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clericofsune · 2 years

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Dimensions & Demigods: Building Raven at Level 40

For those not in the know, I’m currently playing in a campaign that’s basically Descent into Avernus stretched out to include all Nine Circles of the Nine Hells, followed by a detour through Into the Abyss, and then running out to Barovia for some milk, pack of smokes, and bullying the local goth shut-in. This campaign is designed with the players intended to fight Archdevils, Archdemons, entire armies, and a hyper roided-out Strahd. As such, the DM has told us ahead of time that our level cap will be level 40. I have dubbed playing at this level “Dimensions & Demigods” because by level 40, a mere dragon in a dungeon is child’s play. And as part of a little treat, I’ll be building the ENTIRE Teen Titans for a Dimensions & Demigods level playstyle. But, I am starting with Raven because in case you’re new to my page, she isn’t just my favorite character in the show, she’s my favorite superhero PERIOD. DC, Marvel, or otherwise. So, it would be an insult to my queen to not give her the honor of being first.

PARTY BALANCE

Before we get into actually building Raven herself, I need to talk about how the Teen Titans fares as a party. Broadly speaking, there are 5 major roles that need filling in a party: DPS, Tank, Healer, Blaster, and Stealth. For the Teen Titans, Raven is not the “Blaster”. That role belongs to Starfire. Starfire is the damage-heavy “black mage” of the party, while also being somewhat of a secondary Tank alongside Cyborg/Blue Beetle and Beast Boy. Raven, by contrast, is what’s called a Utility Caster. A Utility Caster is someone who can use their spells to get the party around tricky situations, such as using magic to open a locked door, scout ahead, disarm traps, help the party get past obstructions in their path, and more. However, there’s a major role that the party lacks: Healer. Whenever one of the Titans gets hurt, it’s usually Cyborg who looks over the team member in the sick bay, but Raven has displayed the rare occasional ability to heal wounds, but only ever by touch. This means that the role of Healer is split between Cyborg and Raven. Neither is a dedicated healbot. However, Cyborg is an Artificer, which is a half-caster, whereas Raven is a full caster. As such, more of the responsibility would fall on her. Furthermore, if you’re going by the DC Animated Universe team composition, Cyborg is technically in the Justice League and not even in the party. While he’s with the team in the first movie, he’s completely absent in the Judas Contract. Thus leaving the entire burden of Team Healer on Raven. Yes, Beast Boy is a Druid, but he has no magical powers. While someone could build a fantasy counterpart Beast Boy that is a dedicated team healer, we can’t rely on a Beast Boy player to want take up the mantle of healer because Beast Boy does not canonically have magical powers beyond his wild-shaping. As such, someone wanting to play as Beast Boy may not want to take any spells, and might even dump his Wisdom stat just high enough to qualify for the Druid class. So, we need Raven to fulfil the Healer and Utility Caster roles for the party.

Raven Roth is the half-fiend daughter of Trigon the Terrible and the mortal woman, Arella Roth. Arella was lured into a demonic cult where she was chosen to lay with their demon lord to conceive his heir. Afterwards, Arella and the unborn child were spirited away by Azar and the Monks to the plane of Azarath, where Raven was born and raised. From a young age, Raven was taught to conceal and control her emotions, focusing her mind to accomplish great psionic abilities.

On paper, Raven sounds like a perfect Tiefling. She’s a humanoid with fiendish ancestry, and it’s not a bad choice. However, I feel there’s a stronger choice for Raven’s race: Fallen Aasimar. Tieflings get Fire resistance which, near as I can tell, Raven is not particularly fireproof in the slightest. Whereas Fallen Aasimar lets Raven unleash her Dark Side. Starting at 3rd Level, Fallen Aasimars get Necrotic Shroud. As an action, they can take on a dark and frightening form so horrifying that all nearby creatures have to pass a saving throw to avoid being scared of her. For the next minute, she adds her level in Necrotic damage to one attack damage roll per turn over the course of 10 rounds. I don’t know about you, but to me, that reads like she’s tapping into Dark Raven, or even Red Raven. Plus, Aasimars get Healing Hands, a feature we can see that Raven obviously possesses. They still get Dark Vision just like Tieflings, and get two resistances instead of one: Radiant and Necrotic, which in DnD, are often used to signify Holy and Unholy magic, tying Raven closer to her brand of demonic magic.

Raven is an extraplanar visitor from Azaroth, which I would most likely call the Astral Plane, though the Upper Planes would also make sense. A DnD counterpart to Raven could have also been raised by her father in the Nine Hells or the Abyss. Regardless, Raven is a newcomer to the Material Plane having come from another plane of existence. I would label her a Far Traveler, giving her proficiency in Insight and Perception. Two skills which are very important for an empath like Raven.

For Alignment, I believe that Raven is Lawful Good, though she can veer into Neutral Good when necessary. Raven has a strict moral code and enforces mental discipline on not only herself, but those around her. When her teammates react emotionally, Raven reminds them to apply logic, even to the point of suppressing and denying her own feelings on the matter. When Robin appears to have become a full-fledged supervillain, Raven is the first Titan to say that they have to stop him, no matter how they might feel about it. Their duty as superheroes comes before their feelings about it being Robin. Occasionally, Raven will stoop to less Lawful actions like convincing Gizmo to help the Titans fix Cyborg by scaring him with something horrible under her hood and being thrilled to tease Beast Boy about his real name being Garfield, stating that she’ll ‘get a lot of mileage out of this one’. However, by-and-large, Raven puts her beliefs, duty, and discipline before anyone and anything else, so long as it serves to benefit the greater good.

WARLOCK FIEND PATRON (PACT OF THE CHAIN)

While I am aware that Concentration is one of the best saving throws in the game, I’m also aware that a common weakness of Raven is that it’s very easy to break her concentration on spells. She’s often interrupted, loses focus, or even becomes weak and enfeebled after using a lot of power, especially in the DC animted films where she faints often after using a lot of magic. So, for accuracy’s sake, we’re starting Raven as a Fiend Warlock because they get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saving throws. As a Warlock, we’ll Give Raven proficiency in Arcana and Intimidation skill checks. If you’re trying to Power Build, by all means, grab Sorcerer at level 1, but I’m trying to also stay true to Raven as a character. We want anywhere from 2 - 20 levels in Warlock. This is really a build-your-own-Raven because between the three subclasses I’m showing you, there’s not really any wrong way to go. Having Raven Hurl Through Hell her enemies is just as in-character as being a heal-bot. So cater to what the party needs. For her familiar, go with a spectral raven.

WIZARD

No matter what kind of Wizard we choose to build, we’re going to want at least 14 - 20 levels in Wizard. It will be our primary class for building Raven. There’s a lot of good choices for Wizard subclass, but the main thing we’re here for is that massive spell list. Raven’s psionic powers translate well to a wide variety of spells, and Wizard really lets Raven do a lot of the more interesting things with her spells. The 18th level feature also lets Raven cast any 1st and 2nd level spell indefinitely. Throw Shield and Blur on her, and she has a permanent +5 to her AC and enemies have disadvantage on hitting her. Choose Detect Magic and Detect Thoughts, and she’ll be able to really flex her extrasensory perception.

SCHOOL OF ABJURATION

As an Abjuration Wizard, Raven becomes a shield maiden for her team, able to protect herself and others with her forcefields. While her forcefields are by no means her main method of combat, she uses them often enough that the School of Abjuration feels like a good fit for Raven. Plus, in the early levels, having a little extra Temporary HP on a Wizard is extremely valuable. At higher levels, she can protect her friends with her Arcane Ward which you could flavor as her sending out her astral raven to guard them, projecting her soul as a shield. And by late game, she becomes resistant to all magic damage, showing her to be a true master of magic.

SCHOOL OF ENCHANTMENT

For anyone familiar with Raven from the comics, the School of Enchantment is very fitting for Raven. Dealing with the manipulation of emotions, senses, and mind control, the School of Enchantment would let Raven summon two demons and be able to cast Dominate Monster on both of them. Twin casting enchantment spells is extremely good, and on brand for the types of things we see Raven do in the comics. She doesn’t do this sort of thing as much in the show or movies, but emotional manipulation is a part of her empathic abilities.

SCHOOL OF PSIONICS (UA)

To this day, I am salty that this subclass was never formally published, but Psi Knight and Soul Knife were, because it basically screams ‘Raven’ at the top of its lungs. If I were to pick the perfect wizard subclass for Raven, this would be my first choice. However, because it never made it past the Unearthed Arcana phase, some DMs might not allow it. Granted, this is a build for a level 40 character, so your DM is probably going to allow UA. I’ve never had a DM that didn’t allow UA. But, those DMs do exist, so I have to put a little asterisk next to this subclass, even though it’s the best choice for Raven. As a Psionics Wizard, Raven can cast Friends without enemies turning hostile, turn into her astral raven form, add her INT mod to Force and Psychic spell damage rolls, can cast Telekinesis, Scrying, or Dominate Person once without using a spell slot, and at later levels, her Astral Form can move through solid objects, letting her fly through walls. Also worth pointing out, Eldritch Blast is a Force damage spell. So a Fiend Warlock with Agonizing Blast, Empowered Psionics, and has maxed out both INT and CHA is rolling 4d10+40. At least, so long as all four beams are aimed at one enemy. Empowered Psionics only works on one enemy per turn. Still, dealing 44 force damage at bare minimum is going to really help elevate Raven from out of the Utility Caster role to let her do a bit of Blasting, helping her to feel more useful and powerful in combat encounters. I’ve never gotten to really use a Raven build for a full campaign, but the few times I’ve tried to build her in a campaign, she lagged a bit behind in the combat department due to her squishy hit points and abundance of utility and support spells. So, this combo really turns Raven into a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. And you can get both features as early as level 12, so it comes on relatively early as well, at least for a level 40 build.

SCHOOL OF THEURGY (UA)

The only reason you should grab this subclass is because you need a healer, but you also want all of the Warlock levels. If you want to build a pure Wizlock, but also be a healer, then this subclass will be a good fit. Similar to Psionics, this subclass never made it past Unearthed Arcana, so you will need your DMs approval to use this subclass. You also get to pick features from a Cleric Domain. Life, Grave, and Knowledge are great choices for Raven, though even Peace can fit her. If you choose Knowledge, Raven gains Expertise in Arcana and either Religion or History. Since Arcana was a skill we chose as a Warlock, if you’re planning on taking the Knowledge Theurgy route, take Intimidation and either Investigation, History, or Religion as your second Warlock skill.

SORCERER DIVINE SOUL ORIGIN (EVIL)

There are two reasons we want these Sorcerer levels. Firstly, it’s a way to give Raven healing spells without being a Cleric and splitting her casting stat focus between three stats. The second is that it gives Raven access to Sorcery Points and Metamagic Options. Lorewise, this is the most accurate way to build Raven. Her powers stem from her demonic heritage, though they are also a gift from Trigon. Her powers are also tied to her emotions, so connecting her powers to the emotion stat is very appropriate. I count Trigon as working for the Divine Soul Origin because he maps very easily onto Asmodeus, the King of the Nine Hells, who is also a Greater Deity. You don’t need to take any Sorcerer levels if you only want to build a Wizlock, but if you only want 2-4 levels in Warlock, you can take 18-20 levels in Wizard and 18-20 levels in Sorcerer. This is why I haven’t really given any hard numbers for this build. If all you want is 8 levels of Sorcerer, 14 levels of Warlock and 18 levels of Wizard, by all means. Again, the main reason we’re here is metamagic and healing spells. If your party is set on healers and you don’t care about metamagic, you don’t need it.

MAGICAL OPTIONS

ELDRITCH INVOCATIONS

Agonizing Blast

Armor of Shadows

Ascendant Step

Chains of Carceri

Devil Sight

Eldritch Mind

Eldritch Sight

Gaze of Two Minds

Gift of the Ever-Living Ones

Grasp of Hadar

Maddening Hex

Repelling Blast

Visions of Distant Realms

METAMAGIC OPTIONS

Careful Spell

Empowered Spell

Heightened Spell

Twinned Spell

Quickened Spell

FEATS

I want to point out that these are merely suggestions, and you do not have to grab all of these feats to build Raven properly. This is merely a masterlist of all the feats I feel are appropriate for Raven.

Alert: Raven uses her extrasensory empathy to sense incoming lifeforms.

Eldritch Adept: For when you want more warlock in your warlock

Fey Touched: Just call it Devil Touched for flavor.

Linguist: Raven is a polyglot, speaking multiple languages

Magic Initiate: For when your Wizard wants to learn Cleric spells

Metamagic Adept: For when you want more sorcerer in your sorcerer

Observant: Your an empath that can sense the locations of people. High passive perception is never not good.

Prodigy: Expertise in Perception or Insight goes a long way to turn Raven into a living lie detector or the ultimate Hide-n-Seek champion.

Resilient: Give Raven proficiency in a necessary saving throw like CON, WIS, or DEX.

Shadow Touched: For the goth palette swap of Fey Touched

Skill Expert: Same as Prodigy, Expertise in Insight or Perception is very good on Raven.

Telekinetic: Raven has Psychic powers.

Telepathic: What did I just say?

Toughness: How to stop your Wizard from crying after being hit once in an encounter.

War Caster: Opportunity attacks with magic and advantage on concentration saves is always useful.

MAGIC ITEMS

Arcane Grimoire (+1, +2, +3): Higher wizard spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Bloodwell Vial (+1, +2, +3): Higher sorcerer spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Rod of the Pact Keeper (+1, +2, +3): Higher warlock spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Cloak of Protection: The cloak’s not just a fashion statement

Astral Shard: Raven teleports after every use of metamagic

Far Realm Crystal: Raven creates dark tendrils that attack, deals extra Psychic damage, and enemies might become frightened of her.

Heart Weaver’s Primer: Wizard Spellbook for the School of Enchantment.

Mantle of Spell Resistance: Raven’s cloak repels enemy magic.

Outer Essence Shard (Evil): Enemies take extra necrotic damage when Raven uses her metamagic. Perfect for Raven’s forehead gem.

Shadowfell Shard: Enemies have disadvantage on a saving throw of your choice until the end of your next turn.

Wings of Flying: A magic cloak that lets Raven fly. Useful for limitless flight/levitation.

Ring of Telekinesis: Permanent Telekinesis is very on-brand for Raven.

Grimoire Infinitus: The ultimate wizard spellbook

Robe of Stars: A black or dark blue robe that lets Raven teleport to the Astral Plane.

Robe of the Archmagi: White robes on Raven usually signifies that she’s older, wiser, and more powerful. So these legendary white robes that boost her AC so high are a very fitting high level item for her.

Book of Vile Darkness: Trigon’s unholy doctrine is fitting for Raven.

Demonomicon of Iggwilv: A Pokedex for Demons.

PIETY & PATRONS

While Raven is not strictly-speaking a Cleric of Trigon, her mother was in his cult, and she does owe some of her power to Trigon granting it to her, though he does not seem to be able to take her powers away from her. Piety was a system introduced in Mythic Odysseys of Theros. However, while it is not a “core” mechanic, I still enjoy it enough that I thought I’d take a crack at giving Raven her own Piety for serving Trigon.

TRIGON

EARNING PIETY -Destroy your enemy ruthlessly, especially if you land the killing blow. -Learn knowledge you were not meant to know -Outsmart Devils and intimidate demons into obedience -Give in to anger, hatred, jealousy, and vengeance -Gain and maintain power through domination, fear, and control

LOSING PIETY -Show mercy to those who have wronged you -Failing to seek out knowledge and expand your mind -Falling for the tricks of devils, or dominated by demons -Refusing to give in to hostile emotions -Allowing yourself to be subjugated through domination, fear, and control

3+ You learn Hellish Rebuke 10+ You learn Summon Lesser Demons 25+ Fiends summoned by you that are CR 1 or lower are friendly towards you. Furthermore, when a Fiend type creature summoned by you makes a saving throw to stop obeying you and turn hostile, the saving throw amount rolled by the fiend is reduced by half your level rounded down. 50+ Increase your Charisma or Intelligence by +2 to a maximum of 22

WARLOCK SPELLS

Due to the fact that the Warlock and Wizard spell list overlap quite a bit, I aimed primarily for spells Raven can only grab as a Warlock. However, since Wizard is the primary class for this build,

C Eldritch Blast, Friends, Mage Hand, Mind Sliver, Prestidigitation 1 Arms of Hadar, Hellish Rebuke, Hex 2 Darkness, Flock of Familiars, Shadow Blade 3 Enemies Abound, Fear, Hunger of Hadar 4 Blight, Shadow of Moil, Summon Greater Demon 5 Dream, Enervation, Far Step 6 Circle of Death 7 Etherealness 8 Maddening Darkness 9 Psychic Scream

DIVINE SOUL SPELLS

C Guidance, Resistance, Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, Thaumaturgy, Toll the Dead 1 Cure Wounds, Inflict Wounds 2 Lesser Restoration, Warding Bond 3 Spirit Guardians, Spirit Shroud, Speak with Dead 4 Control Water 5 Commune, Mass Cure Wounds 6 Heal, Planar Ally 7 Regenerate 8 Divine Word 9 Mass Heal

RAVEN’S WIZARD SPELLBOOK

Wizards can learn 44 spells by level-up, but they can also learn any spell on the wizard spell book by purchasing a spell and recording it in their spellbook. So, I’m going to put more than 44 spells in Raven’s wizard spellbook, because these are more-or-less every spell on the Wizard Spell List that can work for her, and I’ll leave it up to the player to shape her spell list how they want to. Obviously, there’s going to be some overlap with the Warlock spell list, though that’s fine if you prioritized Divine Soul over Fiendlock.

CANTRIPS Blade Ward, Chill Touch, Friends, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Mind Sliver, Mold Earth, Prestidigitation, Shape Water 1ST LEVEL Catapult, Cause Fear, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, Identify, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Tenser’s Floating Disk 2ND LEVEL Arcane Lock, Augury, Blur, Borrowed Knowledge, Crown of Madness, Darkness, Flock of Familiars, Gift of Gab, Hold Person, Knock, Levitate, Mind Spike, Misty Step, Nystul’s Magic Aura, Phantasmal Force, Shadow Blade, Suggestion, Tasha’s Mind Whip, 3RD LEVEL Bestow Curse, Blink, Clairvoyance, Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Enemies Abound, Fear, Fly, Gaseous Form, Magic Circle, Protection from Energy, Spirit Shroud, Summon Lesser Demons, Summon Shadowspawn, Tidal Wave 4TH LEVEL Arcane Eye, Banishment, Charm Monster, Confusion, Control Water, Dimension Door, Divination, Edvard’s Black Tentacles, Locate Creature, Otto’s Resilient Sphere, Phantasmal Killer, Polymorph, Raulothim’s Psychic Lance, Summon Greater Demon 5TH LEVEL Bigby’s Hand, Contact Other Plane, Dominate Person, Dream, Enervation, Far Step, Geas, Hold Monster, Infernal Calling, Legend Lore, Modify Memory, Negative Energy Flood, Planar Binding, Rary’s Telepathic Bond, Synaptic Static, Telekinesis, Teleportation Circle, Wall of Force 6TH LEVEL Arcane Gate, Eyebite, Fizban’s Platinum Shield, Globe of Invulnerability, Mass Suggestion, Mental Prison, Move Earth, Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, Summon Fiend 7TH LEVEL Etherealness, Forecage, Plane Shift, Symbol, Teleport 8TH LEVEL Demiplane, Dominate Monster, Feeblemind, Maddening Darkness, Telepathy 9TH LEVEL Astral Projection, Gate, Imprisonment, Psychic Scream, Time Stop

LEVELING GUIDE

As stated before, I feel the most accurate way to start Raven at level 1 is to start as a Warlock, proficient in saving throws to control her willpower and her emotions. Raven should spend the first 4 levels as a Fiend Pact Warlock, picking up the Pact of the Chain for a shadowy raven familiar. From here, what you choose to focus on first is entirely dependent on what you think is more important to pick up around the level 20-ish midpoint of the campaign. If you focus on getting Wizard to level 18 first, Raven will be able to cast a single 1st and 2nd level spell at their lowest levels at will, which can be extremely useful for a lot of utility spells like Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Find Familiar, Mage Armor, Shield, Blur, Hold Person, or Suggestion. However, by taking Sorcerer early, you could have limitless flight and Unearthly Recovery for most the campaign, which is very useful on a squishy caster, but trades off having a wide array of powerful spells by the midgame for being a powerful healer for most of the game.

