#the idea behind it is really good

[wittyno]

Is X-Men: Dark Phoenix a good movie? No. Do I love it? Yes. Would I love a sequel? Yes. Am I going to get a sequel? Probably not.

[starry-bi-sky]

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

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

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

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

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

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

....

The kid is a surprise though.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gordon has multiple questions, and his officers tense up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[novelconcepts]

The duality of the gays in those woods being

gf who wants power 🤝 gf who loves her too much to see that happen

Vs

crush who wants power 🤝 thirsty gay egging her on toward a throne that can only break her further

is so delicious, I can’t even.

[science-lings]

I just wonder how much the DC timeline has to be fucked around with to get Bruce to be training with David Cain at the same time that Cass is being trained so he can get her early and break all of that assholes bones

[chirpsythismorning]

Say it’s likely there will be a Brokeback Mountain reference in s5 and nobody bats an eye.

Say it’s likely that the final byler fight will be inspired by this scene and society goes wild.

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

Look I am all for trauma-fueled deeply unhealthy relationships between male leads but I feel compelled to say (with absolutely no malice) that that is not what is happening in Squid Game. In-ho is being deliberately manipulative in every instance in which he interacts with Gi-hun. He doesn't refrain from killing him at the end because he can't bring himself to shoot him, but because the whole point of playing in the games is centered around breaking Gi-hun down mentally. And while In-ho is certainly deeply invested in doing this to Gi-hun, his framing at the end of Episode 7 is intended to serve as a wake-up call: for as nice and understanding as this guy has made himself seem, almost everything we see from him is a lie. He was never going to have a change of heart. To fail to recognize that is to make the same mistake Gi-hun did, but even more willfully since we actually know In-ho is the Frontman. And that's exactly what the show wants us to do!

From the beginning, Gi-hun has served as the audience stand-in. We empathize with him, we root for him, we share his beliefs in the possibility of change. But we are given information he doesn't have; we know that In-ho is the Frontman. And even though we know this, we know this guy is able to shoot his own brother, we want to like him! We want to believe in him, to think that maybe something about Gi-hun or the reality of the games can change his mind! And the show weaponizes this intentionally. Through his character, the show does to us what In-ho himself does to Gi-hun: punishes us for our optimism. It wants us to feel silly for ever believing that In-ho would change, just as In-ho's point is that Gi-hun should have known the games would end the same.

So for as much as I usually love reading doomed yearning into character dynamics, I don't think it works here. In-ho doesn't have any particular love for Gi-hun--the show just wants you to believe he might.

[cobaltfluff]

so i started playing persona 4

where are the QoL features

[deathsmallcaps]

Captain America: Brave New World (CABNW) analysis

This movie is all about themes of rehabilitation, hope, and not allowing your past to define your future.

Sam is redefining the mantle of the shield, and reclaiming his independence. Since reaching adulthood, he has worked as part of the military, or in a major team, and always besides super powered people (not that he was the only regular human in the Avengers, but you know). And now Sam gets to herald a new age of modern values of rehabilitation.

Steve was also a man of hope, but he (as a white man) fought the Other: fascists and aliens. AKA, unredeemables (in the short term) and nonhumans. He was from WWII; while the full truth of the matter is that the USA did not join the war out of altruism and a wish to save oppressed peoples, I personally feel glad that the USA was able to help out in those matters. I feel our part in the war was justified when it came to stopping multiple genocides. Many people also feel this way, and hold WWII up as this bastion of ‘justified’ wars. Many feel it’s okay that Americans went to Germany and Japan and started killing people, because they were doing it first.

Same thing with alien invasion storylines. I love Steve, but the only person he is MCU-canonically pursuing rehabilitation for is Bucky. He has different values as both a survivor of WWII, a witness to the explosive growth of fascism in the early 1900s, and a white man. Sure, Steve grew up disabled and Irish(-American) in the early 1900s, but he was also a blue eyed blond haired American man who shows no trace of an Irish identity on screen. Steve is a hopeful, principled and angry man.

