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Bruce has a strict 'no metas/powers (except duke) allowed in Gotham' policy in place but it has a clause, BYOR (Bring Your Own Robin)

No one is allowed entry untill and unless they can produce their very own certified robin-shaped identity card

Whenever someone with even a hint of supernatural powers in them arrives at Gotham, they're first met with Bruce standing at the city border with a notepad in hand

Bruce: State your name and purpose.

Kon: Kon-el, here to hangout!

Bruce: Your Robin?

Kon, flourishing Tim from behind him: Ta-Da!

Tim, waves: Hey Bruce

Bruce: Approved, you may enter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce: Name and purpose?

Hal: Here to investigate a case, Hal Jordan

Bruce: Your Robin?

Hal: I.... don't have one?

Bruce: Denied

Hal: What?! But-

Bruce: Denied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce: Yes, Wally, where's your robin?

Wally: Oh shit lemme just- *zaps away and returns with Dick, who was in the midst of brushing his teeth, in a bridal carry*- Here!

Bruce, grumbling a little: Fine. Approved.

Dick: You gotta stop using me as a key already, man

Wally: Blame Bruce.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce: Name and purpose?

Clark: Clark Kent, here for our monthly barbecue

Bruce: Robin?

Clark, producing an actual robin bird: Does this count?

Bruce:.....yes

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Me and my two redhead girlfriends.

Thinking about Jazz/Barbara (tele-health) and Jazz/Kara (PsychReport) again because you can’t tell me they wouldn’t be power couples

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Thinking about Jazz/Barbara (tele-health) and Jazz/Kara (PsychReport) again because you can’t tell me they wouldn’t be power couples

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Is the box ghost a cat? Because y’know boxes

Wait wait wait...

So in the bunny AU? Are the rogues all still the same? Do more and more powerful ghosts come through the portal only to get destroyed by a half dead lagomorph?

SOME of the ghosts are also animals, others are people shaped still. Whether or not theyre an animal now is entirely reliant on how funny itd be for them to get beat up by a rabbit.

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DC x DP fanfic Idea: Gotham Gossip

Meta-human rights are a touchy topic in Gotham. While the city is known for Batman's view on them, it's also known for Bruce Wayne's viewpoint.

The Dark Knight did not welcome Metas, while the Light Knight worked tirelessly to employ charities and programs to support Metas. Both men- if Batman was a man- influenced Gotham so intensely that their viewpoints became the face of the public.

Even people outside of Gothman learned what "Are you a Dark pawn or a Light pawn?" meant when it was spoken about during national debates.

Really, it was no surprise that Batman and Wayne got caught up in a rather explosive public argument over the subject. Or rather, Wayne yelled at Batman during a hostage situation when his party boat got taken by a group of masked men.

Thankfully, Batman was able to save everyone on board, and although he didn't stick around to argue with Wayne, it was noted that Batman seemed intrigued by a few of Wayne's passionate rants. A few reporters were excited to point out there may be a chance of growth within the vigilante, but it was overshadowed by gossip rags that used this incident to make up a wild rumor of Wayne being a bitter ex with Batman.

This rumor runs for months, with various people posting online proof of a relationship. It sparks debate and anger, with other people responding by fact-checking and countering the "proof." Eventually, the argument moves away from Meta-human rights and falls into celebrity gossip, which has Wayne steaming.

People ignore his passionate activism to better the lives of Metas, only watching his speeches, marches, protests, and donations to various charities to gain new proof of his nonexistent romance that may or may have been in his early twenties when he mysteriously vanished to see the world.

That's when the video comes out.

A young teenager wrote a song parody of what was happening. A soft acoustic guitar accompanied his short words, accusing the masses of caring more about a wealthy man's pants being on or not than the lives of his people.

This young teenager is Danny Fenton, a known meta from a small town in Illinois. This quickly turned into people attacking the boy, who released another song using the hateful comments as new lyrics.

Wayne reposts one of his sons, claiming it a masterpiece, which is when one fan notices the similarities between the two. She makes a post talking about how Wayne and Fenton could be father and son as a joke, expecting people to take it seriously.

Overnight, the internet finds out that Fenton was, in fact, adopted into his current family after being surrendered at a fire station anonymously. More and more people started to notice the similar features between the rich man and the small-town singer until a video of Fenton using his powers was leaked.

Fenton's power is invisibility. This resembles another well-known Gotham dweller who can appear and disappear through the city's shadows. It's not long before Fenton is being called the love child of Batman and Wayne.

It leads to so much media attention and harassment aimed towards Fenton that Wayne steps in. He offers to take a paternity test to finally put the rumors to rest and let the young boy vanish from the limelight (should he stop writing songs).

The only problem?

The test is positive. Wayne is Fenton's biological son. The whole nation loses their minds when it's leaked by a very regrettable intern at the clinic where the test was done. (To be fair, the intern's email was hacked, so when she scanned the papers for herself, they were able to steal them)

Worse, Joker thinks it would be hilarious to kidnap Wayne's newly discovered son and, on live TV, give him another paternity test against Batman. The clown is laughing hysterically while his men prepare the results, only to become more gleeful when it's a match again.

Fenton is the son of both the Dark Knight and the Light Knight. It matters little that Batman's DNA is slightly messed up, as various people already suspected him of not being human.

