Quixotic Thoughts Diner

I'm not here...Well, I am, but not in a noticeable way

[jojosquires]

Tis done everyone!

Peruse or don’t. I’m just glad I got to share this. 

If it’s just my first story, maybe I’ll see y’all again. 

If this is the only thing I ever write, thanks for being a part of the ride.

Here’s to Dick and Tim! The most brother to ever brother in the history of capes, masks, and mildly concerning pizza orders.

Thanks, kay bye!

[comicpolls]

Favourite Platonic Duo: Round Four Match Three of Eight

Dick Grayson (Nightwing/Robin) & Tim Drake (Robin)

Bruce Wayne (Batman) & Dick Grayson (Nightwing/Robin)

Voting ended onJul 8

[thesulkycroissant]

Tim: You shouldn’t have done this, Bruce.

Bruce: I'm gonna make it up to you bc I called in your fav.

Dick: 🕺

[jojosquires]

*Banging pots and pans together*

Dick and Tim's relationship is not and has never been about "making up for Jason"

Dick is not all sunshine and rainbows... He can say/do absolutely hurtful things (on purpose and on accident) and he self-isolates and works very hard to distance himself from any positive human relationships when he's in a bad place.

Tim is NOT the most mentally unwell member of the Gotham set... not by a longshot. He's got more friends than he knows what to do with and could make friends almost anywhere without even trying. He leaves Gotham and pushes people away and lies when he's in a bad place. He puts his foot in his mouth on a regular basis.

Dick and Tim worked to make their relationship what it is. Dick wasn't really interested in dealing with Tim early on but they got there partially because Tim refused to read the room and wanted to hang with his hero (not Robin, not Nightwing, DICK GRAYSON). Dick puts the work in once he realizes he actually does like this kid (and Tim is brother shaped). They ALSO don't always talk things out when they disagree because they kinda don't know how. They are similar in a lot of ways and normally see eye-to-eye which means they don't know HOW to talk about certain things because they kinda just generally are on the same page. Then they argue and don't know how to see the other's perspective because normally they have the same vantage point. Like they're confused because it's the opposite of the "they're the same picture" meme because normally it's the same picture and suddenly it's not?!?! "What fresh hell is this?!?!" they both cry into the void but not to each other. Except the one time they do and even then they don't go past the "you're my brother" thing.

The whole "Dick gives Damian Robin" isn't even their worst fight/disagreement (this one is definitely my opinion but...). Heck, Tim leaving Gotham is more about finding Bruce than it is about Damian. As a matter of fact, I'd argue their worst disagreements are about Bruce because of their differing understandings of the man even if they both agree on certain aspects of the guy's character/flaws (murder/fugitive anyone?)

Every single character from Alfred to Dick to Tim to Damian handled the Robin handoff situation badly. None of them are absolved of guilt on how it played out. I also kind of think it doesn't matter and they also had a bunch of stuff going on. Didn't consider anything outside their own perspective because grief and humans are self-centered.

Tim's "hit list" was, in fact, crappy... But I'd argue what he SAYS about Damian afterwards is a lot worse than having a contingency plan for a bunch of people (which makes sense for that era of Tim, but otherwise... Eh, kinda flies in the face of the whole "I'm not Batman" thing). I don't think Tim is too pressed about the cutting of his line though... It's weird that we never get to see how Dick would feel about it given *gestures wildly*.

Dick is not and has not ever been Damian's parent. He acted as a mentor in hero stuff and, honestly, if he was trying to act as a parent he was doing a cruddy job of it. He left parental decisions up to Talia and day-to-day care to Alfred.

Dick and Tim's relationship is not fractured beyond repair by literally anything that has happened in the comics (New 52 notwithstanding because there's not a relationship to factor in there). Certainly not by any of the other Bats. Because, again, their relationship is their own outside of anyone else. I'd say they've got one of the easiest to define/see/understand relationships of the Bat characters.

They're brothers and no other issues or relationships get in the way of that for longer than one typical (loving) sibling fight/disagreement. (Also, you can have more than one sibling and have dynamic/unique/good/bad relationships with all of them... I'd know I have actual siblings and am a certified middle child who didn't/doesn't hate it).

