#conspiracy theorist bernard dowd

[oldmannapping]

Fic: The Lecture

Summary: Fourth in the Networking series, which is my little playpen where I put Bernard, Jason, and Roy into the same room as many times as possible.

In this installment, Bernard gives Tim, Jason, and Roy a lecture about the importance of disguises.

Excerpt:

“Tim, you and I have had this conversation before,” said Bernard. “You know I respect what you do so much, but it’s physically painful to watch you and your family run around acting like a little sex dungeon mask is all it takes to maintain a secret identity.”

Roy grabbed Tim’s arm. “I love him,” he told Tim quietly. “If you don’t marry him, I will.”

Read it here

The Networking Series

[litanyrobin]

Bernard: What if Batman is actually a parent who lost all his children and created new ones from experiments with different birds and that's why we have so many Robins? Tim: But robin is the only bird, Bernie. Bernard: …So just robins and bats. Oh my goodness, you see, don't you, Timmy? Tim: I think you might be right this time, honey Jason: Where the fuck did he get this? Dick: Let him be happy, Jay

[colbycheeseslice]

Another vampire timber drawing but with Tim as the vampire this time!

[aflamboyanceofflamingos]

Tim’s first meeting with Bernard was at age 7 at a gala because the boy’s mom is a journalist and was allowed to bring him.

Tim remembered him as the weird kid that made him play ninja with him, but also had a really cool theory about Batman but Tim assumes he’ll never see him again because Tim has to go to boarding school.

Then, 6 years later once again at a gala, but this time, Mr. Freeze attacks and Robin stops him, but the ballroom floor is still frozen over.

By some coincidence, prior to this event Bernard had gone ice-skating and still had the bag with his ice-skates in it. Out of pure boredom he decides to put them on and have some fun while the police are taking Freeze away and are blocking the exit.

Tim, who totally was in the bathroom during the whole attack, walks out to see an angel disguised as a blonde boy in a tuxedo gliding across the ice like he was dancing.

Tim has his first bi panic.

Tim has no clue who this boy is, but really wishes he did.

A few seconds later, a women, who he does recognize, calls him over. The angel responses with “Coming Mom!”

Tim now remembers this person. The bi panic stops, and now it’s just inherent confusion of how the “stranger weirdo kid is now hot angel person???”

One year later, Tim goes to a public highschool.

When Bernard decides to show him around, completely unaware of who he is, the blonde is rather confused why the kid is so nervous, eventually chalking it up to just being shy about being the new kid.

Tim soon realized that the weirdo part about Bernard never changed, and then was forced to question himself about why he found that attractive.

[a-flair-for-the-theatrical]

He stayed up all night with conspiracies instead of studying like i should be doing instead of drawing blorbos

Ugh i love him so much it hurts.

[thevoidisscreamingbackatyou]

timber tumblr au

just-

theyre both tumblrinas theres no doubt abt that

but what if neither knew they had tumblr

lets ignore the email thing btw besides tim would probs turn it off anyways

but they just both have it and eventually one day tim finds bernards account and is like "oh a conspiracy theory, my bf would like this ill follow it so i can show him some"

and bernards like "RED??? ROBIN??? JUST FOLLOWED ME ON TUMBLR???"

or what if it just ends up that the two meet after their school years like that

idk i feel like itd be funny

[discocandles]

Jason Todd, but he's not around the batfamily very often, bc i can.

It's not unusual for Jason to just kind of be gone for anything bat-esque for a while. Sure he'll still be in Gotham doing some crime fighting, but just not make many appearances in Wayne Manor/the Batcave.

And it's not out of sheer spite, surprisingly enough. its bc after being a crime lord then quitting to be an anti-hero, he came to the realization that being Red Hood couldn't be the only thing he was using his life for. he would end up like Bruce, only using a civilian identity when he absolutely had to. But Jason Todd was legally dead, so he wouldn't ever have to be a civilian, but at the cost of losing himself to a vigilante identity. I don't believe Jason would want to take that risk.

So he makes a fake identity so he can live in a (shaky) routine as a civilian. He still goes by Jason, given its a common enough name. but he changes his last name to Devoss, as it has the same meaning as todd but is of Dutch decent rather than english, bc I'm the kind of nerd that still wants names to mean the same thing even it's not the point whatsoever, so Jason is too. Plus its better than most of the name changes DC has done.

Anyway. Jason's "routine". The only reason it could be considered a routine is bc he typically goes to the same places. he drops by the same coffee shop at least three times a week, frequents the same gym, and visits the library about once a week. he's in the bare minnimum of consistency & sticks to it.

Despite being given enough money from Bruce to count as a solid income, Jason still lives in walking distance of Crime Alley. the landlords there don't care who you are so long as you pay rent, bc who wants to live near Crime Alley? barely anyone. Later he gets a job, which actually cements his routine. he works as a chef in a chain restaurant, and he's so good at it, it's like hes being petty about it.

