#cemeteries are for the living

[boyfridged]

you are not thinking about jay encountering bruce after countdown and thinking of earth-51 bruce dying in front of him. and how he blames himself for it, and can't look his bruce in the eyes, and how he moulds his grief into anger, and how bruce wouldn't know a thing about it, and jay wouldn't tell him. you are not thinking about how in bruce's mind, the rift between them is still caused by jason's death, and the events of utrh, but for jason it's now all about earth-51 bruce saying “but something about you, the fire in your belly… it reminds me of me. so, fine, gear up, let’s both go out in style.” and calling him "chum" and saying "normally, you would crack up a joke at a time like this!" and then getting his skull crushed. you are not thinking about how the image of bruce's lifeless body in imprinted in jason's mind, and how jason thinks that bruce must have been crazy. out of his mind to listen to him when he said he needs to go out and fight. about how jay diminishing bruce internally to cope with guilt now mirrors the treatment he got from him before. you are not thinking about how bruce looks right through jason, but now jason looks right through bruce too. but i am. i am thinking.

[yvtro]

in general i think it's important to understand that jason learning about how shattered his death left bruce would not magically fix things between them, and jason should not be expected to take it as a good enough reason to set his own grief aside (because bruce's pain in reaction to jason's tragedy doesn't change the fact that it's jason's tragedy first and foremost, and his suffering). however, i also think it's possible to write stories where bruce's pov is taken into account and it's not boiled down to some stereotypical control freak thing. his inability to swiftly reconcile with jason being a result of his mourning and fear of losing jason again rather than coming from some malicious place makes for a much better narrative, at least imo. it's not a "have a cake and eat it" situation, it's simply a matter of how complex all characters involved are.

[j0celynh0rr0r]

Romance<3

[cassandracain52]

Reverse trope

where instead of the Bats forgetting that they’re adopted (something actual adoptees do on occasion and is hilarious) they forget that some of them *cough Damian cough* aren’t

_______

Jason in the heat of a probably ridiculous argument: Yeah well YOU’RE adopted!

Tim just as invested in said argument: So are YOU! We all are!

Damian who had previously been quietly watching this unfold while he drank his tea: Actually I’m not

Tim and Jason who didn’t realize he was there but are already DoneTM: …… Damian continuing to sip his tea entirely unbothered: :)

Damian: Because I’m not an orphan-

Jason: ok, yoU KNOW WHAT-

____

or like in their group texts (that we know they have thanks to Nightwing (2016) #79)

*Steph changed the group chat name to “Bruce Wayne’s Personal Orpanage”*

Jason: Really?

Steph: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Steph: It’s the truth Damian: Both my parents are very much alive

Steph: Shhh you don’t count

Cass: Mine too Duke: Technically so are mine

Barbara: I still have a dad so there’s that

Steph: YOU GUYS ARE RUINING THE JOKE

Tim: Stephanie aren’t BOTH of your parents alive???

Steph: KNOW WHAT? FINE

*Steph changed the group chat name to “The Technicality Police”*

Tim: well that’s more accurate at least

Steph: :)

_____

Damian in his 10th argument with Tim of the day: That’s- this is-

Tim in full Antagonizing Big Brother mode: I’m listening

Damian -a Gen Z and best friend to Jon Kent- extremely frustrated: This is such Motherless behavior!

Tim taken aback: [voice cracking] W-what-?

Damian who didn’t mean to say that but doubling down anyway because his bloodline doesn’t believe in admitting mistakes: THIS! This is such Motherless behavior!

The rest of the family who is also motherless: :O

Cass whose been spending way too much time with Meme Queen Stephanie Brown and not involved in the argument but finding it entertaining regardless: [nodding along seriously] Facts

Tim: [visibly betrayed] CASS WHAT-

A video copy of the interaction gets sent out anonymously to the entire family. Barbara is the prime suspect but there is no proof as of yet (and they will never find any)

Steph, Cass, and Duke continue to respond “Motherless behavior” everytime one of the bats does something they deem questionable/insane. It is said often

It only stops when one night in the middle of patrol. Batman is in full Dark Knight mode (possibly in the middle of threatening someone) and descends from the ceiling into the middle of a warehouse drug deal, dark cape billowing out behind him-

and Steph just automatically whispers “Motherless behavior” forgetting her com was still very much on

She immediately realizes what she said and frantically apologizes but it’s too late.

