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mysterycitrus · 5 months

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Jason is my blorbo, my favorite, wretched, little guy and I love him so much. And I love all your posts about him! SO tired of people watering down his character, especially at the expense of other characters. Namely Dick and Tim. I know you're probably tired of talking about J so no hard feelings if you ignore this but I'd love to hear your thoughts and Dick and Jason's relationship. Past, present and where you'd like to see it go in the future. If anywhere. (Also your art is so, so good!! I especially love how you do faces and your coloring)

i actually really enjoy unpacking their relationship. it makes me think about that quote from diary of a wimpy kid - "you're my brother, but you'll never be my friend." idk how they should be written in the future because i think jason needs to be removed from gotham until he grows his personality back, but here's my thoughts on their brains -

from jason's end, there's so much resentment. a large part of his post-resurrection motivations come from the idea that bruce has dishonoured his memory and failed to grieve him, because bruce won't let him or anyone else kill the joker and therefore bruce doesn't love him. bruce rejects his manifesto for fixing gotham, bruce rejects his violence, bruce rejects his politics. would bruce have rejected dick if dick had done this? in jason's mind - no. dick grayson has shackled himself to bruce and is drowning with him. jason does not see that he has also chained himself to bruce and thrown away the key.

it's also worth mentioning that in outsiders 2003 and batman and robin 2009 (when written by winick), jason still fundamentally respects dick's abilities and experience. he think he's weak because he tries to suppress his anger, but i don't think jason would carry that same heavy, debilitating misery from seeing tim or cass or damian - people he was denied knowing by dying, and thus "replaced" by. jason, in some capacity, values dick as an ally. he trusts that dick, for all his flaws, is not a vengeful person (and i'll get to that).

there's a degree of what if there too - both dick and jason lived through a very specific period of bruce's life, which is the period before jason was killed. no one else (aside from babs and alfred) knows what that was like. no one else understands bruce, in that way. they have seen him before that grief in a way no one else who followed can. they're both poor kids brought into wealth. dick transcended into a legacy, and was then discarded. jason was, unconsciously, a tangible replacement for dick (and for robin), but died before bruce had the chance to leave him behind.

by comparison, we see dick reach out to jason, consistently. i'd say that unlike bruce, dick is a pragmatist. he frequently works with murderers. he ran the outsiders. he has, and will continue to, make calls that will questionably result in someone's death. to be clear, that is not the same thing as being a murderer - i think the guilt of that comes very close to killing him - but while he's an inherently optimistic person, i'd say he has realistic expectations for people's behaviour. it's what makes him so efficient as a tactician.

they're also very similar - they respond differently to anger, but they are both explosive. dick doesn't seek retribution on his own behalf, but he will lose control for the people he loves (which includes jason!). going to bat (haha) for jason, and jason then hurting the people he protects (tim, damian, the titans, etc), that's a line jason's crossed. dick won't ever stop swinging out to grab him, because he'll never let anyone fall, but that does not mean he'll be kind when they reach the ground

#when i finish my jason + dick brothers fic ohohohoho.... then people will see my vision #dick grayson #jason todd #nightwing #red hood #batfam #dc comics #the ask and the answer

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missbluesunflowersstuff · 6 months

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Some Duke Thomas headcanon

This is my personal vision . Please respect

No one of the batkids know how Duke's power actually works, then when Duke says random thing everyone believe in him. If Duke says he can fly, then he can fly, that's that

Duke 100% believes that Cassandra and Damian are cryptids (for different reasons)

In Cass side - there was this day when he was watching a movie when he suddenly felt something sitting next to him, it was Cass. He didn't even see her come in, she didn't even make a sound, she just show up in one blink

In Damian side - there one night were only Duke and Damian in the library, Duke then saw something shiny through the window outside the house, It made him anxious, but Damian just looked at him blankly and said with a morbid calm "can you see them too? Today is a really beautiful night, they are dancing" (Damian can see ghost in canon)

After he finds out about the Cow and Goliath (he still have questions about Goliath) he made the decision not to be impressed by any strange animals in the house, assuming they all belonged to Damian. Do they have a chicken in the dining room? Damian's new pet. Is there a snake around the house? Damian's new pet. Is there an ancient squid-like being dressed as a bat walking around Gotham? Bruce should make a rule about what kind of animal Damian can adopt

Duke knows about the dead Robin club (Steph, Jason and Damian) and I die for some minutes (Tim), he made the decision of not die. Just he don't die. And somehow HE JUST CAN'T DIE.

in the future Duke (when Bruce retire and the kids just vibes) is called "Duke the Immortal" by his brothers

He actually still watches movies with Damian when the boy is in the town, Dick and Steph are the one who join them the most

One time Duke finds Jason's library (that house is HUGE), he still don't figure out who that library belong to but that place is so cozy, he really likes it

Also he and Jason are the street smarth duo

On a patrol they don't even need to use words to understand what the other wants to do, just a few slight signals and everything is solved

Even though he is in charge of patrol during the day, he may still be called "Robin" by the ghotamites (he has mixing feelings about this)

He is definitively not "the normal one", he enjoy the chaos in the same way of the others gremlins, he just never gets caught

Since he was adopted by Bruce, he has a list of heroes and celebrities he wants to meet

Like every Gotham child he admired Batman and Robin, but now that he knows them all... Duke has some regrets...

he realized from day one that neither Jason nor Damian has a warm body, but he never said it out loud for fear of pushing a button

Duke and Dick are the most emotionally intelligent in the house, Duke just don't bring this often

he has a sketchbook and likes to draw about his day, random doodles about the villian, some batshit thing and random things he saw on patrol

He is also, after Dick, who can take care of a kid with no problem

If he has some questions about some vigilant stuff (like the pit, owl people and others crazy stuff) he asked Alfred or Babs. The motive is: he doesn't trust that the others will give him the complete answer (after the "they're big evil" or "the things made boom near them" Duke was tired of asking and decided to go to Alfred to know the correct information)

He doesn't see Bruce as a father, more like a weird uncle, but he really bonds with the kids, he still doesn't know how to label this yet but he enjoys their company

Some batkid headcanon: Damian || Duke || Cassandra || Stephanie || Tim || Jason || Dick

#dc comics #duke thomas #batfamily #jason todd #damian wayne #dick grayson #tim drake #bruce wayne #batfam #batfamily headcanons #batfam headcanons

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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 8 months

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PROPAGANDA

KATHERINA MINOLA (THE TAMING OF THE SHREW) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) We had to read this for English my senior year. I got so mad at the way she's treated. She's the titular "shrew" of the play. She has to be married off before her younger sister can get married, because that makes sense.

Then the most dogshit man imaginable comes along, and everybody thinks they're perfect. He literally gaslights her and denies her food and water.

Fuck Petruchio and Katherine Minola deserved better!

2.) Literally the whole play is about how she is so awful that the main guy needs to change her entire personality, which he does as a challenge not because he likes her, and then proceeds to her abuse her for the rest of the play. Yet, he is portrayed as the hero, not a villain and she is shown to have "improved" at the end. People will say, oh it's open to interpretation, it can be played different ways, it's satire, but i don't find abuse funny and there is a distinct lack of commentary in the play to count as satire imo. Taming of the Shrew is a tragedy not a comedy, I will die on this hill. Kate deserves better!

3.) The title isn’t joking, ya’ll. She literally gets broken like a rebellious feral animal and it’s treated as a happy ending.

BARBARARA GORDON (DC COMICS) (CW: Ableism)

1.) Famously fridged in 1988, which was so popular with misogynists it became canon. After almost 2 decades of being one of the only disabled characters, was rebooted to a younger, more fun version of herself whose only history is that she was fridged but not disabled by it.

2.) The Killing Joke is one of the biggest comic examples of a female character getting hurt to motivate male characters. Also tbe way different cannons will trade off who her romantic intrest is out of Batfamily is pretty disturbing ranging from Bruce Wayne in Batman the Animated series universe (ew) to Tim Drake in the Arkham games (ew). Not to mention DC now is not letting her grow out of being Batgirl taking away her legacy of other young female heroes taking up her mantle and her getting to mentor them instead forcing her into a Batgirl cycle of purgatory when she was always better as Oracle (Its a little more complicated in the new Batgirl book but its still not solving the issues in a way that feels meaningful enough to make up the damage).

