#he is so small but babs is smaller

[not-another-robin]

More big brother Bruce :]

[bats-and-the-birds]

Headcanon that early on in Dick's tenure as Robin, Batman gets seriously injured during patrol one night. Not enough that his life is in danger, but like, enough that he's unconscious and needs medical attention.

And after he gets him squared away, Jim Gordon sees a small, masked child covered in someone else's blood, and then his Dad (tm) instincts kick in, and he refuses to let Robin go to wherever he calls home alone. So he just... takes him back to his home.

And this can go two directions. Either

Barbara, not Batgirl yet, wakes up when her father comes home and sees a boy slightly younger than her, covered in blood, and befriends him, for sure freaking out her father but also making him incredibly worried about Robin and if he has any other friends or not.

or

Barbara, fully Batgirl, but not on patrol that night because she had a test that next day, wakes up when her father comes home, and comes face to face with her best friend in his masked alter ego, and they both have to pretend that they don't know each other for like two days, meanwhile Dick's sweating because like Holy shit, I've had sleepovers here before, whatever you do, don't act like Dick Grayson.

Either way it ends with Dick, mask still firmly in place but wearing Barbara's pajamas, and Babs fully passed out on the ground around a game of monopoly when Batman finally comes to collect his sidekick.

This experience would also make Jim Gordon even more terrified for Robin on a daily basis because before, he was sort of a shadowy, cryptic force that followed Batman around, but now Jim knows that he's just a little boy, smaller than his own daughter, that likes the same games and cartoons that Babs does, and I'm not sure he'd be able to handle that.

[katakaluptastrophy]

I think what's so interesting about Gideon as a narrator at the anniversary dinner is the fact that there's clearly tensions that she's just not picking up on because she's only there to eat a dessert.

But these people are all the immensely powerful leaders of the Houses and consider themselves to be in competition for literal godlike powers and the favour of the emperor.

There's so many little snippets that are potentially intriguing: why is Teacher trying to prime the Ninth to consider the Fifth a threat? Why are the Third and the Sixth "sizing each other up like prizefighters"? The Fifth absolutely knew what they were doing when they sat the teen heads of the opposing cults near each other.

Through Gideon's lens, Magnus' speech is a little awkward jokey thing. But...the seneschal of the House that is known to be actively trying to absorb another House is saying it's such a shame they're all so remote from each other and what do they all have in common (and it's so quiet you "could have heard a hair flutter to the floor") - that had to feel a bit different to people who aren't Gideon.

Palamedes' is dissecting the meaning of "Master Warden" and at one point compares it to a prison warden. 'Dulcinea' asking about whether Magnus and Abigail have children is perhaps less small talk and rather more pointedly political. Harrow's apparently stilted conversation with Protesilaus is clearly her actually probing his limitations like he's a bad Chat GPT-run chatbot.

And then 'Dulcinea' tells Gideon she liked the dinner because it was "useful". In her typical "I never lied to you" way, Cyth wasn't lying when she said Abigail had to die because of her hobby - Abigail Pent let loose on the Facility would have risked blowing Cyth's cover sky high. But what does a Canaan House look like where after the dinner party, the Fifth go down to the facility, get a key, and survive to continue their 'the Houses are going to get along or else' agenda? We've seen Fifth House soft power on a smaller scale in HTN: and it looks like inviting a teenager round for coffee, lulling her into a false sense of security with small talk, and then physically preventing her from leaving the room until she does what you want, while smiling the entire time. A series of little coffee chats could probably have led to a lot of cooperation in Canaan House, one way or another.

Gideon jokes about Silas marrying Ianthe because of their similar colour pallete, but it does raise the fact that there seems to be some tension around the Third, its succession, and the *point* of Ianthe. Why is Silas openly saying Ianthe should have died at birth? Combined with Judith's comments in the Cohort Intelligence Files about succession on the Third, it feels like there's something else being said here that Gideon isn't picking up on.

And of course, Harrow wasn't the only one desperate to become a Lyctor because her con was unsustainable. Presumably at some point Corona and Ianthe would be expected to marry, or at least take on more separate roles as Corona prepared to take over the throne and Ianthe was funneled off elsewhere. At some point, their package deal would have become unsustainable and Corona's cover would have been blown. But much as Harrow wants to become a Lyctor so she can reveal the state of the Ninth without repercussions, Ianthe is probably in part motivated to become a Lyctor for the same reason. Because otherwise, what would Ianthe's expected role have been? Amidst the suggestion of anxiety about the Idan succession, the dinner party also presents the fact that the reason Abigail and Magnus' infertility isn't a succession crisis for the ruling family of the Fifth is that Abigail's younger brother dutifully married in his early 20s and had kids. We know there are branch families in Ida - Babs is from one. He may be a prince, but he's not treated well, and you do get the sense that the stakes to stay in power in Ida are high.

We don't learn anything about the political situation in the Houses themselves during HTN or NTN, but in the wake of Canaan House, you have to suspect there are a number of tensions and concerns.

[on-the-open-range]

We're still working on character designs so they are largely inaccurate for the warners and max, but this shows age and height comparisons! Character descriptions under read more!

We also included characters that appear outside the farm! Bugs Bunny is the Sheriff of the nearby city. He likes to take on challenges to show off his wit and pawns off smaller outlaws on his deputy, Daffy Duck. At night time, he goes undercover as a burlesque dancer to gain information about criminal whereabouts in town. Babs and Buster Bunny (no relation) live in a town (turning on city) several hours travel away. They both work for the sheriff and deputy. Buster is a deputy in training and Babs does clerical issues and cleans up buster's messes. She has a gun but doesn't use it as much. (Although she IS a better shot than Buster.) The other six characters are various people in the small town close to the ranch, or in the larger city. In order, left to right: Ms. Perla is a middle age dog who works in the same saloon as Mr. Bentley, she is a very serious woman and tends to handle the more complicated costumers but can be very sweet, she lives in a small house in town with her cousin Ms. Katara and Mr. Argus. Ms. Katara works as store clerk in town, she goes to see Ms. Perla whenever she has time during the day, even though she gets scolded, a very enthusiastic woman and very friendly. Mr. Argus works as carpenter in town, he's a widower but a hardworking man that tends to get in trouble with outsiders if they look suspicious enough but a very nice man otherwise, tries to keep Ms. Perla and Ms. Katara safe. Mr. Bentley is a jolly middle aged dog who tends the saloon in town. He always seems to have some long winded story for patrons and enjoys playing the piano at the saloon when he has extra help and he has the time. Mrs. Flame owns the small general store in town. She's a widow but she's very kind and while she doesn't really know the warners, she tends to very secretly give Yakko a discount when he comes in to buy things and hopes he won't notice. Ms. Belle is a stocker that helps Ms. Flame in her shop on delivery days. She's excitable and boisterous and loves making friends, but she's sworn off men for an unknown reason.

[clockwayswrites]

Like Betta Fish Do Part 26

WC 1478, Masterpost CW: Canon typical violence, Aftermath of torture

“It’s Danny. They took Danny,” Babs murmured into the comms.

Dick’s heart skipped a beat.

“Basement or subfloor,” she continued, passing the information along to those of them who had been able to slip away in the chaos.

Dick burst out into the roof, still tugging up one of the hidden zippers on his uniform. He flung himself off the roof without hesitation. “I saw Danny twenty ago. They can’t have taken him far.”

“Twelve,” Cass chimed in.

Twelve was even better.

“Oh God, I just saw the timer,” Babs whispered. “We don’t have—”

“Hey, fish,” Jason’s voice came across the line.

Dick almost missed his grapple as he rushed lower to try and see any suspicious vehicles.

“Tim, city power—”

“Working on it,” Tim ground out, cutting Babs off in a way he normally wouldn’t.

“Forty-five seconds!”

“I can’t do it in that! I’m trying—”

A hitched breath. “I do. I'm sorry.”

Then screaming.

The lights flared and then cut out in one of the smaller office buildings crouched in Wayne Enterprises’ shadow.

Dick twisted and flew towards it. Another black shadow joined him in flight.

The comms were painfully quiet and then filled with a burst of chatter. Dick reached up and brushed his off as he landed on top of a cliché white van with a purposeful thump. Before the blue faced goon had even finished turning towards the noise he was unconscious.

Silently, efficiently, Cass and him worked through henchmen, dodging guns and tasers. That had to be how they took Danny. Dick remembered how the other froze up being shocked with his escrima sticks. Remembered how—

Now Danny had been electrocuted again.

Of all the ways for Danny to die…

Dick left Cass to finish off the room and stalked deeper into the basement. He didn’t try to be quiet. He wanted them to find him. He wanted them to try and stop him. They had killed Danny, the guy who had made Jason so happy, who stood up to Nightwing, who smiled and laughed and tried so hard to live!

Who made his little wing want to live.

Dick wanted them to try and stop him.

He slammed open another door. The room had barely any light from the squat narrow windows.

A chair was in the center of the room.

A body was in it.

Dick choked out a name. “Danny—”

And then Danny moved.

-

“Danny?!” The voice sounded small, choked off, but Danny knew it.

No, villains were involved, that meant it was the one with wings instead.

