#/ just helena things ~~ lmao

[thebramblewood]

Time to wrap this history lesson up (for now).

Previous / Next

Helena, telepathically: What then?

Caleb, telepathically: She came home, of course. To me.

I mistook her for a nightmare at first, pounding so hard on my bedroom window the glass shook, bloodied and bruised, trembling and out of her head. She was sick for days but refused a doctor and only allowed me to see her. Fragments of memory returned, enough to give us some small idea of what she was turning into, as inconceivable as it seemed.

Upon transforming, she was immediately ravenous. I trapped rats in the alley and brought them to her. Hardly the fine dining she had grown accustomed to, but desperation overruled disgust. Their blood didn’t quench her thirst for long. The entire household was at risk. We decided we would go together to seek out her maker. I’m ashamed to admit we hardly took a moment to consider everything we were leaving behind, least of all our parents. The lives they wanted for us had never fit, and it seemed we’d been handed an opportunity to start over, as horrifying as the circumstances were.

-

Lilith: That’s him.

Caleb: Are you certain?

Lilith: It’s a terrible likeness, but it has the same sinister aura. Besides, I hear him calling. He’s been waiting for me.

-

[Continuing telepathic conversation]

Helena: It’s funny. I feel like I’ve seen him before, the vampire who turned her.

Caleb: It wouldn’t surprise me. Judgmental lurking is his favorite pastime. He founded Forgotten Hollow as his eternal enclave from the human world and refuses to accept it no longer belongs solely to him. Observing is how he fools himself into thinking he hasn’t lost control. His origins, his age, his connections, his wealth — it’s always been a mystery. He’s never liked me, and he and Lilith haven’t been on speaking terms for decades.

Helena: But why-

Caleb: It’s late. Lilith will be rising soon.

Helena: Can she… listen in when we talk like this?

Caleb: No. The psychic bond between two vampires creates a sort of veil. So long as one of you is in my head, the other can’t intrude. But being locked out will drive her mad. Best to stay on her good side for now.

Helena: You haven’t even told me yet how you were turned or-

Caleb: Patience, Helena. After all, we only have eternity.

[papaiyatree]

For a drawing request, I'd love to see you draw Helena Wayne and Karen Starr!! :^D

here, hope u like it < 3 !!! anw for folks who see this, my art requests r still Very much open, check this link out 2 see what i would do heehee

[citrine-elephant]

is there a symbolism behind the dog in resident evil 4? or wolf, unsure if they're a dog or a wolf.

leon comes across as very doglike. very much a cat personality, but doglike in his loyalty. it's kinda hard to explain, but i've seen others for sure point it out.

it just seems like the ability to rescue a dog and that dog coming back to help leon reflects strongly with ada rescuing leon and him coming back to help her.

or am i looking too deep into this?

[cleromancy]

the post thats like "as a bette enjoyer i understand jason likers just making stuff up but dont you want something good dont you want something that delivers" is so goofy like. yeah i fucking do and i want jason to deliver it

[kiras-monkey-bum-face]

Wait, you are not allowed to talk to your students outside of school? Not even when you accidentally meet them at the supermarket or something?

I can talk to them if I see them sure but I can't talk about their learning progress or any behaviour issues outside of school hours with them and not in public, the parents/guardians would need to organise a meeting for that but what I meant by my post was more "oh my god it's my day off please don't perceive me" lmao

[th3houseofleaves]

one of the funniest things about kit is that he's generally disrespectful to most adult heroes (as in, they were heroes already when he a kid) and it's mostly in a joking way like he will listen to them and he actually thinks most of them are cool he just copes by being a disagreeable asshole sometimes but this energy does not extend to a handful of heroes. most of them are bc he really does respect them too much to be an ass even if it's not real lmao and then one. one is lowkey bc? dude intimidates the hell out of him. and what makes it worse is kit is dating his SON. bro is so intimidated by batman it isn't even funny. if he ever works with the bats on something and batman is actually there and kit, who rarely ever totally behaves, is on his best behavior and he's calling bruce sir and istg the other bats would give him so much shit.

kit regularly tells dick that his sort of dad is scary as FUCK.

