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smartycvnt · 10 months

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Cozy

Title: Cozy Pairing: Stephanie Brown x Reader Prompt: 14. "It's a little chilly." "Here, take my jacket." NR WC: 735

Summertime in Gotham was unlike anything that Y/n had ever experienced before. Gotham City itself was unlike any other city in the world. The brand of criminals alone was in a league all of their own. That wasn't what was currently on Y/n's mind, despite the fact that it should have been. Instead, Y/n was shivering as she wondered how the hell it had gotten so cold within the span of just a few hours. Y/n had been sweating whenever she started her patrol with Stephanie, but now the blonde was bound to notice that Y/n was shivering. That was the last thing Y/n wanted, she had begged Stephanie to come along on this patrol.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stephanie asked as she dipped her head down a little to meet Y/n's eye. Y/n looked up to see Stephanie's big blue eyes staring into hers with pure concern. Y/n forced a small smile and nodded. "It's fine if you're tired or bored. My assignments have been pretty shitty lately."

"I'm sorry," Y/n apologized as she slid her hand into Stephanie's. A part of Y/n felt responsible for Steph's patrol assignments being awful. She had been the one who had slipped up and kissed Stephanie in front of everybody during one of their sparring sessions. Everybody had been pretty supportive, but both of them knew that Tim wasn't actually happy for the two of them. He still wanted Stephanie and wished that they could work things out. He didn't seem to understand that Stephanie had come back wanting something different.

"Hey, I've got the best patrol partner a girl could ask for, I'm not complaining. I do wish that you'd tell me what's bothering you. And before you tell me that it's nothign, I can see the look on your face that is screaming otherwise," Stephanie said. She gave Y/n's hands a couple of little squeezes for good measure as them sat on the edge of a rooftop with their legs dangling over the edge. Y/n let her legs kick back and forth excitedly, freely expressing her excitement about being around Stephanie.

It had been a hard few months keeping their relationship a secret. Y/n had always been protective of Stephanie whenever nobody else would. Bruce's mistreatment of Stephanie had always been the thing that drove a wedge between the two of them. He had wished that wasn't the case as Y/n had always been seen as the first adoption of Bruce's. She had been much younger than Dick whenever Bruce took her in after the death of her birth parents. He had been the only father that she had ever really known, and if Bruce wanted to keep Y/n in his life, he'd start treating Stephanie more like she was one of them. Stephanie had begged Y/n to keep quiet, but now that Bruce knew, she wouldn't have to.

"It's really nothing. I'm just cold I guess. It's a little chilly, I didn't expect it to be," Y/n admitted. Stephanie immediately shrugged her leather jacket off of her shoulders to extend towards Y/n as an offering.

"Here, take my jacket." Stephanie didn't really wait for Y/n to respond before she was draping the jacket over the smaller woman's shoulders. Sitting on the balcony, Y/n had forgotten momentarily how much bigger than Stephanie was. Stephanie was nearly an equal with Bruce in terms of height, and Y/n was pretty sure that Stephanie was in a bulking competition with Jason. Her body was impressive, and Y/n loved the extra bit of squish to cuddle whenever they got back to Y/n's place after a night of patrols.

"What about you? I know you get cold easily," Y/n pointed out. Stephanie shrugged it off, but Y/n could see her starting to shiver a little already. "I won't let you freeze."

"I won't. If it gets too much, I can just snuggle up next to you." Stephanie smiled like she had figured out the solution to every problem they could ever had. If it was up to Y/n, that would be the way to fix everything. A hug from Stephanie often felt like it was the universal cure to all ailments, Y/n just didn't have a way to test that theory out.

#my writing #stephanie brown x reader #stephanie brown #dc x reader #dc

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geekthefreakout · 7 months

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This is just some food for thought, but did you ever notice that JaySteph as a ship is more acceptable than JayBabs as a ship? There are people who dislike both but I’ve noticed that JaySteph doesn’t get as much hate but instead people say that it would make sense because they are alike. And I wonder if that is really true beside the basic points.

People are of course free to ship what they want and this isn’t meant as hate, but just some things I’ve thought about.

I wonder if it’s because Barbara isn’t as feminine as Stephanie and Steph has characteristics that more acceptable. Like Barbara can be intelligent but she’s also stubborn, manipulative, practical, and can be completely ruthless like someone else we know. People talk about Steph and Jason’s daddy issues but really Jason loved his father and his father turned to crime to get his family out of their situation while his mother turned to drugs to cope. Of course that changed with time, but Barbara also had a father (pre-crisis) that was an alcoholic who she loved but used alcohol as his way to cope.

After Barbara was paralyzed she had a stint where she was being mentored by Amanda Waller and was with the Suicide Squad even having Waller wanting her as her successor. That’s all like hardcore stuff and as we know Jason as Red Hood is no daisy. But besides all that stuff because really nobody really needs evidence why they ship something, but I’m just wondering why one gets more hate than the other and it’s not just that that Barbara has been with Dick because Stephanie has also been with Tim. Makes me think that Barbara doesn’t really fit that femininity bill.

Also why is it that Jason is the only book lover, because Barbara was a librarian and she has been shown to love reading just as often as Jason was shown reading.

This was just stuff I’ve been thinking about. Sorry. I love all your responses btw and I hope this ask isn’t bothersome.

No bother at all!

I admit that I haven't seen much Steph/Jason stuff and have never really thought about it. Mostly I think that they would be great friends if they hung out together more often, but I don't personally see anything there that sparks romance for me.

Also I'm not sure about Babs not being "feminine enough" has anything to do with it- though of course, Steph is more unapologetically "girly" a lot of the time. I think it may be more about Babs being older- she's meant to be older than Dick. But since when is DC consistent about stuff like that?

Since it hasn't been pushed by DC to my knowledge, that may be a big part of why there isn't so much backlash to it. I think people might also relate to Steph more, especially pre-Flashpoint Steph. Her Batgirl run had so much heart and is easily one of my favorite books overall. She's much more of an Everyman character than Babs is.

I also think that because Babs has been so mistreated by editorial in the past (TKJ, then erasing Oracle, then Burnside...), people are especially protective of how she is handled.

My brain is kind of friend right now, but that's what I've got. Thank you Nonny!

#anon ask #batfam #batfam discourse #barbara gordon #jason todd #stephanie brown #shipping discourse

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samasmith23 · 1 year

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Mystique and the Theories of Relativity

A little over half a year ago, I marathoned the entirety of both the 90s X-Men crossover event, Age of Apocalypse, as well as its direct prequel Legionquest in giant-sized hardcover format. One issue from the Legionquest omnibus in particular which greatly stood out to me was Theories of Relativity from X-Men Unlimited (1993) #4 by Scott Lobdell & Richard Bennett, due to how it heavily fleshes out one my personal favorite supervillain in comics, Raven Darkhölme, aka Mystique!

Although the 4-part Wolverine: Get Mystique arc by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney’s still stands as my personal favorite Mystique storyline, Theories of Relativity is easily a very close contender! If you want to hear more about my praise for Get Mystique, here's a link to the essay "The dualistic rivalry of Wolverine & Mystique" which I posted here a few weeks ago:

Theories of Relativity is quite notable in that it not only reveals for the first time in-continuity that the X-Men member Nightcrawler (aka, Kurt Wagner) is indeed the biological son of Mystique, but it also showcases the long-awaited family reunion between Mystique and Kurt along with the latter's adopted sister/fellow X-Man Rogue (aka, Anna Marie), and half-brother/anti-mutant bigot Graydon Creed. The issue's plot centers around Nightcrawler & Rogue investigating the assassination of a US general who sold weapons to the anti-mutant hate-group "the Friends of Humanity" and its leader Graydon Creed. They soon discover that Mystique killed the general in order to send a message that she's out for Graydon Creed’s blood after he hired his father Sabretooth (aka, Victor Creed) to assassinate Raven in a previous miniseries. Nightcrawler & Rogue are then cryptically sent to the latter's old Mississippi hometown where she was adopted by Mystique. However, the two are then intercepted by Creed who reveals that he is not only Nightcrawler's step-brother, but that they are both Mystique's biological sons. She had abandoned Creed when she discovered that he was not born as a mutant, and she threw an infant Nightcrawler off a waterfall whilst fleeing from an angry mob that perceived them both to be demons (Nightcrawler's was born with his blue-fur, while Mystique accidentally reverted back to her true appearance due to the pain of childbirth).

While X-Men Unlimited #4 is not a perfect issue by any means since some aspects like Mystique's foresight about Nightcrawler & Rogue specifically showing up to prevent her from killing Creed felt rather contrived, overall this was an emotionally powerful narrative which shines a spotlight on one of my favorite characters in not just the X-Men franchise, but in comic books as a whole!

Theories of Relativity effectively illustrates what makes Mystique such a complex and multilayered villain! True to her nature as a shapeshifter, Mystique is a woman of contradictions. On the one hand she's perfectly willing to sacrifice the lives of other people if it either means preserving her own life, or if said-person fails to fulfill her own agendas. But on the other hand Raven is portrayed as being capable of showing genuine love and affection towards individuals that she see parts of herself reflected in.

This dichotomy is most effectively demonstrated through the contrasting relationships between her two biological sons and her adoptive daughter. While Mystique expresses zero regrets regarding her cold mistreatment and abandonment of Graydon Creed & Nightcrawler, she conversely shows legitimate love towards an abandoned and orphaned Rogue, with Raven stating that she could relate to Rogue’s inability to physically touch others due to her own history of utilizing her shape-shifting powers to prevent others from touching her. Raven even goes as far as to claim states that both Rogue and her then-late wife Destiny (aka, Irene Adler) were the only people she ever felt genuine feelings for.

These conflicting aspects of Mystique’s personality are elements of the character which have always made her such a nuanced and compelling villain to me. Elements which have carried over into the modern era, such as with Wolverine: Get Mystique emphasizing Raven's duplicity and willingness to unashamedly sacrifice others in order to fulfill her own interests, while it’s direct prequel X-Men: Messiah Complex emphasized said-villainous traits as simultaneously being derived from Mystique's selective love for individuals like Rogue & Destiny.

In a broad sense, one could interpret Mystique’s hardened exterior and boastful pride of seemingly only caring about for herself as yet just another contradictory facade. A metaphorical form of shape-shifting that Raven's developed over the past century she's been alive for as a self-preservation mechanism which allows her to prevent others from hurting her, consequently hiding elements of her true self from the rest of the world in the process.

This is an interpretation which Theories of Relativity supports through its climax, wherein Mystique surprisingly sacrifices herself so that Rogue can save Nightcrawler from death despite referring to her son as "unwanted" earlier in the issue. Yet another contradiction in Mystique's facade, one which heavily reminded me of the plot twist from the Wolverine Goes To Hell storyline wherein Raven betrayed the Red Right Hand after helping them banish Logan's soul to Hell upon discovering the organization's plans to manipulate Wolverine into unknowingly slaughtering his own children. And Raven did this simply out of respect Logan's friendship for her then-deceased son Nightcrawler, putting aside her own selfish hatred for the sake of someone she genuinely loved.

Overall, X-Men Unlimited #4 is a prime testament to what makes Mystique one of my all-time favorite comic book villains. Additionally, there's a lot of fascinating queer themes which the reader can derive from this issue. These can include themes found-family through Rogue & Mystique's relationship, as well as Graydon Creed's status as a normal human who hates his two mutant parents being reflective of real-life instances of familial rejection occurring between cis-het adults and their queer parents.

The latter example is a theme which transgender YouTuber Vera Wylde from Council of Geeks mentioned in her brilliant "Mystique - Queer Icon!" video:

youtube

Plus, the issue also contains some truly hilarious scenes like Mystique shape-shifting into Abraham Lincoln whilst calling out the U.S. general's dishonesty before assassinating him!

And as a fun bit of trivia, I love how the dust-jacket of the Legionquest Omnibus which reprints this issue also refers to Destiny being as Mystique's "lover," even though this story came out in the 90s before it was confirmed that the two were a lesbian couple!

But yeah, overall, Lobdell & Bennett's work on X-Men Unlimited #4 definitely ranks highly among the quintessential Mystique stories IMO!

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crysabee · 1 year

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So My family is canonically called the Bat family and oh my god is it accurate.

my dad is Batman because he has multiple jobs, and he has actually stopped a few robberies in progress and he is HR in a store, and people respect and are afraid of him. He is also ALWYAS on call too, He’s a big guy, but he’s brave, fearless and indeed does have a slight traumatizing past, he has also had to leave random times for HR during the day and Night, he’s not a playboy, but he’s great with people for work. His family? He tries…He’s not the best at feelings but he tries. We love him very much.

my mom is actually Poison Ivy! She is VERY VERY VERY Concerned about the Earth, and hates to see when Mankind is messing it up (ergo Powerlines in the middle of forests) she wishes she could grow things (her one downfall) she’s good with people WHEN NEEDED ONLY. She does have the one crazy bestie actually two but even still it works out. Much like Pamela she was neglected by her Father which caused her to enjoy plant life. Had a decent mother but not the best as well. She is very protective and can get really really angry when seeing someone mistreating a plant (we took her to the redwood forest and she couldn’t stop screaming and indeed was hugging each tree.)

my older sister is actually Jason Todd. My sister is dead inside a lot of the time but her sarcasm is on POINT. (I also call her Tim but she is more Jason than anything) However much like Jason she has a strong sense of fairness and Justice as well (gets it from dad lol) she is the favorite like Jason is naturally, and does indeed get in arguments about fairness with dad VERY often. She also enjoys planting and has calming tactics. She is a smart ass but loveable. She is not street-smart like Jason but is always what is needed which is what Jason is! She can be very neglected sometimes, but is fine to a point on her own. She indeed does get anxiety attack to a point, much like Jason, and it takes her a bit to come back to earth also like Jason. We love her very much.

who am I? I’m the Youngest so actually I’m Dick Grayson. Odd right? Well I had to have my sister explain this to me, so I’ll have her text what she is saying!