“Heeey Nightwing,” Danny said. He tried to raise his head to look at the other, but it just lolled back on his weak neck. He was left blinking up at the ceiling. All of him felt like jelly. “I have had… a shockingly bad night. Zero out of ten, would not recommend.”

Nightwing ran across the floor of the warehouse, footsteps loud in the flooded water. “Holy shit Danny, how are you alive?”

“Mmm been killed once by electricity before, ‘m immune now.”

“Yeah, no, Danfish” Nightwing said. His voice and hands both shook as he undid the ropes binding Danny’s wrists. “Pretty sure that’s not how that works.”

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

“Is with me,” Danny slurred. He tried, desperately, to stay sitting upright when the ropes around his chest were undone, but he was still in that jelly state and slumped forward into Nightwing who, thankfully, caught him. “Hey, think I’m gonna get a new set of Lichtenberg scars out of this?”

The arms around him tightened almost painfully before they relaxed. “Don’t know little fish. Guess we’ll have to see at the hospital.”

“No!” Danny tried to struggle against Nightwing as fear gripped him. “No hospitals.”

“Danny. You were just electrocuted— very publicly electrocuted, we have to get you checked out.”

Danny clung to Nightwing. “Nooo… they’ll know and they’ll want to cut me open and that can’t happen—”

“Danny, hey, it’s okay, we won’t let anyone do that to you,” Nightwing soothed. He held Danny’s face in between his hands, making Danny look at him. “We won’t let anyone else hurt you tonight. How about we call in a doctor we trust to the hospital. Is that okay?”

“They won’t tell?”

“Never. She’s always looked out for us, all of us. She’s patched us all up plenty, even Red Hood. Please? We’ll all worry otherwise and there will be more questions.”

Danny nodded, feebly, in the other’s grip. “Okay. Okay, I’ll go if she’s the one. Get the… the case, the ecto.”

He didn’t want anyone to worry about him. Fuck, had he scared them? He bet he had. He’d been a little scared himself. He didn’t want to be dead dead yet.

Things were just getting good.

“I have him,” Danny heard Nightwing say as the other man scooped him up. He pressed his ear to the chest, relaxing at the rumble of the words. “I have him and he’s alive.”

-

Two Face was saying something. Laughing at him, applauding him. Jason couldn’t hear it. He couldn’t hear anything but Danny’s screaming.

The TV was nothing but static.

Jason was aware, distantly, of the bomb being pulled off the hostages. Of Bruce having to hold back Damian from leaping at Two Face. Of the mayor pulling Bruce back from doing the same. Of another window shattering as Red Robin came through and the Bats descended on the henchmen scattered throughout the room.

Jason could still hear Danny screaming.

Screaming and static.

He lunged.

He was on Two Face before anyone could stop him. The man’s head hit the ground with a sickening thunk. Jason didn’t care. He started punching. He felt the delicate bone under that shocked yellow eye give under his fist. He swung again and again. Two Face clawed at Jason, but he didn’t stop— not until Bruce pulled Jason off the rogue and into his arms.

Jason curled into the hold like he was fourteen and small again. He clung to Bruce with cracked and bleeding knuckles and sobbed. He needed to stop, to pull himself together, to…

“…need to find him. Bruce, I need to find him!”

“Maybe we should let the others,” Bruce murmured. He ran a hand through Jason’s hair.

“No, I need to—” Oh. Bruce thought Danny had to be dead. He could be. He might be. But there was a chance that he wasn’t. And Jason’t couldn’t— “I need to.”

Bruce was silent before he sighed, softly. “Alright, Jaylad, let’s—”

The chatter in their comms that Jason hadn’t even been listening to. Hadn’t been able to listen to, went silent.

“Repeat?” It was Cass who asked, her voice small and demanding.

Barbara reached over and passed him her phone, using it as a cover for what they heard next.

“I have Danny,” Dick said. “I have Danny and he’s alive.”

“Damian, stay with Barbara,” Bruce ordered, already running.

Bruce and Jason took off through the aftermath of the hostage situation, dodging the crowd and downed goons, police and reporters.

“Nightwing,” Bruce urged into the comms.

“He’s alive and conscious but very out of it,” Dick said and continued before there could be any more questions. “Agent A, we need the doctor at the hospital. Call her and then head there yourself. You need to bring a case from inside the Cave. It’s in with the old training equipment, behind the dummies. The case is metal with a green ghost drawn on top.”

The ectoshots. Dick had remembered the ectoshots.

“Right away,” Alfred’s cool tone came across the comms.

“Nightwing,” Bruce said again.

“Not now. Just… fuck, B, he’s alive,” Dick said. Jason could hear the near heartbreak in his brother’s voice. The growing sound of ambulance sirens couldn’t cover it. “Just get here. The Jasper building.”

Jason’s slick dress shoes skidded on the damp concrete as they made it out the back door of the building. The flashing lights were already visible. The fog drenched buildings seemed to glow with them. Danny was so close and they still had failed him.

A police officer stepped forward to stop them as they came around a corner. Bruce intercepted the bracing arm and pushed it back; it gave Jason enough room to rush past and towards the ambulance. Paramedics and police were crowded around it. Nightwing was standing guard.

Jason shoved past them all.

Danny.

He slid to his knees and clutched at Danny where the other was sat on the back of the ambulance.

“Danny.”

“Hey, dead boy. I guess… I guess you get to keep your nickname still. Not mine yet,” Danny rasped behind the oxygen mask.

Jason choked out a laugh against his will. He buried face against Danny’s neck and squeezed the other tighter. He didn’t manage to hold back his tears. “Yeah, guess I do, fish.”

---

AN: *jazz hands* See! It's going to be fiiiiiiiiiiine.

I no longer tag, you can subscribe to the masterpost instead!

[currentfandomkick]

Prompt:

Desiree overhears bruce wish for a do-over with his robins.

Said robins end up aged down and only with those memories of when they first were acknowledged as Robin by Bruce. Anything after? Gone.

Now Dick is 8 ready to destroy these people stealing his mom’s nickname for him. Yes he is deranged and feral. Yes he is assaulting Damian the most, as the kid also attacks him. He’s also certain Damian is mew to the states too and annoyed he cant understand the kid.

Jason is 12 and dealing with a Lot of homeless kid truama and whiplash of rich place and who are these other kids and why is the tiniest one trying to kill the second tiniest? Stop that! (Jason, the most responsible somehow) Damian listens to him best without the use of orders. (Only way to get Damian to listen otherwise) and is working on teaching Damian about how the states and Gotham work. Jason is the Great Culture Teacher, and hoarding food stashes and go bags everywhere. Just in case. Yes he has some for everyone and is only a little upset his peer Tim vanished before he could give him his.

Tim is 12 too, realized Batman had Jason Right There and fucked off back home to see what happened timeline wise. He decided to visit his apparent step-mom, Dana, and gets to meet his apparent(?) boyfriends (deal’s choice, just have there be two for Tim’s confusion as ‘i pulled not one but two hot boys? How?) reasons. Tim is Learning what he did in the last 6 years and is questioning how his older self stopped with a semi-regular sleep schedule and.. had no spleen? Dana, can we get that checked for me that mine’s still there and if i keep it? Yay. Oh, this should last a few months? Okay! He can work from home online and have Lucius handle the meetings—why was he made a teen CEO again?

Stephanie? Is the oldest at 15, and is baffled by the whole situation. She goes to see Oracle and handles patrols under Babs’ eye with a confused Cass. Yes Stephanie is mad at Tim and believes he was cheating on her at this time, but knows the Tim she saw was smaller. And this is in the future from her POV. She’s still mad. Also the least likely to cause problems on patrol atm as she’s already trained and threatened to break out Spoiler if he tries to stop her. Her favorites and Damian (he gets killing should be an option, but needs to work on his selection process) and Jason, who Gets being a poor kid. Dick stops attacking her on sight but is a savage and insults her form. He ranks below Tim due to proximity, and the fact this is a Tim before they dated.

Damian? Back maybe 2 years, to the mindset of ‘if i dont kill my predecessor, i am unworthy of my role by Father’s side.’ Problem: he and Dick are fighting (both initiate) and Alfred and Jason (when did his zombie guard get so small?) are the only ones able to separate them successfully. He is not allowed on Patrol, but Brown is as she’s able to run solo otherwise and Father has recruited her using Robin. Father has explicitly forbade attacking her in the manor, cave or otherwise on property, and forbid killing. Brown is the only one besides him questioning this, even if it’s mostly over comms… and he is absolutely working on learning magic to undo this spell and return to his rightful place damnit!

Bruce has Many Regrets about that wish. And hates magic

Meanwhile Danny is trying to work out which wishes of Desiree’s are safe to undo, as apparently her last spree included taking out Joker, who was well overdue for that, and helping a lot of families reunite. He’s not undoing that. But also she did help gorilla grodd take over a city. He. He’s gonna need help, isn’t he?

[zephyr-ro-emenki]

Ok, I have 3 days of RBH's to make and post today to make up for me missing the past 2 days. So, let's hit the road!

Random Batfam Headcanon's #22: The Adoption Habit Trilogy!

The Batkids have unknowingly inherited Bruce's patent for Adopting things, but the things they adopt are vastly different.

