#theme: missed connections

[mokulule]

The Number You have Called Cannot Be Reached - part 8

Part 1 | Masterlist

Ship: Dead on Main (Danny/Jason) Warnings: angst/depression and canon typical violence So I promised this like months ago, and then got overwhelmed by having to manage the taglist resulting in me not updating this fic despite actually having written the next part. So that said this is the last time I'm tagging people, please subscribe to the masterlist - I'm gonna link it both here at the top and at the bottom. Anyways enjoy the next part:

Jason could handle this. He had handled this for years. The Pits were a known enemy. It shouldn’t effect him to this degree. But he could handle this. He could go about his day without putting heads in duffel bags, that had got to count as a win. The fact that he was avoiding his family, was just a precaution. Jason had everything under control.

Not like when he’d fled the Cave after assaulting Bruce in his stupid sweater.

That had not been his proudest moment. But the thing that really got to him was how he didn’t remember doing it. He didn’t even remember going to the Cave. When he tried to think it was all a green haze. The last moment of real clarity was opening Ghost’s bag and seeing nothing but dry protein bars. Knowing in his gut this was all he ate and that he stood with his food, and no way to give it back to him.

When he had fled the Cave, he’d gone home shaking like a leaf, and sunk to the floor trying to get his head back on straight. He didn’t know how long he sat there with his back against the door, just trying to breathe and search his memory. Eventually, though he didn’t know after how long, he found his phone and looked up the news. It had been a great relief to find that Red Hood had not been sighted, so he likely hadn’t been out on a murder spree he couldn’t remember.

But now it was days later. There had been no more green hazes. Things were under control.

Maybe he hit a bit harder, and a bit longer, when he went out. But it was the normal amount? Wasn’t it? Definitely not much more than normal, if it was more. That he was sure of… like 80% sure of. Jason rubbed the front of his helmet in lieu of his brow - It didn’t really help. What had Bruce even said that set him off? He barely remembered, something that felt demeaning, but the words escaped him no matter how many times he turned them over in his head. Normally he wouldn’t question himself that like, of course Bruce would have said something demeaning, he always did. He didn’t trust Jason, never would again. There would always be suspicion and doubt. But now…

Jason’s hand clenched into fists. Now having been without the Pits’ influence, having seen Bruce trying to reach out to him, as awkward and resigned as it had been, he wasn’t so sure.

He wasn’t sure he could trust himself.

Maybe this was all Bruce’s plan? Another of his famous gambits - this one to fold Jason back under his control, with the pretense of love and family. Because surely he had been right all along and Jason needed to be watched, couldn’t be trusted on his own.

Jason ripped the helmet off his head, only barely stopped himself from throwing it. He gasped and breathed in deep, like a man drowning. He was the one in control, he reminded himself firmly. Not the pits. Not Bruce.

There was sound in his comms and he hastily pulled the helmet back on. Ghost had been sighted. He had to go. If he could just talk with Ghost, figure out what this was.

Ghost ran away. Immediately, as if he could sense Jason.

It was okay, Jason could handle this.

Oo o oO

Barbara tapped the space bar absently without actually pressing it. Keeping half an eye on her leftmost monitor which showed the program she used for the surveillance in Gotham, no persons of interest were pinging tonight so far, no alarms had tripped for about an hour. She had time to ponder the conundrum that was their reoccurring thief.

If the thief was building something the other night was proof the loss of the spectral calibrator, hadn’t put a stop to the progress. The thief never ran in the same direction so they still didn’t even have that to go by to narrow down where he stayed, when he wasn’t giving them the run around.

The odd reaction to Jason hadn’t made a reappearance. In fact the moment Jason joined them the thief disappeared immediately: density shifting into the ground. Jason was not happy about it to say the least.After the backpack full of barely edible off-brand protein bars had been delivered to the cave by Jason, Barbara would agree with Jason that whatever situation the thief was in, it was worrying if this was all that he ate. She still held by her assessment that the photographic evidence was of too low quality early in their run-ins because of the strange electromagnetic interference he gave off to actually judge if he’d lost weight - but he did look very gaunt now.

She leaned back in her chair. A cup of coffee was warm between her hands, she breathed in the familiar scent as she considered the known facts.

