sneak peek at the new drawing i've been working on <3

your take on damian outgrowing tim or dick or jason or bruce

case study of the self-identified god

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.

It’s time for a, “things I sent to my twin’s inbox but she said I should post myself because I never post my own work and she’d like if I stopped spamming her inbox with ideas but I forgot about it and just kept it in my drafts notes for months and now finally I’m posting the fucking things.”

Or for short:

DP X DC PROMPT #7:

————————————

Danny visits metropolis and people are deadset on believing that Danny is either Clark’s little brother or his nephew from Illinois… despite that Clark can literally not be related to him. Not that the people at the Daily Planet know that, but even the ones who do know are giving him a hard time.

“I’m adopted Jimmy!” Clark threw his hands in the air in frustration. “You are very aware of that.”

“But he looks just like you Clark, you even talk the same!” Jimmy peaked around the corner, catching a glimpse of Danny talking to Lois in the employees lounge.

“He has a upper midwestern accent. I’m from Kansas, Jim. Not all midwesterners know each other!”

“So?”

“Jimmy. You know damn well why we can not be related.” Clark subtly gestured to his cheap “I believe in aliens” mug. Jimmy was Clark’s best friend and most of the time he really appreciated the kid’s keen eye but Jimmy also seemed to be constantly dead-set on figuring how to give Clark a headache.

“But he looks like a mini you! Have you asked him if he has a spare spaceship lying around anywhere?” Jimmy snarked as he glanced over to Danny and Louis who were finally heading back from their break.

“Jimmy, I will put you on the moon and leave you there.”

“Alright sheesh. I get it, I’ll drop it.”

you say machete has to be closeted then why's he always wearing them little heels

Maybe he thinks he's a tiny bit nicer looking in them.

Good Omens season 2 referencing Powell & Pressburger films

Crowley's angel hair is modeled after Kim Hunter's hair as June in A Matter of Life and Death (1946).

Maggie's shop is called The Small Back Room in reference to 1949's The Small Back Room.

The red ballet shoes on the door of Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death are a nod to The Red Shoes (1948). (Note : the klaxons sounding in Heaven at the end of episode 1 are said to be a nod to the alarm bells in The Other World in A Matter of Life and Death. Personally, I don't think they sound at all alike; they are only similar in both being alarms. Plus, it's an audio reference, which I don't have the skill or patience to include here. But it's there!)

In The Small Back Room, Maggie has a poster for the film Stairway to Heaven displayed. A Matter of Life and Death was released under this title in the US.

The tartan hills welcoming Aziraphale to Scotland are a reference to the tartan hills welcoming Joan to Scotland in I Know Where I'm Going! (1945). And of course, the third episode is itself titled "I Know Where I'm Going."

Jim drops the book My Best Games of Chess, 1924-1937, by Alexander Alekhine, onto a table in the bookshop repeatedly as he is discovering how gravity works. This book is featured prominently in A Matter of Life and Death.

When Aziraphale enters The Resurrectionist pub in Edinburgh, I Know Where I'm Going! is playing on both televisions (I'm pretty sure I found the right scene to match this screenshot). You can also make out the name 'Pressburger' on one of the posters in this screenshot, but we'll get to that later. . .

The family name on the mausoleum where Aziraphale and Crowley hide out with Elspeth and Wee Morag is Archers. It's never clearly seen in the show, but it can be seen in this BTS photo of the model used for Crowley's embiggening. The Archers was the name of Powell and Pressburger's production company. The interior of the tomb and the urns outside the full-size set also reference the Archers, and Powell & Pressburger individually.

In Mr. Arnold's record shop, one of the posters on the wall is for a UK music tour; either the band or the tour is titled Met By Moonlight. This is referencing Ill Met By Moonlight (1957), the final film Powell & Pressburger made together. (I personally think this one is a reach, as the title of the film is a line from A Midsummer Night's Dream and thus not really clockable to the outside viewer as a direct Archers reference, but apparently the intent was there so we're counting it!)

The Pressburger posters are more clearly visible during the Gabriel and Beelzebub rendezvous scene in The Resurrectionists pub. We can see they advertise 'Pressburger Scottish Lager,' which is of course a nod to Emeric Pressburger himself. (Unclear if Michael Powell has his own label that we just don't get a clear view of. . .)

-- -- -- -- --

I clocked a couple of these myself, but they are all referenced in the X-Ray trivia on the Prime Video player. Would love to know if anyone has clocked anymore that aren't divulged. . .

