Batfam Ages:
Okay, there is no such thing as an exact science when determining the ages of the Batfam, but the easiest thing you can do is work of the concrete ages that you /do/ know, and make them fit with canon events to the best of your ability. Now, canon changes all the time—which definitely makes this a challenge, but I’m going to just explain my process for determining their ages and you can disagree if you’d like, or you can use this to write fic like I do where ages are semi important,
Let’s begin. I’m going to give you the arbitrary number of 15, this will be important later.
Dick Grayson:
Depending on the canon, Dick is 8, 10, 12, or 15 when his parents die. All of these numbers will have problems depending on which you pick, but I go for the safe bet of 10 years old. Why? Well, a little known fact is that Dick ends up in juvie after his parents die, and he’s not immediately taken in by Batman. Thus, it takes a little while longer for him to become Robin, which doesn’t immediately happen after he becomes Bruce’s ward anyway, because Batman doesn’t immediately go and spill the beans. Thus, Dick ends up in Bruce’s car at around ten or eleven, but doesn’t become Robin until he’s 12.
Now Dick is Robin up until he’s about 18, when Bruce takes Robin from Dick because it’s too dangerous and Dick refuses to quit. Dick joins up with the teen titans full time, and he’s still Robin for a little while longer until we get Nightwing, aka Discowing, for the very first time at age 19. Simultaneously, while this is happening, a little kid is stealing the Batmobile’s tires.
Jason Todd:
Our beloved street rat Robin, Jason Todd, swings a tire iron at Batman and then gets taken out for fast food. It’s great, it’s cute, it doesn’t immediately lead to his adoption though, either. No, instead Jason ends up in an orphanage that is trafficking children. Bruce shows up one day to check up on Jason, and is made aware of this by his soon to be first adopted son (yeah, you heard me, Dick isn’t adopted yet). They take down the trafficking ring, and Bruce adopts Jason. Jason then becomes Robin at age 13.
Unfortunately for our boy, he was widely disliked by comic fans across North America, DC did a little telephone poll, and by a few hundred votes, DC changed comic history forever by killing off a high profile character what seems like /permanently/ for the first time ever. No resurrections this time. (Hah, right!). Which is to say, Jason Todd has the second shortest run as Robin at just two years, dying at age 15.
Tim Drake:
So then we get Robin numero 3. Tim Drake sees Batman getting darker and more violent and goes y’know, someone should do something about that. He tries talking to Nightwing, but he’s in a bad place with Bruce after learning Jason died via a Newspaper (yeah, Bruce sucks for that one), and tells Tim he won’t be going back to Robin. Thus, lil Timmy Drake gets an idea in his head. He looks himself in the mirror and goes, I can fix him, and then, Tim Drake becomes Robin at age 12.
Tim Drake has one of the longest runs as Robin, with only a mild interruption from a lil blond Bat.
Stephanie Brown:
Stephanie Brown starts off as the vigilante Spoiler, whose whole purpose in life is to spoil the plans of her C-list villain dad, Cluemaster. She meets Robin (Tim), hits him in the face with a brick, and then ends up dating him. Unlike most characters who appear a few times and never come back, Stephanie manages to stick around. She gets pregnant at age 15 (it’s not Tim’s, and no she did not cheat, this happened priorly), she gives birth, the baby is put up for adoption, and she becomes Robin after Tim’s dad, Jack Drake, finds out Tim is Robin and bans him from it. Tim is forced to quit and Stephanie picks up the mantle. She’s clocks in the shortest run as Robin, working with Batman for about two months before Bruce forces her to stop. Tim picks up the mantle again, and Steph goes back to being Spoiler—only to get killed by Black Mask, making her the second “Robin” to die. DC does retcon her death, and we later learn she was only badly beaten and sent off to live in a foreign country before she makes her return.
Jason Todd, Again:
While all this is going on, stuff is happening behind the scenes. Namely, Jason coming back to life. A common misconception here however is how long Jason was actually dead. While I wouldn’t be able to find the panels to confirm it, the true number is a “short” 6 months. Yep, while years passed in the real world, possibly decades, actually, Jason was dead all of 6 months. According to the books, he undigs himself from his grave six feet under (because Superboy punched through the multiverse or something?) and ends up wondering around Gotham as a mindless little zombie. Conveniently, Talia al Ghul stumbles upon her beloved’s lost little bird, and she decides to take him home and train him. He’s with them for a bit, gets dunked into a Lazarus pit, comes back very very angry, is shipped off to the all caste for a bit, and upon his return to the al Ghuls, is informed he’s been replaced by little Timmy Drake.
