#of having to be helena wayne

[brightest-starr-girl]

Helena grabs Karen’s hand, then. She can hear the rapid beating of her best friend’s heart, knows her well enough to spot the signs that she’s fighting back tears. She says nothing in the face of the silence, knowing that Helena needs a moment to puzzle through her thoughts before she speaks. A moment in which to push down the emotions, unable—afraid—to let herself show vulnerability. Karen hates the sound, hates the hoarseness in her voice, hates the effort with which she keeps the tears back.

There’s a strange ache in Karen’s chest at the way relief crashes through, fighting with guilt over her soul’s absolution. Here Helena is, offering a lifeline—as confusing as the analogy, Karen understands it, understands her, always has and always will—but Karen doesn’t know if she’s strong enough to take it. Not when she’s watching Helena fight back a sob, bare her soul, for Karen. Cutting herself deep to release whatever miasma thickened and blockaged her heart.

Karen’s own throbs in synchronistic pain, feeling a squeeze on her hand that would break a baseline human’s but is merely comforting pressure on her own. It takes effort to bite her tongue, to refrain from responding, when she knows Helena needs silence in order to get out what she wants to get out. And yet, all Karen wants to do is scream, get on her knees and beg and cry and plead, because she still holds out hope that things can go back to how they were. Because she still loves her. Because she, too, would marry the other in an instant.

The wind picks up from gentle breeze into a roughness more akin to the feeling in her soul, that of a storm brewing. Not quite as rough and turbulent as Karen’s heart yet but definitely on its way there. There’s a final crack, a boom of thunder, that Karen isn’t sure if it came from inside or out at the Helena’s decision.

Helena never means ‘maybe’s. If she ever uses a maybe, it’s already decided.

And Karen loves her enough to respect that. To resign herself to a lifetime of friendship. If that’s all she’ll ever get, it’s enough.

“Ok.” It’s barely more than a whisper, right on the edge of human hearing. Karen clears her throat, mindless of the rain—tears—that have fallen down her own cheeks. Louder, she repeats, “Okay. That’s- I respect that. And whatever boundaries you want to set growing forward.” The smile pains her to make, but it’s real despite the obvious hurt. Karen squeezes Helena’s hand, gentle and without full force, and exhales with a slight shudder. “You’re my best friend, Lenny. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Oh.” It’s quiet, choking Karen on the way out. “I- I’m sorry, Len. I didn’t realize- of course it’s okay for you to move on. I’m happy for you, truly. I don’t think any of that. Wouldn’t. Couldn’t,” she protests. “And I know I matter. I know you care. I’ve never doubted that.” And yes, she might be blinking back tears, more than slightly jealous, but she really is happy for Helena. “You have my blessing.” Her gaze turns suddenly uncharacteristically dark. “And if he does anything, I’m lasering off his dick. At best.”

Karen scoffs. “Doesn’t matter what I know, I don’t think I could get through even a fake funeral for you and not cry real tears.” She puts a hand on Helena’s chin, pulling gently for her to look at her but lightly enough that she would have no trouble resisting if she didn’t want to. She has one simple question. “Why?”

Martha Wayne Foundation’s Midwinter Gala

open to anyone who wants to join!

Helena takes a deep breath and a shallow sip of champagne. Her family isn't here, so it's not like they can take it away, and no one else cares, because she's not getting drunk and pretty much everyone above the age of fourteen at a gala drinks.

As much as she hates these things, she is willing to suffer through if it means her dad and brothers get a little break. Maybe it'll help with the guilt a little. After all, it's the least she can do, considering...

Nevermind. She's nauseous once more.

She spots a server unobtrusively making his way through the crowd and immediately begins weaving through to reach him. The food is the only redeemable thing about a gala, other than the dancing; it might be small in size, but the number is unlimited, the selection varied, and the taste exquisite.

So focused is she on her goal of canapes that she completely misses the person she bumps into.

"So sorry," she apologizes quickly.

[outfit under the cut]

[uncharted-constellations]

It’s been a minute, (both post wise and design wise) so decided to update the fam + a couple additions compared to last time

[ehliena]

Someone: black hair and a trust fund? You must be a Wayne.

[pokeberry5]

tfw u're on the verge of tears bc too many people are talking at once

sketchdump (again, mostly tim, bc even when i dont set out to draw him, i end up drawing him anyway):

dick & tim from gotham knights issues #8-10 have my whole heart

my friend got me a new pen:

and i've been reading a lot of upswings and havendance's fics where tim keeps showing up at people's apartments, as is his due (let him in!!)

tim using his cape as an emergency blanket!!

this stupid image has been haunting me for months:

if it wasn't clear from honeypot and the red dress comic, i like a very specific aesthetic

i wanted a red hood charm too:

(chibi catwoman tim from a old, larger spread "the latex spread" that i absolutely cannot post the full version of o7)

some really ancient doodles (proof that long hair tim has been important to me since the beginning):

roughs of my red dress comic:

[autisticrosewilson]

It's not that I hate fanon or that I think fanon is inherently less intelligent or morally wrong, but a LOT of fanon is based in racism, misogyny, and classism that I feel like a lot of you accept without question.

