#arrowfam week 2023

[lowquats]

arrowfam week 2023 day 2 - scars

ollie’s reconsidering his life choices

[arrowfam-events]

Arrowfam Week is coming!

This year, Arrowfam week will be December 3 to December 9. Mark your calendars! Just like in years past, this blog and event are run by @cissie-queen-jones and @thequiver. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Rules

Arrowfam week is a time to celebrate the familial relationships between the Green Arrow characters. The majority of content out there focuses on shipping and romantic relationships, so we decided to create an event to focus on the family. While you are welcome to include ships you like or canon romantic relationships, they cannot be the focus of your creations for this event. The focus should be on family. For example, you can write a fic where Dinah and Ollie are together, but the plot of the fic is her and the Arrow kids planning a birthday party for Ollie, or you can draw fanart of the Arrowfam having a cookout and Roy brought Jade as his date.

This is not a fic only event, we accept whatever creative project you may come up with. Fic, art, edits, or anything else you want to submit will show up here as long as it is about the Arrowfam.

When you post your creations during the week, use #arrowfamweek2023, #arrowfamweek, or tag our blog directly and we’ll reblog it here for everyone to see! Late work is also accepted! If you don’t get your stuff done in time, or you forget to post on that day, don’t worry. Tag us or post in the Arrowfam week tag and we’ll still reblog it! We’re just excited to see what you create! You're also welcome to use these prompts as inspiration throughout the year. We'd love to see what Arrowfam creations you make no matter what time of the year!

Prompts

Really hoping Tumblr doesn't destroy the image quality on the image up above. Here is the list of prompts for this year!

Sunday, December 3

Ghost

Chili Cook-Off

Grow

Monday, December 4

Scars

Confession

Nostalgia

Tuesday, December 5

Winter

Speechless

Forest

Wednesday, December 6

Lost and/or Found

In Disguise

Shadow

Thursday, December 7

Old

Embrace

Reflect

Friday, December 8

Bonfire

Comfortable

Dream

Saturday, December 9

Birthday

Secret

Free Space

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! Happy creating everyone!

[tbcanary]

arrowfam week day seven: birthday!

—

“This isn’t what it looks like!” Mia shouts. She throws both hands out, a flimsy attempt at trying to keep Ollie out of the room.

“You know, kid, that actually doesn’t make me feel better,” Ollie says.

From behind her comes Roy’s voice, only a little raspy. “Back off, old man!”

Ollie leans forward to peer around Mia, but she shifts to block him. He catches a glimpse of white, a shock of blonde hair, but that’s it.

“Connor?” he tries. “Connor, what are you up to in there?”

Connor’s the weak link. He’d crack, if not for the sharp whip of Emiko’s words undercutting Ollie’s orders with a deathly, “Don’t say a word.”

“Um!” Connor tries. “Weren’t you supposed to be out with Dinah?”

Yes. He had been, actually, on a lovely boat ride with Dinah through the harbor on a boat loaned from someone or another. It had been a hell of a birthday present right up til they managed to find some assholes dumping their trash into the water.

Ollie had trudged through the door to the house an hour later covered in oil and plastic cling, and Dinah had marched her way up to the shower with very clear instructions not to follow.

Cue, the kitchen. Which he can’t help but notice seems to smell an awful lot like smoke.

“Was there a fire?” he presses. “Lian okay?”

“Lian is on a mission with Rose,” Mia answers, “so she’s fine. Obviously. Because we’re all fine.”

“Fit as a fiddle?” Roy tries.

“I don’t believe any of this, for the record,” Ollie shoots back. “But given I’ve been on the wrong end of a dumpster and I smell worse than the laundry baskets, I’ll let it slide. For now. Don’t burn the house down.”

He points this last comment directly at Mia, who grins and offers a mocking salute in his direction. She waits until Ollie starts to walk away to turn around and walk back into the kitchen, presenting a perfect opportunity.

Ollie hurries into the kitchen before any of them can try to stop him again. And, almost immediately, he feels like he’s been hit by a shipping crate. Again.

The counters are covered in flour and sugar. Batter is on the fridge, the ceiling, and all four of his kids are gathered around the counter where a slightly singed cake sits on a stand.

Emiko is carefully applying a thin layer of green icing. But the rest are looking directly at him, a mixture of annoyed and sheepish, and a careful nudge from Connor makes Emi stop her work and look at him, too.

“Happy birthday, Dad,” Roy offers with a shrug. And then, “Don’t worry. We’ll do the dishes.”

Ollie finds himself with a lump in his throat and a burning sensation in the corners of his eyes. He won’t cry, damn it; it’s just the flour, or something.

“Did I win the lottery, or what?” he asks, walking forward to wrap all four of them in a hug.

“Ew, gross,” Emiko groans.

Mia wrinkles her nose. “Why do you smell like spoiled milk?”

“Oh, don’t run it,” Ollie mutters, whacking the back of her head.

[nerdytextileartist]

Arrowfam week 2023 prompt "In disguise".

An alternate timeline where Roy joined Lian and Jade in Catwoman's plan to steal Batman from the gallows.

@arrowfam-events

[such-expensive-mistakes]

When Oliver Queen was dead, he ended up in the Infinite Realms, where he inadvertently became the mentor to teen ghost hero Phantom. After Ollie came back to life, he made a point of reaching out to Phantom, just in case the kid needed anything.

