#babs appearance i love her

[wondersinwaynemanor]

Duke's few weeks in the Manor

Damian: So, Thomas, how's the stay in the Manor? Staying with the rest of those juveniles - *sighs* with the rest of the family?

Duke, smiles brightly: It's been great. I like the training sessions and patrols, the movie nights -

Damian: So no regrets, nor second thoughts?

Duke: Of course not-

Tim passes by the room where Damian and Duke are talking.

Tim, furious: I swear to God, Jason!!! I'm burning all your books. Where the fu- where's my bo staff???

Jason: Aren't you supposed to be the smartest among us, Timbers? Find it yourself!!! And why the fuck do people keep blaming me in this house???

in a few seconds, Jason passes by also, one of his guns on his hand. he gives a peace sign to the direction of his youngest brothers, before disappearing from their sights.

Babs: No shouting in the house!!! And put that weapon away, Jason.

Babs passes by next, giving them a sweet smile, before she looks down on the tablet on her lap, loud sounds erupting from it.

Damian, raises his brow: You were saying, Thomas?

Duke: Oh yes. I said I'm not having any-

Steph enters the room with a bag of chips on her hand and some skincare cream on her face.

Steph: WHERE'S MY- Hey, kiddos! Don't mind me just *munches on a chip* 'inding for my lipstick- Oh, there it is!! And no, I'm not giving you any chips. Byeee!!

she leaves the room, loudly munching on her chips.

Damian, the corner of his mouth twitching to a smile: Yes, Thomas?

before Duke could respond, there was a light tap behind him.

Duke: What was that- OH MY GOSH! *touches his chest* Cass....

Cass, giggles, patting Duke's head lightly: Cute. Little brother.

before they know it, she's out the room.

Damian: As you can see-

Dick enters the room, smiling brightly when he sees his little brothers. he stands with his hands on the ground, landing infront of them.

Dick: Aww, what you youngsters up to huh? Up to no good, I bet?

Dick aims for Damian's cheeks. Damian lightly pushes his hands away, so Dick goes for Duke's cheeks, pinching them.

Dick, laughs: I guess I'll do it to the other Little D then.

before Duke can respond, there is a sound of breaking glass and Tim's more shouting.

Dick: Oops. Gotta check that out. You both stay out of trouble.

then Dick leaves them.

Damian, smiles lightly: What do you say Thomas, you want to visit the barn in the backyard?

Duke, grins: I would love that!

Damian: At least you have a normal sibling. I just saved you.

and Duke thinks that Damian is not quite normal, rather unique, with his pet dragon. they're all unique really.

but he wouldn't trade any of his sisters and brothers for anything or anybody in the world.

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

Ok I saw a post a while ago about how badly all the characters in titans just don't know Jason despite thinking they do and was just like "huh I don't see that but maybe it's just a few things in the last two seasons" but oh my gosh season 3 episode 1 and it's so frustrating already "why would jason be studying chemistry he couldn't read the back of a cereal box" "jason was impulsive" "it's all Jason's fault he could never learn" what the heck guys are we thinking about the same character right now????

[olibensstuff]

tmntco April was based off of a mlp song and I need everyone to know that immediately

[raeofgayshine]

Wish there was a way to begin to explain what happened tonight during stream because there’s some kind of gold in Jim thinking that Riddler is fairy (like tinkerbell) but everyone else just thinks he’s calling Ed a slur and the pipeline it leads down, connecting to Bruce thinking babies come from kissing, all the way to Jim asking Ed and Oswald if Tim was “their fairy baby and Tim telling Steph “I think Jim just called me a fairy.” Steph: “sorry you had to find out this way, but we all kind of knew.”

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP fic: Copyright

The first time it happened, the Waynes were walking around a street market, glancing at the art, when a woman wearing a Red Hood jacket and drinking out of a Red Robin coffee traveling mug struts by.

The heroes stop to stare, more in shock, to see how well the two items are done, which grabs her attention.

She grins at them, waving her cup. "You guys like the bats? You should check out both nineteen. He sells all official stuff."

"Official?" Dick repeats.

"Yup. He has it all trademarked." She says, pulling out a business card. She hands it to Dick with a smile before bidding everyone goodbye. Babs reaches up, snatching the card from Dick's slack hold, pulling out her phone to research the name.

Babs hisses through her teeth when she finds out that, yes, whoever the artist is, they did, in fact, trademark their designs. But not only did they cover their art, but they also put a copyright over the idea of all the Gotham heroes.

"He copyrighted Batman!?" Tim demands, reading over the baby's shoulder. "The symbol, the technology, the fighting moves- his shadow!? How!?"

"No one else did," Bruce answers with an amused smile. "He probably realized this and decided to slap one on while he had the chance."

"He can't do that!" Tim shouts. "Batman should sue him."

"Kinda hard to take someone to court regarding vigilantes." Dick shrugs his shoulders. "The Bats are illegal themselves, and they didn't copyright before this guy did."

"He owns Robin!" Jason announces with a laugh.

"That son of a-!!" Dick shouts, twisting around and stomping down the booths. People who recognize them jump out of the way for the raging celebrity. The rest of the Waynes were right behind him, a few slightly surprised by the pure anger on the eldest face.

Not Bruce or Jason. They see and personally know Dick's rage.

"How dare he try to claim Robin!" The eldest hisses, rounding the last row and stumbling to a halt. The rest are unprepared for his sudden stop, so they stumble into his back.

Grunts of pain and slight soft swears are heard as the group tumbles over onto the ground. Dick is unfortunate enough to end up on the bottom, feeling the total weight of his family. He's pretty sure Bruce's elbow was digging into his lower back, and Tim's head had slammed on the back of his neck.

Maybe Alfred was right about them going on a stricter diet. Ouch.

"Get up this instant. We are ashamed of the family name." Damian hisses from where he is standing above them. Of course, Cass is next to him with a cheerful smile.

Both of them had danced out of the collision in a way that appeared accidental to the untrained eye. Bruce likely let himself fall because he enjoyed causing scenes as Brucie Wayne, no matter how much he denied it.

"Dick." Jason groans, taking the hand Cass held out for him with grace. "Why did you stop?"

"Look at both nineteen." Dick hisses feeling Tim delibertly dig his elbow into his back. His brother offers him a sweet, innocent smile that does not hide the anger in his eyes. Sometimes Dick wonders if anyone can spot the pettiness in Tim or if his madness hides it.

"Oh," Steph whistles when she hopes off of Bruce to stare at the booth owner. "Yeah, I get it. He's hot"

"No!"Dick shouts, rising up from the ground. There is horror in his voice that makes the Bats all tense. "No, he is not hot. That's disgusting Steph. Look at him. Tell me who's face that is."

It's Bruce who spots it first. "I have more chidlren?"

Damian gasps. "Father, you have more blood, children!? How did you recognize him, Richard?"

"He looks exactly like Bruce at that age." Dick hisses, leaning closer. "The Titians and I met Bruce when he was sixteen during a mishap with a time wizard. I may have pretended to be a butler sent to Wayne Manor for training to get access to the cave. The cave was the location that we had to use to go home."

"That was you?" Bruce demands. "I thought that was an idiot who was in love with Alfred."

"Ew, why?"

"You kept complimenting his cooking, doing chores for him, and trying to take him out for a fun night in town!"

"Well, excuse me for wanting Alfred to have a week's vacation from the broodiest and most troublesome teen!" Dick shouts, throwing his arms in the air. "You were literally hissing at him whenever he told you to bathe!"

"I didn't like water back then!"

"Hey guys?" Jason cuts in. "Tim left."

Both men swing to stare at the second eldest with twin looks of confusion. "What?"

"Tim. He's over there. Yelling at kid-Bruce." Jason points to where a crowd is slowly building around them. Tim is in a screaming match with the owner. There is a lot of hand-waving, faces turning red in anger, finally ending with the owner throwing himself over the Red Robin merchandise with a protective little snarl.

