#haly's circus

[audhd-nightwing]

“dick grayson is a rich kid” “dick grayson is a cop”

you mean the dick grayson who spent the first 9ish years of his life in a traveling circus? who probably lived in a trailer? who was put in juvie for weeks after being orphaned? who was likely taught not to trust cops?

you mean the dick grayson who refused to use bruce’s money once he left the manor? who lived in a shitty apartment in Blüdhaven and worked a job to afford it? who is very independent from bruce?

you mean the dick grayson who saw firsthand the corruption in both gotham and blüdhaven’s police department? who became a vigilante to do what the cops couldn’t/wouldn’t do?

you mean the dick grayson who, after becoming a millionaire (from alfred’s inheritance), gave all of that money to charity? that dick grayson?

[theforgottendaydreamer]

I think people forget that in addition to all the shit that Dick goes through in the YJ animated show, like losing Wally, countless betrayals/double agent-y stuff, losing even more teammates, watching Babs get paralysed, etc, Dick also lost Jason in that universe.

And we don't really get to see much of it, we get a glimpse of it only when Dick himself tells Tim "Just don't die", and later when Kaldur says "Now Jason is dead".

But Dick goes through that too. Despite all the suffering he was put through ever since S1 basically (Haly's, failsafe, "I don't want to be the Batman", ...), we collectively need to remember that he lost Jason too, there.

Not to mention, the potential that the next season has (they must make it.) with the Sanctuary.

[brucewaynehater101]

Because Haly's Circus toured around the world, Dick would've had a strong grasp on tons of different languages before meeting Bruce.

What languages would he know best?

[mayamarvil]

Bathound looks different in this picture

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #1

[magnoliasandarson]

million dollar smile

By all accounts, Richard John Grayson was a bubbly child. Lively, ever-smiling, he talked a mile a minute at anyone who would give him a second. He fluttered about under the big top at Haly's with all the joy and energy of a storybook child. He took to the sky with his Daj and Dat, eyes looking out to the crowd—performing as only he could. Then his parents fell.

Suddenly, the smiles never quite reached his eyes; his energy was still there, but it wasn't the same. He didn't soar; hands stretched to the sky, he leaped- eyes fixed on the ground. His jokes weren't cheeky- they were acidic. Now the story didn't end happily ever after; now it ended with Dick Grayson making things right. No matter the cost.

But Bruce tried. He stared into darkened blue eyes that once reflected the happiest summer days and offered a new chance. He took the boy's darkness into his own shadows and handed him a suit made of the sun and everything good. The smiles were real again, painfully so, but there was an awful curl on his lips that made it look more like a snarl. Even so, it worked for a while, but a bandage on a bullet wound never holds.

The darkness crept into his periphery again. Blurred his vision. He kept trying to fly- kept trying to be worthy of his vibrant armor. But Bruce was done trying. He snatched away his salvation- and tossed it to another kid with starry eyes. Dick tried to hate the boy- Jason- the imposter that stole his birthright and legacy in one fell swoop, but his chip-toothed grin stole away into his shadows, and the world wasn't so dark anymore. 

Now, when Robin went flying into the dark, he had a companion in the darkness. More likely to snap than the younger, more ready to make the hard calls. It was his purpose; Nightwing wasn’t meant to be a beacon of light. 

They only ever caught glimpses of him from the shadows.

Just a flash of shiny white teeth before the darkness.

[frie-ice]

These are photos you can find in the Belfrey in Gotham Knights. Most of them are of family moments within the Batfamily, as well as photos the Robins had took of themselves with friends. Along with photos from their pasts and a four-legged Batfamily member that didn't physically appear in the 2022 game.

As a bonus I threw in the Flying Graysons poster, since two of the photos Dick had kept from the circus he lived with before Bruce took him in.

[cookeybg]

Gotham Possesses

Tittle: Gotham Possesses

A cryptid Batfamily AU in which Gotham is the main character and follows its journey to consciousness as it follows its Bat and Birds. Chapters are short and a bit gloomy.

Main Characters: Gotham, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth (more characters pop up later, will add them then.)

No romantic relationships

Stuff to know: Cryptid Batfamily, grim, Melancholic mood (let me know if I should add more tags)

Word Count: 498

[Here's my table of contents]

Chapter 4 - Gotham Drank

Through the eyes of her Bat she saw them fall. Fall. Fall. From a great distance of their own making and when they landed, their bodies crumbled. Her Bat watched, unable to tear his eyes away and Gotham cried for him. Their warmth seeped into her soil, but she could not wash it away. She saw the boy, another broken soul, like the many who lived within her embrace. She had witnessed many a sad tale, but she saw and from her Bat, she felt the resemblance. He took the boy to the manor he would soon call home. The boy’s sadness was familiar. The transition to anger almost comforting. In his anguish, the boy escaped the safe confines of the manor and he kept doing so, over and over and over again. Each night he went looking for the parasites that had enacted the beginnings of his orphaned fate. She had seen many before him and she would see many after him, but she could not leave him alone. Her Bat had chosen the boy, they had a connection and so she followed. She help where she could, a clearer sound here, a clue there, her shadows caressed his hair. The boy found them and she thundered, a cheer for his success. The men grabbed him. Gotham waited for him to fight, just like her Bat, and he fought fiercely. She should have known, she had seen it many times, but a child was no match for the strength grown men. With a lift and a swing, the boy fell. Fell. Fell. From a great distance and his body lay crumbled on her cobbled stones. His warmth seeped into her soil and this time she would be able to wash it away. She wept for the young soul. She wept for her Bat. She wept for the resemblance. In an act of grief, she took a piece of herself, a wisp of a shadow, guided it to the child’s mouth and settled within him. The boy took a shuddering breath. His crumpled body righted itself. Through his ears she heard him scream. Through his eyes she saw the darkness lightened. She helped him by making sure that no one heard his screams, that no one saw his body be put back together. When he was done, dirty and weak, she guided him back to her Bat, her Knight. Within her loving embrace, where the real bats roost, she felt the bond grow. The rope thickened and knitted itself, like fine lace, between the boy, her Bat and herself. When the boy found himself outside, he flew. Her buildings were his branches where he glided like a bird. He flitted from one place to the other and she made sure to always help carry him. Eventually her Bat and their little bird, their Robin, found the men responsible for the boys sadness and met justice. A bit of warmth was spilled that night and Gotham drank.