[katanahime]

I think I'd like to attach an explanation of the actual disagreements they had about Robin and Damian, because I think a large amount of people misunderstand it.

The fundamental thing that OP is hugely correct about that is the core of both of these disagreements is that Dick and Tim are not good at understanding disagreement with each other. There's an extremely large amount of "him = me" going on, and they find it very shocking and don't take it well when this doesn't work out as actually true. This is especially true of Dick toward Tim as far as being a direct "him = me", whereas Tim's view of Dick is a bit less of a direct equate, and more of assuming Dick is whatever Tim thinks is ideal, rather than what he thinks he is himself, but it can read rather closely at times, since it's still a factor of Tim's opinion.

There are two disagreements at work, one where Dick thinks Tim would agree with him, and one where Tim thinks Dick would. They are both wrong and don't handle it well.

Dick's side of it actually has a decent amount of history from multiple of their previous conversations. The core of it is that Dick believes that Tim will be like him and eventually "outgrow" Robin. Even though Tim has refuted this before, Dick isn't just being stupid by not believing him. One part of it is the idea that the reasoning is Tim not believing he's good enough, and Dick knows that he is, and that he will be. And the other part is that other than the talk of quitting altogether, Tim is not dissimilar from himself as a kid firmly believing in Batman & Robin, so it doesn't really do anything to rock his worldview that Tim would just follow in his footsteps eventually, anyway. He's wrong, and it's important to understand that he's wrong and that Tim just does not feel restriction from Robin in the way that Dick did. Dick needed freedom, but Tim needs a sense of being moored to something. Especially circumstantially, but also in general. Tim also had a lot more freedom as Robin, a good deal circumstantially to him. In an attempt to grant Tim autonomy, he took it away from him. In an attempt to treat Tim like an equal, he treated him like a child. But the fact that Tim has a different perspective just does not compute to him. It's not malicious.

Tim's side has to do with Damian. Simply put, he did not think Damian was worthy of being Robin. Whatever you want to think about that opinion, that was his opinion. This was regardless of his own standing on having it from above, he also very personally did not approve of Damian. (Tim no longer feeling this way is essential to their modern relationship, but nevertheless, at the time...) Tim's high moral standard for who should be Robin at all is also more involved in not just...continuing to use the Robin name regardless in his subsequent adventure than Damian being made Robin, also. (Like, he holds himself to that standard, too, and when he finds himself lacking, he punishes himself.) He is shocked that Dick does not seem to hold the same standard, via allowing Damian, and he does not handle it well. People like to try to compare Tim's view of Damian getting Robin to Dick's of Jason getting Robin, but it's actually closer to Dick's view of Jean-Paul Valley getting Batman. Part of this is Tim's extremely high opinion of Dick, which Dick does not hold for himself. So Dick doesn't so inherently view Robin as someone to look up to the way that Tim ever has. And is instead informed by it being a mentorship for him. For Dick, Batman is the one that's a high standard to live up to, right. (Tim also views Batman as being more potentially fallible than Dick does, which also translated to that OTHER huge argument they had.)

(Tim's view of Dick is actually somewhat comparable to Dick's of Bruce. In the sense of "I hold him to a very high standard, and when he doesn't meet it, it's shocking and disappointing to me, and when he does meet it, it reinforces my high standard/opinion". Tim himself does not hold as high of an opinion of Bruce, although he does tend to be something of a Bruce Apologist, it comes more from the position of expecting him to fail in areas that Dick would not. SUPER relevant to most of their arguments, really.)

(Actually did I say two disagreements? Speaking of Tim just totally not understanding Dick not agreeing with him. About Bruce being not dead. The thing about that is. Is it reasonable for "a person" to not believe Tim? Absolutely. But if you know anything about Dick's Opinion History when it comes to Bruce being dead, it is also completely reasonable for Tim to assume Dick would agree with him, even with little to no evidence. Because that's just....normally what Dick would think. Honestly...ugh, this is getting into a tangental gripe I've talked about before about Dick being ooc for the sake of attempting to convince people there was a chance Bruce was actually dead and it annoys me. It's stupid. It gets handwaved. I hate it. There's a way more in-character solution that could still result in the same actions except for the belief part because Dick wouldn't believe Bruce needs help like Tim does.)