Hi, I’m Crysabee’s Older sister, And since I was told I shall Explain. She would be Dick Grayson for some very good reasons, she has a unique ability to read the room and adjust her attitude and demeanor. She values communication above all else and family unity. She has the ability to draw people to her and with her ESFP Personality (which is also Nightwing’s as she just told me) she able to take any stressful situation and make it good. It is never wise to make her angry but it takes a while for her to officially give up on someone much like Dick. She also a good leader and attention seeker, a flirt and good with guys. With all types of people they somehow trust her even after knowing her for a few minutes. She has acrobatic tendencies and no matter what is always herself even if it’s not the best time. Always making a joke always trying to lighten the mood, and is a star in her own right her love of the spotlight is much like Dick’s as well. She is how Superman described him: “Always confident, Always Kind, Always Cool. Dick Grayson the universal constant.” She also has a four foot giant elephant elephant she has named Zitka.

MY SISTERS WORDS OH MY GAWD AH

Anyways yeah that’s my family!

#dick grayson #nightwing #batfam #poison ivy #pamela ivy #jason todd #red hood #bruce wayne #batman #d.c. comics

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veronica-17-hood · 2 years

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"I think we deserve

A soft epilogue, my love.

We're good people

And we've suffered enough"

—Seventhy years of sleep, nikka ursula

Jason needs a soft epilogue, he's a good person, and he's suffered enough

you asked, of course i’ll deliver.

it had been years.

not only for himself but for everyone else too.

the originals had all retired at this point, achy joints and tired eyes had just grown too much for them to handle. the titans changed masks, the outlaws disbanded, the justice league has since evolved to a new era of hero’s.

he was thirty-five when he decided to step down, ignoring the bat signal as it gleamed in the smog filled sky of gotham city, ignoring the gun shots that he could hear from crime alley, and the cackles of the new and up coming villains.

he had done all he could manage, he put his everything in fixing gotham, so did his father and his brothers, his friends-his family.

and his everything was just not enough.

damian took on the cowl, he was a better batman than bruce could ever be. he was the best parts of each of the wayne’s, he is optimistic like dick, does what bruce never could like jason, expands his mind like tim, listens like cassandra, and of course keeps his temper from his youth.

jason watched as dick slowly gave up bludhaven, finally realizing that he can’t compensate for not saving his parents by saving everyone else. dicks family grew, with a baby with glowing green eyes like her uncle jay (though they do fall from her mothers side even if she isn’t on earth much nowadays) and a set of twins with red hair that you could spot from a mile way. they spend the most time with jay now a days, living only an hour from each other, never thought you’d see the day where dick grayson and jason todd found a common ground after everything that happened.

he saw tim finally explore his truest potential, running wayne enterprises now as the CEO and actually running it instead of sleeping in board meetings and using its resources for vigilantism. though jason never talked to him much before or after he took off the hood.

he saw cass finally grow out of the wounded orphan, a title she found herself labeling herself as so long she stood behind the shadow of the bat. her smile grew as did her power, her focus now on the children who are being used, abused, and mistreated by their parents as she was.

a true hero, in jason’s eyes anyways.

duke and steph both found themselves wandering through life, going to and from each wayne just to relive the days when the manor was booming with voices and detectives. it’s heart wrenching to see them feel so lost without the chaos, jason knew the feeling too well.

but then there is jason, who still lives from apartment to apartment, with one in gotham and one in bludhaven, even one in jump just in case someone needs him.

but he found you, found your stillness and patience, the calm in his red heated storm of fury.

he met you at twenty five, fresh into the business of redhood. scars littering his body and too much blood on his hands to even consider you loving a monster like him.

yet you did, the scars, glowing eyes, and bloody hands included.

you patched him up each time he came home slashed, talked him down each time he came home angry at bruce, loved him when the nights were too hard to sleep through, and have been here each day since.

now he’s sitting at the edge of the bed in your shared apartment in gotham, just staring at you as you slept, eyes wandering your person, outlining your body. how had he gotten so lucky?

every now and again he would look in the mirror and cringe at the scars, the bullet holes, and autopsy marks. he hated that he allowed himself to suffer for so long, that he allowed people to ditacte his feelings about himself and his life. that he allowed bruce’s inability to break the one vow that kept him sane to drive a deep gorge between them, he hated it all.

but then you would come around him, around resting his torso and smiling into his back. you loved him for each scar, each bullet hole, and large ‘Y’ shaped scar drawing from chest to navel. you managed to love him for hating his father, for misunderstanding but mainly for being right. you loved him for doing whatever batman never could and for telling him such. you loved him for the way he lived his life and the way he did it for everyone that couldn’t do it themselves.

he was an antihero in all his right and you would always remind him that, but a hero for you nonetheless.

even with that damned ‘J’ scar carved into his cheek did you love him and kiss him and marry him, even then.

because at the end of the day he had suffered enough, he had made you suffer enough too.

with the fights and tantrums. with the gaslighting and secrets. with everything toxic and wrong there was always a reason, an answer, and solution.

you turned in bed now, eyes openings slowly to see him gazing so lovely down toward you, auburn hair curly and wet sticking to his forward, with the singular white strip hanging the lowest and twirling in his eyes as he tried to bay his lashes toward you.

for once in his life, he had something constant, his family loved him even with all the death and tension, his wife loved him for everything he was, a book worm or murder depending on which year you looked at, his city was getting better even if he wasn’t running around on rooftops saving it, for once it’s was seemingly okay.

he smiled softly, leaning down to lay besides you, twisting his hands around your torso tugging you as close as he could to you. “i’ve come to a conclusion” it was a whisper in which the words came out, his eyes closing as foreheads touched.

you hummed, urging him to continue, your eyes closing as his hands trailed up and down your spine. “i think we deserve a soft epilogue, my love”

you smiled, immediately recognizing the words, jay must have been reading this morning. “we are good people-”

both set of eyes open now, his scar shining in the sunlight bursting through the window, his teeth on display as his nose nudged yours making a mirrored smile appear on your own face.

“-we’ve suffered enough” he finished your line, leaning to press a soft kiss to the corner of your lips mumbling an endearment before speaking your name aloud, “I love you until this earth swallows my bones or to dust I return.”

and just then did jason see his beautiful life, scars and all as he held you close to him, for he was thankful for his hard life because it led him to you, the end to his suffering, to his everything.

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visionofhope04 · 3 years

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Neglected - Part 2

Batfam x Neglected!Batsis!Reader

Part 1 Part 2 (Current) Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Thank you all for your support! I’m glad you enjoy my writing! Btw I noticed some parts of Part 1 made no sense bc I was sleep deprived when I wrote it so sorry!

Ages: Alfred (Immortal), Bruce (48-ish), Dick (26-27), Jason (24-25), Tim (17-18), Damian (13-14), Y/N (13-14)

Prompt: You are Damian’s twin sister and have been living with them for 3 years. (CONTAINS CHILD NEGLECT AS SUGGESTED BY THE TITLE AS WELL AS SELF HATE AND INVALIDATING PERSONAL ISSUES BTW I DONT REALLY KNOW HOW IT IS TO HAVE ANOREXIA SO SORRY IF I OFFENDED SOMEONE AND DID IT WRONG)

—-

It was summer break. School had finished around a week ago and you were glad. This meant you no longer had to fake being alright in front of your friend(s) and pretend to eat. They had started to notice that you had lost an unhealthy amount of weight. When they had asked, you shrugged it off or said you were working out a lot. They believed it and carried on since you were that great of a liar but still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

It was another normal day for you, isolating yourself in your room, slipping into the dining room for meals, grabbing a water bottle instead, and slipping back out, heading to your room once again. (sO mAnY cOmMaS) You had begun to feel lightheaded but quickly dismissed it. ‘They go through so much more than you do, they’ve probably sustained worse injuries. They probably even have more scars than you do from the League! No wonder they didn’t let you join them on their nightly adventures. You’re a weak and pathetic girl.’ You thought.

You heard a knock on your door after three hours. You made your way to the door and opened it to see your twin brother standing there in a suit. “Y/N, what have you been doing?! The gala is in an hour, get ready you insufferable harlot!” He yelled, then trudged his way down the stairs. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, GALA? Since when the frick was there a gala happening? I was never informed and he somehow expects me to know?’ You thought.

Rushing towards your closet, you searched it until you found your F/C dress/suit (cause I love women in suits it screams power as it should) and matching flats/heels and quickly put them on. You rushed over to your vanity and did your hair and/or makeup. Satisfied with your look, you attempted to stand up only to fall back down onto the chair you were seated at. You became dizzy all of a sudden and the room seemed as if it was spinning.

It became harder for you to remain awake and you felt your eyelids become heavy. They soon fluttered shut, your body falling limp. Your body fell off the chair you had been sitting on to the floor with a thud. Back downstairs, your family was impatiently waiting for your arrival. They had thirty minutes until the gala began. “Where’s Y/N?” Bruce questioned. “She was unaware of the gala, Father. I suggest we carry on without her. She’s nothing but a nuisance and dishonor to the Wayne name.”

“Don’t call her that demon spawn, she’s more of a Wayne than you’ll ever be.” Jason retorted, defending you. He didn’t like how Damian referred to you. He never called you by your name, only insults. Damian hated Tim, but he still called him by his name. Jason could never comprehend how or why Damian resented you. You were such an amazing person. You were sarcastic, witty, funny, and had a big heart.

“That’s enough Jason. Dick, go check on your sister.” Jason was shocked when Bruce hadn’t reprimanded Damian on how he disrespected his sister yet did so to Jason who was trying to defend her. It was clear to everyone that Damian had always been the favorite blood child. Jason hated this a lot. He knew how much of an amazing person you were and that you didn’t deserve such mistreatment. Heck, even Alfred sometimes forgot you existed. Not that he meant to, he just didn’t know you well and you didn’t speak often.

As Dick disappeared up the stairs, Jason turned to Bruce. “Why aren’t you defending your daughter? Is it because you agree with him? That she’s just another mishap of yours? That Damian’s the better one?” Jason said, raising his voice slightly. He couldn’t help it, his anger was rising. He was done with Bruce pretending like you never existed. Before Bruce could respond, they heard Dick call out to them.

“Guys! Y/N fainted! Her pulse is present but weak. She has no physical injuries, but she’s extremely thin, pale, and light.”

They rushed over to her and examined her. Dick was right, you were extremely thin and pale. “Call an ambulance!” Bruce commanded Tim. Tim spoke over the phone and soon, an ambulance arrived and carried you away. Everyone loaded into the limo and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

—-

Hi everyone! So this has turned out way longer than I expected it to be so I think it will be either 3-5 parts in total. Thank you so much for your support and I’m glad you like my writing!

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causeiwanttoandican · 3 years

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Robert Lacey excerpt

I fully expect them to say William was the one commenting about the baby’s skin color after this. Battle stations! Book excerpt

The Times

Prince William ‘split his household from Prince Harry after Meghan bullying claims’

June 07 2021, 7.00am BST

‘So, are you saying,” asked Oprah Winfrey, talking to Meghan and Harry in their famous interview of March 2021, “that there were hints of jealousy?”

She was inquiring about the Sussexes’s wildly successful tour of Australia and the South Pacific of late October 2018, and the couple shifted uncomfortably in their plush wicker chairs.

“Look,” replied Harry, “I just wish that we would all learn from the past.”

By bringing up “the past”, the prince was venturing into an area that was almost taboo. He was making a sensational comparison between his mother and his wife. Harry was suggesting that Meghan had demonstrated in Australia the same massive star quality as Diana and was now having to face the family envy that went along with that.

“It really changed,” he said, “after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour . . . it was . . . the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.”

Memories of what? Again Harry shied away from putting words to the almost unmentionable. But Oprah had prepared and polished this moment, like so many others in the interview, and she had a reference ready to prompt her prince’s revelation. The latest, fourth season of TV’s The Crown had depicted Charles and Diana’s 1983 tour of Australia, showing how Diana had been “bedazzling” in her ability “to connect with people”. Episode six had depicted how the crowds would groan when they realised that Charles, not Diana, was walking down their side of the street — hence the beginnings of the “jealousy” on the family’s part.

“So is that what you’re talking about?” asked Oprah. “It brought back memories of that?”

“Yeah,” Harry finally replied in a fashion that was both dismal and unmistakably aggressive.

What on earth had happened, viewers had to wonder, to the old and once-familiar happy side of Prince Harry?

When trying to define the moment that marked the decisive rift with his brother William — the break-up and actual separation of the joint household they had established together in 2009 — Harry would fix upon his triumphant return with Meghan from their Australian tour at the end of October 2018. But if asked the same question, William would have fixed on a more specific event: the explosive argument he had had with his brother earlier that month.

Both brothers agreed how bitterly they had clashed back in the early days over William’s attempt to slow Harry’s courtship of Meghan — “Don’t feel like you need to rush this . . . ” But both of them had subsequently moved on. Harry’s transparent contentment with Meghan had relaxed the tensions, give or take the odd row over bridesmaids’ dresses. The “no speaks” had eased just a little by the time “best man” William escorted his brother down the aisle in May 2018.

