#A Lonely Place Of Dying + Rite Of Passage:

[phoenixglacier]

Full disclosure I haven't read this particular arc just yet (it's on my list!) plus tumblr deleted like three paragrahs and I'm grumpy, but I love love love how this is another example of Bruce trying so hard and succeeding in his relationship with Tim. There's a reason why Tim is probably the Robin who believes in Bruce the most (and highkey the only Robin who actually wants to keep Robinning) and it's because of moments like this. Bruce's getting-it-right-moments ratio manages a net positive when it comes to Tim where it questionably doesn't with everyone else.

Because unlike his adopted ones, Tim still saw Robin as a "job" that he could be "fired" from. He can/will/has quit Robin of more-or-less his own volition before. Everyday that he clocks in for his Robin shift is a reassurance to Bruce that he's choosing this, something that Bruce can't easily take for granted if his Robin is someone that depends on him for their entire livelihood.

In return, Bruce tries really hard with Tim and improves upon what relationship skills he had with Dick and Jason. Because Jason showed him what happens if he messes up. Because Dick kept reviewing where he went wrong. Because Tim wasn't the kind of kid to just roll over and take unjust treatment but also was the most starry-eyed and reasonable Robin to ever Robin. Bruce puts down his walls to apologise to Tim, Bruce praises Tim for his work frequently, Bruce hears out his troubles and tries to improve on them — all of these still scarce because Bruce is like that but also very much present throughout their relationship.

And Tim makes it so easy, you know? I'm thinking about Tim negotiating with Bruce doing Young Justice (1998) about telling his friends his secret identity. He communicates with him really well and doesn't let up on how unfair it is, all the while never giving Bruce a hint of a threat that he'll simply disobey him. Bruce bends the rules, and Tim is elated. He respects Bruce to hold the reins, but then he demands a level of respect in return. Because yeah, if Robin is a "job", then Batman is his boss, and he answers to the viligante union and HR department in Tim's head that allows Tim to walk out of this job anytime he wants.

Tim makes it so easy. He walked into the Robin position going quite clearly "You're not telling anyone what you feel but I'm quite certain I can tell. You have relationships in your life that are valuable but are quite clearly fucking up on and that's just a shame and needs to be rectified posthaste. I recognise that you're in charge here but here's my powerpoint presentation on what I think is the best course of action—" and then Tim is in there with his absolute zero mouth filter and his urge to emotionally contextualise absolutely everything that happens. He goes into fits of anger and then immediately follows it up with "I'm sorry for lashing out, I know you're only trying to help and it's just a lot for me." (hnnngh I'm in awe of this boy's emotional awareness) and he'll have a good time and then follow it up with "That was great! I particularly enjoyed ____ and ____!" like some field trip assignment. He does this to Bruce, he does this to Dick, he does this to freaking Alfred. His constant communication and general obedience puts everyone at ease and makes them more willing to hear him out, and also if the tiny kid is calling you out on your emotions and not stopping for the last twelve blocks then maybe it's time to address those supposedly obvious feelings.

I'm inclined to think that Dick and Jason could've achieved this if it wasn't for the fact that A) they were stuck to Bruce and had virtually no choice but to seek his approval for everything and B) Bruce wasn't being receptive. By the time Tim came along, Bruce had seen how a lack of trust breaks down the relationship and ultimately leads to major field consequences. He'd figured out that those pesky little emotions that he'd always shunted away was something that could put his Robin in actual danger, that he should actually prioritise them to the extent he could. He'd raised one Robin that he thought probably hated him (Dick) and another that had died trying to find parental love in his absence (Jason) and now here came a third Robin who would throw his hands up in the air exactly like his first two and Bruce knows what comes next if he plays his cards wrong.

It's fascinating for me to watch Dick and Bruce struggle through their own strange relationship in the early days of Tim because they (plus Alfred) constantly have Tim as their bottom line of the Ultimate Child To Protect. And like I said, Tim makes it easy. Anything Bruce fails at in the parental department isn't his first-line responsibility because Tim's dad is alive and he loves him (parental failures on Jack's part are considered more important because Jack's his real actual active dad! Tim doesn't want or expect Bruce to be his dad, therefore rendering all parental affections from Bruce net positive no matter what!), anytime Tim is dissatisfied with the adult support he's getting from Bruce, he stalks Dick or Alfred for Better Adult Advice.

The foundation of their relationship makes it work for Tim to be effectively and eventually officially an emancipated minor. Tim is well-equipped enough to handle the pesky adult parts. As for the mentoring parts, this child is basically famous for procuring his own family. But he and Bruce are extremely similar on their paranoid need for control, and this takes them in opposite directions in this scenario — Bruce wanting to adopt Tim, and Tim wanting to be independant. What I love so much about this conclusion is that Bruce gives in, accepts that he can't have total control, settles for involving himself in Tim's life in any way he can. And Tim receives this as trust, validation, security. It has the unfortunate side effect of encouraging his paranoia-fueled shenanigans (*cough*hit list*cough) as basically everyone in the batfamily does to each other, but it reinforces the support Tim needed at this difficult time. Bruce managed to reassure him that he would still be there for him even if he didn't choose to lock them into the father-son role Bruce wanted. Is it any surprise that Tim is the Robin he can depend on to always come home when called on?

(Of course, the net positive still means Bruce messed up 999 times but sooomehow they did manage a net positive)

This is one of my favourite Bruce/Tim moments. All you will ever need to know about Bruce's method of parenting his kids is in these three panels.

[heroesriseandfall]

Shoutout to Marv Wolfman in 2011 saying he thought giving Tim Drake his own family and desire to be Robin instead of Batman would mean he’d avoid getting riddled with angst.

Batman: A Death in the Family Deluxe Edition

Relevant post is here. LOL. (Hey, at least Tim still maintains his passion for “Batman needs a Robin” and “Dick Grayson is the best”! However, the “free from angst” thing may have run into some problems.)

[aliteralchicken]

accidentally deleted a message about where to start with Tim without reading everything so I’d go with:

• a lonely place of dying (Tim’s origin)

• rite of passage (Tim’s first case)

• batman 455-457 (Tim becoming Robin)

• robin 1991 (Tim’s first solo)

it’s also very important to me that you know that despite Red Robin being an absolutely amazing comic under no circumstances should you ever start with it, if anyone ever tells you to that’s the devil talking

it’s a love letter to all of Tim’s history and requires the knowledge of what had happened to Tim and those close to him recently and what was happening currently at that time, Tim acts very differently than he does normally and he has a very good reason to, if you read Red Robin without reading Robin 1993 you will be shooting yourself in the foot

[aceissomunster]

Clearing up misconceptions and such about Tim Drake for all you non-comic reading fic-writers and people that just don’t know. Mostly chronologically

Under the cut, cause this is gonna get long ,,

While Tim isn’t my favorite batfamily member, or even robin in particular, he is the one whose comics i’ve read the most of and know the most about.

If i’m wrong about any of this, please let me know!

- Tim’s parents weren’t especially abusive. they were neglectful, as in leaving him with the nannies and sending him off to boarding schools when they were out of the country, which was frequently. also, they did love him. i don’t even know where people got the idea that they didn’t.

- Tim did not stalk the bats, until he noticed Batman’s grief-driven violence and decided to follow, photograph, and gather evidence

- he also didn’t just go up to Bruce and ask to be Robin, he actually tracked down Dick Grayson to the circus and tried to convince him to come back to being Robin. Dick drove him to the manor, and then found out Tim’s whole story.

then Alfred let him down into the cave, Batman and Nightwing got captured by Two-Face, and Alfred practically threw the Robin costume at him and they went to save Batman and Nightwing. THEN Tim told Bruce that he was Robin. (— A Lonely Place of Dying, Tim’s 13)

- Before even becoming Robin fully, Tim’s parents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Haiti by a man called the “Obeah Man” (“Obeah” translates roughly to black magic, I’m pretty sure). Batman finds them by following the people that were going to pay the ransom, and they were being kept in some underground place? I’m not sure, but it was really really hot. There’s a pitcher of water, and Janet drinks it, and Jack starts drinking it, and Janet dies near-instantly, and Batman smacks the water out of Jack’s hands but Jack still ends up completely paralyzed and put into a coma. (— Rite of Passage)

- Fun fact: Janet’s funeral was Christmas eve

- it’s only after his mother’s death and father’s hospitalization that he goes to Paris (keep in mind, Batman did not force him to go, Tim wanted to!) to train under Rahul Lama, and then with Lady Shiva. (Robin mini 1)

- he doesn’t actually get trained by Shiva in the run, but it’s vaguely implied

- Fun fact: Tim actually kills Lady Shiva once (i forget what the storyline’s called, but it’s somewhere in Robin 52-55 ish)

- OH YEAH, Jason Todd was NOT Tim’s Robin. Tim Drake has been Dick Grayson’s #1 fanboy since the circus. He could not care less about Jason

- Fun fact: early in his Robin career, he hallucinated Dick and Jason as Robin (even though Dick was very alive) giving him advice

- He had friends outside of YJ. Like his best friend Sebastian Ives, his friend Callie, his (ex) girlfriend Ariana Dzerchenko, and a good bit more.

