Hey, how are you planning to deal with parallax in your reverse robin au, and just the green lanterns in general.
Oh boy… I really don’t know Lantern lore that well… or any of the space factions, tbh. I don’t think I want to touch the Emerald Twilight even or any of its direct repercussions until I know them a lot better.
(Adding a cut, because this got long. TL;DR is I don’t really know? But I’m open to suggestions!)
If I cement anything, I’d say I’d use the post Blackest Night/Brightest Day explanation of every color on the emotional spectrum having its own deity/patron, with Parallax just being the Yellow Space Bug God he is in modern versions. I also like the retcon I see in a lot of fanfics (dunno if it’s currently canon or not) where the different lantern corps are all as ancient & well-established as the Green Lanterns, because honestly if the whole spectrum has always been there then they shouldn’t be a just-the-last-few-decades sorta thing.
I mean. Emerald Twilight might not even happen at all, given the Death & Return of Superman would have to happen very differently in my version. Natasha Irons is part of Steph’s Titans & an established part of the caped community before Kon even exists, Kon himself entering the Superfam fold after both Jon grows up & the Super-Twins get adopted, which fundamentally changes the Rise of the Supermen arc so dramatically that??? Jon just stepping up as Superman would be the most natural conclusion, but also Clark might just not die because I’m definitely not doing anything with the OG Crisis, so Kara’s there even if Clark won’t let his kids help him with that fight, and she’s not gonna let her baby cousin boss her around when he clearly needs her help (especially because she’s probably about 19-20 when it would normally happen and very possibly already a Red Lantern? I haven’t read that arc yet, this might actually be a great time for her to get the ring in my version…)
…Erm, the point is: I have enough on my plate just trying to make the Robins’ timeline & those of their teams somewhat make sense, and I have a mile-long reading list which subjects the expanded universe to constant change once I know them better, and I don’t think I’ll be going in-depth on the space factions, the future/time travel factions, or the multiversal conflicts outside of saying they have their own versions of “The World Where Heroes Are Villains & Villains Are Heroes” (Earth-50 & Earth-148 are both said to be this on the wiki) and of course “The Genderbend World” (Earth-11), and that they probably have occasional one-off adventures with them. Like, Steph & Damian both definitely went up against their evil!selves when leading their Titans teams (Cass, meanwhile, had the “Oh, I’d be terrible at being evil actually” revelation as seen in that awesome meta post I cannot find anymore that was like “Cassandra Cain cannot be both the best and evil,” based on the fact her best-ness comes from body language being her first language, which basically forces compassion & understanding to be a foundation of her identity, and she could not be as effective a fighter as villain if she was full of that same compassion. She can either be the best martial artist in the world or she can be evil. Cass whoops her evil self without breaking a sweat, and it’s very affirming for her.)
TLDR: I DON’T FUCKIN’ KNOW!
(You tell me if you have any good ideas, though, I’d love to hear from someone who actually knows them because it is going to take me forever to get there and I’m always interested in worldbuilding repercussions & how I can make this more cohesive!)
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Shadow!Steph being benched during War Games because Bruce won’t risk her life in a war zone with a toddler at home. She insists she can do it, she’ll be fine, she can help!
“You’ve done enough,” Bruce says.
(He intended to placate her. Instead, Steph recoils as though struck.)
She looks around, desperate for support. But Duke knows what it’s like to lose parents and shakes his head. Cass won’t meet Steph’s eyes, mentally weighing the protection of her goddaughter against the safety of the city & knowing Cass herself will do more good in the city but needs Luna safe to concentrate. Damian’s already in the city and unaware of their fight until Steph calls him—at which point, Damian curtly says they’ll call Steph if they need her but he’s a little busy right now.
“What about Tim?” Steph blurts out, pointing. “He’s got a family! His parents don’t even know he’s working with us!”
Tim opens his mouth to argue, but is interrupted.
“Tim’s benched too,” Bruce says.
“What?!” Tim glares. “No I’m not. You need me out there.”
“They need me out there,” Steph snaps, unable to keep the bitterness & rage out of her voice.
