#in fact we are getting shorter

[saiwestfield]

Guys like a month ago I dissociated for the first time in so many years and man

What an experience

Wow the fact that the human mind can just do that that’s kinda crazy

So cool (I was trembling)

[muirmarie]

jim being canonically the shortest one of the triumvirate is genuinely so important to me lmao, like yesssssss, let that beefy babe be shorter than both his boyfriends!!!!

[necrotic-nephilim]

@sasheneskywalker i love when you enable me to ramble about things because oh my god do i have thoughts.

so recently, i made a post discussing the phenomena of DC x DP and DC x MLB crossovers and why they exist and part of that post was discussing how largely speaking, at least half, if not more of the Batfamily fandom doesn't read the comics. if they interact with canon DC material, it's adaptations that are their own sequestered universes and oftentimes not remotely comic accurate or seeking to be. the most obvious example is the Young Justice cartoon. i'm adding a cut to this post because it just got so long i'm so sorry.

a lot of times, when people are discussing the "why" of this oversaturation of fanon-only fandom, they blame Wayne Family Adventures. and i think, to a point, i agree WFA is responsible for a boom in this fandom. but as someone who's been in the fandom long before we had WFA, to me it's the other way around. WFA was DC's way of meeting the demand for this easy-to-get-into, easy-to-consume content about the Batfamily that predicates itself on the comics just enough to be vaguely the same characters, but has a more sitcom, slice-of-life sort of vibe so DC could profit off of this section of the fanbase that otherwise wasn't consuming its primary material. and well, it's definitely worked. not only that, but i have a weird theory that the decline in the MCU also led to the rise in the Batfamily fandom. when you consider the fan content that made the MCU popular within fandom, it's that 2012 "they all live in Avengers Tower and Thor is eating poptarts and Clint is in the vents and there are movie nights every Friday" sort of vibe. those were the fics that were a hallmark of the fandom. and as the MCU has strayed from well... quality content in general, but specifically well-thought-out crossover content where characters can have their own arcs but also exist in a wider story where they clearly care about each other, that fandom was sort of homeless. so where do you go, if you like a superhero found family where you can have villains for angst but also stick them all in one big family-like home for silly crack and have a plethora of options for gay ships? well. you go to the Batfamily. if you write a crack/fluff Batfamily genfic with silly vibes and low stakes instead of say, a fic about a very specific comic issue even if it's a popular comic, you're *going* to get more traction for the former. because the fanbase largely just isn't reading the comics.

and i feel... complicated about this. because on one hand, Don't Like Don't Read has been a tenet of my fandom experience. i'm very pro-fandom and that includes fandom content i don't like. and to an extent, i do think this sort of should apply to Batfamily fanon. i enjoy having my moments with other comic purists, giggling over exceptionally painful OOC headcanons or even facepalming in pain over some content but it is on me to not interact with that content. you don't make fandom a better place by being hostile to fans who engage with canon in ways you don't approve of. and frankly? we as comic readers are not going to get non-comic fans to read the comics by being asshats to them. no one is going to want to pick up any comic if we get a superiority complex about it. and also, i feel like we're all lying to ourselves a little bit insisting comics are so, so easy to get into. they're not. we can just all agree, they're really not. i've been single-handedly helping my sister get into comics, specifically Wonder Woman and no matter how simple i make it, i watch her get frustrated trying to understand what pre-Crisis and post-Crisis and New-52 and Flashpoint and all these things mean and what a retcon vs a reboot is and what a Crisis Event is and what the hell Diana's current backstory even *is*. sure, you can give someone a beginner list of comics to start with and slowly dip their toes in the water but sooner or later, *something* is going to confuse them. comics as a medium straight up aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea. and if someone *just* wants to read silly fluffy fanfiction about the Batfamily, i can't entirely begrudge them for not wanting to take the hours and hours out of their day to understand this medium. it's not an accessible medium to get into. "read this and this, but this run is out of print and this run wasn't collected in trades at all but also make sure you read that event in order and this is a good comic but the backstory in it is retconned and you *have* to read this it's so important but it's also really bad because the author kind of sucks" sounds. ridiculous for someone who like. just wants to read some stuff about Nightwing. sometimes, we all make reading comics sort of sound like a chore, not a hobby.

so my point is, i do extend some grace to Batfamily fanon for existing. i think my biggest gripe is, as i said in my other post, misuse of tags (if you're not creating content about comics, maybe you don't need the comics fandom tag on Ao3, just the all media types umbrella tag) and my far bigger gripe: when panels are taken out of context to support fanon only headcanons. if i could impart *anything* onto the Batfamily fandom as a comic fan it'd be this: if you haven't *read* the comic, don't spread the panel. if you don't even know what comic it's *from*, don't spread the panel. it's fine to use comic panels to discuss your headcanons, but so often i see someone spreading a comic panel from a comic they haven't read, and when asked where it's from, they can't source it. a silly example that comes to mind is a post going around, taking a panel where Dick, in his internal monologue goes "here comes the sun. do do do do." and the post is claiming it's from him getting buried alive. when that panel comes from Nightwing (1996) #140, and he gets buried alive in Nightwing (1996) #127, two completely different moments frankensteined together. if you're going to not read the comics, that's completely fine, but unless you're sure of the source and the context, panels shouldn't be spread around. i'm sick of this specifically happening to Red Robin (2009), with ppl claiming Tim has totally killed people because he blew up some of Ra's' bases, when those panels within context, make it clear he gave everyone time to escape. and in a later arc in that very comic, Tim grapples with the idea of murdering Captain Boomerang, and *specifically chooses not to*, because he doesn't agree with murder, even against the person who has hurt him the most. if you'd like to write fanfiction where Tim is pro-murder and has done some sketch things, i'm totally on board and would probably like to read it. but there's no need to pretend it's canon from a few panels you saw out of context.