Meanwhile, Sam grew up being othered as a Black child and then man, joined a war that was never justifiable (never confirmed what war he was in but no war the USA has perpetuated in the 2000s, if not even earlier, has been justifiable), and then continually had to be an examplar wherever he went. Except for possibly War Machine (I’m not sure where he fits in), Sam was the ONLY Avenger of Color. Ever. (And the only one from a more rural area)

And yet Sam always chooses hope and kindness. He has it rough - as the only Avenger of Color, he had to always choose others needs over his own. He and Isaiah Bradley (another person restored by Sam’s rehabilitative justice <3) discuss the weight of that. Bradley points out time and time again that Sam doesn’t owe the world his kindness, his willingness to be a hero, his health and well-being. After all, Bradley got fucked over for doing the right thing, a Steve-type thing, in a Black body. But Sam decides to push on anyway.

I’m not saying Sam isn’t angry. He deserves to feel angry, he has as much right to the emotion as any other human being. But every single goddamn time he can, he chooses to be kind. He chooses to believe that people can find worth again. And that takes a strength of will that is frankly insane. PLUS he does it without a consistently optimized body.

And he chooses to be kind to Ross, of all people. Ross, who is clearly trying to be a changed man in the events of the film - but still a man who imprisons innocents and whose first instinct is to pick fights with nations who own nuclear weapons.

But Sam still reaches out to him. Still helps Ross meet Betty while Ross is in prison. Is the better man, every goddamn time.

Hell, they even represent what changes Sam could herald for the fate of the United States, and even the world, visually. In Ross’s panic as the Red Hulk, he destroys the White House*, a symbol built by slave labor. And under Sam’s tenure as Captain America, it will be rebuilt - along with what a hopefully better United States of America.

I love Sam Wilson, and I am SO excited to see his future as Captain America.

*and possibly also the Washington Memorial? I know he goes by but the detail slipped my mind. It also was built with slave labor. Some might quibble and try to claim that the obelisk was built by skilled stonemasons, but many many many enslaved people were extremely skilled laborers. So there is a huge chance that the stonemasons were enslaved. And even if they used completely white/free Black stonemasons, the quarried stone was mined by enslaved people. So yes, it was built by slave labor.

(Also I think it’s cool that Sam’s getting his own villains like Serpent and Leila Taylor made an appearance? She was basically his only canon love interest EVER**, and she hasn’t appeared since the 1970s. I think it’s still possible that he might be given a male LI or they just never pursue that angle of the character, but at least she and Sam have a relationship built on at least some respect and personal chemistry. Unlike Steven and Sharon.

Personally I’m more of a fan of Samsteve or even SamJoaquin than SamBucky, but that’s just mostly because while he’s grown on me in the last few years, I’m not really a Bucky fan. Samsteve probably won’t happen because of the stupid time travel thing (though who’s to say they didn’t at least have a fling? Plz?) but SamJoaquin could happen! I wasn’t sold on Joaquin right away - his sunny personality was tripping my betrayal alarms in my movie expectations brain - but I am glad to be wrong. I’m excited to see him as Falcon again once he heals up!

**There was a werewolf princess lady? But she literally never came back. Which disappoints me because I thought she was funny (I read her issue) and really unique. She was human but had a device to specifically control werewolves? And they do exist in the MCU, thanks to Werewolf by Night…

I LOVED the dogfight scene. Great body work on Anthony Mackie’s part, interesting background, awesome moves (cutting through a plane with a wing? Punching and pulling a pilot out of their plane and letting the rest of it just fall?? Sam and Joaquin together???) and fucking BOMBSURFING

[joshuamj]

Linktober Day 8. Tunic

[boxheadpaint]

so is twitter being purposefully run into the ground at this point

[yuseirra]

ch 109 and Mephisto~

even someone in their right mind would have gone insane in his place I'm pretty sure I mean, his beloved got killed upon the reasoning they had his children, if he acted with the belief that he should reverse that somehow, I'd understand the despair and desperation.

[isfjmel-phleg]

😶

[sunstonespark]

happy 25th birthday to my favourite show ever (ft. the anniversary of my otp meeting) and of course, to my darling gf (@ichijokaoru)!! ❤ 👍

(bonus below)

[frameconfessions]

I hope the protoframes remain relevant even after this story arc for the Drifter concludes, but I also recognize how complicated things would get with how many characters they could keep trying to make stay relevant, leading to a Konoha 13 Naruto type situation where we have too many relevant characters from Umbra & Ordis all the way to Kaya Velasco.

