Call me Orla. 30+ Pacific Northwest, She/Her. Queer. Orphan.
Header by @domnorian PFP by @nopes--and--dreams
Bart Allen and Kon El- Centric
90% Bat-Free
Read banned books, watch fucked up movies, just read the comic.
So Leigh ran a shop that sold things before the apocalypse, what if she was at one point in time Sam and Lyle’s manager at the convenience store?
Imagine quitting your job due to no-call-no-showing and then a month later the apocalypse happens and suddenly you’re running for your life from a monster that nearly kills you only to find out it was your old boss that doesn’t even really remember you.
You know something I don't think a lot of people talk about when it comes to being raised in VR is that sure, we know he interacted with his grandma a little bit, and maybe the scientists, but...
How old was he, mentally, the first time they took him out of VR? Did he know who she was? How long, in his perception, where the breaks between seeing her? Months, years?
And to learn basic social interaction, heck even basic language, there must have been some kind of 'adult' modeling behaviour for him. Was it pre-recorded? Was it an AI? How old was he when he learned that that person wasn't real? When did they tell him "hey your entire perceived reality so far has been artificial, also you're aging so fast we think you'll die soon"
Can you imagine an infant bonding with a parental figure, only to learn that that parental figure isn't real? That must massively fuck up your attachment style. No wonder he has impulse control issues - for most of his life everyone he's interacted with *wasn't real*. It's a miracle that he ever managed to genuinely grasp that other people had independent thoughts and feelings.
I don't think canon or fan content really explores that to it's full potential
I do think about Bart’s VR life a lot and how it functioned and the more you play with it the more horrifying it actually gets.
We sadly don’t know a whole lot about what Bart’s early VR life was like or what the logistics were like, he HAD to have breaks from VR to eat and bathe at the very least (unless there is some scifi explanation; sonic showers and teleporting food direction into his stomach for example). He wasn’t constantly hooked up and we do see that in comics where he did remove himself from VR to communicate at least with Iris (and logically other scientists).
Bart mentions having schooling in VR so he would know basic stuff, we also know of his AI “friend” Dox and if there was an AI that was created to be his friend then it’s not hard to imagine he had AI tutors and instructors.
This is 1000 years in the future so you can go pretty HARD with the technology and what all they could do with AI. They could have had copied personalities and memories of scientists/teachers made into an AI for him interact with in VR and then at the end of the lesson have that interaction implanted back into the “real” scientist. But that’s all headcanon.
Human babies NEED love to thrive or they just die. They need contact, snuggles, being fed, etc or they will die. Bart was kidnapped when he was just a baby so someone, somewhere, HAD to provide this to him. I think logically it does make sense some scientist provided this for him.
It could be it took them a while to even come up with the plan and build the facility to house Bart in the first place and he wasn’t put in there until he was a toddler.
We have no idea, only speculation.
When Bart first shows up Iris makes it pretty clear that Bart spent most of his life in VR and he probably doesn’t realize he’s not in VR. She was right, he at first thought he was just in another program and attacked Wally because he thought he was basically an NPC until Wally hit him which made him panic. VR wasn’t supposed to hurt!
What this tells us is that VR and reality at the very least look similar enough his brain couldn’t immediately tell the difference something was amiss. Then he interacted with the real world the way he understood VR to work. It was a process to unlearn that no you can’t just go back and redo things.
But that’s all Bart 101.
Honestly I have such thoughts about the impacts of Bart in VR, what they looked like and the long term consequences of that I could talk for a long long time, and I do agree it should be explored more.
Notes: This is for the comics and the comics alone, no other form of media.
What was the deal with Iris not telling Bart's own mother he was being held captive? Wouldn't it make sense to idk tell his own mother who thinks he's dead that he's actually alive? Feels unnecessarily selfish and I don't know if that's ooc for Iris.
Hello!
I believe I’ve answered this question twice now (?) but it is one of those glaring details that’s hard to not notice when Bart’s backstory comes up.
We don’t have Iris directly saying WHY she didn’t reach out to Meloni so we don’t have an official Watsonian reason. What we do have is this one moment in Impulse when Meloni is giving her accounting of events that ties into what could have happened. I’ve highlighted the important part.
Impulse (1995) #24
Meloni says here she “told everyone else she was dead” before she went into a form of Witness Protection - this is implying she faked committing suicide (how else do you tell people you are dead?).
If Iris was led to believe she was dead, she would have no reason to reach out to her to tell her that her son was alive, and even if she knew she was alive, she likely didn’t know where she was to tell her because she had a whole new identity.
I honestly think with Iris’s future knowledge she didn’t know Meloni was alive, all of her knowledge comes from studying the past and there’s very little substantial evidence to show that Iris would have any idea Meloni never died, so it probably came as a HUGE shock (and relief) to know she was not dead after all.