Ultimately, I believe the best use of Raven is to give her 4 Levels of Fiend Warlock, 18 Levels of Wizard, and 18 Levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer. However, if you’re not interested in all those high level Cleric spells, Raven could also work with 14 Levels of Fiend Warlock, 18 levels Wizard, and 8 levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer. Depends on how badly she needs to be the healer, and how fast she needs to get good at providing that service to the party.

Again, this build is for the ultimate Raven. The Raven who can fight Trigon. The Raven who can fight off a demon invasion and stop apocalyptic-level threats. Obviously, not every DM is going to want to run a Level 40 campaign, the Dimensions and Demigods play style is not a common thing. But, if you get lucky and your DM wants to challenge themselves and the party, this can be a great example of what Raven can do when she’s fully realized. And like I said, I’ll be building the whole Teen Titans team so that Raven doesn’t have to face the armies of Trigon alone. Together, they might just be strong enough to bring down a god-tier foe.

#raven roth #teen titans raven #teen titans #raven #rachel roth #dc comics #azarath metrion zinthos #trigon #demonic #demon #teentitans #dungeons & dragons #dimensions & demigods #dimensions and demigods #Dungeons and Dragons #dnd #dnd 5e #dnd 5th edition #dnd fifth edition

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toomanyopinionss · 2 years

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Ok, it’s bout time to talk about

Titans

disclaimer- i’ll only be talking about seasons 1 and 2 of the show

…

Has a show ever made you feel so conflicted, you can’t even tell if you actually like it or not? This is that show for me. There’s so much I really like about this show, but also so much that irks me.

Let’s start with the good :)

- i LOVE a found family show. There’s something so comforting abt finding a home in people who are so different from you.

- I realllly like how not all of them are teenagers, but not all of them are adults. It makes for a nice balance and blends in nice with the more adult themes the show has. I love watching the older titans (ALL of them with their trauma, rough childhoods, and mommy and/or daddy issues) try and take care of the younger ones, giving them the good role models they didn’t have.

- The backstories are done so well. I’m a girl who likes context, and when I tell you some of my favorite episodes are the ones where we get to see how the hero’s ended up where they are. It’s just so good.

- All of them have done awful things. Not one titan has a clear conscience. but instead they’re all trying to navigate this fvcked up world like the rest of us. it humanizes them a bit, which i like.

also not all of them have super powers. I like how hawk and dove are not super powered in the least. they saw a need to become the superhero’s they never got when they were younger, and then they did that shit. we LOVEEEE.

Now, for the bad :/

-This show suffers immensely from the current trend of short seasons. it’s biggest enemy is time. this type of show require 20 episodes per season, at LEAST. i guess i should count it as a blesssing that they got more than 10 episodes for the first two seasons, which is more than i can say for every other show i’ve watched this year. Because of this, though, Titans has had to balance introducing the characters and exploring their relationships, while also trying to progress the story along. The fact that they manage to fit at least a couple backstory episodes in there is a miracle. but it leads to my next point

-The villains suck ass. When i watched Teen Titans as a kid, Trigon gave me nightmares. but the trigon here was giving antagonist in one of those rated R blockbuster summer vacation movies. and he was defeated in like 15 minutes by season two episode 1

Back in my Arrow days, I remember Slade being scary af. my man made every aspect of Oliver Queen’s life hell on earth for like 30 episodes. we as an audience had to watch as he slowly took apart his life piece by piece. but here? the only reason i gave a shit abt slade was because of Jericho, my beloved. Yeah the titans fell apart, but that was more attributed to Dick failing as a leader. it probably would have happened sooner or later even without slade there. also, conner and garfield with cadmus posed more of a threat than he did by the finale, which is saying something .

i will say that jericho twist got me though, that stuff was good.

-Jason. this team FAILED jason. I will never get over how spectacularly every single person either couldn’t see, or refused to see how this boy was struggling. Whenever I think abt it, it angers me. even BEFORE he fell off the damn building. I mean, the adults pour all this time and love into raven and… raven, but when it comes down to it, there was no support for him. HOW COULD JASON BE STANDING ON THE ROOF OF THE TITANS TOWER THINKING OF ENDING IT ALL, AND DICK MAKES IT ALL ABOUT HIMSELF? I saw a bit of the first episode of season 3, and i couldn’t go on until i poured out my thoughts somewhere. I don’t know if he’s actually dead, cause u really never know with these types of shows. if he is though? his blood is on the hands of every single adult figure in his life. fvck them ALL.

Quite frankly, there’s so many more

things that I’ve yet to touch

stupid story decisions, some bad acting, a gaping lack of lgbtq+ characters, at least in the 2 seasons i’ve watched

but i’m getting upset so let me just end it with this:

The show is farrrr from perfect. but it’s got a good heart, i think. and i can just tell when a network is getting ready to cancel something. so if anyone comes across this post who hasn’t watched the show, give it a shot

6.5/10 stars. maybe 7 if dick gets his act together for season 3

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obito76 · 2 years

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Raven has been exploring alot of her identity lately. And she has found out she just can't get enough of giving Beastboy sneaky orgasms. Blowjob under the breakfast table or a handjob under a blanket during team movie night. Seeing him squirm and try to hide what she is doing is the most indulgent part of the experience for her; and it's beautifully cut with the risk of getting caught

Raven laid down on her bed, though she just finished a suprisingly quite meditation session, her body was relaxed but her mind kept thinking about her green boyfriend. Her relationship with Beast boy, Gar that's what she calls him now, came with many things but one thing that quite surprised her was...

Sex

Of course, she and her green boyfriend crossed that line while ago but she had to admit it's a wonderful feeling and quite addictive too.

During their intimate moments Raven also had learnt lots of things about her body, her desires, Like even though she is a half demon, she is quite submissive during sex, which suprised her. Of course she like to take control during sex, riding is cock satisfies her pussy in different way, but whenever he takes her from behind and pulls her hair, slap her ass or grabs her throat tightly always ended up making her loose her mind. During their sexual interactions Raven also found her one of the most favourite thing.

Quickies.

Yes, you read correctly.

Raven, sorceress supreme, daughter of trigon, the ice queen, queen of darkness, miss monotone, the iron wall, the girl who would not laugh, was in fact enjoys giving sneaky pleasure to her boyfriend and watch him squirm.

Raven smiled as she recalled events of yesterday.

---

“Yo grass stain something wrong ?” Cyborg asked as he settled on his seat.

“Just a little hot that’s all,” Gar said, complimenting the girl in front of him, wearing his t-shirt. Raven grinned and bit her bottom lip before dropping her fork.

“Oops, better get that, now where did it go” she disappeared into the dark underneath of the table. Just he was about about to take another bite from his rice Gar felt a kiss pressed on his bulge “shit”. Looking down only to find Raven looking up with smirk on her face as she started to unzip him.

Beast boy glanced at Cyborg. keeping his mind calm he took another bite as she dug her hand deep to free his cock and balls. Taking hold of her surroundings Raven made sure she was safe to proceed and smiled before moving all the way down to kiss his balls before nuzzling her nose in them. They were warm and their musky scent was delicious, just how she likes it.

---

Raven let out a small laugh, remembering his face. she never thought she could be the sneaky one, but the thrill, risk of almost getting caught and the scent and warmth of his balls was enough to start burning feeling between her legs.

Suddenly a knock startled her, breaking her thoughts.

“Yo Rae! are you busy ?” Cyborg yelled from the other side.

“Just meditating” Raven groaned, quite annoyed actually.

“Well it's past 10 wanna join us? we are watching a movie..”

First like an instinct a 'NO' was about escape from her mouth but she paused, all the thought of Beast boy and his cock her new found favourite part of his body, this might be her chance to have some fun under the blanket with him.

Raven smirked. “Ok, i will be there.”

Gar you better be ready...

I wasn't sure how to react to that ask whether write my thoughts or write a short fic...so i ended up writing something lol 😂

But i actually enjoyed it. In this one Raven is quite kinky but i wanted to explore more so..

Also I wasn't sure what reader actually wants from a smut writer so I'm experimenting with this post..

If you have anything to say, any suggestions or any idea or any fantasies about your ship DROP IT HERE.

I will try to be honest about all your questions.

Until then...

#bbrae #teen titans #raven roth #beast boy #raven teen titans #garfield logan #smut #beast boy x raven #beast boy loves raven #teen titans smut #smut writing #shameless smut #smut prompts #smut prompts writing #bb x rae #tt #ttg #Raven loves Gar #gar logan

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beyondthetemples-ooc · 2 years

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Note to self: New Azarathean aspect of life to ponder.

Is the Azarathean practice triumphalist?

(I started pondering it, of course, and it turned into quite an essay!)

“Triumphalism” in a religious context is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the belief that one religious creed is superior to all others.” It usually manifests as one religion looking at other religions in the world and saying, “You’re wrong.” It also tends to come with condescension and colonialism, historically speaking, and sometimes impacts cultures to the point where the prevailing religion in a culture is assumed to be the “default” way of living. (Look at the United States and Christmas being so thoroughly inundated in every aspect of our life for 1-2 months. Then look at all the religions in this country that aren’t Christianity. An estimated 1/3 of this country is of another religious creed entirely, but the federal holidays, the movie networks, the retail, everything becomes all about Christmas when in the early winter. It’s the Triumphalism^tm.)

I only learned about this concept last year, and in a very tangential lecture that is in no way relevant to Azarath, but the lecture did touch on how religious triumphalism impacts a culture. Today I answered a question about whether Dove (one of my Azarathean OCs) is “religious”, and it made me think Heavily about the Azarathean spirituality. So here we are, pondering the Azarathean spirituality.

Obviously they believe their way of life is Better than Earth’s. I mean, they fled it, and the way they talk about Earth is pretty... condescending, I guess? Very much judgemental and like politely scoffing. Like a side-eying, “Listen, this violent conflict stuff is why we left you in the first place. Leave us alone.”

But they’re also not militantly religious. Highly spiritual, yes-- but not rigid in their routines or expectations! (This is more extrapolation and deduction of their behavior than anything; they seem to let people wander around and the only “meeting” we’ve ever seen them congregate in was a gathering called together by Azar herself. And also in the afterlife, but I see absolutely no evidence that aside from Raven’s training, they had a rigid set of rules, expectations, and behaviors over their constituents.)

And they keep to themselves. A common trait in triumphalist religions (in the real world) is the practice of the missionary: finding other people and converting them to Your Religion, because Your Religion is Right and Theirs Is Wrong. (Believe it or not, Christians aren’t the only ones that practice conversion! They’re just the most in-your-face and colonialist about it. Religion on Earth has a looong history of conversion, even in “religions”-- or maybe more aptly, philosophies-- like Daoism and Confucianism.)

But contrary to what a lot of the fandom interprets, I don’t think the Azaratheans go out and seek people to bring them to Azarath and convert them to Azar’s teachings. They always talk about how proud they are of being separate from Earth; how they left Earth behind; how they don’t concern themselves with Earth’s affairs. That’s kind of a key component in their conflict with Raven when she asks them to help her fight Trigon. It’s the ONLY point of conflict in Raven’s discussion with Azar in the “Games” graphic novel. It’s kind of a key point in Azarath’s history and Raven’s internal conflict: Azarath Doesn’t Care About Earth. So why would they leave the world they’re so proud of having created, and bring people to them if they’re so determined to set themselves apart and shrug off Earth’s problems?

(I don’t mean this to disparage others’ interpretations; if that’s how you want to write Azarath, by all means, do so! This is just my interpretation and how I’ve rationalized everything I’ve read about them.)

They kind of already did help in the fight against Trigon, actually, just in their own way: They found Arella and brought her to Azarath. I don’t think this was a common practice they employed; I think Arella was a Special Case specifically BECAUSE she was carrying Trigon’s offspring. And Azar flat-out says it in Raven’s telling of her backstory: Bringing Raven to them and raising her the way they did was the only way to prevent universes from being destroyed.

I do suspect that if someone could contribute to their society in other ways and didn’t just Need Spiritually Saved, they’d make the offer to bring them in, but that’s purely a function of headcanon and biological reproductive necessity moreso than as a tenant of their religious practice. We don’t know how many people originally founded Azarath. I suspect it wasn’t a lot, and they’ve canonically been around for at least 500 years, I believe, with two of the three Azars living for 200 and 300 years. I might’ve gotten those numbers wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s what Raven said? Anyways, even if you assume Azaratheans live for longer than Earth humans and that lifespan wasn’t specific to Azars, there were probably children being born. Supposing what Raven said about “other children [playing]” indicates that there ARE children in Azarath, especially given that Galya was able to nurse her and thus had likely recently had children of her own: this indicates there was reproduction. And you can only get so many generations out of Not a Lot of People before things get... questionable. Also only so much knowledge and magical prowess to be gleaned from the same people even if they live for five centuries. Hence: bringing in fresh bloodlines and talents.

But I don’t think it was a common practice, just a few very carefully vetted and chosen few, if any. It’s pretty explicitly stated many times over that the Azarathean brand of pacifism is “compassionless”, refusing to extend help to those who need it.

But just because they don’t proselytize doesn’t mean they don’t still believe their religion is The Ultimate Truth.

Taking the canon of the entire DC Multiverse into consideration, it’s hard to say there’s One True Right Religion, because the Greek gods exist, and so do Heaven and Hell, and even Santa Claus is real if you want to take the holiday specials as gospel!

Do the Azaratheans know this? Personally, I don’t even think the Azaratheans care enough to check the “realness” of other religions, even if they’re studying it for scholarly reasons. You know, that whole “Our way of life is sooo much better than Earth’s” mindset. It probably affects their study of Earthen history, too. I’m sure they’d look upon it and in an exercise on pacifism, think something like “Maybe that’s true, maybe not, either way it’s not our problem.”

Even my ADHD hyperfixation I’m running out of steam for this, but I need to chew on whether I think they feel their religion is superior, and not just their way of life (though they’re very much a theocratical oligarchy with a high priestess as both a spiritual and political leader, and the two are undoubtedly intertwined).

Maybe it depends on the person, ultimately... but I have to chew on whether Azar’s teachings themselves would have anything to say about Other Religions, or if they would just happily pretend contrary worldviews don’t even exist.

(Note to self: Further consider whether Dove and Srentha would put any stock in the triumphalism, especially after coming to Earth and being inevitably faced with So Many Different Religions. I know Srentha would be fascinated and want to study them, and Dove readily accepts different worldviews, but do they feel their beliefs are superior? I suspect Srentha would and Dove would have a more nuanced understanding that All Their Creeds are Valid, but only after someone has a sincere in-depth discussion with her about it.)

#can you tell I've taken a lot of religious and anthropological classes? Because I think my Theological History Nerd is showing.#azarath #tt headcanons list #ntt headcanons list #rhs has ocs and this is the tag about them #iala yona #iala srentha

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ahugenerdynerd · 3 years

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So I think a lot of us can agree that Titans isnt a great show. But not just with their portrayals of the characters but also with the writing.

I personally can forgive what Titans has done with the different takes of the characters, don’t get me wrong it’s still shit but that’s not what this post is about.

The show is just packed full of bad writing. This coming from someone who has studied film for over 4 years. But anyone who knows anything can see how bad the writing is.

(I will be waiting to pass judgment on season 3 until the entire season is out, so this will be focusing of season 1 and 2)

Analysis under the cut

Firstly they will establish something, only for them to completely forget about that fact next episode. Case and point in episode 7 of season 2 Dick finds out that Deathstroke has been stalking them and is in the tower. After that he rushes back, visibly distraught with a gun in hand dramatically declaring that Deathstroke was there in the building. Only for in the very next episode for that fact to have been completely forgotten and now they’re all just leaving and it never gets brought up again.

This isn’t the only time something like this has happened but it’s the most glaringly obvious one.

Something that they also do which is most prevalent in season 2 is the spacing of the events between episodes. Titans will dedicate entire episodes just for one part of the story. This may work for some shows, specifically sitcoms that are aired on tv. Shows like The Big Bang Theory or Friends that viewers generally aren’t going to be watching in the correct order so they’re made to be stand alone episodes. But Titans isn’t a sitcom nor is it being aired on tv. What they really should have done is spread these scenes out over several episodes as flashbacks rather than to condense them down into one episode. Because by having the full flashback episodes it makes the show feel disjointed and they interrupt the drama and the suspense. It’s like getting to the climax of a film only to be interrupted by a 40 minute ad. You end up not really caring for the episode because you just want to know what happens with the cliffhanger from the previous episode. When really the events of these flashback episodes should be the most important and interesting part of the show. Where we get to see what happened between the Titans that made them brake up and character backstories and the like.

I think the most disappointing use of this is with the episode ‘Connor’. Rather than condensing Conners entire backstory up to meeting the Titans into one episode leaves a lot to be desired. I would have much preferred to have seen his backstory of escaping Cadmus and his relationship with Eve spread out over sever episodes in tandem to what was happen with the main cast. It would have created a lot more build up and anticipation for him finally meeting up with the rest of the Titans. Whereas what we got was one episode where we could easily guess exactly what was going to happen and where too distracted by Jason supposedly falling to his death to really appreciate the episode.

Secondly, is the shows pacing. It is all over the place. Season 1 was especially bad when it came to this and season 2 was only marginally better. Obviously I’m going to be talking about what happened with Trigon.

Fist of all the decisions for Trigon to be the big bad of the fist season was an interesting decision to say the least. But let’s forget about the comic book aspect and look at what made this season so bad writing wise.

Basically it all boils down to set up and pay off. The set up obviously being how the show sets up the climax, in this case the battle against Trigon. And the pay off basically being how rewarding the climax feels for the audience. With good writing you will have a pay off that is equal to or greater than the set up. If there’s not much set up then it’s easier for the pay off to be worth it for the audience. However in Titans case they set up the battle against Trigon right from the get go slowly building it up over the season, painting him as this neigh unbeatable force. Admittedly Titans was already of to a bad start with their decision to include Trigon in the first season what with the comic fans already knowing about his character and having to live up to the pre existing show Teen Titans as well as the animated movies. In a way they set themselves up for failure.

