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lazerswordweilder · 15 days

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Okay but Batman fic where he’s not actually human. He comes from a whole other planet of humanoids who have wings, the wings vary from swans to bats to parots to pidgons even to some more aqutic or zero-gravity looking ones! With other quirks that vary too, some people have markings, or skin tinted a specific colour, or scales, or those ears with feathers, or anthing else.

Batman was bat wings (duh) and black markings that are gnarled and dig into his flesh, almost like scars or wounds with orangeyred-gold instead of blood. They form lines around where his cowl is, his gloves are, his boots, his belt, on his thighs where the outside underpants are, and even a vaugely cirle shaped one where his bat symbol is.

He was orphaned and the Waynes found him, Martha (ever the rebellious) was like “Tomas I found and alien bird child, he’s ours now.” and Tomas is like “Okay.” and he becomes the dad who didn’t want a cat. Bruces wings are only little at this point so he can easily hide them in suits most of the time.

But they die of course, and Bruce freaks out so hard, and Alfred (who showed up when Bruce did and is secretly a bird elder making sure that the child survives with human, he’s like every crypid old man/wizard with all of the not explaining stuff and smirk) decides Bruce has had enough enrichment and brings him to his home planet and raises him as his second parent(s). Also Alfred had dove wings because he’s bruces angel and stuff, and also he keeps them really well groomed and regal, and his hair is white and has feathers in it, like water proof feathers that make his hair smooth, but that’s pretty much the only other change.

Roughly 50 human years later (which is when their species becomes teenagers lol) Bruce realizes that he is hell bent on revenge, and Alfred is like absolutely not, go to school you baby. So 80 years later Bruce graduates what was pretty much primary and intermediate school but better becasue it actually teaches you things (I speak from experience) Alfred is like, if you are so insistent you may go. But I’m coming with you.

So Bruce shows up, and wears a superhero suit (like all the other protectors did) that took inspiration from his own markings, and protends his wings are just a cape. All the meanwhile Alfred bullies Bruce into doing online schooling while he fightes crime, and that’s it, for like two years, that’s it. Then the Flying Graysons show up, their whole act is being bird folk who tie up their wings to do tricks that are actually dangerous. Not sure if I touched on this before but bird-folk live waaaaay longer than humans, so they raised Dick and taught him everything and so much more over about twenty or so years? That was about his infant to kid range (some people have theirs longer, occasionally shoter, he was always an early bloomer).

And then the Flying Graysons die because of it. And Dick refuses to wear hoodies to hide his wings because he doesn’t want to tie up his wings, even if they aren’t big enough to fly yet. And Bruce is like, okay, because of your trama we’ll make do with just quick stops everywhere, the police have worth things to deal with than reports of bird children at Walmart.

(Dick)Robin has robin wings of course, and specifically the yellow and black ones. His wings are built more for speed and zipping around rather than long flights or power which Bruces happen to be (bats wings have different used depending on the species). The black on the outside of his wings is a little too dark for shadows outside of Gotham but over all don’t stand out much even when he’s in plain sight, they are useful for hiding. The yellow on the underside of his wings stands out howerever, barely anything in Gotham is such a vibrant yellow and he can often scare people by opening his wings wide if they’ve been in gloomy dark colours like the Gotham harbour for too long.

(Dick)Robins wings aren’t actually big enough/developed enough to fly yet and still have baby fluff but he’s just starting to fly by the end of his Robin years and all the baby fluff is gone. The wings go down to a bit longer start of his legs (the area below your but). For plot reasons there’s about a years gap between him being Robin and being Nightwing, lets say Jason showed up and took up the mantle of Robin and Dick decided to take a break from all the action and promptly becomes a police officer for only that year instead of keeping it as a job, the uniform was uncomfortable and hard on the wings you know?

But anyways in the year or so Dicks wings got a little bigger and lost a lot of the black on the outside as well as the yellow turning golden and the feathers growing longer and staying as ‘sharp’ (sharp as in sharp, not fluffy or round, sharp and defined). It’s not too much of a change but he looks older, this is also unusually fast, he was one of those kids who got really big growth spurts at random, I imagine this hurts because the bones are growing (like growth spurts) so that would be another reason for him to take a break.

Anyways by the time he shows up as Nightwing his wings are almost down to the bend in his legs but not quite, they have black stripes almost but not obviously meant to be stripes because they’re not, and his bright poping yellow has turned to gold and it’s less bright but more smooth, but it’s only really noticeable if you have a picture of him when he was Robin and comapre.

By the time we get the buff Nightwing ratehr than the teenger-looking Nightwing which is probably about 5 or 6 years his wings have grown about 5 or so inches past the bends in his knees and there are small groups of black feathers in the fluff of his wings and on some of his longest feathers, they haven’t changed in about two years so he thinks they’re going to stay roughly like that. Also the yellow has changed obviously to gold, it isn’t bright anymore, and doesn’t clash with his suit anymore, he also keeps more gold in the suit instead of the black and blues he has in cannon.

