#jasontalia

She was so cold. It was so dark. Her body trembled. Were her eyes open? She couldn’t tell. Fingers tripped over smooth stone. The air was hollow and stale. 

Inhaling, her lungs burned, triggering an eruption of coughing. Dust flew around her, coating her tongue. She tried to sit up but was stopped by a low roof. Her heart strained, beating quickly as anxiety gripped her. What was going on? Where was she?

Desperately she reached out, breathing a little easier as she found one side open. Swinging bare feet out, she rose; stumbling slightly as her knees tried to buckle. It was still pitch black but she was beginning to make out shapes of things around her.

An altar here. A pedestal there.

She… She knew this place. It was familiar. But she couldn’t stay.

She needed… She needed to go. She had a mate. A pup. She needed to find them. 

Carefully, she walked through the shadowed halls, one hand on the marble walls of the mausoleum. The hems of her golden burial shroud trailed in the dust. Her feet pulled her west, toward the door. It was locked but she found it opened with a touch of her hand. 

The gaze of the full moon greeted her. 

The sound of steel unsheathing made her turn. Two guards stood, pale-faced and trembling, swords pointed at her. 

“St-stop! Demon!”

“Am I?” She asked, softly. “I don’t think so.” Her thoughts were confused, hazy. But surely she would know if she were evil. She stepped passed them, uncaring as they attempted to block her way. 

She needed to find her pup and her alpha. 

Her feet carried her to the manor house beyond. One more guard attempted to bar her path but no others dared. After she passed the fifth, they bowed low. A name whispered on their lips. Vari. A title. Her title. It called to buried memories but she pushed them out of her mind. 

They were insignificant now. Not pertinent to her present purpose. 

As she approached the steps, the doors opened and a man stepped out, his green robes faded in the light of the moon. A saif raised protectively. The Demon’s Head. Ra’s Al Ghul, her memory whispered.

“You will go no further, shade. What is your business?”

Business? Her business was her -

“Mate. Where is my mate? Where is my child?” She asked, her voice echoing around them. There. Behind the man. She pushed passed him, making him stumble, through the doors and into the hall.

A woman stood there, raven hair falling down her shoulders. Green eyes glowing in the light of the lamps; luminous in her unusually pale face. She, too, held a sword at her side. Her hands trembled around the hilt of the blade.

Her heart skipped a beat. Her. This was her alpha. A name came to her lips.

Talia.

This was her Talia.

Tears welled in her eyes and trailed down her cheeks, washing away dust. Hers. She stepped closer, her brumous mind unable to read the emotion in her alpha’s eye. Unable to see the threat in the sword. 

She knelt and offered her throat to her mate, “Talia.”

Tremulously, her alpha asked, “Jabra?” Her free hand slowly reached towards the omega at her feet.

Jabra. Was that her name? She inhaled sharply as memories broke through and flooded her mind. It was. Jay. She was Jay. 

Dick: Redheads

Tim: Boys

Cass: Steph :)

Steph: Cass ;)

Jason: Damian's parents

Jason Todd: I’m looking for rough sex, and Poison Ivy scares the shit out of me.

Talia al Ghul: Sigh… I stay on top, and you don’t get to talk.

Unfortunately, I’ve already made the video.

But, I’m more than happy to answer your question!

Other resource include this post and this post.

There’s a wide range of opinion as to what/if Talia really felt for Jason. I think it’s clear that she did. 

Even though their most extensive interactions were in the Red Hood Lost Days miniseries, they also teamed up in Batman 400.

But Talia never really acknowledged Jason UNTIL he died. 

Then, she actually really cares. Granted, until they find Jason, she mostly cares about how his death affects Bruce.

Then she and Ra’s find Jason after he’s dug himself out of the grave (it was the Superboy punch that revived him Pre-New 52). Jason, though, it mute and basically braindamaged. Ra’s keeps him around because he wants to know how he came back to life. Talia oversees his progress and his him trained - and insists that he’s “improving” even when Ra’s and other physicians think he’s just acting on instinct and reaction. Talia disagrees, goes down to where Jason is fighting, and pops him across the face.

And unlike everyone else, Jason doesn’t fight her back. He just stands there, and Talia insists that there’s something else in him because he doesn’t fight her back.

Immediately after this, we see Talia speaking to Jason on a cliffside, even though he can’t talk back to her. At this point, they’ve been trying to improve his state for an entire year.

This to me is one of the most telling scenes. We hardly ever see Talia talk about Bruce, or how she feels, or what she thinks in such a candid and personal way outside of Bruce himself (and some would say she lies often) or Ra’s (who’s well…Ra’s). Because Jason can’t speak, and perhaps can’t even really comprehend what Talia is saying (though he clearly can to some degree), we’re absolutely seeing Talia in a completely honest way.

And it’s a complete tenderness that we don’t often see from Talia. It’s different than how she is with Bruce. It’s just kindness, for it’s own purposes. I personally think Talia is projecting to a degree - she feels she relates to Jason on some level. “Abandoned” by Bruce (and their parallels only keep getting stronger, even after Lost Days).

Then Ra’s gets fed up. He figures out that Talia wants Jason to get better so that she can return him so Bruce and earn his love.

And he says literally the worst thing ever to Talia:

Ra’s proceeds to tell her that he’s going to send Jason away. Not leave him abandoned or have him killed. He’d probably live a quiet life somewhere with a family who’d take care of a mute boy. It’s not really that bad, all things considered.

But Talia takes Jason and throws him in the Lazarus Pit.

The letter that she leaves with Jason (after then helping him escape Ra’s) is telling in itself:

“I had other reasons. Despite my search for the answers, you remain a mystery. You were dead, Jason. Murdered. Buried. And mourned. But you returned to this world. A miracle. And then you wandered into my view. Fate is commanding your life in a way that I can barely fathom. I judge what I have done as not so much intervening on fate’s behalf, but as stepping out of its way. You were meant for something, Jason. Only time will tell what that is. But you should know, more than any other reason - I have done this for love. And I hope that will guide you into what you will become.”

 Talia was taking a huge risk in reviving Jason:

Of course, Ra’s puts Talia under house arrest at this point, but she keeps tabs on Jason - who immediately goes to Gotham to kill Bruce. He’s just a ball of rage. He doesn’t do it though, and ends up back with Talia. He still wants to kill Bruce, and Talia agrees to train him. But it’s to stall him.

Over the next several years, she takes him to various masters (funding everything) around the world. Essentially, she makes him into the Red Hood. She knows that the Lazarus Pit has made him..well, a sociopath. But she continues in hopes of not only seeing him live out the purpose she believes he has, but to keep him from Bruce.

Ultimately, Jason figures it out - but the plan is changed, and it’s okay. If I have my continuity right - Talia reveals that Ra’s has been killed. Presumably by Bruce. I think this is referring to Death and the Maidens (Bruce didn’t kill Ra’s, but Talia is recovering from being torture-murdered and brainwashed, so, eh) and Talia is angry with Bruce.

She tells Jason to “punish him.” Then this happens:

They totes have sex.

Talia initiates, and, well..I think most people would agree that she’s probably Jason’s first. The motivation here is unclear, but I don’t think she’d doing it as part of that “punishment.” Talia’s emotionally unstable. He’s a man she’s spent YEARS with and really, really believes in him. He’s everything Bruce won’t be. I think she feels like they relate and he understands her. And let’s be real - no one else does.