However where they really let themselves selves down was with the pay off. After having all this build up for the battle against Trigon, the final product falls extremely short. Where they really went off was not including the finale for the season in the actual season but instead moving it to the fist episode of season 2. I don’t know about any one else but when I went into season two after how season 1 ended I was expecting a majority of the episodes to be about the trying to defeat Trigon. But not even 40 minutes in and he’s defeated. This felt extremely unrewarding and underwhelming after waiting an entire season and the time in between to find out what’s going to happen next, only for him to be defeated almost immediately with little to no fuss.

This battle should have definitely been drawn out more. Taking place over several episodes or at least and entire one, where all of the Titans have to work together and struggle to defeat him. Rather than Raven just going out there herself and beating him instantly. There was no reward there. It was just over.

They had a similar problem in season 2 with Deathstroke, one of the Titans main villains. Going through all this build up and emotional turmoil only for him to just be stabbed and oh look he’s dead. You don’t just kill Deathstroke.

Side note: no one checked for a pulse, so I am personally of the opinion that he wasn’t actually dead but was just laying there playing dead hopping no one realised

Finally in this list of examples of bad writing is their tendency to introduce something new out of nowhere with no previous foreshadowing. The most obvious example being in season 2 episode 7 where out of no where we find out that Dick is hallucinating seeing Bruce. This came out of absolutely no where when there should have really been some build up to this. Maybe we could have seen Dick acting oddly, or Talking to no one or really anything. But we got nothing. It felt like someone had just come up with the idea on the day of filming with no previous forethought. Not to mention the fact that it basically only lasted the one episode, with it briefly coming back in episode 11.

Tl:dr: Titans had so much potential to be a great show but they just fell short with the writing. Everything just feels very rushed and not very thought over and they definitely could have done better.

P.S There is definitely still good writing in Titans however. Mostly to do with their portrayals of mental health. So don’t take this post as me just dissing on Titans. Maybe I’ll write another post about the good writing or analysing their camera usage, idk.

#titans #titans season 1 #titans season 2 #dick grayson #nightwing #connor kent #kori anders #raven roth #rachel roth #jason todd #garfield logan #deathstroke #dc comics #detective comics #writing analysis #bruce wayne #batman

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delilah-dust · 2 years

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hihi!! ✨🎂💒🎄🎶🎥 from the sweet and pure asks!! (they're a lot so feel free to ignore some questions if you want!)

hello!!! omigosh my first note!! i feel so chosen!!!

oki lets start!

(all answers are below, for those who wanna read!)

✨- which fictional character (book, show, or movie) do you relate to most?

-i actually did this one last because there are so many characters out there that i relate too in some way and its just so hard to pick just one,, but i did it!

-okay so we are gonna do a bit of time traveling to when i was a little teeny tiny teen and my old nickname was DAY, (though my irl name is delilah, i go by dela now, which is said day-lah,, hahaha literally only added a syllable. silly head!) anyhoo i was huge greek mythology nerd,, i use to have three copies of the same myth book. one for my room, one for the car, and one to take with me to school. but then Percy Jackson came into my life, and i binged read every book,,, i cried so much over that series,, literally sending fan mail to Rick Riordan weekly...yeah

-back to the topic,,sorry,, my most relatable character was Nico D'Angelo because in the beginning he was this sweet happy kid, and then we see him devolve into this depressive boy struggling with the grudges of losing his sister and then we there's his whole character arc too! but for the most part i felt like we were similar in the fact of having happiness taken away, and the need to control our lives so that we could fix things.

-in my case it was becoming sick, losing my freedom to do things that i loved, spending countless hours in the hospital, losing my relationships and that just sent me spiraling into this depression,, i felt angry and betrayed. and i didn't want to let those feelings go because i wanted to have something to blame. good news is its not like that anymore!

-and woah that got heavier than expected, uhh so yeah imma end it there for that one. haha whoops. sorry that was suppose to be sweet and pure, but it got a little gritty.

🎂- if you had 3 wishes, what would they be?

-hmm that's a hard one since i do have a lot of wishes,,, some personal and some completely random, but if i had to make a list i guess i'll give you my top 3

1.) to not be sick anymore, so i don't have to take so much medicine and so i can eat whatever i want without worry,,, like chocolate or spaghetti!

2.) to be able to travel around the world and see all the cool things like the Caribbean, Orcas in Alaska, or ooohh go to one of those famous beach resort hotels and swim with dolphins!!! (i really like ocean things, they look so peaceful!)

3.) and my last wish i guess would be to be able pay back my family for always taking such good care of me,, i know it must have been rough for them having to raise a sick child, and with my third wish i want them to have it, so they can use it for whatever they truly want!

💒- which show would you want to live in?

-while my inner child would be like TEEN TITANS, i'd have to turn that down because woah there were a lot of weirdos in that show,,, plus remember that whole trigon episode? i do not want to be frozen in stone or fall into a lava pit...

-hmm this is a toughie... my final answer would probably be hetalia because at least for the most part everything is normal.. i mean yeah countries are people,, but if you don't work in the government you probably wouldn't know right? which doesn't seem too bad excluding the whole paint it white movie, cause turning into a faceless blob would literally be the worst.

🎄- what is your favorite holiday?

-valentine's day hands down. beanie (my husband) always takes me to the beach every valentine's day, since that was the day and place where he proposed to me. we've been together since i turned 18 in an arranged marriage. don't worry arranged doesn't mean forced,,, that's two different things!!! we are happily together!!

🎶- favorite song right now?

-i have an acquired taste in music, and by acquired i mean just all over the place. yes, i have listened to baby shark trap 10 hour version with no shame, and yes i will own it. but right now i guess its any song form any of the shrek soundtracks. bring back shrek, 'tis a masterpiece!

🎥- what show are you currently binging on?

-This is umm actually no imma own this like the mature adult i am and just flat out say, that i, Delilah, am un-apologetically watching Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse! (yeah adulting!)

everything else was nice and sweet,,,except that first one,, but...

thank you so much for the asks they really were a joy for me to write!!! i hope i get more,,, these are really fun!!

#dela speaks #dela answers #nobodycallsmerae #thank you so much for these #they were so much fun

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undertheknightwing · 3 years

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Posted by popular demand: all my dad!Dick Grayson headcanons!

I’m doing the canonverse ones first. My au ones will be in a separate post so this one doesn’t get too long! Enjoy random stuff I’ve thought of!

Important note: when I say ‘canonverse’ I mean I could see it happening in the show’s universe more than an au, I don’t mean everything is going to fit perfectly with the canon storyline we got since there’s not much I can headcanon with the real storyline anyway. Nothing is going on but useless drama and shitty treatment of the main characters. So keep that in mind,,

Dick had a hard time admitting to himself that he cared for Gar and Rach as if they were his kids because of the whole ‘i don’t do family, i work alone’ thing. Tbh the thought of loving someone again, let alone two people, with his luck of family death and misfortune was scary to him and that’s why after Asylum, he left the two in Angela’s care. He knew he was getting too attached to them (that became clear to him when he went dad rage mode on the guards). Then the Trigon thing started and when he realized he led Rachel and Gar into a trap without knowing, he said ‘fuck it they are my kids and they’re in some serious trouble, I’m going to get them out of that trouble even if it kills me’ and that’s why he ran head on into that force field with his only thought being: ‘my kids are in trouble and I will protect them. Nothing can stop me, not even a demonic force field.’

He treats the kids as equally as he can in normal life situations. Like if Rach got to choose dinner the night before, now It’s Gar’s turn to choose. But when it comes to how to comfort them, that’s when he has to change it up because both kids feel comforted in different ways. Both get nightmares and he had to learn how to handle the situation differently for the two. If Rach has a nightmare, he’ll know cause she wakes him up and they’ll talk about it together until she’s calm enough to go back to bed. Now, if Gar has a nightmare, he’ll hear it cause Gar’s usually screaming, which turns into panicking after Dick wakes him up and then him holding onto Dick while crying. Not much talking on Gar’s end, it’s Dick who’ll say a few words. Rachel needs words to feel comforted because her mother hugged and kissed her growing up but they never really talked, so she felt like she never knew her mother while Gar needs physical affection because he grew up without it and got his thoughts and emotions manipulated by words. And throughout the next day, he’ll check on the Gar or Rachel to make sure they’re doing alright.

When Dick went to Doom Manor to get Rachel, that man did not think he’d be leaving Doom Manor with another kid but surprise! he does. Why though? the show never explains why Dick just decided to take a random kid with them. Well in my headcanon it’s because Rachel refused to leave Gar with the Doom Patrol and to help Dick realize that Gar was being treated horribly here, she used her abilities to show him what Gar’s been going through. Dick saw the things Rachel saw like Chief shooting him just because he stood up for himself and the things she didn’t see, like all the times Chief treated Gar like he was worthless trash and the Patrol’s neglect by keeping him down in a basement with nothing to keep him entertained or company. Dick wasn’t going to let a child be treated like that. Since Chief was knocked out, he just talked to the other three and by talk, I mean rip into like an angry momma bear and tell them he’s taking Gar with him. Cliff wasn’t a fan of how Dick came in and acted like he’s entitled to whatever he wants. That ended with Dick and Cliff screaming over each other until Rita allowed Dick to take Gar with them, though Dick wasn’t looking for permission from them, just an agreement from Gar himself. He got that rather quickly.

He’s never raised his voice at either of the kids in anger. Not even when Gar almost got himself killed by following Jason, he made sure Gar knew he was disappointed and upset with him by calmly explaining; not yelling. No shock to anyone there that Dick has some issues with his anger and he’s afraid one day he’ll take it out the wrong way on the kids and say something he doesn’t mean just because he’s angry/stressed, ultimately harming his relationship with them. I think the only time he’d actually yell at one of them is in serious situations, like if one of them froze up during a mission, making them an easier target, he’d yell their name or something to try to get their attention and snap out of it.

Kind of on the same note, how he manages worry is very different. He will be over the top about it. He’s very dramatic. Rachel got sick and better believe he learned how to make homemade chicken noodle soup because Alfred would do the same with him. Besides that, he’ll hover around her just in case she needs him, which Rach might take advantage of just a little because what kid doesn’t? She’ll have Dick carry her to bed and tuck her in. Gar slipped during a race with Jason up the net wall in the training room and broke his arm since ya know, he fell onto that hard ass mat and since him nor Rachel can go to the hospital because they’re metahumans, Dick had to fix Gar’s arm, which he wasn’t thrilled about since he was afraid he’d make it worse, but Alfred (over the phone) walked him through it and Gar turned out fine, no further injuries. The only thing Gar got was an overprotective bird dad constantly wanting to be around him and Gar was 100% cool with that. They got some well deserved father-son time. I’m also going with Dick feels awful about Gar’s injury because he wasn’t around when it happened so he couldn’t try to catch him and hearing ‘Gar fell from the net wall and he’s not moving’ coming from a panicking Rachel threw him into a completely frantic state of mind. It’s all worry for Dick but Gar helps him feel better with his cheesy jokes and puns.

I have a feeling after a few months around him, Gar and Rach start adopting Dick’s reactions to certain things and his mannerisms. Dick feels conflicted about the whole thing. There’s a lot about him he’d rather them not replicate. But Rachel doing his pondering face where he puts his hand over his mouth and Gar folding his arms and leaning against whatever he can when people talk to him, like Dick does quite often, is fine with him. If this teaches him anything, it’s to fix his own act and be a good example.

Dick doesn’t favor either kid, they’re both his favorite but there’s certain things they do that would be considered his favorite things about said kid. Like the way Rachel hums or softly sings her favorite songs while painting/drawing and Gar’s loud bursts of genuine laughter that turn into snorts the longer he laughs. The surprise and love he felt when Rachel gave him a sketch she did of him, he put it on the fridge and probably went to cry in his bedroom so no one saw him. Dick’s not known for his laughter, and most people haven’t even seen him smile, yet Gar seems to get him to do both more than he’s ever in years. The first time Dick has laughed so hard that he started crying was to some sarcastic joke Gar made about a commercial when the living room had been silent for awhile. The day Gar’s favorite show is new is also one of Dick’s favorite days because when the episode is over Gar rushes to him all happy and tells him about it like: “dude, dude you won’t believe it I was so shocked!”. Honestly seeing Gar and Rachel truly happy is his favorite thing in the whole universe.

I feel like there’s been a few times where Dick has been sad that Gar and Rach aren’t really his kids. He wishes he could have given them a happy childhood. Rachel shouldn’t have had to be terrified of her abilities and lied to cause of them and Gar shouldn’t have had to raise himself and be shut away like he was some kind of monster.

At some point before they all reached the tower or the day after, Dick had to take the kids shopping because where did their outfits come from (and room décor?). This is the first time they’ve all been in a normal situation together and Dick learned a few things. Rachel had no problem being around crowds of people due to her more normal upbringing while Gar stared wide eyed at everyone like he had no idea what to do. Dick assumed since Gar’s been isolated from the world around him for so long mixed with his enhanced senses, he got overwhelmed by all the noises and sights. So Dick told him to focus on him and his voice until his senses get used to the many things happening around him. And that Gar could hold Dick’s hand if he wanted, which he did. He also learned that every piece of clothing Rachel wanted was either black or dark blue, there is no in-between, making Dick jokingly wonder if Rachel is secretly related to Bruce. Then with Gar, all his clothing is bright and busy,, matching his personality. I’m also going with this conversation happened at some point: “Hey, Dick, why don’t you get yourself something while we’re here?” “I don’t have enough money for me, just you two.” “You don’t take whatever you want? I do.” “Umm.. no? That’d be steali-- YOU WHAT.”

On the note of clothes, both of the kids absolutely wear Dick’s clothes. If he can’t find one of his shirts or hoodies, he’s pretty sure one of the kids took it and it’ll be obvious it’s his even if it’s plain cause his clothes are huge on them. He never asked them why they steal his clothes but goes with it comforts them in some way.

One night when Rachel couldn’t sleep, she wandered out to the living room where Dick was still awake and watching tv. She tells him she couldn’t fall asleep so he gives her permission to stay up with him. Dick’s tv show quickly turned into a disney movie after that decision was made and Dick’s not the kind of person who has an easy time sitting through all the marshmallowy stories and singing of those movies but they make Rachel happy so he’ll sit through one for her. He’d rather Rachel watch a kid’s movie than his true crime shows anyway. Rach falls asleep cuddling Dick before the movie ends and instead of taking her back to her room, he lets her stay asleep there and goes to sleep himself because she’s comfy and he’s not going to disturb her.

Gar expends so much energy during the day that when he goes to his room to chill before bed, he usually falls asleep with everything on in his room and without being covered up because he just passes out. Knowing that fact, Dick finishes the rest for him. Go in Gar’s room, take the ps4 controller out of his hand (cause he normally streams his shows on his ps4), turn everything off besides the green night light, cover Gar up and just because, place one of Gar’s tiger plushies with him, which leads to Gar the next day being like: “really dude? The tiger again. You’re not funny.” and Dick answering: “I’ll stop when you fall asleep correctly.”

Dick now knows how to braid hair multiple ways thanks to Rachel. When the original Titans returned, Dawn said how beautiful Rachel’s hair was, asking if she did it herself and when Rachel said “No, I wish I could. Dick did it for me, he’s great!” Dawn just stood there, not knowing how to respond because the Dick Grayson she remembered would chuckle and act like she didn’t even speak when she’d ask him to do her hair in the past. Gar’s s2 hair was done by Dick as well. The kids said “our hair is boring, can you fix it” and Dick’s inner Wayne surfaced.

At some point the kids are going to call Dick their dad and he’ll cry, no doubt about that. By the nature of the show, I’d imagine it’d happen during or after some serious thing. For Rachel, it’d be during the s2 premiere. After Trigon is defeated and they’re all settling into Titans Tower, Dick goes to check on Rachel. The day was pretty rough for her. At first Rachel tries to act cool, like nothing is bothering her, but Dick can see through that and she knows. Eventually they get into a deep conversation about Rachel’s destiny, her father, and her feelings about it all. At some point Dick says something on the line of “I'm sorry you never had a real father” after Rachel compares her upbringing to Dick’s. Rachel smiles and tells him she has a real father, it’s him. Sure he’s a little late to the party, but he showed up when she needed him the most and stayed. This will be the first time Rachel will see Dick cry. For Gar, it’ll be after he gets over some sickness his powers gave him since they’re connected to his system and didn’t get finished by the Chief to be properly balanced, they can get out of line. He gets weak and loses his bright green hair/eyes, turning them a dull forest green. It’s not deadly, it’s just his version of the flu. When he’s finally over it and turns back to his normal self, Dick is all overly worried parent to him and Gar, being Gar, has to joke with him first: “jeez man, you are such a parent! All that worrying and pacing you were doing yikes! I think my legs would have fallen off haha!” before going into the soft stuff: “but, it shows that you’re a good one. better than my folks.. thanks, dad-- for, like, everything you did these few days.” then cue Dick pulling Gar into a hug and crying like ‘my purest angel son too precious for this world’.

Early on, Dick kind of sucked at being affectionate through words because Bruce was never with him, so he really didn’t know how to. Instead, he’d buy the kids things they’ve always wanted or things that reminded him of them, like a wooden pencil case carved in the shape of a raven’s feather for Rach and a tropical jurassic park themed backpack for Gar. The ‘hey I saw this and it reminded me of you so I bought it’ gifts are the kids’ favorites.

Ya know that cauliflower pizza Dick makes in s2? Yeah better believe I have a headcanon for why he makes that type of pizza specifically. Dick was having a hard time forgiving himself for killing Gar even if it was Trigon controlling him and this was when he didn’t know how to talk about his feelings, so instead of trying to have a conversation with Gar about it, he decided to do something else to say ‘I’m sorry’. He’s pretty good at cooking (thanks Alfred!) and knows Gar’s favorite food is pizza and that he’s vegan, there’s got to be something he can do with that and as we know, there is. A knock on his bedroom door made Gar remove himself from a video game and see what’s up. On the floor sat a pizza box with a note typed on that read: “I know this is stupid and I need to work on my communication skills, but I’m so sorry for what happened. I hope someday you can forgive me.” now my reasoning for why Gar jokes about said pizza with Rachel is because he and Dick don’t really have a lot that’s just theirs. Dick and Rachel have a lot they share together and Gar kind of wants something he can share with his new dad. So joking about it is his way of covering up his real feelings and no offence to his sister, but he knows how she gets when she feels left out of something so it’s best if he keeps this one thing between him and Dick.

On the weekends aka no training days, Dick normally takes Rach and Gar out so they can do normal kid things. He refuses to be like Bruce and keep the kids shut in the tower all day to ‘keep them safe’ like he did with Dick in the Manor. They need fresh air, sunshine, and fun. Plus he’s with them so if trouble shows up whether by one of their powers or something else, he’ll take care of it. Day activities will be: going to places like the park or the mall, get lunch somewhere, go to the store cause grocery shopping day is Saturday, make dinner at home, then finish the day with a movie. If the daytime is busy with over-do chores and a long time at the store, then night activities will be: going to dinner, either going on a relaxing drive while the kids play their favorite songs over the radio or going on a walk. Both include slushies and snacks for Gar and Rach and coffee for Dick. The last thing of the day is still a movie but more than likely the kids will be asleep before it’s even halfway done and Dick has to carry them to bed. But that’s okay with him, he wouldn’t change it for the world.

