and failing pretty spectacularly. He doesn't expect every kid to be able to jump high enough or climb trees though. Or have bombs.

He doesn't know it's you at first, just a child who wandered too far off and is probably hungry. So when he comes over to help you he's not exactly expecting his worldview to get shattered.

“Hey! Do you need any help?”

You quickly turn upon hearing his voice and beam at him. He doesn’t think he's seen anyone smile, or at least give a genuine happy one, since this whole debacle started. Your smile is so precious he's happy he's found you. Though in the back of his mind it does get him to think about how you could've ended up here. Were the knights at the gate not as vigilant as he thought? Or did you sneak out some other way?

“Yes please help me! The apples are so hard to reach. I've been hungry forever!”

Aether chuckles, just a bit concerned about your statement but not thinking much of it, and easily climbs the tree to safely pick the apples for you. He wanted to make sure not to damage them so you could eat the full thing. His usual methods of jumping or hitting the tree until they all fell probably would lead to a very blemished apple.

He hops out of the tree with all three apples and hands them over to you. You struggle a bit to hold all of them, before Aether suggests using your shirt to hold them. You follow and proudly call your shirt the basket shirt. Now that he's pointed it out, your shirt doesn't seem to be of Mondstadt origins. Nor does it seem to be from anywhere really. The rest of your clothes are also out of place. Why didn't he notice before? Just where are you from-

“Thank you so much Aether!”

Hearing his name causes him to freeze. How do you know that name? He's been very particular about which name he uses when, and the code doesn't give away information to everyone freely. Not to mention anyone who has heard his real name hasn't ever brought it up again, so at this point the only people who should know are Lumine, Paimon, Dainsleif, and-

Oh

Now that he thinks about it, your voice is awfully familiar.

Oh

He doesn't know if his current train of thought would be good or bad to be proven true. He guesses it would be a bit of both, but…

Aether gives you a smile he hopes is reassuring and kneels down to be eye level with you.

“I'm glad I could help. Do you think you could do me a quick favour now?”

You tilt your head, “Like a trade?”

Aether nods, “Sure, I'd just like to ask a few questions if that's okay with you?”

You smile at him again just as bright as your last, “Okay! I can do that!”

He asks questions that no random child would know pertaining to his journey and people he's met. You answer most of them with ease. You took a bit to think for some, but every answer was in some form correct.

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

“Who helped free Dvalin from the abyss?”

“That's easy! It was you, Diluc, Jean, and Venti! Deeval- uh, oh yeah, Stormterror is Venti’s so of course he's going to help.”

“You know who Venti really is?”

“Yeah, he's the wind god! Barb… Bar- uh… Bartobas?

“Close enough.”

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

“What’s Dainsleif's goal?”

“To fight the Abyss, the enemies of humanity!”

“Do you remember what our first conversation was with him?”

“I think he asked us questions? I don’t really remember, sorry.”

“That’s fine. You’re doing great so far.”

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

“Do you know who Neuvillette is?”

“Mr. Neuvillette is the hydro dragon. Hey, do you know if he can fly?”

“I think he's just good at swimming.”

“I did too, but my friends don't think so. They were like, ‘He's a dragon! He must be able to!’ But not all dragons can fly! Did Pokemon not teach them anything?”

“I'm… Sure they'll learn soon.”

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

“Who’s currently in charge of the Abyss?”

“Lumine! I hope you can travel with her soon, it's pretty mean to leave you for the bad guys like that.”

Okay you're definitely the player. Now he's freaking out for a different reason.

Why are you here? How did you get here? How is this even possible, you're not made of code. What does you being here mean for the world? You're technically not playing the game, but you still exist with it. Does this count as you playing it or do you physically have to be playing with your device to keep the world stable. How long do they have if it doesn't count? Is this even something they have to worry about in the first place?They were never able to find a concrete answer about that. Most importantly though, how can they bring you back to your own world? Your parents must be worried sick.

“Did I do a good job?”

Hearing that snaps him out of his whirlwind of a mind. Right, you’re still here and in the middle of the woods, probably starving. Three apples aren’t going to do anything. Everything else has to be second to you right now. He needs to make sure you're able to be cared for before he can think about any of that.

Aether kneels in front of you and puts out his hand for you to take, “You did great, thank you. If it’s okay, do you think you could come back to Mondstadt with me? It’s dangerous to stay out here all alone. I’m worried for your safety.”