Dick: he has a bad (or sometimes good) Habit of Adopting new hobbies and interests at the flip of a dime. This is most likely just his old circus lifestyle + his ADHD catching up to him in his older years, but he can't keep still or do any 1 career for too long without it being monotonous. The only exception is Vigilantism because each night is vastly different than the night before.

Barbara: Babs has the habit of adopting the many regulars at Gotham Library as under her protection like Jason with Crime Alley.

Jason: He, ironically enough (and never let Jason or Bruce hear this), is the most like Bruce, because his adoption habit is ALSO towards traumatized orphan Kids (and normal kids with a little bit of a sad life. We don't judge), except he's set his scope a lot smaller than Bruce's in that he tries to limit his range to just Crime Alley. Of course he fails spectacularly and has a small caballe of International Children he's picked up on missions living together in Crime Alley, always having their various apartments directly across the street from his most secure Safe Houses. He also has an inexplicably near-complete collection of every variant of Jane Austin Novels.

Tim: Tim Collects Photos and used Coffee Cups. Does he also only save those coffee cups so he can extract the persons DNA into a vast database of his so that he may clone any of the Batfam (or all of humanity if needed) in case of world disaster events? Don't worry about it :)

Steph: Steph is probably the most normal when it comes to her Adoption/Collection because she has a very vast collection of random knickknacks that she's found or acquired over the years.

Cass: Cass has been testing out her sowing skills alot and so has conducted her own small game at her apartment in Korea (not that she doesn't bring it home to Gotham with her). And that's the fact that she's begun swiping up damaged bits of everyone's costumes after fights, and just random weapons or costume parts that the Batfam leave around the Manor, and she takes them back to Korea to stitch all the random pieces back together into her own version of the Batcave's suit display cases. So far the only suit she hasn't been able to start is Barbara's Batgirl suit design, but even then she's looking at that display case every time she's visiting like Indiana Jones trying to steal that golden statue.

Damian: Damian, Being both Bruce's direct blood relative and being raised by the Eco-Terrorists that are the LOA, adopts any random animals he can find, especially those that have naturally occurring Bat Shaped Birth Marks.

Duke: Duke is the kind of Whippersnapper to collect indie Rap mixtapes. You know, the ones from up and coming rappers who stand outside a 7/11 trying to sell anyone their debut mixtape for only $9. He has a pretty vast collection.

[haveihitanerve]

Bruce makes his decision the day he fires Stephanie from being Robin. He can’t stand the pain in her eyes, and the anger in his voice. So he stops. His children don’t need him, Steph alone proves that, she bounces back with renewed vigor after he kicks her from being Robin, and spoiler becomes a quick favorite. They ask for comments that Batman doesn’t give, and he patrols alone. Stephanie doesn’t need him, his kids don’t need him, and he won’t insult them as individuals or their pride by claiming otherwise. But Gotham needs Batman. Bruce Wayne dies, publicly and horribly, donating half of his money to people in need and the other half going to his children. Even Stephanie and Duke and Babs and those that never once called him dad. They were still his. Were. Dick is livid when he finds out, storming into the cave in a whirlwind of curses and tears, demanding answers Bruce doesn’t give and trying so hard to instigate a response. He screams and yells and argues and ‘why?!?’ Is at the top of the list but Bruce doesn’t answer, doesn’t fight back. Dicks voice is hoarse, his fists bloody, Bruce’s bruised body his canvas, but still Bruce doesn’t answer him, doesn’t speak, just turns away, unwilling to see the hurt in his son's eyes. “I thought you had died.” Dick finally rasped hoarsely. “I thought you died for real and I didn’t know and no one told me and I thought you were gone.” The words break something inside Bruce, and he’s almost 100% certain it’s his heart but it solidifies his resolve and he doesn’t speak. Dick leaves, finally, and then Jason takes his place. Then Tim. Then Babs. Then Damian. Then Cass. Bruce doesn’t answer any of them, merely offering the new CEO of Wayne Enterprise a small smile and hugging his youngest to his chest, though the boy tries to fight it.

“I’m sorry.” He rasps, when they’ve all gathered, waiting, watching him. They stare at him in surprise, and Bruce cannot blame them, but he doesn’t continue. They know, even if they don’t want to say it. They know they would be better off without him, better without him in their lives. They don’t need him. His greatest successes and his biggest sins. But Gotham needs the Batman. And the cowl will die with him. He hands Tim the keys to the bat cave and packs up his suits and the tools he needs and disappears, although he’s under no illusions that they don’t all know where he is. He takes residence in a small safe house at the edge of Gotham, far from anyone’s patrol routes, and creates a new routine, patrolling at odd hours, straying to the edges, adopting their techniques over his own. He still doesn’t speak, but he smiles, adds splashes of color to his suit, and makes himself appear smaller, less threatening. The Batman myth should be enough to protect his children, and even so, they can take care of themselves. Of each other. He becomes kinder, mimics dicks easy smiles and Jason’s gentle hands. Starts copying Tim’s funky dances and cass’s snaky movements, things that always seemed to put people at ease. He doesn’t speak, but he laughs, and makes funny noises, and Gothamites stop fearing him as much. -Not that they ever really did. But he doesn’t know that.- He ruffles kids' hair and walks teenagers home and stays away from his kids. Not that he has any right to call them that, really, because he’s been an unsuitable father to all of them, but he’s selfish, and in the company of his own mind keeps them. An anonymous tip leads him to Bludhaven and he stumbles apon Nightwing. The hero almost trips when he sees him and Bruce flees, leaving the evidence and information on a roof for his son to find. It’s not his case, bludhaven isn’t his place, he has no right to invade dicks place with his own case. He smiles in pride when he reads about Nightwings success, even though he has no right to be proud of the man, since the man became who he is through his own doing, and not because of Bruce. It doesn’t stop him from being proud though. He hears their voices in his head, Jason’s judgment, dicks happy laughter, Tim’s analysis. He almost bolts when a child he’s helping makes a pun. It’s cowardly, he knows, but when a girl trips and falls in a rough neighborhood he drops a hint to oracle and flees, because that flash of blond hair on her head is too much.

Selina finds him in the third month and forces a real meal down his throat. She doesn’t speak, just watches him eat, cradling her own cup of tea, silence deafening. “Why?” She asks finally, and her voice almost breaks. Bruce doesn’t have an answer for her. She leaves, like the others, but returns again, with more food. Her silence is like a brand, but she doesn’t speak either, and demands no more answers from him. He is grateful. And when she drops a stray cat off one time, well, he expected as much. He names the cat Robin, silently, in his mind, and Selina doesn’t give it a name, calling it Kitty or Kitten but letting him keep the name he chose to himself. She demands nothing from him, and Bruce is grateful. It’s a year later when… when he breaks.

“Hey B.'' Bruce stares. He doesn’t blink, doesn't even so much as dare breathe because he knows if he does she’ll fade away, the way she always dies. Stephanie Brown has haunted him from the moment Bruce Wayne had died, watching his every move, critiquing every step he took as Batman and not Bruce. Bruce doesn’t answer, less because he had sworn off speaking and more because he doesn’t know what to say. Stephanie fidgets, a move he’s seen her do countless times, her blond hair tied back half hazardly with a black hair tie. She’s wearing her classic, favorite purple sweater and some tight black jeans, but her boots are the ones Bruce gifted her. Hard, steel toed, and able to combat almost everything. “I uh. I saw the news.” Bruce doesn’t speak. She takes a cautious step forward, hands resting on one of the kitchen chairs, an occupation for her hands so she stops fidgeting, doesn’t show her nerves or tells. Bruce had taught her that.

He doesn’t question how she knows where he lives, or how she got in. She’s far too brilliant for him to even come close with a guess. “So uh, billionaire Bruce Wayne is dead huh?” Her lips twist in a wry grin. Bruce just watches her. She sighs, sliding into the seat, and gestures for him to do the same. Bruce does not, moving around the kitchen to make tea instead, always keeping an eye on her, afraid if he looks away she’ll be gone. But she doesn’t move, watching him with all too knowing eyes, and accepts the mug he sets in front of her with a polite ‘thank you’. Bruce moves away quickly after he sets it down and finally sits across from her, cradling his own cup. Steph holds the mug in both hands but doesn’t drink, staring at the dark brown liquid inside.

“Why did you do it?” She asks finally, raising her head to look at him. He knows the others have told her things, so she doesn’t seem to really be expecting an answer. “Because I bring pain to all those around me.” Bruce rasps, voice hoarse from disuse. Steph blinks in surprise. “And because you would all be much better off without me.” He sips his tea finally, stopping himself from spilling everything to her. Not that he didn’t already. It is, truly, the root of his reasons.

Steph stares at him for a few moments, then roars with laughter. “Better off without you?” She echoes in disbelief, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye. “Excuse me??? Have you seen any one of your kids lately?” Bruce blinks. He has not, of course, his goal is to avoid them entirely and then die alone, as he deserves. Steph shakes her head. “They need you Bruce.” Bruce finds that hard to believe, doubts it with every breath he takes even though it hurts to know he is so useless to the brilliant children in his life, but Steph sees the doubt and scoffs, hard and disbelieving and insulting. “Seriously?” Something in her voice softens, a sympathy Bruce is not sure he deserves, and she pulls out her phone, expanding a screen to show him clips of videos. Bruce’s throat gets very tight. They’re videos of his kids, Jason, and Tim and dick and cass, and all of them helping, being the good people he knows they are, but there’s a light missing from dicks eyes, and red hood doesn’t seem to mean his punches, and all of them seem to run slower, looking over their shoulders for someone who isn’t there.