.

[wren-kitchens]

i know you’re watching me, show yourself

2520 words

this is not a horse. undoubtedly, it would sound like the ramblings of a soldier who spent too long at war if he tried to explain this to anyone, and so he has done nothing about it—although, there is little he could do about it even if he were to be believed. he does not wish to worry his family or his people, especially now he's finally got them back after so long, and the not-a-horse has not yet made its intentions clear, so it does not yet seem to be enough of a threat to be worth coming off as insane to the ones he loves. but regardless, this is not a horse.

au where poseidon is a horse 👍 because i have free will

this is probably gonna be part 1 of many more!

this is not a horse.

undoubtedly, it would sound like the ramblings of a soldier who spent too long at war if he tried to explain this to anyone, and so he has done nothing about it—although, there is little he could do about it even if he were to be believed. he does not wish to worry his family or his people, especially now he's finally got them back after so long, and the not-a-horse has not yet made its intentions clear, so it does not yet seem to be enough of a threat to be worth coming off as insane to the ones he loves.

but regardless, this is not a horse. 

odysseus has spent enough time around gods and monsters and the dead to know when something is not of the mortal realm, and he is fairly certain he knows exactly what (or should he say who?) this is. which only makes its inaction ever more confusing and concerning, as he knows full well that poseidon would be unlikely to stop at anything to get his revenge. 

if it weren't for the fact that it is the god who hates him the most in all of olympus, odysseus would likely be pleased to keep the horse as his own steed; it is unlike any animal of its breed he has ever seen, with a thick muscular body and legs twice the width of any equine he has known before. he has no doubt that it could crush his skull with a single kick, should it so wish—and odysseus imagines it wishes very much that it could. 

and yet, it has been a week since it appeared, and no harm has come to odysseus, or any of his companions. of course, he is endlessly grateful for whatever mercy poseidon may have dredged up from the depths of his heart, but even that sentence seems like a trap. after all he’s faced, the god of the ocean showing up in disguise cannot be a good omen, and there is certainly a side to this visit that odysseus has not yet uncovered.

telemachus is enamoured with the creature, despite odysseus' attempts to dissuade him from approaching, and spends a good portion of the conversations he has discussing its sleek coat, or the feathered fur above its hooves and how it must be a divine gift for odysseus' long-awaited return. he does not seem discouraged by how the horse follows odysseus wherever he goes (despite his frequent attempts to escape) and simply walks alongside them both. admittedly, this has become a blessing, as telemachus seems to have lifetimes of stories and questions and excitement yet for odysseus to unravel, and he is always overjoyed to share it with his father. 

penelope was suspicious at first, and likely still is, but grew to accept the new presence of the giant beast in their palace as a new oddity, almost like she expected to be faced with a horde of wild animals following her husband home. she is not as enthusiastic about the creature's tendency to follow odysseus wherever he goes as telemachus is, but is soon to admit she finds it amusing that even the wildlife is glad for his return. of course, she was the first to laugh when odysseus tried and failed to throw the horse off his scent by sprinting in and out of various rooms, only to find himself face to face with it once again. to his great relief, penelope draws the line at the horse sleeping in their bedroom, and the horse seems to understand that it would have no chance at changing her mind, as it goes to the royal stables every evening without instruction.

frankly, it has become almost second nature to see the animal alongside him. telemachus has suggested he try to ride it more than once, clearly eager to see how such a specimen would take him, but odysseus has tempted fate far too many times to even remotely consider getting atop the horse. after 20 years of gods and monsters, it would be simply embarrassing to die to a horse in his own halls—he can only imagine how his men would respond once he landed in the underworld alongside them. eurylochus would never let him live it down, he is sure of it.

"you cannot fool me." odysseus has said many times. "I know who you are, and I will not let you succeed in whatever plan it is you have."

the horse has never replied, and which only convinces him further that this is poseidon—it would be just like him to make him act like a madman. well, he shall not be fooled into letting his guard down, no matter how many times he must talk to an unreplying horse.

