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dailycass-cain · 1 year

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How I Came to Appreciate Batgirl: Redemption Road More...

Once upon a time, I wasn't really fond of this story. I hated and loathed it. Since 2020 however, I gained a greater appreciation for the mini-series. Now it isn't on the top tier of Cassandra Cain stories, but I don't see it lower tier list anymore.

Why?

Well, I'm going to tell you, and maybe you'll appreciate this story too.

I fully confess this story more as a "Schrödinger's Cassandra Cain" story. There is a lot of bad in it, and yet there is a lot of good in it. First off, the one element I do enjoy is the art by Jim Calafiore.

There's a grit Calafiore brings to this story. It helps balance the good and the bad. The good is that he draws a very scary Cass. That and I do enjoy the opening homage to a certain two-clawed Wolverine in the opening spread:

Now for the very title of the series, you can interpret "redemption road" as two-fold: in writer Adam Beechen redeeming not only Cassandra in the eyes of the Bat-Family but redeeming himself with readers for well turning her heel back in Robin #150 and "Titans East" (Teen Titans #42-47). Cause let's face it-- it was not a good story by any means and did neither Cass or Beechen any further favors (but I digress, Geoff Johns, plotted that all out and there are "reasons" for Slade getting away free).

You have those factors and this little tale. So at Wizardworld Chicago 2008 I attended a panel where the infamous Dan DiDio revealed that Beechen bugged him for pitches and the one of approved was this mini.

He also revealed Beechen was the only one pitching stories on Cass (which was a half-lie, if you've seen my "Lost Tales of Cass" post, you know Chuck Dixon had a fill-in issue of Detective Comics ready to go telling how Cass/Bruce mended).

Course, by this time period Dixon was exiting Robin and Batman & the Outsiders so, yeah it was a "half-truth".

That made me angry back then, but now I see the why, and I'm okay with it. In his original ways of writing Cass, Beechen's attempts were-- not good. This was his chance to show readers he had really looked into the character's history and fix these issues that he himself put in.

Think about it we came from this in Robin #152:

To this. Beechen calling out the grand problem within the Bat-books (even now it seems). Cass is important in the Bat-Family, SO TREAT HER AS SUCH. Which he does by having Alfred (of course) pointing these things out.

But Alfred isn't the only one being meta in this story. I didn't even realize it, until 2020, but there is one other character playing a meta part in this comic, Nightwing.

If there's one HUGE gripe with this particular volume it is the relationship of Cass/Dick in it. We went to them being brother/sister.. to well. We have Dick literally acting like a dick to her.

Then it hit me.

Who was writing Nightwing at the time period? Peter Tomasi. Who treated the character of Cassandra like what Alfred says? Then suddenly Dick's characterization here began making sense much more sense (when you have this going right after this series as if that writer was flipping off Beechen) in Tomasi's final page of Nightwing:

Cass was supposedly living in the Manor at this time (per this story). Funny how she was "forgotten" in Nightwing. I guess Tomasi was REALLY spiteful because he revisited this subplot during the New 52 Batman & Robin too with Bruce even twisting the knife further:

Though for Beechen's purposes he revisits on WHY Cassandra should be a key member of the Bat-Family. Not only that, but Cass goes thru a journey that explores the limits of the Bat-Family's underlying culture of vengeance. And she reaches a natural conclusion to this (more on that later).

So let's get to the real bad. No not the 90s designed goons of David Cain or Deathstroke. No not the David Cain characterization. I'm talking about #1's wall of text that would make even Brian Michael Bendis blush.

This is only one page of it in the issue. We got TWO.

Until this issue, we never really got a "defined" timeline of Cass's EVIL period. We just figured OYL, Supergirl #14, Robin #161-162, and Titans East was how it happened. Turns out we were WRONG. Did we really need to see these pages of text? Not really.

In all honesty, I think a simpler solution would have been just tiny panels of Cass seeing the various people she killed when drugged up. At the very least, it would put faces on those Cass was forced to do. You could feel her rage on why she's hunting Slade/David Cain then.

Plus it feels like we're missing something as Tim was basically like Dick in Titans East. But now he's changed. Why? There could have been panels of Tim showing care for Cass in this. Instead, he just feels muted throughout this mini.

The first issue ends with Cass confronting another mystery lady murdering some of Slade/David Cain's assassins. And again, a problem I have with this mini.

These "children of Cain" feel so nameless save for Marque, who is the opposite of Cass. She embraces the violence that she was taught and is David Cain's own Frankenstein Monster. Throughout the mini she just comes off as superfluous and edgy. Really edgy...

I really think Beechen missed a prime chance here in having Cass trying to save someone like herself. Someone unlike Cass, didn't realize life as much as she did. That finally, Cain cracked the code (with help from the Slade juice). And Cass could try to redeem her.

So this whole theme of redemption could be all over the place then. Marque throughout this just feels, meh. Speaking of meh say hello to meaningless male love interest #3 for Cass.

This subplot just feels pretty meh. I get the why Beechen tried it. The writer from Batman: City of Light attempted this. Dylan Horrocks with Black Wind during his run on Vol. 1, and Andersen Gabrych attempted this in his run with Zero (and let's face it we only remember his name because he died).

The whole love subplot just feels so unnecessary here. Again we could have more stuff with Tim helping her. Something. Instead, we get someone we care little about. Because A.) we've seen it before and are so over it.

B.) Compare it with Shadow of the Batgirl which did this right. It balanced everything by showing Cass being the focus here (you know the actual main character), and less on the intended male love interest (until later when she gets to know him, Erik, more as the reader does too)

Which leads to this positive in #2. In one page we are given Babs realizing what Cass has been up too and is all for her going on this quest (probably knowing where this will end). Which is again, a good contrast to where Babs and Cass are here. Babs knows Cass needs this.

Bruce doesn't. Dick SOOOOO doesn't. But Babs fully understands. And I do love me some Babs being a good mentor.

Another positive in this issue does is laying the groundwork on how David Cain/Deathstroke forged this partnership when Cass/Marque visit a former colleague of both men.

That these two knowing one another was hinted at in Batgirl Vol. 1 by Kelley Puckett himself when Cain told Bruce in #5 of a job that was beneath him, Slade, and Lawton's talents. So in that regard, that's a nice callback.

Speaking of callbacks, you can't have Cass hunting Slade and not have run into Ravager (who was also actively hunting her father too during this time period of DC). And here the two's interaction is hit or miss.

Rose equally has a grudge against Slade for pulling the same stuff that he did to Cass. So they can easily relate to the other. Also, you have a built-in Rose going to more extremes than Cass (thanks to Sean McKeever's underrated Teen Titans run character arc involving her).

This is why Marque again comes off as the third wheel in all of this. If you're reading DC Comics at the time (or even now). You want the Cass/Rose interactions here. You don't care about the gritty edgy third person who's ruining the antics between the other two.

Like literally, the tension between Cass/Rose should be all that you need. There's history between them both. There are similar goals each wants. But it comes off as meh throughout this due to Marque. I mean look at this panel below and tell me who sticks out as the sore thumb?

Cause then you have panel later on in the book that makes you want to fist pump with these two now that are Marqueless. Who doesn't want to read THAT?!

Look, the idea of Marque is intriguing but there should have been a clear subject spawned from Deathstroke/David Cain's alliance. An assassin. A roadblock. A hurdle. Not nameless ninja assassins with badly designed outfits.

If this was just Marque fighting Rose/Cass then at least the fight could have meant more meaning. A face to go along with someone who's being down there as Rose/Cass got away from their murderdads.

Because there's no weight to any of these fights which should have more impact. Instead, they come off as weightless. And more blood spilled by Marque because the EDGE MUST FLOW!

But if #3 has another problem is Dick really being a bastard. Seriously, WHAT THE HELL DICK?! But then again, I get it now on why Dick is acting as such. Just that this bad characterization does come at the expense of Nightwing. Like WOW.

So here I am bashing the heck out of this third issue, with very little good finding in it. Well, there is one other additional good. That's the opening page/panel when Cass is out (due to Rose from last issue).

Where does this love of Cass/Shiva together come from? This comic! Beechen of all writers laid the seed that Bryan Edward Hill in Batman & the Outsiders and Michael Conrad & Becky Cloonan on Batgirls would use. The hidden desire Cass has: she wants Shiva to be a mother to her. Yes, Barbara is a good mother too (and dammit where is she in this panel above?!)

Regardless, Beechen does understand a want Cass has that James Tynion opened (and failed at) while Hill fleshed out WAAAAAAY more. So much more that now this has to be the standard of their relationship now. Literally, this is just gold between the two of them now.

But if you want to know where this hunger for Cass/Shiva to have an actual daughter/mother relationship came? You can thank Adam Beechen for that!

#4 finally has the long-awaited fight between Cass and Slade with it well being quite lackluster thanks in due part to Marque and the nameless daughters of Cain.

But I do confess there are a few dialogue pieces in #4 I do enjoy. Like Slade twisting the mental knife to get the better of Cass here.

We get no cathartic scenes for either Rose or Cass here (everyone seems to get robbed of having them with Slade at this time period in DC). Just a rushed end to a rushed subplot.

Again, this could have been the point where Cass was reaching to Marque and that could have been the point for Slade to decide, "WHELP TIME TO EXPLODE AND RUN!" Setting up the next issue. Instead, these nameless kids all die and we the reader feel nothing for them.

When in fact we should feel more. But so it is comics and we get the abrupt ending of the Cass/Rose union. Because this is all we get of Slade and her after this issue. Which is a pity.

Again given how both have similarities with horrible fathers. There should be much pathos here between Cass/Rose. How Cass sees going down this path of vengeance can poison you still (as it is doing to Rose). With Marque being.. ugh.

If that wasn't enough we get again nameless male love interest and ugh. Yeah, I'm just not gonna post more of that. Other than Cass realizes just who Slade and her pop would target to announce their alliance but also hurt the heroes: Oracle.

Which makes complete sense. I just wish the comic did a better job with it like Bruce Wayne: Murderer did only now David Cain this time going after Barbara (as he went after Bruce in that event story). There's a lot of things this comic could have done better at.

#5 opens with Dick, Bruce, and Tim fighting Cass due to the former ratting out her plans to kill David Cain to the latter two. Still, it is kind of cathartic Dick getting punted.

...

I hate myself for enjoying that.

If you're expecting any sort of closure between Dick/Cass here you aren't going to get any in this series. Dick continues to be a dick to Cassandra in Frank Tieri's fill-in arc of Batman & the Outsiders #13-14. After that, Dick FINALLY stops acting so OOC.

Here we go back into the positives of this series. I do enjoy Cass scoping the eventual scene of the crime out. She looks at the evidence she's got and with her skills predicts how and where her father will try to take the shot at Babs.

These pages come to show that Cass indeed can be a fine detective on her own right (thanks to Babs, Bruce, and Tim teaching her). Knowing how and when the crime could occur before it even does with what she knows.

And so we get probably the second-best part of this series. These next two pages.

I mean it's not Damion Scott, but Calafiore does have the nice little details here and there. Also nice of Beechen to use TWO homages of Cass here. From this set-up shot from Vol. 1 from above too…

To Cain about to strike a Gordon down and once again, his daughter stops him from taking the killshot. There's a bit of poetry there.

So in some callbacks, the creative team does nail them. I have to confess other than Marque, #5 is probably the portion of the story where it actually gets good. Even if it does come at the small price of David Cain's characterization.

Look, yes David Cain is a monster, but there's a difference between monsters who aren't portrayed as human and the ones who are. Cain had a perfect balance of this in Vol. 1 The stuff in this volume (and until again Shadow of the Batgirl) David just is a complete monster.

In that regard, the pathos of the villain just feels more hollow. If save Slade talked to him while in prison. Told him he could perfect and deliver that perfect child soldier. Bring a reason for his life again. I'd buy that more than what we got here in Vol. 2.

Why going into the final issue why I go into that mindset. It helps the reasons flow better for the character then what we actually got. And the ultimate fight between the two is handled well.

I also love that both Babs/Bruce are doing crowd control here (both at this point knowing this is something Cass NEEDS). I love that Charlie sees what is going on and her first instinct is to help Cass.

It's a pity we never got more interactions between Charlie/Cass. If only there were some subplots that could have been dropped so we could have got that.

While we don't get the cathartic stuff with Slade we do get it with Cass going up against her father. Just unloading the life he never gave her with a fury.

It's an almost Return of the Jedi moment of Vader/Luke's final duel with Cass just unleashing it all on her own father who cannot defend himself against the rage of his child. And much like Vader/Luke there's that moment when the later realized what will happen if he continues.

Like Luke, Cass has that realization too. That if she has her vengeance what will it solve? All this pain. All this suffering that's she has dealt with these last few months. Will killing him solve it? Of course, we know the answer cause it's Cass.

No. Being a killer is not who she is. She is a hero. So she attempts to save her father, but well as we find out this is where Bruce and Tim were hiding. Waiting and watching to see if Cass would come to this realization.

And we come to the best moment of this comic where Bruce puts his batdad side full-on. I love that the focus is on Cass here. Hearing what Bruce is saying and you just see the raw emotion of her just cracking up wanting this so bad until...

The hug from her true dad with a proud brother looking on. If only you know a stupid tie-in didn't have to ruin the good moment making any readers go, "What the hell is R.I.P.?!"

Like seriously, I'm surprised no one has photoshopped that R.I.P. out of the panel. If you take it out. Damn does this work more. But by putting it in there. "Oh yeah, Bruce is about to die. ...." And that emotion just leaves you to do this.

So if any of you great Photoshoppers out there can take that R.I.P. out? That'd be just great.

So Batgirl vol. 2 looking under this lens isn't the worst Cass story, nor does have enough good to be amazing to recommend. It's just there with both good and bad. It's average.

Hence it is Schrödinger's Cass. It is exactly this. But it was worth talking about. Because it is a period of Cass that should be talked of more. Because it does redeem Adam Beechen with the character.

Along with redeeming Cass with the Bat-Family. It's just a pity only Frank Tieri decided to follow on this and NO OTHER WRITER. Sadly not soon after we'd be getting the teases that Babs would be back as Batgirl from the Blackest Night mini caps at the end of BoP and Nightwing.

For certain folk at DC already made up their mind with the character, and she wouldn't be Batgirl or apart of the Bat-Family that much longer. I guess they assumed this Volume would be considered a "gift". That Cass got closure... Ugh.

If you want to know more about DC meddling. Then see here when I go more into detail on that.

That said, Batgirl Vol. 2 gets a lot of bad rap, but it isn't all bad. It's highly flawed, but there is some good in it. … And here's me going all RoTJ fully with it. 😋

With that, I'm gonna call it a night. Because tomorrow there are things I hope for tomorrow. REALLY AMAZING THINGS for us Cass fans tomorrow at long last.