(Jason had the more classic red and grey wings, grey on the outside, red on the inside, he also had red feather ears and a few other patches of feathers like at the base of his wings and back and his wrists, with yellow and green feathers dotted around the red of his wings that he grew out of with age, as well as the red becoming more saturated and the grey a little darker, patches of red feathers also apear on his skin all over his body looking alarmingly like splashes of blood)

Also of course Gordon gets these bird child reports and is validly concerned given his citys rouges, and after having Batman dodge the questions for about two hours, Gordon is like, okay the winged child is with the winged man, sure their different species, why not. Oh also both Bruce and Alfred absolutely refuse to let (Dick)Robin go around jumping off buildings, acrobatics? Yes. Actually dangerous stuff? Wait until you have wings to rely on then you can.

Barbara Gordon of course shows up, she immeditely becomes Orcale as instead of getting paralysed she just has no wings, as the daughter of Commisioner Gordon (or wife in a few comics but I’m pretty sure that’s not cannon anymore?) she’s human. She still does Batgirl stuff, but no solo missions, she has accepted this is just concern for someone without wings and is okay with it and still gets into the actions and villianous plots a lot, just less. Due to this she never gets paralysed by Joker.

Okay and then the Justice League show up, and Batman’s like ‘haha, yes, normal human things, I do those to.’ because he lost touch with normal humanity a long time ago and the bird people have a vastly different culture. And he gets seen through in minutes, litterally minutes, the invasion ends and they just all collectively turn to Batman and tell him he’s standing next to at least two aliens, a amazon warrior princess, and like seven other crazy things, and that there’s no need to pretend to be human.

So they all try to teach Batman more human stuff, while freaking out, because he has literally been living in a cave (it was under Wayne mansion which Alfred had somehow kept clean even now and everyone found it suiting and nice), not even beds or anythings, just pilllows a a blanket so the spikes aren’t sharp. But anyways, this leads to members like J’onn and Wonder Woman getting more acclimated to human culture as Batman needs help too and they cannot have who’s supposed to be the smartest of them all not knowing what elevators are.

They have days where the League (or just as many non-acclimated members can go and two or three acclimated members) just go to theme parks and stuff under their civillian idetities, and Bruce always wears dresses or big jumpers and sweat pants/skirts because there is no other way to hide his wings and it’s always really akward in situations like that time Green Lantern got into a fist fight becuase people were being homophobic to him for wearing a dress.

Not only does this help the non-acclimated members learn humanity, but it builds a lot of trust between the Justice League and everyone seems to consider the league a second family, everyone is trusted with everyone elses lives. Also they went to a convention one time and Bruce got so many compliments, Green arrow just stright up wore his normal outfit but without the bow and mask, and the hat not the hood.

#batfam #bird au #lazerswordweilder writes #wow I stayed up way to late to write this #but #it wouldn’t leave my head #what else was I supposed to do?

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fictionadventurer · 9 months

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I have to talk about Chester Arthur. His story makes me go crazy. A mediocre president from the 1880s who's completely forgotten today has one of the best redemption stories I've ever heard and I need to make people understand just how cool his story is.

So, like, he starts out as this idealist, okay? He's the son of an abolitionist minister and becomes famous as a New York lawyer who defends the North's version of Rosa Parks whose story desegregates New York City's trolley system.

Then he starts getting pulled into politics and becomes one of the grimiest pieces of the political machine. He wants money, power, prestige, and he gets it. He becomes the right-hand man of Roscoe Conkling, the most feared political boss in the nation, a guy who will throw his weight around and do the most ruthless things imaginable to keep his friends in power and destroy his enemies.

Because Arthur's this guy's top lackey, he gets to be Controller of the Port of New York--the best-paying political appointment in the country, because that port brings in, like, 70% of the federal government's funds in tariffs. He gets a huge salary plus a percentage of all the fines they levy on lawbreakers, and because he's not afraid to make up infractions to fine people over, he is absolutely raking in the dough. Making the rough equivalent of $1.3 million a year--absolutely insane amounts of money for a government position. He's spending ridiculous sums on clothes, buying huge amounts of alcohol and cigars to share with people as part of his job recruiting supporters to the party, going out nearly every night to wine and dine people as part of his work in the political machine. He's living the high life. Even when President Hayes pulls him from his position on suspicions of fraud, he's still living a great life of wealth, power, and prestige.

Then in 1880, his beloved wife dies. While he's out of town working for a political campaign. And he can't get back in time to say goodbye before she dies. Because he's a guy who has big emotions, it absolutely tears him up inside, especially because Nell resented how much his political work kept him away from home. He has huge regrets, but he just moves in with Roscoe Conkling and keeps working for the political machine.

And then he gets a chance to be vice president. The Republican Party has nominated James Garfield, a dark horse candidate who wants to reform the spoils system that has given Conking his power and gave Arthur his position as Port Controller. Conkling is pissed, and he controls New York, and since the party's not going to win the election without New York, they think that appointing Conkling's top lackey as vice-president will pacify him.

They're wrong--Conkling orders Arthur to refuse--but Arthur thinks this sounds like a great opportunity. The only political position he's ever held is Port Controller--a job he wasn't elected to and that he was pulled from in disgrace. Vice President is way more than he could ever have hoped for. It's a position with a lot of political pull and zero actual responsibilities. He'll get to spend four years living in up in Washington high society. It's the perfect job! Of course he accepts, and Conkling comes around when he figures out that he can use this to his advantage.

