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i don’t really like tim (very evident) but if i was DC i’d give him funky private investigator stories with a supporting civilian cast. no other super heroes.

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I made some cute sunflower pillows out of scrap fabrics I had been saving from the dump. I couldn't find the right buttons so I made some out of polymer clay I had in my stash 🌻

Here's some instructions if you also want to make some 😊

I still need to draw up a sized petal template but I've also made a youtube video (my first one, it's horrible 😂) if you are more of a visual learner.

1. Cut 1 brown corduroy circle 1 wool batting circle and 2 green 2/3 circles (for the back)

2. Cut 12 pairs of petals (24 pieces total)

3. Sew petal pieces right sides together 1cm away from edges. Turn right sides out and top stitch along the edge. Stitch centre petal seam. Repeat for all petals

4. Quilt your brown centre to the wool. I made lines about 1.5cm apart making a grid.

5 Pin 6 of your petals centre first evenly spaced around the edge. Pin the last 6 over the gaps. Sew 1 cm from the edge

6 Roll hem the straight edge of the 2/3 circle pieces (a rol hem to folding and then folding again)

7 make 3 button holes evenly spaced on one back piece

8 secure the pieces to eachother both having right sides up, creating a pocket

9 fold on your petals and pin your back piece right sides together to your flower front. Sew 1.5cm around the edge and turn out through the pocket.

10 stuff your pillow then add buttons to fit the holes you made earlier. I do the buttons last to make sure they fit nicely when fully puffed.

11 yayyyy pillow!

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hem the edges of the pants by 创意手工坊

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Do you have a black and white version of that frog pattern? I tried turning down the saturation to make it grayscale, but it would still print a lot of gray area and waste a lot of ink.

Yea here sorry it took so long for me to get to it 😭

I had to redraw it cuz my dumb ass combined all the layers lol

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anyone who bothers to read the books after pjo knows that poseidon IS NOT a good parent to percy either.

during pjo he visits percy and defends him from the cuncil. you read that and think "wow! he really does love percy in his own way!"

after that? theres no after that. cause he never shows again.

when hera kidnaps, brain washes and puts poseidon's golden child in a six- months COMA- he does nothing. juno pays a visit. baccus drops in to say hi. mars has his dumb father-son talk with frank. haphastus has one with leo, and hades with nico.

poseidon? nothing. doesn't show when his "favorite child" is homeless and lonely for two months pre SON, not when another one of his sons almost takes percy to gaea, not even when he's recovering from tartarus.

i repeat, not even when he's recovering from tartarus.

he only shows to the boss fight, when its clear to him and to the other olympians they cant let their children do ALL their dirty work.

(and im not even gonna touch on the "this is the debt you owe for being alive" bit cause its honestly embarassing.)

so why would he completely ignore his FAVORITE son, you might ask?

here's why: percy is not his favorite. he was just a useful power source to have, and poseidon wanted to make sure percy would choose the gods' side during the titan war. when the war was over, so was poseidon's visits and displays of affection towards percy.

he loves percy, like a god. not like a parent.

anyway stan paul blofis and sally jackson : D

Sooo one of my friends says whats wrong with Poseidon and that he cares for his kids somewhat. And that he'd be a better parent than Aphrodite.

I deadass wanted to go into debate with them but I thought NAH.

But what do you think? Do you think it's true?

I said it once I'll say it again, YOU JUST THINK POSEIDON IS A GOOD DAD BECAUSE PERCY IS HIS FAVORITE. Like that is a canonical fact. Percy is Poseidon's golden child. And as such he gets a lot more attention than the average Poseidon kid. Now to be fair, Percy doesn't have any demigod siblings rn to compare to- but considering how Poseidon doesn't seem to spend too much time on his Cyclopse kids you can imagine the average!

Also, between you and me... the guy willingly allows and even wants his kid to stay within and uphold a system actively using him and doing him harm. Knowing full well it easily could get him killed. So everyone can decide for themselves how much he really cares for his kid.

On the point of Aphrodite, I mean both are shit parents. She's doing the exact same thing as Poseidon- she picks a favorite and occasionally helps/visits them. Mostly when it's convenient or entertaining for her. Don't see that much difference to Aphrodite being a bad parent to Poseidon being one. Only real difference is that for her we have "non-golden kids" to compare her favorites too. Though I suppose if you really wanna argue about it, Poseidon is the piece of shit that stinks a little less between the two.

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imagine luke starts to pretend to be drunk to get comfort and physical contact from percy;

he'd get himself to smell like alcohol and get the act down to perfection.

little does he know percy grew up with an alcoholic step father and knows that luke is faking.