DCxDP Week prompt: found family

Author's Notes: I've tried to make this accessible as possible to those of you who aren't familiar with the Arrowfam, but here are links to character primers on Oliver Queen, Connor Hawke and Mia Dearden if you want them. If you are familiar with GA comics, then just know that this is set loosely during the 2001 run. And finally, the idea of a hero in the Infinite Realms helping mentor Danny was largely inspired by Blueseabird2's fic Grave Promises. (It's excellent! If you haven't read it, go do that!)

-

"Do you remember it?" Ollie asks, looking at Superman out of the corner of his eye.  They're standing in front of Oliver's grave.  Always made the right enemies. It's a hell of an epitaph; Ollie wonders who came up with it.  Roy or Dinah, probably.

"Remember..." Superman says.

"Being dead."  

Supes gives him that same look everyone seems to be giving Ollie these days, like he's not quite sure if Ollie is all there in the head.  

"Never mind."  Oliver waves a hand.  "Just thinking."

-

He does remember it, is the thing.  He remembers the endless Infinite Realms, as green as any of Hal's constructs.  He remembers the ghosts-- the ones who had originally been alive like him, and the ones that had never lived at all.  Humans and aliens and otherdimensional beings, all together in one place.  He remembers being in the same costume he'd died in, only color-flipped to red.  (That was just wrong.  Red was Roy's color, not Ollie's.)

And he remembers Phantom.

He'd met Phantom pretty early on.  Time in the Infinite Realms was tricky; it didn't move like time did on Earth.  Sometimes it went slower, sometimes faster, sometimes it even seemed to go backwards.   So he didn't remember exactly how long he'd been in the Realms before coming across Phantom, but it didn't feel like long.

Phantom had been chasing down some magical artifact when he'd come across Oliver-- or rather, Red Arrow-- who had picked a fight with an asshole ghost way more powerful than him.

Some things never changed.  But hey, ghost arrows were pretty nifty.

Phantom had helped him out, and in return Ollie had offered to help Phantom with tracking down the artifact he was looking for.  As they talked, it quickly became obvious that Phantom was doing the whole teen hero thing-- and not just in the Realms, but on Earth.  He clammed up when Ollie asked too many questions, but it was pretty clear that he didn't have a mentor or anything.

"Do you have the Teen Titans in your world?" Oliver asked, having learned by that point that the Infinite Realms connected every dimension out there.

"Yeah," Phantom had said, looking wary.

"You should talk to them," Oliver said.  "It helps to have someone out there on your side, who knows what you're dealing with."  The Titans had been good for Roy.  Not just friends, although they were that, too, but an extra support system.  

But Phantom shook his head.  "I can't."  And then he'd gone on to describe the Anti-Ecto Acts and the GIW.  

Ollie had never exactly been a fan of the government-- too much corruption, too many rich assholes using the system to protect themselves-- but this still managed to surprise him.  And while he was pretty sure his own world's Teen Titans wouldn't stand for this kind of thing-- or even the JLA, no matter how badly they sometimes overreached-- he had no way of knowing whether Phantom's Teen Titans were the same ones he knew.  

"Tell you what," Ollie said.  "Next time you get a chance, track me down and I'll show you a few things.  I don't know how much help I'll be with superpowers, but--" 

"Really?" Phantom had asked, then surprised Ollie by hugging him.

That was the start of it.  They'd tracked down the artifact, Phantom had left the Realms to go back and do his hero thing on Earth, and Oliver was left to second-guess himself until the next time Phantom came around.  

Oliver wasn't exactly a perfect mentor.  He'd done his best for Roy, but there were so many things he would do differently if he had the chance.  But he was better than nothing, which was what Phantom had been working with before.

Phantom didn't need to learn archery; he had superpowers.  But Ollie managed to teach him a thing or two about picking your shot and waiting for the right moment.  About trusting your instincts and dodging bullets (or ectoblasts).  

Phantom was cagey about anything that wasn't hero work, but Oliver managed to glean a few details.  He had a couple of living friends who helped him out, he was frequently chased down by ghost hunters, and most of the town he was based in didn't think particularly highly of him.  And that was on top of his whole rogue's gallery of villainous ghosts, not to mention the GIW.

"You can't make people like you," Ollie advised him.  "Even if you do all the right things.  You just have to trust yourself and ignore the public opinion."  God knew plenty of people had hated the Green Arrow over the years.  

It had been rewarding, in a way Ollie had almost forgotten, watching Phantom grow as a hero.  Watching him grow more confident and more skilled-- and Ollie wasn't giving himself credit for all of that, but he'd helped bring those qualities out.

And then, Oliver came back to life.

-

"Where to next?" Roy asks, as they drive out of Central City. Ollie appreciates that Roy is willing to follow his lead on this, even though it's clear Roy thinks he's being ridiculous.  Sure, Wally would probably have let Ollie have that old ring of Barry's if he'd asked, just like the JLA would probably have let him have the diamond-tipped arrow.  But those things weren't theirs to keep or give in the first place.

"Amity Park, Illinois."

Roy gives him a skeptical look over the top of his sunglasses. "The hell is in Amity Park?"  He's bracing himself to hear about some other memorabilia Ollie left behind upon his death, something else that wasn't disposed of the way Ollie had requested.  Something else that other people-- even Roy-- think insignificant.

