Gray and Graysons
One of the Bats has a secret. Something they never told to the others.
They were so very young but they have memories of a sibling, so small and tiny. They remember the burst of warmth they had in their heart when they held the tiny baby for just a moment.
But they weren’t allowed to keep them, their family couldn’t raise them. Money was tight, just enough for three but not for four, despite their shows always bringing in a crowd it was getting harder and harder for the world to be wowed by them in the new age and their sibling was too small and tiny and needed to be cared in a single place than for them to be on the road. Their lifestyle was not good for his tiny sibling apparently.
They had to watch as their parents gave his sibling away to people in suits, them promising to give his baby brother to a loving family when they find a ‘home’ for him. He watched his parents try to be strong only for his mother to break down once the car left down the road, his father holding her and apologizing, the rest of the circus troupe all silently coming over to give the heartbroken family condolences.
Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson had tears running down his face when he last saw his baby brother.
A brother he got to name before he had to be given away.
Daniel ‘Danny’ Grayson.
-x-x-
Dick never told the others. If anyone dug deep into his past they might find his brother’s birth records maybe, if someone got around to digitizing the paperwork for him but given the fact he was placed in the US childcare systems just a few days after his birth and the fact that Dick was still pretty young they most likely believed he didn’t remember his baby brother now. Not after so many years.
But they were wrong, Dick remembers. And he kept the secret close to his heart and memories.
And the only physical evidence he had was a single picture of him holding his brother, a smile on his tiny face towards their father who had taken the photo of them together. When he had lost his parents, lost most of the things that connected him to them, to his past in the circus that had been his whole life, had been taken from him in Gotham’s ruthless childcare system, he held on tight to the picture in secret. Hid it away from anyone trying to rip it from him, hid it from Bruce when the man took him in days later, hid it from Alfred despite how gentle the butler was towards him. He couldn’t, wouldn’t risk losing his photo at the time, he hadn’t trusted anyone and by the time he did he didn’t have the heart to reveal it.
So yes, the existence of his baby brother Danny was his most guarded and best kept secret.
So that’s why Dick, as Nightwing, nearly died from a heart attack when leaving a Justice League meeting he spotted a familiar face among one of the new engineers working in the Watchtower.
It was like seeing a young version of himself. Only, Dick could see that the young man was more than a copy of him, so much more than a clone. He held many traces of John Grayson but also had a bit more of Mary Grayson than Dick did. Small details that Dick foggely remembers taking note when he had held his baby brother.
“Hey, hurry up with that report Gray!” Shouted the head engineer from down the hall, his hand beckoning the young adult to come over.
“Coming! And boss, I told you Danny is fine!” Danny shouted back before hurriedly leaving a stunned Nightwing.
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priest guy sending mixed signals, what is he up to?🤨🕶🤏
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[Image Description: A warm-toned comic featuring Trigun98 characters. It opens with Vash shouting "YOWCH!!" as a half-eaten donut flies through the air, a bruise on Vash's tongue. Meryl, editing papers, is annoyed as he complains: "Ow! Ow! I bi'e my 'ongue..." "What's the rush?" Meryl asks, "They're all yours." Vash, still hurt, tries to explain: "They're jus' sooo good!" Meryl argues back, "Well, savour it then!" Wolfwood has been watching the scene unfold as Meryl continues, "Satisfying your sweet tooth doesn't come cheap, unfortunately." Wolfwood clicks his lighter open and closed, again and again. Without a word, he leans closer, his thumb on Vash's lips. "Wolfwood...?" Vash trails off. Then, Wolfwood opens Vash's mouth and knicks his thumb on one of Vash's canines in one fell swoop. "Wah? Huh??" Vash says as Wolfwood pulls his bleeding thumb away. He licks the blood off the wound then snickers at Vash. Meryl looks disgusted, Vash has lit up in an embarrassed explosion, and Milly remarks, curious: "Those are surprisingly sharp, Mr. Vash!" Question marks float around Vash, and his donuts lay discarded on the table. Each panel is signed by raepliica. End ID]
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au where ALL the batkids inherit bruces adopting problem, but it's for kids that remind them of themselves
When a hyper-intelligent juvenile figures out his identity and starts following him around on patrol the only thing Tim can think is that this is karma
Steph sees any spunky kid with a villain parent and a hunger for justice and goes 'mine.'