"father, tell me again why you will not ride him?" telemachus asks on one lazy afternoon. he has taken a great liking to stroking the horse's fur, and suprisingly, the horse also seems to enjoy it—at least, it gladly sits beside his son and lounges alongside them both in the grass. when this charade is all over, odysseus will take great pleasure in informing his son that he has been petting the god of the seas all this time.

odysseus gives a long exhale, trying to think of a good enough excuse. "he reminds me of one i met on my journey." he says carefully, and the horse huffs next to him, as if it finds that amusing. odysseus resists the urge to drive his elbow into the horse's flank. "it was a wild beast- it could have killed me had i not been careful." he gives the horse a smug look. "i will not give him another chance."

telemachus tilts his head to the side as he watches the horse flick an ear. "i can only wonder how anything so incredible could do so much damage."

the horse flicks its tail, looking almost prideful. odysseus would roll his eyes if he did not want to keep the truth from his son so much. "i have found that the most incredible things tend to be the most dangerous." he says, and telemachus nods absentmindedly. he does not understand, of course, and odysseus would give anything to keep it that way. he wishes he himself did not understand.

"how many gods did you meet on your travels?" telemachus asks, with a little more attention on odysseus than the horse.

"oh, too many to count." odysseus smiles as telemachus' eyes widen in interest. "the wind god aeolus both assisted and tricked me, the goddess circe turned my men to pigs but helped us get to the underworld, and i first met hermes on her island." he pauses, not quite knowing how to tell the next story. "zeus gave me some of the most.. painful decicions i have had to make in my life. i was stranded on calypso's island for seven years before hermes helped me leave." 

telemachus stares at him in wonder. "you have seen so much of the world." he says, evidently amazed, and odysseus finds himself appreciating how his son manages to make the worst years of his life sound like an adventure of the ages. "i cannot hope to compete, but- when you were gone, athena visited me."

"athena?" in a moment, odysseus feels 30 years younger, hearing the stories of gods from the bards that played in the halls of the palace. athena visited his son. "you must tell me that tale."

grinning in pleasure, telemachus instantly regales him with how he fought antinous after the suitor insulted penelope (like father like son, odysseus thinks in amusement) and how athena came to his aid as he began to lose. something in odysseus' chest clenches as he talks about the conversation he had with athena about the friend she had regretted losing, and how she wanted to make up for her mistakes by befriending telemachus.

"i don't know who her friend was." telemachus admits. "she didn't say; i think it may have been too painful for her or something, but she said he was a lot like me."

odysseus smiles. "i would have to agree with her."

telemachus blinks in confusion and interest. "you know who she was talking about?"

"of course i do." odysseus grins, finding that he enjoys the astonishment in his son's eyes more than he ever expected to. perhaps he ought to have been a bard himself—he would have been good at it, he thinks. "i must say, it is wonderful to hear that she considered me a friend after all those years."

for a moment, it doesn't seem that telemachus has understood what he means, because he continues to stare blankly at him. suddenly, he gasps, and odysseus can't help but laugh as he says, "you were her friend! father- how could you keep this from me?"

"you had not told me athena had visited you!" odysseus says, still laughing at the indignation of his son. 

"is there another god you have met that you have not told me about?" telemachus demands, sitting upright in excitement. the horse swats at odysseus' leg with its tail.

odysseus frowns at the horse, much to his son's amusement. "i met poseidon." he says, if only because he doesn't want the horse to kick him next. "it was not an enjoyable experience." 

telemachus seems to recognise how little his father wishes to talk about his experience with the sea god, as he doesn’t press further. "so that would be.." he pauses to count. "seven gods?"

"i suppose i have travelled far." odysseus chuckles. it sounds far fetched, even for him. "that's probably why hermes lent his assistance." 

"truly, father, you of all people should be devoting yourself to him." telemachus nods solemnly, and odysseus almost doesn’t realise he’s making a joke until he catches that sparkle in his eye. 

odysseus laughs. "perhaps i should make him a temple. he would like that."