Then five months later came the conclusive and determining rupture — the division that has lasted to the present day — though here the brothers’ retelling of history diverged. As Harry explained it to Oprah, Meghan’s Australian tour success sowed the jealousies that caused feelings to “change”. According to this scenario, William and Kate resented the Diana-like popularity that was generated by Harry’s wife. William had a different recollection.

We now know that Princes William and Harry were no longer on speaking terms before the Sussexes set off for Australia. Feelings had already “changed”, as Harry put it, and drastically so. The brothers had parted on extremely poor terms, with the trouble centring on Meghan’s stringent treatment and alleged bullying of her staff.

Most Kensington Palace courtiers were noted for the comparatively long tenures of their comfortable and prestigious jobs. But it came to look as if employees could not wait to escape service with Harry and Meghan. Those who left formed themselves into an informal fraternity that they titled the “Sussex Survivors’ Club”. They had finally hit back, and their organising agent had been PR man Jason Knauf.

The joint communications secretary for Kensington Palace — who was still, at that date, working on behalf of both of the brothers and their wives — had become concerned by the numerous stories of mistreatment being brought to him by colleagues whom he knew well and trusted.

Texas-born and New Zealand-educated, Knauf, 34, was a popular character in Kensington Palace, widely noted for his friendliness and loyalty towards his colleagues. He had been considered a real “catch” when the brothers snared him from the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2015, and one of his concerns was that professional management practices should be more effectively enforced inside the traditional British palace. Knauf’s American sensibilities caused him to see the Meghan situation as raising principles of human resources management in the palace system that needed to be formally addressed.

Knauf’s first priority was to set down the facts, as he saw them, for the record: “I’m very concerned,” he emailed to William’s private secretary Simon Case, in a document he drafted in October 2018, “that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year.”

Knauf described Meghan’s treatment of one aide as “totally unacceptable . . . the duchess seems intent”, he wrote, “on always having someone in her sights”. Specifying another staff member, Knauf alleged Meghan had been bullying her as well, “seeking to undermine her confidence”. His office had received “report after report”, he wrote, from people who had witnessed “unacceptable behaviour” by Meghan towards this member of staff.

“Meghan governed by fear,” claimed one courtier. “So many people said it. Nothing was ever good enough for her. [She] humiliated staff in meetings, [would] shout at them, [would] cut them off email chains — and then demand to know why they hadn’t done anything.”

As early as 2017, around the time of the couple’s engagement, according to a subsequent report in The Times, a senior aide had spoken to the couple about the difficulties caused by their treatment of staff. “It’s not my job to coddle people,” Meghan was said to have replied.

“Americans can be much more direct,” wrote the authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in defence of the duchess, “and that often doesn’t sit well in the much more refined institution of the monarchy.”

A Brit might have raised an eyebrow at Meghan’s alleged behaviour, then looked the other way. The Yank decided to act. Knauf was actually one of Meghan’s most senior advisers — her chief adviser, in fact, when it came to public relations. Earlier that year she had gone to Knauf for help when drafting the disputed letter of severance that she sent to her father. She valued his PR expertise.

Before that, Knauf had helped Harry to word the fierce anti-media statements that he had framed to try to protect Meghan from press harassment, both as his girlfriend and then as his fiancée. The PR man had taken considerable stick from some of his non-royal contacts who criticised him as being overprotective in fighting the newcomer’s corner. Like so many people in all the palaces, Knauf had started off on Meghan’s side.

But as the months went by the American’s feelings became more ambiguous, as numerous colleagues — women whom he greatly respected — continued to bring him stories of what they said they had suffered at Meghan’s hands.

“I can’t stop shaking,” one aide had told a colleague in anticipation of an encounter with Meghan. Another reported that the prospect of confrontation with the duchess had made her “feel sick”. “Emotional cruelty and manipulation”, were the words of a third, “which I guess could also be called bullying.”

The b-word featured prominently in the accounts of several, along with an even more sinister set of initials: PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder was a deeply serious condition to allege — flashbacks, nightmares and feelings of deep anxiety — but that was how one complainant said that they had felt.

Several people maintained they had been “humiliated” by the duchess, and that criticism extended to Harry as well.

“I overheard a conversation between Harry and one of his top aides,” recalled one Kensington Palace courtier. “Harry was screaming and screaming down the phone. Team Sussex was a really toxic environment. People shouting and screaming in each other’s faces.”

Shouting and screaming? PTSD? Making people feel sick? Prince William went ballistic when he heard the “dossier of distress” that Knauf had gathered. We do not know whether the communications secretary brought his allegations directly to his boss or submitted them via Simon Case. What we do know is that the prince was astonished and horrified. He was instantly furious at what he heard.

“I remember Christian Jones [William’s press secretary and later private secretary] explaining to me how the Cams [the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge] are paternalistic with their staff,” recalls one royal correspondent. “They copy the Queen in that respect with all her Christmas parties and Christmas presents to her people. They’re proud to treat their staff like family. They recognise that they don’t get paid loads of money, so they are just really nice to them. So this was a very deep clash of philosophies, with Meghan being used to a Hollywood service culture — getting exactly what she wanted whenever she wanted in that famous way that Harry said.”

William personally knew and liked all the individuals whom Knauf had named in his dossier. The prince regarded them as assets to his household — colleagues to be cherished and for whom he was responsible. Human beings. Like Knauf, the prince was appalled that his respected staff may have been put in this position.

For William, Knauf’s allegations also clarified something that the prince had long believed — that Meghan was fundamentally hostile towards the royal system, which she failed to understand as an outsider. William wondered if she had not wanted to leave from the very start — even dreaming, perhaps, that she could whisk Harry back with her to North America.

But Meghan’s lawyers and PR representatives said this was quite the wrong interpretation of their client’s thinking and behaviour in a statement that they issued to The Times early in March 2021. They denied all allegations of bullying as inaccurate and the product of what they described as a “smear campaign”. The duchess wished to fit in and be accepted, they insisted. She had left her life in North America to commit herself to her new role.

I have never met Jason Knauf. What you have just read is based upon the published accusations that Knauf set down on paper — refuted as “defamatory”, it must be stressed again, and “based on misleading and harmful information” in the view of the Duchess of Sussex’s lawyers. It also relies upon William’s personal account of these events to one of his friends who then spoke to this author.

The moment the prince heard the bullying allegations, he related to this friend, he got straight on the phone to talk to Harry — and when Harry flared up in furious defence of his wife, the elder brother persisted. Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went to speak to him personally. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan’s alleged behaviour, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say.

The showdown between the two siblings was fierce and bitter. William’s pre-engagement questioning of Meghan’s suitability had been quite reasonable, in William’s opinion. His fraternal doubts had been provisional, based upon how the new recruit appeared to be. The elder brother did not really know Meghan in those early days.

But now William had seen enough of his sister-in-law to feel sure that, sadly, he did know her and that many of his reservations linked unhappily with what Knauf’s colleagues had alleged. William believed Meghan was following a plan — “agenda” was the word he used to his friend — and the accusations he had just heard were alarming. Kate, he said, had been wary of her from the start.

Meghan was undermining some precious principles of the monarchy, if she really was treating her staff in this way, and William was upset that she seemed to be stealing his beloved brother away from him. Later courtiers would coin a hashtag — #freeHarry. It was only half a joke.

“Meghan portrayed herself as the victim,” recalled one Kensington Palace staffer, “but she was the bully. People felt run over by her. They didn’t know how to handle this woman. They thought she was a complete narcissist and sociopath — basically unhinged. Which was why the pair of them were drawn to each other in the first place — both damaged goods.”

William felt deeply wounded. “Hurt” and “betrayed” were the two feelings that he described to his friend. The elder brother had always felt so protective. He had seen it as his job to look out for Harry but this was the moment the protection had to stop. At the end of the day the British crown and all it stood for with its ancient traditions, styles and values — the mission of the monarchy — had to matter more to William than his brother did.

Harry, for his part, was equally furious that William should give credence to the accusations against Meghan, and he was fiercely combative in his wife’s defence. Some sources maintain that in the heat of the argument Harry actually accused someone in the family of concepts that were “racist”. But it must be stressed that neither brother has ever confirmed that the hateful r-word was used face to face.

Only William and Harry can know what they said to each other and they have respectfully maintained their silence on that. But Harry made clear to the world in his interview with Oprah that he considered his family’s response to Meghan to have been essentially racist — using the heavily freighted code words “unconscious bias” to provide an intellectual framework for his analysis.

Where could the two brothers go after such painful and damning notions had been thrown into their debate?

We have reached the crux of the drama. What painfully unforgettable and surely unforgivable things have been said? These are not passing differences. They are two core sets of values in conflict — love versus duty — going to the very heart and deriving from the deepest beliefs and loyalties of each man. Two opposing identities butting heads. In the months following the tragic and not-obviously bridgeable rift of October 2018 between William and Harry, the younger brother solidified his belief that his family were suffering from “unconscious bias”.

William, for his part, felt just as strongly about Meghan and the need for her subversive “agenda” to be removed from the operations of the British monarchy, which she did not appear to understand or respect. He certainly wanted Meghan removed, for a start, from the hitherto harmonious joint household that he and his brother had operated together for the best part of a decade. William simply did not want her or Harry around any more.

When accounts of the rift started seeping out through the winter months that followed, it was generally assumed that the volatile Harry must have set the pace in the splitting up of the joint Kensington Palace household. He was the brother who visibly departed, stalking off to set up a new home in Windsor, with offices for himself and Meghan in Buckingham Palace.

But the reverse was the case. It was William who made the decisive move. Following his furious confrontation with his younger brother in the autumn of 2018, the prince instructed Simon Case to start the process of dividing their two households immediately. William wished to be separated from Meghan on a day-to-day basis — and that meant being separated from his brother as well.

“William,” says a friend, “threw Harry out.”

©Robert Lacey 2021 Extracted from Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult by Robert Lacey, to be published by William Collins on June 24 at £9.99

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alyssadeliv · 3 years

Text

The Forgotten One

First Previous

Chapter 12

They were going to the zoo. Richard had decided that after two months of her living in the Manor it was time to have some family bonding time. It didn’t matter that most of her time in the last months was used to get to know her new extended family or get reacquainted with her old one.

He was adamant that she needed the full Gothamite experience, so here they were on a Friday afternoon on a crowded metro, listening as the oldest one tried and explained how Metro’s worked to her. He was so happy, gesticulating and smiling, that she didn’t have the heart to tell him that she indeed knew how the metro worked, having lived in Paris for almost two full years.

After Damian, Richard was her favorite sibling, mostly because she had always seen him as a role model, as part of her training had been inspired by him and his trapeze maneuvers, but she did enjoy the warmth that she tended to feel when he was around. He was patient and had no problem explaining pop culture references to her. Not that she didn't enjoy spending time with her other siblings, it was just that Richard went out of his way to make her feel accepted.

Tim was a very busy person, and their interactions were reserved to 3 a.m. coffee hunts. He wasn’t bad, just closed off, and a little wary of her after his first experience with Damian. Not that she could blame him. But she was a bit closer to his girlfriend, Stephanie Brown, who would come to have dinner at the Manor every week.

And there was Jason. She refused to address him as her brother, that would just be plain weird. After the initial shock of finding each other again had worn out, it had taken a few weeks for them to finally address the elephant in the room. She could tell that he had struggled with the news that she was Bruce’s biological daughter.

“Dick, maybe speed the lecture a bit so we can still get to the zoo before it closes.” Jason was leaning casually against a wall, finding this whole situation funny. He was wearing jeans and his red leather jacket, nothing special, but if she was honest he looked rather handsome.

“It’s fine Jaybird, I was just wrapping it up!” He says with a smile, just in time for them to catch the next wagon. Because they spent at least 25 minutes listening to Richard’s lesson, the metro had emptied a bit so they were able to find seats. It was just the three of them, the others would meet them there, after being picked up by Alfred, Damian after school, and Timothy after a meeting.

“So… I know Bruce said not to ask, but I’ve been dying to know…” Richard starts unsure, afraid to cross a line. They were lucky to score seats in the same section, she was seated with Jason by her side, with Richard in front of him facing them both. “But how exactly did you two meet, I mean it was obviously at… Tibet-'' He caught himself before he could out them as members of the League, you never knew who could be listening in their conversation, so better safe than sorry. “- but why do you know Jason, but Damian didn’t?”

With a glance to the side, she was more than happy to allow Jason to explain that part. In the two months she lived at the Manor she saw how much they wanted to ask about their relationship, but kept their distance. Aside from Damian, they didn’t feel the need to inform the family about their past.

“Well, Pixie Pop here was the one to train me for the duration of my time in the Temple. Kicked my ass more times than I can count.” He says with a smirk, while casually butting an arm on the back of her seat. “She taught me most of what I know”

“Most of it?” She was indignant, but the smile on her face betrayed her true emotions.

“To be fair B didn’t totally suck as a parent.” She knew that he and Father didn’t have the best relationship after he came back from his time at the League, but according to Damian, it used to be way worse, not that she would know. Richard seems content with their explanation and didn't demand more information, even if he desperately wanted to. He respects their boundaries, and that only makes her like him more.

When they got to the zoo, Damian and Timothy were already there, but surprisingly Stephanie had tagged along, so now she wasn’t the only female in the group anymore, not that she cared, but she liked her brother’s girlfriend so the surprise was appreciated.

She had never been to the zoo before, just to see the attractions. The times she went to fight an Akuma did not count. It was a bit sad seeing all these animals stuck in a cage, and she could tell her brother felt the same. Damian always had a soft spot for animals, and would not tolerate if they were being mistreated. Not surprisingly, the Waynes made annual donations to the zoo to ensure that all the animals were well taken care of. When she first heard about that she was glad that Father cared about Damian’s interests enough to pay to support every zoo and animal shelter in the city. It helped ease her guilt for abandoning him for two years knowing that now she was not the only one who cared for him.

They spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the animals. And Dick was glad he chose to go to the zoo as a family bonding experience. When Damian first came into the family he had taken him there, after discovering that his younger brother absolutely adored animals and he was happy to see that Marianne liked it as well.

Efficient as always, Alfred was already there waiting for them the minute they crossed the exit of the building. As she came to know, the men seemed to have a six sense when it came to all of them. Just by his aura, she could tell he wasn’t someone you wanted to cross, but she could see how much he loved each one of his grandchildren (because she could never kid herself to think of him any less than a Grandfather).

“I assume that today's activities were enjoyable.” The butler asks as he opens the back door of the limo for them. Richard enters first thanking the men.

“It was acceptable” Damian voices, as he too enters the vehicle.

It was a bit of a ride, seeing that the Manor was almost outside of Gotham, but she didn’t mind. Seated between Richard and Damian she spent most of the journey chatting with everyone. But by the time they arrived at the house everyone was a bit tired, so dinner was a relatively small affair. But not uneventful, because as revenge for Bruce bailing on family day, the boys started sharing with her all the shenanigans of her father’s public persona, Brucie Wayne. It was amusing to see this new side to her father, always so reserved and serious.

“If you are all finished sharing Master Bruce's embarrassing moments, I believe it is time for patrol.” Alfred as always came to defuse the situation before it could implode.

Because she spent most of the last two years fighting almost every single day, she decided that she needed some rest from her hero lifestyle. Even after her father asked if she would like to accompany them on patrols, she decided to turn it down for now. So while her family directed themselves to the cave, she made her way into her suite.

It was a beautiful room. Although the color scheme wasn’t something she would have picked herself, it fit with the furniture rather nicely, and her artist side appreciated that. The room itself was simple, but the red colors and the dark wood made the room seem cozier than it was. With a double bed with a canopy, two bedside tables, a vanity with a mirror, and a wardrobe, it had everything she needed. Her Father had encouraged her to decorate her room the way she wanted, and she had been tempted to do so, but ultimately decided to wait until she settled into her role as a family member before she went and added more change to the mix. What she had been very close to doing was adding a desk so she could draw and design, but after she discovered that there was a big one in the library just a few doors from her room, she dismissed the idea.

Quickly she showered and changed into something more comfortable than her street attire, before exiting the room and making her way into the library. It wasn’t as big as the one downstairs, but it had a big balcony that overlooked the gardens, so she liked to just sit in a shadow and sketch away. Damian had been kind enough to spare one of his unused sketchbooks and some pencils, knowing that she liked to draw just as much as he did. She leaned forward into the railing resting her arms and head, but still looking upwards.

The sun had already set, and she was glad that they were far enough away from the city that she could see some stars in the sky. Having lived in Paris, she had really missed all the stars she could see at night from her home on the League. One of her studies had been about the Astros, so she spent a lot of time as a kid contemplating the skies.

“It’s going to rain soon” A voice comes from behind her. Without having to turn around she knew who it was. A smile appears on her face.

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for patrol?” She asks, straightening her body, but still not turning around. She could feel the person getting closer to her until she felt a presence at her side.

“That’s the whole point. It's gonna rain.” He carries a hint of humor in his tone “And besides I prefer to keep you company, Pretty Girl. Besides, I believe Red Hood deserves one night off. The guy has been working hard.” He jokes.

With a smile she finally faces him. He had showered and changed, and without his red jacket, he looked so relaxed. It reminded her of their time in the League. Like that he looked so much like the angry boy she helped train. So young and while broken, so full of life and fight in him. He smirks at her but turns his face upwards to look at the night.

“You always did love the stars.” He commented, not looking at her. “It’s sad that here you can't see them as much.”

“It’s not that bad. In Paris, you couldn't see any. It was sad, but to be fair the whole city more than compensated for that. It’s beautiful there.” She recalled all the times she went on a midnight stroll around the city, just enjoying the architecture. “I could spend eternity drawing all the details in the buildings.”

“Do you miss it?” He asks, looking at her. His tone is neutral, but by his body language, she can tell he’s anxious for her answer. She had always been good at reading him, and she was glad that their time apart had not changed that.

“In a way…”

She sighs.

“I liked the city, but I spent most of my time there fighting and training. Not much different from before. It was like everything changed but was still the same. To be completely honest… I miss our time at the League the most.” She confesses but hurriedly continues. “Don’t get me wrong, it was hard! But still… at the same time…”

“I get it.” He interrupts her. He has a small side smile, and the dimples on his face make her want to freeze this moment and draw him so she could eternalize him. Instead, she gets closer to him, seeking comfort in his presence at her side. He embraces her. Securing her in his arms, her body pressed against his, her head buried in his chest.

It was funny to think that the most capable woman to take care of herself he knew, chose to be vulnerable around him. It made him feel loved.

“I miss it too.” He whispered in her ear. She raises her head, just enough that she can see his face without removing herself from his arms. Staying like this reminds her of all the nights he used to sneak into her chambers. And they would talk and hold each other for hours. It felt like it was just yesterday the first time he got the better of her.

“Focus!” She yelled while landing a kick at his unprotected left side. “You are unbalanced- in three moves I could have you on the ground again” She punched him to his right, but he was able to block her and tried to deliver a punch of his own. His knuckles were bloodied, and he knew that in the morning his ribs would hurt. But at this moment he was high on adrenaline. She dodged.

They were training for what felt like hours. But both were too stubborn to ask for the fight to end.

But just as promised, in three more moves he was on the ground. He tried to get back on his feet to continue with the fight but was stopped by a foot on his torso.

“That’s enough.” She helps him to get on his feet. “You were great! You could have overpowered me so many times! I left you so many openings!” She laughs. This was routine for them. After a fight, Marianne was usually so pumped with adrenaline that she spoke at a mile per hour. “We really need to work on your tactics this week. Oh! You also need to improve your stance, you’ve been favoring your right side too much. I know your ribs hurt but you still need to protect your body as a whole.” She comments only stopping to take a large sip of water. “Well, I am spent.”

“You’re spent? I’m the one that has been eating dirt for the whole hour!” He complains indignantly. She tossed a water bottle in his direction, which he grabs and happily finishes in a single gulp.

“Just another reason you need to study more!” She grins. And turns to exit the room, and while walking to the door turns to him again.

“See you in a bit” She winks.

When they meet again they are in her room. She’s seated on the bed sketching some view, while Jason sits on the floor sharpening his knife. They chat casually for some time, but ultimately end speaking about their training session earlier.

“That move would have totally worked!” He exclaims, knife long forgotten he now kneels facing her bed.

“There’s where you are wrong, you need strength on your fist on both sides to push my torso, otherwise I would easily be able to doge only one. You need two punches at different sides in succession for you to distract your opponent!” She explains in a hurry. Her thoughts jumped around her head.

“No way! If it’s strong enough, only one is needed!” He argues.

Worked up she threw her notebook to the side, forgotten. In a second she was up, signaling for him to do the same.

“There is no way. Stand there, pretend to be in stance.” She directs, and without a second thought, he complies. “Okay, so I come for your right side first, you are stronger there.”

Her movements are slowed, as she demonstrates the move. “That’s going to distract you, and keep you focused on your stronger side, leaving your weaker one unprotected.” She shows him where he left an opening for her. “So all I need to do now is strike again, focusing more strength now. Either a punch or a kick would do the trick.” As she goes to demonstrate her point, he grabs the incoming slow punch and pulls her into his body.

Unprepared she loses her balance, falling into his chest. In a second he secures her with his other arm, keeping her in his embrace. She feels her face burning with embarrassment. He caught her by surprise, and she felt ashamed.

“Hey that wasn't fai-” But he silences her, bringing his face closer to hers and giving her a heated kiss. It lasts for some time, but when they finally separate themselves he has a grin on his face.

“Just to be clear, I knew the move wouldn’t have worked. You just look cute when you're angry.”

And before she can protest he shuts her up with another kiss.

So this is by far the biggest chapter! Hope ya’ll like it! We finally get the story behind Jason and Marianne. Let me know what you think!

Taglist: @macncheesemonster @jumpingjoy82 @silversaphire12 @jinx-jade @swiftie-miraculer13 @greatcatblaze @megaafangirl @ramos123 @theamityislife @maskedpainter @toodaloo-kangaroo @nyx-in-line @ketchupqueenboiiii @blackroserelina @lozzybowe @user00000003 @kashlyn @msshadows97 @ira-sairain @stackofrandomstuff @myazael @frieddonutsweets @asrainterstellar @our-preciousss @laurcad123 @nyaabinch @rverfades @thefangirlwholiterallydies @astoriaandromeda @unnamed2357 @little-lady-bird @imdaqueenie @meismu @dorkus-minimus @a4-machete @arty-shadow-morningstar @catthhay @sizzling-fairy-oil @poodapup @charme-de-malchan @jayjayspixiepop @fusser90 @adrestar @iloontjeboontje @buginetye @macncheesemonster @messymessyml @redbullgivescaswings @queer-illusion @moonlightstar64 @kking13 @lupagrimm @dorkus-minimus @roguishredaxion @meow-6296 @galla02006 @samiamack @readingalldaysleepingallnight @twsssmlmaa @ihatecomingupwithusernameswtf @alexizlazy @lady-bee-fechin @mizzy-pop @alcoholic-barney @ladyqnoirr @wingl3ss @vroomtaka @missanalysis

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chocolate1721 · 4 years

Text

Ok salt ahead. Mostly Bustier salt. Also bio! Dad Bruce. Also Damian is older than Marinette in this AU.

Parent/teacher conferences at DuPont.

Tom and Sabine are out of the country due to a bakery contest or something. Caline Bustier forgets. She is waiting for the Dupain-Cheng’s in her class room, but they are late. When the door finally opens, she comes face-to-face with Bruce Wayne, who is standing next to Marinette.

Caline is suprised to see a stranger. She turns to Marinette and lets her disappointment show. She asks Marinette (in a condescending tone) where her parents are). Marinette is confused, she told Bustier last week that her parents were going to be out of the country and her biological father would be attending the conference.

Bruce is shocked at how this teacher is treating his daughter.

Bustier turns to Bruce. “Ok since Marinette dragged you here, you can stay, but Marinette I am very disappointed in you. I will be contacting your parents to set up another meeting. This behavior needs to be addressed.” Caline doesn’t ask for any identification, before launching into everything she deems wrong with Marinette. From resigning from the class rep position, to not dropping everything to help her classmates who are “too busy” to do it themselves, to not giving out free commissions and pasteries.

Bruce has knoticed how his daughter has been acting different. Less cheerful and more reserved. It’s like she has given up on something, fundamentally. . . Marinette. She has been acting like a moody Robin.

When Sabine called and asked him to watch Marinette while her and Tom were away he jumped at the chance. . . . . along with his sons.

He was determined to find out why his daughter was soooo batesque.

After listening to this woman he was horrified. This teacher blames a student for her parents not showing up to a meeting, when she was informed of their departure we’ll in advance, but simply forgets! Then scolds said student for hiring a fake parent. Then, without proof of identification, proceeds to give private information to the stranger she believes has no relationship with the student! She is also pushing his daughter into responsibilities that she has no obligation to perform, and encouraging others to take advantage of Marinette.

Bustier then turns to Bruce and starts scolding him. “How could you let yourself be hired by a child to pretend to be their parent?” She tells him that Marinette is a troubled girl. She needs to own up to her mistakes and face the consequences.

Bruce caught Marinette flinch and curl in on herself from the corner of his eye. He slammed his hands on the desk separating him and the teacher. “Marinette would you please step out of the room for a bit?” He asks her gently. She knows that look in his eyes and is out the door faster than you can say ‘spot on’. She is heading to the bakery when she sees her brothers in the courtyard.

Meanwhile Bruce is tearing Bustier apart. From how she treats her students, to how she can’t remember a simple note stating Marinette’s parent would be away and someone else would be at the meeting in their stead.

Bustier was pleased when the man in front of her sent Marinette away. She believed she got through to him and he would come clean. She is disappointed though when he starts to berate her for “mistreating” and “manipulating” Marinette. When there is a lull in his rants she interjects “well, since you’re not actually Marinette’s father this really isn’t any of your business.”

Bruce was struck dumb at this teacher. She just dismissed him as if she didn’t just give him enough information to destroy Marinette and/or her family. “Now if you excuse me I need to contact Marinette’s parents for a parent/teacher conference.” She said.

Bruce was colder than ice as he left the classroom. Before he exited the room he turned towards the teacher “you will be hearing from my lawyers”.

Bruce started the lawsuit as soon as he stepped out of the room. By the time he made it to the courtyard, his lawyers where finding more and more evidence of why Bustier should never be allowed to teach anyone. The suit would be done by the time Marinette goes to class next.

Bruce wanted to be there when the teacher got served, however he got caught up in a meeting, but he had his boys go and film everything and send it to him. He just never thought he would get more than the teacher’s reaction.

Tim and Jason were both videoing, they wanted to make sure they captured everything. Dick and Damian followed because someone had to keep their brothers from doing something stupid.

As their lawyer and they were walking up the stairs to Marinette’s classroom they could hear a teacher scolding a student. They looked into Marinette’s class and saw her teacher, the same teacher who they were suing, scolding marinette for hiring someone to pretend to be her dad. Her teacher was doing this infront of the entire class. Dick had to hold Damian back from doing something he would, most likely never regret, but marinette wouldn’t be happy about it.

