I think a big part of the reason that season 3 of Infinity Train hits so hard is that I can't really bring myself to hate Simon, because, at the end of the day, he is a victim, too.
When Hazel suggests holding a funeral, Simon says that she should "just say something and we'll pretend a bunch of annoying neighbors brought casseroles and be done with it." That is not a generic image of a funeral. That is a very specific idea of a funeral that almost certainly comes from personal experience. It is also how a grieving child would likely remember being surrounded by a bunch of adults who want to comfort you but don't know how when you just want to be left alone.
Simon was ten when he got on the train, and very likely just experienced the death of a parent, which can feel like an abandonment to a child. He then gets abandoned again by his new parental figure, and his life is saved by someone his age. At this point he is extremely vulnerable, extremely impressionable, and extremely scared. I'm pretty sure that Grace didn't decide that higher numbers were better until Simon asked how she got hers so high and she, desperate for friendship and attention and just as traumatized as him, said that it was because she was "good at the train". From that moment on, it was decided that high numbers were better, and because the number only goes up when you deepen your trauma and become a worse person, they created a negative feedback loop for each other.
But neither of them can be blamed for this. It is a logical outcome of putting a bunch of children on the Trauma Train and not explaining the rules. This doesn't absolve them of their crimes, but it does make it impossible for me to truly hate them.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Showcasing art from some of my favourite artists, and those that have attracted my attention, in the field of visual arts, including vintage; pulp; pop culture; books and comics; concert posters; fantastical and imaginative realism; classical; contemporary; new contemporary; pop surrealism; conceptual and illustration.
Just thinking about the parallels between Francesca+I, Carrion (Icarian) and Sunlight from his last album.
“If I hit a squall allow the ground to find its brutal way to me” with “strap the wings to me, death-trap clad happily with wax melted I’d meet the sea” with “I’d tell them put me back in it, I would do it again, if I could hold you for a minute I’d go through it again.”
Love and devotion and the willingness to be complicit in your own downfall for just one minute with the one you love, to destroy yourself chasing after it, to know that it will end (all things end!) but doing it anyway.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
cannot stop thinking about "heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I." the idea that the person you are or the way you love is so much that "good" is too limiting a word to encompass it. the idea of loving another person so much that the order of the universe means nothing. the idea that others' attempts to control it are a mark of their failure, not yours. i'm losing my mind about it thank you hozier
and like, as a catholic queer person listening to fancesca, even though we have the myth of paolo and francesca theres no outright man/woman dynamic here. its just about their love. and in my mind its so easily translated to queer love and how the choice to live and love your self for the unchangeable queer person you are at your core is seen as a sin. but if in the end it leads to being in hell its worth a life of finding truth in love and the person you truly are. i could never love a man the way i love a woman, theres no changing that and wouldnt want there to be
if god and the bible say that queer love is wrong then it is not i that is wrong, it is them, its the institution that has flaws. my love is pure and sinless and it feels like that. a religion that judges for love is one not fit for you and i.
and like, as a catholic queer person listening to fancesca, even though we have the myth of paolo and francesca theres no outright man/woman dynamic here. its just about their love. and in my mind its so easily translated to queer love and how the choice to live and love your self for the unchangeable queer person you are at your core is seen as a sin. but if in the end it leads to being in hell its worth a life of finding truth in love and the person you truly are. i could never love a man the way i love a woman, theres no changing that and wouldnt want there to be
The whole "heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I" gets a whole lot more profound & heartbreaking when you realise this is Paolo & Francesca telling this to each other as they're being torn apart in the second circle of hell for their lust. Like, this isn't just some poetic declaration of love. This is two people, condemned to be tortured for all of eternity, saying that God could give them the chance to repent over & over & they'd still choose this.
They'd rather choose to go to hell for their sins than enter a loveless heaven.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
The fact that Hozier could have made the absolute sexiest most innuendo-filled song ever for the Lust song but he instead wrote "I don't care that you have screwed up my life and afterlife I would do it over and over again just to hold you" hoooooly shit man.