AU in which Percy is seriously injured on Antaeus' Arena, Luke rescues him and provides first aid, then Percy becomes a prisoner aboard Princess Andromeda.

Percy's powers are held back by Kronos and Hecate, he lives in his own small cabin in the lowest tier of the ship, Luke tries to persuade him to join him, and a forced semblance of friendship arises between Percy and Ethan.

one day Luke got drunk and he feels bad emotionally and mentally, he goes to Percy... and Percy was able to calm him down and comfort him. Percy is the only one who can comfort him and the only one with whom Luke feels at ease.

[I think about it platonically, but you can also see it in a romantic light. By the way, Percy is the legacy of Peitho, the goddess of charm and kind of the wife of Hermes, which is why Luke feels good and pleasant next to him].

Okay so first off, ANON I DO NOT KNOW WHO YOU ARE BUT BLESSED BE YOUR BRAIN FOR GIVING YOU THIS IDEA AND BLESSED BE YOU FOR SHARING IT WITH ME.

Second of, YES.

I will go with this being platonic, since that's how I personally prefer them. Anyway imagine if in this AU Kronos has a bit more trouble reviving, even with Luke as a vessle and Ethan joining. And thus Kronos/Luke need Percy to join up with them to get to their goal. There are two reasons for this change A) Antaeus' Arena happened relatively close to Luke getting possessed by Kronos, so it's a way to buy time for the plot. B) It's a strong(er) motivation for Luke/Kronos to keep Percy around and prisoner instead of just killing him when he keeps resisting. Also gives us a strong(er) reason for Luke to keep in close contact with him. Anyway just imagine Percy in that situation. Luke, in his drunken and emotional state pours out his heart to him. Telling him about how he's afraid of that Kronos planned- of what Kronos'll do to him. His first word to Percy when he came to him? "I never wanted this"

Not sure how to react Percy thinks it's a ploy at first. A scheme to get him to sympathize with Luke and weaken his defenses. But it just keeps going, and with a slight hint of horror does he realize that Luke's genuine. He reeks of alcohol and his cheeks are flushed- it's obvious that Luke's drunk. He couldn't properly manipulate Percy even if he tried. And with even greater horror does Percy realizes just what exactly Luke is telling him there. The third realization he makes, the fact that Luke feels comfortable and at ease around him, only comes after he already comforted Luke. Percy had no idea what he was doing and acted on instinct when he offered the older a hug. He already started calling himself an idiot mentally when Luke just stared at him after the offer, his eyes still hazy. When suddenly his cell door opened and Luke entered, pressing Percy against himself. Luke and Percy proceeded to spend the night like that in Percy's cell. The younger managed to get the blonde to settle down after a bit- at least get them to a sitting position. Luke still has him pulled to his side though- in something one could only describe as a gentle, almost brotherly hug. The younger's head rests on Luke's chest, smelling the alcohol still in his breath while Luke babbles on. One of his hands continues to rest on Percy's shoulder- protectively, almost. The younger can feel his hair growing wet from Luke's tears as he rests his head atop his.

In his drunken and emotional haze the blonde forgot to close the cell door again. He's no match to Percy right now- all that would need to be done to reach freedom would be to throw off Luke and run.

But he can't. Percy can't.

Not after seeing Luke like this- hearing Luke like this. And certainly not after feeling how Luke pressed him into his side, tenderly, lovingly. Having forgotten any mask or show he put on, and just letting it all pour out. None of the two speak about what happened the next morning. Percy wakes up alone, his cell locked again like it always was. Part of him wonders if it all was just a dream. Percy realizes it wasn't when Luke comes to him again. He's sober this time, his face betrays no hint of what had happened the previous night.

But something is still different.

Luke's facade is cracking. And after realizing that Luke for some reason started taking comfort in him, Percy decides it's time that Luke and his Army return back home. Now the questions stands who will convince the other of that first :

Luke Percy to join Kronos, or Percy Luke to rennounce the Titan lord and return to camp.

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i full heartedly believe that a woman who joins the hunt shouldnt be involved romantically with anyone as to not be distracted from her commitment to serve artemis.

BUT. rejecting women because they aren't virgins??

like, you remember most of the women who seek your help come from abusive/toxic enviorments, right arty?

All the ways the gods and camps violate (inter)national laws of the world /Part 3/

Today we will look at how the gods violate Article 3 of the german constitution.

Article 3 [Equality before the law] (1) All persons shall be equal before the law. (2) Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and take steps to eliminate disadvantages that now exist. (3) No person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavoured because of disability.