When Garfield becomes president, Arthur does everything he can to undermine him. He uses every dirty political trick he can think of to block everything that Garfield wants to do. He refuses to let the Senate elect a president pro tempore so he can stay there and influence every bill that comes through. He all but openly boasts of buying votes in the election. He's so much Conkling's lackey that he may as well be the henchman of a cartoon supervillain. On Conkling's orders, he drags one of Garfield's Cabinet members out of bed in the middle of the night--while the guy is ill--to drag him to Conkling's house so he can be forced to resign. He's just absolutely a thorn in the president's side, a henchman doing everything he can to maintain the corrupt spoils system.

Then in July 1881, when Arthur's in New York helping Conkling's campaign, the president gets shot. By a guy who shouts, "Now Arthur will be president!" just after he fires the gun. Arthur has just spent the past four months fighting the president tooth and nail. Everyone thinks he's behind the assassination. There are lynch mobs looking to take out him and Conkling. The papers are tearing him apart.

Arthur is absolutely distraught. He rushes to Washington to speak with the president and assure him of his innocence, but the doctors won't let him in the room. He gets choked up when talking to the First Lady. Reporters find him weeping in his house in Washington. Once again, death has torn his world apart and he's not getting a chance to make amends.

Arthur goes to New York while the president is getting medical treatment, and he refuses to come to Washington and take charge because he doesn't dare to give the impression that he's looking to take over. No one wants Arthur to be president and he doesn't want to be president, and the possibility that this corrupt political lackey is about to ascend to the highest office in the land is absolutely terrifying to everyone.

Then in August, when it's becoming clear that the president is unlikely to recover, he gets a letter. From a 31-year-old invalid from New York named Julia Sand. A woman from a very politically-minded family who has been following Arthur's career for years. And she writes him this astounding letter that takes him to task for his corrupt, conniving ways, and the obsession with worldly power and prestige that has brought him wealth and fame at the cost of his own soul--and she tells him that he can do better. In the midst of a nationwide press that's tearing him apart, this one woman writes to tell him that she believes he has the capacity to be a good president and a good man if he changes his ways.

And then he does. After Garfield dies, people come to Arthur's house and find servants who tell them that Arthur is in his room weeping like a child (I told you he had big emotions), but he takes the oath of office and ascends to the presidency. And he becomes a completely different man. His first speech as president mentions that one of his top priorities is reforming the spoils system so that people will be appointed based on merit rather than getting appointed as political favors with each change in the administration. Even though this system made him president. When Conkling comes to Arthur's office telling him to appoint his people to important government positions, Arthur calls his demands outrageous, throws him out, and keeps Garfield's appointees in the positions. "He's not Chet Arthur anymore," one of his former political friends laments. "He's the president."

He loses all his former political friends. He's never trusted by the other side. Yet he sticks to his guns and continues to support spoils system reform. He prosecutes a postal service corruption case that everyone thought he would drop. He's the one who signs into law the first civil service reform bill, even though presidents have been trying to do this for more than ten years, and he's the person who's gained all his power through the spoils system. He immediately takes action to enforce this bill when he could have just dropped it. He becomes a champion of this issue even though it's the last thing anyone would have expected of him.

He oversees naval reform. He oversees a renovation of the White House. He still prefers the social duties of the presidency, but he's respectable in a way that no one expected. Possibly because Julia Sand keeps sending him letters of encouragement and advice over the next two years. But also because he's dying.

Not long after ascending to the presidency, he learns he's suffering from a terminal kidney disease. And he tells no one. He keeps going about his daily life, fulfilling his duties as president, and keeps his health problems hidden. Once again, death is upending his life, and this time it's his own death. He's lived a life he's ashamed of, and he doesn't have much time left to change. He enters the presidency as an example of the absolute worst of the political system, and leaves it as a respectable man.

He makes a token effort to seek re-election, but because of his health problems, he doesn't mind at all when someone else gets the nomination. He dies a couple of years after leaving office. The day before his death, he orders most of his papers burned, because he's ashamed of his old life--but among the things that are saved are the letters from Julia Sand, the woman who encouraged him to change his ways.

This is an astounding story full of so many twists and turns and dramatic moments. A man who falls from idealism into the worst kind of corruption and then claws his way back up to decency because of a series of devastating personal losses and unexpected opportunities to do more than he could have ever hoped to do. I just go crazy thinking about it and I need you all to understand just how amazing this story is.

#history is awesome #presidential talk #i thought about his story again this morning #and was once again struck by the desire to chase people down and make them understand just how amazing this story is #and instead of harassing random strangers i decided to inflict it on tumblr again #my original essay was rather too long and dry and tangled up in too many other details #and didn't quite capture the 'i want to chase you down and look you in the eye and make you freak out about this with me' vibe of this stor #this still doesn't quite capture it but at least it's shorter #and prevents me from rambling to unsuspecting family members #sorry for inflicting this on you again but what else am i supposed to do?

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