There used to be a lot more for the canonverse but I added them into my Rewrite au cause they were already leaning towards au territory,, you’ll see them in my next post

I’ll probably turn some of these into a short fic at some point, but if you see one you’d like to write about, go for it! I’d love to read it!

tagging @not-so-mundane-after-all-97 real quick cause I know she wants to see this post,,

#titans #dick grayson #rachel roth #gar logan #headcanons #long post #if i misspelled something #or messed some sentence up #sorry #i'm exhausted

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magnificent-nerd · 3 years

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Why Naqib in The Boys sucked

Image description: fictional character Naqib in Amazon Prime’s show The Boys.

(Is the fire in the background an excuse to use racist Yellow Filter to show how exotic he is? Hmm.)

I first posted this on my blog in Dec 2020, and since nothing in superhero media has changed for the better at this time (September 5th, 2021), I’m going to keep talking about it.

Because nobody else does. So, without further ado:

WHY NAQIB SUCKS.

I was a big fan of The Boys season 1; I love superheroes, I love deconstructing a genre. Sure, it has its problems, but overall I enjoyed season 1 and thought the show had potential.

(That’ll learn me for being hopeful!)

When season 1 ended with this big build up of mostly nameless brown and background characters as Muslim terrorists (deep sigh) we the audience are left thinking this one Muslim character (Naqib) whose superpower is to blow himself up repeatedly (insert another long deep sigh here) is going to be The Big Bad of season 2.

I had my misgivings about that direction. Firstly, as you can see from the image of Naqib, he is highly exoticised and is walking around bare chested with Arabic writing on his chest. He looks more like a generic western media depiction of a genie than he does a supervillain.

And yet he's the first prominent Muslim character in superhero media I've seen in YEARS.

(See my post about MENA and Muslim character good guys, including Joe played by Marwan Kenzari in The Old Guard, which is technically a comic book movie but it’s not what I’d call ‘caped and costumed’ superheroes so it’s more... superhero adjacent.)

I follow superhero content closely and as far as I'm aware the last time we saw any named Muslim characters in superhero movies WITH SPEAKING LINES was:

Instance 1) Iron Man 1 back in 2008 with The Ten Rings in Afghanistan, showing multiple Muslim characters as baddies/terrorists, but only two of them as a named character and with any meaningful lines to say. And despite one of them, Yinsen (actor Shaun Toub), being a good guy he still dies! Which is common in western media for Muslim and MENA characters.

Note: Fellow Iron Man 1 castmate, actor Sayed Badreya, makes an important point in this GQ article: "I die in Iron Man, I die in Executive Decision. I get shot by everyone. George Clooney kills me in Three Kings. Arnold blows me up in True Lies…" (x)

Instance 2) A more recent instalment in Batman V. Superman in 2016, with some unnamed 'General' character and mercenaries/terrorists in Nairomi, Africa, referred to only as "the desert" throughout the movie. All reference to the General's actual name are available in an extended/deleted scene only, so a very poor and vague depiction in the final cut.

Instance 3) The generic and badly written ‘bad guys’ in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020 movie), which was honestly such a racist depiction of Arabs and Muslims that many critics pointed out we hadn’t seen a depiction this terrible since 1994′s True Lies. (At least most critics were in agreement that WW84 movie was generally terrible, so there’s that.)

And that's it, those are the only major instances showing any Muslim actors or characters in a caped and costumed superhero movie.

Some other fleeting glimpses of Muslims onscreen:

Glimpse 1) I spotted a girl wearing a hijab among the nameless and unspeaking background characters of Peter Parker's class in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). A first for Marvel movies, apparently.

Glimpse 2) Disney Plus show Falcon and Winter Soldier (2021) had two nameless Muslim characters walk by in a scene that’s supposed to be Tunisia (using Yellow Filter), and ‘thank’ the present American Air Force (eye-roll).

Glimpse 3) Netflix show Jupiter’s Legacy (2021) had a nameless Muslim sailor conversing with one of the main characters in a scene, with meaningful dialogue about racism. (WOW. Really good.) Bonus: no yellow filter. It’s a pity he’s a nameless background character because this brief instance is the least problematic MENA rep I’ve seen in ages, but it is very brief.

I just wrote about Glimpses 2 and 3, and how the Netflix show outdid Disney when it comes to these nameless walk-on Muslim characters.

This is pretty pathetic overall, these small crumbs, especially compared to better rep and probably the only instance of legit MENA superheroes in a ‘costumes and capes’ style superhero show, the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Anyway, now I’ve listed what crumbs are available across the live action superhero genre, back to The Boys.

I was intrigued about how season 2 would handle Naqib and any characters relating to him, and what storyline they'd use.

Was I excited at the possibility of seeing Muslim supers onscreen? Damn straight I was. Did I mind that they were baddies? Well, yes and no. When you only ever get crumbs or no crumbs at all, you tend to get excited over one stale old crumb.

After the build up for season 2, I eagerly sat down to watch the first episode, only to have the first five minutes of episode 1 Trigon him.

Note: who's Trigon, you ask? Well if you didn't watch the DCEU's Titans show, Trigon was The Big Bad who was hyped up throughout season 1, introduced in the season 1 cliff-hanger episode as this big 'oh shit!' moment for the cast of heroes, only for him to fizzle out like a wet fart in the first episode of season 2 while the show pivots wildly in another direction.

Exactly what happened to Naqib in the first five minutes of The Boys season 2.

Erm, so, Naqib. Farewell, I guess? As a character you briefly appeared in 2 episodes, portrayed by a different actor in each (Krishan Dutt, and Samer Salem). It seems the writers used you as a plot device when they needed a cheap cliff-hanger for a direction that ultimately went nowhere.

Am I disappointed? Yeah, I am. Overall I thought season 2 of The Boys was weaker than season 1, but I'm not here to talk about the whole season: I want to talk about Naqib and this missed opportunity.

The Boys and its showrunners sell the show as being a satire of recent and well known superhero content, of all the big movies and TV shows. There's been a lot of patting themselves on the back for calling out overused tropes in superhero media (and sometimes they've done this satire well: see the LGBT marketing scene with Queen Maeve in season 2), but my issue with the show on their Muslim rep, or should I say lack thereof, is if your show has even less Muslim character rep than the content you're trying to parody, how is this a win for satire?

Naqib and that whole angle came across as a lazy, half-assed swing from the writer's room. Sure, perhaps a lot of the non-Muslim and non-MENA audience won't even notice, as we've been ignored by western media or made into nameless, generic, vacuous baddies for decades now. Non-Muslims and non-MENA just accept that we're always the baddies for no particular reason at all (which feeds into Islamophobia, by the way) and The Boys' writers could say they are simply satirising the tropes already present in media...

But, and this is a big but, the media that The Boys is satirising has already made a step toward better inclusion and representation: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Marvel comics' first Muslim superhero, is entering the MCU as a lead character in her own Disney Plus show, debuting in 2022.

Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan is also cited to appear in upcoming Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels (2022), which will be a major movie.

The MCU has also cast a Muslim actor (Mahershala Ali) as the lead in a reboot of Blade. That's going to be big news when it starts filming.

So to the showrunners on The Boys, I say this: now you've done this small angle of 'all Muslim characters are terrorists, yuckity-yuck!' like we've seen in major superhero movies thus far, and you've brushed that aside in favor of focusing on other whiter villains, my question is will you come back to Muslim and MENA characters again? Or is that all you got?

Because if that was ALL, then the current score is Disney/MCU:02, Netflix:02, DCEU:02, and The Boys: a big ZERO as far as Muslim and MENA rep goes.

Originally posted on my blog, magnificently nerdy.

If you, like me, are always on the lookout for onscreen Muslim and MENA characters in superhero media, and have spotted any characters in superhero TV shows I haven’t watched yet, let me know about them!

Here is my post on good guys, featuring Old Guard’s Joe, and Blindspot’s Rich Dotcom.

Here’s my post about the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow TV show.

And, if Marvels’ Eternals gets released on schedule for 2021, we will have a MENA actor portraying a supporting character. I just hope Marvel gives him a name.

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srose-foxfire · 3 years

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Can you write a Damirae prompt on like their first date??

A/N: I been wracking my brain all day to pick just ONE idea for this particular prompt and being Valentine’s Day today. I wanted to give you all a small gift that I hope will bring you smiles. ^_^ Happy Valentines Day!!!

Enjoy!!!

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

“Hold me, whatever lies beyond this morning,

Is a little later on,

Regardless of warnings,

The future doesn’t scare me at all,

Nothing is like before.”

~ Simple and Clean by Hikaru Utada

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

A soft summer breeze swept Raven’s short hair, the young mage allowed the night cool air to sweep away her worries she had that evening. She didn’t understand why she was feeling uneasy. She has faced countless enemies before, and they would bring even the best hero some fear. But tonight, was a different battle, one she had never experienced before and could only rely on the knowledge she knew from her books. Her first date.

Raven always imagined and even dreamed what her first date would be; spending valuable time with someone who would understand better than she understood herself. Perhaps reading certain novels together, going to watch some movie at the cinema, or even just having a drink outside a nice small café. Raven had dreamt her first date would be awkward since it was just the start of their relationship, but she wasn’t sure if the feelings she was currently feeling were right. Raven felt restless, like she had no control over anything happening tonight. To make matters worse she felt her stomach turn inside of her, making Raven fear she would ruin the night if she hurled whatever she may consume.

Raven had prepared herself mentally not to act different. To keep being true to herself, but no matter how much she had meditated earlier that day it didn’t help. Who could act like nothing had changed when her date was none other than Damian Wayne? Publicly he was seen as Bruce Wayne’s second son and the heir to Wayne Industries. Internally? Raven knew him as the new Robin who had joined the Titans just five years ago.

The two would train and patrol together Jump City most nights. Now it was all different, Damian had come to her room one night asking for her presence in the training room. When Raven had gotten there, she assumed he wanted to continue her lessons in close combat training. Instead Damian wasn’t dressed in his Robin uniform he was wearing his civilian clothes with a bouquet of assorted purple flowers in his hand. His face had turned the strangest shade of red, before handling her the bouquet.

“I have feelings for you, I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I needed to tell you. Raven would you like to go out with me?”

And here she was. For their date, Damian had brought them to the same amusement park they had gone when he first joined the titans. Raven was sitting while Damian had gone off to get a snack while they rested. Raven lowered her head onto the cool metal table, she had acted foolish around him all night. First of all, for transportation Damian brought them on his cycle. Making Raven hold him tight for dear life and also making her very well aware of his hard abbs. Then throughout the evening she tried making small talk and somehow confess her own feelings. Though every time they got around to that specific topic Raven would go silent or change the topic. What was she evading? Did she not like him? Damian did make her feel differently, but she couldn’t quite put the words to it. Maybe-

Her train of thought was stopped as someone cleared their throat behind her; “I thought you would like something to drink?” Damian placed a soft drink in front of her.

“Thanks.” With shaky hands, Raven grabbed the drink from him. Damian sat down on the chair next to hers and opened up a small box of fries and onion rings. He gestured to her with a nod of his head and Raven timidly gave him a small smile before grabbing a fry, dipping it into some ketchup. They ate in silence, yet Raven wished she had the courage and speak to him about how she truly felt.

“Is there a particular ride you want to get on?” Raven looked up to find Damian looking through the park’s map. “We have three hours till the park closes.” He then added.

“Um… there’s that new rollercoaster Gar mentioned, we can do that?” Raven suggested, she put her drink down and she scooted her chair closer to his to take a peek at the park’s map and schedule. She found an event that would be good to end their most awkward night. “And there’s a firework show happening at midnight we can watch that… if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” Damian added gently, without even realisng it Raven had rested her head onto his shoulder. Raven looked up, to see his emerald eyes looking down warmly at her. Raven had never noticed how green his eyes had been or how they seem to almost glow. She could feel her own face start to flushed, she quickly sat up and took the final sips from her drink.

Damian stood up and went to throw away their trash, he then returned extending his hand towards her. Raven took it but she couldn’t help but look away from him as her face grew hotter when Damian tighten his grip. He gently pulled her and the two started walking towards the rollercoaster. Was this it? She questioned herself, would her spun her around spontaneously and crushed his lips onto hers? No Damian wouldn’t do that, deep down she could feel he wanted to respect her and give her all the time she needed. Damian would act like a complete jerk to the team sometimes but underneath the bad boy act he was kind. Raven had seen it first hand.

Screams of terror were heard from above, she looked up as a speeding coaster whooshed by very quickly. From this point she saw two loops and a few spiraling twists. The ride looked amazing. Raven felt all giddy and before she knew what she was doing she gave Damian a big smile and pull him towards the ride’s entrance.

“I am glad to see you smiling and enjoying yourself.” Damian said in between huffs after the ride. They both had screamed their lungs out and now they were out of breath. “I couldn’t help but notice you’ve seemed distant all night.”

“I am not good with all this, it’s new to me and I just want to- I don’t know make it memorable for you as it’s for me.

“Raven, you accepting my invitation is most memorable for me, these past few hours with you have been amazing. Shall we continue?” Raven could only smile and take his hand once again.

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

The night was nearing to an end, the fireworks were about to start, Damian had gotten them on a Ferris wheel before the show. Damian had even given a generous tip to the ride operator to have the ride stalled for when the fireworks started. They sat their together, awkwardly glancing around. This made Raven remember the first time they had share a ride on a Ferris wheel. From the corner of her eyes, Raven noticed Damian hand was trying to reach for hers while he looked away.

Raven could see his cheeks start to flush, she smiled as she reached and took his hand in hers. She looked up into the night sky and saw the full moon radiate of its silver glow. She turned her head and saw Damian was also looking up to the sky. That’s when it all made sense to her.

Raven let go of his hand, Damian turned looking at her with a lifted brow. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his very loud beating heart.

“I have feeling for you too, Damian Wayne.”

Raven couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh as she buried her face into his hard chest. As Damian wrapped both his arms around her, holding her tight against him. She felt silly to think she was dreading this night at the start, but now here in his arms Raven felt nothing but peace consumed her very soul. It made all sense now, when she and her friends imprisoned her father Raven had felt she couldn’t have a home anymore. That she would have to live out her days in Trigon’s hellish dimension, all alone. Then Damian came, in her darkest moment he brought a small speck of light that warmed Raven’s world. Damian Wayne brought her home, he was home.

Raven was content and she couldn’t stop the tears streaming down her face as the night starry sky was illuminated with thousands of fireworks. But she couldn’t see them, all Raven could see was Damian. Carefully Raven slipped her hands up to cradle his face, she smiled and pulled him in for their first kiss.

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A/N: This was the second prompt that was requested. Feel free to send me any prompts ideas you may have though my next plan is to update the next parts to “First Impressions” and “Under an Autumn Moonlight” afterwards share the first two chapters to a longer Damirae fic (aprox. 15-20 chapters). So I have lots to write and I am very excited to share with you all what I have envisioned in my brain! Till next time!

~~S.Rose

#damirae #damirae fan #tumblr request #demonbirds #Damian Wayne #raven roth #damian x raven #i had too much fun with this #hope you enjoy #dc fanfic #fanfic writer #happy valentine's day 2021

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teentitwns · 3 years

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soooo, as you know i wrote some bbrae fanfictions and, this one, especifically, called “all you had to do was stay” (yes, taylor swift’s song) was published in 2017 but i deleted after sometime because im little lazy and the history always seems easily in my mind.

anyway! i decided to rewrite this fanfiction and the first chapter is already posted on the brazilian website that i use (spirit fanfics), so why not put in here too?

please, remember that im brazilian and my english is a little broken - sorry for the mistakes you’ll find on the text.

well, thats it. im really nervous right now and insecure. i hope you like it and, maybe, i can post the fanfiction on ao3 or another website.

_______________

The protective dome around Raven was totally useless and, like her friends, she knew it.

She was there, standing in the middle of the contraption built by Cyborg, with all her vital signs being recorded on the computers that occupied a large part of the room, beeping together with the devices that showed her brain waves.

Everything had been perfectly assembled and positioned so that she had the best protection that anyone could have in the face of what was about to happen, but all those technological tools made her feel like a laboratory rat, studied in vain to discover that in the end the experience had gone wrong again.

She sighed loudly and propped her elbows on her knees, resting her face in one hand; she no longer cared about floating.

She felt physically and mentally drained to use her powers in something as unnecessary as floating, and she didn't need to be inches from the ground at that moment.

In fact, it was better to have contact with the earth, with the concrete floor. At least she would be sure that she was still alive, that the world was fine and whole.

Raven let out a loud snort and huffed impatiently, her eyes roaming the room until they found the door, waiting, miraculously, for one of the other Titans to enter. She had been inside that dome for hours and she couldn't take it anymore - loneliness was good when chosen willingly, not out of obligation.

To her despair, in addition to the blatant private prison that was happening there, the kidnapping, or anything else of that level, the situation made terrible flashbacks go through her head, making her remember Slade, the brand of Scath , the end of the world and, consequently, Trigon.

Why did everything have to be so similar? It seemed that karma was acting exactly the same as it had on her sixteenth birthday, creating a tedious and scary looping. She never considered herself a fan of automatic repetitions anyway.

Unconsciously, she took her left hand into the pocket of her midnight blue cloak in hopes of finding a specific object inside it, but this time, she had no lucky coin to cling to and consider as an amulet. She was alone, forgotten, practically left to die, just as she should have been two years ago, on the fateful day when Trigon’s Prophecy almost came true.

The empath, a “witch” as many called her, allowed herself to laugh with mockery. She hated feeling sorry for her own tragic life, but she couldn't escape the pitiful thoughts she was having. She probably didn't think differently from what her friends had in mind - she was just a poor girl, victim of circumstances, who was not to blame for being the fruit of the forbidden, unhealthy relationship between a human and an interdimensional demon. She was not to blame for being “Daddy's darling”, the one chosen to bring him to Earth for the second time, since she was a poorly raised daughter and prevented him the first time.

Now, at eighteen, she wouldn't be as lucky as she was at sixteen.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos… Azarath Metrion Zinthos…”, she closed her eyes and started to meditate, with nothing else to do. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos…”

“Raven!"

She opened her eyes with a start, facing Beast Boy. Awkwardly, he spread his hands on the thick glass of the dome, breathing heavily.

“Great.", She thought. “Of all the people that Robin could send, he chose the most restless."

" What are you doing here?", she asked.

“Dude, isn't it obvious? We’re doing it wrong! ”, Beast Boy waved his hands compulsively. “I mean, it's your father! There is no one better to stop him than you!”

“If I leave here it will be easier to get to Earth."

“I really don't want to be pessimistic, but he's already here, mama."

“Beast Boy..."

“It worked last time, didn't it? What good will it do you to be stuck in that dome? The world will end anyway!”

“Weren't you the one who was upbeat until two seconds ago?"

“I still am!"

“Does Robin know you're here?"

“…yes."

“I don’t believe that."

“Of course I told him,", the shapeshifter scratched the back of his head, causing his newly acquired muscles to start filling his uniform to appear. “I just don't know if he paid attention.”, He gave a nervous smile.

“It doesn't count as a warning."

“Have you never been told that what counts is the intention?"

Raven rolled her eyes and uncrossed her legs, standing up. She walked over to where Beast Boy was, touching the dome with her fingertips. He smiled broadly, running to the nearest computer and typing in the code that would free her.

