#pluto!bruce

[damianbugs]

came from ao3 cus i LOVEEEDDD PLUTO it’s so so so good, would u ever consider writing a pt 2 to it?

hi!!! thank you so much <3 i have indeed considered it! i started writing a sequel and some extra scenes almost immediately after i published it back in 2023 and i did post some stuff about it on my pluto!bruce tag, but i'm afraid that i havent revisited it in a while ): but i do hope to continue it one day!

[damianbugs]

Obsessed with Pluto but it’s actually killing me thinking about unstoppable force Bruce “I kill so nobody else has to kill” Wayne with unmoveable object Cassandra “would die rather than let someone be killed” Cain

PLUTO!BRUCE AND CASS... i have many thoughts and ideas and plans but alas, no motivation to execute them. you're so right though!! like these two meeting, especially if it had been canon!cass that was blasted to the PLUTO universe as opposed to jason, it would have been an intense battle of wills. less of looking in a cracked mirror and rather, it's like looking into running water and trying to make sense of what is familiar and what is unrecognisable.

i'll take this opportunity to reveal that cass in the pluto universe is named after the moon charon (similar to how dick in the pluto universe is named after the moon nix [by @fairy527]), and this is because charon is in a mutual tidal lock with pluto, meaning they're always facing each other. this idea that pluto!bruce and charon!cass are constantly in view on one another, bystanders and audiences in each other's actions and inactions, was important to their eventual dynamic.

[damianbugs]

the word count for PLUTO. has gone up a bit!! i finally got around to editing some spelling and grammar mistakes and couldn't help but... add some sentences.. here and there..... nothing major though! :D (18/01/24)

[damianbugs]

VAMPIRE EMPIRE × PLUTO!BRUCE WAYNE

[damianbugs]

Hi. Same anon that was going batshit about Pluto the other day. I just. I'm so normal about Pluto!Bruce's attempts to care. He doesn't know Jason!!!!!! At that point in the fic the two of them have no sort of understanding and most of their interactions have been B attacking/trying to test him. And yet with the perspective of actually this having been my third read through my interpretation of that scene is Bruce in a twisted, unpracticed way trying to protect his son, who isn't *his* son, who is trained but not to any sort of standard he would expect of himself, who followed the same path *he* did. The only way he knows how to love is in hindsight, the only way he knows how to care for others anymore is violence. He kills so others do not have to and Jason *will not kill here*. He won't *let* him. Which like. Is it fucked up if I say that moment is when Pluto!Bruce feels the most recognizable? That sort of loving through hard lines being set? That seeing himself in Jason and then trying to force it out of him? I don't even know where I'm going with this anymore I've nicknamed this fic The Experience amongst my friend group bc everytime I read it its like it haunts me for days afterwards

IT IS NOT FUCKED UP AT ALL BECAUSE IT IS WHAT I WAS INDEED GOING FOR!! i knew when writing two bruce's who are, intrinsically, the same, but importantly, very different — that there needed to be some subtle overlap in order for it to really unsettle jason (and by extension, the reader). if there is one thing that bruce and jason are doomed to go through in every universe, it is losing each other, and losing control of each other. pluto!bruce's attempts at controlling jason, by setting the no kill rule, or testing his abilities, are the things that make him as recognisable as they make him a stranger. AHHHHH I AM SO INSANE ABOUT THIS ASK. The Experience is fantastic i hope you continue to enjoy it forever :] thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me !!!

[damianbugs]

Rereading Pluto and getting hit so hard with Pluto!Bruce and Jason talking about killing because someone has to and then immediately after Bruce telling Jason he cannot kill here. Something something the subtle differwnt between 'I kill because someone has to' vs 'I kill so others don't have to' something something the subtext THE SUBTEXT. Bruce has blood on his hands so while he is with him Jason doesn't *need* to blood his I'm so normal about this fic

AND THE FACT HE THREATENS JASON INTO COMPLIANCE sorry I wasn't done I guess. Goddddddd GODDDDD sorry Pluto makes me physically fucking ill that scene especially

- same anon

YESS i really wanted to show how similar (but not the same) jason and pluto!bruce are by highlighting the hypocrisy they see in each other, but most importantly how flawed their reasonings become when faced with someone just as stubborn. jason, much like the reader, learn the tragedy of pluto!bruce — just like how pluto!bruce feels obligated to step in for jason even when it comes across as patronising (or threatening, because pluto!bruce literally has no idea how to talk to anyone in any other way).