- he started dating Steph as Robin while dating Ariana as Tim, but Ari and Tim broke up like the day after Steph and Tim got together (not because of Steph, Ari didn’t know Tim was Robin, but because of other stuff that happened. go read Robin.)

- fun fact: Tim actually didn’t have contingency plans for Young Justice/the Titans, because he actually trusts them, unlike his mentor. (this is mentioned sometime in Young Justice 1998, but I don’t remember the issue)

- Tim’s 16 (not 14 or whatever THOSE tim stans try to say) and on the Teen Titans, when the fabled and constantly over-exaggerated “Titan’s Tower incident” occurs. Tim is fully suited up in the Robin suit, he puts up a good fight with Jason (who is in an adult-sized Robin costume, by the way) until he gets knocked out. This fight leaves no lasting injuries on Tim. (Teen Titans (2003) #29)

- the whole Jason slitting his throat thing happens in a different comic. (Batman: Hush, i’m pretty sure, correct me if i’m wrong)

- Tim also kicks Jason in the nuts the next time he sees him, so there’s not really any hard feelings there.

- Tim’s dad finds out he’s Robin and makes him quit, and Steph becomes Robin. Then Steph dies and Tim’s school gets shot up and he becomes Robin again.

- Tim leaves Jack alone at their home to go find the man sent to kill him. While he’s gone, the man (Captain Boomerang) kills Jack. (— Identity Crisis #5)

- after Jack dies, Bruce offers to adopt Tim and Tim turns him down and creates a fake uncle. Batman finds out the uncle is fake, commends him on his good job of making a fake uncle, and helps him make it better. Bruce later offers again to adopt Tim and he accepts. Damian literally shows up like the very issue after this in Batman

- Kon dies, then Bart dies a bit after. And, not to hate on yall TimKon shippers out there, but he also planned to clone Bart, and also in TT03 like 50-53ish, when him and the other Titans run into their future evil selves again, their Superman (Kon) and Flash (Bart) are clones.

- All those deaths happen relatively close together and in that order, I think, when Tim’s 16-17. But comic timelines are weird, like how Tim was 15 when the Quake hit and for the year-long duration of No Man’s Land (from New Year’s to New Year’s), he stays 15.

- When Bruce “dies” and Dick (Batman) makes Damian Robin. Damian needs guidance, and Dick wants him and Tim to be equals. Dick had good intentions and did the right thing! He just didn’t have the best execution.

- When Tim finds the painting and tells Dick about it, Dick DOES NOT THREATEN TO SEND HIM TO ARKHAM. He, reasonably (considering all the losses Tim has just faced) assumes Tim needs mental help and grief counseling, and recommends him a therapist in Metropolis.

- Tim decides to just go find evidence that Bruce isn’t dead by himself, and steals the Red Robin suit and runs off without even telling Alfred (Red Robin)

- Ra’s al Ghul sends people to kill Tim at first, but Tim obviously doesn’t die and breaks Pru’s nose twice. Eventually and reluctantly, Tim accepts the League’s help and resources.

- Tim finds his best piece of evidence in a cave in the desert with Pru, Z, and Owens. right after leaving the cave, an assassin attacks them, killing Z and Owens, slitting Pru’s throat, and stabbing Tim. Tim, ACTIVELY BLEEDING OUT, brings himself and Pru to the car they used to get there, drives to a hotel, CLIMBS UP THE BUILDING TO ONE OF THE TOP FLOORS WITH PRU WHILE THEY ARE BOTH BLEEDING OUT, and passes out on the bed, where Tam Fox (sent by Lucius to go find Tim) finds them. and so do a bunch of ninjas.

- Tim had to have his spleen removed because it was kebabed with a sword and was going to rupture. Ra’s also does NOT keep it in a jar.

- during the whole LOA part of RR, Ra’s is NOT preying on Tim. there is NO ROMANCE THERE. (no offense if you see it or think it’s implied, but to me it’s just really not?) its just RESPECT.

- with the whole bases exploding thing, its because the Council of Spiders was there and also he just doesn’t like the LOA. he gave them like 15 seconds to get out, obviously all the assassins managed to get out of the massive, complex bases in 15 seconds. (comic logic: if it’s not specified that it did kill them, then it didn’t.)

- the whole “Damian cutting Tim’s line” is also very exaggerated. Damian did it because of Tim’s “Hit List” and because Damian was on it. and Tim fell a few feet, caught himself, then fought Damian (neither won because Dick broke it up because they were literally right in front of THE alley.)

- not really a timeline thing, but in general, tim is VERY against murder. Part of the reason for this is Batman’s morals, which he built his own around, sure. But I think an even BIGGER part of his moral code is just to not become evil future gun Batman. And evil future gun Batman has no qualms against murder, he even killed Damian.

that’s pretty much the main stuff i wanted to touch on. LMK if i should add anything else or if i got anything wrong, thanks!!

No hate if u use the fanon stuff btw, i just know that a lot of people don’t read the comics and don’t know the actual information.

If you want pictures of some of these events from the comics, just lmk and I’ll provide

[lemonlimestar]

do you have recommendations for Tim focused comics for a newbie like myself

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

his introduction is a lonely place of dying, i would start there. it’s very essential to understanding him and how/why he became robin. then, rite of passage (detective comics (1937) issues 618-621), identity crisis (batman (1940) issues 455-57), and robin (1991). from there i’d go to robin (1993) <3 which is his main and longest running solo comic & is tied into a lot of major 90’s bats events that are fun (e.g. contagion, knightfall, no man’s land). after that is red robin (2009) which closes out his post-crisis run.

extras i’d recommend: JLA: world without grown-ups (1998) & young justice (1998), robin ii: joker’s wild, robin iii: cry of the huntress, psyba-rats (1995), robin plus, superboy/robin: world’s finest, & his portion in detention comics :)

& here is a link to a very cool reading guide that i referenced <3

[lacrimosathedark]

PSA for Tim Drake Fanfic Writers

There's this thing I see in a lot of Tim fics that always has me immediately closing the fic. And I think it may be that people just aren't as obsessive about info as me and don't know, so I thought I'd make a little informational post.

Tim's mother was dead before he was officially accepted as Robin.

I see so many fics with Tim being around people like Conner and Stephanie and his mom is alive, when he wouldn't have been anywhere near meeting them. It drives me insane. So let me give you the rundown on Tim's start.

So, we all know A Lonely Place of Dying, right? Where Tim tracks Dick down to Haly's Circus, attempts to demand he return as Robin, gets taken to Wayne Manor, and when Batman and Nightwing get tangled up with Two-Face he becomes Robin to save them.

You may also know that Bruce refused to have another child in the field with him without intensive training over the course of several months.

During this training, an arc known as Rite of Passage, Jack and Janet Drake are kidnapped in Haiti by a...probably problematic villain called Obeah Man. He nearly kills them both, but Batman does get there to save them...only for Janet to accidentally drink poison and die and Jack to suffer severe nerve damage and drop into a coma.

This is why Tim could get away with a whole overseas training arc after that. His dad was comatose and his mom was dead. Bruce became his temporary legal guardian.

He also meets and ends up teaming up with Lady Shiva during this overseas training adventure. She's also the one who gave him his collapsible bo staff. And just for the record, she continually goaded Tim into killing her, as she is wont to do. Tim clearly didn't kill her, but he did defeat her in combat. So give my boy some respect for his skills please.

Hell, he knew Jean-Paul Valley before he knew Stephanie. Knightfall, when Bane famously broke Bruce's back, came before the introduction of Spoiler and Cluemaster.

And then Jack Drake is awake from his coma by the time Tim has met Bart, which was also before he met Kon.

Just...if Tim's Robin, his mom is dead, okay? Totally fair to make an AU because canon is wackadoo already but please label it cuz AUs are cool so long as I know that's what it is and if it's not labelled my brain decides the writer doesn't know what they're talking about and I can't read it even if it's one of the highest rated fics in my search and it causes me great pain because I NEED CONTENT 😭

Thank you for coming to my Tim Talk.

[havendance]

Okay, I'm finally returning to the AU where Jason and Barbara are swapped so that she dies in a Killing Joker and Jason is paralyzed in A death in the family.

The simplest way to set up this AU (and why over-complicate things yet?) is to have it so that when Barbara Gordon opens the door, the Joker shoots to kill. However long later, when Jason is beaten half to death by the Joker, he survives the bomb, but he’s left paralyzed from the waist down. The Doctors say he’ll never walk again.