(Now, I don't think Dick's decisions around Damian are good, either, and by that I mean I don't think they're good for Damian, but I also don't like Morrison's B&R09 in general personally, and that is tangental again and my criticism around this period is also hugely Doylist in nature.)

Anyway.

It is my opinion and character analysis that had Tim not left for Brucequest and thought he might do stuff that he wasn't comfortable associating with Robin, it's highly likely from an in-character perspective that he would have just carried on being Robin, just a more independent one than Damian was, as he already was, and we would have just gotten double Robins circumstantially much sooner. Given that he didn't end up taking off to find Bruce, I don't see a reason that Tim and Dick couldn't have come to that understanding. It's important to understand that Red Robin was both something that Tim didn't choose for himself, but it also wasn't something that Dick forced upon him. It was a combination of using something that was already symbolically sullied for the purpose of Tim's own moral OCD, a punishment for himself (explicitly called out by Kon when he comes back), and Just What People Ended Up Calling Him. "I guess that's what's stuck" - Tim Drake, paraphrased, but also very much what he said about it later.

Unfortunately I think the whole perception of it was hurt by the fact that the push was toward Not Really Caring About Them, wherein we really didn't get a lot of comics that showed care for their relationship in the text. And where we DID get it...had some very questionable characterization of Tim (Nicieza's Tim my beloathed, I hate the backend of RR so much in a lot of instances, but it's one of the only places that cares about Dick & Tim at all by that point, but the transition between Yost and Nicieza is jarring and it sucks and Nicieza just does not understand Tim and friendship and working with people at all and that the sliding scale from Bruce-ness should be Bruce - Dick - Tim and not Bruce - Tim - Dick or worse and just not sliding the scale away from Bruce to Tim at all and just uuuuugh [also literally the same writer that had Dick think Damian should be smacked for wearing something that resembled a Robin costume back in Resurrection, so, you know, I hate when people act like being mean about Damian is just a Trait that Tim has because of this bullshit]). Until it so aggressively didn't care about them, we cut to a new reality that pressed the delete button on their relationship.

And we have it back now, but trying to characterize that Absence in the In-Between space is very difficult. Because it isn't compatible.

And we just don't have the same comic space for character relationships that we did in the past.

So I think people feel the Absence and it feels like a defined Negative, even though it shouldn't be with regard to their characters.

[jojosquires]

*Banging pots and pans together*

Dick and Tim's relationship is not and has never been about "making up for Jason"

Dick is not all sunshine and rainbows... He can say/do absolutely hurtful things (on purpose and on accident) and he self-isolates and works very hard to distance himself from any positive human relationships when he's in a bad place.

Tim is NOT the most mentally unwell member of the Gotham set... not by a longshot. He's got more friends than he knows what to do with and could make friends almost anywhere without even trying. He leaves Gotham and pushes people away and lies when he's in a bad place. He puts his foot in his mouth on a regular basis.

Dick and Tim worked to make their relationship what it is. Dick wasn't really interested in dealing with Tim early on but they got there partially because Tim refused to read the room and wanted to hang with his hero (not Robin, not Nightwing, DICK GRAYSON). Dick puts the work in once he realizes he actually does like this kid (and Tim is brother shaped). They ALSO don't always talk things out when they disagree because they kinda don't know how. They are similar in a lot of ways and normally see eye-to-eye which means they don't know HOW to talk about certain things because they kinda just generally are on the same page. Then they argue and don't know how to see the other's perspective because normally they have the same vantage point. Like they're confused because it's the opposite of the "they're the same picture" meme because normally it's the same picture and suddenly it's not?!?! "What fresh hell is this?!?!" they both cry into the void but not to each other. Except the one time they do and even then they don't go past the "you're my brother" thing.

The whole "Dick gives Damian Robin" isn't even their worst fight/disagreement (this one is definitely my opinion but...). Heck, Tim leaving Gotham is more about finding Bruce than it is about Damian. As a matter of fact, I'd argue their worst disagreements are about Bruce because of their differing understandings of the man even if they both agree on certain aspects of the guy's character/flaws (murder/fugitive anyone?)

