#the bats all care about the people Bruce does and that's what he teach his kids to care about the people

[littlefankingdom]

Things I NEED y'all to stop putting in Jason fics:

"Since Red Hood arrived, he cleaned up Crime Alley better than Batman ever has" First of all, this is not even the case in the comics, so y'all are making this up to make Jason's way "the right way". Second of all, if murdering criminals violently worked better, then that's what the cops would be doing, because, new flash, but the gov used to be way more violent, and crimes were worse, and the gov had to lower its violence, because we know it doesn't work and the gov didn't have enough good excuses to continue. If you think they are not waiting for an excuse to violently kill people, you are wrong. So, stop writing that shit, it's borderline fascist propaganda (violence is the only way to keep power/peace, so free real estate for us to kill anyone we label as criminals) You do not need to find excuses for Jason.

"Crime Alley is Jason's territory and the Bats cannot enter it without his permission" Also, not canon, never was. Are you all forgetting that Bruce's parents died in Crime Alley? That's how it got its name. It's where Batman was born. It's where Bruce goes to mourn his parents during patrols. It's an important location for the Batfam as a whole. It's where Dick thinks his siblings are not authorized to fight when Bruce is "dead"/gone because it is insulting Bruce's memory. It's the meeting points the Bats use multiple times. Batman's first night was probably in Crime Alley. Crime Alley is the mission, to make it a better place for its inhabitants is Bruce's goal. He is shown multiple times to be very protective of its people, especially in front of powerful figures (politicians/rich). As much as Bruce loves Jason, he would not give up Crime Alley. Yes, Jason grew up in Crime Alley, but Crime Alley was Bruce's before Jason was even born.

"Crime Alley hates the bats, except for Red Hood" Again, Batman has been protecting the people of Crime Alley since he started. He was the only one who fought for them against the people that hurt them, the cops not giving a fuck about the poor. Like, stop trying to paint Bruce as a rich guy disconnected from the people, that's not who he is and who he ever was (except for some storylines, but like, fuck these storylines). He has not live their struggles, but he has studied it, he cares about it. And, I can understand that not everyone in Gotham and Crime Alley likes Batman, of course. But to make children dislike Robin or NIGHTWING??? Dick's whole thing is how he is always everyone's favorite. He's an acrobat, he is flying with grace in the sky without powers, he is all smile and gentleness with children, no fucking way children don't like him.

"Dick killed the Joker for Jason." No, he killed the Joker in an act of rage and fear when he had Tim and threatened to kill him like the last one. BUT ALSO, and this is really important, DICK WAS HORRIFIED about what he had done. He hated himself and self-isolated, refused to listen to Bruce and Barbara when they tried to comfort him. This is not something he is proud of. Dick wouldn't be like "Yeah, I killed the Joker, but you know Bruce... I don't regret it." He does regret it. Bruce forgave him way faster than Dick forgave himself for killing the Joker. He would not do it again if he could, that's why it only happened once.

"Jason is mad at Bruce for being too late to save him." Nope. In Under The Red Hood, Jason literally tells Bruce he forgives him for not saving him. Jason was NEVER angry at Bruce for not saving him. Jason is mad because he thinks Bruce doesn't care about him. If Tim hadn't taken the Robin's mantle, Jason probably would have gone home, because that's what hurt him the most, the possibility that he was replaced in Bruce's eyes.

"Jason ran away because Bruce believed he killed someone" It was never explicit if Bruce did believe Jason pushed the rapist. But also, no. When Jason ran away, Bruce just benched him as Robin because he saw that Jason was hurting and needed help, and being a vigilante wasn't helping. Pls, read Death In The Family, Bruce was trying his best to support Jason and help him. Jason being violent at times is a sign, for Bruce, that Jason is hurting. He doesn't villanize Jason's actions. Don't be like DC writers and forget that Bruce knows that violence and aggression come from pain.

"The memorial is Bruce's making and Alfred hates it" WRONG, it's the contrary. Alfred made the memorial, Bruce was against it. Please, stop putting all the blame on Bruce and making Alfred perfect. Bruce hates the memorials, he hates his sons being remembered as soldiers. He put up with the memorials because it's Alfred. (I am so tired from y'all blaming Bruce for this one, omg) Also, while we are it, Alfred doesn't put up with Jason's bs. Jason can criticize Bruce, but there's a limit for Alfred.

[lazycats-stuff]

Ummm hi I just wanted to ask if you know the Netflix series called The Queen's Gambit? If you know, can you make a story where the reader is Bruce's son Is a chest master. Where he beats everyone in his chess game. Well I would love it if you retained the Queen's Gambit title but if not that's fine too🤣.But in the middle of the story he was angry because someone had managed to beat him in his match so he became annoyed and locked himself in a room to find a strategy.To defeat the person who defeated him. If possible, the one that will distract the reader is the OC. Thank you. Sorry if there are too many requests hehe

Oh I heard about, saw a few clips and all, but never watched it. But I know about it so no problem. I absolutely can do it. Also, I know nothing about chess. If there are people who play chess reading this, I don't know chess.

Summary: (Y/N) is a chess master. Until someone takes the title away.

Warnings:

All of his children were smart and had their specialties, so to speak. And Bruce was more than happy to help them explore that. Bruce wanted all of their sons to be explore their potentials. Why not? He had money and resources to help them out. That's also what he did to (Y/N), since (Y/N) was very interested in chess, since he was a small child.

Often asking Alfred to play chess with him. Which is ironic since Bruce taught him the rules for it, but hey. (Y/N) was happy whenever he played chess and since he was the youngest out of the 5 of them, he had 4 people to play with. Damian was more than happy to play, since his grandfather taught him.

Damian couldn't beat him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. That made him even more stubborn, making it a life long mission to beat his younger brother. And if it's the last thing he does, then so be it.

Tim was also good in chess, but couldn't beat (Y/N) as well. He has tried every single strategy he could find and think of. But nothing. (Y/N) could not be beaten. Not in the slightest. Just like Damian, he swore to beat him one day, even if it's the last thing he ever does in his life. Until then, he was going to research every single strategy and make sure he takes the honor of beating his brother.

Dick simply enjoyed playing chess, even though he always lost against (Y/N). He didn't mind it, he has always liked spending time with his youngest brother, although he always lost. He always allowed (Y/N) to use different strategies during their plays. Had it been Damian, he might have exploded.

And Jason?

Jason isn't well versed in chess, but that didn't stop (Y/N). He was patient when teaching Jason, explaining the different pieces and the way they moved. Jason felt frustrated, wanting to sometimes flip the table. But (Y/N) was patient, knowing that not everyone liked chess and he liked the fact that Jason didn't kill him yet.

So all in all, (Y/N) was happy whenever he played chess. Whether it be at home or at tournaments.

And once Netflix aired its Queen's Gambit, that was his nickname from that point forward. (Y/N) hated it at first, but then he didn't care. He could deal with it, since it was in reference to Beth Harmon, although a fictional character, but still one hell of a chess player.

And yes, (Y/N) was participating in many tournaments. He got the title of chess master, since he beat a lot of amateurs, but he wanted to have the title of grandmaster. He wanted to be the best. He wanted to be respected doing something he loved more than anything in his world.

(Y/N) came into the manor like a bat out of hell. He stomped upstairs, slamming the doors of his room. Bruce was confused as to what has happened, but knowing (Y/N), talking to him while upset would do him no good. (Y/N) would only snap back at him.

Teens need some space to cool off and collect their thoughts.

The only thing that could happen to upset (Y/N) is losing at chess. So Bruce went to his detective work and sure enough, (Y/N) lost in a tournament. Bruce sighed. Losses are a normal part of life, because you need to know how to deal with set backs in life. Bruce made sure to teach (Y/N) how to lose gracefully.

And his opponent is a known chess player too. And Bruce has decided to check the clip too, just to make sure that he wasn't a sore loser. Because he didn't raise his boy like that. Thankfully, (Y/N) was polite, smiled at his opponent and shook hands, congratulating him.

Bruce sighed in relief as he saw it. He would have been disappointed if he didn't lose gracefully. But holing up in your own room is not a healthy coping mechanism. Hopefully food will coax him out of hiding and make him talk about his feelings.

(Y/N) is a growing boy and needs to eat.

Soon enough, (Y/N)'s brother's caught wind of it and tried to help (Y/N) out, trying to coax him out with food and talk. (Y/N) took the food like a goblin and went to investigating different strategies on how to beat him opponent. He said to them all that he'll beat his opponent, no matter how long it took him.

Bruce wasn't sure how to feel about that. (Y/N) needs a distraction. Bruce is slowly but surely out of options. He doesn't know how to pull his son out of the slump.

Jason had the idea to call (Y/N)'s friend, Simon Moore. Simon Moore is a good friend of his and Bruce suspects something more, but he still didn't ask about, thinking that (Y/N) isn't ready to come out yet. Either way, (Y/N) needs help.

" Simon is here. " Jason walked in with him, a tall blond boy with blue eyes.

" Hello everyone. (Y/N) lost a match and won't come out? " Simon asked and Bruce nodded.

" Alright. Just to warn you, if you hear yelling, don't be worried. " Simon walked up the stairs and Jason smirked to himself.

" (Y/N) is going to blow a fuse. "

Bruce sipped his coffee as he heard the door being kicked in. (Y/N) would have never opened up on his own and Bruce could always pay someone.

Perks of being rich.

" Alright Queen's Gambit, up and at them! " Simon yelled and (Y/N) was yelling back.

" Simon is a friend we all need to be, " Jason stated and Bruce sipped more of his coffee as he listened to the commotion.

" What's going on up there? It sounds like World War 3. " Tim walked in to get some snacks and coffee.

" Simon came by to help (Y/N) out, " Jason explained and Tim nodded as he poured himself some coffee.

" Father, what is going on upstairs? " Damian popped in to get himself some tea, looking through the different flavors in his box.

" Simon dropped by to help. " Jason leaned on the kitchen island and Damian nodded.

" Moore came to help. Good. Are we still in the belief that they are a couple? " Damian put the water to boil and Bruce nodded.

" Nothing is confirmed though, so not a word to (Y/N). " Bruce extended his cup to Damian to refill it for him.

" Is (Y/N) okay up there? " Dick walked in through the back door and Bruce nodded.

" Simon dropped by to help us, " Bruce gave a short explanation and Dick let out an oh.

