What A Strong Kiddo!

-blythe baird (@blythebrooklyn)

No one:

Absolutely no one:

Dick Grayson:

Source

my piece from the Gotham City Unmasked Fanbook!

Quotes | Pale

WIP I wasn’t kidding about those Dick+Donna covers 👁👄👁

How do you see Stephanie Brown, and what do you think that others get wrong?

I see Stephanie Brown as someone who has always, always refused to break.

I think that’s the first thing that people always lose sight of with her. In the Nu52, Steph’s trauma and history and stubbornness ended up being erased in favor of her being a fish-out-of-water newcomer to the scene.

Steph has not had an easy time of things. She is an abuse survivor, who had to deal with her mother’s struggles with opioid addiction. Friends and family of her parents couldn’t be trusted, and so she grew up, alone, longing for someone to come along, to understand, to help. She built up an idea of Batman as that perfect adult she never had, of the person who actually could help her, could understand her, and would.

But no one came. No one helped. Therapy and jail and stints on the Suicide Squad only made her father more dangerous, rather than helping him, and she was becoming more and more aware of the full extent of his abuse towards her mother.

So she saves herself.

First, and foremost, Steph saves herself.

Steph is kind, and happy, but what I think people don’t understand is that her kind of joy is a choice. It’s a fight, every day, and she is fighting tooth and nail for it, every day. It’s not always easy, she doesn’t always succeed. But she is, at the heart of herself, railing against the cycles and systems of abuse that has defined her life, has defined the lives of her friends and the people she is trying to help.

Her life is, fundamentally, an attempt to break that cycle, and to help others break it to. She believes in second-chances, because you need them, because people make mistakes, and stumble, but if you are going to heal, if you are going to improve, you need those chances. To break a vicious cycle, you need an exit, and she is fighting hard for those exits.

And I think people struggle to understand that, to understand that her happiness, her kindness, are a choice made in spite of the cruelty of Gotham and the world. It’s not that it doesn’t affect her; it shapes her entire life, and she burns with that injustice, burns with the fact that every system failed her, failed her mother, failed Cass.

And that’s why she stays, that’s why she keeps fighting, because if Stephanie Brown is ever going to be more than the daughter of a supervillain, the girl who looks just like Arthur Brown, the teenaged mom, the girl who was Robin for seventy-one days… she has to.

And she is. She’s Batgirl. She’s Robin. She’s Spoiler.

And that’s something worth smiling about.

undercuts

[ID: A 3-page comic and an illustration of Conner Kent, Cassie Sandsmark, Bart Allen, and Tim Drake from DC Comics.

Comic Page 1

Panel 1: Cassie enters the living room, stretching. In the foreground, Kon holds an electric hair clipper.

Tim, off panel: Hey Cassie. Cassie: *yawn* Hey Tim, hey Kon. Kon: Hey Cassie.

Panel 2: Cassie touches the back of Kon’s head. Kon turns towards her, putting the clipper down.

Cassie: Hair coming in? Kon: Yeah. Cassie: Huh. I’ve always wondered how that feels. Kon: The undercut? Cassie: Yeah.

Panel 3: Cassie continues touching the back of Kon’s head, curious. In the background, Bart speeds in with armfuls of bags in street wear.

Cassie: Ooo, stubbly. Kon: You wanna try? Bart: HEY GUYS SUP Cassie: Hey Bart. Kon: Hey Bart.

Panel 4: Cassie sits by the table with Kon. Kon turns towards Bart, who’s simultaneously in the kitchen putting away his purchases and drinking water, and in the foreground doing a thumbs up holding a pillow, having changed into a sweatshirt.

Cassie: Kon’s fixing his undercut. Kon: And Cassie’s maybe getting one. Bart: Yeah you’d look great! Kon: Yeah she would. Cassie: Thanks.

Comic Page 2

Panel 1: A close up on the upper half of Bart’s face. He looks wary.

Cassie, off panel: You wanna get one too? Bart: I dunno, are you guys gonna make fun of my hair again?

Panel 2: Bart looks up at Tim, who’s hanging upside down from the ceiling and holding a phone.

Tim: In fairness, half bald would be an improvement from completely bald, kinda. Bart: Hey Tim. Tim: Hey Bart.

Panel 3: Kon turns towards Tim, who continues to hang upside down whilst smiling smugly. Cassie gestures at the back of her head, turned to Bart.

Kon: “Kinda”? Tim: Mm. Kon: Wow. Cassie: Isn’t the suit uncomfortable with the hair? Bart: In hindsight yeah but like, do I have the face for an undercut?

Panel 4: Cassie thinks thoughtfully. Bart leans his cheek against Kon’s shoulder. Kon shifts slightly to make space for Tim.

Cassie: Has there ever been a “bad” undercut? Bart: Worst case you could do wigs again. Cassie: Ugh. Tim, off panel: Batwoman says undercuts are better with suits like hers. Kon: Batwoman has an undercut?

Comic Page 3

Panel 1: Cassie and Bart look up at Tim. Kon looks at them, curious; Tim also looks at them, but disgruntled instead.

Cassie: I’ll get one if Bart gets one. Bart: I’ll get one if Time gets one. Tim: Why am I involved.

Panel 2: Cassie and Kon huddle around Bart, gesturing towards him. The trio do their best at making the most angelic expression they can muster. Tim gives them a deadpan stare.

Cassie: Think about Bart! Bart: What about Bart! Kon: For Bart, Tim!

Panel 3: Tim continues to give them a deadpan stare.

Panel 4: The deadpan stare continues. The other three cheer.

Tim: … sure? Cassie, Bart, and Kon: YEAH!

Illustration

Kon sits behind Tim, inspecting the back of Tim’s head closely, holding an electric hair clipper; Tim’s head is bowed slightly, looking down at Bart whose head is laid on his lap; Cassie lays arms crossed on Bart’s stomach. The atmosphere is easy and comfortable. They all have undercuts.

End ID.]

Jason playing a guitar

gettin full-named and receiving psychic damage