But not freaking Batman/Catwoman: Gotham War. That can go to hell...

#cassandra cain #dc comics #my thoughts

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crayonnthief · 2 months

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Sup, who's your favorite turtle, and why?

If I’m being REALLY specific, then 2007 raph.

This is due to him being my first favourite turtle ever. 2007 having been the first TMNT media I ever watched, when I was really young and is something I loved greatly.

I find a lot of depth within the film and love speaking on the complexity’s of the characters within the movie. (Raph and Leo’s complicated dynamic. You want to be pissed at Leo, sure he’s a hypocrite at many stages and lets his ego get in the way a few times, but you also need to understand his own self loathing. It was causing him to take out his anger on Raph putting up a front to be what he thought his family “needed”. Leo having deemed himself a “failure” and struggled to return because of that, seeing them “better without him” As well as raphs use of anger to mask emotions, clearly upset that Leo was gone for A YEAR longer then we was supposed to.

Caused so much heavy tension and stupid actions to occur. Leo could have been dead for all they knew having disappeared without a letter and the fact Leo did not address his absence clearly upset Raph, he was probably scared that he would note see his brother again, then Leo turns up and pretends like he never left? Raph wanted Leo to address the elephant in the room, but Leo never did. Not even by the end, they still seemed to dance around what happened, leading to an emotional tango. (There is much more I could go into. I could talk on and on about this movie)

Though I wish 2007 mikey and Donnie had more screen time, I actually LOVED 2007 Donnie (for some reason his voice actor just fit so well) plus the times he was on screen I found him funny, and if there was more complexity to the character shown, he would of 100% been my favourite.

But if I’m saying overall favourite turtle then My favourite is Donnie in most iterations.

It Varies sure 2012 Donnie, rise Donnie, 2003 Mikey, idw Donnie (I love metalhead ok. This might change the more I read) Mutant mayhem Donnie and 1987 raph (I’m not forgetting The last ronin, its just it’s focused on Mikey solely and I haven’t watched the Batman TMNT movie. I want too though)

(Tbh mm Donnie can be quite cringy but I just love his design sm)

I think I’m most attached to Donnie because of 2012 Donnie.

2012 was the first tv series I watched of TMNT (after 2007) and easily my favourite was Donnie. His loved for accuracy and fact, as well as overthinking and creativity, wanting structure and control, are things I relate to (not obsessing over a person though :/ that’s the only part I’m not a fan of, is Donnie’s crush on April and sure April did some questionable things but I don’t dislike her, cause people do dumb things sometimes)

I didn’t like her kissing him when he was FINALLY going to give up on her. But it was more a fault of poor writing (There is a lot of Poor writing in 2012 sadly)

Sorry for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes!

^^ im dyslexic please be kind.

#tmnt #teenage muntant ninja turtles #tmnt2007 #raph tmnt #tmnt raph #tmnt donnatello #donnie tmnt #raphael tmnt #crayonnthieftalks #digital art

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sweetberrylover · 8 months

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Can you tell me what was in the Valentine's day story

OH brother I knew someone was going to make this question

Obvious spoilers for the new Plastic man Valentine story from “How To Lose A Guy Gardner In 10 Days”

Basically most people are mad at how bad the characterization of plas is in that story that basically treated him as shallow doofus that EVERYONE hates for no good reason that has to learn a big lesson at the end of the story

So like imagine Joe Kelly levels of bad writing but atleast in this one they didn’t make him a pervert THANK GOD ( although they still make him kind of a horndog and there is a part in particular where he ask Wonder Women out and it’s cringy to say the least )

Also the design they gave him is just… mh not great

( Here’s examples of what I’m talking about so yk I’m just making this up )

It really sucks not only because of how all the waiting we did just for it not be good but also because there really was something you could have done with this concept that would actually be good with Plas

Plastic man is a character that does infact has a history of bad luck in romance mostly because back in the Golden age he seemed pretty uninterested and even scared of woman and in the modern age any love interest he has had is a cardboard girl that’s only exists to give him children or to cause conflict ( in summary most of his love interests are non-existence or straight up abusive/toxic)

Having a story explore his bad luck with romance or a story exploring him dealing with a bad relationship would be very interesting and great development but unfortunately that’s not what happened here. Everybody mistreats him for little to no reason, they paint him as shallow womanizer and throughout the story he hits on a women who turn him down multiple times and also he thinks she’s is married for most of it which obviously paints him in such a bad light

For some odd reason not only does everyone around Plas treat him like trash ( Batman starting to date Plastic mans girlfriend after she basically cheats on Plas all the time and Wonder Woman not knowing who he even is EVEN THOUGH PLAS HAS BEEN IN THE JL FOR A LONG WHILE ) and somehow that’s his fault but also the writers forget the two big things about him is 1 his supposed to be heroic and 2 his supposed to actually be a character and not just a gag joke

Im summary it’s just not that interesting or good. It’s not offensively bad as Joe Kelly or Mark Waid writing but the reason people dislike so much it’s cause we have seen this song ad dance over and over again and it’s just tiring

( forgive me for the bad English or typos this isn’t my first language and I’m also typing this in a hurry because there so much I want to say but also ik I can’t make this super long )

#to add more things to this #plas isn’t allowed to have a cast of reacorring characters #woozy chief branner Luke Edwina Pado Angel Morgan or any of his rouge basically don’t appear in canon anymore or exist solely to cause drama #now with all that in mind he’s also treated as a shag character and Plas himself hasn’t appeared in canon for a long while #pair all this and than have the little appearances he has in comics now is has a background character #a gag character or in bad stories like this ofcourse people get mad #it’s just sad to see Plas being treated as a one trick pony with no dept or something interesting going on #any ways #rant disguised as essay #plastic man #woozy winks #not art related #ask/tell me anything

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ilovebeingaturtle · 1 year

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Besides 87 raph what’s your opinion on the other iterations just curious

Assuming you mean the other iterations of Raph? So! Cracks knuckles here we go-

First of all I really enjoy 90s Raph, just the fact? His ass keeps getting into trouble? Like first movie he’s thrown through a window, second movie he gets kidnapped by the Foot, this boy is accident prone and I love it AHA also his accent is super fun. I wouldn’t rank him tooo highly on a list of favourites? 90s!Donnie is my favourite live action turtle overall, but he’s great! And if you add on 07 as the fourth movie for this version of turtles he’s awesome, I fucking love the concept of the nightwatcher!!! And his dynamic with Casey in that movie might be my favourite version of the duo, good Raph all around pats his head

Feel like I should also add on my thoughts about Next Mutation Raph here too while on the topic of like-the live action turtles, but I honestly don’t have much to say yet AHA, I’ve only seen like four episodes so far and I think Venus is the only character I really like from it (she’s so lovely,,,my sweet daughter,,) OH also! Adding on again with live action, I think the fact that Raph is one of the singers for the stageshow tours is fucking brilliant AHA, something about him being musical inclined just feels right for me (maybe because 87!Raphael loves singing all the time so seeing other iterations do it makes me happy? Who is to say) also the suit designs are just really cute I love their goofy accessories

03! 03! I LOVE 03! One of the lamest Raph’s but that just endears him even more to me, his lines are just so. Cheesy and uncool, and they’re delivered with the gruffest thickest accent ever, it’s perfect. He’s also just such a good brother, he can be so patient and supportive, 03 has such a well rounded team man. Like the bonds are so strongggg, you really feel such a connection between all the turtles. Like I adore his back and forth with Mikey, him and Donnie’s dynamic I feel like I don’t even need to talk about and him and Leo are so sweeeeet. Oh! Also! Love how Fast Forward made him the tallest, it’s perfect boy had a growth spurt. (Oh, also I hope this isn’t cheating by bringing up 87, but I love the dynamic Turtles Forever gave him with the 87 turtles. Could it have been written better? Yes. But is the concept of him slowly warming up to them and acting like their older brother adorable? Also yes.)

I think if I’m going in release order IDW is next? In which case, YEAHHH THIS GUY! The idea that he briefly was alone after being first mutated is so fascinating, I like how it puts a new lens on his loner habits, he’s also just super caring and ah! Good Raph! Him and Pepperoni are adorable and I like how he was the one to reach out to Mikey when like-that whole situation was happening. I have more thoughts but ajshajshsjshajhs ya know-

2012 Raph is like one of my favourites, I think just the fact he’s so sweet and gentle sometimes is just really endearing, he’s the Disney princess Raph! Look at those Rapunzel green eyes, I love it. He’s also just so fucking funny, his dialogue is dripping with sarcasm he’s got quips and it’s great. Plus his dynamic with Splinteeeeeerrr was so fucked gahhhhI just love this little guy man! He’s a good little guy! Like usual I struggle to put my thoughts about 2012 turtles into words I just want to shake them around like dog toys instead

Okay so I haven’t actually seen the first Bayverse movie yet, but I really like Raph in the second! He’s fun! I really enjoyed how him and Mikey are a duo almost, they’re both team purple ooze and that was super fun. I kinda really wish Bayverse had it’s own spin-off cartoon to expand more, I think Out of the Shadows had some strong concepts and it just tripped over itself a lot AHA, oh! Also since this is kinda short, on the topic of movies I enjoyed Batman VS TMNT Raph a lot too, that scene where he talks down Batman and talks about family? Like that sold him for me, both good movie boys

I think Rise making Raph the big brother is amazing, it’s so cool to see things shaken up and his portrayal in the show really does make sense. He’s still recognisable as Raph, but we get to see how a character we love can be shaped differently by new circumstances. All Raph’s have that natural protector role but now we see how him being the ‘Leo’ would impact that-also that aside he’s just a super sweet Raph! I love how he’s still playful while trying so hard to get his brothers to work as a team, I wish we had more episodes where he tries to get them to do stupid training exercises. There’s just something so earnest about this version, you gotta love him

Mutant Mayhem Raph surprised me! If I’m honest, while I don’t find anything wrong with more violent and angry leaning Raphs they’re definitely not the iterations I personally lean to the most? 87!Raphael is my favourite so that’s probably a given AHA, but like this boy completely knocked it out of the park. I love how smug he is, this boy is honestly just happy to be here and he got quite a few laughs out of me. He’s a very well balanced mix of what has come before honestly, I’m super excited to see him in depth in the future. AND HIS WHOLE DYNAMIC WITH HIS BROS IS JUST SO CUTEEEEEE OKAY IM DONE AUSHAJAH

#I just sorta rambled hope this is even readable AHAJAH #Sorry to any Raphs I missed! this post would have gone on forever if I continuedjagsjsh

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turtle--soup · 2 months

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Watching TMNT Next Mutation Episode 7 (when I really shouldn't be but... eh.) 😅

Ramblings under the cut.

Sewer rays? OK.

Dude's riding a motorbike through the sewer. Raph just makes it look so cool he stated a trend huh?

"Do I wanna meet the NYPD? Hmm... naaahh, absolutely not!" Same Mikey, same...

Big monkey. Who is his voice actor? He sounds familiar...*

"I can't believe this! I've been dissed by a gangster ape!" Mikey bro this is like a regular Monday for you surely?

"Certified turtlefied!" Adding that to the List of Things I Can't Believe They Say

"Cops in the sewers? They don't sell donuts down here!" Raph providing the obligatory donut jokes 👍

"I dunno what you been eatin'. But I want some." Why don't they believe Mikey about the monkey dude? Like literally they are talking turtles. If anything a talking ape is less weird

These gangsters are all dressed like they're cosplaying alt- design Joker Funko Pops. Or they got lost on the way to audition to be in the 60s Batman TV show.

"We're ninja - not the Power Rangers!" Yesssssss they're crossing the streeeeeaaaamms!

Raph 'n' roll honestlyyyyyyy that's a catchphrase?? Raph buddy...

"That's team leader" 😤 Aw Don Don, you don't deserve this disrespect

"EY BAWS" hoooooo my god

"The schnooks" OK Venus.

"Battlin' crime is FUN! Heh heh I feel like Batman!" Yeah that'll be the knockoff Joker suits.

Also like... the guys are acting like they don't fight crime? But like... they fought the Foot before? And I know that was bc they were an evil ninja clan specifically but you can't tell me they weren't Doing A Crime every now and then? And that was probably why the turtles fight them, at least sometimes??

The TA DAAAAA sound effect again 👌

All the money flying out of the back of the van this is genuinely the cheesiest live action cartoon

God I love how completely done Donnie is today

Mikey that was so fruity (affectionate)

Oh that's convenient. They moved most of the gold in Fort Knox to NYC for a bit. Of course.

The turtles just so happen to be living directly under half the gold in America right now. Of course.

"Translation for the thick of skull" oof Donnie he's your brother! Or not. So you all have a free pass to hit on your sister Venus.

"I suggest big caution" Leo providing much needed representation for people who can't words good (me).

NUCULAR?? DON WTF YOU ARE NOT HOMER SIMPSON

Isn't there a super villain who's a big monkey dude? I can't remember rn and its winding me up**

Honestly these accents... I could've been a VA on this show. I can butcher an East Coast accent with the best of them

Was I supposed to be able to see that wire??

Oh no they've trapped Venus in a classic Thunderbirds episode!

No genuinely though this could be pretty exciting if it wasn't like 3 minutes from the end of the episode...

Raph is very worried. "Whadda we doo just stand around and PANIC??" He's so relatable

Aw Don...

Aw they're crying 😭 bless them

It's a good job Donnie and Venus didn't die, the other three have to share one brain cell and I'm not sure Splinter could handle that alone

The code was Donnie's birthday asdghghfgdgk

*IT WAS GARY CHALK! I knew I knew that voice! How's a guy get typecast as a talking gorilla, anyway? I really hope that whoever cast him did that intentionally, and if they did I hope they also know that they're a legend.

"You me with the monkey and it gets funky" this dude is legit a Power Rangers villain

**I think I might be thinking of Gorilla Grodd??

#tmnt next mutation #hex.txt #hex talks turtles #i love this show so much it is so dumb #exactly my speed #for the record i am also a power rangers fan and a transformers fan so there was a lot going on in this episode for me #lol #why shouldn't i be watching this you ask?#guess.

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candy-fae · 8 months

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HELLO CARLIE I am here to get u to talk about batman stuff

What got u into batman and why is the riddler ur fav? I am hella curious and i don't remember if we talked abt it!

-Chris! (@worldtravelercv)

LET ME BEAM YOU BACK TO THE RIPE YEAR OF 2004!! I am fresh to the world, 4 years old. I know what Batman is, because I have three older brothers. But I only watched live action silly Jim carry villains, and the colors and Tim burtony city were what stuck. Cool. Neat.

Fast forward. 200000007? Probably. BOOMERANG. I grew up without cable, and the internet for a while. Didn't get a phone until I was 14. so, late at night, while I'm watching the brand new box tv, what comes across my screen?

