#everything is stressful and hurts.

[bluerosefox]

The Drakes

It's been years since the Bats had seen Red Robin much less Tim Drake-Wayne. It started with a rather dumb argument that after years of holding back his tongue and the stress of being a TEENAGE CEO that Tim finally ripped into them.

They were too stunned by the end of his speech, him also admitting that yes he has his own problems and mistakes but at least he's trying to make amends or get over himself unlike others. It was their prolonged silence that was the final straw for him it seemed though, because Tim finally announced he was done, he was done bleeding for those that kept him on the edge of the family and that he wanted to rest, and with that Tim turned and left the Batcave for the final time.

They of course didn't take Tim's retirement announcement seriously, after all Tim was the last person other than Bruce they all believed would ever leave the life of a vigilante and a hero behind, and they all knew Bruce would keep working on the 'mission' even as a frail old man. It took them a few weeks before one of them finally decided to go see Tim and try to... talk about everything he said.

Only when they reached Tim's Nest, they discovered it was empty and he was no where to be found did they realize he was serious. It was a quick call to Wayne Enterprises to see if he was in and Tam no doubt holding back her sharp response to them that she told them that Tim had stepped down from CEO weeks ago and hasn't been heard from since. The one who went to see Tim immediately called the others, which sent many of them onto goose chase of false leads, arguments, and pointing blame.

Despite looking for their long lost Red Robin, he was good at hiding his tracks and any who might have an idea where he could be weren't talking.

So yeah it's been a while since the Bats had heard any news relating to their lost bird.

So imagine their surprise when Ra's latest attempt to upset the balance in their family again (did he want Damian to return as his heir? Take control over Gotham in the shadow? Upset Bruce? None of them honestly knew what his plan was anymore. Same old song and dance) and having captured them all that he brought up Tim to them. Or rather "shame the Detective is going to be late, but I'm sure his little family shall inform of things once he gets here."

None of them were expecting for Ra's to look away from them and with a snap of his fingers, three assassins brought forth into the room two others. One was being dragged by two assassins, black hair, pale skin, and lean swimmers build of a body. He looked roughly around the age Tim would be. He was placed on the floor right by Ra's boots, arms and legs tied up, clearly but alarmingly breathing low and slow from the raise and fall of their chest. He wore a simple T-shirt but had dark jacket that was covered in stars, NASA logos, and other galaxy themed patches all over it, his dark jeans also held some star patches but also held everyday stains from being outside in the grass and other normal day to day thing. All in all this person seems like a normal civilian individual and none of the Bats knew why Ra's had taken him.

The other assassin that had walked into the room was holding a toddler, a girl from the little pigtails on her messy head indicated. Her hair was just as dark as the passed out male by Ra's and her skin was shade healthier than him. She wore grass stained and messy paints caked overalls with a plan shirt under it and two different kinds of kids shoes (one was a green with dinosaurs and the other blue with little stars). She, unlike the young man on the floor, was awake and was looking around the room while sucking her thumb in clear distress, she also used her free hand that wasn't in her mouth to push the assassin holding onto her away from her as far as she could and was squirming her tiny legs enough to kick their sides. Thankfully the assassin didn't look too hostile or upset meaning she wasn't doing to much damage or being too annoying.

"What a lovely family the Timothy has gained for himself don't you think? I will admit Daniel put up a rather interesting fight, it was only due to us having the element of surprise that we managed to take him down and his little Eleanor has his fighting spirit it seems." Ra's said as he slowly reached over to the toddler to lightly fiddle (just to unnerve them as well) with her hair. However the moment he touched her hair, the little girl's eyes flashed from frosty blue to neon bright green and she had spat her thumb out of her mouth in order to hiss like a cat at him, her little feet kicking hard enough to cause a small 'oomph' from the one holding her.

Ra's gave an amused chuckle as he stared at the toddler in fascination before also casting his gaze down at the passed out young man, remembering the way his eyes also had flashed from blue to green and the amount of power he had saw bubble to the surface when they had ambushed the two in their home. As Ra's said before, if they hadn't had the element of surprise on their side when they went after Timothy's little family it wouldn't had worked. No doubt little Eleanor Drake was a hint of power Daniel Drake held.

Ra's turned to look at the Bats, and could clearly see the emotions on their faces which amused Ra's deeply, and couldn't help but say "Although I wasn't expecting him to marry a being with pure Lazarus blood flowing in their veins. Quite a interesting discovery that was. And that his offspring seemed to carry it also from birth. What lovely and priceless boons he has granted the League to have once he joins us."

Ra's could clearly see the questioning, fear (for the family in his clutches), confusion, and disbelief on the Bats faces and knew it would be so entertaining to watch the little.. family reunion he had set into motion.