" Well that explains it. "

Bruce nodded as they listened to the commotion upstairs. Soon enough, everything calmed down and Simon came down.

" (Y/N)'s in the shower, " Simon announced and everyone nodded.

Bruce took his cup of coffee back from Damian and sipped it.

" Does he look like death warmed over? " Damian asked and Simon chuckled quietly.

" Oddly enough, no. But the room stinks a little bit so I opened all the windows. Also, my apologies about the door mister Wayne. " Simon rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and Bruce smiled and shook his head and wave at his dismissively.

" Oh no worries Simon. Also, don't call me mister Wayne, just Bruce will suffice. "

Simon nodded. " He said that he would come down to get some food too. And he's hungry, let me tell you that. "

" That boy will be the death of me, I swear. Thank you Simon. "

[nanenna]

Today I remembered that my favorite thing about having so many AUs is to pick up 2 AUs like Barbie dolls and clack their faces together while making smooching noises.

Behold my beloved DCxDP AU amalgamation monster: DeamonTwinAU and PhantomThiefAU (aka: Selina gives Danny a slutty slutty cat suit, good times)

The story vaguely goeth thusly: Danny is a halfa, the Balance, the Bridge Between Worlds, he is....... the Observants' glorified gofer. You see, there are a lot of cursed/enchanted/ghostly artefacts floating around loose in the living Realm and they need Danny to go retrieve them. Danny would rather not, but they just won't leave him alone about it. Can't a guy just live? At least let him poop in peace! Ancients! Fine, he'll do it if it'll get them to shut up. (Spoiler: it does, in fact, not get them to shut up.)

But you see, Danny has a secret: he was raised in an assassin ninja cult (at least for the early years) before getting adopted by the Fentons. Now the killing? Not a fan, no thanks, he's working on not increasing his kill count, thx. But the sneaking? He could use that. Sneaky ninjas are also good thieves, right? So he cobbles together a knock off League of Assassins outfit, buys a cheap portable lock picking set, and decides to make a game of how far can he get without using his powers (much. He's new at this okay?)

Batman is not having fun. There's some (possible?) League assassin running around stealing verified cursed/magical artefacts! Is Talia planning something? Is Ra's planning something? (Isn't he for real dead? Silly reader, no one is ever for real dead in DC.)

Robin is super frustrated. For all the same reasons Batman is but also because he just knows this new rogue is taunting him. Personally. Because he's Damian al Ghul Wayne and the whole world revolves around him, obviously. (And also because he once pointed at Robin and laughed before jumping out a window.)

Selina is intrigued. Who is this kid? How does he know what to go after? How does he keep evading the bats? Luckily she runs into him mid heist (fortunately they had different targets, she's intrigued but not enough to hand over her shinies to him) and oh he's adorable! She has to train him, it would drive Brucie up the wall. But then she sees his face and oh, she knows exactly who he is, even if he seems oblivious.

Because Danny? He's in Gotham for the ecto, for the Thomas Wayne full ride scholarship he managed to snag, and also because for some reason Gotham is full of so many cursed/ghost artefacts. (Lady Gotham is seething, she worked hard to collect all those curses! But this is her beloved dark knight's kid and she kinda wants him home. But she also doesn't want to give up her curses!) Back to the point: Danny doesn't care about ANY of the rich bougie people. The Waynes give out a lot of scholarships? Cool, that's nice and all. They probably also rub elbows with Vlad or Sam's parents. No thanks. Doesn't care. He's got better things to worry about.

Selina has got a plan though! She's gonna teach this boy how to thief properly, starting with better tools (including the slutty, slutty cat burglar outfit). She also knows that she can't let any of the Waynes (in or out of costume) meet Danny (out of costume). So does Lady Gotham. So does the universe apparently (or just Clockwork maybe), because all kinds of unlikely things keep happening to prevent it.

Danny is having so much fun though! He's learning new skills. Selina is giving him an allowance so he's not living off ramen and peanut butter sandwiches, he's doing well in school, he gets to stretch his ghost powers regularly to go above the smog cover and star gaze in peace. Everything's coming up Danny.

Selina decides it's time to flaunt her find in front of Brucie and makes Danny go to a gala as her date, she spends the entire time clinging to his arm and introducing him around to everyone. Including Bruce himself (who just so happens to have Damian in tow). Danny may not recognize Bruce, but he sure recognizes Damian, and Damian recognizes him if his utterly flabbergasted face is anything to go by. But Danny remembers what it was like living in the League. And so far as he knows Damian is still in it, he was the Demon Head's heir after all. Damian made sure of it.

Oh it. Is. ON! Now Danny is on a mission! A sibling rivalry mission! He is going to make Damian's/Robin's a living hell. Selina going on a heist that has no magical artefacts? Danny's there anyway, always have back up. That necklace in the museum has barely any powers and he wasn't even going to bother with it? Too bad, it's back on the list. He has no reason to be out at all but the bats are on patrol? Well so is Danny. Catch him if you can, suckers!

It's good for Danny, it's enrichment!

[distort-opia]

oo do you have examples of issues that very clearly show jokers avoidant attachment style? I would guess on some level the ending of death of the family?

Well, I said that both him and Bruce rather fit the disorganized attachment style, which is also known as fearful-avoidant-- but Bruce has more "fearful", Joker has more "avoidant".

Bruce, despite all his misgivings, has multiple long-term meaningful relationships. But in Joker's case... intimacy and affection are simply out of the question. Humanity is out of the question, like in the example you've given with Death of the Family. The only person we know for sure he cares about is Bruce, and even in Bruce's case he wildly fluctuates between declaring undying love and genuinely trying to murder him out of spite and resentment. The second closest person to him would be Harley Quinn, and I do think on some level he cared about her, but his relationship with her was manipulative and abusive-- and he tried to kill her too. All of his relationships, outside of the one with Batman, are shallow, and it's because he keeps them shallow. People are something to kill, use, or make fun of, not persons to connect with. If there's any sign of emotion, Joker considers it a weakness. Caring gets you broken above a vat of acid at ACE Chemical factory, with a bat from hell scaring you into committing suicide.

Though I don't think Joker started out so avoidant, much like Bruce... who also started out as something else. Personally I see Bruce as having had an anxious/fearful attachment style prior to his parents' death. But then the loss pushed him into avoidance, and ultimately resulted in him displaying a disorganized or fearful-avoidant attachment style as an adult. Joker might've been fearful-avoidant to begin with, if we go by the likeliest background for him: growing up with abusive parents, then living in orphanages and foster homes, etc. Even the one interaction (remembered reliably or unreliably) with Jeannie in The Killing Joke points to a fearful-avoidant attachment:

Batman: The Killing Joke

He's blowing up at Jeannie, projecting his own self-hatred on her, and then immediately swings into begging for forgiveness. In the end, the core thing about disorganized attachment is... instability. Growing up, the child does not feel like their caregiver is reliable, there to provide food or shelter or the most basic emotional validation. Parents who fluctuate between moments of love and affection and moments of violence and abuse teach their children that love is a minefield. One wrong step, and the landmine blows-- and you never know what sets it off, so you wildly overcompensate or avoid. And Jack acts more like this towards Jeannie: he explodes with anger, gets scared she'll react badly, and then begs for forgiveness. It's also clear that he thinks his value is based in what he can provide. If he doesn't have anything to give Jeannie, will she still love him?

But where Jack was more classically fearful-avoidant, Joker is a lot more avoidant. Even though his life-defining trauma happened as an adult, it profoundly affected his view on the world. As Joker, he still has a need for connection (otherwise we wouldn't have Batjokes)-- but he also hates it and is actively trying to snuff it out. It's a bit ironic that essentially, only with Bruce is where the fearful/anxious part of his attachment style still comes out. Just like with Jeannie in that example, we constantly see him go between "It's your fault I became a monster! I hate your guts and I want you dead!" and "I do all this because I love you! I'm the only one who understands you! Please don't leave me!"

[zahri-melitor]

Dick isn't Damian's Parent

Thinking again about the push to see Dick as parental towards Damian and the reasons it does not land for me (and is not my reading of the Dick!Bats era):

There’re a few points I want to establish up front:

Not every person who cares for or supervises a child is their parent or guardian.

Having the ability to set boundaries and consequences for a child is more persuasive of parenting but not determinative.

My fundamental determination is the ability to make decisions on behalf of the child and about the child, including in respect to boundaries and consequences, is what places a person in a parental position to a child.

If you have ever spent any time around parenting groups or online parenting forums, you have heard the debate over “the dad is not ‘babysitting his kids’ he’s parenting”. (My apologies for everyone who just experienced immediate war flashbacks) But while this traditional devaluing of what is expected from fathers in relation to active parenting of their children, it’s a discussion that at its core has an important kernel of truth: when is the person supervising a child parenting the kid, and when are they a carer? And in traditional divisions of childrearing, fathers did not do a lot of the hands-on parenting, leading to the ‘babysitting the kids for the wife’ joke. Because the guts of parenting: setting boundaries; setting and enforcing consequences; the day to day ‘keeping a kid alive’ work of food and clothing and medical appointments; of supervising children; of teaching rules and emotional regulation; of making care decisions on their behalf? A lot of that fell on the mother. (Even in that awful dynamic of the consequence of bad behaviour being ‘wait til your father gets home (as he’ll belt you)’ from a mother, she’s still the one establishing the boundary that was broken, and setting the consequence – seeing the father for discipline).  

Fundamentally, the relationship between a superhero and their sidekick is not a necessarily parental one. It’s better framed as mentoring, particularly when there’s an adult-child dynamic in the relationship. Is Dick!Bats and Tim!Robin a parent-child relationship? No, even though Dick actually spends a chunk of their time teaching Tim skills and mentoring him (including housework! Actually a lot of housework! Dick cooks for Tim and gets him to help sweep and shows him how to do laundry).

‘Is Dick parenting Damian’ comes accompanied by a second question: is Alfred parenting Damian? Because I will happily argue that Alfred is doing the lion’s share of day to day childcare of Damian outside of costume.

If we define the period that Dick has effective custody of Damian as Battle for the Cowl to Flashpoint (given Bruce is only intermittently home between his return and Flashpoint), then we have a number on panel moments outside of things that are pure vigilante field decisions that should be considered in regards to ‘who is Damian’s parent’.

