#because my brain is dump sometimes

[eponastory]

I swear I'm gonna write something soon.

The fibromyalgia has got me down.

I'm sporadically working on 'In Need of A Coat' and Murder! You Wrote when the pain goes away, but with the cold fronts that keep coming through, it doesn't help.

Other than thar, I'm putting up my Best OC's for DMC OC Week.

I have them scheduled to post so I don't forget.

[ibrokeeverything]

hELP

The gay pirates have taken over my brain. Like, I was already super excited for season two before today, but ever since the trailer came out, I'm completely incapable of thinking about anything else.

So now I'm stuck listening to because the night and rotating the babygirls in my head like a microwave

[welcometogrouchland]

May I ask about your Jason Todd idea? <3

Hm, okay so. How to lay this out sensitively since I know it might be a tad controversial...

Prefacing by saying I'm not an expert on the minutias of Jason characterization. I like him when he appears, I think the battle for the cowl/Morrison era and some parts of modern era for him are Weird and Bad, but I'm not Jason scholar (for that I'd say maybe check out @/tumblingxelian and their great video essays), I'm just trying to think of what might be an interesting step forward for him.

First, the canon facts

Jason got lobotomized and has panic disorder on steroids. By the end of Gotham War (specifically when Jason was. Flying the batplane into the asteroid. God I can't believe that's the plot) he was finding it in himself to power through said panics

In Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #12, the joker gives Jason a "low dose" of joker venom, which has an ambiguous effect on Jason, allowing him to power through the fear (which joker explicitly states is still very much present, just not physically debilitating, like when Jason couldn't run over in either Catwoman #57 or #58, the one with the kid in the building) even though he'd been able to do that sans venom over in Gotham War, like I previously stated.

The effect of said joker venom seems to be lingering for now, minus the creepy grin side effect it gave Jason over in that man who stopped laughing issue, as seen in the latest batman issue (number is escaping me rn, #147??). He still has the stutter which is a shorthand for fear, he's drawn with fearful expressions by Jorge Jimenez, but he says that he's "working through it" thanks to the chemicals

This is both super interesting and kind of maddening as it doesn't completely remove the consequences of what happened in Gotham War, but is trying to sweep them under the rug and get back to business as usual. I, however, propose making said consequences front and center like a fashionable urn on a mantle piece:

Since it's never stated how exactly the joker venom works, and I think the current answer is "it works how the story needs it to" I've decided that because it's a low dose, it eventually wears off. And when it wears off, Jason's back to square one in terms of mental state. Ergo, if Jason doesn't want to live the rest of his life as quaking shivering husk of his former self...he's going to need more.

(read more for the meat of things)

So, Jason self medicates for a condition given to him by the father he has endlessly complicated feelings towards with a cure invented by a man who represents everything he hates in the world who once tried to take everything from him.

Which, insert poetic cinema gif here, I'm quite proud of myself for that one.

Anyway, there's a lot of directions you could take this. Personally I think it'd be interesting to explore Jason trying to get back into the drug trade like he did in UTRH (FULL TRANSPARENCY I HAVEN'T READ THE FULL COMIC, I KNOW BROADSTROKES BUT IM NOT GONNA TRY AND MAKE PARALLELS) as he tries to use the resources (production plants and other drug runners who can hook him up with samples of joker toxin/similar stuff you can probably find around Gotham) to manufacture his own cure that means never having to go back to the joker again. Maybe he ambushes a joker toxin chemical production plant to get his own supply, and then Jason uses this as his foothold back into that world.

This isn't necessarily me saying we should regress Jason alll the way back to UTRH, that was before his anti-hero era and I'm not willing to fully shoot him back into the past. I just think that's not how you tell good stories in a medium like comics. But it'd inherently be a little different just bc he's doing it for different, slightly more self motivated (depending on your take on villain Jason) reasons and the people around him would have a different reaction to it.

Anyway, all sorts of problems can arise! Depending on how you wanna characterize Jason (wayward son who longs to be back in the fold or black sheep who doesn't play by daddy's rules, etc) he can either a) try and hide this criminal enterprise from his giant family full of nosy detectives (good idea there jay) OR do it out in the open, trying to justify himself but still putting himself on the opposite side of the family again (not the law bc that boy hasn't been on the 'right' side of it since he died)

There's also the fact that Jason now needs to take something 24/7 in order to live his life. He essentially can't be without it, he's dependent on it, in fact he'd get sick without it despite any adverse effects it may have on him (which are guaranteed, I mean. No clinical trials)

I imagine it'd be easy to become addicted to it in some way.

