#Integration Time

[tanistates]

The Balance of Healing: Receiving vs. Integrating

The Missing Piece: IntegrationToo Much of a Good Thing?Shifting the Perspective Healing is a journey, and like any journey, it’s not just about moving forward—it’s also about pausing to absorb, to integrate, and to let everything settle. Over the past year, I’ve been deeply committed to healing holistically from Epstein-Barr. From treatments and supplements to grounding, nutrition, breathwork,…

[minotaurapologist]

Bunnies is a difficult animals

[noodles-and-tea]

Just some more thoughts on that jayvik dbh au

[stil-lindigo]

recently, Israel sent down hellfire missiles near a hospital in Gaza, which are missiles that explode into blades that slam down and cut through anything in their way. (link)

There is a video of a man with his legs newly amputated, screaming in a pool of his own blood. I won’t share the video, because it made me vomit into a toilet, but either trust me it exists or go look for it yourselves.

There is another video of a young girl, crying silently after her legs were blown off in an explosion. She explains tonelessly to the camera man that she doesn’t want fake legs because they’ll just remind her of her real ones. She is 13. (link)

A hospital is told to evacuate and they do, all the while waving white flags in a show of surrender. The IDF shoot at them anyway. (link)

Meanwhile in Israel - they begin to enforce one of the most draconian anti-free-speech laws in history.

1.link | 2.link | 3.link

Israel also claims to be the “only democracy in the Middle East”.

Israel has bombed hospitals, fishing boats, schools, refugee camps, power sources, water tanks, evacuation routes. They have killed 80% of Palestinian journalists, they have killed 100 UN workers, they have murdered over 4,000 children in 34 days. Because of the lack of food and water, Palestinians have begun to die from starvation, cholera.

If you still support Israel after all this, I believe you’re completely lost. Utterly without any humanity. Nothing could ever excuse this.

In Australia, there is an ongoing list of protests planned, as well as a permanent camp out being set up in Naarm/Melbourne to block Israeli transport company ZIM from shipping weapons. Congressional staffers in the US are finally being gotten through to - in spite of their rampant greed and long-suffering inhumanity, even they can recognise when their phones won't stop ringing with people saying flat out they'll never vote for them again.

Find resources to help Palestine globally at Ceasefiretoday.com

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Just your average male living space.

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[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[starcurtain]

I wasn't planning to say much of anything about the Phaidei situation in 3.4 because I feel it honestly speaks for itself (like, do I need to say anything here? Look at the feast...), but the way that people are reacting to the scene where Mydei duels Khaslana is kinda rubbing me the wrong way, so I thought I might at least say something about that.

A lot of people seem to have taken this scene as 1) Mydei being weirdly into the idea of being killed by Phainon (the sus English lines from the wiki floating around aren't helping lol); 2) Mydei being weirdly into the idea of dueling period, as if his only wish in life was to die in combat; or 3) Mydei being so down bad for Phainon that he doesn't care about Khaslana being "evil" from the cycles' Chrysos Heirs' perspectives.

But (while I don't debate Mydei is, in fact, down bad for Phainon), I think there's a lot of context possibly being missed here, at least in how people are talking about this scene.

The first key takeaway is that, even 108,642 cycles in, Khaslana was still telling the heirs--or at least was telling Mydei--that Amphoreus was trapped in an unending cycle of the Flame Chase Journey... and the Mydei of cycle 108,642 believes him.

It's clear that Khaslana has even shared the issue occurring with the Destruction and his need to continuously collect the coreflames:

This means that Mydei engaged in this battle with Khaslana knowing the full truth of Amphoreus (or very close to it), knowing at the very least that the safety of the universe relies on Khaslana amassing an extreme amount of power through seizing the coreflames in order to prevent the worst from coming to pass.

It should be clear from that alone exactly why Mydei is willing to support Khaslana's victory: Mydei trusts that Khaslana is telling the truth and actually does need to collect the coreflames of Strife to protect the universe from Destruction.

Mydei is not wishing the Phainon of his cycle eternal victory; he's wishing Khaslana--the one who bears the burden of all Amphoreus--"eternal" victory on Khaslana's quest to prevent Irontomb from manifesting. Every time Khaslana triumphs over Mydeimos, "the Deliverer" is one step closer to his goal of amassing enough power to fight back against Destruction, and thus Mydeimos wishes for Khaslana to continue to win their duels in every life, in every cycle, with the belief that doing so is the righteous choice.

Losing to Khaslana is equal to helping save the world.

In reality, this scene is essentially us the players watching Mydei willingly martyr himself to ensure that Khaslana can continue his endless iterations. RIP to the Phainons of the cycles; Mydei picked Khaslana in every life. Noooo I'm kidding, promiseeee. 😂

Anyway, if it's clear that Mydei both understands Khaslana's need for the coreflames and actually believes his story about the Destruction and Amphoreus's cycles, then why doesn't he just hand the coreflame of Strife over peacefully?