3.) Was shot as angst value for Bruce and her dad, implied to be sexually assaulted in The Killing Joke with absolutely no respect for her long career as Batgirl. When Alan Moore asked if he could, the editor said "cripple the bitch." She became paralyzed from the waist down. THankfully, an actually good writer picked her up from there and then wrote one of the best stories ever written (Oracle Year One: Born from Hope). Was one of the most iconic disabled characters in comic book history, hell, as Oracle, she was definitely up there as one of the most iconic disabled characters ever as well as a fantastic character, period. There were a few moments where people kept trying to make things out of her disability and had her be shitty to other women for no reason but for the most part, she was awesome. During her time In 2011, Dan Didio and some other misogynistic/ableist comic book writers were responsible for "curing" her disability and forcing her back into Batgirl, despite her having shown absolutely no desire to do so, as part of the New 52. They also made it an editorial mandate that she couldn't have glasses, a cool secret base, and her time as Oracle couldn't be referenced. This was because those writers were nostalgic for the 60s Batman show where Babs was played by an actress they all had the hots for and couldn't accept she'd grown up and moved on. That was bad enough, but over time, she's been increasingly deaged and reduced even further to just Dick Grayson's on and off again girlfriend and a generic girlboss. Batgirl of Burnsides burn in hell.

#polls #round 1 #week 2 #new #cw domestic abuse #cw ableism

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goodoldfashionedengineer · 3 months

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Lego Batman Family Matters is so ridiculous but I love it.

You will not believe how funny this movie actually is.

Is it out of character? YES, especially on Bruce and Damian's front.

Is it still batfam dynamic? Also yes.

In this movie, Bruce sells Wayne Enterprises because he believes that Bruce Wayne stops him from doing what's really important. Crime-fighting.

Harvey Dent hates Bruce because he believes that he has all this money and doesn't use it enough for good. And yes, he buys WE. Also, he works for Jason because they both think that Bruce owns half the city, yet he neglects the things he's supposed to love (This IS actually half of Jason's motivation. Gotham IS his city. It's just that it's more personally motivated)

So Jason sends Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl and Batwoman letters on where to meet him. There he gives them the location of four bombs. They decide to split up. When the bombs that Batwoman and Batgirl were supposed to handle were disarmed, he shocks them.

Btw, Babs and Dick have a fight going on because Dick didn't respond to her text. The reason? He didn't always want to write a thumbs up but something original, like a smiley face with a heart. When Barbara was under the influence of fear toxin, she saw a version of herself that claimed to be better than her and told her "he probably responds Starfire immediately".

He managed to shock Robin!Damian too, but Nightwing was with him and now they're trying to beat the shit out of each other. They even had a car chase, constantly made quips at each other and Jason launched a granate or something at his car so Dick will have to jump out, giving him the opportunity to also shock him.

Meanwhile Bruce is having a showdown with Two-Face at the theatre and Billy Batson, who wants to get an interview with him to earn money for the orphanage, is also there with him. In the end, BILLY had to disable the bomb because Bruce just straight up forgot about it???

By the way, he got to the theatre with another guy, but had to make the guys errands first, because Jason stole the tires from the batmobile. Bruce was so completely useless for this entire fight, he didn't even capture Harvey, he escaped. Everyone else DID. Sucks to be outnached by your family but my guy, I feel no sympathy.

So then Red Hood calls and says he has his family and they're gonna talk about this at home. So Bruce gets home, Jason says "Daddy's home" and rankd Bruce entrance as a 9.5 because the hero landing is so from last year.

Yes, so, anyway.

Damian, Barbara, Dick, Katherine and Alfred are all suspended in the air by their arms. Bruce reveals Jason's identity.

Damian: The second Robin? I thought he was dead!

Jason: You told them I was dead?!

Bruce: ... That's not what I said.

Bruce explains that he figured it out because the locations were personal clues tied to their civilian identity. And how one was the alley where Jason stole his tires the first time. Damian laughs and thinks it's so cool. Dick also laughs and imitates a lecture Bruce probably gave him after that.

Overall, a real nice bonding moment for the boys.

EXCEPT TWO OF THEM ARE HUNG IN THE AIR.

Aaaanyway, Jason accuses Bruce that he kicked Jason out, leaving him with no family, when in reality, Jason left because Jason rather wanted to play video games than go on patrol and one day Bruce pulled the plug. Jason had enough of "Bat-rules and Bat-curfews" and got on his bike and said "I'm leaving". He waited for a response, didn't got one and left.

Present Jason then told Bruce that if he'd cared, he would have stopped him. So Bruce shows him that he got daily updates from his satellite on Jason's adventures and Jason lets his family go.

My guy, a SATELLITE doesn't replace your parental supervision.

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biohazard-4ever · 1 day

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You think Leon would want to be a dad?

Imagine this guy with a baby fever oooof

Well, let us focus on Leon's fixed traits. Example: His hair, eye color, name, and full name. Personality-wise, one of Leon's indisputable traits is that He is a Human-lover-guy and a Protector.

Leon is, definitely, a protector. Rescuing Rebecca was one of the things that got his ass out of that chair. The call from Patricio's wife with the tiny voice of his daughter (Selena?) really motivated Leon to feel sorry for the one guy he was refusing to help and was ready to punch and suplex him to the death!

But after Patricio's wife calls, Leon looks as if he is holding back tears!

Children and people in NEED OF HIM are what reach him and motivate his naturally selfless heart to actually do his job. Leon cares too much. It is like how animals in the Zoo need enrichment so they don't lose touch with their abilities when in nature. That is Leon about needing people to also need him.

Leon would L O V E the idea of being a dad. And I tell you this, you're yet to see a more attentive and protective dad... Leon would be melted butter!

Talking about his kid nonstop to the point of being annoying about it. Come on! Finally, someone to appreciate his dad's jokes! LOL

Leon's baby fever must be SO elevated that when he sees a baby he has to point and go: "LOOK AT DA BABYYYYY! AWWWW"

I can imagine like...

Chris, Jill, Rebecca, and Claire walking back from Alcatraz with Leon would be like:... Dude, chill. It is just a bab--

Leon: IT IS SO CUTE! I need one...

Chris: Your baby fever is showing again.

Leon: He is staring at meeeee *GRIPPING DAMN STRONGLY REBECCA'S ARM*

Rebecca: I can't feel my hands

Meanwhile Jill like: *PANICKING AT THE IDEA OF A BABY* (My personal HC is that Jill is very awkward with children, sue me. Something about that badass and fearless woman just panicking over babies is fucking funny.)

#ask #leon #leon kennedy #leon scott kennedy #leon s kennedy #resident evil #claire #biohazard #claire redfield #chris #chris redfield #rebecca #rebecca chambers #jill #jill valentine #anon #anonymous

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fantastic-nonsense · 5 months

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Now that we're a few months on from Batgirls ending, and with solicits out for the next few months, how are you feeling about where they're situated within DC right now?

(With the possible exception of Babs. I suspect I know exactly how you feel about Babs, because I feel very similar. About how she's situated in DC. right now.)

My short answer for how DC is treating the Batgirls right now is "much better than where they were in 2020 but significantly worse than where they should be, especially compared to all of the Robins."

In order, I think Cassandra is (ironically, considering the history there) being treated the best, being given the meatiest stories, and being utilized in ways that actually showcase her motivations and skillset. She co-starred in Spirit World, is a major supporting character in Ram V's Detective Comics run, and is now co-starring in Birds of Prey. Her pre-reboot history and characterization has basically been completely restored (except for that awful era we Do Not Talk About™, which. good.) and we have a concrete and tangible narrative direction for her again. Frankly, it's absolutely wild to be a Cass fan in 2023 seeing how she's being treated right now after 15+ years of some of the worst character treatment imaginable.

Barbara is in a very distant second place largely because of the implied elephant in the room (Tom Taylor's usage of her in the Nightwing book, the ableism, and DC's stubborn refusal to commit to letting her be Oracle full-time again). I'm also still....very frustrated and upset by Kelly Thompson's decision to relaunch Birds of Prey without her given that Babs has headlined BOP since the very beginning, in every iteration of the team, and the team would not exist without her. However, I do have to note that she's once again being showcased as a fully grown adult woman, is being regularly featured in comics, and is being utilized as Oracle in books like Ram V's Tec run, so there's potential there despite no one at DC seemingly being very interested in doing anything substantial with her beyond letting her be "Dick's computer geek girlfriend."

Which ultimately puts her above Stephanie...who basically isn't appearing anywhere significant now that Batgirls has ended and she's not dating Tim anymore. Which is...not great, to put it mildly. If you ask me why that's happened, it's because Steph has spent the majority of her appearances since her reintroduction back in 2014 being treated as "Tim's girlfriend" rather than her own character with her own wants, goals, and potential storylines. So where does she go now that Tim's dating Bernard? I don't know, but none of the writers at DC seem very interested in doing anything with her right now.

This treatment is of course very much in contrast to every single male Robin and ex-Robin character...where everyone except Tim (whose dedicated solo ongoing just finished) will either have active solo ongoings (Dick, Damian) or a solo mini (Jason) running as of February 2024. The difference in treatment is stark...but of course, that's nothing new to fans of the Batfam women. At least Kate is getting some chance to shine over in Outsiders, I guess, however poorly titled the book is.