Hozier writing Francesca: what if every horrible thing you've ever been through has led you, or will yet lead you, to someone you love so much you'd do it all again. What if the suffering is all worth it, not from a religious standpoint but because of someone you love. What if that's all there is - heaven and hell couldn't care less about us, but we care for one another. We endure the unspeakable for one another. What if heaven won't let us in but we wander together through the darkness for eternity knowing we acted in love and having no regrets. What if heaven can't contain people of complexity and passion like ours. What if we were offered the opportunity and we said we'd do it all again.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Sorry if it bothers you but could you tell a little about Tim and Jason canon relationship, before n52?
It's just I'm a little confused about what's canon and what's fanon.
I was trying to keep this short but I am far too wordy for that, so it has ended up very long. Thus putting it under a cut. Just a warning LMAO.
This is primarily gonna be a timeline of their interactions with some discussion along the way, then at the end some brief summarizing. Obviously this has some of my own interpreting in here because it's hard to talk about these sorts of things without our own opinions playing into it, but I put as many panels as I could along the way (more than just 10 like the image cap, did some 'splicing the pages together before uploading' to manage that) to support what I'm saying.
Tim becomes Robin in the aftermath of Jason’s death. Early in his time as Robin, while Tim primarily looks up to Dick as we’re shown time and again (all having started with the night at the circus), it is also shown that Tim looked up to Jason to a degree too. But Jason was in large part a cautionary tale, this presence that loomed over Tim as the ‘what could go wrong’ reminder.
I think this is particularly shown during the Identity Crisis(no not that one)/Master of Fear story, in which Tim dreams about Dick & Jason basically giving him a pep talk at one point but also in that is kinda... blaming Jason for the circumstances of what happened to him because that's how he understands the situation (on a meta level, it sucks that this soon after Jason's death writers were already playing into the idea of Jason being reckless and getting himself killed, but genuinely from Tim's POV he likely wouldn't have all the info & nuance of the situation so him thinking it was more like that isn't unreasonable).
Later when hit by Scarecrow's fear toxin though- it's hallucinations of both Dick & Jason that help him get through it.
(Batman #456-457, with a black bar separating panels between the two issues. I'm trying to save on image space here so doing a little combining)
So yeah, Jason's this looming presence and constant reminder for Tim, and Tim tries to respect his memory how he can. This is basically the status quo irt Tim's thoughts on Jason up until his resurrection becomes known.
Going chronologically in-universe rather than by release date, sometime during content coming out in the early 2000’s Jason was introduced to the concept of Tim by Talia during the events of Red Hood: Lost Days, and he’s not happy about it despite trying to seem fine in front of Talia.
(Red Hood: Lost Days #4)
Now, beyond these pages we really don't get more elaboration on his feelings about it during this timeframe. But the next thing chronologically in-universe that involves the two of them is Jason targeting Tim and slitting his throat during Hush
(Batman #618)
Now, important things to remember:
When this was written, that was not actually Jason- it was Clayface in disguise.
Even when it was retconned into actually being Jason, the primary motivation here was to mess with Bruce's head and see him above all else
(Batman Annual #25)
Like... targeting Tim here was definitely more of an afterthought, but he was still someone Jason was very much so willing to harm.
After Hush, Jason had gone back into hiding until the whole War Games debacle was over. During the actual Under the Red Hood storyline, Tim’s not even there in Gotham- he’d moved to Blüdhaven at the time and/or was off doing Titans stuff.
During a lull in UTRH (even though the release dates don’t exactly line up, I always imagine this bit taking place when the main Batman comic paused UTRH stuff to tie-in to the War Crimes storyline that followed up War Games) is when the confrontation between them at Titans Tower happens. In which… Ya know. Jason beats the shit out of Tim, tries to fuck with his head, Tim doesn't give up but does still get his shit handed to him, etc. Jason writes his name in Tim's blood on the wall, like the drama queen he is.
(Teen Titans Vol. 3 #29)
I never consider this whole thing Jason actively trying to kill Tim, so much as him trying to just… see what he’s actually like, trying to gauge things and take out frustration. Because up until this point, Tim just existed to Jason as a concept rather than an actual person. And when leaving the fight, his general judgement of Tim?