THE SUBTEXT !!! mwahaha evil laugh rubbing my hands together. it was the first scene i wrote for the fic and everything else was built around it, so i'm the importance of it has stuck. THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE SEND THIS <3

[damianbugs]

I have a question in regards to Pluto, maybe my brain wasn't too big to understand but, why does pluto!Bruce say he'll kill Jason if he kills in his universe?

i purposefully left that part a bit vague for the reader to decide! i like to think everyone has varying different understandings of how pluto!bruce operates.

it can be taken as a very literal threat, of pluto!bruce making it clear to jason that the only one who can deal death as justice in that world is him (whether that be for a selfish or a twisted selfless way). we learn very quickly how bruce handles his crime problem, and at that point in the story, pluto!bruce doesn't know jason enough to decide whether or not his killings would be as justifiable as his own.

it can also be an empty threat, pluto!bruce just saying that to cement how serious he is about what he does. "i kill so no one else has to" and then "i'll kill you if you try" being a clear warning to reiterate that. he sees jason as a kid, and notes how inexperienced he seems, and chooses a theatrical and dramatic threat in accordance of that.

maybe there's a completely different reason he said that for! i leave it up to everyone else to decide!

the only thing i will mention though, is that the entire story is only in jason's pov, and that was a very deliberate decision of mine. we only know pluto!bruce as much as jason does, and we only trust him as much as jason does. how jason sees this conversation might affect the way it's perceived overall, taking into consideration how he acts in this dimension-travelling situation and his relationship with his own universe bruce and how that may affect his interactions with pluto!bruce.

[damianbugs]

since my dark-ish bruce au PLUTO. is finally out i can share some of things that inspired me when writing this fic.

first, and most obviously, the song Pluto by Sleeping At Last. specifically, this line;

to me, this song was about someone who has been through unimaginable tragedy in their life and to cope with it, has internalised these experiences in order to not feel the same kind of hurt again. for pluto!bruce, the 'believed would keep me safe' is about not only about his own safety, but also gothams. in essence, the song is the backbone for this fic.

what also inspired me when writing were the paintings The Sacrifise Of Isaac (1616) and Rene Henri Ravaut (1877-1913).

for the both paintings, who is who in each painting is entirely up to the readers interpretation. even i do not have one clear idea of who fits into what role, or what story (outside of the obvious context of the paintings, which i essentially ignored entirely) because so many variations of them can work.

from here on are some more inspirations but also spoilers for the fic, so please read the fic before continuing!

of course another obvious inspiration are all the books mentioned to be on pluto!bruce's dresser. i won't elaborate on this here though, since it will make this post ridiculously long. the choice in books however, are deliberate.

another song that inspired me when writing was The Man Who Sees Tomorrow by uwade;

this is from jasons pov, about how he's going to see this entire experiences. i heavily hinted after jason returns home, that he's almost in mourning, because to him, the bruce of that dimension is effectively dead to him. it's a way he's coping but also, it's a way jason has always coped.

his character is very dependant on grief and how he carries every loss, especially parental loss, with him. the line 'and everything you are I know I can't replace' is very much his perspective of not wanting to replace that bruce with his bruce, even if he knows they are fundamentally the same person. they are two fathers who have taught him, and will continue to teach him, two completely different things.

AND OF COURSE PERHAPS THE REASON OF ALL REASONS I EVEN HAD THE DREAM THAT INSPIRED THIS FIC IN THE FIRST PLACE; the current Detective Comics run.

holy gothic horror and character study batman. if you are not reading the current run (starting from Detective Comics #1062) you NEED to get on that! by far one of the best batman stories out there right now.

a few panels, specifically, that inspired 1) dark bruce himself and 2) the dissonance between dark bruce and regular bruce;