But also, post-Crisis Iris is a complicated and compelling character so it’s not at all out of character for her to do some sketchy shit to preserve the timeline the way she understands it - so it is NOT out of character for her in my opinion to neglect telling Meloni even if she knew where she was.
If she knew Meloni was alive, which again, we don’t have evidence that she did, she could have foreseen the challenges that would happen as a result of telling Meloni about Bart being alive. Iris also KNEW Bart had to exist in the past as Impulse. If Meloni knew he was alive, could she fight Iris (and let’s face it kick her ass) over her insistence he stay in the past?
Yes, yes, Meloni eventually agrees he has to stay in the past for his own safety, but examining this as a what-if these are the sorts of questions I feel Iris might grapple with as she decided WHAT TO DO about Bart.
I feel it isn’t out of character for Iris to just keep her mouth shut because “it’s how things have to be”.
In reality it’s more likely Iris didn’t know Meloni was alive/where she was and I feel like that was Waid’s intention but there is room to also headcanon Iris was being a little shady for the sake of preserving reality.
Note: this is for the comics and the comics alone no other form of media.
do you think querllyle would ever adopt a kid? i could 100% see them being childless, and this is personally where i fall with them but i also think lyle would be a fun dad
I mean Querl did have Computo and that is his child even if they are completely independent. For the spirit of the question though I can see Lyle wanting to pursue fatherhood - even if them being childfree is 100% valid too and I’d support that.
I feel like a couple like Querl/Lyle would be a great way to explore the complexities in parenthood as a relationship obstacle and why the decision for being a parent should be strongly considered. I feel like both of them for how science-driven they are would make charts for all the pros and cons to try to determine if adding a child into the relationship will make it better, or make the world better, or if it would be just completely neutral and would just be an experience they both were lucky enough to have.
Querl is the more cautious of the two, because of his own generational trauma, because he did fail with Computo and he’s scared he will do it again. Lyle comforts him that he could never be like his mother or his ancestors. Querl knows he’s right, but the doubt is always there. He also wants to end the cycle of abuse for the Brainiac line, each generation does get better and better but he can’t help but feel like he’s joined everyone else in the abuse with Computo.
Only Lyle ever gets to know that, though.
I can see after many discussions, they finally come to an agreement. They want to try. For all the right reasons and the “wrong” ones too but it’s their decision.
And what luck, they adopt a Coluan child. The child grows up in a house of love where they are challenged and praised and safe (for the most part, Querl starting taking lab safety more seriously after ONE incident). They become Brainiac 6 and Querl couldn’t be prouder and happier.
So yeah I think this couple could be a great way to explore parenthood and how it’s selfless and selfish and utterly neutral as well. It would also give a writer the opportunity to explore Lyle and Querl as characters, their fears, their relationship and what legacy is to them. And yes… baby Coluan opportunity.
Not: This is for the comics and the comics alone, no other form of media.
While we were talking about the way how Bart Allen’s brain works as a result of him being in virtual reality for a possible relative 19 years (at least 12 for certain) it reminded me of an headcanon I have.
Because his brain was so used to being constantly fed information and he was used to constantly doing things I feel like once in the real world he had some mild hallucinations as his brain struggled to adapt to the new rate of information.
Things like warping streets, rippling environments, trees pulsing, things in the corner of his vision, pulsing shadows - these sorts of hallucinations.
They were stronger and more insistent at the start of not being in VR then slowly began to taper off the longer he was out of VR as his brain adjusted. They were always worse at night however and they never totally went away.
As an older teen and an adult, they would only surface at night when he was extremely tired or stressed out.
What is your opinion on gay sexuality head canons for Conner?
They’re fine. They’re just headcanons for the foreseeable future. There’s also a great amount of power in them that tie back to him being an engineered person and his behavior was rooted in compulsory heterosexuality. Compulsory heterosexuality is, for many queer people, something that is deeply intrinsic to their past and part of their journey of self discovery as they dismantle those concepts to embrace who they are.
Kon was written as being enthusiastically sexually driven towards women, how powerful would it be if a story dropped that he actually didn’t feel sexual attraction ever, he simply thought that’s what he HAD to feel and how he HAD to behave. He actually is only sexually attracted to men.
It might not be my preferred sexuality headcanon for him, but there is merit and power in it in my opinion.
What might hit even harder for some people is Kon being actually asexual and he’s not about anyone.
How does Bart Allen's mind work?
In ways that is likely impossible for you or I to truly understand as his entire neurological architecture is likely different based on him being a very special and unique type of speedster raised in unique and abnormal conditions (VR).
When he was created by Mark Waid he coined him having the “single synapse theory” where he goes from thought to action instantly without pause to think, so all impulsions are acted on because he never had to think about them in VR unless it was necessary. Bart gets better about this though! He does eventually stop this and demonstrates that he can and does think before action (he doesn’t always come to the most logical or sensible conclusion though). Because of this we can interpret that this is more of a symptom of him being in VR and can be worked on. His adult appearances even show this so the single synapse theory is something I’m hard to say is a long-standing expression.