That would be easier to explain than this.

"Maybe nothing," Oliver says. "But I need to be sure."

-

Finding Amity Park in the first place is a task and a half.  It's not on the map Roy keeps in his glovebox, and they have to ask directions at multiple gas stations across Illinois before they arrive.  

It's immediately clear that they're in the right place.  Amity Park is a small city-- barely even a city, really.  But the property damage evident on the streets and the buildings is on par with the aftermath of an alien invasion.

Roy slides off his shades.  "What on earth..."  He glances at Oliver.  "Ollie, what is this?"

A green streak shoots across the sky, followed by a white one.  

Phantom.

"Follow them!"  Ollie points at the ghosts.  

By the time they arrive, it's a stand-off.  The other ghost has disappeared, but Phantom is hovering twenty feet off the ground, dodging blasts from a couple in brightly colored hazmat suits.  

The Fentons.  Ollie had heard a few stories about them while he was in the Infinite Realms, though Phantom had been reluctant to talk about them.

"Ollie," Roy says.  In his voice, Ollie can hear all the suppressed rage he himself is feeling, watching a child-- a superpowered child, but a child nonetheless-- getting shot at.

"Not yet."  Ollie wants to help, but he doesn't want to make things worse by jumping in without thinking.  Their help isn't needed in the end; Phantom manages to disappear from sight while the ghost hunters are distracted.

Oliver tells the whole story to Roy over dinner at the local fast food joint.

"Jesus Christ," Roy says.  

"So you see why I want to talk to Phantom," Ollie says.  

"Aren't you already training two kids already?  You gonna add all of this on top?"  

"Connor doesn't need training.  He could probably teach me a thing or two.  And no one is training Mia in anything."  Okay, that last part isn't quite true; Oliver knows for a fact that Connor has been giving Mia lessons in archery and hand-to-hand.  But as long as she's not trying to put on a costume and fight crime, he'll pretend he doesn't know.  Hell, it makes him feel better, knowing that she has a trick or two up her sleeve.

"Phantom can't be much older than she is," Roy says, a hint of judgment in his tone.

"Phantom is already dead," he says.  Roy flinches a little.  "And he doesn't have a Hal Jordan to bring him back."

They go back to their burgers.  It's not until Oliver is crumpling up his wrapper that he speaks again.  

"Look," Ollie says.  "This is a lot bigger than Phantom.  And based on what I know of him, he's not going to want to leave Amity Park.  But I want to let him know that someone's got his back."

Roy claps him on the shoulder.  "More than just one person."

-

Tracking down Phantom for a conversation is harder than it sounds.  Oliver doesn't know how much time he even spends out here, rather than in the Infinite Realms.  Not to mention the handy ghost power of invisibility.  

He suits up and stakes out a rooftop downtown, with Roy doing the same on the other side of town.  He's just getting ready to pack it in for the night and try it again tomorrow when a familiar form materializes next to him.

"Arrow?" Phantom asks.

Oliver smiles.  "Hey, kid."  

"What-- how-- you're alive?" Phantom sputters a little.

"Am now," Ollie says.  "A friend of mine brought me back."  He gives a quick overview-- Green Lantern, godlike power, decided what the world was missing was one Oliver Queen.  

"I'm going to do what I can about the Anti-Ecto Acts and the GIW," Oliver says.  "But if you ever need anything, give me a call.  Or just track me down in Star."  He hands a slip of paper with his phone number and email on it to Phantom.  

"Danny," Phantom says.

"Sorry?"

"My name.  It's Danny."

"Oliver."  Ollie holds out his hand and Danny shakes it.  "Good to meet you, Danny."

-

For a while, he only hears from Danny through irregular emails and the very occasional phone call.  Ollie leans on his Justice League acquaintances to help repeal the Anti-Ecto Acts and get rid of the GIW.  It's slow going-- much slower than Ollie would like.  Too many JL members are advising caution, wanting to find out more about ghosts and how dangerous they might be before they take a stand.  Luckily, neither Superman and Wonder Woman were happy about Oliver's news, and hold a lot of sway with the American public.  And rather conveniently, a number of reporters have suddenly begun looking into the Anti-Ecto Acts, stirring up public sentiment against them even more than before.

Things are looking good.  And then, Danny shows up at the front door of Oliver's brownstone.  

Oliver is making himself a sandwich when he hears the knock at the door.  Mia (who had finally gotten Ollie to agree to let her be Speedy a few weeks back) is with the Teen Titans for the weekend, and Connor is working at the youth center for most of the day, so there's no one else here to answer the door.  Ollie wipes his hands on a kitchen towel, and opens the door.

Ollie doesn't know it's Danny at first.  The Danny he met was a ghost, complete with jumpsuit and white hair and superpowers.  The kid that shows up at Ollie's front door is a living, breathing kid.  He's got pale skin and dark hair and he can't be any older than sixteen.  He's a little on the thin side, though given his age, he could just be going through a growth spurt, and the backpack slung over his shoulder is decorated with a NASA patch.  

"Ollie?" the kid asks. 

"That's me," Ollie says.  "What can I do for you?"

"It's Danny.  Phantom," he clarifies in a low voice.  "From Amity Park."

He can see it, now that he knows to look.  The face and build are the same, just color-swapped.

“I need your help,” Danny continues.

The kid looks like he’s about to fall over from exhaustion or stress or both. 