Tim reels back and punches him in the face.

"Oh shit," Steph sighs, running towards the both as the owner is quick to tackle Tim. The Waynes find it odd that they must show off their bat training to break the two apart.

And that's how the Waynes get on the front cover of almost all media coverage that tells the story of Danny Fenton (Wayne). Bruce's second secret love child with a married woman (Jack and Maddie had briefly opened up about their marriage back then, so neither was mad) and who had met his biological father after a public fight with his adoptive brother.

Danny would like to go on record as saying that he was unaware of why Tim cared so much that he saw a fantastic business opportunity and took it. It's not like Batman could challenge his copyrights, and if the crimefighter came for his kneecaps over it, he would find himself against the Ghost King.

True the Ghost King in name only, but the Bat didn't know that.

Danny will be honest if asked how he felt about finding out Bruce Wayne is his father. He already knew. When he was around twelve, his parents sat him down and told him. It was how his dad explained where babies came from, the genuine Welcome To Puberty! Talk and what open marriages meant—which was as horrific as it sounds—and they never bothered with it again.

Because Jack Fenton had been the one to raise Danny, he had been the one who held him after his mom gave birth and had been the one who loved him with all his heart despite not being blood-related.

He had a bigger reaction to having to fist-fight Tim Drake over the fact he made Red Robin the official LGBT+ member of the Bat family because he is bi, no matter how much Tim insists Red Robin was straight.

It sounds to him like Tim is deep in the closet and in denial. Bisexual Red Robin forever!

[deadsetobsessions]

This is based off of that one tiktok from @sorruna where it’s the audio from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse.

——

Dick Grayson was a sneaky, intelligent little shit.

He was also dumb. These things are not mutually exclusive.

To this day, one of his best kept secrets- one of the many, many that he had now- was something he’d take to his grave.

Or to Jason’s grave, at least.

Dick sat down and began telling the story to ears that would never truly hear it.

——

Batman’s voice rumbled behind him as Dick, in his Robin suit, stood blankly on top of a roof.

“I know you snuck out last night, Robin.”

Dick froze, train of thought about his dinner derailed. Holy busted, Batman! Quick! Play dumb!

“Who’s Robin?” He asked, the years of performing in front of a large crowd coming to save his ass.

Not that dumb!

Batman sent him a dry look, reprimand already poised on his lips. Dick, however, was nothing but a good performer. Nay, a dedicated performer.

Quick! Do something out of character! He shouted at himself, panicking visibly. He stepped backwards, an idea appearing in his head. In his defense, it sounded like an amazing idea at the time. He had no idea it would blow up into a Justice League issue. If he had known… Dick would have lied better, probably. There was no way he was going to let B bench him for weeks!

“Who the fuck are you?!” He yelped. Dick apologized mentally to Alfred and his parents. Batman paused, stunned.

“That’s my question. Who are you?!” Bruce asked, immediately hostile. His son doesn’t curse. Well, not in any normal way anyways. Dick quickly backpedaled by yelling at him with a heavy Vlax dialect, missing his parents terribly as he screamed stranger danger in rudimentary Romany. After this, he was going to have to convince Bruce to get him a language tutor. He refused to forget one of the only ties he had left to his parents.

“Wait, wait- you’re my son.” Bruce replied back, in perfect Romany. He looked more convinced but still skeptical.

“My dad is a circus performer! Not a flying rat!” Dick screeched back. He couldn’t help but feel touched about Bruce seeing him like a son.

“Oy! Keep it down out there, you assholes! Some of us like our sleep, damn!” A random Gothamite screamed out of their window.

“Yo, shut the fuck up! The vigilantes are helping to keep the rent low, motherfucker!” Another Gothamite shouted back.

….

Needless to say, Bruce quickly brought Dick back to the cave- with precautions to make sure he didn’t figure out where the Cave was if Dick was actually someone else.

——

“You would have loved it, Little Wing. B was running around like a headless chicken. The memory loss protocol was actually made because of me, you know.” Dick chuckled, sniffling as he talked to the carved gravestone.

It did not reply.

——

The blood tests came back. Yeppers, Dick sarcastically thought, who woulda thought I’m me?

Reinforcements were called in.

Meaning, Batgirl.

“Watch him while I contact Justice League Dark.”

“You think it’s magic?” Barbara asked.

“Yes. There was no one else near our vicinity that could affect Dick like this. He has no head wounds.”

“Eesh. Okay, go. I’ll watch him.”

Bruce disappeared in his zeta tube, looking harried. So, to everyone that’s not a Bat, he looked absolutely terrifying.

“What did you get yourself into now, Boy Wonder?” Barbara sighed. Dick was careful to keep any signs of recognition out of his face.

“Stop calling me that! Where are my parents?!” He asked back. Barbara coughed and looked uncomfortably away.

That’s right, Babs. I’m pulling out the orphan card. Feel bad. Dick hid his feral grin.

“They’re… uh, busy.” Busy being dead, Barbara thought, immediately wincing at her own thoughts. Apparently, Dick thought the excuse was lame too, and he sent her an incredulous look.

“Would you like refreshments, Master Dick?”

“What?”

Alfred held out some cookies on a platter, giving Babs a quelling look as she tried to reach for his share.

“Oh, wow, these are really good!” Dick said as he shoveled cookies into his mouth. He tried to replicate the reaction he had when he tried these for the first time, and from Alfred’s satisfied look, Dick nailed it.

——

“Robin doesn’t remember who he is.” Batman rumbled as he all but dragged Zatanna and Constantine by the scuff of their jackets towards the zeta tubes.

“Hey, wait-”

“We have no time.” Batman snarled, tossing the two magic users into the zeta. He punched in the destination.

When they got there, he glared at the two magic users until they got into the cave.

“Damn, Bats. Really living up to your name, huh?”

“Not bad,” Zatanna said as she looked around.

“Robin,” Batman- Bruce- reminded them. He did a quick glance over to check on his kids, and found them satisfactorily uninjured. Though, Barbara was looking worse for wear. Bruce quickly found out why as she stalked to him.

“You deal with him.” She muttered. “I’m going home.”

Bruce blinked and nodded. “Get home safe.”

Zatanna and Constantine followed Batman as he walked towards Robin. It was odd to see the normally laughing child frown.

“It’s you! The kidnapper! Where are my parents?!”

Bruce winced which, for him, was akin to a full body flinch and recoil. No wonder Barbara was so tired.

“Fix it.”

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Batsy.” Constantine grumbled.

“Well help, Batman. Though… I’m not sure if he should be doing that.”

Bruce sharply turned his head back to where Dick was. Emphasis on was. Because now, he’s halfway up the giant dinosaur the Robin had insisted they keep.

“Robin, get down from there!”

“Stranger Danger!” Dick hollered back.

Batman- Bruce Wayne- sighed.

“That’s high level magic,” Zatanna hummed. “I can’t feel anything, but I know for sure that he won’t die. Magic like that either dissipates naturally or…”

“Lasts forever,” Constantine finished.

Bruce groaned, shooting off a grappling line and swooping upwards to catch Dick as he fell from the giant dinosaur.

——

“I pretended to get my memories back later,” Dick chuckled. “And pretended to forget the whole thing. Bruce was so relieved that I stopped knocking things over and trying to do cartwheels in high places that he totally forgot I snuck out.”

Dick patted the headstone.

“But between you and me? I’m pretty sure Alfred knew. I think B pissed him off that week.”

[sunayyyy]

Worst fandom mischaracterisation/headcanon of each bat-associated character, in my opinion (these are in no particular order) :

1. Duke Thomas is the sane, rational, "normal" one.

Have you ever read the We Are Robin arc? Duke is fucking unhinged, his introduction was him jumping off a bridge to escape cops. This is a kid whose father is immortal and is the first metahuman in the batfam. He lost his parents in the most horrendous way possible (joker venom. They're still alive, but it's horrifying) and organised a whole gang as a child. He threw down with a green lantern and 2 shot his ass. Hopefully, this headcanon is just a product of people not really knowing the character and goes away soon once people find out more about him, when he isn't just the token black guy in a fic or a background character in batfam drama.