Lila pipped up claiming to practically be adopted by Bruce. Stating how what Marinette did would anger them greatly, and how no matter how much Lila would beg them not to, they would sue her.

Lila: they absolutely hate liars. After all, that’s why Bruce’s parents were killed. Someone lied about them.

Just when the boys were going to burst through the door a bang made them stop. Marinette had sprung from her seat and tackled Lila. Marinette punched her, kicked her, did anything she could think of. How dare this little tramp lie about her grandparents. How dare she. Her father has never gotten over their deaths, she refused to stand by and let this two bit conwoman use her father’s pain to gain popularity.

The boys are suprised that their even tempered, sweetheart of a sister is . . . . this skilled at fighting.

Marinette’s classmates are trying to separate her and Lila, but they can’t get ahold of her, she is too slippery. The boys finally snapped out of their trance and quickly intervened. Damian picked his sister up and held her back. Dick was trying to calm her down. Tim and Jason where still recording everything. Once Mari was calm enough for Damian to take over, Dick spun around on the teacher. He ripped her apart. Why didn’t she try to help? Why did she humiliate a student by scolding them infront of their peers? Why do you let a liar go unpunished while his sister is constantly being reprimanded on things that aren’t her fault?

Bustier doesn’t know who these people are but they have some nerve busting into her class room and being rude. She is a great teacher.

Tim gets the class back in their seats, with the exception of Marinette, and then turns to their lawyer, who has been watching on in horror. Tim motions to Bustier and the lawyer clears their throat. “Caline Bustier you are being served.”

Bustier is shocked. Who would ever sue her. “What!? What for!”

“For mental abuse, child neglect, enabling” the lawyer continues on with the list.

Bruce pauses the video and lets out a sigh. It looks like he has a few more lawsuits to make.

#maribat #maribat prompt #maribat fam #mlb x dc au #caline bustier salt #bustier salt #caline salt #lila salt #major lila salt #older brother damian #damian is totally marinette’s favorite brother here #mari gonna fight

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james-joyces-right-eyeball · 3 years

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Absolute Favorite Books I’d Recommend to Anyone

This is a list of my top-tier favorite books that I would recommend/talk about endlessly to pretty much anyone (in no particular order). I know people probably don’t care but I just like talking about books I love so here we are.

Beloved - Toni Morrison

~ Based off the real story of Margaret Garner, a slave woman who escaped slavery and when captured killed her child in order to prevent them from ever being enslaved again, Beloved tells the story of a mother named Sethe, born in slavery who eventually escaped and is haunted by the figurative demons of her trauma and the literal (arguably) ghost of her dead daughter, who she herself killed. It is an excellent exploration of the horrors of slavery and of the haunting legacy of the institution for those who were subjected to it.

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

~ If you’ve been on Tumblr for a while, you probably know what Lolita is. The story of the predatory Humbert Humbert who lusts after, rapes, and kidnaps the “nymphet” Dolores Haze. An excellent construction of how predators, unreliable narrators in their own right, hide behind fabrications, almost-believable excuses, and pretty words to make their actions seem maybe not so bad. In the words of the book itself, “You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.”

Ulysses - James Joyce

~ Notoriously one of the most difficult books in the English language, Ulysses lifts its structure from Homer’s Odyssey to tell the story of a common man, Leopold Bloom, as he goes about his day. Yes, this book takes place over the course of only one day. We follow Bloom as well as Joyce’s literary counterpart Stephen Daedalus through their thoughts and actions, gathering details of their lives previous throughout. It’s a book that, in my own words, “is life”. It is sad, funny, strange, vulgar, disgusting, beautiful, revelatory, sensual, and nonsensical all at once. Joyce aimed to create a reflection of life through his stream-of-consciousness style which some people might find confusing, but I personally find absolutely beautiful and honest and realistic. The prose is also gorgeous, but that could be applied to everything Joyce wrote.

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

~ The classic gothic book that tells the tale of Heathcliff and his ultimately destructive love of Catherine Earnshaw, whose eventual marriage to someone else and the general mistreatment of him by her family drives Heathcliff insane and he spends the rest of his life trying to take revenge by abusing and torturing the next Earnshaw and Linton (the family into which Catherine marries) generations. If I’m being honest, I like this book mostly because of how wild and dark it is, but the writing is also genius and beautiful. I think the book also carries an interesting view of the destructive nature of revenge, overzealous love, and othering.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith

~ A coming-of-age story at the turn of the century that tells the story of Francie Nolan, a young bookish girl growing up in a lower class family in New York City. It tells about her father’s struggles with alcoholism as well as her mother’s struggles to deal with that and at the same time raise Francie and her brother. Francie is confronted with a strange, uncertain world as a young girl, but tries to face it with bravery throughout childhood

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

~ Another coming-of-age story, this time about four young sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March. You are probably familiar with this book already; it’s had more movie adaptations then I can possibly remember off the top of my head. It’s the story of four sisters as they try to navigate growing up, love, and loss during the mid to late 1800s.

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

~ A novel that tells the story of Celie, a young black woman who is raped and then married young to a man who will go on to use and abuse her, through her letters to God. Throughout the novel she meets Shug Avery, a woman with whom she eventually falls in love and begins a relationship with. Through this and her eventual freedom from her abusive husband, she is able to gain at last her own sense of self and take back control over her life, a life no longer ruled by the abusive men around her.

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

~ The tragic story of young black girl Pecola Breedlove, who wants nothing more than to have blonde hair and blue eyes just like the women she sees in the movies. Both a deconstruction of the whiteness of beauty standards as well as how these standards can utterly destroy vulnerable young girls, it is also an exploration of the people who allow these sorts of things to happen, including Pecola’s mother and father. The Bluest Eye, I think, showcases one of the aspects of Toni Morrison that I like the most, that I aspire to the most: her ability to enter the minds of all people, even people who you might despise at first. Her characters, especially Cholly in The Bluest Eye, are ones you might not entirely sympathize with, but they will always be ones you understand.

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

~ Based off of the author’s own experiences as a young college student, The Bell Jar tells the story of Esther Greenwood, whose depression over her place as a woman in a patriarchal society as well as her inability to choose a life path for herself leads to a suicide attempt and a subsequent stay in a mental hospital. A very nuanced portrayal of mental illness, especially anxiety and depression, The Bell Jar is an extremely moving and relatable story for me and clearly is as well for others. It is a classic for a reason.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

~ A memoir of Angelou’s childhood, this book tells the story of her experiences living as a black girl in the south with her grandmother and brother as well as her later years living with her mother. It also tells of how she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend when she was around eight or nine, and how she struggled to live with that and find her voice, both literally and figuratively. A wonderful book about overcoming struggles and the power of words and literature in such times.

Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison

~ Ellison’s novel tells the story of a young black man, never getting a name in the text, and his feelings of invisibility and his struggles to find a place in society to belong. His struggles only lead him further into despair, until he decides to “become invisible” as people seem not to see him as a person anyway. Invisible Man is an exploration of American mid-century racism and the isolation it causes to those subjected to it. Not only that, but it is surprisingly relevant to our times now, especially on the subject of police violence. (Personal anecdote: When I first read this book, when I got to the aforementioned police violence part it was right in the middle of the BLM resurgence last summer and I cried for a good twenty minutes while reading that chapter over how nothing had changed and it still hurts me to think about it. Embarrassingly, my dad walked in on me while I was crying, and I had to quickly explain it away.)

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce

~ The title basically says it all lol. This book tells of the coming-of-age of Stephen Daedalus (the same one from the later-written Ulysses). His sensitive childhood, his awkward and lustful adolescence, his feelings of Irish nationality and Catholic guilt, and his struggles to fully realize himself, both as an artist and a human being. It is a very hopeful story, and one that I love mostly because I relate so much to Stephen Daedalus as an artist and as a person.

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

~ A magical-realist intergenerational family drama, Marquez’s book traces the various lives and loves of the Buendia family over the course of (you guessed it!) one hundred years. A beautifully written, at times extremely emotionally moving and chilling masterpiece, Marquez in a way retells the history of Colombia, of its colonization and exploitation.

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

~ A classic Russian novel of society and love, Tolstoy tells the story of Anna Karenina, married, wealthy woman with a child she adores. However, she falls in love with another man, Count Vronsky, and comes to a tragic end for her love. The parallel story of the novel is that of Konstantin Levin, a wealthy landowner who also struggles to find fulfillment in his life and understand his place in society.

The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner

~ A novel that features an entire family of unreliable narrators, The Sound and the Fury details the fall of a once-prominent southern Compson family and always-present place of the past. There are four different narratives: Benjy Compson, a mentally disabled man who is unsure of his surroundings and of time and only knows that he misses his older sister Caddy; Quintin Compson, the eldest son and a Harvard man both obsessed with his sister retaining her “purity” and the fact that she failed to do so and had a baby out of wedlock, going as far to claim it is his baby in an attempt to preserve something of the family reputation; Jason Compson, who is the caretaker of Caddy’s daughter and believes her to be going down her mother’s “sinful” path; and Dilsey, the black maid of the Compson’s who unlike the people she cares for is not weighed down by their history. The narratives take place in different time periods and is in a stream-of-consciousness style. It’s a deeply dark and disturbing novel about the haunting nature of the past, a common theme in Faulkner’s work (see Absalom, Absalom! for more of this).

Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison

~ It is the story of Milkman Dead, a young black man growing up in the south and his relationship with his very complicated family. To say anymore would be to spoil the novel, but I will say that it is an excellent book about family, self-fulfillment in a world that tries to deny you that, and, like The Bluest Eye, exhibits Morrison’s excellent character work.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams

~ A play which takes place on the patriarch of a family’s birthday in the oppressive heat of the midsummer south, Williams’ play explores lies, secrets, and how repression only results in anger, frustration, and sadness. It’s a tragic but brilliant play that I think was very ahead of its time. If you’ve read it (or do read it) then you know what I mean.

Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin

~ This book tells the story of a young man and his love of another man named Giovanni while he is in Paris. It is a book about love, queer guilt, and has what I would call an ambiguous ending. There is uncertainty at the end, but there does seem to be some kind of acceptance. It is a bit of a coming-out story, but more than that it is a story of personal acceptance and at the same time a sad, tragic love story.

HERmione - H.D.

~ An underrated modernist masterpiece, HERmione is a somewhat fictionalized account of the author, Hilda Doolittle’s, experience as a young aspiring poet dating another poet (in real life Ezra Pound in this book named George Lowndes) who is a threat to her both physically and emotionally. It explores her own mental state, as she considers herself a failure and falls in love with a woman for the first time (Fayne Rabb in the book, Frances Gregg in real life).

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

~ People think about going to a lighthouse. They do not. A couple years and a war passes then they do. That may seem like a boring plot, and you may be right. However, To the Lighthouse is not much about plot. It is more about the inner lives of its characters, a family and their friends, on two different occasions of their lives: one before WWI and one after WWI. Woolf explores in this novel the trauma that results from such a massive loss of life and security. Not only that, she also explores the nature of art (especially in female artists) in the character of Lily Briscoe and her struggles to complete a painting. It’s a short novel, but it contains so much about life, love, and loss within these few pages.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

~ A southern gothic novel about isolation and loneliness in a small town. Every character has something to separate them from wider society, and often find solace and companionship in a deaf man, John Singer, who himself experiences a loneliness that they cannot understand. There are various forms of social isolation explored in this novel: by race, disability, age, gender, etc. A wonderful, heart-wrenching book about loneliness and the depths it can potentially drag people to.

The Waste Land - T.S. Eliot

~ A modernist masterpiece of a poem, Eliot describes feeling emptiness and isolation. The brilliance of it can only be shown by an excerpt:

“Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, Looking into the heart of light, the silence.”

“The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song. The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed. And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors; Departed, have left no addresses. By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept . . . Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song, Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long. But at my back in a cold blast I hear The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear. “

(My personal favorite line from this poem is, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”)

The Trial - Franz Kafka

~ The protagonist of the novel, Josef K., wakes up one morning to find that he has been placed under arrest for reasons that are kept from him. Kafka creates throughout the novel a scathing satire of bureaucracy, as K. tries to find out more about his case, more about his trial, but only becomes more confused as he digs deeper. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the world he lives in, and the more tries to explain it the further the more that proves to be the case. An excellently constructed novel and a great one to read if you would like to be depressed about the state of the world because, though Kafka’s work is a satire, like a lot of his other work, it manages to strike a strangely real note.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard

~ An absurdist play that is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the perspective of minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who in the broad overview of the original play, do not matter. Throughout the play, they question their existence and the purpose of it and through that Stoppard dissects not only the absurdity of life, but how fiction and theater reflect that absurdity inadvertently.

As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner

~ The novel details the journey the Bundren family makes after the death of the family matriarch, Addie, to bury her. Each chapter offers a different narrative from the family members and those who surround them, revealing some ulterior motives to them “going to town” to bury Addie. The patriarch Anse desires a pair of false teeth, and the daughter Dewey Dell is pregnant and needs an abortion, as there is no way for her or her family to support it. It’s about the powerlessness of people in the impoverished south. The Bundrens are constantly subject to forces beyond their control, struggles which would be easily solved if they had the money to spare for it. There is more to the book, but that is my favorite reading of it, that of class. Faulkner’s ability to create distinct voices for every one of his characters shines through here.

