#(briefly - just in case)

[plagueislost]

robin sketches. can you guess which one is my favorite

[teratomatica]

you always land on all fours

[aingeal98]

More Jason and Cass thoughts (sorry but also not sorry) but if I was magically given full control over DC and could write what I'd want obviously I'd make Cass Batman but I've been thinking of what sort of reaction and role Jason would have in response. I think I'd write his version of "Congrats on the new job!" as a test, involving the Joker and civilians and gangs and Red Hood and a ton of explosives. Bruce failed me, and now he's given up. You're his successor, let's see how you handle this dilemma that freaked him out so badly he threw a batarang into my throat rather than let me avenge my own death in front of him.

So obviously Cass will overcome the traps and the puzzles. That's the fun part to show how competent both of them are and sprinkle in little character moments as we go. But then we reach the emotional crux of the matter, probably laid out as some sort of saw trap because it's Jason. Here I am, a victim of murder. You say nobody dies tonight but I did, and I want the man who did it dead. Not only did Batman fail to avenge me but he failed to stop the Joker from going on to create even more victims. What right do you have to stop me from getting justice for myself? What right does this man have to life after what he's taken from me and from countless others? I'm not trying to kill a random stranger, I'm specifically demanding justice for my own death that I never got while I was gone.

There are two ways this could go. The straightforward route if I knew my time on this run was limited would probably be a pyrrhic victory like the ones Cass's og series was so fond of. Just like Bruce in utrh, she acts on instinct and saves the Joker (and Jason this time) . A win technically, but she fails the test. Jason is once again vindicated but with nothing to show for it. The story ends with Cass sending the Joker back to jail and going back to the batcave, where the old Robin costume looms judgementally, highlighting her failure. It would be the most fitting end given their character molds, all tragedy and conviction and unstoppable force meets immovable object etc.

However... I think the option I prefer would be a little different. Cass levelling with Jason, a killer talking to a murder victim. She has no right to stop Jason from getting justice, she has no love for the Joker but she knows any death she allows to happen like this would devastate her, just like that death row inmate long ago she tried to break out but ended up letting go once the family of the victim talked to her and demanded justice. I think... In this specific situation, she'd just be honest. Morally she has no right sure. Personally she just really really doesn't want anyone to die. Give her one chance, please. Let her try it her way. Not demanding, not lecturing or insisting, just... Please. Don't do this. Let me try another way.

And then what? Jason asks.

In the end a deal is struck. Cass will take the Joker and lock him up, ensuring he never harms anyone again while also trying to rehabilitate him. But the second she fails and he gets free, Jason kills him and she won't stand in his way. It's the kind of deal that leaves both of them mildly disgusted and dissatisfied with themselves, neither of them naturally creatures of compromise when it comes to this specific topic. But Cass is willing to do anything to avoid death and Jason did not expect the new Bat to be so... Flexible? Kind of? Of course maybe she won't actually hold up her end of the deal and when the Joker gets loose she'll try and stop Jason from killing him and he'll get his miserable vindication, but right now this is something strange and new and he's mildly confused and curious about where it will go. He doesn't believe in her ability to contain the Joker forever but he's willing to let her try because her reaction to that future failure interests him. She's given him a sword of damocles to hang above her head and he didn't ask for it or expect it. It's the type of power he never thought the Bat would just... Hand to him.

The conflict ends with neither of them fully winning or losing. They both don't really know what to feel about this.

The thing is, the second Cass let's Jason kill the Joker she's hanging up the mantle. She's staking the Bat on this, because it's always go big or go home with her when it comes to saving others, even someone like the Joker. In this magical universe where I have unlimited power, Cass would lock the Joker in a secret bunker and have Leslie Thompkins talk to him daily, mostly because I think her pacifism speeches and debates in the comics would make a fun contrast to the Joker's evil sadism. (But what about his rights? Doesn't he deserve a trial and to be held in a regular prison? I'm going to be honest I think Cass would be very comfortable bending the rules on this specific situation. Morally questionable but I'd have fun with it. She's going to let Leslie treat Joker like her personal pet project to save his soul because yes she wants him to change but also she's got a city to save every night so go crazy Leslie, have fun.)