"I will admit. He is good. And he has friends. Real friends. I wonder... If I had friends like those... If I had been a Titan since the beginning... Would my life have turned out differently? Would I have been a better Robin? Would I have been a better person?" (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #29)
So from here, he seems to have almost a sort of respect for Tim, and it leaves him contemplative more than anything else.
After that Jason goes back to doing UTRH stuff in Gotham, and things in-universe are heading towards Infinite Crisis. UTRH ends in the last Batman issue before the One Year Later time skip happens across the board in every ongoing. Tim’s having a bad time for a variety of reasons due to Infinite Crisis (Blüdhaven's destruction, Conner's death, etc etc) and the two don't cross paths again while it's all going on.
Aaaand so then there’s the timeskip! Tim pops up in 52 a few times so we see what he was up to in the missing year, but Jason doesn’t (outside the little backup story DC history segments, but that’s separate). Right during OYL Jason’s over in Nightwing causing problems for Dick and he also pops up over in Green Arrow briefly at one point, meanwhile Tim has plenty of other shit going on elsewhere (like cloning Conner drama in TT, Evil Cass arc in his solo).
The next time they do cross paths is around Countdown to Final Crisis and connected stuff. Jason witnessed the death of Duela Dent, a former Titan, and thus the Titans approach him when they’re investigating the circumstances.
(Teen Titans Vol. 3 #47)
The main takeaway is Dick & Tim can not stand (and do not trust) Jason because of the shit he's pulled in recent times, and the feeling is pretty mutual. Donna is the only one here actually kinda defending Jason. Also, the panel of Tim kicking Jason in the balls is one of THE funniest things to me always.
Shortly after this over in the actual Countdown book, Jason is also present at Bart’s funeral thus sees Tim speak, but they don’t interact.
After that Jason is then reality hopping for a hot sec with Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, and Bob the Monitor, primarily on a search for Ray Palmer. Along the way towards the end Jason picks up the Red Robin costume that would have been his on a different earth, and he has to go through the trauma of seeing that earth's Bruce (who actually had killed Joker because of what happened to Jason) get murdered in front of him… it’s a whole thing.
When he gets back to the main earth, he immediately dumps the Red Robin suit in a dumpster. Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong then finds it and takes it out of the trash, and decides to use it to fuck with Tim’s head… which brings us to the whole Search For A Hero arc at the end of Robin!
Jason, now back in Gotham, wants to take advantage of the chaos breaking out across the city to streamline it and maybe make things better in the long run- but there’s a lot of sacrifices of lives that’d have to happen with what he has in mind. He reaches out to Tim when they cross paths, wanting Tim to work with him now on this- but the problem is that he’s still willing to sacrifice people, and Tim is not. The two of them then see Ulysses in the Red Robin suit, which pisses Jason off because it’s his suit.
(Robin #177, I am once again splicing together relevant panels to save image space, but these are in order all from the same issue)
Tim ends up letting Jason get arrested though, so after this he's not really present in the story until the end. Tim’s narration during all of this reinforces that he does not really like Jason, doesn't like his approach, but also doesn't necessarily think there's no merit to what he's saying. I only didn't include the pages with these quotes because, again, lack of image space and I think showing the above scenes was more important, but this narration that occurs during the same conflict I think is relevant:
"I have more training. I'm more agile. All he has is brute strength. And apparently he's stupid enough to use them in a crowded street. You'd think I'd stop being surprised by his choices now. Jason's problem is his insecurity-- he's the Jan Brady of the Bat-family. (and yes, I know that makes me Cindy). So he overcompensates-- tries too hard to impress, to succeed-- goes to extremes. But... with Batman gone... what if a part of him is right? Not the killing-- spraying bullets around like an idiot-- but making tougher... harder... choices...?" (Robin #177)
Towards the end of the story after dealing with all sorts of drama with Ulysses and Steph, Tim ends up implementing an altered version of Jason’s plan, something that didn’t sacrifice anyone but used some of the same logic, taking the form of the Neon Knights foundation. And afterwards, Tim visits Jason in prison. This is probably one of their most civil interactions, with Jason telling Tim he did good. Tim then gives Jason the ability to break out of prison.