Ollie opens the door a little wider.  "Come on in.  I was just making myself some lunch.  You can tell me what's going on."

Danny follows him into the kitchen and takes a seat at the counter.   Ollie finishes the sandwiches and slides one over to Danny.  

Danny doesn't pick it up at first, busy fidgeting with the sleeves of his hoodie.  “I don’t know where to start."

"Well, I gotta say," Oliver says.  "You're looking pretty alive for a dead guy.  I mean, same could be said for myself, but I told you how that happened."

Danny grimaces.  "About that.  It's kind of complicated."

Oliver leans against the opposite counter.  "Hit me with it."  

He already knows it's bad.  He was worried about Phantom in the first place; that's why he gave Danny a way to contact him if necessary.  Whatever made Danny travel halfway across the country to see him?  It can't be good.

"My parents are the Fentons," Danny starts.

Immediately Oliver knows the story is going to be worse than he anticipated. "The ghost hunters.  The ones who built the portal."  Ollie had heard all about that portal during his sojourn in the Infinite Realms-- some from Phantom, some from other ghosts.

"Yeah.  Well, the portal didn't exactly work at first.  My friends wanted to see it, and..."  Danny shrugs.  "It worked better than anyone gave them credit for, it's just that they accidentally put the switch on the inside."  

He can see where this story is going.  "And you accidentally turned it on."  

"Yeah.  It killed me, but all the ectoplasm coming through the portal brought me back to life.  So I'm only half-dead."  Danny finishes up his sandwich but Oliver, who is familiar with the eating habits of superhero teenagers, hands him another one.

"I'm guessing your folks don't know."  

"My sister does.  My parents don't."  Danny fidgets with the sleeves of his hoodie.  "That's not important."

It seems a little bit important.  

“It don’t know if there’s anything you can do,” Danny adds. “I just… I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You can stay here as long as you need to," Ollie says.  There's an extra bedroom that Stanley used as an office, back when this place belonged to him.  He'll need to get the junk cleaned out, but it should work for Danny.  "But it might help if I had a few more details.  Is someone gonna come looking for you-- or for Phantom?"

"I don't think so," Danny says.  "Well, the GIW might, but they're not super active outside of Amity Park."

"We'll handle them if they show up."  Oliver would love the chance to put a few arrows in them, and he's sure Connor and Mia would feel the same.  

There's obviously more to this story than Danny is currently telling him, but Ollie isn't gonna press.  Not yet.  Long and difficult experience has taught him how badly that usually goes when dealing with teenagers.  

Danny finishes up his lunch, and Ollie shows him around, eventually leaving him to hang out in the living room and watch TV.  Ollie himself starts packing up the junk in the spare room.  Danny might have to sleep on the couch for a day or two, until they get a bed for him to use, but it's an alright couch.  Ollie has certainly slept in less comfortable places.

He doesn't realize how much time has passed until he hears Connor call him from downstairs.

"Dad?"  

His tone of voice is carefully measured, but it's enough to remind Oliver that Danny is downstairs-- and that he didn't let Connor know about their new guest.

He dashes down the stairs and, sure enough, Connor and Danny are watching each other warily from other sides of the living room.  Danny in particular looks like he wants to bolt.  

"This is Danny," Oliver says.  "He's gonna be staying with us for a while.  And Danny, this is my son, Connor.  He's the other Green Arrow."  

"Nice to meet you," Connor says to Danny.  Then, "Dad, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Ollie follows Connor downstairs to the training room in their basement.  He has no idea how far Danny's enhanced senses extend outside the Infinite Realms-- or even if they work at all when he's not a ghost-- but Ollie suspects this conversation might not be as private as Connor is hoping.

"Are you sure about this?"  Connor asks.  

"He doesn't have anywhere else," Ollie says.  "What do you want me to do?"

Connor runs his hand over his face.  "I don't know.  But have you even talked to Mia about this?  When did you even meet this kid?"

"It was a sudden development," Ollie says.  "So no, I didn't.  But I don't think Mia's gonna tell me to send him packing."  He knows that's not what Connor is worried about; for all her bravado, Mia is still insecure about many things.  "As for how I met him... that's a bit of a story."

"Okay," Connor finally says.  "As long as you're sure."

Ollie clasps his shoulder.  "I appreciate it."  

-

They don't explain anything further to Connor that night, which is probably unfair to him.  But Ollie doesn't really want to make Danny explain more than once, and Mia won't be back until the next day.

Danny sleeps on the couch, and in the morning, he helps Ollie and Connor clean out the spare room.  Mia shows up a little after noon, having gotten a ride back from one of her powered friends, and finds the three of them eating pizza in the living room.

"You better have saved me some," she says, as she tosses her overnight bag on the floor.

"Didn't your friends feed you?" Ollie asks, but he passes her the box of pepperoni.  

Mia takes a slice and perches on the back of the couch, right next to Danny.  "Hi!  I'm Mia."  She gives Danny a look that is probably intended to be flirtatious.  

Danny looks a little like a deer in the headlights.  "Uh, hi?"

Connor raises an eyebrow at Oliver, and yeah, maybe having a teenage boy staying in the same house as Mia is a bad idea.  Then again, he's closer to her age than the guys she usually hits on.  

"This is Danny," Oliver says.  "Danny, Mia is my other kid.  She's also Speedy."  

They give Connor and Mia the cliff's notes version on ghosts and the Infinite Realms.  Danny knows a lot more than Ollie does about all of it, but he's much worse at explaining.  He either gets lost on tangents about inconsequential details, or he assumes they have more baseline knowledge than they do.

"I'm sorry," Mia says.  "Can we go back to the part where ghosts exist?"

"We've fought actual demons," Connor says.  "How are ghosts harder to believe?"

"Ollie was never a demon," Mia says with a shrug.  Then she narrows her eyes at Oliver.  "Were you?"

Ollie laughs.  "Definitely not."  

-

The next week or so is pretty quiet, by their standards.  The Green Arrows and Speedy go out and handle low-level crime in the city every night, though Phantom stays in at Ollie's suggestion; if the GIW is looking for him, it's better if he lies low.  It's a little worrying how easily he agrees.  It had never been that easy to convince him to do anything when they were training in the Infinite Realms.

Mia, who is better with technology than Ollie is, helps Danny send a message to his friends, letting them know he's safe.  

"It's better if I don't give them too many details," Danny says.  "Anyone who's looking for me will be watching them.  All of our devices are encrypted, thanks to Tucker, but I don't want to take any chances."

Danny comes with them to help out at the youth center, even while Ollie tells him that he's welcome to stay home and play video games or whatever.  Danny hasn't said anything about it, and so Ollie hasn't either, but Danny doesn't seem to want to be left alone for long.

Oliver wonders if that's because he's worried about himself or about them.

"So, where do your folks think you are?" Ollie asks at one point. 

Danny shrugs.  "Does it really matter?"

"Well, I'd like to know if I'm likely to be charged with kidnapping."  Connor and Mia both shoot him judgmental looks, but it's not like either of them were under any illusions about Ollie's ability to be delicate.  "I mean, I can handle it if I am, but I'd like to be prepared."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Danny says, and that's the subject closed for the moment.

Mia corners Ollie one afternoon at the youth center, while Danny is playing basketball with some of the kids.  Danny is losing, badly.  Turns out he's incredibly clumsy when he's not using his powers.  The kids don't seem to mind, though, and Danny is a pretty good sport about it.

"We're keeping him, right?" Mia asks.

Oliver gives Mia a level look.  He hasn't noticed anything beyond some flirting on Mia's side, but that doesn't mean much.  

"Not like that," Mia says, rolling her eyes.  "I mean, he's cute, but he's kind of dense."

"Funny, I'm pretty sure the same has been said about me," Ollie jokes.

"Whatever he's not telling us... it's got to be pretty bad, right?" Mia says.  "But he seems happy here.  And we won't let anything happen to him."

There's a lot Oliver could say here: Danny has parents, he has friends, he has a home he obviously misses.  By almost every measure, he's far more powerful than Ollie or his kids, and whatever has him scared is quite possibly out of their league.  But the truth is, he feels the way Mia does.  

"It's up to him," Oliver finally says.  "But he's welcome to stay as long as he wants to."

-

Green Arrow and Speedy are crouched on a rooftop, taking aim at a couple of drug dealers, when Connor's voice crackles across the comms.

"I've got eyes on some guys in white suits," he says.  "At Fifty-first and Green."  

That's halfway across town, though nowhere near the brownstone.  If something goes down in the next few minutes, Connor is going to be on his own.  

"Don't engage," Ollie says.  "We're on our way."

They break up the drug deal and make their way toward Connor, who has been updating them on the GIW's movements the whole while.  

"I think they're looking for something," Connor says.  "They keep stopping and checking some kind of device-- I think it's a tracker of some kind."

"They're looking for Danny," Mia says.  

"How did they even know he's here?" Ollie wonders, but neither Mia nor Connor have any idea.  He makes a split-second decision.  "Mia, head back home and keep an eye on Danny.  Tell him Connor and I are handling it."

Mia is obviously put out by being sent away from the action, but she complies.  Oliver catches up with Connor, perching next to him on the edge of a roof.  Down on the street, a couple of men dressed all in white exit a white van and wave around a couple of handheld electronic devices.  They don't look up, which seems like a mistake from people who ostensibly deal with ghosts.  Convenient for the Green Arrows, though.

Trailing the GIW agents is a piece of cake.  Their all-white getup makes them clearly visible from a distance, and they seem to rely on their equipment rather than their eyes or ears.  

Their apparent incompetence makes Oliver get a little cocky, and that's where things go wrong.  He lands on the building closest to the agents, sure that they won't look up and see him-- and he's right.

Unfortunately, their device starts beeping just at that moment, and the two men are suddenly on high alert.  Ollie gets the bad feeling that something about him is what set it off.  They pull out their guns and look around wildly, until one of the geniuses gets the bright idea to look up.  That's when they start shooting wildly at Oliver and Connor.  

Their aim isn't great, and whatever kind of energy weapons they're using are only powerful enough to do some superficial damage to the building facade, but Ollie isn't eager to find out how it would feel to get hit by one of those.  Fortunately, he and Connor are both much better shots than these guys.

They shoot the weapons out of the agents' hands first, then Ollie puts an arrow through one guy's hand while Connor puts one through the other guy's foot.  

For a minute, it seems like it's going to be that easy.  Then, three more white vans come peeling down the street and a dozen more agents pour out.  Now, it's Oliver and Connor who are pinned down, ducking behind the roof's edge to avoid getting hit by those energy weapons.  