#asks #dc comics #dc fanwank #barbara gordon #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #don't even get me started on helena. Ram V (the man. the myth. the legend) is the only one using her & she may as well not exist otherwise

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thegatorsgoose · 1 year

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Minecraft and brotherly bonding

So. I was watching hermitcraft and I had a realization about mourning dove Danny.

Minecraft would be perfect for him.

Now Iv played Minecraft every once in a while when I was younger, but I mostly get my knowledge out of watching people. This is irrelevant.

But one thing I did notice when playing it for myself, especially cus younger me had more trouble with this, was how people interacted with each other. Since the game is much simpler than irl, the “social cues” , or just how people portray how they feel by moving there character, it was much much easier for me to interact with people and know how to react back.

I propose that Minecraft would be a great way to slowly start integrating him back into society. Instead of risking going out at first, they “teach” him about interacting with people, and all the complicated bullshit that comes with it, by letting him play Minecraft online. There’s little to no risk, they can control the environment, and Danny can talk to strangers without them seeing him.

Of course we already know that Danny is working on writing, one of his biggest motivators being to text, and that applies here to. It actually gives him the choice to either type out in chat/with signs, or just with “body language” and both are equally accepted.

Of course, this comes with other benefits. It’s still a game after all, so they have fun as well. Him and Damian have a survival world together where they build stuff together (I imagine that Danny and dami like to just sit together in silence while Damien’s painting/drawing and Danny’s doing needle work:)), it ends up becoming a huge collab project with an entire city in it.

They all occasionally play server games, and they all have one world together, it’s very chaotic but Danny and Dick especially love it. Tim is a red stone GOD, and is teaching Danny, who is surprisingly good at it (you can’t convince me Danny isn’t a genius like the rest of the Fentons). Jason sets up traps to annoy his siblings. Cass just… collects materials. Mines for hours and keeps every. Single. Thing. The rest are terrified of what she will do with them. Steph has made an “empire” out of a village she ransacked, modded it to make all the villagers special and gave them their own names and everything. Duke keeps doing dumb shit just cus he can, like make a turtle farm in the nether or keep a warden as a pet. Babs is off doing her own thing, no one understands her builds but rest assured, it’ll aalll come together eventually. Danny likes to build cozy spaces, or just spaces that have a really good atmosphere in general. Lil builds that are just sprinkled around the map like how there’s always that random hutch in the middle of the woods in horror storys. They are all for random animals he grew attached to, like this one random cow or that squid he saw while walking to Tim’s base. This isn’t enough for a whole batch so here’s a lil muffin instead.

Mourning Dove is an au of Wayne’s Haunted Mansion by @tathartiel set around 4 years in the future. I recommend you read it if you haven’t, it’s adorable and heartbreaking.

#dose any of this makes sense?#I’m honestly not sure if I got my point across but oh well #dp x dc #danny phantom #danny fenton #dpxdc #mourning dove au #wayne’s haunted mansion

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gffa · 8 months

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I cannot even BEGIN to describe how feral this trio of characters makes me, like set aside any potential shipping stuff, just as three characters who each have unique relationships with each other but each of those relationships winds up affecting the other character in this trio. Like-- Dick and Babs are sometimes a team together, two young heroes who are developing a friendship, two young heroes who understand what it's like to work with Tall Dark and Spooky and his need to control everything, that they both understand the other has a need to prove themselves, a drive that will not be stopped no matter what Batman tries to tell them. And eventually they will have an unshakeable relationship, whether romantic or platonic, they will always support each other. And Bruce will use that dynamic to help give Babs gear that will keep her alive until she ~wises up~, and Dick plays along with it, pretends that he's giving it to her because he has a crush on her, meanwhile it actually came directly from Bruce. Yet it also does help give her a sense of someone rooting for her, because Dick genuinely is! Dick and Bruce have a whole encyclopedia set of issues and undercurrents totally separate from this, god knows I've devoted like two hundred posts to trying to chip off even a fraction of Whatever Is Going On Over There, while here they're not yet father and son, but they're not not at that point at the same time, they're just not acknowledging it, but they're also partners, they tag-team Barbara with the good-cop/bad-cop routine when they have her in the Cave to ask why she's doing this, but Dick will turn on a dime and spray her with the knock-out gas, even though he'd projected a harmless aura and sneakily being on her side up until then. Bruce and Barbara have a conflict-driven dynamic, she wouldn't mind having his approval, but it's not why she does what she does, she's not driven by it, she's not motivated by it, this isn't about him. But when they clash, she's often mad as hell, because he wants to treat her like he treats Robin, someone that he can set the rules for, someone he has the right to interrogate and she tells him, no, you don't have a monopoly on helping people or even wearing a Bat-themed symbol. He's not an influence in her life and she genuinely does not want him to be, but at the same time he casts such a long shadow and he's set the mold for all of them, that he's an influence in everyone's life in the Gotham vigilante scene.

And I keep thinking of that one future Gotham Knights issue where Dick tells Bruce that he and Babs are dating and she's so annoyed because SHE wanted to be the one to tell Bruce just so he didn't get to pretend to be all-knowing on her, when Dick just laughs in her face because she's being so cranky and weird about it, he thinks it's hilarious that they're trying to use him as a pawn in whatever chess game they have going between them, because he loves them both but also he's not going to play by those same rules, you guys have fun with that, he'll just watch with popcorn from the sidelines and laugh at you.

Just!! The slippery and sliding dynamics between these three!! At ANY GIVEN TIME two of them could be going through something that spills over onto the third and you never know which two it's going to be! And it's complicated and thorny and crunchy in the best way, there are always good moments and bad moments, and no two dynamics are the same, like what Barbara has with Dick is completely different from what she has with Bruce, which is completely different from what she has with her dad, while what Dick has with Barbara is completely different from what he has with Bruce, while what Bruce has with Dick is completely different from what he has with Barbara, and I'm not sure any other trio really comes close to that (other than maybe Bruce & Tim & Steph, but other than in a few runs, I'm not sure how much of a foundation that is to who the characters are to each other on a bigger narrative level). It's not that they don't exist outside of each other! It's very easy to find Bruce & Dick stories that aren't influenced by Babs at all, it's very easy to find Dick & Babs stories that aren't influenced by Bruce at all, it's even reasonably easy to find Bruce & Babs moments that aren't about Dick at all. They're not all tied up in each other. But they have built their foundations around each other. Bruce, because Dick was the one who knocked down his emotional walls and opened his heart up to having a family. Dick, because Bruce raised him and gave him a path forward in life, gave him direction. Barbara, because if she's going to love Dick (as a friend or as a boyfriend, whichever), he doesn't come without the Bat influence and she has to be aware of the space that takes up in him, as well as if you're a Bat yourself, you're eventually going to clash with Bruce, and boy has she.

And I'm just really, really into that kind of "multiple moving pieces on the board" dynamic, especially when it's not always nice or soft, because each of them care about the other (some more than others, granted) but they are all massively stubborn and often angry people who do not get pushed around easily, who will find a way around you if you try to get in their way, and you never know which two are going to be in conflict and just how that's going to spill over onto the third. I JUST REALLY LOVE DYNAMICS THAT DON'T FIT NEATLY OR EASILY INTO A SINGLE CATEGORY.

SORRY NOT SORRY ABOUT HOW UNHINGED I AM ABOUT THEM WHILE READING THIS COMIC.

#lumi.txt #dc #batfam #dick grayson #bruce wayne #barbara gordon #not really #dickbabs #but not NOT dickbabs either idk #batgirl year one #long post

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conitagray · 10 months

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i remember it, all too well.

42!miles g morales x reader

summary: you've been dating someone for a year and slowly you realize they've become distant. barely texting you, not showing any admiration, always out clubbing. until you went to their place and see something unspeakably wrong, you snap and they try to come back to you. months later, still broken. you met miles and you two become very close. one day you see them again and you can remember the memories all too well.

warnings: super angst (fluff in the end of COURSE) cursing, bad spanish (i’m so sorry y’all😭) creepy ex bro, cheating.

a/n: WHOOP i started listening to atwtmv for like a 100 times and it gave me the idea to write this (all hail taylor swift!!) this is gonna be so angsty i swear like im so sorry yall 😭 but lemme tell y’all i swear 42 miles has rizz i’m not lying

words: 2.2k

┊ ➶ ｡˚ 　　°

your life was pretty fine the past few months since you’ve met your partner.

they were, everything you wanted. they loved you to the moon and back and you said the same thing too.

but a year passed and things started to change, drastically.

they stopped paying attention to you, stopped hanging out with you, was always on their phone and most of all, always went clubbing.

you’d be at your place and it was around 12:45 in the morning, he was supposed to come by.

the first thing that came up to your mind was text him, they were probably busy anyway?

…..

love<3

12:46 am

y/n: babe, wru? you were supposed to come to my place an hour ago.

seen 12:48 am.

y/n : hello?

seen 12:50 am.