For now, Barbara Gordon is dead and we shall leave her there. She doesn’t haunt the narrative in the same way that Jason did. She was an adult when she died, removed from her former mantle. She wasn’t Bruce’s daughter. Her death weighs on Gordon, but then Sarah Essen returns to his life and his dead daughter fades into the background. Bruce, Dick, and Jason remember her, but there is no Batgirl memorial in the cave. She is just another symbol of the dangers they face. She comes up in vague aborted references and heavy silences.

(Now that I think about it, in a world where Barbara Gordon’s dead, I bet Helena ends up as Dick’s second primary love interest…)

Meanwhile, with Jason, we have a fairly standard Jason Lives!AU with the slight caveat that he’s in a wheelchair and can never become Robin again.

We’re not going to spend long on that because it could go any number of ways and I don’t want to be here all day, but to his some major points:

A Lonely Place of Dying doesn’t get triggered. Batman without Robin when Jason is paralyzed is worse, but not bad enough for Tim to feel the need to interfere. His parents probably still die in Rites of Passage because Batman is highly unlikely to leave Gotham to chase after some random kidnapping for ransom when he’s being overprotective of his recently paralyzed son. Or just have the Drakes die in a plane crash and skip the racism.

Jason as Robin is a character who doesn’t have many ties outside of Batman. Stuck in a wheelchair, he struggles even more with dilation. Barbara’s dead. Dick’s around more, but he still spends most of his time with the titans. He can’t be Robin and that means that he feels like he can’t be part of that community, losing the few connections he had there. On the civilian front, his injuries lead him to being held back a year. He doesn’t know any of his classmates, and stuck in the hormonal battleground of high school, he acutely feels the way that being stuck in a wheelchair makes him different.

I still need to read Oracle: Year One, but Jason is initially attracted to computers because of the anonymity the internet offers. On it, he can pretend to be normal; people don’t see the chair before they see him. From there, it expands into a way he can still help Bruce and be involved in the mission. Bruce says he doesn’t need to do anything, but with so much of their relationship tied up in being Batman and Robin, Jason wants to.

There is another Robin eventually. Dealer’s choice as to who. You can make an argument for Tim (the classic option), Steph (Girl power + Steph & Jason friendship) or, I don’t know, Lonnie ( I know he has fans, though, in full disclosure, I am ambivalent towards him). Whoever the choice, it’s alternatively important that they have the approval of both Dick, who originated the mantle, and Jason, who left it vacant.

But that’s enough about Jason. You want to know who I really want to talk about in this AU? You guessed it! Helena Bertinelli and Cassandra Cain.

It’s time for No Man’s Land baby~ (absolutely no one is surprised.)

Bruce leaves on an international guilt trip and brings his son with him, much to Jason’s annoyance. It’s over three months before he’s able to convince Bruce to return, and even then it’s only on the condition that Jason enrolls in a boarding school where it’s safe. (Jason is so looking forward to turning 18 when he can finally prove to Bruce that he can take care of himself.)

Meanwhile, Huntress is the sole vigilante presence in No Man's Land. It isn’t long before she recognizes the limits of her own mantle and takes on the mantle of the Bat. In this universe, she is called Batwoman.

It is as Batwoman that she runs into Cassandra, who has been living on the streets of Gotham.

No wait, better idea. Headcanon time: In between acting as two separate vigilantes, Helena also somehow finds the time to run a makeshift classroom for some of the kids stranded in No Man's Land. She recruits them to do odd jobs and in exchange,, she shares some of the food she has stashed wavy and tries to make sure they have at least some education. 

Cassandra is curious and comes first for the food and then for the stories and the reading/writing lessons she doesn’t understand. When she sees Batwoman for the first time and makes the connection, she becomes even more intrigued.

When Batman enters and starts working with Helena, Cassandra saves them both in a handmade costume and ends up as the new Batgirl.

Helena remains as Batwoman after the end of No Man’s Land in this AU. She misses being the Huntress, at the end, but she has Cass to look after now. They grew close in the chaos of No Man’s Land and now the girl’s moved in with her. Helena needs to be better for Cass. She can’t go back to killing because, on one level, Cass wouldn’t let her. On another, she doesn’t want to betray her trust. So she holds the line. She stops her more self-destructive tendencies and tries to do the best for Cass despite the fact that she doesn’t understand her on a fundamental level.

This all leads to her being a more integrated part of the batfam. She's featured in more Bat comics and plays a major supporting role in Batgirl.

Post-No Man’s Land, Jason turns 18, moves off to college, and starts his own Birds of Prey type team. Bruce stalks him, Jason yells at him for it, etc etc.

And now, we’ve arrived at the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Red Hood!Barbara Gordon!

Barbara Gordon’s Under the Red Hood arc is a narrative commentary on fridging and is ideally written by a female author. In this universe, Barbara Gordon was a character who was killed off and vanishes from the narrative. She was a thing pre-crisis but never really a presence post. She is a tombstone next to Sarah Essen. A name mentioned when arguing about the Joker, quickly forgotten to focus on his paralyzing of Jason.

She comes back loud and angry, insisting on being remembered. Look at me, she shouts. Look at my pain. My story should be about me. She sets up a series of circumstances and clues all point to her. To the terrible things that happened to her. Bruce and Gordon have made her death about them, she’s taking it back. Reclaiming it for herself.

She also torments and antagonizes Helena and Cass. They replaced her, they took her place. They don't even know what they've done. They are the first to see her face and they don’t even recognize her. They don’t know the legacy they have claimed. Barbara Gordon rages.

And then, of course, future writers ruin that shining star of an arc by making her ~evil~ and ~crazy~. It’s probably all because coming back from the dead made her infertile and she can’t ever be a mother. Women, am I right? (eyeroll)

Anyway, I want a Red Hood!Barbara Gordon arc now.

[timdrakeinorder]

Welcome to the Tim Drake Archive!

I'm Fawn, my main blog is @beeceit

I have another blog with the same setup over on @jasontoddinorder

The tagging system here will be an evolving thing, if you have any suggestions please let me know!

I currently tag by issue number, major characters, and story line when applicable

My personal analysis and thoughts are posted under #deerector's commentary

All of my information for order of publishing, credits, and synopsis when available come from dcuguide.com (Early comics I've covered may have inaccurate credits and publishing dates as I used to use dcu infinite for this information before realizing it isn't reliable)

Most Recent comic currently posted: Batman #457: Identity Crisis, Part Three: Master Of Fear

A Lonely Place Of Dying

The Penguin Affair

Rite Of Passage

Identity Crisis

[isfjmel-phleg]

Following up on my earlier concept of adapting Impulse as a sitcom, and expanding this to include parallel adaptations for the other YJ boys and a YJ crossover, here's how I would do it. Buckle up, this is going to get ridiculously long, although not fully comprehensive.

It starts with introductory feature-length films introducing each boy and serving as a sort of pilot of each of their series.

For Bart, an adaptation of the issues of The Flash in which he first appears and which end with his being sent to live with Max--but told from his perspective, which we don't really get in the comics. It would introduce him (with Dox the AI) in the VR he's hooked up to while his grandfather's lab studies experiments on? him. He doesn't know it's VR, so the audience doesn't either, but enough things are off for us to question--until finally the headset abruptly comes off and Bart meets Iris and has to deal with the real world for the first time that he can remember. They time-travel back to the twentieth century (it's the 90s! it's very important that this be set in the 90s), where Wally straightens out Bart's hyperaccelerated aging--and it's rather terrifying. There's friction between Bart and Wally, which builds as they have to work together and culminates in Bart's disgust with Wally for setting him up to be trained as a replacement and then leading him to believe that that honor has been taken away. Max and the other speedsters are introduced, and Bart's relationship with Max is set up (he's the only one with enough patience to put up with this kid) in a way that assures the audience that their partnership has potential, despite Bart's not wanting to leave Iris and move to Alabama.

For Tim, an adaptation of A Lonely Place of Dying and Rite of Passage, told from his perspective. The comics present Lonely Place from Bruce's and Dick's POVs, building up to introducing Tim as a reveal, but since this is Tim's story, we are with him from the beginning, and the details of his backstory are what gets revealed. We get to see his home situation, his loneliness (a parallel in some ways to what's going on with Bruce), and his longing for familial stability. The aftermath of Jason's death will set the scene, and Tim has to take the initiative to step out of his role as observer and get involved as the grief is affecting Batman's work. This leads to his becoming Robin and starting training, and the narrative returns to the issue of his family when his parents are kidnapped and his mother is killed. I think I would change the circumstances of these events, since the original story hasn't aged well, but the point should remain of the tragedy of Tim's losing his mother and almost losing his father, and the film would subtly compare his grief with Bruce's and leave Tim with a hard lesson: to take on this role, to enter this world is a noble calling but also a risk of opening oneself to tragedy.

