Me: Makes Headcanons About How Jason Todd Would Get On Mood Stabilizers And Then Stop Taking Them Because

Me: makes headcanons about how Jason Todd would get on mood stabilizers and then stop taking them because "he is healed"

Also me: guess who procrastinated refilling her prescription

"This is a miracle I never dared to wish for... Robin is here!" He pauses, turns, and there's something pained and soft in his voice as he looks her in the eyes. "Robin is here."

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57542074/chapters/146407723

Chapters: 3/11 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Batman: Hush (2019) Chapter summary: In which Dick brushes his teeth, Tim and Jason eat a salad, and Jason and Barbara's phone calls go about just as well.

What's this? Me, forgetting to tell y'all the fic got updated for days? It's more likely than you'd think!

John Constantine is afraid of freaked out by two bats: Red Hood, because he doesn't know what he is but he sure is something and he wishes people would be a little more concerned to figure out what's going on, and, even more terrifying fucking eldritch get that shit away from me we're gonna die freakier, Duke Thomas, because he knows EXACTLY what he is and he wishes he didn't. And also because Duke knows this and has the time of his life using his powers to freak him out. Once these two team up, they are unstoppable.

Like, imagine the bats need magic help for a mission. John wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and suddenly the corridor lights flicker wildly before turning blinding, he now has seven shadows the shape of which is slowly turning from his silhouette into horrifying images, just as suddenly turning off into complete darkness, and then at the other end of the corridor is the silhouette of a man with glowing eyes that tilts its head to the side like an owl, pulls flaming swords out of his heart and just fucking stares at him without blinking, most of his face and body wreathed in shadows even were the flaming swords should shed light. And then, right behind him in a crepuscular half-light that stems out of nowhere, even though he can't see anybody in the corner of his eye, a voice whispers: "you're needed in Gotham." And then bam, full darkness and they're gone. And John probably knows it's them pretty quickly but that makes it so much worse??? He's a powerful magic user, regularly does work for Justice League Dark, he's fought demons and been through hell. He thought he'd seen anything horrifying and Eldritch and undead there was to see and become numb to it. But the existence of these two? And the fact that life (well, fucking Bruce Wayne apparently) decided to make them brothers? That's enough to give him nightmares.

I think Duke Thomas should get to give off eldritch horror vibes to all JL-associated magic users. As a treat.

"Now the thought

Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes

That witnessed huge affliction and dismay

Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate:

At once as far as angels ken he views

The dismal situation waste and wild,

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round

As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames

No light, but rather darkness visible

Served only to discover sights of woe,

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

That comes to all; but torture without end

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

With ever-burning sulfur unconsumed."

John Milton, Paradise Lost

Ngl I think this is my favorite fanart I’ve made of Jason so far

Alt. Ver. More akin to that one fallen angel painting

Okay, SO

To be honest, as neuropsychology major the lore behind the lanterns sometimes pisses me off (anger and fear being considered inherently bad, the divide between willpower and hope being so thin associating a complex human person with just one "emotion" -and half of those aren't even emotions, the sexualisation and sexism of the star sapphire corps but also how it makes no sense to be born out of love for the green lanterns, the concept behind the indigo corps feeling super ableist and the fact modern psychology tends to reject the concept of willpower in its entirety to be replaced with motivation (and even if we consider it exists, it can be a very bad thing). So, I tend to be a little cherry-picking with the lore because it frustrates me, so don't take it too seriously! (That being said, I don't hate the lore, I think it's very interesting narratively, Jessica Cruz's storyline is empowering, the link between creativity and willpower (if he we replace it with motivation) is interesting and narratively so much fun and most importantly we have to remember that most of the lore was written before most of these psychology discoveries were made, after the lore was developed, so it's fun to enjoy and honestly I'm just being a bit of a tightass.

With that being said, to answer your questions:

Jason: I was gonna retcon the concept of Star Sapphire to work like green and blue rings, but I like your idea better since 1. I'm a big fan of both Jason and magical girl anime logic and 2. The scenario that comes to mind is so funny. So the updated lore is that Jason did become Star Sapphire because he is intensively full of love and soup (and gets a nice little storyline about both self-love and healthier ways of loving). However, he doesn't bother letting anybody know his way of getting his ring is different from the others, if his oblivious ass even knows, which leads to the bats becoming increasingly frustrated trying to figure it out. A confused Kyle Rayner is welcome to earth by an army of bat-lanterns interrogating him about the events of Countdown to Final Crisis. Bonus points if Jason spends a lot of time with Hal and Carol to learn how to use his powers and Bruce is realising the one GL Jason spends his time on Earth with is Jordan and blows a gasket.

Dick: your idea is close enough to what I had in mind, though not so much because of willpower. The reason why I hc him a red lantern is not so much that he's super duper violent angry all the time, so much as that he's a performer who seems to apprehend and distrust his own anger, pushing it until it explodes in ways he doesn't always control, sometimes with screaming matches but sometimes much more violently which leads to deep shame and reinforces the cycle: Blockbuster and killing the Joker come to mind, events where his anger is justified and actions aren't that questionable but they go against his morals and he's horrified and filled with shock and shame at feeling something so out of his control. I like to think the red ring would be attracted to that building up anger, but Dick's love for his friends and family and large amounts of backup, as well as his intense sense of morality, would help him combat the influence of the ring, leading to a storyline about how anger can be good and isn't shameful and the development of a new generation of red lanterns that channel their rage into doing the right thing and protecting the people they love like shonen protagonists. Duke helps him with taking off the ring and calming him down when it threatens to take over at first, but the more the story goes the less magical influence is needed when reaching for support is enough.