……

you sighed, tossing your phone to the side of the bed as u curled up in ball, thinking why they left you on seen.

you decided to go check up on them yourself, so you put your shoes on and walked over to his apartment.

you knocked on their door, seemingly waiting for an answer, there was none.

so you opened the door which was seemingly unlocked, and scanned around the room, calling out their name.

when you heard loud music from his room.

you knocked but there was no answer as you thought the music was drowning your knock so you opened it.

and oh boy were you in for a surprise.

you dropped your purse on the floor as you stood there as if you saw a ghost, but instead you saw them making out with someone else.

“so that’s how shits going huh.” you said bluntly with tears in your eyes as your words jolted both of them up and your partner turned to look at you.

“it’s not what it seems like bab-“ they were protesting, pushing the other person away and walking to you but you cut them off and pushed them away.

“there’s nothing to fucking explain!” you screamed. “its all right infront of me, dont even bother.” you said as the tears flowed out of your eyes, looking away.

“please love im sorry i- just- give me another chance” they tried to grab your hands and you pulled away quickly.

“so you just can call me up again just to break me like a fucking promise huh? i expected better from you.” my voice cracked at every word as i walked away and slammed the door shut.

i was home, on the floor. in a ball of sadness. tears, snot, everything flowing out. while they kept texting me.

…..

unknown number.

1:15 am

un: babe please

un: please im sorry

un: i won’t do it again

un: forgive me

seen 1:20 am.

…..

you knew damn well he was lying so you blocked the number, shutting off your phone and sliding it across the room.

that day, your whole heart broke, you never felt anything anymore, love was completely just a game to you

but do you think everything will change soon?

it was your usual day. wake up, get ready for work, walk, get to work and actually work.

you worked at the cashier in some convenience store.

you’d felt numb and dull the past few weeks and didn’t really have the motivation to do anything, but you had to so you did. but you just remember everything all too well.

you were doing your job as normal and nothing around changed honestly, it was just your average normal day until someone came in that caught your eye.

it was a boy about your age, he was wearing sweatpants and a sweater, the way his jawline stands out and his braids touching his shoulders.

you thought he was cute but you shook off your feelings and went on with your day.

you noticed he was catching a few glances from you, you thought of it as nothing when he paid normally and went out the store.

but he kept coming back to the store every single day for the whole week and you two start to talk a bit more, but not your actual huge conversations.

but this one time. he was in the store picking up a few stuff and bringing it to the counter.

you scanned the items as you put it in a paper bag,

“15.44.” you told him the price.

“keep the change.” he said giving you a 20 and his spanish accent had you rolling on the floor (metaphorically).

you mumbled a thank you as he walked out, you were going to put the 20 in the cash box but suddenly, you saw a note attached to it.

* xxx-xxx-xxxx, my number. text me soon hermosa. - miles:) *

you were shocked to the brim as u held the paper in hand profusely blushing as you started to smile a bit.

did a guy just really give his number out to you?

you kept the note in your pocket, still blushing and went on with your day. until you came back home

you held the note in your hand again, still contemplating if you should put the number in your phone.

you did it anyway.

as you shakily typed the number in your phone, you added his name in the contact number and pressed the message button.

…..

miles(?)

10:05 pm.

y/n: hello?

*minutes pass by and you were doubting a message back from him. but your phone dinged.*

miles(?): hey

*you were shaking in your bed as you saw his reply.*

y/n: you’re miles right?, the guy from the store?

miles(?): the one and only. miles(?): and you’re…?

y/n: sorry.. i’m y/n

miles(?): nice name ;)

*at that point you were shocked by the little winky face he put*

y/n: the same goes to you :)) y/n: so.. weird question but why’d you give me your number?

miles(?): just thought you were cute.

*his reply literally had you in shambles and you didn’t know what to reply with but it hit you. it could be your ex’s friend again trying to get on you for breaking up with them.*

y/n: are u sure? because i swear to god if you’re one of my ex’s friends trying to shit on me for breaking up w them i will literally murder you.

miles(?): i swear, i don’t know who your ex is. but are you okay though?

*i sighed in relief, knowing that they stopped doing it.*

y/n: yeah, sorry i’m just paranoid. y/n: i gotta go, talk to you soon?

miles(?): alright, see ya soon hermosa.

……

you closed your phone and start to smile, but it feels like everything that went down happened was only yesterday, time won’t fly for you. it’s like your paralyzed in your own heartbreak.

you lay down in your bed, thoughts drowning in you as you start to fall asleep.

days turn to weeks and you and miles start to become closer friends. and you wouldn’t deny to admit that you liked him, ALOT.

but you never told him. you were scared of commitment ever since it happened.

you never told him, you never bothered to say anything because he never asked you and you were fine with it. until one day.

you both were on the rooftop at his place laughing about anything and everything, talking about what happens.

until he asks a question.

“so, that day, the day you first messaged me about your ex’s friends shitting on you for what happened, whyd you think i was one of them?” he looked at the stars slyly, glancing at you at times.

“well.” you sighed, fiddling around with your fingers,

“i didn’t know who his friends were, so they would come around at work, giving me their number and i would text them obviously and they would always tell me i was cute or something but the next second they just shit on me saying mean stuff and i kinda just couldn’t trust anyone after that.”

he looks back down to look at you , with an apologetic look on his face, when he went to scoot a bit closer to you.

“can i ask what happened?” he asked as his hand was slightly touching yours as you looked at the stars.

“we were happy for a year, everything was fine but they grew distant. they stopped talking to me and always went to clubs and came back home drunk. they seemed off for so long and i went to their place and saw them making out with someone else and i just kinda lost it, because they did this twice and i lost my shit at that point, i haven’t felt love ever since. i just kinda lost motivation, i really want my old self but i just can’t seem to find it.” tears filled your eyes to the brim as i told him everything.

as the tears start to flow out, he hugged you tightly and rubbed your back. “lo siento mucho querida.” he whispered.

“you did nothing wrong okay? it was all them.” he hugged you tighter.

as he pulled back from the hug, wiping the tears from your eyes.

it was silent for a moment after he pulled away.

“i could change that.” he spoke up after the brief silence that filled between us.

you locked at him surprised, “what.. do you mean?”

“you said.. you would never feel love again right..?” his words were soft when he spoke.

you nodded slowly as you turn to look at him looking at the stars.

“well, i could change that.” his head lowered down to look at you but you looked away.

“how will i know you end up the same as they did?” you looked down looking at your knees when you felt his hand grab your chin and pull you in closer for a kiss.

you were shocked at first but then you slowly melt in to the kiss, finally realizing he was the one.

as he pulled away, he held your hand tightly. “i promise i won’t break your heart mi amor.” he whispered. "ill give you the world, the stars if possible, anything for you."

you felt this wave of love you’ve never felt before and it made you feel full, you went to hug him tightly as you never wanted to pull back

“i love you, miles.”

“te quiero también, mi amor. más de lo que sabes.”

after that day, you and miles started dating and it was nothing like you experienced before.

it was always flowers here, flowers there and he was just a straight up gentleman to you.

you just closed up your shop early tonight to go on your first date with miles, and when you both were walking there, you bumped into someone and both crash to the ground.

“oh my god im so sorr-“ you were frantically picking up their stuff to give it back and when you both look at eachother, you stopped talking. it was your ex.

everything, every single memory of you both flowed down your mind and you remembered it all too well.

“amor are you okay?” miles bent down to check on you when he noticed you giving a dirty glance at your ex, and it hit him.

“yeah i’m fine let’s just go.” you tried to stand up but your ex’s hand pulled you back down and restraining you from standing up.

“what the fuck do you want?” you screamed and it grabbed miles attention.

“please, im sorry i didn’t mean it can things just go back the way it was?” he protested and was on their knees begging you to stay

i pulled my hand out of his grip as we both stood up “i already told you, a million fucking times, no.”

“please i’m sorry, i- i was drunk and i wasn’t thinking straight.”

“so you’re telling me, those both times you were drunk and you weren’t thinking straight? those both times you fucking cheated on me and you weren’t thinking straight? you choosing pleasure over our goddamn relationship and you weren’t thinking straight? you could’ve thought for a SINGLE moment, will this affect my relationship? of course it fucking will you asshole. get out of my sight.” you stood back up and walked opposite where your ex was, but they wouldn’t stop and grabbed your hand again.

“just forgive me plea-“ he was about to get on his knees but miles stood infront of you and grabbed their arm tightly so they could release your arm

“back up bro, y/n already told you they don’t want you. don’t make it harder for us. one step closer and you’re gone got it?” miles let go of his hand as a warning and they nodded and ran away and miles turned to you.

“are you okay querida? you aren’t hurt anywhere are you?” he put his arms on your shoulders, scanning your body for any wounds.

“i’m okay, just a bit shaken up." you sighed, fixing your clothes.

miles was genuinely worried about you and you told him everything's fine as long he was with you.

