QUIPQUIPQUIP

Anonymous asked: What do you think of Cassandra Cain? I've noticed that you tend to not write her as often as other members of the Batfamily, and she had a really short entry in that hand canon you wrote a few days ago.

I’ve answered this kind of question before, but I’ve gotten it about…four or five times in the last couple of weeks. So I guess I need to make my stance clear for some of my newer followers! I love Cass. I really, really do. She was my first Batgirl, and I have a lot of feelings about that lady. Her entry was short in the headcanon response because there wasn’t much to say—-I’ve taken liberties with the others, but there wasn’t much for me to say about Cass’ ethnicity that isn’t addressed or represented in canon. No, I don’t write Cass nearly as often as some of the other Batfolk, but it’s not because I dislike her, or see her as less a part of the family. I have not been able to read all of her canon, and I don’t write anyone that I haven’t done at least the essential reading for. Cass and Babs aren’t featured as heavily in my writing for that reason and that reason alone: I don’t want to screw them up. For personal reasons, I need to feel confident in my ability to write a character accurately in order to feel good about my writing at all. I respect Cass and Babs too much as characters to want to give them less than my best. I’m working on reading BoP and all of Cass’ Batgirl run, but ha ha you should see my reading list. I will have been reading DC comics for a year in JUNE. I’m actually really lkdfjg new to this fandom. On top of that, I default to writing from Cass’ POV whenever I write her—-which is a very interesting and unique way to view the world, but it’s challenging. Again, it’s not something that I want to mess up.

And it’s just fanfiction, you know? I pretty much have three things that inform the character and story choices that I make: commissions, prompts, and my own self-indulgence. With commissioned fics, I write what I’ve been paid to write. With prompts, I’m writing with the characters and situations that people have dropped in my ask. But at the end of the day, I’m still writing for myself, for my own pleasure. I don’t have any real obligation or responsibility to write a certain amount of any given character. If I’m not writing someone, it’s rarely because I dislike them—-it’s just that I don’t feel comfortable writing them, or that I’m not particularly inspired to write something with them.

I’ve posted roughly 49,500 words of FINISHED fic since the first of the year. I think that my writing output is kind of crazy as it is, and I still don’t get around to writing everything that I’d like to write. If this were my job, and if I were expected to do this as more than just as an obsessive hobby, I would be sure to give each character their due. But since it’s not, and this is what I do to make myself happy first and foremost, I play favorites. I’ll be the first to admit that. But doesn’t everyone?

argh sorry if this seems kind of ranty, but I keep getting this question, and I really DON’T want people to assume that I dislike Cass. The ONLY character in the Gotham part of DC that I can’t stand writing is the Joker. Writing him makes me really sick to my stomach, because I don’t like the sound of his voice in my head. Which sounds strange written out, but it’s the truth. Writing Joker’s part in the good!end was more difficult for me than writing Zsasz’s part in the regular end.

monkkeyslut asked: Hey Kitty, would you ever consider writing a fic about Rosie and Gideon and their relationship? Like how everyone would react?

Auuuugh, I really want to write stuff with Gideon. The bad!end version of him as well as the good!end. And Rosie and Gideon are just amazing, because Gideon is like one of the biggest badasses ever, but Rosie just walks all over him and uses him as a punching bag. She is her mothers’ daughter, after all—-and since Gideon basically lacked personhood until his teens, he is a whore for ANY kind of attention. When she was little and being his own person was a relatively new concept for him, Rosie never left him alone. She was always bothering him, training with him, talking AT him, and teasing him. Rosie’s like Jason in that she is REALLY engages people when she talks to them. She never really liked Damian, but she loved HIM. And that meant a lot to Gideon. I would write this, BUT SDKFJS I WOULD JUST BE WRITING OCS AT THAT POINT. sob.

Anonymous asked you:
“Anonymous asked: did you know that DC doesn’t give any fucks about…”
^Wow, what a fucking jerkoff! I dig your “obsessive headcanons” and admire your dedication. Also, your stuff is so fun to read, it’s like a guilty pleasure! Don’t. Ever. Stop! :)
Loves, from Washington state

It’s just kind of funny to me, really! I’m not writing for anyone but myself. I hope that I’m very clear about that. I write because it’s something that makes me happy, and that some people do genuinely enjoy what I have to say. I’m not asking anyone to agree with me—-or even to look at them, necessarily. I always waffle over whether or not I should tag my headcanon posts with the characters when I do them, but I’ve come to the decision that I have as just as much a right to tag my posts as anyone else. If people are annoyed with seeing me pop up in their tracked tags, they can block me. It takes like two seconds, and it doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. Nobody HAS to give a fuck about what I write. I’m okay with that! If I built my self-worth on gaining the approval of the entire internet, my self-esteem would be more of a mess than it already is.