2. Stephanie Brown is quirky and sassy, and ONLY quirky and sassy. She's over her trauma with Black Mask and Cluemaster!!

Stephanie Brown is a very interesting character, with an origin story that is very similar to jason todd. She's been through hell, yet she constantly gets infantalised by the fandom, which gets kind of ignored in favour of talking shit about how people infantilse tim (super valid and I'll come back to it later on in this post). You most commonly see this in timsteph stories where they show her as the immature first love, and how as tim grows up, he needs to date more "serious" people, as if tim wasn't the main reason their relationship never worked. This is also common in stephcass fics, although on a smaller level. Writers tend to make stephanie the bubbly outgoing girl that balances out all of cass' angst (some of those fics are really good, but they mould steph in a specific shape so she can be a prop for cass to heal). On an even smaller scale, I've seen both romantic and platonic jaysteph stories where stephanie appears as the "good" victim who let go of her animosity to black mask and cluemaster, and so now, she can help jason let go of what happened with the joker, and bruce's abuse. Obviously, this is a disservice to both of these characters, but people tend to focus on how it's more of a disservice to jason instead of steph. Let my girl express her trauma and heal, and stop using her as a prop for other characters! She wasn't just cutesy as robin, she threw the fuck down. Her introduction included hitting tim in the head with a brick!

3. Slut/himbo Dick Grayson is reductive of his abilities as a leader, and is not only offensive to real survivors of SA, but incredibly racist towards Romani people.

Do I really need to explain this one? Dick Grayson is a symbol of hope that bruce wishes batman could be. This man is a natural born leader and has stepped up to the plate multiple times, both during his time with the titans and as batman. He's charismatic and lovable and a genuinely intelligent man, but for some reason, he gets depicted as a dumbass who has to deffer to bruce or tim or babs any time he has an issue with detective work. Yes, you can delegate. Of course, you can delegate, but going straight to tim and rattling off the case you JUST accepted doesn't make sense, ESPECIALLY if you're on seperate cases and tim or bruce have to postpone their work just to solve it for you. As for the other part, Dick has been heavily implied to be demisexual, given that he only has sex with people he has genuine feelings for. He wouldn't just sleep with any random woman who compliments his ass enough. Also, having an SA victim be characterised as a slut is both reductive of their trauma and a weird way that some authors justify how he's "over it." Really doesn't help that he was slut shamed (canonically!! why is this canon??) by the rest of the titans after sleeping with mirage, who pretended to be kori. Additionally, it's really weird if the first thing you think of when you see an attractive romani man just sleeps around. People don't say that about other conventionally attractive characters, even ones who HAVE slept around. The only character i can think of that gets characterised like this is bruce, but that's an image that he cultivated to keep batman hidden.

4. Jason Todd was always doomed by the narrative. He would have died if bruce hadn't intervened. Also, pit rage.

The tragedy of jason todd was, and always has been, that he was doomed by the AUDIENCE. He wasn't just an angry, reckless child, and calling him the angry robin is stupid and reductive. Was he angry? of course he was, but so was dick, and so was damian. Using a single word to describe a person is never going to be enough. Jason was notoriously compassionate to victims, especially women and children, and sex abuse victims. He got pissed when the system he was asked to believe in was shown to be ineffective, to the point where bruce believed he killed a man over it. The kid had a bright future ahead and loved school, modt of robin!jason's shitty qualities came from bruce and alfred compartmentaling his image and shitting on him to ease their guilt over his death. Pit rage is also a cheap way to take away his autonomy, an easy pass to explain the shitty things he's done. I like it when the pit has side effects like glowing eyes or increased healing or something, but pit rage is stupid. It's either used to force characters to forgive jason since he wasn't himself or as an angst prompt for jason, another testament to how he came back wrong, or a way to have him hurt a character to further up THEIR angst (*cough* titans tower AU fics*cough*). Yes, he did shitty things. Let him do shitty things without giving him an easy out. Otherwise, your story isn't compelling at all.

5. Feral Damian Wayne is just straight-up racist, no?

I love damian. I think that, for the most part, he's been written pretty well. However, damian suffers from the fact that he's an arab character in a post 9/11 comic, and thus there is bound to be some casual racism, both in comics (like when tim assumed he was too uncivilised to know what a handshake is) and fandom. Has damian wayne done a lot of shitty things, especially to tim? Yes, absolutely. But that doesn't make him feral. He was raised by assassins as the heir to the throne and to the greatest hero in the world, raised to think that blood relations are the only ones that matter, so of course he's dismissive of tim. He's also a prince who was raised in luxury, who was born as royalty and has experienced more opulence during his birth thsn most peoole do in a lifetime, although this opulence is extremely conditional, with horrifying requirements (the story with damian having a metal spine as a child is insane). Does it make what he did to tim right? Definitely not. Does it excuse his actions? Also no. But it does explain them, it tells us where it came from. Being traumatised and having extremely high expectations of both sides of your family doesn't make you feral.

6. Tim Drake is just a small little baby who can't function without his coffee.

Let me preface this by saying that i don't like tim drake. At all. As a huge fan of the al ghuls it was a real kick in the balls having Ra's be reduced to a creepy pedophile who wanted tim as an heir, and sent a woman to rape tim in order to carry his child. Also, I hate how DC decided to prop him up by shitting on jason todd. However, this doesn't mean that I don't enjoy his YJ run and that I don't enjoy some of his comics/fics. That being said, nothing on this earth pisses me off more than tim stans. You know the ones, the people who want damian hanged, who want dick and jason and bruce to fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness. Tim has been through an insane amount of trauma, and that's understandable, but please, for the love of god, don't create more whump for tim at the cost of other characters. You can hate damian, I wouldn't blame you, but remember that he's like 10 and tim put him on a hit list. Dick never wanted to put tim in arkham, and he didn't have time to support tim when it came to an honestly insane (although ultimately correct) conclusion. Also damian as robin was alfred's idea, and damian was the one that put on the costume preemptively, dick got pissed at damian for that. When it comes to jason, I'd say it's complicated. While titans tower was fucked up, it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. My first introduction to the fandom was through jason todd since he was my favourite robin, and then i learned they brought him back to life when i played injustice. The number of fics and posts that mention that jason went to the tower specifically to kill tim is insane. When i got into comics, it was like whiplash; it wasn't a one-sided beatdown, tim was conscious until the end, the goofy ass robin suit jason had on, jason never slitting tim's throat (that happens in hush, and even then i don't think he really slit his throat, since the art shows that the skin was kinda nicked), all of that was wild to me. BftC is one of the shittiest comjc book runs when it comes to characterisation in general, and I've already discussed dick and tim, so it's only fair to talk about jason and tim. There's no justification here, honestly, other than shitty writing i guess. The other side of the coin is enemies to caretaker jason and tim, which is so fucking wild?? they're like 2 years apart, and tim is extremely competent, he wouldn't pass out mid patrol because he forgot his coffee.

7. Bruce Wayne doesn't believe people can change and doesn't care about Crime Alley.

For the first one, please fucking read a single comic book. Just one. Better yet, maybe research why batman doesn't kill. You know, the most popular thing about him? As for the second, it's mostly just a way to show how jason is better than bruce and how he's right to take over the alley since no one cares about it. Now I LOVE jason todd. He's my favourite comic book character of all time tied with gambit and Dr. Strange. But I hate it when you create angst or comeuppance by blatantly ignoring the chatacter and their motives. Bruce became batman so that what happened to his parents can never happen again, and this includes helping the poor people in crime alley either through patrolling there or by setting up countless charities to improve life there. You can make the case that batman avoided crime alley after jason died. It's not canon, but it would make sense. However, I dont see him ever giving up on the alley, both to prevent what happened to his parents, and to help people like his dead son. I fucking hate bruce, he's done a lot of shitty things, but making shit up just to make him worse is getting old.