[mysterycitrus]

hi! i' m really loving persephone but i was a little confused about how you're writing jason (and roy). i read through the author's note but i havent read a tonne of earlier comics yet so i just wanted to ask about your characterisation of him? its really different from other fic ibe read

hello! firstly, thank u for the question. i included that chunky list of comics at the beginning of persephone cause i knew how i was writing some of the characters (SPECIFICALLY jason and roy lmao) would be pretty different from popular mainstream interpretations of them. even if most people can acknowledge rhato 2011 was a bad comic these days, it's still (unfortunately) a foundational comic for a lot of jason fans.

the long answer is jason is a very popular character, but because he hasn't had an actual good comic since 2005 a lot has to be filled in to make him a "consistant" character. if u actually analyse any of his modern comics with knowledge of other characters, u would probably notice that: a) 99% of his relationships are stolen from dick grayson wholesale, with no development, b) 99% of what makes him popular was stolen wholesale from characters like selina kyle, helena bertinelli, and stephanie brown, and c) that everything politically interesting about his concept has been watered down to like... a sometimes angry dude who doesn't even use guns anymore.

roy is a separate issue - i truly dont believe most people who identify as royandjason fans have read anything preboot about roy, cause otherwise they'd understand that he would not do any of the things he does in rhato, and he definately wouldn't be besties with his best friends thirteen year old brother.

jason as he exists in fan spaces is a guy who is devoid of nuance, and is basically a reskinned 90s dick grayson stand in. that's not interesting to me. his original conception - the fact that he's from park row, he struggles with violence, he was a fundamentally kind person who isn't anymore because of things outside his control..... that's someone who could engage with batman's legacy in a cool way! a guy with his own moral values who does terrible things but still believes in the inherent value of his personal crusade! when i was writing him, it was important that yes, he can be quippy and fun, but he's also a person who's done a lot of fucked up things, and people aren't going to just roll over and think he's the coolest guy ever cause the writer treats him like a self insert.

the short answer is that im a roy harper fan and i haven't known peace since 2011.

[mrdogface]

So I finished Birds of Prey (1996 - 2009).

Highs:

known unrepentant homophobe Chuck Dixon accidentally wrote a pretty incredible bi sapphic story during his tenure on Birds of Prey, although much of the queering does come from the artists working on the books. We all know the “call me Barbara” moment – apparently, after the audience reaction to that, Dixon started leaving notes for artists like “be careful and make sure the audience doesn’t misinterpret this scene” lol. 

imo, the realization of Helena Bertinelli’s arc happens in the Birds of Prey. She is finally removed from an environment where she needs and is actively craving Batman’s approval, and she ends up thriving, infiltrating the mob and earning the “good work” from Bruce. Personally, I would’ve preferred if her character moved completely away from Bruce’s opinions of her, and it kind of does, but Gail SImone does close that arc off by giving it to her. 

Gail Simone uses the series as a who’s who of women in DC, showcasing a number of minor and often underrated women, from returning classic characters like Ice to giving Zinda Blake / Lady Blackhawk a second chance at comics relevance (Lady Blackhawk’s best story in the Birds of Prey, imo, happens under Tony Bedard, concluding the character’s arc from her 1950s roots). 

Infinity, introduced very late in Bedard’s time on the team, is a severely underrated nonstarter superhero and it is criminal she never went anywhere. Weird ambiguously Australian ghost girl? Hello??

Barbara as a character who learns to accept her disability. A lot of people, including Dixon and Simone, tend to point out that Barbara learns to be a superhero in spite of her disability, but that’s not the interesting part imo. I think the more interesting story here is that they almost accidentally cobbled together a very genuine character arc of Barbara initially being insecure and doubtful that she’ll be perceived as an equal, as romantically desirable, as a real leader in the superhero world, all this stuff, due to the chair. What we end up seeing is her growth into someone who realizes she’s accepted within the bubble of people who are relevant to her, and that the bigotry of people who aren’t can be made irrelevant simply by building one’s life without them. Her disability isn’t written as saccharine inspiration porn (I think it actually veers too far in the other direction at times; at its worst, it’s a point of grimdark melodrama lol) and it isn’t something she “overcomes” in the classic superhero sense of getting a magical wheelchair or psychic powers, and imo in the superhero genre that’s rare and valuable. The execution isn’t perfect but for me it’s very close. 

Lows:

Chuck Dixon makes Barbara and Power Girl do an accidental war crime lmao. dw, both DC editorial and the fanbase ignore this and the less said about it the better.

Dixon really likes James Bond, Indiana Jones (surprising because Indie keeps beating up his friends) and other travel-adventure stories, so throughout his run Black Canary keeps ending up in exotic locations… and judging the people there, before doing some insane “World Policing.” The racism is uhhhhhhh

Simone ties the Birds into the wider DC universe and it does, frustratingly, hit a point where you need to be either really up-to-date with other books or cracking open google to know who a lot of characters even are. This is kind of just how DC works in the mid-2000s, frustratingly. She’s also forced to work with a lot of off-screen deaths, like Ted Kord’s death should be an enormous thing for Barbara, but we have deadlines to keep and we can’t be certain people have been keeping up with Jaime Reyes, so gogogogo