When the dome barriers disappeared, Raven adjusted the hood on her head, thinking about the possibilities that surrounded her. Beast Boy was right, after all. Trigon was already on Earth, like the first time, and she would not be of much help if she were trapped, safe and sound, while her friends killed themselves to save the world.

“I knew you'd be up for it!" He celebrated, approaching her.

“It wasn't your worst idea."

“I'm smart, you underestimate me too much."

“I must have my reasons for that, right?

“Taking into account my discussions about tofu being the best food in the world can’t be considered as a reason.”

“No?”

“We all have our childish moments.”

“And you have your adult moments.”, she said.

“Nothing for having released you, I’m at your service.

“Where are they?”

“Downtown.”

“Excellent.”

“Raven”, Beast Boy called her when she started to leave. “Are you ready to go?”

“You don’t?”

“It's just… You have nothing to bring you luck.”

“I don't believe in luck.”, she lied, ignoring the thought that she had been wishing for a lucky charm a few minutes ago.

“Why not?”

“I make my own luck.”

“But it's always good to have help, isn't it?”

“Come on, Beast Boy.”

He shook his head negatively and approached her, holding her arm firmly and preventing her from getting away. The difference in height between them remained almost nil, with Raven looking a little taller from a distance because of the hood.

She frowned and looked at him without understanding, trying to pull her arm out of his grip, uncomfortable with the position they were in.

“It's just…”, Beast Boy started to speak. “I shouldn't be here and I know it. You are always so focused and correct that you even embarrass me for acting that way, but, last time, you had the coin I gave you and we won.

“I don’t know where it is.”, Raven lied, lowering her head to hide the blush on her cheeks. Some of her emotions were manifested in Nevermore, reminding her of the small passion she held for him. Passion, that, that she was sure that she would never be reciprocated. He was not a philanderer, he had never dated anyone after Terra, but he was not unaware of love affairs like her. She had a little more experience, even though she was also small. “We can't keep others waiting.”

“I can't let you go without an amulet.”

“There is no such thing as luck, Beast Boy! How many times have I told you that we need to run after what we want?”

“Many.”

“And none of them fixed on your brain?”

“Apparently no.”

“I should have imagined.”

“Why can't you give me a credit?”

“You are acting like a child who believes in Santa Claus.”

“And you're being cruel to me.”, he complained. “I thought you stopped that a while ago.”

“I stopped. Are we going to battle or not?”, Raven asked impatiently. “The world is about to end!”

“I know!”

“Then let me go!”

“I can't let you leave here without an amulet!”

“So give me this shit!”

Raven's words echoed around the room, and Beast Boy smirked, as if he had been waiting for this ever since they started arguing.

Such nonsense fights and quick discussions were not new to them, who were used to being awkward a few times a day, always for stupid reasons. However, that time, the shapeshifter had a purpose and, knowing that Raven would play the game, he put his idea into practice, which ended up working very well, thank you.

Raven shook her head and shrugged, silently asking if he wouldn't give her anything. She was waiting for a frog charm or other coin, but all she received was a warm kiss on the mouth, which made her blow up the nearest computer monitor.

The touch of Beast Boy's lips on his made her close her eyes instantly, her body and mind embracing the fact that she wanted that kiss - she had even been waiting for him for a long time, having fantasized the moment several times in the stillness of his. room.

On the other hand, Beast Boy didn't explode at all, but he felt his whole body vibrating. Her cheeks were as flushed as Raven’s, and it had taken him a long time to have the courage to kiss her.

The kiss could not be considered "worthy of a movie" because the two were too tense to give themselves up completely. They did not know where to put their hands and neither should they do it; A light in their heads blinked incessantly, reminding them that the world was ending while they were kissing, and billions of people were at risk.

It could be considered an ordinary kiss, but for Raven and Beast Boy, it meant much more than that.

They separate after a few seconds, unable to exchange a direct look. Beast Boy cleared his throat and Raven clung more tightly to her cloak, almost disappearing inside it.

“Raven”, Beast Boy smiled, making her look him in the eye quickly. Without breaking eye contact, he simply stuck a five-cent coin in her hand. Like old times. “Good luck.”

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ok, i had no idea that the text would lose the diagramming!!! i wrote this on my iphone notes, sorryyyy

#teentitwns #bbrae #bbrae fanfiction #raven #beast boy #fanfiction

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not-so-mundane-after-all · 3 years

Text

Alright, so- Inspired by my awesome friend @undertheknightwing who created this AMAZING list of Dad!Dick Grayson headcanons (go check it out!!!) I decided to write down the mess I have in my own head into this giant ball of fluff, humor and angst.

So let me present you:

The Graysonfam List of Headcanons and Analysis

It's a looong ass list of my headcanons, mixed with an analysis of some scenes, looking into the motives and behavior of the characters. It's in more or less chronological order and divides into groups: season 1 (+2x01), the time jump, season 2, season 3 hopes/predictions and future. If you want me to turn any of these into fics or you feel like you could do something with it, just let me know. And now... ENJOY!

SEASON 1:

The first time Dick thinks of Gar and Rachel as his kids happens during the events of 1x08 and 1x10. It's pure instinct and it doesn't come to him until much later when he realizes that not only he thought of them this way but he actually meant it.

When he and Donna start translating Kory's notes and it becomes clear that Rachel might still be in trouble, he's immediately on his feet, asking Donna for the keys to her car and ordering her to take the books with her, so they could continue on the way. He's acting fast, ignoring Donna's questions because there's no time for explanation, my daughter is in danger. He almost says it out loud - almost.

When Donna tells him the danger clearly comes from Kory, he wants to deny it. Kory adores these kids just as much as he does, she would never hurt them. But he puts his feet on the gas anyway, breaking every speed limit possible, because if one hair falls from Gar's and Rachel's heads, he will burn the world to find the person responsible, even if it's Kory (especially if it's Kory)

When they get there the first thing he sees is Gar being thrown in the air, and his mind short circuits to only one thing: Gar, my boy, my son. Is he okay? Thankfully Donna takes care of the rest so he's free to take care of the boy. He pulls him up, holding him tight by the shoulders and makes sure he's okay, but the words 'my son' are still circling his mind.

Speaking of Donna - when Dick starts telling her about Rachel the first time, she wants to cry from happiness. Over these past five years all she saw in Dick's eyes was pain and suffering. A storm of bottled up emotions, raging monsters of anger ready to get out. His body looked weighed down, as if he was Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. And now he's talking about this little girl who threw a brick at a cop car in Detroit and his eyes start to shine as if they were stars in the night sky. His smile grows when he brags about how smart and witty she is, how she's more intelligent than she gives herself credit for, how similar the two of them are. He talks about her bravery and her big heart and he sounds so damn proud Donna's heart is about to burst out of her chest. "I thought I couldn't do it." he tells her. "I fucked up so many times. But she had awakened something in me. I just can't describe it." She can but she doesn't say it - he needs to get to it on his own. (Over a year later, when the girl who turned her brother's world upside down tries to guide her back to the light through the darkness of afterlife, Donna finally says "I always knew he'd be a great father someday. You have no idea how much he loves you." "He told you that?" Rachel asks quietly, trying to hold back her tears. Donna looks at her and smiles. "He didn't have to. I saw it in his eyes.")

Then Dick gets to the part about finding Rachel's mother and suddenly something changes. He's trying to seem like he's happy for her, he says he's glad everything ended well and now Rachel can start a new life but Donna sees right through his facade. He thinks he can't be a part of this new life and it's killing him.

Which brings me to something very important I've noticed a long time ago - Angela's presence makes Dick hold himself back. That's why he decided to leave - Rachel had her mother back, a guardian who could take care of her from now on so he wasn't needed anymore. His job was done. But at this point he's already too attached to just leave like that and when he learns that danger isn't over he comes back immediately. But when he gets there he's met with a wall. Angela is very territorial (we all know why but Dick didn't know that) and Rachel is too overwhelmed by everything but let's be real - if Angela wasn't there Dick would be hovering over Rachel like crazy. But he doesn't. Why? Because he thinks it's not his place to do so. It's easier to go after Kory than to just be standing there awkwardly, wanting to help and comfort but not being able to.

He remembers everything Trigon put him through - every fucking detail. There is some stuff from the vision he wants to laugh at - Him and Dawn? Married? Maybe once upon a time he entertained that thought but he abandoned it long ago. There are things he's actually grateful for - seeing Gar and Rachel as they could be in the future, grown up, in college, happy. That's the one thing he doesn't want to forget. And Johnny - he doesn't want to forget Johnny either.

His mind was sort of awake, in two places at once, even though he didn't have any control over his body. He remembers chasing the kids around the house, Gar screaming "Real life horror movie!" as he and Rachel tried to run away from him. He remembers Rachel pleading with him when the others were beating the poor boy. He wanted to respond, wanted to let her know he can hear her but he couldn't do anything. He watched helplessly as his own hand pulled Gar up and finished what others started. He screamed and shouted but it was in vain. And then he cried and howled like a wolf watching as Trigon ripped Rachel's heart from her chest and crushed it in his hand, then placed the red gemstone in her forehead. He remembers her dark eyes and evil smirk. He remembers thinking it was over, feeling heartbroken and defeated. He gave up, let the darkness swallow him whole. He didn't want to see more, it was easier locking himself up in this vision because he knew Bruce laying dead in rubble wasn't real. And then she came to him. Back straight and head held high, piercing blue eyes locked on him. He remembers his tone when he spoke to her, taunting and dangerous but it didn't scare her. "We're supposed to save each other" she told him and he wanted to cry but Trigon had him wrap his fingers around her throat and choke her - another thing he would never do. He would never lay a damn finger on her and Trigon was well aware of that. But Rachel knew that too. And she wasn't scared.

He remembers the circus she brought him into. Empty stage, broken chairs scattered everywhere. He never wanted to come back here. And even though his body stood there motionless he was trashing inside, wanting to get out of here but more importantly wanting to get her out of here. Seeing Rachel on that platform, ready to jump, it was too much. He couldn't lose her, like he lost his parents. He didn't catch them but he sure as hell was going to catch her. So when she fell - he snapped. Got the control back, his muscles acted on memory and he jumped. He flew like he used to and wrapped his fingers around her wrists, holding her tight. He caught her. He would always catch her.

When they wake up all he wants to do is hold her. Relief almost sends him to his knees. But then Gar walks in, all bloody and bruised and all that relief turns into freezing agony and guilt. I did this, he thinks. It's my fault. But there is no time for apologies or explanation, Trigon is still there. Letting Rachel go deal with him on her own is hard but Dick knows she could do it - and she did. Seeing her walking out of that fog is one of the most beautiful views he saw in his life. And when he finally takes her into his arms he doesn't let go until Kory basically rips her out of his embrace.

He wants Kory to go with them. Kids need her. His idea of giving Gar and Rachel a new life included her. Included both of them, taking care of the kids together. Things between them are tangled and complicated but one thing that is neither of those things is their attachment to these two. But Kory just got her memories back, she has her own issues to deal with, she needs time and space - and he respects that, so do Gar and Rachel. But Dick would be lying if he said he didn't notice their disappointment.

The first day of their roadtrip across the country is quiet - mostly because they are all so goddamn tired. Dick pulls up to a motel before dark, deciding that the more sleep they get the better. They pick two rooms next to each other, Jason and Gar in one, he and Rachel in the other. Rachel immediately vanishes in the bathroom, so Dick has time to sit down and think (as if he wasn't doing it the entire day while driving). An idea is shaping in his head, memories of a beloved city in sunny California come to the surface of his mind and he knows this is where he wants to take the kids. But he has to make a stop at Gotham first, he needs to talk to Bruce and most importantly return Jason home. Rachel walks out of the bathroom in fresh clothes Donna left for her and crawls into bed without a word. He takes his time to tuck her in, then sits down on the edge of her bed. She's beyond exhausted, but she's safe, she's with him, everything will be alright. He will never let anyone take her away from him again. And when he's watching her fall asleep, holding her hand in his, three words come to his mind, words he's not ready to say aloud yet but he knows them to be true. I love you.

THE TIME JUMP:

Physical affection is something I think the show is pretty good at showing but I still crave to see more. It's clear that Dick struggles to be affectionate, whether that be through words or touch. And he doesn't even realize he's actually very good at it. Why? Because whenever he does it, he's acting on instinct. The biggest proof? All his hugs with Rachel in s1. Boy had no idea what to do, it was written on his face, but his arms went up nonetheless. He didn't freeze, he didn't push her away, but reacted accordingly. The hugs in 1x02 and 1x04 are the only ones he initiated on his own, but he still wasn't sure if he's doing it right. As the show went on he slowly eased into it, but was still taken by surprise when it happened (1x08, the first hug in 2x01). By the end of 2x01 he seems to be pretty comfortable with it but I think it's during the time jump when he really starts to understand the importance and power of physical affection and how these kids really need it. The pat he gave Gar on the shoulder in 2x03 or their hug in 2x09 felt really natural, same as the goodbye hug with Rachel in 2x13. All three of them got comfortable with each other during those first three months in SF. Which leads me to…

Cuddle sessions. Yes, this is definitely a thing at Titans Tower (*cough*Grayson*cough*household*cough). It starts that first night when Dick, Rachel, Gar and Jason gather on the couch to watch a movie. Rachel lays down and rests her head on Dick's thigh while Gar settles comfortably on his other side. Dick has no idea when it happened but he freezes for a moment when he realizes his hand is on Rachel's head, fingers carding through her hair. The girl seems to be asleep already but stirs when he stops and asks him to continue, so he does. Soon after that Gar's head lands on his shoulder as the boy starts nodding off. The sudden contact wakes him up and he pulls away awkwardly, apologizing but Dick tells him it's okay so Gar leans back against him. The feeling of having the two of them so close brings a sense of calm to Dick and soon he falls asleep as well. He wakes up in the morning with the two teenagers basically laying on top of him and Jason standing over them with a smirk and a phone in his hand.

After that it sort of becomes a thing and not just during movies. Whenever Dick sits down on the couch, whether to work or to simply relax, Gar or Rachel (or both) would find him and snuggle to him, at first hesitantly, but with more confidence as the time passes and they get comfortable with it. After three months of living together all Dick has to do is pat the spot next to him for them to jump on the couch and cuddle up, tho Rachel is the one who does it most often and with no hesitation.

Dick very quickly starts understanding how important it is for them so he starts returning the favor. A good job pat on the shoulder during training, a kiss dropped on the top of the head during breakfast, a comforting shoulder rub when they aren't feeling well, emotionally or physically. Gar loves when Dick ruffles his hair, he even leans into it sometimes, while Rachel's favorite things are forehead kisses and tucking her hair behind her ear (but neither of them would ever say that out loud)

Words are as important as gestures, which brings us to affectionate pet names. It feels normal and almost ordinary when it comes from a woman - Rachel has been called 'honey' by Melisa and 'sweetheart' by Dawn but she wasn't phased by it. But when Dick calls her 'honey' for the first time, she nearly drops her coffee mug. It comes out so naturally and he doesn't even realize he said it, but it takes her breath away and she needs a moment to collect herself. With Gar it's usually 'Bud', 'Buddy', or 'Tiger Boy' spoken affectionately and he's always beaming with happiness when he hears Dick saying that.

One night, shortly after Trigon, Rachel slips into his bedroom in the middle of the night, saying she can't sleep. The memories are too vivid, too real. Her lips are trembling and she looks like she's about to fall apart and that's all it takes for Dick to sit up, open his arms for her and with full awareness and conviction say "come here, baby girl". She falls asleep snuggled to his bare chest and Dick feels his throat getting dangerously tight. He'd seen many times, mostly on TV, images of parents holding their babies to their bare skin - something about creating a bond through skin-to-skin contact. He was never able to wrap his head around this concept, but now, as he feels Rachel's cheek pressed to his heart, her hand closed in his resting on his stomach, the understanding hits him like a speeding train, pushing a tear or two out of his eyes. It's something indescribable, feels profound and almost sacred. The love he feels in this moment is overwhelming.

Gar has nightmares too, he usually wakes up screaming. It scares Dick at first, how he reacts, because the boy pulls away, wide eyed and shaking, and doesn't want to be touched. Guilt overwhelms Dick because he's sure it's because of him, because of what he did to Gar while being under Trigon's control. He tries to apologize and Gar accepts it but explains to him that his nightmares are not Dick's fault and they are not even about that (Dick can feel the boy is lying for both of their sakes but lets him anyway). It takes a few tries and lots of pleading and building trust but one night Gar finally falls into Dick's arms, sobbing into his shoulder. He pulls the boy close, runs his fingers through his hair just like Gar likes it and whispers "it's okay, my little boy." over and over again until Gar's body goes limp in his hold and he can put him back to sleep. Neither of them mentions it in the morning, but Gar gives him a look full of gratitude, filling his heart with warmth.

One evening during their first week in SF they organise a 'bonding night' - Gar's idea. There's take out and board games and staying up all night, talking. At some point one of them suggests sharing any hidden talents (besides superpowers of course) and details no one knows about them. Jason admits to being a theatre nerd ("it's thespian you idiots!") and proves it by flawlessly rapping verses from Hamilton. Gar thanks to travelling with his parents can fluently speak few African languages, he also shares that during his time at the Doom Manor Rita taught him the basics of playing piano. When it's Dick's turn he gets up from the couch and vanishes for a few minutes, but eventually comes back with a guitar, saying he had learned to play during his circus days, but hadn't done it in a while so he might be a little rusty. He plays a few cords, trying to spark his memory and when the notes finally come to him, a beautiful melody fills the room (I always imagine it's Viva la Vida by Coldplay). And suddenly this melody is joined by an angelic voice - Rachel closes her eyes and starts singing quietly, recognizing the song. She only opens her eyes when she's finished and finds the three of them looking at her in absolute awe, Dick's eyes seem to be a bit watery. She gets a bit embarrassed and says it's nothing but they start cheering and clapping anyway. Gar asks her where did she learn to sing like that and she admits she used to sing in a church choir when she was little, but had to quit after her powers started showing. The night ends with a little jam session and lots of laughing.

Gar and Rachel grew up on golden era of Disney Channel shows (Jason knows them too but he'd rather be tortured than ever admit that) and once the news is out Dick is forced to sit through the entire run of Wizards of Waverly Place. But watching Rachel flawlessly impersonate the main character Alex, knowing every line word for word makes him grin like a madman and laugh so hard his stomach hurts and tears roll down his cheeks. He pulls her to him and she falls on him in a fit of uncontrollable giggles while Gar and Jason give her a standing ovation.

SEASON 2:

While hanging out together is important, Dick also makes sure he gets to spend some time with each of them separately. With Jason it's mostly through training - the boy isn't very keen on spending one-on-one quality time outside of the gym, but prides himself to be Dick's right hand man during lessons, having more experience over the other two. With Gar it's video games most of the time - Dick learned to play specifically for him and actually started paying attention to gaming lore. But it's not just that - Gar has a talent to anything tied to technology so they spend a lot of time together in the tech room where the boy learns to operate the Tower system. It brings both of them a lot of joy. Rachel, as the only girl in their little family, often needs some time away from the boys, so Dick takes her on walks in the mornings or a drive around the city, shows her his favorite coffee shop which soon becomes their favorite spot. They talk about everything and nothing, because conversations were the thing that brought them so close in the first place, and it just feels good.