And, last but not least:

The Collected Poems - Sylvia Plath

~ All the poems Plath wrote during her tragically short lifetime. The best way to demonstrate or summarize the book’s brilliance is just to show you. This is her poem “Edge”, which appears in the book:

“The woman is perfected. Her dead Body wears the smile of accomplishment, The illusion of a Greek necessity Flows in the scrolls of her toga, Her bare Feet seem to be saying: We have come so far, it is over. Each dead child coiled, a white serpent, One at each little Pitcher of milk, now empty. She has folded Them back into her body as petals Of a rose close when the garden Stiffens and odors bleed From the sweet, deep throats of the night flower. The moon has nothing to be sad about, Staring from her hood of bone. She is used to this sort of thing. Her blacks crackle and drag.”

HOPE YOU ENJOYED! HAPPY READING TO ALL!

#dark academia #books and literature #toni morrison #james joyce #tennessee williams #virginia woolf #william faulkner #sylvia plath #plays #poetry #can you tell i like southern and modernist lit lol?

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lifeexperience · 3 years

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Maribat March 2021 - Half time

In my AO3 account I am also updating the 'A playboy billionaire, an ambassador and the secret love-child' title, and sometimes I add(ed) commentary why I write something the way I do.

Masterlist

From the last fifty days here is all the plus note:

First day

In Red Robin (2009-2011) comics Vicki Vale was a little bit too noisy for her own good, that's why I used her personal annoyance against Bruce Wayne in this story.

Third day

Vanessa Rios was an assistant district attorney in Gotham in the Robin (1993-2009) run. Here I am using her as the Wayne's legal team head. Tamara Fox, Lucius Fox's daughter, is friends with Tim Drake in Red Robin (2009-2011) comics and here too. Also she is an intern with the HR department who knows about the BatFam alteregos.

Fifth day

In the comics, Alfred always followed Bruce to his 'trips' (in 'Batman and Son' to London, 'Batman & Robin Annual' to an scavenger hunt, in 'Batman Inc.' to every country where they found representatives...) However because of Damian's unpredictable behaviour he stayed at the manor with the children in this story.

Sixth day

So Young Justice thing is a little complicated to me if I dare to say something about it. There was the 'Young Justice: The Secret' and its sequels. Then there were 'The New52' and 'DC Rebirth' era, plus the animation show. And they all are kind of okay..ish, furthermore I wanted to keep the principles like the main members (Tim Drake, Connor Kent, Bart Allen and Cassie Sandsmark), however I never liked their too childish behavior in some of the works (and the mixing with 'The Titans). So in this story, here, they are more adult..ish, but more relaxed and cheerful than 'The Titans' ever was (like in comics, not in the shows).

Eighth day

In the 'Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir' show they showed Lila as a manipulator without any remorse, which got me to think she has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). I am not a doctor but I had some basic lesson in psychology, and I have a natural curiosity about things so I always research everything. With diagnosed ASPD the person has to be older then 18, however I read its symptoms can show up in childhood, and it can lead to an earlier diagnosis like 14-15 years old early.

In the case of Lila she deceives people and uses them (✓). Don't makes long term plans or thinking through about her behavior (✓), however has a set on some goal she wants to achieve (✓). She has a sense of superiority above of her classmates and adults in her environment (✓), nevertheless does't have any remorse or guilt to mistreat them (✓). Uses charisma and her fake charming persona to get something or someone (✓), however didn't value them more than tools or prizes (✓).

I didn't see any real aggressive behavior from Lila beside akumatizations (✓), but on its own I think it's enough evidence, that she has this disorder (and not the many that she claimed). In normal aggressive way Lila didn't show herself (like physical violence, loud angry outbursts, big fits in front of everyone) yet, rather she uses Akumatization to hide that kind of behavior (when Adrien tried to stand up she became willingly Chameleon, or the Heroe's Day, or Oni-Chan). So her Akumatised forms and helping to Hawkmoth are the evidences that she has aggressive behavior, however they are not the classic forms (but we also can remember the threatening in the bathroom, but I think that was more intimidation and showing her superiority then pure aggressiveness).

And I wanted that recreate and strengthen this 'fact' a little bit so it would be more obvious than in the show.

Ninth day

In the comics there are so many take on Bruce Wayne it's kind of hard to count it. We could list the Batman persona, when he kind of let his children do what they want within his no-kill-rule (like living alone at fourteen with bunch of other teenager - 'Teen Titans' or 'Young Justice' or as it looks like to go rough - Robin, Red Hood). And there is the obvious martyr-parent take, when he has to know everything about his children, but he is always silent about the important things ('Death of the family' - 'Batman and Robin: Born to kill' - 'The Hunt for Robin'). And one of my favorites the worried-tired father take, when he is kind of showing his emotions and trying to love his kids ('Super Sons' - 'Robin Rises' - 'Prelude to the Wedding: Nightwing vs. Hush' ...).

And I decided to use the last with a more active take from the first (like he lets everyone do their thing but he is monitoring them within reasons). In the comics there are many accusations about being someones father (with Julie Madison or Mariah Shelley), and here in my take he is trying to be responsible (for the sake of his children, mainly for Damian and Jason) and checks every claim out personally (so they also can do DNS test).

Tenth day

Alya Césaire is a complicated someone in the show. At first she is portrayed as a fierce helper for the protagonist, Marinette. She is stubborn and reckless, but royal to her best friends.

Then came Lila and the makers sharpened her stubborn tunnel vision. This I saw it first at the 'Lady Wifi' episode, when she clearly didn't remember about the first day, when Ladybug saved Chloé (or ignored it). After that she always fixated on 'Adrienette' (or everything else if it's interesting - Dark Cupid) when the girl, herself had other things to do (Princess Fragrance, Puppeteer 2, Reflektdoll 2, Timebreaker). So it was not that big surprise when her tunnel vision turned to Lila, and she (and everybody in her class) forgot about that they all met Jagged Stone and with his crocodile already.

Yeah, it's all true, however unlike Lila, Alya didn't show any other big social flaw. And she is 14 years old and middle child, which is kind of important in someone personality. She has to be a mature figure and a little child at the same time in her sibling's eyes. She has to compete attention in their parents eyes and be smart about it.

Moreover if we look at the Collège Françoise Dupont's students, they are all spoiled, not just Chloé or Lila or Adrien. Yes, they are not that bad like the three, but they are all sheltered to a certain degree. Their family don't have financial problems (famous chef, designers, mayor, famous bakery, curator in the most famous museum, police officer, famous pantomime, ...), plus they are all in a prestigious school where they can't meet people with everyday problems (and rich spoiled kid is not an everyday occurrence in my country). And beside some vision problems (Max, Sabrina) they are all healthy and the first time to meet a disability is when Lila arrived. So it's natural if they don't really know how to interact right with her (putting aside that whole lie thing).

And I think they, especial Alya, need first a little life experience, before they could be called responsible about their acts. And here I am trying to write it this kind of way, where they are all flawed, but they can learn from it.

Human being can be shallow and not perfect. These children only heard one perspective from Lila, and another from Marinette. In the show the makers not exactly specified about how well the classmates know Marinette and how depth Marinette and Alya friendship is, so there is already some trust issue.

Like yeah all of they are going to concerts, cinema, each others, however they didn't show so far any serious conservation between them (maybe the only exception is Adrien-Marinette combo). Until this year when Adrien and Alya got transferred in the class, the classmates don't even help Marinette with Chloé bullying. And one year friendship - how beautiful is it tho - is not that depth and stable, especially with that many secrets they have. And Lila 'charming' personality came into this still fragile relationship at the right time to prove this.

I am not saying that the makers is doing good to simplifies the relationships. Because rather they missed so many ziccers for the sake of promote new hero designs and the overwritten romantic scene, it's physical hurting me. But they are right that we are talking sheltered-traumatized-too naive kids, who sometimes had unearned magic powers (looking at Chloé, Alya, Kim).

And I didn't ever going the length of mentioning the adult characters. It's an other kind of wormhole.

Marinette was the only one who openly disobeyed Lila's wants. She stands up against her lies in the public so she is a real obstacle for Lila. While Adrien is only trying in the background without any witness (I don't say it's bad, because with some case it's better, but not here), and the boy is too valuable to Lila.

Lila already showed in the series she didn't stop with the lies and she is brave enough to ruin someone carrier with them (Marinette - 'Ladybug', Nathalie and Gorilla - 'Oni-Chan', Alya - 'Volpina'). And Adrien watched all of it in the front seat, and he kind of knows that Lila's main target here to discredit and broke Marinette/Ladybug (and Adrien, himself also, but it's his perspective and he is very sheltered and naive about it).

And this story she got another one to ruin. Bruce Wayne, himself. And as her fake charming side melts away in her anger as she is focusing more and more on her targets.

Eleventh day

Speed Force is one of the Seven Forces of the Universe. It grants the power of the speedsters. And some of them merged with it (for example Barry Allen). Speed Force has a direct connection to the time flow and with the Multiverse (or now Omniverse). The biggest event of it is the Flashpoint (2011) which started the New52 era. And Batman doesn't want to mix this kind of force with a really mysterious ancient magic.

Nightrunner's first appearance was in 2011 in Detective Comics Annual #12. Within the Batman Incorporated line Bruce recruited Bilal Asselah, French-Algerian citizen to represent Batman in Paris. Here he is a mentor/background assistant to the Team Miraculous and a representative of Batman Inc.

Fourteenth day

Wang Fu is not the most mature character in the show and I think it says it all. Being an 186 years old is the Great Guardian after he accidentally destroyed the temple, he is kind of shameful and amateur. And if we contrasted him with Batman... yeah. Batman is NOT happy and takes the control from the old master.

Fifteenth day

I know Cyborg, alias Victor Stone is currently shown as a founding member of the Justice League (since 2011), however I am prefer him more in the Titans. And it's not just because of the animation show form 2003, but also in the comics he is more himself with the first Titans then with the -all mighty- Justice League. And I also wanted him to have a little cameo in this story because in the Super Sons (2017-) he was kind of like a babysitter for the boys. And to me it's kind of funny how many times the bats short circuited him (Robin Rises, Super Sons: Parent Trap, ...).

Sixteenth day

Damian Wayne is a complicated character. For ten years he was teached to kill. He only learnt about his mother at eight. He only learnt about his father at ten. Thalia used him for anything from power play to plotting someone death. Bruce loves him, but he is so moronic about his own emotions it's kind of painful to read sometimes. And there is the thing where Damian is never enough, his mother cloned him (Heretic), his father has other wards (mainly Red Robin). Dick Grayson went incognito spying when the boy had finally a healthier relationship (Grayson: The Superspy). His best friend, Jon Kent was suddenly older then him (2018 Superman #16). Alfred was killed in front of him (2016 Batman #77). Yeah, Damian is a jerk, but he has every right to be a jerk in my opinion. And I wanted that recreate here as Lila is a liar and threatening his 'only' position as a blood son. His only weapon to prevent it to have a fit and doing what was teached to him.

Fulltime

#maribat march #half time closure #maribat #ml fanfic #analysis #character analysis #it's long #2021

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cdelphiki · 4 years

Note

Was re-reading ‘In for a Penny’ when I read this sentence “if we do not rescue Damian today, “Clark said, finally speaking up, “I have a feeling we will one day face him in battle”and thought what if Bruce wasn’t able to find Damian, instead meets him again when he’s ten, how would he feel?What would happen? Damian holding a sword to the father he doesn’t remembers throat, dick finally seeing his brother again. Memories, baby things left untouched in the manor. Would love to hear your thoughts-M

The years since Damian’s kidnapping had not been kind to Bruce.

Dick left him. When he was barely eighteen. Packed up and moved to Bludhaven, where he still lived some six years later.

Bruce couldn’t blame him. Not really. He’d not been much of a father, once Damian went missing.

Then Jason came along, and Bruce had tried really hard for that boy. He’d worked on himself, worked on his availability. Adopted him, right from the start.

It hadn’t mattered.

Because in the end, Jason had left him, too. In the most painful way possible.

At least Damian was out there.

Somewhere.

Growing up, living his life.

Jason’s had been cut short.

After that, Bruce had sworn off kids. He wanted nothing to do with children ever again, because brining a child in his life just meant he’d love that child, and life didn’t let him keep the things he loved.

He wasn’t sure how many more times he could go through that.

Those he loved suffered in the worst ways possible, and how could he do that to another child?

Then Tim came around. Kind of forced his way into Bruce’s life. Reluctantly, and completely against his will, Bruce had come to love Tim, as well. Had adopted him, when the opportunity arose, as tragic as it was.

Talia had made herself scarce in the years since stealing Damian away from him. He’d tried to find them. Many times. But they always evaded him. Were always too well hidden.

He hadn’t… given up.

Per se.

But as Damian grew older, Bruce’s hope dwindled. He’d not even been two yet, when Talia took him away. There was no chance he’d even remember Bruce at five.

Or eight.

Or the ten he was now.

What right would Bruce have to swoop in and steal him away? Rip him away from the only family he remembered?

To him, Bruce was the absent father, living on the opposite side of the planet, and as much as he wanted to see his son, as badly as he wanted to hold his baby in his arms, he was a stranger to Damian.

He had no right over him any more.

All he had left of his little boy were pictures and a stuffed cow.

He’d given away everything else. To Clark, when Lois was expecting Jon.

To Selina. When she was expecting Helena.

Damian was too old for baby things, anyway. And walking past a nursery was painful.

They’d turned that room into Jason’s.

It wasn’t any less painful, now.

Bruce tried not to think about any of it. Tried not to think about Damian.

But it was hard, when Talia al Ghul kidnapped him while he was on mission in England.

Strung him up and got right in his face.

Hers was not a face he wanted to see.

“Talia,” he snarled, flexing his hands, testing his strength against the bat-thing that held him tight.

It would take a remarkable show of strength to free himself. He wasn’t sure he could. Even if he did, there were half a dozen more of the bat-things all around him. He knew himself outnumbered when he saw it.

