#like now that I have gotten into the Batman fandom I do see why people are interested in Mari/Dami like I get it

[parallelunivrses]

the fact that Marinette/Damian Wayne is an ao3 tag that shows up before Marinette/Adrien/Luka is so funny to me

[rubydubydoo122]

could you talk more about fanon vs canon tim drake? i havent gotten too far into the comics yet but have seen a lot of him (mis?)characterized by others

Just a preface, I'm not gonna crucify any Tim fans who find themselves writing these tropes, because it is fandom, and everyone's allowed their own interpretations of the character, I'm just personally not a fan of these takes on Tim because in my mind they just don't make sense for the character. If anyone has differing opinions, feel free to (politely) explain them to me, because I'm happy to hear them.

Ok, so much like Fanon Dick Grayson, there are two versions of fanon Tim Drake.

There's version A.) where where he's one minor inconvienience away from becoming a supervillain (I understand where this one comes from and I don't HATE it) and there's version B.) where he was criminally neglected as a kid and is infantalized (This version of Tim I Loathe)

I'll start with version A. I see where it comes from. Mainly the Red Robin 2009 run, but we have to remember that Tim was grieving pretty much everyone close to him during that era. He was being self destructive because of that grief, and yeah, grief changes a person, but Tim is the type of character who would still turn out good despite all the hurt handed to him. Oh! But Gun Batman-- Tim actively chose against being that. He would rather kill himself than let himself become a version of Batman who went against everything Batman stood for. I know there are multiple storylines where Tim meets and evil future version of himself, but those versions would constantly be like a weight on him to be good. All in all, if I had to choose between the fanon Tim Drakes, I would choose villain Tim Drake, as long as it's done in more of a character-study way rather than a 'He deserves to go evil, as a treat' because it's an interesting take with the right motives.

Now onto Version B. Loser Tim Drake. The reason I Loathe this version of Tim is because it usually involves Characters Assassination of the characters around him. Ok, so do I agree that Tim Drake was somewhat neglected? Yes. But goddamit, the way I see Jack and Janet portrayed, you would think that they were running from the feds or something. They were good people, just bad parents. Maybe a little immature to raise a child, but it wasn't to the point where they would probably need to call CPS. Neglect isn't black and white, and the Drakes fell into that grey-- which I personally believe to be a lighter shade. You do have to remember that a lot of Tim's introduction was written in the 90's where parenting styles were a lot different compared to Today. Still, they sent him to boarding school, meaning they made sure that some form of adult was taking care of Tim AND a lot of people try to make Jack Drake out to be the villain for stopping Tim from being Robin, and blackmailing Bruce for it, but... It's What Any Sane Parent Would Do? I'm 18, but I know if I ever had a kid, and then fell into a coma and then woke up and found out that my Kid was fighting crime in one of the most CRIME RIDDEN CITIES alongside my middle-aged neighbor who dresses up like a furry I WOULD CALL THE FUCKING COPS. But enough about the Drakes. Because not only does Loser Tim Drake assassinate their character, but why is 17 year old Tim the victim when it comes to 10 year old Damian-- "Oh he tried to kill him' They're both trained by assassins. They're both trained. They're both Trained. Why Is a Junior/Senior in high school hurt by the actions of a 5th grader. I have a similar age gap with my younger brother. We have had pretty brutal fights and the next day we're fine. I'm not going to get into "Attack on Titans Tower AUs" but I will say this, Every Time I Start To Read One Of Those, I Lose Half Of My Hair Because of How Bad the Characterization Of Both Jason And Tim are. Please, Read, The, Comic. Jason Wasn't Trying To Kill Tim. If He Was, Tim would Be Dead. ANd Tim was Snarking Jason Through The Entire Confrontation. Lastly, Why Has DICK 'BAMF' GRAYSON TURNED INTO TIM"S NUMBER ONE OP????!!!! DIck IS LITERALLY TiM's ChiLDHOOD HEro!!!!! NoT BAtMAN, DICK GRAYSON. And like, not only that, Dick and Tim are the most brotherly. I'm Begging, Please go read a 90's comic. Why is it, the only time I see Dicks Manipulative side in fanon, It's in opposition to Tim? I bet it's bc of Teen Titans Go. I bet the only Tim and Dick interaction they've seen is TTG Robin going "No BOdy cARes AbOuT TiM DrAke"

Sorry that ended up becoming rant-y, and less objective. Since actually reading comics, fanon Tim Drake gets on my nerves.

[screamting]

Do you have personal headcanons about the Waynes' deaths and would you like to share them?

I know it has been done a bajillion times in various media to the point of it looking like old news, even though it has SO MUCH potential. And, ironically enough, I can't stop thinking about it.

It doesn't always have to be the same boring thing. It could be refreshing! It could be even more tragic! We are literally working with "The Waynes died in front of Bruce, now he's Batman." I'm craving any takes that take that and run with it in all directions.

Anyway. Would you like to share your thoughts on this?

So like. I've shared this a couple times in a few forms, but I'm not sure how much it's actually gotten into my fic or how spread it's been? Personally, I like how Batman 2022 handled it. They didn't show it at all. It's mentioned? It's a pretty significant plot point. But I didn't have to deal with the token Once Per Version, The Waynes Die scene. Mine's mostly influenced by when I came into the fandom; there was a lot of "it doesn't make sense to shoot two out of the three people if you're a panicking mugger/mob assassin/etc so WHY isn't Bruce ALSO shot?" and I think that the question of why he was left alive can be explored psychologically really well, if you want to have it be that Bruce was intentionally spared? But in general I sort of lean towards, like. He wasn't spared. ...Bruce played dead. Like. "I couldn't move, I couldn't stop it, I was a child, I was afraid."

Not conscious choosing to play dead. Not, "if I stay very still maybe he won't see me," but.

His father is shot. His mother turns to haul Bruce into her arms and run. She is shot in the back. Possibly multiple times. Bruce stops moving. He doesn't make a sound. The mugger/assassin/shooter turns and runs away. Bruce hears his father, still alive for now, trying to reach over. He is calling for Martha. He doesn't make it over. He doesn't have enough breath to call for Bruce. Thomas' expensive watch cracks on the concrete. Martha has bled out protecting their son. They don't know there's a survivor, until they pull Martha Wayne off of him.