Jason makes his whole plan, and decides to make a splash by returning to Gotham wearing an old moniker of the Joker’s and taking over Gotham’s underworld. He beheads a few criminals, tries to kill Tim, tries to get Bruce to kill the Joker, and doesn’t really have success in those latter two objectives. That puts Jason at age 19, roughly. We don’t really know how to count the months he was dead.
Damian Wayne:
Shortly after Jason’s unmasking as the Red Hood, Damian Wayne turns 10 years old and beats his mother, Talia al Ghul, in combat. His prize is to be taken to his father and given to him for training. We know definitively that Damian is 10 thanks to this we can measure out the age gaps between the others and get their ages at this point in time. Dick at age 19 became Nightwing, while Jason is made Robin at age 13, so they have a six year age gap. Jason dying 2 years later at age 15 leads to Tim becoming Robin at age 12, they have a 3 year age gap. Tim is Robin for 3 years before Jason comes back and Damian trails after him a few months behind, putting Tim at around 16/17 while Damian is 10. I tend towards 16 instead of 17 because DC stopped aging Tim for a while, so it just makes more sense to pick the lower number. Thus, when Damian is 10, Tim is 16 as is Steph, Jason is 19, and Dick is 25.
Thanks to Damian being quite young, DC has kept an active track of how and when they age him. We know Damian is only with Bruce a few short months before he disappears into the time stream and Dick makes him Robin, and we also know that Damian’s 11th birthday is celebrated after Bruce is reinstated to the proper time. However, DC follows this up by killing Damian and making him the third Robin to die, the second to do so in the suit itself, and he’s dead for a significant number of months. In this time, Dick also dies—as in his heart is stopped by Lex Luthor for a few seconds, and then restarted, after his identity is revealed on live TV. Bruce decides to let the world believe Nightwing died and stayed dead, and Dick is sent off to Spyral to do secret spy stuff for Bruce. There is an issue around here in the “Grayson” run that claims Dick is twenty-one years old, which is ENTIRELY incompatible with the time line I just painstakingly established, and I go ahead and outright dismiss it because it clearly doesn’t work with a majority of canon. While Dick is with Spyral, Damian is brought back to life, and he goes on a year of redemption (which doesn’t actually last a whole year, but I digress). He and Dick meet again, and we move into Rebirth somewhere around here with the conclusion of Spyral and Batman and Robin Eternal.
General Events:
Damian turns 12 presumably sometime during rebirth, although not specified, I do believe Truth and Justice issue #6 to be his 12th or 13th birthday, but I lean towards 12 because of the costumes everyone wears in the issue. Steph is spoiler, Cass is Orphan, Tim is Red Robin, Red Hood has yet to don his solo Outlaw uniform, and Barbara is Batgirl.
I can’t name a specific issue for Damian’s 13th birthday, but it’s canonical that Damian turned 14 in his solo Robin series, Robin (2021) while he was off finding himself before the Lazarus Tournament, and since then, there’s been the Shadow War, Batman Vs Robin, Dark Crisis event somewhere around there, the Lazarus Planet event, Gotham War, DC Knight Terrors, and Beast World event, which catches us up to the modern day world.
Since Damian hasn’t yet turned 15 despite ALL of that going on, and is still for now at least, 14, that means Tim and Steph are 20, Jason is 23, and Dick is 29.
I know I mentioned Cass and Babs, and I would love to give you a proper age for them but I don’t know where to place them in DC canon like I do the others, however people do commonly place Cass roughly around the same age as Jason making her 22 or 23, and Babs tends towards being 6-8 years older than Dick, although that is an age gap DC has been slowly bridging over the years. Still, I put her at 35 years old. I don’t have a reference for Duke Thomas either, but he’s commonly placed as being two years younger than Tim making him 18 currently.
Lastly, I bring back the arbitrary number of 15, given that that is the number of years that separate Dick and Damian, I also use that age gap between Dick and Bruce—meaning that Bruce took Dick in when he was 25, and placing Bruce at 44 years old in main continuity.