Duke: You make a good point, but it wouldn't be very pragmatic to reject a lot of power because you have beef with someone with a similar power, especially when he could instead just nag and lord this power over Hal if he's feeling spiteful -and I for one am so curious as to what the combination of bat training, meta powers and blue ring powers would give (he would be so OP, as deserved).

Damian: yeah, sorry to the indigo tribe but I'm retconning them in this AU, the ring works like a green or blue one now. I have issues with the concept of compassion and empathy being kinda pushed together here because it's something that happens often irl with judging people who don't have as much empathy as the general public as if it were a choice and not a skill some people are better at than others (for example people with ASPD, autism, major depressive disorder, BPD, schizophrenic spectrum disorders, and many others but also people without any mental health issue can have less empathy than the general public and while it can be a struggle, just like lacking inhibition, it's not a testament of your character, most of the people mentioned here will not criminally harm others in their lives and many are more prone to being harmed and abused themselves)When it comes to empathy, people tend to conflate a moral quality with a life skill, which is as usual a dangerous thing to assume. It's especially dangerous and comfortable because it creates a narrative of "us VS others" which harms people who lack empathy and also falsely reassures that you and the people you know are safe and good, which is dangerous because most of the people who commit crimes and hurt people are perfectly neurotypical. That false narrative that people who will hurt others have a specific, clearly visible profile when you get to know them (lack of empathy, etc.) is often the reason why we don't believe victims ("he wouldn't have hit his wife, he's a great guy! He helped me with my grief when my father died!" that type of reasoning). So the concept of empathy used to fix sociopaths icky in itself, and it seems like the part about the ring taking over the mind is acknowledged as dark in the comics and there might be something darker going on but the idea of compassion corps being a cult also sounds weird to me and I'm weary of yet another ring becoming characterized as plain bad, especially since empathy is full-heartedly a good thing: it's not a moral quality, but it's a great skill to have and it is so useful for a superhero. So yeah, sorry for the long rant, I'm retconning indigo rings here. Damian gets his because he's a very compassionate person and I like the idea that the magic of the universe would realise it before him and a storyline about who he is becoming his strength when he was taught he had to repress it because it would make him weak (with nuance, because we know the League's stance on animals and the environment, it's more about the idea that Damian doesn't have to define himself as a killer and that he can be a hero more than a warrior. Also the imagery of the ring giving his sword a magic makeover would be so cool).

Bruce: You are absolutely right, and more than you know, because there's a part two to this post in the works and I'm giving all of the batkids a ring. He could definitely get a green one too, but I refuse because him trying to wrangle his gaggle of space powered kids is such a funny concept.

Hope that answers all the questions, keep in mind that my opinions on the canon lantern lore are my own and not only do you not have to agree, I don't hate it and think it's fun for the most part and acknowledge that I'm being a tightass over it, so be respectful, be kind and don't interact if it bothers you.

Batfam Lantern AU:

Some of my hcs for Lantern!batfam and how they came to be.

Jason: Fuck, I hate you guys so much... All high and mighty, pretending like you give a shit when you keep enforcing a system that's not fucking working...

Tim: hey what's that in the sky?

Dick: God you're such a fucking asshole, if you hate us so much why are you even here?

Jason: Well because some poor fucker has to make sure-

Duke: Jason, watch out!

Jason: *gets knocked out by the sheer extreme speed at which the violet ring flung itself at him.*

****

Tim: Hey Dick, how are you? We heard about that argument you had with Bruce, and reopening old wounds and everything...

Dick: That's sweet, but I'm doing great, don't worry! Punched a bunch of criminals, hung out with friends, now I feel amazing. Of course, if it gets me an excuse to hang out with my little brother...

Tim: Cool, because I'm already breaking into your apartment and I'm -woah, what the fuck is that?

Dick: Oh, you like my new suit?

Tim: what the fuck holy shit is that a red lantern ring? Can you take it off?

Dick: I mean, I think I'll die? It's fine, it's fine, totally cool. Probably someone will have an idea how to fix it if I need to. I'm perfectly calm!

***

Izzy: Hey Duke, you feeling good about physics?

Duke: Wait what's in physics?

Izzy: The test...? That's gonna count for like half our grade...?

Duke, who meant to study this weekend but spent it sleeping off opioids after Croc nearly entirely gnawed off his foot: Ah, right, the test. It's going to be fine! I've figured stuff out with worse odds.

Izzy: If you say so! Hey what's that hovering ominously around you?

Duke, absent-mindedly pocketing a blue ring: hold on a second, gotta dip, Dick is texting me he needs help. You'll never guess what stupid shit he's gotten himself into.

***

Damian: Jordan! I challenge you in combat for the right to your ring!

Hal: Eh, kid... You really need a green lantern ring?

Damian: I shall prove I am as worthy of this honour as the rest of my fami- will you quit gazing off? What are you staring at?

Hal: *wordlessly points at the indigo ring floating behind him*

Damian: oh.