Bart does have an eidetic memory meaning his mind is really a steel trap, if he reads something he remembers it in perfect clarity so his recall ability is phenomenal.
When it comes to his dealing with the speedforce and the unique challenges of being a speedster that’s something that can bridge more into headcanon territory cobbled from various things left behind from writers. There’s evidence that supports speedsters experience time both too slow and too fast, sometimes it’s variable.
For example it might look like on the outside that Bart or any speedster is making deeply impulsive or erratic decisions but the reality is they thought about what they were going to do for a long time before they acted. It just seemed like they didn’t at all.
We do see Bart getting deeply frustrated by not being allowed to use his speed to complete tasks and this could be an expression of the above where his mind is simply going at lightspeed but his body is being forced to go at “normal speed”. Which when you think about it, has to be torture as his mind and body are going at two complete different speeds.
I feel like this is something a lot of speedsters DO deal with, but Bart was the one who was told there was something wrong with him because of how he behaved. Others had coping mechanisms already in place from not being speedsters, Bart did not.
I feel like Bart’s mind is something that he himself is constantly tempering because his baseline speed is faster than light. Video games act as a ballast and he uses them to calibrate speed because there is only so fast he can possibly go with them so it forces his mind and body to SLOW DOWN.
If he loses himself he can very easily get lost in relative time, he doesn’t want to do this because it’s boring as hell being in a frozen world, but it’s easy for him to slip there because he’s GOTTA GO FAST.
Bart Allen the second he finds out that dropping out of High School and obtaining a GED instead is an option would drop everything to do it, I know in my heart he would.
A list of random headcanons for Sam.
cw mental illness and over-burdensome/neglectful parents
38 years old.
Eldest of three, which his parents parentified him by making him “RESPONSIBLE” for his younger siblings by assigning him duties inappropriate for his age and status as a sibling.
His parents had an extremely nasty habit of both parentifying him and overburdening him with more responsibility as the eldest AND infantilizing him which lasted through his adulthood (due to a lack of a “meaningful career”, a family, and disappointing them in general).
His left eye gets a lot of comments! Sectoral heterochromia is a rare and unique condition and it stands out. He’s had a lifetime of comments so they don’t bother him much.
His parents once briefly considered having him model because of his unique eye color but that didn’t get very far.
Actually has a 3b curl pattern but doesn’t have a curly hair routine and cannot be bothered to maintain one.
Has OCD and bipolar depression which have been (mostly) under control through a combination of medication, prior therapy and self awareness.
Not entirely my headcanon but I do like the headcanon that he has a nursing degree but due to his mental health and overall temperament he cannot be a nurse. He was pressured by his parents to initially be a doctor but due to costs of schooling settled on nursing to appease them. He discovered too late the box he leapt in.
Genuinely wanted a family and children however was self aware enough to recognize that he was not stable enough to provide the sort of care he felt a child and partner needed. His plan in his mid-twenties was to get “everything under control” and when that happened THEN he would pursue a partner and a family but not a moment sooner. It never happened and he gave up on that dream.
He does drive but prefers not to because if he is driving too long he remembers his part time job when he was in college as a taxi driver and while he didn’t mind being a taxi driver, he doesn’t like thinking about being college and “wasting” his early 20s on his nursing degree.
Isn’t entirely sure what his sexuality is but knows he’s not straight, he’s comfortable never labeling it.
He feels a little guilty not remembering working with Lyle much because he was having a manic depressive episode during the time. He does remembering liking working with him but he cannot remember a single meaningful thing about him despite working with him for over a month.
The above manic episode led to him no call no showing at that job.
His BPD express itself often as hypersomnolence, having racing intrusive thoughts that prevent him from sleeping (in contrast to his hypersomnolence) and completing tasks, and impulsive decisions.
Just before The Visitor he was in the middle of job searching as he stabilized his manic episode.
His parents do not believe he has OCD or BPD and don’t put much stock into most mental health issues anyway, Sam has learned to just not mention it around them.
They are still alive at least up until the Visitor being close to 70.
He adores his niece and nephew and is a good uncle to them, even if they think he’s sort of lame (they secretly love playing video games with him though).
He’s not a recluse but he is an introvert. He likes people just fine on his own terms and in varying doses.
Vincent was very friendly with Sam and has invited him to his various parties multiple times. Sam almost went to the party that took place the night before The Visitor, but for reasons he’s not sure of, he just didn’t go. Fate works in mysterious ways.
Spent close to 13 years as a smoker but quit when he was 31.
Right before The Visitor he was feeling a lot of inadequacy and feelings of failure because not much had gone the way he had planned them and he was considering going back to school.