For Kon, an adaptation of the Reign of the Supermen arc, told specifically from his perspective, starting at Cadmus and following him through the various misadventures of attempting to take on Superman's role as adults vie to exploit him. I wouldn't try to sanitize any of it; nothing about the interactions with Tana and Roxy would change, but the narrative would be more conscious that none of this should be happening, that our protagonist is mere weeks old in real-world experience. He's essentially a child celebrity, with all the problems that come with that status. We should see him as both the public "young egomaniac with raging hormones" persona and the alone and parentless clone who has no concept of looking after himself and no means of knowing who not to trust. The film ends with the aftermath of Superman's return, in which Cadmus explains Kon's origin (and I'm going to stick with the original, non-retconned version, just to be different) and arrangements are made for his future. The audience should be feeling more concerned than hopeful for him.

All three of the boys would then star in their own individual shows, each in a different style, but there would also be some crossover episodes, leading to adaptations of Young Justice in between seasons as a series of specials!

Impulse would be a sitcom.

Season 1 : #1-24, covers moving to Alabama through Bart's returning to the future with his mother. Arc: Bart's relationship with Max, and parental relationships in general.

Season 2: #25-49, covers Bart's misadventures in the future and return to Alabama through the reform school incident. Arc: Bart, Max, and Helen adjusting to being a family, with everything surrounding Morlo and Evil Eye as a major subplot.

Season 3: #50-67, covers the first encounter with Inertia through Mercury Falling. Arc: Thad's story.

Season 4: #68-78, covers losing Carol through the Apokolips incident. Arc: growing up.

Season 5: #79-89, covers Bart's resuming the mantle through a rewritten ending that better wraps up Max's and Thad's arcs and ties up all the loose ends. Arc: reunion!

Robin would be a soap opera/teen drama. The emphasis would be on Tim's struggles to maintain both sides of his life and how this impacts his relationships and personal well-being. We'd see a lot of the friction between him and his dad, the drama with his girlfriends (Ariana and, later, Stephanie), and his bonding with Alfred, Dick, and (less often) Bruce. Since this comic was so long-running, it would need to be condensed a bit, concentrating on the storylines that affect Tim most personally and streamlining some of the more involved tie-ins with Batman plots.

Season 1: assorted issues across Batman titles and the three Robin miniseries, covers Tim's training and earliest adventures as Robin, initial conflict with maintaining his secret when his dad wants to get more involved in his life, and an intro to Stephanie. Arc: relationship with his dad.

Season 2: #1-23, covers more early adventures as Tim becomes more confident as Robin and more integrated into the batfam through Tim's attending ninja camp as Alvin Draper and an averted separation of him and Ariana. Arc: relationship with Dick.

Season 3: #24-52, covers the death of Karl Ranck, the trouble ensuing from Ariana's trying to take the relationship to the next level, and ending with Tim going abroad on a mission and returning to Gotham in chaos after an earthquake. Arc: relationship with Ariana.

Season 4: #53-73, covers the Gotham earthquake aftermath, Stephanie's pregnancy, and Tim's getting stuck in No Man's Land and making headlines as a missing child. Arc: relationship with Stephanie.

Season 5: #74-100, covers boarding school, Tim's civilian identity outed to Stephanie, and the Drakes' reverse of fortunes, but ends on a hopeful note. Arc: relationship with Alfred.

Superboy would be like a Disney Channel show but off. The tone is light-hearted, but the content is deliberately at odds with how it's presented. For instance, during moments when Kon is reflecting on the trauma of the week, there might be the kind of musical cue that normally indicates a heart-to-heart talk that resolves the problem--except whoever he's talking to is dismissive or unhelpful--and he responds as if he's just had the heart-to-heart talk instead and everything is fine. None of the material is changed--Tana, Knockout, all the problematic stuff is still there, and the audience should feel disturbed.

Season 1: #1-30, covers arrival in Hawaii through the confrontation with Knockout. Arc: loss of innocence (such as it was).

Season 2: #31-49, covers Kon's begging Tana to take him back through his disappearance after the disastrous "event." Arc: meeting expectations.

Season 3: #50-74, covers his new life at Cadmus through Tana's death. Arc: growing up.

Season 4: #75-92, covers his coping with the loss of his powers through the breakdown after the Apokolips incident. Arc: loss.

Season 5: #93-100, covers the loss of Cadmus and Kon's brief homelessness through moving in with the Kents. Arc: family.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

now the little red lighthouse knew that it was needed

by xscintillate

"Kid," he says, frustration bleeding through, "I don't know who you think I am, but I can promise you, I don't know anything about any companies. You might want to call the police about this, instead."

"No, that's just it," the kid says, "I can't trust the police. I think they're in on it. I think I might get arrested soon. I need—I think I need Nightwing's help."

in an alternate universe where jason survives ethiopia--dick and tim still find each other.

Words: 9353, Chapters: 1/2, Language: English

Fandoms: DCU, DCU (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne

Relationships: Tim Drake & Dick Grayson

Additional Tags: bruce wayne is a minor character only, and is a mid-low parent, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, a lonely place of dying, Rite of Passage

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/45189331

[ectonurites]

Im confused when did the mindset that robins are batmans ""soldiers"" become so popular?? and like...why is it so popular ?

As far as I can tell it’s Frank Miller’s fault

The earliest i’m aware of the ‘good soldier’ phrasing in reference to a Robin is in TDKR, both in reference to Jason who is dead (keep in mind- Jason hadn’t died yet in-continuity! this was an alternate future story written in ‘86! Jason died in ‘88)

(Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #2)

and in reference to Carrie

(Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #3)

then when Jason actually died in main continuity a little bit later, that same ‘A Good Solider’ phrasing went on the plaque.

(While the memorial first shows up during Lonely Place of Dying i’m like 95% sure this first page from Rite of Passage is the first place we actually get a detailed shot that shows words on a plaque as being part of the memorial)

(Detective Comics #618)

But yeah. So unless i’m missing something, it was Frank Miller’s edgy book’s fault and unfortunately lots of people just kinda… let his stuff like that shape a lot of Batman mythos, and it led to this idea.

[forestlingincorporated]

“A Good Soldier”

I wanna think about Jason’s memorial.

First of all, Jason’s memorial first appears in Frank Miller’s 1986 Dark Knight #2 - The Dark Knight Triumphant. So, it’s actually one of those instances where apocrypha retroactively enters canon - Jason’s memorial predates Jason’s death in 1988. 

This memorial, interestingly, is shown not to have an epitaph at all, and we’ll off and on see versions of the memorial that continue not to have a plaque. 

However, the phrase “a good soldier” still comes from The Dark Knight Returns series. 

I think this is important to consider, because this Bruce Wayne and New Earth’s Bruce Wayne were not the same people. Miller’s 1986 series doesn’t just predate Jason’s death, it predates Jason’s life - Jason Todd as we know him today was not revamped until 1987. Miller’s Dark Knight’s Jason Todd is an alternate universe version of pre-crisis Jason Todd. 

So I went looking for the first instance of Jason’s memorial in New Earth. 

(Side bar, this panel from Batman 432 of Bruce looking at Jason’s photo in his pocket, I’m gonna cry) 

There’s no sign of Jason’s memorial in Batman 436 when Dick goes to visit the cave. What we do see is that Bruce has removed every memento of the last two years with Jason. 

I find it interesting that Dick goes to Bruce’s room, but not Jason’s. We don’t get to see what Bruce has done with Jason’s bedroom during this stage in his grief. If I were to assume, I would guess it was locked, but I find it a weird choice not to demonstrate that.  Now, there is a case in A Lonely Place of Dying...

But this is pretty clearly Dick’s uniform, so there’s still no indication that there’s a memorial in the Batcave. 

Then we suddenly see this case in the background during the Penguin Affair, Batman 449. 

Now, we don’t know for sure this is Jason’s memorial. It seems really odd that we wouldn’t get a scene of Bruce putting the suit up, or even the other characters reacting to it. This could very well be Dick’s suit in the regular suit lineup, there is no plaque and we can’t tell for sure if it’s a stand-alone case or one of many without seeing its left side, but it could also be the first depiction of the memorial. 

The monument is for sure installed by Batman 451 in May of 1990. It is a stand alone case and it’s obvious from the dialog that it’s Jason’s. This is, to my knowledge, the OFFICIAL first depiction of Jason’s memorial in New Earth. 

But there’s still no plaque. 

So where’s the first appearance of the plaque? 

Rite of Passage immediately opens on it, a nice big close up of In Memory of Jason Todd - Robin - A Good Soldier. 