[momachan]

"The Gotham Gazette calls me The Caped Crusader. It's a gimmick to sale papers. They mean it as a compliment. It's not. Crusades are terrible things. Ask the disciples of the Demon's Brood, if you can find a live one. When you commit your life to the destruction of an enemy, destruction is the inevitable result. And the crusader has no guarantee his enemy will suffer rhe worst of it. It is true I have asked Robin to walk the same path. But I will never let him follow me. We march side by side. Because thanks to Robin I know something the Brood never learned. What will save the crusader from a lifetime spent in pursuit of destruction is what he is able to build along the way. We've built a partnership. And inside that, we've built a refuge from the destruction we've both chosen as our sworn path. A means to stay aloft as the enemy falls all around us. Someday, God Willing, the crusader will hang up his cape. The Dynamic Duo will never die."

Batman: The Audio Adventures (2022). "Interlude: Till Human Voices Wake Us And We Drown."

[bubblesxo]

The whole shtick of Haly’s in Gotham gives me MAJOR “Something Wicked This Way Comes” (by Ray Bradbury) vibes.

[serenchoir]

the daring dan danger

[martyrbat]

detective comics #484

[ID: college aged Dick Grayson, in his Robin costume, talking to Mr. Haly (the circus owner) after preventing a tragedy from occuring. Dick worriedly asks, “But what will you do now, Mr. Haly? With the damage caused by the fire you might have to sell out...” Mr. Haly reassures, “No, my boy, because for years I've been recoevin these checks — anonymously! Thanks to them, the Haly Circus will remain in my control!” He shows Dick the check, who instantly recognizes it! He thinks, ‘Hmmmm, that check comes from a bank where a certain Bruce (Batman) Wayne is a heavy depositor... What do you know!’ He tells Haly, “Well, you're still on top, Mr. Haly — and I have places to go!” END ID]

[thatgraysoncharm]

One of my favorite things about the origin of “Robin” being a nickname for Dick from his mum is that the rest of the circus must of known about the name, right?

So maybe after the accident, the first time Robin makes it on the news they all side eye each other like, “wait a minute”.

Because the colours of the Flying Grayson's -Red and Green and Yellow- are very distinctive. And the name “Robin” rings a bell. And they all very much remember how they were forced to leave behind a small black haired boy after the public tragedy of his parents. 

A black haired boy that was a prodigious acrobat, that could twirl and tumble and fly in the air just like the small vigilante that was slowly making himself known across Gotham - and even the world.

So maybe the older members of Haly’s circus have a few secrets they keep to themselves. Maybe they find themselves checking in on what Robin’s up to via newspapers when they stop to perform every now and again.

Because Robin was one of them, once. And they should of known that a Flying Grayson would never stay down.

[mayamarvil]

The entire DC universe has seen Haly’s Circus at this point

Batman: The Audio Adventures #6

[avianssphere]

these are really rough drawings cause i whipped this up an hour before class but i couldn’t get little dick grayson and diamond mine out of my head

[nonaonann]

PSSSTT....

HEY ! OVER HERE !!!

If you're writing something about Dick Grayson, specifically the quadruple somersault, his time in the circus, or the Flying Graysons as a whole, I suggest you look into Miguel Vazquez, the first trapeze artist to accomplish a quadruple somersault, doing so at age 17 in 1982, as well as Ammend Tuniziani, another of the few flyiers who have accomplished such an impressive feat.

Miguel preformed the quadruple thousands of times before he quit flying, and his family, the Flying Vazquez family, have been involved with the circus for generations. PLEASE LOOKS AT THEIR FITS. THEY ARE SO GOOD AND PRETTY. THE SEQUENCE? THE COLORS? THE CAPES?? There's also a 2hr documentary about Miguel and what life in the circus is like called The Last Great Circus Flyer.

Ammend is also from a family who's been circus performers for generations, and his wife, Estefani Evans, is the same. They preform together, along with Ammend's brothers, as the Flying Tuniziani, and they're performances are more accessible given the better technology on YouTube (they're actually really cool to watch). Ammend and Estefani also have two children, the eldest of which has begun practicing on the trapeze, and their love story is so cute. They're amazing performers, and looking into them has made me want to catch one of their performances. Furthermore, because of their eldest, and Ammend's experience himself, you can see one of the many methods children in the circus receive their education, which you can so draw from when writing your fic, emphasizing how different Dick's life and his schooling is when his whole story starts.

Of course their are so many amazing circus performers and trapeze artists you can look into for reference, but in this two—maybe three hour rabbit hole, these performers are the one who have popped up first from searching quadruple somersault, and the ones who have completely captured my interest.

Also, hey, if you use the lives of these people as a reference and knowledge to better convey what you want with your story, a fic or original work, remember these are real life people. Treat them with respect.

Art constantly draws from life, from our experiences, the ones of those around us, the ones of those we only know through articles and interviews, and more. It's is okay to expand your knowledge and reference real life things, but it should be done with consideration on how doing so will effect others, those reading your story and those who you are drawing inspiration from.

[bluegarners]

chapter is up <3