#technically this could have fit with damian but i wanted the age to be similar to how long superbat have been together | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

outoftheframework · 4 years

Text

characterization cheat sheet: the batfamily boys

Hey everyone! I had the idea to compile a comprehensive list of different traits and attributes for each member of the batfamily based off of both canon and fanon interpretations. I think this could be useful for new members to the fandom, or those looking to write and/or draw for these characters. Remember that these will have a slight bias considering I, a fanon creator, am creating the lists. But I’ll try to make them as accurate as possible.

Appearances vary from artist to artist, so I’ll try to stray away from general details and add more little things you can consider in your art.

Bruce Wayne:

Age: 35-45

Appearance: Extremely physically fit, but signs of aging and prolonged exertion can slip through. Has a collection of scattered scars varying from fresh to fully healed. Strong, dark features. Conventionally attractive, but can easily switch to be foreboding/intimidating. Well kept in public appearances, but can look like death incarnate when in private.

Personality: Dual personas: “Bruce” (at home, but not as batman) and “Brucie” (public appearances like galas, news interviews). Bruce is stoic, well-read and educated, well-mannered, and occasionally can be witty and laid-back. Smirks rather than smiles. Brucie is loud, spontaneous, charming, and sometimes oblivious. He is the womanizer and scandal-maker. Often the actions of Brucie are motivated by Batman’s interests.

Speech: Bruce was mainly raised by as English butler, so his speech patterns are proper and smooth. Rarely uses speech fillers such as “uh” and “um,” except when interrupted while concentrating. Despite living in Gotham his entire life, he has not picked up the accent. His voice is newscaster American, almost impossible to pinpoint to a certain region. His speech as Brucie changes to relate more to the audience he is addressing. Speeches to Gotham high society will sound different than those aimed to the general public.

Additional Attributes: Bruce Wayne in all of his personalities is fiercely protective, and can easily slip into a deeper voice to intimidate. Bruce can be extremely empathetic and slightly impulsive when it comes to children who have lost their parents. As learned through his training to become Batman, Bruce is disciplined and can work for hours straight.

Dick Grayson:

Age: 23-29

Appearance: Dick Grayson mirrors a young Bruce Wayne despite their not being blood related. This could be a subconscious action by Dick to absorb traits of his father figure. His lean acrobatic body starts to set him apart from Bruce’s image. Dick manages to be well-built but still limber and flexible. His feet and hands are rough and calloused. His hair can get long but usually stays at a length in between Bruce’s and Tim’s. His eyes are bright blue without even a hint of green or brown.

Personality: In one comic I believe it was Superman who said that Dick Grayson is a universal constant, meaning that on every alternate earth or timeline, you can always rely on him to be good and pure. I think this really sums up who Dick should be. He is kind to a fault, and can sometimes be naive and not think things through. He loves to love, be that in his family, in his romantic relationships, in his friendships, and even in strangers. He is a chronic hero who only wants to see the world as a better place. But it’s important to note that Dick can get angry when pushed, and holds grudges.

Speech: Dick is an extremely interesting study in speech patterns. As a child he traveled with the circus, until he lived with clear-spoken Bruce Wayne and a proper English butler. So influences to his speech and accent come both internationally and locally to Gotham and Bludhaven. As a child living at Wayne Manor, Dick picks up a slight Gotham tinge to his accent with some British flourish in his vowel sounds. He regularly speaks in slang. As Nightwing he is able to suppress his unique speech to sound more evenly American.

Additional Attributes: Dick acts differently around each of his family members as to be what they need in a big brother. For example, he is more fatherly to Damian while to Tim he is more an equal. Dick can fidget and has less of an attention span than Bruce. He can use jokes as a coping mechanism.

Jason Todd:

Age: 22-26

Appearance: Hair is often long on top and shorter on the sides, sometimes with a white streak as a side effect from the Lazarus Pit. Tallest and heaviest of all the kids, very physically intimidating. Has a lot of scars and burns, and in some fan works he has a “Y” shaped scar the length of his chest from his autopsy. Never skips leg day. Green/blue eyes.

Personality: Jason goes through a lot of character development, but for this list I’m going off a timeline of post-Under the Red Hood, where Jason is on okay, yet still a little shaky, terms with the rest of the family. Jason has a hard time separating vigilante life and civilian life; his death as Robin ended his life as Jason Todd, blurring the lines between the two. Jason is legally dead, so he is basically building an identity back up. He holds some attributes from childhood: brave, impulsive, loud-mouthed, and street-smart. But his experiences post-Robin have made him a hardened loner. He lives modestly and with some semblance of order. He’s hard to foster a relationship with, but can be a passionate friend/family member when he opens up.

Speech: Jason probably has the least influence from Bruce and Alfred’s speech patterns, seeing as though he spent a lot more time with his biological family/on the streets than he did as a preteen in the manor. He is the definition of Gotham vernacular, with a rough edge. So much so that as a child, the high society gala attenders sometimes had a hard time understanding him. Often talks in curt, short sentences.

Additional Attributes: He has trouble expressing his emotions, more specifically anger and/or grief. Can both love or hate furiously. Inherently good, but sometimes does “bad” things. Protective over children, especially those living on the street. Very much a believer in “the ends justify the means.”

Tim Drake:

Age: 17-20

Appearance: Pale skin, dark hair. Sharp cheek bones and jawline, mostly from how skinny he is. His body isn’t technically “built” to be extremely athletic, but he’s forced a nice lean build from stringently working out. Easily loses and gains weight as a direct result of his work, causing fluctuations in his build. Five foot something, will eventually be out-grown by Damian. Long hair that can still be styled to look professional.

Personality: Tim Drake is very passionate in pretty much everything he sets his mind to. He feels as though he imposed himself onto Batman to become Robin, so he works twice as hard to prove his worth. He can be self conscious and deprecating. Tim as Robin or Red Robin is very different than civilian Tim; his hero personas can be bolder and more confident. Despite dropping out of high school, he values education.

Speech: Tim grew up rich, and his speech reflects an intelligence gained from private tutors. Despite this, he knows how to interact with those his age in using less formal language and slang. Often quotes books and movies. Can be awkward and stumble over his words when teased by his friends/family. He can manipulate people easily in business settings by talking fast and confidently while explaining complex topics.

Additional Attributes: Tim’s demeanor is directly tied to his varying levels of confidence and anxiety. Tim is has above-average intelligence and is diligent in detective work, but can still act like a teenager. He can be stubborn to extremes and will patiently play the long con. He does not cope well with loss.

Duke Thomas:

Age: 17-19

Appearance: Short dark hair, shaved on the sides and/or the back. Often wears the colors yellow and black. Around the same height as Tim, but a little taller. Stronger and heavier build more alike to Jason than Dick, but he’s still light on his feet. Expressive face that can give away his feelings easily. Still a bit of a baby face, but he’s still well-proportioned and conventionally handsome.

Personality: In my works, I’ve often described Duke as having a “sun-shiny” personality. He is one to not even think twice about putting others before himself. Duke uses his own personal experiences to guide him as a hero rather than suppress his emotions. Duke went from being an only child to having a large family, so he can sometimes feel overwhelmed. He is on friendly terms with every member of the batfamily, as well as many other heroes. Duke is self-sacrificial and is still learning how to effectively work as a detective.

Speech: Duke grew up in a middle class Gotham family, so his speech is influenced by his parents as well as his city environment. Duke has a mild Gotham accent and speaks a lot in modern slang. He hasn’t had much influence from Bruce and Alfred, considering he hasn’t lived with them for long. It’s possible that as he grows he will pick up some influences from Bruce and Tim’s way of speaking, but will most likely hold onto the accent of his childhood.

