#stray au

[skkskskskskskksksks]

HE WANTS HIS KITTY BACK!!!

I'm obssesed

The reference

[dididc]

HAPPY V DAY

A special collab with Spidey for the Event! #StrayDick and #divorced prompts!

Makes sure to read the FIC that inspired this art! Link here🩵

(Use #GGHevents for this special event or post in the collection!🩵 one week left)

[sparrows4bats]

Another Damian as Selinas Sidekick AU

I love the idea that Damian becomes a doctor so much, but I am also aware that he is a little adrenaline junkie and would be bored and miss vigilantism.

So, instead of going to his father and asking for the occasional patrol or spar. Damian decides to go to Selina with his boredom.

Selina and he have bonded over the years. Their shared love of cats, their rough past, and their very different yet complicated relationship to the batman. So Damian meets her for coffee every couple of weeks to vent.

It's therapeutic, and Damian quite likes having someone who listens to his side of things without rushing to defend everyone else. Selina has been around a long time and is well aware of the flaws of his father and siblings. She understands his frustration and the fact that it doesn't change how much he loves his family.

Selina has a soft spot for the boy who was so hurt and angry when she first met him but decided his own path to helping people. So when Damian tells her how he misses the adrenaline, the adventure, but can't hurt people anymore. (He took an oath, and he doesn't want to anymore, never again if he can help it.) Selina has a wonderful idea.

If he won't be a vigilante anymore, why not a thief?

Damian protests when she suggests it. At first.

Then Selina mentions how an awful lot of the money she takes ends up in the hands of the community and that she is not active nearly as much as Batman. A good heist takes quite a bit of planning after all.

The thing that really sold him is when Selina said she needed back up anyway to steal this artifact from a private collector and return it to its country of origin.

Doctor Damian Wayne sits across from her, a cat in his lap, and smiles as she outlines the plan and agrees easier than she thought he would.

Now Damian is highly trained, turned into a weapon from birth, but Selina insists on showing him some of her own moves. Damian excels in flexibility and the more arobatic elements. He picks pockets and exploits alarm systems like he's done it for years. He grins as he tells her exactly how he used to get around his father. No one wise ever lets anyone know all of their skills, even allies.

Selina delights in teaching him social exploitation, how to use his looks and charm to convince marks to just let him in. She laughs at the disgisted face he makes as she describes how to flirt and distract. Selina is actually a little impressed with how well he does at it after a bit of practice on regular people.

They melt at his accent and pretty green eyes, tripping over themselves to give Damian anything he wants if only to have his attention a moment longer.

She giggles at the thought of Bruce's and the other bats' reaction to their baby becoming the object of admirers. She reminds herself to get him to use his new skills at the next Wayne Gala so she can watch the chaos.

Finally, Selina declares him ready and hands him his new costume. Which happens to be a skintight black catsuit made from what he guesses is reinforced material, complete with a mask to cover his mouth and a hood with cat ears sewn on top.

"No."

"But you'll look so cute kitten!"

"I'll look like an idiot!"

"You need a suit, I altered one of mine, so unless you're going to rob this guy wearing the Robin outfit, it'll have to do."

"Fine!"

"Do you have a name? Or am I calling you kitten all night?"

Damian sighs and thinks, "You can call me Stray."

The job goes extremely well. Catwoman and Stray get in, grab the artifacts and a few extras that catch their eye, and get out without anyone noticing. It's the most fun Damian has had in ages, flitting across rooftops once again.

After that, Stray makes regular appearances, never when it'll interfere with his work.

He and Catwoman rob the corrupt and return culturally significant objects and wealth to where they belong. Afterwards, he goes to work and saves lives.

Damian and Selina don't tell the others about their escapades. Damian doesn't want the hassle of explaining his choices to them, and ever since he hung up the cape, his father and brothers have been overprotective to the extreme. Silena is waiting for the world's greatest detective to figure out his civilian son is now her sidekick.

Batman notices Strays existence months after Damian starts his new hobby. He meets his father in the house of a mob boss Catwoman had been targeting for years.

"Catwoman, whose your friend?" Batman grunts

"Oh, Batsy, meet my kitten, Stray."