We have Alfred declaring that someone needs to take responsibility for Damian (as he won’t, step up Dick). However. Once Alfred has arranged the situation to his liking (aka he is not the Official Person In Charge of Damian), he…proceeds to act exactly like he always does in regards to anyone living in the Wayne household: he cooks their food, cleans their clothes, supervises underage members of the household during the day when other people aren’t around, tends their injuries, may send them to bed, is arguably educating Damian during this period if Damian is in fact receiving any formal education (Damian is not in school during Reborn), etc. This is actually a massive chunk of the day to day responsibilities of parenting. Now, that doesn’t make Alfred Damian’s parent: first of all there’s the ‘Alfred is paid to do this’ aspect of Alfred’s relationship with all the Waynes, which can never be overlooked, just like another family might hire a babysitter or an au pair or a nanny or a servant/’help’ to do a lot of the basic labour associated with raising a kid. Or that child might be in daycare or school where they are again under paid adult supervision. Secondly, Alfred very clearly is disclaiming his responsibility for making decisions on behalf of Damian. He is saying it is not his job to arrange education for Damian or to financially support him, or to set boundaries and consequences for Damian’s actions. He can and will enforce rules and boundaries others set, but he won’t decide what they should be.

Setting Boundaries and Consequences This is something I do agree Dick does somewhat, in regards to Damian. However I will point out he is…not great at it.

This is a major issue, as Damian is in desperate need of boundaries given his upbringing, even more than an average child his age, and his testing those boundaries is rarely reacted to in an adequate manner to make Damian feel safe while still enforcing consequences for bad behaviour. (This is a recurring problem for Damian as a character ever since his introduction, up to the present, actually).

There are a lot of children who have parents who are bad at setting boundaries and consequences. Ask any teacher or coach (or any parent about That Kid at playgroup). But it’s also a sign of someone who’s not actually parenting a child, particularly when there isn’t a more convincing argument for why that person is the ‘parent’ (such as legal responsibility as parent/guardian).

There are three prominent moments I can pick out around the early Dick and Damian relationship over Dick enforcing boundaries and consequences with Damian: the Red Robin #1 fight Dick breaks up between Tim and Damian; the Hit List fight in Red Robin #14 between Tim and Damian; and the War of the Robins situation in Batman & Robin (2011), particularly Dick’s reaction in #12.

In short: Dick is trying what’s commonly considered ‘gentle’ parenting, but fails to enforce any consequences for Damian’s actions. Let’s go through this.

Red Robin #1: this is the least parental and most big brother and ‘overwhelmed and just reacting’ of all three situations. In terms of what Dick does towards Damian’s actions: he tells Damian to ‘shut up’ after insulting Tim, twice; and grabs Tim to stop him punching Damian again. We don’t ever see whether Dick talks to Damian about his language or attitude (because it’s not a comic focused on Damian), but honestly this shouldn’t be considered parenting; Dick’s a frustrated older brother here breaking up a fight between two of his siblings. His focus is to the stop the fight and then attempt to continue the conversation he was having with Tim about the support Dick’s looking to get from Tim. The consequence of Damian’s behaviour is being told to shut up, which…eh. Unlikely to be effective in any way.

Red Robin #14: Again focusing on the situation that Dick walked into – he gets the story of what happened from Tim and Damian (we the readers know it wasn’t a full story, but Dick’s working with what they said). Dick then validates Damian’s feelings and sends him out of the room to recover while saying he’ll talk to Tim about this, and proceeds to work with Tim to stop the situation happening again (by talking through what Damian’s feeling with Tim, and then working with Tim to upgrade his password). Notably, while Damian has his hurt emotions recognised, Dick never points out to Damian that Tim should be able to expect for Damian not to snoop through a password protected computer file and it’s Damian’s own fault for looking and getting hurt. There are no shown consequences from Dick to Damian over ‘this is the result of you breaking a boundary (hacking Tim’s files)’. I again note this is in Red Robin, but that conversation does not say that Dick will come and talk to Damian once Damian’s cooled off. Dick’s actually managing to parent Tim better here on page than he does Damian.

The reason I’m not convinced there was any follow through from Dick to Damian in Red Robin #14? Batman & Robin #12 (2011).

Batman & Robin #12 (2011): in this issue we again see Dick stepping in to acknowledge Damian’s feelings, after Damian’s just declared ‘war’ on Dick, Jason and Tim to ‘defeat’ them and show his superiority as Robin (and take a trophy). They’ve just finished a boss fight and Damian offers to drive the other three back in the Batmobile. Tim and Jason extract themselves from this with the minimum level of politeness possible. Dick takes up the offer and at that point says to Damian: “you don’t need to try so hard, Damian. If you hadn’t noticed, kid, you’re already wearing the ‘R’ on your chest” and proceeds to hand Damian one of his escrima sticks as a ‘trophy’. This is again an example of Dick validating Damian’s emotions about a situation (feeling he needs to compete to be the best), but fails to provide Damian any boundary over his actions here. Damian gets to keep the ‘trophies’ he took from attacking his siblings without warning. He doesn’t get explained to him that this behaviour is unacceptable and why Jason and Tim have refused his offer to drive them home and left precipitously.  Dick doesn’t talk out the situation with Damian and work through what he should do next time when he feels hurt or overlooked, and about how he should respect Tim and Jason’s boundaries and spaces.

This is a common failure point seen in parents pursuing gentle parenting options in the modern era. They acknowledge the child’s emotions over the situation (good!) but provide no follow through on why the situation arose in the first place and how to avoid it happening again (and in the case of bad behaviour, some level of consequence/discipline, even if it is ‘and that’s why your friend doesn’t want to play with you’ or a time out or an apology).

Really, Dick’s not setting adequate boundaries for Damian’s behaviour, particularly in terms of family/civilian behaviour not vigilante behaviour. And he’s definitely not holding Damian to consequences (outside of outraged yells of ‘Damian!’ or ‘Robin!’ at bad behaviour in the field) for his actions.

Decision Making Power

The main evidence of Dick asserting the power to make decisions on behalf of Damian during this period is over Damian being Robin. He ‘gives’ the mantle to Damian and sanctions taking him out as Robin. He tells the Teen Titans to take Damian on the team. Dick also chooses that they will live at Wayne Tower not the Manor. He does not really make any other decisions on panel on behalf of Damian during this period, as an individual outside the mantle (and within the mantle Dick can choose these things anyway, as Batman, as the original Robin, and as someone with a lot of authority over what a Titans team is). He states or jokes to Damian that the position of Robin is conditional (“I can still offer Tim Drake his old job back”). He accepts responsibility for being a carer for Damian when Alfred pushes it on him, but is frequently reactive rather than active in terms of making decisions.

And he does not exercise decision making power, he actively defers to two people he sees as having more authority to make decisions on behalf of Damian: Bruce and Talia.

Dick doesn’t question Talia’s right to walk in and arrange medical treatment for Damian after he’s been shot and his back broken. He also accepts Bruce’s decision to leave Damian in Dick’s custody after his return and not initially take over care as a decision Bruce has the right to make on both their behalf.

I’m aware of the panels far later on when Dick tells Damian he considered fighting to adopt Damian, but alongside being writer metacommentary later on rather than textual back in 2010-2011, it’s simply not something that would have been possible; for Dick to adopt Damian would have been a fight given that he had two living parents who legally were still considered fit parents for Damian. A custody dispute resulting in “actually the 10 year old is going to live full time with his older brother, who will have legal guardianship” would be something that required legal sign off from a judge, who in that circumstance would have concluded that both Talia and Bruce were unfit to have custody of their child. Now whether or not Talia is a fit parent for Damian is obviously up in the air (if you know about the LOA), but at this point publicly, Bruce has cared for Damian adequately: he took Damian in in being informed of his existence, he provides and pays for all of Damian’s needs, he pays for home supervision of Damian when he’s away (Alfred), Damian’s living in one of Bruce’s houses (the Penthouse)… the family law system is probably only going to have an issue with Damian’s education situation, and that can be clarified by either on page confirmation he’s either enrolled at a school or is being homeschooled, but there is no evidence of any abuse or neglect that would have a judge decide to remove parental responsibility from Bruce, or make it supervised only.

Conclusion:

Dick caring for Damian does not make him Damian’s parent. There’s the possibility inherent in that if Bruce had never returned and Dick had eventually made the moves to have Bruce declared dead, he would have taken over legal guardianship of Damian and learned to act more as his parent, but in the circumstances we see on the page during Reborn and up to Damian’s death, particularly with Dick’s immediate deferral to Damian’s biological parents, he’s better described as a carer for Damian, or part of the village it takes to raise a child. He has a lot more responsibility than your average older sibling does, or even a mentor, but he’s not acting in a way that suggests Dick believes he has the right to make all the decisions about Damian’s care and on behalf of Damian.

[dairy-farmer]

More Cult's of Gotham nonsense! You know what happens when you let unsupervised tots wander around Rich Folks area Gotham in the dead of night? They stumble into old Weird Shit that some kinky dead Rich Folks left over! Like sex cults!

It was a fad!

And it may have been brief, but that MAGIC sure lingered! Whoops! Lack of street lights and recent rain? Mean one Timmy falling through a dirt ceiling into a Suspect Magic Circle(tm)!

He has Succubus Powers now.

The cost? Succubus dietary needs. Also he has hit puberty yet and is pretty sure he's Trans. He did not WANT the Succubus powers, creepy dead people! But here he is. With them.

The extra durability and extreme flexibility are nice. Food being basicly a "I mean, if you FEEL like it" sort of thing? Not great! He's HUNGRY. Luckily? Prostitutes. He can sit on the roof and... eat? He guesses? Not very filling, but it works.

Then! Jason is dead! D:>

The dramatics that follow! Bruce is a DICK but Tim's durability means no broken Timmy bones. But also... he never stays for dinner, dispite Alfred hinting he should. Goes of patrol route sometimes for odd "vantage points". Bruce notices him going BACK into the city, once or twice.

Eventually? He can't ignore Tim any longer. Has come to care for the Doll like little Robin. Obviously, he figures Tim's haunts out immediately. But why? Is he going there? It's clearly not to spy. Hmmmm...

He "accidentally" leaves the Bat computer unlocked.

Tim hasn't learned enough yet to spot the obvious trap. He takes his chance to look up anyone with Sex powers like him, how they feed. Bruce watching as he grows more despairing and frustrated with every Villainous match. Bruce is a Detective. He can put two and two together.