Actually, being petty is the most common thread most of the people who know Jason Devoss as an aquaintance have. He's petty about entitled customers who start screaming in at his regular coffee stop, if someone he tends to work out with has a cheating partner and the assholeperson has a hole in thier can of mace and their knife is suddenly dull(neccessities in Gotham), Jason has no clue how someone could manage that. Absolutely none.

Ok, back to Jason getting a job. So like I said earlier, Jason gets a job as a line cook, bc they really dont keep people from the job unless you're actively supposed to be in Arkham(exemptions can be made for blackgate). Which is why having a civilian identity is helpful, bc being both legally dead and spending some time as a mob boss probably wouldn't jive with any hiring manager ever. But he's able to make himself a normal part of the scenery, and makes the most effective closing shift, totally not be he has patrol that he's already late for. He begins to have to switch between taking orders and making food.

And this is how he ends up meeting Bernard, bc they have to work together to figure out what Tim would want. Jason realizes that this isn't some other kid named Tim he thinks "oh this is going to be rich." bc no one in the family has been to his work so far since he started working in the front of house, and he hasn't mentioned it to them.

So Tim walks in, and sees his bf, then he sees Jason, who just says "Oh, you must be Bernard's boyfriend. Nice to meet you." Smiling like he's never done anything remotely wrong in his whole life. Now Tim is questioning everything and can only repond with something akin to "Mhmm yup. Nice to meet you too." & is on edge for the rest of the date, bc his brother is being paid to watch his date, and will interrupt them for refills or other nonsense when he was beginning to forget Jason was there.

Bonus points if it's before Tim introduces Bernard to the family.

The batfamily knows where he is, and he knows they know. No one who has met Batman once can have him be unaware of their whole family tree, of course he knows where his son is. Jason will sometimes get visits, most often from Duke, be despite the fact that Crime Alley is mostly terrible, the sunset view is pretty dang good.

Duke will just be sitting on his couch when he gets home, like "you wanted to talk?" to which he and Jason will simply chat. and jason will often give critiques to Duke's technique.

The other common visitor is steph, but that's most ofting in the form of her ding dong ditching him,

-

[sapphire-draws-art]

Got bored at school this was suppose to be a different drawing but it ended up being Bernard (not that I'm complaining) my timber brainrot was real that time

[gbirrd]

I just think dc didn't address Bernard's history with the chaos pain cult enough.

[colbycheeseslice]

Tim and Bernard visit Loch Ness (I was very inspired by my visit there yesterday lol)

[stickyvoidpaper]

being a conspiracy theorist in gotham must be insane,literally nothing you come up with could be more insane then the shit that actually happens.

Imagine trying to convince someone batman, a human, fell from the moon. And that's just something that actually happened. Bernard Dowd you are dcs strongest soldier.

[tiffycat]

Bernard "conspiracy theorist extraordinaire" Dowd meets Conner "What's a civilian identity" Kent

[aflamboyanceofflamingos]

I love Timbern and their “conspiracy theorists x person who knows the truth” dynamic, but I refuse to stand for the erasure of Tim being a conspiracy theorist as well.

That man definitely had a corkboard with red string all over after seeing Robin’s flip, he just happened to be right

And given that Bernard doesn’t have the same information that Tim does, having been living next to Wayne Manor, his theories sometimes make somewhat sense, and this should lead to the conclusion that given that Tim doesn’t know the truth behind one of Bernard’s theories he most definitely believes that the blonde is super close to the truth, and in reality both of them trade theories back and forth on their dates

[sepia-stained-sunset]

Tim is routinely recognised by Gothamites- never as Tim Drake, or Red Robin, or any of his other identities- but always by some hyperspecific thing he's done that none of his family knows about and only figures out due to some stranger going, "hey aren't you that guy who *insert Tim Drake shenanigan*?"

These range from funny ("hey, aren't you the dude who fell asleep on a rollercoaster once?" "Hey, you're the guy who's dating that popular conspiracy theorist youtuber, Bernard Dowd!") to concerning ("aren't you that art thief?" "You're the dude who blew up the apartments next to mine!")

[peppermintmagicianlynn]

Bernard Dowd: Extraordinary

He's a queer, grunge-aesthetic boy-next-door conspiracy theorist who loves video games, escaped a chaos-driven pain cult, and hasn't properly talked to his bourgeoisie parents in over a year because they regret he was ever born.

He gets nightmares about almost being sacrificed to an ancient god, is best friends with an undead witch whom he used to have a crush on despite her father being a mob boss, and spent years secretly in love with a classmate whose stepmom he called "hot".

He has dreams of becoming a famous chef and serves special hot chocolate to his boyfriend in a janky houseboat on a polluted marina while pretending he doesn't know said boyfriend is a world famous vigilante/detective.

And on top of all that, he once dragged Batman and other Gotham heroes into a rescue mission against a deadly pain-turned-murder cult to save two of their members - including his own boyfriend - during which he took down a wall with a sledgehammer and unresolved PTSD wrath.

What part of THAT would make ANYONE think Bernard Dowd is an ordinary or boring civilian?