Damian pitches his voice a little lower and carefully imitates a Gotham accent.

"Great to finally meet you Batman, my mentor has told me so much about you." Damian offers a clawed hand. His father doesn't take it.

"Get out of here. This guy is involved in a human trafficking ring I'm tracking down."

"All the more reason to liberate his ill gotten gains, don't you think?" Damian asks with a smirk.

Batman glares at him but let's them leave with a few nice paintings and doesn't bother giving chase. Damian ignores Selina winking at the Bat and whispering in his ear for his own sanity.

It goes on like this for weeks. When he sees his father outside the mask, the man is doting and worried if he's eating enough. When he he meets Batman, the man is cold and standoffish.

The other bats enjoy his humour but are thoroughly confused at his ability to evade them.

Bruce is losing it because the last time a masked figure showed in Gotham with vaguely familiar moves, it was Jason on a revenge mission. At least, Stray isn't beheading people, but Bruce needs to know who he is, like yesterday.

Silena says nothing but enjoys their frustration. Her kitten is having fun for the first time in years, and not even the bats are going to ruin that.

It works well, Damian helps Silena while he keeps his new life as a doctor without his family knowing his secret. He enjoys the adrenaline and sleeps better with some sort of outlet.

Then, all of the Batfamily are kidnapped.

Damian doesn't know how it happened or why he is the only one left to deal with it, but Silena called, and now he has to go rescue his idiots. Silena is with the sirens out of town, so Stray goes in solo. (he doesn't have time to find a robin suit.)

He finds his family tied up and mildly drugged in a large basement.

"Why are you here?!" Nightwing asks as he is untied.

"Because apparently you all are incapable of keeping yourselves out of trouble without my help!"

"We've never needed your help before?" Red Robin interjects, looking at him like a puzzle.

"Yes, take that tone! Agent A is waiting at the cave for you all, and God help me if any of you patrol again without me clearing you!"

"Wait-" Batman starts. "Damian!"

Every other bat looks at him in shock.

"No names in the suit, Father!"

All of the vigilantes start to talk over each other as Damian sighs. He has a shift in 5 hours and probably won't be able to sleep before it now.

Just as Damian has untied the last of his siblings, the door to the basement busts open to reveal a very serious looking Jon Kent. Tim had apparently activated the distress beacon.

Stray holds his face in his hand. "Bit late there, Superman." As he turns to a hovering Jon Kent.

"Damian?!" The Super gapes at him.

"No names in the suit, Hayseed!" Damian crosses his arms, his glare visible even if his scowl is hidden. Jon immediately turns bright red. Damians family look on in dread.

"I didn't know you even had a suit anymore!"

"It wasn't important!"

"Looks pretty important to me! What? Trade in the bird theme for... Are those cat ears??"

Damian glares harder. "They weren't my choice."

"Yeah, I got that. This is very different from your old Robin get-up." Jon looks him up and down. "Suits you, though."

Damian hopes his heartbeat doesn't give away how that comment affects him, but going by the smirk on Jons face, he already knows.

"NO!" Damians brothers shout from beside him.

"Stray, you are coming back to the cave." Batman orders

"But Father-"

"Now."

Damian really just wants to sleep, but his father isn't giving him a choice in the matter. He looks towards Jon and has a wonderful idea.

"Superman, I could use an evac." Jon takes a moment, smiles, and grabs the cat themed thief and flies them both away. They ignore the other heroes yelling behind them.

After a few minutes of flying, Jon sets him down in the middle of a field.

"So you're Stray now?"

"I needed an outlet that didn't hurt people, Silena suggested it." Damian says while taking down his mask and hood. "Thank you for the escape."

Jon chuckles. "Anytime." He steps closer. "If you want to repay the favour, you could take me to dinner?" He flirts.

Damian raises a brow. "Really?"

"I'll even pay."

"How is that repayment?"

"Was thinking more of a date, actually?" Jon looks at his lips as he says this.

"The Cat Costume really does it for you, huh?" Damian teases.

"No, you do it for me. I've been trying to ask you out for ages, but seeing you in skintight leather is definitely a hell of a motivation."

Damian hums. "Tommorrow then, you can pick me up after my shift. If you let me sleep before I have to work in the morning"

"Deal."

