It’s kinda funny having made/discovered my own spiritual path because while on the one hand I want to share my perspective with others, on the other I know it’s either going to sound completely batshit or be taken the complete opposite way.
Like I could easily see how it could be twisted into atheistic pessimistic nihilism (/neg) and/or fatalism or something when it’s literally pantheistic optimistic (or at least true [that is: not just shorthand for pessimistic] realistic) nihilism (/pos/neu).
Idk none of that makes any sense probably. I promise I’m not trying to sound pretentious I just spent years fixating on different spiritual perspectives and concepts. I don’t know how to divorce it from the jargon or whatever in a way that still gets the idea across. Maybe I’ll try to elaborate one of these days idk
I feel a bit like the ant on that motherboard from that one post about Lovecraftian/eldritch madness lmao
I feel like people really underestimate the importance of Dick being the first Robin. Like, reverse Robin AUs are interesting and such, but I just hope people realize that in the context of canon, they would never work. The reason Batman and Robin ever works is because the first Robin was Dick Grayson specifically. Because Bruce would never have taken in any child if Dick's tragedy hadn't specifically happened to mirror his own experience. Dick Grayson was the only one Bruce truly saw himself in first, because the fundamental event that defines them is the same. And he sees the opportunity to help someone the way he was never helped, to make sure that Dick didn't go down the dark path he did. So, my point here is that the only one Bruce actually made the choice to take in, the only one who could kickstart it all, is Dick Grayson, because he is the only one with whom Bruce could immediately empathize and connect with.
This never happened with any other Robin. He took in Jason because he missed Dick, he took in Tim because Tim forced himself into the role, he took in Steph because he was trying to make Tim come back to being Robin, and Dick made Damian Robin. Of course, he loved all of them, and they all have their unique relationships with Bruce that are very important and inform their characters, and he does need them too. But he specifically formed this connection with Dick that made Dick the only person he ever considered taking in. It took a very specific set of circumstances in Dick's backstory that made Bruce commit an impulse adoption that just isn't really present in any other Robin's story. And the reason Jason or Tim or Steph or Damian or anyone else whom Bruce has taken under his wing even got that chance is because of the work Dick Grayson put into Bruce Wayne.
Before Dick, Bruce was reckless and didn't care at all about himself, to the point of almost being borderline suicidal. He was more brutal, more violent, etc. The reason all this changed, is because of Dick Grayson specifically. He was the one with whom Bruce opened up, with whom Bruce was forced to grow up, to take responsibility and learn to take care of both Dick and himself. Dick, to Bruce was the one who brought "color to their [his and Alfred's] monochrome lives." Dick Grayson's specific brand of happiness and joy changed Bruce for the better. Dick gave Bruce hope. This is true for other Robins too, but only because they followed the precedent that Dick Grayson set, only because they slid into his role (they have their own interesting relationships with Bruce, but this specifically is from Dick that other Robins carried on. A legacy, if you will). Dick Grayson turned Bruce into the kind of man who would become a serial adopter.
Without his influence, without his precedent, there would be no Batfamily, because Bruce would never have gotten to the point where he would be able or willing to take in someone else and care for them properly (It took living through his trauma again to get him to take Dick in lmao). Hell, there would be no Batman because Bruce would have gotten himself killed a long time ago if Dick hadn't helped him learn self-care. Dick knows Bruce best, because he understands him on a fundamentally deeper level than anyone else in the world. And he's the only one who can make Bruce open up at his rawest, most downtrodden state. He is the only one who can give Bruce at his lowest that kind of hope. There is no Robin without Dick Grayson. It's literally a tribute to his parents, using their colors and the name his mother called him. He created that identity as a symbol of hope. He helped Bruce become the kind of man who could and would let other people that he had to care for into his life. Without Dick Grayson, you can simply forget about any other Robin or the Batfamily as a concept even existing.
warmup drawing i like enough to put here- a complete redesign of one of my ocs, skaldi. she's got an entirely different look and story now.. gonna play her as a resist durge in bg3 ^w^
SEASON THREE — Don’t you see, Mulder? You’re doing their work for them. You’re chasing aliens that aren’t there, helping them to create a story to cover the shameful truth. And what they can’t cover, they apologize for. Apology has become policy.
Ok I've processed the 2.1 questline and in regards to aventurine's status, I'm confident that he's alive. I thought so while playing but had doubts.
Acheron explicitly said that his gamble isn't over, and even went so far as to sever the harmony from him. So his death sentence has been lifted.
He was also the main character of this patch in a way. Whenever we were in his pov we saw glimpes of his past giving context to his actions now and we even got to see conversations between himself that revealed his real self. At every turn we're told that he's going to die, whether by the harmony or his own machinations. His backstory peppered in even gives him death flags.
But his death is entirely expected. By us, by sunday, by sparkle, by himself. He follows the path of preservation, he's been invited by the path of elation, and by the end of his quest he's ended up on the path of nihility. A fool who wants to protect what he loves but all who he loves are gone, making it meaningless.
Acheron obliges his wish and unsheathes her sword. She is the emanator of nihility but will not allow him his end. Throughout this quest as we see more and more of aventurine we see how careless he is with his life and as his mask gets ripped off again and again it's apparent how little he regards his life and his suicidal ideation comes to the forefront. He doesn't care how this will pan out, he wants to go home and his home is where his family is.