Well at that time certainly not robot chicken. The theme song was scary. So, the 2004 Batman reruns catch my attention on boomerang, and BOY did they hold it! Feral joker. Penguin being a greedy little criminal. And the Batman. Everything was dark, and angular, and when there was color it was BRIGHT. but it was used so well it made things seem intentional and wacky.

That's actually my favorite version of Bruce. I'm not really a batfam fan at all haha. Hard to keep track of the robins for me. But he was animated like a shadow, or a vampire, and was sharp like a villains design. Kevin Conroy has the best Bman voice, but this guy was my OG and a different spin on the hero's I'd seen so far.

the best version of everything is the the version we were exposed to as kids.

And I loved it! Penguin was definitely my favorite, and I'm actually not a big fan of the Batman 2004's Riddler lol. Just not my style, but INTERESTING. story wise sorta reminds me of the fox gothams Riddler.

He's different, very much so. We get NOTHING of Fox riddlers story before we see him which. Is usually such a big part of his character haha. He doesn't have the same "I'm better than you" energy either that I'm use to. But you know who's got it down just about right?

Arkham Eddie. I played the game at a friends house once, and he explained to me how Riddler progressively learns to outsmart you through the entire series.

He's like an underdog villain, who has SO much potential, but is sparingly used, because he's hard to write, and I hate that haha

To write a good, Compelling Riddler, you have to be smart enough to make, and solve, a complicated obstruction. He's never a toll bridge for the Batman, he's ALWAYS a speed bump. At first. Then he's a boulder, then a mountain, until you can't ignore him anymore, then he's not something you can keep beating up, you actually have to outfox him, and he's aware of it.

He's a good villain because super intelligent people often see things from all angles, and to keep a guy who's called the world's greatest detective on his toes guessing, is pretty impressive for a guy we don't get to see too much. And I think it's a shame.

Personality wise, I think he's funny. Like, accidentally. Have you ever played the Arkham games? HOURS of failing that stupid race track to the sound of him taunting you makes it very full filing to finally catch him, but I WOULDN'T know. That jerk.

At current though, zero year is my favorite. Greg Capullo has such a good understanding of drawing movement and lots of Eddie pictures portray so much action in a still frame, it's crazy, but, now you've got me rambling.

#riddler #edward nygma #the batman #the batman 2004 #ask #chris #!!!! hi chris!!!!

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sweet-sammy-kisses · 2 years

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Bruce is as Chaos as his Children

For @fluffbruary day 11 anniversary Fandom: Batman Comics Pairings: Bruce/Batman, Tim/Kon, Dick/Wally, Jason/Roy Summary: Alfred would tell him that he only had himself to blame and he would be right, but at the time it had seemed like a good idea and it had gotten Vicki Vale off his back.

Tim had proven why he is such a wonderful son when he printed and gave him a framed photo of Vicki's expression when Bruce, tired and running on coffee after just helped saving the world, hadn't been in the mood to deal with Vicki and her attempts at trying to prove he is Batman answered why he always seems to be off on one of his many trips when Batman was off saving the day.

"Because I don't want to hear all about my life ex not when it is so close to what would have been our anniversary.”

He hadn't been thinking clearly and soon Gotham was talking about the love story that had been The Dark Knight and Gotham's Prince. Words: 581 Rating: Gen Can be read on AO3

Alfred would tell him that he only had himself to blame and he would be right, but at the time it had seemed like a good idea and it had gotten Vicki Vale off his back.

"Because I don't want to hear all about my life ex not when it is so close to what would have been our anniversary.”

He hadn't been thinking clearly and soon Gotham was talking about the love story that had been The Dark Knight and Gotham's Prince.

Bruce also forgot that his children were agents of chaos and loved to make his life miserable.

Dick looked so heartbroken when he was questioned about Bruce and Batman’s romance and break up, “I was so shocked when they needed it. They had been dating long before Bruce took me in. I think it has something to do with Batman’s relationships with Wonder Woman and Superman, there was and still is a lot of flirting between the three of them.”

Jason looked indifferent when he responded, “I and the old man might not be as close as we once were but I would happily punch Batman in the face for hurting B.”

Tim’s blue eyes were full of tears, “Batman and Robin have always been my heroes and to know that Batman broke the heart of my father, I will never forgive him for that.”

Bruce had the look of a heartbroken face of a father perfected, "I had hoped that my children would learn from my mistakes that getting involved with heroes is never an easy life and it can end in heartbreak. I wish my son Dick didn't have to experience my pain and while Nightwing is a good hero we must admit that he has terrible fashion taste just look at his first suit." Was Bruce petty? Yes, yes he was. “Plus I hope that Flash remembers that he is now dating the man who designed speedster traps.”

"How dare you! My first Nightwing suit was a gift."

"I hope Red Hood is very happy with Arsenal and that it only cost my son's heart and that Arsenal remembers that Batman has gone toe to toe with Superman and Wonder Woman. "

"Red Robin is a genius yet he chose Superboy over my Timmy and Batman holds the largest supply of kryptonite."

"Cass has never done anything wrong in her life and I am thrilled she found happiness with Tam Fox. I only hope her brothers will follow her example."

"Well played old man, well played." This just might be more fun than Jason thought.

“Really Master Bruce, I had expected better of you.” Alfred gave Bruce a look of disappointment.

“When it comes to my children of chaos I need to do everything in my power to stay ahead of them, plus this allowed me to publicly threaten their partners.”

#fluffbruary #timkon #bruce x batman #dickwally #jason x roy #sherri writes #my fics

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ask-batman-official · 2 years

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Mod here

About this blog

This is the official account of Batman! Feel free to ask questions, though keep it pg-13, his kids follow his account.

Canon

Out of character here obviously, but here's some general notes about the canon and interpretations of the characters I play. Not just batman.

This blog and all associated blogs are concurrent with the Roguesona AU group. The other main blogs for that are @e-nygma-official and @ask-riddleglider, they are commonly popping up blogs.

Carrie Kelly is here.

Annie Wayne, previously known as Annie Hagen is also adopted. She's from the animated episode "Growing Pains" except she didn't die.

This Bruce is more based off of Lego Batman/animated series Batman/WFA Batman anything else. He is capable of some emotions.

Barbara Gordon is directly part of the Batfamily here. She is close family with both Bruce and his kids. She is not dating any of his kids.

Bruce is trying to learn from the Flash how to do more peaceful conflict resolution.

Carrie is gay, Babs is probably bisexual, Annie is gender fluid, Duela is also gay, and oh boy are we just getting started.

Carrie has a tendancy to date the children of super villains.

Annie is technically the child of Clayface by mitosis.

Duela Dent was Carrie's Ex, they're now besties

Riddler, Harley, Ivy, and Freeze are all villains Bruce deemed "safe enough" for his kids to go to for help.

Harley and Ivy especially are a-ok to go to for help. Babs is close with them especially, but Carrie will go for advice/shits and giggles

Ace is here! Ace is alive!

Ace has minimal powers.

CassXSteph is canon here.

Batman has an issue with Hal Jordan

Cass doesn't like to talk

Like, I don't think she's verbalized a word yet. It's all ASL

Cass I'm choosing to portray as gifted kid syndrome and not autistic. I think Gifted Kid Syndrome fits her better. But both interpretations are 100% correct.

Cass and Babs are both being portrayed as at the strongest they've been portrayed, with Oracle being key to Batman's success and Cass being his heir.

Duela calls Riddler "dad" and RiddleGlider "brother"

Duela Dent recently gave up on Eagle after how he treated her while he was in Gotham.

Duela is putting together a supersuit to join the crime fighting, she'll be going by "Batman's daughter" because all her creativity goes into costume design. Not naming.

Ace has minimal powers due to how she saved herself.

My Various Other Accounts ++ the emoji's they're associated with.

@carrie-kelly-real-2 (👩‍❤️‍👩)

@ask-batman-official (🦇)

@anniewayne (��)

@ask-duela-dent (👩🏻‍🎤)

@askaceofclubs (♠️)

@jennfletcher39 -OC made with help from a bestie for plot reasons. (👢)

@ask-the-oracle-of-gotham (🔮)

@cassandracainmaybereal (⬛)

@gothamgirlofficial (🦸🏼‍♀️)

@ask-enigma-herself (⁉️)

@a-secret-rp (👻)

@npcbyalice (various text names. Just random characters that are played as needed.)

@stargirl-official

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queen-of-my-goofball-army · 2 years

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Oc Talk Update:

Alright, so because my requests are open yet again I thought that it might be helpful if I reintroduced all of my OCs because there have been several that I've changed over the year since I've last told you about them. There's also several more of them as well and some that I've forgotten about in the past. There's a lot to get through so I'll apologize in advance.

MHA OCs: By far the most OCs that I've ever made for anything. This show has become one of my favorite hyper fixations ever despite the fact that it's kind of an off and on thing depending on my mood. My Hero Academia has became one of my favorite characters of all of them. It's just such an amazing show that changed my entire life and it's just so much of who I am.

Mitsuki Haruka: My first MHA OC nostalgia, Mitsu was the first one and she's the one that started all of it. I've always had a soft spot for the kind but outgoing best girl. Mitsuki's quirk is water. She can pretty much do anything related to water. She can freeze it, heat it, and make snow. Everything about this OC I just adore. Her canon partner is Tenya Iida of course because he's my best boi. I love their relationship and I really want to rewrite my fic with her from scratch. She also has a brother named Kai! That's @toxic-pastry OC whom we came up with the adoption AU together and it's one of my favorite things. I'm willing to do either romance fics with her and Tenya or a sibling fic with her and Kai. I love both relationships so, so much.

Litzy Yamada: Welcome to the ideas that I've had at like 11:15 at night. The gimmick with Litzy is that she can control shadows. She was inspired by my love of two things, my love of the design of La Muerte in Book Of Life, and my love of Dr Facilier in Princess And The Frog. Litzy is Latina and she was born and raised in Mexico. She grew up in the heart of Mexico but she moved to Japan to get away from her quirk hating family that hurt her and threatened with a little something I call "quirk surgery" where your powers are stripped from you. She's a transfer student to UA where Aizawa takes her in as her live-in family. This is how she meets Hizashi Yamada aka Present Mic who eventually adopts her as his own daughter. I've always had a soft spot for Litzy's dynamic with her friends. Her canon partner is Mina Ashido! (Also her step family is Shinso of course, Eri, and my best friend's OC Hana)

Violet Bubaigawara: My first ever "villain" OC, Violet can control plants that are on her arms as tattoos. She can summon them and they can fight with her. I was inspired by Poison Ivy of course from Batman when I was designing her. So Violet works in her father's flower shop, she's a theater actress (this is where I put a majority of my favorite musical theater facts, aka my love of Sherman Brother's.) Her family is a bit of a mess and she lost her older brother when she was 10. This caused a rift between her family and most of them abandoned her until she got older and she fixed her relationships with her three brothers. Her canon partner is Jin Bubaigawara aka Twice. I freaking LOVE these two together so much, they're just the personification of true love to me. The two of them eventually adopt Toga as their daughter, I made Toga a bit younger and an orphan in my fics.

Shizuko Toyomitsu: Hooo boy, Shizuko is one of my favorite OCs she's just such an amazing and strong character. Shizuko in the canon au is quirkless, she instead decided that she wanted to use her brain as her quirk. She invents gadgets that help her to fight crime and trained with FatGum in order to transfer to the hero course. Her original family was a bunch of dicks pretty much. In the no power au that I started, they were drug dealers. In the canon au they're just massively abusive towards her. But she had a savior, that savior being one of my favorite bois Denki Kaminari, her downstairs neighbor. Denki became her best friend and the person that she did everything for. She also met Mei Hatsume during this time as well since they were both into tech. By the time that UA comes around, she's working to get into the hero course, FatGum adopts her, and she transfers to the hero course. Her canon partner is in my opinion one of my ultimate favorite female characters in My Hero canon and that's Mei Hatsume. It's kind of a more recent update to her character but I just absolutely love it and how it's turned out. I'd love to write for these two so if anyone has any ideas that they want for Shizuko and Mei, I'd love you forever.

Kotoeri Hanamori: TOERII! Kotoeri is one of my favorites and I've been in love with her since I first created her. So Kotoeri has actually one of my favorite quirks, she can create a massive protective bubble around buildings and or from people and I love them so much. She's just everything to me. Kotoeri is a member of the fairy kei fashion community, basically it's just bright colors and pastels everywhere. I fell in love with the fashion style when I was creating her. She became one of my first instances of using fairy kei as a style and it's the style that I most identify with now. It was the first time that I really found that clothing style so I just love the way that it suits Kotoeri's personality. Her love story is one of my favorites too. She met her s/o Tamaki Amajiki when they were in the third grade and started dating their second year of middle school. I just think that the energetic one and the anxious one is such an adorable ship dynamic.

Saorise Lovecraft: Saoirse is my other villain OC! She comes from Ireland but moved out to Japan to escape abusive fiancée that just wouldn't leave her alone once she broke it off with him. Saorise's quirk is that she has a lust related quirk. When she uses a certain voice she can turn on the desire of any man. The con to her quirk is that once she uses it she's out of commission for at least a half hour. This has led to her getting sexually abused pretty much all of her life in some way, shape, or form. Until, she meets the kindest man to ever exist in the history of life, the love of my life, Mr. Compress. I just thought that the idea of this relationship was so sweet and so pure for them to start off as partners in crime to lovers and I just love this OC with all my heart.

Arashi Mitsuha: Most of you know my favorite person Ari, but if you don't Ari's thing is that they can control the weather! Mostly in terms of natural disaster's. From tornados, to hurricanes, they can do just about any form of weather. Due to having a dick for a biological father, he wants to be a hero that doesn't really punch villains more as a hero that saves people from natural disasters. I loved the idea of making a pacifist hero in training mostly due to the fact that it just brought up some really interesting ideas. Ari is gender-fluid and his look was inspired by Howl's from Howl's Moving Castle. This is an OC that went through a major change recently, going from a single ship to a loving poly ship. Originally it was just that they were partnered up with Denki Kaminari, but overtime I fell into the ShinKami trap and so did my best friend and she convinced me to make a poly ship with Ari, Denki, and Shinsou.

Rumi Tsukasa: My last MHA OC thank God I am so sorry that I have so many of these kids that I love so much. Rumi can control illusions, I loved the idea of making her control illusions of things that weren't really there. Like making a fake bank to be robbed so that she can capture a set of villains. Even though her quirk takes up a lot of time, she can have multiple huge illusions up at one time as well. Rumi is in class B and her partner is Tetsutetsu. I've always had a weakness for Tetsutetsu so having him have this no nonsense alternative/punk inspired girlfriend I just loved it. Rumi's father was the number 12 hero that I invented, a hero called Hypno who could hypnotize people. He died in a villain attack a few months before canon and she is still coping and dealing with the loss of someone that was so important to her life.