And the Batman series would continue with Cass as the lead, new challenges and new antagonists and every twenty issues or so for the first hundred we'll cut back to the Joker briefly if his chats with Leslie can help highlight some thematic element of the current arc. But bit by bit he'd slowly fade away onto oblivion, maybe getting referenced every hundred issues or so until eventually no one remembers or cares about him because there's so much else going on. Meanwhile Jason's got a good thing going as Red Hood, primarily based in Park Row and a tentative ally on the occasion when their vigilante work aligns. Unlike Joker he's a much more frequent character in the comics, and after say 10 years (this is my magical fantasy universe Cass's batman run is going to last for a very long time alright) when people think of DC characters they think of Red Hood long before they think of the Joker.

Is any of this realistic? Right now of course not. It's why I'd go with the pyrrhic victory if I actually got the chance, because it would be the best way to tell the story in the larger context of the Bat narrative. But it's my fantasy DC editor and writer daydream and I'm going to dream big. They're never going to be normal happy siblings, their personal demons will never fully let them be free and the looming possibility of losing everything they currently have narrative wise if Bruce comes back as Batman will always be there. But it's maybe the closest to peace they'll ever get. Unsatisfying and tame compromise that probably violates several laws and ethical codes but whatever. Cass has never read the Geneva convention and Jason's not going to shed tears over the Joker. Let him die relevancy wise if not physically.

[mabelmidnight-takeover]

the thing that doesn't make sense to me regarding the "he was putting her career on the line" POV is that there's no previous behavior from abbot that makes that believable to me. abbot faked a teenager's exams (w/o her knowledge) so she could get an abortion, told another doctor said teenager was getting back for the pills and didn't seem to care that robby could very easily find out what he did, reprimanded but immediately praised santos for doing a risky procedure she wasn't allowed to and took every opportunity he got to do procedures the hospital board wouldn't allow on the daily. nothing from his behavior told me he would put someone else's career on the line with something we were shown he's very capable of doing. add that to mohan's arc this season and the possibility of that POV being the case becomes nonexistent to me. it never even crossed my mind before checking what people were saying about the episode. i read it as a joke bc nothing else shown would tell me it wasn't.

comparing it to robby and david's situation: it was Not a surprise how robby reacted after david was proven innocent from the shooting. he was a bit more asshole-ish to how he'd probably react in a normal day, especially after a breakdown, but where he stood on the whole situation was not new. we were shown and told robby could react like that; we were shown and told abbot didn't care about what could happen to him or his career if a patient's health was on the way

[moon-ayyye]

Obviously you can write whatever you want, hell some of my favourite fics are fanon as fuck, but please stop tagging this shit as canon compliant.

Just read a fic where everything batman did to his kids was stated to have happened, and they don't talk about their effects at all, but when bruce learns that oliver punched roy after finding out he was on heroin he takes him in and adopts him, and kicks oliver out of the justice league. how do you reach that conclusion?????? YOU STATED IN THE FIC THAT BRUCE BEAT JASON INTO A COMA IN WHAT WORLD IS HE AN UPGRADE FROM OLIVER QUEEN?????

Batman is the most popular dc character, with good reason of course, but this makes it so most fans refuse to write him in a negative light. they'll see DECADES worth of shitty parenting and straight up emotional and physical abuse and explain it away as "oh the writers don't really understand batman" (which is 100% true), but then refuse to extend the same courtesy to other butchered characters, namely the al ghuls and and the queens.

Oliver punching roy was shitty, but you can't complain about it and then defend bruce when he sucker punched tim after selina left him. At least with oliver, you understand why he's freaking out, and he works HARD to fix it for years after. still abuse, still a piece of shit, but he genuinely puts in effort into changing and improving. He's canonically one of the better fathers in the dc universe, but this one instance of a poorly written scene in a poorly written comic has shaped the fandom's view on him permanently (also fuck rhato, only good thing about it was the introduction of the all caste but even that was done in a shitty way then wasn't brought up again). Bruce's just gets worse. At this rate, he might just cripple stephanie or smack duke around the next issue since lobotomy and comas are just acceptable now.