Additional Attributes: Duke is a metahuman vigilante in a city where Batman typically bans them, which causes a bit of an insecurity and a perfectionist drive. These are exasperated by the long line of history preceding him, as well as the fact that he involved himself in the Robin movement rather than being handpicked by Batman. He and Tim can relate in that way. Duke is an ardent student of Batman and is dedicated to the cause.

Damian Wayne:

Age: 10-14

Appearance: Looks similar to Bruce when he was the same age, yet stronger and with tanner skin. His hair is expertly cut and styled, but still age-appropriate. He is the shortest of the batkids, but still has a lot of time and potential to grow. He pretty much won the genetics lottery with Bruce and Talia as his biological parents, and is made for athletics. He has some scars that stand out with their pale coloring against his tan skin.

Personality: Damian is slowly becoming less of a brat, to put it bluntly. He admires his family and tries to mimic them, but will never confess it. Damian is quick to judge and will voice his opinion no matter how scathing it may be, both as civilian and hero. Damian is slowly realizing he may not want the Batman mantle as quickly as he planned. Jon is a perfect foil to Damian, and often makes him a better person when they’re together.

Speech: His speech is proper and formal. Prefers formal titles: ex. “father” over “dad” and last names over first. Damian is at least bilingual (Arabic and English), and can switch between languages easily. Most of his speech patterns developed from his tutors in the League, and more recently, Alfred. Influences like Jon and Dick have introduced him to a more modern, laid-back way of speaking, which he sometimes utilizes when relaxed.

Additional Attributes: Damian has problems with authority, especially those that he doesn’t respect like his teachers at school. He can be arrogant and childish ever though he often acts like he knows everything. Damian is still a child and has much to learn from batman and family as well as unlearn from his time at the League. Dami was forged to be a ruthless warrior, but now has to find a balance between the hero Robin and the child Damian Wayne.

Hope this helps someone! Feel free to add on if you think I missed anything. Just please remember to be civil and respect different interpretations of these characters. Let me know if you want another one of these posts outlining the girls or other characters.

4K notes · View notes

writer-room · 3 years

Text

Siblings: Chapter Five

AO3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

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

Siblings hadn’t even crossed Cass’s mind until she’d fled the League of Assassins.

She had no reason to think of them, they were never brought up. That’s just how it was. She was always too busy training to ever think about questions or focus on different matters.

It wasn’t until she left, leaning against a dumpster at the ripe old age of ten, did the thought finally pop into her head.

She hadn’t been the only kid in that alley, a notable few others cowering by themselves. Many of the kids she’d met among her travels, homeless and scared like her, had a sort of unspoken rule. Helping those when needed, then parting without a word.

So she had been curious about three kids sticking together. They’d been very similar in appearance, and it didn’t take long for her to deduce that they were related. Three brothers. The eldest a few years older than her, the middle one or two younger, and the youngest couldn’t be more than seven.

They had always been seen together, and she’d spent the time waiting out the night by that dumpster studying them.

They had been kind, pressing together for warmth and protection, keeping the youngest in between them. They were all different, and she found that the few other siblings she’d run across shared traits. If one sibling was brash, the other was sweet. If one was quiet, the other was loud. If one was a fighter, the other was a talker.

She never learned their names, never gave anything more than a nod to them as she passed them by.

Their situation was awful, but they had each other. They had someone to keep them company, to protect and be protected. A family who cared about them.

She envied them.

“Alright, sound off, who’s still conscious?”

A round of groans answered Bruce’s inquiry.

Each and every one of the Bats, save for Cullen and Barbara of course, were strewn out among the alley and roof of one of Gotham’s more worn-down buildings. It was a little comical, seeing the vigilantes of Gotham looking like jelly.

Jason and Harper were slumped on a second-floor balcony, hanging off the railing. Dick, Tim and Duke were strewn about on the pavement inside the alley, the only one who appeared to be in a moderately comfortable position was Duke, who was laying on his back and staring up at the sky. Steph was laying across the roof, her head and arms hanging over limply. Damian was flopped on top of what looked similar to a discarded arbor, cape draped across his face.

Cass, meanwhile, was perching on one of the windowsills, eyes flicking between each sibling. Bruce was on the roof next to Steph, frowning. Though, he always looked like he was frowning when on patrol.

“I take it that means nobody requires immediate medical attention?” Bruce tried weakly.

“I’m never doing that again,” Duke complained. “I can’t believe I let you guys talk me into trying a night patrol. Ivy is so much nicer in the daytime, what the hell.”

“Welcome to the night life,” Jason grumbled, raising his head slightly. “Blame Dick for the family bonding.”

“Shut up,” Dick groaned, muffled due to his face pressed sideways against the ground.

“You deserve this,” Barbara crackled over the comms.

“Everybody is fine, then?” Bruce asked again. “Nobody got infected with anything? Seeds planted in skin?”

“Ivy can plant seeds into skin?” Duke yelped, sitting bolt upright.

“She only did that, like, twice.” Steph assured, waving a hand without even moving her head. “I’m free of the kissing disease, though.”

“Same,” Harper raised a hand.

Choruses of similar affirmatives rose up among the others, save for Tim, who hadn’t moved from his spot. Duke, who was closest to him, noticed.

“Tim?” He asked. “You alright?”

Heads shot up, like the exhaustion from earlier never existed. Cass had sprung off her windowsill and landed next to Tim before Duke was even scrambling over.

She peered over Tim for a moment, poking his side and lifting his head up. He looked peaceful. Not still enough to be someone who was knocked unconscious. No heavy bleeding, either.

“Asleep,” She informed, setting his head back on the ground.

Everyone immediately relaxed, slumping back to their original positions.

“Of course he’s asleep,” Damian muttered from beneath his cape. “He can never let himself rest at reasonable times now, can he?”

“None of you have reasonable sleeping schedules,” Barbara pointed out.

“I’ve got him,” Bruce sighed, sliding down off the roof and landing next to Tim. Cass stepped aside as he scooped up the teen, keeping a firm hold on him like he’d slip between his fingers. “Everyone get up, we’re heading back.”

Pained groans answered him a second time.

“You guys can head back,” Jason said, gripping the railing and forcing himself to stand upright. “I, however, have a wonderful safe house waiting for me.”

“Weakling,” Harper muttered, getting a sharp jab from Jason in response.

Bruce frowned slightly, in such a subtle movement that only those who’d been stuck with his brooding for years would notice it. Cass noticed, or rather, noticed how his stance shifted ever so slightly. She couldn’t quite remember the word for it...longing restraint? Something like that, she’d need to ask Dick later, he was better with words.

Cass slipped away from Bruce, springing onto the windowsills and landing on the thin railing of the balcony with only a minor falter. Jason jumped a bit when she landed, to which she grinned underneath her mask.

“Big brother,” She said, crouched on the railing. “Go home?”

Jason watched her for a moment, and she could tell he was glaring at her from under his helmet. Resisting, she thinks that's the word.

“Don’t do this to me.” Jason near-begged, voice wavering slightly. Fighting Cass on anything, physical or not, was a losing battle. They knew this, and they knew that she knew it, too.

“Big brother,” Cass said in a singsong tone, laying her head on the railing right in front of Jason. She could see Harper not even bothering to hide her malicious smile.

“Cass, please,”

“Names,” Damian muffled.

“Alfred make cookies,” Cass continued, poking at Jason. “I help steal?”

That was untrue, you never stole things from Alfred. Either he let you have them or you never found it. Even still, Jason was never one to turn down the opportunity for petty crimes.

“C’mon, Jay,” Harper added, still grinning. “You really want to disappoint your sister?”

“Names,” Damian reminded again.

