GUYS GUYS GUYS

GUYS GUYS GUYS

(Tw: talk of sacrifice, death by burning, starvation, and asphyxiation, knives, cults, and skeletons)

Y'know how the Batpham community has made all these great headcanons about the Spirit of Gotham? How she's either this regal heiress from the city's founding or a pretty flapper from the 20's? Well I got some news for you!

Meet Dominique!

I was reading the Batman comics to figure out when Tim came onto the scene (for curiosity) and stumbled onto this dame in issue #454!

Behold, the Spirit of Gotham!

So, for those not interested in reading this lovely little piece, Batman is on the way to stop the Riddler, who has been making Batsy do some weird things for clues; Mouth to mouth on a hanged man, Dancing with a corpse, Dancing in front of a horned goat, to name a few.

And why is he doing this you ask? Why to summon the Demon Barbathos, of course! And the book that good ol' Eddie got has been telling him (yes telling him, the creepy black magic book is telling him that batman is the perfect sacrifice and he's just going with it) that to summon Barbathos he needs a "Human bat", and ofc Bruce fits that pretty damn well.

And then he pulls this out!

He says "the first Bat", as in, someone who has been put through this ritual before. Except, she didn't get to complete the right either (and from what I know about Barbathos, thank the gods for that). Just before the people who were using her to preform the ritual were gonna actually, y'know, they got spooked, sealed the cellar they were doing the ritual in, and moved to Canada.

Leaving her in the cellar to die of either oxygen deprivation or starvation. (There is a panel I the comic for that, but she's nude and I ain't gonna show that here.) And until the Riddler opens that cellar to preform the summoning with Batsy, it was sealed for 200 years (her being in there from 1765, a lot older than that flapper ver of her.)

Now, why do I bring all this up when she's just a memory and a skeleton for the Riddler to base his plans off of? Because she and Bruce talk. And she calls herself the Spirit of Gotham.

She's been trapped in that cellar for 200 years, waiting for Batman to free her from it. And as Riddler sets fore to the warehouse under it she tells him of how she died in there.

Now, all this is really cool in of itself. Batman knows the spirit of Gotham is real, and has talked to her. But the kicker? Bruce feels a kinship with her. When Bruce is seeing these images of her they become real. And the spirit tells batman they are "brother and sister of the bat."

(Also Dominique asks if Bruce's a demon, and I find that just a little funny.)

So they get out with a little help from Alfred, and Bruce is holding Dominique's skeleton. Kinda melancholy way to end. But what does Bruce do to honor this girl and spirit? He puts her next to his parents in their family mausoleum.

And that's pretty sweet, right? Letting her rest with the Wayne's so she could have a proper grave?? But wait, it gets better. Bruce decides to put this on her stone:

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH Holy flying furballs Batman! You just called Dominique your sister! The spirit of Gotham is Bruce's spiritual sister and its confirmed canon! This has so much fukkin potential and we as a community have been sleeping on it!

Just. Please. I need to see Dominique the spirit of Gotham and spiritual aunt to the Batkids in a fic, please!

Thank you for coming to my 1:30 am ted talk.

The image captures the miraculous moment when the rays of sun hit a rare cloud called a pile cloud, and the angle and other subtle conditions are reflected in a divine rainbow color. (Source)

Obi-wan Kenobi's Lightsaber Hitting Commander Cody's Head - Funny Star Wars Facebook Post #starwars

HOW TO WRITE A CHARACTER WHO IS IN PAIN

first thing you might want to consider: is the pain mental or physical?

if it’s physical, what type of pain is it causing? — sharp pain, white-hot pain, acute pain, dull ache, throbbing pain, chronic pain, neuropathic pain (typically caused by nerve damage), etc

if it’s mental, what is the reason your character is in pain? — grief, heartbreak, betrayal, anger, hopelessness, fear and anxiety, etc

because your character will react differently to different types of pain

PHYSICAL PAIN

sharp and white-hot pain may cause a character to grit their teeth, scream, moan, twist their body. their skin may appear pale, eyes red-rimmed and sunken with layers of sweat covering their forehead. they may have tears in their eyes (and the tears may feel hot), but they don’t necessarily have to always be crying.