His dietary plans go right out the window. New concern. Pervs molesting his Robin. Or his Robin STARVING. Luckily? Brucie is hot shit. Gala time. But first, lessons on spotting obvious traps.

Tim gets dragged to Gala after party after swanky yacht get together. Rooms picked ahead of time. Tim hiding under desks as Bruce fucks someone onto of them. Snuck under the couch, as Bruce fucks a socialite against the wall right next to it. In the dresser, as Bruce and his conquest take the bed.

Tim most certainly does not go hungry.

But the longer this goes on? The more AWARE Bruce is of him. His little listener. His back up. His Robin. Is he watching through the cracks? Enjoying what he hears? Is it making him wet? Squirm and wish he could do something about it? Is he fantasizing it's him out here, under Bruce?

Bruce bets he would feel so good. Tight and perfect. Take him so WELL.

Bruce is trying very, very hard not to think about it.

Failing.

His fantasies getting filthier. His lust stronger. But he controls it. He DOES. Until some knock off Pollen nearly kills him. Doesn't respond AT ALL to their anti-agent. And Tim... magnificent, perfect boy that he is... is awkwardly, sloppily, taking him right to the root. He barely stops from bucking.

It's perfection.

He has to guide him through it. Teach him what make him feel good. God, he learns so FAST. Bruce is almost delirious by the time Tim scrambles into his lap. Balances carefully and starts to work his way down. He rolls them both forward and help him. Rutts and pants as works himself DEEP.

Tim is perfect for him.

And really, after that? Why bother with substitutes? When Bruce can feed him directly? Morning and night. Every, single, day. Pumping loads nice and deep, over and over, until he whines he feels like he'll burst. The a few more, because Bruce truelly can't resist. Tim needs to eat after all.

He's a growing boy.

-🐼🐼🐼

succubus tim is SO fascinating because tim is, unlike the other bats, not so deeply interested in sex- when he's propositioned by his first girlfriend he refuses and says its because they're young and that ariana is sort of vulnerable at the moment and doesn't really mean it. but this is a thing that happens over again for him whereas dick and bruce will frequently fuck people they're attracted to or have some running storyline in their comics over a girl they work with/are sleeping with/ etc. i mean even jason gets plot lines that are about how he fucks- but tim? not so much.

so HIM being a succubus out of all of them presents a really interesting scenario where he HAS to have sex or be near it in order to survive, where he's biologically compelled to seek it out, where (since its part of his being) he has an other worldly advantage over it because evolutionary speaking tim being so good that his prey keep coming back to him makes perfect sense.

but bruce trying to figure out solutions and help tim while avoiding letting anyone know or touch him and landing on forming a voyeuristic relationship with tim so he can get fed! hiding him in the room and choosing out partners that are nice and sturdy and capable of taking hours of fucking. the papers are exploding about bruce's 'renaissance' and how he hasn't been this sexually active since he was in his 20s. and unlike when he was in his 20s these articles making the rounds mean the other leaguers make a few jokes about it, not fully understanding why bruce is doing all this and committed to making sure his robin isn't starved or forced to seek out other ways to survive. ways that might involve strangers getting their hands on him which may not be an issue because bruce has noticed how as tim has grown older his appearances has started...drawing people to him.

more than once when out running errands with tim bruce has picked up on men following them around, their eyes fixated and locked on tim's form. bruce theorizes that similar to sex pollen, tim releases a kind of pheromone that will draw the sexually starved to him sort of like a plant releasing flows of sweet nectar to draw pollinators. tim's body is an unconscious hunter, aching to help provide and keep him alive by sending out a wave of pheromones whenever tim is the slightest bit hungry.

so bruce makes it his duty to make sure tim is well satiated, its the only way to keep him safe. and at first bruce treats it like just another duty. he seduces women, brings them to the prepicked room where tim is set up in, warms them up, listens to their little whines and presses his nose to their perfumed necks. it's not that bruce has never had mindless sex before- he has. and when he first started there had been some part of him that was so deeply humiliated and unnerved about having to...to perform with his robin in the room in listening distance. but bruce had NEEDED to do it, he'd had a purpose for fucking and needed to see it through. its not like it was all terrible anyway, he did get SOMETHING out of it. but...it was the afterward that really started getting to bruce. when he'd help the woman fix her dress then send her away, he'd wait 15 minutes then lift up the table cloth, look under the desk, or open the closet where tim was hiding and he'd find tim looking so flushed it was like he was feverish, he'd be softly panting with his soft mouth parted and little tongue visible, and he'd be lying there with his thighs pressed tightly together, a sweet wetspot visible between his dark slacks. often times bruce would need to reach in and pick tim up because he was so weak and loose limbed with his head rolling around seeming like HE'D been the one fucked. tim's skin would be lightly perspiring and when tim's legs moved and he made that little hitched breath sound, bruce would be able to hear the squelch of his little cunt, so desperately wet and wanting.

bruce's awareness of tim grows even while he's in the act he finds him self thinking more and more of tim, his eyes eventually drifting to his hiding place and wondering what tim's state would be, wondering if tim would be staring at him from a little crack in the door. bruce has to stop himself from grunting out a growled 'tim' more than once and just knows how close he is to crossing a line he can't come back from.

logically he knows it can't be all his fault, that the blame must lie with tim as well. that maybe proximity to him is warping something in his brain, that perhaps being the one responsible for 'feeding' tim has meant his body is slowly overwriting all of bruce's 'desire' neurons to fire off more and more at the sight and thought of tim. that it isn't REALLY bruce who is developing an attraction and desire for his young robin.

part of bruce believes that and maybe that's why the pollen anti-agent doesn't work. that this is tim's fault and so its tim's responsibility to fix it.

bruce, if he was lucid, would probably be horrified at his own actions or barging into tim's room and startling him awake by climbing into his bed. bruce had dismissed tim almost an hour ago since him getting dosed had made him unsuited for duty. typically the anti-agent worked immediately but now an hour later bruce had broken into drake manor and was now pawing at the bottom of tim's sleep dress, bunching the fabric up and pushing it away to reveal the little cotton panties protecting a pink little cunt.

bruce is murmuring something, panting hard from the pollen-venom in his bloodstream as he tugs the crotch of tim's underwear to the side and shoves in two fingers that slide in like a hot knife through butter. tim's little cunt stretches around him, already dripping wet and bruce holds back a groan because he knows this is going to be good.

tim is whining under him, bucking his hips and pressing them as close as he can get. bruce can see the cloudy eyed desire in his eyes, his cheeks pink, and his prefect little mouth parted. tim makes the sweetest sound when bruce crouches over him and presses their mouthes together.

tim's mouth is uncoordinated and unsure but he learns fast, meeting bruce's kisses eagerly and wetly, humming when bruce presses his tongue in. tim's little hand scrambles for bruce's cock, reverently touching and stroking it from where bruce has pried it out of his suit's pants.

bruce might be drugged up to the gills but he's not cruel and he knows tim has never had a real cock in him before. so he settles on his back, rests his head on tim's soft pillow, and plants tim on his lap. tim's underwear is soaked through and a little tug with a crooked finger and tim is hastily stripping it away leaving his cunt bare and naked an grinding desperately on bruce's cock.

bruce holds back groans at the feeling and sight, tim's chubby cunt lips are kissing both sides of bruce's cock, tim's hips grinding down and dragging it all along the length- back and forth and back. bruce can feel as his head presses the slightest bit deeper whenever tim's hole drags over the head.

bruce starts it with steady rolls of his hips, grinding up and meeting tim's stuttered rhythem, pressing up slowly, working his cock more closely, coating himself in tim's natural stickiness until- finally.

bruce breathes shakily through his nose when he feels his throbbing cock head pop into tim, as tim's hips tremble and he starts making gutted little noises while bouncing slightly and working his way down to swallow more of bruce's cock into him. it's almost comical how much bigger bruce's cock is compared to the little baby cunt tim is working down. the lips are a furious red, his cunt stretched fully open while steaks of wetness beaded up along where he and tim were joined.

bruce's palms almost wrap fully around tim's waist where bruce is holding onto to guide tim's descent and movements. tim doesn't know how to fuck, how to make bruce feel good, but that's okay because bruce can teach him. can carefully instruct him on how fast to go, how to bounce, when to tighten his insides, and how to roll his hips so he could grind his little button against bruce's pelvis.

it's good- there's no other way to phrase how it feels when he and tim fuck but it's good. bruce feels like an animal, some wild thing out in the meadow plains rolling around in the grass during mating season and just rutting hard and deep into a hot, wet hole. tim is grinding back against him, palms scrambling against his chest, around his neck, over his back to hold on as they mash their parts together.

tim is gasping into bruce's mouth, whining and making the sweetest little animal sounds as bruce uses his grip on his waist to slam him down to the root of his cock and grunt at the hot, twitching around him.

bruce doesn't let tim stop until the sun is peeking into his bedroom and even then tim keeps begging, asking in a desperate voice if they can still keep going. bruce's stamina has always been a problem- he's never been able to keep going to his full satisfaction.

...but that was with regular people. not succubi like tim.

it's not until afternoon that bruce and tim finally taper off. tim, for lack of a better word, was glowing. his skin looked soft and plump, his eyes looked clear and crystal- something about him just seemed to scream good health.

bruce hadn't even noticed how different tim looked until that moment. but he wasn't the only one.

bruce's body wasn't aching. at all. there was no twinge in his lower back, no cracking sound from his knees, his elbow wasn't clicking, and his back molars that he had a habit of grinding didn't ache. but also bruce wasn't tired.

he'd spent nearly a full day fucking his robin and he wasnt tired from the loss of sleep.

tim was whining under him like a puppy, trying to kiss him and press bruce's cock back inside him. to pacify him bruce does that, thrusting in and lowering down on top of tim, letting him feel plugged with his cock and comforted by the weight of bruce.

there clearly is no real substitute to this. bruce had been naive to think just letting tim listen in and watch was enough- especially since he clearly did so much better like this, they both did.

so they'd keep it like this. it was the better of the options but most of all it was what tim needed. and that's what this was all about. tim and helping him the best way bruce could.