beyond that, i think it's not *entirely* correct to say that fanon is harmless. whenever i see very WFA-positive posts, they often default to the argument that WFA is fun and silly, and comic fans are killjoys for not liking it. which. i think is complicated because the issue is, WFA and fanon don't exist in a vacuum. if you like WFA power to you, i don't think it's the worst thing ever, but i do think it's degrading to these characters because honestly? they feel incompetent in the webtoon. it's one thing if WFA was solely a slice-of-life sort of deal, just having silly episodes where Bruce is taking on a PTA mom or they're all fighting for the last cookie. but when WFA attempts to take on more serious plots with these characters, it *fundamentally* falls flat in understanding them. i get it, Bruce comforting Jason having a panic attack because a noise reminded him of the crowbar felt cute in a microcosm, but i'm so serious when i say that storyline destroyed how like. half of this fandom understands Jason Todd's relationship to his trauma. it doesn't understand how he reacts when he's triggered, what coping mechanisms he seeks out, and how he would handle Bruce comforting him. even if i can believe for a brief moment Jason *would* be triggered by something like that, him running and trying to hide and then getting a hug from Bruce to make it okay is just. painful. WFA needs everything to be wrapped up in a nice, neat little bow. so even when it starts to tackle interesting concepts, it makes them fall flat with its need to be soft, low stakes, hurt/comfort. there was a two-parter episode that dealt with the complicated mutual hatred/jealousy between Tim and Damian that *almost* really interested me because for once, it felt like the webtoon wanted to explore canon messy dynamics. but of course, it had to be fixed with one conversation and a hug. you don't mend the *years* of issues these characters have like that. WFA isn't in character because these characters are hyperbole cartoonified versions of themselves to fit within the medium and be a cute happy family.

because that right there, is the crux of it. the Batfamily fanon seeks to simplify the Batfamily and force them into a nuclear family. there are so many fantastic posts on here discussing how the nuclear family-ification of the Batfam is eroding decades worth of complex histories so i won't go too far into that. but what i will say is that there's this need, in the Batfamily fandom, for the Batfamily to exist as a unit. they are a *family*. (honestly i think calling it the Batfamily is a misnomer and has been for years but we're in too deep now.) they exist to each other first, and any teams or friends they have come secondary to this family unit. you can *specifically* see this demonstrated in what headcanons are becoming popular these days. i have an entire lengthy meta in my drafts about how i *loathe* the "the Batfamily meets the Justice League" genre of fanfic because it makes no *sense*. in order to have this genre of fic exist, you must operate under the assumption that no one in the League, or adjacent to the League, knows the Batfamily exists and are thus utterly shocked to discover Batman has kids. and to make *that* work, you have to strip *every single Batfamily member* of such important dynamics and friendships so you can lock them all in Gotham for their whole lives. Dick can't have the Titans, Tim can't have Young Justice, Duke & Cass can't have the Outsiders, Jason can't have the Outlaws, Damian can't have the Supersons, Babs can't have the Birds of Prey, and so on. because if they had these relationships, they would be known to the League. the Batfamily fandom doesn't care about this, it's just "silly fanfiction", it's not trying to be serious. but how can you say you like Dick Grayson as a character if you don't understand the Titans *are* his family? at some points of his life, moreso than the Batfamily even is. it is constantly repeated to us in most comics with Dick how much the Titans mean to him. he *needs* them to be who he is. the same extends to every other Batfamily member, most of which have been full League members at this point. but in fanon, that doesn't matter. the Batfamily are a sequestered unit first, and all of those side relationships are secondary and easy to toss away, if it makes your fanfic work better.

and because they have to be a unit first, you have these forced relationships that dump years of actual canon material for the sake of making them get along. the Batfamily fandom has its favorites and well. it's no secret it's usually the boys. Jason and Tim by *far* stand out as fandom faves so, their dynamic is a heavily explored one. it does matter that in canon they don't tend to get along and especially don't see each other as family. what matters is that you can push dynamics onto them. and so fanon gets all twisted up about which Robin Tim actually idolized as a kid (Dick) and what member of the Batfamily is pro-murder but still an older sibling figure to him and looks out for him (Helena, or if you want the dynamic of once tried to harm Tim but they've reconciled, Jean-Paul) in favor of who's the most popular. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian are always going to be the standouts for popularity, but it's specifically Jason and Tim who are getting fanonized the most. and that's because really, we don't have much canon content of Tim that *isn't* the comics. for Dick you've got Young Justice (tv), for Damian you've got the DCAMU, for Jason you've sort of got the Under The Red Hood movie, but Tim sort of lingers in this limbo. (yes, he's in Young Justce (tv) and Titans (live action) but in neither is he the main character nor given much depth) so, he gets a *lot* projected onto him and has become fanonized. and even with Jason's animated movies, you don't see him interact with Tim, so people build it from the ground up how they want to see it, disregarding of canon comics. i think it's what makes him so popular in the first place- he's malleable into whatever you want or need him to be.