(She’s been trying so, so hard to swallow the jealousy & betrayal ever since Cass made Tim Spoiler without asking, and Tim let slip he’d known their identities long before the first time he approached Steph to befriend her. When Cass was too busy being a mentor, when Bruce played blatant favorites, when everyone seemed to think motherhood had cost Steph all her hard-earned hero credentials and she should just stay home with the baby while they did all the work. Steph tried.)
Bruce picked up the phone and called the Drakes while making direct eye-contact, assuring them their son was safe and that Bruce was sending him home right away, that Alfred will bring him right over, it’s no trouble at all.
“Thanks for nothing,” Tim hissed, chucking his cape back in his locker and shouldering past Steph after a few more minutes of heated 3-way arguing which only made Bruce triple down on his decree.
(Steph called her mother and successfully convinced her to look after Luna while everyone was busy, threw on her suit, and stormed out to prove herself by helping the city. No one would ever dismiss her capabilities after this, Steph would make sure of it.)
Realized Oracle!Tim’s hero name is probably something he came up with on the fly when put on the spot and didn’t intend to be a name. So it probably started as with someone demanding to know who he was & how he got this information, and Tim going, “You can think of me as your eye in the sky.”
And then. They did. For a few issues, they answered mysterious phone calls with “Eye in the sky?” It turns out it’s Tim’s username on hacker forums. Tim needs to block someone’s screen and it’s just a green square with “E.I.T.S.” on it (later, he will add an eye logo.)
Tim didn’t even realize it was a cohesive identity until a hero he was in call with casually called him “Eyes” or maybe “Sky,” and he realized it stuck.
…Or maybe I’ll stick with Oracle. I honestly might just stick with Oracle. It’s literally 5am right now, this might be a really bad idea.
*sigh* Y'know what? I love how my Reverse!Robins verse has canon-esque time weirdness. No, not time travel weirdness, I mean that weird time-dilation thing comics do where when you do the math on ages/events, it stops making sense. It lets me imagine the timeline on which they would've actually been published as comics in order to explain that time weirdness, and that's really fun to think about.
Like, Steph's daughter is the obvious example. Steph has Luna and chooses to keep her. The baby grows up in roughly real time, probably about 2-4yrs of baby into toddler-dom. Steph dies. Everyone says Steph died at 16. Steph's gravestone says she died at 16. Steph herself will tell you she died at 16. But she definitely did not have her baby at 14, no, the way everyone talks about it, Steph had to be 15-16 when she had Luna... but that was definitely a toddler her mother took from the manor.
Why? Fuck it. Comics. Steph had her baby when she was 15, died a few months later, and the baby was 2.
Or, like, Duke's time as solo head of the Titans, and how long it took for him to fade himself out to let Jon & Damian take over. Probably took place over the course of several years, with Duke gradually becoming less involved with the Titans on each subsequent event/mission, but it's cool! Because about 1yr into that story, Duke got his solo series as the Signal! You can still get your Duke Thomas content, but you have to pay separately now. How long did this take in-universe? "A couple months." That's what everyone says whenever they reference that time. "A couple months." Maybe occasionally someone will get more specific. "Two months," they say in one issue. "Three months," they say in another. "Half a year," one comic says, but everyone agrees to ignore that one because it's way too long of a time frame.
Steph joins the Titans after Damian takes over. Grant Emerson leaving the Titans is what convinces Duke to fully give up on managing both the team, his civilian life, and being Gotham's only daytime hero, because he can't believe he let Grant's mental health slip through the cracks like that. Logically, this means Grant & Steph couldn't possibly have known eachother for more than a few weeks.
Fuck you. They're great friends. They were super close. Got along like a house on fire. Grant was included in the scenes of Steph's funeral, in the background at least, because they were important to eachother. Titans fans from that time period get pissy if you forget about their friendship the same way YJ98 fans get pissy about people forgetting Tim's friendships with their favorite YJ characters. Grant is the first non-Gotham hero (well, retired hero) who reaches out to Steph after her return and it's super fucking emotional.