Overall Ages Currently:
Bruce Wayne: 44
Barbara Gordon: 35
Dick Grayson: 29
Jason Todd: 23
Cassandra Cain: 22
Tim Drake: 20
Stephanie Brown: 20
Duke Thomas: 18
Damian Wayne: 14
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communication - 06
a/n: i'm pretending there are no more injuries! manifesting i guess. i'm so sorry this took so long. the end of the semester was really tough for me but i have the next three weeks off, so i will try my best to get a few more updates out. i'm thinking two or three more parts until this series is over.
warnings: this episode talks (briefly and not in detail) about depression, anxiety, and shitty parents. it's not too bad, though. more hurt/comfort than angst. even then, bordering more on the comfort side.
i am going to once again reiterate that the schedule of games does not follow real life. i'm going based on vibes and vibes alone.
-----
"sim, we need you to settle something for us."
sim's heart dropped at the sight in front of her: mary and millie, both in their training kits, arms crossed with no hints of a smile on either of their faces.
"whatever it is, i'm sure someone else could-"
"it has to be you, because you're the most impartial person here right now," millie cut sim off.
"and we trust you to be honest," mary added.
sim's face contorted with confusion.
"who would win in a fight? me," mary gestured with her hands towards her own body, "or millie?"
"nope!" sim replied to the question. "i refuse to get involved."
sim knew better than to definitively answer any sort of question like that. no matter who she picked, she would pay for it in the form of relentless teasing or tickling.
her eyes darted around the meal room, looking for a savior to come to her rescue. she gulped almost comically when she saw there the few people around were otherwise occupied.
"it's alright, darling, you can admit that i would absolutely wreck mearps here. as vice-captain, i'll make sure she can't attack you for it."
as tempting as millie's offer was, sim was almost certain that millie could only protect her for so long.
"how about i ask the fans?" sim prompted.
now it was their turn to look confused.
"i'll put a poll up on the instagram or something," sim added, pulling her phone out of her pocket.
"see, this is why it was a genius move to hire you. smart, she is," millie praised.
a blush took over sim's face as she fiddled with the phone she'd just pulled out of her pocket.
across the meal room, leah watched on fondly as georgia and keira conversed around her. it was nice to see sim come out of her shell a bit more around the team. though leah still had the distinct feeling that it would be a while before the younger girl felt comfortable being vulnerable around them, it still brought her a sense of relief that sim was no longer so painfully shy. she actively participated in the conversations and shenanigans typical of the team.
the team had taken well to sim's steady presence, adopting her as though she was a playing member of the lionesses.
it had only been a few months since their conversation on those bleachers, but leah could already see the difference it was making. sim looked... lighter, in a sense. like the weight on her shoulders had eased. leah was starting to to see a light in sim's eyes that hadn't been there when they had first met.
"what are you lookin at?" georgia asked.
leah's lips turned up in a slight smile as she nodded her head in sim's direction. "remember how closed off she was when she first got here?"
keira shifted her gaze, smiling when her eyes settled on sim's figure filming mary and millie.
"she's fit in quite well," keira agreed.
"she's cool. she said she'd let me tattoo her once i've properly learned how," georgia added, nodding her head.
"she what?"
-----
sim sighed, settling into soft sheets. sarina had permitted her to room with alessia at st. george's park and sim had never been more grateful.
she closed her eyes, the melody of alessia's singing wafting in from the bathroom, its door left ajar. she let it ease the tiredness that had settled into her bones.
this particular camp was exhausting. she knew it wasn't her job that was draining her energy at this point. the federation had recently hired a few other people to help out in the social media department so sim was now only in charge of the instagram, twitter, and tiktok. the longer form content and brainstorming was no longer under her purview.
sim suspected leah and sarina had something to do with that. she'd been annoyed at first, but was now incredibly thankful for their interference.
despite that, sim was still feeling drained and on edge. it frustrated her that she couldn't put a reason to the way she was feeling.
the past few months had been good to her. her relationship with alessia was blooming into something beautiful. there was no pressure when alessia around, and sim was starting to become accustomed to the light and airy feeling that came with her presence.
sim had fallen into a steady routine. now that her workload with the lionesses had significantly decreased, she had a lot more time on her hands. though her pay from the lionesses hadn't gone down, sim had still taken up a casual job at arsenal as a photographer. though she'd majored in communications in uni, she had minored in visual media.
working with the lionesses was fulfilling, no doubt, but sim missed the more creative aspects of her visual media minor. alessia had proposed the idea of working with arsenal one day during an impromptu photoshoot, sim taking random photos of alessia as they spent an off day lounging at home.
jonas was used to seeing sim's face and after a quick conversation with the higher ups, sim had secured a press pass.