Because that's not who Mydei is. (In any cycle, apparently.)

Despite personal desires to live peacefully and initially not even wanting to take on the coreflame of Strife, Mydei is and has always been a character driven by the concept of duty.

It was out of a sense of duty that he killed his father to avenge his mother:

It was out of duty that he took on the role of the crown prince to lead his people into a better future, even as they fought him every step of the way:

It was out of a sense of duty that he chose to join Aglaea's Flame Chase:

It was out of duty that he ultimately took on the coreflame of Strife despite reviling what it stood for:

It was out of duty he returned to Kremnos knowing that it would be futile mission, and faced Flame Reaver in battle knowing that he would die by the blade:

For Mydeimos, whose entire life was prophesied from the moment of his birth, whose existence has always been dedicated to serving others (even all the way back in the Sea of Souls, saving others while not saving himself), the concept of duty is synonymous with integrity. To fully commit to ones' actions, to faithfully do what one has sworn to do, to stand by one's convictions to the end, and to do what is right for others without flinching, no matter the cost to yourself--this is the core of Mydei's character. (If it sounds similar to the core of Phainon's character, that's obviously no accident.)

Fulfilling your duty, even if it costs your life, is the only form of honorable existence--to a person cursed with immortality, finding meaning in life through unwaveringly upholding one's promises and serving others may be the only reason to keep going.

Mydeimos didn't want the coreflame of Strife (at least ours didn't), but having accepted it and the role of "demigod of Strife," there is no world in which someone who comes with a blade in hand could peacefully take that coreflame from Mydei. Having accepted the title of "the Guardian of Amphoreus," the one who bears the name of Strife to fight back the black tide, the one who carries the pride and history of Kremnos's faith on his shoulders--in no way could Mydei ever hand over his coreflame (his sworn duty to his people, to his fellow Chrysos Heirs, to the world as he knows it).

Honor would simply never allow it.

The duel to the death is simply inevitable, compelled by pride and virtue.

Tiny aside, but since I can hear people thinking it: What about the cycles where the coreflames were acquired peacefully without Khaslana killing the Chrysos Heirs? I am willing to bet my money that Khaslana may have acquired the coreflames of Strife from Nikador in those cycles, not from Mydei (who likely never wanted the coreflame and therefore probably delayed taking it on much longer than other heirs, even in relatively peaceful cycles). We know that even in "peaceful" cycles, Khaslana's method for acquiring the coreflames was often just to kill the titans possessing them before the heirs even came into the picture:

Anyway, even more than the question of honor, integrity, and duty, there is the story's continuing theme of conviction.

We are meant to understand the final duel between Khaslana and Mydei as a mirrored reflection of the original Cycle 0 meeting between Phainon and Mydei.

Facing each other in their first "duel" on the scales, both Mydei and Phainon explicitly stake their convictions:

Mydei places his mother's ring, which is emblematic of the deepest hopes and most central beliefs of his people, their firmly held faith in Strife. Phainon ultimately wins the duel, however, because what he wagers is not the convictions of one person or even one group of people, but the most central conviction of all humanity (including the Kremnoans)--the belief that heroes exist, and the hope in all of us that heroes will save us in our hours of need.

Phainon wins at their first meeting because his conviction contains Mydei's conviction.

Therefore, we must understand Khaslana and Mydei's final clash as simply another duel of whose conviction weighs heavier on the scales.

It doesn't feel like an accident that the architecture of Kremnos's arena even somewhat resembles the body of Talaton's scales:

In the first duel what was at stake was Mydei's role as the Chrysos Heir of Strife, and in the second duel, the stakes are effectively the same: the "prize" being the power of Strife itself.

In both cases, the challenge is not truly about who is stronger or has more combat prowess, but about whose convictions burn brighter, whose goal is more "worthy," and whose duty is more righteous.

Mydei cannot allow Khaslana to take the coreflame of Strife without this "weighing of the heart," without this test to confirm the truth of Khaslana's dedication. He cannot surrender the coreflame without proof of Khaslana being a "worthy" inheritor of Strife, and having the spirit necessary to not only bear the burden but to achieve the ultimate victory Khaslana swears he is fighting for.

The answer to the moral quandary of who is right--the Chrysos Heirs or Khaslana--is simple for Mydei to solve: Khaslana will either prove himself to be just or he will be dead. (Ha ha, speaking of Guilty Gear themes that remind me of Khaslana and Mydei's final struggle, the quote: "In battle, you must observe what lies behind your opponent. If there is a path of retreat, then they may be wise. If there is none, then they have naught to lose. Should you, however, see something they wish to protect, then you best concede that victory." Mydei challenges Khaslana to these duels in every life, every cycle to "see what lies behind" his opponent--whether it is darkness or the light of eventual deliverance.)