“...I hate this family.” Jason groaned, hanging his head over the railing as Cass scooted back, snickering.

“And we got Hood on board!” Steph gave a weak cheer.

Cass turned her head back to the alleyway below, smiling proudly. Bruce’s shoulders slumped and he shook his head. Relief, she thinks. She pretended not to notice him sending her a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it expression of gratitude.

“Grab whoever has trouble walking, we’re taking the roofs.” Bruce informed, slinging Tim over his shoulder as he began scaling the building again. “Orphan, you're on herding duty. Don’t let anyone fall behind.”

Cass saluted cheerfully, leaping off the railing and onto a third-floor balcony, then onto the flat roof. She perched on the edge of the roof, eyes flickering over her siblings as they complained and pulled themselves upright.

It was during times like this, when they still felt the need to double-check with each other as they went back on the move, that she watched the clan, watched the roles they held for each other.

Duke offered a hand to Dick, who fumbled for a moment before taking it and getting hoisted to his feet. He swayed for a moment before reassuring Duke he was fine, striding towards where Damian had collapsed and grabbing him by the cape, dragging it off his annoyed face as he was lifted like a cat. Steph rolled to the side as Bruce clambered onto the roof. She attempted to stand on shaky legs, to which Bruce held out an arm for her to steady herself on. Harper and Jason were already climbing onto the roof, Harper pausing every few moments to glance back at Jason and tug him up faster.

Dick was attempting to carry Damian up the roof, but the kid protested loudly to that and instead scampered up himself. Duke frowned but climbed up after them, occasionally getting pulled up by Dick, who was looking up every few seconds to make sure Damian wouldn’t fall off.

Cass wasn’t quite sure where she fit, in all of that. In the lending of helping hands, of receiving the outstretched hands, or in pretending she didn’t need either.

Granted, nobody really fit, she relented as the siblings gathered into a huddled group on the roof a few meters away. Steph was a melting pot, Barbara and the Row’s didn’t technically live anywhere near the family, and Jason couldn’t decide if he’d gun down Scarecrow for them or abandon everyone in the middle of the night.

Bruce was hard to categorize, too. Cass had seen parents on the streets, holding their young child close with wary, tired eyes. Bruce had that, too. Weary beyond belief with a caution to anything getting too close. But he was far from beaten down yet, and there were never days when his kids couldn’t take care of themselves without him. She figured his odd placement was likely a mix of having so many confusing and different children on top of not understanding how emotions worked.

But Cass wasn’t sure where she’d be. She wasn’t as overprotective as someone like Jason or Barbara, so she placed herself closer to whatever side Steph, Duke, Tim or the Row’s were on. But she didn’t talk all that often, and her plans consisted of walking in and expecting it to work out or continuously pestering until her victim gave in. Duke and the Row’s valued logic, and Steph was chatty as ever, Tim was a strange mesh between them. She was certainly more cheerful than others in her family, but Dick and Duke were better at keeping the morale high than she was. And the only times she’s ever really upset is when the others are upset, so there hasn’t ever really been a situation where they got defensive on her behalf exclusively. That crossed out her being anywhere near Damian’s side.

“Orphan? You still with us?”

Cass jerked, blinking as she shook her head to clear it. The others were clustered a bit further than where they had been before, in the process of leaving before they noticed Cass wasn’t following. And she had been staring the whole time.

Cass gave a quick thumbs up, getting out of her crouched position, muscles protesting for a brief moment due to not moving in the slightest for the last few minutes. She popped up next to her family, reassuring them once more with a small nod that she was alright.

Steph bumped her shoulder as the others began to move across the roofs, tilting her head ever so slightly in her subtlest possible way of asking you okay?

‘Fine,’ Cass signed with her hands, bumping her back. ‘Just thinking.’

Steph nodded, having all the information she needed before turning back to hurry in a jog alongside the rest of the Bats.

“Last one to the Manor doesn’t get any of the cookies me and Cass are stealing!” Jason hollered over his shoulder, off like a shot before he even finished his sentence.

“Names!”

Nobody paid attention to Damian as they all cried their protests. Cass laughed and darted after Jason, keeping stride with him as the others picked up speed. Aside from Bruce, who only shook his head and continued along at his regular run, trying not to jostle Tim. Damian tried to act as civil as his father, scoffing at the others trying to sabotage each other to be the first to arrive back. But he gave up after Tim jolted, barely awake as he blinked his eyes and mumbled something about saving some for him. Damian was off like a shot, yelling something about how Tim would get no such thing. Despite the fact Tim was still far too exhausted to do anything more than weakly complain.

Cass sprung onto one of the lamp posts by the road, crouching as the others raced on by, moving with grace for only a moment before they or someone else body slammed into another to try and gain some distance.

She supposed it didn’t matter much which category she was in. Depending on who was deciding it, she could be on any of their sides. Or maybe none at all. She had her own side, she supposed.

She stifled a laugh as she saw Jason kick over Duke before immediately having Dick pounced on his back in retribution.

They were her siblings, she decided. They were old and young, and they were family, and that was all she really needed to know.

15 notes · View notes

bobafett · 4 years

Text

Tagged by @panharmonium, my first ever tumblr mutual and one of the nicest people i know 💕

Name: Dora

Fandoms: I only ever write for Batman and Star Wars

Where You Post: Only my AO3, because if I don’t think it’s good enough for AO3, it’s staying squirreled away on my hard drive. Forever.

Most Popular One-Shot: Far and away new cornerstone: a reconstruction, by any metric you’d care to measure by. This is the very self-indulgent suitless!Vader fic I wrote in high school that could probably use some heavy structural edits.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: Technically speaking, try to sweep the darkness out is the only multi-chapter fic I have. But also the only reason I haven’t deleted it is because I’m an archivist at heart, so I don’t delete anything if I can help it. I’m gonna slot Brothers in Arms (the one where Damian and Jon have a heart to heart about the former being an assassin baby) in here instead, since I’m actively working on a sequel to it.

Favorite Story You’ve Written: Definitely they don’t sing songs for me, which is also absolutely the most niche thing I’ve ever written. Folks, there’s one fic in the Rey & Asajj Ventress tag on AO3, and it’s this one. Anyway, it has my favorite opening I’ve ever written to anything, and it’s also a really nice distillation of all the things that’ve always preoccupied me about Star Wars: legacies and loss and ghosts of ages past. Also, justice for Asajj Ventress, etc etc.

Story You Were Nervous to Post: I get anxious about everything I post, but that’s mostly just my kind of baseline anxiety, so I don’t have anything that really fits here.

How You Choose Your Titles: I go out into the woods and consult the frog oracles behind my house. I also use song lyrics or bits of poetry, although I’ve been trying to keep things shorter and snappier recently. (Mostly the frog oracles, though.)

Complete: 10 fics on AO3, mostly Batman, posted between 2015 and 2019. I... am not a consistent writer.

Incomplete: Nothing posted on AO3. I refuse to post things that aren’t done in at least a 1st draft because I don’t want to get to the climax and then realize I have to go back and change something in an already-posted chapter 1.

Do You Outline: I try to for longer things, but it never goes well. Mostly I just struggle with plot structure, and outlining just makes those problems worse (whereas if I just sat down and wrote, those problems would probably be less obvious because I have somewhat of an instinctive grasp of how stories work. It’s when I try to sit down and diagram them that things start getting messy.) So yes, but I should stop.

Coming Soon / Not Yet Started: As mentioned earlier, the still unnamed sequel to Brothers in Arms, aka the one where Jon has to come to terms with the fact that “assassin baby” means that his best friend has actually killed people oh god. Also the one where Damian has, like, a LOT of unprocessed trauma re: dying. It’s also (shockingly, I know) about legacies and parental expectations and unconditional love and what it means to actually be vulnerable with another person.