Teen Titans/Promare:

Keiko Tsuchigomori: Keiko is actually probably the oldest OC that I've ever had. I was getting really into Avatar at the age of nine so her powers are that of the Avatar earth, fire, air, and water. It's just that her's have a little cutesy twist to them like her fire is pink like the fire in one of my favorite movies Promare. Keiko is a member of the decora community, I loved coming up with her clothing ideas and the little things that were important to her aesthetic. Due to a house fire that Keiko started when she was first "receiving" her powers (against her will) by her scientist father, she is now covered in burns. In the Teen Titans au she becomes more comfortable with her body and what she wears. She has to overcome the fact that she is still herself and she can still be just as confident as she once was. In the TT au she's Beast Boy's canon partner. It hasn't changed since I was nine and first really getting into the show. I love their relationship and I still stand by the fact that Beast Boy is best boi.

In the Promare au, I made her Lio's twin sister. I fell in love with the way that this story was told and just everything in it so I knew that I had to work with the two of the characters that meant more to me than anything in the world. Originally, I was going to make BB a fire fighter but then I was inspired to make another poly-ship with Keiko, Meis, and Gueira. I have such a weakness for these three they just give me so much free serotonin.

Animaniacs: Lizzy is a rabbit! Of course that means that she was a lot, and I mean a *LOT* of siblings. She was the oldest before her parents decided that she “deserved” to be famous and dropped her off at the Warner Brothers Studios one day just because they felt like it. Elizabeth met the Warner siblings when Wakko accidentally nearly knocked her off of her roof where she was staying when he was swinging with his giant squeaky rubber hammer. That’s how she met the first two of the siblings anyways. How she met Yakko was she met him through Dot insisting that she joined the reboot crew. Liz’s canon partner is of course, the eldest of the three siblings Yakko. Now I’ve had Litzy since I was ten and since then she’s still one of my favorites so I do still work with her and she is a lot of fun and their relationship makes me soft. Not only is she a really good singer but she’s also an amazing athlete. She’s amazing at soccer and loves to stim with her soccer ball during non practice times. She’s also really talented at martial arts so she finds. (When they had to do the Animeanics segment Wakko volunteered her to learn hand to hand combat and she fell in love with it.)

Princess And The Frog: Rhiannon has always been one of those OCs that I have the biggest weakness for. She's just such a pure bean and loves her family so much. Rae’s parents are Tiana and Naveen and she has three siblings, an older brother and two twin younger brothers that makes her and Tiana the only girls (pray for them I swear they have to put up with so much) She’s the baker in the restaurant! She bakes the bread, makes the desserts, that’s her job. She learned baking from her mom of course and studies her recipes still religiously to this day. Our bi princess we honestly love to see her in this house. She’s so gorgeous. Honestly, her bisexuality was something that came to me when I thought about the song that Jim Cummings talked about on Talkin Toons that Raymond sings in his first scene Leon Russell's “Cajun Love Song” I eventually thought of to make her girlfriend Lottie’s daughter and name her Alice! To me it was peak me knowing things that actually help me out in the future. Rae is the master of three instruments *ahem* the accordion because that’s what Ray’s playing and that’s where her name took inspiration from, Naveen taught her how to play the ukulele when she was old enough to hold it in her hands, and she plays the trumpet thanks to Louis teaching her.

DuckTales: Sabrina has one of those personalities that I just thrive off of writing. She's got also one of my favorite relationships to write for and that's her relationship with my absolute favorite member of the McDuck family, Ludwig Von Drake. Sabrina is the sister between Huie, Dewey, and Louie. She’s the actual oldest of the family where the younger three constantly bicker about who is. For a long time, she didn’t really know what her role was with the rest of her family. At least not with her immediate family. She spent a lot of time with her tutor, her uncle Ludwig. After she quickly realized that school wasn’t for her she wanted to study with her great uncle instead. He taught her how be confident in her intelligence and she loves her uncle more than anything in the entire world. He’s her source of encouragement through every step of the way and every life change. During adventures, she’s often labeled as the group quick thinker using her quick thinking as well as multi versatile interests to get them out of quick scraps. She’s fluent in languages, she can think on her toes quickly and she’s able to do things that her brother’s and great uncle can’t. Her sexuality is that she most identified with lesbian culture, even though she can notice that guys are cute she also can’t see herself in a relationship with them. Gosalyn is her girlfriend and they’re in a long distance girlfriend but they’re both extraordinarily happy together. While they didn’t start off on the right foot, her closest brother now that she’s older is Dewey. They found that they have a lot of things in common now that they’re in the early teens. They work extremely well together, they’re extremely close. She has a really unique relationship with all three of her brother’s though they’re her closest unit.

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil: Allania has become one of my favorite comfort OCs over the course of the last year. While there's not really a whole lot of me in her I do love her so, so much. She's just this absolute unit of sunshine and I love her personality. Nia is a half elf-half human and her dad's run a bakery together. Nia helps her family out as much as she can in the bakery but her main passion is theater and drag shows. She started doing drag to find her confidence and performing became one her biggest interests. Her canon partner is Tom Lucitor my absolute unit of a baby. I love this demon boi so, SO much oh my gods. He is the cutest thing ever and I just needed to make an OC for him. He's the cutest thing ever. Nia's best friend in the entire world is Marco Diaz. I just love, love this girl so much. Her story of transitioning and finding out who she is. She's just the cutest thing.

Gravity Falls: Twilight (cookie dough) Pines is one of my favorite OCs because she is actually themed to one of the best friend's that I've ever had in my entire time online @2oppositesidesof1coin (or Opposite). Relationship with Mabel: This is where things get a little bit… complicated for lack of a better word. Because Mabel took up so much of her parent’s time, Twilight got neglected. People would simply rather spend time with the cute and sparkly one over the nervous wreck. She never resented her younger sister, in fact she loves Mabel for not letting the world get her down. Relationship with Dipper: Her relationship with Dipper (read as Dippin Dots) is a lot better thankfully. She loves her younger brother and helped him through his transitional period. They have a lot of personal interests that intersected, she got him into spooky things at a young age (Scooby Doo mainly but they’ve also been known to watch anime and Buzzfeed Unsolved together.) Relationship with Grunkle Stan: Ever since she was a little girl, the only place that she’s ever felt comfortable is Gravity Falls and when she visits during the summertime those were her favorite days of her childhood. Without fail he’s the only person (other than Dipper) who remembers her birthday. He keeps a calendar just so he doesn’t miss it. He sees a ton of Ford in her, like if you crossed his personality with Ford’s then you’d get his cookie dough. He loves her more than anything in the entire world. Eventually, he decided that home wasn’t safe for her anymore and decided that he would take her in and she’d stay with him and Ford. Twilight did some personal research after she met Wendy, realized that she was a big pan disaster fire around anyone that was pretty in her eyes, and things quickly progressed with her and Wendy since then. Her main hobby is theater. Twilight is an actress, it’s how she got rid of her stutter for the most part. She loves singing and dancing so musical theater called to her like a beacon. Performing is something that she takes a lot of pride in doing.

Haikyuu: OH good lord, okay so I have multiple Haikyuu's OC so hold onto your hats because I love these ladies

Aratani Fuuka: The first Haikyuu OC that I ever officially made and started designing, the light of my life, Aratani. I love this woman so, so much. Tani is just so important to me probably because she was the first to change my life. Aratani is a libero for the Nekoma team. I absolutely fell in love with the position no matter what. She's just such an amazing OC and I love her. Her aunt is the one that raised her due to the fact that her parents were deemed unsuitable to raise her. Her best friend is Bokuto because it's just the most obvious thing. I love writing for these two more than anything in the world. Their friendship is just 11/10 goals. But, but her canon partner is Kuroo. I fell ass over tea kettle for this goofball nerd and I'm in love with him. Aratani was basically inserting myself into the she's just everything to me.

Hikari Shinobu: Hikari is my one childhood friends to middle school dating OC. I loved this idea so much and it's one that I have a weakness for. Hikari's an older twin sister to her younger brother Hatsu. When they were in elementary school their mother insisted that they go to a community center which is how Hikari met elementary school Satori Tendou. Through Satori, Kari made the first friend that she had ever had before. She fell in love with her best friend and over the years they started dating when they were in middle school. I just have such a softness for these two and their relationship. It's one of those ships that's just everything to me. They're the best part of each other's lives and I'm so soft for that idea. Hikari is a ballerina who goes to Shiratorizawa as well. She never misses one of Satori's games and honestly that very idea has me so weak for her. Just imagining her with little flags cheering for her monster-I love these two so much.

Yui Fujiwara: Yui was for me inspired by the head-canons that my best friend @moons-and-stars-and-shit came up with for me! Yui is one of the managers of the Karasuno volleyball team, her best friend is Sugawara, and her boyfriend is long distance but it's Lev Haiba. Using those HCs as a jumping off point to create her was one of my favorite things of this last year. I loved coming up with her own unique personality that paralleled my own. Yui comes from a somewhat neglectful family, her older sister is captain of the Karasuno girls basketball team so her parents often ignored her in favor of focusing more on her elder sister. Due to this, she is extremely shy about things that she's interested in. Yui is really into science and the idea of engineering so she's interested in being a Disney imagineer. Her relationship with Lev isn't something that a lot of people can understand but they just love each other so much and that's the weakness that I have.

Ichigo Nakano: My first Haikyuu OC! Do you know those parents that are like "You do your sport and you do nothing but your sport because that's the only thing that you're good at?" Welcome to Ichigo's parents folks. Ichigo has been playing basketball since she was really little and her pushy parents encouraged her to keep doing the sport even when she wasn't really loving it anymore. Her first cheerleader that she really ever had was Ryuunosuke Tanaka. I had to do this okay, it was a mighty need and I am weak for goofballs. Anyways, so they met in elementary school had a cutesy childhood crushes thing, and then Ichigo had to move to Tokyo. But once she moves back her parents are still trying to dictate her life so she feels that she can't have her one little ray of sunshine. It's not until Ryuu encourages her that she can have her own life and that it is worth living that she decides that she's going to live her own life.

Chihiro Itadori: If anyone in my OC arsenal for Haikyuu went through a similar thing to me it was Chihiro. For most of her childhood everyone loved her. Teachers, friends, classmates, everyone adored her. And she loved the praise and the attention. It was something that she thrived off of. But once her friends started dating she became the fifth wheel between everyone. Her friends bullied her and belittled her for not having a boyfriend. But her friends were also members of the Oikawa Fan Club despite having boyfriends. Even though Chihiro didn't really see the personal appeal of Oikawa there was one that she did see the appeal of, and that was Iwaizumi. You all know where this is going. Iwa sits next to Chihiro in their science class and they work together one day when he notices that Chihiro isn't the same way that she usually is. He realizes that his crush/desk neighbor is being treated poorly so he just wants to introduce him to better friends. Her friendship with the entire Aoba Johsai team and I love her friendship more than anything.

Ayaka Sunohara: Aya is just amazing in my personal opinion. She's grown so much during the time that I played with her. It started off with her paired off with Terushima, to me I still love this boi more than anything. She's just impossibly sweet and genuine but at the same time so strong. Aya has a hard time relating to her parents. They're the type of yuppy rich people that just treat their daughter as a tool in order to move their status forward. But Aya eventually wants no part of that. She wants to be a tattoo artist and her creativity throughout everything is just such an amazing OC. I did wind up eventually changing my OC relationship to her with Noya. Yet another time when I looked at the beautifulness of this relationship. They're just absolute cuties and I love writing them.

Sk8 The Infinity: My Matchablossom babies! I know that I've got a lot of hate on these two recently but that doesn't mean that I'm shelving them. I just wanted to set the record straight with these two I guess for those of you that don't really know me. Sometimes when I write a relationship it's with a comfort character, not a husbando. This is one of those cases as the main relationship is with someone that is a minor. I just thought that it was a cute idea and originally it was not my plan. Things just got away from me and I just thought that Sakura and Miya were too cute together to not try my hand at it. Now that we've discussed that, let's talk about my Matchablossom twins.

Sakura Nanjo: My main Sk8 OC, the absolute light of my life, bass player, chef in training. Sakura to me is just one of those OCs that I have that is just pure serotonin shot directly into my system. Creating her design, I made her looks more considerable to Kaoru rather than Kojiro but her personality is definitely Kojiro's. She has his main interest, that of cooking. She loves cooking and making food for people that's her love language. Coming up with this idea of her getting Miya to learn to love food was one of my favorite main plot ideas that I've ever come up with. There's just such a beauty to this au and I love it so much. There's also the mention of bass guitar. See when I was first writing her fic I was overtaken by one of my biggest music hyper fixations that I've ever had, my obsession with Rush. Due to me falling in love with this band right around this time it only made sense to mesh the two things together.

Haru Sakurayashiki: Baby boy. Absolute baby boy. So Haru is my trans OC who when the story starts has just started to take T as he has just barely begun puberty at 12 years old and he already knows that isn't what he wants. However, this makes his emotions, mainly his anger go a bit wonky. It makes the bickering between him and Sakura more explosive and more prevalent. He wants to be a better brother to his sister and after an accidental physically violent thing, he knows that he has to be a better job of maintaining his rage and aggression. I gave him Kojiro's hair, Kaoru's golden eyes, and Kaoru's interests of making art. The only difference is I made him into a future tattoo artist. He's also a lover of basketball and played it throughout middle school and high school. His partner is another OC that I came up with named Kayla. They met due to Sakura taking guitar lessons at Kayla's dad's studio. Haru gets bitten by the drum bug and that's how he learns to better maintain his emotions.

Fairy Tail:

Idina Conbolt: The first technical OC that I've ever made! Idina is an ice dragon slayer in the canon au. Since Gray was never the official ice dragon slayer I thought that it might be fun for me to create my own for fun. So that's how Idina came into play. This is an OC that has definitely changed as my tastes have changed over the countless years that I've been a fairy fan. My original FT simp was Gray, I freaking loved Gray more than anything when I was 13 so I knew that was who I wanted Idina to be with. Idina to me is just this absolute pillar of strength. She's strong, kind, and loves her friends more than anything. Her best friend in the entire world is Natsu, she loves her best friends more than anything. It's just the thing that I love working with her. Because her friendship is just the sweetest things and working with her. Then once I hit 17 I absolutely fell in love with Laxus. It hit me with a truck. So I had to create something that went along with that. In doing that I changed Idina's relationship with Gray to a relationship with Laxus. When I wrote her fic, one of my best friends D-Angel read her fic and fell in love with it just as much as I did. I loved her story more than anything and writing it just made me so happy. When I started talking more frequently with her the idea of a poly ship hit me in the gut of her with Laxus and Freed.