Bruce just- Blue Screens. Completely stunned into silence

Dick -who was unfortunate enough to be the one teamed up with Batman tonight- is fighting for his life to choke back his laughter

Jason doesn’t even try to stop his and has collapsed to his knees from lack of air from how hard he’s laughing. Cass try’s half heartedly patting his back to help to no avail

The criminals are terrified into surrender from The Red Hood just laughing hysterically at seemingly nothing while Batman just Stands There

Damian ends up being the only one still functioning enough to continue arresting everyone, though he is privately amused and strangely proud

Tim and Barbara have saved both the com recordings and cowl footage to at least three different servers and sent it to absolutely everyone before Batman even recovers

Duke finds out second hand the next morning and is furious he missed the chance to see it in person. He declares he is moving to the nightshift so it doesn’t happen again. (He is all talk and goes to bed by 9 pm)

Bruce bans the phrase for life and promises swift and server punishment to anyone who dares to use it again

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

As per usual, it’s DP crossover with (probably) DC, although you could probably adjust it for other fandoms

ANYWAYS

A little kid and his mother are trick or treating in another city, perhaps at some kind of event rather than knocking on doors, and the kid is dressed as Phantom. It’s very adorable, with his little ghost-shaped bucket and clearly homemade and already stained costume—listen, white only works if you can just fly over street grime or phase it out of your clothes—and his slightly I’ll fitting wig. The kid is SO happy to be out and about dressed as his favorite, and maybe even showed it off to Phantom back in Amity Park before his family left.

The hero, insert whoever you wish here, is probably in civvies and just enjoying the event. The kid, meanwhile, is so glad when people ask who he is so he can explain, and so- the hero gets to hear ALL ABOUT the local town hero who is probably pretty small time despite the kid’s clearly exaggerated stories. The hero certainly never heard of him, but the kid’s mom confirms that Phantom really was the town hero, despite some mixed reviews of the poor guy.

“Did you manage to show him your costume?” the hero asks.

“Yeah! We went down to the cemetery to leave flowers and I got to show him my costume.”

Wait. Cemetery? Maybe it was part of theme, because Phantom had to be named that for a reason, but… it sounded like…

The kid ignores the suddenly VERY still hero and instead turns to his mom. “Momma, do you think we should bring him candy? He doesn’t get to trick or treat like we do, and I can work super hard to get him a bunch!”

The kid’s mom just smiles. “We could, but maybe we should bring him something homemade. I bet he’d like something more filling, teen boys like him have a hollow leg.”

The kid wrinkles his nose. “Like Vernie with the pizza bagels?”

“Like your cousin, yes. We can make some cinnamon rolls and take them to his memorial, maybe bring some of the apples from your grandpa’s garden…”

The hero is pretty much forgotten as the two-part family wanders off, not quite intentionally forgetting the hero is there so much as the hero somewhat accidentally ended the conversation when they just froze and didn’t ask anything further.

Not that the hero didn’t want to. But they’d learn something very serious.

One—there was a small town hero they’d never heard of. Two—that hero was apparently a teen. Third—most pressingly, the teen hero was both beloved enough to have kids dressing up as him and dead enough to have a grave.

This… might require some phone calls.