Name assumed to be Danny Fenton, potentially legally Daniel Fenton, though they’d been unable to find a match to his physical appearance and rough age in their databases. He hadn’t actually spoken to any of them, it was a very real possibility he was a foreigner, but they’d checked and he wasn’t wanted by any foreign intelligence services.

The phone was baffling.

It was a brick, and it looked like something from the early 00s, from around the time when handheld phones really started to be something everyone had.

Tim had asked for Barbara’s help after he hadn’t been able to recover the erased text messages for some days. Tim had filled her in on his discovery that while all the numbers coded into the phone led to a “the number you have called cannot be reached” message when called from the phone - some of the numbers were actually active when looked up; the Jazz one led to a pizza place and the Dad number led to an elderly woman with Chinese heritage who had no relation to anyone named Danny or Fenton. The rest of the numbers weren’t currently in use.

It was odd however that despite those two numbers being in use, they still got the cannot be reached message. Tim had suggested the program which made the phone able to piggyback on the mobile network without a sim was faulty, but it had been easy enough for Barbara to disprove by calling a local number which connected with no problem. Tim was brilliant but sometimes he got too caught up in his complicated theories that he forgot the simple things.

Her recovery program for the text messages had just finished running (this was her third attempt). She took a sip of coffee, leaned forward and promptly nearly spat it out when she saw the result. It went down the wrong pipe when she tried to recover and she coughed and sputtered. Carefully she put her cup on her desk before she spilled it.

Finally her airways were clear and she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Somehow this was Dick’s fault.

She had recovered the messages. They were there - time stamps and all. The last message received was over a decade ago in 2009 and wasn’t that ominous? But that was a side note to be pondered later, because the contents of the messages, oh this was malicious.

Somehow, before deletion every single message had been changed to “Ghost”.

Not just a single ghost, no, entire messages teasing at their original length, but just changed into ghost ghost ghost ghost ghost. A whole litany of ghosts.

And it was definitely Dick’s fault.

Next

So that was it, hopefully I will be able to get back in the swing of things now. Commentary and tags are a great motivator and I read them all. As stated this is last time I tag people, so in the future you can subscribe to the masterlist or on Ao3 where the edited and hopefully better version eventually goes up.

Tag list of doom part 1:

@thewondersoflebanon | @gin2212 | @busterkeel | @apointlessbox | @spoopyspoony | @charlietheepic7 | @proper-idiocy | @serasvictoria02 | @zgirlly | @emeraldcorpral | @mushroom-jack | @v-inari | @8-29pm | @quirky-gardener | @vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff | @mars-the-witch | @elthepickle | @thegatorsgoose | @impulsiveasshole |

@tired-yet-awaken | @luagi-the-bestest | @britcision | @autumnwulf | @little-pondhead | @asphyxia778 | @sarina-elais | @may-rbi | @onlyhereforthechaos | @somuchyikes | @yjfk | @rosiea184 | @screamingtofillthevoid | @ailithnight | @writer-extraodinaire | @samgirl98 | @hanahaki-disease | @riverdancingwerewolves |

#Jason is catnip to Danny #Missed Connections #dead on main #these next three parts are going to be following a theme #as Jason gets steadily more unhinged #sorry dear #it's necessary #dp x dc

[ohmygodthemuppets]

found this @ an antique store-paid too much for it BUT it has my boys on it so that's a plus <3

#if anyone needs rainbow connection or the muppet show theme on sheet music hit me up #the muppets #muppets #kermit the frog #fozzie bear #miss piggy #dr teeth and the electric mayhem #rowlf the dog #my things

[alexiethymia]

I love “I heard your voice too”, but I also love the translation, “Thank you Meryl. It reached me. Your voice”.

It cements the parallel between them as foolhardy, reckless idiots who never give up, as well as makes a neat little call back to the first episode where Meryl ropes him in. Meryl’s voice reached him in time to save him, and Vash’s wire reached her in time to save her from Knives.