This is why it is so key that Khaslana challenge Mydeimos directly to his face, to the point that Mydei says "That's all I ever wanted."

Mydeimos already knows he's going to die. By the time we see him at the end of the 108,642 cycle, he's already the demigod of Strife and aware that he will "die with a wound in his back." The fact that he even took on the Strife coreflame at all in this cycle tells us that his situation with the Kremnoans, whatever it may be in this life, is settled. If he knows that his guaranteed fate is to die by the blade, then to ensure that he dies at the hands of a person's whose convictions burn brighter than the sun, whose convictions literally weigh more than the fate of the world itself, would be the most honorable death possible. To die knowing that he not only upheld his duty to his people and the Chrysos Heirs until his last breath but also managed to aid Khaslana in the even greater quest to protect the universe itself--what could be a more fitting end for a person who spent his whole life in service to others than to serve even in death?

This is why Mydei is able to not only embrace his death at Khaslana's hands but find joy and satisfaction through it. It's not meaningless, empty violence--Strife for Strife's sake, which he has always abhorred--but the clash of pure wills, both standing honorably by what they believe in, the burdens they have sworn to carry. This is why Mydei not only willingly concedes defeat at the end of the battle but invites Khaslana to "crown yourself in my blood"--carry not just the coreflame of Strife with you into the future, but use my very existence to mark your ascendance, as you become the flames that will light the way to dawn.

As has always been the case for Mydeimos: When a cause proves worthy, he will commit himself to it unflinchingly, no matter the cost to himself.

This, of course, is why Flame Reaver deviating from the pattern is such an issue.

At some point in the cycles, Khaslana stopped challenging Mydei to honorable duels and instead started using sneak attacks, targeting his weak point with underhanded tactics and refusing (or just unable) to explain his reasons.

This, more than anything else in patch 3.4, is the true sign of the extent of Flame Reaver's descent and degradation. Khaslana, by the point he becomes Flame Reaver, can no longer display honor, can no longer bear his duty with dignity and purity of conscience--his blade no longer communicates the convictions he carries. Now he conveys only the scent of endless death.

Mydei in the Cycle 0 memory isn't just mad he was cheated out of a fair fight--he's mad that he died not knowing whether his ultimate death had any meaning, whether it truly aided the Flame Chase Journey, or whether there was any sense behind the losses they all suffered along the way. To die by the hand of a dishonorable person whose convictions seemingly lacked integrity--a miserable end to a miserable life, one that haunts Mydei even in lingering memories after the end of the world as he knew it.

So yeah, do I think Mydei enjoys dueling Khaslana at the absolute pinnacle of their abilities? Definitely. Do I think he's criminally biased toward finding Khaslana's convictions worthy because he's in love with Phainon, no matter what life or form? Yup, sure do. Do I think that, at his deepest, Mydei still can't escape the core tenets of Kremnoan belief, finding virtue in being willing to go to war for the purposes of securing peace? Check and check.

But I wish more people would look past the "Ha ha Mydei kinda freaky, isn't he?" coming from this scene in order to understand what that moment was really doing in terms of both Mydei and Khaslana's characterization: demonstrating that Mydei's sacrificial nature has and will always extend to what he believes is the greatest good, and that even 108,642 cycles in, at the very least, Khaslana maintained his convictions unshakably, convincing even the ferocious demigod of Strife to entrust the future to him hundreds of thousands of times, something Khaslana seemed to have already given up on with the other heirs thousands of cycles earlier.

This scene perfectly encapsulates 3.4's theme of having the strength to bear impossible burdens for the sake of what you truly believe in, and ends by putting Khaslana and Mydei firmly on the same side of the scales.

[sakuravalenp]

Don't eat anything else - Part 3 - DP X DC

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Masterpost

Sam had somehow fallen asleep after hours of rolling in her bed, so of course, when her phone started ringing, she was just about ready to send the thing flying across the room. She covered her ears with her pillow, hoping the thing would shut up soon enough, and cursed her past self for leaving the phone in her desk instead of plugging it to the socket that was just behind her bed. She could have already shut the thing off then, but no, she’ll have to get out of bed to do it. She was going to maul whoever decided it was a good idea to call in the middle of the night.

With a resigned huff, she got out of bed and went to the desk, stumbling over the chair because of course she hadn’t pushed it back into the space the desk left for it, and snatched the phone roughly, pulling the charger and making her pencil case fall off the desk. The clattering sounds let her know she had also left that open. She groans, and squints at her phone screen, her eyes complaining at the sudden light, she takes a look at the insistent caller: Tucker. She answers while letting herself fall into the chair.

“Tucker, it’s like two am. You better be dying, or I swear to the ancients I’m throwing your beloved PDA into a natural portal to never be seen again!”