How long was Tim Shadow? Probably 3-5yrs, real world time. How long on the timeline, once you do the math? 3 months, max. Absolutely no explanation for how he did all that training, finished all those cases, had a whole arc of proving his place, worming his way into his siblings' hearts, learning how to be an older sibling, and stepping up as a major mentor figure for Jason in 3 months.
Tim had at least 3yrs worth of bonding time with the family, and no, I will not make it make sense. I've given up. I'm embracing the messiness. This way is more fun, actually. It is legit fun to explain away my own timeline holes with real world comics publishing practices.
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Steph blinked, as though she couldn't quite understand why she wasn't falling, then looked the hand wrapped around one of her arms. She looked up, green eyes meeting his. "Jay?"
Jason braced himself. Just because they'd managed to work things out between them didn't mean Steph didn't have a few gallons of unspoken vitriol she was about to spill out, and it didn't mean it wouldn't hurt. Keeping his voice Bluejay-confident was going to be a challenge. "Mask."
Steph's expression crumpled. "I was right."
"Really?" Jason asked, widening his eyes in faux shock as he helped her to her feet. "Damn. When?"
"At the Tower," she said, as though she could barely choke out the words, "I'm so, so sorry I was right."
Face it, mini-me, you're just not cut out for this.
Jason swallowed. "C'mon, Mask. Let's get you an antidote."
"I should've tried harder," Steph said as Jason guided her towards the medical ward. "I shouldn't have given up after just one fight, I should've fucking worked so much harder to actually scare you off."
She lifted one hand, not quite touching the cheek where the Joker's brand had burned, like she could still see it weeping & raw despite the skin graft and subsequent dip in a Lazarus pool long since washing it away. Like she was afraid touching Jason would burn him all over again.
Acting on instinct, Jason leaned his face into her hand. "I'm right here, Shadow," he said, ignoring the small gasp at the sound of her old name. "I'm safe. Everything's going to be okay, just as soon as we get an antidote into you."
"But you weren't," Steph said, stumbling as she tried to keep up with Jason. She seemed to have forgotten Bruce & Damian trailing behind them. "You almost died, baby. I almost let you die."
"But you didn't, and I'm fine. See?" Jason helped her onto one of the cots, and stepped back to hold open his arms.
Tears dripped down Steph's face. "You're so big now. You shouldn't've... God, Jason, I'm so fucking sorry, you shouldn't have been anywhere near—"
"Steph," Jason said, stepping forward to grab her hand at the same time Damian grabbed a syringe.
"You're not actually my mini-me, you know that right?" Her hands were shaking. "I just don't want you to end up like me."
Jason sighed. "I know, Steph. I know. Now do you want me to do the blood draw or should Dami do it?"
Steph turned, seemly shocked to find Damian on the other side of the cot. "When did...?"
"Short term memory loss," Batman muttered, fiddling with microscope and what Jason really hoped was a sample of Ivy's chemical, not an empty slide giving Bruce an excuse to not make eye contact.
"Damian," Steph decided after a long moment of staring. Damian looked startled. "I trust you," Steph said, holding her arm out so Damian could wipe it down with a disinfecting wipe. "Which is really stupid, and I know it's stupid, but I can't make myself stop. I wish you didn't hate me now."
Damian sighed. "I don't hate you, habibti."
"Don't fuckin' lie to me, Damian."
"I don't."
Steph snorted.
Damian scowled. "We'll table this until your brain is working properly."
"Oh goodie," Steph groaned. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fuck, my head hurts. Can I have an overdose of Advil to go, please?"
"Not until we know how the chemicals are interacting with your system," Bruce told her.
"I can turn off the lights?" Jason suggested.
"Mini-me, you are a godsend. Not one of us bastards deserves you." Damian capped off the last vial and nodded at Jason. Steph didn't even notice when the needle was taken out of her arm. "I cannot imagine what you must've done in your last life to get stuck with us."
"Murder," Jason deadpanned. "So much murder. You better be careful, or you'll reincarnate as me in your next life." Jason hit the switch, leaving only the lights around the med bay's work station to hold back the darkness.
