Chapters: 2/11Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010), Batman: Hush (2019)Chapter

Chapters: 2/11 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Batman: Hush (2019) Chapter 2 of The Protector is finally out!! This fic is kicking my ass and the research for it definitely got me on a list, but god is it fun to write.

Chapter summary: A couple of people wake up. The batfamily displays some excellent detective skills. Family movie night grows a little tense in the absence of Tim.

Have some magical girl!Jaybin while I scream about part two of chapter 6 of The Protector. This baby is about to get betrayed by a parental figure, brutally tortured, and murdered. At least that will get him out of the ugly colour scheme.

Jason, Constellation of the Robin Classic Transformation:

-Flight

-Enhanced athletics

-Limited Regeneration

-Colour Swirl: raises a colourful wave that rains concussive damage on his opponents, effectively stoning them with colourful magical energy.

-Starlit Labyrinth: While in the streets of Gotham, Jason has the ultimate high ground. He is able of finding the way out of any alley, like a thread only he can see out of a maze, and is capable of creating illusions of alleys and walls to better hide and lure his enemies into dead ends. This leaves him at a disadvantage when travelling in places away from Gotham like say, for example, Ethiopia.

While I usually hc Olympics batfam as diverse in sports so everybody can kick ass, I think the image of the whole of US gymnastics team being just Robins is so funny. "And they're all related! At first we thought it was nepotism but Wayne is just THAT good at adopting talented little gymnasts. He catches them like Pokemons! In unrelated news, an onslaught of crime in Gotham and Bludhaven has-"

In the DC universe there's a petition with over five hundred thousand signatures asking Batman to let Robin represent the USA on the male gymnastic team

Cass looks like she's about to have lunch

The batgirls 🥰

"You need to put effort and energy into fixing them even if it feels like you're the only one trying and since you missed your formative wound care years and learnt to substitute professional help with violence ultimately shove your gotham sludge-dipped fingers deep in the wound, making everything worse for everybody involved and ultimately create a new brand of septicemia, invent a form of contamination via psychological damage that infects all the people you love because nobody in the family got vaccinated from the daddy issues bacteria, go into septic shock and die. Any questions?"

Jason: you know, Duke, you have to treat your wounds like you treat your daddy issues

Bruce*spawning out of nowhere with the 2nd stage of batglare*: …go on.

Jason: no. I sense that I’ve made a mistake

A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)

Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!

This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.

This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions in your writing, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!

This is NOT a medical resource!!! And never tell a real person you think they're using a cane wrong!

The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!

A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.

Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height can make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)

(some people elect to use a cane wrong for their personal situation despite this, everyone is different!)

(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)

When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane and the bad leg and follow with the good leg!

Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.

In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.

Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!

(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)

The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!

Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.

The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!

This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!

However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.

Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)

Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.

Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)

(my canes, for reference)

If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!

When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!

For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.

When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)

When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)

That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!

Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!