[klbwriting]

Adventures In Atlantean-Sitting

Chapter 2

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Ormxfemale!Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: Arthur tells the council he has a plan, Orm meets YN and isn't too pleased

Arthur spent the next few days in Atlantis with the council, laying out exactly who this tracking metahuman was and what they could do. He explained that YN was someone who Batman had found originally. She had lived in Gotham for her whole life, in Arkham mostly, because she seemed to know too much about everyone around her. They thought she was using this power to help supervillains, however, she was not helping them willingly. Batman had gotten her out of Arkham and after she helped him track down a few of his more elusive foes he helped her get reestablished in Coast City under the eye of Green Lantern. She was able to get help controlling her power and now the Justice League called upon her if they needed help and paid for her to live just outside the city. She was trusted completely, very predictable, and she would be able to find Orm and when she did she would report back to Arthur and he would have a squad take in the exiled king. After much debate about whether an Atlantean should be with her while she did this, they council finally agreed to let the king do it his way first. Orlan, surprisingly, was on his side about this. Arthur knew it was because Orlan wanted to see him fail fantastically. He went back to the surface and contacted Orm, telling him to meet him at the edge of the woods north of the city.

Orm arrived at the meeting spot, carrying his bag. He figured Arthur was taking him somewhere new, there was an attack by Atlantean's on the city, he couldn't stay there. They might have found him and then Arthur would have a conflict with the surface world and the council in Atlantis. The man couldn't handle that kind of stress, he could barely handle tying his shoes. Orm sighed, he needed to stop thinking that Arthur was such an idiot. He had defeated Orm, had found Atlan's trident, apparently was able to run the kingdom well enough that the people at least were on his side. Arthur was not the imbecile older brother anymore, he was a good king, and a good brother who was willing to deal with Orm and his shit.

"There's my baby brother," Arthur said, moving to lift Orm by surprise, hugging him from the side and turning him around in the air. Orm struggled. Alright, Arthur was still an imbecile. "Now I need you to be completely honest with me, did you attack Coast City?" Orm was appalled.

"NO!" he said. "That attack was rudimentary, if you're going to attack a city like that, you don't just send in a small ground assault, you use the water that is right there to destroy half the city first, then you come in with a large ground assualt..." Orm stopped when he noticed Arthur holding back a laugh. His eyes narrowed. "You already knew I had nothing to do with it." He nodded.

"I did, but that insight into your brain was fascinating. You are a terrifying little man," his brother said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Come on, I got the council to agree to me finding you, not sending out an Atlantean search team," he explained as they started walking down a side dirt road into the trees.

"Why do they even think it is me?" he asked. Arthur sighed.

"They found a weapon under some rubble, the DNA attached to it was yours," he said. Orm's eyebrows shot up. He could still activate some weapons? He may need that for later. "O don't get any ideas, I already made sure to send teams out to the rest of the caches in the world, you're scrubbed from all of them now." Orm's small fledge of hope deflated. He coup attempt would have to wait. "But anyway..."

"Where are you taking me?" Orm asked now, just noticing they were just going into trees. There wasn't any town or even a bus station to take him somewhere else.

"Let me explain. Because your DNA was found the council wants to find you, they know you're alive now. I promised them I would have a specific person find you. Well, I know where you are, this person I'm taking you to is a friend of the League. She's agreed to keep track of you and to house you until the real culprit of these attacks is discovered." Orm frowned. So Arthur's grand plan to help him was to have someone babysit him? He wasn't a child. He just needed to get far enough away, maybe stay towards the inner states for awhile. The council would soon forget him again and he would be able to find someplace new to settle for awhile.

They finally exited the trees to find a small cottage surrounded by wildflowers. There was an older model car parked by the red door. The place looked a bit magical to Orm. He had just watched a movie where there was a cottage like this, it seemed like a place nothing bad could happen. Arthur walked up to the door and knocked. A woman answered and smiled big at Arthur, hugging him tight before looking to Orm and smiling. Poseidon, that smile was like sunshine. Orm immediately liked her, but hated that she was his keeper. He would be getting out of this place as soon as he could. She walked over, extending her hand to him. Orm shook it politely before pulling back. The woman smiled.

"You must be Orm, Arthur has told me about your predicament. But you have no worries here. This place is completely off the books, so no one will know you're here. Well except me, but you knew that," she said. "I'm YN, come inside." She took his bag before he could argue, and walked back into the house. Orm entered and looked around. It was small, but just enough for one, maybe two people to be comfortable. She stood in the middle of the main room. She pointed out where everything was, living area, dining table, kitchen, bathroom, and one bedroom. He frowned.

"Am I sleeping on the couch?" Orm asked. The couch looked old, and honestly, not very comfortable. Arthur nudged him hard in the side, glaring. Apparently he was being rude.

"No, I am taking the couch. I set up my room for you. I wouldn't let a king sleep in squalor," she said. Orm flushed a little at the term. Was she needling him or trying to be kind? Arthur glowered a little and Orm decided she must be being kind to him. Arthur however, could see the look YN was giving his brother. She was smitten by Orm and Arthur really wished she wasn't the only meta he knew with these powers. She might be a liability. He knew Orm would run and he needed his brother to stay put and he needed someone who could keep him here and right now that was looking less likely. Maybe he would have Lantern come by tomorrow, just to check on things. Right now he needed to leave and get back to Atlantis.

"Well, you two kids have fun, Orm, stay here and YN, please keep an eye on him," he implored. YN saluted him and smiled. Orm just sighed and nodded, pretending defeat. "Thank you." With that Arthur left and Orm and YN were left alone. YN smiled and Orm for a moment thought, maybe I'll stay.

[jacksonseymour13]

I feel like if we weren't gonna start with it, we at the very least could have gotten Deku being a quirkless hero. Now hold on let me explain before you write this off as stupid.

I believe during maybe season 3/4 when MHA was actually still good and not in a rushed state, I think we get Deku losing his powers and has a mental crisis on how he'll be a hero again. Some of his friends and especially Ochako motivates him and tells him he can still be a hero but he just doesn't see it.

It's been drilled in his mind society that you need a quirk, you need some special ability or capability to really thrive in this world. A mere regular human could never do the great things they sought out, they'll just be killed before they know it. Deku at some point in his depression of losing his OFA(not sure how but I'll come back to that pinky swear) and once again giving up his goal, his dream to be a hero.

Deku probably gets put in a zero avoidance situation and steps up voluntarily to save whomever from the conflict and fights some badass villain criminal with a hand sword quirk. He realizes he has no chance fighting him head on without a quirk, his internal conflict rising back up to drag him back down so he runs but not giving up on helping the poor people in danger. No hero could make in time to save them

He HAD to step in because he used to be a hero, he had the necessary experience and knowledge on how to stop situations like this. He's...done that before without using OFA. That's it! Newly found confidence stored in him he stops hiding and faces the villain head on(err kinda🤏) using his wits and surroundings.

It's a good thing the villain has the average speed of a regular human. Were the same be believed for a second, slow your role sport. Deku led the villain near a alley with a nearby dumpster and trashcan. He quickly snagged the lid while the villain was in the middle of his Syndrome like monologue. Deku doesn't care to hear it, his only goal in this very moment is to stop this criminal abusing a gift for his own gain. Deku once had a gift and selfishly abused it till he lost it.