Kim Possible:

Anna Lipski: Anna Lipski was my idea to create an OC that was the daughter of Dr. Drakken and Shego. I loved Dr. D when I was growing up and a lot of that stuck with me into becoming the childish adult that I am today. For the most part this idea just stemmed from the fact that I was curious about what their child would be like. So I designed Anna and promptly fell in love with the idea of Drakken raising her as a single dad to the best of his abilities. Due to the fact that he is not evil in this au him and Kim's dad managed to remain friends and Kim is basically Anna's cousin/sister at this point in both of their lives. Anna did get Shego's powers except her flames are a bright pink color. She's also really close with cousin Eddie because honestly I just loved that idea that she would be this combination of tough girl with a feminine edge.

Owl House:

Kenneth Ortiz: Kenny! I have the biggest soft spot for this OC. Kenneth is another gender fluid character that owns my heart and soul. So their thing is that they grew up with Edric and Emira because those two twins are everything to me and I fell in love with Ed. I thought that it would just be the coolest thing if while they were in the illusions track that they would be able to mimic voices, be super good at impressions, and just be the most amazing impressionist. They can also save little things about their friends. They have a soft spot for laughs in particular. Laughs are everything to them and they have a major soft spot for making their friend's laugh. Edric and Hunter are their f/o's and I have a soft spot their relationship. Kenneth is just overall a lot of fun and designing them made me super happy.

Toilet Bound Hanako Kun:

Junko Minamoto: Junko my love~ Junko is the younger twin sister of Teru. As a kid she was often compared as weaker than her brother. She had trouble staying still, paying attention in school, and making friends where her brother excelled at everything it seemed like. Every time that she would try to focus on something it would wind up blowing up in her face. She struggled with her self image a lot because everyone would always just call her Teru without really thinking. Even though they are fraternal twins they look a lot a like and have a lot of the same interests and hobbies. After starting high school Junko promised herself that she'd do better. She had to do better and make her family proud of her in her own way. So she dedicated herself to the one thing that she knew she was good at, archery. She became a more focused student, a more driven archer, and a better older sister to her younger siblings, Kou and Tiara. This was also around the time that guys started to notice her and started asking her out on dates randomly. Even though she was bisexual she leaned more towards women then she did towards men. That was until she met in my opinion, one of my favorite characters in the series, Natsuhiko. I absolutely fell in love with these two because he was the first person that really looked at her and saw her. He saw the girl that was just trying her best to be a good twin, a stronger fighter, and someone that her younger siblings could rely on. That was the person that he fell in love with, the one who was always trying to be there for her family and get the best grades that she could.

Encanto:

Mariposa Lynne Madrigal: So when I first started getting really into Encanto I came up with the genius idea that I'd make a wife for Bruno and hence Mariposa was born. Mariposa Lynne grew up in a small but tight knit family that owned the Encanto's sweets shop that all the family's frequent for desserts and sweet treats after dinner and throughout the day. Mariposa's mother was sick though so the shop was falling onto her shoulders. Bruno one day when he was walking about town he went into the sweets shop to avoid the whispers and murmurs that were surrounding him. He went inside and Mariposa was running the shop with her younger sister Fran working in the back room. Bruno and Mariposa quickly formed a friendship and he promised that he'd look into her mother's future to see if they could find a cure for her illness. In return, Mariposa became Bruno's first real friend, the first person that looked at him and saw the person that he was. Not just the creepy triplet, but the person that he was and not want to change him. She didn't judge him and only ever pushed him to be his best self. I absolutely love working with these two and their slow burn romance and just them quickly finding the way that they fit together.

Angelica Madrigal: The daughter of Mariposa and Bruno, her gift is that she can blend into shadows and she can control shadows. I came up with the idea when I started thinking about gifts that their children might have and I once again turned to my love of Dr. Faciler and found that the idea of blending into shadows was something that she could do and it could be creepy ish. In the same vein that Bruno's gift was seen as creepy her's could be seen in the same way. When I started coming up with her story it very quickly took a turn that I don't usually take, the angsty family dynamics turn where there's no comfort or forgiveness really until the very end. Angelica was the forgotten Madrigal gift family member. She was the one that was pushed to the side because her gift couldn't really help the town. It was also seen as "too scary" for the children so Abuela kept her locked in her room only allowing for her to come out on special occasions. After Bruno left, Angelica only wanted for her father to come back. Things were easier for her when he was there, more tolerable. She wasn't entirely alone though. She had Camilo her best friend, they were a week apart birth wise so they would often refer to each other as their "twin" brother or "twin" sister which would confuse the people that were just moving into the town until someone corrected them. She was also close with Dolores and Antonio, Felix tried to pick up the slack that Bruno left behind him and he somewhat succeeded in being a father figure to Angelica. Mariposa was the best mother that she could possibly be to her. The first year was... not the easiest for her mother wise but she quickly picked herself up and dusted herself off. She found that it was easier to relate to her daughter when she told her stories about what her papi was like when they were younger and first falling in love.

Once Bruno comes back things definitely got a lot better for Angelica. Things started to finally look up for her. Her family was there for her again and Abuela apologized for short sighting her throughout her entire life. Even though that pain still exists for her, things got better once Bruno was let back into the family. It took some time to regain the father daughter relationship that she had with him a decade ago but they're working on fixing it.

Fruits Basket:

Fumiko Sohma: Fumi-chan is the daughter of Hatori and Kana Sohma. She often struggled with just general badmouthing in her family due to her family's just general shitty nature. Akito especially saw that she was treated far worse then the other people in the family. The older women in the family treated her as though she was a dress up doll that they could train and teach to be their opinion of the perfect little girl. She was put through literal hell when it came to training. They critiqued everything about her from her eating habits, to her posture, to the way that she walked. She had to be absolutely perfect all the time. There were moments of reprieve though that came in the form of Ayame Sohma, everyone's favorite fashion designer. He absolutely doted on his favorite niece introducing her to his favorite movies, shows, and anime's. He got her into everything that she was passionate about from a young age. Fumi-chan was absolutely obsessed with Sailor Moon (her favorite is Sailor Mercury because she could relate a lot to her), Cardcaptor Sakura, Miyazaki films, and Tokyo Mew Mew. Her love of Miyazaki films eventually inspired her to create her dream job, a Miyazaki cafe. She loves baking, cooking, and creating everything that allowed her to make her dream possible. She also is absolutely obsessed with clothing and making clothes due to Ayame's influence over her life. Cosplay has been a huge part of her life the older that she got and the more shows that she found. Her favorites are the Fate series (she loves Saber especially), One Piece, Fairy Tail, and My Dress Up Darling.

Her relationship is by far one of my all time favorites, her boyfriend is Kakeru Manabe MY BEST BOI I absolutely love this loon and I just think that these two are so cute together. They met when Fumi-chan moved to Shigure's house and she started going to the same middle school as Kakeru. They were sat across from each other and they quickly became friends and found a relationship with each other supporting each other and cheering each other on. To me that's the kryptonite of this relationship. They just support each other and their dreams, ambitions, life goals, and love each other so much. They might be each other's polar opposite but they will be the clingiest and most nausea inducing couple of all time.

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airpanic · 8 months

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So my grandpa died... Horrible... the last coffin... now my extended family is finally dead. Of course there was the sadness and some tears but my grandpas was not an easy man. He had temper. He would have said to us "Don't cry for me, I'm not worth it".I had several good talks with him, especially some years ago. Once he told me "They'll try to break you all. The girls, the bosses, you'll be for ever alone with maybe some good friends from time to time. But you'll find one, maybe two women that you could trust for good in your life, so don't let your heart die for them". With my cousin, my then-kiddo brother and a friend we invented these parodic cult, the Schmitt religion. My cousin and I shaped the early Schmitts design together in the Rainy City when we were poor. And lately with my friend we would like to give the world of the Schmitts a more concrete feel. That dumb story I filled with hatred and revenge, putting my darkest self in motion, finally reunited us. Of course my friend remembered the Schmitts. Of course my cousin remembered also. I didn't dare to talk to him about this at my grandpa's funeral. It had been several years he went abroad. He was changed but still the same. We had a good chat, like we left our flat the previous day... but we're old now... It has been ten years. Before our grandma passed away, she asked me to take care of him and his brother because "I was the most responsible"... But when life was a bitch, I went to his place up in the mountains and he took care of me. It was one of the few moments in my life when I could feel peace... So when the coffin was taken and the music played, I wondered if the Schmitts could ever be happy and in peace.

We had all three miseries. We all three found something in Spain to make us growing further. They lived in the foreign lands, me, I was just a traveler. But even in the deepest nights of desperation, I've always felt they were still with me somehow. Life is stange, one of my oldest friends turned to be a douchebag lately but those two never, despite our conflicts. So when my cousin asked me if you we could ever be happy, this picture popped in my head. A peaceful picnic, the lake, the mountains, and we're all happy for once. Or course someone else is coming to visit me with super cool food to share, so the picture could be really Heaven. Life is horrible and the Schmitts are monsters, shaped and destroyed by society and its cockroaches. My cousin's a diehard Batman fan, so in a way the Schmitts are a cult of Jokers, kids lost to the streets who became psychotics. But for once, on this picture, in this parralel world, they're nice. Remember, monsters are not always born, they're quite often made by ever day ignorance,little lies and cruel narcissisms.

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nobody-xalidin8 · 2 years

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A is for Aquaman

A while back I worked for a comic book review website called Do You Even Comic Book that renamed itself Comics Horizon and lasted around a year. From my limited perspective the site was forged out of a movement of people from Twitter that wanted to combat the growing Comicsgate movement. To have a real voice amongst the hate, I mostly just wrote reviews. I made a lot of short lived but impactful relationships with those strangers on the internet. I don’t talk to any of them anymore, but that’s just because I’m an anti-social autistic person that struggles with people he knows in person. So, if I’m gonna start this blog I wanna thank them before I get started.

When I would get stressed out or overstimulated as a kid, I would say the alphabet in DC comics characters. A is for Aquaman, B is for Batman, C is for Catwoman, etcetera. Now I’m the sort of guy that loves Marvel, DC, and any other comic indie or mainstream that I think is good, but for the life of me I couldn’t do the alphabet in anything other than DC characters. At least, not on the spot. So, I thought why not do a blog about DC characters and since Twitter seems to be dying thanks to Elon Musk I thought I’d try here on Reddit. I considered Tumblr, but that never clicked for me and Reddit seems to operate in a way I can vaguely comprehend so here we are.

I also wrote some articles on that website, mostly lists and conversations between me and other wordsmiths, that was our working title by the way, which was awesome. One of these was for the upcoming Aquaman movie. I don't think it ever saw the light of day, but I wrote a little thought piece titled “Why do we laugh at a Man that talks to Fish?” Based on the notion that I thought there was no sensible reason people laughed at Aquaman. Granted, like most superheroes, he’s not sensible by design.

Aquaman was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Nortis to imitate the Timely Comics character Namor, the Sub-Mariner. A lot of comic book characters were imitations of other comic book characters back then, in fact a lot of characters are imitations in one way or another. I don’t think that makes them unoriginal. As Aquaman would very much become.

Now as many of you may know comic book canon is an ever changing and shifting thing. What was true one story could be untrue by the next issue. That said, here’s the baseline of Aquaman’s origin in the modern age. Arthur Curry is the son of a lighthouse keeper with strange powers, in reality he is half-human half-Atlantean and heir to the throne of Atlantis. He becomes a superhero that protects the seven seas against such threats as the pirate Black Manta, his evil half-brother Ocean Master, the fifth dimensional imp Qwsp, and the deadly assassin Mera that would later become his wife and mother to his child. He was also a founding member of the Justice League where a lot of the best or at least most consistent portrayals of the character take place.

Now that’s not the whole story and there’s a lot of other versions and a lot of weirder stuff. Aquaman is a victim of this ever changing mythology of comics. His appearance, personality, and narrative have changed harshly with the shifting of creative teams over the years. This was mostly due to the fact that despite being well known, he was never a very popular character. Because people saw him as silly.

Aquaman was a joke that people saw parodied in cartoons, SNL sketches, and offhanded comments in years. The common denominator of this joke being the fact that he could talk to fish. As if commanding a shark to strike isn’t cool or terrifying, if that’s the issue why are we terrified of the movie Jaws?

The short answer is presentation, Aquaman, like a lot of Golden Age comic characters, was ridiculous. Batman was too back in the day, but he grew out of that, got a serious take that helped the character grow out of the funny. Not that there’s anything wrong with funny, Adam West’s Batman is arguably the best and even Kevin Conroy’s portrayal in the animated series had a good bit of humor. The problem was people weren’t laughing with Aquaman, they were laughing at him, for no reason.

Thankfully the success of Jason Mania’s Aquaman helped give the character some structure and the King of Atlantis got a good run in the comics starting in the ill fated New 52 relaunch, that was a mixed success. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, as well as other phenomenal creative teams, guided the character in the pages as James Wan guided him on the big screen. This has lead to the most consistent Aquaman to date, but this might not last because the Aquaman movie will be hurt by the Amber Heard trial, which is only her fault, and sucks. Plus he’s currently “dead” during the Dark Crisis event so who knows how the character will land is a mystery. We’ll like see more of Jackson Hyde as Aquaman, who Young Justice fans may know as Kaldur. Which would be awesome.

Well that’s the most I can ramble about Aquaman for a sec, except when I was looking into where we first started laughing at the character it was during Super Friends. People thought his swimming animation was silly, which is weird because they thought the flying was cool and it was the same thing just out of the water. He also talked to fish, but that always looked cool to me.

#dc comics #comic books #alphabet

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bruciemilf · 2 years

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Bruce's relationship with his male Rogues vs his female Rogues is. So interesting to me.

Because you have his Rogues like the Joker, who he has actual conflicts with—Bane, Scarecrow, Penguin, Two-Face, Black Mask. All the men have honest beef with him. Death traps, elaborate evil schemes, bombs (oh my God the BOMBS), murder attempts.

But the women? They're friends with him. All his female Rogues see him as an awkward annoyance at worst (Ivy), and boyfriend material at best (Selina). Harley's square in the middle as "weird little brother." They toe the line of chaotic and lean so dangerously close to vigilante so often that Bruce just. Lets them be. Gives perfunctory attempts to catch them, but most times it ends with them just talking.

I'm 95% sure they know he's Bruce Wayne but don't say anything out of courtesy.

Batman strikes fear in the hearts of men and only men, and I think that's honestly iconic of him

GOD YESSSSSS LIKE - It'd be redundant to add something to this; Like painting over Mona Lisa but I'll do my best because this is actually one of my favourite topics.

I feel like I could word this a lot better, but I just feel like men dehumanise eachother to a concerning amount. Not Bruce, - if anything, he's on some saint shit by trying to rehabilitate these guys. But it's more of a " I can fix him" dynamic that you just won't see with the sirens

It's like - I don't have evidence of this, it's more of a " call it like I see it" headcanon, but Bruce? Most definetly was bullied by guys before.

