#they were poor when they met

[vitos-ordination-song]

People at my sister’s fast food job have been telling her she’s privileged bc she has rich parents but my siblings and I have never been rich in the sense of our parents give us money. My oldest brother is the kid they’re most proud of bc he has a well paying job (manipulating financial markets) and he got the job bc my mom helped him get it. Even tho he’s the kid closest to them, with the least complaints about their parenting, it’s not like he was necessarily a silver spoon kid either. He worked as a pizza delivery guy full time to get himself thru college. Our parents could have paid for us to get educated and stuff but they didn’t. They’ve always used money as a tool against us ever since we were little kids. Like guilting us over how much money they spent on us. My mom threatened to make me homeless as soon as I turned 18, and she didn’t do anything to help me prepare for the real world. I ended up dependent on them for a couple years until I could figure out how to fend for myself, but I was paying for the majority of my expenses soon enough. I probably could be as rich as my brother, who recently bought a house, if I’d sucked up to them more and taken any kinda evil job that came my way. But i haven’t accepted money from them in 4 years because I don’t like the strings that come with it and I didn’t like who I was when I was dependent on them. And even back when I did need their money, I was never rich. I have around $7,000 total right now, and that is the most money I’ve ever had in my life, but also I’m in a lot of debt, so you know. I’ve never just been able to have whatever I wanted. I was provided for well as a kid, that was a privilege, but since I turned 18 I’ve often struggled to have the money to feed myself. My adopted sister has been through a lot more than I have and she’s dealing with all sorts of financial, personal, and physical problems, but people at her job think she’s got it made bc every once and a while my parents help her with a car repair, which they then use to guilt and emotionally blackmail her. 💀

[deehya]

they are still friends after all those years which is a damn miracle if you ask me

[starry-bi-sky]

Clone^2 Damian

If you really think about, Damian's situation in the clone^2 au is... kinda tragic? Especially in the early months of his arrival. Like,,, think about it. Damian has always known he was a clone of Damian Wayne, that he was a copy of the blood son. There was nothing 'original' about him, not even his name (of which at least Danny has that). He was just... a replacement. A disposable one, to boot.

And he knew that, to an extent, by the time he was six years old. he might not have been actively acknowledging it -- he's six years old -- but deep down he knew. And like, he's six years old. Every small child craves the love and affection of an adult, especially their parents, and even though he knew he was clone, I imagine he still considered - and still does consider, somewhat - Talia and Bruce as his mother and father. And I really doubt he was... getting it?

Now, I know Talia loves Damian, her son. At least in some interpretations she does, and in this au she does. But... a clone of her son? I'm not so certain if she would have the same affection for baby Dames as she would for Damian. I don't think she would treat him badly, but I don't think Talia would treat him warmly either. Kinda just, distant. Colder than she would have been with OG Damian.

And, I know I've mentioned Damian's arrival from Danny's point of view, and its kind of comical kind of insane from his perspective -- a little boy clone of Damian Wayne falls through a portal and immediately attacks him. That sounds like a bad joke.

But, if you think of this from Damian's point of view? It's like he just got dropped into a scary movie. Like, think about it. You're six years old, and suddenly a portal, as green and as swirling as your grandfather's pools, opens up beneath your feet and sucks you through.

After an intense bout of vertigo, you end up in a massive, urban city -- completely different from the rural mountain palace that you lived in for the last six years of your life, and in this city, you don't know any of the language. You don't know what anyone is saying, you can't read any of the signs - you are completely stranded, away from home.

And then, to make things worse, you're facing a figure with a terrifying mask and eyes as burning green as the portal you fell through. Of course Damian's first instinct, six years old, is to attack. He's terrified.

And this figure, he's not a good fighter, but he's fast, and he dodges you quickly. He grabs your sword with his hands, and tries to restrain you, saying something in a language you don't know. Naturally, Damian is just scared. He's six! He'd just be learning how to read if he was normal child going to school.

This figure halfway through the fight yanks off his mask -- he realizes you're scared -- and looking at you now, is a youthful version of your father. This is a clone of your dad, someone you have never met but, six years old, still wants to. Damian gets defensive. This is an imposter.