Bruce feels hope glowing in his chest but he squashes it, turning to Steph with a shrug. “They love me. It’s a flaw I’ve never discouraged as much as I should have. It’s likely they need a bit to adapt.” Steph looks at him and her jaw actually drops. “Excuse me?” She hisses, and for the first time since she appeared in his kitchen he can see some of that fire in her eyes that made him make her Robin, and then fire her. “Are you calling our love for you a flaw?!?!?” Her voice is dangerous and Bruce knows nodding is the wrong answer but… but… “I ruin everything Stephanie.” He rasps. Steph shrugs. “You’re human. Well, we think you are. Bruce,” her voice is gentler, and some of the fire dies down, but not fully. “You are not perfect. We do not expect you to be. And sometimes, yeah, we want to strangle you. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want you in our lives. Are you overprotective? Yeah. Do you butt into stuff we don’t want you in? All the time. But there’s ways for you to adapt without- without-“ her arms flail wildly. “Without just leaving us!” Her voice breaks and Bruce is moving before he thinks, grabbing her in a hug. “I’m sorry Stephanie. I’m so sorry. For everything.” He whispers, holding her close. Steph doesn’t fight, just collapses against him, tears staining his suit. “Come back.” She pleads. “Just come home.”

The reunion is tentative, the first dinner bordering on dangerous. The first patrol is easy, surprisingly, everyone falling into place next to each other, communicating with ease as they storm through Gotham. Bruce, because that’s who he is again, looks at them again and again and grins, wide and proud, when he spots the blond hair at his side, when he sees Nightwing and Red Hood working seamlessly side by side. The public is a little uneasy, but more than happy to buy their recovery story and accept their Prince back, but Bruce leaves Tim the company, and stays out of the public eye for a while. He no longer cares what others think of Batman, or Bruce Wayne. Only what his children think. And the pride gleaming in their eyes when Damian comes and Bruce actually gets through to him, makes it all worthwhile.

[jazeswhbhaven]

in the Lucifer birthday picture I noticed Jjok on Marbas shoulder and how tiny he really is (maybe I'm tripping or Marbas is just very large, comparing it to Ppyong's proportions in his pics with Satan or Minhyeok)

You're not tripping anon, iirc Jjok is smaller than Ppyong and is around Jjyu's size if not a tad larger. He was having a hard time lifting a berry from a tree in the event and wanted praise from Luci for doing it lol so if that gives you any idea of how small the bab is, then he is fairly small. Ppyong i think is the size of a fist which is also not that big either.

When I think of the smaller devils, Harumon may be the largest in terms of comparing him to the red lumps. He's the size of a cat, my mooties and I have discussed possibly the size of a maine coon breed and I deduct this based on Belphie's chats talking about the amounts of hair he leaves on his pillow/bed, lol

[r-f-m-writes]

Pretty, Dead Animals Chapter Two

The backs of Linette’s thighs stuck flush to the linoleum floor of her apartment as she twisted left and right, razor in hand, carefully shaving away a week worth of hair on her legs and arms.

Her aircon was still broken, its absence magnifying the stifling heat that rose slow and smothering through the space. No amount of persistent hinting would compel Mrs. Weller to have it mended.

Linette knew it was negligence on her landlord’s part, that she would be within her rights to lodge a formal complaint, make threats of breaking lease - but she wouldn’t.

Linette didn’t like making a nuisance of herself. She knew full well that she couldn’t afford rent anywhere else in town, and she didn’t have anyone to stay with if Mrs. Weller gave her the boot for being a pest over broken appliances.

Working up a lather on her skin with cheap moisturizing body wash, the girl sighed through her nose.

The weekend was running long, the sun seeming to drag its feet as it crawled slow and cumbersome through the bright blue, cloudless sky.

Rinsing her razor off in the bowl of soapy water, Linette started on the backs of her knees while she glanced around the apartment, thinking of what else there was to do.

The floors were spotless from her sweeping and mopping them yesterday. The kitchenette was tidy as could be. All her clothes were washed, folded and put away - not as much of a feat as it seemed when Lin liked to keep her wardrobe small. The only thing she hadn’t done was make her bed.

Passing a wet washcloth over her legs, Linette wrung it out over the second, smaller bowl of dirty water before hanging it on the handle of the stove, knowing it would dry out in minutes flat thanks to the heat.

Pumping the last of her unscented moisturizer into her palm, Linette layered the soothing balm over her legs quickly before she stood.

A slow, hot wind pushed through her apartment window, making cream checkered curtains billow inward and fluster around Linette as she stepped forward, feeling the soft touch of the heady breeze dust over her skin, cooling and warming all at the same time.

Outside stretched miles and miles and miles of red sand. Shrubs scattered over the scorched earth like round green dice thrown by the hand of a giant. Far away, almost further than Lin could see, there were trees. Tall, swaying, hardy. No lakes stretched far enough inland to supply the flora with water, so their salvation came as rain.

She could feel the promise of a downpour in the air. It sat heavy on the roof of her mouth, soothing and clean on the wind. There would be a cool change before the world was bathed. Linette would leave her windows open, let the glory of the storm roll through her apartment until the air held a pleasant snap of its chill and all her pillows smelled of rain.

Pushing away from where she had been leaned against the painted sill, she folded back the dressing screen that stood like a makeshift wall between her bed and the rest of the apartment, careful not to scratch the floor as she moved the wooden legs. Linette was getting her security deposit back if it was the last thing she did.

A disarray of pillows and sheets kicked around on top of her mattress greeted her with the screen pushed back.

Bun Bun lay on the ground looking up at her soulfully with his scratched glass eyes.

Linette’s stomach dropped. She swept him into her arms in a second, hugging him against her in apology as her throat went tight.

“I’m sorry - I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you fell.”

It was stupid. Embarrassin. Her attachment to the stuffed toy as an adult, as someone who should have grown up and then grown out of ‘childish’ things, but she couldn’t help it.

Bun Bun was all she had that was really hers as a child. Hers to keep. Hers to love. Hers to depend on as she was pedaled from one group home to the next, passed on like a burden no one wanted.

He wasn’t even given to her by her real parents. Some of the other kids had things like that. Baby blankets. Quilts made for them by mothers who were too young or too deststue to shoulder the responsibility. Little, hopeless gifts given in lue of real love, real apologies, real accountability.

Linette was abandoned with nothing.

Bun Bun was given to her by Mrs. Lee, the nicest foster mother she ever loved and lost. Her house had been big and clean and safe. There was always food in the fridge, and Lin was always allowed to eat when she was hungry. Mrs. Lee gave her hugs and didn’t punish her for anything, ever.

Linette didn’t realize she was crying until her tears began to wet the top of Bun Bun’s head, his floppy brown ears draped over her wrists as she held him up to her face, chest constricted and empty and horrible.

Wind picked up at her back. Curtains whipped, clicking on their rod.

The smell of rain rolled over her with a familiarity that was as soothing and unconditional as one of Mrs. Lee’s hugs.

[f10werfae]

Clingy Kisses

Lumberjack!Henry Cavill x Short!Shy!Wife!Reader

summary: little bun is really clingy to henry and she can't seem to let go for more than a few minutes, and it may involve a two person hoodie (soft!teasing!henry) (overall fluffy overload) (req by @angelamck ) (short story)

Lumberjack Henry Masterlist, Henry Masterlist

“Now what are you up to little bun?” Henry cocked a brow seeing his precious wife crawl up his body, plopping herself right on top of him, her hands cupping his face gently. “Jus wanna f-feel you” She whispered tracing her finger over his lips, giggling when he bit it jokingly, her lips coming closer to peck his affectionately. Small squeals leaving her lips each time she kissed his lips and he would kids back, his hands massaging her rear.

“Right if you behave for at least 20 minutes and let me finish the game, we can mess about for a while okay” He cooed kissing her nose and lips one last time, her face falling into a scowl and pout, her head laying itself on his chest; her eyes also watching his boring ass football game. How could her man find this more interesting than her right now? Smiling to herself she reaching up and turned his head towards hers and before he could even say anything, she had pushed her tongue through his lips; both of them now in a wet tongue filled kiss.

“Bab- baby, didn’t I tell you to wait? That desperate are ya?” Henry teased, his brows raised as he have her a warning look, letting her know he wasn’t in the mood to play about tonight; after-all his favourite teams were going against each other tonight. “Y-you said I was allowed anything I wanted c-cus it’s my birthday week” Furrowing and frowning she sat up on his lap, her new Cherry Hoodie blanketing her smaller frame, her hands splayed out on each of his pecs.

“Hm I guess I did didn’t I” Henry said copying her pout mockingly, his head nodding along with hers watching as she crossed her arms clearly pretending to be angry at her husband. Which was practically impossible, except for that one time he threw her old stuffy from when she was a baby, into the washing machine. I mean the thing was practically falling apart, but it was so precious to her and for some reason the fact it was so manky added to its appeal. Henry didn’t think so.