Also the Spite Fic aka fuck you, JJ Abrams, let characters experience consequences for their actions aka the one where Rey has a nice long chat with Anakin’s force ghost about guilt and redemption and the nature of the Force. Coming soon to an AO3 near you, as soon as I can force myself to watch TROS again

Do You Accept Prompts: Unfortunately, no. My writing interest is fickle and not easily tempted, even by me.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited To Write: Probably the Spite Fic, because Anakin and Rey are both very different and very similar, and it’s an interaction that I think will be really fun to write. It’s the rewatching TROS bit that I’m less thrilled about.

Tagging @cefantomeenhabitnoir and also anyone else who feels like filling this out.

#from the beehive

5 notes · View notes

brokenwordsarehard · 4 years

Text

Hamilton as Maribat

Helloooooo, so I have seen other people do Maribat x Hamilton, so I have made character dot points and whatnot (I have posted this on one of my other blogs ages ago but I have heavily edited it and changed it, so I decided to post it here instead)

- As a musical obsessed idiot, what about jasonette as “Hamilton”?????? Anyone ?? Like I don’t read it really watch Batman or dc, like except when it was on tv and I was bored (no offence to dc fans) so I only really know the characters through wiki and fanfic what a character is like, So if I mess up the characters and it isn’t like what they are at all, I’m sorry dc fans!!!! (I’m only familiar with the Miraculous characters) So onto the characters!!! (Ps in this Jason ain’t going to die from the joker as a teen and be brought back to life unless you want to, I just don’t think it will make a lot of sense since Hamilton is based on a real-life story, and I don’t Lazarus pits exist in this world, unless …)

Alexander Hamilton - Jason Todd. So from what I can tell he likes literature and has a fairly good grasp at it. In the dc universe, he was a street kid, so it’s like after Hamilton’s parents died, they both did what they do to survive. Like both their fathers left (Technically he died, but you can make whatever you want ) and both their mums died ( Jason’s mum has a drug overdose I think, and Hamilton’s mum died from a fever ) so you could change it to that the mum did drugs ( though I would doubt she would be able to afford it at the time Hamilton takes place, or if you are changing the time it could be different) and they both had to do whatever it took to survive, by stealing, bartering and all that good stuff…

Eliza Hamilton - Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Like Eliza and Marinette are just sweethearts who are both hopeless romantics (get the reference?) And they both are just nice, good people who probably trust and fall in love too easily. Like I could totally see Eliza as Marinette and they both setting up orphanages and Marinette making baked goods for them and then the little kids being grateful and just ahhhhh!!!

Angelica - Kagami (since I ship Alya with Nino too much) the look similar and both are fiercely loyal to ones they love and won't be afraid to hurt someone's feelings and both have a legacy to hold up (Like Angelica has to marry a rich guy because she is a firstborn Female, while Kagami has to hold up the family name in fencing by being the best) Whilst their personalities may be different as in Kagami is not very emotional often being cold, they still are similar a lot more ways than one could think

Peggy - This could be a DC character because besides Sabrina (who I kinda feel like it could be a bit weird to be Peggy and having a sister bond with Marinette and Kagami). It could be Chole but I feel like Chole would have more character than Peggy does

Phillip Schuyler (Eliza’s, Angelica's and Peggy’s dad) - It could be Mayor Boursiour (I hope I spelt it correctly) since he is a politician (a good one can be debatable) or Tom Dupain-Cheng, or even Tomoe (Kagami’s canon mother)

Phillip Hamilton (Eliza and Alexander’s son) - I think this has to be an OC character since like it would feel weird for a canon character to be their child, but I don't know.

Aron Burr - It could be quite a few characters, like maybe Adrien, because both are adamant on standing on the sidelines instead of taking initiative. Other characters could be Roy Harper since from what I have heard, in the dc universe they are good mates (I'm not sure though), it could even be Bruce Wayne, maybe, I’m not sure though. I wouldn’t think joker would be him since like in “the world was wide enough” and the scene where Hamilton was about to die, he was saying “Bur, my first friend, my enemy” and I don’t think the joker would be friends with Jason though… or maybe Nino?? And he married Alya, who is Theodosia????? I don’t know I’m just throwing some ideas around people!!

Maria Reynolds - Lila Rossi. Come on people, it seems pretty perfect to me (not saying that Lila is a slut or anyone, just to be clear) both of them are using others to gain themselves and Lila has shown that she can get very touchy. I think in Hamilton, the lady lies about her situation (but I am not sure), and Lila just lies about everything, to be honest. So yeahhhh

Hamilton’s friends - Bat brothers, aka Dick Grayson, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne (or his last name before moving to Gotham). Like I’m not sure who Damian would be, but I feel like Laurence would be Dick though since they both have similar personalities (in my opinion)

Thomas Jefferson - ???. I’m not sure who can fit in this category tbh. Maybe It could be Black Mask (i don't know his character a lot I just found out he was an arch-enemy towards Jason)

John Adams - ???. I really don't know who it could be tbh but you could another Gotham villain

King George III - I think this one is Joker since they both seem insane (well joker is obviously insane whilst King George seems insane in the musical, or at least high on something)

Ok so I think that’s all the main characters sorted out, so what do you think??? I probably won’t write it (maybe if I learn peoples actual background and come up with a timeline), but anyone can use this idea as long as you credit me, or mention this was my idea, and please tag me if you do do it!!! I would love to see your works!!

If you change this idea a bit and Jason is adopted by Bruce in the modern era, then the two people can meet at a Wayne Gala??? There can be a lot of things that change in this depending on what year it is based and what it is most similar to.

I hope this idea can be inspirational and I hope to see someone do something with this idea (I don’t think anyone would see this) and I can’t wait to see what people might do to this idea!

#maribat #jasonette #ml x dc #dc x mlb #maribat au

15 notes · View notes

bereft-of-frogs · 5 years

Note

If you are ever so inclined - I'd be very interested in your horror recommendations.

This got…probably more involved than you intended. :D It was a good procrastination tool/distraction from A Thing I didn’t want to do though, and I had fun revisiting some of these old trailers.

This ended up really long. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m like this.

“The New Golden Age”

[These are what I’m talking about when I talk about us entering in a new golden age - really genre bending, specifically out to subvert tropes, make social statements, and empower people who have been shut out by horror in the past.]

Jordan Peele - Get Out (2017) and Us (2019)

Ah, Jordan Peele. The master of the comedy to horror turn. Get Out was the most fun I’ve had watching a horror movie in a long time. I love how it really fits itself to classic tropes but subverts them by flipping the genre and race dynamics. (Daniel Kaluuya’s character embodies the ‘Final Girl’ trope.)

Us fucked me up. Like, woke up at 3am thinking about it, couldn’t really look at Lupita Nyong’o for a while. The remix of the song that plays over the trailer literally gives me goosebumps. It freaked me out, so much. That one is a genre bender - you think you’re watching one thing (a classic home-invasion type trope with some weird mystery to it) and then the final scene basically upends everything you thought you were watching. Fucked. Me. Up.

Ari Aster - Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019)

I’ve been talking a bunch about how much I loved Midsommar. It’s gorgeous visually, Ari Aster is so great at just letting things hang and letting tension build and build - and it was the first horror movie I think I’ve ever felt weirdly empowered by. Like, similar to when I saw Captain Marvel, I walked out of the theater like “is this how men feel all the time?” Hereditary is probably a better movie overall, not counting the fact that it was practically made for me. At its core it’s a grief drama, a phenomenal portrait of mourning…and it’s also really fucking scary. Those slow-tension building scenes are really used effectively in Hereditary.