But this imposter eventually gets you home with him - and he's using his little box, his phone, to communicate with you through a mechanical voice speaking in arabic. and it's frustrating. The boy, the imposter, can say whatever to you just fine, but trying to talk back is a hassle and a half. He's six, he doesn't have that much patience.

He wants to go home.

And so he keeps trying to run away. He keeps trying to find out of this hellish concrete jungle, and he keeps getting lost. It's loud, and busy, and there are people talking to you and you don't understand them, and there are rules and signs you don't understand - Damian tries to cross the street and nearly gets hit by a car. He doesn't know how the road signs work, he was never taught. They didn't get to that.

And he gets lost. And it gets dark, and Damian is brave, but he is six, and this is the worst stress he's been under in all his six years of life. He wants, desperately more than anything, to go home. Why wouldn't he? The only stable... semi-stable environment he was in just got ripped out from under his feet, literally! He wants his mother.

And it's not happening.

But there's something good to be said, at least. The imposter that looks like his father always comes and finds him, no matter what. He could have left that morning, and he will find Damian at midnight, frazzled and worried, and carrying an extra jacket with him because it is cold in Amity Park and Damian is six years old.

And sometimes Damian attacks him - he's scared and stressed and he doesn't want to be here. And every time he catches the sword. Even though Damian can see it cut into his hand and pearls of blood well up and stains his fingers. Even though Damian can see him wince in pain and bite his lip, he still catches it.

But with that little box, he coaxes Damian to come back with him. It's cold, it's dark, Amity Park is unsafe at night. They can figure something out tomorrow, please. And every time, he agrees, reluctantly. And the imposter takes the extra jacket he brought with -- a flannel, a hoodie, a jacket -- and he wraps it around him. It's warm, Damian's clothes are not that thick, and even though he thinks he might hate this imposter, he still sticks close to his legs as he leads him down the street.

And sometimes the imposter carries him, because Damian's shoes are not that thick, and he cuts his foot on broken glass while they're walking home. The imposter sits in the bathroom with him and carefully cleans the cut out, and makes sure it doesn't get infected.

There's hope you know, he still has it. His mother will be looking for him. She'll be worried. He's important to them. Damian may not be the original, but he is still a blood son. He is still her son. She will come find him. This nightmare will end soon. He can go home.

And then weeks pass, and nothing. Then months, and nothing. His family is not coming for him, and it hurts. Hurts more than anything. And yet while that happens, the boy he's attacked, and hurt, teaches himself arabic in order to speak to him. He takes Damian out of the house one afternoon and buys him new clothes, or tries to. And then he keeps buying him new clothes. He gives him blankets and gives up his bed to him until they can get him one himself, and steadily he teaches Damian english.

This boy is kind. Kinder than Damian's ever experienced, and he doesn't know what to do with it. He's devastated by the fact that he is not as important to his family as his family is to him. What do you do when you're six years old and you learn something like that? When a random stranger who looks like your father is kinder to you, and cares more about you than your family did?

And then Damian tells him he's a clone. He's Damian Wayne's clone, and he tells him his purpose - that their grandfather made him to kill him. And the boy, the imposter, Damian thinks he probably already knows that he's a clone. But he doesn't say that. He just nods, and asks him if he wants to tell his original about him.

Damian says no. He doesn't want to. He's tired of living in the shadow of his original. He wants to keep this to himself. This is his. For once, all of this is his.

And to his surprise, the imposter doesn't try and convince him otherwise. He just nods, and says okay. And when Damian asks why, the imposter - his brother - looks at him and says.

"I don't care about Damian Wayne. I care about you." And in Damian's gobsmacked silence, his brother continues. He tells him that if Damian doesn't want to tell his original that he exists, then they don't need to. They don't need to worry about the LoA going after him, because clearly if his 'grandfather' needs to make a clone of Damian in order to take him out, then whatever it was that Damian Wayne was doing to keep himself safe, was working.

"Wayne already has people in his corner, he's got Gotham's army of vigilantes to keep himself safe." his brother says with his eyes as blue as moonlight. "You, however. Do not." And he continues, and says that if Damian Wayne has the same training as Damian does, then he will be fine. He doesn't need to be aware of his clone. Because if DW doesn't know about Damian, then the LoA doesn't either.