He was just thankful Tim had taken the weekend off, rather than accompanying him on this trip.

“What do you want, Talia,” he spat, when she came too close, running her fingers across his chest. He had no interest in her. And she should know that by now.

She had killed any chance of there being anything between them eleven years prior.

And then burned it to the ground when she stole their son away from him.

“It’s nice to see you, too, Beloved,” she drawled, pulling away from Bruce and drawing her sword. She toyed with it, staring at the blade in her hand, without saying anything further.

“What. Do. You. Want,” he ground out. Games were also not something he was interested in.

“Hm,” she hummed, still toying with her blade for a moment before finally asking, “You remember our son?”

“How could I forget,” he growled. If she had merely kidnapped him to taunt him…

He might need to call in Clark to hold him back. He pulled at his arms again, and could feel the give in his captors’ hold. Knew, if he pulled his arms in just the right way, kicked his legs back at just the right moment, he’d be able to free himself easily.

“Hm. Yes, well,” she said, waving a hand at him, as if dismissing his anger, “He has grown wild. I can no longer control him.”

His sweet little baby?

Unlikely.

“What did you do to him?” he shouted, seriously contemplating calling in Clark. Because he was not sure he’d be able to control himself if he found out Damian had been mistreated in any way.

And he couldn’t think of a single other explanation for his Damian turning ‘wild.’ Not his sweet little baby who loved animals and was so gentle. So empathetic. So kind.

“Do not be so dramatic,” Talia snapped, “I thought you’d be happy.”

“Happy about what.”

“He needs… taming,” she said, twirling her sword around, a little, before she sheathed it again, “He lacks discipline. I had hoped some time with his father would straighten him out.”

“Time with,” he started, only to fumble over his words.

Was she…

Introducing him to Damian?

Why… why would she… after all these years…?

What was her game?

“You’ll hear from me soon, Beloved, though I’ll imagine you’ll be busy. I intend to hold the whole world hostage.”

Bruce tried to look back up at her, to ask her what the fuck that meant, but his head was pushed forward by one of the man-bats, and the entire world seemed to freeze.

Because a small child had materialized before him.

A… boy.

His boy.

In the eight years since he’d seen Damian, he had changed so much, but at the same time, not at all.

He had the same nose. The same… little button nose he’d had, as a baby. The same bright green eyes.

The same scowl.

“Damian,” he whispered, looking Damian up and down, trying to commit every little detail to memory.

“Father,” Damian responded, pushing his sword forward, almost touching Bruce’s neck, “I imagined you taller.”

“You-“ Bruce started, but had to stop. Because he was overcome with laughter.

The man-bats let go of him, and Bruce slumped to the ground, right to his knees, only keeping himself upright with his hands as his laughter turned a tad hysteric.

His little boy.

His little boy, was standing right in front of him. Was… Was within reach.

Was coming home with him.

“You are the great warrior Mother has told me about?” Damian asked skeptically, his sword now sheathed.

That was enough to pull Bruce back to the moment. He sniffed, and sat back so he could get a good look at his little boy.

“Hi, Damian,” he said, smiling a little, to force the overwhelming urge to weep to go away.

Damian scowled, a little, and shot Bruce as critical look. “How do you know my name?”

“What?”

Out of all the things Damian could ask…

“My name. Mother said you did not know of me. She did not tell you my name just now. How do you know it?”

“I- What?” Bruce repeated.

“You are not as intelligent as Mother claimed. Shame.”

“Damian,” he said, slowly, “You- you lived with me. For almost a year, as an infant.”

“Tt,” he huffed, rolling his eyes dramatically, “Now you are suggesting my mother is a liar. She has done a lot of things, but she has never lied to me.”

“Just, come here,” Bruce said, looping an arm around Damian’s shoulders and tugging him close, “I have missed you so much.”

Damian tensed in Bruce’s arms, but didn’t push him away. That is, not until Bruce started crying.

Bruce didn’t blame him. He’d be uncomfortable, too, if a stranger claiming to know and love him started crying into his hair.

They had so much ground to recover.

- - -

Damian was a massive brat.

Bruce felt like a terrible parent for thinking such a thing about his own son, but Damian was downright horrible.

He did nothing but yell and scream and throw things around. He fought with Alfred. Fought with Bruce.

Hated Tim.

Considering the boy had attempted to push Tim off the top level of the cave, that first night Bruce brought him home, he couldn’t trust Damian anywhere near Tim.

And Tim hated Damian in return.

Or, at least, considered him to be the ‘son of satan’ and avoided him at all costs.

Bruce wasn’t sure how to make his family all mesh together. Wasn’t sure how to get Damian to calm down and give them all a shot.

All those years Bruce had imagined, fantasized with it would be like to get Damian back, never once had he considered he might not like the boy.

He still loved him, of course. Loved him so much it hurt.

His son was finally home, and his home had been thrown into pure chaos.

Handing Damian the cow had been a difficult decision.

For eight years, that cow had been all Bruce had. The only physical reminder he had of the little boy he’d lost.

Damian and Cow had been inseparable, when he was an infant. Bruce had bought three more, the very second he realized how attached to the dumb toy Damian had become. He had four of those cows, and when Talia’s men took Damian, they’d taken none of them.

It’d been a stab in his heart, every time he looked at cow. Knowing how scared Damian would be without it. How upset.

Knowing Damian likely cried for weeks, if not months, for that stupid cow.

And in the eight years since Damian’s kidnapping, Bruce had become a little attached to the cow, himself. It sat on his bed stand. Right next to his favorite photo of Damian. He pat cow’s head every night, as if doing so would be telling his own little boy ‘good night, I love you.’

Just like he’d done every single night Damian lived with him.

Handing Damian that cow was difficult. Because Damian destroyed everything he was given. He was violent. He threw tantrums.

And he was, above all, not a child.

But Cow belonged to Damian, and Bruce was unable to put it off any longer.

“Damian,” he said, knocking on his boy’s door, allowing it to creak open as he did, “I wanted to give you something.”

“What is it now,” Damian started, but paused when he got a look at the toy in Bruce’s hand. Bruce walked over to the bed where Damian was reading and held it out, for Damian to take.

But instead, Damian just said, “That’s… Mr. Cow.”

“Yeah,” Bruce said, laughing a little to cover up the desire to cry.

Because Damian remembered.

“I—“ Bruce started, “He was yours. When you lived here. I’ve— I’ve kept him in my room, ever since you left. To remind me of you. But, he was yours, so I thought I should give him back.”

“Why,” Damian said, slowly, in the least snotty tone Bruce had heard yet, “Why do I remember a stupid toy but I do not remember you?”

Bruce sighed, and sat down on the bed next to his son. He placed Cow down in Damian’s lap, even though Damian made not move to take it.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. He’d been a little distraught when none of the photos had jogged anything.

He hadn’t specifically expected Damian to remember things from when he was 20-months-old, but to have his own boy accuse him of doctoring the photos, just to “get into his head” and “paint his mother as the liar” had hurt.

“You were young. Most people don’t remember much from before the age of three, and you weren’t even two when you left.”

“But I remember the cow.”

“Yes,” Bruce said, placing his arm behind Damian as he leaned back, “You couldn’t sleep without the damn thing. My guess is you cried for it every night for months, after you left. It probably stuck with you because of that.”

“Oh.” Damian placed his hand on cow’s head and stroked. Just once. Before his cheeks flushed and he yanked his hand away sharply.

“I’m really happy you’re back,” Bruce said, moving his hand so it was sitting on Damian’s shoulder. Damian still didn’t let him hug him, but at least he didn’t shrug his hand away. “I hope you know that. I want nothing more than to get to know you.”

“Thank you, Father,” Damian said crisply, then faltered before adding, much less confidently, “I have always wished to… know you.”

Bruce couldn’t help it. He pulled Damian in by the hand on his shoulder, and wrapped his arms around. “Well, I’m glad we have this chance, then.”

For once, Damian didn’t fight him. He did fidget, a little, with Cow started to fall, but he caught the little toy and held it a little more securely while Bruce rested his head down on Damian’s hair.

And when Damian didn’t push him away for several minutes, Bruce started to think… maybe Damian wasn’t a hopeless case, after all.

#this is your fault #also it turned a little sweeter than I first thought it would so :)#happy ending #i'll post this to ao3 in a couple days #or maybe tomorrow #idk #wanna put some time between the new chapter and it #damian wayne #bruce wayne #batman #robin #batfam #batfamily #fanfiction #c writes #pennyverse #sort of alt universe #remember i aged dick up for this fic #Anonymous

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dashingdcboys · 4 years

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Jason respects Wamen

I’ve been reading this book, and it inspired some Jason Todd hcs (which i’m not sure have been done before so bare w me)

So there’s this discreet home for female victims of domestic abuse in The Narrows, Gotham, and I say discreet because, well, it’s an official place of business but it’s not registered - just in case some of these women’s jerk ass husbands/boyfriends come looking for them for one sick reason or another.

But on the whole, it’s a well guarded place where women (and possibly their kids) from all over the country can rest until they get back on their feet. It’s funded by Wayne Enterprises, of course, but money can buy only so much security. And again, the men in question are stubborn asshats, and stubborn asshats can be dangerous.

Though, the place is guarded by a mask, one notorious for being a bit trigger happy. Red Hood.

Jason had known about this place since he was a kid, having grown up in that shittier part of a shitty city, but with everything he’s been through in the last few years, he hasn’t thought about it for a long time. Not one seemlingly normal day, when he rescues a woman from a mugging - a woman who happened to be the owner of this home for mistreated women.

She was just as he’d remember her, when she’d stand watch from within those fenced up walls, with a no-nonsense look on her face even after almost being mugged. Like she was prepared for any attack, despite her aged face. He’ll never forget those stern yet warm greyish green eyes that had looked upon him with pity as he walked past the home every day in search for a new illegal way to obtain money - back in the days his father was dead and his mother had resorted to drugs and alcohol to keep herself in a flase state of happiness.

She had offered him a bed in the limited space she had at the time, but he always rejected her help. Mostly because he knew her cause was a righteous one, and reply along the lines of “Don’t worry ma’am, save that bed for the helpless. I’ll be fine.”

to which she’d always respond with, “Don’t call me ma’am, it makes me feel old. But you reconsider my offer when your back’s against the wall, y’hear?”

He did consider her offer, quite a few times, especially after his mum died - but by the time he could make up his mind, he had stolen the wheels of the wrong - or right, depending on how you look at it - car.

As the memories of this place’s existence came flooding back, and because he’s a giant softie, he followed the middle-aged woman back to the home from the shadows that night, and kept a vigilant eye on the building - just to check on the state of things. The place seemed to be running smoothly, but he had a feeling there was more to it than that. Since this was a discreet haven, any unwanted guests were probably never reported to keep the reputation. So, he placed some of his own security cameras and sensors.

Surely enough, within 2 nights of this building coming to his attention, he spotted a man trying to climb the fence as his buddies taunted the occupants of the home. Little did they know, they’d be receiving a knuckle sandwich from the most feared outlaw in Gotham city.

Least to say, word got around, and no one really dares invade these women’s lives for as long as they’re in Gotham - and depending on the intelligence of the men in question - outside of Gotham either.

Though word also spread among the occupants of the building, women and children alike started regarding the red hood as their guardian angel, and the kids of some of the victims would even stick childish drawings of him on their windows, or leave him braceletes they had made. Jason almost fried the contacts in his mask with tears from looking at them. Occasionally, he’ll even get requests from the females, such as

“If you see my husband, Gregg - kick him in the dick for me.”

And the next day, they’d receive a video, front view, of the guy getting kick in the nuts - if they were ever dumb enough to show their faces around this place again.

Not all of the batfamily knows of this little community of red hood fans, except for Bruce and Barbara, because they make it their business to know. Yet, both are supportive of Jason’s work.

It was all pretty fulfilling for Jay too, making active changes in peoples’ lives without having to resort to murder. And even though his mother and father had never come to this point in their lives as a married couple, he felt a bit of retribution there. He had wished his mum had got help from these kinds of people, far back then, instead of the drugs and the booze - which somehow eventually led her to joker.

So here he is, on his normal patrol route, temporarily stopping at Gotham’s Home for Women as he’d occasionally do a few times a week. That’s when he heard the familiar voice of the owner from atop the roof.

“I guess you really didn’t need my help after all.”

She was leaning, hunched over the window sill, her frizzy, thick, curly, dark hair lightly luminated by the moonlight, showing some grey stray hairs within the fuzzy mass, neatly held into a bun. She idly held a cigarette in one plump, bronzish-brown hand, and stared into the distance.

Jason wasn’t surprised she had discovered his secret identity in the slightest. As a kid, he had always considered her a wise woman, and he wasn’t just some other dumb kid.

“What gave it away?”

“Does it matter?”

“I guess not. For now.”

“Yeah, well I just wanted to thank you. My clients have been feeling a lot safer when you masks started frequenting here more. I don’t know how you got here, and I’m not judging. I just wanted to say - I’m proud. I just have the feeling not many people tell you that.”

“Uh, thanks.” he thought back to his recent rekindling relationship with his dad, “But I’m starting to hear that phrase more often.”

“Good.”

“So . . . do I get to call you ma’am now?”

“Get your arse off my fucking roof.”

And for the first time in a long, long time, Jason let out a genuine, hearty laugh that echoued throughout the guarded institute.