His family eventually interrogate him about being Stray, but not before they find Jonathan Kent waiting for him with flowers and a kiss.

Needless to say, Selina is highly entertained when she returns.

[cosmicpoutine]

finally, stray tim civie design. yes in this au janet is alive and well thank you for asking. (divorced too and she knows about stray tim) i guess tim works as janet's assistant? idk yet

[madge-nius]

here is some fanart I made based off @cosmicpoutine ‘s Stray au!!!

[banloart]

I know Doc isn't a vet, but I wish the first time we saw him was like this

[dragon-lunatic]

So this all started with one sketch...

Welcome to part 1 of Infodumping about my Stray AU!!!! The topic of this line of posts is....

Kiran and Seamus

(You're reading Part 1 now)

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

These two have quite a story to tell and I will do my best to explain it to the best of my abilities while also keeping the posts at a reasonable length. And yes. I HAVE considered putting it all in one post, but I know myself. Start yappin once and never hear the end of it

So without further ado, here's Part 1 of Kiran and Seamus' story :]

Part 1: Beginning and end

Introduction to the situation

Seamus and Doc didn't live together when Kiran met Doc. Seamus moved out at some point and lived on his own somewhere further from the current safe zone. A Zurk attack put this part of the Slums off limits and forced Seamus (among with the very few survivors) to move closer to the elevator again. Doc readily welcomed Seamus to his home again, thankfully saving him the hassle of having to find a new place to live in.

This is also why Seamus never found Doc's secret lab before the cat - it was built during Seamus' absence LOL

Before Seamus moved back in, Doc formed a partnership with Kiran who had proved themselves a competent researcher and a fellow science enthusiast. Even though their fields didn't match, they still enjoyed working together, sharing equipment, and also learning about each other's interests along the way. They'd become very close working together.

Some might even say they were closer than Doc and his own son.

Relationships

Seamus and Doc have very little in common. Seamus takes more interest in fiction over non-fiction and entertains himself by reading and writing short stories and poems. He's very artistic - Doc is not. He's an inventor and has no time to waste on reading something that won't help him with his research. Bit of a workaholic, too. So he was overjoyed when he met Kiran and finally had someone who would go on endless rants about science with him.

Unfortunately, the two made Seamus feel left out in the process (see picture 1. This is becoming a science textbook omg/j) Seamus could contribute to their conversations as much as a floor lamp in the corner of the appartment could. And he felt like one too. So in order to feel less unimportant, he started going out every time Kiran visited. His search for a place where he'd be more noticed was short; not like there are many options left in the Slums at this point... And besides, the Dufer Bar was an obvious first choice. So, Seamus kept coming to the bar every time, becoming (somewhat) friends with Jacob (the bartender) who will remember this soon-to-be regular quite quickly.

In the meantime, the science duo caught on to what Seamus was doing (Kiran realising first that he'd leave every time they arrived). They both realised they'd been unintentionally leaving him out of their conversations and decided to fix it. "We'll sit down with him and apologize when he comes back" was Doc's plan... But Kiran's subconsciousness was having none of it.

Disappointed in their lack of awareness to Seamus' feelings, and worried that he must hate them because of this, Kiran could no longer focus on their work. They'd realised as well that there was very little interaction between the two of them - which is absurd given how often they visits this place! Not even 5 minutes following this realisation, Kiran was out of the appartment hurriedly making their way to the bar.

Finally more art hufffff.. go look at it while I regain my breath/silly

At the bar, Kiran asked to have a chat with Seamus, to which he hesitantly agreed. This is where Kiran apologized for being so infatuated with their and Doc's work that they managed to leave him completely ignored. They made sure to show that they realised how badly it hurt to be left in the dust like that, and that they wanted to do better moving forward. Feeling seen after their apology, Seamus decided to give them another chance and the two decided to start over.

And so they spent a day at the bar with mostly Kiran speaking - but not about science and their discoveries. They talked about Seamus' interest. The stories he reads and what he loves about fiction. Why he writes his own stories too. He even recommended some books to Kiran who will eventually actually read them and be able to properly discuss them with Seamus.

FRIENDSHIP!!