Sighing Henry opened his arms motioning for her to come on him, her body wiggling in excitement as she flopped herself back on top of him, her hands squeezing themselves around his torso; his heartbeat hammering right against her hear soothingly. “W-why’s it s-so fast?” She asked patting his chest, almost as if she was asking the damn thing to slow down, scared it would send her husband into a heart attack just because of how fast it was.

“Cause I love my sugar bun s’much my heart wants to keep beatin’ for ya” He whispered kissing the too of her head, one of his hands lazily rubbing up and down her back; the other giving her soft comforting head scratches. “W-well thank you, b-but isn’t it t-too fast?” She asked cutely tilting her head to the side, Henry’s heart if anything only increasing in speed. “Not fast enough if anything” He grumbled just pushing her head back onto his chest, not wanting to explain how if he could, he would practically give her his heart; that’s how much he feels for her.

“W-wait up the l-left a little please” she said shifting her body so his hand would move, causing Henry to scoff so his hands would scratch the right place on her back, he really had spoiled his wife a bit much; he couldn’t help it she had the purest heart of gold, all she wanted was his love and attention, and who was he not to give it to her.

“This okay bun?” “Mhm right there, t-that’s the spot” She sighed in relief, her head just laying against his shoulder sleepily, before her whole being froze.

“H-hen, you’re not in my hoodie, you gotta be in my hoodie” She whispered cupping his face, her nose nudging his playfully as she held up the empty side of her two person hoodie, the other hood and sleeve also imprinted with cherries. Earlier on during the way Y/n had seen the new two person hoodies in the market, and of course she had to buy one for her and her hubby… She may have also bought a mini version for Marly, who was already wearing hers happily.

“Sugar pie, let’s not go there” Henry scowled seeing the bright printed soft fabric being shoved in his face, feeling his wife’s hands already clawing at him to take off his white vest top. “B-but hubs, y-you said i-it’s my birthday week” She whispered pouting, her eyes already wetting with tears, over the past few weeks she mad mastered the puppy look even more; it was practically irresistible to her grumpy lumberjack husband.

“I- Uh- Fucks sake, fine, put it on me”

“N-no it’s fine, you don’t havta if you don’t wanna” She whispered quietly looking down ‘dejectedly’, her lips biting back a smile as she heard Henry’s breaths start to deepen, he was giving in..

“No baby, I wanna, now put it on your man” He grumbled with a tight lipped smile, his vest already being thrown to the side, his wife scrambling to shove the loose and plushy fabric over his body, with it even looking big on Henry; now imagine how it looked on little Y/n.

“See! Look we’re matching, a-and we’re in the same hoodie, w-we can feel” She giggled excitedly pulling the hood up over his frumpy face, pulling her arms in from her sleeves and instead wrapping them around his bare torso. Both of them enveloped in this cocoon of warmth and fluff. Leaning back down against the couch, automatically her body was flush against his, her head hidden inside the hoodie as she slowly dozed off.

After about 10 minutes Henry had realised he hadn’t received another kiss on his chest, in fact she hadn’t really said anything at all. Slowly peeking in under her hood, he saw her softly snoring away on his chest, hidden away from the harsh world; safely sleeping against her protector, her husband. Henry would be a liar if he said he didn’t like this new hoodie, in fact he’d be a liar if he said he didn’t buy more of them after this.

———

PSA: This was way better planned in my head so kinda disappointed, BUT on a lighter note, one more Lumberjack!Fic and I will be starting the pregnancy 🤰 trope

Library blog @f10werfaes-cosy-collection

Taglist ( not accepting use library)

@pandaxnienke @thereisa8ella @kimhtoo17 @beck07990 @dumb-fawkin-bitch @madebylilly @kebabgirl67 @uwiuwi @marvelgurl @stormcloudss @girl-of-multi-fandoms @misshale21 @hallecarey1 @nikkitc0703 @mischiefsemimanaged @oliviah-25 @aerangi @bookfrog242 @alina02 @alexxavicry @lastwandastan @hp-hogwartsexpress @angelmather1 @acornacre @ggmimitf @thebaileybugle @p4st3lst4rs @kzhlvlysstuff @thoughtsofreid @cilliansangel @theekyliepage @cookielovesbook-akie @rosiesluv7 @yaminax @luvabellee @elenavampire21 @hoya122 @esposadomd @meyocoko @helenaellie @disaster-rose @severewobblerlightdragon @kemillyfreitas @adoreyouusugar @queensgirl718 @sweetybuzz25

Hope you all have a lovely weekend

[dino-boyo-agere]

Spider-Man headcanons for @dovey-luv-bug cuz he's da bestest superhero there is!!!

I'm going: Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy & Collectively ╰→ personally, I have the comic versions of them in mind

Peter Parker's Spider-Man -any one of them lol-:

He definitely has ADHD and is constantly stimming.

Also always has some stim toys at hand

Peter is a wild child, always running around.

Confident in his regression and pretty open about it, he actively tries to break the stigma.

Peter tends to get hurt, scraped knees, little cuts, etc. So his cg always carries Band-Aids.

LOVES to play "big brother" for other little ones and/ or kiddos.

He will get mad at you, if you forget to give his teddies a good night kiss on the forehead.

Prefers to read the good night story himself, instead of being read to.

When he's smaller than 7, Peter just makes up a story, that he think would fit the pictures in the book.. reading is hard.

Does not enjoy bath time, it's boring.

Miles Morales' Spider-Man:

Probably definitely autistic..

He is less hyperactive then Peter and prefers to chill and watch cartoons over actively playing.

HUGE cuddle bug!

Bad textures can ruin his whole day.

Gets overstimulated quite quickly, when smol and is prone to meltdowns.

Miles is way less confident about his regression. He tries to hide it because he's embarrassed about regressing.

Extra clumsy when little & needs all his boo-boos kissed immediately!!

The phrase "I'm a big boy 😤" gets repeated like a broken record.. It's not convincing anyone though.

Tends to get lost in "bad thought spirals" and needs his cg to pull him out of them.

Has a plushie he tells all his worries to. It's a dog with a zipper on the belly, so he can write down/ draw his worries and put them in the pouch if their to hard to talk about (yet) and puppy can eat them up.. His cg checks the notes every once in a while (with permission ofc). The plushie's name is "Therapuppy".

Really enjoys bath time, especially the extra attention from his cg.

Likes drawing & crafting of any kind.

Gwen Stacy's Spider-Woman/ Spider-Gwen:

Also autistic, definitely.

She is a flip and i see her slightly leaning to being a cg.

Just like Peter, Gwen talks openly about age regression, to break the stigma.

Also loves to help take care of "little sibbies" when small (just like Peter does).

Likes being called "big sis" when smol and "Ma" when in cg headspace.

Gwen likes to dance when & with little(s)

Definitely overprotective and overly cautious.. even when tiny, she worries quite a lot.

Likes to doctor her plushies and dolls back to health.

Enjoys to play pretend and go on adventures.

Collectively -all 3 Spider-Babs-:

Neurodivergent!!

It's a trauma response for all of them, but Peter & Gwen came to love it and like to regress just for fun and to relax sometimes. Miles will get there too, someday..

Sweetest little angels, so affectionate.

None of them have one certain cg, whichever trusted person is available will take care of the tiny ones! (often a Avengers member.. Though I personally especially LOVE Wade Wilson [Deadpool] as Peter's cg cuz I luv their comics together.. Aunt May is also an amazing cg!! Miles' Mom and Dad actually really enjoy to take care of little him & so does Gwen's dad with her.)

That's all I can think of right now, I might add to it later though! <3

.ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･».ﾟ°･⁠✧ ↓ DNI ↓ ✧･° ﾟ.«･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ.

Tagging @pink-crayon-princess bc they said they'd love to hear some head canons aswell <3

[oraclebabsday]

um hello!! im very new to comics, but of the characters I’ve seen so far, I really like Barbara and I was just wondering if you had any comic recommendations on where to start..? its very confusing trying to get into it all, but I’d like to be able to hold a conversation about someone I find interesting with my boyfriend so I can hear him info dump on me more cus he’s deep into dc so :)

Hi!!! That is so sweet omg 😭 Welcome to the weird wonderful world of comics!!! and also i’m so sorry for what I’m abt to throw at you lmao

Since you’ve sent this ask into an Oracle-centric blog, I’m gonna keep this rec list Oracle!Babs-centric (& also encourage my fellow mods to add on if they also have some recs!) I actually don’t have a whole lot of recs for Batgirl!Babs anyways, but I’ll be tagging my gen dc blog at the end in case you’d like to talk abt those or any other characters!

Also before I get Into the recs, I wanna give you some words of encouragement: there’s no right or wrong way to read! You’re also likely gonna have some well a lot of confusion at the beginning, esp bc there will be Events™️ that have ramifications™️ and you’re not always given full context of what’s come before or what’s happening concurrently with what you’re reading. I’ve been doing this for awhile and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the more that you read & explore, the more fun you’ll have & the more things will usually start to make sense! But it’s all gotta start somewhere first! :D and you’ve def chosen a great character to be your launching point!

