#Social distance

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Akiomi Kuroda (Tōkyō, born 1972) "Social Distance". Fine Art Photograph.

* * * *

“Man didn’t come into this world for nothing. Man is a very extraordinary achievement that required enormously long and difficult preparation. This achievement is not complete. It would be quite a considerable cosmic disaster if this experiment with man on this Earth should fail. And therefore, for this reason much is being done to prevent this experiment from failing. Not because man deserves to survive but because he is really needed. But also, you must understand however much we may criticise man, you have to realise I think how difficult it is to be a man. People don’t really grasp this. It is exceedingly hard to be in the true sense a true man, a human being.

We are given powers, creative powers, that are necessary but they are terribly dangerous and man has also got a freedom that is necessary but terribly dangerous. It is not right to have a hostile or negative attitude towards the human race. The higher powers do not have it and we shouldn’t either.

This . . .one should on the contrary have great compassion, great love for mankind. This struggling creature that is trying to fulfil an almost impossible destiny. We should not feel hostile. In spite of our arrogance, in spite of our selfishness, there is the struggle that is going on the world. Many, many people try to make something better of their lives. Unless we feel great compassion for mankind we can’t do our work in this world. Any kind of hostility, any kind of rejection of our fellow men is against the high purpose and we shouldn’t serve mankind with a feeling of superiority that we are better because we happen to see something or because we have a higher ideal.

It is not like that. We are not better. I am not better than any other man because I am a man and not something else and we are all in the same boat. That feeling that we are all in the same boat must be strong with us. Only in that way can we really have compassion.”

~ J. G. Bennett

[naughtyintrovertreads]

Lmao a funny way to say happy birthday

[deosilplanarglitches]

hm, interesting. these "allergies" i caught feel a whole lot like covid 🧿

[merulapondargyrodnoff]

from my twitter (MerulaPond): It's quite disturbing how many people think they're entitled to force their bodily fluids on others.

[zionistsinfilm]

When you stream or buy Weeds, Orange is the New Black, and Social Distance, you're giving money to zionists. Jenji Kohan is as racist and obsessed with whiteness as her TV shows.

[fckbatmanhiskidsareminenow]

batfam meets the JL but it’s just the bat kids breaking into the watch tower during a debriefing or meeting to ask bruce the most mundane questions. they go about it like they’re interns that need to speak to the CEO during a board meeting. they walk over waving their hands and mouthing “i’m so sorry just need to ask batman something 😬” and then they lean over to bruce and ask something like “alfred wants to know if you’re gonna be home for dinner” and then they dip.

one of them started this when bruce didn’t answer their texts (it was probably tim or something) and now everyone does it.

[alexei-home-fromthewar-at-last]

Alone on Valentine’s Day. 😣

Not because I don’t have a romantic partner (I don’t), but because I was exposed to COVID and started social distancing today.

[natugardener]

Mother Nature experimenting with COVID strains. Keep a distance away from any deer anywhere in the natural world.

[fallen-jpg]

continuing from this

the kids just rush him when he arrives and starts yelling for a photo of the elusive bruce wayne. he's so late and annoyed

[geezerwench]

[queerism1969]

[slushyseals]

Moments before disaster

When you have fibsh in your mouth and another fish is flying at you

[summerwages]

sky's the limit...

[starry-bi-sky]

i need to get this out of my head before i continue clone^2 but danny being the first batkid. Like, standard procedure stuff: his parents and sister die, danny ends up with Vlad Masters. He drags him along to stereotypical galas and stuff; Danny is not having a good time.

He ends up going to one of the Wayne Galas being hosted ever since elusive Bruce Wayne has returned to Gotham. Vlad is crowing about having this opportunity as he's been wanting to sink his claws into the company for a long while now. Danny is too busy grieving to care what he wants.

And like most Galas, once Vlad is done showing him off to the other socialites and the like, he disappears. Off to a dark corner, or to one of the many balconies; doesn't matter. There he runs into said star of the show, Bruce who is still young, has been Batman for at least a year at this point, but still getting used to all these damn people and socializing. He's stepped off to hide for a few minutes before stepping back into the shark tank.

And he runs into a kid with circles under his eyes and a dull gleam in them. Familiar, like looking into a mirror.

Danny tries to excuse himself, he hasn't stopped crying since his parents died and it's been months. He rubs his eyes and stands up, and stumbles over a half-hearted apology to Mister Wayne. Some of Vlad's etiquette lessons kicking in.

Bruce is awkward, but he softens. "That's alright, lad," he says, pulling up some of that Brucie Wayne confidence, "I was just coming out here to get some fresh air."

There's a little pressing; Bruce asks who he's here with, Danny says, voice quiet and grief-stricken, that he's with his godfather Vlad Masters. Bruce asks him if he knows where he is, and Danny tells him he does. Bruce offers to leave, Danny tells him to do whatever he wants.

It ends with Bruce staying, standing off to the side with Danny in silence. Neither of them say a word, and Danny eventually leaves first in that same silence.

Bruce looks into Vlad Masters after everything is over, his interest piqued. He finds news about him taking in Danny Fenton: he looks into Danny Fenton. He finds news articles about his parents' deaths, their occupations, everything he can get his hands on.

