#the resurrection of ra’s al ghul

[avayarising]

So I’ve been reading The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul (thanks @lynzine), and…

Ra’s wants a new body to transfer his consciousness to, and has captured Robin!Tim and Damian. He says he can use either:

But later, once Ra’s has taken over the body of his son, Dusan, the White Ghost, we see this:

For the transference to work, you need a blood relative.

How is Tim blood-related to Ra’s Al Ghul?

[zahri-melitor]

Tim’s life slogan.

[heroesriseandfall]

What did the poor monks and caretakers of Nanda Parbat do to deserve everybody thinking Ra’s al Ghul owns the place when they specifically banned him from it?

This is where all the good vigilantes go for spiritual training and healing or whatever. When Ra’s came he tried to steal their holy water and destroy it. Free Nanda Parbat from the assassin stronghold allegations!

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

DP X DC WRITING PROMPT #20

(#) = Notes at the end of post

(*) = Other ideas relating to the prompt

✦

To Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Jason stayed dead for about six months before he was resurrected. That left his spirit plenty of time to fully manifest in the ghost zone, but time flows a little weird in the Infinite Realms so it feels like he's been dead a lot longer.

Regardless, six months is enough time for him to make plenty of friends and enemies alike. Enough to fall head over heals for the white-haired boy named Danny who just so happens to also be his king. Enough time for Jason and Danny to finally confess their feelings for each other and form a relationship. Enough time for them to grow to adore each other down to their very cores. Enough time for Jason to become the King's consort and earn the title of Prince of the Infinite Realms.

Not enough time, however, when Jason's spirit is unwillingly dragged back to the broken husk of his body buried in a coffin six feet under. Not enough time when the sheer amount of trauma his body and mind suffered causes his memories of the afterlife to sift out like grains of sand through a colander, mindless in his continued existence and search for a man named Bruce that he only half recalls.

Not enough time for when his body is stolen and dunked into the foulist pools of ectoplasm to ever surface in the living world and he comes back with unbridled rage he only half understands. Where is he? Where was he? Why does green flood his vision? Something is missing but why can't he remember? He shouldn't be here. Why was he here?? (1)

Jason tries to navigate his way through the world he'd previously left behind and discovers what happened after his death. The Joker was still alive. Another child was running around in a traffic light costume in the dead of night. Bruce had replaced him, seeming to forget he ever existed and the consequences of training a child to be a vigilante. That just won't do. He cries. He rages. He plans.

Meanwhile, the King of the Infinite Realms is apocalyptic over the fact that his lover was ripped from his arms, their kingdom, their home. He can sense Jason's torment like echoes in a cave. Can sense when his body enters the fringes of his territory when dunked into the toxic Lazarus waters created by the previous king. How dare they taint his lover's spirit with such filth?! Danny's core rears its head, chanting, growling to protect his soulmate.

Danny is beyond unhappy and he's about to make it everyone's problem.

✦

Notes:

(1) Jason forgets everything he experienced in the afterlife with Danny and is even more confused than he previously would have been when resurrected. Memories only come back to him in bits and pieces when he comes into contact with beings of the supernatural and Danny himself or possibly when he sleeps.

(*) I believe an interesting way to show the events and progression for this prompt would be to switch back and forth between the current events of Under the Red Hood/Phantom's anger and the days they spent together in the Infinite Realms before they were literally torn away from each other. Either as standalone info or through the dreams Jason has as he sleeps but doesn't remember when he wakes.

The events of Under the Red Hood still happen, there's just the question of where he even was for the six months that he was dead added into the equation. Dead on Main tossed in there for flair, because why not? Been seeing a lot of "Jason becomes Danny's Fright Knight" fics, but I wanna see one where they're literally just a royal couple who rule the Infinite Realms with a just and fair hand.

[sarahreadstoomanycomics]

"You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing. I left you to make the choice for yourself....because I knew you'd make the right one" -Dick Grayson, Nightwing v2 #139

[emilyarmadillo]

*kisses your batboy on the head*

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Lost Boys

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam, Superfam

Summary: After Jonathan Lane Kent wipes himself from existence by canceling his own timeline, he finds himself stuck in the afterlife where he meets Jason Todd. He still wonders about the life un-lived on Earth, and how his parents would've felt about him.

Jason Todd, who is making the most of being dead, struggles with the reality of what he's left behind. He has one wish and one wish only: to send his family one final message.

Chapters: 6/?

Characters: Jonathan Lane Kent (Laney), Jason Todd, Catherine Todd, Boston Brand, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, John Constantine, Raven, Talia al Ghul, Ra's al Ghul, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake

Relationships: Platonic JayLaney

Additional Tags: Angst, Platonic Relationships, Magical Jason Todd, Resurrected Jason Todd, Queerplatonic Relationships, Canon Divergent AU, POV Multiple

Chapter Six: Happy Trails (Jason's POV)

After my resurrection, I started seeing things and hearing voices, but they weren't talking to me. They were talking about me. After my dip in the pit, I knew I was stuck with them. Sometimes in the daytime, I would lie awake and listen to them talk. The spooky one would come and go, but the one in the weird Superman costume never left my side. Sometimes I felt like I knew him from somewhere. Sometimes he would sing songs to me when we were alone or talk as if he didn't know I could hear him. I wanted to give in and speak to him most times, but I was afraid that I'd lose my mind completely if I did.