and of course, the fanon ignores other characters in the Batfamily it doesn't know about. i feel like you could create a tier list of Batfamily characters by their popularity, going from the fandom main characters: Tim, Jason, Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Damian. to the underrated: Steph, Duke, Babs, Cass. to the forgotten about unless they're convenient for a story: Kate, the Foxes, Helena Wayne, Carrie, Selina, Harper Row, Maps, Minhkhoa Khan. to the absolutely unknown: Helena Bertinelli, Jean-Paul Valley, Onyx Adams, the Clovers, Julia Pennyworth. it's not lost on me that the ignored characters tend to be women and people of color. which is both a canon and fanon problem, DC will continue adding interesting characters to the Batfamily, play with them for a few years, then drop them to default to the "Batboys" again. and it's a vicious cycle of the fandom only caring about the "Batboys", and thus people entering the fandom via fanon osmosis won't have content about the other characters, therefore, they won't be interested in those characters enough to create it, and it's just this ouroboros consuming itself, no matter how much canon content we have of these other characters. and it's ridiculous just how large the Batfamily is becoming because of this, which is why i'm a pre-Flashpoint fan, because then the Batfamily was contained enough to actually feel like a family with every character having nuances relationships with each other, but i digress because those thoughts could be their own post.

and the thing about fanon is it doesn't exist in a vacuum. DC has started turning the comics to accommodate for what fans are asking for, because fans will beg and beg for content they're not going to consume. Tim Drake: Robin had Tim as a coffee drinker because that's the fanon accepted headcanon. and the resolution of the recent Gotham War arc was for Bruce to buy this new manor for everyone to move in and call him. nevermind that most of these characters have their own homes and have zero reason to be moving in with Bruce. Tim had his marina in Tim Drake: Robin, Dick has Bludhaven, Cass and Steph have their little side of town in Batgirls (2022), and so on. these characters are being forced together as a unit, as one big happy family living together, to appease what non-comic fans want and it's damaging comic relationships. Robin: Knight Terrors saw Jason and Tim team up and working together, which i've seen varying opinions on but i personally despised. their interactions made zero sense for any of their canon history, but it appeases them being this close sibling relationship that fanon acts like they are. also the fears they faced in their respective knight terrors didn't make sense for either character and *only* worked as a moment of bringing them together so they could reassure each other and have this weird dreamscape bonding moment. the canon is bending itself to the will of fanon rather than building on the pre-existing complex relationships. Tim barely even gets along with his most important team in Dark Crisis: Young Justice because it seems the only important relationships the Batfamily can have is with each other. and when we do see them outside of the Batfamily, it only seems to be to relive the glory days like with World's Finest: Teen Titans, instead of developing them as they currently exist. this isn't recent in the comics, it feels like you can trace it back to the New-52, but it does feel a *lot* worse over the recent years. WFA is fine when it exists in its own bubble, but the simple truth is, DC content never exists on its own. the adaptations will reflect back onto the comics. (the damage the Young Justice cartoon has done to some characters should honestly be studied) and so it does frustrate me a bit when fanon-only or adaptation-only fans act like we're being nothing but killjoys for being frustrated with this. since they don't read the comics, they don't see how the comics are suffering as a result of this.

people argue about what's out of character for the comics they don't even read. i'm sorry, but "bad dad Bruce" is consistently canon. that man is just kind of shitty. when you take someone who has the drive he has, who has this need for the Mission first, who needs a teenager in spandex next to him to keep him off the ledge, that guy is sort of going to be a shitty father figure. he just is. not on purpose or with malice, but when you compare him to any other dad in a big DC family, he sure takes the cake. it's why characters like Oliver Queen tend to *really* fucking hate Bruce for how he treats his kids. Bruce loves fiercely, but he doesn't do well with putting that love first. and his love is a controlling one, he is very particular about controlling how others in the Batfamily are "allowed" to operate. it's what drives the wedge between him and Dick, it's why Steph is never a true daughter to him. (besides the reason of her needing to be a love interest to Tim first, anyway-) i've never understood the massive outcry of people reacting to Bruce kinda being shitty in comics they're not reading. there are some moments that get ridiculously OOC with how cartoonishly evil he is (the whole Gotham War arc and that... complicated mess with Jason) but largely if you want sitcom loving nuclear father Bruce, you have to accept that is a fanon thing, not a canon one. the Batfamily being a nuclear family in *general* is fanon. most of the "Batkids" don't actually see Bruce in a particularly fatherly light and begging for moments where he calls them his kids or they call him dad outside of incredibly specific circumstances is just OOC.

it's getting harder and harder to exist peacefully in this fandom it feels like, if you don't comply to the standard fanon has set. i'm happy people are having fun with their blorbos, even if in ways i dislike, but that "harmless fandom fun" does ripple it's way back to canon, eventually. so i end up pretty tangled with my feelings because are fans at fault for DC making these poor decisions? probably not, but it certainly feels like an unfortunate cause-and-effect situation whether at the end of the day, nobody is happy. and of course, i know some fanon-only fans are striving to be more canon accurate and care about canon dynamics more than others, but for them it's always going to be an uphill battle with the above-mentioned out-of-context panels thrown around and ever-pervasive fanon overtaking anything that's truly seeking to be canon compliant. so really, it sometimes feels like we're all losing.