I can't really go into details, but Bruce has " guy who could hang with the girls and girls only in high school" energy.

It's kinda telling that he has a relatively positive relationship with women and inspires a sense of safety with them that I've seen no other male hero achieve, but he ALWAYS has beef with men. Truly an awkward women's ally icon

More so? I can honestly see Bruce and the sirens as that non-toxic middle aged friend group that went through hell and back together and their paths always merge into eachother

Like? Give me Bruce trying to stop them from a heist. He's tired and Selina can see it, eyes sharp, designed to see detail. " Wait. Have you been crying?"

Harley drops her hammer with a gasp. " Oh my God, have you?"

Bruce's arms drop limp at his side and he takes a very deep breath. " I fought with Harvey last night and he brought up my parents. "

" No."

" He didn't."

" Are you kidding me? Oh, he's SUCH an asshole," Pamela somehow always has a wine bottle ready and Selina's in charge to bring the glasses, because at least one of them will need to rant about male rogues. " Tell us everything, hon."

" It's just, - GOD, is it too much to ask? One thing, - one goddam thing I ask of him in two decades, don't bring up my dead parents when I punch you in the face! But no. "

" Let's key his car."

" I'm going to his parent's grave to steal their jewlery and I'll wear them next time we fight. "

" Oh my God, could you imagine what face he'd make?"

" Which one?"

#bruce wayne #batman #dc #dc comics #harley quinn #poison ivy #pamela isley #selina kyle #catwoman #gotham sirens #text #bruce for the guy who protects drunk girls at college parties and walks his female co workers/employees home and gives them cool weapons

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camsthisky · 3 years

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"you’re not alone . you’re stuck with me forever . sorry . ” + Jason and Dick (and anyone other family member)?

“Everyone okay?” Dick croaks as the dust and rubble settles around them. He’s lying on his back, kept still by something pinning his legs down. He doesn’t dare assess himself quite yet. “Hood? Batgirl?”

“Okay,” Cass says, and Dick watches as she stumbles over to him, looking dusty, but relatively alright. She kneels next to him with a frown. She meets his eyes—well, relatively since they’re both wearing masks—and asks, “Okay?”

Dick grimaces. “Not really.” Louder, he calls, “Red Hood?!”

“Here, here,” Jason says, coughing into his fist. He’s missing his helmet and there’s a gash sluggishly bleeding from his right cheek, smearing a trail of blood down his face. He’s also limping, but only slightly.

“Can you move?” Cass asks Dick as Jason pulls out his flashlight.

Dick winces at the sudden light, his mask having already automatically switched to night vision. He huffs. “Jay. Off.”

“Names.”

Dick scowls. “The light.”

“Deal with it,” Jason snaps. “My night vision isn’t working.”

Dick turns off his own night vision feature, if only to not be blinded by the damn flashlight if it passes over his eyes again.

That’s when Jason’s flashlight lands on where Dick is pinned.

“Crap,” Jason breathes.

“Can you move them?” Cass asks, sounding a touch more impatient, and Dick realizes that Cass has already asked once. “Your legs.”

“No,” says Dick, just barely trying. He’s tired, but he knows that time is up. He can’t get away with ignoring his own situation any longer. Probably shouldn’t have even waited this long. His legs are tingling from lack of blood flow, mixing with a sharp pain shooting through them both. Still he’s lucky, because—“I can still feel them, though.”

“We’ll lift,” Jason says to Cass, who nods. Dick closes his eyes and braces himself for the inevitable pain of rubble being lifted off his crushed legs.

“Hhh.”

The sounds he makes is nothing more than an agonized hissed through his teeth, and Dick can’t help the cold sweat that sweeps across his body in a slow wave as his siblings manage to move the slab of—wall, maybe? who knows, really—from where it’s crushing his poor legs.

Something taps against his shinbone and then his kneecap.

“Stop, stop, I feel it,” Dick gasps, bringing his legs up in a protective curl as pain throbs through most of his lower body. His left hip hurts like hell, and his every muscle, bone, and tendon feels like they’ve been squeezed and then flattened like a pancake. He rolls over onto his side so he can bring his knees up to his chest, to wait out the lingering intensity of the pain.

“Breathe,” Cass says.

Dick breathes.

He closes his eyes and blocks out everything and, again, just breathes. His siblings let him.

When he has a better grasp on his agony, Dick finally relaxes. The world filters back in. Cass is running fingers through Dick’s dusty hair (something she one hundred percent learned from Bruce, because only a select few know how much the motion tends to calm him down).

On the other hand, Dick blinks his eyes open to find Jason agitatedly pacing.

“The hell?” Jason murmurs, his flashlight whipping back and forth with his movements as he surveys their surroundings. “Did we get completely sealed in?”

Dick wishes desperately he would stop. Even without night vision, Jason’s impromptu strobe light effect is causing Dick’s head to ache. Instead of saying this, he hums contemplatively. “Wonder if there’s a signal this far down.”

Jason huffs, not slowing in the least. He’s searching for something, and dear god does Dick want him to find it already. “You’re the one with the comms in your ear. You try it.”

They’re in the sewers, is the thing. And while Bruce and Babs have designed the comms system to work incredibly well, even in the sewers, the signal still needs to be able to make it to the system in order to be functional.

With the three of them sealed in this place, seemingly with no way out, pretty deep in the sewer system where they had been disabling bombs throughout the city, Dick isn’t optimistic about their chances of getting a signal.

(They’d just been a few seconds too late for that last bomb, which unfortunately led them to their current circumstances.)

While Jason grumbles, Cass activates her emergency signal and the comms. She calls out, “Batman? Oracle?”

Jason shuts up for the five seconds before Cass looks between both Dick and Jason and shakes her head.

Dick lets out a slow exhale through his nose. He hadn’t really held out much hope for that anyways.

Jason groans. “Holy batcannoli, I can’t believe we’re stuck down here. And where’s my hecking helmet?!”

Cass helpfully points to the rubble sealing them in. Jason kicks a rock with a yell. Dick sighs.

“Well, at least you’re not alone down here,” Dick says as optimistically as he can—although, given the circumstances, it does fall a little flat.

Jason snorts. “Right. Sure, Batgirl is an asset, but you’re a sack of bruised bones right now. That’s not helpful in the slightest, Dickface.”

Dick’s eyelashes flutter of their own accord. He hums. “Too bad. Looks like you’re stuck with me. Sorry.”

“Dick,” Cass says, her fingers tracing lightly over his face. “Stay awake.”

“I am awake.”

“You’re starting to—” Cass pauses. Dick can’t see the look on her face, because somehow, his eyes have fully closed without his permission, and he can’t seem to find the strength to open them again. “—to slur.”

The sounds of Jason’s pacing stop. Silence rings loud in their sealed section of the sewers. Then, “Did he hit his head?”

“Not sure,” Cass answers.

“Dick,” Jason says, sounding quite a bit closer, like he’s maybe crouching down next to Cass or something—but Dick hadn’t heard him move, and Jason’s boots are too clunky to not make sound against the concrete. “Dick, did you hit your head?”

Dick’s eyebrows furrow, but he doesn’t open his eyes. He doesn’t remember hitting his head. The only thing he clearly remembers about the blast is heavy pieces of rubble crushing his legs. “Maybe?”

“Great,” Jason says. He’s pulling out his I’m-rolling-my-eyes-at-your-ridiculous-incompetency voice. “So my bruised bones of a big brother probably also has a concussion. Just great.”

“It’s not his fault he’s injured,” Cass tells Jason. “He was disarming the bomb.”

Which means Dick took the brunt of the blast when it was remotely activated.

Dick really means to tack onto Cass’s statement, maybe tease Jason a little and try to reassure both his younger siblings that not everything is hopeless, because he’s the best big brother ever, of course.

Only, he can’t find the strength to open his mouth and talk. Instead, the voices around him become watery, distorted, and Dick’s head flares in pain.

When unconsciousness comes to take him, he doesn’t resist.

—

“—manage to even find us in the first place?” is the first thing Dick hears as he swims back to consciousness. Jason almost sounds relieved.

“The seismic device didn’t just affect the sewers,” someone replies. It takes a lot of effort for Dick to recognize it as Tim. “A couple buildings partially collapsed, and since we knew the three of you were down here, it was a good starting point to look when none of you would answer the comms.”

“Huh,” is all Jason says.

“Nightwing,” Bruce says, startling Dick from the dazed lull he’d been in as he listened to his brothers talking. He opens his eyes, blinking up bewilderingly at what he can see of Bruce’s face behind the cowl.

“B?” Dick murmurs. He doesn’t move, yet, from where’s curled on his side, but he feels an abortive twitch of his fingers at the reassuring sight of Batman. “‘S goin’ on?”

“What do you remember?”

Right. Bruce did not give easy answers. Life is a series of puzzles, Dick Grayson, fueled by none other than Bruce Wayne himself.

Dick frowns and casts his mind back. “The wall blew up,” he decides. “I got hurt?”

He’s only half sure about that last one, but considering his position on the ground, the throbbing in his head and hip, and Bruce’s concerned dad frown that’s taking over his Batman grimace, Dick thinks that he’s probably on the right track.

“Concussion,” Cass says, startling Dick when she pops her head over Bruce’s shoulder. “Also, ‘a sack of bruised bones.’”

That—sounds familiar. He thinks he remembers Jason saying something like that.

Bruce’s frown gets deeper. “Straighten your legs.”

“Please,” Dick tacks on for Bruce when he lacks the manners to be nice, basically on instinct at this point, even as he—slowly, and with a great deal of agony—does what Bruce tells him to do.

They go through a couple more tests, until finally Bruce, unhappy, deems, “We need to move you.”

Dick blinks when Bruce turns away to murmur something to one of the others. A conversation washes over him, and Dick can’t help but let himself tune it out. The noise settles as vague humming—indistinct and comforting.

“—two, three,” Bruce says as Dick’s entire vision goes white.

He only manages to come back to himself in increments.

There are arms holding him tight. Familiar murmurs in his ear. The comforting sound of Batman’s heavy cape brushing against concrete.

“—there, Chum,” Bruce is saying, and if Dick had the capability, he would have teased Bruce for pulling out both the concerned dad frown and the concerned dad voice in one night.

As it is, the only thing that comes out of his mouth when he opens it are harsh pants for air. Every step jostles him, and agony is his constant companion throughout the entire journey to the surface.

Somehow, Dick is still conscious when he’s laid down in the backseat of the batmobile. He’s grateful he’s not moving anymore, and carefully doesn’t think of the upcoming ride back to the Cave.

He only really starts to relax when Bruce settles the cape over him. Wrapped up inside it, Dick almost feels like he’s ten years old again. Batman’s has always felt like warmth and protection and home. This time is no different.

“Batgirl and Robin, keep Nightwing as still as possible. Red Hood, in the front. Start updating Oracle.”

“Why do they—”

“You’re too bulky, Hood. Me and Batgirl are smaller than you. It’s still going to be a tight fit, but it’s the most comfortable for everyone this way.”

“Whatever.”

“Enough. Car. Now.”

There’s lots of careful but hurried scrambling. Dick thinks he passes out a few times on the way back. He doesn’t remember much, either. Just bits and snatches here and there—His siblings talking to him, Bruce giving orders, Jason being snappy and unwittingly dragging Tim into an argument.

And then—he wakes up. A lot more clear-headed than he’d felt the last time he’d been conscious (though, that wasn’t saying much).

To Dick’s surprise, he’s on his side again, dressed in sweats with a pillow between his legs. He opens his eyes to the Wayne Manor living room, and—yes, he’s on the couch. The curtains are drawn, but it’s clearly sometime past sunrise.

Bruce is sitting cross-legged in front of him, reading a book.

“Bruce?” Dick calls, his voice still somewhat slurred. “Why’m I on the couch?”

“You started crying when I said you had to stay in the infirmary,” Bruce tells him, grabbing a bookmark and setting his book off to the side.

Dick frowns. He doesn’t remember that. Still, he manages to say, “You’re such a pushover.”

“How do you feel?”

Dick blinks a dozen times in a row, trying to assess his body and keep up with the change in subject. “Kinda woozy. My hip hurts a lot.”

“Hn.”

“Think I need to brush up on my Bat speak,” Dick murmurs. “Dunno what that one meant.”

Bruce hums again. “You’re incredibly lucky. We’ll need to be careful for the next few weeks.”

“What’s the diagnosis, doc?”

“Crush injuries to your legs and left hip. Not overly severe, and we managed to stabilize you once we realized you were in shock.”

Dick thinks about that for a second. “Concussion? I’m pretty sure I remember something about a concussion.”

“It’s mild,” Bruce tells him. “It was the shock that was the real problem.”

“Oh.” Dick sighs into the pillow under his head. “I’m tired.”

Bruce gives him a soft smile, just slight enough that if Dick hadn’t been so familiar with Bruce’s microexpressions, he would have thought he’d been mistaken. Fingers lightly card through his hair, and Dick’s eyes start closing of their own accord.

“Then sleep,” Bruce says.

Dick sleeps.

#dick grayson #jason todd #cassandra cain #bruce wayne #batclan #dc #camryn writes #brambleberrycottage #thank you for the prompt and your wonderful support!!!!

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marauderundercover · 3 years

Text

Where it Began and Where it Went

Secret Santa gift fic for @buttercupsbitch

~Where it all began~

Dear pen pal,

Hello! My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I’m thirteen and I go to Collège Françoise Dupont. I think my teacher said it’s called ‘middle school’ in English. I’m super excited to do this assignment! Are you excited? I think we could be really, really great friends. Here’s a little bit about me. I live above a bakery with my maman and papa. They’re some of the best bakers in all of Paris. I like designing clothes and other things. I also really like music. Do you listen to Jagged Stone? He’s one of my favorites. Do you have a favorite singer?

Your friend,

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

---

Dear Marinette,

Hi. I’m Jason Todd. I’m also thirteen and in seventh grade at Gotham Academy. I didn’t really want to take French, if I’m being honest. But my dad kinda insisted. I guess it’ll be cool to have a friend in another country. I live with my dad and his father figure. I kind of have an older brother, but he isn’t around a lot. My dad is a businessman, which is kind of boring. But Alfie, that’s my dad’s father figure, he’s a really good baker. And cook in general. How do you design stuff? Is it drawing? I’m awful at art. I do really like reading though. Especially older books. Jagged Stone is actually one of my favorites too.

Sincerely,

Jason Todd

PS. Is your teacher being super annoying about this whole assignment? Like, constantly talking about it and making it a big deal?

---

Dear Jason,

Mme. Bustier is…relentlessly positive. So, yes. She is definitely making this assignment a big deal. And if I’m being honest, it is a little annoying. But if anyone asks, I’ll deny I ever said that.