An angry, bitter kid shows up at the police station and Dick immediately starts teaching them how to juggle
Jason reiterates to himself that he's not anything like bruce while collecting crime alley kids like pokemon cards
The little redheaded techie from Barbaras workplace accidently calls her mom and she nearly cries
When a mute youth with a truly horrible father needs a place to call home, Cass doesn't hesitate when inviting them into hers.
it only makes sense for Duke to take the new meta-vigilante under his wing, right? right??
Damian doesn't realise he's mentally adopted the small, scruffy assassin sent after him until he's reading them a bedtime story.
none of them tell eachother until there's a family reunion and then it's just
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I'm sorry, but their reactions to Otohan showing up out of the blue are too FUNNY.
Top table SCREAMING their heads off and Sam's just going "👀 I have one (1) spell slot left."
Meanwhile, bottom table has just abruptly given up on life and Liam straight up nope'd tf out of there.
Life footage of Liam:
And Taliesin, bless his heart, being the Most Relatable:
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Being Big Red
Rise Ramblings #312
In “What Was Meant To Be” and “What They Became,” I discuss how the turtles were created by Draxum to be weapons and then how the boys were embraced by Splinter to be a part of the Hamato clan.
I also discussed how Splinter viewed television as a window into his former life. He used television as a means to drown himself in a never-ending cycle of reminiscing the past and mourning his former self.
Splinter’s crushing depression, though never voiced, impacted the turtles’ emotional growth and development. As a result, all four brothers had to cope with their father’s lack of attention and his expectations for their lives in their own way…
However, I believe that no one had more pressure placed on them than Raphael Hamato.
Raphael is naturally easy-going, sweet, fun-loving, and supportive. But, as the oldest/biggest turtle, he became the impromptu leader of their little team by default. Consequently, he takes on several different roles for the sake and well-being of his family.
Their day-to-day training regimen is directed completely by him.
He is the boys' moral compass and who they go to for guidance.
He's the team’s backbone, support, and backup, which often cumulates in him acting as a physical shield when things get rough.
And, most significantly, Raph is the leader even when he himself wants nothing more than to crumble to pieces.
Raph is so physically imposing, strong-willed, and devastatingly kind-hearted that it’s easy to expect these roles from him.
But, Raph is also just a child.
In reality, these roles should never have been Raph’s to bear…
Parentification is a process in which a child or adolescent is forced to act as a parent to their siblings (or to their actual parent) through providing emotional support (Emotional Parentification) or physical support (Instrumental Parentification) in order to maintain the household.
I believe that Raphael was subjected to both, but was especially subjected to the former.
All of the roles described above are the roles of a supportive parent to their children (or Sensei to their students.) To verify this claim, you needn’t look further than the roles that Splinter encompassed in any other iteration.
With Raph, none of this responsibility comes naturally. He has to work hard to live up to the pressures and expectations placed onto him, resulting in a dissonance between his responsibilities and his true nature.
I believe that you can see the evidence of this dissonance in his chosen form of dress.
Have you noticed that when Raph casually dresses himself, he mostly wears white?
Even Donnie picked up on this trend when he chose outfits for his brother in "The Clothes Don't Make The Turtle."
(See "The Fashionista" for a full breakdown on Donnie's impeccable fashion sense.✨)
Yet, when Raphael is filling a role, or dressing to impress others, Red is his automatic go-to.
It’s almost as if the title of “The Red One” was not one that he chose, but one that was merely placed onto him.
But I digress...
Raph is able to be a pseudo-parent to his brothers and serves to fill in the gaps that their actual father could not fill. However, with no outlet for his own insecurities, all of that pressure had no relief.
And, if you understand chemistry, pressure, with no release, creates an explosion.
“Acting out” is an unhealthy defense mechanism in which one expresses their unacceptable feelings through physical actions.
In this case, the "unacceptable feeling" is disappointment, not at his brothers, or with his father, or with any external force, but with himself. And with no outlet and with no one to turn to for support, that disappointment turns into red hot anger.
He’s so disappointed with himself, in fact, that he reaches his breaking point.
Then finally, finally, he opens up.
And at long last, he gets the support he so desperately needed.
Thus, he is able to ultimately let it all go...
It's so lovely to see that his family does not disappoint.
○○○○
Next | Being Baby Blue • Being Purple ○ Part One • Being Purple ○ Part Two • Orange, Baby!
Finale | Being Hamato Yoshi
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