[mamawasatesttube]

do you ever think about how kon got drugged to the point of inability to think clearly and then enslaved for Two Fucking Months and then we just never mentioned that again? that is, except for when he went back to visit and help out the guys who enslaved and drugged him because he was lonely enough to befriend them after they said oh sowwy we didn't know you were a person uwu. i think about this a normal amount

[aromanticbastards]

the process of getting therapy that my insurance pays for is stupid enough that i want to kill every single fucking person involved in designing this process

(suicide mention tw for the tags i didn't get to put that as the first tag so now it's here)

[artetass]

[drygrasses]

Went to a therapist today for the first time in a few years! They’re nonbinary and a year younger than I am (💀) but they took me seriously when I described my Issues (I’m mostly there for ADHD reasons…family things will have to wait) and seemed on board with pursuing a diagnosis so I’m really hopeful, genuinely

[deepseacolors]

Spring of Ingo, March, Day 1: RXR

Ingo and video games!

Unexpectedly, I actually have something. Mostly complete! And on time, even!

This is actually something I wrote last May that I touched up for the event. It was the first thing I'd written in... gosh, at least ten years? And I wasn't a super active writer even back then. So it's pretty rough, even by my standards.

It was more an experiment with the twins' voices than anything else. I doubt that it'd come out the same if I wrote it today, but I remember having oodles of fun with it at the time. (Pokemonifying a Katamari level was unexpectedly interesting!)

So even if it's a little rough, a lot silly, and not exactly aligned with even my own headcanons, I'm still pretty fond of it.

Anyways! Onwards!

--

Emmet glanced up from his Xtrans once the tune for the new level began.

“What is the goal?” he asked.

“For this stage, I am tasked with creating an ‘elegant’ constellation,” Ingo informed him. “It seems that I am searching for Swanna and various other Flying-types, due to the natural grace and beauty that bird Pokemon posses.”

Emmet glanced over at Archeops, who was, at present, pouring all of her dexterity into jamming her head into an empty paper towel roll that she had dug out of the garbage. Then he turned to Ingo with a bland smile that said volumes.

Ingo returned the look with one of his own before turning back to the television to begin his mission in earnest. “Grace is in the eye of the beholder,” he said, beginning the stage by carefully maneuvering his Katamari to aim for the small eggs scattered throughout the level. “As such, it can take many forms.”

Emmet kept his gaze pointedly on Ingo as the sound of a beak tearing through cardboard, followed by a despairing squawk, echoed through their living room.

Ingo did not respond. He was doing important work, here.

And he most certainly did not smirk when Archeops dropped a soggy chunk of cardboard directly onto Emmet’s lap, causing him to jerk in mixed surprise and disgust.

She was looking at up him with wide, pleading eyes as she rested her chin on the couch. Clearly, Archeops had the utmost faith that Emmet would be able to fix her new toy.

Making a noise somewhere between a choke and a hiss, Emmet delicately plucked the mangled corpse of what was once a perfectly serviceable cardboard tube off his leg and brought it towards the kitchen—speeding up and holding his other hand under the trash to catch the droplets once he realized how thoroughly sopping the mess was.

Archeops cheerfully followed him, circling his legs and remaining wholly unaware of what a darling menace she was.

The Katamari on the screen brushed just a little too close to one of the Rattata too large for it to absorb, and several of his gathered items were knocked loose. Drat. Now he had to scramble to re-gather the eggs before they disappeared.

(Hah. Scrambled eggs.)

Ingo could hear Emmet lightly scolding Archeops in the next room as he disposed of the tube, likely making sure to secure the lid of the trash can to prevent future break-ins, before moving on to wash his hands and then heading down the hall towards his room.

After a few minutes, Emmet returned to the couch. Out of the corner of his eye, Ingo saw that his twin was now sporting a clean pair of sweatpants— which were quickly covered up by Archeops as she clambered up on to the couch and made herself at home on Emmet’s lap.

Emmet heaved a beleaguered sigh that was belied by way his expression softened and the gentle hands that began scratching at the spot along her side that she liked. Archeops chirped in pleasure as she rolled to lean into his hand, her eyes drifting shut.

“She still believes herself to be the size of an Archen,” Ingo observed fondly. His attention returned to the game just in time for him to avoid an obstacle in his intended path.

Huffing a laugh, Emmet brought his other hand up to lightly rub his fingers along Archeops’ head. She leaned into that attention too. “She is a big baby,” he agreed affectionately.

After a few moments of peaceful silence, Emmet asked, “...Why did a Swanna just hatch from that Chansey egg?”

“I believe it is a misdirection tactic,” Ingo says. “Swanna are the most important Pokemon to gather, but they are all hidden in Chansey eggs; there are also Pidgey among the lot, and quite a few soft-boiled eggs as well.”

Ingo misjudged the angle of descent and sent his Katamari tumbling off the roof of the building. No matter; there were plenty of items to gather in the yard section.

After watching for a few more moments, Emmet said, “You are gathering dandelions. Those are not Flying-type Pokemon.”

“I am simply gathering those to increase the size of my Katamari. The larger it is, the lower the odds that a valuable item will get knocked from it in the event of a collision. Additionally, a larger Katamari makes it easier to traverse throughout the level.”

Emmet hummed as Ingo wedged the Katamari underneath the porch. “Really.”

“...Generally, that is the case,” Ingo admitted.

“Your task is to gather Flying types. You are gathering plants. You are going to get scolded.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. We shall see what station I reach once the time limit is up.”

Emmet turned to give him a faux-serious look, the effect enhanced by the flatness of his voice when he says, “Father is going be be upset.”

Ingo choked, sputtering on laughter so loud and sudden that Archeops was startled out of her doze.