in the mornings, sim and alessia would meet up with beth, viv, and leah for a quick coffee before training. she'd spend the day at colney with the team, taking pictures. she had befriended laura and teyah, the two remaining members of the ACL squad. after training was done for the day, alessia would drive her home, the two spending the rest of the day together.
sim hadn't moved in with alessia, but she spent more nights at the blonde's place than her own.
once or twice a week, sim would accompany alessia to team bonding. she stayed in contact with ella.
sim was content with her life. happy, even.
the way she was feeling now, however, had her scared. scared that the feeling would linger and turn into something heavier. scared that she would slip back into old ways, having to push herself just to get out of bed in the mornings, to eat something, to want to exist.
sim didn't want to go back there. she didn't want anyone to see her like that. more importantly, she didn't want alessia or leah to see her like that. she didn't want to be a burden. the two gunners deserved better than that.
"hey, baby."
sim was broken out of her thought process by alessia's voice, followed by a quick peck to her forehead.
sim hummed in response, moving over to make space for her girlfriend on the bed. alessia set her kit and toiletries off to the side before sliding in beside sim, pulling the comforter over the two of them as the younger girl turned her back to assume the little spoon position.
sim breathed a sigh of relief as alessia's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close, almost cradling sim to her front. she felt some of the tension leave her body as alessia pressed a gentle kiss to her neck.
"are you alright, love?"
sim contemplated telling the truth for a moment, ultimately deciding against it. it's not even that bad. i just need to grow up, she reasoned with herself.
"yeah, just tired," sim replied.
"can you turn around for me?"
of course alessia would see right through her. it was honestly frustrating at times.
sim had always been good at lying, something she'd had to learn to survive her parents when she was younger. however, alessia could always tell when sim was lying.
not that sim made a habit of lying to her girlfriend. she just wanted to shield alessia from the darker parts of herself for as long as possible.
"love?" alessia prompted.
sim turned with a sigh, keeping her eyes closed. she would crack as soon as she made eye contact with alessia's baby blue eyes.
alessia's hand came up to sim's face, pointer finger tracing the subtle crease between her eyebrows.
"can you open those pretty eyes for me, baby?"
sim relented, never having been able to refuse a request from alessia. leah never let her forget it.
sim's eyes fluttered open, causing alessia to frown at the clear exhaustion evident in the set of her eyes. "what's wrong?"
again, sim debated whether or not to tell the truth. she had almost settled on trying to lie, but her resolve crumbled at the look of concern painted on alessia's face.
how could anyone ever lie to a face like that?
"everything just feels... heavy. it's hard to explain. it's like my entire being is just exhausted. especially my mind. there's just this weight over everything."
it was silent for a few beats. alessia's hand came to rest on the side of sim's face, her fingers gently scratching at sim's hair.
alessia considered her next words carefully. she was thankful that sim was starting to open up to her and all she wanted to do was help. to alessia, what sim was describing sounded a lot like depression, but she didn't have nearly enough information or qualifications to come to that conclusion. she also didn't want to push too far with her questions and cause sim to shut down again.
alessia settled on a question that would allow sim decide how much or how little to reveal.
"do you feel like that very often?"
"not anymore," sim whispered out, averting her eyes. "it's not that bad right now. i actually feel good most days. i still feel better than i did before the FA hired me. i'm just tired the last few days. don't know why."
though it concerned alessia that this feeling seemed to be somewhat familiar to sim, she was also happy to hear that things were okay at the moment.
"that's alright. everyone has bad days. what do you need from me right now, my love?" alessia asked, pulling sim closer, the hand that was on sim's head pulling the girl's head to her chest.
sim's eyes teared up slightly at alessia's actions. she had never felt so loved and cared for. it quieted the insecurities that plagued her mind, that constantly told her she was too much but at the same time never enough for alessia.
"i just want to be with you right now."
despite the waver in sim's voice, alessia's heart melted.
"alright, love, i've got you," alessia replied, pressing a quick kiss to sim's temple before shifting so she was on her back, sim automatically placing her head on alessia's chest, curling into her side.
sim let the warmth wash over her, grabbing a fistful of alessia's sleep shirt as she tried to snuggle closer.
"thank you," sim breathed, drowsiness starting to take over.
"you don't have to thank me. i'll always be here."
"i love you," sim said without thinking.
there was a moment of silence and sim's heart dropped.
of course, she just had to go and fuck this up too. they hadn't said it yet. why did you have to go and ruin the moment? she thought to herself.
her muscles tensed before she moved to pull away, but she was stopped by alessia's arms squeezing her tighter.