The memorial plays a big part in Tim’s arc. It’s a heavy reminder why he’s there, what he has to live up to, and what he has to surpass. Jason wasn’t Tim’s brother at this point, he’s a stranger, an idol, a hero... a good soldier in Batman’s crusade, fallen in battle. 

I - oh? 

It’s gone. Oh - ?

It’s back. 

It’s weird? Because the epitaph is almost entirely for Tim’s benefit. It’s a symbol for Tim, almost what Tim would have imagined it would say, rather than what Bruce would write. 

And the comics Do Not show us Bruce putting up the monument - which you would think they would have at some point, given the number of times the thing’s been smashed. 

We, the audience, are left wondering when exactly Bruce set up the memorial, why he set up the memorial, why he wrote the plaque the way he did, because none of this is shown to us. It’s this weird set piece that just got stuck in there one day and created this strange void in the narrative - how we got from Bruce unable to bear the sight of Jason’s trophies to erecting an extremely morbid monument to him.

I can think of three potential triggers: 

Lady Clayface taking Jason’s form

Bruce accidentally injuring Lonnie Machin

And Bruce failing to save this random civilian child. 

But that’s just me trying to retroactively make sense of it. I don’t even know what to do with “a good soldier.” Because this IS NOT Miller’s Bruce, and NOT Miller’s Jason. 

Jason isn’t a good soldier. He’s a terrible soldier. He was a good son. Bruce’s youngest child. His baby.

I can maybe twist it into Bruce trying to distance himself emotionally from the whole thing, but... it just doesn’t... work. What headspace was Bruce in when he chose that? Was he punishing himself? Was he trying to honor Jason? Was he trying to make peace with it? How does “a good soldier” fit into his mental narrative of events almost a year after Jason died? Jason died in APRIL. We see the memorial for the first time not long before Tim’s mother dies, and her funeral is on CHRISTMAS EVE. 

I am out of thoughts on the matter. But I felt like sharing. 

[hahanoiwont]

I am awaiting the inevitable shock and existentialism Fell will feel when he realises that Frisk is no longer in stripes. Patiently. Cheerfully. >:D

okay so imagine. imagine ur fell. imagine with me. let's stand in his shoes.

You are Papyrus. You are also known as Fell.

Your childhood was rough and isolating. You were alone often, and when you did see other people it was overshadowed by resentment or just a violent experience overall. You killed someone before you could reasonably be called an adult, and your brother, whose visits were already few and far between, nearly vanished from your life. You didn't know where he went, but you can only assume he had some other life where he pretended you'd never even existed, and he'd left you to dust alone. The only sign that he still remembered you at all was the food in the pantry, and you started wondering if maybe he wouldn't always be there to bring it. Then one day he came home half dead, and suddenly you're the one putting food in the pantry, having to navigate a world you've only seen glimpses of. Things are rocky. You know intellectually that your family dynamic is fairly gentle, and you could consider yourself lucky...but you remember when he loved you. And he doesn't act the same anymore. You think that maybe he loved you as well as he was able, but once he realized what you are he couldn't care for you anymore. Maybe there is something so terrible in you, so cold and ruthless, that even your gentle, patient older brother couldn't stand to be around you. Maybe you did this to him.

No, you decide. You know better. Perhaps this is partially because of you, but it is also because of the things Sans can see that no one else can--a tally of pain inflicted by every person he meets. You watch him come back to life just for something to break inside of him, seeing all of those numbers tick up. Something in him drives him and he mutters that every single monster deserves to die. But that gentler Sans is still there, staying his hand. He never could stand to hurt anyone. Neither could you, once.

You should probably take this as an indication that things only ever get worse and you will never have anything better. You do not. You're going to change this world. Some small corner of it will be safe, and maybe then Sans will find it in himself to forgive you--for what, you don't know. For existing, or for being a monster, or some sin of your personality. You tell yourself that you'll be satisfied even if Sans never loves you like he used to again, as long as he's not in pain anymore. He's dying. You need to save him. You don't have the luxury of being a softer person.

A softer person comes along.

With a human soul, you could break the Barrier. You could give it to Sans and let him leave this place. You could surrender it to Asgore and the reward would see you and your brother safe for a long time, maybe even safe enough to go far away on the Surface and never see another monster again. There are people you would miss, but it would be worth it to rest in safety.

The time comes to kill them.

They are a child.

You don't ask Sans whether he has even bothered trying to kill them--their budding adoration tells you that he hasn't. They whisper to you that he offered them mercy. You try not to be glad for that stupid mistake. Still, there are more important things--Sans is likely to hate you for killing a defenseless child, but Sans has hated you for greater and lesser crimes, and this is for him. This is for both of you; your ticket out. This is a golden chance. You just have to kill them.

They are a very flattering child. Sans has never cared to notice your fearsome armor or malignant traps. They are a creature of superior taste.

You have to kill them. Things will be so much better if you just kill them.

Your attacks become more dramatic. You switch out the swift and lethal attacks for the showier, cooler attacks. The human is impressed. You think that they are having fun--to your surprise, you find that you are, too. You regret that you have to kill them.

They are surprisingly difficult to kill. It reminds you of practicing your bone attacks when you were a child, waiting for Sans to finally come home so you could show him, waiting for him to be so proud of your progress that he would stay with you this time. You find that it's more fun with a partner. You bring out some sequences that you've discarded for being all flash and no substance. The human loves them.

You don't want to lose this, you realize. You don't want them to die.

You find that you are sorry for hurting them. They have seemed fearless, but they have sustained great deals of damage to their tiny HP count. You can't see the numbers like your brother can, but it can't be greater than 40 total. You have harmed them.

This tiny, innocent creature...you have harmed them. You did not have to. They were not forcing you to fight. But you harmed them.

You apologize. The human seems surprised, but pleased. They offer you a big grin and instant forgiveness, because they are a child. Living in your world, this is likely the best anyone has treated them.

Not anymore.

You bring them home. Sans is there, watching the doorway for your return with hopeless eyes. Perhaps he thinks you will not notice how they brighten and his whole face softens when he sees your LOVE, unchanged, and the child, alive. The child does not seem to recognize the difference, but greets him like a dear friend. He fakes ambivalence and disappears to one of his sentry stations.

You have a child, now.

This is a Concern.

You were hardly a child, yourself--how can you possibly provide the things that a child may need? Most especially a human child, who may need all sorts of things that you have no way of knowing about. You have seen them eat, so you can assume that they need to be fed; they are wearing clothes, so you can assume they need to be clothed; but what of entertainment? Affection? Training? What sorts of guidance will they need?

You have doubts. One of the only things that you are confident of is that the child does not need doubts. You must choose to be bold. If you are denying the very murderous nature of monsters by taking in a child, then so be it: you will not do this in half measures.

You set about creating the optimal environment for child-rearing. Plenty of doors and windows that lock only from the inside. Enrichment in the form of attack training. Weapons for self-protection. You make it clear that you will always have time for them, no matter what else may be at hand. You will interrupt even the most important of work days to tend to their childhood accidents--a stray stab wound here, or a timely rescue there. You prepare to put the changing of your world on hold for as long as it takes to see this human into adulthood.

You wonder what kind of adult they will be. Bold and strong like you, or wry and clever like Sans, or as passionate as Undyne--or none of the above, perhaps. If you raise them right, maybe they will be different from all of you. Maybe they will stay small and loving forever.

You do not look forward to seeing their heart break, seeing their first kill, seeing them turn to LOVE. These rites of passage seem suddenly gruesome. But you want to be there, all the same--you want to take them home afterwards, and see them find their feet again every time they stagger. There is a whole tiny person in your home, and you can ensure that they are never alone.

Then, the world changes.

Perhaps you will not need to guard them so fiercely. Perhaps you will be able to devote your efforts instead into becoming something softer and kinder. You will finally find the words to say when they are lonely, or frightened, or when you have been too harsh and their eyes fill with tears. You will no longer be too harsh. You cannot ever be human, but perhaps you can raise one nearly as well as another human would. For the first time, you feel as if there is love in you--in all of monsterkind.

Then, the child dies.

Sans said he would bring them home. He left to go retrieve them. And they disappear forever. His guilt is plain to see, but you allow him to fool you--he says that he has killed a child, and you sympathize with him. You provide comfort. You do not realize.

Several people take you aside, one by one by one, to gently break the news to you. Sans encountered the human, they say. The two of them had a disagreement. Sans took them somewhere and he came back alone. The evidence is clear--you have Sans's confession, even.

He would not have snuffed that tiny life out. He loves them. You have seen him come back to life by inches, resurrecting the brother you thought you'd lost. This cannot be.

You wait for Sans to tell you that.

He does not.