I didn't realize how much I would need him until I found out about Tim Drake. "You all right?" Talia asked. Her voice was clear, calm, and tinted with a hint of concern.

"Sure. Why wouldn't I be all right?" I lied. Once she was gone, I could hear the faintest whisper from my imaginary friend. I started to cry as I continued to try to ignore him.

"Jason, I'm so sorry," he said loud enough for me to hear. I looked away from the wall and directly at him. "Jason? You can see me?"

"What do you want from me?" I asked in tears. I finally succumbed to it. It didn't matter to me anymore if I was losing it or not. I just wanted to talk to somebody.

"Jason, it's me. Have you been ignoring me this whole time?" he asked. I nodded.

"I don't know who you are or if you're real. I just—. Can you sit down?" I asked. He nodded and sat at the table. I pulled myself together and sat back down. "Who are you?"

"Jason, it's me," he pleaded with me, "It's Laney. We're best friends. Why don't you—? Jason, don't you remember me?"

I shook my head and laughed. "No... I don't know who you are because you aren't real. You're not. This is just my brain damage and emotional trauma manifesting itself," I rationalized. Laney frowned. I pushed a hand through my hair and took a few nauseated breaths.

"This isn't who you are, Jason. We used to talk about it all the time... You said you wanted to tell Bruce you loved him, that he was a father to you. I know you're hurt, but has that changed?" Laney asked. I didn't answer him. "You don't believe me, do you? How can I prove it to you?"

"Prove what to me? I don't even understand what you're—."

"I'm a ghost. We were friends in heaven or the afterlife or whatever it was... And you disappeared, but Boston and I—. We uh—. I don't exist anymore, but you can do everything that I can't. You have a second chance, and Catherine wanted that for you," Laney whispered, "Jason..."

I started feeling panicked when he mentioned Ma, but I pushed the feelings back and went to bed. He stayed with me even after our conversation. When I woke up, Laney was still there, and his friend was back. "I'm not leaving him... Boston, I promised myself I would never leave him. So you can give me the address of the nearest person who can see ghosts, or you can come with us and help me prove that we're not just hallucinations," Laney snapped. I lay still and listened.

"The closest person I know isn't the kind of guy you ask for help. He's more trouble than he's worth—."

"Who is he, and where is he? Boston," Laney pleaded angrily through his clenched teeth.

"If he can prove that you two are real, I'm game... Actually, matter-of-fact, if you two are real, I'll do whatever the hell you want me to," I replied. Laney floated above the ground in a seated position, biting his nails. "Scout's honor."

"Jason, you were never a scout," Laney replied, "If we can prove that we're real, I want you to do just as we planned. Talk to our families."

I nodded, and Boston shook his head. "Jason, kid, you don't wanna go on and learn the hard way. Why can't you just take our word for it?" Boston asked. "Jay..."

I looked at Laney, and he softened up. "Jason, if you can't remember me, then you can't believe what I mean when I say that I know you in ways that you don't even know yourself anymore... And you won't be able to see that I just want to help you."

I wondered if he loved me. The way he spoke to me was like nothing I'd ever heard. I sometimes thought my mind made him up for comfort. Maybe he was real, and he was trying to protect me. I knew one thing for sure, everything he said was what I wanted to hear. I think that's what scared me the most. If he wasn't real, all I was doing was second-guessing myself.

They continued to argue back and forth, and I took my shower and got dressed before cutting out. Laney followed closely behind me. "Two choices. San Francisco, but you run the risk of seeing your brother or Louisiana meet this Constantine guy, and I hear he's more trouble than he's worth," Laney offered. Both choices sounded terrible, but I think he knew I'd pick anything over the idea of running into Dick. "Jason, I know you don't wanna risk seeing Dick if he's in San Francisco, but—."

"But nothing. I'm not risking everything I have planned. What happens if you're just my mind's way of sabotaging me?" I asked. He looked over my shoulder and waited for me to make eye contact.

"I don't want to sabotage you... I'd never do that. Jason, I know you're scared of what he'll say or think or do... But, just try to think. If this Constantine guy is as unpredictable as Boston says, don't you think you'd be safer if—."

I stopped just as I realized how crazy I must've seemed, talking to thin air. "Listen, on the off chance that you're real. Cool, great, good. But, on the chances that you're just a pretty little kindhearted and nurturing hallucination, my mind made up to change me back into the sweet boy you're saying I used to be... I don't wanna take any chances on screwing this up," I mumbled.