But thank you for your support, upstairs neighbor C:

Anonymous asked you:
YOU SHOULD DO THAT WIP MEME! You know the one where you post an excerpt from all of your WIPs? Yeah. It’d be glorious.

It’s been a while since I did that meme, hasn’t it? I’ll look through my file and see if there are any scenes that are polished enough to stand on their own. Expect that later this afternoon.

robowolves asked you:
I GIVE ALL THE FUCKS ABOUT YOUR HEADCANONS. AND THEY ARE AWESOME.

See, how can I be upset about one nasty anon when I have so many amazing followers? It’s just not possible.

lacesplace asked you:
I LOVE YOUR HEADCANNONS!!!!!! They’re so perfect and dfjkfgnfb they make me happy! Why aren’t you working at DC? I LOVE YOU!!!!!

SEE? SEE? I have the nicest followers, end of story.

Anonymous asked you:
Whoa, whoa, whoa holy crap awesome!!! What is that conner!Superman, Damian!Batman scan from!? And more importantly, where can i find more it and hopefully more of it? Seriously, those pages read like they were connected to NDND kitty, i was starting to wonder if they were fanmade. but they are real right?

Ahaha, yes, they are real! That’s quite a compliment, you know—-my goal for NDND’s original end was to have it be a believable segue into Crazy Catlady Batman!Damian. Those two pages are from Superman/Batman #75, and that is all there is of it. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure that this is the only interaction we’ve seen with Superman!Kon and Damibats.

Anonymous asked you:
Not trying to tell you what to write or anything, i just wanted to say that I really would like to see you write some of the bad end of NDND. Not that i dont love what you have made so far(i do, very, very much even if i dont ship everything XD) but all the happy stuff and babies feels less meaningful if there’s no tragedy. Does that make sense? i liked NDND for its tragic elements as much as i liked its good end, and i would love to see you write for the bad ending, even though it would be sad.

I would be honestly surprised if anyone shipped EVERYTHING that I do, since so much of it is ridiculous and obscure. I know exactly what you mean by it feeling less meaningful—-I often worry about becoming repetitive and formulaic, harping on the same ideas. Most of the dribbles that I’ve written have been in direct response to either requests or commissions, so I’ve mostly just been working with what I’ve been given/what has been asked of me. Whenever I post sad!fic, I feel guilty for all of the I CRIED AN OCEAN WHY WOULD YOU POST THAT responses ldkjfdg. So I’ve had a lot of things I’ve wanted to do with the bad!end, but I’ve been hesitant to pursue them because of a) lack of direction, b) no kitty no, and c) the fact that it IS the bad!end, and things will not get better. Damian’s choices from then on out are progressively more broken up and twisted. The period of his life between Steph’s death and Terry taking up the Batman mantle is DARK. He went steadily downhill, then evened out enough after Terry to distance himself and wonder if everything he’d sacrificed had been worth it, in the end.

Anonymous asked you:
Have you seen the first pictures of the designs for ‘Super Best Friends Forever’? I CAN’T HANDLE THE CUTE.

I have! I’m very excited for this kind of programming. It’s breaking away from the DC animation pack in both style and prospective audience, so I hope that it does well—-and encourages further appeals to a wider audience.

Anonymous asked: Have you read this article? wwwDOTcomicsallianceDOTcom/2012/02/16/superheroine-sex-art-story/?ncid=webmail21 I'm wondering why this issue is being addressed NOW, when this has been, in my opinion, something that should have been visited many moons ago...

Here’s an easier link for the rest of you kids.

I think that we as a community have been hashing this out for quite some time, yeah. I like this article! I also like the fact that it is being addressed, especially in a thoughtful way (and on a high-traffic site). I know that it can get tiresome—-I mean, I’m pretty new when it comes to comic culture commentary, and I still feel like a broken record sometimes—-but it’s not something that we can stop addressing. It’s not going to change until readers and creators who feel strongly about the representation of women in comics either outweigh the purveyors of the more gratuitous amounts of cheesecake—-or until the apathetic majority cares enough to say that they’re not interested in comics with slinky spines and idealized sex objects.

Anonymous asked: Hi Kitty :D Concerning the post you made about tagging things that could be triggering, would it be better to tag as (example) 'tw: underage', or just 'underage'? I don't know, if I've ever done anything that requires some kind of trigger warning I've never put the 'tw' before it; I didn't know that part was necessary. I'll just do both ways from now on to be safe... but I think that might be one of the reasons people have accidentally come across some things that were tagged wrong.

I am by no means the authority on this, but I’m fairly certain that Tumblr Savior blocks items that have been tagged in both the body of the post and the tags. For a while, I had Glee blocked on Tumblr Savior, because my dash was getting kind of hard to keep up with (and I don’t have any investment in the show). I noticed that I couldn’t see a post of my own when people reblogged it, because I’d used the word “glee” in the body of the post itself. You don’t need to put the “tw” in there, but it’s handy for people who may not understand why you’re tagging something “underage”.

