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#and ! being autistic. for me when im emotional all sound is so much louder and more overwhelming
martyrbat · 1 year
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the man who falls – secret origins (1989)
[ID: Two cropped comic pages of Bruce Wayne as a child after falling into a cave and being ambushed by a swarm of bats. There's multiple narration boxes over the pages:
Page One: a three panel sequence of Bruce being rescued by his father. In the first panel, Bruce is screaming with his eyes squeezed shut in fear. He has his fists clenched in front of him and is wearing a reddish pink turtleneck sweater. The narration says, ‘Again, he shrieked — not in terror, but in despair...’ In the second panel, Thomas Wayne is shown from behind in a low angle. He's wearing a red sweater similar to Bruce and is holding a flashlight as he jerks Bruce into him. Above them is bats surrounding them and the broken wood floors that Bruce fell through. The narration continues, ‘The arm curled around him, muffling his voice, and his cheek rubbed against the rough wool of his father's jacket... He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to be away from here—’. In the third panel, they're standing outside. The narration reads, ‘When he opened them, he was in the area behind the mansion, in the pale light of the autumn afternoon, and his father's words pounded at him—’. Thomas is kneeling down in front of Bruce in front of the hole he fell in. He's gripping the child's shoulders as he scolds him, “Idiot! I told you never, never to go off alone. Didn't I? Didn't I?” Martha Wayne is behind them with her hand on the side of her face as she looks at them with relief that Bruce is okay.
Page Two: Martha is defending Bruce as Bruce has his head down. Thomas is still squeezing Bruce's shoulders as Martha tells him, “Thomas, he's frightened.” Thomas replies, “He damn well ought to be. He could have been killed.” Martha replaces Thomas's spot in front of Bruce, kneeling to gently place a hand on his upper arm and using a handkerchief to wipe his forehead. Bruce is standing with his fist still clenched and grimacing as Thomas angrily says, “He's got to learn.” Bruce is shown in a low angle, looking up at his mother with wide eyes. The narration continues, ‘He listened to his father's boots crushing the dead grass, and when he could no longer hear them, he dared to ask:’ “Mommy, was I in hell?” Martha soothes, “No, baby, that was just some old cave. You're safe now,” as she hugs him. His cheek is pressed against hers and she has her eyes closed as Bruce still looks uncertain. END ID]
#once again pushing my 'thomas wayne was a piece of shit' propaganda#tied in with the panel of him hitting bruce#and then the alt timeline where they live and martha expresses concern that her eight year old has an obsession with criminology now#and stopped being talkative or wanting to see some train (his special interest) and thomas says good and that it was worth the scare#and ! being autistic. for me when im emotional all sound is so much louder and more overwhelming#the fact that he waited until he couldnt hear his father walking away before asking his mother if he was in hell....#and being no older than 8 and still waiting. just tensed and taking the verbal lashing and them fighting before speaking up?? yeah.#also think it'll be interesting in the 'bruce is constantly seeing the best in people even shitty people that dont 'deserve' a second#chance or for someone to fully believe they can change. that you do bad things but aren't a bad person. that you can do good and not#be a good person. that its making a choice and that anyone can choose and decide to do better than they were yesterday'#sorta deal yknow?#just the conditioning of forgiveness for something theyre not sorry for and wanting to believe everyone is capable of being good#that traumatized 'mommy was i in hell' like god sorry brucie for the trauma but itll have a payoff in a decade or so trust me kid#also martha?? love her. hes the biggest mama's boy you cant change my mind.#bruce wayne#thomas wayne#martha wayne#baby brucie#crypt's panels#c: secret origins | the man who falls#bruce & martha#bruce's childhood
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cordiibus · 5 years
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HEADCANONS. Damien’s Autism
Again , I wanted to make a mass post regarding Damien’s Autism and how it does affect his life and how he handles from being overwhelmed. His Autism shows differently than Akar’s since its such a huge spectrum and I wanted to show that with Damien. Again, his autism isn’t all his character is, however still a vital part of him !  Though this list is not complete, I created some and hopefully as I keep educating myself and learning more will come or changes will be made. If theres anything I’m missing or you feel like I should include or fix please feel free to tell me ! I want to make sure Im writing him the best way I am !  
Damien was diagnose with Autism much later than most children. Due to parents both being deployed into the Army ( as well as cultural stigmas ) , signs of autism were simply mistaken for Damien being more shy or simply learning to speak slower than other children/also thinking he could possibly be becoming deaf at a young age since deafness runs within his father’s family. 
He began speech therapy and learning different ways of communicating. One of the ways is Sign Language because it uses his hands and was quicker for him to do as he was learning to speak as well. It was only after he began speech therapy that there were hints of him being autistic, however he was never properly diagnosed until around the age of 10 ( again cultural stigmas ). 
 As he began to learn how to speak, he also began immediately having an interest in language. Enough to begin grasping new ones as he began growing up. This was the first sign that his sensory traits will involve sounds, this one being more positive than it would be overwhelming. 