You happily grab a hold of his hand, “Thank you! I didn't know where I was for a long time, but then I saw the sunset fruit and when it got dark I saw lightflies and found out I was in Genshin! It's so cool, but I can't find Mond. Sleeping on the ground hasn't been fun.”

Just how long have you been alone in the forest? Aether hopes with his entire soul that it wasn't when you first disappeared, that was a week ago. How has no one found you???

He thinks he's finally going to have to tell Jean about all the slackers if they can't even spare the time to do their patrols properly.

As soon as he could, Aether rushed you over to Mondstadt and straight to Jean’s office, accidentally ignoring Paimon on the way. He thinks she went through every emotion she could as he was telling her about everything leading up to him barging in. She was currently in shock as you were running around the room chasing Paimon, who caught up and heard the tail end of the conversation.

After the initial shock, Jean starts a letter to inform the other nations that you’ve been found in the game and asks Traveller to go around to tell the rest of the vision bearers in Mondstadt. He does just that after stopping by Good Hunter for you. The news isn’t taken lightly by anyone. A few had to be convinced, but promptly stopped doubting when you said something out of pocket about them. Once Albedo was in the know he said he would dedicate his time to figuring out how you got here and how to return you, but it would be best to get the Dendro Archon’s opinion.

After leaving you with Albedo so he could run a few wellness checks and general tests to see how your physicality was holding up, he teleported to Sumeru to see if Nahida knew anything. Unfortunately she’s just as clueless as everyone else, but asks him to play scout again and gather anyone who he thought could be of use in solving your predicament.

Even with some of the smartest minds in Teyvat collaborating to work on this project, it will still take a while before tangible progress is made. So for the foreseeable future you’re stuck with them and you’re going to need someone to look after you. Almost everyone was willing, so they just assigned Aether as the main babysitter since he travelled a lot and you’d get to meet a lot of people that way. If he ever needed to do something dangerous or just time to rest he could easily ask someone to care for you for a while.

Now they just have to hope that Teyvat doesn’t implode. 

At least you weren’t kidnapped.

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

Aether: You both need to slow down. The food’s not going anywhere.

Paimon: You’re the one who kept Paimon waiting for so long and then ignored! Paimon’s stomach will not wait another second! Paimon can handle this anyway.

You: Yeah, we’re hungry and won’t wait anymore!

Aether: Maybe for you Paimon, but they might choke.

Paimon: They’ll be fine

You: Yeah, I’ll be- [chokes]

Aether: *sigh*

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

Paimon: Are you sure it’s a good idea to let them talk to Childe?

Aether: No, but he’s good with his family. I can’t see why he’d treat them any differently.

You: Look Ae- uh, Traveller! He taught me how to use a dagger!

Aether: I also can’t kick him out of the teapot on my own.

Paimon: Maybe you should find a way around that.

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

Neuvillette: Lady Furina, these clothes are much too big for them.

Furina: Nonsense! Look at how adorable they are!

Paimon: They are cute, but what if they trip and fall over!

[You run around the room with ridiculously sized clothing on, trying to act like Neuvillette before you trip and face plant onto the floor]

Aether: We’re getting them new clothes.

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

Kaveh: Alhaitham what are you doing? Shouldn’t you be planning with the rest of the club?

[You're on his lap as he reads you simplified versions of battle tactics]

Alhaitham: We’re currently at break, and the Traveller needed to get something done so this one is with me. I'm currently teaching them how to create better builds and team compositions.

Kaveh: Have they even expressed the want to do any of this, or are you taking this as your chance because you can’t stand being played suboptimally.

Alhaitham: Wouldn't you rather be used as you were intended, or do you like acting as a spinning top and providing nothing to the team's damage?

Kaveh flustered: W-Well- Ugh that's not the point! They can play however they want, put the book away!”

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

Zhongli: Why are you here Barbatos.

Venti: I had a feeling you were going to bore them and I was right! What kid wants to be talked at for days on end.

Zhongli: The little one expressed on their own that they wanted to hear of Teyvat’s history.

Venti: Maybe if- Wait where'd they go.

[They turn and see you in the clutches of some random treasure hoarders]

Treasure Hoarder: You lot look like you got a fair amount of mora. Why don’t you hand some of it over and no one gets hurt.

Venti: If you know what’s good for you, you’d let them go now.

Zhongli: [his eyes begin to glow] If they knew what was good for them, they wouldn’t have pulled such an inane stunt in the first place.