Every single character from Alfred to Dick to Tim to Damian handled the Robin handoff situation badly. None of them are absolved of guilt on how it played out. I also kind of think it doesn't matter and they also had a bunch of stuff going on. Didn't consider anything outside their own perspective because grief and humans are self-centered.

Tim's "hit list" was, in fact, crappy... But I'd argue what he SAYS about Damian afterwards is a lot worse than having a contingency plan for a bunch of people (which makes sense for that era of Tim, but otherwise... Eh, kinda flies in the face of the whole "I'm not Batman" thing). I don't think Tim is too pressed about the cutting of his line though... It's weird that we never get to see how Dick would feel about it given *gestures wildly*.

Dick is not and has not ever been Damian's parent. He acted as a mentor in hero stuff and, honestly, if he was trying to act as a parent (or even a super involved older brother) he was doing a cruddy job of it. He left parental decisions up to Talia and day-to-day care to Alfred.

Dick and Tim's relationship is not fractured beyond repair by literally anything that has happened in the comics (New 52 notwithstanding because there's not a relationship to factor in there). Certainly not by any of the other Bats. Because, again, their relationship is their own outside of anyone else. I'd say they've got one of the easiest to define/see/understand relationships of the Bat characters.

They're brothers and no other issues or relationships get in the way of that for longer than one typical (loving) sibling fight/disagreement. (Also, you can have more than one sibling and have dynamic/unique/good/bad relationships with all of them... I'd know, I have actual siblings and am a certified middle child who didn't/doesn't hate it).

[jojosquires]

I just... Desperately want to take the themes, characters, and action scenes of Disclosure Day and hand them to another screenwriter.

Everything about this movie from the score to the cinematography to the cast works so well. But the moment any pressure is applied to the actual plot, it falls apart.

Now, to be clear, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I can absorb a movie filled to the brim with audacity and whimsy and "well, that shouldn't work, these villains are morons". I just know that the film would've been better if it could explore any of its themes at depth. Spielberg wanted to address everything in one movie when it really needed to either be more than one or a two season mini series.

I just... (And perhaps this is the "fanfiction based on actual canon" reader/writer in me) I want to take this movie (which is a 300 piece puzzle) and mix it with about three other puzzles (so it's the 2000 piece masterpiece it wants to be)

Does that make sense? No. Does the scene where Daniel calms Margaret down from a panic attack hit way too hard to call this movie objectively bad? Yes. You get more character development there than almost anywhere else and I'm sad that it couldn't be that level throughout... Also, the actual disclosure scene. Maybe it's because I love the voting scene in Lincoln too much, but man... Can Spielberg direct the hell out of "people in rooms reacting to information" so well.

Uh, that's all folks!

[jojosquires]

Tis done everyone!

Peruse or don’t. I’m just glad I got to share this. 

If it’s just my first story, maybe I’ll see y’all again. 

If this is the only thing I ever write, thanks for being a part of the ride.

Here’s to Dick and Tim! The most brother to ever brother in the history of capes, masks, and mildly concerning pizza orders.

Thanks, kay bye!

[jojosquires]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47977522/chapters/228352096

Only took nearly three years....

Uhh, wrote 53 chapters... Had a sabbatical filled with reading and movies and video games and other stuff that's boring.

Bon appetit.

Enjoy or don't. I'm not in charge of you.

[jojosquires]

Hello! i just wanted to drop in & say that i ADORE your fic fuzzy edges so much❤️ its been a while since i was this invested in a fic but how you handle the characters (especially timmy) is just so... magentic(?) to me! ive been blasting through the chapters the past two days and im so stoked to find out what happens next but also rlly dreading reading the latest chapter, i dont want it to end!!! (though i dont mean to pressure you at all! im just very very invested & excited to see how the plot plot unfolds)

Aww, you're very kind! I always say that characterization was an important aspect of writing this story for me, so I'm glad it landed for you! I wanted a resilient Tim with some canon-typical(-ish) anxieties so... Bon appetit?