"i'm so sorry amor that they keep doing that to you." he grabbed yout waist and pulled you in a hug.

"you know ill protect you always right?" he pulled away from the hug.

"promise?" you held out your pinky for a pinky promise and smiled softly.

"promise querida." he took his pinky and hooked it with yours and shook it softly and pulled you in another hug.

although you still remember all the heartbreaking memories all too well, you had him and that was enough for you.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ 　　°

do not steal, translate, and rewrite without permission.

#angst #fluff #hearts4hobie #across the spider verse #astv x reader #miles 42 #miles morales prowler #miles morales 42 x reader #miles g morales #miles morales 42 #CRYING #ilovehimsomuchudontunderstand #astv #spidermanacrossthespiderverse #miles my beloved

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stolen-breath · 2 years

Text

𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕤𝕒𝕗𝕖𝕥𝕪

:: ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ :: ᴀʀᴋʜᴀᴍ ᴋɴɪɢʜᴛ × ʏ/ɴ

:: ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛ :: ʏᴏᴜ ғᴇʟʟ ᴀsʟᴇᴇᴘ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇsᴛ ʜᴀs ᴀ ʙʟᴀɴᴋᴇᴛ sᴏ ᴛʜᴇʏ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ

:: sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ :: ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʀᴋʜᴀᴍ ᴋɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ғᴏᴄᴜs ᴏɴ ʜɪs ᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴜɴʟᴇss ʜᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡs ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ sᴀғᴇ, sᴏ ʜᴇ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋs ɪɴᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ sᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇᴠᴀᴄᴜᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴏʜ ᴍʏ ɢᴏᴅ ᴡʜʏ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛɪʟʟ ʜᴇʀᴇ

:: ᴛᴡs :: ɢᴜɴs, ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ/ᴇɴᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ, ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ sʟᴇᴇᴘ, ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ᴀʀᴋʜᴀᴍ ᴋɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴀɴɢsᴛ :: wᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ :: 1744 :: ʀᴇᴏ̨ᴜᴇsᴛᴇᴅ :: ɴᴏ :: sғᴡ :: | ɴsғᴡ

ᴍᴀsᴛᴇʀʟɪsᴛ

:: ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛᴇs :: ᴍʏ ғɪʀsᴛ ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴇ ғɪᴄ, sᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴄʀɪᴛ ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ (ʙᴜᴛ ᴀʟsᴏ ʙᴇ ɢᴇɴᴛʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ'ᴍ ᴅᴏᴏᴏᴏᴏᴏɪɴɢ) ᴄᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴀssɪᴠᴇ ᴄʀᴜsʜ ᴏɴ ᴛʜɪs ɴᴇʀᴅ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏs ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ

Scarecrow’s threat worked. Yesterday, there were 6.3 million people in Gotham City. Today… not so many.

He has to make sure you’re not one of them.

It’s not that he thinks you’re stupid. He doesn’t believe that you’d stay behind, not with a threat like that looming over Gotham. Sure, you used to joke that you’d take on Gotham’s villains with one hand tied behind your back, but even you wouldn’t actually stay in Gotham, not with Scarecrow’s warning about the new toxin.

It’s more to ease his own worry. Logically, he knows you’re not here – but there’s always that little niggle in the back of his mind, that nagging little voice that never really bothered him until the Joker found it and teased it out until it’s so loud that he can’t think. What if you didn’t leave? What if you’re still here, huddled in your apartment, terrified of the horrific sounds happening all around you? What if you’re creeping through the streets, trying every car in the hopes you’d find one that had a key in it so you can escape? What if you got trampled by the terrified citizens so desperate to escape that they didn’t care who they hurt in their frenzy?

Stop it, he tells himself firmly, his grip tightening on the grab handle of the armored car until his knuckles gleam white beneath his gloves. Of course that didn’t happen. You’re not stupid. Hell, you’re almost as smart as Babs – or him. You’re not in the city. You left – there’s exactly 1% chance you’re still here.

…but that 1% chance is still a chance, and he has to check. He can’t focus on his work with your safety uncertain like this. It’s just a quick adventure, he reasons as he watches the neon lights flicker past his gaze, dulled by his helmet. Ten minutes, in and out.

Your address hasn’t changed. Even years later, you still live in the crappy side of Gotham, the side he’s tried so many times to drag you away from. Your apartment building is still run down. The elevator is still broken. He can hear his lieutenants grumbling to each other as they follow him up the flights of winding stairs. He doesn’t even bother shooting them a withering glance. They’ll live. If they can’t handle a few flights of stairs, then they definitely aren’t ready to face the Bat.

He could break your door down. A well placed kick – oh hell, a well aimed sneeze would shatter the hollow plywood barrier. He instead grabs the spare key from the top of the doorframe. Christ, even the inside of your one-bedroom place hasn’t changed at all. It’s like stepping through a portal back in time, back to when he didn’t need a mask to wander the streets of Gotham with you.

Back to when his motivation was love, not hate.

“You two, guard the door,” he barks, a simple button press ensuring that his words are unheard by anyone without a radio earpiece. “You three, watch the windows. Let me know if you see the target.”

“Sir, our intel suggests that the Bat is currently on his way to Wayne Tower. There’s no way he could get here quickly without us knowing –”

This time, the Knight spares one of his infamous withering glances for the lieutenant that dared to voice his ignorance so confidently. “Never underestimate Batman – and never assume a damn thing. I’m the only one he can’t surprise.”

Two other lieutenants share a worried glance. One raises his hand as if he’s still in school and asking a strict teacher a silly question. “Sir, what if he catches us off-guard?”

“Then try to make a lot of noise when he tosses you out a window. Knock something over, maybe.”

This is stupid. This is a waste of time. Another of his finest tries to speak, but the Knight is done with this bullshit. With a dismissive wave of his hands, he nudges your door open with his shoulder, his hand on his Glock, and steps inside.

The shivering lump on the mattress is both exhilarating and horrifying. He can’t tell if his sigh is of relief or frustration. “Why…?” he grumbles softly, pushing the door shut behind him and approaching the small bed with steps surprisingly quiet in spite of his heavy steel-toed combat boots. “Damn it, Y/N.”

He doesn’t have to look around. He can see through the corners of his eyes that your room – just like your address, your living room, the location of your spare key – hasn’t changed at all since he…left. Your hair, splayed across a faded green pillow, is the same color, the same cut, the same style. You’re even wearing the same stupid chibi squid pajamas that he never admitted he loved so much and certainly can’t now.

There is one difference. You’re clinging to a baseball bat, the same aluminum bat that he got you ages ago for home defense (he wanted to get you a gun, but no, you didn’t want a gun, too dangerous). He can’t help but chuckle under his breath at that. At least you realize how dangerous Gotham is – even if you were silly enough to stay.

“Why?” he asks softly, a low gumble that is more hummed than spoken. “Why did you stay? Gotham’s the most dangerous place in the world right now.” But of course you don’t answer. You’re asleep. The sound amplifiers in his helmet pick up your soft sighs, your quiet little snores, the barely audible mumbles of your adorable attempts to talk in your sleep. He can’t help but reach out to wipe the teeny string of drool that hangs precariously from the corner of your mouth, threatening to drip onto your pillow.

It’s not something you’ll ever see in a romance movie, but to him, it’s the sweetest thing he could ever imagine. To see you again, exactly as he remembered you. It’s comforting, in a way. Memories of you were the only thing that kept him going when he was chained up under Arkham Asylum, the Joker’s deranged cackle echoing in his ears. It gave him the strength to drag himself from the crumbling dredges of the building even as Batman tore the place to pieces in search of something (but not him, never him, the Bat had given up on him long ago, had replaced him and forgotten him –)

No. Not here. In a sudden burst of frustration and madness and desperation, the Knight tears his helmet off his head. A gust of cold air from the cracked window brushes across his flushed face like a comforting hand, but he doesn’t feel it. In the confines of the helmet, he tends to forget how important scents are to his humanity. His eyes drift shut as he inhales slowly, deeply, completely losing himself to the forgotten smells that accompanied you. Black tea with raspberry infusions and honey from the chipped Batgirl mug on your nightstand. Dill and thyme and rosemary, the fresh herbs you grow on your kitchen windowsill and constantly forget to harvest. White sage, from after horror movies.

All intermingling with that intense, all-encompassing scent of you. Indescribable. A scent he didn’t know he needed to remember until he stood over you. The Knight – no. Not the Knight. Not here. Not with you. Jason doesn’t realize he’s pacing, fists clenched, until his knuckles scream with the strain. He needs to touch you – to pull you into his arms, run his fingers through your hair, hold you in his arms just to know that you’re real and not one of his terrifying nightmares.