Dead Men Walking: I- We just need some money. We know you got some so hand it over!

You: Ow, you're hurting me.

[The Treasure Hoarders proceed to get their ass beat into the ground]

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

Amber: Aw they're so cute!

You: You’re the gliding champion right? Can I see how fast you can go!

Amber: Maybe once this meeting is over. I'll happily show you just how fast I can be!

Jean: Don't put any ideas in their head Amber.

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

Fischl: Why, if it isn’t thy benefactor from beyond the veil.

You: [giggling] You still talk funny.

Fischl: Huh? Wh-What's that supposed to mean???

----------~~~~~~~~~~----------~~~~~~~~~~----------

You: Mona Majiks!

Mona: It's Megistus, but you are a young one so I'll leave it for now.

You: You're a super cool fortune teller right? Are you able to read my future?

Mona: You already- Uh, sure! I don't see why not. No promises it’ll work though, you are from a land beyond Teyvat’s stars.

You: That’s okay![She then got a migraine that lasted the rest of the day]

[ceebit]

going on a date with husband!joshua and him helping you zip up the pretty dress he bought you and then giving you a lil kiss on your shoulder, looking at you with eyes full of love through the mirror. there are tears rolling down my cheeks btw

u all just like hitting me where i’m vulnerable huh. don’t u know i have FEELINGS. content is just joshua being stupid in LOVE i want him carnally

“my eyes are up here, you know.”

his answering hum is soft—non-committal, dazed, distracted—focused on the sight reflected in front of him. moments like these are when you really do wish he could see himself the way you do, a smile tugging at your lips in the mirror when you look to see his expression complete entranced.

your husband’s completely, utterly, wholly, and unbelievably smitten with you. not that you minded, of course. the feeling was mutual, your love for each other unmistakable from every cheesy photobooth strip to the gentle way you soothe each other’s worries, but you’d be late to your dinner reservations if he lingered any longer.

his hands rest on the expanse of your hips and you sigh. “shua.”

“hm?” you almost laugh. he sounds so lost in his thoughts, probably rabbit-holing the more you stood in front of the floor length mirror.

“dinner,” you remind him, and he nods slowly, but doesn’t move an inch. “i also asked for you help to zip me up. wasn’t an invitation to ogle,”

“you married me,” he scoffs, and finally meets your eyes in the mirror to teasingly narrow his. “i think that’s perfect grounds for well deserved ogling. besides,”

he presses a kiss to your shoulder at the same time he squeezes your waist, hands traveling to slowly drag the zipper up. you shiver when his fingers brush against skin, and you swear his gaze swelters a hundred degrees hotter when he catches your eyes again.

“i’ve seen you in less. still pretty with or without anything on. jury’s still out, though. think they might prefer a little less—”

your eyes widen, turning around to quickly smack his chest at his implication, and he only laughs in the face of your shock, pressing another kiss to your temple. sly jokes or not, he’s still as gentlemanly as ever, offering an arm for you to hold on before leading you towards the front door.

“now, i believe we had something like reservations to attend to,” he hums, standing still as you use him for leverage to tug your shoes on. “unless you feel like challenging the jury’s verdict.”

“reservations, sweetheart. we waited two months for this.”

[queenoftheferns]

Harley, Woodrue, and The Green: An in-depth analysis of Poison Ivy (2022)

(Discalaimer: This is an analysis of vol. 1 -issues 1-6- of the Poison Ivy series by G Willow Wilson, and it doesn’t take any later events into account. This is also over 2,400 words long so buckle up)

Hi!! I watched a video on how to analyse things and was inspired- I loved the first bit of Poison Ivy’s series and had a lot of fun going super in-depth into the writing, symbolism and psychology of Poison Ivy.  So let’s get into it! 

First, to make things easier, I’m going to assign some new meanings to the words “change” and “transformation”.  Although this is not how these words usually work, in this analysis “change” refers to the way you choose to evolve. Change comes from within yourself and is never something forced. “Transformation” on the other hand, is something done to you by someone/something else. It is a violation of your personal autonomy and it erases your identity with a new one deemed as “better” by the other person’s standards. Now. Back to Ivy.

