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anyway you should always remember that all those foreigners you see dying on the news are just as real people as you are who have just as much interiority as you do. there is nothing about you that makes you more important and it is by pure chance that you are not in their position. in fact, this holds for all of history. every person, no matter the horror of the fate that befell them, had just as much interiority as you do. i feel like some people haven't fully internalized this.

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I love the idea of little eight year old Dick Grayson becoming Robin, and he pesters Bruce in the cave (“It’s called the Batcave, Bruce!” “Of course, chum.”), doing handstands in the desk in front of the computer (“Batcomputer, Bruce!”), and telling him, “Superman and Wonder Woman are so cool! Don’t you like their costumes, B? You should invite them to Gotham! You can make a superhero club! I’ll be the Vice President. You can be Treasurer.”

“And who will be the President of this superhero club?”

“Superman, of course!”

“Oh, of course. Silly me.”

“Wonder Woman will actually be co-president with Superman.”

“Naturally.”

Dick pesters and prods Bruce until he finally sets up a meeting with Superman and Wonder Woman. They meet at a neutral location, but Bruce insists that Dick hide under the cape the entire time. He doesn’t want them meeting Robin yet. They don’t know if they can trust them yet.

Clark noticed the extra heartbeat, but he assumes Batman isn’t totally human, so maybe he has more than one heart.

Basically, Dick is the reason the Justice League exists. And he takes full advantage of that fact.

Bruce has Dick enrolled in gymnastics lessons so he can keep up with his acrobatics, and when he learns a fancy new trick, he insists he has to show it off.

“Now if everyone can just stay in their seats a few minutes longer,” Batman announces at the end of one of their first meetings. “Robin has something he’d like to share with you all.”

And there’s so much chatter after that, because many of them have heard of Robin, but Batman has never let them meet him.

Clark has finally learned that Batman’s extra heartbeat was in fact just Robin hugging Batman’s leg and sitting on his foot. It also explains why Batman had a slight limp the first few times they met.

And now they all watch as Robin leaps up onto the table, gets a running start, then performs a very impressive set of acrobatics. Then once he’s done, he sticks the landing and throws his hands in the air, then bows. All with a big grin on his face.

Batman clapping is what makes everyone else snap out of the shock, but they all clap and tell Robin how well he did, how impressive he is. And this tiny little kid is just beaming at all of them, then looking back at Batman with a big smug grin in his face.

As Batman and Robin are leaving, they might hear Robin asking, “Can Superman come to my meet next weekend?” while he hangs off Batman’s arm.

“No.”

“Please?”

“Maybe next time.”

And they all sit in shocked silence around the table even after Batman and Robin have been gone for a few minutes.

“Did Batman start the Justice League just to show off his kid?” Green Lantern asks.

“I think Robin made Batman start the Justice League so he could show off to all of us,” Superman jokes.

It’s not even that much of an exaggeration, but Dick does like to tell people even after he becomes Nightwing that he’s the reason the Justice League exists in the first place.

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Whenever I see someone refer to "Victorian era-" for places outside the UK I'm tempted to start saying shit like "Han Dynasty era Rome", "Soviet era Australia" etc

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Hmm okay but picture this

Every time Dick has introduced his little brothers to his friends, they get annoyed and snippy and act like they’d rather be literally anywhere else or with anyone else. They constantly treat Dick like he’s annoying and they can’t be bothered to be around him, and usually Dick can just put up with it, ignore it, laugh it off. Because he loves his little brothers. They don’t really mean it. He has to tell himself they don’t really mean it.

But after several years of this happening anytime he brings his brothers around the other titans, or some friends he made on a mission, or literally anyone he knows, it starts to get to him. He stop inviting them to things with him, thinking they must not want to go anyway. He stops asking if they want to hang out with him at all. He’ll go whenever they call him, he’ll always help them if they need it, but he’s tired of being the one to always ask first to do something.

He’s just so tired. It’s like no one wants him around at all. It’s exhausting, trying to put on a happy face all the time.

So imagine his surprise when Jason asks him to go hang out with him and a couple friends. When Jason’s face relaxes at the sight of Dick walking through the door, and he tugs Dick over to a couple new friends he’s been going on missions with and he tells them, “This is my brother, Dickie. You probably know him as Nightwing.”

And these two can’t believe they’re in the same room as Nightwing. Jason looks like he won the lottery. Dick’s just happy Jason actually called him his brother today.

Then the next weekend, Tim begs Dick to help out the Young Justice team with training. Dick agrees, because of course he does. He’d do anything to help his brothers.