So, while this article is titled as "Equality before the law" it also regulates all forms of equality. This time however we've got a sole offender! Artemis and her Hunters are violating both paragraph 2 and 3 of this article. Not only do they exclude men from joining their hunters they are also misandrist! They explicitly look down on men and women who fall in love with them! Same goes for romance. Going so far as to throw people out and excluding women who fall inlove (even with other women) or lose their virginity (even against their will).

RULES PREVIOUS PART

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ALSO the way they completely nerfed down percy to be the overly dense, stupid and goofy the fandom likes to pretend he is?

in pjo and the olympians percy is NOT stupid. he's actually super observant and a fast thinker. he's not a goofball either; in the first books he actually seemes low-key suicidal.

why does ric constantly forgets how to write his characters? why would an author rely on his fandom???

just read the plot summary for Wrath of the Triple Goddess and. wow this is. painful this just sounds painful to read.

Why is Grover the incompetent inciting incident character? That is not his narrative role ever, really. That's like, the fanon conceptualization of his character where he's reduced down to comedic relief and nothing more. He's mostly exposition and support. Why not have the inciting incident be something about Annabeth's hubris - something that has gotten the gang into situations tons of times before in a way that doesn't put down any of the characters? Heck you could have even tied it into some Sea of Monsters stuff, like Circe having told Annabeth that she'd make a good sorceress. That'd be perfect for how this book literally just exists to be advertising for s2 of PJOTV. Or maybe call-back to Percy's introduction, where he talks about how he doesn't try to cause problems but problems tend to find him. Or use the established personalities of Hecate's animal companions from HoO, since we know they have attitudes. Just what are you even doing here????

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The demons have passed, and the king is naked(Erase everything you've known about me until today)

It's been two days, three hours and 27 minutes since damian went missing.

It's been an hour since Jason found him.

Usually, Jason didn't care much about the brat; he could take care of himself, after all. Like Jason, Damian was trained by the league, and knew 102 ways to kill a man thrice his size but he hates killing, and felt the need to remind the elder of that at least once a week. Plus, Jason had very few reasons to care for his so-called 'family', as dick insists to call their weird, creepy, sad bat-cult. And damian was definitely not one of them.

While the two were technically brothers, the role of robin was the only thing they had in common. Jason was raised in poverty, barely surviving the cold nights of gotham, and was forced to steal and run. Jason had nothing but a mother who wrapped her bony body around him at cold nights until she didn't. Damian, on the other hand, lived a life of luxury. The league's prince, the al ghul's pride and joy. Damian was raised in a cult full of murderers, barely surviving the brutal training he was forced to endure, forced to either kill or be killed. And Sometimes he was killed. damian had everything except for sympathy. And for those differences, Jason couldn't ever connect with the kid. That, and because damian was an absolute displeasure to be around.

So when he got a frantic call from Dick, claiming damian went missing, Jason honestly didn't care all that much. ''maybe the demon spawn doesn't want to be found.'' He told the oldest of Bruce's child soldiers children, not even removing his eyes from the gun barrel he was cleaning. "what?'' dick's disdisbelieving voice uttered from the other side of the call. "how can you say that?" Jason rolled his eyes and got up to get cleaner rug from the kitchen. ''you heard me. Kid's does that all the time. Disappears for a while, then comes back from the pits of hell just to torment us.''

"don't talk about your brother like that.'' Dick scolded, and gosh, he sounded like such a mom. ''besides, he never disappeared like that before. he always leaves a note or something.'' 'he always lets me know' was left unsaid. Honestly, gross. ''I don't know what to tell you, dickie. Maybe the kid felt like he was too old to let his wannabe daddy sigh his permission slip-'' a beep announced that the call has ended before he got the chance to finish his sentence. 

He found damian by accident.

Stephanie informed him of a case that cannot tolerate delays. ''a bunch of magic users are trying to summon a demon in the forest near gotham.'' She told him, a deep frown settled on her chin. She looked unusually troubled. "do we know why?'' he asked. That was too vague, even for brown. Batgirl only seemed to grow more upset by his question. "from the intel Constantine gave me, they're trying to create a new world from 'the ruins' of this one.'' She tried to mimick the man's British accent, but it ended up sounding more like Alfred. "and why exactly do you need me? I may be friends with an amazon, but I don't know all that much about magic, kid.''

Stephanie straightened her posture from being bent over the bat-computer and started heading towards the bat-mobile with her fists clenched at her sides. ''I need your…brute force. Either knock some sense into them,'' batgirl's too-calm voice echoed through the cave, ''or knock them out.''