Misfit and Black Alice. They never worked for me. I hate Misfit’s whole archetype of zany comics fan who acquires powers. Making her Jason Todd-adjacent by giving her the sad homeless backstory did not sell me on her and felt like a cheap attempt to make a nonstarter character function. Black Alice’s whole thing devolves into a “stay on your meds, emo kids” PSA. Just very clumsy 30-somethings-writing-teens material. 

the last arc, set in DC Silicon Valley, kind of sucks. The Calculator isn’t an interesting villain to me. The chemistry between characters after Dinah leaves never feels right. 

it all ends with Barbara believing she's lost her edge, writing a signed note, peacing out, and dumping her adopted homeless kid friend on Helena after getting her ass kicked by the Joker. The last page: Ganthet lamenting that she's in a wheelchair, "to be continued in Oracle: The Cure." oy.

[eddiegettingshot]

i think this entire kim storyline hinged on the conclusion tim/the writers really wanted, i.e., eddie being isolated at the end of it (with the added bonus of bringing devin back and having tim's weird vertigo fantasy or whatever). but the reason it doesn't work is that eddie's support system isn't that flimsy that everyone he loves would abandon him when he's very clearly stuck in a spiral of grief for his dead wife. so that culminates in the writers making bizarre ad ooc choices—retconning all of ramon's growth, making helena almost cartoonishly evil, not allowing chris to speak up for himself even once, tia pepa and abuela are nowhere to be found (you know they would have fought like hell for eddie), buck isn't allowed to say anything meaningful either because eddie can't be isolated if buck is there fiercely advocating for him (like he would have in any other circumstance) and the firefam clearly has no idea what's going on. it's just. it's just SO bad.

YES. EXACTLY. it is SUCH a disservice to literally every single character that this happened, i cannot even like... fathom it lmao. and the thing is, chris is a teenager! he'd keep demanding independence anyway, so eddie being "isolated" wouldn't have to be this forced thing! given that eddie's hovering has been a point of contention for them before, why NOT continue down that path as chris gets older? i would bet money that when s8 opens, helena and ramon are going to be back to acting like, somewhat reasonable save for the we-took-your-kid-to-texas elephant in the room, if they have a presence at all.

[punkeropercyjackson]

DC Palentines(Tim Drake and Summer Kent)lore dump.This is a familial/platonic selfship!

They met during Superpunk 1990/Robin 1993 and are 3 years apart

Summer beefed with Tim for 'replacing' Jason and Tim hated Summer out of still not unlearned self-righteousness

But thanks to Tim's girlfriend and Summer's little brother i.e Stephanie and Kon being Summer's best friend and Tim's best friend,they're in the same place or connected so often they have no choice but to interact often

So that leads to them actually getting to know eachother and working together in superheroics.And least to say,they couldn't believe they ever hated eachother out of their own Pride & Prejudice(I'm sorry i had to lmao)

........The Pride & Prejudice they hated eachother over is Jason actually.LMFAO

Tim sees Summer as yet another cool older sister figure he can rely on(Babs,Cass AND Helena damn okay go off king)and Summer sees Tim as an add-on to his younger siblings collection(ALL the Superkids that have appeared in the comics are canon to this verse,plus Match getting adopted by Clois and @mayameanderings ' s/i Cindy.Summer has major Eldest Daughter Syndrome and Troubled But Good Kid Trauma so that includes taking in every kid he meets that needs it)

Summer radicalized Tim and provided him shelter when Jack died and he couldn't bear to stay with Bruce at the time due to the extreme turbalance of their relathionship.Afterwards Tim was constantly insistant on paying Summer back to the point it borderlined on self-destructive but Summer had enough experience with that situation to put a stop to it before he could hurt himself irreversably

Tim got Summer into tagging and graffiti/street art and they go around to throw some tags up or do some analysis of street art they take interest in.Summer uses his kryptonian/human hybrid superheight and kryptofang(kryptonian dragon,his specific species)wings to help Tim throw up pieces in hard to reach places

He also introduces him to his favorite books/texts he normally can't nerd out with other people.The philosophical stuff like Art of War,Diogenes and Camus(Jason is also into that but Tim refuses to spend enough time with him solo to find that out)

And shows him his favorite super niche nerd stuff too-Like architecture in Gotham and how it interacts with and changes the ways the newer Bats traverse with the city,or the history of the undercity and how it affects the actual crime and even everyday life of Gothamites!They have a lot of fun discussing it and for strategy for Summer's hero work as well

Summer is afrolatina squared(black biracial with dominican birth parents and adopted by Clark and Lois,who are black mexican and black dominican and both monoracial).He's literally kryptonian Starfire and not just because he was mentored by her and Dick as a sidekick but as Sparks,he was a rowdy and loud goth tomboy with a huge mean and bitter streak as trauma coping and a defense mechanism in addition to a hodgepodge neurodivergent disorders.All the other Robins had Batgirl but Jason had Sparks