[sleepymrshmllow]

blissfully ignores the harsh criticisms of s2/the finale 🥰

[bluenotemagpie]

catching up on doctor who. surprising nobody, this former theatre kid who had a major beatles phase at the age of 12 and a major doctor who phase at the age of 14 is a big fan of the devil's chord

[lavenoon]

So! I’m curious! Would there be much difference between the events of Sunset and Nacreous Cloud in the canon version and Reverse AU? I imagine Dawn would still be sent alone maybe, because it seemed like a very fast mission until things went south, but Robin would still be at work so I wonder how that would go, also considering that Dawn has seen Robin get stabbed, so this would mean now Robin also sees their rival being injured with the ray torn off and all!

Ahh, now that's interesting! Because the point of Sunset and Nacreous Cloud wasn't just to break the news to the agency (perhaps it's time to start calling them EVOC on here, too - otherwise it's "the agency" vs Abra Fez, that's gonna get confusing soon) and also kick off the Glamrock Arc. Those are definitely important effects of those chapters!

But a big part of the motivation was to have the two who only knew each other as neighbors see each other in action. Dawn got caught, yes, but he also got himself out, only to run into the one man backup that was Robin. They see each other, for the first time in a decidedly not neighborly context, and still all they feel is the relief that the other is (relatively) okay.

(discussions of and just plain injuries to animatronics, you know the drill)

So we'll go two routes - if Dawn is indeed still the one being sent out and getting caught, then perhaps he and Robin had lunch plans together for which he wanted to be back. So Robin waits, and waits, and waits for his knock, except it never comes. They skip lunch as a result, too keyed up to eat alone and also not inclined to give up on Dawn showing up - except then afternoon slowly turns into evening and he's still not back, and they know something is off.

This Robin however is also much more used to lying. They're the undercover agent, they lie for a job - so when River finds them in Dusk and Dawn's office they might just talk their way out of a reveal. They had plans with their partner, and he's not there, so something is wrong and they plan to fix it.

Maybe River still pushes for a reveal, goading Robin until they admit to it, but Robin will be more steadfast because they're much more used to social interaction and staying calm in conversations that don't bode well for them.

The surprise then would be to see Robin going back to their stealthier roots only to be surprised by evidence of their partner being hurt. They got stabbed to prevent that. And this time they have their weapon already at the ready and do not hesitate to fight their way through to him.

Mostly, Dawn would feel guilty for making them come get him - he also very vividly remembers what happened last time they protected him, and is very concerned about any potential repeats. So his relief will be tinged with fear still until he makes sure none of the blood on Robin is theirs, and Robin might just end up a tad annoyed because hey, they're saving him so if he could please stop fretting -

But, yeah, honestly? I don't see this happening in Reverse AU. Because it's missing that core aspect of seeing their neighbor be ruthless and still caring, in both directions.

So getting their hands on the info they want remains easier at night, and it's Moon who promises to be back for breakfast as he hands over a little tupperware from Sun with dinner for them. It's perhaps a bit startling to hear their somewhat shy neighbor just casually talk about breaking into a place with (even at relatively low) high security, but they've done enough of that themself to somewhat brush it off.

They wake up a little early, but their breakfast buddy never shows up. They manage a cereal bar, and then rush into work, too frazzled and too early for River to not be suspicious, and whoop, there Robin goes.

It's been a while since they went into a mission already expecting trouble, but that doesn't mean they aren't prepared. They're the one chasing runners, they're the one still squeezing in parkour whenever they can, on and off the clock, and they're the one thinking they just got to know both Sun and Moon so much more, so much closer, and they're not giving that up now.

Dusk knows his neighbor is a good agent, too - Sun's recounts leave absolutely no doubt about that. But he's an agent too, and as we've established in that other ask, Dusk is the one with the potential to be the most dangerous out of the three.

Perhaps that's why he doesn't just lose a sunray - not that any are out to be ripped off, anyway. But remember that Reverse AU skips First Aid and the explosion in there to, because they weren't idiots and told Y/N right away?

Would be a shame if Dusk gets blown up before he ends up trapped (:

Sure, wrangling him into a position that keeps his one remaining arm restrained is a bit more difficult, but with the cracked lens of his optic it's at least rather easy to pretend he's in rest mode with a dead battery.

Really, no one looks at the one armed and broken animatronic expecting a threat - so they leave him be, until it's time to get him out.

One arm is enough to make sure that doesn't happen though. Dusk is still lethal, and has access to one of his tasers (well, five), and he still has (half of his) thermal vision that he makes generous use of as he sneaks around finding his way towards backup.

And then it's Robin. Not in the outfit that Dawn usually sees them in, but a muted, sporty look, if not for the tears and blood.

Robin, at this point, has already been presented with Dusk's detached arm - they don't carry it, because let's face it, it would simply get in the way without a convenient way to carry it - but they know Moon is hurt and even knowing he can handle himself, it's a lot to go from "haha yeah that's my cute funky neighbor" to "someone just threw his arm in front of me and I don't know where the rest of him is"

They watch him rise from his half crouch, watch the electricity drain from his fingers as his eyes bleed back from red to blue (because he has to see, as much as he can, not just their heat signature), and then they're already sobbing and coming his way.

Bit more awkward to hug while still used to having one more arm to do it with, but Dusk does his best to make up for the missing one as he meets them in the middle and just holds onto them, too. They didn't even hesitate, didn't flinch back at him being so different from what they're used to, and they're currently crying in his arm because they found him.

Sun reminds him that Robin has seen him use the taser generously before, and they've established that Robin isn't scared of him anymore (This would place this version of events past Sonne(t)), so really, he shouldn't have been so worried about what they might think - and also perhaps reign in those heart eyes, because he's getting a bit obvious about things.