acute pain may be similar to sharp and white-hot pain; acute pain is sudden and urgent and often comes without a warning, so your character may experience a hitched breathing where they suddenly stop what they’re doing and clench their hand at the spot where it hurts with widened eyes and open mouth (like they’re gasping for air).

dull ache and throbbing pain can result in your character wanting to lay down and close their eyes. if it’s a headache, they may ask for the lights to be turned off and they may be less responsive, in the sense that they’d rather not engage in any activity or conversation and they’d rather be left alone. they may make a soft whimper from their throat from time to time, depends on their personality (if they don’t mind others seeing their discomfort, they may whimper. but if your character doesn’t like anyone seeing them in a not-so-strong state, chances are they won’t make any sound, they might even pretend like they’re fine by continuing with their normal routine, and they may or may not end up throwing up or fainting).

if your character experience chronic pain, their pain will not go away (unlike any other illnesses or injuries where the pain stops after the person is healed) so they can feel all these types of sharp pain shooting through their body. there can also be soreness and stiffness around some specific spots, and it will affect their life. so your character will be lucky if they have caretakers in their life. but are they stubborn? do they accept help from others or do they like to pretend like they’re fine in front of everybody until their body can’t take it anymore and so they can no longer pretend?

neuropathic pain or nerve pain will have your character feeling these senses of burning, shooting and stabbing sensation, and the pain can come very suddenly and without any warning — think of it as an electric shock that causes through your character’s body all of a sudden. your character may yelp or gasp in shock, how they react may vary depends on the severity of the pain and how long it lasts.

EMOTIONAL PAIN

grief can make your character shut themself off from their friends and the world in general. or they can also lash out at anyone who tries to comfort them. (five states of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and eventual acceptance.)

heartbreak — your character might want to lock themself in a room, anywhere where they are unseen. or they may want to pretend that everything’s fine, that they’re not hurt. until they break down.

betrayal can leave a character with confusion, the feelings of ‘what went wrong?’, so it’s understandable if your character blames themself at first, that maybe it’s their fault because they’ve somehow done something wrong somewhere that caused the other character to betray them. what comes after confusion may be anger. your character can be angry at the person who betrayed them and at themself, after they think they’ve done something wrong that resulted in them being betrayed, they may also be angry at themself next for ‘falling’ for the lies and for ‘being fooled’. so yes, betrayal can leave your character with the hatred that’s directed towards the character who betrayed them and themself. whether or not your character can ‘move on and forgive’ is up to you.

there are several ways a character can react to anger; they can simply lash out, break things, scream and yell, or they can also go complete silent. no shouting, no thrashing the place. they can sit alone in silence and they may cry. anger does make people cry. it mostly won’t be anything like ‘ugly sobbing’ but your character’s eyes can be bloodshot, red-rimmed and there will be tears, only that there won’t be any sobbing in most cases.

hopelessness can be a very valid reason for it, if you want your character to do something reckless or stupid. most people will do anything if they’re desperate enough. so if you want your character to run into a burning building, jump in front of a bullet, or confess their love to their archenemy in front of all their friends, hopelessness is always a valid reason. there’s no ‘out of character’ if they are hopeless and are desperate enough.

fear and anxiety. your character may be trembling, their hands may be shaky. they may lose their appetite. they may be sweaty and/or bouncing their feet. they may have a panic attack if it’s severe enough.

and I think that’s it for now! feel free to add anything I may have forgotten to mention here!

meow meow meow

Battle of the Butlers

Livin’ Large is a terrible episode for a lot of reasons but hear me out: Hobson. In a DPxDC universe, imagine if the Fentons kept Hobson who found out Danny was Phantom around the same time that Danny learns he’s a Wayne and gets shipped off to stay with his biological father for the summer. Hobson would, naturally, go with Danny to “ensure the young master has proper help,” but to actually make sure that Danny will be safe with the Waynes for however long he’s there. Alfred, used to being the sole butler, would A) be territorial, and B) not appreciate this new, nosy manservant in the house of secrets. Thus, the Battle of the Butlers, each trying to uncover the other’s wards’ secrets while simultaneously, viciously protecting their own ward(s), and trying to win the affection of all the residents of the manor just to be able to say they’re the favorite. It would, frankly, be hilarious.

The butler version of a spy novel, I guess, which…considering Alfred’s background in the SAS would be rather one-sided, but I think even Alfred might draw the line at Kiwi-Fudge Milkshakes.