And uh. This is the part where it works slightly better as a fanfic pitch than an actual comic pitch. Because as much as I think it'd be such an interesting beat for Jason's character considering his fraught history with addiction and drugs (looks away from that one urban legends story where he suggests terrorising addicts to get to the suppliers and bruce lectures him. The easiest way to make Mr "we don't sell drugs to children" sympathetic and you beefed it)

I also fully recognise that this is a sensitive topic that DC doesn't have the best track record with (although addicts aren't a monolith and feel a number of ways about addictions portrayals in comics) and that there's probably some pitfalls inherent in the premise, namely bc of Jason's background as an impoverished kid and his grey morality, and how those play into stereotypes of addicts. Addiction is already such a misunderstood and stigmatized condition that I imagine playing with it with an antihero might be enough to turn some people off. Addiction is not a moral failing and I'd hate to write it as a moral failing of Jason akin to his willingness to kill, etc.

But with all that said, I think that stereotypes are primarily harmful because of their shallowness. They inhibit understanding of groups labeled "other" by presenting them in simplistic ways that don't portray richness or complexity. And I think a truly good red hood comic could give both sympathy and complexity to Jason, even as an addict. If anything, Jason is a popular character (mostly) and there could be something nice about seeing a main character go through what you're going through, gritty details and all. YMMV (can we bring that back btw?) and it depends on execution. There's a lot of ways it could go wrong, but seeing as it just lives as a hypothetical rn, I think there's also a lot of ways it could go. I mean, not right, it's a downer story beat for Jason but it's mostly meant to be interesting and a vehicle for more stories as Jason navigates it, ya know?

Anyway, I have a lot of spiels littered in my notes app and discord DMs that elaborate on all this (how this could work as act 1 in a broader Jason story where his little operation goes to shit and he has to hit the road (jack) and maybe do some character development for better or worse. I'm a sucker and wanna say better- not squeaky clean better but. Yknow, finding himself to an extent. I recognise I'm a sap and a fool tho. Or how a new outlaws team could factor into either of those eras (since I do like Jason with an outlaws team. It gives him an excuse to exercise his compelling relationships and dynamics with other characters without having to constantly tip-toe around the elephant in the room whenever he's with the batfamily all the time. He just needs a good lineup) but that's all for another time

... though without elaborating on the vision in my head it kind of just sounds like my pitch is "Jason gets addicted to his hyper-anxiety medication" BUT I SWEAR ITS MORE THAN THAT.

It's like. If Jason has struggled as a character (and this is very subjective on my part so feel free to disagree) because he has compelling relationships with all of the batfamily, but also has compelling grey morality that makes it hard to capitalize on those relationships, without the conflict always coming to "Jason stop killing!" "Nuh uh!" OR just being ignored, and the main way writers have addressed this is via reboots instead of arcs...

Then giving Jason and the bats:

real, legitimate and fresh reason for jay to be mad at Bruce (taking their relationship of love with very little understanding to it's most dramatic conclusion)

give the family a real reason to want to bring him back into the fold (feel bad about the lobotomy and it would be pretty immoral to let Jason waste away slowly and painfully because of something Bruce did)

capitalize on all the ways Jason is sympathetic (bc the addiction is a natural lead into his backstory, which is one of his most sympathetic elements)

And the ways in which he's very out of step with the bats post-resurrection (I'd be mad asf too if i came back to life just for my dad to a) not avenge me and b) LOBOTOMIZE ME meanwhile the cunt ass clown giving me my meds is just lurking out there).

Idk it's not a sophisticated pitch as of this moment but I think a real chef (writer) could cook something w/ this

[oupycoded]

AT THIS POINT I NEED TO MAKE A PRIVATE TWITTER TO VENT OR SOMETHING??? because i don't think journaling can fix this, gang

[sun-roach]

Permission to infodump?

We get earthquakes in Finland because the icecap during the last ice age 11000 years ago pressed the ground down so much that it's still coming up today (that's called tectonic uplift). They're not too strong, usually under 3 of magnitude, but since we don't get them too much they're always a bit harrowing to experience (I've felt 3 so far as I grew up in a place were there is more of the uplift). We also get more ground as the uplift goes on, and at some point the Baltic Sea will just turn into a lake.

Also everything geographic here has something to do with the last ice age. E v e r y t h i n g. The physical studies courses at the start of my bachelors were 90% just about the ice age lmao.

I always give permission to info dump. Like pls do whenever you want or get the urge to do so 🧡

This sounds kinda scary tbh. Hope those lil earthquakes stay little.

But also I dunno why I expected Finnland to be earthquake safe jfjjdkdnsn guess I was very wrong😂

But it’s interesting that everything geographic there is ice age related. But then again it makes sense that it still effects everything.

May I ask what exactly you study?