#trigun #trigun stampede #vashmeryl #tristamp #vash the stampede #meryl stryfe #it’s about how what vash longs for the most is human connection #but he doesn’t usually make himself available for it #as nai points out because of his guilt #but also because simply put most people don’t ever bother to try #but meryl tries so many times at the risk of her own life #despite vash’s power and self sacrificial tendency she sees him as someone who simply needs a helping hand #and as she’s said before #she doesn’t want to regret anymore and miss the opportunity to protect those dear to her #she’s human but she puts himself out there to help and protect vash #not because vash can’t protect himself but because he won’t #and that’s a theme that rings true for the both of them no matter the timeline manga ‘98 anime and tristamp #and I think that’s just neat #I really love subtle dynamics like that #ships

[artforinfinity]

I did the thing

I am genuinely shocked that I didn't mess this up I thought it was gonna be a disaster

Reblogs appreciated <3

Close ups + extra stuff under cut

Close ups

Concept art yaay

And finally the sheet I used to regulate the saturation of the watercolor because I didn't know how else to do it, I just think it looks kinda neat

Ok. I hate watercolor. I hate it less now that when I started but uhhh still not a fan. Yes this was a school project, cringe is dead I am a free man.

#jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #giorno giovanna #jojo no kimyou na bouken #jojo's bizarre adventure #vento aureo #golden wind #OK I AM GONNA GEEK ABOUT THIS NOW SORRY #so there are a fuck ton of references here like a LOT #so I am only going on the background ones #the whole gang is represented here #bruno with zippers fugo with strawberries nara with his plane mista with the 6s abba with his A coins and trish with the math symbols #giorno's theme is represented with the piano #his connection to part 9 is represented with the triangles #the outro is pretty blatantly referenced because it's so funny WHY THAT SONG #and the giorno in half is an inside joke with my friend #rip perler giorno 1 you will forever be missed 🫡 #god this was. an experience. a uh. um. a golden experience.

[moonpaw]

One of the elders being named saturn, and the fact that it's confirmed that one of the ancient weapons is a living person along with their planet names, I wonder if the ancient "weapons" were all living people/beings and if the three either defected or was a part of the same group as the elders way back?

There's also the whole thing with the sun too, as well

#one piece #one piece spoilers #egghead spoilers #one piece 1073 #one piece unreleased #5 elders + 3 weapons gives us the original 8 planets #(not counting earth) #imu's theme could be connected to like... hm #either the missing earth element here or something vaster like the solar system-beyond? #assuming it keeps up with that kind of theme #we dont know the other elders titles but HMMM #giving the weapons planet names and an elder a planet name is just... its all coming together lol #ohhhhh i wanna know more about imu so so bad #is his motif the moon instead? #giving us a sun vs moon kinda deal that i thought would be saved for blackbeard? #which im still leaning on but hm #it's also fitting i think #like with the moon and the world government seeming straight forward at first #but then you look closer and see the dark side of it and the secrets [imu not being known to the public or anyone else besides #the higher uppers] #WAIT THE CELESTIAL DRAGONS ARE SPACE THEMED TOO #they literally wear space suits #ough

[mayoiayasep]

changing my theme to ward off the random temptation to delete my blog.

#literally nothing good would come out of deleting too like i would miss the connections ive made on here and all the interactions i had #nyx yells #i dont know man im just tired. of what idk. gah. visty theme save me...

[layalu]

i'm finally getting around to listening to TMA Properly but man i think i should've been taking notes jflksdjflk

#i cant remember dates or names worth shit and well. those are kind of important rip #events and recurring themes/symbols/etc connect but when there are recurring names there is a 95% chance ill miss it #same with dates/ the order in which events take place #lay rambles #i tried getting into it several times but found it really hard to listen to smh #(and still do sometimes in the sense that ill suddenly notice that ill suddenly notice that i didnt pay attention) #but im having a fun time with it anyways :]

[pixlokita]

Sooo... Help Wanted 2 is out... What are your opinions on it? Who do you think we are playing as? Personally I think we are playing as Cassie's dad but it's okay if you have different opinion!