[theblackphonelovvyhopper]

TBP ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE AU

(+Lo and Louis, me and my friend’s ocs) (will not be putting headcanons for Louis, bc I don’t know his character enough to make headcanons)

Finney Blake - lead/guide

the lead, and the guide of the team.

he’s the most logical, decisive survivor.

he has a gun and a knife as his weapons.

he’s extremely protective of gwen, who wants to protect him too, but he can’t risk losing her.

he tries to feed himself, but makes sure his little sister eats just as much or more than he does.

he can barely sleep, he can somewhat pass out due to exhaustion.

best in survival skills, worst in stamina

Gwen Blake - craftswoman

craftswoman on the team

very efficient

she makes sure all her crafts are efficient.

she’s still religious, she prays that the apocalypse could end, or at least that they have a chance of surviving.

she usually has a knife, but at some point, she can use a pistol.

she would protect finney with her life.

she gets dreams about the possible future, or places to go, or warnings, etc

she sleeps a lot, but only briefly.

best in stamina

Robin Arellano - brawler

brawler of the team

when it comes to fighting, he’s more on using fist-to-fist, but Lo and Bruce insisted he used a weapon for minimum damage. He’s the more careful one.

he likes to show off his fighting skills in more brutal ways to survivors he doesn’t trust, to show that he, and his team, shouldn’t be messed with.

weapon of choice is his fists, but secondarily, a spear or pole.

he’s extremely protective of not just Lo, but all of his friends.

speaking of, during missions, he’s always paired up with Lo. he will NOT leave him alone.

he’s the second most altruistic out of the survivors.

when others are feeling down, he does his best to make sure everyone stays and feels strong and positive, he knows that’s what’s best for the future.

gets hot easily

best in strength.

Lo Hopper - Strategist/Patrol

he’s the strategist/patrol of the group.

always plans ahead for anything that could happen, or anything that can benefit them. executes his plans efficiently and as well as he can

borrowing billy’s spare jacket (despite being bitter with him)

weapon of choice are knives and spears

he hates loud weapons, like molotov cocktails, or guns

extremely controlling under stress

he doesn’t like to sleep, and he becomes an insomniac due to being afraid and paranoid. that’s why he chooses to be night patrol. but when he does sleep, he can’t do it without robin in his sight, or with him.

the most altruistic out of everyone

best in strategy.

Vance Hopper - Brawler

he’s the brawler of the group.

he’s very attentive to his surroundings, and tries to take the most logical decision to himself.

he can get a little reckless

weapon of choice are brass knuckles and maybe guns.

despite being an aggressive fighter, he knows how to do it as quietly as he can, if hes in bigger spaces.

the strongest out of everyone.

he’s extremely protective of the younger ones (Griffin and Gwen), and his little cousin (Lo)

he also doesn’t like to sleep, but eventually he does. he’s not a night owl.

he cares about Lo the most.

gets hot easily

good with kids

best in strength

Bruce Yamada - Medic/Weaponry Expert

he’s the medic/weaponry expert

his dad liked to teach him about survival skills, his mom liked to teach him about medicine.

his weapon of choice is his spiked bat, since he’s strongest with that.

every after fight, he checks on everyone’s physical states

this becomes a force of habit, and if he sees even just a scratch, he immediately does his best to patch it up.

likes to encourage the people in his group, with Robin. but his mental state is pretty down.

he’s a careful, calculated fighter

really good swings

makes sure everyone’s out of danger

best in intellect

Billy Showalter - Newsboy/Tracker

he’s the newsboy/tracker of the group

he keeps track of the state of their base, knows how to work and fix a radio, and keeps track of the zombies.

weapon of choice is a pistol

he needs a routine to himself, because when things are a little too chaotic, he ends up getting mentally overwhelmed.

he makes sure everything is being done efficiently.

follows Lo’s strategies to a fault, despite being bitter with him. he just likes the organization.

he lost most of his appetite watching the zombies eat people

he sleeps easily, but again, briefly.

runs really fast

best in stamina

Griffin Stagg - Craftsman

he’s the craftsman of the group

he likes to make things, especially anything with mechanics

he’s really quiet

doesn’t like to use weapons, but when he does, its usually a makeshift crossbow or a pistol

he helps gwen and billy when they need it

he likes to keep his blanket around, one that his grandmother gave him

the one who needs to eat the most

ends up sleeping a lot, but he’s aware of his surroundings anyway.

when everything is a little more peaceful, he likes to craft gifts for everyone to cheer them up.

surprisingly pretty smart, just has pretty bad memory

easily scared and startled

best in intellect

[athanasia-things]

Some headcannon about Athanasia

• She's a mama's girl.

• She has a Damian-Dick relationship with Jason.

• She's more of an anti-hero like her mother than a hero like Bruce.

• She's closer to Mara, Damian,Jason Rey, Rose, and, surprisingly, Kon than the other bat kids.

•Rose is her babysitter.

• She feels weird that Jason and Rose are dating because Rose is Rey's brother, Jason is her brother, and Rey is also her brother.

• She's closest to Rey (hidden child trauma).

• She hangs out with Lena ll on the weekends (Bruce doesn't know what to make out of her friendship with Lena ll).

• Their trio is Athanasia, Lena, and Adrina (Aquaman's daughter).

• People are kind of afraid of her rbf (understandably).

• For me, I don't think she will take up a bat mantle or work for Batman, or I don't want her to work for him because we already have Damian. For that, I wanted her to have a different path. You know, becoming an anti-hero might be the best option for her character. I meant she can definitely change, but her overall character can stay in the anti-hero zone.

I really like her relationship with Alfred. I think it's cute to have a nice relationship with your grandfather.

•Alfred repeatedly reminds her of Ubu because of their gentleness. And Ubu is the one who primarily takes care of her.

• She's the student council president.

• She likes control (where she gets it) and

• Surprisingly, a very messy person when left alone (Talia Lexcorp era)

• She can actually make people cry because she's really mean.

• When she gets used to Gotham and starts hanging out with teenagers her age, her vocabulary really expands. Batfam doesn't really know what she says half the time.

• She gets scared when animals are around her because she might hurt them.

• Idk but i really wanter to add this even thoug This is a bit controversial but when she's in stykers Island one of the guards is really bored and he's a Christian and started bringing the Bible on his duty and athanasia bored been locked up for a few months take interest in the guard and started asking him questions about it and she got hooked up and because she got nothing to do because she's in prison he started to ask the guard to read the Bible to her and the guard is an older gentlemen and felt locking up a sixteen year old is heartbreaking and because her own granddaughter is also 16 he took pity in her and started teaching her about how it all started and she got curios and asked a question why did God gave human a free will the guard answered because God does not need a robot who only knows how to follow orders and wanted us to have our own choices weather it is to do good or to do evil and because God wanted for us to choose him and when you don't have another option that just force love because there no other option that's why he gave us free will.

• And that really opened Athansia's eyes because all her life she's always been told to want to do and to follow orders, not ask questions, and just to know that someone is telling her that there's a God that gave us free will so people will choose him willingly, which is quite hard to grasp—more than killing and violence. When the guard finished reading Matthew to her, she fell silent, and she asked the guard why they killed him (Jesus). He did not commit any sin or do anything wrong. The guard responded that someone has to pay the fine so we can come to the Lord without sin, and only through him can we get to the Lord.

• After that, she repented and started getting better, and after a few months, the old man is retiring, and his last gift to Athanasia is a Bible.

That's all. I added a lot of things.

[bitimdrake]

pssssst hey quick question on the dl - who is helena bartinelli??

i cannot answer anon questions on the dl, so answer on the up-high, which she deserves:

HUNTRESS

a.k.a. Helena Bertinelli, a.k.a. Gotham's coolest and most notable antihero, crossbow-wielder, and purple bat-associated vigilante.

Helena was born to an Italian mob family, but spent her childhood blissfully unaware of the family business--until her entire family was slaughtered in front of her when she was eight. She stayed with family overseas for the rest of her childhood, learning how to fight and protect herself.

She came back to Gotham for both vengeance and justice, and became one of Gotham's many vigilantes. Though her focus is on the mob, she'll step in to stop any crime.

She's also a schoolteacher! Good for her.

She is discerning in who she chooses to kill, but she does kill. As you can imagine, this put her at odds with Batman for a long time. Helena is pretty much the premiere example of Bruce trying to claim control over every vigilante in Gotham, no matter how little right he has. The argument on killing/ethics is valid, but his default was basically "do exactly what I say and fall in line under my command, or stop completely," which is why he's an asshole control freak and why I'm constantly mad about how she was treated 👍

She was an absolute mainstay of the Batfamily before Flashpoint (2011) and it is personally hurtful to me that people don't know her. (Like, to be frank? She had far more of a presence than Damian or (living) Jason in the post-crisis era.)

You could count on seeing her in any major Batfamily crossover, from Cataclysm to Battle for the Cowl.

She was central to the biggest Batfamily crossover ever, No Man's Land, where Gotham was locked off from the rest of the country and turned into a lawless wasteland. Bruce left to sulk for the first couple of months and in absence of any other vigilantes in the field (only Oracle having remained in the city), Helena donned the mantle of the Bat for herself to protect the city. And when Batman came back, in return for all she'd done, she got...yelled at, assigned impossible tasks and criticized for not achieving them, her costume stolen and given to someone else, lied to, abandoned in the face of impossible odds, and shot multiple times protecting kids. Absolute fucking hero, honestly.

She also was on the Justice League for a while, though admittedly I have barely touched that run. To my understanding, despite nominating her for the position, Bruce was also the one to revoke her membership there.

Fortunately! things improved!!

In the early/mid 2000s, Helena joined the Birds of Prey, Oracle's team, and found legit friendships and support there with teammates like Dinah Lance/Black Canary. She finally got more respect in the community, and had a much better time.

Additional relationships include:

A big sister/annoying little brother type thing with Tim, who may disapprove of her killing but simply likes making friends too much :)

A great relationship with Vic Sage/the Question

One single issue where she met Steph that presented SUCH interesting potential that I desperately wish had been followed up on

On and off romantic/sexual tension with Dick, depending on the writer, which culminated in a single hook up that apparently most people around here would rather pretend didn't happen, though I really don't think it's that bad

A complicated relationship with Barbara, partially due to clashing personalities and conflicting morals (with Babs being nearly as much of a control freak as Bruce), and partially due to a shared history with Dick because DC loves making women be catty

Surely others from her first solo or time on the JLA that I don't know well enough to list!

She's rad and determined and takes no shit but cares a lot, and I love her. We deserve more stories tying her teaching day job into her night work. We also deserve more stories with her in general.