I also think it’s interesting because Ari Aster is keeping pace with Jordan Peele, but did it in the opposite order. Hereditary is the genre-bender - you kind of think it’s a family drama/psychological horror for most of it, and then it takes a hard turn and makes you question everything you were watching. Midsommar is more on-genre norms - it’s essentially the classic ‘bunch of terrible people getting picked off one by one’ trope (I don’t know if there’s a better name for that), but by applying folk horror and really centering female characters as both pro- and an- tagonist, it does a lot of unexpected things.

Robin Aubert - Les Affamés (”The Ravenous”) (2017)

It’s a zombie movie, but it’s more than that. This movie is so layered. I saw it at a festival when it first came out and then we watched it again this year on St. Jean-Baptiste (Québec national holiday) because we wanted to be #OnTheme. (And to celebrate St. Jean-Baptiste without having to interact with crowds) and it kind of clicked what it was doing. It’s really about the absorbing of difference into the dominant, hegemonic culture and the struggle for marginalized individuals to survive. Robin Aubert has a couple others I haven’t seen yet, but have heard good things about and are on my list. I saw a critic call his main brand ‘pastoral terror’ (terreur pastorale) which I absolutely love as a concept.

Alex Garland - Annihilation (2018)

Some people might argue with me if this is horror or not, if it’s sci-fi, but I think it’s body horror. And it’s beautiful body horror! See this is what I’m here for. Body horror is not just gore - there’s not a lot of blood in this movie. Body horror is about distortion and the grotesque. There’s this one scene that still gives me chills when I think about it and Tessa Thompson’s final scene is beautiful body horror at its finest. (There was also a really similar scene in Midsommar, so I clearly know what I like.) The soundtrack is also phenomenal.

[I had a whole rant about the book series, which I hated, here, but it was getting long and derailing so I cut it out. the tldr is I hated the book.]

“Classics I actually Enjoy”

[I don’t always love what appears at the top of the like ‘essential horror’ lists, but these are the ones I think are worth it.]

Dario Argento - Deep Red (1975)

I really, really wanted to like Suspiria more, because the concept and Goblin’s score for Suspiria both appeal to me a lot more. But I had a lot more fun watching Deep Red. So far it’s my favorite of the giallos.

Richard Donner - The Omen (1976)

Classic. It’s so good. “It’s all for you, Damian!” Plus, I love any movie that comes with rumors of a curse.

Alfred Hitchcock - Psycho (1960)

I would classify most of Hitchcock as ‘thriller’ rather than horror, but Psycho is firmly psychological horror, and The Classic.

Stuart Gordon - Re-animator (1985)

I couldn’t really decide if I wanted to put this one. Especially because on a long drive my friend and we basically covered how this was really ripe for a remake because it’s flaws…did not age particularly well, especially re: gender and race. (But it could be so, so good. It could be an amazing commentary about consent and the use of marginalized bodies…but the original …is…not.) But I’m putting this on here because of body horror. They clearly hired dancers or choreographers to do the reanimated movements because they really lean into it and it’s great. It gets…heavily derailed at the end by an absolutely ridiculous gore climax and missing the opportunity to actually have a coherent storyline or a message of any kind…but they got the grotesque movements down.

Honorable Mentions: The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, *sigh* Cannibal Holocaust (like…I don’t actually recommend anyone watch it. I’m glad I did, because it’s really important for how the ‘found footage’ genre developed, so it’s a piece of film history but like. Don’t actually watch it.), The House on Haunted Hill

“Random Others In Between”

Adrian Lyne - Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

You might recognize Jacob’s Ladder as the movie that more heavily inspired the first chapter of ‘dark underground//violent sky’ more than I had originally thought. I had originally been basing a lot of the tone and style on current trends in horror TV, but then I happened to watch Jacob’s Ladder while I was in the middle of writing the second half and was like…oh. Like, I knew I had been heavily influenced by Jacob’s Ladder and the ending, but I had forgotten about how the film differentiates between ‘reality’ and ‘dream’ - in that it doesn’t! And that was an effect I was specifically striving for when I was writing ‘dark underground’. It’s also just a really weird, trippy late-80s/early-90s movie set in New York when New York was still really dirty and that’s fun.

Hideo Nakata - Dark Water (2002)

This is my favorite Japanese horror film. I think it gets a little bit looked over in favor of some others (Ringu, Ju-on, Audition), but it’s my favorite. (Has a terrible American remake, so be sure to avoid that one. It comes up first when you google. -_-)

James Wan - The Conjuring (2013)

I did really like this first entry - the sequels are kind of aggressively meh.

Scott Derrickson - Sinister (2012)

THE DANGER IS IN THE VIEWING!

Honorable Mentions: Session 9, Se7en, The Ritual, It Follows, The Descent, The Hills Have Eyes (I just really like bright horror movies), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (for fun bonus pretension, you can also watch Requiem, and then when people ask you if you’ve seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose, you get to be like “Yeah, have you seen the German original?” though, technically, it’s that they’re both based off of the same true-story. it’s still fun to say), Hard Candy, Ils (Them), THE VVITCH (should only ever be pronounced ‘The Va-Vitch’ lol)

“The Parody Films”

[What is there to say? They’re great, so much fun.]

Joss Whedon - Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Remember back in 2012 when Avengers 1 came out, and then Cabin in the Woods came out, like, immediately afterwards, and we all loved Joss Whedon? We were so innocent back then.

Eli Craig - Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)

This movie is so pure. I love how they both play into and subvert the rural hillbilly tropes with the two main characters. They just want a vacation home! These kids keep killing themselves on their property!

Honorable Mentions: Shaun of the Dead, I was googling to confirm the year of Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and I saw What We Do In The Shadows listed as horror paraody, but I would count that more as a Gothic mockumentary, but I listed it here because I love it so much.

“Documentaries”

Xavier Burgin - Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019)

This movie was so interesting! Highly recommend. I think Shudder is planning on producing more of these documentaries, about marginalized groups in horror, and I am Here For It.

Honorable Mentions: Cropsey/Killer Legends, Best Worst Movie

I think I’ll stop here and maybe someday do a separate one for books. And maybe TV series, but I’m having a hard time teasing out the line between mystery and horror because of how popular and kind of unique Nordic Noir is right now. It’s just hard to draw the line for TV.

But I’ll end by summarizing reading thoughts (in a more disorganized manner):

-I have two separate ‘complete tales and poems’ editions of Edgar Allen Poe - one to look pretty and one to annotate.

-If you come for my girl Mary Shelley I will come @ you. Once a kind of asshole-y friend once was like ‘Frankenstein is terrible because it was written by a teenage girl’ and, I swear to God, I almost fought him right there in the bar. The Last Man is also great.

-I also almost forgot how much I loved Dracula. The Harkers especially. (I once tried to read League of Extraordinary Gentleman and gave up with a rage-headache 15 pages in because of what they did to Mina.) (Ah yes, let’s make her a “Strong Female Character ™” by having her divorce Jonathan and almost be raped in the first 15 pages.) (Couldn’t deal with it.) (I’m sure I would in general like that series but I just had too much attachment to Mina Harker to get over it.)

-I physically cannot get through Lovecraft. I can’t do it. I’ve tried so many times, I know how important it is but I just. Can’t. Don’t want to. Won’t. Sorry.

-A lot of adapted books I tend to prefer the books they were based on. Some are kind of obvious, like I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, which is a way, way better book than the movie. (They changed the ending which undercut the actual message.) But others are still decent movies, I just tend to prefer the book. Like, everyone always puts Let the Right One In on ‘essential horror’ lists, but I actually liked the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist a lot better.