(Also Happy birthday to Security Breach btw (What makes me feel very old is that Security Breach came out when I was 11... I'm almost 14 at this point...) )

I honestly am so lost right now. I’ve tried to make sense of the game but after what happened with ruin I’m scared to get anything wrong =w= personally I’d like to hear more of the Helpy lore :’> like what did that lil guy even do xD

#pix answers #fnaf #the brain fog is not really allowing to think too clearly about what’s happening to who is there or who isn’t #I can’t connect it to any character #see I’d assume it was Michael seeing as how it’s all ?? basically themed as the games he was the protagonist for #the missing kids are there too ? #and my brain keeps associating Helpy to CC because of the gas mask and the brain injury #IF that’s even a brain injury #it looks like he got a lobotomy but who knows #the fact that baby and lefty attack you when you’re torturing him too #like Elizabeth and Charlie protecting CC ? #well makes no sense yeah like I said I’m confused #pffft #y’all can feel free to send me your theories :> I like to hear everyone’s take on this #help wanted 2 spoilers #but pls be polite don’t be like Twitter =w= last time someone called me a cow for thinking MXES was related to William

[multiplekittens]

The going "well actually" comments on my brand new popular post started with "well actually spider-man doesn't have a big bug in it" then went to "well actually spider-man is for real kafkaesque" and is now at "well actually the fly ISN'T kafkaesque." By my calculations I should be getting comments about how the fly doesn't feature any big bugs in around two hours

#this is jokes. im having fun i love wjen my posts get big #for the record i kind of agree that the fly isnt kafkaesque; while i do think it shares themes of helplessness and alienation #and you can make some tangential connections to alienation as a result of capitalistic social structures #i think its missing the strong connection to bureaucracy and capitalism that i'd really want to confidently describe it as kafkaesque. #that being said its close enough for my silly little joke post so let me have this one. please. its my birthday im a little birthday boy #also if youre one of my brand new followers hello and im very sorry. i make a good post approximately once every four and a half months #as based on my join date and the posting dates of my two Popular Posts #i hope you have a good time regardless :)

[commsroom]

Happy belated birthday! Just wanted to hop in again saying I love your posts about Wolf 359. They’re all so good.

I’m on a relisten again and am at the end of season 3. And I’m thinking about how fascinating it is that Hera remembered the Thanksgiving with her at the table physically. And in a post if yours I read recently or you posted recently you talked about Hera getting a human body and I think that scene kinda hints at maybe wanting to be physically there? Idk.

If you’re up for it you can share your thoughts on this. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and leave you with some of my Wolf 359 thoughts.

Sending you good vibes over the internet.

thank you; you're always so sweet!! 💙

we're absolutely on the same wavelength here, too!! that scene in particular is a big reason why i feel like hera would want a body - what it says about her self-perception, sense of physicality (even without experience to contextualize it), and... as a result, that she experiences physical loneliness. and, notably, that all of those things are subconscious framing in what she misremembers. i've posted about that scene before here, and in my... way too long essay about hera here, which i'll try to paraphrase a bit. and in other places, too, probably! i think about it a lot.

so: i think there's a big difference between existing differently (which can be isolating in itself, but... through lack of understanding) and feeling like she's always being kept away from the others - somewhere else, physically. she clearly conceptualizes herself in that space as within the hephaestus, separate from it and the systems she runs, the same as everyone else. that's the difference between "other people need to change their attitudes" and... well, other people still need to change their attitudes, but there is also something fundamental about her circumstances that she's unhappy with and needs to change.

(and, obviously, like... because you know i see hera as a trans woman, i think some of the parallels you could make to medical transition are pretty clear in that framing, too.)

minkowski says “you weren’t here with us [...] we were over here, and you were over there” but minkowski would never actually say that - from her perspective, hera was as there with them as she's ever been. but if hera doesn't feel that way - if - like the sound design suggests - she's always hearing their voices the way they hear hers... if she's always felt that she's somewhere else... then it's hard for me to imagine there's a way to resolve that without giving her the autonomy to physically interact with the others, to be seen the way she sees herself - and that's something i think is really highlighted in the finale, too.

