bildungsromans | for watcheslanterns

DC / Meme Threads Continuity

Obligatory Nightwing rescuing Rapunzel from the tower thread, prequel to all the meme threads so far as of uh... this comment

Childhood Friends / ~~Medieval~~ Tangled!Timeline AU

A young Robin!Dick is part of a traveling circus headed to Corona, only for him to stumble upon Rapunzel (littlestsundrop) somehow
They become pals, but are later forcibly split once Gothel gets really paranoid
They could reunite years later when Dick is already Nightwing-aged
- Cue angst lmfao

Dark Timeline

Events of Tangled except Gothel did, in fact, kill Flynn at the end
- Rapunzel's heartbroken, must stay true to her vow that she'd fight Gothel until she can escape
Meanwhile, events of Final Crisis = the world thinks Batman is dead, so Dick must take Bruce's place as the new Batman
- Dick's also heartbroken, except now over the loss of his father
Despite Rapunzel's vow, Gothel endeavors to take Rapunzel somewhere where she can't be found
- Gothel could takes Rapunzel to Ra's Al Ghul in exchange for protection
  - Rapunzel's hair is basically a Lazarus Pit without any of the bad side effects, after all
Maybe this will all compel Dickbats to cut Rapunzel's hair short at some point after they inevitably meet? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Rapunzel escapes a struggle (with the League of Assassins?) with only some of her hair intact, and she's determined not to cut the rest for now out of some misguided belief that she could still help Flynn
- But eventually after facing the facts and coming to know Dick, she would be able to let it go

Edited 2018-04-26 19:40 (UTC)

[ For as long as Dick could remember, his life and upbringing always seemed to carry this sense of escalation. Much like the trapeze acts he's been honing and perfecting under the tutelage of his parents, the rising action was critical, ever-present, and in his case? Thoroughly literal. Because as Dick grew older, the Big Top was only getting bigger. With every advancing year, his parents permitted him to challenge himself with larger spaces and more complicated acrobatic stunts.

Which is fortunate, because Haly's Circus is finding more and more venues across the continent. And recently, they've been called to perform in the kingdom of Corona!

Dick's heard a lot about the place, being such a well-traveled boy who also happens to be quite well-read (it's the advantage of having a lot of downtime while moving in a caravan, and being able to pick up books from town to town with his sizable allowance). What's intrigued him the most, though, is precisely the kind of thing that always intrigues him: a good mystery. He's only seen bits and pieces of text regarding this topic, but the mystery of the lost princess is a thing that's been in his thoughts for quite some time.

On the road to Corona, Dick's spent many a sleepless night on top of his favorite elephant, Sitka, gazing at the stars. Gazing and wondering what this lost princess was like (if she was alive), as well as the circumstances that surrounded her disappearance. Having yet to visit Corona proper, Dick's never really seen an artistic representation of the princess, no murals dedicated to her when she was an infant. Now, he's only got his imagination to go on... and it's really not much to work with if he's hoping for a revelation.

One morning, deep in the forest of the Coronan outskirts, the caravan has set up camp. The kingdom is a few more days away, but the animals all need their rest - especially the elephants, who are among the performers. While the sun is still up, Dick was tasked to go fetch some firewood. It was a simple enough duty that he didn't need parental supervision, except...

That might have helped the moment he tripped and fell into a ravine - a ravine that seemed to open to a vast and hidden valley.

Unfortunately, tripping also happened to sprain Dick's ankle. The poor boy, too curious and resilient for his own good, decides to walk on into the valley, too allured by what appears to be a tower overhead. The pain of the sprain is an inconvenience, at most - Dick can't count the number of times he's been injured just from training to be an acrobat. It might be a surreal sight, this: a young boy clad in reds, yellows, and greens walking around with a limp. He's even found a large stick to use as an impromptu cane, just so he can continue towards the tower.

It's certainly strange that a structure like this is out in the wilderness, with no signs or anything pointing to it. To Dick, it's almost like the place has either been long abandoned, or its owners simply don't want it to be found.

He doesn't spend much time contemplating the reason for this place's existence, far too captivated by the possibility that someone could be there now. So he looks up at the window and musters his best outdoor voice. ]

Hellooo?

[ No answer... yet. He takes another deep breath, and-- ]

Hey! Anybody up there?

[ Hmm. Maybe it is empty. So, how about-- ]

I'm just a kid, and I'm hurt real bad!

[ Okay, so he's exaggerating. But he might as well pull the sympathy card while he's still this young. He puts a little more weight on the cane just to sell it. ]

Literally-- ow, the pain! Woe is me!!

[ hope this works. i was hoping dick could arrive for something unrelated and help her out? if not i can re-write. ]

[ Rapunzel's has lost count of how many times she has tried to escape Gothel. She wonders, as she crouches low in her darkened room, if Gothel has lost count as well. She wonders if that woman she had once called Mother regrets her choice so many months ago, if she relives that moment the same way Rapunzel does every time she closes her eyes.

She sees the panic in Eugene's eyes. She sees the dagger buried in his back and the blood that stains his clothes. She sees her name on his lips and the light that slowly dies in his eyes.

