#knmi on ao3

[kay-enemy]

Well, I didn't get as much (any) writing as I wanted done over the holiday, but here is more detail on the end notes from No Saint Alfred:

To set the scene, it is roughly 6 months after Jason Todd died as Robin. Tim Drake is insisting Batman still needs Robin...by which he means specifically Dick being Robin rather than Nightwing:

(Batman #441, 1989)

Meanwhile, Nightwing and Batman have already been defeated by Two Face:

(Batman #442, 1989)

So: one child dead due to the adults using him as a soldier. One young adult about to die due to being raised as a child soldier. One adult about to die due to his own choices.

What does Alfred do? He encourages another child soldier to run into danger!!!

(#441)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To Alfred's very slight credit, he does seem to change his tune in the next issue and tries to discourage Tim?

(#442)

"Tim, don't. You know what happened to Jason."

"This is wrong. I shouldn't be doing this."

But he still drives an untrained 13-year-old to the scene of danger????

Then to top it all off, Tim wasn't even critical in saving the day. Tim, who had NO TRAINING in vigilantism at this point, was being beaten by Two Face in a scene very similar to Jason and Joker:

(Tim and Two Face in 442)

(Jason and Joker in #427, 1988)

And Tim only got an upper hand once Alfred caused a distraction - which could have been achieved with Gordon, Batwoman, anyone from the Justice League who could get there with super speed... Anyone but an innocent child!

In conclusion, Robin would have died with Jason if not for Alfred. For all the fanon discussion of Tim forcing the issue, he didn't want or even consider being Robin himself until Alfred put the idea in his head. Alfred is worse than an enabler, he is actively encouraging the use of child soldiers.

I will not forgive Alfred, and neither should Jason or Tim.

Happy New Year! Hopefully I will be just as spiteful in 2024

(This isn't even my main complaint about the comics, idk why I made a big post about this one rather than the glaring problems)

[kay-enemy]

Jason Todd is far more forgiving than I, who was never raised as a child soldier, could ever be.

if you’re looking at it with purely watsonian in universe reasoning, yeah Jason is the “holding onto a grudge for years” guy, but if he wasn’t also incredibly forgiving he and Bruce would’ve been no-contact years ago

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Alfred's Role

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/voCzPka

by Kay_Blinkin (KNMI)

"I suggest you give your key to Alfred on your way out. I don't need a partner; I never should have had one."

Or: Batman kicks Dick out for the second time. Dick contemplates what this means for him, his grandfather, and his dead baby brother.

Featuring bad grandparent Alfred. You have been sufficiently warned.

Words: 902, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman (Comics)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne (Mentioned), Jason Todd (Mentioned)

Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth

Additional Tags: Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson Deserves Better, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Dead Jason Todd, Alfred Pennyworth is an Enabler, bad grandparent alfred pennyworth, bad parent alfred pennyworth, Background Character Death, It's JASON, what else did you expect, does this count as major character death?, since Jason isn't really a main character here, why does the "it's jason" tag keep capitalizing itself?, like I redid this 3 times trying to stop that

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/voCzPka

[kay-enemy]

I'm back, baby! Here's hoping I linger a little longer, but I definitely have some fics in the work. The update I just posted is not my most popular fic, and was almost entirely written when I got back to it, but I still consider it progress when I was in such a slump for months.

(I kinda want to link to the fic that reignited my spite engine, but that feels a littler weird and forward when I don't know the author)

[kay-enemy]

I'm not sure i like the kind of person I'm becoming....

...an adult who goes to bed before 10pm

[kay-enemy]

Real question: why do we do Whumptober, when Whumptember or Whumpril would work so much better in terms of wordplay?

[kay-enemy]

Deleted scene from If You Take Your Goon to a Gala:

Cass came barreling up in the most graceful beeline Duke had ever seen, before turning to gaze at Bruce, Jason, and Jason’s mystery guest. “Jay is… afraid,” she said cryptically, and Duke still wasn’t sure if she was being deliberately vague, was too distracted with watching to clarify, or actually didn’t know how to express something. “Of what? Think there’s a threat to yet another gala? Say it ain’t so.” Stephanie had joined them once Lars left to return to Jason’s side. “Dunno, Jason’s ‘friend’ is pretty damned scary,” Duke contributed. “Is he bigger than Bane, you reckon? Wonder why Jace brought him.” Cassandra just hummed, continuing to watch the other trio.

Context if you haven't read or don't remember the fic: sometime after RHATO25, Dick invites Jason to a Wayne Gala. With all the Outlaws unavailable, Jason brings one of Red Hood's goons as backup in case Bruce gets violent. The goon is basically an extra scary Jason Momoa in a fabulous suit.

This scene was cut pretty early and never went anywhere because I didn't want to jump to a different POV right when the conflict was getting started, but it was sad to lose more of the batkid perspective

[kay-enemy]

I just heard the phrase "decision paralysis" and just...

Oh, there's a name for it. This made me feel some kind of way

[kay-enemy]

I really thought chapter 2 of Sibling Bonding would be ready sooner, but it's been sitting at 90% since before I posted chapter 1, and no progress on future chapters.

Oh well, this was always intended as an experiment into whether I could manage a multi-chapter fic without having it fully planned out... the answer is no, I can't

(I promise, there will be updates)

[kay-enemy]

Damn, I should've included this detail in Sibling Bonding. Idk when I will next write something with Jason in costume.

Y'know how astronauts have this bit of foam in their helmets so they can scratch their noses on a spacewalk?

Please consider that this is also included in the Red Hood helmet

[kay-enemy]

I thought I might make a way for people to contact me outside of comments on my fics. I am KNMI on AO3 and I mostly write pro-Red Hood, anti Batman fics

(um, if you have seen another tumblr for the same AO3 account... shut up no you didn't. I was drunk that day and sober Kay can't figure out the password to that account)

(I am drunk tonight too, but hopefully google remembers this password)