He's prepared and smacks the villain head first with the lid by leaping considerably high dazzling the villain before they recover and penetrate through the lid. Deku wisely let's go before it punctured his aorta killing him, the villain is distracted trying to get the lid off. The lack of fingers making it difficult in the moment, he probably can withdraw them with ease but the moment of conflict persist them to stay shown. Deku takes advantage and grips the criminal's waist and then grabs arm lifting him over his head and slams him into the open dumpster ribs first against the edge.

Deku did it. He beat the notsopowerfulbutstrongenoughforquirklessdekutobeathimforplotandconfidencereasons villain!

That was my hypothesis how I would jumpstart a quirkless hero!Deku because the whole point of MHA's supposed message is anybody can be a hero...but you need a quirk. We were robbed of Deku rejecting that rule and still pursuing his goal. Why give up the goal if you don't have the 1 thing you need to be it? I don't give a shit if it's realistic or not. You can make excuses and sad justifications like:

Absent father

Overprotective mother(she gets too much blame for that)

Over-dependence with heroes

Obsession with All Might

Society's stigma with heroes, quirks and etc. If you quirkless BEAT IT garbage.

Batman copycat(because Spiderman copycat is better. I love this fandom's hypocrisy)

He had no confidence

He was just a kid give him a break

All are not enough to justify Deku giving up his dream. I'm not saying NEVER give him a quirk but Jesus christ, I noticed the over-dependence of needing a quirk for this and that as a problem all the way back in season 1. I'm not convinced by Deku as this great protagonist that I can be inspired by. Frankly he just insults my confidence and tells me "You can be whatever you want...long as you have the credentials and skills" gee thanks.

Overall to wrap up my rabble, if we weren't gonna start the series with Deku understanding he doesn't need a quirk through himself and not forced by the plot. We deserved it half way in the series for him to have this realization he can still do good things for society and help. He has the capabilities just refused to put the work in. He only did the beach shit because he knew there was a reward at the end of it. He never trained, never went to the gym. He could have been a perfect Rock Lee of My Hero Academia, he's a insult to that character with raw hard work, talent and passion for his dreams. Deku is a sad quitter that cried when he found out he was never getting a quirk and became a hero through sheer plot convenience. I'm so sick and tired of people refusing to admit that Deku's "journey" is a terrible one and the weakest of any shounen.

Tl;dr Deku going quirkless for a bit wouldn't have killed anyone and been way better than the garbage v*gilante arc.

[yellowocaballero]

Anyway.

How many works do you have on AO3? 54. Hm. I don't remember writing 54 fics. That's weird. But I've been posting since 2017 so when you THINK about it 54 fics over 7 years isn't weird at all.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 2.4 million. What's your point.

What fandoms do you write for? A fuckton. I write both things I'm hyperfixated on and for random shit that comes in my head. I was into TMA for like two years so I have the most TMA fic (16), but most of my fandoms are 3-5 fics maximum. There's also a lot of random-ass fics for random-ass fandoms that just jumped in my head. Artemis Fowl, Beetlejuice, Animorphs...demons that overtook me for two weeks or so and never bothered me again.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The Great Gender Heist (Artemis Fowl, no surprise there.), stay out of trouble (Detroit: Become Human, I reliably forget that one exists and I'm still mystefied as to why so many people read it), meek shall inherit (I'm constantly attempting to forget the Be More Chill phase ever happened), someone will remember us (Batman, fic's not great, am still very fond of that au) and dead or alive (DBH, mediocre). Why the hell are the two Detroit: Become Human fics so popular? I hate DBH so much. I was so angry while writing those.

Do you respond to comments? I am absolutely terrible about responding to comments. I am sorry. I do read and appreciate all of them. It's because I always need to give a dialectical so comments take ages to write. If you do want to hear my thoughts on something, my inbox is your best bet for a way too lengthy response.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hope, Etc for certain. I try really hard to write bittersweet at worst endings, and even the sad endings in my fics have hope in them. Hope, Etc definitely ends in a better place than where it began. But it's still very sad. I was thinking about a lot of lost loved ones while writing it. Fishhooks and reel to reel also have downer endings but that is because they are LITERALLY Star Wars.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhh. The ending of Solitaire (and the MLM/WLW hostility series in general) is very sweet. It's meaningful because it demonstrates so much growth from everybody with very little cost. I almost said Go Straight At The Cul De Sac, because it showcases a happier world where horrible historical events were averted, but the ending will always be a little bittersweet because we understand how much Protag sacrificed to create that better world.

Do you get hate on fics? Sometimes people are kind of weird. The worst of it is usually just useless comments, though. I had somebody get pedantic about how briefly mentioning an SUV would be historically inaccurate, and how I should have mentioned a minivan instead - like, did you read that fic and think I was from the suburbs? Do I look like I know what a minivan is? Lol? If I've received any actual more severe stuff I have no idea, since I delete the comment and delete it from my memory. I've never gotten anything too bad. I've been called ablest like three times, which is objectively hilarious.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? If I could write smut I'd be making bank on Kindle Unlimited right now.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Probably the FE3H/BNHA one I'm writing right now that will never see the light of day. Just kidding. I don't actually think I've posted any real crossovers - I DO write them, I just kind of feel like they're cringe so I never post them. I write a lot of cringe shit that never sees the light of day.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not nearly popular enough for that.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Several people have mentioned wanting to do that, but nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not technically. But I do want to give due honors to all of the friends who are SO instrumental in the building of the AUs, stories, characters, etc, that they've had a huge impact on the story itself. I try to recognize them by name in the fics themselves but my stories would look completely different if it wasn't for my friends. Definitely much worse.

What’s your all time favorite ship? I'll differentiate favorite ships and favorite fictional romances. For ships, it's much less about the ship and more about the role in the story. I tend not to pay a lot of attention to that while writing, but sometimes I get lost in my own sauce and I drive myself a bit nuts. I am very fond of Hanyookim, especially in my own ORV story. For romances? My top ten list of fictional romances is as follows: number one: naturally, Sasunaru -

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? If it's up on AO3, it's done (with one or two very small exceptions - The Ending of Han Sooyoung epilogue I'll get to you I PROMISE). There's plenty of unfinished docs on my drive that I'll never finish, but that's because I decided that they weren't worth finishing.

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and characterization. That's always been the case. I'm also pretty funny.

What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting. Action. Having stories that are not entirely dialogue. Where things happen and it's more than just people walking around talking. You know. Real stories -

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Always valid. I remember reading one Hispanic author talking about how he doesn't like italicizing the Spanish in his stories because it's otherizing, and I agreed enough with him that I don't tend to italicize other languages either. Sometimes I do. I try to do it purposefully, and to convey something that can only be conveyed through the extra language. I'll also only do it if I can have a friend who speaks that language write it out for me, since gtranslate sucks and I want to ask the friend how such a thing would actually be said and colloquialize it. I like using ASL in fics, and I am just in general begging people to a) write it like any other language, and b) understand that it's different from other languages and can't be written exactly the same. If your Star Wars fanfiction has so much gratuitous Mando'a that I can't understand anything the clones or Mandos are saying I hate you.