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And that's how he found damian, standing behind a large, relatively flat boulder in the middle of a forest, surrounded by various animals, holding his katana in a threatening pose. ''your footsteps were too heavy, and I could hear the sound of Autumn leaves crunching under your feet from a mile ago. Were you not aware you're in a forest, Todd?" the little brat criticized distastefully, though he drew the weapon away and lowered himself into the ground. Jason scoffed. "yeah, whatever. Mind telling me what am I seeing?"

because the view in front of him probably got into the list of 'top 10 weirdest things red hood has seen this month', which meant something. In front of him, damian, in his 4'5 glory, was sitting calmly, drinking tea from one of alfred's favorite sets of cups, and he wasn't the only one; batman's blood son was surrounded by a raccoon, two deers, titus & Alfred the cat, and a fricking bear, all of them having their own cups. ''why do you care?" damian spat. Titus let out a growl. The dirty looking racoon stuffed his face into his cup of tea. ''I don't want to take the blame when B and dickie finds out their little baby got torn apart by a bear.'' Jason returned with the same amount of venom.

He regretted separating from Stephanie. She's one of the only people on the planet who has mastered the ability to deal with damian's attitude. ''I am not a baby. And besides, American black bears are the friendliest breed of bears." Damian scowled for a brief moment, then let a small smirk crawl into his features. "though, I wouldn't expect you to know that."

''you little—oh, whatever. Good luck with your bear.'' Jason turned to leave, then remembered the reason he came in the first place. "by the way, have you seen any magic users around here?'' Damian paused from petting one of the deers. "magic users?" Jason nodded. "yeah. Batgirl reported seeing them yesterday. You didn't happen to see anything?" Damian stared at him. "brown was keeping me company yesterday. There is no way she noticed something that I didn't." Jason's brain short-circuited.

"She was with you? yesterday?" And she didn't tell Bruce anything? Well, he could actually understand that. But why didn't she at least tell dick? Damian scoffed. "Are you deaf as well as foolish?" Jason's fingers twitched around his tranquiller, his vision filling with a too-familiar-green.

'Knock sense into them, or knock them out'. So, Steph led Jason to the little punk on purpose. She couldn't possibly expect him to talk damian into coming back, could she? She was smart enough to know he was the less suitable bat for the job. Did she expect him to get him home forcefully? Hm. He supposed could do her a favor. He might even enjoy it.

"What are you doing here anyway?" He asked and sat himself between damian and the bear , making himself a barrier between the two. "Why do you care?" The tiny satan demanded yet again. There was a certain spark in his eyes jason could tell he was trying, and failing, to hide. Jason shrugged. "Just curious." And he wasn't lying; Damian has run away before to fight villains, mercenaries, and sometimes even heroes behind their backs. But this? Going missing without telling anybody just to... hang with a bunch of animals? Jason didn't get it.

At his answer, the spark in damian's green eyes died. "Go away, Todd." He sneered with hunched shoulders. "Listen here Junior-"

"Go away!" Damian suddenly lashed out, standing with his fists clenched in front of his body, preparing for a fight. "You weren't invited here! You're ruining everything!" Jason remained sitting, though his hand tightened around his belt. He's missing something. Damian was going through some crisis for a reason he didn't know, and Stephanie, damn her, was nowhere to be found.

"Just tell me what's happening, damian." He said cooly.

Damian eyes, damian's sparkless, tired eyes locked with his. For a reason jason didn't know, the younger listened. "Will you leave if I told you?" He whispered defeatedly. "Sure," Jason decided to entertain him, but his hand didn't leave his tranq'.

Damian looked down with an unusual shyness, his foot shuffling against the forest's ground, before he looked up.

"They're my new brothers and sisters." He stated with renewed confidence, and smiled a little when the bear let an unholy screech.

"Your- what?" Jason expected a lot of things, but certainly not that. Definitely not that. Damian didn't seem how understand how strange the situation was. He repeated, like it was obvious. Like it was normal.

"They're my new family."

'But they're a bunch of brainless animals' Jason thought. Out loud, though, he chose to ask: "why do you need another family?"

Damian's long, thick lashes hid his eyes as he tilted his head down, locking eyes with titus as if silently asking for advice. "I… do not belong in father's family. I never did, and i never will. I understood it, and it's only a matter until they- until you realize that too." damian informed blankly.

What? Damian 'the batman's only blood son' Wayne thought Jason, the failed robin, fitted in the family more than him? Jason bit back a shocked laugh. "Kid, they're looking for you right now. They're worried sick-"

"They're afraid. Afraid I'll go on a killing spree now that I have no supervision." he dismissed bitterly, then his head snapped up with a glare. "I wouldn't. Tell them I wouldn't."

