My favourite thing about Talia's relationship with the batkids is that for half of them it's nonexistent.
Dick? He was there for all the relationship drama back in the golden days, and he's always been stupidly petty about it. Their rivalry is fun and lighthearted and both of them care about Damian enough to work together even if they'll never be friends.
Jason? An understanding. Kindness for the sake of it, a friendship offered in full knowledge of just how cruel the world can be. Two wary, wounded people tentatively reaching out. She remembers the sweet young boy he used to be. He remembers the time she teamed up with Bruce and Selina to fight the Gotham rogues. So much has changed for both of them, but at least when they look at each other they see that they haven't been damaged alone.
Damian? Her son, and all the complications surrounding that. Her son who was meant to grow up living a normal life and never knowing his biological parents. Her son who instead grew up just like she did, raised in a cult and expected to be the heir. She tried to save him. She failed. He couldn't save her. She killed him. It wasn't her, wasn't her hands, but it was her orders, but it wasn't her mind. They love each other anyways. They're willing to try.
The others? Well there's the other Robin. Timannie or something. Talia is pretty sure he's a boy but he could be a girl? And there's the Batgirls. Sandy or Barbie or The One Who Is All, whatever they're calling themselves nowadays. And the new mentee, Duke! He seems promising. Defeated her father along with Batgirl but Ra's seemed to respect their strength, which is always a good sign.
So basically Jason and Damian receive birthday gifts every year. Bruce receives one when he hasn't been an ass recently. Dick has never received one and never will. Tim, Cass and Duke get a present to share once a year addressed to The Other Child. It's normally some sort of training gear. Cass normally calls dibs. They're all completely fine with this arrangement. It's nice that she made an effort when she really didn't have to.
Ra's sends Bruce and Damian gifts. Occasionally sends Cass and Duke job flyers that they burn. Everyone else gets addressed as Detective because he can't keep track of their names. If Batman wanted Ra's to remember his children he should have colour coded them better. Blue eyes and black hair, he can't even remember which one Talia threw in the pit. He's a busy man with an empire to run and thousands of years of memories! They're all probably Robin, it's fine.
One time the bat kids hung out in the cave while B was at a JL meeting. The whole place was covered in pink glitter and silly string by the time they were done. The only person who didn’t have glitter on them was Cassandra, no one knows how.
They don’t even try to clean it and just fr owned it.
Bruce comes back with the JL in tow to a pink, sparkly batcave and almost has an aneurism.
Oliver and Dinah is laughing their asses off and the JL is shocked.
Oliver; remind me to get them Prada for Christmas.
Bruce;…
Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, Spoiler, Black Bat, and Signal chose that moment to reenter the room.
Oliver; good job!
Hood; thanks uncle arrow!
Hal; what’s wrong with B?
Signal; wait for it.
Bruce; THE BATMOBILE TOO!?!
Bruh I spent more time on the suitors' dead bodies than on Odysseus and Telemachus. But like, have this picture of "I Can't Help But Wonder", and also this took 16 hours, please appreciate it.
Y’all. You guys. I’m sobbing over this lyric from I can’t help but wonder
“Used to say I’d capture wind and sky for you”
Because like. HE LITERALLY DID! HE CAPTURED A STORM & HARNESSED THE WINDS THEMSELVES TO GET BACK HOME! I AM FUCKING ILL
they’re best friends your honor
prev // master list // next
Ngl I feel like Cassie is baned from training any one cause it’s traumatizing.
Like they left her alone with Young Justice for an hour and came back to find them all shot and crying in corners while Cass calls them babys.
It isn’t even her fault because that’s how she trained and was going easy.
I love Obi-Wan Kenobi because he is a character who is designed to be good.
He is a character who believes in the right thing, who tries to do the right thing, and is innately good. Yet he still fails. Obi-Wan, despite the fact that he is smart, compassionate, loving, loyal, kind, selfless, and humble, all traits of a protagonist, is not one. His fatal flaw is his self-doubt. Obi-Wan is a person who exists to show others the light.
He is a character who leaves you wanting because he never gets what he deserves.
He is a character whose point is: sometimes being good is not enough. Sometimes people are good and they still live in pain. Sometimes a person is good and they make others good and they suffer for it.
I think, after No Man's Land was over, Babs was probably the one to go with Cass to get a full doctor's assessment. Bruce probably read through all the files afterwards but Babs was the one sitting in the room with Cass as the doctor explained all the symptoms of malnourishment he could see, the state Cass's teeth and hair were in, the clear signs of trauma she displayed, all the impact almost 10 years of being a homeless child constantly running from her father had on her. And that's before they even got into all the damage done by the years of David Cain's abuse.
Cass wouldn't have really understood what they were saying. Just noticed that the doctor seemed like he wanted to throw up and Babs looked like if he kept talking in another few minutes she would either start crying or get angry. Which is weird because the only thing on screen is a photo of all Cass's leg scars and she doesn't get the horror. Yeah he shot her when she was six yeah that wound got reopened infected when she was nine and on the run and became an even nastier scar after months of pain. She survived and none of it made her a worse fighter so who cares.
I think Babs, looking at this teenager who's now living with her, under her care, so unbothered staring at an x-ray of her skull with visible thickness in certain places where the bone clearly had to heal over large cracks, would feel the weight of a life in her hands in a way she never had before. And it would terrify her.
What I think would happen if the batfam gets shipwrecked to an abandoned island.
Alfred; is enjoying his vacation.
Bruce; doesn’t know what to do because he hasn’t gone a single day of his life without someone helping him and can’t cook edible food.
Dick; dies from lack of physical affection.
Jason; can’t figure out how to hunt without guns
Tim; dies without coffee or wifi.
Damian; is worried about the animals and dies from starvation because he refuses to kill.
Duke; is okay ish, like he survives but not easily.
Barbra (not paralyzed cause she wouldn’t survive paralyzed in my opinion); is having a little fun with making traps.
Steph; is having the time of her life without her stupid classes and teachers.
Cass; was literally trained for this and is happy she finally has some alone time even if she misses her family.
Meanwhile Oliver is just watching this all and sighing because how did he survive but some of them didn’t?
Everyone: girl dad bruce 😔😩😌
Barbara:
What everyone pictures when they say girldad Bruce: Guy who adores Cass and treats her like his little princess and lets her get away with everything and will stay still while she does his hair and paints his nails.
What Barbara has seen that actually fits the girldad label in the most toxic of ways: Projection, holding her to the same impossible standards he holds himself because she's Just That Good, isolating her, possessive and threatened by the thought of her dating aka shotgun dad, in denial that she can be anything less than perfect in a way that actively hurts both of them, that kind of specific girldad misogyny where she IS his little princess but this is Not A Good Thing half of the time. Or even most of the time depending on who you ask. Her father's favourite son in the sense that he doesn't particularly care for anything girly she might be interested in and dismisses most of them as a waste of time, but LOVES sparring and solving cases with her. Swings between overbearing when she's doing well and neglectful/dismissive once she messes up. Give Barbara Gordon a hammer and let her bonk Bruce Wayne on the head with it at least once. She's earned it.
Note: This is preboot Bruce and Cass. New 52 and Rebirth Bruce and Cass are a lot healthier but also a lot simpler.
patrol is fun :DD