First fandom you wrote for? Batman Beyond. Yes, I have a FFN account somewhere. Yes, I was eleven. Yes, it was Batman Beyond.

Favorite fic you’ve written? The best thing I've written is Twilight on Owl Creek Bridge. Favorite is New Wave. That sucker took two years to write (INSANELY long for me) and it is exactly the story I wanted to write. Stephanie's a character I've been writing since I was 15, and the feeling of writing Stephanie and NAILING her for the very first time was so satisfying.

Tagging @usaigi and uh any other writer mutuals you all know who you are.

[loony-n-moony]

Midoriya Should've Stayed Quirkless.

So i haven't been active in the MHA fandom for quite some time, but nostalgia brought me back to it. And along my nostalgia-fueled binge I've noticed a lot more stuff narrative wise that i kinda wanted to talk about.

That being, of course, that Midoriya (i'll be calling him Deku since it's easier) should NEVER have gotten a quirk.

The narrative theme that MHA pushes (or wants to push i should say), is that "anyone can be a hero" which would be fine and dandy if Deku's entire existence didn't destroy that. What do I mean? I'll tell you.

Literally the very first thing we find out about the world is that quirks are given to 80% of the population, and that little 20% group of "quirkless" people are pretty much shat on in every way, as demonstrated by Bakugou and the entirety of Deku's flashbacks. He's seen as a failure and a wannabe, his mother breaks down sobbing after they get news of his lack of quirk, and he's in utter shambles as well. Despite being able to get into UA on grades alone, it's believed he'll never make it far, and that he simply doesn't have the means to do so. Sound familiar? It should if you're disabled.

Deku is disabled in an allegorical sense, and he honestly doesn't make a bad allegory. It can be interpreted as either physical disability, or neurodivergency due to the broadness of what "quirklessness" entails, along with his overall personality. Things seem to be looking up in this sense, and it would pretty intriguing to see how this kid with no powers makes it by in a school with superpowered kids. Or it would, I should say.

The entire allegory along with the theme completely falls in on itself because Deku, after receiving a speech about how "anyone can be a hero! Even quirkless kids like you!" Immediately becomes allegorically abled a couple scenes later. The entire message becomes completely void after this, as Deku loses pretty much what made his character interesting to begin with.

"But if he did stay quirkless, how would the story even progress?!" I hear you ask, and i can answer that.

See, I am of the opinion that the story would’ve been ten times more interesting had Deku never gotten a quirk. I mean- c’mon. We have Batman don’t we? Sure, we have plenty of characters with downright useless quirks that have made it into UA, so why wouldn’t Deku be the same?

Simple! Just have Deku be the first to join the hero class. A quirkless kid getting by on nothing but his brains and downright insane attunement with his surroundings? And maybe some gadgets from his buddies over at the gear classes? That sounds awesome as fuck! Not to mention nearly all of his relationships with the characters become way more interesting.

Bakugou instead of being threatened by his fantastic new power, instead is witnessing the kid who he bullied for years on end completely dominate any competition thrown his way, and grow his skills at an incredible rate. Not only does he feel threatened, but he’s being proven wrong. Quirkless kids can be heroes. And they can be better than him. Now who doesn’t love a good bully getting their just desserts? And in what is arguably far more satisfying and empowering than just, “Wow Deku has better powers than me”. It also makes his sports arc moment with Todoroki feel far more satisfying as well.

“It’s your power not his” feels strangely more impactful when you realize Deku had to get his “power” from the ground up. He used what he had to get by, despite everyone saying he was nothing. It’s not Bakugou’s, it’s not his parents, and it’s not Allmight’s, it’s his.

Speaking of Allmight, where would he even fit in all this nonsense? Well, who said he had to give Deku a quirk to be his mentor? It was already pre-established that Allmight was thinking of giving Mirio his quirk. If we could have Allmight have already given his quirk to Mirio, it would not only give us a foreshadow of his character, but also give Allmight a reason for Deku to not have his quirk. Allmight used to be quirkless himself, so seeing a little boy in a similar position to himself when he was younger, and wanting to give that kid the chance to prosper for who he is? Not only is that super sweet, but honestly makes Allmight look like a better person.

There were so many ways in which the story could continue as we see it with the omission of Deku’s quirk. And I’m my eyes, a far more satisfying and empowering story that keeps its narrative.

[reginavulturum]

Terry's Birthday: Fandom, the Internet, and Citations

Or, a too long, too in depth essay on a fictional character's birthday

If you aren't thinking I'm a total nerd by the time you're done reading this than you didn't really read this. But, let's start at the beginning. Recently I posted a timeline I made for "Batman Beyond" and in the time since I made that post there's been something I've seen pop up in tags which I'd never heard of before. A few people were saying that Terry's birthday is August 18th. I was really interested in the source of this claim because I had no recollection of ever seeing it anywhere before now. I looked it up on google (as you do) and found this date scattered around the internet. Case closed, right? But I quickly realized there was a consistent problem on every site I came across. None of them cited a source for Terry's alleged August 18th birthday.

Just look it up yourself and you'll find that the date is ubiquitous across the internet. Yet, as far as I can tell after all my research, it's also completely unconfirmed. I mean, I may have missed something, but if I have than someone else is going to have to point it out to me. I also made a post prior to this one asking people to cite a source for Terry's birthday and no one has so far. You can have a look at that post if you want to know what I consider a good source on this subject. In any case, if this date or any other had been confirmed in any piece of media or in an interview with any DC creator involved in Batman Beyond than I think I would have found a citation for that source somewhere by now.

Right now it kind of seems like August 18th is fanon that's been recycled into "canon". This seems to have happened through a process of source-less wikipedia edits being parroted across reddit threads, sites featuring profiles of comic heroes, other wikis, etc. The less popular June 27th birthday for Terry seems to have gone through the same process. Here are links to some of these sites: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

As my research continued I came across some possible witness testimony of the first mentions of these birthdates:

a.) In this archived thread from the DCAU wiki, in quotations below, I've copied an excerpt of an exchange between two users that I feel is most relevant to this post (emphasis mine):

"So, I've noticed lately that a lot of different sites have been stating Terry's birthday to be August 18th with various years attached to the date. The earliest mention of which I could find is an edit to his wikipedia page in 2008 (which prior to the change stated his birthday was June 27th). I don't remember a mention of when he was born on the show or tie-in comics, and the third volume of comics didn't come out until 2010, so would anyone here know where these dates originate from? -- ReachingForRevolution (talk) 17:48, September 26, 2013 (UTC)"

"I've done some extensive timeline research, and I never came across a good source for those dates. All I saw was a wikipedia edit war with those two dates, but neither is correct AFAIK. The most cited year of birth is 2023, which is speculation as well, but there's at least some foundation for that. --Tupka217 17:56, September 26, 2013 (UTC)"

b.) A similar claim was made in this thread. The relevant excerpt, written by the user "Yojimbo" on October 16, 2023, is in quotations below (emphasis mine):

"No official birth date was ever given.