He was so amused watching Batman the others he never noticed the light twitch on Daniel's face or the shifting breathing pattern. When he would later check to see of the large amount of tranquilizers they had given Daniel was still in-effect he was none the wiser that it had already wore off and that Danny was merely bidding his time for a opening.

[lizardpersonyknow]

Tim, attempting to defend his kill count: Look it was a high stress situation ok! And I was stuck in fight or flight mode! Y'know, the instincts of every human?

Duke: you are trying to tell me that you were so stressed you reverted to your basic instincts

Tim: yes!!

Damian, reluctantly approving: and your instincts are mass murder?

(Dick, in background: yeah that's Tim)

Tim: noooo... It was make things go boom?

Jason, nodding sagely: I get that too, in fact I was under very high stress when I...

Bruce, almost frantic: when you helped people. Because you are. Supposed. To. help. People.

[deoidesign]

My comic is so pretty...

The hiatus is letting me take a little extra time on these episodes, and I'm definitely putting it to good use!!!

[foldingfittedsheets]

The rough day worsens. My beloveds car is fully dead. Just sank a considerable amount into new brakes but the engine is gone.

So now we need to figure out a new car in a very quick turnaround because their commute is no joke.

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

I think the worst thing about Stolas is that he's an absolute picture perfect victim in nearly every situation he's in.

He's endearingly, and relatably sad and insecure. He articulates his feelings and sets "boundaries". He admits that ".... GASP I'd be a monster if I let this relationship go on." He's in a loveless marriage and struggles with selfworth because of the abuse he faced as a child.

Everything about him makes all his behavior have this air of plausible deniability and excuses at the ready for any possible criticism.

Stolas is outright abusive and neglectful of his daughter, repeating the cycle, and regularly prioritizing sex over her mental health? No! He said he was sorry, :(((. His neglect is actually Stella's fault because she's such a BITCH that he can't focus long enough to notice that his kid is suffering.

Stolas has a emotionally and sexually coercive relationship with someone who he knows can't leave/break up with him because they literally need him to provide for his family and not die from poverty? Nooooo! He's insecure!! He just wants to be loved/desired and wasn't thinking clearly. He didn't notice all the blatant signs that Blitz wasn't comfortable with their relationship because....... Reasons!!

Stolas is classist, openly racist and demeans Blitz publicly and completely refusing to stand up for this relationship that he "cares" so much about? Nnnnnnnnnoooo, again! Insecure and sadboi. He was just embarrassed because he doesn't want people to rightfully judge and look down on him for abandoning his family to fuck some guy he just met. Thats not his fault!!! He even tried to emotionally manipulate Blitz into forgiving him by romantically leading him on after basically admiting that he doesn't respect or even actually like Blitz that much!!!!!!

Really, Blitz is the asshole there. I mean, what kind of a self hating idiot do you have to be to NOT immediately forgive the guy who thinks your nothing but a sex toy and when faced with the idea that your relationship is more then that, he acts like your disgusting and he's ashamed of you. Like, wow. He offered to hang out? Is that not fucking enough for you?

Meanwhile, Blitz just isn't really given the same grace. He's an idiot, he's an asshole for not talking about his feelings properly. He reacts badly to being accosted emotionally, and is blamed for not listening to his abuser's placating. Stolas is fair to be upset and want to be wanted after coming from a society where he means nothing outside of his ability to have children. But Blitz was fucking SOLD as a child. Considering how Fizz is also being sex trafficked by Mamm, and how "popular" he was as a kid, I can't imagine Blitz faired much better. Blitz was seen as worthless, only of use if someone bought him and forced him to do labor. All of which are things that heavily impact his relationship with Stolas. He isn't insecure when he's panicking over Stolas' offer, he's having a trauma response to the idea that he isn't doing his job as a body and product. Blitz has so much being held over his head. His daughter's future, his employees and found family, I hate that Stolas' stupid fucking emotional state is also something he has to handle.

All it takes for everyone to be on Stolas side, or to think Blitz needs to be more responsible to their relationship(the cheating accusations are fucking throwing me for a loop)is just some Therapy Speak and SadBoi Songs about how you're upset you got too emotionally attached to a guy you were assaulting.

Because Blitz is messy, and mean, because he's Fight and not Fawn, he's treated as the bad guy in this situation.

I think this problem comes up a lot in stories about mutually unhealthy relationships. I think about Spuffy a lot, where Buffy explicitly lead Spike on for literal YEARS, taking advantage of his feelings so she could feel good about herself and use him as a tool. And when Spike finally snaps(in an extremely out of character way btw)in Seeing Red, its framed like Buffy getting raped is her rightful punishment for being a tease. We don't address the ways she abused him until she's been punished, and we can use her abusive behavior to excuse and rationalize Spike's assault. Its no longer a conversation about unhealthy relationships and now is about how The Bitch needs to comfort and tell The Rapist that it wasn't his fault, it was hers!!!!! he's sowwy :(!!!