You have an older brother? That’s awesome! I’ve always wanted siblings, but maman and papa say they only ever needed me. Which is okay, too. Just lonely sometimes. Now, designs. So, it’s actually an entire process. Sometimes, it’s just drawing and that’s as far as it goes. But other times, it’s drawing, creating mood and inspiration boards, inking the drawings, maybe using watercolor, finding fabric swatches, creating doll sized versions of the designs, and sometimes, creating the actual design. I actually won a design contest about a week ago for a hat that I made. I’ll attach a picture to this letter.

You mentioned that you like reading? What’s your favorite book? I read sometimes, but not a lot. Most of my free time I do more art based things. Besides designing clothes, I also like making posters and banners. Did you hear that Jagged Stone is working on a new album? He’s been in Paris for the past month, and I actually saw him walking into the hotel that one of my friends’ mom’s works at. I didn’t get the chance to say hi, but he seemed super nice! He even had his crocodile with him. Do you think he’d be nice in person? He seems cool on tv, but sometimes people put on an act to try and make people like them more.

Your friend,

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

PS, you live in Gotham, right? Have you ever heard of Batman and Robin? My friend Alya mentioned them earlier (she’s obsessed with superheroes) She said that they’ve been around a lot longer than Ladybug and Chat Noir

---

Dear Marinette,

Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. Dick (that’s my older brother), is alright I guess. See, I was adopted, so I’m not really used to having a sibling either. He and my dad fight a lot, so I don’t really see him as much as I’d like to. If you ever tell him I said this I’ll deny it, but I think he’s the coolest. I think it kinda hurts Alfie’s feelings that Dick never comes home anymore. But he never says anything about it. Alfie’s weird like that. But, a good weird. I don’t think I ever realized how much thought goes into designing. That’s kinda cool! Did you actually make that hat? It’s pretty impressive. My dad has to kinda put on an act for some people. They think they know him, because they see him as a public figure, but they really don’t. He’s a good guy. And he really cares about the important things. So maybe (hopefully) Jagged’s like that. Maybe if he is nice, you could get him to sign a copy of his new album once he releases it. Then you could frame it and keep it forever.

Batman and Robin are actually vigilantes, not superheroes. And they’ve been around most of my life. I actually think there’s a new Robin. Either that or the old one got hit with a shrink ray. They’re okay, I guess. There’s still crimes and bad guys and stuff, but I’d like to think it’s getting better. Who are Ladybug and Chat Noir? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them.

Sincerely,

Jason Todd

PS. I forgot to tell you my favorite book. It’s “Pride and Prejudice”. I also really like “The Hobbit” and “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. “Frankenstein” isn’t bad either.

PPS. My teacher said we’re supposed to ask about your favorite holiday traditions. I haven’t really had a lot of holidays with my dad, but my favorite was probably on my birthday when he convinced Dick to come home and have some cake with us.

---

Dear Jason,

You’ll never believe what happened! I MET JAGGED STONE! ACTUALLY MET HIM! Jason, it was so cool! He was so cool! I even got to design a pair of sunglasses for him. It was AMAZING. I’m attaching a picture of me and Jagged Stone with the sunglasses.

Batman and Robin sound cool! What’s the difference between a vigilante and a superhero? Ladybug and Chat Noir are the superheroes in Paris. I did make the hat, and THE Gabriel Agreste liked it. I was so shocked!

Now, on to your question about holiday traditions. I think one of my favorites would have to be either my birthday or my papa’s birthday. Both of those days are kind of set aside for video game competitions. Have you ever played Ultimate Mecha Strike III? It’s my papa’s favorite game, even though I (almost) always beat him. That, and Christmas morning. It’s the only day when my parents don’t open the bakery, and instead we just have a quiet morning together. I’m not even a morning person, but I love those moments.

I’ve never read most of the books you mentioned, but I’ll definitely have to add them to my list if you think they’re good. I have read “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” though. My maman has the movie version of “Pride and Prejudice” with Keira Knightley. Is that any good?

My teacher thinks we should talk about our favorite subjects in school, and what we want to do when we grow up. I want to be a fashion designer, and I love art class. I’m not awful in the other subjects, but they aren’t my favorite either. What about you? I know you enjoy reading, but what do you want to do when you grow up?

Your friend,

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

---

Two Years Later

After two years of fighting Hawkmoth and having an American pen pal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had settled into a routine. She wrote a letter to Jason, he wrote a letter back. She fought akumas with Chat Noir. Master Fu began her training to be the next guardian and informed her of secret organizations (organizations that he assured her would welcome her with open arms despite their scary names). It was normal. She was used to it. Except Jason’s letter was taking forever this time. Of course the assignment had been over for ages, but they were friends. Best friends, maybe. They’d never exchanged phone numbers because it hadn’t seemed important. The letters were enough. She couldn’t even think about the danger her friend would be in if he showed up in Paris. Sighing, she climbs the stairs to the apartment, giving her maman a soft smile as she walks in.

“Hi maman.” She says, placing her umbrella on the stand. She frowns at the lack of response, instead focusing in on her mom’s worried face. “Maman?” She asks. She blinks, and gives her a tight smile before passing her an envelope. Marinette brightens. Jason wrote back! And then she actually looks at the envelope. Placed directly over the address for Wayne manor were the words “Return to Sender” stamped in dark red ink. Marinette blinks in shock. Had he moved? Why wouldn’t he tell her if he’d moved? She glances at the envelope. It hadn’t been opened, so it wasn’t anything she’d said. Not in this letter at least. What happened to Jason?

“Are you okay sweetheart?” Her mom asks softly. Marinette swallows back the tears. Pushing back her emotions was one of her specialties.

“Of course I am. He must’ve moved and didn’t have time to mention it in his last letter.” She says, trying to press down the worry. “I have a lot of homework, so I’m gonna go work on that.” She adds, moving to rush up to her room. The second the trap door is closed, she begins pacing.

“Marinette.” Tikki says softly, rushing out of her purse and frowning.

“I’m freaking out, Tikki! Jason always said he was worried that Bruce might get sick of him and send him back to the streets. And I was stupid and never sent my phone number, so how am I supposed to check on him and make sure that he’s okay? He’s my best friend, Tikki. I don’t know what I’d do if something bad happened to him.” Marinette rambles, pacing and waving her arms around frantically. Tikki frowns.

“Marinette, you need to calm down.” They remind her gently. Marinette huffs.

“How am I supposed to be calm? Jason wouldn’t just ignore me, Tikki. I know he wouldn’t.” She says, her voice breaking. Tikki sighs and flies up, cuddling into Marinette’s hair. Marinette sniffles, relishing in the comfort from the kwami. What happened to Jason?

---

One Year Later

When Jason Todd woke up in the pit of green water, all he felt was pain. Pain and anger. It was excruciating and mind numbing all at the same time. He’d been awake for six months now, and though the pain had lessened, the anger was still there. He did his best to focus it on training and defeating his opponents instead of the people around him. No sense in punishing Talia, who’d taken him in, or her Demon Spawn. The kid could’ve been worse, he supposed. Most six year olds watched annoying cartoons. They didn’t wield freaking swords. But that was fine. At least the kid knew how to take care of himself.

“Jason?” Talia Al Ghul says, walking into the room where he was training. Jason immediately straightens, letting his weapon fall slightly, Talia nods. “Come. There is a girl here who will be training with you.” Jason frowns.

“Why with me?” He asks as he moves to follow Talia. She quirks an eyebrow.

“Does it matter?” She asks. He huffs, but shakes his head. They walk in silence, Damian eventually appearing out of the shadows to walk beside him. Jason watches Talia for a minute to make sure she’s not paying attention before leaning over and ruffling the Demon Spawn’s hair. The kid turns to him, glaring harshly. Jason quickly looks forward, knowing that the kid would wait til later to take his revenge. Walking out into the courtyard, Jason freezes at the sight of the person in front of him.

“Marinette?” He breathes out. She freezes, turning to him with wide eyes. Her face breaks out into a giant grin and she runs over, just stopping before she runs into him. Wincing, she turns back to Talia and bows, then turns and does the same to Damian.

“My apologies, Mme. Al Ghul.” She says softly, her Arabic deeply accented. Talia’s lip quirks up slightly and Jason grins.

“Apologies accepted, Miss Dupain-Cheng.” The older woman says in English. Jason tries not to laugh at the slight relief that crosses Marinette’s face. She must not be as fluent in Arabic as she was in English.

“What are you doing here?” Jason finally asks, a million possible reasons running through his head. Marinette winces, and glances back at the old man she’d been talking to when Jason spotted her. The man looks at Jason, and it’s as if he’s seeing every good or bad thing he’d ever done. Jason shivers slightly. It reminded him of Alfred.

“I do believe he will become an ally, Marinette, if he is not one already. As it is your training, you may choose how much information to disclose.” The man says, and Jason is a little confused at how fond the man sounds. Most instructors at the League weren’t exactly sunshine and rainbows.

“Thank you, Master Fu.” Marinette says, smiling before turning back to him. She grins. “It’s a long story. Do you have time?” She asks. Jason glances at Talia.

“She is the girl you will be training with. Lessons will resume in one hour. Don’t be late.” The woman says, giving him a small nod before ushering Damian away. Jason makes a mental note to be on the lookout for the kid. He’d definitely be getting him back for the whole hair thing.

“Is this why you stopped writing?” Marinette asks as he leads her to one of the fountains so that they could talk in (somewhat) privacy. Jason blinks.

“What do you mean?” He asks. She frowns.

“Your letters? The last letter I sent came back with a ‘return to sender’ stamp on it. And then I tried a few more times, even tried addressing it to M. Wayne, but…it was always the same. Return to sender.” She says the last part bitterly, a scowl on her face. Jason can feel the green building up. The anger clawing its way to the surface at the mention of him. How could he do that? He <i>knew<i> that she was Jason’s friend. He knew what she meant to him. And he didn’t think to tell her that he’d died? Jason feels his hands start to shake, the anger threatening to tear to the surface and rip him apart bit by bit.

“Jay?” Marinette says softly. Jason looks at her, her blue eyes, so bright and filled with worry, help him to calm down. He takes a few shaky breaths, debating telling her the truth. But if she was at the League for training, she’d definitely know sooner or later anyway. And, if he remembers correctly, she hated liars.

“I died.” He says. She inhales sharply, and Jason winces, wishing he would’ve broken the news a little easier. “Obviously, I’m alive now, but uh…” He trails off.

“You don’t have to tell me.” Marinette says quietly, gently resting a hand on his arm. Jason sighs, pushing his hair back.

“But I want to.” He says. “Do you remember me telling you about the second Robin?” She nods. “That was me. And some bad shit happened. Really bad. Villain got me and beat me and… And I died, but Talia used the Lazarus Pits and here I am.” Jason says. He watches her face carefully, to see how she’d take it. What he wasn’t expecting to see was the complete rage on her face.

“That asshole!” She screams, jumping from her seat on the bench. Jason flinches and her eyes soften slightly. “Sorry, Jason, but- the nerve of that man! If I ever meet him-” She rants, obviously about to list out her revenge plans. Jason was interested to hear them, maybe they could coordinate, when a tiny red thing zooms out of her pocket and moves right in front of her face.

“Marinette you need to breathe.” The thing says firmly. Jason blinks in shock, but Marinette’s shoulders slump slightly.

“Tikki, I told you something was wrong. I knew that something was wrong.” Marinette says, her voice shaking. The thing, Tikki, sighs.

“I know, Marinette. But now is not the time for you to lose your head. Especially since your training will begin soon.” They remind. Jason frowns.

“Hey, sorry, what is that thing?” He asks bluntly. Tikki giggles, and Marinette sighs.

“Do you remember my stories about Ladybug and Chat Noir?” She asks. Jason’s eyes widen.

“No.” He says. She nods.

“Oh, yes. That’s why I’m here. To complete my guardian training with the assistance of the League now that Hawkmoth has been defeated.” Marinette says. Jason whistles lowly.

“Geeze. That’s…that’s hard core.” He says. She snorts, grinning.

“You have no idea.”

---

“Dupain-Cheng, if you insist on locking lips with Todd, I will be forced to get Mother.” Damian announces, walking into the room. Marinette squeaks and jumps back from Jason, her face heating up. Jason just huffs.

“Do you have to be so annoying?” He asks Damian, rolling his eyes. Damian smirks.

“I believe it is payback.” He says. “For all of the times you annoyed me.” Marinette quirks an eyebrow.

“What about me?” She asks. Damian purses his lips.

“An unfortunate victim to circumstance. You are…adequate.” He says. Marinette grins, turning back to Jason.

“Hear that? I’m adequate.” She says smugly. Jason snorts.

“Yeah, only ‘cause you have the kwamis. And the kid is obsessed with animals.” He says. She pouts, but notices Damian’s pocket move. Her eyes narrow, focusing on the aura emitting from it.

“Plagg?” She says. Damian’s eyes widen slightly. He was good, but he was still seven. And Marinette had the advantage of being able to sense the kwamis.

“Who’s Plagg? I don’t know a Plagg.” Plagg calls out from the pocket. Damian’s face falls slightly.

“Plagg, get out here.” Marinette says firmly. Plagg grumbles, but flies out of the kid’s pocket.

“It was not his fault.” Damian says firmly. Marinette smiles softly at him.

“He’s not in trouble, Damian. Not really.” She says gently. She turns to Plagg. “What part of ‘don’t randomly run around the compound’ don’t you understand?” She asks tiredly. Plagg sighs.

“But the kid likes cats.” He argues. Marinette pinches the bridge of her nose. The kwami was going to give her a headache.

“Plagg, I don’t mind if you spend time with Damian. But I need you to tell me so that I know where you are in case of an emergency.” She says gently. Plagg sighs, but nods.

“Okay Pigtails. Me or the kid will tell you next time I’m with him.” He says. She smiles.

“Thank you, Plagg.” She says. He rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. C’mon kid, let's go cause some chaos.” He says, zooming back into Damian’s pocket. Damian grins and Marinette debates the need to follow them.

“They’re fine.” Jason whispers. Marinette pouts.

“What if Plagg destroys the place?” She asks. Jason snorts.

“I’m sure the kid’ll get him to stop before it gets that bad.” He reassures her. Marinette sighs, but grins into Jason’s soft kiss.

---

Two years after Marinette first entered the League of Assassins' compound (she wasn’t a member, she was purely there for training purposes in order to become a better Guardian of the Miraculous. And to reinstate the bond that the League and the Court had had many years ago), it was time for her to go. Guardianship of the box would be passed on to her eventually, but Master Fu wasn’t quite ready to lose those memories yet. But now she was prepared. And so, since she was eighteen and had passed her baccalauréat, she could move on to university. Or opening her design company. Either way, she was headed back to Paris. And she was terrified that Jason wouldn’t come with. Over the years, he’d slowly stopped talking about revenge, and had once again talked about what he wanted to do one day. The life he wanted to have. She hoped there was a place for her in it.