Transformation: What it means to Ivy

This theme appeares a lot in Ivy’s story. Her first instance of transformation is with Woodrue who experiments on her- transforming her body and mind against her will. He’s the one who first introduces this concept of “out with the old- in with the new”- something we end up seeing a lot of in Ivy’s ideology. “Nature is not sentimental” Woodrue says, “the strong consume the weak… this is the virtuous cycle.” The fact that “Virtuous Cycle” is the title of Vol. 1 should tell us a bit about how much Ivy has carried these ideas with her (more on that later).

[ID: A picture from the comic depicting Ivy's flashback to Woodrue's experiment. Narration: "She thinks it's going to kill her." Woodrue: "Nature is not sentimental. The strong consume the weak and then excrete them to fertilize the earth. That is the virtuous cycle. Consume. Digest. Renew." /end ID]

Like many villains (and heroes for that matter), she draws a clear line between her two identities. In her eyes, the identity of “Pamela Isley” represents everything wrong with humanity: she’s shortsighted and can’t see the bigger picture beyond her own emotions and she failed to acheive her goals because of her human need for love and validation. The identity of “Poison Ivy,” however, has embraced her transformation and has let her old identity be completely eradicated. Ivy isn’t human, she’s Greater, More Than human. She can see the bigger picture, the one humans could see if they weren’t so wrapped up in their silly mortal relationships. Poison Ivy is untouchable. 

Until she’s not. Until her body is transformed against her will once again at the end of “Fear State,” but this time not into something stronger or greater. Although Ivy’s anger at Harley (issue #1) is in no way justified, it makes a little more sense when you consider how reminiscent this is of her backstory: changed forever against her will by the actions of someone she loves, cutting her off from her relationships (with Woodrue her green skin and powers/pheremones cut her off from humans, with Harley and Gardner she was cut off from her relationships with plants and the Green), and destroying all of her ideas for what her future would look like. 

[ID: A picture from the comic where Ivy is losing her green skintone and preparing to drink the vial of Ophiocordyceps Lamia. Narration: "Every day I lose a little more of the power of Queen Ivy. Soon enough I'll be back to my old self. As the invincible parts of me die away. But there is one last chance to salvage something from all this. One final opportunity to carry out the will of the Green..." /end ID]

Of course Harley didn’t know that would happen and had just wanted to save her girlfriend, but she, and the readers, can also understand how triggering and painful it must have been for Ivy and that it’s realistic for her to lash out at first. What Harley doesn’t see is this: That Ivy’s spent years hating her past self and seeing Pamela Isley as the epitome of human weakness- and now she’s her again. From here on out, Pamela’s views of humanity as a whole are directly related to her view of herself. She thinks that humans aren’t essential to the environment, so she tells Harley “you saved the parts of me that didn’t mtter”.  She beleives all of humanity must die via the Opiocordyceps Lamia, and although she makes an exception for Harley she doesn’t make one for herself. In her conversation with dream Harley, what they say (“It’s not too late to fix a mistake.”/“I wish that were true.” etc.) could be applied to either humanity as a whole or to Ivy’s view of herself as broken and unfixable. And, as her view of herself evolves, her view of humanity evolves with it. 

[ID: Image one. Ivy and Harley are having an argument after Ivy has lost her connection to the Green. Harley: "We were trying to save your life!" Ivy: "You saved the parts of me that didn't matter!" Image two. A shot of a man consumed by the Ophiocordyceps Lamia. Narration: "Sucking up every resource on this planet until all that's left is a ball of superheated concrete. The only way to save this beatiful marble is to get rid of us. Every one of us. Even me. Because there is only one person who deserves all this beauty. And that's you." /end ID]

To carry out her new plan, Pamela goes “back to the beginning” and steals the Opiocordyceps Lamia from Jason Woodrue. It’s clear she still feels that she needs something from Woodrue in order to be Poison Ivy- after all, he’s her creator. Her breakup with Harley and her plans going forward seem to have grown from her desperate desire to prove that she’s still not entirely human, and won’t make human mistakes. In the first few issues, we get the sense that she would (at this point in her story) rather die than be Pamela Isley again. For her, escaping Pamela Isley means embracing the ideology of the man that killed her. Of course, Ivy doesn’t see it that way, but it’s not hard for us to see in the way she attempts to transform the other humans against their will like what Woodrue did to her. Watching the human’s shock and betrayal fade into awe that the beauty of the Green is reminiscent of how Ivy herself learned to love her connection to the Green despite the pain of her original transformation.