Im gonna be hopping around a bit in my recs here but I’ll try to keep it mostly in chronological order. That said, first up:

Suicide Squad (1987) - she appeared semi-regularly starting in #23! This was also her debut as Oracle! I really enjoyed the overall run & would normally highly recommend it, but also want to warn that it’s a pretty heavy read in terms of content itself (canon-typical violence ofc esp for a SuiSq comic, discussions of suicide ideation, period typical stereotyping/‘subversion’ of said stereotypes, but that’s a deeper discussion for a different blog) For that reason, I don’t necessarily recommend it for a first-time reader, esp if you’re wanting to solely focus on Babs. Team books usually aren’t super great when you’re reading for an individual character, in my experience, esp in a case like this where the character isn’t always necessarily part of the team or appears sporadically enough to disrupt the flow of following a storyline.

Birds of Prey (1999) - This team book breaks that prev rule tho, bc Babs is the leader & is in Damn near every issue of this run 😂 There’s several smaller team-ups before the main ‘99 run (BoP:Manhunt, BoP:Wolves, etc), which are also good as a prelude before the main run itself. This will be the longest thing that will give you a LOT to parse through & ymmv with a lot of it. (Dixon & Simone are the most prominent writers for it & without getting Into It they each have their Issues™️ & Crimes™️) It also crosses over with a few events/references others. Imo it’s a good window into what comics are like overall, esp when you get into a longer run with multiple writers at the helm. But it has an added bonus of keeping a pretty small cast at its forefront (for about half the run, it’s solely Babs n Dinah!) It also has a follow-up run in 2010 which is broken up by-

Oracle: The Cure - (technically a 3-issue mini-series but!!!) this one’s a culmination of Oracle & Calculator’s (it’s not rivalry? That can’t be the right word… Uhhh, nemesis-sitch?) from BoP & leads right into bringing Babs back to Gotham in Steph’s Batgirl run as well as the next BoP run I mentioned just a sec ago. It’s what I like to call connective (t)issues lol. Ymmv I think depending on if you’ve read BoP ‘99/TT ‘03 beforehand, but I hadn’t read a lot of TT before reading it at the time, and I enjoyed it a lot!

A couple individual issues I wanna suggest:

Batman Chronicles #5 - Oracle: Year One!!!!! Cannot rec this one enough!!! In lieu of reading Killing Joke (which really only serves Bruce, Joker, Jim Gordon’s characters) read this!!! LICHERALLY her origin in coming into her own as Oracle!!! This one is THE place to start, actually, before you read anything start here 😂

Batman: Gotham Knights #6 - okay, this one is admittedly a self-indulgent rec. Without spoiling the plot, it’s CLASSIC soap-opera level shit. The TENSION at play & the layers of Bruce & Babs dynamic, the messiness of the batfam!!! 👌 *chefs kiss* GK as a run in general too was a LOT of fun for me & Babs is a pretty prominent player in much of it, but this issue rlly takes the cake for me ngl

And to tie it all together for an extra couple of Important Event recs that you’ll run into esp if you pick up BoP first:

Batman: No Man’s Land - okay, this event was a Behemoth. It’s a LOT to read, but it is REALLY good imo as a launching point for where Bat-comics were at the start of the millennium. Babs takes the narrative role SO many times throughout & she rlly comes into her own by becoming a linchpin for the info system she builds for the batfam. Again, I don’t wanna discourage you when I say it’s a Long read, bc it’s well worth it imo, but also 100% okay to skip when you’re just starting out! It’s a big time sink!

Batman: Officer Down - okay put away the meme forJUST A SEC, our old friend Jim Gordon’s been shot & it’s up to Batma- oh wait bruce sulks by Jim’s bedside while Babs rallies the troops and GETS SHIT DONE to find who shot her dad? INTERESTING 🧐 In all seriousness tho, & compared to NML, this is a much easier bite-sized event that can give you a taste of what Event/crossoverComics™️ are generally like 👍

Bruce Wayne: Murderer?/Fugitive - okay so, take that same energy of the batfam having to Put In The Work to help Bruce out & flip it around bc now Bruce is the Main Suspect. The drama, the Intrigue™️. Pretty much everyone in the fam gets a moment to shine & this is def peak of how Babs fits into the fam during this era. This one runs a bit on the longer side & babs is again, more of a support role here, but god damn I loved it a lot!

I feel like I’m obligated to at least Mention Batman: War Games, mostly to note that it finally shakes the foundation of Oracle being the batfam’s main support (her CLOCKTOWER gets nerfed in this event 😭) If you read all of BoP and skip over this event & then are confused abt why Babs is suddenly being ejected from Gotham, just remember that her clocktower gets blown up, Steph dies, Bruce n Babs have a falling out & that’s basically why Babs starts flying around the country & settles in Metropolis for a bit instead of going back to Gotham. I reread this event at least once a year bc it gave me brainworms, I can not in good conscience recommend it to anyone bc no one understands her (War Games) like i do 💕 Godspeed if you decide to read it o7

Other recs/mentions:

Batgirl (2000) - okay if you end up reading NML, you’ll be introduced to Cass in it, & this run picks up with her. Babs is in it a LOT at the beginning as supporting cast to Cass (up to War Games ofc, but I won’t say much more abt that lol) I’m ngl, when I was trying to get more into comics, this run was what HOOKED me

Batgirl (2009) - so in a similar vein, Babs also features as a support for Steph too in her batgirl run. It’s… different from Cass’ run, but I also rlly love this one too. And also am forever bitter that the Batgirls run didn’t realize their potential BUT WE’RE NOT GETTING INTO THAT HERE.

Gonna mention Batman: Gotham Knights one more time bc again, while Babs isn’t a main focus, I think it’s rlly good at tying the batfam together during that era & giving a reader glimpses into other characters/dynamics. I think I got more out of it after I had read a few other runs from this time period (namely Robin, Azrael & some prominent stuff with Huntress), but can also see it as a potential launching point for new readers too 👍 if you wanna get more into the batfam/Batman but are intimidated by the Big Runs, this can potentially be a good bridge!

Gonna rapid fire mention that Babs as Oracle has a lot of appearances in Robin (93), Nightwing (96), JLA (96), Azrael (95) and obvsly Batman/Detective Comics from the 90s into 00s. I’ve read a few of these runs, and ymmv depending on how attached you may get to certain characters. But that’s what comics is all about! Getting attached and exploring other characters n teams n stuff!

A Gen note that I wanna end on: I wasn’t exaggerating when I said earlier abt how the more you read the more you’ll have fun. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I’ve read something from a 90s/00s comic & was essentially jumpscared by a sudden Oracle cameo that I wasn’t expecting! She pops up in so many things throughout the universe at the time!!! She was THE info broker for all the supers!!! It makes me so insane that DC threw that all away to magi-cure her and demote her back to batgirl when she had grown so much 😭

anyways I hope you have fun!!! And again if you’re ever looking for other recs my more Gen dc blog is @dyketectivecomics! If my fellow mods or anyone else have some recs to add or to dispute haha, I’ll be tagging this so others can see/rb/reply to add their recs too 👍

Okay! \o/ that’s all I got for now! Happy reading anon!!!!

[intothetlkverse]

Decided to challenge myself by drawing every single TLK character out there, up until this point in time, and post it here. You can see the finished project on my main account, though I figured to post it on my tumblr just show I could proudly show off my work and a few of my head canons.

Here's all the extra species across TLG/K:

So with every list, there are almost always the outliers. I did try to be good about my sheets, combining species by similar categories like family tree relations(i.e. giraffes and okapis are both giraffids, feliforms, mustelids, etc.) or by general feel such as general size or associations(ex. aardvarks in the non-rodents category). However there was no doubt in my mind that I would end up with some truly hard to justify extras, ones that just couldn't fit, would've fit except for the lengths of the lists, or not enough members to justify their own list, and even some I forgot/chose to ignore until now. I'll give a brief description of them, why they didn't make any previous sheets, and any justifications for any changes I made.

Starting off with the bears, one of the biggest categories and probably could've made a smaller list, though I wasn't sure how to go about that. So Africa technically doesn't have any bears, the extinct Atlas bear aside, however in the Middle East we do have the Syrian brown bear, which is close enough to Africa, which makes it good enough for me. So from panda to polar to grizzly, they're all now Syrian brown bears, and there are five of them; Tangaagim/Taqaddam(reverence/sanctity-Arabic), his wife Female Polar Bear/Pabalelo(protection-Afrikaans), Heng Heng/Henna(a shrub, polite-Arabic), baby panda/Bapana(father-Sudanese) from the T&P Show episode/book "Don't Break the China", along with his parents, and Smolder the bear/Mvutaji(smoker) from various episodes. The first three are all native to the Tree of Life, as some of the few predators aside from the lions and Varya's family, though they mostly keep to themselves and chow down on the local foliage and fish. Bapana and his family live elsewhere in a more jungle setting, a strange trio as panda father's are notable absence typically. Mvutaji is a loner to most and a real pain in the butt and bully if you do get to know him, hence why others tend to avoid him. He's had a couple run-ins with Timon and Pumbaa, and has develop quite the aggression towards them.

Next is our other largest category here, featuring the goats. Technically could've added them to the bovines list, though that already was too long and had to be split. As for the goats, our mountain goats from TLG are now now Arabian tahr; Rama(ram), Cek/Cheik(learned, Arabic), and Baby/Bab(door, Arabic). A small herd, their family has lived for generations in the Tree of Life, enjoying the rocky cliffs surrounding the Oasis, occasionally acting as scouts for the pride.