-Similarly, you may have noticed I put no Stephen King movies on this list - there are a few I really like, but I think they work better as complements to the novels. Misery and the original Pet Sematary (haven’t seen the new one yet) are my two favorite movies-based-on-king. The Shining is visually stunning by character-wise, wildly disappointing, so point to the novel for this one. (King also hated the adaptation for what Kubrick did to Wendy.) My general King recommendations are: Carrie, Misery, The Shining, The Mist, Insomnia

I’m having a bit of an issue with how male-dominated this list is. It’s partially my problem that I’m working on correcting (I’m at the point where I’m actively trying not to read horror books by white men anymore) and partially a general problem in the industry. It’s hard to get into an industry that for a long time unquestioningly based itself on violence against women and other marginalized peoples’ bodies. -_- But yeah, I have a list of contemporary horror novels by women that I’m working my way through, and I’m trying to catch up on some older staples like Shirley Jackson, Angela Carter, and Octavia Butler.

UPDATE: After I finished compiling this list, I googled ‘Horror movies directed by women’ and there are a couple that I would recommend, I think they’re just not as visible. (Did not realize they’d been directed by women until this Google.):

Mary Lambert - Pet Sematary (1989)

Karen Kusama - Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Mary Harron - American Psycho (2000)

Lynne Ramsay - We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011) (though I liked the book better)

This list was probably incomplete and I’ve probably forgotten a bunch of things I really like! It’s also only made up of things I’ve already seen/read (though it’s not comprehensive). If something’s not on here and you think it should be, lmk! It may be that I haven’t seen it yet and I’ll add it to my to-watch list. Always taking suggestions, especially for more horror (films or books) from underrepresented groups.

#veliseraptor #horror movies #fright night #this took a long time i need to go eat lunch now #ha i meant to break this off at a normal point but #alas

11 notes · View notes

ageeksnerdyworld · 7 years

Text

Solving Cases & Making Friends

Characters: Damian Wayne, Mia ‘Maps” Mizoguchi, Colin Wilkes, Dr. Edward Jacobi

Word Count: 4,306

Trigger Warning: Slight Swearing. Violence. (I think that’s it...)

A/N: Parts–X, X, X… College Age Damian AU. So this one is technically first in the AU even though I haven’t been posting these in chorological order. Felt like Damian needed some friends, but I didn’t want to create any more new characters. So I decided to age some of his canon friends. Tried my best to write their personalities similar to their canon ones & tried my best to fit them into the AU. This whole thing has a super rushed feel to me and I don’t like it. As always; translations are at the bottom.

Summary: Damian gets approached by a fellow student whose looking to make friends. But he doesn’t have the time, or the desire, to do that and as they talk he looks for a way out. His saving grace comes when he notices his acting professor behaving rather suspiciously. As Damian goes to follow the man his “new friend” follows him. But can Damian find a way to solve the case with this unwanted helper? Click the read more if you want.

XXXXX

Every chair in the green room was occupied by a body; for once. It was because today was one of the few important days of class. Every once in a while the professor let the students choose a monologue to perform in front of the class and today was one of those days. He sits in a dark purple bucket chair with his hands resting underneath his chin; fingers intertwined. His black backpack sits on the floor by his feet; leaning against the bottom of the chair. Intently watching a blonde perform a lesser known monologue he patiently waits for his turn.

When the blonde girl finishes her piece the other students politely clap; he does not.

Don’t clap you imbeciles. She does not deserve it.

“Damian,” the professor calls.

He nods and rises from his seat. When he makes it to the middle of the room he sharply hits the mark. After announcing his piece to the room he takes a deep breath; centering his focus and getting into character. Then he begins to recite his piece.

When he finishes the other students clap and he returns to his seat. The professor finishes jotting down a few notes and then peers at Damian over the rim of his thin wire frames. He gives Damian a slight smile which was pretty much all praise anyone could expect from the man. Dr. Edgar Jacobi expected nothing less than perfection from his students even though it was only a second year acting class. It baffled Damian as the man himself was a rather poor actor. Jacobi was hideously ugly with a tall, wire-thin frame, small beady black eyes, and pointed ears. He reminded Damian of a goblin or a gargoyle.

After the last student finished their monologue the class was dismissed.

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder he walks out the door and up the short staircase to the first floor. He puts his headphones in, presses play and begins listening to Bach, as he walks over to the door. Just as his hand touches the push bar someone taps him on the shoulder from behind. He rolls his eyes but takes his headphones out and turns around anyway.

“May I help you?”

It’s a girl from his acting class. Her name is Mia... something, or other, as her last name escapes him at the moment. She’s a bit on the shorter side; the top of her head barely reaches his chest. She wears a yellow plaid shirt underneath a black long-sleeved sweater, a yellow checkered skirt, black stockings and black plastic flats. A bright yellow flower clip rests in her jet black hair and it matches her backpack. The straps of her backpack are adorned with multiple buttons and patches of all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors. Light brown freckles dot her cheekbones and match her round, wide, bright eyes.

Her black and yellow color scheme reminds Damian of a bumblebee.

“Hamlet,” she says with a smile. “You sure picked a tough piece. But you put so much feeling into that monologue; Jacobi was really impressed.”

“I was too,” Mia adds as she moves a strand of hair behind her ear.

“It was nothing. Jacobi requested that we each recite a monologue that meant something to us. I simply fulfilled the assignment. Is there something else you wanted or was that it?”

“Well,” she starts to say but movement catches Damian’s eye and he stops paying attention to the girl.

Damian watches Dr. Jacobi as he leaves the green room, looks around in either direction, and walks up the staircase; all in a very clandestine manner. His eyes squint and his brow furrows in interest and confusion. The only place the professor would be going had to be the theatre’s control booth but there was no reason for the man to do so. But before he can follow the professor and begin an investigation Mia grabs him by the arm. He turns to her with a mixed expression of disgust, annoyance, and surprise.

“Hey! I was asking if you wanted to get a bite to eat. They’re doing a waffle bar at Branford today.”

“Sincerest apologizes but, I can not,” he says before he wrestles out of her grip and starts to follow Jacobi.

He rushes up the steps; taking two at a time. But once he reaches the top he sees that the professor is nowhere to be found. In fact there isn’t a single person on the upper floor. Looking around Damian catches sight of the door to the control booth and rushes over. The door is locked from the inside but it has to be where Jacobi disappeared to. So he reaches into the small front pocket of his backpack, which was meant for normal small items like pens or headphones, and pulls out a lock pick set.

Just as he begins to work on picking the lock a voice from behind startles him.

“You know you stick your tongue out and completely stop breathing when you’re thinking? It’s pretty creepy.”

He turns around to see Mia standing there in all her bumblebee glory.

“Need any help?” she asks.

“No,” he says curtly and turns back to his work.

“Oooh picking locks? Are you some kind of criminal, Damian?”

He scoffs; “Tt. Criminals are nothing but scum. Do I really look like I would ever align myself with the likes of such people?”

“Well, you are breaking into the control booth. That seems pretty criminal if you ask me."

Damian grits his teeth in annoyance and tries to block out her inane chatter. But as she talks she gets more excited and her voice gets louder. He blocks her out long enough to get the lock open. Opening the door he fishes inside his backpack for a flashlight and turns it on before entering the dark room. Mia follows him and even though he isn’t looking at her he can imagine her hands failing through the air in pointless movement as she talks. She’s going on about how boring Yale is and how the lack of criminal activity, and superheroes, makes her miss Gotham City from time to time.

“Wait,” he says, as tries to find the light switch, stopping for just a moment to turn and face her.

“You’re from Gotham? Seriously?”