But he can’t. He’s dead, remember? Have you moved on? You used to have pictures of the two of you on your wall. You don’t anymore. Is that because the memories of your love are too painful – or did you forget him too? No pictures of a new partner. But this is a digital age. No pictures on the wall means nothing, but he clings to that small fragmented hope. You’re still waiting for him, all these years later. He needs that hope. He can’t even consider that maybe you’ve moved on. It will break him all over again, and he can’t have that. Not tonight.

“Sir.” He doesn’t look away from your sleeping face, instead flinging a gesture at the door behind him to remind the soldier to keep quiet. “Target is on the move. We need to go.” There’s a strained edge to the lieutenant’s voice. Is Batman closer than he thought, or is it merely nervousness that breaking the boss's focus will result in retaliation?

It should. But not here. Not in front of you.

Jason doesn't move immediately. He risks another second or two, watching your peaceful face, the soft wrinkle of your nose as a mote of dust teases across it. You don't sneeze. He wishes you would. You always had the best sneezes, a soft squeak that he used to tease you endlessly about. If only Joker hadn't shattered that phone, the one that had all your shared memories. Even Lucius wouldn't be able to piece that back together. Not that he could ask.

Finally, when he couldn't risk another moment, he stands up. He picks the blanket up off the floor and covers your shivering body with it. Your shivering body slowly relaxes. You smile, a soft sleepy smile, and sigh softly. He smiles too, a comforting one, and even he can't tell who's comforting who. It aches his cheeks. He hasn't smiled in years. He likes the feeling.

"After tonight," he promises softly, the low grumble he forces himself to use so he doesn't accidentally wake you up. "I'll come back after tonight. Don't worry, Y/N. You're safe now." He pulls the helmet back over his head, shifting back into his Arkham Knight persona so easily, as if it's where he belongs, and leaves the room without you ever knowing he was there.

Barked orders, stomping feet, the metallic shift of altered voices drift into your dreams, but you're not afraid. There's something comforting about the voice that's clearly in charge. Something familiar. You don't recognize the voices that remain behind after it leaves, but that's okay. The voice in charge won't let them hurt you. He'll burn Gotham to the ground rather than let someone touch a hair on your head.

It reminds you of Jason.

#arkham knight #batman arkham knight #jason todd #arkhamverse #arkhamverse jason #arkhamverse jason todd #batman imagine #jason todd x reader #jason todd x you #jason todd x your name #jason todd imagine #jason todd fluff #jason todd deserves better

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kiragecko · 1 year

Text

What's your favourite period of Batfamily dynamics?

What's the one that you're most interested about exploring through fanfic? Reading the comics for? Reinterpreting, so that it Actually Works?

This poll isn't interested in which period is best written. It wants the one that gets you passionate - either excited or furious - in a way that makes you want to go back to it over and over. (You don't even need to have READ the comics. Choose the period that makes the most interesting fanfic.)

It also isn't about which events were most interesting. It cares more about the relationships (including relationships with outside teams), how they changed over time, and which dynamics were most compelling to you.

Here are our challengers!

The Golden Age (1939 - 1960) - Alfred is a bumbling fool, Bruce murders people in the (very) early issues, Bruce and Dick need no motivation beyond 'it's the right thing to do' and 'we're AWESOME' (and why would they?) [22 years]

The Silver Age (1960 - 1980) - Dick gets fun Teen Titans friends, Bruce goes on space/time travel adventures, Alfred still didn't raise Bruce, and now we have BABS [21 years]

Early - Mid 80s (1980 - 1986) - Dick gets to be oh so melodramatic with his new angsty Titans friends in New York, Bruce says 'Chum' and 'Lad' as he ruffles tiny Jason's hair, Alfred raised Bruce and is his awesome self, Babs continues to be able to do anything, and they're an actual family [7 years]

Late 80s - Early 90s (1986-1992) - The Dark Knight Returns heralds a dark new era, Babs is crippled, and Jason dies. Tim is a new type of Robin - one who supports Batman. Babs rebuilds herself, no child needed. Dick and Bruce try, but mostly fail, to communicate. Alfred becomes the heart of a family that doesn't know it's a family. [7 years]

The 90s (1992 - 1999) - Dick and Tim are brothers. Oracle rejoins the Batfamily, while continuing her separate life. Dick moves from New York to Blüdhaven, closer to the Bats than the Titans. Bruce has 2 sons, even though neither realize he thinks that way. Steph arrives, and exists on the edges, only connected to the family through Tim. A variety of other people come and go through their lives - Jean-Paul, Helena Bertinelli, Harold, Sasha Bordeaux, etc. [8 years]

Early 2000s (1999 - 2003) - The family grows. Cass continues Babs' legacy, and Steph finally gets a friend. Babs and Alfred are in some ways joint centres of the family. Alfred and Bruce fight about how to raise kids. Dick and Tim get even closer. Tim starts Young Justice, and Dick is back with his oldest friends. [5 years]

Mid 2000s (2003 - 2007) - The era of death. Donna dies, Dick's team disbands, and Tim's team renames themselves the Teen Titans. Bad idea, many teens die, including most of Tim's friends. Steph dies. Tim and Cass get close, until Cass is brainwashed and kills a lot of people. Many, many people around Dick are murdered, and eventually Blüdhaven is exploded. Jason is back from the dead, and exuberantly contributing to the murders. Dick is furious with Jason, Jason is violent towards Tim, and Tim is far less forgiving than fanon pretends. Babs gets colder, Alfred gets older, and Bruce shuts down. [5 years]

Late 2000s (2007 - 2011) - The era of grief. Bruce, Dick, and Tim take a year long cruise to recover. Cass and Steph eventually return. But the scars run deep. Everyone's relationships are shaky. Babs leaves Gotham. Jason has a different motivation every arc. Tim is trying to clone people and being head-hunted by Ra's al Ghul. Damian shows up and topples the already unsteady situation. Bruce dies. Cass leaves. Tim fights with Dick and goes off to prove Bruce is alive. Damian and Steph both rebuild themselves in the ashes, while Dick tries to hope for a better future. [5 years]

New 52 (2012 - 2016) - The universe is rebooted. Jason has friends now! Dick spends some time as a secret agent. Damian continues his preboot growth. Tim ... exists. Steph and Cass don't. Babs is Batgirl again. Most of the past no longer exists. [5 years]

Rebirth (2016 - 2023) - Comics slowly bring in previous continuity. Alfred dies, Damian runs away from home, both Steph and Cass are back and being Batgirl, Tim is back with Young Justice for a while. Jason reintegrates with the Batfamily on and off. Bruce gets worse and worse at parenting. (I know this should be split up, but I haven't read ANY of these comics) [8 years]

#sorry guys #remade post because formatting was hurting my eyes #maybe it will work this time?#batfamily #batfam #batman

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abigail-pent · 2 years

Text

My friend read Torah this morning, and it was the portion with Cain and Abel, and we were talking about it just now. And of course since I've got TLT brainrot, I'm thinking about Cain and Abel in the context of Cainabeth and Abella/Ianthe and Coronabeth. Some thoughts:

Cain was the one who had the idea to make a sacrifice; but the implication of the text (per my friend) is that the sacrifice he made wasn't "good enough," because he wasn't sacrificing the best of the land.

Abel, by contrast, does sacrifice the best of his portion (the animals) and this is why his sacrifice is accepted.

Cain is essentially told "better luck next time," at which point he kills his brother and hides this. G-d asks him "where is your brother, his blood cries out to me" and Cain says "am I my brother's keeper?" and he is forever cursed because of the blood he sheds.

Since I'm hearing this story again with Ianthe and Corona in mind, my read on the Cain and Abel story has now become: when G-d tells Cain to do better next time, to make sacrifices that are worthy, and specifically to sacrifice the best of what he has, Cain asks himself, "what's the best of what I have?" and the answer is "my brother, Abel." this is of course a deeply misguided Lyctor-ish kind of thought, and like the Lyctors in TLT, this act fucks up his sense of self -- so he hides, but cannot escape the curse that this murder puts on him.

Interestingly, in the text it isn't clear that it's G-d who curses Cain. G-d tells Cain that he shall be more cursed than the ground, and Cain blames G-d for putting this curse on him. The curse is that he won't be able to use his gift anymore -- he was a tiller of the soil and the curse is that he won't be good at that anymore. So he has to wander the earth. And in the text, when G-d puts a mark on Cain it's so people will know not to kill Cain. I hadn't paid this much attention to the text before but it's actually pretty easy to see a read in which the mark of Cain is not a curse, but an amulet protecting him from the consequences of his actions.

