Batgirl #39 - Dylan Horrocks
This page alone is just so much proof about how Barbara is Cass' best guardian and the adult figure who cares about her most. She isn't afraid to call out Bruce and deadpan antagonise him ("Ha." is such geninus. He hates being laughed at.)
Also Bruce's insistence that Cass is old enough to be forced to fight but he won't let her even consider dating Superboy is so interesting. It's the same possessiveness he has over Tim with Steph. He doesn't think someone is good enough for his kid - and he makes his kid and the person MISERABLE because of it. He actually destroys property because of how mad he is at Babs for this. It's controlling and toxic.
And the worst part of all this?
Barbara actually thought Bruce had listened to her. She was trying to give Cass a teen experience complete with cute beach clothes, letting her have a little alcohol for the first time, and even encouraging some summer flirting.
Cass is uncertain Bruce thinks this is alright, and look at how happy Babs is to reassure her that no, he actually had the idea! He paid for everything as a treat.
And then the rug is pulled out from her, and because of her paralysis she can't even take over for Cass, she has to watch every small scrap of progress be ripped away.
It's not the most cruel thing Bruce does to Cass, but at least at other points he doesn't pretend to be kind, to let her hear she deserves a holiday before proving he doesn't think she's good enough (he engineers the situation because she hesitates in a previous fight).
(Also Tai'Darshan was absolutely right in calling out the willingness of American business to ignore murder if they can get oil and making Cass' hesitation about him purely about his looks and not his politics and kindness was a sexist writing decision.)
Bruce engineers a situation to force Cass to atone for her hesitation or else be responsible for murders happening on her watch, and also puts her up against a metahuman when Babs explicitly says that their current advice for her is not to face them. It's Superboy who wins the fight, not her - if he hadn't been there she could have been in real danger.
Barbara setting a boundary for Cass, and Cass failing for one single moment, is reacted to with a cowardly trick to make them redeem themselves to him.
Unfortunately, it's not an unusual Bruce play for his bats.
And Barbara knows exactly what he's doing, and is powerless to stop him by design.
She's allowed to raise Cass, but not to protect her, and it makes me so angry. Both of them deserve so much better.
31 notes
·
View notes
Hi! I’m here suffering from lack of good Archivist!Sasha content as well 😭 On that note, do you have any fic on that topic you would recommend? Or just good Sasha fics in general, (or Jonsasha, if that’s your cup of tea)? Thank you in advance 😊
Tragically, I think there is a general dearth of good Archivist!Sasha content (and just about none of it Jonsasha content, as far as I can tell (and not only is Jonsasha my cup of tea, but the ONLY thing standing between it and the #1 OTP spot (currently occupied by JE) is the fact that the Jonsasha that I desperately crave exists in my brain and nowhere else)). Admittedly, I haven't looked very far into her tag yet (I should rectify that at some point tbh) but I've dug around the Jonsasha tag when I first got into it, and I know at least one fic where Sasha drifts towards Beholding through an interest in office gossip.
In terms of Jonsasha Ao3 has:
This very good Sasha lives fic where Jon shows up to Georgie's with an unconscious Sasha and everyone involved is very confused.
These two fics are cute also. The former is by @/suttttton and is them getting together, the latter is established Jonsasha from @/dickwheelie.
Eyevatar Sasha might actually be thinner on the ground (outside of fix-its where she solves everything and her canon reckless curiosity is completely ignored). Ao3 has:
This fic, which is Jongerry with outsider PoV Sasha. Just barely has the implication that she might be shifting towards the Eye (via prying into the lives of her coworkers) but gets a mention through sheer force of Excellent Sasha Characterization. I read this and I feel like I'm reading a fic from a Sasha Understander.
There's also this fic, which looks very promising but which I haven't actually gotten the chance to read yet, so I can't speak to its quality.
Unfortunately I've only gotten into Sasha fairly recently (especially as compared to Jon, who my brain latched onto in a deathgrip from the start), so I haven't gone through her tag yet. A scroll through the Archivist!Sasha or Beholding Avatar!Sasha tags pulls up a lot of fix-it and J//mart, which isn't really what I'm looking for from the concept. I'm sure there's more out there, and if/when I find them I'll come back to this ask probably, but I lucked into Reverse Nighthawks (I was on a Jongerry kick).