People keep asking things like “why are they Russian if it’s set in Italy” “why is it set in Italy if they are all Russian” ALL these questions would be answered if you’d just look at the shoe

“katara is uptight and gets offended when anyone swears in her vicinity” has gotta be one of the lamest fandom jokes. for what it’s worth, i don’t think any of the atla kids wouldn’t swear out of some naive sense of propriety (with perhaps the exception of azula, because she’s an obedient goody two shoes who thinks coarse speech is for the lower classes), but katara would be one to swear a lot. she definitely swears more than sokka, although she’d also regulate her speech better so as not to offend those around her (especially if she is in the process of sucking up to an adult). sokka would swear just because he’s a grumpy, easily frustrated person whose choice of words reflects his frustration, but katara would swear out of her fundamental sense of rebellion. a deep thrill runs through her every time she says fuck or shit, because she is fourteen and away from the admonishing tongue of gran gran for the first time in her life. katara, toph, and aang are still young enough that saying “bad words” fills them with a sense of excitement over “breaking the rules,” whereas for sokka, zuko, and suki, that novelty wore off a while ago and it’s simply a part of their everyday speech. but while sokka is a teacher’s pet at heart who presents as a misanthropic asshole, katara is a mischievous ne’er-do-well at heart who presents as a beacon of polite decorum whenever she wants to get her way (typical elder vs younger sibling distinction). but you know that when katara is yelling at sokka, pakku, toph, zuko, and every other unfortunate soul who may find themselves on the receiving end of her wrath, she’s cramming in as many “what the fuck is your problem?!”s and “get your shit together!!”s as she possibly can. then again, katara would definitely respond with righteous indignation if toph cursed in front of her, but that’s hardly because katara is offended at toph for saying bad words. rather, it’s simply because she also happens to be. a massive hypocrite.

Powell and Pressburger easter eggs in Good Omens.

I gathered all of those mentioned within the trivia section of Prime. I also added all the possible behind the scenes posters, even went ahead and looked for the grave inscriptions on the tombs of Powell and Pressburger. Go on and read them, they’re beautiful. “For love is heaven and heaven is love”.

There is an extra slide I’ll add in the reblogs because I can’t put it here.

Who were Powell and Pressburger?

The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell (1905–1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988)—together often known as The Archers, the name of their production company—made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s.

Their collaborations—24 films between 1939 and 1972—were mainly derived from original stories by Pressburger with the script written by both Pressburger and Powell. Powell did most of the directing while Pressburger did most of the work of the producer and also assisted with the editing, especially the way the music was used. Unusually, the pair shared a writer-director-producer credit for most of their films.

Who in Bridgerton deserves sm better and why is it Edwina Sharma: an essay

I know there’s people in this pic but the blue shoes here are like a glowing beacon. It’s impossible to notice anything else.

Aaron Hotchner Criminal Minds 10.18

idk, maybe something happened in the days since the prison break but it was a little weird to me that the “beef” felt meaner and more one sided again. i know they weren’t on good terms but sunny really did try to be nice in the prison and i thought the dance battle went ok, it seemed like they were at mutual dislike not hatred :(

if foolish and tubbo do spend more time together when it starts up again then i really don’t want the beef to continue at all. or at least they need to work on squashing it. even if it was just dislike it won’t be fun if it gets brought up too often. sunny doesn’t deserve to be forced into spending time with someone who hates them.

it’s genuinely that Sunny has been making a serious effort to take Leo’s feelings and safety into account while Leo continues to only be mean towards her. Sunny left their safety with Foolish because it could make Leo uncomfortable, Sunny avoided Foolish even when alone because she knew Leo wouldn’t want them hanging out, Sunny gave their food to Leo when she thought they didn’t have any, they offered that Leo spend the day with her and Tubbo even though they just got Tubbo back because Foolish wasn’t there, and so much more. Leo has not reciprocated any of this, her best is just not saying something mean to Sunny.

Sunny has been trying to stop a conflict, she doesn’t not want to engage with this egg beef and just wants them and Leo to be happy. Sunny also never hated Leo, even when they were upset with Leo she stopped to tell them about their candy shoes. Sunny honestly was only ever mad, I don’t really think they allow themself to dislike people. It feels more one sided because that’s what it is, Sunny running away from a conflict trying to be nice while Leo beats them down. It’s Sunny ending the fight and trying to leave when Leo blocks her exit, and is so dangerous to Sunny, Ramon had to actively step in.

Leo holds grudges and Sunny can not do anything about that, the fact she still hasn’t gotten over the first day they met says that enough.

No but I really feel House - constantly saying how much he Doesn’t Care about stuff except for his job which is basically the one thing he’s Allowed to really care about.

This concept of earnestness being punished or frowned upon or struck down. The fear of being earnest, of letting people see how/how much you care, and knowing that the way you care is different from the way other people care. And being afraid that if people see the passion you have for the same things everyone else also has passion about, they’ll see you doing it Wrong or Too Much so it’s better not to care at all.

yes he can be passionate about work - no one else can do what he does, so his singleminded autistic passion and hyperfixation is okay, is safe. It’s weird but people accept it bc the results matter more than the method (basically). But caring about the smaller more every day things, the things that any and everyone else can also care about, means that the singleminded, over the top, autistic way he can approach things is more easily compared to the way people Should Act, and we know that not doing things as they’re expected to be done was punished growing up. Am I projecting? Shut up. Yes but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong!