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too-much-tma-stuff · 1 year ago

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Finally Getting Help (pt 3)

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What Tim and Bruce found was completely ridiculous. It really wasn’t hard to find the Doctors Fenton’s website but it was ridiculous! It was outdated and gaudy with animations of cartoony ghosts everywhere. If it hadn’t been for how clear Danny was about his parents' names Tim would have skipped right over it. But when he got past the terrible website design and started reading it his stomach just dropped lower and lower.

The writing was clean and scientific though it couldn’t disguise the malicious delight they took in tearing the creatures they called ‘ghosts’ apart. Whatever these ghosts really were Danny had been internalizing this attitude about Himself for years! They also bragged about their weapons and their government contract. So whether that was true or not Danny hadn’t been lying or delusional, it was his parents. And regardless of what these ghosts actually were it was obvious they were supernatural so RR sent a link to the website to Zatana.

(link)

RR: What do you think?

Tana: Lol is this a joke?

RR: I wish, I know it looks like one but no, this is deadly serious.

Tana: Hang on

Red Robin put down his phone to give Zatana the time to read over the site and looked more into Maddy and Jack Fenton while she did. He found their graduation certificates, and pictures of them in college with what must have been a much younger Vlad. So they were actually doctors of some sort, they had their doctorate, though that didn’t exactly make it any less likely they had gone fully off the rails now.

His phone dinged and he picked it up to see one short message from Zatana.

Tana: I’m coming to the cave.

Tim sighed and put his phone back down, spinning his chair to face B who was hunched over the computer typing furiously. “Zatana is on her way, I asked for her opinion of the Fenton’s research and she must think it’s big.” He said as he dug out a domino mask.

“Hm,” B sounded and went to get his cowl. “Report?”

“The Doctors Fenton are doctors, they got their doctorates though I don’t know in what yet. They’ve been friends with Vlad since university and they certainly at least think they’re studying ghosts. Their website has articles on behaviours and biology, and how to hunt and hurt ghosts. They brag about a government contract.” Tim summarized. “You?”

“The Ghost Investigation Ward does exist and they are a government agency but they only seem to be active in the town of Amity Park and they’re so inept! It wasn’t hard to hack them, they’re trying to sound mysterious and a little dangerous talking about protecting humanity from invasions from other worlds but I don’t think they’re actually that competent,” Batman said with a scowl.

“The only reason we didn’t know about this was because we weren’t looking! And it’s possible Danny is right and they were jamming calls from Amity to the JL, but I have a terrible feeling what actually happened if that the call came through and someone heard them talking about ghosts and rogue government agencies, assumed it was a prank and blocked them,” Bruce said massaging his temples.

“Ah,” Tim said, his heart dropping at how plausible that sounded. Could they have saved Danny before, if they had taken that call seriously.

“And Vlad is the mayor of his town, there are articles about Danny fighting him in public. It seems like everyone knew their relationship was antagonistic at best and No One defended him. The GIW also listed him in their special thanks for helping fund them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been using them as a tool to threaten and control Danny.” Batman said with cold fury. Tim took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

“We weren’t able to protect him, but we will avenge him. And we’ll keep him safe Now,” Tim reminded his father. Privately thinking that as soon as he could he was going to tell Jason about this so they could Really make sure Vlad never came near Danny again. An arrest just wasn’t strong enough for a man like that. He wasn’t going to tell Bruce that though, obviously.

The sound of the Zeta tube interrupted their moment as Zatana arrived, looking slightly more ruffled then she usually did. She must have really rushed here, which was a bit worrying.

“Zatana,” Batman greeted.

“Hello Batman, before we talk I need to check your wards.” She said already walking past them.

“Hm,” Batman sounded, making RR smile a little, how Batman made that sound mean so many different things always sort of amazed him.

“I need to check the ones on your home too. And I’d like to meet the boy you have under your care,” She said briskly.

“How did you know about the boy?” Batman asked gruffly.

“Lucky guess,” she said briskly, her hands glowed as she walked around the cave, making seemingly random gestures as if touching or pulling on invisible threads. None of the bats really understood magic so they left her to it. When she was done they let her up into the manner, she knew their identities already after all and she checked all the wards on the home very thoroughly, occasionally casting spells to reinforce them. They collected Dick and Damian trailing after them curiously as they went as well.

“Alright, can I meet the boy now?” She asked, turning towards Bruce who crossed his arms and puffed out his chest a bit.

“Not till you explain to us what’s going on,” He growled and Zatana looked over the curious stubborn faces surrounding her and sighed.

“Fine,” she allowed, resigned. She rubbed her temples as she looked around for a chair and sunk down into it. “So what the Fentons seem to be referring to as Ghosts are actually denizens of the Infinite Realms, the space in between every world and afterlife. Some of the beings there were once people who died but many aren’t. They’re also known to be very powerful and quite violent though thankfully not particularly interested in the living. The fact that the Government is apparently messing with something like this is very bad news.

“Constantine and I have been keeping half an eye on the situation in Amity Park but they had their own pair of Heroes, Phantom and Red Huntress, who seemed to have the situation well under control so we weren’t all that worried about it. We weren’t tracking the more human elements of the GIW and the Fentons,” She bit her lip and thought for a moment.

“When Tim sent me that website and I was made aware of those, that changed things. What’s worse is the photo the Fentons’ have of their family. Their son… we knew Phantom looked young but ghosts often stay at a younger age than they really are, with how powerful he was we assumed he was Old. But he looks exactly like the Fenton’s son. Did they not notice he was dead or…” She looked around at their faces, apparently getting her answer from their expressions.

“There have been rumours for a long time about a very rare and powerful sort of living dead, humans soaked in the pure energy of the infinite realms resulting in a still living ancient. It’s so rare that people usually think it’s a fairy tale but with the work Phantom’s parents do it makes a sick sort of sense. And what it means is that that boy you have stashed away is basically a baby God and we all have to be very careful.”

There was a heavy silence as they all processed what she was saying. “Are you… sure?” Tim asked, uncertainly.

“I won’t be till I meet him, but I’m as sure as I can be without that at the moment,” she said firmly.

Tim sighed and pulled out his phone. “Cas is with him, I’ll text her to see if she’s up to meeting you. If he’s that powerful we don’t want to push him right?” He asked as he typed out a text to Cas.

“Yes. Like I said he’s been acting as a hero in Amity, he seems like a good kid but I have no doubt in my mind if he’s pushed too far we could have a truly apocalyptic situation on our hands,” She said which made Tim swallow thickly.

His phone dinged and he checked it. “Danny is willing to meet you but he’s really tired so go easy on him and don’t stay long,” Tim relayed her message.

“Alright that’s fine, thank you. Show me the way please,” She requested.

Bruce took over, leaving the way. “We don’t want to overwhelm him, I think only I and Zatana should go in, with Cas still there since he seems to feel safe with her,” Bruce informed his children.

“Alright, just tell us everything soon!” Dick demanded and Bruce’s lips twitched up in just the suggestion of a smile as he nodded to them.

He took off his cowl, he wasn’t in his full uniform anyway and he didn’t want to scare Danny. Besides if he had been a hero even if he clocked Bruce he would understand.

“Hello Danny, it’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Zatana,” She introduced herself s she followed Bruce in. She would have offered her hand to shake but Danny was half hiding behind Cas sitting on the bed.

“It’s nice to meet you too. What’s with the outfit?” He asked curiously which made her laugh.

“I’m a hero, one of the less known ones. I’m part of Justice League Dark which is their supernatural division along with Constantine and Deadman and a few others. He’s a ghost, but I assure you the government hasn’t been giving him any trouble, probably because they knew they wouldn’t get away with it.”

“So I’m just lucky then,” Danny said with a bitter curl to his lips.

“As a hero, I want to ask, are you Phantom?” She asked rather bluntly.

Bruce shivered as the temperature in the room suddenly dropped a few degrees and Danny’s eyes started to swirl with green as he glared at Zatana who managed to barely react. Batman noticed how her back tensed a bit but it was barely there. “You know?” Danny demanded. “You knew about what was going on in Amity and you didn’t help?!”

“I’m very sorry Danny,” She said genuinely. “We knew something was going on, but we didn’t look closely enough. We thought that you were an older ghost just of someone who died young because of your strength, and it looked like things were under control. Normally our involvement wouldn’t have been appreciated, intruding on someone’s haunt, so we didn’t look any closer. I am so sorry we overlooked you but we’re going to make up for it now I promise.

“I’ve checked and reinforced the wards on the house so nothing should be able to come in uninvited, and I’m going to contact the rest of the JLD. We’re going to go to Amity, we’ll figure this out and deal with it I promise.”

The temperature in the room slowly went back up, Danny was still upset, but he didn’t seem like he was about to snap anymore. While Zatana had been talking Cas had started gently rubbing Danny’s back and that seemed to be helping too. After a moment Danny looked up again and nodded, accepting the help.

“The veil must be very thin there, to let so many ghosts through?” Zatana probed gently.

“It is, but more than that two years ago my parents succeeded in building a portal to what they call the Ghost Zone. This kinda green world of floating islands.

“A portal,” Zatana said flatly, blinking rapidly. “To the Infinite Realms?”

“Ah is that what it’s really called? Ya probably? That’s how everyone’s been getting through. How I got my powers too, the ghosts call me a halfa, but I’m not the only one. Vlad’s one too.”

Batman heard Zatana mutter “Two?” softly, baffled and alarmed but she nodded. Bruce filed that information away too, it seemed Vlad was even more of a threat then he’d first appeared to be.

“Alright, I’ll get as many of the JLD together as I can and we’ll head to Amity. We’ll shut down the portal and deal with this.” She said determinedly.

From the look on Danny’s face he didn’t really believe her, but he nodded again and leaned against Cas. “Good luck I suppose,” he muttered and sighed, rubbing his face.

“Just… tell me if you get in over your heads okay, I’m used to dealing with all this stuff.” God he sounded so tired, the poor kid.

“I will, but don’t worry about us, just take care of yourself okay? This is a good place to be, I promise you won’t have to be alone anymore.” Zatana assured him. She probably had more questions, but it was very obvious that Danny was getting tired.

“Bruce is good dad,” Cas chimed in, speaking up for the first time. It embarrassed Bruce a little but he smiled at them and nodded a little.

“Thank you,” Danny said, his shoulder slumped and his back curled. “Can I go to bed now?”

“Of course Chum,” Bruce agreed, starting to shoo Zatana out of the bedroom with Cas on their heels. When they closed the door behind them Bruce heard the lock click quietly closed behind them. He really hoped that Danny would feel safe enough to sleep well.

@zlinen @sebas-nights @littlefeather345 @isnt-that-grape @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @shadowkatt99 @fantasticstoryteller @blackshuckatdusk @blacksea21090 @sithlordchimchnga @fanfictionforme2 @imalittlefangirl25 @bushbees @yotsubaayase @thomasdimensor @ultimatebluff

#red robin #danny phantom #dp x dc #batman #bruce wayne #fanfiction #tim drake #zatana #cassandra cain #the fentons are bad parents #Vlad is a creep #misunderstanding #danny is pregnant au #mama danny #bad parents jack and maddie

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idontcaboose · 11 months ago

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Haunted car au part 9

Previous Masterpost

“O, please tell me someone is close by?” Red Robin hissed into his comm.

“Batman and Signal are on the way, 6 blocks out.”

“Neat, see if they can use the 109th st entrance, I will try to lead my goons that way.”

“Rerouting their gps, stay safe RR.”

Tim wasn't sure how to stay safe with a bullet wound in his leg, and a few grazes across his body. Part of the job he supposes. He wasn't sure which god or entity was enjoying his struggle, but he would not hesitate to smack them in the face with his bō. Tim took a small breather after losing his followers for a moment. His leg has a hole, his arms couldn't keep a strong grip on his grapple, not that it really mattered. A goon got an extremely lucky shot and destroyed the thing. So, grounded, with a barely functioning leg, and about 15 goons, and if the leaders of the group didn't flee already, then them too, looking for him. Not great odds. Oracle said Batman and Signal were on their way, and hopefully heading to the street closest to him that would work for some form of ambush.

“I'll go out a bit early, they won't be expecting it. Nah, they only set up to catch Signal, you know, the meta. The meta that can all but shadow step like a freaking d&d character. Such a great plan Tim.” Tim had started to mutter to himself as he attempted to tie on a better bandage to his leg than the slap dash one he did while on the move. He was just done securing it when a goon appeared.

“I found some blood over here!”

Tim almost screamed expletives on par with Jason or Duke, but he had some self preservation.

“ETA, hopefully it's NOW?!” Tim growled onto the comms.

“We are set up Red Robin, bring them through.” Tim could have cried in relief at Batman's voice, but he had some goons to lead.

Tim ran, not bothering to hide as he did. Luckily the goons did not think about surrounding the alley he was in, and they followed blindly into the bat's trap. He trusted that Bruce and Duke could handle the group, and limped to the Batmobile. It wasn't until Tim got to the driver's side passenger door did the universe have one last laugh at him.

“Well, well, we'll. Let's make a deal, little red bird.” Out of all the people to corner Tim, it had to have been the wannabe leader of the small time gang.

“Depends, is the deal you turn yourself in?” Tim automatically snarked.

“Nah, open the Batmobile, or I shoot you here.” The man sneered.

“Fine, fine.” Tim opened the driver's door and scooted away, his hands away from his sides.

“Good, keep backing up Red.”

Once Red Robin was far enough for the man, he turned and went to get into the car, only for the door to close on the man repeatedly. Tim could not help but just watch as the car kept smacking the guy until he managed to get into the seat. Unfortunately for the gang leader his hand was not fast enough and got slammed between the door and frame. Based on the crack and responding scream, the hand was very much broken. With a last open and close, the engine started, and the Batmobile drove straight into the group of goons and vigilantes.

Tim watched in morbid curiosity as Batman and Signal heard the car roaring towards them. Watched as they grappled upwards with just a small moment from them getting run over. Watched as 3 goons did not have time to move out of the way and got tossed onto the hood, only to slide off at the jerky stop of the car. It wasn't until Batman barked “Report.” over the comms did Tim snap out of his daze.

“The leader of the gang got into the Batmobile, and proceeded to try to run you guys over.” Tim slowly responded. “He held me at gunpoint and I couldn't move fast enough to do anything but let him. How did the failsafes fail at keeping him from driving?” Tim's voice petered out with the question.

The car door then slammed open and the leader fell out of the seat, and tried to scramble as far from the car as he could. It didn't take long for Batman to grab the man for questioning.

“Hey man, you good to move?” Tim startled when Duke appeared in front of him.

“Ya, ya. I have a GSW to my right calf, got grazed a few times in different places, possibly going into shock.” Tim dutifully reported.

“Got it, up and at ‘em.”

Duke carefully walked Tim to the Batmobile and settled him into the back seats, tightened the bandage on his leg, and put bandages on his other wounds. It wasn't until Duke went to go help Batman clean up and triage the remaining goons did he say something strange.

“Stay put, Red Robin. Keep him safe ok?” With the second request, Duke patted the driver's seat and left him alone in the car.

“What?”