So... who is who, in TLT? On the one hand, seems clear to say Cainabeth -> Coronabeth and Abella -> Ianthe. Ianthe makes a sacrifice (Babs) which is accepted, so she can ascend. Corona makes a kind of sacrifice (pretending to be a necromancer all her life even though what she wants is to be a cavalier; asking her sister to "take [her]" instead of Babs) and it is not accepted; she doesn't become the furnace of her sister's Lyctorhood. And if that's the read, then if this parallel is actually going to play out in its entirety, Corona will kill Ianthe. But is she her sister's keeper? Ianthe is definitely Corona's keeper; we see that over and over again. We see it in Harrow's letters; we see it in the way she has been covering for Corona for her whole life; we see it in the fact that Ianthe says in Nona that she has a plan for "us to be us" again. Corona is not exactly Ianthe's keeper; she's definitely submissive where Ianthe is dominant; she does betray Ianthe to Blood of Eden, but she's so grateful to Palamedes for not hurting Ianthe, and just over and over we see that she doesn't want harm to come to her sister. Her values and actions are in conflict with the empire that Ianthe has come to symbolize, but it isn't at all clear that Ianthe isn't trying to subvert the empire from within, so they may not be working at cross purposes at all. Corona is not not Ianthe's keeper, and she does feel responsibility towards her.

On the other hand, the order of the names in the GTN end matter suggests Cainabeth -> Ianthe and Abella -> Corona. After all, of the two, it feels clear to me that Ianthe has to be the "worse twin." I just don't know if there's scope for Ianthe to kill Corona. As spectacularly awful as she is, Corona is the one person who's consistently important to her. G-d is not (she didn't say the prayer, her motivation to ascend is ultimate power and pictures of her face). But at the same time -- her sacrifice of Babs is certainly not her sacrificing the cavalier that's most important to her. Really, Ianthe's sacrifice is a lot more like Cain's sacrifice than it is Abel's. She refused to give up the best of what she had, instead giving up Babs -- nobody cares about Babs -- whereas Corona absolutely does give up the best of what she has. She literally gave Ianthe her whole life, and Ianthe didn't even want it. (ooh bonus Corona/Gideon parallel, I've got chills.) Corona's sacrifice is worthy in the way Abel's sacrifice was worthy; it hasn't been accepted yet, but who's to say that it won't be? What throne will she mount? Will someone bind her down?

A lot of this question -- who is Cain and who is Abel -- comes down to asking, who is G-d in the Locked Tomb? John claims the title, but he has all of his power because Alecto chose him; so isn't Alecto actually G-d here? Isn't Alecto the figure who could accept or reject a sacrifice in this tale? Or put a mark on someone to protect them from being killed? (Is the Lyctoral eye-switch a form of the mark of Cain? I think so.)

Also a lot of this question could be answered if you just assume that what we're looking at is a subversion of the Cain and Abel story and not a straight retelling. And I think we're more likely to be dealing with a subversion; in which case probably neither twin will kill the other.

I do think everything that follows after the murder feels extremely Locked Tomb. Being cursed to wander the earth, or the universe (Blood of Eden); having to give up the skill that made you you (HTN I'm looking directly at you); G-d putting a mark on you that makes you unkillable (Kiriona Gaia hello). The elements are extremely there.

so... not clear I've come any closer to unraveling the mysteries. but it's been fun anyway. good Shabbos, hope you enjoyed this little drash.

#tlt #tlt meta #cw ianthe tridentarius #coronabeth tridentarius #ntn spoilers #tlt spoilers #the locked tomb #locked tomb meta

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underthestarlitsky · 1 year

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going to be mean and blunt about the robins rq

dick: the First one. you can dress it up as whatever as him being a minority him being a marysue wunderkind him having eldest daughter syndrome whatever whatever idc his value is inherent in being the first one. he’s my favorite but he’s the first and that’s what he brings to the table. literally every part of his character is just the idea of the The First One amplified. they could write him out of the dc story they could ! but it’s not his flexibility as a person/character that keeps him relevant it’s because he sets the tone always. everyone else gets to be different because he set the standard first and it’s BECAUSE he came first that he’s written like this.

jason: the Dead one. stephanie’s dead too, you say. god i wish DC would acknowledge that, i reply. death arcs are sexy and cool and put everyone else in the wrong because dying and coming back makes you the ultimate object of pity. unfortunately dc found jason so boring that somehow even with a death arc as his only personality trait his run was so boring without other characters they had to shut him down at 50 issues

tim: the Boring one. this post was actually motivated by seeing a post that tried to make tim interesting and i would just like to say: stop. there is nothing fundamentally unique or likable about him. name one thing tim has going for him i’m begging you…smarts? dick is smarter*. skills? damian’s been training since birth**. strength? jason is 6 2”. humor? stephanie literally slapped batman. initiative? duke started a robin collective WITHOUT walking up to a dude and saying “hey remember when ur parents died ! sucked for me tbh” PLEASE. “oh but he’s the relatable one :(((!” i hate to break it to you but if you relate to tim you’re probably just as boring and no one’s told you yet. consider this your wakeup call. now try to imagine a world without him. you can’t because DC won’t stop putting him in things. it’s killing me

stephanie: the Girl one. white and blonde and the target of every horrific Women As A Cautionary Tale storyline in the batman universe ever. because she already has MAJOR diversity points for being female in the robin costume, the writers and the fandom decided to ransack her character for things to beef up tim’s disgustingly sparse resume with. this has left behind a Girl Best Friend Doll in purple with a drawstring in her back to let her say unfunny one-liners and the words “We Can Do It!” © Rosie the Riveter

Damian: the Exotic one. god forbid we have one story that does not involve his Evil Heritage and Evil Family. where are he talia and ras from again? the Mystical Orient, did you say? come again? oh, you mean the [unspecified landmass] of the Savages who Must Be Converted To The American Values of Apple Pie and Bravery? everything about damian has to tie back to his exoticism, his temperament his weaponry his fucking dialogue (and like the vernacular (separate story) that he’s given that conflates east + antiquation -> to imply backwardness) of it establishes him as the Other and makes it the conflict all the time. you don’t see tim’s white people manners learned from his mother being an issue to overcome do you

Duke: the New one. technically not even robin to begin with, thank GOD because while it would be sweet to see a younger duke maybe have been a robin it would have come at the expense of his family, AND ON THAT NOTE in fanon it constantly does??? the guy is Batfamily but he has his own cast (and that’s how you create a HeroProtagonist in the dcverse) and he was established as an outside individual a la Kate or Dick (90s). try and respect that

there’s no point to this btw. but i said what i said

*babs is not mentioned because she’s not a robin

**cass, again, not mentioned because she’s not a robin

#dc #batman #dawn rants #batfamily #anti tim drake #stuff #hater hours

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cephalog0d · 6 months

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Batfic - "Haunted AF"

HAPPY SPOOKYWEEN here's some silly Batkids! (Shoutout to @dangerousdan-dan for motivating me to finish this even though it's very last minute XD)

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Category: Gen Characters/Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake Additional Tags: Humor, Ghosts, Dick Grayson is a Troll, Jason Todd is a Troll, Batkids Being Batsibs

Summary:

“I mean, would you want to spend Halloween in a haunted fucking house?” Jason asked. He received a collection of blank stares and frowns for a second before anyone realized what he meant. “Jason, the Manor is not haunted,” Tim said with a truly impressive eye roll.

“Has Bruce worked out Halloween patrols yet?” Steph asked as she flopped sideways into an arm chair. “I mean I assume there’s going to be some kind of catastrophe to deal with.”

“Last I heard he was still narrowing down leads. I think I’m supposed to review some data scrapes from Babs later,” Tim said, frowning absently into his mug. Either because he was remembering the work he had to do or because he’d just realized his drink was gone, it wasn’t entirely clear.

“Ooh, fun,” Steph said with a smirk.

“Yeah, well. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail and all that.”

“What, did you swallow a motivational calendar?” Jason asked without looking up from his book.

“Too blessed to be stressed,” Tim intoned flatly.

“Hashtag blessed,” Cass corrected him with a grin. Steph made a choking noise and clapped a hand over her mouth to avoid spraying her drink all over herself while Jason shot both of them a look of outright disgust.

“Does the Manor get, like, trick or treaters and stuff?” Duke asked thoughtfully. “I mean it’s way out in the middle of nowhere.”

“I dunno, actually,” Tim said with a frown. “Nobody’s usually home on Halloween anyway, considering…” He gestured vaguely at all of them in a way that was apparently meant to indicate “being a vigilante in Gotham on Halloween”.

“I mean, would you want to spend Halloween in a haunted fucking house?” Jason asked. He received a collection of blank stares and frowns for a second before anyone realized what he meant.

“Jason, the Manor is not haunted,” Tim said with a truly impressive eye roll.

“What, are you kidding me? It’s Gotham. Gotham is hella haunted-”

“Don’t say hella.”

“-just in general and the Manor is definitely included in that. You know how old that place is? How many people used to live there before Bruce turned into the Bat Hermit? How much tragedy those walls have borne witness to?”

“‘Borne witness’?” Cass repeated softly to herself.

“There are no ghosts in Wayne Manor,” Tim said firmly. “I’ve never noticed anything strange. Or, you know, strange compared to our normal level of weird.”