Definitely has dealt with a lot of “just tough it out” in regards to his mental health and traumas.
He does experience a lot of guilt that it took an apocalypse to find fulfillment, purpose and a family - something which he deeply desired but felt like he had lacked tremendously.
To me Sam is also one of those many characters depicted with “wild hair” that just has curly hair but he’s not taking care of it. Because those of us with curly hair know exactly what it will do if you neglect it and it does… just that… sometimes.
Bart Allen as an author and eventual comic book writer makes me giggle for obvious reasons, but I am also imagining him getting tapped to write on the canon Superboy comic and him having an ethics crisis.
Yeah, the comic Superboy is NOT Kon and hasn’t really ever been, he just has his vague likeness (they took away his curls)- but that’s his Kon!
Kon meanwhile can’t stop laughing, he removed himself so far from that comic and celebrity lifestyle he forgot all about it.
Bart was worried he was going to be pissed. Kon just assures him that he knows that one of his clones is going to be safe in Bart’s hands.
B5 has never voted in an election, is entirely unaware of and uninterested in any political issue that does not affect him directly and can name the president only because he would explode from humiliation if someone asked him and he didn't know.
He’s just so utterly unbothered with 21st century politics and considers the time a place of barbarism with exception to Kara, Clark and a sparing few other people making it better. Otherwise he don’t give AF and can’t be bothered with it. In his own time, he at least does vote during the Legion’s own elections (and complains about them) because it is a thing that can deeply impact him and his friends.
I think for Querl his investment in politics is entirely situational, he’ll either care a lot because he feels he needs to and it really will impact him or his friends and all sentients, but if he doesn’t think it matters much he just doesn’t CARE.
He don’t know Obama.
Do you have any domestic job hcs for the YJ crew?
I sure do!
List not exhaustive
Bart
- Super suit design and textile engineer
- Comic book writer and illustrator
- Social worker (this is also courtesy of @unfaeger who now I cannot unsee it so thank you for that cousin)
Kon
- Lawyer (in family law, adoption, contracts, or immigration or all of them)
- Farmer (look this is a serious career and I really hate how many people sneer at it for Kon and how people keep wanting to put him BACK as a celebrity because being a farmer is apparently icky and gross and not cool)
- Conservation scientist (he is a child of the Earth)
Cassie
- History teacher (she just has so many ties to history and lore it would be hard to not put this on the list)
Tim
- Car mechanic and design engineer (he’s a car guy and I need him out of a damn office)
Cissie
- Psychologist (what turned into trying to understand herself turned into a passion to try to help others, oh no, what’s that? Now she sees heroes on the regular. Well, at least she’s not the one wearing the mask).
- Athlete (she was an Olympian and did genuinely enjoy archery, she can still find agency and joy in being a celebrity on her own terms)
- Government (she is bold and fierce and I can see her wanting to make real change in policy and how things are run)
Greta
- Mortician (they are true heroes of society, and I like having the theme of caring for the dead follow her)
- Author (I feel she would have a lot of stories to tell)
Anita
- Singer and songwriter/Composer (she canonly can sing and play instruments)
- Self defense instructor (this is self explanatory)
- Human rights lawyer (growing up she’s seen some things)
Bonus
Slo-Bo
- Mechanic
Do you think Bart would be a theatre kid? If so, which musicals would he like?
I think he would JAM being a theater kid - it’s almost like VR! You get to be someone else for a while and have adventures. Yeah it’s scripted and all that, BUT, you can do the script a little differently each time. It might be hard for Bart to dedicate the time to do this, but I think he would enjoy this.
I’m not too familiar with musicals other than a select few - so I’m really not sure.
Summary: Bart’s favorite food is his grandmother’s chili.
Notes: Bart doesn’t have a favorite food that I know of, was told he doesn’t officially have a favorite, so I made him love chili. Specifically Iris’s chili.
The favorite part of being in the past for Bart was eating his grandmother’s chili.
Iris made the best and everyone who tried it agreed. She had even given the recipe, after many attempts at making copies that didn't taste the same, to others because they all loved her chili so much.
Bart had the chili once when he was in the future, before everything happened, and ever since then he knew it was his favorite food.
He just didn’t say it was.
At least until Iris asked her grandson what his favorite food actually was; never believing that it was everything, especially American cuisine, as Bart told everyone who asked.
“Your chili,” Bart told his grandmother without hesitation, “You made it right before I was sent into the virtual reality realm to be raised there. It was the last full family meal right before dad and aunt Dawn had died and the family split apart.
“It is my favorite because it reminds me of the good times and not just the bad.
“Your chili always reminds me of our family.”
Iris had tears in her eyes as she hugged Bart. She silently vowed to make her chili more often.
To not only let Bart make new memories but the whole family also.
Memories to last their lifetimes and beyond.
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