Ground support communications still interrupt the moment, and the heart eyes get worse when Robin continues taking the lead. It's approaching noon, perhaps, or at least late morning, and everything is very strange because Dusk does not like being out this time of day and he dreads having to do the mission report Robin already warned him River expects, and things get a little more chaotic. (Nearly wrote chaotik again, good going)

Because Robin tries to take the lead in the conversation, but doesn't quite manage to convince River that all of them together knowing each other's identities is less of a risk than it's a benefit, and Sun decides to intervene. It distracts Dusk for a hot second, but Sun is pushy - he's the social one, he knows what to say, and they can use this as a demonstration.

Robin doesn't even flinch when suddenly Dusk turns to Dawn, and is even less surprised than River who knows about the change but has never witnessed it herself (probably, but tbh I'm keeping my options open).

Dawn also very much enjoys that he receives a squeeze to his hand when he starts arguing, and River just ends up very tired when she agrees to give them their chance. She's dealt with these three enough for one day.

They go home, and while Sun wants to be reassuring and push Y/N into getting that breakfast they pretty much skipped as well as the definitely skipped lunch, they just aren't having it. It ends up being even more reassurance for Sun, because Y/N is outright furious - but only out of concern. They're coming down from the adrenaline rush, all the fear and anxiety, and that urgency to get their partner(s) back safe.

They berate him, yes, for getting hurt, trying to make him promise to not let it happen again, and the entire time they refuse to let go of him even for a second.

Sun does not promise. He says they know the risk comes with the job - he's not eager to let it happen again, but could they ever promise not getting stabbed again?

Y/N can't, for the same reasons.

Fortunately for them, they now get the opportunity to look out for each other, all of them, and they decide to make full use of that <3

[deadrlngers]

MOIRA VELEZ x BENNY GECKO ft. what if Moira didn’t kill Benny as he deserved? au

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[red-dyed-sarumane]

love to submit my fave songs to vocaloid tournaments & watch them get decimated

[glassamphibians]

everyone buying things during holiday STOP no more presents sorry you stressed me out too much and im making it illegal until march

[speakeasier]

day six, but boi I LOVE CLAWING MYSELF OUT OF THE DIRT AND BEING LATE. let's see until day ten before i do individual lore reveals. for now, let us continue with random factoids!!

-in terms of heights that i give the gods. i will say that it's a bit skewed to a human's perspective. in the sense of, while i can give say, anyone a five feet two inches. this is how we would see it and perceive it as a mortal, but in truth they may be actually much bigger than they appear to us. laughs, like car mirror warnings.

-in a weird turn, once more using the five feet two inches example. while they may be actually bigger than that. the way they perceive themselves is similar to how we measure them. if that makes any sense. my mind is kind of not working at the moment, so i don't know how to really explain. but they could be the actual height of the eiffel tower, but if someone is taller, they feel the 'three inches difference'.

-language of the gods is different than human speech. we probably can't understand things they've said in the past or even now. but as any language be, it changes over time, even with the gods. this is seen in any sphere, but let's take the greeks for example.

-zeus and his kids' generation probably speak something akin to ancient greek in the modern day/as of right now as their common tongue. but in ten millenniums, it would probably sound like modern greek.

-to add onto this. first generation olympians spoke something to what second generation titans spoke, but it changed over time. and etc. it backtracks even to the primordials.

-a fun example i like to think of is with dite. the kids understand her and all, but the way she speaks, she sounds archaic. so it kind of gives away her age. (if she's not trying to keep it hidden, that is). but surprisingly, even if she talks naturally with the titans. even they think she sounds old, like she sounds primordial. this is due to her coming from uranus.

-though the gods' in any sphere, the common tongue is that of their own. they do understand human languages and speech. whether it's due to godly powers of just understanding, it depends on the god. but most are just so old that have such knowledge by watching from afar or being around humans for so long.

-like, herms can just casually speak and understands english like it's nothing due to visiting within the mortal world more or less often when he is able.

-the muses though have a proficiency in language, god or human. so skilled are they in such, that they've studied (and are still studying!!) and could still speak/remember/read anything from proto-indo-european to ancient polynesian and all variations of whatever you can hear/find to the ends of the world.

-they could even categorize it by human time periods, they're just that good. and they got their mother mnemosyne to thank for that, lolol.

[ephhemeralite]

listen. i understand the fact that aziraphale's part of everyday is a lot of new and interesting bits of character development that are very fun to tear apart. but i've seen tons of people discussing what heaven and forgiveness and crowley-as-an-angel mean to aziraphale without the corresponding look at what it means to crowley. so i would really like to do that

cw: discussions of abuse, indoctrination, trauma, and a Really Very Long meta post

it super surprised me when s2 opened on an angel!crowley scene because that kind of scene isn't typically necessary for the kind of character he is. crowley's character is one that revolves around the absence of who he was Before -- so you can understand all that you need to know about him by the ways that he deals with what he's lost (looking at where the furniture isn't, right?). he talks about stars and creation now because they were the most important parts of his angelic life and he cannot leave them behind. he mentions how he fell for asking questions because that's still a large part of who he is; he doesn't believe in hell's mission and he questions the goals and ethics of hell/heaven (the whole graverobbing ordeal, as well as the opening in s1 with hastur and ligur where you can see that his demonic strategy is fundamentally different from more traditional demons, not to mention having a permit from heaven during the job scenes and still disobeying orders according to his own morality). we get a really solid understanding of crowley and what he's about perfectly well from his current demon iteration, because the most important tenants of his character have stayed consistent or formed after the fall.