Your brother has stolen your child's life. Your tiny sibling, who you have sworn to protect--who each of you have promised to raise gently, to treat well, to absolutely spoil with safety and affection, as much as you can. You finally had a warmth in your heart and in your home, and so did Sans. But he smothered it. He killed them. You cannot believe it. But, you think of the creeping insanity that you thought had been defeated in him, and you don't know. You don't know what he is capable of anymore.

Sans used to stand for mercy--if not for its own sake, then because killing is not a virtue. He was the only person who believed LOVE was not a good thing, and now, he is the only person who is not changing his mind.

You're furious. You're betrayed. You're heartbroken. You want to confront Sans. You never want to see him again. You want your sibling back, to protect them better this time, to do things differently so that somehow it goes right. Sans would not do this. You must have caused it somehow. You identify your failings after a week: you were too slow.

The world was changing, but not fast enough. Sans took his own action first.

You leave. You intend to come back, when you have changed the world into something Sans can stand, when your fury has calmed--you leave. That is what matters.

You do come back, once. Sans's pantry is empty. You fill it. You do not think that there are any grocers willing to do business with him, not with the worries about food shortages. Not with what everyone knows he's done.

In his basement, you discover something odd: hope. A skeleton with your face who claims to have seen your sibling, calls them "Frisk." They never shared their name with you. You had hoped they would, in time; but they did not, and now they cannot.

But perhaps they will.

Perhaps you have not lost that child, that place of warmth in your home and heart. If grief is love with no one to direct it to, then you no longer need to grieve. They are alive. Your brother has done an awful thing, but not what you feared. You can get them back. You will not miss the landmarks that were not to be. You would give anything to scoop them up and hold them again.

You find them. Finally, you find them again--or they find you. They approach you, and you approach them, and at first you are puzzled by this human: a grown, adult human, standing half in front of a skeleton who is almost your brother but not entirely, and watching you with caution that turns to unbridled delight when they realize who it is they have been brought to meet. Your phone begins ringing. You ignore it. The skeleton who is not your brother is watching your stats with a sort of horror. You ignore that, as well. This human looks at you with warmth and trust that you have only seen from...

It's your sibling. It's your sibling, and you have them back, they are just in front of you, and you have missed them. You have missed so much of their life. The child you were raising is gone, with no hint of them in this human's scarred HP and protective stance. They do not have your boldness or Sans's wit or Undyne's passion or even the sheltered softness you had secretly hoped they would keep...you weren't there to shelter them.

You have the human back, but not the child. They don't need you anymore.

In this moment, you have the realization: searching for them, you have met people who are gentler than you, cleverer, kinder, less awkward and violent...all of them who counted your sibling as part of their own family. They have had such a life beyond you that you cannot grasp the whole of it. With so many better selves, so many better brothers...

They don't need you any more. Why on earth would they want you?

[arrowsandbats]

Tim’s Complicated School History

So I’ve noticed there seems to be a fair bit of confusion on where Tim went to high school, whether he dropped out or not, if he went to private or public school, etc., so I thought I’d create a general chronology of (Pre-Flashpoint) Tim’s tumultuous high school career. The confusion about this is deserved, as Tim has literally gone to no less than FIVE high schools and also homeschooled for a bit, so it’s a LOT to keep track of. Tim has attended both private schools and public schools, and has gone to school in Gotham and Bludhaven (and almost Keystone!), ultimately ending his school days when he dropped out of Gotham City High School during his senior year to go search for Bruce after the events of Final Crisis.

Here’s the breakdown:

Pre-High School: Tim attended private boarding schools until he was about 13-14 years old. To my knowledge these schools are never specifically named, but 13-yr-old Tim mentions in Batman #441 that he attends a boarding school just outside Gotham. In Robin III #4 Tim angrily tells his dad that him and Janet “shipped [Tim] from one boarding school to another and nobody paid any attention as long as [his] grades stayed high.” This seems to imply that Tim attended a number of different boarding schools, when there’s really no reason for him to have attended more than two (an elementary and middle school), and even then a number of private boarding schools are actually K-8 (if not K-12) so I don’t know why he attended so many schools?? Nevertheless, from K-8 Tim attended private boarding schools, primarily in the Gotham area presumably.

Tim was probably still in middle school in his earliest appearances (Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying, Batman: Rite of Passage, etc), but he starts high school right around the time he finishes his Robin training (around the time of the first  Robin miniseries).

High School #1---Gotham Heights High School: The first reference to Tim being in high school comes from the 1991 Robin II miniseries. Tim has recently started at Gotham Heights High School as a ninth grader. This comic takes place after Tim’s parents were kidnapped and poisoned, and so while Jack is in the hospital Bruce is acting as a guardian of sorts for Tim. It’s at Gotham Heights that Tim befriends Sebastian Ives, as well as his friends Hudson and Callie Evans. When Ives asks Tim about the fact that he seems too rich for public school, Tim explains that he used to go to private school but that Bruce had him transferred into public school because he thought it would be “more broadening.” Even after Jack gets out of the hospital he allows Tim to stay at Gotham Heights HS, although Jack clearly has a low opinion of public schools. Tim presumably started at Gotham Heights HS at the beginning of the ninth grade and attended for about a year and a half.

Interlude---Keystone: After the events of Cataclysm, Tim’s family moves to Keystone to avoid the chaos going on in Gotham. (They only end up staying a few weeks at the most, but they moved with the intention of living there permanently, meaning that Tim was transferred out of Gotham Heights HS.) In Robin #63 Jack mentions trying to get Tim into Keystone Academy, but that it’s tough in the middle of the school year and that he was working on getting him a tutor in the interim. Tim was supposed to meet his new tutor the same day that he went back to Gotham to be with Steph while she had her baby. He left without telling his dad, and so Jack and Dana come back to Gotham to get him and they all decide to stay in Gotham after all. It’s unclear if Tim returns to Gotham Heights HS briefly or if he just doesn’t return to school until he’s enrolled at Brentwood.

High School #2---Brentwood Academy: After the events of No Man’s Land, Tim is enrolled in Brentwood Academy, a boarding school in Bristol Township (a wealthy suburb directly to the north of Gotham, where the Drakes and the Waynes both live). After missing so much school, Jack forces Tim to go to a boarding school so that his grades will hopefully come up. (I think the reasoning here is that if Tim lives at school then he’ll have no good excuse for missing class?) In Robin #75 Tim refers to himself as a “new sophomore,” and he transferred to the school some time after sophomore year started (almost definitely after winter break, but I can’t find an issue that confirms this?) but before spring break. Tim’s main friends at Brentwood are his first roommate Ali, his second roommate Wesley, and his classmates Buzz, Kip, and Danny. Tim isn’t at Brentwood for very long though. After only a few months (maybe even less) of Tim being at Brentwood, Jack finds out he’s lost a good portion of the Drake family fortune in bad investments. He’s forced to withdraw Tim from school as he can’t afford the tuition anymore, and the Drakes sell their home in Bristol Township and move into their townhouse in inner-city Gotham.

Interlude---Rest of Sophomore Year: When Tim left Brentwood it was rather late in the year, and it was apparently too late to re-enroll him in public school, so he took the rest of the school year off. That summer he has to take a placement test that will keep him from having to repeat the 10th grade. He passes, so when he re-enters public school he does so as a junior.

High School #3---Louis E. Grieve Memorial High School: Tim starts his junior year at Louis E. Grieve Memorial HS, where he quickly befriends Bernard Dowd and Darla Aquista. He doesn’t attend school here very long, probably for about 3-4 months (he’s only been at Grieve Memorial HS for a few weeks when he’s forced to quit being Robin, Steph takes over for about 2 months, and then it’s only another couple weeks until the events of War Games). During War Games, Tim’s friend Darla is targeted by several mobs (because her father is an Italian mob boss) and mobsters take over his school and end up killing several students, Darla included. Darla’s funeral is one of three that Tim has to attend in as many days, his dad being killed during Identity Crisis and Steph “dying” at the end of War Games.

High School #4---John Wayne High School, Bludhaven: After War Games and Identity Crisis, Tim moves to Bludhaven to try for a fresh start. He picked Bludhaven specifically for an in-patient facility that will help his stepmom, Dana, process her grief over Jack’s death. Tim moves to be close to her and starts attending John Wayne High School. He probably only attends for about two weeks though, before he has his (fake) Uncle Eddie withdraw him from the school to start homeschooling. Tim withdraws with the intention of homeschooling until he can test out of school early. But it isn’t long (maybe another month or so) until Infinite Crisis, and then Tim and Dick go on a nearly year-long training journey with Bruce.

Interlude---OYL: During the missing year* between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later, Tim isn’t in school at all, as he and Dick and Bruce are travelling the world and training. 

(*Also, with the nightmare that is comics continuity and the passage of time, Tim really couldn’t have been gone for more than like,,,,6-8 months, as it was late winter/early spring when Infinite Crisis happened---at least according to the Robin series---and it’s summer when he returns to Gotham. He’s still 17 early in the Red Robin series so it couldn’t have been a year and a half that he was gone, therefore he could only have been gone for like half a year.)