At the next gala, he sees Danny again. And he looks the same as ever: quiet like a ghost, just as pale, and full of grief. Bruce sits in silence with him again for nearly ten minutes before he strikes a conversation.

"Do you like to do anything?"

Nothing. Just silence.

Bruce isn't quite sure what to do: comfort is not his forte, and Danny doesn't know him. He's smart enough to know that. So he starts talking about other things; anything he can think of that Brucie Wayne might say, that also wasn't inappropriate for a kid to hear.

Danny says nothing the entire time, and is again the first to leave.

Bruce watches from a distance as he intercts with Vlad Masters; how Vlad Masters interacts with him. He doesn't like what he sees: Vlad Masters keeps a hand on Danny's shoulder like one would hold onto the collar of a dog. He parades him around like a trophy he won.

And there are moments, when someone gets too close or when someone tries to shake Danny's hand, of deep possessiveness that flints over Vlad Masters' eyes. Like a dragon guarding a horde.

He plays the act of doting godfather well: but Bruce knows a liar when he sees one. Like recognizes like.

Danny is dull-eyed and blank faced the entire time; he looks miserable.

So Bruce tries to host more parties; if only so that he can talk to Danny alone. Vlad seems all too happy to attend, toting Danny along like a ribbon, and on the dot every hour, Danny slips away to somewhere to hide. Bruce appears twenty minutes later.

"I was looking into your godfather's company," he says one night, trying to think of more things to say. Some nights all they do is sit in silence. "Some of my shareholders were thinking of partnering up--"

"Don't."

He stops. Danny hardly says a word to him, he doesn't even look at him -- he's sitting on the ground, his head in his knees. Like he's trying to hide from the world. But he's looking, blue eyes piercing up at Bruce.

Bruce tilts his head, practiced puppy-like. "Pardon?"

"Don't." Danny says, strongly. "Don't make any deals with Vlad."

It's the most words Danny's spoken to him, and there's a look in his eyes like a candle finding its spark. Something hard. Bruce presses further, "And why is that?"

The spark flutters, and flushes out. Danny blinks like he's coming out of a trance, and slumps back into himself. "Just don't."

Bruce stares at him, thoughtful, before looking away. "Alright. I won't."

And they fall back into silence.

Danny, when he leaves, turns to look at Bruce, "I mean it." He says; soft like he's telling a secret, "Don't make any deals with him. Don't be alone with him. Don't work with him."

He's scampered away before Bruce can question him further.

(He never planned on working with Vlad Masters and his company; he's done his research. He's seen the misfortune. But nothing ever leads back to him. There's no evidence of anything. But Danny knows something.)

At their next meeting, Danny starts the conversation. It's new, and it's welcomed. He says, cutting through their five minute quiet, that he likes stars. And he doesn't like that he can't see them in Gotham.

Bruce hums in interest, and Danny continues talking. It's as if floodgates had been opened, and as Bruce takes a sip of his wine, it tastes like victory.

("Tucker told me once--") ("Tucker?") ("Oh-- uh, one of my best friends. He's a tech geek. We haven't talked in a while.")

(Danny shut down in his grief -- his friends are worried, but can't reach him. When he goes back to the manor with Vlad, he fishes out his phone and sends them a message.)

(They are ecstatic to hear from him.)

It all culminates until one day, when Danny is leaving to go back inside, that Bruce speaks up. "You know," He says, leaning against the railing. "The manor has many rooms; plenty of space for a guest."

The implication there, hidden between the lines. And Danny is smart, he looks at Bruce with a sharp glean in his eyes, and he nods. "Good to know."

The next time they see each other, Danny has something in his hands. "Can you hold onto something for me?" He asks.

When Bruce agrees, Danny places a pearl into his palm. or, at least, it's something that looks like a pearl. Because it's cold to the touch; sinking into Bruce's white silk gloves with ease and shimmering like an opal. It moves a little as it settles into his hand, and the moves like its full of liquid.

Bruce has never seen anything like it before, but he does know this; it's not human. "What is it?" He asks, and Danny looks uncomfortable.

"I can't tell you that." He says, shifting on his foot like he's scared of someone seeing it. "But please be careful with it. Treat it like it's extremely fragile."

When Bruce gets home, he puts it in an empty ring box and hides the box in the cave. He tries researching into what it is. he can't find anything concrete.

Everything comes to a head one day when Danny appears at the manor's doorstep one evening, soaking wet in the rain, and bleeding from the side.

[cj-the-random-artist]

Hello, have some season 10 Impulse Gem and Pearl, for funsies

Enjoy :D

[taliabhattwrites]

An interesting dichotomy

I found these two replies right next to each other, under a tweet where a non-binary person was discussing their use of "AFAB" in a thread about how much scarier it is to be "homeless and AFAB"--due to the compounded risk of sexual violence, amidst other harms.

It's an interesting look into how despite vocal, performative opposition to "TERFs" and transphobia, when you really boil down people's beliefs--even queer people--most do believe that trans women's presumed anatomy spares us from the worst excesses of misogynistic violence, or exempts us entirely.

Meanwhile, if you bother to look at the leading causes of death among impoverished, precarious, homeless, usually non-white trans women, you might have a somewhat different idea of the supposedly magical ability of the "male apparatus" to spare individuals from sexual violence and brutalization.

Freedom from misogynistic violence is not, I fear, stored in the chromosomes.