“Guys! My brother’s here to help with training!”

“Which one?”

“The best one, obviously,” Tim scoffs, then he tugs Dick into the gym and looks back at him with a shy smile on his face. Dick thinks his heart might explode after hearing Tim say with actual seriousness that Dick is his best brother.

A week after that? Damian asks him to come to the manor, says it’s urgent, and Dick rushes there, only to find Damian sitting with a notepad, waiting eagerly for him.

“What’s up?” Dick asks, sitting on the couch across from him. “Are you alright? You said it was urgent.”

“I have to write an essay for school,” Damian says, his face very serious. “It’s supposed to be about my favorite role model.”

“I mean, Jason is really the one who’s good at essays and stuff-”

“Yes, but Todd is insufferable,” Damian says quickly, then looks down at his notepad. “And besides, he is not my role model. So his input would be useless.”

“Damian?”

Dick is so confused. Damian all but pouts at him.

“You are my role model, Richard. I thought that was obvious.”

“Oh,” is all Dick says, but a smile spreads across his face. “Oh, okay. Well, yeah, okay. Do you have, like, questions you want me to answer or something?”

Damian moves to sit next to Dick, and they go over the essay prompt, and Dick answers a few questions. Helps Damian figure out how he’s going to structure his essay.

A few weeks later, Damian shows off the A he got on his essay, a small smile hidden behind the paper as Dick looks on.

Dick keeps the essay up on his refrigerator with a magnet Damian got him from the zoo. It has an elephant on it. It’s right next to the postcard Jason sent him the Gotham Airport as a joke, and the punchcard for the boba place he goes to with Tim. Two more visits and they get a free drink.

Maybe his brothers don’t hate him so much after all.

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I don’t get paid to work and stress as much as I do and I’m well aware of that but it doesn’t change anything because unfortunately I hate not doing everything perfectly

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Siren baby learns how to sunbathe.

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(opening the author’s works page after finishing a fic) and if im lucky they’ll have written this exact same fic but different a bunch more times

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me.

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I need y'all to watch this clip

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One and Done (Game Changer S7E6) but there’s no context

bonus: a happy ending

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I took my little brother (autistic, mostly non verbal) out and he was using his voice keyboard to tell me something, and this little boy (maybe 4 or 5?) heard him and asked me "Is he a robot??" I tried to explain to him that no, he isn't a robot, he just communicates differently, but my darling brother was in the background max volume "I am robot I am robot I am robot I am robot"

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I've mentioned before that antisemites, to varying degrees, imagine Jews as lacking interiority, and what I am using that word to mean is "an interior emotional and mental experience." This often comes in the form of antisemites imagining that Jews make decisions and choices in order to trick or deceive them (or God), rather than for our own reasons. They see all of our actions as performative -- not in the sense of empty or fake, but in the sense of existing for the sake of their perception.

This shows up in many different contexts. One, which I've spoken about before, is the way some people view Jewish legal "loopholes." Take for example Shabbos lamp, which is a lamp with a wooden or plastic cover that can be rotated such that the lamp can be left on for all of Shabbat but can be covered when the user wants darkness:

This is because many Jewish communities hold that it's forbidden to open and close electrical circuits on Shabbat, so this enables people in those communities to be able to choose to lighten or darken their room without breaking Jewish law.

However, a lot of people who are not part of these communities do not realize that the prohibition is on opening and closing circuits, and believe it's about "using" electricity more generally -- and thus see a Shabbos lamp as "cheating." Those with a penchant for antisemitism take it a step farther and see this as an attempt by Jews to "trick God" into believing that we are pious and following all of God's rules when in "reality" we are breaking them. Some also believe we are trying to trick them.

Rather, it is our attempt to put into practice that the commandments are to enrich our lives, not make us miserable; we find approved ways within the laws to meet our needs. The laws are not for asceticism or proving piety, they are a system of holiness, and so finding solutions that the law approves of is not cheating. And God cannot be tricked.

That is to say: we have reasons for doing things based on our own spiritual, religious, and practical needs, not based on how it looks to others. And we are not trying to trick anybody.

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I love when you go on a date with someone and you’re like. well that was neither wonderful nor horrendous. You seem Fine. I’m sure if this was the 18th century and we were gentry arranged married to secure our fathers respective land interests we would care for each other in our way. you would buy me nice horses that I really had no interest in but would admire how gentle you were with them and when I died in labor during my third pregnancy you would tell our surviving heirs that their mother was a handsome woman who never drank too much and embarrassed herself in company

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happy donna sheridan unprotected sex day (1/3), everybody!!!