“Check the Phantom chat.” Sam blinked. She was expecting some sort of dramatic response. Then her mind caught up to what her friend had just asked.

“Did Danny text anything!?” The call was already being placed on speaker as she took her phone off her ear and started looking for their chat server.

“You’ll have to check yourself, it’s a full text wall, I’ve just read like- the first paragraph. Just- check it out and call me back when you’ve read it all.”

Sam frowned at the beep of the call being ended. She had never hated so much that their server took so long to load. She understood why; a hidden server that went through the infinite realms? Tucker was a genius for creating it. Still, in times like this the waiting was excruciating.

Danny didn’t tell them anything about his life with Vlad. She would say it screamed red flags, but it was Vlad. The moment the man had gotten custody of Danny all the fire alarms were going off in Sam’s head, and they hadn’t stopped since.

They tried not to push much at the start. The Fentons and Jazz’s death was too fresh, so they just checked in, asking how things were going, trying not to prod. But weeks turned to months, and they hadn’t been able to see Danny, and he was not telling them anything.

They had been keeping tabs of what they could get. Danny checked in at least once a day, until he didn’t. There would be days without response, and then Danny would check in again with some vague excuse. When that became common enough, Danny stopped making up excuses and just directly checking in without explaining the absence.

His texts were useless to understand his situation, other than he was well enough to text them, so their next focus was his public appearance. There weren’t a lot of those, but they would be happy with any scraps they could get. 

Vlad had taken Danny to more than a couple of galas and some political events, proudly flaunting his heir, and yet, there were barely any photos of Danny at said events. It was up in the air whether it was due to Vlad avoiding the pictures getting out or due to how difficult it was to get a clear photo of Danny.

Nevertheless, the few pictures they did get weren’t great. He looked emaciated, lost so much weight, lost any brightness in his eyes. Still, Sam had almost cried from relief the first time they got a picture. The mind can be cruel when there's nothing to hold it back, and Sam had about a thousand terrible thoughts of what Vlad could be doing to Danny. At least he was in one piece. 

Her phone vibrated, letting her know the server had finally loaded. There was a bubble beside the Phantom group chat letting her know there were new texts. She pressed on the group chat and was indeed greeted by a wall of text. She scrolled back to find the beginning.

Hey guys, you’ll probably won’t see this until tomorrow but I needed to write this right away before I started doubting. Not that that’s really a choice at this point, not when the Waynes already left with those notes.

The Waynes? Oh, yeah, Danny had mentioned Vlad had invited them to dinner once. First visitors they would be getting. Sam had idly wondered if she would have gotten a chance to see Danny if her parents were more influential. She had never wished for her parents to be richer before. 

So anyway, the Waynes visiting kind of changed things here a bit. I may not have been really honest about how things were going here with Vlad. Though, you probably already knew that, and I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I can tell you guys. I just don’t think I can get myself to tell you, and I’m so sorry, because you’re always there and deserve the truth, but I can’t. So, let’s just leave as things hadn’t been great, and Vlad was more of a monster than we ever thought he could be. 

Sam didn’t like that, it was terribly vague. What had Vlad done to Danny that he didn’t feel he could tell them? Sure they had been dealing with Danny’s silence, but now he was straight up telling them he couldn’t get himself to talk about it. The fact that he couldn’t even explain what Vlad had done meant it was probably worse than what she imagined.

They’d faced their fair share of horrors over the years while combating the rogues, and there had never been a problem verbalizing it. Something horrible had happened. Sam was going to kill Vlad. She didn’t care what the full story was, if it was bad enough that Danny actively refused to tell them, it was bad enough to revoke Vlad’s right to existence. 

The thing is, I can’t keep this up. The Wayne’s came in, and Vlad's plans for dinner made me realize I couldn’t let this keep going. I managed to sneak a note to Timothy Drake-Wayne. Everyone knows the Waynes have connections to the Justice league.

Sam frowned. The Justice League had been shining for their absence from everything involving Amity. That absence still burned like acid. They’d begged for help. Pleaded. Amity had become a warzone more than once, and no one had come. Would they really show up just because the Waynes got involved?

I know they hadn’t been answering our calls, but now it affected the Waynes. Again, I can’t explain how it affected them, but I’m pretty sure the Waynes will make sure the Justice League gets involved. I had to tell them that Vlad isn’t human. It would only end in an apocalypse if they came looking for Vlad without being prepared. They’ll look for you guys. I told them you had the means to combat him. 

Oh shit. Was she really meeting with the Justice League? In friendly terms? After all the ignored calls, Sam had swore it would be on sight if she ever met the assholes. And if they really showed up just because the Waynes were the ones to call, Sam wasn’t sure if she could keep it civil.