8. Misc

There aren't really enough mischaracterisations about cass and babs to warrant separate paragraphs, so I'll just reiterate the infantalisation of cass and babs having no qualities outside of oracle, master hacker, and dick grayson's on and off lover.

[talaok]

Our own

Pairing: Joel Miller x reader

Summary: After spending the day with Tommy and Maria, you can’t help but notice how great Joel is with their baby, and a thought sparks your mind.

Listen I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I proofread this ok? I'm an honest woman. You may forgive me or not, either way, I'm going to sleep. Bye loves

The sun was high in the sky, birds were chirping, a soft breeze was flowing through your hair... and Tommy was taking his goddamn time opening the goddamn door.

"I told you you should have gone to the bathroom when we left" Joel chuckled by your side

"Now's really not the time Jo-"

Your next words got stuck in your throat as the sound of the lock opening caught your attention.

"Hey guys, I'm sorry the bab-"

"don't worry" you immediately stopped him, feeling your bladder about to burst "Could I use your bathroom?"

He did a poor job of concealing his surprise.

"Uh-Yea sure, it's right up there on the-"

You flew past him, only half minding where his finger was pointing.

"left" he mumbled, an amused smile creeping on his lips as he let his gaze travel to his brother

Joel shrugged, a similar grin tugging at his own lips "I told her to go before we went out"

__ __ __

You walked out of the bathroom feeling like a brand new woman, ready to face whatever life threw at you, which in this case... was following the sound of laughter coming from the backyard.

What appeared on the other side of the window, was a perfect portrait of a happy family.

Tommy and Maria's smiles were brighter than any star in the sky as they watched Eithan, their baby boy, cradled in Joel's arms, looking almost comically small next to his biceps.

And Joel... Joel had a look on his face you had never quite seen. It wasn't just joy, or adoration... there was something in his eyes, in the way his mouth twitched as the baby's small hands reached for his nose, as he caressed his cheek and willed his hands to act as if he were touching porcelain.

You could not put a finger on what it was, but you couldn't either understand what was happening to you.

A warmth had taken over your chest, cheeks... your entire body. And something was fluttering in your belly, it wasn't butterflies no, it was more like- like bunnies, countless little bunnies hopping in your stomach and twisting and turning your insides.

It was perhaps the first time in your life your body had understood something before you could.

A wave brought you back to reality, to life, to the portrait before your eyes.

It was Maria, Maria was waving at you to come out with them, so, of course, you did, begging your legs not to give up on you as the same strange sensation threatened your every step.

"hey" You managed "Sorry for before"

"don't even bother, I'm used to it by now" Tommy huffed out a laugh, nudging Maria by his side

She rolled her eyes dramatically, her mouth betraying her as its edges turned up.

"Ignore him," she said, "please sit, I've been dying to talk to another human being without having to use a baby voice"

You snorted, taking your place next to Joel at the round wooden table.

"That bad huh?"

"God you have no idea..."

Maria went on to talk, about Eithan about... something, but your attention had moved elsewhere by the time she was done with the first sentence.

You watched Joel softly rocking the baby, the smile on his face, the glint in his eyes, and you couldn't help but think

God, how I wish it was our own

__ __ __

"Are you ok darlin'?"

Joel's voice startled you enough to make you gasp.

You had been in your own head for so long that you hadn't even realized you had walked all the way home.

"yeah, why?"

"you've just been real quiet, 's all"

he shrugged, closing the front door behind him.

"I'm fine- Everything's fine," you said a bit too quickly, walking to the kitchen while purposely avoiding his eyes

The footsteps behind you told you he hadn't taken the hint, and was following you.

"what's going on?"

You reached for a glass and filled it up to the brim only to realize you weren't even a little bit thirsty.

"nothing" you mumbled, setting the glass on the counter and finally meeting his scrutinizing gaze "It's nothing" you shook your head

"sweetheart..." he walked until he stood in front of you "Whatever it is you can tell me, y'know?"

Your mouth opened and closed but no sound had come out.

"I just-" you bit your bottom lip "it's nothing, really, it's stupid"

A soft smirk rose from his lips "Now that I don't believe, nothing stupid has ever come out of that petty mouth" One of his rough fingers went to trace your cupid bow "C'mon now, darlin' what is it?"

"I-" you tried, before retracing immidately "You have to promise not to laugh, or freak out... or do anything that isn't reacting calmly"

He couldn't help the frown creasing his forehead "I promise" he swore nonetheless.

"Ok" you took a small breath.

This wasn't gonna be easy, not with his past, not with everything he had to endure, not with him.

"I-I watched you today with Eithan, and-well-I-" You shut your eyes, unable to take more of his big brown eyes boring into yours

"What, sugar?"

"Well, it- it made me think"

Something flashed behind his eyes

"About what?"

You swallowed the sand in your mouth "About how great of a dad you'd be" you murmured "to our own child"

Now was his turn to be at a loss for words.

He looked at you, so many thoughts, memories, and fears swirling in his mind that he could have fainted, if it wasn't of course, for you, for the expression on your face, for the hope and anxiety painting your every perfect inch.

It was a mess, his brain was a mess, everything was a mess, and yet he'd never felt more sure.

he should have been scared, terrified even, but all he could feel was joy.

"I know it's crazy" you spoke "With what's going on and everything... and I know we already have Ellie in a way... and I know it must be difficult because of what happened to Sarah, and it's completely ok if you don't want to, I understand, really, so please don't feel pressured to-"

"sweetheart"

one word was all it took for him to stop your rambling.

You looked up at him, catching your reflection in the hazel pool of his eyes.

"yes?"

"There is nothing more I'd love in this world than to have a baby with you"

"a-are you sure, b-because as I sai-"

He chuckled, his forehead falling to yours and his hands holding your face.

"darlin'" he paused, a smile on his lips "believe me, I don't think I've ever been more sure of anything in my life"

A breath got caught in your throat as fireworks went off somewhere in your brain.

"Yeah?" was all you could master

"yeah" he laughed, his lips meeting yours in a mess of tears, teeths and laughters "We're gonna have a baby"

[alectothinker]

the unwanted guest reference compilation (revised, thank u tltblr!) (scroll down for additions)

every day i thank tamsyn muir for her planet sized brain (and the new short story). will be quoting heavily from TUG so spoilers under the cut!

woo this is a long one. (will probably miss stuff, im a non-western zoomer) 

References are in the order that they appear in TUG ->

Pal’s mask being a reference to his shattered and glued-back-together skull:

“This is PALAMEDES SEXTUS, whose mask is distinguished by being plain, of shattered wood clumsily taped or glued back together.” (page 480)

Pain (slight pain) (jk. pretty good amount of pain)

2. An Inspector Calls by JB Priestly: 

“IANTHE Oh — Inspector. How terribly good of you to call so late.” (page 483)

Ok there are so many other parallels to AIC in this story (the setting, the stage play format, overall message) and I’ve written briefly about it here

3. This better not awaken anything in me [original clip from community thank u @what3ver]

“[Ianthe gayly describing infinite strip poker with harrow] Yuck. I hope that hasn’t awakened anything in me.” (p492) 

(she’s tucking the image away in her mind palace as we speak)

4. Ace attorney (i LAUGHED)

"Palamedes slams both hands down flat on the lid of the upper coffin, then thrusts his arm out to point an accusing finger at Ianthe. PALAMEDES you're avoiding the question!” (p493) 

Insert ace attorney OBJECTION dot gif here 

5. and right after ace attorney, Monty Python:

“IANTHE No. It's a fair cop, guv'nor. But, in this instance, society really is to blame.” (p493)

Probably a reference to Monty Python's Flying Circus, "Church Police". Quote taken from tvtropes: 

Man: All right, it's a fair cop, but society's to blame. Church Policeman: Right, we'll arrest them instead.