But god every day I wish that I could write romance and/or longfic, because about a year ago I read a Jonmichael fic that, when discussing alternate universes (where Jon ended the world) it's revealed that he once did an apocalypse out of love for his Archivist, Sasha James. And it was one (1) single line, but it struck me so hard because god. A perfect concept I think. The potential dynamics of Archivist!Sasha/Assistant!Jon are enthralling to me. Jon destroying the world (or helping her destroy the world? Cute date night I think: bringing about armageddon with your eldritch monster partner) for Sasha... anyway mostly I mentioned that one because My God if I have to live with that tantalizing AU rotating in the background of my mind 24/7 so do the rest of you.
9 notes
·
View notes
headcanons i have about Craig the scientist :)
as are most of the characters i have headcanons for, Craig is on the autism spectrum. he has a flat effect to his voice and facial expressions, doesn't really get most social cues, doesn't know how to react to others in pain the "right" way, misunderstands metaphors and speaks in quite a direct manner because it makes the most sense to his brain. he's quite a literal thinker. he also tends to hyperfixate so hard on a task that he forgets his basic needs and hygene, and thus has quite an unkempt look underneath that hazmat suit of his (which i will get into later!). Barry often ends up needing to get Craig something to eat because of how long he hyperfixates on something.
Craig sometimes doesn't exactly pay attention to his tone of voice, so sometimes he can say something that, to him, sounds completely normal, but because of his tone, can end up sounding really ominous to other people by accident ("We know who you are, Barry.")
Craig has traumatic cataract in his left eye (or wherever the fuck craig's visor crack is supposed to be in canon lol) from the explosion in 'Level 2' and is half blind in that eye. his eye has a very clouded look as a result of the injury. he's also got a huge scar there too that required some pretty gnarly stitches later, and his skin is almost completely numb around that area.
Craig also never really had the best eyesight before the injury, so he's always wearing these big ol' nerdy glasses underneath his helmet. and yes, they are tacked together with a band-aid lol
Craig is one of the few scientists who is not a clone of Peter Simpkins, the late friend of both Professor Brains and (in my headcanon'd canon) Craig. i like to think that Craig and Simpkins knew each other when they were first recruited by Legitimate Research and was pretty close to both him and Brains, and since Simpkins died, Brains has kind of taken more of a liking towards Craig (mostly out of loneliness and needing someone to help around at the lab, but he has a genuine fondness for him under his demanding and angry exterior).
There's a bit of a fan theory that Craig is the same guy as the scientist in the 'Robot Bird' rock opera, which i like to believe is the case. i mean, he's got the same monotone voice as Craig, it's gotta be him. i hope this does end up becoming canon because i think it'd make for an interesting conflict between Barry and Craig!!
Craig may or may not be related to Lab Lady.
Craig's counterpart in the mirror universe is named Kayla.
Craig is demiromantic and is questioning his sexuality (he thinks he might be bi or pan), though he definitely knows he loves Barry <3
Craig has an unhealthy habit of wiping his embarrassing memories, like, a lot. he wipes memories of awkward accidents in the lab, particularly painful failures, and most importantly, the memories of losing literally all his stuff and his career to Barry, which is why he doesn't immediately recognise him in the shorts. Craig has a lot of trouble recounting stories from the past because of this memory-wiping and felt a sense of emptiness, which getting hit in the head certainly didn't help with, so he tried inventing that apple in the Multiverse Madness event to get some of them back. it was pure dumb luck that Barry didn't end up witnessing what happened to Craig in the 'Robot Bird' opera and both are completely unaware of the disastrous can of worms that could have opened. bro's gonna end up like wallflower blush if he doesn't keep that memory erasing under control
and finally...
under his helmet, Craig has messy dirty-blonde hair, a rounded face that has a few stray facial hairs he forgot to shave, a long scar down the left side of his face, hazel coloured eyes and pale skin. this design is inspired by the designs made by @dexterno-artz and @schnabel53 respectively :D
this is a sketch of my finalised(ish) craig design!!! i've shown earlier versions of this guy in a couple of older posts but i haven't really revised his design much until now. i kinda had the idea of him looking like a stereotypical nerd and then made him messier. i might tone the amount of hair he has down a tiny bit but also i really like the nerdy bird's nest thing he has goin on :) i like to think he literally hasn't brushed his hair in several weeks and it's just become a bird's nest from nights of staying up doing science stuff
how i feel about barry tbh. he's literally so dumb i love him
(also apologies for the photos being kinda blurry and me forgetting to turn off the filter. again. in my defence it looks really nice and orange on my phone)
sometimes i like drawing him saying stuff from the shorts to get a feel of how he'd look when talking and make sure he looks juuuust nerdy enough for me to go "yep that's craig". also his big,g, handns,s,
drew this as a quick side profile sketch to get a general idea of how i want to draw him from this angle. he's talking to barry offscreen and falling in love with him <3
stupid little comic with a stupid little interaction that would definitely happen between these stupid little guys <3 barry being a little asshole every now and then is very entertaining to me. i need to see him antagonising craig and starting an old couple bickering argument with craig, that would heal me i think
i think i'll post more of this design in the future, i really quite like it a lot :)
3 notes
·
View notes
"Here," it's... it's just bread. It's a bun, sure large enough to still some amount of hunger, but it's just bread. And yet, María holds it in front of Patrick with the face of someone who'd consider it a criminal offense to refuse it. Nevermind that she's stolen it from one of the banquets. "Just making sure you're eating."