Steph snorted and flopped back on the cot.
"I missed this," she said to no one in particular. "I shouldn't, I mean, it's awful down here. I hate it. You're all assholes, and hanging around is only going to get one of us hurt. But I'm an idiot who can't let go, so here I am: missing this."
Damian clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. "Welcome to the family."
This time when Stephanie laughed, it sounded genuine.
(old post, but fuck it, I’m emptying my drafts. If these sound familiar, that’s why.)
[post-reunion, though I’m specifically imagining post-Red Robin arc]
Damian: “Stephanie. Have you seen Jason?
Jason: *slowly sinks down lower on the couch*
Steph, purposefully blocking the door with her body: “Nope. Geez, can’t you guys keep track of that kid for five goddam minutes?”
[First patrol while Bruce was “dead”]
Cass: “I’m going out as Batman tonight.”
Dick, after a full day of trying to find excuses to make her stay home: “FINE! GO AND DIE THEN! SEE IF I CARE!”
Cass, realizing she misunderstood the direction of his worry: “…Oh shit.”
[post-Tower fight]
Eddie: *barely holding in panic, trying to figure out how to safely get Jason to the medical wing, not trusting his patch-job cauterization to hold up long enough*
Jason: *barely cognizant, mostly stuck in a loop of, “It’s really her,” “I’m going to die,” and “She hates me, oh god, she hates me.”*
[Before the reunion, after Steph & Jason won a fight fighting back-to-back]
Steph: *compliments Jason’s fighting*
Jason: *rides that high for the rest of the night, back home, through the debrief, out of costume, all the way up to his room, and into his pajamas*
Jason, looking up in the middle of brushing his teeth & seeing his own still-lingering smile on his reflection: “…After everything she’s done, I still want her approval this much?”
Jason, spitting out his toothpaste & rinsing his mouth: “I just can’t learn my fucking lesson, can I? Dad, Steph… why am I always chasing the approval of people who hurt me?”
Jason, staring into the sink so he doesn’t have to meet his own eyes in the mirror: “God, I’m pathetic.”
[After Jason calls Steph near the end of the Red Robin arc]
Steph, going straight to Tim’s HQ in full uniform & armed to the teeth: “Hey Tim? We need to talk.”
Tim: *tries to deflect, because extracting Jason could be dangerous and Tim’s info is about 72 very dangerous hours out of date*
Steph, drawing a gun: “Oh really?”
Steph, throwing her phone at Tim’s head and stalking towards him across the room: “Because I just got a phone call, you’ll never guess who from…”
Steph, looming over Tim and tipping his computer chair back as far as it’ll go: “…apologizing for ‘every joke’ he ever made, and begging to know how I ‘handled the green.’”
Tim:
Tim: “………………………………What?”
Steph, pressing her gun into Tim’s hip: “Care to explain the sort of mission that lands my baby brother in a Lazarus Pit?”
[Any point post-resurrection]
Steph, after being asked about the Lazarus Pit: “It’s like being boiled alive, but your skin heals too quickly to slough off, so your nerves never go dead. Also, you’re drowning. And swimming against a riptide. And I honestly don’t know if the Pit gets you high or if the endorphins just fry your brain, but it’s almost euphoric enough not to hurt.”
Steph: “Almost.”
Reverse Robins AU (Another Poll but with Propaganda)
Which should Duke be called?
Blue Veil
Red Hood
Voting ended onMar 4, 2024
Blue Veil - Since Duke is switching with Jason, I thought that he should have name similar to the one Jason went by after the pit that was still unique to him. Potential nickname as Shawl-Boy (might be hard to understand though).
Red Hood - Apparently Jason stole this name from Joker and since Duke is a lot more connected to Joker than Jason was I think this would be a super cool idea. Also I just saw a comic where Damian called Jason Red Hoodie which was so cute (Damian switches with Dick in the fic so it would be the eldest calling his first sibling that).
Please give me any hero name suggestions or nickname suggestions you may have in the comments!!!