[ca-d]

Harmony Grove // Salem, MA 🖤

[5thcult]

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[purple-petrichor]

The Count when his dear friend Jonathan Harker is staying over:

[boyfridged]

see, the thing is that (up until countdown at least) there’s no symmetry in jay and bruce's respective ways of grieving.

jay is perpetually trapped in the bargaining stage of grief, trying to reach out to bruce from beyond death.

bruce is way past this. he has settled into a quiet, passive type of mourning, devoid of hope for a reunion. and to stay in this state, he had to necessarily disregard jay’s true image – an image of an earnest, bright child, his son. the memory of jay has been reconstructed in his mind a thousand times and sealed in a folder labeled as “soldier” (or even just a personal failure). it's ugly. it's unfair. it's a coping mechanism.

so to me, the issue isn't that bruce wants his dead, sweet little boy back – the issue is that he barely remembers him. if he did, maybe he would be willing to take a leap of faith and search for that person in jason who came back. but he's not even trying to reconcile the image of 15yo jay with red hood – or rather, maybe the image of a volatile kid that he created in his grief fits with the red hood a bit too accurately. maybe it's a bit too convenient. it works perfectly well for his own self-preservation and sanity, to think that jason has been doomed from the beginning.

jason, on the other hand, is cursed with remembering. one of the very sparse concepts that i found interesting in rhato was when in #3 (2011) jason chose to give up on his happiest memory – skipping patrol to watch a movie with bruce. maybe it's because recalling these tender, sweet moments is what gives him hope, and motivates him to keep bargaining and trying to reconcile with bruce. and bargaining with reality is exhausting. the readers and jay know that it's a lost cause – both because neither bruce nor jay are the same people anymore, but also because, ironically, batman, the symbol of hope, doesn't have any left when it comes to getting his son back. bruce, in his grief, essentially closed the door. jay, in his grief, is banging on them.

[yvtro]

sometimes when i think about what resurrected jason i'm like: not revenge, not another chance, but a third secret thing (being disturbed in his rest because of how his memory was distorted in grief. the violation of his legacy and implication that there was something evil in him awakening his worst and most unnatural instincts and stirring him awake. his state of mind matching the false image created in mourning.)

[wandering-cemeteries]

Magnolia Cemetery.

Mobile, Alabama 2023

[autisticrosewilson]

Jason finding out Willis is wingman bc he shows up and clocks Bruce in the face screaming about one of the MANY awful things he did to Jason (dealers choice) and he referred to Jason as “HIS son”

20 dead 48 injured this is one of very few times Jason doesn't think at all. He throws a smoke bomb at Bruce and then drags Willis back to his apartment.

Jason is trying not to cry so hard he throws up and he's not really succeeding. His dad is here! Willis is alive and he looked for Jason and he brought him back to Gotham, back home, he knows who Jason is and what he does and still loves him, still wanted to protect him.

Willis has practiced this moment a million times but nothing prepares you for being truly face to face with your son, no masks and no fake names. Both of you thought you'd lost the other forever but here you both are. He chokes up and all he can do is tell Jason he's sorry, that he loves him, that he's proud of him.

They talk about everything that's happened, what they've done and who they are now. And neither of them knows what to do because what the fuck.

Jason's dad was a victim of prison experimentation? He's going to kill every single one of them. He's going to shove those fucking syringes so far up all their asses they'll vomit them out.

God, Willis knew it would be bad, but he really couldn't have imagined. His son really died. No fake outs, no smoke or mirrors. Sheila really had sold out their son to a madman, watched him be tortured, and Jason still tried to save her. He's going to spit on her grave but first he's going to make his son some hot chocolate or something Christ. HE CRAWLED OUT OF HIS GRAVE! His son woke up in a box and clawed his way out, half dead and crying for a man Willis has grown to truly hate. He doesn't know what to think about the assassins. Sure he's tangoed with a few in his day but what the fuck he never went on Murder Tour to learn their tricks. Never managed to kill one either, but he supposes Jason has always defied expectations.

Jason is going to be very busy for the next few weeks and Willis is about to take his hate public by giving an interview to the gazette.

[heartshapedcaskett]

Sun bleached and sunken in the Georgia soil.

[fanofspooky]

Lucio Fulci’s horror movies

[thatsbelievable]