WHY is Duke (Daredevil, son of a god, has never once allowed himself to be defined by anyone's actions but his own) relegated to a background role, only characterized by reacting to the whims of other bats?

Why is Babs - Birds of Prey leader and backbone of the hero society, tells Bruce to fuck off and die 4 times a day and is constantly ruining her relationships by being biased and unhinged - Gotham bound, the mature responsible mom of the group who never argues with Bruce and never gets in trouble?

Why is Dick, both a tactical genius and master manipulator, a himbo only appreciated for his sex appeal? Especially when he is both Romani (group of people demonized and condemned as hypersexual by their nature alone) and an SA victim.

WHY is Damian "feral" and "uncivilized" despite being raised as a literal prince? Half of you treat him like a sociopath with no hope of redemption for an unfunny three second joke and the other half of you go full throttle into Bruce's white savior bullshit so that Damian can be "redeemed". Y'know when you're not villainizing Talia and acting like Dick is his other parent, actually.

WHY is Stephanie - extremely intelligent detective who can't stand Bruce and has a living mother she loves - lumped in as another member of the Batfam, a blonde ditz who only cares about prank wars and emotionally supporting Tim?

WHY is Cass - intelligent, a grown adult, suicidal perfectionist - emotionally intelligent, primarily existing to support the characters around her, immediately accepting of everyone she meets regardless of her own morals?

Why is Bruce the golden standard? Enough so that though everyone in the fandom could agree that he's an emotionally unstable wreck, being considered "the most like him" is seen as a compliment and not the HIGHEST insult? Everyone would agree if I said that Bruce purposely self sabotages his relationship half the time and the other half he simply does things without caring about the emotional impact it will have on people because he has to be the smartest in the room, but if I said that makes him a shit partner and emotionally abusive parent the fandom would bend over backwards to argue with me.

Why is Tim "the best Robin" when Dick Grayson invented the mantle, it is impossible for someone to embody the spirit of Robin better than him because he made it and he created what being Robin means. Maybe Tim is the best in Bruce's eyes, but what Robin means and who has the right to give it over was a significant thing they argued about. Tim the high school drop out, and yet also somehow the smartest? Tim "the most like Bruce" except no he's not, that's Cass. Poor neglected, abused, victimized little Timmy (the rich boy at the elite boarding school with loving albeit busy parents and almost every instance of him being victimized by another character has either been racist bullshit - The Al Ghuls and Rose Wilson- or a complete 180 for the character that made no sense when examined through the lens of prior characterization - Jason for instance.)

Almost every fanon trope that gets passed around like gospel seems to deliberately push POC characters and women into the background and strip them of interesting complex traits and stories, usually for the purpose of fitting them all into bite sized incorrect quote character types and uncomplicated narrative roles that are not only completely divergent from canon, but primarily exist to prop up the two rich white boys.

Also the insistence that Bruce, a 20 year old at the time, should actually be excused for how much he mentally and emotionally fucked Dick up because really they're more like siblings! While deciding that Dick at the same age was actually the perfect candidate to be Damian's new parent/guardian...have you lost the fucking plot you don't even make sense to yourselves.

Okay I lied at the beginning, I do hate fanon. You guys are so uncritical about the media you consume it is BEYOND just letting people enjoy things and have fun. I guess it's one thing if you KNOW this stuff isn't canon and UNDERSTAND why these tropes are problematic and you engage with it as such, it's fine read and write what you want, but just spreading the same nonsense around and parading it around as "better than canon" (version of the character so bland and boring you've somehow made the old white men at DC look like geniuses in the art of representation) is just infuriating.