There was a wikipedia edit war in the 2000s but no source was ever given for either disputed date, June 27, 2023 and August 18, 2023."

As I've travelled down this rabbit hole, I've begun to suspect I won't be able to find exactly where it began, but this is as close as I've gotten. Allegedly, sometime around 2008, there was an edit war on Terry McGinnis' wikipedia page between at least two users over the birthdates of June 27th and August 18th. Now, how or why that edit war even started, I don't know. Why those dates, I also don't know. What I do know is that August 18th is the birthdate that gained the most popularity in the end and spread across the internet.

I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes with this post or call anyone out, really. If anything, this post exists because the subject was interesting to me and I've found the journey enjoyable. If you want to say Terry's birthday is June 27th or August 18th, then please do. Fandom is about fun, not perfectly sourced and cited dissertations on fictional teenagers' birthdays...unless, of course, that sort of thing is fun for you. I know I've loved every minute researching for and writing this...because I'm a massive nerd...but I certainly don't adhere to a strict reading of the timeline myself which is something I plan on covering in an upcoming addendum to my timeline.

In summary, my own research has produced no officially confirmed birthday for Terry McGinnis. This leads me to believe that August 18th and June 27th are fanon birthdates. It may be that I've just not found the citation for one or the other of these dates so I'm open to anyone who can provide me a good source. But really, none of this matters in the grand scheme of things, although it's interesting to see the way user edited/moderated wikis can sometimes bring less clarity rather than more. I'm sure this isn't the only example of that. Assuming I'm right and these birthdates are fanon, I wouldn't consider this a cautionary tale or anything so dramatic. Instead, I'd say this was a case study in the interaction between fandom collated information about fictional works as it exists across the internet and why the adage, "cite your sources", will never die...or something like that...

[thevindicativevordan]

Tom King is giving Diana a daughter because he wanted to write the same dynamic between her, Jon, and Damian as his own kids. I was kinda hoping for developing Diana's existing cast not making an oc and making it about her because of the super sons.

Especially considering the last time King said he was doing something in comics because it related to his own family was when he took over Batman. He said he wanted to do Batcat because his daughter liked the ship. It ended up being a whole mess, the storyline was all over the place and the characterizations were unrecognisable.

Idk. Especially considering Donna, Cassie, and Yara are literally right there but instead we have this character based on his daughter so she can join Supersons shenanigans.

Anonymous asked:

Apparently, Wonder Woman's daughter named Trinity will be introduced in Wonder Woman #800. What do you think about it?

In a way this was inevitable.

With two of the original Trinity (oh boy this is going to be a pain now that we have to clarify who we're talking about) having kids, no way was DC going to pass up the opportunity to give Diana a kid too. My hope was that we would see Diana and Steve be built up as a couple first, but this is DC, they don't have time to slow down for anything. Naming her after Elizabeth Marston was a nice gesture, that much I am pleased by. Trinity/Lizzie has a great outfit at least, Sampere outright says he was going for an amalgamation of ever Wonder Woman's outfit. There's some Diana of course but I also see some Yara (confirmed by Sampere), Artemis, and Nubia too. Three lassos feels a bit overkill but I do dig expanding the mythology of the lassos, given that is Wonder Woman's iconic weapon.

King's reasoning for why he's introducing Lizzie, namely conceiving her in reaction to Jon and Damian, is not going to endear this character to the hardcore Wonder fandom. Seeing all the people in King's comments screaming for Batman to be the baby daddy certainly isn't making me that excited, boy do I hope that's not the route King is going with this one. Wonder Woman and her mythology has always struggled to be treated equal to Batman and Superman, introducing her new daughter by mainly talking about her relationship with Jon and Damian is not the strongest pitch in my eyes. Upside for Wondy fans is that if King totally blows it, this character will end up like his Helena Wayne, part of a future that never comes to pass. King doesn't have much room to win people over to Lizzie, he has to quickly establish her hook, otherwise everyone will just be screaming about how they would rather the already existing Wonderfamily should have gotten more use.

My hopes for this character:

Let her be either a Diana/Steve daughter or a clay baby herself

Give her a life outside of paling around with Jon and Damian

Make her personality stand out from her mother

Give her a relationship with the other Wonder Family members

Do all that and maybe Lizzie will stick around where King's Helena Wayne faded away.

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

*sigh* you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but I just posted a fic in another fandom (i don't mind sharing which one tbh) that wasn't Batman yesterday, and it's only gotten TWO KUDOS and twelve hits. I really liked writing it so I'm just really bummed rn, ig… I've posted almost 20 fics in the Batman fandom so I think I've just been really spoiled (in a sense) and my view/idea of how many hits/kudos to expect in a certain time frame is skewed.

(okay, fine: I looked at other fics with this pairing, and they all have very low hits and kudos, so it's not just me i guess 😔. plus what i'm writing for came out 12 years ago and there have been tonssss of updated installments of it, so… maybe it's just not as active as it used to be, understandably. it's still kinda disheartening though, bc I had a bunch of ideas for a series but now idk if i'll even be encouraged enough to write them lol. Now I'm super duper extra grateful for all the love via kudos and comments I get from this fandom 💕)

no, I totally get it! It's tough to put this stuff out there sometimes. You put all this work into it and are so proud of it and...there's no feedback or reaction. And it's not like you're getting people saying they don't like it, you just get...nothing. And that's almost worse?

I totally get the feeling though. I've been doing this probably decades now (for different fandoms) and even now I was looking at some of my fics and I can't help but be like 'why did this ONLY get x kudos/comments? Why not more? Why not as much as x-fic that I just saw/I don't think is as good?' (it also doesn't help that I've been ✨hella depressed✨ lately so even the smallest thing signals to my brain like - this is why you're the worst at everything)

What do they say? Comparison is the killer of creativity. Not comparing to other writers or situations is super hard. But just remember that you are writing for yourself! Writing makes YOU happy, and what others think or don't doesn't matter. And if creative writing is making you more sad than happy, maybe it's time to take a step back or something.

But I also get the tiny joys of the batfandom. There's some screen names I see comment on my stuff EVERY TIME and it's the only way I know them but they're like staples to me now and that just makes me happy. So focus on those tiny victories and joys!