Tim is cherokee on Janet's side and Jack wasn't malicious but he was extremely white and rich so he had a strong cultural disconnect.Tim was a trans freakish kid that ran around on the street for the majority of his Gotham nightlife out of audhd.The running around alleys and on rooftops sparked a natural love and fascination for the art that covers the city's landscape

They love sitting on ledges together that Summer lifts them up to in Gotham and Metropolis equally,discussing the things they've discovered and how to traverse them and the differences yet similarities between them(the cities and themselves too)

Summer is a huge gastronomer so he taught Tim the culinary arts and focused on african and latino cuisine and their historical significance and meaning which leads to uncovering Tim's cherokee roots together with deep dive research and doing cultural fusion.This includes but is not nearly limited to them taking care of eachother's hair and being allowed to touch it whenever and wherever they want(Standard hairstyles are natural i.e Big floof and straight for Summer and Tim respectively but Summer loves braiding Tim's hair in all kinds of looks and running his hands through it and massaging his scalp as a pressure stim and Tim is fascinated and awed by Summer's kinky hair and thinks it's the best kind of hair and their favorite styles are sisterlocks,pufftails and goddess braids and he makes haircare products for him since he wants to keep improving his diy skills as long as he can)

They also both dye their hair.Summer has his baby pink bangs and Tim has red dip tips.Summer started his as part of his start as a solo hero,Ember,and Tim did his job on his own in manic panic until Summer showed up and helped him do it right and since he was in-need of a redye himself,he let him do his and they watched movies as the bleach and dye dry process happened

They're both huge energy drink enjoyers as true alts and can be found hanging out at marts and at food trucks owned by poc too obvs.They order eachother's cultural foods as a tradition for platonic soul sharing

Summer is solarpunk so Tim had to be too.He dragged himself along and was equally dragged along into it.Summer teaches Tim all about decolonization and activism and Tim obviously feels a connection to it as a cherokee person as a Summer does a black person.They have beach days that double as fun times like ice cream and swimming and sandplaying and eco-cleansing kryptonianly and humanly by hand as a team and Tim uses his voice as the son of Bruce Wayne to speak out and Summer is Metropolis' anarchy poster child and the face of black/latina Metropolitan women.Tim adopts the fashion and includes diy taught to him by Summ and they look like a walking goth x pastel meme but with brown and black slay instead of white gentrification of the punk aesthetic.Gorgeous long pure black straight hair and homemade hunting boots and edgy ahh tops with either meme refs or pro native messages for Tim and unreastrained huge natural blackity black hair with handmade fancy beads and showy pastel tops and long ass self-designed skirts and they're both covered in piercings

Summer is a huge nerd himself so he got Tim into animanga and nintendo games and girlypop media and black/latino cult classics and Tim returned the favor by getting him to participate in the appropriate for non-natives cherokee traditions and norms.Tim taught Summer normie teen speak before he freaked it and Summer taught Tim kryptonian techniques.They even have matching Tamagotchis-Summer has Angel Uni and Tim has Monster Uni,Summer offered to share with Jason but he said no to look cool so Summer shrugged it off and asked Tim so Jason tried to take it back and Summer told him to he should've manned up and not played on his nonexistent coolness.Tim burst out laughing at that but was touched anway and accepted.Jason and Tim are the only non-Supers(Lois is an honorary one)who know how to do Summer's makeup perfectly for him with no critisism

Summer convinced Tim to physically transition because his internalized trans.phobia was stopping him out of fear of 'ruining' his body but Summer told him it's not his body if he dosen't love as much as Summer loves him and as much as Tim loves Tim.He shared his own experiences with harrasment to transition and degendering against his will to reassure him and got him his surgeries done by Taliacorp doctors so he could have hawk wing shaped top surgeries scars and took him to Dairy Super afterwards in a sports bra and his baggiest cargo pants to show solidarity as a no t or op genderfluid and bigender transmasc

They play Animal Crossing and Time Management games together religiously,Tim turned Summer into a Skater Girl and Summer saved Tim from poser punk.Sunflower4Rose.Summer is a tank at 7' and a beefcake(fat AND muscle but itty bitty tiddies)and Tim is an average height twink.They are best friends,siblings,mom friend and problem child and a secret fourth thing(platonic soulmates against faith)

Summer became half Kryptofang because Lex injected him with the dna of the last surviving one and the ghost of it he shares a headspace with is named Fantasma.This gives Summer DID symptoms the way Speedforce gives Flashes audhd symptoms and Tim has narcolepsy and chronic pain so disabled solidarity