6. Looney tunes: 

“IANTHE (Brightly) That’s all, folks! Back after the break.” (p495)

Here’s a clip of porky pig saying it bc why not: That's All Folks HD

7. Hamlet

“VOICE ‘Use every man after his desert, and who should ‘scape whipping?’” (p500)

Original quote:

“Use every man according to his desert and who should 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity, the less they deserve ... the more merit in your bounty.”

notes: very hot of dulcie to know shakespeare

8. Haters meme (?)

does this even count as a meme at this point. Idk but i love that dulcie said it. 

“VOICE Truly, wonderful news for my haters.” (p501)

9. The bible (ofc)

“PALAMEDES (as if reciting) ‘And her body was like the chrysolite, and her face as the appearance of lighting, and her eyes as a burning lamp; and her arms, and all downward to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass.’” (p502)

Palamedes quotes Daniel 10:6 when Dulcie reveals (?) herself to him. I'm not super familiar with the bible, but depending on dif sources from google (lol), the original quote describes either Christ or the angel Gabriel appearing to Daniel:

"And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms, and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude." (from the Douay-Rheims Bible)

ok finally stuff that might be a reference but I havent been able to figure out a lot has been figured out! additions from tltblr here:

p481 

> probably nothing, but any significance re pal’s calling card being the skeleton hand?  probably a reference to the skele hand harrow made him in htn (via @guyrunsbackwards)

p482

The Almond Room?? Is this anything. It seems so weirdly specific lol

 “IANTHE the master will see you in the Almond Room, sir.”

crowdsourced possibilities:

the almond room representing babs' borrowed amygdala, which is involved in processing memory, decision making, and emotional response; would make sense for the investigation/interrogation to take place here (via @confusedbyinterface)

may be a reference to the game Clue, where the individual rooms in which the mystery happens have specific names (via @the-light-of-stars);

a reference to cyanide, which smells like almonds (@the-light-of-stars, @satans-poptarts); + @winged mentioned that in a lot of early 20th century whodunnits, someone has a revelation about the real conclusion when they smell almond somewhere it shouldn't be (vs pal and ianthe having their revelations about babs' soul in the almond room)

p487

"IANTHE False things have a piquancy which the real can never match.  PALAMEDES     is that from something? IANTHE      Everything's from something.”

• ianthe is this actually from something. google yielded no straightforward results :(

p503

"IANTHE You look to me like a small boy holding a tail when he doesn’t even know where the donkey is.”

Nothing in particular just the image of tiny pal playing pin the tail on the donkey is so. He’s baby. Also he probably found a way to be very good at it via psychometry lol

@mayasaura: Under the circumstances, the donkey thing also reminded me of Buddhist parable of the blind men and the elephant, about the limits of perception in understanding the true nature of being. Or, to quote Wikipedia: "The moral of the parable is that humans have a tendency to claim absolute truth based on their limited, subjective experience" <- ianthe turbo roasting pal, love to see it

Miscellaneous / theatre techniques:

> What's up with the coffins?

@tangelotime: the coffins might be a black box theater technique, using boxes to represent certain settings rather than faithfully recreating them on the stage; @the-light-of-stars mentioned that the arrangement of the coffins depends on Pal's questions:

first he asks a philosophical question thus the arrangement in the style of a greek symposion - their style of dialogue also is in reference to Plato's work 'Symposion', as well as Ianthe offering Pal wine and the servants placing velvet cushions. The next question is about Babs' murder thus arrangement in style of a courtroom. Then a question about Gideon, the cavalier, thus arrangement in the style of a fencing ring. The last arrangement follow a question about Ianthe's motives for Corona and they are playing cards- both a classic trope symbolizing a battle of wits and a metaphor for Ianthe holding secrets (cards) that she has to reveal one by one (via @the-light-of-stars)

@transbutchbluess, @gwydionmisha also ID'd the greek symposium scene as a parody of a socratic/platonic dialogue, which "presents a discussion of moral and philosophical problems between two or more individuals illustrating the application of the Socratic method." (via wikipedia)

> continuing with the theme of theatre, @valence-positive also mentioned that the servants thumping the coffins at the same time after each question may be a theatre technique to underscore Pal's question; @winged made the connection to bells/gavels/gongs, which are often used for judgement (which occurs during the discussion of Babs' murder and Ianthe's intent/endgame.)

the coffin thumping might also be a reference to the bell toll in A Christmas Carol (via @winged again, you have a huge brain); it's also implied that Pal's visits parallel the three ghosts who visit Scrooge and induce a moral awakening:

"IANTHE Five minutes to midnight, I'd say. You can't last much longer, and we both know it. PAL You said that three visits ago." (p483)

vs the original novella by Charles Dickens (taken from sparknotes again):

“You (scrooge) will be haunted… by Three Spirits… Without their visits,” said the Ghost, “you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls One…. “Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night when the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!”

Pal makes Ianthe realise that Babs' soul has been slowly fusing with hers all along, which is similar what the third ghost does in ACC:

"The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man's recent death...Scrooge, anxious to learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. After pleading with the ghost, Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name."

Finally, like other references in TUG (An Inspector Calls, Dulcie's Hamlet quote), A Christmas Carol criticises the treatment of a disadvantaged class. AIC and ACC both end with the characters faced with the morality of their actions. (intertextuality! delicious)

I also thought the thumping was similar to the synchronisation thing we see in ntn:

"[Ianthe] flounced up the dais, threw herself back into her chair—the dead bodies jerked their left hips convulsively, all in unison" (Nona the Ninth, p335)

Ok that’s it thank u for reading the whole thing ???? And thank you so much for contributing guys! Feel free to leave a reply or dm me if you have any additions <3

[theredcuyo]

I might be crazy with this one but hear me out

Batfamily PLATONIC soulmarks

Were it's a black blob that starts to take color that gives away it's form when you met said people, the more people you'll get, the bigger it is

At first, Bruce's parents were slightly worried upon seeing their son's mark, one that covered his whole torso, back and front, with only a little blank space in the place of his heart, where a tangle of lines seemed to met

Nor Thomas, with his years of medical experience, Martha with her wisdom or Alfred, who had seen far more than many, had ever look at something similar, although, they we're soon relieved, "Bruce will deeply love many people, and many people will return said love"

When the boy started to gain cognition, some color finally appeared in between all the black, a collar of pearls, like Martha's favorite, an scalpel, the one Thomas works with, and to Alfred's surprise, a cup of tea, mirroring the one he was drinking when they discocevered it, one that also connects all three to the tangle of lines around the heart

After that night, though, Bruce thinks it's impossible he'll ever get more, he doesn't want to get more, if it means he'll feel the same pain as now if he loses more of the people they represent

Then, many years later, after taking Dick in, a blue bird mid fly colors itself, a faint line joins the tangle.

He sighs whenever he sees it, after his son is not at home anymore, it doesn't faint, but will it really get better?

It happens again, when he finds a boy trying to steal his tires, it's another bird, a red one, it looks as if it were giving you his back, but it still connects to the hearth

It hurts to look at it, it's worse than before, he gets why it doesn't look at him now, he failed Jason-

Then, a few weeks into adjusting to Tim, he sees a new mark, and- it's a lighter tone of red

Another bird. This one is on a branch, it is making a nest

Then, when a girl comes in too, another bird, a purple one, sits on the branch with Tim's, this one also seems to be looking away

Just like Steph, he thinks

Along them, the shape of a smiling bat hangs upside down from the same branch, black but visible by golden edges that give away it's form, Cass

There are few more, here and there, hints of green when he met Barbara and Jim, Babs seem to fake the form of a hand next to Steph's and Cass's

Yellow, red and blue combine into two familiar symbols after he mets Clark and Diana, the only time he ever complains to his mark, why these people, why them, they're idiots

They're his best friends, but still idiots, he will never tell them, but they probably know anyway

Then, a new bird appears, and so does a color, a deep shade of green, this one looks like it's about to attack a prey

But, as Bruce gets time to know Damian, he realizes, it's not attacking, it's protecting the rest of the picture

A yellow figure of the sun gives it light, when he mets Duke

Maybe all the lines in the tangle have color then, maybe not

[katakaluptastrophy]

Want to feel worse about this passage?