I usually only tag the more violent triggers in the things that I post. The first couple of months I was on here, I didn’t tag anything at all. The more I’ve experienced, the more I’ve realized that the tagging system is very important, and it’s something that we should be utilizing. If for any reason ANY of my followers would like me to add in a trigger warning for their future benefit, PLEASE let me know. Drop me a note, signed in or anonymously, and I’ll make sure to tag diligently.

(And for those who asked, here is a tutorial for how to set up Tumblr Savior.)

Anonymous asked you:
What’s Nostophia about? (By Young Justice, do you mean the comics or the cartoon?) I WANT ALL OF THOSE FICS. ESPECIALLY 9 CRIMES!

Nostophobia is the fear of going home, which is pretty much what this fic will be about. It’s a crossover with the Young Justice cartoon, and will revolve around all of the Robins + Cass getting dropped into the YJ universe. The idea started as an ask question, but it quickly got out of hand. LIKE MOST OF THE STUFF I WRITE. I really want to work on 9 Crimes, but I feel guilty writing it when I have so many commissions to get through.

Anonymous asked you:
I think you need to check out this video on Youtube called ‘The Death and Return of Superman’. I feel like you’d like it, and a lot of his other stuff is pretty good too. Also, it’s really hard not to laugh during his comic videos.

I have seen it! (For those who haven’t, the video is here. Do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing!) I wish that we just had movies like this for every major comic event.

Anonymous asked you:
since you’ve said that damian has an accent in your headcanon, will we ever have the pleasure of reading accent!kink fic featuring this boy wonder from you?

I…didn’t realize that accent!kink was a thing! But now that I do, I promise to include it in the next smutty thing I write (aka, Firsts pt. 2).

Anonymous asked you:
Favorite pop song?

“Toxic,” by Britney Spears because I have a fond daydream of writing Batwoman/Poison Ivy whenever I listen to it. BUT THAT’S A REALLY HARD QUESTION. Because I like a lot of terrible pop music. I can own up to this.

Anonymous asked you:
Favorite tea?

Ginger peach!

tsp-capacity asked you:
How do you keep track of all the plot bunnies you get?

I write them down as SOON as I think of them. That is why I sleep with my Blackberry under my pillow—-if I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea, I don’t have to turn on the light/look for paper/whatever. I keep everything that I’m working on in one file, so that I never forget about the fragments that I’ve started on.

pinktala asked you:
When you do drink, what do you enjoy having?

I don’t drink often, because there is such a history of alcoholism in my family. When I do, I drink dark beers, or whiskey sours. I love me some whiskey sours.