'Like they'll believe me'

"...Why did you come here of all places?" Jason asked and tensed when the bear roared loudly. "Do you want a refill, Stephanie?" the boy completely ignored Jason's question and got up with a teapot, circled the boulder to get to the bear- to "Stephanie", apparently- and gracefully poured the warm liquid into his cup. The bear roared again, and this time damian took it as Stephanie being happy and returned to his seat.

Only after he settled down he bothered to answer Jason's question. "…All people know to do is to judge. they decide for you whether you're good enough, kind enough, or if your cruel enough, skilled enough, brutal enough- " the moment he started, damian couldn't seem to know how to stop, "and do you know why that's the problem, Todd? let me spill light on the ugly truth; You will never be good enough for them. For any of them. Because they're people. and all people know is to judge. It doesn't matter how much you will train, or how much blood will you spill -yours or others- or how many people will you've maimed, or how many people you saved- you will keep running and running and running, until your legs give out and you won't be able to breath and you will still. Never. Be. At. They're. Pace."

Damian's scarred fingers- why were they so scarred? - patted alfred's fur distractedly, his eyes burning holes into Jason. "Because they are saints. And you, Todd, are not." And as true as it was, Jason got the feeling damian wasn't talking about him.

"Damian-" Jason's voice cracked as he stared back at His brother. At his kid brother. Because damian was just a little kid. How could Jason, who called himself Gotham's children protector, not protect his little brother from the pain he knew all to well? How could he- how could they all not notice the kid in their house was suffering? How could they let him think his worth was only judged by his actions as robin?

"Animals don't judge, todd. They're just... animals."

'Because it was'

"Damian," jason spoke. The other failed robin peeked curiously at him. "can… can they be my brothers and sisters too? I kinda need a family too." He hoped damian would understand what was he really saying. 'Let me into your new family. Let me into your heart. Give me another chance to be a brother to you. Let me save you from becoming me.' Because as much as damian needed him to, Jason couldn't get himself to say all of that out loud. In some ways, he guessed he wasn't all that different from their old man.

Damian eyes narrowed, then widened almost comically. His fingers fidgeted and his breath hitched.

"Only...uh, only if they say it's ok." Damian stuttered and leaned to put his ear near one of the deers' mouth. Jason held his breath as the deer licked damian's cheek, and watched damian scrunch his nose and wipe it discreetly.

"they allow it.'' damian announced boredly, but jason didn't miss the return of that spark to his shining eyes. "but don't you dare tell any of the others about it."

jason, despite himself, chuckled. "not even tim?"

damian's nosetrills flared. "especially not drake."

mabye they weren't so different after all.

"I'm back!" A cheery voice called from the behind the trees. Oh, so now stephanie bothered to find them.  

"I see the stealth training I gave you finally started to get into your head." damian told her.

"oh, please. if anyone trained me, it was cass." steph rolled her eyes and set a plastic bag on the surface of the boulder. "here, i brought more supplies to your little tea party."

"it is not a tea party! what do you think of me? a mere child?" 

"yes." steph and jason responded at the same time, and locked eyes as damian scoffed, offended.

"knock some sense into them, huh?" jason lifted his brows. stephanie smirked.

"or knock them out. i gave you two options.'' she shrugged innocetly.

"why me?" jason asked her.

"why you what? what are you two talking about?" damian demanded. steph looked them both over, then sighed.

"we... the three of us, 'the dead robins'," the failure robins, jason translated easily. "need to stick together. have each others backs, y'know?"

"i agree." surpisingly enough, damian was the one who said it. "we will never be a match for dick grayson, or cassandra cain. it wouldn't do any of us any good to stand alone in their shadows."

wow. the kid was full of surprises, wasn't he? "I don't know, kid. i think you're on the way to get there." jason then procceded to wrestle his baby brother into a mendatory head ruffle, to which damian tried to bite his way out of. 

"okay, enough with the emotional talk. damian, you're going back to the manor today. we'll figure out a lie about where you've been later." damian tried to protest, but was distracted by knuckles dugging harshly into his skull. "now, how is stephanie the deer?" she cood.

"the deers' names are gilbert and mr. alexander." damian deadpanned, finally free from his ridiculous big brother.

"wait, what? then who's stephanie?" she questioned. jason tilted his head towards the bear, who was napping now. he will have to ask damian later how did he manage to tame a wild bear, but for now he'll just lean back and enjoy the show while alfred the cat cuddled close to him.

"you named a bear after me?!' the former spoiler shouted, outraged.

"it seemed fitting, fatgirl." 

"why, you little--"

[dooralight]

staring at the shattered reflection

Stephanie held back a chuckle as Damian and Bruce continued their, quite frankly, idiotic argument.