Why did you only pull some of us as ghosts? Why did the others appear as—varyingly ludicrous constructs? Lieutenant Dyas was certain Judith was wrong before she even died, that she was like a confused parody of herself.”

“I never could have called the ghost of Captain Deuteros,” interrupted Harrow. “Deuteros lives.”

Abigail leaned in eagerly. “Tell Dyas that. She’ll want to know. The princesses…?”

“Alive.”

“Their cavalier—”

“Breakfast.” At Abigail’s bewilderment, Harrow qualified: “Ianthe Tridentarius is a Lyctor.”

“Blast. It should have been Coronabeth. Ianthe never was quite the thing. The Sixth—”

“Camilla’s alive. Palamedes … enjoys extenuating circumstances.” At this second round of bewilderment, she qualified: “The Master Warden found the idea of dying inconvenient.”

Abigail brightened. “Say no more.”

The Fifth House necromancer sighed in obvious pleasure, a simple delight that some of them had lived where she herself had not.

Rember how in the Cohort Intelligence Files, Judith mentioned that "Tridentarius has a long history of close interaction with the Second and the Fifth"? Ianthe and Judith are over a decade younger than Abigail and Magnus, so some of that interaction would have been when they were young teenagers.

Here's Judith in As Yet Unsent, on life as a 15 year old necromancer with her 20 year old cavalier:

"She loved music. She was an excellent dancer. She never took a seat when we were enduring a Fifth or Third ball."

Abigail isn't just being polite about Marta. She knew her, and probably watched teenage Judith's very obvious and awkward crush unfolding on the dancefloor (and at a Fifth ball, Abigail and Magnus might not have been the only married necro/cav pair dancing beside a conflicted Judith...).

Her comments about Ianthe and Coronabeth also come from this history she has with them. Both Judith and the twins might well have attended Abigail and Magnus' wedding as children, and certainly they attended the same balls and social events. (Though what kind of impression must Babs have made that Abigail, on hearing his murder fuelled Ianthe's Lyctorhood, responded that Coronabeth should have done it instead?)

And the Sixth? Abigail took one of her degrees at the Library and from her conversation with Palamedes at dinner seems to be in some regular correspondence with unspecified Masters about accessing Lyctoral documents. It's not a stretch to assume that she might have had some interaction with Archivist Zeta - they're certainly frequently headcanoned as friends - and might have met a young Palamedes and Camilla in passing.

Anyway, imagine coming to terms with the death toll of Canaan House when you first met half the people there as children...

[zyhkoo]

☆ let me take care of you

fluff, established relationship, vigilante reader

you called in sick, jason checks up on you

You were out on patrol with Cassandra, while knocking out a few goons you could help but feel… odd. Your face felt hot especially around the eyes, your throat felt sticky, and your forehead felt so uncomfortable.

You shrugged it off, maybe you were just feeling things.

“This is the last of them.” Cass says as she dusts off her hands. “Great.” you said, Cass noticed your voice sounded different “Woah, are you okay?” she asks.

You simply nodded, “Oh, I’m alright. I’ll go back before anything happens to me, our patrol is over anyway.” you waved at her “Okay, take care! If you need anything, we're here.”

Going back home felt so exhausting, you felt weak and you were burning. You uncontrollably coughed and sneezed and you didn’t know what could help.

A day passed, you felt so awful. You realized you probably couldn’t go to patrol today, so you rang for Barbara, telling her you probably can’t go and patrol today and that someone should take your cover.

You felt so weak, you didn’t even knew you were capable of being this sick. You tried to close your eyes but you couldn’t sleep from the uncomfortable feeling you felt.

You heard two knocks on your window, you saw a similar figure peeking in the window.

You slowly got up on your couch and opened the window “Hi Jay.” you greeted him. Jason entered the room and removed his helmet “Hey- oh you look awful.” you looked up at him “I’m sick.”

Jason looked at your pale appearance, your messy hair and your oversized shirt. You really looked bad.

“Why don’t you lay down a bit and I’ll cook up some soup for you, yeah?”

You sniffled “You don’t have to take care of me, you might get sick because of me.” you protested. Jason ignores your protests and leads you to the couch “Just lay down and rest, I’ll be back.”

He came back with a blanket and some hot warm soup, he helped you sit up and fed you the soup he made.

Jason loves you, despite his rough exterior he’d always show a softer side to you. Some goes for you, you feel at peace when you are around him. Quiet, relaxing nights alone with you were the ones he loved the most.

“Duke’s handling your patrol.” he breaks the silence, you swallowed the carrots in your soup. “I knew Babs would tell you.” he softly chuckled “Yeah, I was wondering why you weren’t going on patrol then she told me.” he says, feeding you another spoon.

“At least I get to take care of you.” he says “Imagine if someone else did.” You grimaced from the thought, Barbara sure but Dick, Tim, Cass or Steph? Pass…

“I can hear Tim’s voice.” you let out a shudder, you looked up at him. “Thank you for coming though, I’d kiss you right now but I don’t want you getting sick.” he rolls his eyes “Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome.

[harrowharkwife]

thinking thoughts about how nona was so obsessed with crown, and crown specifically- not coronabeth. crown, with her boots and her cargo pants and her guns and her hair tied back, with all her charm and strength, all her rage and determination.

was that really just nona? or, walk with me here- is there a chance that that was actually alecto, too, bleeding through and rising to the surface?

alecto, seeing a kind of kinship in crown- in this big, tall, strong blonde with a sword strapped to her back, hot and lovely and kind and awful and powerful and perfect. this woman who refuses to give up- on her sister, on saving jody, on BOE's resistance. who's unafraid to throw one hell of a tantrum, if it means being listened to, for once. crown, who everyone thinks of as dumb, who everyone underestimates, who no one ever takes as seriously as they should, even though she's clearly capable of plenty of atrocities in her own right. this woman who's been described over and over again as someone who positively radiates life, and energy, and vitality, and strength. this woman who wanted nothing more than the chance to be herself, to be free, to serve as cavalier and guardian and protector, but was instead sentenced at birth to a life of being a princess and wearing dresses and looking pretty and loving less and staying out of the way and keeping her mouth shut and playing second fiddle to a necromancer obsessed with power and glory. familiar, no? this woman who was betrayed, left behind, left alone, and left utterly in the dark by the one person who's supposed to love her the most- only to then be told that being abandoned was in her best interest, really, for her own safety.

thinking about all the times we've seen ianthe insult crown's intelligence and praise her beauty in the same breath. you big dumb bimbo, what can you do? of all the times we've seen ianthe fussing over crown's appearance. thinking of the sister-lyctor makeover-montage ahead of dios apate minor, and how harrow hated every second of it, and how ianthe treated it like nostalgic second nature. thinking about the third house: fucked-up planet gossip-girl with all its betrayal and espionage and flesh magic and debauchery, three for the gleam of a jewel or a smile. thinking about the pressure that must have come with keeping up the double-necromancer ruse, about ianthe having successfully played the part of two necromancers from the age of six. exactly how much practice must that have taken? thinking about the casual, automatic, possessive, offhanded, violating nature of ianthe playing god and giving harrow a full head of fast-growing hair without asking, without even telling her, just to make harrow prettier, just to piss her off, just because she could. how she did it so easily, and without hesitation, almost as though she's maybe done that sort of thing before.

thinking about preservation. about a perfect body frozen in ice for a myriad, about ianthe spending all her downtime on the mithraeum figuring out how long she can keep an apple core in perfect stasis before the rot sets in.

thinking about corpse puppeting: a deceased world leader here, a trusted cavalier and friend you've known from the cradle there. about i picked you to change, and this is how you repay me? about she took babs. and who even cares about babs? babs! she could have taken me!

thinking about alecto, and hollywood hair barbie, and you have made me a hideousness.

thinking about crown, who's by her own admission boobs and hair and talk and a hell of a swordhand.

thinking about something as simple as stud earrings, and about how much grief ianthe gave her for daring to wear them.

nona loved crown.

something tells me that alecto might, too.