“Duh,” she says as she points to a black iron-on patch with gray text on the left-side strap of her backpack. The patch is a square and more on the smaller side, with a small outline of the city skyline, so no wonder he didn’t notice it at first. But after she pointed it out the black text that sits underneath the skyline is clear enough to read; Gotham: The Real One.

“I see,” he says with a short snicker. “But if you’re from Gotham then why aren’t you attending Gotham State University?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

He looks at her with a raised eyebrow. “How did you know that I was from Gotham?”

“Only a real Gothamite would doubt someone when they’d say they were from the city. So why are you going to Yale, Damian?”

Damian nods at her semi-impressive detective work, and answers her question as he goes back to finding the light switch; “My father attended the university’s Gotham City campus. When word got around that I applied to the university they wanted another Wayne in attendance so desperately. They... Um... What’s the word?”

He waves it off with a hand and continues his explanation.

“The admissions office gave me more financial aid than they give to exemplary students; even though I do not need it. They allowed me to have a dorm all to myself; even though I am only a first year. And they gave me a lot of free school pride memorabilia to give to my family.”

“They buttered you up.”

He nods and finds the light switch. Once the room is illuminated he turns his flashlight off. But Mia takes it from him; “Just in case.”

Even though their unofficial investigation started Maps continues to talk and talk. Damian angrily mutters under his breath as he begins to search for clues; “!اخرس! اخرس! اخرس”

Mia searches around the soundboard, and house-facing area of the booth, as Damian looks through the small supply closet. The supply closet houses cables, a few lightbulbs, cleaning supplies, and a spare soundboard. The soundboard lays on the wood floor of the supply closet which is covered in dust. But as he looks at the floor Damian notices a break in the dust around the extra soundboard. He moves it out of the way and a small secret hatch is revealed in the space. He bends down and grabs hold of the rusted metal handle. Damian pulls the hatch open with ease but it’s too dark for him to see what’s inside.

Calling to Maps he starts to ask; “Could you pass me the…? The, um…

"!سخيف القرف”

The English word for what he wants escapes him at the moment. He sticks his tongue out as he thinks but he can’t remember it. He begins to snap his fingers in thought as he mutters; “I need the… The… I want the…”

“Torch stick!” he says triumphantly, as he turns around, thinking that he remembered the correct word.

She looks at him confused; “Torch stick?”

“Stick light? No! That’s not right...”

But Maps is holding exactly what he wants in her hand and he knows what it is. Damian just can’t remember the name of it for whatever reason. The curse of being multilingual. He runs a hand over his face and sighs. Giving up he just points to the item and says;

“.مصباح يدوي”

Luckily pointing works out and she says; “Oh, you want the flashlight! Why didn’t you just ask?” Maps hands it over with a smile.

He takes it and grumbles; “I did.”

As he turns the flashlight on Maps crouches down next to him; neatly folding her skirt underneath her legs as she sits. He waits until she’s fully ready to look into the hatch. A medium sized, red, leather-bound, notebook sits on the very bottom of the hatch. The small compartment is deeper than it looks and Damian’s entire arm is almost inside it before he reaches the notebook.

He pulls it out with ease.

Now they can see that the notebook is wrapped by a thin, black ribbon. And they can also see the middle engraving clear enough to read. But it’s very intricate and written in cursive; making it rather hard to make out the letters. But after a minute of two he thinks he knows what they are.

B.K. It’s a monogram.

“It’s a monogram, B.K.,” Mia says at the same time.

He and Mia look at each other with identical shocked and confused faces. “Let’s finish looking in here and then look at this outside when we conclude our investigation,” he says. She nods and goes back to looking. Meanwhile Damian stashes the notebook in the very back of his backpack; behind all his books and various belongings. He closes the door to the wooden hatch and stands up. Slinging a strap over his shoulder he backs up and closes the door to the back closet.

XXXXX

Once they finish in the booth they lock the door back up and leave. Taking the stolen notebook with them they make their way to one of the few areas on campus that is free from prying eyes and listening ears. Exiting University Theatre together they walk north on York Street; towards the Sterling Memorial Library.

As they walk down the street Damian swings his backpack over his shoulder. Unzipping the pocket he takes the notebook out for just a moment. The front cover of the leather is engraved with more designs than just the intricate monogram. A border runs around the entire perimeter of the notebook. The monogram and the rest of the engraving is a deep, dark, black. But it looks as if something hides within the border. Staring at the engraving his brow furrows in thought and he sticks his tongue out ever so slightly. Flipping it over he looks at the back, but, it remains barren.

”You’re doing it again, next time I punch you.” Mia says; breaking Damian out of his thought.

“What am I... Oh. Sorry.”

“I was just looking at the monogram,” he says explaining. “I was fairly certain that it’s supposed to read B.K. But looking at it now it looks like A.N.”

She crinkles her nose in confusion; “Waddya mean, Dami?”

“Don’t call me that,” he snaps.

“It looks like it says L.R.,” she continues; ignoring him.

Damian looks at the notebook again and this time the engraving looks like W.E. “Look at it now, Mia. What does it say?”

“Don’t call me that,” she says; mimicking Damian’s response.

“Tt. What would you like to be called, then?”

“My family’s always called me Maps,” she says with a shrug.

“Alright. Maps, look at the monogram now. What do you see?”

She quiets; trying to decipher the curved, intersecting lines, but, she can’t make anything out. Revealing this to her overly pretentious partner-in-crime she assumes that Damian would make some snotty remark. But he doesn’t. Instead he says that he can’t make out anything either.

“What do you think that means?”

“I think that it means my assumption of Dr. Jacobi’s true identity was correct. But we can only be sure once we open the notebook.”

Just as Damian is about to remove the ribbon and open the notebook someone bumps into him. Turning around he looks at a tall, somewhat skinny, ginger bent over picking up a stack of books. His face is dotted all over with small freckles, but, most of them are splattered across the bridge of his nose. Bending down as well Damian starts to help the boy gather his belongings. As he passes a couple books over Damian mutters an apology.

“I ran into you,” the ginger replies. “What’re you apologizing for?”

“I was at fault. I should not have stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. It was rather foolish.”

“Oh well,” he replies with a shrug. “Well, thanks for your help. I’m Colin.”

“Damian Wayne.”

“No way. You’re a Wayne?” Colin asks with wide eyes. Damian nods as he passes over a few papers that were scattered in the fall. “Hey, that means you’re from Gotham! I’m from there too.”

“Me too, I’m Maps by the way,” Mia says with a smile. “Hey, Colin? Who’s your favorite Gotham villain?”

Both young men rise from the sidewalk and Colin looks from Damian to Mia with confusion. Damian shrugs as if to say; She’s always like this. Colin says that he doesn’t have a favorite and doesn’t understand why anyone would. Nodding in agreement Damian kindly steps aside to let the boy pass.

Nudging Damian in the shoulder Maps whispers; “You should ask him to hang out with us. He looks lonely.”

“We are on a mission, now is not the time.”

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

She cups her hands around her mouth and screams Colin’s name. The young man turns around in confusion. Looking around for a few short seconds he points a finger at himself. Mia nods and waves him over. Colin shrugs and jogs back; his books wobbling dangerously close to toppling again.

“What’s up?”

“Damian and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out for a bit.”

“Oh. Sure. What are you guys doing?”

“We’re trying to find...” Maps starts to say but Damian cuts her off quickly.

“Just going to get something to eat.”

“Cool, I haven’t eaten all day.”

“Thank God!” Mia yells happily “I’m literally dying!”

XXXXX

Once in the dining hall they go through the line and get their food. Then they meet up and sit down together. Mia has her plates piled high with waffles and the stack is bigger than her head. Colin eats a small portion of macaroni and a side of broccoli. Damian eats a peanut butter and banana sandwich with the crusts cut off. Halfway though their meal Maps starts up a conversation.