Similar problem with Stolitz I think. Blitz is shitty, he is mean and can be hurtful and manipulative. But we're only talking about it within the context of how Stolas needs to be coddled after being called out for his abuse. We could've handled this better. Considering the obvious care and EXTREME caution ValAngel got, I don't see why we couldn't have done that here. I don't understand why Angel gets special treatment and every other character thats sexually and/or emotionally abused gets treated as either a joke or just not given the same effort. They clearly can do it!! Because they literally did!!!!!! I love Angie and Fizz, but like man, we don't got the energy for anyone else, huh?

[en-chi-la-da]

I know it’s not a popular ship…

But Kurumi x Yuma with 1-C.

I wanna see her snuggle that tiny crush of hers xD

a comforting snuggle of sorts

[moeblob]

I am really tired of a situation rn.

[itsalwaysforyou]

just remembered a wip i had which was jay at uni meeting normal people and desperately trying to act cool and normal whilst internally screaming about being in a whole new place with all new people and not having his gang with him

[iknowwhereyousleepatnight]

i hate doing laundry ough it's The Worst

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

So was anyone going to tell me Faust is a bigger menace than EVERYONE in the game put together or like. Was I supposed to play the Impossible Choices event (Vincent and Charles ver) myself. I LOVE that he's the definition of: 'being smarter doesn't make me more mature or helpful, it just makes my inherent lust for chaos/entropy all the more unstoppable' This shit FUCKS

I think this is the first time I've ever seen a character make Shakespeare's life a living hell and the latter didn't expect/see it coming, that was AMAZING. Mf was out here like "What the hell??? You lot don't make me suffer I make YOU suffer. Let a man obsess IN PRIVACY" and then nobody cared. Peak comedic interaction, no notes everyone pack it up

[time-is-restored]

btw not to make everything about My Fucking Guy but i honestly think one of the things that seperates q!phil out from the other islanders is the approach he takes to dealing with the lack of agency + control all the islanders have over whatever the fuck the federation's doing.

it shows up most prominently whenever tubbo is excitedly telling him about the 'progress' he's made with cucurucho or various investigations (ie: trapping him into a corner with the 'do you have free will' questions), and phil always shoots it down w an immediate 'that doesn't mean anything. curucuho will say anything to mess with you. you can't take anything he says as true.'

and it's not that phil is... a paticularly pessimistic character? he's just EXTREMELY practical. like, he's yet to give up on anyone EVER finding ANY answers (he was the one who initially gave the federation that one week ultimatum w the cage for a cage stream), he just doesn't trust the idea that curucuho is ever going to voluntarily give them. they're uncontrollable + senseless - you might as well argue with the weather.

and like, if that's how he sees the one (1) and only point of contact the islanders HAD with the federation for months, it explains a lot abt his characters lifestyle! ofc he sits on the wall all day, talking to his kids, and keeping his head down. he believes that the federation wants nothing more than to drag the islanders into sick games + tasks just so they can fuck with their head (ie: curucuho revealing he was the one cellbit gathered all that information for). and while he can't totally PREVENT any of that from ever impacting him, he can make sure his kids are well fed, well protected, and as happy + comfortable as he can manage. this is objectively not a perfect situation, there is a guaranteed amount of suffering + fear that he can't mitigate, but he can at least account for it.

like, he REFUSES to engage. whenever curucho shows up, he treats them with total ambivalence. he's not going to get riled up by anything they do, he's not going to get super attached to the guy, he's just gonna laugh it off and irish goodbye it when things drag on. the ONLY time he's strayed from that general guiding principle has been since he's lost his eggs, and can no longer afford to let the federation's fuckery go: those are his fucking kids.

hence the completely unprecedented levels of outward rage and sadness and terror he shows throughout the birdcage streams - almost all directed directly to cucurucho. it's all a completely fair + proportional response to the horror the islanders are being subjected to, but it feels so different bc until now, q!phil has been so dedicated to not reacting, and not giving the federation any sign that they're actually getting to him.

[3-aem]

me petting my cat at 3am after 0 indication that he is actually hurt: r u okay would u tell me if you were ever not okay

my cat probably: god she’s at it again

[sideblogdotjpeg]

i am not immune to launchpad sol and albin thoughts

[noscomnias]

"even though we may take different paths, i am... still his little sister."

[running-in-the-dark]

oh no. I did too much today, which means I walked or stood up all day. and we're going to a concert tomorrow.... I'm very worried that my feet won't like it 😭

[shalpilot]

messy stupid relationships chart