What do you like about trains?

I’m not sure where this love for trains started to manifest within me but as a child, whenever I would see a train it evoked a feeling of adventure and just overall fascination. I have a brother a year apart in age with Autism, and there was a two year stretch where he hyper fixated on trains and I think that’s probably where it started tbh.

However after my love for history started to intensify as I grew up…dude how can someone not immerse themselves in the history of trains; the mechanics of how they work, the evolution over time, their part and role in history, the sheer size and power of them, technology, railroads, their potential, AND THE RAILWAYS IMPACT ON HOW WE LIVE. How people got their food, the advancements of society because of the railroads, the mines, labor, and so much more. It’s had such an impact on our lives through history since their formation as wagonways(?) when you think about it, the power and skills it takes to engineer a train is absolutely insane but it’s not something we often marvel at? It doesn’t receive the same reaction as other technological advancements.

Compare the first few trains invented in Germany to the latest bullet trains coming out in the last decade or so. I love the charm of a classic steam powered train however I do acknowledge the badass-ery of the more recent evolutions of trains heh. Also just love this idea of railroads all over a stretch of land connecting people, it’s somehow different than roads in my head I’m not sure why.

There’s something so stunning about moving at 100+ miles per hour and just walking about a train, taking time to gaze out a window, perhaps dine, and whatnot. It feels like time stops once a train starts moving. It’s stunning! Not only that but there’s something so romantic about trains to me, and one could argue I find a lot of things romantic however I swear I have a valid point here. Trains are also beautiful. The interior and the exterior. There’s something so nostalgic about them. Even as I’ve gotten older I still geek when passing a train.

Trains are a beast, but even with their power and might they have maintained their elegance and class and beauty <3

Cannot Unsee. Cannot Unknow.

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oh how i love peace on us

here you go houlihawkers

Ok, to the like 5 Michie girlies (I see y’all, I appreciate y’all 🫡) I’ve cooked a bit hear me out:

In Literal Monster one of the nerds says “I once was his tutor, then I regarded my future”- so that implies he needs a tutor/ is academically failing, right? But it seems he actually needed and valued it because the tutor seemingly worked for, at the very least, a day before quitting on her own terms… (DO YOU GUYS SEE THE VISION)

So- everyone lives/nobody dies AU where Richie is the one who saves Max, Max- who thinks the gang threw him this party+Richie saving his football season (cause he would totally value that more then his life come on)- is like, on neutral/ friendlier terms with the gang, bla bla bla something happens and Max asks (basically forces lmao) Richie into tutoring him. (Reasons why Max can’t just cheat off of Richie can range from him sitting next to Grace to Richie gaining a bit of confidence seeing Max ask him for help and saying no (but plz don’t kill me I’ll still help you)).

Bing Bang Boom, redemption arc for Max as he falls for the cringe ass failure of a anime weeb. Very slowly! but surely.

(Plus you get so many funny scenarios- The gang finding out Richies helping their bully-turned-maybe friend????(at least he thinks so), RUTH FINDING OUT (I KNOW that girl reads/writes hardcore smut fanfic), Max slowly getting into anime via osmosis (would he like Attack on Titian? I feel like yes.) etc. Endless possibilities here.)

it’s not that i think dennis reynolds didn’t do anything wrong it’s just that i love him anyway

i do not want to dig a hole but i am too much of a laura bailey pc enjoyer to not make this post so:

selfishness ≠ a lack of kindness 

selfishness is a theme that has come up with all of laura's main campaign pcs. that doesn't mean that her characters are always making selfish choices or that they don't care about the rest of the people they're with or that they're not good. it's just that, for the most part, the first thing they're thinking of when they take action or make choices is themselves. 

in jester and vex both it is more typical and obvious selfishness. vex's developed because she needed it to keep herself and vax alive and as safe as possible and it grew into a behaviour that she had to actively work to avoid. it's evident in her greed, her theft of the broom, her reaction to her own death which relied heavily on i'm okay/i survived to which keyleth reminded her that she wasn't the only one who had to witness and reckon with her death. in jester's case, she grew up in an environment that literally trained her to make every decision based on two things - her mother's opinion and her own. so, when she's out in the world without marion for the first time, her choices are those that will benefit her and her actions are those that consider her own thoughts and not really many others' (aside from the traveler's). 