I didn’t reveal myself to the Waynes, I don’t know what the Justice League stand on ghosts is, all this is already a big risk, the GIW are bad enough on their own, there’s no way we would survive the Justice League hunting us, but Vlad needs to be stopped. I need you guys to give them what they need to not be possessed, and the ectoguns that I modified, maybe an ectoshield. Nothing more, they have a good history with non-humans, but I don’t know if we can trust them to not start a hunting campaign after Vlad. Try making it clear that this is a Vlad problem, not a ghost problem. I’m sorry I’m leaving everything to you guys, I can’t do anything from this side.

Her breath trembled. If the Waynes were really able to convince the Justice league to finally intervene, they might have days. She and Tucker needed to prep everything.

Ghost attacks had become rare since the portal was destroyed, but sometimes ghosts still came through naturally forming ones. There couldn’t be a ghost attack while the Justice League was there. Not when they needed to convince them that Vlad was the exception, not the rule.

They needed to get the gear and figure out how to lie to the Justice League convincingly enough that they wouldn’t turn every ghost into collateral damage.

Because Vlad might be the monster. But the League could still be the executioners.

Still, despite all the anxiety running through her veins, Sam felt hopeful. Danny had reached for help, after months of silence he had finally reached for help, and for once there seemed to be a chance they'd see Danny again. 

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

They couldn’t continue reading the paper right away. There was no way to do it. Cass was more sensitive to people's deaths than anyone else in her family, and Bruce had focused on supporting her so he wouldn’t have to think about what he had just eaten. He had helped Cass to the bathroom like he hadn’t vomited as well. Tim had mumbled something about needing a shower, a really long shower, and left. Jason had forgotten the pretender had been bathed in that cursed soup.

He did think about taking the paper and finishing reading it himself, but green edged his vision, rage bursting under the skin, and he needed an outlet, which he didn’t have here. The punch he had thrown onto the wall had already left a mark, and this was a house they rented as Waynes, he couldn’t just trash it all.

He had worked through some breathing exercises Dick had introduced to him. He’ll never tell Dick, but they did work somewhat. It wasn’t really a surprise, Jason knew Dick had anger issues. The bastard seemed like the perfect young adult holding it together these days, but Jason was there for his teenage rebellion, and that was supposedly an improvement from how he had been as Robin. So of course the breathing exercises helped, but it wasn’t enough.

He felt like giving the wall another punch from the frustration, but he had been trying to “redirect his anger” in less violent ways lately, and this was the kind of situation where it would be better to clear his head instead of exploding. He could save the explosion for when they had that reprobate on their hands. 

His phone was pinging and Jason knew it was probably the rest of the family asking for an update. The sudden silence probably got them worried the supposed poison had been something serious, and as the only one in commission at the moment, he should be the one reporting, but he was pretty sure he would crack his phone if he used it right then. His helmet took his attention where it resided on the desk, and he made a decision.

You’re not supposed to ride while you're angry, that’s how accidents happen, but that didn’t apply to people like him. Red Hood spent most of the night in his motorcycle while absolutely furious; they knew how to ride without becoming a public safety issue. 

He grabbed his helmet and screamed before putting it on. “You better don’t read the damn note before I’m back!” And then he was on the road once again. 

He rode around the small city, making the same circle over and over again at maximum speed. Harsh changes in direction that made the adrenaline pump in his veins. It was a good outlet. At some point the green receded enough for him to think clearer. He lowered the speed a bit, and connected his helmet to the comms. The questioning screams from everyone on comms came instantly.

“Shut the fuck up. I can’t understand a single thing you are saying.” As expected, that didn’t have any effect, but a minute later the line went dead silent. Babs must have muted everyone's lines. 

“Hood, what’s the situation? Did the antidote work without problem?” Babs asked.

Jason almost laughed. Antidote. They wished it had just been some stupid poison. “It wasn’t poison, or drugs, Batman and Orphan are… physically fine.”

There was a moment of silence, then Jason could hear the crackle of a line joining the comms again. “What does that mean Todd?” Damian finally asked.

Jason could feel the rage try to creep back at the thought of what really was in the food, he pushed it back. He didn’t want to really talk about what really was in the food. Another crackle. “Little wing? What was in the food?” 

Jason sighed. Why should he be the only one in commission to report back? No, he was glad to not have been anywhere close to that hideous concoction that didn’t have a right to be called food. He turned the speed back up.

“Apparently, Vlad Masters is a cannibal. One in the habit of sharing his taste with others.” The silence in the other line was about what he expected, so was the new explosion of voices that came afterward. 

Yeah, no. Report given. They could deal with the news themselves. Jason disconnected from comms and started riding back to the house. Checking the time on the edge of his helmet screen, he saw he had been riding for quite some time. How has two hours already passed? 