This just proves Fenton is not a meta-human but rather half-human and whatever the hell Batman is. Joker is having a ball reading out the results, proclaiming he would help Fenton meet his biological grandparents with his one guarantee.

His words are cut off when Fetnon- unknown to the viewing public- escapes his bonds and swings an axe from the emergency fire station inside the aged wearhouse at Joker's neck. The clown collapses to the ground dead, the boy bathed in his blood, and the half-finished joke is cut off by the sound of choking blood etching across every screen in Gotham.

The remaining goons and Fenton stare at each other in stun silence while one is brave enough to rasp. "But Batman doesn't kill."

"Do I look like my absent father to you? Besides, Joker venom is a war crime. I'm within my rights, and if I'm not, I would have killed him again anyway."

Fenton quickly outshines his fathers in the public's eye because no matter where one stood on the Meta Rights, everyone stood on the "Kill the Joker" debate.

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Schrödinger's mutual. Where you follow them but they follow you back on a side blog so you're not actually sure if they follow you

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Revisiting Reign Storm

I mentioned in a previous post that I recently bought the complete Danny Phantom series, and as I rewatch the show you'll probably see more posts like this from me. I would have started from Mystery Meat, but I had been talking with friends about some WIPs I had with Pariah Dark, and I just couldn't resist. I have a lot of thoughts about this two-part special, and I'll try to split it into a few parts as well: commentary and initial thoughts, speculation and theories, and the brain worms the episodes spawned.

Nonetheless:

Spoilers and long post ahead!

I don't know if a show that's been out for 20 years warrants a spoiler but well. You've been warned.

Initial Thoughts & Commentary

It's been a long time since I watched full episodes, so I went into this like it was my first watch. And I have to say I am so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it? There are a lot of things that I can tell would not have flown in this day and age, which I will come back around to later, but otherwise I had a really good time. I'm not going to do a play-by-play of the whole episodes, just the parts that stood out to me the most.

At the very start of the episode, we're given quite a bit of exposition thanks to Vlad's monologuing, and while it's entirely in-character, it also felt a little jarring to me. But here we learn that Vlad has quite a bit of ghost lore knowledge knocking around inside that head of his. He clearly knew who Pariah was and how to open the sarcophagus, although he wasn't quite bright enough to realize that oh right Pariah is still in there. A bit of a face palm moment, but again, pretty in line with some of Vlad's previous shortsightedness.

Also I completely forgot that was what Pariah Dark sounded like. RIP me I guess.

Maddie pouring steaming tea on Vlad's lap and head might have been a highlight of the episodes for me, I won't even try to deny it. On the downside, it was frustrating to see that Maddie was suspicious of Vlad, but never notices the other suspect behavior. Or you know. Does anything about it other than pour scalding water on him. Kick this man out of your house!

It was a little upsetting to hear Vlad insult Jack all the time, blatantly too, and Jack just brush it off. For example, when Vlad first arrives in the Fenton Labs after he escapes the Ghost Zone, he calls Jack his "fat friend" and maybe Jack isn't self-conscious about his size but that first insult just ticked me off and every verbal punch he made after that irritated me to no end. Jack, do you have such low self-esteem that you think this behavior is befitting a "good friend" or are you just that oblivious?

I don't want to call this a flaw of the show. The dynamics are what makes these scenes interesting and gives us a lot of insight into the characters! Unfortunately, it also illuminates a lot of personality traits that rubs me the wrong way. Again, not a flaw of the show, just my honest experience with it.

Speaking of things that rub me the wrong way, I forgot how much of a total creep Vlad is to characters outside of Danny. His first interaction with Valerie made me deeply uncomfortable, and one scene later on in particular did not ease my concerns. So the first part of the special is where Vlad approaches Valerie and gives her the upgraded ghost hunting equipment. But before he does this, he approaches her at Fenton Works (when Danny brings her and Sam there to hide from Dash, Nathan, and Sam's mother respectively) and asks her to take a walk with him to discuss her equipment. And puts a hand on her back. The ick I felt. And maybe on its own it wouldn't be so bad but here is a line we get later on, verbatim:

Danny: Oh, man, that's gotta be the ring the Fright Knight's looking for! Vlad must've given it to her! Tucker: Isn't he a little old for her?

If I hadn't thought about that before, I certainly would be now!!!

It was just. Eugh. I didn't think the show would be allowed to make a reference like that but apparently not. Anyways, this is your daily reminder that Vlad is a creep to fourteen year old boys and girls. But I digress.

This next part got a squeal of excitement out of me, because the body control! When Dash tries to throw a punch at Danny, he makes his chin go intangible so that the punch passes through him. It was unintentional on Danny's part, but if he put a little more practice into it??? The scream I scrupted.

Small complaint, but when Maddie is caught by Fright Knight she just hangs there and waits for rescue? I understand the need to showcase the abilities of the Ecto-Skeleton, but she couldn't have even put up a token protest? I don't know, it just felt out of place from her previous behavior. It did give us a cute moment where she swooned though. Honestly Maddie and Jack were absolutely adorable together for the whole special, you can tell how much Maddie cares from the way she worries about Jack whenever he's winded after using the Ecto-Skeleton. Danny is absolutely right, it must be killing Vlad inside.

Onto the next order of business: the Ring of Rage. More specifically, Fright Knight's hunt for it. I definitely didn't remember this before I watched the episodes again, but the only reason Fright Knight claims Amity Park for Pariah Dark is because Vlad (or anyone else, for that matter) doesn't return the Ring or Rage fast enough. And he did wait, he fights Danny and Vlad (and later Valerie) for a while before he plants the sword, making the claim.