[batboopp]

this is the first sign you see when you try to get into gotham

[not-another-robin]

Im thinking about Helena and old(er) Alfred... pap pap and grandbaby

[necrotic-nephilim]

there is not enough femslash in batcest circles. the girls deserve to be just as weird about each other as the boys are. if BruDick gets to be weird father/son/brothers/lovers/friends/rivals/soulmates then it is only fair that Babs/Cass get to be mother/daughter/sisters/lovers too. Something about that deep intrinsic but undefinable love that is born out of trauma, especially if you consider Cass not knowing what healthy love looks like in the first place. i think it's fun and deserves just as much fandom content.

besides that, you can get even more niche with rarepairs like Helena/Steph. Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma is already a fantastic comic and even though it's their only real canon interaction it has so much potential. very comparable to TimJay in how Helena tries to get Steph to understand her morals and the corruption you could play with it.

batman: huntress/spoiler: blunt trauma (1998)

that comic also highlights on how both Steph and Helena are outcasts of the Batfamily and don't have the approval of Bruce to be doing what they do in "his city". I think there's so much Potential in Helena taking Steph under her wing because Bruce won't let her in and it becomes a weird codependent toxic sapphic mess. I think the protectiveness Helena feels over Steph from the get-go is so clear and the way she wants to look out for Steph, wants to make sure Steph understands the real world? I love them. Helena should be allowed to steal Steph, actually. I think it'd be fun.

there are a lot of other possibilities too like Babs/Steph or even getting weird with Helena Bertinelli/Helena Wayne and the existential question of "is it selfcest or not." But these two specifically live in my head rent-free, especially Helena/Steph and one day I'll convince everyone else to ship it too.

[puppetmaster13u]

Because there's a brand new dragon type, I did the batfam as Dusthide dragons. [Order at the bottom lol] Honestly I just enjoy dragon AUs and also like the whole predict morphology bit. Might make this into a proper AU because I also enjoy that. I mean, feral cryptid vigilantes (especially winged batfam) is my weakness

Order of Batclan Members: Alfred Pennyworth | Thomas Wayne | Bruce Wayne Kate Kane | Lucas Fox | Barbara Gordon Dick Grayson | Helena Kyle | Cass Cain Jason Todd | Harper Row | Stephanie Brown Tim Drake | Duke Thomas | Cullen Row Damian Wayne | Athanasia Al Ghul | Jarro Terry McGinnis | Matt McGinnis

[an-gothamite-aka-zannalial]

What if Terry and Matt lost their parents that day, Amanda hired a killer to kill their parents and the murder was successful.

And after that a few days later the Cadmus project was discovered by one of the bats, And Bruce decided to take them without telling Terry what really happened to his parents

Terry was the only one who was really traumatized because Matt was only about 1 or 2 years old at the time, so the one they had to worry about the most was him.

I have an idea about Terry growing up to be an angry child and wanting to always be perfect, because for him that is what is important to get respect and love. He will do anything to be the best among everyone

And no one in his family tried to advise him that it was bad or unnecessary, because deep inside they also always tried to be perfect. And he will be the person who always dominates and controls, even though he doesn't always succeed

Meanwhile, Matt, unlike Terry, will grow up and only remember being a rich kid who can do whatever he wants. And being a good older brother to his younger sister Helena

Here, Helena was born 1 year before Terry and Matt entered the family. She is a child who always seeks attention from everyone around her in various ways, from normal to suspicious.

Also Terry is called Terrence because no one knows about his Terry nickname, he no longer cares either

Sooo........

Bruce: Terrence how was your school

Terrence: That's a terrible B, I got a B- because those stupid kids can't listen

Bruce: Ter you shouldn't be like that, they are your friends don't say mean things about them or-

Terrence: I don't want to call people who lower my score as friends forever

Bruce: *Sigh

Damian: Are you done now, I want to use my painting tools now mcginnis

Terrence: No, I have to start from the beginning again, the first one was crossed out

Damian: It's just a little graffiti no one will care about emo teenagers

Terrence: Maybe you don't but I'm sure many will

Helena: It's not fair isn't it Matty

Matt: yeah. We should be able to walk there, it's just a bunch of ordinary flowers that happen to be prettier than usual

Helena: Right. We can ask Daddy to buy this

Matt: I'll call him in a moment, this time you have to ask. Yesterday I asked for a swimming pool. Ok

Helena: yeh

Dick: Why are you crying hello Kitty princess

Matt: She cried because father wouldn't let her buy beauty equipment

Dick: why did you want it helen

Helena: Because all the other girls can wear them, and they won't let me borrow one

Bonus:

Hero school students: Robin (Terrence) is good, he doesn't have any evil intentions

Terrence: *literally manipulates them into doing whatever he wants, uses them for his own gain, never really caring about them,Always wanting to be the center of attention alone, etc

[pretty-little-pests]

The Batfam as things I've heard during theater:

Khoa: Because that's ☆Homicide☆

Alfred: If you don't want your ruby slippers to get stolen, stop hanging out under houses.

Tim: What flavor of chronic pain do you have?

Duke: There's so many layers

Steph: Like an onion.

Duke & Steph (together): …or an Ogre!

Helena: I'm sorry! My natural state is T-Rex!