Summer is summer,sunshine and optimism and the sea and sugary sweetness and bubblicity and open boisterous femininity.Tim is autumn,mellow and melancholic and the earth and sour flavoring and a hardcore but welcoming kind of darkness

SORRY THEY MAKE ME SO SAPPY Tim makes it known how much he hates Jason but dosen't hold it against Summer and blames him entierly for corrupting him into joining The Outlaws and never liked him beforehand.They're on good terms now but it's more for Summer's sake than any progression and it makes Summer sad sometimes but he's accepted it,especially since at least they like eachother now.Jason loves using it against Tim he's dating Summer to piss him off but Summer never let him get away with actual cruelty to him back when he wanted to do it.He encourages Tim to be mean to Jason though

"Summ is LITERALLY the cooler Jason.On every level including the bonus'.I'd say i can't wait until he dumps his ass but they're mated for life or some dragon shit so that's never happening" "NIGGA I'M RIGHT HERE" "I know.I was talking to your wife.And you needed to hear it." "I actually already tell him stuff like this daily but he needs to hear it more." "See?" "This is elder abuse," "I'm older than you by 5 months and technically an ancient kryptonian being because of Fantasma.No,it's not."

[peachysunrize]

I had tried to take the leaks with a grain of salt, but now I can say that this really really sucks. I'm reading comments calling Aemond disgusting and cheering on Alicent and Helena for "putting him in his place". They gave Daemon a redemption arc just because they want the general audience to root for him at the Gods Eye. Well, jokes on them, I’ll stan Aemond even more. They glossed over b&c as much as possible and no one gives a shit about baby Jaehaerys. Alicent's character is destroyed beyond repair. Team Green is destroyed. The writers are so biased in favor of TB and girboss Rhae Rhae that season 3 is going to be unwatchable. I had such high hopes and now I'm just tired. The actors were great, it's not their fault. Ewan had the bare minimum of screen time and managed to make me empathize with his character, often without even having a line. But if the script is shit the actors can't do anything about it and you can't expect much from writers who write lines like the one about Aegon's cock and the goatfuckers slur. Ultimately, the thing I liked the most about this season, aside from a bunch of scenes, was the press tour, especially all the Tom and Ewan’s interviews. And the fanfics of course. 💚

Since you mentioned everything, I’ll go ahead and give my two cents on the episode (if you want later the whole season in another one) in this post

There are many things that bugged me this episode.

First things first I’m gonna start with Aegon cause I’ve seen so little of him on my dash today.

Aegon is an underdog. He didn’t want to become king, yet here he is! The cost of it was nearly his life by the hands of his brother. He has to feel betrayed and tossed aside, which he is in fact, but what did we get from him? His dick is like a sausage on a spot. Right. Because there aren’t ANY other factors to talk about, the writers decided to give us yet anotherrrrr disgusting hypersexualizing moment that Aegon talks about his DICK while Larys is saying important things.

About Helaena

I get that they’ve made her into this autistic sweet girl and I’ll stand by her side, but… doesn’t she have a motherly instinct AT ALL? I mean yeah Alicent is the only mother she has seen in her life, but like your son was beheaded in front of you, why don’t you want to idk even SCREAM? The cause your brother is fighting for, THE CAUSE YOUR SON WAS BEHEADED FOR, needs your help…

Aemond

I’ve talked about his scene with Helaena on the balcony, but I’ll say it again; Aemond showing weakness means he is DEEPLY disturbed and troubled. He is desperate to grasp at any chance he can to bring someone on his side because he has no one, absolutely no fucking person, and he has to fight for his and his family’s life ALONE! The same family who ran away and left the war THEY caused for him to deal with. I would have been so angry Dragonstone would melt without me even setting it on fire. HE. IS. ALONE. Even if he didn’t burn Aegon do you think he would have taken Aemond’s side??? He would keep humiliating him, but they are siblings, AND NOW HIS MOTHER AND SIBLINGS HAVE LEFT HIM TO DEAL WITH THIS MESS ALL BY HIMSELF!! The only person he’ll have is Daeron but they probably wouldn’t meet.

Alicent

I don’t even know where to start lmao… The fact that in season one she was ready to MURDER Rhaenyra for Aemond, but now she hates him so much she has to flee from him to RHAENYRA and spoil his plans and OPENING THE GATES FOR HER— not to mention how she fucking nodded at “a son for a son” as if Jaehaerys’ death is totally forgotten (probably has). SHE GAVE RHAENYRA — THE FRIEND WHO ONCE HELD LOVE FOR ME (the fact that she doesn’t even know if she still has affection for her is soooo funny like girl stop wilding and sit and think) — HER ELDEST CHILD!!!!!!!!!! THE CHILD SHE HAD TO GIVE BIRTH TO AT 15!!!! THE SAME CHILD SHE WAS RAPED FOR AND ANOTHER WOMAN WAS CUT OPEN FOR— I CANT begin how furious she made me. Nothing can make me like her again, not when she chose Rhaenyra whose friendship with ended the moment Luke took Aemond’s eye over her children.