"i love you too," alessia said back. sim could almost hear the smile in her voice.
-----
the lionesses' next game was against spain, a world cup rematch. it went without saying that the girls were a mix of excitement and nerves. everyone dealt with it in their own way.
leah was immersed in film of barca and spain in the days leading up to the match. she remembered how helpless she had felt watching the world cup final and was determined to lead the team to a win this time around. it didn't matter to her that this was a friendly, that great britain had already qualified for the olympics.
millie could often be found beside leah, the two huddled over a tablet.
esme had created so many friendship bracelets that she had to order more thread.
katie had taken a bunch of the girls around town shopping, going to different coffee shops and trying to stay distracted.
ella had organized a mariokart tournament in one of the conference rooms for the girls that had stayed behind.
alessia was beside herself with nerves and had opted to waste away in her room under the guise of resting. sim had tried her best to assure her girlfriend, but her duties as social media admin made it difficult to get time alone with her.
sim was relieved when her latest round of meetings with the other media staff was over. she wanted nothing more than to care for alessia.
sim quietly eased the door open in case alessia actually was sleeping. when she turned after closing the door, it was to the sight of alessia sat on the bed, staring into the space above the television as it played old episodes of friends. her heart panged a little at the sight.
sim walked over to the bed, making a quick plan in her head. she knew that nothing she said was likely to make alessia feel better, so she settled on physical comfort.
alessia was shaken from her trance by the soft kiss sim placed on her temple.
"today's a hair wash day, right?" sim mumbled against alessia's skin, getting straight to the point.
"yeah, why?"
-----
twenty minutes later, sim was sat on the couch with alessia sat on the floor between her legs, the pair watching old episodes of superstore, sim's hands massaging coconut oil into the blonde's scalp.
"how did you even think to do this?" alessia mumbled.
"oiling hair is just a thing desi people do. i don't remember the exact origin. different people use different types of oil for different reasons. my maasi* used to do coconut oil before a wash once a week. in the winter, when our hair was dry and frizzy, she would rub baby oil just into the ends every now and then." (*maasi is mother's sister or cousin sister)
"yeah, but why are you doing this now?" alessia prodded. considering this was the first time she had heard sim voluntarily speak about her family, alessia didn't want to push too hard, but she was curious.
not that she was complaining. the massage was doing wonders for her headache and she was more relaxed than she had felt in weeks.
"just noticed you were stressed. obviously, i've never been in the same situation as you so i can't do much in the way of words. but i remember how relaxing this was for me so i figured i would share," sim replied somewhat sheepishly, hands stilling.
alessia was overwhelmed with affection for the younger girl. it was almost offputting how easily sim could read her, how she could anticipate what alessia needed before she herself knew what that was.
alessia reached a hand up to squeeze sim's arm, unable to vocalize how she felt in the moment.
"the massage part is almost done. then we need to let the oil sit for at least a half hour, and i'll wash it out for you."
the pair fell silent, no words needed between them. when it was time for a rinse, alessia sat on the ledge of the tub, leaning gently on sim's body behind her.
"as much as i am loving this right now, i'm going to have to ask you to hurry it up before i fall asleep here," alessia said, breaking the silence.
sim chuckled softly before turning on the water, using the handheld shower to rinse alessia's hair.
"thank you for this," alessia spoke, grabbing a soft towel to dry her hair off.
"you don't have to thank me," sim said shyly, a blush creeping on to her face.
alessia turned to look at sim, and the younger girl almost melted under the tenderness of alessia's gaze.
alessia knew that it was hard for sim to accept any gratitude, so settled for rushing forward and wrapping the girl up in a tight embrace, arms settling around sim's shoulders as hers wrapped around alessia's waist.
sim rested her forehead against alessia's sternum. sim's family never showed any physical affection, so it had taken her a while to get used to just how touchy her girlfriend could be, but sim would be lying if she said she didn't come to love it.
"let's head to bed, yeah? i'm going to fall asleep standing up and take you down with me. then you'll have two bad knees," alessia giggled.
"and then you'd have to carry me everywhere and we can't have that, can we? because then you'd have bad knees and leah would have my head!" sim replied with a chuckle, turning alessia's giggles into full-blown laughs.