This was my initial reaction, taken from DMs with friends:

FRIGHT KNIGHT ONLY CLAIMS THE TOWN AFTER THE RING ISN'T FOUND WHICH MEANS IF HE HAD JUST GIVEN UP THE RING EARLIER NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED???

I have to say that Valerie's solution to fire the Ring of Rage into the Ghost Zone when she realizes it's what Fright Knight and Pariah Dark are looking for is actually super clever? Honestly I loved Valerie so much this entire special, I was giddy and kicking my feet from the moment she and Danny smiled at each other. I am a really big Gray Ghost shipper, so these two episodes were extra special to me.

On the topic of ships, I was surprised by how heavily they implied Sam had feelings for Danny? Sam protested Danny's newfound interest in Valerie the most; just to be clear, Tucker warned Danny as well, and at the end of the special he sicced Nathan on Valerie alongside Sam, but Sam's protests definitely came off more strongly in my opinion. There was also quite a bit of meaningful eye contact in the scene leading up to Danny shooting off into the Ghost Zone in the Ecto-Skeleton. There's a bit of dialogue where Danny says something along the lines of "if you have something you'd like to tell me, now would be the time to say it", and Sam looks like she does want to say something but ultimately holds her tongue. I can promise you I will absolutely be going more into depth about that in the speculation section.

Also, can I just say I was really impressed by how mature Danny was in these episodes? Of course early on we see Danny struggle a lot with Dash's bullying and fights back with his powers. But when Danny sees Valerie hurt from the attacks, he immediately feels guilty and when Tucker tries to reassure him that it's not his fault, Danny says: "Maybe not. But it is my responsibility." And in that scene where Danny is about to fly off with the Ecto-Skeleton, he tells his friends, "C'mon, guys. You didn't think it was always going to be as easy as shoving the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos, did you? I'll be back." And like that moment I got oddly emotional? Not crying emotional, but it just like he was all grown up.

And with his rally cry when he tried to convince the ghosts to help him fight the ghost armies, he clearly knew what he was up against. He knew that there was a chance none of them were going to come back. He had overheard his mom call the Ecto-Skeleton suit's effects 'fatal', and Tucker reminded him of that again later too. And yet he still goes out and gives it his all and just. Damn. That's my Danny Phantom.

ALSO THIS IS THE EPISODE WHERE DANNY ANNOUNCES HIS NAME IS DANNY PHANTOM NOT INVISO-BILL I WAS WONDERING WHEN THAT WOULD COME IN

But before Danny makes off with the Ecto-Skeleton, Jack and Maddie explain how the machine works to a group of refugees. And Jack is the first to offer, saying that, "Because if the suit's going to be killing anyone, it's gonna be me." It was a very beautiful moment to me, but then Maddie knocks him out and says she'll take her place. Of course then Jazz knocks her out, and intends to take her place. But to my surprise, next it was Jeremy Manson, Sam's father, who offers to use the Ecto-Skeleton to fight Pariah. Pamela then knocks him out, and she's then knocked out--it's a bit that ends when everyone in the room is knocked out save for Valerie and Team Phantom. But I was still taken by surprise when the Mansons both offered to fight? It was a pleasant surprise for sure, it's always nice to have new insight into their characters.

This is also where Damon enters the scene and Danny reveals Valerie's identity in front of him to prevent her from taking the Ecto-Skeleton. I really like how his first reaction was to check that she was okay. It was only after she confirmed that she was alright that he went into angry, protective dad mode and grounded her. And honestly, I can't even blame him, Valerie had been really beaten down by this point. I was just impressed with Damon altogether; he didn't make many appearances, but he adapted quite handily to the Fentons' equipment. I can see now why he was one of the few to survive ten years after Dan destroyed the world. But that's a topic for another day. And analysis post.

But let's move onto the star of the show, the whole reason I started with this special. The fight between Danny and Pariah Dark. I was absolutely thrilled to see how many powers Danny showed off in this scene. While the Ecto-Skeleton helped with the raw strength, the sheer number of powers and the control he had over them reminded me how much more formidable Danny could be when he grows up and learns more control and, very likely, grows into his power as well. If he could grow to the point of 100x his current power, the power the Ecto-Skeleton granted him, is a little harder to say. As it stands, Danny could barely push Pariah Dark back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, that is how powerful Pariah is. Pariah is fighting to the very end here too, the only reason he doesn't break out is because Vlad finally deigns to show his face and lock the Sarcophagus so that Danny can stop fighting.

And I know this is the episode that popularized Danny becoming Ghost King, but honestly, watching the show now, I don't really see it? You can tell how much Danny struggles to fight Pariah even with the suit, and there's even more to it than that. When the ghosts are explaining to Danny who Pariah is, they refer to how Pariah was the only being powerful enough to wield both the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire. When Pariah does eventually acquire the Ring again, he groans with pain. The crown and the ring are far more powerful than we give them credit for, and I don't really know if Danny could handle it. I should have probably left that for the speculation section, but I guess this is a sneak peek.

Here are some bits and pieces of dialogue during the fight scene that particularly piqued my interest:

"I don't have to win. I just have to make sure you lose!"

"Having that much power- it's a burden, isn't it child?"

I am going to have a field day in the speculation section aren't I? I can already tell. But regardless, that first quote implies that Danny never actually won his fight. He just pushed Pariah inside and Vlad, ultimately, sealed Pariah inside. Vlad makes a comment about it as well: "What? That I used two fourteen year old pawns to turn a knight and topple a king? It's chess, Daniel. Of course, you don't understand. But, but then you never really did." Like ultimately, it's Vlad who takes the credit while Danny did all the work. Just as Vlad planned, just like his style. Work smart, not hard, I guess.

(Going back to Danny and his maturity in this episode, I really loved to see how quick he was? He figured out Vlad's plan to use Valerie as a distraction, and when Vlad made a remark about Valerie catching them, Danny blasted the street light which pits the street into complete darkness, which Danny then used to his advantage to blast Vlad out of the safety of the ghost shield. Not only was it the perfect come back to Vlad's bait, he was also very strategic about it. But I may be getting away from myself here--)

As you can tell, I had a very good time with this special! I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and will probably come back to it again as I explore all the plot bunnies that grew from this revisit. Best of all, the theme song still slaps.

So let's move on to the fun part of this analysis:

Theories & Speculation

This is about to be wildly out of order, but I don't even care, I am writing this at 2:30 in the morning, it's a miracle the words are on the screen at all.

I already talked in part about the Ghost King Danny headcanon and how I don't really see how the idea fits as much anymore. I specifically brought up the line earlier where Danny said: "I don't have to win. I just have to make sure you lose!" This dialogue, paired with how Danny previously removed Fright Knight's sword, unwittingly surrendering to Pariah Dark and his claim, leads me to believe that it just doesn't work right. Danny does not have the upper hand for the majority of the episode, and the Ecto-Skeleton only boosted his chances so much. He had already surrendered, how does the surrendered opponent come back around and usurp the crown when the King is a) not dead and b) the new guy barely survived the fight in the first place? Danny's defeat of Pariah Dark broke the claim and brought Amity Park back from the Ghost Zone. It reestablished equilibrium, it didn't establish a new order.

However, the specific wording used to describe Pariah Dark and his relationship with the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire honestly led me to believe that there had been no Ghost King before Pariah. His infamy is so renown that ghosts knew about him, even though he had been locked away for longer than they've been alive. Pariah Dark set the precedent. That is why the order of ancient ghosts was established to defeat him, there had been no such order before him. He threw the entire balance of the Ghost Zone off, and that's why the ghosts didn't struggle without one, there was never meant to be one. This special just has the gears in my mind turning like crazy.

I have so many thoughts and opinions about Pariah and his personality. He only fights Danny after Danny challenges him to stop talking and start fighting. His commentary to Danny: "Having that much power- it's a burden, isn't it child?" is going to sit with me for weeks. Pariah is oddly conversational during the fight. He even tells Danny to surrender. And I get that this might be seen as stereotypical villain dialogue, but it would have been just as stereotypical to have Pariah enjoy the idea of crushing Danny. Except he never had any qualms with Danny, did he? He only had a bone to pick with Vlad for stealing his ring, and planned to execute them both when neither returned it. Had Danny worked independently of Vlad for the episode, could he have come to another solution? Could he have freed Amity Park without a fight?

Let's go back to the beginning of the episode: the exposition we got from Vlad about the artifacts. Vlad clearly knows a lot about ghost lore and [SPOILERS FOR THE GRAPHIC NOVEL A GLITCH IN TIME] we see in AGIT that Vlad has collected quite a bit of these artifacts beyond what we see in the show. What did he intend to do with them? How did he learn all this lore? It doesn't come naturally to a ghost, or else Danny wouldn't have had to be told all this information.

Moreover, what deal did he make with Fright Knight at the end of the episode? Obviously it had to be lucrative enough for him to betray Pariah Dark in the end. (Also, I laughed so hard when Vlad told Fright Knight to call him at the beginning of the episode, this man I swear--) At the end of the special, Danny wonders to his friends what Vlad had planned and what deal they had made. His friends tell him not to worry about it, and he ultimately relents, but it leaves me curious too. We never know what became of it. Fright Knight only appears in a handful of episodes after Reign Storm: The Ultimate Enemy, where he worked alongside with Dan rather than aid Vlad, Frightmare, and Phantom Planet (in which he had no lines). We'll never know what the showrunners had intended to do with their deal but I'll be forever guessing.

Since this is the speculation section, I am going to make a wild guess: I think they had probably planned to bring Pariah Dark back at some point? I don't see why else Vlad would have tried to turn Fright Knight, because yes, it's true that the less help Pariah Dark receives is an advantage to their side, but as we see from Season 3 there are many other very powerful ghosts that have no known connection to Pariah that Vlad knew about.

In "Torrent of Terror", Vlad frees Vortex to ask for help and while Vortex declined at the time, who says he wouldn't have agreed if the promise of, say, the Crown of Fire came with the deal? (Obviously Vlad wouldn't have given away the Crown or the Ring, but he believes he's manipulative enough to pull it off.) Did Vlad not know about Vortex yet? Could Vlad just not find him? After all, Vortex was imprisoned and being held for trial by the Observants when Vlad released him. Maybe Vortex had been in hiding at this time to escape punishment? Vlad did seem surprised to see Pariah was in the Sarcophagus, so that might explain why he wasn't prepared initially, but after he escaped Pariah's Keep, he could have searched for allies then? He gave the Ring to Valerie specifically so that he could have more range of movement.

The point is that Vlad could have gathered more allies, just in case Fright Knight never turned traitor (and maybe I'm just giving Vlad more credit than he deserves, when does this man ever think ahead). But there must have been some distinct advantage to have Fright Knight join the cause. Maybe if we'd had the fourth season, we could have gotten a plot where Vlad became King and then Danny usurped the throne? That would be more in line with the previous threads, since Danny had been more of a pawn, hence why Vlad technically took the credit for Pariah's imprisonment.

Or maybe it's back to my initial theory that there was never meant to be a King? Pariah Dark was the precedent and Fright Knight didn't want to be tied to him any longer as a servant and Vlad promised him freedom for his betrayal. Except that doesn't quite explain why Vlad wanted the Crown and the Ring himself. Presumably for power, but Vlad doesn't actually… do much with the power he has? He's wealthy in the human world, but he didn't try to exert any political power until his prank war with Danny, which was why he ran for mayor. He's collected all these artifacts, maybe in search for the ultimate power, but again, he's barely a blip on the radar to most of these ghosts. Behemoth (who, if you're not familiar with the show, is the ghost that was guarding the Skeleton Key that released Pariah Dark from the Sarcophagus) absolutely thrashed him the first time Vlad tried to fight him. While it's implied that Vlad eventually snatched the Key, since he released Pariah later on, it's very unlikely he did so through combat and more likely he tricked Behemoth and ran with it.

(Also very fascinating to see how Behemoth was first introduced in Season One, long before we received the two-parter Reign Storm, which implies that this plan of Vlad's had been a long time coming. It definitely feels like there had been a long con, but we never actually see it come into fruition because by Season 3, he seems more obsessed with making himself a nuisance in Danny's life. He does have delusions of grandeur still; in DMs, a friend pointed out to me that in "Infinite Realms", Vlad believes he has a greater destiny. ["I know I'm destined to rule greater things than just Amity Park."] But again, in that third season, he doesn't seem to try very hard to achieve that destiny?

I know in Phantom Planet he has this whole plot where he announces he'll save the world if they make him their ruler, which I thought was pretty stupid because… what happens if they don't agree? Was he just going to let the planet be destroyed despite--in the wise words of Peter Quill--being one of the idiots who lives in it? I understand that this is probably a plot hole from a writer's perspective, but I need an in-universe explanation for this and unfortunately that explanation is that he's stupid.)

I don't know, I think if I dedicate any more time to this, I'll drive myself insane.

Let's shift gears again and go back to ships. I think that Danny knew, or at least suspected, that Sam had feelings for him but since she never made the first move, he wasn't sure if his suspicions were correct so he decided to pursue Valerie instead. I doubt he'd want to ruin their friendship, and Sam is usually the type to say what's on her mind. If she did like him, surely she would have said something to him by now… right? That's what I imagine his thought process was like. Whether he would have agreed or shared his own feelings for her, if she had admitted her own, we don't know for sure. I can imagine he might have, had Valerie not started to show interest in him by this point. Relationships politics are so confusing.

I think I've done enough theory and speculation for the day, so let's move onto our final section for this analysis:

Plot Bunnies

I said this to my friends already, but I feel like I should do more with Vlad and his collection of ghost artifacts. We know that Freakshow's family has been fascinated with ghosts for a long time. The clash these two could have over the same ghostly artifacts. Or if Vlad tried to steal something from Freakshow and he finds out about it, which leads him to break out of prison again after "Reality Trip". It would probably be similar to "Reign Storm" in the sense that these two are dueling it out, and Danny has to step in because innocent people have now been caught up in the crossfire. However, it would be interesting to see Danny be forced to do more in his human form to skirt around any mind control magics Freakshow has stashed away.

Of course there's always the idea that Freakshow and Vlad could team up to "finally rid themselves of the ghost boy problem" which could be just as interesting to see. Both Freakshow and Vlad know about his secret identity, and has shown the willingness to out Danny's identity as well unlike most ghosts, so Danny would have to be extra cautious about how he moves against them. I think the bigger question in this scenario would be what Vlad wants to happen to Danny? Because it's very possible that Freakshow could provide Vlad with some sort of magical device that would allow him to control Danny, make him his perfect son, so he still gets his evil apprentice/perfect family while Freakshow doesn't have to worry about him anymore. But does Freakshow demand more than that? Does he want his revenge? Does he want Danny to somehow make back the money he lost when he got caught after Danny broke the staff? Many opportunities to explore.

I have so many plot bunnies now thanks to that scene where Fright Knight claims Amity Park for Pariah Dark. I need to write, like, three different fics where each diverged from canon just minutes apart from each other in the original timeline and yet spawned wildly different results. Like what if Danny had taken the Ring from Valerie as soon as he had figured out that was what Fright Knight was looking for? The next time he clashed with the Knight he would have been able to return it, thus releasing the claim. What if he had agreed to help Fright Knight return the Ring, once again posing himself as an enemy to Vlad but also acting as an ally to Fright Knight and Pariah Dark?

Imagine if Danny had never accidentally removed the sword, which surrendered Amity Park to Pariah's rule. How long would the town have been stuck in the bubble? What if, eventually, the ghost equipment made a tiny gap in the bubble that opened up to the rest of the world? Can you imagine how the adults would have been forced to prioritize who gets sent out first? Obviously the kids and teenagers, maybe, would be able to fit into the space, but who else can they save? Is it possible to send some patients with critical injuries out for their protection? Even if Amity Park still has their energy grid in tact, they'll lost their water reservoirs. They have, maybe, all that's left in the pipes and some that's been collected in water towers and that's it. How long can they survive like that until a bigger hole is made and more people can escape?

I'm just picturing Danny being forced to make himself scarce so that his parents don't force him through to safety. Because this is his responsibility, this is his town to save. I just ughhhhh it could be so good!!!

Most fascinating of all, in my very biased opinion, was how Pariah expressed surprise when he found out Vlad and Danny were halfas. While he took the news fairly… genially, I guess you could say, what if he hadn't been so eager to kill Danny and Vlad for their slight against him? What if he saw this new discovery as, say, deserving of research and development?

But regardless of Pariah's feelings about halfas, it is most curious to me to see that there have never been halfas before Vlad and Danny. Does that mean their biology can only be manufactured through unnatural machinery? So halfas couldn't be created through natural portals, but only through forceful rips in reality? That would require much more power, the kind of power necessary to mutate DNA and create halfas to begin with.

Another plot bunny that just came to me as I started writing this was… what if Vlad had left Danny in the Ghost Zone? Sure, maybe he saved him from the Ecto-Skeleton, but if he left Danny to fend for himself… that would solve a lot of his problems wouldn't it? Sure, Sam and Tucker were there in the Specter Speeder to help him as best they could, but Vlad could have easily just… whisked Danny away somewhere with a duplicate and lied to Sam and Tucker that there was nothing left of him after the Ecto-Skeleton took it all. or maybe he died valiantly as his last stand against Pariah.

By doing that, he could isolate Danny and possibly force him to depend on Vlad. He knows where Danny is, he can always come back and offer to save Danny if he finds that Danny is still too sick to save himself. There's reasonable evidence that shows the Fentons' portal doesn't open up to the same place every time. Danny would still be far too weak, and without the help he needs to recover quicker. Who knows what he could get up to during this time! Maybe… who knows~ Maybe he will meet a certain Master of Time earlier than he did in canon? Maybe he'll come across the Far Frozen and meet Frostbite?

As cliché as this is, it also needs to be said--Danny could have gotten amnesia from the Ecto-Skeleton. Maybe it fried his brain and he doesn't remember anything. Now he has to work his way back to where he was before. Can he get that power back? Or is it lost forever with the Ecto-Skeleton?

My favorite plot bunny of all: what if Pariah didn't lose? What if Vlad didn't arrive soon enough to lock the Sarcophagus and Pariah broke free, but by this point Danny has every last bit of his power left, so Pariah now goes unchallenged? What then???

But! I feel like this post has gone on long enough. Thank you so much to everyone who made it all the way down here! I know it's long, so I really appreciate it. I hope not all of the analysis posts will be this long, but I hope you'll enjoy those too! Thank you!

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DPxDC Sapphic Week 2024 - Day 3

how is January practically over already this is illegal

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Was talking about ship names and I said “DPxDC” outloud and my Real Life roommate turns to me and says “Deadpool… dick cock” and then broke down laughing for like 3 full minutes.

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Is it this one

I have it tagged with “Danny is mother” on my blog lol.

I have been looking desperately for a Mom Danny thread. Danny is pregnant with ... At least one of the clones, and he's been dragged to the Wayne's by Vlad. Cass realizes he's pregnant and gets Dick to help. Eventually, Danny stays with the Wayne's. When the Bats go to tell the Fenton's, Jazz goes after Vlad with the Creep Stick on live tv. I'm pretty sure you had additions to the post but I don't remember if you wrote it. I didn't see it on your masterlist so I'm a little desperate. Can anyone link the thread?

Alright, I tried for hours to find the prompt you're talking about cause I know exactly which one you're talking about. But I can't for the life of me find it, it's driving me nuts. DX

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I have this one saved hold on

I have been looking desperately for a Mom Danny thread. Danny is pregnant with ... At least one of the clones, and he's been dragged to the Wayne's by Vlad. Cass realizes he's pregnant and gets Dick to help. Eventually, Danny stays with the Wayne's. When the Bats go to tell the Fenton's, Jazz goes after Vlad with the Creep Stick on live tv. I'm pretty sure you had additions to the post but I don't remember if you wrote it. I didn't see it on your masterlist so I'm a little desperate. Can anyone link the thread?

Alright, I tried for hours to find the prompt you're talking about cause I know exactly which one you're talking about. But I can't for the life of me find it, it's driving me nuts. DX

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When do you think he realizes it. Is it when Tucker and Danny lace their fingers together while watching a movie? Perhaps Sam and Tucker get into such a heated debate that Danny makes them kiss and make up. Maybe it’s the first time Danny kisses him on the cheek. Or Sam runs her fingers through his hair. Or Tucker leans his full body into Tim like a cat.

DPxDC Prompt

Tim was told he needed to socialize more. He was told he needed more civilian friends and then thrust back into Gotham's educational system.

There he meets a group of three friends. Tucker, Sam and Danny. And it's actually really great? Without the constant focus on cases and CEO work, Tim is actually having fun again!

He even come to really trust his new friend group spending most of his free time with them outside of college classes doing a number of random activities. Like visiting Gotham's Observatory to let Danny obsess over the stars, visit shops with Tucker to buy tech to cannibalize, heck he even went to one of Gotham's eco-protests out of uniform to support Sam!