I promise I'm working on getting the ending wrapped up (and then potentially some one-shots exploring relationships that just didn't fit in the main story), but the world's sapped a lot of my energy lately.

Thanks for the kind message, it was a great way to start my Wednesday when I received it!

[jojosquires]

My attachment to the nebulous "helper hero" (aka the "boring, normal one")

Okay... So...

Hmm...

I think my love of a lot of fictional characters (or rather, a trait that many of them share in their storyline) is that they didn't have to... But they did.

They're not the destined hero, they're not extraordinary, they're not super talented or gifted, they are not dragged into the fray by some life-altering tragedy or loss. It's not a revenge story or a redemption story.

No, they saw a situation or a problem or someone asked them for help... And they just...didn't ignore it. They got involved. They didn't walk away. They grabbed their backpack and tagged along. They didn't cross to the other side of the road and keep walking to avoid an "inconvenience" to their life. They are the "helpers" that Mr. Rogers spoke of.

I wasn't a talented kid or a special kid or a kid who was super duper smart. I was never going to be *the hero*. But I could be a helper. I could choose NOT to ignore things. If George Bailey could help his community (even if he complained the entire way), if Kuwabara could push past the insanity of his dead rival invading his dreams, if Steve could help a kid hunt down his mutant pet, if Tim could muster up the gumption to find Dick and tell him how Bruce was spiraling, if Dory could read the goggles for Marlin... If Sam could carry Mr. Frodo up that mountain... Maybe I could do some good too. I do think (fictional or otherwise) we need heroes. Not perfect people to emulate, but flawed people who inspire something in us. Someone who shares some trait with us that we want to improve upon.

And for me... Well...

They didn't have to, but they did. Heroism wasn't their intent. It wasn't thrust upon them. They just... Chose to help. And that's so important to me as a character trait. That choice. There's intent there.

And I like that they almost always are given an out, an exit... They might choose it themselves for one reason or another. And they still come back. They were given that choice AGAIN and they made the same one. They didn't have to, but they did.

So, I guess what I'm saying is... This particular exit better be temporary. Because of it's not... Well, then that's not the character they were written/meant to be. Walking away for good just isn't satisfying when there's still a way to help, y'know? If they could've ignored it before, why didn't they?

They didn't have to, but they did.

[jojosquires]

Maybe I'll elaborate later, but...

As much as Tim is influenced by Dick and Bruce in his beliefs about duty and Robin and such, like, that boy clearly absorbed the lessons of George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life" hard.

Intentionally or unintentionally, Tim is the most "George-coded" character in Gotham. Even if their crashouts differ.

Seriously... it's really obvious.

[yellow-spring-dandelions]

Stranger Things 5: An Analysis of Steve and Dustin's dynamic this season, and grief.

idk if it's just my latinamerican ass but i think that there's WAY TOO MUCH misunderstanding and misinterpreting of steve's "snapping" and scolding towards dustin this season. i just read a post saying he's "being mean and kicking him when he's down" and that's so astonishingly incorrect that i had to bleach my eyes (write this post).

i can't believe that i need to explain this but....newsflash, steve is "angry" because he's worried and concerned about dustin's actions.

and yeah, i'm not saying he's answering to dustin's grief the "correct way" (if there even is a correct way of handling another person's grief), but it's clear (from the dialogue and the interactions) that dustin has been depressed for a while, he's been acting out, lashing out and provoking bullies "just to feel something" and this is NOT the first time he's done it. it's on steve's nature to worry about it, especially when now dustin's dismissive actions are endangering OTHER PEOPLE that were counting on him. it's a stressing situation.

it's on steve's nature to want to want to punch and yell at whoever is making dustin feel like this. but he can't punch this person, because it's dustin himself.

it's clear that steve's told dustin WAY TOO MANY times to not provoke his bullies but he does anyways. why? because we (the audience) know dustin is grieving and has survivor's guilt, and he blames himself for eddie's death, so he wants this "punishment" that he thinks he deserves because he survived, and eddie died. the audience (and dustin's support group) knows that it was NEVER his fault, but that's how depression and grief sometimes are. they confuse you.