-----
the cloud that seemed to be following sim around refused to fully recede, always lingering around the edges of sim's consciousness.
she had done a well enough job of hiding it from everyone. she'd made the effort not to push people away, but that didn't mean that she was asking for help either.
a part of her still felt ashamed and annoyed at how she was feeling. her life was the best it had ever been, so why was it so difficult for sim to just suck it up and enjoy it?
it was currently match day -1, and the lionesses were doing some light training on the pitch before they would head inside for a film session and tactics meeting.
sim was bundled up against the cold on the sidelines, filming when she needed but mostly just watching her girls work. the jealousy she felt while looking at them hadn't abated completely, but she could mostly shove it down and not let it become a problem.
"how's it going?" ella nudged sim, having made her way over after sarina concluded the training session.
"yeah, i'm alright, you?"
ella wrapped an arm around sim's shoulder, starting the walk back to the locker rooms as she chatted about something joe had said to her a few weeks ago.
alessia stole sim back from ella as the team filed into the locker room.
"hey! you get to see her everyday!" ella whined, making grabby hands as alessia steered sim towards her own cubby.
alessia simply stuck her tongue out at ella before gathering the things she needed for a shower and stepping out.
"oh! my family is all coming out for the game tomorrow, so don't run off with alessia so quick because i want you to meet them," ella said, grabbing sim's arm and setting her down on the bench in front of her own locker.
a nervous smile took over sim's face. "really?"
though the idea of meeting ella's parents was admittedly nice, it make sim more anxious than anything else.
"oh, yeah, they'll probably end up liking you more than me," ella responded jovially, trying to pull sim out of her head.
"speaking of," leah interjected, "sim, do you need tickets for any guests of yours? i can probably get them into the friends and family section."
sim immediately stiffened. she couldn't have this conversation with the team. not today, when she was already feeling so on edge.
"oh. no, i don't have anyone i'm bringing to the match," sim said, trying to make it clear with her tone that this wasn't a topic she was willing to elaborate on.
unfortunately, it seemed no one got the hint.
"what, parents couldn't make it?" millie chimed in.
"nah, they're not around anymore," sim said with a sigh, trying to brush it off with a wave of her hand.
however, it seemed to have the opposite effect. there were a few silent moments of tension before rachel's voice cut through.
"i'm really sorry to hear that."
sim's brow furrowed in confusion before she realized how her statement sounded.
"oh! no, don't be. i'm pretty sure they're still alive, we just don't... we're estranged. we don't talk anymore," sim rushed to clarify. the last thing she wanted at the moment was sympathy. especially when it came to her parents because the truth was, she was much, much better off without them in her life.
there was still a lingering tension in the locker room, though the air had lightened considerably. this was the most the lionesses had heard sim say about her family. even leah didn't quite know what to say. she settled for taking a seat beside sim, whose face still donned the same look of confusion.
she didn't understand why this seemed such a big deal.
"you don't want to reach out? mend things?" rachel continued quietly.
"trust me, it's better for everyone if we stay very far away from each other," sim said with a chuckle.
she cut herself off when she realized no one was laughing with her.
"you can't know that for sure. you should consider extending an olive branch, while you still can." rachel had turned to face sim properly now, almost a pleading note in her voice.
sim's back straightened, hands clenched into fists in her lap.
she took a deep, grounding breath before speaking. "look, i'm telling you, my parents and i do not talk anymore and it's for good reason. i don't owe anyone an explanation. please, drop it."
leah didn't think she had ever heard that level of iciness in sim's tone. she looked at sim, biting her lip as she did. it was like looking at the face of a different person. sim's face was completely blank, not a trace of emotion to be seen.
leah didn't say anything, figuring that rachel would respect the younger girl's wishes and stop pushing.
that didn't seem to be the case.
"i just don't see what could have happened that you're okay with never speaking to your parents again." rachel's voice had taken on an accusatory tone.
millie placed a hand on rachel's shoulder, trying to signal to her best friend that she should stop before things got too heated.
before leah could say something herself to defuse the tension, sim stood abruptly.
"rachel, i respect where you're coming from. really, i do. but i'm starting to get very frustrated with this conversation, so i'm going to leave before i say something i regret."
with that, sim left the locker room, the rest of the girls stunned into silence, only the sounds of sim's cane hitting the floor being heard.
"well, i think that is the politest way i've ever heard someone say 'fuck off,'" said millie.
leah stood to go after sim, but beth beat her to it. "i'll go," she whispered. leah nodded before rounding on rachel.
rachel looked like a fish out of water with the way her mouth opened and closed, searching for words.