“I said no, damian. My word is final.” Bruce stated with his ‘no nonsense’ tone. ‘Honestly’, Stephanie thought, ‘he ought to know by now that this tone will always lead to nonsense.’

“I must wear a tuxedo to the gala to let the gothamites know I am my father’s true daughter!’’ yep, more nonsense.

Bruce sighed. “Damian, I am flattered that you want to dress like me to the gala, but trust me, there are other- more reasonable ways to prove to Gotham that you’re my daughter.”

“Yeah, like the birth certificate your old man published.” Stephanie chimed in. Damian's head snapped to her direction, her expression laced with absolute betrayal, her mouth opening to to make another point. Bruce quickly stopped her. “Damian, when you grow older,  you’ll get to wear whatever you choose. But right now I need you to trust me when I say that if the press will see an eleven year old wearing something that is considered to be grown man’s wear, they will not let you live it down. I will not have you harassed by the press if I can prevent it. Understood?” 

Ooh, he used the Batman voice this time. Stephanie watched Damian as the young girl’s composure slowly broke down and her face lost its scowl to welcome a new, sad expression. wise choice.

“Good. Stephanie here kindly agreed to take you to dress shopping. I trust you'll have a lot of fun.” at that new piece of information, Damian sulked further. bruce looked like he wanted to say something, but after a moment, he sighed and turned to speak to stephanie. "here's my credit card," he handed her a golden plastic card, "buy yourself something nice to wear to the gala, too." 

stephanie couldn't help but get defensive. "I have a job, bruce. i don't need your money."

bruce rubbed his forhead at the familliar arguement as he led the girls out the room. 

"where do you all get your stubborness from?" she heard him mutter under his breath. if alfred was in the room, he'd probably raise a pointed eyebrow at the man.

“Let's get this over with as soon as possible, brown.” damian commanded as she left the room, fists clenched at her side and the knife in her bag clattering softly everytime she bounced.

‘...this is going to be fun.’

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Despite her asking for the shopping trip to be fast, Damian sure took her time choosing a dress.

“How ‘bout this one, dames?’’ Stephanie held up a red dress with fake, pink roses sewn on the bottom of it. The younger took one glance at the dress before rejecting it with a single shake of her head. 

“Oh, c’mon damian! This is the fifth store we’ve been to! You have to like something!” Damian crossed her hands. “It’s not my fault all of the dresses here are ugly.” Stephanie was about to respond, probably something about Damian being a spoiled brat, before her eyes caught on something; Damian had her hand folded tightly inside her bag- probably around the knife hidden there. 

she must've caught on a potential threat.

Stephanie's instincs kicked in; she immediately took Damian's arm and threw her into a changing room (which gained her an outraged shriek from the younger)  before closing the veil behind her and searched around the room for a possible threat Damian might have caught on before her. After a good minute of finding none, stephanie felt a hand pulling her into the changing room.

 “What are you doing?” Damian asked, baffled. She didn’t look alarmed, or exited for a good fight; just… stiff. Stephanie responded, just as confused, “what are you doing? Why are you holding a knife in the middle of a clothing shop? Didn’t you see something suspicious?’’ Damian stared at her for a split second before recovering. “I- Yes, yes indeed. The cashier seemed-” 

“Damian.” A split second is like an hour when you learn body language from the Cassandra cain. 

“Brown.” Damian challenged, the bat’s glare clear on her features. 

Stephanie considered glaring back, before realizing she was picking a fight with a ten years old in a clothing shop. The older made sure to soften her tone before tucking a stray dark curl behind her pseudo sister’s ear and asking the question she’s been dying to ask all day:

“Why don’t you want to wear a dress?”

Damian puffed her chest defensively. “My father is going to wear a tuxedo.”

Stephanie barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “So?” she asked. “Tt, so I need to dress like him!”

That gave Stephanie nothing to work with. “why, though? You think people will underestimate you if you dress… girly?”

Damian looked upfronted at the idea. “Underestimate? Me?! My mother wears dresses all the time and she still defeats all of her enemies. I will cut the tongue of whoever dares suggest I can't easily do the same.”

Stephanie sighed and began opening the veil of the changing room. “Y’know what? I did what I could. It’s B’s problem now. I just don-” Stephanie froze, letting the newfound information Damian provided her sink in. 

“Tt, let’s just leave this cursed sh-” Damian jumped back when Stephanie twirled around,grabbing the younger’s wrist as she crouched to meet her eyes. “Gotcha!” she said in a not-quite hushed tone.

Damian asked. “If that’s what you call a whisper, brown, then maybe you are unfit to the vigilante life after all.” 

Stephanie ignored the jab at her skills like she did for the last four hours. “Is that why you hate dresses? They remind you of your mom?” 