Rachel also loves spending time with him in the tech room - but not like Gar, she's not learning to run it (although she picked up a thing or two) but she's simply there to keep Dick company while he works (can he even call that work if he hasn't been officially working as a detective for quite a while now? Not to mention his resignation has been sent to Detroit the day they arrived in SF). She brings him coffee or snacks, stands behind his chair with her arms around his neck, observing whatever he's doing (and asking lots of questions) or simply sits in the other swiveling chair, drawing in her sketchbook or turning around so many times Dick starts to worry she's gonna get dizzy. He asks her one time if she's not bored sitting here with him but she just shrugs and says she'd rather be here than anywhere else and his heart grows tenfold as he smiles at her

So remember how Rachel lost control and attacked Jason in 2x03? And how Jason shouted "Stay away from me you fucking freak!" right in her face? And how Dick walks in like 3 seconds later asking if everything's okay and the tension is HIGH??? Well, he might have not seen what happened, but he definitely HEARD the full thing, he was within the hearing range. The fact that he didn't attack Jason immediately is really impressive, if this was s1!Dick - Jason would be on the floor right now, probably with a swollen eye and few broken bones. But here Dick is trying to play it smart and investigate. If it wasn't for dr Light he would probably get to the bottom of this and had a conversation with both Jason and Rachel. I'm thinking of writing a one-shot AU where he actually does it (mostly thanks to Gar who is a terrible liar when caught of guard)

When the last cab drives away and the Tower becomes empty, save for him, Gar and that boy in the infirmary, Dick does not leave to meet with Adeline immediately - he goes to Rachel's room and starts scrubbing it clean from all the crosses painted all over the place. His eyes are burning, the bile in his throat is the size of a tennis ball but he doesn't allow himself to cry. At some point Gar joins him and wordlessly starts helping him. It takes them a little over an hour and when it's done they both drop down on her bed, sitting shoulder to shoulder. "She'll be back." Gar tells him. "I'm not so sure." Dick replies, not looking at the boy. Gar puts a hand on his shoulder. "She will. You just wanted to protect us. Deep down she knows that, she's just angry." Dick knows Gar's reasoning is valid, but looking at his own reflection in the broken mirror he can't help but think that in the long run Rachel will be better off without him. They will all be better off without him.

It's not until his first night in prison that Dick starts to regret his decision to cast himself away. He wakes up in the middle of the night with tears in his eyes, his mind still reeling from dreams of Gar and Rachel seven years in the future. They were adults, happy and independent - that's good, right? That's what he always wanted for them. But his tears start to fall when it comes to him, hitting him like a wrecking ball, that spending 7 years behind bars means he won't be able to see them grow up. Something like a panic attack comes next and he is barely able to pull himself out of it. He's suddenly overwhelmed by questions. My kids… will they be okay? Is Kory back at the Tower or is Gar still alone? What is he gonna do when that strange boy wakes up? Was there any food in the fridge when I left? I left Gar some money, but still… God, and Rachel! She has never been on a plane before, what if she gets scared and her powers start acting out? What if she gets night terrors again? Will Donna know what to do? His head is spinning, these thoughts are suffocating him. Only a breathing exercise Bruce had taught him years ago is able to help, but it takes longer than usual. Dick doesn't sleep for the rest of the night.

He's not sure how but when Dick sees a bird in a window of his cell, he knows it's no ordinary bird. It's a raven. It's her. He gets up on his feet despite his knees being weak and wobbly and he smiles, grins like an idiot as he calls out to her. Because it has to be her, right? But all hope leaves him when the creature flies up again with a croak and disappears from his sight, leaving him alone. Dick drops to his knees, feeling more exhausted than ever and curls on the floor, his body shaking from shivers. No one is coming. He brought it on himself. He is forgotten already. But then he hears quiet tapping and something nudges his hand. He opens one eye only to look right into a ruby red one. The bird is here, inside, right in front of his face. It flaps its wings and its feathers turns into dark smoke for a moment. "Rachel…" He breathes out, holding to his last shreds of consciousness. The raven lowers its head, snuggling it to his forehead and before Dick passes out again he hears three words said by this quiet, angelic voice he loves so much: Don't give up.

When they bring Donna back to the Tower and lay her down in the infirmary Dick feels empty and overflowed at the same time. He goes to strip off his new suit and change into something more comfortable but it's a struggle when his hands are shaking so much. He goes back to infirmary and passes by Dawn in the doorway, who walks out of the room with Donna's Wonder Girl belt in hand, not even lifting her eyes up at him. He closes the door and sits down, taking Donna's hand in his but he is able to sit there for only ten minutes before the feeling of her hand growing cold in his makes him want to run away. He makes his way back to his room but takes a step back when he notices two colorful heads in the training room. Gar and Rachel are sitting on one of the benches with their backs to him, talking quietly. Gar is hunched over and Rachel has her arm around him and her head on his shoulder. The sight makes Dick's throat tight. He walks up to them quietly and they only notice him when he's standing in front of them. They simultaneously lift their heads up, showing him their red, swollen from crying eyes and his heart can't take it anymore. He falls to his knees in front of them. "I'm here." he whispers as he takes their hands in his. "I'm right here." he whispers again and his voice breaks. Suddenly two sets of arms are wrapped around him when both Gar and Rachel throw themselves at him, sobbing into his shoulders. He holds them tight, kisses their heads and lets his own tears fall into their hair as he keeps promising them he is not leaving them ever again.

SEASON 3 HOPES/PREDICTIONS:

First few weeks without Donna and Rachel are absolute torture. Grief is normal, he's been through it before, it's nothing new (maybe more painful and guilt-ridden than he ever experienced). But not having Rachel around and how it impacts him on day-to-day basis after spending every day with her for the past few months is something totally new and unexpected and Dick is pretty sure he's never felt like this before. He's overprotective to the point of being overbearing and Gar points that out to him numerous times. He keeps making her breakfast, forgetting she's not gonna show up in the kitchen when the clock strikes 9 am. He keeps looking into her room like he's expecting to find her there. He constantly checks his phone as if she were able to call from Themyscira, where there's no signal, let alone phones. "Is it what sending your kid out to college feels like?" Hank asks him one evening and Dick almost chokes on his beer. Gar laughs so hard he falls off his chair.

Rachel does everything she can to not cry in front of Dick when they say goodbye to each other but the moment the plane is in the air, she breaks. It was one of the hardest decisions she ever had to make and seeing Dick so broken definitely didn't help. But she has to at least try to bring Donna back, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself otherwise. So she gets herself together and keeps telling herself to be brave. For Dick. For Donna. For her family.

Gar becomes the center of family's attention and he can't say he doesn't love it. That spot always belonged to Rachel after all, but he was never jealous, nor he resented her for that. She totally deserved it and she can take the spot back when she returns (but he's never gonna let her get away with not saying goodbye to him). He's the 'A-Student' now during training, Dick is putting some extra work to make sure he learns as much as he can. Kory helps him a lot with the trauma CADMUS gave him and works with him on the development of his powers. He tries turning into other animals and after a month of struggling he finally turns into a mouse. Kory walks with him sitting on his shoulder around the whole Tower like the proudest mama in the galaxy and Dick's beaming with pride for the entire week.

After Dick's off-hand comment that Rachel is missing on so much Gar starts to record vlogs on his phone about what's happening at the Titans Tower so Rachel can watch it and catch up when she's back. The material he gets is pure gold and even when others beg him to delete it, he refuses saying this is too good to be destroyed.

The day before Rachel's first attempt at resurrection she uses a freshly learned trick to come to Dick in his dream. They meet on the beach she's currently on, meditating. Seeing him for the first time in three months makes her want to cry but she promised herself to be strong so he wouldn't worry and she holds her tears at bay. She falls into his arms with the brightest smile and burrows her face in his chest. He's holding her tight, asking if everything is okay and she nods, not quite trusting her voice at the moment. "I can't keep you here for long, but I needed to see you." she tells him. She's not sharing any details about her plan, the less he knows the better, but he begs her to be careful and stop if it turns out to be too much for her. Dick pulls her to him one last time before she has to serve the connection and presses his lips to her forehead. "I love you." he whispers and she closes her eyes, hugging him tighter. "Come home soon." "I love you, too. And I will."

To find Donna's soul Rachel needs to go to The Underworld, which is a dark, scary place (well, for the most part). The search is difficult and the journey ahead of her is long. On her way she meets other people, souls who sometimes want to help her, sometimes otherwise. She sees Adamson and all the people who were after her, drowning in a river of fire, calling for help. One hand grabs her by the ankle and Rachel looks down right into the hollow eyes of her birth mother. She struggles to set herself free from Angela's hold but eventually the creepy hand lets go of her and Rachel runs away. Not all the meetings are painful though. She gets to see Melisa again - she tells her about Dick and Gar and Kory and everything that happened. "I found him, mom. I found the boy from the circus." she says and they both start to cry. Melisa tells her how proud she is and lets her continue her journey. But the most surprising meeting happens right before the end. Rachel knows their faces only from her dream and the blurry videos she found online. But the resemblance to Dick is undeniable - he has his mother's eyes, his father's hair. Mary Grayson takes her into her arms with tears in her eyes, saying how happy she is to finally meet her. They chat for a while, laugh and cry together like they've known each other their whole lives. "He's so lucky to have you." John tells her. "Tell him we're proud of him." Mary asks her when she is about to leave. "And come back to him in one piece." Rachel nods, holding back tears. "I will, I promise."

When Rachel arrives at Wayne Manor it's already dark outside. A black car pulls in the driveway. Dick, Kory and Gar are waiting by the main entrance and when the car stops they approach it and Dick opens the door. Rachel is sleeping in the backseat with her head falling on her shoulder and the view is so beautiful and adorable that Dick stops for a moment to just look at her with a dreamy smile on his face. He lifts his hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and leans in whispering "welcome back, sweetheart". She smiles without opening her eyes and instantly lifts her arms to wrap them around his neck. They both laugh as he pulls her out the car. She steps away from him for a moment to hug Gar and Kory but sticks herself back to his side immediately after. Gar takes her bag and the car drives away while the 4 of them head towards the door.

She failed (or at least she thinks she failed) and that first night back she cries her eyes out into Dick's chest, apologizing over and over again. "It's okay, honey." he tells her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Remember what I told you back at the airport? No matter how strong we are, we-" "We can't always change the world." she finishes for him and smiles through her tears. "I know. I've had those words in the back of my head every day." They lay in silence for the next few minutes, Dick's hand slowly stroking Rachel's hair. She hesitates a bit but then starts telling him about meeting his parents. He smiles at her through tears. "I'm so proud of you." he whispers. "You've grown so much. You're so strong. Going away was a good decision, it gave you skills and experience you wouldn't have gotten here. But now I'm just glad I have you back. I was worried sick." Rachel smiles into his chest. "I'm not going anywhere again."

As happy as Dick is to have her back, some part of him wishes Rachel stayed longer on Themyscira. Everything that's happening in Gotham is making him consider sending her and Gar away to some place safe and hidden, The Justice League has a lot of those. But his kids are Titans - they both remind him of that. "You didn't train us to hide." she tells him. "We can handle this." Gar adds. And Dick believes them. And he's so proud his heart can barely take it.

Donna's return comes as a shock to everyone - Hank brings her to the Wayne Manor one day, saying they bumped into each other at some restaurant in the city. "How-" Rachel asks with eyes opened wide in disbelief. Donna smiles at her. "I don't know. I got lost, but… I found my way back somehow." Dick slowly walks up to her, his eyes welling up with tears. "But the spell-" "It worked." Donna explains. "It just needed more time." After that he sweeps her into his arms and extends his hand to Rachel to pull her in as well. He holds them both as close as he can, kissing their heads and swears to himself to never lose either of them again.

FUTURE:

Thoughts about adoption appear in Dick's mind more or less when he brings Gar and Rachel to San Francisco, but they are more of an abstract dream than something that could be real. But as the time goes on those thoughts become more and more solidified and are too big to be ignored. He finally decides to talk to someone about it and that someone is Dawn, mostly because they've had this kind of conversation before. "It's a big responsibility - taking her in. But taking care of a kid is complicated, you know that better than anyone." These words stay with him every day, that's why he goes to her. He struggles to say what he wants to say but she understands and hugs him with tears in her eyes saying she knew he'd do it sooner or later and that she couldn't be happier for him. She helps him with paperwork and prepares him for meetings. He breaks the news to the kids the moment everything is ready. They're suspicious of the 'gifts' he hands them since it's neither's birthday today and there's no holiday. They share a curious glance as they rip off the shiny gift paper to reveal two folders of documents (while Dick almost dies from anticipation and nerves). Gar is the first one to react - his lips slowly stretch into the biggest grin imaginable. "For real? Are you serious? This is real stuff?" his voice grows louder and more excited with each following question and Dick can't help but laugh. Rachel stays quiet though. She stares at the papers in her hands with her brows furrowed. Seconds pass and she's not moving. It's like she's not even breathing. "Rachel?" Kory asks quietly, taking a step her way. And then the floodgates open. Rachel's face twists into a grimace as she starts sobbing uncontrollably. She covers her mouth with her hand to muffle it but there's no use. Dick walks up to her, terrified he did something wrong but then she throws herself into his arms, repeating "thank you" and "I love you" over and over again. Dick pulls Gar to him as well and hugs them both. "You're my kids." He whispers to them. "I love you more than anything in the world. And nothing will ever change that." By the time of Rachel's 16th birthday she and Gar are officially Graysons.

Dick and Kory get married the following year. It's a glamorous but small ceremony with reception held at the Wayne Manor. For the months leading to the big day the kids (with the help of the entire team and few other people) prepare something very special - and the idea comes from Uncle Clay. Turns out Clay, as the closest friend of Dick's parents, owns a small storage unit where he keeps some of the stuff from the circus, including personal things - like a box of journals of Mary Grayson, who had been writing them since she was a child. Clay tells Gar and Rachel a story about how Mary used to write poetry which then she turned into songs and sometimes performed them at the circus. He even still has some of her stage outfits. The three of them get the idea that Gar and Rachel should look through tapes with her performances and pick one song to sing together at the wedding - and that's what they do. They find a beautiful ballad where Clay accompanied Mary on the piano (he teaches Gar how to play it) and in secret the team prepares the whole show. The performance happens during the Bride and Groom's first dance. Gar enters the stage in a tuxedo, says a few words and starts playing. Dick and Kory start dancing slowly but stop for a moment when he starts singing the first verse. They have no idea what's coming next. Rachel, in Mary's dress stands in the crowd surrounding the couple. Hank comes to stand behind her and secretly puts a microphone in her hand. She comes in for the second verse of the song and that's when Dick and Kory stop dancing completely, too surprised to move. They watch in absolute awe as Rachel joins her brother on stage and they finish the song together. When Dick realizes he actually remembers this song from his childhood and that the dress Rachel is wearing belonged to his mother he breaks down in tears. After the song is over the kids join their parents on the dancefloor for a bone-crushing group hug (and to help you imagine this even better this is the song I imagine them singing)

The day Rachel and Gar get their college acceptance letters is one of the most stressful days in their lives. They're in the Tower's kitchen, both holding the envelopes in their hands, afraid to open them. "What are you guys waiting for? Open it!" Kory encourages them. They agree to do it on three. Dick holds his breath, gripping tight his wife's hand. The kids read the letters, fully focused. There's a stretching moment of silence, and then… "I got in!" "Me too!" A lot of screaming and laughing and jumping around happens afterwards, but even in the chaos of all of that Dick can feel a burning knot tightening in his stomach.

And I thought sending Rachel to Themyscira was hard, Dick thinks when they drop Gar and Rachel off at college on their first day. Thankfully it's the same college, but it's in Chicago and it's still half a country away from home. He's not sure how many times he checked already if they have everything they need, if they haven't forgotten to pack something, if they are absolutely sure they know their schedule and so on. Kory, standing next to him with her hands on her growing belly, laughs at him fussing over them. Gar and Rachel just smile and nod, seeing how stressed he is. Yes, Dad, we're sure we have everything. Yes, we checked. Of course we'll call. Yes, Dad. Okay, Dad - and so on. At some point they all start laughing at the ridiculousness of it all but suddenly Dick is getting choked up. His two little birds are leaving the nest and he should be handling it better than he does. Seeing him clearlyon the edge of falling apart Gar and Rachel give him a tight hug. "I'm sorry." he says. "I'm just trying to let you go a little. Let you grow up." "It's that hard?" Rachel asks him and he looks at her - tall, beautiful, confident, brave and smart. Perfect. But he also still sees that little kid he met in Detroit. "It can't be that hard." Gar adds and for a moment when Dick looks at him he thinks he's seeing double - the young, handsome and courageous man who is standing in front of him now and that overexcited cheerful kid who joined them on their little road trip. "It's impossible." Dick tells them, pulling them back into another hug. "It's fucking impossible." Soon they have to go or they will be late for their classes and Dick and Kory are left alone on the campus. "They'll be okay." his wife tells him. He has to swallow down a bile in his throat and push back some tears before answering. "I know."

Oh and remember Dick's old silver Porsche? The one he traded for a minivan? Yeah, he got it back (don't ask him how). Rachel owns it now. Graduation present. And don't worry about Gar, he's got his car too. Grandpa Bruce got him his dream ride.

Woah... This turned out WAAAAAAAAAY longer than I thought it would be. If you made it this far (and even if you didn't) I hope you enjoyed.

#dc titans #titans #dcu titans #titans season 3 #dick grayson #rachel roth #kory anders #garfield logan #donna troy #titans netflix #titans season 1 #titans season 2

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overanalysingfandoms · 3 years

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How I would rewrite Teen Titans

I'm not actually probably going to write this, this would just be the direction I would have taken the show if I had the choice.

My version will have 6 seasons and 2 movies.

Season 1

The exact same, only maybe have Robin and Starfire get together at the end.

I don't really have any major problems with this season

Season 2

Pretty much the same except build up Raven's friendship with Beast boy more e.g. show her supporting him after Terra's gone both times or have her have a moment with him in Titan rising.

Season 3

Oh boy. A lot. I want to change a lot. First of all I want the tone to be a lot more like Deception. Have both Robin and Starfire as his secondaries instead of switching it to just Robin, so they balance eachother out with Robin being harsh and arguing with Cyborg while Starfire is gentle and supportive with him even though she isn't happy about his decision, this would also mean Robin and Starfire's relationship could be built up and tested, whether or not they're dating.

Second of all, motivations, this is my main problem with the season, I think it would have been far better with better motivations from the main hero and villian. Brother Blood has so much potential but since he has such vague motivations and we don't know what he wants he becomes far less interesting, they tried to recreate the Slade and Robin dynamic and it really didn't work. So I would have Blood less focused on Cyborg and more focused on his crime school before beginning to get more annoyed at the Titans for getting rid of his schools. I would have his main motivation to be something generic but believable like using his students to take over the world and using Cyborg as a stepping stone to do it. As for Cyborg I would use the theme they originally introduced in Deception, his struggle with his robot and human sides, and not have it resolved in one episode but rather the whole season, take away his whole 'I want to be a leader' thing and Brother Blood being 'his villian" and instead have him join the Titans East to get back his blueprints which wouldn't be retrieved in Wavelength.

Also have more focus on the og Titans when Cyborg's away to show how it's effecting them.