[casscainmainly]

Race and Perception in Batgirl (2000)

This is a companion piece to my two gender posts on Batgirl (2000). There are many interesting takes on race and Cassandra Cain, but most focus on whether she is a 'racist' character or not. This post is not about that, though I think my stance is fairly clear given what my blog is about. Rather than retreading the same ground of whether the conception of Cass is racist (something I might tackle later, because some arguments are flat-out wrong), I want to look at how race actually plays out in Batgirl (2000).

This post focuses on how Cass' Asian identity influences her views on perception, beauty, and agency. As usual, feel free to disagree as I'm not an ethnic or Asian studies expert.

Mask of the Batgirl

We all know and love Cass' iconic Batgirl costume. Besides its distinctive total-blackness, the most interesting aspect is the full-face mask. She is the only Batgirl to cover her face completely - when Stephanie takes over, one of the first things she does is rip the bottom half off.

Skin and external perceptions don't mean the same things to Barbara and Steph as they do to Cass. Cass' entire life is fraught with not just the male gaze, but the White male gaze - her father, David Cain, films her on video tapes, and Bruce later views these tapes (importantly, Cass herself does not get to). These tapes symbolise how her appearance does not belong to herself, but to external White perceptions.

In issue #1, Batman says the following:

"You... are me." Here, Bruce posits that the full-face mask makes Cass more like Bruce. It functions to hide their racial and gendered differences. By covering her face completely, Bruce (and Cass) tacitly suppress her race. Once again, White men are controlling the way she is perceived, something that began with David Cain and continues with Bruce.

Interiority and Exteriority

A common Asian stereotype is that Asians are mechanical - they have no interiority. The common conceptions of Asians as STEM majors and being emotion-deficient all come from this core belief, that Asians are utilities for White people. For Cass, this belief manifests from Babs, Bruce, and David Cain:

Babs says it's hard to care without knowing what's "going on in her head." She cannot connect with Cass' exterior, and finds it hard to imagine what her interior is like. Even worse, Bruce and Cain both argue that Cass belongs to/is like them, almost treating her as property- they reject Cass' own interiority and project theirs onto her, using her as a tool to extend their own identities.

In the early issues, Cass doesn't have an internal monologue. This somewhat reinforces what Babs, Bruce, and Cain all believe about her interiority. However, in issue #5 a White man gifts her the ability to think in language:

This plot point serves to demonstrate Cass' interiority to the reader, but it is another example of a White person choosing for Cass. She didn't get a choice to be raised without language, and she doesn't make the decision to receive it. Both externally and internally, White people control her narrative.

The Shiva Solution

After her newfound language skills impact her ability to fight, Cass encounters Lady Shiva, her future surprise mother. Shiva is the first one to ever acknowledge Cass' race.

Unlike Cain or Bruce, Shiva doesn't say 'you're like me'; she says, "we're a lot alike." She doesn't map herself onto Cass, but finds something they both have in common. By naming Cass' race ("in terms of our coloring") and framing their similarities in this way, Shiva affirms Cass' difference from White people, while providing an alternative solace: Asian solidarity.

Shiva gives Cass her first real choice. It's not exactly a good choice, and it's somewhat coloured by White perceptions (the idea of 'perfection'), but it's still the first major thing Cass gets to decide for herself. She even frames Shiva's path as opposing "Batman's method;" it's the beginning of her path away from White control, towards racialised agency.

It's no surprise, then, that Shiva is the one that helps Cass over her death wish. Not Bruce, not Babs, but Shiva - a literal and metaphorical link to her heritage.

Another Stephanie Brown Segment

As an integral part of Cass' sexual and gendered awakening, Stephanie of course plays a role in Cass' understanding of race. Moving from Puckett's run into issue #38, Stephanie and Cass have this iconic conversation on the rooftop:

I've written before about how this marks the beginning of Cass' foray into gender and sexuality, but this scene has a different meaning when viewed from a race angle. Stephanie is the quintessential American girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes; additionally, she's sexually and romantically experienced. Cass' own Asian appearance, then, may be causally linked to her lack of experience.

When Stephanie comes back as Robin, we have this moment:

Cass is unable to be perceived as non-threatening, helpful, or friendly, while Steph achieves all this with ease. Beyond the differences in temperament (Cass is definitely the spooky scary type), it's also the difference in costuming - Robin's bright colours and majority-unmasked face make for a friendlier appearance than Batgirl. Once again, Cass is unable to control other people's perceptions of her.

It's notable that the majority of Steph's appearances throughout Batgirl end with her leaving Cass on a rooftop. This happens in issues #38, #53, #54, and of course War Games. Their relationship is consistently tenuous, and I think this contributes to Cass feeling like she'll never belong in Steph's world.

Tai'Darshan Turns the Tide

At this point Cass is in pretty bad straits: no one has ever shown romantic attraction to her, Steph is mad at her, and she still doesn't have a full understanding of her race (bar Shiva, she's encountered no other Asians). This feeling of disenfranchisement from both the White and Asian worlds is a very common experience among third culture Asian kids, particularly mixed-race Asians.

Then comes Tai'Darshan, the second major Asian person Cass interacts with.

He is the first person to show romantic interest in her, and asks to "see [her] face." He wants to see her interiority and her skin - Cass' Asian features are now described as something attractive, something worth seeing.

Where Cass is creeped out by Conner's gaze on the boat, she's not similarly affected by Tai'Darshan. She's beginning to understand racialised dynamics, and finding comfort within other Asians rather than her majority-White friends and family.

Both during the fight with Tai'Darshan and the later fight with Bruce, Cass wears these eye-cut-out masks. The eyes are both the site of perception and the site of Asian racialisation, as the most identifiably 'Asian' part of people's faces. By wearing these kind of masks, she's allowing others to perceive her race, reclaiming racialised perception as an act of choice rather than something imposed onto her.

Choosing

In the final arc of Batgirl (2000), Cass sets out to find Shiva. The decision is spurred by this conversation, where Brenda explicitly asks about Cass' race. Everything has been building up to this acknowledgment of Cass' fuzzy origins, a recognition that the uncertainty around her race impacts her ability to achieve full self-actualisation.

Cass rejects Batman's help on the matter, instead going to Onyx:

By going with Onyx, a Black woman, instead of Bruce, Cass is starting on her journey towards racial solidarity beyond Asian communities.

The abrupt ending to Batgirl (2000) kinda cuts off any definitive arc, but I actually think what we have already paints a solid picture. There definitely is a lot more room for explorations into Chinese culture (Spirit World kinda covers this), Cass' relationship to White proximity, interactions with other Asian characters and more. I think her Asian identity deserves more of a spotlight, and I'm hoping more comics in the future delve into it.