What Tim doesn't realize is that his friend group was actually a polycule and he has officially been absorbed into it.

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The Feast!

Inspired by this post

Danny, now an adult, works as an engineer and tech developer for Wayne Enterprises. One day, he has to bring his daughter, Ellie, into work with him. Ellie’s school had been temporarily shut down after a rouge attack, and the campus isn’t yet safe for the students to return to.

Danny had been ready to call into work to request the time off he’d need to watch his daughter until the school could be re-opened. However, his bosses seemed to be aware of the situation, and the predicament faced by many of the parents who worked for them. And a company wide email was sent out advertising Bring Your Kid To Work Day! Wayne Enterprises was offering all employees with children too young to be left home alone unsupervised the opportunity to bring their children in to work with them for the week, as that was the timeframe thus far given for when the school would be safely up and running again.

Danny is relieved that he wouldn’t need to take any unpaid time off. Nor try to find a last minute babysitter who’d A: Danny could trust to watch his little star, and B: be willing and able to watch her.

When he tells her about coming to work with him, Ellie is ecstatic! She gets to see where her dad works! And she gets to meet his work-friends! She’s so excited! She wants to make a good impression, so when Danny has gone off to begin cooking dinner, Ellie begins to make plans.

The next day, Ellie has woken up early and already gotten herself ready. She decided to wear a large poofy jacket and a pink too too over the top of her jeans. She has her backpack, filled with things to entertain her.

Once they’ve arrived and Danny has introduced Ellie to a few of his co-workers and some of their own children on the way to his desk. Along the way, Danny and Ellie pass by several offices and a we meeting rooms. It’s in one of these meeting rooms that Ellie spots her first target.

She quickly slips into the room before Danny can notice she’s run off and approaches the young man, teenager?, hunched over some papers reading intently. He’s got bags under his eyes that rivalled Danny’s back when he was still actively protecting Amity. He looks like he’s living off of nothing but caffeine and spite alone, and hasn’t had a proper nights sleep in months.

None of the other various businessmen and women in the room have noticed her presence yet, as she silently wanders up to the sleepy boy-man. She reaches into her pocket and just as she’s about to pull out her little gift, Danny has burst into the room frantically having noticed his child has slipped away. Again.

All eyes are on Danny as he apologises profusely for the intrusion, swooping in to take Ellie’s hand. He’s still apologising, now to the sleepy boy-man who is looking at Ellie in awe, like he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed her enter the room.

While her dad was still rambling Ellie quickly pulls an orange from her pocket and hands it to the boy-man. He takes it with a curious and perplexed look on his face.

“Ellie,” Danny sighs, “not again.”

Ellie grins and reaches into her jackets to pull out another orange. Danny swipes it before she can hand it to the businessman sitting next to the boy-man. She pulls out another one, and as Danny is grabbing it she slips from his grip and ducks under the table. Ellie runs to the centre of the room and unzips her backpack. She tips it upside down, and what looks to be 20 oranges spill out and roll across the floor.

With a feral grin, Ellie picks up an orange and throws her hands into the air in triumph, and shouts. “LET US FEAST!”

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Paulina was walking home from her little self-care date~ when she noticed a familiar figure, she slowed, double checked to make sure it wasn't some random civilian, grinned and-

threw her knife!

Wes caught it, because of course he did cautious bastard. And yes she realises this now that fighting on the street was not the smartest move but it was a long time since she saw her friends from Amity and they got along fairly well with Weston.

So they had a good time, she managed to nip him on the cheek with her knife (after taking it back) he left her with a new bruise (it will be gone by tomorrow noon) and then they were both taken in by the police...

And now she has to explain why she did what she did to the GCPD and Ancients help probably Batman as soon as she gets back to her apartment. Who could've guessed that having a friendly brawl would be so taboo in Gotham? (who is she kidding of course it's suspicious it looked like they were trying to kill each other to any normal person!)

and she's not sure how much she should say!

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Danny’s on the Suicide Squad. He’s the defacto team moral compass and ray of sunshine. He plays the role of the camp counselor that keeps everyone in line. He’s not afraid of working with even the gnarliest of baddies.

Everybody on the team wonders how he ended up locked up with the villains- he never talks about what he did to end up behind bars no matter how much they pester him. Then one day they’re out on a mission and Harley or somebody is caught and tortured. Danny snaps. It’s the opposite of brutal- he takes down everyone in the room with clinical, dispassionate efficiency.

After it’s over and the team is safe he comes back to himself and is almost sheepish. He radios Belle Reve.

“Whoops. Add another couple notches on my power dampener collar, would you Waller?”

“Can’t, it’s already at max.”

“Ah. Well. I’ll have a look at strengthening it when we’re back then.”

The team just stared at him slack jawed. Good thing he’s on their side.

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So during a wayne gala, there was a rouge attack shocker. It was by scarecrow he was planning to flood the ballroom with his gas

Unfortunately his bomb was shoddily put together and one of the cannisters holding the gas fell and landed in the hands of one danny fenton there with his godfather

Now unfortunately all anyone could do was watch as this gas can suddenly spayed gas in this young mans face who started looking panicked and backing up before spotting vlad and stopping

Suddenly this kid who seemed like he was seconds from running is now fucking growing and preparing to pounce on vlad???