"You weren't always sweet. You were just as stubborn dead as you are alive. Either way, I promised your mom I'd find you, and I did. You're alive. I can't take that away from you, but I can look out for you," Laney whispered, "You don't have to talk to me out here. I know what it looks like. Just know when you find out that I'm not a hallucination and that there is actually someone on this planet that would move heaven and hell for you... I won't rub it in."

Secretly, I kind of hoped he was telling the truth. I needed him. Like it or not, I didn't know how I'd be able to bear the loneliness without him. So that was it. I was on my way to Louisiana to see a man about a ghost.

[nefarious-616-necromancer]

[hood-ex]

What? No. I'm not crying over the fact that Mario cupped Luigi's face and then pressed his forehead to Luigi's when they reunited. I'm not. Doing that. I'm

[5-7-9]

heard lady shiva’s mysterious hometown was protected by ra’s al ghul so now i got a crazy idea about making Sandra part of an endangered or seemingly extinct type of eastern Asian like Achang or Xiandao maybe

I also got a really crazy idea about making Ra’s Al Ghul knowing all these extinct languages in general, like Akkadian for example

[zahri-melitor]

Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul:

- Robin Annual #7 gave me my very first “you little brat” (affectionate) moment with Damian so I guess I AM capable of having that emotion with him. This is helpful, going forward in this read.

- Tragically he then was intensely irritating in every other panel he appeared in afterwards, sorry Damian, you are SUCH a plot device here.

- Fascinated to encounter Nanda Parbat and now I need to read its previous appearances, because people are correct, the way it’s used in fic is NOT the same as what it actually is.

- I have a lot of strong feelings about the bit of Batman Annual #26 set in the Bungle Bungles, but it was actually reasonably decent Australian characterisation for once, aside from the fact they used an exotic pest that is NOT PRESENT in Australia. I could give you a shortlist to pick from listed by the DPI, DC, why worry me by suggesting we had something I didn’t know about. (Shoulda been immortal cane toads)

- The Dick & Tim content was as great and heart-wrenching as described. Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh. Kill me. The number of times Dick’s like “yeah we are about to fight a ridiculous number of ninjas, I’d do it for you” and Tim turning to fight beside Dick in this storyline is heartwarming.

- ANOTHER canonical terrible angsty Christmas for Tim? He never gets a break on Christmas does he? (Also thinking imprecations at ALL the writers who stepped Janet below Jack-Steph-Conner if Tim was running around talking about resurrecting dead loved ones AT CHRISTMAS, you missed a trick here)

TIM!!! (This is about the best bit of Janet content in the whole comic, we could have had it ALLLLL (massive angst), DC, if you remembered your history)

[heroesriseandfall]

I think Dick & Tim’s physical fights are underrated. Maybe people assume since they’re close and never hated each other they must not fight. Which, to be fair, they usually don’t, and they don’t try to kill each other.

But Dick especially has a long history of physically getting into fights with people he cares strongly about, and when Tim is about to follow through on a terrible idea, he is no exception to that. Tim apparently has no qualms about it either.

What’s especially enjoyable about it to me is they’ll fight for fun and then they’ll fight to stop each other from doing stuff that’s a bad idea (like, say, fixating on bringing back all your dead loved ones) and no matter what their brotherhood will survive it. <3

…Even if Tim cheats to win one of their fights by playing the “if you MEAN IT that we’re brothers you’ll let me do my bad idea” card. Then he comes home after and follows it up with “of COURSE I’d never make a plan to take you down in a fight, I would never have to!”

(It occurs to me that in A Lonely Place of Dying when they meet again, they instinctively fight each other before even looking. lol)

[fantastic-nonsense]

hi so I agree with just about all of your opinions when it comes to gotham knights but I gotta say I love talia's outfit in the game

Yes, Talia looks great in the game! Which makes it even more awful that the creative team decided to yeet her back into her late Morrison era racist "evil dragon lady villain" characterization. I'm so tired of DC perpetuating the Talia-is-a-villain story and I'm ready for her to look good AND be (mostly) good again.

Like...my reaction when someone on twitter told me what the Gotham Knights team had done to her was just the Ben Affleck smoking meme:

[alternis]

despite how my brain wants to make everything into a story, the real heart and soul of SHS is the comedy of it all

characters who've never met tim finding out there's a child of lady shiva and richard dragon, two of the most talented martial artists alive, and then being incredibly disappointed when they fight him

people who already knew tim/the third robin finding out his mother is lady shiva and being weirdly unsurprised by the revelation

tim trying his best to angst about his parentage whilst dealing with people asking to fight him/nodding to themselves like everything about him now makes sense/trying to recruit him into their cult

[figofswords]

The Batman fandom has ruined the words replacement, coffee, cereal, green, pit and so many others lol. Every time I hear those words I just have a fight or flight response 😭

DONT even get me started. you should hear the sigh I make every time I see REPLACEMENT. like yes hate how are so many people so wrong

[anthyies]

oomf is throwing hands with a ten year old