#wolf 359 #w359 #hera wolf 359 #asks #like i get why some people don't want AI Characters in General to have human forms but i think the circumstances are soo different for hera #and denying that that physicality is a part of her and that her lack of physicality is both like. a social frustration and #and issue of autonomy for her... i think would be missing some really major parts of her character. that are really important to me #for. as usual. trans and disability related reasons in particular. #you know? like there are ... themes here that i think would be better explored if i could tell it as a story. as opposed to writing meta #but i think there's really something about what hera having a body would highlight about those experiences and just. bodies in general #in the context of wolf's themes about humanity. like. that having a body won't fix all of the problems she might hope it would #that it would equalize her experience in some way and make her realize she wasn't that different before. that some of the limitations #might be frustrating. but also that... the way it would broaden her ability to experience things and be really present in her own life #by limiting her perspective to those very tangible mundane things... i think that's really in line with wolf 359's discussion about #'the big picture' as opposed to personal connection etc. #i think it is just very personal for me as someone who does feel so disconnected that like. i dunno. #i like to think it would be worth it for her. #well. thank you for asking. i'm always happy to hear from you!!

[todayisafridaynight]

IW spoilers but I think it'd have been sick, especially w Ebina vs Kiryu being the end fight, if Ebina was from Sunflower; man can have pretty much the same backstory and cope and seethe abt the yakuza all he likes and NOT JUST BE ANOTHER AOKI SURPRISE BONUS ARAKAWA FAMILY DRAMA

I know this would take away from Ichi focus again but it aint as if the narrative hasn't already done that by making him deal w old wrinklyass munakata 2 cult boogaloo as his story and not letting him sit with family time

i desperately need kiryu to think for more than 2 minutes about Kazama being not perfect

NO BUT LITERALLY IF EBINA HAD TO HAVE CONNECTIONS TO A YAKUZA TO HATE THEM ALL THEN SUNFLOWER WOLUD'VE BEEN PERFECT

esp with the substory in gaiden it feels like the franchise keeps edging us into having kiryu fully accept kazama wasnt perfect and seeing how he affected Everyone Else That Wasn't Him. like GREAT for you kiryu that it worked out, everyone else tho !!!! uh !!!!!!! 👁️‍🗨️👁️‍🗨️

like he gets that realization in small doses but ebina couldve been a great bigger example of that ...

#iw spoilers #spoilers #snap chats #like literally swap out arakawa for kazama and you'd get the exact same thing but better #ebina couldn't kill kazama because he was killed by someone else. Sad !!!!!!! #kazama didnt bother with ebina like he did with kiryu and nishiki. Tragic !!!!!!! #LIKE COME ON 🗣️🗣️🗣️ #but god the game does take away from ichi as soon as akane's resolved .... #like i get THAT was his whole point of going to hawaii but ... its clear family is still a theme in this game #what with eiji being a masato parallel and ebina being A Masato Parallel #its so strange to just sideline him when ebina is still out there and choosing to have kiryu resolve that #like sure kiryu dumping the tojo on daigo was A Thing He Did but .. the family thing is so much more of a thing than that innit #Especially In This Game jesus christ #ugh the fucking. attempt to connect ebina to arakawa is forever the dumbest shit ever #i mean A Third Baby Has Hit The Coin Lockers accidentally came true in a sense but in the dumbest way possible #IN A WAY THAT DIDNT MATTERED AND WE WERE TOLD BOUT IT IN THE STUPIDEST WAY TOO #daigo much love but 1.) why do you know this 2.) why are you telling kiryu this 3.) WHY IS IT IN AN IN-GAME CUTSCENE #the in-game cutscenes def improved since y7 BUT YOU CAN'T JUST REWATCH THIS SCENE #IF YOU'RE WATCHING RENDERED STUFF ONLY YOU WILL MISS THIS AND BE SO COFUSED #not that it really fucking mattered but UGH //eats dry wall// #y8 you coulda done s much more ..........

[oliveroctavius]

would I be rightly made fun of if I made a Gwiles amv to Unpronounceable by TMBG when more footage from Gwen's intro in ATSV comes out

#I am aware I have the music taste of a white computer programmer from the 90s #the glitchy missed connections theme. I'd have to try it out though it might not gel #olivertxt

[crunchycrystals]

i hate interpreting "give me back my girlhood it was mine first" as being about just virginity mostly because it feels so much more meaningful if you allow yourself to interpret it as your younger self and the childhood innocence you had that got taken from you but also because i hate the idea of calling someone's virginity their "girlhood"