Babs: Penta-go team

Bruce: And I quote: no comment

Dick: Let's go put on our sexy dodo costumes

Jason: Lord Alfred Tennishoes

Cass: Wingardium stabby-osa

Damian: Don't get van Gogh-ed, get van gone

[fancyfade]

Post theme going around on LoCG where people say whre they want the batfam members to end up.

I figured I'd share my post (link) here on tumblr b/c I have way more tumblr followers and post many dc thoughts here anyway

original post:

Anyway, where the Batfam members end up in a couple years in my opinion:

Bruce: I honestly think he should retire. Is this ever realistic? No, he makes too much money. But he’s got to be getting what close to 50 by now? He needs to quit before he dies RIP. I’d love to see him trying to do what he can to help the community as Bruce Wayne (which I don’t think he never does as Batman – we see comics involving it. But like more emphasis).

Cass: I view Cass as the logical successor to Bruce. She deserves to be Batman (and wants to be and embodies his ideals very well).

Barbara: I think it’d be neat if Babs (as Oracle) kind of expanded BoP so we have different subgroups… we got a tiny bit of this might be happening at the way tail end of New Earth continuity, with babs faking her and oracle’s deaths to get the heat off and allow herself to dedicate more attention to major operations rather than being everyone’s problem solver, and her training Wendy as a protege… just pick that up. I like Wendy Harris being involved, and I think Helena is a good candidate for an op leader (more on that later)

Helena: Helena should work with a small team of Birds and take on missions that require some convincing undercover work – shout out to both her mob deconstruction plan in Simone’s BOP and her past as a Spyral agent in this continuity. The team should be flexible, but I’d like to see Steph occasionally team up with her… her forgotten-by-continuity adopted son, James, should also help on tech stuff IMO.

Damian: I like the idea of him doing Batman and Robin stuff in Gotham and more globe-trotting stuff on his own, using Maya and Suren and other friends. He also definitely will try to reform any kid/teenage supervillains he comes across, so he should probably fight mostly adults :p

Duke: I think Duke should stay as the Gotham daytime hero, in contact with the kids from We Are Robin, but… get more appearances. Him being in everyday contact with more normal people could be an important storytelling avenue.

Dick: What Dick’s currently doing is fine, no need to change. He’s already got his niche.

Tim: DC doesn’t know what to do with Tim… I think Tim should honestly go into semi-retirement, coming out for big stakes plots and to train younger heroes. In my head this would be after a 12 issue mini series where Tim contemplates how much his life has changed since he started being Robin, with his initial goal that it was going to be something he does his time in and then gets out, out of obligation, and then slowly he had no normal life to get back out to… we’d bring back Dana as a character to bounce thoughts off, as well as the YJ kids especially Cissie who has also retired as a superhero.

Jason: I think what Task Force Z was doing for Jason was perfect, I’d love to see things continue along that line where he like *wants* to do good and to not be the person he used to be, but he sometimes (often) fails… and leading around a team of other equally-or-more corrupt people is fun. That’s as heroic as I feel like Jason should get, if he’s just turned into pretty much another hero it’s like… offbrand nightwing???

[nemo-in-wonderland]

Ok, just as we did with Aranea last time, I have another quick question just because I am curious 👀👀👀👀.

As usual, I have my own personal opinion about this (mostly because I have a whole ass AU bullet pointed for this lololol), but I am truly curious about y'all opinion

And let's bring Batman into this lol.

(And remember, we are not talking necesserily about physical resemblance. This is more about the general vibes of the character).

[littlefankingdom]

~ Batgirl (2000)

This one screenshot has been sitting in my galery for months. "Papa Bat" is pure gold. I love when people call Batman the father or the mother (yes, mother. Joker did that in the 2004 Batman cartoon) of the batkids.

This is happening when Cass isn't Bruce's daughter yet. He is still very awkward with her. But I love it, because it really shows that people see the bats and birds as Batman's kids. They see how Batman is with them and they think "He's their dad". It doesn't matter what relationship Bruce actually has with them, people see the Batgirls, the Robins and the others and think "the Bat's offsprings". Y'all are wasting time arguing if Stephanie and Barbara see Bruce as a father-figure, while Gothamites are like "all Batgirls are the Bat's daughters, he will kick your ass if you touch them, and they will rat you to him".

[cremeriie]

helena wayne: certified cool girl

[sisaloofafump]

DC comics but it's just characters as blobs in the background. Vague sources below cut

I'm not going to search back for the specific issues but they're:

1 & 2. Wonder Woman #770-774

3. Detective Comics #1046

4. Superman #113-117

5. Batman & Robin: Eternal #10-18

6. Batgirls (idk which one)

7. Superman 2018 #idk

8. Detective Comics #1032-1036

9. Superman 2018 #1-3

10. Super sons #10