At first all she had been able to do way cry. Gothel dragged her from their hidden tower in the mountains to broken down car, and Rapunzel had wept the whole way. Eventually though, the memory turned her tears into fire. Anger and hatred bloomed in her heart, and she remembered the promise she had made.

She would fight. Every day of her life she would fight. Until she was free.

They had traveled from safe house to safe house, but every day Rapunzel had stayed true to her word. At every opportunity, she tried to escape. When Gothel demanded her healing powers, Rapunzel tore away from her until Gothel had to physically restrain her. Every incantation felt like a betrayal, that only made her fight harder.

In times of desperation, Rapunzel had slashed at her hair with a blade, threatening to cut it all, but they both knew that she couldn't follow through with it. Despite what had happened, some small part of Rapunzel still hoped that her hair could do something for Eugene, long left behind in that lonely tower.

Now though, in her latest prison, Rapunzel knew her escape would be more difficult than ever. Desperate, Gothel had brought Rapunzel to Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins. Gothel told her little about these people, but she'd said enough for her to know they were dangerous. Danger or not though, Rapunzel refuses to give up.

Every afternoon, Gothel comes to her with a meager meal, always at the same time. Like clockwork, the lock on her door clicks, and the door opens. Rapunzel springs from her crouched position, a sheet in her hand. She runs at Gothel and throws the sheet over her head. Quick as can be, Rapunzel ties the sheet around her, making it impossible for Gothel to move her arms or to see.

Gothel screams and threatens, but Rapunzel doesn't heed a word of it. She dashes away, her hair bundled up in her arms. Some of it golden like the sun, other chunks of it brown and raged from her cutting. All around her alarms are raised and figures appear, ready to stop her.

She can't let them. ]

[ It's been a few days since Rapunzel's escape from Gothel and the League of Assassins. While she wouldn't say that she's settled in, Rapunzel is at least more at ease in the Wayne mansion than she had been any place since her return to the tower. She's seen Dick a few times, but mostly their conversations were innocuous as she danced around what went unsaid. She knows that Dick is giving her space, and it makes her feel guilty that she's keeping something from him. He'd given her a place to recover and much more beside. What happened with Gothel really had little to do with him, but it didn't feel right to hide, either.

Besides that, whenever Rapunzel thinks back on Eugene, and the mess she and Gothel had left behind, a small part of her yearns to go back. Maybe it's silly, but with all that her hair could do...would it be so impossible to do something impossible? It's a half-hearted hope, but it'a better than no hope at all.

Still...she needs help if she's going to even try, so one afternoon Rapunzel finds her way back to the grandfather clock. She's not sure where Dick might be, but this was the spot he had told her about. She raises her fist and knocks a few times on the side of the clock. ]

[ For all his life, Dick had only known Haly's Circus. It's where he was born and raised, where he'd experienced so many new and wonderful things as a child. There was no adjustment period to circus life, no introductions needed for any 'new normal,' because, to Dick, Haly's Circus was normal.

So things beyond it were always what fascinated him. Which was why, when he introduced Haly's to fresh eyes, he finally felt genuine wonderment towards his own life, towards the gifts he'd been born into, the loving and talented family that he was proud to call himself a part of.

Strange, then, how quickly that wonderment had passed. How quickly it fell by the wayside when Rapunzel, whose fresh eyes rekindled Dick's love for his home and everything it represented, was taken away. When Dick stopped hearing back from Rapunzel's pidgeon messages, and he checked to see a tower empty of its furnishings and inhabitants.

And that wouldn't be the end of it. Dick's parents had been murdered by bandits, who sabotaged their rope during their last act on their last day in Corona... and Dick was never the same since.

He lived in the shadow of his parents' deaths for years, letting it change him. He ran away from Haly's and began embarking on a crusade to right the wrongs committed by bandits' and thieves' guilds, systematically taking them down all his lonesome, leaving injured bodies to be seized by local authorities.

Though his own roguishness turned him into a wanted man, he'd earned the name 'The Nightwing,' and had become something a folk hero throughout the continent. He eventually came to lead his own crew, the Titans, whose loyalty and camaraderie gave him wistful recollections of life at Haly's. Leader that he was, Dick felt responsible for every member of the group. They had all been hurt, had all lost something to bad people.

As such, he took it upon himself to fetch them some firewood one evening, as the least he could do for his comrades' loyalty.

Seems this is the same evening that Rapunzel's been wandering the woods, having freshly escaped Gothel's clutches.

Of course, Dick knew nothing of this until finally, navigating the dark of the woods, he senses frantic movement. He climbs a tree and maintains a silent vigil over the body in motion: a familiar one, albeit older than he'd last seen.

He almost can't believe his eyes, so paralyzed by the realization-- does she even remember him, he wonders?

Before Rapunzel can continue down the trail, Dick leaps down from the branch where he was perched. He crouches into his landing to properly absorb the impact of the fall, and slowly rises, clad in all black with some blue highlights. He even wears a mask now, but imagines it does little to conceal his true face if one simply looks at him long enough. ]

Recognize me, Rapunzel?

[ His voice is obviously deeper since they last met, but it carries that familiar cadence. ]

for watcheslanterns

Deep Lore Notes

childhood au

dark timeline

more dark timeline

medieval/childhood au cont'd.