I would also have Sarah Simms show up at some point in this season and cut out the thing with Jinx in Deception and Sarasimm in Cyborg the Barbarian later on, make it one sided. Maybe have had Cyborg argue with Sarah at the start and be reminded of her by Sarasimm so he goes back to apologise.

That was long, sorry, there's just so much wasted potential in Season 3.

Season 4

Make this season 5. Now this is a massive change but it would be so much better, season 5 felt very anticlimactic after season 4, so if it is instead put before season 4, with a few tweaks it would work a lot better. This would also mean the stakes would be raised each season.

So the changes, so many to make.

First of all have the same episode structure as all the other seasons, some plot, some filler, it's just a better format.

Secondly make the Brotherhood of evil smaller and also have the main villians be on a council instead of the Brain ruling them all (think V.I.L.E. from Carmen Sandiego) this will add more spice to the villians as the brain being the main villian with everyone else as his got boring due to his utter lack of charisma.

Make the Doom Patrol come later on in the season.

Have newer Titans show up in more than one episode to allow them to develop friendships with eachother and so the team up at the end of the season feels more natural. Season 5's finale would also come as more of an emotional gut punch if we saw all the other teams frozen after Trigon takes over.

Season 5

I wouldn't change a huge amount, just a few little tweaks.

Have more emphasis on Slade and I still don't want to redeem him, I think he should stay bad.

Make Raven and possibly Trigon less powerful. I know this sounds strange but a problem I've always had with season 4 is how it treated the other Titans, except from Robin they were mostly didn't do anything about the plot. Have them at least do some damage to Slade and the army when they show up at the tower so they don't seem really weak for example have them used against eachother and defeated one by one so they seem less useless.

Also have the powers Raven has given them have a small effect on Trigon, which gives them some hope (this could be mentioned by Robin in his later conversationwith Raven)

Put more emphasis on Raven's relationship with Beast Boy and have him be another secondary who she comes to for comfort, giving the penny and beast form more meaning later on.

I would also have Starfire, Beast boy and Cyborg have to team up together to beat each of their evil selves instead of just switching.

For defeating Trigon I have a few very specific ideas, have Raven try to defeat him on her own but fail in the final blast in her speech but then look at the penny, take her friends hands as they stand in a circle and all say Azerath Metrion Zinthos together, emitting a huge wave of white light and defeating Trigon together, Raven later saying she couldn't have done it without them.

Also during the start of the second part of the finale have a montage of everyone else frozen in stone before going back to the Titans.

That was a lot for just a few tweaks but oh well.

Season 6

The Starfire season, yay.

Now, I'm not entirely sure what I would do for this season but I have a vague outline and a few ideas.

Have the season focus on Starfire with both Robin and Raven as her secondaries with a subplot about Raven and Beast Boy.

I would have Slade come back working for the Gordanians as a mercenary who has been told to come to Earth and recapture Starfire for them as the first plot episode and the thing that kicks everything off because I just love this idea so much.

I would keep the same format as the rest of the series still, but maybe throw in a couple of space adventures.

I would have a more deep exploration of Tamaran's lore and culture as well as Blackfire's return, maybe as the season's main villian or working with the season's main villian or perhaps just for one episode but I think it would be good to have her back.

I would have the finale have the whole universe at stake, maybe giving the Gordanians or some other bigger alien race we're introduced to later on in the season (perhaps the Psions) have dalek like motivations of wanting to get rid of anything that isn't them and either Starfire or Tamaran is the key to this.

Slade once again doesn't redeem himself and gets away.

That's all I have for that.

Movie 1

Be like a Trouble in Tokyo but for Raven and Beast boy, I have no ideas apart from this.

Movie 2

Have a movie to wrap everything up with Slade.

Have all of the extended Titans help out on this with a focus on Jericho and Ravager.

Have a huge final battle with a lot of personal stakes and have Slade finally captured.

Have a cute little flash forward scene at the end, possibly with all the Titan's children taking over and showing how they've all grown.

Tada!!!

So that's the end and WOW did it take forever to write that.

Hope you enjoyed reading it and feel free to add anything on.

I might do more little rewrite things later, not as long as this bc this took me like half an hour but episodes or other shows or books because this was actually quite fun.

#that is the longest post I have ever made #I won't be doing that again anytime soon #sorry idk how to do read more #teen titans #starfire #robstar #robin #meta #rewrite #rewrite teen titans #beast boy #raven #bbrae #cyborg #sarah simms #cysarah

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jinxedpanda4life · 3 years

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Criminal Investigator AU HC

I would first like to start off by saying thank you to everyone.

I honestly did not expect the response I got to my Damirae Hospital AU HC list.

When I first woke up and checked tumblr ~13 hours after posting I had a holy shit moment.

I felt powerful, should I? Probably not.

But! Since I am noticing a lack of AUs in the fandom, whether on Tumblr, AO3 or FanFiction.net, whatever AU comes to my mind I shall jot down some hcs for!

Thank you all once again!

(Also trying format changes for easy reading)

(Also Also, I am thinking the story is less fluid but more episodic)

Let’s get started:

- So I’m thinking this is some FBI, SVU, and FBI BAU mixture or whatever. Basically all the great shows we know in love shoved together. From Bones to Criminal Minds and everything in between.

- Special Agent (Dr.) Raven Roth is a lead interrogator and is the resident psych consult.

She’s been educated in interrogation, behavioral science, psychology, forensic pathology, and criminology.

She has combat training (hand to hand), she carries (for her job) a gun and at all times has a knife/dagger on her person (people have stopped trying to figure out where she keeps them).

Her father was/is crime boss T. Trigon who is currently imprisoned.

Was born in the states but fled with her mother to Romania when she was a newborn.

When Trigon found them he killed Arella and took Raven, she was abut 9 - 10 years old.

She took her mother’s last name when she turned 18.

Knows two languages besides English; French, Romanian, Romani (various dialects but knows multiple), Greek and Latin

On more than one occasion some goon of her father’s tries to recruit her, every time she kicks their ass. (Damian was there for the most recent (he was still green though))

Lives by herself in a decent sized apartment, has a gun safe (gun safety is important!), a cat (Nevermore), and is a regular at a 24/7 bookstore &/ cafe

Can usually be found wearing some kind of jacket, sweater, cardigan

She once helped save some kids (Melvin, Tommy & Teether) and is now their surrogate aunt, she has photos of them at her desk @ work. (Damian assumes/ed that they were her kids)

She also, when she can, hangs out and babysits them on occasion.

Raven is part of a team consisting of Dick Grayson (unit leader), Kori Anders, Garfield Logan, Jaime Reyes, and very recently Damian Wayne

- Special Agent Damian Wayne is a lead investigator (he is still a bit fresh to the unit), translator, sniper and combat coordinator

He’s been educated in martial arts, explosives, hand to hand combat, close range combat, and combat (basically he knows how to kill you 9 ways to Sunday), also, behavioral science, computer science, criminology, linguistics and language.

He can easily translate (into English): Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Bengali, French, Polish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, he can also learn any language you put in front of him and know the basics within a day

(Having lived in many places around the world he needed to be able to speak and understand in order to survive) (wow dramatic much?)

His father is currently the director (or deputy director, whatever floats ya boat) of the FBI.

His mother was essentially a secret agent who worked for various agencies around the globe. (deceased)

His grandfather was the leader of a, um, well to be honest, terrorist agency. (deceased)

Was sent to live with his father when he was 15 (when his mother died) and has been in the states ever since

Lives alone, he has an upscale apartment that he truthfully spends little time in, has multiple locations in the home where various weapons are stored, his place has a very cold atmosphere

Is either in proper work attire or in work out clothing, there is no in between

Tries and fails not to take work home with him

He sees a therapist (who says he should probably try investing in relationships with the people at his job)

His only “friend” (he hates calling him that, more like close acquaintance) is Jonathan Kent who was in his class at the FBI Academy, Jon works in a white collar crime department in Metropolis

The only person he actually kind of sort of doesn’t dislike is in fact Raven Roth, she’s a no bull shit person, he likes that

He may know Grayson because of how he’s Bruce’s kind of son but it does not mean he likes him

He finds Logan annoying as all hell, even if he is somewhat useful

He picked a fight with Reyes first day and regretted it (he will never admit that), he respects him

Anders is overly friendly in his opinion, kind of acts like a secretary with all that positivity and grates his nerves, he tolerates her

(Unlike last time I am not going in detail about the rest of the team, this will be brief)

- Supervisory Special Agent Dick Grayson (Unit Chief) is basically Dick Grayson with a big fancy title but all the same skills

He is also obsessed with Slade Wilson and Red X (who is Jason in this)

- Supervisory Special Agent Kori Anders is a lead investigator and is also a go to for undercover work

- Special Agent Garfield Logan is a lead interrogator, is head of the unit’s K-9 unit and kind of has a thing for Roth (which she does not reciprocate)

- Special Agent Jaime Reyes is a tactical analyst, tech analyst and is head of the unit’s SWAT team, he does not do well with talking with people, or change

The Scarab is a computing program that Jaime created himself

STORY START:

- When Damian first joins the team there is another member, Special Agent Terra Markov, she is revealed as a sleeper agent but she aligns herself with the team and sadly is shot and killed in a fire fight

- A couple weeks after Agent Markov’s death everyone is talking about what they are doing for an upcoming holiday, Damian says probably nothing, Raven invites him to spend it with her and her “niece” and “nephews,” he declines

- About a day after the holiday Damian is home looking through case files when someone knocks on his door

-- It is Raven. He asks how she knew where he lived, she says she asked Dick, she also says that she knows how it feels to be alone and that he may be insufferable but it doesn’t mean he can’t have a friend

-- His response is saying he isn’t the kind to make friends with co workers

-- “I’m not asking to be your friend Damian, I am asking you to be his,” She reveals a small black great dane puppy “I know that other people aren’t really your thing, but having someone in your corner and waiting for you is always nice, even if it isn’t human.”

-- Damian invites her in, names the dog Titus and thanks her

-- “Just make sure no one tries to kidnap and kill you, we don’t need you to go full blown John Wick.” Damian has no idea who that is. Raven tells him it is an action movie series that he should watch. She leaves. He does watch them that night with Titus on his lap. (after having gone to the local pet supply store to get everything he needs) The action is inaccurate but he enjoyed the movies none the less, and decides that he probably would go into John Wick mode if someone hurt Titus.

- SA Roth and SA Wayne are sent to a high security federal prison to interrogate a prisoner, who refuses to speak

-- When they get into the interview room the prisoner does start to speak, but not in English and not in a language Damian is fluent in

-- Raven on the other hand immediately responds to the prisoner (shocking the prisoner and Damian) “He is speaking Romani though not the dialect of those overseas, he learned it here.”

-- Damian is fascinated by it and they are essentially switching roles the entire time

-- They leave having successfully interviewing the prisoner, and Raven leaves behind a written list of common words in Romani so that they can possibly communicate with the prisoner better

-- As soon as they are on the plane back Damian asks her a myriad of questions from “How many languages do you know?” to “When did you learn that?” and even “Are you a spy? Sleeper agent? Part of a terrorist cell?”

-- “Not as many as you, when I was a child, if I was part of any of that you wouldn’t be asking.” The rest of the trip is spent with her teaching him Romani and even some Romanian

- Dick & Kori eventually get together and after a while they break up. Kori takes some vacation time. At the same Dick has been temporarily reassigned to another unit.

-- Chaos ensues

-- Garfield thinks he should be the interim unit chief, Jaime thinks the same, as does, you guessed it, Damian (Raven doesn’t want to she is comfortable with her role on the team)

-- In the end they are assigned an interim unit chief, SSA Jason Todd, who usually works overseas on covert op missions (not gonna lie this could easily flow into a Jayrae thing)

-- Everyone kind of falls into line, except Damian, Damian doesn’t like him for two reasons

1) He doesn’t act serious about the job 24/7

2) He has been flirting and hitting on Raven the moment he stepped into their sector

-- Damian hates the names he gives her; “Little Bird,” “Sunshine,” “Princess,” “Rae,” (no one calls her Rae, not even Garfield, at least not after the incident) etc.

-- (Little does Damian know, Jason and Raven have worked together before and are actually friends)

-- This all comes to a head when Damian and Jason are the only ones still in the office after a tiring case.

“You shouldn’t do that you know.”

“Do what? All I am doing right now is contemplating where Grayson keeps the liquor.”

“Call Raven all those names, she doesn’t like it.”

“Really? Because if you haven’t noticed she hasn’t exactly asked me to stop.”

“She gets uncomfortable, maybe not to the extent of asking you to stop, but she tenses up and her body language becomes slightly more agitated.”

“You seem to pay a lot of attention in how she reacts to thinks baby brat. Seems to me that you like her.”

“Of course I like her, she is a good friend and reliable teammate.”

“No, you like like her.”

“That presumption is juvenile.”

“But you don’t deny it.”

“Tch.”

-- If anything after that conversation Jason seems to doubled his advances. Which confuses both Damian and Raven. Damian because it is inappropriate and HR will be hearing about this. Raven because she was under the assumption that she and Jason were just friends. (Jason actually does have genuine intentions but is like 60% just egging Damian on)

-- Eventually (far too long for Damian’s tastes), both Dick and Kori return. At first it is sooooooo awkward. Like mom and dad divorced have shared custody but don’t hate each other but also cannot look each other in the eye. ((Was that a mouthful? Good)) No one can really look at each other the same? Though they do have a meeting to sort it out, get everything out in the open.

- Raven’s annual kidnapping/attempt to convert her/torture comes almost exactly one year after Damian joined the team (this is his 2nd time dealing with this)

-- This time Damian is prepared. By prepared I mean Raven doesn’t even leave her apartment before she is taken to safety.

“Damian what is going on?”

“Christmas came early this year that’s what.”

“Christmas? What in gods name are you talking about.”

“God has no dealings in this matter.”

“You do realize you are sounding like a bad action movie? It is not even 6 am and I am in your car going somewhere, I have had little to no sleep and I am barely dressed. What is going on?” Damian hadn’t payed attention to what clothing Raven was wearing. His mind was on one goal. Find Raven, keep Raven safe. His eyes glanced off the road enough to realize she was indeed not properly dressed. Her body was merely adorned with an oversized tee-shirt, tiny barely there shorts and a pair of fluffy socks.

“I apologize, it appears in my haste I did not leave you time to properly clothe yourself. As to why you are here, it seems your father and his people have shortened their waiting time this year from one year to a little more than ten months.” Ravens hands fisted her shirt. “This time I was prepared,” last time he was still new to everything, last time he made mistakes, this time there will be no mistakes. “Since our last encounter with your demon, so to speak, I have been setting in place precautions and safety measures to ensure Nevermore and yours’ safety. I have also been tracking the movements of his big players. If any came close I would mark it down. Multiple are entering the city at this moment. Seeing as you we taken last time I have made plans to ensure that will not happen again.” The car made a snap turn down an unfamiliar street pulling Raven from her clouded gaze.

“So I am going to be okay this time?” Her voice was faint and restraining against hope.

“You’re going to be okay.” His hand lightly held hers. Only to stop the shaking, they told themselves, only to make everything better. “Nevermore is with Titus at my place being watched by a friend of mine. I have already walked Grayson through everything we will not be expected at work this week, but we can work remotely.”

“We?”

“I’m not going to leave you. Ever.”

-- ((Sorry for the blocks of text))

-- As Raven finds out they are at one of Damian’s safe houses. The one least likely to be tied to her. It is fully stocked with food, has security cameras and if needed weapons. The only problem is that the only clothes there are Damians.

“Thought of everything huh?”

“I was following their pattern, I expected to have more time to acquire clothing for you.” (he was looking away and blushing, you cannot tell me he wasn’t)

-- Raven just resigns herself to wearing Damian’s clothes, yes his brain does stop working for a hot second when he sees her in only his clothes.

-- All attempts to try and retrieve codename: Gem of Scath are foiled (like some good math)

-- So many bonding moments happen. Cuddling (pure accident *rolls eyes*), eating together, inside jokes, etc. At one point Damian answers her phone (he disabled and disconnected the tracer) to one of the mob guys after them.

“Hello?”

“You can hide the gem but we will find her.”

“I’m sorry, is there a jewel you are looking for? I don’t think I have and any jewels that I am coveting.”

“We know you are with her! It is but a matter of time until we collect her.”

“I hope you do eventually find whatever you are looking for sir, but I haven’t the slightest idea the gem you speak of. If you could give me a physical description? Is it a ruby, diamond, onyx? Is it round or more of a pear shape?”

“...”

“Well, I will look for it here, but I do not believe I possess what you speak of. Will you give me your number so I can call you back?” (The line cuts dead, and Raven can be seen laughing in the background, the phone was on speaker)

-- Once the team tracks down, arrests and interrogates all of the parties working for Trigon; Raven and Nevermore can go home. Though both are reluctant in their own way. Nevermore has grown attached to Titus, and Raven well Raven has feelings. Sadly, as Raven knows, feelings are dangerous to have in their line of work.

-- Look at Dick and Kori they were together and then they fell apart and the team almost imploded.

-- What about Trigon if he finds out about Damian and how she feels towards him? What kind of danger will he be in then?

-- Like all of her feelings Raven puts them in a box and locks the box away. Not just figuratively, in her safe there is a box with: post its, torn papers, journals, etc. That box has a lock on it. Whenever she has a new feeling that she cannot ignore, like her feelings towards Special Agent Wayne, she takes out the box and writes her feelings down. They can range from a single sentence to pages worth. (Her feelings towards Damian fill a small notebook she has on hand). Once she has written all of her feelings out she places them in the box, locks said box and then places the locked box in her safe, which she then locks.

-- Is this a healthy way to cope with her feelings? Maybe not. But, it is way better than how Damian deals with his. Violence. Also art but violence comes first.

- At this point both Damian and Raven have caught the feelings (highly contagious I hear), which makes this a little awkward and a little not awkward. For one everyone but Raven knows how Damian feels towards her. He does things for her and with her that no one else gets the privilege to.

-- To list a few:

--- He brings her tea whenever he gets himself coffee or tea

--- He talks to her about what he does outside of work, even about his kind of friend definitely not enemy, Jon.

--- They socialize outside of work. Watching bad movies (some of them are not that bad), going to the park with Titus (they once got Nevermore in a leash and walked her), meeting each other before and after work to get breakfast or dinner.

--- He doesn’t glare at her

--- He allows physical contact between the two

--- He worries about her (hello he created an entire plan so that she wouldn’t get kidnapped, with contingencies and everything, garfield would be lucky to get a plan)

--- His eyes light up when she talks, or enters a room, or you know exists in his vicinity

--- He actually smiles around her (Dick caught him smiling once at Raven and he though Damian was having a stroke)

-- Even though everyone knows Damian likes Raven, very few know that Raven likes Damian back. (this only includes; Kori, Dick, Jason, Titus, Nevermore, and Melvin) She does do certain things that give herself away just like Damian.

--The list:

--- When Damian gets frustrated or angry she puts a hand on his arm, or holds his hand

--- She laughs at things he does (light chuckles, or little giggles)

--- She will talk to him about his interests and actively tries to have conversations with him about things unrelated to work.

--- She blushes when he does something unexpected (like a compliment)((Mostly she tries to hide it until he isn’t looking at her))(((Kori has caught the blush before)))

-- Luckily for them it does not take some cliche ‘One suddenly becomes in danger and the other one saves them only to be close to death and then they admit their love for one another and promise to go on a date when the other is healed’ situation.

