There is an old legend about a kind of magic that only bards could wield.
Not through spells or signs, but through song.
They say that long ago, the first bards were descended from the Fae, gifted with voices capable of weaving impossible wonders. A single melody could soothe monsters, shatter curses, summon storms, or mend a broken heart. Kings feared them, mages envied them, and, in time, the singers were hunted until not a single one remained.
Or so the story goes.
Most scholars dismiss it as nothing more than a fairy tale.
During one particularly harsh winter at Oxenfurt Academy, however, Jaskier stumbles across an impossibly old manuscript hidden deep within the library's forgotten archives. The faded pages contain songs unlike anything he has ever seen—strange, beautiful verses written in a language older than the Continent itself.
Unable to resist, Jaskier rewrites the melodies, adapting them to suit his own style before performing them.
He never expects them to answer.
By the time spring arrives, word has begun to spread that the famous bard is doing the impossible. Flowers bloom where he sings. Wounds knit closed beneath his ballads. Ancient magic stirs at the sound of his voice.
Geralt is... considerably less than thrilled to discover that his bard can apparently perform magic.
Anyways. Let's talk about how DC accidentally gave Tim and Damian parallel storylines when it comes to their relationship as Robin and wanting to go to College and why Damian is actually so upset about Tim ' quitting '.
So back when Rebirth first happened , there was a subplot happening with Tim where he got accepted into Ivy University on a Genius scholarship and was getting ready to step away from being a vigilante to focus entirely on going to school.
this . . . didn't end the best for tim.
and upon tim's return after this he felt trapped in remaining as robin , kept being a vigilante because he was still needed, felt like he couldn't step away because there was still more work he needed to get done.
Now let's jump to recent comics. Namely Batman & Robin , where Damian talks about stepping away from being Robin because he want's to focus on potentially becoming a doctor
and in Batman 2025 how he got accepted into Gotham U at such a young age and how it's a huge deal for him.
now cut to the most recent issue, to the conversation between Tim and Damian. and Notice how Damian put his acceptance letter in the trash.
Damian want's to go to school, you can tell by his expression, but such a large part of robin philosophy ( originated by Tim and probably pushed onto Damian by accident ) is the fact that 'Batman needs a Robin'. With Tim quitting, Damian probably feels obligated to remain robin, to not go to school and remain loyal to the cause. Damain is upset because he feels like he has to stay as Robin , because Batman cannot be without a Robin, and with Tim hanging up the cape first he has no choice but to remain as Robin.
It's a beautiful , all be it almost 100% accidental parallel between these two and I would love for DC to touch on it if they realized that's what they've done. Probably won't because DC isn't that smart.
can i be real for one second are we not all cultivating vastly intricate filtered content lists. is that just me. i see little to nothing that bothers me. i block anything that could potentially bother me. i am blocking niche tags from 3 fandoms ago for my own peace of mind. i have the name ‘bruce’ filtered
I have this situation in my mind where Jaybin meets with Jason. It could happen through some multiverse or timeline shenanigans or anything that throws them together.
Jaybin takes one look at Jason and immediately notices how tired he is. Not just physically tired, but the kind of tired that settles into your bones. He looks at Jason for a long moment before asking quietly,
"Seems like Bruce isn't the dad we thought he'd be, huh?"
Jason gives him a small smile. "No," he says softly. "He isn't anymore."
Jaybin raises an eyebrow. "Oh? So... he was? Before?"
Jason lets out a quiet laugh, more bitter than amused. "Yeah. Yeah, he was. Once upon a time."
Jaybin falls silent for a moment, trying to fit that answer into everything he knows. "So... we're back to taking care of ourselves, huh?" he asks. "Just like before."
Jason looks at the kid in front of him. So young. So familiar. "Yeah," he admits. "And... sorry to disappoint you, but as you can see, I'm not exactly sure I'm doing a very good job."
Jaybin frowns immediately, like the idea itself is ridiculous. "I think you're doing a good job."
Jason blinks.
"You've survived, haven't you?" Jaybin continues. "You're still alive. Maybe your life is horrible right now, but we'll survive."
He shrugs, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "We survived after Dad left. We survived after Mom overdosed and died. We survived when we had nothing. So we'll survive this too."
Jason doesn't answer right away. He just stands there, thinking. When he finally looks back at Jaybin, he sees it; the fire still burning in those young eyes. The stubborn determination to survive. To keep living, no matter what. Somewhere deep inside him, something warm stirs. Something that almost feels like hope.
Jason smiles, this one softer than before. "Okay," he says quietly. "We'll survive."
Then he pauses for a little while and continue. "And maybe... maybe one day we won't just survive."
His smile grows just a little. "We'll live. We'll build the life we deserve."
Jaybin grins back without hesitation. "Yeah," he says. "That sounds better."
Danny dyed his hair white one day. His adoptive family thinks its teenage rebellion, but really his ghost side Has been acting up, so now he's got to commit to the bit
Bruce does a double take when Danny walks in. His newest son was much more reserved than his other children. He didn't like having attention on himself- unless it was the popular kids at school but Bruce thought that was just something every teenager went through.
Danny spent most of his time locked away in his room, playing video games, writing for his blog, and watching documentaries about space. He was the most normal and well-behaved ward he had had since Jason, and Jason was so grateful for being able to go to school that he used to ask to skip patrol to do homework. Danny had no interest in getting into the life of crime fighting, despite his previous ghost-fighting days.
He mostly stopped the ghosts from attacking because there was literally no one else in Amity Park who could handle the ghosts. In Gotham, however, there were plenty of heroes who were trained and on top of whatever issues were going on. Danny saw no reason to jump in, despite the Waynes each taking time out of their days to give him training in thier respective areas.