[ID: A scene from the comic where Janet is talking with Ivy while being consumed by the Ophiocordyceps Lamia. Narration: "Janet is part of something else now. Part of the life cycle of this riverbank." Janet: It's so beautiful. So clean. Like starting over." Ivy: "Right? Now you can see it too." Janet: "I want to see everything like you see. Take me with you. I don't want to go back to... to that." /end ID]

She also inherits Woodrue’s view of the natural world as something detatched from humanity with no room for human kindness and love (JW: “Nature is not sentimental”/PI: “Nature isn’t cruel, just efficient”). The same way Ivy unknowingly spreads Woodrues ideology, she is also unknowingly spreading his mind control virus in the form of Opiocordyceps Lamia. Throughout the story, transformation is a force of evil, violating someone’s autonomy in an attempt to make them a vessel for something greater. Yet the creator can never really control what people transform into…

Change: What it means to Ivy

Change is never on the table for Ivy. She is transformed by Woodrue and in turn tries to transform the planet and humanity. In every instance, whether it be about society or Ivy herself, her mindset is always that change is too late. Our life courses are set in stone by our own nature unless we are transformed by some greater force. This is why Ivy seeks out Woodrue after losing her connection to the Green, and why she is so focused on following the “will of the Green” rather than doing what she wants to. She doesn’t trust herself to make the right decisions (she’s been wrong too many times) so instead she wants some Other Force to transform her into someone who doesn’t make human mistakes. This rejection of change and worship of transformation was the basis of Ivy’s ideology. Until…

…Harley Quinn! Seeing Harley in this comic always brings with it a mild sense of disbelief. She seems so out of place within the comic’s mood and aesthetic… and I realized that it’s for a good reason. Harley Quinn is the epitome of change, she’s multifaceted and unpredictable and her path in life is never fixed. First she was going to become a gymnast, but then she was a psychologist, but then she fell in love with the Joker, but then she left him, but then she went back, and just when you think you see a pattern, when you think you know what she’ll do next, Harley does something else. She breaks up with the Joker for good, she falls in love with Ivy, they break up but not really, she starts to become a hero but her redemption arc itself is filled with messiness and unpredictability and all of it was her choice. Sure there was more than a little manipulation on the Joker’s part, but at the end of the day Harley chose to jump into that vat of acid— she wasn’t pushed.

[ID: Image one. A picture from the Gardener Files comic showing Ivy in a cell meeting Harley. Bella's Narration: "After years trapped in an echo chamber of her own dark thought, a woman was place in an adjacent cell. A young woman madle in love with a monster, trapped in a cycle of abuse. Harley Quinn." Image two. A scene from the end of the Fear State saga with Harley and Ivy talking. Ivy: "There's one more thing I need to to..." Ivy pulls Harley closer with vines. Harley: "Hoo-boy... Pammy... I know this is a lot to process and you don't like when I get all meddly... but I'm trying to be a good guy and save the city and junk-" Ivy: "Harley, stop talking." Harley: "Okay." The two kiss. Image three. Harley and Ivy from Ivy's dream in Poison Ivy (2022). Ivy: "I can't. I've gone to far to turn back now." Dream Harley: "It's never too late to fix a mistake." /end ID]

In every respect, Harley’s mere existence is the most persuasive argument against Ivy’s ideology. Although this might seem like a roadblock in their relationship, it’s actually the reson Ivy loves her so much. Harley’s ability to change is everything Ivy wishes humanity (and herself) could be. If more people were like Harley, not held back by societal norms and not paralyzed by the fear that it’s “too late” to change, then maybe Ivy could have more hope for humanity. (I can imagine Ivy, bored and self-righteous, meeting Dr. Quinzel for the first time, thinking she knows exactly what to expect from a young, naive psychologist. Then beginning to fall for Harley as she smashes Ivy’s expections again and again. That’s what a good joke is after all: building up an expectation and then subverting it. Anyways. Back to Ivy).

Ivy's Arc

Ultimately, Ivy/Pamela’s story is about her relationship to her own humanity, and the other characters’ role in the plot is to tug Pamela back and forth between two perspectives: Humanity (and by extension, Pamela) being irredeeamble and in need of a deadly transformation, vs humanity (and Pamela) having inherent value and being capable of changing and turning things around. Woodrue beleives that the only way to thrive in this dying world is to take advantage of the struggle around him to benefit himself. This is reflected in George Holloran, the boss at the packaging company Ivy works at for all of ten minutes (issue #4). Like Woodrue, he accepts the state of the world with no attempt to change anything, deciding to climb to the top of the hierarchy instead of trying to dismantle it. The guys at the bar (#1) also mirror this with their focus on satisfying their own desire rather than treat a woman with respect and (unlike Harley) do not stray even a little from Ivy’s expectations. They and Woodrue represent Ivy’s worst assumptions about humanity: that everyone is ruled by their own desire for power and pleasure and are incapable of changing or growing because of how society has shaped them. 