[pluckyredhead]

Hi! This is isn’t meant as a rude or demanding question, and feel free to ignore if you don’t want to engage, but I know you’re a Koryak fan, so I was wondering if you had any advice about how to find a community in DC fandom if you’re not a Batfamily fan? I have a bunch of DC characters I want to write about, and none of them are Bats, so none of them get much fannish attention, and the thought of writing fic no one wants to read makes me want to crawl into a hole and hide. If there’s one thing I envy Batman fandom for, it’s having such an enthusiastic and transformative community with people always ready to support your headcanons or fic ideas. Meanwhile, most characters I like get tagged in posts not actually about them, and every general DC fandom or non-Bat discord I find is either dead or focused on a pairing I’m just not that into. So, if you’re okay with giving advice, any tips on how to find people who also like rarer DC characters?

I didn't think it was rude or demanding at all! No worries, friend. :)

To answer your actual question...it's definitely tough. I will say that in my experience, DC fans who love non-Bat characters are almost all in your boat, i.e. desperate to talk to other people about their blorbos. So if you do see fic or art or meta about them, comment on it! Most people will be thrilled to find another fan of those characters, and happy to get feedback on something more obscure.

I also vote that you write the fic! No, you won't get as many people to read it as you would for something starring Dick or Jason. But the people who find it will be so, so happy it's there.

I personally take the path of "if you don't already love this character, I WILL MAKE YOU LOVE THEM," which is why I write character profiles and highlight the relationships between my obscure blorbos and more popular characters. Like, people might not care about Eddie Bloomberg, but they love Jason Todd, and Jason Todd loves Eddie Bloomberg, and that's how I get them. Fic works the same way - I have definitely gotten comments from people who didn't know who Koryak was before I started writing about him, but love him now.

So the short answer is: put your enthusiasm out into the world! It will come back to you tenfold.

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

See, Jason Todd is so misrepresented that even the propaganda misrepresents him. He didn't shoot a 10 y.o. in the spine, he shot him in the CHEST. In a storyline where the writer himself says Jason is crazy from evil childhood trauma and evil pool water, and also the 10 y.o. literally jumped out of bed like a day later, and immediately tried to smash a wrench into the head of Batman's butler Alfred, and then made a sexist comment, and then started doing parkour around the city like nothing happened. The 10 y.o. later got shot in the spine by a TOTALLY DIFFERENT VILLAIN, because that's just routine normal stuff when you're a child soldier in this town I guess. (Little boy needed a surgery to take out his original spine and replace it with a robot one, and his mother [who is also in this tournament I believe, justice for Talia, she rocks] controlled his robot spine to force him to do evil, and also his mother later made his clone-brother kill him and then also beheaded his clone-brother. But IT'S OKAY, because the Little Boy's mother was ALSO crazy from evil pool water, and now she's cured, and the Little Boy is like yeah okay and they have a good relationship again. The Little Boy is now mainly traumatized because his dad blamed him for their butler being violently murdered by an evil luchador.) Also the "teen" that Jason beat up... Jason was also a teen, that was teen-on-teen violence. Yes, the teen has been beat up by an older teen, and gotten his face slammed with a brick by another older teen, by I promise you that the teen is just really punchable. ALSO anyone written by Geoff Johns deserves some leeway (free my girl Rose, you did NOT do THAT to the punchable teen)! Jason is evil because he's a killer, and hurting people is always 100% wrong and bad no matter what, but the fandom actually thinks murder is okay so they keep making up other reasons for why Jason is evil. Man, it's so hard for me to be the only one with morals around here!

.

[plausible-possible-perhaps]

oh that's rly sweet of you thanks for letting me rant abt it ! <3

ok so this really upset me when I saw the post in question because it just was so...idk how someone could even do that? seriously no self awareness whatsoever and it was one of the worst posts I've personally seen come out of that batman 2022 r*ddler self- insert craze. it didn't even directly happen in the batman 22 fandom itself either but in the fandom for DC's batman audio drama on spotify. idk if you know abt that one but one thing about that podcast is that multiple of the main cast actors are poc and while they never mention anything abt the characters' ethnicities in the podcast itself it's implied by the casting decisions (eg all the Waynes are played by black actors) that the characters played by actors of color are meant to be poc too, which is also how the fandom treats it and afaik the actors even talked about representation in some interview they gave. however, because it's an audio only medium there are no canon character designs so fandom made up their own and you can probably guess where this is going bc the post this rant is about is a post by a self-described "batman 2022 r*ddler kinnie" showing their idea of the podcast version of the character, which they made to look like the version from the movie because that version "looked just like them" so ig all versions of the character must look like that now lmao. anyways the reason why that upset me enough to tell you abt it is that it wasn't just that they made this character a copy of the movie one for self-insert reasons but that they seriously said that they are upset (!) because they wanted to reblog fan art of the podcast but all the fan art of podcast!riddler depicts him as a brown south-asian man (like he is implied to be bc of the previously mentioned casting decisions!) which doesn't fit with their white boy self-insert version. and I am just. they had a "racists dni!" in their bio and seriously complained about there not being any fan art of this character as a white man bc they can't relate to him if he's desi, on what level of hypocrisy do you have to be to do that?

sorry if this was incoherent but that post genuinely was the cherry on top for me when it comes to this whole batman 2022 self-insert thing lmao

Oh my gosh? Yea, that's messed up in the worst way. This goes back to the "white people can only relate to white characters" topic and serves as an excellent example of it. Although it's a hasty generalization, it's prevalent everywhere in fandoms, especially regarding the person you're talking about.

Often enough, many white fans lose interest, sympathy, and admiration for characters the moment they find out they're black and/or brown. I mean, look at how Zoe's Selina was treated; she was masculinized and excluded by the fandom in any way possible-- regardless of malicious intention or not. As I said in my first post, people like this make it so abundantly clear that they don't care for those who don't look like them, yet "in a totally not racist way." They'll create headcannons and fluffy fanfics for a white psychopath before they even consider glancing at a poc, and all because "they can't see themselves in a character like that."

I've heard many good things about Batman: Unburied, and although I haven't gotten to listening to it yet, I can't be surprised that stuff like that has happened.

[riddle-me-ri]

Hi, Ri~ Maybe this is an obvious question, but it might also not be, so... Who was the Batman villain that got you into the fandom and what was it about them that you liked? Basically how you found out about Batman and such, if you feel like writing a lot. I'd love to read everything you've got to say :D

Aaahhh so sorry this took so long for me to get back too Mary!! I've finally had some time to sit down and actually type this all out in someway that makes sense lmao.

More under the cut, cause I have no doubt this will be LENGTHY

The first Batman villain that got me into the fandom, was no doubt the Riddler, which in turn sorta lead me into the Dork squad and just sorta began overlapping and pouring out through there lmao.