The only geography lessons I had was back in school and tbh I remember almost nothing😂😅

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

the way russ explains things, i swear

this is another way he reminds me so much of bruce dickinson sometimes, they both have that thing where they can explain things in a way that literally anybody could understand it

bruce with planes for example, when i hear him talk about them, he makes me feel like i've been a plane mechanic for 60 years despite knowing nothing about planes besides what he's saying(and i have not been alive for 60 years)

russ is the same, not about planes, but just the way he words things. things about life and his perspective on things. they're both so smart in similar ways and they both have that same drive in doing what they want to do. they both have an amazing outlook on life. the love for music. the love for the fans. just beautiful people all around.

[whiskeyswifty]

.

[outpost51]

Okay actually it turns out I wasn't done thinking about Cheryl's bracelet, and in fact I would like to borrow that idea?

Maybe shifters in Nicea have a bracelet or bracelet equivalent so that non-shifters can identify their loved ones during That Time, especially on shifter-heavy planets. But most importantly Spinder's older adopted brother Pat, the one married to the shifter heiress? He has a kid from his previous marriage who I feel like has to have made a craft bracelet for his stepmom for identification purposes. And she's like kind of a big deal businesswoman and also looks like a 1930s film star but she never takes off this cute janky bracelet made by a five-year-old.

I rest my case. - @void-botanist

Hi oh my god I’m so [explodes into hearts] ANYWAY Cheryl’s bracelet is like. One of my Favorite Tiny Details and I’m so??? Honored??? I love the idea of someone who changes form still keeping Something Distinct that identifies them as Them and I may or may not be crying about Fancy Lady Who Loves Her Stepkid So Much She Wears His Gift All The Time Even If It Clashes With Her Outfit.

Because it’s not just the identity aspect of it — it’s such a small detail that speaks VOLUMES about their relationship, especially as The Stepmom isn’t always the most accommodating of Someone Else’s Offspring. Dillon calls her mom Cheryl post-divorce, and Cheryl doesn’t love her any less for it, and she still wears the dinky little bracelet her baby dilly pickle made the year she begged and begged to go to summer camp ‘like the kids on tv’ and ended up writing home so many letters with the voice of a soldier sent off to The Great War about how she just missed her mom and Daisy (but that she would be brave and valiant and stick it out, because the Monroe girls don’t back down from a challenge) and returned home with Many Gifts (things she made at craft time) from her Expedition (two hours away).

Anyway, the Court rules in favor of the Petitioner in the amount of Supports This Idea So Much dollars and Please Send Me The Link When You Write It cents, case adjourned.

[cannibalkissies]

staring at the wall rn

[citnamora]

Hello! I'm back. Literally couldn't stay away for more than a day <3

[abyssalhuntersnerd]

Tfw your teacher tells you that you need to pick a simple logo design before Friday to make handmade stamps out of it and you immediately think to yourself: I am so doing the Abyssal Hunters Logo. You can't stop me.

[hinaichi]

A vent or maybe I am close to having midlife crisis?? Idk 🤷‍♀️

I am 29 soon to be 30 and as the years go by life seems less colorful? When I was a kid I loved this time of year. It felt like the world magically changed. My parents argued less, my family got along, the apartment was beautiful, the city was beautiful, I had friends to spend time with, and everything felt like a giant hallmark movie without the cheesy romance. People felt genuinely happier but as the years go by that magic feels like it’s dying. No one wants to celebrate and be together. Everyone is easily angered or jaded. Which I get with how the world is but man…

My dad said something yesterday that really upset me. He said let’s not do anything for Christmas because it’s just a normal day, for the record he was always like that he had a terrible childhood.. He said that we shouldn’t bother doing anything or getting together. I cut him off because in part I know it had a lot to do with the recent deaths and extremely sick family members. But I believe that with even more reason we need to spend time together. Even if the meals aren’t as elaborate or extremely cheerful music is playing or mountains of gifts are exchanged. But we honestly don’t know if we will live to see another Christmas or heck even another day. With how the world is at the moment we really don’t know. That’s why we need to cherish these moments and not let that magic and warmth die completely.

I never had seasonal depression but I think as I age it’s either developing or growing idk. I need a therapist or something because this is such a miserable feeling. I earnestly hope and pray next year it doesn’t feel like this.

[aggressive-almond-cookie]

We’ll see how this goes I guess.

[girlscience]

i like to say that i am over everything i was taught as a child and other times i realize i have been having periodic breakdowns about sexual dimorphism since i was 10 and whatever caused that is very much still alive and well in the recesses of my mind

[grrrlsoverdramas]

I thought if I waited to start Vice Versa I could look at the tags to better understand how the heck the plot works but I looked through and I’m more confused lmao...

[aced0g]

small vent :/