((RUH-ROH it's Len again~ and I promise I forgot about the Peeta bread thing until I re-read this IGNORE THAT--!! FDKLGJDLAJSGF Hope you didn't end up getting sick BUT IF YOU DID HOPE YOU'RE RESTING AND FEELING BETTER SOON 🥺)) || okay but panem is also known as the nation of bread & circuses– ( unprompted w/ @mythvoiced )
He doesn’t eat much in the Capitol.
Which is ironic, seeing how most of his life before the games, Patrick was always hungry. Always trying between schooling and factory shifts to figure out when his next meal was going to come. Why else would he and Hyuk have taken out tesserae all those years ago? It was preferable, playing the odds in the Reaping to starving for the rest of the year.
Nowadays, food is the least of his concerns. Whereas there is still a dearth in District Three, there is surplus in the Capitol. No surplus isn’t the right word; a surplus would mean the Capitol keeps the extra for the future. No, there is an excess of food in the Capitol, an excess that is dumped and left to rot after the pigs have had their share, have had their fun.
When he remembers that, food in the Capitol, no matter how finely it’s been prepared, becomes disgusting. Repulsive when it is combined with the thought of the districts, his people, still starving and fighting one another for the Capitol’s ‘scraps’. One plate is enough for Patrick to feel the bile swish in his stomach and even crawl back up his throat– how is he supposed to enjoy this filth now?
(But of course the Capitol has a way of perverting everything. Who else would have invented a liquid that makes one vomit what was just digested to make room for more food?)
“You didn’t have to,” is the first set of words to come out of his mouth, however. It’s such a childish gesture on her part; as a victor, she and her family should have more than enough riches to cover for food whether she’s in the Capitol or her own district. That and it’s considered normal to take leftovers from these banquets.
And yet, she’s staring him down like they are in covenance– it’s odd…strange how the things the Capitol deem sacred, she’ll approach with the irreverence of a foreigner and yet with the most mundane of objects, like a loaf of bread, most likely one of the hundred baked today and will be replicated tomorrow, like it is worth the weight of gold. He takes a hold of María’s loot. The loaf is still warm, freshly out of the oven, he wants to believe. Like it came from one of the bakeries in say, District 12, rather than a Capitol banquet table. Does she look at the Capitol and its elaborate feasts the same way? District Eight is probably just as bad if not even worse than his own district when it comes to food shortages so maybe her thievery makes sense.
When one has gone without food for long enough, no amount of surplus is enough to satiate the insecurity. He knows that feeling all too well. His stomach growls in anticipation. “…Normally, the Capitol likes to have this with caviar.” A delicacy from District Four along with butter shipped from District Ten. He splits the loaf in two, the inside crackling and breaking into two crisp pieces. “But I think…I think it tastes just as delicious on its own.” He hands María one half while taking a bite out of the other. “Take the other half; I can’t finish it on my own.”
It tastes delicious.
2 notes
·
View notes
𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐘. / breakdown on her abilities. based heavily on personal interpretation.
content warning for written examples of self injury, p.sychological torture, not being in control of ones own body, of insect references, self-c.annibalism, g.ore & fatal injury. can avoid the bottom section descriptions if too much! they are simply examples. ♡
do refer to THIS POST in terms of interactions with her as she's request-only.
the vast majority of this is highly personally sewn together and integral to how i portray her. anyone i write with is free to reference ANY OF THIS to respond to anything i either send you from my nancy or in threads, plotting, etc! i am leaning into the fact that her canon ability is not normal in the slightest, you can call it a type of witchcraft or pact with a devil of some kind - who truly knows what it is or how she obtained it but herself.
mutuals are free to take any example from here ( or similar ) and run wild with it in responses with my portrayal of her! this is more or less to provide ya'll some context & guide in a sense on how she works with how i write her.
and of course, subject to being continuously updated. :)
𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆. nancy's capabilities of tracking are unnatural - she does not often use traditional means in order to follow her targets from the shadows. her tracking ability allows her, for a period of time, to see through the eyes of her victims, visualizing a rough image in her minds' eye of where they are on the vast sawyer property. her hearing in this state is HIGHLY SENSITIVE - she can hear noises from quite a distance away if she's able to concentrate without interruption.
𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.
with nancy's tracking, she can only properly use this ability either when she is nearby her victim, or when they are within the confines of the entire sawyer - hewitt territories. by that i quite literally mean: every single inch, every acre, every building, every tree line, every field on their combined properties she is capable of tracking on. this is accomplished with a consistent schedule of, over the span of a weekend every so often, she must go around the entirety of the properties and re-mark rune-like symbols to encompass their land, re-strengthen those boundaries. if she does not freshen them up, its like a scent marker: it fades away, and the weaker it becomes the weaker her tracking becomes, the more blurred the image in her mind's eye shows her.
𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 & 𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑.
her tracking does take a toll on her when she uses it - the drawback and deterrent from her overdoing herself. her mind becomes foggy, vision twisting and spinning the world around her. she becomes temporarily disoriented and must allow herself a few moments to recollect herself. she will often try to find one of sissy's wildflower poison stations scattered all over the properties to help regain focus and clarity. unlike the familys' victims, nancy has developed a high tolerance to venom and poison in many forms, something she does in her spare time. a hobby if you will.
𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐒.
relatively minor in respect to when nancy dabbles in a bit of possession, victims to her tracking - upon her taking over and then 'returning their eyes' so to speak' - will feel a sense of disorientation and confusion, dizziness and a brief moment of uncertainty of where they are. it passes fairly quickly however, they will know something isn't quite right with what they just experienced. its unsettling, unnerving, to have someone seemingly take control of one of your senses.
𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍.
𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.
proximity to or visual on a victim is crucial for nancy to be able to possess. the closer she is, the stronger her hold is to the host. HOWEVER, nancy is capable of possession in alternate ways, should the victim not be nearby or in direct line of sight. mirrors, reflective surfaces like water can be utilized by her - so long as she has a clear view through it. mirrors are claimed to be gateways to the soul / the dead, and for nancy's unnatural abilities, she can use mirrors as a gateway in order to possess someone long-distance if necessary, so long as they are within view of a mirror. for example: how she manages to possess thomas all the way from hers and the sawyer properties to the hewitts? because he spends most of his time in the basement of the hewitt home - where he has a mirror on one of the support beams. so long as he is in view of that mirror from her end? she can possess him. the distance, however, does make it difficult to bounce back to her normal self when she stops, so its something she does carefully.
𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 & 𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑.
possessing someone for nancy is a far more daunting task than simply tracking them. it uses up more physical energy than she cares for, especially in situations where she uses the possessed to inflict harm - be it on themselves or others. should the host be injured in any capacity as she is actively possessing them, she will suffer mirrored internal wounds - not nearly as bad as the hosts', but enough to make an impact on her own body. it is why she will prefer to use stronger, larger, tanking types of victims to latch her claws into. it will also take a while longer for her to grow re-accustomed to returning to her own body - refamiliarize herself within her own skin and organ. ( this is usually the best opportune time to kill her, if i'm being frank about it. ) otherwise, mid-possession, the only way to stop her from using another is to directly attack her own body - doing so, with enough force, will knock her back into her own.
𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐒.
those who nancy takes on as host during her possession are otherwise completely at her dispense, it is incredibly difficult for the host themselves to break free of her grasp once she's garnered control. many physically strong and strong of mind have crumbled under her control. as for side effects they may encoutner, it is a feeling of disconnect from their bodies for a period when she's ripped out of them. they feel lost, unfamiliar - radio static throughout their bones, waves of pain from any sustained injury hitting them in one solid blow. air feels sharp, cold, harsh and unnatural filling and expelling itself from lungs. it is like stepping into a skin suit that is not yours, despite it very much being so. it is relearning how your own body moves, feels things, sees things.
𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.
𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.
unfortunately, the only limitation to this is her proximity to you. at least, initially. the hell basement below nancy's house is one section of the large, intertwined tunnels system the family utilizes to travel across the expansive properties, where only she keeps access to - no other family is allowed in most of it. it is where her special victims are kept - until she bores of them, until there's nothing left of them. for nancy's psychological torment to really take hold, she must have unrestricted access to the victims over a prolonged period of time. to allow them to settle deep within their being, soak into every fiber. she, however, can passively cause hallucinations so long as the victim is within range / barriers of runes she has around the property, in the basement, fields, etc. THIS POST talks about it a little more - but, main example of a place set up specifically for this is the Dire Field of Hell behind the tall overgrown trees and brush right behind car battery exit on nancy's map. maria in her main verses especially knows what this is like firsthand. and it is what heavily haunts her in her wilted flower / shine again verses.
𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 & 𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑.
there are none.
𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐒.
when they are actively being possessed: victims are fully conscious of the actions their bodies are forced to make. they are capable to feeling every little movement, every injury they sustain, every taste sight and smell that attacks their senses. they are fully aware of what they are being forced to do and yet they, physically and mentally, cannot do a thing to stop it. so, if they are alone at the time of possession? it will be very difficult to make it stop unless you can get to her. self-inflicting injuries not limited to: clawing at their skin, ripping off flesh with their own teeth / self-c.annibalizing, gouging their eyesockets, cracking their skulls open on any hard surface or with any blunt tool, d.isembowling themselves, repeated stab wounds, and so on.
for an idea of what could happen. you are in charge of your muse - you may go as wild as you wish with any affects on them caused by nancy. :)
all to be added upon as she develops ( can skip if needed! ) :
𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐔𝐀𝐋.
ie. seeing insects, animals, unknown creatures stalking up to you, crawling across skin, burrowing through each layer until hidden beneath. it is looking up at her ( or others ) and seeing skin rot as smile grows unnaturally across her face, slipping off bone and muscle, slopping on the ground between you or worse, on you if she leans close enough. it is watching as your own skin begins to decay before your eyes, before panic hits, and you find yourself having torn yourself apart to try and make it stop. it is seeing shadowed figures and creatures swarming all around you, peeking at you from behind and under and over objects. it is seeing people whose faces you know so well - and yet, uncanny, not them at all, and often appearing to you in horrific fashion: with head in hands, d.ecapitated, or blood spilling from deepened gash in throat.
𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘.
ie. distorted voices beside ears, whispers of curses, of taunts, belittlement, coaxes for you to plunge blade into gut, or to set enraged eyes upon another poor soul trapped across the way - restrained, while you are not; unable to move, while you can. it is screams - your own - echoing in your mind, forcing revisits of the moments that made them rip from your lungs in the first place. it is hearing scurrying and movement when there is nothing around.
𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐄.
ie. of organs twisting and moving, unnaturally bulging as if about to burst, snaking about in abdominal cavity as if about to eject from throat. it is of tiny legs crawling over and under skin, pushing and settling between openings of wounds, burrowing itself inside. it is feeling skin ablazed and blistering in spite of no flame, of pain so unbearable you simply must rid yourself of flesh it originates from. to be added at another time:
𝐎𝐋𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘.
𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘.
𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄.
2 notes
·
View notes
With Birchspeckle’s unusually strong connection to StarClan, would Wrentail try to warn her about Mudpaw?
Also, how does Birchspeckle commune with StarClan? Does she have dreams and visions, or does she rely mostly on signs from their ancestors?
I think she gets a combination of very clear, word for word prophecies (that don't really make much sense to anyone other than her), occasional visions, and vivid dreams!
anyway I finally have a reason to post this comic I made
Text for if it's too hard to read (cause I initially did this entirely for myself and to get it out of my brain, so I wasn't worried about it being legible lol):
starclan cat: This is getting ridiculous. Owlpounce keeps misinterpreting our omens
starclan cat: We need to break out the big guns.
starclan cat: BIRCHSPECKLE.
birchspeckle: *making an herb pack* what do you want
starclan cat: THAT KID OWLPOUNCE IS MENTORING MURDERED A MAN
birchspeckle: ...
birchspeckle: good for him
starclan cat: NOOOO
I'm gonna say that it's canon that Birchspeckle is told very clearly by Starclan that Mudpaw killed his mentor and she's basically like "Neat. I'm sure he had his reasons. Anyway—" and just. Doesn't tell anyone. Like she meets him and is like "he seems like a good kid I won't snitch" and just goes about her business
Is this her subtle way at getting one over on the clan that rejected her? Possibly. Is she sympathetic to Mudpaw as someone else who was/still is treated unfairly by the clan? Absolutely.
53 notes
·
View notes