so what do we gain by such a scene to open the season? well, we learn that this is when aziraphale met crowley for the first time, we learn that aziraphale is immediately besotted by crowley, we learn that aziraphale expresses concern for crowley's questions (and imminent fall). this scene focuses on aziraphale experiencing crowley as an angel because this is an important moment for aziraphale's story, not anything to do with how crowley is or where crowley's story is going.

some other things we know about crowley are that he is the one constantly pushing for "their own side," for separation from heaven and hell, for a person that understands him as someone outside of the angel/demon binary. crowley is the one to approach aziraphale first as agents of opposite sides on the wall of eden, to suggest the arrangement, to convince aziraphale that armageddon would be bad and that they should work together to stop it. he's the one pushing aziraphale further from acceptable angelic behavior. hell, we even find out that he tempts aziraphale into trying food for the first time, which is aziraphale's greatest vice as a character.

this isn't because crowley wants aziraphale to fall or because he's set out to corrupt an angel, though. he sees aziraphale sin (or separate himself from heaven as a collective) first with giving away his sword, then through continued conversation with crowley (The Enemy), and the various other historical scenes where aziraphale lies or indulges in consumption or doesn't follow the divine plan to a tee. this culminates in the arrangement, which crowley sees as a concrete acknowledgement of the futility of heaven and hell, along the lines of "if we can both do the other side's acts and we're both canceling each other out, what's the point in doing any of this in the first place?" (this is NOT, notably, a question on the futility of life itself. crowley covets some material items like the bentley and alcohol that point to a personal valuation of living on earth, but he also has a strong and consistent emphasis on actual, living creatures: the goats, job's children, his plants, the children drowned during the flood, the antichrist, and the line from s2e6 where he says "if heaven kills all life on earth it will be just as dead as if hell had done it.") he believes that this is a clear indication that aziraphale no longer subscribes to the traditional opinions of heaven and hell. obviously, he discovers that he's very wrong come the last scene of season two, but it's helpful to understand the mindset he walks in with.

there's been a lot of gorgeous meta about how the two of them communicate and what their relationship is like in the present, so i'll try not to reinvent the wheel too much here while i look at the conversation in everyday. there's two particular things id like to look at: how crowley can never truly tell aziraphale no (this is pretty well-established so i don't feel the need to go into it, yes?) and the consistency with which crowley denies being the angel he was before the fall -- there are the unsubtle lines about not being the angel who fell, his time as an angel being a long time ago; there's also the slightly subtler moments where he refuses to acknowledge any memory of working with any particular angel/demon during their time as angels (both the pencil-pusher demon and saraqael, if not anyone else im forgetting), as well as his rather iconic reaction to being described as good or nice (this is typically interpreted as a reaction to being seen as not demon-like, but crowley really doesn't care about demons or hell beyond what his association requires. no one cares who's doing the job so long as it gets done, yeah? its more interesting to me to see these moments as times where crowley is described in angelic terms and refuses to let himself be seen as something he can no longer be.)

so if you take crowley at his word, what does it mean to no longer be an angel?

it means that there was a point where crowley was an angel, as we've both heard and seen. it means that he spent time in heaven, had a role, experienced and valued a lot of typically angelic things like kindness and forgiveness. it means that he was eventually cast out for, as we've heard and seen, being curious and headstrong. it means that he lost his place in heaven, his role, his identity, his values and experiences (using experiences here to refer to things he has done and can no longer do, rather than his memories, since i don't have enough textual substance to discuss any ideas i might have about memory). this is the really important part, i think: that crowley had all of these things and that they were taken from him because of who he is as a person (who he already was as an angel, before the exacerbation that came when he became a demon). not only that, all of this loss also took the form of an extremely traumatic fall (as in, a single event that caused crowley not only emotional but assumably physical pain, as well as being a generally physical ordeal).

abusive situations can often thrive because of the manipulation the people within them experience. unquestionable, morally just figures like parents to children or gods to angels get away with what they do because they are able to turn the victim's doubt around onto the victim (what i do is right because i'm The Parent/God/The Boss and you as The Child/The Angel/The Employee have no right to question me, thus if you do you must be Wrong) as well as the ephemeral nature of words (did they really say that or am i exaggerating to make them seem worse in my memory? this is where the physical aspect of falling comes in). this is something i fully see happening to aziraphale within the show.

however, one of the things that can knock an abused person out of their abusive situation is something that's too big to go unquestioned and an absence of the manipulating force to direct the shape of their conclusions. this is where crowley and aziraphale's character stories differ: crowley fell, lost all connection to heaven, and then had no one to tell him heaven was in the right and he the wrong. after landing in hell (which could have also been a bad and manipulative situation) crowley is removed from the manipulating forces by being stationed on earth, where he is allowed to experience life out from under anyones thumb (relatively), process this giant trauma and loss, and find his own answers. he then does what a lot of people who have been abused do when they're no longer being abused: he goes out and does stuff that he couldn't do before. this is where he meets aziraphale, who is also stationed on earth and doing a number of (aforementioned) things that don't align with heaven. the thing that crowley doesn't understand is that aziraphale hasn't had these same experiences that lead to crowley's epiphany nor is he isolated from heaven's manipulation (often seen as gabriel in the first season and metatron in the second). each time aziraphale does something that does not align with heaven's ideals, he either sees that as a reflection of what a bad angel he is or he tries to rationalize it into fitting into his/heaven's world view (the ineffable plan. it was literally right there this entire time i could SCREAM about this GOD'S INEFFABLE PLAN)

so aziraphale is holding onto this idea of an angel that does not exist anymore and crowley is projecting an understanding of similar experiences that did not happen. they're miscommunicating, wow, what else is new? we understand that aziraphale is rationalizing and being manipulated, but why did crowley act the way he did during the fight instead of falling into the familiar and consistent pattern of following aziraphale and going where he leads?

