#remained au

+ One of the first things Talia did when Ra's was removed from the picture following Death and the Maidens (a batman comic in which Ra’s dies. He eventually came back) was buy Damian the biggest, most ridiculous art set in existence, and about 400 glitter pens. He loves it.

+ Jason and Talia will often have tea and chat while they play strategy games, such as chess, Stratego, and Shogi. She always kicks his ass.

+ Nobody is sure when she sleeps. Maybe she just doesn't.

Multiple members of the League of Assassins claim she has the ability to be in two places at the same time. No one is sure how she does it.

+ Talia calls Damian and Jason lots of affectionate nicknames. She only does this when they're alone prior to leaving the League, or with her few most trusted people, but once they're in Gotham she does it all the time. Some of the nicknames are beloved, habibi (Arabic, basically translates to "my love," I'm stealing it from the thousands of fanfics I've seen her use it in), sweetheart, darling, etc.

+ Absolute fashion icon. Owns the most gorgeous dresses, saris, and pantsuits. As CEO of LexCorp and later when she moves to Gotham, she absolutely redefines what is fashionable by virtue of being the best-looking person in the room. (For context, when Lex Luthor was president, he made Talia CEO of LexCorp, for about a year, I think. She spent most of it trying to give evidence to the Daily Planet about Lex’s criminal activity.)

However Jason makes fun of her for The Pink Jumpsuit relentlessly.

+ Talia almost always wears her hair in a braid or bun; the only time she doesn't is for business meetings and parties and whatnot. If she's just around a League base or fighting, it's tied back. This has nothing to do with the fact that it affects her fighting skill and everything to do with the fact that she finds hair in her face very annoying. Talia is far too good to be affected by whether or not her hair is in her face – she just gets tired of it falling in her eyes when she’s trying to read.

+ Doesn’t wear heels much; she’s an athlete and a fighter, and heels literally deform your feet. Will wear heels when meeting with Ra’s because she enjoys the look on his face when she’s taller than him. She’s also been known to do this to Lex Luthor and many others. She once walked into a LexCorp board meeting wearing eight-inch heels and towered over all the white men’s heads. Just because she doesn’t wear heels much doesn’t mean she can’t walk in them flawlessly.

+ (Tbh everything Talia al-Ghūl does is flawless.)

+ In canon, when Bruce and Talia met, she was studying for a medical degree at Cairo University. She now has that medical degree.

“Ms. Al-Ghūl—” “That is Doctor Al-Ghūl to you.”

Jason: When did even you do your residency???

Talia, drinking tea: Mmm.

Jason, exasperated: Mom.

+ She also got a business degree at some point, and no one is totally sure when or how. It does make explaining why Lex Luthor made the CEO of LexCorp much easier, though.

+ While she prefers tea, Talia did not get through medical school or a whole year of dealing with Lex Luthor’s bullshit without copious amounts of coffee.

+ Jason got her a “HBIC” mug as a joke partway during her year with LexCorp. It promptly became her favorite mug and can always be seen on her desk filled with coffee or tea. 

+ After moving to Gotham, she spends most of her free time spoiling her kids or working on social reform. She's also working on a law degree.

"Mom, a medical degree, a business degree, and a law degree seems like overkill?" "It is, I just want the law degree because it will help me make Lex Luthor's life a living hell." "In that case, understandable have a nice day."

She and Barbara are both “yes I have far too many degrees just so I can wave them in the face of annoying white men what about it” energy and are also both very determined to enact social reform, so they get along quite well. Possibly too well. However, the only people who need to be afraid of their combined might are those who probably deserve it, so the rest of the Batfam has elected to simply get out of the way.

+ Talia owns a private jet, but don’t worry it’s eco-friendly. No ridiculous carbon emissions for this billionaire. She’s an al-Ghūl. Of course, it’s eco-friendly. (She’s also sensible.) Jason proceeds to use it to bounce back and forth between Australia and Gotham, and Talia is. So. Tired. Jason my darling I love you so, so very much, but that is a terrible idea for your education and your sleep schedule please—

For the record, all of Bruce’s vehicles are also electric.