High School #5---Gotham City High School: After the OYL time jump, Tim starts attending Gotham City High School. He starts during the “summer session” (presumably to make up for the semester he missed during OYL?) before his senior year. His main friends here are Zoanne Wilkins (who he starts dating), Jared Walton, Craig Pulaski, and then both Ives and Steph transfer to GCHS during Tim’s senior year (altho Steph is usually a year older than Tim in Pre-52 canon, so it really makes no sense for her to be there??). This is the high school Tim is attending when he drops out of school in his senior year to travel the world looking for Bruce. In Red Robin #17, Tim and Ives meet for lunch (after Bruce has returned and Tim has moved back to Gotham) and Ives mentions Tim not finishing senior year. Tim asks Ives how senior year is going---implying that the events of the first arc of Red Robin only take a few months---and catches up on how Ives and Zoanne are doing.

Some general Tim school stuff: Tim is a very smart kid, but not a very good student. In the Robin III miniseries both Jack and Tim’s school counselor make reference to the fact that before high school Tim had always been a straight A student, but that his grades and attendance have slipped considerably. He is routinely too tired to pay attention in class, he’s constantly missing weeks of school, he fails to complete homework assignments bc of Robin missions, etc. Several times he even references in his inner monologue that he thinks he might fail a specific class. And honestly, Tim just doesn’t care about school. He often makes irritable inner-monologue comments about preferring practical application over learning things in a school setting, he tries to get himself out of school permanently when he lives in Bludhaven, etc. That being said, he’s never been noted to actually fail a class and even with all the school he’s missed he’s never had to be held back, so presumably he’s still earning like Cs in most classes.

[sevlgi]

believe

requested: no

group: blackpink

pairing: jisoo x fem!reader

genre: fluff

contents: guardian angel!jisoo, near death instances, unlucky reader. [22/33].

warnings: none

synopsis: You’ve never believed in guardian angels, but that just might change when you’re saved from certain death 3 times in one week.

a/n: idk if I’ve ever seen anyone do a similar au... tell me if you have! also i’m actually hella proud of this one lmao

word count: 1.8k

Do guardian angels exist?

Well, that’s a subjective question, and there really isn’t a yes or no answer... But if yours does, they’re doing the shittiest job of the century.

The amount of times you’ve been hurt in the past, both physically and emotionally, is stupidly high. You’ve always had an aptitude for getting injured, stories of broken bones and gashes making up basically half of your entire life. Your friends and family pride themselves on having a fully loaded arsenal of embarrassing tales, practically making it a rite of passage to visit the hospital with you. And don’t even mention the heartbreaks- those just seem to follow you wherever you go.

When you move to a different city for what must be the 10th time, you vow that it’s going to be different, no matter how obvious it is that it won’t. You vow that there aren’t going to be any incidents that land you in the hospital, nor any relationships that just end in chaos.

Suffice to say, all of that goes haywire on your first day in town.

Without a car to drive you to work or any friends to hitchhike off of, you take the subway, line #224 to Solace Building. There just so happens to be a new girl group song you’re obsessed with, blasting on the highest possible volume in your earbuds, when you’re shoved from the back right into the subway tracks. “Fu-”

Time slows down as you start to fall, the dusty railways coming too close to your face for comfort before a warm hand wraps around yours, the socket of your arm straining to carry your entire weight as you’re jerked back sharply.

You collide with a warm body, soft curves lessening the impact and delicate, impossibly strong hands steadying you on either side of your waist. By all logic, you should’ve knocked your savior over, should be sprawled on the ground right now with dirty palms and a heat-flushed face. “Are you okay?”

When you step back sharply, you’re met with the sight of the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen in your life. Her heart-shaped smile and delicate features are framed with cascading brown hair, and she has ethereally flawless porcelain skin. She’s the kind of beautiful that makes the plainest outfit look designer, that could make you believe sea glass to be pure diamond. “Uh. Y-yeah. I’m good.”

“I’m glad,” she chuckles, smiling even wider and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Maybe she doesn’t realize the effect she has on you, humming as she dusts something invisible off your bag. “You should be more careful, Y/N, wouldn’t want someone as pretty as you being killed by a train.”

If it was anyone else, the words would sound creepy, especially with the added factor of the girl knowing your name. “How-- how do you know who I am?”

She juts her lips at the card hanging off your bag, your name written in big, bold letters. “Nametag. Y/N Y/L/N, employee in Solace Building?”

To hide the heat in your cheeks, you look to the floor and stutter out, “Well. Since you know my name, uh, isn’t it fitting that I know yours?”

It’s not nearly as smooth as you’d like it to be-- usually, the natural flirt in you would’ve made an appearance-- but the petite brunette extends a hand, tipped with gentle pink nails. “Jisoo. Kim Jisoo, if that’s helpful at all.”

Your next words are interrupted by your train arriving; when Jisoo doesn’t follow you on, you turn to look at her with your eyebrow quirked. “Are you...?”

“Not my train,” she smiles, shaking her head, even though it’s the only one arriving for hours where she stands. “Good to meet you, Y/N. Stay out of trouble!”

It’s an odd way to end a first meeting, but you don’t think much of it as you grab the nearest seat and pull out your phone to search her up. K-I-M J-I-S-O-O, you type, eyes scanning the screen fervently as the train starts.

Plenty of people show up-- after all, Kim Jisoo is not a rare name-- but none of the dozens of profiles you click through are the beautiful girl who saved your life. It’s too late when you look back out the window towards the station, the only thing you see becoming brick wall.

The next time you almost die, you’re just walking to the coffee shop across from your apartment.

The activity should be safe, considering that not many people in the area own cars. At first, you think you are safe, crossing the silent street with no problem and receiving your usual order just fine; you’re on your way back to your lonely little apartment when you hear the screeching of car tires on the road.

“Watch out!” someone screams, but you’re frozen in the middle of the crosswalk. You forget how there wasn’t a single car in the street when you were crossing as you stare at the grill coming close. The car doesn’t stop or slow down, and you scrunch your eyes shut with your arms raised up, just waiting for the impact.

It never comes. When you hesitantly open your eyes again, you find a familiar figure standing in front of you, the force of her hand having knocked your coffee onto your blouse. The car bumper is pressing into her bare leg, which is miraculously clean of a scratch or bruise, but she doesn’t seem to notice as she turns to grin at you.

“Sorry, I ruined your coffee,” Jisoo frowns, her hand coming up to almost touch the steaming stain on your chest. You stare at her mutely, following obediently when she grabs your wrist and pulls you back to the coffee shop. “Can I buy you another one?” she offers, plucking a napkin off a street-side table.

“Kim Jisoo?” you say disbelievingly, not even feeling it as she dabs the coffee away. “You again?”

“Me again,” she confirms, pulling some more napkins out of her purse with a smile on her face. “I hope you’re not disappointed; after all, I just saved you from dying. Again.”

“No, that’s not...” Taking a deep breath, you smile too, wrapping your fingers around her hand to gently brush her off. “It’s okay. I’m glad to see you, actually-- I searched for your profile to thank you, but I couldn’t find anything.”

Jisoo shrugs, opening the door to the coffee shop for you. “Oh, I’m not really on social media. If you wanted my number, you could’ve just asked.”

You laugh lightly, tossing the crushed cup in your hand into the trash. Of course it’s odd that she isn’t on social media in the 21st century-- with her face, you’d expect Jisoo to be a major influencer. “Then I’ll ask for it. Later.”

“Of course. Order what you want, I owe you one after all that,” she offers, plucking a couple loose 20 dollar bills out of her purse.

Once again, you’re faced with another weird habit of hers, but you order anyway and thank her after she pays. Before you can say anything else, though, she gets a text and frowns at her phone. “Oh, sorry, I have to go. Catch you next time?”

“Sure,” you answer, forgetting to tell her that she still forgot to give you her number. You stand dumbly on the sidewalk and watch her go, taking a deep breath and looking both ways before you set off towards your apartment for the second time that day.

Maybe next time?

The third, and hopefully last time, is the absolute weirdest of all. 

You seem to have a thing for being knocked into ditches-- this time, a group of teenagers barrels into you while you’re walking by the side of the only river in your entire city. You open your mouth to tell them off, but before you can, an especially hard shove from an stocky little boy pushes you right into the water.

Luckily, the fall isn’t high, so you don’t hit the water with much force, but the boats cruising along and the recently terrible weather stir the current strong enough to pull you right under. In the icy water, you feel your fingers let go of the phone in your hand, your lungs slowly being crushed by the pressure of your surroundings.