And here's the thing. Damian would not have survived in the LoA for long. Not as a clone. No matter what, he was going to die no matter what he did, and sooner rather than later. The sword of Damocles was always hanging above his head in the League of Assassins.

That portal, and meeting Danny, saved his life. There's no way around it. And to an extent Damian knows this even at six years old. He may not be aware that he would've died, but he knows that meeting Danny was the best thing to happen to him.

It's no wonder after that, that Damian is as clingy to Danny as he is. Danny is the first person he's met to offer him unconditional love, with no strings attached, only pure affection.

[dieselocelot]

you're losing a savior and a saint

[evansbby]

my opinion on the Blake lively situation

[shiraishi--kanade]

Another thing I need pjsk fandom to realize:

1) there are literal 10 years old (and younger) children in this fandom;

2) the percentage of these children in the fandom is MUCH, MUCH higher than every single one of you here on tumbrl think it is.

"why do people write so much for popular characters?" "why do people write for kudos only?" aside from the fact that the "write for yourself" is a self-perpetuating issue in every fandom and the fact that every writer deserves engagement with their works, it's because there are kids here. Who want to fit in and get praised for their creativity. Which they can only achieve by writing for popular stuff. So maybe take that into account.

[islab0bila]

Everyone after good omens 2:

[4aceclover]

I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER

Yes major spoiler warnings

The most recent chapter of shadows has came out as if the previous one wasn't making the timeline and story of this awesome manga confusing enough then we get this information drop and I have no words just read this

Apparently the one who started all of this nonsense to begin with with the fairies and them attacking the mirror house family which includes Kate's mom by the way was all caused by this guy named Joseph (I'm mostly focusing on Kate right now I don't even want to begin to talk about my feelings towards the twist about Anthony)

Now doesn't that name sound familiar

It would explain a lot to be honest but man the story just loves stacking more and more on Kate shoulders as if dealing with the adults and Anthony wasn't bad enough now we got this nonsense give me a break

And here I thought this manga was going to follow the simple anime structure: 5 protagonists with five antagonists, each corresponding to one of the protagonists we see, and they're going to have to battle each other. Heck the Manga and anime even hinted at this, but nope let's just keep on making things harder for poor Kate! As if things weren't already bad enough.

(The poor girl doesn't even know what she is and now we're just giving her more problems to worry about, give me a damn break)

And while my theory about Anthony / Christopher being siblings with Rum / Shirley was confirmed non Cannon (thank God) that doesn't mean the choice of making him siblings with somebody else wasn't off the table

This story has gone from very clever to making me very angry but for very personal reasons it's still clever just in a way that's going to make us all get whiplash

[faaun]

ok let's catch up quickly

[creepyscritches]

My mom is going on a cruise w her bestie to a lot of European countries she's not seen yet (hasn't been to/lived in Europe or Africa since shortly before I was born). She asked me what gift I'd like and tbh I just really loooooove spices and flavors I dont have the opportunity to discover/try here, but like 🤔 not sure if customs would bar her from bringing spices home. Maybe a cool rock or smth instead as I seem to be collecting small stone animals when I travel lately

[roys-our-boy]

His sprite is so CUTE. Getian loml

[lilnasxvevo]

I usually headcanon most non-canon ships I like as childfree partially out of contrarianism (I hate when people ASSUME two people will have kids just because they’re in love) and partially because I don’t want kids and this is my house and I am here mainly to project onto fictional characters

But lawlu? Ohhhh they’re having kids. They’re HAVING kids. Law might not know it yet but they WILL be having multiple children

[gierosajie]

Thinking about how there's a lot more ghosts wandering Mondstadt in the Archon Dvalin AU than usual because Venti is usually the one sending off spirits into the afterlife and well. he's kinda stuck on that side post-Cataclysm

At first there weren't any because they just followed Venti, but afterwards there were some that still lingered and the number just kept piling up over the centuries. Many did eventually go on their own, but there's just more that didn't want to or simply couldn't

Dvalin doesn't know how to send them off, no one really showed him how and he doubts that even if he knew, he probably couldn't. Still, whenever a spirit decides to show themself, he stays with them for a bit, just to alleviate their burdens even a little and maybe help them find enough peace

It's probably another thing that eats at him alive because he couldn't even help those that he failed to protect, no matter how much most of them say it isn't his fault

And then, after the whole reconciliation with Celio thing, one of the lingering spirits asks him for a song. Before, he might've gently turned down the request, but after everything, he decided he might as well

Dvalin starts singing an old song he loved. Singing it had been painful, once, considering it was made as a duet and having to listen to the silent answer just brought him nothing but grief. Now, there's a sort of peace to how the breeze and the sound of nature fill in the gaps and pauses.