it isn't a criticism of either vex or jester to say that they are characters who act selfishly. in fact, i'd argue that to claim otherwise does a great disservice to exactly how immense both of their character arcs are. because the nuance of both jester and vex is that they are selfish, and they also hold extreme room for self-sacrifice and empathy. vex is much more brash than jester is, and jester is much more trusting than vex, but both of them are characters who begin with selfish impulses who grow with them. neither ever truly shed those impulses, but they use them in new ways, typically transforming them into impulses towards things that are in the best interest of the party. 

you may have noticed the lack of imogen in this post about laura bailey pcs and that's because of two reasons. one, we are an unknown amount of time into her story, i can't analyse her development the same way i can vex and jester's. two, imogen's selfishness isn't the blatant quasi-self-aware selfishness that we see in things like jester complaining about her lack of money to caleb or vex stealing a broom. instead, imogen's is very internal, like a lot of laura's character work with imogen. it is a bit similar to jester’s in the sense that it comes from a lack of awareness moreso than vex’s practiced behaviour, but imogen’s is a lot more tied to inherent beliefs she has about the world and the people in it.

as a consequence of her powers, imogen sees people's thoughts as their entirety, she holds it above their actions to be the truth of who they are - to act against what they think or to say something that doesn’t cohere with what they’ve thought is akin to lying, so for her to act empathetically is to act in tandem with what someone else’s thoughts are, not how they act, which is typically not all that wanted. the same as vex’s greed and jester’s naivety, this is a trait that makes narrative sense and it’s one i find quite compelling, especially when read in the vein of someone struggling through trauma that has made them assume that the world is against them. imogen’s cynicism is coherent cynicism, i can’t say that in a similar situation i wouldn’t have the same predisposition towards the world.

the part that is particularly self-interested comes in if you look at how imogen has actually been treated in the campaign (quite well) in comparison to the cynicism that she’s developed from her past (something that speaks to a world out to get her). certainly, a bunch of shitty things have happened to imogen in the time we’ve known her, but the same can be said for everyone in bell’s hells and pretty much everyone in exandria at this point in time. but, in a fight to save the aforementioned world, imogen’s focus was getting her mother back on her side. which, while very consistent with her character and a choice that i enjoy, is a very selfish one. the fun thing (to me, obviously) about imogen is that she has, more than most, an insight into the opinions of others and she also tends to seek others’ opinions out and genuinely engages with them and supports their choices. but she still very much acts towards what she thinks is best. it’s one reason i enjoy looking at the dynamic between her and orym as one between foils, as orym tends to be stalwart in his beliefs and doesn’t care too much for other’s opinions if he’s already sure of his own, but his actions tend to favour collaboration and protecting others.

as i mentioned earlier, imogen is a harder case to look at because she is still in the process of her story. however, the circlet is clearly influencing how she interacts with the world and in the wake of the solstice, the hostile reaction towards ruidusborn people has started to become more and more apparent and i’m interested to see what route that ends up leading imogen down and how it will influence her relationship with the rest of bell’s hells. (for better, i think, based on recent conversations, but if it's for worse i will be just as seated and excited).

all of this is just to say, please stop assuming that claiming a character has a trait you think is a bad one is criticism or a hate post. in light of the fact that i know that people who don’t believe this will continue to not believe this, i’ll encourage anyone confused about the ability of a character to be good and kind and selfish all at once to look to what the text itself says, specifically scanlan’s words to pelor when asked what vex means to him:

“Her name is Vex, and she is greedy and mean sometimes, and she can steal a lot. She’s a little bit not the greatest person, but her flaws highlight everything that is right about her, which is she does all these things to protect her friends and her family. She would give her life for any of us and for anyone who was truly in need. And she’s not perfect but she’s the most perfect of all of us.”

would you look at that... an ability to be a multitude of things, some in conflict with one another. i know that's hard for fandoms to believe, especially about female characters with agency, but i promise its true!

Idk what this is . Nessian bridgerton au? Personally I feel like Cassian would fuck up one of those slutty little flowy white shirts they wear. You know the one

(they'll never understand) How could I ever understand? No, I don't have to understand. I don't wanna understand. So I will never understand. (we could have everything)

I'm wracking my brain with what Joker would do in an established situation, like how would he keep those homicidal urges at bay (sex and intimacy can only go so far I imagine) and also there's so much unacknowledged mental health concerns. Bruce would just have to always be ready to pick up the pieces I feel like (God these two are a tragic mess). I don't think normalcy is possible but I don't think their relationship is built for that anyway (I've been writing notes down for a story for days and it's just been consuming me)

An actual relationship between Bruce and Joker is a very complicated thing to imagine, yeah. I agree with you that normalcy is entirely out of the question-- as in, a typical "healthy" relationship. What I think they could have is something that works, but not something that most people would understand or approve of. If you're writing a story, I would say it depends on how they got into the relationship a lot, and if Bruce is compromising as much as Joker perceives he is. For instance, a rehabilitation scenario inherently implies a power imbalance, which Joker would resent and Bruce would not be able to help not taking advantage of. This would not end up working out, in my opinion, unless they got back on equal footing somehow. So a scenario with them an equal footing is what I will be rambling about.