it's clear that steve's told dustin WAY TOO MANY times to not provoke his bullies but dustin does anyways. why? because it's a way of self-destruction and self-sabotage at this point. and it's a repeated behaviour. so OF COURSE, steve answers to this development by getting mad at him, because "why is this teenager doing things that are obviously endangering him?" "why is this child not listening to me or anyone that cares about him?" "i know this kid is smart, so why is he putting himself in this scenarios?"

and steve's reaction is a natural reaction of frustration from someone who's seen this scenario repeat itself and still picks up the pieces way too many times. he gets insulted, because dustin is lashing out, because dustin wants to push him away, because he doesn't want people to care about him. and yes, he gets annoyed, but steve doesn't go away. but it's valid that he gets frustrated.

i'm tired of y'all pretending that he's mean because he reprimanded him.

he has to reprimand him, because dustin DID bail on the group in a moment where they needed them, and he's getting involved into stuff that's harming him and endangering him. of course steve is going to scold him for that.

(grief isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card. you can't insult people and don't expect them to get annoyed.)

the important thing is that, steve gets annoyed, but he's still worrying.

it kinda resembles max's plot with lucas on season 4, but from a platonic friendship perspective. but also, max mostly imploded, pushing lucas away through silent treatment and isolating herself, while dustin exploded, actively pushing everyone away with icy words.

this is the 80's. it's not like mental health is talked about as widely as it is now. heck, this is a small town in indiana and none of this kids have strong emotional available families (except maybe the byers with joyce, and that's a stretch).

we see that the only way steve knows how to handle loss and grief is through blunt denial, we've seen this with barb's situation, with his own trauma, even with nancy's trauma, he just uses denial. he deludes himself into thinking "it shall pass", he makes jokes and throws parties and flirts with girls.

but he can't denial himself out of this one, he's watching this kid that he treats like a little brother, crumbling before his eyes. so of course he gets frustrated. of course he gets mad! he's watching this kid destroy himself and he KNOWS that there's nothing he can physically do to help, besides being there for him even when he's pushing him away.

it's hard for steve. he's gonna receive insults, he's gonna get yelled and he's gonna yell back, because the process of supporting a grieving person can be frustrating, but he'll still be there for dustin, because that's what big brothers do. he's not going anywhere.

if y'all think that this is in any way, shape or form, "ruining them as a duo", then media literacy is really on crisis.

[batman-polls]

What piece of Tim Drake fanon bothers you the most?

He was left home alone for long stretches of time as a small child

He followed the Bats on patrol with a camera from a young age

Jason is “his Robin”/favorite Robin

Batman was unusually hard on him in training at first / Bruce didn't want him

His parents never hugged him / Janet being an intense cold high expectations mom

He grew up in Drake Manor as Bruce’s neighbor / He went to Gotham Academy

Jason slit his throat at Titans Tower/the entire fanon TT fight

Dick tried or wanted to send him to Arkham/he and Dick never reconciled

Ra’s al Ghul kept his spleen / Ra's was so impressed he made Tim his heir

High-powered badass CEO Tim Drake

No Tim Drake fanon bothers me

Other/see results

Voting ended onOct 30, 2025

[katanahime]

So for funzies, gonna just give correct info on all of these

"He was left home alone for long stretches of time as a small child" There's not really much indication that Tim's parents travelled that much when he was very small. He went to boarding school in the time period before he was Robin, also, so he would have been supervised most of the time except potentially some school breaks. While there *is* an indication he wasn't supervised during those at around 13 when he's introduced, there's no reason to believe he was left on his own before he was perfectly capable, and it wouldn't have been for an extended period.

"He followed the Bats on patrol with a camera from a young age" He followed Batman with his camera after Jason died. There is no indication he did it at any point before that. All his collected Batman & Robin stuff was from newspaper clippings and stuff. He *did* find out or know about multiple addresses for Dick Grayson and both break into his apartment and then follow him, though, so he was still a kind of stalker freak.

"Jason is “his Robin”/favorite Robin" This is 100% Dick Grayson without question. The most canon-compliant way to describe how Tim feels about Robins is that he thinks the best Robin is Dick and the second best Robin is himself.