Over the course of the song, more and more ghosts come to listen. By the end of it, Dvalin opens his eyes to see most of them disappear, not in terms of hiding away like usual but rather beginning to dissolve into light as they finally move on

The last one to leave was the one who requested a song. She turns to smile at him. "I suppose I can finally tell that bard how much you've grown," she says before finally dissipating into the wind

[onioneyez]

Happy 420!

I didn’t want to actually have to pick up the leech or the crane fly larva to pretend to smoke it so please use your imagination

[astro-gnome]

;_;

[ben-the-hyena]

Katamari is a fun happy colorful funny parodical franchise that should be taken as too seriously especially when it comes to the King's treatment on the Prince, it's like a cartoon/funny anime logic, scary and intense at times but the character is not that hurt or upset about it too long, it is probably just an overexaggerarion of the typical strict Japanese parent when their kid fail and put to literal cosmic proportions playing on their size difference, but the Prince should have died from the first laser beam and have all his bobes crushed from the first boxing blow and not be as happy as he is if it were that serious in-universe. It's like la chlanca for their species standards maybe. And for some reason those are much less bad and traumatizing than the bamboo scepter the Emperor used on him which traumatized him so much he refuses to touch it and would never use on the Prince ; same logic as the Addams Family surviving so many things that would kill them in real life and have fun about it and yet just being electrocuted would actually be enough to kill them and does worry them. Funnily enough, said bamboo scepter is so mighty and big it does ooze electricity too

Oh sure the King IS a jerk dad, you don't use physical violence or verbal violence on your kid when he fails, and he is a lazy bastard who has him work like a slave and rarely shows appreciation. But I don't see it as purposeful malice, he DOES love his son dearly and actually tells him at times, but the game is comical and satirical so exagerates things for humor without being meant to be serious like they would be in real life, like Homer being irresponsible and lazy and choking Bart but both having a good relationship over than that and Homer still passing as a loving but very flawed dad to us the audience which makes us find him lovable the same way we would hate him in real life. Because in real life it is serious but the narratives show it is not to be worried too much about and addresses whenever the kid is upset anyway. Whereas, the King's childhood WAS showed as serious and sad and that's why it's tragic. The magic of cinema and conveying feelings more than logic

Plus, comedy aside, we do see that like Homer the King tries to be better than what he had :

as said he does tell him at times he loves him when he is not cranky unlike the Emperor who never told him, there are RARE times he says he is proud whereas even when he won his father just told him "barely passing", outside of katamari related stuff he spends time with him and his wife as a family playing games and going on vacations all having great fun together and he lets him breathe as much as he wants except if there is an emergency and some katamari are also made just out of fun with no game over sequence and no stress like the snowball level because as he tells his son "katamari must be fun" whereas his childhood was only alternating between katamari and homework the Emperor considering playtime and breaks a waste of time that could be used for better and no fun allowed, even if he can be overbearing and even if it is often sounding critical and condescending he speaks much more to his son and teaches and tells him many things spending moments with him outside of katamaris while the Emperor not only never had "unimportant" chats with him whenever he spoke to him it was always an order or a criticism if not an insult and YELLED at that the punctuation indicates whenever he opened it it was always yelling, the King hopes that his son will attract girls and be popular while we saw the Emperor initially disapproved the King's then gf since love distracted him and we saw he grew uo alone with no friends, the Prince may look sad or very scared when the King is about to insult him or punish him it is only during game overs whereas the King always had his head low and fretted ready to jump or cover himselg at any motion from his father meaning he was never feeling safe with him at all, even if he can be annoying when nitpicking most katamari we do even when they are big like he asked or more it is clear it is not out of malice but his way to train his son to be the future ruler and tells him something that can be both condescending AND validating "I am sure you can do better" while once again it was anways just "barely passing" with no other piece of advise and real opinion sharing, sometimes he teases him which can be annoying but since his father never was joking at all I see it as him trying to be a fun dad, and as said when he punishes or insults him not only is it ONLY when he fails (I mean it IS too much already realistically speaking but his father would constantly loom over him with the bamboo scepter menacingly stressing him out and blow whenever he was showing weakness or did any mistake not even failing yet or at all like training time) but he refuses to scar him with the same weapon that scarred him meaning that in-universe it is worse than laserbeams, punching and pool balls