I have always been a huge animation/cartoon fan growing up, I adored the medium and still do, hence why I hope to have a career in it. I've always been aware of Batman and other superheroes, I always did like Batman but not nearly to the degree you'd say I do now...atleast mostly his rogues now lmao.

I first fell in love with Batman through Batman the Animated Series and its where I fell for that version of the Rogues for the first time, especially the Dork Squad.

When I first discovered the series I didn't watch them in any particular order, I just looked up what I could online, because for all the praise the series got I felt I had to know where that praise came from and now I sing that same praise to this day.

Concerning Riddler, I was super sympathetic to his backstory (coming from a creator whose ideas /work was stolen early on hnng protect your work!), I enjoyed his voice, and I absolutely adore puzzles so it was somewhat of a no brainer.

The Mad Hatter, The Scarecrow, and The Penguin soon followed for similar reasons, adored their voices, felt sympathetic for them, and they related to interests of mine that I've carried to this day (Alice in Wonderland, horror, and penguins have been a comfort animal since I was 5 lmao)

Albeit, I will admit I was a closeted Mad Hatter fan for the longest time, I didn't know all the things I know now. At the time it seemed like battling a brick wall in real time whenever he was brought up in conversation in real life and I've already gotten used to being talked over and ignored so I just never brought it up or defended him like I wish I could have. But that's all totally changed now and I'd defend the mad lads to the end

Of course with every hyperfixation I had to absorb and see every other interpretation of them I can find, so I stumble upon the Arkham games, several different comic book stories and arcs, and some TV shows/animated movies.

I never could have imagine that like...I'd be here with almost 500 followers writing fanfics about them and making friends and actually..participating in a fandom on this app lmao or moderating a discord server where people get together and just get to gush and discuss about these characters. A lot has changed but I wouldn't change a thing!

[klbwriting]

The Jason Todd Anomaly

Chapter 15 - A Thank You For Saving My Stupid Ass Would Be Nice

Fandom: DC, Red Hood

Pairing: Jason Toddxfemale!Reader

Warnings: violence, swearing, the usual

Summary: Jason and YN go with Selina Kyle to S.T.A.R. Labs to try and figure out the Owls plans

Notes: I've returned to this because of the Jason Todd hole I fell into yesterday and I'm just reminded that I loved this story so much and I want to finish it. Also Lewis Tan is still my Red Hood/Jason Todd fancast. He's perfect.

Being partners with Jason was much easier than just randomly running into his on patrol. YN had joined him on most of his missions over the last several months, donning her new black and red helmet, his Red Hood symbol on the sides to show that she was his ally. It took some time to get used to but now they were a solid team, doing what the court wanted, but in the worst way possible. They had wanted Quinn’s territory taken over, so they did, but instead of giving it to the GCPD, which was fully in league with the owls at this point, Jason kept it, making it Red Hood. The court hadn’t been pleased, but they let him have it, seemingly thinking this was just some kind of tantrum he was having at being forced to join. By the time YN and Jason were breaking into S.T.A.R. Labs, which was not the mission the court wanted them doing, they were a well-oiled machine.

“You’re late,” YN said as Jason landed next to her on the roof across from S.T.A.R. Labs the same night that Selina was set to clear out Fries’s goons. YN had gotten there early; Selina having asked to speak with her before.

“I’m on time, you’re early,” he answered. “Why are you early? I tried to call you; thought we could ride over together.”

“Catwoman called me, wanted to chat before she went in,” she said. She noticed the shift in Jason’s attitude. He was normally relaxed around her, even on patrol, letting his body move with his nervous energy that he used to keep from her. Now he was frozen.

“What did she have to say?” he asked. They were both in their helmets, but she could almost see the concerned look on his face. He both loved and hated her in this world with him. She was a badass and she was on his side, she fought with him to try and actually fix the city, not just put their fingers in the dam, she understood him and that meant they sometimes didn’t even need to talk on patrols, they just did. He’d never had someone like that before and it was amazing to feel that someone had his back. He hated that she was always in danger, that she wasn’t always with him. That set met with dangerous people like Selina, like Harley, and he couldn’t always help her.

“She wanted to warn me away from you and the others. The others because the Owls are always watching and you because…because Bruce wouldn’t like what you’ve become,” she said. Jason rolled his eyes. “She also said she would leave a compound sample for us.”

“Well, that’s helpful at least,” he grumbled. “Did you see where she went into the labs?”

“She went in through that tiny ventilation hatch, I’m assuming to get the drop on them,” she said. “I am not fitting through that, and neither are you.” He chuckled a little and pointed to an upstairs window that was broken. “Ya, she threw a guy out of that one, I think maybe for us.”

“Well, let’s get inside and see was kind of shit we can find,” he said. They grappled to the window and slid inside the dark hallway. They could still hear fighting below them, so they stayed up in the rafters, watching as Catwoman worked over Fries’s crew, at least until Fries himself showed up.

“What could you possibly be doing here Cat?” Fries asked, flanked by more goons. Selina stood up, flexing her claws, feigning boredom.

“I needed somewhere to take a cat nap,” she said. YN let her head fall at how pathetic that pun was, but she heard Jason snort out a quiet laugh. She turned to look at him and then at Catwoman. She knew the stories about Batman and Catwoman and with how she spoke of Bruce they were probably true, but she didn’t consider that Selina might have been like a mother or older sister to the others. There was still a lot she didn’t know about Jason and the rest of his family.

“I’m not leaving Selina, there is work to be done here, so please go before you catch cold,” Fries said. Selina unfurled her whip, and the fight was on. It was clear after a few moments that Selina was outmatched with Fries’s reinforcements. Jason and YN looked at each other, nodding and jumping down into the fight. “Bringing your bat friends into this?” Fries yelled, firing an icy blast at Jason as his back was turned. Selina whipped around Jason’s ankle, knocking him over and out of the way of the blast. YN snarled, aiming her own gun at Fries and firing. It hit him in the protective helmet he wore and pierced it. He yelled, enraged, but fell back, leaving his cronies to do the rest while he went back to his hideout to repair the damage. The rest of the minions were easily taken down, leaving the three vigilantes standing.

“I didn’t need the help Selina,” Jason said.

“A thank you for saving my stupid ass would be nice,” Selina said, attaching her whip to her belt and retracting her claws. She started gathering anything the lab had on it that was Fries’s, leaving the Owls information. YN went to one of the computers in the room, checking out the information.

“Looks like the Owls were having Fries work for them, but they got wise and started going into business for themselves,” she said, printing the data available to them as Jason gathered a few vials of chemicals.

“You two make quite a team,” Selina said, watching the two move around each other as they cleaned out the lab. “Bruce would be glad you found someone willing to put up with you.” Jason tensed at the mention of Bruce. The air seemed to be pulled out of the room. Yes, everyone put up with Jason, he was just there as the pyscho killer that they needed to deal with because he was strong and didn’t give a fuck about anything or anyone. Jason, the one that no one loved, just tolerated. YN turned to Selina.