"Batman was unusually hard on him in training at first / Bruce didn't want him" Bruce's initial negative reaction to him was actually not wanting him involved in order to not endanger another child. He started caring for him pretty quickly and was calling him "son" before Tim was officially approved. Jack Drake was actively jealous of how close they were.

"His parents never hugged him / Janet being an intense cold high expectations mom" Both Tim's parents have been shown being physically affectionate with him. Janet has yelled at Jack in the comics before she died (it seemed they were on the verge of divorce), but we've only seen positive interactions with Tim. She also supports boys being allowed to cry and Tim has talked about her worrying about him when he was small.

"He grew up in Drake Manor as Bruce’s neighbor / He went to Gotham Academy" Tim didn't live at Drake Manor (nor was that a property they owned yet) until he was already Robin. His previous family residence(s) was/were in Gotham City proper, not Bristol. Schools Tim has attended include: an unnamed boarding school, Gotham Heights High School (public), Brentwood Academy (boarding), Louis E Grieve Memorial High School (public), John Wayne High School (public), Gotham City High School (public).

"Jason slit his throat at Titans Tower/the entire fanon TT fight" Jason partially slit his throat in a graveyard during Hush. He was patched up by Selina. At Titans Tower, he was beaten but not near-fatally injured.

"Dick tried or wanted to send him to Arkham/he and Dick never reconciled" Dick recommended he see a therapist. Not only did they reconcile, you could argue it was a little too fast, or at least without hashing out what should have been properly, but that gets more into my onion~.

"Ra’s al Ghul kept his spleen / Ra's was so impressed he made Tim his heir" Tim's spleen was removed due to injury, it wouldn't have even been intact. If I had to describe Ra's feelings to Tim after the RR adventure there, it'd probably be "pissed off" lmao

"High-powered badass CEO Tim Drake" Tim did become majority shareholder, and had to do some things with the company, but it's mostly PR and meeting with Lucius. To be fair, this is also the extent of what Bruce does. Also to be clear, Tim is no longer in this position. Also to be extra, extra clear, Tim only ever got that position BECAUSE he was Bruce's son. People somehow thinking he was separating himself from the family here annoys the fuck out of me.

[jojosquires]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Here it is! Not the end, but very close to it.

In this week's episode: I somehow manage to make three separate characters have the exact same mental meltdown in different octaves. To be fair to myself, I'm still mad that the song stuck in my head for the past month is sung so dang amazingly by the three separate singers so... It's their fault?

Also, literary parallels and multiple reminders that Tim is all of fourteen and scrawny while also having saved the Bats' world a dozen times over. He's not helpless, he's just overworked and tired.

Also, I've definitely written some stuff on that other thing that's hanging out in my head. Boy howdy do I have scenes for that with little to no connective tissue. I think I love dialogue too much to actually write effectively.

Uh, read or don't read and HAPPY OCTOBER TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE. Fall...I love fall.

Until the next (probably last) one!

[jojosquires]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Here it is! Not the end, but very close to it.

In this week's episode: I somehow manage to make three separate characters have the exact same mental meltdown in different octaves. To be fair to myself, I'm still mad that the song stuck in my head for the past month is sung so dang amazingly by the three separate singers so... It's their fault?

Also, literary parallels and multiple reminders that Tim is all of fourteen and scrawny while also having saved the Bats' world a dozen times over. He's not helpless, he's just overworked and tired.

Also, I've definitely written some stuff on that other thing that's hanging out in my head. Boy howdy do I have scenes for that with little to no connective tissue. I think I love dialogue too much to actually write effectively.

Uh, read or don't read and HAPPY OCTOBER TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE. Fall...I love fall.

Until the next (probably last) one!

[jojosquires]

Ugh...

I need (and WANT) to finish Dizzy Edges. I love it so much...

But a new idea for a different fandom just smacked me in the face and said:

"Hey, you need to pay attention to ME now."

To which I responded, "Dude, I only intended to write one story... Y'know, ever. So, I can't really deal with you."

"Yes, and?"

