OK, I am highly sleep deprived and on new medication, so I want to talk about my Gotham sentence theory, and how that kind of leaks into the bats.
I feel like Gotham was always somewhat sentient, after all of the magic and curses, but what truly caused her to stir was when she felt something new, I hope that she could not really understand until she realized it was from Bruce Wayne.
(sidenote: I have my own ideas about how Gotham is the soul of the first person to die in Gotham, or maybe even a soul who was sacrificed there, and now protects it. Anyway, she probably would wake up intermittently through history, and I am now picturing her looking over the at the boy, sobbing in front of his parents and feeling sense of sadness and guilt. bonus points she was a mother before she became Gotham and that she is picturing her own child.)
So she definitely helps from time to time. As the years go on, she make sure that no grays stay and Bruce’s hair. She uses what little of her magic that she can to make Alfred feel younger to keep their bodies from going too far ahead of what she needs them to be. Maybe she even blesses Alfred and Bruce slowly, not even realizing it until years afterwards until she can sense them, no matter where they go.
I feel like with Dick Grayson, she blessed him only a little. He was the light for her Batman, something that brought joy and hope and kindness so if she made sure that her boy wonder didn’t break himself as he bent, that as he can torted his bones, stay flexible, and he never felt aches or pains the way many do.
(it hurt her a bit when Dick Grayson left. She heard the arguments. She knew the anger and their bodies that was misplaced. She wish she could stay but understood he couldn’t. Her blessing will always be with him though. He would always be hers.)
Lady Gotham did not lead Jason to the car that night, but she did muffle Bruce’s feet as he approached. She saw some thing in Jason Todd, a boy uncannily like her own. She tried to help some of the street kids when she could, but it was slow going, so bogged down by curses that she could barely lead any of them to fires or food that have been thrown out without good reason. She knew her Batman light again, so she made sure she would find a new spitfire.
(she felt it when Jason Todd died. She had been gathering her strength to give him a blessing, but even distracted, she felt the impact of his death. She breathed life back into him, hoping that he would crawl out of his coffin and into her Batman’s arms. She was more disappointed when he was taken and swore to Talia safe passage again)
(the Joker was a curse unto himself, a parasitic being that she could not be rid of no matter how hard she tried. Was too deeply cursed for her to fix it so instead, she made sure that all of those who stood with the joker would face unimaginable suffering under his eyes and only experience her kindness once leaving him.)
Tim Drake had become her as much before he became a robin. She had had to use little bits of her magic to keep him from falling off of grooves and terraces as he jumped after her boys, and she tried for him. When she saw him start to bring her Batman, out of despair, her relief was so strong that she blessed him deeper than she had the others, she blessed his mind. It would never fail him, making sure he would never fall.
Damien Wayne was both of hers and none of hers. He was the son of the betrayer the woman who had taken Jason from her and made him so angry and pain and disbelieving. She had trouble giving her kindness to the boy trying so hard to keep the bats from seeing Jason and red hood, drenching her blessings into crime, Allie to keep things clean while her boy fix it up, all she could manage for Damien was little parts of him.
(she gave him a different blessing than the others, a blessing that allowed him to be seen. She saw the fear under all the bravado. He would not allow any affection from any human, she saw as he walked through her city, as if he was stranger and a king, so she said the little animals, his way. She marked him as a friend, and soaked up the softness of his smiles when she could.)
As they all grew, and more and more enjoying the family, she only had so much energy to give. Still, she gave her all.
Stephanie Brown was a girl who she led to Tim, a temporary Robin, who was not meant to be Robin, but was still meant to be hers. And if Stephanie never felt backfire of her own pranks, never fell as she flew? Well, she did not want her spitfire to become quiet.
She could not save Barbara Gordon, though she desperately tried. She could not make the legs move again, so tired from all of her blessings and unable to save that much energy. Instead she gave Barbara a similar blessing to that she gave Timothy. Her brain became sharper, her eyes always able to notice an enemy. And if she added a dose of good luck to the girl who had given her leg and her freedom to make sure that her stayed alive? Well, Barbara Gordon was never kidnapped and always missed, sometimes by milliseconds, being kidnapped.
Cassandra Cain was similar to her, silent, and seeing, unable to speak her mind. She did not need help in fighting, but she could tell that Cassandra became overwhelmed and uneasy how sometimes the body would betray people and her. So Cassandra never spoke of how body language became easier to read, of how when she needed to. She could travel through shadow much easier than she could travel on foot. Cassandra Cain never spoke of how when running through shadows, she often felt a woman’s hand run through her hair, a gentle caress that was shaky and so faint most would not notice it.
(Duke Thomas did not need her blessing. She’d given him a small one long ago back when he had started a group, guiding him towards good towards finding what he would need. Duke never said a word about the aura on the bat family being so different so much more saturated than around others. he never spoke of he could sometimes see a woman keeping one of them from falling. He never spoke. Sometimes he could tell the woman was helping him, saving him from falling as well.)
She could not save them, could not give them their due for what they did for her city for her people. Still, she gave them all she could, as they continued to repair her, saving her streets and her people every day. Slowly, the claims became more and more distinct until whenever one of them left. It was known to any spirit that dared cross them that Gotham, spirit known for struggling and still surviving, had blessed these humans so heavily that they were drenched in her magic.
(no one spoke with the blessings, instead word was spread through all supernatural creatures alike that the lady of Gotham, a woman who had been known to be almost a queen before curses bogged her down, had chosen her champions, her knights. She had given them so much power that it was a wonder they weren’t supernatural being themselves. It was soon taught that no one was to touch them. The knights of Gotham were not to be trifled with.)