Damian bristled. “I don’t hate dresses!” then, in a softer tone, “and i do not hate my mother.”

Stephanie shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. “Okay… but, im going the right direction, aren’t i?”

Damian looked down. ”I suppose your detective skills aren't as bad as your-”

“Damian.”

The little one sighed in a rather childish way. “I…i just… everyone keeps telling me i look like her. Act like her. Even roll my eyes like she does. And I know I should be taking it as a compliment. I know it; my mother is a beautiful, graceful woman with perfect mannerism.”

Damian added the next part in a nearly mute voice, and Stephanie had to read her lips to make out what she was saying.

“I don't want to be like her, stephanie. I want to be- I want to be good. Like my father. I want people to look at me and see a kind, empathic person. Not… not mother.”

Stephanie’s heart broke for her pseudo sister. Now all the times Stephanie remembered seeing Damian in front of the mirror, trying to narrow her eyes to hide the green in them made sense to her.  Damian trying to mimic Bruce's real, rare smile only for it to look strained and shaky made her heart clench painfully for the younger. 

“Damian. You are a beautiful girl. from the outside, sure; you’ve inherited the best features of both your talia and bruce- you’ll grow to be a real supermodel.”

As Stephanie talked, her fingers traced Damian's puffy curls, to her eyebrows, to her thick lashes, that fluttered when the blond’s index fingers brushed them. Stephanie lowered her fingers to pat her chubby cheeks. Damian’s eyes didn’t re-open.

“But you’re beautiful from the inside, too. And I'm not talking about Bruce's beauty, nor Talia's. I’m talking about your own beauty.”

Damian’s eyes stayed shut as her eyebrows dug into her face. “I’m not beautiful from the inside. I'm -bad.”

“No.”  Stephanie stated firmly. “Bad people don’t risk their life every night to protect the innocent. Bad people don’t save animals from abusive owners or from starving on the street just because they know no one else will stand up for them. Bad people don’t regret bad things they’ve done in the past and spend everyday in their life trying to make up for that. You are not a bad person, damian wayne.”

If Damian's eyes were open, Stephanie was sure that they’d be rolled at her for that claim. Dick and her have been saying that to her for two years, and she wasn’t anywhere close to believing it.

 But Stephanie was persistent; she’s never had anyone who’d comfort her when she felt trapped by heavy, demanding emotions, silently  begging to be held, loved, cared for. When she saw the tired but angry, adult-like look in Damian's young features, she promised she would not let this little girl end up like her, a girl who was so desperate for recognition that it got her killed. 

(but she did; she would never forget how it felt, hearing about Damian's death, by the hands of her own mother, the woman who was supposed to love her. Hearing about another girl who got killed trying to prove she is something. )

“Damian.” never again, she swore. “You and I are going to find the clothes you would feel the most comfortable with. Screw bruce.”

Damian’s eyes finally opened. “While it's appreciated, brown, going against father’s direct orders for such an unimportant reason would be wasteful. I’d much rather satisfy him now so I could get off defying his underestimating orders on the field. “

Stephanie, despite herself, felt pride blooming in her chest. “you brat.” She ruffled Damian's curls as they exited the dressing room, or at least attempted to before Damian swiftly slapped her hand away. “Maybe you should just find a different angle to look at the situation, dami.”

“What do you mean ,brown?”

“Well, Talia is not the only woman in the world who wears dresses, right? You just need to find someone you consider good, and think about dressing like them- then you’ll feel better about the whole dress thing. Maybe cass? Or your friend, maya? Does she wear dresses?”

Damian seemed to think about it. Then, in flushed cheeks and a scowl, she took a stride to a row of hanged dresses and took out a dress.

A bright, decorated, purple dress. 

Stephanie felt a grin splitting her face as her view became blurry. 

“You brat!”

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

“They’re late.” 

Dick sipped on his champagne, watching with Tim as Bruce sent Stephanie another text before politely joining a bunch of men in a conversation about the last big sale another centerpiece made. 

“I bet you 50 bucks she’s late on purpose,” Tim offered, fingers drumming on his lap subconsciously. 

Dick snorted. “I’m not dumb enough to bet against that, timbo.” he slid off his chair and took out his phone, already ready on camera mode. 

“Hey, what’re you-”

“What I am willing to bet, though, is that they’re going to make one hell of an entrance.”

Like practiced, as the band started playing a jazz version of “devil woman”, stephanie and damian emerged from behind the large, wooden door, sporting the same hairstyle, matching sunglasses that looked cartoonishly large on damian’s face, and similar dresses.

Purple dresses.