"Well, you see, you're not supposed to exist. Especially not while I'm actively writing something else that's like two chapters from completion."

"Okay?"

"So, you need to go away and not come back because I need to finish Dizzy Edges and then like... Never do this again?"

"So?"

"So, you're not getting written so you might as well just disappear."

"Nah, I don't think so."

"What? You think if you don't leave I'll just what? Write you?"

Idea looks at Google Doc app that's been open for 1.5 hours and the 1,057 words I've written since I got off work, "Uh, yeah?"

"... Fine! But you will not get published in any capacity anywhere but my mind until I finish Dizzy Edges."

"... Is that supposed to bother me?"

So, yeah, I promise I AM working on the final chapters of Dizzy Edges, I promise (wrote some last night before nearly falling asleep on the couch because my body woke me up at 1 am). But this new idea is BULLYING me. Will this new thing ever be published? eh... I really don't know if I've got another story in me (LIES, idea and Dizzy Edges both scream. Lies and self-slander!). But, boy howdy, do stories centered on sibling relationships grab me by the sternum and demand attention. You'll never catch me writing a romance, but platonic compassion and sacrifice... Yup. They've got my number and they WON'T STOP CALLING!

Sorry it's taking so long!

[jojosquires]

You know... I don't think that we appreciate how deeply the books we read for school can affect us.

Like, there are a few that I still think about and reread to see how I've grown and changed and learned over the years. How there are lessons I learned that are such core facets of who I am that I forgot that it was a lesson I learned because a teacher took the time to go over themes and characters and encouraged us to discuss how we felt about it.

Stories are for entertainment, but they also teach empathy. They put you in the shoes of characters with different lives and ask you to come to some sort of understanding with them. You may not like the characters or agree with their choices or whatever but... You feel things, y'know? You learn.

I think I would be a different person if I hadn't read Maniac Magee or Holes or The Outsiders or To Kill a Mockingbird or And Then There Were None or Of Mice and Men or Night or Hamlet or Bridge to Terabithia(sp?) and so on and so on.

There are other books that people read for school that I never did for whatever reason (Animal Farm, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Macbeth) and part of me wants to (for some of them...I have zero desire to read LotF), but can't bring myself to do so because I feel like I desire that class structure to talk through my thoughts and even a book club wouldn't recreate that feeling. Should I just pick up Dickens or Twain or Butler and hope for the best?

I also wish there were wider varieties of books that were read too. Give us some more stuff from other cultures and in other formats (graphic novels get the shaft but plays don't?). I read a lot of stuff from black writers during American segregation, but why not Born a Crime instead for comparison (to be clear, it wasn't out when I was in school). Also, give me more genres? Where is my sci-fi and fantasy? Are you telling me kids can't learn valuable lessons from Mort (or any other book with Death)? Are you gonna say that the only sci-fi worth reading is the dystopian future kind? What about a class that exclusively and exhaustively looks at literature's rich love affair with "guy goes on road trip, makes friends, fights guys, and maybe learns a lesson" (Gilgamesh, Beowulf (read that TWICE), Journey to the West, The Odyssey, Gulliver's Travels, The Hobbit, Canterbury Tales, and probably dozens more I don't know). Why are we so obsessed with stories with literal AND figurative journeys, huh? I'd love to talk about that extensively!

I don't know where I'm going with this. There are definitely things I read for school that didn't stick with me, but the ones that did had an impact. I want to appreciate that for a moment and also commend the effort teachers put into teaching stories while also asking education as a whole to stretch their wings and try out some new material. Imagine the world we'd create if we cast a wider net and read even more different books!

(But keep The Outsiders... It is a hit with pretty much every kid I've ever known to have read it. It's not perfect, but it just works on a lot of levels that teens kinda need)

Let yourself read, let yourself learn, let yourself be shaped by a good story.

And if you're in the business of banning books, just know that everyone else knows why. You might not want to grow as a person, but don't take that chance from someone else, y'know? Even absolutely dreadful books can teach us something (like to not be like the author).

What books that you read for school do you think defined you as a person? Changed the way you see the world? Taught you something that wouldn't have stuck without having lived in it and talked it through?