#and how to realistically plunk tim in the league

[necrotic-nephilim]

For the ask game

How do you think the batclan and the league of assasins would react to a consensual rastim au where because of this tim becomes the heir therefore the next demon's head

for the ask game!

heir of Ra's!Tim my BELOVED. i don't care how realistic it is it's real in my heart. i love when they're consensually fucked up together.

i think it's fun if it's sort of a slow descent, for Tim. like he goes into this completely confident he's going to backstab Ra's and come out with clean hands, but he's falling deeper and deeper. Ra's is a far more complex man than everyone has told him, and the longer Tim is entrenched in the League, the more he's drinking the kool-aid. it doesn't help he's already in a grief spiral full of self-isolation and Ra's is showing him all kinds of attention. Tim can't say when it went from "i'm going to stop him in the back" to "huh Ra's' bedroom has more of my stuff than his" bc it was so slow and gradual. maybe the search for Bruce takes longer, maybe Tim finds Bruce but sticks with Ra's for a totally rational reason with a plan he definitely plans to follow through on, eventually. but he gets closer and closer to Ra's and his lack of identity without Robin makes it easy for him to latch onto all the ideas of grandeur Ra's gives him about building a better world. Tim isn't *completely* sold, but he's able to meet Ra's in the middle for most of it

on the side of the League, i think there are a lot of divided opinions. Tim is a hit with younger League members like Prudence, but the more senior members who've been with Ra's for decades are a tad incensed at getting so quickly outranked by a teenager who doesn't even believe in murder. a lot of what Tim believes goes against the very nature of the League but. at its core, the League is loyal to Ra's. any of them would die for him or his cause and they have wholehearted faith in his judgment. because he has a point, the kid is smart, a brilliant strategist, and with some more work, won't be too half-bad in a fight. when Ra's names Tim as his heir, everyone knows it's a very distant future thing (Ra's still has a few more centuries in him and he makes sure they know it) so there's still time to work out the kinks in Tim Drake. Ra's has gone so far as to share the Lazarus Pit with Tim, so *clearly* this isn't some ploy and Ra's is dedicated to him. there's pushback, and i do think there would be some schisms in the League, smaller groups fracturing off and attempting a few coups of the League. even if Tim goes over relatively smoothly, there will be some fights that break out. and Ra's leaves it to Tim to handle, proving a point. making it clear Tim is an equal leader to the League and is more than capable of handling conflict with brutal efficiency. that wins over the last bits of support for Tim, some through genuine respect, some through fear. either way, Ra's is quite proud his choice of partner and heir has proven himself.

the Batfamily on the other hand is a complete shitshow. i think the most positive reaction would be Jason, not necessarily because he approves, but because i think he'd find the ironic joy in watching Tim finally get out from Bruce's thumb and cause absolute chaos. in a way, Bruce really has no place to talk with his history with Talia, so it's not like Tim's completely ex-communicated. they're all constantly trying to get Tim back, trying to convince him how bad of an idea this is and how terrible of a person Ra's is. i think Tim would keep close to the Batfam, partly because he *does* still care about them. Dick, Helena, Cass, Bruce, are all still some kind of family, for Tim. but there would be a clear rift. obviously it'd be the worst for Cass, who has the strongest opinions on morals and was so close to Tim and has to deal with feeling deeply betrayed. i'd have a lot of long conversations between them, where Tim talks about how he's trying his best not to compromise his morals and he's really doing this for the greater good he believes in, while Cass tries to understand his point of view and cope with the betrayal. Steph would also feel pretty betrayed, even when they break up there's a deep love between Tim and Steph and this change for Tim feels out of nowhere. they're all constantly reaching out to Tim, sometimes for serious conversation but sometimes just inviting him to hang out, hoping to get through to him slowly. they still care about each other, but the trust is what's gone. especially from Damian, who never trusted or liked Tim in the first place and would be the most furious he's replaced as an heir by Tim of all people. it's messy, but it's complicated.

for the rest of Tim's social circle, the Titans and whatnot, it's a similar reaction. the more distant of Tim's hero friends have no issue cutting him out, but people like Cassie and Bart and Kon would try to talk to Tim about it because it feels so uncharacteristic of him. they've known Tim a while, sometimes in more personal ways than the Batfam, so this switch up is sudden. i think he'd feel the most guilty about hurting them, just because they're genuinely his oldest friends in the superhero world. but he sticks to his guns and makes it clear he's happy with Ra's, and he's doing this whole League thing, like it or not. they'd still come to Tim's aide if Tim needed it, and god help anyone who hurt Tim's friends bc he'll raise hell for them, but emotionally they're distant from him. it's hard for someone like Kon to reconcile a person willingly working with Ra's given Kon's own parentage. there's still love, but it's messy and complicated. i do think slowly though, Tim would try to get them on his side. it starts with innocuous side comments made about the state of the Justice League/Titans, him not holding them back from going too far in a fight the way he usually would, as sensible team leader. it'd take a slow, long while, but i do think Tim could slowly get at least a couple Titans to be his allies, even if they're not full League members.

all in all, Tim rlly does get to have his cake and eat it too. sure, trust is lost and people aren't as close as they used to be, but Tim loses very few people he genuinely cares about. either they love him too much to abandon him, or he slowly talks them into agreeing with his new moral code. because he's still anti-murder at the end of the day, and it's clear with him at the helm, the League is slightly shifting. even Ra's seems more agreeable these days, far more open to working with heroes without instantly stabbing them in the back like he usually would. Tim can't change who Ra's is and he honestly doesn't want to, but that's the fun of it. the way they're always so opposed and arguing half the time, yet still managing to make it work because they love the chase.