Chapter Text
Damian has vague memories of first being programmed, of Mother making sure he wasn't so weak as to dissociate and succumb to the grey. Before Damian would leave his body behind for hours at a time, a husk in the mortal realm, undefended and vulnerable. Amir, his first alter, everything Grandfather wanted Damian to be, that he's too weak for came from that. When training became too much for his small body, larger than life Amir would take over. He's the strong front, maybe even the bodies original host, Damian doesn't remember.
Dami formed next, the grey dissociative cloud twisting and turning to form the young alter. Damian was already six when Dami came to be, much to old to be coddled. But... Dami liked the kind version of Mother, who would spend an hour every night, away from hostile eyes, tucked into his luxurious cage room. Dami would be read stories of great adventures and heartfelt moments, of mischievous fairies hiding in gardens to steal peoples pie.
Dami spent the most time with Mother even though all of the alter have some form of connection with their conceiver.
Damian doesn't spend much time fronting even after two alters, he gets ready for the day then Amir takes over, then during the night Dami would be spoiled by mother. Damian grew tired of the grey inside the mindscape, it became boring and plain... Although Damian had plenty time to experiment and learn. It took little time at all (he might not be a genius like Amir but Damian is, by nature, creative and curious) for the mindscape to become an odd mix of homey (Dami's influence), dramatic and dark colors (Amir), and shelfs full of books and knowledge for Damian and Azul.
Damian never did figure out how to "expand" his mindscape, the library is comfortable for all of them, everyone has their influence and safe space. Despite their conflicting natures the library is a beautiful mix of towering mahogany shelfs, stained glass window's, and a dramatic stone fireplace.
There's comfortable chairs in every corner and colorful beanbag's (Dami's claimed the purple one, Damian's claimed the yellow one, and Amir claimed the blue one) every other step.
The library grew as more alters formed (secret doors and passageways to isolated rooms), Damian doesn't know all of them, some of them prefer the swirling mass of grey compared to the library, and some of them are nicer than the others. One of Damian's favorite's is Layla, she's practically a clone of their mother, cruel and kind and secretive with a poisonous smile (contradicting like every aspect of their life). Occasionally Mother would have a mission that required espionage, and Talia, an opportunist at heart, used these moments to craft Layla's personality to perfection. Layla's doesn't front often so she and Damian were forced in each others company enough that they eventually got along. (Nobody dares speak of their 13 month — according to Amir — feud because Layla saw him as a particularly interesting bird to poke like the annoyingly curious person she is).
Layla's visage in the mindscape is a bit more... whimsical than Talia though. Layla has obviously pointed ears and impossible golden colored eyes. She also wears what could only be described as ball gowns, currently she's wearing a long and voluptuous layered dress in varying shades of violet and purple with a lace trim. The bodice is white and strapless, including a flared back and dark purple bow with golden accents. Layla accessorizes with a stylish broad color necklace in gold and wire "ear wraps" also of gold and decorated in sapphire gemstones. Damian calls her overly extravagant, Layla calls him a styless.
Not all of their alters are as pleasant though, Darius is a cruel man with an expressionless face, strong jaw, and glowing green like Grandfathers eyes. He spends most of his time hiding away in the isles of books or another place Damian doesn't care to look for. Amir is the main one to deal with him, he says that Darius is "The Teacher" the one who punishes when they're particularly useless and weak. Thankfully he's only fronted once so far, Damian could barely move the next morning for the short time he was fronting.
Layla might be the only one who looks his age but Damian is friendly with most of the alters, they just run away to their hidey-holes to plot world domination or something more often than not.
Moving to Wayne Manor away from Mother really shook their system, Amir was in control almost 24/7 until the most vigilant alter decided it was safe enough for Dami to come out (the smallest alter never took well to being locked up, but they didn't trust the Wayne's enough to show him).
The sudden change caused Callaghan and Robin to form existence when they were done "rebooting". Robin is friendly, if a bit stern and has a habit of scowling. But, they're a good, softer version of Amir. Those two get along like a house on fire and Damian knows their both similar with their penchant of protectiveness for Dami even if they get embarrassed by it (Robin more so than Amir).
Callaghan... He's.
Damian will admit he doesn't exactly like that guy, his appearance is that of a scrawny version of Bruce Wayne. Callaghan has no interest in fronting but does spend his time arguing with Darius over ethical and moral debates. It's always loud and Damian would prefer to not know where Darius is at any point in time. After Azul whipped them into shape (Amir suggested making them fight to the death over who's right).
Callaghan spends his time brooding in the dark and cave-like section of the library but is otherwise kind (yet evasive regarding his emotions) and can eat an alarming amount of chocolate in one sitting.