If you would like additional Helena beyond just cruising my tag, I recommend:

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood - far more Huntress than Batman, this is a great 6-issue miniseries about Helena reckoning with her past, ft the Question.

Batman: No Man's Land - if you have the time for it, a big storyline but worth it.

Birds of Prey vol 1 (1999) - Helena starts to appear around issue #57 and becomes a central character from there.

[brucie-baby]

also could you talk more about the violence as language thing for the batfam? I'm very interested in that and still new to the comics so I don't think I've picked up on it yet

Absolutely, I can!! It's pretty explicitly stated at one point, actually. I can give a couple examples.

Bruce hits Tim in #71, and this conversation happens in #81:

[Bruce says: "It was a message. Part of their training. A language. I teach them, when we spar, how we can communicate through blows. In case someone's watching. We were in plain sight. The blow told the bat-family to go quiet, to switch to other, more secure comms. In the meantime, I pursued Bane, knowing I would be defeated. I wanted them to break me, to see me broken. So that I might discover a way to defeat them outside of their watching eyes."]

I don't recall the language being explicitly mentioned at any other time but another example of this that I love is in Batgirl #50:

[Barbara says: Then why? Why in the name of god did you put yourself and Cassandra through that?" Bruce says: "Because she needed it. We both did." Barbara says: "What? Are you saying it was all some kind of screwed-up therapy session?" Bruce says: "What other therapy would Cassandra understand? She grew up with no other contact apart from violence. Fighting is her language, Barbara. The core of her being... of her soul. She had things she needed to get off her chest. And so did I." Barbara says: "You're crazy." Bruce says: "So they say. But it works."]

The thing about with these two is that violence is Cass' first language and Bruce's chosen language. It draws a lot of parallels between not only Bruce&Cass but also Bruce&Cain (but that's a post for another time).

I think it plays a big part in why Cass and Bruce click so well, because they both speak violence. It's a part of them. Bruce just doesn't always understand that while they're similar in this regard, they are not the same, and so he sometimes misunderstands what exactly Cass needs.

Also, I may be remembering this wrong (someone please correct me if I am), but there's a point in Batgirl (2000) where Cass is essentially like 'kill me because dying would fix me', and she's right. It does help her.

There's also this, from the Bruce Wayne - Murderer? storyline:

[Dick, attacking Bruce: "Aren't you even going to try to hit me? Acknowledge me! Damn it, Bruce!"]

I could go into real detail about these panels but honestly I think it's better to read the whole story yourself (very much recommend Murderer/Fugitive, love it). One thing I will mention, however, is that this is after Bruce is like 'Bruce Wayne is a mask, I'm Batman' and Dick is like 'Okay well if that's true then who am I the adopted son of? Who raised me?'

I just think the different ways you can interpret this fight are so interesting. Is it just Dick's anger? Is this Dick trying to prove that Bruce Wayne is not a mask, that he has people he cares for? Is it Dick trying to see how far gone Bruce is? Is it Dick being so used to speaking through violence with Bruce that this is the only way he can talk to him right now? Is the violence so normal that hitting Dick would prove that Bruce is still in there somewhere, still feeling, or would it prove that he truly isn't Bruce anymore? I have my own thoughts on this, but like I said, I recommend reading the whole thing for yourself and finding your own interpretation (it mostly depends on the version of Bruce in your head, to be honest).

The only thing that's definitive here is that the fight is a conversation. By the end of it, Dick has reached a conclusion. It's an argument and a heart-to-heart and a lecture and a vent all in one.

Overall, Bruce finds it easier to speak through blows than words. Maybe this is because he was exposed to violence at a young age, not raised by parents but an employee who allowed him to find himself through fighting and training and discipline. Whatever it was, the violence as a language started with Bruce and was given to his children. Bruce sees this in Cass and finds a kindred spirit. Bruce may not like violence, but he thrives in it.

[dotthings]

Episode 2 of Gotham Knights was highly enjoyable. The cast is getting more and more into their groove and I got even more into the story. Appreciation to this series for giving me heists and sword-fighting and found family and angsty Robin feelings.

Misha Collins is bringing the quiet gravitas and sense of authority and goodness, so Harvey Dent (of all people) is the calm rock in the storm. He's giving this ballast. The kids are terrific and I enjoy the chaotic rag tag, having to rely on each other against all odds story for the fugitives but without a gravitas player like Misha to balance, the thing would lack anchoring.

Unsurprised that Cressida is untrustworthy. Although this was so obvious and revealed so early, I'm not completely convinced we know all her loyalties. And does she actually care about Turner? How did Bruce wind up with a COO person in his employ. Did he have a longer game in doing that?

Carrie Kelley is reminding me of the calm, multi-tasking Robins like Dick and Tim. Also her sad little face when confronted with Bruce's Batman things. Navia Robinson is really crushing it in this role. I also enjoy how Carrie went right for grabbing as much bat-gear from his office as she could and when the group was trapped, zip-lined everyone out. Her hiding those journal pages from Turner--she's trying to protect him from something. And she should have just stolen the whole journal, leaving the ragged torn pages alerts Turner that there's something to be found. The fact this was lampshaded in dialogue, so it's not writers being sloppy, so maybe it's meant as Carrie having a lapse in judgment, or maybe Carrie subconsciously wanted Turner to know pages were removed. She's hiding stuff from him but wants him to find out eventually? We'll see where that leads.

That battle Carrie and Turner had with Talon was awesome.

Very interested in Turner's realization that Bruce was in fact training him, preparing him, after all. Was it Bruce going cautiously to teach another Robin, or was it something else? This entire Court of Owls business has me suspicious and Bruce wanted Turner to know sword-fighting. Maybe not Robin training. Maybe self-defense. If the Court of Owls hunted his parents, his grandparents, if the Waynes have been the prey of the Court of Owls for centuries, he wanted Turner prepared. Maybe he was teaching Turner so he could take down the Court of Owls if he fell.

Cullen, Harper, and Duela debating over whether to just skip town -- what's great about that is I felt sympathy for all 3 of their pov's. Cullen caring about others and why he didn't want to abandon his new name. Harper wanting to look after her brother. Duela, in a way, being both right and wrong. The one sane person in the room because seriously, them going back into Wayne Tower was a stupid plan and them getting jailed or dead won't help anything, but Duela's looking out for number one nihilism and eagerness to abandon her allies wasn't the right move either.

And her allies (tentative friends) came to save her and Duela's brain cannot compute. Turner pointing out to her, she's worth saving too.

I am not trusting Brody. He's going a little too hard on the whole "I am so much nicer to you than that guy, Steph. Look how noble I am. As opposed to that loser. Look at all I do for you, Turner asks you for things." Yeahhhh I'm going to stick with Turner. Turner and Steph's friendship is one of the show's anchoring points and I am enjoying it immensely. It's not going to be without its troubles and complications and strains, but Brody's deliberately trying to drive a wedge and that's highly suspicious.

The belfry set continues to be my favorite.

Steph and Turner's rose window meetings give me joy.

[lusty-kopfkino]

Batman Prompt 6 - Alfred

I love Alfred (in a platonic way, I feel like I need to clarify that)

This will be a prompt that will focus on Alfred instead of Batman, but it should have a little Bruce cameo because this is "Batman prompts."

Just Alfred being a badass, he is in pretty much all Batman stories, but he is rarely the focus. :(

(And if they do focus on him, it is a short one-shot, a couple of scenes, or it is just for one chapter)

If someone asked me "Who is the best out of the Batfamily" I would say, Alfred because I don't think there is any universe where Alfred is an uncaring asshole. (If there is don't tell me, I love him, don't ruin him for me)

Alfred has just become the butler for the Wayne's. He has never been a butler before, he is a very clean and tidy person, so it should be just what he always does but on a larger scale. There are some other staff that tend to the manor, but not as many as you would think. I feel like the Waynes liked doing things themselves, not everything because they live in a giant manor. They dress themselves(might need help in making sure they look the best) they mostly take care of Bruce. All of that.

I hope that the last paragraph made sense. (basically, the Waynes don't have that many housekeepers because they like doing things themselves. They still have them because they live in a giant manor, and have a reputation to uphold, and I mean that by like their families and the cruel public. They also pay their staff very well.)

*I see the Waynes as people who are trying to be the best they can in the wickedness of Gotham.

I feel like Alfred picks up things fast, but when he first became Wayne's butler he was still getting used to things, so Bruce has seen Alfred make many mistakes.

I feel like Alfred used to be only able to cook, and he couldn't bake. His meals were above average but nowhere near his level now. He could not bake; he could follow instructions, but when he tried to make his 'own' recipe it always turned out bad.

He learns how to bake with little Bruce watching and we learn the reason Bruce is banned from the kitchen.

*you can come up with ideas about the details

Also, love to see Bamf Alfred being shown.

He was the first one to teach Bruce how to defend himself (against bullies.) Bruce has seen Alfred do some pretty badass things, and so has the rest of the Bat-family. It was a shock when they first saw how much of a badass he was. I could see them when a new family member joins (official or not) for them put bets or something on how they react when they see Alfred being more than a butler, or to see how long it takes for them to find out, so none of the family warns the new members about not having to worry about Alfred collapsing or something.

Alfred is the only family member that Bruce allows to have a gun in the manor or on him at all times.

*Alfred is like the grandpa, so he is really in charge, but he is still very loyal to Bruce, the Wayne Family, so it's hard to explain how Alfred ranks (in say so) in the family. Bruce is at the top with Alfred second, but there are times when it is switched. I hope that made sense.

Some cool scenes of Alfred doing things you would think he could do. Like maybe him having fast reflexes, he catches something that is falling while no one is watching (someone is watching), he caches it while someone is there maybe he catches it before them, or he dodges something. OR him being really good with a gun, maybe hunting, defending, or covering for one of the family members during a thing for some reason.

There are so many other things that can be added.

*I feel like Alfred was around Bruce's parent's age. 

[khimeaarts]

A what if meeting could be like: (I also imagine him being de-aged depending on his ghost age so like maybe 5 years had passed and many things happened for him to have so much malice but in a small scale cause he's a kid)

Danny: *burning something in GZ* Oh that looks damn fine.

The bats: *staring at the kid with hands on his hips being proud of his destruction*

Dick: He kinda looks like a mini-damian...

Tim: Acts like one too.

Damian: Shut it Drake.