“So, Damian, you gonna open the notebook?”

“What notebook?” Colin asks with a cocked eyebrow.

“The one he and I found in the theatre’s control booth.”

Damian shoots her an angry glare. But he thinks about it and decides that maybe it’s a good idea to let him in. It’s just one more after all; what harm can happen? He sighs and opens his backpack. Pushing the plastic tray out of his way he lays the notebook on the table. Colin looks at it with wide eyes. Both he and Mia get up simultaneously and wrap around the table to sit on either side of Damian.

Opening the notebook Damian flips to a random page and quietly reads the scraggly, fast-paced, handwriting to himself.

Day Six-Hundred and Fifty-Four--

New Haven, Connecticut

I just arrived at the college she’s supposed to be going to. Well, according to her bitch of a mother at least. I don’t think that she would’ve lied to me about something like this though. I hope that she didn't.

Started to have second thoughts on the way over when some old guy thought he recognized me. Poor guy had Alzheimer’s and thought I was his dead brother; so I guess it doesn’t count. It was a close call though. I don’t know if I can control myself if it happens again.

But that doesn’t matter anyway I’m not in Gotham anymore so there’s no Bat to stop me.

Damian chuckled lightly when he read the last line.

Then he flips through the pages again. He can tell that he’s sticking his tongue out as he peruses the notebook because Maps punches him lightly in the arm. He stops only when he sees what he was searching for. Quickly reading the page his suspicions, about what happened to the real professor, are proven. Damian closes the notebook with finality and the other two give him identical looks of misunderstanding.

“I know who our professor really is,” he says to the others.

“Really? Who?” Maps asks excited.

“You’ll see soon enough.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Colin complains.

Damian puts the notebook back in the rear pocket of his backpack and gets up from the table. Slinging the bag over his shoulder he picks his tray up and walks it over to the conveyor belt. After laying his tray down he waves over; signaling the others to follow him. The two get up and put their trays away as well and rush over to catch Damian before he leaves.

“Damian, you better not be doing what I think you’re doing,” Colin whines.

He scoffs; “Tt. You don’t know me, Colin. What makes you think...”

“I’m not stupid. I know you’re Robin.”

Damian turns around with widened eyes and stares at Colin. Mia confesses that she knew as well. Crossing his arms he asks them how they figured it out. Colin knew since he revealed that he was a Wayne; revealing that he developed a bit of a Bat obsession after he was saved from Bane. Then he adds something that shocks Damian even more. “You obviously don’t remember it, but... You were there too, Damian.”

“And I figured it out when we were looking around in the control booth,” Maps says. “You thought I couldn’t see you put the notebook in your bag but I did. And I saw your batarangs. Or birdarangs, or whatever they’re called for Robins.”

“Well, yes, Colin. I am going to stop the impostor."

“How?” the ginger asks; obviously worried.

“By being Robin,” he says with a smirk.

XXXXX

His newfound friends insisted on helping. And since they were so stubborn about it he had to agree. But he insisted on making them wear costumes to mask their identities. Since neither of them had anything that would pass for battle-ready gear he allowed them to wear whatever they wanted. And of course he wore his Robin outfit.

And so later that night they went to the one place that their impostor was most likely to be.

Standing on the stage, in the direct middle, underneath a spotlight is Clayface. But he’s not alone; the blonde girl from their acting class is there as well. Oddly enough she isn’t the least bit afraid of the towering clay monster that stands before her. Even odder still Clayface is reciting Macbeth’s famous monologue when he decides to kill King Duncan.

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

Stopping him there the three make their presence known and step onto the stage. “Karlo,” Damian yells through gritted teeth.

Clayface turns around to see the Boy Wonder and two other costumed figures. One looks like a girl with a short pixie cut and black bangs that slightly fall onto her yellow domino mask. The rest of her outfit looks like it was thrown together at the last moment, which unbeknownst to him, it was. A black checkered skirt sits atop black stockings feed into clunky black boots. The soles of her boots are yellow and they match her shirt which is the same shade of yellow. Her makeshift costume is completed by a black unbuttoned sweater.

The other one, another boy, doesn’t seem to wearing a costume at all. The ginger wears white and blue-striped sneakers. Dark blue jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt with green sleeves make up the rest of his outfit. But just like Robin and the girl this boy also wears a domino mask; black.

“How did you know it was me?”

“BK. Basil Karlo. I knew ever since I found that little pathetic notebook,” Damian says.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Basil growls.

Damian scoffs; “You murdered an Ivy League professor to take his place just because you couldn’t get work anywhere in Gotham? Knowing that I attended this school you hid all of your evidence in one of the few places on this campus where I spend most of my time. You’ve gotten even more pathetic with age, Basil.”

“My intent was not to take his place,” Clayface growls.

“What then? Why did you do it?”

“I wanted to protect my daughter,” he says looking over to the blonde girl with sad eyes. “This was the only way I knew how.”

Damian starts to say something but Mia cuts him off. “Well, okay, Clayface. That doesn’t explain why you killed the professor. He didn’t have to die.”

Clayface shrugs.

“We’re taking you in, Basil.”

Basil yells at his daughter to run.

“We?” Mia and Colin question in unison; both giving Damian identical looks of confusion. He nods to them firmly assuring that he meant what he said. Maps smiles widely as if she had been waiting for a day like this her entire life. Colin goes pale and begins to back away. But Damian grabs him by the shirt collar and keeps him in the room. Passing his new allies an array of weaponry he quickly explains what a few of them are.

“Now, follow my lead and, do not do anything stupid.”

With that Damian charges at Basil and throws a small ice grenade at Basil’s right leg. It lands into his clay form and explodes; throwing clay everywhere as well as blocking Clayface from recreating the missing arm.

But before Damian can throw his second bomb Clayface launches a wad of clay at the Boy Wonder’s feet.

The clay immediately hardens; forcing Damian to remain where he stands. Yelling to Maps he tells her to aim for Basil’s left leg. Nodding, she squints an eye closed, she attempts her throw. It just barely lands at Clayface’s foot but, it’s just enough, and when the bomb explodes so does the foot.

Clayface topples over; falling face first onto the stage. He seems defeated, but, then he throws more clay at both Maps and Damian; the latter is now almost covered to his waist.

“Colin! Now!”

Colin throws his grenade into Clayface’s back. The ice hardens; freezing him to the stage. Frozen and unable to control his shifting powers; Basil begins to change rapidly underneath the ice. He flashes between multiple different looks, but, never once returns to his Clayface form. Colin rushes over to Damian to set him but Damian refuses. “You need to handcuff him. Remove the cuffs from the second left-hand pocket on my utility belt; they’re made to negate his powers.”

He grabs the cuffs and rushes back over to Clayface; cuffing him.

Basil Karlo returns to his normal human form for the first time during the entire battle. With Clayface cuffed and dealt with Colin runs back to his friends. But Damian already freed himself, using a spray can filled with water & wetting the clay until he could break out of it, and was in the process of freeing Maps. As this was happening campus police arrived on the scene and Damian informed his colleagues that he altered them before the confronted Clayface. The police ask the three costumed heroes a few questions and Damian hands over Karlo’s manifesto. He doesn’t mention Basil’s daughter because the girl is probably grateful that she can continue her education without murder-rampaged visits from her father.

“We make a good team, huh?” Colin says as the police remove Basil from the theatre.

“Indeed we do,” Damian says with a smile.

~~~ Translations:

Shut up– اخرس

Fucking shit!– سخيف القرف

Flashlight– مصباح يدوي

2 notes · View notes