Jason and Alfred were happy to report Danny was one of the best shots in the household, while Damian and Cass both agreed his hand-to-hand combat was his weakest point. Duke and Bruce were the ones who helped him the most with his powers, which Danny preferred to use the most and was his strongest.
Despite all of this, Danny only jumped in as Phantom if it was an all-hands-on-deck or a last-resort situation. He would rather live as a civilian, which was a huge load off of Bruce's and Dick's shoulders. His eldest had turned many young people away from the cape life, but he never managed to get his own siblings to agree.
Danny had no problems in school. He was one of the top students- not the top, but definitely in the top ten. His teachers had nothing but praise for his insightful and well-mannered behavior. He didn't speak too much in class, but he wasn't dismissive of assignments, nor did he leave all his part of group work to his classmates.
Alfred was working on getting Danny's mannerisms and etiquette up to par for the elites, but he was easy to mold, willing to learn, and sort of natural when he was relaxed.
Danny didn't steal; he didn't drink or do any kind of drugs (Bruce knows; he had him tested. Whether that test was done with Danny's knowledge or not was no one's business). Really, the only issue Bruce had with Danny was his social life, but honestly? In a city like Gotham, having his son home, safe and sound, behind the best security money could buy, and the best of minds could build, was much more relieving.
He hadn't thought Danny was capable of rebelling.
Which was why his son, walking in with pure white hair, was so jarring. Bruce tried to find a way to tactfully ask about it-
Tim glanced up from his phone just as Danny was taking his seat and gasped. "What happened to your hair?
-but that was not how he would have done it. Thankfully, Tim always handled things he didn't want to.
Danny smiled, running a hand through his hair, unbothered by the horror that had slipped into the CEO'S voice."Felt like a change."
As he moved his hair, Bruce realized that Danny had gotten piercings as well. Not just one or two, but six, from his lobe to the top. They were small, tiny stars and dots, and one moon at the very top as a flat. Bruce's eyes widened.
That was... surprising because, in thier state, one had to have parental permission until one was eighteen to get piercings. Danny is sixteen, and Bruce had not given any form of permission. Where did he get those piercings?
"This felt right," Danny concludes, leaning back in his chair. As he did so, his shirt rose a little, and peeking from the small slip of skin was an ink image. Tattoos. On Danny's frontal hipbones.
Bruce felt faint.
Tim gasped, knocking over his drink when he sprang up, pointing at Danny. "Do you have tattoos?!?"
The now white-haired boy smiled warmly, almost proudly, as he lifted his shirt to show off two strips of black and white galaxy-themed tattoos. They tilted from his hip down to his private parts and were honestly a masterful work of art, but Bruce was shocked beyond words.
None of his kids had tattoos. None. Not even Jason. Oh gods, Danny was never going to get a real job now.
"Where?" Bruce croaked, "Where did you get those?"
"Johnny did them for me." Danny chirps, letting his shirt fall back down.
"Who is Johnny?" Tim gasped, falling back into his seat like his heart was being ripped out of his chest and stomped on. He was ready for children. He had the you're going to put me in an early grave act down pact. Bruce was honestly impressed by it.
"He's my friend." Danny shrugged. "He's cool."
Bruce opened his mouth, but once again Tim beat him to the punch.
"Cool? Is it cool to be running around looking like a delinquent?!"
"Didn't you use to skip school to go skateboarding and then break into a building at night?" Danny popped his fork into his mouth, raising one eyebrow. Tim sputtered for a second, looking for an argument but falling short, so he turned to Bruce.
"B. Control your son!"
"I don't need controlling from a man who actively breaks the law. " Danny cut in. He swallowed the salad in his mouth before putting his fork down and raising his hands to create the distinctive bat ears of Batman's cowl on his head. Bruce felt like he'd been slapped.
Tim slammed a hand on the table. "You're breaking your father's heart."
Danny, sweet and innocent Danny, rolled his eyes at Tim. "It's not that big of a deal."
Bruce thinks his heart actually may have shattered. Tim glanced at him before facing the teenager at the table again. "You're killing your father."
Next up someone is going to claim that the Narnia series isn't kids books.
Kids books is probably not the best way to word it, you can enjoy them at every age, including your childhood, as you get older you may find new truths in them, but they're still good for any age.
if I ever tell you “lmk what you think if you read/play/watch it!” I am firmly inviting you to send me a play by play minute by minute cataloguing of your thoughts about The Thing
MORE evidence that Jason absolutely Does Not Have a secret identity. No mask at all going on here and a villain he doesn't even fight recognizes him.
Iirc killer moth is meant to be another of Batman's high intellect villains who're meant to match him, though he gets a very short end of the stick outside of comics. Nonetheless, I don't see Red Hood as high on the "I've GOTTA figure out his identity" radar. I do absolutely see this as Red Hood's face just Being That Known
Hes having fun ^
I like how he didn't even get off the chair and is just smiling about it. Chilling as he threatens you with knife. I feel like the bars in hell whenever I get happy about Jason threatening someone without yelling anger roar shoved in
I'm only a few pages in but all the Jason art here is so cutieful... I'm so delighted... whimsy meters are up... also he just casually stabbed killer moth again
When Killer Moth calls Jason an ex-superhero, what is he referring to? I assume we aren't meant to see any of rhato as Jason heroics. But Jason doesn't really have a prominent superhero role that people would know about? Is it because he teams up with the batfamily sometimes? Is tfz why he's currently an ex hero? Or does he know about Robin? Honestly, I might be a bit caught up on the wording here. I should stop taking long breaks between my comic reading sessions so my internal timeline is more coherent
Currently reading: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #5
all in my head is just Jason Todd and what abt it @telidina - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