“I still do not understand why Plagg cannot remain here.” Damian huffs as she finishes packing her suitcase. Master Fu was also leaving, but he wouldn’t return to Paris quite yet. He had an overdue vacation with Marianne Lenoir to take before he went home. Marinette sighs, reaching out to smooth down the boy’s hair. He doesn’t snarl at her like he does Jason, just pouts. He was like the little brother she never knew she needed. Sure, he was also a tiny assassin child, but Talia did her best to make sure he was safe. For all of her faults, and there were several, Talia did care about Damian. And despite being a trained assassin, the (almost) nine year old was happy. Well. Happy for Damian.

“Because he has to stay with Master Fu and the box, minou. It’s for his safety, and the safety of the rest of the kwami.” Marinette says softly. Damian’s pout deepens.

“Well why can’t you stay here? You’re the next Guardian. You and Plagg could remain here with me.” He says. Marinette’s heart breaks.

“I want to go back to school, Dames. And start up my business again. But you know that you are welcome in Paris any time, right?” She asks. Damian scowls, but she lays a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You will always be welcome with me, little brother.” She says. Damian looks up at her, and for a second, she’s scared he’ll cry. But he quickly schools his features and gives a firm nod.

“I will endeavor to stop by if I am ever in Europe.” He says. Marinette grins. A soft knock on the door frame makes her whirl around, a wide smile on her face when she sees Jason. Her boyfriend, as long as he wasn’t going to break up with her for leaving. Which honestly scared her.

“Hi.” She says, reaching up and kissing him. Damian huffs.

“Goodbye Todd. Perhaps when I see you again, you will have attained some sense.” He says, ducking as Jason reaches out to ruffle his hair. Damian rushes off and Jason snorts, turning back to her.

“I’m gonna miss the kid.” He says, and her eyes widen.

“You’re leaving?” She asks. He nods. “Gotham?” She asks, keeping her features in a neutral mask. She didn’t want him to know how bad of an idea she thought-

“Paris, actually.” He says. Her eyes widen.

“What?” She breathes out. He nods, smiling.

“Talia helped me get an identity so that I could sign up for school. I was thinking that we could get a place. You know, together.” Jason says. Marinette squeals, jumping up and wrapping her arms around him.

“Oh my god!” She cheers, pulling him into a deep kiss. He kisses her until she has to pull back for air, light headed. A throat clearing makes Marinette squeak and jump away from Jason, blush covering her entire face as Talia just quirks an eyebrow.

“I trust you are using protection?” She asks. Marinette sputters, as Jason chokes.

“I- what the hell Talia?” He chokes out, eyes wide. She smirks.

“I was just coming to let you know that your transportation is ready. And, that if either of you ever change your minds, these doors will always be open for you.” Talia says. Marinette just nods, wishing she’d led with that so that she could say something in return. As it was, she was trying to not look at the woman. The second she walks away, Marinette groans, burying her head in her hands.

“That was…something.” She mutters. Jason snorts.

“Yeah. You could say that again.” He says. Marinette sighs, grabbing her suitcase in one hand, Jason’s hand in the other.

“What are you going to study? I know you used to say you wanted to be a teacher.” She says, excitement immediately blooming once again. Jason was coming with her. They would be able to start their lives. Jason smirks, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Well, Alfie always seemed upset that Bruce never finished his medical degree. And, well someone’s gotta do it.” He says. Marinette laughs, but thinks it’s perfect. What better revenge than to live a successful, happy life.

---

Damian Wayne was unsurprised at the less than warm welcome he had received from his Father and Drake. Pennyworth and Grayson were…bearable. Though, he believed he only found Grayson bearable due to his similarities to Dupain-Cheng. That was one of the best parts of living with Father. He was able to communicate with Dupain-Cheng again…and Todd. Which was not awful. Despite the man’s teasing nature, he was a formidable opponent. Glancing at the wall clock, Damian clears his throat.

“I will not be in attendance at patrol this evening.” He declares. Father raises an eyebrow and Grayson sprays water across the table. Damian frowns at the mess.

“Why?” Father asks, looking confused. Damian quirks an eyebrow.

“It is Thursday.” He says simply, before taking his leave from the table. If they truly did not know that this was his routine, and had been for the last year, then that was their fault. Not his. His phone rings almost immediately as he walks into his room. He presses the accept call button and settles onto his bed, prepared for the long conversation that was inevitable with Dupain-Cheng.

“Dames! I’m so happy to see you. Have you been eating? How’s your dog? Oh, Plagg says hi by the way- no- Plagg-” The woman sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He also says you’re a traitor, minou, but don’t listen to him. I think he’s just crabby because I grounded him from Camembert.” Damian suppresses a smile.

“Why is he with you?” He asks, instead of laughing. She sighs.

“Master Fu went on another trip, but decided to let me have a test run with the box this time. I- Bonjour, mon amour.” She glances at something off camera, her voice softening as she leans out of frame, probably to kiss Todd.

“Todd. Glad to see that you are still a miscreant.” Damian huffs as the man in question leans into frame, a small smirk on his face.

“Nice to see you too, kid. When are you gonna visit? Mari’s already got your guest room set up.” He says, dodging a hit from Dupain-Cheng. Damian’s eyes widen slightly. He had a room at their home?

“What?” He asks quietly. Dupain-Cheng glares at Todd before turning to him, the worry clear on her face.

“You don’t have to feel pressured or anything. I just-” She sighs. “I knew when you were living with your Mother that you couldn’t really come visit unless there was a mission. But now, I thought it would be nice for you to have your own room here if you visit.” She says. Damian blinks, but nods, thankful.

“I…appreciate you, Dupain-Cheng.” He says. She grins, before launching into another story. Damian listens, but also notices the look that Todd gave her. The one that made it clear he saw only her.

---

Jason Todd never thought he would get married. It wasn’t in his cards as a kid growing up on the streets of Gotham. There was a brief amount of time, when he was living with Bruce, where he thought it might be possible. And then he was beaten to death by the Joker. And marriage was the furthest thing on his mind. And then, he met Marinette in person for the first time. The girl who had been his best friend from 13-15. Suddenly, the thought of marriage was appealing once again. Which led him to this moment. Four years after leaving the League of Assassins, a ring box in his pocket, terrified as his girlfriend walks in the front door.

“Hey Jay.” She says softly, standing on her toes to give him a quick kiss. Jason sighs into it, relaxing slightly at her touch. She steps back and frowns slightly, reaching up and holding a hand against his forehead. “Are you okay?” She asks. He smiles.

“Yeah, I’m- I’m perfect.” He says. She smiles back.

“Good. My maman and papa want to know when we wanna come over for dinner again.” She says, setting her bag down and moving towards the kitchen. Jason hums, trying to think of his schedule, but too focused on the ring in his pocket.

“What about next weekend?” He asks. Marinette bites her lip, before nodding.

“That should work. I might need to pull an all-nighter sometime this week for the commission I have, but it should be fine.” She says. He frowns. He was definitely going to have to replace the coffee to decaf to get her to sleep again. “Jay, are you sure you’re okay?” She asks again. He takes a deep breath, he’d prepared a speech. He wanted to be romantic, he wanted to sweep her off her feet with words. He’d even included quotes from some of his favorite books. He opens his mouth and says:

“Marry me.” Marinette’s eyes immediately widen.

“What?” She asks. He groans, dropping his head into his hands. Reaching into his pocket, he grabs the ring box and gets down on one knee.

“I definitely messed up, and I wanted to make this perfect, but, I love you, Mari. I never thought I would get to fall in love with someone so amazing. There’s no one who knows me like you do. I want to wake up with you beside me in the mornings. I want to laugh with you and fall asleep with you in my arms. Marinette, will you marry me?” She nods, immediately, and he’s startled to see her tears, but relieved that she’s smiling despite them.

“Yes, yes, yes!” She squeals. Jason grins, jumping to his feet and picking up his fiancée. She immediately wraps her legs around his waist and he pulls her into a deep kiss. Everything was perfect.

---

Marinette smiles at the phone, despite the scowl on her pseudo brother’s face.

“I used to respect you.” He huffs. Marinette laughs, shaking her head.

“Minou, he’s not home. And I know that you actually like him.” She teases lightly. Damian purses his lips.

“If you ever tell Todd that I do not think he is a complete waste of space, I will deny it.” He says, instead of outright agreeing with her. Marinette grins.

“Do you think you would be able to come to the wedding? It’s not for a while still, but we’d both really like it if you could come.” She says. Damian’s eyebrows furrow together, and Marinette is once again taken aback by how grown up he is. The baby fat he had at seven was long gone. Now, at thirteen, his face was sharpening. And though she hadn’t seen him in person in awhile, she also got the feeling that he’d grown taller.

“I do. When is Todd due to move on to his residency?” He asks, and Marinette grins.

“Just two more years of school and then he’s there.” She says, pride coursing through her. At first, it was clear Jason was doing it to spite Bruce. But during his courses, he’d clearly grown to love it. It was a way for him to help people without having to put on a mask. Something she’d also support, if he ever wanted to go back to that life. His nightmares, like hers, were less frequent now. But they hadn’t completely disappeared.

“Do you think he will inform Pennyworth?” Damian asks. Marinette quirks an eyebrow.

“Do they know he’s alive?” She asks. Damian flinches back.

“Has he not informed them?” He asks. She winces.

“I- well- I don’t think so?” She says, unsure. Damian huffs.

“That explains Grayson’s attitude when I use Todd’s name.” He says. Marinette raises an eyebrow.

“Explain, little brother.” She says. He sighs.

“I may or may not have made a comment on one of Todd’s inadequacies. Grayson was upset, and insisted that it was wrong to speak ill of the dead. I assumed he was making some sort of joke. I was unaware that Todd had not informed Father of his…living status.” Damian explains. Marinette sighs, pushing her hair back.

“It’s his decision, Dames. I’m not gonna push him, and neither are you.” She says. Damian nods, and Marinette grins as the door opens and Jason walks in.

“Hey, love.” He says gently, walking over and pressing a kiss to her temple. Marinette sighs happily, tugging him down onto the couch next to her. She smiles as his eyes light up at the sight of Damian.

“Hey kid! M tell you the big news?” He asks. Damian nods. “You gonna come?” He asks. Damian nods again. “Awesome.” Jason says, throwing an arm over her shoulders. Marinette smiles.

“Todd-” Damian starts. Marinette frowns, raising an eyebrow at him. He turns his full attention to Jason.

“Yes?” Jason says hesitantly. Damian frowns.

“I was wondering if you would inform Pennyworth when you move forward to your residency in two years.” Damian asks. Marinette feels Jason stiffen slightly, then relax, a sigh escaping his lips.

“I- don’t know, kid.” He says, his voice small. “There’s a lot of hurt there-”

“But not with Pennyworth!” Damian argues. Marinette grips Jason’s hand as he squeezes his eyes shut, taking steadying breaths.

“You’re right, Damian. I should probably talk to Alfie I just- I don’t want Bruce around when I do.” He says. Damian purses his lips, a thoughtful look on his face.

“That can be arranged.” He says simply before hanging up. Marinette turns to Jason.

“I’m not exactly sure what just happened, but I do think we should be slightly worried.” She says. Jason nods.

“Oh yeah.”

“And we should probably plan on Damian showing up with Alfred sometime soon.” She adds. Jason’s eyes widen.

“You think?” He asks. She nods. He huffs, but wraps his arms around her and pulls her down so that she’s lying on top of him. She pouts down at him.

“I have commissions to work on.” Marinette complains. Jason shakes his head, kissing her softly before hugging her close.

“It’s nap time.” He says.

“But-”

“Shhh. Sleep now, love. There’ll be plenty of time to finish the commissions later.” He says softly. Marinette sighs, but falls asleep to Jason’s gentle humming.

---

Marinette Dupain-Cheng expected disaster all of the time. It made it easier to accept when disaster actually did strike, and made all of the other times, where it didn’t strike, even more enjoyable. She expected disaster when someone knocked at the door on a random Thursday afternoon.

“Hello sister, I assume you were expecting our company.” Damian says, standing next to an older man who could only be Alfred Pennyworth. The man’s eyebrows raise slightly, glancing between her and Damian. Marinette rolls her eyes fondly at the boy, sticking her hand out in greeting. Alfred shakes her hand back, his lips quirking up into a small smile.

“Bonjour, M. Pennyworth. I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” She says, stepping to the side and gesturing for the two to enter the apartment. “Minou, I thought you were going to call before you visited?” She says, crossing her arms as she gives Damian a Look™. Damian frowns, sticking his lower lip out in a pout.

“But surely you assumed we were coming after our last call.” He says, really pouring it on thick. Marinette snorts, shaking her head.

“That pout worked when you were seven and missing teeth. Not so much now.” She teases. Damian huffs. “Curses.” He mumbles.

“Master Damian, would you care to tell me why you neglected to inform your Father of your sister’s existence?” Alfred asks, raising an eyebrow. Marinette laughs lightly, moving to the kitchen to start some water for tea.

“Technically, we’re not related. It’s more of a…found family.” She calls, grinning when she sees Damian’s ears redden. Setting the kettle on the stove, she moves back to the dining room, gesturing towards the table. Both sit and she smiles as she studies Damian. He’d grown up so much.

“Stop with the sentimental thoughts, Dupain-Cheng.” Damian says, shooting her a look. Marinette rolls her eyes.

“Sue me for being happy to see you after four years.” She huffs, before a thought makes her grin again. “Why don’t you go see your room? Let me know if there’s anything we should add before you visit again.” Damian sighs, but stands and leaves the room, leaving her alone with Alfred. Turning to him, she frowns slightly.

“Is something wrong, Miss?” He asks. She hesitates.

“Did Damian explain why he wanted to come to France?” She asks. He shakes his head.

“No. The young Master was quite intent on coming to France, and even more intent on his Father not accompanying him. Or Master Dick, which is unusual for him.” Alfred says. Marinette sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I’m afraid I know why, and there’s not really any easy way to explain this-” She starts, but she’s cut off by the front door opening and closing.

“Mari?” Jason calls. Marinette sees Alfred stiffen slightly.

“In here. We have guests.” She calls back. Jason turns the corner, frowning.

“What guests do we-” He freezes, eyes wide. “Alfred?” He breathes out. Faster than she thought was possible, Alfred is on his feet and in front of Jason, a shaky hand reaching out to touch his face.

“Jason?” Alfred breathes out, tears in his eyes. Jason nods, his tears mirroring the older man’s.

“Yeah, Alfie. It’s me.” He says. Alfred lets out a soft sob, yanking Jason into a hug. Jason doesn’t hesitate, immediately returning the hug. Smiling softly at the scene, Marinette moves the water off the stove. She’d reheat it later. She had a feeling it would be a while before anyone wanted any tea.

Slightly inspired by this post

Part two

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