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Selected Correspondence of Fire Lord Zuko

As preserved by the Royal Archives

1.

My good hotman Zuko,

It's Aang! Sokka let me borrow Hawky. Please feed him before sending him back.

I'm writing to ask if it's okay for me to drop by. Except I'll probably be there by the time you get this, because Appa flies faster than Hawky. Still, it's polite to ask!

Write back (or don't.)

Hot regards

Your friend Aang

-

Revered Avatar Aang

Hawky arrived two hours after you left. Never send me "hot regards" again. Like I keep telling you, language has changed in the past 100 years. It doesn't mean what you think. Future historians will think we were having an affair.

It's always okay to drop by. Hawky has been fed.

May your inner fire warm you (write that down somewhere)

Fire Lord Zuko

2.

Hi

need 3 fire benders (zappy) + few construction workers + a lot of copper

Delivr to harbor

sokka

-

Honorable tribesman Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, son of Chief Hakoda, Hero of the 100 Year War

No.

May your inner fire warm you

Fire Lord Zuko

-

Dear Jerk Lord of the Jerk Nation, Master Jerkbender and All-Around Jerk

quit being stingy and send me what i need. seriously. the fate of your nation is at stake. LOOK:

[drawing of two pickles, a stick figure and waves]

Hot regards

Sokka

-

Sokka

Your drawing makes no sense. I'm writing a law which bans you from owning a messenger hawk.

I found you three volunteer firebenders who can lightningbend. They'll be there in a week with four carts of copper. If you need construction workers, beg Toph, don't bother me.

Feed Hawky better. He's malnourished, he keeps begging me for more food.

And don't do that.

Fire Lord Zuko

3.

Dear Honorless Usurper

My, how the time flies. It seems as if it was only yesterday that I was supposed to be crowned Fire Lord, and here we are, celebrating the first full year of your doomed reign. I salute you.

Know this: you won't know peace for long. I have entered into an alliance with Admiral Noboru. He is a true patriot and has kindly offered me three ships and 2000 men to retake the throne. He has also generously offered to serve as my consort, "despite my mental deficiency."

I am writing as a courtesy, as it is obvious that the throne will soon be mine. I might even let you live.

May Agni's light shine on you*

Azula

Fire Lord-in-exile

[* common benediction for the dead during Fire Lord Zuko's reign]

-

Dear Sister

Thank you for writing. I spoke with Noboru. I told him that I was allowing an Agni Kai and that you were on your way.

Noboru has fled the country. He gifted you his whole estate, see the enclosed list. He said to tell you he's sorry and not to come after him.

Please come visit any time. I hope your healing is going well.

May your inner fire warm you

Your brother Zuko

[enclosed: A list of assets including a home in the 5th Province, a vacation home on Ember Island, 20 acres of farmland, a substantial amount of gold and silver and assorted property]

4.

Zuko

this is the worst copper i've ever seen??? i want a refund. you're the worst copper merchant ever.

sokka

-

Sokka

You didn't even pay for the copper. I'm not giving you a refund. And I'm not a copper merchant. I didn't even buy it, somebody else did. What's wrong with it?

I can send you more if you need?

Fire Lord Zuko

-

Sokka

I sent you two more carts of copper. This is the best copper we have, so if it's not good enough, you can get your own and stop mooching off of me.

Fire Lord Zuko

5.

[on a thin sheet of metal]

Sparky! Earth Rumble 8 is two weeks from now. I'm coming to pick you up in the morning two days before.

Check it out: I can write now. Katara helped me with the characters but I've got it now. Hawky isn't strong enough to carry these, but Katara's dad is letting me borrow Seabreeze.

It's TOPH.

-

Dear Lady Beifong

You can't just come pick me up! I'm the Fire Lord. Two weeks isn't enough time for me to arrange days off.

I'd like to come watch you knock some heads, but I can't. Sorry.

Feed Seabreeze. Seriously. What's wrong with you people? Every bird you send me is starving.

May your inner fire warm you

Fire Lord Zuko

-

[on a thin sheet of metal]

Sparky. Thanks for sending me a sheet of paper but my privy is stocked. I can guess what it says though: "I can't go I'm so busy and I'm too much of a wimp to clear my schedule"

I'm coming to pick you up. Tell your guards they can either get out of my way or get CRUSHED. It's gonna be fun.

It's TOPH.

-

A painting of Fire Lord Zuko, Lady Beifong, Master Katara, Avatar Aang, Suki of Kyoshi Island and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. Lady Beifong is sitting on the Fire Lord's shoulders, holding up a decorative belt and smiling widely.