-- Damian actually asks Raven out after being tipped of by Jason and Dick that she may like him back. Damian finds out when they have days off at the same time and asks her while leaving work.

“Raven, you have this weekend off correct?”

“Yeah I do. I wasn’t planning on doing anything though. Did you have something in mind?”

“Um, yeah, heh, I was wondering if you would do me the pleasure of going to dinner with me tomorrow.” *Awkwardly rubs back of neck*

“Like a date or two friends going to dinner?” *Thinks she sounds harsh* “I am honestly fine with either since we are friends.” *nervous smile*

“Like a date if that is okay with you of course.”

“Yeah, yeah totally that is totally okay with me.” *Starts sounding like a teenage girl who only knows about 10 words, because she’s nervous*

“Good, I’ll be by your place around 1830, if that is okay?” *nerve central, the central nervous system could never*

“Yup that is totally fine with me.”

“Great.”

“Good.” The elevator opens in the knick of time.

“See you tomorrow evening Agent Roth. Have a good night.”

“You too, Agent Wayne, you too.”

-- When Damian does pick her up he feels like his brain is going to explode. She looks absolutely breathtaking. This is just like all the other times they’ve gone to dinner, except this restaurant is slightly fancier and they are on a date.

-- Raven feels as though all her emotions are leaking out at once, she has no idea what she is doing.

-- In the end they have a good time and decide to do it again. Damian does bring up that all of the breakfasts and dinners they regularly do could now be considered dates. Raven does not oppose that switch at all.

- Fast forward a handful of years (like 3?), Damian and Raven are moved in together (Nevermore and Titus are happy about this, they even allow the humans to adopt another pet, a cat named Alfred). Damian is now Supervisory Special Agent Wayne and is in charge of their unit. Raven has retired from field work and now works at the FBI academy and at Virginia State University. In about 6 months Damian is going to propose and Raven will say yes. Their wedding will be small but happy and full of life.

Once again I would like to thank everyone and all the support the previous post got.

Like last time if anything is disjointed, out of place or seems wrong, please go ahead and tell me. I have been working on this since the last one, but have finally had the time to finish it.

I hope the new year will bring us all some good. Possibly more head canons to come.

#damirae #Damian Wayne #raven #Rachel Roth #damian x raven #Teen Titans #Headcanon #How do tags work #dc #demonbirds

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a-square-minus-one · 3 years

Text

Honey 7

It’s been a while. I won’t lie and say that I didn’t have severe writer’s block. Still don’t like how this turned out. But it’s something.

“I’ve brought reinforcements,” Terra says, throwing her hands in the air enthusiastically. Raven breezes past her and places her bag of crystals and herbs onto the table.

“To our exposed tower,” Raven drones, emptying her bag one crystal at a time. Garfield bites at a hangnail on his thumb.

“Uh...you’re welcome,” Terra says, head tilting to the side and hands falling limply at her sides. Raven glances at Terra briefly, then returns her attention back to the stones. It’s silent for a few moments. Garfield sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. Terra and Raven toed the line between friends and enemies constantly. They cared about each other deeply but also knew exactly what to say to push each other’s buttons. There was no telling how they’d interact with each other at any given time.

“Thank you Terra,” he says, placing a hand on his girlfriend’s back. She shoots him a loose, irritated smile.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Terra says, directing her words at the sorceress across from her. Raven’s head is turned down.

“Thank you for thinking of us Terra. I just don’t know if this is an instance where there is strength in numbers or whether adding members to our team multiplies our vulnerabilities.”

Garfield places his hands on Terra’s tight shoulders, feeling the air around everyone rising in temperature.

“Mmhhhm, I get it,” Terra says, sucking her lips into her mouth in a way that suggests she did not, in fact, ‘get it.’ “Guess I was just worried when Garfield called me in the middle of the night to tell me that your little boyfriend turned him into a literal fish out of water.”

“Okay!” Garfield says, clapping his hands at the same time Raven’s head snaps up at Terra. “Terra and Aqualad are here. Nothing we can do about that now.”

“Right,” Raven says, keeping eye contact with Terra for a few beats. She puckers her lips, and looks blankly at the wall behind them. “Truthfully, both of your powers will be very useful to us.”

“How so?” Terra asks. Garfield tries not to make his relief visible when he notes that a lot of the edge in both of their voices has been softened.

“I’ll explain but first-” Raven says, waving her hands until there is a circle of white gemstones around the group. “Demons can’t pass a barrier of quartz.”

“Right,” Terra says, rocking on her heels and eyeing the little rocks skeptically. “So how can we help.”

“Incantations don’t really have a shelf life. They are immediate solutions to immediate problems. Spells and curses work best when they are bound to something tangible. Either a person or something earthen. It’s the reason why voodoo dolls are usually made of clay. And the reason for these,” Raven says, gesturing to the multi colored crystals in front of them. “And water-”

“Is a purifying element,” Aqualad finishes for Raven, playing with a chunk of amethyst. He looks around at the team’s expectant faces. “Ever watch the Wizards of Oz? Water melts the witch.”

“Such a marvelous movie!” Starfire exclaims at the same time Garfield blurts-

“Raven takes showers though.”

He immediately buries his forehead into Terra’s hair. Not the best time to sound like I think about Raven showering. He thinks to himself, clenching his eyes tight. He feels his back muscles tighten when he hears Garth chuckle.

“The Wizard of Oz is an exaggeration of the actual truth,” Garth says.

“Being?” Nightwing asks. Aqualad looks at Raven to see if she wants to explain. Raven shrugs.

“You were very eager to explain a few moments ago,” she says, eyebrow arched. Garth chuckles, running a hand through his jet black locks. “Water is considered pure. Dark magic and dark energy travels through it at a much slower rate. It’s why people use water in baptisms and exorcisms. It’s meant to cleanse.”

“Is there anything this guy doesn’t know about?” Garfield mumbles under his breath into Terra’s hair.

“I’m not great at art history,” Aqualad says. Garfield makes a point to look at Garth’s face when he rolls his eyes.

“So our plan is to have Aqualad throw buckets of water on your brothers?” Garfield asks.

“Our plan-” Raven narrows her eyes at Changeling. “Is to trap my three eldest brothers in crystal cages and detach their spirits from their corporeal forms.”

“That sounds-” Cyborg starts, scratching at his head.

“Like murder,” Nightwing finishes. Starfire cringes, placing her fingers on her lips. She looks to Nightwing, then to Raven.

“It’s not,” Raven says, sighing when Nightwing doesn’t immediately relax. “It’s not. My brothers are higher order demons. Their spirits cannot be destroyed.”

Nightwing crosses his arms over his chest.

“Really Nightwing, do you honestly think we are capable of removing sin from the world?” Raven asks. One of her eyes twitches.

Raven looks around to her teammates who say nothing. “The answer is a very very clear ‘no.’ My brothers need to exist.”

“The world needs balance,” Aqualad says. Raven nods at him.

“Something it will not have if my father is released. Which is why we need to separate my brothers’ spirits from their bodies and trap them in clay figurines. This will make it nearly impossible for them to communicate their plans with each other. It will solve our problems for at least another decade.”

“And their bodies?” Nightwing asks. Raven feels her skin prickle at the sharp accusation.

“Are just that,” she replies smoothly. “Bodies. Their bodies only serve as conduits for their immortal spirits. Trigon will eventually find another human woman to manipulate and seduce and my brothers will have a new conduit.”

“We need to think of another way,” Nightwing bristles, pounding his fist into his hand. Raven looks at his fist in his hand.

“There is no other way.”

“We can’t just murd-”

“This is not murde-”

“Then why does your plan end with six lifeless bodies. Your brothers have human mothers. They are human.”

“No Nightwing...there is absolutely nothing human about my brothers. If you knew what they were capable of, you would know that. With certainty.”

“Trigon made them the same way he made you.”

The words shouldn’t have had as much force as they did but Garfield finds himself taking a step back. He can hear everyone’s breath catch in their throat at the same time. Garfield notices Raven’s shoulders shift, almost as if she’s accommodating the weight of the words Nightwing just said. Besides that, she is frozen in place. She does not look up. She does not acknowledge what was said. Nightwing’s frowning, his fingers twitching against his thighs. It looks like he’s torn between wanting to say something and wanting to stand firm. He doesn’t get the chance to make the decision because Raven turns around, her cloak swirling around her ankles. She starts moving towards the common room doors.

Then suddenly she yelps in a way that makes Garfield’s ears ring. One second she’s surrounded by shocking white light and the next she’s being propelled backwards, forcefully and quickly, into the sofa. Garfield can hear the impact as her back hits the wooden structure underneath the cushions. He winces. He and Starfire are by her side immediately. Nightwing runs in front of her, bo staff gripped tightly in his hand. His eyes are sharp as he looks around the common room for the intruder.

“My brothers aren’t here,” Raven says, wincing a little as Starfire helps her to sit up. Nightwing turns around, eyebrows crinkled. Raven sighs.

“Star could you-” Raven pauses. Garfield looks down as her throat moves when she swallows deeply and silently. “Could you move one of those crystals?”

And understanding falls over Garfield like an itchy sweater.

“Demons can’t pass through a ring of quartz,” Raven mumbles, looking down. Garfield feels fingers tighten around his heart as Nightwing’s last words are validated. Trigon made them the same way he made you. He wonders how many therapy sessions he himself would need to work through that idea. Aqualad moves to the quartz quickly and tosses the gem across the room.

“You’ll have to-” Raven clears her throat, and she hasn’t looked back up again. “You’ll have to put it back when I leave.”

“Listen Raven-” Nightwing starts.

“I’ll be back,” Raven says, rushing to the roof. Garfield presses his lips firmly together and runs a hand through his hair. No one moves for a couple minutes.

“So...what do we do now?” Terra asks. Garfield rubs the back of his neck. The whole team looks to Nightwing. His face and body are a mix of hard angles as he looks to the doors Raven left out of. His lips a straight line. His shoulders at perfect right angles with his neck. His jaw, somehow even more chiseled. Still Garfield can see traces of regret behind his statuesque frame. Realizing they wouldn’t be getting anything useful from him, Starfire, Cyborg and Changeling look between each other.

“You’re up grass stain,” Cyborg says, drumming his mechanical fingers against his chest. Garfield gapes at him.

“Up for what?”

“You gotta bring her back down,” Cyborg says, as if it’s that simple. Garfield places both hands on his head.

“Bro, what if she’s meditating?”

“Her brothers can attack at any time. We have to prioritize this,” Cyborg says, arms crossed over his chest. Garfield looks towards Terra who has started up a conversation with Aqualad since Raven’s departure. He leans towards his friend.

“Do you really think I am the best person to talk to her about this right now?” Garfield whispers, his voice coming out like little hisses between his tight lips. Cyborg waves him off.

“Her brother was obviously trying to throw you two off your game earlier,” Cyborg shrugs. Garfield crosses his arms across his chest and resists stomping his foot.

“Seriously? Why does everyone keep saying it’s obvious? What am I? Chopped liver.”

“Of course not friend,” Starfire says, rubbing her hand back and forth over his shoulder.

“You know you’re the only one who can talk to her when she’s on that roof.”

“That’s not true!” Garfield exclaims. Cyborg presses his lips together and tilts his head from left and right as if contemplating that sentence.

“Okay, we could all probably reach out to her but you’re usually the only one ballsy enough to do it. She’ll be expecting you.”

“Well it’s not gonna be me this time,” Garfield says, fingers digging into his elbows. It was awkward enough in the elevator.

Garfield stares at Cyborg.

And Cyborg stares at Garfield.

And Starfire stands to the side looking between both of them.

And five minutes later Garfield finds himself on the roof of the tower, the door closing softly behind him.

Garfield curses and silently prays he’s not interrupting time she needs for herself. Raven’s knees are clutched to her chest, the soft wind is blowing strands of her hair backwards. He’s pondering how to approach her when a strand of her hair catches the light. All together her hair is such a dark purple that it’s almost black but when the strands are separated it’s a plum color. It’s the same color of the plums his mom used to bring him in Africa. They were always so fat and juicy. Garfield licks his lips.

“Are you going to stand there all day?” Raven asks, not bothering to look back at him.

“Was trying to avoid getting thrown off the roof,” Garfield says, placing his hands in his pockets and leaning against the door. Raven finally looks back, and the light is hitting her in a way that tints half her face golden.

“Haven’t thrown you off the roof, or anywhere for that matter, in years.”

“That’s-” Not true, he wants to say but then he thinks about it. She hasn’t used her powers on him in a while.

“Fair enough,” he says, and walks towards her. He tilts his chin to the spot next to her. “Mind if I sit?”

“It’s not my roof,” Raven shrugs. Garfield presses his lips together tightly but sits down next to her anyways. He mirrors her position, bringing his knees to his chest. He looks out at the glittering water.

“You think my plan is murder?” Raven asks.

“Don’t think you’re capable of murder,” Garfield says, watching a bird jump around at the shore line. They let the sound of the waves crash over their conversation for a few moments.

“But I’m not comfortable with your plan,” he says and turns his head to look her in the eyes. “And I’m not sure the rest of the team is either.”

Raven’s lips remain frustratingly straight. Garfield doesn’t break eye contact.

“There’s not another option.” Garfield shakes his head.

“There’s always another option.”

A particular hard wave crashes against the shore. Raven looks away to look at it.

“They won’t hesitate to kill any of you if given the option,” Raven says in a low voice. Garfield watches as she brushes a strand of hair away from her face then looks away again.

“It’s usually a hazard of the job,” Garfield says, leaning his back against the roof and looking up at the clouds above their heads. Raven looks back at him from her seated position the sunlight behind her is making the edges of her hair glow.

“If your lives are in danger I’m going through with it regardless of what Nightwing, or anyone, thinks.”

Garfield sticks his palm underneath his head and juts his bottom lip out in thought.

“You know Nightwing didn’t mean to insult you.”

“Doesn’t mean I wasn’t.”

Garfield hums.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

“You don’t have to apologize for Nightwing.”

“Well yeah but I meant for making things uncomfortable in the elevator and for being so crude.”

“My brother made them uncomfortable,” Raven says, getting up from her seat.

“So you admit it was uncomfortable?” Garfield asks, grinning. He shields his eyes with his hand so he can get a better look at her face. She gives him a deadpan expression, then juts her chin towards the entrance to the Tower.

“Let’s get back inside.”

Garfield walks in front of Raven once they get off the elevator to the common room and quickly removes the stone just as she’s about to cross the barrier.

“Okay, let’s say my plan is murder. Let’s say that that is something that you think I am capable of-” Raven begins. Garfield cringes. Cyborg shoots him a look.

“Hey! I got her back downstairs,” Garfield says, hands up in front of him.

“Raven-” Nightwing says through a sigh. She puts a hand up.

“Let’s say my brothers, who have stood behind every person who has done any sickening thing in this world, are like me. Let’s say these men who have raped, murdered, robbed, are anything like me-”

“Your brothers are nothing like you. I misspoke-”’

Raven puts her hand up again. “What is your plan?”

“We keep them in a similar room to the one we kept you in on your sixteenth birthday.”

Raven purses her lips. “I don’t know what you are expecting from this experiment but I would be remiss not to remind you that my brothers’ entire identities are tied to how many people they can make fall from grace,” Raven pauses, then sighs. “But I admire your infallible, perhaps misplaced, hope that there is something good even in the depths of Hell...maybe I’m too close to the situation to see properly. I am not too proud to admit that.”

She shakes her head. “I trust your gut Nightwing. It hasn’t led us astray yet. If you think that we can do this some other way. If you are convinced-” Raven hesitates, biting her lip. She looks Nightwing in the eyes. “I have followed you blindly to the ends of the Earth before.”

Nightwing lets those words settle on his shoulders. “I didn’t mean to say that you are anything like your brothers. But maybe-” Nightwing pauses. He places a hand on Raven’s shoulders. “Maybe they are, even if only a little bit, like you. Anyone who has the potential to be like you should be given the chance.”

“So be it,” Raven says, bowing her head, and moves to the table fingering her crystals.

“You’ll all have to wear these. It will protect you from demonic influence.”

“I think we are forgetting one dragon sized problem,” Cyborg says.

“I’ll worry about Malchior,” Raven says. Garfield clears his throat.

“Actually Rae-” he begins. Raven looks up at him and he messes with the collar of his uniform. “I think I can help with Malchior.”

“Unless you’ve been hiding your knowledge of archaic magic-” Garfield rolls his eyes.

“I think I can turn into a dragon,” he interrupts. She stutters and he has to stop himself from grinning.

“You can- I- what?”

“Why haven’t you told me this baby?” Terra asks. Garfield shrugs.

“It’s new. I thought I could only turn myself into animals but apparently mythological creatures are not off the table.”

“How did you find this out friend?” Starfire asks, eyes wide and shiny. Garfield blushes and plays with the hairs at the nape of his neck.

“I may have turned into a unicorn.” Cyborg snorts. Raven has to resist smiling when Garfield’s cheeks tint brown with a blush.

“Why would you-” Terra begins but things start to connect for Raven.

“Jordan,” Raven says in a low voice. Garfield peaks up at her through his lashes. “She loves unicorns.”

Garfield nods, keeping eye contact with Raven. For once it doesn’t make the air around them too thick to breathe.

“Well. I’ll have to be at your side at all times. Malchior will not resist an opportunity to change your form again. These crystals will protect you from my brothers but not Malchior’s magic. Aqualad can only be in so many places and he can only provide a temporary barrier. I’m going to have to shield your mind.”

“Woah. I don’t think that’s safe,” Terra says, standing in front of Garfield with her hands up as if forming a protective barrier around him. “What happens if you get knocked out?”

Raven bites her lip, contemplating this. Garfield moves in front of Terra, his back to Raven.

“Even if I’m not fighting with Malchior directly, I’ll be in the same field. It’s better I’m close to Raven so I have the added protection of the mental shield.”

“How about you sit this one out?” Terra asks, hesitantly, in a voice so low that Raven was sure Terra already knew the answer would be ‘no’ before she even asked the question. Garfield, in typical Garfield fashion, does not get defensive. He chuckles and grips his girlfriend’s shoulders lightly.

“Can superheroes do that now?” he directs the question to her but then swirls around to his teammates. “Cause let me tell you, there are about a million battles with Plasmus that I would’ve sat out.”

Terra sighs.

“We’ll make sure Aqualad is by us too. That way if I get knocked out, he can put up a barrier quickly and Garfield can escape somewhere.”

“I want to be by you too,” Terra says and Nightwing immediately shakes his head.

“We’ll need at least four of us to fight the six brothers.”

“Four brothers,” Raven corrects.

“Four?” Starfire asks. “But there are seven sins?”

“My brothers weren’t all born in the same year. Currently sloth is an infant and Greed is around 2.”

“What?” Cyborg asks. Raven shrugs.

“Many women get a feeling about how evil my father is before he can impregnate them. Gluttony is only eight years old but I still wouldn’t underestimate him.”

“So Envy, Wrath and Lust are the only fully grown adults?”

Raven nods.

“So-”

Red lights swallow up the common room. Raven curses, quickly using her powers to string fragments of crystals around her teammates' necks.

“We don’t have time. Remember, the goal is to get them in crystal cages.”

#bbrae

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