And vlad just looks resigned as if he figured this would happen

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Halfas actually do have lairs, but as they are only Halfas, they don't know how to find them.

Vlad has one, Dani has one, Dan has one, and Danny has one. Danny and Dans are separate, and out of all the Halfas only Dan knows where his is.

After all, for a period of time, he was a full on ghost.

Dan and other ghosts warn Danny and Dani that when they find their lairs, they'll have to start from the ground up. The door is the first stage, and when a lair gets big enough it can expand beyond the door. However, the ghost must build the home in their lair. The door opens to an island floating in a void, but it's up to the ghost who owns it to build the "house" so to speak.

Walkers had started out as a replica of his Office from his life, and then grown into the massive prison Danny had been trapped in. Skulker's had started out as a small hut in a jungle, and grown into the fortress he kept all his "prizes".

One day, Danny is exploring the Ghost Zone when he comes across a door that he knows, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is his.

It's on someone else's lair, weirdly enough, but that door belongs to Danny.

He opens the door, expecting the lair to be unkempt or wild, something he'll have to work on as a fixer upper, but...it's orderly. It's not what he could have or would have expected.

It's a field in permanent night, with the Aurora Borealis shining down and illuminating the ghostly mimicry of plants below it. There's...there's a house? It looks old fashioned.

He wanders in, and there's little bits and bobs lining hand-made shelves.

It's a small cabin, decorated with various random stuff loosely related to space. There's stars notched into the wooden ceiling rafters, the bed posts are carved to look sort of like rockets, like whoever had done it wasn't too sure how to work with ecto yet.

He leaves the cabin and takes stock of the island, looking closer.

It looks like there's...a field? There's a field of some kind.

He flies closer, and realizes it's not a field. It's some kind of orchard? The trees being grown are a ghostly mimicry of Weeping Willows on one side and apple trees on the other.

He recognizes an attempt to breed a new kind of plant when he sees it thanks to Sam, and lands to walk in further.

The Weeping Willows get younger the further he goes in, and start to look very different. Their leaves start to glow at the tips, become speckled with spashes of purple and blue, and by the time he gets to the youngest one, it looks like a tree made of space.

The apple trees, too, were the result of someone's experiments. The youngest apple tree that's bearing fruit? Those apples are clear, like glass, with little glowing seeds in them, like a little glass ball with a fake galaxy in the center.

Someone, obviously, has not only been walking in and out of Danny's lair, but has been taking care of it. They've been preparing it for Danny, and they've done a pretty damn good job.

But who?

~~~~~~

When Jon Kent Sr died, he'd known immediately where his "lair" was. Naturally, after finding the door and preparing the land for planting, he decided to take a break by introducing himself to his neighbors.

But he only had one.

A flimsy purple door was next to his, and when he opened it, the land behind it was wild; an overgrown forest with an untamed clearing full of brambles. There was no one there.

He'd gone back to his own lair, confused. He'd continued altering and bettering his own lair, breaking free of the door's confines and making a fairly large island with a perfect replica of his home in Smallville.

The abandoned door stayed the same. In fact, it didn't move out of his lair's territory. It stayed on his land, a small door to an abandoned lair.

As a full ghost, he knew this wasn't normal. Lairs were supposed to move and give space to an expanding lair; it was one of the many, many ghost facts that any full ghost just knew upon formation.

So he felt bad.

Something was wrong with the lair, or the ghost that owned it.

He spent some time inside of it, tidying up clearing out debris. Took out the bramble patches. Removed some of the ghost plants that weren't looking quite right.

One day, after he'd finished his work on his farm and was heading into the abandoned lair to keep busy, he was stopped by an Ancient.

Not just an Ancient, but the Ancient of Time.

He found out...a lot of stuff. Some right sad stuff.

Thing's that didn't sit well with him.

The abandoned lair wasn't abandoned. It belonged to the ghost of a child with a space obsession. That ghost hadn't been formed right, and didn't know how to find his own lair.

The Ancient assured him that, in time, the little ghost kid would find it, so if he could put up with it on his land until said kid could understand how to move it, that would be much appreciated.

And. Well.

Jon is a bit of an empty nester.

Knowing that the owner was a kid? A lost one?

The Zone was big, he wouldn't be able to find a kid he didn't even know. Wouldn't know where to begin. He doesn't like that the Ancient clearly does and isn't helping, but that Ancient also promised to help keep the space kid safe.

So Jon's keep-busy projects got a little...involved.

He built a small cabin. Just a little starter thing so the kid wouldn't have to worry too much about a house; he could add on or get rid of it later.

And, well, the cabin wasn't enough. It needed some sprucing up! Jon had been a farmer from Kansas in life, and he knows a thing or two about whittling.

So he started carving some space stuff onto the ceiling beams. Carved some rockets on the posts for the bed he'd made from ecto.

Decided to pass the time by making a "welcome home" gift to the kid, but while he could build with ecto, his gift has always been to grow things.

He just...played around with some trees, splicing and breeding the ghostly qualities he wanted.

Tamed that clearing so that it would be safe and fun for a kid to run in.

Just in case, he decided he'd better add another room to the house in his own lair. Cuz, kids sometimes needed places to stay with adults present so they could feel safe. No other reason.

That room, also, was decorated with things about space as well as Jon could do it.

Then, one day, the door looks far more stable.

Jon nods to himself, finishes up his chores, and goes to finally greet his neighbor.