#jason todd #red hood #dc #dc fanfic #dc shorts #batfamily #women rights #wholesome fluff #don't mind me as i make myself cry

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veronicamarsconfessions · 4 years

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I was hugely excited by the announcement that a fourth season of teen noir show Veronica Mars was going to be made, nearly fifteen years after the show’s initial air date (and cancellation after three seasons), and five years after the crowdfunded movie came out. As soon as the show dropped on Hulu (or Stan, if you’re in Australia like me) – a week earlier than initially slated, I rushed to watch it. And I was so distraught by the ending that it genuinely took two days for my mood to return to something even vaguely resembling ‘okay’.

For those of you who haven’t seen it *SPOILERS FROM HERE ON*,

season four has Veronica (Kristen Bell) chasing down a serial bomber who seems to be trying to destroy the Spring Break business in Neptune. It turns out that the first bomb was set by property developer ‘Big’ Dick Casablancas, trying to destroy the Spring Break business in order to buy the waterfront properties cheaply, and the subsequent bombs were set by a pizza delivery man, Penn Epner (Patton Oswalt), who fancies himself a detective and is out to find glory after he is initially ridiculed for his public accusation of an incorrect suspect. The season itself had several issues (one of them being some seriously murky motivations behind Epner’s behaviour, like, if he really was that much of a genius, why was he a pizza delivery man?, and that the people ultimately behind the crimes are more or less ‘hidden in plain sight’ all along, which is a disappointing departure from the way the initial seasons cleverly hid the villain until quite late in proceedings). However, the issue for which there is not enough therapy in the world to appease me is the season’s last-minute killing off of reformed bad-boy and Veronica’s long-time boyfriend, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), right after they finally got married.

Series creator and showrunner, Rob Thomas, justified this decision by saying ‘I know this seems crazy or harsh but Veronica is at her best when she’s an underdog and I don’t know that there’s much to root for if she’s now got a perfect relationship. I need to keep her fighting and I need to keep her a little bit uncomfortable in order to have a show. There’s nothing funny or interesting about perfection.’

Except that’s a deeply flawed understanding of how relationships function, and a deeply messed up thing to push on to people.

It’s fair to acknowledge that once the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ is resolved, TV shows often decline in quality, or at the very least, significantly depart from the original formula which made them into such beloved hits at their beginning. But there are two significant issues with this: First, the assumption that TV shows must remain the same in order to be good. There are some interesting observations that the job of the sitcom episode (in particular) is to return all characters to more or less their original starting points. While that is broadly true, TV shows, like life, need to evolve in order to stay interesting, and as across seasons, audiences grow alongside the characters they watch evolve and mature.

Nevertheless, it was fair for Thomas to note that the characterisation of Veronica is someone who is embittered and cynical about people’s fidelity and inherent goodness – after all, when we first meet her at the age of sixteen, her best friend has been brutally murdered, she’s been raped, her alcoholic mother has upped and left, and her adored father and moral compass has been socially ostracised for a) doing his job and b) being not super wealthy. It’s a lot. Veronica’s very understandable trust issues are compounded by the moonlighting she does as a P.I where, to she regularly sees people cheating on one another and generally behaving in unpleasant ways. So it’s reasonable to point out that for Veronica, the notion of the ‘happily ever after’ is a deeply uncomfortable one. But to keep her in the same mindset as she was at aged 16 is to deny her the capacity to grow as a character.

It’s fair that there was a desire to avoid repeating the pattern previously established (withdrawn/bitter etc), but – and here is my ultimate point – that could have been avoided.

Some of the most complex and interesting storylines come from couples who get together and have to navigate relationships; compromising to fit together, find a way to make it work. Think about the evolution of Niles and Daphne’s relationship in Frasier (and leave aside some of the aspects to his earlier infatuation with her that seem distinctly distasteful in a post-#metoo world). While much of the humour between them in earlier seasons was because of his unrealised ardour for her, after they became a couple, the hardships they navigated through being a couple, and the deepening richness of their relationship that was both romantic and based in friendship, produced some truly hilarious moments. Similarly, one of my (and our fabulous Chief Nerd, Elise’s) favourite TV shows, Chuck, *SPOILER* has the two leads get together in season 3. The show was no lesser for that fact because as Chuck and Sarah’s relationship deepened, they explored facets of themselves that they hadn’t previously shown – it provided more material for the writers, not less.

One of my favourite articles on the ending of Veronica Mars, season four, pointed out that Logan has the most interesting character development because he works to better himself – he has come a long way from the miscreant teenager who organised ‘bum fights’, and he had the potential to become an even more interesting character. How this interacted with Veronica’s cynicism could have provided significant fodder for more story.

But, giving full credit to Rob Thomas for a moment here, the show is called Veronica Mars, not Logan Echolls. So the decision to axe Logan was made to push Veronica’s character development forward, especially given the shows position as a gender-flipped noir which so often has the embittered, cynical detective dealing with the ongoing pain of a tragically killed love.

But the problem is that I can’t actually see how this is going to do anything but ossify Veronica’s primary characteristics: bitter, a hardnosed and reckless desire to catch the bad guy at any cost. Moreover, in most of the noir detective stories, this love has died before we meet the hard-bitten detective.

Thomas said to The Hollywood Reporter, “Moving forward, we’re going to really build around [the idea that] the case is the thing and less of the soap opera of Veronica’s life.” Except Veronica Mars is all about character. Her interactions with her father, Keith (Enrico Colantoni) and the genuine bond of affection between them evokes some of the show’s most poignant interactions. Her internal struggle when the pursuit of justice comes up against questions of morality is inherent grounded in her character. One of its most interest aspects across the years is that Veronica is often wrong. She falsely accuses people (including Logan himself), she behaves badly, she takes her friends for granted, and she can be reckless to the point where she endangers herself and someone has to come in and rescue her (case in point: wandering into the base of an Irish gang that had a particular grudge against her father). So to strip away the elements to the story that allow for depiction and consideration of those complexities would be to lose much of the show’s point.

There’s also a part of me that feels the way in which Logan was killed feels personal. Logan and Veronica were never initially meant to get together, but in the first episodes, the chemistry between the characters, and Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring was so profound that it was written in. I might be putting on my tin foil hat to say this, but it feels as though Thomas resented the manner in which LoVe became such a pivotal part of the Veronica Mars ‘brand’. What really underpins that for me is that the way the series sent off other characters was considered, and gave them a certain ‘exit’. The way in which Logan was killed off feels almost like an afterthought, made more so by some of the questions that arise from the manner. How did he know that she would be in it when it actually blew up? Moreover, the convenience of him leaving a voicemail for his therapist about why he wanted to marry Veronica (why exactly would he call his therapist to tell him about his epiphany? Who has that kind of relationship with their therapist?), and this woman’s decision to keep it from Veronica for a year seems weirdly contrived. Because it was.

However, to be fair, one could claim that the season mistreated some of its other characters, too. Tina Majorino who plays Cindy ‘Mac’ Mackenzie specifically noted that she did not want to return because she did not want her character to be sidelined. Similarly, the complexity to Eli ‘Weevil’ Navaro’s character was stripped away, as was the depth of his relationship with Veronica. What’s worse is that this could have been a really interesting storyline; why he decided to walk away from the court case which would have seen him awarded with compensation for what happened to him in the movie. While we are told that his wife left him along with his child, prompting him to return to his old gang-running ways, the depth of his grief and the reputable life he lost were never really portrayed. Honestly, I would have preferred that rather than the convoluted storyline that involved Mexican cartel hitmen.

But beyond my argument as a writer as to why Logan’s death was a totally unnecessary element to bring in, it also feels like a real slap in the face to fans. I’ve previously talked about the relationship this show has with its fans. Realistically, season 4…hell, the movie, only existed because of the love and support fans showed the show.

Any narrative material exists to interact with fans. Obviously, there is a fine line that can cross into blatant pandering, and there is also a trend that offers a ‘gritty’ or ‘sad’ end (ie the tragic death of the lover), but it’s a balance.

The Veronica Mars movie was very much fan service – it was, after all, fan funded. Much of the movie’s contents and storyline were determined by what Thomas was seeing from fan comments on social media, noting “I did have an idea of things people wanted to see, characters I wanted to get an appearance in, whether it felt extraneous or not.” He added, “there’s no way in the world we would have had a fan-funded movie and I would have killed Logan,” he added.

In the same interview, he said, “I fear that leaning into the high school soap that the show started out as is a losing proposition, that it will start feeling nostalgic rather than vital. If Kristen [Bell] and I want to make more of these Veronica Mars mysteries, I think it’s going to survive best as a true mystery show with a badass PI at the center of it, and I think that works better if the PI doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

Yet for a show whose who schtick was challenging the noir detective genre, it seems the prospect that someone fundamentally gritty and damaged can also have a relationship that the struggle to be healthy was simply a bridge too far.

And at the crux of it, what really frustrates me – as a fan, and as a writer – is that for Thomas, it simply felt too hard to give Logan and Veronica an enduring relationship, and it if wasn’t too difficult, then he perceived it destroyed some fundamental part of the show by making it emotionally sappy. If that’s the dichotomy in which Thomas thinks, then Veronica Mars is no longer the show which attracted its die-hard following of fans and may as well be a different show with a similar premise.

#Veronica Mars #Rob Thomas #Kristen Bell #Logan Echolls #Jason Dohring #news

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batfam-backstory-swap-au · 4 years

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Batfamily Backstory Swap

Duke Grayson: Duke was raised among circus lights and tightrope heights, born to the famous Flying Graysons Duke lived a fulfilling and exciting life as a circus performer with his parents. Until his parents suffered an accident on a routine performance they've done hundreds of times before. The incident devastated Duke and left him a wreck. Seeing his own trauma reflected in the young man Bruce Wayne took him in as his own. With a new life and new family it didn't take Duke long to join his adoptive fathers crusade as his partner Lark. Duke served as Lark for many years so long, until he felt as though he was drowning in his fathers shadow. Wanting to strike out on his own Duke left the nest, left the city, eventually settling in the city of Bludhaven operating under the mantle of Night Owl

Damian Gordon: All his life Damian Gordon has followed his fathers career with awe and pride. Being the police commissioners son filled Damian with a sense of purpose, he wanted to be just like his father, and opened his eyes to the importance of the Gordon legacy. When his father began openly working with the Bat Damian took a solid interest as well eventually taking on the mantle of Shadow Bat(whether Batman liked it or not) so he could help the city just like his father until the day he could accomplish his dream of joining the Gotham Police Department himself. Even when assaulted and crippled by the Joker Damian's determination was unyielding. His dreams dashed he poured over any information he could find regarding computers and technology, eventually adopting the moniker of Oracle his heroics now behind the scene but no less deeply felt than before.

Dick Todd: Dick wasn't fortunate enough to be born in an affluent family, in fact Dick didn't seem to have much luck at all as a child. Born to a poorer family with dubious criminal connections Dick often found himself relying on his wits and streetsmarts and would often wind up prowling the streets of Gotham trying to get by. A chance encounter where he tried to steal the tires from what he just assumed was some rich assholes fancy car lead him to being taken in by The Batman himself. Dick enjoyed a brief stint as the second Lark until the Joker set his sights on the Batman's protégé. Dick didn't survive the encounter and his passing sent the Batfamily into turmoil. Emotions flared even hotter when Dick returned years later calling himself Flamebird. Believing himself replaced and Bruce selfish for daring to endanger more lives with his unwillingness to kill. Flamebird set out to prove a lethal point to his once father and all of Gotham.

Cassandra Drake: Grew up next to the Waynes and often passed her time watching the bat family through a camera lens. After Dicks death she tracked down the Batman wanting to help him in his mission of protecting Gotham, taking up the mantle of Lark. Eventually she struck out on her own and reinvented herself as Sparrow.

Jason Cain: The unwanted son of Lady Shiva and deadly weapon since birth for his father David Cain. Born by Shiva as part of a crooked deal with David Jason was raised solely by his father to be a deadly weapon. Taught to be relentless in combat and understand movement as though it were a language. Jason was neglected and never quite learned how to speak or read, all he knew was combat and torture at the hands of his father. When the day came that Jason took his first life the boy was so horrified that what he had done he ran and only stopped running when he fell into the arms of Bruce Wayne. When Damian Gordon became incapable of keeping the Shadow Bat mantle, Jason took it in his stead, and now Jason spends his time fighting side by side with his family while trying to acclimate to the unfamiliar environment.

Tim Brown: Tim was the son of C List Gotham super criminal Cluemaster. Cluemaster's parenting skills left a lot to be desired and Tim having been mistreated and abused by his father all his life donned the cap and cowl life purely fueled by the power of spite. He took on the name Spoiler, always intent to spoil his fathers escapades. It didn't take long for Tim's nightly activities led to him meeting and befriending Cassandra Drake which soon pulled the young man into the fold of the Batfamily.

Barbara Al Ghul-Wayne: Barbara was raised in the enigmatic League of Assaians, born of a union between Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul. She was raised and trained as an assassin and she knew was of the best of them. It wasn't until Talia smuggled her out of the league and out of her birthright that Barbaras life was thrown into upheaval. In an effort to get her daughter away from the toxic influence of the league Talia left her daughter in the hands of Bruce Wayne Barbara's father. Here with her father Barbra became the newest Lark and found herself struggling to adapt and learn to the new standards of her father and her new role.

Stephanie Thomas: Steph lived a mostly normal life in the incredibly not normal Gotham City. It was easy to think Gotham's madness would never touch them. Until the day it did and Joker got a hold on her parents driving them mad. She did the only thing you can do when faced in tragedy in Gotham City. She went on the streets and became a vigilante herself. The Batman eventually took notice and took her under his wing seeing the potential and determination she had within her. Steph eventually settled on the name Black Light and she holds the distinction of being the only meta within the Batfamily.

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