kaldurofthesea asked you:
~~~Kitty, how many asks are in your askbox right now? -morallyambiguous

578. And I delete all of my messages as I answer them, so. That’s an unfortunately large number.

robinfan asked you:
Why are you so amazing?

Because you are biased, and I love you for it c:

wonderarity asked you:
I’d like to know who’s your favorite pony. :3

Twilight Sparkle! She reminds me the most of myself, ahaha. OH, NEUROTIC BOOKWORM PONY. I FEEL YOUR FEELS.

snazzysnafu asked you:
are you a morning person?

TECHNICALLY, yes. But only because I don’t sleep at night, usually. My “natural” sleep schedule is to be awake all night, go to sleep at around nine or ten in the morning, nap until early afternoon, and then be awake until the rest of forever. I get about three or four hours of sleep a night, then crash every couple of days and sleep for ten or so. As much as I enjoy sleeping, I’m not very good at it.

theskittlesaddict asked you:
I know this might be a hard question for you, but, what is your favorite nail polish brand?

Deborah Lippman! It’s super expensive, though, so I only have a couple of colors (Bad Romance, which is my Batgirl!Steph polish, Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, which is my Red Hood polish, and Across the Universe, which is my Kaldur polish). I’m a big fan of glitter, as you may have already realized.

Anonymous asked: valentine's day themed question! does kitty have a significant other or a crush?

I’ve never liked the term crush, but yes, I’ve recently been experiencing the rare warm and fuzzy feelings for someone. That doesn’t happen very often with me, so it’s been strange to deal with it. I’m thoroughly single, so I intend to spend Valentine’s day doing arts and crafts, writing smut, and eating cheesecake. That is how I roll.

Anonymous asked: Since you were mostly Marvel years back, how did you come across Stephanie Brown and decide 'I want to read about her.'?

I RP’d heavily for about five years, mostly in panfandom settings. At one of my games, there was a large DC cast, and I was friends with many of the players OOCly. One of the players suggested I read Steph’s canon, because she wanted to play with me more/they needed a Steph/she thought I could play her well. I read nearly all of her Spoiler run, but I never applied to play her. DC scared me too much.

Months later, I reread her canon and decided to play her at another game—-one that I modded myself. I lasted four days before I freaked out about STILL not knowing enough about DC. I dropped her, and generally felt crappy about it.

May of last year, Marvel really pissed me off. I was angry with many of the company’s choices, and it started affecting the way I played my characters. I decided to bite the bullet and try to play someone non-Marvel. Since I feared canonfail, I started writing up the idea for an AU where Damian was Batman and Steph was Batwoman and they made gross kissy faces at each other. My notes got more and more detailed, and before I knew it, I was writing a full-out fic. And that is where NDND came from—-a roleplay application that exploded.

This is not the deep and meaningful answer you were probably looking for…

Anonymous asked: Since you want to break into the comic industry... have you ever thought about being a colorist? Since you like coloring and everything, and it's a start...

I have thought about it, actually! I did a bunch of practice pages a year ago. After I showed my portfolio, one of the talent guys at Marvel gave me a few pages from a past issue of Incredible Hulk to work on. That way, they’d have my name and a sample of my work on hand if they needed a new colorist.

But then I was overcome by anxiety and never finished them. I didn’t think my style of coloring worked for comics/that I was kidding myself/that they were only humoring me/so on and so forth, so I never followed through. Me + self-sabotage = otp.

I’m at a much better place now with my confidence, but I doubt they’d respond to me a year later. They said there wasn’t a deadline to get back to them with the samples, but a year is seriously pushing it.

Edit: Looking through my email, I can’t find the correspondence. It must have gotten accidentally deleted. Ughhh. That’s really unfortunate.

fuckyeahdiomedes asked: you mentioned that you're interested in demonology and parapsychology. Do you know any good resources for reading up about that kind of stuff?

The heyday of my interest in curiosa was a couple of years back, but I still have held onto some of my books on the subject. I’ve found more in-depth resources in print than on the internet, but many (re: nearly all) of the books have been long out of circulation. Libraries—-especially college libraries—-are a good place to start. There is actually a section devoted to parapsychology! I’m lucky that I live near one of the largest used bookstores in America, so it’s much easier for me to find obscure texts.

Here’s a list to get you started:

A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural
Element Encyclopedia of the Paranormal and Psychic World
The Complete Book of Amulets and Talismans
The Encyclopedia of Superstitions (Though, mine is the 1949 edition, so I don’t know how it has been updated/expanded upon!)
And pretty much anything by Montague Summers.

Anonymous asked: What do you think of the pairing Priest! Jason and Incubus! Dick? It could be intriguing to you writing a fic one day? And because i put on the table Priest! Jason, what is your opinion over Flashpoint universe?

The main storyline of Flashpoint was kind of one of the worst things I’ve read in a while. It was just…the pacing was awful, and the sequence of events was completely disjointed. Much of it read like a teaser to get you to purchase the tie-in stories. I completely understand that it’s a good way to drum up sales, but from a storytelling point of view, it’s a cop-out. All that being said, I’ve enjoyed some of the tie-ins that I’ve picked up.

But as I see it, an event’s spine storyline should be strong enough to stand on its own. The tie-ins should definitely add to it, but you shouldn’t have to be reading them in order to understand what is going on. There were a ton of interesting ideas introduced into the Flashpoint universe, but many of them lacked follow-through. I still want to pick up Deadman and the Flying Graysons, because of reasons that should be fairly obvious.

I loved the idea of Priest!Jason. It’s difficult for me to see/appreciate the kink factor in clergymen, so that’s not what titillated me. Bruce adopted Jason because he thought that he would turn to a life of crime if he was left to his own devices. Guess what, Bruce: HE BECAME A PRIEST. He imagined the worst case scenarios from the very start, so it was really refreshing to see an alternate version of Jason pulling himself up on his own. It reinforced a lot of the feelings I have about the core of Jason’s personality—-I just love the idea of him using that platform as a way to help people. Because in pretty much every universe, Jason really wants to help the innocent.

Iiii may have a half-finished drabble somewhere about Priest!Jason teaching altar boy!Colin that scripture’s a little fuzzy on the subject of kneecapping armed criminals who endanger children. Because Father Todd protecting his flock with a crowbar is an idea that I enjoy.

Anyway! As far as Priest!Jason/Incubus!Dick goes, I could dig it. It’s much more AU than I tend to go, though. I can almost promise that it would be a really, really strange fic. I have kind of a ridiculous interest in demonology, parapsychology, and curiosa, so it’d be more “Father Todd Makes An Actual Deal With a Devil Because of Reasons (And Everything Is Complicated and Morally Gray)” than “Father Todd Makes a New Demon Friend (And They Have a Pantsless Party in the Pews)”.