He left the motorcycle in the garage. There was no one there, so Jason wandered inside. He found Tim was sitting on the sofa with his laptop in the living room, the note folded beside him. Bruce sat on a chair beside him still looking pained. Jason talked from the door.

“Did you actually wait for me?”

Tim shrugged and without taking his eye off. “Figured it would be better to read once we were all here.”

“Where’s Cass?” He asked, walking to the opposite side of the couch.

“She asked to be filled in later.” Bruce answered. “It’s better we read the rest of the note already. I can’t imagine what else Danny would like us to know.”

Tim sighed, like someone had asked him to be the one to read the letter instead of him being the one to take it upon himself. He took the note, unfolding it again, and Jason could see he was making an effort to ignore the first line.

“I don’t know who the victims are, or where Vlad gets them, but they’re recently deceased. So somewhere there must be people disappearing constantly. It may not be the same place all the time, or it may not even be the same city. Vlad isn’t human.”

“Fucking great. Just what we were missing. What is it this time? A vampire? He definitely has the aesthetic going for him.” The pretender glared at him for the interruption, but Jason thinks the situation fully justifies his reaction.

Bruce sighed. “Language. Please, go on, Tim.”

“He’s a kind of ghost.” Tim raised an eyebrow but continued reading. “I know it may be hard to believe for outsiders, but ghosts are pretty much a common occurrence in Amity Park.”

“I thought that was just a tourist trap.” Jason commented, which gained him another glare from Tim. Jason didn’t bother to acknowledge it, though, inside, he was quite enjoying getting the little shit annoyed.

Tim huffed, and lowered the note a bit before commenting. “There are quite a few claims of ghost sightings, but we couldn’t find any proof of them when we took a look at Amity while searching for a house to rent.” He turned to the computer and started typing something.

“Even then, those reports were not of great importance, mentions of seeing a figure for a couple a seconds in the corner of a room, of a shadow following them around the city, or a pale little kid running around in the cemetery.” Bruce added. “The whole city works around the theme.The biggest school is called Casper High, and most attractions are named after ghost-related puns. We concluded it was, in fact, a tourist trap.”

“So what, the kid is imagining his guardian isn’t human? Making things up to cope with the fact that he is a cannibal? That-”

“Um. Bruce, you might want to see this.” Tim interrupted him.

His eyes were wide, scanning quickly through a webpage. Jason moved close to see the screen, and so did Bruce, standing up from his chair to lean over the back of the sofa. Tim started reading titles while he passed the mouse over them. 

“Octo-Ghost Assists Kindergarten Party and Almost Becomes The Birthday Girl's Pet. First Ghost Attack of the Week in Casper High, Red huntress Captures It Before It Can Disrupt Class. Ghost Known as Lunch Lady Visits Local Restaurant and Asks for a Cooking Battle With the Owner: See the Unexpected Results. Don’t You Miss When Ghosts Would Interrupt Class at Least Once a Day? A ranting blog by Phan_number1. None of this existed when we were checking Amity!”

“How is that even possible? The Batcomputer should have pinged something if there was anything blocking the information,” Bruce says in what sounded like a monotone voice, but any of his kids could tell he’s alarmed by the fact that so much information was successfully hidden from the Batcomputer. “Try sending a link to Babs.”

Tim goes ahead to do that with the ranting blog, but honestly, Jason couldn’t care less if the oh-so-great Batcomputer missed this.

“So the kid isn’t making things up, great. Can you both have your freak-out about the information blockage after we finish reading the note?” If Tim were a super, Jason would have a hole on his front, he’s sure of it.

Babs: Why are you sending me a recipe for making ghost-themed pie?

Tim looks at the message in disbelief, and clicks on the link he had sent. The ranting blog opens, no pie recipe to be seen. Tim takes a screenshot and tries sending it, but a warning message appears, saying the file is corrupted. He tries to send an image of his gallery, it goes without any problems.

“This is weird. It’s not like any kind of blockage we had seen before. It even redirects links to a page that matches the city's theme.”

“Try sending the image through the Bat server.” Bruce says with a voice that it was more serious than Jason expected, which makes him glance back at the man. 

Bruce is glaring at the computer with a dark expression. Realization hits Tim, and he quickly tries to send the image through the Bat server. It goes through, and even Jason feels relieved at the received checkmark. 

“Okay… okay. So they’re monitoring private conversations, but the Bat server is still safe.” Tim murmurs. Then goes ahead and tries sending the link once more, with a message saying it should open the website shown in the image. 

Oracle: All that link opens is the pie recipe Red Robin. If this is some kind of joke, you know the Bat server is not for that.

Tim rolls his eyes at the response and starts writing down a response, explaining the situation to Babs.

“The link must be blocked by IP Address. Tell her to try using a residential proxy.”

“Already on it.”