[sundaywithoutgod]

favorite old school bands from your time

Wow…way to make me feel old, fuck-sock.

Just kidding lmao <3 I’m happy to share, and I'll put in my favorite songs too.

1. Underøath — It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door, Writing On The Walls, Young And Aspiring, In Regards To Myself, A Boy Brushed Red Living In Black And White.

2. Taking Back Sunday — MakeDamnSure, Cute Without The “E”, A Decade Under The Influence, Great Romances Of The 20th Century, Twenty-Twenty Surgery.

3. Limp Bizkit — Break Stuff, Nookie, Re-Arranged, N 2 Gether Now, Nobody Loves Me.

4. Seether — Broken (Ft. Amy Lee), Truth, Remedy, Tongue, Burrito.

5. Godsmack — Moon Baby, Whatever, Keep Away, Time Bomb, Voodoo.

6. Nirvana — Heart-Shaped Box, Something In The Way, Rape Me, Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom.

7. Green Day — Longview, Basket Case, When I Come Around, Jesus Of Suburbia, Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

8. Evanescence — Bring Me To Life, Going Under, My Immortal, Call Me When You're Sober, Everybody's Fool.

9. Avenged Sevenfold — Unholy Confessions, Chapter Four, Beast and the Harlot, Bat Country, Remenissions.

10. As I Lay Dying — Through Struggle, Empty Hearts, Repeating Yesterday, The Darkest Nights, Nothing Left, Forsaken.

11. Bullet For My Valentine — Tears Don't Fall, Your Betrayal, All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me), Hand Of Blood, Waking the Demon.

12. My Chemical Romance — I'm Not Okay (I Promise), Helena, The Ghost of You, Thank You for the Venom, Cemetery Drive.

[papaiyatree]

does anyone have interesting comic recs/ metas on and about helena's morals and etc? asking for a friend

[queerdiazs]

writing patterns 🫧

rules: list the first line(s) of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern!

in the meantime | 2.3k, teen

“You should take him on a vacation when he gets out,” Athena says, nudging her shoulder with his. “It’ll be nice.” 

i am just a fool, but i have loved you all along | 5.1k, teen

At 10:17 in the morning, Buck barges through the front door unannounced. He has an impressive load of shit in his hands—boxed candies and chocolate-covered strawberries and two stuffed animals and a massive bouquet of magnolias and yellow daises packed in a gorgeous glass vase. 

like a cat in the rain | 4.6k, teen

A ricocheting clap of thunder wakes Buck up from a deep, dreamless sleep. He startles, shaking in a shot of terror at the sudden noise, and nearly falls off the couch as he flails in an attempt to gather his bearings. 

he's a big boy | 5.7k, explicit

The best thing about being married to Buck is that Eddie finally has somebody to carry the forty pound bags of mulch to the backyard when he doesn’t want to. 

what to do when evan buckley breaks into your house at 3:17 in the morning | 2.9k, teen

A sharp, resounding noise wakes Eddie up from a messy, sweaty sleep. He snorts, coughs, snorts again, and rolls over to check the time on the alarm clock with one crusty eye open. 

the house i built is burning | 6.4k, mature

Giggling, drunk on champagne and Buck’s fingers shoved up under his shirt, Eddie kisses his way along Buck’s throat, behind Buck’s ear, and whispers, “D’you know we haven’t fucked since last year?” 

deck the halls (and your in-laws) | 29.6k, mature

Four days before Christmas Eve, Ramon and Helena Diaz arrive at LAX at two-thirty in the afternoon. 

and i feel just like i want to kiss you underneath my mistletoe | 9.3k, teen

“So, you’re telling me,” Ravi starts in, all wide-eyed and giggly like he’s been given a secret he can’t wait to share, “that you’ve never kissed anyone under a mistletoe? Ever?” 

merle said mama tried, but the prison still won | 2.9k, teen

Eddie would like to preface this by saying he considers himself to be a kind, mature, intelligent, thoughtful man who tries his utmost best to meet people in the middle whenever an aggravating situation arises. 

there you are, sweetheart | 2.9k, teen

Exhausted, worn all the way down to the bone, Eddie stumbles into the house and kicks the door shut with the heel of his boot. He’s loud about it, too, stomping and huffing and tossing his bag on the floor like he used to as a teenager after baseball practice; he’ll pick it up later just like he’ll sweep up the mud from his boots, too, but after. 

oooh, i found a few patterns doing this, lmao, and those are: 1. turnpike lyrics as titles 2. putting mr eddie and his boy buck thru it 3. i am the King of Silly Eddie 4. i was accidentally in the holiday spirit

tagged by @actualalligator, @puppyboybuckley, @wikiangela, @honestlydarkprincess, @devirnis, @jeeyuns, and @exhuastedpigeon, mwah

tagging @monsterrae1, @loserdiaz, @wildlife4life, @watchyourbuck, @rogerzsteven, and @thewolvesof1998 if any of you wanna play!