Ollie puts an arrow through another guy's shoulder, and is just a smidge too slow getting back out of the way.  The energy blast is going to hit him right in the shoulder.  He braces to take the hit--

A green shield appears in front of him.  The energy blast hits it and dissipates.

For a moment, Ollie thinks it's the work of a Lantern.  And then he sees Phantom, a bright white and glowing target hovering above the street.  

The GIW agents have completely disregarded Ollie and Connor, and are frantically shooting at Phantom.  Phantom is dodging the blasts easily; there's no sign of the clumsiness that he's beset with when he's a normal human.  One of the agents gets an arrow through his shoulder, and Ollie spots Mia perched on a roof across the street.  

In hindsight, he really should have expected this.  Neither of those kids are the type to sit at home when they could be helping instead.  Even so, he doesn't like it.

With Danny distracting the agents, it's much easier for Ollie, Connor and Mia to hit them.  They may be outnumbered, but the GIW agents are terrible shots.  At some point, the agents seem to realize this, too, and flee back into their vans, limping and bleeding, and drive away.  

"Follow them?" Connor asks.  

"No," Ollie says.  "I don't think they're going to try anything else tonight."  

The four of them make their way back to the brownstone.  

"I told you to stay here with Danny," Ollie tells Mia, once they're inside and putting away their gear.  

"Did you really think I was going to listen?" Mia asks. 

Ollie runs his hands over his face.  "A man can dream."

"Besides," Mia adds, "from where I was standing it seemed like we bailed you two out.  Right, Danny?"

With a flash of light, Danny transforms back to his human form.  "I'm sorry," he says.  "I don't know how they knew I was here."

"I'm not sure they did," Connor says.  "They were looking pretty hard for something before they went after the two of us."

"But they were looking for me specifically," Danny says.  

Ollie gives Danny a closer look.  He's clearly nervous.  More than just nervous, he looks like he's on the verge of taking off and running.

"What makes you so sure they're here for you?" Oliver asks.  It's not that he doesn't trust Danny's instincts, but he doesn't feel like he's got the whole picture.  

Danny leans against the workbench, almost knocking a set of half-finished arrows to the floor.  "They've been trying to catch Phantom since the beginning," he says.  "I kind of made their lives difficult."

"Good," Connor says, crossing his arms.  

"Plus, a lot of Amity Parkers kind of... don't like Phantom?  So the GIW heard about what a menace I was, and that didn't help.  But then you got Superman and Wonder Woman and all of them to talk about how bad the GIW and Anti-Ecto Acts are, and that helped, and-- I had it handled. "

"So what happened?" Mia asks.  

"My parents found out.  And I kind of freaked out?  And I flew off, and the GIW caught up to me."  Danny looks around, takes in their stricken expressions, and hurries to add, "Not for long!  But then I headed back home and my parents were telling everyone I was dead.  I didn't know what to do, so I came here."  

Oliver's head hurts just thinking about this mess.  He walks across the room and wraps an arm around Danny.  "We'll get this figured out," he promises, though he's not entirely sure how.  "First things first.  What do you want to do about your parents?"  

Mia scowls at him-- she's clearly already formed her opinion on Danny's parents.  Ollie can't say he disagrees, but he's made his own share of mistakes in the parenting department.  He hopes that the Fentons might be able to come around, if only because Danny clearly loves them.

"The GIW..." Danny begins. 

"I've got a few ideas about them."  Ollie is a little torn between hunting them down himself, pointing Supes or someone in their direction, or letting it leak to the public that these government lackeys chased a kid halfway across the country.  "Do you want to go back to your parents?"

"I don't know," he says. "I miss them, but... I don't know if they'll believe I'm really me. They think all ghosts are evil. But even if they believed me..."  He trails off.  

"You can stay here," Mia insists.  "Right, Ollie?"

"Of course he can."  He didn't actually need Mia's prompting for that.  "You're welcome to stick around as long as you want, but you should at least stay until we get the GIW shut down."  

Danny looks around the room at the three of them.  Whatever he sees must reassure him because after a long minute, he nods.  "Okay.  At least until then."

[oliver-queen-apologist]

Is Green Arrow (2023) (the one by Joshua Williamson) any good? I saw my entire dash freaking out about it a couple weeks ago, and it seemed really interesting.

it’s complicated bc it brings the family back together again (including mia!) however mediocre is joshua williamson’s middle name. so i wouldn’t read it expecting amazing writing but it’s also a fix-it of sorts for a lot of the things the retcons did to the arrowfam. and the art is really good.