"i know your heart was in the right place, but you pushed too hard. just be gentler next time, yeah?" leah asserted, her voice stern but not unkind.
"i'm sorry, i just-"
"it's okay. it's not me that you should apologize to. and don't take her reaction personally, alright? i don't even think alessia knows the full story about her parents."
-----
alessia walked back to her cubby, running a hand through the tangles in her damp hair. by the time she was pulling on a hoodie, she noticed a few things.
for one, her girlfriend was not where she had left her.
secondly, the few stragglers still in the locker room had their eyes trained on her, but averted them when she returned their gazes.
tooney was also stood awkwardly in the space around alessia's cubby, as though waiting for her.
"what?" alessia spoke with a frown, looking to ella when everyone else refused to meet her eyes.
"well..." ella's voice trailed off. she wasn't quite sure how to explain the situation without framing it like an argument and blowing it out of proportion. she did not want to be caught up in the middle of the awkward tension that now permeated the space.
"what?" alessia repeated, her voice now stern.
"look," ella said, holding a placating hand up to alessia, "it's not bad. there was just a conversation about sim inviting her parents and things got a little... tense? but everyone is fine, and beth went to look for sim."
confusion was replaced with concern and a little bit of anger.
"a conversation with who? where is she? is she alright?" alessia rushed out.
"you should hear it from her. i don't know where she is, but beth went to look for her, so it's okay. don't worry. it wasn't a big deal."
that was the thing, though. alessia wasn't sure that it wasn't a big deal.
sim's parents had come up in conversation a few times, but the most sim had ever let on was that they were no longer in contact.
it wasn't for lack of trying. however, the few times alessia had tried to venture further and pushed, sim had shut down, going almost completely silent and stony-faced. each time, it took hours to bring the girl back out of her shell.
the fact that sim wasn't feeling herself recently didn't do anything to ease the concern she was feeling.
with those memories in mind, alessia rushed out of the locker room to find sim and beth herself.
-----
beth looked everywhere for sim. she checked back on the training pitch, in the bathroom, the meal room, the media office, before finding her figure sat in a corner of one of the physio rooms.
beth's heart melted at the expression on sim's face. it was clear from the tightness in sim's jaw and shoulders that she was trying hard to keep her emotions in check.
sim was so caught up in whatever was going on in her head that she didn't notice beth's presence until she felt a hand settle on her clenched fist, forcing it open.
beth frowned at the indents in sim's palm from where her nails had dug into the skin.
"i'm sorry," sim rasped.
"what for? you didn't do anything wrong. i actually think you handled that in a very mature way."
beth's words seemed to fall on deaf ears as sim continued rambling.
"i'm not angry with rachel. i promise, i'm not."
beth shook sim's hand, prompting her to look up. "even if you were angry, you're allowed to feel that way. clearly, she pushed you on a topic that was sensitive for you," beth said gently, almost as though she was explaining something to a child.
"but she didn't know she was pushing. rachel didn't do anything wrong either. i can see where her reaction came from. she lost her father, and i know that he meant a lot to her. she would probably do anything for a little more time with him. i just-" sim ran her free hand through her already messy hair.
beth stayed silent, prodding sim to go on with a nod of her head.
"it's just that not all of us got lucky with our parents. i'm happy she has a great relationship with hers, trust me, i am. but some people have shit parents, and don't want to be pushed into mending bridges that were burned for good reason."
beth noted sim's reluctance to use the word "i" instead of "us" but chose not to say anything. as far as she knew, this was the most anyone had gotten out of sim about her parents.
"her heart was in the right place, but she was still insensitive. she could have been a bit kinder to you. i lost my mum too, so i know where she's coming from, but i also know that not everyone has nice parents like mine or hers. you don't have to defend rachel to me, alright?"
sim nodded, resting her head on beth's shoulder.
"you don't have to talk about what happened with your parents, but i'm here to listen if you decide you want to. i'm sure the same goes for the rest of the girls as well," beth continued.
a comfortable silence fell over the pair. in that moment, sim was overcome with affection. she felt so seen by this new family she had found in the lionesses. unable to voice how much it meant to her, sim tried to put all that emotion into a squeeze of beth's hand.
when beth squeezed back, sim knew her message had been received.