[zeroducks-2]

Let’s talk Helena Wayne bc like it’s criminal that we barely get anything about her and that they completely changed her origin and family (the bertinelli mafia family) to add her into the main comic book line.

im torn bc I love both versions of her :(

But I wanted Dick to share some older siblings trauma with her and for Damian to have that “blood” sibling bc I think that would have completely rocked early Damian’s shit. All his life, he was told to be the true heir of Bruce Wayne, but it turns out he has an OLDER SISTER BRUCE HID FROM TALIA AND RA. Idk I just think that would have crushed his lil murder ego and made for some interesting sibling moments and an interesting dynamic.

Lastly, can we talk about how the Batfam fandom completely stole all of Helena (Bertinelli)’s character traits and gave them to Jason??? Im sorry but when in the material source has Jason ever been super devout and catholic? Helena is the religious one, why am I reading about Jason’s apparent Catholicism in fics and HC dumps? Also Jason (besides his Robin days) has never been this savour and protector of the woman and children of Gotham, that’s very very veryyyyyy clearly a trait from Helena and strongly ties into her backstory as a child who suffered coming from a rich bloodline of syndicate crime. And don’t think this is me bashing on Jason, bc it’s not!! I love Jason Todd - but for who he is. Not for this weird fandom version of him who is either still suffering from the craze the lazarus pit puts you through, or this Joan of Arc of Gotham character either.

I'm gonna be honest with you, this character confuses me a bit. I know that Bruce and Selina got married and had a daughter in their Earth-Two incarnations, and this daughter is Helena Wayne, who's Dick best buddy and a vigilante in her own right called Huntress.

Then I know Helena Bertinelli, daughter of a mafia lord who was introduced in the late 80s in the preboot comic continuity, and was a quite murdery vigilante called Huntress who Bruce didn't accept because she "reminded him of Barbara" (you gotta love DC's excuses for sexism and ableism lol it's not like Barbara was dead just paralyzed. Also it did not look like Bruce gave a shit about it at the end of TKJ that Joker had crippled her - "she reminds him or Barbara". LMAO Bruce).

Then post reboot the title Huntress was given back to Helena Wayne, however Helena Bertinelli is ALSO there and she's ALSO called Huntress? She appears in the Grayson run where Dick is an agent of Spyral, and she seems to be Italian-American but I don't think her origin is the same as in preboot? Also I have no idea about Helena Wayne's continuity post reboot - when she was conceived, who raised her, how did she become a vigilante, neither I have any idea where to find this info.

I agree that if she had been raised by Bruce it could have made for an interesting dynamic amongst the bats and birds. It did in Earth 2 even if only Dick is just there - they're not siblings but they also aren't not siblings? The dynamic is murky and I love murky. Pretty sure it would have changed everything for Damian as well, especially the fact that she would have most likely been the first object of Damian's need to prove himself worthy, instead of Tim.

That being said, not much of what you mentioned is fanon about Jason.

Jason had an arc in which he's a priest. Pretty normal that fans HC him as devout or anyway catholic.

Father Todd in Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Vol. 1 - this is an AU in which Jason was never taken in by Bruce and was never Robin.

As for the whole "protector of women and children" thing, you probably know that Jason was born in extreme poverty, his father was in and out of prison and his mother died of overdose. He is very much a child who suffered because of a broken system, and given how harshly he reacts when women and children are the recipient of violence "in his Robin days", is it really that strange that fans assume he carried these traits in adulthood?

We see him being sweet and protective to kids many times, or anyway losing his mcfucking shit when children are being harmed (like in Brothers in Blood). Imo that of Jason caring about vulnerable people is barely a headcanon, and I don't see how this would make him the Joan of Arc of Gotham either - if I'm being honest ALL vigilantes should care about minorities and vulnerable people, it's the other way around that is weird as fuck (like that arc in which Dick almost dies to prevent this guy from shutting down Bludhaven's casinos, like what the hell was Tim Seeley thinking exactly).

That being said, I understand your frustration if the character you like doesn't have recognition. Trust me I do! There's a lot of them for me too, especially female and/or non white characters who had maybe 1 run ages ago and then got forgotten by DC, and I would REALLY LIKE to see them more, and to see them acknowledged more by the fans (from the top of my mind, Jenni Ognats or Patricia Trayce).