"oh, don’t let that be a jest, darling." comes an alarmingly familiar voice from behind them.

telemachus yelps in surprise, spinning around as odysseus braces himself for the worst. "don’t tell me i have something else i must do?" he practically begs.

hermes laughs. "oh, no- don’t worry darling, your journey is over. i just heard my name!" he smirks, looking over to telemachus. though the trickster god has yet to do him harm, odysseus feels a jolt of protectiveness. "and this is your son! well, no wonder you wanted to get home—you are just adorable!"

telemachus blinks in surprise. "i- thank you, lord hermes."

"how polite!" hermes grins, clearly impressed—as he so should be. this is odysseus' pride and joy we're talking about here. "i understand what athena likes about you." telemachus practically glows with pride, and odysseus smiles. "so, about that temple?"

"i will- begin work on it as soon as possible." odysseus says, a little taken aback. of course, it's probably justified anyway—hermes has been invaluable to his journey home. he has already thanked him, but- "wait, when i left calypso's island, you said you didn’t fight for me. what did you mean?"

"oh, has no one told you?" hermes says with a laugh. "you were only able to leave because athena fought half the pantheon for you." he grins. "she was wonderful, darling, you should have been there."

it's odysseus' turn to stare in astonishment. "athena did that for me?" 

the horse huffs in apparent displeasure, and hermes' gaze shifts towards it. judging by the way he stifles a laugh, odysseus figures he was right about who this is. "i like your horse. what is its name?"

"father says he is too wild for a name." telemachus says before odysseus can answer, and hermes apparently can’t suppress his snort this time. 

"yes, i imagine he is." the god says, and telemachus looks so confused, odysseus is close to laughter himself. "well, i best be off again. delightful to see you, darling." hermes gives a little wave before he is one with the air. 

telemachus turns to odysseus, who hurries to hide his smile. "what's so funny about the horse?"

"ah- inside joke." odysseus lies. "but i suppose i have to start on a temple for hermes now." he says, pushing himself to his feet. the horse stands too, and odysseus very nobly does not roll his eyes at it. 

"he really likes you." telemachus grins, patting the horse's flank. 

odysseus has to doubt that, but he doesn’t say this aloud. "he sure does want to follow me everywhere, huh?"

"i still think you ought to name him." telemachus says. frankly, odysseus would also like to name the horse and see how poseidon would react, but he'd rather not die at the hands of a prideful kick. "i never know how to refer to him, other than 'the horse'."

"well, that's what he is." odysseus shrugs. "he could have a much worse name, like 'dog'. that would be a terrible name for a horse." he says as if he is imparting some incredible wisdom onto his son.

telemachus just laughs. "i don’t think he'd appreciate being called 'dog'." as if to agree, the horse huffs loudly, stamping one hoof on the grass. "he ought to have a better name, i think."

odysseus looks at the horse, weighing up whether or not he ought to give into his son's requests. "i do not wish to risk offending him, if i give him a name he does not like."

"i suppose you know more about these kinds of beasts than i." telemachus admits, and odysseus silently sighs in relief.

before he can stop himself, odysseus finds himself asking, "what kind of name would you have given him?"

telemachus gives the horse a pat on its side, somewhat thoughtfully, which it seems to appreciate. "i’m not sure. something strong, like a warrior or a king." 

odysseus nods. he wonders where his son learnt to be so observant; poseidon is nothing other than a warrior and king of the seas. penelope was probably the reason, he thinks with a slight smile—she always used to pretend she could not hear anything as she wove, so she would always hear the most bizarre stories from both servants and visitors alike. 

the horse gives a huff, and odysseus looks at it. "what?" he says on instinct, and only realises how foolish he must look when telemachus stifles a laugh. "i may as well ask. it's polite."

"i’m certain." telemachus grins, obviously humouring him, and odysseus smiles back. "is this what you became when you and athena stopped speaking? conversing with horses?"

odysseus gives a gasp of mock outrage, and telemachus laughs as he pulls him into a hug battle to the death. despite how his son is at least a foot taller than him, odysseus' strength earned from battles and hard work alike allows him to keep him in his arms even against telemachus' attempts to slip through, and frankly, everything was worth doing if it means he gets to share this moment for just that little bit longer.

[fitzselfships]

I might be taking a slight break from here. My Paranoia this week has been Really bad and today things are a lot worse. I'll be more active on twitter and bsky (both linked in my pinned post) for the time being