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Disney Villain Bracket
basically how this works is we have brackets a, b, and c. c is a tricky one, hopefully ill explain right
it’s basically a bracket and a half, and the villains in the half bracket will go across and meet in the middle, and the winner of that goes against the two villains on the bracket above
once we get to the middle two in a and b and have that vote, and once the double elimination in bracket c happens, the three villains will all go head to head… to head. it’ll be the three winners of each bracket in one final poll
am i explaining correctly? oh well, y’all will see what i mean when we get there
im sure a lot of y’all have opinions on how this was put together but keep in mind ive never done this before and i did my best. so
also! voting criteria is you picking your favorite of the villains in each poll. not the movies or shows or whatever they’re from, im talking about the characters themselves
i will be posting the polls on the left side of bracket A first, on Monday, April 17 at 12 PM CST! after that, i will post the left side of bracket B the following day at the same time. then the left side of bracket C the next day. the day after that, i will post the right side of bracket A, then B, then C. you get it
hope y’all have fun with this poll!!!
here’s a breakdown of the brackets below the cut, with the names and fandoms of each villain:
Bracket A:
LOVEMUFFIN (Phineas and Ferb) VS Randall Boggs (Monsters Inc)
Derek (Milo Murphy’s Law) VS The Core/Darcy (Amphibia)
Dr. Drakken (Kim Possible) VS Lady Tremaine (Cinderella)
Magica de Spell (Ducktales) VS Malleus Draconia (Twisted Wonderland)
Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls) VS Prince John (Robin Hood)
Professor Z (Cars 2) VS Oogie Boogie (Nightmare Before Christmas)
Prince Hans (Frozen) VS Governor Ratcliffe (Pocahontas)
Professor Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective) VS Shan Yu (Mulan)
The Sanderson Sisters (Hocus Pocus) VS The White Witch (Chronicles of Narnia)
Emperor Belos (The Owl House) VS Zira (The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride)
Mother Gothel (Tangled) VS Assistant Mayor Bellwether (Zootopia)
Charles Muntz (Up) VS Constance Hatchaway (The Haunted Mansion - Disney Parks)
Due (PKNA) VS Kalabar (Halloweentown)
The Walt Disney Company VS The Fairy Godmother (Shrek 2)
Tusk (Club Penguin) VS Edgar Balthazar (The Aristocats)
Ursula (The Little Mermaid) VS Morgana (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea)
Bracket B:
Cruella deVil (101 Dalmatians) VS Man/The Hunter (Bambi)
Turbo “King Candy” (Wreck it Ralph) VS Hopper (A Bug’s Life)
Queen Narissa (Enchanted) VS Clayton (Tarzan)
The Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland) VS Lotso Bear (Toy Story 3)
Madame Medusa (The Rescuers) VS Lord Hater (Wander over Yonder)
Maestro Forte (Beauty and the Beast: An Enchanted Christmas) VS The Horned King (The Black Cauldron)
Tamatoa (Moana) VS Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension)
Captain Hook (Peter Pan) VS Captain Hook (Hook)
Scar (The Lion King) VS Chick Hicks (Cars)
The Underminer (Incredibles 2) VS Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)
Hades (Hercules) VS Captain Gantu (Lilo and Stitch)
Madam Mim (Sword in the Stone) VS Dr. Facilier (Princess and the Frog)
Villain Recruiters (Disney Parks) VS Tina Harwood (Ice Princess)
Harrison Hightower III (Tower of Terror - Disney Parks) VS Professor Parenthesis (The OWCA Files)
The Sea Witches (Festival of Mystique - Disney Parks) VS Marina Del Ray (The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning)
Janet Smythe (Best Friends Whenever) VS Meredith Blake (The Parent Trap)
Bracket C:
The Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves) VS Scroop (Treasure Planet)
Chernabog (Fantasia) VS Jafar (Aladdin)
Toffee (Star VS the Forces of Evil) VS The Blot (Epic Mickey)
Syndrome (The Incredibles) VS Stinky Pete (Toy Story 2)
Phantom Blot (Disney Comics) VS Sa’luk (Aladdin and the King of Thieves)
Trauma (PKNA) VS The Beagle Boys (Disney Comics)
Royal Pain (Sky High) VS Demona (Gargoyles)
Yzma (Emperor’s New Groove) VS Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) VS Ernesto de la Cruz (Coco)
Commander Rourke (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) VS The Headless Horseman (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)
Emperor Zurg (Toy Story) VS Miles McDermott (The Even Stevens Movie)
Professor JT Wu (The Nightmare Experiment - Disney Parks) VS Henry Ravenswood (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Disney Parks)
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