Jason hates when the old man understands more about technology than he does. Damn his time in the grave. He had been working on getting up to date, and he can do some basic hacking and whatnot. Enough that he doesn’t need external help for every little thing. But he’s still so far behind. 

Oracle: I’m in. You’re also seeing all these things about ghosts?

Red Robin: Yes. 

Red Robin: Somehow they have the city under a blockage that the Batcomputer wasn’t able to detect.

“Okay. Babs can take care of investigating that. We have a note to finish reading, remember?” Jason says, reaching for the paper Tim had left beside the computer, which Tim promptly snatches back. “Hey!”

“You won’t read it outloud for everyone.”

“According to whom!?”

“Kids…” Bruce sighed, “Continue reading, please, Tim.”

The little shit looked smug for a second before going back to the note.

“Please understand that in general ghosts aren’t bad, it’s just Vlad. But ghosts are powerful, and Vlad is really powerful. This can’t be resolved through normal means. I know the Waynes have contact with the Justice League, so I ask you to please get in contact with them, and don’t get anymore involved. I doubt the Justice league is equipped for the type of ghosts we have in Amity park. My friends Samantha Mason and Tucker Foley know where to find specialized weaponry and protective devices. Please, convince the Justice League to go for them first, it would be a disaster if one of the Justice League was overshadowed by Vlad.” That’s where the letter ended.

“Overshadow?” Bruce echoed.

Tim wasted no time putting the word into Google, which, now that Jason noticed, was decorated with little ghosts. Did Amity have its own Google doodle? The definition of the word popped like any other word would, and Jason wondered if that was something else that was blocked outside the city.

“It seems to be how Amity Parkers refer to possession.” Tim said after skimming the definition.

“What do we know about Samantha Mason and Tucker Foley?” Bruce asked, already in work mode.

“Not much, outside of being known friends of Danny. The Masons are a well positioned family in Amity; they’re new money. Izzy Manson, Samantha's great grandfather, invented a machine that twirled cellophane around deli toothpicks, the patent and inheritance placed the family where it is today. Pamela Manson owns a jewelry brand that’s grown in popularity in the Midwestern elite, while Jeremy Manson is a real estate developer. They often attend galas in Wisconsin, and sometimes in other big cities. Samantha Mason is a known teen activist, and has had her fair share of incidents at galas.” Tim said, as he opened the report he had made before coming to Amity.

“Incidents?” Jason asked.

“She has a sharp tongue and doesn’t seem interested in keeping appearances. It’s well known she isn’t fond of the styles her mother gives her for the galas. In any photo she posted on her personal accounts in the last two years, she has a gothic aesthetic.”

“Ah.”

“There’s less about Tucker Foley. His mother, Angela Foley, works as a chef at a local restaurant called “A Ghost's Secret Recipe.” His father, Maurice Foley, is an IT technician for the city government. Tucker seems to take after his father in his interest in technology, and has a history of winning local programming contests.”

“There’s nothing that really screams “I know how to fight ghosts and have ghost weaponry” is there?” Jason comments.

“Well, this is the information we have while searching with the city's information being blocked. Search for Daniel Fenton on the web,” Bruce says, and when Tim enters the name, a lot of news articles come to light. “We should have suspected something when there weren’t a lot of news articles talking about an explosion taking the life of a whole family.” Tim nods to that.

Jason frowns at the screen. “Are you seeing these titles? Local ghost hunters die from mysterious explosions? Something tells me that the access to weaponry has more to do with Danny’s parents than anything about Samantha and Tucker.” 

“What did we have about the Fentons from the investigation in Gotham?”

“They were supposedly part of the tourist industry, “entertaining tourists with street shows about ghost hunting.” We were literally blocked from one of the most important details of Danny’s life.” Tim groaned. 

Bruce sighed. “Let’s try getting some sleep. We’ll try meeting Samantha and Tucker tomorrow in the late afternoon.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Late afternoon?”

“They’re teenagers. I would prefer to interrupt their class time or disturb them too late. They might not even know we plan to meet with them.”

Tim nodded, already starting with the new background check. “I doubt Masters lets Danny have his own phone.”

Jason unceremoniously closed Tims laptop, putting it aside and carrying the kid in a firefighter carry.

“Trying to rest applies to you too.”

Tim protested as he trashed, trying to get him to let go, and if the pretender had actually been serious about it, Jason may have not been able to keep a hold of him.

“I’ll tell Babs to leave the investigation for tomorrow as well. You’ll have time before we go meet Danny’s friends, so let’s rest for some time first, okay?” Bruce said with that voice he always used when he was treating them like little kids. And if Jason found it soothing, that was between his mind and himself.

Tim groans, but relaxes, accepting defeat, and the kid is asleep before Jason even makes it out the living room. Jason wonders, not for the first time, if Tims ability to basically sleep anywhere, anyway, anytime, would go away if the kid actually followed the sleeping schedule Bruce and Alfred tried imposing, instead of taking random naps around the clock. 