[silverwhittlingknife]

The Bats Are Fighting (Distaff Edition)

some conflicts I enjoy:

Babs is pretty hostile/judgy toward Helena at first & is bitterly upset and hurt when Helena starts wearing a Bat costume - apparently a Batgirl costume - without asking her. Later on, Bruce chases Helena out of the costume, and Babs gives Cass the Batgirl costume with her explicit blessing. Helena and Cass never have a rivalry over this exactly, but I don't think they ever really get along, either

Babs and Helena eventually make up when Babs lets Helena join the Birds of Prey but it's rocky in the beginning - Babs dislikes Helena's methods and doesn't entirely trust her; Helena resents being kept on the outside

Steph is super-impressed by Cass and tries to get her to like her and they eventually get close, but Cass has a pretty low opinion of Steph-as-a-vigilante and doesn't hesitate to boss her around or knock her out, and she's super-hurt by Steph lying to her about what's going on during War Games (probably not unrelated: Cass is the only Bat to blame Steph instead of Bruce after Steph dies)

Babs and Cass get very close but also have tensions because Babs wants Cass to have the 'normal' life that Babs thinks she should've tried harder to have when she was younger, and Cass isn't entirely comfortable with this pressure, plus - this one I think is a bit more well-known - Babs spends a lot of time tutoring Cass and looking after her (awww), BUT ALSO in a tense moment she gets really nasty and harsh about Cass's reluctance to learn to read and calls her "stupid"

Dinah finds Steph REALLY annoying and wants her to stop tagging around after her... until she finds out about Steph's miserable home life, and then she appears like an avenging angel and kicks Steph's dad and his cronies out of the house

Babs decides to work with a guy who tortured Dinah because she thinks he's capable of redemption and Dinah is NOT HAPPY about it

Just generally, Steph and Helena are very much outsiders who don't get brought into the "core" Batfam and who aren't trusted with info like Bruce's secret identity. By contrast, Babs is an insider almost from Day 1 - she may have conflicts with Bruce, but she's also got his absolute trust - and Dinah is as insider as it gets, with a mom who was also Black Canary and a stint on the JLA

other general characterization notes that cause Conflict (TM):

Babs is pretty much a classic Bat - she's got a ton of control issues and she's an instinctively secretive workaholic

Helena is an adult who will kill people if she damn well feels it's necessary and she doesn't appreciate being lectured about it

Steph is a defensive teenage outsider with a bucketload of family problems - deadbeat evil dad! addict mom! - and when she's upset she's got a reckless self-destructive streak

Cass is very much like Bruce in that 1) she is wildly super mega good at fighting, 2) she's an instinctive loner who's comically bad at people AND YET she can nevertheless effortlessly manage to head off to a foreign country for a weekend and have a passionately-felt mutual love affair with some random criminal or something, and then that person dies & she goes home like nothing happened, 3) she cares about other people but completely sucks at communication & when in doubt will just go silent & take off or refuse to have conversations, 4) because she hates talking sometimes she'll just knock you out or hit you so that she won't have to do it, 5) she will spend an entire year planning to have a fight to the death with someone for Reasons and tell no one about it because why would she tell someone

anyway they're all terrible <3

[dcxdpdabbles]

hi hi!! i loveee your writing (always makes me smile/cry whenever i read it)

Have you got another part of Unfinished Business (i think that’s what it’s called - the one where Gotham is getting cleaner through a computer game) ??

LOVEE YOUR WORK!!!

❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷 ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷

Bruce poured over the maps, searching for the random new streets that had appeared overnight. There were traces of them, but Bruce could have sworn they had been closed down or remodeled years ago.

Some buildings have been built over the old roads too, around the industrial revolution. The expeandtion of Gotham also meant that some places were removed or added on. They vanished. They were redundant.

Someone or something had made those roads reappear, and the many abandoned places had vanished or been fixed simultaneously. The question is, why?

Why were they doing this to his city?

It made no sense.

Was it a warning that they were powerful enough to remove entire structures with anyone the wiser? Bruce did not like it. He hated it. With so many of the buildings gone or fixed up, it seemed that the city was less cluttered.

He could see across the city now, and it caused hives to break out on his skin. If they were this powerful, what could they do to people? To his kids?

"Bruce, we got something," Tim hisses from his right. He had ordered everyone to go into lockdown within the cave. He doubts that anything in here will stop universal manipulation but it made him feel better to have his kids with him. "Their in Crime Alley."

Babs is running eyes on Gotham. She was biting her lower lip so hard blood had started to slowly drip down her chin. She had been in the manor when the first changes had begun. After calling her father in a panic- apparently, the police force work to the dirty copies just admitting they were corrupted in mass hysteria- she decdied to remain at the cave in order to use the panic room.

James wasn't sure what was going on, but he rather his daughter be behind the best security measures money could buy. He remained at the prescient, handling half his department turning themselves in.

He had always been professional but he admited to Babs that he felt a specail terror at the sight of his men's eyes going foggy then watcthing them one by one form a line to enter the cells.

Once they were behind the bars, they started talking, detailing who they work for and where the proof was for their arrest. James had at first thought it was something like a new form of Fear Gas but after three hours they confirmed it to be true.

The sky had turned blue by that point, and the cloud of pollution was long gone. She could do nothing for her father who was out there, facing whatever monster was cleaning up the city.

Bruce pats her arm, gently squeezing until she realizes what he wants. Her jaw relaxes, lifting her teeth from her flesh. He hands her an ointment to put on it without comment, and she uncurls her hand from over her mouse to take it.

Babs nods at him, face still filled with stress, but there is a softness in the corner of her eyes. For all that, she wasn't his daughter- even if for a while he truly believed she would be a daughter-in-law back when she and Dick were together- he adored her like his own.

He doesn't need words to know she's grateful for him reminding her to be kinder to herself.

Bruce turns his attention back to the screen, hissing through his teeth when he witnesses a start to glow gently in a familiar green color before the graffiti vanishes. It doesn't desolved or gets wiped away.

One moment, it's there, marking the territory of various gangs, random hooligans, and some genuine art, and the next, it's gone. As if though it never existed.

"Zoom in" He commands. With a few taps on her keys, Babs does just that. The camera is one of the city's older models, so the image isn't the clearest, but regardless, she clicks the record option anyway.

The glowing green surrounds the words, before one blink to the next, gone. Then to the alarm of all the watchers the brikes, reshape to new, expanding slightly and even having a finsihes repainting.

"No," Tim whispers in horror and loss. "Not the condemned fire station where I had to get my first tetanus shot. There were so many rusty pipes there."

Bruce reaches out, bringing his silent child into his arms as he feels his own tears welled up. "I feel through that roof my first night as Batman. It's alright Tim, we will avenge it."

Bruce gently pats Tim's hair, feeling his boy hide his face into his chest like a young child seeking comfort. He knows Babs is heartbroken too. That fire station was the place she used to go to with a sledgehammer whenever she had a fight with an ex-lover.

It was her comfort rage place. Bruce had even bought Bab's very first sledgehammer and had watched he break down her very first pillar back in her first few weeks of Batgirl.

All those memories. Gone.

"Shit," She gasps as the glow expands towards the camera and the resolution suddenly sharpens. It's clear enough to be the newest modles. "City secuirties have been compromised! Aborting systems"

All the screen go black and the Gotham natives can only sit in horrified silince.

"What more can they take from us?"

Alfred rubs the space between his eyes. He stands at the top of the stairway, watching the three's interactions after raiding the kitchen with food for the rest of the family.

The cave was equipped for months in a lockdown, but Alfred wanted to get everything non-preventive before sealing them in. The rest of the kids were behind him, helping grab supplies. "Hopefully, they'll aim for your stupidity next."

________________________________________________________

"Daniel Fenton, if you don't stop playing that silly game and come do your chores, you can forget about going out this summer!"

"But Mom, I'm this close to clearing out the legal system's corruption! Just thirty more minutes, please!"

"Now, young man!"

Danny pouts, staring at the screen that was shown casting Gotham City. He had removed the crooked cops and the brided lawyers, but the judges, prison wardens, and even some of the jail prisoners needed to be dealt with.

He had just purchased a better security camera and street post for the worst part of the city, hoping to earn some points from lowering crime there.

"I guess I can distribute some wealth to the working class from the Court of Owls in the meantime." He mutters, opening his citizens' profiles. He clicks on groups, wrinkling his nose at the Court's karma status. "Lawfully evil, prepare to be under the law again."

He presses the start time and leans back. Cracking his neck and hands, Danny lets the scenario run. He just has to do the dishes, clean the lab, and mow the lawn. That should be enough for the four hours on the wait time to finish. He hopes this will lower the general public's stress levels.

Gotham will be so happy when she sees her character's happiness ratings. Danny thinks with a smile. I could even add some tourism. That should really get the people's bank accounts growing!