@kizzer55555 @sebas-nights @candeartist422 @trappednyourheart @fandom-life-corrupted-me @tkiesai @2lbballpeenhammer @admiralwidow @rewrittenwrongs @whotfevenknowsanymore @symmetricalastigmatism

@thespacedragons

@atinygracie @okami-love

@lesbian-spider-drone @1n0sss @forgetmenot-bluepurple

#dp x dc #dc x dp #dpxdc #dcxdp #Tim is not having a good time #but hey now he gets to sleep #Alfred's orders #This is why bats and robins dont go out before nightfall #because Duke is OP and makes it harder for everyone #Imagine a kitten getting caught in a cage for a bobcat #That is what Tim encountered today #Tim thinks Duke finally lost it #he may be sleep deprived and suffering from shock and bloodloss #but talking to the car is looney and he should give Duke a sanity exam #haunted car au

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djuvlipen · 1 month ago

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i'm so shook on your rick riordan rb whaaaat. i didn't know aaany of this shit. defending arranged marriage is crazy

the rr crit tag is a very interesting rabbit hole to fall into if you have time, here is a masterpost

the thing with rick (i'm calling him by his first name, in true former pjo fan fashion) is that he doesn't do research when it comes to representation. like he doesn't even do the bare minimum. so samirah (the muslim character in Magnus Chase) is pretty religious but she takes her hijab off in front of the thousands of men who live in walhalla because she "considers them as her relatives". this doesn't make sense. another example; he has a native american character in Heroes of Olympus (piper) and she wears a feather in her hair to "reconnect with her heritage". she's literally just wearing a feather in her hair. and another third example; in Magnus Chase (again), there is a deaf character who is constantly described as being super expressionless (in terms of facial expression), and hard-of-hearing readers have constantly explained why this literally made no sense as being expressive is a p important part of sign language (if i remember correctly)

it is lazy representation, and he is only including it because it gives him some clout among the liberal audience. you can tell it's lazy writing and lazy character work because he never really thinks about how being from [insert ethnic group / sexual orientation / religion] might impact a character's life. example 1: hazel (in HoO) is a 13yo african-american girl who was born in 1928. she dies and comes back to life in the 2010s. it is said she faced horrific racial abuse in the 1930s but this somehow had no real psychological impact on her character, she isn't really shown (although it's stated, but once again that's lazy imo) to be struggling adapting to the 2010s, and like. the massive discrepancy between life as an african-american girl in the 30s and the life of an african-american girl in the 2010s isn't even mentioned. not even once. even though many things happened in the USA between the 1920s and the 2010s wrt civil rights for black people

second example; nico was born in the 1930s fascist italy, his mother fled to the US with him at the start of wwii, then he got stuck in a time loop of which he got out in the 2000s/2010s. he is gay. the impact that growing up in 1930s italy (a fascist and v catholic country) had on his relationship with his sexuality isn't ever brought up. like with hazel, it's vaguely stated but this doesn't have any real impact on his character, it didn't really shape him in any way shape or form. that's unrealistic as fuck

(nico and hazel are canonically hitler's half-siblings. rick didn't really think about how this would have impacted their life or their relationship with hades (hades is hitler's dad). but also he backtracked on demigod!hitler and implied he meant hirohito or mussolini instead. who knows. maybe all three are demigods)

third example; lavinia (in Trials of Apollo) is a jewish roman demigoddess. jewish people were systematically discriminated against in the roman empire. but this is never addressed. and if you're wondering how lavinia and samirah factor in their monotheist religion with the fact that ancient gods exist... this is not explored! they don't have a problem with it, it's barely even addressed!

he just writes straight, white characters and then slap an "oppressed" label on their forehead without really thinking about the implications of what he is writing. he doesn't even google the basic stuff. a lot of his characters are walking stereotypes (leo is the one that comes to my mind rn)

his retelling of greek myths brings nothing to the table. he doesn't bring out new, interesting takes on greek mythology (the way the musical Hadestown does for example). but his goal isn't to depict ancient greek culture and mythology as accurately as possible either (we don't hear about ancient greek cultural holidays, about ancient greek sports, about the olympics, about the tragedies, about the philosophy. misogyny, homophobia and slavery in ancient greece aren't ever brought up. and obviously he did not have to bring it up BUT if he had wanted to actually advocate for women and minorities' rights, as he so often says, i think it's a road he could have easily taken if he had given it just a little thought). so instead we are stuck in a weird limbo where we don't learn anything new but we are also NOT being presented with another perspective on what we already know. it's lazy.

and the misogyny. hera is one of the recurring villains of the books; she is portrayed as the literal embodiement of the "bitch wife/evil stepmother" stereotype, and all the aphrodite children are presented as shallow. the one i'm the most pissed off about is artemis. she requires her hunters to be single and kills the ones who break the rule. in Trials of Apollo, it's revealed this rule ALSO applies to lesbian relationships. so you have this elderly lesbian couple who had to flee from the hunters otherwise they would have been killed. lesbians having to flee their community because they might be killed is a very important conversation to be had but the fact it's treated so lightly (it's mentioned a few times, the lesbian couple feels grateful because artemis actually "let them live" and this whole experience didn't really traumatize them in any way) is a pretty flippant way to handle lesbophobia and femicide. the fact that the perpetrator of lesbophobic violence is artemis (and that it's implied that she has killed lesbians in the past!!) is also particularly distasteful. artemis has long been associated with the feminist movement for refusing to partner with men, for running a female-only group of hunters and being the goddess-protector of pregnant women, mothers and women fleeing male violence. this also erases the fact that the biggest perpetrators of sexist and lesbophobic violence are men.

(and don't get me started on reyna's character)

oh, also. in Heroes of Olympus, Amazon (yes, Jeff Bezos' company) turns out to be actually owned by the Amazons, who are portrayed as a group of female supremacists who wear tight leather clothing and whips. they keep men in cages and use them as slaves. yes, this sounds like the plot of a female supremacy fetishist porn movie

also also. the age gaps. hazel is 13 and in a love triangle with frank (16) and leo (15). now i know three years age gap are not that crazy but i do think a 16yo boy and a 13yo girl are at two very different stages of their life (emotionally, physically, sexually) and when i was in high school, my friends and i always gave our male classmates who dated middle school girls side-eyes. anyway, that's hazel. but there's also sadie (from the Kane Chronicles), a 13yo girl who is in a love triangle with walt (16) and anubis (the god) (> 5000yo. he presents as a teenager though). and you know how this ends? that's right. she dates them both. they are a throuple. this doesn't make sense

anyway i don't agree with all the anti-rick criticism, some stuff that ppl criticize about his books make me roll my eyes bc i think they are really not that big of a deal. but these are the things that i do find pretty problematic. i also wouldn't care that much but i find him (and his fans) very hypocritical. he has vocally criticized jkr many times in the past and he is always presenting himself as the representation writer who actually cares about minorities (like, that's his whole pr), but some of the stuff he has written would definitely have gotten jkr a few dozen of thousands of death threats

#his books are a real mess #asks #colorfem

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siri-ike · 6 months ago

Text

All fanfics

It's ok to send me asks or DM asking for a fic for a specific prompt or about a specific fanart. Just don't expect me to finish it within a specific time frame.

My Ao3

My kofi (commissions open)

OC for the OC exchange

DPXDC

Connected dpxdc fics masterpost

The rest is not connected to the previous stories.

All Seeing

Pt1

Gut feeling

Begining

Middle

"Good" end

Bad end

Worst end

A quiet night in Gotham

Long post (not long yet)

These ones are also connected

The Baby blues greens

Villain for hire

Misc DPXDC writing prompts

Tucker: Tech Wizard (dpxhp)

Misc DC writing prompts

Batman danger scale

RRs YouTube Chanel

Teenage hero burnout

Danny Phantom (not mine)

Ninja of Norrisville Follow up (ao3)

The Flex Fighters (ao3)

Max Steel (ao3)

Moon Girl

(Let me know if you have requests)

Rotmnt X DC

Green with envy

A mysterious orange glowing portal appears in front of Garfield Logan (beastboy), and he'd honestly rather get kidnapped than have to attend another titans debriefing. (It takes a dumbass amount of time to realize he's in another dimention.

Pt1 pt2 pt3 pt4 pt5 pt6

Rottmnt

Rottmnt movie prompt where Leo gets stuck in the prison dimention much longer than anyone thought. (Very long-winded)

Pt1 pt2 pt3

Misc rottmnt writing prompts

Rat King

Mutant Mayhem

Bellyache

There's something wrong with Mikey. He's been in bed all day, which is really weird for him. Can Donnie do something to save his little brother? Is Raph as dumb as people think? Will Leo ever get his shit together?

No.

P.S. my version of Mikey's a little chubbier than in the movie and show. He's a pudgy little boy. A meatball if you will.

Pt1 pt2 pt3 pt4 pt5 pt6

Side chapter

Mona Lisa

Playlist

OTHER

Fantasy medical drama

One shots

Confession (young justice)

Space snacks (Danny Phantom)

A listers (Danny Phantom)

Jason crawls out of his grave (dc) (can be used in other fics)

Art masterpost

#masterpost

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aroaceleovaldez · 9 months ago

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What is the PR disaster in question that made Rick announce TSATS? I wasn’t active in the online fandom at that point

Of course! This was awhile ago so it figures people don't remember it/aren't familiar:

Basically a couple years back (2020) the fandom had some posts circulate discussing the ways different characters in the Riordanverse were written poorly or offensively. There was a masterpost that went around tumblr but the two major points people were particularly focusing on were Piper and Samirah (particularly because Piper had featured prominently again in Trials of Apollo recently and the third MCGA book had further emphasized and discussed Samirah being Muslim, since it was supposed to take place during Ramadan). Basically each had multiple posts breaking down the ways they were depicted incorrectly or offensively. The entire fandom for a little bit was VERY intensely discussing this (and it's around this time the "RR crit" tag got very popularized on tumblr - it did exist before, but suddenly was being used VERY frequently - cause it was that wide-spread - though the discussion took over basically every side of Riordaverse social media on different platforms). People really wanted Rick to respond to these criticisms, so he did!

He made two blog posts, one about Piper and one about Samirah. He has since deleted both so the links are to archived versions. The short version: he essentially tried to justify his poor research and double-down that he hadn't written them offensively, actually, people were just being mean to him. The fandom, of course, reacted poorly to this.

[Further elaborated events under the cut since this got a bit lengthy]

(Fun fact, this all happened within a month or so of the time i posted an open letter on aphobic tropes in the Riordanverse that Rick replied to, and then he immediately followed with announcing that Reyna was intended to be ace-coded [which cause a LOT of fandom debate] before Rick dipped for a couple of weeks, and then came back to post the blog posts in response to Piper and Sam stuff. So I like to jokingly refer to this as "The time I imploded the fandom/drove Rick off of twitter." Twas I that set the house ablaze.)

Rick fully left social media after this and the LT Musical social media manager became Rick's social media manager for the time being.

So this all happened June/July of 2020. Tower of Nero would end up being published in October of 2020 and a few months after that Rick would state that he was done with the series and wouldn't be writing any more series installments involving Percy, and also that he wouldn't be writing a Nico quest following Tower of Nero as it "wasn't his place to" and encouraged the community to write their own versions of Nico's story.

The community continued to circulate the tumblr posts and discuss the topics of Rick's offensive character depictions, and this is also where we see the dramatic shift in how the fandom depicts Piper in fanwork (though in most cases it is admittedly not an improvement 😬) because of all this discussion. This is also around the time when the fandom brought Viria under scrutiny claiming that she was whitewashing Piper as part of the same discussions, through the justification that she was drawing Annabeth as having tan skin (which she does canonically), and if Annabeth has tanner skin then Piper then that's whitewashing Piper? Except they were using completely separate images of not fully rendered Piper art versus Annabeth in dramatic lighting, so it's all very awkward and poor logic, and did actually get kind of racist. A lot of people were calling it "Tannabeth Blackchase" (yeah, i know) or similar and a common sentiment you'd see repeated is "Don't draw Annabeth as having darker skin than Piper, because that's offensive/racist/whitewashing." (Note: it was not phrased "don't draw Piper as having lighter skin than Annabeth" - we also won't get into certain offensive depictions of Native Americans, but I digress). But yeah, the Annabeth stuff in all that did not age well at all.

Anyways, in October of 2021 however Rick would announce that he was co-writing The Sun And The Star - with a lot of heavy emphasis on how Mark Oshiro works as a sensitivity reader, and some false advertising from the official social media that Mark Oshiro was the first time a non-Riordan author would be collaborating on the series (disregarding the ghostwriters completely). One of the big criticisms in the breaking down of issues in Rick's writing was his lack of ever seeking a sensitivity reader, and fans claiming that a sensitivity reader could solve a lot of the problems. This was basically Rick's "look! I totally listened!!!!" (though it did little to actually improve things, based on the book) and in TSATS as well Piper gets a large cameo at the end where the text very directly addresses a lot of points made in criticism of Rick's writing of her.

We also then of course got the CoTG trilogy later, explicitly stated to be for advertising purposes for the show.

So basically, short version: Rick came under scrutiny for a lot of offensive writing within the span of two months, made some bad blog posts doubling down about it, left social media. TOA ends. Rick says he wasn't going to continue the series/write what would become TSATS. Community celebrates the end of of the franchise but also continues to discuss Rick's poor writing and the blog posts at length. Rick suddenly announces TSATS and Mark Oshiro's involvement. Everybody gets distracted from being mad. Show announcement stuff also happens and the discussions peter out.

#pjo #riordanverse #fandom history #rick riordan #rr crit #ask #boywithskull #anonymous #long post //#fun times fun times #im always amused by the bit where i come in. like oh yeah i played a major part in the middle of all of this #i didnt mean to but i was the beginning of the end #maybe thats why this book is my personal hell. its in direct retribution #its really weird though because Rick did not usually reply to people on twitter but he responded to my open letter WITHIN HALF AN HOUR #within half an hour of me posting it he replied and then rapid-fire replied to like two or three other random tweet questions #at which point he confirmed he wrote Reyna with her being alloromantic ace-coded in mind (''but you dont have to agree'')#(i should note also - rick's reply plus the ensuing tweets HEAVILY implies he did NOT actually read my open letter. lmao.)#dipped off twitter for a couple of weeks. came back to post his blog posts responding to criticism about Piper and Sam #and then left social media completely. people kept talking. oh look new book pspspsp. look show pspspsp.#but so. yknow. i did that. it was ME!!!!!! and i will never let him forget. i know what he did.#i will never let him live down shitty PR move to try and sweep those bad blog posts under the rug

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momo-minomo · 4 months ago

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Fic Fairy Friday: Tim and Jason Brotherhood

I love Jason and Tim, they're hands down the most chaotic and petty people in their entire family. I wish they'd be teamed up more often in the comics because every time they do the snark and sass is everywhere!

Unfortunately the Batfam fandom has developed a lot of misconceptions about their past and relationship. The main misconceptions are thinking Jason hates Tim and what happened during their fight in Titan's Tower. Fandom thinks Jason came there to murder his replacement and Tim was ruthlessly beaten down and begged for his hero to stop. In reality, Jason had grown to hate the very idea of Robin (a child soldier fighting and dying for Batman's neverending war) and came to Titan's Tower to convince Tim to quit as well as to prove to himself that Tim wasn't better than him and that Bruce didn't just trade up for a better Robin when Jason died. When talking didn't work he decided that to save this kid's life (and prove to himself that he wasn't just an inferior failure) he was going to MAKE him quit.

But if Batman, Alfred, and Lady Shiva can't control Tim Drake Jason didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell so Tim put up a hell of a fight and even when he was bleeding on the floor, barely conscious but always happy to be petty and go for the low blow, he went out hitting Jason where it hurt by defiantly stating that even beaten and bloody he is STILL better than Jason. They've long since patched things up between them, tho, and more than once in the comics Jason has made it clear that Tim is his most trusted brother. There was even that period just before Tim became RR where Jason was trying to recruit Tim to be HIS Robin so Jason could be gun!Batman and Tim was so annoyed and done with him lol. I do still enjoy the accidental brother or woobie Tim fics and will probably link a few exceptional ones here and there but I'd love to see more fics with the two being equals that trust and rely on each other, too.

The Fic Fairy Friday Masterpost

This Dark Ceiling Without a Star by Miss_Lazy_Tuesday

Summary:

“For fuck’s sake, your chatter is going to drive me crazy faster than this stupid spell.” “Then you talk!” “There’s no point!” Jason snaps. “I can feel it, okay. It’s—there’s no emotion behind it, it’s not using my thoughts. It’s just a bunch of weird Greek echoing in my brain and a compulsion to act. And it’s getting stronger. Talking isn’t going to slow it down.” “Then what will slow it down?” After five long seconds of silence, Tim gives into the urge and viciously jabs his fist into Jason’s leg for the second time. “Goddammit, why?” Jason snaps, green briefly sparking in his eyes before disappearing just as quickly. “You are not seriously going to just sit there and wait to die.” “The hell do you care anyway?” “Because I don’t want you to die! Obviously!” “You fucking should.”

Momo's Notes: These boys need SO MUCH THERAPY! Tim and Jason are trapped underneath a collapsed building, Tim is slowly bleeding out, and Jason has been cursed to sacrifice himself to help power up a spell. So of course being robins they're going to remain calm, work together, and not spend their precious little oxygen arguing, right? Right? Oh goddammit boys!

Life in the Fast Lane by TheResurrectionist

Summary:

“So, let me get this straight,” Dick said, frowning, “You stole a car, kidnapped Tim, got in a high-speed chase, stole another car, fought a bunch of cartel members, and blew up a chop shop...all to get a minivan back?” “First of all, Timothy was a willing participant,” Jason said, crossing his arms, “And when you put it like that, it sounds bad.” “Jason, it sounds bad no matter how I put it!”

Momo's Notes: It's both refreshing and incredibly funny to see Tim and Jason just being normal brothers that annoy the shit out of each other while they're stealing cars and trying to take down asshole gangs out of costume. This entire fic is just chaotic shenanigans and It's so fun.

Good Fellows by thatcuriouscat

Summary:

After rescuing Bruce from floating around the past, Tim is Not Okay. What comes next after losing everything that really matters? Tim’s got some thoughts. So do the rest of the family. And Ra’s al Ghul. …And the Joker. Jason looks murderous. “God DAMN it, Tim, this was not the situation I had in mind when I generously taught you how to be a younger brother out of the kindness of my heart!” Even more shocked by this, Dick asks incredulously, “You, Jason Todd-Wayne, tried to give younger brother lessons? Where did you even get the audacity?” Jason rounds on him hotly. “Bitch, you wish you knew how to be a younger brother!” “FOCUS,” Tim demands. “We’ve got like, an hour to pull this off.”

Momo's Notes: I know I recommended this one for the Dick and Tim brotherhood recs but this story revolves around the three oldest batbrothers and has equally good characterization and interactions for Jason as it did with Dick. Jason's pov pages are some of the most witty and fun in the whole story and the brotherhood that forms between Tim and Jason over the course of this fic is unique.

The Right Substitution is Key by AddictedApple

Summary:

“The Red Hood has been good for Gotham,” Robin continued. “Crime in Park Row decreased by sixty one percent almost as soon as you showed up, and that’s even taking into account all the crime you commit. Drug overdoses have decreased by twenty two percent in adults and seventy nine percent in minors. Homeless minors are ninety two percent less likely to—” “Kid,” Jason interrupted. “Enough statistics. What the hell is this about?” Robin slowly lowered the tablet with his powerpoint presentation and looked up at Red Hood. “You care about Gotham,” Robin summarized. “Gotham needs Batman. Batman is missing and so is Nightwing. We need you to fill in for Batman.” “You want me to cover Batman’s patrols?” Jason clarified. “No,” Robin said. “I want you to be Batman.” Jason bluescreened. (Or: Batman and Nightwing mysteriously disappear before Red Hood has even started antagonizing them, Robin is desperate, Gotham needs Batman, and Red Hood is Batman-Shaped.)

Momo's Notes: An AU where Jason calmed the hell down before returning to Gotham, both Batman and Nightwing go missing, and Tim doesn't know who this new Red Hood guy is but statistics don't lie, he's making a positive difference in Gotham. That makes him the PERFECT candidate to take over as Batman until they can find him. Jason can't believe ANY of these idiots survived while he was "gone"

a kidnapping a day (keeps the board of directors away) by doingthewritethings

Summary:

And, well. He gets impatient when he’s already in pain. He’s still got fifteen minutes until the meeting is set to begin, and the chances of him slapping Mr. Smith-Harguson so hard that the man’s toupee flies off are rising exponentially by the second. Yeah, that settles it. He needs an excuse to get out of here, and he needs it fast. - for the prompt 'jason todd, lover of fake kidnappings, meets tim drake, lover of chaos', but it... got out of hand. happy pride

Momo's Notes: There are no words for how much I love Batfamily shenanigans and Tim and Jason are always the perfect combo for said chaotic shenanigans! Basically Tim and Jason's version of brotherly bonding is to stage fake kidnappings to get Tim out of whatever soul-sucking responsibility he desperately wants to escape from today starting with a board meeting on a day the chronic pain is especially horrific. This fic also has queer and trans batfam which makes it just chef's kiss

Little Red and the Big Bad Hood by CrzyFun

Summary:

Olivia Draper had been a good idea at first. She could pass for older than Tim could pull off while masculine and women really could get into places easier if they had a pretty face. With makeup and some stylish-yet-inexpensive clothes, Olivia could pull off most undercover ops. She was Tim’s Matches Malone. Then Hood had shown up on the scene. When Jason met Olivia, he hadn't intended to pull a Bruce and take the scrappy teen informant under his wing. She just kept showing up where he was doing business. He had no other choice than to keep an eye on her. And kit her out with armor so she wouldn't accidentally get shot. And make sure she was being treated fairly by her mysterious boss. And, okay, maybe become her big brother.

Momo's Notes: I love a good fic with a genderfluid Tim Drake! This is an au where Tim decided his main alternate ID to gather info would be Olivia Draper rather than Alvin. Cue Red Hood getting very annoyed at the obviously underaged girl sneaking into clubs full of dangerous gangsters. This one is a fun accidental enemy to caretaker with a chaotic and sassy Tim that knows he can get on Hood's every nerve with zero consequences with bonus outraged and annoyed Stephanie!

Last Laugh, First Steps by CloakedSparrow

Summary:

Running a large portion of the Gotham underground as a benevolent crime lord was harder than Jason thought it would be, but still well within the range of what he could handle. All in all, it wasn’t that different from being the type of vigilante Bruce had trained him to be become. He was feeling like he was doing a decent job as part of the Bat Family these days. The Wayne family, he wasn't so sure about. Until he receives an unexpected call from Dick while on patrol one night and the words he hears next change everything. Tim's hurt...the Joker's involved. B and Little D are out of town. Cass is here with me and it’ll take us too long t- “Where?” His death. His anger. His father. His role as a brother, as a son, as a grandson. Jason decides its time to take it all on. If he's going to help his little brother recover, then he's going to have to heal himself as well.

Momo's Notes: This is technically part 42 of a series kind of generically called "Collected Bat-Family Stories" that are actually all set in the same AU. Last Laugh is an amazing entry in the series that can be read as a stand alone fic but I'd honestly recommend going into the series page and starting from the beginning. There are fics in there that aren't Tim or Jason-centric but it's all part of one narrative and Tim and Jason are really the main characters of the whole series and it's so fun to watch their brotherhood grow and deepen. If you're a fan of Wayne Family Adventures I think you'll love this one since the characterizations are very similar imho (aside from Damian but he's slowly growing as a person over the story and will eventually get there).

middle children must unionize by Poteto

Summary: Jason realizes no one is taking care of Tim - not even Tim himself. He decides to do something about it.

Momo's Notes: Jason doesn't like how things went down between Tim and Dick when their big brother gave Robin to Damian and decides if no one else is gonna take care of the 16 year old like the kid he is and not the adult they expect him to be then he'll just have to step up and do it himself.

Playlists:

#Fic Fairy Friday #tim drake #jason todd #red hood #red robin dc #batfamily #robin dc #batfam #batbros #batsiblings #fic recs #Spotify #ficfairyfriday #fic fairy friday

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flamingpudding · 2 years ago

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Modern (Fenton) Ghost Hunting Part 1

Ties to: Post from under 'It started with a Ouija Board' found in the Masterpost

A/N: I got a little stuck with this and there is another bigger fanfic project I started working on that has me distracted. But I wanted to post at least part of this before I might end up in radio silence for three weeks cause I am visiting family out of country and have no idea about internet access there yet 😅

Danny was in a good mood as he slurped the ecto-shake his mom had made upon his return from the Zone. It was one of the more harmless and ghost helping food inventions his parents had come up with, once the truth was out of the bag when he was more or less forced to take on his kingly duties. Though his mom's ecto-fudge special (that was also one of the few ectoplasm infused foods not coming back to life) made for only him and Ellie was even better than the shakes. It wasn't better than their special family recipes their Dad loved so much but it came a close second.

He sipped on it more as he fell back into the couch as he flicked through some TV channels. His last trip to Gotham had been a month ago and he mused that he probably would need to visit soon to update Lady Gotham on the status of the Garbage Disposal Leaks. It was a pain to deal with but hey at least he, for once, got to be the mean guy to yell at the observants how they could have left these alone for over a hundred of years.

Seriously? If he could, he would stick Sam and one of her righteous rants onto them too.

So yea Danny was in a good mood he had gotten rid of another leak which only left a couple more to take care of and then put the observants into their place with another petty with hidden insults filled and Sam inspired as well as co-authored lecture.

He would give Lady Gotham a present for giving him such a great opportunity with this problem, even if that wasn't her intention. There was also a rumor in the GZ that Box Ghost and Walker had gotten beat up by Lady Gotham several times while he was busy, he would like to hear what that was about.

In all this Danny completely forgot about his encounter with the vigilantes and that his parents told him about a new business partner that was interested in their Fenton Ghost Tech that wasn't weaponry but focused on co-existence, like the Fenton (blob-)ghost feeder.

So when the doorbell rang and Danny went to open the door, thinking it might be one of his friends. He nearly choked on his ecto-shake as he came face to face with a person he only knew from paparazzi shots or Tucker's endless rants about their technology.

"Hello, I am Tim Drake-Wayne! I believe I have an appointment with the Drs Fentons? I am not too early am I?"

-------

Red Robin was on his wits end. After the first success he had used various more 'modern' summonings in hopes of getting their ghost to show up again. But most of them ended with the same white ghost or only one other ghost claiming their name as Box Ghost to appear. Strangely when they did appear, after about a minute after their appearance an invisible force started to attack them to which these ghosts instantly turned tail and 'unsummoned' themselves. They didn't even give Red Robin the chance to ask anything.

In the end after the third time of summoning that white ghost called Walker, the ghost peeked out from that portal once and the moment they spotted him sunk back into it. Not even bothering to tell him about any rules RR might have broken. Since then none of his summons appeared to work anymore.

Though the vigilante at least concluded that whatever had attacked their teenage ghost most likely was also the driving force behind Walker or any other ghost refusing to answer his summonings. He had suspicions that might have something to do with Lady Gotham, the teenage ghost mentioned and had been unable to summon at all.

Of course Red Robin couldn't leave it like that so he dug deeper into the whole ghost cult thing and came across published research papers. Apparently the ghost cult wasn't just an occult but also a science, that he highly doubted was real. The deeper he dug the more concerned he became, for one that ectoplasm they mentioned looked awfully a lot like Lazarus Water, and second the research from the Drs Fenton he found was awfully a lot biased until a year or so ago when they suddenly invalidated all their previous research and published a nearly completely different thesis.

Though the teenage vigilante had to admit everything they offered on their website looked a whole lot more modern and right out of a SyFy movie than any of the tools he had already purchased, from a ghost Wikipedia (which surprisingly included information about Walker and that Box Ghost), to protective gear, to feeders and ectoplasm infusers.

So after a small recon with his siblings and listening to their disagreement and another rant from their youngest about Pit Demons, Red Robin made the decision to check these Drs Fenton out undercover. And who better to do that than Tim Drake-Wayne, CoCEO of Wayne Enterprise who got interested in their ectoplasm-powered gadgets designed for co-existing. After all Gotham might just be as hunted if not more with the crime rate they had.

His siblings were not happy, he knew that but he took the earliest chance he had, to take a private plane to Amity Park and made an appointment with the Fentons on a saturday afternoon.

He made sure to smile pleasantly as the son of the Drs Fentons opened the door and took his time staring. Before finally inviting him in after a shout from the Drs. resounded somewhere behind him in the house. Tim of course eyed the glowing green shake the other teenager was drinking, already forming plans on getting a sample of it the first chance he got.

"Mr. Drake! Such a pleasure to have you here! You have already met my little boy Danny, my husband will join us later he got hold up by my daughters. But we do have a couple of inventions prepared for showcasing, we could also go over some of the theories first if you prefer until my husband can join us.." A woman came up shaking his hand and the teenager, Danny, stepped away from them retreating further away but staying in earshot, Tim noted.

"Dr. Fenton, thank you for having me. I am looking forward to learning about this ecto-energy and your Fenton-inventions, I believe one was called an Ecto-Infuser?" Did he imagine it or did that boy cringe? Also the boy was clearly watching him, he tried to appear nonchalant but the way the other teen's eyes followed Tims every move as well as the guarded look in his eyes was making it obvious.

"The Ecto-Dejecto, originally designed to weaken ghosts but is now one of the many medical tools that can help a ghost survive if they do not have a steady supply of ectoplasm." Dr. Fenton easily explained while leading him over to the seating area.

"Danny be a dear and bring our guest something to drink. Coffee or Tea?"

"Coffee would be fine." Not like he would actually drink it. As much as he and his siblings made fun of Bruce's paranoia, he was not about to drink coffee offered by people who research ghosts. Besides, looking around, he wasn't sure how well they followed OSHA and he wasn't about to potentially drink a coffee infused with Lazarus Water. If that ectoplasm was Lazarus water. But he would take it with him as one of many samples.

"Sure things mom. Should I bring out the fudge too?"

Tim's ear twitched and he turned ever so slightly in the direction of the son. No it couldn't be, could it?

"Oh please be so kind."

"Will be right back."

Now Tim wished he had forced at least one of his siblings along. Because if his ears didn't betray him then this teenager had the same voice like the ghost kid. Though his memory could be slightly impaired because of the time frame since he had last heard it. He would need to get a voice recording now too and play it to his siblings.

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schrijverr · 10 months ago

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I Didn’t Mean to Say I Do, but I Do. I Do. Masterpost

On AO3.

AUAUs of and additions to the main verse

On tumblr:

Chapter 1: Prologue, Evan

Chapter 2: Prologue, Eddie

Chapter 3: Two Worlds Colliding

Chapter 4: Three Lives Becoming Intertwined

Chapter 5: Mr. & Mr. Convenience

Chapter 6: A Different Homecoming

Chapter 7: The Curious Case of the New Recruit

Chapter 8: Traumas from the Job

Chapter 9: Almost a Family

Chapter 10: The Seventh Birthday Party

Chapter 11: The Horrible In-Laws Stay

Chapter 12: Dragged Out or Dragged Down

Chapter 13: The Job Offer

Chapter 14: Second First Meeting

Chapter 15: Buckleys Are Good at Secrets

Chapter 16: Abuela’s Roommate

Chapter 17: Shaken Up on the Job

Chapter 18: Broken Bones and Broken Trust

Chapter 19: Building a Life for Yourself

Chapter 20: High on Life (And Substances)

Chapter 21: A Series of Disappointments

Chapter 22: Till Divorce Do Us Part

Chapter 23: The Struggles of Not So Jolly Tidings

Chapter 24: First Date Jitters

Chapter 25: Forced to Stay Behind

Chapter 26: Could I Have Done It?

Chapter 27: No Place to Go

Chapter 28: Damn Sure Not Ready

Chapter 29: A Hit Close to Home

Chapter 30: Family of Evan Buckley

Chapter 31: He Didn’t Say Bye Bye

Chapter 32: Breaking the News

Chapter 33: The… Revelation

Chapter 34: Second First Day

Chapter 35: Eddie Implodes

Chapter 36: The Shield Ceremony

Chapter 37: An Awkward Family Reunion

Chapter 38: No More Mistakes

Chapter 39: Fight and Flight

Chapter 40: The Affair

Chapter 41: The Other Man

Chapter 42: Two Worlds Apart

Chapter 43: The First Step Is Admitting It

Chapter 44: Looking for a Sign

Chapter 45: Just Keep Swimming

Chapter 46: Following Orders

Chapter 47: Don’t Give Up

Chapter 48: A Redo of Buck’s Hospital Stay

Chapter 49: Are Flowers Appropriate?

Chapter 50: Epilogue, Buck and Eddie

#rr masterpost #9-1-1 #9 1 1 #911 #9 1 1 buddie #911 buddie #9 1 1 show #911 show #buddie #buck x eddie #secret marriage of convenience buddie au #the i do verse

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intimidaid · 7 months ago

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hi everyone, cnscs here, i'm making this post to introduce myself.

i've been on tumblr since september 2024, on a different account, lurking around shiftblr and loablr. just liking posts, never commenting or reblogging. i always kept any important posts in my drafts so i wouldn't lose them, but that's getting really unorganized and messy now lol so i figured i'd just make a separate blog to repost things there— here, this blog.

i've been trying to shift on and off since early 2021. i've shifted quite a few times before, but i won't be talking about how to shift much, since i don't really consider myself a guru(?). i do have my own shifting method that's been working well for me — i've been shifting with it almost every time since making it.

i started getting into manifestation in 2022, and i've manifested a lot by now. a lot of my manifesting successes were using subliminals and assuming it'd work/it was certain i'd get what i wanted. i've tried repeating affirmations, but those methods never worked for me, so i've been trying to learn more about the law of assumption. the void/pure consciousness is something i only learned about in october '24, do i'm relatively new to the concept, but i induce it consistently.

other information;

you can call me cnscs, isa, izz(y), any of my dr (nick)names, or just make a new nickname for me, idrc. be free!!

i'm a she/her capricorn

i'm a feminist, and i'm pro lgtbqia+ (i'm bi too)

i'm in the same timezone as paris, so if you're an american you can expect slow responses LOL

i'll likely be reblogging more than i'll actually be talking, hence the #cncs talks — those are posts where i actually talk instead of staying quiet.

my main dr is my highschool/mha dr (posts about it are under #mha dr) and all information for it can be found in this master list (trigger warning; i absolutely made myself the main character or "y/n" in my dr)

and yes, you can add yourself to my dr. duh 🙄. gogogo!!!

ASKS !! ARE !! OPEN !! ASK ANYTHING YOU WANT & I'LL REACT !! I GIVE ADVICE; PEEP THE "#cnscs advice" TAG !! DMS !! ARE !! OPEN !! PLEASE TALK TO ME AS MUCH AS YOU WANT !! ABOUT SHIFTING/DRS ESPECIALLY, I LOVE RANTING ABOUT MY DR AND SEEING OTHERS DO THE SAME !!

sometimes i'll post about my own success stories (of both shifting and manifesting), these are posted under #cnscs success

i have a masterpost for everything i've manifested so far, and it's here

i do work with crystals, though i'm still a bit skeptical on witchcraft

i have my own copy of the cia document on reality shifting/the gateway experience!!! you can open it here <3

“rejected reality”/“rr” is what i sometimes use as a replacement for “current reality”/“cr”. mostly because i don't want to keep affirming i'm here lol

siigghh. yeah. i do have opinions on shifters who don't use the same race as in their "original" reality. yeah, i did talk about it. yeah, you can have the link to it.

#cnscs talks

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huffle-dork · 1 year ago

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Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 5: Septnautical

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read Septnautical

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

Diving under the water they see the murky yellow water under the aurora and the shapes of the hybrids swimming through it. Mer Jackie waves and then loops around to catch up with Henrik.

As they all swim after them, the water quickly starts to transition towards more of a green, rough rocks jutting out from the sea floor. Then, it turns a brilliant bright blue, the sun shining dream-like through the surface of the waves above.

Jackie and JJ both fumble for a while as they swim. This isn't like swimming as a person at all. Jackie figures it out first, moving his tail up and down. JJ takes a bit longer, but soon realizes how he has to use his new wings to help him glide along. It's a strange arms-out position.

Schneep, unfortunately, struggles for a while. His soul sensing abilities don't extend to all animals, only the bigger or smarter ones. And so, since there are a lot of alien fish in this alien ocean, he keeps bumping into them and slowing down. Eventually, JJ doubles back, reaching out and offering his arm. Schneep finds it and quickly clings onto JJ, looking a bit upset about how he can't swim as well as the others yet.

As they swim Henrik starts to explain, "Ah... we are obviously not fully human. But you cannot be... naturally born as this. And Alterra is a large company who has been given free reign to... experiment on this planet. And that is how... we all came to be. ...to them, we are not even known by our names. We all chose these names... but we are only letters and numbers to them- a result to be studied. They know me as... SH-003. The... third of the hybrids to be created."

Alt feels dread hit him like a punch in the gut. "... you all are... experiments...?" He asks quietly.

Mer-Jackie nods and holds his arms. "Yeah... I'm- uhhh RL-006-! But, we don't usually use those. Feels icky."

JJ sighs. He knew it wasn't good.

"Don't worry, if you do not like those titles, we will not use them," Schneep says.

"Yeah, I'd hate to call someone something that makes them feel icky," Jackie adds. "Uh... I'm uh... s-sorry if..." He clears his throat. "Well, I'm glad you were able to find your names."

"How many of you are there? If Jackie is six and he mentioned two others younger than him... eight?" Schneep is more talking to himself than anyone else.

"Oh! There's 7 actually- that fact makes it confusing." Reaper Jackie laughs, "Actually i think... right after I was born I... I technically died? But me and Marv were the only ones born outside of eggs and we were ready at around the same time so... I think putting us together saved me somehow?" He shrugs, "That's what Zara told me a PDA file said about me and him. But- that's why I'm technically older but he's the fifth- WH-005. The last one is Jamie- he's CH-007."

Henrik nods as if to confirm this. "Yes and other than them and me. There is RR-001, Chase- SE-002, Jack..." Henrik seems to linger on Jack's name before moving forward, "And... my near twin, Anti, SD-004."

“Died?" Jackie blinks, surprised. "I'm guessing you don't remember that. I hope you don't." He shakes his head. "I, uh... know someone named Marvin, too... But I can't imagine being paired with him." He hides a shudder.

"I can picture it all too well," Schneep mutters.

Reaper Jackie laughs, "Nah I don't remember- Marvin doesn't either! We were like... just a few days old i think." He swims back to look at Jackie and tilts his head at him. "Huh? Why...? Is your Marvin mean? ... I mean mine can be too but- I'm also kinda mean sometimes." He bares his teeth in a sharp grin and flexes his mandibles. "Then again I'm biased~ he's my twin!"

'You are not actually twins, Jackie." Henrik chuckles.

"It's close enough!" Mer-Jackie argues.

Jackie shakes his head. "The Marvin I know... isn't a good person..." he says slowly. "It's a long story." He wishes he could put his hoodie on over his new mandibles.

"What do all those Letters mean?" Bro asks, "I get the numbers just... the letters seem weird."

Henrik chuckles, "Those let the scientists know what species of hybrid we are. Like me- SH, stands for Stalker Hybrid."

"And I'm Reaper Levithian, RL!" Reaper Jackie adds with a grin, easily swimming circles around the others.

"You will understand better when you meet the rest." Henrik smirks. "Since it seems you are all not familiar with the fauna here."

"yeah- totally in the dark," Alt mutters. "... they're neat though I... I'd love to learn more."

JJ nods slowly. I vaguely remember hearing some of these names from my Anti, he says. While he uses his arms to sign, Schneep transfers his grip to JJ's waist, holding on via tendrils.

Mer-Jackie bllinks at JJ's signs and then looks to Alt. "What did mustache guy say?"

Alt laughs, "He said his friend Anti told him some of those names."

"Oh yeah! Cuz they said it was a game! Man- that's weird. Is it a naming game? Like- name all the fauna? That's nooo fun- that sounds like white suits drills." The reaper grumbles.

JJ chuckles at being called mustache man. I wish I had a spell that could let everyone understand me... but at least one person can.

"It is much more helpful than having someone translate for me," Schneep says. "Or the morse code system me and my JJ use. It is just a shame we found a wor—we found somewhere where most people do not know."

“I have a spell- but it’s still kinda iffy on non- spoken languages,” Alt sighs.

“It’s just that your signs are weird! But also cuz no one really uses them here much- ‘Cept Jamie now. And like- we didn’t really know how to read for a while so learning stuff like that is hard!” Mer Jackie chuckles.

“Imagine having to learn to read with your fingers," Schneep says. "I'm sure sign language is easier."

JJ looks back at him and frowns. Braille is an alphabet. BSL has individual words.

Schneep laughs. "You are right, you are right."

“We all have our struggles Schneep,” Alt laughs.

As they're swimming, they're now in a more colorful patch of ocean. Large tunnels of coral and weird looping structures of rocks. Colorful rays with bright blue and orange swim by, singing a sweet melody. The ocean is alive with schools of fish and colorful plumes of plant life.

JJ looks around with wide eyes. This place is beautiful! He waves at the rays as they swim by. Jackie can't help but duck through some of the rock loops.

The hybrids slow down a bit as the others take in the sea. Henrik smiles. "It is beautiful out here, is it not?"

"The shallows is one of the prettiest places! That's why our cove is over here! But also cuz it's the safest place!" Mer Jackie explains.

Bro sees Jackie swimming through some of the loops and laughs, trying it out himself. Man- it feels just like flying when he swims- just a bit more muscle work. Alt laughs at their antics.

"It is just a bit further to the forest," Henrik calls, spurring forward. "Careful you keep up- we have been building up our camouflage so you could get lost!"

The group speeds up as Henrik says to. Schneep bats angrily at the kelp strands as they pass. He makes a note to himself: never travel through forests. He doesn't want to hit his head on low-hanging branches. JJ squeezes his hand, reassuring him that he's there.

Henrik has taken to the kelp forest with ease- this is clearly his element and he has the way memorized well. They start to go a bit lower into the tall flowing strands of thick kelp. There’s even bundles of glowing seeds clustered together to make patches of bright light. Which helps since the ocean seems a bit… darker here amongst the swaying fronds.

Eventually they seem to come across a hole amongst the rocks and kelp and in it, surrounded by tall rocks is a white base. Most of it is covered in windows and… tubes? But there are some parts hidden amongst the twisted maze of hallways and rooms.

“Woahhh!” Bro laughs, “That’s so cool!”

Henrik grins. “Welcome to the Ocean’s Arms.”

"Whoa!" Jackie gasps. "Look at that scifi shit!"

JJ stares up in awe. His eyes are practically sparkling.

Schneep tilts his head to the side. He can sense nearby human souls... though none seem familiar. "What is it like?"

"Oh—well it's all white and glass," Jackie says. "Made of tube and round rooms—very round in general. It's all twisting and stuff."

"Ooooo. Sounds very nice." Schneep grins.

After Schneep is done getting the lay of the land- a black and white bundle speeds up and suddenly tackles mer-Jackie in a big tentacle-y hug. The reaper laughs and pats the new tinier merman that has attached himself to him. “Hi Jamie! We brought some new friends- you wanna meet them?”

A head of teal hair perks up away from Jackie’s chest and looks at the others. He has the same mustache as JJ’s except less maintained. He has black and white dots all over his face like freckles except one large patch that covers his left eye. And instead of the long singular tails the rest of the boys have- this tiny merman has 5 black and white spotted tentacles. He gasps quietly at seeing the others and then shakes mer-Jackie’s arm, pointing wildly.

Mer-Jackie laughs. “Yes I see them! Say hi! Show off your new thingy!”

Jamie nods and swims up closer to the others. Now that they are closer- it seems like he’s wearing… gloves of some kind? But with strange robotic-like finger attachments on the outside. He taps on a bag he has on his side and a strange robotic fish swims out, its body mostly consisting of a green and blue eye. Jamie makes a show of coughing in a somewhat dramatic manner like he’s gonna speak before- he starts to sign. And as he does- sound comes from the fish that sounds exactly like JJ from the few things they’ve heard him talk.

“Hello! I am Jamie! I’m still learning this so- forgive me if I am slow. My friend Ollie is teaching me trans-universal sign!” he beams once he’s done, flicking and swirling his tails, almost like a happy dance.

"Oh!" Jackie gasps. "Ohhhh that's so cool! Gloves that like—like translate sign language! That's so cool!"

JJ laughs. It would definitely be helpful—though it seems like sign language here is different.

"Yeah, no wonder they were calling BSL weird," Jackie agrees. "Anyway—it's nice to meet you, Jamie! You're like—some kind of black-and-white speckled octopus—pentapus? Cause there are only five tentacles?" He laughs and shakes his head. "This place is crazy."

Jamie tilts his head to the side. “What’s an octopus?” He whispers in a very quiet voice.

“Yeah or a pentapus- the fuck is that?” Reaper Jackie asks.

“Uh- creatures from our world.” Alt explains, “They’re helping us… take all this in better.”

“A pentapus isn’t even real,” Jackie laughs. “That was a joke.”

“Ah well here- he’s a cuddlefish!” Mer-Jackie grins. Jamie smiles shyly and twists his tails again.

"We should introduce ourselves," Schneep says. "Though... if you are anything like your brothers here, you will find it strange. My name is Schneep, and this is JJ—"

JJ waves.

"—and Jackie—"

"Hey!" Jackie grins.

"—and Alt and Chase."

Alt gives a two fingered salute to his name and Bro grins. “Yo! Nice to meet ya!”

Jamie blinks at all of them before pointing at the others and looking back to Henrik and mer-Jackie. “…they have your names.”

“Yes-“ Henrik nods.

“They look like you too!” Jamie tries to say a bit louder.

“Kinda freaky isn’t it?” Reaper Jackie laughs.

“Freaky? I can imagine,” Schneep says, amused.

Jamie swims up so he’s face to face with JJ. He blinks big blue eyes at him and tilts his head curiously. He signs and the robot fish says “You look like me! JJ… I like that!” Jamie smiles wide.

JJ blinks, then nods excitedly, matching Jamie’s enthusiasm. “I do look like you!” He says—though he then coughs and rubs his throat. Probably best to avoid that for a while.

Jamie’s expression turns into one of my sympathy and he floats towards JJ and lightly touches his neck. “…hurts?” He asks quietly. He then touches his own neck and nods like he relates. JJ can see a bit of scarring there.

JJ nods back, giving Jamie a small smile. He hopes the understanding comes across.

Then, Jamie looks at Alt and Bro. He points at Bro. “…Chase-“ then at Alt, “Anti!”

Alt chuckles, “That’s one of my names yeah- but only Chase calls me that. You all can stick to calling me Alt.”

Jamie looks back at the hybrids and signs, “Anti came back here earlier. He looked mad. Said something about freaky new humans.”

“Oh? Did you see where he went?” Henrik asks.

“He went to go see Jack.”

“Oh. Well um…” Jackie squirms slightly, tail flicking. “We… might know something about those ‘freaky new humans’.”

“Surprise! It is us.” Schneep waves. “You are not going to believe hearing that, but it is true. You can ask your Jackie and Schneep.”

Jamie then blinks and looks at all the others and then mer-Jackie and Henrik. They laugh.

“Strange is it not? They have uh… magic I guess. To turn from human to hybrid.” Henrik says.

Jamie’s eyes sparkle with wonder as he swims excitedly all around the others and studies all their tails.

Jackie blinks. “…Jack, huh? He flipped out about him earlier. Sensitive subject, I take it.”

Jamie deflates as Jack is brought up. He looks back to his brothers as if asking for permission.

Reaper Jackie sighs “…we might as well tell them.”

Jamie looks back at the others and signs slowly, “Our older brother Jack is… asleep. He has been for a long time. The white suits did something to him and… Anti was used by Alterra to protect him… as a weapon. But, he still loves Jack so much- we all do. It makes us sad that he is still asleep.”

Bro’s eyes widen, “…woah that’s… that’s insane.”

Alt feels a bit in his stomach. “Anti.. he was used as a weapon…? How?”

The merboys all look a bit uncomfortable. Finally reaper Jackie says “… mind control. They erased Anti’s memories of us and put these weird chips in his ears that made him obey them. But he’s- he’s better now! We saved him from that.”

“Oh,” Jackie says quietly. “I-I’m um… I’m sorry about your brother.”

“Fucking mind control,” Schneep mutters. “I have dealt with a…similar situation with a friend of mine.”

JJ sighs. He nods. Me too. We’ve all had to deal with that in my home.

“Lotsa fucking mind control out there, isn’t there?” Jackie says.

Alt looks angry at hearing what happened to his counterpart, his tail flickering and a few zaps of electricity coming off him. Bro gets zapped and he yelps. “Ow Alt! careful!”

Alt blinks and then looks at his fins and tries to shake out the electricity. “ah sorry…”

“I-it is good that you are all past that, though,” Schneep says, smiling a little. “I suppose that makes sense why Anti was not trusting of us.”

Jackie pauses for a moment, giving the news the respect it deserves before moving on. “Well. Uh… This is where you guys live, then?” Jackie says, gesturing at the base. “Cool. I’m guessing you guys can’t actually go inside. Cause like… you’d need legs and stuff. But this is where those Ocean’s Arms guys live? They’re, uh… your friends?”

Mer-Jackie laughs, “We don’t live here! Our family has a cave together in the shallows! But, Henrik stays here mostly- he has a neat little cave he made for himself to hide all his scrap!”

Henrik blushes a little and flicks his tail. “… we all spilt up for a bit but we are… coming back together.”

Jamie smiles, “yes the base has our friends! The Ocean’s Arms saved my brothers from lots of things so now they make it so we feel safe here. They take care of Jack and! They made it so we can travel inside- in fact I think Marvin, Chase and Anti are inside if you’d like to meet them!”

“Coming back together, huh?” Jackie repeats. For a moment, he looks thoughtful. Then he shakes his head and smiles at the hybrids. “Yeah, we can go meet them.”

JJ nods excitedly. He wonders what the others will look like! The fish seem to have some crazy variations here!

Schneep chuckles. “I am glad of that. Everyone should have a place where they feel safe. We would love to meet your brothers. Ah, how do we get in?”

Reaper Jackie grins and flicks his tail. "Just follow us!" He dives down towards the base with Henrik and Jamie following closely after him. Alt and Bro follow after them.

Jackie quickly chases after the rest of the group, while JJ and Schneep are a bit slower.

As they approach the base, they suddenly notice the tubes have a couple entrances into the water, which the merboys slip easily inside. Alt looks a bit apprehensive about going inside but Bro helps him in.

"... these are a bit tight..." Alt mutters.

Henrik laughs, " A bit- you get used to them. These designs were made for tinier fish but they make it work!"

"Honestly I prefer this," Schneep mutters. "Less options for places to go--and nowhere for the fish to jump out at me—"

JJ laughs. You weren't hurt by running into all those fish, were you?

"I think the fish were more hurt, actually."

Jackie taps the tube walls as they go along—sometimes unintentionally hitting them with his mandibles. He wonders if people can hear that on the other side.

They swim for a bit in dizzying circles before stopping inside a larger aquarium tank that flanks an inner most hallway. There is another hybrid with bright yellow green hair, a large blue speckled tail with bright orange fins and even orange appendages that stick out from his back. He also has wings like JJ's attached to his arms with bright blue edges. He seems to be sitting in the sand, talking animatedly to... a couple kids?

Jamie swims over first and tackle hugs the new hybrid. He yelps in surprise and then laughs, hugging him back. "Oh hi Jamie! The kids were wondering where you went!"

Jamie beams and waves at the kids. There's a tiny brunette boy with- what looks like a prosthetic leg. And a tinier blonde girl with her hair in pig tails. And she's holding an almost holographic looking device in her hands. When she sees Jamie she lights up and starts rapidly typing on the pad. A robotic voice calls out, "Hello Jamie! Welcome back!" Jamie giggles and then tugs on the hybrid's arm to try to get him to get up. The older hybrid laughs, "What's got your tails twisted, Jay??"

The hybrid then looks up at the approaching group of new hybirds and freezes. Especially as he meets Bro's eyes. "oh... woah..."

The little boy gasps, "More hybrids?! I-I didn't know they were more!"

Mer Jackie laughs, "They're... kinda new? But also- kinda human? It's... super weird."

Henrik smiles, "Everyone, this is Chase. Our eldest brother."

Chase spurs up to look at the others higher in the water. "Uh... h-hello..." He stares at them apprehensively and a bit guarded, pushing Jamie behind him. The smaller merman huffs a bit. "Who... are all of you exactly...?"

"Uh... hi." Jackie waves a little at the kids. "And... hello to you, Chase."

JJ also waves, much more enthusiastically. How cute! The friendly blonde girl sort of reminds him of his Jackie's daughter—though they look nothing alike.

"This is going to sound very unbelievable," Schneep says. "But we have the same names as your group. I am Schneep, for example."

"And I'm Jackie," Jackie says. "This is JJ, Chase, and Anti—but he prefers Alt."

"You sound a bit nervous," Schneep mutters. "I... suppose that is understandable. But we are not here to do anything. It is a long story, how we even ended up here."

Bro waves awkwardly, "Uh yeah I... I'm also Chase..."

Chase stares at his copy. "...you look just like me..."

"Uh... yeah." Bro agrees. "Even got the same hair~"

Chase's eyes narrow and he bares surprisingly sharp teeth at the others, eyes flitting around a bit wildly. "S-So what is this? Is this a trick from Alterra?! D-Did they make you all t-to replace us?"

"H-Hey Chase calm down bro! I-It's not like that!" Reaper Jackie tries to say.

Jackie holds his arms up, showing that he has no intent to harm though—though he's aware that it might look like he's concealing something inside their bundle of clothes. "We're really not here to hurt you. We've never even heard of Alterra before we arrived here!"

"Y-Yes they are... they are human, but they are not Alterran!" Henrik adds.

Chase quiets down but still seems defensive. "...where did you all come from then? W-Why are you hybrids-"

Alt swims a bit forward, "Um... I know it doesn't make much sense to you but... I'm a magician! I can cause... strange things to happen by just- thinking about it and I... I knew a way to let us come underwater since there wasn't much for us on land."

"and if they are lost... I think Danan and Zara can help them find a way back to where they are from," Henrik adds.

Chase hums in thought, still warily looking at Bro but seems to relax a bit. "... okay uh... w-welcome then..." Jamie swims up and hugs Chase's middle, both to show the others he means no harm and to comfort Chase.

"Thank you for the welcome." Schneep smiles in Chase's direction. "It is nice to hear. Things were very confusing back when your brothers first met us. Hopefully we can take care of things quickly."

JJ nods. It's good to meet you—even if I know it might be confusing.

"JJ says it's good to meet you, even though it's probably confusing," Jackie relays.

Bro tries to smile encouragingly at Chase.

Chase seems to fully take in the way JJ signs and looks at Jamie behind him. "... he does the hand thing that Ollie taught you." Jamie nods excitedly. Chase seems to hum and then looks back at JJ. "... Henrik and another blue suit made the robot that Jamie is using to talk... maybe they can make one for you too? Just so we can understand you..."

Alt's eyes sparkle as he looks to Henrik, "You made that robot??"

Henrik flushes more and nods, "With some help... M-Marvin helped me to draw it and Tessie put the ideas i-into the fabricator... it can make anything so... w-we could make another..."

JJ’s eyes light up and he nods eagerly. That would be so helpful! Can they make one so fast? Well, this is supposed to be the future, isn’t it? That would make sense.

Schneep clears his throat. "Your Jackie and Henrik mentioned those two. Danan and Zara. They are... friends of yours?"

Mer Jackie swims up and nods excitedly to Schneep, "Yeah! They're our friends! Danan is a former scientist with the white suits but she left to form this place! Cuz she wanted to take care of us but also let us be free! And Zara- well... she realized she was doing bad stuff and left to help us too! Now she's like- one of my best friends."

Chase smirks, "More than friends, I'd say."

"Huh?? What's that supposed to mean??" The reaper screeches, face getting red.

Jamie looks up and then makes kissing faces at mer-Jackie. The reaper shrieks in response and tackles Jamie to the ground and the two start to wrestle. Henrik and Chase don't seem phased by this but they do laugh.

Jackie grins. “Ah… reminds me of a friend of mine who constantly teased me about my dating life. His name is Chase, too.” He shakes his head. “Still can’t believe he figured out Frederick was my boyfriend before we told him…”

JJ blinks at him. You know, in my world you’re married to a lovely person named Rama.

“Really? Never met anyone with that name. Glad he’s happy with them, though.”

Alt looks over at Jackie with wide eyes and then swims over, looking excited, "You guys got together?! Thank god! Dude you were sooo obvious the last time I was there!"

“Wh—sh-shut up, I was not!” Jackie protests.

JJ laughs. If you’re anything like my Jackie, you were.

“Oh yes, same,” Schneep says. “The Jackie I know is not dating anyone right now—the whole… situation kind of interfered with that—but in the past, when he did—”

“You all are so mean to me,” Jackie whines.

"You're one to talk Alt," Bro snickers, "Sounds like there's another doppelganger of your boyfriend here if I'm guessing right."

Alt shuts up as his face turns red. "y-you don't know that... m-maybe its just... similar names!"

Bro rolls his eyes and then looks at Mer Jackie. "In our world you- I mean... our Jackie is married to someone named Zara. They have 3 kids together."

Reaper Jackie seems to short circuit. "k-kids?!" His face becomes as red as his hood.

The rest of the merboys laugh. Alt and Bro also burst into laughter at the other boys' banter.

Jackie laughs as well. “Yeah, I know, right? I can’t see it for myself, personally. Kids, I mean.”

"Anyways- Danan knows a lot about this kinda stuff. More than we would. If you guys... don't know Alterra and got lost here, she can probably help." Chase explains.

Schneep clears his throat. “In any case, yes, we would love to meet Danan. She sounds wonderful.”

Henrik swims up back towards the tubes, "Come- we can stop by the lab first to get a device for JJ. Maybe Danan will be nearby!"

“Ooo, ‘the lab,’” Schneep repeats, eyes lighting up—literally, irises turning turquoise. “That sounds fascinating. Well, lead the way, then! Ah, if you want to, of course.”

Henrik smiles, "Of course! Follow me." And he swims back up into the tubes. The others start to follow. Jackie follows after Henrik immediately, and Schneep isn't far behind. But JJ lingers, waiting for everyone. Chase swims down and meets back up with the kids. "I think my brothers need me anddd your mom is probably looking for you." He laughs and pokes the glass. "Don't get into more trouble, okay? "

"Awww okay Chase." The boy whines. Chase chuckles, "Don't be sad, Grayson. We'll catch up later okay?" The girl perks up and types out another message. "Bye Chase! Love you!" Chase blinks and blushes a bit before smiling warmly, "Yeah... bye Skylar..."

Grayson grabs Skylar's hand and starts to lead her back down the hall and Skye leans back to keep waving at Chase. Chase floats there for a second waving after them before sighing and following after the others.

JJ smiles as he sees Chase's interaction with the kids. He doesn't know a Chase in his world... but if he's anything like Bro and this Chase, he must be kind. And yet, as that thought comes to him, something bad lingers at the back of his mind. Why does he feel... dread? His smile fades and he shakes it off, following everyone else into the tube system.

The tubes lead into a few more confusing circles before they wind up in a green tinted room. It's filled to the brim with gadgets and materials, fabricators lining the walls and bigger machines in the corners. A workbench-like table is set up in the middle and even though this place looks like it’s made more for humans, it’s filled with water on the inside. Inside curled up in the corner is a bundle of purple.

"Oooo." Jackie looks around. More scifi shit.

Jamie seems excited and swims forward, "Marvin!" He quietly greets.

The purple thing jumps- and a bunch of metal starts to float around it, caught in a blue light that reflects in its eyes. Upon closer look- it's another hybrid! But this one seems closer to JJ- in which his tails are see-through, you can see his inner organs inside his chest and he has two tentacle-like legs. A purple armored cape hangs around his shoulders that end in tentacle-like tails too. He has bright green hair that is quite long compared to the others, pulled back into a ponytail by a bright blue ribbon. And most notable at all, he has a white cat mask on his face, a strange red symbol in the middle.

Reaper Jackie swims up next and grins, "Marv! I wondered where ya were!"

Schneep lingers near the wall, pressing a hand to the glass. There's someone else in here. He can feel them even before Reaper Jackie calls out his name. Marvin, huh?

JJ grins widely, flapping his arms and causing the attached wings to flutter. This place is so cool! Oh, and another Marvin! A nice one, he hopes--feels like he's the only one who has a nice Marvin. This one has cool powers!

"y-yeah h-hi...?" Marvin mumbles out nervously, "I was just... I..."

"You were trying out those new powers of yours, yes?" Henrik supplies. Marvin sheepishly nods. Then, he seems to notice the new people and he yells, throwing out a hand and sending bits of glowing metal junk hurtling towards through the water.

"Holy shit!" Jackie starts to dodge the junk but a big bit hits him in the stomach, sending him flying back. JJ isn't as fast and takes two blows, one to the chest and one to the tail. Schneep immediately tenses when he hears Marvin yell and the whoosh of water. He instinctively leaps to the side, but he doesn't quite get out of the way and a sharp bit of metal cuts his upper arm. "Motherfucker!" Schneep curses. "We mean you no harm!"

Alt and Bro try to dodge- But Bro gets hit across his cheek and he holds it with a yelp. "Ow! Jesus!" Alt almost manages to glitch out of the way- only to be disoriented by glitching in water which feels weird and actually kinda hurts! So he gets hit by another piece that hit him in the chest. He oomfs and tumbles back in a bit of somersault before he rights himself.

"Stay back!" Marvin hisses, holding out his hand as more objects lift up in the water, glowing like the blue light in his eyes that starts to shift to a hot pink. "I-I don't know who you guys are but-!" He gasps a bit as he sees Alt glitch though and the objects all float back down as the power dies down. He appears next to Alt in a circle of purple and blue magic and gets right up in his face. "Y-You... you warped! H-How?? How did you do that? Y-You're not a warper!"

"A-A what?!" Alt stammers out, nervous now that Marvin is in his face. That shade of purple is... luckily not like Mag's. But, it's too close for comfort.

Marvin swims back with wide panicked eyes and behind all the human-hybrids a pull is felt. But- it's not like the rifts- this one is glowing and swirling with pink and blue like a whirlpool. "I-I dunno what you are but! G-Get away from my brothers!" Marvin shouts.

"Really! We're not here to hurt you!" Jackie holds his hands up--then spins around as the pull appears behind them. JJ gasps in surprise. A whirlpool?! Schneep immediately latches onto the closest person—who turns out to be Jackie—and braces himself to be sucked in.

Then, Mer-Jackie tackles Marvin and the warp gate behind them bursts into bubbles as the concentration is broken. "M-Marv! It's okay! They're with us!"

JJ shakes his head, also raising his hands, and tries to look as harmless as possible.

"I said we're not here to hurt you," Jackie mutters.

The rest of the merboys come over and try to explain, kneeling down by Marvin.

"Friends!" Jamie emphasizes.

"I-I still don't get it but i-I Think they're harmless..." Chase adds.

"We are trying to help them, Marvin, but we will not let them hurt you...!" Henrik says gently.

Marvin still seems freaked as he looks up towards the human strangers. "W-Who are you?"

"um- I'm Alt, if that helps..." Alt speaks up. "And t-this is my brother... Chase."

Bro waves, "You guys can call me Bro though if you want... s'easier."

"I... think this will be very strange for you to hear," Schneep says slowly. "But I am Schneep, and this is Jackie and JJ."

"Hi." Jackie tries for a smile.

Marvin's eyes widen as he hears their names and looks at all his brothers with a bit of distress. Reaper Jackie gives him a tight smile. "Yeah... it's weird I know but... I just think they're lost. And they have like weird powers which is why they're hybrids too. Alterra didn't make em..."

JJ swims over towards Jackie and Schneep, holding onto Schneep's arm. A bit of blue magic wipes away the cut on his arm. Is anyone else hurt? he asks.

"I'm fine... just got my breath knocked out of me," Jackie says, looking down at his stomach where the junk hit him. He might have a bruise there later.

Marvin still looks a bit guarded but that goes out the window as he sees the blue magic and how JJ healed Schneep. He swims over and then pulls on Schneep's arm and then lifts it up like he can see where the cut went. He looks at JJ with wide eyes. "H-How did you do that??"

The other merboys also look fascinated by this and swim a bit closer.

Schneep stiffens a little, but he doesn't pull away as Marvin grabs his arm. JJ notices, though. He smiles at Marvin and gently pulls his hand away from Schneep. Magic, JJ says.

"He says it's magic," Jackie says. "That's some of those weird powers your Jackie mentioned."

Bro timidly raises his hand and points to his cheek, "...if you wanna show them more, J."

JJ looks at Bro and nods. He puts his hand on his face, next to the scrape, and similar blue magic heals it away. He then pulls away, shaking his head slightly. I can't do it forever. I have a limited amount of energy. So I think I'll save it for emergencies for now. Jackie repeats this for the hybrids.

Alt looks at JJ with worry. "Do you need anything to fuel your magic like I do? M-Maybe some food will help..."

JJ looks at Alt. Time and rest, is usually all I need. But food does help. I like thinking of it as a stamina bar in a video game. It recharges slowly but there are items to help fill it.

Alt laughs with JJ, "I like thinking of it that way too!"

"Magic?" Marvin's eyes shine a little bit then he giggles a bit shyly, "...i've always liked that word. .. it's how it feels to make my warp gates... you know? Making something out of nothing..."

Henrik notices the boys having to translate for JJ and hurries down to one of the fabricators, bringing up a hologram menu and clicking around on it. After finding the right plans he beams then swims around to collect the materials. He sets down the right ones and sets the machine to create. Two beams of light start to create the base of a fish robot like Jamie's. Henrik hurries over to another and makes the gloves that go with.

Schneep hears Henrik working around and swims closer, trying to figure out what's happening just by the sounds. He grins. This seems so interesting. Even just the noises are cool.

Alt can't help but be fascinated as he sees the machines create stuff- so much so that his tail starts sparking again. "Woah! Oh my god that's so fucking cool?! How is it doing that??"

"Oh uh... I dunno." Henrik says.

"Oh oh! Zara says it has something to do withhh rearranging maffer." Mer-Jackie says.

"It rearranges matter at the atomic level," Marvin says almost robotically, a bit of pink appearing in his eyes. "It was the catalyst behind the great expansion, and remains the backbone of the modern world." He shakes himself out. "It uh- makes stuff from other stuff."

The merboys look at Marvin weirdly.

Jackie frowns. "I'm guessing you didn't mean to say that," he mutters.

"...he's doing that fancy talking thing again," Reaper Jackie mutters. Chase laughs and ruffles Marvin's hair, "Kinda nice I'm not the know it all anymore!"

Marvin swats them with his tails. "I-I am not! Besides- Schneep is the know-it-all!"

"Yes, but I did not know that." Henrik laughs. He does give Marvin a look, something that holds a bit of concern.

Schneep turns his face towards Marvin again. "I am guessing you quoted something? It did not sound like your voice at all. Ah, I mean your personality—I assume, I mean." He tilts his head. "Rearrange matter at the atomic level... that must take an incredible amount of power. Yet this room does not seem so big. And I think the others would have mentioned it if you saw a huge power plant nearby. Oooo, how incredible it must be, then! The technology you could have that is possible but only limited by power—" He grins excitedly.

Jackie sighs. "All this science and magic stuff flies right by me. I mean... it's cool. But still." He rolls onto his back, floating with his hands behind his head.

Bro laughs with Jackie and nudges him, "dude me too- I don't get a lick of this stuff."

Marvin looks freaked out and backs up some. "I-I uh... I-I..." His eyes have a bit of pink in them again and he stiffens a bit, "T-There's multiple power sources on the planet. We are on top of a super volcano which provides thermal power the lower you go. Or Solar power which runs this base. Power Transmitters can use both solar and thermal power to power a single seabas-" He then shudders and swims backwards, holding his hands to his chest. He looks scared. "S-Sorry- sorry-" Jamie swims over and tries to hug Marvin- Marvin is stiff at first but slowly lets him.

Schneep faces Marvin again as he speaks some more. "N... no, I am sorry, for making that happen," he says quietly. He's curious, but he doesn't want Marvin to be seemingly taken over by whatever this is. Still, he's not the best at comfort, so he stays silent and lets Jamie take care of it.

"I-It's... fine." Marvin grumbles, "I'm t-trying to learn how to c-control it... sorry..."

Henrik grabs the new objects and hands them to JJ. "Here- put on these gloves... and then try to sign something. The robot should translate out loud for you. I have it set to have the same voice as Jamie's."

JJ's eyes light up. He puts the gloves on, making sure they're secure, then signs, Thank you. Can you understand me now?

The robot fish powers on and swims around JJ, partially translating. "Thank- you understand?"

"Huh... guess it's still struggling with BSL..." Alt mumbles.

"BSL? I've heard of that!" A new figure appears in the lab, and she has black hair bundled back into a ponytail and- oh she's human! She's in a blue and black dive suit with a strange symbol on her shoulder glowing blue and white. She also has purple eyes. Bro and Alt seem to recognize her immediately and stare a bit in dumbfounded awe. She's... younger than the Zara they know but- definitely Zara.

Mer-Jackie perks up and swims over to throw his arms around the woman. "Zara!! Hi!!"

The others turn to look at Zara—or, Schneep faces her. She's not familiar to the three of them, but Jackie does blink in surprise. So the Jackieboy from Bro and Alt's world is married to someone like that? ...well she is cute. Maybe if he'd never met Frederick he would've found her cuter, but he can understand it. He laughs a bit at mer-Jackie's excitement.

Zara laughs and hugs Jackie back, "Hey you!" She then blinks and realizes how many hybirds are in the room. "Woahhh- I knew our scanners picked up new lifeforms in the system but... wasn't expecting this..." She then grins and goes to swim over to grab JJ's fish robot. "Lemme try to fix this for ya though before we do intros!" She takes out a tool from a small bag tied to her leg and opens up a panel on the side of the fish. A small hologram menu shows up again and she scrolls through the options before she beams. "ah ha! Here it is!" She selects it and closes the panel before gesturing for JJ to try again. "Give it another try!"

JJ looks down at his gloves and tries signing again. Hello! It's nice to meet you. All of you.

The robot repeats his words back perfectly. The merboys all perk up and smiles. "Yay! We can understand you now!!" Mer Jackie says excitedly. Jamie swims around JJ in circles, giggling. "New friend! New sign friend!" His robot says.

Alt and Bro look relieved too and smile at JJ. Zara giggles, "Sorry it's usually set to Trans-Universal- BSL is like ancient now but some people still use it!"

Alt smiles at Zara, "I'm Alt- this is Chase." Bro waves.

Schneep nods. "Nice to meet you, Zara. This is going to sound very strange, but I am Schneep, and this is Jackie, JJ, Chase, and Alt. We are... ah..."

"We're from another universe," Jackie says bluntly. The others turn to face him, surprised, and he shrugs. "What? I got tired of dancing around it. Technically we're from other universes, actually."

Zara starts to smile at first but her face falls a bit and her eyes widen. "What...? a... different universe? Different universes?" She emphasizes looking shocked. "you're... all not even from this star system?"

"We're not even from this... plane of existence." Alt answers, rubbing his arm. "Like... good example- what year is it here? For us... it's 2020. Or for me and Chase- I mean Bro at least."

"WHAT?!" Zara exclaims in pure shock.

JJ nods slowly. Well actually it's 2019 in my world.

"Oh same," Jackie says.

"In mine, too," Schneep says.

Really? What month is it for you? It's March for us.

"January," Schneep answers, and at the same time Jackie says, "June."

"Oh you all are a year behind us- huh." Bro comments.

JJ looks at the hybrids. Sorry for not saying all this earlier. We weren't sure you would believe or understand us.

"Hell, I barely understood it, at first," Jackie says.

Schneep sighs. "And yet, you were so eager to share it."

"Honestly, I think it was rude for us to hide it."

"Well...Anti was very aggressive for us even mentioning our friends called Jack," Schneep says carefully. "Based on that, I was a bit hesitant."

"I'm not even sure I understand it..." Mer-Jackie says as he scratches his head. "The fuck is a universe?"

The merboys do all look a bit confused about this. Marvin grips at his head a bit but bites his lip to keep from saying anything.

"If you don't even know what a universe is, then... I am not sure how to describe it," Schneep says. "Think of it like... you have a piece of paper with a drawing on it. You copy the drawing, and on one you add some more details, but on the other you add different ones? Does that make sense at all?"

The merboys look even more confused. Well- except Marvin. He seems to understand the drawing analogy and nods. “Okay… I guess that makes sense.”

“Does it?” Henrik asks, making a face.

Zara still looks shocked, "I.. I can't believe that... h-here it's... 2232-"

"2232?!" Jackie inhales sharply. "Whoa... I-I guess it makes sense that time wouldn't line up perfectly... and that some worlds would be way ahead or way behind of the others.”

Alt sputters, "What?! t-that's insane-"

"As insane as you saying you're from another universe!! That's like- not in ours-"

"It's... parallel actually." Alt explains, "...that's why we all look similar or have similar names... in a way- we are some of you. Just... from somewhere different."

Chase makes a face, "How does that work? I.. I'm me- I'm not- not that guy!" He points at Bro.

Bro laughs nervously. "It's... complicated. But there's always ah... trends- similarities that tell us we're the same. B-Besides you know... looking like each other and having the same name."

I think that in a lot of ways that matter, we're not like you, JJ says. So... if it's easier for you, you can just think of us as a group of people who are kind of similar to your little family.

Chase nods to JJ, “y-yeah… you’re just… g-guys that look like us… that’s all.” He hugs his arms. “I-I don’t wanna think of it more beyond that…”

JJ smiles back at Chase. We'll leave it at that, then.

"Are you okay Ms. Zara?" Schneep asks. "You sound very shocked." He chuckles. "Though... that is understandable. It is very shocking."

Zara blinks at Schneep and then waves her hand. “Y-Yeah I’m just… trying to process all of this… like there’s a world- m-multiple worlds where these guys… don’t grow up here. In the past… that’s so crazy.” She laughs, “Do I even have a parallel in your worlds?”

“Uh… not in theirs,” Bro gestures to JJ, Jackie and Schneep. “But in mine and Alt’s? … yeah. You… you’re… a mum. And married to our friend, Jackie. Jackie Mann. But I think… is your last name uh… Caley? Cuz that was her maiden name.”

Zara’s face turns dark red and she holds her cheeks. “W-woah… god I… I’m way too young to be a mum!”

“To be fair our Zara is more of Bro’s age,” Alt laughs nervously.

“…there’s a universe where I… I get to be with Jackie and… have a family…?” She whispers, slowly smiling to herself.

"Yeah—and the kids are very cute," Jackie says, grinning. "I saw them for a bit when I popped into Alt and Bro's world. But I didn't see you." He pauses, thinking about what Bro said about Zara and their worlds. "Actually, maybe you do exist in our worlds? Our three. Maybe you exist, but we just don't know you?" He guesses. "It's a big world, after all. A whole planet—oh! Wait a second, by the way, is there even a planet Earth in this universe? Or did humans evolve on a different planet?"

"Perhaps it does?" Schneep says. "Alterra—the company name has 'terra' in it, and that is a word for Earth. It could be a very big coincidence that Alterra was called that—but perhaps not?"

Zara laughs, getting over her blush even if she glances at reaper Jackie who looks equally as flushed, hiding his face in his hood. “No you’re actually spot on! A lot of companies who went off into the further reaches of space came from earth of course, but Alterra was the only one bold enough to take its name. This is a planet far from Earth though. I’ve never even been near Earth- I was born here.” She explains, “We’re around a star called 4546 in the Ariadne Arm. This planet was the first found around 4546 so we call it 4546B. It’s a bit far from federation space but it’s more habitable than it was when it was rediscovered by Alterra almost a century ago. Right now Alterra’s trying to find… use of it. There’s lots of good resources and… well- ample places to experiment.”

Schneep makes a little "ooo"ing sound as Zara talks, and JJ swims closer, fascinated. But she lost Jackie the moment she confirmed that Earth existed.

“Those are… so many big words.” Bro mutters.

Zara laughs, “That sounds like something Jackie would say!” Mer-Jackie flicks his tail a bit in annoyance.

“I… I can’t believe we’re on a completely different planet…” Alt whispers in awe. “We’ve never managed to do that before.”

Zara blinks, “You’ve been to… other universes before?”

“Yeah! A ton! Me and Alt are like regular multiverse travelers now!” Bro grins.

"Not us, though." Jackie gestures at himself, Schneep, and JJ. "This is the first time I've been sucked into multiverse travel. Though—I guess I can't speak for you guys."

JJ shrugs. I got snapped to Alt and Bro's world one time, alone with some friends. But nothing since then.

Schneep shakes his head. "No, it is the same for me, Jackie, you are right." He pauses. "Though... one time, when I was getting used to my powers, I... ended up somewhere very strange. It is hard to describe... but it might have been outside my world." After a moment, he shakes his head again. "Don't ask me to go back there, though, I do not think I can. It was a freak accident... and very confusing."

"Well... what do we do now that we know more about this world?" Jackie looks at the others—mainly Alt and Bro, the experienced travelers. "We have these cool mermaid forms—hybrid forms, I guess. So I guess we could go anywhere? But... just, what do we do?"

“I… I dunno-“ Alt admits. “Honestly I was hoping… if this was future tech then… maybe they’d have a TRVLR like IRIS but… I don’t think they do.”

“Yeah sorry… none of those are ringing a bell.” Zara says softly.

Marvin seems to stiffen again and then clasps hands over his mouth. The merboys all look at him with confusion. “…do you know of something, Marvin?” Henrik asks.

Marvin tries to shake his head but then blurts out, his eyes going a bit pink again. “Sector Zero has an interplanetary phase gate hidden for Architect use-“

Zara’s eyes widen, “What?! A… a phase gate?!”

“Uhh- what’s a phase gate?” Bro asks.

"Ooooo, a phase gate," Schneep repeats, interested. "It sounds like some sort of... man-made wormhole."

Like from that movie Stargate! JJ says. He looks at the others. If you guys know what that is.

"I've vaguely heard of it, but I've never seen it," Jackie says.

“Yeah same- never was big on sci-fi movies.” Bro laughs.

“Phase gates are used for travel between sectors of space- they’re huge things used to teleport whole space crafts to other worlds. Sector Zero has that??” Zara gasps.

“The fuck is sector zero?!” Mer Jackie asks. Marvin almost seems to pale.

“It’s the arctic part of this planet outside the crater where we are now… I know there used to be researchers there a while ago but… that place gets abandoned a lot. It’s too cold.” Zara laughs lightly. Then she perks up and seems to realize what Jackie is. “oh!! That’s why you look so strange! You’re not a species from this side of the planet you’re a- a… oh what are they called?”

“A chelicerate.” Marvin supplies robotically before clasping his mouth shut again.

“Yeah!! That!” Zara beams. She swims around Jackie to admire him. “yeah! They’re like… the equivalent of reapers over there! That’s what my dad said at least- I think he and Zeke studied there for a bit!”

Jackie looks down at himself. "Oh. Huh." The mandibles snap again. "So... guess it's fitting that I turned into one, if this Jackie is part reaper. Parallels and shit."

Are you okay, Marvin? JJ asks, concerned. Do you need us to stop asking questions?

Marvin shakes his head. “I… it’s fine I just- h-hate that this k-keeps happening. I-It’s like my head fills with words and they don’t go away until I… I say them.”

“Danan did say it could be from your warper chip… warpers apparently are very smart.” Chase says.

Marvin grumbles. “I don’t wanna be smart… I don’t like being a… computer thing that just s-spews stuff out…” Jamie frowns and hugs Marvin around his shoulders.

Schneep frowns at the implications. Did they put a chip in Marvin’s head? Sure, the guys are experiments in this world, but something about that seems a bit too far even by those standards. "Unfortunately, I have another question that seems important," Schneep continues. "What does this phase gate have to do with the TRVLR thing, and IRIS? I see the connection between traveling through space and traveling through worlds, but... it is a different thing with a different purpose. And apparently made by a different company."

"And who the hell is Zeke?" Jackie asks.

Zara sighs, “Unfortunately… Zeke is my older brother. He’s… not a good guy. He’s the reason I left to stay here and… he tried to turn Marvin into a…a full time warper for him to use. And uh here- warpers are a type of like- mix of biology and tech… they were made by an ancient group of aliens that lived here like… a thousand years ago I think?” She shrugs, “The ones that live here are pretty harmless. Just- warping around, which is like teleporting. They’re Predators but they keep to themselves mostly. Not many are left cuz… they don’t reproduce and the Architects are gone So… Zeke thought Marvin was… fascinating.” Both Zara and Marvin shudder.

“Oh, so he’s an asshole,” Jackie says.

You can’t just call someone’s relative an asshole, even if they’re a bad person, JJ says.

“No no no, let him keep going,” Schneep says. See, that’s why he thought it was too far to put a chip in someone. Who knows how that could be taken advantage of? Even if these real warpers have tech, he can’t believe Alterra did that. Or—any of this, really.

Zara laughs, “No you’re right. He’s the biggest asshole. …but I think he just… got influenced by all the Alterans we worked with… I dunno. Part of me wants to… find some way to…” She shakes her head. “no… there’s no excusing what he did. But uh- speaking of the architects that brings me back to Schneep’s point. I.. I don’t know how a phase gate relates? I mean… they’re powerful… maybe there’s a way to set it to… different universes? I dunno… I don’t know many people here who work on that kinda tech. Most of us are like… Xeno-biologists or simple Alteran engineers.” Zara explains. “Besides I feel like if Alterra had that kind of knowledge they’d be advertising it like crazy. Those guys only care about research and money…”

“Hm… maybe Marvin simply got triggered to say that from hearing traveler?” Henrik suggests.

“Fuck if I know…” Marvin sighs, crossing his arms.

Alt hums, “…maybe we can try to see if we can like- work with a phase gate?”

“I dunno- those things are hugeee.” Zara says. “And still- no one here knows how to work them…”

“Hm… is there anything… smaller then? M-Maybe like- interacting with something like that could… I dunno- sense we’re not from here and send us home? Or like- I’m good with tech…maybe I could figure something out..”

Marvin stiffens again, “Similar technology is used in the Alien arches scattered across the crater. All connect to the Primary Containment facility.” He says robotically.

The merboys all gasp slightly. “T-That is where they had Jack and Anti…”

Alien technology… JJ repeats. It’d be exciting if the hybrids didn’t all have an immediate negative reaction to hearing about this containment facility. I’m going to guess the place is under the company’s control?

“Then it’s probably not safe to get too close,” Jackie says. “People like that would be fascinated with your guys’ magic.”

“But we still need to get home,” Schneep mutters.

“Yes but… the base there was also destroyed.” Henrik replies to JJ, adjusting his goggles. “I do not know if the containment was destroyed… but we also do not know if there are any… survivors down there.”

“It’s also not safe to go there cuz it’ll boil most of us alive.” Mer- Jackie says, “It’s down in the lava zone. Only Marvin and Anti can go down there without being fried.”

“Lava zone?!” Jackie gasps. “That would be so cool if it wasn’t able to kill us! Well—still kinda cool, I guess, but you know what I mean.”

Schneep frowns. He almost wants to ask what destroyed the base… but maybe later. He doesn’t want to get sidetracked.

Marvin’s eyes dim a bit and he answers a bit more quietly, “…I think A-Ant- Alt is onto something though… if similar tech exists in these arches then… t-they’re teleporters. Maybe there is a way to make the destination back towards your homes…”

“That is true… these humans do possess power that even the white suits do not have…” Henrik muses.

“And um… we don’t need to go to the lava zone… we can find one of the arches c-closer by I think…? I’ve… seen a few around.” Marvin says timidly.

“Oh yeah- isn’t there one in the mountains?” Chase says. “It’s that- freaky black diamond thing we sometimes race through.”

“Y-Yeah that’s it.”

I suppose it makes sense that there are closer ones, JJ says. If you have teleporting technology you would want to use it.

“…we should ask Danan,” Zara says. “She’s been researching on this planet longer than I have and might know more about this architect stuff.”

“Danan, right.” Jackie nods slowly. “If she’s in charge here, we should let her know we’re here, anyway.”

“Where is Danan?” Bro asks.

Zara sighs. “She’s taking care of Jack… which means well- you’ll be able to see Anti again because.. he’s there too. Doing his uh- guard thing.”

JJ tilts his head. You know, where I’m from, Jack is Anti’s cousin. They’re the only ones of us who are related.

“They’re pretty close where I’m from, too,” Jackie says. “I uh… don’t know how to describe it. They’re like best friends and family and a weird symbiotic relationship wrapped all into one.”

“Ha… weird. I got a friend named Jack back at home. He helps me make my music for shows.” Alt grins.

Schneep laughs nervously. “Well… that is fun to know. Anyway, should we head in that direction?” He doesn’t want to talk about his Jack and Anti.

The merboys shift a bit uncomfortably. “Jack and Anti have always been close… despite Jack being a bit older than him.” Chase says sadly. “But… now Anti hardly leaves Jack’s side… I think it’s cuz…”

“Cuz of what those white suit fucks did to him.” Reaper Jackie growls, digging his nails into his arms. “They made him their personal bodyguard to make sure Jack never escaped. But- heh, that backfired on them.” He grins.

The more I learn about Alterra the less I like them,” Schneep mutters. JJ and Jackie nod in agreement.

“Yeah just know he might be a bit… snippy, to put it lightly.” Zara says with a wince.

“Don’t worry though! We’ll protect ya!” Mer-Jackie says brightly.

Bro laughs, “I’m not worried dude- I think we can handle it. We’re all a pretty tough bunch.”

“Hey, I can handle a snippy Anti,” Jackie says. “The one I know is a dick. Good person, but a little mean.”

JJ chuckles. My Anti can be like that too. You have to get through the prickly outside.

“Yeah I think all Antis are like that- especially the good ones.” Bro laughs, nudging Alt. Alt glares a bit then flicks his tail at Bro giving him a tiny shock. Bro yelps then makes a face at Alt who only grins back. “What? You said I was prickly, prick.”

“Okay, I suppose that you should all go in front, then?” Schneep hurriedly says before anyone can notice him avoiding the topic of his Anti. “So that way he sees you first before us. I imagine we look quite shocking.”

“Your tail is transparent, by the way,” Jackie comments. “We can see the bones.”

“What?!” Schneep leans down and grabs onto his tail, but it feels like normal fish flesh to him.

The others all kinda hide their laughter. “Y-You didn’t know? You’re just like me actually.” Marvin tries to smile.

“Oh uh- Schneep is… blind.” Bro tells everyone. The ones who didn’t know eyes widen.

“Oh! Wow- you… don’t super act like it but that makes sense..” Zara says. “Good thing you got those tendrils though! I bet they help.”

“River Prowlers use their tendrils to lure in prey.” Marvin says with a twitch and then shudders.

“The extra limbs are helpful, yes,” Schneep says, one of the tendrils grabbing onto JJ’s arm. JJ looks at it a bit warily as Marvin makes that comment, but doesn’t pull away.

Mer-Jackie nods to Schneep, “Well you got the right idea other Schneep, we’ll head the group, c’mon!”

He quickly swims back up into the tubes, the rest of his brothers following after. Zara smiles at the rest of them before following.

“Oh, Zara’s coming with us?” Jackie says, surprised. “I, uh, hope we’re not interrupting anything.”

“I’m sure she knows what she’s doing,” Schneep says. “It will be nice to have someone to help explain.”

Thank you again for your help with the robot, by the way, JJ adds. Then they all follow the others, leaving in that order.

“Ha don’t worry! Hanging out with these guys is kinda my part time job now. ” Zara says with a wink. “Except better cuz I enjoy it! …and I don’t get paid regardless.” She laughs. “Plus it seems like you all need some more uh- human explanations. The boys are still- learning a bunch.”

Alt and Bro follow closely behind but Alt starts mumbling. “I wish I knew a spell that could like… I dunno… fix your vision or at least let you see temporary, Hen…”

“Hmm? Oh.” Schneep turns back towards him and smiles. “Thank you for the concern, Alt. It means a lot, truly. But you don’t have to go out of your way for me. There is a sadness that I lost my sight, but I have grown used to it. I have more accommodations than most blind people, since I can tell where people are, at least. I am mostly satisfied with my situation. I don’t think I need anything more.”

“Wow Schneep you’ve taken losing a whole sense with a lot of grace.” Bro smiles.

Alt frowns and holds his arms. “…I can’t imagine losing my vision. Maybe it’s just cuz I’m an artist but… I just… that terrifies me. I dunno how you do it.”

“I do wish you could see all this though,” Bro says quietly, looking outside the base as they cross through the glass tunnels. “All of this is… just insane.”

“Oh, well, it has not been easy, of course,” Schneep says. “I had to leave my job—hard to be a surgeon when you cannot see the patient. And there are many inconveniences. Even something like buying food can be difficult. Cannot read the labels, yes? But I am lucky to have had support in adjusting. My friends are always willing to help.”

Jackie looks back at him for a moment, thinking. “You… I’m glad they’re there for you,” he says softly.

Schneep nods. “I am very thankful for them.” He presses a hand to the glass wall of the tube. “But I am sad to be missing out on the view.”

We could describe it for you? JJ suggests.

Schneep laughs. “Give me the colors, if anything. I can figure out the rest with my other senses.”

Bro sighs, “Damn… going to medical school for so long and then having to stop… that majorly sucks.”

“Your friends are good ones though,” Alt smiles. Then he blinks and looks out the windows. “Well here it’s- it’s kinda green but I think that’s cuz there’s these tall kelp vines. You probably felt those. Most of the leaves are at the top of the water though so it kinda makes a canopy? So it’s a bit darker here… and there’s like these glowing fruit things on the vines so it’s all- glowing and shit.”

“Glowing…” Schneep repeats. He smiles. “It must be beautiful.”

#GITHV #glitch into the huffleverse #GITHV septnautical #alt anti #bro fantastic #stitched schneep #the jaunty jackson #inverted jackie #reaper jackie #cuddlefish jamie #stalker schneep #rabbit ray chase #warper marvin #zara caley #theres hints to stories ive been meaning to write in here-#and hints to the current BZ event! :D #septnautical #sorry it ends on an awkward place here!!

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measuringbliss · 2 years ago

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Spider-Man Read-Through 044: Peter's Graduation (ASM 181-186, Ann 12)

MASTERPOST

Len Wein's run finished with an astounding Green Goblin story, what will Marv Wolfman bring to the table?

Oh wow, we're not wasting time, huh!

I also know some little kitten is coming soon...

Our story begins a grave. Uncle Ben's grave!

And what a striking first page. Beautiful colors, smart positioning for the artists, overall really impressive beginning.

This issue is just a recollection of how our hero came to be, with a subtle retcon of Harry Osborn existing back when Peter was in high school. There's an entire page about Jameson's various ways to attack him--he really tried his best! The issue features really nice art, and there's a page where it recounts Spidey's foes... including Will O'The Wisps and Stegron. Uh, sure. Not gonna let me forget the latter now, are we?

My boy the Prowler also gets a cameo, which is quite lovely.

At the end, a penniless father steals Peter's old microscope he just dropped to Ben's grave. That's another kid who'll be happy!

#182 time!

Marv Wolfman's first tenure is to bring beloved supervillain Rocket Racer. Huh! Paying respect to your predecessor, I can appreciate that.

More importantly, this issue starts with one of these panels that Ross Andru seems to love and that, for me, have come to define his tenure:

Mindbending perspectives.

And you know what?

I think Ross Andru loves Rocket Racer, because their chase gives him the occasion to have fun angles and draw specific buildings, and i'm sure it was pretty much Christmas in his head, hahaha. Good for him!

So Spidey loses RR, who blackmails his employer who wants incriminating evidence against himself to make it disappear.

First off: those angles in the first three panels are a rare kind of thing, I feel! And secondly: Hmm, who might that be? A small, thin figure... I'm intrigued!

At the hospital, May tells Peter that married life is really cool. Uh-oh... Are we going to get a proposal, folks?

I didn't notice that right away, to be fair. It's MJ who lampshades it as they leave the room, and she's even about to say she's sad she doesn't have anyone like that (at least, before she gets cut off: where's Anna in all this?) when Peter, who doesn't care in the slightest, has a bad feeling. Doesn't notice anything though, although we definitely see some focus on a character...

Later, the blackmailed guy tries to end things, but Rocket Racer saves him--he wants money after all.

There's a fun scene where two police offers try to catch RR, to no avail. It channels Spidey's chase with the Tarantula through the city a bit. Just a bit.

Interestingly, Spidey says that he'll be graduating "in a few months" and he's been offered a scholarship to teach at ESU and pay his PHD. Nice!

While chasing RR, Spidey notices that his web has been getting weaker for months now... something affecting the original formula (um sure Peter, let's go with that). Set up! Set up!

Anyway, RR escapes once again, but it doesn't matter because...!

Aww that's cute! I admit the scene made me smile.

You know, that was a fun issue. The hero side was fun, and the human side was fun as well!

In #183, Spidey tells us that MJ hasn't answered the proposal yet (oof, that "gulp" was sinister enough...) and we get this...

Lmao, why does Peter look so smooth in the middle panel? Get outta here with that omega man stuff, hahaha.

So Weele, the guy blackmailed by RR, goes to the Tinkerer and decides he wants to be a supervillain too. So the Tinkerer's effectively becoming "that guy every villain comes to to become a supervillain", given that he already built RR's suit.

At the hospital, May's gonna be fine, but "Robert" is there too. His mom is not fine, and the hospital bills keep piling on. He's definitely doing something shady to pay stuff, but what?

Turns out Robert is Rocket Racer. Nice, we get backstory and motivation! Interestingly, both heroes fight while wanting to protect their mother figure in the same room, it makes for a nice moment.

You know what is bonkers?

Weele's new alter ego: Big Wheel. The famous one. I'd heard he was pretty remarkable, and. Yes. I can see that.

The fights ends with Big Wheel rolling into the Hudson. Oops. It was nice to know you!

More importantly, Spider-Man's appearance at the hospital has put May in need of intensive care, says the most asshole male nurse I've ever seen. And then MJ comes... to give back the ring. Oof.

Poor Peter. Who is this in his apartment? That era where you let anyone go to your place, I swear...

Anyway, good issue too! I definitely enjoy the tighter focus on the personal lives of the characters.

Hehehe. A lot of people had guessed it was him! I think having multiple months during the storyline definitely was in their favor.

Some people are NOT happy, but I personally am. They're not yet ready!

In #184, Betty Brant is back! Is she gonna be a serious romantic candidate? I don't feel like Peter's ready for a new partner just yet... and isn't she with Ned Leeds?

Look, if I'm putting this here, it's because Peter Parker is fine as fuck. I think he looked better some 50 issues ago, but he's fresh regardless. He doesn't look as cute anymore... Then again, he's been through some stuff.

Oh right. The plot!

So Betty just left Ned, which means Peter and Ned can finally start dating. I've been waiting for this!

Her story is kind of sad, but also, I really understand it. Not speaking the language can be pretty isolating.

Peter quickly thinks that hey, Betty and him could rekindle their old romance, but he immediately thinks that's not a good idea. She's still married, and he's a good Jewish man.

...I kind of want to see that, though. A bit of drama. Scandal!

And she's into it too, clearly, because she's not going to let Peter go alone to his graduation practice. Is that a thing? I don't have my high school diploma, and I'm still not entirely sure how/when I'll be able to get my university diploma hahaha. Oh, Americans.

Nice to see Marla's still here. And continuation of the Man-Wolf storyline, that's great!

At university, Peter and Betty have a nice time, at least until they cross the path of Philip Chang, who obviously has some PTSD.

Let me enjoy hot Peter in peace.

There's Spidey business for a bit, then back to our betrayers! Betty says Paris is depressing, and she's entirely right. It sucks! It has beautiful things, but it sucks!

Oboy.

Unfortunately, their water is Philip from earlier! Philip is not jazzed up about it, but Peter once again tries to reach out to that lonely figure that calls back to his past self. It's heartwarming, I like it!

So turns out Philip is threatened by this gentleman below.

The White Dragon kidnaps Philip and in consequence, Peter quickly gets rid of Betty, but she seems enamored still, and he has to admit he's also not indifferent to her.

Turns out, Philip has to choose between one of 4 gangs to belong to. Oh. Spidey gets rekt by the White Dragon, and if he wants to save him, Philip has to pick a gang.

But Philip can't, and Spidey's thrown in a gigantic vat of burning oil. Poor guy.

In the comments on *a certain website*, one guy tells his own horror story, about how he also proposed to his girlfriend, who accepted the ring without saying yes or no... then they gradually stopped talking. Oof. That's rough. Hang in there, buddy.

In #185, Spidey gets off fine because while the oil burns his chains, it somehow doesn't burn HIM. Suuuuure. After drowning in the nearby river, he goes back to free Philip. Turns out Philip's dangerous activity back in Hong Kong caused the deaths of his parents, and he vowed to never use violence again. Naturally, that means he can't enter a gang.

These are fun panels. The White Dragon is easily defeated.

Now, onto the graduation! Robbie brings a TV to May's room so she doesn't miss anything, that's sweet!

All of Peter's friends are there (well, not Ned, nor MJ), but there's bad news... he's not on the list! No matter, he still goes to the ceremony. Jameson does a speech that literally lasts "several hours" until, at last... he concludes with "Excelsior" and a reminder that everybody should subscribe to the Bugle.

Peter's name is never called though. The dean tells him he misses one credit, for his sports class. How ironic!

Well, at least, he can always catch up in the summer.

...Wait. What is that.

Is Ross Andru leaving? Is he gone? Was it his final issue? It's a great issue to end on, with a sense of finality, but god damn it, to say I was so happy to have him all this time! Are you kidding me?!

#186 time! Hello, Keith Pollard. Let's see how you're faring.

It's like Ross Andru never left.

Spidey saves a guy from this burning building, to Jameson's despair, but the guy's not happy...

Ooh, that outfit has aged terribly. But the Chameleon seems gay for Spidey so I'm invested.

Anyway, Peter needs money because May needs to be treated and the US health system sucks. So...

Oh my god, they actually fucked.

This is awful, I love it.

The next page helpfully informs me that no, they didn't, they just spoke all night while very obvious sexual tension threatened to ruin their lives. I'm into this too, but it's a bit disappointing, I'm not gonna lie.

Spidey is fed up with being considered public enemy, so he goes to the feds, but...

What. DOC OCK "DIED" IN A SIDE NOVEL?!

Spider-Man is starting to look dangerously like Danganronpa.

Oh well.

Spidey gets an interview in Central Park, but the Chameleon tricks him and his reputation is once again ruined.

It looks right out of a horror movie, I love that left panel hahaha

Aww, Flash, baby! My babyboy

Hmm, we haven't seen Electro in a hot minute... Okay, alright, why not!

So that was alright, this issue. The artists did a good job!

If you're wondering, Annual 12 is ASM #119 and #120, so nothing special. I covered them here already!

Overall a really good batch, I loved the amount of social life we got to see, and I'm curious to see what happened in Spectacular throughout this batch. Next time, folks! I do seem to recall we've got a mystery...

Should be fun!

#spider-man #peter parker #flash thompson #mary jane watson #betty brant #comics #comic books #peter parker is a hot stud

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too-much-tma-stuff · 2 months ago

Text

Discovered to Soon (part 9)

Previous | Masterpost

Having done almost a full loop of crime alley Danny stopped on the roof of a clinic near the edge of the alley to look over all the data he’d collected again. Sitting on the edge of the roof he swung his feet absently as he zoomed out on his map to see if there were any patterns in the locations that might lend more credence to ley lines as a theory. There did seem to be some sort of pattern in it, he should travel directly between these spots and see if the levels between them was a little higher than average. Maybe the buildings Were at some intersecting points, were humans naturally drawn to such places?

He tensed abruptly when he heard the woosh of a grapple. Hood would not come to him three times in a night, and he was close to the edge of The Alley’s, maybe close enough one of the bats would dare come in. He looked up quickly, kicking himself internally for leaving his com off! He could have gotten a heads up about this, but he didn’t want to be distracted by his family’s chatter while he was working.

Red Robin gave him a personable smile Danny could tell was fake, he knew his brother well enough. “Hi,” Tim said, raising his hand in a little wave. “Rare to see a new masked player in Gotham, who are you?” He asked, he was keeping his posture purposefully nonthreatening to try not and scare Danny away. They could probably tell from his body language and size that he was young, he hadn’t been aware he was being watched!

Of course he knew he wouldn’t’ be able to hide from his family for ever but this was not how he planned to introduce Hafit to the bats. He hadn’t gone over what to say, potential outcomes, how he should change his speech patterns to be less recognizable, Nothing! He had frozen for just a moment before he jumped to his feet, closing the map and holstering his detector.

“Woe, hey, there’s nothing to worry about here, just saying hi,” RR said, holding out his hands imploringly.

“You’re not supposed to be here, this is Hood’s territory and he doesn’t like you. It won’t take him long to find out you’re here,” Danny hissed, so glad he’d put a modulator in his helmet. It sounded creepy, nothing at all like himself.

“So you work for Red Hood? I thought he had some pretty firm policies about children,” Red Robin said, curious and wary.

“When it suits me,” Danny hissed, backing away slightly. “I’m no younger than some of your colleagues,” he added, mostly for Hood’s sake. “Now I suggest you leave,” He said before he turned and ran, grappling to swing deeper into crime alley, already turning on his com and tuning into Red Hood’s channel to tell him what had happened and what he’d said, he would want to know everything.

Danny told Hood what had happened on his way back to his lab where he quickly sent Jason the footage and put away his equipment before rushing home. He was sure there was going to be an emergency meeting Very soon and he needed to be home, in his room, and not out of breath when that happened. Analyzing his data and getting a blood sample from Jason would have to wait for another day.

He was sitting at his desk at home in sweatpants and a sweater when Alfred knocked briskly on his door. “Master Bruce has called an emergency meeting, he requests everyone join him in the Cave in five minutes,” Alfred said and Danny nodded, carefully controlling his breathing as he got up from his desk.

“Thanks Alfred, I’ll be right there. Do I need to change?” He asked frowning down at the pajama pants he’d hastily changed into.

“Only if it would make you feel more comfortable.” Alfred replied, already halfway down the hall.

Danny shrugged and left his room, heading down to the cave in his pajamas. Even if he was wrong about what this meeting was about (which he very much doubted) and there was trouble he’d spend it behind a screen anyway. And if it is what he thought it was, well there was no way that his family would suspect him yet anyway, but being in pajamas like he’d been comfortable at home this entire time, would help defer that even further.

Danny wasn’t the last one there, but he was close to it, Damian and Bruce were both there, as was Tim. Dick and Barbra were both displayed on the bat-computer since it would be too onerous for them to come in person so last minute. Cass must have been patrolling a bit further away because she came screeching in on her bike a couple of minutes after Danny did. There were no words before then, though Dick smiled and waved at Danny warmly. Bruce was a man of few words and Tim looked worried, Damian just seemed annoyed at being pulled back from the streets early for a meeting. Spoiler wasn’t active tonight, she would be filled in when she clocked back in tomorrow.

“Thank you for coming everyone, I’m aware it’s short notice,” Bruce said gruffly, glancing at Dick in particular, who was still keeping his distance from the family for the most part. “But there is a new player in Gotham, not a villain, at least not so far as we know but… not something we expected or anticipated,” And that alone was cause for concern. After all what gave Bruce the ability to keep up with empowered people was always being prepared for every eventuality. Something he didn’t see coming was always cause for concern.

“Oracle, would you mind pulling up the footage from Red Robin’s feed?” Batman requested, and by the time he had turned to face the computer it was already playing.

Danny had to be careful not to react to the footage of himself swinging to the building at the edge of crime alley with practiced grace and plopped himself down on the edge. At least he could see that his suit did look the way he had pictured it from an outside perspective. Though the intimidation of it was somewhat undercut by the childish way he swung his legs while typing away at his wrist computer. He watched as the rest of the interaction play out, frowning uncertainly.

“We have no name,” Bruce said once the clip ended with Danny swinging quickly away. “But we know they are being trained by Red Hood, and I think we can say their uniform confirms both their connections to the League of Shadows. Though they aren’t behaving in any way we would expect members of the league to act, so perhaps they’re defectors, though that is purely speculation for now.

“It’s interesting that they say they work with Red Hood as apposed to for him when asked. We’ll have to do some research to try and find out just what it is he does for Red Hood, and if it has anything to do with the unusual weapons he’s been using recently.

“We have a lot more to learn then what we already know, but I wanted all of you to be aware and keep an eye out for them. They’re clearly very young, though who knows what training he’s undergone before this, or what brought them to this point. If we can help them, we should,” Bruce said firmly, because of course he would. Their father was a good man, he’d never abandon a child if he could help it. “Tim? As the one who was there in person who was there in person, do you have any observations to add?”

“I believe he might have been told to avoid us,” Tim said without looking up from his wrist computer where he was probably multitasking by writing his report as he spoke. “He seemed very surprised to see me, I don’t think he realized how close he’d gotten to the edge of Red Hood’s territory, and he fled back into it. I think the reason we haven’t seen him sooner is because Red Hood is keeping him away from us. Whether that’s for his protection, because we know Red Hood doesn’t think highly of us, or to keep control of them, I don’t know.”

“Thank you, Red Robin,” Bruce said calmly.

Damian raised one hand professionally, and Bruce nodded to him. Damian nodded back and clasped his hands behind his back again before speaking. “Given the connection to the league of assassins do we have any suspicion that they are a defective clone?” He asked, it was a fair guess really.

“We can’t rule it out,” Bruce allowed, glancing back up at the screen. “They are the right size and seem roughly the right age. However, they’re not acting in any ways we would expect from even a failed clone, and he doesn’t seem to have any interest in attacking us, at least directly. We need to know more.”

“Agreed,” Barbra spoke up. “I’ll see what I can find out, and give hacking cameras in crime alley another try, see if we can find out anything more,” She said, her hands already flying across her keyboard as she worked.

“I don’t think there’s much I can do from Bludhaven, but if you need me to come for anything let me know,” Dick said. He saw Bruce’s acknowledgement, nodded back, and then signed off from the call. He had the information Brice needed to share now after all, he had nothing more to add and a city of his own to patrol.

“I don’t think pursuing him too intensely would be a good idea, at least at first,” Danny pointed out. Both because he felt like he had been quiet for a bit too long, and because he might be able to help himself a little bit here. “If Tim is right that he’s been told to avoid the bats by Hood he might thing the pursuit is malicious or threatening. You’ll have to be careful in how you approach if you don’t want to scare him off.”

“Your probably right, we’ll have to be careful how we approach,” Bruce agreed thoughtfully.

Cass raised her hand, and when everyone was looking at her she started to sign; “Red Hood has shown no sign of knowing who I am out of costume. Maybe I can go in under cover to find out more.”

“It would be a risk,” Bruce pointed out, clearly worried. “And just because he hasn’t targeted you doesn’t mean he doesn’t know. We’d have to think of contingencies and extraction strategies before hand.”

She rolled her eyes at him, and he cracked a rare, small smile while in mask. “Allow me to be protective of my only daughter,” He said, reaching out to rest a hand on her head. She allowed it for a moment before ducking away.

“Protect all of us,” She accused him playfully making Danny laugh.

“She’s got you there, old man,” Danny teased as well, coming over to bump his shoulder against Bruce’s arm.

Bruce chuckled roughly and gave Danny a one-armed hug before pushing him away again. “Meeting is adjourned, go back to bed Danny. You too Damian, you both have school tomorrow.”

“Yes father,” Damian said, but he hesitated for a moment.

Danny knew what he wanted, he wanted a hug as well, the same easy affection between Danny and Cass and their father that had never come naturally to Damian. Danny smiled a little and slid up behind Damian, pushing him into their father with a laugh. Damian squawked indignantly, flailing a little until Bruce chuckled and caught Damian, holding him close. Then Damian melted, his arms lifting slowly, hesitantly before hugging back quickly and then pulling away.

“Goodnight!” He said a little too loudly and headed towards the elevator at a speed that was just a little slower than bolting.

Danny and Cass gave each other a knowing smile before Danny followed Damian, and Cass headed towards the locker room to change out of her suit and shower. Damian held the elevator for Danny, he watched Cass go with an odd expression that Danny thought meant he felt silly for getting in without changing first but couldn’t bring himself to get back out and go change. Like a cat falling off a windowsill by mistake.

“That one should probably be washed anyway. Nothing wrong with putting it in the laundry chute, then even if someone brings friends over no one will see it,” Danny told Damian, taking pity on him and giving him an out for his momentary foolishness.

“Of course, that’s what I already intended,” He scoffed.

Danny repressed his smile and cleared his throat as they headed back to the manor. Danny left Damian to get changed and get a snack if he needed one. Danny was tired, it had been a long day, he was going to bed.

Or he intended to, but just as he was falling asleep he heard a knock on his wall. He groaned and rolled over, he wanted to sleep, but if his brother wanted to talk, he wasn’t going to let the distance between them grow any larger for the sake of another hour of sleep. He knocked back.

A minute later his door opened with a whisper and shut with a soft click. Danny lifted his blankets and felt his bed shift as Damian slid in, covering him as well and laying his arm between the two of them. Damian’s hand curled around his wrist.

“I’m sorry about what I said the other day,” Damian said softly. “I know it isn’t wrong to want help, and I know I hurt you.” No excuses, no dodging responsibility. It’s unusual for Damian to apologize at all, but when he does this is just so… him.

“Thank you Ahki,” Danny says with a little smile. “I understand why you were upset, that wasn’t the right way for you to find out about therapy. I’m sorry too.”

“Father apologized as well, for not speaking to me privately,” Damian murmured.

“Good, we’ve all apologized to each other. No harm done now, right?” Danny asked, opening one eye just a crack to watch Damian nod.

“No harm done now,” He echoed softly.

There seemed to be more he wanted to talk about so Danny waited. He wished he could say that he was tired and push off talking to another night. But as far as anyone in the family knew Danny hadn’t done anything particularly tiring tonight, he couldn’t let on that his arms were aching from the unusual activity grappling across Crime Alley. He really needed to come up with a better lie to cover where he was spending his time that he, maybe he should ‘join a fencing club’ or something like that.

“Do you know anything about what’s going on in Crime Alley?” Damian asked softly.

The question shocked a laugh out of Danny, which was honestly a pretty decent reaction because even though it was shock he could pass it off as disbelief. “No, I don’t know anything about it,” He assured softly. Lying as naturally as breathing and ignoring the guilt twisting in his gut. “I know I’ve been keeping secrets, but do you really think I’d ally with Red Hood?” He asked, amused.

“Danyal…” Damian said in a tone that made Danny open his eyes and focus on his brother in the dark. He could see his eyes, glowing slightly greener than usual reflected back in his twins own dark ones. “I think that you would do anything you believed you needed to, to achieve your goals. I just wish I knew why, and what they are.”

Damian’s words took the breath out of Danny’s lungs, and he shrunk in on himself, ashamed of how sure Damian is of this and how correct he is. Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You know me too well,” Danny told him with a dry laugh. “But no, I don’t know anything about it. Now if father starts wondering where a few hundred thousand dollars went from his bank account, that one is me,” Danny said with a crooked smile.

“You know perfectly well he won’t notice that,” Damian chuckled, but he settled down in Danny’s bed. He believed Danny now, admitting to just enough, sandwiching a lie in truth worked very well.

“I know,” Danny said with a crooked smile. “No need to work with anyone else when through a little casual embezzlement I already have everything I need,” He joked, and Damian laughed a little again.

“I do wonder what it is you’re doing Ahki,” Damian murmured, starting to sound sleepy.

“If I tell you a little bit do you think you’ll be able to keep it from father?” Danny asked softly.

“I had nearly the same training as you,” Damian said haughtily.

“And what about Dick?” He asked, and Damian deflated, looking away from Danny.

“Not if he asked me,” Damian admitted with a little sigh.

“Alright then… well I can’t tell you everything. But- but I don’t like keeping secrets from you so I’ll tell you a little okay?” He asked anxiously.

“Yes,” Damian said firmly, looking back up at Danny.

“I’m continuing the research on Lazarus water,” He said softly. “We’re not getting anywhere with father’s methods, but I think it’s because of the way he avoids the supernatural. I’m not doing anything unethical, just working with magic, which you know father would think is too risky.”

“That makes sense,” Damian murmured, mostly to himself. “Have you made any progress?” He asked curiously.

“Some,” Danny admitted, relaxing more then he thought he would after having shared a little with Damian. More at his words having been accepted, he hoped this would fend off Damian’s questions about the rest of Danny’s activities a while longer. “But none that I’m ready to share. I won’t be ready to share for a while, not till I have something substantial enough to share that Bruce might forgive me for going behind his back like this.”

“He’ll forgive you,” Damian promised, with faith that Danny wished he felt. “He might be upset, but he won’t turn his back on either of us. He loves us.”

Danny thought about Jason, how sure he was Bruce would reject him, about the fights he still had with Dick. He thought about the way Bruce continues to use Jason’s death as an example of what not to do. “Of course,” he lied. “We’re family after all. Now let’s sleep Damian, I think my teachers will be mad if I fall asleep in class again.”

“Wake me if you have a nightmare?” Damian requested, a yawn forcing his eyes closed, he didn’t bother to open them again.

“I will,” Danny agreed, but he didn’t think he would have any. Not after such an exhausting, eventful, but… hopeful night.

#dc x dp #fanfiction #danny phantom #jason todd #my writing #tim drake #Socializing the demon twins #demon twins au #damian wayne #danyal al ghul #bruce wayne #cassandra cain #alfred pennyworth #red robin

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