Acheron apologizes that this void wasn't what he was expecting or where he wanted to go. She uses the power of nihility to save him from the harmony, an inversion of expectations. She denies his suicide by cop, tells him he's not done yet, and wishes him luck.
Aventurine even apologizes to his younger self saying it's not time for him to reunite with his family, some day but not yet.
Thematically, acheron talked him away from the ledge and encouraged him to live. She's giving him another chance. And he's taking it.
Where he is right now is probably outside the domain of the dreamscape where presumably robin and firefly have been. We probably won't see him for awhile as he treks through and finds a way to escape. But I am confident he'll find his way back.
We all love tattoo artist Eddie, but consider tattoo artist Steve.
He has an American Robin perched on a trumpet on his bicep for Robin. He gave her a brightly colored ice cream cone on her shoulder in different shades of pink. She rambled about cultural tattoos and the history of tattoos in America when she wasn’t bitching at him (‘Ow! For the love of all that is holy, Dingus!’ ‘Do you need a break?’) the whole time he was doing it.
He finds one of the kids (Max) attempting a stick n poke and gathers them all around for a lecture on safety and cleanliness. He promises the kids he’ll tattoo them for free when they’re old enough.
He and Will have art sessions where they’ll pick a subject and draw it traditionally and then Steve gives him pointers on how he would make the design better for tattooing. Will ends up apprenticing with Steve when he turns 18.
Steve still wears blue jeans and polos. His work is good enough that his customers don’t give a shit how he dresses.
He’s compassionate about coverups. He knows what it’s like to have changed so much that who you once were doesn’t fit anymore.
He’s very versatile, switching between outlines, black and grey shading, subtle highlights, and bold coloring with ease. He can do cartoon work as well as he can do realistic plants, or big cats, or lettering (he checks the spelling five or more times. He’s never messed up, but it’s one of his biggest fears). He has a whole list of referrals from people who like how he does scales. He’s lost count of how many fish, dragons, and snakes he’s done. He’s comfortable with a lot of styles, but he doesn’t do portraits. When Will starts at the shop he excels at portraits. Steve’s happy he’s found his niche.
Steve’s at a tattoo expo to network and check out new techniques when he finds himself stopping to watch an artist doing a tattoo of a demon. The artist has long, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a grin like sunshine, and manages to make something grotesque and beautiful at the same time. Steve checks out the guy’s portfolio and sees a lot of fantasy stuff, dragons and wizards and a familiar looking set of dice, and he knows he has to go grab Will from the food court.
Dogstock are typical of what are often deemed the ‘evil’ races in many other fantasy works. They were created by some higher force to be slaves, they are carnivorous by nature, they resemble animals other than human in dentition and build. They growl and bite and walk behind.
The Uhasr (a dogstock culture) are descendants of such slave-infantry that was abandoned when the empire that used them to capture the steppes decided the land wasn’t so profitable after all, and more pressing matters drew their attention elsewhere. Like tools left spent on the ground, the unneeded, excess dogstock were left to survive on their own in Hochkiskuph. The native peoples, of course, did not welcome them any more, or see them any less as oppressors when the hand released the lead. To the Hochkiskuph peoples, the Uhasr are a predatory ghost, an echo that consumes them even in absentia. To the Uhasr, one human is much like another, differing in number and equipment, but never in essence. Uhasr are a species of wild animal with a human face. Humans are prey on two legs. Humans smoke and poison uncovered dens on principle, Uhasr abduct and consume men and women and children all the same.
A common trend I have noticed in media which aims to humanize monsters, is that it often relies on passivity. Humanity is contingent upon kindness. The monster that is A Person only so long as they are a harmless thing at heart, something which can be understood and befriended. Their violence is reluctant, their hearts noble. Grace is a concession to the dominated. Only the toothless beast, declawed and pinioned and caged, is one which has earned its personhood. The ontological enemy supersedes the ontological man.
truly i love all of you and i'm so grateful for all the support i get on my vanilla milkshake posts here because i've just seen the way people talk about vanilla milkshake and mysticao on twitter and its genuinely taken 50 years off my life. now i've been reminded as to why i should never join the crk fandom on twitter
Racism and misogynoir are so apparent in fandom, especially when it comes to shipping because why is it when a white male, sometimes female but I see it more with the former, character is on screen with a love interest, particularly woc, especially if they're black, and even with all the emotional scenes or just moments where they look at one another in ways different from the rest, it's met with "No, they aren't dating/the show is not going to put them together" but let the other love interest be white as well and suddenly it all makes sense? Heck, the examples I mentioned above don't even have to exist between the latter for some to STILL go and believe this rhetoric (eg. some Jace and Helaena shippers because, even if these two only interacted with a dance but yet we see Baela console Jace, after he seeks her out, apparently it's to far fetched to believe that Jacela could be a thing?!)
Sometimes it could be a headcanon that, largely, would make sense (and oftentimes was birth due to lack of respect that the poc characters could have been given by the writers *cough* TVD *cough*), and yet you'd still have people dismissing it left and right and spewing hate. At a HEADCANON! And I'm not saying that just because the other person in the ship is poc that you have to ship them, I'm not, but it's very apparent to many poc fans in fandom that unless the characters are swapping spit and doing the nasty, the possibility of them being viewed in any romantic lens feels too much of stretch even though their white counterparts don't have to jump through the same loops.
rip lucy and mina you would’ve loved farcille. rip marcille you would’ve loved westenray (falin lost interest and fell asleep before finishing the book)