We also have the Goat/Uboya(wool) from "The White I-don't-know-what", now a Nubian ibex, and Billy the Goat/Mbuzi(goat) from "Serengeti Western", also an ibex. For the former, after an eagle tries to hunt Simba during his mountain scaling trip, Simba struggles and the eagle ends up drops him. He lands in Uboya, and of course he's frightened by the sudden predator landing on his back, but after a brief moment of panic and decomposition, he allows Simba to ride him up the mountain to where the snow is. Meanwhile Mbuzi, along with Gaidi the scrub hare and Mad Dog McGraw/Nadawa(drugs) the wild dog, are part of a group of ruffians that threaten others for resources. Also there is Happy dog/Thabo(happiness-Southern Sotho) from "Let's Serengeti Out of Here". My HC is that Nadawa is an outcast from his pack due to his more sadistic, thieving behaviors and Thabo is his younger brother who thinks the world of his brother, not realizing he's a wanted criminal. Happy dog of course got a massive design rehaul to fit here, though I tried to still keep some semblance like making his eye color his original blue palette, keeping the lighter tip of his tail, and even sneaking in a smiley face in reference to his original tie on his chest. Mad Dog McGraw keeps his original colors, though I used the colors from his shirt, gloves, and hat as the spots/patches. The both of them I didn't know they existed until I really scoured the TLK wiki, otherwise he would've made it onto the canines sheet.

Going back to our hooved animals, we have our bactrian camel, now an Arabian-native dromedary camel; Nundu(hump), Kiril/Kiri(confession), a musk-deer-now-turned-Barbary-stag, and Tenuk/Teneil(cloud-Arabic) the tapir, now a rhino. Technically speaking, deer and antelope are not in the same family, cervidae vs bovidae, and while they may look similar, they are not closely related. Hence why he's here. Also I think I might lowkey ship him and Nundu here based on how they're looking at each other. Kiri and his herd are in the Nightlands in order to recoup their numbers after several tragedies wiped a lot of them out. Nundu is one of the Night Pride's members, serving as a messenger and guide for those seeking refuge at the Tree, directing them there if they see they truly need help, and Kiri was one of the ones Nundu personally guided back. Nundu got a hump removed to be more accurate to the Arabian-native camel species there, though I tried to keep some of the shaggy look. As for Teneil, tapirs are found in Malaysia, Sumatra, and South American countries, so a species swap was in order. Residing in the forest that Mama Civet and her porcupine prickle resided in, since their departure the community has slowly been rebuilding their strength and making it a safe haven for travelers once more, allowing the cultivation and free usage of tuliza for all. I chose rhino for him since that's the closest species they're related too, aside from horses interestingly enough, though looking at those lips I can see the resemblance. It does also amuse me a bit to think of a full-grown rhino being scared witless by a civet and some porcupine, then realizes later 'oh wait, I have a horn and several hundred pounds on these bullies'.

Next large category is primates, just non-monkeys: Kely(little-Malagasy) the golden bamboo lemur and the last of the Nightlanders, Perata(ring-Malagasy) the ring-tailed lemur from "A King-like Hairdo" that Simba saves from a log jam, Tarsier/Truuk(trick-Afrikkans) from "Congo on Like This", and Laini(delicate) the galago/bushbaby. Would've been on the primates list if it were not for the fact that it was so long, even when split up. So my HC is that a couple years ago, a horrible monsoon season hit Madagascar, and unfortunately several animals; Kely, Perata, and Truuk included, got sent to the mainland on fallen trees. Some like Kely and his troop eventually found themselves at the Tree of Life and settled in their, unable to figure out how to return back home. Perata the ring-tailed lemur found themselves in a similar predicament, landing closer to the Pridelands, though after being rescued and then rescuing Simba, the cub got him in touch with a bateleur eagle named Ubawa, who had previously shown great prowess and proficiency in returning animals back to their original homeland, as with Eiso the African penguin. Though locating and flying across the water to an island 250 miles off the coast while carrying a lemur on his back, Ubawa eventually succeeded in returning the little lemur home, then promptly retired from this job, and actually retired on the island. Next the tarsier, now aye-aye, Truuk, of whom I split both his tarsier disguise and jackal self into two different characters, now working together as partners. Though I hate to add further negative connotations to aye-ayes, given their already 'bad omen status', it was the closest thing I could get, since tarsiers are native to Southeast Asia and aye-ayes are from Madagascar, plus look closely to the former. He eventually came into contact with the jackal Barakoa. Using this misguided stereotype of being a harbinger of evil, plus being a generally frightening creature, he was able to negotiate with the jackal for his life; he would help trick and trap animals for Barakoa to kill, then they would split the results. Timon and Pumbaa nearly were the victims of this, though thankfully they had Simba around to chew butt and kick gum.... and.. well Tarsier's eyes kinda have that pink gum look to them, right? Lastly we have Laini the galago, a Pridelands native. Though mostly nocturnal, her and her group seem to be more diurnal, interacting with other animals freely in the day. Though skittish, she is very kind, even acting on occasion as the night patrol for the rulers.

Next up are marsupials, a group of mammals that have pouches in which their babies are nurtured in after birth. They are also mostly native to Australia and opossums are found additionally in both North/South America, though obviously not Africa, unless we go back several ages ago, though I like to stay more modern. First is Boudreaux/Butros(rock-Arabic) the opossum from "Okay Bayou?". Had considered moonrat, though that's a Southeast Asian species, plus not even a real rat. To keep with the grey color/general body shape/long snout, I went with the African giant shrew. Anyways he's one of Timon and Pumbaa's pals, an honest, simple soul. Next is formerly kangaroos, now springhares, mother and son duo; Joey/Jahi(dignified) and Joey's Mother/Jokia(attractive).

Lastly of the land-dweller is King of Pluto/Udo(second son-Afrikaans), given meerkat form. Unlike his daughter which did make it into the meerkat category, this guy didn't have any meerkat disguise or anything. His slug-like appearance would've made it onto the bug sheet, though I decided to just try and invent a meerkat form for him to go with his daughter. Colors like his daughter, blonde hair for his crown, eyebrows and chin meant to reflect his tentacles, and the blue and purple turaco feathers are reminiscent of his crown and cape.

And finally, the last category is warm-blooded sea creatures with Lumba Lumba(dolphin-Sudanese) the Indo-Pacific dolphin and Lester/Balyena(whale-Iloko) the humpback whale. Lester is a female human cursed to be a wish-giving male whale that gets turned back after fulfilling the wishes. I've already decided to do humans in the future for this project, just turned into animals to keep in with the animal-centric theme of this universe, though considering this character was a human that got turned into a whale, I've decided to just leave them as is. Also decided to split the difference, making them both female and a whale. Also I like how their name sounds like 'baleen', which is the name for the mouth filter system in most whales that allows them to strain seawater for food. Lumba Lumba is a Indo-Pacific dolphin. Both Chinese and Amazon river dolphins are known to be pink, though given that Lumba Lumba is clearly an ocean-dwelling type, an that albinism in ocean-dwelling dolphins does result in them becoming a pinkish color, like Angel the bottlenose dolphin, it made sense to make that the reason here, though unfortunately it does mean she's even more at risk for sunburns and the like. Decided to keep her saturated pink look.

[bambini-della-luna]

Story time! When the first chococat was in BaB, we happened to walk by and saw him through the window. We instantly connected to him and needed him. But, we were with our mother at the time and unable to go back on our own to get him. We never forgot him, though. Years later, we looked him up, thinking we would get him...and he was over 100$ on ebay. We gave up on ever having him as the price steadily went up.

Once BaB started releasing the Sanrio plushes again, we felt a small twinge of hope. We've obsessively checked for months and months, hoping for a chococat drop. And hoping his design wouldn't be ruined. When Keropi released, we got excited. Keropi was in stores the same year as chococat...we knew he had to be on his way...eventually.

Yesterday was..a bad day. Our housemate lost his dad suddenly. After a very long day, we were unwinding for bed and decided to scroll Tumblr. Someone posted about the cookiebara release, and we decided to check the new drop...

And there he was. Chococat. We legitimately couldn't handle the emotional response and kind of went numb for a bit, but it was him! And his design is amazing. We ordered him immediately.

We are still a bit too emotionally drained to really celebrate, but we woke up thinking about him. It's amazing that he exists and we can finally bring him home. His whiskers are different and his eyes are a little smaller, but that's him. That's the plushie we saw in passing in a window and wanted for over a decade.

So yeah. That's our chococat story. I can't wait for him to come home.

[op-sys-chaos]

Ok but then imagine this.

Red Hood has just gotten back to Gotham and is stalking Batman when someone slides up next to him and puts a finger to his lips (or where Red Hood imagines the kid’s lips are). Red Hood starts freaking out because that’s a kid why is there a kid here-

Then the kid hands him a letter before Hood can say anything, then pulls out a megaphone and plays a recording of a distant explosion. Batman, who’d been beating up a criminal, stops and goes to a nearby roof to search for the explosion. In the time it takes Batman to get up there, Tim’s long gone. Hood’s confused; he didn’t even see the kid leave!