But this isn't fandom's fault. As I mentioned before, Helena Bertinelli as a fleshed out character was a thing between 20 and 30 years ago, and most of tumblr's userbase was either very young or not born yet. DC forgot about her, stripped Huntress from her to give it to Helena Wayne, then brought her back but as an agent of Spyral and it really doesn't look like they care. Fans can't be held accountable for the fact that she's simply not there. They didn't "steal" Helena's traits to give them to Jason; this implies a willful and malicious intent from people who saw this character and decided her features fit another character better, and it's obviously not what happened - people barely know Helena Bertinelli exists if at all.

Also - I said this about Jason already and I will repeat it a million times: Jason wasn't picked at random from the sea of DC characters to be people's blorbo, he resonates with fans for a reason. Under the Red Hood is a deeply emotional and relatable arc for many people because it's the story of how a child was failed by every single person who was supposed to protect and guide him, and then was failed again as an adult victim who demanded to be seen and heard and acknowledged, and instead was silenced again. It's heartbreaking to see how many people see this and say "this is me, this is what happened to me", but it is what it is, and most of all there is no taking this away from Jason's fans. DC tried to villainize him, to make him look and sound like a madman, to make him unhinged and deranged and they had Tim suggest that "maybe it's the Lazarus Pit that drove him mad", but it didn't work and fans still love him and still consider him a symbol of how "bad victims" are treated worse than their abusers, and keep being retraumatized by a society that prefers turning a blind eye to violence than deal with the issue at its root.

And lastly, bitching won't get you anywhere. I am the living proof that the right way to make people interested in something is to be passionate about that something. You want more folks to pay attention to Helena Bertinelli, then since DC won't do anything with her, the most effective thing you can do is post about her - write essays, draw her, write fics with her, create webweavings and moodboards, commission this stuff if you don't have the skills. Complaining that she should be the recipient of fandom love won't make anyone more interested in her.

[thebramblewood]

Pouring one out for the Helrike shippers.

Previous / Next

Yet another hit build from @whyeverr! Again, this one is much bigger and cooler than I make it appear. (And we won't talk about the fact that Britechester's "historic district" is actually Willow Creek, lmao.)

Transcript under the cut.

Ulrike: [to waiter] I’ll take a glass of your finest red, please, and keep it flowing!

Helena: I didn’t realize we were celebrating.

Ulrike: Hell, yeah, we’re celebrating! I think we deserve it considering we’re both days away from blowing this popsicle stand with our sanity still mostly intact.

Helena: You don’t have to guzzle it like that. It’s not going anywhere, you know.

Ulrike: Sorry. But aren’t you excited? I’ll be spending an idyllic summer in the Windenburg countryside, and you’ll be making a splash on the publishing scene in San My. We’re finally going places, Zhao!

Helena: Right. About that... [laughs nervously] I’m not actually sure I want to go.

Ulrike: Are you kidding me, Helena? Don’t be silly. Of course you want to go!

Helena: I don’t know, Ulrike. The more I think about it, the less appealing it sounds. I mean, what am I really going to be doing? Splitting a shitty apartment with three roommates and running coffee orders every day?

Ulrike: It won’t be like that forever.

Helena: It just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

Ulrike: [cautiously] Well... what are you going to do then?

Helena: I thought I might go to Windenburg with you instead. Oh, come on! It’s not a crazy idea. I could work on grad school apps, find a seasonal gig in some quaint souvenir shop. We wouldn’t have to worry about the long distance thing.

Ulrike: It’s just... it’s called a retreat for a reason.

Helena: I didn’t realize I was what you needed to retreat from.

Ulrike: That’s not what I meant. But you know how uninspired I’ve been lately.

Helena: So now I’m not inspiring enough for you?

Ulrike: No! But I do think a change would benefit-

Helena: Are you breaking up with me?

Ulrike: [under breath] Oh my god. [to waiter] Can you top me up over here, please?

Helena: Faust, it really feels like you’re breaking up with me right now.

Ulrike: Well, maybe we should cool things off for a bit. Listen, you’ve never been anything

but supportive, and I appreciate that. Of course I do. But sometimes it feels like it’s at the expense of supporting yourself.

Helena: What is that supposed to mean?

Ulrike: I mean, when was the last time we did anything because you wanted to? You’re such a good cheerleader. I love that about you. But I worry you’re neglecting your own goals to make me happy. It’s important for you to be your own person. Maybe some time apart will help.

Helena: Well, if it’s time apart you want, we might as well just start now.

Ulrike: Zhao, I’m not trying to make you feel bad. We can at least finish dinner.

Helena: I’ve lost my appetite.

Ulrike: Zhao!