After the dust cleared, it was dead silent. The air was thick with moisture from the dark clouds looming above them all. Someone, probably Raphael, yelled out something Two didn't quite process, his ears still ringing as his vision slowly cleared.
A faint blue glow flickered in the near distance, not too far from where Two was slumped on the ground. More muffled shouts rang out as Two attempted to collect himself, staggering to his feet and trudging over to the source of-
No.
Just the image alone was enough to bring Two collapsing back to his knees. Stupid, he thought.
"H-hey..." One's weak voice just barely got through to Two, snapping him right out of his thoughts.
He stared down at the dimming blue glow, watching it flicker and fade in and out. How the hell are you still here, breathing?
His thoughts became flooded in his head, even more so as he felt his arms cradle his brother's near-lifeless body.
"Did we win?"
Two felt his jaw clench at One's question, feeling frighteningly close to grinding his teeth until they were flat.
Did we win?
The question echoed in Two’s head, as if that would better help him process this moment. In any other instance, he would have deflected and scoffed at such an empty, meaningless question. Did it matter? he thought as he titled his head up, looking around briefly at the wasteland that surrounded them. It was over, that much was apparent.
"Yes,” he huffed, looking down at his brother in his arms as he continued, “Now, shut it and save your strength. Your heart-"
"I know," One croaked out in between a few sputtering breaths, interrupting Two in more ways than one. Two tried to ignore the cast-off of blood coming from his brother's mouth, despising the sickening feeling settling in his stomach as it hit his chin. One smiled weakly up at his brother, his eyes dull and unfocused.
How dare you, Two thought to himself.
His eyes flickered from One's exposed heart, bleeding out and hardly beating, and back to his brother’s face. His brother looked beaten, bloody...broken. It wasn't a look he saw from him often, if at all. It was that damn smile that he watched waver as One's heart beat softer and softer. What cruel irony, Two couldn't help but think, a metaphorical expression brought to life by his stupid, thoughtless, idiotic brother.
Two could still fix this. Even as he held his brother tighter against his own plastron and felt his shirt get soaked by the horrid mix of blood and empyrean; he thought to himself how he'd be the one to fix this.
There was no other choice left.
“Good…” One let out the softest of chuckles, “…we…we can s-start over.”
Something in Two’s own chest faltered, even just briefly. It was enough to shut out the feeling of One’s pathetic coughs and wheezes against him. He watched how One's eyes dulled further, his gaze wandering away from Two's face.
Starting over? That wasn’t ever an option, not one that Two had ever weighed in his mind. He wasn’t sure if that was even an option now. After everything he had done, everything he sacrificed, worked for…his brother still wanted to burn it, bury everything down and out of Two’s reach. One wanted this win, he wanted the impossible.
“Impossible…” Two muttered under his breath.
He heard yet another faint chuckle. And then the dense silence that followed.
the airport scene really is a cinematic masterpiece
we have argyle and jonathan high as hell
willel excited to see their boo
then this doofus shows up only to have his girlfriend immediately be disappointed by “from: mike”, have a totally “heterosexual” interaction with his best friend, then gets clocked by a guy he doesn’t know for wearing a knock-off
i love every moment of it because in just these 2 minutes you find out everything you need to know about the dynamic between mike, el, and will. this is the first half of the catalyst that takes down mikeven, shows mike’s struggle with his sexuality, and the love will has for mike. it’s chef’s kiss fr i couldn’t have asked for a better scene 🤌
you guys ever really notice how casually suicidal Ford comes off sometimes? he constantly refers to himself dying without seeming to mind the idea or fearing it, always begs those around him to get away from danger rather than save him from said danger, is generally just... reckless beyond reason sometimes and even called his mission a suicide mission when the kids went to do practically the same thing he was going to do before the portal opened... and all that.
but also... maybe it's inconsequential and not something to look so far into, but Ford also jokes about suicide at least twice in the journal. Once, where he begs in code 'KILL ME PLEASE' in reference to the Leprecorn, and the other when he recounts his time in the M dimension. While yes, they are clearly jokes, with what we know about Ford's thoughts about death already, there seems to be something more there, you know? who knows, maybe he was feeling a bit suicidal by the time he got to the m dimension and when he got back to the journal to recount his time there, he joked about it with the 'muicidal' pun to make it seem less bad or something. who knows?
i know i'm probably looking way too deep into that stuff about the jokes, but you know what they say, jokes have some truth in them!
I'm writing an essay about Batman, the batfam, and their similarities to cults, if you even care...
But seriously, it's like 4 pages so far and I only got through behavior in the BITE Model, soooo
Please give me examples of any toxic or manipulative or just down right ick Batman (or Batman in general, that can tie in too) behavior, with proof preferably. I know there's a lot of it, and so do you.
I don't know how to explain it, but seeing Sol and Sunjae on my screen makes me all warm inside 🥹🥹
they are both so precious and adorable, and the way Sunjae loves her, and the way Sol selflessly protects him, and them looking at eacher with literal heart eyes 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 there's something so pure in the way they care for each other (guess I knew how to explain it after all)