And while the Emperor only told the King he was proud of him and found him worthy essentially when he died (without even truly dying since again that series is satirical and light hearted more than serious, he just fell asleep for years), as scarce as real compliments and appreciation are from the King to the Prince there ARE rare times he actually shows him he is proud of him and loves him generally around the ends of the games while the Emperor kept secret from him he was proud and loved him to a point he didn't believe he cared at all and he found out only as a teenager by accident after having come as far as punching him and running away

Don't forget, the Prince is a Prince, the future ruler of ALL cosmos who has to be able to alter weather, change his size from human sized to able to hold a planet in his hand, fly, teleport, summon the Royal Rainbow, shoot lasers from his eyes, create catastrophes if he wants to, turn katamari into stars and planets, rearrange the universe and Earth however he wants, terraform, use the sun like his bitch and clog and unclog black holes. The Emperor then the King are GODS in that universe, and so will be the Prince. The Emperor was jacked, so is the King, because it is all VERY physical and it is needed to rule properly and be able to fix any problem. So in the King's mind, his punishments and insults when he fails may be harsh and his criticism and constant bossing around, "you can do better I know it" and making him do katamaris in his place while he lounges and comments may seem dickish, in his mind he is training him. You see Master Roshi in Dragon Ball who does care abour his students but has them work very very hard with harsh as fuck punishments and not praising them often as sympathetic as he is ? It is the same, the Katamaro series is a shonen lmao the hero is in training and on his way to have godlike strength and powers, and his sensei makes sure he will know every way to activate those as strict as it may seem for now because it worked for him, but he makes it considerably more bearable than he himself went through that scarred him forever as much as he pretends he is fine and genuinely wants the best for him without passing through the same things he did and tries his best to be a good dad but can't help want to catch up his lost childhood by just wanting to live a hedonistic life of fun and be lazy at last now he can and repeat some of the same things since he thinks that's how to dad and deep down was made to believe excellence is key like a lot if Asian parents (and even the insults and punishment are to a lesser extent !), and except in the game overs or when he is tired of his dad's shit telling him to fix his mess and taking his credit the Prince looks and sounds happy, loving his life and father and not traumatized, meaning that in-universe it may not be as harsh as we may see it as the player and those game overs are mostly made to scare US. The Prince may be eeny tiny, he is already EXTREMELY strong and tough barely flinching at rolling around the fucking sun, creating a moon and handling lasers and fists of the size of a country, so it just means he is in age to be able to handle this and his training thus can begin and has to be done seriously and thoroughly trying to do always better and better ubtil it will be perfect and he will be as ripped as his dad who tries to push him as far as he can to see to what extent he can work and make him progressively roll around bigger and bigger things and so learn the ways of the cosmos through missions he deems easy enough (probably rightfully so, we are not that species) to give his 6 years old without him risking his life or anything and he watches in case, he may be lazy and not want to do those at the moment those could also be very easy for himself so he is like "well they can be good starts for him, he can handle them" all while allowing him to have fun in between

Then he blames him for his own accidents, tell him to fix those as pretext for training and takes the credit because HE is the king for now, which all are dick moves and he is NOT the best father at all, he is a dick who deserves to be slapped at times XD

But a lovable one who does love his son and does what he deems correct and he believes and knows him enough to know he can do it, and he is not a monster or the worse like I see many call him. He is just a gigantic Freddie Mercury alien ripoff with a huge bulge, what was to take too seriously ?