Joker's homicidal urges and mental health issues are indeed a big obstacle. It'd take a whole lot for him to even agree to try for a relationship that involves something other than violence, but this denotes a willingness to compromise from the start. It means he cares about Bruce enough to risk opening the door to his humanity, something that he's very keen on eradicating. Joker can allow himself to love Batman as long as love equals destruction; but once love begins to mean more tender things, things that only people and not monsters can feel... it's a threat to his very identity, to his very core. Hence, just the fact that Joker is in an established relationship means that he's accepted, one way or another, that he's a human being.

Human beings don't need to kill people. Monsters do. It's relevant to note that Joker has an incredible capacity to reshape himself. He's done so multiple times in canon, and always in relation to what he perceived Batman needed. He was murderous when he emerged, but after Robin appeared on the scene he went for funny silly gags, and then he recreated himself back into a horrific threat... In his head, Batman -- the drive to see meaning in all life, to fight for sense in one's existence -- is the force of nature that he's the opposite of. Joker molded himself as the force of chaos: he kills carelessly, sometimes almost joylessly, because he believes he's embodying the true way the world works (though he's shown signs he'd like to be convinced otherwise).

After all, like his fall in the acid and the trauma he went through proved, catastrophe is random. It doesn't matter if you're good or evil, if you've got a family or if you're alone, if you've contributed to society or not. You can get run over by a bus, you can have a heart attack, you can mix the wrong medications, you can get shot in the head by a madman because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. My point with this is that Joker sees himself as an agent of the cruel randomness of existence, and him killing people is very much part of it. So if he stopped seeing himself as an inhuman force for chaos, I think killing would not be a necessity anymore.

That's not to say he wouldn't think of other people's lives as worthless or that he wouldn't instinctually want to kill someone because they're inconveniencing him as some kind of fly buzzing around, but it does mean he wouldn't need to do it. Being with Bruce undermines the very point of being Joker, it means being a person instead of raging at the world. In an established relationship, he'd need to once again reshape himself, figure out who he can be. It'd be very difficult, if you add Bruce's controlling tendencies in the mix. You mentioned Bruce always having to pick up the pieces, but the thing is, Bruce would want to. He'd want to do that too much, he would enjoy seeing Joker be vulnerable, because afterwards... Bruce would be able to put those pieces back together the way he wants them to be. And Joker would be rightly afraid of that, and Bruce himself would be afraid of his own need to do just that, and it'd be a constant push and pull. That's basically what I think it'd be like for a while, before Joker figured out who exactly he's comfortable being, and if he can trust Bruce to still be there when boundaries are being pushed. It'd be a lot of "make me" even in the context of intimacy, until Joker initiates something that doesn't hurt on his own and like... Bruce doesn't move a muscle as if he might spook a wild animal or something. And then Joker snaps at him to stop making it weird, hah.

I'm going to stop here to avoid turning this into a Batjokes relationship essay, but I hope this helped inspire you, Anon! We can always use more Batjokes stories, excited to eventually read yours.

i wish i wasn’t so lazy and impatient bc i would love to learn how to bind fics. holding a hardcover copy of something you love in your hands……. choosing endpapers for it……. i could make them dust jackets………

Hero is ace and Taylor is aro and after many many years of mutual confusion they finally become qpps that is *my truth* thank you for your time

Congratulations to the 2024 Caldecott books!

sisyphus's dishes 😔

i'm a day late, but to mark the occasion of AM turning ten i recorded a little acoustic cover of one of my fave songs off the album ♥️

i only recently started playing again (and learned to play this song yesterday) so it's definitely somewhat rough around the edges, but i figured i'd share it anyway just as a little tribute to my all time favourite band and the record's birthday? idk, happy birthday AM <3 🎂

listen. i love it when people draw jason w plump beautiful sweet gorgeous lips. bc theyre right. but what they dont understand is that those lips are constantly chapped and split and bitten because my baby boy has an oral fixation and theres nothing he can do about it. give that boy some cracked dry lips and lots of chapstick. please. and maybe something to chew on he cant keep biting into his arms its going to make his teeth worse than they already are

Did anyone else absolutely hate the cherub sideplot in Full Moon