Danny: *notices his audience* Oh hi! You're not from around here, obviously. *mutters* Does clockwork have anything to do with this? *out loud* What are you guys some kind of bat cult- hey why do you look like me but with green eyes? That's so weird. Are you a clone?

Damian: YOU are the clone. Did you not know?

Danny: No way! I've always been me! Where is your proof, without it you can't make me the clone! (Already thinking of his missing memories while panicking inside)

Damian: Stop being a fool. It'll only delay the inevitable.

Danny: But... but-

Dick: Doesn't seem like an evil clone to me (whispers)

Jason: Are you seriously ignoring the huge fire and property damage behind him?

Tim: Evil is a subjective word.

Jason: Wow replacement you're in on it too?

Dick: What? You're not? Isn't he adorable? Look at those chubby cheeks! We didn't get a chance to see that on Dami!

Tim: On second thought. He does look too evil now to me. (One demon brat is enough)

Back to Damian and Danny:

Danny: *already in tears cuz he's 5 rn* I didn't know (Thinking about his adoptive family, his past, Jazz, Dani, everyone, why nobody told him)

Damian: *sighs while pinching in between his eyebrows* You do not appear to have malice towards your original so it does not really matter. Would you like to come with us? (Already proceeding to think about how to locate the people who did this, know more about his mini-me's past, and decide whether he'd have to make someone pay for their transgressions)

Danny: What?

Damian: You do not need to decide now.

Dick: Yes! I'd be glad to know more about you mini-dami- oh I mean what is your name? Could you tell us?

Danny: Danny...

Dick: Danny! Nice to finally meet you! You can definitely come with us and maybe you'd get to eat Alfred's cookies- wait- does ghost eat human food?

Danny: No they don't... but I'm half dead half alive that came back just like that guy- (points at Jason)

Jason: Half what me?! *points at himself*

Tim: *rolls his eyes* This is going to take awhile... (wishing he brought coffee with him)

---------------

Danny will be a part of batfam while the bats get to know more about Danny's life. I see Damian becoming softer as time passed by teaching his mini-me (his blood kid) the ways of being the best Robin there is (he's already thinking of taking Danny as his Robin when he becomes batman XD)

And then Tim would be there taking the L because Damian will use him as targets for their practices just cause he's still a petty teenager hahahaha

Bruce would be there thinking ways how to teach his son how to properly take care of a child but really he has no idea so he had to always ask Alfred for these sessions - they all know- but he's doing his best so they don't call him out that much - they still do (specially Jason, he loved visiting the house for these sessions just to spite his dad)

Barbara, Steph, and Cass, will coo over this new child and spoil their nephew with gifts. Tim thinks it's too much but the girls doesn't care, they love their little nephew being a menace hahahaha Actually they already started to plan for his future date scenarios and promised to teach the boy how to properly woo a girl XD Dick approves! He specially started a collection of photos in an album when Danny became more comfortable in their home. He bribed Tim to help with either more time away from Damian and the brat cause Dick would distract them for some personal time or more love advises with Bernard.

All in all, Danny perfectly fits as the youngest child in the family. Danny found a new family with the bats ^^

"Come get your child." Robin stared incredulously at this...entity? Being? He was a child himself, how could he possibly have a kid of his own.

The creature huffed, seeming very put out by the young vigilantes confusion. "What is there to not understand? Your child has been running wild in the Infinite Realms for a while now. Ever since that portal exploded hes been taking his emotions out on everyone!" The thing said, throwing her hands into the air, "And you!" Robin stepped back a pace or two when he suddenly found a very sharp claw in his face, "I had to do a lot of searching to even find you! What kind of parent are you?!"

"I'm not."

The entity opened and closed its mouth a few times like a fish before suddenly becoming furious, "Its no wonder hes like this when his gardian has so little interest in him! Did you know the other day he plugged a liquor bottle with a cloth and lit it on fire? I don't even know where he got it, but he lit the cloth and yelled something like, "mazzle toff" and threw it at my own adult son!"

"..."

"When my little boy burst into flames do you know what he said to me?"

"...no, but I feel like you're going to tell me anyways."

"I'm sorry ma'am I wasn't expecting there to be that much fire."

"That much? So he fully intended to set someone ablaze but the amount of fire is what troubled him?"

"Yes!" She growled, exasperated, "Please come get your child as soon as possible! Hes terrorizing the whole dimension!"

Damian found himself staring at open space the woman had occupied previously before contacting Oracle through the coms, "Did you get all of that?"

It was Grayson that spoke, "Every word."

---

Aka Danny has a lot of misplaced aggression and kinda terrorizes parts of the GZ. Unfortunately for him hes a clone of one of the bats (weather or not you want it to be Damian, Project R or someone else that hes cloned from is up to you) and they're coming to him to assess if he's an evil clone or mindless or whatever.

Too bad Danny sucks at first impressions.

[nightprompts]

&. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬.

(  dialogue  prompts  taken  from  the  batman  (2022),  directed  by  matt  reeves.  feel  free  to  edit  and  change  as  you  seem  fit.  ) 

❛ two years of nights have turned me into a nocturnal animal. ❜

❛ it’s a big city. i can’t be everywhere. ❜

❛ fear is a tool. ❜

❛ the hell are you supposed to be? ❜

❛ i’m vengeance. ❜

❛ what does a liar do when he’s dead? he lies still. ❜

❛ happy fuckin’ halloween. ❜

❛ i wish i could say i’m making a difference, but i don’t know. ❜

❛ the city’s eating itself. maybe it’s beyond saving. but i have to try. ❜

❛ you’re becoming quite a celebrity. ❜

❛ have a shower. ❜

❛ if this continues, it won’t be long before you’ve nothing left. ❜

❛ if i can’t change things here, if i can’t have an effect, then i don’t care what happens to me. ❜

❛ you’re not my father. ❜

❛ some fresh berries there. ❜

❛ oh, this guy’s hilarious. ❜

❛ get out of here. you hear me? or that little suit’s gonna get all full of blood. ❜

❛ take it easy, sweetheart. ❜

❛ boy, you’re everything they say, ain’t ya? ❜

❛ you got a lot of cats. ❜

❛ i have a thing about strays. ❜

❛ you’re not safe here. ❜

❛ i can take care of myself. ❜

❛ hey, why am i starting to feel like a fish on a hook? ❜

❛ boy, you’re a real sweetheart. ❜

❛ look at me. ❜

❛ that’s one of the guys i got into it with the other night. looks like i broke his nose. ❜

❛ is bruce wayne making an actual appearance? ❜

❛ serial killers like to follow reactions to their crimes. ❜

❛ you have to keep up appearances. you’re still a wayne. ❜

❛ i’ve been trying to reach you. ❜

❛ i’m giving you a chance. no one ever gave me a chance. ❜

❛ it can be cruel poetic or blind. but when it’s denied, it’s violence you may find. ❜

❛ if you are justice, please do not lie. what is the price for your blind eye? ❜

❛ since your justice is so select, tell us which vermin you’re paid to protect. ❜

❛ is this how you get your kicks, hon? sneaking up on girls in the dark? ❜

❛ what the hell is this? good cop, batshit cop? ❜

❛ no habla español, fellas? ❜

❛ jesus. his next victim is bruce wayne. ❜

❛ wasn’t sure i’d see you again. ❜

❛ was it worth it? compromising yourself for money? ❜

❛ who are you under there? what are you hiding? are you just hideously scarred? ❜

❛ i told you, baby. i can take care of myself. ❜

❛ do you know who i am? ❜

❛ i could see the fear in your eyes, but i didn’t know how to help. ❜

❛ i could teach you how to fight, but i wasn’t equipped to take care of you. ❜

❛ you needed a father. and all you had was me. ❜

❛ i never thought i’d feel fear like that again. ❜

❛ come on, vengeance. let’s go kill that son of a bitch. ❜

❛ listen to me. don’t throw your life away. ❜

❛ don’t worry, honey. i got nine of ’em. ❜

❛ whatever i know, whatever i’ve done, it’s all going with me to my grave. ❜

❛ i just ordered a slice of pumpkin pie. ❜

❛ my life has been a cruel riddle i could not solve. ❜

❛ i know now what i must become. ❜

❛ if only you knew how long i’ve been waiting for this day. for this moment. ❜

❛ god. look at you. your mask is amazing. i wish you could’ve seen me in mine. ❜

❛ you and i both know i’m looking at the real you right now. ❜

❛ i told you, we’ve been doing this together. you’re a part of this. ❜

❛ we didn’t do anything together. ❜

❛ this is not how this was supposed to go! ❜

❛ oh, you’re really not as smart as i thought you were. ❜

❛ what’s black and blue and dead all over? you. ❜

❛ i can already see things will get worse before they get better. ❜

❛ people need hope. to know someone’s out there for them. ❜

❛ one day you’re on top, the next... you’re a clown. ❜

❛ gotham loves a comeback story. ❜

❛ riddle me this... the less of them you have, the more one is worth. ❜

❛ don’t you ever just say hello? ❜

❛ you know this place is never gonna change. ❜

❛ the bat and the cat. it’s got a nice ring. ❜

❛ take care of yourself. ❜

[hyperblue]

note: i haven't read most of the comics yet (!), meaning i have a very brief understanding of the whole timeline thing, and i honestly don't really care very much because canon is my sandbox and i do what i want (more on that later)

— timkon clone baby is either jack or wendy; i usually prefer to use jackie, but i figured that adding a girl to the chaotic boy mess that dami and terry inheritly are would be super fun too, so let's say there are two possible versions of this au

— jackie is daddy's boy through and through, tim is his first favorite person on the planet, even when he's much older (jackie @ damian 'n terry: "you guys have daddy issues? lame", even tho he Does have daddy issues himself, just a different kind of daddy issues), which has to do a lot with tim being extremely protective of his kid from early on and his willingness to "present" in jackie's life in a way his own parents couldn't; resulting in jackie being a little closed off and shy, yet he still has that specific brand of bat-humor that makes people from outside the family circle go 😟😟😟, but that's okay, at least all of his jokes are dad-approved (meaning tim made a choked up snort and crooked his lips just a little). he's also not very much into the whole "kryptonian superpowers" thing, mostly his own powers just scare him, i think — even though the bats are as close to being cryptic as regular people without superpowers can get, they are still mostly just humans, so that's what jackie always wanted to be: just a regular person (i have a strong feeling that he's accidentally hurt tim at some point when he was a kid)