Dick caught Stephanie's peace sign on camera before focusing it on Bruce, who locked eyes with Stephanie before shaking his head and face-palming with a tiny, barely noticeable smile. 

“We should totally do that too sometime.” dick told his brother as he pocketed his phone.

“...sure.” Tim muttered, his eyes locked on the blond, admiring her from afar, unaware of how creepy he looked. Dick smirked before walking up to the two girls, high-fiving steph. Now that he got closer, he could see that Stephanie's dress looked much cheaper than Damian's fancy one. Dick couldn’t help but admire Stephanie's independence and refusal to use Bruce's unending resources, choosing to fend for herself, much like he did all these years ago.

“You two look great.” he smiled. Stephanie rolled her eyes, smiling to herself, and winked at damian. “I’m not the one who chose the dresses.” 

Damian puffed proudly. “I suppose we do look great.” she admitted, slightly twirling before realizing what she was doing and stopped.

Neither of them commented on the action, though dick felt like trying his luck:

“Whatcha say, dami? Next time you’ll match with me? You’ll rock a blue dress.”

Damian tsked. “Are you planning to ‘rock’ a blue dress with me?” 

Dick slumped. Stephanie laughed.

[dooralight]

damian "died 4 times" wayne: is there anything your actually good at, todd?

Jason "no one's allowed to die more than me" Todd

[dooralight]

if you read that post and thought damian is the bad person the others shouldn'y have to forgive, here's your friendly reminder that jason and his anger issues is the sole reason damian has a METAL SPINE CORD, and that damian, unlike jason, didn't try to hurt tim out of a personal desire, but because he thought that was expected of him(a prove to that is mara al ghul, damian's cousin who's been pitted against him since childhood to find out who will be the heir)

goodnight to damian fans all over the world

[dooralight]

if you look very closely , you can see damian in the corner of the room phycically shaking from the urge to say: "so have I, todd. like, 5 times already. it's not that deep🥱" he holds it, though, because if he'll have to attent one more therapy session he might actually die again.

stephanie is also there. don't let anything convince you otherwise. she's ALWAYS there, wearing a "been there, done that" expression.

he will use every chance he gets to be a drama queen and if he doesnt have one he will create one

[dooralight]

wHEN ARE YOU DROPPING THE LINK BABE

Okay but a thought struck me the other day, and maybe I’ll write it, but considering writing was my goal this weekend and I instead ended up at urgent care - sharing as a hc in case I never do 😂

The birds and the superkids are all still besties/dating (whatever your preference, doesn’t matter here) and yada yada happens and Damian and Kon just…get into a giant argument.

So they’re screaming at each other or whatever, and Kon just brings up the fact of “If you forced Jon to pick between us, he’d pick me.”

And it stings but Damian’s like ‘no shit, you’re his brother.’

But then to REALLY rub salt in the wound, Kon says, “And if you forced Tim to, he’d pick me too.”

And that one hits like a ton of bricks ‘cause - yeah. Tim probably would.

And it’s just the thing to say to trigger all of Damian’s insecurities and self loathing and - yeah, of course everyone would abandon him first chance they get. They’d be stupid not to! So why should any of them - Damian included - waste their energy!

So of course in his hurt he retreats from everyone, and it takes most people way too long to notice (except Jon obviously) but eventually Kon is asked if he knew anything and he guiltily mentions their argument and the terrible things he said.

And oh BOY are Jon and Tim fuckin’ FURIOUS. Jon definitely punches him. Tim…maybe.

[dooralight]

"They're my new brothers and sisters."

'But they're a bunch of brainless animals' Jason thought. Out loud, though, he chose to ask: "why do you need another family?"

OR; jason learns, with stephanie's help, just how broken the youngest bat really is, and how much of it is their fault.

ya know this feeling when you lose hope in dc writing team and start writing for them instead? i do. in fact, it's all i know.

[dooralight]

I have made a new rule that shall take effect on this universe this moment on wards.

You must draw Wonder Woman’s arms at least this beefy

or you must write “I am a coward” on all your job applications from this day on. 

[dooralight]

What do girls have left? Every piece of girlhood is being overtaken by trans narrative. Girls can't be girls without being told they may not be a girl at all. Suddenly a tom boy might be trans? A girl cannot enjoy more masculine activities or clothing without being told she's trans, non-binary?? Gender expression..you mean personality? There is no right way to do girlhood or be a girl because a girl is a FEMALE child. Her clothes, her hobbies, her sexuality, her beliefs, her dislikes and likes, none of those things make her a "girl" and to define it as so is damaging! There are shared experiences of girlhood, womanhood, of being female, of course but it's only shared experiences because of the biological reality of being female.