Also, roy is a grown ass man? with a child?? why would he ever need to be readopted when he's almost 30 by a man who wouldn't know emotional competence if it bit him in the ass? even if you have this happen pre lian, one of the reasons he started using heroin was jason's death, which happened when roy was in his 20s. he was there when dick left bruce and when bruce punched dick and blamed him for jason's death.

[heavydistraction]

[beanjang-draws]

I’m curious, are there things you wish were included more often in infection aus? Like certain characters or themes etc….

or if you wanna get spicy, which characters you’re sick of seeing in these series even ?!

[crushedsweets]

does Connie know it’s Toby leaving the flowers?? What does she think of him now? I’m in tears

connie believes its toby, but has no evidence! smth abt a mothers intuition. she's left letters filled with money on the front porch around the holidays he visits. he doesnt come consistently, so she often has to bring the letter back inside. he also never, ever takes the card, even if he sees it. she'd eventually put his name on it, and that would freak him out. he'd wouldn't come for the next year cuz of it scaring him off. she wouldnt do it again, but that would be her confirmation that it was toby. she wouldnt put up cameras or try to catch him, she's not ready to confront him either - nor does she want to scare him off for good.

in the same way toby blames himself, connie blames herself. smth abt "i never shouldve married him, i shouldve divorced him early, i shouldve fought more, i shouldve been there for toby, i shouldve picked toby up from that appointment, not lyra, i shouldve made sure toby was taking his meds, i shouldve-" and it eats her alive. she could never hate toby, thats her baby.

she watched him get beat, watched him come home bawling from bullying, watched him suffer from hallucinations/delusions, suffer through days in the hospital all his childhood, mourn his sisters death, be bleeding from franks abuse and tell her not to worry cuz at least he cant feel it. she knows objectively what toby did was wrong and part of her is scared of him for it. she knows that the cops associate his name with some murders that happened in colorado after his disappearance, but she doesn't believe it in the slightest. "my toby would never hurt an innocent soul. he's a good boy, you should've seen him with his sister. whatever happened with his father was not the same. he'd never do that." even though he did

[monochromeblend]

fluorescent shrimp

[timblrdrake]

watching a movie with duke and damian :)

duke and i have been pointing at the coolest characters and saying “that’s me”, then pointing at the most annoying characters and saying “that’s you” at dami and he’s losing his mind

[orpheuslament]

if you have ever wondered how badly white supremacy & colonialism rots ppls brains i will tell you about this one time years ago i was talking to a guy about how colonialism has left big open wounds in all of latin america & he told me that "if spanish colonisation was really so bad why didnt they simply go back to their native customs when the spaniards left". just think about that for a second

[mirellapryce]

Ok team, I would like to branch out my reading a bit, but in a very specific way. Do we have any non-payneland fics but where it's super obvious that even though they're dating other people, their own friendship is still paramount to who they are as people?

[bitchapalooza]

The whole crew assuming Luffy is naive about sex and dating in general but he is in fact the most knowledgeable on it, even more so than Sanji and Chopper(safe sex education blah blah blah). He’s literally never dated and has very little desire to, he’s openly sex repulsed, and yet this man will give THE BEST relationship advice you’ve heard in your life. He may not personally get what your going through but he’s a good third party to have since his advice isn’t clouded by a bias of some kind, he just states what he believes is the obvious smarter solution.

[nabhx]

WE MAKING IT OUT THE BOX WITH THIS ONE 🗣🗣

I saw like a singular LJ drawing on Instagram and?? He used to be my absolute favourite back in the day, it's so weird to be back here fhfgh weirdly healing as well though! Child me would explode (affectionate)

[moth-to-a-moon]

here's gangle as a slugcat

i'm so sorry (/gen) but i think a hyperfixation is probably approaching so if you hate tadc you can block the tag now

here's your warning haha

her tail uncoils and stuff or something

[kodasea]

Introducing Scott