— wendy, on the other hand, is witty and charismatic, and she's never failed to keep damian grounded (wendy, while holding damian by the scruff of his neck with her TTK: "i was put on this earth for the sheer purpose of humbling you, so be humbled"). she's obviously kon's daughter, but not without this specific sprinkle of Tim TM, like when she narrows her eyes on something on batcomputer and you can just see something clicking inside her brain, like oh shit. that's the clue we've been missing or something like that. she's also much more excited and proud about her kryptonian powers than jackie, and she constantly nags kon about teaching her to use it in some new cool and funny way; tim already knows that the day wendy actually decides to go on the field will be the day of his death, because unlike with jackie he knows that he's actually powerless to do anything to stop her — not when she's inherited her stubbornness from both him AND kon

— the origin is known and generic, tim went mad with grief, tried to clone kon, famously failed, mixed his own dna with kon's, BOOM — accidental baby acquisition at it's finest. I'm not sure if he went to his family right after that or tried to scrap by on his own for some time (because let's be real, imagine being 17 and having to break news to your family about having a baby, and then imagine being 17 and having to break news to your family about having a baby that you accidentally CLONED and who's technically also your dead best friend's baby. i think tim deserves to chicken out just a little, as a treat), but i guess it's not that important, the baby ends up being raised by the whole batfamily anyways; although tim is not very much considerative of the baby at first, he's too much of a mess at this point and his brain just stopped processing what's even going on — don't even get me started on how much guilt and shame he must have felt because of the whole situation. so he pretty much avoids jackie/wendy for some period of time, still goes on his saving bruce quest, almost fucking DIES, which you know. can grant you some new perspectives on your life (no shit i know) so when he finally comes back home he's in a slightly better place and the moment he sees his baby again, still reaching for him with their small hands even though it's been months (he wasn't even sure he'd be remembered at this point) it finally clicks for tim and he goes well. i guess the best thing i can do from now on is to become the best fucking dad for this kid, and he kind of does, but he also fucks up because jackie ends up having separation anxiety and wendy becomes more rebellious as she gets older and ends up getting closer with her other dad (which is not a bad thing per se but. still hurts)

— kon is NOT thrilled about the whole thing at first. i know that his reaction on tim's actions in comics was pretty subtle, but to be fair. i think he deserves to freak out, not to mention that trying to clone your best friend and failing is one thing, but trying to clone you best friend and ending up cloning a baby is whole other conversation; although he still comes to terms with this pretty quickly, his own experience of being, well, clone baby to clark helping him to figure things out for himself. they don't get together immediately after this though, i think for the first few years they are on this shaky ground of being so obviously in love with each other but also feeling like maybe considering everything it won't be a really good idea to become an item + plus very awkward co-parenting where kon doesn't really know what tf he's doing while tim thinks that he knows exactly what he's doing (he also has no idea what tf he's doing). they catch up eventually when the kid's older tho

— as for terry, well. i absolutely HATE the fact that he's bruce's actual son, the guy just can't have a goddamn biological child that he would KNOW OF FROM THE VERY START and actually consented on having, so I'm throwing that shit out of the window and making terry an orphan (which is getting even more old i know) adopted by one of the older batkids, probably jason bc jason just seems very fitting for the role, i genuinely think that him and terry would just get each other you know? i can even see, briefly, how it actually happened — jason hosting one of those public reading events in a library for the kids, including the ones from the system, and terry is there, not really paying attention to anything 'cause the book is just boring to him, and jason kinda feels nice that day so he actually approaches terry before everyone leaves and asks well which book would you like to hear me read and terry's like ??? bro how am i supposed to know; so jason just keeps picking up books that he thinks terry would like, and there's nothing like seeing that spark of an actual intrigue in kid's eyes once he actually gets it right

— he also meets terry as a red hood, too; that's actually what makes him consider adopting terry, 'cause being fond of some kid that you see once in two weeks or so in a library is one thing, jason can get attached a little as a treat, but actually seeing that same kid scrapping by in gotham at night and doing some shit that kids definitely shouldn't be doing is... well. and the worst part of it is that it makes jason understand what bruce felt, just for a moment. and jason Can't take it, so he locks himself up in apartment for days, spiraling and rethinking things over and over for hundred times, before finally deciding that okay. if it happens again (he knows it will happen again; he knows these street kids because he was also a street kid — still is) — then he's doing something about it (it happens again. so he does something about it)

so that's that for now, I'm getting a little tired and lazy but I definitely will elaborate more

side notes:

jason's not really a father figure to terry, he never actually aimed for that anyway (he's not bruce); what he's trying to be is a caretaker and maybe a friend and a mentor. terry's completely fine with that too, to him jason is that strange mix of an older brother and some kind of an uncle, i guess

tim hasn't really think jack's name through, pretty much named him after the first person that came to his mind (his dad, obviously); if had put more actual thought into it and had some time to sit this through, i think he would name his son differently, but well. we got what we got

I'm thinking terry is somewhere between jackie/wendy and damian age wise? maybe two or three years younger than damian, i don't really see him as the youngest, especially considering that there is already a pretty huge gap between clone baby and damian (10-11 years or so)

the world is not ready for the sheer comedic potential that damian wayne, terry mcginnis and timkon clone baby could have

[analviel]

I want a Bat coup. A point comes that the things Bruce is doing, as a father and as Batman, are just... no longer tolerable (Like, it's revolting.) Just. Damian barely sees him out of masks, Dick is practically raising him short of them living together. I'm not gonna take the time to list all the things he's done to Dick, Jason, Tim, Cass, Stephanie, and even some bullshit he'd pulled on Barbara. I can think of three -horrible- situations for each of them OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD.

So anyways. Dick decides to coup except he never calls it that. They could've just left, of course. But they're heroes and just as likely as they're going to leave Azrael solely responsible for Gotham, they're not going to let this go on. Bruce has long lost his vision and is stuck on his mission, and lines are blurred.

Look, I'm all for Cass becoming Batman, but thinking more on it, at the core of it, Batman is Gotham's. Cass doesn't actually have a home in Gotham, just select people in it. And Cass already is Batman, like Batman, exactly how she'd wanted to be, just more personalized. Her city is Hong Kong now. Black Bat is HERS now, I think it'd be unfair to ask her to give that up to take care of another city that's just not the same way.

So. Dick knows the only other (sensible) choice besides himself is Tim and knows exactly how much he DOES NOT want to be Batman and Dick's not going to force that on him of all things.

Damian is ALL for Dick becoming Batman. So is Barbara, since this probably started from a conversation between the two and the Oracle seeing Batman's effects and influence on Gotham and, at this point, the city and the mantle needs someone who can handle their emotions a LOT better than Bruce. Who isn't always one bad day away from becoming exactly what he's fighting against. Bruce has given all he can to it and now he's left to give what isn't his and he can't stop anymore.

So, Barbara, Damian, and even Alfred, are already rooting for Dick. Tim hears of this and he and Dick have a heart to heart that waters down to, "Do you want to become Batman?" And Dick replies with, "Gotham needs a Batman." with a quirk of his lips.

They both know what he really means. Gotham needed Bruce, Bruce needed Batman, Batman needed Robin, Robin needed Tim. Damian needs Robin, Robin needs Batman. Well, actually, Damian needs Bruce but, well. Dick can at least give him this if he can't manage the former. Anyways, it's very clear Dick is only doing this because someone needs to. Damian deserves a better Batman.

Tim is very against this. But what choice is there? Cass doesn't want to, and Dick is the only one qualified for the position.

Except. Except a third option everyone else is forgetting and of course Tim goes to look for him and clambers up Jason's window and almost gets shot before he manages to ask, "Do you want to be Batman or was that little bit just a part of your meltdown?" "I want to do what Batman does but better."

Jason is Gotham's.

Gotham needs Batman and Batman needs Gotham.

And Jason has proven that not only does Gotham want him, he also wants Gotham.

Maybe he doesn't want to be Batman, but does he really? Because Jason doesn't want to be Bruce, but when Dick is running from Bruce's shadow and Tim is chasing after anywhere else he thinks he's needed, Jason is the one who's going to return to Gotham every time.

Dick was dragged back to Gotham by Tim.

Tim goes back because Ra's is threatening Bruce's loved ones and they need to bring him back.

Jason came back to clean out Gotham.

(And maybe there's a tidbit of Jason asking Tim, "who's gonna be my Robin?" That's returned with a dry look.)

So now the board is set that there are three players. Bruce, Dick, and Jason, the rest of the clan is split between them respectively.

Stephanie may be staying with Cass. Tim may convince her to throw her lot in with Jason. I'm not sure. But there is a brief time where Stephanie plays as Cass' Robin, by function if not name, and she gets introspective regarding the dawning upheaval of her city.

A fight breaks between Dick and Bruce when Dick tries to talk him into retiring, before Jason and Tim barge in like the chaotic middle children they are, guns ablazing and a couple of people gets whacked with a metal stick.

Anyways, the end result is, Jason is Batman, Damian is Robin, and Dick and Tim finally have the time to REALLY hang out like the old times.

Damian sulks for a bit until he realizes that actually, Todd would let him get away with a few more extra swings of his sword than Grayson did.

And it's not a preference.

Just as Tim never had to choose between Dick and Bruce Batman, Damian isn't gonna be made to choose between the two and everyone heals and everyone start mending or making new relationships.

There's a scene where Dick sits on a rooftop and says, "We're good." and Tim appears behind him doing his sneaky thing except Dick was partly the one responsible for teaching him said sneaky thing, and he asks if Dick's mad but Dick says no and asks why Tim chose Jason. He says Dick is just as good, but Jason actually wants it and Dick smiles and says that's the difference between Bruce and Tim and he should remember that more. Consent is important Timmy and they devolve into wrestling.

Bruce is no longer Batman.

More importantly, he's left with having to rediscover who Bruce Wayne actually is, and maybe even how to become a father again.

Gradually, he finally completely shed the playboy persona and he learns to fit Bruce Wayne. Learns who exactly he wants to be. And he watches Jason be the Batman he'd always known he'd become once upon a time and actually takes a look around him and all these children, HIS children, and just.... he finally continues his lifelong recovery. He might've gotten stuck on a step or two, but it's about time he takes the next step and Alfred is so, so glad. Alfred loves his family.