[ID: A panel of Jason Woodrue as Floronic Man. Woodrue: "This planet is too far gone to save, Pamela. It needs a revolution, but all it wants is a band-aid. So we might as well make millions selling band-aids." /end ID]

[ID: A scene where George Halloran is being consumed by the Ophiocordyceps Lamia. George: "It's just hard, you know? To be the boss. At first you want everybody to like you. Th-then you realize it doesn't work. They hate you anyway. Because you're all in the same system. And the system chews people up. S-so you start to do things you shouldn't because you start to hate them back. You f-figure out that fear is more effective than love. And that's... when it all... goes dark." /end ID]

On the other hand, however, are characters like Jesslyn and Timothy at the packaging company (#4), Carrie at the motel (#3), Jenny Bolger at the restaurant (#2), and of course, Harley Quinn. Other than Harley, all of these characters are people struggling to make meaningful change in the confines of their normal lives under capitalism. Whether it’s through art, human connection, or focusing on a small peice of earth you can control, these people show Ivy what change looks like. It’s not as flashy and sudden as Ivy’s plan to transform everyone, and these aren’t the kind of stories Ivy would’ve known about had she simply looked on the news. But the willingness of all these people to at least try to help the world and each other is enough to make Ivy question her assumptions on the fixedness of human nature. 

[ID: Two panels, one with Ivy and one with Carrie, the lady Ivy meets at the motel. Narration: "It's too early to make exceptions. Yet somehow, that's exactly what I find myself doing." Ivy: "-I don't want to get dirt all over you." Carrie: "Well. Suit yourself." /end ID]

When on her own, Ivy has no particular character growth, but when she is with these people, the good people, or when she has memories of Harley, those are the moments we see her grow and change. Ivy says she has faith in the world while working with Carrie, and her will to live comes back after sleeping with Jesslyn. And of course, everything always comes back to Harley, the love of her life. In the end, Ivy defeats Woodrue not because of her ideology but because he made the mistake of threatening Harley. This is the moment a lot of her developement has been leading up to. She’s lost all her powers, even the ones given to her by the Lamia. Like when she first became Poison Ivy, Woodrue has complete control over her body. Like before, she had trusted his science when she shouldn’t have. Manipulated, weak, and abandoned by the Green, there is barely anything left of Poison Ivy. She is almost entirely human. Almost entirely Pamela. Finally, she has no choice but to rely on her human instincts- her love for, and desire to protect, another human. And it works. Pamela Isley succeeded where Poison Ivy failed because of  her humanity- not in spite of it.

[ID: A scene with Ivy and Woodrue in the comic, Woodure is forcing Ivy to hold a knife to her own neck via the Ophiocordyceps Lamia. Narration: "-simply have to accept that you've failed. Your enemy has won. And no one is coming to help." Woodrue: "And then I'm going to track down your little blonde girlfriend. --And I'm doing to turn her inside out. Not for any scientific purposes. Just because I can." Narration: "But that's not what happened this time." /end ID]

This is what ultimately opens her eyes to how, actually, these human instincts and human desires are what’s going to save the world. Her desire to protect Harley is the same as her deisre to protect the planet, which is the same as Carrie’s drive to save the plot of land by the motel, which is the same as Jenny’s drive to create art, and Jesslyn and Timothy’s drive to reach out to others and support each other in a hostile environment. After meeting a child and sensing the ecosystems he contained, Pamela comes to the conclusion that “we are the Green”. She realizes that our humanity is a feature, not a bug. We were designed to be here, and to love and protect the world and people around us. It’s when some people deny their humanity (for personal gain like Woodrue, or fear and self-hate like Ivy) that we start causing harm. 