He’s sure the little shit will be back in front of the computer in 30 minutes. Whatever. He already did his mandatory older sibling duty by getting him to stop for a nap. 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Next part

[cameforstuff]

Hate Mail

Stan had gotten used to reading and replying to piles of mail in a day, slowed by carefully deciphering the messy crayon so he could give the best response. It would usually take him several minutes to think of the perfect doodle to slip in with it. Sometimes he would scrap it several times before he was happy with the result.

His last letter was from a little girl from California asking if it could rain soda she poured it into the ocean. He’d written a polite answer explaining that it would be bad for the sea animals, and a simple experiment she could do with evaporation instead. After a bit of thought he drew Dr. Pine sitting a a table chatting with a sea turtle in purple crayon at the bottom. He was almost glad he had not improved his drawing skills since he was twelve. 

The next letter shocked him a bit. He almost set it aside when he saw it, thinking a bill had been slipped with the fan letters. Yet there on the front, in almost obnoxious cursive, was the typical address to Dr. Pine. There was no return address.

Another odd thing about the letter was just how carefully it had been put together. The wording straight and the envelope closed seemingly perfectly. Yet the bottom corner was scrunched like the writer had been holding it like their life depended on it. Stan opened the letter, to his surprise there was two. 

The first was like any letter from a kid, slightly messy handwriting gushing about their favorite part of the last episode. The ‘Tate Mcgucket’ seemed to really enjoy them discussing the lake’s food web and listed a few of his favorite fish. 

The second letter however was not as kind. It listed 12 inaccuracies in the episode. Each going in lengthy detail. He could only skim it as the text shrunk to save room. The explanations were familiar in a way. Kind of like how he tried to explain things, but laced with passive aggressive remarks. Hate mail was a thing he had gotten from angsty teenagers and upset parents on occasion, but this letter felt different. It was addressed by a ‘Mr. Mystery PhD, A real one unlike yours.’ He stared at the letter for several minutes unsure of what to do with it. 

He moved back to the first letter, replying to it like any other. Drawing a Dr. Pine riding a large bass. He quickly popped open a book for references, this kid seemed like the type to appreciate the effort. Then he looked back at the other letter. A bit of annoyance now when he remembered the letter had no return address. He pinned both to a the corkboard above his desk and moved on to replying to other letters.

He decided he was going to get his reply to Tate, not only because he was determined to reply to every letter, but also to spite this ‘Mr Mystery.’ He may be right that Stan is not a real doctor, but he was a man to stubborn for his own good

______

And thus a saga of mail exchanges begins. Where? Uh I lost it in shipping, you know how mail goes.

Forgot to link the post that this is based on.

[deerspherestudios]

Hello! I just wanted to say that your new peoject Astronought is such an awesome and well-made game! Atom is just so so adorable omg, they are such a cutie patootie

Anyway here is my question! So, I’m guessing the reason the ship got damaged in its rear was because of Atom, right? But, like… can I ask how they managed to do that? Did they turn into a massive ball and shoot themselves down in an incomprehensible speed like a meteor or something?

I'm so sorry but that is literally what happened,,,

It literally came in like a wrecking ball. //lyr ref

[critterbitter]

Introducing! ELESA, the new kid on the block! She's a tiny bedraggled child from Sinnoh and not all that familiar with Galarian, the spoken language in Unova. (One day she'll be amazing. Right now though, she just wants to go play in the mud. And maybe get a better set of hearing aids.)

When not bitterly lonely, she’s scheming to run back to her old home. Or chasing the local patrat. Or watching nervously from the sidelines as other children play on the swings. Oh elesa. (loosely inspired by @/noxstrages' incredible comics about elesa's origins! Ty for the food.)

Masterpost to my submas comics!

[samcarter34]

At this point I'm largely 'it was what it was' vis a vis campaign 3.

But occasionally I'll think about how the climax of campaign 1 is Scanlan having to sacrifice his one chance to save Vax's life in order to stop Vecna from escaping, how the cast has multiple times acknowledged how strong the story of the tragedy of Vax is. Then I'll think about they consciously made the decision to undermine that, and I get a little annoyed again.

[jakeperalta]

very sexy of joe alwyn to have the eyes of millions of prying swifties on him for months and to only ever be like "btw you should care about gaza"

[lilybug-02]

Eimmet High...temmiE high. OMG!

Part 28 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

Next update may take...much longer! I have finals and an internship and not to mention I have to draw- A LOT :')

[driedlillies]

“The world needs more hashimada with Hokage!Madara fics” I say into the mic. The crowd boos. I begin to walk off in shame, when a voice from the back speaks and commands silence in the room.

“He’s right!” someone says. I look for the owner of the voice. It's Senju Hashirama.