“You barely lived there. I saw all sorts of weird shit when I was a kid. Stuff getting moved around even though no one was home, doors opening and closing on their own, weird shadows that shouldn’t be there moving around. That was the worst. Headed up the stairs in the dark, seeing someone lurking up ahead, assuming it’s Bruce, and then nope, he’s behind you and nobody’s there. Scared the shit out of me when I was little.”

“So a bunch of stuff that’s easily explained as a child’s imagination?” Tim asked, unimpressed.

“There’s also the mirror.”

“The mirror?” Steph repeated in a mockingly serious voice.

“One of the bathroom mirrors back in the back hall would always have handprints up in the top corner no matter how many times we cleaned it. Alfred just thought it was me and Dick messing with him. Eventually he decided it must’ve been stained somehow and just replaced the mirror, but the handprints came back pretty much immediately.”

“You are so full of shit!” Steph laughed loudly. Tim was silent but the hard stare he was directing at Jason was more than eloquent.

“I heard yelling, what’s going on?” Dick said from the hall, poking his head around the doorway.

“Just telling them about the ghosts,” Jason said evenly. Whatever reaction the others expected of Dick (probably either rolling his eyes or sternly telling Jason to knock it off), they didn’t get it. Dick just nodded, entirely unsurprised, as if that was a perfectly reasonable answer, eliciting another round of Looks between the kids as he wandered over to stand by Jason’s chair.

“Oh, yeah,” Dick said matter-of-factly. “The attic one who breaks glass at stupid o’clock in the morning or the one who leaves creepy handprints in the downstairs bathroom mirror?”

“Wait, that’s real?” Tim demanded incredulously.

“Yeah, and that thing in the tiny guest room that blows on your neck if you stay there too long.”

“Ugh, I hate that one,” Dick agreed with a shudder. “So creepy.”

The other four exchanged a complicated series of looks.

“Okay, so you’re both full of shit,” Steph said with less conviction than before.

“Believe what you want,” Jason said levelly. Dick just looked slightly confused at their skepticism.

“I...need to check something,” Tim said as he hurriedly packed up his laptop and phone.

“Oh, yeah, you want some help?” Steph offered.

“Uh, sure, I’m just gonna…” Tim did not actually finish explaining what he was going to do as he left, Steph and Cass trailing along behind him. Duke watched them go, glanced at Dick and Jason, then shrugged and went to follow.

“They’re totally going to spend all night ghost hunting,” Jason said once they were gone.

“Yup,” Dick grinned, holding out a hand in Jason’s direction. Jason rolled his eyes, but fist bumped him anyway.

“Should we make sure they find something?” he suggested with a smirk. Dick blinked at him, looking slightly confused again.

“You don’t think they will?” he asked innocently. Jason narrowed his eyes suspiciously. That was absolutely one of Dick’s “I’m full of shit” voices.

“Of course they won’t, because the Manor’s not haunted,” Jason said slowly. “That was all bullshit.”

“Oh, right! Of course,” Dick agreed with a (fake as hell) easy smile.

“Dick.”

“Do you think Bruce has finished his patrol schedules yet?” Dick asked as he headed out of the room.

“Dick! You said you made it up! Dick!”

#I'm sorry for the title I named the doc that and it stuck #Dick's siblings may be able to recognize his Full Of Shit voice/face but that doesn't stop him from using it against them #dick grayson #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #tim drake #jason todd #duke thomas #ceph writes things #Halloween

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flybynightwing · 1 year

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I was thinking about this and you seemed like the best person to ask: in '96 Nightwing Dick claiming responsibility for Catalina doesn't make sense? The Bats do believe in rehabilitation and do take responsibility for things that are outside their control. So. Yeah. Dick blaming himself for Blockbuster's death makes sense (makes sense as in is in character) and him blaming himself for not being able set Catalina straight kinda sorta makes sense? Because the Bats rehabilitate? But saying he failed her per se doesn't make sense? The way he takes responsibility for her, you'd think she was a kid not a grown woman and that somehow Dick's the adult responsible for her. There doesn't seem to be any reason, any incentive for that. But he was weirdly invested in her🤷‍♀️

To clarify, this is the conversation that we're gonna be talking about:

(Nightwing Vol 1 #117, aka the very last scene of the Blockbuster arc)

And I think there are really three levels on which you can talk about this.

First, is it in character for Dick to take responsibility for Catalina? I think, as you say, the answer to that is pretty unquestionably yes. Dick takes responsibility for everything. He feels responsible for Bruce's instability, for Jason's death, for his parents' deaths. He feels, rightly, a massive responsibility as a leader of the Titans and the Outsiders, and as a leader within the superhero community generally. He takes responsibility for things that are clearly his fault, and for things that have absolutely nothing to do with him. The central tenet of Dick Grayson's character, from which all else stems, present implicitly and explicitly pretty much since he stepped onto the page, is that he is constantly aware of the crushing responsibility of the life he's chosen, and constantly afraid of failing.

Second, is Dick actually responsible for Catalina? And the answer there is no. He has no formal relationship with her; he barely has an informal relationship with her. He never mentors her, he never dates her, he never encourages her. In fact, he actively warns her that she should not be a vigilante. By the time that Catalina kills Blockbuster, she's already committed one murder, for which Dick had her arrested.

When Dick says here that he abdicated his responsibility to Catalina, what he means (I think) is that he allowed her to kill Blockbuster. And while that was an abdication of his responsibility, it wasn't a responsibility to Catalina—it was a responsibility to himself, his profession, and to the world more broadly. (And, in Dick's mind, to Bruce, but that's another place where Dick and I disagree.) Catalina arrived on the scene with the intention of killing Blockbuster, having already committed murder in the past, fully aware of her actions and motivations. She is an independent moral agent, and Dick is not responsible for what she does—only for how he responds.

Third, and most complex: Does the story here make sense? Is it thematically coherent? Is this a satisfying and appropriate ending?

And I... don't know.

The thing is, if you set aside Death of the Author, it's pretty clear what story Devin Grayson wanted to tell with Dick and Catalina. She's spoken on it extensively in interviews:

[Dick] would make a terrible boyfriend, which is actually part of what his relationship with Tarantula explored—he was involved with Babs while that was going on and would have declared with utter sincerity that he loved Barbara at any point in that debacle (and yes, that relationship was deliberately a debacle). Worse, he would have meant it. One of the (obviously too many) issues I was trying to look at there was the tension between Dick’s laser focus—wherever he is and whatever he’s doing, he’s 100% on it, which is part of what makes him so effective—and his romantic restlessness. Most of the people in his life are very protective over him and, in their own ways, very accommodating of his inexorable energy level. They understand that he comes and goes and that when you have him with you, he’ll do absolutely anything for you to the full extent that he is capable of doing it (which will often be superheroic), but that he will eventually be compelled to go help someone else. So if you have someone who has to save everybody, and has to bring his full focus to bear on everything he does and every interaction he has, and if he’s inherently loyal but also relentlessly energetic and itinerant by nature—what happens when he finds himself trying to help someone who does not share his morals, does not have his best interest at heart and is not above physical manipulation? That’s Catalina.

(https://thebatmanuniverse.net/tbu-exclusive-3/)

Setting aside some of the revisionist romantic history and coded racist language there, Grayson sees Catalina's role in the story as seductive. Not (necessarily) in the sexual sense, but in the sense that she captures Dick's attention and draws him into worse behavior than he would otherwise display. In this understanding of the story, Dick is an active participant in a toxic relationship: Catalina pursues him, and he, with the best of intentions, reciprocates, and it spirals into destruction.

If that's the narrative, then Dick taking responsibility for Catalina at the end of the story makes a certain amount of sense. He's still not responsible for her actions directly, but he played into, even encouraged, a toxic dynamic and then, at its nadir, made a decision that ended in a man's death. I might not phrase that as "abdicating his responsibility to Catalina," but I can understand where that idea would be coming from.

The problem is, that narrative simply does not exist on the page. Maybe it's what Grayson intended to write, but it's not what she actually wrote. Dick is not infatuated with Catalina. He does not encourage her. He honestly doesn't even really try to help her. Most of the time, even before things turn sour, he seems vaguely irritated with her. For one issue, before he knows anything about who she is or what her morals are, he entertains the idea that it might be cool to mentor another hero—but he doesn't do that, and again, he very quickly has her arrested for murder. He is, in fact, throughout the entire arc, deeply in love with Babs, to the point where his inability to let go of their past together is the thing that actually destroys their relationship.

And so we're left with an arc where most of Dick's actions make sense, where I do believe that he's acting in-character the entire time... but in this, the final scene of the story, he takes responsibility for something that really isn't his responsibility, and the narrative doesn't challenge him on it. This isn't just a thing Dick says; this is what Dick says as the final note that the story ends on. This is the takeaway. And unfortunately, it's a takeaway to a story that just doesn't actually exist on the page.

#dick grayson #catalina flores #ask

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