(Robin #182)
It wasn't worth trying to add this bit to the above image bc i'd have had to butcher the hell out of the pages to fit it, but on the next page Tim explains why he did this in his narration:
"Months ago, Nightwing hacked the override code for the Justice League teleporter. I hacked it from him. Bruce never changed it. I think he liked that Dick had done that. Just like I think he would've liked for me to give Jason another chance. His last chance. Let's see what he makes of it." (Robin #182)
Then… ya know. This is the timeframe Final Crisis is happening. Bruce 'dies'. In the following (and final) Robin issue, Tim lets Jason come to the cave to see his piece of Bruce’s video will. Jason doesn’t seem all that happy with what he saw, and Tim’s already regretting breaking Jason out of prison, but the interaction goes relatively okay.
(Robin #183)
Sidenote but "...Jason Todd. Once a Robin, always an ass." is also just such a funny line to me.
But anyways, Tim's got a storm coming here.
Because then we get into Battle for the Cowl… and Jason motivated by what he saw in the will decides to become gunslinging murder Batman. Tim tries to stop him, it leads to a whole big fight… and during it Jason once again asks Tim to work with him- this time by asking Tim to be his Robin. Tim says no, because he’s still not down with the whole murder thing, and so Jason tries to kill him for being in his way… and thinks he succeeded!
(Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2)
But Tim got really fucking lucky. It's explained in the following issue that between Jason’s batarang being in bad condition and the batsuit Tim was wearing being extra reinforced, while he was injured here it didn't turn out fatal. A playing possum meditation technique Bruce had taught Tim meant that when Jason checked his pulse, he thought he was already dead, thus didn't try to finish the job while Tim was too injured to fight back. That’s how he survived here. But Jason very much so thought he’d killed Tim.
…and that’s the last time they interact pre-reboot! Presumably Jason figures out he didn’t actually kill him at some point, but they literally do not actually show up together anywhere until after Flashpoint. Bc after Battle for the Cowl, Tim leaves Gotham to go on the Bruce hunt in Red Robin, and by the time he gets back Jason had been arrested during Batman and Robin. When Jason gets away and out of prison stuff towards the end of Batman and Robin, that story is the last time he appears before the reboot. So just... there wasn't really an opportunity for them to cross paths again.
Now, to kinda recap/discuss my thoughts on their thoughts of one another BASED on all that above stuff:
When Tim first became Robin, he really did in ways look up to Jason. Not the same way he did Dick, but he still definitely thought highly of Jason- he just was also afraid of ending up like him. As soon as he meets resurrected Jason though, that respect fades and the memory is tarnished. Tim is pretty staunchly against killing and all of that, it’s something he holds himself to, and so seeing Jason now as what he’s become makes Tim actively dislike him. Were Jason to actually stop the killing, and properly apologize for things, then I do think pre-reboot Tim might be willing and able to make peace with him. It’s just that pre-reboot Jason absolutely would not do that, and so Tim considers him an adversary. Quite literally, on Tim’s last character profile sheet before the reboot, Jason’s listed alongside Captain Boomerang (who… killed Tim’s dad) in Tim’s ‘foes’ list!
From Jason’s POV, initially his violence towards Tim comes from anger that has little to do with Tim specifically as a person and everything to do with Tim as the person to fill the Robin role. Once Jason gets some of that initial anger out of the way, once he actually meets Tim, that animosity definitely fades a bit and is more just part of the general ‘all of you guys suck’ attitude he has towards the Bats because they follow Bruce’s path. But it’s less specific, it's not as targeted at Tim, and I think that’s also why he reaches out to Tim when he does- he thinks that Tim is capable at what he does and could be a good ally in what he wants to accomplish if he’d just stop drinking Bruce’s Kool-aid. But because Jason a) wants to accomplish things by killing and will not compromise on that, and b) generally feels justified in what he’s done before, he’s not apologizing for it… they’re just not gonna see eye-to-eye. When Tim turns down his second offer and gets in his way during BFtC, he has no hesitation in trying to kill him. BFtC was definitely Jason at his least stable, but still- if Tim isn’t going to work with him and do things how Jason wants to, then Jason wants him out of the way.
Sooooo yeah! That's uhhhh my assessment of them pre-reboot. And it's why the N52 suddenly deciding they would be besties bugs the shit out of me.