Damien is attracted to all kinds of sounds, the louder the better. He dislikes silence and dislikes when no sound can be heard/found. However, it becomes overwhelming when theres too many sounds coming from one specific enclosed area. Which is why you will always find him wearing headphones ( though it was a tip he learn from his cousin Oliver ), he uses his headphones and blast his own music to counter other sounds ( which at first was negative because of how loud he blasted his own music, however he was taught what proper volume should be used ). It also should be known that since he uses music -- that his genre of music is very loud. Screamo, Punk, Rock, Loud Jazz -- anything with loud sounds or vocals, strong vocals, are his favorite kind of music. 
Damien also picked up on learning instruments that include: the Trumpet, the Saxophone, the Piano, and the Drums. ( he knows enough in each to be good but hes not particularly amazing in each of them. this was also just a special interest when he was younger that he grew out of having and then developed into something else ). 
With addition to his liking of sounds, it also can be seen in other areas like specific sounds making him happy ( crunch noises like leaves/snow ), it also moved to being a stim of his to make noises be it clicking/popping his tongue or cracking his knuckles. 
Another one of his stims is chewing as well. Growing up he would always chew on his shirts, sleeves, hoodie strings ( still does ) and found some comfort in chewing. With this he has an actual chew necklaces, as well as always carries around candy/gum. Its also why he paints/does his nails so he could stop biting on his nails.  
Another stim Damien does when hes happy is also clapping and the flapping of his hands ! 
Another positive sensory he has is towards colors -- especially very bright colors. Though too much can be overwhelming and especially if he stares for too long. Bright colors are another thing that gathers his attention. Its why he also dresses in rather bright colors as well. Just really really likes bright colors. His art definitely portrays that as well. He also has  synesthesia, which plays its part in this as well. 
However, with positive come negatives. One negative sensory that he has is actually also through taste as well. There are certain textures in food that feel wrong in his mouth. Foods that are soggy and are non-solids, are the ones that fit in that categories. Damien will refuse to eat anything that fall into that category. Also chewy foods that aren’t gum ( fruit gummies ) also have the same problem. Also -- dietary restrictions are also a thing. Gluten is just out of the question for him to be eating. On top of that, certain smells are often avoided by him. More floral scents, are the ones that he often avoids which includes some perfumes and well as hygienic materials ( shampoos / soaps ). He does like scents that are more metallic -- sharpies, paint, spray paint, metal -- fit into that. 
Though Damien is excellent in language, sound, and now speaking -- reading always proved to be challenging. Mix with being a auditory and visual learning, but add in his autism -- reading on his own with nothing else proved to be challenging when in school. If there was a book that needed to be read, he would spend hours looking for an auditory book or have his friend/parents read the pages to him. And when neither were available, it was trouble for Damien to completely understand what was going on in the book. Though he could read it out loud -- that was often looked down at and became annoying to others. So he found these courses to be more challenging. 
Damien has trouble with empathy. Not that he doesn’t feel any, but he feels too much at times aka he experiences hyper-empathy. Depending on the situation, he can be overwhelmed by another person’s feelings and start feeding that into his own. If he sees someone crying, even if he doesn’t know them, he will most likely sit and cry with them solely because of how he picked up on the emotion. He is very good at telling people’s emotions, though sometimes does falter over how much they are feeling it. 
Damien also experiences meltdowns very often, however has gotten really good at learning when theyre coming and will excuse himself with “i have a migraine” so he can properly take care of it without it going any further. Usually this means finding somewhere completely quiet and listening to his own music and just let himself sit in a ball. Before he had learned how to tell, his meltdowns were immediate shut downs of himself. Just no response from him. 
Damien is often not seen as someone on the spectrum because of the way he behaves.Which is something he learned he really hated, so if anyone says that to him, they will immediately be met with a different Damien. 
He hates being told what to do. Period. He always had a hard time taking instructions from someone, or being guided in a different way. Damien will fully refuse to do what someone wants him to do, which is something his parents learned as he grew up. There is obviously ways around this, which is just to ask him differently. Depending what it is just say “Damien, can you do something for me please ?” And already then his empathy wants to already help this person. but say it like “Do it this way” then hes deadass not going to do it. 
Damien can drive !! He is very much able to drive, however under certain conditions that he realized himself. He cannot drive during night, because of all the bright lights -- nor can he drive in bad weather. Also he will always have his windows up and his music playing. He will never give up his AUX cord to anyone else, so don’t ask or even try. If you also tell him his music sucks, then he will have no issue kicking you out of his car too. He also has a white mini cooper because his dad wouldnt let him get the pink one. 
Damien does his nails, yes already explained, another thing is that the collects nail polish, vinyls, and spray paint. All these things are very well organized in his room, just shelves, bins, and everything. Also hes very disorganized in every thing else. 
His autism helped him in theatre in high school !! Being able to understand another person’s emotion and then reflect them back, really made him super good at acting when he was in Theatre. Some say it has to do with being a “chameleon” in being able to copy the traits of others. Though actually was more able to put himself in their own situation and feel what they were feeling because of his hyper-empathy. He really still loves the theatre too. 
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