+ Damian wasn't allowed to have pets with the League because Talia didn't trust Ra's not to kill anything Damian showed affection towards. Once Damian lives in Gotham, however, Talia 100% enables his animal-loving tendencies.

Like… maybe a little too much.

Bruce: I’m going to have to build an animal sanctuary in my backyard at this rate.

Talia: I think that would be wonderful, don’t you? It’s not like you don’t have the space.

Tim: *Wheezing*

+ The last name she uses is “Kareem.” Assuming my sources are correct (and admittedly they may not be; my faith in the internet is shaky, at best, though I checked a handful of different sites and they all seem to say the same thing), it is a name of Arabic origin that means generous, honorable, and noble, and is also one of the 99 names of God given in the Quran. It is also the name Jason and Damian use.

When the knowledge that Jason and Damian were Bruce and Talia’s kids becomes public, they both wanted to be Kareem-Waynes. Talia, who wanted to avoid any potential media conflict, pointed out (correctly) that somehow the media would find a way to make a mess out of that and added that she loves them both dearly and they will always be her sons whether or not they use her name. So in the name of Less Media Attention they were going to go with Wayne-Kareem, since it's normal to put the father's name first.

Two hours after they agreed on this, Bruce found out from one of the other batkids and went "WE'RE GOING WITH KAREEM-WAYNE THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY SCREW SEXISM”

Jason and Damian think it’s fantastic. Talia laughs so hard.

The media does try to make a thing out of it, and Bruce literally says “This is the 21st century. Consider it a statement. Also go fuck yourself.”

On a related note, when he marries Selina he becomes Bruce Kyle-Wayne and she becomes Selina Kyle-Wayne and his kids have never loved him more. We stan a feminist!

+ Talia loves animals as much as Damian, and they both get along with Selina because of it.

+ Selina and Talia can often be seen together at galas whispering to one another and generally making everyone else feel like they aren’t worthy to be in the same room.

+ Selina introduces Talia to Ivy and they immediately get along, since they’re both very passionate about environmental reform. Talia does networking and works on policy improvements, while Selina breaks into places for evidence and files, Barbara helps with political wrangling and gathers intelligence, and Ivy and Harley fuck shit up when all else fails. Ivy’s sense for where pollution is coming from is unparalleled, as well, so she can also help gather data to point Talia in the right direction to publicly destroy corrupt companies. Selina’s mostly here to steal things and protect endangered cats.

YEAH I SAID WOMEN IN HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS NOT DEFINED BY THEIR RELATION TO A MAN

WHAT ABOUT IT

For the record, Bruce is very impressed by what they're doing and also absolutely terrified.

(Oh sidenote HarlIvy canon.) (Didn’t even occur to me to say that because I deadass assumed it was a given.)

+ Talia’s initial feelings towards Harley were pretty hostile, given everything the Joker did to Jason, but she comes to understand what Harley went through. Harley and Jason actually bond quite a bit in this AU.

+ Also, not totally on topic with the general theme of this post, I’m going to Own Up to a mistake I made on the last post: I completely forgot the Wayne family is Jewish and was like “yeah, they celebrate Christmas??? Right???” So. Hannukah! They do celebrate Christmas – Tim and Steph grew up celebrating Christmas – they just also celebrate Literally Everything Else.

+ It’s canon in DC that Talia made Damian ox blood soup when he was a kid, so presumably she made it for Jason too. Jason asked her to teach him how to make it. Damian's a vegetarian now, so they're trying to figure out how to replicate the taste.

Talia, affectionately and teasingly: Damian, habibi, I love you dearly, but you are making cooking for you incredibly hard.

Damian: :)

+ She, Jason, and Alfred have been learning how to make a bunch of dishes Damian already likes with tofu and other alternatives, as well as trying out new vegetarian recipes. He’s a growing boy, he needs protein, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be meat.

+ Talia and Alfred go to the farmer’s market every Saturday. Jason often comes with, and the other kids sometimes tag along.

+ Talia bought a cashmere blanket and to this day it is one of the best purchases she's ever made.

She kind of wishes her kids would stop fighting over it, though.

The problem is usually solved by yoinking both children into a cuddle pile.

“Just buy another one—” She has. She owns like six of them, now. It’s this one specific one they want for some reason.