Things changed drastically following this interaction: Doc's house became less of a workshop and more of a place to hang out at (with some work being done here and there). I imagine Kiran and Seamus are mentally around the same age (hopefully I can talk about robot consciousness and my headcanons soon too...) so they became close pretty quickly, going out together and, eventually, causing chaos wherever they go/lh

Kiran encouraged Seamus to come out of his shell. He got to meet other bots of the Slums through Kiran (while he knew about all the (remaining) residents, he never really spoke to any of them). Soon there would be a group of "younger" bots parading around the Slums, joking around and having fun. Mito, Vapora, Roshee, Swanito... Along with Kiran and Seamus, of course. The group brought some life back to the Slums. They couldn't fix any of the major problems, but their sheer energy and the way they could find joy even in such a dire situation helped the rest of the Slums feel a little more hopeful. Like everything will be okay; and if not, at least they still lived a happy life despite the circumstances.

Outside of group hangouts, Kiran and Seamus grew even closer: Kiran continuing to read the books suggested to them - and even some of Seamus' works once he was comfortable sharing them - and Seamus even learning a little about zoology and botany! They'd do almost everything together (working with Doc, training with Clementine, hanging out at the bar, even reading in silence...). They were inseparable and the Slums knew that.

... You're probably expecting shit to go Very downhill from here.

And you're so in the right to do that. Let's go-

Doc's departure

As the Outsiders formed and Doc joined as well (Kiran didn't, but was helping with the Zurk research), things became a little tense in the family. Seamus was nervous about this change... His father in the Outsiders? Does he plan on leaving the Slums? Does he not know the Outside isn't real?... The answers are yes, yes and he doesn't believe in that theory. So, no.

And so Doc took his Defluxor and ventured into the Dead city to test it out - never returned. When his tracker broke down, it was interpreted as his death.

Things changed around the Slums after this. The place went quiet. Everyone grieved the loss, and Seamus was absolutely devastated. But those weren't all of the significant changes...

The cold shoulder

Inexplicably, Seamus became especially distant from Kiran. Actively avoiding them, refusing to speak with them, and giving them harsh looks in case he was forced to acknowledge them. Nobody understood why. Not even Kiran. They desperately tried to find out if anybody knew anything- anything that might have made Seamus so resentful towards them... But nobody did. Only way to get the answers was to force a conversation about it with the very person who avoided it the most.

Seamus did not take it well.

It happened in the center of the safe zone, for all to see and hear. Kiran demanded they're told why Seamus avoids them, and he delivered.

It's their fault. They knew all of Doc's plans and never opposed them, including the one that lead to his death. They didn't save Doc. They let him march right into his death. Doc died because of Kiran.

Try as they might to reason with him, Seamus did not want to hear a word from them. He said his part and stormed off, leaving everyone in complete shock and bafflement. And Kiran had it worst - so terrified of this sudden switch and accusations that they started to believe Seamus was right...

My first Guardian hehehe :] I had so much fun drawing this one also Kiran is comically small compared to him/lh

A lot of the witnesses decided to step up and reassure them that Seamus is full of shit and just wanted to blame someone for the awful things he feels right now. A horrible way to cope, really. But everyone knows Kiran, and everyone knew Doc. They all knew Kiran had absolutely nothing to do with Doc's death. Deep down, Seamus knew this too.

Logically, also, Kiran knew this as well.

... but a mind under the influence of such heavy feelings is anything but logical.

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

And that's a wrap!! This was a LONG one haha but rest assured, I believe this one will be the longest of the (hopefully/lh) three posts in this series. I figured it was time I started posting more lore about my Stray AU because BOY do I have a lot to say. So here's a big chunk of it that may not stay relevant later in tje story but... may still show itself in some parts here and there.

You'll see. Especially with the next two posts, because they will explain a huge part of Kiran's character. You will see :)

OKAY enough with the yappin for now!! If you are here. reading this. uh. thank you SO much but also are you okay?? /silly either way thank you for reading!! have a cookie🍪

> Part 2

> Part 3

[thlayli-ra]

The Stray AU boys celebrated one year since their engagement by doing the Loony Dook (an annual event held on New Year's Day in which people dive into the freezing waters of the Firth of Forth at South Queensferry).