[strawberrytalia]

Things I want to draw:

1. Khalid, Simon, and Damian wearing keffiyehs

2. Duke with locs tied up in a half up half down look (like eren iykyk)

3. Raven and Kori wearing saris

4. Jess with an indigenous nose (I have a VISION okay, I’m gonna draw her with a flower in a hair and the nose she deserves)

5. Keli and Tai bc they’re cute

And sm arrowfam art for arrow week 2023 😭

[lesbianspeedy]

Arrowfam wishlist for Green Arrow (2023)? Moments, references, storylines, details, come backs, anything and everything you're hoping to see in the title

so u sent this like 2 weeks ago (my bad) and if i had answered it then my answer wouldve been just like. mia. BUT I LEFT IT SO LONG THAT WE LITERALLY KNOW SHES ACTUALLY COMING BACK SOOO. NEW ANSWER

aside from wanting all the characters they're jamming in to be well written and in-character (doubtful) i do hope we get some interesting interactions between characters who have never met (also doubtful) especiall emi with connor and mia, and cissie with ollie. i am also hopeful for lian's reunions with everyone but like i said. theres about 16 characters on that cover AND THIS SERIES IS A MINI. SO CANT WAIT FOR THAT DUMPSTER FIRE.

for references, honestly i'd love for just any reference to any pre-52 arc, whether thats the youth centre, or sherwood florist, or even ollie's stint as mayor.

details, this is less on williamson, but i cant wait to see how izaakse draws all my meow meows holding their bows, its a little thing, but this man is very experienced with it with how much he's drawn hawkeye in thunderbolts. even on the cover mia has like an actual draw!! thats so cool!!

honestly im just hoping for an okay balance of plot and actual familial moments. considering the main "plot" we know so far is that they're trying to find ollie lost in the multiverse or whatever, im hoping the figure that shit out fairly quick so its not just six issues of switching perspectives or whatever.

[lowquats]

arrowfam week 2023 day 1 - grow

does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes?

[lowquats]

arrowfam week 2023 day 7 - birthday

and that’s it!! happy birthday queen king <3

[lowquats]

arrowfam week 2023 day 5 - embrace

they were so tired they fell asleep in their costumes 💤💤

[lowquats]

arrowfam week 2023 day 3 - winter

whoops!

[lowquats]

arrowfam week 2023 day 4 - in disguise

baby’s first undercover mission!

[lowquats]

arrowfam week 2023 day 6 - bonfire

brotherly bonding

[tbcanary]

arrowfam week day five: embrace

—

Bang!

The wind slams the window open faster than her hands can catch it, and Emiko winces in sympathy for the wall. And also, because there’s no way anyone in the house didn’t hear that, and she was trying to keep this visit from becoming a whole thing.

She waits a second, just to make sure no one is about to come running in and turn her into a new-age pincushion, and then slowly stretches one leg out to rest on the edge of the sink beneath her. Then she pushes off the window sill and jumps, landing softly on the linoleum tile.

Her side twinges, sharp and warm. She winces again and presses a hand to her ribs.

There’s got to be a first aid kit around here somewhere. She knows the residents of this house; not a day goes by that someone doesn’t come stumbling in with a stab wound or a broken bone. The sink is a good bet, actually, and she can check underneath it in just a second. First…

Her toes tap-tap-tap gently as she dances over to the fridge. The light is very nearly blinding as she pulls the door open, even through her domino mask, and she finds herself squinting as she surveys the contents.

Loose vegetables from the local market. Chinese takeout from the restaurant in town. Beer, which means either Dinah or Hal is in town. Three open containers of jelly — strawberry for Lian, grape for Roy, and another strawberry from when Oliver probably forgot there was already one open and ready. Congealed macaroni and cheese.

Emiko wrinkles her nose. She grabs an egg roll and a container of what must be lo mein, grabbing chopsticks from on top of the fridge.

After she’s wolfed down the egg roll, she feels a little steadier on her feet. She turns back to the sink and crouches down, pulling open the doors.

Cleaning supplies. A quiver and a compact bow. Brass knuckles, for some reason. And there — tucked in the back corner, the telltale white cross of a first aid kit. Emiko sighs in relief as she pulls it out from its hiding place.

It’s simple enough, really. She tosses back a few painkillers and rinses her hands in the sink before pulling out the sterilized needle and antiseptic. She’s up on the counter with her shirt pulled up before long, angling herself to see the wound on her ribcage in the pale moon light.

It takes a lot of effort to keep quiet as she works. She thinks she’s done a pretty freaking good job with it, too, until the light flickers on overhead.

“Jesus H. Christ,” Ollie intones, rubbing at sleep-rimmed eyes with a heavy fist, “is that blood on my counter?”

Emiko grimaces. It’s only a little bit from the light overhead. “It’s fine. I’ll clean up in a minute.”

“Not the part I’m worried about, if you can believe that.”

“Sure.”

Oliver walks into the (way too small) kitchen. His sweatpants sit crooked on his hips and his hair is in disarray; he’s clearly sleeping off a rough night of his own, based on the bruise covering his cheekbone.

“Here,” he groans, reaching out, “would you just— just let me do it, kid, you’re gonna—”

Emiko flinches away as he reaches for the needle, but it’s not really worth fighting over. He’s got steadier hands than her at the moment. She’s blaming it on the exhaustion, the loss of the adrenaline that’s been driving her since she found herself in the middle of an impromptu robbery downtown, but it might be the blood. She could be convinced. Maybe.

Oliver hums his disapproval. “This’ll sting, Emi, get ready.” And, as much a distraction as an honest inquiry: “Who did you piss off?”

“Some goon,” she mutters. “I just wanted to get a snack. Court and I were sparring and got hungry. The gas station was pretty busy, that’s all.”

The long gash running perpendicular to her ribs hadn’t hurt that much at the time. She blames the winter chill, or maybe just the fact that Court had been with her. It’s harder to notice her own injuries when she’s busy keeping an eye on someone else.

“Court still around?”

“No, she left already.” Emiko shrugs, then hisses. “Ow.”

“Yeah, well, avoid the knife next time and we won’t have to do that.”