[ID: A scene from the comic where Ivy is picturing the faces of Jesslyn, Jenny and the nice guy from the restaurant. Narration: "Home. The only home any of us will ever have. Because nobody without billions of dollars to burn is going anywhere. And because-- after all-- we're not so bad. We can still gorw things. Gardens. Communities. Friendships. Against all odds. I realize, here at the end of everything, that I've been fighting the wrong people. Because it was easier. Easier than fighting the real enemies." /end ID]

[ID: A scene where Ivy is reaching out to a child who's handing her back her scarf. Narration: "--but when I look at this child, I see more than just one individual. We float in our own ecosystem of symbiotic bacteria. We exhale and the trees inhale. Billions of tiny organisms call our bodies home. To the microscopic beings alive on his skin, this child is the entire universe." Ivy: "...We are the Green." /end ID]

In eating Woodrue’s corpse (Iconic, by the way), she shows that she understands now that the blame for what he did to her lies with him, not her. In the end, she tells Harley that she “made me understand that we have to protect what is truly precious.” In other words, helped Ivy understand that protecting people is protecting the Green. She signs her name as “Pammy”, not “Ivy” or “Ives”. Maybe this is just because Harley calls her that, or maybe it’s because the identity of Pamela Isley has finally proven herself to Ivy.

[ID: A comic scene of Harley Quinn reading Ivy's letter (which is also the narration.) Narration/Letter: " --you've made me understand that we have to protect what is truly precious. I love you. And only you. Until the end of the world. No matter what. Always and forever, Your Pammy." /end ID]

If you read this far, THANK YOU!!! I love analysing stuff and hope to put out some more Poison Ivy analysis in the future. In the meantime, I really, really appreciate any comments, questions, or even disagreements. I would love nothing more than to have a conversation about Poison Ivy in the notes.

[fishareglorious]

oh my god i just realized i have to painstakingly open every single one of these docs every time we get a new transcriber/proofreader

[princess-of-the-corner]

Microsoft Word's grammar check just suggested that I replace "tell no one" with "tell anyone".

Not "don't tell anyone" just "tell anyone".

Remember when spelling and grammar checks were useful?

absolute fucking rip

[gotta-bail-my-quails]

ok so i'm writing this short story thing for a class in Microsoft word, right?

Tell me why the fuck did it autosuggest that i finish a sentence starting with"let us" as "let us know in the comments!"

[thesoniclibrary]

Reading ur own fics months after posting

[butchlifeguard]

vital part of the Kids Cant Read discourse thats KILLING ME is that the only opinions we see are from english teachers. this is fine when the discussion is ostensibly about literacy but i think we should pass the phone to math teachers and computer science teachers. because im a little suspicious that the focus on stem for the past 20+ years could be a contributing factor

[brainrotzora]

these things are always happening to the ones i like :////////

anyways the lighting in this dungeon is so nice

didn't get any good pics bc i was too busy dungeoning but so pretty...best dungeon music so far goes to snowcloak though btw

[firedragon1321]

NEW WORD I HATE (but only because I'm a writer)

Meet "thant". Which has two definitions-

Last name of a 1909–74, Burmese statesman: secretary-general of the United Nations 1962–71.

Me trying to spell "that" and hitting the "n" key by accident.

[spoofymcgee]

what, and i cannot stress this enough, the fuck

[megalophobic-astronomer]

dont ask why i dont post art anymore i still draw i promise the unfortunate part is that it is mostly ocs unfinished or both

[inthewychelm]

ive gotta find a different writing document platform thing because i just cant deal with google docs anymore

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

9 for fanfic ask game ??

9. Biggest pet peeve while writing?

Docs spell/grammar check constantly finding "errors" where there are none WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY missing/not knowing how to correct actual glaringly obvious errors

LIKE IM SORRY YOU SAW "AGAISNT" AND SOMEHOW COULDNT FIGURE OUT THAT I MEANT "AGAINST," WHICH IS IN FACT A REAL WORD

Yes I totally meant "upholsering" instead of "holstering" in relation to a pistol

HOW THE FUCK DID YOU LET ME TYPE "JARD" INSTEAD OF "JARED" AND NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT

Unfortunately I could go on and on

[im-sorry-what-ii]

Im getting slightly annoyed at myself bc my wip that I promised myself I would finish a month ago is currently only 1/3 done (being generous) and that's pre editing , aaand Im going to stay with family in about 2 weeks which means no access to my computer, and I get back in like. january. which means I can't finish or post it until then and ughhh

[leofrith]

as a writer and as a canadian, my decision of whether to spell things the british english way or the american english way is based entirely on the alignment of the planets, the general vibe, my mood on the day, and/or which one looks more like a proper word to me at any given time. hope this helps!