It’s hard to tell how much time passes while you’re in the water. From what your doctors have told you, trauma is difficult to remember clearly for a while, but you vaguely feel hands linking in front of your chest and forearms bracing under your armpits to drag you out of the water.

The heat of the summer sun warms the stone under your back and you can hear whispers sounding around you as you flop onto the floor. Hands push hard on your breastbone, once, twice-

After maybe 30 pushes, fingers pinch your nose, and soft lips meet yours. It feels more like a kiss than CPR, no air really being blown into your mouth, but nonetheless, you feel water leaving your lungs, and you open your eyes in shock, coughing out loud.

To your (somewhat) shock, it’s the same girl hovering over you. Jisoo’s skirt is wet at her knees where she kneels beside you, her hands still hovering over your chest. She must’ve been the one giving CPR, then. Sitting up, you hack violently until most of the water’s out of your lungs, the other girl waving away all of the spectators. “How’re you feeling?” she asks, once you’re alone on the sidewalk.

Your hands move faster than your brain, pulling her forward by the nape of her neck until you kiss again, something about her tasting familiar in a way you can’t quite place. “Who are you?” you breathe once you’ve pulled away, searching her warm eyes for an answer.

She smiles again, handing you your miraculously dry phone instead of answering. It should be waterlogged and dead, but nothing seems to make sense when concered with Kim Jisoo. “How about you take me for dinner or something before asking the serious questions? Soup should be good to warm you up.”

Hand clasping in hers, you’re pulled to your feet with strength that doesn’t match her petite stature. You barely remember that you look like an almost-drowned rat, your lips purple with cold and your hair stringy with icy water. “Sure. Soup. But you need to answer me first.”

She exhales, hitching her bag higher up on her arm. “I’d say I’m your guardian angel, but you wouldn’t believe that, would you?”

“I wouldn’t,” you answer, eyes narrowing as you follow her down the street. “But maybe you can convince me. Over soup.”

[jemch]

The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone 阴阳魔界是我非常喜欢的一部系列剧集， 每集一个故事，每个蕴含深刻哲理，值得人们细细品味。

TV Series 1959-1964

http://rarbgmirror.org/tv/tt0052520/

TV Series 2019-2020

http://rarbgmirror.org/tv/tt2583620/

Season 1（1959-10-02~1960-07-01）

Episode 1   Where Is Everybody?

Episode 2   One for the Angels

Episode 3   Mr. Denton on Doomsday

Episode 4   The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine

Episode 5   Walking Distance

Episode 6   Escape Clause

Episode 7   The Lonely

Episode 8   Time Enough at Last

Episode 9   Perchance to Dream

Episode 10   Judgment Night

Episode 11   And When the Sky Was Opened

Episode 12   What You Need

Episode 13   The Four of Us Are Dying

Episode 14   Third from the Sun

Episode 15   I Shot an Arrow into the Air

Episode 16   The Hitch-Hiker

Episode 17   The Fever

Episode 18   The Last Flight

Episode 19   The Purple Testament

Episode 20   Elegy

Episode 21   Mirror Image

Episode 22   The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

Episode 23   A World of Difference

Episode 24   Long Live Walter Jameson

Episode 25   People Are Alike All Over

Episode 26   Execution

Episode 27   The Big Tall Wish

Episode 28   A Nice Place to Visit

Episode 29   Nightmare as a Child

Episode 30   A Stop at Willoughby

Episode 31   The Chaser

Episode 32   A Passage for Trumpet

Episode 33   Mr. Bevis

Episode 34   The After Hours

Episode 35   The Mighty Casey

Episode 36   A World of His Own

Season 2（1960-09-30~1961-06-02）

Episode 1   King Nine Will Not Return

Episode 2   The Man in the Bottle

Episode 3   Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room

Episode 4   A Thing About Machines

Episode 5   The Howling Man

Episode 6   The Eye of the Beholder

Episode 7   Nick of Time

Episode 8   The Lateness of the Hour

Episode 9   The Trouble with Templeton

Episode 10   A Most Unusual Camera

Episode 11   The Night of the Meek

Episode 12   Dust

Episode 13   Back There

Episode 14   The Whole Truth

Episode 15   The Invaders

Episode 16   A Penny for Your Thoughts

Episode 17   Twenty Two

Episode 18   The Odyssey of Flight 33

Episode 19   Mr. Dingle, the Strong

Episode 20   Static

Episode 21   The Prime Mover

Episode 22   Long Distance Call

Episode 23   A Hundred Yards Over the Rim

Episode 24   The Rip Van Winkle Caper

Episode 25   The Silence

Episode 26   Shadow Play

Episode 27   The Mind and the Matter

Episode 28   Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

Episode 29   The Obsolete Man

Season 3（1961-09-15~1962-06-01）

Episode 1   Two

Episode 2   The Arrival

Episode 3   The Shelter

Episode 4   The Passersby

Episode 5   A Game of Pool

Episode 6   The Mirror

Episode 7   The Grave

Episode 8   It's a Good Life

Episode 9   Deaths-Head Revisited

Episode 10   The Midnight Sun

Episode 11   Still Valley

Episode 12   The Jungle

Episode 13   Once Upon a Time

Episode 14   Five Characters in Search of an Exit

Episode 15   A Quality of Mercy

Episode 16   Nothing in the Dark

Episode 17   One More Pallbearer

Episode 18   Dead Man's Shoes

Episode 19   The Hunt

Episode 20   Showdown with Rance McGrew

Episode 21   Kick the Can

Episode 22   A Piano in the House

Episode 23   The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank

Episode 24   To Serve Man

Episode 25   The Fugitive

Episode 26   Little Girl Lost

Episode 27   Person or Persons Unknown

Episode 28   The Little People

Episode 29   Four O'Clock

Episode 30   Hocus Pocus and Frisby

Episode 31   The Trade-Ins

Episode 32   The Gift

Episode 33   The Dummy

Episode 34   Young Man's Fancy

Episode 35   I Sing the Body Electric

Episode 36   Cavender is Coming

Episode 37   The Changing of the Guard

Season 4（1963-01-03~1963-05-23）

Episode 1   In His Image

Episode 2   The Thirty-Fathom Grave

Episode 3   Valley of the Shadow

Episode 4   He's Alive

Episode 5   Mute

Episode 6   Death Ship

Episode 7   Jess-Belle

Episode 8   Miniature

Episode 9   Printer's Devil

Episode 10   No Time Like the Past

Episode 11   The Parallel

Episode 12   I Dream of Genie

Episode 13   The New Exhibit

Episode 14   Of Late I Think of Cliffordville

Episode 15   The Incredible World of Horace Ford

Episode 16   On Thursday We Leave For Home

Episode 17   Passage on the Lady Anne

Episode 18   The Bard

Season 5（1963-09-27~1964-06-19）

Episode 1   In Praise of Pip

Episode 2   Steel

Episode 3   Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

Episode 4   A Kind of a Stopwatch

Episode 5   The Last Night of a Jockey

Episode 6   Living Doll

Episode 7   The Old Man in the Cave

Episode 8   Uncle Simon

Episode 9   Probe 7, Over and Out

Episode 10   The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms

Episode 11   A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain

Episode 12   Ninety Years Without Slumbering

Episode 13   Ring-A-Ding Girl

Episode 14   You Drive

Episode 15   The Long Morrow

Episode 16   The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross

Episode 17   Number 12 Looks Just Like You

Episode 18   Black Leather Jackets

Episode 19   Night Call

Episode 20   From Agnes - with Love

Episode 21   Spur of the Moment

Episode 22   An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Episode 23   Queen of the Nile

Episode 24   What's in the Box

Episode 25   The Masks

Episode 26   I Am the Night - Color Me Black

Episode 27   Sounds and Silences

Episode 28   Caesar and Me

Episode 29   The Jeopardy Room

Episode 30   Stopover in a Quiet Town

Episode 31   The Encounter

Episode 32   Mr. Garrity and the Graves

Episode 33   The Brain Center at Whipple's

Episode 34   Come Wander with Me

Episode 35   The Fear

Episode 36   The Bewitchin' Pool

Season 1（2019-04-01~2019-05-30）

Episode 1   The Comedian

Episode 2   Nightmare at 30,000 Feet

Episode 3   Replay

Episode 4   A Traveler

Episode 5   The Wunderkind

Episode 6   Six Degrees of Freedom

Episode 7   Not All Men

Episode 8   Point of Origin

Episode 9   The Blue Scorpion

Episode 10   Blurryman

Season 2（2020-06-25）

Episode 1   Meet in the Middle

Episode 2   Downtime

Episode 3   The Who of You

Episode 4   Ovation

Episode 5   Among the Untrodden

Episode 6   8

Episode 7   A Human Face

Episode 8   A Small Town

Episode 9   Try, Try

Episode 10   You Might Also Like