that's right, i said i wanted to talk about how crowley can never tell aziraphale no!!

from crowley's point of view, their entire relationship revolves around their experiences on earth where he has perceived aziraphale defying heaven and he felt intense kinship with that. he's delighted about giving away the sword, he watches aziraphale eat a LOT, they definitely like to drink together, he protects aziraphale from the consequences of lying (crowley protecting aziraphale from falling deserves a billion metas right this instant really). these are all major moments to crowley where aziraphale distinguishes himself from the celestial system. when aziraphale asks crowley for things, he does them because (yes, he loves aziraphale, but also) aziraphale is the one person across heaven, hell, and earth that crowley feels he is actually allied with. he has to go through the motions with hell, deal with all of the pain surrounding heaven, but this one angel is a place where crowley can be genuine, whether that be good or bad or none of the above (this is literally manifested physically within the text with crowley's glasses). the foundation of their relationship, to crowley, is their side. this is why crowley's reaction at the end of everyday is both so intense and pivotal: aziraphale asks crowley to join heaven's side with him and crowley says no.

crowley is not an angel. when crowley was an angel, before the beginning of time, he was too incompatible with heaven and so he fell. that is what being an angel got crowley. there have been some points made about how unhappy being a demon makes crowley and how sweet and innocent he seemed as an angel, but i think that line of thinking falls into the same trap that aziraphale does, which is in assuming that being an angel is in some way inherently better than being a demon, or that crowley wasn't unhappy as an angel, or that aziraphale isn't unhappy as an angel himself. because crowley is happy, when left to his own devices or with aziraphale. his unhappiness comes from the interventions of heaven and hell within his life (thus the importance of crowley questioning the point of heaven and hell and not life itself) because he would like to be separate from them, not restored to some prior state of belonging within their system. the truth is that crowley will never become that angel that aziraphale met again, because that's not how trauma ever, ever works, but that does not mean that crowley cannot have a full and meaningful life in his current state. he's not broken, he's just someone who has been rejected by heaven.

crowley responds to the most fundamental aspect of his identity being questioned and dismissed (i can make you an angel again), with, frankly, a respectably low-key amount of upset. he tells aziraphale that they're better than their sides because his ultimate goal is to separate their side from that of heaven and hell. when aziraphale reveals that he wants to fix heaven, crowley hears him. this is so important to me, because this is a moment where crowley is trying to communicate. he changes his approach and tries to speak to aziraphale instead of reacting out of emotion. after this moment, crowley doesn't speak out of anger at all, even in response to when aziraphale does. instead, he tries to confess his feelings to aziraphale and offers up the option to leave heaven and hell behind again. this is such an important moment because it's crowley trying to break out of their long, deep-instilled habit to hide and double-speak and he gets really close to saying what he means explicitly, even factoring how intensely emotional it makes him to do so.

his offer to run away isn't done to ignore aziraphale's needs but to show him that there is another way out, if aziraphale is willing to take it. there are other options that aziraphale hasn't considered, but crowley is, because crowley is still trying to solidify the existence of their side. from their side, they are free to ignore the angel/demon dichotomy and just be themselves, whatever that looks like. this is what crowley wants, above everything else in the world.

aziraphale rejects this entire concept when he lets go of his bookshop and earth as a whole with the nothing lasts forever line. aziraphale is rejecting earth, the middle ground that they've built their entire lives together on, forcing them into the roles of angel and demon exclusively. this, of all moments, is when crowley puts his glasses back on. because he cannot be an angel, the only role left to him is demon, and thus his vulnerability is not safe or welcome to be exposed to aziraphale.

crowley tries to acknowledge their life on earth twice in the next few moments: the nightingales, which represent everything they went through in the last season (which aziraphale is not thinking about, because he's already left their role as representatives of earth and/or humanity behind) and the kiss itself, which is as explicit as crowley is physically able to be about his own feelings and the future he wants them to have on earth as their own side. he is asking aziraphale, as well as he can, to stay. he's physically closing the divide between their roles in an attempt to show aziraphale how little it all really matters in practice and

aziraphale does the most angelic thing he possible could and Forgives crowley. this is not said out of kindness or as an instinctive reaction. aziraphale is angry and upset when he says this because, in some way, he understands what his words mean even as he does not understand crowley's actions or rejection at all. he reinforces the binary between them and acts vindictively (to parallel the insistence on the apology dance after the argument in the first episode) in retaliation to crowley denying what he sees as his gracious and miraculous offer of restoration.

the most important part of crowley's character to understand in this moment is that while he wants a happy life with aziraphale more than anything, he has extremely hard limits and heaven is one of them. his boundary here is a fundamental part of him and even his deepest desires cannot overcome them. as a fallen, crowley knows that who he is as a person is not angelic. as a fallen, crowley knows what its like to lose the most important, pivotal pieces of his life and start again. as a fallen, he knows that he survived it once. he tells aziraphale don't bother.

and crowley, who will be (and always has been) a demon if it means not being an angel, who has told aziraphale that demons are unforgivable, does the only thing he can do. he leaves.