“It wasn’t a knife. I can dodge those,” Emiko snaps.

Ollie raises an eye at her, looking up just slightly from his work. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t really have to.

Emiko sighs. “It was claws. On a glove, I think. They honestly looked pretty badass.”

If Oliver is judging her for language, he keeps it to himself. That’s for the best, probably; Emiko doesn’t want to get into the whole ‘you’re not my dad so stop trying to act like one’ spiel today.

“You oughtta call for backup next time,” Ollie says instead. “We have a whole host of people in this city now. Damn near full to bursting. No point putting yourself at risk when you can avoid it.”

“I’m fine,” Emiko repeats.

Ollie snips the thread he’s been using to stitch her up, then pats her on the leg. “Sure, you are. The bedroom’s available, by the way.”

“…Yeah?”

“Yeah. We got a weighted blanket for it and everything.”

“Ooh, moving up in the world.”

“Old dogs can learn new tricks, after all.”

Emiko rolls her shirt back down and hops off the counter. Somewhat impulsively, she leans forward to wrap her arms around Oliver’s middle, squeezing him tight before letting go.

Oliver throws his hands up instinctively. “Whoa, hey! Wh-what’s this for…?”

“Thanks for the assist,” Emiko offers. “And for the lo mein.”

“The— wait, that’s my—”

Emiko snatches the leftovers off the counter and sprints down the hall, biting back her smile. One of these days, he’ll know better than to keep the food where she can reach.

[tbcanary]

arrowfam week day #2: confession

--

“Okay,” Dinah says, fingers pressed to the bridge of her nose. “Who did it?”

The rose bushes are a disaster. All of her careful work, the delicate pruning of branches, has been pulled apart in favor of a paltry handful of buds spilled on the cement of their building’s roof. The bushes, in raised beds around the perimeter, are mangled corpses.

Predictably, Ollie steps forward first. He has the decency to look sheepish, too, twisting his hat in his hands. “Sorry, pretty bird. I wanted to put something together for—”

Dinah holds up a hand. She has to fight back a smile despite herself. He’s predictable, she’ll give him that. “Nuh-uh, stop. We both know it wasn’t you. Let them own up to it, Oliver, they’re big kids now.”

Oliver, properly chastised, mutters something along the lines of can’t even go protecting the innocent in my own damn home now?, before stepping back into the lineup. Dinah turns her gaze to the others gathered in front of her and raises an eyebrow expectantly.

“Well?”

Roy doesn’t budge. He cocks an eyebrow right back at Dinah and says, with all the surefire cockiness of someone who is used to lying to authority figures, “Hold the line, soldiers. She can’t break all of us.”

“I don’t have to break all of you, Speedy Senior,” Dinah says. She crouches down in front of her primary suspects and leans in close, hair slipping from behind her ear and tickling her cheek. “Just… one.”

Lian looks away first. Telling, too, that she immediately looks up to her father for guidance. She won’t break until he does – they all know that. A daddy’s girl, through and through. Dinah knows what that’s like; she can’t break that kind of blind faith.

But…

Sin’s lower lip wobbles. She glances up at Ollie, then Roy. She’s the weak link, here; Dinah doesn’t even really have to press. She just has to wait it out. Even with her background, such a little girl doesn’t have the patience to outlast Dinah in a staring match.

“It was me, sister!” Sin exclaims. She throws herself forward, wrapping her arms around Dinah’s shoulders and hiding her face in her neck. “I hurt flowers. I am sorry! Do not be mad.”

Dinah clicks her tongue. She glances up through her bangs at Ollie and Roy, neither of whom are willing to meet her eyes directly. Well, they can have it their way. Dinah hugs Sin back and pets her hair with one hand, straightening out tangles and knots.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m not mad,” she tuts. “I just wanted to know the truth. Thank you for being honest with me.”

Against her neck, Sin sniffs and nods pathetically. It makes Dinah’s heart seize up in her chest. She smiles, just a little, and scoops Sin up in her arms as she stands. Sin squeals and hugs her tighter, little fingers scrambling to find purchase against the smooth skin of Dinah’s shoulders.

“Now, since you told the truth, I say we should go have a little treat,” Dinah says. She makes sure her voice is loud enough to be heard, even as she turns to retreat into the apartment building. “What do you say we have some ice cream, huh?”

As if on cue, Lian lets out a shriek of offense. “Aunt Dinah! You didn’t say there was ice cream! Come back, I cut the roses too, I’m sorry!”

Her little feet pound against the roof as she hurries to catch up. Behind her, Ollie and Roy shout something about traitor and sell-out, but Lian doesn’t seem bothered at all. Dinah holds out a hand for her as she approaches. They hold hands and walk through the open door of the stairwell, headed back to the land of air conditioning and sweet treats.

“You must promise that you are not mad,” Sin insists, as Dinah begins her perilous trek down the stairs. “Please?”

Dinah sighs and rolls her eyes. “Oh, I was never mad at you, girls. You’re just doing what the boys told you. But I need you to make me a promise, okay?”

Lian and Sin, in their chirpy almost-unison, offer all kinds of confirmation and promises they can’t keep. Dinah doesn’t mind that too much; they mean well.

“Don't ever lie to me. And, whatever you do, do not let Ollie know there’s rocky road in the freezer,” she whispers conspiratorially. “That one’s just for us.”