Batman, upon realizing he’s been tricked again, looks into the alley and sees the beat up criminal has fallen unconscious, and stomps off, grumbling. Hood’s so lost at this point; who was the kid? Why does Batman look So Done With This Shit™️? And then he remembers the letter and opens it. It reads:

Dear J,

Welcome back to Gotham. We’ve missed you! Especially Batman, who misses you so much that he goes too far. I don’t think you’re any happier about it than we are. So I’m offering you a chance to help me fuck with Batman and stop him from going too far.

Want to pretend to be a hallucination?

Any time he’s going too far, show up and talk about “how disappointed in you I am, dad” and then vanish before he can get close. I’ll help you with the vanishing act too.

I’ll also keep up with my various plans to stop him from going too far, but it’d be better as a two person operation. Are you in?

-T (“Little Shadow”)

Jason is astounded. He’d been planning on fucking with Batman in a similar way (though much more violently) but now there’s a kid who knows his identity (or at least, knows he’s the Robin who died and that his name starts with J) and is asking for his help stopping Batman from going too far.

Jason can’t let this kid do this on his own. His crime lord plans can wait.

The next time Tim’s out on a rooftop, Jason tells him he’s in. Now, it’s a three person team. (Tim finally hacked into Oracle’s system and sent a message asking her how to hide themselves from the Bat’s cowl cams so he truly thinks he’s hallucinating if he looks back later. Oracle helps them out with this, giving them wearable tech that tells Batman’s system to hide them from the camera’s recording.) They work together, using Tim’s small stature and black hair and blue eyes to give him glimpses of “young Jason”, and then have Jason himself in a domino and an outfit that vaguely resembles his Robin uniform but in a casual clothes form, show up talking about how “this is what I would’ve looked like if I had the chance to grow up.” Oracle asks Batman who he’s talking to when he tried to reply, saying she doesn’t see anyone there.

Bruce starts thinking he’s losing it. He patrols less and less, staying home when he’s feeling incredibly bad mentally to avoid hallucinating in the field. As a side effect of this, Bruce is now no longer out on his worst days, so he’s less likely to go too far.

Eventually, Bruce starts to be able to regulate himself and be the man he thinks his son would’ve wanted. He reins himself in, being a good hero again. Slowly, he starts going back out, and the next time he sees a Jason hallucination, he tells the hallucination “I’m going to be better. For you, son.”

HalluciJason starts tearing up. “That’s all I wanted,” he says. “Thank you, dad.”

(This is the real Jason. Over the course of his time working with Tim and Babs, he’s worked through some of his shit and is ready to be a functional member of society without the murder. Tim and Babs helped him start thinking clearer. In addition to that, Tim pointed out that the best way to prove a point to Bruce was by doing better within the confines of the Bat’s rules, not by breaking the rules. If you break the Bat’s rules, he instantly won’t listen. So the Red Hood becomes a Crime Alley-specific Batman, doing a much better job than Bruce because he’s focused on a smaller area. Tim becomes RH’s tech support guy, with some help from Oracle. Every time the Bat tries to approach Hood, Hood gives the Bat the middle finger, shouts “stay out of my turf!”, and runs off. Batsy starts taking the hint pretty fast. Anyway.)

So now, after two months of Bruce being the best Batman he can, the Shadow Club (Tim, Jason, and Babs) decide it’s time to let Dick in on the secret. Jason goes to the Clocktower, and Babs tells Dick that Jason’s alive and what he and Little Shadow have been up to. Dick’s ecstatic - Jason’s not only alive but he’s also working with Dick’s favorite little menace (who he really wants an autograph from). He’s a bit pissed at Babs from keeping this a secret until Babs explains how much better Bruce has been since this plan started. She mentions that Dick and Bruce are still on the outs, and it could’ve upset the delicate balance of the hallucination illusion they were creating.

So now Dick’s in on it. Bruce hasn’t seen the HalluciJason in weeks, ever since the thanks he got, and he’s feeling more mentally stable so he goes out more and more, eventually getting back up to his old standard. The only time he backslides is when the Joker escapes. Bruce breaks the Joker’s legs so he can’t run out of Arkham any time soon. Jason approves, though, so there’s no need to scold him via fake hallucination.

Eventually, Red Hood starts letting the Bat into his territory. He shows him around; he shows him the small panic buttons he installed in various easy to access locations so people on the street can call for his help if they need it, he shows him his network of informants who know what information he needs and how to get it to him, he shows him the resources he’s helped set up for people like the soup kitchen he’s funding using money taken from gangsters. Batman is in awe; Hood’s doing some really good work. He absolutely take the panic button ideas and installs panic buttons in various places around the city, but makes sure that they connect to the GCPD in addition to him. Slowly, Batman and Red Hood start working together more and more, trading information when a criminal goes into each other’s territory, helping each other with massive busts that need several people, etc. Nightwing also pitches in when he’s in town, and slowly, he and Bruce heal their relationship. (Bruce already failed one kid, he won’t fail the other. He’s going to make sure Dick knows he’s loved.)

After a year of solidly working together, Hood (after a lot of convincing from Tim, Dick, and Babs) decides he’s ready for Bruce to know. He starts small; he goes to Wayne Manor when he knows Bruce is off world and tells Alfred he’s alive. Alfred convinces him to stay at the manor for two days until Bruce gets back. He also uses this time to run all the tests that Bruce would and verify his story. When he does, they have a wholesome reunion. And then Jason admits being the Red Hood. Bruce is so incredibly proud of his son. They start fully coordinating and working together. Hood adds a bat symbol to his costume. Jason and Dick also team up to convince Bruce to adopt Tim and Tim to accept the adoption (the latter is much harder).

All in all, the family is happy. Bruce can’t even bring himself to be mad at them when, two years later, he finds out the truth about the hallucinations.

They’re a happy family. It was worth it.

Tim, who is not Robin, but still feral

Okay, let's say Tim's parents decide that even if their child doesn't need a nanny, they want someone to check on their son's well-being. So Tim is required to go to the doctor once a week. And after he tried to bribe his first one to just tell his parents everything was fine. Janette decided it would be someone else each time.

Tim gets a car once a week that picks him up to see a doctor he doesn't know.

That way he doesn't have time to search for dirt, and he can't bribe anyone, since everyone drinks his mother more than him.

So after Nightwing turned Tim down (Dick later claimed the boy was black-haired and blue-eyed, but since he was often hallucinating Jason at the time, even he wasn't sure). The guy realized he couldn't go to Batman and insist on being Robin. The first fracture (which is 100% likely to happen in the early days of jumping on roofs and kicking angry adults) and the doctor would hand him over to his parents.

So Tim came up with a Plan.

Batman was angry, for a month now someone, every patrol, has been standing up for criminals. If he's lucky, he manages to land 5 hits (dude, your 1 hit can put a person in the hospital, Tim just has short legs, he still needs to run to the edge of the necessary roof) when someone distracts him.

Last time, they poured a bucket of paint on his head, it became almost impossible to see through the mask. Another time, they shot paintballs at his head until he left.

There was another memorable incident when something small landed on his head, and the next moment he was attacked by bats.

But today he finally cornered the attacker, it was a child whose face was hidden behind a mask that completely covered his face, and his hair was hidden behind a hood. He slowly approached the boy, he needed to find out who he worked for. Who decided that they had the right to interfere with him punishing criminals.

Only when Batman grabbed the attacker by the shoulder he felt dizzy and then everything around him went dark. Tim quietly patted himself on the head for the backup plan of the backup plan.

After waking up, Batman did not feel calmer, on the contrary, this meeting ignited even more rage in him.

How dare this child run around Gotham so carefree when his son was killed, how dare he protect criminals when one of them killed his son, how dare he..

That day, a file on a new criminal with high priority appeared on the Batcomputer, Alfred only reproachfully pursed his lips.

By the time Red Hood escaped from Talia (Yes, he escaped here, I don't know for sure, but I think Talia was pitting Jason against Tim to ensure her son had direct access to Bruce's legacy). Batman and Tim's confrontations became legendary.

Tim even had his own name and merchandise! Several names, actually, he was called Gotham's Whisperer, the Soul of Shadow, or Little Shadow. And in various Gotham stores you could find little figurines of him with various weapons that he demonstrated during this time.

Nightwing adored the little guy, although he had never met him in person. In fact, no one except Bruce had ever encountered the kid. And although Oracle never officially supported the boy, she never warned Batman if she saw a small dark silhouette through the cameras. Although Dick really wanted to know where the kid got the sniper rifle with tranquilizers, or how he hacked the Batmobile to put a sleeping Bruce in it and send him to the Cave, or how he got so many incriminating photos of Batman that he scattered all over the city when Batman didn't take one of his threats seriously.

Simply put, Nightwing was a fan, and had wanted the kid's autograph ever since the kid evacuated an entire alley, including Bruce, by playing the sound of a pack of rabid dogs approaching.

Batman, though he had passed the peak of his rage, still made Gotham afraid if he was spotted trolling alone.

Red Hood was furious, not only did his father not have the courage to avenge him, but he also dared to splash out his aggression on anyone who was not breathing smoothly on HIS Alley of Crime.