“I don’t put up with him,” she said. “I love him.” She turned back to her work, acting as if she hadn’t just said words she’d never spoken to anyone outside of her family before. But she had felt how Jason’s body tensed, could see his brain working, thinking again that he was just the ruthless powerhouse to everyone, he wasn’t a person even, just an animal acting on violent instinct. Over the past eight months since they’d met Jason had opened up to her just a couple of times about how he felt others viewed him.

They had just gotten back from clearing out more of Harley’s territory, getting the low-level freaks to either run or get arrested. Damian had joined them that night, coincidence that he was patrolling nearby. There was an argument after Jason had punched a guy off a balcony for trying to choke YN to death. He hadn’t meant to kill the guy this time, just seeing red, just like the other times he lost control. It was the first time it had happened with YN there, and Damian had lit into him about it.

“I know the urge to murder, my mother’s life is death and suffering in the name of the greater good. I want to be like my father and do better. Why could you never do that? The pit really sucked all of the soul out of you, didn’t it?” Damian had said. “You’re a shell now Jason, the only reason anyone even lets you be is because Bruce still believed in you for some reason.” He had left then, and Jason hadn’t even looked at YN, just heading off somewhere to be alone.

He had come back to the loft just before dawn to find YN sitting in bed waiting for him. Jason didn’t know what came over him honestly, but he needed her, needed to feel her with him. He needed to feel someone alive who didn’t think he was just a monster. She had accepted him without question, letting him use her however he needed. After, he held her close and felt terrible.

“Why didn’t you say no? If you said no, I wouldn’t have…” he started. She put hand to his mouth.

“Don’t start talking like that or thinking like that. You needed me, and if I ever need you like that, I expect you’ll do the same for me,” she said, removing her hand and kissing him softly. “What Damian said, is that what you think? That no one loves you? That you’re a shell?” He didn’t answer, but that was an answer. “Jason, just because you view the world differently doesn’t mean you’re a monster or a shell.”

“Pretty sure he is right though, that pit just sucked the soul out of me,” he said. He had felt like there was an empty hole in his chest ever since he came back. YN had started to fill it but now he wondered if that was just his imagination, making believe he could have someone love and care about him that way.

“You have a soul babe, it’s not as shiny as your dickwad brothers but its there, and its no less magical,” she said. Jason clung to her a little more, burying his head in her neck. “You know I don’t just tolerate you; I actually want to be around you.”

“Thank you,” he said softly.

Ever since then Jason wondered if she meant what she said that night, or if she had just said it so he would let her get some sleep. Now though, in this lab, she had just told Selina that she loved him. She didn’t just put up with him, she didn’t just want him because of his power or looks or money or because he was Red Hood, she loved him. Jason looked at Selina who looked back at him and nodded, a little smile playing on her lips.

“Don’t fuck this up like Bruce did with all his love interests,” Selina said to him before she sauntered off towards the entrance. YN came over, her bag full of reports and chemicals.

“Come on, we can talk about all this when we get back home,” she said. That was another thing, she had moved in with him just last week. He claimed it was because he was worried about the Owls not keeping their word after she had woken up one night and saw a Talon outside her window, but really, he just wanted to see if she would do it. And she had moved in without a fight, finishing out her lease and settling in with him. She didn’t only want him during patrol or in bed, but she wanted to see him when he was just lazing on the couch, eating cereal out of the box watching Chopped. She wanted to be there when he went on patrol alone, waiting up so they could debrief, and she’d patch him up. Is this what it felt like? Being loved? He didn’t really know but he hoped it was because he liked this feeling. He never wanted it to end.

[like-rain-or-confetti]

Hey vanity I remember you saying something about if you wrote twilight again you'd make the Romanians and the Volturi darker. Any headcanons on that?

Please Vanity I need my fix. I'd remember you said you'll fund it because you don't do rehab.

Hey I'll pay if I have to... just name the price

(This is a joke btw. Don't feel pressured. I loved that last fic you posted)

When I tell you this had me hysterically laughing 😂😂😂...

Headcanons, I don't really have- mostly just thoughts of what I could differently and revamp some characters.

So I tend to wonder myself. Like a part of me thinks, they're less approachable. A.K.A Demetri and Felix- I'm looking at you buds.

I also wonder if some -like the Romanians- have any kind of compromising bone in their body? Like realistically, women have had to spend years fighting for their right to be heard and taken seriously. We still have people out there who would take that away and they aren't centuries-old vampires. So would a very old vampire male who has always gotten the first and last word be willing to give up that kind of power? I see this as one of the Volturi or Romanian covens thinking "Oh you want to do this? Tough shit. It's my way and that's that." Covens like the Cullens that interact more with humans have changed with the times but I wonder to what extent older and isolated covens would still be stuck in rigid ways and how that would go with humans who are of this time?

Beyond a revamping of sorts for Demetri and Felix- I tend to think about the level of violence. The Volturi have definitely gotten their hands dirty over the years and the Romanians literally enjoy torture.

Although all of this could be utter bullshit because I've recognised from writing for different fandoms that I have written for twilight frightened of what people take of my writing and what people will accuse me of rather than just let the story write itself without fear of judgement of those few who take it too seriously. Whereas say for Batman, it has been a case of expect shitty actions from shitty people. I think we all know the Volturi and the Romans especially are a collective of shitty people so anticipate shitty behaviour that's driven by outdated philosophies.

But I'd definitely say Caius, Demetri and Felix needed to be amped up a notch.

The flirty or goofy Felix should be reserved for those he is friends with or more at a certain time or place.

Demetri should be almost silent, as he has been in the books and movies. This might be mistaken as being shy but is really a predator ready to strike at any given moment. When he's interested romantically, that's when he becomes the irresistible dude he knows he is😂😭

For Caius, I'd like to put him more to use. Whilst he is undermined and overruled by Aro constantly throughout the movies. I'd like to display this as a rarity rather than a constant crutch. The two are sadistic lil' shits who bond over this.😂

For Marcus, I think I'd like to have him more of darker side too. Like beyond Chelsea there's a reason why he's still there. He isn't always this zombie who saves the day per say because he likes a good love story- all of that.

I dunno, these are just things that pop into mind. I think their brutal reputation could be kicked up a notch in my writing but worry about the consequences of that since this blog is only for fun and only intended to have fun. Not to mention I think I'd like to have the other Volturi guards more known in my writing.

I'm curious! Let me know what you guys think!❤️

P.S.

what did I say I'd fund now!? What did I get myself into this time?😭😂

My price...

Hmmmmm...

Could do with more Volturi and Romanian content? Anyone willing to annoy SMeyer into giving me that Volturi book or Romanian coven stuff? Not sure if I trust it but beggars can't be choosers!👀