#crunchyposts #ts #wcs #am i crazy for thinking i dont want to call virginity “girlhood” #that feels Wrong #but also like as a lyric its so much better if you don't interpret it like that #like come on. you're gonna hear lyrics about being preyed on at a young age by an older man and regretting that it happened #lyrics that explicitly said “i miss who i used to be” and youre just gonna say that lines about virginity. #“i'd like to be my old self again but i'm still trying to find it” come on. have you ever felt the deep grief of a past version of yourself #that youll never get back. also im not fucking speculating on someone's virginity #this makes me so angry now that im writing all of this i have no idea why #maybe its bc im ace and i connect a lot with the song and the themes of grief and like the childhood innocence that connects so much to #the religious imagery of the song (INNOCENT. HELLO) and reducing it to just that makes me so. oh my god #anyways another post that falls into the category of “every time i think about wcs i write an essay” #literally just about 9 words lol

[transsexualutopia]

I'm ngl I mainly liked Barbie (2023) for the theatrical experience rather than the source material. I love pink, I loved the set design, I loved the costumes, I loved people going to the theater in theme with the movie and the overall joyful atmosphere.

As for the plot...idk. (I'm not getting into the commentary about feminism or the patriarchy as others did it better than I can.) I definitely didn't feel like the target audience considering I'm not a millennial (or better yet, a young parent) disconnected from whimsy with wistful nostalgia about their childhood. Mattel has been marketing towards that demographic for a while now, and it seems like they're not even attempting for my age or younger. Which is odd, to me, considering a lot of people my age really enjoyed the animated movies and musicals.

I feel like it could've benefitted from being a musical and having a more fantastical setting than just BarbieLand. Even if they were dead set on keeping the themes I don't understand why everything had to be grounded in the Real World. It just seemed like such a safe choice, not a bad one necessarily, but definitely safe to not alienate older folk going to see it. But I didn't really want safe, I wanted whimsical, musical, magical, and I don't see how that would've compromised having an emotionally relatable theme or message.

#dare I say it could've been animated but by now we would've been bombarded with articles of labor abuses too #i don't want to sound overly critical of something a lot of people really connected to but idk #it just seems like they're trying to reassure people who miss their childhood that they're not childish for liking a toy brand still #like being childish isn't some like weirdo thing like unclench #you can't be whimsical if you're afraid of coming off as immature #god forbid a children's brand cater...to children #like we could've had secret spy barbie #or a princess barbie #or a mermaid or fairy barbie adventure #with themes relating to motherhood and the fear of growing old and being a woman period #but instead we got a blockbuster that had a cute theatrical experience I'll give it that much I won't forget the experience #but the plot? ssbkshskw already forgotten baby 🫰 #anyways peace and love on planet earth #chelposting

[mermaidsirennikita]

As a massive Wuthering Heights/Bronte fan (literally have WH content tattooed on my body).... you can skip Emily.

Forever I repeat, watch Lady Chatterley's Lover instead if you want sweepy sexy historical drama stuff. Or again. Like, Emily had *moments*, but it really should've been a movie about the Bronte siblings, versus a movie about Emily Bronte and a guy who... could not, under even fictional circumstances, inspire Wuthering Heights, because he had *nothing to do with Wuthering Heights* as a person.

#emily (2022) #wuthering heights #LOL TANGENTIALLY I GUESS? #i mean it's not a total miss but it was kinda frustrating for me as someone who loves that book #bc it felt very much like they were all 'THIS INSPIRED THE BOOK' #which fine i have zero issue w making up a story about how WH was inspired by OJC dicking emily bronte down #but he had.... nothing to do as a character w the themes and characters in WH #you know who did? BRANWELL LOL #which relates to life most likely #but it felt like the movie knew..... the bronte sibs look weird on paper #and they wanted to avoid the implications of that #so like you have moments that clearly link to WH that are more connected to the SIBLINGS #the mask scene #the looking in on the windows #emily cuddling branwell's corpse #but somehow i'm supposed to think OJC inspired WH? make it make sense #anyway yeah love WH love OJC but this just didn't make sense #and i just want a good WH adaptation

[resolvebound]

shh. no im not gonna change my theme Again

#totally not looking at themes rn nope #i finally finished all the banners. 4 hours later OTL and i probably missed one #i still wanna do connection/bond pages but i will do some replies before then #i also really need to get to my canon divs one day #smh #❰ ･ﾟ only me ― [ ooc. ] ― ❱